This transcript is from a **Planning Commission** meeting rather than a City Council meeting. Based on the dialogue, the names mentioned in the roll calls, and the city staff context provided, I have identified the speakers accordingly. **Note on Chair:** The "Madam Chair" presiding over this meeting was **Maria Hanlon**, who chaired the Bloomington Planning Commission during this period. [0:00] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Good evening and welcome to the May 21st 2020 planning commission meeting the Planning Commission is made up of seven volunteer residents appointed by the City Council on some items we have final decision-making authority subject to an appeal to City Council and other items we make recommendations to Council for each item there will be a staff report a chance for the applicant to speak and then time for public testimony we start with the Pledge of Allegiance if you're able please stand I pledge allegiance [0:49] **Glen Markegard (Planning Manager)**: You sew item 1 I understand we have a request for a continuance yes sure madam chair just quickly on that if I can so this is our fifth remote meeting since the pandemic started at the Planning Commission and we have four people physically present tonight very well spaced but everybody else is joining remotely so planning commissioners other staff applicants members of the public if you're watching live and would like to testify you can call the number on the screen nine five two five six three eight nine two six or email planning at Bloomington MN gov at any time and you'll receive instructions on how to participate and we'll have that number rolling throughout the meeting as well and all votes do need to be conducted via roll call tonight that's how he had madam chair thank you [1:37] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: So now moving on to item 1 I understand we have continuance request is that correct [1:37] **Glen Markegard**: That's correct madam chair the applicant is requesting to continue the item indefinitely so it will be reno dysphoric um back before the Planning Commission [1:37] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Thank you or do I have motion to continue item one indefinitely [2:25] **Commissioner Roman**: Commissioner Roman thank you madam chair I move to continue item PL - zero - zero - aides indefinitely [2:25] **Commissioner Solberg**: Madam chair Commissioner Solberg it's a second [2:25] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Move by Commissioner Roman second by Commissioner Solberg all those in favor say aye Commissioner Solberg [2:25] **Commissioner Solberg**: Aye [2:25] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Goldsman [2:25] **Commissioner Goldsman**: Aye [2:25] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Corman [2:25] **Commissioner Corman**: Aye [2:25] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Roman [2:25] **Commissioner Roman**: Aye [2:25] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Albrecht [2:25] **Commissioner Albrecht**: Aye [2:25] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: I noticed an eye from me motion passes six zero moving on to item two command staff report please [3:13] **Nick Johnson (City Planner)**: Yeah I made I'm sure thank you Nick Johnson in planning city planner hopefully I have shared my screen and you guys can see that is that all right no no hold on let's try again not yet Curtis okay how's that great thank you the application before you this evening is a preliminary and final development plans it's been submitted by Oppidan development and Bank of America so six one one one West 98th Street this is the Baker square site so it's been vacant since last year so currently a restaurant just to note about this area so this site is part of the acts borough center shopping center so there's a number of different stores and restaurants Duluth trading is just to the west of this site just for reference 98th Street Cassatt one it is a Hennepin County roadway I'll check a P so just note that as well there is some interaction with the county on this item and then lyndale to the west just to note that this area is within the ninety nine th Street Station area plan planning area so this area was proactively rezone to the B for zoning district at the end of 2019 I believe Glen that sound right yeah close enough so the B for zoning district just has some different standards than the b2 it really encourages buildings up near the street and as some other design standards so we'll talk about some of that tonight but just as a note about the area this area this parcel is in the 98th Street Station area so in terms of what's proposed Bank of America is proposing to build a one-story free-standing Bank at the at the excuse me Baker Square site so that in yellow is the approximate location for the the bank you can see it's located up towards 98th Street so again in keeping with that be for zoning district standard here's some site photos just to orient you this is that's the existing restaurant which would be demoed so that's just a view from 98th Street that we pulled and then this is the rear of the restaurant building just a couple notes about ox Borough Center the the majority of the buildings are constructed a brick and that does come up later with respect to one design standard we have in code is that non commercial or non-residential buildings within a planned development should be related in design and materials so just to take note of the materials of the surrounding acts Burroughs Center one thing that is unique to this parcel in terms of the review that applies to the redevelopment of this site is that the site is subject to cross parking and access easements to the benefit of this parcel but also more so the adjoining parcel to the west as well as the acts borough center to the south so along the eastern portion of the site if you can see my mouse this is actually the eastern extent of the property so the the driveway that a lot of traffic that goes into the center is actually fully encapsulated within this parcel is shown in that yellow area the green area is just a general parking