WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2009

REGULAR MEETING

6:30 P.M.

1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Wisniewski called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M., with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Sauer present. No members were absent. Others present were: Chief Mike Taylor, Lynda Yartin, Tricia Sanders, Ed Drobina, Lance Schultz, Greg Bachman, Brenda VanCleave, Jim Ebright, Doug Maddy, Ben Hale, Jim Watkins, John Gallagher, and others.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF September 16, 2009, Regular Meeting. Mr. Sauer moved to approve; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

3. COMMUNITY COMMENTS: There were no community comments.

4. DEVELOPMENT:

A. Development Director’s Report. Mr. Schultz stated he had provided a written report and would answer any questions. Mr. Wisniewski clarified there were no new development issues since the last meeting.

5. PLANNING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT:

A. Planning and Zoning Director’s Report. Mr. Schultz stated he had provided a written report and would be happy to answer any questions.

(1) Planning and Zoning Representative Report. Mr. Sauer stated rezoning and preliminary development plan on tonight’s agenda was the major item discussed at the last Planning and Zoning meeting.

B. ACTION ITEMS:

(1) Review and request for motion to approve the rezoning and preliminary development plan for approximately 16 acres (Ebright/Homestead parcels) from R-4 (Residential) to PC-3 (Planned Community Commercial District) for a retail, office, and 4 Seasons Sports Complex. Mr. Schultz stated Planning and Zoning approved this at their last meeting with 22 conditions. He stated if it is approved by the Committee tonight the final development plan can be submitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission for review. Mr. Schultz stated this is a three-step project as there is not only the planning component, but the applicant is proposing a development agreement and TIF that would go through Council for approval. Mr. Schultz stated the development is in three stages and has three distinct components with Phase I being a 100,000 square foot sports complex with four indoor soccer fields and Phase II would have a 75,000 square foot office development in several buildings and 24,500 square feet in a retail area in two buildings. He stated the curb cut would be at Refugee Road at the Windmiller signal, just west of the Big Bear on the Ebright/Homestead property. Mr. Schultz stated Mr. Bachman would address traffic issues on this project. Mr. Bachman stated the site plan has one major access point at Refugee Road and Windmiller. He stated the previous site plan had an additional access point at S.R. 256 and Birchwood, however, there were concerns about the stripping that is in the Plaza and in order to make that work so many changes needed to be made that it could not be worked out with the owner of the property. Mr. Bachman stated a traffic impact study was done for the site. He stated during the study the intersections of Refugee/Windmiller, Refugee/S.R. 256 and Refugee/Fuller’s Way were looked at to see what effect this development would have on those intersections. Mr. Bachman stated currently those three intersections have an acceptable level of service. He stated the Refugee/S.R. 256 intersection is barely at an acceptable level of service, but for the criteria that are used for traffic it does meet that, but it is obviously close to capacity. Mr. Bachman stated if the development went in right away there would still be an acceptable level of service, but if you look ten years out, even without this development a few things will be needed to keep an acceptable level of service. He stated this development would just add to those concerns. Mr. Bachman stated to keep these intersections at an acceptable level of service three things would need to be done. First, on S.R. 256 southbound a continuous dedicated right-turn lane from S.R. 256 to Refugee Road west, and that is partially done with the drug store that went in there. Further, eastbound on Refugee Road a second left-turn lane going north on S.R. 256, and also on the opposite side of Refugee Road, westbound on Refugee Road, a second left-turn lane to southbound S.R. 256. So, basically, there would be double left-turn lanes on Refugee Road. Mr. Bachman stated that is a lower cost option than what has been looked at previously and the reason for this is that there are already two receiving lanes on S.R. 256 for those left-turn movements. Mr. Bachman stated he has spoken with the applicant about doing a TIF on the project and while the applicant wouldn’t be paying for those improvements, per se, the TIF would be generating money to do those improvements or other improvements in the City, and that would be a way to get some of those improvements done. Mr. Bachman stated if this development did not come in we would no money from this development to do any of the improvements that we need anyway, so this development would bring money into the City to help us do some of the improvements that are needed. Mr. Bachman stated at Windmiller/Refugee the site plan shows a 30-foot throat there, three ten foot wide lanes, and we have requested that those be three 12-foot wide lanes and the applicant agreed to that. Also, this road is eventually to connect to the north to Stonecreek, and on our thoroughfare plan Stonecreek is to continue on to Fuller’s Way, so this road could eventually go through the Nicodemus property to the west and connect. Mr. Wisniewski clarified this road was a part of the thoroughfare plan. Mr. Bachman stated another change was the right-in/right-out on Refugee Road, in the middle of Sub-Area C, has been changed to a right-out only. He stated this would relieve some of the traffic from going to the signal at Windmiller. Mr. Bachman stated there have been many conversations with the applicant and they have been very cooperative. He further stated on the east side of the soccer complex we have requested the applicant deed a 25-foot wide cross access easement for the future and that would be a way for the businesses that front on S.R. 256 have a back way out to get to the traffic signal at Birchwood. He stated there are no plans for that immediately, but long-term they felt it was in the best interest of the City to have that flexibility. Mr. Wisniewski stated that he did have a concern about the number of parking spaces because recently we approved the parking at the new elementary school and there weren’t even enough spots to accommodate the teachers and staff so it was just restripped to try and put more parking spots in. He stated he did not want to have that issue with something like this. Mr. Schultz stated with the office space there will be shared parking and because the peak times for office will likely be different than soccer, so there could be some sharing. Mr. Wisniewski further clarified the TIF would be for the entire site. Mr. Bachman stated the road coming in would be built with the soccer complex, and Mr. Wisniewski stated he did not see how this would generate enough revenue to pay for improvements to their development and funding the other improvements.

