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2002-01-23 - Plan Commission - Minutes Board or Commission: ❑ Plan Commission Document Type: ❑A e g nda 0 Minutes Meeting ate: 01/23/2002 Type of Meeting: ❑ Special Meeting SPECIAL MEETING BUFFALO GROVE PLAN COMMISSION January 23, 2002 Avis Investments, St. Mary Parish Rectory, Rezoning to the R-I District and approval of a Special Use for construction of a new rectory/ Administrative facility on the Eul property, northwest corner of Buffalo Grove Road/Lake Cook Road—Workshop #4 Vice Chairman Samuels 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: Vice Chairman Samuels Mr. Trilling Ms. Dunn Mr. Feldgreber Mr. Panitch Mr. Smith Ms. Bocek Ms. Kenski-Sroka Commissioners absent: Chairman Ottenheimer Also present: Mr. Mark Avis, Avis Investments Mr. Bernard Citron, Schain, Burney, Ross and Citron Ltd Mr. Michael Fitzgerald, Otis Koglin Wilson Mr. Ronald Adams, Pearson Brown& Associates Mr. Richard Skelton, Raysa& Skelton Mr. Jeff Braiman, Village Trustee Mr. Greg Summers, Associate Village Planner APPROVAL OF MINUTES Moved by Commissioner Kenski-Sroka, seconded by Commissioner Smith to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of December 19, 2001. Commissioner Trilling asked for a correction on page 5, paragraph 7 to his statement noting it should read the landscaping is not to be disturbed or minimized beyond what it is today. Landscaping can be added but should not be taken away. All Commissioners were in favor of the amended motion and the motion passed unanimously. COMMITTEE AND LIAISON REPORTS Commissioner Smith attended the Village Board meeting on January 21, 2002 at which time there was a referral to the Plan Commission of the Park District request to keep the golf dome up year round. AVIS INVESTMENTS, ST. MARY PARISH RECTORY, REZONING TO THE R-1 DISTRICT AND APPROVAL OF A SPECIAL USE FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW RECTORY/ADMINISTRATIVE FACILITY ON THE EUL PROPERTY, NORTHWEST CORNER OF BUFFALO GROVE ROAD/LAKE COOK ROAD—WORKSHOP 94 Mr. Bernard Citron stated several items have been solidified since the last workshop. Specifically St. Mary's has gone under contract to purchase the northwest corner of Buffalo Grove Road and Lake Cook Road commonly known as the Eul property. Taking into account all the comments and issues that have been heard, they are now proposing that the relocated rectory building be on the Eul property at that corner. Mr. Citron stated the site is slightly over .73 acres. They will be doing the same 6,239 square foot building with a floor area ratio of .2. They will be asking to rezone the property to R-1, which would be the same zoning that the remainder of the church property carries. If that is granted, they note the building will meet the requirements of that district. In terms of setback they are far under the floor/area ratio and far under the required lot coverage. In terms of parking, the ordinance would require 13 parking spaces. They will be providing 23 parking spaces which is a one to one match of what is currently being provided on the east side of the street. Therefore, they are not touching the existing parking on the remainder of the church property. He further noted they are not creating any additional curb cuts onto Buffalo Grove Road and, in fact, will be taking a curb cut away since the Eul property has its own separate access and that will go away and it will be accessed from the existing church curb cut. He noted they would not be doing many of the things previously talked about as they now have a different property. It will become part of the campus and will be integrated. That is what they are focusing on for tonight's meeting Mr. Fitzgerald stated the subject site has now changed. He stated the existing house on the property sits on the high point of the site. There is a considerable amount of grade on the site dropping off both towards Buffalo Grove Road and Lake Cook Road. He noted the proposed building needs to work not only for the site, but also for the overall campus. They took into account the parameters of the site, the topography of the site, and the comments of the Plan Commission. Mr. Fitzgerald stated they are showing the same footprint rectory as before, pushed towards the east part of the site. This holds the line along Buffalo Grove Road, somewhat in line with the existing church and new school addition. It anchors the corner of the campus and that is the reason for the building having a presence there. The building also sits on the high point of the site. There is existing vegetation along Buffalo Grove Road and Lake Cook Road, but this building will have some prominence at the corner and help create a gateway for the campus. Mr. Fitzgerald stated the residential component of the building faces out toward the school and the office component faces out towards the west where they have located the parking area. He noted one of the reasons they have located the parking area at the entrance is to provide a considerable amount of distance between the Buffalo Grove Road curb cut and the entrance into the parking area. This provides ample stacking to get out of the campus or rectory site onto Buffalo Grove Road as well as coming into the campus without having to do a quick jog into parking. It also provides a nice link with the courtyard of the school cafeteria and gymnasium. To the west of the parking is as area being held for detention which is also the low point of the site. Mr. Fitzgerald noted that in an R-1 district there is a 40-foot building setback requirement. He noted they are adhering to that setback on Buffalo Grove Road and they are exceeding that setback on Lake Cook Road. Once the survey of the property was done, they discovered the southern boundary of the Eul property is not a continuation of the southern property of the parish. The southern line actually sits about five feet north of the southern line of the parish. Therefore the 46-foot plus setback from the property line is really greater than 50 feet from the sidewalk. Mr. Fitzgerald stated they have added more detail as per request by some of the Commissioners. These include soldier courses or roll locks around the windows. They added both soldier course and roll lock at the garage doors to create some detailing around that. The dormers in the space above the garage and in the apartment above the garage carry a bit more prominence and are consistent with the architecture of the larger gables at the ends of the building. All four sides of the building now have the same architecture. Mr. Fitzgerald reviewed the landscape plan, which shows the extensive existing landscape on the perimeter along Buffalo Grove Road as well as Lake Cook Road. They will maintain that existing landscape and the building is situated on the site to take advantage of that existing landscape and minimize the number of trees, which will need to be removed for the new building and parking lot. They are adding landscaping to be consistent to be with what is out there. Mr. Fitzgerald stated the building materials are also consistent with what is out there and a combination of Old Chicago brick and limestone trim and detailing. The window mullions are a dark bronze and the dark roof will pick up the colors of what is seen on the church. Any trim or siding that exists at the front porch or sides of the dormers will be painted in a complimentary color. Commissioner Trilling stated it makes a great difference to have the rectory located where it is now proposed. He asked Mr. Fitzgerald to comment on some of the items noted in the staff memo. Mr. Fitzgerald noted that the gutters and downspouts that may have been missed in the drawings have now been picked up. They have also included and overall height mark which was not previously presented. He noted they feel that the shape of the dormers do not have to be identical in their profile and there is actually an advantage in their not being identical. The dormers on the second floor which is a full two stories have the window heads sticking above the roof eave by a small amount. What they wanted to do was downplay that with a shed dormer. That gives a little relief to the roof so there is no continuous eave running across. In order to further develop the garage in the apartment above the garage, the windows in the dormers in that space sit considerably higher in the roof. It was at this point that they felt the gable dormer was appropriate. It gave a bit more stature to the roof above the garage. They did look into the staff comments and sketched a gable dormer in the main body of the building. It did not give an appropriate appearance to those facades. Too much attention was drawn to the little gables, which drew away from the piece that is actually projecting. The reason for that is because there was not enough window and mass interrupting the roof line to visually support that gable. They are looked into doing a shed dormer over the larger gables that are above the garage. They felt that the gable dormer helped give more of the brick face in that facade. The two different shaped dormers are really the result of where they sit in the roof. It also gives more articulation and variation to the building. Mr. Fitzgerald further noted as far as the material on the sides of the dormers, they feel that the siding is functionally and architecturally appropriate and aesthetically pleasing as well as consistent with the building. They have painted wood and siding at the front of the two entrances so the siding at the side of the dormers is not new material introducted only at that part. In order to put brick on the sides of those dormers, there is nothing of substance supporting that brick. You would have to have steel below the dormers to support that brick. Mr. Fitzgerald stated they located the two crosses at the two main entrances. They felt that was appropriate enough. There is no functional reason to not add the other crosses, but they did not want to have more crosses on a 6,00 square foot rectory than they have on the much larger and prominent church. Commissioner Trilling asked if it would be possible or aesthetically pleasing to create two equal sized dormers on the south elevation where it carries the single and paired windows. Mr. Fitzgerald stated they looked at that and felt it looked somewhat uneven. Commissioner Trilling asked if there was any advantage in making four dormers rather than three and dividing the one large dormer into two. Mr. Fitzgerald stated they also looked at that. However, that would mean another downspout and another level of gutter. Given that you have four dormers that may be close to the same size, it looked awkward. Commissioner Trilling noted he looks forward to some enhancing landscaping particularly on the east and south exposures of the site. Mr. Fitzgerald stated they are proposing continuing the line of evergreens at the corner as it bends around to Lake Cook Road. Along the south side they will add additional ornamental trees. The cars in the parking lot will have the headlights screened by continuous hedgerow. Given the maturity of the existing vegetation on the site, he does not know how much of the base of the building will be seen. What will really be seen will be the rooftop of the building popping out above the trees. In summary he noted not much of the rectory will be seen at all. Commissioner Trilling stated he would like to have some statistical information relative to parking and the existing parking on site and uses. Also need statistics regarding detention and what it will cover etc. Mr. Citron stated the detention that is being provided is for the new development. In terms of parking, they are not touching any parking on the church parcel. They are proposing to provide parking only for the rectory. As a new building, it would require only 13 spaces and they have 23 spaces. Mr. Adams stated they have taken the direction of the natural now into account and prepared the preliminary stormwater management exhibit. They are taking the proposed site to be developed, the building footprint and all of the disturbed area that will be created with the development of the footprint and carry the water created to a catch basin. The whole parking area is to be sloped west and the water caught in another catch basin and brought to the dry pond where it will then be restrictively released. They have prepared preliminary stormwater calculations for the site. They know the requirements for the storage and the facility shown on the property now can accommodate that volume. The stormwater management that would be required for the 0.76-acre site can be accommodated in the manner that it is shown. Mr. Adams noted that the easterly and southerly areas where the steep slopes are going down to Buffalo Grove Road and Lake