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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPL MINUTES 04211981 Meeting Sheet 100231 IIIIII VIII VIII VIII VIII VIII III III Boy: 15 Folder: Document: PL MINUTES 04211981 CITY OF ST. ANTHONY PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES April 21, 1981 The meeting was called to order by Chairman Bjorklund at 7 :30 P.M. Present for roll call : Peterson, Bowerman, Bjorklund, Sopcinski , Enrooth, Makowske and Jones at 7 :3.2 P .M. Also present: Ron. Berg, Administrative Assistant. The following changes were made to the minutes . for- the Commission meeting held March 17th: Page 1, para. 3 : Substitute "representing the Planning Commission before the Council." for "serving in this capacity" . Page 2 , para. 1 : Substitute "requesting" for "granting" in the seventh line. para. 4 : Insert "input" after "neighborhood" in the first line. Page 3 , para. 2 : Add 'but the general. consensus of the Commission was to oppose the request" . para. 3 : Substitute "1,300" for "13 ,000" in the twelfth line. para. 5 : Add "and the general consensus was in support of • the concept" . para. 6 : Add "was received" at the end of the third line. Motion by Mr. Sopcinski and seconded. by Mr.. Enrooth to approve as amended the minutes for the Planning Commission meeting held March 17, 1981. Motion carried unanimously. Mr. Sopcinski agreed to represent .the Commission at the Council meeting to be held April 28th. At 7 : 38 P.M. , the Chairman opened the public hearing on the proposed amendment of the City Zoning Ordinance which will include massage parlors as conditionally permitted uses by reading the notice of the hearing as published in the St., Anthony Bulletin in conformance with ordinance requirements. Mr. Berg assessed the legal ramifications of denying such operations altogether and told the Commission staff and the Council had concluded the most reasonable alternative appeared to be to recognize these businesses at the same time limitations are placed on their operations. The Council had also agreed with the City Attorney that a distance restriction of 500 feet would permit these types of facilities to legally operate only in one remote corner .of the Apache Plaza property, or, as Mrs. Makowske pointed out, also in .an area next to the Dairy Queen in the St. Anthony Shopping Center, and Mr. Bergsaid he had obtained assurances from the three affected owners that they would not be interested in having a massage parlor at their location. -2- None of the dozen or so presons present sepoke either- for or against the ordinance addition and .the Chairman closed the -hearing at 7 :47 P.M. • At .first, Mr. Jones questioned whether . the first sentence of the amendment conveyed a negative rather than a positive direction regard- ing massageparlors and. suggested. dropping.'."do not" and changing "opposite" to "same" . However, he agreed with Mr. Peterson it might be more. appropriate. to. raise the .question. with the City Attorney as to whether or not the language should .be clarified. Motion by Mr. Sopcinski and seconded. by- Mr. Bowerman .to recommend Council adoption of the massage parlor amendment to the City Zoning Ordinance, as .presented, unless- a clarification of wording as suggested is considered feasible by. the City Attorney, noting there .was no opposition to the amendment expressed at the hearing; the addition of massage parlors as permitted uses under specified conditions appears to-conform to practices of sister cities in the metropolitan area and the ordinance addition has received .full consideration with public input by the City staff and Council. Before voting on the motion, an amendment. was moved by Mrs. Makowske and seconded by Mr. Jones that the distance restriction of 500 feet be raised to. 600 feet to eliminate the possibilitythat massage parlors will be requested anywhere within the Kenzie- Terrace area which is currently under redevelopment consideration. Mr. Berg said he thought the City Attorney had considered the distance restriction. and had used the 500 feet as the maximum reasonable distance and that to use more would in effect prohibit: massage , parlors , which is legally questionable. Motion to amend -carried unanimously. Voting on the amended motion: Aye: Sopcinski, Bowerman, Peterson, Jones , Bjorklund and Enrooth. Abstention: Makowske. Motion carried. At 8 :07 P.M. , the Chairman opened-..the public hearing on the platting of the Christen Addition. He read the no'tice of the hearing which, in accordance with ordinance regulations , .