Presque Isle Township Planning Commission

Regular Monthly Meeting

HeldMarch 7, 2016

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Chairman B. Yaklin.

The pledge of allegiance was recited.

Roll Call: In attendance were; B. Yaklin, H.Welsh, A. Paltelky, T. Ludwig, F. Walker and C. Paavola. Member absent with excuse; S. Lang.

Audience: 4 guests.

Agenda Approval: H. Welsh requested that New Business be moved ahead of Correspondence. A. Paltelky requested the change of Re-Appointment of PC Secretary be changed to Appoint PC Secretary under Unfinished Business. B. Yaklin advised that he will be adding Sign Ordinance Update to Unfinished Business. With no other changes or additions; T. Ludwig moved to approve the agenda with the changes. Supported by; A. Paltelky. All ayes; so moved.

Approval of Minutes (February 1, 2016): A. Paltelky asked to add the word excused to member absent under roll call. C. Paavola moved to approve the minutes with the change. Supported by; T. Ludwig. All ayes; so moved.

Comments from Audience (3 minutes): No Comments.

New Business

  • Site Plan Review – Bourdeau: David Bourdeau advised that he is requesting to build a 30’ x 50’ pole barn on his lot across the street from his cottage. He stated that minimal amount of trees will be removed. He also advised that he will be using a vinyl siding and will be dressing up the front of the pole barn to be more attractive to the eye. PC members agreed that there is plenty of space for the pole barn. However, they were all concerned with the size of the structure that is requested. B. Yaklin advised that there have been several statements provided from the neighbors regarding the size. A. Paltelky asked the applicant if he would be willing to reduce the size of the structure to accommodate the current zoning ordinance of 1,200 sq. ft. The applicant advised that he will need the requested size of 30’ x 50’ to accommodate the items that he would like to store there. H. Welsh advised that he felt that the size of the building would not affect the surrounding area and would be hidden by trees. F. Walker stated that the building should be positioned with the 30 ft. to the road side and the 50 ft. going into the property. H. Welsh moved to approve the site plan request with the condition that the building will have vinyl siding and be positioned with the 30 ft. side facing the road and the 50 ft. length of the building going into the property. Supported by; T. Ludwig. The outcome of a roll call vote was 3 ayes and 3 nays. Therefore the motion was defeated. B. Yaklin stated that he was taking the neighbors’ concerns of the size into consideration. A. Paltelky stated that if the applicant would consider downsizing the structure to 1,200 sq. ft. that he would not need approval from the Planning Commission and suggested bringing in a new site plan to the zoning administrator for review.

Correspondence: B. Yaklin advised that he had received 5 letters regarding the size of the pole barn for the Bourdeau Site Plan Review. He advised that the letters were not opposed to the building; only the size was a concern.

Reports

Township Board of Trustees: C. Paavola provided a written report.

Zoning Administrator: A written report was not provided. P. Budnik advised that he and L. Taylor had worked on the Sign Ordinance and various zoning questions.

Zoning Board of Appeals: No report.

Parks and Recreation Committee: No report.

Unfinished Business

  • Appoint PC Secretary: A. Paltelky advised that he was appointed secretary at the February meeting and was not asked if he would accept. He stated that he is not the secretary and he does not want the position. B. Yaklin asked if there were any nominations for the position of secretary. H. Welsh nominated T. Ludwig. There were no other nominations. T. Ludwig accepted the nomination. C. Paavola moved to appoint T. Ludwig as secretary. Supported by: A. Paltelky. All ayes; so moved.
  • Sign Ordinance Update: B. Yaklin advised that he had received a quote from McKenna Associates, regarding their fee for helping with the sign ordinance. The quote is for $3,500.00. H. Welsh stated that he thought it was an absurd amount of money and that the PC members could do the majority of the work themselves. B. Yaklin agreed that we could do the work and stated that the cost was a bit high. However, he stated that the attorney suggested a consultant to avoid any law suits. A. Paltelky stated that the PC members can go through the ordinance and make the changes and then have the attorney look through it. H. Welsh moved to reject the offer from McKenna Associates. Supported by; T. Ludwig. All ayes; so moved. B. Yaklin advised that he would contact the consultant and let them know that we will not need them at this time and we will contact them at a later date. H. Welsh stated that we should schedule a special meeting or form an AD-HOC committee. B. Yaklin stated that he would be interested in attending as well as H. Welsh. H. Welsh stated that he would like to have S. Lang and L. Taylor part of the committee as well. S. Paltelky stated that she thought that it may be a conflict of interest to have L. Taylor on the committee, as she has her own business. H. Welsh stated that he did not think it would be a conflict of interest and she would be helping with the wording and deleting of the items in the ordinance. B. Yaklin suggested tabling the AD-HOC committee until the April meeting. He stated that he would like to confirm with S. Lang and L. Taylor on attending the committee meetings. He did state that the PC members can be going through the ordinance and mark their suggested changes to share with the commission at the April meeting.

Adjournment: With no further business to discuss the meeting was adjourned at 8:05 pm.

Meeting Reminder: The Planning Commission will meet again on Monday, April 4, 2016 at 7:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted; Kimberly S. Bedard, Administrative Assistant