City of Aurora Planning Commission met April 19.
Here is the minutes provided by the Commission:
Call to Order:
Chairman Truax called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
Roll Call:
The following Commission members were present: Chairman Truax, Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Bergeron, Mr. Cameron, Mrs. Cole, Mr. Divine and Mrs. Head. Mr. Chambers, Mrs. Duncan, Mrs. Owusu-Safo, Mr. Pilmer and Mr. Reynolds called in and excused themselves from the meeting. Mr. Garcia was absent.
Others Present:
The following staff members were present: Mr. Sieben, Mrs. Vacek, Mrs. Morgan, Mr. Broadwell and Mrs. Jackson.
Others Present: Jonathan Tallman (Dewberry Architects), Sandra Ochoa (838 Gleason Avenue), Rick Petesch (Whitt Law, LLC), Scott Hodge (Project Canvas), Cara Mamott (Haven Design Group), Rich Cannavimo (Cannavino Construction), and Rick Zirk (Taylor Morrison of Illinois).
Approval of Minutes:
17-00311 Approval of the Minutes for the Planning Commission meeting of April 5, 2017.
A motion was made by Mr. Bergeron, seconded by Mrs. Cameron, that the minutes be approved and filed. The motion carried.
Agenda:
17-00219 An Ordinance Granting a Special Use Permit for Fire Station #7 Being a Public Facilities and Services (6200) Use on the Property at 824 Kenilworth Place Located at the Southwest Corner of Kenilworth Place and Heywood Avenue
See Attachment for Items 17-00219 and 17-00220.
A motion was made by Mrs. Cole, seconded by Mrs. Anderson, that this agenda item be Forwarded to the Planning & Development Committee, on the agenda for 4/27/2017. The motion carried.
17-00220 A Resolution Requesting Approval of a Final Plan for Fire Station #7 at 824 Kenilworth Place Located at the Southwest Corner of Kenilworth Place and Heywood Avenue for a Public Facilities and Services (6200) Use
See Attachment for Items 17-00219 and 17-00220.
A motion was made by Mr. Bergeron, seconded by Mrs. Anderson, that this agenda item be Forwarded to the Planning & Development Committee, on the agenda for 4/27/2017. The motion carried.
Attachment for Items 17-00219 and 17-00220
17-00219 An Ordinance granting a Special Use Permit for Fire Station #7 being a Public Facilities and Services (6200) Use on the property at 824 Kenilworth Place located at the southwest corner of Kenilworth Place and Heywood Avenue (Aurora Fire Department – 17-00219 / AU21/3-16.043-Su/Fpn – SB – (Ward 4) (PUBLIC HEARING)
17-00220 A Resolution requesting approval of a Final Plan for Fire Station #7 at 824 Kenilworth Place located at the southwest corner of Kenilworth Place and Heywood Avenue for a Public Facilities and Services (6200) Use (Aurora Fire Department – 17-00220 / AU21/3-16.043-Su/Fpn – SB – Ward 4)
Mr. Broadwell said so a little bit of background, the subject property is currently being utilized as Aurora Fire Station #7, which was constructed in 1957. The current fire station is a grandfathered use under the property zoning of R-2 One Family Dwelling District. Additional information is available in the Property Research Sheet. The Petitioner is requesting approval of a Special Use for a Public Facilities and Services Use for Fire Station #7 at 824 Kenilworth Place. The details of the request include a Special Use to allow for a continued public facilities and services use and the fire station on the property. Concurrently with this proposal, the Petitioner is requesting approval of a Final Plan with a setback variance for Fire Station #7 at 824 Kenilworth Place for a Public Facilities and Services Use. The proposed details of the request include construction of a one store, 10,525 square foot fire station building with an addition of a third parking bay to accommodate the modern public safety equipment are among the proposed external updates. The proposed fire station will be located 15 feet to the east of the existing station to allow for the existing station to remain operational until the proposed is ready for full use. In addition, the Petitioner is also seeking a 15.5 front yard setback variance from the standard R-2 setback regulations of 30 feet to provide for a greater setback to the residential properties in the rear. The setback reduction is in keeping with the adjacent properties. Landscaping will be provided along the interior lot lines for adequate separation between the fire station and adjacent residential properties. Staff has reviewed the Special Use Petition and have sent comments back to the Petitioner on those submittals. The Petitioner has made the requested revisions to these documents and now they meet the applicable codes and ordinances.
The Petitioner was sworn in.