Mr. Ben Hale stated he was an attorney representing the applicant. Mr. Hale stated the applicant had consented to the conditions set by the Planning and Zoning Commission and those conditions will require some changes to the site plan that will cause them to lose about 15,000 square feet of office footage. He stated they will not know the exact number until they revise the site plan, but it will be somewhere around that amount. Mr. Hale stated the development is in compliance with the community plan and one of the driving forces is the soccer complex. He stated they do not want to front-end load the office end of the development as they understand the current economic conditions. He stated the first thing to be built would be the soccer facility and they would like to build that as soon as possible next year. He stated they have to build the road that goes back to the soccer facility and that will leave them with sites that are partially developed and that should enable them to better attract offices uses. Mr. Wisniewski stated he does have concern because there is no frontage, even for the office buildings, off of any sort of road. Mr. Hale stated he has worked on other developments that are exactly the same way, and they are very nice developments, and this is an unusual piece of ground because it is so long and deep. Mr. Hale stated other than Dublin, Pickerington has more soccer players than any other part of central Ohio, and Dublin’s facility is very successful. Mr. Hale provided the Committee with the local income tax projections of the 4 Seasons Sports PUD that he had prepared. Mr. Hale stated he hoped this Committee would recommend approval of this development and they would try to answer any questions. Mr. Wisniewski stated this was a very aggressive schedule and his concern was that we would be basing improvements and a TIF on a schedule like this when we have not seen that type of return in the past. Mr. Bachman stated with regard to the traffic issue, 5:00 to 6:00 P.M. is the peak traffic period Monday through Friday, but during the final traffic study he was requesting they also look at Saturday and Sunday as well. Mr. Bachman stated during the peak hour about 2,500 vehicles are in the Refugee/S.R. 256 intersection, and the addition of 80 for the soccer facility would be something like a four percent increase during the peak hour. Mr. Schultz stated that our Code requires that the only uses allowed on this site are what the zoning code allows, and the text that they prepared is not what staff is recommending. Mr. Wisniewski stated he has the preferred text from the applicant, but he did not see exactly what we were agreeing to. Mr. Schultz stated we do not put our allowable uses in text, our zoning code has a chart that allows certain uses and the Sub-Area C is going to be the retail component, Sub-Area A will be the office component, and Sub-Area A will be the sports component. Mr. Schultz stated if any of that is revised it would have to go back before Planning and Zoning Commission or perhaps Council for approval. Mr. Schultz stated the applicant must stick to the use mix of this plan. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that if any of the areas changed, they would have to come back with a request for a revision. Mr. Schultz stated the variances that staff is supporting are very similar to all the other developments in the City based on setbacks from building setbacks and parking setbacks. Mr. Schultz stated these are very consistent with other developments in the City and it will reduce their office square footage. Mr. Sauer moved to approve the rezoning and preliminary development plan for approximately 16 acres (Ebright/Homestead parcels) from R-4 (Residential) to PC-3 (Planned Community Commercial District) for a retail, office, and 4 Seasons Sports Complex with staff conditions; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Hammond, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

6. SERVICE DEPARTMENT

A. REPORTS:

(1) Service Manager’s Report. Mr. Drobina stated he had provided a written report and he would be happy to answer any questions. Mr. Wisniewski clarified we have started leaf pick-up, and also that the Arborist does the tree planting, but Service Department employees assist him.

