Based on the context provided and the flow of the meeting, here is the transcribed text with speaker names identified. [0:03] **Chair Pearson**: Call to order for the regular meeting of the Planning Commission, Oakdale Planning Commission. Luke, you have the roll call, please? [0:08] **Luke McClanahan**: Yes. Pearson? [0:10] **Chair Pearson**: Here. [0:11] **Luke McClanahan**: Willenbring? [0:15] **Commissioner Willenbring**: Here. [0:16] **Luke McClanahan**: Campbell is absent. Stolarski? [0:18] **Commissioner Stolarski**: Here. [0:19] **Luke McClanahan**: Moli? [0:19] **Commissioner Moli**: Here. [0:20] **Luke McClanahan**: Di? [0:20] **Commissioner Di**: Here. [0:21] **Luke McClanahan**: And Hagen is also absent. [0:24] **Chair Pearson**: Thank you very much. Pledge of Allegiance. [0:28] **Group**: 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. [0:44] **Chair Pearson**: Okay, uh, for approval of the agenda, does anyone have any changes? [0:47] **Commissioner Stolarski**: Move to approve. [0:48] **Commissioner Willenbring**: Second. [0:49] **Chair Pearson**: All those in favor? [0:50] **Commissioners**: Aye. [0:51] **Chair Pearson**: Opposed? Thank you. Approval of the minutes. Does anyone have any changes to note for the minutes? [0:57] **Commissioner Moli**: Move to approve. [0:58] **Commissioner Di**: Second. [0:59] **Chair Pearson**: All those in favor? [1:00] **Commissioners**: Aye. [1:01] **Chair Pearson**: Any opposed? Thank you very much, they're approved as presented. Uh, we have an open forum right now. Open forum is the time when anyone in the audience can come forward to make comments, hopefully geared towards the agenda, but uh, limit them to a few minutes and if you could limit any repetitive nature to them, it'd be appreciated. But if anyone wishes to come forward to speak, please do. I'll offer once again, anyone wishing to come forward to speak for the open forum, please come forward. Seeing none, I close the open forum. Uh, old business: the approval of the 2024 Planning Commission work plan. Luke? [1:53] **Luke McClanahan**: So yes, recall that at the February Planning Commission meeting, there was a discussion with the city council at that appreciation dinner where we talked about the work plan. I—no changes were made or no changes were recommended at the appreciation dinner, and then the city council also discussed the work plan at their February 13th Workshop. They did not recommend any changes. And just a reminder that the work plan helps guide the commission with their work throughout the uh, the year, and uh, State Statute really defines your role. Um, I don't think there's anything too surprising in that work plan in terms of what the expectations are, but if you have any questions, please let me know. [2:33] **Chair Pearson**: Anyone have any questions? Uh, does this one require an approval so a vote is taken? [2:35] **Luke McClanahan**: Yes, this one. [2:36] **Chair Pearson**: Okay, we have a motion to approve? [2:36] **Commissioner Stolarski**: So move. [2:37] **Commissioner Willenbring**: Second. [2:38] **Chair Pearson**: All those in favor? [2:39] **Commissioners**: Aye. [2:40] **Chair Pearson**: Anyone opposed? Thank you. Motion passes as presented. Business: public hearing for Mi Lee, 4423 Helena Way North, on a conditional use permit for home occupation hair salon. Luke, your report? [3:01] **Luke McClanahan**: Thank you. Yes, as you mentioned Mr. Chair, the address of this property is 4423 Helena Way. Uh, just for reference, this site is located north of the Willowbrook neighborhood, so Willowbrook is just off the map to the south. The zoning for this particular property is R4, that's mid-density residential where home occupations are allowed through the conditional use permit process. So the purpose of this request is to enable the property owner to operate a residential salon within their house. So some details on this request: the homeowner will be the sole employee for the business, they will be serving one to two customers per day, hours of operation are 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and then 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and this is by appointment only. Reportedly there's enough off-street parking for up to six vehicles on the property. And I'll just walk through some of the details here on the screen. I know it's very difficult to see just based on the size of uh, the image there, um, but the top image is the main floor of the house, so customers would walk through the main entrance and then there's the staircase where my cursor is. And then moving to the bottom image here, bottom left-hand image, that's the basement where the operations will actually occur. So here's that staircase, there's a reception area here, and then the actual salon where the cursor is. There's a dedicated bathroom and then a storage area. In the bottom right-hand corner is, as you can see, a street view of the property, and as you can see, there's uh, what appears to be sufficient room for parking, making sure that vehicles are not obstructing the street. Staff finds that this conditional use permit request meets the city's zoning review criteria as detailed in the