Minutes of Village of Forest Hills Planning Board

Date: June 18, 2001

Members Present:

Chairman Larry Kolenbrander

Jim Davis

Dick Iobst

Sally James

Ian Pritchard

Joe Rossano

Guest:  Howard Hill

The meeting of the Forest Hills Planning Board, held at the University Inn in Forest Hills on June 18, 2001, was called to order by Chairman Larry Kolenbrander at 7:00 P.M.

Larry Kolenbrander: Jim Wallace is out of town and will not be here tonight.  We will have a very short meeting tonight if we can review the minutes, take a look at the agenda and have some information about the regulations.  We will also talk about Planning Board membership and then consider if there are any additions to the agenda.

Larry Kolenbrander:  The minutes are in.  I've had a chance to go through them. They are very detailed in terms of our previous discussion.  I would entertain a motion to approve the minutes.

The minutes were approved unanimously.

Larry Kolenbrander:  Are there any additions to the agenda that need to be discussed?

Comments to Howard Hill who said he was just there as an observer.

Larry Kolenbrander:  To bring you up to date.  Since our last meeting Geoff Willett was out of the country.  He got back in early last week, and I talked to him and he is just absolutely swamped.  He has done a little bit of work on the regulations.  I did send to him our discussions about the density at the last meeting and also our discussions about the buffers around the streams and pond.  He said he realized when, in our discussions about density that there will have to be a firm number before the regulations are actually adopted.  But I think that we have sort of set out the range of density levels that people are concerned about.  He said in a draft he could essentially talk about those ranges but when the final things are adopted there has to be a single maximum set.

Ian Pritchard: Would it be based on maximum limits on acreage?  There are also potential applications on ETJ, and certainly we are looking at encouraging some standardization.

Larry Kolenbrander:  We can set that in either way.  We can write it in.  As long as the regulations specify whatever.  I am going to be meeting with him on the 27th of June mainly to go over the draft.  He's also writing the boundary description for the proposed ETJ.  He said he had- he wasn't sure of what he had available about the regulations.  But I'll know better where he stands.  He's going to be writing those and so we don't have draft regulations to look at, and as soon as we do we can then move on.  It will probably be the July meeting before we have a set of the draft regulations.  That is my information on that.  The other thing, in reviewing, is Board membership.  In reviewing the Planning Board minutes of September 2000 we actually defined - we actually picked up on some oversight, mainly on my part, but we defined that it essentially described our Planning Board membership.  They are essentially three-year rotational memberships beginning on July 1 and ending on June 30.  We had moved at that time that essentially Williford and the membership seats held by Jean Adams and Angela Davis- (resigned,) and Williford ended in October 2000.  And Sally James, Steve Owens, and Joe Rossano replaced them.  And the memberships held by Dick Iobst, myself, and Jim Wallace are due to end June 30, 2001.

Anne Chambers, Jim Davis, and Ian Pritchard end on June 30, 2002, and those of newly appointed members Steve Owens, Sally, and Joe will end on June 30, 2003.  So, given that, we have three members of the Board to replace.  Now the appointments are to be made by the Village Council and Mayor.  In reviewing the By-laws there are no stipulations requiring that you can't serve more than one consecutive term.  I guess from my standpoint I would like to see more people in the Village have an opportunity to be involved in the Planning process.  When I talked to Jim Wallace tonight on the telephone he said that he would be willing to serve if we wanted him to.  I guess what my question would be do you have suggestions that we might put forth to the Mayor and the Village Council for replacements?

Sally James:  When would this Council appointment be made?

Larry Kolenbrander:  At the July Council meeting.

Sally James:  Is that known at all?

Larry Kolenbrander: I don't know.  I don't have any names other than Jim's.  I don't have any names in the back of my mind.

Dick Iobst:  Lee Budahl.

Larry Kolenbrander: What I am looking for is the suggestion of names that we might approach.  For example, we would have some time to call people, see if they are willing to serve, realizing that Jim has said that he would be willing to continue.

Ian Pritchard:  We also have a Council appointment to be made.  Is that a replacement for Larry?

Larry Kolenbrander:  A replacement for Sharon.

Dick Iobst:  That's not going to be appointed is it?  It's going to be voted on.

Larry Kolenbrander:  That position- we will appoint someone to fill Sharon's seat until November when that position will be up for election.  It's a short-term appointment.  I think Sharon had three years left to serve.

