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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes "Draft" September 21, 2004 Page 9 1 Commissioner Young asked Mr. Bowen to address public education on prairie landscaping. She 2 stated that the City should be aware of this issue. She asked how she could tell a weed from an 3 acceptable plant and asked if these are the type of plantings that would be seen in a ditch. 4 5 Mr. Bowen explained that there are issues with site.lines and acknowledged the safety issues 6 with respect to height. He stated that there is a list of state noxious plants that cannot be included 7 in plantings. He stated that the lists are available for review from both the County and State. He 8 stated that determining what is and is not right is reviewed at a subjective level and provided the 9 Commission with several examples for comparison. 10 11 Mr. Jordan asked how he would control his plantings from getting out of place and is that an 12 issue with the neighbors. Mr. Bowen stated that it is not an issue noting that their plants could 13 come into his prairie and his into their turf. He noted that prairie plantings couldn't survive in 14 turn noting that turf could invade the prairie plantings and becomes a weed. He stated that he 15 reviewed Mr. Jordan's area noting that it actually is not a very good site for prairie plantings. He 16 reviewed the location with the Commission noting that it is a shady,woodland site. He stated it 17 had a great bloom of wild flowers through the summer noting that it is a mix of woods and 18 prairie,which is similar to what the area of St. Anthony was prior to settlement. He stated that 19 they try to match the native materials to the site noting that if it is a good match they prosper and 20 do save a lot of water. He reviewed maintenance with the Commission stating that controlled 21 burns are being done all the time now in municipalities and explained that they are done safely 22 and in compliance with all permits. He stated that this has been a thirty-year evolution adding 23 that the best example for education is if the City included a garden planting within the parks. He 24 stated that it is an important alliance for the City to evaluate and determine the good points. He 25 stated that the current weed ordinance does discourage native plantings adding that in his opinion 26 it is to the disadvantage for the City. 27 28 Commissioner Jensen stated that he sees this meeting as one of the first steps towards achieving a 29 potential change. He noted that the Commission alone could not make this big of a zoning 30 ordinance change adding that a referendum with the City is required that would include all 31 affected parties. He stated that many could see this as a potential to allow someone to have a 32 weed patch versus a prairie planting. He stated that this process could take time. 33 34 Mr. Jordan expressed his appreciation for Mr. Bowen's offer to be involved in the process. He 35 stated that Mr. Bowen has also worked with other municipalities with respect to ordinance 36 changes. He stated that he would be comfortable, as a property owner in St. Anthony,having the 37 Commission make a proposed ordinance change rather than putting it out to everyone in the City. 38 He stated that he trusts his elected representatives. Chair Stromgren clarified that this 39 Commission is appointed not elected. 40 41 Commissioner Tillman noted that her neighbor has a very extensive garden in the backyard 42 noting that when they talk about the split she is not clear how they would define the split. Mr. 43 Bowen agreed noting that this is a problem with the vagueness of the ordinance. He stated that 44 technically it is easy to determine what is a weed and what is not with a great degree of accuracy 45 and reviewed with the Commission.