Good evening. My name is Jonathan Tallman. I’m the Project Manager for Dewberry Architects. Fire Station 7 is a new facility to replace the existing fire station built in 1957. The existing fire station currently has 2 apparatus bays and is serviced by 3 full time firefighters. The new proposed fire station will be 10,500 square feet. The reason for the additional size is for an ambulance service to be run out of this facility. As you can see from looking at the plan, we are surrounded basically on the east side of the property by a detention pond. Where you see the parking lot in this plan is where the existing fire station is located at this time. As you go further west is additional water retention for the site. Currently, the site does not have any detention on its site. These are meeting new requirements. Part of the Planning Commission submittal is the landscaping plan. We have adequately landscaped the plan. We’ve paid extra attention to the south side where all of the residences are to be sure that we are screening the building as much as possible. One of the reasons we are asking for the variance is that we tried to move the building away from the rear yard property lines to be good neighbors to the local residences. We also have, you can see in the plan, a generator enclosure on the back side of the building. We have a screen wall that will block the view of the generator from the street and then we have tall, I don’t think it is arborvitae, but it is tall plants that will block the view of the generator from the resident’s yards in the back. If we look at the floor plan here, if you arrive at the fire station, there is a parking lot to the west and then you can exit from the parking. We have a direct sidewalk that leads you to the front entry door. At the front entry door there will be a staff office for the firefighters, a conference room for firefighters or anybody that is coming to the site. If they need medical attention, they can get immediate medical attention at this site for emergencies. Next to this here in the middle between the 2 bump outs is the apparatus bay. There are 3 apparatus bay doors. Then as you get further to the west is the actual living side of the building where the firefighters will live, the kitchen area and a day room. There is also a semi-private courtyard for outdoor seating, grilling and things of that nature.
Chairman Truax said what’s the intention for landscaping once the original building is torn down?
Mr. Tallman said once the existing building is torn down, the parking lot will be installed. This is the existing site plan. Where you see the 3 large trees here in the middle right to the west of the existing fire station, that’s where the new building is going to be located. So you can see where the existing fire station sits right now is where the parking lot will be and then the landscaping around that will be completed once the building is demolished and the new parking lot is complete. Does that answer your question?
Chairman Truax said thank you.
Mr. Tallman said so the building in the middle where the apparatus bays are will be the tallest portion of the building. It is currently, I believe, 30 foot, 4 inches and 5/16 of an inch tall at its tallest peak. For the design of the building we wanted to have a very nice civic exposure for the Fire Department and for the community. As you can see, where the tall section is, this tall section here is the front of the apparatus bay and we’ve tried it and what we are trying to do here is bring the scale of the building down as we get closer to the residences in the back. We’ve brought the height of the building down so it is more of a standard height and at its lower point, it is 21 feet, 11 inches. So the style of architecture here is based on nature inspired design because it is mostly in a park setting. The closest houses are to the rear. The front overlap of the 15.5 variance that we are asking for is actually further back than the existing residences to the west, so we are not any further forward than any of residences in the neighborhood.
Chairman Truax said say that again.
Mr. Tallman said the footprint of the building is no more closer to the road than any of the houses to the west of the site. The structure is going to be a wood glue laminated structural deck and then we’ll have Cordova stone, which is the beige material that you are seeing and then the darker material is a fiber cement board that’s going to have the look of a board and baton siding in a vertical application.
Mr. Cameron said this is the north elevation, right, facing the street?
Mr. Tallman said this is the north elevation facing the street and then the top elevation here is the rear elevation of the building on the south.
Mr. Cameron said are those windows inset on the south side on the upper elevation?
Mr. Tallman said yes, those are windows to let light into the apparatus bay.
Mr. Cameron said so it comes from both sides?
Mr. Tallman said yes, that’s correct. We also have windows on the east and west side of the apparatus bay as well. They follow the slope of the roof down. So you have a couple of windows on the sides of the apparatus bay to let light in. What you see here on the bottom rendering here are upper windows above the fitness area for the Fire Department and then there is the conference room windows that I was talking about and then the main entry, which is underneath the canopy here, which is right here where it says angled wall.
Mr. Cameron said in these days, do you have a rack for hanging hoses within that height or is that not used anymore for drying them off?
Mr. Tallman said hose towers are still designed into projects. However, the City of Aurora has designated fire stations where they dry their hoses and this is not one of them.
The public input portion of the public hearing was opened. The witnesses were sworn in.
My name is Sandra Ochoa and I live at 838 Gleason Avenue. I live right around the corner from the new fire station that is going to be happening. How is this going to affect the residents as far as taxes, just as far as the properties? How is this going to affect the people around the new fire station?
Chairman Truax said your question is really how does this affect your taxes?
Ms. Ochoa said yes.
The public input portion of the public hearing was closed.
Chairman Truax said I expect the answer is that the taxes are not affected by the fire station itself. It is within the assessment. Your taxes have already been assessed for the Fire Department as a part of the City of Aurora. Someone correct me if I’m wrong about that.
Mr Broadwell said staff would recommend approval of the Ordinance granting a Special Use Permit for Fire Station #7 being a Public Facilities and Services Use on the property at 824 Kenilworth Place.
