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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPL MINUTES 10152002 Meeting Sheet IIIIIIVIIIVIIIVIIIVIIIVIIIIIIIIIII 105530 Box: 34 Folder: PL MINUTES AND AGENDAS 2002 Document: PL MINUTES 10152002 t 1 1 CITY OF ST. ANTHONY PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING 4 5 October 15, 2002 6 7:00 p.m. 7 8 9 I. CALL TO ORDER 10 Chair Melsha called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. 11 12 II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. 13 Chair Melsha invited the Council and the audience to join in the Pledge of Allegiance. 14 15 III. ROLL CALL. 16 Commissioners present: Chair Melsha; Commissioners, Hanson, Hoska, Steeves, and 17 Tillman. 18 Absent: Vice Chair Stille and Commissioner Thomas. 19 Also present: Assistant City Manager Susan Hall. 20 21 IV. PUBLIC INPUT. 22 Hearing no comments, Chair Melsha moved forward with the agenda. 23 V. APPROVAL OF AGENDA. Motion by Commissioner Hanson, second by Commissioner Hoska, to approve the meeting agenda as presented. 27 28 Motion carried unanimously. 29 30 VI. MEETING MINUTES. 31 6.1 Review/Approval of the Planning Commission meeting minutes of August 20, 2002. 32 Motion by Commissioner Hanson, second by Chair Melsha, to approve the Planning 33 Commission meeting minutes of August 20, 2002. 34 35 Motion carried unanimously. 36 37 VII. COMMUNICATION WITH CITY COUNCIL. 38 7.1 Designate a Planning Commission member to the City Council regular meeting of 39 October 22, 2002. 40 Chair Melsha indicated that Commissioner Steeves was available to attend the next City 41 Council meeting on October 22, 2002. 42 43 VIII. PUBLIC HEARINGS. 44 8.1 Business Data Record Services/Belair Excavating, 3015 37'Avenue NE: (1) a building 45 height variance of 9 feet, and (2) a side ward variance of 35 feet. 46 qPChair Melsha opened the public hearing at 7:05 p.m. 49 Susan Hall stated that Business Data Record Services has submitted demolition and r ' Planning Commission Meeting Minutes October 15, 2002 Page 2 expansion plans for 3015 37' Avenue Northeast. The final submitted site plan shows 2 demolition of four existing buildings and construction of a new 40,000 square feet 3 building. Notification has been sent to the property owners within 350 feet of the 4 proposed development. Mr. Murlowski of Belair Excavating is representing Business 5 Data Record Services for two variance requests: 1) A building height variance of 9 feet 6 for a proposed 44 feet building height; and 2) A side yard variance request of 35 feet 7 (along Macalester Drive) for a proposed 5 feet side yard adjacent to a street. 8 9 Ms. Hall advised that Mr. Murlowski met with the Planning Commission on August 20 10 for a concept review of preliminary site plans. The applicants are now submitting their 11 final plans and are asking for two variances. First, a variance for building height of 44 12 feet is proposed. According to City ordinance, maximum building height in a Light 13 Industrial zoning district is 35 feet, which makes this a variance request of 9 feet. 14 15 Ms. Hall indicated Fire Chief Joel Hewitt has reviewed the proposed plans and stated the 16 height will be all right because of the mutual aid agreement. A good example of what this 17 height will look like is at another nearby Business Data Record Services site at 200 Old 18 Highway 8 in New Brighton. That building stands 42 feet in height. The second 19 variance request is for the side yard setback. The side yard is considered Macalester 20 Drive. The applicants are requesting a side yard setback of 5 feet. City ordinance states a 21 side yard adjacent to a street must be at least 40 feet, which makes this a variance request of 35 feet. Although the proposed side yard setback won't make the building stick out any more than the existing building, it would be on the curb line. Public Works Director 24 Jay Hartman has reviewed the existing an proposed setbacks and said for snow removal 25 there will still be plenty of room in the right-of-way to stock pile snow. Still, he noted, 26 this is a substantial variance request. 27 28 Ms. Hall explained that per the applicants, the existing side yard setback at Macalester 29 Drive is 5 feet at the south building and 30 feet at the north building. The existing front 30 yard setback at 37`h (County Road D) is 20 feet, the existing side yard at the Xcel 31 substation varies from 2 feet to 0 feet. Finally, the existing rear yard setback at the 32 railroad varies from 3 feet to 1 foot, 6 inches. The property and easement lines are 50 feet 33 from the railroad centerline. 34 35 Ms. Hall stated the city engineer reviewed and approved the drainage plans. The runoff 36 from the site will go to a new water retention pond shown on the site plan. 37 38 Ms. Hall noted that parking is adequate at the site, per City ordinance, because this is a 39 warehousing facility which requires the facility must have at least one space per 40 employee on the largest shift plus one parking space per company vehicle. There are 40 41 parking stalls shown on the site plan, which will be enough spots for employees per Mr. 42 Murlowski. 