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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSeptember 25, 2007 PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING - SEPTEMBER 25, 2007 The Regular Bi-Monthly Meeting of the Andover Planning and Zoning Commission was called to order by Chairperson Daninger on September 25, 2007, 7:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Commissioners present: Chairperson Daninger, Commissioners Tim Kirchoff, Michael Casey, Valerie Holthus, Devon Walton, Douglas Falk and Dennis Cleveland. Commissioners absent: There were none. Also present: City Planner, Courtney Bednarz Associate Planner, Andy Cross Associate Planner, Chris Vrchota 0 Others APPROVAL OF MINUTES. September 11, 2007 Motion by Casey, seconded by Kirchoff, to approve the minutes as presented. Motion carried on a 7-ayes, O-nays, I-absent (Walton) vote. PUBLIC HEARING: LOT SPLIT TO CREATE A NEW LOT FROM PROPERTY LOCATED AT 3210 BUNKER LAKE BOULEVARD NW. Mr. Cross stated the pastor of the Riverdale Assembly of God church has applied to split the church's lot into two parcels. The new lot will be used by Bunker Hills Academy, which currently operates inside the church. Commissioner Falk asked if the Parks Commission has weighed in on the park fees. Mr. Cross indicated they have not reviewed this plan yet. Chairperson Daninger asked if the Park Commission will have a chance to review this before it goes to the City Council for 0 approval because they may be more qualified regarding the park information and fees. Regular Andover Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes - September 25, 2007 0 Page 2 Mr. Cross stated they have not had any input from the Parks Commission regarding this and there are no plans to add this to a Parks Commission meeting. Commissioner Holthus asked what the plans are for Parcel B. Mr. Cross indicated the applicant would be able to provide that information but thought it would be a school. Commissioner Holthus thought the park fee was to alleviate the added stress the new development would put on the area. She asked if there was currently a school within the church. Mr. Cross indicated there was. Commissioner Holthus wondered if the school was expecting more students with the new school. Commissioner Kirchoff wondered if a commercial lot would create more park use. Commissioner Holthus thought it would depend on if the business would use the park or trails but that is the initial reason why there are park dedication fees. Chairperson Daninger asked if there was any discussion regarding the access road and changing it. Mr. Cross indicated there have not been any improvements reviewed at this time. 0 Motion by Falk, seconded by Casey, to open the public hearing at 7:12 p.m. Motion carried on a 7-ayes, O-nays, I-absent (Walton) vote. Commissioner Walton arrived at 7:13 p.m. There was no public input. Mr. Larry Hail, Senior Pastor, Riverdale Assembly of God, 3210 Bunker Lake Boulevard, applicant, stated Mr. Gary Peterson, Bunker Hills Academy principal, was planning on purchasing the lot for the school. Mr. Hail stated the proposed driveway will be enlarged considerably to provide better line of site and more room for traffic coming and going. Commissioner Holthus wondered how many students currently attended the Academy. Mr. Gary Peterson, 11579 Arnold Palmer Drive, Blaine, stated they currently have 88 children attending. Their goal is elementary and secondary. He noted they did not anticipate more than four to five hundred children max at the school. He stated the open space will be open to the public and will be an area for children to play. Commissioner Holthus wondered if they planned on putting in playground equipment. 0 Mr. Peterson stated they have had a couple of fundraisers to get equipment for the area and they are planning on putting in a soccer field when they do grow. Regular Andover Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes - September 25, 2007 0 Page 3 Mr. Hail stated the crossover agreement was addressed in the purchase agreement and will become part of the record at Anoka County when the papers are filed. Commissioner Holthus wondered how large the staff will be for the school. Mr. Peterson stated they are allotting for parking for staff between 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and it would be somewhere between twenty to twenty-five personnel. Motion by Casey, seconded by Kirchoff, to close the public hearing at 7:19 p.m. Motion carried on a 7-ayes, O-nays, O-absent vote. Commissioner Cleveland asked for an example of a circumstance where the City would waive the park dedication fee. Mr. Bednarz stated the City has on occasion waived the fee but the park fee is for what Commissioner Holthus indicated before. Commissioner Kirchoff asked if they would be setting a precedent if they waived the park dedication fees. He did understand that there would be a soccer field and play equipment available to all residents. He stated he supported the resolution as written and would go ahead with waiving the park dedication fee. Commissioner Holthus thought they may want to compromise and only charge a fee for 0 the new lot. Commissioner Casey stated he agreed with Commissioner Kirchoff and did not see a reason to charge the park dedication fee. Commissioner Falk concurred and Commissioner Walton concurred as long as the park area remained public. Commissioner Holthus indicated the area was not public. Commissioner Walton understood that but thought if the school allowed others to use the area indefinitely he would be fme with waiving the fee. Chairperson Daninger stated he was going to vote against this because he did not feel qualified making a decision on this. He indicated he would rather have the Parks Commission review this and make the decision. Commissioner Kirchoff stated he agreed and hoped the Parks Commission would make a recommendation to the City Council before this is reviewed and decided by them. Motion by Kirchoff, seconded by Casey, to recommend to the City Council approval of the resolution as presented waiving the Park Dedication fee of$5,030. Motion carried on a 6-ayes, I-nays (Daninger), O-absent vote. Mr. Cross stated that this item would be before the Council at the October 2, 2007 City Council meeting. PUBLIC HEARING: CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT TO ALLOW OUTDOOR 0 STORAGEAT 311816ZW LANE NW. Regular Andover Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes - September 25, 2007 0 Page 4 Mr. Vrchota explained the applicant is seeking a conditional use permit to allow for outdoor storage on their property. This would allow a roll-off dumpster business that has been run on the site since 2005 to remain in operation. Mr. Vrchota discussed the staff report with the Commission. Commissioner Kirchoff asked if the City designated the thickness of pavement. Mr. Vrchota stated when a commercial site plan goes through the process there are standard site designs they need to meet. Commissioner Casey asked what would pose as dust control. Mr. Vrchota stated there are some products that can be used that the City actually uses on their gravel roads as a dust control, which lasts a long time. Motion by Falk, seconded by Casey, to open the public hearing at 7:34 p.m. Motion carried on a 7 -ayes, O-nays, O-absent vote. There was no public input. Mr. Rick Lindquist, 3118 I 62nd Lane NW' property owner, Dave King, Property 0 Manager, 612 11 th Avenue NE, Blaine were at the meeting to answer questions. Commissioner Walton wondered if they discussed with the staff the interim standards so they were aware of what staffwas asking for. Mr. Lindquist indicated he was aware of what the City Staff wanted. Commissioner Walton wondered if any of these were hard to complete. Mr. Lindquist stated they were not. Chairperson Daninger asked when these were anticipated to be completed. Mr. Lindquist stated the first thing would be the building and would be done before the first snowfall, fence posts would also be done this year and next year would be the driveway pavement and dust control. Chairperson Daninger asked if they have researched dust control and how often they need to put it down. Mr. Lindquist stated they would research this. Chairperson Daninger asked if they were still using the forty-foot tower. Mr. Lindquist stated they were not. Chairperson Daninger thought he would recommend they take down the tower as part of making the site look better. Commissioner Walton wondered what the tower was used for. Mr. Lindquist indicated it 0 was used by the previous occupant for CB radio communication. Regular Andover Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes - September 25, 2007 0 Page 5 Commissioner Falk asked iflighting was required on this site. Mr. Lindquist stated it was not mentioned and thought the lighting was adequate for their site. Motion by Casey, seconded by Walton, to close the public hearing at 7:40 p.m. Motion carried on a 7 -ayes, O-nays, O-absent vote. Commissioner Walton asked if the tower meet any kind of criteria where they can utilize it for cell tower antennae. Chairperson Daninger stated there was one adjacent to this area used for that purpose. Chairperson Daninger thought the applicant was being very cooperative with the improvements recommended. Motion by Walton, seconded by Kirchoff, to recommend approval of the proposed Conditional Use Permit subject to the conditions in the attached resolution with the requirement of deconstruction of the tower on the site. Motion carried on a 7 -ayes, 0- nays, O-absent vote. Mr. Vrchota stated that this item would be before the Council at the October 2, 2007 City Council meeting. 0 WORK SESSION: DISCUSS TRANSPORTATION PLAN UPDATE Mr. Bednarz reviewed the transportation plan changes with the Commission. He noted this plan follows the same format as the current plan. Commissioner Holthus stated the City north of Andover is Oak Grove and she wondered why it is not indicated to the north. Mr. Bednarz stated he noticed that too and it should be Oak Grove. Commissioner Falk asked on page ES3 under the Trail Plan, the second line stated, "gaps in the trail are important to close". He thought it should read, "better to connect to existing trails". Mr. Bednarz thought this was the intent and the words can be adjusted to fit his comment and read more easily. Commissioner Walton stated he did not see a lot of commentary about sidewalk and pedestrian traffic and he did not think trail traffic was the same. As they look at the expansion of Hanson and Crosstown he thought they needed