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PC_Meeting Minutes- 01.13.2025CITY OF GOLDEN VALLEY PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Monday, January 13, 2025 – 6:30 p.m. | City Hall Council Chamber 7800 Golden Valley Road Golden Valley, MN 55427 1. CALL TO ORDER AND LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT • Chair Ruby called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. and read the Land Acknowledgement • Regular Members Present: Amy Barnstorff, Adam Brookins, Gary Cohen, Mike Ruby, Martin Sicotte • Regular Members Absent: Chuck Segelbaum, Eric Van Oss • Student Member, Status: Vacant • Staff Members Present: Jacquelyn Kramer, Senior Planner Steven Okey, Associate Planner • Council Member Present: Sophia Ginis 2. CONSENT AGENDA: Agenda Approval or Modifications 1.A Approval of agenda 2.A Approval of November 13, 2024, meeting minutes • Ruby asked for a motion to approve • Brookins moved • Barnstorff seconded • Approved unanimously 3. PUBLIC HEARINGS: - None 4. NEW BUSINESS: 4.A. 2025 Work Plan • Ruby introduced the topic of the 2025 Work Plan • Kramer started by discussing the new staffing in the Community Development Department. She stated that we are finalizing the 2025 work plan along with working on strategic planning. She noted that City Council has not given a date when they will be reviewing the work plan but that we wanted to bring it to the Commission at the beginning of the year. We want to make sure we are capturing Commission priorities and to bring the staff priorities as well. • Ruby asked once this is voted on and approved and there are changes will it necessitate another vote or will it be just a discussion. • Kramer stated it does not have to be a vote necessarily. It will be a standing item on every Commission agenda. She noted if we need to add, take off, or reorder any of the items without a vote being required but if there were substantial changes it would be good to have a vote. Also, since Council has not given a firm date when they need the updated work plans it isn’t necessary to have a vote tonight if the Commission is not ready and would like to make changes we can bring it back at a later date for a vote. • Ruby asked what a vote tonight would mean. • Kramer stated it would mean that the Commission was happy with the work plan, with the items on it, their order, and your ready for the Council to see what has been identified as priorities. • Ruby asked if the Council has come up with their work plan and if the Commission work plan is tied to it. • Kramer stated it isn’t really park of the Council work plan but in the past Council has approved the work plan of all boards and commissions, and it is also tied in with the annual reports. She CITY OF GOLDEN VALLEY PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Monday, January 13, 2025 – 6:30 p.m. | City Hall Council Chamber 7800 Golden Valley Road Golden Valley, MN 55427 noted that it was paused last year and possibly the year before but that the process is being reinstated. She stated she is expecting Council will want to see a work plan from every board and commissions this year. • Kramer continued with presenting each of the items on the work plan. She stated that the first four items are ongoing items we track to keep them in our minds. She also stated if the Commissioners had any innovative planning or zoning item, they may have read about in new articles to let staff know and we can research it and put it on the plan for further discussion. She went on to discuss the ongoing item of equity training and noted currently there were no specific training items identified, but the equity team is working on their own plan and it will have training priorities over the next year. • Kramer continued by bringing up the joint Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals training that will be happening at the January 27, 2025, meeting. She noted if any of the Commissioners cannot attend they will be receiving materials they can review, and staff can schedule one-on-one meetings to go over the materials. She stated the topics of discussion during the training session are partially legal requirements, purpose, and conduct of the Commission, and that Maria Cisneros, City Attorney will be there to answer any questions. • Kramer moved on to the high priority items that we hope to get through in the next couple of months. She started with the Sign Code Amendment that has been discussed a lot of times during the last few months and that we have put out a Request for Proposal (RFP) to consultants to help us update the whole sign code section. She noted that the RFP closes at the end of January, and we should have a consultant on board in February. • Ruby asked if there was an approved budget for the consultant services. • Kramer stated that $45,00 was set aside in the budget approved by Council. She noted that we will have the selection in February and execute the contract at that time. She outlined we will have plan review, zoning diagnosis, and a report to Planning Commission hopefully by the end of March and an ordinance to Council for approval y the end of May. There will likely be multiple discussions necessary to discuss the sign code update. • Sicotte asked what kind of background will the consultant have, will it be something like an urban design firm. • Kramer stated it will be a planning firm or an urban design firm that may have worked with the city previously on projects. • Cohen stated during the cannabis discussion aspects of signage were brought up several times, but it appears that the state cannabis rules are not moving forward very quickly, and he thinks we will have a sign update in place before it is needed to address new cannabis business. • Kramer noted if the RFP we specifically identified signage requirements for cannabis, tobacco and alcohol we want the consultants to review. She stated we also asking for an equity analysis, industry best practices, and fixing other items in the code that are out of date and/or inconsistent. • Ruby asked if while we review signage will we need to address lighting or will it be handled separately. • Kramer stated anything in the signage code section would be covered in this update, but it wouldn’t be all lighting requirements just those related to signage. • Ruby asked if they may have to go into the lighting code section. • Kramer stated if there is something specific that comes up during their review of the signage code or any other code sections the consultants would update those sections as well. • Kramer moved on to the next topic of the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) code section update. She stated it is really outdated with odd language that need to be brought up to date. She CITY OF GOLDEN VALLEY PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Monday, January 13, 2025 – 6:30 p.m. | City Hall Council Chamber 7800 Golden Valley Road Golden Valley, MN 55427 noted in its current form it does not have objective standards that are easy to interpret or legally enforceable. She stated as a part of this update we will be looking at the land use tables to determine what uses should remain as conditional and which ones could be permitted by right or restricted. • Ruby asked if we would be looking at the viability of the variables within the CUP and what the city is currently emphasizing, such as public art and the like. • Kramer clarified those are public amenity points that are part of the Planned Unit Development (PUD) process. She noted that we are also going to be looking at public amenity points section of the PUD code section in the future and that because the CUP section is a smaller section that we hope to deal with before we receive a lot of new CUP applications. She stated along with the sign code update it is one we would like to discuss in quarter one and have a public hearing in quarter two. • Kramer then brought up another high priority item labelled Civic Campus. She stated that the Commission got a small introduction to the topic as a part of the Downtown User Experience Framework, a part of it is looking at a new civic campus for City Hall, Public Works, and Public Safety. She noted there will likely be rezoning, re-guiding for future land use, and other miscellaneous zoning code updates since it is a large multi-faceted project to get through this year. She also noted it is currently slated for quarter two or three and it is dependent on factors like land acquisition and budget, and right now we have money to start the initial planning and design. • Kramer moved on to the medium priority items. She stated we are going to be reviewing the parking code section. She noted we are looking at parking requirements to see if they still work for developers, the city and the public. Another item she discussed was missing middle housing and asked if the Commissioners were with the topic. She stated that basically middle housing is housing types between single-detached dwellings and apartment dwellings, they may include duplexes, triplexes, quads, townhomes, rowhomes, smaller apartment buildings, and/or cluster homes. She noted that these housing types existed in many areas but that zoning changes in the 60’s and 70’s eliminated these based on reasoning that was benign and at times with bad intentions similar to red lining to exclude certain groups of people from the city. She stated that the move to more middle housing will help meet the housing needs in the City of Golden Valley and the metro region in general. She noted that currently these housing types if allowed are subject to land use processes that may be onerous. Any such change to the code will require several discussions and looking at our zoning districts particularly the residential zoning districts. • Kramer then mentioned several other zoning code items that need updating. These include reviewing the mixed-use zoning district to see what works and what doesn’t, reviewing PUD amenity points, updated to subdivision codes, and architectural and materials standards. She also noted the items we finished last fall were left on to celebrate the accomplishments. • Ruby asked about how rezoning some areas in advance of it being owned by the city would work and does it open the city up to risk, would we wait until there were more concrete plans before rezoning. • Kramer stated we wouldn’t rezone specific properties unless we owned them. She noted we can do small area planning and look at re-guiding areas where we may want to spur redevelopment. She stated that come of the considerations would be street frameworks that are geared more to the pedestrian experience. She noted we have the Highway 55 Bus Rapid Transit study and once we know of station locations along Highway 55 we may want to plan around those. • Ruby asked if there may be small area plans discussed but rezoning would take place further along in the future. CITY OF GOLDEN VALLEY PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Monday, January 13, 2025 – 6:30 p.m. | City Hall Council Chamber 7800 Golden Valley Road Golden Valley, MN 55427 • Kramer stated some of the items on the work plan may have to extend into 2026 and this is all dependent on the workload from development applications. She noted that currently applications submissions have been very light but that if we get a couple of bigger projects that will affect the amount of time spent on the work plan. • Ruby asked if the lack of applications was a seasonal effect or if it is a market trend. • Kramer stated that it may be market trends, and that planning application are not normally tied to seasonality as they have long lead times with a lot of pre-development requirements such as financing or planning. She noted it is difficult to predict the market trends but affects of construction and labor costs are factors in development. • Cohen asked if our new process would have an effect on new applications and that it will be an all-inclusive process. • Kramer stated it was true. She noted if there were other topics the Commission would like to discuss they may not necessary a larger group discussion but could be handled with written reports. • Cohen asked about the student member vacancy and how the Commissioners may be able to assist in recruitment. • Ginis stated it has been difficult to find students to apply. • Kramer stated that if any Commissioner know of any students who may be interested to encourage them to apply. • Sicotte asked what the age range was for student members. • Kramer stated that it was high school students who are eligible. • Ruby asked if there were any other questions or comments on the work plan. He then asked for a motion. • Cohen made the motion. • Barnstorff seconded the motion. • All voted in favor and the motion passed. 5. STAFF UPDATES: • Kramer stated the Board of Zoning Appeals meeting on January 28, 2025, has been cancelled. 6. COMMISSIONER UPDATES: • Ginis stated that the Planning Commission work plan is a big component of what is coming up for City Council. She noted there we other exciting items to move forward on for 2025, one of which is the HOPE Program and there are components of the program that will be coming in front of the Commission over the next year. Another item she brought up are assignment of Council liaisons to the various commissions, committees, and boards. She stated 2024 was about resetting the foundation and ensuring we know where we we’re going, and we have the staff expertise to lead the efforts. She noted that there is a lot to be excited about in 2025 for the city including furthering culture goals, downtown planning, municipal projects, and comprehensive park plan. She also noted that are finances are in great order. She stated Council meetings have been easy, partly because of the good work the other bodies do, and in 2025 with a new city manager, filled leadership positions, and awesome staff she thinks the city is positioned to do a lot of really great things. • Ruby asked if Councilor Ginis had updates on the timing for the BRT study on Highway 55. • Ginis stated the structure for the study is in place, the Policy Committee has met, and the Technical Advisory Committee has been established. She noted the scope of work has been reviewed and sent out into the world. • Ruby asked if the timing for implementation is a 2025 or 2026 goal. • Ginis stated that it is a longer process, and it is dependent on establishing a market for the CITY OF GOLDEN VALLEY PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Monday, January 13, 2025 – 6:30 p.m. | City Hall Council Chamber 7800 Golden Valley Road Golden Valley, MN 55427 service. She noted currently there is no bus line that travels from Minneapolis along Highway 55 with many different service types in the Metro Transit’s network and the question is how to allocate resources, where to place stations, selecting the corridor, and other factor analysis. She stated currently there isn’t a project timeline and there are multiple phases. • Kramer stated that she is on the Technical Advisory Committee and would be able to update the Planning Commission periodically throughout the year. • Ruby asked if there were any other questions. • Kramer asked if the Commissioners were familiar with the HOPE Program. She stated basically that the city has funds to finance affordable housing projects, mainly single-detached and duplexes. She noted we have identified nine or ten sites throughout the city and are partnering with developers, on such developer is Habitat for Humanity. She stated some of the sites will need to be rezoned to allow for some of the duplexes or row houses and they will likely be coming before the Commission over the next year. • Ruby asked if these are similar to parcels we had last year and if the city had identified nine more. • Kramer stated she believes it is nine parcels total, some of which have already been approved and homes built. She noted that many of the newly identified parcels are former Minnesota Department of Transportation properties, and some are tricky to develop with market rate housing, but the city has funds and partners identified who are interested in taking them on to create home ownership opportunities for lower income residents. • Cohen stated he wanted to commend Steven Okey for the wonderful job on the minutes for the long and detailed cannabis discussion at the November 13, 2024, meeting. 7. ADJOURNMENT: Chair Ruby adjourned the meeting at 7:02 p.m.