-had been- mailed .to 31 neighboring property owners and published in the St. Anthony Bulletin. No one present reported failure to receive the notice or objected to its content. Jim Fornell, City Manager, arrived at 8 : 15 P.M. Appearing to speak in favor of. the platting of the lots at 3501 and 3505 Silver Lake Road, in order that the interior boundaries may be redefined, were Robert Christen, who owns the single family dwelling at 3501 Silver Lake Road and the .building on Lot 2 , in which he • stores vehicles and equipment .for his garbage hauling business, and his attorney, Ed Hance, 2401 Lowry Avenue N.E. Mr. Hance told the Commission Mr. Christen's mother will retain all of Lot 1 and will " -3- give her son an easement..to. use the .private driveway between Lots 1 and 2 as well as .the use of the tuck-under garage on her own home at • 3505 Silver Lake Road.. He said this platting will, at this late date, comply ...with the directions-of- the City-Council-in 1972 that the property be ,platted when the building on Lot 2 was approved. The Attorney also requested approval. of the platting without dedica- tion. of. the seven feet- of boulevard. requested by Hennepin County when they reviewed the proposed plat. - Mr.. Bowerman .raised the question of whether the County' s- request had to be considered at all since it had not been included in. the . notice description. . The general consensus of the Commission and. Councilman George Marks, who lives at 3424 Silver Lake Road,..was that a. dangerous- precedent would be set for cutting down front yard setbacks along- that roadway without condemna- tion proceedings .andwhen there is no construction .program currently planned for Silver Lake Road. Mr. Berg discussed the preliminary plat with the Commission, con- firming that the plat would require no sideyard setback variances and that the existing non-conforming use of R-l, zoned property is now grandfathered in with the new zoning ordinance. No other resident other than Councilman Marks spoke either for or against the proposal and the .hearing was closed. at 8 :23 P.M. Motion by Mr. Jones and seconded by Mr. Enrooth to recommend Council approval of the preliminary plattingfor the Christen Addition as per the Consulting Engineers, . Inc. exhibit, Reg. No. 13057 , dated February 23 , 1981, finding. the platting will fulfill the directions • of the. City Council in - 1972 that the property be platted. However, the Commission recommends. the request from Hennepin County for a dedication -of seven feet along Silver Lake Road- not be. granted because that would result in the existing dwellings being only nineteen feet from the right-of-way and would place the property in significant non-conformance with current zoning regulations . Motion carried unanimously. Consideration was then given to the request from .Faith Methodist Church, 2708 33rd Avenue N.E. , fora variance .to the City Sign Ordinance which will permit the church to replace their existing free standing sign -with another monument type sign which will be 14 inches shorter and not quite as wide. There was no one present to speak either for or against the variance request. Motion by Mr. Jones and seconded by Mr. Peterson to approve, as requested, the variance to the Sign Ordinance which will permit the Faith Methodist Church to erect the sign presented in Exhibit A signed by the Chairman in the location requested, finding that the proposal will actually decrease the total signage for the church and will bring it in closer conformance with the type of monument type signage currently being allowed by the City. Motion .carried unanimously. . The meeting was recessed from 8 :45 P.M. to 8 :50 P.M. Motion by ..Mr.. Jones and seconded by Mr. Bjorklund to congratulate Mr. Fornell. on his career advancement with New Brighton and to thank him for the cooperation and ,aid. rendered to the Commission since he has been the City' s Manager. -4- Presenting -the goals. and. objectives :as well as the land use plan establishedto date by the Kenzie Terrace Task Force were members of • the Task Force, including .Art .Kuross, Manager of J.C. Penney in Apache; Dick Krier, planning consultant; ° resident- representatives Rosemary Franzese, Roman Hentges and .William Zawislak; .Councilmembers Marks. and Ranallo and Commission.members. Makowske. and Enrooth. The Economical Development goals had .been revised to eliminate the proposed K-Mart store because Mr.. Kuross said the Task Force had concluded .such a development mi,ght . conflict with the housing proposals for the area and was probably not economically essential because the 450 housing units should generate enough .traffic to support the retail development planned for th& northern segment of the redevelopment plan. Mary and Eugene Chulik, .3003' Rankin Road, .were present to discuss the revitalization plans and. Mr.s. Chulik had expressed some of her concerns in a .letter which had been distributed to the Commission. Although their primary. concern. was ,the. discarded K-Mart proposal, Mrs.... Chulik said she differed with the Westwood figures in that she saw the 55 year old . segment .of the population in St. Anthony as a major force for. the City and provision for this market essential .to .the success of the plan: This prompted an extensive discussion of the semantics involved in theconsideration of the "elderly and- senior" citizens, . and what ..is meant .by the reference to "wide range incomes". for which housing- is to be- provided. Mr. Krier said he believes it would. be "a fallacy to assume. elderly housing would be only subsidized housing- because many structures built for the elderly have purchase prices from .