easement to the benefit of the shopping center and the other portions of the yellow are access and parking easements that travel throughout the site to the benefit of Duluth trading and docks Borough Center so when you think about the developable portion of this lot it's it's not the full extent of the site it's really constrained to the area of where the existing restaurant is now and so a big reason for what you see in terms of some of the deviations requested as well as the site plan that's been presented a lot of those components are informed by these access easements and so this is a private agreement amongst property owners typically in a plan development like this you'll have you know one property owner ideally so that they can make changes without having to consult with other parties but in this case there are multiple property owners and so the site plan before you has been negotiated with the surrounding property owners in relation to the its impacts on those cross parking and access easements so these these easements take up 67% of the total site area get into the site plan itself so again the building is code compliant from a setback standpoint up at the street it's set back 21 feet from the northern boundary so that a good thing with respect to the B for zoning district on the west side of the structure is the drive-through and there is a canopy that is proposed as part of that per our city code the the drive-through has to be screened in this zoning district so at this time what the applicant is proposing to do is extend there are some decorative brick walls at the corners of the site they would extend that decorative brick wall from the northwest corner eastward in order to screen the proposed drive through with this u-shaped turn back to the south so that would provide that required screening one large public benefit associated with this site plan is that currently there is a driveway located pretty close to the intersection of the driveway and West 98th Street so as proposed this would move that driveway further to the south which is a much better situation from a cueing standpoint if someone is attempting to turn into this site while someone is taking that immediate right in to the Baker Square site it can cause problems so moving that site access further to the south is is a public benefit there are four deviations associated with this application I want to touch on those the first to really relate back to that previous slide about the cross parking and access easements the first one is floor area ratio in the b4 district the minimum floor area ratio is 0.2 so for the case of this site that would mean that the minimum building size at this property would have to be over ten thousand square feet in size but given the pad that I showed you earlier that would mean that at minimum it would be required to be a three-story building so in terms of you know three storeys have used 10,000 square feet of use it would be challenging to fit that in there on this site with the limited parking that the site has in terms of what has to also be shared with the adjoining owners so they're proposing to reduce that FA are down to point zero eight the buildings proposed as a little over 4,000 square feet in size the restaurant was 4,700 square feet so it is a modest reduction but still meeting that minimum building size in the b4 zoning district staff is supportive of that deviation for those cross access easements as noted before 67% of the site taken up with that the second deviation relates to Street enclosure and these are standards that apply to the b4 district and what that means is that the the building should take up 50% of the lineal width of the site now again given the fact that the driveway for the center takes up a good portion of the site as well as this shared drive aisle with the Duluth trading with the Duluth trading building reducing that down to 37% given that portions of the site are unusable makes sense from our perspective so we are supportive of that deviation on the basis of those easements as well the other two deviations don't are not informed by those easements but just other characteristics of the site Bank of America is proposing to reduce the stacking spaces from the minimum requirement of six down to four we have done deviations for drive-through stacking for other banks in town the reason being is that the minimum of six stacking spaces is more for drive-through coffee shops restaurants those types of situations where you have longer queuing times staff and our experience don't see very long queues at bank ATMs and this is an ATM only drive-through it's not for the tube service or other types of service so just to note that so we are supportive of that deviation on that basis of what the use actually is and then finally they are requesting a reduced setback from 20 feet down to 10 feet for their proposed ground sign in front of the site given that the building is at a 21 foot setback which is a positive outcome in terms of the before zoning district and bringing the building to the street that doesn't really leave a lot of room for a sign to be able to meet a 20 foot setback in that area so as long as the sign stays out of the easement which it currently is at a 10 foot setback that reduced setback makes in this instance from our perspective so those are the deviations being requested with the application hopefully I touched on everything with the site plan building elevations so if you recall this application was actually scheduled for a hearing in February the reason that it was continued multiple times is that the developer was working with Bank of America on revising the exterior materials of the Bank and so what they originally submitted was a mostly metal metal Bank are mostly metal extra material what they've come back with is a brick glass and a small portion of metal panels so again just two things to be aware of here in the befores district they have to meet a transparency requirement for Windows along their primary street and so that would be their normal northern building elevation facing west 98th Street they have to have 50% windows along that elevation