okay I see by the clock on the wall it is 7 o' I'd like to call to order the Tuesday January 2 2024 meeting in the mound Planning Commission Mr city manager I think you are up first with swearing in of planning commissioners [Music] sir all right well if I can have Mr Baker so I got to come up you would across the podium or you down either way pictures Mr Baker if you'd raise your right hand and repeat after me I Jason Baker I Jason Baker do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I support the Constitution of the United States of the United un States and the state of Minnesota and the state of Minnesota and Faithfully discharge the duties and Faithfully discharge the duties of planning Commissioner of planning commissioner of the city of Mound Minnesota of the city of M Minnesota to the best of my judgment and ability to the best of my judgment and ability so help me God so help me God thank you very much I can get you to sign here I will attest and we will be done with the formalities for you thank you Che congratulations Miss Wacker is not with us tonight so this will be come on down first meeting welcome your right hand in I Christen Young I Christ do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the state of Minnesota and the state of Minnesota and Faithfully discharge the duties and Faithfully discharge the duties of planning commissioner planning commissioner of the city of Mound Minnesota of the city of M Minnesota to the best of my judgment and ability to the best of my judgment and ability so help me God so help me thank you thanks a lot if you would autograph here thank you Eric on behalf of the Planning Commission we would like to thank you for your service and Leadership and wish you all the best in your retirement thank you I appreciate that Mr good if I could for just a moment you K thank you Commissioners many of you have heard me say this before but thank you you uh you have volunteered to do something in this community that's hard work but it's very important work your work here uh defines and preserves the character of our community your work here defines and preserves the value of private property in our community those things are extremely important and for those of you who know a little bit about my history you know that that I have been places in the world where private property rights don't exist I've been places in the world where this fabric that we call a municipality a community a town a city doesn't exist and it changes fundamentally the way people are able to live and the way people are able to prosper and that starts right here in in this room with your work as planning Commissioners and it carries forward to the council M mcin thank you and the rest of the council um and Carries forward into into the policy into the decisions that are made that make this community Mound and make this community what it is and that's hard work you will be asked by your friends you'll be asked by your neighbors you'll be asked by people who you don't know to make decisions about what they can do with their land what entities can do to change the shape and the character of our community uh with lands that they wish to acquire um and that's hard work the rules the book The zoning that Sarah and Rita work with is not an easy read U but becoming familiar with that and being able to navigate that is is important work but it's not again easy and so I thank you uh for stepping forward all of you but in particularly tonight um Mr Baker Miss Wacker who isn't here tonight and uh Miss I'm sorry young Miss Young Kristen uh for stepping forward uh to do that good work uh and so I appreciate your acknowledgement of my work uh but more so I turn that back on you and my appreciation and the community's appreciation for your work uh with that I will leave you to your agenda and your business uh and leave you to it thank you thank you thanks for all right next on the agenda is roll call Jen uh commissioner AR here commissioner Rosner here commissioner s here Baker here good here commissioner here commissioner young here and council member m here and a formal welcome to Kristen thank you to our body welcome okay next we have on the agenda election of chair and vice chair chair I would entertain a motion regarding chair of the commission I would like to make a motion to elect uh commissioner good as chair second Motion in a second let's also uh let's ALS let's move on to uh position of Vice chair uh I'd like to uh nominate uh commissioner Baker for vice chair of the commission second second we have a second okay we can either do a Voice vote on these nominations or we can do a written vote does anybody want to do a written vote no no caring n chair would call for affirmation of election of uh commissioner good and commissioner Baker all those in favor signify by saying I I those nay motion carries thank you for your support review and approval of agenda we have any amendments Sarah uh no amendments on this uh agenda for for January 2nd 24 motion to approve the agenda as distributed with no amendments second we have motion and second discussion carry none all those in favor signify by saying I I those oppose nay motion carries view in action on Planning Commission minutes we have the minutes in the November 21 special rescheduled meeting that we in your packet chair would entertain a motion on those minutes uh motion to approve the minutes for November 21st special rescheduled meeting as distributed second we have a motion to second we have discussion carry none all those in favor signify by saying I I those oppose nay motion carries we also have minutes of the December 5 2023 regular meeting of the commission chair would entertain a motion on those minutes motion to approve the December 