City Council of the Mayor and Council of New Castle

Present:
President of Council William Blest
Councilperson Janet Churchill
Councilperson John Gaworski
Councilperson Donald Reese

Absent:
Councilperson Teel Petty

Others Present:
City Administrator Cathryn Thomas

The City Council held a Public Hearing concerning a proposal to rezone two properties from Open Space and Recreation (OS&R) to R-3 Residential:

901 Delaware Street, Parcel No. 21-010.00-016; and

0 Delaware Street, Parcel No. 21-010.00-017.

A presentation was made by Mr. Jeffrey Williams of Kercher Engineering, representing the property owners requesting the rezoning. Mr. Williams noted the original layout for the project was to be 51 homes, however that has been scaled back to 46 units, mainly due to that portion of the property which is in the floodplain.

Mr. Williams addressed the concern about commercial development on the property if the rezoning is approved. It was noted that deed restrictions could be placed on the properties prohibiting any kind of commercial development.

Mr. Williams stated there are 2.57 acres of building area and that the coverage is proposed to be 38%, which is under the 50% maximum density allowed in the City Code.

Mayor Klingmeyer said he would like to see the project referred from the City Council back to the Planning Commission to consider additional information to be submitted by the applicants. Mayor Klingmeyer also commented he would like the developers to work along with the City Planning Consultant on an improved design for the development. The Mayor also noted that while the legal opinion has been that a change to R3 zoning is consistent with the current Comprehensive Plan, that the Planning Commission is not bound to base their decision on that legal opinion.

The following persons spoke concerning the proposed rezoning: Mr. John Wik, Ms. Dorsey Fiske, Mr. David Bird, Mr. Tommy Wilson and Mr. JoJo DiAngelo.

The comments generally were that the City does not currently have enough information to make a decision on this matter. Specifically, more details are needs for items related to ingress/egress, traffic, drainage and floodplain/wetlands/coastal area delineation. Mr. DiAngelo commented that the best use for the properties would be a City Park, however at this time City officials are obligated to act on the rezoning requests before them.

Mr. Jeffrey Davis commented that he has recommended the City Council adopt a policy and/or City Code which establishes impact fees.

The position of the representatives of the applicant property owners was that the level of detail which is being requested is normally created after a rezoning request is approved, when the project is moving forward in the approval process relative to site plan review.

City Council members concurred with the comments from Mayor Klingmeyer and the members of the audience, that the City does not currently have sufficient information in order to make a determination on the rezoning request.

A motion was made by Councilperson Churchill to return to the Planning Commission for further consideration and additional information a request for rezoning two properties – 901 Delaware Street, Parcel No. 21-010.00-016 and 0 Delaware Street, Parcel No. 21-010.00-017 – from Open Space and Recreation (OS&R) to R-3 Residential. The motion was seconded by Councilperson Reese and passed unanimously.

A motion was made by Councilperson Churchill to award the bid for the Western Gateway Project to the low bidder, Springhaus Landscape Co., in the amount of $94,248.25, which includes Alternate Items Nos. 1 and 2 for maintenance services for two consecutive years after the installation and construction of the project. The motion was seconded by Councilperson Reese and passed unanimously.

A motion was made by Councilperson Churchill to enter into Executive Session to discuss a matter pertaining to Collective Bargaining. The motion was seconded by Councilperson Reese and passed unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

Cathryn C. Thomas
City Administrator