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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/01/2005 MAPLEWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION Monday, August 1, 2005, 7:00 PM City Hall Council Chambers 1830 County Road BEast 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Agenda 4. Approval of Minutes a. July 18, 2005 5. Public Hearings 7:00 New Best Buy Store (1801 County Road D) Parking Lot Setback Variance Building Setback Variance Parking Stall Width Variance Parking Count Variance 6. New Business None 7. Unfinished Business None 8. Visitor Presentations 9. Commission Presentations July 25 Council Meeting: Mr. Pearson August 8 Council Meeting: Mr. Trippler August 22 Council Meeting: Mr. Desai 10. Staff Presentations Annual Tour Follow up 11. Adjoumment MINUTES OF THE MAPLEWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION 1830 COUNTY ROAD BEAST, MAPLEWOOD, MINNESOTA MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2005 I. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Fischer called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Commissioner Eric Ahlness Vice-Chairperson Tushar Desai Commissioner Mary Dierich Chairperson Lorraine Fischer Commissioner Michael Grover Commissioner Jim Kaczrowski Commissioner Gary Pearson Commissioner Dale Trippler Commissioner Jeremy Yarwood Staff Present: Absent Present Present Present Present Absent Present Present Present until 8:27 p.m. Ken Roberts, Planner Lisa Kroll, Recording Secretary Erin Laberee, Staff Engineer III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Commissioner Pearson moved to approve the agenda. Commissioner Trippler seconded. The motion passed. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Ayes - Desai, Dierich, Fischer, Grover, Pearson, Trippler, Yarwood Approval of the planning commission minutes for July 18, 2005. Commissioners had corrections or changes to the minutes on pages 10, 16,22,28, and 29 of the July 18, 2005, minutes. Chairperson Fischer had changes to the minutes on pages 28 and 29. Page 28, in the 11th paragraph, it should read Chairperson Fischer said she comes from an area platted in the time where the average property size was is one acre. The other change is on page 29, in the 15th paragraph, it should read Chairperson Fischer: No less than R-2 zoning but would like to keep the options open. Commissioner Trippler had changes to the minutes on page 16, number 4. b. it should read Remove outlot A and make this area be part of the public right-of-way. On page 22, the first paragraph, the last sentence, delete the words and is not or-esor. On the bottom of page 28 at the end of the first sentence it should read would be about. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-01-05 -2- Commissioner Dierich had corrections on page 22, the second paragraph, it should read: Commissioner Dierich said on page 4, under C. Discussion it states "Plaintiffs motion to enjoin the City's rezoning process" has been denied. She would submit that is illegal to !!YJQ stop the city to stop from aoina about tAeif it's business on rezoning or not rezoning. This judge is correct in not allowing this motion to go forward but that doesn't mean the planning commission can't look at the rezoning. She would agree with Mr. Roberts that the planning commission need! to look at the rezoning and allow it to move onto the city council. Then let legal counsel fit fjaht it out in the courts if indeed that is where it ends up. On page 10, the fifth paragraph, fifth line it should read The city needs to take a more active role in making sure that when the city asks for a develops a developer's agreement that there is seFRothing that san be monitorina done in the long term and the aareement has some teeth to it. She asked if the private drives would be plowed by a private contractor or by the city. Commissioner Dierich had corrections to page 22, ninth paragraph, it should read Commissioner Dierich said unless Mogren Landscaping, LLP, states the reason they don't want this done tAis ftI6t isn't fIGt enough of a reason for the planning commission to understand the opposition to the rezoning ef and why they don't want this Walgreen's proposal built here. Commissioner Oierich had corrections to page 29, in the fifth paragraph, it should read Commissioner Oierich said if the zoning changes to R-1(R) zoning, people would probably subdivide the lots and develooment would occur haohazardlv. She prefers the R-1 zoning but the R-1 zonina tRat is the highest density she would be happy with. Lastly, on page 29, in the tenth paragraph, it should read Chairperson Fischer individually asked theif-hiahest zoning each commissioner would prefereRG&. Commissioner Trippler moved to approve the planning commission minutes for July 18, 2005, as amended. Commissioner Oierich seconded. Ayes - Dierich, Fischer, Grover, Pearson, Trippler Abstentions - Desai, Yarwood V. PUBLIC HEARING a. New Best Buy Store (1801 County Road D) Mr. Roberts said please remove the first item listed as Parking Lot Setback Variance on the agenda sheet and the third item listed as Parking Stall Width Variance because staff has determined those were not necessary. They were listed on the public hearing notice and staff was trying to have the agenda sheet consistent. Mr. Roberts said Mr. Tim Palmquist, representing Best Buy, is proposing to construct a new 45,243 square foot store at 1845 County Road D (Town Center shopping center). The proposal includes the demolition of the existing Frank's Nursery store within the center and relocation of Best Buy's current store into the new building. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-01-05 -3- Mr. Roberts reported the Town Center shopping center consists of nine businesses including Best Buy, the former Frank's Nursery, Pannekoeken Restaurant, and various smaller retail stores. The existing 43,203-square-foot Frank's Nursery store has been vacant for over a year. Best Buy proposes to demolish this portion of the shopping center and construct a 45,243-square-foot freestanding building on the west end of the shopping center to relocate their existing store. There are no specific plans for the existing Best Buy portion of the shopping center at this time, but it could be leased to another retail use or subdivided for smaller retail uses. Mr. Roberts said city code requires setbacks for this building to be 30 feet to both right-of-ways (County Road D and 1-694) with no specified setbacks to the west side property line toward Slumberland. The new building will maintain a 30-foot setback to 1-694, a 25-foot setback to County Road D, and a 10-foot setback to the west side property line. A 5-foot building setback variance is required to construct the building within 25 feet of the County Road D right-of-way. Staff finds there is no true hardship for the setback variance and recommends denial for the five foot setback variance. Mr. Roberts said initially city staff determined that a parking lot setback and parking space width variance would be required for this development. However, upon further review it has been determined these variances are not required for the following reason: within the business commercial zoning district city code requires a parking lot to maintain a 15-foot-setback to a right- of-way and parking spaces for a retail use to maintain a 1 O-foot width and an 18-foot length. The existing parking lot has a 15-foot setback to the County Road D right-of-way and a 6-foot, 6-inch setback to the 1-694 right-of-way. The existing parking spaces are 9 feet wide and 18 feet long. The city code allows the expansion of a nonconforming parking lot such as this as long as the parking lot does not exceed the existing setbacks or dimensions. With the expansion of the parking lot, Best Buy proposes to maintain the existing setbacks and dimensions and therefore can be accomplished without the need for a variance. Commissioner Trippler asked who suggested there was a way to get around the ordinance for the 10 foot wide parking stalls, the applicant or staff? Mr. Roberts said his understanding is that it was the request of the applicant. Mr. Roberts couldn't say who initiated the request because that was between the applicant and Ms. Finwall. Commissioner Trippler said he knows the applicant requested nine foot parking stalls but it seems obvious to him if there was parking stall width request the city staff must have felt a need for the variance. The ordinance states that parking stalls must be 10 feet wide. To clarify things, did the applicant ask for the nine foot wide parking stall or did staff say if you use the other ordinances you can probably get around this requirement? Mr. Roberts said he would assume after staff started researching it and reviewing the case of what already existed staff made a determination that it was no longer necessary. Commissioner Trippler wants it stated for the record he doesn't think staff's position should be to find ways to get around ordinances for applicants. He asked if there would be one outlet at the intersection of Kennard Street and South lawn Drive? Planning Commission Minutes of 08-01-05 -4- Ms. Erin Laberee, Maplewood Staff Engineer, addressed the commission. She said she believed there was another outlet east of the site. The city proposes there is adequate access in and out of this site. Mr. Roberts said its staffs preference to limit the number of driveways in and out of the site to minimize conflicts and potential accident locations. It's better in staffs opinion, to have two main areas where you know traffic is going to enter and exit, especially with the new stop light, rather than having a number of driveways where you have a lot more potential for conflict with cars. Commissioner Trippler said he has a problem with the design of the parking lot and the drive path in the front of the store where people are going to enter and exit the store and cars are going to be queuing up in the parking lot while they wait for the stop light to turn green to exit the lot. If for example 10% of the cars want to exit the parking lot at the same time, where are the 50 cars going to go? Mr. Roberts said there are three lanes shown on the plan, one entrance lane and a two exiting lanes, plus a sidewalk along the front of the building. Mr. Roberts displayed on the screen where the pedestrian sidewalk would be and how the cars would enter and exit the parking lot. There is another entrance and exit from this parking lot at the far end of the parking lot. Commissioner Trippler said he doesn't see how the traffic is going to flow properly through the site. In his opinion parking spaces nine feet wide are a disaster. Personally he avoids shopping places that only have nine foot wide parking spaces because he doesn't want his car doors to get dings in them from people opening and closing their car doors. He would rather see less parking stalls and have the parking stalls ten feet wide as opposed to the proposed nine foot stalls Best Buy is requesting. If you remember the past application for Home Depot when they wanted to put a storage area in their parking lot and lose some of their parking spaces, Home Depot said it wasn't going to be a problem. He thinks when the parking ordinance was developed during the 70's and 80's it was for stores that were smaller like 10,000 to 20,000 square feet and at that time maybe that was a good parking stall size and parking ratio. But when buildings are larger than an acre in size the city needs to look at that parking ratio again because he doesn't think you are going to get that many people packed into that store and parking lot. He doesn't think there are that many more people that visit the store and he thinks the merchandise in the store takes up more room and that is why they require a larger store not because there are that many more visitors and they need that many more parking spots. So for that reason he would recommend wider parking stalls and grant the variance for less parking places. He thinks the problem is the way this building and parking lot is designed. He doesn't like that the building is sitting out in the parking lot all by itself and thinks the proposed plan is hideous. This store is going to be built in an area of Maplewood that is currently under construction and a lot of money is being spent to improve this part of the city. The city is trying to make this area really attractive and this building is just a square box and doesn't have much curb appeal. The applicant either needs to come up with a more attractive design or reorientate the building so it looks like it relates to the strip mall better. He knows the building design is reviewed by CDRB but he wanted his comments to go on the record. Commissioner Dierich agreed with Commissioner Trippler thatthis pedestrian area is very unsafe. She knows from experience at the old Woodbury Best Buy location you would take your life in your own hands walking from the parking lot to the entrance of the store. She thinks the parking count variance relates very much to the width of parking stalls. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-01-05 -5- Commissioner Dierich said she went to the site and measured the existing parking stalls. She drives a small car that is 4 feet 5 inches wide with a four foot wide door which equals almost 9 feet wide when she opens the door all the way. The rest of the time she drives a Toyota Tundra truck which is 6 feet wide with a four foot wide door which equals 10 feet wide when opening the door so you would already be over by 1 foot. Not too many people drive small cars especially with families, they drive large and wide vehicles like Cadillac Escalades, Chevy Suburban's, and Mini Vans with doors that open and not always with the doors that slide open. For these reasons she has a problem with nine feet wide parking stalls. She would urge the applicant to think about this plan and urge the planning commissioners to think about this as well. She isn't sure the staff adequately explained to her how the parking width is grandfathered-in just because it's an existing issue. This is a new site and a new building and she thinks the city should apply the parking ordinances as it stands now. This is a new site and a new building and should not be grandfathered-in in her eyes. She doesn't know how it's good planning to allow an existing situation to continue as an existing problem. She wants this made clear and part of the record for the city council because she doesn't see that either one of these things were adequately addressed. She would like the applicant to explain why the building is going to be located where it's proposed instead of next door to the Frank's Nursery location because it looks like it fits fine with the alignment of the driveway. Best Buy could bump the building back a little bit and take care of that elevation or setback from the street without much of a problem. She wondered if Best Buy thought of an L-shaped building rather than a big box which would be far more attractive in her opinion. Commissioner Yarwood asked if staff had calculated how many parking spaces Best Buy would be short if the parking stall width was increased to ten feet wide? Mr. Roberts said he would estimate a loss of 20 to 30 parking spaces from the 522 parking spaces in the development. Chairperson Fischer said with 31 fewer parking spaces then the code requires she asked if that was with or without the five foot loss for the building setback? Mr. Roberts said he thought that would be without changing the setback. If the building size was reduced that would be a loss of 26 parking spaces. Chairperson Fischer asked the applicant to address the commission. Mr. Tim Palmquist, Project Development Manager, Best Buy, 7601 Penn Avenue South, Richfield, addressed the commission. He said they are excited about this project. Best Buy has been doing a lot of building and remodeling in the Twin Cities and recently relocated the Woodbury store to Oakdale. They are trying to bring the quality of the projects to local areas like Maplewood and would like to get the buildings closer to the Best Buy prototype. The original Best Buy Maplewood store was built around 30,000 square feet in size and then 9,000 square feet was added onto the building. The issue with the current Best Buy building is they love the location but are having a hard time operating in that building due to the parking situation. Most ofthe parking is down at the existing Frank's Nursery location and not in front of their store like they would like it to be to allow the rest of the site to function better. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-01-05 -6- Mr. Palmquist said once they move out of the current Best Buy building they are looking at subleasing the current Best Buy building. Best Buy may use this building for another business venture, but that hasn't been determined yet. They are spending a large sum of money to accomplish the proposed building. They are only adding 7,000 additional square feet to the overall size but are spending over $2 million dollars. So they see this as a very important piece of their business to make it successful. They have an option in their lease for the Pannekoeken Restaurant parking space if Best Buy runs into a problem with a lack of parking Best Buy can increase the size of the parking ratio. Before tonight's meeting Paul Anderson with WCL Associates was at the existing Best Buy site and measured the parking stalls. The stalls that are on the existing site from Pannekoeken to the existing Best Buy location are 9 feet wide and he believes that is where the grandfathering-in of the parking stall size comes into play. If the parking stalls are currently at 9 feet wide does it make sense to have the other side of the parking lot at 10 feet wide? He guessed that was a question for the planning commission to determine. As far as the setback goes, they may have a solution. On the north side ofthe proposed building is an appendage that holds the trash compactor and the truck docks if they take the trash compactor and flip it to the north side of the truck docks, that trash compactor can be on the outside of the building, that way they would have shortened the length of the building by 12 feet and they could shift the whole building to the north and avoid the whole setback issue entirely. He is not sure if the trash compactor equipment is allowed in the setback and maybe staff would have to comment on that. But it's an option as far as Best Buy is concerned. Commissioner Yarwood asked if Best Buy had any calculations as to the size of parking they require for a building this size? Mr. Palmquist said for a building of this size Best Buy likes to have 5 cars per 1 ,000 square feet of space. If they were on a stand alone site, meaning a building without cross access to any other parking, they require 6 cars per 1,000 square feet. He realizes the current Best Buy site is at 4.7 cars per 1,000 square feet of space. They realize they have a relatively high parking need higher than smaller retailers. Increasing the parking stall size and reducing the parking count is going to be a hardship for Best Buy and they would have difficulty with the customers and/or with the neighboring businesses if the parking were to overflow. Commissioner Trippler asked if the 522 parking spaces were for the whole parking lot? Mr. Palmquist said correct. Commissioner Trippler asked why Best Buy couldn't locate their building next to the current Frank's Nursery location as opposed to where it is shown next to the Slumberland parking lot? Mr. Palmquist said if they located their building next to Frank's Nursery they would end up with the same parking configuration problem that they currently have. Customers wouldn't be parked in front of the building but would be spread out along the side which isn't convenient to the entrance to the store. Mr. Roberts displayed on the screen what Mr. Palmquist meant by his parking configuration and where the customers would be parked. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-01-05 -7- Commissioner Trippler asked if they thought about putting more doors on the building so customers would not have to walk so far? Mr. Palmquist said if Best Buy added more doors on the building besides the front door they would have higher heating costs, would have to add more staff to stand guard at the doors and it would be a higher security issue for the store. Commissioner Trippler asked if Best Buy has any other building designs in the Twin Cities that were designed by an architect with more imagination other than the plan that was submitted to the city? In Commissioner Trippler's eyes this building is just a box. Mr. Palmquist said they do a lot of projects all over the country and are required to do many things. The Maplewood ordinances don't require Best Buy to do anything special other than using certain building materials. Best Buy is already spending over $2 million dollars on this project and this is the Best Buy prototype and actually they upgraded this building from the "standard" prototype. They can get really creative when they "need to" but Best Buy didn't understand they were required to do that in Maplewood. Commissioner Trippler said he thinks they need to get creative. He asked for an estimate of how many customers they anticipate on a per hour basis for a store of this size? Mr. Palmquist said he has never been asked that question before and he doesn't know the answer. Commissioner Trippler said the reason he asked that question is he is trying to estimate how many cars would be entering the site on an hourly basis. He did a rough calculation and came up with 10 to 12 customers per hour and he has shopped at the current location and knows they have more than 10 to 12 customers per hour, especially during the holidays they have more than 10 customers in 10 minutes. He doesn't think this parking design or traffic flow will work in this location and he thinks the building should be redesigned, relocated, the parking spaces should be widened and the traffic flow be reconfigured. He asked if the Best Buy building could be positioned next to Frank's Nursery and work for Best Buy? Mr. Palmquist said in order for the building to fit and still have the entrance drive they would have to acquire Pannekoeken now rather than when their lease expires, which would be an additional expense to the project. Commissioner Grover said he is also concerned about the driveway entrance and exit and a possible alternative as opposed to driving past the building is there could be some traffic mediating devices and you could direct traffic to curve to the right and eliminate the first row of parking on the right hand side of the parking lot so the traffic spills out to the Pannekoeken area. You add more space for the traffic flow anticipating traffic jams either entering or exiting the building. You would eliminate drivers speeding past the building entering or exiting the area which would cause possible pedestrian mishaps. He agrees with the commissioners and he would be in favor of having larger parking stalls and less parking spaces and allow for easier entry and exiting from the site. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-01-05 -8- Mr. Palmquist said they worked with staff regarding the driveway entrance and at various times they tried to angle the drive. The direction they received by staff was to keep the driveway alignment straight and this is the result from the conversation. Commissioner Grover asked what the reasoning was for keeping the drive straight into the site? Mr. Roberts said engineering wants the drive straight because of the traffic signal. He is having a difficult time trying to imagine curving the site and directing the traffic down one lane because you would lose so many parking spaces and waste land. Commissioner Grover said at the existing Best Buy location the drive in front of the store is usually full of cars parked waiting to pick up their purchases. He thinks this is a dangerous situation and can imagine the same problems with the future store as well. He can see five or more cars stacked up waiting for the stop light to change. Commissioner Desai said on site plan 4 he sees near the entrance an area that is cross hatched and he asked if that is designated as a pedestrian area? Mr. Palmquist said that cross hatched area is designated as handicapped parking. Commissioner Desai asked if that area is in front of the entrance to the building? Mr. Palmquist said yes. Commissioner Desai said there would be a no loading zone there then. Mr. Palmquist said there isn't a loading zone anywhere in front of the existing building or the proposed building. Best Buy has staff to help bring merchandise out to the customer's cars. Commissioner Desai said he has seen cars pulled up at the entrance and employees will walk the merchandise to the people waiting in front of their car but not out to their parked cars in the parking lot. If it's not a loading zone Best Buy is violating the intent of the whole process here. Mr. Palmquist said the solution may be to create a loading stall at the north end of the sidewalk area. Commissioner Desai said he estimates cars stacked in front of the entrance to pick up merchandise. Then drivers will get frustrated and drive around the parked cars and drive out towards the Pannekoeken area of the parking lot. Mr. Palmquist said traffic engineers talk about traffic as moving kind of like water, it follows the path of least resistance. If there is congestion there is another way out, and people will drive the fastest way out of the area. Commissioner Desai said that defeats the purpose of what the traffic engineers designed here. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-01-05 -9- Mr. Palmquist said he isn't sure it defeats the purpose. The traffic engineers realize there is another way out of the area. If this were the only entrance and exit on the entire site engineers would think that would be inadequate, but there is another means of escape from the parking lot at the other end of the site. Mr. Roberts said he and Erin Laberee were looking at the parking lot plan and staff thinks it might be possible to have a right in and right out entrance somewhere near the front of the Pannekoeken Restaurant to help with some of the options. They want to make sure its okay with the city engineer before that gets put on the record. Staff would clarify this before this goes to the CDRB meeting on Tuesday, August 9, 2005. Commissioner Trippler asked if the parking lot elevation would stay as it is? He is concerned someone's car would scrape on the asphalt or bottom out because of the change in asphalt elevation. Mr. Paul Anderson, AlA, WCL Associates, 1433 Utica Avenue South, Suite 162, Minneapolis, addressed the commission. Mr. Anderson said the parking lot elevation would