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City of Falcon Heights • Planning Commission Minutes April 27, 2004 Chair Pamela Harris called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. There was no video recording or broadcast due to the absence of the technician. PRESENT: Commissioners DeLeo, Harris, Heideman, Maher, Ryan, Tracy, Ziebarth, Council Member Lindstrom. Also present was Staff Liaison Deb Jones. ABSENT: Lukermann (with notice), Lageson The minutes of the February 24, meeting were approved, with one correction: Commissioner DeLeo's name was accidentally omitted from the list of those present. FARMER'S M~IRKFT INTERIM USE PERMIT RENEWAL Staff Liaison Jones gave a brief introductory presentation. The Farmer's Market proved to be a terrific community asset last summer. No complaints were received, and parking proved to be adequate. The only changes from last year are the parking space numbers. The property owner, Twin Cities Cooperative Credit Union brought to the City's attention some discrepancies between the actual count and the count used last year based on an out-of--date site plan. Furthermore, their business needs have increased, largely due to their provision of parking for non-residents commuting to the University of Minnesota and to workers at the SE Corner site. Finally, TCCU proposes to • restripe the parking lot to enforce one-way traffic south to north in the lot. This would send drivers in one driveway and out the other, easing traffic congestion at the main driveway off Prior. The net loss in the north lot, where most of the Farmer's Market customers park is 5 spaces. Since the lot was never full last year, Staff expressed confident that the reduction in parking space numbers on the permit would have no effect on operation of the market. Also, the south parking lot at City Hall is available for overflow and is not included in this year's count. Commissioner Harris then opened the public meeting. The first speaker was Joan Houm, resident of Garden Avenue, who came to support the continuation of the market. She said she wanted to make sure the Commission did not hear all negative comments from the public; her family is very happy with the market. There were no other residents present to speak. Todd Barduson of TCCU came to the podium. He said the credit union wants to make the Farmers' Market as much of a success as possible and that their employees are good customers. They did observe some congestion in the parking lot with the two-way rows, not only on market days but for State Fair parking, and this is the reason for the restriping. Parking places will be lost because the striping has to allow for the existing islands, but credit union staff observed that the lot only came close to capacity during the "peak sweet corn season." He added that the Farmers' Market organization is very happy with the way things went last season and excited about coming back. Hermes Nursary, a local business, will be joining the vendors this year. TCCU is also considering incorporating a regular food drive into the market. Commissioner Ziebarth complimented TCCU for this community service. Councilmember Lindstrom said that the recent food drive's success was due in large part to the participation of TCCU. • City of Falcon Heights -Planning Commission Meeting of Apri127, 2004 -Page 1 of 1