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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLAN COMMISSION - 09/18/2002 - STEAK N SHAKE/DEVON COMMONS REDEV Elk Grove Village Plan Commission Minutes September 18, 2002 Present: J. Glass, Chairman F. Geinosky P. Ayers E. Hauser C. Henrici J. Meyers D. Sokolowski Absent: T. Thompson D. Paliganoff Staff: P. Vadopalas,Assistant to the Village Manager M. Pye, Assistant Dir., Engineering S. Trudan, Assistant Dir., Community Development Petitioner: M. Anderson, Joseph Schudt&Associates J. Scott, Steak `n Shake J. Rellor, Steak `n Shake T. Schreiner, Land Owner Chairman Glass called the meeting to order at 8:00 p.m. Item 1: September 4, 2002 Meeting Minutes Minutes from the September 4 meeting were not available. Item 2: Steak `n Shake—Meacham, south of Biesterfield Chairman Glass announced that the Plan Commission is considering the petition of Steak `n Shake to subdivide land on Meacham Road for the purpose of constructing a restaurant with a drive-thru. Chairman Glass noted the land is zoned for this use and the Plan Commission is reviewing the site plan in accordance with the 1999 annexation agreement governing this property. M. Anderson introduced himself as the engineer for this project and discussed the revisions to the site plan made since the last meeting with the Plan Commission. The access drive on Meacham Road is shown as a right-in,right-out drive. The shared drive with Walgreen's to the north has been relocated from the northwest side of the property to the northeast side of the property to improve traffic flow and reduce traffic conflicts. M. Anderson stated the drive-thru lane is designed to provide a total of 8 stacking spaces, and the Village requires 12 stacking spaces. Steak `n Shake's restaurant business is focused on casual, waitress-served dining and typically does not generate much drive-thru traffic. Food served at the drive-thru window is served fresh, resulting in an average wait of 3 to 4 minutes. M. Anderson noted that if 8 cars were stacked in the drive-thru lane, the last car would face a 24 to 32 minute wait, in which case motorists would leave the drive thru lane and dine inside the restaurant or go elsewhere for drive-thru service. - 1 - The site includes a total of 53 parking stalls which meets Village parking requirements. M. Anderson stated that modifications are planned for the median on Meacham Road for southbound traffic to access the site via a dedicated left-turn lane. This improvement is currently under review by the Cook County Highway Department. M. Anderson described the building to be brick construction with white and black awnings. The rooftop equipment will be screened from view with a parapet wall. External lighting will be minimal, in accordance with the annexation agreement. The restaurant will be open for service 24 hours per day,seven days a week with the exceptions of Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. M. Anderson stated that the final landscape plan will conform to Village landscaping requirements. Chairman Glass asked if any Commissioners had questions. Commissioner Hauser asked who would construct and maintain the proposed shared driveway along the southern portion of the site. M. Anderson stated the entire driveway would be constructed during the construction of the Steak`n Shake site, and an agreement would be executed with the future owner of the neighboring parcel for shared maintenance. Commissioner Hauser questioned where loading space is provided on the site plan. M. Anderson stated the loading area would be the bypass lane to the rear of the restaurant. The restaurant will receive on large delivery per week and smaller trucks fro for daily produce deliveries. Commissioner Hauser questioned who would be responsible for landscape maintenance. J. Scott stated maintenance would be contracted out, but would be Steak `n Shake's responsibility. Commissioner Hauser referenced Alan Boffice's report about the requirement for 12 stacking spaces. J. Scott stated Steak `n Shake has studied this issue extensively and found the highest number of cars recorded in Steak `n Shake drive-thru lanes is seven. At a 3 or 4-minute wait per car, that would total over 21 minutes, which customers will not want to wait for. J. Scott noted the 53 parking spaces provided exceed the Village's requirement of 39 spaces. Commissioner Meyers stated that other drive-thru restaurants will ask customers to pull out of the drive-thru lane and wait if their order cannot be completed in a timely manner. He questioned where motorists would be expected to stage their car if they are asked to wait for their order. J. Scott stated Steak `n Shake does not pull cars from the drive-thru