001welcome to the August 1st 2023 regular meeting of the Ann Arbor Planning Commission for detailed information on meeting procedures please review the full printed meeting agenda provided mix Kelly will you please call the roll commissioner weish here commissioner Clark here commissioner Hammerschmidt here commissioner Salve here commissioner Abrams here council member dish commissioner Mills and commissioner Lee are noted absent in advance I will make a staff note at this time that six members are required to affirmatively approve any action and staff do recommend postponing items today after closing the public hearings to the next regular session which will be on August 15th noted thank you we're now on to approval of the agenda may I have a motion to approve the agenda moved by commissioner weish seconded by commissioner sovay is there any discussion on the
002agenda okay all those in favor of the motion please say aye aye any opposed the motion carries item four minutes of the previous meeting we have no minutes this evening forwarded for review moving on to item five reports to the Planning Commission and written Communications so council member dish isn't here so it's noted that city council hasn't met since our last convening reports from planning mix Kelly do you have anything to report just a note for the comprehensive plan that staff are in the process of scheduling interviews with other City staff and stakeholders for the final week of August is there an available overall schedule for the comprehensive plan process yeah I can share that I'll share that with the Planning Commission that would be great thank you any other commission officers or committee Liaisons
003have anything to report I missed orc so yeah commissioner I can report an orac we met last week the 25th of July and we discussed uh the work program uh upcoming relative to things accomplished uh early discussion on drive-throughs and there's some actually homework uh given out so as a working commission we're looking at some different examples from cities and those are the two things that we're working towards great thank you and then written Communications there are written Communications included in today's packet for review okay we're on to item number six public comment so this is an opportunity for persons to speak for up to three minutes about an issue that is not listed as a public hearing on this agenda we'll first call on individuals present to address the commission then remote participants to
004speak during this public hearing remotely press star nine if listening by phone or use the raise hand feature viewing through the web link for phone access call 877-853-5247 and enter meeting ID 977-6634-1226 City staff will select callers who've raised their hand using the last three digits of their phone number or by name if available for those accessing through the web link you'll hear an automated announcement that the host is allowing you to speak when speaking please move to a quiet area mute television or background sounds so we may hear you clearly for either method of participation please state your name and address at the beginning of your comments is there anyone present that would like to speak at this time thank you chair Abrams Ken Garber 20 Henry Hill Court at your June 6th meeting
005you approve some setback adjustments to the Lockwood Senior Living PUD now under construction on Ellsworth minor matter but during the discussion commissioner dish asked Mark Lockwood if the building would use electric heat as agreed Lockwood had promised Council that the building would be all electric except for the commercial kitchen Mr Lockwood replied to commissioner dish that no they were going with gas heat he explained that he needed a waiver from mishta to go electric and quote that waiver request was submitted and was not approved end quote now when I heard this I could not believe that mishta would deny this waiver when it routinely granted so I submitted a foia request to mishta turns out I was right yes Lockwood asked for a waiver but Mr did not deny the request instead Marianne vukanich Mrs
006Chief Architect wanted more information about the city's wishes for this project she sent this internal message quote if the Ann Arbor city council makes a stand against the use of gas for HVAC and water heaters I'll waive that requirement to keep the project moving end quote Lockwood never followed up so Mr Lockwood may be technically correct when he said that the waiver was not approved but neither was it denied no final decision was made Lockwood just dropped it we know that Mr never required gas for this project because in May the foyer shows Lockwood asked mischief to let it change from one gas water heating system to another wrote this to Mr Lockwood good morning Mark while we don't object to gas-fired boilers and Senior developments didn't Ann Arbor want the building to be all-electric
007powered to which Mr Lockwood replied hi Marianne Ann Arbor did initially want the all-electric but they acquiesced to the mission of design standards and permitted gas heat and water end quote so here we have Mr assuming the building was electric and Mr Lockwood telling them the city told him to use gas after all then to you on June 6 he blamed mishta for the gas this is like a kid telling his mom daddy said I could do it and then telling his dad mommy said I could do it and since mommy and daddy aren't speaking no one's the wiser bottom line you were lied to and counsel was lied to mishta is not to blame but someone at the city is Mr was prepared to Grant the waiver and Lockwood wrote Council letter was quote
