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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981 10-22 PCM MINUTES OF' THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN i AND THE STATE OF MINNESOTA STUDY SESSION } OCTOBER 22, 1981 CITY HALL CALL TO ORDER The -Planning Commission met in study session and was called to order by Chairman William Hawes at 7: 35 p.m. ROLL CALL Chairman William Hawes, Commissioners Molly Malecki, Richard Theis, Nancy Manson, George Lucht, Mary Simmons and Lowell Ainas. Also present were Director of Planning and Inspections Ronald Warren, Assistant City Engineer James Grube, Building Official Will Dahn and Planning Assistant Gary Shallcross. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - September 24, 1981 Motion by Commissioner Manson seconded by Commissioner Malecki to approve the minutes of the September 24, 1981 Planning Commission meeting as submitted. Voting in favor: Chairman Hawes, Commissioners Malecki, Theis, Manson and Ainas. Voting against: none. Not voting: Commissioners Lucht and Simmons because they were not at that meeting. The motion passed. APPLICATION NO 81065 (Brooklyn Development Corporation) Following the -Chairman's explanation, the Secretary introduced the first item of business, a request for site and building plan approval to construct an 80,650 sq. ft. office/warehouse building at the northeast corner of Xerxes Avenue North and Freeway Boulevard to be known. as Shingle Creek Plaza II. The Secretary reviewed the contents of the staff report (see Planning Commission Information Sheet for Application No. 81065 attached) . Following presentation of the staff report, Commissioner Theis asked for the elevation of the bridge over Shingle Creek. The Assistant City Engineer answered that the elevation is 858 feet at the crown of the bridge. He stated that he felt the berm on the north side of the site, just west of Shingle Creek, was perhaps too high, but that its elevation could be worked out with the staff and the applicant as provided by Condition No. 2. Commissioner Simmons asked whether there would be access on the west side of Xerxes Avenue North. The Secretary stated that the access on the west side of Xerxes would be directly across from the proposed access to Shingle Creek Plaza II site or would have to be offset by 125 feet to the south. Chairman Hawes stated it was his recollection that the action to rezone the land on the west side of Xerxes Avenue North to Cl also prohibited any access off Xerxes or Shingle Creek Parkway, but required access to be off the ' extension of Freeway Boulevard. Commissioner Lucht agreed that this was his recollection also. The Secretary stated he would review . the minutes of that action prior to any site plan submitted for the C1 zoned property. , Chairman Hawes then called on the-applicant to speak. Mr. Janis Blumentals, the architect for the project and representative of 10-22-81 -1- Brooklyn Development Corporation. Regarding landscaping for the I site, Mr. Blumentals stated that the park improvements to the Shingle Creek right-of-way would leave natural vegetation in place. He stated that the intent of the plan was to continue this natural treatment onto the site and the area north of the parking lot. Chairman Hawes answered that he was concerned regarding the potential " outcome . of the prairie grass treatment. He stated that the Hennepin County Library site is an experiment and that based on the preliminary - results of that experiment, he was not prepared to recommend prairie grass as a landscaping treatment for other sites. Chairman Hawes ;stated that one of his concerns was that wastepaper can easily collect on a prairie grass area, whereas on a sodded area it would be removed. The Secretary stated that it would be more consistent with the landscape treatment on the east side of the creek at the MTC bus garage for the berm area to be sodded. Chairman Hawes polled the members of the Planning Commission as to their feelings on the matter. All of the Commissioners stated that in this situation, they preferred to see the large berm area sodded and irrigated. Commissioner Lucht stated that since the mound would be composed primarily of peat, he doubted whether prairie grass would survive well.- Commissioner Theis expressed concern that the slope of berm be such that it can be maintained without great difficulty. Mr. Blumentals stated that the slope of the berm would be less than three to one, which is the maximum slope generally considered to be maintainable. Chairman Hawes asked whether bituminous curb was proposed along the area between the proposed parking lot and the area designated for deferred parking. . The Secretary stated that such a deferral of concrete curb was not requested on the proposed plan. Mr. Blumentals stated that the developer is confident that there will be enough parking on the site without using the deferred parking. ACTION RECOMMENDING APPROVAL OF APPLICATION NO. 81065 (Brooklyn Development Corporation) Motion by Commissioner .Lucht seconded by Commis oner Malecki to recommend approval of Application No. 81065, subject to the following conditions: 1. Building plans are subject to review and approval by the Building Official with respect to applicable codes prior to the issuance of permits. 2. Grading, drainage, utility and berming plans are subject to review and approval by the City Engineer prior to the issuance of permits. 3. A site performance agreement and supportive financial guarantee (in an amount to be determined by the City Manager) shall be submitted prior to the issuance of permits to assure completion of approved site improvements. 4. Any outside trash disposal facilities and rooftop mechanical equipment shall be appropriately screened from view. 5. The building is to be equipped with an automatic fire extinguishing system to meet NFPA Standards and shall 10-22-81 -2- be connected to a central monitoring device in accordance with Chapter 5 of the City Ordinances. 6. An underground irrigation system shall be installed in all landscaped areas to facilitate site maintenance. i 7. Plan approval is exclusive of all signery which is subject to Chapter 34 of the City Ordinances. 8. B-612 curb and gutter shall be provided around all parking and driving areas . 9 . Plan approval acknowledges a joint access easement with the proposed Shingle Creek Plaza I property to the east as was required under Application No. 79030. 10. Traffic control signs on this site are subject to review and approval by the City Engineer. 11. The plans shall be modified to indicate at least seven additional shade trees on the site, the species of which shall be other than those already shown. 12. Public utility easements for sanitary and storm sewer shall be relocated in accordance with the utility plan, subject to approval of the City Engineer. 13. The plans shall be modified to indicate sod, rather than prairie grass on the large berm area at the north end of the site. Voting in favor: Chairman Hawes, Commissioners Malecki, Theis , Manson, Lucht, Simmons and Ainas. Voting against: none. The motion passed. APPLICATION NOS. 80038, 80039 and 81062 (K-Mart Corporation/ Inter-Cit Oil) T e Secretary introduced the next stem of business, a request for site and building plan approval and special use permit approval to build a new garden center and to operate the gas station and auto center at 3600-63rd Avenue North. The Secretary reviewed the con tents of the staff report (see Planning Commission Information Sheet for Application Nos. 80038, 80039 and 81062 attached) . The Secretary also referred briefly to 'a memo from the Assistant City Engineer dis- cussing certain parking lot improvements and the recommendations of the MN/DOT (see memo attached) . The Assistant City Engineer stressed that the directional median within Highway 152 must meet the condi- tions of the permit to be issued by MN/DOT. Following some preliminary informational questions regarding the site plan, Chairman Hawes noted that the traffic turning right into the parking lot off Brooklyn Boulevard would have to make a quick lane change to the left if it wished to travel on toward the K-Mart store rather than south to the gas station. Commissioner Simmons suggested that at least two parking stalls be removed at the north end of a double row of parking between the gas station and the middle entrance so that there would be more time to make this traffic move- ment. A brief discussion ensued regarding this idea and it was generally agreed among the Planning Commission, with no objection 10-22-81 -3- from Mr. Hufnagel, representing K-Mart, that t-he parking stalls should be removed to provide greater flexibility for traffic entering the site. I I Mr. Wingard of Inter-City Oil, stated that the signery for the gas station would be placed on the ends of the canopy. Chairman Hawes explained that signs on the canopy would be considered freestanding signs - and subject to the restrictions of the Sign t Ordinance. Mr. Wingard also stated that there would be no ex- pansion of the station itself, but that it would be cleaned up and painted. He told the Commission that the hours of operation would be from 7:00 a.m. to 10 :00 p.m. , Monday through Saturday, and that there would be fewer hours on Sunday, generally following the hours that the K-Mart store would be open. Mr. Hufnagel, the store manager for the K-Mart store at 3600-63rd Avenue North, stated that K-Mart desired longer hours for auto service on Saturdays. Chairman Hawes stated that -the primary concern would be noise during the summertime. He stated that he would have no problem with earlier auto service hours if noise could be kept to a minimum. Mr. Hufnagel assured him that the store would attempt to keep noise at acceptable levels, since neighboring residents are viewed as potential customers. Commis- ; sioner Theis suggested perhaps additional landscaping along the Beard Avenue greenstrip should be considered in lieu of the additi ' tional hours. 4 a PUBLIC HEARING Chairman Hawes then reopened the public hearing which had been con- tinued from the September 10 , 1981 meeting.- He asked if anyone present wished to comment on the application. There were no comments from those present. CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING Motion by Commissioner Lucht seconded by Commissioner Manson to close the public hearing. The motion passed unanimously. ACTION RECOMMENDING APPROVAL OF APPLICATION NO. 80038 (K-Mart) Motion by Commissioner Luc Ht seconded by Commissioner Ainas to recommend approval of Application No. 80038, site and building plan for a new garden center at the K-Mart store, 3600-63rd Avenue North and for various site plan revisions, subject to the following conditions: 1. Building plans are subject to review and approval by the Building Official with respect to applicable codes prior to the issuance of permits. 2. Grading, drainage, utility and berming plans are subject to review and approval by the City Engineer, prior to the issuance of permits. 3. A site performance agreement and supporting financial j guarantee (in an amount to be determined by the City Manager) shall be submitted prior to the issuance of permits to assure completion of approved site improvements. 4. Any outside trash disposal facilities and rooftop ' . ._.. _ mechanical equipment shall be appropriately screened i 10-22-81 -4- from view to the maximum extent possible.` 5. The garden center is to be equipped with an automatic fire extinguishing system to meet NFPA Standards and shall be connected to a central monitoring device in accordance with Chapter 5 of the City Ordinances . 6. An underground irrigation system shall be installed in all landscaped areas to facilitate site maintenance. 7. Plan approval is exclusive of all signery which is subject to Chapter 34 of the City Ordinances . 8. B-612 curb and gutter shall be provided around all parking and driving areas. 9. Access revisions on Brooklyn Boulevard (State Highway 152) shall be subject to any conditions imposed under permit from MN/DOT. 10. The landscape plan shall be modified to indicate plantings (including at least one decorative tree) in rock or wood chip mulch on the major parking lot island immediately south of the current middle access to Brooklyn Boulevard. 11. The applicant acknowledges that if existing foliage screening along the property line with Garden City School should fail, it- shall be the responsibility of K-Mart to install some other opaque screening device, not less than 6 ' in height. 12. The applicant shall provide a water shut-off valve for the water service leading to the gasoline service station. 13. Building permits for the new garden shop will not be issued until the new plat has been finaled and filed with the County. Voting in favor: Chairman Hawes, Commissioners Malecki, Theis, Manson, Lucht, Simmons and Ainas. Voting against: none. The. _ motion passed unanimously. ACTION RECOMMENDING APPROVAL OF APPLICATION NO. 80038 (K-Mart Special Use) Motion by Commissioner Lucht seconded y Commissioner Manson to recommend approval of Application No. 80038, special use permit to operate the auto center at 3600-63rd Avenue North, subject to the following conditions : 1. The special use permit is issued to K-Mart as operator of the facility and is nontransferable: 2. The permit is subject to all applicable codes, ordinances , and regulations and any violation thereof may be grounds for revocation. 3. The hours for providing service to vehicles shall be from 8:00 a.m. to 9 :00 p.m. , Monday through 10-22-81 -5- Friday and* 8:00 a.m. to 6 :00 p.m. Saturday. No service shall be performed_on Sunday. Sale of automotive products shall be during the same hours as the rest of the K-Mart store. 4 . A performance agreement and supporting financial guarantee (in an amount to be determined by the City Manager) shall be submitted prior to the issuance of the Special Use Permit to assure the completion of all site improvements comprehended under Application Nos. 80038, 80039 and 81062. While the motion was on the floor, Mr. Hufnagel told the Commission that K-Mart is considering reducing the hours of auto service in the evenings and that perhaps this would balance off the increase in hours on Saturday morning. Voting in favor of the above motion: Chairman Hawes, Commissioners Malecki, Theis, Manson,- Lucht, Simmons and Ainas. Voting against: none. The motion passed unanimously. ACTION RECOMMENDING APPROVAL OF APPLICATION NO. 81062 (Inter-City Oil) Motion by Commissioner Manson secondea by Commissioner Malecki to , recommend approval of Application No. 81062, site and building plan and special use permit approval to operate the gas station at the corner of 63rd Avenue North and Brooklyn Boulevard, subject to the following conditions: 1. The special use permit is issued to Inter-City Oil Corporation as operator of the facility and is nontransferable. 2. The permit is subject to all applicable codes, ordinances and regulations, and any violation thereof may be grounds for revocation. 3. The Planning Commission and City Council find that the proposed building plans for the service station with new canopy do not constitute an expansion of a nonconforming use and that no violation of Section 35-111 will occur with the completion of the project as planned. The Planning Commission and City Council also find that the canopy is an accessory structure to the main use, which is the service station. As such the value of the canopy shall not .be included in determining substantial destruction of the property for the purpose of phasing out the service station as a nonconforming use. 4. A performance agreement and supporting financial guarantee (in an amount to be determined by the City Manager) shall be submitted prior to the issuance of the special use permit to assure the completion of all site improvements comprehended by Application Nos. 80038, 80039 and 81062 . 5. Plan approval is exclusive of all signery which is subject to Chapter 34 of the City Ordinances. 10-22-81 -6 Voting in favor: Chairman Hawes, Commissioners Malecki, Theis, Manson, Lucht, Simmons and Ainas. Voting against: none. The motion passed unanimously. ACTION RECOMMENDING APPROVAL OF APPLICATION NO. 80039 (K-Mart Cor oration) Motion by Commissioner Theis seconded y Commissioner Lucht to recommend approval of Application No. 80039, preliminary plat approval for the site at 3600-63rd Avenue'North, subject to the following conditions: 1. The final plat is subject to Chapter 15 of the City Ordinances. 2. The final plat is subject to approval by the City Engineer. Voting in favor: Chairman Hawes, Commissioners Malecki, Theis, Manson, Lucht, Simmons and Ainas. Voting against: none. The motion passed unanimously. RECESS The Planning Commission recessed at 9 :16 p.m. and resumed at 9 :44 p.m. DISCUSSION ITEMS a. SEPARATION BETWEEN ACCESSORY BUILDINGS AND PRINCIPLE BUILDINGS. The Secretary explained that the 8 ft. separation requirement be- tween accessory buildings and principle buildings in the R1 and R2 districts seem to be a somewhat arbitrary requirement and is not based on the Building Code. He recommended to the Commission that they consider amending ordinance Section 35-530, Subsection 1 to allow a 6 ft. separation rather than 8 ft. Commissioner Simmons asked whether the Building Code requires the 6 ft. separation. The Secretary responded in the affirmative. He explained that the Building Code would allow for construction of buildings less than 6 ft. apart, provided fire-resistive construction is used. He stated, however, that the recommendation of staff is to base the zoning code requirement on the 6 ft. separation where no special construction would have to be utilized, and that there would be no exception from the 6 ft. requirement without a variance. Commissioner Theis asked whether a chimney would be allowed in the 6 ft. space. The Building Official answered in the affirmative, noting that chimneys are not subject to setbacks or building separ- ation requirements . Commissioner Theis answered that, on that basis, an 8 ft. separation is not really guaranteed at present. The Building Official agreed. Commissioner Theis asked the Building Official what minimum separation he felt was necessary. The Building Official stated that people are adding on to their homes more and more, rather than moving into a larger house because of the diffi- culty of financing a new home. Therefore, he encounters conflicts with the 8 ft. separation