HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-18-2024 PZ MinutesCITY OF SEBASTIAN
PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION/LOCAL PLANNING AGENCY MINUTES
JANUARY 18, 2024
I. Call to Order
II. Pledge ofAllegiance
III. Roll Call
Present:
Mr. Roberts (a)
Ms. Matthews
Ms. Kautenburg
Not Present:
Ms. Geesey (a) -- Absent
Ms. Battles -- Excused
Mr. Haddix -- Excused
Mr. Carter
Ms. Lorusso
Ms. Kinchen
Also Present:
Jennifer Cockcroft, City Attorney
Alix Bernard, Community Development Director
Dorri Bosworth, Manager, Community Development Department
Michelle Faulkner, Senior Planner
Joseph Perez, AV Technical Assistant
Janet Graham, Technical Writer
IV. Announcements and Agenda Modifications
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Chairperson Kautenburg announced that commissioners Sara Battles and Dennis Haddix
are both excused from tonight's meeting. Alternate members Mr. Roberts and Ms.
Geesey, who is not here yet, will be voting. We do have a quorum in case Ms. Geesey
does not appear. Mr. Roberts will be voting tonight.
Ms. Kautenburg announced that public hearings have been scheduled forthe next regular
meeting date of February 1s', and the election of the Chairperson and Vice -Chairperson
of the Planning and Zoning Commission will be scheduled for the February 15' meeting
as well. Ms. Kautenburg said it is a pleasure to meet Ms. Bernard and welcomed her to
the City.
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Ms. Bosworth introduced the new Community Development Director, Ms. Alix Bernard.
She has been welcomed into the Community Development Department and has been
helping the department to get settled.
V. Approval of Minutes: Regular meeting of October 12, 2023
All having indicated that they had reviewed the Minutes of October 12, 2023, Ms.
Kautenburg called for a motion. A motion approving the Minutes of October 12, 2023 as
presented was made by Mr. Carter, seconded by Ms. Matthews, and approved
unanimously via voice vote.
VI. Local Planning Agencv (LPA) Public Hearings: None
VII. Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) Quasi -Judicial Hearings:
A. Quasi -Judicial Public Hearing -- Site Plan, Major Modification -- Crail
Manufacturing, Phase 2 -- 7756 130th Street -- 40,000 SF Warehouse
Building with Associated Site Improvements -- HI (Heavy Industrial) Land
Use, IN (Industrial) Zoning District
All who would testify were sworn in by the City Attorney.
The commissioners had no ex parte discussions to disclose.
Ms. Kautenburg called on the applicant to make their presentation.
Wesley Mills of Mills, Short & Associates identified himself and stated he is the engineer
for the project. He stated that he has looked at staff's presentation, and he feels it is a
great summary of the project. Thus, he is here more today to answer any questions the
commissioners have about the project.
Dorri Bosworth, Community Development Department Planner, identified herself and
stated that this is an application for a 40,000 square foot warehouse building. This is
Phase 2 of this project. Phase 1 did not come before the commissioners. It did not
include any new impervious. It was a change of use, which she will go into. It is an older
site. The site has been here since 1980. Atlantic Gulf Communities used it for their
staging area when they were doing work with General Development's construction of the
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Highlands. It was bought later by Ford Wire who was there for about 15 years. They
manufactured electrical components. Over the next few years there were a couple of
different businesses there. The current owner, Mr. Robb, purchased this property in 2022.
When he first bought the building, he came in and restriped the parking lot and the
dumpster enclosures. He also added inside a watchman living quarters -- nothing that
tripped us to require that plan to come into full compliance like Phase 2 is requiring them
to do. Staff administratively reviewed that. The watchman area is not a full-time
apartment for full-time living as it was explained to staff by the owner. The owner will be
here a certain amount of time during the week, and he will stay there as well as anybody
who would be supervising the assembly and other activities in the business that may be
there on the weekends. So, it is considered a watchman area and not a residential living
area. They are still completing the watchman area units and some of the improvements
that had to be done inside for fire compliance and building compliance. Mr. Robb will
speak and go into more detail of what is actually being done there with the bicycle storage
areas and his prefab housing assembly. If the commissioners have more questions on
the activity, Mr. Robb can go into that. Phase 2 is going to be more of a warehouse for
some of the assembly housing materials. At that size, 40,000 square feet, that requires
the site to come into current compliance with stormwater draining, landscaping, and
parking. That is the application that is before the commissioners tonight.