staff report on file, and just to summarize some key points: the use appears in compliance with the city's zoning regulations; the use should not impact nearby property or cause environmental problems; the use will be adequately served by public services; the applicant must obtain a valid license with the Minnesota Board of Cosmetology; hours of operations will also be limited. So staff recommends approval of this request subject to certain conditions being met, and I will summarize those. So if you're following along in the packet, this is on page 17. The resolution—bear with me—there's six conditions here. The first one is that hours of operation for the use shall be from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Sunday through Saturday. Parking for the use shall be conducted in a manner that does not obstruct the right-of-way. Number three, no more than one outside worker shall be employed for the use. Number four, all signage must comply with the city's ordinance requirements. Number five, the applicant shall maintain a valid license with the State Board of Cosmetology. And number six, the applicant shall meet all regulations set by the State Board of Cosmetology for residential salons. Just a reminder this is a public hearing. I believe the applicant is here in attendance and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you. [6:15] **Chair Pearson**: Anyone have any questions for Luke? [6:16] **Commissioner Willenbring**: How does the city plan to keep up on their license to make sure it's current? Are we going to require them to submit it every year? [6:23] **Luke McClanahan**: Uh, currently we don't have a process in terms of just making sure, but I mean if they're if they're out of compliance with the State Board of Cosmetology, you know, we would look to the state to enforce that. I mean, we just simply don't have the capacity to kind of cross-check everything with the state. [6:49] **Commissioner Willenbring**: Yes, yeah. [6:50] **Commissioner Moli**: Yeah, I um—the question, how—I'm assuming this is a residential neighborhood, right? [6:55] **Luke McClanahan**: Correct, yes. [6:56] **Commissioner Moli**: So uh, can customers walk in? Is it by appointment? [7:02] **Luke McClanahan**: So as stated in the applicant's narrative, it's—it's by appointment only. So and you know, I—I would also defer to the applicant in terms of how the operations actually look like. [7:14] **Commissioner Moli**: No, that'd be good because um, if I—I drove in, apparently they're allowed to have signage, right? That says this is the operation. [7:26] **Luke McClanahan**: Yes. [7:27] **Commissioner Moli**: Can somebody just driving by look at it and just kind of walk in and say, "Can I walk in?" Um, or would they be turned down to say, "Call this number and make an appointment" type? [7:38] **Luke McClanahan**: Well yeah, just given the capacity here—there's only the one employee, um, very minimal service, one to two customers per day—you know, I would think that, you know, this would be very much appointment-driven. But again, I would look to the applicant for some more detail. [8:00] **Chair Pearson**: Thank you. As a side note, I don't think you put any comments about the signage in the report, but the signage is a fairly small sign that can go on the side of the house or is it on the...? [8:13] **Luke McClanahan**: Mr. Chair, it's yeah, completely up to the applicant in terms of the location, but they would just have to meet the size requirements of the signage um, that's listed in the ordinance. [8:24] **Chair Pearson**: Other questions for Luke? I'll open the public forum uh, where the applicant may come forward if they wish to make comment. Would the applicant like to come forward and make any comments? [8:44] **Applicant (Mi Lee)**: We have no comments. [8:45] **Chair Pearson**: No? Okay, thank you. Would anybody else like to make any comments before we close the public forum? Okay, close the public forum. Bring it back to the commission for discussion. And uh, none, then I would call for a vote. [9:12] **Commissioner Stolarski**: I have a follow-up. If the business is intended for people that call in by appointment, why would the sign be necessary? [9:20] **Luke McClanahan**: So yeah, Commissioner, there's—there's really no um, requirement that the applicant even have signage there. So it's totally at their discretion if they want the signage; they just need to make sure that they're in compliance with uh, the city ordinance. [9:36] **Commissioner Stolarski**: Okay, thank you. [9:41] **Commissioner Di**: Mike, is there a requirement how many people can come per day? She's saying one to two people a day, but say there's 20? Does that matter? It's a one-person shop, I get that, no I truly get that, but there's no requirement stating how many or how little, is that correct? [9:54] **Luke McClanahan**: No, the only requirements that we have is it's restricted—the home occupation is restricted to up to one outside employee. So I guess however many people they can, you know, with up to two employees total... [10:14] **Commissioner Di**: Up to two employees? Okay. [10:15] **Luke McClanahan**: I suppose if they can uh, provide services to 20 people a day, that's pretty impressive between 8:00 and 2:00 and 4:00 and 8:00 and on Saturdays and Sundays. [10:24] **Commissioner Di**: With two seats, they are only having two chairs? Yeah. Well, if they're cutting my hair, it's not bad, you know. (Laughs) [10:34] **Chair Pearson**: Anyone else have any questions or comments? No? Then I would ask for a motion. [10:35] **Commissioner Stolarski**: I will make a motion to recommend approval of the conditional use permit for a home occupation hair salon at 4423 Helena Way North. [10:41] **Commissioner Willenbring**: Second. [10:42] **Chair Pearson**: All those in favor? [10:43] **Commissioners**: Aye. [10:44] **Chair Pearson**: Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you very much. Next is a public hearing for Don Hendricks, 4030 Granada Avenue North, on a conditional use permit for a second garage. Luke? [10:55] **Luke McClanahan**: Thank you. So the location of this site is—it's a property at the Northwest Quadrant of Granada Avenue and 40th Street. So it's difficult to see here on the property, but there are actually two accesses to the site: so there's one off 40th and then there's one off Granada. The purpose of this request is to allow a second detached garage on the property. The zoning for the site is R2, that's low-density housing where a second garage may be allowed through the conditional use permit process. And just for reference, the property is just under 2 acres in size. Some details here on the request: the applicant again is proposing a second detached garage uh, not to exceed 1,000 square feet in size. And I'll just walk you through this image here again. This one's a little difficult to see on the screen, but where my cursor is, that's the house. I should back up—here's 40th Street just on the south side, and then on the east side of the property is Granada. So there's an existing dwelling, there is an existing detached garage here where my cursor is. Um, the applicant indicated that this structure is no longer there, which was closer to the Granada Avenue side, and then the proposed garage is where my cursor is here, closer to 40th Street. So staff finds that this conditional use permit request meets the city's zoning review criteria as detailed in the staff report. And again, I just want to summarize some some key points here: the use appears to be in compliance with the city's zoning regulation; the use should not impact nearby property or cause environmental issues; the use will be adequately served by public services; the structure will not be pole barn type construction as stated in the narrative by the applicant; and the use will be residential in nature and no commercial or industrial activities are stated to occur within that structure. So staff recommends approval of this request subject to uh, three conditions in the resolution. So if you're following along in the packet, that's—I'm on page 25. So the first condition is that the garage shall meet setback and height requirements. Uh, just for reference along 40th Street, that structure just needs to be a minimum of 30 feet away from that front property line. Number two, the garage shall not exceed 1,000 square feet. And then three, a building permit must be obtained for the use. And again, this is another public hearing item. The applicant is here in attendance if you have questions, and I'd be happy to answer questions as well. Thank you. [13:31] **Chair Pearson**: Thank you, Luke. Does anyone have any questions for Luke? [13:34] **Commissioner Moli**: No question, this is at the northwest quadrant? Yeah, northwest corner. Yes. I'm on Granada kind of close to that property, I think it's it's a very nice property, I like it. Yeah, I ride my bike by most of the time. [13:51] **Chair Pearson**: Any other questions? Then I'll open the public forum on the public hearing for Don Hendricks, 4030 Granada Avenue North, conditional use permit. Is anyone in the audience who wishes to come forth to speak? I do have a couple of questions for the applicant, uh, based on the fact that I drove by there. There are two existing buildings that Luke didn't mention in his report—one's on the diagram, it's a small building at the north edge, there's also another small one that I'm guessing you're going to have to take out when you put in this garage. If you could come forward to speak at the microphone, please, and state your name and address. [14:38] **Don Hendricks**: Don Hendricks, 4030 Granada Avenue. I believe the location of the garage we're looking to put up will be closer to Granada... so the smaller the smaller building that I think you're talking about um, wouldn't need to be removed. It's right—the one that's right behind a clump of trees? [14:59] **Chair Pearson**: Three or four trees? [15:02] **Don Hendricks**: Yeah, there's yeah, a few pine trees and a couple maybe an oak or two there, but um, that one should be—should be out of the way by several feet. Um, if that's—so I mean the other one will be closer to the street after, you know, just kind of surveying and myself measuring and stuff. [15:23] **Chair Pearson**: Okay, so it'll be right just off the street like? [15:24] **Don Hendricks**: Yeah, it'll