Good evening. Welcome to the November 20th, 2025 meeting of the Minnotonka Planning Commission. The commission generally meets twice a month, always on a Thursday. The schedule and tentative meeting agendas can be obtained by calling the planning division or by checking the city website at minnotonkamn.gov. The commission holds public hearings on land use applications. For all land use applications, the city notifies property owners within at least 400 ft of the site and posts plans and information on the city website. For some applications, the city also places signs on the properties and notices in the Sun Sailor newspaper. From a specific process standpoint, the commission makes recommendations to the city council on resonings, subdivisions, conditional use permits, and amendments to the city's comprehensive guide plan, zoning ordinance, and subdivision regulations. We also make final decisions on site plans, signage requests, variance requests, and expansion permits, unless those requests are part of an application that must be heard by the city council, in which case the commission makes a recommendation and the council makes the final decision. Anyone dissatisfied with a final planning commission decision may appeal to the city council by submitting a written request to city staff within 10 days of this meeting. From a broader standpoint, the city's comprehensive guide plan, zoning ordinance, and subdivision regulations are the city's best efforts to codify a balance between individual rights and community responsibilities. Individual rights are easy to understand. Community responsibilities are more subtle, but the idea is that we as members of a community agree to limit our individual rights for the common good of the group. The planning division, the planning commission, and the city council are charged with managing this sometimes difficult balancing act. We ask that you keep this broader perspective in mind as we review tonight's applications. Again, welcome staff. Will you please call role? Minion >> here, but my mic won't go on. >> Uh we did have a little bit of an issue at the uh sustainability commission. They seems that the lights aren't coming on, but the mics do come on. So, >> I know I have a light. I'm here. >> Thank you. >> Uh, Waterman is absent. Banks is absent. Uh, Brink >> here. >> Hansen >> here. >> Henry is absent. Chair Maxwell here. There are four of us seated tonight. >> Our lights are all staying on. Sorry. >> I can I can try to mute. No, I can't. I can't even mute you. All right, nobody breathe. Um, all right. Uh, next item on the agenda is approval of the agenda. And since we only have four people seated, there are two items that require five affirmative votes. Um, so would we call this a change memo or should I just make a motion here, Miss Thomas? Uh, chair, I think you can just uh someone can make a motion and uh with the apologies to anyone from the public who may have come for either of those items. >> I'll make the motion with the microphone. >> Okay. So, Commissioner Minion, may I have a motion to postpone the following items to the December 4th, 2025 meeting of the planning commission. Number one, item 7A, a front yard setback variance for a garage at 4241 Winchester Court. And item 8A, a rear yard setback variance for garage at 15020 Tamar Lane. >> Chair, yes. I'll make the motion. >> And is there a second? >> I will second. >> All right. Second, Hansen. Uh, do all do we have to pull the audience for this one? All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Motion carries. Those uh items will be postponed again to the December 4th meeting. So, I apologize if you came for those. Um, and those will be uh heard later. Um, given that um may I have a motion to approve the rest of the agenda? >> I'll make that motion to approve the the agenda. >> Uh motion Brink. Uh second minion. All those in favor say I. I. I. >> I. >> Uh motion carries. All right. Um next is approval of the minutes. of the October 30th uh meeting. Is any changes? No. All right. Um motion to approve those. >> I'll make the motion. >> Motion Brink. >> I'll second. >> Second, Minion. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. All right. Motion carries. Uh next is report from staff. Thank you, chair and uh commission. Uh one city council meeting uh to report on on November the 10th. um two items on that agenda that the planning commission had reviewed previously. The first was the D Young Estates, which was that two lot subdivision at Old Excelsier Boulevard and Sparrow Road. Um that was approved on the council's consent agenda. And then the council also discussed the concept plan for the English Rose um uh licensed residential care facilities at Hopkins Crossroad, 2000 Hopkins Crossroad, the old Omagon site. I would say that um the council certainly expressed support uh for the use uh at uh the property. Much like um planning commission, the majority of the council um indicated a wish that that the the oldest part of the building could remain, but they also indicated that they understood if they could not uh stay if that did not make sense from a financial perspective. if they would understand um that staff has since had a follow-up meeting with the applicants and do understand that they're hoping to make their formal applications in January of next year. So that will come back uh before this body as a formal application. Um my only other item is that there's been some con some changes to our um meeting schedule. We had planned on cancelling the 124 meeting, but now given uh the postponement of these two items, we will have a 124 meeting. Those will be the only items uh on that agenda. So, if you're not able to be at 124, uh I've spoken with some who aren't already, but if you're not able to be here, if you could let me know so that we can in turn um plan accordingly. Thanks. >> All right. Thanks, Miss Thomas. Next is report from the commission. Does anybody here have anything to report? Commissioner Minion. >> Thank you. Uh just a kind of a late thank you, but uh to all the judge and the all the judges for voting, all the work that the city went on, they just did a great job with our voting process this year. And I apologize for being a little bit late in saying that, but they just did a great job. Thank you very much. >> Anyone else? All right, let's move on to the next item. Um, the consent agenda. We have no items for tonight. Um, and the non-consent agenda. Um, item 8 has been moved to the uh to December 4th. And uh so uh moving on to the next item um which is uh other other items item 9A uh which is in in other business is let's see I can pull it up here. Uh, this is a conditional use permit and site and building plan review for a coffee shop with a drive-thru at 17505 Highway 7. Uh, we'll start uh with a staff report. >> There you go. I was having a little bit of issues with my mic, too. Uh so our first one just to start with the staff recommendation for this project. Staff is recommending that the city council adopt the resolution approving a conditional use permit and final site and building plans for 7 Brew at 17501 Highway 7. So just to start where we're looking at here, here's a map of the entire city. We are over in the southwest corner of the city. Getting a little bit more specific, here's Highway 10, County Road 101 and then Highway 7. So, we're at the south west uh southeast corner of that intersection. Uh the site has a couple different uh accesses. First, they have one a right in and a right out at Highway 7. Then also there is a connection at Hutchkins Drive to County Road 101. So, a couple spots there. Some other things to note with the site, uh there is Purgatory Creek is right behind it. So, you can see this meandering creek that sort of crosses sort of goes right along their property line. Then also there is a trail that can that goes right next to Purgatory Creek also. Um and then here's Culver which is also a good marker for me personally who visits that place quite a bit. Uh next here's a look at the existing site. So here is um you can see it's a flat parking lot. Uh there isn't really any improvements in that area. Uh there's your Culver's reference then Northern Tool. There's a few other uh buildings with like you tenants within that building. The Becker Furniture, Opitz Outlet, and Mega Pickle Ball are all within that large building. Also, just for reference, Culver's they also have a drive-thru, and that was approved back in 2021. And the red area outlines again where this proposed development will be located. Here's a zoomed out look at that site, too. Another major element of this area is the large parking lot. So the site is 12 acres in size and has 482 parking spaces that is all shared between the buildings. So fairly substantial parking lot. There's also some area over here to the north of Northern Tulle that um is not striped but is also paved. Going back and doing a little bit of history on the site 14 years ago there was a review of this property as part of a master plan. And with that, the vision was to look at what do we see this property being used as long-term. So again, we're at the long term right now. So back then when they looked at this, there was an envision to have additional buildings. At the time, there was a fast food restaurant over here. So sort of keeping with that, but there was a vision to add additional um smaller buildings over on the site. One of the important parts of that vision was to have again those buildings pushed away from Purgatory Creek and keeping that area sort of natural. So you can see that area there, but then also to connect it with trails. So that existing trail there, making sure that still is a connection for folks to get into this area. So looking at the proposal tonight, uh here's a look at on the lefth hand side again looking at the far zoomed out area. Something the applicant has proposed to do is have uh continue the bike uh trail or bike uh striping on the property. It will not be in green, but there is striping there currently that shows where bike bic bicyclists should go. If you come off of this trail, so you could come off the trail, there's a route that shows where you should travel to get to existing Culver's, but then also extending that to this to the new Seven Brew site. Also, despite this being a very large parking lot, with this new addition, there's several parking spaces lost and it brings it below what city code requires for parking. So, there's a 16 space deficit. However, city code allows you an option to show proof of parking or showing how you can meet code with parking without actually having to construct it. So, in this case, what the applicant has done is they've just shown a striping plan that would meet city code requirements. I would just involve them to stripe here because that is an existing pavement. So, a sort of an easy route for them to go if that parking is needed. So, if the city noticed that this large parking lot was full on several instances and there was issues with parking, we could require that there's additional parking to be stripped. So that has been met. Um looking more zoomed in at the proposed development. What the applicants proposing is two buildings and then an enclosure for trash. One of them would be a place where they would create the make beverages uh coffee and other different types of beverages they have there. And then also a separate very slightly offset I think I was told 6 in apart. So it's very close to the building. You'll see it looks like they're attached which is a little part of the design. Uh but they're not attached. There's two separate ones. And that other one has a cooler and then also a dry storage area. But looking at access, you can see the red lines in here drawn show how someone would access this drive-thru. So you'd come off of Highway 7 mostly. Some you could also come off of uh this area. If you came from Hutchkins Drive, you'd come from the left hand side, but you'd come into the site, you take a quick right turn, and then you take a left turn into those two drive lanes. So a little unique, they have two drive lanes that go through their area. Uh, and when you get into that area, you would come around and a little different from a lot of drive-throughs that we know, there isn't a window. Instead, what they'll have is some sliding doors that people would come outside with a pad of some sort to take your order, take payment, go inside, make your beverage, then come back outside. Um, it's a fairly large drive-thru, as you can see. It's since it has two lanes, it can accommodate up to 19 vehicles. Our city code requires at least six. Uh, so it's a pretty large drive-thru. Here's a look at the buildings that's being proposed. Uh it has brick-like material. Um it's sort of a concrete uh material that they used but looks like concret that looks like brick. Uh it's two tones of of uh natural materials. Also, they've have blue accents on the roof and then also on the overhang that they're proposing. And those would both be made out of metal. And here's a look at those double sliding doors they would have. So you' in the in their programming you'd come through your vehicle would stop up here and then the store would come open and someone would come out to take your order. Here's some views from Highway 7 just to look and see how that sort of works between Culver's and this building. So you can see Culver's here and then you can see seven prover here. It's a little bit lower profile uh but definitely has similar architectural styles, similar colors, similar pattern. Definitely fits in with the massing of the area. you then as you turn in, here's a look from as you turning off of Highway 7. And then here's as you enter the site and see the building. Also, next here is their floor plans. It's u pretty plain. There's not much to it. They have a service area where they would make the drinks and then a bathroom area and corridor. And then here's that building. Again, it's going to be closer than this. This shows it pretty far apart. It's only going to be 6 in apart as you can see back here. Um these are actually two separate buildings. So, it'll look as if there's just one and not two. Uh, but the storage area