along the ground-level portion and they are now meeting that their previous exterior elevations did not meet that requirement and the second component of the the design standards is that the building match or be complimentary of the surrounding buildings within the plan development so again harkening back to those images of the Ox burro Center this is a brick Bank red and tan color it very much matches and is in keeping with the materials and design of the surrounding Center so I think it'll fit in quite nicely and they have increased the amount of glass not just on the northern elevation but on other elevations as well so that's a positive thing that's the North and South elevation now just showing you the West elevation with the drive through and the canopy and then the East elevation is actually the front door of the bank you can see that that is almost the entire extent of that elevation is glass with metal panel above the front entry get into the floor plan itself this is one of the newer design more typical of banks that are constructed today it's actually a cafe style Bank so they don't have a typical counter like you see in historically what you see with banks so I think that the the way that this operates and hawker the developer can provide more info if requested but I think that people would come into this lounge type atmosphere cafe and be served by bankers as they wait within the cafe there's a 24-hour ATM here in the southeast corner near the front door the northern portion of the building is lined with offices and the break room and then there's other components of the bank restrooms nursing room workspaces that you'd typically see in a bank getting the landscape plan only two comments of note here they need to add four trees to their landscape plan and they need to add some additional foundation plantings on the northern elevation in order to be compliant with our supplemental landscaping policy so some pretty straightforward changes should be able to accommodate those we did receive one email from Hennepin County again hopefully you saw my email earlier tonight I apologize that that was not included in the packet it was back from February so I I forgot about it and nothing you know nothing real jarring here in the Hennepin County email jason Godfried their transportation planner just notes that any work within the right away will require a county right away permit there are some utility issues specific to this site that may require some additional work in the right-of-way that they may need to resolve and then Hennepin County did make a design recommendation request that the drive-thru be moved further away from 98th Street with that pedestrian environment there and all things being equal if this site was not encumbered with these easements that would be an easier thing to accommodate but the area that Bank of America and Oppidan have to work with is much smaller as a result of those easements so all things being equal I think that they're providing a good development here and the drive-thru functions while still bringing the building all the way up to the street so that's a positive staff is recommending approval I do have a motion before you happy to take any questions and I know the applicant is available to any questions for staff [17:10] **Commissioner Roman**: Commissioner Roman thank you madam chair mr. Johnson on the 98th Street on the north yeah frontage of the property I'm curious about if you look at yeah that's great I know there were there was the picture that shows us that the existing easements I know you said some of those are gonna be negotiated my question is the Duluth trading building friends up to the sidewalk was there conversation about whether or not this the link should front to the sidewalk I know as it is set back so it's obviously less than the Baker Square was but it's not up to deciding what conversation have might have happened there [17:10] **Nick Johnson**: yeah madam chair good question Commissioner Roman we didn't specifically press them on that I do know that they did that Bank of America does want to accommodate a ground sign in that area so I'm guessing that that informed part of the decision of the setback we didn't as I said we didn't push them to do it they are complying with the b4 zoning district front setback requirement so perhaps Ian Hocker without button has more information about that but I'm assuming it probably has to do with wanting to accommodate a ground sign in that area okay and so it's probably not dissimilar to that that's the Fairview building across the street yeah I'd say that's an equivalent setback that's a good a good example Thank You [18:41] **Commissioner Goldsman**: Commissioner Colts Minh thanks madam chair one question I have for you mr. Johnson is around the drive-through looking at the proximity to the intranasally trading and parking has there been any discussion on crosswalks or types of signage to ensure that we have people that are walking to their cars from you know the other locations and and the traffic going it through that drive-through [18:41] **Nick Johnson**: yeah Commissioner Goldsman we did discuss that a little bit with the applicant I be curious what they have to share about that but what I can provide is that I don't remember the exact number but the number of employees who work at the facility at any given time is is not a substantial number and so what they communicated us is that they fully anticipate that this front field parking just south of the building is going to be able to accommodate most of the parking that they need the majority of the time and so certainly some customers would park along this western north south parking row but they don't anticipate it to be as frequent as the other parking to the south and so I think that they have to provide that parking as a result of those easements with Duluth trading and so I think what the design you're seeing here is to mirror and match what they provided to them before what the existing condition is in order to get the adjoining property owner to sign off on the change of those easements because the the adjoining property or property owner