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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLAN COMMISSION - 12/03/2018 - Yamazen, 111 Northwest Point, Landscape Plan, 800 Dierking TerraceElk Grove Village Plan Commission Minutes December 3, 2018 Present: J. Glass S. Carlson F. Geinosky T. Thompson G. Schumm K. Weiner R. DeFrenza P. Rettberg Absent: J. Morrill Staff: M. Jablonski, Assistant Village Manager J. Polony, Deputy Director of Community Development R. Raphael, Engineering Supervisor Petitioner: T. Hammersmith, Masuda Funai J. Hansen, Yamazen, Inc. T. Kunschke, V3 Engineering M. Baumstark, Cornerstone Architects L. Dziurdkik, LA Design K. Schuhmacher, Ketone Partners Chairman Glass called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. Item 1: December 3, 2018 Approval of Minutes October 1, 2018 Commissioner Geinosky moved to approve the meeting minutes for October 1, 2018. Commissioner Weiner seconded the motion. Upon voting (Carlson, Geinosky, Glass, Rettberg, Schumm, Thompson, Weiner, AYES), the motion passed. Item 2: PC Docket # 18-6: Special Use Petition to allow warehousing and distribution of goods, products and supplies, packaging and light assembly, and variation of the Zoning Code to exceed the maximum floor area ratio of 40% for warehousing for the property located at 111 Northwest Point Boulevard. Chairman Glass read the legal notice into the record and asked the Petitioner to explain his purpose before the Plan Commission. T. Hammersmith stated the Petioner is requesting that the Plan Commission recommend approval to the Village Board for a special use permit to allow warehousing and distribution of goods, products and supplies; and packaging and light assembly. He explained that this use is expressly permitted under the Village Code with a special use permit. T. Hammersmith stated the Petitioner is also requesting the recommendation of approval of a variation for maximum percentage of the floor area used for warehousing from 40% as allowed under the Code to 45.31%. T. Hammersmith stated the site is approximately 7 acres, and is currently undeveloped. He went on to say that the property is currently zoned OP - Office Park. The O-P zoning district is adjacent to 1-1 and 1- 2 zoning and is not adjacent to any residential property. T. Hammersmith stated that Yamzen Inc, the Petitioner, is seeking to develop a new, expanded North American corporate headquarters and searched several months for an appropriate site. The property at 111 Northwest Point is the only one to meet the critical expansion needs of the company. T. Hammersmith stated the Petitioner considered many factors in searching out suitable sites, including proximity to competitors, proximity to O'Hare International Airport, proximity to different lodging classes for visiting executives, employees, and vendors, proximity to a high -quality workforce visibility, and a prestigious corporate setting. T. Hammersmith stated one significant factor is visibility for the headquarters. He stated that up and down 1-90 there are competitors in the same industry as Yamazen, and to be competitive, Yamazen needs visibility along this corridor. T. Hammersmith stated that in order to be competitive the Petitioner wants and needs to be in the front row of this prestigious corridor, with direct visibility to the highway. The 1-90 frontage of this site is what makes it unique. T. Hammersmith stated that if the special use and variations are granted, all applicable performance standards of the Village Code will be met and achieved. T. Hammersmith stated that if the Village grants the petition for special use permit and request for variation, the development will not constitute any detrimental influence to the surrounding properties, and there would not be any detrimental influence to the health and safety or general welfare of persons residing or working within the vicinity. T. Hammersmith stated that the site is complex with its size and orientation, and the variation is needed to allow for the utility of the site. T. Hammersmith stated the special use is appropriate and consistent given use of other properties in the general area. T. Hammersmith stated the relief the Petitioner is requesting is a recommendation from the Plan Commission to the Village Board for the Special Use Permit, as well as the variation to exceed the maximum floor areas used for warehousing. T. Hammersmith stated that he wanted to make the Plan Commission aware that the Petitioner currently has a Class 6B pending with the Board, which is not applicable to the special use. J. Hansen identified himself as Executive Vice President of Yamazen, Inc. J. Hansen stated he was joined by executives Mr. Scott Fernandez, Senior Vice -President, Mr. Alex Ono, Vice President and Mr. Scott Toriyumi, Yamazen's company Controller. J. Hansen stated they had come before the Plan Commission seeking approval for a special use permit allowing construction their new North American headquarters facility in what is known as 111 Northwest Point Boulevard. J. Hansen stated Yamazen is a wholly -owned subsidiary of Galveston Corporation in Japan. He went on to say Yamazen Corporation is a seventy -year -old specialized trading company that is publicly traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. J. Hansen stated annual revenue is approximately 5 billion US dollars. J. Hansen stated Yamazen, Inc. has 2,800 worldwide employees working from 53 Branch offices in Japan and 17 International subsidiary companies with 67 offices worldwide. J. Hansen stated Yamazen, Inc. is the oldest of these subsidiaries and they recently celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2017. J. Hansen stated they are currently headquartered in Schaumburg Illinois, and occupy a 53,000 square foot