[00:00:00] **Chair**: Pur agreement tonight oh wow where're at well we sold it all right everybody we will go ahead and call to order the City of Lake Elmo Planning Commission meeting for April uh 8th 2024 uh first item is to please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. [00:00:15] **All**: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. [00:00:30] **Chair**: thank you very much uh just before we jump to the agenda I want to introduce and welcome our newest commissioner uh commissioner Dean Tran. [00:00:40] **Commissioner Dean Tran (Sam Dean)**: all right yeah I'm Sam Dean excited to to be here with you all and um support the community and and work with the City of Lake Elmo. [00:00:50] **Chair**: welcome aboard Sam thank you all right second item for this evening is to approve this evening's agenda which includes approval of our minutes a single public hearing as well as some communication updates. [00:01:05] **Commissioner Ray Camp**: move to approve the agenda for April 8th 2024. [00:01:10] **Commissioner Bo**: I second. [00:01:12] **Chair**: motion by commissioner Ray Camp seconded by commissioner Bo to approve the agenda all those in favor please say I. [00:01:18] **Commissioners**: I. [00:01:20] **Chair**: opposed hearing none motion passes unanimously third item then is to approve the minutes from uh our previous meeting of March 25th 2024 uh any edits alterations comments hearing none will'll entertain a motion to approve. [00:01:35] **Commissioner Geffrey**: move to approve the minutes from last session. [00:01:38] **Commissioner Ray Camp**: second. [00:01:40] **Chair**: motion by commissioner geffrey second by commissioner Ray Camp to approve the minutes of March 25th 2024 all in favor I. [00:01:48] **Commissioners**: I. [00:01:50] **Chair**: opposed hearing none the motion passes unanimously uh at this point we will move to item four which is a public hearing this is the PF zoning District text Amendment uh we'll hear from City staff uh before opening the public hearing. [00:02:05] **City Staff**: all right good evening members of the Planning Commission um we're going to talk a little bit about the public facilities District here and some text amendments that uh staff are proposing after a review of the city's ordinance uh so as a little bit of background to you um this is a city initiated text Amendment so we're not on a strict schedule but um we we have had an opportunity through a few different um projects to review the public facilities zoning district and uh think about some of the standards that we seeing in there and the context of how they'll work with some of these different uh projects that are kind of in the pipeline so um there are a number of different types of facilities that are regulated within or allowed Within the public facilities District this includes City facilities uh school facilities and religious institutions so these are all semiu or public uh uses in the districts uh there are some standards that we've identified which present limitations um that don't seem to be necessary for the city and its own facilities along with uh expected for other uh similar types of facilities and so we'll talk a little bit about each of the changes that are proposed in more detail uh just wanted to present to you the zoning map the city has the public facilities that is that light green zoning District um it comprises a very large area that's Lake Elmo Park Reserve there's also city parks that are zoned with this public facilities District that are um very large I would excuse me I would say relative to some other Parcels uh Sunfish lake is a good example of that and then you've got different uh institutional es that are not technically the city uh the Stillwater schools the other area school districts do have sites with the PF zoning districts and you've also got some religious institutions on the north side of the city primarily uh that are also zoned PF so that's just a little bit of a summary um the public facility zoning district is unique uh in in one sense because it's used both within and outside of the Musa so there's not a ton of zoning districts you have uh that that have that kind of distinguish distinguishing Factor so a little bit quickly about the purpose of this District it's up on the screen um it's really intended to provide General performance standards for public and semi-public uses so it's a pretty specific purpose uh there is some language about in um maintenance and preservation of the established rural character of the city um so that there is that piece as well all right so I just want to provide a quick summary before I dive into each code revision code revision. [00:04:45] **City Staff**: first we're proposing to allow by right as a permitted use public parks playgrounds and open space this would not restrict the city from having to apply to a conditional for a conditional use permit to itself which is actually a thing that cities do have to do when uses are conditional uh it would remove the limitation there's a very specific limitation on Wastewater generation that seems to be outdated and not kind of with the the the current way that the city regulates land uses it would remove the Mac yeah there's a maximum parcel size limit usually we see minimums in this case uh we have a maximum of 20 acres which is pretty restrictive uh for all of the uses that we've discussed we'also establish a lot coverage for any lot that would be over 20 acres and lastly uh update a reference to architectural standards. [00:05:30] **City Staff**: all right so with the uses this is exactly what it would look like in your ordinance the red underlined text is what would be added the strike through text is what would be deleted so we're simply adding permitted uses to the zoning district and limiting those to City uh uses on city property so it says following public uses are permitted on city property so that would be parks and playgrounds indoor and outdoor athletic facilities and public open spaces or storm water ponds so the city could establish um or expand any of those types of uses without needing to get a special approval. [00:06:05] **City Staff**: the next change is that limitation for Wastewater generation so this is found in all of the uses within the PF zoning District that are conditional so for religious institutions facilities for local state County government libraries Etc um they all have this limitation of three Sac units per 3.5 Acres or 235 gallons per day per net acre of land this is something that we've researched as planning staff and went back to the 1980s or early 90s for the earliest reference of this particular uh provision in the city's ordinance this used to be actually something that was used as well for commercial uses which has since been removed for those Business Park and Commercial uses so it doesn't really seem like it's going to benefit the community to have this limiting public uses when it's not even used for limiting commercial uses and if we're trying to limit the intensity of land uses which is really what a provision like this does because the um estimates are based on Gross floor area the best way to do that is is through lot coverage and setbacks that really helps us to provide a a good um way to to require intensity be located on a site. [00:07:05] **City Staff**: this next slide is just simply showing you that we're removing the maximum parcel area we're actually not proposing to replace this with the new standard uh because public facilities come with needs of all shapes and sizes in terms of land you might have a a water tower on a very small parcel or you might have you know much larger use on a much L larger parcel okay so we have proposed a new impervious surface uh limit or a maximum uh for Parcels that are larger than 20 acres the 32% was simply continuing that pattern here uh that you'll see on the on the chart for Parcels between 5 and 10 they're at 38 between 10 and 20 at 35 and then we go over 20 and they're subject to 32% I would note you that there are a number of public facilities Parcels that are in the Shoreland district and in those cases we're going to take the more restrictive impervious surface maximum. [00:08:00] **City Staff**: lastly uh the performance standards this uh this the code actually has a reference in it that's really difficult to find it's to the 200000 to 2010 Lake Elmo comprehensive plan that resource is not available online um first and foremost uh it's difficult uh to to Really locate actually in in the time that we've spent looking for it and so instead of uh trying to waste time doing that we figured this is something that we can update to the existing design standards manual and we have a section in here uh for commercial buildings uh that will be a good cross reference because they're similar in nature in terms of um the design there are specific materials that are mentioned in the public facil District we're not proposing to change those things simply the the way that buildings are designed um is guided well by that that um that document the guidance standards manual so that's it uh the findings that the Planning Commission will have to make in order to approve this uh recommend approval of this amendment are that it's consistent with the public facilities District's intent and and that it's also consistent with the city's comp plan so we have a public hearing notice which was uh put in the local newspaper we have not received any written or other or verbal comments to dat to staff uh I think we do have one person in the audience that is looking to provide you with uh some comments so this takes me to my staff recommendation uh which is a motion to recommend approval of the ordinance amendments so with I'm happy to take questions. [00:09:40] **Chair**: thank you much questions for staff? [00:09:45] **Commissioner Geffrey**: could you just kind of give me a real world example of an indoor Athletic Facility on a PF zoning District I mean I think of indoor Athletic Facility I think of like kakuro volleyball now would that indoor athletic you if you could give me an example and then it would be owned by the city or the county or something like that. [00:10:05] **City Staff**: yeah so when we were talking about that as staff we're kind of trying to Envision what are the different uses that the city um might want to allow or have controlled on its own sites uh and so that was one of them I'm going to go back up to that um so we can reference it so it would be similar to a kakuro type to type use um there wherever a sports complex the city wanted to build on its own property that might be um indoor or outdoor might be something that it would look to do. [00:10:35] **Commissioner Geffrey**: so could that be privately owned then or would it be you know public. [00:10:40] **City Staff**: if it's city property then then the city can decide if theoretically if if you the city land Le I can through that technically it it would have to be permitted by the city but yes it could be something that's private. [00:10:55] **Commissioner Geffrey**: okay thank you. [00:10:57] **City Staff**: yep. [00:10:58] **Commissioner Bo**: any additional questions this is just to clean up there's no there's nothing coming forward that we might have to think about this is just to clean up the text is that correct. [00:11:10] **City Staff**: yeah I mean there's there's a few different things that we've we've talked about project wise as staff but this is not associated with any one application in particular this is seen as a way to clean the ordinance up while you know we have a moment before some other projects may come in so it it could be City expansion of Park uh park lands it could be religious institutions it could be any of these uses that are going to come in with some of these um some of these proposals. [00:11:35] **Commissioner Styles**: can you double click on the uh removal of the waste water generation I think it was under religious institutions and so something like that so is this saying there would be no septic like it's all within Musa so it would have to be connected to City. [00:11:55] **City Staff**: so this one was difficult to when we first encountered this with with one of the um projects this was kind of difficult to interpret like what it's trying to get at um and particularly because we have properties that are both in and outside of the Musa so um we we looked at it with basically both lenses because we can um use a sack determination from the me counil to figure out how many um sack units that they would have as whatever the use is proposed to be so we would use that or we can look at the gallons per