Loading...
02-13-89 PC Minutesa MINUTES OF THE GOLDEN VALLEY PLANNING COMMISSION February 13, 1989 A regular meeting of the Planning Commission was held in the Council Chambers of the Civic Center, 7800 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, Minnesota. The meeting was called to order by Chair Prazak at 7:00 P.M. Those present were Commissioners Kapsner, Leppik, McAleese, McCracken-Hunt, Prazak, and Russell. Commissioner Lewis was absent. Also present were Mark Grimes, Director of Planning and Development, Beth Knoblauch, City Planner, and Gloria Anderson, Planning Secretary. I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - JANUARY 23, 1989 It was moved by Commissioner McAleese, seconded by Commissioner Leppik, and carried unanimously to approve the minutes of the January 23, 1989 .Planning Commission meeting. II. INFORMAL PUBLIC HEARING - CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT APPLICANT: Golden Valley Lutheran Church (Cindy Wheeler) LOCATION: 100 Turner's Crossroad South REQUEST: Approval of a Conditional Use Permit to Allow .for a Child Care Center in an I-1 Institutional Zoning District This item was introduced by Chair Prazak who asked fora review of the staff report. City Planner Beth Knoblauch reviewed her report indicating there is a definite need in Golden Valley for additional day care for infants and children. She stated that she felt this proposal would not be detrimental to the neighbor- hood nor would it cause a major impact on the streets in the area. The only problems may be for the people getting into and out of the parking area. Commissioner Kapsner asked if there would any drop off or pick up at the main building. or just the parsonage. City Planner Knoblauch stated that the proponent did not have a preference, that she was willing to have the Planning Commission make a recommendation. The Planning Commission indicated-that the drop off and pick up area should probably be from the main parking lot in order to access both buildings. Commissioner Leppik questioned the high number of infants proposed in this day care center. Gity Planner Knoblauch stated that the greatest need at this time in the Metropolitan area was for infant care. Ms. Cindy Wheeler, Director of Family Life Ministries, was present to represent the proponent. 1 ,~ Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission February 13, 1989 Page 2 Chair Prazak asked what the staff ratio would be for the day care center and what they used as evidence that there was a need for this level of care. Ms. Wheeler said the State requires one staff person for every four infants and that they hope to exceed this ratio if they could. S he said she had done a study on the need for day care last summer and statistics from the'~Greater Minneapolis Day Care Association showed a pressing need for infant da,y care. Commissioner McAleese noted that he would like a copy of 'the study Ms. Wheeler had done. Commissioner. McCracken-Hunt asked if they could mix the' toddlers and infants. Ms. Wheeler said they could not. Chair Prazak asked Ms. Wheeler if there would be any ma'~jor changes to the building.. She said most of the changes would be to thy, interior of the building including bringing the fire system up to code. There Mould also be some chain link fencing added for the play area for. the toddlers.~l Commissioner McCracken-Hunt asked what type of meal se vice there would be. Ms. Wheeler said they were planning to serve hot meals but ha~re not decided whether they would be prepared on site or catered. Chair Prazak opened the informal public hearing. Hearing and seeing no one, the informal public hearing was closed. ~, Chair Prazak stated that with access to the parsonage b,'eing changed to the rear, this seemed like an appropriate proposal. I, It was moved by Commissioner Russell, seconded by Commissioner McAleese and motion carried unanimously to recommend City Council a proval of a Conditional Use Permit for a child day care center at Golden Valle Lutheran Church, 100 Turner's Crossroad South, subject to the following con itions: 1. The center, including the preschool program, be 'limited to a maximum of 50 children. 2. The activity areas exist as designated on the site sketches filed with the Planning office. 3. The center comply with all other City and State. requirements before beginning operation.- 4. Any failure to comply with one or more of the conditions of approval shall be grounds for revocation of the Conditional Use Permit. Consensus of the Planning Commission was to recommend that the access to the parsonage be changed to the rear of the building. 1 Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission February 13, 1989 Page 3 Commissioner McAleese asked if the Zoning Code should be changed to allow day care as a regular use in the Institutional Zoning District and asked if staff could look into this and get back to the Commission in the future. III. INFORMAL PUBLIC HEARING - PRELIMINARY PLAT (MINOR SUBDIVISION) APPLICANT: Robert Mikolajczyk LOCATION: 201 Meadow Lane North REQUEST: Approval of the Preliminary Plat to Subdivide This Parcel to Create an Additional Single Family Lot This agenda item was. introduced by Chair Prazak. City Planner Beth Knoblauch reviewed the staff report. She indicated that the proponent had brought in a new plat which met met all conditions of the City Zoning Code for a minor subdivision. They had more than the minimum square footage necessary for. the new lot including twenty feet of street frontage to provide for a driveway. The existing home on the lot would also comply with the Code. City Planner Knoblauch said the staff recommended this plat be approved. She also introduced a letter from a neighbor, Mr. Onan, who stated he would be out of town. and could not attend the hearing. He wanted to make sure that this proposal would conform to the City Zoning Code. City Planner Knoblauch brought up the sewer line which runs along a private drive. Staff believes this to be a private sewer line in which case the owners would have to have a sewer line brought in to the lot from the street. Director Grimes later indicated to the proponent that they should talk with the City Engineer regarding the sewer line. Commissioner Leppik questioned the space between the present private driveway and the proposed driveway for the new lot. City Planner Knoblauch stated that only ten feet of the twenty feet would be used for the driveway allowing fora ten-foot separation between the two driveways. The proponent, Mr. Robert Mikolajczyk, and his representative, Mr. Jerry Foss, were present to answer questions. Commissioner Leppik asked Mr. Foss if they would use the present private driveway or put in a new driveway. Mr. Foss stated there is enough land so a driveway can be constructed. He also noted that the lot was large and therefore there would be no need for any variances to build a house. Commissioner McAleese noted that once the lot was divided, the rear setback on the existing house was shown as 34+ feet and not the required 34.8 feet. He felt this should be checked out before the final plat is prepared. ._, Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission February 13, 1989 Page 4 Chair Prazak o ened t he informal bli h i p pu c ear ng. Ms. Nancy Young, 219 North Meadow Lane, stated one of the r easons they had purchased their home in this area was because of the large lots and she was bothered that people were .dividing their lots into smaller parcels. Her husband, Eric Young, presented a letter from the owner of t he private driveway. Ms. Pat Bonander, 221 North Meadow Lane, was concerned that lots are being broken up and smaller homes are being built. Mr. Randy Clark, 220 North Meadow Lane, said he moved into the area three years ago because the homes and lots are large. He is opposed to dividing the lots in this area. Mr. Bruce Monick, 4215 Poplar Drive, felt a precedent was being set by breaking up these lots. He stated that when another owner in this area wanted to divide his property, he could not. After a short discussion, staff explained that the reason was probably because he would not have had any street frontage for the new lot. Mr. Eric Young, 219 North. Meadow Lane, was concerned about precedents being set and what it would do to the neighborhood. Chair Prazak reviewed the letter presented by Mr. Young from Dr. Sweet. Dr. Sweet's concerns were regarding the change in the presentation of other homes in the area and because he was not allowed to subdivide his lot. Mr. Mikolajczyk stated it was a mixed neighborhood, some lots were small and some were large, and that his lot was large enough to divide and still provide a good size-lot and meet all the requirements of the Zoning Code. He felt he was not infringing on anyone else's rights by dividing his lot. The informal public hearing was closed. Commissioner Russell stated there seemed to be no choice but to recommend approval as it meets all requirements of the Zoning Code -- there would be no grounds for denial. Commissioner McCracken-Hunt noted that some lots nearby were about the same size and even smaller. She felt this was still a large lot. It was moved by Commissioner Leppik, seconded by Commissioner Kapsner, and carried unanimously to recommend City Council approval of the minor subdivision, as indicated on the revised sketch dated February 9, 1989, of the property at 201 Meadow Lane North. Commissioner Leppik stated that she understands the neighbors' objections but when a subdivision meets all the requirements of the Code, the Commission is not in a position to recommend denial. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission February 13, 1989 Page 5 Commissioner McAleese said he would encourage the proponents to try to hookup to the private drive rather than creating a new driveway on the twenty foot frontage. A property .owner in the area stated there are presently five properties using. this existing driveway.. IV. INFORMAL PUBLIC HEARING - REZONING APPLICANT: Daniel F. Otten LOCATION: 1566 Winnetka Avenue North REQUEST: Rezone from .the Single-Family Residential to the Two-Family (R-2) Residential Zoning District. V. INFORMAL PUBLIC HEARING - REZONING APPLICANT: Daniel F. Otten LOCATION: 1720, 1800, 1810 Winnetka Avenue Nort h REQUEST: Rezone from the Single-family Residential to the Two-Family (R-2) Residential Zoning District VI. INFORMAL PUBLIC HEARING - REZONING APPLICANT: Daniel F. Otten LOCATION: 1611 Pennsylvania Avenue North REQUEST: Rezone from the Single-Family Residential to the Two-Family (R-2) Residential Zoning District These items were introduced by Chair Prazak. City Planner Beth Knoblauch gave a short review of this request and noted that it had .been brought to the City's attention that there are existing covenants on the Val Wood Addition that state that nothing other than single-family homes can be built on these lots. The covenant will expire in September of 1989. She stated the lots all meet the requirements of the City Code for lot size in the R-2 Zoning District but based on the Covenants, she could not at this time recommend approval of the rezoning.. Options that the Planning Commission considered were to make a decision on the rezoning, in which case two-family dwelling could not be constructed until the Covenants expired, or the proponent could ask that the request be tabled. Mr. Dan iel Otten, the proponent, was present. He stated he would like to table his request until such time that he had legal counsel and that the Planning Commission considered his request at a later date. fi, • , .~. _. X Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission February 13, 1989 Page 6 It was moved by Commissioner McCracken-Hunt, seconded by Commissioner Russell and motion carried to tab e the request for rezoning from the Residential Zoning District to the Two-Family Residential (R-2) Zoning District. VII. 1989 APA CONFERENCE - ATLANTA The APA Conference to be held in Atlanta April 29 to May 3, 1989 was discussed. No final decision was made as to who would be going. A decision will be made at the next Planning Commission meeting. VIII. LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT Commissioner McAleese briefly reviewed the procedures and time frame for hearings on the Hennepin County Light Rail Transit system. Director Grimes was instructed to arrange a joint informational meeting for the Planning Commission and the Golden Valley Open Space and Recreation Commission at which representatives from the County would explain the system and its program of implementation. Director Grimes will also find out whether the Planning Commission is expected to hold an informal public hearing before making a recommendation to the City Council. IX. REPORT ON JANUARY 17, 1989 CITY COUNCIL MEETING Commissioner McCracken-Hunt gave a report on the January 17, 1989 City Council meeting. X. COMMENDATION FOR CITY ENGINEER The Commissioners asked that an entry be made in the minutes congratulating Lowell Odland on being named Engineer of the Year by the Minnesota Association of City Engineers and commending him for his many years of service in Golden Valley. The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 P.M. 1