ON THE AGENDA Here are some of...

ON THE AGENDA

Here are some of the items the commission will consider Monday:

NEW FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT RULES

The commission will consider an ordinance that would change a

portion of the city’s code to conform with the Federal Emergency

Management Agency.

The agency requires that local cities participating in the

National Flood Insurance Program adopt updates to floodplain

management regulations, flood insurance study and flood insurance

rate maps.

In 2002, FEMA updated the Flood Insurance Rate Map that identifies

special flood hazard areas in the city and prepared a preliminary

Flood Insurance Study. The study provides updated flood profiles and

the boundaries and water surface elevations of the base floodplain.

It also develops flood risk data for various areas of the city that

will be used to establish flood insurance rates. FEMA will finalize

these documents in February.

Changing the code will ensure the city’s continued eligibility in

the National Flood Insurance Program.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Planning staff members recommend the commission pass the changes

along to the City Council for a first reading of the ordinance.

APPEAL OF

EXPANSION DENIAL

The commission will hear an appeal from Doyle Forth, representing

property owners Tim and Liz Kuhlmann.

The Kuhlmanns want to expand the second floor of their house at

3379 Fuchsia St. On Oct. 30, zoning administrator Perry Valantine

denied the expansion. Mayor Gary Monahan appealed that decision to

allow the commission to review the project in accordance with the new

residential design guidelines.

Valantine denied the project because it does not meet two criteria

of the new guidelines, which became effective Oct. 2. Those criteria

are a 10-foot second-story side setback and a

second-floor-to-first-floor ratio of 80%.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Planning staff members recommend upholding the denial of the

expansion because two of the guidelines will not be met and because

the proposal includes a long, unbroken building facade that creates a

negative visual effect from the next-door property and the street.

“It sounds like it’s just not in compliance with the guidelines

and the spirit of avoiding the big-box kind of thing,” commission

Chairman Bruce Garlich said.

PLANNING APPLICATION

The commission will consider a request from Tim Roberts,

representing the Lissoy Family Trust, which owns the properties at

168, 172 and 178 Merrill Place. The Lissoy family wants to build a

five-unit, two-story project with an exception to average individual

lot area requirements.

Each lot contains a single-family residence. The existing

residences would be demolished and the lots combined to construct the

five-unit project.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Planning staff members recommend rejecting the application because

they don’t believe there are any special circumstances that justify

the exception to average lot size. Also, the project doesn’t comply

with certain criteria of the new Residential Design Guidelines: the

average side setback of 10 feet and the requirement that the second

story provides visual relief to the side yard through things such as

roof plane brakes.

“Even if the proposed layout of the five units was modified to

make them more or less equal in size, it doesn’t look like they could

meet the 3,500 square foot average and still put in the driveway to

access the rear units,” Garlich said.

ST. JOACHIM PLANNING APPLICATION

Kluger Architects, representing the Roman Catholic Bishop of

Orange for St. Joachim Church at 1943 and 1964 Orange Ave., will

request permission to renovate.

The bishop proposes to renovate a convent to include living

quarters for priests and associates upstairs with community service

and meeting facilities downstairs. The bishop is also requesting a

permit to allow use of off-site church parking by people attending

meetings across the street on the convent site.

In November 1962, the City Council approved the construction and

operation of a residence for teachers at 1943 Orange Ave. Within the

past 10 years, the church has begun using some of the downstairs

rooms for church meetings. The bishop wants to modify the building to

better accommodate the meetings by converting the dining room, living

room, chapel and two of the parlors to community rooms and the third

parlor to an office. The rest of the first floor will be modified to

incorporate restrooms for the meeting participants and a kitchen and

dining room for the three priests and associates that will live in

the three bedroom suites upstairs.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Staff members recommend approving the application because the

church has been holding meetings in the convent for about 10 years

with no complaints from neighbors. Also, the church proposes adding

five parking spaces behind the convent. More parking would be

available across Orange Avenue.

“The city is asking if someone crosses the street and tries to sue

the city that [the city] be held harmless,” Garlich said. “The church

is trying to do this selectively. So the church, when I last talked

to them, they were in agreement with the spirit of the condition.

They’re just trying to work out some language that they felt was a

little too broad.”