Town of Trappe, MD Planning Commission Meeting Minutes

PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES

December 21, 2005

7:30 p.m.

Trappe Town Hall

The regular Planning and Zoning Commission meeting was opened by Chairperson Edgar Harrison at 7:36 p.m.  Planning Commission members present were Mr. Bobby Quidas, and Mr. Norm Fegel.

PERMITS ISSUED:

T-40-05 - P.E. Moore & Sons Construction – 29383 Howell Pt. Rd., New House.

T-41-05 - Charles D. English – 29453 Maple Avenue – New House

PERMITS PENDING AND ZONING ISSUES:

None

OLD BUSINESS:

HIGH’S PROPERTY:

Mr. English presented two sets of building plans for High’s.  He stated that Mr. Hoffman from MDIA had reviewed the plans and found that the plans did not include a grease trap and the electrical plans for the gas pumps were also not included.  Mr. English asked the Planning Commission members to review the final plans since High’s will be applying for a building permit once the State Highway access issue is resolved.

Mr. Adams reminded the Planning Commission of Mr. Quidas’s concern regarding the landscaping along Route 50.  Mr. Quidas wanted to make sure the view of Route 50 traffic from Maple Avenue was not blocked because of the plantings along the frontage of the site and near the corner of Route 50 and Maple Avenue.  Mr. Hall stated that Mr. Fegel reviewed the landscaping plans as the Planning Commission requested and he does not believe the proposed landscaping will block the view of Route 50 traffic.

Mr. Harrison asked if anything in the plans have changed.  Mr. Hall stated that nothing had changed since the last Planning Commission review.  Mr. Adams expressed some concern with the red strip along the front and side façade of the building.  Mr. Harrison commented that the red strip is part of the High’s logo.

Mr. English explained that there was an issue with the storm water management plans.   Mr. Hall said that the engineering plans are more than 90% complete.  Davis, Bowen, and Freidel (DBF) found that the engineering plans showed some trees planted in the back drainage ditch which would block storm water flow.  Other comments by DBF were easy fixes and Mr. Hall will send the revised plans next week to Ms. Annie Williams at DBF.  As a result of the storm water engineering corrections, Mr. Hall told the Planning Commission that one parallel parking space along the rear of the property will be lost.  However, the High’s site still provides more parking spaces than the required minimum.

Mr. Adams asked about the amount of fees collected for the High’s project.  Mr. English noted that the County impact fees were reduced to $900.00 from approximately $4,900 since there was an existing commercial building on the site.  Mr. English reminded Mr. Adams that the High’s site already had two existing town water and sewer hookups and that the Town does not have separate fees for commercial hook ups.

Mr. Harrison reviewed the plan elevations and the architectural features such as the roof dormers and fake window on the Maple Avenue façade.  Mr. Harrison said he believes the design guidelines have been met.  The Planning Commission reached a consensus that the buildings plans were acceptable which is what Mr. English was requesting so the building permit could be issued when all other issues with the State are finalized.

NEW BUSINESS:

Episcopal Church Parsonage:

Mr. David Hazen, a member of the Trappe Episcopal Church, was asked by the vestry to look into the building of a new parsonage.  Mr. Hazen commented that the rectory of the church was built in 1876.  He noted that there has been little maintenance or an improvement to the house and that it has not been used as a rectory for nearly a decade.  The church vacated the house from renters early in the summer.   The church has had many meetings to decide if the house should be remodeled or replaced.  Several contractors have given prices to restore it, but the church cannot afford the restoration cost.   Mr. Hazen described the remodeling plans and the cost which would be too great of a hardship on the members.  Mr. Hazen stated that a majority of the church vestry decided to turn to new construction that would fit in with the existing architecture of the neighborhood.  He added that the decision was made to replace the existing house with a modular house in order to meet financial and time constraints.  The new proposed house would maintain the same footprint as the existing parsonage and it would be two story with a front porch similar to other homes in the neighborhood and similar to the 1876 structure before the addition of the back wing.  Mr. Hazen then presented the plot plan he drew with elevations.

Mrs. Joedy Cecil, Town Clerk, mentioned that she received a call from Ms. Sharon Booze.  Ms. Booze asked Mrs. Cecil to tell the Planning Commission that she is very much opposed to the demolition of the existing house because of what it represents for the town.  Mrs. Brenda Tighe, owner of Mitchum’s Market Place, spoke in opposition to the demolition.  Mrs. Tighe suggested that better financial planning could have raised the funds needed for the renovation.  She also commented that the cost of demolition and reconstruction will likely exceed the church budget anyway.  Mr. Hazen responded to Mrs. Tighe’s objections by stating that the vestry looked into all options, but that they finally came to the conclusion that the only option is to replace the house.

In response to a question from Mr. Fegel, Mr. Hazen explained the expenses associated with remodeling verses replacement and the demolition costs.  Ms. Chris Routzan asked if there would need to be any tree removal because of the crane.   Mr. Hazen said one young pine tree would need to be removed.

Mr. Adams discussed and explained the purpose of the village overlay zone and the Planning Commission’s role in reviewing projects in regards to village character and continuance of a non-conforming structure.  Mr. Harrison directed the discussion to each facade of the proposed house.  The Planning Commission agreed that the site plan and footprint are adequate.  However, following a comment by Mr. Fegel, the Planning Commission believes the north elevation of the house does not have enough windows.  The blank appearance of the north facade did not seem to fit the character of other houses in the neighborhood.  Mr. Hazen agreed that the north wall is very blank, but the issue with some members of the church was the difficulty in arranging furniture with too many windows.  Other architecture features such as a chimney, a wrap around porch, or a trellis were discussed as methods to improve the appearance of the north wall.  Mr. Adams noted that a wrap around porch would change the footprint, but that if the porch would improve the appearance of the house the Planning Commission could approve setbacks up to five feet from the side property line.

Following much discussion, Mr. Harrison asked Mr. Hazen to return to the Planning Commission at the January 2006 meeting with more complete plans.  The Planning Commission felt that more formal plans were needed with improvements to the north wall before they could approve the plans under guidelines of the Village Overlay Zone.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

December 23^rd 26^th & January 2, 2006 Town Office Closed