Trump oh it was brutal yeah me either 40 years we think that we think that area right there is probably the best to just well just because of it so Cally located get to everything yeah yeah I mean is really no that's a great little neighborhood down never know I you like thanks r good evening everyone and welcome uh today is uh Monday September 9th 2024 and welcome to the Eden Prairie Planning Commission meeting like to call it to order first uh item is let's stand and do the Pledge of Allegiance with me please flag the United States of America stands one nation God indivisible thank you um for the record I note that everybody is here all the Commissioners are here except for commissioner Piper who is absent first item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda Commissioners does anybody have any comments on tonight's agenda if not may I have a motion to approve motion to approve the agenda approv by commissioner Taylor second any body second thank you commissioner Weber all in favor say I I opposed motion passes unanimously second item is the approval of the minutes from our last meeting it's the uh meeting held Monday August 26 2024 so anybody have any comments on the minutes hearing none I'll entertain a motion so move thank you commissioner Grody got a motion to approve do I have second thank you commissioner C Kirk all in favor say I I opposed motion passes unanimously thank you this evening we have two public hearings on our agenda and our public hearings run that will'll give the applicant an opportunity to come to the podium and address our commission first explain the project then we'll have a staff report um then I'll open it up to General Public comments or questions if anybody in the audience wants to come forward with those before our commission deliberates on the issue so our first public hearing is the wonderlick Malik building Edition uh this is a request for PUD concept review on 5.13 Acres PUD District review with waivers on 5.13 acres and a site plan review on 5.13 acres is the applicant here and would they like to come forward to address our commission thank you welcome and please state your name company and address please good evening I am Amy Schwab with TWP Architects my name is Neil wonderlick I'm owner of the property uh it's owned by wonderlick properties and then of course wonderl Malik is I'm the same guy on that part too your name gave it away okay thank you welcome for having us oh should I go sit down um if you like no no okay I kill it my knees than we can do without slides too sure sure okay so this project is an existing industrial Zone building and uh my client would like to do an expansion of close to 8,000 square feet to help their business operations flow and uh we were looking um going toward the east of the building because in the original 1993 um development agreement that was a space that was they were able able to go out there it was approved at that time um we talked with the planning staff and determined with them that that was not ideal it would be taking a lot of Heritage trees out from the site so um wonderlick decided to go up instead of out so this will house their engineering staff to be directly over the manufacturer manufacturing area and linking to the existing there we go existing um business office which is currently a second floor um on the other side of the building do you want me to talk about Wonder like Malik or would you like to okay yeah it's um I started the company speak up to the microphone please oh I'm sorry that's right thank you sorry I started the company uh by myself in 1981 I was the only employee for a couple years uh and I didn't really have any idea of how much our company was going to grow and expand in the United States but uh right now we are in 35 cities and 23 States uh we went from one employee there over 600 employees right now across the country have about 140 here in Minnesota we have an office in St Paul also that uh does mechanical engineering and architectural engineering architectural work um we our our business is engineering but we got into the fabrication business because clients wanted us to build things so we build control panels I think that you can Mo most relate to is like you guys have lift stations pumping you know lift LIF the control panel that goes in that lift station we have a group that we call them our Environmental Group and they do the work and designing those panels for the lift stations working with envir uh uh like Westwood and and people like that in in the environmental space so but uh right now we we have a quite a bit business for our fabrication people in the in the in there so we've already taken out some people and moved them stuffed them in the building in another place and we've been using a large part of that area now for warehousing and storage because we have to we get a lot of equipment ahead of time uh mostly because of supply chain issues and things like that so right now we want to uh expand that so we have more storage area and maybe a couple more workstations in this expanded space and then we need to put the people back that we made go away for a little while so and it's important that we keep all our people together because they work together uh we think this is the best and safest way to do it that we don't have our people going through the shop to get to their offices or anything like that so it's we think it's the best solution and it keeps everybody all together one thing I did do want to just throw out real quick is that one I don't own the company anymore we're 100% employee owned company ESOP as they call them so if you have any questions later on I also have company brochures I brought with me if you're interested so I can hand those out and