PLANNING COMMISSION 4 June 12, 2007

LEE’S SUMMIT PLANNING COMMISSION

Minutes of Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The Tuesday, June 12, 2007, Lee’s Summit Planning Commission meeting was called to order by Vice Chair Christopher at 5:00 p.m., at City Council Chambers, 220 SE Green Street, Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

OPENING ROLL CALL:

Chairperson Chris Trainer Absent Mr. Stan Christopher Present

Ms. Marcia Rosenquist Present (Vice Chair)

Mr. John Reece Present Ms. Kathy Smith Present

Mr. Michael Atcheson Present Mr. Kurt Pycior Present

Mr. Daren Fristoe Present Mr. Alan Gray Present

Also present were Linda Tyrrel, Deputy Director, Planning and Development Department; Tom Scannell, Current Planning Division Manager; Jennifer Thompson, Staff Planner; Heping Zhan, Long Range Planning Division Manager; Chris Hughey, Planning Technician; Hector Soto, Planner; Jennifer Baird, Assistant City Attorney; Kent Monter, Development Engineering Manager; Michael Park, Senior Staff Engineer; Keith Martin, Assistant Fire Chief; and Kim Brennan, Administrative Secretary.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA:

Vice Chair Christopher asked for a motion to approve the agenda. On the motion of Ms. Rosenquist, seconded by Mr. Fristoe, the Planning Commission voted unanimously by voice vote to APPROVE the agenda as published.

1.  APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA

A.  Application #2007-068 – VACATION OF EASEMENT – a 30-foot ingress/egress easement along Lots 15 and 16, Parkway Plaza, 1st Plat; 209 NW Blue Pkwy.; ASC Leasing, applicant

B.  Application #2007-088 – VACATION OF EASEMENT – a five (5) foot by eight (8) foot Power and Communications Easement (PC/E) on Lot 239A, Madison Park; 3231 SW Longview Road; Gale Communities, Inc., applicant

C.  Application #2007-103 – VACATION OF EASEMENT – a portion of a 15 foot utility easement on Lot 4, Raintree North Shopping Center; 3731-3751 SW Hollywood Drive; Cosentino’s Service Corp., applicant

D.  RESOLUTION #2007-04 – A Resolution adopting the 2008-2012 Capital Improvement Plan

E.  Minutes of the May 8, 2007 Planning Commission meeting

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

2.  Continued Application #2006-258 – COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AMENDMENT – Wastewater Master Plan; City of Lee’s Summit, applicant

Vice Chair Christopher opened the hearing at 5:04 p.m. and announced that continued Application 2006-058 was being continued to June 26, 2007 at the applicant’s request. He 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 #2007-072 – PRELIMINARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN – Don Kahan Chevrolet façade upgrade, 505 NW Blue Parkway; Don Kahan Chevrolet, applicant

Vice Chair Christopher opened the hearing at 5:04 p.m. and announced that continued Application 2007-072 was being continued to June 26, 2007 to allow for proper notification. He 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 #2007-074 – REZONING from CP-2, PO, PI-1 and PI-2 to PMIX - both sides of Tudor Road between Douglas St. and railroad tracks and Application #2007-075 – PRELIMINARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN – LEGO Land; RED Development, applicant

Vice Chair Christopher opened the hearing at 5:05 p.m. and announced that Applications 2007-074 and 2007-075 were being continued to July 10, 2007 at the applicant’s request. He then closed the hearing.

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

5.  Application #2007-067 – SPECIAL USE PERMIT for Billboard – Lakewood Business Park Billboard, 4101 NE Lakewood Way; CBS Outdoor, Inc., applicant

Vice Chair Christopher opened the hearing at 5:05 p.m. and announced that continued Application 2007-067 was being continued to July 10, 2007 at the applicant’s request. He 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 #2007-043 – VACATION OF RIGHT-OF-WAY – a portion of Leinweber Road, west of Hagan Road; City of Lee’s Summit, applicant

Vice Chair Christopher opened the hearing at 5:05 p.m. and announced that continued Application 2007-043 was being continued to June 26, 2007 at staff’s request. He then closed the hearing.

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

8.  RESOLUTION – Application #2006-258 – COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AMENDMENT – Wastewater Master Plan; City of Lee’s Summit, applicant

Vice Chair Christopher opened the hearing at 5:05 p.m. and announced that continued Application 2007-072 was being continued to June 26, 2007 at the applicant’s request. He then closed the hearing.

9.  Application #2007-076 - PRELIMINARY PLAT – LEGO Land; RED Development, applicant

Vice Chair Christopher opened the hearing at 5:05 p.m. and announced that Application 2007-076 was being continued to July 10, 2007 at the applicant’s request. He then closed the hearing.

7.  Application #2007-070 – REZONING from PI-1 to CP-2 and Application #2007-071 – PRELIMINARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN – Chipman Road Animal Clinic, 209 & 211 NW Chipman Road; Paul Tharp, applicant

Vice Chair Christopher opened the hearing at 5:06 p.m. and asked those wishing to speak, or provide testimony, to stand and be sworn in by the court reporter.

Mr. Paul Tharp, applicant, stated that he was a veterinarian at the Chipman Road Animal Clinic. He related they had the property adjacent to the clinic in February of 2006. The structures consisted of an old stone house and a long, low building that had been used as a garage. Both were in severe disrepair, and the purchasers intended to tear the buildings down and clean up the lot. However, subsequently they had decided to go ahead and build a new facility on the property. To do that, they would have to address some of the zoning problems that had existed previously. The property had been two lots that had originally been the McCambridge Court subdivision, with the existing clinic on Lot 2 next to the Church of Christ building. The other Lot 1, which had contained the old stone house, was zoned commercial but the other end of the lot was zoned PI-1. They were asking for the rezoning to address this issue of one lot having two separate zoning classifications. The present clinic was zoned industrial.

They had straightened out the boundary lines and made two rectangular lots, and were applying for commercial zoning for both. They were also replatting the lot, and this process was almost complete. There was a shared parking agreement that they had addressed, and City staff was aware of it; so Mr. Tharp did not believe they had any outstanding issues at this time.

Mr. Jeff Schroeder, of Herman A. Scharhag Architects, came to the podium and gave his business address as 1806 Swift in North Kansas City (MO). He stated that they had read and agreed with both of staff’s recommendations for the shared parking agreement and parking setback. He confirmed that the shared parking agreement had been submitted to staff, and it would be recorded by the County when approved.

Following this presentation, Vice Chair Christopher asked for staff comments.

Ms. Thompson entered Exhibit (A), list of exhibits 1-14 into the record. She related that the applicants were proposing a new animal clinic at the 211 NW Chipman Road location, and were including a rezoning request from PI-1 to CP-2. The existing building was 2,100 square feet and the new one would be 5,520 square feet.

Regarding the shared parking agreement referenced in staff’s Recommendation Item 1, Ms. Thompson pointed out that the proposed building would need 28 spaces and only 25 were provided, making them 3 short. However, the existing building required only 11 spaces and it had 26; so this building had 15 spaces over the requirement. That was enough for staff and the applicant to work through with the shared parking agreement. The recommended modification to the 20-foot setback was due to the fact that this parking lot predated the current UDO. At the time it was built, there was no required parking setback. Staff recommended approval subject to the two Recommendation Items.

Following Ms. Thompson’s comments, Vice Chair Christopher asked if there was anyone else present wishing to give testimony, either in support for or opposition to the application. Seeing none, he then asked if the Commission had questions for the applicant or staff.

Mr. Reece noted that when the new building was completed, the existing building would be converted to office or retail use for tenants. He asked staff if the existing zoning would support that use. Ms. Thompson replied that they were asking to rezone the property to CP-2, which would allow these uses. The rezoning was officially for “Lots 1 and 2 of McCambridge Court.” Staff had based their calculations on the highest parking ratio of 5 spaces per 1,000 square feet.

