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2002-07-24 - Plan Commission - Minutes Board or Commission: ❑ Plan commission Document Type: ❑A e g nda 0 Minutes Meeting ate: 07/24/2002 Type of Meeting: ❑ Special Meeting SPECIAL MEETING BUFFALO GROVE PLAN COMMISSION July 24, 2002 Riverwalk North, east of Milwaukee Avenue north of Riverwalk Drive Amendment of a Planned Unit Development (P.U.D.) and Preliminary Plan in the B-3 District—Workshop #4 Chairman Ottenheimer called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. in the Village Council Chambers, Buffalo Grove Municipal Building, 50 Raupp Boulevard, Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Commissioners present: Chairman Ottenheimer Mr. Samuels Mr. Smith Ms. Bocek Ms. Kenski-Sroka Mr. Khan Mr. Teplinsky Mr. Billiter Commissioners absent: Ms. Dunn Also Present: Mr. Timothy Beechick, Hamilton Partners Mr. David Olsen, Jenkins Group Mr. Michael Werthmann, KLOA Mr. Robert Pfeil, Village Planner Mr. Greg Summers, Associate Village Planner APPROVAL OF MINUTES Moved by Commissioner Bocek, seconded by Commissioner Teplinsky to approve the minutes of the public hearing of June 19, 2002. All Commissioners were in favor of the motion and the motion passed unanimously with Commissioner Kenski-Sroka abstaining. Moved by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Bocek to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of June 19, 2002. All Commissioners were in favor of the motion and the motion passed unanimously with Commissioner Kenski-Sroka abstaining. COMMITTEE AND LIAISON REPORTS—None RIVERWALK NORTH, EAST OF MILWAUKEE AVENUE NORTH OF RIVERWALK DRIVE—AMENDMENT OF A PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT(P.U.D.) AND PRELIMINARY PLAN IN THE B-3 DISTRICT—WORKSHOP#4 Mr. Beechick stated the Riverwalk North project is located directly north of the existing Riverwalk Development, which contains two multi-story office buildings at the northeast corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Lake Cook Road. The Johnson family owns this property and they have asked Hamilton Partners to petition on their behalf to have the property zoned for a mixed-use development. The total acreage is about 16 '/z acres of land which includes the North Riverwalk Drive property to the north end and all the way over to the Des Plaines River. This property is already annexed into the Village. In addition there is the restaurant site which is the old Hans Bavarian Lodge which is currently not annexed into the Village. As part of their request for zoning it would be included in an annexation agreement. The use would be consistent with the past use of a restaurant site. Mr. Beechick stated they are proposing an 8-story office building with a five level structured parking deck adjacent to the office building at the south end of the Riverwalk North parcel. Directly north of that they are proposing a 6-story hotel with surface parking and then the remaining site would be a multi-family residential unit which would be 6 stories of dwelling units with two levels underneath that for parking. Mr. Beechick stated they have made some minor changes since the last workshop. One of them is the inclusion of a pork chop at the proposed right in, right out entry off of Milwaukee Avenue so it will really be directed as a right in, right out entry exclusively. In addition, they have created an exhibit which shows the pathway system throughout the development. They have a sidewalk that exists on the proposed restaurant site with a pedestrian crossing across North Riverwalk Drive, which ties into either the sidewalk on the east side of Riverwalk Drive which eventually, feeds into an asphalt bike trail. Internally there are also walks and sidewalks that connect various parcels together. They will probably add sidewalk from the patio area behind the multi-family residential to create a stub path that would tie into the bike trail system adjacent to the Des Plaines River. Mr. Werthmann stated they had done a preliminary study and based on that there were a number of comments from the Commission. One of the major comments was the intersection of Milwaukee/Deerfield Road and how they operate and effect Milwaukee Avenue at Riverwalk Drive. Mr. Werthmann stated they have produced a new study and the Village traffic consultant has reviewed it. He noted this site has been approved to contain a 150,000 square foot office building. Therefore, 50 percent of the traffic that will be generated by this development has already been approved. Mr. Werthmann stated based on the trip generation numbers they took the traffic and assigned it to the roadway system. The 150,000 square foot office building, which has already been approved here, generates between 55-60 percent of the total traffic that will be generated by the development. This is not taking any reduction for some of the captive market that will occur here. People will stay at the hotel and stay on site to visit the offices. Also many people will eat at the restaurant instead of going out. In addition, while an additional 40 percent of traffic is being generated, this traffic has the opposite characteristics of that of an office building. An office building generates most of its traffic inbound in the morning and outbound in the evening, the proposed uses generate the opposite traffic patterns. Mr. Werthmann stated they added an additional 5 percent growth in traffic for their study. The Village traffic consultant noted this was probably an estimate that was too high. Taking the total volumes, including existing traffic plus traffic generated by the development and the 5 percent growth, they evaluated the intersections in the area. The main intersection of Riverwalk and Milwaukee currently operates at a very acceptable level of service and will continue to do so. However, the Deerfield Parkway and Milwaukee Road intersection is operating very poorly. Due to congestion at this intersection you get a long backup of vehicles, which often extends through the Riverwalk Drive intersection. The Deerfield/Milwaukee intersection has a number of problems. It is a 3-minute signal cycle. The longer the signal cycle, the less efficient it becomes and it adds to the queuing of the vehicles along the various approaches. Part of the reason they have such a long cycle is due to the volume of traffic at this intersection. The volume of traffic has exceeded the capacity of the intersection. Mr. Werthmann noted the State has done a strategic regional arterial analysis of Milwaukee Road and they do have it planned for a six lane road with dual left turn lanes at the intersections. It is not in their five-year plan and they do not know when it will be improved. Mr. Werthmann stated that as of right now only about 25 percent of the Riverwalk traffic is generated from the north. 75 percent is traveling either south on Milwaukee or east and west on Lake Cook Road. That 25 percent represents only a 2 percent increase in the total volume at this intersection. There are some regional improvements proposed for the area that will help alleviate the problem. The first is the widening of Route 22, which should help relieve some of the traffic through the intersection. It would also help if they could work with the State to get a shorter signal cycle length at the intersection. Mr. Werthmann stated the Village traffic consultant has generally agreed with the findings of their report. He noted they went a step further and looked at what the ultimate improvements would need to be. Then they put the traffic that would be generated by the proposed development on there and showed that the intersection with the improvements would still operate at acceptable levels of service with the additional traffic. Mr. Werthmann stated the main access would be provided via Riverwalk Drive, which provides access to the North Riverwalk Drive, and extend north and south through the site and hopefully extending to Johnson Drive providing some relief to the development in the future. In addition they are proposing a right in, right out on Milwaukee Avenue. Mr. Werthmann noted the Village traffic consultant would like to see a widening of Riverwalk Drive to the main access road. They want to have two lanes out so that if the left turn lane backs up there is a lane to get by to the right. He stated they would look at this further as it is a good suggestion. Mr. Beechick stated they would like to answer the question posed by the Commission as to how the requested variations relate to the existing Riverwalk Development and how they relate to what was already approved for the current property zoned for office development. Mr. Olsen reviewed the variations requested noting what was a new request and what was previously approved for the site. He noted the original Riverwalk development encompassed only the southern portion of the site. In 1990 Riverwalk II was proposed and in order to get it implemented quite a few variations were requested. Mr. Olsen stated the ordinance requires detailed final engineering plans to be developed. What they have done in the past is come in with conceptual plans and final engineering plans at time of permit. He further noted the second variation deals with the location of sidewalks. He noted they are asking for a single sidewalk on one side of the roadway and they are proposing that sidewalk to follow along east side of North Riverwalk Drive. That was a variation requested which was approved in the past. The third variation is with respect to the width of the right of way. Currently the ordinance calls for an 80-foot right of way with a 60-foot roadway. What has been approved in the past is a 60-foot right of way for Riverwalk Drive, which consisted of a 40-foot road and green space on either side. What they have shown now is a 66-foot right of way as it comes through North Riverwalk Drive. In 1990 when they brought in the parcel there was an existing right of way that ran along the west side and happened to be 66 feet. In an effect not to have to give up any portions of the right of way they had elected to go ahead and leave the 66-foot right of way in place. To be consistent with what has been done with the Riverwalk project they would propose to reduce that right of way to 60 feet and still dedicate some green space adjacent to it. Mr. Olsen stated they are asking to use customized light poles, which meet the Village's performance specifications and would be consistent with what has already been installed along North Riverwalk Drive. Another item that would be consistent with what was done in past Riverwalk projects is landscaping. Village ordinance states trees shall be spaced not less than 40 feet apart and not less than one per lot. They are proposing to provide the required number of trees planted in a more natural grouping along the right of way in lieu of the Village requirement, which is what has been allowed previously. Mr. Olsen stated the following variations apply both to the original Riverwalk and Riverwalk North property with a few modifications. Mr. Olsen stated what has been approved for North Riverwalk now are parking spaces measuring 8 '/2 feet by 18 feet with 24-foot aisles between the stall lines. That is limited to parking deck structures only. Open surface parking would be according to existing Village ordinances. Mr. Olsen stated they are requesting is a general 25 foot building setback along Riverwalk Drive and North Riverwalk Drive and a 15 foot landscape setback for the parking area as well as continuing the 25 foot setback along the east side of Des Plaines Road. The restaurant itself would also be setback from the Milwaukee right of way by 25 feet and the parking to support that would also conform with that. Mr. Olsen stated there were a couple of engineering items that were unique just to the North Riverwalk parcel. The detention basins are required to be sloped and underdrained and they are proposing some type of wetland detention to be more consistent with the surroundings around the Des Plaines River. Mr. Olsen noted another engineering issue, which were the setbacks for buildings in relation to that detention facility. It requires that all structures be setback a minimum of 25 feet from the high water level and the low point of any parking lot are elevated to 1 foot above the high water line of any detention facility. He stated they are requesting they be allowed, in an effort to maximize the use of the site, to construct buildings and structures within the 5-foot high water level. He noted, however, that they do not have any structures that are within that high water line. However, there are some areas such as the depressed truck docks that would require this variation. Mr. Olsen stated they have no problem providing 10-foot bikepaths built of asphalt but they would like to upgrade the materials used for those bikepaths . Mr. Olsen noted item 17.44.040.0 speaks to the permitted uses and they would like the B-3 to be modified to include the apartment and condominium buildings as well as the hotel. He further noted that item 17.44.040.D.3 states no building or structure shall be erected or maintained within fifty feet of any residential property line and stated it does not apply here as it will be all planned unit development. Mr. Beechick stated there was a concern on the landscape plan relative to the landscaping on each specific building site. He noted there was nothing on the plan, but this was in keeping with their idea of coming back to the Plan Commission as each phase of the development is started which will allow for a more detailed plan at that time. Mr. Beechick stated they are open to the creation of some kind of amendment to the annexation agreement for this property which will obligate them to go through an appearance review process with the Plan Commission prior to the issuance of any building permit or any development on this site. He stated they would like some feedback as to how to accomplish this. Chairman Ottenheimer noted the duties of the appearance commission are now part of the Plan Commission. He further noted there is a sub-committee that is reviewing not only the appearance plan for the Village but putting together a checklist and criteria of items that developers are expected to follow and understand. Mr. Pfeil stated some materials for guidance will probably be ready for September. Mr. Beechick stated one of the things Mr. Pfeil was looking for was overall appearance of the development and the visual relationships of the various buildings in the parking structure in the streetscape view from various locations. He asked what was specifically requested. Mr. Pfeil commented that it is difficult for most people to visualize a three-dimensional development plan from two-dimensional drawings. Collectively the Riverwalk North project will be a substantial development. The planning goal should be to ensure that the completed project is a unified development with compatibility among the various buildings and structures. Elements such as the parking structure need to be understood in terms of the visual impact that will be presented to people entering the site. Mr. Beechick stated the last item to discuss is what approach is to be taken for creating the zoning for this project. It is mixed use to its fullest degree and is currently zoned B-3. There are some concerns raised by Village staff and Village attorney relative to keeping it in the current B-3 zoning that cause problems and challenges. He stated they need to understand how the zoning district will be created for this parcel. This, of