you can take a little bit more look at what we do thank you so what this expansion is doing like Neil said is giving the business the the added capacity that they can keep up with our orders so we're looking at the existing site plan here um nothing is really changing with the site we will add some additional Landscaping uh 25 calip per inches to be commensurate with the 320 fet per calip per inch with your code and um nothing else with the access or parking we're hoping changes so this in red is where the the expansion is going on the second floor um this is the footprint uh it's really lighter on there but um the two stories up to the north of that expansion and then the little um link is the link between the two office spaces so here we see existing floor plan that read just a space planning diagram for you to to imagine what's happening here um the second plan the proposed plan is where this expansion so it's 7650 and then another 400 square feet for the link and then there's a little bit of reconfiguration down on the first floor where there was more office space that will reduce for those people that are going upstairs and uh warehouse and Manufacturing space so the the blue is the warehouse and storage and green is the manufacturing um this proposed expansion will be 5 above 56,000 a half uh square feet will match the existing materials so we're just taking that that facade and bringing it up and the fenestrations matching the same on that side floor area ratio we're way better than what the uh the max of 50% is so we're still doing well there um the 40 uh foot height limitation is still maintained will be 33 ft with this addition and then we talked about those Landscaping requirements so it makes for 25 calor per inches that we will add to the project so parking calculations this is where we're looking for a waiver that development agreement um gave us 50,000 Square ft with that additional 20,000 approved we're well below that um we talked about taking those existing trees not not taking them out and they had a parking deck that would accommodate lost parking spots if they did that addition but we're not looking at that um and the original parking lot was only Built to 98 stalls so wonderlick Malik had added 38 stalls you can see outlined in red at the South uh west side of the site that gave them a total of 136 stalls and they have been operating with those 136 stalls since 2015 and no problems at all with this if you went by the square footage calculations we would need 187 stalls but if you looked at the existing um footprint you would have needed 167 which the the site never had and it's operated fine on this there was a a traffic Meo memo done and there's no impact to the intersections or nearby roadways on this um and actually we'll go back um with this waiver so how we approach this is saying by square footage uh the total uh square footage we would need 187 stalls we have 136 um if you actually looked at people workspaces stations um there are about 161 people occupying this building but wonderlick Malik does have a a 3day uh work from home so working from home three days two in the office and if you implement that that's about 60% so that would be 108 people that you could really expect to be in the building and well below the 136 that are already there so in summary um we're less intensive than that approved 20,000 Square ft at 8 about 8,000 um we're well within the 40ft height limitation this 1993 agreement had contemplated tree loss we contemplate no tree loss which I know is very important to your city plan um we request a PUD waiver to allow for the parking uh differentiation uh we're not expected to impact traffic patterns or roadways excuse me and exterior facad materials uh should be consistent with what is already there thank you thank you very much for your presentation I appreciate it Commissioners do you have any initial questions of the applicant before we move on to the staff report thanks stay poised appreciate it you can set Al though y thank you Jeremy would you like to take us through the staff report please yeah I have a very brief uh staff report today um as as mentioned by the applicant the building addition materials height flare ratio um all comply with the city code um the expansion of the of the business up um reduced or eliminated requirement for additional storm water management on the site which would have been disruptive to either the parking lot or the existing trees and the applicants had made a a strong effort to reduce impact to the uh to the existing vegetation in particular the vegetation to the east of the project and so for that um the um this addition seems best appropriate given given kind of the constraints of the site um mentioned earlier the the waiver from from the parking requirement uh note that there are 136 parking spaces on site they would need 187 U so there there's 50 or so um unit kind know waiver from the parking requirement staff is supporting that waiver in this situation um the the business need does not meet the or is not consistent with what our written prescription is in terms of parking requirements and the the business is is doing a a great job of managing the parking requirements on site there's not a lot of opportunity to to go beyond the site in terms of parking um and so they have to M manage the parking um in that respect so staff is supporting the waiver here recognizing that the original PUD for the property did identify as the applicant mentioned a larger expansion uh south of the building and then a large parking deck those those are still on uh you know in the development agreement those are still could be Solutions in the future if necessary but based on the uh the scope of this project they're not