to discuss in this section ways to get school kids to and from school safely. He wondered if they can mitigate this someway. Mr. Bednarz thought this was an excellent comment and under addressed in the plan. He stated the effort is to bring pedestrians to intersections that are controlled by 0 a traffic signal. Regular Andover Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes - September 25, 2007 0 Page 6 Commissioner Walton thought signal lights are an interim solution and he wondered if they could discuss tunnels or cross over bridges so they avoid problems in the future. Commissioner Kirchoff stated Hanson Boulevard is a main artery for Andover and Anoka County and they keep developing along there and he wondered whose responsibility it will be to provide safe transportation. He wondered if they need to have this the responsibility of developing property owners to put up fencing or other options. He did not think it should be put upon the County. Chairperson Daninger stated his concern is the crosswalk north of the high school and he thought this should be looked at for improvements. Commissioner Holthus thought there were two other crosswalks that are very dangerous. The first is on 168th and Round Lake Boulevard and the other is 168th and Verdin Street, which brings children to the elementary school, and she thought there should be a flashing light indicating vehicles needing to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. Chairperson Daninger thought the problems they were having were the crossings that were not at controlled intersections. Commissioner Casey thought this was a good idea because it is cheaper to be proactive rather than reactive. 0 Commissioner Walton stated there were some hotspots that should be on the list. The first one is Nightingale and Crosstown, second is Round Lake and Veterans Memorial Drive. He thought the latter would be a future problem as the area grows. Commissioner Holthus stated 161 st and Verdin is identified as a hot spot and she was surprised it did not get an "F" and actually received an "A". Commissioner Kirchoff thought the wait at intersections was minimal in Andover compared to other areas in Minnesota. Commissioner Cleveland wondered if there is a hierarchy regarding hot spots and how do they determine what gets improved first. Mr. Bednarz reviewed the criteria they use. Commissioner Holthus asked on page 9, the notes that are written there is a question and she wondered if this was something that should be discussed. Mr. Bednarz stated the notes are staff's comments that will be addressed. The notes call for more detail as to what the wayside horn improvements are going to be. Commissioner Holthus stated on page 10, the sentence refers to "couple" and should probably be "two" if that is what is intended. 0 Commissioner Walton stated he did not see any reference to accident data and he wondered if they have any of it and do they use it and rely on it. Mr. Bednarz stated they do use it and helps them to identify hot spot areas. He stated the information changes Regular Andover Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes - September 25, 2007 0 Page 7 frequently and they do communicate with MnDOT and the County for updated information. He stated they did not see the value of adding the data because it goes out of date so fast. Commissioner Kirchoff stated on page 26 under principal arterials it lists Trunk Highway 242 and it no longer exists and was turned back as County Road 14 and he was not sure if it was still a principal arterial anymore. Chairperson Daninger stated there is also a referral to that Trunk Highway elsewhere. Mr. Bednarz stated they can go through the plan and adjust the name of that route. Commissioner Walton stated Map 26 that showed the completion bubbles and several already say complete and they are not but projected to be complete. He wondered if it would be helpful to put a note on when it is expected to be complete for other city review. Mr. Bednarz thought they could do that. The Commission discussed the TAZ map. Chairperson Daninger asked if the change to the crossings was so the horn does not sound. Mr. Bednarz stated that was correct. Chairperson Daninger asked regarding public transportation he asked for an interpretation of the plan. Mr. Bednarz stated in terms of bus routes, the City is presently not serviced by Metro Transit except in the southwest edge of the City. He stated there was an extensive study done on this and the 2006 citizen survey included several related questions. The benefit was not found to justifY the cost. Commissioner Kirchoff reviewed the study that was done regarding transit service in Andover. He stated there are other regional transit centers nearby in neighboring cities. He stated this is addressed in the plan, which can be revisited in the future if the need for it comes up. OTHER BUSINESS. Mr. Bednarz updated the Planning Commission on related items. ADJOURNMENT. Motion by Walton, seconded by Casey, to adjourn the meeting at 8:37 p.m. Motion carried on a 7 -ayes, O-nays, O-absent vote. 0 Regular Andover Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes - September 25, 2007 0 Page 8 Respectfully Submitted, Sue Osbeck, Recording Secretary TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. 0 0