Ms. Bosworth reviewed the staff report to make some of the information part of the record.
The site itself is 10.34 acres. Their building coverage, even with the existing large building
and the new building, still only comes to 16.6% -- 50% is allowed per the zoning district
-- 80% impervious. They are at 37.2%, and their open space is 62%. They do meet all
of the required setbacks. The parking calculations are set forth on Sheet C-2(a) of the
site plan, on which total parking required is shown. Staff broke down the specific uses
and calculated parking. They need 71; they are providing 72 total spaces. Regarding the
stormwater, on the sheet that shows the existing site, you will see north of the buildings
there is a wetland area. There is a wetland area in the southeast corner that is going to
be modified. They have worked with St. John's and FDEP to determine the parameters
for filling in that wetland area. It is going to become a dry pond that will connect to an
existing wet pond. That has been approved by SJRWMD. The Consulting Engineer and
the City Engineer have also reviewed that drainage plan.
Regarding the traffic impact study, a statement was submitted. That information is on
page 6. Their estimated daily trips will be 385, and 400 is the threshold to require a full
traffic analysis. As far as staff knows, the County at this point is not requiring any
additional off -site improvements to 130t" Street or sidewalks, etc. This site is adjacent to
where the landfill is located.
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At this time, no signage is proposed on the site plan by the road. The additional
considerations are listed on page 7 of the staff report. With any project, there is always
a soil geotechnical report done by KSM or a similar company. They have determined in
a certain area where the new building is going to be placed that there is an area that has
some organic materials under the surface, some muck, something that is not going to be
conducive to placing a building on top of that. KSM has suggested that they do some
de -mucking. They will pull all of that organic material out, and they will have to put some
other material there. Staff is requiring that KSM oversee that activity, and that they will
have to provide a certified final report that the area is okay for placement of a building,
and staff will need that finalized report before we issue the building permit.
Because of some of the history of the businesses that were on that site, the City required
a Phase 1 environmental study to make sure that there were not any oil spills or areas of
gasoline that had not been cleaned up. Staff included the conclusions in our staff report.
There was nothing that needed to be reported to FDEP.
Ms. Bosworth stated that the proposed site plan is consistent with the Comprehensive
Plan and the Land Development Code. Staff has four recommendations of conditions for
approval as follows:
1. A separate Dewatering/De-Mucking permit is required that includes plans
detailing the proposed method and equipment for dewatering, where water will
be directed to, location of muck piles, etc.
2. Receipt of a certified Final Report from KSM regarding the de -mucking and
removal of reported organic materials before issuance of the Building Permit.
3. Final Scrub Jay & Gopher Tortoise surveys along with any FWC Gopher
Tortoise Relocation permits to be submitted before Land clearing and/or
Dewatering Permits can be issued.
4. All comments from the Indian River County Engineering Department regarding
the required IRC ROW Permit for 130t" Street must be addressed, with copies
of any revised sheets resubmitted to City staff. A copy of the approved IRC
ROW Permit must be submitted before the Land clearing Permit can be issued.
Ms. Kautenburg called for questions/comments from the commissioners.
Mr. Carter stated that he thinks this is a very nice project. He asked how many jobs do
they think will be generated with this project. Mr. Robb said he is planning on somewhere
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between 15 and 25 in the next 5 years. Mr. Carter asked how many initially. Mr. Robb
said 5 or 6, as they are just getting started.
Ms. Kinchen asked Mr. Robb what actually is going to be manufactured. Mr. Robb said
it would be factory -built modular housing.
Ms. Lorusso asked if this is an addition to an industrial existing project. Mr. Robb said
yes. Ms. Lorusso had no more questions.
Mr. Roberts asked if there have been any concerns by the neighbors in that area about
adding more manufacturing to that street. Ms. Bosworth said there have been no calls or
questions to City staff. Adjacent property to the south is also industrial for the City. To
the north is the landfill. That zoning is in the County and is also industrial. It is definitely
in an industrial area. There is a bit farther down a conservation area that the County
owns, which is why we are requiring the scrub jay and the tortoise studies. This property
is entirely surrounded by industrial businesses. There are some houses in the area, but
they are not across from this site.
