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City of Falcon Heights Planning Commission Minutes • June 28, 2005 PRESENT: Commissioners DeLeo, Rodich, Heideman, Ryan, Lageson, Lukermann, Mercer-Taylor, Council Liaison Lindstrom. Also present were City Attorney Joel Jamnik, City Administrator Heather Worthington and Staff Liaison Deb Jones. ABSENT: Tracy and Harris (with notice) The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. The Chair welcomed the new Commissioners. MINUTES: The minutes for May, 2005, were approved. PUBLIC HEARING: Variance Requests for 1871 Larpenteur Avenue Commissioner Ryan, Planning Commission Chair, opened the public hearing. Zoning and Planning Coordinator Jones gave a summary of the case with an on-screen presentation. A new owner seeks to restore and expand the existing structure to house a restaurant, to construct new parking lots, and to create new landscaping. A restaurant is a legal permitted use in B-1, which is the zone designation of this property. 1871 Larpenteur has been used for commercial purposes for at least half a century. The property presents unique challenges because it is extremely narrow. The present building is nonconforming with regard to side setback. • The application is for seven variances. Three of the variances recognize and formalize the existing conditions on the property, that is, the nonconformity of setback and lot width. The other four variances represent the prospective new owner's best effort to design a new restaurant that maximizes off street parking while preserving some landscaping. A community meeting was held on May 23 to present the restaurant proposal to the neighborhood and to hear residents' comments and concerns. Tom Quam, co-owner of 1867 Larpenteur (immediately east of 1871 Larpenteur) came to the podium to speak. 1867 Larpenteur is occupied by Mr. Quam's daughter, the other owner. He says that his property will feel more impact than others, and he expects a negative impact on the value due to smells, noise, business hours, parking and lighting. In his opinion the City has "bent over backward" to make the property something that it is not and plant the seeds for bigger problems later. He submitted a written statement to this effect and asked that the variance request be denied. Charles Johnson of 1718 Lindig told the Commission he thought that the purpose of redevelopment is to become more compliant with the code; this is going the other way. Parking is already an issue on Lindig. People will be turning into Lindig to park there. He is also concerned about the proposed wall along the front of the property, that it might impose a visibility problem. He is also concerned about the height of the building, which looks in the architect's concept to be taller than the 15 feet stated. n U City of Falcon Heights -Planning Commission Meeting of June 27, 2005 -Page 1 of 5