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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-01-23 PACKET 07. (PLANNING COMM MINUTES FROM 12-19-2022)City of Cottage Grove Planning Commission December 19, 2022 The Regular Meeting of the Planning Commission was held at Cottage Grove City Hall, 12800 Ravine Parkway South, Cottage Grove, Minnesota, on Monday, December 19, 2022, in the Council Chamber and telecast on Local Government Cable Channel 16. Call to Order Chair Frazier called the Planning Commission meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Roll Call Members Present: Ken Brittain, Evan Frazier, Emily Stephens, Jerret Wright Members Absent: Jessica Fisher, Eric Knable, Derek Rasmussen Staff Present: Mike Mrosla, Senior Planner; Emily Schmitz, Senior Planner; Conner Jakes, Associate Planner; Amanda Meyer, Assistant City Engineer; Dave Thiede, City Council Liaison; Amanda Johnson, Assistant City Attorney Approval of Agenda Brittain made a motion to approve the agenda. Wright seconded. The motion was approved unanimously (4-to-0 vote). Open Forum Frazier opened the open forum and asked if anyone wished to address the Planning Commission on any non -agenda item. No one spoke. Frazier closed the open forum. Chair's Explanation of the Public Hearing Process Frazier 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 RJ Schinner Company — Case PP2022-067 & SP2022-068 Opus Development Company has applied for a preliminary plat to be called Southeast Industrial Park 3rd Addition that will consist of one industrial lot and one outlot that would be located south of the Soo Line Railroad, north of North Star Sheets, and east of Hamlet Park; and a site plan review of an approximate 126,200 square foot office and warehouse building with an additional 80,000 square foot expansion area for RJ Schinner Company. Planning Commission Minutes — Regular Meeting December 19, 2022 Page 2 of 4 Schmitz summarized the staff report and recommended approval subject to the conditions stip- ulated in the staff report. Frazier invited the applicants, Kristina Smitten, Hillcrest Development, 2424 Kennedy Street NE, Minneapolis, and Joe Mahoney, Opus Development, 10350 Bren Road West, Minnetonka, to speak. Smitten stated Mahoney would answer any detailed questions on the development, and she would answer questions about the ownership. Mahoney stated Opus has really enjoyed working with the City and this community, and they are excited to move forward with this project. Frazier asked about parking, as City Code requires 63 spaces, and the proposal is to build 39 now. He noted that the application materials showed that the number of staff on site at any given time would be 15 to 29. Mahoney replied there are about 15 to 20 staff in the warehouse and about 10 drivers. Frazier confirmed with Mahoney that is why they do not need extra parking at this time. Mahoney stated they don't have any visitors at the site, but will add the extra parking should it be needed in the future. Frazier opened the public hearing. No one spoke. Frazier closed the public hearing. Brittain made a motion to approve the preliminary plat and the site plan review subject to the conditions stipulated in the staff report. Wright seconded. Motion passed unani- mously (4-to-0 vote). 6.2 Amendment of Zoning Code — Case TA2022-070 The City of Cottage Grove has applied for a zoning text amendment for a full repeal and replacement of the City's Zoning Code Title 11 that includes general modifications relating to organization, format, modernized language, and readability, and a zoning map amend- ment for city-wide rezoning as authorized in City Code Section 11-2-8(D) and Minnesota Statute Section 462.357, Subd. 3. Johnson summarized the Zoning Text Amendment for full repeal and replacement of the City's Zoning Code Title 11, including the City-wide rezoning map amendment. Johnson recom- mended adoption of the Zoning Map Amendment and the Zoning Ordinance, to be effective January 1, 2023. Brittain stated staff has done a great job on updating the zoning ordinance. He then stated that he disagrees with one change, which is to the R-3 side yard attached garage setback. He noted that the Commission discussed the setbacks during the workshops. He stated that with a 10- foot setback on the living space side of the yard and a 5-foot setback on the garage side, there would effectively be 15 feet between houses. He asked if staff had a significant reason why they are recommending keeping that setback at 5 feet instead of balancing it at 7.5 and 7.5. Schmitz explained that staff has to navigate setbacks with each developer; typically, those approvals require if there is a 5-foot setback, the adjacent home has to be flipflopped so there is a 10-foot setback to retain that 15-foot spacing all the way around. Staff felt this is a cleaner way to work through the approvals. A developer might want 7.5 and 7.5, so there would still be that 15 feet, but the proposed setbacks in the ordinance recognizes the current market. Wright thanked staff for all of the work and time put into this update. The Commission might not come to terms with it all of the time, but he appreciated all of the work put into it. Planning Commission Minutes — Regular Meeting December 19, 2022 Page 3 of 4 Frazier opened the public hearing. No one spoke. Frazier closed the