requirement more regularly now. He stated that the 6 ft. separation as proposed would reduce these conflicts. Fire Chief Ron Boman stated that a 6 ft. separation would provide proper protection to the dwelling if a fire starts in the garage at night. He stated that the response time and the equipment which the Fire Department now has at its disposal could allow for a smaller separation between principle dwellings and garages and still provide adequate measures for fire-fighting 10-22-81 -7- capabilities. Commissioner Simmons concluded that the 8 ft. separation requirement is a hardship to builders, but that a 6 ft. separation requirement would not be a hardship to the Fire Department. Therefore, she said, it would be logical to reduce the requirement to 6 ft. The Secretary agreed and noted-that the separation between accessory structures was changed to 6 ft. a few years ago. MOTION TO DIRECT STAFF TO PREPARE ORDINANCE LANGUAGE Motion by Commissioner Theis seconded by Commissioner Malecki to direct staff to prepare ordinance language to change the required ` separation between dwellings and accessory structures from 8 ft. to 6 ft. and that this ordinance amendment be forwarded to the City Council at its next meeting. Voting in favor: Chairman Hawes, Commissioners Malecki, Theis, Manson, Lucht, Simmons and Ainas. Voting against: none. The. motion passed. b. OFF-SITE ACCESSORY PARKING .The Secretary then briefly introduced the topic of off-site accessory parking as provided for in Section 35-701 of the Zoning Ordinance. He also referred to a proposal by Red Lobster to build a restaurant on the C2 property located on the west side of Brooklyn Boulevard, north of Shingle Creek. He pointed out that Subdivision •3a of Section 35-701 requires that establishments be in existence for two years prior to taking advantage of the off-site accessory parking provision of the Zoning Ordinance. He stated that he would recommend deletion of this requirement because it presents problems for new uses which may not be able to fit all their parking on the given site. He stated that Subsection 3b does not allow for off- site accessory parking in more restrictive zoning districts; for example, a C2 use cannot use for parking purposes, a lot located in the Cl district. He explained that the buffer requirements for Cl uses are less than those for a C2 use or an I-1 or I-2 use. Therefore, he said, to allow parking for more intense uses in more restrictive zones would tend to weaken the buffer requirements. He stated, however, that in the case of Red Lobster, the buffer remaining after the installation of additional parking' on the Cl zoned land would be far greater than the 35 ft. which is the minimum required under the Zoning Ordinance where a C2 use abuts R3 zoned land. Commissioner Simmons noted that the problem seems greatest when off- site accessory parking is located on property abutting residential land. She suggested that perhaps off-site accessory parking should not be allowed on land which abuts a residential zoning district. Commissioner Lucht stated that this sort of provision would also rule out off-site accessory parking for the Red Lobster. Commis- sioner Simmons then suggested that perhaps the buffer requirement for the principle use should be enforced in the case of the off-site accessory parking. The Secretary pointed out that Cl and C2 uses have more traffic than I-1 and I-2 uses and .that perhaps the Zoning Ordinance should consider parking lots the same in all cases . The Building Official countered, however, that in the case of the Northbrook Shopping Center, an accessory off-site parking arrangement was not allowed on the east side of Logan Avenue North because that land was formerly zoned Cl while the shopping center, of course, is zoned C2. - 10-22-81 -8- The Planning Commission continued to discuss the ,difficulties of allowing parking for a less ' restrictive use in a more re- strictive zone. Commissioner Lucht also suggested that the ordinance should allow for off-site accessory parking in more restrictive zones, so long as the buffer requirement for the principle use is met. Commissioner Simmons left the meeting at 10 :35 p.m._ During further discussion, the Secretary clarified that parking spaces must be legally encumbered to the sole use of the off-site principle use in order to qualify for a special use permit for off-site accessory parking. ADJOURNMENT Motion by—Commissioner Lucht seconded by Commissioner Manson to adjourn the meeting of the Planning Commission. All those present voted in favor. The Planning Commission adjourned at 10 :39 p.m. Chairman o 10-22-81 -9-