okay and we're going to call for a reconvening of the Planning Commission meeting and at this point we were uh correcting for the record officially that kazaki had made the motion and hares had seconded and then the motion passed um perfect thank you yep okay and then at this time um this is the opportunity for members of the public to participate in open Forum it's for members to address the commission on any item that's not already on the agenda the open forum is an opportunity to be heard and it's not an opportunity to debate an issue but to bring an issue to our attention I just want to do a quick reminder of the rules of the decorum of the Planning Commission meetings those who are not recognized by the chair should refrain from commenting interrupting a speaker at the podium conducting conversations with other members of the audience or creating any other type of disruption causing distraction to a member of the commission this will will be enforced throughout the meeting and those who fail to abide by these rules will be asked to leave comments are limited to in-person participants and speakers are asked to fill out a card prior to the start of the meeting for Natalie to call them up to the podium written comments submitted prior to the beginning of the meeting um will have been distributed and read by the Commissioners up at the Das so if anybody sends in an email or something um about an issue that would be available to us up here and I don't see anyone here tonight um uh in the chambers for making that public hearing or public comment um so that being said I will entertain a motion for us to close the public open Forum I'll second up all those in favor okay and so then we're on to the approval of the minutes from the June 6th meeting uh is there anyone who had any corrections or comments regarding the meeting minutes I don't know if it was omitted because it on purpose or not or if it should be included but the one thing I missed in the um summary of the discussion on upward Acres was the comment and noted neighbor feedback on the naming that was the only thing I think I miss there that's good uh I remember that being a point and I think that because it's really only application because they said that they weren't doing any signage okay so it won't the name um the name so I don't have yeah I no it's a good point but I don't know that it would need to be noted anywhere other than um possibly we can certainly add that into the paragraph the summary paragraph yeah I don't know it up to you I know you had talked to the neighbors and that was a comment I just realized when reading through it I didn't see that reflective that's all so I'll leave that up to you okay and then my only note was that in the very first um paragraph the second sentence it says that three planning Commissioners were present but there were four okay I don't know that that matters either but yeah we can make those Corrections so the motion could just be uh for the minutes with the noted Corrections those two items perfect okay uh so I will make a motion that will approve the meeting minutes from June 6th with the um noted changes anyone a second excellent and all those in favor say I I anyone opposed all right and then we're going to move on to the new business which is um a self storage zoning ordinance Amendment and there is going to be a public comment opportunity but we're going to begin with the staff report see yes the our one public hearing tonight is for a zoning ordinance amendment to remove many storage and Self Storage from our commercial and Industrial districts so over the past several months the city evaluated mini storage and Self Storage uses within the city and then Direction was provided to staff to go ahead and proceed with removing these uses from our rural commercial and light industrial districts they're not currently allowed in any other districts uh there was a moratorium on new applications that was adopted on October 12 2023 and it was applicable to any new applications for Min storage and Self Storage we specifically Exempted applications that had at least preliminary approval before uh so specifically we have a planned unit development for the pioner trail industrial park where part of the preliminary approvals they were showing a self storage user they were exempt from the moratorium and staff as part of this process completed a brief study of the current approved and constructed storage in the city as well as Greenfield Rogers and Madina the table shows comparatively we have about 60 Acres of self storage and uh corkrin has nearly 20 acres more storage than the three other cities we looked at combined and so the council confirmed a desire to diversify the types of businesses that can be developed on our remaining available land in the rural I'm sorry in the commercial as well as industrial areas and then as well as promote a diversity in our job opportunities so it's a fairly straightforward ordinance in front of you tonight uh in section 104.9 which is our rural commercial District standards we are removing paragraph H and in subdivision 4 and then in the next section is uh section 10401 125 which is our light industrial district standards subdivision 4 we are completely removing paragraph B and then I want to also um note section three of the ordinance we're talking about the ordinance effective date as part of that I specifically clarify that storage projects not constructed but that have at least received preliminary approval are still allowed to proceed uh the intent wasn't to take away a previous approval uh it was to as move forward so that would apply to corkran storage too and then again that Parkplace storage that was shown on the Pioneer Trail Industrial Park PUD and so at this time the Planning Commission should open the public hearing and take any testimony staff recommends approval of the draft ordinance amending those two sections and then a draft resolution with the findings of fact to support the zoning Amendment okay thank you at this time we will open uh the public hearing comments are limited to in-person participants speakers may fill out a card prior to the start of the meeting for Natalie to call you to the podium um submitted comment cards will be called to the podium first and then after that anyone else wishing to participate may approach the podium written comments submitted prior to the beginning of the meeting uh will have been distributed and read by the Commissioners there uh were no comments on the Das for us this evening there is no one here so I'm assuming we have no comment cards but I'll just verify correct okay so at this time then I will also entertain a motion to close the public hearing I'll make the motion all right and I'll second and all those in favor I I okay and then we get a chance to discuss the um storage Amendment uh if there's anything that you guys would like to have discussion about um I know it's something I believe that has been discussed I know it has when you guys have been here and I believe it has been discussed at least once while you you guys have been here I do have a question absolutely um have there are there currently many storage projects that have been approved that haven't been constructed yet you got corken storage 2 which is on Highway 55 and our southwest corner is on the border of Greenfield and uh corkran and then uh Pioneer Trail Industrial Park PUD has had a site about at least 10 acres of storage and the user identified uh with the application was Parkplace storage going Poss in there um and I spoke with that applicant today cuz he got a little nervous when he saw and um I assured him that the way that the ordinance uh is written that they would be exempt technically that land is regid as PUD so I don't believe it's going to create a conflict that the light industrial is now moving removing that use going forward okay is that the one on Pioneer Trail it doesn't have a street name on this page yeah it is is the oh pioner Trail Industrial Park yep are are the numbers in the staff report reflective of those two projects y okay so that's all so that was everything approved and constructed in the city of corkrin and then we reached out to other cities and a and they also gave us their approved projects in addition to constructed projects may I oh oh do you still have some questions no no I I was you you had this question I was going to ask too about oh okay um does council or like is is the sentiment that we feel good about the percentage I mean you know the statements of like it's more than other cities combined it's like wow okay and I know I've heard council's comments of we don't want to be known as the city known for storage I guess my question and maybe it's hard to answer is are there learnings from this like are there you know is it's this was something we maybe did too much of and now we're taking it out completely like what might we be missing that we're doing now or we might do in the future that we'll be in the same situation so I'm curious like are there learnings best practices like how did we how did this happen I'm curious of that yeah so it's difficult to have a crystal ball to say okay this is now the new storage use I would say that we're not the only city that has decided to to stop allowing Min and Self Storage it's it seems to be a use that has really taken off Market wise in the last decades a couple decades or so so I know Brooklyn Park made it so that they they only allowed indoor storage especially along key corridors in terms of where they've identified as job creation zones or it's really a key part of their identity and they don't want that on that road um and I I there's at least a couple other cities I'm aware of I just can't think of the names right now that have complely removed it as a you so we're not the only ones but you typically the findings of fact are the fact that it eats up a lot of our available Industrial in commercial land and then the return on jobs is minimal um in terms of then if you have a warehouse in that same pocket of land you have much much significant job return much more significant job return than you do with the store right right so I do know that um I think with some of the other Industrial and Commercial uses it's less of a concern because we're not seeing them eat the footprint as much and with the ones that do have a bigger footprint there's typically a better return on the job part whereas this one tends to not see that return sure um they're great for tax Bas so it's not that they're um and we've kind of weighed that with Council as like they are great for tax Bas uh but they are if you're trying to have jobs in your city they're not so great and right now that's one of the areas that we need to focus on and so I think the idea is maybe in the future we could allow for it again if we wanted to change our mind but right now we want to stop the incoming applications because they just keep coming so do we feel like we have so much more than other cities because they were the first applications to come and we like do you understand what my question is I think that what your question is is how can we prevent ourselves from getting where we have such um an ex extreme we have so much gross land devoted to purpose how do we keep ourselves from being in that position again in the future with a different use and I think that there were um I can't say for certain but I think that there were inklings like a while back that we probably had to like we had more maybe than was needed and so I think maybe the learning is is that if there is sort of a gut check that's like hey really we're seeing a lot of this it would be a good idea to do this process where we ended where we're comparing ourselves to other cities earlier than than now right well and sometimes too I think it's like is not necessarily a bad thing if the uses are meeting your goals so if your goal is job creation and you're seeing a lot of a particular use in terms of like warehousing that's kind of a general it's such a broad word um that there's a lot of different types of businesses that can go in there and