Based on the context provided and the dialogue within the transcript, here is the formatted version with speaker names added. **Note on Speakers:** This transcript appears to be a meeting of the **City Planning Commission**. While some speakers are City Council members (like Aurin Chowdhury), they are addressed as "Commissioner" or "President" within this specific body. [0:00] **President Meyer:** I opposed abstentions. Those minutes are adopted. Next, we'll organize the agenda. Staff are recommending that item six be discussed and that the rest of the items go on consent. So, I'm going to go through the rest of the items. Um, was anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation for 2633 Minnehaha Avenue? [0:20] **President Meyer:** Item number four. All right. Not seeing any. So, we'll have item number four on consent. Was anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation for 1251 Washington Avenue North? Item number five. [0:36] **President Meyer:** All right. Six will be discussed. And then item 7, 710 East 24th Street and 2300 Chicago Avenue. Was anyone here to speak against staff recommendation for item number seven? All right. So our agenda will be to discuss item six and have the rest on consent. Is there a motion to approve that agenda? Oh. [0:57] **Commissioner Chowdhury:** Oh. So move, but I'd like to speak on something on consent when appropriate. [1:01] **President Meyer:** Great. All right. All in favor of adopting that agenda, say I. [1:04] **Commissioners:** I. [1:05] **President Meyer:** Opposed. Abstentions. That is adopted. We'll now open the hearing for the consent agenda. Would anyone like to testify to items four, five, or seven? [1:19] **President Meyer:** All right. I will close the public hearing. Commissioners, is there any discussion or comments on our consent items? Council member Chowdhury. [1:23] **Commissioner Chowdhury:** Thank you so much, President Meyer. I just wanted to speak to item number four, which is 2633 Minnehaha. This is the future South Minneapolis Community Safety Center. This is the location in which the um our third precinct police officers and um a slate of other services from 311 um safety resources, housing navigation, uh resources for those who've experienced domestic violence among many other resources will be housed. Uh residents within the third precinct have asked for a very long time to have these safety services within the third precinct. So, I'm really glad to see that we're taking another step as a city to move this forward um and just change uh change this district to incorporate uh non-residential uses for public safety and welfare. So, I just wanted to highlight that. I think this is a positive step forward. Um I did have a very quick question and perhaps uh Kimberly would be able to help with this. I just wanted to ask, are there any other items that are expected to come before the planning commission related to this um location? [2:45] **Kimberly (Staff):** No, this is the full suite of land use applications needed for approvals at 2633 Minnehaha. [2:50] **Commissioner Chowdhury:** Excellent. Okay. Well, thank you. Those are my comments. [2:55] **President Meyer:** All right. Thank you. Is there any other discussion on the consent agenda? All right. Seeing none, all in favor of approving items four, five, and seven say I. [3:04] **Commissioners:** I. [3:05] **President Meyer:** Opposed. Abstentions. The consent agenda is adopted. We'll now move on to our one discussion item. Item number six, staff is Lindsay Silus. [3:25] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Good afternoon, Chair Meyer, members of the commission. Um, I see that my applicant is not here, so I'll keep this really brief. Uh the applicant um is for this 416 East Lake Street site which is a single-story commercial building located at the um intersection of Fifth Avenue South and East Lake Street. Um there has been a there are two commercial uh tenant spaces in this building. At the front uh fronting on East Lake Street is a tax uh repairs office and at the rear is an auto repair uh facility that has been operating there for a long time. There was a change of use in 2009 where the city deemed the project or that that facility to have a CUP for minor auto repair but stereo installation only. At some point in the past uh since 2009 that owner started doing more general auto repair beyond stereo installation and never received a CUP for that change of use. And so that's what this application is. Um this is the site. It is owned by the uh Northstar Mini Storage who owns a lot of the surrounding property and a site plan showing the um the facility and the uh the two tenant spaces inside. There is a large surface parking lot to the north and a photo. [4:48] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** So I know um so there's two applications associated with this project. A conditional use permit to establish the minor auto repair and site plan review. Um, as you'll see from the staff report, there are a variety of conditions. Some related to the the use that uh as it's been operating um without a conditional use permit has not been adhering to the specific use standards for automobile services. Um, specifically that all the vehicles need to be stored in a a parking lot that's striped. um they need to be in uh operable condition and uh all the vehicle areas need to be surfaced as required by the zoning code. [5:28] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** So