Planning Commission
October 10, 2023
The October planning meeting was moved from Monday to Tuesday this month because of Columbus Day.
All members of the board were present for the Tuesday meeting. Daniel Whited and Jennifer Collado both new to the board were present. This was Whited’s first meeting, and Collado’s second. There were no changes to the agenda, and last month’s minutes were approved.
The first five items were consent items. Items 1-3 were bond extensions. The 15% increase applies to all three of these bonds. The final two are bond reductions. Phase 1 and 2.1 of The Fields at Oakwood are entering into their one year maintenance phase. Approved.
Item # 6 Express Oil Change/Bohler: Requests Site Plan Approval for a 2,224 square foot Express Oil Change building. The property is referenced as Robertson County Tax Map 106E, Group A, Parcel 018.00. Property is zoned C-2, General Commercial and is located at 608 Highway 76. Owner: The Koin Group, LLC/Sweets Design Builds This address is the old Rod’s Tire building. Planning Director Ceagus Clark stated that this project had to go through the board of zoning appeals first and received approval there. The staff reviewed the project and it meets the requirements. There was a small traffic analysis and it was found that the Express Oil would not affect the traffic queue on 76. It is a convenient retail space since it can be seen from the road. The business expects to see 53 cars a day. They will be tearing down the building on the north side of the property and building a new one to meet current design standards. There is a buffer in existence between the current property and the surrounding neighborhood, and it will stay. Ashley Bernaski and Kevin Eeks were there representing the designer and Express Oil. Tim Murphy asked where the tire changes would take place. Addam McCormick asked how the traffic flow would work. Bernaski answered that the traffic for the oil changes would come in from the front, and the bay could stack three cars. People generally don’t stop if there are more than two waiting for a bay. The tire changes will take place in the back building. Collado asked about parking. Eeks stated that there will be parking on both the side of the building and the back. Bernaski added that the average stay for each car is 12 minutes. Mayor Corbitt stated that the tire/automotive shop is located at the back of the property. Bernaski clarified that they only change tires and do minor automotive repairs. They do not work on engines, and do not keep cars. If a car needs a part not in stock they will ask the owner of the vehicle to return when the part is in stock. Murphy added that they need another tire shop in town. McCormick asked for a motion. Clark also added that Express Oil design is to have a bright blue roof. They changed that for the city to meet the design standards set in White House. Bernaski also said that there are over 400 of these across the US and they have been voted best oil change by JD Powers. It started as a franchise business model, but it is now corporate. They discovered that they could provide a better product being corporate, and she represents the corporation. Collado asked about tire disposal. Bernaski stated that tires are picked up 2-3 times a week and they are kept in an enclosed container and are not visible from the streets. Murphy asked where the closest one to White House is located. Bernaski says that Gallatin and Hendersonville each have one, and the newest one is in Lebanon. Approved.
Item # 7 Marlin Pointe Subdivision/Dewey Engineering: Requests Final Plat Approval for a 40-lot single family residential development. Property is referenced as Sumner County Tax Map 96, Parcel 60.02. Property is zoned R-15, Medium Density Residential. Property is located at Marlin Road. Owner: Marlin Pointe, LLC Clark started the conversation. There are no changes to this from the preliminary plan. McCormick stated that they have been working on this for a while. Clark agreed and added that this is a Safe Harbor development. The builder may be Goodall or Smith Douglas. The preliminary was passed in 2021. Dolly Peay asked if the garages would be in front. The representative for the developer was there. (I did not catch his name) He added that these lots are very narrow. Clark said it is similar to Summerlin. Approved.
