1q. Minutes CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
MARCH 27, 1989
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Mayor Chmiel called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. . The meeting was opened
with the Pledge to the Flag.
COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Chmiel, Councilman Boyt, Councilman Workman
Councilwoman Dimler and Councilman Johnson
STAFF PRESENT: Don Ashworth, Roger Knutson, Gary Warren, Steve Hanson, Jo Ann
Olsen, Todd Gerhardt, Lori. Si.etsema, and Jim Chaffee
APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Councilman Johnson moved, Councilwoman Dimler seconded to
approve the agenda as presented with the following additions: Councilman Boyt
' wanted to discuss the purchase of the property east of Lake Ann Park; Councilman
Workman wanted to discuss variance policy and smoking at City Hall. All voted
in favor and the motion carried.
CONSENT AGENDA: Councilman oh
J nson moved, Councilwoman Dimler seconded to
approve the following Consent Agenda items pursuant to the City Manager's
' recommendations:
a. Approve Grading Permit for Chanhassen Hills Third Addition.
If. Resolution #89-38: Authorize Preparation of Feasibility Study for Utility
Installation for Extension of Lake Drive East to 184th Street.
g. Resolution #89-39: Approve Advance Encumbrance of State-Aid Funds.
1. Approval of July 4th Celebration Contracts:
1. Banner Fireworks
2. Hi.-Topps
o. Ordinance Amending Code Concerning the Acceptance of Gifts, Second Reading.
p. Resolution #89-40: Approval of Furnishings for Fire Station and City Hall
Additions.
q. Resolution #89-41: Approval of Change Order No. 3 for City Hall/Fire
' Station Expansions.
r. Approval of Temporary Use Permit Extension, Westsi.de Baptist Church, 1268
Park Road, Brian Pike.
s. Approval of Accounts
11 t. City Council Minutes dated March 13, 1989
Planning Commission Minutes dated March 1, 1989
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
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City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
B. ACCEPT PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR CLEANING, REPAIRING AND PAINTING THE
100,000 GALLON ELEVATED WATER STORAGE TANK AND AUTHORIZE ADVERTISING FOR BIDS.
Councilman Boyt: When we painted the new water tower, we did something that I '
thought was received very well in the community. That was, we sent notice to
the people living immediately around the tower about the color and asked for
their response. As a result, we changed the color and I believe have had
several comments since it was painted by the neighbors that they liked the
color. I would suggest that we do the same with the City tower. Telling them
that we have picked the color because it was so well received with the larger
tower and we're going to need to send a notice to them anyway about the
sandblasting and how that would be handled. I'd like to see included in that
notice that we tell them the color and ask for their response. It adds nothing
to the cost but certainly communicates better with the neighbors. So I would
move.
Councilman Johnson: I'll second that. Will that cause any problem to
engineering? I
Gary Warren: No. Councilman Boyt and I spoke earlier about it and that's no
problem. ,
Resolution #89-42: Councilman Boyt moved, Councilman Johnson seconded to accept
plans and specifications for cleaning, repairing and painting the 100,000 gallon
elevated water storage tank, notifying residents as to the color selection and _
asking for their opinions, and authorize for the advertising of bids. All voted
in favor and the motion carried.
C. ACCEPT AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY/TOPOGRAPHIC MAPPING PROPOSAL AND AUTHORIZE
CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS.
Councilwoman Dimler: I just wanted to pull this for one question and that was,
it's about the aerial photography and topographic mapping proposal. It says
that money has been set aside each year for the past 4 years for this and it
didn't specify the amount. Could you give me the amount?
Don Ashworth: That was put in the Administrative Trust Fund and if you would go
back, each year we had tried to put money aside to insure we could fund that.
It ranged about $20,000.00 to $25,000.00 per year.
Councilwoman Dimler: For 4 years?
Don Ashworth: Yes. ,
Councilman Johnson moved, Councilwoman Dimler seconded to accept the Aerial
Photography/Topographic Mapping Proposal and authorize contract negotiations.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
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City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
11 31 D. AUDUBON COURT.
Councilman Workman: I brought this up for one reason only and I won't take
credit for the idea. I did read it in one of the papers. It was action by
' Victoria City Council in that they are not looking favorable upon new additions
with new roads all being named basically the same thing. It becomes very
difficult for law enforcement, fire department, UPS drivers, mail delivery, etc.
to all have Boyt Boulevard, Boyt Drive, Boyt Circle. Particularly when we have
an Audubon Road or something on the north end of town and now we've got some
more coming down here and we've already got an Audubon Road. I spoke with Jim
Chaffee today and Fire Inspector Littfi.n, they both agreed and Jo Ann I also
' spoke with, they concurred that it might be a good idea if we got a little more
imagination into naming of the roads so we don't have problems such as fire
calls.
Councilman Johnson: That's something staff has pointed out before. This is
just one place I guess we kind of missed this one.
' Councilwoman Dimler: I would reinforce that too. When I spoke with the Carver
County Sheriff's Department, the people at 911 have a terrible time, just a
terrible time when the roads are named the same.
' Mayor Chmi.el: How about the final plat portion? Any other discussion on that
Tom?
Councilman Workman: No. I have no other discussion of that. I'll just Tale a
motion that we approve Audubon Court final plat, Development Sites, Ltd. w i -
h
the condition that they find other suitable names for their roads.
' Councilwoman Dimler: Second.
' Councilman Workman moved, Councilwoman Dimler seconded to approve the AudaDon
Court Grading Plan and Development Contact and the Final Plat for Development
Sites, Ltd. with the condition that they find other suitable street names. All
' voted in favor and the motion carried.
' E. APPROVE DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT FOR TRAPPERS PASS AT NEAR MOUNTAIN THIRD
ADDITION.
Councilman Johnson: First paragraph, with the exception of a few last min.:te
changes, have reviewed this document with the developer. Does the developer
know about these few last minute changes at this point?
' Gary Warren: faxed a copy of the development to his attorney and I have not
had any discussion with them after that. There's no real major surprises : n
there. We'r_e not pulling a fast one by any means.
Councilman Johnson: When did you Fax that? Friday?
Gary Warren: Thursday afternoon.
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City Council, Meeting - March 27, 1989
Councilman Johnson: They've had time to respond. Is the developer, his
attorney here tonight for Trappers Pass, Near Mountian Third Addition? ,
Mike Pflaum: Yes. My name is Mike Pflaum. I'm with Lundgren Bros Construction
and I've reviewed the changes.
Mayor Chmiel: No problem?
Mike Pflaum: No problem. I
Councilman Johnson moved, Councilwoman Dimler seconded to approve the
Development Contract for Trappers Pass at Near Mountain Third Addition. All
voted in favor and the motion carried.
H. APPROVE DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT FOR BLUFF CREEK GREENS.
Councilman Boyt: There is a trail planned for Bluff Creek. We already have ,
easements on part of the creek and I noticed that in this development contract
there's no reference to easements for the continuation of that trail. I'd hate
to see the City have to come back later on and buy those easements. So I would
suggest that a trail easement over Outlot B and below the 857 contour, which by
the way is in the non-buildable area on Lot 1, Block 3 would provide this link.
So we have a trail easement over Outlot B and also below the 857 contour line
on Lot 1, Block 3. '
Mayor Chmiel: Is the
developer here for Bluff Creek Greens?
Dave Johnson: I'm in a little bit of a tenuous situation tonight. My name is
Dave Johnson. I'm Art Johnson's son. One of the partners of Bluff Creek. Or
my father is. He has been on vacation for a week. Will be back on Friday. His
other partner Norm Berglund had left everything in the Attorney's hands and I
got a call about 20 minutes ago letting me know that the Attorney is out of town
today and so there is nobody here to represent that tonight. So I ran up here
and it was supposed to go through, is this right Gary, 2 weeks ago and it was
tabled at that point in time and I was wondering if it would be possible for a 2
week extension. Discussion I'm sure on what you're speaking of Bill could be
done in that time too. '
Mayor Chmiel: I don't see any problem with that unless you have a problem Gary.
Gary Warren: No. Initially the 2 year time clock on the preliminary plat ran '
from March 16, 1987 and that's why they were trying to get on the March 13th
agenda to get the development contract approved and get everything signed up.
We had no time to deal with the item at that time due to the magnitude of the
agenda at that time so I could not place them on that agenda and that's why we
said we would follow up on this agenda. So it's really Council's rules as far
as the preliminary plat and if you want to extend them another 2 weeks, I don't
see a problem.
Mayor Chmiel: Roger, is there any legal problem with that?
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' City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
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Roger Knutson: No.
Ij Mayor_ Chmiel: I guess I don't have any problem with that.
Councilman Boyt: I have no problem with that. If we're going to extend it, I
' would like to add a couple other points for consideration when you're reviewing
it.
Dave Johnson: Bill, I can not speak for it at all.
Councilman Boyt: Since you're going to have a couple weeks to mull these over.
Since this was originally approved, the City has pretty consistently asked for a
' DNR review of tree cutting plans and when those have been severe, have asked for
alternate plantings. I'd like to have you look at that as well. Rather than
just go through and sort of pick apart the whole thing, those are my two big
' issues and I'll stop with that.
Mayor Chmiel: Do we have a motion on a two week extension on this?
Councilman Johnson: Yes, I move that we provide an extension to the preliminary
plat to such times as the trail issue and woodland issue can be discussed with
the developer. If that takes 2 weeks or if it takes another 2 weeks after that,
' I don't think we need to tie our hands.
Councilman Boyt: Second.
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III Councilman Johnson: I'd like to put a max on it though of 6 months. We're not
indefinitely extending the preliminary plat. To the maximum of 6 months. I'm
not sure if you're in a hurry to develop this.
Gary Warren: They're intending to construct the project this year, so I would
expect them to proceed expeditiously with it.
Councilman Johnson moved, Councilman Boyt seconded to grant an extension, not to
exceed 6 months, to the preliminary plat for Bluff Creek Greens to such times as
the trail issue and woodland issue can be discussed with the developer. All
voted in favor and the motion carried.
J. RESCHEDULE SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING TO DISCUSS THE POSITION COMPENSATION
PLAN.
Councilman Workman: The set special meeting date 1989 position classification
plan and comparable work plan for April 17, 1989 is something that I can not
make.
' Todd Gerhardt: I'm open to councilmembers of setting another date or do you
want to go ahead without Councilman Workman?
Councilwoman Dimler: I'm also, I mean I can make it but it's inconvenient for
me on the 17th.
Mayor Chmi.el: What about April 11th?
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Counc' L Meeting - March 27, 1989 ,
Councilman Johnson: Yes, after the Park and Rec joint meeting we just said
we're going to have.
Todd Gerhardt: It'd be better if we could push it farther back.
Councilman Johnson: You'll just have to work harder. '
Todd Gerhardt: It's not my problem. It's Karen Olson. She also is a
negotiater for union contracts for other cities in the metro area and this is
the earliest time she could meet.
Councilman Boyt: I'd like to see us meet as soon after the 17th as possible and
before the 19th. '
Mayor_ Chmiel: How does the 18th look Todd?
Councilman Workman moved, Councilman Johnson seconded to reschedule special City
Council meeting to discuss the position compensation plan for April 18, 1989 at
7:30 p.m.. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
K. APPROVAL OF LAKE ANN PARK CONCESSIONAIRE. 1
Councilman Johnson: One of the things that was discussed a lot at Park and Rec
when I attended this one was the noise level issue. I've done some research
into it. Unfortunately I did the research this afternoon instead of in a more
timely manner and I'd like to make sure that the generater purchased on here has
a muffler that is rated for critical use. They have industrial use mufflers,
residential use mufflers and critical use mufflers. According to Zeigler Inc.,
their caterpillar group, they have a critical use muffler, 1 inch diameter for
$76.00 so we're not talking a lot of money for the best muffler available. So
that's why I'd like to state that we need at least what the Zeigler Caterpillar
sales people classify as a critical use muffler. This is a muffler to use next
to a hospital. If you've got a generater in a hospital and stuff so it's the
quietest possible. I have a real concern that we get a noisy generater going by
the beach that the lifeguards utilize their hearing as much as anything else
so I don't want anything interferring with that. Plus it would just float right
across that lake and over onto those homes up the side of the hill on the other
side of the lake. '
Councilman Boyt: As long as you've pulled this, I'd like to make another
recommendation. That the concessionaire make every effort to have some sort of
distinctive paper items so it's possible for us to determine when they're doing
a good job of picking up their paper items. Part of the contract is an
obligation to do that. If they have some distinctive, a name, a color, anything
that we can tell what's theirs will help us keep track of how we're doing. ,
Mayor Cmi.el: There you'd be imposing on them to make sure they have their logo
on their napkins or whatever else. I
Councilman Boyt: I don't want to require them to do something that would be
particularly expensive but I want to be able to say to them, yes very clearly 1
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City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
I — this litter isn't ours
y or it is. If we could do something that would just make
it distinctive.
II
z Councilman Johnson: If they purchase industrial quantity, hose usually y look
different than what the residential homeowner is buying and bringing out for his
picnic. Then again, you may not be. Hopefully they've also use biodegradeable
versus plastic or styrofoam. I don't know if that was in here anyplace. Was it
Lori? Bi.odegradeability of their containers?
Lori. Sietsema: No.
Councilman Johnson: I don't want to see styrofoam cups out there for coffee. I
' thought we had discussed that. Or I shouldn't say we, I thought you had.
Mayor Chmiel: They hadn't mentioned coffee on here. What they indicated that
they'd have is just 4 flavors of soft drinks.
Councilman Johnson: Yes, but it's going to be served in cups.
' Mayor Chmiel: I would imagine those are pretty much paper, waxed covered.
Councilman Johnson: I think it was discussed.
Mayor Chmiel: I don't think they'd have styrofoam because your costs are less
on the paper.
IICouncilman Boyt: Well can we recommend those and if there's a problem they can
always come back to us? There's plenty of time.
I/ Mayor Chmiel: I think it'd be alright to make that recommendation.
Councilman Johnson: So I'll move approval with 3 modifications. One is to
1 require critical use or equivalent muffling on the generater. Two would be the
biodegradeable paper goods. Three would be distinctive paper goods so we can
tell whos is whos, if possible. That's a very nebulous one.
Couniclman Boyt: Second.
11 Councilman Johnson moved, Councilman Boyt seconded to approve the Lake Ann Park
concessionaire to be awarded to Domo Products, Inc. with the following
conditions:
I1. Require the use of a critical use or equivalent muffling system on the
generater.
2. The paper goods should be biodegradeable.
3. The concessionaire carry distinctive paper goods.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
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City Counc1 1 Meeting - March 27, 1989
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M. ZONING ORDINANCE AMENDMENT FOR ACCESSORY STRUCTURES, FIRST AND SECOND
READING. ,
Councilman Boyt: I guess I'm a little surprised to see a zoning ordinance _
amendment that's taken over a year to get here appear on the Consent Agenda when
it finally arrives. If you would, it might help if you refer to page 5 in your
pack. I guess to sort of tell you where I'm heading with this, I'm going to
recommend that this be tabled for a couple of major reasons. One of them is,
this is a very significant change in our ordinances and I think that the current
council needs to be involved in discussions about it before we just vote on it.
Another one is because I have some serious questions about parts of it and I'd
like to demonstrate some of what those are. We're talking about allowing people
in the residential single family area to have an accessory building that's up to
1,000 square feet. Now to keep that in perspective, we allow people to build
houses, one level houses in their that are 960 square feet at a minimum so it's
conceivable that somebody could build an out building bigger than their house
and they can put it 10 feet from their lot line. The back lot line. Now I think
that one of the issues we've got to look at here is why do we have a 30 foot
setback in the first place? If we have that because we're saying we want I
neighbors that back into each other to have a common green space, by allowing a
building bigger than a house to be built within 10 feet, we've just allowed one
neighbor to take advantage of that green space. I think that's an awfully
important issue and we really need to look at whether we want to, if 30 foot
setback makes sense in the first place, why are we now coming back and saying
you can put virtually the same size as a house within 10 feet? I don't think
that's a good way to design a neighborhood. The other thing that I would I
suggest is that we're allowing these buildings to be within 5 feet if they're up
to 200 square foot. So that means a single car garage can be built 5 feet from
the back lot line. I think the idea of these accessory buildings is something
like a storage building. The largest storage building that I'm aware of, unless
you custom build it is going to be 10 x 12. That's 120 square feet. The
discussion in the Planning Commission talked about that but then they referenced
200 square feet is what other communities do. I don' t think that Chanhassen
necessarily needs to follow that lead in this particular example. So those are
a couple of the areas. I would suggest that some of the changes that should be
considered if we do table this, one is we should never allow an accessory
building to be bigger than the permanent house. I would make that point (d) .
The second thing that I would suggest is we need to make some minor changes in
item 2. That is, if you'll see in the second line where it says located in the
front or rear yard, we need to cross off the word setback because if we don't
cross that word off, then the second part of the statement conflicts with the
first part where we're talking about buildings may be located in the front and
rear yards. If we say they can be located in the setback, then it doesn't make
any sense to go on to say they must comply with the front side and applicable
other setbacks. Just in conflict.
Councilman Johnson: Typo.
Mayor Chmiel: I think it's probably right what you're saying. This probably 1'
should be tabled and further discussion begun on this at that particular time
and I'll second your motion to table this particular portion until those
considerations should be brought into view.
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City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
Councilman Boyt: It might be, if others have some comments Don, it might be
' good to get those back to our staff to work with.
Councilwoman Dimler: I guess I have a question Bill. You said something about
' the accessory structure of 1,000 square feet never to be bigger than the home
but you're talking about rural single family here. That means you can't have a
shed bigger than your house.
Councilman Boyt: No we're not. RSF is residential single family.
Councilwoman Dimler: What's R-4?
' Councilman Boyt: R-4 is higher density yet.
Councilman Johnson: It's duplexes.
Councilwoman Dimler: Okay, I'm sorry. I thought that was rural.
' Councilman Johnson: Actually these are much stricter than what's in there right
now. It's a step in the right direction. We currently have a similar problem
on my block except for they actually put it on the lot line. Even though the
drawing showed it 5 foot off the lot line, when the structure went up, it ended
up on that lot line. Public Safety's working on that one but it does on a small
1
lot create a big problem. Maybe the 30% is something we need to look at. 30%
11 I for 1,000 square foot building is only 3,000 square feet. Allowing 30% of a
back yard to be filled with a single structure is really a very large reduction
in that back yard. Especially when you start getting into your smaller yards.
3,000 square feet is not much of a yard. That's what 1,000 square foot
structure. We don't allow 1,000 square foot home to be built on a 3,000 square
foot lot.
Councilman Boyt moved, Mayor Chmiel seconded to table action on the Zoning
Ordinance Amendment for Accessory Structures, First and Second Reading. All
voted in favor and the motion carried.
Councilman Johnson: Do we send this back to the Planning Commission then?
Reopen the public hearings on it?
) i Don Ashworth: I don't think so. We're just going to respond to the questions
posed and if you don't feel comfortable we could send it back at that time.
Councilman Johnson: One thing is the zoning ordinance amendment, you're
required to have a public hearing on your proposed, this is what went before the
1 public in their public hearing process. We get more stringent than this, I
believe it should go back before the public and public hearing again.
Mayor Chmiel: I think that can be determined at that time as to what's decided.
111 Don Ashworth: We'll have Roger respond to that question as well.
Mayor Chmiel: To approve the balance of the Consent. Agenda. Item b, c, d, e,
h, j and k. Do I have a motion to approve those items into the Consent Agenda?
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City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
Councilwoman Dimler: I so move.
Councilman Johnson: We approved them individually. '
Mayor Chmiel: We'll do it one more time just to make sure. i
Councilwoman Dimler moved, Councilman Boyt seconded to approve items b, c, d, e,
h, j and k from the Consent Agenda with the changes mentioned above. All voted
in favor and the motion carried.
VISITOR PRESENTATION: There were no Visitor Presentations.
PUBLIC HEARING: PROPOSED USES OF YEAR XV COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT
FUNDS.
Steve Hanson: You may recall we talked about this at your last meeting just
very briefly. I just wanted to bring you up to date on the projects that you
had mentioned and some of those that we could operate under and some of those ew
could not include in the block grant allocation. There are $33,488.00 available
in the Year XV. Some of the things you had mentioned previously was the library
expansion, neighborhood park programs, handicap accessibility, housing rehab and
the South Shore Senior Center. A couple of those are not allowed to be granted
under the block grant program and that includes the library expansion and
neighborhood park programs that we talked about. They do not qualify. We did
I II
get a request from the South Shore Senior Center for an allocation of $6,935.00
which is consistent with what you've done before to help their operation. Also,
the City has a track record of doing housing rehabilitation which that program
is run by the County and would not involve any city staff time. Staff is
recommending that $19,053.00 be allocated into that program. Then in
consideration of the handicap accessibility that was mentioned by Council, we've
identified to potentially use some of the funds for the Lake Susan handicap to
make a boat ramp handicap accessible. I don't have the firm cost for doing that
project but the minimum you can put in for a project is $7,500.00 so I put that
minimum amount in at this time. If we need to adjust that, we can do that
adjustment later but in order to get the allocations we have to have that amount
in there at this point in time. Also, there were some additional projects we
identified that potentially could be funded through it although they weren't
ones that you'd brought up before and they exceed the grant amount but we did
want to include those for your benefit as well as to let the County know what
other things we might do if all the funds aren' t allocated and we have a
potential to get future funding. With that I would conclude my remarks unless
you have any questions.
Mayor Chmiel: I have one specific question that's regarding our liability I
Roger_. If we provide a handicap accessibility to the docks, what is our
liability?
Roger Knutson: I assume public docks? If someone concludes you designed them
improperly, you would certainly have liability. But if you design them
correctly and you go Code, you should not have a problem. Which is not to say
you can not be sued of course but you should not have a problem.
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City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
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Mayor Chmi.el: That's one of the concerns I had is making sure that that is
constructed in accordance to whatever regulations there are, if any. Make sure
' we're doing it right.
L Lori Sietsema: I believe the DNR has some specifications for handicap docks and
boat access. . .and we would comply with those.
Councilman Johnson: Roger, if a handicap person used the docks without it being
a handicap accessible dock because we didn't make the public facility handicap
accessible and they got injured at that point, would we have greater liability?
Because we can't put up a sign saying no handicap allowed. That would be
' ludicrous. So theoretically everything public is handicap accessible, is the
way I believe it is. So if we don't do this, are we in greater liability than
if we do do it?
Roger Knutson: I don't believe there's a mandate, existing mandate that we do
everything in the world today, new construction yes. I suppose you might have a
greater liability is someone got hurt but again, if it's clear that it's not
handicap accessible and someone is negligent in trying to use it in any event, I
would think.. . It certainly could make that argument.
Councilman Johnson: South Shore Senior Center is only $6,935.00 and the minimum
grant allowable is $7,500.00. How does that?
Steve Hanson: The grant that goes to the South Shore Senior Center is managed
through Hennepin County. The funds don't come directly to us. There are a lot
of communities that are contributing to it so I believe the total amount that
ends up going there is $23,000.00.
Councilman Johnson: Okay, so we're one small portion of a larger grant that's
greater than $7,500.00? Good.
Mayor Chmi.el: I just wanted to note that I did attend the Senior Citizens Day
that they had over at Eisenhower in Hopkins. It was absolutely amazing the
amount of time that these people spend providing their time to help other people
as well. We have from our community here attending Eisenhower, if I'm not
mistaken, there's 65 or 66 with a total hours of their time which they combined
for assistance in many different varied items of somewhere in the neighborhood
of about 1,500 hours which I think is pretty great. But anyway, I'd like to
just bring this back to any other discussion here before I open this up for the
public.
Councilman Workman: I have a question in regards to the demolition of
properties. What would that be? The Hanson property? Is that something that
' we should maybe keep separate? Is that an HRA item that we should maybe keep
separate?
Councilman Johnson: I really think we should in that the three things that we
are addressing here, handicap accessbility. This money is coming from Hennepin
County and the fact that the City of Chanhassen is both Hennepin County and
Carver County. Carver County doesn't have these kinds of funds, only Hennepin
I County. Items 1 and 2 really benefit not only Chanhassen residents but Hennepin
County residents. Item 3 is really only Chanhassen residents. When we start
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s-Linty Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
talking using demolition, HRA money, I'd hate for Hennepin County to start
objecting there when we're in delicate negotiations with them already on
utilizing of other monies derived from Hennepin County and bringing it slightly
across the border. Which is HRA related.
Councilman Boyt: I think these are approved uses for the money Jay.
Councilman Workman: I don't have any problem with that. I just want to know if
maybe we shouldn't keep them, I don't know. I do see the Senior Center and the
handicap uses kind of maybe more in line with the use that maybe this money
should be used for because it is hard to come by money where I'm sure we'll find
someway to tear down a building but it isn't always easy to find the excess for
things such as those hard to fund projects. Is HRA going to miss $19,000.00?
Councilman Boyt: This isn't a matter of spending the $19,000.00 to tear
buildings down in downtown Chanhassen. This is if the County has money that's
not claimed, then we have back-up projects as I understand it. These three
projects are stand alone, top priority. What we do in downtown that might
benefit the City of Chanhassen and could be covered by HRA is just if the County
turns up with more money that we've requested. We should have some list in case
that should happen but I wouldn't want you to get, any of us to get our hopes up
that it's going to happen. But if it does, we want to be prepared.
Councilman Workman: So this is money that we're not giving to the South Shore I
Senior Center? We might be able to give it to them.
Councilman Boyt: No, that's different. The South Shore Senior Center and the
other two projects are money where we have $33,000.00 and we're committing it.
They're getting it. Now we're saying, if it turns out that someone else doesn't
claim all the money available, then we should have a project that's on the
burner, so to speak, so that they know that we're interested in getting more
money. But they're two separate issues.
Councilman Workman: Okay, but we are allocating $19,000.00 for the demolition I
of buildings?
Councilman Boyt: Not downtown. This is for restoration of residential
property.
Councilman Johnson: The Housing and Rehabilitation program is a program where
we've helped to rebuild some homes in Carver Beach is one area. The old part of
downtown. Some of our, it's a very successful program over the last few years
where people who have some rundown property and fixed income, etc..
Councilman Workman: I'm just reading a paragraph. Staff has also identified 11
the following projects which utilize the CDBG funds. There are additional
demolition properties in the downtown which total $30,000.00. That's where I'm
getting my info.
Councilman Johnson: But they're not recomnending those projects. Those are
back-up projects. ,
Councilman Boyt: I think if you change the word would to could we'd have
captured the spirit of what staff was trying to say. Is that accurate Steve?
12
' City Council Meeting g - March 27, 1989
Steve Hanson: Yes.
Mayor Chmiel: Any other discussions on it Tom?
Councilman Workman: Yes. Isn't it possible for us to shift $19,000.00 to
something else that we might want to use it for?
Mayor Chmiel: There's that potential, sure.
Councilman Johnson: If you don't want to put that into the housing program,
then yes, we could shift that elsewhere. That's why they gave us the list of
the other things. We could put $19,000.00 into the demolition of downtown
buildings versus letting our fixed income people get grants to improve their
homes.
Councilman Workman: I see. I see what you're saying. I want it left the way
it is, the way I'm reading it now. I had my eyes opened. It's such a short
paragraph. I got spun around with the woulds and the coulds.
Mayor Chmiel: This is a public hearing. Is there anyone in the audience that
wishes to address this?
Enna St. John: I'm Enna St. John from the South Shore Center and we hope that
the Council would approve our request and also glad to have seen you at the
recognition.
Councilman Johnson moved, Councilman Boyt seconded
y to close the public hearing.
All voted in favor and the motion carried. The public hearing was closed.
' Resolution #89-43: Councilman Boyt moved, Councilman Workman seconded to
approve the proposed uses of the Year XV Counuunity Development Block Grant funds
as presented by staff. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
AWARD OF BIDS: AUDUBON ROAD IMPROVEMENT PROJECT 88-20B.
Gary War_r_en: The Audubon Road improvement project we solicited quotes for, this
is basically the, we call it Phase B which is the reconstruction of Audubon Road
from the railroad tracks north to TH 5. We are very pleased with the results of
our bidding process here. Things seem to be very hungry so to speak yet for the
contractors. Bill Engelhardt's memo attached goes into detail on the results
but basically we had a number of very competitive quotes submitted. The low
bidder, Imperial Developers estimated bid is $523,332.55. They are a contractor
we're very familiar with because they've been doing the site grading for McGlynn
Bakeries. They've done our Kerber Blvd. improvement project and we're satisfied
' that they will do a good job here so I would recommend awarding the contract in
the amount of $523,332.55 to Imperial Developers.
Resolution #89-44: Councilman Boyt moved, Councilman Johnson seconded to award
It the bid for the Audubon Road Improvement Project #88-20B to the firm of Imperial
Developers, Inc. in the amount of $523,332.55. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
i�
1 13
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
LAKE ANN PARK EXPANSION.