course, is subject to the Plan Commission agreeing that all the elements of the plan are workable. One suggestion made is to create a special zoning district for this parcel that is not in the community as yet. Another suggestion would be to do some type of overlay district that really gets very specific about the kind of zoning uses here which would make it difficult to duplicate somewhere else in the community. He stated they would like some input on this issue from the Plan Commission. Chairman Ottenheimer asked how many bedroom units are contemplated here. Mr. Beechick stated there would be a mix of one and two bedrooms. He stated they were able to get some feedback from the elementary school district and they are positively in favor of this project as they feel due to its upscale nature there would be very few, if any, families with small children in this development. They also checked with the five other upscale developments that this project will compete with to find what their ratio was and provided that information at the last meeting. Chairman Ottenheimer asked if the hotel was still contemplating a garden style hotel. Mr. Beechick stated the Hilton Garden Inn is very interested in the location and they have a clone at Barrington Road and Northwest Tollway that they would like to see here. Chairman Ottenheimer asked if it is contemplated that this hotel would be used primarily by the corporate sector. Mr. Beechick stated it would cater to the business community, although there are not many rooms available in the area and it would be useful for weekend needs. Chairman Ottenheimer asked what would probably be next after the multi-story residential development. He asked if there was any order they would like to stage this development. Mr. Beechick stated much has to do with how the commercial office market and/or the hotel businesses do in the next 2-3 years. It would be great if they had an opportunity for a major corporate user such as Allstate to come along and want to build in the Village at this location, but that is unsure. Chairman Ottenheimer asked if there was any thought to the kind of restaurant or concept is possible here. Mr. Beechick stated they have had a couple of unsolicited inquiries as to what is going on and if the site is still zoned for a restaurant use. Chairman Otteheimer stated he understands the request for the phasing of the project but the risk in not providing an overall appearance of the site is that once the first one is built, that will be the standard or baseline that will have to be followed for all the other buildings so that it does not become a hodgepodge. Chairman Otteheimer noted the Commission does not take kindly to variances and many of them are being requested here. He stated the developer would need to do a really good job to convince the Commission that all the variances are absolutely necessary. Hamilton Partners is a top quality developer, but there are many things being put on this plan. Commissioner Smith stated he loves the concept but his concern is with the variances. He noted he asked how to go about doing the overlay district and how it would effect the height that will be allowed on the residential building. Mr. Pfeil stated there is no zoning in place in the Village other than the B-5 district that contemplates this kind of height and density so there is no zoning category at this time that really works. He noted they have talked about amending the B-3 district, but there are some very serious flaws with that. The Village Attorney suggests that creating another district along the lines of the Town Center in concept might be a better approach. A zoning classification is needed to fit the proposed residential height, as well as allowing a mix of uses with appropriate bulk standards. He noted there is also the issue of whether a similar development would be appropriate at any other location in the Village. He noted that there are not many sites in the Village that would be appropriate for this scale of residential development. Commissioner Smith asked if the IDOT will be making changes at Deerfield Parkway/ Milwaukee Avenue intersection. Mr. Werthmann stated it will have to be a joint effort with the Village to request changes. He noted it would give some relief but not a tremendous amount of relief. It will help to reduce some of the queues and delays. Commissioner Smith asked when the residential might be started. Mr. Beechick stated if the zoning can be completed this year with the Village, they could start construction probably in the spring of next year. Commissioner Teplinsky stated he is concerned with the density of the project. He asked how reducing the signal cycle from 3 minutes to something less would effect the traffic on Deerfield Road going westbound through that intersection. Mr. Werthmann stated it will help all the approaches in the fact that the cycle will turn quicker, you will not queue up as long and will help the overall situation. However, this project will develop over a number of years. Route 22 improvements will be starting next year and that will help. Commissioner Teplinsky asked if the hotel would be servicing the office complex primarily. Mr. Beechick stated it would service the business community, not just the office complex at the intersection. It will obviously branch out into service businesses located in other locations in Buffalo Grove, Lincolnshire Wheeling, Northbrook and Deerfield. Commissioner Teplinsky asked if the development of the hotel was then not necessarily tied to the development of the office building. Mr. Beechick stated it would be independent of the office building development. The Hilton Garden Inn is interested in the site and a franchise operator for that operation would be interested in securing the site if it was so zoned and they would be independent of the developer. Commissioner Bocek noted her concern with the zoning, specifically with the current allowance of 4 stories versus the proposed 6 stories and the B-3 currently not permitting residential use on the first floor nor a free standing multiple residential building. She asked if the developer would be open to reducing the height and the number of stories in the residential building. Mr. Beechick stated they looked into this long and hard. Their initial thought was an 8-10 story residential development in order for the numbers to work on the property. They compromised in negotiation on the value of the land with the Johnsons and they cannot alter from where they are now as it relates to bringing all these elements together on this site. Economically it does not work for them to reduce this any further. Mr. Beechick stated there is an opportunity to do high-end multi-family in this community. In given locations where you are not afflicting other nearby residential communities with problems of height this would be ideal. Commissioner Samuels asked if there had been any comments from the Fire Department about access and radii and their ability to handle this project. Mr. Pfeil stated the Fire Department has been asked to review every set of plans and have not identified any problems at this point. Commissioner Samuels noted a zoning of B-5A has almost the same language as the Town Center at B-5 zoning. He noted the corridor for this type of development would seem to be contained to Milwaukee Avenue and Aptakisic Road. Commissioner Samuels stated there are a lot of variances and some of them are consistent with the previous development with the exception of the parking ramp and he has no problem with matching the existing development. However, some of the other variances are the result of having taken part of the parcel for Phase 2 of Riverwalk. Therefore, this is a smaller piece of property on which you are asking to double the amount of development on it which is resulting in some of the variance issues. In addition, the traffic is a problem and there must be some sensitivity to the things that some of the surrounding communities have said which is that Buffalo Grove permits a lot of development which results in a lot of traffic that effects regions and then looks to the other areas to accommodate the traffic that they have developed. 150,000 square feet of office is already approved and it was approved because the Village already knew the improvements to the intersection of Deerfield and Milwaukee was already scheduled. It would seem the reasonable approach would be to lose the 150,000 square foot office building and replacing it with the other three elements of the development. Mr. Beechick stated he does not know if they can come up with an alternative that makes sense. He stated they are all concerned with increasing capacity and increasing traffic on roads that don't have capacity and what the ultimate impact is. However, he noted this is a unique piece of property. Commissioner Billiter stated the corner site establishes itself a s a landmark. He noted there is a good proportion of hardscape versus softscape occurring on the south side. There is considerable green space, the parking garages are well set back so that they do not stand out and the buildings do create a sense of monument. When you come to the proposal for the north side there is no sense of that theme being continued. It is almost like the back piece of the property. Commissioner Billiter stated with the amount of asphalt and the percentage of hard space versus soft space being created, there would be a tremendous amount of runoff. He asked if the study includes that amount of runoff water into the detention basins so as not to create a downflow problem. Mr. Beechick stated there is no additional load down field of any type of stormwater. This project must stand on its own as it relates to stormwater management. He noted they feel comfortable that the plan they have will be adequate and will not cause any undo problems anywhere off site. He further noted that the green space on the north plan would surpass anything on the south. The problem everyone is having is that everything is squeezed together because of the fact of the location needed to reserve for the stormwater. Commissioner Billiter noted there are some challenges on the plan. On the other hand one asks at what threshold can you absorb and put back into the site. He noted that cramming all of the development into just one part because it is convenient is not something he