City of Jacksonville Plan Commission met Sept. 4.
Here is the minutes provided by the commission:
Chairman Michael Oldenettel called the monthly meeting of the Jacksonville Plan Commission to order at 6:01 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. The agenda and petition were published with the local media and by posting at the Municipal Building.
ROLL CALL: Answering present: Michael Oldenettel – Chairman, Aaron Scott, Casey Collins, Brad Cors; City Attorney Dan Beard; City Clerk Skip Bradshaw. Absent from the meeting were members Brad Besson – Vice Chairman, John Heyer – Secretary, Kerris Osborn; Community Development Director Kelly Hall. A quorum was declared.
MINUTES: Motion was made by Scott, seconded by Cors, to approve the July 10, 2019 Minutes as presented in advance. By voice vote, motion carried.
Chair Oldenettel read Item #3 on the agenda. Review Site Plan for property located at 502 South West Street, for the construction of a personal storage building, submitted by Artisan Consulting Engineers, LLC. CC Bradshaw swore in Kevin Krohe to represent this petition. CA Beard explained that this lot has been previously developed. The plan is to construct a 6,000 square foot building on a slab. CA Beard chose to withhold running through the Site Plan submittal requirements because this structure will be located on a previously developed lot. CDD Hall recently had the opportunity to review the application, and the only issue he has is that presently there is no water or sewer service to the location, which is ok at this point because the building will not be occupied. Should the owner wish to occupy the building at some point in the future he will need to coordinate the installation of water and sewer with the Community Development office.
Chair Oldenettel asked for discussion, or if there was anyone in attendance to speak in favor of, or opposition to, this request and there were none. Motion was made by Collins, seconded by Cors, to approve this request.
ROLL CALL: 4 Yeas; 0 Nays; 3 Absent (Besson, Heyer, Osborn) Motion carried 4-0-3.
Chair Oldenettel read Item #4 on the agenda. Review petition to rezone property at 2225 West Morton Ave., for an addition to Cedarhurst, submitted by Elkott Engineering, P.C. CC Bradshaw swore in Tina Charleville to represent this petition. Ms. Charleville explained that since opening this facility three years ago they have been consistently full and on a wait list. They feel that now would be an appropriate time to expand their memory care wing to include 10 private apartments. This expansion was included with the original plans and nothing has changed since then aside from upgraded utilities sized appropriately for this expansion. CA Beard advised that the Site Plan requirements were reviewed at the original meeting and does not feel its absolutely necessary to do so again. The Board chose not to run through the Site Plan requirements again. Construction should begin sometime in October.
Motion was made by Collins, seconded by Scott, to approve this request, based upon the information today and the previous 2014 motion. Chair Oldenettel asked for discussion, or if there was anyone in attendance to speak in favor of, or opposition to, this request and there were none.
ROLL CALL: 4 Yeas; 0 Nays; 3 Absent (Besson, Heyer, Osborn) Motion carried 4-0-3.
Chair Oldenettel read item #5 on the agenda. Discuss cannabis dispensary zoning. CA Beard advised that this is just preliminary discussion and explained that it seems the consensus of the Council to have some sort of zoning in place for a dispensary should one decide to come to Jacksonville. Licenses have already been issued for medical cannabis, licenses for recreational cannabis will begin January 1, 2020. CA Beard and CDD Hall feel the facilities should be located within a B zoning district, excluding B-1 (Neighborhood Business District), noting that B-3 (Limited Business District) and B-4 (General Business District) classifications would be appropriate. The Commission needs to consider whether or not to allow dispensaries and/or parlors within the B-2 (Central Business District) which encompasses the downtown area. The types of factors that come in to play downtown are traffic, parking, and security to a large extent. He suggested recommending to the Council not allowing dispensaries and/or parlors in a B-1 zoning district, allowing them in a B-3 and higher district with a Special Use permit, and then leaving it up to the Council to decide whether a B-2 district is appropriate. Ms. Collins agrees that the B-3 district is appropriate. CA Beard is in the process of obtaining Quincy, Illinois’ ordinance on cannabis dispensaries for comparison purposes. Proximity to schools in the downtown area should also be considered. A Special Use permit would allow the Board to impose certain restrictions on things like hours of operation.
OTHER BUSINESS: Discussion ensued regarding off-premise advertising and billboards. CA Beard clarified that this encompasses primarily the billboards on East Morton Avenue. The owners have requested the City’s opinion as to whether or not the City would be allow them to completely replace those billboards. The City’s off-premises ordinance dictates that businesses are not allowed off-premises advertising. However, the billboards on East Morton were originally grandfathered in to the ordinance with the intention of eliminating them once they are beyond 50% in need of repair. There is a sign company that has approached the City wanting to expand those signs. There are two issues with that; if the City allows billboards to be replaced, then they will be there forever, which goes against the aim of the ordinance; and once the signs are taken down, then the grandfather clause no longer applies and cannot be reinstated. If the Commission agrees that the billboards can be replaced, then an amendment to the ordinance will need to be done dealing with off-premises signs allowing off-premise signs where it is currently banned, which leads to the problem that once off-premises signs are allowed, they could potentially be placed in any commercial district. General discussion ensued. At the end of discussion it was the consensus of the Commission to recommend to the Council not to change the ordinance to accommodate this request.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Alderman Brandon Adams talked about issues surrounding the legalization of cannabis for medical and recreational use and the location of these dispensaries and/or parlors. He feels that the consumption of recreational cannabis should be legally treated and enforced in the same manner as alcohol. He feels the downtown area can benefit greatly from a lounge, as that would take the use of cannabis off the street.
CA Beard reviewed the options for zoning classifications for dispensaries, noting that there will be much more discussion at the next Council Meeting with the possibility of action on the first reading of the ordinance on dispensaries, and perhaps lounges. He will report back to the Council that discussion took place at the Plan Commission meeting, and that the Commission is recommending that dispensaries be allowed in a B-3 zone, not allowed in a B-1 zone, and possibly allowed in a B-2 zone.
ADJOURNMENT: With no further discussion motion was made by Cors, seconded by Scott, to adjourn the meeting at 6:35 p.m.
http://cms6.revize.com/revize/jacksonvilleil/city_government/boards_commissions_and_committees/docs/Boards%20Commissions%20Committees/Plan_Commission/2019%20Minutes/PC%20Minutes%2009.04.19.pdf
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