This transcript is from a **Lakeville Planning Commission** meeting. While your provided list focuses on the City Council and Department Directors, the transcript includes names of Planning Commissioners and specific staff members like the Planning Manager (referred to as "Planner Jensen" in the text). [0:51] **Chairperson:** I call to order the October 2nd, 2024 Planning Commission meeting. Please join me in the flag pledge. [1:32] **Chairperson:** Do you have a copy of the agenda? I do. I don't have one. All right. All right, Ms. Goodroad, will you please take a call of roll for members? [1:49] **Tina Goodroad (Community Development Director):** Morovic? **Commissioner Morovic:** Here. **Tina Goodroad:** Zimmer? **Commissioner Zimmer:** Here. **Tina Goodroad:** Hank? **Commissioner Hank:** Here. **Tina Goodroad:** Swinson? **Commissioner Swinson:** Here. **Tina Goodroad:** Zuzek? **Commissioner Zuzek:** Here. **Tina Goodroad:** Klusa? **Commissioner Klusa:** Here. [1:49] **Chairperson:** All right. Agenda item number three: approval of the minutes for September 19th, 2024 Planning Commission meeting minutes. Um, fellow Commissioners, any changes to minutes? No. The minutes will stand. And then agenda item number four: any announcements? [2:35] **Tina Goodroad:** Good evening, Chair. This evening, you have handouts for agenda item 5A, the Crown Lakeville Apartments. Those are the motion from last night's Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources Committee meeting. You also have a revised preliminary plat and site plan, which I will address during my presentation. And then, provided that none of these items are tabled, these applications will be brought forth to the October 21st City Council meeting. [2:35] **Chairperson:** All right, thank you. Agenda item number five um are public hearings. Anyone wishing to speak on a public hearing, please make sure you fill out the information in the back of the room. 5A: this is a public hearing for Crown LMN LLC. It's a preliminary plat of one lot to be known as Crown Lakeville Apartments. Number two: a conditional use permit to allow the following in the RH2 Multi-Family Residential District: 2A, construction of more than one principal residential building on one lot of record; 2B, construction of multiple family residential buildings that are greater than 48 feet in height; and 2C, an exception to the exterior materials provisions. And here to give us an overview of their project is Bill Griffith—nope, just kidding. That’s 6A, sorry, I'm very out of sorts. [4:08] **Tom Maehl (Crown LMN LLC):** My name is Tom Maehl with Crown. I just wanted to start, first of all, to thank staff. Staff's worked very closely with us. This is a very challenging site; it's quite hilly. And consequently, some of the things that are before you tonight that we're asking you to consider... Bill Griffith is here. Bill will take you through what we're doing. And we also have with us tonight Emily Castanias, who will answer any engineering questions that you may have. So thank you for allowing us to come. [4:48] **Bill Griffith (Representative for Applicant):** Madam Chair, Commissioners, my name is Bill Griffith. I'm representing the applicant in this matter. And as Mr. Maehl said, it's a challenging site. We've been working with the city staff for quite some time to refine the plans and get them to this place where they can be presented to you. We're pleased to say that the project complies with the city code in all regards with the exception of the conditional use permit issues that are before you. The reason for the CUP—other than the fact that we have two buildings on one principal lot, which is pretty typical for a multi-family project—is because of the hilly site. It's two buildings of four stories that sit atop underground parking. When I say underground parking, it's underground in the main, but because of this very hilly site, it's not possible to bury some portions of each building, and so those buildings are exposed. But as you'll see in the plans, there's a very nice treatment of those exposed portions of the parking garage, including windows. So we can get into that detail, but I wanted to put that out in front of you. Both the height of the building (because of the way it's measured from the ground) and the building materials on the garage—that's the reason for the conditional use permit. [6:20] **Bill Griffith:** The Crown developer is very excited to bring this project forward. It's two multi-family buildings, high-quality rental project, and it's really intended to serve a demand in the South Metro. Vacancy rates throughout the Twin Cities, but particularly in the South Metro, are low; there's demand for this product type. The sites are guided and zoned for high density, so we're not requesting any discretionary approvals. The conditional use permits operate somewhat as a traditional variance when you're looking to vary code standards in this community. The two buildings sit adjacent to each other on top of underground parking, and there's a very significant amenity and play area that is in between both buildings. [7:50] **Bill Griffith:** As you can see, there's two buildings on each end of the site. There's a significant wetland area which will be retained as open space. Trees will be retained in that portion of the property, and then this amenity area is situated between the two buildings—that's where we have a pool, a splash pad, and a playground. In addition to the amenity areas, there's a trail connection on the south to the Regional Trail, and that trail connection will be linked to the sidewalks throughout the project. One of the things that we were discussing—the reason we were signing up right as the meeting started—is we were talking to our neighbors. Up on the North end of the site, we've added a chain-link fence between their property and the retaining walls, and that's both to provide separation but also safety on top of that retaining wall. Couple other additions: we will dedicate right-of-way for expansion of the County Road so that's part of the platting request. Future improvements to 210th will be done via this right-of-way. The key to this project really is working with the topography of the site. I will pause and see if there are any questions and then, of course, let staff take it from here. [9:36] **Planning Manager Jensen:** Thank you. Good evening, Commissioners. Well, Mr. Griffith did a good job of giving you a quick overview of the project, so hopefully I can just add to that. As we've said, this is a preliminary plat and CUP for three separate items. As a reminder, this site is located north of 210th Street. I-35 is just off to the East. It's near Keokuk and Keswick Loop. The Authentics project, which you may recall, is under construction here. The property is zoned RH2. Multi-family buildings of four stories are a permitted use. This is the updated preliminary plat. This was a last-minute change; the wetland area was previously within an outlot. We were running into issues with the floor area ratio. Engineering staff supported the change to a conservation easement over the wetland. It will still be protected in the same manner; it just provides a little extra flexibility for the site. [11:09] **Planning Manager Jensen:** This is the updated site plan. This is 210th Street here; this is Keswick Loop to the South. The project will access 210th from here. There are two buildings. The East building has their entrance on the South side. The West building has two underground garages—one access on the South side for the lower garage and another access up on the North end for the upper level. The East building is 94 units, the West has 88, for a total of 182 units. 70% are two-bedroom and the remainder are one-bedroom. The site has 377 parking spaces; it requires 364, so it is in compliance. There is enough space under each building to provide one enclosed parking space for each unit. [12:43] **Planning Manager Jensen:** These darker lines you see here are sidewalks. The amenity area is in this area—current plans show a pool, a splash pad, and a playground. There is also a small fenced dog run area. As I mentioned, that floor area ratio was just over the 0.7 threshold, but with this wetland area becoming a conservation easement, the site is now in compliance. So stipulation number eight can be removed from my recommendation. Just to help illustrate the grading: these elevation lines are sloping down to the wetland, and these are sloping up to the adjacent parcel. This building here is not sitting up on top of a hill; it is sitting down lower. [14:18] **Planning Manager Jensen:** The area in red is the tree area that will be removed to accommodate the development. The trees to remain are all within the wetland area; there would be 4.6% of the trees on the site remaining. This is the landscape plan. There is a significant tree area here between the street and the site to help provide buffering. Regarding materials: each of the buildings meets the 50% exterior materials requirement. However, once you add in the rock-face block for the garage area, the brick percentage does dip just below 50%—I believe it's 47%. We felt that the additional garage space to provide those enclosed spaces was a reasonable request to support the CUP for the exception to materials. [18:09] **Planning Manager Jensen:** Regarding height: because we measure building height from the average grade, the buildings do exceed the 48 feet listed in the RH2 district. If we measured from the first ground floor level, both buildings would meet that height. It is the topography on the site that is pushing it over. Staff is supportive of that height given the topography. Staff does recommend approval of the Crown Lakeville Apartments preliminary plat and CUP subject to the seven stipulations. Stipulation eight has been satisfied. This is a public hearing and I’ll stand for any questions. [19:40] **Chairperson:** All right, and seeing as this is a public hearing, anyone wishing to speak on this agenda item can come forward. [19:40] **Colleen Powell (Resident):** Hello. My name is Colleen Powell. I live at 11774 205th Street West. My property abuts theirs on their North side. I have talked to the developer and the owner. They let me know about the chain-link fence, but I'm requesting a black chain-link fence. We have townhouses and single-family homes on our property. We now have Authentics on our property, which is affordable housing. Unbeknownst to most people, at Christmas time when people seem to move and as soon as school's out in June, we get a lot of dogs and cats that we assume people have let go because they don't want to take care of them anymore. That is why I'm requesting a full-length fence on our North property line