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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPCAgenda_08Nov25City of Falcon Heights Planning Commission City Hall 2077 W. Larpenteur Avenue Tuesday, November 25, 2008 7:00 p.m. AGENDA A. CALL TO ORDER: 7:00 p.m. • B. ROLL CALL: Anderson Hasegawa Noble Rodich Salzberg_ Watkins Council Liaison Kuettel City Administrator Miller Staff Liaison Jones City Attorney D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: July 22, 2007 C. AGENDA 1. Reaffirm approval of the city's draft comprehensive plan prior to submission to the Metropolitan Council E. INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS F. ADJOURN If you have a disability and need accommodation in order to attend this meeting, please notify City Ha1148 hours in advance between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at 651-792-7600. We will be happy to help. • CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS 2077 W. Larpenteur Avenue Falcon Heights, MN 55113-5594 email: mailC~ci.falcon-heights.mn.us website: www.ci.falcon-heights.mn.us C` MEMORANDUM To: Members of the Planning Commission CC: Justin Miller, City Administrator; Laura Kuettel, Council Liaison From: Deb Jones, Staff Liaiso Subject: Planning Commission eeting on November 25, 2008 Date: November 21, 2008 Phone - (651) 792-7600 Fax - (651) 792-7610 The Planning Commission will meet at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 25, to reaffirm approval of the draft comprehensive plan before it is sent to the Metropolitan Council. We have been advised by our sector representative that this step is necessary even though the City Council has already given its blessing to the draft. Your attendance Tuesday is vital. A special meeting of the Commission will be called the first week in December if we are not able to muster a quorum on Tuesday, November 25, in order for us to be able to submit our plan on time. As of this morning we are down to no more than a quorum. Please see the staff report for additional information about changes that have been made in the draft since your original action. We hope you enjoy taking a look at this more polished version of the document! A few minor tweaks remain to be done, but this is essentially what we will be sending to the Metropolitan Council. The only other agenda item is approval of the July minutes, so the meeting could be very brief. On behalf of the staff, I would like to thank you all for your service to the City of Falcon Heights this past year. I look forward to seeing you Tuesday evening! ., HOME OF THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR AND THE U OF M INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER City of Falcon Heights • Planning Commission Minutes July 22, 2008 PRESENT: Commissioners Anderson, Hasegawa, Lukermann, Noble, Rodich, Watkins. Also present were Council Liaison Laura Kuettel, City Attorney Cynthia Kirchoff and staff liaison Deborah Jones. ABSENT: Commissioner Salzberg (with notice) A quorum being present, the meeting was called to order by the chair at 7:04 p.m. The minutes of the June 24, 2008, meeting were approved. PUBLIC HEARING: PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE CITY SIGN CODE Staff liaison Jones gave a brief summary of the issue and the process to date. Additional information is available on the website. A draft ordinance has been prepared in accordance with the commission s discussions in June. The commission was asked to make a recommendation to the City Council on the draft ordinance, incorporating any changes they might see fit. The ordinance includes only the portions of the sign code that are up for change at this time; the rest of the chapter still applies. Jones reviewed the provisions in the proposed ordinance. • The chair opened the public hearing. There being no one who wished to speak, the public hearing was closed. COMMISSION DISCUSSION: The chair opened the commission discussion by calling for comment from commissioners. Commissioner Lukermann asked how many signs in the city are presently non- conforming. Jones said the only one that came to mind was the roof sign for The Source, which is legally non-conforming (and not a dynamic sign). She did not know if the pylon sign for the center is non-conforming but stated that any change applied for would have to bring it into conformity with the code. Commissioner Noble said she felt the proposed 150 foot buffer would not be enough to keep glare from Falcon Heights Town Square if a dynamic sign were to be installed in the Snelling Larpenteur area outside the buffer. At her request, Jones showed slides of maps for both 150 feet and 200 feet for comparison. • Commissioner Anderson pointed out several possible "holes" in the draft ordinance that might be open to interpretation that would allow the kind of distracting elements the commission has been trying to avoid. She asked for stronger language City of Falcon Heights -Planning Commission Meeting of July 22, 2008 -Page 1 of 3 in section 8 to make the ordinance more specific and explicit and leave no doubt as to • the city's intent. The commissioners joined in a detailed discussion of the language of those provisions. Commissioner Noble asked what is served in the city by allowing dynamic signs at all. Her concern is the impact on adjacent residential areas and whether the brightness limits in the draft are realistic. The "nits" measurement unit only applies to these kinds of displays, and