Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting

Meeting Agenda

PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING
Held at the Donald “Red” Loehr Police and Court Center
300 Park Drive

NOVEMBER 2, 2009
7:00 P.M.

AGENDA

 1. Call to Order

 2. Approval of Minutes 

 3. SUE 09-4 – Special Use Exception Petition 

 (Site Plan Amendment)
 U-Haul, 14767 Manchester Rd., Ballwin MO  63011
 Petitioner:  Mr. Stephen D. Langford, 12060 Lusher Rd, St. Louis MO 63138

U-Haul of St. Louis is proposing to expand the parking area of its facility to allow more open storage of motor vehicles and utility trailers.  U-Haul presently operates under a special use exception granted in October of 1999 via ordinance 99-48.  That ordinance limited parking for inventory rental vehicles to a maximum of 25 spaces along the north side of the building and the 5 northernmost spaces along the Timka Drive frontage of the site.  The petitioner maintains that there is a need for more on-site inventory storage than was anticipated or provided.  This has led to this request to expand the inventory storage into the existing undeveloped grassy portions of the parcel.

 4. Adjournment

Meeting Minutes

RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
MINUTES OF THE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING
CITY OF BALLWIN – 300 PARK DRIVE
November 2, 2009

The meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission was called to order by Chairman Mike Wind at 7:00 p.m.  Members in attendance were:
 
PRESENT                                                 ABSENT
Chairman Michael Wind            Commissioner Pat Buehrle
Secretary Frank Karr                  Commissioner Mark Weaver
Commissioner Pat Apel            Mayor Tim Pogue
Commissioner John Schwent 
Commissioner Chris Wright 
Alderman Jimmy Terbrock 
Assistant City Administrator Thomas Aiken 
City Engineer Gary Kramer 
City Attorney Robert Jones 

Approval of Minutes

Mayor Pogue requested, via email, that the minutes of the October 5, 2009 meeting of the Planning & Zoning Commission be amended as follows:  From paragraph 3 of SUE 09-6:  “Mayor Pogue said that the district was requesting a detention waiver and Ballwin ordinances can require detention at first drop” and  from the last paragraph of SUE 09-6:  “Mayor Pogue made a motion to recommend denial of Peti-tion SUE 09-6 to the Board of Aldermen due to the lack of storm water control.”

A motion was made by Alderman Terbrock and seconded by Secretary Karr to approve the minutes of the October 5, 2009 meeting of the Planning & Zoning Commission as amended.  The motion received unani-mous approval from the Commission members present. 

SUE 09-4 – Special Use Exception Petition  (Site Plan Amendment)
  U-Haul, 14767 Manchester Rd., Ballwin MO  63011
  Petitioner:  Mr. Stephen D. Langford, 12060 Lusher Rd, St. Louis MO 63138

Mr. Steve Langford, President of U-Haul of St. Louis addressed the Commission.  Chairman Wind stated that this petition was tabled at the October 5, 2009 meeting to allow the petitioner to provide stormwater runoff calculations and clarification on the petitioner’s approach to pervious pavement.

Mr. Langford said they decided against using asphalt for the proposed parking lot, and will use a pervious surface.  He discussed the system used at 26 U-Haul locations, which consists of gravel held in place with a recycled plastic mesh.  He said if this is not allowed by the City of Ballwin, he is prepared to propose another type of permeable surface.  Planning Director Aiken said that it is a granular material and as such, is not an approved parking surface. City Attorney Jones agreed with Mr. Aiken.

Mr. Langford said that contrary to comments made at the October 5 meeting of the Planning & Zoning Commission, he has not been in constant violation of his existing special use exception.  He feels that he has maintained a good relationship with city staff and remedied any violations when they were brought to his attention.

Chairman Wind asked Mr. Langford how often he has been at the site since the last Planning & Zoning meeting, and if he noticed any violations in that time?  Mr. Langford said he has been there three times.  He said the Mayor had asked him to remove the portable storage box, which was gone within two days.  He said he was there prior to tonight’s meeting, and two vehicles were parked in areas not designated for them, and the manager moved them while he was there.  Chairman Wind said he has driven past the site about fifteen times since the last meeting, and on at least twelve of those occasions noted violations of parking in non-designated areas.  He said if this petition is approved, he would expect U-Haul to abide by the terms of the special use exception without fail.  Mr. Langford agreed to do so.

