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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/29/2004AGENDA MAPLEWOOD COMMUNITY DESIGN REVIEW BOARD Tuosday, March ;~,~, 2004 6:00 P.M. ~ Council Chambers - Maplewood City Hall 1830 County Road B East 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Call to Order Roll Call Approval of Agenda Approval of the January 27, 2004, Minutes Design Review: Venberg Tire - North of 2999 Maplewood Drive Visitor Presentations: None Scheduled Board Presentations Staff Presentations: a. Hillcrest Neighborhood/Mixed-Use Zoning Update b. Gladstone Neighborhood Update c. Community Design Review Board Vacancy Update d. Community Design Review Board Representation at the April 12, 2004, City Council Meeting Adjourn II. III. IV. VI. MINUTES OF THE MAPLEWOOD COMMUNITY DESIGN REVIEW BOARD 1830 COUNTY ROAD B EAST, MAPLEWOOD, MINNESOTA MONDAY, MARCH 29, 2004 (rescheduled from 3-23-04) CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Ledvina called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Chairperson Diana Longrie-Kline Vice-Chairperson Ledvina Board member Linda Olson Board member Ananth Shankar Staff Present: Absent Present Present Present Tom Ekstrand, Senior Planner Chris Cavett, Assistant City Engineer Lisa Krol!, Recording Secretary APPROVAL OF AGENDA Board member Olson moved to approve the agenda. Board member Shankar seconded. The motion passed. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Approval of the CDRB minutes for January 27, 2004. Ayes - Ledvina, Olson, Shankar Chairperson Ledvina had a point of clarification on page 3, 9th paragraph, 2nd sentence. Changing the word contain to generate. Board member Olson moved approval of the minutes of January 27, 2004, as amended. Board member Shankar seconded. Ayes ---Ledvina, Olson, Shankar The motion passed. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. DESIGN REVIEW a. Venburg Tire - North of 2999 Maplewood Drive Mr. Ekstrand said Carol and Pat McFarlane, the owners of Venburg Tire, are proposing to relocate their tire business across Highway 61 to the north side of Gulden's Roadhouse. Community Design Review Board Minutes 3-29-2004 2 Mr. Ekstrand said Venburg Tire is moving their business because County Road D is being realigned to run through the current Venburg Tire site. Mr. Ekstrand said because the applicants' construction proposal would take away existing parking spaces from Gulden's, they are proposing to relocate much of Gulden's front parking lot to a new parking lot behind the restaurant. The owners of Gulden's, Brenda and Mike Gingler, would install their own screening for the proposed parking lot. Mr. Ekstrand said the applicant has provided building material samples for the board to review. Mr. Ekstrand handed out a revised landscaping plan to board members. Board member Shankar asked if the board was approving the entire site plan including the part for Gulden's Roadhouse restaurant? Mr. Ekstrand said yes. Staff is considering the plan conceptual at this point because staff would like to see revised site plans showing the adjustments to the orientation of the parking lot with the back lot line and the landscaping. Chairperson Ledvina asked if Gulden's anticipated any improvements to their building? Mr. Ekstrand said yes. They have mentioned they would like to make some exterior enhancements to their building in the future; however, they do not have any plans at this time to present to the board. Chairperson Ledvina asked staff if Gulden's planned on building a new building in that location or just revitalize their existing building? Mr. Ekstrand said they would only be making exterior improvements to the building. Chairperson Ledvina asked how the elevation change is measured? Mr. Ekstrand said this is a difficult site because of the drop in the grade. In this case the applicant's landscaper has been trying to consider the grade and plant things for proper screening while taking into account the drop in grade. Board member Shankar asked what the elevation difference was from County Road D to this site? Mr. Ekstrand said the architect knows the answer to that question and he can address that when he has the opportunity to speak to the board. Chairperson Ledvina asked the applicant to address the board. Mr. Pat McFarlane, owner of Venburg Tire, 2990 Highway 61, Maplewood, addressed the board. He said this project has been going on between the Ginglers, the owners of Gulden's Roadhouse restaurant and Venburg Tire for over 2 years now. Mr. McFarlane said this is an extremely difficult project because of the number of people that are involved. He said they wanted to have a building somewhat similar to the other buildings on the block. Community Design Review Board Minutes 3-29-2004 Mr. McFarlane said they drove around and looked at different building exteriors and found two that they liked. One building was Comfort Bus on Rice Street in Maplewood and the other was Specialty Engineering on Cope Avenue. Mr. McFarlane said because the customers at Gulden's will walk out of the building and see the expanse of the south wall on the Venburg Tire building they are concerned with how to treat the south wall with landscaping so it is visually pleasing. They also need to ensure that what ever they plant there is salt resistant and can be watered by a drip system. They have been working with the Gingler's and the customers at Gulden's, customers at Venburg Tire and others to get their input regarding the building exterior treatment and color scheme to make sure it is visually pleasing and to ensure the building exterior will have longevity. Board member Olson asked if Venburg Tire planned on having another color such as an accent color on the building other than gray and white color on the exterior? Mr. McFarlane said there would be a red accent stripe on the building exterior and they will have red in their sign. Board member Shankar asked why the spacing of the trees on the landscaping plan was changed? Mr. McFarlane said they spoke to customers who have asked Venburg Tire not to plant the same kind of tree one after the other in a row. They recommended clumping trees together so the trees don't appear so uniform one after another. He said they are still working on the landscaping plan to be approved by the staff. Chairperson Ledvina asked the applicant if they had considered using raised planters on the south wall to give more height to the landscaping on the expansive wall? Mr. McFarlane said no they had not but they have not ruled that idea out either. Board member Shankar said the wall is 18 feet high and if a series of stepped planters are used then that would reduce the expansiveness of the south wall. Board member Olson asked if Gulden's overflow parking would go into Venburg Tire's parking lot? Mr. McFarlane said yes. He assumes that when Gulden's has banquets or receptions they will have a need for overflow parking especially when they have additional employees working. Chairperson Ledvina asked the architect to address the board. Mr. Bob Burow, Architect with RB Architects, 750 South Plaza Drive, Mendota Heights, addressed the board. While Mr. Burow stepped away from the microphone he discussed the building exterior samples that were provided for the board to review. Board member Shankar asked if the metal panel would be flat? Mr. Burow said it would be a flat metal panel with a shadow effect above the windows. Community Design Review Board Minutes 3-29-2004 4 Chairperson Ledvina said the city has seen rooftop mechanical units that detract from the appearance of the building. He said the single-family homes on Duluth Street would see the top of the Venburg Tire building as they look out and he asked how many stacks and units would be seen on their roof? Mr. Burow said there would be some small stacks, two rooftop units and some bathroom exhaust venting. Board member Shankar asked if there would be any wall pack lighting on the building? Mr. Burow said there are some wall pack lights on the west, north and east elevations. They are the cutoff design and should comply with the ordinances. Chairperson Ledvina asked what material would be used on the garage doors? Mr. Burow said the garage doors are going to be made of aluminum and will be a white pre- finished-anodized. Chairperson Ledvina asked what color the bollards would be? Mr. Burow said that has not been determined yet but the bollards will probably be painted either gray or black. Chairperson Ledvina asked if they considered using a pitched roof on the design of this building such as over the customer service/retail area? Mr. Burow said at one time they had a plan with a pitched roof but because of cost the plan was changed. Chairperson Ledvina asked if a representative of Gulden's restaurant would like to address the board? Mr. Mike Gingler, owner of Gulden's Roadhouse restaurant, 2999 Highway 61, Maplewood, addressed the board. Mr. Gingler said he and his wife Brenda have been the owners of Gulden's Roadhouse restaurant for almost 14 years now and have upgraded the building immensely. Mr. Gingler said they are excited to get some capital in their building from the sale of the property to Venburg Tire. He said they plan on building a canopy to the entrance of the building, a canopy over the windows and a canopy over a walk way from the back of the building. So the majority of the money made off the sale of the property is going towards updating the parking lot and building. They would like the building to blend in with the other buildings in the area so the whole area looks nicer. He thinks it's exciting to see two small privately owned companies such as Gulden's and Venburg Tire stick it out and survive this challenge. Board member OIson asked staff if the site to the south in between LaMettry's and Gulden's would stay open space? Community Design Review Board Minutes 3-29-2004 Mr. Ekstrand said yes for the most part it would. The land is within the shoreland boundary area of Kohlman Lake. There is a conceptual plan for a townhome development to the west and to the north of Gulden's and the new Venburg Tire property. Board member Olson asked Mr. Cavett if he was concerned about the drainage from this site and into the shoreland boundary area of Kohlman Lake? Mr. Cavett said no, the city has been working with the applicant and our consulting engineer. The consulting engineer is working with the County Road D realignment and the frontage road. They have been working with the drainage design and this is part of a regional pond that has been developed. These sites are going to have some localized treatment; otherwise it's going to be managed into the city's system. There was miscellaneous discussion between the board and the architect regarding how to best handle the expanse of the south wall and the landscaping possibilities. Chairperson Ledvina said in his opinion this building design could be improved. His overall concern is the customer service area is not emphasized enough and could be enhanced by having a pitched roof. This part of the building should also have brick all the way to the top of the wall. The customer service portion of the building has a lower roof elevation than the rest of the building and is de-emphasized. This area should have a higher roof elevation in comparison to the rest of the building and this area should be the design focal point of the site. Overall the building is visually not what he expected. The city has high expectations of how this area is developed with the County Road D realignment and the future townhomes that will be built and the design isn't as visually pleasing and deserves more attention to detail. He said with all the building that will be happening in the Legacy Village area this building design should standout more. Board member Olson said she understands where the other board members are coming from. She said when you look at this building it appears to be nothing more than a large rectangle. However, she thinks the applicant did a good job with the selection of building materials. Board member Shankar said to emphasize the customer service area that area of the building either needs to project out two feet or setback two feet to show the separation. Board member Olson and Chairperson Ledvina said they wouldn't like to see the customer service area setback two feet because that would de-emphasize the area even more. Board member Olson said she is concerned about the additional cost to the applicant if the board asked him to expand the customer service area by two feet. Mr. Burow said expanding the building two feet would add at least $20,000 to the cost of the already $1.8 million dollar building. Mr. McFarlane said the cost of this building is going up weekly. The cost of steel has gone up 50%. $20,000 is a lot to add to the budget for this building. He said if he would have been able to afford to add two feet to the building design to begin with he would have done that already, but he can't. Community Design Review Board Minutes 3-29-2004 He believes this building proposal is a nice looking building and is a much nicer building than the Discount Tire building on White Bear Avenue, which has no character and isn't a very nice looking building. His customers have told him he needs to build this building for the future. Board member Shankar asked what the total square footage of the proposed building would be? Mr. Burow said the proposed building is 9,855 square feet. Board member Shankar moved to approve the site plan date-stamped February 3, 2004, the civil drawings date-stamped March 1,2004, the photometric plan date-stamped March 1,2004, and the revised elevations date-stamped March 9, 2004, for Venburg Tire. Approval is subject to the applicants complying with the following conditions: (Deleted conditions are stricken and changes in the original conditions are in bold.) Repeat this review in two years if the city has not issued a building permit for this project. Before getting a building permit, the applicants must comply with all the requirements of the assistant city engineer's memo dated March 8, 2004. Before getting a building permit, the applicants must submit a revised landscaping plan addressing the following: A planted screen on the west side of the site to provide screening that is at least six feet tall and 80 percent opaque upon planting according to code. There are no plantings on the highway side of the proposed parking lot. Staff recommends some landscaping in this area to enhance the site, as is the typical requirement. The applicant shall submit a revised site plan for the south side of the building for review by the city staff. Increasing the number of trees on the south side of County Road D to accomplish a spacing of 30 feet on center. The applicants propose to irrigate the site to the base of the westerly slope. Staff feels that this is acceptable as long as the applicants agree to water the seeded slope by hoses and sprinklers. · All sodded areas must have an in-ground lawn irrigation system. Before getting a building permit, the applicants shall provide revised plans with the following changes: Community Design Review Board Minutes 3-29-2004 7 The addition of a sidewalk to connect the proposed sidewalk on the south side of County Road D to the Venburg Tire parking lot. Elimination of the open used-tire storage. There shall not be any open exterior storage on the site. Wall-pack lighting details to verify that the fixture type will not cause excessive glare to the westerly neighbor. p r,',,',,',~',',~ ~,. The applicant shall submit revised bu#ding elevations showing a different banding scheme on the south side of the building showing the customer service portion of the building projecting out a minimum of two feet to the north and east side. Revised building elevations that provide for the screening of rooftop mechanical equipment as required by code. Record the deeds with Ramsey County for the creation of this site. This recording also includes the dedication of right-of-way to the city, the dedication of excess property to the neighboring property owner west of the private roadway and the combination of the remnant property with the Venburg Tire site in the northwest corner of the property. o Apply for all required permits from the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Ramsey/Washington Metro Watershed District. 7. Comply with all requirements of the Maplewood Building Official and Fire Marshal. 8. If any required work is not done, the city may allow temporary occupancy if: The city determines that the work is not essential to the public health, safety of welfare. The applicants submit an irrevocable letter of credit or cash escrow to cover the cost of any unfinished required exterior improvements. The applicants shall complete any unfinished landscaping by June 1 if the building is occupied in the fall or winter, or within six weeks of occupancy if the building is occupied in the spring or summer. All work shall follow the approved plans and these conditions. community development may approve minor changes. The director of Chairperson Ledvina seconded. Ayes - Shankar Nay- Ledvina, Olson The motion failed. Community Design Review Board Minutes 3-29-2004 8 Board member Olson said she couldn't justify asking the applicant to add two feet to his building to enhance the customer service area spending an additional $20,000 on his building. Board member Shankar said he understands what Board member Olson is saying. He thinks it is easier and less expensive to add the two feet now rather than possibly wanting to expand the building down the road. Board member Olson moved to approve the same motions that Board member Shankar made eliminating the two-foot expansion request as shown below. The applicant shah submit revised building elevations showing a different banding ,u,u'-'n-'~:':n'" scheme on the south side of the bu . Board member Shankar seconded. Ayes - Olson, Shankar Nay- Ledvina Chairperson Ledvina said he understands the applicant has worked very hard to get to this point with this building, however, he expected the customer service area to be more of a focal point and believes more work could be done on the design of the building. The motion passed. Board member Olson moved to adopt the resolution on page 24 of the staff report approving a sign setback variance for the proposed Venburg Tire freestanding sign on the excess right-of- way. Approval is based on the following reasons: The proposed sign placement would meet the spirit and intent of the code since the sign would comply with the required 10-foot minimum setback from the actual right-of-way. Compliance with code would cause the applicants undue hardship since the 30 feet of excess right-of-way would require the applicants to place their sign further back than would otherwise be allowed. Board member Olson moved to approve the proposed conceptual changes to the Gulden's Roadhouse site for a new rear parking lot, site lighting and landscaping. This approval also includes a parking waiver to have 11 fewer parking spaces than code requires since Venburg Tire will provide use of their parking lot for overflow parking. Approval of the conceptual changes is subject to the owners of Gulden's doing the following before the city will issue a grading and paving permit for the new parking lot: Submit a revised landscape plan for staff approval providing for screening on the west side of the proposed parking lot. This screening shall comply with city code that requires a visual screen that is at least six feet tall and 80 percent opaque upon installation. This landscape plan shall also include a turf establishment plan for this area. Community Design Review Board Minutes 3-29-2004 VII. VIII. IX, Board member Shankar seconded. The motion passed. Submit a detailed grading and drainage plan. Submit a revised site plan showing compliance with the required 20-foot minimum parking lot setback from the west lot line. The proposed parking lot shall have continuous concrete curb and gutter. Seal the well on the proposed Venburg Tire site according to State of Minnesota Department of Health well-abandonment requirements. Provide the city with documentation that Venburg Tire has approved a shared- parking agreement to allow Gulden's use of their parking lot. Ayes - Ledvina, Olson, Shankar This item goes to the city council on April 12, 2004. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS No visitors present. BOARD PRESENTATIONS Chairperson Ledvina gave a brief description of the last city council meeting he attended. Items discussed included Ohlson Landscaping, which was approved and the 2003 CDRB Annual Report, which was approved. STAFF PRESENTATIONS a. Hillcrest Neighborhood/Mixed-Use Zoning Update Mr. Ekstrand said the Mixed-Use Zoning Update for the Hillcrest neighborhood had been approved by the city council on February 23, 2004. b. Gladstone Neighborhood Update Mr. Ekstrand gave a brief update on the Gladstone neighborhood meetings. c. Community Design Review Board Vacancy Update Mr. Ekstrand said currently there are four applicants for the opening on the CDRB and the interviews will likely be held during the April 26, 2004, city council meeting. d. Board member Olson will be the CDRB representative at the April 12, 2004, city council meeting. Community Design Review Board Minutes 3-29-2004 x, ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:58 p.m. l0