day on a septic system and with that one of the things that we would do is also kind of look at M console information because this just the best Apples to Apples way to go about um enforcing this particular provision but I would say it's just it's a pretty inelegant way to regulate the intensity of a land use if at the end of the day the gross floor area of of a building is what this is trying to control then maybe we should be using a lot coverage maximum Which is far easier to interpret with a a lot less room for gray area in the interpretation. [00:12:55] **Commissioner Styles**: thank you. [00:12:57] **Chair**: any additional questions thank you much uh to the Commissioners this is a public hearing so we'll need a motion to open. [00:13:05] **Commissioner Bo**: I move to open the public hearing. [00:13:08] **Commissioner Breeze**: second. [00:13:10] **Chair**: motion by commissioner Bo second by commissioner Breeze to open the public hearing all those in favor I. [00:13:15] **Commissioners**: I. [00:13:18] **Chair**: opposed hearing none the motion passes unanimously the public hearing is now open at 7 14 p.m. uh and then as a reminder as public hearings as well for our new commissioner um Bill I've got your paper here so we call up everybody who fills out spits these papers they have up to six minutes to to talk and speak uh it's their opportunity to talk at us kind of through us it's not a Q&A or back and forth or anything like that if there are kind of rhetorical questions that come up we can take that back as as Commissioners after we close the public hearing um so Bill if you want to come up and if you don't mind just repeating name and address for the record and uh as we all start a timer there as we get down to a minute I'll give you a one minute if you're going to take that long and catch you from there. [00:14:05] **Bill Balik**: great I appreciate that uh Commissioners thank you for the opportunity to to speak I um my name is Bill balik I'm with Rock Point Church uh I'm an elder with the church and um um I wasn't aware that I was going to be speaking this evening so I'll keep my comments very brief um we've had a chance to uh review the edits and I just wanted to reinforce and endorse um them as proposed and that's the extent of my comments we uh we support them entirely so thank you. [00:14:40] **Chair**: thank you thank you Bill. [00:14:43] **Bill Balik**: thanks. [00:14:45] **Chair**: much appreciated any questions for me all good thank you Bill thank you very good thank you perfect uh and with that and with uh nobody else in the audience we'll go back to the Commissioners we will need a motion to close the public hearing. [00:15:00] **Commissioner Styles**: move to close the public hearing. [00:15:03] **Commissioner Breeze**: second. [00:15:05] **Chair**: motion by commissioner Styles seconded by commissioner Breeze to close the public hearing all those in favor please say I. [00:15:12] **Commissioners**: I. [00:15:15] **Chair**: opposed hearing none the motion passes unanimously the public hearing is now closed at 7:16 p.m. uh at this point we'll go back to the Commissioners uh in our packet there is a recommended motion you mind pulling that back up on this thank you perfect thank you motion to recommend approval of zoning text amendments to the PF public and quasi public open space zoning District as proposed by City staff. [00:15:45] **Commissioner Geffrey**: motion. [00:15:48] **Commissioner Styles**: I second. [00:15:50] **Chair**: motion by commissioner geffrey seconded by commissioner Styles uh to recommend approval go to discussion uh commissioner Jeffrey you want to kick off. [00:16:05] **Commissioner Geffrey**: sure um I like the idea of cleaning things up moving along with the times um appreciate staff always looking back into these sorts of things and keeping Pace with all the new development uh developing that's going on these seem pretty straightforward um they seem less restrictive and I'm always for Less restriction so um and I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that so thank you much. [00:16:30] **Commissioner Styles**: I think pretty open and shut I mean it moves us along and yeah it's makes sense so no other comments on that. [00:16:40] **Chair**: thank you open up to the rest anybody have any additional comments I just I appreciate City staff going back and and looking through this and uh revising it so that it's actually interpretable and enforceable um you know seeing things that are based off the 20 2010 comprehensive plan that no one can even find makes sense that we should change things like that so thank you for your work on this and the rest of Staff anything else all right again uh motion on the table is to recommend approval of the zoning text amendments uh to the PF public and quasi public open space zoning District as proposed by City staff all those in favor of the uh motion please say I. [00:17:20] **Commissioners**: I. [00:17:22] **Chair**: opposed hearing none the motion passes unanimously and item 4 a is now complete do we have a date from when this one will go to city council. [00:17:35] **City Staff**: May 7th. [00:17:38] **Chair**: May 7th thank you and Bill you're welcome to take off if You like or yeah the [Laughter] are about to be thanks everybody have a good night appreciate it all right uh moving along then we have no new or unfinished business as part of five six uh communication updates back to City staff. [00:18:05] **City Staff**: yeah at the April 2nd city council meeting city council approved Royal Golf 6th edition final platin PUD that is the final phase of royal golf They also approved the peanut poppies Ranch minor subdivision and easan vacation and then moving on to upcoming meetings April 22nd and May 13th we have items on both agendas and then I do want to note May 13th is your annual Planning Commission training. [00:18:35] **Chair**: thank you much easy uh with that we have gotten to the end of our agenda for this evening uh as always appreciate everybody for coming out and City staff for hanging out late through the day and getting this all prepared and again welcome to commissioner Dean to the uh to the Planning Commission uh with that I hope everybody has a good evening and we will see you next time we will close the close the uh commission meeting at 720 p.m. thank you.