Based on the context provided and the content of the meeting, here is the transcribed townhall with speaker names added. **Note on Identifications:** * **Chris Meyer** is the President/Chair of the Planning Commission. * **Kimberly Holien** (referred to as "Kimberly" or "Kim") is the Planning Manager/Staff lead. * **Margie Pierce** is the applicant for Fellowship Soberhouse. * **Lynn Barnhouse** is the public speaker. * **Commissioners** were identified via the roll call and subsequent dialogue. *** [0:08] **President Chris Meyer:** Welcome everyone to the regular meeting for the Minneapolis Planning Commission for March 2nd. My name is Chris Meyer, chair of the commission. At this time, I will ask the clerk to call the role. [0:15] **Clerk:** Commissioner Baxley is absent. Chowdhury is absent. Conley present. Garcia is absent. Gordon? [0:22] **Commissioner Gordon:** Present. [0:27] **Clerk:** Jones? **Commissioner Jones:** Here. **Clerk:** Sheepy is absent. Shepard? [0:28] **Commissioner Shepard:** Present. **Clerk:** Vice President Wagner? [0:30] **Vice President Wagner:** Here. **Clerk:** And President Meyer? [0:31] **President Chris Meyer:** Here. [0:32] **Clerk:** There are six members present. [0:33] **President Chris Meyer:** That is a quorum. First we'll go to the minutes of February 17th, 2026. Is there a motion for those minutes? [0:47] **Commissioner:** So moved. **Commissioner:** Second. [0:48] **President Chris Meyer:** All right. Any discussion? All in favor say I. **Commissioners:** I. **President Chris Meyer:** Opposed? Abstentions? Those are adopted. Next we'll organize our agenda. Um, our first item will be the appointment to the zoning board of adjustment. There will not be any hearing for that. We do have three public hearing items. So I'm going to read through each of them. If you came here to speak against the staff recommendation, raise your hand when I go through that item. Um, if you wanted to speak neutrally or favorably, there will be another chance to do that later on. Um, so first for item number five, 404 to 414 8th Street South. Was anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation for item number five? [1:34] **President Chris Meyer:** All right, we'll have that on consent. Um, for item number six, 2548 Pleasant Avenue. Was anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation for item number six? All right, we'll put that on discussion. [1:51] **President Chris Meyer:** And for item number seven, 800 Fifth Street Southeast. Was anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation for item number seven? All right. So, we'll have that on consent. So, to review, we'll have the appointments to the zoning board of adjustment. We'll have items number five and seven on our consent agenda, and we will discuss item number six. [2:19] **President Chris Meyer:** All right. Um, Kimberly, should the zoning appointments, zoning board adjustment appointments be a separate item? Okay. Uh, so we'll move to that first. Would anyone like to move approval of the recommendations for the zoning board of adjustment or does anyone have any discussion about that? Should say. So, we've got a motion to approve. Is there a second? [2:46] **Commissioner:** Second. [2:46] **President Chris Meyer:** All right. Any last discussion? All right. All in favor of approving the recommendations for the zoning board of adjustment say I. **Commissioners:** I. **President Chris Meyer:** Opposed. Abstentions. That is adopted. I will now open the hearing for our consent items. So if you were here to speak about items number five or seven, now is your chance to do so. Would anyone like to speak to these? All right. I'm not seeing any. So I will close the public hearing. Would anyone like to move approval of the staff recommendations for items number five and seven? [3:22] **Commissioner:** So moved. [3:23] **President Chris Meyer:** There second? [3:24] **Commissioner:** Second. [3:25] **President Chris Meyer:** All right. Any discussion? All right. All in favor say I. **Commissioners:** I. **President Chris Meyer:** Opposed. Abstentions. Those are adopted. So if you're here for numbers five or seven, your projects have been approved. Good luck with your projects. Next we have 2548 Pleasant Avenue and staff is Aspen Plant. [3:55] **Commissioner Aurin Chowdhury:** Chair. [3:56] **President Chris Meyer:** Yes. [3:57] **Commissioner Aurin Chowdhury:** Would you just recognize me for attendance? [4:01] **President Chris Meyer:** I recognize that Commissioner Chowdhury has joined us. [4:05] **Commissioner Aurin Chowdhury:** Thank you. [4:10] **Aspen Plant (City Planner):** Good afternoon, Chair Meyer, Commissioners, Aspen Plant, City Planner. The application before you for 2548 Pleasant Avenue is a conditional use permit application to increase capacity at an existing state credentialed care facility to serve up to 16 persons in the UN2 urban neighborhood district. The zoning code defines a state credentialed care facility as a congregate living use where two or more persons reside under the care and supervision of a program licensed by the state. And it does not include inebriate housing, any facility licensed by the Minnesota Department of Corrections, or other county, state, or federal corrections facilities, fraternity, sororities, student housing, single room occupancy housing, or any facility providing inpatient treatment for the active use of illegal substances. [5:12] **Aspen Plant:** We allow state credentialed care facilities serving six or fewer persons in most zoning districts if not all. But when you serve more than six, sometimes a conditional use permit is needed such as in the UN2 district. The property is surrounded mostly by low to medium density residential housing. Um we have Lindell Avenue which is a goods and services corridor just to the west of the subject property. And it's also just south of Lake Street in the Whittier neighborhood and Council Ward 10. [5:54] **Aspen Plant:** The existing property has historically been used for group housing as early as 1940. There is no parking on site. It is a two-story dwelling that has had a single-story addition built in the rear several decades ago. And there's no changes to the existing site. And bicycle parking, which we usually add when we have a change of use, has already been provided along the south side of the property. [6:24] **Aspen Plant:** The increase in occupancy can be accommodated by the existing floor plan. Our housing code defines the minimum square footage for bedrooms serving one person, two people, or more. And the existing facility currently serves six people, but they'll just add more beds to existing bedrooms. And again, given the square footage on the bedrooms on the first level and the second level, up to 16 people can be accommodated without changing anything else about the structure. [7:03] **Aspen Plant:** One of the specific use standards for these state credentialed care facilities serving more than six residents is that they are required to be spaced at least 350 ft from other state credentialed care facilities that are also serving more than six residents. And so the nearest one is located about .3 miles away. So it's well over the 350 foot spacing requirement. I will also note that there are several license types paused at the state level that are similar uses for freestanding board and lodging licenses. However, I confirmed with the behavioral health administration that current providers that have an active FSRB license can increase capacity as long as they receive their local approvals, which is what the applicant is doing here today. Staff found that all six findings were met for this application. And with that, I am recommending approval and I will take any questions. The applicant is also here. [8:18] **Commissioner Gordon:** I just wanted to confirm—turn your mic on, please—that, and I did just confirm this with Kimberly, that the applicant is in touch with the inspections division, specifically the fire inspections, and the housing inspections based on some information we've had. I think that's a really important contact. And I guess the applicant will answer other questions, but thank you. [8:48] **President Chris Meyer:** All right. Um, any other questions? All right. Thank you, Aspen. So, I will open the public hearing. Do we have the applicant with us? All right. You can come on and present. You have, uh, 10 minutes. Introduce yourself and you can begin. [9:05] **President Chris Meyer:** Speak to the mic, please. [9:07] **Margie Pierce (Applicant):** Uh, my name is Margie Pierce. I'm the owner of, um, Fellowship Soberhouse. We're a sober housing company. Um many sober homes pursued the board and lodge designation so that we could remain open in light of the anti-kickback law that was passed in August. About 80% of the sober homes have closed because of that law. So we went to great lengths to move our homes through that process. Uh we had to move quickly. There was a deadline with DHS. So we moved forward with six. We knew we didn't have time for this conditional use permit process. [9:43] **Margie Pierce:** So we are simply looking to get back up to the capacity we always were as a sober home now as freestanding board and lodge and um this home is very well appointed for a use like this. Uh its actual use is a group home that's very rare. It has a sprinkler system in it that's been passed by the—when I did the board and lodge inspections, they required all of that to be certified, etc., etc. Uh it also has something it doesn't need. It's even handicap accessible. There's a little elevator on the front of the house that will take you up to the porch level so that you can get in. Uh this house was once used—that addition was a church actually at one point. And so it has—there's a reason I wanted this property is it meets the needs of a lot of different people with different requirements and that's very rare. [10:25] **Margie Pierce:** So this is simply our intent here is to—it's not very effective for us to only house six individuals in this very large home. And we wish to help more people especially in light of how many people are now homeless because of the anti-kickback law and the massive closure. This home supports women. Uh the city has lost about 90% of the sober housing for women. So we wish very much to have capacity to help people. So that's our purpose here. No changes will happen to the home at all. And it's—we run very good sober homes. So that's what we do. [11:16] **President Chris Meyer:** Thank you. Does anyone have any questions for the applicant? [11:19] **Commissioner Jones:** Yeah, let me confirm. So it's a sober home for women or is it a mixed... for women? And will there be staff in the facility? [11:34] **Margie Pierce:** Yeah, freestanding board and lodge on the DHS side requires 24-hour people being there. [11:34] **Commissioner Jones:** Okay. Thank you. [11:51] **President Chris Meyer:** Anyone else? Right. Not seeing any. So, thank you. I'll open it up to everyone else. Um you can have up to two minutes to speak. Would you like to speak up here? Go ahead and introduce yourself and you have two minutes. [11:55] **Lynn Barnhouse (Public Speaker):** My name is Lynn Barnhouse. I've lived at 2532 Pillsbury since 1987. That's 39 years. I moved to Minneapolis in 1975. I started living in a rooming house at 24th and Pleasant. And uh I've stayed in South Minneapolis, worked downtown, and about 39 years ago, my husband and I bought a house at 2532 Pillsbury. Uh we love this neighborhood because it keeps things real for us. As you all probably know, it's a mix of old mansions, 1960s apartment buildings, and duplexes full of people from all over the world. [12:43] **Lynn Barnhouse:** But right now, the neighborhood is 85% rental. It always has been. Um, you know, people like us that live there know the neighborhood. It's never going to be hip, cool, and trendy, but we like it. We care about it. We want to take care of it. Um, one of the biggest challenges of living in the Whittier neighborhood is absentee ownership. Um, I don't know this particular person in person. Uh, but we do have a lot of absentee owners and they don't care about the neighborhood. And one of the big problems is I call garbage management. [13:35] **Lynn Barnhouse:** People don't follow the rules which the city makes very clear to us. Um they have rules about shoveling your walk. This sidewalk was not shoveled this winter when it—we had the melt and it refreezed and got all frozen. Nothing happened. I finally was so frustrated. I filed a report with 311. Couple days later, I—is that my two-minute warning? [14:15] **President Chris Meyer:** I'll let you go a little bit longer since you're the only one speaking, I think. [14:18] **Lynn Barnhouse:** Couple days later after I filed the warning um there was a someone out there chipping ice and I stopped to thank them for doing that. Turns out it was a neighbor and she was as frustrated as I was. Um, another problem with absentee owners is, um, I'm going to call it blight. Uh, a few years ago at this address, they turned their south lawn into a guerilla garden with a bird bath and a bench. By the end of the summer, it was forgotten about. It was overgrown. Food was rotting. The next summer, nothing was done about it. It's just an eyesore. [15:04] **Lynn Barnhouse:** The west side of the building is overgrown. It's dark. It's scary to walk by at night. Um they have old gardening equipment piled back there. It's unsightly. Um, if this residence was allowed to have 16 people, they would need at least four large trash containers and four recycling bins. On this block, they don't have an alley. So, on garbage day, they go out on the street on the boulevard along with everybody else on the block. But that's a lot of garbage out there. I'm not even sure they have a place to put that many garbage bins on their lot. [15:53] **President Chris Meyer:** Please wrap up your comments. [15:56] **Lynn Barnhouse:** Okay. Um, my husband and I live in a prairie style historically significant house designed by a local architect. It's perfect for us to age in place. Uh we want to start a major renovation so we can stay there another 10 or 15 years, but we're honestly hesitant. Um we have to ask ourselves how much we want to invest in our home because we're up against, you know, values of houses in that home which aren't as high as they are other places. Um, so I just am here to make a plea for supporting long-term owners. I have several other many other committed owners to the neighborhood and a lot of these outside owners are not respectable to that. Thank you. [17:07] **President Chris Meyer:** Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to speak? All right, not seeing any, well we'll close the public hearing. [17:15] **Commissioner Jones:** I'd like to ask the owner to come and talk about the comments that the public has made about the condition of the property and the garbage and not doing shoveling? I'm very concerned about that. [17:30] **President Chris Meyer:** All right, I'll reopen the public hearing. [17:33] **Margie Pierce (Applicant):** Um, we—if the sidewalk wasn't shoveled, I apologize. We go to great lengths to—that's a busy street—to have understood. I appreciate the feedback and when we hear of such things, we do remedy it. Um, we've been through a lot of change in the last year with the law that was passed and um, it's been a bit of a struggle for us to keep up. It was very costly to pursue board and lodge. Again, most sober housing companies have closed. They're bleeding out financially. Um, but there is light at the end of the tunnel for us and um, one of the things we're working on is getting stronger management overall of the homes for things like maintenance. [18:15] **Margie Pierce:** This home is owned by a good friend of mine. I rent it from her. Uh, she bought it because she wanted to help people in the community. With time, I probably will purchase it from her. Um, and uh, she holds the contract with the maintenance company, who I'll be honest with you, isn't my favorite maintenance company. I often step in and do maintenance at homes that I rent because I have some very good maintenance people within uh, my company. Um, we plan to do more work on this property as the years go on. Um, it is an unusual property. Someone took a house and built a church out of the back of it. And it has kind of an unusual landscape. [19:01] **Margie Pierce:** And that's something that is on the horizon for us to do more with it. We've been in it for a couple years. It hasn't been very long. Um but um I the truth is I appreciate feedback like that. If it's overgrown in the back, it's such a small little area, you know, and you have to keep in mind too again I haven't been in it for very long. It's not a lot of time to sort of adjust and I had to stop, drop and pursue board and lodge and it has been a bit overwhelming in all honesty, but the new sober housing system is on the horizon. We will pursue that when it opens and finally the world of sober living can stabilize a little bit. [19:46] **Margie Pierce:** I am a homeowner. I am a long-term homeowner. I own half my homes. I rent the other half from friends of mine. And I take pride in my homes. Always have. I love old homes. I don't trust new constructions. If it hasn't stood for a hundred years, I don't know if it will stand for a hundred more. Um so I take it seriously feedback like that. And if there are cases where um things like basic maintenance weren't done, we quickly address it. It is sometimes a challenge to get, you know, we've had to do so much training with our management staff with everything with board and lodge. Um it just it's been a lot this year. It really has. But if the sidewalks weren't done, that is important and that is something that we address regularly. If we missed it, my sincerest apologies. [20:30] **Margie Pierce:** It's not something we're unaware of. Uh we do have a space to store the trash against the house. And we do put a lot of rigor into that, too, because I get fines if the trash is done incorrectly. And there are a lot of rules around it. A lot of rules. Bubble wrap and plastic bags and um it's a lot of training that has to go into getting people to do the trash correctly. Um and it helps people learn accountability and recovery in all honesty. You know, following rules and things of that sort. Um some sober home companies might have a reputation of being very crummy. That is not Fellowship House. Um I own a mansion, for example. 2500 Pillsbury is one of my homes. Um, and we go to great lengths to maintain it. It's a lot of work. It's a big old house and maintaining the grounds and it's something that we take pride in. [21:17] **Margie Pierce:** Um, one of the only benefits to what's happened in sober living is that some of the providers that maybe didn't run a very tight ship are no longer in business not providing a good place for people to live. Um, but that is not the standard that we, you know, we hold ourselves to a high standard. You know, I also own and operate an outpatient treatment center. I have 58 employees. I used to be a chemical engineer. I just decided to help people instead of continuing with my engineering background. But as an engineer, I'm a meticulous person, you know, and I understand um old boilers and all sorts of things that a lot of contractors are shocked I know so much about. [22:03] **Margie Pierce:** Um but I take the feedback seriously. We will make sure that you know for the remainder of this winter and next winter that we are paying more attention to the sidewalk. Um that that is important and it's something that we certainly try to address. Um and uh it's something that we understand needs more rigor having done so much work in board and lodge getting back to the basic business of sober living—the homes ready for winter, getting the homes ready for the melt in the spring. It was probably a little more challenging for us this year given everything we had to do with board and lodge. So um but it's something that's very important to us. [22:48] **Commissioner Jones:** Yeah. I just also um trash was mentioned as an issue by a public comment we got and one of the other person alluded to that. You talk about again living in the city sometimes we we have to clean up the trash even if it's not ours and uh I think it's really important that that be part of your planning and your in your maintenance structure and I'm just curious about that. Thank you. [23:22] **Margie Pierce:** No, it it is something that we pay attention to. One of the things we pay a lot of attention to, especially in right around this time of year, is the alleyways, the construction debris that magically materializes. Um, a lot of times when they identify a home as, you know, a sober home or something along those lines, they because they think they can dump things. And so we're always on the lookout for it. Um, and and we go to great lengths at this home to to store the trash bins right up along the house. [23:52] **Margie Pierce:** There's one spot where we're able to keep them and move them out and then move them back in a timely manner um and not let a bunch of trash fall out. And you're absolutely correct. There ends up being—oh we have different words for it. My home I live half a block off Lake Street and it just sort of lakeakes street debris. I always end up with a pair of pants, believe it or not. I don't know where they came from, but I walk out one morning and someone lost their pants and they're right there. And I want to remove that. I don't know what's in those pants. It's a little, you know, unusual. I love the quirkiness of the city. It's for me, it's the perfect fit. [24:32] **Margie Pierce:** Um but but you know, and I value home values as well. Again, I am a landlord. And I'll say this, the value of this home is drastically increased from our efforts here. When I buy it from my friend Laurel, she'll make a sizable profit. Or whomever buys it, it probably will be me. So we take great care in Specifically I got into this business—I'll tell you, I once upon a time had a sponsor home. And I went in and I didn't like what I saw. And I'd just gotten into real estate investing and I said, I can do that better. I care about people, but I know how to keep a business from going out of business. And I want to combine these two things. So that's our aim. Thank you. [25:27] **President Chris Meyer:** Thank you. Other questions? All right. So I'll now close the public hearing. And commissioners, are there any motions or discussion? [25:48] **President Chris Meyer:** All right. Well, I'll I'll start by saying that I I support this project. It's important to have new facilities like this. They are not seeking any variances. They are only seeking a conditional use permit. If there are conditions that commissioners want to add to this, that would be an appropriate thing to do, but I think we should approve the project overall. Commissioner Shepard. [26:17] **Commissioner Shepard:** Chair, I just have to note that I think for better or worse, the Planning Commission is not really the body to adjudicate where owners live or or even the sidewalk issue is not really ours to address directly. It's just not within our purview. [26:37] **President Chris Meyer:** Thank you. And I I would just add to that um you know, the the complaints about snow shoveling and trash. We hear that—the appropriate place to address those is like with 311, complaining about nuisances to the city, and I encourage you to do that. I've used it many times but it's not really within our purview here. Commissioner Chowdhury. [27:00] **Commissioner Aurin Chowdhury:** Yes. Thank you, Chair Meyer. Uh maybe this is a question for the applicant. Um it is a question for the applicant actually. Is there a a visible place like a phone number or something or an email that's available for people to reach out to to you directly to make complaints? And if that doesn't exist, can you put that on your facility so that neighbors can reach out to you and there's just a better communication and responsiveness if there are snow shoveling or trash issues. [27:33] **Margie Pierce:** I think I can find a way to do that. One of the age-old issues with sober homes is—again some sober home owners take great pride in their work and they wanted to put like a logo or something that—there actually can be safety concerns at sober home. Some people are leaving abusive relationships and we don't want to advertise, you know, that this is where you're—the person you're angry at or a drug dealer and someone owes them. So we have a little bit of discretion with that, but I'm happy to find a way to do that if people have concerns about fellowship recovery board and lodge homes where they can reach out. I can make it available now if anyone would like to make a note of it. [28:19] **Commissioner Aurin Chowdhury:** I mean, I think it's helpful maybe to note in the public record and then you can share with the neighbor too like how to reach directly. I don't think there's like something that we can—we could obviously put it as a condition, but I'm not going to offer that. I think that gets a little too in the weeds for this situation, but I think that's good for the public record. I think that's good for the neighbor. And I support this project. I want to go have it move forward. [28:43] **Margie Pierce:** I'm happy to give her my card now if she'd like. I think I have one. [28:46] **Commissioner Aurin Chowdhury:** Yeah, I think we can start there. [28:48] **Commissioner Gordon:** You know, I think maybe you could craft it as a condition. [28:59] **Kimberly