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City of Falcon Heights Planning Commission Minutes January 23, 2007 PRESENT: Commissioners Long, Lukermann, Mercer-Taylor, Noble, Rodich, Salzberg, Watkins, City Council Liaison Kuettel. Also present was Staff Liaison Deb Jones. The meeting was called to order by acting chair, Commissioner Barbara Lukermann at 7:05 p.m. Commissioner Lukermann welcomed the new commissioners and the viewing audience and asked each commissioner to introduce herself or himself. Commissioners gave brief introductory statements on their backgrounds. The minutes of the November 23, 2006 meeting were approved. Election of Commission Chair for 2007 Commissioner Rich Rodich was elected Chair of the Commission for 2007. INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: Staff Liaison Jones announced upcoming training opportunities for new (and continuing) Commissioners. Classes are offered by Government Training Service in the spring. GTS courses are highly recommended. The City will subsidize training for commissioners who • have not already gone through a training. An alternative is to arrange for a customized training for Falcon Heights. Two years ago GTS gave a special half-day training for Falcon Heights on variances, and it was very well-received. Commissioners expressed an interest in arranging a customized training session especially for the Falcon Heights planning commission. Ms. Jones said she will contact them and find out what would be possible, with perhaps some time spent on this next month. Commissioners expressed interest in including the following topics: planning process, conditional use permits, variances, large institutional landholders. In response to a question from Ms. Lukermann, Jones said that there is a steering committee working on the new comprehensive plan. The planning commission's role is very formal: to hold a public hearing and make a formal recommendation to the Council. The steering committee's role is to gather input from the public and formulate the vision for future planning in the City. There will be some overlap: Commissioner Long is a member of the steering committee and Commissioner Mercer-Taylor attended their workshop in December. In response to a question from Ms. Mercer-Taylor, Jones said that the steering committee will be holding neighborhood meetings to gather input from residents. Letters will be going out soon to the whole community. Anyone is welcome to go to any of the meetings. Information will also be on the City website. Ms. Lukermann asked if there is a timetable for a draft. Mr. Long said next fall or early winter is about the expected time. Jones added that consultants have been hired to write the technical sections (transportation, stormwater, etc.) and this matches their timetable. SEH is the consultant firm. • Copies of the new zonin code were distributed to commissioners with a co of the current g ~ pY comprehensive plan. The Council is scheduled to vote on the new code tomorrow evening; City of Falcon Heights -Planning Commission Meeting of January 23, 2007 -Page 1 of 2