Minutes of the
Planning & Regulations Committee

Prior to officially beginning the meeting, Mr. Simonson introduced his daughter, Judy Simonson-Moffitt, who had come as his guest to the meeting. Mr. Hutchinson and the Committee warmly welcomed her.

Mr. Hutcheson, Chairman of the Planning and Regulations Committee, called the meeting to order. He noted all Committee members were present.

Mr. Miller explained that in October of 1996, DeKalb County Ordinance 96-27 approved a Special Use Permit for a kennel on the subject property following the application by property owners Richard and Susan Myers. Among the conditions included in Ordinance 96-27 is, "The Special Use shall remain in force so long as Richard and Susan Myers are owners of said property, or so long as the property is owned by a corporation or partnership in which Richard or Susan Myers hold controlling interest." The Myers are now proposing to sell the property and boarding kennel to Mr. Pulford. In order to allow the sale and continued operation, an Amendment to the Special Use Permit to change the condition to transfer ownership to Michael Pulford must be granted.

DeKalb County Hearing Officer Ron Klein conducted a public hearing on the request on September 26, 2002. No members of the public spoke in favor of or in opposition to the request. Mr. Pulford testified that he proposed to operate the kennel in the same way it has been operated for the past five years. The Hearing Officer forwarded his Report and Recommendation and recommended approval of the Amendment to the Special Use Permit, with the same conditions as in the original ordinance with the sole difference that the new ordinance would state the Special Use would be in effect as long as Mr. Pulford was the owner.

Mr. Hutchinson called for comments from the Committee. There being none, he called for a motion to approve the Amendment.

Sycamore Church of Christ has filed an application for a Special Use Permit to allow the construction and operation of a church on the north 4.63 acres of the property at 1635 Freed Road in Sycamore Township. The subject property, which is located at the northwest corner of Freed and Peace Roads, is zoned R-1, Residential District.

Mr. Miller explained that the petitioners were requesting a determination by the Planning and Regulations Committee on the zoning prior to filing for approval of a final plat of subdivision approval. Subdivision approval by the County Board would be needed in order to divide the six-acre lot into a site for the church and a one-acre-plus lot for the existing residence.

DeKalb County Hearing Officer Ron Klein conducted a public hearing on the request on October 3, 2002. The petitioner provided testimony and exhibits as to the proposed location, design and operation of the church. No members of the public spoke in favor of or in opposition to the request, but six neighboring residents asked questions on appearance, lighting, and use.

The petitioner also requested two Variations from the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance: one Variation from Section 6.03.H. to allow a parking area without a barrier curb around the perimeter, and one Variation from Section 6.03.C. to allow an entrance/exit for an off-street parking area with over four parking spaces to be located 50 feet from the intersection of two street right-of-way lines in lieu of the minimum separation of 75 feet. Residents and staff

expressed concern about the proximity of the drive, which would serve a 53-space parking lot, to the intersection of Freed and Peace Roads. The Hearing Officer also expressed his concern with the requested Variation.

The Hearing Officer forwarded his Report and Recommendation and recommended approval of the Special Use Permit, with several conditions. The Hearing Officer denied the requested Variations, citing failure to meet the necessary criteria. Since that time, the Church has begun working with the property owner, and agreed to proceed with the project with the driveway meeting the required 75-foot setback from the intersection of the road rights-of-way.

Mr. Simonson asked if this Committee’s approval would be construed as addressing the two Variations requested by the petitioner. Mr. Miller indicated that the Committee would not need to address the Variations at all as the Hearing Officer had already denied them.

Mr. Lyle asked for confirmation that the entrance would be off of Freed Road rather than Peace. Mr. Miller indicated that was correct.

Mr. Steimel asked to note his reaffirmation of the denial of the Variations. He commented that the intersection of Freed and Peace has become increasingly dangerous as traffic has increased and may require a stop light in the future. Mr. Steimel then asked for clarification regarding the drainage for the retention pond. Mr. Miller indicated that the County Engineer had seen the plans and agreed with the design. The drainage will ultimately go to Blue Heron Creek. Mr. Steimel noted that he just wanted to be sure it was going into an appropriate channel and not through someone’s property.

Mr. Hutchinson called for any further questions from the Committee. There being none, he called for a motion to approve the Special Use.

Mr. Miller noted that the Committee had report in their packets summarizing the work being done on the Regional Planning Commission’s Unified Comprehensive Plan/Mode UDO project. Staff and the planning consultant have been holding meetings with each municipality to get them started on their portion of the comprehensive plan update processes. The ultimate goal is to create a unified plan on growth and development across the county, and to that end, there is a need to review the existing comprehensive plans in each community and make updates as needed. They are currently working with 10 of the 13 participating municipalities on updating comprehensive plans. At this time, Cortland is the only community not asking for any assistance with their plan processes. DeKalb has requested an "Image Preference Survey" and Sycamore will be getting assistance on a sub-area plan.