just has a cooler and then a dry storage area. Here's look at the trash enclosure. It has the same uh elements as the other buildings. So, similar in nature with the same blue accents. And then with any project, we always look and make sure that meets all of the standards for that district. So, this is in the B2 district. And as we went through there, it meets the building height, the setback requirements, floor ratio, lot coverage, access, and under lot coverage that's starred because it's actually being reduced. Uh so right now it's going to go down. Right now it's all pavement. They'll have a few landscaping islands that will sort of break up that large parking lot. And then uh the next one we have here is looking at storm water mitigation. Um there's not a lot of opportunities on the site for storm water mitigation at surface because it is a very large parking lot and there isn't any green area nearby. So what the applicants proposing is doing underground storage chambers. So you can see the blue lines here connect where there would be water captured and that would bring it over to the chambers that are underneath the drive-thru lanes. Also on your on your screen you'll see a green line that's referencing a private utility line. That was a early part of conversations to make sure that was going to be an appropriate distance away. This has been reviewed by our by our city plumbing inspector and he feels comfortable with the location of the building and the location of that private line provided a few conditions that have been added. So with with this site, it was important for staff to look very closely at traffic. Uh so to do that, we consulted uh SRF to do a traffic uh review this fall. And what they were looking for specifically was impacts to adjacent roads, sight circulation, drive-through operations, and other necessary improvements. The first thing they looked at was accidents, what's been happening out here. Um, because Highway 7's had a very close look recently. Uh, if you weren't aware, there's currently been a safety study done by the county or the by Mindot, sorry, by MDOT to review all the way from Hopkins to St. Bonafacious. So, there's been a pretty big look there with safety. So safety is something that the city definitely want to review closely. And there has not been any accidents at this access point in the past 5 years and there's been two in the past 10 years. So not a lot of accents despite this being a very high traffic area. In addition with their study what they found was there'd be about a half a percent increase in traffic and that's 104 trips. So it's a not a very high traffic increase with this new user. Um the other thing they looked at which was fairly interesting is looking at uh during the peak time, how much time do folks have when they're leaving this site. So an appropriate amount of time to have between a vehicle passing and the next vehicle coming is 6 and 1/2 seconds. That's what the best practice is. And for this one, the average during the peak business time is 8 almost 8 and 1/2 seconds. So definitely clears that for appropriateness for people leaving here with traffic. And then lastly, the consultant looked at the actual drive-thru and how that was constructed to making sure that was appropriate and that it would accommodate the projected uh vehicle traffic. They looked at uh Twin Cities coffee shops or similar drive-thru only. Uh as this one will be a drive-through only, there'll be no people coming in and out of it. The model for this business is all of it to be drive-thru. And with they also looked at seven brew locations in Florida and they found that this was an appropriate plan that they had set forward. So, there were a few recommendations, most of which the city is accommodating, but there is one that we are unable to, unfortunately. One recommendation from our consultant was to relocate an ADA parking stall. Right now, it's located in this uh lower area right next to the building. Uh the traffic consultant noted to move that over uh mainly because it could get trapped within this circulation. Um if there is a very large backup here, it'd be difficult for that car to leave. However, staff has talked with our building official who is our resident expert on ADA parking and they said it would need to stay there because it has to be per ADA law. It has to be the closest parking space available. So, unfortunately, it will have to stay there. We're going to work with the applicant to find another route that meets ADA without really needing to change the plan. Um, but the stall would not be able to move over here. The plan was originally to move it here and then have an access over, but that's not possible um due to ADA requirements. Also um one of them was to restrict internal stalls to employee parking only. So staff was able to put a condition there for the other non handicap parking stall there that that will be for employees only. And then lastly they had a recommendation to provide a bike rack on the site um which the applicant has provided with an updated plan but then also is added as a condition of approval. So lastly, um we don't talk a whole lot about this here, but we do uh send these projects out to outside agencies. I'm not sure if everyone's aware of that. When there's something near a natural resource, we send that to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Um like we did in this one because it is right next to Purgatory Creek. We also, since this is so close to a Mindot Road, we send it also over to them to make sure they have a chance to review it and provide some comments. And as part of this, uh, they did take a look at that and they did note, oh, first off, I did, as I said before, they are doing a traffic study right now. So, they're very aware of the site. It's been looked at a lot recently. Uh, and specifically, specifically the Highway 7101 intersection. And they did note the existing issue with that Highway 7 access. One of their main concerns is the closeness of this uh intersection. Let's go back to this picture. Uh, this access point, the closeness to this intersection here. So, they know that's a bit of an issue, bit of a concern, um, an existing concern, and they recommended exploring the possibility of of closing or modifying that Highway 7 access. In response to those concerns, the city has added a condition requiring that the applicant close the drive aisle to the north of this if issues or crashes occur. So the thought behind that is that if there's an issue with vehicles coming here and slowing down we have to take this right turn and there's several here backing up. Something the city could do if there's crashes and a lot of issues there um that the city could have that one require that it's closed here so vehicles would have to move through so they wouldn't have this sort of block up there if there's a repeating and constant issues with that location. Uh and then as far as with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, they reviewed the request and did not have any comments. So with that, that brings us to the end of nearly the end of