Even with the Minnesota state law, you know, >> call to order for the regular meeting of the planning commission September 4th, 2025. >> Max, roll call, please. Chair, thanks. Chair Pearson >> here. Willenbring >> here. >> Campbell >> present. >> Data is absent. Moli is uh inform me that he would not be able to make it tonight. Shaba >> present. and Wilson >> here. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. The pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Approval of the agenda. Do anyone have any additions or changes they might wish to make? >> Nope. >> Sir, seeing none, I will ask for motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any oppose? Motion passes. Approval of minutes. We have none. So we'll quickly go on to open forum. Uh time. Anyone who wishes to make comment that is not on the agenda, uh please come forward. You have you could have three minutes to speak. I'll offer it one more time. If there's anybody who wishes to come forward for open forum to make comment on something not on the agenda, please come forward. Seeing none, we'll move on to uh no old business, but to new business. A public hearing. Carpenter uh 2954 Granada Lane North conditional use permit for an oversized accessory structure. If you will. >> Yep. Thank you, chair, and good evening. Uh tonight we have a request at 2954 Granada Lane North for a conditional use permit for an oversized accessory structure. The zoning here is R2 lowdensity residential where single family homes are permitted to have one garage and one shed or accessory structure by right and additional structures are permitted via the conditional use permit process. Here the applicant is seeking to add a new garage or workshop building to the back of the lot. The property as a whole is approximately 0.4 acres in size and contains a single family home with an attached garage. Here we have the applicant site plan for the accessory building. The applicant plans to use the garage primarily for storage and as a workshop for hobby projects. The garage would be located in the rightmost corner of the backyard which is located on the eastern most portion of the lot. Uh based on the provided plans, the applicant appears to be meeting the setback requirements of the R2 district for accessory buildings of 5 ft. Additionally, the applicant has stated that the garage would not exceed height limits, which can also be verified at the building permit stage. As a reminder, conditional use permits are subject to certain review criteria found in the city's ordinance. Here's a quick summary of the review criteria that we must use in our evaluation. Compliance with the comprehensive plan, compatibility of the use with zoning, no nuisance effects generated, no traffic congestion or parking issues, the use must be adequately served by public services, no excessive costs incurred for public services and infrastructure um and minimal impacts to the environment or national natural features. Generally, staff finds that the conditional use permit review criteria has been satisfied as detailed in the staff report on file. Staff is recommending approval of this request subject to the following conditions. The applicant shall obtain a building permit. The garage shall meet setback and height requirements and the garage shall not exceed 900 square ft in size. As a reminder, uh this is a public hearing and the applicant is here with us in attendance. So with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions on this request. >> Thank you. Does anyone have any questions for Max? >> Not at this time. >> No. >> No. >> Then I'll offer for the applicant to come forward to make comment if they wish. >> So I have a question. >> State state your name and uh address for the record, please. >> So my name is Andrea Carpenter from 2954 Granada North. I'm the applicant and I do have a question about the height requirements. I'm just wondering what I don't think I saw anything about what they are just to make sure that we are within the limits of that. >> Y >> I can answer that. Um so any openings are generally required to be no higher than 10 ft whether that's the door garage door if you're going to have a garage door. Um, I believe it's 20 ft for the R2 district on accessory buildings, but I need to verify that and I can send a follow-up email in the next few days. >> Okay, great. Thank you. And that was all I had. So, >> okay. And we have a question for her. >> That was one of my questions is how tall it was going to be. >> Well, we were thinking about 13 feet at the most. So, >> and what is your intended materials >> for the outside of for the exterior? Um, I'm thinking, well, we haven't gotten quotes yet, but I'm thinking wood like the We had a shed before and it was made out of wood, like a stick built. >> So, like a any windows or anything like that on this? >> Yes, windows. And then garage door. And then the outside will be siding that matches the house or >> like a traditional vinyl siding or like a Hardy board or something like that. >> Yes. Okay. Yeah. >> Anyone else? >> How long do you think it will take to put up this structure? >> You know, I'm not sure because we have to um I wanted to wait till it's approved, of course, and then we need to get concrete. Oh, that would be the first thing to be done and then we're having someone build it. Oh, because it would take way too long for us to do it. So, I'm I would like to get it done before November, but we'll see what the schedule is like. Okay, any last minute questions? Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Uh now for the public hearing. Uh open the public hearing for comment on this. Typically limited to about three minutes, but anyone wishing to make comment, please come forward. Hi, how are you guys doing? The reason I'm here is because >> name and address. >> My name is Emily Millis. I live at 3013 Green Avenue North. So, this structure will be directly out our windows. My concern isn't about the building itself. It's about the use of the building. If it's going to be a garage, I'm not as concerned. If it's a workshop, I want to know how much it's going to be used and how much noise it's going to be adding to the area and how they're planning to deal with debris they have from that cuz that section of our neighborhood likes to burn their extra stuff and it's a lot to deal with in the spring. So, and if they're going to be using it as a workshop, are they going to have dampening of sound or anything? because it can get really loud when somebody's doing sawing, things like that out there. So, those are just some of our concerns. Thanks, guys. >> Would like to come up and address it? >> All right. >> To to the microphone for the record. >> All right. So, we do plan on having it as soundproof as possible because we know know people don't like a lot of noise in the neighborhood. So, and my son will mainly be using it as a workshop part and you know we'll keep it as quiet as possible. >> So, when you say like 900 feet is a big structure, >> right? >> You know, we we allow up to 200. you're 4x that four and a half. So that's I mean part of my concern is like it's a large structure. Um how and it's I'm a little concerned because it sounds like kind of your idea is not very clear yet. You're you're feels like you maybe have put the cart before the horse a little bit, right? you're trying to get the approval, but you're not quite sure what we're going to, you know, what you're going to planning to build there. Um, so with respect to this, you know, sheds typically uninsulated, unfinished on the inside. Are you planning to, you know, insulate this? Is you planning to put sheetrock up? Is this going to be heated? I think there was some comments or some notes in here that you plan to plum this. Um, so is there, you know, is there a long-term plan for this to be a a additional dwelling unit on the property? >> No, not dwelling. And the plumbing is just for a sink like to wash hands basically to wash up. >> Okay. >> So, and it will be insulated and and we want the walls finished. >> Recognize that it's not supposed to be for a business. >> No. What what types of endeavors will your son be using it as a workshop for? Woodworking, car repair or something? >> Yes. So, he's refinishing it or redoing a car right now, a little one. And it's in our regular garage, but he like to move it to the other structure just so it's out of the way more. And then he tinkers with stuff. He likes to do some woodworking every now and then. So, things like that. So, when we talk woodworking, again, I'm just trying to help put into context like how big we're talking about. You know, we've had folks come through with >> CPS and they're they're wood workshops like that's what they do. You know, it's big equipment and and things like this or is that what you're talking about or No, >> maybe you can describe that a little more. >> More like hobbies like he's built tables before and things like that. not no big equipment. For one thing, I don't want to buy that. So, so any other questions? Thank you. >> All right. >> So, before I close the public hearing, does anyone else have comments they wish to make during the public hearing? >> Hi. Uh Eric Millis uh same address 313 green. So I don't know if you can put the uh the drawing back up, but the um the shed that exists there. So right now it's it's like a soft shed. I think that was the previous slide. Yeah. The the star that says existing shed. That's that's like 4x4 or 5x5, right? It's it's it's at most 25 square ft. So we were wondering initially whether this would be like I don't know 10 by 10. So 30 by 30 is is quite a large structure. Um this is kind of a treed backyard type area that's sort of common between all the surrounding homes. Um and and as mentioned it's kind of like the where everybody has all their fire pits are all kind of centered around. So I I you know just sort of to reiterate it's like if if woodworking is one of the primary functions then it's like if is it producing a lot of scrap and then is the scrap intended to um to be burned. So it's it's kind of the the size difference from from 25 square feet now to 900 is is quite a lot. Um, and I I guess 13 feet if that's outer wall or it's 13 feet to the peak of the roof. I don't know. So anyway, that's kind of >> that'll be for Max, but I'm guessing it's peak of the roof. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Okay. Final call. Any others for comment? [Music] So we don't plan to burn a lot of things. So that's I know that's a concern. So if there is scrap wood or anything like that, we could dispose of it differently. So and the 13 ft. Yeah, that is for the ceiling. >> Yeah. >> And 30 by 30 is the max. I'm not sure if we'll go that big. I think the the challenge with that though is a a conditional use permit runs with the land. So if you move and somebody else moves in and let's say you build a 12 x 12, they have the right to tear that down and put a 30 by 30 in. >> So that's kind of what we have to plan for is >> it's going to be that size structure. >> Okay. Okay, thank you. >> So, see no other co further comments, I will close the public hearing, bring it back. Any final questions from the uh commissioners? >> Max, when this comes in for a building permit, does that route through plan? I presume it routes through planning and you're looking at applicability to the underlying zoning and making those approvals even though we don't know what any of that is >> right now. Commissioner, that would be correct. Um, when we receive a building permit, we're usually receiving a much more detailed document, uh, in which our building official or residential inspector would take a look at and make sure it's up to international building code as well as our engineering team. Um, other steps in the process when we receive the permit through our software. Generally, uh, myself, I would check for imperous surface limit. um materials. We don't regulate materials in the same way for single family. Um generally the class one material requirements uh that come up quite a bit in planning commission are relegated to commercial and industrial structures and multif family. Um but in terms of like vinyl, a lot of that or the siding that does come with building code. So that's something we would check as well. Uh generally we look for a higher level of detail than we do with some of these permits which just enable the use rather than have all the details necessarily for the structure. Any further questions? Then I look for a motion to recommend approval of the conditional use permit for an oversized accessory structure with conditions at 2954 Granada Lane North. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Nay. >> One opposed. Uh, okay. Motion passes. Moving on to the Energy Conservatory, 403 Hayward Avenue North, a site plan amendment. Max, >> thank you, chair. Uh, the location of this request is 403 Hayward Avenue North. Uh, this is a building currently owned by the Energy Conservatory, uh, and is just east of the new 4th Street Bridge over 694. The zoning here is B3 light industrial and the purpose here is the energy conservatory is seeking approval for a site plan amendment which would allow a 3,525 ft addition to their existing building. The addition would be used as a training center for participants to learn how to perform energy audits, weatherization techniques, and building testing technologies. Per the city code, a site plan amendment is required when the building footprint is changed by more than 10%. Uh the existing building is approximately 25,000 square ft in size. Uh which leads to the requirement then for the site plan amendment here and this addition would be added to the southeast corner of the building which is presently some turf and green space as well as parking lot. Per the comp plan. Uh this project this property is guided industrial office uh where this is a permitted use. Here we have the site plan for the applicant. Uh in general, no new accesses are being proposed. There's currently two on the site. In the addition would replace a portion of the existing turf and parking lot. Uh the existing parking for this site is 97 spaces. As part of the addition, four would be removed, uh, bringing us to 93 spaces, which does exceed the city's requirement of 69 spaces. >> As an industrial building, at least 50% of the addition would be required to consist of class one materials. The addition, as shown, has a lot of glass and brick veneer, uh, which do meet the requirement. No new freestanding lights in the parking lot are proposed and trash is currently handled internally and the applicant has stated it would continue to be so. Uh for landscaping, less than 25% of the trees on site would be disturbed by the addition. Uh meaning that the tree preservation ordinance is not prompted by this request and replacement would not be required uh given the level of disturbance. And setbacks for this district are 20 ft for buildings from the property line and 5 ft for parking lots. Uh based on the provided plans, this appears to be met. Here we have a rendering of the building facing east which shows the general material makeup of the addition. And