JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION &
BOARD OF ZONING AND APPEALS MINUTES

Date: November 30, 2009
Time: 7:00 p.m.

(These minutes were published in the Jan. 21, 2010 Bluffton council packet.)

Location: Bluffton Hospital
BZA: Bill Gable, Gordon Diller, and John Harbison
Planning: Jerry Cupples, Bob Amstutz, and Dick Ramseyer
Administration: Nancy Benroth and Mayor Fred Rodabaugh
Guests: Carolyn Armstrong, Kevin Wood, L. Lamar Nisly, Don & Deanna Essinger, Clayton Weiss, Dave Schafer, Terry Stoodt, Howard Shelly, Jane Steinmetz, Sharl Steiner, and Jennifer Baier
Petitioner: Bill Watkins and Dennis Marquart
ACM Architects: Brett Gies and Jerry Murray

The legal notice was published in the Bluffton News on November 19, 2009.

Letters were sent to all the property owners within 200 feet of all property lines.

The Village received a letter of request for a joint Planning Commission and Board of Zoning and Appeals hearing. $100 fee was paid for the hearings.

A joint hearing was requested because the hospital wishes to expand its current building, create a parking lot on the land next to Kibler Street, remove the structures on the property on Garau Street and build a garage for their vehicles and snow equipment. The property on Garau Street will be leveled and a garage built. This land is zoned R-II which doesn't allow for an accessory building without a main building. In essence a garage cannot be built because there isn't a house there. The hospital wishes to rezone the area to a C-I which would allow the garage to be built and the area to be zoned the same as the hospital.

Watkins addressed the attendees and informed them that this work was following their long term plan and would expand emergency and surgery areas, plus provide additional parking. They wish the area to be rezoned so that the garage will comply with the zoning ordinance.

Plans of the site were show to the crowd. Questions were accepted. Are there any R-I or R-II properties in the area that have been changed to C-I? No, the only thing zoned C-I is the hospital.

The architects explained where the garage would be located, parking and landscaping. The flood candles would not shine beyond the property. The garage would be constructed of a wood frame, vinyl siding and asphalt shingles. It would look like the other garages in the neighborhood.

The Mayor explained the alternative to rezoning. In an R-II, the current garage could be torn down; an accessory building constructed 5 feet from the back property line and then the house torn down. It would not violate the zoning ordinance but is not really the most neighbor friendly way to do it. Rezoning and explaining the details is more open.

Dr. Shelly owns the doctor's office beside this property. He wanted to know if any vegetation would be put behind the garage and down the property line. The current plans are drawn up with landscaping there. He asks that it be reconsidered and that asphalt be placed all the way up to the building. This would make it easier to maintain and plow snow. The grass strip would be eliminated. Part of the current grass strip is on Dr. Shelly's property. He will discuss its removal and the entire area asphalted with Mr. Watkins.

A motion was made by Cupples; seconded by Amstutz to recommend the zoning change to Council from R-II to C-I. Motion passed.

The next item to discuss was the variance for the garage. To make maximum use of the lots and create additional parking and ease of egress and ingress, a variance of 22' was requested for the rear setback of the garage. In a C-II district, the rear setback for any building is 25 feet. The proposal places the garage 3 feet from the property line. It was explained that the doors to the garage would open out on to the parking lot facing Garau Street. Dr. Shelly asked that the layout be explained. Dr. Shelly's parking lot is behind the garage. The neighbors had concerns that if this variance was granted, anything else on these lots would automatically be allowed to be 3 feet from the property line. Their concern included a 2 story office building being erected. A motion was made by Diller; seconded by Harbison to allow for a 22 foot variance with the stipulation that it only applies to the garage. Motion passed.