Public Hearing Item # 8 Staff: Requests Recommendation to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to amend the Zoning Ordinance, Article 4, Section 4.170, regarding Residential Agricultural Uses. No one spoke for the public hearing. This is to decide whether or not to amend the ordinance to allow chickens on lots smaller than one acre. There was a study session completed with a nice turn out from the public. Clark started by giving credit to his assistant Jenna Nelms. She worked hard to find the information for the city. The options for the city are ask follows, #1)Leave the ordinance as it stands but clarify the language. #2) Amend the ordinance to allow chickens on properties with less than an acre and clarify the criteria. Collado brought up that Nashville requires a hen permit. Peay added that metro allows chickens on a tenth of an acre. Clark said it would be up to the city and the zoning. Rules could be different based on your zoning. ie- R-40, R-20, R-15, SRPUD. McCormick is concerned about noise. Peay has problems with chickens in neighborhoods with small lots. Collado believes that chickens bring rodents, rats, and disease. She is concerned that they create public health issues. Clark stated that currently, the one acre lots are really just the fringes of the city, many on Tyree Springs and having chickens is NOT automatic. They have to go in front of the board of zoning appeals. Whited added that this would not override an HOA. Clark was unsure of how city vs HOA works. City Administrator Herman said that an HOA can be more restrictive. If the city allows chickens, and HOA does not need to. It can’t go the other way though. If the city says you can have four chickens an HOA cannot allow 10. Peay would like to see the rules stay as they are. Murphy asked if they allow chickens and find it’s not working can it be changed back. City attorney Valerie Webb answered and said it can be changed back, but those with chickens would be grandfathered in. Murphy asked who will be “policing” the policy. Clark said it would be the codes department. Collado stated that this would add to law enforcement since we don’t have animal control. Murphy added that there just aren’t that many that would want chickens. Collado said that we currently have 4200 residences in White House and if 10% added chickens we would be looking at 1600-2500 chickens based on if we allowed 4-6 hens per home. That concerns her. Corbitt replied that not everyone is going to go out and get chickens, and that the city won’t get it 100% right, but they should at least put something out there. He personally doesn’t want chickens, but maybe language needs to be added about feed storage. Collado added that rats are attracted to the feed and warmth in the coop. McCormick said that Metro allows 2 chickens on a 5k sq ft lot, and 4 chickens on 5-10k sq ft. Whited added that with the property lines around here and the ordinance stating the coop has to be 10 ft off the property line, the chickens would be in the house. Clark said that they will work on the criteria. Herman asked that they type up something based on the feedback from this meeting. It was deferred.
Item # 9 Terex: Requests review regarding alternative fence height per Zoning Ordinance, Section 7.060, Exceptions to Setback Requirements. This request is for a change in fence height on Eden Way. Terex is requesting permission to build a new fence along their property. The fence sits 150ft from the road. This is zoned commercial which is why the request needs to come before the board. Michelle Boatwright, representative of Terex, came before the board to discuss the fence. They use this fence to protect equipment that belongs to their customers. The fence needs to be at least 6ft tall. They are requesting to run it along the treeline. The back of their property is too wet to park and they need more fenced in space. They will be adding gravel back there as well to help with the mud. They are parking there now. The city would like them to use a wrought iron fence and not chain link. Boatwright would prefer not to add the brick columns as it would increase their cost significantly. Clark added that the iron and brick fence is common when a fence is close to the road. This is not close to the road and iron with landscaping should be sufficient.
When asked about fence appearance and iron bars instead of brick columns, Boatwright replied that a professional fencing company was taking care of it and it will be done right. The board agreed that the black iron will need trees. Collado asked her if she had looked into the cost of landscaping yet. Boatwright stated that they had not yet specifically looked at that, but they are in the process of pricing all of it out. Peay added that the columns are nice but a big expense. Collado asked if it would be possible to see what it would look like. Clark stated that it would just need some landscaping. It sits far enough off the road that it isn’t a big issue. It has been there for 40 years. Clark added that it used to be zoned industrial. Murphy noted that they will not be doing anything ugly. Peay reiterated that it is back off the road. Clark said that the only people looking at the fence are those sitting in school traffic, and the school is looking at improvements to the drop off pick up process. Murphy asked if they could have a fence up to 8ft like the one in the photo. McCormick replied that the board could give them that option. Peay motioned to approve with the stipulation that the fence could not exceed 8 feet in height. Approved.
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