Cook Road would be left in their natural state. They will drain off basically unrestricted as they do now. In order to capture that water and bring it into the detention pond, would ruin the trees and not serve any purpose. This has been successfully permitted in the past and they feel it will be so here also. There is a swale around the disturbed area of the building so that any of the disturbed soil will be captured in a swale and carried to the detention facility. Commissioner Bocek asked why the site plan is angled. She noted if it were straightened out there might be more green space between the parking row along Lake Cook Road and Lake Cook Road itself. Mr. Fitzgerald stated they set the building up to be parallel to the Buffalo Grove Road side. He noted that is really the edge that governs this campus. There is a considerable amount of vegetation there which they wanted to maintain and is one of the reasons they sited the building as they did. Commissioner Bocek stated that because the corner is so much higher than Lake Cook Road, the cars closer to that road and maintaining a 28-foot green space would be preferable. Mr. Fitzgerald further noted they would be losing a lot of existing vegetation along the northern portion if they shifted the building north. He noted they are saving some mature trees and supplementing the 23 foot green space with additional vegetation. Commissioner Bocek stated it is her personal feeling that only the eastern elevation is an issue for her. All three of the other elevations have a gable and perhaps that same detail could be repeated on the eastern elevation at the portion where there are the shed dormers. Mr. Fitzgerald stated the plan is two rectangles and the rectangle that is comprised of the office portion frames into the side of the residential portion and therefore that gable does not go through the building. There is no bump on that side of the building, which would facilitate another gable on that side. The space that would be created within is not necessarily usable space. Commissioner Bocek noted that the southern elevation should be equally as important as the main entrance because it is very prominent and faces Lake Cook Road. Commissioner Kenski-Sroka stated she likes the plan and the fact that as many trees as possible are being saved. She also likes the positioning of the building and its alignment with Lake Cook Road. She asked if there would be any kind of monument marker at the corner of Lake Cook and Buffalo Grove Roads. Mr. Citron stated they have never discussed this with the church. Commissioner Feldgreber asked what the R-1 requirements are for front, sides and rear setbacks. Mr. Fitzgerald stated the front yard requirement would be 40 feet for building, the rear setback requirement is 100 feet and there is a 10-foot interior side yard requirement. Commissioner Feldgreber asked if the plan commission should truly now ignore all but this parcel even though the commission has had issues with the overall campus and the common ownership. Mr. Skelton stated the commission is going to want to know how the whole plan works together. Vice Chairman Samuels stated he feels that if this were a commercial project somewhere else in the Village and that project did not meet existing zoning ordinances, and that property owner were to incorporate a new piece into the property, would that trigger under the ordinance the requirement of bringing the older property up to the standards of the existing zoning ordinances. Mr. Citron stated they do not believe so. Vice Chairman Samuels stated that until that question is resolved, he couldn't see scheduling a public hearing. Mr. Citron stated he believes that as long as this particular project does not create a greater negative effect to the campus and if it provides some positive relief, he feels it can be treated independently. Commissioner Panitch asked if there were any sidewalk access from the building to Buffalo Grove Road. Mr. Fitzgerald they are proposing to extend the sidewalk across the green space and tie it into the campus. The reason they are looking into that instead of tying it eastward toward the sidewalk along Buffalo Grove Road has to do with existing grades. There is a very steep drop-off along that point and they felt it would be safer to come in an area that is not so steep and bring it into the courtyard of the campus thereby tying the building into that portion of the campus. Commissioner Panitch stated that if anyone wanted to cross the corner to visit the new facility, they would have to walk north to head south. He stated it would be an added convenience to those visiting if there was an easier way to get to the new building. Vice Chairman Samuels stated he would like to see the sketches with the additional gables for comparison to the proposed plan. Vice Chairman Samuels stated given the prominence of the location of the new rectory, it now commands something special and he would like to look at the roof and the use of alternate materials. He noted he feels that cedar should be considered at a minimum and serious consideration should be given to tile or slate. Mr. Citron stated they are at their limit of spending so anything further would be the church's money. Mr. Citron further asked to have a quick turnaround for confirmation of the remaining problem. Vice Chairman Samuels called for a polling relative to who would be available for a special meeting on February 13, 2001. The polling was as follows: Available on February 13, 2001: Samuels, Trilling, Dunn, Smith, Bocek, Krenski-Sroka, Not available on February 13, 2001: Panitch, Feldgreber CHAIRMAN'S REPORT—None FUTURE AGENDA SCHEDULE— Mr. Summers noted the next regular meeting would be on February 6, 2002. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS Mr. Randy Buttliere, 38 Crestview Terrace, Buffalo Grove stated he likes the plan very much. However, he noted the expansion of Buffalo Grove and Lake Cook Roads may encroach on the proposed property. He stated he would like to find out about the future traffic impact of the proposed new condominiums. STAFF REPORT—None NEW BUSINESS—None ADJOURNMENT Moved by Commissioner Trilling, seconded by Commissioner Smith and carried unanimously to adjourn. Vice Chairman Samuels adjourned the meeting at 9:05 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Fay Rubin, Recording Secretary APPROVED BY: MICHAEL SAMUELS, Acting Chair