ultimately will have to sign off on the vacation of this portion of these meant if you see where my cursor is so I think they wanted to keep the design as matched as as best they could to that in order to get the adjacent landowner buy-in [20:13] **Commissioner Goldsman**: if I may follow up on another question yes I'm sure so just to clarify the entrance of the drive-thru would be going yep right where your cursor so I guess my question is really around the shoppers at Duluth trading if they're coming in and out of the store and then you have patrons of the bank using that drive-thru I guess a concern that I have or just a question is how would that flow work with walking traffic as well as people trying to use the drive-thru [20:13] **Nick Johnson**: yeah it's a fair question ideally people are driving slow number one in a parking lot but if people are driving on the east side of that drive aisle and patronizing a business and the Duluth trading company you're correct that they will have to cross a lane of traffic that vehicles might be driving in to go on that drive you're not incorrect about that okay thank you [21:46] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: I need other questions for staff seeing none does the applicant wish to speak on this item [21:46] **Ian Hocker (Oppidan Development)**: um can you hear me yes we can architects manager on behalf of Bank of America so any specific questions you might have in relation to the elevations or things of that nature that can answer and then also our civil engineer who was it your goal in designing the site plan Ben Johnson with Kim Lee horn and we're excited about this project overall and I think we took the intent of the beef for zoning to enhance this site in order to make it more walkable for this particular trade area and we worked with staff on this design through a handful of iterations to get to this point and so we're very pleased with it and we're excited about it so if there's you know anything that you guys have tonight yeah and we've already asked that you'd like for us to share with you were happy to answer those questions any questions for the applicant [21:46] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: hey um I just out of curiosity looking at the design of the building it looks like pretty much all of the windows are on the what would that be Westside and especially with the drive aisle there didn't appear to be any windows just curious about your reasoning for that [23:18] **Brandon Gar (Nelson Architecture)**: Brandon is sorry there are no windows on the west side all the windows are on the east yes commissioner can you hear me this is Brandon Garr Nelson architecture yes we can okay wonderful thank you so yes with the Bank of America design we of course our entrances along the east elevation and so with that entrance glass you know that's facing our lobby our central zone we have a fair amount of glass there and then we try to place as much glass as we can near our offices along our what would be our West elevation along the drive-thru lanes the reason why we don't place any glass back there is because usually with the banks the banks locations we try to plant all of our secured spaces along the back of house so back there we have our safes our networking rooms our servers as well as our sprinkler riser room in our wellness room so all those are the private spaces our secure spaces that we need to land in the upper left-hand corner that's the work room the cat with the safes are sitting on an electrical in the networking room or right below that so that's typically why we we try to not put any glazing along those facades and and this is very complimentary of most of the other banks that we design we we have a lot of glazing up near the front and then we try to reduce the glazing at the rear for just security concerns Protective Services is there's a branch of the bank that is very concerned with those areas so we usually try to plant those at the rear of the building and near the end near the drive-thrus then just one additional comment this is actually brand brand-new for the bank this design iteration so this is one of the first ones in regards to this look and feel and exterior and interior Lee as well it's a cafe style it's specially the first one that I'm designing for them of this iteration so it would be one of the newer models for the nation so just want to add that comment thank you [24:49] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: any other questions for the applicant seeing none are there any members of the public that indicated they wanted to speak on this item [25:37] **Glen Markegard**: madam chair we've not received any communication from the public on this item and terms of involvement here at the public hearing thank you [25:37] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: do I have a motion to close the public hearing [25:37] **Commissioner Solberg**: Commissioner Solberg Adam chair motion to close public hearing [25:37] **Commissioner Goldsman**: Commissioner goldman second [25:37] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: moved by Commissioner Solberg second by Commissioner Goldman all those in favor say aye Commissioner Solberg [25:37] **Commissioner Solberg**: aye [25:37] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Colts minh [25:37] **Commissioner Goldsman**: i [25:37] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: finish your corpsman [25:37] **Commissioner Corman**: i [25:37] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: measure of roman [25:37] **Commissioner Roman**: i [25:37] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Albrecht [25:37] **Commissioner Albrecht**: aye [25:37] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: and that is an eye from me motion passes six zero moving on to discussion Commissioner Albrecht [26:25] **Commissioner Albrecht**: thank you madam chair I think this is a great improvement I did breathe was definitely pay attention to the improvements that were made from the original plans that we saw back in February I really appreciate moving that entrance into the parking lot south from where