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HomeMy Public PortalAbout01-13-2004PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES - JANUARY 13, 2004 PRESENT: ELIZABETH WEIR, MARILYN FORTIN, LENNY LEVER, MARY VERBICK, RON JOHNSON AND JERRY BROST. ALSO PRESENT, PLANNING AND ZONING ADMINISTRATOR LOREN KOHNEN, CITY ADMINISTRATOR CHAD ADAMS AND PLANNING AND ZONING ASSISTANT SANDIE LARSON. ABSENT: DICK PICARD, SHARON JOHNSON AND BILL LOE 1. Chairperson Elizabeth Weir called the meeting to order at 7:09 p.m.. Ms. Weir reminded everyone that the Planning Commission was a recommending body and that the City Council made the final decisions. 2. BRAD KVANBEK - 2895 COUNTY ROAD 19 - SIDE, FRONT AND REAR SET- BACK VARIANCE REQUESTS FOR ADDITIONS - PUBLIC HEARING Sandie Larson outlined the memo to the Planning Commission explaining the variance requests. Brad Kvanbek said that it would not be reasonable for a house addition on the south side due to trees in the area and the driveway would be diagonal across the yard. He also said that it is a walk -out now and that would have to be filled in and/or have a 2 story garage.. Brad said that the original owner of the house had filled in the ravine and had not used very clean fill. He said he has explored all the possibilities. He said that the north side of the garage would not be any closer to the lot line than it is now. He also said that there are homes that front on Co. Rd. 19 that are closer than they are to the road. Ron Johnson said he would not normally be in favor of these variances, but this is a unique situation with the topography, etc. He said he felt that the City should make a different zoning rules for this area of the city. Elizabeth Weir said there are 3 sections to this request - let's deal with them one at a time. Variance #1 and #2 deals with the front garage addition. Lenny Leuer said that the addition would lineup with the existing house on the east and north side. E. Weir said she had no problem with #1 and #2. MOVED BY RON JOHNSON AND SECONDED BY MARY VERBICK TO RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF VARIANCE REQUESTS # 1, AN 8.3' VARIANCE TO THE FRONT YARD SET -BACK AND #2, AN 8' VARIANCE TO THE SIDE SET -BACK FOR THE ADDITION AT THE FRONT OF THE GARAGE STATING THAT THE ADDITION WOULD LINE UP WITH THE EXISTING SET -BACK. MOTION PASSED. Planning Commission Minutes January 13, 2004 1 Variance #3 and #4 - Addition to garage on the west side Mary Verbick said that looking at this on paper it made sense not to approve it, but seeing the property does not make sense to put a garage in a different place than where it is now. Lenny Leuer said that small lots require variances and this is not out of character for this area. He said that his 50% criteria is that if the request is less than 50% of what is required, he will consider the variance. Lenny said that the house to the west is 10' from the line and he said he has no problems with #3 and #4. Loren Kohnen said that there are drainage issues for the neighbor to the north and the applicant should see that it is corrected. B. Kvanbek said that he has talked with Ms. Cook and there would not be a problem taking care of the issue. L. Leuer said it looks like they will have to tear down the trusses and will there be a problem with removing the north wall. L. Kohnen said no, we are only talking one wall, not 50% of the structure. B. Kvanbek said they did talk about fire proofing so he would like to take as much of the north wall down as possible and use insulated concrete forms for fire barriers. L. Kohnen said there could be no openings in the wall because of the closeness to the property line. Loren also said there needs to be a hardship for #3 and ltd. L. Leuer said that it is consistent with this district. L. Kohnen said this is not a hardship. M. Verbick said no other place to go (not a hardship). L. Kohnen asked why the addition was needed. B. Kvanbek said it it reasonable to have a garage that holds 2 cars. E. Weir asked if the width could be added onto. There was discussion of what else could be done and what would be a hardship. MOVED BY LENNY LEUER AND SECONDED BY MARY VERBICK TO RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF VARIANCES #3 , 3.9' VARIANCE FOR THE SIDE SET -BACK AND #4, 10.1' VARIANCE TO THE REAR SET -BACK FOR AN ADDITION TO THE GARAGE ON THE WEST SIDE WITH THE HARDSHIP BEING THAT IT IS REASONABLE FOR A 2 CAR GARAGE. MOTION PASSED. Planning Commission Minutes January 13, 2004 2 Variance #5 - Addition to front of house M. Verbick said it looks like this is needed for dining and living space, so adding on the back would not be what they need. She also said that adding on the front of the house would break up the front line and give the house some modulation and improve the structure. She said lack of space and the inability to use the house as is, would both be questions for hardships. E. Weir said that the houses to the south are much closer to the road and that alters the situation. She also wanted to know if the livability of the home would be a hardship, that the addition would make it more livable. B. Kvanbek said the primary