This transcript is from the **Oakdale Planning Commission** meeting held on September 7, 2023. Based on the names provided and the context of the dialogue (specifically Commissioner Diana’s mention of his background), here is the identified transcript. **Note:** The transcript refers to a staff member as "Aaron"; however, according to your official list, the Community Development Director is **Andrew Gitzlaff**. It is likely the transcription software misheard "Andrew" or he is a consultant, but I have labeled him as Andrew Gitzlaff per your list. *** [00:00] **Acting Chair Campbell**: All right, we will call the September 7th, 2023, Oakdale Planning Commission meeting to order. We'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance. [00:15] **All**: 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. [00:30] **Acting Chair Campbell**: Seeing as our Chair and Vice Chair I guess are absent this evening, I'm going to nominate myself to be the Chair Pro Tem for the meeting tonight. I'll make a motion for that. Do we have a second? [00:40] **Commissioner Larsky**: Second. [00:42] **Acting Chair Campbell**: All in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. We will move on then. Luke, if you can call the roll, please? [00:50] **Luke McClanahan**: Yes. Pearson is absent. Willenbring is also absent. Campbell? [00:55] **Acting Chair Campbell**: Present. [00:56] **Luke McClanahan**: Mr. Larsky? [00:57] **Commissioner Larsky**: Present. [00:58] **Luke McClanahan**: McCauley? [00:59] **Commissioner McCauley**: Here. [01:00] **Luke McClanahan**: Diana? [01:01] **Commissioner Diana**: Here. [01:02] **Luke McClanahan**: Hagen? [01:03] **Commissioner Hagen**: Yeah. [01:04] **Luke McClanahan**: Thank you very much. [01:05] **Acting Chair Campbell**: I'll move on to approval of the minutes from August 3rd. Anyone have any changes to the minutes or any comments? If not, we'll take a motion to approve. [01:12] **Commissioner Larsky**: I'll make a motion to approve the minutes. [01:14] **Commissioner McCauley**: Second. [01:15] **Acting Chair Campbell**: All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Minutes are approved. Moving on to Planning Commission old business, there is none. So we will go to new business, which is a public hearing for Jamie Emmerfall: a conditional use permit for a home occupation dog grooming at 6700 4th Street North. Luke, if you can give us the presentation, please. [01:30] **Luke McClanahan**: Thank you. Yes, as you just mentioned, Mr. Acting Chair, this conditional use permit is located at 6740 4th Street and it is for a home occupation pet grooming facility known as What the Fluff LLC. The zoning for that site is R1 low-density residential where home occupations are allowed via conditional use permit. So just some details on this request: it is an existing home business; the applicant is working with the city to bring the use into compliance. The request originates from a complaint about the use being operated without a permit. We're simply working to bring the use into compliance with zoning standards. The applicant is going to utilize an existing grooming facility which is located within their detached garage on their property. Business hours are 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. Monday through Friday and 8 A.M. to 1 P.M. on Saturdays—no operations on Sundays. The applicant anticipates a total of six to eight appointments per day would occur, resulting in three to eight additional vehicle trips per day. Additionally, the applicant intends to work exclusively one-on-one with animals, eliminating the need for a kennel, and there will be no overnight boarding. Here we can see the site plan. The green rectangle is the driveway, and the garage is located towards the rear. Currently, there is no commercial sewer line connection. The City’s Building Official suggested a condition that the facility complies with State Plumbing Code and a new sewer line be established at least 60 inches below grade for protection from freezing. Parking is not expected to be an issue. Staff finds that the CUP review criteria have been satisfied provided three conditions are met: (1) specific hours of operation, (2) compliance with State Plumbing Code, and (3) sewer line depth and insulation. This is a public hearing; the applicant is in attendance. [04:45] **Acting Chair Campbell**: Thank you, Luke. Are there any questions for staff? [04:48] **Commissioner Diana**: Yes. I just want to thank the applicant for coming forward and asking for the city to work with them. But the question I have for home occupation: one of the criteria you spelled out is "non-family employee." What does "non-family" mean? Is there a definition? [05:10] **Luke McClanahan**: It means no relation to the individual. If they're living off-site, that's a clear indication. If it's fully within the family—I don't know that I want to try to define how far that goes—but if there's clearly no relation and they are not a resident of the site, that counts towards your one external employee. [05:35] **Commissioner Diana**: As a follow-up, though, if an employee has a blood connection—for example, linear relationships like mom, dad, grandpa—is that defined in the Oakdale zoning code? I’m trying to make it easier for staff to enforce this. When I worked for the City of St. Paul, they had a definition. For me, being an African from Africa, "family" is huge; it could be brothers, sisters, nephews. I pushed St. Paul to change it to "household." I'm hoping the definition is clear so staff don't have to go into the weeds. [06:40] **Acting Chair Campbell**: One thing I would add is the way this is drafted: "the home occupation will be carried on by a member of the family residing in the dwelling unit... provided that the permit may allow not more than one employee who is not part of the family." That implies the family members have to reside in the dwelling unit to be employed. I couldn't hire my sister who lives in a different home; she doesn't live in this unit, so she couldn't work here. [07:10] **Commissioner Diana**: Can your buddy who was raised by your family—a family member by heart—work there? If he lives in that household, I would say he's family enough. Thank you. [07:25] **Acting Chair Campbell**: Any other questions for staff? If not, this is a public hearing. We'll open the public hearing. The applicant is welcome to speak if they'd like. [07:35] **Jamie Emmerfall (Applicant)**: Hi, so I'm Jamie. This is my business partner, Brittany. She is "non-family," but we're co-owners of What the Fluff. We have been grooming in the area for 17 years for me and like 15 years for her. We have been working for a lot of corporate places and we found a high need for people who wanted to bring their dogs to a more intimate setting—dogs that are anxious or need special care. We do appreciate your consideration in keeping this going for us. [08:25] **Commissioner McCauley**: A quick one. You'll have to do some plumbing and sewer drainage issues. I know you've been doing it for two years now; will this change impact you largely? [08:40] **Jamie Emmerfall**: We already have a plan as soon as this gets approved. Before the first frost hits, we will get the sewer run right into our house. We've already been working with the city on that. [08:55] **Commissioner Larsky**: I have a question. Has there been any complaints, staff, in terms of noise? [09:00] **Luke McClanahan**: The only complaint I'm aware of originated from the actual drainage of byproducts being processed out of the facility. That was brought to the city's attention, and we have two conditions of approval to address that. [09:20] **Jamie Emmerfall**: We keep in pretty close contact with all of our neighbors. Everybody touching our property—we talked with all of them before we started this to make sure they were okay with it. We keep open communication. Because we are one-on-one, dogs are being picked up right away; there aren't dogs just being left in there to bark all day. [09:50] **Acting Chair Campbell**: Thank you very much. As this is a public hearing, if there's anybody else that wishes to speak, now's your opportunity. Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the dais. [10:10] **Commissioner McCauley**: One concern. Now that we've had this conversation, I'm not opposed to this, but if it does get approved, do they have to stop until it gets city council approved? [10:25] **Luke McClanahan**: Because they're working with us on this compliance issue, they can continue their operation. As a formality, we just need to get it approved by Council. [10:40] **Commissioner Diana**: One comment. I just want to thank you because small businesses that grow eventually become big. Otherwise, we will not have an iPhone today; the iPhone started in a garage. [10:55] **Acting Chair Campbell**: Any other comments? Otherwise, I'll look for a motion. [11:00] **Commissioner Larsky**: I’ll make a motion to recommend approval of the conditional use permit for a home occupation pet grooming facility at 6700 4th Street North with conditions. [11:10] **Commissioner McCauley**: Second. [11:12] **Acting Chair Campbell**: All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion carries. We will move on to the draft Glenbrook Small Area Plan. [11:25] **Andrew Gitzlaff (Community Development Director)**: I have a short presentation which Luke is going to bring up. We have a draft plan out for public review. This is not a public hearing because we don't have an ordinance to be adopted today, but we did invite the public and sent special invitations. [Andrew presents details on the frontage road, truck traffic diversions, and future land use changes from commercial to mixed-use.] [15:30] **Commissioner Hagen**: Andrew, what was the most common time that trucks were driving through? [15:35] **Andrew Gitzlaff**: That's a great question. I will open up the traffic counts spreadsheet while we're talking and get back to you. As I recall, most was in the morning, but let me verify. [16:00] **Commissioner Hagen**: The reason I bring it up is that 50th and Century is a horrible intersection. The Dairy Queen is there; there's always tons of traffic. They're not going to be able to take a left turn; that's going to be impossible. [16:20] **Andrew Gitzlaff**: In our conversations with MnDOT, when that interchange gets redesigned, there would likely be a light, which would be the safest exit point. [16:45] **Commissioner McCauley**: More of a curiosity—is there a time frame when this would be implemented? [17:00] **Andrew Gitzlaff**: That is up to the Council. Amending the future land use map could happen anytime. The construction of the frontage road is a big funding question and would need to be coordinated with MnDOT. [17:30] **Commissioner Larsky**: My only comment is I appreciate that you didn't recommend rezoning those industrial uses as industrial. By leaving it mixed-use, there's at least a hope that we see retail or multi-family—less intense uses. [17:55] **Acting Chair Campbell**: Although this is not a public hearing, I know we have somebody in the audience. If you can state your name and address for the record. [18:10] **Linda Kameric (Public)**: My name is Linda Kameric and I am on 6066 Upper 51st Street. I've been there since 1976. It was not like this when we moved in. Right now, it is a truck route. Regularly on Sunday nights between 9:00 and 10:00, two trucks come down our street. You can feel it in your house. My neighbor moved because of it; I’m getting ready to move. There used to be signs about weight limits and "no truck traffic," but those signs came down without telling us. You kind of feel betrayed. It’s my neighborhood and I'm real sad nobody else came today. [20:30] **Acting Chair Campbell**: We appreciate your comments. Thank you. [20:35] **Commissioner McCauley**: Andrew, looking at this schedule, it seems like there are no other opportunities to solicit feedback. Is there another meeting? [20:45] **Andrew Gitzlaff**: There isn't another public meeting. Planning staff is always here to talk to individuals, but the event at the apartments was the biggest turnout we had. To answer the earlier question, the earliest vehicle was at 5:45 A.M. and the latest at 5:30 P.M. They are actually well spread out all throughout the day. [21:40] **Commissioner Hagen**: Luke, to Linda's comment about the signs... it seems like it might be worth a conversation with engineering and public works to see if "No Truck Traffic" signs can go back up, even if it's an honor system. [22:00] **Luke McClanahan**: Based on conversations with engineering and public safety, it’s always an issue of enforcement. We only have so many resources. [22:15] **Andrew Gitzlaff**: Part of the reason for the recommended alignment of the road is that it would be much easier for trucks to navigate. The idea is that trucks will automatically take that bypass because it’s easier than a 90-degree turn. [22:45] **Acting Chair Campbell**: Any other comments or questions for Andrew? I don't believe there's any action we need to take. [22:55] **Andrew Gitzlaff**: That's correct, unless you have recommendations to pass to Council. [23:05] **Acting Chair Campbell**: All right, thank you. We'll move on to Planning and Development updates. [23:10] **Luke McClanahan**: Three things. (1) The CUP for the chicken hatching operations at 49th Street was withdrawn because the Police Department would not approve the number of chickens. (2) The accessory structure on 43rd Street was approved by Council. (3) The Hudson Boulevard Apartments were approved. For October, I anticipate we will have at least one application. [24:10] **Acting Chair Campbell**: City Council update? [24:12] **Council Member (Unidentified)**: Nothing from the council. [24:15] **Acting Chair Campbell**: Then I will look for a motion to adjourn. [24:17] **Commissioner Larsky**: So moved. [24:18] **Commissioner McCauley**: Second. [24:19] **Acting Chair Campbell**: All in favor? Aye. We stand adjourned.