008committed to doing all electric heat end quote but some City official behind closed doors told Lockwood to go ahead with gas I can only think that when it comes to climate it's just a game of pretend plausible deniability and you and I we're the suckers we're the losers in this game anyone else present that would like to speak at this time okay is there anybody that would like to address US remotely actually hand was just raised a phone number ending in 465 you permission to address the commission hello am I am I being heard yes okay thank you my name is Edward yomedi I'm at 1210 Brooklyn Avenue I make a comment only that the minutes of the previous meeting are not available for you uh the Planning Commission and other City commissions have had
009a history of uh non-timely uh minutes production I thought that that problem had been solved by addition of Staff but apparently it hasn't um and I will be sending a formal request to the clerk four minutes for the previous meeting as soon as they're available uh draft minutes are supposed to be made available uh very promptly after minutes uh are produced um there's a statutory requirement for that so very disappointed that the record of this body's work is not being memorialized promptly thank you thank you there are no other hands raised at this time thank you we'll move on to item seven public hearings for the next business meeting a public hearing on the following items will be held at the Planning Commission meeting for Tuesday August 15th 2023 at 7 pm the first is
0103680 Packard Road which is Blossom Dental for City Planning Commission approval this is a proposed 13 273 square foot one story dental office on a 1.21 acre vacant parcel which is zoned office a 29 car parking lot will also be constructed with shared access to the adjacent property and the uh the second hearing is for proposed amendments to front setback regulation in the tc1 zoning District to measure setbacks from Curb edges instead of lot lines changes will affect chapter 55 of the unified development code section 5.16.3 use specific standards for commercial uses and may also affect 5.17.4 mixed use zoning districts and proposed section 5.17.7 thank you we're now on to item 9A our first item of regular business this is a petition for 2805 Burton Road the bright Dawn Village site plan Amendment for
011Planning Commission approval this is a proposal to reduce the size of the indoor Gathering building by approximately two thousand square feet adjust sidewalks and utility leads to relocate barrier-free parking and make electric vehicle charging updates per current edition of the unified development code on an eight Acre Site zoned r4b multi-family residential the staff recommendation is approval um I'm seeing in my notes that there is no partition or presentation this evening so we'll move to the staff presentation um yeah just a very high level for both this petition the following um we are going to keep both obviously the petitioner and the staff presentation brief because we don't have uh enough members to take action on the property our recommendation is to hold the public hearing solicit any public comment and then we would be recommending
012a postponement after the public hearing to the August 15th meeting the only thing that I would suggest is if you have any initial questions or thoughts that would be helpful for either the petitioners or staff to make sure we address when the full presentation comes back to the Planning Commission on the 15th please feel free to raise them before you take any action to postpone and we can make sure that we address that foreign just that overview um just to reiterate as you put in the agenda the proposed changes are uh a new Clubhouse it's a smaller Clubhouse than originally proposed uh parking lot reconfiguration both for barrier-free parking and some um grading changes to improve the some of the visibility of some of those uh those areas uh as part of those required submittal
013they are bringing the site into compliance with our revised EV parking standards uh you'll see in the staff report the adjustments to those as well um and it is a Planning Commission for a site plan for Planning Commission approval with those changes thank you then we'll move now to the public hearing an opportunity for persons to speak for up to three minutes about the proposed project on Burton Road we'll first call on individuals present to address the commission then remote participants to speak during the public hearing remotely press star nine if by listening by phone or use the raise hand feature if viewing through the web link for phone access call 877-853-5247 and enter meeting ID 977-6634-1226 City staff will select callers who've raised their hand using the last three digits of their phone number
014or by name if available for those accessing through the web link you'll hear an automated announcement that the host is allowing you to speak when speaking please move to a quiet area and mute television or background sounds so we may hear you clearly for either method of participation please state your name and address at the beginning of your comments is there anybody present that would like to speak at this time thank you as if you hadn't haven't had enough of me already tonight um Ken Garber again um this is another gas burning development and this may be an opportunity to push for this community building to be heated electrically with a heat pump and to offset some of that electricity with rooftop solar um that's my only comment thank you thank you is there anybody
