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08-08-05 Joint PC-EC Minutes . Joint Meeting of the Golden Valley Planning Commission and Golden Valley Environmental Commission August8,2005 A joint meeting of the Planning Commission and Environmental Commission was held at the Golden Valley City Hall, Council Conference Room, 7800 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, Minnesota, on Monday, August 8,2005. Planning Commission Chair Keysser called the meeting to order at 6 pm. Those present were Planning Commissioners Cera, Eck, Hackett, Keysser, Rasmussen, Schmidgall and Waldhauser and Environmental Commissioners Baker, Hill, Kaisershot, Kuentz and Pawluk. Also present was Director of Planning and Development, Mark Grimes, Planning Intern, Aaron Hanauer, City Engineer, Jeff Oliver, Environmental Coordinator, AI Lundstrom and Administrative Assistant, Lisa Wittman. I. Joint meeting with the Environmental Commission - Discussion of common interests. Keysser stated that he and Baker called this joint meeting to discuss some of the common interests between the Planning Commission and the Environmental Commission and asked the Commissioners to introduce themselves. . Baker reviewed the Environmental Commission's charter and explained that they are an advisory group to the City Council and they that more or less find issues they think should be attended to rather than going strictly by what ordinances state. Waldhauser asked if the Environmental Commission is contacted by citizens often. Baker stated that they are not contacted by residents frequently, maybe about 3 or 4 times per year. Hackett asked if a citizen has an issue if it first goes to staff or the Environmental Commission. Lundstrom stated that typically, environmental issues go through him and that they are not always the City's responsibility, they are sometimes referred to a different agency. Grimes added that the Environmental Commission could also be asked to give their input on certain ordinances such as lighting or parking before the public hearing process at the Planning Commission. Hill stated that the Envision Golden Valley process has given them more marching orders than they've had in the last five years. . Keysser explained that the Planning Commission is also an advisory group to the Council that looks at land use and zoning issues. He stated that the Planning Commission has been taking the Zoning Code, chapter by chapter, and redrafting it. He explained that the Planning Commission holds public hearings on development proposals before they go on to the Council for final approval and that a lot of what they do has an environmental impact. He stated that Golden Valley is fully developed but that there is a lot of in-fill developments and they want to look at the environmental impacts. He stated that Hackett has been a champion of trying to develop design criteria which includes environmental issues. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission August8,2005 Page 2 . Baker stated that in addition to thein-fill developments there is also the fate of the remaining open space, lighting issues, impervious surface issues, parking, bikeways, etc. Hackett asked who authored a recent Buckthorn article that he read. Hill explained that the change in the ordinance started with citizen input from residents that wanted to help control of Buckthorn. Grimes added that the tree preservation ordinance is another ordinance that the Environmental Commission helped draft. Rasmussen asked if the Planning Commissioners aren't specialists, how they would get input on development projects. Grimes explained that the there is a development review process that proposals go through at the staff level and the staff determines if another agency should review the proposal. Cera asked if it would make sense to add a layer to the process that requires developers to bring their proposals to the Environmental Commission for review. Baker stated that the Environmental Commission has been more thorough about looking at agendas and going to meetings and getting information from Oliver and Lundstrom. He added that having the Planning Commission use the Environmental Commission would be helpful. . Keysser said he would like to have more lead time and receive agenda packets earlier. He stated that Oliver's staff reports are very detailed and helpful in the Planning Commission's review process and suggested that the Environmental Commissioners come to Planning Commission meetings and speak at the public hearings. Kuentz stated that he doesn't think the Environmental Commission should be another barrier in the process but would like to come up with a way to be part of the process. Keysser suggested that the Commissioners from each group call each other and keep each other up to date on what it being reviewed or proposed. Cera suggested sharing agendas. Hill stated that one Environmental Commissioner speaking at a Planning Commission meeting wouldn't necessarily represent what the whole Environmental Commission feels about a particular proposal. Grimes stated that there is also a 60-day review process for proposals that has to be followed and that it is really the Planning Commission's job to implement the City's ordinances. Keysser agreed that he did not want to add delays to the development process. . Kuentz stated that the lighting ordinance would be a good issue to work on because it is not part of a specific development project under a time constraint. Keysser stated that if the Planning Commission does come up with design standards he would like to Environmental Commission's input. Baker asked how far the Planning Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission August 8, 2005 Page 3 . Commission is in the process of coming up with design standards. Keysser said they are still in the beginning stages of talking and thinking about it. Grimes referred to the recently adopted ordinance regarding lot coverage and stated that that is a good example of looking at environmental issues. Cera stated that there is nothing wrong with meeting the code requirements, but there is also nothing wrong with exceeding them and that sometimes just asking the developer questions can get things done. Grimes explained that the Rudy Luther Toyota development is what prompted the City Council to start looking at writing a lighting ordinance. He stated that Hanauer has been working on researching other city's lighting ordinances. . Hanauer