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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning Commission Minutes 06-06-2007Approved Minutes City of Plymouth Planning Commission Meeting June 6, 2007 MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair James Holmes, Commissioners Frank Weir, Karl Neset, John Cooney, Terry Jaffoni (arrived at 7:10 p.m.) and Erik Aamoth MEMBERS ABSENT: Commissioners James Davis STAFF PRESENT: Planning Manager Barbara Senness, Planner Joshua Doty and Office Support Specialist Laurie Lokken 1. CALL TO ORDER - 7:00 P.M. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 3. PUBLIC FORUM 4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Holmes stated that New Business item 7A has been withdrawn from the agenda. MOTION by Commissioner Weir, seconded by Commissioner Aamoth, to approve the amended June 6, 2007 Planning Commission Agenda. Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION approved. 5. CONSENT AGENDA A. APPROVAL OF THE MAY 16, 2007 PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES MOTION by Commissioner Weir, seconded by Commissioner Neset, to approve the May 16, 2007 Planning Commission Minutes. Vote. 4 Ayes. MOTION approved with Commissioner Weir abstaining from vote. B. CRAIG SPENCER (2007046) MOTION by Commissioner Weir, seconded by Commissioner Neset, to approve the request by Craig Spencer for a variance to allow a nine -foot yard setback for the construction of a third stall garage addition for property located at 4810 Trenton Lane North. Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION approved. C. OPUS NORTHWEST, LLC. (2007047) Approved Planning Commission Minutes June 6, 2007 Page 2 MOTION by Commissioner Weir, seconded by Commissioner Neset, to approve the request by Opus Northwest, LLC. for a site plan amendment to add a 98 -stall parking lot to the north side of the AGA Medical Corporation building for property located at 5050 Nathan Lane North. Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION approved. D. GALLAGHER CONSTRUCTION, INC. (2007052) MOTION by Commissioner Weir, seconded by Commissioner Neset, to approve the request by Gallagher Construction, Inc. for a variance to allow a side yard setback of 12 feet to allow construction of an addition at the southeast corner of the home for property located at 5630 Sycamore Lane North. Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION approved. 6. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. POPE ASSOCIATES, INC. (2007037) Chair Holmes introduced the request by Pope Associates, Inc. for a planned unit development amendment to combine two buildings into one with a 20,381 square foot building addition for Productivity, Inc. for properties located at 15150 and 15200 25th Avenue North. Planner Doty gave an overview of the May 29, 2007 staff report. Commissioner Weir asked if both properties are owned by the same owner. Planner Doty said that question will be deferred to the applicant. Commissioner Weir asked why it is necessary to get approval from Hennepin County in order to combine the two lots into one. Planner Doty said that the City would not be able to issue any building permits for the building addition if the lot line is not removed. Chair Holmes said that the issue is that the County controls how the lots are divided or separated. Planning Manager Senness said that consolidation of the two lots is not something the City is involved in as it is under the County's jurisdiction. She said that the need to remove the lot line is a building code issue. Chair Holmes introduced the applicant, Kevin Timm, representing Productivity, Inc. Mr. Timm said that they are working with the current owner and the partner who owns the east building and consolidation should take place shortly. Mr. Timm said that they need the outdoor storage. He said that in 1994, they were able to get a conditional use permit for outdoor storage because of their business needs. He said that they have large equipment products shipped in and some of the products need to be uncrated and then repacked and sent out. He said they need temporary storage and they have taken care of issues related to previous complaints on the property. He said they recently hired a new staff member to keep the area cleaned up more diligently. He said that Approved Planning Commission Minutes June 6, 2007 Page 3 the walking path has also been an issue in the past and the plants will take care of that issue. Chair Holmes introduced the applicant, Paul Holmes, representing architect Pope Associates, Inc. Mr. Holmes said that on the materials and the exterior of the building, the two buildings that are being linked have red brick and dark windows but they are different in very significant ways. He said that they had looked at dark brick and dark windows but were unable to find a solution to match one or the other. He said they abandoned the approach and designed a link that is in contrast to the existing buildings on either side. He said they created a quilt of three design ideas, side by side, rather than trying to unify the ideas into one. He said that the green glass, the champagne colored window frames and the buff colored masonry are important pieces to this design approach. He said they request that the project be approved as designed rather than to incorporate red brick and dark glass. Mr. Holmes said that on the landscape plan, the existing site has 102 trees. He said that if they were building a new building of that size, they would be required to plant 83 trees. He said they will be removing 42 trees in order to build the addition, leaving 60. He said the tree replacement policy from the City requires that they replace the 42 trees that they are eliminating and are required to plant 1 new tree for each 1,000 square foot of new building area. He said that would be 63 new trees and an onsite total when done of 123 trees. He said that there is not room to do it all well. He said they request to either conform to the tree replacement policy and have 102 trees after construction or treat it as a bare site and be required to provide 83 trees total. Chair Holmes asked if they are proposing a change to their application. Mr. Holmes said that they are requesting that it be passed on to City Council without the conditions that the materials change and with a landscape requirement that would require one or the other of the tree replacement or treating it as a bare site. He said that the landscape plan they submitted was in response to staff requirements and they are appealing to the Planning Commission and City Council because they don't think it is a good plan. Planning Manager Senness said that as far as the issue of the trees, staff concurs they can reduce the number. She said there is an issue with the need for screening on the north side but staff feels comfortable that they can come up with something to go to City Council without having to come back to the Planning Commission. She said that Mr. Timm is correct, that there have been outdoor storage issues in the past and that the number of complaints received about the outdoor storage is why there is this condition. She said