the presentation. Um, but staff is recommending approval of this request really for three reasons. The first one is that it meets all of the city code standards looking at the zoning district design standards, parking standards, cup standards, and site and building plan review. There's a lot of standards with this one. Um, but it meets all of those different requirements that are outlined there. Number two, the proposed site and building plans are reasonable. The city's traffic consultant, SRF, confirmed that the circulation access were appropriate. Also, the proposal would add an additional landscaping to the site and reduce sort of the monotony of that oops, sorry, the monotony of that uh large parking lot. And then lastly, uh the proposed plan is consistent with that 2011 Highway 7 County Road 101 master plan. With that, uh, this is a recommendation tonight for the planning commission. It will need to go to city council. Uh, the city council meeting it's scheduled for is December 8th. Uh, so if anyone wants to continue it, it will be discussed. It will be on that future agenda tentatively. And with that, I pass it over to the chair and commission for questions. >> Thanks, Mr. Ang Wilson. What questions does the commission have? Uh, Commissioner Hansen. >> Thanks. Just waiting for my light to turn on. Thank you, chair. Uh, thanks Drew for the presentation. Just trying to make sure I keep my ducks in a row here. I So, you're talking about a Highway 7 safety study. I'm kind of under the impression there's also maybe like a Highway 7 survey, like a resident survey. What do you want to see on Highway 7 that was maybe in the Minnetonka memo? Maybe somewhere else. But I saw an Instagram ad for it for sure. Um, so I'm curious like I think the timing is different, but what's maybe what's that Highway 7 survey looking like because that could theoretically impact the business here. Yeah. Yeah, the access would stay the same. Um, I know that was something that was brought up if this access would change. They've shown that they have shown changes like at Highway 7 and 101. I don't know if Miss Thomas remembers what they had there for proposal, but um, I think there's still going to be an access there. I think there was a different options they had if I remember looking through it. Um I don't remember a specific plan to really do a change to that point at this that they've decided on. I think they gave different options they would go through. >> Okay. Maybe just something to be mindful of that that feel like that's probably been happening for a couple years. Rumors in the wind at least. >> Um maybe for the city staff or and Drew if you want to hand this off to the applicant that's fine. Um, I think the timing of particularly Culver's and Seven Brew. I don't have a lot of cheeseburgers with my coffee necessarily, but I've always thought like, hey, it it does get a little hectic in there with the Mega Pickle and the Culver's at night. Uh, frequent flyer at Culver's, hand up. So, >> so I'm wondering about like signage in the parking lot to say like do you prefer like does the city prefer people go like around the north kind of if you're coming in off of the side street is Hutchkins? >> Yes. >> Do you prefer people go out and around kind of like the outside of the parking lot or you would you prefer people cut in and is is that something >> again I don't know necessarily the right way. you guys as a business have way more experience with that, but um something to think about from a safety perspective. Yeah. Uh Chair and Commissioner Hansen, uh there we haven't added any requirements for directional signage. That is something the city allows. So if the applicant did say they wanted to have some directional signage, it couldn't advertise the business, but it could send folks to a different area. That is a route they'd have. Um but the most logical route would stay around the outside. I know when we looked at this, this is sort of the busiest route around there. So that is where you'd and also the easiest path for people. So you'd expect people to enter from Hutchinson to sort of take this outside route around. Um that'd be the most logical and uh way that would probably would be preferred to folks. So um that's an option they could look at too of directional sign. >> I don't know if >> we'll have you uh make a presentation after we're done with this. >> Thanks. >> Any other questions? Uh Commissioner Brink. Well, thank you, chair. Um, yeah, now we were just talking about access with Culver's and everything. Maybe this is a question for the applicant, but um I'm presuming that Culver's has been part of the conversation here and with um access because they are you are going to be sharing some of the same access space there. And so I just want to make sure that that's all being coordinated. Um when times get busy, it could get I don't want to say congested, but just real busy in there. Um and then just the other businesses too if they have any comments on this. But um um is it is there is this a single property owner for this whole site? And then I I just had one other I guess more of a comment on the on the storm water drainage. It's looked like uh the underground chambers are being installed to handle just the drainage from the site here from the coffee shop. And I I see on the master plan it shows kind of like a regional pond or a pond for the accommodates the whole site. I would assume that's something that's going to get addressed down the road. >> Yeah. So first the property is owned all by one property owner. So um they've been they signed off the application. We've had a few conversations with them of how this all would work together. And then yeah this is a design this designs mainly show an option and sort of a scenario that this would work. Um there hasn't been any proposal to have this again. If they were to put this pond there that would cover some existing area here. So it' be a larger change to the site. Um but yeah, this that's um that's what they showed originally as a scenario. So they had a few different scenarios of ways the property could be changed. Okay. Um I wanted to ask too is is there ever been any history of flooding or inundation on that uh northeast portion of the property that's real low there? This was reviewed by our storm water specialist and they did not comment on any concerns with the storm water there. So, I wouldn't think there's been any issues going on with that. >> All right. If I could also add on um Chair Maxwell and and Commissioner Brink because I recall this 2011 um master plan and yes, we had envisioned if there was a larger type of redevelopment of the site. Um, even if that strip mall were to be maintained, but there was a larger development of these out lots, um, we would like to see some green space, some green infrastructure improvement, which is what's primarily shown here. >> To this point, we've essentially had just the remodel of what was an old Burger King, if you remember that, into the Culver. So, not really a redevelopment. and now this proposal. Certainly, it's always the city's goal to see >> more