5th regular meeting minutes as distributed second we have Motion in a second discussion hearing n all those in favor signify by saying I I those oppose nay motion carries Board of adjustment and appeals review recommendation of planning case 23-16 [Music] Miss Miss Rita oh there it is just coming on real SL slow looker than usual doesn't maybe it looks about right does it yes oh I feel like it's well good I'm glad that you're happy that's good all right good evening uh chairman uh members of the commission members of public I'm Rita trap uh planning consultant for the city uh the request before you uh is to vacate a RightWay and drainage and utility easements um I I want to note that this case is a little bit different than the cases that you normally see so you might have you you again like last time are going to have me kind of narrow your focus to actually what the application is for which is going to be challenging for us um but really it's about vacating right of way and easements it's not really about anything else um which is a little bit different normally that is something that the city council looks at um if that happens without you necessarily weighing in on that but because this is a planning related case where they're going to do development related to a house construction um we're asking for you to review and approve it um often times you'll see this as part of a bigger project but this is really part of a building permit process um so location wise uh the property in question is at 2970 Oakland Lane as you can see it's at the corner of oaklan and Idlewood Road um the site is zoned r1a and it is uh guided low density residential the site as you can see um currently has a significant amount of the property between the property line and the actual roadway where it's constructed um that is part of the ride of way and it has more so than most of the properties in the nearby vicinity um the request is that the city vacate the r of way and the drainage and utility easements that kind of goes hand in hand I think more of our Focus today is on the um right of aspect of this rather than the drainage and utility easements as you are aware drainage and utility easements are required along all property lines for almost every property in the city any Modern Property when it's subdivided we request drainage and utility easements that's to ensure that um nothing can get built in those areas and we can protect the ability of going in and um having any storm water that needs to be managed um any utilities that need to go through as was noted in the conditions if this would move forward you would reestablish the drainage utility easements along the property line it's just that unless you formally vacate them they exist forever and so if you wouldn't do that you wouldn't be able to build in that location so really the drainage and utility easements have kind of we're it's kind of a question of can we vacate them so we can reestablish them at the end of the process really the question in the heart of the matter is is it appropriate that the city would determine that the right of way in the vicinity is not needed for public purposes any longer and it makes sense for it to be um given back to the property um as you can see the diagram uh the purple line is the current property boundary um the applicant is requesting um to square it off to have the right of way that is currently not being used um for that kind of purpose back into their property as you were all aware uh right of way is something that you see on paper but really you can't see on the ground your property all almost everybody in Mound I can't say everybody because there are plenty of unique situ situations but almost everybody has a portion of their front yard Corner yard that is in right of way that you maintain and take care of um and you can't see it um it's really something that you can see on paper and the same situation would be here is that they would continue to maintain it it's just that it's not in their p in their personal land to be able to do something with um it is part of the city right of way also the setbacks for the property are impacted by where the property lines are so the farther back from the road that the property lines are the farther the backs are the less buildable area that is there is for this lot as is noted in the packet this lot was created as part of a three lot subdivision um it's already assumed to be buildable and be able to have a residential property it's over 6,700 ft in size it is an odd shape by all means um but technically it does meet the minimum lot size requirements for this District um the applicant is seeking to construct a single family home uh the question today is not really whether or not they should construct a single family home home it's already a buildable lot that's something that can be done with a buildable uh building permit this is the question is is it acceptable that the city May vacate that portion of the property that's not being used for RightWay purposes um and have it go back to the property a little bit of history for everybody um the way that right away gets established is that when a property is subdivided um if needed the pro the property owner the developer needs to dedicate a certain amount of land for the purposes of streets um the size of that right of way is develop is decided at the at the time of that plat if you vacate right of way the land goes back to the plat that dedicated it and in essence back to the lot from which that property that right of way would have been given so in this case this particular area the right of way would go back to this lot um that isn't always the situation um but that's what it would be with this lot today as we said in the packet this was distributed for our typical staff consultant agency consultant review um most of the comments that we received were related to the utilities um so Center Point Energy noted that there there aren't any issues the gas Mains are located outside of the property lines and they don't have any objections Mediacom just had a possible concern related to power line relocation that'll have to be resolved um if the power line doesn't back uh get relocated and Exel energy um talked about being in contact with the landowner regarding the relocation of utilities it's the responsibility of the land landlord or the property owner in order to move any needed power lines it's not the responsibility of Excel Energy or the city um and so that's something that's already in process and somewhat outside of our process um the city engineer did uh review the location of the driveway preliminarily um the driveway seems like it's in an acceptable location given where it is relative to the corner um but obviously that'll be continued to reviewed as building per uh plans move through the process uh as was noted in the packet this is a non- lot of record meaning that it was created at a fairly recent time so it is held to the regular standards including a maximum hard cover of 30% so there will be that will be a limitation of this site um the applicant as is uh in the application materials there is an outline for a proposed house and garage those do seem to meet setback requirements and hard cover maximums again it's a building permit at that point this that's not really under consideration for you the consideration is whether or not it's acceptable for um the right of way to be uh released back to the property however if you wouldn't do it obviously the building plans as submitted don't work so we do recognize that but the question that you're being asked today is is it acceptable uh for the right of way to be vacated uh for use back by this property uh the city engineer Public Works has reviewed this and they say that the area to be vacated is not requested or not needed I mean um for City operations it really right now the way it's uh configured doesn't really match other city blocks in the community and kind of how the city does that it's a local Road they're not anticipating making it any wider and nor do they feel like they need additional rideway um drainage and utility easements as I said will need to be reestablished after uh the lot is uh changed and that'll be done by the City attorney which is standard procedure uh for our process um this is not a public hearing though you always have the opportunity to have uh comments from the public if they should attend this evening the property owners nearby were notified of the meeting tonight uh once we were sure that we were moving forward with this meeting so there may be people that are in attendance that would like to make comments or ask questions technically it's not a public hearing uh that's something that actually statutorily is required by the city council it also involves extra notice uh two weeks mail publish notice uh for Vacations so that's something that we will have to go through um and that's why the process if you would recommend approval and it moves to the city council is a little bit longer than it normally is because it takes more time for the public hearing notices um to be distributed and sent with that staff is recommending approval given the fact particularly that uh engineering and Public Works feels like they don't need the right of way for a public purpose which is really the standard um that statute asks is does is there a public need for that right of way to be in in the city's ownership if it doesn't um the city traditionally looks for opportunities to give it back to Property Owners put it back on the tax roles have actual use of it the biggest benefit to this property obviously is that their setbacks shift uh and they have a little bit more room to maneuver on that lot either way the lot is considered an r1a lot that is buildable so that doesn't change with the vacation or not the vacation is just how much space do we want to provide a house so that they can make something that makes sense and work uh with that I can answer any questions that you may have uh I suppose I should go through this discuss the request um and then you have one of three actions this evening you can table the request if you need additional information you can recommend approval or denial staff did provide findings and conditions for your consideration in the packet uh and I certainly can answer any questions that you have thank you yes questions toita or comments toita so I guess I had one question you kind of touched on it was that if we are getting rid of the RightWay now you said later on WE deter we do the next easements right so we would vacate both the right of way and the utility easements right now and then once the lot has been um the survey has been created and we create the Lots at that time and drainage utility easement will be drafted and established along the property boundaries just like a normal law would have it it's just we need to add the right of weight into the property and then reestablish drainage and utility e so then if they build a conforming house it would never come back to us right correct we don't need to do anything correct okay that's why I keep kind of talking about it's a little bit odd because normally you guys you see these as part of bigger projects right we're going to vacate things we're going to do this is just vacate and then everything else can be handled administratively with a building permit in theory as of right now with the materials we've seen right now if they build conforming you would not see it again r just have one question I think all this is really clear but the last condition that's listed yes is a bit odd I don't think I've usually seen and other things to be determined as as a condition can you just explain what was meant there is that eight additional conditions from staff the Planning Commission and the council yeah yeah oh I actually we have that language in there typically for you at this stage of the process and then when we draft the resolution it comes out so it's just recognizing that through your discussion we may come up with additional conditions that are important so if we added a condition if you add a condition if after your sometimes after your discussion we're like oh that's a really good point we should really clarify that we might add conditions so that's that's our mostly it's a warning that's a word alerting the applicants that just because this is the list doesn't mean the list might not change between now and the so barring any discussion we would motion for conditions one through seven you could yeah okay I mean if you do eight it's fine it what happens is we make the final resolution based on your discussion uh and you'll and usually that one goes away okay good point condition commissioner s yeah but I don't think it's really critical that you can't say eight it doesn't matter because we always make adjustments or things that we learn to make it precise and the City attorney reviews things so the conditions that you approve are you're approving generally and then we get precise when we get to the resolutions to make sure they all work and make sense okay I thought everything else was clear thanks yeah quick question being hypothetical if a sidewalk is put up there are we giving up the right for that sidewalk or how does that work I don't see a sidewalk now but in future is there like maybe is how does that work do they get access do they have how does that work I struggle a little bit because working so long here I know that sidewalks don't appear um to be in the plans for most neighborhoods okay so um probably not going to happen yeah probably all right just curious change your minds yeah and you could do them as of right now the policy hasn't been to have sidewalks on most streets just because it's the cost and the effort and the right of way is not conducive to it in most locations okay but you could always do an easement also you can do that if it if you got to that point that would be an option okay but thank you yeah thank you all right further questions or comments toita well being new I got kind of a stupid question you don't there are no stupid questions is there any reason we wouldn't approve it you don't have to come up with one if there isn't one but I I I'm just I can't see a reason to generally uh we rely on the technicians including Sarah and myself that if the if right if the engineering in public works doesn't feel like they need the right of way and it's similar to the other properties then no okay um if they started to raise those concerns or there was a utility company that had a major concern then we probably then we would have flagged it instead but otherwise it'll be it will be similar to surrounding properties thank you yes that was a good question there's no no dumb questions further questions for Rita further comments okay hearing none thank you ma'am yes thank you I'm going to do you want me to turn on the lights turn you got it I can do it it's my one thing I [Laughter] don't okay is there anyone in the audience who would like your approach to commission regarding this request uh please state your name and your address sir uh thank you um Commissioners Dana um I'm with uh I'm at 4945 Grand View Avenue in minist the red oak development uh I am the applicant so uh if you have any questions for me I can answer it just a quick clarification on the Excel piece it actually was myself that was in contact with Excel um you know just to get Logistics of It Is it feasible costs and then also um I want to uh I would propose to uh do some underground lines to take some of the uh overhead you know unsightly piece of it uh so that's that's a piece of it too but I'm I'm here for any questions if you you have any okay any questions for the applicant seeing none thank you sir thank you anyone else in the audience like to approach the commission regarding this proposal okay seeing none one more uh round through the commission any further questions or comments okay hearing none on page 19 of your agenda you see staff recommending Planning Commission recommending approval of the proposed vacation of RightWay and drainage and utility easements with conditions one through 7 and findings 1 through three chair would entertain a motion I'll motion that Planning Commission recommend approval of case 23-16 uh the vacation of the RightWay utility easements and drainage easements subject to the conditions 1 through 7 and the findings of fact 1 two and three second we have a motion and second further discussion hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I those oppose nay motion carries thank you moving on annual review of Planning Commission work rules staff is recommending we table this to our February 6 meeting is that correct Sarah that is correct shair good um I did include in your packet uh the most current set of the work rules that were uh adopted uh in March and so it'll give you maybe a little bit of time to kind of read through them and then be uh in a position maybe that we talk a little bit uh about the work rules and any changes for 24 okay chair would entertain a motion to um table review of work rules until the February 6th meeting second no make a motion to uh postpone the annual review of Planning Commission work rules to the February 6th