This transcript is from the Oakdale Planning Commission meeting on April 4, 2024. Based on the context provided and the dialogue, I have identified the speakers, including Planning Commissioners, City Staff, and the Guest Presenters. **Note on Planning Commissioners:** The roll call identifies the members present as: Pearson (Chair), Willing, Campbell, Moli, Dill, and Hagen. *** [00:00:00] **Chair Pearson:** Call to order the regular meeting of the Oakdale Planning Commission, April 4th, 2024. Uh, roll call please. [00:00:05] **Luke McClanahan (Planning Manager):** Yes. Pearson? (Pearson: Here). Willing? (Willing: Here). Campbell? (Campbell: Present). Stolarski? (McClanahan: She said that she's going to be absent this evening). Moli? (Moli: Here). Dill? (Dill: Here). Hagen? (Hagen: Here). [00:00:15] **Chair Pearson:** And Pledge of Allegiance. [Pledge of Allegiance Recited]. Before we do the approval of the agenda, I'd like to offer an amendment, if I can, to move Council Liaison update to item 6A, if you will, after the Open Forum. I have a second? [00:00:30] **Commissioner Campbell:** Second. [00:00:32] **Chair Pearson:** All those in favor? (Commissioners: Aye). Any opposed? Thank you. Uh, approval of the agenda. All those in favor—actually, do you need a motion? You need a motion. [00:00:40] **Commissioner Campbell:** Move to approve as amended. [00:00:42] **Commissioner:** Second. [00:00:43] **Chair Pearson:** Thank you. All those in favor? (Commissioners: Aye). Any opposed? Thank you very much. Uh, we have an open forum—this is a time—oh, you have to approve the minutes. [00:00:50] **Luke McClanahan:** Approval of the minutes, thank you, yeah. [00:00:52] **Commissioner Hagen:** And I will abstain from that as I was absent last meeting. [00:00:55] **Chair Pearson:** Okay. Does anyone have any amendments to the minutes or a motion to approve as presented? [00:01:00] **Commissioner Campbell:** Move to approve as presented. [00:01:02] **Commissioner:** Second. [00:01:04] **Chair Pearson:** Any discussion? All those in favor? (Commissioners: Aye). Any opposed? Thank you, motion passes. And now the Open Forum. Open Forum is a time when people come forward to make comment to the Planning Commission and to staff. If there's anybody in the audience who wishes to come forward to make comments now, please do. Seeing none, I'll offer it one more time just to be sure... and if anyone wishes to come forward, please do. [No response]. Close the Open Forum. Uh, we have no old business. So the first item of new business is a public hearing for Heidi Hoffman, 2872 Hallmark Avenue North, a conditional use permit for an accessory apartment. Max, I understand you're the one in charge? [00:01:45] **Max Losi (Community Development Specialist):** Certainly. Thank you Planning Commission and good evening. Uh, tonight in front of us we have a request for a conditional use permit regarding an accessory apartment at 2872 Hallmark Avenue North. Uh, this property is located between Hadley Avenue, 28th Street, and I-694. It is zoned R1 for very low density housing where accessory apartments are allowed via the conditional use permit process. Uh, the purpose tonight is to uh, take a look at the permit application to enable the property owner to construct an attached separate dwelling unit uh, onto their existing single-family home. Uh, the purpose of the attached uh, dwelling unit in this case is to allow the applicant to live with her sister. [00:02:25] **Max Losi:** For reference, accessory apartments in Oakdale function very similarly to what many other cities refer to as an accessory dwelling unit, in which property owners are permitted to allow smaller second dwelling units uh, attached or detached from single-family properties if certain criteria are met. These units are sometimes referred to as mother-in-law suites or granny flats. Uh, the applicant site in this case is approximately 1.1 acres in size and contains a roughly 1,700-square-foot single-family home. So here we have a more detailed look at the applicant's plans to add an accessory apartment. The existing home is outlined in the hatched area and the proposed accessory apartment is shown on the left and rear sides of the house, or the south and western sides. [00:03:05] **Max Losi:** Uh, based on the provided measurements, uh, the proposed addition would meet all setback requirements in the R1 District. Here we have a more detailed view of the proposed expansion. Uh, the extent of the new accessory apartment is highlighted in green by city staff. Within the accessory apartment, the applicant shows a new garage, a kitchen, a living area, one bedroom, and a bathroom. The proposed apartment is smaller than the footprint of the existing house and is designed to appear accessory to the primary unit. I'll zoom in a little bit to make it easier to see. [00:03:40] **Max Losi:** Here we have a sketch by the applicant of the proposed accessory apartment. Based on the drawing, the applicant shows the apartment as being primarily on the left and rear sides of the house with an additional attached garage. This image and all of these figures are also available in your packet. So 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: General compliance with the comprehensive plan; compatibility with zoning; no nuisance effects being generated; no traffic congestion or parking issues; use must be adequately served by public services and infrastructure; minimal impacts uh, as well as minimal impacts to the environment and natural features. [00:04:20] **Max Losi:** Specific criteria uh, for accessory apartments include that the apartment must be a complete and separate housekeeping unit; only one apartment can be created within a single-family lot; the property owner must occupy at least one of the dwelling units; the accessory apartment must be designed such that the appearance of the building remains similar to that of a single-family residence; the design must conform to all health and building code standards; and at least three off-street parking spaces must be provided for use by residents. Generally, staff finds that the conditional use permit review criteria in this case uh, has been satisfied. As detailed in the staff report on file, staff recommends approval of the request subject to the following conditions: The owner of the residence shall occupy at least one of the dwelling units; the use shall conform to city code; a building permit must be obtained; the property owner shall verify with Met Council if SAC fees are required; and the accessory apartment including the garage shall not exceed 1,600 square feet in size. As a reminder, this is a public hearing and the applicant as well as the builder are here in attendance with us. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions and thank you. [00:05:40] **Chair Pearson:** Thank you Max. Does anyone have any questions for Max on his report? No? Not at this time. Seeing none, I'll offer the time to the applicant to come forward for any comments they wish to make before I open the public hearing. [00:06:00] **Denny Schulz (Builder):** Uh, I don't know that—so I'm Denny Schulz, representing Heidi Hoffman and Helen uh, as the owners. I'm the builder. I guess the only comment we'd make is we appreciate your consideration. I know that this uh, addition would be um, just a real blessing to to Heidi and and to Helen as they're looking for accommodations obviously much closer together and to be able to support each other uh, in this phase of their lives. So, thank you. [00:06:25] **Chair Pearson:** Anyone have any questions for—? [00:06:28] **Commissioner Willing:** Uh, I do have a question. Could you pull up the the uh, the site plan you showed earlier? Yeah um, okay. Okay, the new garage there um, are you looking at expanding the driveway? [00:06:40] **Denny Schulz:** The driveway won't really be expanded other than the fact that there will be a concrete apron that will attach the new garage to the existing asphalt driveway. [00:06:48] **Commissioner Willing:** Okay okay. So really, I don't know if you'd consider that an expansion. You're going in straight and then make a left into the garage? [00:06:52] **Denny Schulz:** Yep. Yep, you'd come in and then you'd have to make a left into the garage. [00:06:56] **Commissioner Willing:** Okay. All right, got it. Thank you. [00:06:58] **Commissioner Campbell:** Any other questions? What's the plan from the exterior material-wise to tie those two buildings together? I presume you're not reciting the existing structure? [00:07:05] **Denny Schulz:** We won't recite the whole structure, but we're going to do like-for-like material and then we're going to do as best as we can for a color match. If not getting a—if if we're not satisfied with a color match, then we may work with Heidi and Helen on doing something complementary that's going to be in the same style and look cohesive to the building essentially. So sure, we want it—we want to pull it together, but on a color-matched siding, as you know, it's not—that could even be more jarring than picking a complementary color. [00:07:35] **Chair Pearson:** So, any other questions? No. I thank you very much. [00:07:38] **Denny Schulz:** All right, thank you. [00:07:40] **Chair Pearson:** And I'll open the public hearing. Like as stated before, it's time for anyone in the audience who wishes to make comments to come forward. If there are any, please do now. I'll offer a second time if there's anyone in the audience who wishes to come forward to make comment, please do. Seeing none, I close the public hearing. Bring it back—any final comments? Then I look for a motion. [00:08:05] **Commissioner Campbell:** Move to approve the conditional use permit for an accessory apartment at 2872 Hallmark Avenue North. [00:08:12] **Commissioner:** Second. [00:08:14] **Chair Pearson:** All those in favor? (Commissioners: Aye). Anyone oppose? Thank you very much, motion is approved. Now for the advisory body—oh, we skipped right by Jake. You wish to come come forward and make comment, Jake? [00:08:25] **Jake (Guest/Outgoing Official):** Not comment, but uh, I have nothing major to report but you guys have questions and happy to at least try to answer them. All right. And just an FYI, I will not be staying for the training tonight. Uh well, I'm a little bit of a weary veteran when it comes to planning, I would say so. I don't know everything, but—and I never will—but it's—I've got some experience. So um, but uh thank you guys and uh enjoy. [00:08:50] **Chair Pearson:** Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. And now for the advisory body training. General topics presented by the City Administrator Chris Volkers, City Clerk Sarah Ledwick, and City Attorney Jim Thompson. [00:09:05] **Christina Volkers (City Administrator):** Hi Mr. Chair, Commissioners. Thanks for having us today. With me is the City Clerk um, Sarah Ledwick. She's going to do a good part of the presentation so we're gonna kind of bop back and forth here. Um, what we're doing is the Council asked that we we take more of an active role in um, in in providing consistency from the commissions as far as the agenda preparation, which you noticed a change in the last year about um on what the agenda looks like. So we've kind of modeled each commission um after the same agenda. And they also asked that we do some training on Robert's Rules of Procedure, on proper um well, the—what the Council has determined as a proper etiquette for public meetings, and then um just to provide you more information and answer questions if you have any. So that's what we're here to do today. We also have Jim Thompson, our City Attorney; he's going to talk about the parliamentary procedure and the Open Meeting Law information for you. [00:10:00] **Christina Volkers:** Okay, so with that um, let me see if I can figure—we have a new screen here, I see a new kind of thing. So, thank you for everything you do. The Council is very appreciative. We are just staff to support the Council. The commissions are the Council commissions; you are there to provide information and advice to the City Council. As staff, we are just here to support your work. So anything you need, we need you to tell us because we don't know what we don't know. Okay. Um, our agenda today will include: I'll provide some City information just overall City—I think most of you are very familiar, but it'll be a good reminder; "Boards and Commissions 101," that'll be Sarah; we'll go over meeting information; the legal information the City Attorney will do; and then we'll wrap it up with me talking about communications and how we can support each other between the Council and um, the Commission and next steps. [00:11:00] **Christina Volkers:** The city's mission statement and core values... as you can see on the screen, the mission statement's been in place for a very, very long time. I don't even know when they came up with the mission statement, but we do still use it and we do quote it, we advertise it. [Reads mission statement]. We have six core values here in the city of Oakdale: respect, responsibility, sustainability, excellence, integrity, and innovation. What you see on the screen are your very familiar council members: Mayor Zabel, Council Member Moore, Council Member Ingerbritson—who is the liaison for this Planning Commission—Council Member Morcomb, and Council Member Willing. [00:12:15] **Christina Volkers:** The organizational chart you see here is a functional organizational chart. At the top is the City Council; they are the policy makers. They have one direct report: me. I then report to them, and then all the divisions and directors report up through me. You'll see a very important part right at the top: advisory commissions. This is our city staff leadership, our directors right now: Andy Gitzlaff (Community Development), Lori Pulkrabek (Communications), Kyle (Finance), Kevin Wold (Fire/Public Works), Melanie Lee (HR), Nick Newton (Police), and Julie Williams (Recreation). We have three vacancies: city engineer, assistant city administrator, and public works director. I'm going to turn it over to Sarah and then I'll be back. [00:13:30] **Sarah Ledwick (City Clerk):** Thank you Chris, and thank you to the Commissioners for allowing me to be here tonight. Yes, I'm going to talk to you tonight about the boards and commissions of the city. We have five advisory bodies: the Tree Board, Planning Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission, Economic Development Commission, and the Environmental Management Commission. Each is assigned a staff liaison. For Planning, that's Luke McClanahan. Sarah explains the roles of the advisory bodies, noting they are governed by City Code and a newly developed handbook. She highlights that they advise the Council but do not direct staff or have financial authority. [00:15:30] **Sarah Ledwick:** [Continues explaining roles of Chairs, Vice Chairs, and staff liaisons]. For the Planning Commission, the Council liaison is Council Member Ingerbritson. We also have an ex-officio student member who is non-voting. [Explains the annual calendar, meeting types, and the importance of minutes]. The agenda follows a set order: call to order, roll call, approval of agenda, approval of minutes, public hearings, open forum, old business, new business, and updates. Attendance is important, and a quorum—the minimum number of voting members—is required to conduct business. [Discusses etiquette, clear microphone use, and professional conduct]. I'm going to turn the time over to City Attorney Jim Thompson. [00:20:45] **Jim Thompson (City Attorney):** Hi, evening. I am Jim Thompson. I'm the City Attorney with Kennedy and Graven. The main goal of my portion is to make you aware of Robert's Rules and laws that apply to you as commission members