[0:09] **Chris Meyer**: Welcome everyone to the regular meeting for the Minneapolis Planning Commission for March 16th, 2026. I'm Chris Meyer, chair of the commission. At this time, I'll ask the clerk to call the role. [0:22] **Clerk**: Commissioner Baxley? >> **Commissioner Baxley**: Here. >> **Clerk**: Chowry is absent. Connley absent. Garcia? >> **Commissioner Garcia**: Here. >> **Clerk**: Gordon is absent. Jones? [0:32] **Commissioner Jones**: Here. >> **Clerk**: Shepy is absent. Uh Shepard? >> **Commissioner Shepard**: Here. >> **Clerk**: Vice President Wagner is absent and President Meyer? >> **Chris Meyer**: Here. [0:40] **Clerk**: There are five members present. >> **Chris Meyer**: We have a quorum. Uh so first we'll go to the minutes for March 2nd, 2026. Is there a motion to adopt those minutes? [0:54] **Commissioner Garcia**: So moved. >> **Commissioner Jones**: Second. >> **Chris Meyer**: All right. Any discussion? All in favor say I. [0:58] **Commissioners**: I. [1:00] **Chris Meyer**: Opposed? Abstentions? The minutes are adopted. Next, we're going to organize the agenda. I'm going to read through each agenda item. If you came to oppose a staff recommendation, raise your hand when I go through the item. If you came to make neutral or supportive comments about something, you'll have a chance to do that later. So, the ones who are here for the um the street dedication, that'll be um later on if if there's no one objecting to it. Uh so first item number four, 21st Avenue North between Penn Avenue North and Queen Avenue North. Was anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation for item number four? [1:35] **Chris Meyer**: All right, we'll have that on consent. Item number five, 911 Penn Avenue North. Was anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation on that? We have one. So we'll we will discuss item number five. Item number six, 3452 Lindell Avenue South in Ward 10. Was anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation for item number six? So we'll have that on consent. And then number seven, 1109 West River Parkway. Is anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation for item number seven? [2:14] **Chris Meyer**: All right. So we'll have that on consent. And so to review, items four, six, and seven will be on consent, and we will discuss item five. All right. So, I'm going to open uh the public hearing for the consent agenda. Would anyone like to speak to any of the items on here? How many wanted to speak uh to one of the items for the consent agenda? Just two. [2:40] **Clerk**: Two. Okay. >> **Chris Meyer**: Three. I'm sorry. >> **Clerk**: Three. Okay. Great. [2:46] **Chris Meyer**: You can each have two minutes. Oh, okay. >> **Public Speaker**: We just come here? >> **Chris Meyer**: Yep. Introduce yourself and you can have two two minutes to speak to one of the consent items. [3:00] **Alicia Beaks**: Okay. Uh my name is Alicia Beaks and I am here regarding an item—item number four, the renaming of a street or the honorary street name. Uh good afternoon. My name is Alicia. I'm the oldest daughter to Berdell Beaks whom we are here today to request an honorary street name for. May 26th... [cough] May 26, 2026 marks 10 years since our family lost our matriarch. [3:35] **Alicia Beaks**: Excuse me. [snorts] My mother held our family together. She held her immediate community together in North Minneapolis as well. Whether it was hosting a summer backyard barbecue or providing a safe place for a neighborhood child after school, she was always there with open arms. Tragically, on May 16th, 2016, a gunman [snorts] attempting to shoot someone else struck and killed our mother, grandmother, aunt, and friend instead. Berdell succumbed to their injuries and later passed away at the hospital. [4:10] **Alicia Beaks**: [snorts] After her death, our family did everything we could to fight for justice, staying in the news, posting flyers, and organizing community events. We even went so far as writing the White House in anguish over the gun violence, not only in our communities, but communities everywhere. We have received a letter from Barack Obama, which I have with me today. To this day, 21st and Penn Avenue North is where we gather to honor her. On May 26th, the anniversary of her death, [snorts] November 22nd, her birthday, and on Mother's Day, and other very special days, [snorts] this corner has become our space to hold her up and ensure her name and legacy never fades. [4:53] **Alicia Beaks**: We are here today to respectfully ask that you approve this application to honorary name the street after her. We also request that if approved, the sign be placed in time for her 10th anniversary honor passing May 26th. Thank you [snorts] for your time today. [5:09] **Chris Meyer**: Thank you. And next we have Maria Williams. [5:19] **Maria Williams**: Hi there. Thank you for—I'm Maria Williams. Thank you for allowing me to be able to come and speak on behalf of Mama Berdell Beaks and the family. I am a close friend in the family and she meant a lot to all of us. Um, but her presence made you feel like you had known her your whole life. Being around her felt like home. It was familiar, comforting, and it was full of love and hugs so many of us longed for. She had a presence that made you want to be seen and loved by her. You wanted her to like you, to love you, because her love felt safe and steady. Her love reached her grandchildren too, giving them lessons and tools they may never have had God not decided to add a Berdell Beaks to the family. She shaped them, strengthened them, and left a goodness in them that continues today. [6:04] **Maria Williams**: She was a beautiful blessing to all who knew her. Losing her in such a tragic way left a pain that words can't explain. But coming together today to ask that the street where her life was taken be named in her