necessary at this stage and we do support a waiver with that staff is recommending approval subject to the conditions outlined in the staff report report thank you very much uh Commissioners do you have any questions of staff at this time okay Jerry I mean just a quick follow up on your comment that you just made about the development agreement having an opportunity uh for growth with a building addition and a parking deck um if they do have more workers or um what I'm interested in is if the building changes hands does that development agreement travel with the building sale the the development agreement travels with the property so whoever owns it can pick up the the development agreement and and operate under those conditions uh and if then the future additional parking is required we be looking likely for a um substantial parking would be required we'd be looking at a parking deck or parking ramp sure okay thank you and uh one last question uh this abouts the city of minetonka are there any special uh issues or coordination items that we need to do with the city of menka there certainly was to the property to the West you know from a location of driveway connection and and utility connections we don't see that here because the existing connections for water and sewer and and traffic will be maintained um but they were involved in our review process and we look for any comments that they have both now and in the future if we have any in the land alteration permit stage thank you very much commissioner commissioner Taylor and for Jeremy I was out there today taking a look at the the property and it's it's separate from the the building or the second floor but I noticed that the trash bins on the east side of the property they're not covered or have any type of structure around them I thought that we had some type of parameters in place when it comes to containing kind of trash bins and so on you're you're correct current code requires trash trash receptacles um to be either either located within the building or within an enclosure with a roof um based on the site plans provided we did not identify that as a requirement here but you could suggest that if necessary yes I'd recommend that okay yeah Mr chair a couple commissioner Duncan thoughts um so I Echo um some of the questions that you had as well um I'm I'm question questioning though the Pud does that run with the that runs with the property does it ever expire PUD does run with the land it does not expire unless it's acted on and the city um has the right I believe I forget the exact wording but has the right to um initiate the re resending of that zone change essentially it's the zone change um in practice I don't believe we do that very frequently okay thank you and then one other question or maybe it's more of a comment um um the applicant mentioned there was 161 employees and there's 136 stalls um however they had indicated they've been operating since 2015 is has that 100 I guess maybe is more of a question um the 161 employees have they been since 2015 or have you had 161 employees at that facility since 2015 and have operated about 140 people can you go to I apologize for not asking you that earlier no I I think the the account is about 140 people in Minneapolis or in sorry Eden Prairie Office and then we have a bunch of people in used to be in downtown St Paul they now are in Roseville Oakdale Oakdale sorry and uh but on an we have an Ina board it tracks all the people and I and most days the most I've ever counted in the office at one time is 100 that's the most most days are's less than that we the kind of work we do a lot of our people travel a lot and go to Project sites um actually we're having a we're part part of a going to be part of a very large project in in Rosemont called meta and those people will be on site for almost two years they won't be in the office they'll be at the project site uh we also have something going on with Seagate again people will be at the site all the time we do work for General Mills those people work at James Ford bell every day uh like so it's that's why you know when I say there's 140 people here in Eden prish it's about 140 there's Le usually less than 100 people in the office and that's a maximum most days it's probably 80 70 uh there's always a lot of empty parking spots okay thank you I think that answers the question about how many employees you have at this site specifically absolutely and the 161 was me being very analytical looking at what kind of space desks we have in the plan so that was probably a little bit of a a heavy hand on that sure appreciate that yeah I I inferred your question commissioner Duncan to be kind of a preco question since 2015 to 2020 yeah and and apologies for not clarifying I think my just my concern was about the number of parking stalls that are there which is 136 and you had mentioned they have never been a problem since 2015 has the employee base grown from 2015 until the present and I understand that that that uh you only have about 140 at this facility so I'm just kind of a real quick thing when when I acquired the building they had a dotted those the spaces we added like what 18 18 or how many did we had you mentioned it anyway they had them dotted in on the drawings that I got because when Opus built the building for a company called viromed and uh the reason we added all those parking spots is one winter it was a lot of snow and because of all the snow we were having some issues sometimes with finding enough parking places so that's why we added that extra area to to to deal with the winter mostly sure thank you for that clarification and what a great story this is a very good story of Minnesota homegrown business expansion so thank you thank you