Gary Warren: Again we advertised for bids for the Lake Ann Park expansion ,
project. The results are attached in the bid tabulation and we, again had very
competitive situation. The engineer's estimate $282,660.00 with the low bidder
again being Imperial Developers. I think because they're working in the area
here they've sharpen their pencils. They're about $59,800.00 under our
engineer's estimate. We had shown two alternates in the project. Alternate 1
is for the construction of concrete barrier curbing on the parking areas which
we believe is good for the parking areas and the park. Also, Alternate 2 which
recognizing that the existing road sections in the Lake Ann Park are going to be
encountering further construction traffic and they're already in a state needing
some sealcoating. We had bid an alternate for sealcoating which also is in
this. It's my recommendation that we award this contract to Imperial Developers
including Alternates 1 and 2 and that the total award be $239,393.00.
Resolution #89-45: Councilman Boyt moved, Councilman Johnson seconded to award
the bid for the Lake Ann Park Expansion Project No. 88-13 including Alternates 1
and 2 to Imperial Developers, Inc. in the amount of $239,393.00. All voted in
favor and the motion carried.
REVIEW LAKE LUCY ROAD TRAIL ISSUE. I
Councilman Johnson: I've spent quite a bit of time the last, quite a few weeks.
I drive Lake Lucy a lot and over this weekend, only on one trip across Lake Lucy
did I not find anybody walking on that trail. The maximum number I saw at any
one time was 8 people. Besides the one time I went through, there was no people
so obviously that was the minimum but usually there was between 3 and 8 people
walking in there. Sunday I went over it quite a few times because I was looking
at flooded areas and watching the snow run off and looking for problem areas
there. It's a well used area by a lot of people. People come down Yosemite.
Some joggers come up Powers and hit the trail. I think the least expensive
option is to go with similar to what we've done in Greenwood Shores over the
years. Is when somebody needs to have a party or whatever and they know they're
going to have some guests coming over, they make the phone call and the Sheriff
will be instructed not to tag the parkers at that time. Just leave everything
as is.
Councilwoman Dimler: I wanted to make a correction here in Gary Warren's letter
to Don Ashworth. It starts out with at the February 27, 1989 City Council
meeting, Council tabled action concerning the Lake Lucy trail issue and directed
that the issue be taken up by the Park and Rec Commission for review. I
remember specifically saying, we voted that it would not be taken to Park and
Rec because it did not originate with the Park and Rec and that it was merely. . .
Councilman Johnson: We sent it back while you were on vacation. 1
Councilwoman Dimler: But not at the February 27th meeting.
Councilman Johnson: Yes it was.
Councilwoman Dimler: No it wasn't.
14 1
e�ij
City Council Mooting - `larch 27, 1989
II -- Councilman Johnson: You were on vacation.
II ' Councilwoman Dimler: I was here.
Councilman Boyt: You missed two meetings.
Councilman Johnson: You were in Colorado.
Councilwoman Dimler: I'm sorry, but still, the time before that then.
Councilman Johnson: We said it wasn't going back. We changed our minds while
you were in Colorado.
Councilwoman Dimler: Why?
Councilman Boyt: We wanted an open discussion of the issue.
Councilman Johnson: to wanted to give some more input from the Park and Rec.
p he citizens through
Councilwoman Dimler: I guess the point was that it didn't originate with them
and what could they do with it and what did they do with it? I just didn't want
it to be a time waster. That was my point. Now I do have a recommendation and
it parallels kind of to what Jay is saying but it's a little bit different in
that I've checked with the Carver County Sheriff's Department today and they
IIindicated that the City can issue parking permits. Is that correct Don?
Don Ashworth: I've heard that term. I don't know of any that we have issued.
The note that Councilman Johnson brought up where citizens have called, where
they've had parties and I know that the Sheriff has honored that. As far as
there being an actual form that says parking permit, I don't recall seeing it.
Councilwoman Dimler: Okay but we can get them. Waconia dispenses them. They
told me that other cities do have that and that the City has the authority to
dispense them. So I would recommend that we do that to the citizens that live
on Lake Lucy Road that have a parking problem and that want parking on Lake Lucy
Road. That they would come to the City and would apply for that permit for each
one of their vehicles. Then when they have guests, that they would have an x
number of, maybe 6 would be an arbitrary number, for their guests as well. And
11 these would be permits that they would have in their possession at all times and
then they can just dispense them and they would recollect them after their
company is gone. That probably they should be renewable every year but the
permit would be good for one year. Then that way, it gives them a little bit
more to stand on rather than just saying, hey I called the sheriff on this
because if the guy that's on duty may not have gotten the message and then
there's a problem. This way there's a permit there and it tells everyone that's
informed. Then we would also send a letter to the sheriff's department
indicating that this is what we're doing and that these permits have been issued
and that they're legal at all times.
Councilman Johnson: I thought about that and actually came up with the number 5
myself for probably the same reason you came up with the number 6. It sounded
like a logical number. The only thing that I had, and when I discussed that
within my own was abuse of it in that somebody decides, it's an easy thing to
1 15
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
I
abuse if you have it, to continue it all the time. I would think that we'd
still not want to, none of the residents say they need it for their own
vehicles. The Tichy's have said they've got 4 wheel drive vehicles. They can
get up and out of their parking place okay. It's just when guests came over.
As such, I would make sure it's not overnight and if they want to do something
overnight, it would have to be something different. Plus in the winter you
couldn't do it overnight anyway because of the snowplowing problem but I think
it's a workable solution.
Councilman Workman: I guess I would say that we work with it in that sense that 11
we work, and maybe we put some time on it to monitor the situation. You've
monitored that road about a half a dozen times now as far as I can tell but we
look at it and that's the thing that I mentioned to the Tichy's earlier is that
we look at maybe boxing it in and trying to figure out what would be, to give
them an open permit to park any time of the day above and beyond ordinances and
everything else. We can't do that obviously. I think they realize that. And I
think they are just looking for the occasional use but I think we monitor it. I
drive by there all the time and I think somehow we set up something to monitor
it. Hopefully we won't monitor it the way we're doing Moon Valley down there.
But to monitor it and look at it that way. If there's abuses, then certainly
we've got to look at it. There are some concerns about the ability to get
through there. There's some trucks and the snow kind of makes the road smaller
and so, you get a little claustrophobic in there with that but I think it's
something that we should monitor. I don't think the City is in any way, shape
or form prepared to tear up or put a trail on the north side and spend
$80,000.00 or whatever it is at this point. In talking to the Mayor of
Greenwood, he said they do do this all the time and that it works.
Councilwoman Dimler: They do it in Waconia and it works there. l_
Councilman Johnson: One thing, our sheriff is pretty good. As you note, right
now you can't get at that one house that's under construction because of the mud
and everything so the construction vehicles are parked out there and the sheriff
drives by and he's not tagging them because they're reasonable. He knows the
construction workers can not possibly get off the road, and it's functional that
way. That's perhaps something we might want to look at. I
Councilman Boyt: I talked to Jim Chaffee about this earlier today Ursula and he
said he could live with it. His choice, first choice would be Jay's suggestion
of a temporary request at the time of need. I guess Tom, I agree with you that
if we do this, we need to make sure that the permit is for special use. That
this shouldn't be some way of permitting continual parking on the street because
parking on that street compromises safety so we don't want to compromise safety.
I/
At the same time, we've been trying to balance this out all along and the
neighbors have been working to balance this out and it would seem to me, if a
special card or something they could put in the window when they need to park
there will meet everybody's needs, it allows us to maintain the trail, gives the
Tichy's the parking they need, we don't spend a lot of money to do it, it sounds
like a good compromise.
Councilwoman Dimler: But I do want to emphasize it's not only the Tichy's but
all the residents along Lake Lucy Road that need it.
Councilman Boyt: It wouldn't be a matter of it just being available to them.
16 11
1
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
II --
Councilwoman Dimler: It would be available to everybody on Lake Lucy Road that
wants it.
Councilman Boyt: I would think that we would have, we could tell if this was a
problem if we have continual parking on Lake Lucy Road. Then it's not a special
event.
Mayor Chmi.el: Let me just say something. In our area, as you all know, we have
no parking. For situations of a party that we had at one time, the other my
daughter getting married and those were the two particular times that we really
had to use that probably in the last 14 years. But I'm sure, and of course I
can put enough cars in my driveway where there's really not that much problem,
but I think with this kind of useage and with the neighbors there, I would think
that that probably would be the most acceptable. As we've looked at it, with
1 the dollar costs as Tom has indicated. I think too there's a lot of concerns.
I just can't see expediting those x number of dollars at this particular time.
We don't have those dollars and I'm not about to allocate or say we're going to
spend those either. So I think this is a reasonable solution and maybe if any
of you would like to address the issue and see if your concurrences are with
ours because this is basically where we're coming from. Brian, do you have any?
Councilman Johnson: Mr. Mayor, as Brian's coming up, there's also the
possibility of combining the two. Giving the people the passes and say call
into the Sheriff's office when you plan on using them so the sheriff's aware
that they're going to have a pass in the car.
IIMayor Chmiel: Once the sheriff drives by and he sees those in there, that would
just eliminate the need of calling.
' Brian Tichy: I'm one half of the Tichys. I'm Brian Tichy. ...something that
we could live with. I think we've known all along that the money's not
necessarily available for a lot of the projects that we discussed along the
road. We did have an informational meeting with quite a few of the neighbors
from Pheasant Hill and people that have abutting property and we went through,
as you've probably seen, a myriad of options. This solution appears to be the
least expensive and if not abused, maybe a very good option.
Jim VonLorenz: Jim VonLorenz from 5371 Yosemite Avenue. I believe I had
something to say about this because I was instrumental in getting those bike
paths put on back in the years ago when we started to improve the roadway there.
My wife and I do a lot of walking and riding on these streets starting in our
' Yosemite address, plus some of our neighbors do also. I've done it over the
years and I have found that the bike paths are very important and they are a
safety belt along each side of the road that gives us room to avoid the traffic
that we have as we've upgraded these roads. I think that this permit system
looks to me like a reasonable solution. When you have a special use, yes,
that'd be fine. I think that we need to maintain our bike paths and they are
utilized. I just want the council to realize that there's a lot of us that do
get out there, once a day at least or couple, 3, 4 times a week get out and use
these so it's important that we keep those and don't let them go by the wayside.
Councilwoman Dimler: Excuse me Mr. VonLorenz. Did you say you lived on Lake
Lucy Road?
17
' ''(:_qty Council Meeting - March 27, 1989 1
VonLorenz: I live on Yosemite. I live about a block and a half from there.
We start our walking from Yosemite and go down to Lake Lucy and then go down to
CR 17 and around and come back on Apple Road.
Councilwoman Dimler: Does Yosemite have a trail on it?
Jim VonLorenz: No we don't. We've got a narrow road and that's probably part 1
of a concern that we have that there is a lot of, that's where we start and the
driving on there is more rapid than we like to see it often. In fact we had to
dodge a car here the other day my wife and I coming down on Apple Road and it I
does happen and it's just nice to have a Lake Lucy Road wide enough and have the
bike paths on there on both sides. It gives us the ability to use this road
without any fear or concern of having to be dodging vehicles. Either on a
bicycle or walking and it's very important that we keep these that we have.
Councilwoman Dimler: But you're not affected by the parking lane?
Jim VonLorenz: No, no. That isn't a concern. That doesn't bother us.
Councilman Johnson: As a matter of fact, he doesn't even have asphalt on
Yosemite Road no less a trail. That's one thing we need to look at.
Nancy Tichy: I'm Nancy Tichy. The other half of the Tichys. I agree with the
parking permit. I think that's a good option. There are service people that
have come to our house several times where I've had to push them out. Even if
it's not a snowy day. Our driveway still is very icy and people that come to
service our area have a difficult time not being able to park on the road. Also, [11
we hold meetings at our home on occasion where we do need people to be able to
park on the road and because our driveway does not service that for people so I
think the parking permit, if we could get them for certain occasions would be a
good option. I also think the option using a bike route is still a good option.
Leaving the existing roadway the way it is and we presented this at the last
Council meeting. Another option to that might be, and this would require a
State variance, but if they auto lanes could be cut back to 11 feet instead of
12 feet? I don't know if that can be done but if it could, it would allow 2-11
foot auto lanes and an 8 foot parking lane and then a 6 foot bike route.
Hopkins and Minnetonka have done this on many of their roads. Two roads in
particular are Tonkawood Road and Baker Road which are inbetween Minnetonka
Blvd. and TH 7. Both of those roads are 36 feet wide and they are both high
density roads and they are both classified as collecter roads and they service
more than 1,000 cars a day so they're almost identical to Lake Lucy Road and
they accommodate the people for parking and just designate it as a bike route.
I guess as far as safety, the way the road is designed and the way it's set up,
I really can't see a major difference just designating it a bike route instead
of a bike lane. I guess I'd like to make one other point regarding the petition
that we submitted to the Council. The people who signed the petition basically
didn't, I think the whole thing got kind of out of control. All of the
elaborate options and costly things. Basically all we wanted was to designate it
as a bike route instead of a bike lane. People were getting pretty worried that
there would be further encroachments on their property and further assessments
and that's not what we wanted so I'd just like to clarify that.
Councilman Workman: If I can make a quick point. In talking to Gary today, I
think the problem as far as Gary's comments were with a route was, and Gary's
18 1
ms
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989 a 7
not looking at me, he's leaving me here, is that a route kind of has to connect
to, it has to be part of a connecting trail. We don't have that right now with
Galpin and Powers.
II 1 Nancy Tichy: You could put route on any of those roads. I think.
Gary Warren: What the State had told me, and again we get into this where it's
who you talked to it seems, is that in order to put a bike route sign on a road,
you have to have a bike trail. In other words, if you have a bike route sign,
that on it's own doesn't stand to indicate the trail. So we could put bike
route signs out there right now for example. As long as we've got the trail
there, it would make sense but if you've got a bike route and you don't have a
place for the people to go so they know where is the route, that's where they
I/ say it's not compatible.
Mayor Chmiel: Excelsior has that bike route. Termed as bike route.
Councilman Johnson: Doesn't that connect on through and all the way down
to Minneapolis. It's a part of an overall system.
Councilman Boyt: I would like to suggest that Ursula has come up with a good
compromise. I'd like to not make it more complicated. We've got something.
We've got a time to try it. We don't have to make any changes other than print
' the cards and I'd like to see us move approval of a special permit parking
system for Lake Lucy Road.
I Councilman Johnson: Nancy, how many? 6? 5? 10? What kind of number do you
think the people?
ME 3
Councilman Workman: I think we ought to have staff kind of look into that
because do we want to make them transferable?
Mayor_ Chmiel: I think individually, each individual one should have to apply
11 for that themselves and that it not be transferable.
Councilwoman Dimler: Visitors you mean?
Mayor Chmiel: No, no. The residents themselves within the area.
Councilman Workman: But if I have 6 permits and gee I'm going to have 12 cars
here, I can go over and borrow my neighbors.
Mayor Chmiel: That would warrant just a call to the Sheriff's department
indicating that you're going to have more than what's there. Those that will
have the passes in the windows will be shown but there's going to be 6 more cars
or whatever.
' Councilman Johnson: Because you're not going to have somebody come down and
say, hey, good I can park here because.
Mayor Chmiel: They're very accommodating with it. They really are.
Don Ashworth: I need to talk to public safety but I would really like to
develop a system, if this is the direction the Council wants to go. Some means
19
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
I
by which we can monitor it and at the end of 3 months, 6 months, 1 year we can
say, during the course of 1989, x number of permits were issued for an average
of whatever so we have some ideas as to the number of vehicles that were out
there. I don't really think it makes any difference if on a particular occasion
there's 24 permits that were issued to a particular home for a particular
activity but I don't think it would be good just to have 6 that would be a
yearly thing and you can pass them around and whatever else. I just don't think
that will work.
Councilwoman Dimler: Except I can foresee a hardship to them if they're
planning an event and then they have to come in and apply for 24 permits too.
Don Ashworth: The way we'd set it up, it would not be an application. We could 1
set up a process to insure that they could get that permit literally immediately
or within a very short notice. But I think we should have way to monitor
parking is occurring. I
Councilman Boyt: I would suggest that the key here is to make this simple. If
staff can work to get a baseline, typical need and issue those permits and then
we're done with it. If they need more, you arrange for more. If we have to get
into monitoring this continually, it's going to be staff time we don't have.
Mayor Chmiel: I think we can work this out with staff and come up with the I
easiest system that we possibly can.
Councilwoman Dimler: Do you want just a motion then with the general theme or
are you just going to take what I said earlier?
Mayor_ Chmiel: I think basically what you indicated previously.
Councilman Boyt: Well we have a motion, if we could get a second to it.
Councilman Workman: Who made the motion? I
Councilwoman Dimler: I did.
Mayor Chmiel: I think Bill made the motion. I
Councilman Boyt: Go ahead and make it.
Councilwoman Dimler: I presented the whole thing. . . That was a motion by the
way.
Councilman Boyt: Do you want to restate it? 11
Councilwoman Dimler: I guess I would move that the Council would authorize City
Staff to issue parking permits to the residents on Lake Lucy Road and
stipulations and useage to be determined by City Staff. Is that acceptable?
Councilwoman Dimler moved, Councilman Workman seconded to authorize City Staff
to issue parking permits to the residents on Lake Lucy Road and stipulations and
useage to be determined by City Staff. All voted in favor and the motion
carried.
20 1
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
I/ --
REVIEW MEDIAN CUT PROPOSAL FOR KLINGELHUTZ PROPERTY, 7811 GREAT PLAINS BLVD.
Gary War_r_en: Basically Council had asked staff to investigate the curb cut. As
crude as this sketch is, and I apologize for that, this is to show the is i.
ex t ng
construction plans that were approved with the downtown Phase 1 improvement
project. North being up. The railroad tracks through here. The Klingelhutz
property in this outline form shown here and the medians as proposed in the
construction plans for the downtown are darkened in here. The driveway access
which is maintained as a part of the downtown improvement project is in this
location and also a curb cut here into the municipal parking lot with a drive
thru into the driveway access to the Klingelhutz property. We asked BRW to take
a look at this to address the concern that Mr. Klingelhutz had expressed to
wanting a left turn into the property from southbound West 78th Street.
Basically the staff report that you have in your hands shows the four alternates
that they have put together and I'll just briefly run through them for you.
Again, the Klingelhutz property here. The current driveway access there. This
is Alternate 1 which is again, that just shows the current design scenario.
Alternate 2 is basically to construct the median with the exception of a curb
cut in the median to allow southbound traffic to make a free left. Make the
left into the Klingelhutz driveway. It manages obviously to give southbound
access to the property without having to come through the City, the public lot.
The disadvantages are that you have a left turn movement being made from a
through lane which can cause, it's not a protected left turn. The protected
left turn being the most safe but conditions such as we have here, as an
example, is the safest. So here we have some potential conflicts and also the
potential of crossing movements across the northbound lanes in an unanticipated
area. Typically when a driver's coming through, he doesn't see your typical
intersection configuration which alerts them to crossing traffic. He has to be
a little bit more perceptive to kind of notice if there's a car maybe here
waiting to cross or, in the worse event, where somebody's going to try to hot
foot it through. But it does give the access. It also provides us the median
separation consistent with the downtown scenario which is especially important
' at the railroad crossing here where we have crossing arms that need to honor the
design for those crossing arms. This also continues with a channelization of
traffic coming from the south and north so that we don't have a void in the
median scenario. Alternates 3 and actually Alternate 4 are some modifications
of that which actually get to be a little bit more wide open scenario.
Especially it will probably cause a little more concern. Alternate 3, the whole
median has been removed and we would be using a painting scheme basically to
mark out the median area which obviously anybody could take any kind of a
turning movement through here unrestricted to get into the property.
Disadvantages are similar to what I mentioned earlier as far as crossing
movements. Also here your left turn lane, especially in the wintertime there
would be a lot of adjustment on the part of this left turn here as to really
where the left turn lane is, to the point where he could actually encroach out
of this area and have some potential conflicts with southbound traffic. So
it's a lot more wide open scenario. We do get back to the median section here
before we hit the railroad tracks and the crossing here so we do meet that. The
final version that was presented is to show specifically what I call suicide
lanes almost but it's the left turn scenario for both southbound and northbound
traffic. It has a lot of potential I think for congestion between the turning
traffic, especially when we have Dinner Theater traffic and the more congested
periods. Again reinforcing that this median really needs to be a part of the
21
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
system. All of our alternates really are dealing with this extension of the
median. From a safety standpoint, I believe there's no question that Alternate
1, or the current design alternate I should say, is the safest. It provides
protected left turn movement for the traffic that we anticipate in here and
channelizes that traffic properly to make that movement. No unexpected cutting
through the medians. All the movements are at the intersection. Legality wise,
I guess the access to the property still meets the legal requirements as far as
access to it because he does have right-in/right-out access on the laneage.
It's just the left turn movements have been anticipated that if you want to get
into the Klingelhutz property, the public parking lot is the location for it.
Out of the other alternates, if the median or left turn movement is desired, I
guess I would conclude, as did BRW, that the curb cut, Alternate 2 is probably
the second best option there because it does provide for definition up here and
the left turn, northbound movements at this intersection so we can't get
encroachment in the southbound lanes and it does allow traffic to get into the
Klingelhutz property from southbound. Recognizing that there are going to be
some conflict potentials there depending on the magnitude of traffic and the
perception of the northbound drivers. If an alternate such as this were decided
on, I think that it should definitely be conditioned on the review depending on
warrants and traffic experience. If we for example go ahead with this and end
up having lots of conflicts that amount to traffic accidents, I don't think
anybody would want to see that continue. Likewise, if a more intense use is
planned for this property at sometime in the future, this curb cut should be
looked at at that time to evaluate the traffic demands and the impacts on these
movements.
Mayor Chmiel: Gary, have we checked with the Fire Department for the i
accessibility in through the public lot? For instance, with our new engine that
we're going to get, is that accessible to that? I see that probably by putting
in that new drive with that new cut in between the median would probably give it
a little better accessibility into that facility.
Gary Warren: I haven't specifically talked with Chief Gregory about it. The
turning radius in here, I don't know what the new turning radius is. I think it
was like around 50 feet, at least the specs were looking at that. Maybe Jim
knows. I would imagine that there will be difficulty although the curbing in
here could be mounted by the vehicle to get in and then to make a left turn to
get back in here. I'm not a fire fighter. I don't know how close they need to
get to this building. They certainly can get to this point to fight that fire.
Even with this movement I would imagine with the turning radius, they will have
to to up on the curb to make the full turn but I think it's makeable.
Councilman Johnson: Go down to Market, come around 79th and come back up if 11 they knew they had to come in that side.
Gary Warren: They apparently do, at least in talking with Dale and Mark
Littfin, when we were working on the north side parking lot, they do work
through in their minds what's the best way to access some of these properties.
By necessity they do that so if they know there's a fire call in a certain area,
they do have a preferred route which recognizes some of these challenges. I
Councilman Johnson: Not only in their mind but they actually sit down and
pre-plan.
22
City Council Meeti ng - \;arch 27, 1989
11 — Gary Warren: Right. I know Al is here as we recognized in good health.
II Councilman Boyt: Why is the curb in the road there further down, further toward
the south on Alternative 2 than it is on Alternative 1? In both of those.
That's interesting because on this one, you'll note that it stops right where
the curb starts and on your two transparencies it extends into the turn. Do you
know what I'm talking about?
Gary Warren: No I don't.
Councilman Boyt: Okay, up further north. Right there. See where that comes
across? It comes across to the second side of your. Oh maybe that's it. The
twist is different because as it's lined up on our drawing, it's right even with
the northern most side curbing. On your drawing it's definitely not. It's much
further down in there. Which one is right?
Gary Warren: February '89 is on both of them.
Councilman Boyt: Yours doesn't make a lot of sense actually. The way it's
lined up there, you'd make it almost impossible for the person trying to go
across and take.. .
Gary Warren: From here to here?
Councilman Boyt: Yes. What about coming out of that lot?
Gary Warren: The nose here, the turning radius, maybe the rendition is improper
but like any of the other noses that we have, to establish this arc line, the
turning radius is established.
' Councilman Boyt: But don't you want the cars to go in that entrance? Why would
you put that nose of that all the way down to the south side curb? You have to
turn backwards to get in. It's a sharp angle.
Gary Warren: It's the extent of.. .
Councilman Boyt: On the drawing here it comes out level with the north curb.
Mayor Chmi.el: I think your transparency might be off a little bit. The print
that we have on Alternate 1 and 2 are consistent.
Gary Warren: Wb would actually plot the design standards for that. That's a
standard nose and maybe this schematic just doesn't show it accurately. Their
emphasis was down here obviously.
Al Klingelhutz: I haven't too much of a problem with number 2. I have a big
problem with number 1. In the first place, the entrance to the parking lot
would not let a semi or a large fire truck get into my lot from either the south
or to the north because the driveway is only about 12 feet of blacktop. The
problem is showing itself already coming in through the parking lot. For some
reason when two trucks went out the access into our property from the parking
lot and ruined a sidewalk already and there was four 12 x 12 posts put up
through the inside of the sidewalk which was part of the driveway which made it
' another foot narrower. That's a pretty good indication that the width of the
1 23
c71,1-,y Co,.,lc11 .:,?eri,ay - larch 27, 1989
II
IIdriveway and the direction of the curb was not very well established pr'
the time it was constructed. One of my major reasons for objecting, ` anon to
go through the parking lot because of the fact, r having to
driveway going into our place turns out towar_d�the uroad eand you've rgot gto�make na
II
wide turn into our parking lot. The only way
south. You know, if you make a perfectly saf we
road, you into it is from the
intersections. But when you've got a business in a�town,wIuthink youehave to any
II
leave access to those businesses to make than a viable business. We've got a
rather old building on the property which we try to maintain in good historical
condition. It isn't saying that that's all that's going to be on that 3/4 acre
of land there. Right now the value of the land is far in excess of what
land capacity can use as far as a business in Chanhassen. the 11
access away from that property To take a driveway
think I have the knowledge to know lwhatpthatawouldedo, would depreciate I
value of that land approximately 50%. One P e tte
2 up there. Your concern is about thru trafficthere. have, you've got alternate
here. Isn't there some way of just putting a curb cut down vthe ocenter_dofmthisn
and leave this as a left turn lane just like you've II
left turn this way then. Left turn this way with an obstacle i.nbetweenvto the
assure that traffic wouldn't cross over. So there wouldn't be any hazard as far
as obstructing all the thru traffic coming south to make this turn in. II
Gary Warren: It's quite possible that that could be narrowed up. I think
that's what you're suggesting. I think what's shown here was a typical 4 foot
II
section for your standard barrier median and we could take a look at coming up
with a narrower section but it still needs to be I guess somewhat insurmountable
if you will, in providing protection.
Al
Al Klingelhutz: But that would leave your left turn lane away so that the thru
traffic, if there was that much traffic, would be a way to save the thru
IItraffic. I think there would be sufficient room there for a left turn lane.
:Mayor_ Chmiel: Thank you Al. Is there anyone else who would like to discuss the
issue? If not we'll bring it back to the Council. Is there any discussion?
(A tape change occurred at this point in the meeting.)
ting.)
Councilman Johnson: That lot was very difficult to design. 11
we went around and around and around on. t This whole section,
extremely big issue two years ago when all of thi.s]was lgetting designed.
IICouncilman Workman: I guess this is a difficult, this is kind of a sad corner
over there. We've got one business kind of going out of business soon up there
and I know this is an older building with an older business resident in it, Al
IIKlingelhutz. I don't like the idea of shutting him off. I'm more concerned
about the intersection to the north with exiting Dinner Theater traffic going
north. Taking a left out of there. That's got to be a very high volume
situation. In the evening hours after they've had some dinner and a few drinks II
and they're coming out of there and that's a dangerous intersection. I think
with a median cut for the Klingelhutz property here, and I don't have any
II
figures to support this but I would assume it's very seldom used. It's not a
retail building but more of an office building but to provide the convenience
for the Klingelhutz customers with that cut and then review and monitor the
situation, just like we've done for the parking permits. II
t
24
II
Illsmemmilmimm
/
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
T—
Councilman Boyt: I would propose that it's going to be, it's awfully difficult
to crystal ball this. I remember all the times over the last couple years that
Al has come in here to champion somebody elses cause and done a very effective
job of it usually. When I look at this situation I imagine what's going to
happen when we encourage people look at a second access into the public parking
lot by putting that turn there. Maybe they see a few cars backed up ready to
make a left hand turn through what's now the entrance, Alternative 1. Say well
I'm not going to wait there. I'll just go down to the Klingelhutz turnoff and
come in that way. I'm a little concerned. I agree when Tom says we may not be
generating very much traffic, or at least not a high volume of traffic into the
Klingelhutz Realty. Maybe that's not the big draw. Maybe the big draw is the
public parking lot. Especially as the city develops further. I just wonder how
we want to control access. We've got what BRW, and everybody knows they're not
my favorite engineering firm, has told us is the best traffic flow, safest
design. We've got the engineer who says that to go with any other alternative
is to compromise that safety and we've got a business owner who I think
legitimately points out that this certainly does restrict flow back to your
business to some degree. I have no way of even guessing what people's
preference would be. People may prefer to take the guaranteed left turn lane
and turn into a wider opening than try to go through a cut in the middle of a
median strip when they know there's thru traffic backing up behind them. I have
' no idea. My inclination on this Al is to hang in here with the engineer. I'm
willing to hear more about it but I'm a little wary of creating a situation that
I think might draw more traffic than we want going through that route.
