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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBoard of Adjustment 12-07-06 ST CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF • PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE The St. Croix County Board of Adjustment has scheduled a public hearing for Thursday, December 7, 2oo6 at 8:3o a.m. at the Government Center, 11o1 Carmichael Road, Hudson, Wisconsin, to consider the following requests under the St. Croix County Zoning Ordinance. The Board will view each site in question, after which the Board will deliberate and vote on the requests. SPECIAL EXCEPTION 1. APPLICANTS: St. Croix County Highway Department LOCATION: SE 1 /4 of the SE 1 /4 of Section 7, T31N, R16W, Town of Cylon ADDRESS: State Highway 46 (South of the Village of Deer Park) REQUEST: Special exception request to construct and operate a highway equipment and materials storage facility in the Ag Residential District pursuant to Section 17.15(6)(u) of the St. Croix County Zoning Ordinance. RECONSIDERATION 2. APPLICANTS: Alice, Inc. LOCATION: SE 1 /4 of the SW 1 /4 of Section 31, T31N, R18W, Town of Star Prairie ADDRESS: State Highway 35/64 REQUEST: Request to reconsider the sizes of signs for the River's Edge facilities approved as part of a special exception amendment by the St. Croix County Board of Adjustment on May 25, 20o6. All interested persons are invited to attend said hearing and be heard. Additional information may be obtained from the St. Croix County Planning and Zoning Department, Hudson, Wisconsin at (715) 386 -4680. Clarence W. Malick, Chairperson St. Croix County Board of Adjustment PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE The St. Croix County Board of Adjustment has scheduled a public hearing for Thursday, December 7, 2006 at 8:30 a.m. at the Government Center, 1101 Carmichael Road, Hudson, Wisconsin, to consider the following requests under the St. Croix County Zoning Ordinance. The Board will view each site in question, after which the Board will deliberate and vote on the requests. SPECIAL EXCEPTION 1. APPLICANTS: St. Croix County Highway Department LOCATION: SE ' / 4 of the SE ' / 4 of Section 7, T3 IN, R16W, Town of Cylon ADDRESS: State Highway 46 (South of the Village of Deer Park) REQUEST: Special exception request to construct and operate a highway equipment and materials storage facility in the Ag Residential District pursuant to Section 17.15(6)(u) of the St. Croix County Zoning Ordinance. RECONSIDERATION 2. APPLICANTS: Alice, Inc. LOCATION: SE' /4 of the SW '/4 of Section 31, T3 IN, R1 8W, Town of Star Prairie ADDRESS: State Highway 35/64 REQUEST: Request to reconsider the sizes of signs for the River's Edge facilities approved as part of a special exception amendment by the St. Croix County Board of Adjustment on May 25, 2006. All interested persons are invited to attend said hearing and be heard. Additional information may be obtained from the St. Croix County Planning and Zoning Department, Hudson, Wisconsin at (715) 386 -4680. Clarence W. Malick, Chairperson St. Croix County Board of Adjustment DRAFT BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING AND HEARING MINUTES December 7, 2006 The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Buck Malick at 8:35 a.m. A roll call was made. Chairperson Buck Malick, Jan Zoerb, Charles Struemke, Linda Luckey, and Sue Nelson were present. Staff included: Jenny Shillcox, Zoning Specialist; David Fodroczi, Planning and Zoning Director; Bob Bezek, Code Administrator; and Becky Eggen, Recorder. Staff assured the Board that this was a properly noticed meeting. The next meeting for the Board is scheduled for December 28"', 2006 at 8:30 a.m. in the County Board Room of the Government Center in Hudson. The hearing was opened by Chairperson Malick. Testimony was taken and recorded by Patti A. Meyer, court reporter from Q & A Court Reporters. Application #1: St. Croix County Highway Department — Special Exception Request This application was postponed to the December 28, 2006 Board of Adjustment Hearing. Application #2: Alice Inc. — Reconsideration Alice, Inc. requested the Board to reconsider the sizes of signs for the River's Edge facilities approved as part of a special exception amendment by the St. Croix County Board of Adj ustment on May 25, 2006. Staff presented the application and the staff report. The applicants are requesting the following sign sizes: Sign #1: 650 square feet, if needed. Sign #3: 450 square feet, including an electronic message board. Sign #4: 600 square feet. Staff explained that the River's Edge facilities face some unique challenges and limitations in directing travelers to their new entrance, and that these challenges and limitations were created by the reconfiguration of Highway 35/64, not by actions of the applicants. The Town Board of Star Prairie and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) have recommended approval of the reconsideration request. Based on the findings of fact and conclusions of law, staff recommended approval of the applicants' request, with