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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-02-22 PACKET 07.City of Cottage Grove Planning Commission January 25, 2016 A meeting of the Planning Commission was held at Cottage Grove City Hall, 12800 Ravine Park- way South, Cottage Grove, Minnesota, on Monday, January 25, 2016, in the Council Chambers and telecast on Local Government Cable Channel 16. Call to Order Chair Brittain called the Planning Commission meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Members Present: Sam Awad, Ken Brittain, Justin Fox, Kimberly Graff, Wayne Johnson, Jim Rostad, Roger Zopfi Members Absent: Adam Graf, Jake Haagsman Staff Present: John M. Burbank, Senior Planner John McCool, Senior Planner Robin Roland, Finance Director Justin Olsen, City Councilmember Approval of Agenda Rostad made a motion to approve the agenda. Graff seconded. The motion was approved unanimously (7 -to -0 vote). Open Forum Brittain asked if anyone wished to address the Planning Commission on any non -agenda item. No one addressed the Commission. Chair's Explanation of the Public Hearing Process Brittain explained the purpose of the Planning Commission, which serves in an advisory capacity to the City Council, and that the City Council makes all final decisions. In addition, he explained the process of conducting a public hearing and requested that any person wishing to speak should go to the microphone and state their full name and address for the public record. Public Hearings and Applications 6.1 Southeast Industrial Park — Cases CUP2016-001 and SP2016-002 HHHJWB, LLC has applied for a site plan review of an industrial development that will include two warehouse buildings of 362,240 square feet and 186,820 square feet respec- tively and a conditional use permit for outdoor storage in the Southeast Industrial Park located at the northwest quadrant of 91st Street South and Hemingway Avenue South. Planning Commission Minutes January 25, 2016 Page 2 of 5 Burbank summarized the staff report and recommended approval subject to the conditions stipulated in the staff report. Christina Smitten, Hillcrest Development, 2424 Kennedy Street NE, Minneapolis, reported that they received notification from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic De- velopment (DEED) that the project has received shovel -ready certification. They applied for the site plan review and CUP approvals so that the project is even more ready for prospective tenants. Phil Cattenach, Opus Development Company, 10350 Bren Road West, Minnetonka, stated that one of the things that they have seen from a large scale development perspective on industrial is having a site that is ready and vetted from an environmental standpoint as well as working with staff. Brittain opened the public hearing. No one spoke. Brittain closed the public hearing. Fox made a motion to recommend that the City Council approve the site plan review and conditional use permit subject to the conditions listed in the staff report. Zopfi seconded. Motion passed unanimously (7 -to -0 vote). 6.2 Restaurant Parking — Case TA2015-047 The City of Cottage Grove has applied for a zoning text amendment to City Code Title 11- 3-9F, Required Parking, regarding Restaurants, classes 1 and 2 — bars, taverns, nightclubs. (Continued from the November 23, 2015, and December 21, 2015, Planning Commission meetings.) Burbank summarized the staff report and asked the Planning Commission to review the addi- tional material and provide direction to staff. Fox asked about the language stating "additional parking may be required as deemed neces- sary." Burbank responded that he did not address that in this review as he figured the Commission would talk about it during their discussions. Rostad asked if this modification is based on their seating numbers, what happens if in the future a restaurant adds more tables. Burbank stated that the capacity could be figured by the Building Official; each site will have a certain maximum occupancy; for example, Las Marga- ritas has a maximum occupancy based on the building code of 157 seats, and they are cur- rently seating that number. The building official would have the final say on whether they can add more seats based on the maximum occupancy. Rostad expressed concern that the building official could allow more seating after the CUP was issued that would not be reflected in the number of parking spaces. Johnson asked if this takes into account waiting and overflow areas. Burbank stated that when he was doing the counting for Ruby Tuesdays, he counted the seating in their waiting area but did not look at standing room. Planning Commission Minutes January 25, 2016 Page 3 of 5 Brittain stated that based on the tables in the staff report, it appears that all of the City's current restaurants' parking was based on the one space per 50 square feet calculation rather than one space per three seats. He noted that it appears the one space per three seats results in about 50 percent less parking than the one space per 50 square feet. Based upon that infor- mation, the one per 50 has been a safer calculation because he does not see a problem with the current parking. He then noted that there is a large range of parking requirements for the other cities that were studied. He would prefer using the one space per 50 square feet, which is a closer approximation for the number of parking stalls needed for restaurants. Graff stated that we don't want parking lots that are too large but we also want to avoid lots that are overfull. She agrees with the comments from the Commissioners that we should keep the one space per 50 square feet requirement. She wants to ensure that there is adequate parking. She also does not think new guidelines should be established for new restaurants when existing restaurants are not held to the same standards. Brittain opened the public hearing. No one spoke. Brittain closed the public hearing. McCool stated that the public hearing could be continued if the Planning Commission wants additional information or to see a draft ordinance, unless the Commission wants to make a formal recommendation. Rostad noted that one of the charts in the report shows one space per 2.5 seats and one space per two seats, which gets the number of parking calculations up a little bit, and that we could get the calculation somewhere in the middle using that calculation. He stated that staying with the one per 50 allows for plenty of parking. Fox stated that the chart comparing Cottage Grove with other communities puts the City right in between the median and mean, which shows that our current ordinance is perfect. Johnson asked if how long patrons stay at a restaurant is taken into consideration. Burbank