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05-12-97 PC Minutes Regular Meeting of the Golden Valley Planning Commission May 12, 1997 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 Pentel at 7pm. Those present were Chair Pentel and Commissioners Groger, Kapsner, Lewis, McAleese; absent were Johnson and Prazak. Also present were Mark Grimes, Director of Planning and Beth Knoblauch, City Planner. Approval of Minutes -April 28, 1997 Moved by McAleese, seconded by Groger and motion carried unanimously to approve the April 28, 1997 minutes as submitted. Informal Public Hearing -Conditional Use Permit Applicant: Hennepin County Property Services Address: 7155 Madison Avenue West, Golden Valley, Minnesota Purpose: To allow for the use of a detention facility in the Institutional (I-3) Zoning District Director of Planning and Development, Mark Grimes, gave a brief summary of his staff report to the Commission dated May 7, 1997. Grimes told the Commission that Hennepin County made the request for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) on behalf of the Hennepin County Department of Community Corrections. The permit is needed in order to allow a juvenile detention center at 7155 Madison Avenue West in the Institutional District. Grimes reviewed previous recommendations by the Planning Commission to change the Comprehensive Plan Map from Industrial to Semi-Public Facilities and the Zoning Map from Industrial to Institutional. Director Grimes gave brief history of the 7155 Madison Avenue West property noting that the site, in the past, was used as a girl's group home. He said that the site had been marketed for the past few years as a group home. Grimes said that Hennepin County told staff that it has a need for additional space to house juveniles and believes this site would work. Hennepin County and the neighboring businesses have had a couple of meetings regarding the use of the site and whether to renovate the existing structure or design a new building. It seemed to be the consensus that a new designed :building would look more aesthetically pleasing than the existing building. In order to construct the new building, the Council would have to approve a Comp. Plan Map amendment, Zoning Map amendment and a Conditional Use Permit. Grimes said-the Council would be holding a public hearing for a Comprehensive Land Use Plan Map 4 Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission May 12, 1997 Page 2 amendment and Zoning Map amendment on May 20. He explained that the proposed building would not meet all the required setbacks and Hennepin County would have to appear before the Board of Zoning Appeals on May 27. If the Board approves the requested variances, the Council, at its June 3 meeting, will then review Hennepin County's request for a CUP or hear an appeal if the BZA did not grant the requested variances. Grimes again said that the CUP would allow a 16-bed juvenile detention facility in the Institutional (I-3) District. He told the Commission that Hennepin County has submitted a covenant agreement which states that this facility will be used for this purpose. The covenant agreement will be made a part of the conditions for this CUP. Grimes explained that juveniles would first be booked at the downtown Minneapolis facility and then would be brought to the Golden Valley site. He talked about the length of stay, off-site food preparation, visitation and number of officials on the site. Director Grimes reviewed the setback issues and the need for variances on the east and south sides of the property, with the construction of the new building. He then reviewed the "ten factors for consideration". (Nothing outstanding was noted in these ten factors.) Grimes said that the existing structure will be demolished and a new building constructed which should be an enhancement to the site and area. Staff believes that the use of the site as a detention facility would be an improvement over the existing use and that the covenant agreement would assure that this site be used only as a 16-bed detention facility for boys. Grimes reviewed his conditions for granting the CUP as follows: 1. The Comprehensive Plan Amendment and Zoning Map Amendment for this property is approved by the City Council. 2. The variances requested to construct the building be granted by the BZA or if denied by the BZA, approved by appeal to the City Council. 3. The attached site plan prepared by Symees Maini and McKee Associates and Winsor Faricy and dated May 12, 1997 be made a part of the CUP. 4. The "Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions" be filed with this property. 5. A landscape plan be submitted during the building permit process and be approved by the Building Board of Review. 6. Any outdoor lighting be approved by the Chief Building Inspector to insure that the lights do not adversely effect neighboring properties. 7. The detention facility be limited to 16 beds. ~; Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission May 12, 1997 Page 3 8. All necessary permits for construction are obtained from the City, County and State. 9. There shall be no outdoor storage of goods, supplies or equipment unless screened so it is not visible from the street or adjacent properties. 10. The uses on the site shall meet all applicable City, State and Federal regulations. 11. Failure to comply with one or more of the above conditions shall be grounds for revocation of the CUP. Commissioner Lewis asked Grimes about item 8(B) of the covenants. She wanted to know if this meant that the City could sue to enforce the covenants if Hennepin County was not abiding. Grimes said that the language in the covenant is standard language, and if Hennepin County made a change it would have to be approved by the City. Commissioner Pentel asked how the City would know if Hennepin County was not abiding by the covenant. Grimes said that the City would have to trust Hennepin County or there would probably be complaints from the neighboring businesses. He continued saying that the Inspections Department and/or Police Department probably would be making routine yearly checks. Commissioner Lewis asked about item 1 of the covenant regarding no adults or persons who would be tried as an adult be housed at this facility. Grimes commented that Hennepin County could better answer this question. Commissioner McAleese said that he believes that item 1 is a promise by Hennepin County that persons being housed at this site will be considered juveniles and not treated as adults; Grimes agreed and said that once a juvenile is verified as an adult, they would not be sent to the Golden Valley site. Commissioner Groger asked Grimes about the length of stay for juveniles and Hennepin County's requirement to send these persons to school. He was concerned that if the time limit was not met, would this cause more traffic due to transportation from the Golden Valley facility to the Minneapolis facility to school these juveniles. He said he found nothing in the covenant which covers this topic. Grimes answered that Hennepin County would need to provide schooling for juveniles if they were kept longer than 14 days. He said that schooling is provided at the downtown facility, but that Hennepin County has told staff that seven days would be the average