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11-22-93 PC Minutes~o MINUTES OF THE GOLDEN VALLEY PLANNING COMMISSION November 22, 1993 A regular meeting of the Planning Commission was held at the Golden Valley City Hall, Council Chamber, 7800 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, Minnesota. The meeting was called to order Chair McAleese at 7:00 PM. Those present were Commissioners Groger, Johnson, Kapsner, Lewis, McAleese, Pentel and Prazak. Also present were Mark Grimes, Director of Planning and Development; Beth Knoblauch, City Planner; and Mary Dold, Secretary. I. Approval of Minutes - October 11, 1993 MOVED by Kapsner, seconded by Prazak and motion carried unanimously to approve the October 11, 1993 minutes as submitted. II. .Informal Public Hearing - Conditional Use Permit Applicant: Schumacher Wholesale Meats, Inc. Address: 1114 Zane Avenue No., Golden Valley, Minnesota Request: Allow for the processing and packaging of foods involving heating, cooking, smoking, soaking or marinating procedures in a Light Industrial District Beth Knoblauch, City Planner, reviewed her memo to the Planning Commission dated November 16, 1993 commenting that the ten "Factors for Consideration" would have little effect on the surrounding area. She talked with Hennepin County Assessor, Glen Busitsky, who works at City Hall, about the effect of the propo- sal on property values of homes in the area. Mr. Busitsky had commented to Ms. Knoblauch that rarely are property values affected by one factor -- such as odor. Regarding the odor factor, staff visited the pilot site in Burnsville which they said one can detect cooking odors inside the building; this building did not have outside venting. Ms. Knobluach continued to comment that Mr. Schumacher has consulted with a company to install charcoal filters in the venting which should take care of a majority of the odor smell. Staff did discuss limiting the time of cooking at the facility at 1114 Zane Avenue North. City attorney, Allen Barnard, recommended to staff to have Mr. Schumacher remove now-lapsed judgment terms from the property title as a condition of approval. Ms. Knoblauch reviewed the eight staff recommendations for Conditional Use approval. Commissioner Groger asked staff how many other conditional uses have been approved for cooking. Ms. Knoblauch commented that only one other permit has been issued which has been in operation for five years and staff has not received any negative comments. John Schumacher, applicant, explained to the Commission and the public what the' process would be to cook the item in question - "pasties". He is concerned with his economic needs and adding new items to his business in order to compete in the market today. Mr. Schumacher stated that he had visited several companies about installing equipment that would eliminate odor in the air. He has decided to use a charcoal system and does not anticipate problems with cooking odors. ~~ Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission November 22, 1993 Page Two Commissioner Pentel asked about the cooking hours of this product. Mr. Schumacher answered that he would like to cook between 6 AM and 5 PM, five days a week and up to four Saturdays a year. Commissioner Kapsner asked about the cost for filtering the air stacks. Mr. Schumacher estimated the cost to be approximately $12,000. Chair McAleese opened the informal public hearing. It was noted that approximately 70 people were in attendance and the majority of those were against this request because of the .odor issue. The following per- sons spoke at the informal public hearing; they were against the request because of the odor issue. Ann E. Bennion, 1125 Welcome Avenue No. Dean Knutson, 1109 Welcome Circle Charles Lazer, 5620 Phoenix Ave. No. Jay Eisenberg, 1119 Welcome Ave. No. Jeffery Carlson, 1105 Welcome Circle Gerald Savage, 1132 Welcome Circle Chair McAleese closed the informal public hearing. Chair McAleese read a letter to the public from Lloyd Becker, Director of Inspections, with regard to requirements to be met by Mr. Schumacher. Commissioner Lewis commented that in her job she has leased spaces for cooking. She doesn't see an odor issue because technology has come a long way in the past twenty years with filtering systems. Commissioner Lewis does not see a problem with the request. Commissioner Prazak asked staff if the sanitarian and a filtering expert would be available for comments at the City Council hearing. Commissioner Kapsner commented he feels the neighbors concerns are not to have another Feinberg situation (Feinberg was the previous owner of the building. Feinberg used various cooking processes that did cause some odor problems.) Mr. Kapsner also feels Mr. Schumacher is making a large investment in his business to compete with others and that his request of cooking/baking will not produce smells but cannot guarantee that this won't happen. Commissioner Prazak asked if the permit could have a time limit of review to review the odors in the air during the winter months vs. the summer months. Staff said they would talk with the City Attorney about time limit reviews. Commissioner Prazak asked Mr. Schumacher how many pasties would be produced each day; Mr. Schumacher said he was limited to making about 4,000 per day which would be approximately 2 hours of cooking and 3 to 3-1/2 hours of baking. Commissioner Johnson commented that her feelings were that Mr. Schumacher was doing everything possible not to turn this process into another Feinberg issue. 32 Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission November 22, 1993 Page Three Commissioner Groger questioned the recourse of neighbors if odors were present and what options the neighbors and staff would have to eliminate the problem. City Planner, Beth Knoblauch, answered that the applicant is now taking steps by installing filtering systems to prevent odors and also a filtering consultant will be at the City Council hearing to take questions on this issue. Ms. Knoblauch asked how one decides that there is an odor and commented saying it would have to be subjective -- using a sniff test by an independent panel who would follow standards of sniff smelling. Chair McAleese said he was uncomfortable with the odor control issue and would like to hear from consultants on this issue. He feels there must be a way to review the odor issue and if one is present to stop the operation causing it. Commissioner Pentel asked if mediation between the neighbors and Mr. Schumacher would work if an odor problem arose. She does feel that the technology is out there which would scrub the air of such odors. Chair McAleese commented that there is a need for some kind of mechanism in controlling odor and staff should contact other cities who have had similar problems. Chair McAleese requested the Commissioners to vote to hold over this request to the next Planning Commission meeting because there are no concrete an swers to the odor issue. He feels there is an enforcement issue with regards to the odor question and also feels that the Planning Commission should work out any problems before the City Council hears the request. MOVED by Kapsner, seconded by Johnson and motion carried with a vote of 6 to 1 in favor of tabling this item to the next Planning Commission meeting of the 13th of December. III. Re orts on Meetin s of the Housin and Redevelo ment Authorit Cit Counci and__Board of Zoning -Appeal s Mark Grimes updated the Commission on City Council action regarding the request by St. Margaret Mary for the use of their rectory to be used as an outpatient chemical dependency treatment center. IV. Other Business No new business reported. V. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned by Chair McAleese at 9:15 PM. ~.: ;,.~3ean Lewis, Secretary ' ~: