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07-06-2004 Regular MeetingCity of Clermont MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION Judy 6, 2004 The meeting of the Planning & Zoning Commission was called to order Tuesday, July 6, 2004, at 7:00 p.m. by Chairman David Pape. Members present were Maggie Miller, David Lange, Roger Pierce, Carolyn Mathieson, David Outlaw. Richard Tegen and Sy Holzman. Henry Rhee was absent. Also in attendance were Barry Brown, Director of Planning, Darren Gray, Assistant City Manager, Daniel Mantzaris, City Attorney and Jane McAllister, Planning and Zoning Clerk. MINUTES of the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting held June 1, 2004 were not approved due to the following amendments: Per Richard Tegen the final sentence on Page 14 was not completed. Maggie Miller pointed out that on Page 14, paragraph number 7, sentence 1 should be deleted because she did not specifically say that the council would have voted differently. The first sentence has been amended to read "Commission Member Miller stated that if the Council had had the benefit of seeing the addendum to the April minutes, they would have had the opportunity to consider all of the Planning and Zoning Commission's concerns. • Commission Member Miller moved to table the approval of the June 2004 minutes until the next meefing after the Commission has had an opportunity to review them: seconded by Commission Member Tegen The motion passed with all members pesent voting "aye". REPORTS Planning Director Barry Brown announced his resignation and said that July 30, 2004 would be his last day with the City of Clermont. He was wished well by the Commission. Commission Member Miller announced that there were three upcoming City Council workshops. Chairman David Pape commented on the fact that the median on Oakley Seaver Dr. near Cracker Barrel has not been landscaped and looks awful. Assistant City Manager Darren Gray said he would follow up to see why that particular median has not been landscaped. • Clty of Clermont MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION . July 6, 2004 Commission Member Holzman asked why the Drive-In sign, for which the Peoples State Bank and Holiday Inn Express received a variance, has not yet been refurbished. He pointed out that the applicants had been in a hurry to be allowed to use the sign for advertising. The next two items regard the same property and were introduced together. 1. REQUEST FOR REZONING APPLICANT: Jimmy D. Crawford OWNER: J. & W. Clermont, LLC. REQUEST: To rezone from UE, Urban Estate to C-2, General Commercial. LOCATION: Parcel generally located North of S.R. 50, East of Citrus Tower Blvd. and West of Hancock Road. EXISTING LAND USE: Vacant • SIZE OF PARCEL: 3.7 +/-acres FUTURE LAND USE DESIGNATION: Lake County Urban. EXISTING ZONING: Lake County C-2 Commercial. Planning Director Barry Brown introduced this request by saying that the owner of the property is planning to develop a mixed use development including restaurants, retail and professional office. The property is currently in Lake County and has the proper County land use (Urban) and zoning (County C-2) for the proposed mixed use development. The owner is requesting annexation and City utilities and services. Since all annexed properties enter the City with UE Urban Estate Residential zoning, the applicant is requesting a rezoning to C-2 General Commercial zoning. The property is appropriately located in a strip of land bounded on the south by SR 50 and on the north by the planned frontage road. To the north is the Lake Sumter Community College and the South Lake Hospital campus; to the east is the Progress Energy substation; to the south is undeveloped commercial property, and to the west is the future Hampton Inn. The proposed use is appropriately located and complementary to the • surrounding uses. Staff recommends approval of the requested rezoning to C-2 General Commercial. 2 City of Clermont MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION • July 6, 2004 2. REQUEST FOR A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT APPLICANT :Jimmy D. Crawford OWNER: J. & W. Clermont, LLC. REQUEST: To allow for the construction of a commercial site to include restaurants, retail and office space. LOCATION: North of S.R. 50, East of Citrus Tower Blvd. and West of Hancock Road. FUTURE LAND USE DISTRICT: FUTURE LAND USE CLASSIFICATION: EXISTING ZONING: C-2, General Commercial. Planning Director Barry Brown introduced this request by saying that the • applicant intends to located a mixed use development with restaurants, miscellaneous retail, and professional office on this 3.8 acre parcel. Two of the businesses will be quality restaurants occupying a majority of the business space. The remaining business space will serve as retail and professional office space. The applicant is also requesting a variance to allow for sloped buffers, landscape islands to be smaller than 300 square feet, and a sign variance to allow for two monument signs. Staff recommends approval of the request to allow a mixed use development with restaurants, miscellaneous retail and professional office. Planning Director Barry Brown also mentioned that this property is going to be annexed into the City and that the right-of-way for the north/south connection from State Road 50 to the Frontage road has been dedicated. Jayson Stringfellow, 1455 W. Lakeshore Drive, Clermont, FL. was sworn in and said that the ancillary uses in the two buildings at the rear of the property would likely be a Barney's Coffee Shop and a Goldstone ice cream store. He added that the Frontage road would be built along with the project. • City of Clermont MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION • July 6, 2004 The two restaurants that will be occupying the two front parcels will be Panera's Bread and Carrabba"s Italian Restaurant. Mr. Stringfellow said that Carrabba's may have a regional office in one of the rear buildings as well. Mr. Stringfellow said the site will be set up in a courtyard design. He also mentioned that the planned uses are staggered so traffic isn't concentrated at one time and there will be no parking or traffic problems. Commission Member Holzman expressed concern about the variances. He asked about the sign variance. Mr. Stringfellow explained that if he had developed the site as four separate out parcels he would have been entitled to a sign for each out parcel. He stated that he opted to develop the site as a single unit with the courtyard. This would allow only one sign for the entire site. He stated that the two restaurants wanted to each have their own monument sign and that is what the variance is for. Commission Member Holzman asked about the variance for a sloped landscape buffer. • Mr