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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-21-22 TAC MinutesPage 1 of 4 City of Carmel Technical Advisory Committee December 21, 2022 CARMEL TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Date: Wednesday, December 21, 2022 Place: Virtual meeting. Time: 9:00 a.m. (Approximate start times for each item are listed below) 9:00 a.m. Docket No. PZ-2022-00237 DP/ADLS: Carmel Medical Office Building at The Bridges The applicant seeks site plan and design approval for a new, 3-story medical office building on 9.23 acres. The site is located at the SW corner of Illinois Street and Pittman Way, south of the Market District grocery and west of the KAR office building. The future address will be 11380 Illinois Street. It is zoned PUD (The Bridges Z-550-11) and is not within any overlay district. Filed by Nathan Winslow of American Structurepoint on behalf of the owner, Cornerstone Companies. Nathan Winslow of American Structurepoint presented the project. This project will include a proposed new 3-story, nearly 18,000 sq. ft. medical office building located on 9.23 acres off of Illinois Street and Pittman Way within the Bridges PUD. Dave McCoy – City of Carmel Addressing - Mr. McCoy requested the applicant contact Nick Mishler in the Building & Code Services office with future suite numbers. David Littlejohn – City of Carmel Alternative Transportation - Comments submitted on ProjectDox regarding sidewalk connections, bike rack details, and proposed bike rack locations. Mr. Winslow inquired why Mr. Littlejohn requested two crosswalks along the north-south spine street. Mr. Littlejohn stated he felt it best to include pedestrian east-west crossing as the site already featured a vehicular east-west crossing to provide better pedestrian connectivity throughout the site. Mr. Littlejohn stated providing one of the two requested sidewalks could be a possibility but noted that typically the City likes to see crossings on all sides of an intersection to provide better pedestrian and ADA accessibility throughout a site. Mr. Winslow inquired about connecting the walkway to the path along Pittman Way by the trash enclosure. Mr. Littlejohn noted that the location was not specific but noted that a direct connection from the sidewalk on Pittman way to the sidewalk along the building would be more pedestrian friendly. Mr. Winslow inquired about the proposed connection to the north along Illinois Street due to the door intending to serve as a staff entry and wanting to discourage the public from utilizing the doorway as a front entry. Mr. Littlejohn stated the connection to the path would allow staff of the office building to better navigate the site as the path functions as the main pedestrian thoroughfare to access various surrounding sites. Page 2 of 4 City of Carmel Technical Advisory Committee December 21, 2022 Albert Radomski of American Structurepoint reiterated that the primary function of the door is to function for egress purposes only due to medical equipment emanating potential magnetic fields. Mr. Littlejohn cited that the design already featured a sidewalk around the proposed area where the aforementioned medical equipment would be located and reiterated the importance of having some sort of frontage connection as Illinois Street is the street the building fronts off of and would likely be addressed off of. Mr. Littlejohn recommended any concerns should be documented in ProjectDox to be worked out at a later time. Mr. Winslow inquired about the proposed sidewalk connection to the path along Illinois Street off of the western side of the building would not suffice. Mr. Littlejohn stated that the department typically requires front door connections to paths along the streets the buildings front and reiterated the importance of providing direct pedestrian connectivity to the streets and pedestrian facilities that the building front. Mr. Littlejohn also requested the straightening out of a crosswalk located to the southeastern portion of the site as well as realigning the meandering sidewalk connection near the proposed pond and the path along Illinois Street. Rodney Johnson – AES Indiana - Mr. Johnson inquired about the project’s service size and voltage. Jeff Shively of Cornerstone Companies stated that the applicants were still working on determining this information. Mr. Johnson inquired about the projected transformer location on the site plan. Mr. Winslow confirmed that the location noted was the current plan. Mr. Johnson stated that the location needed to be located within 10’ of pavement and 10’ away from anything combustible or doors and windows. Aliza Shalit – City of Carmel Signage - Comments submitted on ProjectDox. Mr. Radomski inquired about the sign permit review process. Ms. Shalit stated that her review comments were preliminary to the sign permit application but was important to determine the parameters of what signage is allowable on the building proposed. Ryan Hartman – TriCo Regional Sewer Utility - Mr. Hartman reminded the applicants to keep the proposed sidewalk along the northeast corner of the building is proposed over a TriCo manhole. Additionally, Mr. Hartman requested the applicants submit an MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) plan to TriCo. Mr. Hartman inquired if the building would feature any sort of kitchen facility. Mr. Winslow stated there would be a break room but no food preparation within the building. Sam Clark – Hamilton County Surveyor’s Office - Mr. Clark stated that he would complete his review by the end of the day. Mr. Clark inquired if the regional detention pond to the southwest would be affected by the proposed project. Mr. Winslow