Holien (Staff):** If the applicant agrees, my thinking about it is, you know, if if it's as a condition, then you can require it to be maintained. You know, they could create something now and and, you know, not answer the email. But if if it's as a condition, then... [29:25] **Margie Pierce:** I think what we could do, I just don't want to advertise that it's a sober home for people to connect the dots if they're have, you know, if there's someone they're trying to get to on the inside, but we could put a placard on the house saying for questions or comment, you know, please send an email. [29:32] **President Chris Meyer:** Kimberly? [29:33] **Kimberly Holien:** Um, so I've been trying to really quickly look through. So, prior to some of the licensing changes at the state level and prior to a zoning code text amendment related to occupancy, sober homes often came through a different process through zoning called reasonable accommodation. It was to allow reasonable accommodation through the federal fair housing act to exceed the occupancy that was previously in the zoning code and is not there anymore. Um, so I actually personally worked on dozens of these and we would craft conditions of approval related to a number of the things that are coming up here. Um, I was trying to see if I could find one related to posting of contact information. I know we have such a condition somewhere. If you give me a minute to find a sample report. [30:37] **Kimberly Holien:** Oh, so we would say the name and phone number of the house manager, a current rental license, a "who to call" poster—and this part isn't necessary probably here, but—and a floor plan displaying the approved occupancy of each sleeping room must be displayed in a conspicuous location within the dwelling. So, that was more for residents. Um, we would also though list conditions of approval that would reiterate other portions of city ordinances that are not in the zoning code. Um, that yards should be properly maintained in compliance with chapter 227 related to nuisances generally and that the exterior of the home and the yard will be kept in physical excellent physical condition as defined in chapter 244 of the Minneapolis code of ordinances related to the housing maintenance code. Um those were conditions of approval that our city attorney's office was comfortable with us placing on reasonable accommodation applications. Again, this is a little bit different, but those were technically land use applications. So, we have some sample language if you are interested in attaching such conditions. [31:20] **Commissioner Gordon:** I I think it would be a good idea so that it stays with the property even if the owner were to change and all that. [31:27] **Commissioner Aurin Chowdhury:** Yeah. Okay. Well, I can make the motion. Um I mean given—and if you're amenable to this, it sounds like you are. So that's really appreciative. Given the remarks about just concerns about privacy, I think the conditions that I'll put is like a a "who to call" poster. So like a phone number, an email, and then that could be something that you set up. It doesn't need to be your direct line, but a reasonable place for community members to be able to reach out and expect a response. And then the section about yard maintenance and then the section about the upkeep of the exterior of the home and those would be the conditions attached for approval. [32:14] **Kimberly Holien:** Um if I may just so we have the proper language for the action here. Um, so we would have a condition that the exterior of the home and the yard—and I can text these to the clerk—will be kept in excellent physical condition as defined in chapter 244 of the Minneapolis code of ordinances relating to the housing maintenance code, including but not limited to the provisions in article 4, equipment and facilities, article 6, maintenance by owner, and article 7, maintenance by occupants. And an additional condition that the yard shall be properly maintained in compliance with chapter 227 article 2 of the Minneapolis code of ordinances related to nuisances generally. Uh the requirements of this chapter include but are not limited to maintaining turf grass of a height of no more than 8 in keeping the yard free of noxious weeds and maintaining property drainage. Um, if you're okay with those, I can text that language to the clerk and I will do a double check on my end to make sure that those are still the proper chapters and articles. Um, and if not, we'll update to capture intent if that's okay. [33:32] **Commissioner Aurin Chowdhury:** That sounds great. And then the contact poster with—I would like it to say—an updated email and phone number. [33:36] **Kimberly Holien:** Sure. [33:37] **Commissioner Aurin Chowdhury:** Thank you. Post it somewhere where people can see it. [33:41] **President Chris Meyer:** Exactly. Yes. [33:43] **Margie Pierce:** I think what I'll do is I'll put it on the side of the house where the entrance where the church is. So if anyone's walking by, they'll think it's for part of what was the church. If that's okay. Just not in the front of the house. So that people don't immediately think sober. If that makes sense. [33:57] **Commissioner Aurin Chowdhury:** That makes sense. [34:02] **Margie Pierce:** I just—we've had things happen. [34:04] **Commissioner Aurin Chowdhury:** Yeah, totally understand. I appreciate you. [34:07] **Margie Pierce:** And for the record, too, it's—I don't want to disclose too much. My house manager at that home um has cancer and so it's been especially challenging. We finally found her a section 8 apartment. It's been a little bit haphazard at that property in terms of basic things like maintaining the sidewalk. But I didn't know it got to the point where someone made a complaint. We do all watch our homes. We have a staff of two now. I was able to finally afford to add a second one who oversee the seven sober homes and there's someone in the home all the time. There's people from my treatment center who come in. There's a lot of eyes are on these homes. We still can miss something sometimes. [34:44] **President Chris Meyer:** Thank you. Thank you. Is there a second for my motion? [34:48] **President Chris Meyer:** Okay. So, your motion is to approve the staff recommendation with that condition. [34:53] **Commissioner Aurin Chowdhury:** Yep. [34:54] **President Chris Meyer:** Is there a second? **Commissioner:** Second. **President Chris Meyer:** Is there any further discussion on that? All right. Not seeing any. Clerk, please call the role. [35:05] **Clerk:** Commissioner Chowdhury. **Commissioner Aurin Chowdhury:** I. **Clerk:** Conley. **Commissioner Conley:** I. **Clerk:** Gordon. **Commissioner Gordon:** I. **Clerk:** Jones. **Commissioner Jones:** I. **Clerk:** Shepard. **Commissioner Shepard:** I. **Clerk:** Vice President Wagner. **Vice President Wagner:** I. **Clerk:** And President Meyer. **President Chris Meyer:** I. **Clerk:** There are seven eyes. [35:25] **President Chris Meyer:** That is approved. Good luck with your project. Um so that's all our business for the day. I do have one update from our last meeting. Um at the last meeting I had asked a question of one of our applicants for the project on Nicollet Avenue where they had 50 affordable units and I asked them how many units they would have been able to build if they had been required to build the amount of parking that we required of them previously. Um and they responded by email. Uh their first response after looking at it was that they might have been able to provide 18 units. Um but then on further analysis they found that they could have only built 12 and they found like if they were to build those 12 they definitely would not have been affordable. [36:06] **President Chris Meyer:** So, um, because of the the policies that that we enacted, you know, we were able to get 50 units that are affordable at 30 to 50% of AMI. And I just wanted to make a note of that because, you know, for a lot of the projects that we have, a lot of people are not persuaded about the merits of the reforms that we have. But I think it's really important to highlight, you know, that real life example where um you know because of the policies that we have at least 32 people are able to have affordable housing that wouldn't and probably if we didn't have those policies probably nothing would have been built at all. The site had been vacant for 36 years and probably would have been vacant a lot longer than that if we hadn't eliminated those parking requirements. Um, so I wanted to ask if staff could put that email exchange somewhere in the public record so that you know it could be shared somewhere. Is that something you can do after a hearing is already concluded? [37:20] **Kimberly Holien:** We may be able to, but I would have to double check that before I could do it for sure. Okay. Um I don't have those emails, right? Okay. I will forward it to you and ask you to share it with the rest of the commission and find a home for it so that I can reference it. [37:55] **President Chris Meyer:** Um because you know when when we have people who come and ask frequently to build more parking. I want to point to this and say like when you do that it makes the housing a lot more expensive a lot of times it makes the project not viable. I want I want people to see like what it looks like from the applicant's end on that. So thank you for that. I appreciate it. All right. Uh so our next meeting will be March 16th and we have no committee of the whole this week. Are there any other updates from staff or commissioners? [38:23] **Kimberly Holien:** Uh just a reminder, I talked about this last time, but because the council cycles are a little bit different now, the appeal for the window requirement at 76 3rd Street North goes to city council committee of the whole tomorrow. Um so if you recall, the Planning Commission had approved the site plan review for the new building but agreed with the staff recommendation that the applicant comply with the window requirements. So that appeal goes to city council tomorrow specifically to address the windows. [38:56] **President Chris Meyer:** Thank you. Pardon? This was the bath house project, correct? All right. Seeing no one else, we are adjourned.