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02-13-95 PC Minutes69 Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission February 13, 1995 A regular meeting of the Planning Commission was held at the Golden Valley City Hall, Council Chambers, 7800 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, Minnesota.. The meeting was called to order by Chair McAleese at 7:04 PM. Those present were Commissioners Groger, Kapsner, McAleese, Pentel and Prazak; those absent were Johnson and Lewis. Also present were Mark Grimes, Director of Planning and Development, Elizabeth Knoblauch, City Planner and Mary Dold, Planning Secretary. Approval of Minutes -January 23, 1995 MOVED by Kapsner, seconded by Pentel and motion carried unanimously to approve the January 23, 1995 minutes as submitted. II. Informal Public Hearing -Planned Unit Development (No. 66) Applicant: Jim Lupient Oldsmobile Company Address: 7700 and 7100 Wayzata Blvd., Golden Valley, MN Request: Preliminary Design Plan Review for the JLO Addition PUD No. 66. The purpose of PUD is to expand the existing nonconforming automotive sales uses and the addition of an Infiniti Dealership Mark Grimes, Director of Planning and Development, reviewed his staff report with the Commission. The site plan was presented and reviewed. Mr. Grimes talked about the square footage of the proposed Infiniti Dealership and the expansion to the Isuzu Dealership, and the face lift to be done to the GMC dealership. Also discussed by Mr. Grimes was paving, curb and gutter, drainage and the overall improvement to the area. Mr. Grimes is concerned about the landscaping on the northeast portion of the lot and as part of the conditions requested the landscaping along Market Street be increased to the required 35 feet. The original request for pylon signs was to allow four -- this includes the three existing signs and one new one. The applicant is now requesting five pylon signs -- the other additional sign would be a reader board located at the southeast corner of the lot. The applicant would like the sign to be at least as high as the Perkins sign. Staff is suggesting that all pylon signs meet current zoning standards which will be reviewed by the Inspections Department. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission February 13, 1995 Page Two Mr. Grimes briefly talked about the new traffic signal to be located at Louisiana Avenue and Market Street. The light is to be in operation sometime this summer. The applicant will be assessed for a share of the signal costs along with the assessment for the Market Street widening. Market Street must be widened to allow for a left turn lane for traffic turning southbound on Louisiana Avenue. Chair McAleese expressed his concern regarding the amount of vehicle inventory that Lupient has on the other sites which are located across from the main dealership and how will this inventory be handled once the Golden Valley Auto Mall site and Saturn site are developed. Mr. Grimes commented that the applicant may need to change his policy on how .his inventory is received and .will not be allowed to park on the street or in fire lanes. Commissioner Groger questioned the vehicle display area at the northeast corner of the site which was found on the glossy picture submitted. These display areas are in the setback area. The site plan did not show the display area. Mr. Grimes commented that whatever is shown on the site plan is what the Commission should be concerned about and not the glossy photos. Doug Sailor, representative for the applicant, showed the commission the glossy picture that Commissioner Groger referred to and stated that the display area has been removed from the plans. Mr. Sailor talked about the different _ dealerships and how the circulation on the site would work. Mr. Sailor commented that the only concern the applicant has with the signage is that the signs are visible from I-394. Mr. Sailor also talked about needing five pylon signs instead of four that were originally proposed in the narrative dated August 1, 1994. Chair McAleese opened the informal public hearing; seeing and hearing no one, Chair McAleese closed the informal public hearing. Commissioner Groger commented that he was unclear about the landscaping along Market Street. Mark Grimes walked through the landscaping plan. The Commission, staff and representatives for the applicant spent some time discussing the signage on the site and why five pylon signs are needed. Also discussed was balloon advertising and its restrictions. Mark Grimes stated that balloons are permitted to be used four times a year for five days each. 71 Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission February 13, 1995 Page Three Commissioner Pentel expressed her concern with having five pylon signs on the site; this being too many and would like the applicant to maintain the required amount set within the code. Mr. Sailor commented about the need for the five pylons and commented that the reader board could be on a pylon with another sign. The applicant is concerned that motorists driving down I-394 will be unable to read the reader board. Chair McAleese agreed with Commissioner Pentel about restricting signage on the lot to the three required pylon signs. Chair McAleese also talked about the PUD process and setback requirements. He favored Condition No. 5 in staff's report relative to landscaping along Market Street being increased to 35 feet. Commissioner Kapsnertalked about the applicant having four pylon signs because he is selling four different products and wants a sign to go with each product. Chair McAleese commented that the applicant should be held to the ordinance regarding signage and that would be one sign per building. He continued by saying that he is not against a fourth sign but the applicant has not demonstrated a need for the fourth sign. MOVED by Kapsner, seconded by Prazak to recommend to the City Council approval of the Preliminary Design Plan, JLO Addition PUD No. 66, including staffs recommendation No. 5. Motion failed by a vote of 3-2 due to the number of pylon signs as noted in Condition No. 3. Commissioner Kapsner commented that he believes the commission was being unfair to the applicant by not allowing the four pylon signs for each dealership on the lot. MOVED by Groger, seconded by Pentel and motion carried by a vote of 4-1 to recommend to the City Council approval of the Preliminary Design Plan, JLO Addition PUD No. 66 with Condition No. 3 rewritten to say "three pylon signs... lll. Informal Public Hearing -Planned Unit Development (No. 68) Applicant: .Jim Lupient Oldsmobile Company Address: One Block Area Which Lies North of I-394 and East of Louisiana Avenue Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission February 13, 1995 Page Four Request: Preliminary Design Plan Review for the Golden Valley Auto Mall PUD No. 68. The purpose of the PUD is to locate an auto mall, car wash, Super America and tube building on the property. Mark Grimes, Director of Planning and Development, gave a summary of his staff report to the commission. Mr. Grimes talked about the four lots on the site, shared access, and the signal at Louisiana and Market Street. He also talked about the traffic study completed by Lupient and the necessary upgrades that need to be done to Market Street. Mr. Grimes stated that staff and the representatives for Lupient have met several times and made suggestions which have been incorporated into the site plan. Mr. Grimes commented about the setback and landscaping along Louisiana Avenue and Market Street stating that Lupient has given 10 feet for R-O-W for street widening and is therefore requesting a 20 foot setback at that corner. The setback at the corner by the tube building meets the 35 foot requirement but decreases down the block to 20 feet. He reviewed the signage that the applicant is proposing which is 4 monument signs and one pylon sign which will advertise all four uses on the lot and exceeds the square footage stated in the code. Commissioner Pentel asked staff if there was any concern having a convenience store located on this site. Mr. Grimes stated that there is a need for this type of store in this area. Commissioner Prazak asked about the tube store only needing six parking spaces. Mr. Grimes commented that spaces are determined on how many bays there are. Customers coming to this store would be stacked waiting to go through the building for service. Chair McAleese asked how sensitive staff's recommendations are to the specific types of uses on the site, and if these uses were to changes, would they impact the current recommendations. Mr. Grimes commented that in staff's opinion the Super America and car wash are very specific and unlikely to change whereas the auto mall may be of the most concern regarding turnover. Mr. Grimes suggested that language could be added to the conditions to reflect that only light auto repair, and no major type of repairs to allowed on the auto mall lot. 1 7~ Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission February 13, 1995 Page Five Chair McAleese also expressed some concern about the driveway just east of Louisiana on Market. Fred Salsbury, Director of Pubic Works commented that traffic generation and the width of the entrance into the site is not anticipated to be a problem. The commission spent some time discussing access into the site and circulation on the site. Doug Sailor, representative for the applicant, showed the commission a site sketch of the area. Mr. Sailor and Chuck Habiger, RLK Architects, talked about the signage for the site. Also reviewed were setback requirements, uses on the site, design of the entrances, and the traffic study. Chair McAleese commented that he did not like the elimination of required setback and if the applicant is required to put in the full setback what effect this would have on the lot. Chuck Habiger commented that buildings would have to be much closer together. He also commented that by reducing setback-there would be an effect on circulation around the buildings. Doug Sailor stated that site entrances were designed also to consider truck deliveries. Chair McAleese opened the informal public hearing. Mark Dwyer, President and CEO of the WAVE Car Washes, 4940 Viking Drive, expressed his concern about traffic congestion at Louisiana Avenue and Market Street and how it will affect traffic traveling Market Street to the East. Chair McAleese closed the informal public hearing. Commissioner Pentel asked about the hours of operation for the four stores and if the car wash would be running dealership cars through it. Mr. Sailor talked about the hours of operation and confirmed that the applicant would be using the car wash for his dealership cars. Commissioner Groger commented that he was glad to see the area being redeveloped but is concerned about setback requirements not being met and traffic congestion. He also commented that there are too many uses on the site for such a small space. Commissioner Prazak commented about the actual need for all the parking spaces at the car wash and only six required spaces at the lube store. He also wanted to see buildings tied together with green space. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission February 13, 1995 Page Six Commission Kapsner agreed with Commission Groger and his concern about setback requirements not being met. Commissioner Kapsner commented that the site could possibly work with bigger setbacks by shifting buildings. He is also concerned with traffic around the Super America building which already looks like a tight site. Commissioner Pentel commented on the need to be tough on enforcing setback requirements. She is not ready to see this PUD and would like to see this item continued to the next Planning Commission meeting. Commissioner Pentel also commented that she would like to see some architectural commonality between the buildings. Mr. Sailor agreed to having the informal hearing on PUD 68 continued to the February 27 meeting which would give his team time to review the commission's concerns on this site. MOVED by Pentel, seconded by Kapsner and motion carried unanimously to continue the informal public hearing for the Preliminary Design Plan, Golden Valley Auto Mall PUD No. 68 to the Planning Commission meeting of February 27th with the following items reviewed: architectural carry-over, setbacks, and signage. IV.. Informal Public Hearing -Amend Planned Unit Development (No. 63) Applicant: Jim Lupient Oldsmobile Company Address: Lots 1, 2, 3, and 4, Block 1, Saturn Addition PUD No. 63 Request: Amendment No. 1, Saturn Addition PUD 63 to allow for an addition to the Londo Boulevard Collision Center building, the elimination of the Infiniti Dealership and to expand the footprint of the used car dealership Mark Grimes first reviewed the original site plan with the commission and then reviewed the amended site plan. He talked about the Londo Boulevard Collision Center, two-story addition. Mr. Grimes also talked about the Infiniti Dealership moving to the GMC dealership site, the improvements to the circulation pattern and that there is now only one driveway entrance to the site on Market Street. Chair McAleese questioned the setback area on Market Street. He believes that since this is an amendment, the setback requirement should go back to 35 feet instead of the 20 feet granted. Mr. Sailor explained that permits had been issued for work on the site and that light standards have been put in and to change the ?~ Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission February 13, 1995 Page Seven Market Street setback would change the laid-out circulation pattern of the Saturn Dealership and the elimination of a row of parking. Commissioner Kapsner commented that the setbacks were granted and they should be allowed to proceed as originally intended. Commissioner Pentel asked how Long the Londo site would fit their needs. Mr. Sailor commented that Mr. Londo had no idea that within one year of operation he would exceed his five-year plan. Commissioner Pentel also expressed her concern about the stacks above the building being so visible. She would like to see the stacks screened. MOVED by Pentel, seconded by Prazak and motion carried unanimously to recommend the City Council approve the amendment to the Saturn Addition PUD No. 63 with an added condition that says "the stacks facing Laurel Avenue will be screened". Chair McAleese turned the duties of Chair over to Commissioner Pentel, for the evening, due to not feeling well. He left the meeting. The Vice-Chair and Secretary were absent. V. Review of Ca is tal Improvement Program (CIP) - 1995-1999 Acting Chair Pentel asked Don Taylor to review the CIP with the Commission. Mr. Taylor commented that the most controversial item in the CIP is the development of the Schaper Property for two ball fields. The two ball fields would take pressure off Lions Park use. Commissioner Kapsner asked if the City can take floodplain. Fred Salsbury, Director of Public Works commented that this floodplain would have to be mitigated. The Commission and staff discussed road projects in the area of Noble Avenue, the frontage road by Hwy. 55/100 and the Mendelssohn frontage road. Commissioner Pentel told the Commission that she is unable to vote on the CIP with the Schaper Property included. MOVED by Groger, seconded by Prazak and motion carried unanimously to recommend to the City Council approval of the CIP. having set aside P1 - Schaper Property -Development of two softball fields. 7~ Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission February 13, 1995 Page Eight VI. Discussion of Representative to the Toronto APA National Convention Commissioner Groger commented on his interest to attend this meeting and will do so. VII. Reports on Meetinas of the Housing and Redevelopment Authori~ City Council, Board of Zoning Appeals, Community Standards Task Force, and Valley Square Task Force Commissioner Pentel had staff copy the report prepared by the Valley Square Redevelopment Area C Task Force to give to each of the Planning Commission members. Commissioner Groger commented on the latest meetings of the Community Standards Task Force. VIII. Adjournment Acting Chair Pentel adjourned the meeting 11:03 PM n Lewis, Secretary .. 1