This transcript is for a Minneapolis Planning Commission meeting. Based on the dialogue and the names provided, here is the formatted transcript with speaker identifications. [0:13] **Chris Meyer**: Welcome everyone to the regular meeting of the Minneapolis Planning Commission for February 17th, 2026. I'm Chris Meyer, chair of the commission. At this time, I'll ask the clerk to please call the role. [0:13] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: Commissioner Chowry is absent. Connley is absent. Uh, Garcia? [0:13] **Commissioner Garcia**: Present. [0:33] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: Gordon is absent. Jones? [0:33] **Kelly Jones**: Here. [0:33] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: Shepy is absent. Shepard is absent. Wagner? [0:33] **Tom Wagner**: Here. [0:33] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: And Vice President Baxley? [0:33] **Baxley**: Here. [0:33] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: And President Meyer? [0:33] **Chris Meyer**: Here. [0:33] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: There are five members present. [0:49] **Chris Meyer**: We have a quorum. Uh, next we'll move to the minutes of February 2nd, 2026. Is there a motion to adopt those minutes? [0:49] **Tom Wagner**: So move. [0:49] **Chris Meyer**: All right. Is there a second? [0:49] **Kelly Jones**: Second. [0:49] **Chris Meyer**: Any discussion? All right. All in favor say I. [0:49] **Commissioners**: I. [0:49] **Chris Meyer**: Opposed? Abstensions? The minutes are adopted. Next, we'll organize our agenda. I'm going to read through the agenda items. Staff is recommending that all items be on consent. So, if you came out here to speak against an item when I read off the item, raise your hand. If you wanted to just make some comments that aren't necessarily against the staff recommendation, there will also be another opportunity for the hearing that we have on the consent agenda. So first, item number four, 2116 Nicollet. Is there anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation for item number four? [1:41] **Chris Meyer**: All right, not seeing any. So we will keep that on consent. Next. Oh, sorry. I guess we need to recess. [1:41] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: Okay. [1:57] **Chris Meyer**: Okay, we are recessed until we get captioning back. [4:54] **Chris Meyer**: All right, we're going to do it again. I'm just going to start. Clerk, can you please call the role again? [5:09] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: Commissioner Chowry is absent. Connley is absent. Garcia? [5:09] **Commissioner Garcia**: Present. [5:09] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: Gordon is absent. Jones? [5:09] **Kelly Jones**: Here. [5:27] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: Shuffy is absent. Shepard is absent. Wagner? [5:27] **Tom Wagner**: Here. [5:27] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: Vice President Baxley? [5:27] **Baxley**: Here. [clears throat] [5:27] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: And President Meyer? [5:27] **Chris Meyer**: Here. [5:27] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: There are five members present. [5:27] **Chris Meyer**: Can someone move the minutes for February 2nd? [5:27] **Tom Wagner**: I [so move]. [5:27] **Kelly Jones**: Second. [5:43] **Chris Meyer**: All in favor say I. [5:43] **Commissioners**: I. [5:43] **Chris Meyer**: Opposed? Abstensions? Those are adopted. All right. So I'm going to read through the items. Um, first we have 2116 Nicollet. Was anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation for item number four? Not seeing any. So we'll have that on consent. Number five, uh, 3201 to 3301 47th Street East. Was anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation for item number five? [6:06] **Chris Meyer**: Okay. Not seeing any. So we'll have that on consent. Item number six, one Portland Avenue and 10 Chicago Avenue and 900 South First Street. Was anyone here to speak against staff recommendation for item number six? Okay. And last, 3800 3rd Avenue South. [6:22] **Chris Meyer**: Was anyone here to speak against staff recommendation for item number seven? All right. So, we will keep all four of our items on consent. Uh, so I will open the consent hearing. Uh, if you came to to speak and weren't necessarily against project, but you wanted to say something about it, now is your chance to do so. Would anyone like to speak to any of these items? Now's your chance. If you would like to go ahead, introduce yourself and you have two minutes. [6:40] **Steve (Public Speaker)**: Steve [Last Name Unclear]. Just clarifying questions about the