those conditions have been applied here and then there's site plan review as well for the minor auto repair use. Um this project does need significant alternative compliance. So I can uh the the site the site itself is does not include any landscaping basically zero landscaping on the site. Um and so evaluating it for consistency with the site plan review standards we found that they need alternative compliance for concrete curbs um and wheel stops landscaped area uh 19 over 1900 square feet is required and none is proposed. [6:09] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Canopy trees. Four canopy trees are required and none are proposed. Shrubs, there are 20 shrubs required and none are proposed. Um a landscape yard facing the street. Uh parking unloading screening and liner trees. So staff is recommending um a variety of conditions of approval that essentially relate to landscaping and screening of the parking area. I can go back to the site plan here. So um staff is recommending that the applicant provide a 7-ft landscaped yard on their property. So um back of the existing chain link fence that is already there and that in that landscaped yard they provide uh shrubs to provide screening as a hedge and liner trees. Um this still would would result in them being below the landscaping requirement that uh is laid out in the zoning code. They'd have two canopy trees rather than four and they would have um I think we have conditioned 15 shrubs instead of 20. um but they would be coming closer to compliance and then the provision of that landscape yard would allow them to use landscaping to um improve the aesthetic uh uh nature of the site and to provide that screening that's required. So um staff has five conditions related to the conditional use permit and 15 conditions for site plan review. [7:31] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Um, and so that is what our recommendation is and I'm happy to answer any questions. [7:37] **President Meyer:** Any questions before we open the hearing? Commissioner Shepard. [7:41] **Commissioner Shepard:** Do you need to know what to hear? One question with the change in use to general automotive repair. That's a different use under the IBC. And I note that the front of the building is a B occupancy and the back would now be something like an S1. Has city staff looked at that separation of uses? [8:05] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Um, there are so this all kind of came to us as part of a fire inspection. Fire inspection services was out on the site. And so there are a variety of different kind of things that have been flagged by them for um this use. So I know the applicant is working through kind of a laundry list of things that have been flagged for fire code and building code compliance um which are separate to this application. And this one mostly has to do with just the use and then the fact that the applicant needs to have that conditional use permit approved before they can apply for a business license. [8:37] **Commissioner Shepard:** Good. That happened. Great. Thanks. [8:40] **President Meyer:** Anyone else? Commissioner Chowdhury. [8:44] **Commissioner Chowdhury:** This is a little in the weeds, but it's looking at the conditions. So number 10 is wheel stop shall be provided for each striped parking space. Is that implying that wheel stops currently don't exist? [8:56] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Correct. Right now, the the parking lot is just asphalt. It's not striped. So, that um the zoning code requires that that it both be surfaced and then striped to delineate where cars may be parked. And it's just it's just asphalt that's um currently fenced. So the requirements are that the the spaces be striped to comply with the dimensional standards in the zoning code and then that wheel stops be provided to further you know delineate where cars can and should be parked. [9:26] **Commissioner Chowdhury:** Great. And then my second question is on Fifth Avenue where that chain link fence is it looks like there is like uh a ramp that goes into the parking lot but it doesn't look like that gate opens. Are you aware of how that ramp is being used because that's where the trees and the shrubs have to go? Correct. [9:48] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Oops. So, are you looking at the the curb cut? Can you see on the site plan? So, there's there is a curb cut and and staff would not be requiring that the applicant remove the curb cut or change the curb cut configuration any any way. Rather kind of where that first parking space is along the street that the applicant would um essentially need to remove the asphalt in for that first parking space kind of all the way north to the north property line to provide a 7 foot landscape buffer. [10:20] **Commissioner Chowdhury:** Got it. Could you tell me how it relates to the image on slide 17, the second to last slide? [10:26] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Yes, that one. So where you see all of the the concrete going into the parking area, that would all stay the same. And they have a rolling gate that would stay the same. And part of why the or part of why staff decided to condition the landscaping rather than like a screening fence was to allow them to maintain this same um chain link fence in the same location. And so everything that kind of where cars would enter would stay the same. And then you can kind of see on the image there's