great so Commissioners any more questions of staff at this point in time before we move on to the public hearing okay this is a public hearing if anybody in the audience wishes to address our commission now would be the time seeing nobody um I would entertain a motion from our commissioners to close the public hearing I move that we close the public hearing thank you commissioner Sherwood can I have a second second thank you commissioner Grody I'll give that one to you all in favor of closing the public hearing say I I I closed public hearing is closed okay um comments reactions thoughts questions just comments I moved here in 1976 as a young buck engineer couldn't even spell engineer but I remember you're starting your firm and I'm happy to to see the growth and progress I think this is a fabulous opportunity for the city and for yourself and for our people here in Eden Prairie thank you thank you commissioner Sherwood I agree I appreciate the uh expansion without uh adding parking frankly so good job and I'll add to that and respect for the uh the natural landscape around finding a way to do it without impacting the trees it's a beautiful area up there and and also so congratulations on a successful business yeah I just Echo great great story good project I agree with all those comments as well uh this sounds like it's moving in a favorable Direction um would anybody be interested in making a motion I would move to recommend approval for Planned unit development concept review planned unit development District review with waivers and site plan review all all on 5.13 Acres as represented in the September 9th 2024 staff report subject to the conditions listed in that staff report thank you for the motion commissioner Weber would anybody like to that second by commissioner Kirk thank you all in favor say I I I opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much good luck in your project thank you thank you great we have a second item for a public hearing also the evening it's our Cusco fuel Expansion Project uh they're asking for a PUD Amendment with waivers on 18 acres and site plan review on 18 Acres I see the applicants here would you like to make a short presentation to the [Music] commission good evening commission members my name is Julie Anderson with bark housing Consulting Engineers located in Kent Washington uh with me as our team consisting of kaen Bernett real estate manager with Costco Wholesale and Chris tasler Transportation engineer with kson and Associates uh as you mentioned Costco is requesting a PUD Amendment and a minor site plan and Architectural design review to allow for the expansion of the existing Costco fuel facility the project includes the expansion of the existing facility and the project area generally consists of the uh Q area of the existing facility and the Eastern portion of the existing facility and the intent of the project is to reduce vehicle cues uh improve overall site circulation and improve the member fueling experience uh as I mentioned uh the project areas in the northern portion of the site um again focused on the Q area and the Eastern portion of the existing facility uh the existing facility contains eight dispensers uh three 20,000 gallon gasoline underground storage tanks with 1 15 00 gallon fuel additive underground storage tank an approximately 3,800 squ ft canopy over those dispensers uh and what we call an inside fuel drop Lane uh which basically just means when the fuel drop is fuel truck is delivering fuel to the site it's located inside of the queue under existing conditions uh with the expansion we'll be adding seven new dispensers and the installation of one new 30,000 gallon underground storage tank uh to serve the added dispensers uh approximately 5300 square foot canopy expansion um an outside fuel drop Lane which allows the fuel truck to deliver fuel to the site without entering the queue um a new controller enclosure and the widening of the Eastern driveway to the [Music] site uh the expansion and the signage are designed to match the existing canopy design uh to provide a seamless transition and it includes brick veneer canopy columns with a tan metal canopy fascia uh the fuel facility design will continue to be consistent with the uh existing warehouse and overall surrounding area the controller enclosure uh is also designed to match the existing enclosure and uh canopy and includes three toned brick walls to continue the seamless and cohesive design for the site a uh traffic analysis was performed to evaluate the impacts of the expansion key findings include that there is a small net increase in traffic largely driven by induced demand so shorter lines will attract more members who today may not choose to get gas uh but all study intersections are forecasted to continue to operate acceptably the expansion is projected to reduce current cues and weight Times by roughly 50% um on the screen we've got a graphic that shows the existing cues on the bottom um and the anticipated cues after the expansion on the top during Peak Saturday hours um and there have already been several recent Transportation improvements by both City and Costco uh there's a new traffic signal installed at the Western driveway a Technology Drive was restriped with new turn Lanes added and the West driveway was also restriped to provide separate left and right turn Lanes at the signal overall the study confirmed that the project will not have any adverse impacts from a traffic or Transportation [Music] perspective uh the fuel facility will continue to operate consistent with the existing facility there will always be an attendant onsite during operational hours uh the facility will continue to only be available for member use um and a red light green