that don't apply in your private life. [Plays video regarding Robert's Rules basics and motions]. [00:23:15] **Commissioner Campbell:** Are we allowed to ask questions? [00:23:17] **Jim Thompson:** Sure. [00:23:18] **Commissioner Campbell:** What legal standing does a decision the commission makes have? If we say yes but the Council denies it, is there standing? [00:23:25] **Jim Thompson:** The commission is an advisory body. Your actions are recommendations. Some cities have a Board of Adjustments and Appeals where decisions are binding unless appealed, but Oakdale's structure for the Planning Commission is advisory. [00:24:10] **Chair Pearson:** I think the League of Minnesota Cities defines three different types of City structures. Our city structure does not have us as more than just an Advisory Board. [00:24:20] **Jim Thompson:** That's correct. [Continues explaining the Open Meeting Law, defining a "meeting" as a quorum discussing City business]. With respect to emails, our advice is to treat them like phone calls. Don't engage in serial email conversations. One-way communication is fine, but avoid the "reply all" button. Emails about City business are public data. [00:29:45] **Commissioner Willing:** Just curious, we don't email each other now, but if we did, do we have a retention policy? [00:30:00] **Jim Thompson:** That's the Records Retention Act. Sarah is the expert there, but generally, if an email is a record, it must be kept. However, many emails are considered "transitory." [00:30:45] **Sarah Ledwick:** Emails are often transitory documents. You should retain them until they are read, but if they relate to a specific record request, they must be produced. [00:31:30] **Jim Thompson:** [Explains Conflict of Interest and the Gift Law]. If you have a financial interest, disclose it and abstain. If it's a family member, it might not be a legal conflict, but be mindful of the appearance of impropriety. [00:33:45] **Commissioner Moli:** Could you explain just briefly the difference between City Administrator duties and Mayor duties? [00:33:55] **Christina Volkers:** The Mayor and Council are policy makers. I carry out those duties and manage the 140 staff members. [Continues on Communications and Social Media]. We want to encourage diverse backgrounds for these commissions. Reach out to the Council if you have suggestions for new commissions, like arts and culture. [00:36:00] **Aaron Purdue (Stantec Consultant):** Gosh, I'm happy to be here. I'll go through the legal basis for planning and zoning. [Explains US Constitution principles: Due Process, Equal Protection, Takings Clause]. Minnesota Statute 462.351 enables city planning to promote health, safety, and welfare. [00:38:00] **Aaron Purdue:** [Discusses the Comprehensive Plan as a 20-year vision, and the Zoning Ordinance as the law that implements that vision]. Zoning regulates buildings, lots, and uses. State law limits your ability to regulate things like manufactured homes or state-licensed residential care facilities. [00:41:00] **Commissioner Dill:** On the zoning map, what is a ROW? [00:41:05] **Aaron Purdue:** That's Right-of-Way. The roads. [00:41:10] **Commissioner Hagen:** What is a plat? [00:41:15] **Aaron Purdue:** A plat is a legal document that subdivides property into lots and blocks. [Discusses Permitted vs. Conditional Uses]. Conditional Uses (CUPs) like gas stations or drive-throughs have more impact and require scrutiny. Interim Use Permits (IUPs) are temporary and do not "run with the land" like a CUP does. [00:45:00] **Commissioner Campbell:** What latitude is there to make it an interim versus a conditional use? [00:45:10] **Aaron Purdue:** It must be specifically listed in your ordinance as one or the other. You don't have the discretion to swap them on the fly; that happens during the code writing process. [Explains Variances and the "Practical Difficulty" standard]. Variances aren't for economic reasons; they must be due to unique physical circumstances of the property, like an oddly shaped lot. [00:52:00] **Commissioner Willing:** Surprisingly, I don't think we see very many variances. [00:52:05] **Commissioner Hagen:** I've got one from putting a shed in because I had a tree and the only logical place I could put it was in the setback. [00:52:15] **Aaron Purdue:** Perfect example. [Explains the 60-day rule for applications]. The city must act within 60 days, or the application is automatically approved. The city can extend this by another 60 days with written notice. Finally, public hearings are about due process. When you vote, you must adopt "findings of fact." Neighborhood opposition alone is not a valid finding of fact; it must be tied to the code. [01:00:00] **Luke McClanahan:** Just a few updates. The cups for the second garage and the hair salon were approved by Council on March 26. Looking ahead to May 2nd, we will discuss the zoning code update and likely one land use application. May 7th is the development bus tour. That's all I have. [01:01:00] **Chair Pearson:** Any Commissioner updates? Seeing none, I ask for a motion to adjourn. [01:01:10] **Commissioner Campbell:** So moved. [01:01:12] **Commissioner:** Second. [01:01:14] **Chair Pearson:** All those in favor? (Commissioners: Aye). Any opposed? We stand adjourned.