Ms. Rosenquist acknowledged that the property was currently under old ordinances, but asked if the City could require the setback rather than just doing a modification, since they were entirely rezoning the property. Mr. Scannell came to the podium and explained that they were not making any changes to the existing lot or to the building at this time. Essentially this was a previously existing condition that staff was comfortable with. The parking lot would be only about 4 feet short of the currently required 20 feet, and there would still be enough room for a landscaping screen.

Vice Chair Christopher asked if they would have to tear out part of the parking lot should they be required to meet the setbacks. Mr. Scannell answered that they would, noting that some of the parking had been put in recently. He agreed that this might result in a loss of parking spots. Vice Chair Christopher remarked that there did not seem to be a consistency issue here, as there were no similar lots fronting along Chipman.

Mr. Tharp returned to the podium and related that distance from their parking lot curb to the Chipman Road curb was 29 feet. That was more than any other business along the south Chipman Road corridor. Some were as little as 8 feet. He pointed out that the parking lots, which were continuous, were built in 1986. There should be plenty of room for landscaping.

Vice Chair Christopher asked if there were further questions for the applicant or staff. Hearing none, he closed the public hearing at 5:20 p.m. and asked for discussion among the Commission members, or for a motion.

Mr. Reece made a motion to recommend approval of Application 2007-070, Rezoning from PI-1 to CP-2 and Application 2007-071, Preliminary Development Plan; Chipman Road Animal Clinic, 209 & 211 NW Chipman Road; Paul Tharp, applicant; subject to staff’s letter of June 8, 2007, specifically Recommendation Items 1 and 2. Ms. Rosenquist seconded.

Vice Chair Christopher asked if there was any discussion of the motion. Hearing none, he called for a vote.

On the motion of Mr. Reece, seconded by Ms. Rosenquist, the Planning Commission members voted unanimously by voice vote to recommend APPROVAL of Application 2007-070, Rezoning from PI-1 to CP-2 and Application 2007-071, Preliminary Development Plan; Chipman Road Animal Clinic, 209 & 211 NW Chipman Road; Paul Tharp, applicant; subject to staff’s letter of June 8, 2007, 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.)

10.  Election of Officers

Vice Chair Christopher opened the hearing at 5:21 p.m.

Mr. Reece remarked that he had previously been elected as liaison for the Community Development Committee. However, because the CDC met the second Wednesday morning of each month, that conflicted with the Board meetings of the Little Blue Valley Sewer District. As a result, he had not been able to make many of the CDC meetings and felt that in fairness to the committee, he should be replaced in that position. Vice Chair Christopher remarked that this was an appointed and not an elected position.

Mr. Scannell read the list of officers: Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Assistant Secretary. Vice Chair Christopher noted that a Secretary needed to be in town to sign plats, so it needed to be someone who did not have a lot of schedule conflicts. Currently, Mr. Stan Christopher was Vice Chair, Ms. Marcia Rosenquist was Secretary and Mr. Mike Atcheson was Assistant Secretary.

Mr. Gray made a motion that Mr. Pycior be assigned to the nominating committee to put out a slate of officers. Mr. Fristoe seconded. The Planning Commission members approved the motion unanimously by voice vote.

Mr. Pycior nominated Mr. Stan Christopher for Chair, Ms. Marcia Rosenquist for Vice Chair, Mr. Atcheson for Secretary and Mr. Fristoe for Assistant Secretary. Mr. Gray seconded.

Vice Chair Christopher asked if there was any discussion of the motion. Hearing none, he called for a vote.

On the motion of Mr. Pycior, seconded by Mr. Gray, the Planning Commission members voted unanimously by voice vote to elect Mr. Stan Christopher for Chair of the Planning Commission, Ms. Marcia Rosenquist for Vice Chair, Mr. Atcheson for Secretary and Mr. Fristoe for Assistant Secretary.