CITY OF ANDOVER

SITE PLAN REVIEW COMMITTEE

April 6, 2004

Minutes

The Site Plan Review Committee met for a regular meeting on Tuesday, April 6, 2004 at the Andover Central Park Lodge located at 1607 E. Central, Andover, Kansas. Chairman Doug Allison called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Members present were David Martine, Larry Crouse, Charley Lewis, Shawn King, David Beaver and Kevin Dreiling. Others in attendance were Zoning Administrator Les Mangus, Administrative Secretary Deborah Carroll, and City Clerk/Administrator Jeff Bridges. 

Call to Order

Review the minutes of the Site Plan Review Committee meeting of March 2, 2004.

Charley Lewis made a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Shawn King seconded the motion. Motion carried 6/0.

Review the minutes of SPRC of March 2, 2004.

SP-2003-08. Review the Revised Site Plan for the Lubbers East Auto Sales, an addition to the proposed auto display parking area. Ron Messner and Don Kimble Architects from R. Messner Construction presented the site plan.

Don Kimble stated the owner/developer of Lubbers was able to utilize 42 additional feet to the east of the approved site that they plan to use for additional auto display parking. He said they want to add 42 feet of similar landscaping along the proposed addition to the existing landscaping plan.

Doug Allison asked if a revised grading plan had been submitted. Don Kimble said MKEC would be submitting it to Les. Les Mangus said he has not received any plans yet and all he has is the lighting plan. He said the grading plan should not be a problem because there is an on site storm sewer system.

Charley Lewis asked Les if he was satisfied with the documents that have been submitted. Les said the landscaping plan needs to include one more set of Dwarf Burning Bushes and another Chanticleer Pear Tree. He said the landscaping along the Highway is basic.

Doug Allison said he is disappointed about the amount of material submitted for review.

Larry Crouse asked if there would be a sprinkler system for these plants. Don Kimble said there would be one installed.

Charley Lewis made a motion to approve the site plan to include 3 Dwarf Burning Bushes and 1 Chanticleer Pear Tree. Larry Crouse seconded the motion. Motion carried 6/0.

SP-2003-08. Review the Revised Site Plan for the Lubbers East Auto Sales

SP-98-07. Review the Revised Landscape Plan for the International Cold Storage air conditioner screening project. David Martine abstained from participation in the voting on this case. David Martine representing Treescapes, and Ace Thompson from ICS presented the plan.

David Martine said that at the last Site Plan Committee meeting, a planting scheme was approved for 9 evergreen trees, 5 to be covered around 1 AC unit, and 4 around the other. He said the owners had chosen Black Hills Spruce variety. They would rather change that and use Eastern Red Cedar trees.

David Martine showed a digital photo of both AC areas with the Cedar trees and the location of a water spigot on the side of the building. Mr. Martine has been contracted by the owner on the adjacent property to the west to disperse the existing Cedar trees and relocate them all the way down the property line from ICS to Commerce Street. This would create 2 rows of screening. He said Bill King owns the adjacent ground to the west. 

Larry Crouse asked why the reference to the existing spigot was necessary. David said it was part of the approved plan from the previous meeting to have the new trees irrigated.

David said the Cedar trees would be transplanted, not be balled and burlapped. The trees would be 5 to 6 foot trees with a ball weighing 12,000 pounds. He said they don't want to use irrigation on the additional 9 trees because the overdig will not shock the tree, and this variety requires little maintenance. The location of the spigot is shown to prove there will be access to water if it becomes necessary. He further stated these trees will not be in a landscape bed but will be in the lawn which is already partially irrigated.

Larry Crouse asked if these trees are nursery grown or native. David said they are native. There was general discussion about whether this variety of tree would be acceptable for this site.

Larry asked what procedure is in place if these trees don't survive. Les said there is one, but it takes time to implement.

Doug asked for clarification of the location of the new trees along the adjacent property. David said they would be planted along the property line from 60 feet south of the front of ICS so that the row of Cedar trees won't cover the front of the building.

Les cautioned ICS about the existing utility easement and some existing sewer lines along the King property. David Martine noted the warning.

Doug Allison asked if the Cedar is a substitute for the 9 trees shown on the plan. David said they are proposing 9 Eastern Red Cedar to replace the Black Hills Spruce from the original plan that will be 5-6 foot minimum height. Larry said he does not have a problem with the tree selection.

David said the second part of the request is to eliminate the requirement for underground irrigation because there is a spigot for hand watering close to the planting area.

Larry asked if these trees would be guaranteed for 1 year. David said they would be guaranteed as long as the owner maintains them.

Les said the minimum planting size requirement is 6 feet in height.

Larry Crouse made a motion to approve the site plan as amended to change the species from Black Hills Spruce to Eastern Red Cedar and to remove the irrigation requirement. Charley Lewis seconded the motion. Motion carried 5/0/1 with David Martine abstaining.

SP-98-07. Review the Revised Landscape Plan for the International Cold Storage

SP-2004-06. Review the Preliminary Site Plan for the Andover Senior Care facility in the 300 block of East Central. Dennis and Debie Bush along with their architect Ed Murabito presented the site plan. At 6:22 Dennis & Debie Bush arrived at the meeting.

Ed explained the plan beginning on page SP-1 and said they have planned for 145 parking spaces, based upon 1.5 cars per room and one for each employee on site. He said Eastern Red Cedar trees were planned for the east and north sides as screening from the residential neighborhoods. There will also be a 6-foot Cedar fence as additional screening. He would like to maintain the existing hedgerow on the west. Around the building would be mostly flowering crab and a continuous row of Anthony Waterer Spirea mixed with Common Quince, and Euonymus Manhattan. In the interior courtyards will be Dwarf fruit trees for the residents to harvest from.

Les asked how long the building is from north to south. Ed said it is approximately 350 feet.

Les asked if this is an uninterrupted 300-foot plane face of the building with no offsets or anything. Ed said there would be some fenestration (trim around the windows) in the center in addition to the planting of some trees to break up the elevation. There would be a brick wains cot on the front up 4 feet, then the rest will be synthetic stucco or efis board, and the roof would be composition to give it a residential character. He said the facility would have a low profile for a building of this size.

Les asked about the pitch of the roof. Ed said it will be 5/12. Ed further stated there would be a clear story on the front of the roof so light can flood into the corridors for natural light throughout the building.

Doug Allison asked if the clear stories are only on the front of the building. Ed said it would be on all sides of the building and the only way the windows can be seen is from the courtyard.

Dennis Bush said this facility would be surrounded by fence without much showing to the neighborhoods. Debie Bush said this is a deep lot.

Doug said a lot of roof would still be visible to the area.

Charley Lewis said this looks like Base Housing.

David Beaver said there is no unique articulation in the long building elevations.

Larry Crouse said the plan is ugly. There was general discussion about the entrance and exit doors on the west side.

Les asked if below each window is the through the wall HVAC unit. Ed said yes and the only thing that will be seen is the fenestration on the front of the building at the main entrance.

Les asked how wide the north side is. Ed said it is 250 feet wide.

David Beaver thinks this plan is insensitive to the senior residents.

Doug asked if these are only apartments. Ed said there are 4 quadrangles and each one would be a separate neighborhood with the dining facility is in the center of the design for all residents to have an equal distance to go. The exterior perimeter walls are senior apartments and the interior perimeter walls are assisted living units.

Charley Lewis asked if there are covered parking areas. Ed said they would all be open.

Larry Crouse asked if there would be a basement at this facility. Ed stated it would be constructed with Eco System Styrofoam filled with reinforced concrete and a basement would not be necessary.

Ed said the landscape plan submitted to Les is the current one, but the grading plan is incomplete. He said there has been more parking added and the grading will have to be adjusted for this.

Larry Crouse said the size of the plants, irrigation plans, arrangement of plants is not noted on this plan. Doug Allison said this is only a preliminary plan and the applicants are asking for direction. There was general discussion about possible clustering of the plantings.

Larry would like to see some other tree than flowering crabapples. He would like to see a variety of species of trees planted. Larry asked how far the Honeylocust is from the building. Ed said about 20 feet. Larry said the minimum distance from the building should be 20 feet.

Doug Allison asked if the minimum requirement for parking spaces is 145. Ed said this allows for 1.5 cars per unit and about 15 staff spaces. Debie Bush said there would be 15 staff persons per shift. There was general discussion about this facility being 88 units, part assisted living and part would be apartments.

Kevin Dreiling arrived at 6:35 p.m.

Doug asked if the south side of the building would have a canopy for a drop off area. Ed said that it would have.

Les was concerned about this being a "shotgun" hallway which creates the long uninterrupted building faces. There was general discussion about the security issues and licensing standards unique to the operation of senior living facilities of different types.

Dennis Bush said the interior of the facility would be licensed as "assisted living" and the apartments would be licensed as "senior housing". These will be 2 separate corporations.

Doug suggested the applicants find a variation for the wall planes and the roof planes. David Beaver suggested the video and library rooms would provide good opportunities to interrupt the long planes.

Larry Crouse was concerned about the placement of the Red Cedars and the security of the residents. He discussed planting deciduous shade trees with bare trunk 5-6 feet off the ground and shrubs that don't get any taller than 2 feet tall.

Les suggested choosing plant varieties that would provide color year round.

Charley Lewis asked about the materials for the outside of the building. Dennis said it would be brick half way up and stucco the rest of the way up.  Doug asked if this would only be on the south side. Dennis said it would be all the way around.

Les suggested constructing stone corners on the building or pullouts on the side.

Charley Lewis asked if the brick is the same color as the Doctor's office.

Doug was concerned about the trash area not being adequate for the 88 units. Doug wants to see the roofline broken up. Les suggested raising the roof over the Library areas and putting in some windows in the space between the 2 roofs.

SP-2004-06. Review the Preliminary Site Plan for the Andover Senior Care

Member Items. Doug Allison asked if Diamond Shamrock had been contacted about construction of the planter under their sign. Les said he would have Kirk and Lloyd make their semi-annual landscaping trip and will send letters to them all.

David Beaver was concerned about Andover Village Retail signage having all the bright light signs. He asked what the Site Plan Committee policy is for these. He showed photos he had taken of a strip mall in Kansas City. The photos showed the tenants all using white lettering signage, with their own unique font. He thought this looked very clean. There was general discussion about signing and the application of it for continuity and creativity. 

Larry Crouse asked when the entrance monument sign would be completed. Les said there have been discussions at the Comprehensive Development Plan meetings about "branding" the city so you know when you are in Andover. Les said he has been working with David Martine to get the monument project underway.

Jeff Bridges said the key to standards is to be willing to let the developer walk away from the project if he does not comply with the policies.

There was general discussion about creating character and a "theme" for the City of Andover. Les Mangus said the PUD section of the zoning regulations says that on a general PUD which includes commercial, that the applicant shall submit renderings and plans of his development. 

Member Items.

A motion was made by David Martine to adjourn the meeting at 7:10 p.m. Shawn King seconded the motion.  Motion carried 7/0.

Adjournment

Respectfully Submitted by

______________________

Deborah Carroll

Administrative Secretary

Approved this 4^th day of May 2004 by the Site Plan Review Committee, City of Andover.