015else present who would like to speak at this time do you see anybody on the zoom next Kelly no I'm there are no uh hands raised all right we will close the public hearing so we're in discussion about a proposed motion and the motion is to postpone to the August 15th Planning Commission meeting and place this item under unfinished business does anybody want to move for that moved by commissioner sove seconded by commissioner weish we're now under we're now in discussion does anybody wanna anybody have anything they want to ask or clarify raise nothing I only had one thing um it says in the report that this that there was um it says quote the petitioner sent postcard notifications to Residents within 500 feet of this site staff has received emails in opposition to this
016project that are forwarded to the Planning Commission but I don't see anything about whether anybody attended that participation meeting and if they did if there's a report because of the scale this no meeting was required only notification of adjacent property got it okay any other questions or comments commissioner Hammerschmidt yeah I guess um for when they come back I would just want to hear although I won't be here um I would want to hear um why they are reducing the size um and if there is a potential then if it's already size to make the building fully electric and add solar in this new plan that they have all right if there are no other comments uh we just do this as a voice Voice vote is fine for a postponement okay so Voice vote
017um on the postponement all in favor say aye or raise a hand I any opposed motion carries okay we're on to item nine B uh 1800 Washington Avenue Evan's house for Scholars special exception use for Planning Commission approval this is a request to increase the occupancy from 65 to 85 no proposed changes to the exterior of the house located on this 0.85 acre parcel zoned r2b2 family dwelling the staff recommendation is approval um the petitioner is available for questions but is not prepared to present so we'll move to staff um just as summarized this is mostly an application because the previous special exception use limited the occupancy of that building they're proposing interior renovations to this property to increase the occupancy load of that that is proposed to increase from a maximum of 65 students
018up to 85 occupants as noted they're not proposing any physical changes to the site all of that will be internal no additional parking is required under our new elimination of minimum parking standards however because that special exception use does have a cap on that while normally under a permitted use this would be permissible just through a building permit that special exception use does have to be reconsidered and extended in order to provide for that increased occupancy similarly because you only have five members and it requires six affirmative votes I think it would be appropriate to postpone this to the August 15th meeting to provide the full commission the opportunity to hear the details further of that renovation and make a determination yeah great thank you so we'll now hold the public hearing for this item
019an opportunity for persons to speak for up to three minutes about the proposed project we'll first call on individuals present to address the commission than remote participants to speak during the public hearing remotely press star 9 if listening by phone or use the raise hand feature if viewing through the web link for phone access call 877-853-5247 and enter meeting ID 977-6634-1226 City staff will select callers who've raised their hand using the last three digits of their phone number or by name if available for those accessing through the web link you'll hear an automated announcement that the host is allowing you to speak when speaking please move to a quiet area and mute television or background sounds so we may hear you more clearly for either method of participation please state your name and address at
020the beginning of your comments is there anyone present that would like to speak at this time hi I'm Jerry Kaplan from 506 to Arrowhead West Bloomfield Michigan I'm the architect for this project submitted the material to you I'm here basically to answer questions I think the project is clear in the intent you described it well and if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer thank you is there anybody else present that would like to speak at this time so no questions so we'll just it's this is the public hearing so anybody who wants to speak can speak then we'll move into discussion and then if there are questions we'll call you back up so you can have a seat in the meantime thank you thank you anybody else present who would like to
021speak okay anybody who wants to address this remotely going once twice nothing great okay so now we're going to close the public hearing I'll read the proposed motion the motion is to postpone to August 15th Planning Commission and place this item under unfinished business moved by commissioner weish seconded by commissioner sovay we are now in discussion does anybody have any questions or comments on this item commissioner SoBe it's maybe you can address this now or be prepared to address this later I saw that the potential maximum occupancy was 107 but it's being requested at 85 is that a building code restriction or like would it require an addition to the building to meet that higher occupancy than requested no that's just the calculation based on fire safety requirements okay fire code okay so another code
