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HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/11/2019 - Planning Commission - Minutes - RegularPlanni ng Commi ssi on Meeti ng M INUTES Wednesday, September 11, 2019, 7:00 P M Salem Civic Center, 1001 Roanoke Boulevard, Salem, Virginia 24153 1.C all to Order A regular meeting of the Planning C ommission of the C ity of Salem, Virginia, was called to order at 7:00 p.m., there being present the following members to wit: Vicki G. Daulton, Chair; Denise P. King, Vice C hair; Reid A. Garst II, N. J ackson Beamer, and Neil L. Conner; with Vicki G. Daulton, Chair, presiding; together with J ames E. Taliaferro, Interim City Manager and Executive Secretary; Charles E. VanAllman, J r., C ommunity Development Director; Mary Ellen Wines, Zoning Administrator; Benjamin W. Tripp, City Planner; and William C . Maxwell, Assistant C ity Attorney. 2.C onsent Agenda A.Minutes Consider approval of the minutes from the August 14, 2019, work session and regular meeting. Approved as presented 3.Old Business A.Amendment to the Zoning Ordinance Hold public hearing to consider the request of R. Fralin Companies, Inc, contract purchaser, for rezoning the property located at 211 Diamond Road and 135 Diamond Road (Tax Map #s 272 - 2 - 1 and 273 - 2 - 1) from A G - Agriculture District / RSF - Residential Single Family District to RSF Residential Single Family District. (Continued from the August 14, 2019, meeting) T he Executive Secretary noted that the petitioner of Items 3A Rezoning, 3B Special Exception Permit to allow Single Family Dwellings, and 4C Special Exception Permit to allow Cluster Housing Overlay, R Fralin C ompanies, Inc., has requested that the items be withdrawn. Neil Conner motioned to recommend to Council of the City of Salem to approve the request of R. Fralin Companies, Inc., petitioner, to withdraw Item 3A Rezoning, Item 3B Special Exception Permit to allow Single Family Dwellings, and Item 4C Special Exception Permit to allow Cluster Housing Overlay. J ackson Beamer seconded the motion. Ayes: Beamer, Conner, Daulton, Garst, King B.Special Exception P ermit Hold public hearing to consider the request of R. Fralin Companies, Inc., contract purchaser, for the issuance of a Special Exception Permit to allow Single Family Dwellings, Attached with proffered conditions on the property located at 211 Diamond Road (Tax Map # 272 - 2 - 1). (C ontinued from the August 14, 2019, meeting) 4.New Business A.Special Exception P ermit Hold public hearing to consider the request of R. Fralin Companies, Inc., contract purchaser, and T he Simms Family Limited Partnership and SFE, LLC, property owners for the issuance of a Special Exception Permit to allow C luster Housing Overlay - Single Family Dwellings, Detached with proffered conditions on the properties located at 211 Diamond Road (Tax Map # 272-2-1) and 135 Diamond Road (Tax Map # 237-2-1). B.Use Not P rov ided F or P ermit Hold public hearing to consider the request of Hines Services, LLC , dba Farmer Auctions, lessee, for the issuance of a Use Not Provided For Permit to allow retail sales and an auction and appraisal business on the property located at 29 Wildwood Road (Tax Map # 137-1-1.2). T he Executive Secretary reported that notice of said hearing had been published in the August 29, and September 5, 2019, issues of the Salem Times Register and all property owners were notified by letter mailed August 28, 2019. Staff noted the following regarding the request: the subject property consists of a .432-acre parcel located northwest of the intersection of Wildwood Road and West Main Street. T he parcel is occupied by a 4,200 square foot, one story commercial building. T he building contains a 1,000 square foot showroom that fronts on Wildwood Road and includes a 3,200 square foot warehouse in the rear. T his property may be accessed from both Wildwood Road and Horner Lane. T here are currently 8 designated parking spaces contained in the approximately .24 acre paved area. T his property is partially located within the FEMA designated floodway and the 100 year flood plain. One concern is: how will parking for large events be handled. C hair Daulton opened the public hearing and asked if there was anyone to speak regarding this request. J arrod Hines, Owner/President of Farmer Auctions, appeared before the C ommission explaining the Use Not Provided For Permit to allow retail sales and an auction and appraisal business. He noted that primarily most of their business is conducted on-line only. Also, about 95% of their business is conducted away from their offices. T hey travel to the client's home or business to catalog the items, and the online auction is conducted at that location. T he office is basically used for cloud production, invoicing, customer service calls, and office space for appraisal and cataloging staff. So, the footprint in this space will be a lot less hectic and lot more controlled than it was when the Farmers were conducting 25-30 live auctions a month on Midland Road. T he market dictates that the auction industry shift to an online auction model, which is what his family did about 7 years ago prior to purchasing the Farmer Company. Since purchasing Farmer Auctions, he has converted them to mostly online auctions as well. As was stated in his letter, they are a federal firearms agent and