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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/20/2005 MAPLEWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION Thursdav, January 20, 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. January 3, 2005 5. Public Hearings 7:00 Maplewood Public Works Building Expansion (1902 County Road BEast) Conditional Use Permit 7:30 Pondview Apartments Expansion (Ivy Street and Ferndale Avenue) Planned Unit Development Revision 6. New Business None 7. Unfinished Business None 8. Visitor Presentations 9. Commission Presentations January 10 Council Meeting: Mr. Grover January 24 Council Meeting: Ms. Fisher February 14 Council Meeting: Ms. Dierich 10. Staff Presentations 11. Adjournment MINUTES OF THE MAPLEWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION 1830 COUNTY ROAD BEAST, MAPLEWOOD, MINNESOTA THURSDAY, JANUARY 20,2005 I. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Fischer called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Chairperson Lorraine Fischer Commissioner Eric Ahlness Commissioner Jeff Bartol Vice-Chairperson Tushar Desai Commissioner Mary Dierich Commissioner Michael Grover Commissioner Daniel Lee Commissioner Gary Pearson Commissioner Dale Trippler Staff Present: Present Present Absent Present Present Absent Present Present Present Tom Ekstrand, Senior Planner Chris Cavett, Assistant City Engineer Lisa Kroll, Recording Secretary III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Mr. Ekstrand removed the second public hearing for the Pondview Apartments Expansion from the agenda. The applicant has postponed the item and will provide changes to city staff. This item will be heard at a later date. Commissioner Ahlness moved to approve the agenda as amended. Commissioner Pearson seconded. The motion passed. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Ayes - Ahlness, Desai, Dierich, Fischer, Lee, Pearson, Trippler Approval of the planning commission minutes for January 3, 2005. Chairperson Fischer had an addition to page 2, under the paragraph Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance. On the fifth line after the word must add the word aenerallv so it reads must qenerallv conform to that. Commissioner Pearson moved to approve the planning commission minutes for January 3, 2005, as amended. Planning Commission Minutes of 01-20-05 -2- Commissioner Dierich seconded. Ayes - Ahlness, Dierich, Fischer, Pearson, Trippler Abstentions - Desai, Lee v. PUBLIC HEARING a. Maplewood Public Works Building Expansion (1902 County Road BEast) (7:02 p.m.) Mr. Ekstrand said Mr. Jeff Oertel, of Oertel Architects, has submitted plans on behalf of the Director of Public Works/City Engineer for the following additions and changes to the Maplewood Public Works Facility at 1902 County Road B. 1. Construction of a 4,224-square foot (total of both floors), two-story office addition to the northwest corner of the building. 2. Construction of a 20,240-square-foot, one-story garage addition to the south side of the building. 3. Construction of a 9,600-square-foot, 40-foot-tall fabric-doomed sand/salt storage structure in the storage yard. 4. Resurfacing of the building entrance with aluminum facing to match the architectural detailing of the proposed additions. 5. Construction of a holding pond at the south end of the storage yard. 6. Relocation of the security fence and entrance gate at the north side of the storage yard to coincide with the placement of the proposed garage addition. The city has outgrown the public works facility. The existing facility is old and antiquated and does not meet the current needs of the public works department. In addition to the garage being too small for today's needs, it does not provide sufficient office space for the current employees. Currently, some equipment is stored outside of the building or in other city locations like the old Gladstone Fire Station on Clarence Street. The proposed expansion would enable the city to properly store equipment, as well as to provide the necessary environmental facilities needed for salt storage and handling. The proposed expansion is not intended to make way for additional city personnel and equipment (a concern of some residents), but to accommodate the existing needs of the city and to provide adequate equipment storage. Mr. Ekstrand said staff recommends approval of the conditional use permit as shown on page 5 of the staff report. Commissioner Trippler said the environmental committee was asked to review the redevelopment of the city hall campus at one of their meetings awhile ago. He looked over the diagrams and plans and said it appears this project fits in. He asked if all the development in this plan is in conjunction with the proposed redevelopment of the campus as staff knows it? Planning Commission Minutes of 01-20-05 -3- Mr. Ekstrand said yes but Chris Cavett may have a better understanding of it. Mr. Chris Cavett, Assistant City Engineer, addressed the commission. Mr. Cavett said the city took all the information into consideration. He said the city gave the architect a copy of the comprehensive plan to make sure this fils in with what the city is trying to accomplish. Commissioner Trippler said referring to the resurfacing of the blacktop areas it didn't appear that any resurfacing work would be done. He asked iflhere would be resurfacing of blacktop areas done and he asked if the city looked at changing impervious surfaces to pervious surfaces? Mr. Cavett said at this time the budget won't allow for resurfacing the parking lot. The parking lot is in bad condition and as part of the comprehensive city hall plan the city may look at doing some type of demonstration pervious pavements in conjunction with the Metro Watershed District and with a grant. They probably would not resurface the entire parking lot but may do a section of the parking lot as an example in the near future. Commissioner Pearson asked if the fabric-domed sand and salt storage structure would be an open-ended structure? Mr. Ekstrand said yes it would be an open-ended structure and would face easterly and Jeff Oertel could elaborate more on the structure. Chairperson Fischer asked the applicant to address the commission. Mr. Jeff Oertel, Oertel Architects, addressed the commission. To answer Commissioner Pearson's question, the sand