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11-14-05 Joint PC-CC Minutes . Joint Meeting City Council and Planning Commission 1-394 Corridor Study November 14, 2005 A joint meeting of the City Council and the Planning Commission was held at the Golden Valley City Hall, Council Conference Room, 7800 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, Minnesota, on Monday, November 14, 2005. Vice Chair Waldhauser called the meeting to order at 7 pm. Those present were Planning Commissioners Cera, Eck, Hackett, Rasmussen, Schmidgall and Waldhauser and Mayor, Loomis, Council Members Pentel and Shaffer. Also present were City Manager, Tom Burt, Director of Planning and Development, Mark Grimes, Assistant City Manager, Jeanne Andre, Public Works Director, Jeannine Clancy, URS Planning Consultants David Showalter and Suzanne Rhees and Administrative Assistant, Lisa Wittman. Commissioner Keysser and Council Members Freiberg and Grayson were absent. I. 1-394 Corridor Study Showalter explained that he and Rhees were going to review the principles and look at two conceptual alternatives for the 1-394 Corridor. He stated that they have put together some site development concepts for portions of the corridor and Rhees has some materials related to design guidelines. He added that he would also like to discuss the open house process. . . 1-394 Study Corridor Principles Rhees referred to the principles and stated that she received a suggestion regarding adding a principle about sustainable development, high performance buildings and green development. Andre explained that the next CitvNews has an article about the principles in it so it would be too late to add another one at this point, but that it could be added to the list of principles in time for the open house. · Alternative Concepts (Integrated Uses or Employment Based) Rhees handed out an outline reviewing the alternatives. Showalter referred to presentation boards which showed two different concepts they were proposing. He explained that one option, referred to as the Laurel Avenue Spine Alternative, integrates the existing uses and would introduce medium- to high-density housing and mixed uses along the Laurel 'spine' with a "frontage" and "backage" road and several north-south connecting streets. This alternative would bring new residents and neighborhood- oriented services to the area. . Showalter referred to the second alternative concept, referred to as the Employment Based alternative, and explained that this concept would retain and create high-quality employment opportunities. He stated that the Louisiana Avenue area is the primary focus of this alternative, while the Xenia Avenue area will continue to develop as currently planned. He stated that the two alternatives differ primarily by land use. . . . Minutes of the joint Golden Valley Planning Commission/City Council meeting November 14, 2005 Page 2 Showalter referred to a map of the study area between Rhode Island Ave. and Pennsylvania Ave. and discussed some site options that would fit in with the Laurel Avenue Spine concept that included townhomes, live/work establishments, and fairly high-density multi-family units and tentatively a supermarket. He referred to the same area and discussed uses that would fit into the Employment Focus concept such as: light manufacturing and more employment based alternatives and townhomes that would be a transition between commercial and residential uses. Showalter explained that they will be looking at the nature of the streets in the Corridor area and possible right-of-way opportunities. Waldhauser said that she likes the idea of breaking up the housing into different areas rather than having the "city within a city" look. Rhees stated that a lot of the existing blocks are very large and have been interrupted and truncated so they are trying to restore the area. Showalter referred to another concept for the area between Colorado Ave. and Florida Ave. He explained that this concept includes 140,000 square feet of high story manufacturing with the visual front facing Laurel Avenue and access from Florida Ave. and Colorado Ave. Showalter stated that he is going to be meeting with the Public Works Department to discuss landscape treatments, road conditions, circulation and some kind of continuity on Market Street. He discussed the idea of gateways to mark the entry to the district but said that they have not yet looked at the right-of-way implications. He stated that some of the things they are working on for the open house include contiguous connections, internal circulation, types of streets, design, setbacks, heights, density and traffic impacts. Hackett said that he would like to see a "corner" store incorporated into these concepts. Grimes stated that some of the lower levels could possibly be retail space. Showalter said that they would also have some section drawings to show at the open house. Pentel said that the City needs to be thinking about having some heavily landscaped areas, especially along Laurel Avenue. Rasmussen asked Showalter about grocery stores and their demographics. Showalter said that when they think through models of development along the corridor, a grocery store may be possible depending on demographics, access, parking and other related issues. Grimes stated that they need to be careful with grocery stores because they generate traffic throughout the day, not just in the peak