discussed some of the information he has learned so far in his research. He discussed how some cities have looked at creating lighting zones, shields, curfews, height levels, etc. He talked about the Illumination Engineering Society of North America and the Dark Sky Association and stated that they've said that the amount of lighting that people are used to is not necessarily the amount of lighting that is needed for safety. Hanauer stated that the cities of Bloomington and Plymouth have the most complex lighting ordinances in place. He stated that the people he spoke with in these cities have offered to come and give a presentation to anyone interested. Hill asked if some of the cities lighting ordinances were designed to minimize the amount of lighting. Hanauer said yes and discussed the various types of fixtures, wattage and zones that different cities use. Kaisershot asked if any of the cities Hanauer researched had any comments or feedback on how their ordinances are working. Hanauer stated that Barb Sennes, Planning Director from Plymouth said that their ordinance is working well. He suggested that the Commissioners go on a "field trip" of some of the cities that have lighting ordinances in place. Eck noted that there is a lot of technical information in the Plymouth ordinance and asked if they have someone on staff who can analyze their development plans to make sure they meet the requirements. Hanauer stated that the Illumination Engineering Society is working on revamping their model to make it easier to read and follow such as using watts instead of foot candles. Grimes added that staff could require that lighting plans be reviewed by a lighting consultant. Baker said he thought working on the lighting ordinance would be a great place to start and that a presentation to both the Planning Commission and Environmental Commission would be nice. . Grimes stated that the City Manager has said that the lighting ordinance needs to be written by a consultant because no one on staff is an expert but that the Commissioners should express their concerns to a consultant. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission August8,2005 Page 4 . Keysser asked if a consultant was going to be hired this year. Grimes stated that there is money in the budget for writing this ordinance that the Council feels that this needs to be in ordinance format. Rasmussen stated that there hasn't seemed to be too many huge concerns about lighting and she would be interested in knowing what some of the concerns are because she doesn't want to make it more difficult for people to do developments. Grimes stated that a lighting plan is something that he can see being required as a part of a developer's submittal. He said that he would report back to the Council liaisons that the lighting ordinance is something these commissions would be looking at. Keysser asked how they can develop a way to get the Environmental Commission's input on proposals. Pawluk stated that he liked the idea of the Commissioners looking at the City Code and not to be a watchdog group that responds to every development. Lundstrom added that he and Oliver do their staff reports based not only on the City Code, but also other federal guidelines and the Bassett Creek Watershed requirements. . Keysser asked the Commissioners to agree to have an annual meeting. Baker added that it would be great to have the Council Liaisons attend as well. Grimes added that in the meantime, they could be looking at each others agendas on the website and talk to staff about any concerns they might have. The joint Environmental Commission and Planning Commission meeting ended at 7 pm. Regular Planning Commission Meeting Council Chambers 7pm I. Approval of Minutes July 25, 2005 Planning Commission Meeting MOVED by Cera, seconded by Rasmussen and motion carried unanimously to approve the July 25, 2005 minutes as submitted. Keysser referred to the APA Zoning Practice article regarding infill developments that was mailed to them with their agenda packet. Grimes stated that he would like to have the Planning Interns study this infill article and ordinances because the Metropolitan Council has said that we have to be able to house the one million more people expected to live in the metro area in the near future. . Keysser asked Grimes if he could get the Commissioners some information on the recent Supreme Court decision regarding condemnation. Grimes said he would find some information and get it to the Planning Commission. . . . Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission August 8, 2005 Page 5 Keysser reminded the Commission that at their last meeting they talked about discussing potential redevelopment opportunities at the Golden Valley Shopping Center and the corner of Highway 55 and Winnetka. Grimes stated that the Golden Valley Shopping Center owners have talked about redeveloping the bookstore part of the property but that they haven't submitted anything to the City yet. Hackett referred to a perspective drawing done during the Area B Task Force study and asked Grimes if he could bring it to the Planning Commission. Grimes said he would try to find the drawings. Rasmussen asked if the City could require PUD applications to follow design standards. Grimes said yes. Keysser stated that the shopping mall was the number one complaint in Envision and asked if there are any funds available to help clean up the shopping center without losing any of the tenants. Eck stated that the Golden Valley Shopping Center doesn't bother him and that there is nothing wrong with the stores in the shopping mall. Keysser said it looks out of place and run down. Rasmussen asked what the City can do without design standards. Grimes stated that he didn't know if the City can really do anything to force the mall owners to change how it looks. Eck asked what the owner's motivation would be to improve it. Keysser said he would still like to see what they can do. Hackett suggested the City speak with Barry Petit, the former Mayor of Wayzata, about developing design standards. Grimes thought Mr. Petit would be happy to give a presentation to the Planning Commission. -Short Recess- II. Reports on Meetings of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, City Council, Board of Zoning Appeals and other Meetings No other meetings were discussed. III. Other Business No other business was discussed. IV. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 7:40 pm.