then they're typically you're going to see a job return so if it's hitting your goals as a city it might not be so concerning I think part of the concern here was it not wasn't necessarily hitting our job creation goals as a city so are there other types of businesses that we could see becoming a problem and I'm thinking in particular like dollar stores Dollar General I mean you see those in rural areas along with the Mini Storage you see that every little small town has mini storage and it has a Dollar General and I I guess the Dollar Generals because they tend to crowd out other things that may be more desirable so we can't put in the zoning ordinance no Dollar General it would be no retail and so that's all that's like creates a larger problem because I think we do want retail want retail so but we can't it can't be so specific that we're saying no McDonald's here um you would have to say no drive-throughs things like that you have to has to be a broad use instead of a specific business that you're looking to avoid I think your suggestion K is was great right about maybe that's a learning and I guess I'm curious do you agree with that I I I we can always look at uses if we believe that there's a problem I would say if if if we're seeing a use that we don't feel meets our goals our development goals our Economic Development goals as a city then yes we should take a pass and take a look at um whe How that lines with our overall vision for the city no but I appreciate the amendment I think it's great I think I appreciate you taking action on it I just was I was kind of thinking the bigger picture of like I wasn't here when they were all approved and I was just curious if we're happy with the statistics or what we thought happened or like what just the background on it so um my only question is the two areas that we're addressing tonight are the commercial uh rural commercial and light industrial it is not necessary it's not an allowed use in the transitional commercial Ro or the no that's interesting to me the transition roal commercial is technically a residential district that will eventually become Zone commercial if Commercial Business Reserve ising Zone got yep now I remember that and then the second question and I don't want to panic any um applicant who's been approved so this is not but there is no expiration date on those approvals there uh is an expiration date on those approvals but it just follows but they yeah so they had to submit a final plat application um but they did and we're working through that with them we were expecting that to go to council hopefully the next month or so for the first final plot so as long as they keep the ball moving on their end but yeah theoretically there's there is a date where there's a process that would say hey now you dro the ball yeah but I don't the applicant is actively working on it so I don't think that's a concern okay those are my questions does anyone else have any thing if not uh I'll entertain a motion to approve the city file 23-23 which is the mini storage and self storage or ordinance amendments a second okay all those in favor I will make the motion and then there's a second and then all those in favor I anyone opposed okay next up then is um our other business and we're going to start with uh Planning Commission training which is why you all have colored buttons at your station and Natalie is going to take us through a fantastic training I hope you guys enjoy it um it's quite fun this is as far as training goes you know Natalie so um two of you uh this might be a little bit more of a refresher than anything new but because we have three brand new Commissioners this year I wanted to make sure that we have a chance to go over the basics and then I think what will be fun is the Jeopardy round that we'll play at the end to go over the concepts talked about in the presentation and then um if we need more training opportunities this year to do deep Dives on other uh topics we can certainly try to get that scheduled so um but yes so for starters I like to start with the historical basis of planning because I found this really interesting um the concept of City Planning resulted from the black plague in Europe when a quarter of the population was lost um they realized the Dank and crowded living conditions resulted uh from how the cities and buildings were built and it contributed to the spread of the plague so as a result England implemented rules that all living units needed to have access to light and air and additionally we saw rules that animals were separated from Human living spaces for the first time um and so that I just found that to be really interesting when I learned about that so that is really the first time you started to see regulations established that um tried to make our living conditions better and to plan that out more thoughtfully and then um additionally um the Industrial Revolution also had a role uh people started to become sick and die as a result of the smoke and soot during the Industrial Revolution as their living spaces were not separated so that you would see um houses directly adjacent to this heavy IND industry and so this is the first time we start to see the use as zoning because residential uses all of a sudden needed to be separated from industry so that is kind of the basis of how we started to get here and then our planning Authority is based in the Constitution and falls under police powers granted to the states police powers specifically refer to limiting an individual's rights in the interest of the community and the key constitutional principles that must be kept in mind while we are planning is due process this means both substantive in procedural so we have to have a rational basis for the decisions that we make and then procedural meaning we have to be reasonable and follow a prescribed process this is uh public hearings which is a specific role that you have on the commission is to hold our public hearings for land use items additionally another key constitutional principle is the equal protection Clause we have to treat everyone the same within the district so kind of back to the conversation we had if we say that we allow retail we can't say that well um this business isn't allowed but this one is um we can limit aspects of it in terms of uh drive-thru we can say we want restaurants but we don't want drive-throughs in this district and so that would be the eal protection claws in place uh you can't favor one business over another and one property owner um can't be treated better than another also we have the uh principle of takings the taking of property for public use requires just compensation we do have a couple exceptions so the government can take or require dedication of public RightWay for a road within a plat or a public process without paying for it because it is generally a basic requirement to serve the properties within the plat so that's w we take right way when we have uh a new subdivision because it's necessary to serve those houses in that subdivision additionally state law allows us to take Park uh Park land and park dedication in Li of land in order to uh provide open space opportunities and recreational space opportunities for the uh City zoning regulations that are not supported by rationale or or are unnecessary can become a taking so for example a front yard setback of 100 fet without any rationale behind it uh could be considered a taking as compared to a more typical setback of 20 to 30 feet we do have an example of 100 foot setback in our ordinance but we the reasoning being these are our County Roads where we are seeing more and more right of way eventually need to take that area to support those highways and so that 100 foot step back provides for not only green space but it also provides some wiggle room for buildings so that as the road expands there's still significant space left um and we also provide a flexibility Clause to bring that down to 60 ft so that's um it's not always a taking when you have a big setback but you want to make sure you have rationale behind it uh so again you make sure you have a rational basis for zoning regulations and that you're treating people fairly reasonably and equally without putting a burden on property owners beyond the government interest and so the um this is a another historical timeline so you see the first land use regulations were established as public health laws in England and regulated light and circulation prior to 1916 nuisance laws were used to protect the public health safety and Weare we still have nuisance laws so I am the Code Compliance official and that power is rooted in our nuisance laws and then I am the zoning administrator and that power is rooted in our zoning ordinance so we still have those today it's just it's uh only one of the tools that or we have multiple to tools now um 1916 is when we start to see the establishment of early zoning laws as we know them today New York City was the first city to adopt a comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance and then in 1922 was the first version of federal legislation for the standard State zoning enabling act 1923 208 communities had adopted a zoning ordinance so uh that those first 1916 to 1923 so that first six years or so six seven years uh people were busy and all of a sudden there started to be planning and planners and planning commissions um that really happened with it very quickly once we had that enabling act from the federal legislation and then in 1926 the US Supreme Court upheld the use of zoning as a police power in the case Village of ukle versus Amer realy and that's where the term ukian zoning comes from is that case so why do we plan the planning process evaluates the community's past and provides a vision for the future and through planning the community can anticipate how to protect our community character and resources drive Economic Development and Investments provide cost effective delivery of services parti ipate in intergovernmental cooperation and balance the community interests with private property rights and then a quote by EK shoem maker or shoe marker I guess I don't know exactly how to pronounce this name shoe marker thank you uh among material resources the greatest unquestionable is the land study how a society uses its land and you can come to pretty reliable conclusions as to what its future will be Minnesota we have enabling legislation where the state delegates to police power two local government units through uh the statute so our Authority um is Minnesota statute 462 3535 that is for all cities and towns and then there's also some additional enabling leg legislation for metropolitan area local units and uh counties but a lot of what we're looking looking at is that first statute for our purposes and then we're going to talk a lot about guiding documents so the enabling legislation requires planning to begin with an analysis of community needs and goals to formulate a comprehensive plan that is really the basis of everything that we do here and then the comprehensive plan acts as The Guiding policy for Community Development including the zoning ordinance and other land use regulations such as our subdivision ordinance so basically the zoning ordinance and subdivision ordinance are the tools we use to implement the comprehensive plan and then the supporting rationale of the zoning ordinance should be provided by the comprehensive plan and regulations must be again reasonable means to meet our legal ends that we've identified as our goals so the zoning ordinance regulates private property by establishing standards of development for individual Lots the use of land and buildings within the community this works in conjunction with our zoning map and so it determines different classes of uses we have allowed uses these are and it's really permitted uses and these are almost no questions as asked the conditions cannot be applied um you are allowed to do this by right so for examp for example in our rural residential district agriculture is a permitted use you do not need to come and ask for any type of permission