HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-02-1998 Planning Commission MinutesThe Planning & Zoning Commission of the City of Fairhope met Monday, March 2, 1998
at S:OOPM at the City Administration Building, 161 N. Section Street in the Council
Chambers.
Present: Chairman Larry Green; members James P. Nix, Debbie Quinn, Dick Charles,
Thad Ingram, Cecil Pitman, Tim Kant
The minutes of the February 2, 1998 meeting were duly approved as written on motion
by Dick Charles, seconded by Debbie Quinn and unanimously carried.
On the agenda for tonight was an informal plan review of Willow Pond property located
on the corner of Bishop Rd and Gayfer Avenue Extension. This first came before the
commission November 1993 as a Site Plan Review. At that time there were concerns
voiced about the drainage in that area, that there are already problems there now and
they were told that plans should reflect drainage to the north when plans brought back.
There was no one present to represent this application. In view of Bob's absence due
to illness and lack of anyone present to discuss this it was moved by Dick Charles to
carry this over for a month, Debbie Quinn seconded motion and it carried unanimously.
Ack Moore was present tonight by invitation of Larry Green to discuss stormwater
management problems. Larry said since we have had a lot of rain in the last 6 months
he took the liberty of inviting Ack to come and discuss this with us. Ack showed the
commission a chart showing the 10 year, 25 year and 50 year rainfall intensity
coefficients for residential development. The curves on the chart are based on
National Weather Bureau rainfall records and the length of time and speed in which the
stormwater travels from the farthest point to the drainage culvert. For the purposes of
the illustration using 5 minutes as time of concentration the chart shows a rainfall
intensity of 9.2 inches per hour. Using the formula for peak stormwater runoff, the peak
runoff rate calculates to be 14.52 cubic feet per second. Each project stormwater
runoff is calculated using the various elements of ground cover, land slope and size of
the drainage area to measure the speed with which the storm water travels from the
farthest point to the drainage culvert. Discussion followed on this with Ack pointing out
that over the years we have gone from a two year storm frequency to a five year storm
frequency and now we're at the 10 year storm frequency. The different regulations
were discussed for the county, state, city, etc. It was pointed out that we allow the
engineer to design what is needed for each development and supposedly the end
effect is no more runoff after development than before. But over the years without
holding ponds what has been developed upstream eventually overloads the
stormdrains of subdivisions built downstream. Tim asked what other people are doing
and was told that overall holding ponds are what are being designed in other areas. It
was pointed out that even though homeowner's associations say homeowners are
responsible for these ponds they are hardly ever maintained properly and hardly are
ever charged dues to maintain. Further discussion led to a motion being made by
James P. Nix to look at and revise current regulations to require 25 year storm
frequency developments for action at the next meeting and further to include requiring
regulations be included in homeowners covenants that would require maintenance of
holding ponds. Cecil Pitman seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
There being no further business, meeting was duly adjourned.