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04-26-10 PC Minutes Regular Meeting of the Golden Valley Planning Commission April 26, 2010 A regular meeting of the Planning Commission was held at the Golden Valley City Hall, Council Chambers, 7800 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, Minnesota, on Monday, April 26, 2010. Chair Keysser called the meeting to order at 7 pm. Those present were Planning Commissioners Eck, Keysser, Kluchka, McCarty, Schmidgall and Waldhauser. Also present was City Planner Joe Hogeboom, Planning Intern Kevin Knase and Administrative Assistant Lisa Wittman. Commissioner Cera was absent. 1. Approval of Minutes March 22, 2010 Regular Planning Commission Meeting Eck referred to the second paragraph on page 3 and stated that the word "to" should be added in the last sentence. MOVED by Eck, seconded by Waldhauser and motion carried unanimously to approve the March 22, 2010 minutes with the above noted correction. 2. Informal Public Hearing - Conditional Use Permit - 5530 Golden Valley Road - CU-128 Applicant: Peaceful Valley Montessori Academy - Katie Doyle, Applicant Address: 5530 Golden Valley Road Purpose: To allow the operation of a Childcare Facility in the Commercial Zoning District Knase referred to a location map and pointed out the subject property. He explained that Peaceful Valley Montessori Academy is going to be leasing the upper half of the building located at 5530 Golden Valley Road. They are requesting a Conditional Use Permit in order to operate a Montessori/childcare facility for up to 25 children in the Commercial zoning district. He discussed the applicant's request and noted that the property currently has 6 parking spaces which would be sufficient for their customers; however they will need 3 additional spaces in order to provide parking for their 3 employees. The applicants have indicated that they will be leasing 3 permanent parking spaces from the property across the street at 1415 Lilac Drive North. Keysser said he noticed that there is construction occurring on the site. He expressed concern about construction starting before a Conditional Use Permit is issued. Schmidgall asked if the applicants have a building permit for the current construction. Hogeboom said yes, the applicants have the necessary permits for the work that is taking place and explained that staff feels comfortable with them starting the construction process while they are going through the Conditional Use Permit process. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission April 26, 2010 Page 2 Keysser asked about the use of the first floor in the building. Summer Picha, Applicant, stated that the first floor is currently vacant but it has been used as a residential property in the past. Keysser asked who owns the property. Knase said the owner is Stevens Group LLC in Minneapolis. Eck referred to the site plans and asked about the walls shown on the plan. Knase said he believes they are separation walls and they are not necessarily permanent. Waldhauser noted that there is not a kitchen area shown on the plans and asked about food service. Picha stated that she has been involved in Montessori for nine years and she has always wanted to own her own school. She explained that their school will have smaller class sizes, and the kids will have fewer transitions than in a typical school. She added that she likes the size of the building for their use and they are hoping it will become a community school. Keysser asked about the type of license a Montessori requires. Katie Doyle, Applicant, explained that they will receive a child care facility license through the State. Picha added that technically they are a daycare, not a school, because of the age of the children. She referred to the question regarding food service and explained that there will be a small food preparation area but the kids bring lunch from home and the snacks are all pre- packaged so there won't be any cooking. Kluchka asked how many children they intend to have at the school. Picha said according to their State License they can have 24 children. Kluchka asked what improvements they are planning for the exterior of the building. Doyle stated that they are going to install two play structures, a chain link fence for a play area and they are going to trim tree branches. Picha added that there will also be a picnic area and raised beds for gardening because teaching the kids to take care of the environment is part of their program. Eck asked about the differences between Montessori and daycare. Doyle explained that Montessori is a philosophy developed by Maria Montessori who was a doctor and scientist who developed her philosophy with scientifically tested materials. Picha added that it is a holistic philosophy that starts with the concrete and moves to the abstract. Eck asked about the number of staff people. Doyle said they will have three staff people and that their student to teacher ratio is 1 to 10. Keysser asked about the length of the lease. Doyle said they have signed a three year lease. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission April 26, 2010 Page 3 Waldhauser asked if the main entrance would be the one on the front corner of the building. Picha said yes and added that the back door would be used to access to the outdoor play area. Waldhauser expressed concern about having only six parking spaces. Doyle stated that they had an open house recently and there were 6 or 7 cars parked in the parking lot without a problem. Keysser asked if the parking lot will be striped. Picha said yes and added that the drop off times will be staggered so that should help alleviate any parking issues. Schmidgall asked the applicants if they have any plans to use the lower level in the future. Doyle said no and explained that if they used the lower level they would have to bring the entire building into conformance with the building code. Schmidgall asked about the construction currently being done. Doyle explained that they are currently doing demolition and they have pulled the proper demolition permits. Keysser opened the public hearing. Michelle Lemke, 1530 Welcome Avenue North, said she is concerned about the proposed chain link fence because she won't have much privacy with 24 kids right in her back yard. She said she thinks a privacy fence would be better and added that she doesn't have enough room on her side of the property line to put up her own privacy fence. Seeing and hearing no one else wishing to comment, Keysser closed the public hearing. Keysser asked the applicants to explain what type of fence they are proposing to use. Doyle said they are planning to install chain link fencing right away and in the future they would like to install a privacy fence. Picha stated that they would be willing to install a privacy fence along the west side of the property closest to Ms. Lemke and the other three sides of the fence could be chain link. Waldhauser discussed the location of the fence and noted that there are other materials that could be used for screening such as shrubs or trees. Doyle added that the only time all of the kids would be outside would be for an hour during the middle of the day. Otherwise there will only be small groups of kids outside for short periods of time throughout the day. Eck asked the applicants when they plan to open their facility. Doyle said they plan to open on June 1. Kluchka suggested adding a condition of approval that the west side of the proposed fence would be required to have some sort of privacy feature. He also suggested that the applicants and staff work with MnDOT regarding installing signage that warns drivers of children playing. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission April 26, 2010 Page 4 McCarty referred to the condition of approval regarding the hours of operation and suggested allowing them to stay open until 7 pm rather than 6 pm in order to give them some flexibility. Keysser asked the applicants if they envision having any weekend events. Picha said they may have events up to 4 times per year. Keysser said he thinks language regarding events should be added to the Conditional Use Permit. The Commissioners discussed the various ways to address the normal business hours versus special event hours and weekend hours. Kluchka suggested allowing one weekend and one evening per month. Kluchka asked about bicycle racks. Picha stated they did not have bicycle racks on the property. The Commissioners encouraged the applicants to provide them. MOVED by Schmidgall, seconded by Kluchka and motion carried unanimously to recommend approval for the operation of a Childcare Facility at 5530 Golden Valley Road subject to the following conditions: 1. All signage shall meet the requirements of the City's sign code. 2. The site plan shall become a part of this approval. 3. The Montessori school/childcare facility shall be limited to 25 clients, or the amount specified by the State of Minnesota. 4. The hours of normal operation shall be Monday through Friday from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm with limited monthly evening and weekend operations of 1 evening and 1 weekend per month. 5. All improvements to the building shall meet the City's Building Code requirements. 6. All necessary licenses shall be obtained by the Minnesota Department of State and/or the Minnesota Department of Education before schooling and childcare operations may commence. Proof of such licensing shall be presented to the Director of Planning and Development. 7. Documentation regarding the use of off-street parking spaces from a property zoned Business and Professional Offices within 500 feet of 5530 Golden Valley Road shall be submitted to the City prior to City Council approval of a Conditional Use Permit. 8. The west portion of the proposed fence shall have some sort of privacy feature screening the play area from the neighbors to the west. 9. All other applicable local, state and federal requirements shall be met at all times. 10. Failure to comply with any of the terms of this permit shall be grounds for revocation. --Short Recess-- Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission April 26, 2010 Page 5 4. Reports on Meetings of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, City Council, Board of Zoning Appeals and other Meetings Hogeboom gave an update on the Bottineau Light Rail Transit proposal and the restriping and repaving of Douglas Drive. 5. Other Business No other business was discussed. 6. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 pm.