11i Councilman Workman: Could we shut off the south entrance to that public parking
lot?
Gary Warren: The main reason that that access is there, was access to the
Klingelhutz. I guess that would be something for Al to comment on. If you're
provided with a left turn, southbound access of the property, what kind of
impact does that have on it? How necessary is that connection to the parking
lot to the property?
Councilman Workman: There's a pile of dead shrubs in downtown that you could
probably transplant there.
Al Klingelhutz: It really doesn't do much for any access out of there. I know
' beer trucks have tried to make it and driven on the sidewalk and cracked the
sidewalk. Most of them put in on both sides and I guess it's impossible for
even a truck to get...
Mayor Chmiel: I guess I look at that alternative aspect of it as to what Gary
has indicated in here about the next best alternative would be Alternate 2,
opening in the median and I think that would be in agreement basically with Al
as well. This option would be conditioned however as a temporary median cut
conditioned on a re-evaluation to land use intensified on the Klingelhutz
propety and/or_ traffic accidents or safety considerations warrant a change. I
think that's something that we have to look at is from the safety aspects of the
people as well. I would have no problem in going with that Alternative 2
myself.
25
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
Councilman Johnson: I would have a big problem it personally. I hate to say it
but being a victim of a rear end accident and leaving with the back injury day
by day on that, that's inviting a rear end. Not having a protected left turn.
This reminds me a lot of the TH 7 and Oriole Lane, which is what I was going to
bring up to Council on Council presentation. It could be a protected left turn
if they'd ever get the painting down the road and the signs up, but we've got a
situation there where we've got a lot higher speeds but here, I just can't see
it. We've got access. He's got two accesses coming in. He's got more access
than we're planning for the medical center. The medical center is a far higher
useage here. If you're going to put plantings in that one median cut there,
they better just be the little short stuff because.. .
Mayor Cbmiel: Ground cover. I
Councilman Johnson: Yes, ground cover. We've got some planting problems
already but in an unprotected left turn situation, you're not going to want to
stay sitting out in the middle of the traffic waiting to take a left turn.
You're going to take the small opening and that's dangerous. I feel we've given
southbound, he's got two different access ways. Northbound he's got two ways to
get in there. One before, one after. Southbound he's got one before. That's I
more than a lot of other properties downtown. I also feel that if we do
anything special, causing the city to incur extra money on this, that those
monies should be assessed back to the benefiting property owner, which is only ,
one in this case. So any cost incurred here, if we do vote for something, that
incurs more engineering or other changes, other than correcting, if he's got an
existing problem that has to be corrected that we're ruining some existing 11
stuff, that's different. But I know that we've already got the final plans and
specs written on this so we're going to have to rewrite the final plans and
specs which is going to cost a couple thousand bucks. I don't think I'm willing
to pay our taxpayers money for this without it being assessed back to the 11 benfiting property owner.
Al Klingelhutz: I wish some people would have been concerned about our 11 taxpayers money a year or so ago when they put in main street with two single
lanes. Taking out a piece of concrete costs less money than leaving one in. I
can't quite understand your thinking on that one Jay.
Councilman Johnson: There's not significantly less concrete going to be put in
there.
Al Klingelhutz: All you would be doing is leaving out maybe a 12 or 16 feet I
stretch of concrete that they wouldn't have to put in.
Councilman Johnson: And then putting in two additional curb sections that you I
wouldn't have to put in otherwise which are more expensive than street sections.
Al Klingelhutz: Where's the curb sections going? 1
Councilman Johnson: Around the ends.
Al Klingelhutz: Well you'd have to put on the end anyway. ,
Councilman Johnson: Now you've got four ends instead of two. But it really
doesn' t matter. If there's no additional cost, it won't be assessed.
26 1
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989 -�
Al Klingelhutz: Have you taken a look at the driveway that they've put into our
property? I'd like to have you meet me coming into that driveway. It's
actually a one lane driveway.
Councilman Johnson: Maybe that's the problem. If we have poorly designed that
' existing driveway, that driveway needs to be. ..
Al Klingelhutz: You're talking about costs of designing Jay. Take a look at
what you did there. A truck coming out drives over the sidewalk and the City
has to put in 12 x 12 posts in order to keep the truck from driving on the
sidewalk.
' Councilman Johnson: Now that's on your south side driveway?
Al Klingelhutz: That's on the south side and they put a couple of them on the
north side. I think I talked to Don about that last fall. Then he puts up a
sign that completely hides my sign. There's absolutely no place for me to put
up a sign for my real estate office. It's all hidden by brush and trees and the
City of Chanhassen. ..sign. Now don't tell me you didn't hurt my property when
you did all these things. Now you want to take my access away. An access going
through somebody elses parking lot. It just don't add up at all. It seems the
long time landowner and business owner in Chanhassen has been getting the shaft
and the new ones are being kissed. I think I've heard that from a dozen
different old time businesses in Chanhassen. Why is Pauly's closing? Leaving
an opening there, maybe it's my butt that I'll get rear end but I'm not afraid
of that but I think if you just put in a center abutment between those two,
you'd have a left turn lane as good as you have for the Bloomberg properties.
' Councilwoman Dimler: I guess I'd just like to make a corinent and Al hit upon
it. I would like to say that earlier that we are hearing now a lot about safety
concerns and I think certainly safety is a top priority but when the
intersection there, just north of there was built and I thought too, my gosh
this looks unsafe. This looks terrible and now it probably isn't as bad as
I feared it would be. How many accidents have there actually been? I'm sure
there's been some but is it really as bad as some of us feared it would be? So
I think maybe in this case here we're now starting to react in fear of being
rear ended when in fact the danger isn't as big as we're making it. So I would
go and support Alternative 2 because I also believe that when we do new
development we should take the concerns of the citizens into consideration.
1 That's one of my main points. If we can make it easier for even just one
citizen that has been there a long time and that has run a respectable business,
then we aught to do that.
11 Councilman Boyt: I guess I will respond. BRW designed the corner of TH 101 and
Great Plains and we've lived with the results of that. They've come in here,
and it looks to me like the problem is the island. The problem is the shortage
of parking. That's why we put the island in there, I gather. The island makes
it hard to access from the north side of the parking lot. It prevents people
from coming in and driving over to the real estate building. Why should we
'Icompromise safety to protect parking. We need to do something with the parking
lot apparently. Maybe we redesign it. Maybe we lose some parking spots but I'd
rather do that than encourage people to make an unprotected left turn when we've
I/ got protected left turns throughout the city. Now we're going to have a
27
ME
Council Meeting - March 27, 1989 I
unprotected left turn. Why start that? Why not just design the parking lot so
people can access the realty building? If that's going to be our priority,
let's do it that way.
Councilwoman Dimler: Bill, were you on the Council when they approved that
intersection on TH 101?
Councilman Boyt: Ursula, we don't have enough time to talk about that.
Councilwoman Dimler: Did you approve that though? I
Councilman Boyt: The HRA approved that intersection.
Councilwoman Dimler: Did it ever come to Council? ,
Councilman Boyt: It came to Council for comment. Council made comment. The
Council raised questions about, do you think that's going to be safe? Do you
think people are going to be able to drive through there? But that was built
with HRA money by the way.
Al Klingelhutz: It's our money too. 1
Councilman Boyt: It's your money because you're part of that tax increment
district and I don't think we want to get off on that topic but if we do, we can
spend the afternoon discussing it.
Councilwoman Dimler: That's right but I'm just saying, you're concerned about ,
safety and we should have been all along.
Councilman Johnson: That was one of our biggest discussions on the entire
downtown was that intersection and would that intersection work. Can we take a
Eire truck through it? All that kind of stuff. Same kind of discussion we're
having on this.
Councilman Workman: Why don't we ask Al if Bill Boyt's comment about pulling
that median and rearranging that parking lot is a viable option and we can go
From there. I
Al Klingelhutz: I think it's a more costly option than just putting in a narrow
center island down the road and leaving the left turn lane into my property. I
forgot to make this comment. The total center island project on TH 101 and the
four lanes across the railroad tracks, down TH 5 was proposed 3 years ago, 2 1/2
years ago. When TH 101 was supposed to be located at it's present site and not
moved over to Market Blvd.. I think that could have a big effect in traffic
generated coming into town when the future main entrance into Chanhassen is
going to be from TH 101 over onto Market Blvd.. Would we even need a four lane
if there's not going to be a TH 101 south of TH 5 where it is at the present
time? We talk about if it was designed for the traffic coming into town when
TH 101 south was supposed to stay exactly where it is and be the main entrance
into the downtown. That has been changed within the last year and was replaced
over to Market Blvd.. That's going to be the main entrance into downtown. Are
you going to have four lanes there and four lanes here? Four lanes are nice but
someday in the future it's going to be very important. Another thing, on our
piece of land, if ever the old building goes, I guess I wouldn't have any
28 1
../(7
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
problem moving our parking lot to the north side of our land along side of the
IIcemetery and including it with the parking lot that's already there. But at the
present time it doesn't work that way. The building is setting on the wrong
place for that. I think Don and I discussed this a year and a half ago. Why
don't you build a new building and move it to the south and make more parking to
the north? It would help the businesses that are there now and it would be
parking for our place. The building is where it is now and I'd sure like to
keep a complete approach to it.
Mayor Chmiel: I think it's time to call a question on this.
' Councilman Boyt: I would make a motion that we send the parking lot design to
the City Engineer to try to come up with a proposal that would make more direct
access to Mr_. Klingelhutz' property.
Councilman Johnson: I'll second that.
Councilman Workman: Gary, when's this median got to be approved?
' Gary War_r_en: This spring is when we would anticipate putting it in. As soon as
the railroad gets their act together. I had a call from them today in response
to my phone call but I haven't made contact with them to find out if they're
still honoring their second quarter construction schedule for that intersection.
Once that work is done, then we could come in and finish up our median. So I
would think in reality we're probably 2 to 3 months yet away.
ICouncilman Johnson: Did they say if they were still were oin to hit the
second quarter?
g 9
Gary Warren: We passed messages so I'm going to try them again tomorrow.
Relating to the median in the parking lot, if you recall, sometimes these things
go through subtly but the trash collectors are not located in the median. That
was the result of considerable negotiations and discussion with the Kallsted
property and the rest of the businesses there. They Pony, Pauly's, Pryzmus and
we were hard press to locate that trash collector and that was the alternate
that we came up with so it's not only just the transportation access issue,
we're going to be looking for another trash location which has already been
difficult to find in that area.
Councilman Johnson: I think if you lose one parking spot in that parking area,
you're ;oi.ng to have all those businessmen in that building plus the. ..sayi.•1,,i
where's our parking going because that was one of the other real hot issues in
the design of downtown was that parking lot and how we can maximize parking in
that. Put the church and old City Hall at an angle and whatever to get us more
parking in there, which I've gotten used to after all these years.
' Councilwoman Dimler: I guess my question is, does it really, is further study
going to come up with any solutions or is it about time that we move on this? I
like the idea of Alternate 2 with the attachment there that we will study it as
it's being used and if there are any problems, that we will then correct them.
And that's really even better than what we've got for the intersection up north
of there. We don't even have that we can correct the problems on that one.
1
' 29
_-a ijty Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
1
Councilman Boyt moved, Councilman Johnson seconded to send the parking lot
design to the City Engineer to try to come up with a proposal that would make
more direct access to Mr. Klingelhutz' property. Councilman Boyt and Councilman
Johnson voted in favor_; Mayor_ Chmi.el, Councilman Workman and Councilwoman Dimler i
voted in opposition and the motion failed with a vote of 2 to 3.
Mayor Chmiel: I'll entertain another motion. I
Councilman Johnson: Co you know what the cost? If this turns out to where we
decide then to close this, do you know what that cost is going to be? I
Mayor Chmi.el: Who says we're ever going to have to close it though?
Councilwoman Di.mler: That's right. We'll deal with that when it comes along. ,
Councilman Boyt: I assure you that it's going to be next to impossible to close
it once you open it up. ,
Councilman Johnson: That's right. No matter what your study says. Your study
could say we're killing people every other day and it's going to be tough to
close it. If somebody does die there, we'll probably get it closed but at great
expense to the citizens of Chanhassen. I don't know if HRA, would that be under
HRA then to make that closing or does that come back against the general
populace?
Don Ashworth: How far into the future? The HRA does have a closing off period
of time. Generally, once something is put in and it turns back to general 1 1
maintenance and that's exactly it. It becomes general maintenance of the City.
Councilman Johnson: Let's say it's probably 1 or 2 years.
Don Ashworth: 1 or 2 years, the project
y project i.s still open and still occurring, it
could be paid out over as long as the project stays open. Usually a project
does not stay open longer than a 3 year period. Given the size of this project,
it probably will be open 4 years.
Councilman Workman: Are we discussing the cost that it might cost to build a
cap there someday?
Councilman Johnson: Yes, because that was part of the study to see if, to put
it in and then study it to see if it was the right idea of put it in. Then if
it's not, _hen you take that action and correct it. I'm saying, we have to look
not only at today's cost but we're responsible for all the money. We're
gambling that we're not going to spend taxpayers money 3 years down the road for
this project if we put this in now.
Councilman Workman: What is that, about a 12 foot median? I don't think
that's that big of a deal.
Gary Warren: 6 maybe.
Councilwoman Di.mler: I would be in favor of crossing that bridge when we get to ,
it. I would make the motion that we accept Alternate 2.
30
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1929
Councilman Workman: What would be the estimated cost on that? On filling in
the median?
II
Mayor Chmiel: I think it would be minimal.
Gary Warren: Less than $10,000.00.
Councilman Johnson: That's minimal. $10,000.00.
Councilman Boyt: I have a question Don on funding of this road surface. How is
this paid for?
Don Ashworth: This was assessed back to abutting property owners. The roadway
itself was assessed back on a front foot basis. Landscaping. A certain portion
of the costs were paid by HRA. Generally the roadway itself was assessed back
to abutting property owners on a per lineal foot basis.
Councilman Johnson: And that's already been assessed?
Don Ashworth: Correct.
Councilman Boyt: So this is a city project? The roadway? Okay.
' Councilwoman Dimler: I'd like to make a motion that we accept Alternative 2
with the option that we study it, re-evaluate it and at that time make any
I ; changes necessary.
Mayor Chmiel: I'll second that.
' Councilman Workman: I guess I would just amend it to say, just approve it as it
sits with number 2. I think it goes without saying that we'd monitor anv
situation in the city.
' Mayor Chmiel: I think that probably should be in there too then just to clarify
it.
Councilman Boyt: There has to be a better plan than the one in front of us. We
don't want traffic stopping in a traffic lane.
' Gary War_r_en: If I could suggest following through on the discussion that Al had
presented here, we would take a look to see if we can not get a left turn in
that median and shrink it down as a part of that action which would, I think
' address everybody's concern for the rear ending situation. If possible we will
do that. Also, I think that it is important that the motion call it a temporary
cut if you will with the caveats that we've commented here on. Intensi.fi.ed land
use and such. If there's a site plan that comes in, if the Council wants to
look at leverage for being able to work, if that needs to be closed off as a
part of a site plan review process, that could be a condition of the developers
to do that and possibly to even pay for that closing. One other thing that Al
had commented on that I also think might make sense here. If Al is agracable to
t closing off that access from the public parking lot, it's probably a way to get
two more parking spaces in the parking lot.
31
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989 1
have a couple of months. If we included
Mayor Chmi.el. You indicated we still have couple ;
that in with the balance of the motion? 1
II
Councilman Johnson: Are you going to call this temporary too? In your motion
so you don't handcuff the future?
Mayor Chmiel: I think we should. '
Councilwoman Dimler: That's fine with me.
Councilwoman Dimler moved, Mayor Chmiel seconded to accept Alternative 2 with
the option that we study it, re-evaluate it and at that time make any changes
necessary. Councilwoman Dimler, Councilman Workman and Mayor Chmiel voted in
favor. Councilman Boyt and Councilman Johnson voted in opposition. The motion
carried with a vote of 3 to 2.
Councilman Johnson: I'd like to state, according to our procedures, I don't
believe it's a safe design. That's the reason for my negative vote on this.
APPROVAL OF 1989/90 LIQUOR LICENSES.
Don Ashworth: City Council previously established the license fees. You have
attached the person who have applied for the specific licenses and the amount of II such for each using the new fee schedule. All applicants have submitted all of
the information required under the ordinance and we have verified that it is in
conformance. The only applicant who is not really aware of the procedures and
what was required was the Anh Le Restaurant and as of today Karen tells me that
his application is nearly complete. Approval of the licenses as listed is
recommended.
approve the following
Councilman Johnson moved, Councilman Workman seconded to ,,p the g
liquor licenses for 1989/90:
RIVIERA CLUB, INC. - On-Sale Intoxicating, Sunday Sales
BLOOMBERG COMPANIES - On-Sale Intoxicating, Sunday Sales
KALLSTED ENTERPRISES - On-Sale Intoxicating, Sunday Sales
PAULY'S I"_.C. - On-Sale Intoxicating, Sunday Sales
CHANHASSEN BOWL, INC. - On-Sale Intoxicating, Sunday Sales
CHANHASSEN LEGION POST - Club License, Sunday Sales
MGM LIQUOR WAREHOUSE - Off-Sale Intoxi_cati.ng
KENNY'S SUPERMARKET - Off-Sale Non-Intoxicating
SUPERAMERICA - Off-Sale Non-Intoxicating
HOLIDAY STATIONSTORES - Off-Sale Non-Intoxi.cati.ng
BROOK'S SUPERETTE - Off-Sale Non-Intoxicating
BLUFF CREEK GOLF ASSOCIATION - On-Sale Non-Intoxicating
ANH LE RESTAURANT - Beer and Wine License
ST. HUBERT'S CHURCH - Temporary On-Sale Non-Intoxicating
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
32 ,
Es
'
City Council Meeting - `March 27, 1989
i
APPEAL DECISION OF BOARD OF ADJUSTMENTS AND APPEALS FOR FRONT, SIDE, AND PEAR
YARD VARIANCE REQUESTS, LOT 1, BLOCK 1, HIDDEN VALLEY, BLUE CIRCLE INVESTMENT
COMPANY.
Steve Hanson: Mr. Mayor, this item was presented before the Board of
' Adjustments and was unanimously denied by them and the applicant has appealed
their decision to you for your determination. The Board of Adjustments made
three findings in their denial. First, that the present setback requirements
severely limit the development of the parcel. However, the variances do allow
uses exceeding what was anticipated on the approved site plan are inappropriate.
Second, the variances are not necessary for the preservation and enjoyment of
substantial property rights. Third, circumstances are self-imposed hardship due
to the size of the building being proposed for the site. Since that review by
the Board of Adjustments, the applicants have submitted a revised plan which
basically has eliminated some of the parking spaces and reduce the size of one
of those spaces down to a compact car size. The applicants also had submitted
some information at the Board of Adjustment hearing. Specifically it was a
brochure describing the facility and in that it notes that the facility is
designed to accommodate approximately 100 children and 20 staff members and
staff went back and re-evaluated the parking. Initially when we had met with
the applicants, we had indicated that the 21 spaces they had shown before were
adequate for the facility but my recollection is there was no mention as far as
the number of children or staff members. After the Board of Adjustment meeting
and before your consideration tonight, I went and looked at previous day care
facilities that the City has approved and the parking that has been r_equir_ed on
those and that was 1 space for every 6 children plus 1 for employee which in
this case would work out to a total of 37 spaces. The revised plan that the
applicants have submitted does remove any parking space itself from the 25 foot
setback but does not eliminate some of the access drive to service some of those
spaces from that 25 foot setback. The 25 foot setback is a setback that was in
place prior to the present zoning. It was a setback that was in place when they
initially site planned the property. The reason that staff has brought up the
' 25 foot setback is we have looked at that as a way of a compromise to allow the
development on this particular parcel. I'd like to go over a graphic quickly
with you that includes the property. This is the portion that's in question
tonight. This is part of the property that's already developed with this
proposed strip center in here. The area shown in orange is the daycare facility
that they're proposing. The brown area is a parking that they're showing as the
18 spaces for the center. This red line is the present zoning .r_equirements for
' setbacks. What their proposes encroaches on all setbacks that apply to this
particular property. The dashed line along the front is the 25 foot setback
that was in place when their site plan was approved. The zoning was
subsequently changed roughly 4 to 6 months I believe after their site plan was
approved after the city had been working through that. The problem staff has,
if it were agreeable that this would be appropriate for them to go out to that
25 foot setback, where staff has a problem is in this particular area right
here. This access is provided to access approximately 4 parking stalls in this
area and that access is within that easement. Parking within that setback area,
staff does not feel that is appropriate. Does not meet the intent of what staff
had intended. Lastly on here, the green area outlined is the playground
facility to serve the daycare area. Also within your packet are referral
comments from some of the agencies that we did send this out to and although
we're not looking at site plan approval, I think it's appropriate for me to look
at some of that information. One of those was a letter from engineering
33
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
regarding the site visibility problem that may exist at the entrance. That's
due to some of the berming on the existing approved area. Staff looked at that
and I think maybe was a little concerned that the fence kind of compounds that
problem even though there's a chain linked fence. The angle of it is going
to.. .and I think really that's a site planning issue as opposed to part of the
variance we're looking at tonight. Staff is recommending that Council confirm
the Board of Adjustment and Appeal's decision to deny the variance and based on
the following findings. That the granting of a variance is not necessary for
the preservation and enjoyment of substantial property rights. Number 2,
circumstances are self-imposed hardship due to the size of the building being
proposed for the lot. Three, while the zoning requirements have changed, the
proposal does not comply with the previous zoning requirements. Number 4, the
present setbacks limit the development of this parcel. However, the proposed
variances will allow useage exceeding what was anticipated on the approved site
plan are inappropriate. That would conclude my remarks at this point.
Mayor Chmiel: Thank you. I see that you're standing and ready to come forward. ,
Pat Hallisey: I'm Pat Hallisey. I'm a partner in Blue Circle Investment
Company. We're the owners of the property. Before I get into this issue in
depth this evening, I just want to explain that we've had a little bit of
confusion in our minds regarding what actually is a parking situation and what
is the code and what we're expected to meet. Up until today at approximately
1:30 when I opened my mail was the first time that I was aware that there was
any kind of a parking situation for daycares in the city of Chanhassen. The 21
number was not any magic number. We went back and designed the site plan that
we submitted to you at this point in time feeling there was no code for the city
of Chanhassen for daycare centers. That's the only thing we'd been told until I _
received the staff report in the mail today. I do have somebody here this
evening that I would like to have address it. I do have some more further in
depth information from the people that would be utilizing the property. They
could not on short notice get here this evening but I did have a short meeting
and visited with them this afternoon about their parking requirements and how
they see it. I'd like to introduce Mr. Gene Peterson and while he's visiting
with you, I'd like to give you each a coloring rendering of our site which does
show fairly graphicly the green areas, the parking areas and the building
outlined in color so you can review it and you can see that we really do have a
tremendous amount of green and not very much asphalt on this very difficult site
to work with.
Gene Peterson: Gentlemen, my name is Gene Peterson. I'm one of the owners. I
sit in a u Zi.que situation. I probably am the pioneer of the daycare of the Twin
City metro area. About 75% of the major daycares built in the Twin City metro ,
area, I either built or own right now and I've been sitting here, and we own
several of them, and taking the parking issue momentarily now. I've gone
through it and to date you've got an interesting deal. Not only do I do them
here. I do them in California. I do them in Colorado. I do them on the east
coast and yet, if you could figure out an answer on what a daycare needs,
anywhere in the United States, they have not established yet the daycare.
You've got the argument of backup. You've got the argument of this. If you
were to basically, and we have done extensive research and I don't care what
time of the day you go to one of the major daycares in the Twin City metro area,
where you've concerned, if there's over 8 or 10 cars there, that's a lot. What
nobody understands about the daycare, the most beautiful part time profession
34
11
City Council Neeti na - 'larch 27, 1989
•
out is being a daycare instructor. So while they look at a potential of about
20 people working for them, they stagger them so there is very seldom that there
is over that many cars there. And I'm not trying to sell you on it. I'm just
Itrying to give you facts from doing them over the course of the years. I
started out, it used to be 12. I think the most that I've put to date in a
daycare, and you could call me a liar on this, is 23 I think is the most that
' I've ever done. And the funny part of it is the one with the 23 has probably
the least cars there. We built one on 44th and Drew right off from 50th and
France. It's got 12 parking spots on it. They've got a city parking spot right
next door to it that they could use. They don't even use the 12 parking spots
on 40th and Drew. These are all the same sized daycare center. So the
thing I'm just trying to bring out is your city planner has no choice but by
virtue of the way that your codes and such are written to, and your Board of
' Adjustment, to basically turn this down. It's a problem that the daycares have
to come most of the time for a variance or special use permit because nobody yet
has established it. Something that I think that you should give serious thought
' as to this decision. Why are we here asking you for the variation when there is
still open land here? One of the biggest problems that's happened in the
daycare, and if any of you have children in the daycare, is the costs are
'
spiraling daily. It is a never ending battle. I think when I started out and
my son had his first child in it, it was $47.00 a week. Maybe it was even less
than that and the baby, a 6 month old baby I think at that time was $65.00 and I
believe today, if I'm not mistaken, it's over $100.00. We took a look in
Chanhassen. Chanhassen is definite, really needs daycare out here and
everybody's crying for it. One of the things that we try to do before we do the
daycares is we will go into a neighborhood and ask if there's anybody against
'
it. I understand and I'm gone a lot so I don't get in always on the daycare. I
happen to be in town now and I was asked to come out to this meeting. We'll go
into a neighborhood and first of all see if there's any of the neighbors that
' are against having the daycare. I understand that a petition was put out to
everybody in the neighborhood is there. Another thing that a daycare does, in
Minnesota, I don' t know, you may not be aware of this. One of the toughest
daycare regulations in the United States is Minnesota. Minnesota is so far
' ahead. If you really want a sick deal, go down to Texas. They don't even have
any parking codes or anything on it. I understand your planner originally come
from Denver. Look at the changes that have taken place in Colorado just because
' of some of the problems. I've done quite a few of the daycares in Denver, I
understood and I may stand to be corrected on that. But I have been a
consultant for several years for Children's World who have just, and I've built
most all but about 3 of the Children's World here and we own all of them here.
' We also built several of the Daybridge and as you may not be aware of it,
Daybridge bought out Children's World. I brought 'Cinder_-Care in here and built
the first 10 Kinder-Cares and did several of the Kinder-Cares. So I've had the
opportunity many times to be in here on variances. What we're looking at is, we
went on this piece of land because of the location. Because of the cost and it
was our feeling with the green area and the consensus of the people there, that
it was worth coming in asking for the variance. The concern of the parking, I
can appreciate in looking at the codes and as I say, if you can find anywhere in
the country where they are. I just finished coming back from San Diego County,
doing some in San Diego County and the same situation come up about parking out
there. The average daycare out there, and I think California is probably some
of the toughest place in the United States for zoning on it, we are putting in
anywhere from 18 to 23 for the same identical sized daycare. It's not a
��— problem. Take my word for it. I can verify everything I'm telling you here
35
I
m
-_CAy Counci 1 .leeting - '.arch 27, 1989 1
from ownership. From taking you and showing them to you if you had the time. r-
I'm not trying to sell you on the parking. I understand where your planner is
coming from a variance. The reason we went in there, because of a zoning change
that was unique. It makes the piece of land a little bit difficult. I think if
you take a look at the green area that your fellow gave you, you will look at
it, that we have extensive. I think it's an asset to your area. We're looking
at about a three quarter of a million dollar project. We're looking at
II
potential of jobs of anywhere from 15 to 20 jobs. We're going to build a
daycare somewhere in Chanhassen if you don't do it here. Our approach that we
looked at here was, that we felt it was an asset. We did not feel that it was a
II
detriment to your city. We felt that the variance, with the green area and
everything it more than off set it and that's why we're in here asking you to
give us the variance. The parking problem, I can understand where that came
from. I only tell you this from my experience. If you will bear along with II
us, I could verify everything I'm saying on the parking. We would like to have
you offer us the variances so that we can proceed. We are ready. If you
approved it, we would start construction tomorrow. There's that much demand in
Chanhassen for a daycare. The difference in cost to look at, we looked at 3
different sites here. We are looking at almost half the price of this land
versus another 2 pieces of land here in Chanhassen. Land is not too cheap in
II
Chanhassen. It's a fine suburb on it and it is a very growing one. That's why
we're in here. If you can understand by this variance that you could possibly
be saving the opportunity, and I can't promise this because there are other
II
costs that are coming, but the difference in that land cost could be as much as
$10.00 a week in the future as to daycare costs. There are other costs coming
up stronger contingent. As you know, New Horizons has a very fine name as far
as the quality of their care, if I think that you did that research. We're ill
asking you for something that's probably difficult but I think with the green i
area that we're putting in, and I think I can verify to your planner's
satisfaction by taking the time and showing him at different times or any one of
you, that the parking is not a problem. Thank you for your time. If you have II
any questions, I'll try to answer anything that you have. I don't have all the
answers. I have a lot of them from 14 years in hare but I'm still old enough to
still learn something too so if I could be of any help, I'd be glad to. I
II
understand that one of the residents, if I'm correct, is here that they did
check with and I would like to have him give you the opportunity to find out
what the reaction right around there from the residents are too. I
Uli Sacchet: Good evening. My name is Uli. Sacchet. I live at 8071 Hidden
Circle in Brookhill development which is immediately adjacent to where this
project is proposed for. When I first heard about this proposal of the daycare II
center, I was very e' cited about it. I'm sure that you're aware there's a ne.a
neighborhood there. I've never seen a neighborhood with so many little
children. It's unique. It's very special. And I took it upon me to check with
II
some of the people that live there. I went around talking to people and
collected some signatures which I would assume that you've seen that. It's not
excessively many. It's about 30 or 40 signatures. Basically I almost felt I
silly going around getting signatures for this sort of a purpose. It seems such
a clear issue. People were so enthused about this sort of thing coming so close
to where they live. They were more interested to hear about how they can sign
up, to reserve themselves space or several spaces in that daycare than they were
interested to hear and look at the blueprint that there was a situation with
I:
variances. I personally feel relatively confident, having put some effort into
supporting this proposal even though I'm not an expert in- variances and your
36 1
am
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
building codes and all that, but i t is my understanding that this proposal
basically complies with what setback requirements were at the time like when
I : that shopping center was put in place and that there were some changes of the
rules. I don't know to what extent that's true. That part I have to leave up
to you but I do like to make a point that as far as the close by residents, the
neighbors of that neighborhood, it's very unanimous stand of support and it
would have been easy to get more signatures but it was really not necessary. I
think the point is very clear and that's all I'd like to say here and hope that
' you can support that proposal from the technical aspect as well. Thank you for
your attention.
