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<br />Minutes for the Planning Commission Meeting of Thursday, January 22, 2026 <br /> <br />Chair Kleissler called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. <br /> <br />PRESENT: Andress, Derr, Granger, Klein, Kleissler, Petty <br /> <br />ABSENT: Fahey <br /> <br />STAFF: Rachel Juba, Community Development Director <br />Max Gort, Associate Planner <br /> <br />Pledge of Allegiance. <br /> <br />Approval of Minutes for the Planning Commission Meeting of December 11, 2025 <br /> <br />Commissioner Petty made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Klein, to approve the minutes for the <br />Planning Commission meeting of December 11, 2025. <br /> <br />All ayes. <br />Motion carried. <br /> <br />New Business – Frenchman Village Sketch Plan <br /> <br />Community Development Director Juba presented background on the request from Maplewood <br />Development for informal, nonbinding comments on a sketch plan with residential and commercial <br />uses. The sketch plan is for nine separate parcels totaling approximately 97 acres in size. The property <br />is generally located south of Frenchman Road/CSAH 8 and west of Forest Blvd/Highway 61. There are <br />no wetlands on the site, but natural constraints include judicial and private ditches, as well as <br />floodplain. Juba showed the 2040 Land Use Plan guiding the eastern portion of the property as Mixed <br />Use (MIX), and the western portion of the property being guided for Commercial (COM) in the <br />northern half and Low Density Residential (LD) in the southern half. The zoning generally follows the <br />land use plan, with the area guided MIX being zoned as Central Business (C-1). The mixed use property <br />is part of the identified downtown area and subject to the Downtown Plan and Design Guidelines. <br /> <br />Juba showed the applicant’s sketch plan with a mixture of single-family homes, attached townhomes, <br />and commercial areas. While the entire frontage of Frenchman Road is currently guided for <br />commercial development, the sketch plan reduces the commercial areas to near the intersections with <br />Oneka Parkway and Highway 61. Filling in this reduced commercial area, the applicant is proposing to <br />move residential uses further north within the site and utilize areas to the south within the site for <br />ponding and floodplain mitigation. The residential areas that are near Frenchman Road will have a <br />landscaped berm with a decorative fence to create a buffer from the major road. The sketch plan <br />shows the extensions of Victor Path and Fenway Avenue that are required in the 2040 Transportation <br />Plan. There is some existing regional infrastructure within the property, including a Metropolitan <br />Council sewer interceptor and associated lift station at the southeast corner of the intersection of