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01-22-01 PC Minutes Regular Meeting of the Golden Valley Planning Commission January 22,2001 A regular meeting of the Planning Commission was held at the Golden Valley City Hall, Council Chambers, 7800 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, Minnesota, on Monday, January 22,2001. Chair Pentel called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Those present were Chair Pentel and Commissioners Eck, Groger, McAleese, Rasmussen and Shaffer. Commissioner Hoffman was absent. Also present were Director of Planning Mark Grimes, City Planner Dan Olson and Recording Secretary Lisa Wittman. I. Approval of Minutes - November 27, 2000 Joint Meeting of the Golden Valley Environmental Commission, Planning Commission and Open Space and Recreation Commission; and December 11, 2000 and January 8, 2001 Joint City Council/Planning Commission Meetings. Commissioner Eck indicated Council Member Johnson was noted as being absent at the January 8 Joint City Council/Planning Commission Meeting. She was present at this meeting. Commission Shaffer stated on the January 8 Joint City Council/Planning Commission Meeting the second paragraph on page five should be amended to read: Shaffer stated developers should approach the City and state why they want what they are asking for. It's the developer's responsibility to tell us what the advantage is to the City. Chair Pentel indicated that the fourth paragraph on page three of the December 11 Joint City Council/Planning Commission meeting should be amended to read: Groger asked what happened with the Golden Meadows project. (Not the Meadowbrook project.) MOVED by Groger, seconded by McAleese and motion carried unanimously to approve the November 27, 2000 Joint Meeting of the Golden Valley Environmental Commission, Planning Commission and Open Space and Recreation Commission; and December 11, 2000 and January 8, 2001 Joint City Council/Planning Commission Meetings minutes as amended. II. Informal Public Hearing - Preliminary Design Plan - Rudy Luther P.U.D. No. 91 Applicant Rudy Luther Toyota Address: 8801 Wayzata Boulevard, Golden Valley, MN Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission January 22, 2001 Page 2 Purpose: The P.U.D. would allow for a car dealership building addition, various site improvements, and the temporary inclusion of an alternative school building. Director of Planning and Development, Mark Grimes, stated that Rudy Luther Toyota is requesting a P.U.D. for the existing dealership that they have owned and made several improvements to since the mid 1970's. Grimes referred to his memo to the Planning Commission dated January 18, 2001. Luther is requesting a P.U.D. because they are proposing two uses on the property. One of the uses is the car dealership and the other is an alternative high school. The school that exists on the site now has a lease that is up in a year or two. Grimes stated the P.U.D. process is a two-stage process because it requires first, the preliminary design and then a general plan of development, along with a replatting of the property. The proposal is to improve the property by putting a 15,500 sq. ft. addition on the existing building and eliminating the old gas station property on the northeast corner of the site where they are currently selling used cars. They will also incorporate the used car sales temporarily into their main building and when the school is removed from the site, the used car sales would be relocated onto the school property. Another portion of this proposal is the vacation of the frontage road to the north of the building. Before 1-394 went through this area, access to the development was off the state-owned frontage road. When 1-394 went in, Miller Street was constructed. Staff has worked with the Minnesota Department of Transportation. They no longer feel that it's necessary for them to own the frontage road so they have turned it back to the City of Golden Valley. Staff is now in the process of vacating that property and turning it back to the adjoining property owners, which would be the three auto dealerships in this area. This adds about one acre to the site and provides them some additional land for parking and displaying vehicles. This addition is mainly for service and a new waiting area. Currently, they lack space in their existing building to be able to do their service. Right now they use an off-site building on Pennsylvania Avenue to do some of their car cleanup. This would allow them to eliminate that site and bring it onto this campus. Grimes stated there are significant changes from the existing dealership to the new plan. They are providing some additional green area along Miller Street and along General Mills Boulevard, although it will not meet the 35-foot green area required in the Industrial Zoning district. Along the proposed vacated frontage road they are showing about a ten-foot green area setback. The aerial maps indicated there is about 30 to 40 feet between the curb and the freeway wall. MnDot will maintain that property because they use it for maintenance. Even though the requirement is a 35-foot setback from street rig ht-of-ways , in this case because it is against a freeway wall there is not as great of a need for the setback requirement. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission January 22, 2001 Page 3 Grimes added that along the west property line they are indicating that they meet the 10-foot setback requirement for green area. Along the north property line, the City would have to maintain an easement over the entire area because of utilities, so all they can use the vacated area for is parking. In terms of parking, they have provided a calculation of their requirements. Commissioner Shaffer indicated that some of the parking spaces aren't twenty feet deep. Grimes stated that the City requires parking spaces to be nine feet by twenty feet. Some of them are nine by twenty; some are only nine by eighteen. Grimes stated either we can allow that as a variance, or ask them to adjust those spaces by shrinking the aisle width. In the inventory area Staff doesn't see an issue with them not having 20-foot parking spaces. In the customer and display area there should be 20-foot parking spaces. Pentel asked Grimes to address the installation of fences and gates along Miller Street. Grimes stated they are proposing to put in a wooden fence and gates for security across the driveways and at the display areas. There were two additional driveways, one along General Mills Boulevard, plus the frontage road driveway. Those are being reduced to one driveway across from 394. Staff sees reducing the number of driveways as an advantage. Another issue is the school parking. They need to dedicate 25 spaces, with some handicapped spaces. Grimes stated he went through the eligibility of the application in his report and tried to show they met the requirements of the ordinance. There were a couple of areas where they did not meet it. On the original plan they didn't show the setback lines. They have since provided this information. The City Engineer in his review of the preliminary plat noticed there was some easement information that was not shown. He has talked to their engineer and they are providing this information to him. Grimes referred to the City Engineer's memo dated January 18, 2001 and noted some concerns regarding ponding issues that need to be looked at with the Department of Transportation, but feels the project can go forward to the Council at this point. Chair Pentel asked since they are operating in an industrial zone if a Conditional Use Permit needs to be issued at this time since they are coming forward with a P.U.D. and a new plan. Grimes stated they haven't changed the footprint of the building and that's generally when the City requires a Conditional Use Permit and since they are applying a Planned Unit Development that takes the place of a Conditional Use Permit. Shaffer asked if the other dealerships are aware of the vacation of the frontage road. Grimes stated they are aware of the vacation of this road and it fits in with their future plans. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission January 22, 2001 Page 4 Pentel asked Grimes if the vacated land from MnDot would be sold back to the dealerships. Grimes stated when property is vacated it goes back to the adjoining properties from the time it was dedicated and that this is something the City Attorney will look at. John Baker, Architect for the project, pointed out some of the history of the property stating when it was originally built in the 1970's it was an R.V. dealership and Miller Street didn't exist. 1-394 was the same height as the frontage road now being vacated and that is the reason some of these buildings seem peculiar because of what was being changed around them, which is part of the reason the setbacks are a hardship and difficult to meet. Baker stated the intent is to make a nicer presentation of this building to 1-394, combine all the parcels together and tie them together. Pentel asked Baker if the tanks have been removed from the gas station on the northeast corner. Baker stated when the building was remodeled a number of years ago all the environmental issues regarding the site had been resolved. Pentel asked if they intend to do anything to the school building to tie it in with the rest of the buildings. Baker stated they intend to re-grade, re-Iandscape, re-light and re-pave the entire site, and remodel the school building so it will be a cohesive development. Chair Pentel opened the public hearing. Seeing and hearing no one Chair Pentel closed the public hearing. Eck stated he's in favor of the proposal because it would improve the site. McAleese stated that he supports the proposal and thinks a P.U.D. is appropriate, and talked about the analysis behind it. He sees that this site has two uses now, but will have only one use after the P.U.D. is approved. However, the City also allows a P.U.D. where there are two separate buildings on a single parcel and we clearly have that here, so that isn't a major issue. McAleese also mentioned the Conditional Use Permit. He stated that it seems because we are talking about an area where this is not a permitted use, it's a conditional use, the appropriate analysis would be to look atwhat is required to meet the conditional use requirement and would this be an appropriate use within that zoning district. McAleese stated he has looked at those elements from our zoning code and they don't present a problem here and this is an acceptable conditional use. Shaffer stated he wanted to make it clear that having 18 ft. parking spaces is one of the zoning variances that are required for the property. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission January 22, 2001 Page 5 Pentel asked if they have enough space when cars get dropped off. Baker stated they've provided a very simple, accessible route for the trucks to use. Monte Bion, General Manager, Rudy Luther, stated it will be much safer because the cars will be dropped off where there are no customers and they will be going from 300 parking spaces to 530 spaces so it won't be a problem directing the traffic away from the customers. Pentel asked about signage issues. Grimes stated they would have to meet the industrial sign code. Eck asked about the location of the dumpsters. Grimes stated any dumpsters would have to be screened. Shaffer mentioned the issue of ponds. Baker stated they've been working with MnDot and they are recreating the calculations and, if need be, they will enlarge the existing pond with whatever additional capacity they may need. MOVED by Eck with the incorporation of the City Engineers requirements, Seconded by Shaffer and motion carried unanimously to approve the Preliminary Design Plan for Rudy Luther, P.U.D No. 91 III. Informal Public Hearing - General Land Use Plan Map Amendment Applicant: Hennepin County Address: Southeast corner of Madison Avenue West and Nevada Avenue North - property located at 7155 Madison Avenue West, Golden Valley, MN Purpose: The applicant is requesting to change the General Land Use Plan Map for the property from Semi-Public Facilities to Industrial at the corner of Madison Avenue West and Nevada Avenue North IV. Informal Public Hearing - Property Rezoning (Z014-05) Applicant: Hennepin County Address: Southeast corner of Madison Avenue West and Nevada Avenue North - property located at 7155 Madison Avenue West, Golden Valley, MN Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission January 22, 2001 Page 6 Purpose: The applicant is requesting a rezoning of the property from Institutional (1-3) to Industrial at the corner of Madison Avenue West and Nevada Avenue North Dan Olson, City Planner, presented Hennepin County's request for a General Land Use Plan Map Amendment and Property Rezoning. Hennepin County wants to sell this property. Before they do this they want to rezone it to industrial and change the general land use from a semi-public facility to industrial because they feel there would be more uses for the property within the industrial zoning district. Olson discussed the history of the property. Right now it's a vacant lot, for the last 25 years it was temporary housing for teenage girls. Prior to that it was a printing company. In 1997, the County purchased it and planned to demolish the building and rebuild a 16-bed boys detention facility. Because of that, they received some variances and a conditional use permit and had it rezoned to institutional. The General Land use plan was amended to semi-public facilities. Upon receiving these approvals it was discovered that it was too expensive to build the facility, so now the property is sitting vacant. Staff recommends the approval of the rezoning and general land use plan amendment as it fits with the surrounding industrial area. Lorrie Stromme, Planner for Hennepin County, asked if the Commissioners had any questions. Pentel asked if they've determined if their existing facility is adequate. Stromme stated that at about the same time they were planning to build the 16-bed juvenile center, legislation came through with funding that allowed the County to expand the existing juvenile justice center rather than operate a second facility. Chair Pentel opened the public hearing. Seeing and hearing no one Chair Pentel closed the public hearing. MOVED by Shaffer, seconded by Eck and motion carried unanimously to approve the Land Use Plan amendment and rezoning. -- Short Recess -- V. Reports on Meetings of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, City Council, Board of Zoning Appeals and other Meetings VI. Other Business The March 12,2001 Planning Commission Meeting will be cancelled. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission January 22,2001 Page 7 There was discussion about the Hidden Lakes peninsula development that will be on the Agenda in February. The Planning Commission decided to meet on February 3, 2001 to discuss some of the issues concerning this development. VII. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:20