[06:30] Commissioner: is nice though. [06:30] Commission Chair: Not as good as being at home. [06:30] Commissioner: I'd rather be home. [06:30] Commission Chair: 6:30. Who would? Yeah. All right. [clears throat] All right. Welcome to the February 9th, 2026 uh version of the Lake Elmo Planning Commission. Our first item on the agenda is to stand and say the pledge of allegiance. [06:31] Group: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [06:31] Commission Chair: I guess I didn't bang my gamble to say the opening of the meeting. There we go. Official. Uh, first of all, I'd just like to say thank you to Michelle Bolig who served on the planning commission for about she year and a half, two years. [06:31] Commissioner: Yeah. And a party in the state moving out. [06:31] Commission Chair: So, uh, that opens up a vacancy on the planning commission. So, if anybody who's watching is interested, please reach out to the city. If you go to the city's website, there under the planning commission, there are the links for the application to do that. Um, we like lots of voices and different opinions. That makes us a stronger city at the end of the day. So, but thank you to Michelle and best of luck to you. Uh, next item on the agenda is to approve the agenda and I need a motion to do that. [06:32] Commissioner: Motion to approve the agenda of the Monday, February 9th, 2026 planning commission meeting. [06:32] Commissioner: Second. [06:32] Commission Chair: And it's seconded. All in favor? [06:32] Commissioners: I. [06:32] Commission Chair: And the agenda has been approved. The next item is to approve the minutes from the uh January 26, 26 planning commission meeting minutes. Do I have a motion for that? [06:32] Commissioner: Motion to approve the meeting minutes of the January 26, 2026 planning commission meeting. [06:33] Commissioner: Second. [snorts and clears throat] [06:33] Commission Chair: In favor? [06:33] Commissioners: I. [06:33] Commission Chair: All right. Moving along. Next up is the public hearing, but we'll we'll deal with a presentation from staff first on the minor subdivision, the Lake Elo Firehouse Edition. [06:33] Nicole Miller: All right. Good evening, commissioners. Tonight, we're being asked or you're being asked to review the minor subdivision application uh from the city for the property located at the old fire station and parks buildings in the old village. That's at 3510 Lever. Uh as you know last year this property went through an RFP process and the city council approved moving forward with the tap and ladder team uh as a finalist for the property. Cleaning up the property lines by a minor subdivision uh is the next step in that process. So on the image on the right you will find the property as it is now with the nine associated PIDs. The size of this site is about an acre. Um it's zoned and guided for village mixed use. The city is requesting approval again of the minor subdivision to reconfigure the existing nine lots into two. So on this slide um you'll see that the image on the right is the proposed plat. The image on the left is an aerial to help illustrate what that final product will look like. Uh the yellow illustrates [snorts] the right-of-way dedication areas. So on this flat slide you'll uh find a review of the minor subdivision criteria. Um the proposed subdivision will result in no more than four parcels. Nine parcels again will become two. The proposed minor subdivision will not require any new infrastructure or streets. The request will meet the city's VMX zoning lot dimension in bulk building requirements as those buildings aren't moving. Uh the request will meet the city of Lake's access and spacing location. Uh, no driveways or access points are proposed with this request. This application went out for agency review in early January. Um, no comments from public works, the fire department, or the DNR. Uh, the city engineer provided comments uh recommending minor adjustments to the right-of-way and easement areas. These have since been updated and now are satisfied. The city attorney provided a PL opinion with requested revisions. Uh, a condition of approval has been added regarding this memo. And finally, the Valley Branch Watershed District notified the city that a permit would be required. And since then, the city has submitted that uh application on January 9th and has been approved on January 22nd. This app went out for a public hearing notice to surrounding properties on 126 and [snorts and clears throat] it was published to the city newspaper on 1:30. Uh, no comments have been received at this time. Staff is recommending the planning commission consider the following findings of fact. One, that the Lake Elmo Firehouse addition minor subdivision is consistent with the comp plan and the future land use map for this area. Two, that the Lake Elmo Firehouse addition minor subdivision is consistent with the standards of the city's VMX zoning district. And third, that the addition minor subdivision meets the requirements of the minor subdivision regulations. Um on this slide, you'll find the recommended conditions. Uh these are fairly standard conditions. One, the applicant must obtain all other city, state, and governing body permits. uh the city's attorney's comments set forth in a plat opinion shall be addressed uh prior to the release of the plat for recording and then that the applicant of the city should record the plat uh within 180 days. So with that I'll leave you with this motion and I can stand for questions. [06:35] Commissioner: What are the size of the two new lots? [06:35] Nicole Miller: Uh I don't have those numbers at the top of my head, but I think it's something like uh I think it's .6 and .04 acres or somewhere around there. It's 60/40 is the the split with the larger lot being where the current firehouse is at and the point four is the would be the parks building. [06:35] Commission Chair: All right. [clears throat] Any other questions? [06:35] Commissioner: The footprint of the buildings are pretty much going to stay the same. They're just going to [clears throat] remodel on the interior and garage doors. [06:36] Nicole Miller: So far, um, we don't have the exact proposed. They might do some revisions to the parks building. The fire station building should stay the same, but uh right now we're reviewing it as the parks building will stay the same, too. But that has to be figured out. [06:36] Commissioner: Yeah. The parks building used to be the old city hall. [06:36] Commission Chair: Oh, yeah. [06:36] Commissioner: The old city hall. [laughter] [06:36] Commission Chair: By how far we've come. [06:36] Commissioner: And the firehouse and the fire station was where we had meetings. Mhm. [06:37] Commissioner: And of course you everybody knows already that you know parking and traffic will be an issue at some point in time, but that'll be addressed after this is done. [06:37] Nicole Miller: Correct. [06:37] Commission Chair: All right. With [clears throat] that, we need to open the public hearing. [06:37] Commissioner: Motion to do that. [06:37] Commissioner: Motion to open the public hearing. [06:37] Commissioner: Second. [06:37] Commission Chair: I don't think I need to take a vote for that. Or do I call a question? I'll call a question. In favor? [06:37] Commissioners: I. [06:37] Commission Chair: All right. And with that, at 6:37, we will open the public hearing. You have not received any public comments. [06:37] Nicole Miller: That is correct. [06:37] Commission Chair: And there is no one here to provide public comment. So, we'll turn it around. And I think we need a motion to close the public hearing. [06:38] Commissioner: Motion to close the public hearing. I was going to give it a minute, but there you go. [06:38] Commissioner: Second. [06:38] Commission Chair: 6:38. [snorts] [clears throat] All in favor? [06:38] Commissioners: I. [06:38] Commission Chair: All right, we will close the public hearing at 6:38. [06:38] Commissioner: Move to recommend the approval of the Lake Elmo Firehouse Edition minor subdivision based on the findings of fact and conditions presented in the staff report. [06:38] Commissioner: Second. [06:39] Commission Chair: Discussion. Uh, I don't know in the years that I've sat on this commission that there's been something that makes more sense than taking nine parcels into two. So, I'm all for it. [snorts] [06:39] Commissioner: Yeah, I like how it's cleaned up. Uh, opening up the right-of-way again, the the alley and the street and the sidewalks. Yeah, it's it's really nice and clean. I'm looking forward to it. I think that even if the firehouse or the uh brew pub and the restaurant fall, we still done the right work here in cleaning this up. [06:39] Commissioner: I someday I'd like to know how it got to nine parcels to begin with. [06:40] Commissioner: Back I can tell you. [06:40] Commission Chair: Well, let's hear it. We've got we got a couple. [06:40] Commissioner: If you look at the old plat maps, these originally were supposed to be like little summer cottages or just little spots and it was nothing to have like a 20 foot lot or something like that. [06:40] Commission Chair: That’s kind of how— [06:40] Commissioner: —whoever got number four had a real skinny house but it's Yeah, it's um interesting when you go back and look at the history. [06:41] Commission Chair: Oh, I'm sure. [06:41] Commissioner: somebody needed to build in the street there on nine. [06:41] Commissioner: Yeah. And I have a question just to for for my own question was uh [snorts] whenever we is a gazette still our our formal paper for our official paper? [06:41] Nicole Miller: It is. Yes. [06:41] Commissioner: Okay. And whenever we had a site like this, how many people actually got notices? Do we have an idea? [06:41] Nicole Miller: I have the number off the top of my head. Was it 27? Did we use the 500 foot measure? [06:42] Commissioner: The 500 foot hasn't been approved by city council yet. [06:42] Nicole Miller: So it's 350. But I'm not sure the exact number of labels that were produced. [06:42] Commissioner: All right. But through the how many people are signed up for automatic notifications of public hearings? Do we know? [06:42] Nicole Miller: Not yet. I do not know. I can check [clears throat] with Kathy. [06:42] Commissioner: Yeah, I think that's interesting number. That that'll be interesting to know and to follow that. That's right. Yeah. Be helpful. [06:43] Commission Chair: All right. [clears throat] If there are no more no more if there is no more discussion and no more questions I guess the motion is on the table for approval. So all those in favor to move to recommend the approval of the Lake Elmo Firehouse Edition minor subdivision based on the findings of fact and conditions presented in the staff report. All in favor say I. [06:43] Commissioners: I. [06:43] Commission Chair: And no opposed. The motion passes. [06:43] Nicole Miller: Thank you. [06:43] Commission Chair: Excellent. Thank you. Next on our busy agenda here is any new or unfinished business. [06:43] Nicole Miller: We have no new or unfinished business. I have no council updates. And your next meeting is February 23rd. I believe that one will be canceled. We'll reach out as we get closer to that meeting, and March 9th tentatively that one has your planning commission training at it. [06:43] Commissioner: Okay. I I have a question that came up from one of the residents that live over kind of near the cemetery and what was being built there and I you know I told him it was the bank and then the child care center and the question came up because of people cutting through that road—the Stillwater Way I think is what it's called now—you know how's that going to impact the traffic and is it still going to be a 55 mph road coming into uh in front of that area on County 14? [06:43] Nicole Miller: On Stillwater—the actual Stillwater Boulevard on the main side—it'd be a county road yeah because it's like 55 miles an hour and that's where they'd be coming in and out of that section for the child care center. So it's just something to always be aware of when you're talking about higher volumes of traffic utilizing—there are turn lanes, they did pre-install those so that's good, but it's just speed limit as it's just like down on the lake. [06:43] Commissioner: Mhm. Okay. But that that's always an issue. So that's it's good to remind everybody about that. [06:43] Commission Chair: All right. That's it. If uh and with that, we will adjourn because I don't think I need to call a question. German. I get to do that. You can do that on your own. [06:43] Commissioner: You have that power. [06:43] Commission Chair: Oh, great. [laughter] Uh we will adjourn this record time meeting uh for Monday night Monday February 9th the planning commission at 6:43. Thank you all. [06:43] Nicole Miller: Okay.