stay close to what it is. There is an area on the far side by Slumberland that has a dip in the asphalt for drainage that would be abandoned and leveled off. Commissioner Dierich asked how large the existing Frank's Nursery space is? Mr. Roberts said the existing Frank's Nursery site is 43,203 square feet which includes the outdoor storage. Commissioner Dierich said it appeared to her that the existing parking spaces at Frank's Nursery were 10 feet wide. Commissioner Trippler said he measured the parking spaces and they measured 10 feet wide in front of Frank's Nursery. The parking stalls along County Road D on the median were 9 feet wide. Commissioner Dierich said she counted the existing parking spaces on the west side of Frank's Nursery which came to 192 stalls and those stalls are 10 feet wide. Then there are another 120 parking stalls along County Road D. She fails to see why Best Buy can't make this an L-shaped building or push the building back. Theywould only lose 4 parking stalls ifthey made the parking stalls 10 feet wide. She doesn't see why Best Buy can't make this building look like it belongs with the rest of the strip mall, accomplish the setback, have the 10 foot wide parking spaces and have the entrance to the store in the center of two large parking areas. Mr. Palmquist said Best Buy would never have an L-shaped building. Commissioner Dierich said that's good information to have. In her opinion Best Buy is asking to build a building that is probably too large for the space, because Best Buy can't meet the setback and they can't meet the parking lot parameters the city has. Mr. Palmquist said he mentioned earlier how Best Buy could meet the setback by moving the trash compactor on the other side of the truck docks. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-01-05 -10- Commissioner Dierich said staff hasn't said if that's acceptable in the city or if you can put equipment in a setback area. Mr. Roberts said he hasn't responded to that issue yet. Commissioner Dierich said if Best Buy isn't willing to change that's fine, but she is having a hard time granting a variance for a building that is not meeting the design needs of the city, doesn't meet the traffic needs of the city, doesn't meet the parking lot needs of the city, and Best Buy is a great neighbor and she doesn't understand why they can't be more flexible with this because the planning commission is trying to be flexible about this proposal. Maplewood doesn't have a police force large enough to deal with people banging vehicle doors into other vehicle doors, or to deal with pedestrians being hit on the way to or from the Best Buy store, and there needs to be flexibility and creativity on both ends. Mr. Palmquist said Best Buy has gone around and around with the plans and they have ended up with a plan that is a prototype for Best Buy and thought they had a plan the city would be agreeable with. Best Buy didn't hear about the lack of support from the city staff for a building setback until last Thursday. Commissioner Dierich said she thinks this plan suits the needs of Best Buy and not the needs of the city in this location. She believes Best Buy should go back and take another look at the plan and bring it back to be reviewed. Maplewood wants Best Buy to stay here but it needs to meet the needs of the city as well and not just the needs of the prototype of Best Buy. Commissioner Grover said on the agenda tonight there are two issues to review. A building setback variance, which staff has recommended the commission deny. The applicant proposes to shift the building to the north and move the trash compactor separate from the building. He asked what the city code says about having mechanical equipment in the setback? Mr. Roberts said he would have to check further into that to see if that meets the intent of the code. Commissioner Grover said regarding the parking count variance, he asked if currently there is a variance that allows nine foot wide parking spaces? Mr. Roberts said he didn't think so but he would have to do some research into that but he isn't sure how Best Buy was allowed to have nine foot wide parking spaces. Chairperson Fischer said the city didn't always have a ten foot wide parking space requirement. At the time the Maplewood Mall was built the parking spaces were nine feet wide. It all depends on the time the development came in. There are instances of nine foot wide parking stalls that were grandfathered in. Commissioner Trippler said he spoke with Ms. Finwall today and she said it was her recollection that the current building had been revised several years ago and at the time of reconstruction Best Buy had asked if they could go from ten foot wide parking stalls to nine foot wide parking stalls. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-01-05 -11- Mr. Roberts said Best Buy added on to the building about 6 or more years ago and that may be when that came into play. But that is something staff would clarify before this goes to the city council. Chairperson Fischer asked if anybody in the audience wanted to speak regarding this proposal? Nobody came forward. Chairperson Fischer asked staff if the city code requires commercial property to have a certain width for parking stalls? Mr. Roberts said the city code requires high turnover commercial uses to have ten foot wide parking spaces, office buildings can have 9% foot wide parking stalls, and employee parking is allowed to have 9 foot wide parking stalls if there are signs posted that say employee parking only. Best Buy would be considered a high turnover commercial use. Commissioner Dierich said there are two issues here. One question is what constitutes the grandfathering in of the parking stall width? The code says 10 feet wide and Best Buy has said they need 5 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail space so this new parking lot doesn't even meet what they said they need. She would say the planning commission would deny both requests for the building setback variance and the parking count variance and have Best Buy work a little harder on a better plan and bring it back to the planning commission to review again that works for both Best Buy and the City of Maplewood. The planning commission gave plenty of feedback to Best Buy to come back with something better. Commissioner Dierich moved to Deny Best Buy's request for a 5-foot building setback variance which would allow Best Buy to construct their new store at 1B45 County Road D with a 25-foot setback to the County Road D right-of-way. The city bases this denial on the following reasons: a. There is no hardship to warrant the variance. b. The reduction of five feet from the length of the building would reduce the overall size of the building minimally, and remove the need for the variance. c. The new Best Buy building will be adjacent to buildings with increased setbacks from the road including Slumberland and the existing Town Center shopping center which maintains an 80- foot and a 10B-foot setback to County Road D, respectively. Commissioner Grover seconded. Ayes - Desai, Dierich, Fischer, Grover, Pearson, Trippler, Yarwood The motion passed. Commissioner Pearson asked if this could be tabled so the planning commission could wait to hear from the CDRB at their next meeting Tuesday, August 9, 2005? Mr. Roberts said the city would run into the 60 day rule. Best Buy has gotten a lot of direction from the planning commission and can bring changes to the CDRB meeting and let this proposal continue onto the CDRB on August 9, and onto the city council as scheduled for August 22,2005. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-01-05 -12- Commissioner Dierich moved to a€Iept Denv the parking count reduction variance resolution (Attachment 14 in the staff report). Tt-lis resolution appr-Gvos a J 1 parking space varianse for the Town Center shol3l3in€l Genter losateel at 1!l4 a COl,lAty Roael D in soAjunction with tho sOFlstruction ef a new Best Buy store on the pFGl3erty. Tt-lis variance is based on tt-le felle'lliFl€l findings: (changes to the motion are underlined and deletions are stricken.) a. The redevelopment ofthe Best Buy building will improve the existing parking ratio from 4.48 to 4.72 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail space. it still does not meet the spirit and intent of the code as the applicant has failed to show hardship other than financial. b. There is no formal aareement for proof of Darkina with the other businesses in the area so they cannot assume that is aoina to be a aiven. ample opportunity fur shaFClel l3arkiFl€l tl=lFGl,l€ll=leut the shopping center witl=l various uses operating at '1aryin€l times ef tho day. s. .^.I3PFCl'"al of the 'lariaFlse 'Nouls l3e iFl keopiFl€l witt-l tt-le sl3irit ans intent of the or-dinance becalolse of the shared parking opportlolnities. Tl=liE: vnrbneo if; a~~fovo8 \\'ith tho follo\viAg G0RditiofllS:: a. The applicant sholl dedicate 12 roet of podostrian and utility easement alon€l Cel,lnty Roael D to allow fer ftjt",re imI3FG'Iements. COl,lnty Rosel D is scheduled in the city's CIP fur reconstruction and widening in appr-oximately 2009. 13. Best BI,JY st-lalll3r-ovide the sity 'Nith an al3l3FGved letter of credit to assure the city of Best Bl,lY's contril3l,ltion te tt-le Gost of the signal system construction at tho intersection of SouthlaWFl Drive anel COl,lnty Rosel D. It is ostimated tt-lat Best Bl,lY's st-lsr-o will be approximately $J1,250 (50% of $62,13(0). Tt:Jo lotter of credit shall remain in effoct until the City Council authorizes and/or lovies the fiREd assossmonts ~Aa fiA8neing pillA fur tAD 6igrH~1I iFFl(3ro~/0FF1eAt&, B~t Ae ICltor th3n December 31,2009. Commissioner Trippler seconded. Ayes - Desai, Dierich, Fischer, Pearson, Trippler, Yarwood Nay - Grover The motion passed. Planning commissioners decided they would be more comfortable having 10 foot wide parking spaces verses the additional parking spaces. Commissioner Grover said he really wanted to abstain from voting because he felt the planning commission didn't have enough information about past parking lot variances that may have happened 6 years ago and he still has concerns about the entry to the site regarding the drive aisle and traffic flow and the area for pedestrians to walk. He is confident that because of the input given to the applicant tonight changes will be made. This item goes to the city council on August 22, 2005. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-01-05 -13- VI. NEW BUSINESS None. VII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. VIII. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS None. IX. COMMISSION PRESENTATIONS a. Mr. Pearson was the planning commission representative at the July 25, 2005, city council meeting. The only planning commission item to discuss was the Jensen Estates Preliminary Plat (Hoyt Avenue, east of McKnight Road) and passed ayes all by the city council with the addition of 2 trees per lot as opposed to the 1 tree per lot. b. Mr. Trippler will be the planning commission representative at the August 8, 2005, city council meeting. Items to discuss include the Woodlands of Maplewood (McMenemy Street, north of Kingston Avenue) for the Land Use Plan Change, Zoning Map Change, Street Right-of-Way Vacation, CUP and Preliminary Plat. Utility Easement Vacation (Heritage Square Fourth Addition), and the Walgreens Pharmacy Land Use Plan and Zoning Map Changes. Maplewood Toyota Vehicle Parking and Sales Facility NW corner of Highway 61 and Beam Avenue for CUP and setback variance for a parking ramp, and Maplewood Toyota Expansion north of LaMettry's Collision (2923 Highway 61) for a CUP for the outdoor motor vehicle storage and Variance to store motor vehicles within 350 feet of residential district. c. Mr. Desai will be the planning commission representative at the August 22, 2005, city council meeting. So far the only item to discuss is the new Best Buy, 1801 County Road D, for the building setback variance and parking count variance. Chairperson Fischer said she noticed that the Historical Commission is listed on the routing form that is sent to inform certain groups or people of proposals in the city. She asked if the proposals were ever sent to the Historical Commission? At the last meeting the Historical Commission came to the public hearing and said they were never informed about this proposal until the night before the meeting. George Rossbach came to the meeting to speak on behalf of the Historical Commission regarding the historical 1 00 year old homes that would be destroyed for the proposal of town homes but was troubled they were not notified in advance. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-01-05 -14- Mr. Roberts said staff has to make a judgment call regarding which people or groups mayor may not be interested in the proposal. He did not notify the Historical Commission regarding that proposal and he was not aware there were homes of any historical value in that area. Commissioner Trippler asked if staff or someone at the city make an excel data base of the historical homes in Maplewood to refer to when an application comes in? Mr. Roberts said the planning staff is very busy already and just doesn't have the time to do that. Nor has he seen or does he know where the historical information is that George Rossbach kept referring to at that meeting. Commissioner Trippler said if someone could get the historical document that George Rossbach referred to Commissioner Trippler would be willing to make a list in excel for the city. Mr. Roberts said he isn't sure where this historical book or list is in the city hall building. If there are extra copies of this document they could give it to the planning department and then the information would be in the hands of the people that could refer to it for proposals. Commissioner Grover asked staff if the Ramsey County property records were accurate or not regarding when a building was built? Mr. Roberts said he believes that information is shown on the Ramsey County record site. Staff would have to think of that as an additional layer of information for staff to check if it's pertinent information for that group or organization. Commissioner Trippler said just because a home is 100 years old doesn't mean it has historical value other than it's a home that is 100 years old. Commissioner Desai said he saw a comment in the Manager's Report regarding the railroad abandonment being off track and he asked if County Road D would have to come to a complete stop until this is resolved? Mr. Roberts said he understood the people in Washington D.C. need to continue to move forward on this. His understanding is that County Road D can't go through to Hazelwood Street but the city has been moving ahead with the project with the assumption that things would get worked out. Apparently a wrench has been thrown into the project. X. STAFF PRESENTATIONS a. Annual Tour Follow Up Mr. Roberts asked what the planning commissioners thought of the annual city tour and if they had any ideas for next years tour to contact him. Commissioner Pearson said staff did a great job on the city tour. He enjoyed stopping at the Fire Station much better than at the Nature Center. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-01-05 -15- Chairperson Fischer said she enjoyed stopping and looking around at the sites versus driving by the site slowly. Commissioner Dierich said it was the right amount of time and the right amount of places to visit. She made a plea to see the south end of Maplewood before any building starts even if it has to be for a separate planning commission tour. Commissioner Desai said he would like to see sites where the end result was something positive based on decisions made by the planning commission and where the end result was something negative based on decisions made by the planning commission. We can all learn from the good and the bad decisions that were made in the city. Many times the planning commission doesn't go back and see what was done or how projects look when the site is finished. XI. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:42 p.m.