hours. Pentel referred to the City's existing traffic ordinance and asked if it only includes office space. Clancy said that the traffic ordinance does only apply to offices but that traffic counts consider all of the traffic. . . . Minutes of the joint Golden Valley Planning Commission/City Council meeting November 14, 2005 Page 3 Rasmussen asked about the response of the property owners in regard to this corridor study. Showalter stated that they want to know what will be done with the property. He said that they are trying to get ahead of the curve and assist the City in developing and planning. He referred to a diagram regarding how property in the Corridor is valued, how old it is, the assessed building value, etc. He stated that they are looking at the sites that are susceptible to change and trying to help with updating the City's Comprehensive Plan. Shaffer added that the idea isn't to force development; it is to help guide it. Burt stated that if properties are guided differently on the Comprehensive Plan, then they have to be rezoned, or they become non-conforming. Grimes stated that these concepts would not de-value anyone's property, rather they would probably have a higher value. . Design Guidelines Rhees stated that the implementation of design guidelines is still to be discussed, but they would probably be addressed via an overlay district in the zoning code. She said they would have more specific guidelines when an alternative is selected. She handed out a sheet regarding district identity, streets and public spaces, site design, circulation and parking, building design, mixed use: live-work, commercial/residential, industrial residential, nonresidential: free-standing commercial, office, industrial and general building guidelines. Pentel asked if the design ideas of the downtown area or the Xenia area were going to be used in the Corridor area. Rhees stated they are looking at maintenance issues and that she thinks the intent is to have the areas look similar. Showalter added that there are perfectly good landscape features that they would want to replicate. Hackett stated that the downtown (Valley Square) area is distracting and that there are too many signs that are not very clear and that it could be simplified. Clancy stated that her role is not to design, but to find things that work in Golden Valley's soils and environment. Rhees referred to circulation and parking and explained that those items could be addressed in the City's parking ordinance. Hackett stated that he likes on-street parking. Rasmussen asked Rhees to explain the concept of having a street with cars parked on both sides and one lane down the middle. Rhees stated that it is used for traffic calming. Rhees discussed screening service areas, loading areas and parking. She referred to driveways and curb cuts and said that the idea is to start encouraging better circulation within the block. Pentel asked if there have been any issues with snow removal in Area B. Clancy stated that that development has private streets so she didn't know, but she wasn't aware of any problems. Rhees discussed setbacks and height guidelines. Shaffer suggested that the height of buildings could be greater if away from the residential area north of Laurel Ave. Minutes of the joint Golden Valley Planning Commission/City Council meeting November 14, 2005 Page 4 . Cera stated that the City needs to be careful about having residential and industrial areas together because there are environmental issues. Pentel stated that part of what works with having residential areas next to industrial areas are the large setbacks. She said she would like to see models of newer ways of developing industrial park businesses. Rhees referred to general building guidelines including fa<;ade articulation and building materials. Shaffer said he doesn't think the City should limit the building materials but maybe require some materials that are consistent throughout the corridor such as requiring a Kasota Stone building base for example. Cera suggested that these guidelines tie into the rest of the City's standards. Rhees explained that these suggested guidelines are a starting point. Rhees discussed signage, roof colors and the backs of buildings. Hackett suggested that the City discourage pylon signs, but also be careful about dictating blandness or sameness. Pentel added that they should also watch for signs that block windows. · Open House - December 7 (Wednesday) 4:30 -7 pm Grimes stated that the open house is scheduled for December 7 from 4:30 to 7 pm. He said that there will probably not be a presentation, just presentation boards and people available to talk about various issues and responses. . Waldhauser asked about the Planning Commissioner's role at the open house. Andre said she thought it would be good if they got responses from the people attending the open house. Grimes suggested that URS make a board that shows the process and how they've gotten to where we are in the study. . Other Comments & Questions No other items were discussed. II. Approval of Minutes October 24, 2005 Planning Commission Meeting Schmidgall referred to the fifth paragraph on page five and stated that the word east should be changed to west. Eck referred to the conditions of approval for the Golden Valley Shopping Center and suggested that numbers five and eight be integrated. . III. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9 pm.