More grumblings over the Grove

More grumblings over the Grove

Part 1 of a 2- part story about Marion zoning controversy

news@theeveningtimes.com

Marion Planning Commission is recommending the city approve a site plans for a proposed 67-room hotel in Angelo’s Grove, but without a median cut on Angelo’s Grove Boulevard which stirred opposition from the developers.

The commission voted 50, with Mayor Frank Fogleman abstaining since the land was being sold by his son, Franklin, to recommend that the city council approve a conceptual site plan contingent upon the developers turning in a grading and drainage plan as well, and without the cut.

“What we are approving is a plan without a median cut,” said City Planner Ed Cain. “We do contingencies all the time, and the contingency will be a final site plan that addresses drainage and grading on the site be presented for review before the building permits are issued. So I wouldn’t call this the final site plan.”

The planning commission at its May meeting had recommended the city council approve a plan for a hotel with a median cut on Angelo’s Grove despite ever seeing an actual copy of a site plan on paper.

Fogleman then sought to get the city council’s approval, but was shut down after Kenny Farrell, the developer of Angelo’s Grove, objected to the median, cut citing traffic and safety concerns and the fact that he was never notified that the planning commission was going to vote on the matter.

The city council agreed to delay a vote to June 27 in order to give Farrell time to voice his concerns to the planning commission and to present a traffic study showing the detrimental impact the median cut would have on future development at Angelo’s Grove.

Fogleman came back to the planning commission with a revised site plan which did not include the median cut “at this time.”

However, the site plan he showed the planning commission still showed a curb cut for a right turn only onto Angelo’s Grove Boulevard and the main entrance to the hotel still facing Angelo’s Grove Boulevard.

“The developers at this time would like to pull that back from their planning process and they would like to move forward with a ‘Plan B,’” Fogleman said.

“The only thing I would add is in the future if they came back and had to go back to their original plan which included a median cut on Angelo’s Grove Boulevard, it would make this site plan and any decision you make tonight void and they would have to come back to you. So they are asking approval with that condition that there is no median cut. Their understanding is that if it ever became one they would have to come back to this process.”

Cain pointed out that the main entrance was still on the west side facing Hampton Inn even though access to the hotel would be from Hannah Lane.

“Was that an oversight?”

Cain asked.

“No, sir,” Fogleman said.

“They still want the focal point and the most visible and attractive part of their building they would still like to have it face Angelo’s Grove Boulevard. It was done on purpose.”

Farrell again reiterated his concerns.

“Our concerns haven’t changed with the modification of this site plan,” Farrell said. “From a planning perspective, from our perspective as developer, from traffic convenience as well as safety, we maintain that this is a bad idea.”

Farrell said the site plans still shows the hotel facing Angelo’s Grove Boulevard with a curb cut onto that road and suspects Fogleman isn’t telling the planning commission the truth about his true intentions.

“In the fine print you see ‘at this time.’ I thought that was curious,” Farrell said.

“I’ve sold enough hotel sites to know nobody puts their porte cochere (main covered entrance) on the side of the site where you don’t have your main entry. It’s an unusual circumstance which I think clearly illustrates that the intent here is to ‘at this time’ tell me and all of you that they don’t plan to break the median. At a later time it appears obvious that that is what they intend to do. You don’t put your main entry and exit there if this isn’t where you intended to be the entry to your building.

A few months later you come and bust out the median and do exactly what you said you weren’t going to do ‘at this time.’ So I don’t think you’re being told the truth.”

Fogleman countered that Farrell’s points contained “numerous misrepresentations” and pointed out that the master plan has been changed many times.

“How many plats in this community have ever been approved that show a curb cut?” Fogleman said. “It would be zero to my knowledge. There have been many conditional approvals made on these sorts of plans. It happens all the time. The thought process about having to have a traffic plan submitted for a site plan, to the best of my knowledge zero have ever been done in Marion for any project, including anything existing in Angelo’s Grove. There has never been one submitted to this group or the city council for any reason for consideration given to where curb cuts are.”

Fogleman said the hotel owners are not asking for the median cut and would still need to come back to the city council if they decided later that they wanted one.

“That was certainly the plan that was set forth at the last city council meeting,” Fogleman said. “But this very clearly states up front that a request for approval based on the premise that there is no median cut. I don’t see how somebody can build a hotel then get a median cut on their own. It has to be something approved by the city council. It is not something they can arbitrarily come back and do.”

Planning Commission Chairman Rob Rash pointed out to Farrell that they have had many meetings to discuss changes to lot sizes and locations at Angelo’s Grove over the years.

Flood

“We’ve made a promise to you to be flexible,” Rash said. “At some point there was a Home Depot or a big box store or a movie theater. We made some adjustments along the way.”

Farrell agreed that the development plans have evolved, but that the median cut in question is not part of the master plan.

“This is a filed, recorded plat,” Farrell said. “And that curb cut is not present.

Not only was it not present and is not planned to be present by us, it wasn’t planned to be present when the people who bought the hotel site started construction to build a $7 million hotel.”

Farrell added that the planning commission has never deviated from the master plan just to accommodate one land owner to expedite a land sale.

“It is true, we have modified the plan. We do and we continue to. But it has been in conjunction with the city,” Farrell said. “That needs to be done by the team that has made the investment, coordinated with the city, and marketed the property, and not let one potential land purchaser come in and say I think this is OK. We have spent a great deal of time and other people’s brain power determining where the intersections would be, how often they occur, not just to make it possible to get through the development, but to make it attractive and convenient.”

[ In Part 2: Should a proposed hotel be approved because it is good for economic development? Or is it getting an unfair advantage by not having to follow the master plan and potentially impacting future development and traffic safety at Angelo’s Grove?]

By Mark Randall