green infrastructure, more green space adjacent to what would be Purgatory Creek there. >> All right. Thank you, >> Commissioner Minion. >> Thank you. >> Can you hear me? >> The light's a couple seconds late. Um, when you talked about 0.5% increase in traffic, um, what does that end up being per hour? >> Yeah. So, I'll have to go back to the report. What they had was they talked about having it be 104 vehicles added. Um, if I remember, I believe that was I can't remember if that was total. I'd have to go check back to the review, but they were basing it on a apples to apples. So, it's a total of half a percent that they had, but I can go and look into that. >> But about about 104 per hour type of thing. >> I'll have to go and check to see what the report said. >> Okay. Um, do you know if there's been any talk with Untides? Is there any type of communication? Maybe that's an applicant question regards to when I look at making changes like this. Um, I think often about that hose that runs across the parking lot as possible trip hazard for those who are maybe less able. Has there any been conversations with untides about providing that water over to their stand? That might be an applicant question. >> I would recommend you direct that to the applicant. >> All right. Thank you. Um, and then is there any issues in regards to if they did have a problem on making that turn there, would it ever be possible to maybe widen the lane, that right turn lane off of one off of seven. Takes a very long time for my mic to come on, too. Um, that would have to be a conversation with Mandot. So, um, that'd be something the city could help facilitate. we could connect them with mindot to discuss that as an alternative option. The only one that this that staff has provided is really we can do is things on the property as far as with conditions. So that's why we've added that one to sort of block off this to give people sort of relieve any pressure if that was shown in the future. Um our consultant didn't see that as an issue right now. That's why we're not recommending that occurs at this moment. Um but that's really the city's ability to control this. Anything outside into mind's area would have to be worked on with Mandot. pretty low on your radar is what I'm hearing then. Excellent. All right. Thank you. >> Commissioner Brink, you have another question first. >> Uh just one more. Um uh utilities, water, and sewer. Do those are those going to come off public or private lines to serve that? Y waiting for my thing to connect again. Sorry for the delay. Uh those would be all connected to private lines. Yep. >> All right. At this point, I'll bring the applicant forward. If you have a presentation, you may make it at this time and you may take and then we'll do questions from the commission to you. And following the applicant uh presentation and questions, then we will open a public hearing. >> Um I'm Mike Gustoson. I'm with SevenBrew. Uh we're based out of Louisville, Kentucky. 7B's corporate facilities out of Arkansas. Um, basically everything that was uh spoke to here is really a great overview of what our our goal to achieve is for this particular plat of land within the parking field there. Um, one of the particular questions you had was signage that was directional to direct the traffic, the flow of traffic. That is a standard piece of signage that is only specific to direction. There's no advertising. It's not logoed or branded in any aspect. We normally do not show that on plans until we actually get assigned ver assigned a requirement and code that we can put in X that can be illuminated. They have to be 3 ft above the ground and so so far but they usually go at the ends of the queuing lanes. Um we have put up to four on a property before to ensure that our traffic patterns are adequate and safe on that. Um another question I think that came up was about the bike rack. We intend to put on the bike rack. Location would be specific to what the city would like us to do for the safety of the people riding the bikes and also to give them a um adequate space to put them. And also there's a picnic table outside that we place at every facility for those specific individuals cuz sometimes families will walk up and and purchase through the the sliding doors you saw and they want to sit down with their children or families which is typically how we do it do everything like that. Um, there was someone spoke to a hose across a parking lot. Are you afraid of the one for the flower shop? Okay. I did see that twice and then I never saw it again. So, I don't know if it's a seasonal cuz at this time of year I would suspect that they're probably not I wouldn't think they'd have above ground exposed water line hopefully because it probably freeze. Not yet, but it eventually will. I'm not familiar with even where that's being fed from as the main disconnect off of that. um or even what size it was cuz when I saw it, I was didn't put two and two together till the second time I saw it that it was servicing them. I thought might been something for a service company repairing something um on there. I can work and speak with the uh owner of the property to see is this a short-term, a long-term um how is it being fed? Is it is it metered off of a a house meter? Um, I would think that he wouldn't be doing that because it's probably several thousand gallons a month to service that business. I would think um and I don't know um how that uh would affect uh on uh storm water runoff and in Kentucky they bill you basically your gallons goes against your sewer and it's quite expensive for the sewer part at least in Louisville Kentucky it is. Um I can ask the uh owner of the property about that. I'm we're not familiar with how that's being serviced. Um and uh there's several things that we could probably uh work with them on if it is a hazard as you spoke. Um and I can see where it would be a trip hazard. I do agree especially if it's full on um on there. But uh Seven Brews goal um is to to bring a great product and uh you know we we tend to employ between 50 and 60 typically youth. I'm I'm not going to you know say older people there and they're mainly part-time. It's a fun environment. Um we uh there is no external uh audio ordering menu boards. They drive up they order off basically a smart tablet. Um we do have an app on a phone. Um and the environment is more welcoming and it's not so corporate by any advantage. They wear t-shirts. They you know have fun days etc. Um and uh the product is uh changes monthly. We have the same core 40 pieces, but they'll change to address, you know, special throughout the month, pumpkins buy, stuff like that. Um, we have uh we have area development agreement within the Minneapolis area to build out 50 stores. I think that that was in the presentation and that's in anywhere from um Eden Prairie to V Heights to Apple Valley. And we're a negotiation authority to not sign leases within those territories or purchase land. We do purchase land at some events, too. Um and uh the overall company has had a massive growth over the past uh 30 months. Uh it's actually