HomeMy WebLinkAboutPCMinutes_12-0424.pdfCity of Falcon Heights - Planning Commission Meeting of April 24, 2012 - Page 1 of 3 City of Falcon Heights Planning Commission Minutes April 24, 2012 PRESENT: Commissioners Black, Fite, Gust afson, Noble, Wartick, Council Member Harris, Staff Liaison Jones. ABSENT : With notice, Commissioners Minns and Brown The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by the Chair, Commissioner Black, who noted that a quorum was present. The minutes fo r February, 2012, were approved by consensus. Planning Commission Discussion on Fr ont Porches (tabled from February) Staff liaison Jones presented a deta iled review of the history of this issue, which began as a request from the City Council for the Planning Commission to consider whether to amend the city code to allow the encroachment of certa in kinds and sizes of front porches into the required front setback on single-family residential lots. The pr esent code does not allow even a covered stoop. Jones was careful to emphasize that porches themselves are not illegal. They can be built behind the front setback line. It is their encroachment into the setback (or “required front yard”) that is the question. A majority of Falcon Heights homes were built at a time when these features were not in fashi on. Commissioners soon real ized that this matter was deeper and more complicated than it s eems to be on the surface because it has the potential to affect neighborhood ar chitectural styles and the visu al open space along streets in ways that might not be anticipated or wholly positive. A public hearing was held in February. Thr ee citizens attended and expressed support for allowing front porches because of thei r neighborhood value. However, Planning Commissioners were not satisfied in February with the langu age of the proposed amendment draft – in particular the wordi ng relative to side setbacks – and decided to return to workshop on the amendment, which they did in March. As a result of that workshop, new language was provided by the city attorney, and a new draft of the code amendment was presented to the Commission for consideration. (A new public hearing was not required). The new draft removes the references to the side property lines and adds a 50 square foot limit on footprint size for front porch or portico encroachments in to the front setback. The new draft maintains the requirement that porches must be open, without walls, windows or screens. Open railings are allowed. Commissioner Black emphasized that Commissioners embrace the neighborhood values expressed by the citizens who attended the hearing, but they are also concerned about moving cautiously where a change like this can have a big impact on the style and quality of a neighborhood, potentially removing open space that residents have shown they value. At this time Falcon Heights houses are set back from the street at a fairly uniform distance. Commissioner Wartick said his chief con cern is the impact on the open space and neighborhood character. He said he has given this matter a lot of thought and decided he is in favor of allowing some kind of encroachment if the size is limited. He favored the 50 square foot limit in the new draft, which he felt is a good compromise.
City of Falcon Heights - Planning Commission Meeting of April 24, 2012 - Page 2 of 3 Commissioner Gustafson said he also favors th e 50 square foot limit and added a reminder that this restriction only applies to that porti on of a porch that encr oaches into the front setback, not to the portion that is behind that setback line. Commissioner Fite said she thinks it is important to allow peop le to add covered porticos or open entries to their front doors. Ms. Jones reminded the audience that the public right of ways in resi dential districts are much wider than the paved street. The street ma y be only half the public right of way, so the private property begins as much as 15 feet or more from the curb, and that is where the 30 foot setback starts. Commissioner Black asked if th e neighborhoods with sidewalks have property lines just inside the sidewalks. Jones said yes, within a few inches to a foot. She confirmed that houses are lined up uniformly on most blocks. Black reminded residents to check with City Hall before planning a front porch. Council Member Harris said she would be conc erned that a front porch might obstruct the view from the house next door, and th at could be a negative impact. Commissioners having made all the comments th ey wished to, the Chair called for action on the amendment. Gustafson moved to recommen d the second version of the ordinance. The Commission voted to re commend; there was no dissent. Jones read the text of the amendment in entirety once again for the benefit of the audience. Information and Announcements: Jones announced that the newly refurbished tenni s court will open with a parent-child tennis tournament on May 5. Also on May 5, there will be a parking lot sale of rain barrels and compost bins at Roseville City Hall. The second annual Spring Together event will be at Curtiss Field on May 22. The event celebrates Somali culture and every one is welcome. Additional information is on the City website for this and the above events. Jones announced that the formal meeting would be followed by a workshop for the Commission to receive orientation on a possi ble ordinance to allow special events not currently allowed in the city code. Several busine sses have approached the city to find out if this would be possible. Councilmember Harris announced that the City Council meeting is tomorrow night, and everyone is invited. The auditors will be presenting the fina ncial report for 2011. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:28 p.m. to workshop Respectfully submitted, Deborah Jones, Staff Liaison
City of Falcon Heights - Planning Commission Meeting of April 24, 2012 - Page 3 of 3 Minutes of the Planni ng Commission Workshop April 24, 2012 The special events topic was introduced by Zoni ng and Planning Director Jones, liaison to the Planning Commission. The City has been ap proached by three loca l business owners who would like to have special events of the “beer tent” variety in their parking lots. These would be one-time events or possibly annual events . The “Back to the Fifties” weekend was the time requested by two of the businesses. At th is time the zoning code does not provide for such events. According to the city attorney, if a use is not specificially allowed, it is prohibited. Therefore, in order to allow the t ypes of events proposed, something would need to be added to the city code. May cities do have such an ordinance. Staff found that in all cases researched, cities require some kind of permit to hold the event. Supporting documentation required may include in surance bonds, emergency plans, traffic and parking plans, sanitation plans, health inspections a nd licensing, security and law enforcement plans and more. Fees are charged to recompense the municipality for extra city resources required to handle the event. Commissioners were offered a selection of sa mple ordinances from other cities plus informational material from city websites and actual special event permit applications showing the kinds of information requested by cities, documentation required and fees charged. Example cities were chosen to refl ect a very broad range of city size, event magnitude and the ways in which events are ha ndled. Some cities included were Plymouth, MN, Farmington Hills, MI, LaPeer , MI, Mountain Village, CO and Sacramento, CA. Events ranged from neighborhood carnivals to parades to annual “beer garden” type commercial events to large multi-day festivals attended by thousands of people. Commissioners’ most immediate concerns were for neighborhood impact, especially parking, traffic, noise and neighborhood s ecurity. All three businesses that have approached the City (Stout’s Pub, Dino’s and the Coffee Grounds) are located adjacent to re sidential areas and have limited parking on site. As discussion moved on to specifics, Commisione rs realized that they needed to figure out where to draw a line between specifics that woul d need to be addressed in an ordinance and those that could be left to the permitting process. They worked together to create a list of all aspects of special events that need to be looked at. Realizing that this matter was too big to settle in one evening, Commissi oners decided to continue at a future workshop and asked staff to create a worksheet on paper to help th em put their thoughts together. Jones offered to supply this worksheet in advance of the next meeting so Commissioners can begin to write down their ideas and concerns. The workshop adjourned at approximately 9:00 p.m.