public hearing. Brittain noted that the R-3 minimum lot widths were reduced from 75 feet to 65 feet. He is not comfortable with the 5-foot and 7.5-foot setback and feels the 7.5-foot setback is a good com- promise so there would be at least 15 feet between homes. Frazier agreed with Brittain. He is happy that in the past developers have been willing to work with the city on making sure there is adequate spacing between houses. Setting the rules for zoning is important because if a developer who doesn't want to work with us comes in, there is the base minimum rule that they have to follow. He wants to make sure that there isn't a situation in the future with a developer who does not work with the city on spacing between houses to make more money. He would like there to be a way to word it to make sure that there is at least 15 feet between the houses, either 10 feet and 5 feet, or 7.5 feet and 7.5 feet. He would support that change to the proposed ordinance amendments. Wright asked staff what the Council's sentiments of the Council are on this. Schmitz replied that the Council has seen everything that the Commission has seen, but there was no direct discus- sion related to this particular subject. Johnson asked about language that that has a different rule for new construction versus existing house, such as building something or adding onto their house or garage. These setbacks will apply to every property, not just new builds but also what already exists. Language could be added that says for new construction there has to be an average of 15 feet between houses. She asked for guidance on if setbacks should be different for existing house than for new. Brittain stated he would have some concerns if one neighbor gets to expand and use up the average of 15 feet before the other one does. His intention would be for new construction. With existing homes, you're going to have a problem anyway because you're going to have some with a 5-foot setback, so they'd be nonconforming. He thought the easiest thing to do would be just the 7.5 and 7.5, so it would be guaranteed to end up with 15 feet. Other ways might be more complicated to implement. If it is something along those lines, he would definitely be open to that. He assumed new construction would be the target, not to penalize someone that has a 5-foot yard setback; just to change that side yard to 7.5, then you're guaranteed to have 15 feet between new homes. He asked if that helped, and Johnson replied she thought so. Mrosla stated the existing R-3 Zoning District has a 10-foot setback for the side yard; that could be an easy answer, just to increase it from 7.5 to 10. There are current developments that have the 10 and 5, and they have the 5 and 5 garage setbacks, as Schmitz stated. He recommended we go back to the existing code, where it is 10 and 5, as numerous developments have that stand- ard. Brittain stated that would be reasonable. It meets the intention of not having homes too close; the 7.5 would have been nice for some of the sloped yards as it gives them a little buffer. He felt the challenges that presents itself on potential nonconformance with existing homes outweighs the benefits that you would get out of that. He would be comfortable with just chang- ing the side yard back to 10 for the living area of the dwelling. He understands developers are saying they want these smaller setbacks, so as long as there is that would not be changed later, he would be all right with just changing it back to 10. If they want to have smaller setbacks, go to the R-4 Zoning District, as those are already there; he doesn't have a problem with that as it is higher density. The majority of homes in the city are in the R-3 District, and to not stack them too close together is a benefit. Planning Commission Minutes — Regular Meeting December 19, 2022 Page 4 of 4 Brittain made a motion to approve the Zoning Ordinance recodification with the amend- ment that either the side yard dwelling side go back up to 10 feet or the side yard garage go up to 7.5 feet, at the discretion of staff. Wright seconded. Motion passed unanimously (4-to-0 vote). Stephens made a motion to approve the Zoning Map Amendment. Brittain seconded. Motion passed unanimously (4-to-0 vote). Approval of Planning Commission Minutes of November 28, 2022 Wright made a motion to approve the minutes of the November 28, 2022, Planning Com- mission meeting. Stephens seconded. Motion passed unanimously (4-to-0 vote). Reports 8.1 Recap of December 2022 City Council Meeting Schmitz provided a summary of actions taken at the December 7, 2022, City Council meeting. Thiede noted that the Council approved that a future park would be named the Jack and Marilyn Denzer Park. He thanked the Commissioners for approving the recodification; the pros and cons of the R-3 Zoning District will be discussed further at the Council Meeting. He stated that he agreed with Brittain on the approved change to the setbacks in the R-3 Zoning District, explain- ing that if someone wanted to change something in the future, they could apply for a variance. 8.2 Response to Planning Commission Inquiries None. 8.3 Planning Commission Requests None. Adjournment Wright made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Brittain seconded. Motion passed unani- mously (4-to-0 vote). The meeting was adjourned at 7:47 p.m.