Gene Peterson: I have with me, if you would like to see actual site plans of
' about 6 or 8 different daycares. One of them on 494 and Fish Lake in Maple
Grove which we just opened about in the last 6 months on it. That has, I think
it has 16 parking spots on it. So rather than take your time, because of the
' time element here, if you would like to look at them, to verify what I was
saying about the parking on ones that are either new or have been open. I' open
for questions. Fire at me if you need any.
Pat Hallisey: I'd like to address in a little more depth the issue of parking.
This afternoon, as I said, I visited with the President of New Horizons daycare
centers and the planner is correct. There was a brochure given out that said
there was up to 20 employees and up to 100 children in this facility running at
100% maximum occupancy. That does not mean that they're all there at any one
given point in time. Their requirements, their maximum staffing requirements at
any one point in time, absolute maximum is 12, more likely 10. This is at
midday maximum staff parking requirements. And these are absolute maximums.
This is at the midday when the people are not coming and leaving the children or
picking them up. The staff parking during the 7:30 to 9:30 and 4:00 to 6:00,
when the great majority of the children are coming in and leaving, are 7 to 8
staff people. This is due to the staggered arrival and departure of the staff
as the numbers of children in the facility increases and decreases. The maximum
trips for pick up and drop off generated by a facility of this size runs between
20 and 25 trips per hour. The average length of stay within the daycare for
drop off and pick up is 6 minutes. If we expanded that 6 minutes to a 15 minute
' stay, that would mean that each parking stall is capable of handling 4 trips per
hour. If we have 18 stalls, 8 staff at the time when the kids are coming and
going, we still have 10 stalls for the parents to use to bring their kids in and
out. If they're there for 15 minutes more than twice what they find
operationally is the average length of stay, we can accomodate 40 trips per hour
when 20 `a 25 is the normal. So we don't feel that the 18 parking stalls is a
problem. As I said earlier, we didn't know that the number of parking stalls
was going to be an issue until this afternoon when I received the mail. But
we've done what we can to try and address that concern in your mind. I have
done one other thing in order to try and give you an option, and this is a
little crude because it was done fairly rapidly but the staff had at one time
supported 21 parking stalls. What I've done is I've taken that site plan and
I've outlined the green area there and if you want the 21 cars, really what
we're asking for in a variance is this area in yellow here in order to get 21
cars in there. This being a small portion, approximately a half of that parking
stall, a quarter_ of that one and drive access to this. With 13 stalls, what
we're really asking you for, and we didn't know there was an interpretation that
the driveway to a parking stall is considered part of a parking lot. This area
' right here is what you're talking about as far as being outside the setback.
• 37
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
I
That's only if staff's interpretation of the code is correct. That that
driveway access is part of the parking lot. I'm not here to dispute the staff's
interpretation. I've not seen your code, but we were not apprised of it until
once again we saw the staff report at 2:00 this afternoon. I guess we feel, and
I've tried to point out to you in my letter to you, that the denial does reek a
tremendous economic hardship on us. We tried to show you that without
variances, we can build an 1,850 square foot building on this lot. Totally.
The plan is contained in your staff packet. It's totally, economically
unfeasible. That's a hardship that was imposed on us by a zoning change. We
had absolutely nothing to do with it. I've tried to point out, to give some
credence to that, that the normal economic guide for land planning is 4 square
feet of land for each square foot of building. There is something in your prior
codes that substantiates that. That is your prior code. Your present code has
no requirement as to the amount of building coverage on a site. Your prior code
said not more than 25% of the site can contain building. That matches what
I just told you. Exactly. Once you start exceeding that, you have gone past I
the bounds of economic reality. If we're to build on this property with without
a variance, we have exceeded that ratio by 79%. The upper ends of the economic
ratio. I don't think that's fair. We have come to you with what we feel is a
very, very clean use. It does need a variance. We feel that no matter what we
build on this property we're going to need a variance. We have tried to bring
to you a very clean use. One that has strong neighborhood support and one that
can be implemented now. As I say, it does need a variance. Whatever we build
is going to need a variance. I guess I would like the opportunity, as I said in
my letter to you, to respond to any questions or concerns that you may have
because this is an issue. Mr. Peterson brought up a point and before I close,
he said that he had looked at 3 sites in the city of Chanhassen and that he
could buy this site for half price and that was going to reflect in the
potential of a lowered cost to the people in the community. Well there's a
reason he's buying it for half price. It's not because I love to give land away
at half cost. As I pointed out in my letter and as I stood before present
council, we're fighting for something here. We're fighting for our economic
life in our shopping center next door and we've told the past council here that
we're willing to do what we can to avoid future problems with the City of
Chanhassen. Mr. Peterson just told you, he's getting land for half price. I
think that's pretty good concession and indication that we come here in good
faith trying to work with the City of Chanhassen and give you a good, clean use
that the community needs and supports. If anybody has any questions of myself
or Mr_. Peterson, we' ll be happy to answer them.
Gene Peterson: I have only one thing to say. As the owner, the buyer_. ..and
that is t:i.s. I've told you what the variance and why I felt when I came in
here. I appreciate there's some problems with your land and your variance. I
just want to say this, that I can understand, having been a planner which I was
many moons ago, they had no choice but to come up with a way. I think that you
have listened to a hardship from people who own the land. Selfishly, yes we can
come in with a lower program because of the price. I think the deicision you
have to make is not whether your planner is right or wrong. Not if your zoning
is right or wrong. Is by issuing this variance are you going to be haunted down
the way or is this good for Chanhassen? That's what I'm asking as the variance
tonight as the owner. We don' t build them and spec them. We end up owning
them. The chances are, and you can say fine, that's easy. We own them and keep
them. We will be the owner for sometime on it. We will- become a part of. . .as
one of the owners. So we're looking at it far deeper. What my concern is, I
38 ,
City Counci 1 Meeting - 'Sar_n 27, L999
II — don't want it to become an issue between you and the land. People came to us
and said we will do this and we're at the opportunity to take advantage of the
price but you, probably many of you that are sitting there, have children in
Idaycare. We've got to live with you afterwards for a long time and it's tough
enough at $75.00-$85.00 a week for kids today no matter what you have if you're
dual parents, to turn around and keep that price down. I only say that so you
understand where we come from as owners of the daycare.. .
Councilman Johnson: While from the discussions thus far it seems like there's
'
minimal variances here, under the existing ordinances, this would be probably
the largest set of variances ever passed in this city. Under_ the old ordinance,
it is minimal variance. The question comes up, who designed this lot? Pat,
you're the owner of Blue Circle. Blue Circle subdivided the lot. You made the
lot. Now we need massive zoning changes under the existing ordinance. It's a
hardship that the zoning changed but I think when a lot is designed under a
given ordinance, whatever goes onto that lot should match that ordinance. You
' will find that a parking lot is considered a structure by City Ordinance and a
structure can not be put within the setback. Sidewalks are a structure unless
it's a public sidewalk in the public right-of-way so we've got two sections on
this existing drawing. You notice I folded the drawing. The green area that's
' the City's property, is going to stay green no matter what happens to it except
for the sidewalk that's in there that's not shown. But the other thing I'm
wondering, because we've got this nice green area shown here, is the playground
' going to be grass and dirt or is the playground going to be some kind of play
surface?
Gene Peterson: It is all lawn and where each piece of equipment is, it's
'
squared around with sand underneath it but it is predominantly grass and it's
pretty well kept. What's changed is we used to do them with all sand and now
what we have done is, we have put in, like our little tric walk and like a
' sidewalk type in there or wherever we have the tires or anything, we put the
square like this and put the sand in there and we put it high enough to keep it
in so we get as much green area as we can.
' Councilman Johnson: One of the biggest discussions, how much parking is
� g
needed? Quite frankly our zoning ordinance that was in place at the time that
' this was zoned said adequate. That doesn't help much. What is adequate to one
person is not adequate to another. I disagree with you when you say there is no
more than 8 cars or whatever it was. I drive by one of your daycare centers
everyday on Valley View behind Rainbow. This morning there were 5 cars that
were overflow from parking. They were parked in front of the building on both
sides of the driveway. Where you're normally driving it was down to one lane
becaus of all the cars parked there during the drop off time. Drop off is big.
' This is next to one of our, this particular location is very close to one of our
larger bus stops. That particular daycare center, the one on Valley View is
used by people as a park and ride lot. Your customers come in. They park their
cars there. Put their kids in. Get on the bus. Go downtown.
Gene Peterson: I'm glad you brought that one up because we do have that pr oblem
and it's one. ..
problem
Councilman Johnson: And the Southwest Metro Transit Commission, which I'm a
member of, also was petitioned by your customers to put a bus stop there and we
�'— put a bus stop in for you so the bus does stop there to pick up your people.
39
Ci•
ty Council Meeting - Marcie 27, 1989
Gene Peterson: It backfired on us.
Councilman Johnson: well this is also one of the bigger bus stops in the town
is right there at the America Legion. I suspect you're going to be having this
same problem here if you allow i.t. Now what you're going to have to do is tell
your customers no park and ride. If you do do that, tell your customers no park
and ride, it may work but you're going to have to eliminate 2 more parking spots
to do it because the paved surface is a structure and it's got to get out of
that 25 foot setback. The sidewalk next to the compact car lot is a structure.
It's got to get out of the 25 foot setback. Steve, I want to ask you a question
right away. As I read the old zoning ordinance, it said parking lots can be 0
setback as long as the adjacent property is also zoned C-2. This was C-2. Now
both properties are BN. Under that, if they took their parking lot and moved it
to the north 5 feet to give themselves a little more room there. I see one of
their biggest problems with the parking lot is having the ability to come in,
drop the kids off and turn back out. Just movement. If they can make that
parking lot 5 foot wider and leave only a 5 foot strip, would that be within the
old zoning ordinance?
Steve Hanson: I'm not that well versed in your old zoning ordinance to be
honest.
Councilman Johnson: It's in the packet. I'm just reading what you gave me. '
Steve Hanson: I think what it's probably referring to is sharing parking
facilities. 1
Councilman Johnson: Here's what it says under parking location A. The parking
area may abut the property line if the abutting property is zoned C-2 or C-3.
Parking areas adjoining all other districts shall not be located closer than 25
foot to the side or rear property lines. So obviously this must be the same or
else you'd have a 25 foot rear setback for his parking instead of 10 foot.
Right now he's on 10 foot. I would think that he could probably gain some by
moving it to the north a little bit. I still would like to see him leave some
shurberies and some room there for some green space and some plantings. I do
believe this is a fairly good use. I think we're trying to put, this is an odd
piece of property that's left over from the shopping center construction. I
know it was a business decision made a long time ago and it ends up haunting us.
This is one of these things that we have to look at as we look at new zoning
requirements in the future. When other shopping centers come in and we look at
other shoing center.;, we want to o :==.-ent these little parcels from c7etti.-y1 :t
in there. I'm not sure whether 18 or whatever. They're are 16 parking spots at
the larger daycare center that's behind Rainbow at Valley View. This morning at
7:30 there was 5 or 6 cars parked out in front of it and I did not observe
whether the whole parking lot was full on the side of the building. Their main
problem there is the parking lot's on the side of the building. If you park in I
the parking lot, you've got to walk around the building. Most people are too
lazy. They're going to park in the fire zone and take their kids in. Here
there is no fire zone per se. I'm sure you're going to have people because
there's always those people who aren' t going to bother parking. They're just
going to pull straight up to the front door. The heck with the rest of the
world, I'm parking in front of the front door. Unfortunately that's the
attitude of some people in the world today. I think you can make it but I
40
, J
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City Council Meeting - :1.a -_a 27, 1989
II
think, you may think, and _eopte in the Audi nco may think us figh':ing o""er
I ' these little zoning things, oh, it's only 100 square feet of parking lot in
here. But the actual is o out half the property or probably a quarter of the
property is now asking for 7aiances from our existing. The last point I'd like
Ito make is to counter, you said there's nothing in our new zoning ordinance on
lot coverage. We allow you to cover a maximum of 65% of the lot now with
structures and parking lot, etc. . So there is a number. The old one was 25%
building only. They didn't say you could put the rest of it as parking lot if
I you wanted. The other 75%. But the new zoning ordinance, the City of
Chanhassen has chosen to be a green city without buildings crammed right next to
each other so we've said we want at least 35% of your property to be green area.
I I don't know, I think we're getting awful darn close here. There's not that
much. If we can move it to the north, we might be able to only lose one parking
spot then. I don't know.
IGene Peterson: Let me bring something up about that stat that might help you
too. One of the things in daycares is, almost 50% of staff comes from, because
of the uniqueness of being able to be, because it's called part-time/full-time,
I that they can come in at different hours because of the drop off and the kids,
that we will run into quite often that about 50% of our staff where you're
sitting with neighborhoods close by like this or housing that's close by like
II you have there, will come right out of the neighborhood. I'm not saying that
that's definite, but as an example we've got several of them, like Apple Valley.
We've got two of them in Apple Valley where almost half of our staff walked over
II ] to it because they're right from the neighborhood. That's because of the way
that you can work. While it's called a part-time/full-time job, the variation
because when they drop off kids and going back using, and I think you brought up
a real good one in Rainbow. We did an experiment on Rainbow on a park and shop.
I The problem we run into was half of the park and shop didn't leave the kids off
and the other one was, we thought it was a convenience because we had extra
parking. If you remember when we first built it, we run into the same thing is,
I we had about 10-12 parking spots so as a gesture, the manager there said that
some of them that were leaving their kids off and if you want to leave your car
there, we' re not using it anyhow. And we got a loaded deck on it. We did it in
two different spots and we ended up having parking problems. So we will not get
1 there again but you're right.
Councilman Johnson: At this point, the Metropolitan Transit Canuission built a
I park and ride lot just a couple miles from there. They can drive over there and
park there. It's almost full now but my wife used to work in one of these and
it was in Texas as you talked about and there was no parking. This is in a
I residential neighborhood. If you parked, you parked on the street. The daycare
center she worked at is not someplace we would have taken our children, to tell
you the truth. She ended up talking to the health department about her
employer.
IIGene Peterson: You've got so many things on Minnesota staffing that really
protect you from the daycare that would be concerns unless you were really close
II here, that they do such a tremendous job on the staffing regs here. It really
protects you an awful lot if you get by your variance that you're talking about.
From protection, a lot of the things that you're worried about.
II Pat Hallisey: Did I understand that you were suggesting moving the lot 5 feet
to the north?
II 41
' City Council Meeting - Mar�'1 27, 9 1 3 U
L 1f
Councilman Johnson: Right. The entire parking lot. 4
Pat Hallisey: You don't have a problem with that. We don't have a problem with I II
that.
Councilman Johnson: We'd also probably have to eliminate the last two so you'd
be down to 16 parking spots which is what you have at the one by Rainbow is 16
parking spots which gets pretty low but then again. . .
Gene Peterson: It wasn't a problem before we did that park. .. ,
Councilman Johnson. -efor_e you did park and ride. I meant to stop at another
one in the Opus area to look at it and I don't think they have that many parking
spots either. I don't think they have 30 in there. But to me, as a purist on
variances, get it out of the setback.
Mayor_ Chmiel: I'd like to ask an opinion of our attorney. What can we do with
this Roger? I see here by what your letters indicate, maybe you could just sort
of clarify that for everybody.
Roger_ Knutson: Sure. Don asked me to write you a letter about the proper
procedures for appealing a decision of the Board of Adjustments and Appeals. I
set those out in writing to you. Anyone can appeal a decision. Any agree
person can appeal a decision from the Board within 10 days of that decision
requesting making an appeal to the zoning administrator_ who is Don Ashworth.
Your Code then goes on to say you must follow the same procedures in your
handling of it that the Board of Adjustments used in it's handling of it. So ; II
you're required to have a public hearing preceeded by published and mailed
notices by this body for that appeal. That's an internal policy procedure
which under your own internal rules you can waive by a four-fifths vote from
this body. State law does not require that published and mailed notice.
Councilman Johnson: What's the question and what's the. .. '
Roger_ Knutson: I just learned, and I guess I made an assumption, that this had
been advertised for a public hearing for tonight but it had not been so to act
on it, you're going to have to waive that rule. Otherwise, send it out for a
public hearing.
Councilman Johnson: Was it advertised as a public hearing?
Mayor Chmiel: The motion basically has to be waived as he indicates. Then we
would have to have a public hearing on it and all adjacent property owners would
have to be notified with published notice in the paper as well.
Councilman Johnson: Didn' t we publish it?
Don Ashworth: We published this and it was for the Board of Adjustments meeting
that occurred from before. But you did not publish tonight's meeting. City
Council meeting of tonight. '
Steve Hanson: My recollection, it was tabled at that last Council meeting when
it was before the Board of Adjustment.
42
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
II
Mayor Chmiel: Yes, with some consideration as to looking to see what they could
really do with that particular site with the facility. We also talked about the
probability or possibility of shrinking that building down some as well.
Don Ashworth: But even the last one, what the notice said was, you're invited
to attend the Board of Adjustment meeting at 6:30. It did not address the City
Council meeting at which time it was then tabled to this meeting. Again, there
is a procedure. It becomes one of, in the determination of the City Council are
all potentially affected property owners at tonight's meeting so you can make
that decision? If you feel that those people logically affected by this
decision are here, you can go ahead and waive your ordinance and take action on
'
it. If you're concerned that potentially there is someone who is not here, then
you should table it.
Gene Peterson: Would the petition that's signed by a majority suffice as the
same... In other words, you have a petition on file from several of the
homeowners there, also be suffice.. .
' Councilwoman Dimler: I guess the Legion has property, and they're not here.
I guess I would be concerned as to how they feel.
' Councilman Johnson: Of course they haven't commented as of yet and they were
familiar with the previous advertising for the Board of Adjustments and Appeals.
They made no comment there at that point either and they were notified.
' Mayor_ Chmiel: But I would not want to put myself in the position to speak for
the Legion on this particular one.
Councilman Johnson: I think they've spoken by their silence, if you can say
that.
Councilman Boyt: There's a major drawback to putting this off. April 10th is
' going to be an interesting meeting all by itself. I think we better have some
pretty serious reservations before we add another item to that agenda.
' Councilwoman Dimler: Does it have to be the next meeting?
Don Ashworth: No, it's actually within 30 days but I'm sure there's a desire on
' the owner's part to move as quickly as possible.
Gene F_ter_son: We have a time cic ent out here. 7\ny consideration at this time
is important to us.
Roger Knutson: Let me just point out. Under State Statute, most people are
unaware of this, but under State Statute you do not have to have a public
'
hearing before anyone to grant a variance. All it has to go is on the agenda at
the Board of Adjustment and Appeals. No public hearing is required. But you do
it, and that's just fine. That's your internal policy to do that. It's not
required by Statute.
Councilman Boyt: At the very minimal we certainly ought to give Mr. Haltisey
some sort of sense of whether he's on reasonably good ground or not. Know
whether to continue to proceed with this or whether he needs to look elsewhere.
43
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-City Counc i 1 Meeting - March 27, 1989 I
Councilwoman Di.mler_: I guess
g I d like to comment. I know Mr. Hallisey
indicated that this property, and I feel it is, is just a little bit over a half
an acre and the way it's laid out, it is going to be difficult for anything that
is proposed there and that he'll have to come in for variances of some sort for
anything that goes in there and I think that's where we now maybe have to make a
deicison of what would we like to see there. I guess daycare is a good thing. I
would be in favor of that rather than something else so I think that's a
consideration that we do have to look at. I don't like granting that much of a
variance but maybe in this case, I don't know if I agree that the hardship is
self imposed because of the fact that TH 101 moved and there's certain problems
with your property as a result of that so that's my comment.
Mayor Chmi.el: Okay, I guess I look at the aspect too, the zoning in itself did
change from what it was previously. Even though those take place, that's
something that everyone has to live with. I guess I basically agree with what
Ursula is saying too. I think a daycare center is needed in the community. We
have one in the midst of moving and I think we need another as well. Whether or
not this facility can be located on that piece of property to be in accordance
with all of our requirements, that's the question. Whether or not a variance is
going to really be the answer, I guess I'm not much for really moving on
something when there's not been any variances within the specific locations for
anything to date. I guess I'm still keeping an open mind to it. Bill, do you
have anything? '
Councilman Boyt: I'd be happy to encourage you in a direction. First, Uli. if
I might ask you a question since I remember only too vividly the discussions II about 6 months ago about highway traffic concerns and children playing i.n the
area. You know 184th Street is going to be extended out and this piece of road
is going to become considerably busier. Separating your neighborhood and that
road is what, a 6 foot wood fence? I don't know how high but it's a wood fence.
Separating the daycare and that highway is a 4 foot chain link fence. Something
to think about. I think when I look at the other uses for this property, it is
a quandry and I can see the advantage of having some sort of a traffic
generater. I think you're going to get quite a bit of traffic when 184th comes
through. I know that might not be a bird in the hand so to speak but I do think
that we've got to be very careful about where we put daycare centers. This is
something where we're really speaking for a group who can't vote for themselves
here. Uli, did you want to respond?
Uli Sacchet: Yes, since you addressed the. . . I may not be 100% informed of all '
the details with this but I believe a si.mili.ar_ question was raised at the
Planning Coimi.ssion meeting about the distance. If my recollection is correct,
I believe there was some say that there would be a similar distance actually
from the daycare to the road, that is from the road to the residential area.
Maybe I can pass the question on to you to address this. I agree that this is a
concern. There's going to be more traffic there that is not necessarily
enhancing to safety. On the other hand, it's going to be much less traffic than
if it would be the TH 101 proposal.
Councilman Boyt: Let's hope so. '
Uli Sacchet: I would certainly hope so. It seems from that angle, coming from
that angle, it seems like this proposal to put a daycare center there is making
44
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City Council Meeting - March,h 27, 1989
II __ the best of a relatively bad situation. You got kind of hung up a little bit in
a crack in terms of a business location and when I heard that it was going to be
a daycare center, I felt that was something that I felt like supporting because
I i I felt that it makes good use. There's certainly lots of children. I have two
children. I drive one kid to Hopkins and the other one to Southdale every
morning plus I work in Rosedale so you can imagine how much driving I do. I'm
I very excited. My children might be too old by the time this is in place, I
don't know, but there's so many small children in the neighborhood. I would
urge you to consider that safety aspect very thoroughly. I don't want to
IIdissuade you at all Bill but please, maybe you can address that.
Pat Hallisey: Yes. The question regarding the fencing. The Board of
II Adjustments was looking at the different distances from the street and what have
you and whether a fence was in character with the neighborhood and I was the one
who pointed that there was a fence across the streeet sheltering the
neighborhood from the commercial and that's a lot line fence just as this is.
II Most fences are on the lot lines. That is a wood fence. This is a chainlink
fence. Although it's a 4 foot chainlink fence, it's not like you've got 100
kids running around in a street, in a fenced in play area where there's a bunch
I of traffic going by here. They're supervised. You have supervisors in that
playground with the kids when they're there so they're not just. ..
Councilman Boyt: But it is a bunch of kids in a playground by a busy road
1 whether they're supervised or not. I'm just pointing out it's a busy road.
Pat Hallisey: Right. But it's certainly going to be far less busy than what it
II was originally intended for and it is a permitted use for that site.
Gene Peterson: If you want a higher wood fence, we don't have any problem. If
I you'd rather have a wood fence than a chainlink fence. In other words, that's
not a problem with us. Our reasons for going to chainlink in most cases is to
view openness but we have some with a wood fence if that's the question. . .
1 Councilman Boyt: I haven't gotten to that concern but the other part of it is,
you talked Mr. Peterson about an economic advantage. This is something the
Council needs to be, I think quite concerned about. Not that we don't want to
1 give people economic advantages but that, I think we have to be concerned that
in granting variances we give people an economic advantage. We have one other
daycare in Chanhassen and we're going to have other daycares in Chanhassen
because there are other neighborhoods that have the same growth that you're
Italking about. To come in and grant variances so that a daycare can locate in
an economic piece of property is to put the other daycares at an economic
disadvantage. I think we have to be careful when we do that. If we do that.
I Pat you requested the subdivision of this piece of property the way it's
divided.
I Pat Hallisey: I'd like to address that for a minute if I could, and Councilman
Johnson wrought this issue up also. We've gone through a tremendous multitude
of changes with this property. The road alignments. The whole 9 yards. When
we looked at this, planned this whole property in the first place, it was under
Ia different, a totally different scenario. It was with TH 101 being here. Lake
Drive East being a high traffic roadway from Dakota to TH 101. In fact it was
so high traffic, that there was going to be no access anywhere other than here
and here. Lake Drive North. Your designated street. Lake Drive North. There
II
II 45
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
was going to be no more access to Lake Drive from this point to the Sinclair
station. This is the dividing point between the Kerr property and the Legion
property. What was going to happen when TH 101 widened and was upgraded, the
Legion was going to lose access to this property from TH 101. All traffic was
going to come down around here and come i.n. We had to agree to move this curb
cut to this point right here when that happened. It's in your Planning
Commission notes. I'm pointing this out so that you know there's been
tremendous changes and how some of those changes affect this particular piece of
property. That's not there anymore. We now have access. We could have planned
our whole development differently and not had this screwball shaped piece of
property had that been the case. But at that point in time, the City said you
can't have access here. Everybody's got to come through here to get to that
property. That's why you've got that crazy looking plan that has never been an
approved site plan. There's never been an approved site plan for this piece of
property.
Councilman Boyt: Mr. Hallisey,
y, my point is that when you requested that you get
two lots out of this piece of property instead of one lot, you did make that
request right? i
Pat Hallisey: We did.
Councilman Boyt: When you submitted that request, you submitted it indicating a
4,000 square foot building would apparently meet the setbacks. Is that correct?
1 '
Pat Hallisey: As I pointed out in my letter, we didn't even begin to think
about 4,000 square feet. All we were doing was showing a building on here so
the lot could be used under those circumstances.
Councilman Boyt: And that I think is the key line. The lot could be used. I
think the City Council at that time, and I didn't have their minutes to read but
what I gathered from reading your letter and what I know of the group that
reviewed it, my guess is that they didn't want to give you that lot as a
separate lot and that you came in and demonstrated that it was buildable and
therefore you wanted i.t.
Pat Hallisey: I don't want to be argumentative but it was their suggestion that
we did that. Staff's suggestion at that point.
Councilman Boyt: Staff's suggestion but then you came in and demonstrated that
it was a v'able lot as a separate lot?
Pat Hallisey: Without access on Lake Drive which at that point couldn't be '
because of the high number of traffic. . .
Councilman Boyt: And are you now claiming it's a hardship to be given an
access?
Pat Hallisey: No. What I'm trying to say is that we would never have designed
that "approved site plan" in anywhere near that fashion had we been able to have
an access here at that point in time. We had a whole different size
configuration building on that.
46 '
IICity Council ".eeti nor - `larch 27, 1989
Councilman Boyt: Well I'd be interested in seeing how you could put more than
4,000 square feet on that piece of property given the plan that you've got here
' in front of us.
Pat Hallisey: This plan that's in front of you right now with Councilman
Johnson's suggestion of moving the parking 5 feet to the north and eliminating 2
parking stalls fits all of the criteria that was in place at that point in time.
Councilman Boyt: Well I don't think the City ever committed to allowing you to
' put a 5,600 square foot building on that piece of property.
Pat Hallisey: I don't mean to suggest that they did. All I'm saying is with
' Councilman Johnson's suggestions, we could have done it.
Councilman Boyt: I think that in terms of coming in and saying that by not
allowing you to put a 5,600 square foot building on this we've created a
' hardship, I just don't buy that. We never agreed to allow a building of that
size. I agree, things have changed. I think that among other concerns, before
we vote on this, the fire, Mark Li.ttfi.n, the Fire Inspector, should look at the
' need for a fire zone. It came up, I didn't see one. I think Mr_. Peterson makes
a good point when he says we need to be very careful that we're not haunted down
the way. Daycares are unique in that they're built for kids. Mr. Peterson
' wants them built in the right spot. In the right way. You're just building one
down on TH 101 right now. How many parking spots are you putting in that one?
Your competition, you know it's an interesting corner. It's like gas stations.
There's now 3 daycares out of the 4 corners. The other one has a home on it I
' think or you'd probably have a daycare there too. Well out of those, one of
them has 24 parking spots. The other has 19 parking spots. Yours is going to
have 18 parking spots.
' Gene Peterson: I think it's 19.
Councilman Boyt: I don't know, and maybe Steve doesn't know where we came up
' with the figure of 1 out of 6 but we really need to look at that and see if
that's what the right number should be because that represents space and space
is money to these daycare. And we've already got a daycare that says it can
' live with that and interestingly enough, they claim that they can put it in our
industrial park, which is expensive land, they can put it in there and make a
profit with it and provide all the space we require and all the parking spots we
' require. You're coming to us and saying to build a viably sized daycare, we
can't do that.
Gene Peterson: No. I didn' t say we couldn' t. I said that due to the
' inflating costs of daycare, that it was our feeling that this was worth
pursuing. It isn't a question of whether or not we can or can't do it. There's
a need for a daycare. It can be built somewhere else and I have to clarify what
' you're saying. That isn't saying that we can't put one in your industrial
par_k. ..and probably make a profit. I'm not questioning that. I'm just saying
that you have a protection for a hedge on it as to it going up if the cost is
there. ..and what I'm trying to do, very selfishly, is trying to keep the costs
down. They're going up in daycare. ..and the regulations but I don' t want to
leave you with the opinion that if we don't go there we can't make any money.
' 47
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989 • -Counc ilm an Boyt: No, I don' t t mean that. I just
mean that to go here, you're
saying we have to have these sorts of considerations. Mr. Halli.sey, I've felt
all along that the City owes you some consideration with the traffic changes
that we've made. I don't think putting a daycare in this site is the right kind
of consideration. My main reason for feeling that way is I just am
uncomfortable putting a bunch of kids on this road and that constraint. So I'm
going to have a great deal of difficulty voting for this variance as it works
out. We need some better answers than we've got here certainly in terms of your
piece of property and I think if I had to hang it on anything else, I'd say come '
back to me with a 4,000 square foot daycare and we can talk further. I'm
finished. Thanks for giving me the 15 minutes it took me to get through all
that.
Councilwoman Dimler: I guess I'd have one question. That is Bill, do Y ou know
the one in the industrial park, does that service citizens of Chanhassen or just
the workers in the park?
Councilman Boyt: Ursula, we started out recommending that that serve just the
people in the industrial park and by the time we had approved it, we approved it
for the City as a whole.
Councilwoman Dimler: Okay, but you do see the need for more daycare in
Chanhassen?
Councilman Boyt: Certainly.
1 II
Councilwoman Dimler: My point is that this would serve, being out of the
industrial park, it would service the citizens of Chanhassen and not the people
in the industrial park necessarily. They wouldn't probably use that one.
Councilman Boyt: Well I know they're advertising in the Taco Shoppe right ,
p� ght now.
Councilman Workman: I'm not going to be able to touch too much on what anybody '
else hasn't already touched upon. Maybe my perspective as being the only person
who has daycare aged children. I think Don has a younger sister. I really
don't have an opinion on these one way or the other. My daughters are not in a
daycare of this nature. They're in an in home daycare. I read Plato's Republic
and I didn't like it. I do have questions of course brought out by the Board of
Adjustments about this maximum size and the location. I have probably way too
many concerns in regards to the entire corner to make a comfortable decision in 11
regards to this. I do understand the concerns of the neighbors. I think if it
was, maybe, maybe not. If it was as big a concern for them to have a daycare
and I thought maybe more than one of the neighbors might be out here tonight.
But I do understand the need for daycare. If there is anything anybody else can
add to this that will give me a little bit better direction. My major concern
when I came in here tonight was the question, who divided the lot? How did the
lot get there? And now that it is there, how much forethought was used to
decide what could go on it? I asked the question of Steve not too long ago,
what's meets and bounds? Can't we slap a Few lots back together and add it onto
the end of the office complex there? Does Willard have any questions or
concerns? Is Willard here?
Willard Johnson: I hadn't followed the latest report so. . . At the time I felt,
and I still feel the same way, that. .. I don't feel we should overcrowd it
48 '
City Council `I2ccti nq - 'larch 27, 189
' — there. It was brought up.. .and that's just a minor thin . . .This is a pretty
g � Y
good sized project in a sense and I don't. ..
Councilman Boyt: I would move that we deny this request for variance because it
does not meet the criteria as staff has pointed out.
' Mayor_ Chmi.el: I have a motion on the floor. Do I have a second? Things seem
to be dying around here.
' Councilman Workman: I guess I'm still tied up as far as, I guess I'm looking
for time. Can I have 2 hours until tomorrow?
' Councilman Johnson: My concern here is that we meet every zoning r_equir_ement
that was in place at the time the lot was platted. To me this, with the new
zoning requirements, the new zoning requirements made this lot unbuildable
' without any variance whatsoever. Maybe you could put a putt putt on here with 9
holes but I don't think you would really want to do that because you'd still
need a parking lot for the putt putt and it probably wouldn't fit. So I feel
that the hardship is there as long as they don't require a variance from the old
' zoning ordinance which the plan as proposed does. I think we can solve that.
Good supervision, I don't think we're going to have a problem with the kids
crawling the fence. I think that in the site plan review, we will be looking a
' lot closer at the berming and the changes to make good vision in that area.
Then it comes down to one last question. What is adequate parking? In order
for them to meet the old zoning ordinance, we're down to 16 parking spots which
is the actual number at the Rainbow site, behind Rainbow Foods which is a larger
' center than this. I think that's an 8,000 square foot center versus a 5,600
square foot center. This one is never going to expand. There's absolutely, I
know you say you can't now. Wa hear a lot of people say they can't and 3 years
' later they're trying. One more variance.
Gene Paterson: Pegs will control that so we can't. Minnesota regs. Because of
' the playground situation so you're safe on expansion unless they change the
State's regs on it.
Councilman Johnson: I can't imagine the Legion having any questions on this.
' They went to the Legion and asked the Legion if they could buy some property
from them. The Legion is well aware of what they're trying to do because they
wanted to fix this lot by making it bigger, which is a very logical thing to do
' and the Legion did a very logical thing from their standpoint in saying no,
until we figure out what we're going to do with our property, the whole
proper-y, we're not about to sell off a little piece of it and shoot ourselves
in the foot. So I guess what I'm getting down to, this will probably be the
Baptist Church was one time and this will probably be the second time when I'm
pushing my hatred of variances but I think I can live with it if we go down to
16 parking spots and I think we can probably survive there. So what I will move
is that we allow the variance as long. ..
Councilwoman Dimler: There's a motion on the floor.
Councilman Johnson: No there isn't. There's no second. It died. I would move
that we approve this as long as no parking area, sidewalk area, other than the
driveway, is within the setbacks. They consider moving, as I read the zoning
ordinance, moving the entire parking lot 5 feet to the north and give themself a
' 49
.City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
larger parking lot so we have better traffic movement within the parking lot. I
don't necessarily want to move the entire parking lot but I want to give you a .4
little more parking lot there. I think in site plan reviews, we'll have all the
you have to meet this code and that code of the Daycare Association but this is
only the first of many hurdles. Site plan review is not going to be much
funner. I don't know, is there any other conditions you think you might want on
there Steve? Basically you can't impose into that 25 foot setback whatsoever in
curbing. That's my motion then.
Councilwoman Dimler: I'll second that.
Councilman Johnson: I'd like to add to that motion to waive the r_equir_ement for
a public hearing. That's going to take a four-fifths vote. Should it be a
separate motion?
Roger Knutson: I would just point out procedurally the difference between
combining them and having them separately. There may be 4 of you who vote to
get it over with tonight. There may only be 3 of you who want to approve.
Councilman Workman: Would you repeat that motion? '
Councilman Johnson: Well, why don't we do this one at a time. First motion is
I move we waive the public hearing requirement.
Councilwoman Dimler: I'll second that.
Councilman Johnson moved, Councilwoman Dimler seconded to waive the public
hearing. All voted in favor except Councilman Boyt who opposed and Councilman
Workman who didn't vote. The motion carried with a vote of 4 to 1.
Roger Knutson: I should point out that there's a rule of procedure that the
Council adopted. If a councilmember is silent when someone is voting, it's a
vote yes. i
Councilman Johnson: I think Tom was still thinking. I don' t want to cut Tom
off because I'll give him the opportunity to vote against it. Okay, that's the
first motion. That passed. We waived our public hearing requirement. Then the
other one will be, the motion will be that we approve the daycare variance where
no parking lot area, sidewalk area, etc. extends into the setbacks that were
established at the time the lot was platted which in the case of the front yard,
which is t',? main setback we're concerned with right now, is 25 feet. In order
to do this, .se's going to have to remove 2 parking spots. It looks like.
Further consideration be given to maximizing the size of the parking lot by
moving it to the north, if my interpretation of the zoning ordinance is correct
and they can go zero lot line by the old zoning ordinance. By the new zoning
ordinance they can but by the old zoning ordinance. I think the new zoning
ordinance is 25 foot. Unless you're sharing a parking lot with your neighbor
which I don't think you're sharing one with the Legion. That's pretty much the
second motion.
Councilwoman Dimler: I'll second that.
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City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
Councilman Boyt: There's discussion. I have a question for you. How many
staff are you going to have in this? Let's assume you're running at maximum.
How many staff?
Gene Peterson: The total potential for 100% would be somewhere between 18 and
20 but the staggering of it, it varies so that you're looking at 8 to 12.
Councilman Boyt: So if you were to have 100 children in the building, how many
' staff would you have?
Gene Peterson: I would rather do it this way if I could on it. The problem
' that you've got on the staff is you're going to ask with a 100 kids and then
you've got to go back in all honesty, what are their ages. Then you run into,
it's 1, if it's a concern, I can get it by ages and give to you and it varies.
' Councilman Boyt: So you're talking 8 to 12 staff?
Gene Peterson: I think you're safe all the time that you'd be looking at 8 to
' 12 if you had 100% capacity.
Councilman Boyt: You're talking 100% capacity now just for a second so we're
talking 100 kids. We've got 8 parking spots available because we've got 8 staff
' minimum and we might have 4 parking spots. That means 4 parking spots. 1 per
25 children. I would guess that they're probably going to be picked up in
roughly a fixed time frame. I think one of the biggest risks we run in a
daycare is we get some kid hit in the parking lot. I think Jay that we're
111 reducing the wrong thing when we reduce the size of the parking lot and leave
the size of the building. Especially leaving it 1,600 feet bigger than the City
ever even remotely approved. If you accept the $4,000.00 as being a ballpark
idea of what might go on that lot at some time.
Councilman Johnson: It wasn't an approved idea.
Councilman Boyt: But it was kind of, well yes, we can understand how you can
put up to 4,000 square feet on that property. We've now got 5,600 square feet
' on the property. I would suggest to you that it's simply too big and the wrong
use for that piece of property, especially when we look at reducing the size of
the parking lot so we end up with a potential to have a situation where even if
we had 8 spots, we're now talking 1 spot for every 12 children.
Gene Peterson: One thing you should be aware of on the children is that might
help you on this decision. It's something that might help you is that one of
' the things that are stipulation in the daycare, major daycares. ..daycares is,
that children have to be brought, when they sign to bring the daycare in.. .,
when the chi.id is brought, that the parents have to bring them to the door.
Another thing is, a child can not go off the floor without being given to the
' parents. The safety factor has been established and even though you have
parking, I'm not saying what you're trying to accomplish isn't right or wrong.
What I'm saying is, I think they've eliminated the fear factor of the pick-up
and delivery as far as safety to the children.
Councilman Boyt: You're telling me that more adults are going to be coming in
to get those children and my fear isn't that the wrong adult gets the wrong
child. It's that once they get in the parking lot, there's enough cars moving
' 51
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around there to complicate the issue.
Mayor Chmiel: Mr. Peterson, let me ask you a question. With all your C
facilities, how many accidents have you had within your parking lots? 4'
Gene Peterson: None. In all the time that I have been in the daycares that I
have been involved in the Twin Cities, we have not had an accident of any child
that I'm aware of. That does not say that there has been one that has not been
reported. I'm not always posted but as far as I know, and I would be glad to
check with the 4 majors that I've been involved with and ask them specifically
to correct myself if I'm wrong. But to date I have not seen. We've had
accidents but they have nothing to do with the parking and there have been other
factors... In St. Paul there was a child lost...but I have not, in all my time,
in the 14 years in my daycare association, whether it be in California or
anywhere, I have not run into a parking accident. I think you've got as good a
one to use as a comparison, and I'll go back and tell you this. Rainbow, and
that's double the size. We'r_e talking a bigger daycare over there and we have
16 parking spots. Then we run into this transit deal. We didn't have a
problem. We have not had, honestly I'm telling you, the only problem that I can
tell you on parking that we have had is we will run into on special deals, on
pick-up and drop-offs. We will run into a back-up there out onto the street.
You would have that problem though. ..because of the way the configuration is. I
will tell you this, that has happened. It has not been a big problem but we did
run into that. The funny part of it is, the ones we run into it, were not the
ones with the smaller parking. They happened to be where we had ample
parking.. .
Councilman Boyt: I'd just like to finish my comment that daycare is a unique
use. We're talking about preschool aged kids many times. We'r_e talking about
the most valuable resource a parent's got and I think the City should not be
granting variances to put a daycare in. If there's one thing that ought to meet
all the codes, it should be that kind of use.
Gene Peterson: Are we. ..the way the Code is asking here before we do it? The '
variances are being based on the old zoning ordinance? That's the way I
interpretted it. Is that not true?
Councilman Johnson: The reason we changed the zoning ordinance is because it
was not adequate. It did not meet the requirements of modern day life.
Gene Peterson: I stand to be corrected. '
Councilman orkman: I guess I'd precer not to see Jay's suggestion in moving
that parking lot to the north. ,
Councilman Johnson: That's only to be studied.
Councilman Workman: Are we leaving this at a study stage to come back to us?
Councilman Johnson: On the parking lot to the north, we still have the site
plan to review.
Mayor Chmiel: Right, the site plan will have to come back.
52 '
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989 -.-
Councilman Johnson: Say look at the advantages of moving it to the north.
Actually Bill's arguments, when he starts talking putting 12 in there, 16. I
can see how we can get 17 slots in there now. That leaves only 5 for drop off
and pick-up. The chances of having only 5 people in there at any one time are
slim. I'm leaning towards voting against my own motion. It won't be the first
time. That's why we have discussions.
Councilman Workman: I guess maybe that's part of my problem. We're being asked
to give and give. How far are we willing to go with shrinking the daycare to
whatever?
Gene Peterson: The peak of the building, let me tell you where you're at as far
as the. . .bui.lding. It has nothing to do with what you can.. .buildi.ng. Then
you're back.. . In other words, the problem you run into with the playground
costs and that, it becomes an economic profit review.
' Councilman Workman: Are you saying you can't make money?
Gene Peterson: A 100 unit daycare has become the realistic approach to do it.
If you were to say, and I'm not using this. ..I'm just answering the question. If
you were to have to cut down the building, what I'd have to look at immediately
is the performance schedule to see if it works. I'm not saying it's not
possible to do. I'm saying to you that the chances are possibly then that it
' will be.. .to move it to a better site 3s all I'm trying to say. We have cut
this down already from our normal size of over 6,000. If you were to cut it
down to fit the lot, and I'm not saying if you make that, then we would go back
in on the basis of however you do it here and see if it's feasible. But it
would be my quick judgment that you cut down the size of the building.. .and I'm
sorry Pat but I would have to look at possibly another site.
' Councilman Workman: Is tner_e a possibility of a two story daycare center?
Gene Peterson: No. From a safety factor. . .
Councilman Workman: Could you sink one floor lower and have a circling ramp or
something?
Gene Peterson: Then I better go get another lot. In other words, I'm not
saying if you go to a smaller building. I don't want to get into that position.
I'm saying that I would turn it down. I would just have to review and see if
it's feasible and come back and say it's not workable to buy the lot at that
stage. I'm coming now the way that you're asking for the variance and that,
it's workable for us but that's very selfish on my part. That I'm not asking
' you to do. I'm asking for a variance based on what it is. That's what we are
saying is feasible to do. But if you want a smaller building, I won't tell you
that it couldn't be done. We would have to do a performa and it might be that
' the performa would say, there's such a
y, potential for daycare out here, as to the
size, we may be defeating ourselves. It was a feeling that the location and
many of the factors that we. .reshash it, it's getting late and having sat on
both ends of it here, I hear where you're coming from. I don't want to get into
the position of whether it is right or wrong. I'm trying to give you as much as
I could as to where we were at in a daycare. I've tried to answer the parking
and that. Not q uestion you as to be tried fairly as I could to you to say that
I think you're worried about the parking is more than you need to be. That's
53
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City Council Meeting - 'March 27, 1989
all I was trying to establish. From my experience of having a variation at
various locations, that that's not a safety problem and that's not a problem.
As to whether it's a problem on your variance, that's something you have. You
run your city. I'm looking at a profitable business. I'm good hearted but not
that good hearted so I mean, I'm in it for a business. I don't want to deceive
you by no means on it. I'm looking at this as a profit but I think some of your
worries about the safety that the gentleman on the end here has, I can only tell
you from my experience that's not a problem and it's not one that we have had
that I think you're concerned. As to whether the building is too big or not, I
that's your decision. Would I go along with it if you cut it down? I can't
answer that right now until I do a performa as to what the costs are. The
suggestions that he made on your old zoning are workable. Something I think you
should think about that has become very prominent now in development. I not
only do daycares, I do several other things, we invest in a few, is with the
realistic of specifying compact cars as well as big cars. I think that's
something that you can work when you start talking about your parking that has
become nationwide in trying to come up with not putting all big parking spots
but specify compact. That's something you might take into consideration to
accomplish more parking because what is it today, 65% or 75% of the cars today I
believe are compacts or something. So the need of the parking that we're
showing sometimes can be accomplishing something that would satisfy your. ..and
the variances that you're talking about. I've had zonings come up now in the
daycare where it specifies so many compact and so many other. If that helps
you.
Mayor Chmiel: It's been so long I've almost forgot what it was but I'm sure we I
have it down. We have a motion on the floor. 6+;e have a second.
Councilman Johnson moved, Councilwoman Dimler seconded to approve the variance
request for Lot 1, Block 1, Hidden Valley, Blue Circle Investment Company but
that no parking lot area, sidewalk area, etc. extends into the setbacks that
were established at the time the lot was platted and that further consideration
be given to maximizing the size of the parking lot by moving it to the north.
Mayor Chmiel, Councilman Workman and Councilwoman Di.mler voted in favor.
Councilman Boyt and Councilman Johnson voted against the motion and the motion
carried with a vote of 3 to 2.
Gene Peterson: Let me say this to you, if you will basically work with your I
planner an' you staff, each one of you and put any directive ideas or concerns
you have.. .and mostly with you to come up with... I want to thank you for your
time. 1
APPOINTMENT TO PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION. I
Lori. Si.etsema: Everything is pretty straight forward. In the staff report the
Park and Recreation Commission has recommended that the position that Carol
Watson has just vacated, they've recommended that you consider the last two
finalists of the last set of interviewed people. The criteria was that we were
to send two people to you per position and since there are still those two
finalists, they'd ask you to consider them rather than to go through the whole
interview process all over because that is very time consuming.
54
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City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
Mayor_ Chmiel: I think we have the applications here as well, of all the
applicants and I think we've gone through the review process as well so we know
pretty much what was there. I think that the total numbers that we have are to
be considered and I think not just the last two but all of them should be still
looked at to come up with a conclusion as to who we should have. Do I have a
motion?
Councilwoman Dimler: I have a nomination Mr. Mayor, if that would be in order.
I appreciate the Park and Rec's recommendations but I have another concern. I
think they're all excellent candidates and I'm going to place a nomination, the
name of Jan Lash for the following reason. I prefer to replace a woman
commissioner_ with a woman commissioner. The balance that consists on the
commission now is that we have 4 men and 3 women and I would like to see that
balance maintained rather than going to 5 men and 2 women. And the 2 candidates
that the Park and Recreation recommended were both male and that is the reason
' that I'm placing the name of Jan Lash into nomination.
Councilman Johnson: I'd like to nominate Wes Dunsmore, if we're doing
' nominations then. Or do we need a second?
Mayor Chmiel: Yes.
' Councilman Workman: I guess I'll second Ursula's Jan Lash.
_ Councilman Boyt: Well good, I'll second Wes Dunsmore. That ought to make for
II discussion.
Councilman Johnson: I think Wes' experience in being an urban park worker, much
1 as Mr_. Schroers experience at being a rural or nature type park employee. He's
an employee of Hennepin Park preserve system. Works out at Carver Park I
believe. I'm not sure exactly which park he works at but he's really been
instrumental in a lot of the decisions that the Park and Rec board has made on
your nature type parks. I think Wes, being experienced in urban park planning
and maintenance in the specific issues of urban parks, would be an invaluable
resource that we should not let go. I thought Carol was a very good resource in
' her years of experience in planning and zoning things. I was sad to see her
leave but I think we need to replace her with somebody with a lot more
experience. Now Jan, I know her from soccer and whatever and is interested in
the kids and kids sports and all that and has that kind of interest and I think
' that's good but I'm swayed by Wes Dunsmore's experience. I really like Mike
Schroeder too. This one, I sat on the phone with Lori for a long time trying to
get her to say something that would convince between Wes and Mike Schroeder and
unfortunately she never did. So up until 5 minutes ago, I hadn't decided which
one of those two I was going to nominate but I think I've come down to the
technical expertise that Wes has that we' ll be able to utilize in this city
' without having to pay for the consultant fee is invaluable. It's valuable. It
would be $60.001 an hour without it. There's my argument for Wes.
Mayor Chmiel: I guess I looked at what you're saying Jay too. It'd be two
people from that south end but yet there'd be no one up within our area is what
I'm looking at too.
Councilman Johnson: That's why I was looking at Mike because he's in the Carver
I Beach area that's not well represented either but you do have Schroers who is
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Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
right across the street. He uses Greenwood Shores Park. He is up in your area.
He's the first house in on Carver Beach Road across the street from you so your
area is represented.
Councilman Boyt: I believe that when we interviewed these candidates, as I
recall the discussion, we were impressed by all three. Wes Dunmore has a
superintendent of parks for the city of Eden Prairie, our neighbor. Wes has
attended I think every regular Park and Rec meeting since his interview with us
if not before that so he's dedicated to the thing I gather. But with that
expertise, I don't think that two people from south Chanhassen is overloading
the Park and Rec with south Chanhassen people. Especially since we're going to
be locating a quarter of a million dollar park in south Chanhassen. This is an
advisory body. I guess we could almost put anybody on. I'd just really like to
have the expertise that we get when we have someone that works with these
problems every day.
Councilwoman Dimler: I have a comment to back up my nominee and that is that, I
have liked her statement that said that she's willing to look into the future,
listen to people and have realistic expectations and ideas and someone w'no's
willing to take direction from the Council and from citizens. And I guess when
we met earlier today with Park and Rec, that was one of my main concerns is that
the commission recognize it's purpose and that is to make recommendations. Also
to take direction from Council and to feel free to call me and get my input
before we get together or have it come up as a surprise and I feel that Jan
would do that. She'll also listen to the citizens and take their concerns into
consideration.
Mayor Chmiel: I would almost have tendencies to go along with Jan only because
of some of the things that she does have in here so I would probably, I would
cast my vote for Jan. Being that we have a motion on the floor.
Councilman Boyt: We don't have a motion on the floor.
Councilwoman Dimler: We have two nominations. ,
Councilman Johnson: This body has not interviewed Jan yet. We've interviewed
the other candidates and we've made it a policy to interview all candidates. So
it sounds like what we want to do is reopen interviews then. If you'd like to
bring a new. ..
Councilwoman Dimler: I forgot because I was at the interview when she was ,
before the Park and Rec.
Mayor Chmiel: I was there also. We can go one or two ways. Either go by the 1
way that Jay is requesting or we can proceed and vote for the appointment.
Either or. What's the pleasure.
Councilwoman Dimler: Well maybe I would make a motion that we waive the ,
requirement to be interviewed at this point.
Councilman Johnson: It's not a rule. It's just something we decided we would 1
do.
56 1
City Council =-sting - ;March 27, 1989 .,
IICouncilman Bcyn: I think it's a good thing to do. To interview and I would be
opposed to apc,:i.nting anyone without interviewing them.
Mayor Chmiel: : guess I'd been at those interviews too at the time.
ICouncilman Boyn: Well I wasn't.
Mayor Chmiel: I know. Two of you weren't. Were you at them Tom?
IICouncilman Wor(man: At the Park and Rec, no.
Mayor Chmiel : Okay, 3. Let's do that. Let's have an interview Lori of Jan and
II Wes.
Councilman Johnson: Should we bring Mike in again?
II Mayor Chmiel: I think we should. And Mike Schroeder. And we could have that,
when do you meet, tomorrow?
IILori Si.etsema: Yes.
Mayor Chmiel: That's the availability for tomorrow?
IICouncilman Bo r_: I'm gone. I'll be back on Friday.
Mayor Chmiel: :;hat does it look like if we were to do this on Friday?
Councilman Johnson: I'm not sure if I'm going to be 'back in town on Friday. I'm
going out of town on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday is the pivotal day. If
II I'm through on Thursday I come back Friday. If not, I won't be here. I can't
guarantee this Friday.
1 Councilman Boy=: Will you be here on Saturday.
Councilman Johnson: Saturday I can guarantee.
IICouncilman Wor than: Saturday is out.
Mayor Chmiel: Okay, how about Monday?
tCouncilman Boyt: I'm gone all next week.
Councilman Wor_.unan: Saturday morning?
Councilman Boyt: I can do it Saturday morning.
ICouncilman Johnson: I can do it Saturday morning.
Councilwoman Dimler: The first you're talking about?
4 Mayor Chmiel: Yes. And no April's fools either. [how about 9:00 a.m.?
Councilman Johnson moved, Councilwoman Dimler seconded to table action until
ISaturday morning, April 1, 1989 at 9:00 a.m.. All voted in favor.
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City Council Meeting - `-larch 27, 1989
CONSIDER HIRING ONE FULL-TIME BUILDING INSPECTOR AND ONE FULL-TIME MECHANICAL
INSPECTOR. I
Councilman Boyt: I move approval.
Councilman Johnson: I'll second that.
Jim Chaffee: Mr. Mayor, as you are aware and I think most other members of the
Council, we've been looking at the necessity for additional help in the
inspection department for pretty much 2 months now. We were caught in late
February not being able to fulfill our requirements to the developers, to the
homeowners in completing inspections in a timely manner. We wanted to be sure
that we knew what we were doing when we started the research into what our
requirements need be in the inspection department. You are aware, we met with
various builders, realtors in the area and they expressed their concerns about
the fact that it was winter and we weren't able to keep up when it was supposed
to be a slow period. We looked at the needs, the growth that are occurring in
the City of Chanhassen right now and quite frankly, we are not able in the
inspection department to keep up with the growth that is occurring. I think the
report was pretty much self explanatory as Councilman Johnson said at the
beginning of the meeting. It's a lot of information packed into a very small
report. I would like to dispense with most of it if I can and get down to the
recommendations and I' ll just throw up a quick graph on the overhead that pretty
much highlights what we're trying to do. If any councilmembers have questions
on the graph, I do have the building inspector and the mechanical inspector
here. This graph is as a result of the building inspector Steve Kirchman's
work. It explains, pretty much the dark area or the number of inspectors from
1979 to estimated in 1989. In about 1986, 1987 we reached a point of 3
inspectors but you can sea the number of inspections just skyrocketed so what 2
inspectors were doing here, 3 inspectors were doing here for this amount of
inspections, it just went up almost explanationally. That graph pretty much
highlights it. You might have seen that graph in a couple of newspaper articles
in recent weeks. I'll just leave that up there. I'll get right to the
recommendations. Quite simply they are to hire one building inspector, one
mechanical inspector with support vehicles and support personnel. I think
that's pretty much it in a nutshell. I'd entertain any questions from the
Council and again, I have the building inspector and the mechanical inspector
here to assist me.
Mayor Chmi.el: We already have a motion on the floor. I just have one point of ,
discussion. : sort .f agree with w it :e 3 ._r_e. --1-t_ you're saying ,u-ld
I'd just like to clarify this that similar to the approval one year ago, the
inspector's proposed to be employed would be informed that their positions are
being paid solely by the additional building revenues anticipated in 1989. That
any reduction in those revenues would require reduction in inspector services.
Jim Chaffee: That is correct.
Councilwoman Dimler: I've talked to Jim about this and I'm certainly in favor
of keeping up and helping everyone out but I do have a question here. Now you
just said something about having auxilli.ary personnel or what did you say?
Councilman Boyt: Clerical.
58 1
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City Council Meeting - March 27, i939
- '
Councilwoman Dimler: To help them?
Jim Chaffee: Yes. Support personnel , yes.
Councilwoman Dimler: Then my other question was the two vehicles. Although
I can see a need for them, because this is a non-budgeted item and we have to
adjust the budget for 1989 for it, I was wondering if we couldn't cut just a
little bit and is it a possibility that they drive their own vehicles and then
we reimburse them for gas and mileage?
Councilman Boyt: That's not a savings.
Don Ashworth: I honestly do not think the City would save anything in that.
Councilwoman Dimler: I'm asking a question. Also, then on the numbers where
you know, I was a little bit confused here. You're using these numbers to
indicate the need and the total numbers for 1987, how many inspectors did we
have in 1987?
Jim Chaffee: Are you looking at building permit totals in new residential?
79-88?
Councilwoman Dimler: Yes. I just can't see that drastic of an increase. When
I did the numbers, I totaled all the new construction and it was 329 in 1987 and
373 in 1988 and that's only an increase of 13%. If you were using the numbers
to justify your need, I guess I don't see it.
Mayor Chmiel: You don' t have the coirner_cIal buildings on there do you?
' Jim Chaffee: Right. And the numbers that we're using to justify our needs are
the numbers of inspections that are done and permits issued. Not evaluation.
I think that's what you're getting at isn't it?
Councilwoman Dimler: Yes.
Jim Chaffee: Yes, it's the number of inspections that we actually do have
skyrocketed. Not necessarily the evaluation of the construction that is
occurring.
' Councilwoman Dimler: Those c,ere my only two questions.
Mayor_ Chmiel: Any other questions?
' Councilman Boyt: Only that we're probably being too conservative.
Mayor Chmiel: I think we probably are but we're going to have to see where
we're going with th economy that's coming in. The situation that's happening, I
know we have to do something.
Councilman Boyt: I would make the other point that I think we discussed this at
other budget meetings in previous years but the City has got to get out of the
business of directing building permit fees into the general fund. You just
can't do that anymore. We've got these on the backs of the building inspectors
ride a good bit of the funding of the City as a whole. It's not designed to
' 59
OIty Counc i 1 Meeting - March 27, 1989
work that way and that's why we have a problem right now.
Councilman Johnson: We're doing, this particular thing is a fee for service and
people are paying the fees and I don't think they're quite getting the service
yet.
Resolution #89-46: Councilman Boyt moved, Councilman Johnson seconded to
approve the hiring of two additional full-time inspectors (one mechanical and
one building) and to amend the 1989 budget, Fund 125-4010, Personal Services in
the amount of $52,000.00. In addition, Fund 209-4704 should be amended to
include two inspection vehicles (4 wheel drive) in the amount of $32,000.00.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS: CURBSIDE RECYCLING, ASST. CITY PLANNER.
Jo Ann Olsen: At the last minute Mr. Gnade pulled out of his bid to do the
curbside recycling and it was for personal reasons. His wife became ill. Waste
Mangement Inc. has stated that they can still provide the service. It's 87
cents per household per month and it would be through the end of December, 1989
and it comes to around $24,000.00 to $25,000.00. It's still within what is
budgeted. Staff is recommending that the City Council accept their bid. They
are also willing to provide, they will not be able to start the service until
May 1st but they are going to provide a special pick-up in April on Saturday on
the 15th, April 15th, to allow the people who have been collecting items since
December to get rid of them. We are recommending that you accept that bid. I I
think it will work out.
Mayor Obmiel: Have we had any discussions with any others like SuperCycle or
any?
Jo Ann Olsen: I have gotten letters back from like BFI and they're just not
interested in the bid. I think it's because it's such a short term. '
Mayor Chmiel: Yes, one year period.
(A tape change occured at this point.)
Councilman Johnson: So we still have to supply our own containers? It's not
like some of the other places where you've got the little thing with the slots?
Jo Ann Olsen: The City usually has to purcnase those to do that or else you
have to pay a lot more for than to provide that so we'll look into that for next '
year.
Councilman Johnson: I certainly hope the newspaper, since we had a front page
article and people are ready to start throwing them out there, we get as good of
coverage on oops, it didn't happen. My wife was very excited to read about
this. I move we approve.
Councilman Workman: Second.
60 1
City Council Meetin,7 - 'March 27, 1989
Councilman Johnson moved, Councilman Workman seconded to accept the bid for
curbside recycling from Waste Management, Inc. at 87 cents per household per
month. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS:
Mayor Chmiel: Bill. Purchase property next to Lake Ann.
Councilman Boyt: Okay. Well, there's been some discussion about this in the
past so I am going to, I recognize that unless we suspend our rules, all I'm
proposing is that we put this on the next agenda. I would actually suggest that
this might well be worth suspending our rules and going ahead and passing the
motion. I would move that the City Council begin preparing, or the City begin
preparing for the purchase of the property located to the east of the existing
' Lake Ann Park property. I think we should contact the school district and we
should contact the HRA. This is a piece of property that needs to be developed
to the best benefit of the citizens of Chanhassen and to do that, the City needs
' to purchase it. As part of that, I think the City should prepare some sort of
survey to find out if we're going to be supported by the rest of the residents
in it's purchase request. That survey could take place between now and April
10th so we know how we stand. The survey would cost somewhere in the
neighbc :nood of $700.00 to conduct and would be done througn the mail but I
think we need to know. There might be other possibilities but I think this is
one that's actually conceiveable. The City could pull this off and it would be,
' from an economic standpoint, well worth considering.
Councilman Johnson: Bill, the reason I mentioned earlier what side of Lake Ann,
' I think we ought to be looking at the west side of Lake Ann also. We'r_e talking
currently we're seeing what's happening in our search for property on the south
side of town. What's happening to property value right now. We're looking at
unsewered land on the west side of Lake Ann that also would be fitting once
' sewer gets there which may be now, maybe a little while from now. I foresee the
possibility of saying, taking 174 acres and change it to one building site.
Dear Met Council, can we transfer some of this unused sewer capability, this 174
acres to this property on the west side? And now for a quarter of the cost,
we've achieved the same purpose. We've achieved a site for a school. We've
achieved a site for a community center and achieved a site for extension of Lake
Ann Park at probably a quarter of the cost that it would cost to buy the land
now. Because we're buying unsewered land and then trying to put sewer into it.
We'll probably have to n:y $6,000.00-$7,000.00 an acre for that land because I'm
sure the people owning it believe that they will get sewer right away, in the
next movement of sewer and we can see, I don't think you were at the last Park
and Rec meeting when Al discussed properties and what's happening in the
unsewered area. They've gone from $3,000.00 to $6,500.00 an acre in the last 3
or 4 years.
Councilman Boyt: Jay, I don' t think it's that's easy to take sewer away from
somebody so I would suggest that the place that the City can develop the best,
get the biggest economic return and granted, it does take a substantial
investment to do that but the opportunity for return is immense. I think we
have a pretty good chance that we could sell this and run a combination of
II situations between the HRA, the school district and the City and purchase that
piece of property.
61
bie y)
City Council Meeting - Marco 27, l)39
I
Councilman Workman: And I strongly second that.
Mayor Chmiel: It's been moved and seconded.
Councilman Boyt: Don, I don't know exactly what we're doing with this thing. ,
Mayor Chmiel: Well we've got to go somewhere with it.
Councilman Johnson: What are we looking for? What is the purpose of the t
purchase? To buy land for the schools or what?
Councilman Boyt: Hang on a minute. What I'm trying to get in is a procedural
point and then you can discuss it. What I'd like to see us do is suspend our
rules and make this a motion and get staff acting on it so we've got some
information to respond to by April 10th. So I guess my first motion would be,
that the City Council suspend it's rules and agree that we can approve a motion
off the Council Presentations.
Councilman Johnson: Second. ,
Councilman Boyt moved, Councilman Johnson seconded to suspect the City Council '
rules of procedure to approve a motion off the Council Presentations. All voted
in favor and the motion carried.
Councilman Boyt: my second motion would be that we direct staff to, and this
hi '
ti
may need some work but I would say that we direct staff to survey the community
about their support for the purchase of the property east of Lake Ann. '
Councilman Workman: Second.
Councilman Johnson: Will that survey include indicating during that, what the
affect on their tax rates will be?
Councilman Boyt: Oh definitely. I
Councilman Johnson: So you're going to say, if you have a $100,000.00 home, we
estimate it's going to be between $100.00 and $200.00 or whatever dollars and if
it's $150,000.00, we'll have that information for them during the survey? Okay.
Councilman Boyt: I think we need to give than something so they can react to it. '
Councilman Johnson: Can we expand it to looking, there seems to be a real need
for additional parkland, additional school land. I would like to not only look
at one site. If we are looking at this, we should look at available sites for
these options so there's more sites available that we should be looking at
because quite frankly, our chances of getting a willing seller in this are very
slim. We can have a willing buyer but we're not going to have a willing seller. ,
Now obviously there's a need for future park, future coinuni.ty center, future
school land and we're saying there's that need by making this motion, is the way
I'm interpreting your, unless there's a different purpose for your motion. Do
we come straight forward and say what the purpose is or do we say that we have a
62 I
"y
1
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
critical need for a community center, school and parkland? If so, we should
3 � /
look at all available sites and see what is the most economically viable site
III for the citizens of Chanhassen. It's almost 5 million dollars.
Councilwoman Dimler: Are you talking about just, is there only one owner of
that land? There's not multiple owners?
Councilman Boyt: What I'm proposing Jay is that this is in fact a sewered piece
of property. To my knowledge the largest sewered piece of property available in
the city and because it's sewered, it has unique possibilities for the City to
develop with. I wouldn't be pursuing this as a piece of parkland. I'd be
pursuing this as a unique sewered piece of property in Chanhassen. How we use
it, probably needs a little closer study. I'm just saying that let's get the
first hurdle out of the way. Are the people willing to pay the price to get it
and is the HRA willing to get involved in this thing? Do we need the school
' district involved in it? I don't know but the key ingredient there I think is
do the residents in the City of Chanhassen, are they willing to accept that sort
of financial tax responsibility in order to make this happen?
Councilman Johnson: Do we have any idea what the price is?
Councilman Boyt: 3 1/2 million and up.
' Councilman Johnson: And up. They've turned down a heck of a lot more than 3
1/2 million.
II i
Mayor Chmiel: How do you know?
Don Ashworth: I don' t know if that's correct. My concern is the turn around
time. Normally when we have talked about any type of surveys and then the data
collection period and who we should use to analyze and what not, we've been into
6 month period of time. Now we're talking about 2 weeks. Staff can do
everything we can and one of the ways we can do that is to keep it simple. If
' it's one question and try to provide some information regarding the potential
taxes and put a postcard with it where a person can send it back just saying yes
or no.
Councilman Boyt: Tell them the date we need it by.
Don Ashworth: Hopefully and then we just start counting.
Counci.L- n Johnson: Now Bill, is this an all or nothing proposition? If the
seller is willing to sell two-thirds of the property, north third and south
third, are we still interested in the property? Because we already said we want
the south third for our pond and that they've already expressed they're willing
to sell. I have inklings from than that they're willing to sell the north third
too.
Councilman Boyt: I don' t want to make it complicated, as Don said. Let's hit
at the heart of the issue.
Councilman Johnson: What is the heart of the issue? I don't think that's been
heard yet.
1 63
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
Councilman Boyt: The heart of the issue is having a piece of property that we
can economically develop. That's the heart of my issue. I don't know what the
heart of anybody elses issue but that's mine.
Councilman Workman: The heart of my issue is that it's not going to be used for
any kind of a tax base in the present form or in the future intended use and
that we ought to use it for our future middle school, high school, community
center, softball fields.
Councilman Johnson: That's still untaxed.
Councilman Workman: Nothing gained, nothing lost.
Councilman Johnson: In that scenario, you go west and buy the land at a third
of the cost. I can't see wasting the taxpayers money for sewered land for
future ballfields and future uses. We don't need sewered land for ballfields.
Councilman Workman: Middle schools and high schools need sewered land.
Councilman Johnson: That's still a future use. We'r_e not going to be getting a
middle school or high school here in the next couple years.
Councilman Boyt: I would argue that that particular piece of property will '
attract a Rosemount or better that will in fact pay for the whole piece of
property and give the City the economic leverage it needs to develop other parts
of that property. I
Councilman Johnson: Unfortunately it's zoned residential.
Councilman Boyt: Not all of it. t
Councilman Johnson: Yes, all of it. All the way to TN 5.
Councilman Boyt: It can be changed.
Don Ashworth: The City Council previously looked at approving Minnetonka Inc.
for that property. Bill had called earlier today asking the question. Can the
City bond for and come up with enough bonding capacity to purchase that
property? If you look at just your general obligation, remaining debt, that 11 legal margin, I doubt very much we could do it. You're talking about basically
3 million -lollar_s and I sincerely believe that the final price tag will be 4, if
not 5-5 1/2 million dollars. And Bill posed the other question. Can the City
establish an economic development district for that property and would in fact '
that potentially pay itself off? The analogy I used was Rosemount in saying
that's about 60-80 acres. The taxes per year are $905,000.00 per year. That
would be sufficient to basically pay for a 5 to 5 1/2 million dollar site over
let's say a 12-14 year period of time. In other words, you've paid off the
entire site with just that one user. Where people get larger, fine. The big
gamble is will you find another Rosemount out there who is willing to come in
and pay the $905,000.00 per year taxes.
Councilman Johnson: And is that the proper zoning for that?
64 1
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
1
Don Ashworth: And that's the other question. If all of that were to occur,
from what I've heard council members say, I've heard various people say that it
I _ really bothers them that you're going to have a church using 174 acres. 5 to 10
acres of land of some of the most prime property within our community. If you
firmly believe that it would have a higher and better use, the economic
development district route does have the potential of providing a vehicle
whereby the property could be purchased and again using the Rosemount analogy,
taxes generated of anywhere from 1 to 3 million per year from that piece of
'
property. Then again depending on how much of if you use for other purposes.
That scenario does not really work though, while again there's significant risk
in trying to find that type of developer to come on there, because if we don't,
then that means the citizens as a whole will pay that 5 1/2 million dollars.
Councilman Johnson: Plus the people of Greenwood Shores have stated
emphatically that they want residential next door to them.
' Don Ashworth: I don't know if that's totally true. I believe that they had
supported the proposal from Minnetonka Inc. I do not think that Greenwood
' Shores was in opposition to that proposal. I may be wrong. Do you recall of
your neighborhood?
Mayor Chmiel: I don't recall.
Councilman Johnson: Because I know it was from their pressure that we rezone
the entire area from what it was to RSF, R-4 and R-12. Because the bottom used
Ito be commercial, if I remember right. Then as it went up, it got into
residential. I think we ended up with like R-4 up against the existing single
family. We're talking actually slightly before my time when I was involved in
some city work at the time and they changed to where we had single family
residential next to single family residential. Now it makes sense for zoning.
Councilman Boyt: I'd like to ask a question. I think we have, the paper has
' discussed this. I'm sure most of us have thought about this possibility and I'd
like to see us take a vote on whether we're going to move forward with this or
not. Granted there are a lot of issues that need to be worked out but I come
' back that the critical one is, does the coinuunity as a whole want to see us move
in that direction? And we've got to get some feedback to know that.
Councilman Johnson: Okay, but what happens April 10th?
Councilman Boyt: Well April 10th, if we don't have the feedback, then we'll get
more ti.c,e.
' Councilman Johnson: Are you familiar with the correspondence we have that says
until this is approved, they won't entertain any offer?
Councilman Boyt: Sure I am. First step is find out if the community wants us
to move in this direction or not.
Mayor Chmiel: I think the community are the people that will tell us what they
want to do. Either Minnetonka Inc. or have it for either of the things we just
discussed. Jr. High. Sr. High. Community center. Whatever. I think we're
going to have to listen to the voters. What they want.
' 65
,1r
-4,1r5 Council Mooting - March 27, 1989
Councilman Boyt moved, Councilman Workman seconded to direct staff to survey the
community about their support for the purchase of the property east of Lake Ann.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Councilman Workman: The first one was my smoking issue at City hall. It was
brought up I believe in a memo on the administrative packet by Public Safety
Director Jim Chaffee that there was not going to be smoking allowed in the new
addition at City Hall. Being that smoking is a dear topic to my heart, I asked
why we don't have that policy throughout. I understand one of the biggest I
smokers left earlier tonight. She was there. I think I've got most of the
smokers in City Hall pegged and I'm not turning my back on them. I am in fact
not picking on these people individually because for personality reasons other
than smoking is a generally accepted hazard to those who do not smoke and who
have to work within the surroundings of it. I'm just bringing this up to
Council to perhaps, maybe we can generate a no smoking policy or a strict no
smoking policy where smoking can be allowed out of doors or somewhere else.
That's basically where I wanted to leave it.
Don Ashworth: I can put it on the next agenda and let's give the Council some
options.
Councilman Johnson: Let me give you some quick feedback. Honewell has
instituted a no smoking policy. Then they had to roll back from that a little
bit and establish smoking rooms within the building. It is the single largest
waste of time that we have. These people, the smokers now I would say waste a
good hour a day of productive work time that other people then have to take up ,
the slack for, by having that kind of strict poii.cy. I think that there's other
ways to handle it. Ventilation ways. Segregating smokers from the non-smokers
and things like that which is better than a strict, I'm a non-smoker. I don't
Like smoking. I've got allergies. It bothers me but smokers have rights too.
They've a right to kill themselves.
Councilman Workman: But Jay, I'm just bringing up the point and I'.m probably ,
going to hold pretty steadfast on this in that there's no way to pollute half a
room witha cigarette. That's an issue that's been argued and argued and I just
want to bring it up and maybe we can discuss it some more. I know it's getting
late.
Councilman Johnson: Put all the smokers in one room and ventilate it right and
let them smoke each other out.
Councilman ;;orkman: I say we discuss it at the next opportunity. The second
one I have is in regards to the Board of Appeals. At the last Council meeting, '
and let me bring up one other point before I get into this part of it. It was
possibly suggested that two members of the Board of Appeals who do not currently
carry business type, City of Chanhassen cards, perhaps get them since they do go
out to each site and then can knock on a door and say hi, I'm with the City of
Chanhassen and perhaps they don't have to snoop around and they can save
themselves some harr_asement. But the problem perhaps arose at the last meeting
with the variance to the Jessup property on Lake Riley. I guess the issue was
brought to Don and then brought to Roger and we're kind of sitting right there
with it as far as what Council's offical duty was in case of a unanimous
approval of the variance.
66 ,
' City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
Don Ashworth: The opinion was received back from Roger. Mistakingly, it's in
II the very back portion of the packet so I can understand if it was missed but it
is in the adminstr_ati.ve section. It should have been put in with the appeal
itself.
' Councilman Workman: I don't have that. I never saw that. I do not have any of
those. I read everything, I don't have that. It doesn't matter, I guess I'd
like some clarification as to where we have the.. .
rCouncilman Johnson: Any citizen can file an aggrieved citizen and protest it.
We have the same rights of any citizen in the City of Chanhassen. If we
disagree with the unanimous decision of the Board, we, individually can petition
' and say we are aggrieved by contacting Don and then it will come back to the
Council.
' Councilman Boyt: We've handled it I think much quicker than that. We don't
want to delay people and typically, very frequently I'm the person who objects.
When I am, I tell the Board of Adjustment and Appeals and the applicant at the
' time I disagree with this. I'm going to bring it up. We put it on right after
the Consent Agenda. I think we're handling it and I think people who are in the
room at the time realize that it's going to be brought back up.
Councilman Johnson: We're kind of outside of the way we should be handling
these items as far as I've always thought. The Council should not get them, or
actually the Board of Adjustment and Appeals should not be held half an hour
I before the Council. I think it should be held the week before and then after
they make their decision, we can get the written version of their decision to
review at our next council meeting. I always thought that yes, it was awfully
'
convenient for the applicant to do that. I never thought that was a good
procedure.
Willard Johnson: As a member of the Board, I disagree with all of you. I think
we have the power to grant a variance on the unanimous vote and if it's denied
on the unanimous vote, according to the ordinance it takes 10 days written
notice by any person within 500 feet.
' Councilman Johnson: No.
Willard Johnson: It is. I've read it. We'll ask Roger for your interpretation
then. If it isn't questioned by anybody, our vote should stand. On a split
vote, it automatically goes to the Council. I could stand to be corrected but I
believe I'm right. Not that I want to take the power away from the Council. I
' have no part on it. I was overrode by the Council tonight and that don't bother
me a bit because that's the way you wish to go but I'm just saying, if we grant
a variance, it can not be brought up at the Council meeting and denied.
Councilman Johnson: It does not specifically say you have to be within 500
feet. It says any person aggrieved by any decision of the Board including.
Including. That is not saying only. It says including the applicant or any
person owning property or residing within 500 feet of the property. Tnat does
not exclude anybody living 10 miles from the property.
67
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
Willard Johnson: But the Counci 1 can not bring it up that same night. ,
to be in written.
g It has
Councilman Johnson: I don't think it should be brought up that same night.
Councilman Boyt: We'r_e not helping anybody out if we hold than off for 10 days
which then of course becomes at least 2 weeks because the Council isn't going to
meet that often.
Willard Johnson: I just feel if we grant a variance unanimously, I feel that in 1
the past we've done it and I'm not going to argue and belabor this, but in the
past we've always held it to a grant. If we deny it unanimously, I don't see no
reason why the Council can override us on a unanimous one way or the other, or a
split tie. Otherwise, why do we need a Board I guess. That's the way the rest
of the Board feels. I'm not talking for the Mayor because he's new on it but I
and Carol feel that if we're going to go through all this work and go out there
and grant a variance, if it's appealed before the Council and you override us, I
have no qualms on that.
Councilman Boyt: That's what's happening. It's being appealed. '
Willard Johnson: But you can't appeal it within 10 days according to your City
ordinance. I'm not going to belabor this thing any longer.
Councilman Boyt: The ordinance doesn't say we have to wait 10 days to appeal
it?
Willard Johnson: It has to be appealed within 10 days in writing or do read
1
it wrong Roger?
Y g I z�ad
Roger_ Knutson: It says you have to file an appeal within 10 days. You could
file it 5 minutes later. It doesn't say in writing I don't believe.
Willard Johnson: That's just my point.
Councilman Boyt: My problem isn' t that, you guys do your homework and I usually
try to get here to sit in because I can learn a good bit by listening to your
concerns about it. My problem with it is, you don't run for office. I do but I
live with the consequences of your vote. If I live with the consequences, you
know I'm going to want to have a say about it. So that's why I think that the
City Council has to have the ability to review that. As it is, if you pass it
unanimous'__, it's becoming more difficult for us :o override that. A 2 to 2
vote doesn't do it. In fact, a 2 to 2 vote supports it.
Barb Klick: I would just like most of you to consider the April 10th meeting. I
really think that this spot probably will be inadequate and I would like to
consider.. .
Mayor_ Qimi.el: You're looking in at the school Steve?
Steve Hanson: I can.
68 1
City C 7 1 -?ari ne - hir e 27, L_,3
111:1 Mayor Chmiel: I thougnt I discussed that with you and said make sure tact -1e
have it it the school rather than here.
ICouncilman Johnson: The school acoustics is horrible. Is there any other
place? The Dinner Theater doesn't hold anything on Monday nights.
' Mayor Chmiel: That's just going to cost us more money.
Councilman Boyt: It'd or_obably be worth renting a PA system.
Councilman Johnson: Absolutely because the acoustics in there is horrible.
' Mayor_ Chmiel: But this is not going to be large enough to accommodate
everybody. I agree. In fact, I felt that way at the first one. Made that
suggestion that we look at the school.
' Councilman Johnson: If worse comes to worse, we can put TV monitors out there.
TV monitors upstairs. If we can't.
Mayor Chmiel: There's one thing that just came to mind. Don and I had a
discussion just the other day about those appraisals. Don, do you want to bring
' that up? On the appraisals on the adjacent properties.
Don Ashworth: Yes, we nave moved ahead with the appraisal for the abutting
properties. Citizens had asked us about that. We brought it oack with Roger_
and myself and Roger is moving ahead as contract to have that work completed.
This would be the affects of Dckankar potentially back on the residential
properties in the vicinity of the church.
' Councilman Boyt: Did we determine then that teat was actually a defense? We
were going to bring that up in such a fashion, raise those questions in such a
' fashion that if they found out there was an economic impact, that we could in
fact turn it down for that reason? Otherwise, why do it?
Roger Knutson: I explained in a confidential memo to you my thoughts on it and
' I think it would be best if you read it in that fashion.
Councilman Boyt: But we haven't received it.
Roger Knutson: I mailed it to Don.
' Councilman Johnson: I think it was in his pile he's going through today.
Don Ashworth: The secondary issue is really one of where we had ended up with
the Derrick land purchase. There's a lot of questions by citizens as to the
reasonableness. In fact I believe that was even of Roger's recommendation on
that issue. At that point in time we did look to a second legal opinion as to
what options the City may have open to then. Again, where the issue has been
quite controversial, the Council has looked to again a second opinion in that
area. Again, I would use the Derrick land where we went into Lotus Lake
Homeowners Association where we were into again the basis for that was just so
f that Council members could basically say, when asked by citizens, we have asked
' two different firms for opinions as to what it is that you can legally can do as
City Council Meeting - March 27, 1989
far_ as approving or denying. Then in one case we received this or in both ca ,
ses
we received this or whatever the case may be. Again, I do not know if you
would want to look to something similar. If you were, I would probably go back
to the LeFever firm and maybe pose some of the same questions that have already
been asked.
Mr. Kurvers: I'd like to say a little bit about over the weekend our property
has been flooded by Colonial Grove by not having a storm sewer. You people,
I don' t know if some of you people here didn't have anything to do with
approving. There's two houses recently been built and the elevation is 3 1/2 to
4 feet higher than the street and at the present time we're collecting about 4
1/2 to 5 1/2 acres of storm drainage through our development. Where there was
supposed to be drainage, there's now a house built so we did call the City and
no one came except Ursula came down and looked and I think Jay, you came down.
Councilman Johnson: I spent time there Sunday and I've been discussing it with '
Gary today. Gary believes he may have a solution.
Mr. Kurvers: Gary does? Well, whatever is going to be done, I'd like to be
part of it because there's definitely a problem there.
Councilman Johnson: There's several problems there including some from your
property.
Mr. Kurvers: There is problems but it has to be solved somehow because whatever
you approve and keep approving it's getting worse. Right now it's just like a
waterfall trying to find a place to go over the street. It gets up high enough
and it comes over the street and it comes down through our property. Like I
say, we're taking at least 5 acres of drainage, which there's a culvert in there
10 inches or 12 inches but the water is coming solid so that's a lot of water.
That's a lot of water and if you look at the contours of the development, that
water is supposed to drain the other way into a wetland that's been filled and
refilled and filling and continuously filling. What they're doing is filling in
a wetland which is a Class A wetland and draining it into our development in
another Class A wetland. What they're doing is building on it and running the
water in ours. Now I don't think that's quite fair.
Councilman Johnson: Actually there was no water flow from their wetlands
towards your property. ,
Mr. Kur_ver_ - : It can' t get out.
Councilman Johnson: Their wetland drains the opposite direction. This area was '
platted in 1959. They made some errors. There was no culvert put underneath
Cheyenne Trail to take the water from your property that is going to the north.
It then turns, comes around down Cheyenne Trail street and then circles in front
of the first house there and comes back to your house. All the property on the
north side of Cheyenne Trail, all the way up to the top of the hill, which used
to drain down Cheyenne Trail and then go into that wetlands, appears to have
switched and now is cutting across the way to your wetlands. Gary and I are
going over several different ideas on how to get that back to the wetland now.
70
' City Counci 1 `?•yeti nn - . . rch 27, 1989 - "
Mr. Kurvers: That's why I wanted to be part of it because there's been many
changes that have taken ?lace which made it worse.