occasionally they may have a live firearms auction at this facility. When they have these auctions, it has been their experience that they may have 25 to 30 people who come for the auction. He also noted they may have two or three collectors auctions a year. T hese types of auctions may attract a crowd of 30 to 40 attendees. C hair Daulton noted the property currently has only eight parking spaces. She asked when they have live auctions here, where will people park? Mr. Hines noted that there are eight striped spaces, but there is room for more parking around on the property as there is a grassy area to the left and one in the back. In addition, unofficially their friends at Angelles Diner use their property some so there may be some spillover to the Angelles lot. C ommissioner Conner asked if he said there would be two to three firearms auctions a year, and Mr. Hines said if they are lucky they may have that many. T hey do not solicite firearms, but they find that a couple times a year a hoard comes their way. C ommissioner Conner asked if he felt comfortable that he would be able to contain most of the cars on his lot except for maybe a couple that may park on the Angelle's lot. Mr. Hines noted they do not foresee a problem because he knows what the footprint has been on Midland Road when they have auctions there. Mr. C onner asked if they would anticipate having people park on Horner Lane because it is pretty narrow, and Mr. Hines noted that he does not anticipate people parking on Horner Lane. In addition, he does not anticipate having any more live auctions than they absolutely have to. C ommissioner King asked what would they do about people who attempt to park on Horner Lane. Mr. Hines noted that they have blocked the entrance to Horner Lane as they had some pass through traffic using their property to access Horner Lane. T hey would open this up for a sale, but they would have someone in the parking lot to monitor the traffic so that people would not park on Horner Lane. Mr. Conner asked if he was willing to proffer that there would be no parking on Horner Lane, and Mr. Hines noted that he would be willing to proffer this. T hey do not want people parking on the road. C ommissioner King asked about the property to the left of his building. She noted that it appears to belong to the property next door. Mr. Hines noted that there is about a 20' wide strip running the length of the building that he mowed a few weeks ago so he hopes it belongs to this property. It appeared to him that it is part of this property because it had not been mowed. C ommissioner King noted in his letter submitted with the application that he indicated there could be 50-60 bidders in attendance at the live auctions. She has a real concern with the parking that would be needed for this many bidders along with the staff needed to hold the auction. Mr. Hines noted that this is a valid concern, and he does not have an appropriate answer. His experience with the collector's auctions is that it varies from auction to auction. If we consider what happens at a live auction at a residence, people that can park on the property will park there, and the others have to figure out where to park. He noted that he cannot limit the crowd to a certain size. C ommissioner Conner asked if he would be willing to limit the number of live auctions on an annual basis. Mr. Hines noted that he is willing to limit the number, and he believes that they will limit themselves. T hey make every effort to not bring the items there to sell. C ommissioner King noted that the parking is a real concern, and people are going to park where they can. If we have a situation where we need to get a fire truck down Horner Lane, then this could be a bad situation. Mr. Hines noted that they will commit to having a parking lot attendant at least, at the beginning of the sale, when the majority of the people are arriving to make sure this does not happen. C ommissioner King asked staff if it was possible to request a parking plan from Mr. Hines because she is not convinced that there is sufficient parking on the property. Mr. Maxwell noted that this could be a condition of the issuance of the Use Not Provided For Permit or staff can require a plan to be submitted for the use. C ommissioner Conner asked how does the Commission make the approval of the permit conditional, and Mr. Maxwell noted that this would be part of the motion for approval. C hair Daulton asked if there was anyone else to speak on this matter. T here was no response, and the public hearing was closed. C hair Daulton asked if staff would follow up with Mr. Hines to make sure the conditions are met, and Mrs. Wines noted that staff will follow up by following the number of auctions on his website and also keeping an eye on it when they occur. Neil Conner motioned to recommend to the Council of the City of Salem that the request of Hines Services, LLC , dba Farmer Auctions, lessee, for the issuance of a Use Not Provided For Permit to allow retail sales and an auction and appraisal business on the property located at 29 Wildwood Road (Tax Map # 137-1-1.2) be approved with the following conditions: (1) no more than six annual live auctions and (2) no on-street parking. J ackson Beamer seconded the motion. Ayes: Beamer, Conner, Daulton, Garst, King 5.Adjournment T he meeting was adjourned at 7:22 p.m.