just that's it thanks good evening everyone like to call the Monday August 26 2024 Eden Prairie Planning Commission meeting to order uh for those of you watching live at home we're about 10 minutes delayed due to a weather delay but we'll get started now uh would everybody please stand and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance i al to the flag the United States of America to the rep it stands one nation God indivisible thank you all right Commissioners uh first thing on our agenda is the approval of the agenda does anybody have a comment on tonight's agenda if not I'll entertain a motion so move I'll second second by commissioner Kirk all in favor say I iOS motion passes unanimously uh second item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes this goes way back to May 28th so um I think the minutes were in their packet does anybody have any comments on those minutes for May 28th 20124 if not I'll take a motion on that as well motion to approve the minutes from May 28th Taylor second I'll second that thank you commissioner Duncan all in favor say I I opposed motion passes unanimously thank you okay this evening we have one public hearing on the agenda it is for 11609 Leona Road Redevelopment it's a request for a planned unit development concept review on 3.44 Acres a planned unit development Amendment with waivers on 3.44 acres and site plan review on 3.44 Acres I'll uh ask the applicant if they want to make a short presentation to the commission first then we'll go to a staff report uh from uh planner Barnhart and then if anybody in the audience wishes to uh speak I'll open it up for public hearing before our commissioner deliberates so if the applicant could come forward state your name and address and Company and welcome good evening Commissioners my name is Trent Mayberry I'm with to development company and uh we're the applicant this evening for our proposed Office Depot Redevelopment here in Eden prair um we've got a I I do have um some of my team here with me tonight in case there's any technical questions I've got Kathy Anderson from architectural Consortium and I've got Matt Lingham from kimley horn who's our architect and civil engineer um so what we'd like to do is just go through a brief uh presentation here with some slides and uh introduce you to our project so um this is going to be a Planet Fitness and a Starbucks um see if I can get this working properly just the arrows Jeremy turn it off oh that's key ah there we go live thank you uh so this is the project location I'm sure you're all familiar with it but this is the former Office Depot uh circled in red up on the screen there's uh Best Buy to the north Cub Foods to the east you can see the mall to the South and then bordered on Flying Cloud Drive on the west of the site currently what's sits on the site today is a vacant Office Depot building uh that's 32,33 th000 Square ft there's some images of it on the screen in an aerial of the the existing site you can see that the Landscaping is pretty overrun the parking lots in in desperate need of repair and the building it's it's hanging in there but obviously Office Depot is not uh like I said this is a 33,000 ft building we purchases maybe about two years ago knowing that Office Depot was likely not going to renew their lease and sure enough uh this June they passed on renewing their lease and in advance of that we had been talking to uh retailers out there in the marketplace active and came up with what we thought was a great solution um let me go to this next slide and what we're proposing to do is take the 33,000 ft box that Office Depot was in which we didn't have a tenant to back fill the space with and renovate the building so that's got a modernized storefront reuse a good chunk of the building uh 3/4s of the building and right siize it for a tenant that's actively expanding in the market this building we are downsizing from 33,000 Square ft to 18,500 square ft uh for a Planet Fitness which is not currently located in Eden Prairie but has been actively looking for a site for I don't know probably a decade and uh this this has allowed us to expand the parking lot to uh satisfy Planet Fitness de Planet fitness's demands from a parking standpoint and the city's demands in addition because we've downsized the building it's freed up even more land to where we can do some Outlaw development and if you look at the northwest corner of the property you can see that there's a small building up there and that would be a a freestanding Starbucks with a drive-thru and uh in the northeast corner then we've got uh a area that's not going to be touched in this phase of the development but that is at the corner of Den Road and Leona Road and that's a future area for development so by downsizing the building we freed up land to where we can actually add more users than just just one that's that's what we're proposing doing here tonight and I'd like to show you what the buildings themselves would look like so this is the Run OV at uh 18,500 ft portion of the Office Depot box with a new facade and a new tenant panel uh but it will be one tenant in the building we've got the signed lease with Planet Fitness and their entry will face East where all that whole new field of parking is located uh and then we'll be adding glazing on that storefront and then we'll be adding some glazing on the uh uh North elevation as well so both the North and East Elevation will add a ton more Windows than what what is there today which is just basically a warehouse and here's a picture of the Starbucks building this unlike the uh Planet Fitness building this will be 100% brand new so it'll be a groundup development uh we've worked extensively with Jeremy and the planning staff to come up with a design that matches the existing uh brick building that we're going to reuse for Planet Fitness while at the same time putting a bit of a modern spin on on the design having some vertical articulation and nice canopies but you can see there's some elements throughout the design where we've got the brick stone knee wall matches the stone knee wall on the existing building and then similar color bricks as well and then with the Redevelopment of uh our site and our proposed project here we do we do have some