here we have a 3D rendering of the building shown facing southeast. Uh one note on some additional information we received since the staff report was written. Uh there will be no new rooftop utility units on the addition according to the applicant and the building will have a parapet as a result. Uh screening of rooftop utilities is not expected to be an issue with the site plan and can be verified again at the building permit stage. In the current staff report, it was listed as something that we'd like to see additional information on. Staff finds generally that this request complies with the zoning ordinance subject to certain conditions being met. Staff is recommending approval of the site plan amendment subject to the following conditions. Approval of the site civil construction plans by the city engineer. Providing details on the methods of screening for any rooftop utilities. Permits and approvals must be obtained from all applicable outside government agencies. And proof of approvals must be provided to the city as a site plan amendment. This is not a public hearing. Uh but the applicant I believe is here in attendance. Uh if the commission has any questions. So with that, I'd be happy to take any questions as staff. And thank you. >> Thank you, Max. Anyone have any questions for Max? Okay. Would the applicant like to come forward for any comment? >> It's not required, but >> yeah, I think you know you've read the Sorry. So, I'm Bill Greyber. I'm one of the owners. Steve Rogers, our other owner, is here. And yeah, the narrative that you read is really a good description of, you know, what we're trying to do with the space. >> Okay. Anyone have any questions for the applicants? >> I I have one. >> Okay. Um more curious on like why are you building closer to the road versus I mean you have space relatively the same size in the northeast corner. Um I'm just curious if there was any thought to that. >> Um yeah I think uh when we looked at the amount of space uh and what we're doing with it it's a training center. There's an existing training center that this will connect to that's already inside the building in that corner. >> Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you. >> Any other questions for him? Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Any final questions? >> Then I look for a motion to to recommend approval of the site plan amendment at 403 Hayward Avenue North. >> Some move. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Anyone opposed? Motion passes. Uh staff leaison update. I do have a few updates for tonight. Um, in general, we can expect a October meeting. Um, it's possible we might have some um, ordinance amendments, but we have to have some additional conversations with that. Uh, but we are expecting a meeting um, with the two items at the last planning commission, the Eard Hard Farm Centra Homes project and 9inth Street Landing. I have a couple of updates on that. Generally with both projects, uh we've recommended that the applicants, uh take a step back and then have meetings with the community. Um so they I believe both have had community engagement meetings with 9inth Street Landing. Um they're exploring some ideas for additional buffer space as uh that was one of the concerns that came up and it's expected that that may go to council in the second meeting of September. Um, we we have not seen any updated plans for Sentra Homes and currently the staff does not have a targeted date with city council for a final decision. Um, one other update in the next few weeks, we are expecting Mana Brewing to open up in the Norheart building in that second mixeduse commercial space. So, there may be additional announcements on that. And with that, I'd be happy to take any questions with developments, past items, or anything on your mind. Any questions from Max further? Thank you. Commissioner updates. Anyone have any updates that they wish to put forward? Seeing none, councilison. Good evening, everybody. Uh just a just a couple of quick things for you. Council's been working on uh wrapping up our preliminary budget levy for 2026. That's a lot of work if you're ever been involved with that. So, but we're wrapping it up and it's looking pretty good for us. So, um that's what council's been busy with. Just a couple events I'd make note of and in the city on Saturday the 13th, uh family fun inflatables event here at Walton Park. That's great fun for the kids. There'll be concessions and there are stuff there. So, encourage you to check that out. And then also on the 20th of September is the citywide cleanup. This is the second year now we've been doing this. They used to do it years ago. It's an opportunity for folks to get rid of some of the stuff they need to get rid of. So, it's hell at public works and it's a good opportunity to get rid of get rid of stuff. So, any questions for me? >> Great. Thank you very much. >> At that point, I look for a motion to adjurnn. >> So, move second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. We are adjourned. That's why you're there.