Mr. Sullivan made a motion, seconded by Ms. DeMarzo, to open the meeting to the public for cross-examination of the witnesses on this application. All members in favor among those present.
Robert Lewis, resident of 150 East Commodore Boulevard, was sworn in. He lives on the west side of the property and has lived there for about 40 years. This property has gone through many owners. As far as the current situation, he is concerned about the buffer zones on the residential side. Currently they are grinding granite. They open up their back doors and you can hear grinding all day long. They are moving big sheets of granite. They have them stacked up within reach of his property line right on the fence. Mr. Lewis asked what type of buffers are going to be provided by the parking area that is behind the building because when the cars pull in there, that will shine right towards his house. Mr. Macfarlane replied that they do have designated parking areas. They have a six foot high solid vinyl fence proposed along the property line that will stop any impact of headlight glare. That is certainly better than what is there today. Mr. Lewis asked if there will be any trees or any type of buffer at all. Mr. Macfarlane stated they do not have any buffering proposed there. Mr. Lewis said the parking is going to be really close to his house. Mr. Macfarlane stated that right now there is quite a bit of outdoor storage that occurs on the property behind the existing building and that is all going to be eliminated as part of this application if it gets approved. Mr. Lewis asked if they are they going to do anything with the buffer behind there because it looks terrible. He had to put up buffering on his side just so he does not have to look at their junk that they have back there. The whole property is full of junk. Mr. Macfarlane replied all that is being removed as part of this application. There will be no outside storage. Mr. Lewis asked if there is a reason why they came up with a 20,000 square foot building. They could not do that a little smaller. He is not even going to be using it for his own personal business. He is just going to rent these spaces out. Why does it have to be 20,000? Can he shrink the size of the building down and give more buffers to the area? That would alleviate a lot of the problems. The whole area does need to be improved, but it can be improved with a less than a 20,000 square foot building. They just pulled 20,000 square feet out of whatever maximum could fit into that property. He would like to see a smaller building and more buffers on the west side between the residents that are there. Right now it does not look like they have any trees or anything planned for behind the buildings. And there is lighting. They have the lights on the big buildings and there is no lighting plan. They just put up lights over there. There are big lights in the whole area. He would like to see more buffers, a decent lighting plan and a smaller building. Dr. Campbell stated that there is a lighting plan and the applicant agreed the lights will be shielded. Mr. Macfarlane added there is a lighting plan in the package that complies with ordinance requirements. Mr. Lewis asked if there are going to be garage doors on the back of this building. Mr. Macfarlane replied no, the overhead doors are only on the front portion. That will limit any activity towards Mr. Lewis' property. Mr. Lewis asked if it is just going to be main doors in the back. Mr. Macfarlane replied there are no doors in the back at all, so there really should not be any activity on that back portion of the site. And again, any of those outdoor storage outdoor activities that have been occurring would be eliminated by this application. Mr. Lewis asked if they have any idea about the people that are going to be renting it. Mr. Macfarlane replied no, the tenants have not been identified yet. Mr. Lewis stated this owner is an absentee owner. He has never met him. He has gone over several times to try to meet him but he is never there. How is the owner going to be able to manage the