Chairman Wind noted that the new plan submitted by the petitioner at this meeting shows a relocation of customer parking from the 1999 ordinance.  Mr. Langford said that he asked for the first two parking spaces nearest Manchester Road to be display parking so that his product is visible to customers on Man-chester Road.  Alderman Terbrock asked for clarification of the zoning regulations on display parking.  Planning Director Aiken said there is no such thing as “display parking” in the code.  If the petitioner is allowed to have “display parking,” that would be creating something that does not currently exist.  Mr. Aiken said the site has signage that is visible from Manchester Road.  He said non-commercial vehicles could be parked there without violating the zoning regulations.  Vans and pick-up trucks are not consid-ered commercial vehicles under the City of Ballwin’s zoning code.  Mr. Langford said that designating the spaces for non-commercial vehicle parking is acceptable to him.

Chairman Wind asked about the pavement that the petitioner is proposing.  Mr. Mark Doering, engineer for the petitioner, addressed the Commission.  He said there is not enough capacity in the existing deten-tion basin to accommodate the additional runoff from an impervious surface for the proposed parking lot.  The new proposal is to use pervious concrete for the new parking lot.  He explained that pervious concrete does not hold up to freeze/thaw cycles as well as regular concrete, so an additional 2” of pavement thick-ness will be used (a total of 8” of pervious concrete).  Twelve inches of gravel will be placed under the concrete, as well as a perforated underdrain system to allow the stormwater runoff to percolate into the ground.

Mr. Doering said the 6’ vinyl fence will be extended along Timka Drive, with landscaping in front of it that will match the existing landscaping.  This was agreed to at the October 5, 2009 meeting.

Chairman Wind said he has not had the opportunity to review the MSD document submitted at the begin-ning of tonight’s meeting.  Mr. Doering said the document is a copy of MSD’s proposed pervious con-crete design standards.  He said these standards are reflected in the petitioner’s drawings.  The petitioner has preliminary approval from MSD for the pavement he is proposing.  City Engineer Gary Kramer noted that MSD says that if this system is built in accordance with their standards, the perviousness is equiva-lent to grass.

Mr. Doering summarized the petitioner’s proposal, stating that detention will be provided with a rock/underdrain system in accordance with MSD and City of Ballwin standards; the proposed parking lot will be secured to prevent nighttime deliveries; and additional landscaping with irrigation will be pro-vided along Timka Road.

Alderman Terbrock commended U-Haul Corporation for its efforts towards sustainability.  He asked Planning Director Aiken if, due to the shorter life span of pervious concrete, the petitioner wanted to re-place it with regular pavement, would that be allowed?  Mr. Aiken said if the site plan shows pervious pavement, the petitioner is bound to that unless they submit a petition for a site plan amendment.  City Attorney Jones also noted that the petitioner has already stated that existing detention cannot handle the additional stormwater runoff from impervious pavement.  

Mr. Doering said that as far as replacing pavement, if the subgrade is not touched, MSD does not consider it “land disturbance”.  Mr. Aiken said this is true as far as MSD’s regulations are concerned, but Ballwin’s regulations start at zero (first drop).  From a detention perspective, if the petitioner is proposing a change, it may require further detention.

Commissioner Apel made a motion to recommend approval of Petition SUE 09-4 to the Board of Alder-men, with two southeasternmost spaces designated for non-commercial vehicles, the adjoining five for customer parking, additional landscaping provided along Timka Drive between the extended fence and the sidewalk, and the chain limiting after-hours drop-offs.  Secretary Karr seconded the motion, which received unanimous approval from the Commission members present.

Adjournment

A motion was made by Secretary Karr and seconded by Commissioner Apel to adjourn the meeting.  The motion received unanimous approval, and the meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m.

Michael Wind, Chairman
Planning & Zoning Commission