regular scheduled meeting for Planning Commission okay commissioner heel seconded discussion Sarah quick question do you want us to any changes you want to submit prior to the meeting um or recommendations or just talk about it dur we can you I you're welcome to email them to me otherwise just be ready to talk about them at the meeting I think is what we've done in the past all right thank you and is is this just a typical annual review yeah it's required by the work rules um I'll give you a couple quick examples like last year we added in um that the meetings were being video taped the year before the year before that I think we added in language that in the event we needed to go electronic or off site that uh that we had that option um it's it's kind of an evolving document um that helps us with protocol what happens if both chair and vice chair are gone we did run into that one time um but uh it it does help us with meeting management um and and also just uh overall uh maintenance of the planning commission's uh documents and things so what's published here is what we adopted yes already yes and there aren't any kind of major recommendations for changes coming forward we just going to discuss them I I just think if members of the Planning Commission um have items that we talk about them at the meeting great um the the one thing is and I always just say is uh if we're if we're not going to be at the meeting or something comes up to no notify us because we need that for quum um that's always been I think probably one of the most important things um just so we know ahead of time um because if I don't hear from anybody I'm kind of counting on you and granted I know that things pop up so great anyway sry but thank you further questions comments okay I think we have a motion in a second all those in favor sing by saying I I those pose nay motion carries okay uh discussion recommendations about available dates to schedule 2024 annual concurrent meeting with city council for the two 2024 work plan and 2023 review do you have any um thoughts about this Sarah well we we try and do it in February if we can with the AL which is generally our off our third meeting date which would if it would be February be the second it'd be the 20th um from time to time we have had to go into March just because of scheduling um and I mean I granted that's the third month but um I also know that uh we have a new city manager starting and I know we have the council has handfuls of things that they're working on so I just I don't want to only lock them into one date that works for for you all we do try and stay on the Tuesdays because it works for you and it works for the council so the 2i would throw out would be preferred being the 20th of February with the alternate being the 19th of March which would both be third Tuesdays anybody have any problems with those dates I can not do the February date okay any other uh the only comment with the March 19th is that gets close to Spring break for yes kids but yep schools goes till the 21st that week so it should be okay at least for me okay other do we need to make a motion uh yes if you could to offer up if those are both possible dates where the where uh a good portion of you would be able to attend the those would be this the first slate of dates is it beneficial to to do it earlier because the new city manager starting or do you want to wait until March we put a preference or just put those two dates I know we've got a workshop yeah two workshops coming it's kind of a crazy I just don't know what I don't know what those dates are for your February Workshop might already be taken Thursday well your yours are Thursday then we probably the workshop's Thursday I think it's that Thursday of the week of the 20th oh so it would be the 22nd yeah I think that is and then it's also the day it's the day following President's Day am I reading here also that we're canceling the March 5th meeting in L of a March 19th meeting for us so would that not be a good day for a joint oh oh yeah yeah yeah yeah oh the 19th yes thank you yeah I'm myself Point yeah yeah so it so we got to try for the 20th because we have to cancel the fifth because of CAU Co primary so my meeting our meeting is going to be on the 19th thank you for that I knew i' forgotten something the 19th we're on the 19th of February right no but she's saying the 19th of March 19th of March look look at uh C C1 so do we just make a motion that we shoot for the February 20th and if and if it doesn't work we'll have to come back for wol to find another date so I'll make a motion that we we thank you um recommend as the available date for the concurrent meeting with city council to be February 20th that does not work schedule it with the plan commission yes and I'll reach out to Mr good too okay you heard the motion we have a second second okay we have a second further discussion caring none all those in favor signify by saying I I those pose nay motion carries okay we have three suggested cancellations and reschedules uh you see them as C1 two and three on the agenda y this this should be for the year I believe at least as of now um uh as provided by the clerk the the March 5th is presidential nomination primary the August is the annual night to you night uh which is the event that a lot a lot of Planning Commission Fe members partake uh and then the November is Federal Election and so that meeting also gets scooched uh from November 5th to November 19th so these are changes that should get us through the end of the year short of something that gets added in or scheduled so those are the three meeting date changes for 2024 as of now okay any comments or observations about these hearing none can we do one motion that yes can that