light system will be provided on the face of each uh front column to notify members waiting in queue when a dispenser uh is available this concludes our presentation as well as the rest of the team are available to answer any questions thank you thank you Miss Anderson appreciate the presentation commissioner any questions of the applicant uh at this early stage I just have one comment thank you for showing the the queue um that was one question that I actually had so thank you for showing that representation great I was a little surprised to see the the existing queue where the cars only come in from the West instead of from the East is that a restriction on the site now um I don't know if it's an existing restriction yeah uh chair and commissioner so that was in place when they started backing up into Tech drive from that short distance yep so they put in the barrier there uh and Chris and I worked on that with them as a kind of an option for that um and since there's been a reduction in that kind of demand in that site I've seen that actually go away um so just like you see in some of these proposed plans there's a there's a cable there that could be there in place um but I'm guessing it's the ability to move it in and out when they want but right now it's actually gone so I think just because the new Costco uh that's to the West has taken some of the uh the fuel demand they didn't see a need to that to for that to be there so it's actually gone since the last last couple of weeks thank you appreciate that any other questions of the applicate thank you very much thank you appreciate that Mr burnhard want to take us through the staff report please yeah excuse me briefly um the uh the additional uh pumps and U Control building and expansion of the the canopy um that Improvement will re uh result in a loss of about 16 parking spaces uh that's typically one of the things we look at when we look at expansions of existing buildings with the parking demand uh in this situation 16 spaces will be removed um however uh Costco exceeds the parking requirements for the size of their building additionally um they have uh together an exhibit showing kind of where they would St snow store store snow during the winter um and those locations even if those were all full of snow um they still exceed the the code requirement from a parking perspective so parking is not a requested waiver here uh it's just uh something we always examine because as anyone who's been to Costco usually parking lots pretty well full um they are requesting a waiver from the Eastern driveway width code requires a 30 foot maximum width um a previous waiver has been granted for a 37t wide parking or Entrance Drive uh they're asking for a 46 foot width and that accommodates the truck traffic coming in and also a left and a right dedicated Lane um so staff is supporting of that it helps the the flow of traffic onto Tech uh Tech Drive um as the applicant mentioned the addition uh is consistent with the design of the Costco building itself so should blend in seamlessly um and we see that as an improvement staff is supporting of the site plan and recommends approval of the waiver as drafted subject to the conditions outlined in the staff report thank you very much Commissioners do you have any questions of staff at this point Mr chair I have two commissioner duckin um one question the Pud uh is there a timeline for the previous PUD waivers to be implemented or if if they don't Implement them they um similar to the question from the last meeting they're they continue throughout unless the council makes an action to resend them okay we have not felt the need to do that um and so they could if this approval wasn't granted they could build the four additional um uh stations that they got approval for some years ago they're electing to amend that approval essentially and and and add these additional um dispensers so they do not expire if they don't be acted on unless an action is taken thank you uh one other question is around EV charging stations um I should know this because I'm there on the regular but are there any current EV charging stations there or is there any plan for any EV charging stations at some point I don't we call syy but I defer that to the applicant okay um currently there is not any EV charging stations at the site um and to my knowledge there is not a current plan to provide any uh for the site okay thank you we don't have a requirement for that at this point not based on this application no very good thank you just a comment back to the discussions we had at the previous um request for expansion we brought up the EV uh and more on a visibility standpoint we brought up the point about EV charging potential for it so it it had been discussed um but at the time it just didn't seem the the technology momentum all of that wasn't wasn't there for it so the uh commission didn't take any specific action relative to that thank you um Jeremy or maybe Mr Schulz um I noticed on the plans that the appli isn't going to be painting a crosswalk across the widened uh east driveway uh there is such a crosswalk on the west driveway which is signalized of course and I'm thinking if this one is even wider uh ought there be some uh dedicated access aisle visually and potentially even a safety Island halfway across for someone maybe with slower Mobility um it seems like quite a busy intersection and uncontrolled with with stop lights chair and Commissioners yeah I see that that's not included it was included with the signal because as you mentioned that was part of that that that plan to have that c that's striped we don't typically require striping at um parking lot entrances we do at streets we look at we have a whole process where we look