from the the city to be able to a to use your land for agriculture you may have to go through a permitting process or a certificate of compliance process for to develop a building for your agricultural use but you can go and farm your land right this second um and then we have accessory uses so these are permitted uses but they must exist in connection with a principal use so for example a accessory structure such as a shed you cannot have in the city without a house we have a lot of people who just buy land and want to put a pole barn up you have to have a house first before you can have a pole barn or other accessory structures how we've identified them and then conditional uses are an allowed use however it's been called out as a separate category because they often require additional stipulations to ensure it fits within a given area so we can mitigate the impact of a use for example a place of worship going in a residential area there might be additional conditions that we want to stipulate uh in order for that use to fit within the surrounding neighborhood uh interim uses are uses that can be approved for a limited amount of time uh an example being uh we have home occupation licenses and when there's separate categories of Home occupations but the highest impact require an interim use permit so the idea being when this property owner either sells or no longer does this business activity anymore that permit would go away it doesn't get automatically trans transferred to someone buying that property and then we also talk about bulk and area regulations in our zoning ordinance so we have height setbacks lock coverage and perious surface limits um we have performance standards such as Landscaping requirements parking requirements Etc and then our subdivision ordinance is what establishes the procedures for land division that is consistent with our comprehensive plan ensures new development and Redevelopment meets standards for a safe functional and enjoyable Community subdivisions uh equal the division of a parcel of land so sometimes um so it can be as small as a 40 acre parcel being split into two or it can be a 40 acre parcel split into 120 homes and they're all referred to as subdivisions uh again lot blocks or sites with and without streets that those are going going to be regulated in the ordinance and these are needed in order to sell transfer or develop land and we also have this term plat where if you try to look that up you might not actually see what is the plat uh but a subdivision results in a plat one way to think about it is a um a map of the plot of land but plat is the specific term for those maps that we see on the Planning Commission when we are sub dividing role of planning staff and Consultants so my job in Dwight's job here we and then as well as uh landform is our planning consultant we are tasked with interpreting and administering land use regulations as provided in the city code we complete the technical review of land use applications that is a process that can take hours upon hours um so you are not to do that yourselves uh meet and then we also are um expected to meet with developers property owners and residents to discuss their land use questions and uh vision for their land we prepare staff reports to inform and advise the Planning Commission and city council we research planning and land use issues such as we did with the um the storage we draft long range plans and special projects uh example of these longrange plans not only the comp comprehensive plan but our Northeast District plan our Southeast District plan we maintain City Records we provide continuity and institutional knowledge and then we uh educate and assist the public some people say the voice of planning at City Hall um I took that from somewhere I didn't just make that Sor but um Consultants also uh it's important to know that they serve at the pleasure in direction of city council while working closely to coordinate land use items with City staff to inform a recommendation to council so any recommendation that's coming from a staff report prepared by land form is something that has been discussed at length with myself um likely the city administrator uh and likely or and engineering and our Public Works director so that staff recommendation when um don't consider well that's land form's recommendation no that is reflective of the staff recommendations they don't do anything that is not pre-approved by myself and they provide their professional advice and insight based on experience with working for other cities as well as developers and they provide services that the city may not have easy access to such as additional Staffing and software so when we have an influx of applications um we can't simply go out and hire a new planner to deal with that a temporary situation so we rely on our contract because they do have uh multiple staff numbers at hand that are able to take on to help us get through that period of time um and then also for example when I was working on the um the survey for the rural commercial subdivision it became quite clear I didn't have proper software for to create the visuals that I need to create word just wasn't cutting it and um and they had InDesign and so they were able instead of me trying to get an InDesign um license which is expensive and then try to learn in design in a matter of a couple weeks they were easily able to get that up and running within um two business days um and I so they provide those resources that when it becomes clear like oh I don't have this um it's going to be a minute before I can get it set up they're able to help provide that backup uh so the city of corkrin does not allow our planning consultant firm to submit a land use application on behalf of a developer for a property within corkran uh so there uh how that's not true in all cities but that is part of their contract so um land form is never going to submit an application on behalf of somebody else so I think that's just helpful to know some those are some questions that have come up with how does that work with landform um we do really uh the institutional knowledge that Kendra specifically has is uh invaluable at this time and I wish I could just kind of put a hard drive into her brain so I could get all of that but um she has really helped guide and shape um our ability to um respond to the land use applications and development that we're seeing right now um so she's been key to that and remains significant but we are starting to see her slowly she's no longer at these meetings that's what I was going to say do you I just wanted to interject do you guys know who she's talking about when she references landform and Kendra usually you'll see her at the council meetings now but she used to be at every commission meeting but that was before we are transitioning away from her being uh the main planner she was really the main planner for a long time and we are slowly starting to transition away from that uh we do I I hope that she will be here for a few more years so we can get again everything that's in her brain but um the plan at this point is to continue strengthening our capabilities um I'm hopeful that we'll get some more software capabilities so I can take on things like in design uh but it's still sometimes the workload is so heavy that typically all cities have some type of contract planning in in the back of pocket to be able to pull from as needed so that you can meet the legal time frames that are required with applications so Natalie you've become the Community Development C coordinator director director yes so and then there's another planner that's taking the play is is Dwight stepping into that role or he did you put your application in yesterday on the way applications on the but yeah we're working on that it was an internal job posting um so I would say that that it it's anticipated that that's going to be what happens um I will still act as the principal planner uh but with the additional duties I I I simply am not getting to everything so we do need a second planner um and and then I hopefully we'll in the next year we'll have an administrative assistant for Community Development overall um and then that should really get us to a point where we're operating efficiently to be able to meet the demands one more question so we still have a contract with land form yes and and they are still available to help you out as as needed yes yep yep can I ask another question too um I know that the mayor put out um kind of a warning about Minnesota legislation and like some of the proposed changes to a city's ability to manage its own development do you see any any feedback you give us as far as what you're seeing and what that means for planners yeah so none of it went through this year it got really close it's the it's actually this is at least the third year in a row where something kind of pops up along these lines this one was probably the most drastic and concern earning of the 3 years um and probably the closest it's gotten but it uh cities uh pretty much every city I'm aware of really pushed back against it and even the Met Council uh was like this is too much density this doesn't make sense we can't regionally plan for this um so thankfully it did not go through at this point I'm going to a session a sensible land use session later this year that is uh I believe they're trying to get a couple people who were behind those bills to speak in terms of what we could maybe anticipate next year coming back so I would just say um stay on top of it uh feel make sure that when legislation pay attention to who you're voting for um I while I am very Pro making sure we have housing I don't think that was the way to do it uh personally just because of the fact that um to me it doesn't make sense that we're planning for density that we can't accommodate we don't have the infrastructure for as a city and it and that was the problem the main problem with it is it it really was for cities that had existing infrastructure and we simply don't uh we're very new in terms of being able to implement some of that and it simply could have been a disaster um it also would have removed a lot of the role of the Planning Commission and so when she touched on earlier that the Minnesota statute 462 3535 is all about empowering the people to have a voice in the planning process it would have removed that so I don't I think that there would be significant like um grounds for really uh if it ever passed as Extreme as it was there would be grounds for really questioning whether or not it infringed on um people's rights at that point in time so thank you yeah um so we'll we'll definitely keep you posted I would say at this point where we can take a deep breath and then next year just um pay attention to it and I the the letters they receive the push back they receive from cities um played a significant role in that not going through this year so so then we get to the role of the Planning Commission this body is created based on the presumption that residents should be involved in the review and recommendation of land use applications and regulations you are expected to host public hearings for development applications and regulations that is a significant part of your role um the idea is we host the public hearings that gets to council it allows for a more efficient business meeting with the city council um and so it's important that we uh provide this format for those to participate when they have concerns um or even to State their support in instances like we have seen some um the recent peeds they mostly received some significant support um and that was was really cool to see because typically puds you don't see support so um and then the count uh commission mostly makes quasi judicial recommendations to council this means interpreting and applying the ordinances as they're written and then you'll also make some legisl legislative recommendations to council so these are changes to zoning ordinance like we just processed the uh and you'll also be a part of our comprehensive planning Pro uh that's expected to kick