Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutPL MINUTES 03171981 Meeting Sheet 100233 VIII VIII VIII VIII VIII VIII III II Box: 15 Folder: Document PL MINUTES 03171981 CITY OF ST. ANTHONY PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES • March 17 , 1981 The meeting was called to order by Chairman Bjorklund .at 7 :33 P.M. Present for roll call: Enrooth, Sopcinski , Bjorklund and Jones . Absent: Bowerman, Makowske and Peterson. Also present: Ron Berg, Administrative Assistant. The Chairman requested the Community Services Department be made aware of a faulty lock on the back door of the building which this evening and several other times has prevented persons from .entering the building to attend meetings in the Council Chambers. Mr. Jones agreed to represent the Commission. at the' Council 's meet- ing March 24th. It was suggested that, since Mr. Enrooth and Mrs. Makowske serve. on the Kenzie Terrace -Task Force and there are often conflicts with other City meetings , they be exempt from serving in this capacity until after the Task Force 's work is completed. Although staff has contacted Bruce Knutson of the Mr. Hobo restaurant on several occasions regarding the. light standard which is down on their property and as of that evening, it was not taken care of, the following recommendation was made: • Motion by Mr.. Enrooth and seconded by Mr. Jones to recommend staff be directed to make one more contact with Mr. Knutson, informing him he has three days to remove or repair the light standard and after that time, the City will take appropriate steps towards its removal. Motion carried unanimously. Accepted as agenda addendum under . No.. 9B was the conceptual review of Sid Johnson 's townhouse development proposal for the Hedlund PUD. Consideration of .the sign ordinance was. deferred until later in the evening. Michael and Rosemary Spielman who. own and live in one of the units of the double bungalow, 2612-14 37th Avenue N.E. on the northwest corner of 37th and Harding Street N.E. appeared for a concept review of their proposal to split their existing lot into two lots . They would retain 8,500 square feet of the existing 15 ,000 square feet for the double bungalow under the existing R-2 zoning and build a single family dwelling for their own use on the 6 ,500 square feet of property which remains under an R-1 zoning. Lot size variances of 5, 500 square feet for the corner R-2 property and 2 ,500 square feet for the R-1 property as well as a 10 foot width variance to the City Zoning Ordinance requirements will be necessary to develop the property as proposed. Mr. Spielman had offered as an alternative the addition. of another unit to the double bungalow which would require rezoning from R-2 to R-3 . -2- Mr. Spielman told of the need for more room to accommodate his growing family. He saw an advantage to the City in attaining addi- tional housing for more school children at the same time there will be an addition..to the tax rolls.. He said people in that- neighborhood don' t make full use of their deep back -yards and believed the new home would provide an. addi.tional buffer for' the homes behind him to the commercial activity across. 37th. Avenue-. His. reasons for grant- ing the variances. were echoed by his father., Don Spielman, 2225 Benjamin Street N.E. , who didn't see the "minor deviations in lot size as. serious" . When the possibility of 37th Avenue being widened was suggested, Mr. Spielman. said knowledge gained as the Hennepin County Engineer led him to: believe "37th will remain a four lane roadway" . Mr. Berg said he didn 't see the 10 foot width variance.. (from 75 feet to 65 feet) as, unreasonable,. but. was concerned with the substantial lot size variances which. will be required. Mr. Sopcinski was con- cerned with starting the precedent of radical adjustment -of lot sizes in the City without a community forum. He. said a majority of the residents bought in St. Anthony, because "they wanted a little elbow room" . He was also concerned- with building another single family dwelling- so close to American- Monarch. recalling the complaints from the homeowners in- that area -to the noise- and lighting from the plant. He said even if the. Spielman' s live in their home for ten years, as Mrs . Spielman said .they planned to do, the Commission's duty is to anticipate problems .when and if the home .is later sold. The property owner replied that he .had been happy with the expansion of the -Monarch plant since it had resulted in a cutting down of the Slighting from Apache,, railroad noises. and shut off an egress to 37th Avenue and Harding. The Chairman told Mr. Spielman he personally believes the concerns he has regarding the proposal can only be offset by documentation that the property owners along 37th Avenue N.E. and south