at a required striping and signage for that um it would be their choice if they were to do that again with the Refuge Island need that's more from a an ability for someone to go across a couple lanes and stop look at traffic which uh in this case we're expecting this to be slow there's a Stop Bar there on the exit so that was where they would stop typically that c that striping kind of acts as a Stop Bar as well but they have that included in here um so we didn't really see a need for another Refuge Island which would then widen the driveway even further okay um so for getting the uh that safety Island halfway through uh who would suggest that best practice in implementation of a crosswalk would it be the traffic engineer who did the traffic study or would it be City staff it it could be both yep um but again I it wouldn't be a city necessarily like requirement to do that um just because we're typically looking at that at at Street intersections not parking lot entrances okay just want to make sure our citizens are safe here Mr chair I have one more question that yes commission discussion made me think about it with the widening of the U this is for um the city engineer with the widening of that East entrance did does the turn lane is that a affected at all is that lengthened or there there's no need to adjust the turn lane because there isn't there isn't no the curb was adjusted mainly for the fuel truck uh turning radius that was that was designed and also why that small median is in between those but uh the turn lane itself is not being moved at all okay thank you or or necessary to be moved okay thank you okay and Jeremy some of us remember an application about four years ago when they intended to expand I don't know if it was to this scope or not um uh I could have asked the applicant I forgot do you know the reason why they didn't proceed with that particular expansion and waited until now I don't know the specific reason but I know that was approved you know four years ago was a smaller uh uh scope of a project sure sure okay um just out of curiosity if if the applicant has a response to that sure um so back when we were here before with the for dispenser expansion um that was preo time times so once Co hit the project kind of went on hold um you know indefinitely until things started to resume back to normal um in that time Costco kind of re-evaluated to make sure the scope of the work made sense for the site um you know Market changes things happened uh post pandemic that you know couldn't have been anticipated um and so as part of that analysis they determined that they you know felt that they needed a bigger expansion um which is why we came back today for I think three additional dispensers okay thank you appreciate it all right uh again this is a public hearing and so I'd like to invite anybody in the audience who would like to speak on this item to step forward seeing none I'll take an uh motion from a commissioner to close the public hearing move to close the public hearing thank you commissioner gro we have a motion do we have a second I'll second that thank you commissioner Duncan I'll in favor of closing the public hearing say I I opposed motion passes unanimously thoughts and comments from the Commissioners well as one who was here for that four year ago uh session and and discussion um I think this is a actually I think it's a a positive expansion for Eden Prairie I don't I don't know about the rest of you guys but my uh my Costco membership is justified by that fueling facility and I'm about 90% of the gas I buy is there and and uh anything that can be done to decrease the weight times is is a positive and I think it's in a where it is in the city relative to traffic relative to a lot of different things I think it's a good location so I'm I'm very supportive of this of this expansion okay thank you I I agree as one of the ones that doesn't wait in the lines because too impatient more more dispensers is better so thank you that's good I was initially skeptical about the reduced Q length when we seem to be shortening the que Dimension and adding more pumps it just intuitively wasn't there uh but then I did see that red light Greenlight feature that you're uh deploying on the project which is like a parking ramp I don't know if all of America has that but I've seen it at busy parking ramps and I think that'll really improve the navigation for the customer to uh shim on up to those empty dispensers uh in my opinion so I can see how that would work out to your benefit as well yeah I agree as well those indicator lights are a huge help for cars that are lower not everyone has the big SUVs like most of us like to drive so you know it's a littleit safer have not look over your shoulder whatnot so I think it's a great great addition I'll probably go there more now it's good it's good all right I would entertain a motion Mr chairman M commissioner Kirk move to recommend approval for Planned unit uh planned unit Amendment with waivers and site plan review on 18 Acres as represented in the September 9th 2024 staff report subject to conditions listed in the staff report thank you I have a motion on the table for Comm commissioner Kurt I'll second the motion thank you commissioner sorry Duncan um second all in favor say I I opposed none motion pass passes unanimously congratulations and good luck with your project okay um those are our two public hearings um do we have a uh planners report this evening Mr Barnhart not tonight all right uh Commissioners do we have any members reports that you want to share nope I'll uh entertain a motion for adjournment motion to adjourn thank second second all in favor say I I I opposed meeting is adjourned thank you thank you nicely done easy on e