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01-22-96 PC Minutes~ ~ ~. ;. at :-. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission January 22, 1996 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 Prazak at 7:05pm. Those present were Commissioners Groger, Kapsner, Lewis, McAleese, Pentel and Prazak; absent was Johnson. Also present were Mark Grimes, Director of Planning and Development; Elizabeth Knoblauch, City Planner and Mary Dold, Planning Secretary. Approval of Minutes -January 8. 1996 MOVED by Lewis, seconded by Groger and motion carried unanimously to approve the January 8, 1996 minutes with the following sentence added as the second paragraph on Page Six. Commissioner Lewis commented that she was in favor of adrive-through window and if the plans are redone she would like to have this concept maintained. II. Informal Public Hearing -Amendment to Medley Park PUD 30-B Applicant: .Donald Jacobson for Bor-Son Real Estate Investment, Applicant Address: Area bounded by Mendelssohn Lane to the south, Mendelssohn Avenue to the west, Hillsboro Avenue and Galant Patio Townhomes to the north, and the east side of Outlot A of PUD No. 30-B Request: Amend PUD 30-B to allow for the construction of office/storage space onto the north side of the unit located at 2357 Mendelssohn Lane Mark Grimes, Director of Planning and Development, gave a brief summary of the staff report commenting that Bor-Son would like to amend Medley Park PUD No. 30-B; this would be the third amendment. The amendment would allow for the addition of a small office/storage area onto the 2357. unit. The office would have its own entrance facing east and the storage area would have an interior doorway into the office and an exterior double door facing to the north. Mr. Grimes talked about the Medley Park side of the PUD being low income rental townhomes and the east side being market rate ownership housing. Mr. Grimes said that he had visited the site and believes the minor addition will not be intrusive on the rest of the area. A history of the previous amendments were provided as part of the staff memo. Commissioner Lewis asked what kihd of materials would be kept in the storage area. She was concerned with flammables being too close to living quarters. Mr. Grimes told her that whatever was stored would need to meet code standards and that the applicant would be able to address her concerns. Donald Jacobson, representative for Bor-Son Real Estate Investment, and Dave Wakefield, on-site manager for Medley Park were present. Mr. Jacobson commented on the excellent job the manager has been doing in maintaining the Medley Park development. Mr. Wakefield addressed 135 Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission January 22, 1995 Page Two Commissioner Lewis' question on storage items saying that office related materials and items such as paint would be placed in the storage area -- painting materials need to be kept at a certain temperature. Gas and power units would be stored in a garage unit. Mark Grimes made note of the condition that the office/storage area would be used by the on-site resident manager. Mr. Grimes clarified for the commission and Mr. Jacobson, that if Bor-Son chose not to have an on-site manager, they could still have someone come to the site to work and use this facility. City Planner Beth Knoblauch asked Mr. Jacobson if there would be HUD financing. Mr. Jacobson commented that there was enough money in the maintenance reserve to do the project. City .Planner Knoblauch asked when Bor-Son's HUD contract would run out and if these units were low and moderate income. Mr. Jacobson said the contract runs out in about five or six years and the housing in Medley Park is low income. Mr. Jacobson also commented that Bor-Son will continue the low income contract with HUD if offered. Chair Prazak opened the informal public hearing; seeing and hearing no one Chair Prazak closed the informal public hearing. Commissioner Lewis commented that the amendment request was very straight forward; the commissioners agreed. MOVED by Pentel, seconded by McAleese and motion carried unanimously to recommend to the City Council to approve amendment no. 3 to Medley Park PUD No. 30-B which would allow for the construction of an 11' x 29' office/storage area onto unit 2357 Mendelssohn Lane with the condition that the proposed area be used only by Bor-Son's on-site manager.. Staff is also requesting that Bor- Son submit an updated site plan showing all three amendments before the General Plan goes on to the City Council meeting. III. Informal Public Hearing -Planned Unit Development Applicant: Sherman Associates, Inc. Address: Area bounded by Wisconsin Avenue on the east, Olson .Memorial Highway on the south, Bassett Creek on the west, and Golden Valley Road on the north Request: Review the Preliminary Design Plan for Valley Creek PUD No. 71 which will allow for the construction of a 29,000 sq.ft. medical office building on Lot 2, Block 1 and for the future development of approximately 81,000 sq.ft. of addi- tional office space on Lot 1, Block 1 of the proposed Valley Creek PUD No. 71 plat and to amend the zoning of this area from Open Development to Business and Professional Office (B&PO) Mark Grimes, Director of Planning and Development, gave a brief summary of the staff report adding that this was a long awaited office building development. He told the commission that the HRA has entered into a development agreement fora 29,000 sq.ft. clinic building to be leased by North Memorial Hospital from Sherman Associates. He also said that Sherman Associates have been 13~ Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission January 22, 1996 Page Three designated as the developer, by the HRA, for the entire site, not just the North Memorial site. Mr. Grimes said the use was consistent with the Valley Square Redevelopment Plan for the Area A-1 site. Mr. Grimes talked about the Reiss family greenhouses and United Properties attempt to develop the site in the mid-1980's. Mr. Grimes commented on the unique features of the area. First, when construction begins this spring/summer additional parking would be built to the west of Lot 2, at the expense of Mr. Sherman. This will allow for adequate parking for the clinic. Second, the site plan has met all setback requirements. Third, staff wants the developer to preserve as many trees as possible along Golden Valley Road and Bassett Creek. Fourth, there will be sidewalks all along Golden Valley Road and Wisconsin Avenue. Staff will need to look at where to end the sidewalk on Wisconsin Avenue, near Hwy. 55, to discourage pedestrians from crossing Hwy. 55. Fifth, Director Grimes told the