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PLANNING COMMISSION
Mayor & Council of New Castle/220 Delaware Street/New Castle, Delaware 19720-4816 Minutes of the meeting of the New Castle City Planning commission held at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, February 25, 2002 at the Town Hall, 2nd floor. Members Present: Chairman Stan Sykora Mr. James Steele Mr. Virgil Irick Ms. Beth Matkins Ms. Jane Miller Mr. Clay Bridgewater Mr. Charles Cobb Mr. William Cramer Mr. Henry Herndon - Absent Mr. George Freebery Others Present: Mr. Gerald Kavanaugh Mayor Klingmeyer Mr. Joseph DiAngelo Mr. Chris Castango And several members of the public Chairman Sykora called the meeting to order and the roll was called. It was announced that Mr. Henry Herndon has resigned from the committee and Mr. George Freebery was appointed by Mayor Klingmeyer to replace him. AGENDA 1. Review of proposed development on Deemer Steel site- Washington & 9th Streets. 2. Minor Subdivision - Irion property on Plum Alley. 3. Proposed rezoning of three Soda Town properties - Soda Towne, Dempsey’s Restaurant and Texaco. 4. Discussion of Zoning options for 4th and Chestnut Streets property - former City Garage site. 5. Proposed zoning for Parkway Gravel annexation site - 146 acres below Dobbinsville. 6. Update of Planning Consultant project with Kise, Straw and Koldner. REVIEW OF PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT ON DEEMER STEEL SITE Mr. Sykora: I would like to start the meeting with item #1 regarding the proposed development on the Deemer Steels Site, and introduced Mr. Richard Keller who had a presentation. Mr. Sykora: I would like to remind the audience that this project is not under review by the Planning Commission this evening it is merely a forum for which we are giving Mr. Keller an opportunity to present his project so we can offer some suggestions and make sure if there is any concerns we can get them out of the way. The project does not officially need to come to the Planning Commission nor at this time is it under any review except for presentation purposes. Mr. Keller: On this plan on Gray Street Mr. Chick DeAscanis plans to build 12 townhouses. The land is zoned residential, and we have the opportunity to build 172 apartments, it is zoned for that with the size of the parcel. We have chosen not use that much density. We are going to build 144 units. We feel we need to do that to build upscale apartments because we need larger apartments. We want to provide a gated community; we will have one entrance with gates a gatehouse and a clubhouse. The apartments are three stories. There will be one common entrance and you will have 12 apartments from that one entrance. The apartments we have planned at this time are 96 two bedrooms, 24 three bedrooms and 24 one bedroom with study. DENREC, who we are working with at this site, because it is a so-called “green fields” site, has approved this plan and are working with us to implement the plan and will advertising shortly as we needed to do for their stipulations and completion. We plan to have a wrought iron fence around the perimeter on the roadside with a wooden solid fence on the interior side providing privacy for not only the apartments but also the neighbors surrounding. There is a sidewalk being proposed by the City on Washington and 9th Streets. We would propose to have one gated entrance off of Washington St., which will be just locked gate and two gates off 9th Streets. We have taken the plans into to Jeff Bergstrom office (Building Official) for review and it meets all city codes except for one item and that is length to height. The city has a code, which allows the building to be no more the 4 times the length to the height on the building. Our building is about 48' high, which equates to about 192'. We have buildings proposed which are about 400'. Every building exceeds that code and we plan to make a submission to the Board of Adjustment for a variance. Mr. Sykora: What kind of timetable schedule is this project on and is it your intent to build the project in one stage or in stages as rented? Mr. Keller: We feel we have 4-6 months before we would begin construction. We will build it out totally. Mr. Sykora: There has been some concern with some of the properties west of that property in reference to poor drainage. Has the studies that you have done is it going improve the quality of life and the drainage issue in that area? Mr. Keller: They said it would improve the property, as it exists. Mr. Steele: Is there going to be any Section 8 housing in