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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPL MINUTES 05171983 Meeting Sheet k 102000 BOX: 21 Folder: PL MINUTES AND AGENDAS 1983 Document: PL MINUTES 05171983 A �3 62 -� -� CITY OF ST. ANTHONY PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES May 17, 1983 The meeting was called to order by Chair Makowske at 8 :00 P.M. Present for roll call: Zawislak, Jones, Makowske , Bjorklund, Wagner and Franzese. Absent: Bowerman. Also present : David Childs, City Manager. Typographical errors in the March 15th minutes were corrected as follows : Page 4 , para. 5: Substitute "play" for "plan" . Page 5 , para. 4 : Substitute "ratio" for "ration" . Motion by Commissioner Bjorklund. and. seconded by Commissioner Franzese to approve as corrected the minutes ..of' the Planning Commission meeting held March 15 , 1983. Motion carried unanimously. Commissioner Wagner agreed to present the minutes of the meeting to the i '.. Council at their May 24th meeting. Mr. Childs indicated he anticipated the Redevelopers Contract for the Kenzie Terrace Redevelopment. Project .would be signed during the H.R.A. meeting scheduled that same evening and that the plans for the Planned Unit Development for Phase 1 would. be completed so they could be pre- sented for consideration at a public hearing before the Commission early in June. Motion by Commissioner Bjbrklund and seconded by Chair Makowske to request the .City Manager to reschedule the public hearing which had been postponed for May 17th whenever the plans for Phase 1 of the Kenzie Terrace Redevelopment Project are completed and the Redevelopers Contract is signed. Motion carried unanimously. Commissioner Bjorklund had prepared a listing of "Parlimentary Pro- cedures at a Glance" which had been distributed for ready reference by the Commission members . The Chair acknowledged the invaluable guidance in this area which had. been. provided by the Commissioner over the years he has servedon the Commission. At 8: 08 P.M. , she opened the public hearing on the requested variance to the City Sign Ordinance which would permit additional signage for B. J. Antiques , 2530 Harding Street N.E. , than what is already allowed • in the ordinance, by reading the notice of the hearing- which had been mailed to all property owners within 350 feet of the antiques shop and -2- published May _ 5th., in the .Bulletin. No one present reported failure to receive the notice or, objected to ::its content. ' In the absence of the applicant,. Russell Underhill, 2518 Hayes Street N.E. , the Manager- explained that� Mr. Underhill was requesting he be permitted to 'attach an eight foot wide, two foot long sign to the existing "For. Lease." sign at the Kenzie Terrace entrance to the St. Anthony. Village Shopping Center,. which Max Saliterman, the sign owner had agreed to in writing. The Manager said the antique shop proprietor had told him .he believes his customers are having difficulty locating him in the center without that signage. Mr. Childs reported. that Mr. Underhill .has been advised that the staff would be recommending denial of .his request for the reasons addressed in the May 13th memorandum' .from the Public [corks Director and it would, therefore, -be to the advantage of the applicant to present his request -in person. No one appeared to speak. for or against the variance and the hearing was closed at 8: 15 P.M. for a determination by- the Commission. Motion by Commissioner. Zawis.lak and seconded by Commissioner Bjorklund to recommend the Council deny the request from Russell Underhill for a variance to..the Sign Ordinance which would permit the antique shop proprietor to attach an 8 ' X 2 ' sign to the existing non-conforming sign at the entrance to St. Anthony. Village Shopping Center finding that: (-1) The new Sign Ordinance permits the identif-ication of each tenant in the. shopping center with signage on the building itself and pro- hibits a general listing of tenants on the signage for the center, which might well be the precedent set if the request were approved. (2) None of the conditions set for granting any variance to the sign ordinance -appear to have been addressed in the application, specifi- cally, that (-a) there would appear to be -no particular hardship for this. business than would be experienced by other commercial busi- nesses in the same center if- the strict letter of the regulations are adhered to, and (b), the condition upon which the application was. based could not be considered -to- be unique to this parcel and not applicable, generally, . to .other stores in the same center . (3)_ The failure of the applicant to be present for the consideration of his request precluded any other recommendation, based on the information which had been submitted. (4) The manner' in which -the sign to which the requested signage .would be attached has been maintained would seem to justify not adding to it. Motion carried unanimously . Mr. Childs reported the Burger Chef . franchise had been sold to the parent company of Hardees and the former Burger Chef. franchisees , • Mr. - and Mrs . Ken. Johnson intend to continue to run .the restaurant at 4004 Silver Lake Road as a Hardees restaurant. They- are therefore -3- required 3-required to replace the Burger Chef :identification with that of the new . franchise which would necessitate removing the chef 's hat in the sign, • thereby shortening the sign by two feet.. The Manager said he had brought the matter to the- Commission to see if they concurred that the change could be interpreted. to. be only a copy change and would not : require a new variance for that non-conforming sign. Mr. and Mrs..: . Johnson. were present and had submitted detailed drawings of the word .changes for the sign which would now" be only approximately four and a half feet tall, not counting the pole on which it is mounted on the roof . Commissioner. Jones indicated he -lives close to,)the restaurant and per- ceives - the Johnsons have been good neighbors, because they have kept the property and the grounds up .so well. He. believed there should be no variance required because there had been no change in ownership and the only change in the -sign itself .had been ,to make it smaller. Motion by Commissioner. Jones and seconded by Commissioner Bjorklund to indicate the Planning Commission .concurs with -the City Manager that the change in signage for the new Har.dees restaurant at 4004 Silver Lake Road should be interpreted to be no more than assign copy change and should not require a new variance to. be granted because : (1) Although it has a new name , the restaurant would have the same owner and franchisee. (2) The business would .be similar. to what it had been. (3) The new sign would require less square footage than for which the original