Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-21-2010PROCEEDINGS OF THE MOUNDS VIEW PLANNING COMMISSION CITY OF MOUNDS VIEW RAMSEY COUNTY, MINNESOTA Regular Meeting April 21, 2010 Mounds View City Hall 2401 Highway 10, Mounds View, MN 55112 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Chair Stevenson at 7:00 p.m. April 21, 2010. 2. Roll Call Members Present: Commissioners Cramblit, Miller, Rundle, Schiltgen, Smith and Stevenson. Absent and Excused: Commissioner Meehlhause. Also Present: Planning Associate Heidi Heller and Community Development Director Ken Roberts. Index to Minutes Page VR 2010-001; Consideration of a Variance to allow a 6 -foot fence in front of the house line on a corner lot 2 B-1 Uses Expansion Discussion 2 3. Approval of Minutes March 17, 2010 MOTION/SECOND: Commissioner Cramblit/Commissioner Miller. To approve the minutes of the March 17, 2010 regular Planning Commission meeting as slightly amended. Ayes — 6 Nays — 0 Motion canned. Mounds View Planning Commission Regular Meeting 4. Citizens Requests and Comments on Items Not on the Agenda None. 5. Planning Cases April 21, 2010 Page 2 A. VR2010-001 Consideration of a Variance to allow a 6 -foot fence in front of the house line on a corner lot at 5046 Eastwood Road. Planning Associate Heller stated the homeowner at 5046 Eastwood Road is requesting a variance to install a 6 -foot tall fence in the second front yard of his corner lot. The property is on the northeast corner of Eastwood Road and County Road H. The City Code requirement for front yard applies to two sides of the property. This means that corner lots have additional limitations. The zoning code indicates that no fence in front of the front line of a building in a residential district may exceed four feet in height. The applicant currently has a 4 -foot chain link fence in this front yard and he wants to replace it with a 6 -foot tall wood fence to provide screening from County Road H. For the City to approve a variance there needs to be demonstrated substantial hardship. In this applicant's case, the property is a smaller corner lot. The parcel is only 9,900 square feet and the city code now requires corner lots to be a minimum of 12,500. Chair Stevenson opened the public hearing at 7:08 p.m. Commissioner Schiltgen questioned how many of these variance requests does the city receive? Planning Associate Heller stated typically there is one a year. Chair Stevenson closed the public hearing at 7:12 p.m. MOTION/SECOND: Commissioner Rundle/Commissioner Cramblit. Approving a Variance to Allow for a Six-foot tall fence in the south front yard of 5046 Eastwood Road; VR2010-001 Ayes — 6 Nays — 0 Motion carried. 6. Other Planning Activity A. Expanding B-1 Zoning Uses Planning Associate Heller stated this B-1 zoning issue was discussed at the last meeting with the Planning Commission. Currently, there are only two properties zoned B-1 within Mounds View, This current issue is a result of someone coming into the City and inquiring about having a thrift Mounds View Planning Commission April 21, 2010 Regular Meeting Page 3 store in a property zoned B-1. Since then, the individual has submitted an application to the City for a B-1 zoning text amendment that the Commission will consider at their next meeting. The B-1 zoning has limitations because of the small lot size and space restrictions. She indicated there were several examples of zoning codes from other cities for the planning commission to review. She stated the commission can either address the applicant's request to add a thrift store to the B-1 District tonight or discuss adding more uses into the B-1 zoning district and amending the zoning code all at once. She also suggested adding some of these possible uses as conditional uses would give the city leverage when considering various uses as the planning commission would need to review the requests. Chair Stevenson stated in the example of B-1 zoning from New Brighton he liked the language that gave the City Council options to use their discretion and felt Mounds View could add some language similar to this to the City Code. Community Development Director Roberts stated with this language it gives the City Council some discretion. By adding this language it would assist with business changing within that zoning district. Chair Stevenson asked if there has been an issue with parking at site. Planning Associate Heller stated she has never seen a parking issue. She added the building is a neighborhood building and many people walk to the businesses.. Community Development Director Roberts stated with the text amendment being presented at the next meeting, staff also would propose amendments to address this issue the one time. Commissioner Cramblit stated he would like the City to add other uses as conditional uses. Community Development Director Roberts asked if there were uses that the commission felt strongly on leaving out of the permitted uses. Planning Associate Heller stated the example from the City of Fridley has some excluded uses such as pawn shops and second hand stores. With a thrift store possibly going in there, staff will have to watch the site carefully. Chair Stevenson suggested having the second hand store use be permitted by a conditional use. This gives the city more control of how it is handled. Planning Associate Heller stated that staff would draft an amended B-1 zoning district and bring the proposed changes before the commission at their next meeting. Mounds View Planning Commission Regular Meeting Next Planning Commission Meeting: A. May 5, 2010 B. May 19, 2010 8. Adjournment to Agenda Session April 21, 2010 Page 4 There being no further business before the Planning Commission, Chair Stevenson adjourned the meeting at 7:50 P.M. (The meeting immediately adjourned to the Agenda Session) Respectfully submitted, eniRoberts Community Development Director Transcribed by: Barbara Suciu TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc.