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100708 planning commission CITY OF NEW HOPE 4401 XYLON AVENUE NORTH NEW HOPE, HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA 55428 PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES October 7, 2008 City Hall, 7 p.m. CALL TO ORDER The New Hope Planning Commission met in regular session pursuant to due call and notice thereof; Chair Hemken called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. ROLL CALL Present: Jim Brinkman, Pat Crough, Kathi Hemken, Jeff Houle, Roger Landy, Bill Oelkers, Tom Schmidt Absent: Paul Anderson, Sandra Hunten, Ranjan Nirgudé. Steve Svendsen Also Present: Curtis Jacobsen, Community Development Director, Steve Sondrall, City Attorney, Eric Weiss, Community Development Assistant, Pamela Sylvester, Recording Secretary CONSENT BUSINESS There was no Consent Business on the agenda. REVIEW OF Planning Case 08-11 Chair Hemken introduced for discussion Item 4.1, request for rezoning, conditional use permit, vacation of existing easements and creation of Item 4.1 new easement, site and building plan review, preliminary plat to be known as Ambassador Addition, and sign plan review for expansion of existing facility to provide short-term rehabilitation and nursing care, 8100 Medicine Lake Road and 2724 Virginia Avenue, Good Samaritan Society - Ambassador, petitioner. Mr. Eric Weiss stated that the petitioner was requesting several planning applications to accommodate an expansion of the facility at 8100 Medicine Lake Road and 2724 Virginia Avenue. The vacant parcel on Virginia Avenue is zoned R-3 medium density residential and the existing nursing home site is zoned R-5 senior/disabled. The combined site area is approximately four acres. The current building contains 34,066 square feet and the proposed addition would be 15,180 square feet for a total building area of 49,246 square feet. Mr. Weiss explained that this application was considered at the August 8 Planning Commission meeting and the Commission recommended approval subject to 19 conditions. The City Council considered the request at its August 25 meeting, but referred the case back to the Planning Commission due to concerns regarding the rain garden, a PILOT agreement, fuel source for the back up generator, and the large number of conditions. Mr. Weiss stated that the applicant submitted revised plans and met with the Design and Review Committee to review the conditions approved in August and revisions made to the plans. He reviewed each previous condition and informed the Commission of the petitioner’s response. Condition 1 referred to the site improvement agreement which now will also include landscaping maintenance (condition 6), city attorney recommendations regarding the plat (condition 12), rain garden maintenance (condition 16), and utility easement agreement (condition 19). Condition 2 is for the financial guarantee, which will remain. Conditions 9 and 10 dealing with engineering issues will be combined and remain. Condition 13 will remain and the applicant must comply with recommendations from West Metro Fire-Rescue District. The following conditions have been completed by the applicant and were removed. Condition 3 required revised plans to show consistent location of easements, which has been completed. Condition 4 dealt with compliance with state licensing laws; this is not a city issue and condition was removed. Condition 5 required a letter of agreement with Midland Shopping Center permitting grading/landscape work on its site, which has been submitted. Condition 7 required the landscaping plan to be revised to show appropriate plant types and this was completed. Condition 8 required fencing details to be shown on the plans, which has been completed. Condition 11 dealt with the sign plan and a revised sign plan and map have been submitted in compliance with the sign code. Condition 14 required approval of plans by the building official, which is standard procedure prior to the issuance of a building permit. Condition 15 was for the Planning Commission to waive review of the final plat, and this was approved at the August 5 Commission meeting. Condition 17 dealt with the backup generator and the applicant submitted the required information and the generator meets all requirements of the city and state. Condition 18 dealt with the rain garden, which meets city requirements. Mr. Weiss reported that the City Council was concerned with tax implications by removing 2724 Virginia Avenue from the city tax rolls, due to the fact that Good Samaritan is a non-profit entity. The city portion of taxes for that parcel is approximately $2,000 per year. Good Samaritan has agreed to a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement in the amount of $2,000.21 per year with no annual increase. The revised landscaping plan meets city requirements. The large rain garden proposed along the property line adjacent to Midland Center was acceptable to the city engineer and an agreement with Midland Center was submitted to the city. A portion of the existing fencing was removed and two small patios with fencing surrounding the areas were included in the revised plans near the existing wing. The applicant submitted a revised sign plan and includes sign details. A revised sign plan map was also included. The current sign plan complies with city requirements. The applicant agreed to comply with all requests made by West Metro Fire in its memorandums of July 15 and August 15. 2 Planning Commission Meeting October 7, 2008 Mr. Weiss stated that a 1,000 kW diesel fueled backup generator was proposed. All state licensed nursing homes are required to have a backup generator, which must be fueled by a reliable source – or one that cannot be interrupted. CenterPoint Energy submitted a letter stating natural gas is not a reliable fuel source due to the fact that it can be interrupted either by manmade or natural causes. An on-site diesel fuel system was proposed that meets state standards. The generator would meet city noise standards. In summary, Mr. Weiss explained that Good Samaritan – Ambassador was proposing a 15,180 square foot addition to its current nursing care facility. The addition would consist of 21 beds for short-term rehabilitation care. The building addition was designed to reflect a residential look and feel. Improvements would include extensive landscaping and a rain garden. The existing easements would be vacated and a new easement would be created. The project generally complies with the city’s Comprehensive Plan. Approvals would include rezoning the 2724 Virginia parcel from R-3 to R-5, conditional use permit for long- term care facility, vacation of existing easements and creation of a new easement, replatting to combine the two parcels into one parcel, site and building plan review, and sign plan review. Mr. Weiss stated that staff recommended approval subject to the conditions outlined in the planning report. Commissioner Brinkman requested an explanation of the PILOT agreement. Mr. Jacobsen explained that PILOT stood for payment in lieu of taxes. A PILOT agreement was utilized when a taxable property became tax exempt through the sale of the property or a new use for the property. The portion of the taxes the city received for 2724 Virginia Avenue was $2,000.21 for 2008, and Good Samaritan has agreed to contribute this amount every year to the city as may be required by the PILOT agreement. The city would not, therefore, lose any taxes by allowing the parcel to become tax exempt. Some agreements require that the payment go on forever and some agreements include a timeframe for renegotiation or elimination. Currently, there are several agreements in the city. Mr. Sondrall interjected that one agreement was negotiated when North Ridge was purchased by Minnesota Masonic Homes, who is tax exempt. The city entered into a PILOT agreement with Minnesota Masonic Homes to reimburse the city for real estate taxes. Most agreements continue while the property is utilized for its intended use under the CUP. While Good Samaritan was agreeable to a PILOT agreement, the duration and contribution has not specifically been agreed upon. A suggestion was made to keep pace with current taxes. Commissioner Landy stated that the plans did not indicate any screening or landscaping around the generator and questioned whether or not screening should be provided. Mr. Gary Gust, architect with Horty Elving, came forward to address the 3 Planning Commission Meeting October 7, 2008 Commission. He stated that the generator would be located on the southeast side of the existing building. He agreed the plans did not show any screening, however, Ambassador would be agreeable to placing shrubbery around the generator. The approximate size of the generator would be 10 feet high by eight feet wide by 15 to 20 feet long. Members of the Design and Review Committee stated they remembered discussing screening of the generator. Mr. Sondrall suggested that the landscaping plan be revised to illustrate the screening. Motion Motion by Commissioner Houle, seconded by Commissioner Landy, to Item 4.1 approve Planning Case 08-11, request for rezoning, conditional use permit, vacation of existing easements and creation of new easement, site and building plan review, preliminary plat to be known as Ambassador Addition, and sign plan review for expansion of existing facility to provide short-term rehabilitation and nursing care, 8100 Medicine Lake Road and 2724 Virginia Avenue, Good Samaritan Society - Ambassador, petitioner, subject to the following conditions: 1.Enter into a site improvement agreement with the city to be prepared by the city attorney. a.Maintain landscaping and replace all damaged or dead plant materials. b.Comply with recommendations of city attorney related to plat (July 29, 2008, correspondence). c.Applicant to enter into rain garden maintenance agreement. d.Enter into utility easement agreement and repair landscaping, if necessary. 2.Provide financial guarantee (amount to be determined by city engineer and building official). 3.Comply with city engineer recommendations dated July 30, 2008, and September 24, 2008. 4.Comply with West Metro Fire-Rescue District recommendations dated July 15, 2008, and August 15, 2008. Voting in favor: Brinkman, Crough, Hemken, Houle Landy, Oelkers, Schmidt Voting against: None Absent: Anderson, Hunten, Nirgudé, Svendsen Motion carried. Chair Hemken stated that this planning case would be considered by the City Council at its meeting on October 13 and asked that the petitioner attend that meeting. Commissioner Oelkers commended the petitioner on the expansion project and added the representatives were great to work with and responded to all of the Design and Review Committee’s requests. This facility is a great addition to the community. Design and Review Commissioner Oelkers reported that the Design and Review Committee 4 Planning Commission Meeting October 7, 2008 Committee met in September to review the revised plans for the Ambassador project. Mr. Jacobsen added that at this time staff was not aware of any planning Item 5.1 applications to be submitted for the November meeting. The committee would be contacted if a meeting would be necessary on October 16. Codes and Standards Chair Hemken stated that the Codes and Standards Committee did not meet in September. Committee Item 5.2 OLD BUSINESS Commissioner Oelkers questioned whether or not Coborns Delivers would be subject to the same conditions as Simon Delivers as long as it Miscellaneous Issues was operating in the same manner. Oelkers indicated that many residents on 36th Avenue were concerned with the truck traffic. Mr. Sondrall stated that staff would look into the conditions associated with this project and possibly meet with the representatives from Coborns. NEW BUSINESS Commissioner Schmidt initiated discussion on the graffiti located on the vacant building at 7231 42nd Avenue. He wondered whether staff had notified the property owner to clean up the side of the building. Mr. Jacobsen explained the process that must be followed per city ordinance. The first notice to the property owner allows 10 days for clean up to take place; the second notice allows for five days. If no action is taken by the property owner, then the city can have the graffiti cleaned up and bill the property owner. This property is vacant and owner lives out of state, which makes timely notification a little more difficult. Generally, when the property owner lives nearby, the response time for clean up is much faster. City staff responds the same day as notification when the graffiti is on city property. Mr. Sondrall indicated that the graffiti ordinance was appropriate as written, but the steps laid out in the ordinance must be followed. The Police Department and Community Development staff takes the graffiti vandalism seriously, as did the City Council when it adopted the ordinance to allow staff to deal with it. Several commissioners suggested staff should be more aggressive when dealing with graffiti issues. Motion to Approve Motion by Commissioner Landy, seconded by Commissioner Oelkers, to Minutes approve the Planning Commission minutes of August 6, 2008. Commissioner Schmidt abstained from voting. The balance of the commissioners voted in favor. Motion carried. ANNOUNCEMENTS If a November Planning Commission meeting is necessary, the meeting would be held on Wednesday, November 5, due to elections. ADJOURNMENT The Planning Commission meeting was unanimously adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Pamela Sylvester, Recording Secretary 5 Planning Commission Meeting October 7, 2008