Motion of Approval was Made by: Mrs. Cole
Motion Seconded by: Mrs. Anderson
Ayes: Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Bergeron, Mr. Cameron, Mrs. Cole, Mr. Divine, Mrs. Head
Nays: None
Findings of Fact:
1. Is the proposal in accordance with all applicable official physical development policies and other related official plans and policies of the City of Aurora?
Mrs. Cole said these are listed in the staff report.
2. Does the proposal represent the logical establishment and/or consistent extension of the requested classification in consideration of the existing land uses, existing zoning classifications, and essential character of the general area of the property in question?
Mr. Cameron said it is basically an expansion of an existing use bringing it into current needs of the Fire Department and increasing the availability of potential medical ambulance services at this location.
3. Is the proposal consistent with a desirable trend of development in the general area of the property in question, occurring since the property in question was placed in its present zoning classification, desirability being defined as the trend’s consistency with applicable official physical development policies and other related official plans and policies of the City of Aurora?
Mr. Cameron said it is a slightly larger building, but it has the advantage of putting drainage storage for water in place, which at the time this building was built there were no requirements. The land that is adjacent to it will be converted into 2 ponds for water detention.
4. Will the proposal maintain a compatible relationship with the traffic pattern and traffic volume of adjacent streets and not have an adverse effect upon traffic or pedestrian movement and safety in the general area of the property in question?
Mrs. Anderson said there should be no adverse effect on the traffic pattern and volume in that area.
5. Will the proposal allow for the provision of adequate public services and facilities to the property in question and have no adverse effect upon existing public services and facilities?
Mr. Bergeron said all those services are already in place.
6. Does the proposal take adequate measures or will they be taken to provide ingress and egress so designed as to maximize pedestrian and vehicular circulation ease and safety, minimize traffic congestion, and not substantially increase the congestion in the public streets?
Mr. Cameron said it should have no effect.
9a. Will the Special Use not preclude the normal and orderly development and improvement of surrounding properties due to the saturation or concentration of similar uses in the general area?
Chairman Truax said it is the only fire station on the block.
9b. Is the Special Use in all other respects in conformance to the applicable regulations of the district in which it is located, except as such regulations may in each instance be modified by the City Council pursuant to the recommendations of the Plan Commission?
Mr. Cameron said it is.
Mr. Broadwell said this will next be heard at the Planning and Development Committee on Thursday, April 27, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. on the fifth floor of this building.
Mr. Broadwell said staff would recommend approval of the Resolution approving a Final Plan with a setback variance for Fire Station #7 at 824 Kenilworth Place located at the southwest corner of Kenilworth Place and Heywood Avenue for a Public Facilities and Services Use.
Motion of Approval was Made by: Mr. Bergeron
Motion Seconded by: Mrs. Anderson
Ayes: Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Bergeron, Mr. Cameron, Mrs. Cole, Mr. Divine, Mrs. Head
Nays: None
Mr. Broadwell said this will next be heard at the Planning and Development Committee on Thursday, April 27, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. on the fifth floor of this building.
17-00245 An Ordinance Approving a Revision to the River Street Plaza Plan Description on 0.21 Acres for Property located at 100 S. River Street being at south east corner of River Street and Benton Street
Mrs. Vacek said the subject property, which is the former Pocus Automotive building, is located at 100 S. River Street and is zoned DF(S) Downtown Fringe, which is part of the River Street Plaza Special Use Planned Development. The Petitioner, Project Canvas, has a contract to purchase the property and is looking to provide the community with a creative social space. I’ll let the Petitioner kind of go into that a little bit more. What’s before you tonight is the request for approval of a Plan Description Revision to the Special Use Planned Development to allow for additional uses on the property, including retail sales and services; catering, including but not limited to a full size kitchen, banquet facility, cooking demos and tasting classes, seminars, training workshops and events; performing arts or supporting establishments, including but not limited to concerts and plays; art galleries and studios; and special purpose recreational institutions limited to fitness classes and dance recitals. It would also allow for additional accessory uses, including a religious institution and sidewalk activity out along the front of the building. With that being said, I will turn it over to the Petitioner unless there are questions for staff.
Mrs. Cole said I have a question. Since one of the uses is going to be a church, is this building then going to be on the tax rolls or off the tax rolls?
Mrs. Vacek said I can let the Petitioner answer that.
The Petitioners were sworn in.
Good evening. I’m Rick Petesch from Whitt Law. I’m here on behalf of Stuart Whitt who reluctantly is on vacation. I’m here this evening to thank you for holding this public hearing and to considering this project and also to introduce our team to you. Speaking tonight will be Scott Hodge, who is the founder of Project Canvas. He is also the Pastor of the Orchard Community who hope to utilize the facility as well. Cara Mamott from Haven Design Group is an interior designer and she is here to tell you about some of the great things that she hopes to accomplish on the interior of that building. She’ll also pitch in to talk about some of the construction aspects and architectural components. With that, I’ll turn it over to Scott Hodge and thank you again for your consideration.
