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HomeMy WebLinkAbout102720 PC MinutesCity of Falcon Heights City Hall 2077 Larpenteur Avenue West Minutes Planning Commission Meeting Tuesday, October 27, 2020 7:00 PM A. CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order by Chair Larkin at 7:00 PM. B. ROLL CALL: Present: Larkin, Williams, Gerich, Wilson, Phillips Absent: Kotelnicki Present Staff Liaison: Ryan Krzos from WSB Present Liaison: Council Liaison Gustafson C. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: September 22, 2020 The minutes were approved by roll call, 5-0 D. PUBLIC HEARING 1. Amendment to Chapters 54 and 113 regarding residential edible landscaping Following Staff Liaison Ryan Krzos’ description of the proposed residential edible landscaping amendment (see Request For Planning Commission Action document), questions and a discussion between commission members took place. Commissioner Wilson mentioned that the Parks and Recreation Commission are looking at adding nine more plots to their community gardens at Community Park. Chair Larkin said as well that, similar to the recent native plant code, anything that applies to R1 and R2 residential, also applies to R3 and R4. Chair Larkin opened up the public meeting. Several Public Members were in attendance and one came forward as well as one other offered their appreciation that front yard vegetable gardens were allowed in the amendment to Chapters 54 and 113. Also, it was brought up that approximately 330 comments by residents, mostly positive, regarding the edible gardens, had been received by the City, by residents commenting largely on the website. Chair Larkin closed the public meeting. Larkin then requested comments from each Commission member, one at a time. All were in approval of the amendment. A brief discussion then took place between commission members regarding retail sales of produce from the edible vegetable gardens (and naive plants) on the home owner's property. With a motion, a second and a vote, the Planning Commission unanimously approved recommending the ordinance, as it is written, to the City Council for their approval. E. INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. Vacant properties update Chair Larkin described the draft Vacant Properties Ordinance from the sub-committee of Chair Larkin, Tom Williams and Scott Phillips. During the introduction, Chair Larkin referred to a 10-point recommendation from a City of Chicago report on Vacant Properties Registration Ordinances, and that the subcommittee addressed each of them in the draft. Chair Larkin said that the Vacant Properties Ordinance of the City of Hopkins, MN was used as the templet for the Falcon Heights draft, which included: fees, monitoring of vacancy using garbage collection and water usage, and installation of an excessive gas flow valve. The fact that Falcon Heights is not associated with the Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), at this time, those portions of the City of Hopkins ordinance were removed. Following Larkin’s description of the proposed vacant property ordinance, a brief discussion between commission members took place. After the discussion, Chair Larkin said that the committee would likely be discussing the topic in greater detail during future meetings. Larkin recommended that the Lawyer representing the City of Falcon Heights and Staff members review the Vacant Property Registration form and draft ordinance, and recommend any changes or additions to these documents for the next Planning Commission meeting. Dino’s Drive-Through Staff Liaison Ryan Krzos said that the City, as of the time of the Planning Commission meeting, had not received a full submittal, or any other requests regarding the Dino’s drive-through window. Liaison Krzos mentioned that he believes Dino’s is now considering a Pick-Up window, which does not include a speaker or sound system, instead of a drive-through window. However, at this time, conversations to finalize the process had not yet taken place between the City and Dino’s. Liaison Krzos indicated that there would still be a code amendment necessary. Following Liaison Krzos’ comments, a discussion of Dino’s drive-through request took place between commission members. The Planning Commission will address any new proposals brought by Dino’s in future meetings. November and December Planning Commission Meetings Chair Larkin mentioned that because of the conflict with meetings and holidays in November and December (Thanksgiving and Christmas), the Commission would be best to be flexible in planning those meetings. However, Larkin recommended that the Commission not meet on December 22nd because of how close it is to the Christmas holiday. F. ADJOURN Adjourned by Chair Larkin at 7:55 PM.