stated that the proposed project is independent of the detention basin to the southwest and confirmed that the proposed project consists of all on-site detention. Alex Jordan – City of Carmel Engineering - Comments submitted on ProjectDox. Mr. Winslow inquired about the drive entrance off of Illinois Street. Mr. Jordan inquired if the entrance was for a private road or a commercial entrance. Mr. Winslow stated that the drive would be private and Mr. Jordan stated to disregard his previous comment. Mr. Winslow inquired about the proposed pond note regarding detention requirements to be separated by a minimum of 50’ from rights-of-way. Mr. Winslow stated that the pond’s purpose was as an amenity feature and inquired if the 50’ separation still applied. Mr. Jordan stated that the intention behind the standard is that the pond is still standing water can could still pose a danger to a car that runs off of the roadway. Page 3 of 4 City of Carmel Technical Advisory Committee December 21, 2022 Angie Conn – City of Carmel Planning & Zoning - No comments. Rachel Keesling – City of Carmel Planning & Zoning - Ms. Keesling stated that Daren Mindham could not attend the present TAC meeting but did issue comments on ProjectDox. Additionally, Ryan Daugherty with Duke Energy could not attend the TAC meeting and wanted to relay that the proposed project may take further coordination with Duke Transmission as the project is near the Duke Energy existing 69kV transmission line that is located within an easement. Ms. Keesling noted that she was happy with the overall look of the building and that she would finalize her review comments on ProjectDox shortly. 9:15 a.m. Docket No. PZ-2022-00238 ADLS: Tru Hotel Carmel The applicant seeks design approval for a new, 5-story, 126 room hotel on 1.13 acres. Development plan approval was granted under Docket No. 19060018 DP and Use Variance approval was granted under 18050007 UV. The site is located at 12164 N. Meridian Street, immediately north of the Ritz Charles. It is zoned MC/Meridian Corridor and is not within any overlay district. Filed by Nathan Winslow of American Structurepoint on behalf of the owner, Dora Hotel Group. Nathan Winslow of American Structurepoint presented the project. This project will include a new 5-story, approximately 11,000 sq. ft. hotel with 126 rooms on 1.13 acres along N. Meridian Street. Alex Jordan – City of Carmel Engineering - Comments submitted on ProjectDox. Mr. Jordan stated he was not sure if the O&M (operations and maintenance) plan needed to be recorded again with the proposed project as both stormwater measures were recorded with the previous project but requested this might be required if ownership was to be transferred to ensure that the maintenance and ownership of the BMP is shared to prevent conflicts later on. Mr. Winslow stated he would relay the comment to the owner to come to a solution. Ryan Hartman – TriCo Regional Sewer Utility - Mr. Hartman inquired about food services and swimming pool facilities on site. John Hafner with Cities Edge Architects, LLC confirmed that the hotel would offer a complimentary breakfast service with a limited hot menu as well as a swimming pool amenity along with an exercise room. Mr. Hartman stated that the applicants might be required to install an exterior grease interceptor as a component to the building and stated he had not seen an MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) plan yet. Mr. Hafner stated that the applicants had no MEP plan at that time but could provide Mr. Hartman with the proposed food service equipment and a menu. David Littlejohn – City of Carmel Alternative Transportation - Comments submitted on ProjectDox regarding bike parking location, requirement for long-term bike parking for hotels, and the ADA access isle width requirements. Aliza Shalit – City of Carmel Signage - Comments submitted on ProjectDox. Dave McCoy – City of Carmel Addressing - No comments. Page 4 of 4 City of Carmel Technical Advisory Committee December 21, 2022 Sam Clark – Hamilton County Surveyor’s Office - No comments. Angie Conn – City of Carmel Planning & Zoning - No comments. Rachel Keesling – City of Carmel Planning & Zoning - Ms. Keesling stated that Daren Mindham could not attend the present TAC meeting but did issue comments on ProjectDox. Ms. Keesling stated that she needed to finalize her comments on ProjectDox. Ms. Keesling inquired about the entrance design at the proposed drop-off area and the large amount of unused space along the west side of the property. Ms. Keesling recommended adding additional parking spaces and/or additional green space. Ms. Keesling requested more consistency in the building design and noted that the front façade off of the west elevation looked rather plain and the south elevation shows the most detailing without any pedestrian access. Ms. Keesling mentioned that the north elevation looked entirely different from the south elevation and stated she felt there was a missed opportunity for a really neat architectural element as a corner feature for the building. Ms. Keesling stated she was going to challenge the applicants to bring a more unique design to the table that is less standard-Tru Hotel design. Ms. Keesling noted the inconsistency of window sizing and screening of AC units and the inconsistent masonry material along the base of the hotel and requested changes be made to elevate the façade to appear more cohesive. Mr. Hafner stated that the owner expressed interest in shifting the color palette of the building to reflect more earth tones. Ms. Keesling stated that she was able to locate various versions of Tru Hotel buildings online and requested to meet with the applicants outside of TAC.