Good evening. Thank you for this opportunity for us to be able to share about this project that we are very excited about. As Rick mentioned, my name is Scott Hodge and I serve as the lead Pastor of the Orchard Community here in Aurora, a church that’s been actually in Aurora for over 100 years now believe it or not. For the past 12 years, I’ve had the privilege of leading the church as its Senior Pastor. My father, Larry Hodge, was the Pastor before me for 25 years and so needless to say we have a lot of roots here in Aurora. It is our place, our city. Over the past several years, our church has had more and more opportunities to be involved in downtown Aurora. As we’ve done that, our desire to be an even greater part of what’s happening in Aurora has continued to grow. Last year when we were presented with an opportunity to sell our campus, which our campus was located on the far west side of Aurora right across the street from Blackberry Farm, the church with the big white crosses, so when we had the opportunity to sell our church to a local mega church in the area, we really saw this as an opportunity to make an even greater investment here in downtown Aurora, which, of course, is why we are here and what we want to talk with you about. Our plan is not to plop a church into downtown Aurora, but rather it is to develop and create a 7 day a week social space that will be owned and operated by a completely separate entity that we’ve created called Project Canvas. I’ll get into more detain in just a moment, but the purpose of this space is real simple. It is to cultivate creativity, community, and connection while contributing both economically and culturally to our city as well. What I’d love to do is, and I know I’m a Pastor, so I promise I will keep it brief, but in just a moment I’ll come back up and talk about a couple of things, but before I go any further, I want to introduce Cara Mamott. Cara is our creative director. She is going to come up for just a minute or two and share about the concept itself and the space as well.
Ms. Mamott said first I just want to say that we are so honored to be part of the Project Canvas team and have the opportunity to collaborate on such a unique concept for the area. We are equally excited to be working with the City of Aurora on the continued effort of revitalization. There are some emerging trends happening all over the country and all over the world. In a time when technology and digital tools are running our daily lives, people are feeling the urge more than ever to get connected. They seek inspiring places to work, to socialize and to dream. They are hungry for spaces designed to spark collaboration and productivity and also incorporate the community. There is a rise in the glorified coffee houses that now also act as art galleries and musical venues. There is a boom in multi-sensory creative hubs and social houses, which provide creative environments for like-minded people. Our goal is to capitalize on this trend and bring it to a local level. We believe this concept, as well as the physical space it encompasses, will become a creative destination, one that mimics an urban eatery, coffee house, art gallery and studio space. A space designed to fuel creativity, inspire one another and provide a social setting that connects people right in the heart of downtown Aurora. The location, layout, size and architectural style of 100 S. River Street will be the perfect home for the 7 day a week social space. The high ceilings, concrete pillars and flooring on the ground level provide a cool urban vibe, perfect for the coffee house, work space, artisan market and test kitchen. On the second floor we will be utilizing the existing exposed brick and timber trusses to create a beautiful state of the art venue space for events. The renovated space will provide a warm, inviting, and modern sensibility that is comparable to some of the world’s coolest social clubs. But when looking more closely at the composition, it will be filled with handmade goods, locally sourced materials and artwork all created by local artisans, designers and creators inspiring those who walk through the front door and creating a heightened sense of community. It will become a place to gather, create and ignite. Thank you.