and salt storage structure would be open ended and face easterly. The ideal situation is to have the open end on the east because the prevailing wind comes from the northwest in the winter time. Commissioner Trippler asked if all the equipment would be stored in this facility when this project is completed? Mr. Oertel said the diesel equipment and the main operable equipment would be stored here and the small storage building to the east would still be used for small storage as well. Commissioner Trippler said it looks like one of the buildings for the new vehicle expansion building has a bay for washing vehicles and he wondered about the drainage system and how waste would be treated? Mr. Oertel said washing vehicles is an essential part of public works operations. Within the wash bay area there is a 3' X 5' hole in the floor with a grate over it which is about 3' feet deep. Workers can then lift the grate up and scoop the sediment out. About 2 foot up or (1 foot below the floor) there is an outlet for the run-off water to escape and flow via a pipe to the oil/water separator and out to the city sewer system. The solids get scooped out with a backhoe orvactor. This is a functional means of dealing with the run-off water from rinsing operations. Planning Commission Minutes of 01-20-05 -4- Commissioner Dierich asked about recommendation A. in the staff report on page 5, bullet number 5. The sentence reads a further study be made regarding another egress and ingress other than Hazel Street. She asked staff if a study had been conducted and why the sentence was stricken. Mr. Ekstrand said in researching old records he believed a study was done regarding Hazel Street but didn't find anything that addressed it. In checking to make sure compliance was made with the old city council criteria from 1977 he trusted that was handled. Everything else he found indicated the criteria had been accomplished. Commissioner Pearson moved to adopt the resolution on attachment 6 granting a conditional use permit revision for 1902 County Road B East for the expansion of the Maplewood Public Works Facility. Approval is based on the findings required by ordinance and subject to the following conditions (deletions are crossed out and additions are underlined): . Compliance with the community decign review board recommendationc. . Approval of the drainage plan by the Ramsey Washington Metro Watershed District. . Staff approval of erocion control meacurec to prevent downctream cediment damage. . Amendment of the land uce cection of the comprehencive plan to an Open Space decignation for the propoced cite. . Amendment of Municipal Facilitiec cection of the comprehencive plan to reflect the current propocal. . Further ctudy by made regarding another egrecc and ingrecc other than Hazel Street. 1. All construction shall follow the plans date-stamped December 17, 2004. The director of community development may approve minor chanqes. 2. The proposed expansion of the facilitv outlined in this permit must be started within one year after city council approval or the permit shall end. The city council may extend this deadline for one year. 3. The city council shall review this permit in one year. 4. This permit allows a waiver of the parkinq code to allow 23 fewer parkinq spaces than the code allows since there is adequate parkinq available for the existinq use and the proposed expansion. Commissioner Trippler seconded. Ayes - Ahlness, Desai, Dierich, Fischer, Lee, Pearson, Trippler The motion passed. This item goes to the city council on February 14, 2005. Planning Commission Minutes of 01-20-05 -5- VI. NEW BUSINESS None. VII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. VIII. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS None. IX. COMMISSION PRESENTATIONS a. Mr. Grover was the planning commission representative at the January 10, 2005, city council meeting but he was absent from this evenings meeting. Mr. Ekstrand reported the only item to discuss was the CUP for Walking in Faith Church at 2385 Ariel Street, which was approved by the city council. b. Ms. Fischer will be the planning commission representative at the January 24,2005, city council meeting. The only planning commission item to discuss will be the Maplewood Imports Auto Center at 2450 Maplewood Drive. c. Ms. Dierich will be the planning commission representative at the February 14, 2005, city council meeting. The only planning commission item to discuss is the Public Works Expansion at 1902 County Road BEast. Planning Commission Minutes of 01-20-05 -6- Commissioner Trippler reported as a member representing the planning commission on the Gladstone Task Force Meeting of Wednesday, January 19, 2005, which was held at the Gladstone Fire Hall at 1955 Clarence Street from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. He said everyone went around the room and introduced themselves. Then the consultants went through the overall process that would be used as they go through the development process. A sheet was handed out with questions for members to write down five assets they thought were important about the Gladstone Area and five issues that would be important to consider as well. After completing the forms they went around the room and discussed the ideas. The Gladstone Task Force has been asked to go on a bus tour that leaves city hall at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday January 29, 2005. There are numerous locations they plan to visit but the agenda had not been set at that time. The first public hearing will be held Monday, January 31,2005, at 6:30 p.m. at the Maplewood Community Center. Members were given a packet of information to keep and it appears meetings have been planned out through August 2005. At that time there should be a plan in place for the Gladstone Area. Commissioner Trippler said there was a mistake in the 2004 Planning Commission Annual Report for the dates of service and term expirations and he asked if staff could get commissioners a revised copy of that with the corrections. Chairperson Fischer directed staff to include the corrections in the next packet or provide them at the next planning commission meeting. X. STAFF PRESENTATIONS Mr. Ekstrand said the next planning commission would be Monday, February 7, 2005. XI. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:28 p.m.