Lakewood Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 7:00 p.m.
Lakewood Town Hall
Call to order: Commission Chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission, Bob Wolfe, called the monthly meeting to order at 7:06 PM.
Present: Chair Wolfe, Inese Holte, Dick Bodine, Angie Dickison Palmer, Robin Downs, Kerry Leider, Peter Miller, Chris Roningen, Zoning Administrator Brennan Mears, and Recorder David Gerhart. No other citizens were present.
Pledge of Allegiance: The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America was recited by all present.
Alternate Leider was designated a voting member. There are currently no alternates to the P&Z Commission
Minutes of Previous Meetings: May 29, 2007 Planning and Zoning Meeting. Holte praised the minutes but found one correction, near bottom of first page: Mears proposed (not opposed) changing the ordinance to include language relating to filling. Motion by Holte for the minutes to be approved with the change suggested by the Commission. Second by Palmer. Minutes approved.
Select Representative to July 11, 2007 Board of Supervisors Meeting: Peter Miller
Zoning Administrator’s report: Mears
Permits were handed out for Commission members to sign.
Amish Furniture Haus (AFH) applied for an addition to a structure (a warehouse). Issue is being reviewed by Attorney Tim Strom. 120-day extension has been granted. Question of whether retail sales in LIU zone are allowed by county, and whether the building is non-compliant. The CUP says he can have retail sales. Also, a warehouse is allowed in LIU.
Also a question about signs. Currently there are 3 signs on the Amish Furniture Haus property. Strom reviewed the matter and says he can have those signs and more if he wishes. AFH has applied for sign permit and has permission from another landowner to put a sign on her property. Wolfe asked if there is any limit as to the number of signs that can be put up. Quoting page 67 of the Lakewood ordinance, Mears replied that there are three on or off-site signs allowed on a lot or parcel. Discussion followed as to the meaning of this statement. Mears indicated than an off-site sign is a sign for another business, whereas Holte said that the intention was to restrict the number of signs for a business. As presently interpreted, AFH could have an unlimited number of off-site signs. Indeed, every property in Lakewood could have three signs. Thus the wording of the ordinance is unclear and should be changed or clarified.
The June 20 meeting of Town Board on Lipe Bros Construction CUP was mentioned.
Wetlands violations on Lakewood Road are being investigated.
The adult foster care facility falls under state guidelines.
The Radtke Road is being investigated with regard to vacated roads. Radkte Road is not an improved public road because it was not maintained for more than 10 years, says Mears, and therefore he cannot issue a building permit because there is no frontage on an improved public road. Radtke Road is a cartway that was vacated, but the order for vacating the road was never filed. Currently a garage and trailer home are present on Radkte with no permits, and others are seeking to build on this road or piggyback on easements obtained by others. Mears says each property must have its own easement.
Holte referred to a previous meeting on the subject of roads with the Town attorney in which all township options were specified. A flow-chart from 1997 was produced by Holte that spelled out what constitutes a town road and whether the town has to maintain it.
Leider asked if Mears checks all issues on permits before P&Z members sign them. Mears says generally yes, except that in wetlands issues he has to issue the permit and refer the applicant to the appropriate agency for further clarification.
Miller questions the need for all members to sign the permits. Wolfe says he believes his signature means that he has reviewed the permit, neither approving nor disapproving it. Furthermore, he proposed that permit review should be included as an agenda item at every meeting. It was agreed that this should be done.
Steering Committee Report – Palmer
Committee discussions have revolved around the meaning of "rural character" and ordinance-related issues. The committee will not meet again until September. There are draft copies of a Vision Statement available. Holte again brought up the idea of a Steering Committee representative to P&Z.
Wolfe suggested that a copy of Steering Committee minutes be included in the monthly zoning board packet. Minutes may be on web site, or Dave Miller may provide copy for packet.
Unfinished Business
Town Board Meeting Report – Holte – (Members should refer to the Town Board minutes for details.) Briefly, the issues mentioned were the Martinson issue, the lawsuit concerning telecommunications towers, the Amish Furniture Haus and retail sales in the LIU zone, the Lipes issue, the Lakewood Road trucking and wetlands issue, the request for new wording for the zoning ordinance for a CUP for trucking fill, the verification form for zoning map changes, the Planning Commission Journal, and the Hanson rodeo/polo/riding lesson issue.
Communications Tower Ordinance Changes – Changes made at the last meeting were reviewed. Bodine suggested that in 23.02.C the term "qualified engineer" be replaced by "professional engineer." Palmer pointed out two spelling errors on page 4, item J. Revisions from last month were accepted.
Another copy of the tower ordinance was received on 4/24 as an email attachment from Phil Halverson. This copy contains his suggestions for changes. These changes were then discussed as follows:
Page 2, Item 23.02, 1st paragraph: "may be permitted provided a conditional use permit is obtained." This change was accepted. In addition, the first comma in the sentence was deleted. In the last sentence of the paragraph, the word "must" suggested by Halverson was accepted.
Page 2, A. Miller recommends keeping the original language. Leider moves not to accept the change, 2nd by Roningen.
Page 2, B. This change was accepted.
Page 3, C. This change was rejected.
Page 3, D. Wording changed to "A description of the tower and its proposed uses, and a scaled site plan showing the proposed location of the tower and other relevant features including access."
Page 3, E. The sentence in "E" was omitted in its entirety.
Page 3, 23.03, 2nd sentence: "Additional standards may be required." This change was rejected.
Page 3, 23.03, C, 1st sentence: The suggested change to add a phrase to the end of the sentence was rejected.
Later in the same paragraph the suggested change "1.1 times the tower height" was changed to "the tower height plus 35 feet." (Motion by Miller, 2nd by Palmer, passed 4-3)
Page 4, D. Changed to "All facilities will have a landscaping or vegetation protection plan and property maintenance plan, including litter, vegetation, fencing, and a structural care plan. No advertisements will be placed on a utility structure or tower." The statement about signs was omitted.
Page 4, F. This change was rejected.
Page 4, H. This change was accepted. "H" is separated from "G."
Page 4, I. This change regarding parking was rejected.
Page 4, J. "party was changed to "parties". The suggestion to add "that permits inspections and monitoring" was rejected. (Note spelling errors in second "J")
Page 4, K (now "L"). At bottom of page "performance bond" was changed to "contractural agreement with the township."
Page 7: The suggestion to change "windmill" to "wind generating tower" was accepted.
Other unfinished business: The Commission will need copies of the proposed ordinance changes from the Town Clerk for the public hearing on July 24. Mears will not be present for this hearing.
New business
Lipe bros. CUP public hearing date was set for Wednesday, August 15th, 2007, at 7:00 PM.
Postponed discussions:
Zoning text change related to importation of fill materials.
Sign ordinance interpretation – suggested by Holte.
Electronic rather than paper copies of documents –Miller.
Next meeting is July 31.
Motion by Bodine to adjourn. Second inaudible. Meeting adjourned at 9:50 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
David Gerhart