sustainability highlights that we wanted to make sure you are all aware of also uh so you can see we've got above ground and below ground storm water management some irrigation reuse storm water rate quality and quantity controls improv pedestrian bicycle connectivity uh enhanced landscaping and at Starbucks there'll be some EV charging stations as well so with that I would uh turn it over to all of you if you have any questions be happy to answer any that you might have and again I can bring up my team too if uh there's any technical questions that I can address thank you Mr mber appreciate the presentation uh staff uh any initial questions of Mr mury about the presentation commissioner Taylor you you mentioned that there's going to be some EV charging stations at Starbucks are there any plans to add them to the existing building that you're reducing there there's nothing no there's nothing planned for the existing building but uh at the Starbucks there are and they're they're shown on the site plan okay is there any reason why you're not adding any EVS at the existing Planet Fitness hasn't requested them at this time and um we uh we feel like that at Starbucks it's a good start if we feel like there's more demand for him it's something we could always add down the road but it's just something that we haven't uh felt was needed right now I have a question or two um on that future potential future retail development in the northeast corner yes so it looks like because you're adding the driveway off of Den Road on the East the this potential future development is already sized and since you're asking for a variance on the Starbucks Outlaw I want to make sure that if you've tested the size of this second corner so that you you wouldn't have to come back for a variance on that future Redevelopment so that you don't put the driveway in the wrong place or something now that would create a a burden that would require you to request a variance in the future the two driveways that we show one off Leona that will stay the one on the uh East West bifurcating the shopping center will stay the one up in the northeast corner likely will be closed off to answer your question though we we we don't have a uh deal planned yet for the future Development Area so it's impossible to answer that right now um I wish we did because we'd like to develop everything at once but uh yeah we just don't have a user yet that's locked in okay all right that would be something but we do know that if we when we get to that point that we'll have to come back through and get site plan approval again right right yeah we're just trying to look ahead because obviously you're configuring that site right now if you will and so right we want you to take authorship for that configuration to make sure that everything will fit later okay understood um on your site lighting plan uh you're providing new uh pole lights LED on your new lot to the east of the Planet Fitness and in the Starbucks but you didn't propose any lighting changes in the existing lot that corner lot specifically are those already LED so they'll be a nice color match in the meantime before you figure it out or is that something that's going to be a different U color and lighting for a while you know that's a a great question um to answer the first part of it the Starbucks and the Planet Fitness will both have brand new lighting when the future Development Area is developed that will have brand new lighting as well we're working with staff to put a time limit on that though um what we don't want to do is put stuff in and then have to rip it out uh but at the same time we we don't want to have it there for 5 years having the old lighting so we'll be working with Jaren and staff to uh come up with a timeline to put in the development agreement that will say if we haven't developed that phase within a certain period of time that we'll we'll have to go ahead and change out the lights good okay fair and reasonable um and then we were given some emails uh on our desk this evening uh some correspondents with staff from your neighbor uh where the uh kadoba restaurant and caribou coffee building is I think it's 11611 or something like that I forget the exact address you're fully aware of that I saw those tonight yeah yeah yeah so could you comment on Mr Mueller Eric Mueller was the gentleman's name who's been corresponding with staff he's not here this evening I don't believe but um could you uh have any comment about concerns yeah like like I said I was only able to look at him this evening but uh we've had conversations with Mr Mueller uh from the start start of the process uh to make him aware of what we were doing and to talk about how we could work together on solutions that would benefit his property uh enhance the overall neighborhood and uh Rising tide raises all ship kind of uh solution and the comments that I saw in the email tonight I had not seen those before but um I saw the back and forth between Sarah strain on the the on the planning department at the city of Eden Prairie with Mr Mueller and I thought the solutions that she proposed and he acknowledged from her uh were entirely manageable and I look forward to implementing those and working with staff to address them okay all right um I would imagine maybe some of the uh more important and potentially stickier comments might be just the internal site directional signage right because now there's uh one two three four five potentially six businesses that'll be accessed through some shared driveways right two of them being direct head-to-head competitors yes and I do I do know one comment that he made was that he was concerned that it was a one-way road coming in off of den in front of Planet Fitness over to the site and and that's that's not the case it is a two-way road with traffic I mean when we looked at this we've developed a lot of shopping centers and we really want to make sure that when we do it that it's convenient easy for people to get in and out of we want our tenants to do well and by a function of wanting our tenants to do well we also want his to do well um I I do think that his property valuation will increase significantly based upon the the rents we're achieving and the the tenants that we're bringing to the the center