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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning Commission Minutes 11-07-2012Approved Minutes City of Plymouth Planning Commission Meeting November 7, 2012 MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair James Davis, Commissioners Dick Kobussen, Scott Nelson, Bryan Oakley and Marc Anderson MEMBERS ABSENT: Commissioners Nathan Robinson and Gordon Petrash STAFF PRESENT: Planning Manager Barbara Thomson, Senior Planner Marie Darling, Senior Planner Joshua Doty, Senior Planner Shawn Drill and Office Support Representative Janice Bergstrom 1. CALL TO ORDER - 7:00 P.M. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 3. PUBLIC FORUM 4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION by Commissioner Kobussen, seconded by Commissioner Nelson, to approve the November 7, 2012 Planning Commission Agenda. Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION approved. 5. CONSENT AGENDA A. APPROVAL OF THE OCTOBER 17, 2012 PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES MOTION by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Oakley, to approve the October 17, 2012 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes. Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION approved. B. LUCKY'S 13 PUB (2012083) MOTION by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Oakley, to approve the request by Lucky's 13 Pub for a variance to allow the size of a freestanding sign to be increased from 15 square feet to 49 square feet for property located at 3000 Harbor Lane North. Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION approved. 6. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. WAYZATA PUBLIC SCHOOLS (2012080) Approved Planning Commission Minutes November 7, 2012 Page 2 Chair Davis introduced the request by Wayzata Public Schools for a site plan amendment and conditional use permit amendment for a building expansion and related site improvements at Sunset Hill Elementary School located at 13005 Sunset Trail North. Senior Planner Doty gave an overview of the staff report. Commissioner Nelson asked if the chain link fence will run the length of the retaining wall. Senior Planner Doty answered affirmatively, and said it is a common safety feature. Commissioner Anderson asked who maintains the bio -filter in the rain garden. Senior Planner Doty said the school would maintain the garden, and added the City collects a financial guarantee before the project begins. The rain garden is monitored for a couple years to ensure native plants establish properly. Chair Davis introduced the applicant, Joe Matson. 17305 19th Ave. N. Commissioner Anderson asked the time frame of construction, and if it is during the school year how will the children be protected from the construction area. Mr. Matson said construction would begin when the school board gives approval and the contracts are processed. He said they are planning for December through August construction, and a barrier fence would be placed to separate children from the construction site. Chair Davis opened and closed the public hearing as there was no one present to speak on the item. Commissioner Anderson said it is nice to see an expansion at the school. Chair Davis said he lives near Kimberly Lane, Plymouth Creek and Greenwood and hears how crowded these schools are and commented that this expansion is at Sunset Hill Elementary School, which is the furthest away. Planning Manager Thomson stated that the Planning Commission will see two other school expansions soon. MOTION by Commissioner Kobussen, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve the request by Wayzata Public Schools for a site plan amendment and conditional use permit amendment for a building expansion and related site improvements at Sunset Hill Elementary School located at 13005 Sunset Trail North. Roll Call Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION approved unanimously. B. VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS (2012085) Approved Planning Commission Minutes November 7, 2012 Page 3 Chair Davis introduced the request by Visual Communications for a PUD amendment to alter the existing signage at the WestHealth Campus for property located at 3000 Campus Drive. Senior Planner Darling gave an overview of the staff report and noted that the applicant will have to keep one of the signs that the report indicates would be removed. Chair Davis asked for more information about the change. Senior Planner Darling said that the staff report divided the signage request into three categories: 1) consistent with the previous sign plan; 2) signage to be removed; and 3) signs proposed larger than the existing signs. She explained that the sign at Location 18 (page L2) was previously included in the signage to be removed, but will now remain due to agreements in place with the other property owners. She indicated that the result is a decrease of 128 square feet rather than 168 square feet indicated in the table in the report. Commissioner Nelson asked if in the future they could increase their signage on the site by 128 square feet because the previous approval allowed that much. Senior Planner Darling clarified that the PUD amendment states that this is a replacement plan so they would not be able to increase the signage in the future without formal approval. Commissioner Anderson said the new sign at the main entryway is five feet deep and 12 feet high, and asked how the 24 -square feet was arrived at. Senior Planner Darling said the surface area calculation for a monument sign includes the