The Planning Commission discussed a number of school district projects – two of which are not up to city regulations – at Wednesday’s meeting.
As the school board moves forward with construction on bond projects, some projects need commission approval before beginning.
The Planning Commission approved a new parking lot extension and a new monument sign at West Resource Center. Since the building will serve as the district’s Early Learning Center, the new sign will help signal to drivers that the building is dual-purpose.
Usually businesses cannot have more than one sign, and planning commissioners were clear this exception was being made because of safety reasons and to ensure parents dropping off kids could identify the flow of traffic.
The commission also approved an asphalt extension at the high school parking between the ed tech building extension and the main high school building. This was required to keep the building up to code to allow firetrucks to get into the area, so the district decided to also add additional parking, Superintendent Stu Moeckel said.
Unrelated to bond construction plans, the city was notified that a gravel parking lot south of the football field at the high school has been used during games for overflow parking.
This lot was never approved by the Planning Commission and does not meet city regulations for parking lots. The lot has existed for years, but over the summer a local contractor extended the lot.
All parking lot construction and extension within the city requires Planning Commission approval, Codes Enforcement Official Gordon Snyder said. The city does not allow for gravel lots. If it was asphalt, the lot could be approved.
Moeckel spoke to commissioners and took responsibility for not taking the project through the proper channels before the work was done.
Chairman Grant Martin was worried about the precedent this sets and that the city has required codes for a reason.
“There is a good chance that this is going to have to either come out or covered with asphalt going forward, and I know there’s expense with it,” Martin said. “This could have been prevented – you being here – if it had gone through the proper channels.”
The area has been parked in since the school was built, even when it was just grass, Moeckel said. The contractor was re-graveling the existing lot because it had become messy from use, and staff just decided to extend the area at the same time.
Since the gravel lot next to the football field is already done, but is not up to city code, the commission decided to table the discussion to give Moeckel time to discuss next steps with the school board.
The district may either have to rip out the new portion of the lot, or get a temporary permit and eventually cover the lot in asphalt.
Moeckel estimated the project would cost about $20,000 to asphalt so he would need to discuss the course of action with the board.
The commission voted to defer the project and have further discussion about it at the April meeting when Moeckel can report back after board discussion.
A separate business item discussed the city staff recommendation to also disapprove a project started at the district’s bus storage area.
The city was notified of the parking lot extension being installed at the facility when the project was underway. Because of a miscommunication between the contractor, district and the city, they thought they had the go-ahead, but the contractor stopped the project once the city said it wasn’t up to code to extend the area.
The gravel lot does not meet city code, and will need to also be asphalt to meet regulations. Usually buses have to park in the grass of this area, so the new gravel would allow for more bus parking space.
Since the project was started, dirt work has already been done, leaving the space 6 inches lower, Moeckel said.
This discussion will also be tabled for discussion at the April meeting so Moeckel can discuss with the board. The project was disapproved by the commission.
Moeckel said he now has a clearer understanding of city requirements and will work closely with codes administration to make sure the district goes through proper channels.
In other business, the commission also approved the tax increment financing plan for the Nottingham area to be in accordance with the city’s comprehensive plan.
This is more of an administrative procedure, City Manager Kevyn Gero said. The district was set up in 2016 to be this kind of district, but the TIF was not activated until now. This action will make the revenue generated able to be used to pay costs associated with the development project.
The planning commission has to approve it to confirm the plan conforms with the city’s comprehensive plan.
“What’s in front of the Planning Commission tonight is really just consideration of that project plan associated with the TIF,” Assistant City Manager Zack Daniel said. “So typically, the project plans are presented at the same time when the redevelopment district is established. That wasn’t done back then, but we’re essentially just doing that piece of it now.”
Daniel said the city has been collecting the revenue from the site the entire time, though. Since the city is now converting the debt associated with the site from a temporary note, the revenue can be directed toward debt associated with the district. The city has collected over $200,000 in property and sales tax revenue from the district since Casey’s opened.
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected].
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