compared to what what's there today so I think ultimately we'll be able to address the signage uh questions as well as the circulation questions thank you you're welcome appreciate it commissioner any more questions before we go to the staff report seeing none Jeremy you want to take us to the staff report thank you Mr malberry appreciate it you consider yes and it's Mayberry by that's okay malberry is a good name too thank you chair uh Commissioners as the applicant mentioned there are uh three requests tonight A PUD concept A PUD uh District Amendment because the property is already zon pu with the Pud zoning and then the site plan approval for the modifications to this project mentioned the Starbucks and and the uh the plan of Fitness that are that are proposed um the uh as part of this development review we reviewed the Landscaping we reviewed access and stacking and just general um kind of overall Improvement of the site and the applicant touched on something that I want to kind of bring to your attention we are progressing with this review assuming nothing happens in the northeast corner of the project uh so Landscaping meets parking meets the requirements circulation meets the requirements nothing happens in that northeast corner the applicant has already Express an interest in in putting a new user in that space and then when that user comes through um we will review the parking the access um circulation at that time so this project can function without that new addition coming forward you know whether it's six months down the line or two years down the line uh and then our development agreement Rec recognizing uh the timing is kind of unique because we generally like to bring a full project together due to timing constraints with the Planet Fitness property um we uh we needed to move this one along a little bit before that kind of third piece was solved um and the applicant intends to request uh early uh de Demolition and early land author to kind of facilitate the the Planet Fitness project so um I guess larger Point here is we're looking at this project based on what you see in front of you now but we also have an eye towards the future in terms of what might be happening uh once we get more information there um there are two waivers requested one is um from the shorland um the hard cover impervious surface limitations of 30% that's the current requirement the property is roughly 75% um hard cover at this point um so the the waiver that's requested sets that level at 75% um currently the property is is non legal non-conforming what we're doing is with this waiver we're allowing up to the 75% hard cover and then as long as the this project or the future project comes in less than that 75% you won't need to see a waiver for that the second waiver is requested for the Starbucks building um there's a 35t setback off of Leona Road they're proposing a 27t setback for the building uh that waiver we felt was was justified based on the the the uniqueness of the site the amount of encroachment and then the design of the parking and the circulation within the within the property um usually with setback waivers we're cognizant of of impacts to visual um visual impacts to the neighbors um sight lines uh landscaping and and screening and things of that nature in this um setback we don't lose any of those goals so we felt um supportive of the waiver as requested here um just kind of reviewing the the project in terms of landscaping um there had been some comments from the public about kind of the overall kind of quote unquote clonin of the Landscaping on the site and and the applicant and the uh City will work together to kind of identify additional improvements to the landscap existing Landscaping trimming and and things of that nature maintenance to help improve sight lines and also the General Health of the Landscaping additionally uh the plan shows some additional Landscaping in in parking lot islands in the northeast corner of the pro property where the new kind of the third user would happen again it's a good example we we anticipate something happening there but if nothing happens we have a plan in place to to bring that that area into compliance with our city code in terms of uses both uses are out in the in the applicable zoning District um the Planet Fitness is a is a is a fitness center but it's considered retail for our purposes and for parking purposes and the park at the parking lot does support the proposed use there um the fitness center is a good use in terms of Peak parking requirements and and sharing within the shopping center because the a fitness center may have different Peaks or likely to have different Peaks than a restaurant or um other uses in the proper um the applicant or the you uh Mr chair mentioned comments received from the applicant's neighbor about access and and and visibility of the site um there is two-way traffic through the site there is going to be some coordination necessary uh during construction because of of inground utility work in connections that can't be moved because of that's where they are now but that's something that uh we're confident that we can work through in the uh permitting process um in terms of the building sustainability requirement the the Starbucks building is subject to the Sustainable Building standards because there is a a waiver requested um there's kind of two factors or two parts to the what we normally will see as a part of a a Sustainable Building standard one is kind of the exterior changes the EV parking spaces the solar panels the those type of features um and the site plan does reflect uh EV parking stalls and then the ability for future connection or a future enhancements of a solar panel the other part of that is kind of how the building designed is it designed to meet the Leed standards at this level of our review at the site plan level we don't usually get to that level detail those answers are or questions are answered during the building permit process and so uh the applicant understands the issue understands the requirement uh and we're confident that those will be reflected in the building permit once those are issued and of course the Planning Commission and the council don't issue building permits um but you those requirements