commission that the Engineering Department said that drainage would drain toward Bassett Creek and that there probably will not be any need for ponding. Commissioner Pentel asked if there would be one egress onto Golden Valley Road. Mr. Grimes commented that this one egress was not scheduled to be built during the first phase. Commissioner Pentel also expressed her concern for berming along Golden Valley Road to eliminate the headlights from cars coming out onto Golden Valley Road and shining into the Mallard Creek apartments. She is also concerned about the overall lighting plan. Mr. Grimes told the commission, that a lighting plan was not available at this time; the Inspections Department would review the lighting plan so the lighting does not flow off the site. Chair Prazak asked if the building on Lot 2 would be the highest of the three buildings proposed. Mr. Grimes said that all three .buildings would be the same height. Commissioner Kapsner asked staff if the footprint of 15,000 sq.ft. is the size of which a building would bring the best return of money and is the developer building a big enough project. City Planner Knobtauch commented that she did not believe the Finance Director would have approved of the plan if it wouldn't have worked in the Valley Square Redevelopment District. Director Grimes said that the project is considered a part of the district and that single sites probably couldn't make it on their own.. (The Valley Square Redevelopment Area is also a tax increment financing district.) Commissioner Lewis asked staff if this development would create a lot of traffic. Mr. Grimes said that staff believes the traffic generated from the 110,000 sq.ft. of office and clinic space will be adequately handfed by the existing road system. City Planner Knoblauch added that the City built Golden Valley Road and the access at TH 55 and Wisconsin Avenue with the intent of servicing a very large office building on the Area A-1 site. Commissioner McAleese asked for clarification from staff if his perception was correct in that if the General Plan for Lot 1 is different than the Preliminary Design Plan, that this plan would not come back to the Planning Commission. Director Grimes said that the ordinance is written that the General Plan does not need to come back to the Planning Commission. .Director Grimes said if there were significant changes to the plans for Lot 1, that were not consistent to the Preliminary .Design Plan, those changes would have to be reviewed by the Planning Commission. These changes may include a larger building or may be a change to the building layout. Commissioner McAleese said he was concerned that the Planning Commission was reviewing only one side of the proposal and that the 137 Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission January 22, 1996 Page Four mechanics involved here was that the second half of the plan would not have to come before the commission for review. Director Grimes told Commissioner McAleese that his concern should be brought up to the Mayor and Council about not being able to review the General Plan of Development. Chair Prazak asked about the timing of the other buildings. Mr. Sherman of Sherman Associates, said he would like to see construction begin on the second building by the end of summer. Mr. Sherman also commented that if there were too much building on the site, structured parking would have to be constructed, which would change the look of the entire site. Commissioner Pentel asked if there would be a 24-hour urgent care facility and would it have its own pharmacy. Mr. Sherman said there would be an urgent care facility but market demand would determine the hours of operation. He also said that something may be worked out with Golden Valley Commons proposed pharmacy to serve the clinic. Commissioner Pentel said she was impressed with the elevations of the buildings and the walkways between the structures. Chair Prazak believes the proposal for the site will work well .and that the Valley Square area could use a 24-hour urgent care facility. Chair Prazak opened the informal public hearing; seeing and hearing no one Chair Prazak closed the informal public hearing. Commissioner Pentel asked Mr. Sherman about berming on Golden Valley Road. Mr. Sherman said that the parking lights shouldn't be an issue and cars leaving the site should occur no later than 6pm. He also said that there is green space in which to do berming along Golden Valley Road. City Planner Knoblauch invited the commission to put in their recommendations that when the second phase comes back for review, the Planning Commission also review it. MOVED by Groger, seconded by Kapsner and motion carried unanimously to recommend to the City Council approval of the rezonifig of the proposed site from Open Development to Business and Professional Office (B&PO). MOVED by McAleese, seconded by Kapsner and motion carried unanimously to recommend to the City Council approval of the Preliminary Design Plan with the following two recommendations: 1) berming along Golden Valley Road, and 2) the Planning Commission review the 2nd phase of development. IV. Review of Capital Improvement Program (CIP~ This item was continued to the February 12, 1996 Planning Commission Meeting. The commissioners did have several questions for Finance Director Don Taylor, which staff will forward. ~~~ Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission January 22, 1996 Page Five V. Reports on Meetings of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, City Council, and Board of Zoning Appeals Mark Grimes gave a summary of the City Council meeting of January 16, 1996. He updated the commission on the recent City Council retreat concerning the Hwy. 100 construction, which is to begin in 1998, and the Council looking at organizing a Task Force for Area B. VI. Other_Business A. Proposed Amendment to Zoning Code Regarding the Board of Zoning Appeals Application Due Date -- Section 11.90, Subd. 4(C)(1) Mark Grimes gave a brief summary of the staff report whereby staff is requesting the BZA application due date be 15 working days instead of 12 working days. This additional time will help staff review applications and surveys, send out notices, and complete agendas in a timely manner. MOVED by Pentel, seconded by Groger and motion carried unanimously to recommend to the City Council approval to amend Section 11.90, Subd. 4(C)(1) of the City Code regarding the application due date before a BZA meeting. B. APA Conference In Florida Commissioner Lewis will be attending the APA conference in Florida representing the Planning Commission. VII. Adjournment Chair Prazak adjourned the meeting at 8:30pm. Lewis, Secretary