the numbers given are conservative compared to other cities, according Ms. Kirchoff. Additional discussion on brightness standards followed. Commissioners continued to discuss the language of the provisions and the larger question of whether an outright ban should be considered after all. Would the city be subject to challenge if we enacted an outright ban? Commissioners had previously been advised that this might be the case and Council Member Kuettel said that the Council would not want to see that happen. If the city were to allow the dynamic signs but place restrictions that eliminated most opportunities, would that meet the concerns raised so far without subjecting the city to legal challenges? After more discussion, Commissioner Lukermann proposed a motion that the commission recommend approval of the draft ordinance with the attachment of several caveats, including a call for more research into the nit limits in Section 8, • paragraph 8 and some decision on the undetermined surface area in Section 8, paragraph 2. Anderson said she would like an amendment to the motion to require more specificity in the parts of Section 8 that she brought up earlier. Commissioner Watkins pointed out that there was not yet a consensus on the 150 foot distance from residential. Commissioners once again addressed the specifics of the restrictions in Section 8 of the ordinance, selecting 150 feet for the distance from residential property and 25 for the amount of sign area that may be dynamic. Commissioners also stated that they would like to have language inserted that met Commissioner Anderson's concerns about interpretation of paragraphs 3 and 5. They also wanted more specific time limits, sunrise and sunset rather than "dawn' and "dusk," for the change of brightness and to limit the display change time to between 9:00 a.m. and noon. Anderson proposed additional language for paragraph 4 that would specify one color and brightness of light on a dark background. and, with the assistance of the city attorney, came up with language that would meet the concerns articulated by Commissioner Anderson. In view of the motion on the floor not having received a second and so many changes being introduced, Commissioner Lukermann said she would like to restate her • motion. Ms. Jones read out the changes that that had been made to the wording of the ordinance in the course of the preceding discussion. After further refinement of the wording by the Commission, Ms Lukermann accepted these changes as a friendly City of Falcon Heights -Planning Commission Meeting of July 22, 2008 -Page 2 of 3 amendment to her original motion; Watkins seconded the motion and called the question. The motion carried. INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: The Ice Cream Social is coming up next week, with fun to be had for all. Volunteers are needed, especially for the dunk tank. The event is a wonderful occasion for residents of all ages with plenty of activities and entertainment. The location is Community Park. Jones reminded commissioners of an upcoming training opportunity. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 9:08 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~L~~~ Debora ones, Staff Liaison • City of Falcon Heights -Planning Commission Meeting of July 22, 2008 -Page 3 of 3 Planning Commission 11/25/08 ITEM: Approval of 2008 Comprehensive Plan Update SUBMITTED BY: Justin Miller, City Administrator Deb Jones, Staff Liaison EXPLANATION: Falcon Heights is required to submit a new comprehensive plan to the Metropolitan Council by the end of 2008. For the past year and a half, the city council, steering committee, planning commission and staff have been working on the draft plan so that it meets the requirements set forth by the Metropolitan Council. Steps in the process have included: • Open houses to allow for public comment • Planning Commission and City Council reviews • Neighboring city reviews • Technical agency (watershed districts) reviews Earlier this year, the city council approved a draft to submit to our neighboring cites and technical agencies for their reviews. One result of this review was that the watershed district asked us to submit a more detailed water management plan, which the council • approved last month. The water resource section of the comprehensive plan has been modified to incorporate the Local Water Management Plan by reference. In addition, minor errors have been corrected. We anticipate a few more corrections of this type and replacement of the watershed district map with a higher resolution version before the plan is submitted. Although the Council has already adopted the plan for submission to the Metropolitan Council, we have been advised that approval of the P1aiuling Commission is also required at this stage. Therefore, you are asked to give a formal affirmation to the Council's approval. The attached plan is the culmination of a lengthy process. Our appreciation should go out to those who helped craft the plan, especially the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee and Planning Commission. Following Planning Commission action, the plan will be sent to the Metropolitan Council for their review. After their review, if any changes are needed, the city council will re-adopt it again in 2009. ACTION REQUESTED: Staff recommends that the Falcon Heights Planning Coirunission approve the attached 2008 Falcon Heights Comprehensive Plan for submittal to the Metropolitan Council. •