like some like weedy shrub area from there to the north or yeah to where the property line ends which extends a little bit beyond where this chain link fence is. All of that there would be like a 7 foot landscaped buffer there to then be able to provide that landscaping and screening. [11:09] **Commissioner Chowdhury:** Great. Thank you. That's all my questions for now. [11:13] **President Meyer:** Thank you. Um, so Lindsay, so they are required to have four canopy trees and they're providing two. They're also required to have, is it correct, 20 shrubs and they're providing—you're recommending 15, right? [11:30] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Right. [11:31] **President Meyer:** And what is what what is being offered in exchange for that with the alternative compliance for the reduced amount? [11:33] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Um, that's a good question. This is kind of staff trying to thread the needle between a site that's already like fully established. They're not proposing any changes to the building. They're not proposing to expand the parking area or the um asphalt or impervious surfaces on the site. So, kind of trying to thread that needle to find like what would be the most meaningful addition of landscaping to the site without the removal of significant additional concrete and asphalt where it may not have aesthetic impacts on the um the public uh street and and pathway. [12:11] **President Meyer:** Okay. Any other questions for staff? All right. Thank you, Lindsay. I will open the public hearing. Um, we have the applicant with us. [12:22] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** All right. If you're the applicant, you have—I am. I'm so sorry. [12:25] **President Meyer:** That's okay. You have 10 minutes. [12:27] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** Misled me. I am parked like six blocks away. I have a heart condition and I'm just bursting right now cuz it's hustling to get here. [12:35] **President Meyer:** We're glad you could make it. So, you have 10 minutes and then each subsequent speaker will have two minutes to testify. [12:39] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** Okay. I need just a couple minutes because um subsequent to all the things in the last email or the email that I got that said that they are recommending approval of the the permit, but then there were a recommendations that go with that approval. And the only one that we strongly object to is what I caught her um Lindsay speaking to is the removal of one of my parking spaces to put in the bushes. Okay. So, um I don't think I'm I'm I don't have that picture. The picture, the site plan picture that shows that I have five parking spaces in this um fenced in area. Are you seeing that now? Okay. So, you see five spaces. Now, I also want to add that my the owner this morning uh asked me to please extend to you that we consider this a staging area. I don't know how much this is going to gain me rather than a parking area so that we could at least um avoid getting the curb stops. I don't know. She just wanted me to put that out to you. But we really strongly do not want to wish to lose 260 ft of income producing property. And that's that's what we're talking about putting 7 ft of bushes in there along that east side of that parking lot if you're following me. So what she's asking me us to do is bulldoze that up and put in 7 ft of bushes inside the fence. So initially through this whole process about four months ago, the topic brought up was putting fabric on the fencing itself to do the same thing at much less cost and saving property. Okay? And that's basically all my my owner wants me to convey to you tonight is if you would consider removing that recommendation rather than tear up property uh the expense of the bushes, lose a parking spot if we could just put some kind of a vegetation type screening on the fence that's existing. And that's that's basically all I want. We're addressing all of the tens of thousands of dollars worth of issues that were presented to us with the inspection that started 3 months ago and we'll we have it wrapped up. We have our final inspection tomorrow. So, I think that's all. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm I think that's all I need to mention to you. [15:06] **President Meyer:** Okay. Um, can you tell us your name for the record? [15:09] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** Oh, I'm sorry. Chuck Grant. [15:11] **President Meyer:** All right. Commissioners, are there any questions for the applicant before we proceed with the rest of the hearing? Commissioner Shepard, please. [15:20] **Commissioner Shepard:** Um, just just for my education, what is what what's defining the western boundary of this parking lot? [15:28] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** Okay. What defines the western—Oh, what sets what? Why don't we just shove it all over? Ask me one more time. [15:35] **Commissioner Shepard:** Why don't I take those five parking spots, move them four feet to the west? [15:39] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** Oh, you move the whole—Oh, you mean seven feet? Well, I I have here—Okay, here is the problem with that is that entire that entire parking area is utilized by sometimes 50 foot uh container trailers that come in through that parking lot and back up to my dock. So right now they struggled back and forth back and forth to get the containers backed up to the