revisions to Conditions, #3, 4, and 9 for the Board's consideration. Matt Biegert, attorney for Alice, Inc., signed an oath and spoke in favor of the request. He stated that the requested signs are for directional purposes only. They will not be for advertising. The signs are needed to help direct the traffic trying to locate River's Edge. The sign with the message board will not be a flashing or scrolling message board, but the message itself will change. The applicant is hoping the SIS signs that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation recently installed on either side of River's Edge Drive will be enough of an indicator to help with traffic that they will not need to build Sign # 1. Chairman Malick asked about the possibility of phasing of the installation of each side of the signs. Mr. Biegert stated that there might be a possible cost savings doing both sides of the sign at one time rather than phasing it out to see if the other side would be needed or not. William Raleigh signed an oath and spoke in favor of the request. He explained that the intersection where traffic will turn off of Hwy 64 to River's Edge Drive is very dangerous because it is unlit and not long enough to accommodate a truck and travel trailer. He has a big concern with the safety of the traffic trying to find his facility. Ms. Zoerb requested clarification on the placement and configuration of the signs. Mr. Raleigh clarified that Sign #1 is V- shaped, Sign #3 is a back -to -back sign, as is Sign #4 in order to be an identifier for westbound traffic. The electronic message board will display up to 16 characters at a time. The message will change every five seconds. The message board will have to change, because he doesn't want travelers to take their eyes off the road for long periods of time. A smaller number of words on the screen at any time is easier to comprehend and still allow adequate time for concentration on the road. He feels more wording on a larger screen is not better. The message board will have the same message on both sides of the sign. Doug Rivard, Chairman of Star Prairie, signed an oath and spoke in favor of the request. He clarified that there was a typo in the Town letter, and the Town is okay with a 450 square foot sign for Sign #3. The Town feels that the Raleighs have been financially hurt by the change of Highway 35/64. All of the signs being requested are on the Raleigh's property. The Town will make a written request to the DOT about lighting the intersection. The Board recessed for a short break at 10:05 a.m. The Board reconvened at 10:23 a.m. Matt Biegert spoke to the Raleigh's sign engineer and verified that a driver has 10 -12 seconds to read board messages, considering that a static message is every 1 -2 seconds. A three -word message can be absorbed in a second. The costs of a larger sign would increase in proportion to the size of the sign. If the message board size is doubled, it would mean the price would double as well. Mr. Raleigh stated that the message would only change once or twice a month with three frames only. He will participate in Amber Alerts and other public service messages if asked by the public authorities, but will not advertise for anything that is off the premises. Staff read an excerpt from Wisconsin Administrative Code Trans 201, which refers to electronic message boards with changing or intermittent messages as "variable message signs ", and verified that the applicants' plans are consistent with the code. Ms. Lucky inquired about sign height. Mr. Biegert verified that Sign #3 needs to be at least 42 feet in height per the designer's plans. The plans also showed Signs #1 and #4 to be 40 feet. The Board confirmed that a separate variance would be required to approve sign heights of over 35 feet, since that was not part of the applicants' request for reconsideration. Staff confirmed that there is enough time to send out public notices for the December 28"' hearing. Motion by Struemke, second by Nelson to have the applicant apply for a variance regarding the height of the signs for the December 28` 2006 hearing. Motion carried unanimously. DECISIONS The Board members decided that they did not need to visit the site again since they had been out to visit it for previous hearings. After hearing the testimony and reviewing the material in the record, the Board rendered the following decision: Application #2: Alice Inc. — Reconsideration Motion by Struemke, second by Nelson to approve the request for reconsideration based on the following findings: 1. The applicants are Alice, Inc. and John, Robert, and William Raleigh, property owners. 2. The property is located north of Highway 35/64 in Section 31, T31N -Rl8W, Town of Star Prairie, St. Croix County, Wisconsin. 3. The applicants are requesting that the St. Croix County Board of Adjustment reconsider the sizes of Signs #1, #3, and #4 for the River's Edge facilities, which were approved as part of a special exception amendment on May 25, 2006. 4. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation's recent reconfiguration of Highway 35/64 resulted in a unique situation that was not created by the applicants. The reconfigured highway eliminated the old entrance and existing sign for River's Edge facilities and now bisects the applicants' property. The new entrance is not visible from the highway. It is located on an access road, River's Edge Drive, which has an at -grade intersection at Hwy 35/64 that requires eastbound travelers to make a left turn across traffic as they come around a curve in the road. Similar tourist destinations in the Somerset area have access from grade- separated interchanges just west of the applicants' property. Since the majority of the applicants' patrons are coming from the Twin Cities to the west, the applicants claim that many of their patrons accidentally take the grade- separated Highway C exit immediately to the west and get lost, or simply don't see the left turn for the new entrance until it is too late. 5. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has provided limited relief to this situation with two recently installed SIS signs on either side of River's Edge Drive, which may reduce the need for Sign #1. The applicants will evaluate the necessity of Sign #1 over the coming year. The applicants do not qualify for any additional green and white directional sign options available through the Department, which may have reduced the need for Sign #4. The applicants are concerned that, even with the SIS signs, they do not have adequate signage to safely direct travelers to their facilities, particularly those coming from the west. 6. According to the applicants and their representatives, all proposed signs are outside of the highway ROW and meet all required setbacks. 7. There have been no complaints or concerns from adjoining property owners. 8. The Town of Star Prairie recommends approval of this reconsideration request. 9. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has recommended approval of this reconsideration request. With the following revised conditions: Condition #3: Sign #3 shall be no larger than 450 square feet in size and may be double- sided. The electronic message board shall not exceed 100 square feet in size and shall contain static, non - moving messages not to exceed three frames changing at intervals of not less than two seconds consistent with the general sign provisions in the St. Croix County Zoning Ordinance and the provisions for on -site, variable message signs in Wisconsin Administrative Code Trans 201. The applicants shall have only one electronic message sign on their property. Condition #4: The directional signs at the intersections at River's Edge Road and Highway C (Signs #1 and #4) shall be no larger than 650 and 600 square feet in size, respectively, and may be double - sided. The signs shall not contain any electrical components (except for downward directed lighting) and shall be consistent with general sign provisions in the St. Croix County Zoning Ordinance and the provisions for on -site signs in Wisconsin Administrative Code Trans 201. Condition #9: The applicants shall have four years from the approval of this reconsideration to complete construction of the signs. This will allow the applicants adequate time to determine if Sign #1 is necessary. If the approval expires within this timeframe, the applicant will be required to secure new special exception approval for any sign that has not been constructed. The applicants shall contact the Zoning Administrator to review this special exception permit at this time to ensure compliance with the conditions of this approval. Motion carried unanimously. Minutes Motion by Nelson, second by Luckey to approve the October 26, 2006 minutes. Motion carried unanimously. New Business Chainnan Malick informed the Board that four students from UW -River Falls made a presentation to him and members of the Planning and Zoning Department earlier in the week. The students made some valid recommendations for consideration for the BOA by- laws that would shorten and modernize them. They found a section that did not show up in any other County regarding an option for a contested case hearing. In February, the Board will start to review the By -Laws to change and condense them. Malick and Zoerb requested that Fodroczi write a formal letter to the students for their portfolios. A motion by Nelson, second by Struemke to adjourn the meeting at 12:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sue Nelson, Secretary Becky Eggen, Recording Secretary Page 1 of 1 Amy Geurkink From: Amy Geurkink Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 3:29 PM To: Kim Dupre; Buck Malick; Chuck Whiting; Greg Timmerman; Kathy Spott Cc: New Richmond News /Jeff Holmquist oholmquist @rivertowns.net); Baldwin Bulletin (thawley @baldwin- telecom. net); Hudson Star Observer (1) (hsoeditor @rivertowns.net) Subject: Minutes - BOA Attached please find the minutes from the December 7, 2oo6 Board of Adjustment meeting. Amy I Geurkink First Deputy /St. Croix County Clerk St. Croix County Government Center 1101 Carmichael Road Hudson, WI 54016 Ph. 715- 386 -4609 2/1/2007