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Minutes 02-23-16 MINUTES OF THE PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT BOARD MEETING HELD IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL 100 E. BOYNTON BEACH BOULEVARD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2015 2016, AT 6:30 P.M • Present: David Katz, Chair Ed Breese, Principal Planner Ryan Wheeler, Vice Chair James Cherof, City Attorney Kevin Fischer Brian Miller Stephen Palermo Nicholas Skarecki Trevor Rosecrans Jewyl Stevens, Alternate Floyd Zonenstein, Alternate 1. Pledge of Allegiance Chair Katz called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Mr. Miller led the members in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. 2. Roll Call Roll called revealed a quorum was present. 3. Agenda Approval Motion Mr. Miller moved to approve the agenda. Mr. Palermo seconded the motion that unanimously passed. 4. Approval of Minutes from January 26, 2016 meeting Motion Mr. Miller moved to approve. Mr. Palermo seconded the motion that unanimously passed. 5. Communications and Announcements: Report from Staff Ed Breese, Principal Planner, announced the Cranbrook Drive Easement Abandonment heard at the last meeting was approved by the City Commission on February 16, 2016. Mr. Breese noted the annual Board elections would be on the next agenda and was informed the annual elections for Chair and Vice Chair were held in January. The same individuals will serve as Chair and Vice Chair for another term. Meeting Minutes Planning and Development Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 23, 2016 6. New Business: A. Meadows Square Day Care (COUS 16-001/MSPM 16-001) — Approve request for Conditional Use associated with a request for Major Site Plan Modification approval for the demolition of the former Farm Store, and the construction of an 8,000 square foot Day Care facility and related site improvements, located in the C-3 (Community Commercial) zoning district. Applicant: Bradley Miller, Miller Land Planning, Inc. Attorney Cherof administered an oath to all those intending to testify. Bradley Miller, Miller Land Planning, on behalf of the developer, Woolbright Development, advised the project is located on the southwest corner of Hypoluxo Road and Congress Avenue. The Meadows Square Shopping Center has a parcel on the northwest corner that was formerly a farm and convenience store and gas station. The proposed site, which has been unoccupied for 10 to 15 years, would be used for a day care center. The parcel abuts Meadows Way, an access road to the Meadows development and to the back of the shopping center. Access is also from Hypoluxo Road and a median that comes into the shopping center from Hypoluxo Road will be cut back to improve traffic flow. A letter from Palm Beach County was issued ensuring traffic impacts were satisfactory. Photographs of the existing gas station were viewed and it was noted the tanks were previously removed from the site. The site plan reflected the building will be 8,000 square feet to accommodate 170 children in an infant room, a toddler's room, and room for three and five-year old children. The square footage was based on 35 square feet of building per child. A U-shaped area around the building will be used as a play area with a five-foot perimeter wall added to protect the children. Eighteen parking spaces, north of the building, will be used by parents for drop-off and pick-up and 13 additional spaces were available to the south. Day care employees will use the parking to the south to give parents easy access to the center. Since the parcel is part of an overall shopping center, a shared access/shared parking agreement was already in place Mr. Bradley Miller noted a question was raised how 170 children could be dropped off with the number of parking spaces and the traffic engineer had previously explained to him they studied three other existing day care centers and found there is an average turnaround time of five minutes for each parking space. In a one-hour period, a parking space would be used 12 times. Using the worst case scenario of one child per car during peak hours, the 170 vehicles would need 14.1 parking spaces. City Code requires 27 spaces. The International Traffic Engineer manual reflected 144 spaces would be needed and by using the parking space 12 times an hour, only 12 spaces for the drop off would be needed. All parking regulations were met. He also commented the tenant has nine other day care centers. 2 Meeting Minutes Planning and Development Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 23, 2016 The members viewed the building elevation. The building would face Hypoluxo Road. Mr. Bradley Miller noted there is an existing wall by the gas station and a swale area on Meadows Way. Landscaping would be included around the Center and the swale area. There will be a sign on the corner and a Condition of Approval was they had to provide staff with more detail about it. Mr. Bradley Miller advised they were fine with all of the conditions of approval. Mr. Miller queried if handicapped parking was available and learned there was one spot designated on the north side of the building in conformance with City Code and the American with Disabilities Act. Mr. Miller commented Poinciana School always had problems dropping off and picking up students. Mr. Bradley Miller asked if Poinciana was a day care and learned it was an elementary school. Mr. Miller inquired how much parking was available if the day care center held an event and one parent per car attended. Mr. Bradley Miller responded they would need 170 spaces and an arrangement with the shopping center would need to be made; however, he was not familiar with day care having those types of activities. Mr. Palermo inquired about the area on the north side of the day care area and learned it was a Lake Worth Drainage District easement with a pipe