most regular geometric shape that encloses all of the text. Commissioner Anderson asked if address numbers are included. Senior Planner Darling said address numerals are required by city code and are not counted in the total sign area. Chair Davis introduced the applicant, Cheryl O'Donnell, Visual Communications, 475 Cleveland Ave. N. Chair Davis asked what WestHealth will be called after January 7, 2013. Ms. O'Donnell said the sign will read, "Allina Health Abbott Northwestern WestHealth", but will probably still be referred to as WestHealth. Ms. O'Donnell said the pylon and wall sign have been reduced so the Allina Health logo isn't even on it and will include WestHealth and Emergency. Commissioner Kobussen asked which signs will be removed. Approved Planning Commission Minutes November 7, 2012 Page 4 Ms. O'Donnell said some small directional signs within the campus will be removed. She said at the main entrance vital signs are being added for Emergency and Urgent Care and you don't need secondary signs for that. Ms. O'Donnell said 133.18 will be removed from the back side of the building as that area will be primarily for employee parking, not public parking. Ms. O'Connell said B3.14 and B3.16 are to be left in the plan in case they are needed for future signs for the transitional care building that will hopefully be built on the site in the next couple years. Commissioner Nelson said B3.13 signage for patient drop off and pickup will be removed, and asked what would replace this. Ms. O'Donnell said B3.6 is for the Urgent Care and Emergency entrance. She said in "way finding" terms, A2.7 will be the main entrance signage for visitors. She said the majority of the parking will be in the north parking lot. She said they added Emergency and Urgent Care to the A2.7 sign to get people to go to northerly drive and not through an area of high pedestrian traffic. Commissioner Anderson asked if we are approving two signs for something that is not built yet. Ms. O'Donnell explained that the two signs already exist and their future would be determined when the transitional care unit comes in. There will be separate drives and parking at that time. Ms. O'Donnell said these two signs were to be removed but staff had the foresight to encourage planning for the future. She said since they were already in the signage plan it seemed smart to keep these signs in. Commissioner Anderson said he assumes the building functions as a medical office, but with transitional care and an emergency room it sounds more like a hospital. Tracy White, representing Allina Health, said they are planning for the future and look at this campus as a hospital without beds offering the right care at the right place at the right time. She said if there are in-patient needs, those patients would go elsewhere. Ms. White said Allina offers the same type of services since it was built in 1994. Chair Davis said he thought this was a medical office building and asked if other businesses would be forced out if they are not Allina businesses. Ms. White said people may have perceived it as a business office from the outside, but it really is a destination for many people for many services which include clinics, urgent care, pharmacy, and same day surgery. She reiterated they are just adding to it. Commissioner Anderson said there is certain zoning for a medical office building, and with the slow addition of services we are turning this into a hospital. Commissioner Anderson questioned if it is zoned and guided correctly for the direction it is going. Senior Planner Darling said the zoning is PUD (Planning Unit Development), so it is a custom zoning district for the uses proposed. She said the two primary buildings on site are still medical office buildings. Same day surgery is frequently offered in a medical office setting, rather than a Approved Planning Commission Minutes November 7, 2012 Page 5 hospital setting. Senior Planner Darling stated everything proposed is consistent with Commercial Office designation in the Comprehensive Plan and with the PUD zoning district. Planning Manager Thomson added same day surgery has been occurring at this location since day one. She said the only change is the signage, not the services. Chair Davis opened and closed the public hearing as there was no one present to speak on the item. Commissioner Anderson said it is great what they are doing here, and with the emergency room expansion it is great for Plymouth. He said he just wanted to make sure we didn't have a problem with the zoning down the road. Commissioner Nelson said he is in favor of making sure signage on these large campuses is efficient and functional as there is nothing more frustrating than not knowing where you are going. He said this is a plan for now and for the future. Commissioner Nelson said he assumes traffic flow will be monitored as you go forward and said he has no problem supporting this. Chair Davis said it is important when looking for an emergency room to be able to find it quickly and not have to navigate through that parking lot. He said it is a good thing to get to the second entrance in a quick manner. MOTION by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Kobussen, to approve the request by Visual Communications for a PUD amendment to alter the existing signage at the WestHealth Campus for property located at 3000 Campus Drive. Roll Call Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION approved unanimously. 7. NEW BUSINESS 8. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Chair Davis, with no objection, to adjourn the meeting at 7:38 p.m.