022is more restrictive than the higher level occupancy right okay that's helpful thank you sure any other comments or questions commissioner white just a question to staff around can you just say more about this special exception use is it because it's a fraternity inside a residential zoning and so that's how it was that's how it got here and then the reason why it has to come back is because that original special exception use had a occupancy restriction and so could you just speak to why the original special exception use had a occupancy restriction especially when it could go up to 107 but was set at 65 and if in three years do they have to come back through this process to add another exception so hopefully that was like three questions sorry but I think you
023can grant them you're absolutely right it is here it was approved as a special exception because it is classified as a fraternity sorority or similar student housing Arrangement um the ordinance actually requires and the granting of a special exception use the occupancy is kept um that is based on some requirements of a certain amount of lot area per occupant uh and so that is uh that's a requirement of the issuance of a related special exception use so in this case that standard was made if it were amended to 85 and they wanted to exceed that in the future then yes then they would have to amend that or could consider asking for a higher uh level at this point to provide some some more flexibility in that longer term certainly the city could consider revising
024that language so it's not required that would not automatically likely retroactively apply because special exception uses can have other conditions applied to them but um so I think that addresses all the question if I missed anything let me know thank you on the drawing that we received in our packet did I only count 16 beds but were talking about 20 oh okay so I don't know staff or the architect what happened to the where are the other four beds going well there are no other four beds going at this time it's okay it's a capacity possibility so we're we're asking for 85 but you're only putting in six at this point we're adding 16 correct and but then that gives you the ability to add them later with no additional changes exactly okay and that
025meets the building code uh I can't speak to that but that's probably part of that difference right now that they're doing some programming based on building code requirements and um I'm grateful that I don't know whether it's the petition or staff had a conversation about building in some flexibility if those uh those changes that revolve or in that case if um a site plan if there was a desire to do an addition um and it was still within that special exception use capacity you might have the ability to do that without returning the special exception use as well okay okay those are my questions thank you we cannot I'll um I'll try to check with the building department and try to provide a more um definitive response on that when it comes back on the
02615th everything commissioner survey maybe kind of add to the staff request to understand the level of like addition that would not have to come back here uh right because I like if they have to go through this process just to change the occupancy it's one thing but if they're doing it because they're doing a large enough addition to go through the process I just want to understand the Tipping Point to make sure to provide that flexibility sure more beds any other comments okay I think we're ready to take a Voice vote on this motion um so this is the motion to postpone to the August 15th meeting and place this item under unfinished business um all in favor say aye aye any opposed the motion carries okay we're on to item 11. this is public
027comment an opportunity for persons to speak for up to three minutes about any issue um on the agenda or not we'll we will first call an individual's present to address the commission then remote participants to speak during this public hearing remotely press star 9 of listening by phone or use the raise hand feature if viewing through the web link for phone access call 877-853-5247 and enter meeting ID 977-6634-1226 City staff will select callers that have raised their hand using the last three digits of your phone number or by name if available for those accessing through the web link you'll hear an automated announcement that the host is allowing you to speak when speaking please move to a quiet area and mute any television or background sounds so we may hear you clearly for either method
028of participation please state your name and address at the beginning of your comments is there anyone present that would like to speak at this time is there anyone that wants to address this remotely all right then I will close the public hearing we're on to item 12 commission proposed business are there any Commissioners that would like to propose business okay see no one I like these meetings I'm going to move on to item 13 adjournment moved by commissioner white seconded by commissioner Sobe all those in favor please say aye we are adjourned foreign