Stringfellow explained that on the eastern end of the property it probably won't be necessary to ask for a sloped buffer, however, at the entrance there is a large slope and a sloped buffer will be necessary there. Commission Member Pierce asked where the storm water retention would be. Mr. Stringfellow replied that all the storm water for the project goes to a master pond on the hospital property. It is a joint pond for several properties in the area. Commission Member Miller asked if there was direct access to the dumpsters from the rear of the restaurants. Mr. Stringfellow replied that there was direct access to the dumpsters. Bill Banzhaff, 931 W. Montrose Street, Clermont, FL was sworn in and stated that businesses like those destined for this project need to be downtown. He went on to say that they would draw people to the downtown area and that the City should consider making it an attractive prospect for other such businesses. Commission Member Holzman moved to approve the request for Rezoninc,~ seconded by Commission Member Tegen The motion passed with all members present voting "aVe" • 4 City of Clermont MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION • July 6, 2004 Commission Member Holzman moved to approve the Conditional Use Permit; seconded by Commission Member Mathieson. The motion passed with all members present voting "a ye" 3. REQUEST FOR A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT APPLICANT : James Hurtak OWNER: Hurtak Family Partnership REQUEST: To amend an existing CUP to allow for the construction of additional retail space. EXISTING ZONING: C-2, General Commercial. GENERAL LOCATION: South Lake Plaza, 684 E Highway 50. EXISTING LAND USE: Shopping Center including Winn Dixie and former Scotty's, currently Beall's Outlet Store. LAND USE DISTRICT: Established Business District -2 (EBD-2) LAND USE CLASSIFICATION: Commercial Planning Director Barry Brown introduced this request by saying that the additional retail space will add life to an older retail center. By allowing the additional space, the CUP is reopened and thus allows for the City to bring the site up to current code as much as practical. Since the applicant has agreed to provide additional landscape islands in the parking lot and upgrade the existing landscape materials, staff recommends approval of the request to amend the CUP to allow the expansion of the shopping center. There will be access to the site from Highland Avenue and a lane in the parking lot leading to the Kentucky Fried Chicken which will add landscaped islands to the parking lot. Mr. Brown said that the applicant would be requesting a variance for 124 parking spaces less than what is required by code. He said he would allow the applicant explain the difference in parking spaces and what retail had been there before. Arthur Nix, 17550 County Road 455, Montverde, FL was sworn in and stated that this shopping center has been owned by the Hurtak Family for many years. In fact, he said that the Hurtak family originally developed the site. He stated that • City of Clermont MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION • July 6, 2004 originally there was more square footage of retail space than there is now and even more than what they were asking for now in order to build an office supply store. Mr. Nix explained that what was Scotty's garden center previous to Scotty's were retail stores that amounted to 17,300 square feet. The proposed office supply store will take 15, 390 square feet which is less that what was there originally. He said this type of facility does not generate a large amount of traffic and therefore no additional parking is needed. James Hurtak, 2718 Brookhollow Road, Clermont, FL 34711 was sworn in and said that over the years South Lake Plaza has been renovated several times. He said that each time they upgrade the landscaping and try to keep it up to code. Commission Member Carolyn Mathieson said-that adding the Bealls Outlet was a good thing. She said that the tenants that are there do not require as much parking as is required by code, and asked if the entrance from Highway 50 could be widened. She suggested that some additional parking spaces could be sacrificed in that effort. • Arthur Nix said that the entrance meets code at 24 feet wide. He mentioned that the additional entrances like the one from Highland Avenue and the cross access from the properties to the west will take some of the pressure off the Highway 50 entrance. Commission Miller added that she was for widening the entrance from Highway 50, even if it means losing one more row of parking spaces to do it. She went on to say that ordinarily she would object to a variance to eliminate parking spaces, but that she has never seen this parking lot any where near full and this would be a good plan. Commission Member Outlaw asked if the owner of the site could require in the lease that the employees of the stores be required to use the rear parking lot. Mr. Hurtak said he did not see any problem with putting that in a lease. Commission Member Outlaw suggested taking the additional space needed to widen the Highway 50 entrance and from the east side of the corridor. That way there would be fewer parking spaces lost. Commission Member Mathieson asked that for the record Staff be asked to look at widening that corridor from the Highway 50 entrance. 6 City of Clermont MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION July 6, 2004 Commission Member Miller asked if there was a time frame for the development of the property to the west of the site. Barry Brown replied there was none that he knows of. Commission Member Miller moved to approve the request as wriften: seconded by Commission Member Pierce The motion passed with all members present voting "ale': DISCUSSION OF NON AGENDA ITEMS. Commission Member Miller stated that there is much more content in the minutes and she expressed her appreciation. There was discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of receiving the minutes via a-mail. Several members liked receiving the minutes by a-mail because they get it sooner than in their packets. Some members preferred getting the minutes in their packets. It was decided the minutes would be sent via email and also sent on hard copy • with the packets. City Attorney Daniel Mantazris suggested that the Commission should clearly state their reasons for approval or denial of a request before they make the motion. Some serious considerations might be included in the motion, or could be made a condition of the Conditional Use Permit. Any of these procedures would assure that the City Council would be fully informed of the intentions of the Commission. There being no further business the meeting was David ATTEST: ~ ~~ ~ ~~~. Jane cAllister - P nning Technician I1