be closer to 40th. [15:26] **Commissioner Stolarski**: So there—how many outbuildings there? There will be four detached buildings beside the house? So isn't there an ordinance against—we can only have like two at the most? [15:37] **Luke McClanahan**: So the ordinance is that you can have a garage, just one garage that's either attached or detached, and then you get one accessory structure up to—it really depends on the zoning district, so it could be like up to 200 feet for example for an accessory structure. But anything beyond that would require a CUP. In this case, we looked back at uh, some aerial photos—that structure that the chair is referencing, that's been there for for years. So we just don't have record of of how that got approved, and and just to be clear, it is separate from this request. We could we could address it through another um, through another mechanism, but but this would not be the mechanism to do so. [16:16] **Chair Pearson**: Yeah, I more just wanted to have it recorded that there was—it was existing so that in the future it wouldn't necessarily be required to be torn down. Anyone else have any questions? [16:29] **Commissioner Moli**: Just um, just curiosity—there used to be a camper that would park like a silver camper... I'm sorry, did you just buy the house? [16:47] **Don Hendricks**: Uh, in September. [16:48] **Commissioner Moli**: Yes, okay so yeah, okay. There used to be a camper that would park in the driveway. [16:53] **Don Hendricks**: Oh okay, yeah. It's an old-looking camper, very nice. [17:02] **Commissioner Moli**: Okay yeah, but for some in sometime it disappeared. So maybe that's when you you bought it? [17:06] **Don Hendricks**: Yeah, I don't know. Kevin had it? [17:08] **Commissioner Moli**: Kevin did? Okay. All right, never mind. Thank you. [17:15] **Chair Pearson**: Other questions? Okay. Anyone else in the audience—do you have any comments you'd like to make? [17:21] **Don Hendricks**: No, thank you. [17:22] **Chair Pearson**: Anyone else in the audience who wishes to make comment on this issue? Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing. Bring it back to the commission. Any final comments? Then I would ask for a motion. [17:34] **Commissioner Stolarski**: I will make a motion to recommend approval of the conditional use permit for an additional garage at 4030 Granada Avenue North. [17:41] **Commissioner Willenbring**: Second. [17:42] **Chair Pearson**: All those in favor? [17:43] **Commissioners**: Aye. [17:44] **Chair Pearson**: Any opposed? Motion passes then. Thank you very much. Uh, any staff liaison reports? [17:45] **Luke McClanahan**: Just a few updates. So for the April Planning Commission meeting, we have one conditional use permit on file, and then we have some trainings lined up. The first training will be for Robert's Rules, and then a Planning Commission specific training held by—or hosted by Stantech, the one that we received roughly about two years ago or so. So those trainings are coming next month. May 7th—hold that date—um, that's when we plan to host our development bus tour, and that's where we drive around the city showcasing some of the new projects and being able to actually get eyes on some of those sites. Um, and then July Planning Commission meeting—that uh, we're planning on moving that date to the 11th due to the holiday, if that's acceptable to the commission. So it'd be the week after when we typically meet. [19:07] **Chair Pearson**: July 4th is on the Thursday. [19:09] **Luke McClanahan**: Um, July 4th is a Thursday, yes. [19:16] **Commissioner Stolarski**: Got a question. I can't plan that far ahead—are those are those mandatory training? [19:20] **Luke McClanahan**: You know, certainly as a city we we would like you to attend. I mean, that's you know, resources, money spent for the trainers, um, and then just the expectation that you'll you'll also be here at the April Planning Commission meeting. But if you have, you know, if you have a conflict, maybe there's something that staff could do to try to get the trainings if you're unable to attend that meeting. So thank you. [20:00] **Chair Pearson**: Any questions from his report? Uh, anybody have any commissioner updates? No? On to council liaison. Mayor Zabel, do you have any comments for us? [20:05] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: I certainly do. Thank you, Mr. Chair and Commissioners. I'm filling in for Council Member Ingerbritsen tonight—as far as I know, he's at the hockey tournament, so lucky him. So um, yeah, just a couple updates from the City Council. Obviously, development is robust in Oakdale right now. Um, in the Willowbrook neighborhood, um, some things of note—uh, you know, you've probably seen the Roers development going up on the corner of 694 and 40th Street, it's the apartment building and the townhomes. Um, the City Council joined members of the Chamber and the developers last January and broke ground on that, and they have tenants or um, people moving in, new residents in Oakdale. So um, they moved at lightning speed and we're very excited to welcome those uh, new residents to our community. Um, for those interested, that neighborhood is or that property