Baker Square had it I think that is really great in terms of pedestrian safety and I think I'm in full support of the project [27:10] **Commissioner Roman**: Commissioner Roman thank you madam chair my group mr. Holbrook's comments I think an improvement I think the applicant is a nice job of trying to design something that is in line with the rezone area um you know my only general observation is a little bit nice if it was closer to the sidewalk when I don't think that's a deal-breaker and it does comply with the standards so I am supportive [27:59] **Commissioner Solberg**: Commissioner Solberg thank you madam chair I'm support of the application as well and I think the deviations that have been requested are certainly reasonable as we talk about the the amount of Street in closure or the floor area ratio and the stacking for vehicles it's been my experience in the same manner that drive-throughs typically don't have large stacking for banks and then again the sign setback from 20 feet to 10 feet it's it's a much improved sight over what was existing there with the Baker Square so again I can support this application [28:45] **Commissioner Roman**: Commissioner Roman thank you miniature forgot the last part of my comment and this is not at all to the discredit for the applicant but you know I think going forward the way this part property was allowed to have been you will hacked up with easements I think is also a limiting factor so I oh yeah okay for us as of commission to attention to those things when they do come forward and again this happened well but for us and we can see what it's led to for the challenges and trying to redo all property [29:03] **Commissioner Goldsman**: commissioner goldstein oh I think you're on mute oh I was on mute talking to myself sorry about that if everyone is agreeance I'd like to make a motion please go ahead all right in case PL - 0 - 0 - 1 or having been able to make the required bindings I move to approve a major major revision - preliminary development plans and final development plans for a new one-story freestanding bank at 6 1 1 West 98th Street subject to conditions and code requirements attached to the staff report [29:03] **Commissioner Corman**: Commissioner Corman second [29:48] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: moved by Commissioner of Goldsman second by Commissioner Corman all those in favor say aye Commissioner Solberg [29:48] **Commissioner Solberg**: aye [29:48] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Goldsmith [29:48] **Commissioner Goldsman**: hi [29:48] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: commissioner Corman [29:48] **Commissioner Corman**: aye [29:48] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Roman [29:48] **Commissioner Roman**: I [29:48] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Albrecht [29:48] **Commissioner Albrecht**: I [29:48] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: notice an eye from me that is that motion passes six zero this will move on to the June 1st City Council meeting the next item is just approval of playing Commission meeting minutes the first meeting is April 9th 2020 all commissioners were present for that meeting do I have a motion to approve the minutes [30:35] **Commissioner Roman**: Commissioner Roman [30:35] **Commissioner Solberg**: Commissioner Solberg second [30:35] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: moved by Commissioner of Roman second by Commissioner Solberg all those in favor say aye Commissioner Solberg [30:35] **Commissioner Solberg**: by [30:35] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Goldman [30:35] **Commissioner Goldsman**: aye [30:35] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Korman [30:35] **Commissioner Corman**: aye [30:35] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Roman [30:35] **Commissioner Roman**: I [30:35] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: commissioner Albrecht [30:35] **Commissioner Albrecht**: I [30:35] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: and that was an eye from me motion passes six zero moving on to the April 23rd Planning Commission meeting minutes all commissioners were present for that meeting [31:22] **Commissioner Albrecht**: question albrecht I move to approve [31:22] **Commissioner Roman**: move that Commissioner I'll back second by commissioner [31:22] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: all those in favor say aye Commissioner Solberg [31:22] **Commissioner Solberg**: I [31:22] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Goldsmith [31:22] **Commissioner Goldsman**: I [31:22] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Corman [31:22] **Commissioner Corman**: I [31:22] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: comen sure Roman [31:22] **Commissioner Roman**: I [31:22] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: commissioner Albrecht [31:22] **Commissioner Albrecht**: I [31:22] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: was an eye for me motion passes 6-0 moving on to the May seventh Planning Commission meeting I believe Commissioner Corman was the only one absent for that do I have a motion to approve the May 7th planning committing committee min minutes [32:09] **Commissioner Albrecht**: Commissioner Albrecht I move to approve the may 7th Planning Commission [32:09] **Commissioner Goldsman**: Commissioner Goldsmith second [32:09] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: moved by Commissioner I'll back second by Commissioner Colton and all those in favor say aye Commissioner Solberg [32:09] **Commissioner Solberg**: all right [32:09] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Colts win [32:09] **Commissioner Goldsman**: by [32:09] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Ruhlman [32:09] **Commissioner Roman**: I [32:09] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: Commissioner Albrecht [32:09] **Commissioner Albrecht**: I [32:09] **Chair Maria Hanlon**: there's an eye from me motion passes 5-0 that will conclude the May 21st 2020 Planning Commission meeting the next meeting will be on June 11th 2020 [Music]