Zoning Commission Minutes 2012 01-25-12
APPROVED 2/22/12
ZONING COMMISSION MEETING
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
7:00 p.m.
Yorkville City Hall Conference Room
800 Game Farm Road, Yorkville, IL 60560
Committee Members in Attendance:
Jeff Baker
Gary Neyer
Greg Millen
Pete Huinker
City Officials in Attendance:
Krysti Barksdale-Noble, Community Development Director
Meeting Called to Order
The meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m. and Mr. Millen welcomed everyone.
Roll Call
Roll call was taken. A quorum was established.
Citizen’s Comments
There were no guests in attendance.
Previous Minutes
Mr. Baker moved to accept the June 22, 2011 minutes and it was seconded by Mr.
Huinker. There was no discussion, corrections or additions so a vote to accept was made,
unanimously accepted and the motion was carried.
Mr. Millen then turned the meeting over to Ms. Noble to cover Old Business.
Old Business
:
Ms. Noble said tonight’s meeting would be a recap of previously approved chapters. If
there were any changes, omissions or anything she overlooked (if everyone had a chance
to look over it) to let her know. The PUD ordinance will be going before Plan
Commission in March to be adopted separately. Even though it is a part of this, it will be
adopted immediately so everything is in place.
The next couple of meetings will address Zoning Districts: the Residential, Open Space
and Ag will be at the next meeting; the following meeting will have the Business and
Manufacturing and (hopefully) the Adult Business Uses before the end of the year.
She then asked for any comments, revisions or questions, and Mr. Huinker stated - for the
record in the interest of full disclosure - that his company was working on special use for
some clean fill on a residential project. After going through the ordinance, it doesn’t
seem real clear when it comes to commercial or business uses if it is allowed there at all,
even as a special use.
Ms. Noble concurred that it is not identified at all and that was a great point. Mr.
Huinker asked if it could be covered on those zoning areas because it only shows up on
residential. There are even some commercial sites that could be filled up and if it is a
commercial site, would you want to encumber it as a special use if all you’re doing is
bringing in fill material? He cited a lower area not in flood plain, not in wet land, not in
anything like that – such as a farm field zoned commercial – that’s a little low and
someone has extra material from another site that could be brought in to build it up.
Right now, it is not clear in the zoning ordinance if it is allowed or not.
Mr. Baker agreed it was an important issue to address since you can’t change water flow
from property-to-property and you could very well do that in that situation. Ms. Noble
suggested adopting some of the language from subdivision control ordinance that talked
about grading and filling.
Mr. Millen told Ms. Noble that he really liked the B.U.I.L.D. incentive program. Ms.
Noble explained the city hasn’t gotten to reducing building permit fees yet; but rather
delay getting the actual fee until the time of occupancy. That frees up the developer to do
what he needs to do until the property is sold – then he can pay for the building permit.
The city did reduce the municipal building impact fee. Prior to 2003 or 2004, the fee was
$150; the price jumped in 2005 to $5,509 per single family residential unit. It is now
scaled back to $1,759 which is helpful, but may warrant revisiting. This would help the
builder. To help the buyer, when we collect those fees the city will rebate back to the
buyer up to $5,000 and the developer will contribute up to $5,000. Mr. Neyer also said
this is a good thing and the committee should take the approach to heart and be cautious
about any regulations that they adopt that would increase costs unnecessarily.
New Business:
The city is going to be doing the Conservation Design District, which includes Cluster
Development, Best Management Practices for water and other things. Ms. Noble thought
if the committee had a little more information on things, like impervious surfaces
conservation design, they could have a little more input when they write that section. She
asked for input and comments as the section comes together.
Mr. Millen suggested looking at the clustering issue – where the houses are clustered,
maybe that would be where you have the curb and gutter. Then, in the areas where you
have open-space, maybe you look at an open drainage system.
Mr. Neyer had some questions on the ground-cover and infiltration facts and figures
given. When it comes to studying recently completed developments, have they ever gone
back 20 years later and think – at completion of development - there was “this much”
infiltration going into the ground and is it the same or is it different now?”
Mr. Millen brought up the question, “Is there a guideline of what type of tree should be
planted in a parkway based on the different root systems?” Ms. Noble said there was, but
it is very general right now – i.e. willows that seek out water cannot be in parkways.
There is a need to “tweak” the landscape ordinance more and she has more information
on varieties and species that should be planted in combination to strengthen the landscape
code.
Ms. Noble said her goal for the next meeting is to have all of the residential sections of
the CDD completed. She will generate a purpose or description for the sections and
anything else that may need to be incorporated. Her goal is to have the Chapters 11-A
through 11-G done.
The next meeting is Wednesday, February 22 at 7:00 p.m. at Yorkville City Hall
Conference room. There was no further discussion so Mr. Millen made a motion to
adjourn; it was moved and seconded and agreed by all. The meeting was adjourned at
8:07pm (estimated by length of tape; time not officially stated).
Minutes respectfully submitted by:
Bonnie Olsem