honor is our way of making sure her story, her strength, her love is never forgotten. It is through the love that she gave all of us and shared with us is the reason why we're all here standing in honor of her. Speaking her name, still fighting for her legacy even 10 years later. This is our way of saying her life mattered, that the city will remember her, speak her name, and honor the light she brought into this world. It ensures that the woman who made so many of us want to be seen and loved by her will continue to be seen, remembered, and honored by this community. Thank you. [6:55] **Chris Meyer**: Thank you. Next, we have Anthan Beaks, Senior. [7:07] **Anthan Beaks, Senior**: Good afternoon, everyone. Uh, obviously I um only got two minutes. And I feel like I need about 20 years to be able to express uh exactly what my aunt meant. I am her oldest nephew and um not only what she meant to uh the family, but just kind of echoing what she has meant, you know, to this community. Uh the Beaks legacy as far as being a former police officer. We have family here that's been 911 dispatchers and other things that we have held uh within the city of Minneapolis. [7:54] **Anthan Beaks, Senior**: Um this would be, you know, not only an honor, if you will, to the family, but also to the community because they also uh uh was traumatized, you know, by this whole ordeal. But as my cousin said earlier, this is a location to where we gather uh annually and in other uh parts of the year to be able to honor her and also just continue to pay respect, you know, to this community as well. And um this is something that's um well overdue if you ask me um but also a privilege and we're asking you to be able to um complete this today. Thank you. [8:27] **Chris Meyer**: Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak to any of the consent items? All right, not seeing anyone else. So, we'll close the hearing. Commissioners, is there any discussion about our consent agenda? [8:42] **Commissioner Garcia**: Um, Garcia. [clears throat] Yeah, I would just like to uh say a few words to the people who are here today. Um, thank you for coming and spending your time. It's certainly never an easy thing to kind of revisit the trauma and pain of losing a dear loved one. Um, but thank you for sharing the obvious love not only for your lost relative, but that you still hold for each other and the community and I will be so excited to uh support this for you. Thank you. [9:20] **Chris Meyer**: Thank you, Commissioner Garcia. Commissioner Jones. [9:24] **Commissioner Jones**: Yeah, I just want to echo that sentiment. Thank you for coming out community and I'm looking forward to supporting this. [9:30] **Chris Meyer**: Would anyone like to move adopting the staff recommendations for the consent agenda? [9:37] **Commissioner Garcia**: So moved. >> **Chris Meyer**: Is there [snorts] a second? >> **Commissioner Jones**: Second. >> **Chris Meyer**: All in favor say I. [9:45] **Commissioners**: I. [9:47] **Chris Meyer**: Opposed? Abstentions? That is adopted. Uh good luck with your projects and congratulations on the commemorative name. Next, we'll move to item number five, 911 Penn Avenue North, and staff is Lindsay Silus. [10:07] **Julie Hooker**: Hello. Thank you, council members, and good afternoon. Uh, my name is Julie Hooker, and I am the owner and CEO of Parody Wellness, and I'm here today in regards to a proposal. [10:15] **Chris Meyer**: Sorry, we were going to hear from the staff report first. I'm sorry. I thought I heard you say number five. Sorry. And it looks like... do we have...? Okay. And I think they think that you're opposed to it, but you're in support of it? [10:48] **Julie Hooker**: I'm the one who submitted. >> **Chris Meyer**: Yes. [clears throat] Okay. [10:50] **Lindsay Silus**: Chair Meyer, uh planning commissioners. Um I believe there's been a con—uh just a slight mixup and the uh person who was speaking is uh the applicant and here to support um item number five. So I don't know if we would want to remove this and put this back on the consent agenda or if you would like a presentation. [11:05] **Chris Meyer**: I don't need a presentation but we can just move it as an individual item I think. Would anyone like to move adoption of the staff recommendation for item number five? [11:18] **Commissioner Garcia**: So moved. >> **Commissioner Jones**: Second. [11:21] **Chris Meyer**: All right. Is there any discussion? Right. All in favor say I. [11:27] **Commissioners**: I. [11:29] **Chris Meyer**: Opposed. Abstentions. That is adopted and concludes our business. Our next uh planning commission meeting will be April 6th and there's no committee of the whole this week. We've got Eid on Thursday. Um we did have the annual report for the planning commission. There was some good news in it. Um, we had three times as many units approved last year as we did in 2024. Still way down from where we were in 2022 and 2021, but it's still um some progress. So, that was good to hear. Are there any other updates from staff or commissioners? [12:01] **Lindsay Silus**: Uh, just a quick update on the bath house appeal, which I've talked about, I think, twice. It was uh scheduled to be in front of the city council committee of the whole last week or the week before I was on vacation. So anyway, it was it was withdrawn at the last minute. So it sounds like the applicant intends to comply with the planning commission's uh action on that item and meet the window requirements. [12:30] **Chris Meyer**: Did we get any indication of why they withdrew their appeal? [12:34] **Lindsay Silus**: I think just they intend to meet the window requirements. I haven't had a full uh debrief with the staff member assigned to that one since I got back from vacation, but good outcome. [12:42] **Chris Meyer**: Anyone else? All right, seeing no one else, we are adjourned.