DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Regular Meeting
July 25, 2008

M I N U T E S

 The regular meeting of the Development Advisory Committee was held on July 25, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. in the Porter County Administration Center, 155 Indiana Avenue, Valparaiso, Indiana.

 Those members present were Kevin Breitzke, Mike Haller, Ray Riddell and Ray Joseph.  Also present was Toni Byers.

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

 Horvath Towers, review for post-BZA approval for new tower at 761 W. 800 S.

 Sean Boylan stated that he is representing the petitioner in this matter.

 Mr. Joseph stated that they were approved for a cell tower to be located at the Hebron Little League field. 

 Mr. Boylan stated that we did come before DAC back in April.  In June, they were approved at the BZA.  Today, they are just waiting on one last piece of regulatory information to be approved by the state, and they are anticipating starting construction hopefully in mid-August.  This is a lit tower because of the 200-foot threshold that they broke, and the FAA requires anything over 200 feet to be lit.  As he understands it at this point, the plans do meet the zoning ordinance and all set plan requirements.

 Mr. Breitzke asked if they have a strobe on this.

 Mr. Boylan stated, yes.  There is a white flash during the day, and a red strobe at night.

 Mr. Breitzke asked if that’s in compliance with the provisions of the ordinance.

 Mr. Joseph stated, it can’t be a white strobe at night, basically.

 Mr. Boylan stated, which, it does default…the default backup system, should the red go out, it does default back to a white strobe at night, as a backup.

 Mr. Breitzke asked how that’s regulated.

 Mr. Boylan stated that they do monitor it.  They have monitoring equipment.  They pay a monthly service fee on about 40 towers throughout the country.

 Mr. Breitzke stated that he means as far as timing, because obviously, daylight changes.  Is there a photo cell or something that switches them automatically, or is it on a timer?

 Mr. Boylan stated that it’s a photocell.

 Mr. Breitzke asked if he’s aware that the Commissioners just passed an ordinance about two months ago pertaining to strobes, because it became a major nuisance in one of the neighborhoods.  Is there power equipment or something within the fence that could be dangerous to children?

 Mr. Boylan stated, no, it’s going to be within the fenced compound.  Everything is enclosed with metal casings.  They do have a community H-frame that the carriers tie into, as far as the electrical.  They will have a service pack there, as well, that services not only the tower, but also the monitoring equipment there, so everything is steel-cased.

 Mr. Breitzke stated that he assumes everything is well-grounded.

 Mr. Boylan stated, yeah, these carriers are investing millions of dollars.

 Mr. Breitzke stated that he’s concerned about the ballplayers on the field.   He asked if there are warning signs on the fence.

 Mr. Boylan stated that there are FCC-regulated signs that they are required to put on there.

 Mr. Breitzke stated that he would suggest that he would like to see bilingual signs, too.  Everything else looks fine.  Who is the owner and fee of this?

 Mr. Boylan stated that Hebron Little League is. 

 Mr. Breitzke stated that when they submit the plans to the office they need an Indiana Licensed Surveyor to sign the survey and an Indiana Licensed Engineer to sign the structural plans.

 Mr. Boylan stated that their building permit was actually submitted about 2.5 to 3 weeks ago.  Is he willing to accept just an email version?  It’s essentially going to be the same copy, with a digital stamp on top.

 Mr. Joseph stated that that’s fine.

 Mr. Haller asked if the fence will be electrified.

Mr. Boylan stated that it will not be.

Issues raised were suggest bi-lingual warning signs on fence; plans signed by Indiana licensed surveyor and engineer.

Case 08-EP-2.  Petition of Damien Gabis Foundation/Taltree Arboretum, 71 N. 500 W., Valparaiso, seeking erosion control and site improvement review for a garden railway, to be located at 71 N. 500 W., in Union Township.  Zoned RR.  (Sec.31-35N-7W)

Dennis Seramur stated that he is representing the petitioner in this matter.  He stated that it’s a 5,000 square foot railroad depot, which is going to house two restrooms, a little dining court and a gift shop and sell tickets to enter the garden railway that they are having put in out there.

Mr. Haller asked if this construction entrance comes out onto 100 N. or onto 500.

Mr. Seramur stated that that would be 100, both of those.  There are two entrances off of 100 N.

Mr. Haller asked if the land around this, within the first 100 feet, is vegetated.

Mr. Seramur stated that it's in weeds.

Mr. Haller stated that that would preclude him from having to install silt fence all around.  It would just be a matter of throwing something over top of a dirt pile, but he sees the stockpiles are all fenced in.   We don’t want to disturb as much of the flora and fauna as possible.

Mr. Seramur stated, if he understands what he is telling him, as long as they have silt fences around the two stockpiles of dirt, they should be in compliance.

Mr. Haller stated that he would think so.

Mr. Joseph stated that they just need to disturb as little as possible.

Mr. Haller stated that he just doesn’t want to run a trench around there or do anything that they don’t have to do.  They would only be concerned about exposed soil.  The area that’s going to require hydro-seeding, how do they plan on stabilizing that?  Are they going to dig that trench that’s going out to the….it doesn’t really say what that is on that drawing, except by the elevation lines.

Mr. Seramur stated that those are swales for runoff.  They will be cutting a swale.

Mr. Haller asked if that proposed rip-rap exits out to a pond back there.

Mr. Seramur stated, yes.

Mr. Haller stated that that’s the one they might have to keep an eye on.

Mr. Joseph stated that that area where that rip-rap is going to go probably should be silt-fenced.

Mr. Seramur asked if they should keep the silt fence around the back of that rock.