43 Mr. Murlowski, the applicant,reviewed his request with the Commission. He stated his 16 organization has done several improvements to this site in the past. Mr. Murlowski 46 distributed pictures of a building that is similar to what he is proposing for the Business 47 Dad Record Service Expansion. He then introduced Jim White as the project architect. r Planning Commission Meeting Minutes October 15, 2002 Page 3 2 Jim White reviewed the bounds of the site and noted Macalaster Drive was a dead end. 3 He stated this development would upgrade the safety on this site and update the 4 appearance of the exterior. He noted the two variances were for a side yard setback of 5 5 feet when a 40-yard setback is the City requirement along with a building height variance 6 to allow for a 44-foot building when the City ordinance requires 35 feet. 7 8 Chair Melsha asked if there are ways to avoid the five-foot side yard setback. Mr. White 9 indicated turning radiuses and parking would be jeopardized if not allowed to be planned 10 as proposed. 11 12 Mr. White summarized the reasons why he feels this project will benefit the City of St. 13 Anthony as being an update in safety features, the reduction in traffic along Macalaster 14 Drive, update in exterior appearance with the new building, and demolition of existing 15 buildings. 16 17 Commissioner Hanson asked if the side yard setback is not granted how much space 18 would be lost. Mr. White stated approximately 7,000 square feet of space would be lost. 19 20 21 Chair Melsha questioned if this building would move forward if the side setback was not approved. Mr. Murlowski noted nothing would be done right away if the side yard setback was not granted since a much smaller scale building would be proposed for this 24 site in this location. 25 26 Commissioner Steeves questioned why the height variance was needed. Mr. White stated 27 the volume of storage needed for this facility requires the proposed size for the storage 28 needs of people in this market. 29 30 Commissioner Hanson asked if the height variance could be increased to reduce the need 31 for the side yard setback. Mr. Murlowski noted he would have to check on this as an 32 option. 33 34 Commissioner Steeves asked what drove the building to be this size. Mr. White noted 35 this was based on a cost per cubic foot to build this building. He stated from an 36 operations standpoint, it is the most efficient for man power as well. 37 38 Mr. Murlowski added that his company enjoys working with the City of St. Anthony and 39 noted he created a similar structure in the City of New Brighton. He indicated the 40 projections and proposed building are based on his client's storage need projections. 41 42 Chair Melsha asked what would be stored in this storage site. Mr. Murlowski stated the 43 four existing tenants within the four buildings that would be demolished would be moved 16 or relocated with a new facility created for document storage. 46 Chair Melsha closed the public hearing at 7:26 p.m. 47 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes October 15, 2002 Page 4 Chair Melsha indicated he was torn on this item, as this company is an asset to St. 2 Anthony. He noted the difficulty is whether or not there is an undue hardship and 3 whether or not the property can be put to good use without the variance. 4 5 Commissioner Steeves agreed stating he felt a building could be built on this site to meet 6 the City ordinances but may not meet the most efficient cost structure for the applicants. 7 8 Chair Melsha stated the side yard setback does show some hardship with the shape of the 9 side yard due to the railroad easement. 10 11 Commissioner Hanson asked if this building could be built without a retention pond and 12 asked if this was a requirement. Mr. White stated this would then need approval from the 13 Rice Creek Watershed District as a drainage pond is needed for this site. He noted he 14 doesn't see them approving that type of development. 15 16 Commissioner Hanson noted he was more in favor of the height variance but not the side 17 yard setback. 18 19 Commissioner Hoska concurred adding that the height should not be a problem for the 20 fire department. He indicated this is an established business in the community asking for 21 assistance in keeping their business viable. Commissioner Hoska stated they are restricted to the north with the railroad easement and retention pond thus creating a hardship. 24 25 Commissioner Tillman stated the easement does create a hardship. She explained from 26 an aesthetic point of view, it would be nice to keep the parking to the interior of the 27 building complex. 28 29 Chair Melsha stated he feels this is an economic issue and that the building could be 30 scaled back to have this still remain reasonable. 31 32 Commissioner Tillman questioned if a small building was a reasonable use to the 33 applicant. 34 35 Commissioner Steeves stated a larger building would be more desirable for the applicant. 36 He questioned why the loading docks were not considered along Macalaster and not 37 within the site parking lot. Mr. White stated most cities require that trucks maneuver on 38 site property and not on City streets. 39 40 Commissioner Steeves stated he felt all the options were not yet looked at. 41 42 Commissioner Hanson stated he would like to see the site put to better use, but noted 43 there was not an undue hardship at this time stating a height variance would be more favorable than both the height and side setbacks. He indicated this proposal was purely economical and could not be approved for that reason alone. 46 47 Motion by Commissioner Steeves, second by Commissioner Hanson, to recommend Planning Commission Meeting Minutes October 15, 2002 Page 5 denial of the request from Business Data Record Services for two variance requests: 1) 2 A building height variance of 9 feet for a proposed 44 feet building height; and 2) A side 3 yard variance request of 35 feet (along Macalester Drive) for a proposed 5 feet side yard 4 adjacent to a street. 5 6 Motion carried 3-2 (Commissioners Tillman and Hoska nav). 7 8 IX. INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION. 9 9.1 Discuss Ordinance/Moratorium for Second Hand Goods Dealers Licenses. 10 11 Susan Hall explained that the City Council is asking the Planning Commission for a 12 recommendation on a revised Second Hand Goods Dealers Ordinance and a new 13 ordinance regulating pawn shops in St. Anthony while a moratorium has been placed on 14 issuance of any aforementioned licenses. 15 16 Ms. Hall stated it has come to staff s attention that the ordinance for the second hand 17 goods dealers license is in need of updating. In St. Anthony's ordinance, pawn shops fall 18 under the second hand goods dealers' section. In doing some research on the subject, City 19 staff has learned it will be necessary to have a separate pawn shop ordinance to address 20 separate concerns arising from this type of business. Today there are requirements for 21 pawn shops that are not addressed in the City's ordinance. 0 Ms. Hall advised that on October 8, 2002, the St. Anthony City Council approved the 24 moratorium for second hand goods dealers' licenses, waiving all three readings. The 25 purpose of the moratorium is to put on hold all applications for licenses while City staff 26 can study and provide recommendations to the Planning Commission and City Council 27 on revised ordinances. 28 29 Ms. Hall noted that Captain John Ohl of the Police Department mentions in his 30 memorandums some of the problems associated with these businesses and what the City 31 needs to look at to deal with the concerns. She explained that the course of action likely 32 is that the City's Second Hand Goods Dealers Ordinance will be revised and the new 33 pawn shop ordinance will be adopted. City staff has identified two City of Minneapolis' 34 ordinances as good models for pawn shops and second hand goods dealers' ordinances, 35 which have been provided for review. As Capt. Ohl has indicated, it is imperative the 36 City's pawn shop ordinance is similar to the Minneapolis ordinance, or the suggested 37 "minimum language paperwork," both of which require membership in the Automated 38 Pawn System (APS), among other requirements. In addition, staff has obtained pawn 39 shop ordinances from Fridley and Hopkins; which have also been provided for the 40 Commission's review. 41 42 Ms. Hall advised that these ordinances have also been forwarded to the City Attorney's 43 Office for review and comment. The timeline on the review will depend on what Commissioners deem appropriate and what the City Attorney's Office and City staff will need to complete the assessment. The moratorium will be in place for one year, unless 46 changed by the City Council. 47 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes October 15, 2002 Page 6 Chair Melsha asked if this was initiated by the police department or by staff. Ms. Hall 2 stated a second hand goods license was requested so the ordinance was reviewed and 3 needs revisions before any licenses would be approved. 4 5 Commissioner Hoska questioned if the City Attorney has made any comments to date. 6 Ms. Hall indicated this would be taking place but has not occurred to date. 7 8 Chair Melsha asked if a subcommittee should be designated for discussion of this 9 ordinance. Ms. Hall indicated this would be an option to address this item by reviewing 10 the current and neighboring communities' ordinances. 11 12 Chair Melsha asked for volunteers to review this item. Commissioner Hanson asked that 13 this item come back at the next meeting when all Commissioners are present to address 14 this item. 15 16 17 9.2 Northwest Quadrant Redevelopment Update. 18 Susan Hall reviewed the report from Jim Prosser to update the City on what is happening 19 with the Apache redevelopment project. She noted in November a work session will be 20 held with the Council to see if things are proceeding as planned. 21 X. ANNOUNCEMENTS. Commissioner Tillman stated there are a group of citizens concerned about affordable housing 24 and they may be coming before the Planning Commission. 25 26 Commissioner Hanson stated on September 14, 2002 the shopping center had a successful event 27 with bands and games. He noted the group that planned this is going to remain active to 28 encourage residents to use and visit the shopping center. 29 30 Ms. Hall noted there are two terms expiring at the end of the year which will require a letter to 31 the Council. 32 33 Ms. Hall stated Greater Metropolitan Housing Program is creating a revolving loan program for 34 up to $10,000 at 4% to be paid off over 10 years. 35 36 Ms. Hall explained Culvers is expected to be up and running in March of 2003. She noted 37 Hardees was torn down and reported an agreement was reached with Exhaust Pros. 38 39 XI. ADJOURNMENT. 40 Motion by Commissioner Hanson, second by Commissioner Hoska, to adjourn the meeting at 41 7:56 p.m. 42 43 Motion carried unanimously. 46 Respectfully submitted, 46 Heidi Guenther 47 Timesaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc.