Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/01/2002MAPLEWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION Monday, April 1, 2002, 7:00 PM City Hall Council Chambers 1830 County Road B East 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Agenda 4. Approval of Minutes None 5. Public Hearing None 6. New Business a. Street right-of-way vacation - SE corner of McKnight Road and Reaney Avenue (Cardinal Realty) b. Hillcrest Village Smart Growth Study Update 7. Unfinished Business None 8. Visitor Presentations 9. Commission Presentations a. March 25 Council Meeting: Mr. Tdppler b. April 8 Council Meeting: Ms. Diedch c. Apd122 Council Meeting: Mr. Ledvina 10. Staff Presentations 11. Adjournment MINUTES OF THE MAPLEWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION 1830 COUNTY ROAD B EAST, MAPLEWOOD, MINNESOTA MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2002 I. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Fischer called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. I1. ROLL CALL Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Eric Ahlness Mary Dierich Lorraine Fischer Matt Ledvina Jackie Monahan-Junek Paul Mueller Gary Pearson William Rossbach Dale Trippler Present Present Present Absent Present Present Absent Present Present III. Staff Present: Ken Roberts, Associate Planner Lisa Kroll, Recording Secretary APPROVAL OF AGENDA Mr. Roberts said the only addition to the agenda is the memo from Melinda Coleman regarding the upcoming training session on April 29, 2002. Commissioner Trippler moved to approve the agenda. Commissioner Dierich seconded. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES None. Ayes-Ahlness, Dierich, Fischer, Monahan-Junek, Mueller, Rossbach, Trippler V. PUBLIC HEARING None. Planning Commission Minutes of 04-01-02 -2- VI. NEW BUSINESS a. Street right-of-way vacation - SE corner of McKnight Road and Reaney Avenue (Cardinal Realty) Mr. Roberts said Mr. Tom Weiner, representing Cardinal Home Builders, is asking the city council to vacate part of a street right-of-way. This vacation is for the unused right-of-way on the southeast corner of McKnight Road and Reaney Avenue. Mr. Roberts said Cardinal Home Builders is requesting this vacation because the city and the neighbors no longer have a use for this right-of-way for a public street. Maplewood, Ramsey County and the state have no plans to develop or use this right-of-way for a public street. The additional land area that this vacation would provide the adjacent landowners room to expand their parking lot. Commissioner Trippler said the staff report states that the city acquired the parcel in 1967 for street purposes. If the city council approves this vacation, the city would be giving this parcel of land to whoever is there? Mr. Roberts said that is correct. Commissioner Trippler asked staff how much did the city spend for that parcel of land? He asked how much is the city loosing by just giving it away? Mr. Roberts said the city's records did not have the purchase price. The applicant, Mr. Weiner, representing Cardinal Builders is here and he may have that information. Commissioner Trippler said staff said there is no public interest in this piece of property. He asked if that meant if he had come to the city and said he was interested in purchasing the property he could have purchased it? Mr. Roberts said no, public interest is defined as there is no public need or use for the property. Chairperson Fischer asked the applicant to address the commission. Mr. Tom Weiner, representing Cardinal Home Builders addressed the commission. Mr. Weiner said his mother owns one of the office buildings that abut this piece of property and the office is at 2297 Stillwater Road. His family acquired the building in 1980-81 when the buildings were built, and at that time the property was already part of the right-of-way. They have been maintaining that strip of property, caring for the grass, and they keep up the property outside the building. They would like to expand the parking lot and possibly put some trees on it. Commissioner Dierich asked staff what the zoning is on this property? Mr. Roberts said staff would adjust the zoning map for this. Typically zoning districts go to the center of street right-of-ways and in this case because the right-of-way will be shifting, the city will adjust the map to compensate for that. Planning Commission Minutes of 04-01-02 -3- Chairperson Fischer asked staff what the zoning is on the existing property? Mr. Roberts said the zoning is BC-M (business commercial modified). Commissioner Rossbach made the recommendation to adopt the resolution on page nine of the staff report. This resolution vacates the unused right-of-way on the southeast corner of McKnight Road and Reaney Avenue. The city should vacate this right-of-way because: 1. It is in the public interest. 2. The city and the adjacent property owners have no plans to build a street in this location. 