facility that they constructed approximately 40 years ago. J Hansen stated they are involved in the demonstration, sales and distribution of metalworking and plastic machinery, supply equipment, tooling, and automation robotics systems. J. Hansen stated they've chosen Elk Grove Village in the Northwest Point as the site for investment based upon certain priorities. J. Hansen stated their industry is widely considered to be headquartered in Chicago, more specifically on or near the stretch of Interstate 90 between O'Hare Airport and Elgin. He went on to say that there are 10 manufacturer or national distributors located and headquartered along the interstate, and many more such as Yamazen, currently located just off the interstate. J. Hansen stated Interstate Frontage was a must in their search, and that an exhaustive search was made and the Petitioner understands all the opportunities that exist in the targeted area. J. Hansen stated that during their search, they identified a 7-acre parcel in Northwest Point as a possible site and the closest site to O'Hare Airport. J. Hansen stated this was a catalyst of their exploratory meeting with Village Management and the Business Development staff. J. Hansen stated their immediate Business Friendly approach solidified the Petitioner's choice and their partnership throughout this process had proven that they had made a good decision. J. Hansen stated they proposed to construct the high image 128,000 square foot facility that will incorporate 30,000 square feet of general office. Including conference and training center, 15,000 square feet of showroom and product demonstration area, 25,000 square feet of engineering, automation and robotics systems development, as well as 8,000 square feet of automated parts distribution and 50,000 square feet of general warehouse storage. J. Hansen stated they currently employ 60 full-time employees and two part-time employees in Illinois. He went on to say that they expect to grow by 20 full-time employees within the next 5 years. J. Hansen stated they have 11 support and technical facilities outside the state of Illinois throughout the United States. J. Hansen stated they have good paying jobs with an emphasis on executive management, engineering, and automation to support their national headquarter responsibilities. J. Hansen stated many of the jobs that they plan to add over the next five years will be engineering and technical jobs to support the growth of their Automation and Robotics Center. J. Hansen stated the proposed development would not present any unusual noises or challenges to their neighbors. He explained they are not a manufacturer and do not create any loud or unusual noises. J. Hansen stated they have some warehousing functions which they will manage well so that they would not be intrusive to others. He went on to say they expect to have two to four FedEx/UPS type trucks per day and three to four semi -trucks on some days. J. Hansen stated all trucks will be loaded and offloaded inside the building and they would follow prescribed traffic routes. J. Hansen stated they are giving great care to design and appearance of the building with the goal of adding to the Park's already professional image. J. Hansen thanked the Commission for hearing them this evening and stated that they hope that the Commission will look favorably upon their application. J. Hansen stated the site has its own unique development challenges but they truly want to be a member of the community and will meet these challenges with a facility that makes the Commission proud. T. Kunschke stated he wanted to share a few aspects of the Site Plan. He stated that the proposed Yamazen parcel in the Northwest Point Office Park is a 7-acre parcel and is situated between the existing Apple vacation property on the east right side of the slide and the Sheraton Hotel Suites on the west side. T. Kunschke stated Interstate 90 is directly north of this parcel but there is a Nicor gas right-of-way between the parcel and the tollway. T. Kunschke stated the orientation of the building is a product of the parcel configuration, which sits in an east -west orientation with the front entrance facing west at the Southwest corner of the site. The warehousing functions are on the east part of the property with the truck docks in the southeast corner. T. Kunschke stated they are proposing two median cuts on Northwest Point Boulevard for access to the site. The western cut will be for the employee and visitor parking lot, and the eastern cut would be for the truck deliveries. T. Kunschke stated that the north and south parking lot adjacent to the building has a looped aisle on the ends to allow for efficient vehicle flow. He stated there would be a hundred and thirty-five parking stalls provided, with five of them being ADA accessible stalls, to be located up against the nearest entrance to the building. T. Kunschke stated there are four internal truck bays. The two on the south end are internal depressed docks, and on the north end are two side -by -side drive-in doors. T. Kunschke stated they had worked with the Fire Department to provide a fire lane access around the back of the building on the north side. The plan allows the access of the Village's 47-foot ladder truck to maneuver behind the building from either direction. T. Kunschke stated that another aspect of the Northwest Point Office Park is the pedestrian paths that are in place to serve some of the various businesses. T. Kunschke stated they will preserve the connection to the existing pedestrian path on the Apple Vacations property. T. Kunschke stated the path would extend across the frontage of the Yamazen site and then connect back up again with the existing pathway that leads to the Sheraton Hotel. T. Kunschke stated