is called the Espen Residences. So um, I believe they have a little more work to do on the apartments, but uh, I can't imagine that's going to take much much time at all. So um, we also found out that Aldi and Starbucks have pulled their building permits, um, so they will be breaking ground on those two new businesses uh, next month I believe. So they will be going in just north of County 14, south of the Forefront campus, so we look forward to welcoming them to Oakdale as well. Um, last little tidbit for the Willowbrook neighborhood: um, at our next City Council meeting, we'll be approving the construction contract for the Central Park uh, in the Willowbrook neighborhood. So we know that's been kind of a long process; we worked uh, very hard to get community feedback on the amenities that are going into that that park. And so all the pieces are falling into place and we're ready to sign the last contract and get that work done, and the timeline looks like it'll be open yet this year, so later this year. So that'll be exciting. Um, one last tidbit of uh, uh, information: if you've driven up Granada Avenue south of County 14 lately, you've probably seen a lot of activity at what will be the new Public Works campus site. So 32nd Street and Granada. Um, the City Council approved the tree variance uh, for 3M, so they got the trees cleared out on that site and now they're working on soil remediation. So um, they are working in earnest and uh, the city anticipates we'll be doing a groundbreaking there uh, either this spring or early summer. So the Public Works campus project is moving forward uh, and we're excited to see that happening. So that's about it. A lot of development. Oh, I should say the last thing I'll note is the 4th Street bridge is gone. So um, the Gold Line BRT project took down the old 4th Street bridge about a week or two ago um, and crews are out there working on getting the new bridge up, which we expect will be up uh, at the end of this year. So it'll be nice to get that connection back open in our community, but um, definitely a new bridge was needed um, including a bridge with dedicated pedestrian space. So people will no longer have to walk in the road, which is always a good thing. So we are excited to get that open as well. Lots happening, but I am happy to answer any questions. [23:09] **Chair Pearson**: Well, the only question I've got is when they took down the bridge they closed the highway for two weekends. Do you happen to know—have they made any comments about what's going to happen during the building of it? Will they be closing it during that? [23:25] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: If it—if it's anything like the Helmo andberg bridge, I'm guessing a lot of the pieces will be assembled off-site and then we'll probably have a weekend closure and they'll just kind of slide it into place. Um, that seems to be the model that MnDOT uses these days to limit disruptions. Um, so we're hoping that is definitely the the plan of attack for 4th Street also. It's a smaller bridge than the the Helmo andberg um, one was, so hopefully the disruptions are kept to a minimum. But I think residents should expect that there will be, you know, intermittent weekend closures. [23:54] **Commissioner Stolarski**: Any questions for Mayor Zabel? What's the timeline to get streetlights in on 4th and Helmo? You heading into the bridge, you drive through that at night and it's—with the construction cones up and no lights, it's—it's sort of a scary mess. [24:14] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: It can be, yeah. So uh, it all depends on where—you know, so the bridge is owned, I believe it's currently owned by MnDOT. I think they're trying to get counties to take control of it; I think they want to look at Woodbury to take some control of it... [24:34] **Commissioner Stolarski**: Mainly the street on our side, yeah, from the building up to 4th Avenue. That's dark, dark, dark in there. [24:40] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Up to 4th Street, yeah. Um, my best guess would be that we probably won't be putting streetlights in until that development is completed around there. So um, I know uh, Impact Department or Northland is the developer of the current high-rise down there, um, they have the parcel to the south, I think they're still doing a little bit to the east—I'm looking at Luke there—um, so they're working a lot there. And then there's two more parcels I believe going north that will be developed. So you know, the city will wait to do trail infrastructure and lighting until those construction crews have kind of cleared out. So a little bit—a little bit of time yet, but beware. [25:22] **Commissioner Stolarski**: Yes. [25:23] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Mike, did you have something? Okay. Any other questions? All right, thanks everybody. [25:26] **Chair Pearson**: Thank you very much, Mayor Zabel. I would request adjournment then. [25:31] **Commissioner Stolarski**: So moved. [25:32] **Commissioner Willenbring**: Second. [25:33] **Chair Pearson**: All those in favor? [25:34] **Commissioners**: Aye. [25:35] **Chair Pearson**: Any opposed? We are adjourned.