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Regular Planning Commission Meeting Minutes – Wednesday, August 7, 2013 Page 2 Associate Planner Bryan Lloyd summarized the request of HIH for additional classroom space. 43 Mr. Lloyd advised that HIH was in the process of determining whether to pursue a permanent 44 expansion of the location or to find a more suitable location elsewhere; with the school 45 anticipating that decision within two (2) years. Mr. Lloyd advised that this was the reason for the 46 requested INTERIM USE for a period of three (3) years. 47 Mr. Lloyd noted that public comment fielded by staff before this meeting was detailed in Section 6 48 of the staff report; and further noted that staff was currently working with representatives of 49 Corpus Christi on potential improvements to alleviate some of the existing drainage issues in the 50 Fairview Avenue corridor (Section 6.2). 51 Written comments in opposition to the proposal were received by staff via e-mail dated 52 Wednesday, August 7, 2013, from Dolores Merrill, 1833 Eldridge Avenue W. 53 Mr. Lloyd advised that staff was recommending approval of the Interim Use for a period of three 54 (3) years, as conditioned in Section 7 of the staff report. 55 At the request of Member Stellmach, Mr. Lloyd advised that any additional impact on traffic 56 through a greater number of students had not been evaluated by staff. Mr. Lloyd opined that the 57 more significant traffic was on weekends with church services versus weekday traffic. Mr. Lloyd 58 noted that this was a small school, and that it’s further expansion should not cause a great deal 59 more traffic. 60 Member Daire, in referencing the e-mail from Dolores Merrill provided as a bench handout for 61 tonight’s meeting, questioned other concerns related to unsupervised students roaming the area, 62 and questioned if that was during playtime. 63 Mr. Lloyd responded that he was of the opinion that it was during recess; however, since he had 64 just received the e-mail this afternoon, he had not researched that in great detail. 65 City Engineer Bloom 66 Specific to the drainage issues addressed by Ms. Merrill, City Engineer Debra Bloom provided a 67 history of those issues for the overall area; steps taken to-date by the City to alleviate those 68 issues; and the mitigation and conditions that would be applied as part of this project. 69 Ms. Bloom advised that extreme rainfall events, most recently in July of 2012, caused the 70 Fairview system and stormwater pipes to be overwhelmed and create flooding under the Highway 71 36 underpass. Following that 2012 event, Ms. Bloom advised that a study was performed to 72 determine how best to bring that flooding down and reduce the volume of water through 73 infiltrations systems. Ms. Bloom advised that this involved three (3) different projects, one of 74 which was the Skillman Pond, with an easement received from the School District, with a grant 75 received for construction in 2012 of a biofiltration basin. Ms. Bloom noted that this addressed the 76 most immediate situation with a residential basement collapse in July of 2012 due to that 77 significant rainfall event. 78 Unfortunately, Ms. Bloom noted that this project and grant funding did not address the Corpus 79 Christi Church drainage issues. Ms. Bloom advised that it is standard procedure for staff to work 80 with property owners for their donation or granting of their private land to facilitate drainage 81 mitigation and for construction or installation of infiltration systems. Ms. Bloom advised that staff 82 had been meeting with representatives of the church last fall to resolve drainage issues; however, 83 due to a transition in staffing at the church, they asked staff to delay further discussions until new 84 leadership was in place. 85 As a result, Ms. Bloom advised that those meetings had resumed about 1.5 months ago, with the 86 proposal by staff for a similar basin as installed for the Skillman Pond. Ms. Bloom advised that the 87 church leadership was currently reviewing those proposals with an anticipated congregational 88 meeting in September of 2013, and she anticipated having a solution for installation by next year. 89 Ms. Bloom advised that she would probably attend their meeting; and had already met with the 90 church’s administrator and maintenance personnel. 91