gone from 140 stores to over 500. Um and it's because it's just exploded the business model. It's been good. We're quicker than your typical drive-thru. I won't say the company. We're tend to be 70% of the cost. Uh maybe a little bit less. Uh, and we get you the the staff uh can turn the people quite fast um on that. And they're usually about three and a half to four and a half minutes is the average time by the time you take your order and by the time you leave. Um, and like most coffee smoothie places, we we do a lot of morning business and uh maybe after 6:30 also, so during the day it's not overly busy, etc. Um, but uh for the most part, if you have any questions, I'm here to uh at least uh answer them. If not, take them in and get back and answer to you. That would be correct. But the goal here is to accommodate your request um to fulfill what makes sense for everyone, you know, um and uh to take a parcel of a parking lot and make it better than what it is and which we will do. We uh um have several other businesses that we do um but outside of Southern Bruce, so we're familiar with the construction uh groundup building, so on so forth. So, anything I can answer for you now? >> Not much, Hansen. >> Thank you. >> Excuse for the presentation. Appreciate it. Thanks for coming to visit. I I generally have one I think this is an easy question for you, but I was very curious when I saw the plants. I'm curious about why the the buildings are so close together but not connected. >> Currently, right now, the business model facilitates prefab um buildings. They're state approved. They're already state approved, third party inspected, fully licensed within there. >> Um and so you can only transport them just like a wide load. >> Yep, that makes sense. Um, and we are looking at another model that would put them together because I do agree because when you have the six ines you spoke of, sorry, we just opened a facility in Helena, Montana. >> Yeah. >> And the dilemma was what do we put between the two buildings that's you don't have to maintain per se because you can't cut grass unless you got a weed eater. And so we put in a higherend um type of decor hardscape rock to do that. But we also want to make sure it doesn't collect trash because that does happen um on there. That's the main reason. Um but we do put walls to connect to make them appear connected. Got it. >> Um cuz a lot of it's I think it's more visually operate in my opinion. I'm not trying to sell anything to the steer, but the ones that we have been putting out, we go ahead and adhere a fix them together so it appear that it does cost more, >> but you know, I don't want to put something in it that doesn't look good. I know. >> Yeah. It was not a critique by any means. is just general curiosity 6 in gap. >> It is interesting to watch them put the building down. They'll they'll come in with a crane and they'll they'll they'll drop the building and 8 hours and they'll connect it in 36 hours and roughly a week later it's it's after it gets looked at by two people, everything's connected, all the utilities, the mechanical, electrical deployment, it comes 100% there except for the signs on the building. >> Cool. Thank you, >> Commissioner Brink. Yeah, excuse me. Just one question here. And I think you're working on this resolving this. This is do the uh the parking with the ADA and the employee. Um the way it was shown on the plan, I think part of the concern was um you know, somebody getting back in their car in those areas, you know, it could be blocked, you know, from the drive-through traffic and then also just getting out of there. They have to drive through the drive-thru to get out, right? >> Yes. So, is that typical or has that been a problem? >> It's very typical. It's not a problem. I would have to look at this one particular. It may have a pass what we call a pass lane. What everyone that works there uh is is on foot there. So, we they walk to your car with there. With that being said, they will actually stop the flow to let someone back out. >> Um and then they also can drive around on a pass through lane around the side of that. The lanes are 12 1/2 ft wide with a 24 in in the middle, which is kind of like just a a hatched line for people to walk in. >> And they're uh it's it's very common because of the code is for ADA and everything's ADA compliant. >> And we do want to put >> the closest one to meet code on there. Another thing uh on a lot of these is we will do connector sidewalks to the closest sidewalk because a lot of people walk now which is great especially the timing and this and the seasonality of the weather is good. So we'll we'll do that in this aspect. There already is a connector on there. >> Okay. >> Thank you, >> Commissioner Minion. >> I'll wait a second for my little green light to come on. I can hear my voice. Um thank you for coming tonight. Um, I really like the idea of the ADA being able to have somebody there to back out. That's a that's a great use of that property. Will you talk a little bit, meaning the great use of that location? Will you talk a little bit about the business plan in regards to uh what you see as flow with 19 cars in that turnaround parking area? Is there a large volume of people walking up to the doors? Is there kind of where I'm going with this is if you were a person that was making use of that handicapped spot in a regular basis, do you see a lot of people parking there and actually walking up or wheeling up to the door to make a purchase instead of just doing the drive-thru? >> No, we do not. Uh we actually have engagement in some of our locations, we have employees who are are uh dis have a disability. So we see that spot utilized more by them um than anything. as in people walking up with foot traffic to that very little as in below probably 5% and usually it's seasonal on a well uh weathered day for use of a better term on there we don't um the first time I went to Sunbury before I became an investor owner I did walk up cuz I was very curious and it was it was very simple to walk up cuz they were like what can I do for you etc. Um, and uh, we just don't see a lot of of foot traffic to there because the the whole the whole concept is ease, speed, cost, product quality, and experience. And in this day and age, we see more and more people that want to get in and out of anything they're doing. They tend to drive around like we ongoing joke, they want to park closer. We own gyms and people drive around the lot to park closest to the front door of a gym. I've always laughed about that. Unfortunately, I might be one of those people, but uh um that is the uh we just don't have a lot of walk up traffic. I mean, it's it's not even enough to even calculate. And they do calculate uh or they started to in the past 6 months walk up traffic compared to drive-through traffic. It hasn't even been a number that's been enough to even record. Um obviously in this weather uh that we're going to see probably here in the next four or five months in this part of the country, you won't you won't see any walkups at all. and Kentucky, that's where I'm out