MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER: John Richardson, Chairperson
ROLL CALL: Scott Evans, John Richardson, Robert Giesse, Don de Reynier, Matt Evans, and Alternate Cherry Linder were present. Also present was Law Director, Scott Phillips.
Minutes of Zoning Commission Meeting of 11/13/06
by Robert Giesse
Roll Call Don de Reynier-Abstained, Scott Evans-Yes, John Richardson-Yes,
Rob Giesse-Yes, Matt Evans-Yes, Cherry Linder-Yes The motion was approved.
Administering the oath to those giving testimony by Township Attorney, Scott Phillips.
CASE #2006-641 Kings Toyota, Modification to Approved Site Plan, 4700 Fields-Ertel Road
Proponent Robert Reichert, Kings Toyota, 4700 Fields-ERtel Rd, said he has run into a problem with the need for more parking. He said circumstances have changed and no one could have anticipated the situation they are in today. He said the indoor facility has been very successful and that causes a huge increase in new cars and used cars. The circumstances today are so different and could not have been anticipated in July of 2006. He asked the board to reconsider Condition #9 and let him be flexible on that. John Richardson asked the board if they had questions
Don de Reynier said the 38 spaces were for rotating stock. Mr. Riechert said there were 38 spots for new car storage. Mr. de Reynier said he didn’t believe it was for permanent storage. Mr. Riechert said at Toyota the outside activity that they anticipated did not happen. Most customers wanted to be inside. Mr. Riechert said they need to store 600-650 cars. Mr. Riechert said they sold 4 acres to the Lexis dealership. He said that Jeep, Chrysler, and Dodge are not doing well and they only have a 1 acre lot. That lot is for the overflow. Mr. Riechert said they have 3 acres which needs to be cleared and prepared for parking cars. He said business conditions changed and it is a real hardship to have certain spaces designated for specific cars.
Don de Reynier asked if he hadn’t sold the 4 acres to Lexis could he have used those 4 acres? Mr. Riechert said yes. John Richardson asked him why he doesn’t develop the other 3 acres which he still has? Mr. Riechert said that he couldn’t get the Stage 3 approved by the Deerfield Township Trustees. He said the indoor showroom has worked so well, they don’t know what to do with all the cars. Mr. Riechert said Greg Malone who owns the rest of the shopping center,asked him if he would like to rent some parking space from Casto. Matt Evans asked if there were salesmen outside? Mr. Riechert said there is no activity outside. He said when you have a 40% increase in sales you have a 40% increase in inventory. Your inventory is based on your sales. The Toyota franchise is supporting his company. Don de Reynier said he envisioned this Toyota would look like a retail center and that is why he approved this project. Mr. Riechert said before he purchased this property he checked to see what the zoning was and it was General Business. Automotive retail is a permitted use under GB zoning.
Scott Evans asked about the 3 acre lot he is talking about preparing for car storage. Mr. Riechert said the lot was originally a 7 acre lot. Now Lexis has 4 acres and he still owns 3 acres. Matt Evans asked him if he is asking for 29 additional parking spaces. Mr. Riechert said he was asking for flexibility to be able to use the parking as needed for whatever is needed. He said it is difficult to police and make sure that the correct cars are being parked in the proper place. John Richardson said at the last meeting we talked about encroachment into the automall. Mr. Richardson said he could still park cars in the back and said he could develop the 3 acre lot for parking. Scott Phillips said he is not sure how you take parking from one use and transfer it over to another user. Mr. Phillips said each use provides its own parking. Mr. Riechert asked him who is allowed to park there. Mr. Phillips said customers and employees who work on that site. Scott Evans asked him what is the turn around time for the vehicles. Mr. Riechert said turn around time is about 30 days and they sold 400 new cars last month.
John Richardson said there are 212 spaces to work with. At the July meeting you said 70 for employees and 38 designated as rotating stock. 15 for vendors, suppliers, and miscellaneous. That comes up to 123 spaces. There is customer parking which is 90 spaces left. John Richardson said what happens is you fill this lot with cars and the rest of the cars park in the other side of the shopping center in Casto’s lot. John Riichardson asked how many new cars are out there now. Mr. Riechert said there are around 120. John said if we do the math backwards there are only 5 spaces left for customers.
Matt Evans asked what is the required parking for that use per square foot for that shopping center building? Hayfaa Wadih said that in July, 2005, it was one space for every 200 square for retail. Ms. Wadih said they looked at old staff reports and other communities and did an average and they came up with being allowed 270 parking spaces only. Matt Evans how does that affect the other retail space and their required parking? If we take away those 212 parking spaces, does it work out that the rest of that retail has enough parking? Ms. Wadih said she would need to go back and do the calculations. John Richardson asked Mr. Riechert if he had shared parking and Mr. Riechert said no. The rest of the shopping center is a separate lot. Matt said with the 70 to 100 employees and up to 60 customers, they must park somewhere, where will they go? Matt said that was his concern. Don de Reynier told Mr. Riechert that he appreciated his honestly. Don said he believed that they could figure out a way to park cars and still comply with our rules.
Scott Phillips said the amount of parking, 212 spaces, is adequate for that building. He said Home Depot could say they are putting lumber in the parking lot and use those spaces for storing lumber. This dealership should not be storing inventory in the parking lot. He said you are not allowed to take up parking with inventory.
Matt Evans agreed. Matt said with the 212 parking that is being generous.
John Richardson asked for any more questions or discussion. There was none.
The Conditions which were approved on July 12, 2006, were as follows:
a. The planting material along Fields-Ertel Road and Kings Automall Drive shall include a row of ‘A’ type trees planted at 30’ on-center along with a row of bushes planted at 3’ on-center between the trees.
b. The existing landscaping along the west property line abutting interior access drive in the five (5) feet wide landscaping island shall be acceptable.
c. The existing bufferyard and landscaping material along Kings Automall Road shall be acceptable.
d. The interior parking lot landscaping islands shall constitute minimum of 5% of vehicular use area. Said landscaping island shall be planted with ‘A’ type trees, number of which shall be calculated based on one (1) tree per 5,000 square feet of impervious area.
Motion _by Don de Reyner to make no changes to the previously approved 15 conditions from the Zoning Commission Meeting of 07/12/06 including Condition #9. 2nd _by John Richardson There was a little more discussion. Scott Evans said he would rather see shiny new cars sitting out there than used customer’s cars. John Richardson said the same type of customer would go into the Casto section of the shopping center to purchase an item is the same as a Toyota customer going into Toyota to purchase a car.
Roll Call John Richardson-Yes, Rob Giesse-Yes, Matt Evans-Yes, Don de
Reynier-Yes Scott Evans-No The motion was approved.
John Richardson, President Date Marilyn Arnold, Secretary Date
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