docks of my building and then to move that inner fence another 7 ft cuz I've I've thought about that too. You know not only you know it's not that great of an expense but it is an expense and it would uh really restrict the containers that come onto my property. [16:23] **Commissioner Shepard:** So I think there was a slide that showed the proposed planting bed. Is that correct? [16:32] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** I'm sorry. There's a slide here that shows the proposed planting bed. [16:35] **Commissioner Shepard:** Oh, okay. Because it's 14 feet. Is it 14 feet from BFA building to the curb? [16:40] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** Well, if we if we if we move the whole parking lot, you're saying 7 ft only. No. [16:47] **Commissioner Shepard:** No. Now I'm back to the the fifth street frontage, right? Where I think you have 14 ft if my memory serves. And so you wouldn't need to take 7 ft if you have a 5ft sidewalk and a 3ft boulevard. What remains? [17:01] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** Okay. What we have on the property is um inside between the fence and the sidewalk. I think we have 3 ft of green area. [17:08] **Commissioner Shepard:** So it's 4ft that we're talking about. [17:11] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** Oh, okay. I thought you said 14 ft. I'm sorry. Okay. So, um, so we would move one fence, but yeah, because we're not going to put the the bush on the fence. We have to move the fence four feet, right? To give you—one way or the other, right? So, we need we need four more feet to get the 7 foot. And what drives the magic 7 foot number? [17:34] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** I don't know. [17:36] **President Meyer:** This might be a question for staff. I'm sorry. [17:39] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Yeah, big bush. Um, so the requirement in site plan review chapter is that all on-site surface parking lots have a 7 foot landscape buffer between the surface parking and the street. And so that would be 7 ft on the site itself. So, um, you know, they might have a little bit of space. It might not be a full seven that they would have to remove as far as asphalt, but um, it would be close. [18:07] **Commissioner Shepard:** Yeah. Trying to see see what how skinny of a landscaping berm we can get in there. Well, I guess that would be up to you. [18:14] **President Meyer:** I have some other questions that I think Lindsay, you might need to answer. So, I'm just trying to understand the applicant's requests and translating them into the conditions that we're considering. So, he's talking about one parking spot, but so that would be—is the request to have fewer shrubs then in order to— [18:37] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** I mean, my understanding from his request is to remove any conditions related to a landscape buffer and landscaping because if there's no landscape buffer, there's no area to provide liner trees or shrubs or landscaped area um or screening. So, I would assume that basically conditions 11 through 14 or 15 would be removed from site plan review if you were wishing to comply with this ask. [19:07] **President Meyer:** Okay. Did you have any other testimony or or are there any other questions? [19:12] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** You know what? I hear I'm so sorry. My grandchildren sometimes think I am hearing impaired, but I'm not. [19:28] **President Meyer:** Okay. So, did you have any other testimony? [19:31] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** I do not. [19:33] **President Meyer:** Okay. Are there any other questions from commissioners? Okay. Thank you. No. Take a seat. Would anyone else like to testify to the item? Oh, I thought they were sending the results. No, I'll make a decision right now. All right. Oh, not seeing anyone else. You didn't want to. [19:48] **Public Speaker:** I I'm here for an update. I I might be in the wrong place. I thought I was here for an update for on the uh police precinct construction at 2633. [19:57] **President Meyer:** Yes, we approved that on the consent agenda and council member Chowdhury spoke to it when we approved it. [20:03] **Public Speaker:** I guess I was a few minutes late. [20:05] **President Meyer:** Okay. [20:06] **Public Speaker:** Um Okay. Is there like an update? I'm I'm going to report to a committee about this. Is it uh is there any significant information that uh I missed? [20:13] **President Meyer:** The item was approved as recommended by staff. [20:16] **Public Speaker:** Okay. [20:18] **President Meyer:** So, the staff report is online and you can share that. [20:20] **Public Speaker:** Sounds good. Okay. Thanks. [20:22] **President Meyer:** Yes. And and that that's a good point. Um the meeting is streamed on YouTube so you can go back to the comments that council member Chowdhury made at the time. [20:33] **Public Speaker:** I'm sorry I missed that. People not hearing my mic very well. I'm not not close enough to it. [20:39] **President Meyer:** I'm hard to hear. Okay. Um, so when we approve the item, council member Chowdhury spoke to it and and described what was included into it and if you go to YouTube, you can find the recording of that and you can share that as well. [20:55] **Public Speaker:** Okay. Yeah, it's on the city of Minneapolis YouTube site. Got it. Thanks. [21:03] **President Meyer:** You're welcome. All right. Would anyone else