of. Uh we there was hardly any >> Okay. Sustainability. Do you have anything into the uh plans where you could do solar or some sort of way to uh be more energy efficient? Will you talk a little bit about the envelope that's you're going to set in place the physical envelope and the energy standards that are that are involved in that and if there's any alternative energy sources for it? Well, the building being as small as it is 510 square ft and it's not all flat, there are some restrictions if you were to put solar panels on that, etc., etc. We do exceed any and all current and existing um like com checks facilities for uh new energy and that's all the way from installation of materials to building type of of materials that we use. Um we also uh utilize any and all efficient equipment. We have uh air dams on the doors to conserve energy with the air flow out. Um we uh actually have uh the heaters are all will base it off the property if it needs gas or electric what's better served for this part of the country. We see actually a lot more electric around here than we do gas or if you were down in in the business wise and the small of a footprint. Um, so that's what we do. Anytime we can, we would. If there's anything you recommend or maybe an option that we should consider, we're more than willing to, you know, uh, not only see what we can do, you know, if it's if it better serves the community, we're all about it because it is a community veryoriented company. I'm not trying to sell or pitch, but if you really looked at a lot of the social media and what they do, the involvement they have with the youth and also with businesses and the support they do, it's pretty it's expensive, but it's actually pretty amazing. >> Wonderful. Wonderful. Um the hose issue is uh is a non uh potable water that feeds that flower shop. I have no idea what their plans are, but um I always see that in the summertime. I think of the people who are less able and tripping over it. Right now, it feeds off of the off of a quick connect and a sprinkler system and they run the hose all the way across and or no, that one might tie into the building. But my thought would be is is if there's been any conversations with them about basically shortening that up, but I am not in any way pushing that as far as telling you what to do. I'm simply throwing it out there as an encouragement to see if we could shorten that up and make a a cooperation between the two of you. And I I'm not looking for a comment on that. I just kind of throwing it out there for for >> we will look into it. I'm not going to say that to say that because if it is a it is a hazard and it could affect any of our clients or experience. I mean we we deal with loss prevention and HR stuff all the time in the other business we have and it's unfortunate but it is part of the world today. We want to avoid and get away from it. And it you know it's probably a lot easier fixes. Someone probably just wanted to spend $1,000 to do it if that makes sense. Yeah, I've just seen that you could probably cut two/ird of that stretch off and be better that way. So, um Well, looks wonderful. Thank you. >> All right. I have uh one one question. I can't really tell from the floor plans here. Could you talk through how staff will get between the two buildings? Like there's not a door in between those six inches. So it looks like they might be going out one side, walking all the way around to go on the other side. >> No, the the building if it orients I don't know if you can which if you go back to the one screen that you had um maybe go to the topical if you could I can probably explain. So if you're on the front of the building that closest that says uh 1 in water meter that's the that is the basically the front of the building and people would enter around through the right side if you the front of the smaller building which we we'll call this the cooler enclosure for all the front of that they would only access through that to go to the walk-in cooler which is completely surrounded. There is no back door or anything to that to that facility. Um, so there's only one way in and one way out. It's small. It's a very small cooler, but you have to have it for this, you know, uh, business application. On this right here, this reflects without a snowblower room. We call it a snowblower room because of the part of the country we're in. But we've elected to continue to have the room, but not the snowblower because I'm in the position I don't think that someone doesn't know use a snowblower should be using the snowblower. Does that make sense? Um, and you have younger kids and and I just we we could pay someone to come clean the lot. We want to keep the room in front of it though for just what we call dry storage on there. They would walk behind a wall which is probably not reflected very well on this uh drawing and the wall is just a blind wall to walk in and go to the cooler. You would not see the door. So on so forth if that makes sense. I can provide another drawing that may be more of a dimensional 3D walkthrough that might be beneficial to the uh counselor here. >> So on on this image here, they'd go out the service area out on the right side. >> Mhm. >> And then walk around the front of the building and then into the front of the cooler building to Okay. >> Okay. Thank you. I was thinking they were rotated. Any other questions from commissioners? All right. Thank you. We're going to open the public hearing at this point. >> Um, if I can find my public hearing rules. >> Um, so if you'd like to speak, uh, come forward to the podium, give your name and your address for the record. Um, keep your comments brief. Any questions can come to me and then I will get them, uh, answered later by the appropriate um, by the appropriate person. The public hearing is open. No one on the phone. All right. I don't see anybody who wants to speak, so I will close the public hearing. >> Uh so at this point, I think we're ready for um for uh Mr. Ingolson to give us some comments. >> There's a couple questions I just uh looked up here. Just want to make sure you have those before you make your vote. So the first uh one, I know uh Commissioner Hansen talked about the intersection. what's sort of planned here. It's called a continuous flow intersection. So, it sort of separates the lefthand turn lanes here and then allows people to also take a right turn. I know we have a engineer here who probably knows even more about that than I do, but um the gist of it is you still would be able to take this right-hand turn. This would sort of stay the same that right exit towards here to go on to Highway 7. So, the change for that for this business probably is pretty minimal in my personal opinion. Um but it would be a change to the intersection definitely. But as it relates to this access point probably pretty close to the same. Uh the other question we two had was about the uh eastbound trips. So that 104 amount is daily trips. So you would uh so it it originally you thought I think that's not very much. Uh they said 26 during the peak hour and that would be just