hardship is that there is no entry. MOVED BY RON JOHNSON AND SECONDED BY MARY VERBICK TO RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF VARIANCE REQUEST #5 FOR A 13.4' VARIANCE FOR THE FRONT YARD SET -BACK WITH THE HARDSHIP BEING THE LIVABILITY OF THE HOUSE. MOTION PASSED 3. JOINT MEETING WITH CITY COUNCIL PRESENT: MAYOR PHILIP ZIETLOW, COUNCILORS JIM LANE, BRUCE WORKMAN, RANDY BRINKMAN AND CAROLYN SMITH Elizabeth Weir said that originally Bi11 Loe had a comment on communication with the city council and he was not here tonight. Phil Zietlow said that Bill had a quadruple by-pass. He said that Bill had expressed thoughts that projects were 'rubber stamped' by the city council before they got to the planning commission. Phil wanted to know how to solve that. E. Weir said that the Planning Commission member who is at the City Council meeting should report to us at our meeting. She said that Chad could also bring us up to speed. She said that Bill had asked that the planning commission's role in major land development be better defined. Bruce Workman said that he encourages the Planning Commission to ask questions. E. Weir said that she could check with Mr. Workman before each Planning Commission meeting. B. Workman said he is not sure that he likes this new process for concept plan reviews. He said the developers walk out thinking they can do what they want. P. Zietlow said that he gets calls from developers wanting to meet with him about their proposals. B. Workman said he felt that communication was good between the Planning Commission and City Council. He said the problem may be that we had one deal walk away because we couldn't do much. Planning Commission Minutes January 13, 2004 3 Carolyn Smith said the reason for a concept plan review is because the developer doesn't want to spend money if they don't have to and if the city is not interested. She said we should have had this meeting before we started the process. Mary Verbick said it is premature to jump and leave this new process.. It is new and we all have to get used to it. B. Workman said that we have to have an understanding between the City Council, the Planning Commission and staff on the process. E. Weir said that Dick Picard had asked for a written set of criteria for a comprehensive plan change. P. Zietlow said that is hard with no details. He said the negative and positive should balance and maybe that is one criteria. B. Workman said what he always looks at is that it will not cost the city any money and that the proposal will not be invasive to the city. He said that he has learned that the legal opinion is we (the city) have the right to change the comprehensive plan and there is a firewall that says if something is changed we do not necessarily have to change the land next to that change if asked. C. Smith said that Mr. Loe had talked about council members meeting a developer on site. She said we are there to see what they are proposing and to listen to them. She said that she thinks a city council member should not go if they feel uncomfortable, but she feels it is important to know what is going on. Randy Brinkman said he takes the comprehensive plan very seriously. He said he has to see a lot of good reasons to consider changing or amending it. Lenny Leuer asked if the city council knew about the property around Loretto. He said he thinks they will ask for TIF. Chad Adams said that is not even close to qualifying for TIF. It has to be an urban renewal or commercial project. C. Smith said that we worked hard on it (comprehensive plan), but it is a 'plan'. She said we have to weigh what is happening and what could happen - like it would be good to get rid of the sewer ponds. M. Verbick asked if staff would be able to provide the planning commission with some of the pluses to have a comprehensive plan change. She said development in 2020 or now, she can see it either way. Planning Commission Minutes January 13, 2004 4 B. Workman said there are 2 things, what is best for the residents and the best and highest use for the land. He said the inner city is off limits and we should look at north of Highway 55 or on the fringes of 55. C. Smith said that Medina is not an island, we might like to think so, but we are not. We cannot be so rigid - if an ordinance needs changing, we should do it. E. Weir wanted to know if the consensus was to continue with the concept plan reviews. P. Zietlow said yes. R. Brinkman said that we have enough to work with Uptown Hamel and the Highway 55/101 corridor. There was discussion of development C. Smith said that we do not have a vision - we have to know what we want to do. R. Brinkman said that he uses the comprehensive plan as a vision. B. Workman said as far as the developers are concerned, Medina is one of the worst cities to work with. E. Weir asked if we should we do visioning now or at the next comprehensive plan. C. Smith said we should do it now. She said we should get our vision, let the developers know what it is and then wait for someone to come in. B. Workman said that Uptown Hamel has been talked about for quite some time. Jim Lane said he had erroneously been told that Ryan had pulled out. C. Adams talked of the TIF project and how they are looking at if the district would qualify. Ron Johnson said he thought the concept plan review was a good idea, but that there needs to be more time for the developer to talk, maybe 1-2 hours instead of 10 minutes. He thought the short time frame was a detriment. M. Verbick said that is a good point. She also said that it should be stated at both the beginning and the end of the concept review that it is a concept and the presentation is an information gathering session. R. Johnson said maybe it would be a good idea to sit around a table and talk instead of being at the front table. Planning Commission Minutes January 13, 2004 5 B. Workman said from a developers standpoint, there needs to be more input and ideas from the city. He said that the city should never take something bad because there is something good about an idea. C. Smith said it is a good idea for the Planning Commission to know when a concept plan goes to the City Council. B. Workman said the presentation to the City Council is different than a developer's presentation to the Planning Commission. He said it is more factual at the Planning Commission and more emotional at the City Council. Loren Kohnen said that happens because they find out the Planning Commission isn't going to be a pushover. M. Verbick asked if there was anything that the City Council wanted the Planning Commission to know. P. Zietlow said no, they were just responding because they heard the concept plan review wasn't working. C. Smith said the Planning Commission should never hesitate to call the council members. Lenny Leuer said it is unfortunate that the two planning commissioners who were the most unsettled could not be here this evening. E. Weir said that Bill Loe wanted to know sooner when things are on the horizon. Ms. Weir thanked the city council for coming. 4. DISCUSSION OF PROCEDURAL CHANGES FOR CONCEPT PLAN REVIEWS Elizabeth Weir said that we need to go over the procedures for the concept plan reviews. She said it is o.k. to keep the developer to 10 minutes, but the Planning Commission needs more than 10 minutes for questions and answers, maybe 30-45 minutes. Mary Verbick said 30 minutes is good. E. Weir said she would like to see the good and bad impacts on the city from staff for a concept that is being presented. She said at the end of the discussion she would like to see each planning commissioner take a few moments and give their views on where they are at and what their issues are on a presentation. Chad Adams asked what if only a few participate. E. Weir said a commissioner could decline to say anything. Lenny Leuer said he likes that idea better. Planning Commission Minutes January 13, 2004 6 Jerry Brost said that the reviews are not a rubber stamp for a project. 5. UPDATE FROM LOREN FOR NEXT MEETING. Loren Kohnen said there are two applications for the February meeting: #1 - Alpine Farms - re- zoning to RR-2 that allows commercial horse operations and a conditional use permit for a commercial horse stable and # 2 - Bill Kroll, who lives in Medina, wants to move his business from Plymouth to Medina in the former TC American building on County Road 116. His business manufactures scales for weighing vehicles. This will be a conditional use permit. Elizabeth Weir wanted to know what is happening with DMJ. L. Kohnen explained that they are out of conformance with their PUD. He put up an overhead and explained the operation and where things are on the property. Bruce Workman said the plan is for an interim use permit to allow them to operate. They are asking for 15 years with 2, 5 year extensions. He said they will need at least ten years with extensions for their financing. L. Kohnen said that Charles Cudd will be at the planning commission in March with their proposal. B. Workman said that when Wild Meadows is completed there is no other development going on. Chad Adams gave an update on where Ryan is on their proposal. Their new plan is a smaller store with more other retail, etc. L. Kohnen said that Hamel Bank is proceeding with their new addition. It will be a site plan review when they get ready. Loren also said that there are developers looking at property at 19 & 55. B. Workman said that Corcoran has been pushing us for joint sewer and water in that area. L. Kohnen suggested that every January there be a joint City Council and Planning Commission meeting. He said there should also be a zoning report at every Planning Commission meeting. Loren said that Corcoran planning commissioners had visited 12 developments in the metro area to see what different developers have done to fit a development on a particular parcel. Planning Commission Minutes January 13, 2004 7 6. MINUTES OF DECEMBER 9, 2003 There were a number of grammatical errors corrected. MOVED BY RON JOHNSON AND SECONDED BY JERRY BROST TO APPROVE THE MINUTES AS AMENDED. MOTION PASSED. MOVED BY MARY VERBICK AND SECONDED BY RON JOHNSON TO ADJOURN. MOTION PASSED. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 9:03 P.M. Planning and Zoning Assistant Date Planning Commission Minutes January 13, 2004 8