[0:37] [Music] [0:44] **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** I call to order the September 5th 2024 Planning Commission meeting. Please join me in the flag pledge. [0:56] **Group:** [Pledging allegiance to America] [1:10] **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** Stand. All right, Miss Marl, will you please take a roll call of members? **Miss Marl:** Zusak? **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** [Silent/Present] **Miss Marl:** Kusa? **Commissioner Kusa:** Here. **Miss Marl:** Tinsley? **Commissioner Tinsley:** Here. **Miss Marl:** Morovich? **Commissioner Morovich:** [Present] **Miss Marl:** Zimmer? **Commissioner Zimmer:** [Present] **Miss Marl:** Swanson? **Commissioner Swanson:** [Present] **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** Right, agenda item number three: approval of minutes. The August 22nd, 2024 Planning Commission meeting minutes, which you do have a revised copy, and the August 22nd, 2024 Planning Commission work session meeting minutes. Fellow Commissioners, any changes? All right, then the meeting minutes will stand. Agenda item number four, Miss Jensen, any announcements? [1:56] **Chris Jensen:** Uh yes, thank you Madam Chair. Before you, you have an updated Ritter Meadows Second Edition plan, showing some revised setbacks to the private drive as well as a revised stipulation from the planning report. I'll address those items during my presentation. You also have revised findings of fact for the Lord of Life Comprehensive Plan and zoning map amendments, and Mr. Dempsey will address those during his presentation. And provided none of these items are tabled, they will move forward to the September 16th City Council meeting. [2:43] **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** All right, thank you. Agenda item number five A, this is a public hearing for Ritter Meadows Second Addition, to consider the application of TLD LF3 Ritter LLC for a revised preliminary plat of 29 single-family lots, 99 detached townhome lots, and 135 attached townhome units to be known as Ritter Meadows Second Edition. And I lost my paper that said who was going to be here to talk about it... **Chris Jensen:** Christine Cook will be here to give a brief presentation. **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** Thank you. You can put this up to show, or yep, you can put it right on that table and then they can—oh, right out where? Yep, right there. And then they can zoom in from the top. I think you have to... yeah, push the keyboard out a little bit. Is it like that? Okay. [3:29] **Christine Cook:** Well, good evening Vice Chair and Commissioners. Thank you for having us here tonight. My name is Christine Cook, I'm a development manager for Twin Cities Land Development. Our address is 4800 Memorial Highway, Golden Valley, Minnesota 55422. As outlined in the staff memorandum, we're only making a few minor changes to the preliminary plat that was approved back in January 2024. Those changes—currently those two changes that we're requesting your approval on—is adding four eight—four-unit buildings on the west side of Keynote Loop and then also shifting some of the parking to the south. The lot count for the detached villas will remain at 99 units, the single-family at 29, and attached townhome units will increase from 127 to 135. So the overall lot count will increase from 255 to 263. As mentioned in the staff report, there's sufficient area to accommodate these additional townhome units and we still exceed the minimum lot area and density requirements as outlined in the RM-1 medium density zoning district. These eight additional units, as noted, will be platted and constructed with the second edition, and the final plat is currently slated for approval by City Council on October 7th. Twin Cities Land Development has no concerns with the staff memorandum outlining the six stipulations and the changes that Chris made to stipulation number six, or the engineering report that was prepared by Jonathan. Lastly, City staff has been great to work with on these recent applications, and we have submitted the updated drawings as Chris mentioned this afternoon, addressing stipulation number six regarding the 30-foot setback along the private drive. We appreciate your time and opportunity, and if you have any questions, we're here to answer them. Thank you. [5:28] **Chris Jensen:** Thank you. Good evening Commissioners. This is a public hearing for a revised preliminary plat for Ritter Meadows Second Edition. As Miss Cook said, it is to add eight attached townhome units to the existing preliminary plat for a total of 263 units. Just a refresher of where it is located: it is north of 205th Street and west of I-35. It is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan which guides it for medium density, and the property is zoned RM-1, in which attached townhomes up to six a row are a permitted use. This is the previously approved preliminary plat that was approved in January of this year. The original one had a cutout in this area for an exception parcel that was approved earlier in 2023, and then in January of this year, this was brought forward; the underlying property owner was able to acquire the exception parcel, so the preliminary plat was revised to include Keynote Avenue through here. So this is the current approved preliminary plat. I just wanted to show you: this is generally the area where those townhomes are being added, and this is the revised, and here is the location of those eight units. The location of Keynote Loop, which is a private drive, is in the same place; there was no shifting of the existing road. These units up here along 203rd Street were platted with the Ritter Meadows First Edition plat, and that area is currently under construction. Just as a reminder, this is the phasing plan: the areas in green have been platted with the first edition, the areas in blue or purple are what's proposed to be platted with the second edition, and then the pink is what is shown for the third edition. These exhibits are from the revised plans that the developer did submit to staff earlier today; they're going to look very similar to the ones that were submitted or distributed to you with your reports. The primary issue was there was an error in the original Planning Commission staff report that incorrectly identified the setback for these units along the private drive to have a 25-foot front yard setback when it should have been 30. So Twin Cities Land has been working on these plans to modify them to shift those units back to meet that 30-foot setback. They're also changing the length of these unit lots slightly to accommodate more possible housing styles; the width is staying the same, but the depth is increasing slightly. And they will finish up all of the revisions on these and have them ready to go for when the item goes to the City Council for approval. I also wanted to note that their guest parking spaces do still meet—they do have the one space for every two units, and they are meeting that requirement on the site. This is the revised landscape plan. They are planning on having plantings along Keynote between those new units and the road. Keynote is classified as a minor collector in the city's Transportation Plan, so it doesn't have to have that buffer yard—that deeper buffer yard—that we would typically see with a major collector or higher street, but they are still doing some plantings in that area to help buffer those units. That is all I have for you. I did amend stipulation number six slightly; I have shared that with the applicant and I will read it for you here: "Prior to City Council consideration of the preliminary plat, the development plans (rather than the site plan) for the attached townhome units that front on Keynote Loop must be revised to reflect the 30-foot front yard building setback to the back of curb of the private drive, and that the attached townhome units 77 through 84 (which is the added units) have that minimum 20-foot rear yard setback to Keynote Avenue." I believe the plans are showing that, but I just wanted that in the stipulation. And I will stand for any questions you may have. [10:06] **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** Thank you. And this is a public hearing, so anyone wishing to speak on this agenda item can please come forward. [Pause] I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. **Commissioners:** Aye. **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** All opposed? All right, the public hearing is now closed. Fellow Commissioners, any comments on this revised plat? Will the other Commissioners check... my microphone was set to red, so are yours on? [10:33] **Commissioner Zimmer:** Madam Chair? Yes, Miss Jensen, with the change in stipulation, when we vote on this, it would be as amended? **Chris Jensen:** Correct. **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** All right. This one was relatively straightforward, so I feel like we're ready for a motion. **Commissioner:** Madam Chair, yes. Motion to recommend approval of the Ritter Meadows Second Edition revised preliminary plat subject to the six stipulations listed in the August 30th, 2024 planning report, as amended. **Commissioner:** Second. **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** I have a motion and a second. Miss Marl, will you please take a roll call vote? **Miss Marl:** Zusak? **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** Aye. **Miss Marl:** Kusa? **Commissioner Kusa:** Aye. **Miss Marl:** Tinsley? **Commissioner Tinsley:** Aye. **Miss Marl:** Morovich? **Commissioner Morovich:** Aye. **Miss Marl:** Zimmer? **Commissioner Zimmer:** Aye. **Miss Marl:** Swanson? **Commissioner Swanson:** Aye. **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** And Miss Jensen, when will this one go to City Council? **Chris Jensen:** Preliminary plat will go on September 16th. **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** All right, well thank you so much and good luck on your project. That brings us to agenda item 5B. This is the Lord of Life Church rezoning and Comprehensive Plan amendment. This is to consider the application of Frisbee Properties LLC on behalf of Lord of Life Church for the following: one, Comprehensive Plan amendment to reguide property from public and quasi-public to low-medium density residential; and two, zoning map amendment to rezone property from RS-2 single-family residential district to RST-2 single and two-family residential district, to consider allowing 24 residential twin homes and one recreational clubhouse building. And here to give an overview of the project is Jamie Thompson and Matt Frisbee. [12:23] **Jamie Thompson:** Good evening Madam Chair and Commissioners. Thank you on behalf of our community for all that you do. It's another opportunity for us to be before you tonight and we thank you for that. Some people wish to know just a little context: one reason Lord of Life is pursuing this opportunity is that there are some new opportunities before us. We've been notified even by Frank Dempsey and his team that when we purchased our land in 1999, there