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04-12-17 PC Minutes Regular Meeting of the Golden Valley Planning Commission April 12, 2017 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 Wednesday, April 12, 2017. Vice Chair Baker called the meeting to order at 8:06 pm. Those present were Planning Commissioners Baker, Blenker, Blum, Johnson, Kluchka, and Waldhauser. Also present were Planning Manager Jason Zimmerman, Associate Planner/Grant Writer Emily Goellner, and Administrative Assistant Lisa Wittman. Commissioner Segelbaum was absent. 1. Approval of Minutes March 27, 2017, Regular Planning Commission Meeting Waldhauser referred to the last sentence in the third paragraph on page one and asked that it be amended to read as follows: "Waldhauser said she likes that the resilience of the business community and the employment opportunities it provides is included under the sustainability and resilience umbrella." MOVED by Johnson, seconded by Kluchka and motion carried 4 to 2 to approve the March 27, 2017, minutes with the above noted changes. Commissioners Baker and Blum abstained from voting. 2. Informal Public Hearing —Zoning Code Text Amendment— Mobile Food Vending in Residential Zoning Districts —ZO00-112 Applicant: City of Golden Valley Purpose: To consider allowing mobile food vending in Residential Zoning Districts Goellner reminded the Commission that the City adopted an ordinance regarding mobile food vending in 2015, however it did not include Residential Zoning Districts at the time because the City wanted to have a trial period first. She explained that there have been some recent inquiries from residents who would like to have food trucks at their homes for parties, receptions, etc. and staff is proposing that mobile food vending be allowed in Residential Zoning Districts with a permit. Goellner discussed the proposed regulations for residential permits which include: allowing food trucks from 8 am to 10 pm, requiring a $40 per day fee, allowing one day permits only, prohibiting liquor sales, requiring trash removal, requiring a state or county food license, requiring that existing noise ordinance regulations be followed, allowing food trucks for private parties only, not for sales to the general public, requiring parking on an impervious surFace/driveway, prohibiting overnight parking, and for multifamily buildings, a mobile food vendor cannot park in a way that creates a parking shortage. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission April 12, 2017 Page 2 Waldhauser asked why staff is recommending that food trucks not be allowed to park in the street. Goellner said staff is concerned about obstructing the street, causing lines to form in the street, and potentially obstructing traffic. Goellner said she thinks the City will receive more complaints if food trucks are allowed to park in the street. She added that if a food truck is parked in a driveway it sends a message that it is a private event and not open to the public. Kluchka referred to the requirements regarding overnight parking of commercial vehicles and asked about the definition of a commercial vehicle and the location of the commercial vehicle regulations. Zimmerman said there is a definition for commercial vehicles and it has to do with the weight, height, and length, etc. of the vehicle. Baker said he has seen other types of mobile uses and asked if those are allowed. Zimmerman said the City Code is silent on those types of uses in residential areas, but they could be addressed as other types of mobile uses in the future. Baker said he wants to be sure there are no loopholes created. Johnson questioned how the food trucks would enforce selling their food only to the applicant's guests, and not to the public. Goellner said it would be enforced on a complaint basis. Johnson suggested requiring food trucks to display a sign that says private party only. Blum asked if staff has considered parking restrictions around a food truck or requiring them to be a certain distance from other structures or items. Goellner said the biggest impact the City can have is making sure the food trucks themselves aren't parked in the street. She added that if a person has a party at their house now, they can take up all the parking on the street so the only thing the City can control is overnight parking. Zimmerman stated that staff would check with the Fire Department regarding any recommendations they may have regarding the distance between food trucks and homes or other structures. Baker opened the public hearing. Larry Kueny, 7303 Ridgeway Road, said the City has pushed the message of buying local and he questions how many restaurants in Golden Valley that have great catering will be hurt by this ordinance. He asked if City parks allow food trucks and if so, he suggested people have their parties there. He stated that if his neighbor had a food truck the only place they could park it would be 20 feet away from his house and he doesn't want to smell food cooking and hear noise all day long. He said this ordinance doesn't make any sense to him and said the City really needs to think this through. Hearing and seeing no one else wishing to comment. Baker closed the public hearing. Blum said the idea of requiring a private event sign to be posted on food trucks is a good idea because he doesn't think the food truck operators are going to turn away customers so the City needs to proactively put people on notice. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission April 12, 2017 Page 3 Waldhauser said allowing food trucks in residential areas is an alternative to hiring a caterer. She questioned if the food truck would be selling food to guests or if applicants would be paying for the food truck to give the food to their guests. Goellner said the applicants would be paying for the food truck and giving the food to their guests. Waldhauser said that would help with the concern of food trucks being private versus public. Baker referred Subdivision 2(A)(17) in the proposed ordinance and said "limiting sales" to the public might not be the right wording. Johnson suggested using the words "limiting service" instead. Blum stated that some food trucks might have a hybrid service where the applicant pays for some of the food and the guests supplement the rest so there may be some purchasing of food from the trucks occurring. Baker again referred Subdivision 2(A)(17) in the proposed ordinance and said he doesn't like the words "not intended" in regard to serving the general public because it doesn't seem strong enough. He questioned if there should be a requirement that neighbors be notified because if someone hates the idea maybe the applicant could plan their event elsewhere. Zimmerman stated that residents having parties now could be barbequing all day or running a generator for a bouncy house for severat hours, so what is being proposed is not that far from what is already currently allowed. Waldhauser agreed and said the City can't legistate being neighborly and that people have to put up with inconveniences now and then. Kluchka suggested the language in Subdivision 2(A)(17) be amended to state that vending operations "will not" serve the general public. He said he likes the idea of requiring food trucks to be located a certain distance from other structures. He also suggested that food trucks in residential areas be required to have internal generators only and that they can only be a certain maximum width as measured from mirror to mirror. He said he would not say no to allowing parking on the street, but he would like to see a maximum operating time. He questioned if food trucks are allowed in the City parks. Goellner said yes. Kluchka said he would like to make it convenient for Brookview to serve food in their park. Blum stated that the proximity of food trucks to other structures is important because allowing a food truck right next to someone's living room is unsightly and he would like to mitigate that. He said that if the City finds it over-burdensome in the future they can reconsider the language and that he wants to encourage business in Golden Valley but not at the expense of residents. Waldhauser noted that allowing parking on the street would help with the concern about proximity to other structures because the food trucks would be further away from the house. Blum said he thinks there are other issues with parking in the street. Baker suggesting adding language to the ordinance that would require that the serving window be on the applicant's side of the property so people would not have to line up in the street. Waldhauser said she likes the idea of a time limit but she doesn't think vendors will stay longer than they have to and the ordinance has a 10 pm limit. Baker agreed and said those types of details would be in a contract. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission April 12, 2017 Page 4 Waldhauser questioned if language should be added in order to prevent someone from having a food truck every weekend. Goellner said it could be limited to once per year. Johnson referred to language in the proposed ordinance regarding the distance from schools and asked if the words "when school is in session" means the school day or the school year. Goellner said it refers to the school day and that the language is trying to prevent kids from leaving school to go to a food truck. Johnson said he thinks noise will be an issue and he agrees with the idea of requiring internal generators. He said he also agrees there should be a time limit of six or eight hours and he would prefer that food trucks park on driveways. Blenker said she agrees that an event would feel more private if the food truck is parked on the driveway. Waldhauser said she would like parking on the street to be an option. Baker agreed but with certain limitations because he doesn't want to cause parking issues for other neighbors. Kluchka reiterated that he would like to see an appropriate distance between houses and food trucks. Johnson referred to the comment that allowing food trucks could hurt local caterers which it could, but there are no current rules that require hiring local caterers. Baker suggested tabling this item to allow staff to address the concerns discussed. Kluchka noted that the proposed ordinance isn't clear about who the applicant must be. He asked that it be clarified to state that the property owner should be the applicant. Johnson asked about reaching out to the food truck association and asking them what they think. Zimmerman said staff did talk to them when this ordinance was first written. MOVED by Kluchka, seconded by Waldhauser and motion carried unanimously to table this item to a future meeting. --Short Recess-- 3. Reports on Meetings of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, City Council, Board of Zoning Appeals and other Meetings Baker stated that he has resigned from the Community Advisory Committee for the light rail project. Zimmerman stated that postcards have been sent to all residents in the northeast corner of the City to find interested people to serve on that committee. Watdhauser reported on the Brookview focus meeting she attended and said it was very interesting and very well done. Kluchka said he also attended and agreed that it was well done. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission April 12, 2017 Page 5 Waldhauser reported on a walking tour she attended in downtown Minneapolis regarding the testing of trees in downtown areas. She stated that trees can be planted in downtown areas, it just costs more. Goellner reminded the Commission that there will an Urban Land Institute (ULI) event called "Navigating Your Competitive Future" with the City Council on June 21 from 6 to 8 pm. 4. Other Business • Council Liaison Report No report was given. 5. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9 pm. c �, i John Kluc a, Secretary Li Wittman, Administrative Assistant