This transcript is from a **Planning Commission** meeting. While you provided the names of the City Council and Department Directors, the Planning Commission is a separate body of appointed residents. Based on the roll call and the dialogue within the recording, here is the identified transcript. **Identified Speakers:** * **Chair Morovich:** The presiding officer of the Planning Commission. * **Ms. Mero:** The recording secretary/clerk calling the roll. * **Shana Conlin:** Attorney representing the applicant (American Veterinary Group). * **Frank Dempsey:** Planning Department Consultant/Staff. * **Commissioner Zimmer:** Commission member (concerned about the local shopping center layout). * **Commissioner Lillie:** Commission member. * **Ms. Jensen:** Planning Staff member (likely Kris Jenson). *** [0:29] [Music] [0:41] **Chair Morovich:** I call to order the March 7th 2024 Planning Commission meeting. Please join me in the flag pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, Miss Mero, will we please call a role of members? [1:13] **Ms. Mero:** Zuza? [1:14] **Commissioner Zuza:** Here. [1:15] **Ms. Mero:** Luza? [1:16] **Commissioner Luza:** Here. [1:17] **Ms. Mero:** Lelli? [1:18] **Commissioner Lillie:** Here. [1:19] **Ms. Mero:** Morovich? [1:20] **Chair Morovich:** Here. [1:28] **Chair Morovich:** All right, agenda item number three: approval of minutes. Approval of the January 4th 2024 Planning Commission minutes and approval of February 8th 2024 Planning Commission work session minutes. Fellow Commissioners, any changes? [Pause] And they will stand. All right, and agenda item number four: announcements. Just to let you know that you will be receiving an email invitation to a joint session with the EDC and the city council for Monday, March 25th at 6:30 p.m. It'll be at the water treatment facility conference room. As I said, it's a joint meeting. The Planning Commission is invited and there will be a guest speaker, David Arbit, who is the director of research at the Minneapolis area Realtors, who will give the group a Lakeville housing market update at 6:30 p.m. So it's not a mandatory attendance, but you are welcome to join the group. And like I said, you will receive a separate invitation after this. We just wanted to give you a heads up about the meeting. And that's it for announcements. Agenda item number five: this is a public hearing for Urgent Vet Clinic. And it looks like we have Shana to give an update. [3:01] **Shana Conlin:** My name is—sorry, I'm just going to adjust this a little bit—my name is Shana Conlin. I'm an attorney here today representing the American Veterinary Group and in support of this conditional use permit application. I just want to share with you a little bit about the business model. So essentially, the Urgent Vet is meant to fill the gap in between the regular vet that people bring their dogs and cats to and then also the emergency vet, which is a lot more expensive of an option if something comes up during after hours. So it helps fill that gap in having these little variations in hours from the typical 9-to-5 that you see for vet clinics. And then it also just gives pet owners the opportunity to go to a different location than an emergency vet, which is a lot more expensive for some of the more minor conditions that come up suddenly: upset stomach, a sprain, you know, irritation in the eye—something very minimal that pet owners just need to get looked at right away but don't necessarily have the time during business hours. So we think that this location is appropriate and meets all of the conditions of the conditional use permit under the Lakeville city code. In particular, you'll hear a presentation from Mr. Dempsey regarding how the application meets all of the special performance standards within the city code and then also the general performance standards within the city code. And I'm happy to share more detail about any of those items, but I know that Mr. Dempsey wanted an opportunity to present more information to you first, and then I'll stand ready for questions after he has had an opportunity to present that information. So thank you for your time. [4:40] **Chair Morovich:** Thank you. And as Mr. Dempsey makes his way up here, I just wanted to also mention that anyone wishing to speak on the public hearing to please print their name and address in the book in the back of the room. Thank you. [4:50] **Frank Dempsey:** Good evening planning Commissioners. The request this evening is for a conditional use permit for a company referred to as Urgent Vet, and they're proposing to occupy the tenant space within the Argon Village retail center. You'll notice that Cub Foods is the largest building here, and then next to that in this vicinity is Dollar Tree, and this is right here in this tenant space. It's located at 17698 Kenwood Trail. The property is zoned PUD with the underlying zoning as commercial C3 District, so that does allow this proposed use. And again, here's the site plan of Argon Village and the location is this corner, this section of the building here. The floor plan for the building, you know, has a waiting room, has office rooms, exam rooms, etc. And the conditional use permit requirement for a veterinarian typically covers veterinary clinics that have, you know, surgeries and that kind of thing and maybe kennels in the building. So a lot of the criteria pertain to those two things. This one is urgent care, so there's no surgeries taking place. They may have to euthanize animals and they would handle them according to their veterinarian common practices. And then also the code requires that veterinarian clinics have soundproofing between adjacent units. The plan that was provided to City staff shows that that's going to be done for the ceiling and the walls for soundproofing from noise from the adjacent units. So, what I've concluded with are three stipulations in the planning report. One is that it basically complies with the proposed floor plan layout, and then also there's building permits required for construction or remodeling, and then there's a sign permit prior to the installation of any signs. It's a fairly simple conditional use permit request; it's not new construction. And so I do have findings of fact for your consideration support of approval of the conditional use permit, and I'll stand for any questions. [7:34] **Chair Morovich:** Thank you. And this is a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak can come up. [7:48] **Commissioner Zimmer:** Madam Chair, motion to close the public hearing. [7:50] **Commissioner Lillie:** Second. [7:52] **Chair Morovich:** I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing. All those in favor signify by saying