Based on the context provided and the phonetic clues within the transcript, here is the formatted version with speaker identifications. *Note: While the provided list contains current officials, the transcript is from 2022. Names like Justin Fortney (City Planner), Rob Barris (Applicant), and certain Commissioners have been identified based on their roles and the phonetic transcription of their names (e.g., "tankin" as Teiken and "hubberg" as Hobot).* [0:00] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** uh regular meeting for the Hastings Planning Commission for November 14 2022 regular meeting agenda and I'll call the main to order first up approval of the minutes from October 24 2022 regular meeting any corrections if not those will be considered to be approved moving on no public hearings other actions Confluence development variance 20 22-56 Monument sign and DC zoning District 200 2nd Street West Justin Fortney. [0:45] **Justin Fortney (City Planner):** Justin Fortney, thank you very much um this variance is for the number of freestanding signs that can be located at a property at Zone DC downtown core [0:49] um it also applies to properties that are in the Second Street historic district I'll just go over what a variance is essentially it's a special approval to allow something to occur different with different standards than is normally required for other similar properties in the city in order to allow a variance we have to have findings that shows that that property has unique circumstances that would create practical difficulties for the that applicant to do what they wanted to do on that property and that those uh those differences or the findings that [1:34] are made for that property wouldn't be applicable to other properties in the in the same district and this is a zoning map showing the the purple areas our Zone Downtown core the downtown core District was written to have development criteria that would make development in those areas fit in with the development pattern of the historic downtown with buildings that are built at zero lot lines and have mixed use and similar features and it wasn't anticipated that any buildings would be in that District that had a front yard space and so there [2:22] just was no allowance for Monument signs written into that District it was appropriate to rezone the the former Hudson manufacturing building downtown core because of the mixed use that was proposed in there um at the time um you know you didn't we didn't consider you know whether or not a monument sign would be allowed there but in the in the past you probably recall that there was a monument sign in a semi-similar location to what's proposed now um and we didn't consider making any amendments to the zoning District to allow Monument signs because [3:11] we don't believe that a similar situation would come up so this is a aerial picture of the of the site you can see with uh that red mark is approximately the area where that sign would be located um it's kind of at the at the entrance to the parking lot under the bridge and adjacent to some on-street parking in between um drive and limited parking in front of the building this is a site plan showing that same same general location [4:04] and on the top it's kind of grainy but you can see the the former Hudson sprayer sign that was in the middle of that courtyard now it's going to be a little bit closer to the corner because the parking and Circle Drive that is included in front of the building and this is a graphic of the proposed Monument sign it um it's less than the most restrictive Monument sign allowance for any District including residential it's um it's not very large as you can see from the the top architectural drawing the foundation is just as large as the the top of the sign [4:52] that's it um so staff went through the findings in the staff report that are required to approve a variance but essentially um it was determined that the issue was not caused by the applicant it's not being requested specifically for monetary gain as doesn't create a dangerous or negative appearance or uh none uh a situation you wouldn't find in that in that in that general area it doesn't create a unique situation and um it's not an applicable uh scenario [5:39] that would happen with other properties in that District for those reasons staff was recommending approval and subject to the conditions in the staff report which are pretty General that uh the proposes that what's constructed is consistent with what was presented and that there's a one-year Sunset clause um that would require construction within within one year or the the variance would be null and void um with that I can answer any questions I can also check to see if there's anyone on Zoom that would be interested in speaking. [6:22] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** okay thanks Justin a quick question on the view from Street [6:25] picture with the red arrow and the purple line that one somebody isn't going to have to pull forward through that crosswalk are they to see to the right to make sure that there's no cross traffic. [6:37] **Justin Fortney:** well you know I think they might pull through there regardless because they're going to be pretty far back from the street as you can see in the on the left there's on-street parking that's angled there yep um and especially if there's cars parked there they're not going to be able to see around those until they get past that crosswalk sure the sign is going to be angled there so it's not going to be you know eight feet of blocking vision and 45 degree angle maybe you know four [7:10] feet or something like that um it's it's around uh you know four feet tall so you know not quite as tall as a car but if you're sitting in a car you probably wouldn't be able to see past it. [7:19] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** um okay Commissioners any other questions Mr. Matske? [7:26] **Commissioner Matske:** are there any other buildings in the downtown district that would be in the similar situation where they'd go wall eight he's he's got a sign why can't we have a sign like this and that I mean this is a variance are there any other um we went uh through the properties [7:56] that are zoned um DC now and the downtown and uh you know they were all built to the to the lot lines that's the requirement of that zoning District that when they are constructed so I think the only one that would be a possibility is if the post office ever left and somebody redeveloped that building they have a little bit of a yard on the side but um but not not this much and um and that was the only one. [8:30] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** okay I'm sure there's any other questions? Commissioner Teiken. [8:34] **Commissioner Teiken:** thank you Mr. Chair uh what what kind of sign is it it's just going to be a standard illuminated [8:43] science or it's gonna be led or um. [8:48] **Justin Fortney:** according to the the graphics here it's going to be uh masonry sign I don't think it's going to be lit internally I don't know if Rob if you want to come up here and explain do we have any standards around LED um yeah we do sure I'm not sure what all they would and when I say LED I'm talking like the moving ones there's a change in that. [9:14] **Rob Barris (Applicant Rep):** evening Commissioners I'm Rob Barris, owners rep for the Confluence team um so there is some plan for lighting um so the panels themselves are like a [9:30] corten metal with cut out with the logos um someone would say a Confluence a smaller panel um would be for the restaurant and then the the lower Banner would be for our other tenant the chamber that will also be moving into the building so then they would have some back lighting um just to Glow through the cutout. [10:04] **Commissioner Teiken:** okay so they won't be moving or no. [10:08] **Rob Barris:** gotcha gotcha all right thank you thank you. [10:11] **Commissioner Matske:** so go ahead you saw before um if if we allow this could they put a LED sign in down the road. [10:16] **Justin Fortney:** um I'd have to check for sure but I'm pretty sure that in the downtown core and historic district you can't have [10:17] um LEDs neon or flashing lights but even in a variance would it allow them to do that or not if um that's not allowed in the district they would have had to they would need another variance for that correct. [10:35] **Commissioner Matske:** okay that's all I got thank you Mr chair. [10:38] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** sure there's any other questions comments if not I'll take a motion. [10:41] **Commissioner Hobot:** Mr chair I'll make the motion to approve variance 2022-56 based upon the two conditions. [10:50] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** okay motion to approve commissioner Hobot, second Mr. Brown? [10:58] **Commissioner Brown:** second. [11:00] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** any further discussion if not all in favor say aye. [11:01] **Commissioners (In Unison):** aye. [11:02] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** opposed? [No response] that motion carries thank you all right next is other business thanks Rob next is other business Justin. [11:21] **Justin Fortney:** um and was approved for the therapy center up along South Frontage Road and um I think that's about it uh um coming forward to the Planning Commission I think there's going to be an application for a special use permit for something in the industrial park but I'm not sure if if that's going to be it probably won't be in time for our next meeting but but we'll see that's all I have. [11:58] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** okay Commissioners any other business if not I'll take a motion to adjourn. [12:04] **Commissioner Teiken:** so moved. [12:06] **Commissioner Brown:** second. [12:07] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** all right commissioner Teiken moved, second commissioner Matske, all in favor say aye. [12:12] **Commissioners (In Unison):** aye.