$100 ,000 to $300 ,000 per unit" . Councilman Marks pointed out .that the- housing proposed • for the western side of Kenzie Terrace has been developed .by consortium of St. Anthony and. Northeast'.Minneapolis ,churches with anticipated tenancy, by persons .in St. Anthony who .want to substitute maintenance free housing for their larger homes once their children have left home. He said the school district sees this as a .distinct advantage because this housing will be freed up for. young, growing families . Mr. Krier added thehousing contemplated will be of "quality con- struction with different .amenities developed to meet the needs of the elderly and the young professionals who will provide the market for such units" . Mrs. Makowske _complimented the Chulik' s on their interest in the plan and asked whether;.'Mrs. Chulik' s suggestion that the City liquor store be relocated and condominiums constructed on the site would be viable. The general consensus was that .such .a proposal would not be practical because of. space limitations., .traffic congestion at that corner and possibleloss of economic incentive for businessmen to locate in the retail area. The Commission- reacted to the plan specifically on a page by page basis. Referring to Page 9 of' the. Physical Appearance and Layout objectives_, . Mr. Jones suggested under A3-7 "Central Park design with perhaps ponding should be provided for the housing. segment presented in the illustrated plan" and -under A4-6 wanted "owner occupied units to be encouraged where feasible in the commercial_ sector" , and under A2-5 wanted "underground parking to be encouraged wherever possible" . • On Page 5 , under Transportation and Parking., Mrs. Makowske suggested A2-1 should be modified to "encourage a parking layout that minimizes -5- the use. of land devoted to parking" and on the same page., Mr. Sopcinski suggested A2-2 should . read "improve pedestrian access between land • uses to encourage more one stop parking" . Mr. Krier recommended the Commission only accept the goals and objectives and the land use plan at .this time and -not tie down a developer to specifics of the illustrated plan which had been presented but rather leave those options open as standards. for guidance and direction for the developers. Motion by Mr. Peterson and seconded. by Mr. Sopcinski:.to indicate to the Council that .the Planning Commission- has reviewed. the proposed goals and ..objectives. and land .use plan- developed by the. Kenzie Terrace Task Force and have given .the Task Force the benefit of their indi vidual reactions to the plan as recorded in .the minutes. It is the general consensus of. the Commission. -that these goals and objectives and the land use .plan- as presented, are .reasonable and warrant approval in principal since the Commission finds . there has been adequate consultation with the professional planners as well as with . City residents and businessmen of .the community involved .in the plan- ning process and the plan .is in .conformance with the Comprehensive Plan developed for St. Anthony. Voting on the motion: Aye: Peterson, Sopcinski , Jones, Bowerman, Enrooth and Makowske. • Abstention: . Bjorklund (:had performed as consultant for Westwood at one time) . Motion carried. No one was ..present to. discuss the. requested concept review of the proposed variance to permit an addition .to .the existing Danelski residence at 3301 Croft Drive, for an addition which would ,incorpor- ate solar heating. Mr. Berg had addressed the request in his memorandum of April 16th and answered further questions regarding the proposal. Mr. Jones left the meeting at 10 :25 P.M. Mr. Sopcinski agreed the-,addition- might be better located behind- the house because itmight be a hazard to traffic on Croft Road. Mr. Bowerman suggested the request not be considered because of insuf- ficient information which drew the approval of Mr. Peterson, Mrs. Makowske, .Chairman Bjorklund, and :Mr. Sopcinski with abstention by. Mr. Enrooth. Mrs . Makowske explained some of her concerns regarding the control the City will. have over the programming for Cable- T.V. if it becomes a joint effort with other communities . Mr. Berg was encouraged to attend the next Cable T.V. meeting to discuss these concerns with the Committee. The Metro Council Guidelines for Reviewing Local Comprehensive Plan _ Amendments were noted and Mr. Berg was thanked for his comments on the Housing Performance sections. -6- The Chairman.. was congratulated for. his. appointment to the Metropo- litan Council. Motion by Mr. Enrooth and. seconded. by Mr. Sopcinski. to. adjourn the meeting .at 10 : 30 P.M. Motion carried unanimously. ' Respectfully submitted , Helen J. Crowe • i