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10-10-05 Joint PC-EC Minutes . Joint Meeting of the Golden Valley Planning Commission and Golden Valley Environmental Commission October 10, 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, October 10, 2005. Planning Commission Vice- Chair Waldhauser called the meeting to order at 6 pm. Those present were Guest Speakers Barb Senness, Planning Director for the City of Plymouth, Londell Pease, Associate Planner for the City of Bloomington and Mark Mlazgar, owner of R.L. Mlazgar Associates, City Council Member Pentel, Planning Commissioners Eck, Hackett, Keysser, Schmidgall and Waldhauser and Environmental Commissioners Baker, Hill and Pawluk. Also present was Director of Planning and Development, Mark Grimes, Environmental Coordinator, AI Lundstrom and Administrative Assistant, Lisa Wittman. I. Joint meeting with the Environmental Commission - Presentation and Discussion of Lighting Regulations. Grimes explained that the current City Code doesn't address lighting regulations and that the City Council has directed the Commissions to look at some other cities ordinances and come up with a lighting code. . Pentel asked if the standards will address residential street lighting as well as commercial and industrial properties. Londell Pease, City of Bloomington, stated that their city attorney has said that they can't adopt lighting standards for public property, but that they can have policies regarding public property lighting. Barb Senness, City of Plymouth, gave a PowerPoint presentation and explained the process that Plymouth went through when writing their ordinance. She showed some examples of good and bad lighting designs and discussed the purpose of their lighting ordinance, their lighting zones, maximum wattage/shielding, maximum mounting height, lighting power allowances, light trespass limitations, and prohibited lighting. She discussed the International Dark Sky (IDA) Model Lighting Ordinance and stated that many of the areas in their ordinance came right out of the IDA Model. Hill referred to the watt formula and stated that there will suddenly be brighter light as light bulbs get more efficient if the watt formula is used. Baker stated that the ordinance would have to be changed as light bulbs become more efficient. Grimes asked Senness if Plymouth requires lighting plans to be submitted with applications. Senness said yes, applicants have to submit a lighting plan. Senness talked about some of things Plymouth has learned throughout the process of writing their lighting ordinance. . Pentel asked about regulating office building interior lighting. Senness stated that Plymouth has not addressed interior lighting or residential lighting because they've only . . . Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission October 10, 2005 Page 2 had issues in their commercial and industrial areas. Pentel stated that as the City reconstructs its residential streets she thinks we'll encounter issues regarding street lights. Baker referred to the wattage formula versus footcandles and stated that they ought to be concerned about reflection. He said he thinks there are some issues that will be missed if footcandles aren't used. Senness explained that all the elements of the ordinance are looked at all together so that doesn't happen. Hill asked Senness if Plymouth requires developers to come to them with their proposals now and not just the state electrical inspector. Senness explained that Plymouth requires developers to submit an as-built survey to the City as well as the state electrical inspector so they can do enforcement. Pentel asked Senness if Plymouth deals with remodeling projects as well. Senness said they deal with any project where more than 50% of the site is being changed. Pease discussed the City of Bloomington's lighting ordinance. He stated that Bloomington has had their lighting ordinance in place for 11 years. He stated that developers in their City can't do anything without a plan review and that they require any fixture being replaced has to be replaced with a code compliant fixture. He explained that Bloomington also uses the wattage formula because they like uniformity and evenness in lighting. He stated that Bloomington's ordinance says that 150 watts is the maximum allowed in a residential area and that they require that all non-essential lights be turned off one hour after a business closes. He discussed some of the obstacles Bloomington faces and some of the changes they are looking at making to their lighting ordinance such as the wattage per square foot and unlit outer parking spaces. Senness added that Plymouth is starting so see more and more sport courts and that they will be taking a look at those requirements. Mark Mlazgar, owner of R.L. Mlazgar Associates, a lighting company, stated that he represents 50 lighting manufacturers. He explained that there are ways to get uniformity with out lots of poles. He showed the Commissioners a light meter and stated that the Council Chambers is lit to a level of 50 footcandles with good uniformity. He said he thought it was good that Golden Valley is talking to these other cities about what they've learned about lighting ordinances. He added that the watts per square foot formula is wonderful because of the energy savings and that it is important that cities are getting serious about it. Senness added that the Model Ordinance is good because cities don't need to have a lighting expert on staff because it uses more formulas. Baker asked what light he sees when he looks up in the night sky even when he is located a couple hundred feet away from streetlights and highway lights. Mlazgar stated that it is called sky glow and it is uplighting produced from all the lights in a metro area. Baker said that is why he is concerned about not using footcandles as a measure and thinks the ordinance should be tailored to address reflectivity. . . Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission October 10, 2005 Page 3 Grimes asked Pease how Bloomington deals with car dealerships. Pease said that their ordinance allows 20 footcandles for car dealerships. Grimes asked Pease and Senness how their police departments feel about their lighting ordinances. Pease stated that their police department is not involved in the lighting reviews. Senness said that their lighting consultant showed their police department a lot of examples of various properties which really helped them accept their ordinance. Baker asked Pease and Senness if either of their ordinances address lighting up guy wires or cell towers. Pease stated that those types of issues fall under FAA regulations. Eck said it is frustrating to him because it seems like every community is trying to reinvent the wheel. Pease explained that every community wants something a little different. Senness stated that for the most part Plymouth maintained the Model Ordinance but there were things that were unique to Plymouth. Mlazgar stated the lighting ordinances are really dynamic, not static and need to be frequently reviewed. The joint Environmental Commission and Planning Commission meeting ended at 7:55 pm. Regular Planning Commission Meeting Council Chambers 7pm Approval of Minutes September 26, 2005 Planning Commission Meeting MOVED by Eck, seconded by Keysser and motion carried unanimously to approve the September 26,2005 minutes as submitted. I. -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 Grimes stated that the City needs two Planning Commissioners to be on the Sidewalk Committee and asked for volunteers. Keysser and Eck said they would volunteer. Grimes referred to the 1-394 Corridor Study Draft Principles and stated that the consultant made a few changes based on the last Joint City Council/Planning Commission meeting. MOVED by Schmidgall, seconded by Keysser and motion carried unanimously to adopt the 1-394 Corridor Study Principles dated October 10, 2005. . IV. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 pm.