incorporates all three you so I'd like to make a motion to cancel the Tuesday March 5th 2024 Tuesday August 6 2024 and Tuesday November 5th 2024 regularly scheduled meetings of the Planning Commission and create new special meetings for the Planning Commission on Tuesday March 19th 2024 Tuesday August 20th 2024 and Tuesday November 19th 2024 we have a motion do we have a second second further discussion hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I those oppose nay motion carries uh Kathy any comments from the council you know I'm still in sort of Christmas b a long time ago I know at our last meeting the Eli hurt playground path right and um I guess other than that hopefully we'll get to see everybody at some portion of Eric's retirement party On th okay so did every speaking of that did everybody get that email today yeah about two invitations if I'm not incorrect one is 12 to2 on on Thursday and that's here and that's here Y and the other is 4:30 and Beyond right at surfsite correct yeah and we have prepared a notice of possible Quorum um the deputy city manager did so that members of the council Planning Commission and Parks Board are able to attend and partake um as your availability allows okay sorry for interjecting but yes well I know Eric is looking forward to having as many people as are wanting to come wish and out so okay and that's all I that that's all you got okay thank you Sarah I don't have much either um sort of I agree we're kind of in the holiday F uh day after New Year's um I hope everybody had a wonderful holiday um I I appreciate all the extra work that you put in towards the end of the year and uh and uh Kristen welcome it's always nice to have a full compliment of members and uh so I'm I'm grateful to have you with us uh we will be reaching out to Miss Young uh independently to schedule uh some in-house training um it's kind of a half afternoon I know a lot of You' have gone through it Nick and Derek uh and it's kind of a two to thre hour thing really informal but we we call landies 101 but we'll get you up to speed as quick as we can and what I'll do is I'll reach out to you personally with some dates great and then um we can either do it in the morning or we can do it in the afternoon whatever works best for your schedule we do it right inhouse um upstairs with a and it's very informal and um and we'll have uh the city manager step in and say Hello uh but uh we'll reach out in the next couple days with that um other thing that's happening uh like I said last month uh events are already coming out of the woodwork the Polar Plunge I think is the last Saturday in January it's the 27th um that's super exciting um uh we're busy uh with project management um Essa has been busy as you can see he coming out of the ground out of the ground uh lots of um activities with construction management and building permits and uh always nice to see uh folks are still interested in in doing stuff and uh well whether it's a demo an addition a replacement or uh uh uh any sort of remodel interior exterior their the phones just don't stop ringing so I guess that's a good thing um Fern I reached out to the fern folks which is the um uh tow houses um behind Commerce Place just to check in uh they have granted us an extension until I think um September or may I can't remember which I think we extended um but we do anticipate hearing from them soon um Stephanie alonna thought that they'd get back to us sometime this week I just I kind of wanted to feel them out in terms of when I can expect stuff so I can get scheduled for hearing uh and that then also that the city has adequate time to accommodate the requirement for public hearing and notification and that sort of thing so um hopefully we'll be seeing them at the council level the activities that the Planning Commission for the plat and the um cup have been addressed they are still working on their adjustments submitt that sort of thing so that we can get them scheduled for hearings at the city council level um other things the uh met Council has approved the city's uh comprehensive plan amendments um and so that uh action to to uh request putting that into effect and formally formally adopting it at the local level will be on our city council agenda next Tuesday as well as a request to resend the moratorium um and so once those activities are done um we will no longer be on moratorium for multifam so we got done I think that went into place in March and we should be done by January so so the council we hope is going to and the Planning Commission we hope is is favorable to that we certainly did that as quick as we could following um the comprehensive plan health check last February March and April so uh that's very favorable news um with that I I don't have anything else short of I just hope everybody had a really really nice holiday season and be careful walking outside Sarah EXC me I have a real quick question um pardon me the Dwayne 66 know Stacy where are we at with that um I think we're waiting for them um we approved this a conditional use permit it's been recorded okay um maybe they're waiting for a spring okay I've just had several people yeah I haven't I we're done with our end y yep there it's it's in their Court my guess is that they're probably working on building permits stuff because they have to get commercial plans but um but we do know cuz I got the recorded resolution back about ago from the county thank you you're welcome okay further business to be brought before the commission hearing none sure would entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second we have a second discussion hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I those oppose nay motion carries thank you for coming thank you for coming