was a DNR protected watercourse as our eastern boundary that has been released, and so we have some more land available to us to partner with somebody else on. For those that may have no context of Lord of Life or myself, my name is Jamie Thompson. I was the pastor appointed to start Lord of Life Lutheran Church back in 1994, so this is my 30th fall in this community. We stood before this Council in 1999 purchasing the 15-acre site, and then again when we broke ground and the Council approved our project, and we are most grateful. Some people say, "Well now that you're selling this, what does that mean for our congregation?" We still plan to be before you another time with a second phase and a third phase, but like a lot of ministries our size post-COVID, post a lot of other concepts and parameters and issues, that timeline just gets pushed out a little bit and the trajectory is a little flatter. So that's one reason that brought us along to this. I do need to take this opportunity to briefly thank Frank Dempsey and his team for always being there for us. Through my 30 years, whenever I've walked through the door, that gentleman has made himself available and accessible and has been incredibly insightful and supportive while at the same time being direct and clarifying parameters. So it's always been very, very helpful. For those that need a little introduction to the gentleman standing with me tonight, Matt Frisbee and his team: Matt Frisbee is the architect of Lord of Life. He designed Phase One; he's put in place designs for Phase Two and Phase Three. When we reached out to Matt saying we're looking to do this, we reached out to Matt to say, "Would you partner with us going to the city?" and as soon as we started talking about some options with the city, it became a great opportunity for Matt and his team to say, "Jamie, what if we became the developer and the buyer?" And again, we trust Matt and his team because we also want him back with us for Phase Two and Phase Three for our projects in the future. Matt's been most gracious with that. One of the blessings of Lord of Life through the years has been to partner with our neighbors, and so we want to do everything we can to honor them. We know that we're asking for a zoning shift and a rezone here, but we believe that what Matt has conceptualized here and is presenting honors all of that. We had our first neighborhood meeting and we heard a lot of the same questions that Lord of Life members brought before us, and all were able to be answered. We know that there will still be some questions out there, but we feel confident that we can honor them the best we can. And then finally, on behalf of Lord of Life, we just again thank you for your time. There will be some members of our leadership team that join me in the future for next steps as well. So thank you. [15:58] **Matt Frisbee:** Thank you. I'm Matt Frisbee with Frisbee Properties, acting as the developer. I will throw this out here just for a quick reference—if they could grab that, that's not too much trouble. So like Pastor Jamie had mentioned, we've been working with Lord of Life since 2007 and stayed in touch, and it's been a great site here and we know it well, and I'm sure you know it well too. It's a great infill here that we feel... for the patio homes that we're putting in here, these are going to be slab-on-grade; they'll have a one-story look. We will have a partial two-story in the attic truss on these, but the idea is to keep them very low. They're three-to-four bedroom, fully accessible units if that's what's desired to be purchased. But the nice thing about this infill site is the buffers. So we have an outlet that was already established down here and that's a retention pond that runs the length of the south border. Pastor Jamie had mentioned about the previous drainage easement there that's been released, but that's the big landscape buffer there to the east. This is all multi-family over on this side, and then of course we got the church on this side, we got the road on the other. So the impact that we felt—we've nestled this in and we feel very comfortable with the design and hitting the market right. There was a question about the clubhouse—just as a correction, we've taken the clubhouse out and now it's more open pavilions, pickleball, you know, gardens and kind of a dog area here too. So in your write-up, it did say clubhouse; that has been slightly altered—rather than a full-blown clubhouse, it's more outdoor amenities. And then we'll be working with the church on the expansion of their parking lot because we do shave a little bit of their parking on this side. And then of course we have a long ways to go with site plan approval and things to go with you too. So I'll leave it at that for now just to see if there's any questions as we go through, but again thank you for the opportunity to be in front of you. [18:06] **Frank Dempsey:** Thank you. Good evening Madam Chair and Planning Commissioners. I thank the applicant and the property owner, Lord of Life Church and Jamie Thompson, for making this presentation—introduction, I should say. The project before you this evening is to allow the development of about 5.7 acres in the south half or south portion of the church property. This is a 12-acre property; I believe it was developed in the late 90s, and it's located south of Dodd Boulevard, which is County Road 46, and east of Dodd Lane. The neighborhood grew up around this church after the church was developed for the most part. The zoning of the property here is—let's start with the Comprehensive Plan. The amendment to the Comprehensive Plan is proposed because the density would be increasing and also because the property is now guided public/quasi-public, which are institutional type uses (schools, churches, etc., religious uses). And so this portion of the property, roughly, would be the area that would be rezoned to a residential zoning district consistent with the residential zoning around it, except it's going to be a slightly higher density to allow twin homes instead of single-family homes. Single-family homes are located to the west and to the south, and then there's attached townhomes to the east—11 buildings and I think 80-some units or more than that, I believe. So this property would be guided then low-to-medium density residential. The zoning of the property is RS-3 single-family, and then the rezoning would include a zoning map amendment to RST-2. As you can see here, there's city outlots that surround the south and east portion of this property; those were dedicated with the developments of the property, including the church. This portion—this is a drainage swale that runs through here. Also, with the townhomes to the east, there's stormwater basins in here, and then to the south is a stormwater basin that separates this property from the single-family homes to the south. The proposal is for 24 units in 12 buildings, so they're attached twin homes. The outdoor recreation space, which was originally proposed with a pavilion or a clubhouse—and I included that as part of the planning report because they indicated previously that they were considering it one way or another—it sounds like they're not going to have it. So if they do not construct the clubhouse, it's not going to be in any violation of whatever site plan may be approved with the preliminary plat because it was mentioned. The cul-de-sac here will require a variance because it's slightly—I think it's 30 feet longer than the maximum 600 feet in cul-de-sac length. That's not unusual at all in some developments in order to maximize the development of the property. The city has concerns about very long cul-de-sacs, but much more than that is being proposed. But this is well within reason; it's really a matter of the number of units having a limited access to one street. In this case, there is another way out if there's an incident here at this intersection—you know, fire or other some kind of emergency—there's still another way out. We'll get to that with the preliminary plat when that is proposed through the process, but I want to explain what is happening here. These are the units that are proposed; these are similar units that were constructed in another city, just to give a general idea. These are the floor plans; they're slab-on-grade buildings primarily, and so it's—I think 1,100 to 1,600 square feet is my recollection for the building size, and then some have second floors as well. So there was a neighborhood meeting that I requested that the applicants hold, inviting property owners within 500 feet, which is the same people that would be notified of this public hearing and in a future preliminary plat. There were approximately 20—could be a few more people because people are coming and going—but my best count was about 20. It was on June 10th. There were questions regarding ownership of the property or rental; they are planned to be owner-occupied. That's not a land-use consideration, but one of the questions that was made. And then there were anticipated values, which is also not a consideration that the city takes into account, but roughly $500,000 value is what was noted; 1,300 to 1,600 square feet sizes. And there will be a Homeowners Association. There were questions about the view from the single-family homes that are to the south looking to the building. My measurements on that before the meeting is that it's roughly 140 to 185-foot separation from property line to property line across that outlot. There's no screening requirement, and it would be up to the builder to decide whether they want to plant additional trees along that south boundary of the proposed site plan. And there were questions about whether the buildings would be uniform in design; they will be. And common fence design—I believe that the architect had mentioned that the fences are proposed to be uniform in design, but that's ultimately the decision of the Homeowners Association. So there are draft findings of fact, and I did include a clarification in a handout. After speaking with the City Attorney, it was determined that we should have some language in the findings of fact that specifies the maps that we're talking about, so there's no question of what is being rezoned and what is being amended on the land use plan. So that would be included language that you see that's highlighted in yellow; otherwise the rest of the findings remain the same. Findings of fact are required for rezoning and Comprehensive Plan amendment. And I'll stand for any questions, thank you. [25:04] **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** Thank you. This is a public hearing, so anyone wishing to speak on this agenda item can please come forward. [Pause] **Commissioner:** I'd make a motion to close the public hearing since there's no one coming forward. **Commissioner:** Second. **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** I have a motion and a second. All those in favor to close the public hearing please signify by saying aye. **Commissioners:** Aye. **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** All opposed? Right, the public hearing is now closed. Fellow Commissioners, thoughts? I did write a couple questions down, and I'm not sure if this is for Mr. Frisbee or not. In the list of frequently asked questions, it was, "Would there be an HOA because of their home ownership?" Is there a need for an HOA or will there be one? [26:20] **Matt Frisbee:** Thank you. There will be an HOA because they'll have ownership of their place and then the HOA will be taking care of all the grounds and the surroundings, and then there'll be covenants and everything else guiding the development. **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** Okay. And then the second question along with that—I learned about this at the other meeting—is this a "Poo Prints" community? Is this... the kind of definition I had to Google? The kind of thing that if you have a pet, you have to have its byproduct registered with Poo Prints and then you can track it down? Is that... sounds like not what you guys are doing? [27:05] **Matt Frisbee:** I would not say we couldn't head that direction to be honest, but we haven't got to that much detail. It's not a requirement. **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** I just thought it was very interesting that that was a direction one of the developers was going, so I wanted to ask. Okay, that was my question. It's twin homes, so where did I see in the model... some are two-stall garage, one... are some are one? [27:52] **Matt Frisbee:** All of the units are two-stall garages. Some of the units are three bedrooms below with a bonus room above, which could be a home office, playroom, or another bedroom. And the other ones—the smaller units—are two bedrooms below, still with a bonus room above. And just to clarify from a square footage standpoint, they range from 1,500 to 1,800 square feet. Some of the examples that you did see in the pictures of one that we finished up in Lake Elmo—now keep in mind that was all active senior, very guided. This will be open, this is not age-restricted, but that one we did have some one-car garages in that one just because of... it was a senior-oriented project. **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** Okay, great. Thanks for the clarification, those are my questions. [28:37] **Commissioner:** Yes. I am in favor of this rezoning and the Comprehensive Plan amendment. You know, and I think this is a great product. I know it looks great, and there's definitely a need and desire for more housing like this in the community. But I did have a question for Mr. Frisbee. This city used to have an ordinance—we do not anymore—related to slab-on-grade providing some type of protection in the case of inclement weather. So this isn't something that you are required to do, but I just wanted to know if you had any thought—has any thought gone into, especially with the being senior housing, of what they might do in inclement weather? And just to recap, this isn't guided to a senior, but more than likely there will be seniors here. [29:24] **Matt Frisbee:** That's a very good question. And what we typically do is we look at an inbound room and we reinforce that. It's not going to be a concrete bunker, but we usually look at it as something that gives it that one extra level of protection. But correct, we won't have a basement to go to, and with the storm systems and different things that we do have, that's a very valid design question. **Commissioner:** Yep, that's wonderful. The city used to have an ordinance and, you know, normally it would be for a, you know, kind of secure room like that. It's not required, but it's wonderful that you're thinking of that. That was your question too? Okay. [30:11] **Commissioner:** Oh, I'm in agreement. I appreciate the product that's being put forth in front of us to consider tonight. You know, a variety of life-cycle housing of different types—all types within the city of Lakeville—I think is a good thing. I did have a question: I know I heard some comments about future phases of the church. Those are still on the table with what we're talking about here today? Okay, was just curious about that. But otherwise, I think this is a good example of putting a site into, I'll say, a better utilization rather than sitting vacant. Not that it's vacant with the church on the parcel, but I'll say more to its potential is the wording I'll go with. Look forward to seeing this come forward in the preliminary plat process where we get a chance to kind of crack into some of the details of the proposal and everything else, but I'll be voting in support of this. Thank you. [30:58] **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** All right, any other thoughts? Sounds like we're ready for a motion. **Commissioner:** Madam Chair, yes. I move to recommend approval of the Lord of Life Church Comprehensive Plan amendment and zoning map amendment and approval of the findings of fact dated September 5th, 2024, as amended as they're in front of us. **Commissioner:** Second. **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** All right, I have a motion and a second. Miss Marl, will you please take a roll call vote? **Miss Marl:** Zusak? **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** Aye. **Miss Marl:** Kusa? **Commissioner Kusa:** Aye. **Miss Marl:** Tinsley? **Commissioner Tinsley:** Aye. **Miss Marl:** Morovich? **Commissioner Morovich:** Aye. **Miss Marl:** Zimmer? **Commissioner Zimmer:** Aye. **Miss Marl:** Swanson? **Commissioner Swanson:** Aye. **Vice Chair Janice Zusak:** Well, thank you so much and good luck in your future project. And with that, meeting is adjourned.