will be sped out in the development agreement for clarity um terms of architecture um we did review that carefully with the applicant in terms of trying to make a cohesive development um in terms of material IAL Styles they're not all identical just like most of our others um but we try to have some sort of communication um from a design perspective within the neighborhood within the development or the neighborhood and we feel that we've satisfied that that building design requirements materials all meet or or comply with our our city code uh so with that staff is recommending approval of the site plan concept review and PUD with Amendment with in waivers um subject to the conditions that are outlined in the staff report and I stand for any questions thank you very much Mr barnhard appreciate that Commissioners do you have any questions of staff at this time from the staff report given okay I just have a couple myself um just as a matter of uh finding I thought that the drivethru lane around the Starbucks being paved would require a front yard setback but it's not a parking lot so it's not a parking setback so just as a matter of clarity that's is that the case Mr barart that's true okay all right so we don't have to worry about a parking setback waiver for the drive-through Lanes in general that's true policy okay thanks um you mentioned the landscape plan and a couple questions about that um could just be an error but it looks like they're reconstructing the main entrance driveway off of Leona based on some grades it looks like so that that whole driveway is going to get reconstructed and there was a a tree showing up kind of in the middle of that driveway for removal and implying that maybe the driveway was going to shift off of the alignment of directly across the street from Best Buy that's probably not the case maybe it's a graphical error could you just clarify that for me yeah I believe it's a graphical error uh there shows an existing tree in the middle of the driveway we'll we'll double check that and and correct that issue before it goes to the city council okay the intent is to have those driveways still align though across the street from Best Buy yes okay good thank you um on that main entry driveway there's a um a nice landscape median between the Starbucks and that entry driveway so that there can be you know good queuing without having turns thank you for that graphic right there on the left hand side of this driveway graphic there's a sidewalk and then the Starbucks on the right hand side um if if you ignore that dashed black uh limit of construction line there's more pavement before the parking starts and I'm wondering would painted striping be warranted on that entrance driveway to direct traffic and to funnel traffic I guess would be a better word so that cars don't wander or um spread out because there's excess pavement between the the parking area the right those parking stalls right there there's another what maybe another 15 ft of asphalt between the parking stalls you know what I'm talking about I think I visualized basically where this match line is here there could be a a definition of the road yeah certainly we can look at okay just from a safety standpoint okay and then I heard the applicants say that they just want to leave that Northeast Corner um until they find out what they want to do with it um that said it looks like they're building a fairly expensive and extensive storm waterer underground chamber for the Planet Fitness site in the Southeast corner of the property and knowing that storm water management will also be required for any Redevelopment of that Northeast parcel just seems logical to me that maybe now would be the time to oversize that underground chamber a bit so as to be fully ready for storm water compliance on the northeast quadrant I don't know if engineering made any comment about that or if that I'm sure it's just the applicant's decision but um you could answer that if you'd like to as well if sure that's a good point good evening uh my name is Matt Lang with kimley horn I'm the engineer in the project um so yes we have oversized our underground system to accommodate any changes to that site as well so we're working with the Watershed and the city Engineers um but any changes that come to that down the future this storm water system will have the capacity to handle so that was the intent of the underground system smart thank you yep of course any more questions commissioners before we move on to the public hearing okay this is a public hearing if anybody in our audience would like to address the commission please please come forward give us your name and address good evening my name is Conor O'Neal I work as a property manager at Mid America real estate I am the property manager handling the retail center located at 11611 Leona Road the owner Eric Mueller is traveling and asked me to represent him here tonight and answer any questions you may have I know some of the concerns that we have have already been addressed here but uh our three concerns are maintaining the access Drive wide enough to permit continuous UN in uh excuse me uninterrupted two-way access to the center during All Phases maintaining a straight line exit from the drive-thru to accomodate trash pick up four times per week and those trash days are Monday Wednesday Friday and Saturday and the third is addressing visibility of the center both in tree trimming or removal and requiring adequate directional signning manage during construction we hope that the commission will take action tonight to address these concerns thank you very much for your time I am available to answer any questions you have to the best of my ability thank you Connor was it yep okay thank you very much um if I understood your your four concerns um many of them are our commission maybe can't uh solve for you but uh were empathetic to your concerns the could you repeat the second one about the trash removal yep so maintaining a straight line exit from our drive-thru to accommodate the trash pickup so the trash hauler goes straight down the opposite way of the drive-thru so not where Caribou come in so the opposite way by quoma between the two buildings correct and between Old opice Depot and 11611 Leona road so they'll