DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Regular Meeting
May 16, 2008

M I N U T E S

 The regular meeting of the Development Advisory Committee was held on May 16, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. in the Porter County Administration Center, 155 Indiana Avenue, Valparaiso, Indiana.

 Those members present were Kevin Breitzke, James Branham, Tim Cole, Harvey Nix, Ray Riddell and Ray Joseph.  Also present was Toni Byers.

 The following cases were heard by the Committee on this date:

 Informal review for proposed outdoor storage for RV’s and boats at Porter County airport, 3508 Murvihill Road.

 Wayne and Loretta Brandy stated that they are the petitioners in this matter.  Mr. Brandy stated that they just want to do outdoor storage for boats and RV’s.  They have approximately 3 acres at Porter County Airport.  It will be strictly outdoor storage – no buildings involved.  They are going to put gravel down for the parking lot.

 Mr. Nix asked if they are going to have a stone parking area.

 Mr. Brandy stated, yes.

 Mr. Nix asked if the driveway entrance is a pretty good size to handle that much traffic coming in and out.

 Mr. Brandy stated that the driveway entrance, the way it is right now, is 20 feet wide, and the length of it goes back behind the house, and it could be extended straight back, and they would actually like to put a circle drive in and come back on Murvihill Road toward the East.

 Mr. Nix asked if they are on City sewer.

 Mr. Brandy stated that they are on City water, but not sewer.

 Mr. Nix asked if any of the parking will be crossing over the septic field or anything.

 Mr. Brandy stated, no.

 Ms. Brandy stated that they are proposing to start on the East side to begin with.  It’s all open field, except for some blueberry bushes and a couple other tree lines, so they will just go down the East side to start with, and then as they have a need to, then add to it.

Mr. Branham asked if this is on airport property proper, or is it their property at the edge of the airport?

Mr. Brandy stated that it’s their property.

Mr. Branham asked if this will be fenced.

Ms. Brandy stated that it’s already fenced on three sides.  The main road is not fenced off yet.  They have a line of bushes.

Mr. Branham asked what the height of the fence is.

Mr. Brandy stated that it's chain link that’s out there, and he thinks the height is 5 feet.  Whatever they put up will match that.  A large portion of it will probably be a gate, which may be lower than 5 feet.

Mr. Branham asked if they live on the property.

Mr. Brandy stated that they do.

Mr. Branham asked if that will be like security by their being there.  He asked if they approached the airport people about any conflicts that this may or may not cause.

Mr. Brandy stated that they have not.

Mr. Branham stated that he would suggest they do that, just so they can say they talked to them as neighbors.

Mr. Cole stated that he’s not in favor of any outside storage.  It’s proved a problem.  The one down from him gets broken into on an average of at least once a month, maybe once a week – it’s not always reported – and it’s the RV’s and boats they go after.  They tear stuff off them.  If this were to go forward, he would strongly suggest security cameras and an alert system, whether they live there or not.  He thinks they are going to have to go higher than a 5-foot fence.  Then, if that’s the case, they are going to need some landscaping.  If they do live there now, he would expect them to continue to live there, and then when they do move or sell the property, there’s the determination of what use the property would be put to after that.  We may want this use to reside only in you, because the next owner may not live there, and then they will have even a higher security risk involved.  He does recommend keeping it gravel and stone because we want to keep water filtration in the ground, instead of runoff.

Ms. Brandy stated that the ground there dries out really fast.

Mr. Cole asked if there is a lot of sand there.

Ms. Brandy stated that it is sort of a sandy soil, but it drains really fast. 

Mr. Cole stated that you wouldn’t want to pave something like that.

Ms. Brandy stated, no.

Mr. Riddell asked if there is a culvert down through the driveway and does drainage seem to work okay through there?

Mr. Brandy stated that there is no culvert and no drainage problems.

Mr. Riddell asked if this is going to be a business and if they are going to take in money to store the vehicles.

Mr. Brandy stated, yes.

Mr. Breitzke stated that they are in a wellhead protection area, so they have to watch the water quality of any runoff.  They need to talk to Valparaiso Water Company, who owns the wells.  The other issue may be the mixed use on one property.  We are going  to have to do a bit more research – he’s not sure if that requires an appearance before the BZA to have two uses – a residential use with the rental property.  It would be nice to have some kind of buffers around this area to kind of isolate this because they are visible from 30 and Murvihill Road, and, also, we have Eastporte Centre to the West.

Mr. Brandy stated that you can barely see Eastporte because they are surrounded by hangars.

Mr. Breitzke stated that he thinks they need to talk to Kyle Kuebler, the airport manager.  Where is the access drive currently?

Mr. Brandy stated that there is a little break in the bushes that are up front and it goes straight back.

Mr. Breitzke asked if they have shrubs lined up.

Mr. Brandy stated that they have shrubs lined up across the front, and they are about 4 feet high.

Mr. Breitzke stated that his concern here is if they have customers coming in and out, the visibility for the traveling public on Murvihill and 30.

Mr. Riddell asked how close they are to the road.

Ms. Brandy stated that she would say they are about 3 feet off the road – maybe 5.

Mr. Riddell stated that it sounds like they are in the right-of-way.

Ms. Brandy stated, no, they are on the property.  They line up with the fence that’s to the West of them.

Mr. Breitzke stated that maybe the fence is in the right-of-way. He stated that the bigger issue to him is the visibility.

Ms. Brandy stated that their plans were to bring a driveway in to the East of the house, anyhow.

Mr. Riddell stated that, in that case, they will need a driveway permit.

Mr. Breitzke stated that depending on the separation there might be issues with two driveways coming out here.

Ms. Brandy stated that they could leave that where it is.

Mr. Brandy stated that they thought about putting the circle drive in there anyway.

Mr. Breitzke stated that they need to talk to Kyle Kuebler and John Hardwick. 

Mr. Joseph asked if there is existing gravel that’s behind them, or is it currently grass?

Mr. Brandy stated that it's grass.

Mr. Joseph asked what they plan on doing with it.

Mr. Brandy stated, just putting gravel.

Mr. Joseph stated that the Unified Development Ordinance prohibits a stone or gravel drive.  It would have to be paved.

Mr. Riddell asked if they can have the parking or storage area gravel.

Mr. Joseph stated that parking of motor vehicles is not permitted on lawn or other pervious surface areas of the lot, which means it would have to be pavers or asphalt wherever there is going to be anything parked. He stated that there is existing fence on three sides and asked if they are going to put one across the front.

Mr. Brandy stated, up to where the hedges are.

Mr. Joseph stated that if they put a fence up it can’t be in front of the house.

Ms. Brandy stated that they were thinking of putting it to the back of  the house.

Mr. Joseph stated that they will look into whether they need to have a Variance or not.

Mr. Brandy stated that they would not be interested in doing asphalt, so, if they were turned down for the gravel, they would probably just drop the project.

Mr. Joseph stated that if they are required to get a Use Variance, they could add that as part of the process.

Issues raised were talk to airport staff regarding possible conflicts; suggest security cameras and alert system; higher fence with landscaping; watch water quality and runoff; talk to John Hardwick; might need to seek a Use Variance and Variance from the requirement to pave parking; be nice to have buffers around the property; would need driveway permit for new drive; drive would have to be paved and so would parking areas.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 a.m.