off potentially in 2026 uh and so that would be your legislative Authority uh so again the Planning Commission interprets and applies written codes and ordinances uh planning Commissioners are not expected to complete their own technical review that is a process that takes hours uh that is why you have engineering staff and planning staff to take care of that so that your focus can be on how an application does or does not fit within our Ed ordinances and provide feedback on areas where there is a matter of interpretation or city discretion I did want to take a chance to just go over the city's Mission vision statements and cork values the mission statement for Corran the city of corkran will provide high quality public services and a coste effective responsible and professional manner in order to create a preferred environment to live work play and conduct business so this mission statement is why our organ organization exists and then the vision statement being where we want to go the city of Coran will will become a vibrant connected Community while preserving its natural character in agricultural groups and I would say that this is um heavily reflected in our comprehensive plan and therefore also a part of our zoning and subdivision ordinances and then we have uh values such as honesty ethics Integrity Community Pride and partnership efficient and effective Service delivery Community safety fiscal responsibility transparency and responsible decision making there um are explanations these are all on our website uh but these are basically the fundamental culture and actions significant to our success and fulfillment of our mission statement and then we have some core strategies uh We've adopted these strategic goals for to reach our short-term priorities so enhancing Cork and sense of place and identity providing diverse Community amenities and recreational opportunities maintaining excellence and Safety and Security for our community ensure high quality Market driven growth and provide high quality Innovative Municipal services so I would say Community Development um is part of all of those strategies so uh we have a lot of work to do um all right so then we can transition here to the types of applications within the planning commission's purview you will be seeing applications for comprehensive plan amendments rezoning uh zoning or subdivision ordinance amendments preliminary plats preliminary planned unit development plans conditional use permit inter use permit variances in site plans I think the slide is really interesting talks about the Peri of discretion so again the legislative uh functions that you provide on our comprehensive plan our zoning and subdivision ordinances this is where the city has the most discretion these are really when we talk about um uh these application types these are really where we're asking for detailed feedback your detailed thoughts because we have much more ability to say no this we don't like this um or yes this is in line with our vision our goals our values and then uh the next step up our subdivision applications conditional use permits and variances these and actually I don't agree with the variances though the variances should be R so just pretend that's red oh no I'm sorry green variances should be green uh so subdivision applications and conditional use permits um this is not my triangle to be clear it's someone else's triangle um I I maybe we can with the right software you can make your own triangle for next year maybe I can with in design I can fix it for next year but subdivision applications and conditional use permits so these um there is some discretion we have some ability to say this doesn't fit of we are applying the written ordinance for these application types variances are a little tricky so we do have standards for variances but the Practical difficulty uh Ste standard that you have to meet uh is uh really a matter of interpretation at times and the thing with variances we'll get to it a little bit is that the applicant the burden of proof is on the applicant so the city can say simply you haven't met that burden of proof and as long as we uh have findings of fact to support that which are relatively easy because we don't have to approve a variance that we don't like so that's why it's more green than yellow um and I would change that with um some software and then the red is our plan review and building permits so building permits are not going to be in your purview that is completely done administratively we have some other examples of that too where uh the council and Planning Commission recently gave staff some more administrative Authority with a couple different items such as Wetland waivers are now completely done administratively um with our in conjunction with our city engineer and then we have um administrative permits for accessory dwelling units if they meet certain standards they do not need to go through uh the Planning Commission and city council for Authority uh for approval and then we have I'm trying to think there's another example oh for um legal non-conforming expansions for some structures if they meet certain standards that again we've outlined a process where that can be handled in min aely so that's really where we're um checking a box and stamping it really making sure that it fits those standards and then going through um we do not have any other discretion we can't attach a condition to um a administrative permit that isn't and that isn't specifically to say you need to make this change so that you qu so that you meet this condition we can't add a new condition um uh site plan riew is something that does still come in front of you as the Planning Commission but again it doesn't meet these standards that we've outlined in our our Landscaping standards does it meet our parking standards if it does it's an approval we can't add a new condition unless there's a conditional use permit as part of the application uh so uh a little bit more detail on the application types so comprehensive plan amendments uh we have criteria to consider when reviewing Amendment requests so they have to have consistency with the overall goals and objectives of the comprehensive plan we have to consider impacts on public facilities and services such as roads sewer water supply uh particularly if the impacts cannot be mitigated they have potential for resulting development to create an undue impact on adjacent properties and then we should consider development uh should fit the physical character of the neighborhood or improve viability uh so these are just again some of the criteria to consider when someone says hey I would like to ruide my land from single family residential to medium density residential as an example um one that we actually have seen recently was actually the other way around they wanted to go from low density residential to an even lower density and we created a new category for that um so that that um are the comprehensive plan that we're seeing right now um but anyone can request anyone that's a property owner can request to regu their land and we just have have to as a city decide does that overall fit our goals um what are the impacts and then we can decide yes we agree that that change makes sense or we can say nope we want to stick to our plan and then for the zoning ordinance Amendment this is a change to our zoning or ordinance map or text so a map Amendment changes um District boundaries and then the text Amendment changes the district regulations so uh allowed uses um setbacks or examples this again is a legislative decision but it must be consistent with the comprehensive plan so if a property is gu is zoned single family residential and they want to rezone it to commercial they cannot do that with without also amending our comprehensive plan to regu it for commercial so it has to be consistent overall um and it should zoning ordinance amendments should not have a detrimental impact to the immediate neighborhood or Community as a whole the natural environment um and with the caveat that it um mitigation can address some of the natural environment impacts um so it but it shouldn't lead to a situation where you're having unexpected like in the middle of I'm trying to think in the middle of a conservation area that we've identified you wouldn't want to regu or rezone an area as light industrial something like that where there is potential for a bit more pollution uh and then the city's ability to provide efficient public facilities or Services uh so this kind of comes down to uh the whole argument of Musa requiring three units an acre I'm sorry yeah three housing units an acre to allow us to provide efficient and public facilities and services for sewer and water uh and then when you go into our rural side of the city that D City changes to one and 10 um because it's you either want really cluster together housing or you really want um large PE land um to be able to provide efficient public facilities or surfaces in the future is the idea there um so that's some of the factors that go into play when we're considering our zoning organs Amendment we would not want to put three units an acre and the rural side it simply would not make sense right now um and potentially it would never make sense if we don't have the use LINE change would you consider that like spot zoning or that term like can you speak to that has the city encountered stuff like that actually I the next slide we talk about a little bit yeah um spot zoning it's kind of this abstract concept um but the idea being when I've talked to the City attorney about it spot zoning it's not necessar like that oh well uh I've guided this property over here or I've Zone this property over here commercial uh but there's residential next to it that's spot zoning that's not quite what it is you what you were talking what spot zoning is is an incompatible Zone in the like middle middle of a like residential area for example so to put a nightclub um in the middle of bell weather and you have to rezone it so that you can allow that nightclub that's spot zoning um but uh so yeah zoning a single piece of property out of contact with its surroundings so you can still have like a small area that's zoned commercial in a residential area typically it's going to be um at the intersection of two busier roads that would be an example of where it wouldn't be considered spot zoning to have residential next to commercial uh because it's compatible with its surroundings uh it supports that type of use because of the heavier uh volume roadways that are able to serve it um oh yeah that helps and I see it here now too sorry I was step ahead I'm glad that it was a natural transition so yeah so for rezoning again this is the land we talk about zoning ordinance Amendment for map we also call it rezoning um so these are land use decisions again that must be consistent with our adopted comprehensive plan and our future land use map that is within our comprehensive plan if the requested zoning is inconsistent with our uh comprehensive plan then the commission should recommend denial unless there is a general agreement that the rezoning is uh location appropriate and beneficial and then we would go through the process to do that compl Amendment typically by the time it's in front of you they've already had these conversations with staff and they know that they'd have to do a complant Amendment so you'd be seeing it seeing it at the same time unless someone was being um really unreasonable and didn't want to work with staff but so far uh that hasn't happened to the point where you guys have seen an application out of context like that or out of sequence like that we tried to do it all at once or um or it would be a multi-step application where the first step is that reiding the next one is preliminary plats we'll see this quite a bit um there is it's preliminary and final plats are the subdivision process but you will typically only see preliminary plots um because the final plat is simply the exercise of saying yes you met all the conditions of the preliminary plat so plat approval can only