Ms. Bosworth added that the City did send out letters to the surrounding homeowners,
whether they are in the City or County. Those property owners did receive written notice
of this hearing, and staff had no one reach out or come to the City offices to see the plan.
Ms. Matthews asked regarding the scrub jays and the gopher tortoises, has there been
anything preliminary done at this point. Ms. Bosworth said yes, there was an initial study,
but going through the staff's reviews, she does not recall anything on the scrub jays, but
there may be some tortoises. Mr. Mills said there was a full assessment for the gopher
tortoises, and it was determined that there were some burrows on site. Fortunately, most
of them were not located where they were proposing the building. They will have to do
an additional study. That is required just for construction, so they will do the second study.
He stated they did get the final scrub jay report this afternoon, and there were no reports
of scrub jays found on the property. They will submit that report tomorrow.
Ms. Matthews asked regarding septic versus sewer. She understands that sewer is not
feasible in the area. She wanted to make sure that where there are existing things and
other things, the applicant would have to go back through that. She asked if anything has
been done on that. Mr. Mills said there was a lot of coordination as it relates to utilities.
They worked with DEP and Indian River County, and both agencies determined that it
was not feasible, and neither wanted them to proceed with hooking up to sewer. So, the
next step would be a permit through the contractor once they get through this part, and
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the building permit would be a Department of Health septic and drain -field permit for the
new construction. Ms. Matthews asked if St. John's is involved with that as well for the
wetlands. Mr. Mills said they do not have wetlands on site; they have a pond on site. It
is just an open, existing pond that they are modifying.
Ms. Kautenburg opened the meeting for anyone who would like to speak in favor of this
application.
Helene Caseltine is the Vice President of the Economic Development for the Indian River
Chamber of Commerce. She said her organization has been working with Mr. Robb since
last summer. She said they are thrilled that Mr. Robb has decided on Sebastian for his
new operations. While 24 jobs may not sound like a lot, that is our niche here in Indian
River County, and those are the kinds of businesses that grow here, and they are good -
paying jobs. She, for the record, wanted to show their organization's support for this
project and thanked the commissioners and the Planning Department as well.
There being no one on Zoom who wished to speak in either opposition or in support of
this project, Ms. Kautenburg called on anyone in chambers who wished to speak against
this project. There was no one.
Ms. Kautenburg asked if either the applicant or staff had anything to add to the summary.
Ms. Bosworth addressed utilities. Because sewer is not available, and they will be able
to get a septic permit, water was a concern. As she noted in the report, to meet some of
the compliance code, they will have to have a fire sprinkler system. Bringing the water
down in this area was a great cost. Working with the City, there is actually going to be a
mini water tower on the site that will hold the water so that it is able to meet the sprinkler
requirements to meet the fire code. Ms. Bosworth stated that staff recommends approval.
Ms. Kautenburg called for deliberations by the commissioners.
Mr. Carter asked Mr. Robb what kind of price point he is looking for. Ms. Cockroft stated
he does not have to answer that at this point. He can if he wants, but we are beyond
commissioners' questions. So, it would be up to the applicant if he wants to answer that
question. There being nothing further, Ms. Kautenburg called for a motion.
A motion to accept the site plan major modifications for Crail Manufacturing, Phase 2 --
7756 130th Street -- 40,000 square foot warehouse building with associated site
improvements -- Heavy Industrial Land Use, Industrial Zoning District, to include the four
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recommendations that staff has entered into the Minutes, was made by Mr. Carter and
seconded by Ms. Lorusso.
Roll Call:
Ms. Kinchen -- Yes
Ms. Kautenburg -- Yes
Mr. Roberts -- Yes
Vote was 6-0 in favor. Motion carries.
VIII. Unfinished Business -- None
IX. New Business -- None
X. Ad'lourn
Ms. Lorusso -- Yes
Mr. Carter -- Yes
Ms. Matthews -- Yes
There being no further business, Ms. Kautenburg adjourned the meeting at 6:27 p.m.
in
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