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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015.08.27 PC MinutesMinutes for the Planning Commission Meeting of August 27, 2015 Chair, Kleissler called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. PRESENT: Arcand, Kleissler, Lessard, Rosenquist ABSENT: Knauss, McRoberts STAFF: Bryan Bear, City Administrator Rachel Leitz, Community Development Assistant Approval of Minutes for the Planning Commission Meeting of July 23, 2015 Commissioner Arcand made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Lessard, to approve minutes for the meeting of July 23, 2015. All Ayes. Motion carried. National Recycling Inc. —15717 Forest Blvd. N. — Zoning Ordinance text amendment and conditional use permit (CUP) amendment City Administrator, Bear, presented on a proposed conditional use permit (CUP) amendment and ordinance text amendment for National Recycling, Inc. He stated that the CUP amendment would have revisions to the original conditions and site plan while the ordinance text amendment is related to the City's standards for recycling centers. Bear stated the use as a scrap yard in the commercial zoning district is a nonconforming use. The City sent a code violation letter to NRI in 2010, which set about a process. The property owner submitted an application for a CUP and it was approved in 2011 for the use of a "recycling center." The site was required to be cleaned up and redeveloped so a site plan was also approved along with the CUP. A timeline and a transition plan were similarly approved, which outlined all of the steps that needed to be completed with a deadline attached. All of this was also dependent on the creation of a second site, which came to fruition in Cambridge. The original idea behind the creation of a second site was that no scrap would touch the ground on the Hugo site because it would be immediately loaded and brought to the Cambridge site where it could be sorted, processed, and shipped out. Bear stated that the City Council received an update on the site on May 18, 2015. Staff presented to the Council that the site was still out of compliance with the approved CUP. The City Council then directed staff to schedule a hearing for possible enforcement action, with direction to bring the site back into compliance with the CUP. The Council held a hearing and took no action and encouraged the applicant to proceed to the Planning Commission with new applications. Bear then discussed the proposed applications, starting with the proposed text amendment. The section of the code related to recycling centers asks for the site to be clean and sanitary, recycled materials to be screened from view, materials to be stored in a building or container with a lid or cover, and for no accumulation of loose material. Bear encouraged the Planning Commission to think back to the site plan that was approved in the original CUP. Through the approval of the original CUP, the Planning Commission believed the site fit the intention of the code for a recycling center. Bear asked the Planning Commission to review the proposed text revisions and stated that the changes allow the City to approve alternatives for storage with a method approved by the City. Bear stated that the applicant would still have to address the visual and noise impacts. Bear then moved onto the proposed CUP amendment. He stated that the conditions have been updated and revised and it would allow scrap on the ground as a method approved by the City with the new site plan. Bear concluded by saying that the site plan is a realistic plan and is currently being carried out. He said that there would be no timeline to approve, along with a CUP, because the site already matches the proposed plan. Bear stated that there is scrap on the ground, but the scrap is contained and that staff believes the screening is effective. He described that the noise impacts would be similar to what it is in the originally approved plan and when the proposed future building is built, the noise would be further controlled. Bear stated that approving the proposed CUP would not change the character of the area on Hwy 61 since many uses are industrial type uses. He closed by stating that staff recommends approval of both the text amendment and CUP amendment. Commissioner Arcand inquired as to what "approved method by the City" meant. Bear stated that whatever site plan is approved will be the method. Commissioner Arcand asked for the reasoning behind the original. CUP not allowing scrap on the ground. Bear stated that the original thought was that having scrap on the ground would be something that could be avoided and by allowing scrap on the ground, a pile would continue to grow. Bear described that things have changed with the site and operation of the business and therefore the applicant has proposed a confined method of keeping the pile contained. Commissioner Arcand commented that since the pile is now contained, it would meet that particular requirement, potentially. Chair Kleissler opened public hearing at 7:33 p.m. Don Baierl of Sharadon Performance, 15775 Forest Blvd. N., spoke at the podium. He stated that he believes that NRI is a business that fits in with the businesses along the east side of Hwy. 61 and that NRI has done very well in the past few years making their site nice. Brent Tschida, 15820 Foxhill Ave. N., spoke at the podium. He stated that the visual aspects have been greatly improved over the past few years, but he has a concern that since the Cambridge site is no longer operable, the large pile of scrap may come back. Commissioner Arcand asked Mr. Tschida if any noise from the site bothers him. Mr. Tschida stated that the noise doesn't bother him much. He stated that he can hear noise from the site, but it doesn't occur early in the morning. He told the Planning Commission to keep in mind that he lived on the west side of Foxhill Ave., so he has a buffer of houses and the road between him and NRI. He stated that he believes noise levels are about where they should be and are manageable, but when the pile was larger, the site was much louder. Chair Kleissler closed the public hearing at 7:37 p.m. Bear stated that he would like the public record to show that the Planning Commission received a letter from Paul. Ford, 15880 Foxhill Ave. N. Within the letter, Mr. Ford commends the property owner on the sites appearance, but has a concerns with noise early in the mornings, particularly on Saturday mornings. Mr. Ford made some suggestions to the Planning Commission regarding what could be done to help mitigate this noise. Bear recommend Chair Kleissler to invite the applicant to the podium to make any comments he may have. Chair Kleissler invited the applicant to the podium. Rick Mark, owner of National Recycling, Inc., spoke at the podium. Mr. Mark stated that the way the site is laid out currently is the only way that he can conduct business. He assured the Planning Commission that the size of the scrap pile will not return to what it was before because he can't operate the business effectively or efficiently in that state. He described that the business requires scrap to be sorted and loaded into trucks to be shipped out that same day. He stated that his site has been laid out in what is proposed in the site plan for 90 days and the scrap area hasn't expanded or moved and it works great for the facility. Mr. Mark stated that he had put a lot of money into the Cambridge site to be able to abide by the original CUP, but that business is now closed to the public. Mr. Mark concluded by saying that the proposed site works for his business and that he has made great lengths in getting the site to this point. Commissioner Arcand stated that Mr. Mark has made a nice improvement to the site. He asked him if there was any situation where the pile would get larger and if the number of accounts he had was associated with the size of the pile. Rick Mark stated that the pile cannot get any larger for many reasons. First, he said if the proposed site plan gets approved, he will be under the conditions of the CUP and the scrap would need to remain contained. Second, he stated a large pile inhibits flow of the site. Last, he stated that it doesn't make any sense, from a business standpoint, to sit on a commodity and he gets products out as quick as possible and that model is what makes his business successful. Commissioner Arcand asked if he makes more money if the product is moved faster. Rick Mark said that was correct. He described at one point, when his pile was the largest, the market collapsed. He stated that those stock piles lost a lot of value, so it's smarter to get scrap out as quick as possible. Commissioner Arcand asked if Mr. Mark had any thoughts on the noise complaints. Rick Mark stated that he really had no thoughts on the complaints. He believes his site is one of the quietest and cleanest scrap yards. He does agree that there is some noise associated with dropping metal, but that his hours of operation are reasonable to accommodate the noise. Commissioner Rosenquist asked City Administrator, Bear, if it would make sense to do a noise study to see where the noise is really coming from. Rosenquist stated that the noise could be coming more from the highway than from the NRI site. Rick Mark stated that he had someone evaluate the intermittent noise. They had concluded that the highway noise decibels exceeded those from his material. He stated that even the gun range was louder than the noise generated on his site. Commissioner Rosenquist wanted to be clear that it may help with neighbors if everyone understands where the noise is coming from. Bear stated that a noise study is very difficult and that a lot of time, the background noise exceeds the decibel levels outlined by the state. He described that some of the noises from the site could be a container dropping on the ground or scrap dropping in a bin, which are generally one time noises. The sound studies generally measure continuous noises. His thoughts are that if the noise study was done, the noises wouldn't exceed the threshold for the state. Bear does believe that neighbors probably hear some of these one-time noises from the site, but those noises wouldn't break the threshold set by the state. Rick Mark stated that he didn't know if all of the noise heard by neighbors is completely coming off of just his site. He reminded the Planning Commission that there is an industrial park to the north of his business. Commissioner Rosenquist asked if it would take the same amount of time to get the site cleaned up if the pile got to a large size again. Rick Mark stated that it wouldn't take the same amount of time. Commissioner Rosenquist reminded Mr. Mark that he sat on the Planning Commission when the original plan came through. Rick Mark stated that he was pretty aggressive on his first plan and since then, the business has changed. Commissioner Rosenquist stated that the site looks nice. Commissioner Lessard agreed and stated that the traffic seems to flow well. Rick Mark said they never have any back-ups and the site can hold 80-1.00 cars, when before they would be backing up into the highway. Chair Kleissler re -opened the public hearing at 7:53 p.m. Frank Puleo, 6375 165th St. N., spoke at the podium. He stated that this issue has been going on for a long time and he has been working with the City and Mr. Mark on getting this issue resolved. Mr. Puleo first wanted to address the noise complaints. He stated that he is in Mr. Mark's office frequently and they can carry on a conversation without talking loudly. Mr. Puleo stated that he had heard of complaints regarding roll offs being dumped early in the morning, especially on Saturday. Mr. Puleo drove to Foxhill. Ave. on a couple of occasions, parked, and listened for noise with his vehicle window down. He stated that the only thing he could hear was the forklift beeper and he could barely hear it. If cars passed on the highway, he couldn't hear it at all. Mr. Puleo reminded the Planning Commission that this area has industrial businesses on it and noise is associated with that use, but that Mr. Mark's business hours reasonably accommodate neighbors who hear the noise. He stated that NRI has been in. the City for 15-20 years and serves a purpose in the community and has a lot of customers from Hugo and surrounding areas. Mr. Puleo said that the proposed site plan is the best option and to be able to run his business, Mr. Mark must put scrap on the ground to sort it. He gave the Planning Commission an example that a trailer has come in with many different metals and wants to drop it off, get paid, and get going. He stated that there is no way the business could operate if they had to sort everything straight from each vehicle when other customers are waiting to drop their recyclables off. Chair Kleissler closed the public hearing at 7:59 p.m. Commissioner Rosenquist made a motion, Commissioner Lessard seconded, to recommend approval to the Council of the proposed text amendments. All Ayes. Motion carried. Commissioner Rosenquist made a motion, Commissioner Arcand seconded, to recommend approval to the Council of the proposed CUP amendment. All Ayes. Motion. Carried. Appointment of Vice Chair City Administrator, Bear, stated that unlike the Chair position, the Vice Chair is elected by the Planning Commission. He stated that within the bi-laws, nominations are made on the floor of the meeting with an election from those nominations following thereafter. Bear did remind the Commission that not everyone was present at the meeting and they may proceed however they would like. Commissioner Arcand asked if anyone had indicated interest. Bear stated that staff had not solicited for interest and has not received it. Commissioner Arcand asked if the Planning Commission should solicit members for interest in the position. Bear stated that they may do what they wish and staff would be able to reach out to Commissioners to see if there are interested parties. Commissioner Rosenquist asked if the Planning Commission should table the appointment of Vice Chair for the next meeting. Bear said that it was up to the Commission. He stated if appointing a Vice Chair was tabled, staff would send out a letter to everyone stating the position is open. Staff would then accept nominations. Commissioner Arcand asked if staff is still looking for another member to be added to the Planning Commission. Bear stated that staff has been looking for a new member, but one has not been selected by the City Council yet. Commissioner Arcand asked if there had been candidates for the open position. Bear stated that there have been. Commissioner Rosenquist made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Lessard, to table appointing a Vice Chair to the Planning Commission until the next meeting. He also added that staff should send out notice to members to see if anyone would like to step forward to take the open position. All ayes. Motion carried. Adjournment Commissioner Arcand made a motion, Commissioner Rosenquist seconded, to adjourn at 8:06 p.m. All Ayes. Motion carried. Respectfully Submitted, Rachel Leitz, Community Development Assistant