responded that is unpredictable and does not know how to regulate that. He asked the Com- mission if they don't want to look at number of seats, should the City use gross square footage or net square footage or 75 percent of the gross square footage, and if so, what calculation, such as one per 50 or one per 75. Zopfi stated that the current one space for 50 square feet seems to work, and it would be easier to eliminate all calculations based on seats. Burbank stated that the calculations are done for each individual use with consideration given for if it is shared use, just for their own parking needs, or there is a variance. Brittain stated that he calculated that one space per 2.68 seats is comparable to the one space per 50 square feet, and if the Commission had to pick between them to make the ordinance simpler, the one per 50 makes the most sense. However, he can also see defining whether it would gross or net square feet. He asked if staff had any other suggestions. Burbank stated that calculating on a gross basis is easy but using 75 percent of the gross doesn't require an analysis of net space. He noted that some restaurant uses have a high amount of parking. Brittain asked which direction staff would prefer. Levitt summarized that Brittain is indicating that he would prefer the one space per 50 square feet of gross area. If our only objective is to make calculations simpler, then the text amendment would striking the one space per three Planning Commission Minutes January 25, 2016 Page 4 of 5 seats language. If the Commission is comfortable with the language as is, no changes need to be made to the ordinance. If the Commission wishes to look at other ratios on gross floor area, staff could provide further comparison tables. Johnson asked how seats in a booth are calculated. Burbank responded typically it is 18 inches per seat. Brittain stated that he does not feel that staff has a strong desire to have to change this to one space per three seats, so he does not see any reason to change the ordinance. If the ordi- nance was going to be changed, he would change it to the one space per 50 square feet, so we might as well leave the ordinance alone. He does want to be sensitive to staff's needs and all the calculations that need to be done, so if staff would rather go with just the one per 50, he would entertain a motion. Levitt responded that based on the Commission's due diligence in reviewing the options, your conclusion is that the existing ordinance is sufficient since there is no profound desire to move in a different direction. Graff pointed out that if you look at the existing language allows staff to work with the applicant on a variance if they have a legitimate reason for not being able to meet the requirements. Johnson asked about a different square footage, such as one per 60. Brittain stated that he believes it is more appropriate to continue using the current numbers as it seems to work well and that the City needs to be careful because there are other dynamics that could influence how well the parking works. Johnson asked why this was presented to the Commission. Burbank responded there was a discrepancy in the ordinance that staff wanted to clarify. Fox made a motion to not amend City Code Title 11-3-9F, Required Parking. Awad seconded. Motion passed unanimously (7 -to -0 vote). Discussion Items 7.1 Red Rock Corridor Presentation — Washington County Hallie Turner, Planner with Washington County, provided an update on the Red Rock Corridor, which is a proposed bus rapid transit route going in the southeast metro starting in Hastings going through Cottage Grove, Newport, and the Battle Creek area in St. Paul before terminat- ing at Union Depot, where riders can transfer to other transit services to connect throughout the region. She noted that Hadley Avenue will not be utilized as an option; alternative ideas are being explored. Discussion included locations for the park and ride lot, express bus service, sidewalks, exclu- sive lanes, the alternative routes for the bus rapid transit, if the park and ride should be located on the east or west side of Highway 61, how this will impact the comprehensive plan process, the 70th Street/St. Paul Park station, and how to link people right away to these other lines in the region. Planning Commission Minutes January 25, 2016 Page 5 of 5 7.2 Comprehensive Plan Update Process McCool provided information on the comprehensive plan update process and asked for up to two volunteers from the Planning Commission to serve on the Comprehensive Plan Update Steering Committee. Approval of Planning Commission Minutes of December 21, 2015 Awad made a motion to approve the minutes for the December 21, 2015, Planning Com- mission meeting. Rostad seconded. Motion passed unanimously (7 -to -0 vote). Reports 9.1 Recap of January City Council Meetings Thiede reported that at their January 6, 2016, meeting, the City Council agreed with the Plan- ning Commission's recommendation that an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) was not nec- essary for the Southeast Industrial Park. The Council also approved the preliminary and final plats for the Stewart Addition, the Capital Improvement Program, and the tax increment financ- ing district for the Gardenworld site. At the January 20, 2016, meeting, the Council approved the vacation and discontinuance of all drainage and utility easements in Glengrove Industrial Park 4th Addition, the Glengrove Industrial Park 6th Addition preliminary and final plats, the Gardenworld project, and the solar garden that will be located in Old Cottage Grove. The Council continued the text amendment to allow solar gardens south of 100th Street until the February 3 Council meeting. Rostad asked why that application was continued. Levitt responded that the applicant requested the extension, but did not outline the reasons for that extension. 9.2 Response to Planning Commission Inquiries 2016 Pavement Management: Levitt summarized the memo in response to an inquiry regard- ing the age of streets in and around the 2016 Pavement Management area. She then explained about the pavement management program, life span for roads, and the thin overlay process that Public Works is using to extend the life of some of the roadways in the city prior to reconstruction. 9.3 Planning Commission Requests Graff requested providing information to the public regarding why the northern portion of Jamaica Avenue will not be fully constructed during the 70th Street and Jamaica Avenue roundabout project. Levitt stated that will be highlighted at the presentation to the City Council at their February 3 meeting. Adjournment Graff made a motion to adjourn. Johnson seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m. (7 -to -0 vote).