(2) Engineer’s Report. Mr. Bachman stated he had provided a written report and would be happy to answer any questions.

a. Review and request for motion to approve award of contracts for the Water Master Plan and Sewer Master Plan. Mr. Bachman stated we had received proposals from 13 engineering firms for the water and 12 for the sanitary sewer and they have selected four firms to interview. He stated the recommendation for the Water Master Plan was Burgess & Niple, and Floyd Brown for the Sewer Master Plan. Mr. Wisniewski stated the Committee didn’t have any information on these contracts as yet. Mr. Bachman stated one of these contracts would be for $50,000 and one for $75,000, but they have not negotiated those contracts as yet. Mr. Bachman stated he was just notifying the Committee of the firms he was recommending and looking for guidance from the Committee to go ahead and start negotiating the contracts. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that we do not have a plan for the sanitary sewer and we are also going to get inspections of the manholes and television inspection of some of the pipes to know which ones we have infiltration problems on. Mr. Wisniewski moved to authorize the negotiation of a contract for the Water Master Plan with Burgess & Niple, and a contract for the Sewer Master Plan with Floyd Brown; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

b. Review and request for motion to approve draft 2010-2014 Capital Improvements Plan. Mr. Bachman stated he had provided a draft CIP to the Committee for their review. He stated he had updated last year’s CIP and he would point out that each division, water, wastewater, streets, etc., on this draft are requesting 10 to 40 percent less funding than last year’s CIP with the exception of the street program. Mr. Bachman stated in streets he has reduced the City funding from about $35 million down to $3.5 million. Mr. Bachman stated if the Committee would review the draft and let him know if there were any changes, corrections, etc., that should be made to this document. Mr. Bachman further stated the last page is a listing of unfunded projects in the categories of Priority 1, projects we could really use if we had funding, and Priority 2, more of a wish list of projects. Mr. Bachman stated he would appreciate any feedback from the Committee.

B. ACTION ITEMS:

(1) Review and discussion regarding TDS options and costs. Mr. Drobina stated we are waiting for the final report and we should receive it the first week in November.

(2) Review and discussion regarding new water tower paint color and logo. Mr. Wisniewski requested this be continued on the agenda for the next meeting.

7. ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT CAPITAL PROJECTS.

A. WASTEWATER

(1) Wastewater Plant Expansion – Update. Mr. Drobina stated they are getting ready to install a new filter and they are still digging for digesters. He stated the project was moving smoothly.

B. TRANSPORTATION:

(1) Diley Road Improvements Project – Update. Mr. Drobina stated the traffic signals are going up and they will be on flash for a period before they are actually activated. Mr. Bachman stated the speed limit on Diley Road will be 35 MPH.

a. Review and Discussion of Diley Road project complaints (Mr. Starr). Mr. Wisniewski stated the Committee had been notified that Mr. Starr would not be here this evening. Mr. Drobina stated he has spoken to Mr. Starr and he has also contacted Violet Township. Mr. Drobina stated the Township had forwarded an e-mail of 10 items that Mr. Starr was concerned about. Mr. Drobina stated he is trying to schedule a meeting with ODOT to come out next week and they will go through this list with Mr. Starr.

C. WATER: No Report.

D. STORMWATER. No report.

8. CHAIRMAN. Mr. Wisniewski inquired if Mr. Bachman had any recommendations with the traffic signals on S.R. 256 going on flash at 10:00 P.M. as discussed at a previous meeting. Mr. Bachman stated he had observed this one evening and there didn’t seem to be a problem, but he would like the opportunity to observe it a little more closely. Mr. Wisniewski requested Mr. Bachman work with Chief Taylor as well to see if there are any problems for the police department.

9. OTHER BUSINESS: No other business was brought forward.

10. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Wisniewski moved to adjourn; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion. Mr. Sauer, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs. Hammond voted “Aye.” Motion carried, 3-0. The Service Committee adjourned at 7:45 P.M., October 21, 2009.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk