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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-01-20 PC Minutes MINUTES OF THE MAPLEWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION 1830 COUNTY ROAD BEAST, MAPLEWOOD, MINNESOTA TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2009 I. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Fischer called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Commissioner Joseph Boeser Vice-Chairperson Tushar Desai Chairperson Lorraine Fischer Commissioner Harland Hess Commissioner Robert Martin Commissioner Gary Pearson Commissioner Dale Trippler Commissioner Joe Walton Commissioner Jeremy Yarwood City Staff Present: Present Absent Present Absent Present Present Present Present Absent Tom Ekstrand. Citv Planner Mike Martin. Planner III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Commissioner Trippler moved to approve the amended agenda adding item 9.a.- Report by Commissioner Fischer on the January 12 City Council Meeting and item 9.b.-Staff Report on the February 9 City Council Agenda. Commissioner Boeser seconded The motion passed. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. January 6, 2009 Ayes - all Commissioner Trippler moved to approve the minutes of January 6, 2009 as submitted. Commissioner Pearson seconded Ayes - Fischer, Martin, Pearson, Trippler, Walton Abstention - Boeser The motion passed. V. PUBLIC HEARING a. 7:00 p.m. - Code Amendment and Property Rezoning Requests: . Code Amendment for the R-1 R, Rural Single-Dwelling Residence District Requirements, with a Name Change to "Rural Conservation District" . Rezoning (Zoning Map Changes) from F, Farm Residence District to R-1 R, Rural Conservation District Planner Tom Ekstrand introduced Jennifer Haskamp of Pulse Land Group. Ms. Haskamp presented the staff report for the requested code amendment and property rezoning. Ms. Haskamp gave a Power Point presentation explaining the need for the interim ordinance to protect the natural resources in south Maplewood until the Comprehensive Plan update is legally adopted. Planning Commission Minutes of 01-20-09 -2- Ms. Haskamp explained that at the last commission meeting commissioners suggested that a moratorium or a comprehensive plan amendment might be done to achieve the same goals of creating an interim ordinance. Ms. Haskamp said she has received a legal opinion from the city attorney on this stating that the city has used the moratorium and an extension of the moratorium and has now exhausted that option. Ms. Haskamp said it would take too much time to do a comprehensive plan amendment or a moratorium. Ms. Haskamp said the interim ordinance will help protect the city legally. Ms. Haskamp reviewed the draft interim ordinance and explained how it will work. Commissioner Walton asked why more than the seven conservation principles are not required to discourage development under Tier III. Ms. Haskamp replied that it would be possible to increase the number of conservation principles, possibly tying them to earned density bonuses. Ms. Haskamp said that it should be recognized what a site can support and whether the principles could be supported on a small lot. Commissioner Boeser suggested removing the example given under the "Tree Preservation" section, since none of the others have examples listed and it does not seem to give additional value or clarification. Commissioner Martin asked if the interim ordinance will eliminate the contradiction between the zoning code and the existing comprehensive plan. Ms. Haskamp responded that this interim ordinance eliminates the contradiction between the two codes because the zoning code will support the land use. The commission discussed increasing the number of conservation principles required. Commissioner Boeser said his understanding was that the conservation principles need to be applied consistently across the entire development, rather than to one lot or one small area. Ms. Haskamp said that language could be added that would clarify that the principles would apply to a particular percentage or portion of a development. Ms. Haskamp said that a paragraph could also be added before Table 44-128 stating that the conservation principles need to predominate throughout the entire development. The public hearing was opened for comments from the public. The following people spoke: Jay Libby, 2591 Carver, said his parents bought his parcel in 1948 and now he is the current owner. Mr. Libby said the proposed changes will devalue his property even more and asked the commission to consider this. Mr. Libby said after holding this land all these years he will now have to jump through hoops and do more things to develop it. Fredrica Musgrave, 1949 Greenbrier Street, said she is a member of the environmental natural resources commission and a publisher of Citizens Reporter. Ms. Musgrave suggested that credits in the ordinance need to be revised so developers do not get credit for land that they cannot develop. Ms. Musgrave also mentioned that when there is development on slopes there is soil destruction that can occur. Ms. Musgrave said the environmental natural resources commission did not have the updated ordinance when they reviewed this document. Ms. Musgrave said she is concerned with who Ms. Haskamp is representing. Paul Schlomka, 2511 Carver Avenue, said he is concerned about high taxes on his property and whether he will be able to afford to stay there. Susan Korf, 1486 Sterling Street, said she has been trying to sell her seven acres and has been unable to and these restrictions will just exacerbate that. Planning Commission Minutes of 01-20-09 -3- Commissioner Trippler suggested that property owners look into dedicating conservation easements as a financial means to lessen their tax burden. Carolyn Peterson, 1801 Gervais Avenue, said she is concerned with losing the rural aspect of south Maplewood. Ms. Peterson said she is not happy with the conservation principles since she believes they make it too easy to destroy the rural aspect of the land. Ms. Peterson also requested the commission consider changing "view" shed to "vista" including it in the ordinance and changing "view" where noted to "vista" throughout the document. Susan Korf again spoke saying most of the people who are interested in keeping south Maplewood rural do not live in the area affected by the rezoning. Planner Mike Martin clarified that the properties along Sterling Street are already zoned R-1 R, so they are not being targeted for rezoning. Ms. Haskamp clarified that the rezoning and interim ordinance will not affect what is now being taxed, but the tax assessor will consider the land use. Ms. Haskamp said the tax assessor will look at the updated comprehensive plan land use when it is finally adopted. Commissioner Boeser asked what the financial benefit would be for dedicating a conservation easement. Ms. Haskamp responded that there is not much financial benefit for dedicating the easement, but the benefit is in the additional lots gained. Mr. Boeser questioned whether the property owners in south Maplewood were in favor of the rural designation or if this now puts them in the position of being bound and they cannot personally afford it. Commissioner Trippler responded that the rural designation was created to try to protect the character of the south Maplewood area. Mr. Trippler said there have been many previous public meetings and that the owners present tonight do have a legitimate concern, but the city as a whole wants to preserve the rural nature for future generations. Chair Fischer asked staff if there were public meeting sign in sheets. Planner Ekstrand responded affirmatively and said that many attending were property owners from the area, but also there were some from other areas attending who were concerned about south Maplewood. Mr. Ekstrand said that up to this time they have heard from those who want to keep the area rural and tonight is the first time they have heard from those with a different opinion. Commissioner Pearson said there have been many public meetings over the past two and one-half years that were very well attended with people from the south Maplewood area. Mr. Pearson said the public meeting comments previously were very supportive of maintaining the rural character of south Maplewood. Mr. Pearson said he understood the financial concerns of the property owners, but these properties have also enjoyed a tax-sheltered status under the farm designation for the past 60 years. Mr. Pearson said if a property owner had wanted to develop their property, the property could have been rezoned. Fran Meyer, 2252 Carver, said he lives in St. Paul but has owned a parcel of land in south Maplewood for 30 years that could have been divided for two lots. Mr. Meyer said he has been paying taxes on this land and has maintained it and asked whether he could be grandfathered in since he cannot expand. Planner Martin said that there is a code provision for lots of record that do not meet a new ordinance's lot standards that would grandfather it in to allow a residence on the property. Mr. Martin said that if this ordinance is adopted, this new ordinance would then apply for a request for a lot division. Planning Commission Minutes of 01-20-09 -4- John Nephew, 628 County Road B East, said he concurred with the discussion that the comments heard previously by the city have been in favor of this proposal, but tonight there are two things being considered: the code amendment and the rezoning. Mr. Nephew suggested that the smaller lots in this area might be considered for a different zoning other than the R-1 R rural district. Ms. Haskamp responded that the rationale for changing the farm designation to R-1 R is that they have been looking at the large geographical area of south Maplewood previously designated as farm or open space in order to apply a conservation designation to the area to keep it rural and consistent with the comprehensive plan. Jay Libby, Carver Avenue, said the people in favor of this are the owners of small lots who want the property owners with large parcels to maintain park land for them. Mr. Libby said he is concerned with the county assessing high taxes and the city saying we don't want development. Mr. Libby questioned why the county and city are not working together. In response to the comments on property tax increases, commissioners responded that there are very different tax rates between taxes paid on an empty lot and taxes paid on a developed lot. There were no further public comments; the public hearing was closed. Commissioner Trippler moved to recommend approval of the amended text in the R-1 R zoning district, with a change to modify the number of conservation principles in Table 44-130.1 to 0, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15, to reinsert the paragraph on "view shed" and call it "vista shed" corridor preservation, make the other changes that were discussed with the planning commission and environmental natural resources commission including dedicating 50% of open space "permanently", to apply all conservation principles equally to the site, and to delete the example in the last sentence of the Tree Preservation paragraph on page 5. Commissioner Pearson seconded Ayes - Pearson, Trippler, Walton Nays - Boeser, Fischer, Martin The motion failed. Commissioner Boeser moved to recommend approval of the code amendment for the R-1 R, Rural Single-Dwelling Residence District Requirements, with a name change to "Rural Conservation District" with the noted text changes, reinserting the paragraph on "view shed" and calling it "vista shed" corridor preservation, making the other changes that were discussed by the planning commission and environmental natural resources commission including dedicating 50% of open space permanently, applying all conservation principles equally to a site, deleting the example in the last sentence of the Tree Preservation paragraph on page 5, and keeping the conservation principles in Tiers I-III at 0-7. Commissioner Martin seconded Ayes - Boeser, Fischer, Martin, Pearson, Walton Nay - Trippler The motion passed. Commissioner Trippler said he voted nay because he wanted the higher number of conservation principles required, but he is in agreement with the other changes approved in the last motion. Commissioner Trippler moved to recommend approval of the Rezoning (Zoning Map Changes) from F, Farm Residence District to R-1 R, Rural Conservation District, as defined by the attached maps which were received this evening and dated January 6, 2009. Planning Commission Minutes of 01-20-09 -5- Commissioner Pearson seconded The motion passed. Ayes - all It was noted by Planner Ekstrand that this item will go before the city council on February 9. VI. NEW BUSINESS None VII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None VIII. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS None IX. COMMISSION PRESENTATIONS a. Commissioner Fischer reported on the January 12 city council meeting. b. February 9 City Council Meeting - Commissioner Martin is scheduled. c. January 26 City Council Meeting - Commissioner Hess is scheduled. X. STAFF PRESENTATIONS a. Amendment to Rules of Procedure-Special Meeting Requirements City planner Ekstrand explained a requested revision in the commission's Rules of Procedure changing the special meeting notification to three days notice, instead of the previous two days, in order to match State law. Commissioner Pearson moved approval of the revision in the Rules of Procedure to change the special meeting notification to three days notice instead of the previous two days. Commissioner Trippler seconded The motion passed. Ayes - Boeser, Fischer, Pearson, Trippler, Walton Jennifer Haskamp said she discussed with council member Nephew the option of rezoning some of the smaller parcels south of Carver Avenue to R1 or leaving them as farm designation. Ms. Haskamp said it is not clear if these parcels were intended to be included in the rural density designation based on the city council's recommendation on the comprehensive plan update. Ms. Haskamp explained that the minutes need to be checked from the city council meeting where they considered the comprehensive plan update to see if that area is included in the rural density designation. XI. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m.