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PLANNING COMMISSION May 24, 2005

LEE’S SUMMIT PLANNING COMMISSION

Minutes of Tuesday, May 24, 2005

The Tuesday, March 24, 2005, Lee’s Summit Planning Commission was called to order by Chairperson Trainer, at 6:05 p.m., at Arnold Hall, 123 SE 3rd Street.

OPENING ROLL CALL:

Chairperson Trainer Present Mr. Christopher Present

Ms. Rosenquist Present Ms. Funk Present

Mr. Reece Present Mr. Pycior Present

Mr. Atcheson Present Mr. Grey Present

Mr. Fristoe Present

Also present were Linda Tyrrel, Assistant Director, Planning and Development Department; Rich Wood, Deputy City Attorney; Michael Gorecki, Senior Planner, Tom Scannell, Senior Planner; Hector Soto, Planner; Kent Monter, Development Engineering Manager, Jeff McKerrow, Senior Staff Engineer; Jim Eden, Battalion Chief, Fire Department; and Kim Brennan, Administrative Secretary.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA:

Chairperson Trainer announced that some of the items on tonight’s agenda would be moved. Application 2005-075 (Item 16) would be moved to directly follow Application 2005-074 (Item 9), as it was a preliminary plat for the same project. For the same reason, Application 2005-107 (Item 17) would directly follow Application 2005-100 (Item 10). She added that she would be making some changes to continued applications 2005-079 (Item 6) and 2005-081 (Item 7). Chairperson Trainer then asked if there were further additions or corrections to the agenda. There were none. On motion of Ms. Funk, seconded by Mr. Fristoe, the Planning Commission members voted unanimously by voice vote to APPROVE the agenda as amended.

1. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA

A. Minutes of the April 12 and April 26, 2005 Planning Commission meetings

Chairperson Trainer called for a motion to approve the Consent Agenda.

On motion of Ms. Rosenquist, seconded by Mr. Atcheson, the Planning Commission voted unanimously by voice vote to APPROVE Consent Agenda Item 1A.

Chairperson Trainer announced that she would continue Items 2 through 7.

2. Public Hearing: Application #2005-090 – REZONING from AG to R-1, south of Woods Chapel Road, east of Savanna Ridge, proposed Savanna Woods; Gary Bromley for Savanna Ridge Dev. LLC, applicant

Chairperson Trainer opened the hearing at 6:08 p.m. and announced that Application 2005-090 was being continued to June 14, 2005, at staff’s request. She then closed the hearing.

(The foregoing is a digest of the secretary’s notes of the public hearing. The transcript may be obtained.)

3. Application #2005-119 – REZONING from AG to PMIX and Application #2005-120 – PRELIMINARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN, Park Ridge, 1700 NE Woods Chapel Rd; ACH, LLC, applicant

Chairperson Trainer opened the hearing at 6:08 p.m. and announced that Applications 2005-119 and 2005-120 were being continued to June 14, 2005, at staff’s request. She then closed the hearing.

(The foregoing is a digest of the secretary’s notes of the public hearing. The transcript may be obtained.)

4. Application #2005-121 - VACATION OF RIGHT-OF-WAY of unnamed and unconstructed street, proposed Park Ridge, vicinity of 1700 NE Woods Chapel Rd; ACH, LLC, applicant

Chairperson Trainer opened the hearing at 6:08 p.m. and announced that Application 2005-121 was being continued to June 28, 2005, at staff’s request. She then closed the hearing.

(The foregoing is a digest of the secretary’s notes of the public hearing. The transcript may be obtained.)

5. Continued Application #2005-053 – VACATION OF RIGHT-OF-WAY – Blackwell Road Right-of-Way, G&R Development, applicant street, proposed Park Ridge, vicinity of 1700 NE Woods Chapel Rd; ACH, LLC, applicant

Chairperson Trainer opened the hearing at 6:08 p.m. and announced that Application 2005-053 was being continued to June 14, 2005, at staff’s request. She then closed the hearing.

(The foregoing is a digest of the secretary’s notes of the public hearing. The transcript may be obtained.)

6. Application #2005-079- REZONING from RP-2 to CP-2 and #2005-080 – PRELIMINARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN - Big Tex Trailers, 107 SE 9th St; Duff Motor Co., Inc., applicant

Chairperson Trainer opened the hearing at 6:09 p.m. and announced that Applications 2005-0079 and 2005-080 were withdrawn by the applicant. She then closed the hearing.

(The foregoing is a digest of the secretary’s notes of the public hearing. The transcript may be obtained.)

7. Application #2005-081 – SPECIAL USE PERMIT for trailer sales in CP-2, Big Tex Trailers, 107 SE 9th St; Duff Motor Co., Inc., applicant

Chairperson Trainer opened the hearing at 6:08 p.m. and announced that Application 2005-081 was being withdrawn by the applicant. She then closed the hearing.

(The foregoing is a digest of the secretary’s notes of the public hearing. The transcript may be obtained.)

13. Application #2005-182 – AMENDMENT #13 to the UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE (UDO); City of Lee’s Summit, applicant

Chairperson Trainer opened the hearing at 6:08 p.m. and announced that Application 2005-182 was being continued to June 14, 2005, at staff’s request. She then closed the hearing.

(The foregoing is a digest of the secretary’s notes of the public hearing. The transcript may be obtained.)

14. Application #2005-091 – PRELIMINARY PLAT – Savanna Woods, Lots 1-84; Gary Bromley for Savanna Ridge Dev. LLC, applicant

Chairperson Trainer announced that Application 2005-091 was being continued to June 14, 2005, at staff’s request.

15. Application #2005-138 – PRELIMINARY PLAT – Park Ridge, Lots 1-434; ACH, LLC, applicant

Chairperson Trainer announced that Application 2005-138 was being continued to June 14, 2005, at staff’s request.

8. Continued Application #2005-058 – PRELIMINARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN – American Legion Post 189 Building, 820 SE Vista Drive; American Legion Post 189, applicant

Chairperson Trainer opened the hearing at 6:10 p.m. and asked those wishing to speak, or provide testimony, to stand and be sworn in by the court reporter.

Mr. Terry Chapman, architect, gave his address as 2412 West 71st Street in Prairie Village, Kansas and stated that he was representing the American Legion Post 189. They wanted to built a new post building, and had read staff’s letter and recommendations. The applicants agreed to the Recommendation Items 1 and 2.

Following Mr. Chapman’s remarks, Chairperson Trainer asked for staff comments.

Mr. Gorecki entered Exhibit (A), list of exhibits 1-18 into the record and stated that staff recommended approval of the preliminary development plan. He read the two proposed UDO modifications in the Recommendation Items. One modification was to the requirement for a six-foot vinyl fence ten feet from the north property line. There would be a line of shrubs along the north side of the fence, and trees on the south side. This was in lieu of combination landscaping on both sides, because of the presence of a ten-foot utility easement in that location. The second modification would allow a 20-foot setback from the road instead of the required 50 feet.

Following Mr. Gorecki’s comments, Chairperson Trainer asked if there was anyone else present wishing to give testimony, either for or in opposition to the application. Seeing none, she asked if the Commission had questions for the applicant or staff. As there were none, Chairperson Trainer closed the public hearing at 6:13 p.m. and asked for discussion or for a motion.

Ms. Funk made a motion to recommend approval of continued Application 2005-058, Preliminary Development Plan, American Legion Post 189 Building, 820 SE Vista Drive; American Legion Post 189, applicant, subject to staff’s letter of May 20, 2005, specifically Recommendation Items 1 and 2. Mr. Fristoe seconded.

Chairperson Trainer asked if there was any discussion of the motion. Hearing none, she called for a vote.

On motion of Ms. Funk, seconded by Mr. Fristoe, the Planning Commission members voted unanimously by voice vote to recommend APPROVAL of continued Application 2005-058, Preliminary Development Plan, American Legion Post 189 Building, 820 SE Vista Drive; American Legion Post 189, applicant, subject to staff’s letter of May 20, 2005, specifically Recommendation Items 1 and 2.

(The foregoing is a digest of the secretary’s notes of the public hearing. The transcript may be obtained.)

9. Application #2005-074 – REZONING from AG to R-1 – 85 acres located north of Savannah Ridge, east of Lake Ridge Meadows, proposed Dalton’s Ridge; Roy Allen for Dalton’s Ridge Development Company, applicant

Chairperson Trainer opened the hearing at 6:15 p.m. and asked those wishing to speak, or provide testimony, to stand and be sworn in by the court reporter.

Mr. Roy Allen gave his address as 3516 NW Winding Woods Drive in Lee’s Summit and stated that he was the attorney for Dalton’s Ridge Development Company, the applicant. He passed out aerial photographs to the Commissioners and introduced the developer, Mr. Dana Zander, who was present. Mr. Allen particularly commended Mr. McKerrow and Mr. Scannell for their assistance in working with staff. He described the project as a single-family subdivision with 176 homes, similar to the Timber Hills development. The adjacency compatibility report, showed that it would be compatible with the two adjacent existing subdivisions: Savannah Ridge and Lake Ridge Meadows.

Mr. Allen continued that about two weeks before, the three developers hosted an open house and public forum for adjacent homeowners, explaining details of the development and answering questions. The primary concern expressed at that meeting was traffic going through their neighborhoods. He was, consequently, focusing on details of that issue particularly. Referring to the aerial photograph, Mr. Allen described Dalton’s Ridge with Savannah Ridge on the south, Lake Ridge Meadows to the west, and Blue Springs Lake Park on the east and north. An undeveloped farm was also to the north and west, with the proposed Park Ridge subdivision toward the east. Woods Chapel Road was about 1,500 feet south of Dalton’s Ridge, which was basically behind Lake Ridge Meadows and Savannah Ridge. It had no direct access to Woods Chapel Road nor to Lakewood Way. Currently, the only two points of access were Georgian Drive through Savannah Ridge and Kenwood Drive through Lake Ridge Meadows. During these subdivisions’ development, the City had required the two stub streets for future access when the subject property was developed. They had also required that Georgian Drive be designed and constructed as a collector street. The two stub streets had been on a set of preliminary plats that the City had approved for each of the two subdivisions, since 1993. Most of the adjacent homeowners either knew about these street stubs when they bought the homes; or at any rate, the public records could be found at City Hall showing the stub streets were approved for future development. Mr. Allen remarked that the developers of Savannah Ridge or Lake Ridge Meadows could just as easily have been bringing in applications to just continue their own subdivision development onto the subject property. If that had been the case, they would have used the same access streets that the applicants were proposing.

Mr. Allen said that he understood their concerns about the traffic impact; and the applicants were committed to doing whatever they could to minimize that. The subdivision had only one builder, which generally gave the developer more control than usual. The builder did use fines on subcontractors who did not comply with City ordinances. These violations would include mud left in the street. Mr. Allen believed this was an improved scenario for controlling the impact on the two neighboring subdivisions. He also urged any homeowners who had concerns to communicate them to the Codes Enforcement department and the police, especially if they believed that subcontractors were not following City ordinances.

Mr. Allen continued that the two stub streets would not be the only access points. There would actually be five, four of which were collector roads. He pointed out the color-coded neighboring features on the map: Lake Ridge Meadows, indicated in orange, to the west; the undeveloped farm indicated in brown, to the north; Blue Springs Lake Park indicated in green; yellow to the east for Park Ridge and Savannah Ridge in blue, to the south. Four individual lots that were not incorporated into any plat were shown in purple. Mr. Allen then pointed out the collector roads to be utilized, shown in red. They comprised about 3,000-3,500 linear feet of collector roads. Georgian Drive to the south, where the development would start, and Kenwood Drive to the northwest would be two. The latter was the only one of the five access points that was not a collector. The third access point was Dalton Ridge Drive, going out to the east. It would be constructed by the developer of Park Ridge, who had included it in the first phase and planned to finish the road by the end of summer 2006. Staff’s letter specified that Dalton’s Ridge could not exceed 50 homes until that road was finished. If it did not get finished, the developer would have to complete it all the way out.

The fourth and fifth access points would be the north and south ends of Gateway Drive. It was a major corridor designed by the City as part of the Transportation Plan. The developer was going to construct the 2,100 feet of Gateway Drive that would go through Dalton’s Ridge. Gateway would eventually connect with Bowlin Road on the north and Woods Chapel on the south. When that connection was made, it would likely eliminate most of the traffic going through Lake Ridge Meadows and Savannah Ridge. That was, however, dependent on future development.

Mr. Allen concluded that the applicants did understand the homeowners’ concerns, and had discussed those with them. They were committed to doing what they could to minimize the traffic impact to surrounding neighborhoods; and had a plan for road access and transportation that was workable. Staff’s letter indicated that their plan complied with the UDO, the Access Management Code and the approved transportation plan for this particular area.

Following Mr. Allen’s remarks, Chairperson Trainer asked for staff comments.

Mr. Scannell entered Exhibit (A), list of exhibits 1-18 into the record. He stated that the property to be rezoned was about 85 acres behind Savannah Ridge and Lake Ridge Meadows. The 2005 Comprehensive Plan showed the recommended land use for this area as low-density residential. The applicant was proposing a development substantially similar to what was currently in the area in terms of density, which was 2.28 units per acre excluding common areas. This would be the first development of three along Woods Chapel Road, and so a comprehensive traffic study had been done. The developers of these three projects had been working with the City concerning improvements to Woods Chapel Road, which was currently to be done by the County beginning next year. A deposit agreement had been drafted and was now being reviewed by the parties involved.