The Hudson Planning Commission met on Monday, October 10, 2022, at 7:30 PM in Town Hall, following an Industrial Design Subcommittee session at 6:45 PM. The Commission considered three conditional use and site plan applications, an amendment to the Commission's administrative rules, and other business. All three public hearings were continued to the December 12, 2022 meeting, while the administrative rules were adopted with amendments.
Industrial Design Subcommittee Reports (6:45 PM):
PC 2022-928 – Hudson Veterinary Hospital (5939 Darrow Road): This combined conditional use and site plan request sought 17 rear-yard parking spaces with stormwater detention. Staff noted updated landscaping and lighting plans. Commissioners questioned stormwater, lighting impact on neighbors, and the feasibility of expanding the existing side parking area instead of the rear. The applicant expressed willingness to study a side-parking alternative. The public hearing was continued to December 12, 2022.
PC 2022-929 – Self-Storage Facility (5300 Darrow Road): This conditional use request proposed five buildings (one climate-controlled with office, four drive-up units) on 7.8 acres. Key issues included: conflicts with the 500-foot residential setback (required variance), the 2003 South Route 91 Access Plan (a future road bisecting the property), riparian setbacks, wetlands, tree removal, and the adequacy of the marketing study. The applicant stated the rear buildings would be masonry and sought to shift the driveway to avoid utility poles. The public hearing was continued to December 12, 2022, with directions for the applicant to seek BZA variances for the residential setback and stream disturbance, and for staff to further study the corridor plan, access, and comprehensive plan language.
PC 2022-931 – Standard Shop Co. (5682/5698 Hudson Drive): This combined conditional use and site plan request for a self-storage and business workshop condominium complex (six buildings, 50,000 sq. ft.) on 5.6 acres. The applicant argued that the units (sold, not rented) serve as workshops and small businesses, not traditional self-storage. Conflicts included the 500-foot setback from residential uses (not applicable if self-storage is removed), a 50-foot building setback variance, oil and gas well setbacks (with plans to cap the well), landscaping, parking, and phased approval. The Commission requested the City Solicitor make a formal use determination. The public hearing was continued to December 12, 2022, with the applicant and staff to resolve the identified issues.
Other Business – Amendment to Planning Commission Administrative Rules: Staff presented a redline draft aligning rules with Charter changes and Land Development Code updates. The Commission reviewed Sections 9.02 and 9.03. Changes included updating the meeting order, clarifying notice provisions, and adding a 10-day mailing requirement for District 6 and 8 applications instead of four days. A conformed copy reflecting all agreed changes will be provided.
I'm calling to uh order the meeting of the industrial design subcommittee. This is October 10th, 2022. We have two items to consider tonight. Um Mr. Sugar, do you want to start off with uh case 22929? Yes. Yep, that'll be the South Darrow Road Storage building. Mr. Yoder. Yeah, and I'll just jump right in because we have two cases and uh we have until 7 30 to uh to discuss. So uh this is a uh storage facility and South Darrow Road, the south end of town uh near the intersection of Darrow Road and Georgetown. Um there's a large um acreage there. Um you can see the site plan here. Uh we'll have one large building in the front with an office uh in interior storage in building A, it's it's uh designated as. And then there'll be your um typical um uh storage buildings in a row uh in the rear. That'll be four additional buildings on the site. Uh the building setback about 300 feet from Darrell Road. You can see the street intersection there, the retention pond, detention basin in the front of the building, some parking. Um a pretty good shot at at what you'd see uh approaching the building uh from the entryway. This is where that office uh front office entryway would be located. Um just jumping into the staff comments here. Um everybody received a memo, um highlighting our our uh review criteria and some comments from staff. Um just noted a few items uh just overall compatibility with the surrounding uh industrial buildings in this area. Obviously, the focus would be on the front of the building, it's set back so far. Um you know, as far as the architectural design goes. Um we did we did note um maybe on the south end here I can show. Uh there's a there's a criteria about trying to break up a long long facade. Um suggested on the south side here, there's an entryway, maybe doing something to surround that entryway or a bump out or an inset, uh maybe something is surrounding it. Um something that nature like to hear from the board as well, their thoughts on that. And then the front, um you know, we do we do have a lot of clock tower features in in Hudson's um suggested maybe uh slight redesign of that, maybe something a little stouter, wider to kind of accentuate the the entryway, maybe two bays. Um maybe you kind of double this almost like m mirror it, so there's two bays. Maybe it's a squared off um something a little lower but squared off at a r as a roof. Um again, like to hear from the from the board their comments on that. And then just one one uh question of clarification. I think one of the one of the renderings suggested this these rear buildings would be of stone, but it what what do you what material was we I don't want to do them in metal sliding? Um what I'd prefer to do them in is um split-faced block, if if the city's amenable to that. Okay, all of them okay. That's that's helpful. Um that clears out. And I just add one other clarification. Um it's almost like if you look at if you look at this from a cross-section point of view, would this all be like a flat plane or would the base like bump out a little bit? Just is there some depth? There would be there would be a slight projection, yeah, for the for the brick rail lock um that that sits on top of the coat level. Yeah, okay, that's helpful. That was okay. With that, I'll turn it over to the board. Mr. Sugar, before we get started, just uh for clarification. What we're really looking at here is the con conditional use application. So it's a little more narrower than uh uh yes, yes.