bike project at um the address is off and that's where it was confusing because the bike projects actually located between 33rd and 34th and the the messages that came out is 32nd to 33rd. So, we need to clarify when we send things out the right way. Thing two, there is in public record saying there is a project they're looking at connecting the regional trail on the south side of the creek between 33rd and 32nd, which would make sense why the message was sent to us to come to the meeting today. But my understanding in talking with um—sorry have to forget his name—Aaron, that that has nothing to do with this right now. That connection of that is a different permit he didn't know about. [7:51] **Steve (Public Speaker)**: Just wanting to put on record as we send these notices out, making them clear. Having the correct addresses, I think is important because I'm spending time down here asking a simple clarifying, hey, the park is not located there. And yes, a regional park flows, but that tennis court was very clear between 33rd and 34th. So yeah, I don't really just that clarifying and please as you're making these things, I love getting the notification. I love to know what's going on in my city, in my neighborhood. So don't stop doing that. Let's make sure that's clear. And if this notification isn't for that permit and there is work going down there, we've asked clearly and I will be back complaining if there is something that they are going to be working on the south side of the creek between those. Thank you. [8:56] **Chris Meyer**: Thank you for your testimony. After the hearing is concluded, I'll ask during discussion for Aaron to to clarify that. Did anyone else want to speak to any of the consent items? I actually have a request if they're here. Do we have the applicant for item number 4, 2116 Nicollet? [9:13] **Paul Gates (Applicant)**: Yes. [9:13] **Chris Meyer**: I have I have a question for you if you'd um be able to. [9:13] **Paul Gates (Applicant)**: I am Paul Gates. [9:13] **Chris Meyer**: Hi Paul. Um this project warms my heart. I'm I'm glad it's on uh the consent agenda. Um I just wanted to ask um so so it's a project that has 50 units and doesn't have any parking spots. Do you have any any idea of how many fewer units you would have had to build if you had to build say one parking spot per unit for this project? [9:46] **Paul Gates (Applicant)**: Uh we haven't done that analysis. The site is so small that uh to get um underground parking in there um I haven't actually tried to see how many units we could get but uh it would have wiped out uh quite a bit of the mixed-use component, the ground floor commercial space, because we would have had to have had a drive ramp uh down through it. Um uh so I think that would have been the biggest impact except um on a site like that I don't know, we might get 20 or 30 spaces and so if it was one to one then we would have had 20 or 30 units. That's my guess. [10:32] **Chris Meyer**: 20 or 30. [clears throat] [10:32] **Paul Gates (Applicant)**: That's a really rough guess but um if you like I'd be happy to do that analysis for you and take a look. [10:32] **Chris Meyer**: I I would be interested if you want to follow up by email just because I'm kind of want to keep track of the impact that our policies have had on some of these these projects and what has been made possible by the changes that were made. [10:52] **Paul Gates (Applicant)**: Sure. Yeah, I'd be happy to look at it. [10:52] **Chris Meyer**: Okay. [10:52] **Paul Gates (Applicant)**: Yeah. Piqued my curiosity in fact. So I'll take a look. [10:52] **Chris Meyer**: All right. Thank you. Did anyone else want to speak? All right. Seeing no one else, I will close the public hearing. Commissioners, are there any questions or—Yeah, I had a question. Uh, Erin, can you um... [11:13] **Staff Member (Erin)**: Chair Meyer, I can answer that question. So um you know, I will say park projects are uniquely difficult to notice for public hearing notices because the parcels are typically very large and the scope of work is often, you know, related to a in this case a very specific corner of a large parcel. Um, so 3201 47th Street East is a parcel that kind of follows the creek. Um, but it does include a portion of the area on where the tennis courts are currently located. And then 3301 47th Street East is a triangular shaped parcel in the corner of the site um between at the corner of 47th and 34th. So the work being done is limited to the area where the tennis courts were previously located. It is limited to the bike skills park that is described in the staff report and the applications are limited to being on a steep slope in the shoreland overlay district. So any