Aye. **Commissioners:** Aye. [8:00] **Chair Morovich:** All right, the public hearing is now closed. Fellow Commissioners, any comments or questions? [8:08] **Commissioner Zimmer:** What are the hours of operation? [8:15] **Shana Conlin:** We don't have the specific hours of operation for this location. I know that they do pride themselves on being open 365 days out of the year and on an after-hours basis, but I don't have the exact hours that are set up for this location. [8:30] **Commissioner Zimmer:** Okay, I have one other question. I was past that area today and pets, when you want to bring them into the vet, usually want to go to the bathroom before you go in. There's not a lot of space for that. So what can be done about that or proposed for that? Because that's a concern of mine, especially when you have a lot of people coming in and out of that area. [9:10] **Shana Conlin:** Yeah, absolutely. You know, I would say that to the extent there are landscaped areas nearby, often pet owners could utilize those instead of creating, you know, more green space within the shopping center venue. I know that often pet owners will be aware of that issue as they come in and they'll first go to the space where they could appropriately care for their dog, let them have a little bit of grass nearby to relieve themselves before they enter the clinic. So that could be one option. You know, certainly there could be other options that could be contemplated to address that as part of any design plan. There could be a myriad of different options set up for, you know, that relieving area to allow that to have a space for the pet owners to use. [10:04] **Commissioner Zimmer:** Okay, thank you. [10:06] **Shana Conlin:** Thank you. [10:08] **Commissioner Zimmer:** Madam Chair, follow up on that. This is right by my house where I do all my shopping and my dry cleaning and Dollar Store stuff. There is nowhere walkable from there that you could take that dog that is public. I guess you could go to the roundabout... I mean, I think that's a potential big problem with that space. You know, I don't know what can be done or required to be done to provide some space. Maybe for Mr. Dempsey? [10:45] **Frank Dempsey:** Yeah, Madam Chair, Commissioner Zimmer, that's something I think I can follow up with and try to get some more information on that before the City Council meeting—if there's provisions that are made for something outside the entranceway to the building, that's possible. It's a good question. I do know that these landscaped islands in here are open, but you know, it's not really designed for that, and if it's something that can't be picked up then it could be problematic. [11:15] **Commissioner Zimmer:** Most of those are filled with rock. [11:17] **Frank Dempsey:** Yeah, we'll look into that. It is not too unusual of a lot of the vet clinics that I'm familiar with—not necessarily in Lakeville—that have the same situation, and I've not thought about how that is typically handled or if it's been a problem, but I'll look into that more. [11:34] **Commissioner Zimmer:** That would be great. I just don't want to see the animals relieving themselves all around that area where people go to grocery shop and it's nice and clean right now and it would need to remain that way. [11:40] **Commissioner Lillie:** Chair Morovich, perhaps the boulevard on Chanel Path could serve to facilitate those types of things. A recollection from the site review today is that that is green behind there, and the picture shows me the same. And then also with awareness that next door to this facility will be, at least at present, the grooming—a dog or pet grooming facility—and thinking that they likely have that same issue today. And I'm not certain, maybe Frank can speak to if we've been receiving calls in the past of people not being able to facilitate relieving their animals before visiting these sites. [12:25] **Frank Dempsey:** No, that's a good question, Commissioner Lillie. That's something I can look into as well. I might go speak with some of the managers of those facilities to see how that's handled or if it's been a problem. I've not received any complaints of that, but that's certainly something I can educate myself on so I have an explanation of how that might be handled for the City Council meeting. [12:55] **Commissioner Zimmer:** I think understanding the hours of operation would also kind of help with that too. I have gone to the facility next door with my pet and there's nowhere anywhere close and I think it's something to keep in mind. The other thing, cars do dart in and out of that area quite a bit. So when people are taking their pets out of their vehicle and walking them across that parking lot, I think that's something to just be cognizant of as you move forward too, because pets when they're going to urgent care are probably not in the best moods and sometimes have anxiety. So I think it's going to be really important to watch the traffic there as well. [13:45] **Shana Conlin:** Absolutely. Thank you for those concerns and certainly we can get more information about the hours of operation as well in time for the City Council meeting, and I can work with Mr. Dempsey on the concerns that were raised this evening to see what can be done to facilitate solutions to those problems. Thank you. [14:02] **Commissioner Lillie:** Chair Morovich, I also want to recognize attorney Shana—I apologize, I forgot your last name already—but well-done narrative, easy to read through. Certainly helped Frank in his capable writing to do the presentation today. I put you in the top five of those that I've read. [14:26] **Shana Conlin:** Thank you. Oh, thank you very much, I appreciate that. [14:35] **Chair Morovich:** Doesn't look like there's anything else. Are we ready for a motion? [14:40] **Commissioner Lillie:** Chair Morovich, I move to recommend approval of the Urgent Vet Clinic conditional use permit subject to the three stipulations listed in the March 1st, 2024 planning report. [14:50] **Commissioner Zimmer:** Second. [14:55] **Chair Morovich:** I have a motion and a second. Miss Mero, will you please take a roll call vote? [15:10] **Ms. Mero:** Zuza? [Aye] Luza? [Aye] Lillie? [Aye] Morovich? [Aye] Zimmer? [Aye] Swanson? [Aye] [15:20] **Chair Morovich:** All right, and Miss Jensen, when will this item go in front of City Council? [15:22] **Ms. Jensen:** March 21st... all right, I'm sorry, March 18th. Getting my meeting dates mixed up. [15:28] **Chair Morovich:** Thank you. All right, thank you and good luck, and then we'll look forward to kind of those updates once you have them. All right, and with that, the meeting is adjourned. [15:38] **Frank Dempsey:** Super well done! Just kidding. [16:11] [Music]