like to speak to this item? If not, I will close the public hearing. Commissioners—comments, questions, discussion? Commissioner Conley. [21:13] **Commissioner Conley:** Thank you. Um, Mr. Chair, so question about—I have two questions that that are probably for staff. Um, and it relates to the boulevard. So when we have requirements like um the trees and the shrub, the boulevard is city, so that doesn't count. If cuz there the boulevard right there is is empty. So if he planted, you know, six trees out there, would that count or is that—No, because it's city. [21:50] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** That's right. Yep. So the requirement for on-site landscaping is separate from any like city-owned boulevards or public spaces um that are managed by the park board. So part of part of the reason that we have these standards when it comes to especially like automobile oriented uses is to help diffuse the urban heat island effect and and that sort of thing. Bringing some of the the responsibility for that landscaping onto private property is I think the purpose of these requirements. [22:15] **Commissioner Conley:** Absolutely. Thank you. And so that that leads me to what supports might we have for small business owners who um are having trouble or might have barriers to meeting some of the requirements. We want to mitigate the heat island effect and we want our small businesses to be able to thrive. So um with the requirements in place, what type of technical assistance or supports do we have to sort of help our owners meet these requirements as best as they can? I I see I I heard the negotiation from the from the 20 down to the 15, but like what else could we be doing or what else is out there? [22:45] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Yeah. So, we um there are some specific like Lake Street oriented um uh business services. So, uh I did connect Chuck with uh our small business team and so they have um offered some support with business technical assistance. Um I know that there are some landscaping resources. I don't think we have connected um the applicant with those at this time just because there wasn't any prior landscaping proposed. It was more about um facilitating their way through the application process for this um this application. But um certainly we can uh you know continue those conversations with the small business team for any resources that might be available. But I don't know off of the top of my head what exactly might that be. [23:38] **Commissioner Conley:** Thank you. [23:40] **President Meyer:** Commissioner Jones. [23:44] **Commissioner Jones:** Yeah, I'm just curious. Has it been the same owner since 2009 or has there been a change of ownership? [23:47] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Um, answer that or no? I don't I don't know the answer to that. [23:51] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** It's been the same owner since '78, 1978. Almost 50 years she served this community and paid millions of dollars in taxes, just saying. [24:08] **President Meyer:** Thank you. Any other questions? Commissioner Wagner, did you raise your hand? [24:14] **Commissioner Wagner:** Uh, sure. I was I was ready to make a motion as well, but it sounds like Commissioner Chowdhury also wants to get in. Um, I think that—Oh, sorry. Um, yeah, thank you. I think um I think these types of laws and regulations in regards to additional um financial impact to these types of small businesses can be unfortunate, but they're needed. Right? When you walk a street and there's no greenery, it feels hotter. It feels less nice. Um and um I think we have this code for a reason. I'm not seeing a reason to deviate from the code. Um, I was ready to make a motion, but it sounded like there were other comments. [25:06] **President Meyer:** Commissioner Chowdhury. [25:10] **Commissioner Chowdhury:** Yeah, thank you so much. Um, Chair Meyer, I guess like this is a combination for staff or the owner. I I guess with this one, um, for me, I'm kind of just thinking about how long this business has been here where this has not been a major issue. And then um through review it was found that this uh condition is needed. I wonder if there is like a certain amount of of buffer that could be placed that wouldn't impact that parking space. Like is there a certain amount of feet that it can go where it wouldn't take away the parking space for the business but still provide the screening and some new greenery? I don't know if staff has considered that or the applicant has um a certain amount of feet that would be acceptable for a buffer. [25:54] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** I can just tell you that from the site plan, it doesn't look like there's any space to, you know, there's no additional leftover space for them to comply with the the parking dimensional standards and, you know, still be able to use that that area that's delineated there. All of that other space to the north of the building is like asphalt concrete. Like it's a hard surface, you know, it's used for parking um other vehicles. It's not striped. We decided not to touch that area in our conditions. We didn't—we're not going to require that that be striped or anything. Um but staff felt that because there is a significant amount of of um hardscape on site that you know potentially having to move the parking spaces over a small amount um would still provide a significant amount of parking if