that if they have taken steps to correct or improve that, staff can review that condition. She said that the materials have not been discussed with the applicant and that the City does have a lot of discretion, especially on a PUD. Commissioner Aamoth asked if staff had received the information about them hiring a person to take care of the outside issues before their recommendation for no onsite storage. Planner Doty said that staff was not aware of a new hire for that purpose. He said the Approved Planning Commission Minutes June 6, 2007 Page 4 conditional use permit for the outside storage was for the eastern property and this application would ultimately result in consolidation of the two properties. He said that with the building addition, the outdoor storage would go away unless it is considered to be acceptable through this new PUD amendment application. He said that the landscaping plan shows a total of 123 trees and they are over planted by 40 trees. He said that the site is a PUD, so there is flexibility in the number of trees that are required and there are screening concerns on the north side of the property. He said that if the Planning Commission wants to require what the City's Zoning Ordinance would require specifically, a condition could be added that the number of trees be reduced by 40 trees. Commissioner Jaffoni asked if 102 trees would work and if it addresses the concerns about planting trees too close. Mr. Holmes said that 102 trees would work fine and it would exceed the Zoning Ordinance by 19 trees. Commissioner Jaffoni commented on the issue of the appearance. She said the unified appearance versus one that is not unified and is contrasting has already been taken up by staff. Chair Holmes clarified that the applicant is saying something different from what staff is saying as far as color and glass shades and that the applicant is saying they are not comfortable with that. Planning Manager Senness added that staff just found out that the applicant was not pleased with the recommendation. She said that when something like this occurs, staff and the applicant should meet and come to some agreement. She said that if they are able to come to resolution of this issue and the application comes back to the next Planning Commission meeting, it would get to the same City Council meeting as scheduled if it had passed tonight. Chair Holmes opened the public hearing. MOTION by Commissioner Weir, seconded by Commissioner Jaffoni, to continue the public hearing to the June 20, 2007 Planning Commission meeting. Roll Call Vote. 6 Ayes. MOTION approved unanimously. B. GREENBERG FARROW (2007039) Chair Holmes introduced the request by Greenberg Farrow for a site plan, conditional use permits and variances for a new 1,477 square foot office building for Public Storage for properties located at 13011 State Highway 55 and 2320 Xenium Lane North. Planner Doty gave an overview of the May 29, 2007 staff report. He added that staff recommends amending condition 6.a. in the resolution by removing "and shall not be parked on that property overnight". Approved Planning Commission Minutes June 6, 2007 Page 5 Commissioner Weir asked if traffic accessing the site via Xenium Lane North would not be able to access the office building. Planner Doty said that is correct. Planning Manager Senness added that it would be possible to park fairly close to the gated entry of the storage site and walk to the office building. Chair Holmes asked for clarification that if they entered the storage site from Highway 55, that they could not come back out. Planner Doty said the critical point is the gate. He said that if they are going to the office building and then to the storage area, they can't go back. Commissioner Jaffoni said that the applicant agrees to park both rental trucks inside the security gate and asked for clarification on staff's request to revise item 6.a. Planner Doty said the last part of that drafted condition could create some confusion and staff felt it would be clearer if it was left at that. Chair Holmes introduced the applicant, Kim McGlothlin, representing Greenberg Farrow. Ms. McGlothlin said the intent of the project is for them to improve the existing access. She said that purchasing the adjacent property and having additional access enhances their storage and access. She said they fully intend to comply with all the conditions, with the exception of condition 5.d., where it says that plans for the roof of the new building is to have a color consistent with the existing buildings and is to be painted to comply with the existing color of the existing buildings. She said the color of the existing building is cream rather than white, so they would like to request that revision. She said that they are also in the process of changing the roof color from blue to orange because orange is their image color and they would like to embrace that image. She asked that the condition require a consistent roof color. Planning Manager Senness said the intent was not to require the roofs to be blue. She said staff realizes they are in the process of repainting and that the western building is already orange. She said that language can be changed to be clear. Chair Holmes said the intent is to be consistent and requested that "white" be removed from condition 5.3. in the resolution. Commissioner Jaffoni asked about the shields for the 30 -foot lightpole. Ms. McGlothlin stated that was an oversight and they will comply with that. Chair Holmes asked if signage falls in the office building classification. Planner Doty said the signage will be reviewed based on the fact that it is an industrial property. He said zoning is still industrial and they have requested the conditional use permit to allow it to be above 50% office. He said the signage as proposed would include a monument sign. He said they could also add wall signage at 10% of one wall of the building. Planning Manager Senness added that signage on more than one side of the building would require a variance. Approved Planning Commission Minutes June 6, 2007 Page 6 Chair Holmes opened and closed the public hearing as there was no one present to speak on the item. MOTION by Commissioner Weir, seconded by Commissioner Neset, to approve the request by Greenberg Farrow for a site plan, conditional use permits and variances with minor language revisions to the resolution for a new 1,477 square foot office building for Public Storage for properties located at 13011 State Highway 55 and 2320 Xenium Lane North. Roll Call Vote. 6 Ayes. MOTION approved unanimously. 7. NEW BUSINESS B. CITY OF PLYMOUTH Planning Manager Senness stated that the first Planning Commission meeting in July is scheduled for July 4th. She said that a special meeting does not need to be scheduled to replace that meeting and the Planning Commission will meet on July 18, 2007 as scheduled. MOTION by Commissioner Weir, seconded by Commissioner Neset, to approve the request to cancel the July 4, 2007 Planning Commission meeting. Vote. 6 Ayes. MOTION approved. 8. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Chair Holmes, without objection, to adjourn the meeting at 8:08 p.m.