be conditioned on specific things because again this is where we enter into that yellow area of discretion where uh we have less discretion it's really about how it meets the letter of the law and but we can condition it compliance with items contained in our adopted comprehensive plan local ordinances or official map in place at the time of submitt uh provisions of public improvements or financial guarantees so you'll have to enter into a developers agreement to um to to deal with the um Street improvements that are necessary to be able to support this development and then satisfaction of objections raised by other agencies so um they have to go through the we can condition a plat on going through the um process for wetland delineation that's that's a good one yet Wetland delineation and our water I'm blinking I don't know the Swift the Swift no that's the Elm Creek Watershed there we go Watershed okay sorry I apologize apparently it's 8 o'l is too late for me um so the preliminary plat will show a proposed Street and lot layout lot size and dimensions proposed easements existing streets have a typically a location map showing where the property is in context with its surroundings General Contours significant vegetations and then we have a public hearing on most preliminary plots they have to hit I think it's more than three more than four you know what no that's not quite true you have a public hearing on all preliminary plots but we only um do a a sign a development sign saying that there is proposed uh development when it's I believe more than three lots um so it's just the idea that typically when it's a smaller subdivision like that um you'll still get a notice with when you're within 500 ft but there it's just less need to put that sign out um and then Planning Commission and city council to review the preliminary plat and then the final plat um we're moving from a proposal to the final Street and lot layout final lot Dimensions permanent easements uh each lot is granted a number a lot and block number they have to submit final grading and utility plans street names are assigned and finalized and then we also need a confirmation of the vegetation to be preserved lands to be dedicated and that is only reviewed by the city council sometimes you'll still see an application that includes the final plat for example um if there is a preliminary planned unit development and they have to do an amendment before they've gotten their final planned unit development plan in place that does come back to the Planning Commission and if we have the final plat will typically um include that just for reference uh but you're not making a recommendation on the final plat can I ask a quick question on the prior yeah side how often have we rezoned and like changed the future land use map in the past couple years when we did that Red Barn Pet Retreat that was the last one that I can remember um and then we changed so Woodland Hills was a comp plan Amendment and then we rezoned that from rsf2 to rsf3 and the cook and then yeah cook Lake Highlands we didn't do a comp plan Amendment but we did re Zone it anything that's a PUD we're technically rezoning to something because you rezone to the planned unit development District because so hope was resoning too yeah and then hope did have a comp plan Amendment because there was a small portion of the land that um needed to be regid from public institution to Mi St remember yeah so hope is another example where we had to do both and then um Fairway Shores had a comp plan Amendment and to be able to have it guided as conservation residential to allow for lower density uh and then then was rezone to a PUD um so yeah we see anytime we have a planed unit development you're going to see that rezoning component you have the rezoning application and then you have the planned unit development plan so that's basically the reason is the colors on the map the Pud plan is the district standards that we're now applying to that parcel and then we have the um plat it's and those are the I think those are the three that would require you don't necessarily need the comp plan Amendment as long as it's consistent with the land use guiding but we've seen a couple in recent years where we have had to kind of start from the beginning to get them through the process are we worried about like precedence at all or not too much no um so planed unit developments I think that there's always some worrying about precedent like there always you want to treat people fairly and consistently but you can as a city also say well we we liked it here but we don't like it here for this reason you can you just you tie it back to the site um you can also say well we tried that it didn't work and we're not going to do it again the city has some ability to say that we made a mistake and we learned from it um so precedence to a point but it's not uncommon to have comprehensive plan amendments it's a living document right if it's not doing what you needed to do as a city then it should be changed okay um so and I'm sorry I don't want a second of time I know we're trying to get through this the last piece I think the gap for me is maybe it's like so obvious and I'm missing it a PUD is always rezoned why so the way that we and I think okay well it's too far ahead so let's go um okay we can we can keep it we can leave it if we need to um so I I'm happy to answer it just in case I don't touch on it but yeah P so the way that we've set up puds in the city is that the plan unit development is a district it is its own zoning District so your always going to rezone to the Pud that's not necessarily how some cities have it set up some cities have it set up as a conditional use permit I think the benefit of that being um is the benefit of it being that a conditional use permit I think you have less authority to say we don't like this because again it's in that yellow whereas rezoning is in our green where we have the most discretion sure yep s cool um so site plan review uh so this is going to be again reviewing of a rendering drawing sketch of a proposed project design and layout on a single parcel so um the subdivision is how we're handling subdividing into several and then the site plan review is much more um much more narrow in its focus and it can be required or allowed and uh can be required of allowed Andor conditional uses we require it for anything that's not um agriculture or a single family home in the city so uh if so a church for example they would have to do a site plan and a conditional use permit with in most of our districts and then um even an allowed use in a commercial dis or permitted use in a commercial commercial thank you commercial District um you would have to still do a site plan review even if you don't need a conditional use permit so uh review elements are going to be again consistency with our guiding documents the relationship to nearby uses location and dimension of buildings proposed grading and Contours we're also looking at the screening and Landscaping utilities including sewer and storm drainage parking and parking and access lighting and signage um so we're typically trying to cover all those performance standards when we're taking doing a site plan review I'm trying to think of an application that we either have coming I think we have a conditional a couple conditional use permits coming that will require a site plan a review component as well but typically it's um the the way the staff report is going to be laid out you won't even really notice it because it's going to be part of that conditional use review um but it does um I'm trying to think of a situation where we just have a site plan review and I can't think of one recently where we just did the S plan typically you're going to see a conditional use permit attached to it um speaking of conditional use permits uh they are an anticipated and allowed use within the zoning ordinance I think there's a lot of confusion with the word conditional use permit people think that it's not an allowed use um but it is it is anticipated that this is a use that can be compatible in this District uh but the conditional aspect of it is that we may need to add conditions to mitigate the impact of the use conditions such as buffers and screening can make the use more compatible uh but the use may not be appropriate in areas where these conditions can't be met so for example um if a drive-thru we typically have that as a conditional use in our ordance um and we if we have screening and buffering standards but let's say a piece of property simply can't meet the standards we have outlined for to be able to approve a conditional use permit for drive-throughs then that typically reflects that that's just simply not a site that can support the drive-thru um because we do have stacking rules and things like that however sometimes um sometimes it's the site we we like that site Maybe because it's a hight trffic area and we don't think that it really is going to lead to a negative impact um so there might be some flexibility or uh variance component that the council might be willing to consider but typically I'd say that um that tends to be a sign that the that if the conditions can't be met that this is not the proper site for that use general of thumb I I would say be flexible with that because we do have have some very tricky sites on high volume Corners in the city where some types of uses um might still actually be the best use of that site um it's just again an area where we have some ability to use the discretion it's in our yellow area um but we also want to make sure that it's compatible with the surrounding uses as well uh you cannot attach a time limit to cups they run with the land once they're granted unless a condition is violated so they can be transferred to uh a different owner property owner uh they there is no Sunset Clause attached to them conditions must be reasonable and directly related to the use so if we're concerned about the impact of that use to an adjacent residential property we can't add a condition that um what would be a good condition we can't add a condition that they um add more parking spaces because we're concerned about the impact to the residential property if if we're concerned about parking on the street um we could add a condition about um we can add a condition to require a certain amount of parking but we we just want to make sure that the reasoning and justification is there to address the anticipated impact so what conditional use permits should be approved if they're compatible with the existing neighborhood conforms with our comprehensive plan do not endanger public health safety and Welfare and meet the applicable standards within the zoning code and then we have a concept called interim use permits not all uh cities at least in um that I've worked in have in room use permits but we do have several um they're very similar to a conditional use permit but it has a sunset Clause is the most significant difference uh So within our zoning ordinance we have conditional home occupation licenses and it's super confusing because we do call them conditional home occupation licenses but it's not a conditional use permit it is an iup um it's one of the areas of the zoning ordinance that I would like to address because that even just that word right there is confusing but there's other parts of that ordinance that need to get fixed um and we do we used to O this is old we used to have accessory dwelling units as an interim use permit but we did change that um so now they're either by admin permit or acup because um we determined as a city it wasn't quite fair to ask Property Owners to make that type of investment to expect them to potentially have to remove it or have to Rego through an approval process when they tried to sell their property um and then we have temporary living quarters so that's another example um um so if someone's uh experiencing a hardship and they needed to use a trailer to rebuild their house uh there is a way to go through uh an interim use permit to allow for that temporary use um an iup should be granted