needed. [26:40] **Commissioner Chowdhury:** Thank you. That's helpful. [26:42] **President Meyer:** Um I have one more staff question before you leave, Lindsay. So, in his testimony, the applicant mentioned curb stop. Is that the same thing as wheel stops? The condition for item 10? [26:58] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Yeah, I think so. [27:00] **President Meyer:** Can you speak to your recommendation on that? Um if it's if it's a staging area as the applicant described, are the wheel stops necessary? [27:04] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Sure. So if you look at uh the conditions that we've applied to the conditional use permit when you have a minor auto repair facility, there are specific use standards about where and how automobiles can be stored and worked on at the site. So storage of automobiles can only happen inside and then in striped parking spaces. Um, so it's not a great photo, but you can see that like there's many more vehicles stored in that area than could fit in there if they were in striped parking spaces. And that's one of the things that the specific use standards are trying to get around, right? Like we don't want um an area that's just delineated by a chain link fence that as many vehicles as can be possibly fit in there will be, right? We want them to be parked in the way that operable vehicles would be parked in any other parking lot in the city of Minneapolis. And so that's part of what the conditions are getting to um with the fact of uh the condition that all vehicles waiting for repair or pickup shall be stored on the site within an enclosed building or parking spaces in compliance with the zoning code. And so that's what the striping has to to do with. And then the wheel stops as well to delineate those parking spaces to demonstrate compliance with the use standard. [28:21] **President Meyer:** Okay. Um I guess thank you. Uh so my thoughts on this are—like Commissioner Wagner said, I think the codes that we have are important for reducing the heat island effect for providing um refuge for for habitat, you know, um that's why we require landscaping and and islands um for for birds and insects and other things. So I think that's important to keep. My inclination is is actually to deny alternative compliance and to to require the the 20 shrubs and the four canopy trees. Um I would be interested in where the the rest of the the commission is on that. Um sounds like people were kind of okay with the compromise that staff has um come up with, but I I wouldn't support um going any any further than that. I don't have a strong opinion on the wheel stops. Um if commissioners— [29:21] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** We don't either. I mean that's just an an expense. I mean that we can absorb. But to lose property uh is just huge. Especially the late notice of this recommendation. At no time was this recommended. This could even have influenced our decision to move on with the permit because we did have other people that would enjoy coming into that building. But the owner having a heart for the person who's been there for four years is sticking to her decision to keep his livelihood intact. So we want to keep him. [29:58] **President Meyer:** All right. Thank you. [30:00] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** This gentleman has never read Mr. Rent payment. Really nice. Hugged me this morning when I said tomorrow this is going to be all over. [30:07] **President Meyer:** Thank you. The hearing is concluded. So you know I'll let you speak a little bit, but the public hearing is concluded. So we're not taking any more testimony. [30:09] **Chuck Grant (Applicant):** Okay. Thank you. [30:10] **President Meyer:** All right. So, um, yeah, I guess my thought is to either go with the staff recommendation or, you know, my preference would be to deny alternative compliance. Um, I will let someone else propose a motion if someone has one. [30:33] **Commissioner Shepard:** I I think I understand the need to not to to do alternative compliance because the the Lake Street frontage is completely taken by by Metro Transit and and existing street trees. Um and I get this rolling gate is kind of a problem, but would we make 5-ft boulevards work with trees regularly? Would it be a reasonable compromise to do a 5-ft median with the street trees and with the shrubs? [31:01] **President Meyer:** Is that a question for Lindsay? [31:04] **Commissioner Shepard:** That is a—I'm sorry. That is a— [31:07] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Um if I may clarify, Commissioner Shepard, are you saying to put all of the required landscaping in the boulevard in a 5 foot? [31:11] **Commissioner Shepard:** No, no, no, no, no. Could you take it—reduce it from a 7ft yard? [31:13] **Lindsay Silus (Staff):** Yes. Okay. Thank you, Lindsay. Um, you know, I think that is definitely a decision for the commission. The standard in the site plan review standards is seven feet. So that—we just decided to stick with that number. Um, I don't know about the number of shrubs if reducing the width would maybe result in a lesser number of shrubs that would be able to fit with the liner trees and that sort of thing. But um, something to keep in mind. [31:44] **Commissioner Shepard:** Agreed. So I would make a motion, okay, to grant alternative compliance reducing the landscape barrier from 7 to 5ft in width. [32:00] **President Meyer:** Okay. So that's recommendation plus that. So is that an adjustment to an existing condition or is that— [32:06] **Commissioner Shepard:** That is an adjustment to an existing alternative compliance condition and to condition number 11. [32:09] **President Meyer:** Okay. [32:10] **Commissioner Shepard:** Yes. [32:11] **President Meyer:** All right. Is there a second to that? All right. Um, so I'm I'm going to vote no on it because I think we should keep the seven feet. Is there any further discussion? [32:26] **Commissioner Conley:** I do. [32:27] **President Meyer:** Commissioner Conley, your hand is up. [32:32] **Commissioner Conley:** I I just have a clarification question. Are we about to vote on the motion by Commissioner Shepard, not the overall? [32:37] **President Meyer:** I would take them separately. Sure. [32:41] **President Meyer:** Okay. So, I'm going to split your motion. Um, Commissioner Shepard, we're going to vote first on your proposal to grant alternative compliance to reduce it from 7 feet to 5ft and then the overall staff recommendation if that's okay with people. Commissioner Conley. [32:58] **Commissioner Conley:** Yeah. So, this is really just a comment. I I get the job that's ahead of us and what we have to vote on, but I do want to stress that um I have seen boulevard trees go up in my neighborhood. I have seen um boulevard trees go up just around the community. But I want to also add that the requirements that we have for um businesses when it comes to shrubs and greenery, we also have a responsibility in that too. So when I see this the stretch of green right here and there's no trees there, I would really encourage us to plant some. Um this could certainly help again with the heat island, but could it also help um with the greenery of this area in particular? This area of Lake Street is heavily paved and heavily—it's a concrete jungle. Um so if we have any part—if the city of Minneapolis—I think you said the park board manages those—um let's get out there and put trees where I I'm sure there's a timeline on planting and where they go. Uh just like the the county has a timeline on when we're planting and and who's doing it. Um, but I would also say that if there was a gigantic tree right there before that uh driveway, that certainly would help with what it is that uh the 2040 plan goals really are for business owners when it comes to shrubbery and trees and greens like we—we have a responsibility for that too. So there's my comment. Thank you. [34:21] **President Meyer:** Thank you. All right. Um so just to repeat what the motion is. Um so we would be adding alternative compliance and changing um B item 11 so that it would be 5 foot of landscaped yard located between the on-site paved areas instead of 7 ft. All right. Is there any further discussion on that motion? All right. Seeing none, clerk please call the roll. [34:55] **Clerk:** Commissioner Chowdhury. [34:58] **Commissioner Chowdhury:** I. [35:00] **Clerk:** Conley. [35:02] **Commissioner Conley:** I. [35:04] **Clerk:** Jones. [35:05] **Commissioner Jones:** I. [35:07] **Clerk:** Shepard. [35:08] **Commissioner Shepard:** I. [35:10] **Clerk:** Thompson. [35:11] **Commissioner Thompson:** I. [35:13] **Clerk:** Wagner. [35:14] **Commissioner Wagner:** No. [35:15] **Clerk:** And Meyer. [35:17] **President Meyer:** No. [35:19] **Clerk:** So, we have five ayes and two nays. [35:22] **President Meyer:** All right, that is adopted. And so, now we'll move to the underlying staff recommendation. Um, is there any discussion on that? All right, seeing no further discussion, uh, clerk, please call the roll. [35:39] **Clerk:** Commissioner Chowdhury. [35:41] **Commissioner Chowdhury:** I. [35:42] **Clerk:** Conley. [35:43] **Commissioner Conley:** I. [35:44] **Clerk:** Jones. [35:45] **Commissioner Jones:** I. [35:47] **Clerk:** Shepard. [35:48] **Commissioner Shepard:** I. [35:50] **Clerk:** Thompson. [35:51] **Commissioner Thompson:** I. [35:53] **Clerk:** Wagner. [35:54] **Commissioner Wagner:** I. [35:55] **Clerk:** Meyer. [35:57] **President Meyer:** No. [36:00] **Clerk:** So we have six ayes and one nay. [36:03] **President Meyer:** All right, that is adopted. Good luck with your project. Uh that concludes our business for the day. Um we had some confusion about when exactly the next meeting is going to be. So I'm going to turn that over to Kimberly to clarify when when we're having our next one. Um there is I guess a uh regular planning commission meeting on the calendar instead of a committee of the whole meeting on a Thursday at the end of the month which is September 25th. Um that was not on our internal tracking calendar as a planning commission date that was on it as a committee of the whole date because it is on a Thursday. So long story short, we don't have any items tracking to that meeting and it will be cancelled and our next meeting will be October 6th. [36:50] **President Meyer:** Our next meeting—also we don't we don't have committee of the whole this week? [36:56] **Kimberly (Staff):** Nope. Uh in the email I sent out to you all, I noted that we will not be having committee of the whole this week. [36:56] **President Meyer:** But we will also not have committee of the whole on the 25th either. [36:59] **Kimberly (Staff):** There's not going to be another meeting of this body until October 6th. [37:05] **President Meyer:** Got it. Okay. Well, enjoy your long break everyone. Is there any other uh update or any anything from from any commissioners or staff? All right, we are adjourned.