and drainage canal. Mr. Palermo inquired if a left turn could be made if exiting from Meadows Way onto Hypoluxo Road and learned drivers could not. Drivers could circle around on Meadows Way and connect to Congress Avenue. Mr. Palermo also asked if there was parking on Meadows Way and learned there was room to park, but it would be very inconvenient for parents to park there and enter the front of the building due to the perimeter wall. It would be a management issue. He also learned there was no covered parking available and the hours of operation would be 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Vice Chair Wheeler requested clarification regarding the existing median off Hypoluxo Road. Mr. Bradley Miller explained there would be a divider between incoming and outgoing traffic when entering the property, but the median would be cut back and would be an enhancement. Mr. Rosecrans noted the gas tanks from the gas station were removed and asked if there were any spills. Jorge Morell, Vice President of Property Management, Woolbright Development, was administered an oath and advised they had environmental assessments conducted when they acquired the properties which indicated the tanks were removed in 2010. He offered to provide documents that they were removed appropriately. There was also a Phase I environmental analysis conducted and there was no recommendation made to obtain a Phase II report. The reports will be provided to staff at the time of permitting. Mr. Fischer asked if there would be a waiver regarding the site design standards referenced in, section 9 regarding pedestrian and bike amenities and whether a bench, 3 Meeting Minutes Planning and Development Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 23, 2016 trash receptacles and bike racks would be needed. Mr. Breese responded staff recommended pedestrian connections be made, but no others because not many parents drop children off on bicycles. Chair Katz inquired why the aforementioned median was added in the first place. Mr. Breese did not know, but pointed out the City Engineer would review it and if there were no adverse reactions, the cut would be allowed. Chair Katz also asked about the size of the farm store building footprint and learned it was about 1,800 square feet and the overhang probably tripled the size of the building. Chair Katz asked if there would be a wall on the north side of the property to prevent parking on the Lake Worth Drainage District right-of-way. Mr. Bradley Miller explained Hypoluxo Road is curved curbed and has a sidewalk. On the project side, the sidewalk was connected through and parking has curbing around it to deter cars from parking on the easement. It was a property management issue. Chair Katz pointed out Freedom Shores was to the south west of the day care center and students walk to school. He noted parents and students park on the west side of Meadows Way and sometimes both sides of the road, which he wanted to discourage. He further noted there were one or two dumpsters in the south parking lot with 13 spaces. He inquired how the parking lot could be used for employee parking. Mr. Bradley Miller explained the shopping center allowed it and there was not much striping. They would add an island to designate traffic circulation. There are about 30 spaces to be shared and overall, an excess of parking in the shopping center. Mr. Miller asked if there would be lighting on the building and in the parking lot and learned there would. A photometric plan had been submitted and the lighting was compliant with Code. He also inquired why the operator was not present and learned she had intended to come, but Mr. Bradley Miller was unsure why she did not. Mr. Breese advised staff recommended approval of the conditional use and major site plan modification. Motion Vice Chair Wheeler moved to approve the Meadows Square Day Care COUS 16-001 and MSPM 16-001 subject to all conditions of approval and any offsite improvements requested by the City. Chair Katz opened the issue for public comments. Attorney Cherof administered an oath to Ms. Albert. 4 Meeting Minutes Planning and Development Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 23, 2016 Marilyn Albert, Property Manager for Meadows on Green, 100 Meadows Circle, asked if the parking was just parents dropping off and/or staff and commented more parking was needed. She asked where the outdoor play area would be located and how the noise will be handled as her property was immediately west of the Center. Chair Katz identified the recreational area and explained there is a five-foot wall, then a road, then fencing and landscaping, and not all the buildings would be close to the Center. There would be only two buildings that would be nearby. Chair Katz thought the wall and distance would be sufficient and pointed out not all of the children would be outside at the same time. Mr. Bradley Miller commented the play area was designed for different play times. The developer added additional landscaping which would help buffer any noise and pointed out the City Code contained noise level regulations. If necessary, more landscaping could be added. In response to Ms. Albert's question about parking, Mr. Bradley Miller explained there was shared parking in the shopping center. The minimum number of employees was 13 and there are 13 spaces which are shared with the tenants on the south side of the building and 18 more spaces to the north of the center for parents to use. No one else coming forward, public comments was closed. Motion Mr. Miller seconded the motion that passed 6-1 (Mr. Rosecrans dissenting.) 7. Other None. 8. Comments by members None. 9. Adjournment Motion There being no further business to discuss, Mr. Miller moved to adjourn. Mr. Palermo seconded the motion that unanimously passed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 p.m. Catherine Cherry Minutes Specialist 022496 5