Mr. Hodge said thank you Cara. So these are some of the concepts. You have these as well, I believe. So as Cara mentioned, our plans are to acquire the old Pocus Motor building at 100 S. River Street where we will utilize every square inch of this space, of this building. What we are going to do that to create 5 very distinct spaces. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on these. I just want to give you an overview and then if you’d like us to go a little bit deeper into these we will be happy to. On the ground level, our plan is to create what is called the lounge. The lounge will be a 7 day a week urban coffee house. We will be serving fresh roasted coffee and locally baked goods. Our goal is to make this a very comfortable place to work; couches, work stations, really great Wi Fi, lots of beautiful art, live music on the weekends and at other times. That is the lounge. Next is the market. Inspired by many of the urban markets that are sort of popping up all over the country right now, the market will be dedicated to showcasing the work and the talents of locally based artisans, designers, makers. We are going to feature short-term low risk, low cost opportunities for local artisans to come and share their creations and their work with people in a way the perhaps have not had that opportunity to do so. There is also going to be a co-working and incubation element that are connected to this as well. Next is the kitchen. The kitchen will be a full sized commercial kitchen designed with artisanal small scale food producers, personal chefs and caterers in mind. The kitchen will be rentable by day, hour, week. We will also be hosting popup dinners, cooking demos, classes, workshops, etc. in the kitchen. Next are the studios. The studios are going to be midsize rooms that are going to be perfect for hosting things like yoga classes, writing workshops, film screenings, entrepreneurial seminars and more. Then last but not least, the room. The room is going to be a gorgeous state of the art 350 seat venue that will host everything from weddings to black tie galas, concerts, corporate events and more. We would love to bring some of the concepts that we’ve seen around the country, things like PechaKucha night, which I won’t get into, but it is a very cool movement that’s happening. TEDx as well is something we would be interested in trying to bring here to Aurora. Then, of course, this will also become the weekend gathering space for the Orchard Community. Our hope with this whole thing is that this would become a type of hub, a gathering space where people would come on a regular basis. The picture that I’d love to paint for you is if you can imagine a young man named Johnny who wants to come in and do a guitar lesson in one of the studios. While he is in his guitar lesson, mom is in a yoga class, not just doing yoga, but meeting people. While mom is in the yoga class, dad is in the kitchen, I’m sure. Dad is learning how to make pasta or how to butcher a pig workshop that we are offering. But that is our dream for this to be a type of hub, a place where people will come from all over our city and even beyond to be a part of all kinds of unique and exciting programs and events. We’ve talked a lot about this with so many different groups, but the thing that I keep coming back to is we believe that not only will this be a great addition to downtown Aurora, but I think we also see this as a great addition to the local neighborhood. There are so many great things happening, especially in this area of downtown Aurora. We are literally across the street from the beautiful library. Sci Tech, which my kids love, is right on the other side, of course. The new development happening at the West Aurora School District buildings that was recently announced and I think for the residents, River Street Plaza, the Mayan Building and so many others that are happening down there. Our hope is that this would become a space for the city, a space where the residents and businesses would utilize it on a regular basis. Thank you.
Mrs. Cole said I still have the same question. Will this building remain on the tax rolls or will this building be tax exempt because it is a church use?
Mr. Hodge said the church won’t actually own the building. The building will all be under the name of Project Canvas.
Mrs. Cole said is that a non-profit?
Mr. Hodge said it is a non-profit. If we lease the building, let’s say, from the owner, obviously it will stay on the tax rolls. If we buy it, we are still trying to figure out right now how that will work, but it is likely that it will remain.
Mr. Bergeron said what are your hours going to be?
Mr. Hodge said the hours are going to be for the coffee house for example, which will be our 7 day a week presence hours. We are still trying to figure that out. Right now it is likely going to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. is our goal Monday through Friday and then a little bit later on the weekends. Of course, there are going to be so many other events happening throughout the day, throughout the week. The goal is to see this constant movement happening in this space.
Mr. Bergeron said do you know what your maximum capacity in that building is going to be?
Mr. Hodge said no we don’t know that yet. We are still waiting on the final plans. The upstairs, which will be where the large space is, is a 350 seat space.
Mr. Bergeron said well with you dream, I can understand that, but River Street is such an incredibly busy street right now and if you get what you are proposing with all these people, parking, traffic, it just seems like it is an insurmountable problem.
Mr. Hodge said I don’t know if you guys want to address the parking, but I know we’ve talked a little bit about that.
Mr. Sieben said do you want to just touch on how that is going to work?
Mr. Hodge said there is plenty of parking. We are pretty confident in terms of what we are offering.
Mr. Bergeron said within walking distance.
Mr. Hodge said within walking distance. Behind the library is parking. I’m not sure what their hours are, but on the weekends, on Sunday, they are not even open. So there is parking behind the library. This shows here some of the parking. So you’ve got behind the library, you’ve got over by El Tio Restaurant, and you’ve got some on the street there. When we’ve done the math to figure out our average size of events, we are pretty confident that we should be in good shape.
Mrs. Anderson said do you know of any other similar projects out there such as this one? If so, have they been successful?
Mr. Hodge said it would be very helpful if we could find someone who is doing exactly what we are doing. There are elements happening. There are people who are doing pieces of this. It is pretty unique actually. We’ve done a lot of research. We’ve done a lot of travelling to different spaces, so there are pieces and elements, not one exactly like this.
Mr. Cameron said what is the square footage of the building?
Mr. Hodge said it is a little under 20,000, I’d say 19,000 roughly.
Mr. Cameron said is that including the basement?
Mr. Hodge said it is 19,000 plus and the basement is 3,050.
Mr. Cameron said so 10,000 square feet per floor.
Mr. Hodge said per floor and about, I think, about 3,000 or 3,500 for the basement.
Chairman Truax said what is the general condition of the building now? Do you have a lot of renovation to do?
Mr. Hodge said we actually don’t. It is in great shape. We’ve had inspections done and people come and everybody is pretty happy. We’ve got a little of elevator work we are going to do, but for the most part it is in great shape.