when the use again conforms to the zoning regulations the use is temporary in nature and will terminate on a specific date or event that's the sunset Clause typically our Sunset Clauses are when the property is sold when the When a business ceases to exist um or you could also say something to the lines if we approve a a use we can say that um it will automatically expire in 10 years if for some reason we knew that we didn't want to see that use in 10 years we could add something like that to the permit the city should not incur additional costs with a use that's being granted an interim use permit and the applicant must agree to conditions of the interal use permit so um yeah the thing with here the conditional use permit runs with the land inter own use permits have that Sunset clause and so we have a bit more discretion to be able to check in uh with the use to see if it's something we want to continue our process right now is we have a threeyear review period for every inter use permit you don't we don't have that for conditional uses in the same way uh some very es this is a zoning relief mechanism that approves a departure from the standard ordinance variances may be granted when there are practical difficulties but approval is not required uh economic considerations alone do not constitute a practical difficulty typically what you want to see is uh because of some existing condition of their land that is why complying with the very the the city ordinance as written is simply uh unreasonable youth variances are not allowed in Minnesota and I'll clarify that it's you cannot a use that is not allowed in the district you cannot Grant the ability to have that use exist through a variance um so for example if I wanted to do wanted to have a car wash business uh or something like along those lines in a residential neighborhood um or maybe even like a hair salon in a residential neighborhood um I can't and that's not something allowed in a residential district then I can't get a variance to allow me to have that hair salon um you you would have to add it as a potential use in the district through a zoning ordinance Amendment or something along those lines a variance can set a precedent for applications with similar facts and within the same time frame so that's why it's very important when we do the findings the fact that we are um tying the approval to the specific unique characteristics of the land uh because if we have a very generic approval then someone nearby that might be able to fit those same set of facts and it's within a couple of months of that approval theoretically then yes we should be treating them the same um so you want to make sure that it is a unique finding a fact as unique as possible uh to avoid that precedent um the other thing is time passing you can say as a city that well we approved it here but again we learned from that we found that to be a mistake so we're not going to do that but it's harder to make that argument within about the same year or so so it's just again being mindful of our findings of fact um so criteria for review for variances uh the state has outlined a few characteristics that we should consider and this is an area in our code that needs to be revised and updated to match the prevailing State language uh so property will be used in a reasonable manner the there are circumstances unique to the property not caused by the land owner or their predecessor unique circumstances are typically interpreted to include physical characteristics of the lot so this is the the wetlands the slopes the odd shape of the lot um something that's fairly permanent uh I would say Landscaping is not the greatest unique charact uh circumstance um we have as a city have said things like well we want to retain this Landscaping um but the problem being is Landscaping does get taken out so when you Grant a variance to allow for a reduced setback because you're trying to save the trees and then the property owner go ahead and takes out those trees anyways but you granted them the variance that runs with the land that's not the best idea it's a little harder to do that with a wetland um but Wetlands do change as well and then finally the variants will not alter essential character of the locality is another characteristic in the review uh conditions can be applied to a variance if granted but they must be directly related to the impact created by the variance so we can't when you're looking at a larger application it can be easy to say oh we'll Grant you this variance if you do this but if it doesn't have uh anything to do with the impact of granting that variance that that's not the way to go about it it's not the same as a PUD negotiation quick question um do we have like a library or somehow documented like list of variances we've approved and um like and that maybe also is a broader question for comprehensive plan amendments and whatnot cuz you know going back to the the role of seeing the past learning from it and applying it to the Future it's kind of hard to wrap your arms around like what's happened before all of us were here you know yeah we do I do try as part of the staff review um we do try to consider like we as part of what we're talking about our conversation like well we did that though we're this development and it hasn't gone well I think another example is um fast Lake Crossing we um allowed building setbacks as low at 5T on the side um and then we just just through discussion through the experience of those people living there that really don't like the 10 feet separation they wish they had a bit more separation and just hearing that feedback that's kind of been what has helped us decide that that is a rule that we don't want to reduce lower than 15 ft going forward um and so we've documented that as part of our process for puds now um so I to all that to say we do have a master list of every planning project since about 2004 I believe um and then we have a historical list for um the records that we do have prior to that our recordkeeping skills were are less than desired prior to about 1990 I would say um so there's some information we simply don't have that I believe that doesn't necessarily reflect that it didn't happen but it's just a matter of this is the documentation that we have um I do believe we have a master list for variances I don't know the last time we updated it we probably would have to update it um but we have we do have a few of those trackers that we do for our record to be like oh this property has this variance this property has this to yeah and I know I'm not trying to add work it's just you know the volume the workload the amount of activity it will keep building and it you know it'll be up to us and our function to like see what's working see what's not understand the volume of things we're hearing and seeing so I just curious okay we can keep moving yeah we um I would say like if we ever have a variant application I think that is a perfect question to ask us if we haven't outlined that in the staff report already is have we ever granted a variance to this and we can certainly look at our records and let and let you know um so far our variances in specific I haven't really um had too much learnings from other than that Landscaping example I just provided where we granted a variance based on landscaping and they end up REM moving in said Landscaping that was pretty disappointing um so so I yeah so again I learned from that that that's not something that I think we should base our findings on in the future um or if we do there needs to be a clear condition that they can't remove the landscaping and are responsible for replacing it if it dies something like that you have to have a little bit more teeth to it yeah um conditions can be okay we already talked about that so I think that's a very valid question commissioner Lind um and we we do have uh documents that we can search if there if that ever is a question in in the review of a application okay planed unit developments so again a PUD in the city of corkran is a resoning request and it's to review several buildings indoor uses as a unit um so this is our within our corkran zoning code section 10401 140 and the idea is it's supposed to promote creativity and efficient use of land it allows flexibility and regulations and a mix of land uses it's useful for difficult sites with many natural resources where compliance with birite zoning can be difficult and it's also useful for when um market conditions are changing quicker than we can update our codes and so we're able to respond to um a a developer's uh a developer's real experience with the market and trying to meet a need that there is um without neily having to redraft our zoning ordinance immediately we can kind of deal with it as a one-off solution so a PUD should provide benefits to the city and users not obtained through Straight zoning so for example we have the the Pud policy a public benefit policy adopted last year with 27 public benefits that we've identified um and they should meet a number of those uh we consider the size of the PUD the constraints of the Pud and the extent of the flexibility that they're requesting in exchange for the proposed pey benefits and ideally we should see something that's fairly balanced this is again a legislative decision because we treat it as a rezoning um so feel free to let me know if there's any questions on the plan unit development I think it's a negotiated zoning district is the best way that um it's been described to me uh it's it's going to be something where we have our underlying zoning district and then we have it called out in the Pud plan where it is that we're deviating from our underlying standards and so some of them it could just be fairly minimal changes um I would say Fairway chores as an example where we really didn't have that many Ben or flexibilities being requested we had a number of benefits being received um but but we have also other PE examples such as hope where it was significant departures um partly because I think our mixed use development uh mixed use standards um are incredibly outdated uh they were drafted in about 2004 and have never been used and this was the first time using it and um I was not a fan of that District so I would like to look at that uh because I don't think it meets uh I question if it really met some of our our current goals and I question um how it interacts with our Northeast District plan overall um I think it I I think there's an area where that needs to be simplified um and evaluated but again the Pud application allowed for us to um respond to an existing um applicant an existing proposal without having to make those decision right away we're able to deal with it as a oneoff um and then kind of put it on our list of things that we need to review as a city so for procedures to consider for the uh Planning Commission we Loosely follow Robert's Rules of Order I say Loosely um because we we do the we do the motion we do the second we do the vote um when there's a question of how we should proceed we try to revert to these rules um however I would say that we're also fairly casual in our meetings as well um and I think that we like that about our culture uh but it's still good to have an idea of the Robert's Rules of Order um let me know if you need any resources as to that general rule of thumb for that I found a cheach today that might even be helpful uh and I'll go in a the next slide we'll talk a little bit about um the meeting process which will have some of that in there it's also important that we obey open meeting law uh this is a rule that says that we must be open to the public we must uh notify of our meetings and when a quorum is anticipated so even if uh it's not a meeting but you wanted to do a happy hour as a group it's not that you can't do it it's just that we need to have a notice saying where you'll be but we certainly could do a happy hour um but uh not not at City Hall um so you have to notify that um so we have some open meeting laws you really aren't um responsible for um doing the administration of open meeting laws