' Councilman Johnson: Including your development.
' Mr. Kurvers: No.
Councilman Johnson: Yes.
Mr. Kurvers: What did we do that changed it? If you can tell me what we did
that changed it?
' Councilman Boyt: I'd like to suggest that Mr. Kurvers and Gary Warren get
together.
' Mayor Chmiel: Right, that you be included in those negotiations.
Mr. Kurvers: That's all I'm asking for.
Councilwoman Dim ler moved, Councilman Boyt seconded to adjourn the meeting. All
voted in favor and the motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at
12:15 a.m..
Submitted by Don Ashworth
ICity Manager
Prepared by Nann Opheim
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CHANHASSEN PLANNING COMMISSION g
I .. REGULAR MEETING
k MARCH 15, 1989
I
Vice Chairman Emmings called the meeting to order at 7 : 35 p.m. .
IMEMBERS PRESENT: Tim Erhart, Ladd Conrad, Annette Ellson, Steve Emmings ,
Brian Batzli , Jim Wildermuth and David Headla
I STAFF PRESENT: Steve Hanson, Planning Director and Jo Ann Olson, Asst.
City Planner
IPUBLIC HEARING:
REPLAT OF LOTS 1 AND 2, BLOCK 2, CHANHASSEN LAKES BUSINESS PARK, 2ND
ADDITION INTO ONE LOT ON PROPERTY ZONED IOP AND LOCATED AT THE NORTHEAST
I
CORNER OF CR 17 AND LAKE DRIVE, AMCON CORPORATION FOR EMPAK, INC.
Jo Ann Olsen presented the staff report on this item.
Vice Chairman Emmings called the public hearing to order .
' Conrad moved, Wildermuth seconded to close the public hearing. All voted
in favor and the motion carried . The public hearing was closed .
Headla: I think the recommendations are appropriate. I think there
I r should be a second condition that the staff recommended . That ' s . . . the
site plan gets approved for this item. In other words , if we don' t
approve. . . then whoever gets it gets the two lots .
IEmmings: So the notion would be if the site plan ' s not approved it would
stay two lots . Otherwise , it would be joined as one.
IWildermuth: I have nothing.
Ellson: It looks pretty good to me.
IConrad: I have no comments . I don ' t know that we need to make it
conditional . Staff , does that make any sense? Conditional in terms of
Ithe site plan being approved. If some owner wants to replat. . .
Headla : I think it makes sense. Why do it when someone else may come in?
IConrad : It' s their right.
Headla : To come in yes .
IConrad : It' s their right to just join properties together .
IHeadla: But I think we want to know what we' re joining and why.
f Conrad : We did . Those two pieces of property.
I Headla: That ' s right. For this company for this reason. I think we
ought to approve it for this reason. Not for some other reason later on
that some other company does it.
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 2
Erhart : I have no comments and I guess regarding the second item, I guess
I don' t see any reason Dave either . If they decide not to build the
building , they probably wouldn' t follow through with this anyway so I
guess I don' t see a reason for a second condition.
Batzli : Is part of the replat issue the easements? Vacation? '
Emmings: No.
Hanson : You don' t act on the vacation. Council acts on that . '
Batzli : I just had one question about that and that was , in the
discussion about Well No. 4 there needs to be access or something, is that
handled by what we' re doing with this piece of property? It says that
they need to have access during construction and something else but do
they need continued access after the development of the property? The
street goes to it? I couldn' t tell where the well was I guess was my
biggest problem.
Olsen : The engineering, when they come out with their plans and specs ,
all that will be determined and if they need an easement or cross
easement, they can be. Right at this time they did not feel that they
needed a utility easement or anything like that.
Batzli : Where is Well No . 4?
Emmings: It' s not on this property is it?
Erhart : It' s on this side here . It' s down by, right there. That little
box there. Where we have all the city parties. It' s actually a public
park and a well building put all together and it ' s used for , the public
can use it.
Batzli : This little block down here?
Erhart: Yes, it ' s cut off at the bottom. '
Batzli : And how else would you get access if it wasn ' t over this
property? '
Hanson : Ultimately we' ll have access off of Lake Drive when that ' s
extended through. But during the interim, Lake Drive won' t be installed.
Batzli : So you' re going to access it via this property and you say
somewhere in one of the conditions that you want access during the
development and construction phase or something? '
( Emmings: Let' s do this on the site plan review. Let' s finish with the
replat . Just remember to bring it up because I think it ' s an important
thing.
Batzli : Okay.
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I Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 3
5
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Olsen : It ' s part of an easement that we are requiring that wouldn ' t
Iaffect the platting at all if that' s what you' re getting at now.
Batzli : Yes , I didn' t know where it should be addressed to be honest with
I you.
Emmings : I don ' t have any comments. I don' t see in your reason to add
the second condition. Right now there are two lots there. These folks
I want to build on both of them. They've got to combine them into one and
if the replat goes through and they don' t build, then whoever comes in
there has to deal with it as a single lot , one large lot and that doesnt'
I bother me. I could see doing it either way and I don ' t really care which
way it goes myself. I don' t see any compelling reason to do it but it
could be done. So is there a motion?
IEllson moved , Conrad seconded that the Planning Commission recommend
approval of Subdivision Request #89-3 to create Lot 1, Block 1 Empak
IAddition as shown on the plat stamped "Received March 1, 1989" with the
following condition:
1. That the applicant receive vacation of the interior drainage and
111 _ utility easements .
All voted in favor except Headla who opposed and the motion carried with a
Ivote of 6 to 1.
IEmmings : And David for the reasons that you stated?
Headla: Yes. I think it ' s appropriate for this person, if they go ahead
with it but if something happens and it defaults and goes to someone
else, I think it should go back to two.
ISITE PLAN REVIEW FOR PHASE I AND PHASE II FOR AN OFFICE/MANUFACTURING/
WAREHOUSE FACILITY ON PROPERTY ZONED IOP, INDUSTRIAL OFFICE PARK AND
LOCATED ON THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF COUNTY ROAD 17 AND LAKE DRIVE, SOUTH OF
IHWY. 5, AMCON CORPORATION FOR EMPAK, INC.
Jo Ann Olsen presented the staff report.
IEmmings: Jo Ann , the Lake Drive, when does that road get built?
Olsen : They' re getting real close to it . I think they' re going to start
Iconstruction this fall .
( Emmings : Okay, so that' s going to be after construction of this?
IFOlsen: They' ll have to get temporary access from Carver County to get
temporary access from County Road 17 .
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 4
Emmings : But there will be a road there , a finished road there this year?
Olsen: It' s supposed to be. Again, you never know when they' re going to
be completed .
Emmi.ngs : Is there a plan?
Olsen: Yes .
Emmings : If it goes according to plan, there will be a road? Lake Drive
East will be there this year?
Olsen : It ' s supposed to be finished this year , yes . That ' s my
understanding.
Erhart : Who builds that? The County? The City?
Olsen: The City is building that. The feasibility study has been
approved and it ' s going to be coming in also with Rosemount so there' s a
lot of pressure to get it installed now. '
Emmi.ngs : This is not a public hearing but the applicants are here anyway
I guess. Do the applicants want to address items in the staff report?
Particular the conditions . Have you read the conditions?
Todd Kristoferson: I 'm Todd Kristoferson. I 'm with Empak for the
applicant and we received a copy of the report last week and since then
we' ve been talking with City Staff, County Staff, Watershed District
regarding some of the conditions that we ' ve got and all of the conditions
we feel that can be worked out with staff between now and the 10th of
April which is the Council meeting . So if there isn ' t anything specific
that you want to ask me, I guess I 'd just like to leave it at that. We
are aware of all these conditions and we feel that they can be worked out .
Emmings: I don' t know what Empak does. Can you tell us what they do?
Todd Kristoferson : Larry Welter here is with Empak and maybe he could
address those.
Larry Welter : Empak is a plastic molding company. Taking plastic residue
and converting it into a product. This facility will be used for molding
bottles .
Emmings : Any comments? Tim? '
Erhart : More comments on the administration than on the site plan itself.
There 's an existing creek running down the eastern portion of this
property, draining to the south and to Lake Susan. What ' s the plan for
the oak trees that surround that creek?
Olsen : I believe right now that that future , they won ' t really be touched
right now. . .
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 5
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II Todd Kri.stoferson: I uess I know where the o
g e t oak trees are from driving by
the site but I 'm not sure exactly where they sit in relation to this phase
Iof the project .
Erhart : It appears from your building that what you ' re currently putting
il up, with the 20 parking spaces. It appears the building you' re currently
putting up won ' t affect existing trees but your plant expansion, I don ' t
know. It ' s hard to tell . It looks like that may or may not affect it.
I might be wrong. Most of the trees may be actually down in this area. Is
II that what it is?
Olsen : This site, has hardly any trees on it . . .
II Erhart : What is the plan to do with the creek? I heard one time that we
were just going to replace it with a culvert.
ITodd Kristoferson: The plan is part of the City' s improvements with the
street and the plan is to replace the creek with a 36 inch storm sewer
that will drain property from the north of the railroad tracks and also
IIpick up the drainage from our project and the street .
Erhart: And our engineering department is making those recommendations?
Todd Kristoferson : Yes .
Wildermuth: I think that ' s the storm sewer plan for the street according
Ito Gary Warren' s letter .
Erhart : We' re eliminating a creek with a culvert . I guess that strikes
Ime as . . .
Wildermuth : Why wouldn' t the DNR comment on that?
IErhart: Creeks are not official wetlands . We learned that about a year
ago here in another subdivision.
II Olsen: It' s protected by the Watershed District and the Watershed
District is also involved with that storm water study.
' Wildermuth: I didn' t see a letter in here from the Watershed District .
Olsen: This project isn ' t. . .
IIErhart : What project do we see where we get to comment on the idea of
turning a creek into a culvert?
IOlsen : I believe it was the downtown storm water . That went before the
Council .
rHanson : About a month or two ago . It was all part of the Lake Drive
improvements and the assessments that were being done for the improvement
of that which also included storm sewer and water and sewer lines along
Lake Drive.
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Planning Commission Meeting 11 March 15, 1989 - Page 6
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Olsen : It ' s always been in that storm water management plan to bring the
water from the downtown area to the pond that' s going to be in the park or
south.
Erhart : Everytime you get rid of wetlands , it ' s always someone ' s plan to
put a house here or industrial building. It ' s the same thought process
that has caused us to allow 80% of our wetlands, loss of wetlands . . . It ' s
really scary that the City are on one hand eliminating wetlands at the
same time have such strict ordinances regarding preservation of wetlands. '
Maybe this is all good common sense and everything but then again, maybe
this is a little one page in the back of a document someplace that no one
really had a chance to look at. Just never really, it got through with
everything else. I sort of heard about this some weeks ago and I guess
I 'd like to maybe , I ' ll let the other commissioners comment but it
disturbs me that we' re doing this. So that ' s my comment on that one.
Administratively, we' ve got 27 conditions on this and I think it seems
like the number of conditions has grown. Like some of these things .
One, and I think I ' ve heard the rest of the commission comment here, I
think it becomes difficult to assess and provide valuable comments to the
Council when it' s difficult to really see what the plan is . For example,
it' s hard to go home and study the landscaping plan when it isn' t there
and then to respond to them at point in front of the camera with just a
comment. So some of these things , aren' t they standards? Maybe they' re
not but like for example, the turn in the roadway shall maintain a minimum
road width and shall be constructed with the minimum radius and 25 feet.
Is that a standard or is that something special to this particular site
plan?
Olsen : It ' s pretty standard . '
Erhart : Parking lot lanes shall have a minimum of 25 feet clear width. Is
that a standard or is that special to this? '
Olsen : That' s the fire , Mark Littfin came in. . .
Batzli : But Tim aren' t these things normally in the other engineering and
staff reviews and we kind of incorporate them by reference and in this
particular one you' ve set them all out? Isn' t that one of the big
differences? '
Olsen: I usually spell out .
Batzli : A lot of times we incorporate by reference. Things like saying '
that it' s from Larry Brown' s memo dated such and such. I agree. We
rarely have 27 conditions .
Olsen: When we got that from the engineering , department we did discuss
i what to do and I did contact the applicant and requested to have something
=�_ in response to a lot of those conditions before we came in front of you .
It was misunderstood that he thought I meant March 27th but anyway, yes a
lot of those are typical and if you don' t want them spelled out , we don' t
need to.
II Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 7
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Emmings : I think when you were gone , you missed something . I think it
II started down here at this end. Dave went on a war path and we all agreed
that there is no sense to having so damn many conditions . There are some
subjects that come up here 3 times in different conditions and it seems to
IIme they could easily have been put under one heading or there could have
been a heading for things that need to be done before it gets to City
Council and those listed as sub things. Have them organized in some way.
As far as, I can' t wait to get to Dave. That's what I started at this
IIend . I 'm saving him for last . As far as this goes , this is the worse one
I think I ' ve ever seen in that regard and I think you kind of missed . . .
II Olsen : No , I heard it. And I totally agree. That ' s something we ' ve been
trying to. . .
Emmings : And you' re going to hear it 7 more times tonight .
IOlsen: I agree that we want to do that. It was just a surprise when we
got that memo from the engineering department . It was a little spread out
II and I couldn' t condense it. I don' t have the reasons .
Emmings : Tim, you' re still on.
II( Erhart : I 'm not going to through it but it seems to me, I marked them at
home, like 9 or 10 of these, it appears they were just standard conditions
that were just restated again. Things like revised plan should be
II submitted for approval that address the conditions and discussion
contained in the staff report. What does that mean? They have to revise
your plans even to your discussion because it says discussion contained in
I the staff report. Even though you might show two sides of an argument ,
they have to show both sides. So anyway, I think we need to shorten these
but I think we need two things . There' s a comment we made previously. We
I need to have plans more closely to finished form which I think is what
Dave has been asking for . Then secondly, if it ' s not , we want to be able
to identify for the Council things that are unique I think in these
conditions . Unique to this particular subdivision if I 'm not wrong
II because I think that ' s what we ' re trying to do is bring up to the Council
special circumstances related to this particular subdivision so they can
think about those when they' re reading their comments. Other than that, I
I think there really isn' t a lot of say about this particular subidivision
other than I guess is it possible to go through what the revised
landscaping plan is at this point? I guess I would be interested in
seeing that but, that ' s the only real thing I had along where the creek
IIwas in the trees.
Conrad : My comments are very similiar . Just out of curiousity, the first
II point says all signage must meet the conditions of the sign ordinance. Do
we have indication that they don' t? So is this communication to the
( people who are doing the project so they pay attention? Is this the right
,f... vehicle to do that?
Olsen : We don ' t have a detailed signage plan.
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 8
Conrad : Okay, so really your comment is , we don' t have the details on the
sign so you can' t make comments until the details are in. Generally, does
this mean that staff hasn' t worked together real closely with the group on
this project or what do the conditions or whatever mean?
Hanson : I think really what it means is , it points up the flaw that we
have in the process that we are operating under . As an example, submittal
date for your next meeting was Monday of this week. In order to set the
agenda for that meeting we have to put public notice in the paper this
Friday. Referrals go out this week. We get the comments back from even
engineering, even departments within the city the week that we write the
staff report . Quite often we write our recommendation and we haven ' t
received comments from the other departments. The way we set it up in the
process is that ' s coming through word processing . We get their comments
and the secretaries essentially trade disks and all the engineering
comments come out under our recommendation. I think in this particular
case, there are several items that come listed out and that' s for a couple
of reasons . It ' s a different person at engineering who reviewed the plans
who' s ever done it before as far as the City so they, I think to their
credit , were very particular about what they did and they noted
everything. I personally believe that that' s very appropriate for them to
do . If the process was massaged a little bit , we would have those
comments, give those to the applicant so they would have time to respond .
As it is now, they' re kind of behind the 8 ball in all honesty to be able
to respond to something. Right now our option is to say to them, if we
can go ahead , because we don' t perceive a lot of the conditions as big
deals, I think they' re agreeable to all of them. A lot of them are fairly
standard items. They' re Code requirements if you will . Engineering
stanards but we don' t want those not to show up in the conditions because
we want to make sure that those are addressed. We would like to see
essentially all of these convered prior to going to Council . On the
signage thing, they haven' t submitted anything as far as a specific
signage for it but also they can get the site plan approved , come back at 11 a point later and file for a sign permit in comformance with the Code so
it ' s not something that necessarily comes back to the Planning Commission
for approval . The reason that we put that condition in there is to make
it clear that they' re not asking for something that ' s out of the ordinary. '
Conrad: How do you want to massage this process? Is there, I agree with
what you' re saying. In this particular case we ' re just hit with so many
but Steve, do you see the proces changing at all?
Ellson : He made a suggestion once before about that committee thing or
whatever. Didn' t you make a suggestion one other time before about a
committee or something? A preliminary thing .
Hanson: What I 'm hoping to do is to get a process put together and bring
it back to the Planning Commission hopefully next month. No promises but
hopefully in that time frame and one of the things I 'm looking at
essentially two alternatives . One is that we move the submittal date back
2 weeks so there' s a time for stuff to get reviewed and you get comments
and then you do a public notice . The other option from doing that is to
leave it the way it is and say, tell the applicant, look we can publish
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11 pPlanning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 9
IIthe notice and we can go ahead , if it ' s not ready, we ' re going to pull it.
If we have to republish then, we may reassess you but that becomes rather
I cumbersome and what I 'd like to do is have a system where they can submit
stuff and if everything ' s complete, we can proceed ahead and if there' s
something that needs to be corrected , we have a means for doing that
I without essentially put out agendas that have items that aren' t fully
complete.
Emmings : Why wouldn' t you just go ahead and do that? What militates
IIagainst doing precisely that? Moving that back 2 weeks .
Olsen : We get a lot of pressure from the applicants that it' s already
Itaking so long.
Hanson : To do that , I would like to have that endorsement. I would like
Ito have the endorsement of the Planning Commission. . .especially people who
have been active in the community in bringing development projects
through. I can guarantee you ' re going to get calls and there' s going to
be complaints until people understand it. On the other hand , we have
II applicants who have never dealt with the process here and find it very
frustrating because they never get any input essentially until Friday
before your meeting .
II f
Conrad : The point is , you should have agreement . When you come here
though you should have pretty much agreement with the applicant except for
where you disagree and that' s where we should kind of come in and have our
Icomments.
Hanson: The other thing I think where there ' s a flaw is , I think we agree
I and they agree that the conditions are appropriate. Where I can see where
you would be nervous is for example on the second one where we ' re talking
about the landscaping and doing some changes to that where you ' re not
I seeing that so essentially you ' re relying on staff to handle that. You
never know.
Conrad : And 1 or 2 is fine . 27 seemed to be , we ' re out of control . Some
IIother specific questions . What is 2 foot continuous screening?
Olsen : The ordinance requires with a berm or screening .
IIConrad: So what is 2 foot continuous?
Ellson : Bushes?
IIConrad: Is that a bush?
II Olsen : Usually it ' s a bush . Usually what they' ve used for screening is
berming but this with the topography here you really couldn' t berm a hill
so they pretty much. . .
IIConrad : Okay, is 50% opacity is that our standard?
Olsen: Yes .
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 10
Conrad : I think one of these things we care about as long as you agree
that they' re alright. Information on where drainage is discharged and the
possible need for a retention pond for wetland pollution and nutrient
loading impacts. What does that mean? That really means drainage and
does it mean that we ' re not comfortable with the drainage?
Olsen: They usually submit calculations that show how much of the roof
drainage there will be or runoff from the site and I believe engineering
just wanted to see those calculations to determine whether or not the pond
to the south is able to handle that or if there should be a pond .
Conrad: So there may be a need for a pond?
Olsen : Which means a drainage easement on the plat.
Conrad: So we ' re not looking at the final thing. So what' s going to City '
Council will be quite a bit different, or a little bit different . Number
24, plans should address the proper movement of pedestrian traffic around
the building and site. ,
Olsen : I asked him on that one and he was discussing showing sidewalks
and things like that and that' s not really. . .
Conrad : We haven ' t done that to anybody else. Now it is an interesting
thing. If we put employees in big buildings, I think there' s validity in
traffic movement or pedestrian movement around but we haven ' t done that to
my knowledge to anybody else so that one, I think you can work with the
applicant on that and figure out what you want to do. On one level , in
the package Jo Ann someplace in here where we show, way towards the back,
the schematic where we show a wetland on the other side of the road . What
kind of wetland is that?
Olsen : I don ' t know if that is a designated wetland . '
Conrad: It may or may not be a designated wetland. If we built a road
over it, would that need a wetland alteration permit? Because we' d force
everybody else to do that.
Olsen : I don ' t know if they. . .
Conrad: I think City Council should know.
Erhart : That whole area down there is intended for park I believe. '
Hanson: Yes .
Erhart : I think the intent is to make that into a ballfield . What it is
is it is cropped. There was agricultural crops on it today but it floods
out frequently.
Olsen : I can check on that . I 'm not sure.
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I Planning Commission Meeting
March 15 , 1989 - Page 11
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IIConrad : Would you check out and see what that is Jo Ann? And I agree
with Tim' s comments on the overall concern with making creeks into
II culverts . We didn' t see it. I 'm concerned like Tim is .
Olsen: We could have, if you want, we could ask Gary Warren to comment on
these plans .
IIConrad : The Chairman can decide what he wants to do.
1 Emmings: I 'm going to appoint a committee to decide what to do and you' re
it.
II Ellson: In general I think the site plan looks fine. I 'm not going to
belabor the point about 27 conditions. I think it' s been discussed enough
and I think we' re going to be dealing with that so I ' ll leave you to Dave.
II Batzli : I agree about the 27 conditions. Enough said on that. The
condition 3 , additional phases or expansion of the site will require a
site plan review. I 'm assuming you ' re talking about the hatched line
IIwhich says plant expansion? I 'm also assuming that if you put that plant
expansion on there, there' s no way that they have the necessary percentage
of impervious to non-impervious .
IVOlsen : I think they show that they still meet it even with that
expansion.
I Batzli : Well they would need additional parking I would assume when they
put that expansion in as well .
I Olsen : That will all be reviewed if they have adequate parking versus the
square footage.
I Batzli : What is the percentage?
Olsen: 70% impervious .
IBatzli : But they say Phase 1, 17% covered by building . Then the 16%
impervious so they' re saying there' s only 33%. Now wait a minute, what is
the total percentage of green space on this baby?
IOlsen: The first phase is the 17% and the 16% .
Batzli : What' s the 3 . 7%? What ' s the difference between impervious
surface and parking area?
Olsen : They usually do the site covered by building and impervious
' surface and you just add those two together . 17% and 16%. Actually I
added them all up. They' re definitely below it now and that' s something
( we would look at in the future.
IrTodd Kristoferson : I guess to answer that I would say that the Phase 2
that ' s shown on there is just to show the intent and the direction of the
building expansion and exactly how that would lay out and exactly how the
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 12
parking would lay out would be designed ned at the time the Phase goes ahead
.. 9 Y 9 2 g
and at that time we'd like to bring it in.
Batzli : For instance, let ' s say you' re going to need a retention pond due
to the water off the roof. About the only place you ' re going to be able
to put it is where your plant expansion goes . If that ' s the case, would
you even want to put up the building? The first phase?
Todd Kristoferson: I would say if we had to put up an 80, 000 square foot
retention pond, no. We probably would look at that very, very seriously
at this point . I 'm assuming that if we need a pond , that we' ll have that
resolved with the Watershed District between now and the Council . I have
talked to Bob Obermeyer at the Watershed District about this site in
general and we are working on our calculations for him. Talked about what
might be needed . It ' s not apparent at this time that any pond at all will
be needed and certainly not one of that size. ,
Conrad : Brian , I think it ' s a good point. Given the fact that there' s,
on the diagram it says that there are a 89 , 600 square feet addition. That
to me would indicate to the applicant that we agree with that and we don' t
think we want to. I don ' t think we want to say anything about agreeing to
the second phase at this point . It' s good to know where they' re going but
I don' t think the approval is the approval or sanctioning an 89 , 000 square
foot addition.
Batzli. : No , and I understand that condition 3 is attempting to say that
we don' t approve of the plant expansion but. . .
Filson : You want to be a little more specific maybe?
Batzli : Maybe. I think it' s very specific on this plan what the
direction and intent of the applicant is and I don' t think, well we
certainly don' t have enough information in front of us to agree to that at
all . Didn ' t we require a recent applicant for roof drainage to have traps
of some kind and things like that coming off the roof?
Olsen : Rosemount, yes . ,
Batzli : Are we requiring these people to do that?
Olsen: No, but Rosemount was directing it right into a wetland and so
that ' s why we had that . It' s something we could add on.
Batzli : This is going into the creek isn' t it? ,
Olsen : I believe it' s going down with the runoff to the south.
Hanson: It' s going into the proposed storm sewer system.
Olsen : Which ends up in the pond and then the lake.
Batzli : Lake Susan?
II Planning Commission Meeting
March 15 , 1989 - Page 13
IIOlsen : It ends up in the pond right north of Lake Susan and then it goes
into the lake. Although Lake Drive East is going to direct everything to
I the east but not on this site . It ' s something you could add . It has a
couple large rooftop and because it was going right to that wetland ,
that ' s why we brought that up. It ' s something that can ' t hurt.
IIBatzli : I guess if in fact the drainage off of the roof is going into the
storm sewer , the storm sewer is going to end up in one of our lakes or
streams. It doesn' t matter to me one way or another whether it' s going
I right into a pond or into the storm sewer. It ' s going to end up in our
water. I would prefer to see that we treat people somewhat equally as
well as I prefer to see them put in the proper strainers or whatever they
I need to do for that. My last question, two questions sorry. One is the
easement again for Well 4 or potential requirement for an easement,
depending on when we build Lake Drive. If you ' re satisfied with condition
II 25 that all we need is access during construction and development, I ' ll be
satisfied but if we don' t know when Lake Drive is going in, I think we may
want to , it' s included not only during construction and development but
thereafter until Lake Drive is constructed . The last thing, construction
II traffic shall not conflict with the City ' s improvement project which is
condition 26 and I assume you mean the improvement project is Lake Drive?
IIHanson: The Lake Drive and the storm sewer and the water in the sewer
: being constructed in the Lake Drive right-of-way.
Batzli : Okay. I guess I would prefer that we say what improvement we ' re
II talking about. Those are my comments and my honest opinion is that I
think we should table the matter .
II Wildermuth: I would definitely like to see a more complete package come
to us with far fewer conditions. I guess I have a coupe of questions for
the applicant . Are you planning any undergroung storage tanks for
II retention of any kind of solvents or washing solution or anything like
that?
Larry Welter : No . Most of the raw products is brought in and how I form
I plastic, it' s stored in outdoor storage tanks and it' s piped into the
building during the manufacturing process and converted directly into the
bottles.
IIWildermuth : So any waste you have is solid waste?
Larry Welter: Right .
IIWildermuth : And it ' s probably reprocessed?
IILarry Welter : Right .
( Wildermuth: How about processed water requirements? Do you have any
rprocessed water? Holding machines generally, are you going to have
heating and cooling , stand alone heating and cooling units for the dies or
are you going to require cooling water?
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15 , 1989 - Page 14
Larry Welter :
y W�lter : The equipment does have, by it ' s cooling water although
most of it is, it' s all recycled to clean water . There' s very little
waste . I
Wildermuth: So you' re not going to have any, you' ll probably have some
processed cooling tower , processed cooling water towers right?
Larry Welter : Correct .
Wildermuth : And those will be the rooftop units? But nothing will go
down the drain?
Larry Welter : Mainly in the sanitary. '
Wildermuth: The water demand will be to make up the processed cooling
water that you lose in the rooftop units? 78 , 000 square feet of factory
space and you' re only going to have 50 people on one shift?
Larry Welter : That ' s the initial phase , yes .
Wildermuth: Yes , for Phase 1. What do you do with all the floor space
with only 50 people on a shift?
Larry Welter : It ' s mainly storage. It takes a lot of room. '
Wildermuth : Your product is bulky? I don' t know if this is an issue that
the applicant has to be concerned with, or if it' s a city issue, but Jo
Ann do we want to look at maintaining a creek where the 36 inch storm
sewer should be going or is that something that the Watershed people
Olsen : That' s out of my hands with planning . I don' t know if that' s
really what the engineering , if that was part of the plan that was
approved by Council . I can look into that and see what the possibility of
changing it. If it has to be there.
Wildermuth : I agree with Tim. It would be a shame with an existing creek
to just put a culvert in and fill the whole area over .
Olsen : But sometimes there' s benefits to that . They' ll say that it ' s
better than what ' s there now. I can check that out.
Wildermuth: It would seem that the creek, it meanders along that lot line
there back and forth. It seems like if it possibly could be redirected ,
that would be preferable to putting a culvert in . I realize that the
applicant probably doesn' t have anything to do with it. That ' s a City
plan . I agree with Brian . I think for the moment this issue should be
tabled until we have a more complete package to look at with about half
the conditions .