Mrs. Cole said I was with a group downtown yesterday and we were having a conversation about parking and with all the new residents going in downtown and the Paramount and now you are proposing a 350 seat venue also, you still don’t see a parking problem? Incidentally, the Aurora Library is open on Sundays during the school year.
Mr. Hodge said even with that, we’ve gotten a lot of input on it and when we’ve done our calculations we feel pretty confident.
Mrs. Cole said how many people do you draw on Sunday? I’ve been out there when you’ve had something going on at the church out there and it is packed.
Mr. Hodge said obviously if it is Easter or some big thing there are more people, but on average, I don’t know for the count of cars, but on average between 200 to 300 people, but you have people who are 3 or 4 people in a car.
Chairman Truax said so is your congregation still out on Barnes Road?
Mr. Hodge said no. We are in an interim space right now in North Aurora.
Mr. Cameron said your seating plan for that upper area shows 216 at tables, so the 350 would be.
Mr. Hodge said that’s right. There are different configurations. It depends on how it is set up. If it just chairs in a traditional conference style, it would easily be 350. If it is round tables, it is a bit less.
The public input portion of the public hearing was opened. No witnesses came forward. The public input portion of the public hearing was closed.
Mrs. Vacek said staff would recommend approval of the Ordinance approving the Revision to the River Street Plaza Plan Description for the property located at 100 S. River Street being at the southeast corner of River and Benton Street.
Mrs. Cole said I do have one more question. Can you kind of describe sidewalk activities?
Mrs. Vacek said sidewalk activities, if they are doing some like retails and they want to have like a sidewalk sale for the retail, that would be allowed in the downtown core pursuant to the Zoning Ordinance. There are certain limited things that they can sell outside in front of their building.
Mrs. Cole said do they have on-grade access to the Riverwalk in the rear?
Mrs. Vacek said it is on-grade, but I don’t believe that there is a door to that back. I just was walking by it the other day and I did not see one.
Chairman Truax said but you have access if you go around the building.
Mrs. Vacek said correct. You do have access if you go around the building and you can get on from off of Benton.
Motion of Approval was Made by: Mr. Cameron
Motion Seconded by: Mrs. Anderson
Ayes: Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Bergeron, Mr. Cameron, Mrs. Cole, Mr. Divine, Mrs. Head
Nays: None
Findings of Fact:
1. Is the proposal in accordance with all applicable official physical development policies and other related official plans and policies of the City of Aurora?
Mrs. Cole said these are listed in the staff report.
2. Does the proposal represent the logical establishment and/or consistent extension of the requested classification in consideration of the existing land uses, existing zoning classifications, and essential character of the general area of the property in question?
Mr. Cameron said it does seem to reflect the wishes of the city. It seems to be taking on development of street related and entertainment and various activities that seem to fit within the wishes of the city.
Mrs. Cole said and instead of doing it in different buildings, they are doing it all in one building.
3. Is the proposal consistent with a desirable trend of development in the general area of the property in question, occurring since the property in question was placed in its present zoning classification, desirability being defined as the trend’s consistency with applicable official physical development policies and other related official plans and policies of the City of Aurora?
Chairman Truax said as Ken just said, it seems like it is a desirable trend of development from a cultural point of view for the other activities the city is trying to do.
4. Will the proposal maintain a compatible relationship with the traffic pattern and traffic volume of adjacent streets and not have an adverse effect upon traffic or pedestrian movement and safety in the general area of the property in question?
Mrs. Cole said this kind of remains to be seen. It sounds like this is going to generate a lot of traffic, both cars and human. There are traffic lights. There is parking to the west of this facility and also to the east, so if everyone follows the rules it should work.
5. Will the proposal allow for the provision of adequate public services and facilities to the property in question and have no adverse effect upon existing public services and facilities?
Mr. Cameron said I think they are in place already.
6. Does the proposal take adequate measures or will they be taken to provide ingress and egress so designed as to maximize pedestrian and vehicular circulation ease and safety, minimize traffic congestion, and not substantially increase the congestion in the public streets?
Mr. Cameron said typically the only congestion would come from cars, but the nature of it seems to direct and diffuse that out into adjoining parking areas, so it should be primarily pedestrian traffic, except for drop off. It might be a good idea to take a look at centralizing or setting up a spot for that to occur so it doesn’t occur on two streets.
9a. Will the Special Use not preclude the normal and orderly development and improvement of surrounding properties due to the saturation or concentration of similar uses in the general area?
Chairman Truax said again, this is a unique use and I don’t think there is a saturation or concentration of such things in downtown.
Mr. Cameron said it is not likely that we will have another automobile use in downtown.
