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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning Commission - 01/10/1994 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE PLANNING COMMISSION MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1994 7:00 p.m. City Center Council Chamber 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Tim Bauer, Kenneth E. Clinton, Cynthia Clish, Katherine Kardell, Douglas Sandstad, Edward Schlampp, Mary Jane Wissner STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE: Lisa-Marie Gualtieri STAFF MEMBERS: Michael D. Franzen, Senior Planner; Donald Uram, Planner; Recording Secretary, Jan Nelson; Rick Rosow, City Attorney I. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE -- ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by Chair Doug Sandstad. Clish, Wissner and Gualtieri were absent. H. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Kardell noted that Item V. Employee Survey Results will be rescheduled for the January 24th meeting. MOTION: Bauer moved, seconded by Schlampp, to approve the Agenda as published and amended. Motion carried 5-0-0. III. MINUTES Schlampp noted that the Marketcenter concept discussion mentioned in Item VIII was not on tonight's agenda. Franzen said that will be scheduled for another meeting. MOTION: Bauer moved, seconded by Clinton, to approve the minutes as published. Motion carried 4-0-1, with Kardell abstaining. • PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES 2 JANUARY 10, 1994 IV. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. GALARNEAU COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE PLAN CHANGE by Gordon Galarneau. Request for Comprehensive Guide Plan Amendment from Medium Density Residential to Neighborhood Commercial on 6 acres, to Office on 2.5 acres and to Medium Density Residential-Office on 10 acres. Location: Rowland Road and Shady Oak Road. Franzen said a neighborhood meeting was held on January 6 at which residents voiced their concerns about the proposed Comprehensive Guide Plan change. He said the Staff report of January 7 primarily focuses on use of the property and includes two alternative development scenarios for the site, one based on maximum development as Medium Density Residential and the other as maximum Commercial/Office. He said that the conditions recommended in the Staff Report need should be considered with a rezoning and platting and be included as conditions of approval for the land use change since some items affect the settlement agreement. John Uban and David Larson, representing Gordon Galarneau, reviewed the request for Guide Plan amendment. Larson said that, at the neighborhood . meeting, the neighbors seemed primarily concerned with the development on the southern portion of the property. Sandstad expressed concern about the potential tree loss being greater than normal. Franzen said the actual tree loss will depend on the specific plans that are presented for development. The 52% tree loss is a worst case scenario and that the use of the property for residential or commercial removes the same amount of trees. Schlampp asked if the two sediment ponds will be City owned and maintained. Rick Rosow, Assistant City Attorney, said the City has easements for drainage as part of the lawsuit settlement and he believes those easements cross the sediment ponds. Rosow said there is no formal agreement regarding maintenance, but the City will most likely assume responsibility for it. Clinton asked if Condition 3 regarding the wetland area should be removed or modified from the list in the Staff Report. Rosow said he would suggest removing Condition 3 and changing the rest to be specified as recommendations for future rezoning. Steve Yungner, 6549 Cherokee Trail W., reviewed the discussions at the neighborhood meeting on January 6, noting that they expressed concerns regarding • safety and traffic issues and that they would like to make Cherokee Trail a dead • PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES 3 JANUARY 10, 1994 end road so that it could not be used as a short cut to Bryant Lake. He said the consensus was that they would like to see a small office complex on the southern part of the property rather than a large apartment complex. He said he is also very concerned with the tree loss that will occur. Corinne Lynch, 6565 Cherokee Trail W., said they were assured this property was wetlands and would be zoned neighborhood residential when they bought their property. She said that any high density development will adversely affect the value of her property. Kevin McCarthy, 6581 Cherokee Trail W., said he was concerned about the loss of mature oak and elm trees, the traffic issues and the impact on his property that significant terrain changes on the southern portion of the Galarneau property would cause. Rick Ahmann, 6604 Golden Ridge Dr., said he was involved in the previous proposal for developing this property and he thought it was important to get this developed into a PUD so that there can be requirements for additional landscaping and other features and to have it rezoned into Office. . Brett Boos, 6508 Cherokee Trail W., said he is also concerned about the traffic issue and about the effect on property values. Franzen reviewed the definitions of commercial, neighborhood commercial and office property, noting that all land is zoned rural until a proposal is presented that is consistent with the Comprehensive Guide Plan. Steven Pavelka, 14910 Crown Drive, Minnetonka, said the north end of this property is adjacent to property owned by his mother, Helen Pavelka, and 1/10 acre of his mother's property will be cut off with the extension of City West Parkway. Rosow suggested that he discuss this with City Staff as there some alternatives. Pavelka then noted that the development near his mother's property has changed drainage patterns so that the northern part of her property is now wet. Bauer said he was surprised by the lack of consensus among the neighborhood. After reviewing the Staff Report and visiting the site, he believes that there are compelling reasons to change the Guide Plan as proposed and asked the proponent or staff to list them. Uban said reasons for changing the Guide Plan are that the large office structure proposed in the earlier plan seemed to cause the greatest concern among the • neighbors so they decided to show how the property would look with smaller PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES 4 JANUARY 109 1994 units. He said that office development on the southern part would have a reverse traffic flow where traffic would be going in the opposite direction to the neighborhood traffic during peak hours. The offices would have daytime usage with low usage on weekends and nights. Smaller buildings for a better visual transition and less traffic are reasons to consider a change. Kardell said the Guide Plan change is the larger view; but there are many issues from the neighborhood that are extremely important that would typically be addressed when there is a specific development plan brought forward. She added that she would prefer to keep the Medium Density Residential/Office on the southern part in order to retain the possibility of a somewhat lower density residential development on the site. Schlampp said he would like to see additional time for the neighborhood to meet with the owner and come together on something. Yungner said they were frustrated by the two days' notice for the neighborhood meeting and by the fact that everything seems based on the settlement dates in the lawsuit. • Rosow said the settlement agreement calls for approval of the Guide Plan change by February 15th. He noted that there was a neighborhood meeting at the City Council's January 5th meeting at which the Council decided to grant the grading permit subject to no grading until there is an actual site plan in return for the neighborhood agreeing to drop their request for an EAW. Clinton suggested that we stipulate that the site plan be developed in coordination with the neighbors in order to address the neighborhood concerns. Franzen noted that a neighborhood meeting is a requirement of our procedural packet. Rosow suggested that Item 5 of the Staff Report specify that site plan development should include consultation, advice and input from the neighborhood. MOTION: Bauer moved, seconded by Clinton, to close the public hearing. Motion carried 5-0-0. Kardell noted that the item will come before the City Council on February 1, giving additional time for the neighborhood to work among themselves to reach a consensus. MOTION: Bauer moved, seconded by Clinton, to recommend to the City Council approval of the request of Gordon Galarneau for Comprehensive Guide Plan Amendment from Medium Density Residential to Neighborhood Commercial on 6 acres, to Office on 2.5 acres and to Medium Density Residential-Office on PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES 5 JANUARY 109 1994 10 acres based on plans dated January 7, 1994 with approval conditions 1-5 be changed to conditions for approval of future rezoning, PUD and platting requests. Motion carried 5-0-0. B. FLYING CLOUD LANDFILL by NEO Corporation. Request for Zoning District Amendment in the I-2 District and Site Plan Review on 14 acres. Location: Flying Cloud Sanitary Landfill. Manny Castillo, representing NEO, reviewed the details of the project which will use caterpillar engines adjusted to burn landfill gas to generate about 4.8 megawatts of electricity. He said a completed EAW will be published in a couple of weeks which contains no major comments on the project. Sandstad asked what sort of air quality problems will occur if there is the same amount of emissions. Nancy Glass, representing NSP, said some of the pollution is the same whether the methane gas is flared or burned in the engines. The carbon monoxide emissions are higher from the engines. Schlampp asked if we are helping ourselves by burning the methane rather than • just venting it into the atmosphere as they do in St. Louis Park. Glass said the EPA has determined that it is better to burn the landfill gas so that all the organics are destroyed. Schlampp then asked if this may cause problems 20 years from now and why St. Louis Park is able to vent into the environment. Glass replied that we get a benefit from getting a cleaner method of generating electricity than other sources of power and we are destroying at least 98% of the organic compounds. She said the rules for not venting into the atmosphere are proposed rules and are not yet mandatory. Clinton asked if the carbon monoxide will contribute to the greenhouse effect and if the engines have a catalytic converter. Glass responded that carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas and that there are no catalytic converters on the engines. Schlampp asked if there will be pockets of air inversions. Glass said that she did not believe the amount of pollutants from these units would create a problem and that traffic would actually be a larger source of pollution. Kardell noted that the Health Department had questioned the rate of carbon monoxide emissions from burning of the landfill gas and will this project make it a little higher. Kevin Kane, representing MPCA, said they have no information on air quality in the area because they have not done any monitoring there; however, there are no buildings in the area so it should not be a problem. • PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES 6 JANUARY 10, 1994 Sandstad asked what the fmancial arrangements are for the extra wattage that will be generated. Castillo said NSP will pay the costs for the kilowatt hours to the group that is investing the capital into the project. There were no comments from the audience. Uram noted that NSP and the others have been working very closely with the neighborhood group and the neighborhood supports on the project. Staff recommends approval per the recommendations on page 4 of the Staff Report of January 7th. Commissioners expressed concern about the size and number of trees required for the project. MOTION: Kardell moved, seconded by Bauer, to close the public hearing. Motion carried 5-0-0. MOTION: Kardell moved, seconded by Bauer, to recommend to the City Council approval of the request of NEO Corporation for Zoning District • Amendment in the I-2 District on 14 acres based on plans dated January 3, 1994, and subject to the recommendations of the Staff Report dated January 7, 1994, amended to include the planting of 24 mixed deciduous and coniferous trees along the south bluff area. Motion carried 5-0-0. MOTION: Kardell moved, seconded by Bauer, to recommend to the City Council approval of the request of NEO Corporation for Site Plan Review on 14 acres based on plans dated January 3, 1994, and subject to the recommendations of the Staff Report dated January 7, 1994, amended to include the planting of 24 mixed deciduous and coniferous trees along the south bluff area. Motion carried 5-0-0. V. MEMBERS' REPORTS VI. CONTINUING BUSINESS VII. NEW BUSINESS VIII. PLANNERS' REPORTS Franzen suggested that, since there are no Public Hearings scheduled for the next meeting, the Commission discuss the Marketcenter concepts presented in the joint City PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES 7 JANUARY 10, 1994 Council, Planning Commission, and Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources meeting in December, and the guidelines for evaluating major and minor amendments to site plans. The Commission agreed. IX. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Clinton moved, seconded by Kardell, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 5-0-0. The meeting was adjourned at 9:35 p.m. AGENDA EDEN PRAIRIE PLANNING COMMISSION Monday, January 10, 1994 7:00 p.m. COMMISSION MEMBERS: Tim Bauer, Kenneth E. Clinton, Cynthia. Clish, Katherine Kardell, Douglas Sandstad, Edward Schlampp, Mary Jane Wissner STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE: Lisa-Marie Gualtieri STAFF MEMBERS: Chris Enger, Director of Community Development; Michael D. Franzen, Senior Planner; Donald Uram, Planner I. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE -- ROLL CALL H. APPROVAL OF AGENDA III. MINUTES IV. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. GALARNEAU COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE PLAN CHANGE by Gordon Galarneau. Request for Comprehensive Guide Plan Amendment from Medium Density Residential to Neighborhood Commercial on 6 acres, to Office on 2.5 acres and to Medium Density Residential-Office on 10 acres. Location: Rowland Road and Shady Oak Road. B. FLYING CLOUD LANDFILL by NEO Corporation. Request for Zoning District Amendment in the I-2 District and Site Plan Review on 14 acres. Location: Flying Cloud Sanitary Landfill. V. MEMBERS' REPORTS Employee Survey Results VI. CONTINUING BUSINESS VII. NEW BUSINESS VHI. PLANNERS' REPORTS IX. ADJOURNMENT