lane,but simply has each drive-thru customer wait in place for their order. Commissioner Meyers questioned what type of trash enclosure is planned for the site. M. Anderson stated the trash enclosure would be a block structure and storage shed with a roof. Commissioner Meyers noted the entrance drive narrows from 42-feet to 36-feet in width at the east end of the drive, and asked why it is tapered. J. Scott stated it was widened to 42-feet at Meacham to provide for left and right turn lanes. Commissioner Meyers asked if Meacham Road would be striped in front of the fire station to alert motorists of the station's driveway. J. Scott noted that would be a Cook County Highway Department decision. Commissioner Henrici asked how high the parking lot lights would be. J. Scott responded 27.5 feet high. Commissioner Henrici expressed his concern that the lights would impact the neighboring homeowners, and stressed the need to lower the height of the lights and to provide shields to minimize light glaring onto the neighbors' properties. Commissioner Gemosky asked if other Steak `n Shake sites have been located near residential neighborhoods. J. Reller stated their restaurant in Downers Grove was constructed closer to residential homes than the proposed Elk Grove site and no problems were experienced. None of the concerns about loitering or noise ever materialized due to Steak `n Shake's concern about maintaining a pleasant environment for its customers. Commissioner Gemosky asked what the anticipated.construction schedule would be. J. Scott stated they would begin work in March or April 2003 with a 100-day construction period. Commissioner Sokolowski questioned if motorists entering the site would have any conflicts with motorists leaving the drive-thru lanes. J. Scott stated the volume of traffic generated would not be significant. Because Steak `n Shake does not offer a"fast food"service,there will not be a car generated every 30 seconds as experienced at other fast food businesses. Commissioner Ayers stated he had no objections and no further questions. Chairman Glass read a resident's letter into the record(attached)objecting to the proposal. Chairman Glass recessed the meeting at 9:00 p.m. The meeting reconvened at 9:10 p.m. S. Trudan noted that a Plat of Resubdivision requires a public hearing and one would need to be scheduled to act on the plat. He noted that the stacking space variation would need to be considered by the Zoning Board of Appeals, which would also be able to discuss the use of the drive-thru lane as loading space. Chairman Glass stated the landscape plan would need to include a dense planting of evergreen trees to adequately screen light from the residents to the east of the property. He stated the entrance drive should not be tapered,but remain 42-wide for its entire length. The entrance drive median will need to include low shrubs as part of the landscape plan. S. Trudan stated staff would need to review photometric plans to determined light intensity on the site, and he noted more lights at less intensity would cast less glare than fewer, more intense lights. There being no further questions or comments, Chairman Glass stated a public hearing would be scheduled by the Village for Steak `n Shake at a future date. Item 3: Devon Commons Redevelopment S. Shilva, architect for the Devon Commons redevelopment attended the meeting to brief the Plan Commission on revisions to the site plan requested at the last meeting. As requested, Shilva noted the main drive aisle was widened to 32-feet. In addition, parking along Rohlwing Road was reconfigured to provide additional space for landscaping. This reconfiguration was done to offer a better screening plan from the residential properties to the west side of Rohlwing Road. Shilva noted the parking reconfiguration resulted in it final count of 61 parking space,witll,an additional 88 spaces available for valet parking. After reviewing the changes, the Plan Commission voiced no objections. Chairman Glass thanked Mr. Shilva for providing the update. - 3 - Item 4: Adjournment Commissioner Henrici moved to adjourn and Commissioner Ayers seconded the motion. Upon voting, (Glass, Geinosky,Ayers, Hauser,Henrici,Meyers, Sokolowski, AYES, Paliganoff,Thompson, Absent)the motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m. Respe ullysu ranted, Peter J. Vadop ail s Assistant to the Village Manager C: Chairman and Members of the Plan Commission, Mayor and Board of Trustees,Village Clerk,Village Manager, Assistant Village Manager, Assistant to the Village Manager, Administrative Intem, Director of Engineering/Community Development, Director of Public Works, Fire Chief, Deputy Fire Chief(2), Assistant Fire Chief,Village Attorney. - 4 -