3. The adjacent properties have street access. Commissioner Ahlness seconded. Ayes-Ahlness, Dierich, Fischer, Monahan-Junek, Mueller, Rossbach, Trippler The motion carried. Staff said this item goes to the city council on April 22, 2002. b. Hillcrest Village Smart Growth Study Update Mr. Roberts said that over the past year, the community development staff has been involved in a "Smart Growth" study with the Metropolitan Council. The Metropolitan Council is studying six commercial neighborhoods in the metro area. The Hillcrest Shopping Center, including the contiguous part of Maplewood north of Larpenteur Avenue, is one of these. The Smart-Growth study is a new initiative that involves citizens in shaping the future growth and redevelopment of their neighborhoods. The goal is to create livable neighborhoods where homes, jobs and services are linked by walkable streets. Mr. Roberts stated that on April 26, 2001, the Metropolitan Council, Calthorpe and Associates and HGA held a workshop at Woodland Hills Church in Maplewood. This workshop allowed area residents, business owners, St. Paul and Maplewood staff, and government personnel, to participate by offering their desires and preferences on how they would like this area to redevelop. Mr. Roberts said on May 24, 2001, the group met again at Woodland Hills Church to present the consultants' two development alternatives to the community. Since this last session, the consultants have been working on a final development concept taking into account comments from the participants and the community. Mr. Roberts also said on July 2, 2001, the planning commission reviewed the two development alternatives and had the following comments: The Planning Commission liked these features: 1. Realignment of North St. Paul road to meet White Bear Avenue at a right angle. 2. Grocery store. 3. The walkable/bikeable aspects of the plans. 4. The large Neighborhood Square ("village green" concept) Planning Commission Minutes of 04-01-02 5. The townhouses - provided they are affordable to the average person and not overpriced. 6. Attempts at traffic calming and slowing on White Bear Avenue. The Planning Commission did not like these features: 1. The potential nuisance of parking spaces behind buildings visible to residential units. 2. Possible difficulty for the elderly or disabled in having parking in back, unless there are back doors. The Metropolitan Council, the design consultants and the St. Paul and Maplewood staff will present this final concept plan to the community at an upcoming meeting at Woodland Hills Church on Thursday, April 25, 2002, at 6:30 p.m. This plan will be used as a guide for both cities in planning redevelopment in the area. The design criteria Maplewood plans to create will become part of the development guidelines for Hillcrest Village. Mr. Roberts said the current zoning code for the most part would not accommodate many of the ideas that are shown in the staff report as far as setbacks, green coverage, and landscaping on properties. The city may even get into some design or architectural design details or requirements. Those are going to be worked on in the next few months as part of the study while the moratorium is on. The moratorium for the area is good for one year. Commissioner Trippler said he was having some difficulty understanding the diagram in the staff report. He looked at the six features that the planning commission liked that are listed on the first page of the staff report. He could not see how number 3,4, and 6 are implemented in this new plan. The feature that the planning commission did not like was the potential nuisance of parking spaces behind the buildings and it looks like that is the way this plan was constructed. Could staff point out how this plan accommodates number 3,4, and 6? Mr. Roberts pointed out the "village green" concept on the map. The walkable/bikeable aspects in his mind means there is a mix of residential and commercial properties near each other, so if someone is living in the residential area they can walk or bike to a commercial area without having to get into a car. He would agree that the traffic calming and slowing on White Bear Avenue is not clear. There are no dollar amounts given on the proposed town homes and there is no specific guarantee that they would be affordable. Mr. Roberts asked commission members to look at this plan asking themselves if the mix of land uses and the general layout of the land uses make sense? Does it seem like a reasonable plan assuming it can be put together financially? Commissioner Ahlness said his comments were that the parking on this plan is vastly superior to the other course of actions commission members have seen in the past. The parking is clustered and it is not all behind or in front of the buildings so you will not have the appearance of a used car lot with all the cars in front. It will be tucked in Planning Commission Minutes of 04-01-02 -5- various locations. With the traffic flow people have choices to exit off of other streets other than White Bear Avenue. If they are residents or just shopping in the area they could go over to Van Dyke Street or on the secondary roads. Generally this will help the traffic flow on White Bear Avenue. Unfortunately he sees two areas that may be cause for potential problems. Larpenteur Avenue will remain a high traffic corridor. If you look to the east of Larpenteur Avenue, the alley way between the parking areas or even on Van Dyke Street he sees the potential of people wanting to cut across Larpenteur Avenue. You would want to minimize cross traffic on Van Dyke Street due to the high traffic on Larpenteur Avenue. Commissioner Monahan-Junek asked staff if the overall commercial square footage on this plan is greater, less than, or equal to the current commercial business in the Maplewood corridor. She would think Maplewood would be concerned about the city's tax base in that area? Mr. Roberts said he asked that question today and nobody had that answer. He doesn't think Maplewood should be concerned about their tax base in this area with 3M and Maplewood Mall in the city. He is not sure how much it decreases the commercial business and nobody has done that calculation. Chairperson Fischer said the coloring on the maps between the mixed use and the residential buildings is so slight maybe some alternative colors could be used to differentiate areas easier. Commissioner Ahlness said a few commissioners have had difficulty pointing out the parking maybe the parking on the map could also be shaded differently. Mr. Roberts said that either Mr. Ekstrand or Ms. Finwall told him today it was the Metropolitan Council's intention that the three-story buildings have underground parking. That would mean there is not as much surface parking as what is shown in the staff report. Commissioner Mueller said on attachment 3 on blocks E4a and E4b. It is a bit confusing because it says 2 single-family units but it looks like there are four units there with garages because of the lines put in. Commissioner Dierich asked staff if there was going to be some kind of a connecting walk way or a bridge between the green spaces that used to be the town square? Mr. Roberts said no there would only be a crosswalk across Larpenteur Avenue. Chairperson Fischer asked staff if the traffic light at Van Dyke Street would remain? Given the usage from the church and the amount of traffic that is generated there she doesn't think anybody should write that traffic light off without a second thought. Mr. Roberts said he would be surprised if the light came out. Commissioner Ahlness said he was thinking about the bus stops. They are proposed to be by the busiest intersection of the complex area. Is that the wisest place to put those bus stops with the bus stopping and holding traffic up? If the bus stops were even a block off that would ease some of the congestion at that intersection he said. Planning Commission Minutes of 04-01-02 -6- Chairperson Fischer asked staff if any action is needed at this time or was this for general information only. Mr. Roberts said no action is needed at this time. VII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. VIII. VISITORS PRESENTATIONS None. IX. COMMISSION PRESENTATIONS a. March 25, 2002, Mr. Trippler represented the planning commission for the city council meeting. Commissioner Trippler said the first item discussed at the city council meeting was the Hillcrest Animal Hospital. Mr. Ledvina brought up a concern by the community design review board regarding the proposed retaining wall to put in on the east side of the property facing Highway 61. The retaining wall would run about 50 feet in length and at the greatest height be approximately 12 feet high. Mr. Ledvina brought up that a retaining wall that large would be unsightly and he had asked if the developer could step it up. The developer said if there was a step up it would increase the cost of the retaining wall significantly. The purpose of putting the retaining wall up was to save two out of the three mature oak trees that are on the front of the property. By putting a step up in there they would lose two out of the three trees instead of one out of the three. The Hillcrest Animal Hospital could save themselves $30,000 to $40,000 by not putting the retaining wall in at all and still have the trees. The city council suggested to the developer to find a way to break that retaining wall up. One of the things that was mentioned was to put a sign into the retaining wall with The Hillcrest Animal Hospital sign on it and planting ivy to climb up the wall. There were not many questions by the city council and it was passed ayes - all. He said the second item was the planning commission annual report that passed ayes - all. Council member Wasiluk wanted to thank the commissioners for all their service. b. April 8, 2002, Ms. Dierich will represent the planning commission for the city council meeting. Items to be discussed will be Dearborn Meadow, the Comprehensive Plan Maplewood Mall Area Traffic Study, and the Zoning Code Amendment for Chili's Restaurant and The Outback Restaurant, first reading. c. April 22, 2002, Mr. Ledvina will represent the planning commission for the city council meeting. Items to be discussed will be the street right-of-way vacation and the Hillcrest Village Smart Growth Study Update. Planning Commission Minutes of 04-01-02 -7- X. STAFF PRESENTATIONS Mr. Roberts said just a reminder to read the memo from Melinda Coleman. It is regarding the upcoming training session on Monday, April 29, 2002 at 6:00 p.m. in the Maplewood Room with Barbara Strandell. Surveys will be distributed on April 15, 2002, at the city council meeting to turn in to the consultant and she will prepare information for the meeting. Commissioner Mueller asked staff if it is possible to e-mail reminders and other information to members? Mr. Roberts directed the question to the recording secretary. Ms. Kroll answered she currently does not use e-mail on her computer other than to receive internal mail. Mr. Roberts stated that at the next meeting items to review will be the Beaver Lake Town Homes and the Gladstone Park Plan. Xl. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m.