there? Mr. Keller: No this is all going to be upscale apartments. We have the right to do that but we chose not to go in that direction. We could put in 172 units smaller size. Our units are averaging about 1000 square foot per unit Section 8 we could get down to 700 square feet per unit. Ms. Miller: How is this going to affect life for the people who live in that community right now and one of the big issues is traffic? Mr. Keller: This was an industrial site at one time, and the City chooses to zone it residential-R1 and we believe they at that time realized what the traffic would be. Several members of the audience had questions for Mr. Keller. PROPOSED ZONING FOR PARKWAY GRAVEL ANNEXATION Mr. Sykora stated that the Planning Commission’s role tonight is strictly a zoning request. Mr. Steve Rosenfell, Civil Engineer for Vandermark and Lynch made a presentation for Parkway Development. He stated this site is located on Rt. 9 south of the City. The development we are considering is flexible warehouse space of 40,000 sq. ft apiece. The primary entrance to the property will be through Centerpoint Business Park. There will also be an entrance on River Road. There is sewer line in the middle of the property. Water and electric will come from the City. In the County the parcel is zoned Industrial. We will be seeking IOP zoning which is a much lighter zoning. $750,000.00 is estimated for taxes. Mr. Sykora stated that currently in our zoning code 230-24 under IOP there is a requirement that the property be contiguous to a 200 acre parcel zoned IOP. After a discussion with Mr. Kavanaugh and several other members is was decided by Mr. Cobb to make a motion to Mayor & Council to amend a zoning change to the Zoning Code Section 230-24 to remove the minimum area requirement and to read as follows: This district is intended to provide for industrial and office uses within the City, in a landscaped setting, together with convenient retail and personal service establishments. No area initially shall be zoned of IOP unless the proposed development has been subjected to restrictive covenants in form and content satisfactory to The Mayor and Council of the City of New Castle, which restrictive covenants shall provide for architectural review, landscaping standards, a maintenance corporation and such other covenants, conditions or restrictions as may be appropriate to ensure the orderly development of the area to be zoned as IOP. This motion was seconded and a vote was taken as follows: Mr. Sykora-Yes Mr. Cobb – Yes Mr. Bridgewater – Abstain Ms. Matkins – Yes Mr. Cramer – Yes Mr. Steele – Abstain Ms. Miller - Abstain Mr. Irlick – Yes Mr. Freebery - Abstain The motion was carried. Ms. Matkins made a motion to zone the entire Parkway Gravel property IOP subject to Council approving the text amendment to IOP eliminating the 200 acre continuous lot size requirement. The motion was seconded and a role call vote was taken: Mr. Sykora -Yes Mr. Cobb – Yes Mr. Bridgewater - Yes Ms. Matkins – Yes Mr. Cramer – Yes Mr. Steele – Abstain Ms. Miller – Abstain Mr. Irlick – Yes Mr. Freebery – Yes The motion was carried. MINOR SUBDISVISION –IRION PROPERTY ON PLUM ALLEY Mr. Sykora read a letter of recommendation from Robert Wijkowski from Harold L. Robertson’s firm, which is the City’s Engineer. Mr. Irlick made a motion to accept minor sub-division and Mr. Freberry seconded. Mr. Sykora – Abstained All voted yes Motion carried. PROPOSED REZONING OF SODA TOWN, DEMPSEY’S RESTURANT AND TEXACO Mr. Sykora stated that these three properties were originally zoned Retail Commercial. The Trustees’s feel that these properties deserve a zoning of Service Commercial. Mr. Cobb made a motion to rezone the property Service Commercial. Ms. Matkin’s seconded the motion. The motion was carried. DISCUSSION OF ZONING OPTIONS FOR 4TH & CHESTNUT PROPERTY Mr. Sykora referred to a letter from Council dated February 15, 2002, requesting advice from the Planning Commission on which zoning the Mayor & Council should consider for this property. Mr. Sykora made a motion to Table this issue with the intent that we bring it up with Kise, Straw & Koldner. The property is currently zoned Historical Residential. The Comprehensive Plan in 1998 recommended the future land use Commercial. Motion Carried to Table this issue. UPDATE OF PLANNING CONSULTANT PROJECT WITH KISE, STRAW & KOLDNER Mr. Sykora talked about the kick off meeting with Kise, Straw & Koldner. (See attached minutes) The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted by ___________________________________________ Deborah A. Pullan |