come down that drive lane and it picks up from the front and then you know dumps it trash and then the recycling and then it will back out that way okay because we have awnings two awnings on the souths side of the building there and it's already been clipped by buses trash haulers we've had to repair it a couple times so it's a tight squeeze around there sure okay so um are you suggesting that upon your review of the site plan that the trash removal circulation is not acceptable or it appears that it's not not being altered at all between the two buildings well it's just when the fa during the phases we're just concerned that construction correct I understand okay all right I okay good well I think if you articulate that to the people that are in charge of the phasing and things like that that they'll certainly want to accommodate your your needs I would suggest um same thing with the temporary signage and whatnot I I've heard uh I believe the packet the uh applicant did say that they were going to phase the work to accommodate your needs and uh to provide adequate temporary signage so I think that's A Private Matter between you and the um applicant to work out the fine details of that okay um and I maybe could use some help uh Mr Barnhart uh regarding the answer to the landscaping and the visibility to Flying Cloud Drive and and and what the scope of the pruning SL cleaning up Landscaping might involve for the benefit of this property sure and and and Matt can add anything that he'd like but basically we recognize um during the the review of the project that some attention needs to be made to the existing vegetation on the property in areas it's uh overgrown or unhealthy and creating a an issue that needs to be addressed um and so the applic K and the city will work together on identifying kind of the path forward in ter in terms of modifications to the existing Landscaping that said it the intention is not to to to cut down all the Landscaping so you have fantastic visibility off of Flying Cloud Drive it's there's going to be a balance because the trees were there installed because of the city's requirements um and certainly some maintenance can be done um but the expectation should not be that all the trees will be removed D good it's a balance of of of of kind of a natural resources that we all come to enjoy here in inan Prairie but then also how to support our business Community sure sure thank you appreciate your comments no problem I don't believe there are any other members of our audience that uh would like to speak at this point in time so so I would entertain a motion from the commission to close the public hearing if you so choose Mr chairman move to close the public hearing thank you commissioner Kirk I have a motion do I have a second second second for commissioner Grody all in favor say I I opposed the public hearing is closed all right Commissioners we have a project in front of us very well presented to us I'd appreciate your uh input feedback comments criticism accolades whatever you choose to add Mr chairman if I may I think that this has been a well planned outsite I think my main concern has been regarding the drive-thru um stacking essentially for any type of drive-thru that Starbucks has and I think they've addressed it some of the questions that you've asked as well Mr chairman of Staff have clarified a lot of the questions that I had regarding um safety and the median and um there's ways that you can um add some delineation of the driving Lanes I think that would be helpful um that's all I would add I would be in support of this development thank you commissioner Duncan I appreciate that and Mr chairman I would concur I think this is a you know one of those projects where there's a lot of details to take care of and details to keep you know it to be to to make the pro the the development as Optimum as we can and it seems that staff and and the developer are working well together towards that means so uh and and I think it's a a good addition to uh you know to the city so I'm supportive of it thank you commissioner Kirk appreciate that um I too um find this uh project um acceptable and and very attractive um I like the uh design of the Starbucks I think it's contemporary at the same time fitting in with the existing buildings um it's a good idea like your facelift of the old Office Depot for plant and fitness um I'm sure their signage is going to be statement by itself but uh but but that's just good uh look forward to maybe another development in that northeast corner someday but hopefully that decision could be made sooner than later and um I I think that you have heard here enough um uh commentary about the during construction phasing and the uh satisfaction of the existing tenants to remain viable and easy to navigate during some potentially Dusty and noisy construction activities so we would appreciate your respect of those um and uh just in terms of findings of the waivers um I'm in favor agreeable to the front yard setback waiver for the Starbucks and the uh what was the second waiver I'm sorry forgot what that was Seria surface yes uh we're in the Shoreland District yep yep for the 70% so I think adequate uh background information was given by staff to support those waivers any other comments concerns questions okay seems pretty straightforward I will entertain a motion in case anybody does have anything else to say Mr chair I'll make a motion uh that we I move to recommend approval of the Pud concept review plan uh with the waivers and sight plan for the 3.44 Acres as represented in the August 26 2024 staff report subject to the conditions listed as well thank you we have a motion by commissioner Duncan anybody wish to second that second I'll go with commissioner Sherwood on that that was a close call all in favor say I I opposed motion passes unanimously congratulations good luck with the rest of your approvals than next on the agenda uh do we have a planner report this evening Jeremy none tonight all right uh any commissioner members reports seeing none I'd offer up uh the opportunity for a motion for adjournment motion to adj Second all right motion un seconded all in favor say I I I opposed no meeting ajour thank you very much have a good evening thank you Mr chair good e