9b. Is the Special Use in all other respects in conformance to the applicable regulations of the district in which it is located, except as such regulations may in each instance be modified by the City Council pursuant to the recommendations of the Plan Commission?
Chairman Truax said yes it does.
Mrs. Vacek said this will next be heard at the Planning and Development Committee on Thursday, April 27, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. on the fifth floor of this building.
A motion was made by Mr. Cameron, seconded by Mrs. Anderson, that this agenda item be Forwarded to the Planning & Development Committee, on the agenda for 4/27/2017. The motion carried.
17-00250 A Resolution Approving a Preliminary Plan for Lot 2 of Bell Gale Business Park Resubdivison Being Vacant Land located at 335 Marshall Avenue being northwest corner of Marshall Avenue and Gale Street
Mrs. Morgan said this is a Preliminary Plan for Lot 2 of Bell Gale Business Park. The project is currently vacant. It is zoned M-1(S) Manufacturing. It is part of the Bell Gale Industrial Condominium Park Special Use Planned Development. Details of the project include 2 buildings, which would be used as office/warehouse. The easterly most portion building as you can see on the Preliminary Plan will be the first space and will be built now. It consists of 3,427 square feet of office and 4,885 square feet of warehouse space with a total of 40 parking spaces. The westerly portion is the second phase building and it is approximately 9,000 square feet, also divided into office and warehouse with mostly about 7,500 square feet of warehouse. The access to both buildings will be from Marshall Avenue. As you can see, there are 3 different curb cuts for access for 3 different lots. The building elevations are not subject to view at this time, as this is the Preliminary Plan, but we will be, obviously, reviewing that at Final Plan and staff is looking at the fact that it is an upper scale industrial appearance, which was noted in the Plan Description for this area. The Petitioner is here to answer any questions if you don’t have any questions for staff.
My name is Rich Cannavino with Cannavino Construction. I’m representing A & E Roofing and Siding. We have the owners, Pastor and Alex Cruz, with us here and we have our civil engineer, Brandon Jafari, if you have any questions for him. That was a pretty good summary of what we have to present here. It is for A & E Roofing and Siding. They are currently located at 20 S. Locust in Aurora. They’ve been there for 13 years. The main purpose of the project that you see here is to expand their business and have more room to work. As it was stated earlier, it is about 1.75 acres on an existing commercial vacant lot within the Bell Gale Business Park. The building is 8,312 square feet and it is a combination of warehouse and an office. It has, as you can see, parking lots on both sides. The public that would come in would be on the far east side of that building and the workers would come in, in a fenced area on the left side of what you are looking at. It does have, as you can see, adequate landscaping and it will have a decorative metal fence that will be separating the section of the property backing to the residential houses that you see in the back of the property. Their main business hours are Monday through Friday between 7:00 and 4:00, so it is not a 24/7 kind of thing going on with the residences in the back there. If you have any questions, I’d be glad to answer them for you.
Mr. Bergeron said I was wondering, the staff had some recommendations that you did not respond to as yet. Is there a reason for that?
Mrs. Morgan said this was done prior to their resubmittal. They have addressed most of the comments. Staff does have just additional comments about curbing. One of the islands is still not shown as curbed, and I think this is just a minor formatting issue to adjust some of their parking spaces so it is not actually going into the curb.
Chairman Truax said okay so you are saying that the issues raised are pretty well.
Mrs. Morgan said pretty well. I’ll still condition the one comment about the curbing.
Mrs. Morgan staff would recommend conditional approval of the Resolution approving a Preliminary Plan for Lot 2 of Bell Gale Business Park Resubdivision being vacant land located at 335 Marshall Avenue being at the northwest corner of Marshall Avenue and Gale Street with the following condition:
1. That all portions of the 3 parking lots, including all islands, be curbed and the parking spaces and dumpster location be altered accordingly to incorporate the width of the curb. They just need to shift the parking spaces. It is just a formatting issue.
Motion of Conditional Approval was Made by: Mr. Bergeron
Motion Seconded by: Mrs. Anderson
Ayes: Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Bergeron, Mr. Cameron, Mrs. Cole, Mr. Divine, Mrs. Head
Nays: None
Mrs. Morgan said this will next be heard at the Planning and Development Committee on Thursday, April 27, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. on the fifth floor of this building.
A motion was made by Mr. Bergeron, seconded by Mrs. Anderson, that this agenda item be Forwarded to the Planning & Development Committee, on the agenda for 4/27/2017. The motion carried.
