On Tuesday, the Effingham City Council is scheduled to consider petitions to rezone properties in the city and a request for a special use permit for a clinic that would provide services for children on the autism spectrum.
Council members discussed each request during a meeting held on March 19, but have yet to take action on them.
During the recent meeting, the council agreed to table voting on a rezoning petition and a request for a special use permit for Meraki Health, which is looking to establish a clinic on Blohm Avenue, east of Veterans Drive, that would provide therapy and other services, primarily for children on the autism spectrum. The property is owned by Keith and Jill Hartman, and the requests were made on behalf of the petitioner, Sarah Weiler of Meraki Health, and a contract buyer, Thaddeus Bruno.
Weiler wants the property rezoned from R-3B Two and Three Family Dwelling District to R-3D Multiple-Dwelling District, and The special use permit Meraki Health is seeking is for “offices and clinics operated by physicians, dentists or other members of the healing arts in the R-3D District.”
“We see people across the life span, including adults. However, this property would be designated to promote a program that we have in both Newton and Flora already,” Weiler said during the March 19 meeting. “We do academic enrichment, but we are not a school.”
Although the Effingham Plan Commission voted 7-0 to approve both requests, some questions and concerns were raised by residents regarding the impact the development of a clinic could have on drainage and traffic in the area. They also asked when the clinic’s hours of operation would be.
“She feels it’s a great need in the community, and this would be, in her words, a perfect place for this,” Koester said of Weiler during the council’s meeting. “The hours would be the standard day, maybe some on Saturday. The drainage questions can be addressed at the site plan level.”
“This is one of those transition areas where you have multi-family on the west side and the single-family on the east side, and there’s been a struggle of what would make either a good transition zoning or a good buffer between the two.”
Koester noted that the property Meraki Health is looking to utilize could be developed with apartments if the rezoning petition is approved. In response, city staff have recommended that a condition be placed on the special use permit for the clinic that prohibits any residential use of the property.
“And also, buffering is required by the engineer,” Koester said.
According to Weiler, Meraki Health works with two private schools in the area, and she said the creation of a new clinic in Effingham would create employment opportunities.
“We have a presence in Effingham already,” Weiler said. “We bring in revenue, and I think we’re really good for that area. We have a lot of really great things people are saying about our program.”
While he noted that it “in no way reflects on the merits” of the requests made by Meraki Health, Effingham City Commissioner Hank Stephens said during council’s meeting that he had only just received documents pertaining to the matter and asked that commissioners be given more time to review agenda items in the future.
“I really don’t like to try to act on something right after I receive a seven or eight page document without having any opportunity to review it in advance,” he said. “You really can’t listen and review it at the same time.”
The council agreed to table the matter and place it on the council’s agenda for its meeting Tuesday.
“I know there’s lots and lots of people that could benefit from that,” Effingham City Commissioner Larry Micenheimer said of the clinic Meraki Health is looking to establish.
Also on the council’s agenda for its meeting Tuesday is a request to refer a petition to rezone a property located at 909 W. St. Anthony Ave. from R-2 Single-Family Residence District to R-3B Two and Three Family Dwelling District back to the Effingham Plan Commission for further consideration. The petitioner, W Squared Properties, plans to build a duplex or a triplex there.
The plan commission voted 5-2 to recommend the denial of the rezoning petition during its meeting on March 12, but Wenthe asked council members to allow him to bring the petition back to the plan commission with some additional information.
“We weren’t aware that there was going to be any opposition until that night, so we would recommend that the council refer it back to the plan commission for additional review and consideration with new information,” Bryan Wenthe, who spoke in favor of the petition, said during the council’s meeting on March 19.
During the plan commission’s meeting, some concerned residents voiced their opposition to the rezoning petition, citing the potential impact a multi-family development in the area might have on the value of properties in the area as well as any potential drainage issues it could create or worsen. Among the concerned residents at the meeting was Brad Hibdon, who owns several properties in the area.
“I believe the highest and best use is detached single-family residential property, and the evidence of that is the other single-family residential properties that are in the neighborhood,” Hibdon told the council. “I believe that the trend is away from rental properties in the neighborhood and towards owner-occupied.”
In response to some of the concerns expressed during both the plan commission and city council meetings, Wenthe said any multi-family homes developed there would be “in keeping with the residential look” of the area. Additionally, he cited the area’s lack of homes for rent as one reason why they feel the development could be beneficial to the city.
The council’s meeting Tuesday is scheduled for 5 p.m. and will be held at Effingham City Hall.