exiting the site. So entering the site there'll be a lot more uh 224 for the day and 57 during peak hour. almost one per minute entering off of Highway 7. And as you think about that longer, that probably makes sense because this would be just people entering to go east cuz you can't go west on Highway 7. So if you wanted to go west here, natural if someone thinking about this, you wouldn't go here cuz you'd have to go pretty far down Highway 7 to turn around somewhere. So if you wanted to go either north, south, east, or west, you would probably they what they're determining the traffic engineer is that you would travel through the site and then go on to Hutchkins because that's your quickest route. So that 104 was daily. The peak they had though is 26 for the peak hour. >> Thank you. All right. We're ready for any further questions from the commission uh or comments. Commissioner Hansen. >> Thanks, Chair. Um, I'll get not too long longwinded here, but um, I've I've been to a couple Seven Brews actually, and it's been interesting to watch Seven Brew as a um, kind of a a a corporate entity grow over the last couple years. They've had some significant cash infusions from different entities. So, this is not a small uh mom and pop shop as they said by uh 50 targeted sites in the Twin Cities area. This is a this is a big corporate business that's looking to move into Minnetonka. Um with, you know, set that to the side, they're going to employ people that live here and and hopefully teach people, you know, how to work and how to grow. And so, um, that and then we've seen the success of the Duncan, you know, particular that drive-thru setup is probably pretty similar to what we're talking about here. That might be more narrow, um, but there's always a line in the morning. And so, I think what we're seeing here is there's a demand and an opportunity to to grow. I think this adds a a nice complimenting feature for this neck of the woods. I would say maybe just as as a comment like maybe something for the property owner to think about is directional signage with this business owner with with culvers or whatever. I I do feel like there's a tendency for people to kind of roll through here with some relative speed, but um I think this is a really good use of the site. it it always feels like this kind of sits vacant and and feels a little empty at times of the year and so um I think this will be a real nice ad for this part of Minnetonka. So looking forward to this thriving. >> Thank you. Anybody else want to give comments? Commissioner Brink. >> Yeah, thank you chair. Um, yeah, I will echo Commissioner Hansen's comments there. I think this is a great addition for the site especially and um I think for the community in general, it'll make a lot of um eastbound motorists on Highway 7, you know, happy that they got this place they can turn right into, grab their coffee and take a ride out and go. So, and uh I think the uh um you know, the main I think one of the main uh issues in my mind was just the traffic and the circulation. And I I think that's all been addressed pretty well both by the consultants um that with their traffic uh professional doing a study and then the city's consultant SRF doing a another uh look at it. On top of that, I think the traffic and the circulation's been addressed pretty well. So, um, I think the site will work pretty well and it'll be a great addition and I look forward to seeing it h seeing it happen. >> Commissioner Minion, >> thank you, Chair. You can hear me. All right. Um, I like quite a bit about this. I appreciate the presentation, Drew, and and uh uh Mr. Gustoson. Um, parking lots are necessary, but they're not always pretty. And quite frankly, uh, I've seen this as an underused parking lot for years. Now, tenants come and go, and as the businesses come and go, that would probably change. So, I I like the way that the city's come up with this plan for adding the extra spaces if needed. I think that's a really intelligent way to go. Uh, but just having that extra green space and it's is really nice. I think it's going to improve the the look of things. Plus, it's a great business plan. I I I wonder about how long people are going to be waiting, but I I like the fact you have 19 spots where you can park cars. And if you're doing them in cycling mode at 3 and 1/2 minutes a piece, that's that's really great to see. And I really like the uh fact that there's no speakers. I think that's a great concept that people uh people in the community will appreciate. Um it just seems like a little nicer a little nicer buffering, the green space that comes with it. So, uh, I really appreciate too the fact that you're using an energy efficient envelope. I realize that it might not be a solar friendly or something like the, uh, way we can do alternative energies, but the fact that you're doing an energy efficient build and build an envelope, I think is really a great a great product. So, I'm very much in support of it. Thank you. >> Thanks. I also agree that taking a what is now an underutilized parking lots already impervious surface by the uh the creek to put some business here makes a lot of sense and the space for a drive-thru business uh does make sense near this um highway 7 where there's a lot of access and visibility. Um, I'm a little questioning the um, business model just for Minnesota of having sliding doors with people constantly in and out and in bringing you your hot coffee and these poor high school students are going to be so cold. I would never go here in the winter because I would feel so guilty asking someone to do that. And however energy efficient your envelope is, if you're sliding doors opening every 4 and 1/2 minutes, well 19 times 4 and 1/2 minutes, um I don't think that's necessarily relevant. If there's if there can be a way to have right double doors or rotating or a way to sort of keep the heat in the building um so that your um your staff in that building can stay warm, I think that'll be um that'll be important. Um but that's a a problem for your your business, not for me for land use. So, um, as far as land use goes, I think having a conditional use permit here, uh, I agree with the the city staff that that, uh, makes sense for this site. Um, at this point, uh, I think we're ready for a motion. This would be a recommendation to the city council that would be heard on December 8th. Um, I'm looking for a a motion to recommend that the city council adopt the resolution approving a conditional use permit and final site and building plan at 7 Brew at 17501 Highway 7. >> I'll make the motion. I'll make the motion. >> Motion Minion second. >> I'll second. >> Second. Hansen. Uh, staff, will you please pull the commission? >> Minion. >> Yes. >> Brink. >> Yes. >> Hansen. >> Yes. >> Chair Maxwell. >> Yes. That's four votes. The motion carries. Good luck with your project. All right. Uh final item is adjournment. Who would like to make a motion to adjurnn? >> I will make that motion. >> Motion Hansen. >> Second. Brink. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Motion carries. We're adjourned. Good night.