Mr. Haller stated that he would like to sequence this properly.  When are they going to dig that swale? When they dig the footings?

Mr. Seramur stated, no.  That will probably be done once the foundation is in and they are back-filled.  It will probably be done after that.

Mr. Haller stated that the problem they are going to have is once it’s dug, then they are going to have an erosion problem going down that chute, so to speak.  So, they have a number of ways of tackling that.  They could seed that and put a couple of check dams in there.  They have to get it stabilized as soon as possible.  Do they have an idea of what they were going to do there? He can tell him what would work.

Mr. Seramur stated that he was looking at the silt fence that was going all the way around the back of this project and around the front of this project.  He assumed that would take care of any runoff. If they are going to eliminate those two fences and only have silt fences around the two soil piles, they can put hay bales through there every 20 to 30 feet and they can put a silt fence through there every 20 to 30 feet.

Mr. Haller stated that when they construct this particular channel they will have to do something to it.  They will either have to put mats along both sides of it or straw and seed it or put hay bales in as check dams in a V-shape or that sort of thing.  But it will pretty much have to occur simultaneously with the final grading of that.  He doesn’t see that the silt fence is a problem necessarily, because it’s the channel itself that they have to preserve.  He doesn’t want to just send a bunch of dirt down the chute.

Mr. Riddell asked if the two construction entrances he’s talking about are temporary.

Mr. Seramur stated, no. Both are permanent.  One is their main entrance, which is paved and has a gate.  The other is gravel.

Mr. Riddell asked if they are existing.

Mr. Seramur stated, yes.

Mr. Breitzke stated that he’s a little confused why they put the swale on the half that they’re done with building construction.  Is there a reason for that?

Mr. Seramur stated, once the foundation’s in.  And they have it back-filled.  They’ll have the grade established then and then fall off of that.

Mr. Breitzke asked what they are going to do with the excavated dirt.  The topsoil goes to the stockpiles, apparently.

Mr. Seramur stated that he believes that’s all the dirt coming out of there.

Mr. Breitzke stated, well, that’s going to be more than topsoil, because the cuts are going to be going 2 to 3 feet into the ground.  That’s going to be a lot of clay or whatever’s under the topsoil.

Mr. Seramur stated that they will probably either haul it off the site or have another spot on the site to dump it.

Mr. Breitzke stated that if they do, they immediately want to seed over it.  The recommendation, even on the topsoil, is to go ahead and seed.    He agrees that the silt fence along the channel should be running up probably up to that 784 contour and just bring it around and continue it on the way they have it.  Check dams are good.  Sometimes they’ll throw in rip-rap.  In this case, he’d just throw in straw.  He’d rather not see silt fence there, because they haven’t had good success with these slopes.  Does he know how much dirt they are going to be excavating for the building itself?

Mr. Seramur stated that it’s a 5,000 square foot building and they are going to be in the ground around 9 feet.

Mr. Breitzke stated, so the stockpiles will probably be around 5 feet high.  Where is it eventually going to be spread?

Mr. Seramur stated that he won’t know until they get out there, get the foundation in, get a lay for the land and find a place to use it.

Mr. Breitzke stated that he knows the intent, but he thinks topsoil is probably not a good word to use here. Typically, they want to sort out the good, black topsoil from the clay that they are going to run into out here.

Mr. Seramur asked if he wants them to separate the black dirt from the clay.

Mr. Breitzke stated that he’s just suggesting that that probably would be more to their benefit, especially when they go to spread it again.   When they dig it out and have that pile there, they should immediately seed it.

Mr. Joseph asked if this little drive is proposed to be built.

Mr. Seramur stated that there is an existing drive coming down, a gravel drive, and you can see that on the left-hand side.  And then this new drive, yes, with the circle, is new.

Mr. Joseph stated, so it appears that they are going to be required to have silt fencing along the South end of that lot, of the circle.  Is there going to be a lot of earth-moving in constructing this drive, or is it pretty flat, as it sits now?

Mr. Seramur stated that he would say it’s relatively flat.  He doesn’t think there’s more than 2 or 3 feet of fall each way.

Mr. Joseph stated that there’s 3 feet of earth-moving, so, along the South end there there should be silt fencing.  And, as Mr. Breitzke mentioned, up by the proposed conveyance from the building to the rip-rap from approximately contour line 784 all the way around to where it’s mapped out, that should be constructed, as well.  Is he going to remove that existing drive that’s by the proposed temporary construction entrance?

Mr. Seramur stated that he thinks that will stay, because that’s the second drive that comes in and that will be a drive that comes back off the asphalt to this.  The tourist customers will come in through that asphalt driveway and they’ll have to go left once they hit that parking lot to go to the….if you’re coming in on the construction drive, you are going to have to turn right to come to this, and he thinks the construction drive will stay there, just to service this property.

Mr. Breitzke asked what kind of surface they are planning on putting on the street in front of the building.

Mr. Seramur stated that they are calling for concrete sidewalls and, where the bus dropoff is, that’s going to be the concrete or asphalt.  The rest, he believes, was going to be stone, but he sees he’s got pavement on there now.

Mr. Breitzke stated that he would suggest that they might want to look at permeable concrete, but the real reason we’re here is because of erosion and sequencing.  How soon will they be putting stone down after they dig?

Mr. Seramur stated, right away. It’s going to be cut and put down right away.

Issues raised were don’t need silt fence near vegetated areas (weeds), just around stockpiles of dirt; stabilize swale as soon as possible after it’s dug;  overseed excavated dirt piles; silt fence along the South side of the lot where new drive is.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:50 a.m.