variance was granted.. (4) The owner and franchisee had no. control over the change in signage since it was required by the new- parent company. (5) The lighting of the sign. would not .be intensified and there would be no "bells or whistles". involved in the change . Motion carried unanimously. Mr . Childs then reported another business , Firestone, which is -in the same area had approached him regarding the redesigning of their existing signage but had returned to the drawing board when he had told them they could not increase the square footage without a variance. When the Chair inquired about the letter of opposition which the Com- mission had requested be sent regarding the legislation which would have set requirements for granting. variances and conditional use permits which would have been difficult to administer,. the Manager told her the legislation was changed, making the letter unnecessary . He- also reported his secretary has -set up the system of -recording all -the variances which were granted in 1981 and 1982 as well as all 1983 trans- actions . She will tackle the job .of recording all the variances granted • prior to 1981 next, which he said would be very difficult since no formal system has been followed in the past. -4- - Mr. Childs said .he hopes .to furnish the worksheets and information necessary for the Commission to establish a six year Capital Investment S Plan for the City-, . including possibly having -speakers who can instruct them on how they should - go about setting .up the program. He reiterated. that he would schedule .the . P.U.D. hearing as early in June as he can because the developers are anxious to get started during this construction season. When Commissioner Jones asked about the reference in the Council ' s April 26th minutes to. questions : raised by Craig Morris ' neighbor, Mr. Childs told him Mrs . Behan had been given some erroneous informa- tion by Mr. Morris regarding the ownership of the property on which her townhome was .built. . He had advised her that it was her property over which the beauty shop .proprietor had been driving and if he cut across her sod again she should call the police. Commissioner Zawislak said he .would: be attending the League of Minnesota Cities meeting in June as . a .representative of another municipality and he wondered if there wouldany planning issues which might warrant the attendance of other Commissioners . . Mr. Childs will . find out and let them know, he said. He then distributed copies of. an. April 22nd letter from W. H. Kelly as well as a Certificate of Survey .for Lot 2, Block 2 , -Apache Plaza on which Mr. Kelly had indicated if the lot can be . split in half, he has purchasers for one .parcel for a. chi-nese restaurant. The Manager • indicated he was only seeking Commission reaction to creating two undersize commercial lots on the vacant land between. the Firestone station and Apache Medical Center ,on Stinson Boulevard. He said the division would leave only : 75 foot frontage where -100 is required for comercial development, but .Mr. Kelly, believes the fact that his pro- perty fronts - on two streets should compensate for the non-conformance of the lot size. Commissioner B,jorklund indicated he: believes building such a restaurant within the Apache Complex would be . less of a problem because of the. parking space which is available but he doubted a restaurant could be squeezed onto- less than a 15, 000 square foot lot and still maintain the required sideyard setbacks. He .noted.-that "another restaurant along Stinson would give it the appearance of -a "strip" but was advised the City would have no control over that since restaurants are permitted uses - in Commercial Districts . . Commissioner Jones saw four. entrances *on two small lots as .too tight and indicated he believed. parking would.be. a real problem. Commissioner Zawislak'. commented that the Pizza Hut property is possibly twice the size and they still have a problem with parking. Mr. Childs will .convey their concerns to the persons who want to build the restaurant if they come in to see him. He also indicated he would • contact the Apache management to see what could be done about the old non-conforming Apache sign on the corner of 39th Avenue. and Stinson Boulevard. -5- - , When the Chair asked what would happen to all the licenses granted to Chick' s if it is true that the businessis moving out of the St. Anthony Village Shopping Center, the .Manager told her those licenses are non-refundable and non-transferable and any change .would have to be made in March. . Healso told her. it must have been an oversight that the Planning Commission. had not been notified of :the .H.R.A. meeting which had been held May 10th, .but there should be no problem with the next meeting because Mr. Wagner would be representing the Commission at the Council meeting the same night and could remain for the H.R.A. meeting as well. The Manager also indicated he believed the Council agenda could be adjusted so there would not be such a long wait before the Commission minutes are considered. Commissioner Franzese reported on the Association ,of Metropolitan Municipalities Coalition for. Sensible Land- Use seminar she had recently attended. She indicated she had found..particularly interesting the sharp contrast in philosophies about zoning evident between municipalities . As an example, the Commissioner cited Roseville where zoning is established ahead of development..and. Eagan where the Mayor has indi- cated he believes zoning before developmenttends to restrict creativity. Commissioner Franzese -also noted Eagan has set up minimal square footage for housing. Referring back to the -new record .keeping system for variances and con- ditional use permits, Commissioner Jones. said he hopes the costs of . setting up the system . anc3 prgcessing_variandes , including staff time, would be figured into the application- fees and not absorbed by the taxpayers. Commission members had been given copies of the new ordinances and the Chair pointed several errors and omissions she had not-iced which the Manager indicated would be changed. Commissioner Franzese said she had. noticed there had been a number of door to door solicitations latelyand she wondered if they had been cleared by the City. Mr. Childs told her .COACT 'had been authorized to solicit by a letter from the State Attorney's office, which takes precedence over the City regulations, but he doubted whether the others had received permission to make door to door. sales. He advised the Commissioners to call the police .if there is any doubt about persons . who come to their doors . Motion by Commissioner Jones and seconded. by Commissioner Franzese to adjourn the meeting at 9 :10 P.M.. Motion carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Helen Crowe , Secretary