other work that's done on this park would come forward separately with separate applications. [12:19] **Chris Meyer**: Great. Thank you for that clarification. Are there any other questions or comments from commissioners? All right. Well, I just wanted to comment that I thought this was a really wholesome agenda that we had um you know, amid some pretty gloomy events that we've had. I just wanted to celebrate that we've got, you know, 50 um affordable housing units and on a climate conscious project, you know, next to three bus lines. Um we've got a new bike park. Um we've got the cultural wellness center. It's a shame that it had to be um downsized, but it's still moving forward. And we've got the new project for Owapi um where the lock and dam um was. So I just wanted to—I I almost wanted to pull some of these from the agenda just so we could learn more about some of the cool things that are happening in the city, but just wanted to quickly celebrate that. Um would someone like to move to adopt the consent agenda? [13:05] **Tom Wagner**: Move consent items. [13:22] **Chris Meyer**: All right. Any last discussion? All in favor say I. [13:22] **Commissioners**: I. [13:22] **Chris Meyer**: Opposed? Abstensions? That is adopted. So if you came here for one of those projects, they are passed. Good luck with your projects. Um if you came for our suspenseful elections, uh those are next. Uh so I will turn that over to our clerk, uh Karen McK. [13:46] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: Thank you, President Meyer. All right. So, um, the next item of business is the election of president, vice president, and secretary of this body. At the February 2nd meeting, the commission received nominations for all three offices, and the nominations have been submitted as follows: Uh, Chris Meyer for president, Tom Wagner for vice president, and Kelly Jones for secretary. Are there any further nominations for any of these positions? Don't all talk at once. [14:16] **Commissioners**: [laughter] [14:16] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: Um, seeing none, we will proceed to the voting of these in a single slate. Um, is there any discussion on Chris Meyer being president, Tom Wagner being vice president, or Kelly Jones being secretary? Nope. Okay. All right. Seeing none, uh, all in favor say I. [14:36] **Commissioners**: I. [14:36] **Karen McK (Clerk)**: Any opposed? All right. Any abstensions? All right. That carries. And Chris Meyer has been elected president again. Uh Tom Wagner has now been elected as vice president and Kelly Jones has been secretary. Uh congratulations to those newly elected officers and I will turn the meeting back over to President Meyer. [14:57] **Chris Meyer**: Thank you and congratulations everyone. Uh that concludes our business uh for the day. Uh we don't have any committee of the whole um and our next uh planning commission will be Monday, March 2nd. Are there any other updates from staff or commissioners? [14:57] **City Staff**: Uh yes, just one update from staff. We did receive an appeal um for the bath house project that was before you last time at 76 3rd Street North. Uh we had conditioned that the applicant comply with the minimum window requirements and that specific condition of approval was appealed. That will go to uh city council committee of the whole. Um, if you haven't been following that, uh, the city council is in a bit of a different structure through April right now. Um, so this will be at the March 3rd city council committee of the whole meeting. I also have an announcement here. Um, the annual joint planning commission and capital long-range improvement meeting has been—we picked a date for it. Uh, it'll be on May 7th and that will be at the public service building. That is where you have the committee of the whole meetings. Um it'll be in the big room, the AB instead of the the smaller 1C that you usually go at. Um it'll start out with the planning commission committee of the whole and then the joint meeting will start at 6. I just want to remind you all that we need to have five people there as a quorum. Um otherwise we can't have the meeting. [16:25] **Chris Meyer**: [laughter] Okay. I'll be sure to do a quorum check beforehand. Um just a a question about the procedure for the appeal. So is the only matter that the council could decide on um the condition or if if the council chose to could they decide to just reject the whole bath house altogether? I was just curious. [16:46] **City Staff**: No, the appeal is specific to the condition of approval regarding the windows. [16:46] **Chris Meyer**: Okay. All right. Any other updates from commissioners? All right. Seeing none, we are adjourned. Everyone.