Plan Commission To Debate Meijer's Rezoning Monday
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Fort Wayne has one. Indianapolis has several. Goshen even has one. Now Warsaw may get one.
What is it?
A Meijer grocery/department store.
On Monday, at the Warsaw Plan Commission's public meeting at 7 p.m. in the old courtroom in the county courthouse, Meijer's request to rezone 40 acres from C3 (arterial, commercial and single family residency) to C5 (special commercial zoning) will be heard. The store would be at 900 Husky Trail, along Patterson Road, where Stone Creek Homes is now.
If their rezoning is approved, "the next step is to go through the subdivision control ordinance to subdivide the land. They've got some proposed outlots (in four areas around the store). They also have an outlot for their gas station/convenience store that will be part of the Meijer facility," Jeff Noffsinger, Warsaw city planner, said Monday.
Simultaneously, with the subdividing, Noffsinger said Meijer can develop a site plan.
He said, "They're proposing a smaller version - a 150,000- square-foot building. They've got shown 800 some parking spots. We have ordinances that (requires some space) set for landscape, one tree for every 10 parking spaces. They're going to have to do some things with buffering on the perimeter to buffer from adjacent residential properties.
"Traffic is a big issue and it's probably going to be discussed quite a bit with the rezoning, though a change of rezoning isn't totally contingent on this plan."
According to the preliminary concept plan, there would be 783 regular size and 18 handicapped parking spaces for the proposed store.
For the convenience store, there would be 10 regular spaces and one handicapped space.
Meijer's plans include vacating Patterson Road and moving it north, and extending Parker Street. The road vacation would be a separate public hearing. The plan commission would have to recommend the vacation and then Warsaw's city council would need to adopt an ordinance vacating the road.
"Obviously," Noffsinger said, "we don't vacate roads just because we like to. You have to have a reason and the reason is because they want to relocate it to improve the traffic situation here (at Parker Street and U.S. 30)."
He said Meijer submitted a traffic impact study and they "really did their homework" to determine what needs to be done at the intersection "because we recognize, everyone recognizes, this is a problem intersection."
Parker Street, he said, would be doubled and widened to allow for more traffic and more turn lanes, if all is approved.
Meijer also proposes a four-way stoplight at where Parker Street, Patterson Road, Husky Trail and Meijer's entrance would converge. As a member of the Warsaw traffic commission, Noffsinger said the commission board agreed Meijer's plan was headed in the right direction.
If Meijer's rezoning request is approved in April, Noffsinger said, they could apply for subdivision petition and development plan approval as early as May.
Recently, Warsaw city councilman Joe Thallemer held a town hall meeting at the First Baptist Church. The Meijer store was discussed by the project contractor.
Noffsinger said the "100 or so people" at the meeting were "very inquisitive. They asked a lot of questions, as expected. I thought it was a very good opportunity for the public to get a chance ahead of time to see what the proposed plans were ... ."
Asked if he expected any problems with the rezoning, Noffsinger said, "It's going to be very interesting because they asked for (the 8.5 acres known as the Old Patterson tract) to be rezoned toward the end of last year, and the plan commission forwarded an unfavorable recommendation to the council at that time. And the council didn't act on it on the first opportunity they had, and then the petitioners withdrew their request. Since then, the developer has shifted their proposal around, oriented towards this (west) direction."
Noffsinger said he will recommend the council approve Meijer's petition.
"I have offered a recommendation to approve, to forward a favorable recommendation to the council," he said. "I feel like the petitioner has addressed the traffic situation via the other report they have submitted."
Monday's meeting at 7 p.m. in the courthouse will be open to the public. [[In-content Ad]]
Fort Wayne has one. Indianapolis has several. Goshen even has one. Now Warsaw may get one.
What is it?
A Meijer grocery/department store.
On Monday, at the Warsaw Plan Commission's public meeting at 7 p.m. in the old courtroom in the county courthouse, Meijer's request to rezone 40 acres from C3 (arterial, commercial and single family residency) to C5 (special commercial zoning) will be heard. The store would be at 900 Husky Trail, along Patterson Road, where Stone Creek Homes is now.
If their rezoning is approved, "the next step is to go through the subdivision control ordinance to subdivide the land. They've got some proposed outlots (in four areas around the store). They also have an outlot for their gas station/convenience store that will be part of the Meijer facility," Jeff Noffsinger, Warsaw city planner, said Monday.
Simultaneously, with the subdividing, Noffsinger said Meijer can develop a site plan.
He said, "They're proposing a smaller version - a 150,000- square-foot building. They've got shown 800 some parking spots. We have ordinances that (requires some space) set for landscape, one tree for every 10 parking spaces. They're going to have to do some things with buffering on the perimeter to buffer from adjacent residential properties.
"Traffic is a big issue and it's probably going to be discussed quite a bit with the rezoning, though a change of rezoning isn't totally contingent on this plan."
According to the preliminary concept plan, there would be 783 regular size and 18 handicapped parking spaces for the proposed store.
For the convenience store, there would be 10 regular spaces and one handicapped space.
Meijer's plans include vacating Patterson Road and moving it north, and extending Parker Street. The road vacation would be a separate public hearing. The plan commission would have to recommend the vacation and then Warsaw's city council would need to adopt an ordinance vacating the road.
"Obviously," Noffsinger said, "we don't vacate roads just because we like to. You have to have a reason and the reason is because they want to relocate it to improve the traffic situation here (at Parker Street and U.S. 30)."
He said Meijer submitted a traffic impact study and they "really did their homework" to determine what needs to be done at the intersection "because we recognize, everyone recognizes, this is a problem intersection."
Parker Street, he said, would be doubled and widened to allow for more traffic and more turn lanes, if all is approved.
Meijer also proposes a four-way stoplight at where Parker Street, Patterson Road, Husky Trail and Meijer's entrance would converge. As a member of the Warsaw traffic commission, Noffsinger said the commission board agreed Meijer's plan was headed in the right direction.
If Meijer's rezoning request is approved in April, Noffsinger said, they could apply for subdivision petition and development plan approval as early as May.
Recently, Warsaw city councilman Joe Thallemer held a town hall meeting at the First Baptist Church. The Meijer store was discussed by the project contractor.
Noffsinger said the "100 or so people" at the meeting were "very inquisitive. They asked a lot of questions, as expected. I thought it was a very good opportunity for the public to get a chance ahead of time to see what the proposed plans were ... ."
Asked if he expected any problems with the rezoning, Noffsinger said, "It's going to be very interesting because they asked for (the 8.5 acres known as the Old Patterson tract) to be rezoned toward the end of last year, and the plan commission forwarded an unfavorable recommendation to the council at that time. And the council didn't act on it on the first opportunity they had, and then the petitioners withdrew their request. Since then, the developer has shifted their proposal around, oriented towards this (west) direction."
Noffsinger said he will recommend the council approve Meijer's petition.
"I have offered a recommendation to approve, to forward a favorable recommendation to the council," he said. "I feel like the petitioner has addressed the traffic situation via the other report they have submitted."
Monday's meeting at 7 p.m. in the courthouse will be open to the public. [[In-content Ad]]