that's part of staff's responsibilities it's just something to be mindful of um and then we also have compliance with the 60-day rule um so that being a rule in the state of Minnesota that government entities have 60 days to respond to land use applications or any type of decision having to deal with land um so we do have some ability to extend it preliminary plats are automatically extended to 12 Days um and then the city can extend uh extend any application up to 60 days more one time and that's our only extension that we can grant ourselves otherwise it has to be an applicant make that extension request and we cannot extend final plat review because the idea being we already had 120 days to review the preliminary plat um so we only we have a hard 60-day rules for final plats so that is why um when we say things like uh we have to get this application reviewed we can't just postpone it to next month it's because we we're running up against that deadline um so it's important that we do meet our meetings our meeting dates unless we don't have anything on the agenda um and that's why sometimes uh when we've had instances where we didn't have a quorum we had to do a special session um right away the next week so that we could still hit the timeline so does that mean that when kin invites us all to her birthday party she's got she's got to invite the whole city um no we just not [Music] not J we have to we have have to do a quorum notice I yes so I suppose theoretically I guess that's one way to look at it but we would have to notify we' put a notice of a quorum potential Quorum um and then we'd say we' say what it is and then the time and place um and we could probably even say in their official business is not anticipated but I think the idea being if you do discuss something um we need to make sure that that is notified that that that had been properly notified um so that's just um if you do decide to do that maybe we should talk with the city attorney first but um I there some other instances have been like if we have um a an open house for uh a community engagement component or a community event such as night to unite and we are anticipating that all the council members are going to attend or at least three of them or at least you know three Commissioners then we do need to post the event the time and the place and have that uh made sure that that's clear there's a potential for that Quorum the city administrator Jay invited everybody to happy hour at the St in on the meeting that took place uh for St Patrick's and it was he just notified it during the meeting so all that to say I don't know took them up on it the meeting location just changed but there was a there was a proper procedure as to where you needed to be to understand that the meeting location could potentially move but yes um so yeah there's a proper notice process so that that so you are responsible for knowing the open meeting law it's just uh you it's really a communication with staff and we're the ones that take care of making sure that the notice gets up in time um another thing to keep in mind of the open meeting lot is you do not want to email each other uh you can email one other commissioner without it turning into a meeting uh they have determined that an email exchange with all Commissioners or all Council however whatever body the emails between um does constitute a meeting and if you haven't done the public uh law for open meeting law we can get into trouble if there's any discussion so you want to make sure that if you do reach out to another commissioner if you have a question if you if you want to get their Insight on something you can reach out to one other planning commissioner you do not want to do an email to the group um that's also why when staff emails you things like the packets we blind CC all of you so that if you do hit reply it doesn't turn into a open meeting yeah so I don't even think we actually any of us have each other's emails I do provide um with your commissioner orientation when I gave you that jump drive it had the emails at that time you probably don't have three of the email address but I that whenever I've needed somebody's I've emailed you so that's certainly a way to do it too works just fine so I can I can talk with you individually all um that's that's another that's not a problem to talk with me before a meeting with questions um it's more of the the discussion between you five specifically that it turns into an area where we need to be mindful and so just a couple things and just my learnings over the past year are like if you determine you can't be a liaison anymore you know you want to reach out to a commissioner I didn't have anybody's email so I emailed Natalie and then also would you say that it's helpful to let you know if you're not going to make it to these meetings because you want to make sure that you have a quum yes please let me know immediately if you can't make it to a so make sure that was said too yes yep um and then typically once I receive one notice if we can't make it then I send an email saying please confirm you can make it uh just because the couple times where I'm like oh we still have a quorum it'll be fine uh it real quickly turned into we don't have a quorum right so um so now I've just learned that if one person can't make it it's a good time to just check in with the group um so a meeting procedure um so typically the chair will announce an agenda item and clearly State the subject the staff will complete their presentation I do try to keep it fairly minimal uh anticipating that you've all read the agenda packet uh I at the same time particularly if we have a large uh public uh audience I I do try to hit the high points of the uh of the staff report not in the anticipation that they probably didn't take the time to read a significant staff report um or if they did they may have skimmed it so um it basically the staff presentation should be enough for them to understand what we're talking about but it should just be a quick review for you um because that it's not going to have every detail discussed in the staff report and then if it is a public hearing the chair will open the public hearing take testimony and then close the public hearing and then at that time typically we have clarifying questions and actually I should back up staff presentation sometimes is followed by an applicant presentation sometimes it's really informal and they just say hi I'm the applicant let me know if you have questions other times they have their own powerful point of some topics that they want to hit that they um want to further explain maybe something I touched on on the staff report or something along those lines um but then we get to the end of the public hearing and then that's typically an opportunity for uh staff to answer any questions that came up during the public hearing answer any initial questions from the Planning Commission and then um this is kind of where we Loosely follow things per Robert's Rules the chair should then invite a motion kind of right off the bat to frame your discussion and then um then once we have a first motion then the and chair invites a second to that motion and then at that point the chair would restate the motion and preside over discussion and debate by members and so members should be recognized by the chair before speaking again this is kind of where we're fairly flexible we tried to um we don't necessarily have to follow this rigid of a rule the benefit of making the motion right away is again it helps frame the discussion um and the second doesn't even necessarily need to say because yes I support that motion it can just be second for discussion um with the idea of you want to have that start that debate so that's the that's the benefit of doing it like that we at I have not really seen it done like that in a Planning Commission meeting yet um after all have spoken the chair should then repeat the motion on the floor and then the chair calls for a vote on the item and then your options are yes or I uh no or you can abstain I would recommend that we use abstain very sparingly this should be really only when you have a conflict of interest and when I say conflict of interest it's when you have a direct Financial iial uh tie to the decision so maybe your husband or spouse I should say has U is applying for a conditional use permit for an accessory structure on the property um at that point it would make sense as for you to obstain because you would have a conflict of interest with that decision um so then the chair confirms the result of the vote uh chair can seek the clarification from Individual members of their votes if necessary car and the motion carries by affirmative vote of a majority of members otherwise it fails so if the vote if the motion was to approve a resolution and it got a two three vote it fails but we still need a motion in the affirmative so then you would make a motion to deny to recommend denial uh to get the majority vote and that's the motion that carries and that's the official recommendation and then we're almost to the end uh last two slides here so just talking again about legally defensible defens oh my goodness defensible decisions um so and this ties back to the procedural rules and substantial rules so the use the proper procedures is important um and then the oh subject matter decision the Juris jurisdiction is did the body decide a matter that it is empowered to by Statute or ordinance to act on um the proper procedures did the body follow proper procedures such as the open meeting law the public notice uh opening and closing the public hearing did we create a record of decision and we need to make sure that our decisions have applic the application of Property Standards did we apply the proper standards in making that decision uh are are we referring to standards for the rezoning a cup plat what exactly did we use to guide when we made the record of decision um I'm just jump through here can may I ask one question in you uh in regard to the use of proper procedures um after the STA presentation if an applicant is not allowed to give a presentation or address is that a uh deviation from the proper procedures do you know what I mean would that be a legally defensible like claim right they could be like hey you denied me the right to speak but technically it's not yeah I would say I would want to get the city attorney's actual thought on that I would say it is poor practice to not let an applicant address address the commission when they're in front of you the they should have the ability to speak and explain their stance um um at the very least that's poor practice um and then whether or not we have the re uh legal basis to like it to say no you're not going to speak any further uh or not going to speak at all I would want to speak with the city attorney on that I I don't know the answer to that I just know our practice is to to make sure that the applicate has a chance to speak there may come a point during your deliberations where you're like where you say no um at the this time I'm not going to we're not going to take any more comments we're going to finish our deliberation uh but all the more important for you to be able to say that that they've had their chance to speak on the front end um so yeah and one of the there's a case hoit at all versus City of Minneapolis um that it's it's interesting in that uh it's a perfect case on what not to do um as a elected or appointed official um basically from this case there there was a a counselor who um had emails documented emails that made it clear he had made he or she I don't I don't know if to but they had made the decision on not supporting a project before it had really gone through the public hearing process before the facts had been presented to them um and they had doc they had several emails where that stance was clear um and that was they were found to have violated their the due process standards for that applicant so it's important that you do not make up your mind prior to a public hearing you want to be open to the evidence presented at the hearing