length of stay for a juvenile at the Golden Valley facility. Grimes also said that the juveniles at this facility are waiting for a court appearance, and therefore, their stay would not be that long. Grimes suggested that maybe there could be a monthly or yearly report stating the length of time a juvenile was at the site. Chair Pentel said that Hennepin County must have their own regulations regarding this subject. Commissioner McAleese asked Grimes about the recommended language change to the covenant, as noted in his memo on page 2, regarding the detention facility use falling under a Conditional Use Permit rather than it being a nonconforming use as noted in the "Recitals" . McAleese wanted to know if this change should be a condition Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission May 12, 1997 Page 4 or just a change before it comes to the Council. Grimes said that he would be talking with Hennepin County and requesting that they change the language in the "Recitals". That this would not need to be a condition of the CUP. Sig Fine, Director of Correctional Institutions for Hennepin County, commented that this facility would be for short-term, male, juvenile offenders for pre-trial, age 16, for not more than 14 days. This facility is intended to help accommodate the facility downtown, which would have the responsibility of housing the more dangerous kids. He said that the Golden Valley facility would be secured and well staffed. He said that due to meetings with the neighborhood businesses, the business owners felt that if there were a wall around the facility, they would feel better about the site, along with an enclosed sally port for egress and ingress. Fine said that because of these additions the building was enlarged which affected the setbacks. He noted that this site is very small. Fine believes that Hennepin County has been very forthcoming and will be good neighbors. Chair Pentel asked if the downtown facility ever had to be evacuated. Fine said once due to a bomb scare and persons were moved to the recreation yard. He said this could happen at this facility but the juveniles would be evacuated to the recreation yard until a Hennepin County squad could evaluate the situation. Fine said that there has only been one escapee from the downtown facility in the past 15 years. Chair Pentel asked if clients and staff would be allowed to smoke in the building. Fine said they would not and would probably be going outside on their break to have a smoke. He said that all Hennepin County facilities are smoke free but the grounds are not. Commissioner Kapsner asked if the juveniles have any interaction with the community regarding dental or doctor appointments or schooling. Fine said that there is a contract for medical needs, and physicians would visit the site as needed and if there is a need for a clinic or hospital visit, this would be done through a supervised transportation to the Hennepin County Medical Center. Director Grimes asked how many juveniles would be transported to the facility in Golden Valley each day. Barb Karn, Acting Division Manager for the Juvenile Detention Center, anticipated three transports of juveniles per day along with two transports of food, one for lunch and one for dinner, and one other transport for laundry pick-up and drop-off. Chair Pentel opened the informal public hearing. Duane Devereaux, property owner of 2370 and 2455 Louisiana Avenue North, believes this should be called a prison, because people are being locked up. He believes that properties values in the area will depreciate and an appraiser should evaluate this. He believes this is an expensive piece of land to put this type of facility on in an Industrial area. Mr. Devereaux said he was worried about the type of people that would visit the site. He believes that the size of the property is not efficient because there is no room for expansion, no cooking and laundry facilities, and little parking. He believes this is the poorest use of land in the Industrial District. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission May 12, 1997 Page 5 Chair Pentel closed the informal public hearing. Chair Pentel asked if visits would have to be scheduled and would they occur during day time hours. Karn said that visiting hours would be day and evening time hours. She said visits are allowed only to parents or custodial adult, i.e. grandparents. Pentel asked if there had been any crime in downtown Minneapolis related to the juvenile facility or because of visitors to the facility. Karn said none that she or Mr. Fine could say was directly related. Commissioner Kapsner said that Mr. Devereaux had concerns that were brought up at the previous meeting of the Planning Commission, on the subject of buddies coming to visit their friends in the facility. He said he was reassured that there would be no contact over the wall or unsupervised contact, and only parents and legal guardians would be able to visit. Kapsner continued talking about the cost of land for this facility saying that there could be less expensive land but there may be a problem with putting this type of facility in a residential area and believes that the land cost is justifiable. Kapsner said he supports the proposal Commissioner Groger said a concern he has is with the expansion of the site and the substantial variances which would need to be granted for the construction of the building. Groger continued by saying that the CUP is a valid proposal over what is there now. Commissioner Lewis supports the proposal and believes that this use is a better fit in the Industrial district than a Residential district. She believes that we need this type of facility in the suburbs. Commissioner McAleese supports the proposal along with the changes made at the meeting for the Comp Plan Map amendment and Zoning Map amendment. He said he would recommend a change to condition Z that the CUP shall not be issued until the variances requested have been approved. Chair Pentel thanked Mr. Devereaux for his comments and told him that some of these issues had been previously addressed. Pentel believes that the facility will be secure and will not have an affect on the surrounding neighborhood. She also said that the building to be built will enhance the area more than what is existing, and that the City could have had another group home go into this site, as is. Pentel supports the proposal. MOVED by McAleese, seconded by Kapsner and motion carried unanimously to recommend to the City Council approval of the Conditional Use Permit to allow for a Boy's Juvenile Detention Center at 7155 Madison Avenue West, along with the 11 conditions as outlined in the staff memo, with a change in language to Condition 2 to read as follows: The CUP shall not be issued until the variances requested, to construct the building, be granted by the BZA or if denied by the BZA, approved by appeal to the City Council Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission May 12, 1997 Page 6 III. Reports on Meetings of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, City Council and Board of Zoning Appeals No reports were given. IV. Other Business No other business was discussed. V. Adjournment Chair Pentel adjourned the meeting at 7:45pm. ~~~''~.. "' Emilie J h s n, Secretary 1