they are required to have storm water storage per ordinance. T. Kunschke stated they plan to have the stormwater management area primarily surrounding the parking lot on the north and south side and also on the west side. T. Kunschke stated there would be a much smaller stormwater management area just north of the building tucked into the northeast corner of the site. M. Baumstark, Principal with Cornerstone Architects, stated the main body of the building will have insulated precast concrete walls mainly on the east side of the property, where the warehousing and parts will be. He stated on the west side is where they will transition into office space and showroom, with all glass and rectangular piers to create a corporate image. M. Baumstark stated that the warehousing portion on the east side will also have glass higher up on the walls to carry the theme. M. Baumstark stated the space would be very airy and light, with three gray colors for the building, with one blue accent color throughout. L. Dziurdkik, Landscape Architect with LA Design, stated that one of the first things they did before they started designing was drive through the business park to look at the character of Northwest Boulevard and the landscape character of the individual buildings. L. Dziurdkik explained that he would break the site down into a couple components. First is the boundary landscaping, which is a Village requirement. L. Dziurdkik stated the boundary requirements indicate shade trees and shrub planting along the public street. L. Churchki stated that to keep in character of the Office Park, the required shrub plantings were moved from boundary area toward the building. This creates a more pastoral look and feel to be consistent with other buildings in the park. L. Dziurdkik stated that they have some continuous plantings on the south side of the building, which opened up a more pastoral look and feel. L. Churchki stated that it would be very consistent with the other properties with shade trees and asymmetrical patterns. L. Dziurdkik explained that another component is that the parking islands are planted with shade trees and under -planted with perennials and grasses. L. Dziurdkik stated the last component is the wetland stormwater management area. L. Dziurdkik stated that some of the basins will be natural in character with natural plantings on the northwest corner and the southwest corner. L. Dziurdkik went on to say that some of the shallow stormwater areas will be lawn. L. Dziurdkik stated they will also plant some beautiful specimens of cherry trees on the office fagade spaced in between columns. T. Hammersmith stated that concluded the presentation by the respective disciplines and would be entertaining any questions that the Commissioners or Staff may have. Commissioner Rettberg inquired about the purpose of the 40% floor area limit for warehousing use, and whether it had to do with how much truck traffic was generated by the site. M. Jablonski stated that the maximum floor area is one of the ways used to differentiate between types of uses zoning districts and not specifically related to traffic. Chairman Glass stated the ratio has many uses in the Zoning Ordinance, in this case it is used to define if this will be a warehouse or not. Commissioner Rettberg inquired as to why the petitioner needed an extra 5,000 square feet of warehouse space, which brings the facility up from 40% to 45.31% warehousing. T. Hammersmith stated there are two components, one is the need and the second is two areas are being combined for warehouse use --the parts center and warehouse. The 8,000 square feet that the Village designates as warehousing are comprised of the parts center and warehousing portions of the site. K. Schumacher stated that one thing to know is that the facility has internal truck docks for loading and unloading, where in a typical warehouse setting you would see loading outside the building. K. Schumacher explained that part of that additional square footage is allocated to the internal unloading of the trucks. K. Schumacher stated that the warehousing portion of the building in their view is separate from their parts center. K. Schumacher stated the parts center would be an automated parts storage and distribution area, however when combined into one number it exceeded the 40%. Chairman Glass asked if they were separate areas. K. Schumacher stated the parts and warehouse are not separate areas. Chairman Glass asked if they were all part of one footprint with no walls between them. K. Schumacher stated that was correct. Commissioner Carlson inquired about the existing pond on the premises. T. Kunschke stated there was pond currently in the site and it was a decorative pond, and not a storm water detention/retention pond. T. Kunschke stated they contacted the Army Corps of Engineers to confirm whether the pond was a wetland and received a letter exemption from the Army Corps of Engineers stating that it is not a detention or a wetland. The Petitioner intends to fill the pond, and they are proposing an underground vault to store additional water around the parking lot. Commissioner Weiner inquired about the exemption letter from the Army Corps of Engineers. Commissioner Weiner stated there was one area on page one where it says that they do not concur with the boundaries. Commissioner Weiner asked if this was because it does not apply to their jurisdiction. T. Kunschke stated he believed that was true. Commissioner Weiner stated Mary 10 Pye, Director of Community Development, specified the need for additional fire hydrants. T. Kunschke stated they had already moved the fire hydrants on the plan and that there was some argument about the spacing, whether it should be 400 feet or 300 feet apart. T. Kunschke stated they will comply