of him are not opposed..to the increase. .in density planned for that parcel. Mr. Enrooth said he considered neighborhood very important but would rely heavily . on the responses made to the conditions. set for grant- ing variances in: .the Application. for Variance. He was concerned as to what effect the drastic reduction .of 5 ,500. square feet might have on the resale value of the R-2 property, saying "concentrating density often diminishes the economic advantages" . He also recalled the recent instance where the City had "stuck to its guns" regarding zoning requirements when property on 39th Avenue N.E. had been replatted. . The Chairman agreed-. with him that the variances involved probably represented a more extensive precedent "than we 've ever set" . Mr. Jones said he is very concerned about what density does to property values. but wondered if. the City "might not be a little unrealistic. in their standards" . The Chairman agreed "it is true that the Metropolitan Council has recently encouraged smaller lot sizes than are allowed in. St. Anthony" . He saw two methods of complying with these standards - either changing the zoning ordin- ance or circumventing that process by liberally granting significant variances. -3- Mr. Sopcinski stated his desire for a public forum on any such changes and expressed his concern that the Commission might be • contemplating "spot zoning" when they had recently spent . so much time and effort trying to correct what they perceived were zoning inconsistencies of the past. The absence . of three Commission members was pointed out to Mr. and Mrs. Spielman by Mr. Enrooth .who .told them they might be able to successfully convince the absent members that 'his proposal was justified but he believed. it would take six months of hard work to prepare a convincing case. Sid Johnson, a local developer in St. Anthony, appeared to seek the Commission' s reaction to the preliminary site plans for a 25 unit townhouse development he proposes for the undeveloped tract of land in the Hedlund. PUD if he can negotiate a favorable purchase price with the owner. In response to concerns raised about the avail--- ability of parking spaces for guests in addition to that provided in the double. garage planned for -each unit, Mr. Johnson said�_the plans could probably be refined down to .the point where parking, snow storage and refuse facilities can be provided in a manner which will bring the proposal into conformance with the PUD requirements . He said the building heights will be below PUD requirements and reported each unit will have roughly 13 ,000 square feet of finished area including the half basement. There will be a deck on the . rear of each unit, he explained. When Mr. Jones .mentioned the degree of energy efficiency which had • been attained. for recent- developments in the Phillips area of Minneapolis and wondered if there were funds available from other .sources to provide a study of how the same results could be achieved in this development, Mr. Berg said the project does not seem to meet the low to moderate income criteria set for CDBG funding, but he will research the availability of funding. from other sources. Mr. Sopcinski believed if energy efficiency is sought by buyers "the saleability of the units should be left to the ingenuity of the developer to provide what thebuyer wants" . It was hoped that if Mr. Johnson ,finally develops this problem piece of property he will be able. to. do so in such a manner that no variances to the PUD requirements will be needed. A copy of Mrs. Makowske"s, February 27th letter to the.. Council con- veying her concerns that 'the City ordinance being developed will include prohibitions against pornography for Cable T.V. as well. The Commission was told_ the. City Attorney had advised that medium was covered in the proposed obscenity ordinance. There was general agreement with the Manager 's recommendations regarding housing maintenance codes for both single family and multi- family dwellings- which he had included. in the cover memo for the housing survey recently conducted in the City. The staff was com- mended for seeking this important information from the residents. • The secretary left the meeting at 9 :10 P.M. prior to the sign ordinance consideration. -4- Mr. Berg advised the Commission- that., he .has researched another method whereby allowable signage : for .the larger buildings in the City could be increased, based. on the- right-of-way frontage and a specified foot index. He related he. will be putting together the final draft and forwarding it to the City Attorney and sign consultants for ,their comments . Motion by Mr.. Enrooth and seconded .by Mr. Jones to adjourn the meeting at 9: 25 P.M. Motion. carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Helen Crowe Secretary