Each individual community will have, in the end, a stand-alone plan which they can adopt, but one that can also be modified as necessary as a component of the overall comprehensive plan for the County. Staff and the consultant are also beginning to initiate the creation of a model Unified Development Ordinance that will serve as the primary tool to implement the Plan. Tomorrow evening, the Regional Planning Commission, at it’s regular monthly meeting, will begin looking at the first draft chapters of the Unified Development Ordinance. Mr. Miller noted that it is anticipated that the County would one day adopt the Unified Comprehensive Plan as it’s own and perhaps modify County regulations to match those of the model UDO.

Mr. Steimel asked if Cortland was indeed using the same consultant as the Commission. Mr. Miller stated that they were and noted that Cortland felt comfortable with what they currently had.

Mr. Miller noted that one of the things discovered through this process is the different character encountered in each community. Some small communities are extremely enthusiastic in their participation while some others, without dedicated staff to address this, are less vigorous in their involvement.

Mr. Hutchinson added that this is something quite important to understand that some small communities do not have staff to devote to projects like this. This can sometimes slow the processes.

Mr. Miller noted that this was a process designed to work with either extremely small groups or larger groups with equal potential for success.

Mr. Simonson noted that people will perhaps pay more attention to these issues when they see the impact development can have on their taxes.

Mr. Miller noted that the Commission had gathered the current fee data from the communities involved and shared that with the project group. He indicated that at this time the Commission is not taking a position of any kind on impact fees, but rather acting as a clearing house for information on what is being done.

Mr. Steimel noted that it would seem very important for DeKalb, Sycamore and Cortland to especially find a way to get on the same page with this issue given recent developments.

Mr. Miller noted that this was true, but that it’s important to recognize that impact fees are not always the full answer. Recent court decisions had rendered them quite restrictive in some cases.

Mr. Simonson asked if the Genoa impact fees had been changed recently due to the approval of the new high school. Mr. Miller clarified that Genoa has been charging such fees since 1996, so that community has been ahead of the curve on the issue somewhat.

Mr. Steimel noted that there was a growing concern regarding utility company subcontractors causing damage to farm drain tiles in the County when they lay new cable or fiber optic line. The companies that practice trenching do not seem to cause the same damage as those who simply plow the lines under. He wondered if there were some way to require that utility companies contact all farm owners whose properties will be touched by the process prior to beginning. He noted that one company, MediaCom, was voluntarily contacting the land owners to assure that the land owners support the process. Another company, Verizon, has been ignoring the concerns of farmers and had even rejected a plea for compensation from a farmer whose tiles were damaged by a Verizon installation. He asked if the County could consider taking a leadership position in adopting requirements to regulate these installations.

Mr. Miller asked if anyone was familiar with who the companies were currently required to contact prior to beginning work. This would be a first step in identifying where these projects are being proposed and allowing contact prior to the work commencing.

Mr. Smith noted that it was ironic that most of these same utility companies require contact with the statewide J.U.L.I.E. before a private entity begins any sort of digging operation, but are not holding to similar requirements for themselves.

Mr. Lyle noted that he believed the companies have three days to contact the State IDOT before commencing operations.

Mr. Hutchinson noted that many years ago when cable was first being installed, there was widespread damage done during the process. That landowners and homeowners were not considered.

Mr. Simonson noted that when I-88 was being built there was similar damage to tiles that also went unaddressed. He went on to note that any new requirements should contain strong fine provisions for companies who do not cooperate.

Mr. Steimel asked what had been the outcome of Guardian Pipeline’s requirements. Mr. Miller noted that they had been given a Federal exemption from having to meet the permit requirements of the local municipalities.

Mr. Steimel asked Mr. Miller if he could look into the problem and report back to the Committee. Mr. Miller indicated that he would.

Mr. Miller noted that during recent discussions on the proposed wind farm, there were provisions written into the agreements that required the wind farm operator to be responsible for any damage caused during the installation of the windmills and that any farmer disagreeing with the company on a satisfactory repair would be provided an arbitration process. He noted that the Committee could review that provision when the wind farm project came before them next month.

Mr. Hutchinson noted that he had seen an alarming increase in political signs not being placed properly on private property and out of the right of way.

Mr. Miller noted that he had instructed staff in his office to contact all those who had sign permits with the office and remind them of their placement requirements and alert them that signs not placed properly could be removed.

Mr. Hutchinson noted that the current schedule places the November Planning and Regulations Committee meeting on Wednesday, November 27, 2002, the day before Thanksgiving. He asked the Committee to consider if that was acceptable or if they wanted to move the meeting back a day or so. Following discussion, it was determined that the meeting would be moved to Tuesday, November 26, 2002 at the same time and location.