with the 300 feet spacing requirement. Commissioner Weiner inquired about whether there would be signage on the building. T. Kunschke stated they do have a signage plan. T. Kunschke stated they could circulate the plan if it was not included in the package. T. Kunschke stated that there was a discussion with the staff about the signage and it does conform to Village Code. Commissioner Weiner asked if the petitioners would have to come back before the Plan Commission to have their signage approved. Chairman Glass stated they would not. Commissioner Geinosky asked how the proposed site compared to the Schaumburg site now as far as percentage of warehousing. J. Hansen stated the current breakdown is almost exactly 50/50 between office and storage. He stated that the Schaumburg building is an almost perfect Square building that is cut in half, and by comparison this proposed site would have less warehousing as a percentage of the overall facility. Commissioner Geinosky inquired about the hours of operation. J. Hansen stated normal business hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. J. Hansen explained some folks do work later than that, but the business is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Commissioner Geinosky asked if the petitioner expected any truck traffic on the weekends. J. Hansen stated no, they would never expect truck traffic on weekends. Commissioner Geinosky asked if they have had any contact at all with their neighbors at Northwest Point. He stated that when another property similar to this was discussed, there were comments about bringing in truck traffic. Commissioner Geinosky explained that truck traffic might be a concern and asked if trucks would be driving north of the building. K. Schumacher stated they had been in contact with the Northwest Point Business Park Association and had not received any questions about truck traffic. K. Schumacher stated the lane on the north side of the building is for exclusive use for the Fire Department, there will be no trucks on that lane. K. Schumacher explained that trucks that do come through for deliveries will be using a designated route by Yamazen, much like MC Machinery does. Commissioner Geinosky stated that another concern that the Association had with the prior building was the architectural design. Commissioner Geinosky asked if the Association had addressed that with the Petitioner. K. Schumacher stated there were no comments about the proposed building elevations. T. Hammersmith stated there had been dialogue with the Architectural Control Committee pursuant to the Association rules and those comments are being addressed, but he is not aware of any neighbor reaching out on this issue. Commissioner Schumm asked if the Schaumburg location was 735 East Remington Road. T. Hammersmith stated yes that was correct Commissioner Schumm stated that he noticed there was an open proceeding in Rolling Meadows for the Schaumburg location for a case in Housing Court, Exception 35 on title commitment. D. Alexander stated they talked to the title company and they were comfortable that this would not impact the operations with property at all so they've agreed to release that. Commissioner Schumm asked how they got a Housing Court Case on a vacant piece of land. D. Alexander stated that it was specific to Yamazen. Commissioner Schumm asked if they would waive it. D. Alexander stated yes. Commissioner Schumm stated the National Roofing Contractors Association is in title. Commissioner Schumm asked if they had some sort of written agreement with them. T. Hammersmith stated Yamazen is a contract purchaser purchase conditioned on entitlements such as this. Chairman Glass asked if there was a deadline in the contract purchase. T. Hammersmith stated due diligence contingency expires January 29. J. Hansen explained the seller would like for them to be satisfied sooner. Chairman Glass asked that based on that when would they start construction. T. Kunschke stated they would intend to start construction in the spring pending final approval from the Village. RECOMMENDATION Commissioner Weiner moved to recommend approval of the Special Use Petition to allow warehousing and distribution of goods, products and supplies, packaging and light assembly, and a variation of the Zoning Code to exceed the maximum floor area used for warehousing from 40% to 45.31% for property located at 111 Northwest Point Boulevard. Commissioner Carlson seconded the motion. Upon voting (Carlson, Weiner, Geinosky, Glass, Thompson, Schumm, Rettberg, DeFrenza AYES) the motion carried unanimously. Item 3: Proposed Landscape Plan for 800 Dierking Terrace Chairman Glass asked if staff had approved the proposed landscape plan for this property. M. Jablonski stated that staff had approved the plan, however when there is an industrial use adjacent to residential property, the landscape plan requires review and approval by the Plan Commission. Commissioner Geinosky asked if this was the first use for the building. R. Raphael stated that it was formerly a vacant property and the owner just built the building. Commissioner Geinosky moved to approve the proposed landscape plan for 800 Dlerking Terrace. Commissioner Rettbeg seconded the motion. Upon voting (Carlson, Weiner, Geinosky, Glass, Thompson, Schumm, Rettberg, DeFrenza AYES) the motion carried unanimously. Item 4: Adjournment Commissioner Weiner moved to adjourn the meeting and Commissioner Schumm seconded the motion. Upon voting (Carlson, Weiner, Geinosky, Glass, Thompson, Schumm, Rettberg, DeFrenza AYES) the motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 7:47 p.m. Respectfully submitted, `V 7 Maggie Jablonski Assistant Village Manager C: Chairman and Members of the Plan Commission, Mayor and Board of Trustees, Village Clerk