because it kind of deters the animals from coming through. I also wanted people to know we have 10 coyotes in my area that roam around in little packs. I just want to please consider my request for a full-length fence on the North property line. Thank you. [21:55] **Chris Powell (Resident):** Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak on this agenda item? Just a couple of questions based on the drawing shown. So I'm Chris Powell. I actually live on the property 11770 205th Street West. I'm in the property just north of what we're talking about here. I saw one blip of the tree trimmings that looked like it was higher than the rest. I'm assuming that all the trees coming down are on their property across their property line. I guess I question if they are or not. And then second question is the elevation change—I'm just wondering how much elevation change there is and if there's any plan for a retaining wall or not. Those are my questions. Thanks. [21:55] **Chairperson:** Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak on this agenda item? [21:55] **Commissioner Zuzek:** Madam Chair, I'd move to close the public hearing. **Commissioner Klusa:** Second. [21:55] **Chairperson:** I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. **Commissioners:** Aye. **Chairperson:** Opposed? All right, the public hearing is now closed. Um, okay, do we want to address the trees and the elevation and the retaining wall first if we can pull up the tree picture? [23:56] **Planning Manager Jensen:** As far as the retaining wall question goes... for the North property line, we're looking at the highest point over here. This building here is technically slightly lower than the building here. This right here is a retaining wall between this parking lot and the high grades. [25:11] **Commissioner Zuzek:** I was just wondering what that is, or is it just the shade of the tree? [25:11] **Planning Manager Jensen:** I think that is just the shade of the tree. The tiny printing says "tree off-site." Okay. So it looks like the tree there is probably right on the property line. So when you're looking at removals to get the full root zone, it would go slightly off-site. [27:03] **Chairperson:** Ms. Castanias, the folks that had asked some questions about the trees being cut down and then the elevation issue... can you be a little bit more specific about what that is? [27:03] **Emily Castanias (Engineer):** It depends on which side you were looking at. On this North side, the retaining wall is high and the ground beyond the building is low. So the residents on the other side will see both. On the West side, the wall is lower, so you would be looking high on the West side looking down towards the building. [27:03] **Bill Griffith:** Commissioners, one of the things I discussed with the developer: in that location where that tree might be removed, that would only be done with the permission of the landowner. If they withhold permission, that tree would have to be protected and avoided. We don't have the legal right to do anything on their property. In terms of replacement for any trees removed, there's a two-to-one replacement requirement under city code. And regarding the ask for the fence: the developer agreed to extend the fence the full length of that Northerly property line, and I'm sure black is a fine color for doing that. [29:26] **Commissioner Morovic:** Madam Chair, I appreciate your willingness to work with the neighbors. I just had one other question for you. Are these all market-rate units? [29:26] **Bill Griffith:** They are, thank you, yes. We didn't want to lose the square footage within those units because they're more desirable. [30:11] **Commissioner Morovic:** Madam Chair, Mr. Maehl—you had said that the vacancy rates in the South Metro are high. Is there a difference, can you give us the difference between South Metro and specifically Lakeville? [30:11] **Bill Griffith:** I don't have the Lakeville numbers. I know that generally in the South Metro, the vacancy rates are 2 to 2.5%. That is low. That means there's a demand for units. We're helping to meet a demand within the guidance of your comprehensive plan. [31:00] **Commissioner Zuzek:** I wanted to ask Planner Jensen a question. This location, we're doing the infill with different sites. Did the schools weigh in on what we usually do for the influx of folks? And they have what looks like a small playground—what's the closest public playground and walking area for dogs? [31:46] **Planning Manager Jensen:** As far as playground, I don't think that there's a public park right there. There will eventually be one to the north of 205th as a part of the Ritter Meadows. As for where folks can walk their dogs, the trail does connect over to Keokuk. Regarding schools, I'm not sure which elementary school they would be zoned for. [32:31] **Chairperson:** I have a question for engineering on... you know, residents often have questions about roads. With County Road 70 here, if you could kind of tell us... does the county have plans as far as access? Will you be able to cross County Road 70 on Keswick Loop, or is the County eventually going to restrict access? [33:16] **Zach Johnson (City Engineer):** They do not have current plans to restrict access. They have planned this out to be a common access to remain open with that frontage road that was constructed to the East. [33:16] **Chairperson:** Okay, thank you. Commissioner Swinson, did you have a question? **Commissioner Swinson:** My question's been answered. **Chairperson:** Ready for a motion? [34:02] **Commissioner Swinson:** Madam Chair, I motion to recommend approval of the Crown Lakeville Apartments preliminary plat and conditional use permit subject to the seven stipulations listed in the September 24th, 2024 planning report. **Commissioner Klusa:** Second. [34:02] **Chairperson:** I have a motion and a second. Ms. Goodroad, will you please take a roll call vote? **Tina Goodroad:** Zuzek? **Commissioner Zuzek:** Aye. **Tina Goodroad:** Klusa? **Commissioner Klusa:** Aye. **Tina Goodroad:** Morovic? **Commissioner Morovic:** Aye. **Tina Goodroad:** Zimmer? **Commissioner Zimmer:** Aye. **Tina Goodroad:** Hank? **Commissioner Hank:** Aye. **Tina Goodroad:** Swinson? **Commissioner Swinson:** Aye. [34:48] **Chairperson:** All right, and when will this agenda item go in front of City Council? **Tina Goodroad:** We are looking at the October 21st meeting. **Chairperson:** All right, best of luck on your project. Agenda item number 5B: this is LPD C LLC for a preliminary plat of one industrial lot to be known as Lakeville 35 Logistics Center North Addition and a conditional use permit to allow a warehouse use in the OP Office Park District. Here to give a brief overview of that project is Ed Far. [35:20] **Ed Far (Architect):** Good evening, Madam Chair, Commissioners, and staff. My name is Ed Far, representing the developer Likewise Partners. With me tonight is Mark Nordland from Likewise Partners and our civil engineer, Eric Miller. Based on the staff report, we added more boulevard trees along Juniper Way. We also are agreeing to all the other conditions. Lastly, there's one minor change: in lieu of the enclosed exterior trash enclosures, we're going to insist that all the tenants actually store their trash and recyclables inside the building and the trash haulers will pick them out during evening hours. Otherwise, we'll stand open for questions. [36:41] **Planning Manager Jensen:** Good evening, Planning Commissioners. This request is for the construction of a 190,000 square foot warehouse building. This property is located immediately west of Lakeville South High School and north of County Road 70. This is a 39-acre property. The property to the north is Trinity Lutheran Church. The zoning of the property is OP District, with the exception of the church property which is zoned medium-density residential. [39:01] **Planning Manager Jensen:** This is the warehouse building. Access to the property will be from a full turning movement access at County Road 70. Originally, the proposal was to have access out to 215th Street. When Dakota County reviewed this, their determination was that given the curve, that was less than ideal. They directed the full access to be located at this upper corner. The proposed building is a tip-up concrete panel. This is what's referred to as a "spec" building. I did mention in my planning report that the lighting plan had not been submitted; I have since received it and it meets the requirements. I would recommend stipulation nine be modified because we want to ensure it complies with the zoning ordinance. [43:14] **Chairperson:** This is a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this agenda item can come forward. **Commissioner Zuzek:** Madam Chair, not seeing anyone coming forward, I would move to close the public hearing. **Commissioner Klusa:** Second. [43:14] **Chairperson:** I have a motion and a second. All those in favor of closing the public hearing please signify by saying aye. **Commissioners:** Aye. **Chairperson:** All right, the public hearing is now closed. Fellow Commissioners, any questions? [44:00] **Chairperson:** I have a question for the applicant. When we have large warehouses like this, we used to have a former planning commissioner that would ask this question: with the number of loading dock spaces, are you planning on having those numbered in some way to assist our first responders? [44:00] **Ed Far:** Good question. I did contact the building official and the fire department about that, and they do prefer suite numbers. There would be Suite 100, 200, 300. Regarding the loading docks, some tenants like to have their own numbering system (Doc A, B, C), but we may decide to number them one through 18 for the tenants above the door. [45:30] **Commissioner Klusa:** Madam Chair, I'll make the motion to recommend approval of Lakeville 35 Logistics Center North Addition preliminary plat and conditional use permit subject to the 10 stipulations listed in the September 27th, 2024 planning report. **Commissioner Zuzek:** Second. [45:30] **Chairperson:** I have a motion and a second. Ms. Goodroad, will you please take a roll call vote? **Tina Goodroad:** Morovic? **Commissioner Morovic:** Aye. **Tina Goodroad:** Zimmer? **Commissioner Zimmer:** Aye. **Tina Goodroad:** Hank? **Commissioner Hank:** Aye. **Tina Goodroad:** Swinson? **Commissioner Swinson:** Aye. **Tina Goodroad:** Zuzek? **Commissioner Zuzek:** Aye. **Tina Goodroad:** Klusa? **Commissioner Klusa:** Aye. [46:16] **Chairperson:** All right, and when will this one go in front of City Council? **Planning Manager Jensen:** October 21st as well. **Chairperson:** Best of luck in your project, and thank you. That will bring the meeting to a close.