likes either. Mr. Beechick stated he would like to term this as efficiency. He noted they would like to have the ability to establish a certain amount of density that will relate to one another so that you are within walking distance of amenities and to be able to maximize the site. He stated they have gone through a lot of different variations on this site to see how they can make it work and he is not sure they can come up with any different alternative that makes it fit in with the parameters for the development. Mr. Beechick noted the backdrop and surrounding areas adjacent to this property opens up significantly. If there was an opportunity for development here to continue and sprawl, there might be some cause for concern. But this is a unique circumstance, which takes away the edge of what is proposed here, and brings a great deal of openness to the project. Chairman Ottenheimer stated putting the residential where it is proposed is like putting a square peg in a round hole. He noted he couldn't help but feel that if the multi-residential development were eliminated, it would probably eliminate many of the variances being asked for. Chairman Ottenheimer asked for a review of the pedestrian links as mentioned in Mr. Pfeil's memo. Mr. Beechick stated the residential development makes the whole proposal workable because of the fact that it can go into production soon. Without that element they probably would not be in a position to have the flexibility to talk to the property owner and carry on with other development. Chairman Ottenheimer stated he is struggling with the concept of the residential here. He stated it is a question of the use for this site and he will need to consider this further. Mr. Beechick the hotel will have a walk surrounding the building itself and there is also a sidewalk that people would have to cut across the parking lot from the main entry to get onto the sidewalk which would tie in with the carriage walk or sidewalk design planned for North Riverwalk Drive with a pedestrian crossover to the restaurant site. He stated they have provided pedestrian access from the hotel to the restaurant site. Mr. Olsen stated their exhibit takes into account Mr. Pfeil's comments and shows the design in much better detail. Mr. Beechick noted that from the residential building to the adjacent bikepaths along the Des Plaines River they would need to add a stub from the patio details to get to the trail system. Commissioner Samuels stated that carriage walks are not permitted in the Village. If there were no residential here then the carriage walk might be somewhat palatable, but given the fact that you are adding residences to the mix and bringing a significant pedestrian element into this development, there are safety elements that go with carriage walks. Mr. Beechick stated that since they are proposing the North Riverwalk Drive at 66 feet wide rather than 60 feet wide, they can probably omit the carriage walk and add 6 feet of grass from the curb to have enough landscaping established so that they will not need that variation. Commissioner Khan noted his concern with the 1 foot above the high water level. He noted most Villages have an ordinance requiring 2 feet above the high water level and here it will not even meet a 1-foot requirement. He asked if anything could be done to maintain at least 1 foot above the high water level. Mr. Olsen stated they would ask their civil engineer to address the matter in more detail. Chairman Ottenheimer asked if this matter appears ready for public hearing or requires another workshop. Chairman Ottenheimer stated he feels another workshop would be preferable to discuss some of the engineering questions and to focus on some of the requested variations. Commissioner Samuels stated he feels that since they have seen the same plan three times he does not feel that another workshop will bring a different plan. Commissioner Bocek stated more discussion is needed on how to handle the aesthetic matters. She further noted that they do not even know what the zoning classification will be. Mr. Pfeil stated it would be a mixed-use approach that would basically accommodate the proposal that has been reviewed. It might be a freestanding district such as B-6 or B-5A. Commissioner Samuels stated that before a public hearing is held it might be preferable to have a workshop on the ordinance first. The petitioner may not necessarily need to be involved in that. Mr. Beechick stated it might be a good idea to have a workshop just before the public hearing on the same night. The Commissioners all agreed to that suggestion. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Chairman Ottenheimer welcomed Mr. Ross Billiter to the Commission. FUTURE AGENDA SCHEDULE Mr. Pfeil noted the next scheduled meeting will be August 7, 2002. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS—None STAFF REPORT—None NEW BUSINESS—None ADJOURNMENT Moved by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Kenski-Sroka and carried unanimously to adjourn. Chairman Ottenheimer adjourned the meeting at 9:42 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Fay Rubin, Recording Secretary APPROVED BY: LESTER OTTENHEIMER, Chair