The following discussion jumps across the street to the block abutted by Garau Street, Harmon Road and Kibler Street. Plans for this area were explained by the architects. On the Garau Street side, the old ambulance bays will be removed and an extension of the current building heading toward Harmon Road will be added to house the new surgery unit. The front will run parallel to the current building and end 17 feet before the corner to allow for intersection visibility. A variance of 7.75 feet is requested. Front setback in a C-I zone is 25 feet and so a variance is required to allow the addition to be 17.25 feet from the property line. A motion was made by Harbison; seconded by Gable to allow a 7.75 foot variance for this portion of the property. Motion passed.

The next step is to expand the emergency area into the old surgery area. The expansion of the surgery and emergency areas will encroach on the Harmon Road side of the block. The setback again is 25 feet and the proposal requires the addition to set 4 feet from the property line. It will come closer to the property line that that of the current emergency room. When the current emergency room was added, a variance was gotten of 14.1 feet to allow the building footprint to be 10.9 feet from the property line. With this old variance in mind, we'll make the new setback 10.9 feet. The hospital than is requesting a variance of 6.9 feet to allow the setback to be 4 feet. A motion was made by Gable; seconded by Diller to allow a variance of 6.9 feet for the surgery and emergency room area. Motion passed.

A new parking lot will be created on the lots facing Kibler Street. A 6 foot solid vinyl fence will be installed as a barrier between the side property (Nisly's) and back properties along Kibler Street. It will have the same lighting as the parking lot on Garau Street and only shine on the hospital property. There will be two entrances for visitors off of Kibler Street and a delivery entrance off of Harmon Road. A double wide inviting door entrance to the hospital will be located facing Kibler Street. In a sense, the hospital will have two main entrances. One on Garau Street and one in the back of the hospital. A canopy will overhang the door entrance.

Nisly requested that the side fence be moved over a little to allow for bushes along their drive. The fence would box in his house and he would like to soften it up. The architect doesn't think that his will be feasible. If moved, it would decrease the parking area and that may not allow for parking spaces along that fence. The vehicles would head diagonally into the fence so that could cut the 20' requirement too short. Nisly's drive is actually an alley that was vacated and 6' of it belongs to Nisly and 6' belong to the hospital. The plans allow Nisly to have full and singular use.

Weiss wanted the delivery entrance fully explained. Currently semis drive off of Harmon Road and back into the hospital. Many cannot make the turn and end up running the cab portion thru his front yard. The new plans allow for the trucks to pull straight in and then back their trailers to the delivery doors. In this way, they can also pull out onto Harmon Road and have great visibility. The throat of the delivery entrance would be 30 feet wide.

Nisly was concerned about the parking lot entrances on Kibler Street. This is a residential area and wondered if it would be better to have the entrances off of Harmon Road instead. The architects stated that it's better to run a parking lot longwise, it provides more spaces. If the entrances came off Harmon Road, the parking spaces along that side would be lost. They would lose 12 spaces. Long-wise is the most efficient. The Mayor noted that Kibler has always feed industrial facilities. The road was built for that type of use. Previously the dump, a hatchery and a dairy were in the area, now the stone quarry is and Vetter Lumber. Kibler is the 3rd heaviest traveled road in town.

Harmon Road is a residential street and has residential street parking on the east side. Some of this would be alleviated with a bigger parking lot. Residential street parking depends on the width of the road. With that in mind, Kibler would probably still have residential street parking. To provide parking for the residents, we may have to go to a parking permit basis like around the University.

The new parking lot will have 53 spaces and an additional 29 will be across the street in the Garau Street parking lot. Landscaping will be included around the perimeter of the parking lot and special pavement incorporated to create less heat absorption.

During the construction, the contractor will have to park off site. Employees will need to be trucked in. Sites are being looked at about 2 miles out of town. This should allow for maximum hospital visitor parking and cut down on the congestion. The project should take about 1 1/2 years.

The addition on the Garau Street frontage will be a single story and the area over the old parking lot in the back, two stories. Storm drainage will be housed under the pavement in underground piping. The fixtures will be energy efficient and if possible all other materials will be made from renewable materials. Air quality will be monitored during the project and after. It will be the only LEED medical facility in Northwest Ohio.

The attendees hand no more questions.

Meeting adjourned.