Sally James:  Do you want to continue on the Planning Board?

Larry Kolenbrander:  I have not made a decision.

Sally James:  We will then put you down as undecided.

Ian Pritchard:  If a word of encouragement is needed here I think it would be very good for the Board and the Village for you to continue.

Discussion.

Dick Iobst:  If Lee doesn't want to serve, I will serve.  I will approach him.  He is a good friend of mine and he is a balanced man.

Larry Kolenbrander: Are there others?

Sally James:  Would it be appropriate to put in the minutes or somehow get it out to have those who may be interested to call?

Larry Kolenbrander:  I think so.  If people are interested in serving they should contact me as soon as possible.  Dick, that would require you to get the minutes out as soon as possible.

Dick Iobst:  The only problem that I have with these minutes- the terms here- I need to submit these for the approval of the Planning Board at its next meeting, and then they go out to everybody.

Larry Kolenbrander:  You're right.  The only thing that I can do is ask Mary Ann to send out a note to those people that are on the E-Mail and ask people to contact as many people as they know and get that information out to them.

Ian Pritchard:  I think that's a good idea.  The other area of concern is we've all been shocked at Jim Davis's misfortune.

Dick Iobst:  What is the status there?

Ian Pritchard:  I don't know whether he will want to continue on the Planning Board.  It's obviously his decision.

Discussion.

Larry Kolenbrander:  If anyone wants to help [the Davis’s] there are funds set up at any Wachovia Bank- that I know.

Joe Rossano:  Do you have to be a resident of the Village to be on the Planning Board?

Larry Kolenbrander:  No, I don't think so.

Discussion about Steve Davis.

Ian Pritchard:  According to discussions I had with Irene  [Hooper, the Mayor of Forest Hills] as to eligibility to be on the Board you don't have to be a resident.

More discussion.

Larry Kolenbrander:  There is nothing stated in the Bylaws about citizenship in the Village.  There is nothing that says that you have to be a Village resident.

Sally James:  Do we have any idea how many people moved in since the last year?

Larry Kolenbrander:  I don't know.  Michael Macias and his wife moved in since last year, and they have both volunteered to serve on the Greenways Committee.

Joe Rossano:  But they will not serve on the Council or the Planning Board because I asked them.  They're my neighbors.

[Jim Davis came in.]

Larry Kolenbrander:  To bring Jim up to date what we're talking about is the fact that membership on the Planning Board is for three years- rotating terms.  And Dick Iobst, Jim Wallace, and myself - our terms expire at the end of June.  What we're doing is putting together a list of people who we think might be interested- Jim Wallace said that if we wanted him to serve he would continue.  Another name that has been suggested is Lee Budahl.

Dick Iobst: I would serve if he doesn't accept.

Larry Kolenbrander:  Dick said he would serve if Lee doesn't accept.  We are also talking about getting a notice out to as many people [he repeated his earlier statements in regard to this matter].

Discussion.

Sally James suggested that we take a look at some new residents.

Larry Kolenbrander:  What I can try to do is, when I call Mary Ann Budahl, is to ask her to put this information out.  I can ask her if she maintains the current list of residents.  I can ask her if there are new people that have moved in during the past year and a half that we might approach for their willingness to serve.

The Planning Board has nine members, nine members with three-year-terms, and one of the first orders of business in July is to install the new members and elect Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Secretary at that time.

Jim Davis:  I would ask for this consideration- that I would probably be the general on the house and I probably would not submit to office this time around.

Discussion.

Ian Pritchard:  Suggested the name of Julie Ogletree.

More discussion.

Larry Kolenbrander:  To review, we do not have draft zoning regulations at this time because Geoff Willett has been out.  I am to meet with him on the 27th [of June] to work on the ETJ.  At that time he said that it would probably be our July meeting before he would have draft regulations ready.  That's what we're looking at.  Anything else?

Jim Davis:  Is it at that meeting when we have those, Larry, that we'll be able to review what we've come up with so far, suggestions, and additions?

Larry Kolenbrander:  At that point we can decide how quickly we'll want to move forward with this.

Larry Kolenbrander called for a motion to adjourn at 7:40.  It was passed unanimously.

The next meeting is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., Monday, July 16, 2001.

Respectfully submitted by

Richard W. Iobst

Secretary