17-00256 A Resolution Approving a Revision to the Final Plan for Unit Four of The Estate Homes of Verona Ridge Subdivision, Located at Verona Ridge, Unit 4 for a One Family Dwelling (1100) Use
Mr. Sieben said this is for the Verona Ridge Subdivision out on Deerpath and Indian Trail, the far west side of Aurora. Taylor Morrison of Illinois is what became of Orleans Homes, who was the original developer. Rick Zirk is here to answer any questions in a minute. Essentially, I believe there are 18 lots left in Unit 4, which is the last unit of the development on the north side. They currently have a number of floor plans that were approved in 2015 when Taylor Morrison kind of reinvigorated Verona Ridge. They really upped some of the elevations. What they are proposing then is to keep the current elevations that are already approved and then add 2 additional. The 2 additional they are looking at are the Becker, which is about a 2,800 square foot 2 story, 4 bedroom. There are all 3 car garages, either front load or side load, depending on the lot width if you recall. Then the second model they are proposing is the Goodwin, which is another 2 story, about 2,950 square feet, again 2 story, 4 bedroom and 3 car garages. Currently their 2 biggest sellers right now is they have 1 ranch, the Lexington, which is just over 2,600 square feet and then one of their smaller 2 stories, the Prescott, which is 2,908 square foot is another big seller. These two 2 stories, the Becker will be slotted right between the ranch and the Prescott and then the Goodwin will be then a little bit larger than the Prescott, so it is kind of in their niche range there of square footage and this will allow more options for the buyers for the remaining properties. Again, these meet the minimum square footage and standards from when this was approved in 2005 and there should be no impact on the surrounding properties and current residents that are already there.
Mr. Cameron said it seems to me I remember, are there street faced variations that are required so that you need the mix of elevations and styles?
Mr. Sieben said correct. As with any subdivision, there is anti-monotony, so that’s correct. This will actually help that a little bit because everyone wanted those same 2 models, so this will help break it up a little bit.
Mr. Zirk said Ed did steal pretty much all of my thunder. The real point of what we are trying to do is every few years we try to update product to keep things current and keep things updated based on what folks want, so it is two sides. One is trying to provide some additional floor plans that address the desires of the current buyers and then as Ed said, the real issues we have is we have a lot of people, it seems like this happens in a lot subdivisions, people come in and everybody wants the same house. They really like the style, they really like that floor plan or the size or whatever. Here we have a lot of ranches surprisingly. As you were saying Mr. Cameron, we were running into monotony issues where everybody wants the same house. You have 3 or 4 elevations. We have an anti-monotony provision internally in addition to what the city has, so we try to add floor plans and elevations so that we don’t run into a situation where someone comes in and wants the same thing. I think it is further complicated or exasperated in this case because as you said, there are a couple of different garage orientation requirements. I think most of the homes that are left are on the 100 foot lots and they require the side load 3 car garage. Then we have a handful of homes and they all have to be side load and it makes it even more difficult to keep the monotony down, so by adding these in, in a 3 car side load condition will give us more options of the 3 car side load at a square footage and a floor plan that folks seem to prefer. It is really nothing more than that. It is pretty straightforward. It is a consumer demand on us and a consumer demand response on our part.
Mr. Cameron said have you found that for the 18 lots left that you’ve had to also change the definition of the specs and what’s desirable and change that at all?
Mr. Zirk said no, I think we have a wide enough array of that that everybody that comes through the door can kind of find what they want. We do special design requests for folks that what something very specific, but for the most part I think there is enough different. These last floor plans we submitted were just 2 years ago, so we haven’t seen that big swing in spec, we just see a preference in a certain size house and certain style house and that’s we are kind of focusing on.
Mr. Sieben said staff does recommend approval of the Resolution approving the Revision to the Final Plan for Unit 4 of the Estate Homes of Verona Ridge Subdivision.
Motion of Approval was Made by: Mrs. Cole
Motion Seconded by: Mr. Cameron
Ayes: Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Bergeron, Mr. Cameron, Mrs. Cole, Mr. Divine, Mrs. Head
Nays: None
Mr. Sieben said this will next be heard at the Planning and Development Committee on Thursday, April 27, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. on the fifth floor of this building.
A motion was made by Mrs. Cole, seconded by Mr. Cameron, that this agenda item be Forwarded to the Planning & Development Committee, on the agenda for 4/27/2017. The motion carried.
Pending
Committee Reports:
A) Amendments
B) Grant and Award Research
C) Comprehensive Plan
Announcements:
Mr. Sieben said the next meeting will be the regular meeting on May 3rd.
Chairman Truax said I asked before the meeting, a lot of people on the Planning Commission did not get the Economic Statements e-mailed to them to fill out, the city ones. People got the Kane County ones, but not the city ones. I understand they are due May 1st, so would it be possible to get the city to send them back out without each of us calling individually?
Mr. Sieben said we will check on that tomorrow.
Adjournment:
A motion was made by Mr. Bergeron, seconded by Mrs. Anderson, that this agenda item be adjourned. The motion carried by voice vote. Chairman Truax adjourned the meeting at 8:35 p.m.
https://www.aurora-il.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_04192017-1018
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