both through the staff presentation applicant presentation as well as the concerns and objections that may be brought up by the um public um you s there not all uh concerns will have a valid objection that we should deny an application for um but you want to make sure that um you're still giving people the chance the floor so that they can raise their concerns and sometimes it's something that we can easily adjust in the plans especially when we have some discretion um you do not want to advocate for or against a matter for which there will be a public hearing and you want to remain an impartial decision maker so it's okay to have an idea of what way you're leaning before the meeting um you just don't you don't want to be on any kind of record saying that this is how I will vote um and really that should be a personal matter and you should be open to changing your mind based on the findings of the hearing um okay so yeah important to avoid advocating for a position until all information has been presented to you the ex partake contact that's Communications um between decision makers and then conflicts of interest uh again this is defined when we're saying conflicts of interest we're defining this as a direct Financial uh tie to a decision and then discussing projects and meetings on social media again you don't want to be on official record anywhere saying this is how I plan to vote or this is why why this project should go through things like that um and that's what we have for the presentation thank you so much for bearing with me I'm sorry I got Tongue Tied a few times um now I'm sorry are you going to mail that out to us could you email that out to us I can email it too yeah definitely it' be nice to have before we play Jeopardy May I just ask one question sort of taking back all the way to the historical um yeah but when do you do can you recall off the top of your head and if not don't worry about it when the last time that there was like a modification to the um zoning process that most cities do whether it's like a new zoning um like typical are residential commercial industrial those are pretty standard for every area is there when is the last time in our like in history when there has been a change to that whole kind of um process for us for corkran not for Corr like as a whole like in the in the like City Planning genre have there been any updates or modifications where we're like hey we want to build the best cities we possibly can and we have learned that we need to like make this change or add this in order to do it has there ever been so there's been different theories that have come into play over the decades um I could send you some information on the different theories that have come out uh and I would say right now it's the prevailing theories are kind of a mix of each one okay um like okay we there's the there's like The Advocate Theory where planning should be putting uh the needs of the disenfranchised making sure that that's front and center with our model and then there's others where um I'm trying to think of some examples off top of apologies but yeah there's basically different theories that have come into play and I think the last big theory was probably around 1980s 199s and then we have other trends that come into play so new urbanism was a huge Trend when I was going through college um and then um right now as someone who went into environmental policy for my Master's Degree um resiliency sustainability those are some like new focused areas where we're try and then there like the other Buzz word is um diversity making sure that um things are like racial racial equity and diversity and making sure that we're creating cities that allow for um that that don't hinder one group things things like that so um I would say the zoning like comprehensive plan and Zoning that model has prevailed pretty consistently since the 1916s but something that has changed is uh there's at one point there was this desire to move to a form based code so you saw a lot of cities going that direction and less focus on the use more focus on what it looks like um and then from there again the idea of picking and choosing now we have codes that have a little bit of both so you still have some use constraints but the form is a huge bigger concern than um older styles of code and then um trying to think of other things that have changed Through The Years um and now you're starting to see like this push for mixed use and so those are kind of fairly new districts that have been established it kind of happened naturally in like City core areas um but now with a push realizing oh mixed use does make sense in terms of making sure that people don't necessarily need to get into their car to be able to get to basic uses or basic services such as the GR grocery store um and so trying to encourage that through a mixed use District so um yeah okay is it an evolving process and then my final question related to that is is that just done that ever evolving process is done as a city individually yes like I guess I mean like so I'm using the storage for an example right like we did a self uh we did a comparison like look at how all the other cities around us are doing it but like it just takes one city to say we could do something differently the city does not have to to under any other organiz like governing organization they don't need to go through some sort of process in order to say okay we want to um evolve this way in planning so as long as it meet as long as it as long as yeah legal legal process so you don't want to so there are certain like protections that certain classes have we want to make sure that we're uh abiding by that and then we want to to make sure that we're treating everybody consistently that we have a rational basis for the regulations we put in place but yeah we we can be fairly creative with our regulations I think you'll find that on a staff level um I want I would prefer to take a look at what other cities are doing to see okay that worked well or o I like how they have this caveat that seems to be you know it's it's really helpful where we're at in our development timeline we have the opportunity to really see what has happened with neighboring cities and maybe there's aspects that we do like and then um try to correct for the aspects that we don't like um so yeah I would say the last time that we had a big update to our zoning ordinance was 2004 we are probably long overdue for a comprehensive ordinance it's just very expensive um and so you tend to have this kind of limping along like edit edit this portion and Lim belong the problem with that being is sometimes you have uh aspects of the code that talk to each other and you don't real you didn't catch like oh shoot that now impacts here and now we're in a bit of a pickle because that's not what this part of the ordinance says anymore so um that's the downside of kind of doing it oneoff corrections as we have time um I know that recently several cities that are fairly developed now and they they're going back and refining their code and so some of them have completely redone their zoning ordinance and just did it comprehensively but they're also responding to less development applications where they have the capacity to do that right so okay yeah sorry I don't know if that answered your question too it y it did um well perfect does anyone else have any questions before we get into Jeopardy just a comment on that I think you know one of the big things is multimodal and you mentioned walkability and you know there's a lot of people talk talk about it a lot but how do you actually you know get that to happen I know I've read the downtown plan and it sounds like a really nice plan and they're going to do a grid kind of for the housing around there I think they're going to have a Boulevard through the main kind of commercial area of the city so that would probably be more walkable would it wouldn't be on County Road 10 or 116 that you know kind of runs through there um it seems like a fairly small area MH so I'm not sure how far out that goes and how the connectivity goes I know we talk about parks and trails I sat in on the city council meeting and they were talking about the ability to maintain Trails especially in corkran where things are really spread out but I know I live right off County Road 19 and when they did the county road project and then they put a trail along there that trail gets a lot of use but then I go up into Hanover into Wright County and they actually you know clear their Trails of snow in the winter and hopen County doesn't so my husband and a neighbor actually get out there and they they clear the snow until the PLO you know gets too carried away and dumps a six foot pile on it and then of course they can't get through oh no um one question besides just an observation I know a lot of residents you know they have tractors they have I mean we're a rural community is there any ability for people to volunteer to maintain and this probably more of a parks and trails question than a Planning Commission question but do we do we allow volunteers to help with maintenance that's an issue I don't know how that would work with liability I think that could be a question for um probably either Kevin Matson and Jay Tobin the city administrator um in terms of the logistics of that I might that'd be my concern it would just be the liability of that but we have had some talk about um does it make I think you were at the meeting where they talking about would it make sense to have some kind of a contract with uh HOA um with HOA contractors who are tasked with taking care of the trails and with the city then maybe provide a little bit of a uh Financial stien to allow for that uh so that we kind of have a middle ground approach versus having to have more staff to deal with the Trails um so I I I don't want to say that it isn't possible I just wouldn't want to speak to it right now um but I think that's it's a good question okay so thanks anyone else so I know it's a lot of information um so there is a buzzer in front of you um and I will try they're all different sounds so it'll be um so you may have to also raise your hand so I know which one's first whoever presses it but um the goal here is just to try to have an engaging way to go over the material that we just ran through I know it's a lot and I'm happy to pass on the presentation and an email so that you have can look at that at your own time but um I know the last time we did this a couple years ago at the commission it seemed to be a fairly engaging way to kind of recap everything so and I won't buzz in a lot cuz I played it before a 10c head start before she hits her brother uh so yeah we have the one two three four five six categories um I think maybe the chair should just start us off then okay we'll pick historical background for a thousand for a thousand so in this 1926 court case the US Supreme Court upheld zoning as a police power what are we supposed to say true or false you buzz in you buzz in and the Jeopardy is like what is such and such and such the thing yeah the thing yeah I don't remember so this in this this is a 1926 court case that the Supreme Court appell the zoning as a police power wow the village of uh uid orid uid versus Amer reality nice yes good job it's pretty good all right so actually can are you do you have a piece of paper to keep the score I forgot about that I got it you got it okay so a th to from it and then um so then that puts us um back to the board and I think that means you have to p do the next one too planning basics for 200 okay this board was created under the presumption citizens should be involved in the review and recommendation of land the Planning Commission yes correct well that a fun sound yeah I want to hear what everybody said I had to test this all out last night to make sure they still had the batteries were still good in them and my toddler would like just like ran to me like what has happened so excited Colors oh my go I Bor okay so then go ahead and choose the next one then oh I get to do it yep okay um planning basics