Headla : You' re talking about a building construction much like MTS and
Research? You' re talking of building construction much like MTS and
Research just to the east of us in Eden Prairie?
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March 15, 1989 - Page 15
Todd Kristoferson : That would be the double T wall panel?
IHeadla: Pre-cast concrete walls .
II Todd Kristoferson : Maybe we should address that because it' s not entirely
clear on the plan. The main portion of the building , the plant walls
along the sides and the back, would be pre-cast flat panels very similiar
to the McGlynn Bakery building that ' s going up out there. It won' t have
IIthe projected fins like the MTS building .
Headla: You say it will have?
ITodd Kristoferson: It won' t. It will be very si.miliar to the McGlynn
Bakery building .
1 Headla : What color were you going to have the walls? The reason I 'm
asking is we' ve got one white castle now. You have a very nice location
there and it would have a lot of view. Something stark white is going to
Istick out like a sore thumb. That ' s why I ask that question.
Todd Kristoferson : We ' re hesitant to go to a white building for that very
reason. This is the material that would be on the office portion of the
building . It ' s prefi.nished aluminum.
Headla : Pretty consistent with what you have over there now? That color?
IEllson: With the other buildings and stuff you ' re saying?
IIHeadla : Yes . In the industrial park. What about the concrete walls?
Todd Kristoferson: That would be painted a similar color but a lighter
I tone .
Headla : Okay, very good . Thank you. Your injection molding , is that
your business?
ILarry Welter : Yes . Injected and blow molding .
IHeadla: And what are your machines , 15 by 25 feet?
Larry Welter : Yes . Roughly. It varies from among the sizes . That ' s
about average.
I
Headla : And what do you do with the residue of these machines? The
flashing.
ILarry Welter : We reprocess it .
( Headla : You' ll continually reprocess that? Okay.
Wildermuth : Pretty valuable stuff .
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 16
Headla : Okay, the reason I asked some of those q uesti.ons . . .on the number 11
of people you say you' re going to use and you use that to justify the
number of parking spots . The closest I can come is 169 , 000 facility that
has 600 people in it. If I run a ratio of people per square feet, you' re
probably over 3 times the amount of square feet per person which means ,
before I 'd ever say yes, I think you ' ve got a good plan here on parking
spots , I 'd sure what to see some rationale why you only have 50 parking
spots. On the numbers of just common industry, I think you' re way low on
the number of parking spots . If you' ve got rationale for it and you can
point it out, fine. I 'd like to look at those numbers but I think those
numbers have to be available if you ' re going to go that ' s your parking
spots .
Larry Welter : A rough figure that I used for calculating is 10 , 000 square '
feet machine. For instance, with all the machines you have 120, 000 feet
needed for warehouse space to support that production facility. You
figure like a gallon jug and it takes up a lot of space. Maybe it won' t
have too much plastic in it.
Headla : I 'd like to see some documents showing that space. Now that kind
of fits in. I think you' re way, and I 'm no way an expert in your business
but just from what I see in the industry, I think you' re short on parking
lot. The size of parking lot then flows into Brian' s point about you' ve
got runoff on the parking lot . We haven ' t put in skimmers . What are we
dumping into our streams? You' re going to have oil on those parking lot .
You' ve got . . .on these parking lots going into our lakes and streams and
the bigger the parking lot, the more cars , the more it ' s going in which
means we probably should have the skimmer . That ' s why I would like to see
some rationale for that. On why you went so light on that. Then, I think
it' s obscene that the number of deviations that we have. I don ' t think
the Commission is here to judge on a process of how we get there or to
judge on what ' s in front of us . No way would I recommend approval of
this. I think it should be tabled. No way would I recommend approval of
the applicant should provide an amended landscaping which provides the
following. That ' s the stuff that ' s got to come to us before we can even
approve it. I want to see what you' re proposing . I don ' t want to leave
it to just the staff. I see different things about the fire hydrants and
then I 've got a drawing here that shows a possible location of a fire
hydrant. I don' t want to say yes , I 'm going to vote yes for that. I want
to see it on that print and I want to see it documented and then we say
yes, that' s what the fire department agrees to and then we can do it .
Dead-end mains shall not exceed 600 feet in length. If it' s an issue,
then it should have been resolved beforehand. If it isn' t an issue, then
it shouldn' t have been in here but it' s here so I ' ve got to raise the
question. Submittal of revised site plan incorporating the above
conditions prior to consideration by the Council . I want to see all that
stuff before it goes to the Council . Revised plan shall be submitted for
approval that address the conditions and discussions contained in this
staff report. I want to see that. I want to see the erosion control
plan . I don ' t want to leave that to the staff and put all that on them.
They' re our guidance and I want to give them as much strength as possible
and I want you and them to work together and I think you have been but I
want to see you work with each other and get it resolved so when it comes
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II Planning Commission Meeting
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I
IIhere, we' ve just got a couple of issues and maybe it' s disagreements that
we talk about. But we can settle on that and bang, we know exactly what' s
II going to go to the Council . It ' s in crisp form and the Council can look
at it and they can make a very good judgment on it. Right now everything
we' re doing , we' re shoving it onto staff and then it certainly isn ' t crisp
IIto the Council and I don ' t think it' s fair to either one. Determination
of waste water monitoring requirements . What I hear from you, that isn ' t
even an issue but it was put in here so I flagged it and after hearing
you, but it was in here. Access must be maintained for City forces to
II monitor and maintain Well No . 4. That' s got to be resolved before it
comes to the Planning Commission. Not tell the staff to work it our
afterwards .
II Todd Kristoferson : We have agreed to that access .
I Headla : Most of this should have been resolved beforehand so my point,
I ' ve got others but my point is , get that stuff resolved with the staff
before it comes in. I hadn' t even heard of your company until just a
little while ago. Empak, now it ' s come up and I just saw a fellow you
II just hired today away from the company where I have my office. Not my
company. He was happier than heck. He was just grinning from ear to ear
so it must be a pretty good company the way he spoke of it. What you' re
I doing , I think is good . I like to see your building. I like to see you
in here but for the Planning Commission and the Council to make good
judgments , I think we have to have those defined and documented . That ' s
all .
IIWi.ldermuth : I 'd just like to say one thing . Basically I think we' re very
pro business and we certainly want to welcome you to Chanhassen. The
1 project looks like a beautiful project . Your project just kind of got
caught in a little internal conflict here. We ' re not basically critical
of the project at all .
IEmrnings : I am going to belabor the 27 conditions a little bit because it
seems to me that what we ' re getting is, we' re getting planning staff
conditions and then it sounds like you' re getting engineering staff
I conditions and you simply add those on. There' s no synthesis done so we
wind up with conditions that treat , and I think on the fire hydrants , fire
hydrant things appear on 3 separate ones and two of them seem to be very
I similiar to me . When you' ve got , there' s a condition here that says all
driveways should be consistent with the City' s commercial/industrial
standard details . I think somebody else has brought up other ones of that
nature. What the heck else? It ' s like putting in a condition that says ,
II
you' ll obey the law. Unless it' s a problem, unless they' ve designed
something that doesn' t meet the standard so we have to tell them they have
to meet the standard , that should never be necessary it seems .
IIHanson: That ' s why it' s mentioned in here though .
II-
Emmings : Why?
Hanson : Engineering , when they went through, the reason they would have
mentioned that is that they didn ' t find something that met that particular
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 18
p
standard explicitedly.
Emmings : But that' s not giving anybody any information to say that. Then
it seems to me they should say that the plans do not meet the City' s
commercial/industrial standard details and must be redrafted .
Olsen: . . .a lot of that information. 1
Emmings: But then why put it in this report?
Olsen: It' s to let them know. 11
Emmings : That they have to comply with our standards? It isn ' t multiple
choice. They don' t have a choice about that. This almost suggests that
they do . A lot of these , it looks to me like if somebody sat down and
tried to do a little synthesis. You know say, here' s all the points we've
got, let' s group them together so that we cover topics in a group. It
seems to me even going with respect to fire hydrants and watermains , these
things need to be done . With respect to landscaping . He did it under
landscaping. But pull together what engineering has to say with what you
have to say but there' s no way there should be this many. I think tabling
it may be, for the people who spoke for tabling it, all of these things
seem to be things to me that the staff can handle I guess and I don' t want
1 to punish the applicant by delaying them because we don' t like the process
or we don ' t like the way the staff is presenting this stuff or we' d like
it presented in a different way. So until we can get this process
straighten out, maybe we' re going to have to put up with a little bit of
this but I think we should work like crazy to try and get this done
because it' s been a topic ever since you' ve come on the scene Steve. I
think we nailed you the first meeting . 1
Headla : Steve, I think you slid over the important point . We ' re being
asked to approve stuff that we don' t have the definition of what we' re
approving .
Emmings: I think to some extent , most of those things , if they' re
technical , if they' re where trees are going to be located and things like
that , I 'm content to let the staff handle that between now and the Council
myself. I don' t see, if they brought one plan or another with trees here
or there , as long as the staff tells me they've got an adequate number of
trees under our ordinance and so forth.
Wildermuth: We should be concerned with the concept , conceptual things
rather than technicalities .
Emmings : I guess I don' t think it' s worth delaying them 2 weeks so that I
should decide they should move a tree. I 'm going to let the staff, and
there may be more significant issues in here.
Headla: I think you hit trivial with those things . I think those are . . .
Signage. I 'd like to know what they've got in mind for signage. I think
that' s very important.
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II Planning Commission Meeting
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IIWildermuth : That should be part of the package.
IHeadla: I don' t want to see that go to Council without seeing what , just
a concept . I 'm not asking for detail .
I Emmings: You said you store things outside in tanks? Where are those on
the plan?
Larry Welter : They' re on the north side of the building and the east
Icorner .
Emmings : All those little round circles you see there? Okay.
IWildermuth: What kind of a hardship is it going to work if we table this
thing on the applicant?
Todd Kristoferson: I guess I can add something there . We ' re on a real
fast track schedule with the owner to get him in production in late July.
He has these very expensive pieces of equipment that are due to arrive at
1 the same time that we finish the building . Two weeks is very important at
this time to us . As far as the number of comments in here , we' ve tried
from the time we got this report to address those with staff. Probably
ILtwo-thirds of them I think could be eliminated either_ because they' re
conditions that are already met or just things that state we need to
conform to standard codes .
IWildermuth: You said something a little while ago that you thought they
were all , they could all be negotiated. Do you plan to comply or do you
plan to stand up to a couple of them?
1 Todd Kristoferson: We plan to comply. I didn ' t mean to think that were
going to come in and change anything . Some of them are open ended .
IIHydrant locations. We realize that we need to have some hydrants but
where they are , I guess we want to work that our with the fire department
so they' re satisfied because they' re the ones that have to sign off .
I Headla : What' s the lead time of your big presses? What' s the lead time
if you go to order one?
ILarry Welter : That varies between 4 to 6 to 8 weeks .
Headla: You can get them that quick?
II Wildermuth : Are these new or used pieces that you' re moving?
Larry Welter: New.
II Headla : One other question and Steve brought it up before. When you came
in and talked to the Village, did you have a pretty clear , crisp
Iunderstanding of what things you had to look at or did you have to go
through ordinances and talk to our staff quite a bit?
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Planning Commission Meeting
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V
Todd Kristoferson: We talked to Steve and we got a handout that basically 11
spelled out what they wanted to see.
Headla : So you' re making progress with that package Steve?
Hanson: What we gave them was sections of the Code. Right now we don' t
have what I would call a developers packet .
Headla : Steve has been working on something there and I just wondered how
he' s progressing so when you come in he says , these are the things you've
got to look at. But it' s pretty clear? Okay, thanks .
Todd Kristoferson: Our intent is to conform with what the City Engineer ' s
and Fire Department' s want. We don' t have any, on many of these items, we
don' t have any disagreement at all . We just want to do the next thing to
have to clarify.
Emmings : It seems to me that ' s all the more reason that we don' t hang
them up is that they' ve agreed to the ones that are here. Maybe, as a
compromise Dave, I don ' t know of the forces that are in favor of tabling ,
maybe if there was signage and maybe some other particular issues you want
to see back, maybe we could have those come back. Pass the plan on but
say that we want to see, we want the signage to come through , or something
like that . Just to not hang them up . Since they've already agreed . I 'd
'' just throw that out.
Headla : This is going to go to the Council before we could see that '
information right?
Emmings : Right but we would withhold approval on those issues or say
those things have to come before us and should be withheld from the
Council . Whatever . Our problem is with our staff , not with these
applicants.
Batzli : My point is with the proposed expansion and not with the staff in
that I think I heard them say if they can ' t build their expansion, or if
the potential isn' t there to build the expansion , they might not build .
So I would like to see more information before letting it go.
Emmings : And on that , it seems to me that we simply say we' re not
approving the expansion period. They can' t present a shadow of a plan and
expect to get approval on it but I think if you change, what number was
that? You already brought it up.
Batzli : Which one? The one about the drainage? Roof drainage?
Emmings: No, it was 3. That would simply say that this approval was not
to be construed as approval of the expansion noted on the plan and any
additional phases or expansion of the site will require an additional site
\_ review. The other thing that concerned me is I want to add another
condition.
Ellson : 28?
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II Planning Commission Meeting
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A.
IIEmmings : Yes , 28 because I just don' t think there are enough. I was a
little concerned . It says that the applicant has stated that roof top
I equipment will not be visible from the south . I don ' t know if there ' s any
other possible place the roof top equipment could be visible from. TH 5
gets up pretty high and all I would say, there ought to be a condition
1 that says that if any roof top equipment is visible, it will be screened
because we' ve been real , starting with Pat Swenson back when , she looked
at every plan and that was the thing, one of the things she really focused
on. I think it was a good idea and that ' s one of those things I think we
1 have to really be a watchdog on or we start losing our grip on it so I
think there ought to be a condition that says that if it is visible, that
it will be screened.
IIHanson : Steve, could I clarify that? Is the intent, if it ' s visible from
a public right-of-way?
IIEmmings : Yes . You can always crawl up on a ladder and see it . Sure. If
it' s visible from, I guess I 'm thinking primarily of TH 5. I don ' t know
if it ' s even possible that it could be visible from TH 5.
IErhart: TH 5 is very high relative to the site.
ILEmmings : So I guess if you said from a, I 'm not thinking of being visible
from another building. I think that' s alright. Okay, I don ' t have
anything else . Does anybody else have any other comments on this?
I Erhart: Yes. Right at the beginning here you quote your Section 20-1125
that for office space , you have 3 parking spaces for each 1, 000 square
feet. How many parking spaces does this have? It doesn' t appear that you
1 apply that to this structure.
Hanson : It ' s just for the office . 7 ,000 is based on the employees that
Ithey have.
Erhart : I have another question here . All the Austrian Pines in front of
the future building are going to be put in place at the time of the
Iconstruction of the building?
Todd Kristoferson: First phase? Right .
1 Conrad : No , just as the first .
II Todd Kristoferson : No, I 'm assuming that these trees are also going to be
put in now or in the future.
Conrad : Phase 2, are you putting in the trees in front of your Phase 2?
ITodd Kristoferson: All the trees shown on this site plan will go in on
c
Phase 1.
Erhart : In the center , is this going to be graded back to the natural
after you get all done? What are they going to be , just left to grow
natural? Are you going to mow that?
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Planning Commission Meeting
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Todd Kristoferson : It will be seeded and mulched .
Erhart: What does that mean mulched? '
Hanson : A strawed area .
Erhart: Oh, so we don' t have erosion?
Todd Kristoferson: Right . It helps the grass establish. 1
Erhart: And that' s not intended to be mowed? Probably not. Will it be
mowed or just left to grow long?
Todd Kristoferson : I would think that the plan is to mow that .
Erhart: Are you intending to mow the whole thing or just let it grow I
wild?
Larry Welter : It would be kept mowed . 1
Erhart: It would be mowed, okay. So essentially you' ll have just a big
flat area out there except that these parking lots will be put in now and
the dotted ones are for the future? This area is essentially what, your
docks?
Larry Welter : At the time that there Phase 2 is built , that trucking and
dockage will be screened from the street.
Erhart : Okay. There ' s landscaping requirements of trees every 40 feet on
the interior lot lines correct and that 's not in here so there will be
some trees along the east line . Okay, thanks .
Conrad: Most of the stuff I think administratively can be handled if 1
staff agrees that it can be. Although they opened it up to us which I 'm
sure they' re sorry for doing. My biggest concern that impacts this that
basically tells me we may not be giving City Council the final plan is the
drainage. If there' s a pond , where does it go? How does it affect the
phases and I think that could really screw this up. That ' s the only thing
that I see on this site plan that I really care about that the applicant
should know that we' re not going to bend rules downstream to make sure we
get the additional area in for phase 2. Were also quite concerned that ,
and typically we handle storm water drainage, or any kind of drainage on
site, or we have been with pondi.ng. I don' t know what the difference is
right now because we haven ' t been informed of what kind of storm water
drainage we have and what the impact is downstream on that and where it' s
going . So in my mind , that ' s the only thing I care about . That ' s the
only thing that really impacts this site plan and it ' s a thing that, I
i think all the other stuff is administrative matters pretty much. I don ' t
i even care about signage because I think our sign ordinance is pretty
specific on what it can be but I think in terms of this , I think number 19
is a headache for me and I don' t know how we want to handle that . What ' s
your guesstimate? What do you think? Are we going to find a problem?
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3
a
1 That ' s a big roof and if we go to Phase 2, that' s another big roof and we
are reaching 70% impervious surface there and where' s it going? I think
I that ' s a problem. Now City Council can deal with that. They certainly
are going to get our notes but we haven' t helped them and basically what
it says is between now, if we don ' t act on this , the next meeting we have
I is 3 weeks from now so with the developer ' s schedule, we really are
impacting them if we delay. So the question is , do we want to make City
Council be Planning Commission for a little bit .
I Headla : Will they have all the information ready for us in 2 weeks if we
have a special meeting? They' ve got to get the information anyway so
since they' ve got to get it anyway, I want to see it before it goes to
ICouncil . I want to see a crisp plan go to the Council .
Todd Kristoferson : I would like to comment on the drainage because that ' s
I something we ' ve been discussing with the Watershed District engineers and
we ' re fully aware that even if we get approval here and at the Council ,
that we have to also get their approval . They are looking at the drainage
and they will be the ones that will be needed for approval of drainage and
I erosion control with them. I don' t have the exact date. I know it ' s
between now and mid-April . We are aware that we have to meet the drainage
requirements for the drainage. I 'd rather not get held up here because
we haven ' t gone to the Watershed yet . I would rather see this approved
4 subject to subsequent Watershed District approval .
Conrad : Normally we have those in hand when things come in don ' t we?
IOlsen: We usually have comments from the Watershed District .
I Conrad : So we' re sort of out of sync . Usually we like to see their
comments first and you' re telling us we' re not going to see them for
another 3 weeks or 4 .
IOlsen : We usually see their comments before the final approval . They
only meet once a month, the first Wednesday.
IEmmings : Any more comments?
Larry Welter : I would assume on that , that would be pretty much black and
I white decision for the Watershed. You ' ve got your square foot of the roof
there . You know what their storm sewer size and the proposed storm sewer
is .
I Emmings : I think what you' re hearing though is , they make their decision
but we make our decision too. I guess we usually take their comments into
account when we ' re looking at a plan before we make our decision . It
I isn' t a situation where we just let them decide. Anything else. Is there
a motion?
ii- Wildermuth: I just have one question addressed to Steve and Jo Ann . Do
you have ordinances against employee parking on for example Lake Drive?
I 'm sure they can ' t park on CR 17 if there aren ' t enough parking places .
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15 , 1989 - Page 24
Olsen : I 'm sure they can ' t park on CR 17 but no we don' t.
Hanson: There ' s no restriction on Lake Drive .
Olsen : We have that problem with Instant Webb, where they park on the
street. Park Road. We have no way to prevent that unless we put no
parking signs up there . We do try to work with the companies and ask them
to ask their employees not to park there. There is no specific ordinance
against it .
Wildermuth : How many people are you going to have on the second shift?
Larry Welter : Roughly a dozen people to start out with. During the day
it would probably get into . . .
Wildermuth: Even in Phase 1?
Larry Welter : That would be Phase 2.
Wildermuth : What I 'm thinking about is , if you have 100 employees on the
first shift, you have 108 parking spaces . When the second shift comes ,
they aren ' t going to have anyplace to park. It just seems like you' re a
little light on the parking for Phase 1.
Larry Welter : What we ' ve tried to show on this with the dashed lines is
that we have room to add additional parking if it were to become necessary
even with Phase 1. But we ' d like not to . We'd like to leave as much
green area out there as we can as long as there ' s going to be parking for
employees and if it becomes a problem, we ' ve got room to add spaces .
Conrad: How many people could meet next week for a special meeting? 1
Headla : If they have it ready, I ' ll be here .
Conrad: I could show up.
Batzli : Aren ' t we already having a special meeting this month? I
Hanson: That' s one thing I wanted to talk to you about tonight, about
setting up a special meeting on the Comp Plan . 1
Conrad: When would that be?
Hanson: When I can get the majority of you together .
Emmings: I don' t have my calendar here.
Conrad : We could possibly do it together .
r
\_ Ellson: Are we making the assumption they' ll get this Watershed thing all
put together?
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I Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 25
i.
IConrad : Oh yes . They can try. Or staff can review it and that 'd make me
comfortable.
IOlsen : You want a report?
IConrad: Yes .
Olsen : In a week?
IConrad: Yes .
Ellson : You'd need more information and then you'd have to write a
Ireport, right?
Emmings : Let ' s do this . Let ' s make a motion.
IWildermuth: Let ' s ask the Mayor if he' ll accept it like it is .
Emmings : Let ' s make a motion .
IIHeadla : Let me ask the question first . When did the first application
come in from Empak?
'V Hanson : It would have been 3 weeks ago.
Headla: 3 weeks ago and they want approval of this but their machines are
I 16 weeks lead time . I ' ve got a bunch of them on order and you ' ve got to
put them someplace.
I Todd Kristoferson : I can add something to this . Mr . Bongaard , the owner
of Empak, came in to talk to I believe the City Manager several months ago
about this project. At that time we initiated the design. So even though
I the application only came in 3 weeks ago for this meeting, I guess we ' ve
been in this process for some time looking at this site .
Batzli : I move that the Planning Commission recommend approval of the
I Site Plan Request #89-1 as shown on the Site Plan stamped "Received
February 21 , 1989" with the following conditions: 1 through 27 set forth
in the staff report and an additional condition 28 . The applicant shall
I provide screening for roof top equipment if the same is visible from a
public right-of-way. A sentence prior to condition 3 which reads,
approval of the site plan is not an approval , nor does it imply approval ,
of any notations of plant expansion set forth in the site plan. End of
II
condition 19 another sentence which reads , further skimmer and/or traps
shall be provided subject to staff approval for all roof and parking lot
drainage. Condition 25, the end of the sentence insert, and until such
I time as Lake Drive improvements are completed . The end of condition 26
insert, improvement project associated with Lake Drive.
i- Ellson : I ' ll second it.
Erhart : Do we want to add something in referencing this 19 to strengthen
9 g
the, encouraging staff to strengthen. . .
IN
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15 , 1989 - Page 26
1
Batzli : The creek issue?
Erhart : No , the use of the skimmer or the pollution thing from the storm '
water run off and the roof and the parking lot? It seems in the past that
we' ve gone beyond the Watershed District' s approval and asked for certain
things if we felt there was . . .
Batzli : I added a sentence there that read skimmers and/or traps shall be
provided subject to staff approval for all roof and parking lot drainage. '
Erhart : You added that to what , 19 or another one?
Batzli : 19. '
Erhart : Okay. I had that note here. I guess I was so busy trying to
read my notes that I didn' t hear you. Okay, good .
Conrad : Going back to drainage and erosion control and all those nifty
things . In one week, would we find out anything? I
Hanson : If you were to meet next Wednesday?
1 Conrad: Yes. If we met next Wednesday, I 'm sure we could clean up some
of this stuff and send to City Council . If we approve it with 28 points ,
it will go to City Council with all 28 points .
Hanson : Unless you make it a provision that those are complied with
before it goes .
Conrad : If they are complied with , do you eliminate them? '
Hanson: Yes .
Conrad : What issue are we really dealing with in terms of the roof top
drainage? Do you feel we have valid concerns? Is it something that staff
wants to look into? I assume you ' re waiting for referral agency comments
back but are there things that we haven' t studied in terms of . . .
Olsen : Usually, once it goes into the storm sewer , it ' s usually taken
care of. The only time I can remember that we ever added anything
additional was with Rosemount , and maybe I missed something again when I
was gone. It ' s usually takes care of it adequately. If you want us to
research exactly what ' s happening to i.t, we can do that. If you feel this
is a sensitive area, which it could be.
Conrad : I don ' t know what the Wateshed ' s going to say because of the
impact on the improvements that they' re making .
r
Olsen : It ' s the City that requires that they maintain pre-development
runoff on their site. The Watershed District does not require that so
actually our engineering department requires more than the Watershed
District does.
11
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II Planning Commission Meeting
March 15 , 1989 - Page 27
s
V
I
Conrad : Tell me about our policy, and we really do have a lot of
I retention ponds on sites , how come right now we feel that it' s real easy
not to have a retention pond here? Is that just simply because we have a
storm sewer that we can drain?
IHanson : I think that ' s part of it, yes . In some cases you don ' t have
that capability. I think the other thing the engineering department is
trying to raise in 19 is that they were unclear where the drainage from
Ithe roof was going .
Olsen : And they didn' t have the storm water calculations .
IIHanson: So what they were saying is we need some more information and
based on that information , then it may become an issue.
IConrad: So can we feel confident that because there' s a storm sewer that
will empty into a pond downstream someplace , that the adequate controls on
that pond, skimming or filtering the pollutants before it gets into any of
II the wetlands , is that what we are assuming has been done? Just the fact
that we' re dumping it someplace and we know whatever that place is has
been approved to control water like this .
IIr Hanson: My assumption is , with the design of the storm water drainage,
that improvements that the City has done and then putting it into that
holding pond, that they' ve addressed that. And it' s been addressed based
1 on the roadway and projected development that would occur within the
drainage basin that it ' s serving. Now I did not specifically ask that
question of engineering so I couldn ' t tell you that . . .
IIEmmings : When are the storm sewer improvements scheduled to be completed?
Hanson: It ' s all part of the . . .
II
Emmings : That ' s all part of building Lake Drive?
IIHanson : Yes .
II Batzli moved , Ellson seconded that the Planning Commission recommend
approval of Site Plan Request #89-1 as shown on the Site Plan stamped
"Received February 21, 1989" with the following conditions :
II1. All signage shall meet the conditions of the sign ordinance .
2. The applicant shall provide an amended landscape plan which provides
Ithe following :
a . Two foot continuous screening of the southerly parking lot from
1r- Lake Drive.
b. Fifty percent winter opacity.
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 28
c. Interior lot line landscaping.
g
3 . Approval of the site plan is not an approval , nor does it imply
approval , of any notations of plant expansion set forth in the site
plan . Any additional phases or expansion of the site will require a
site plan review.
4 . Every dead-end roadway more than 300 feet in length shall be provided
at the closed end with a turn around acceptable to the Fire
Department . 1
5. Turns in roadways shall maintain the minimum road width and shall be
constructed with a minimum radium of 25 feet at the inside curb cut
and a radius of 50 feet at the outside curb .
6. Parking lot lanes shall have a minimum of 25 feet clear width between
rows of parked vehicles for vehicular access and movement .
7. Distances between installed fire hydrants shall not exceed 300 feet .
8. Approximate fire hydrant locations are indicated on the site plan.
9. Fire hydrants shall be supplied by not less than a 6 inch diameter
main installed on a looped system, or not less than an 8 inch diameter
main if the system is not looped or the fire hydrant is installed on a
dead-end main exceeding 300 feet in length .
10. Dead-end mains shall not exceed 600 feet in length for main sizes
under 10 inches in diameter .
11 . Submittal of revised site plan incorporating the above conditions
prior to consideration by City Council . In order to be placed on the
April 10, 1989 City Council agenda , revised plans need to be submitted
by March 27, 1989 .
12. Revised plans shall be submitted for approval that address the
conditions and discussion contained in this staff report . 1
13 . An erosion control plan shall be included in the submittals.
14. Contouring of the perimeter of the site will need to be shown.
15 . All side slopes greater than 3 : 1 will need erosion protection.
16. Determination of waste water monitoring requirements with the
Metropolitan Waste Control Commission.
17. Watermain looping and hydrant locations shall be included in the
submittals , including valves .
18 . Information on roof drainage discharge and possible need for retention
pond for wetland pollutant/nutrient loading impacts . Further skimmer
and/or traps shall be provided subject to staff approval for all roof
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IPlanning Commission Meeting
; March 15, 1989 - Page 29
IIand parking lot drainage.
II 19. All driveways are to be consistent with the City' s commercial/
industrial standard details .
I 20. A typical section of roadway to be shown on plans for approval with
concrete curb and gutter throughout the site.
21. Necessary County permits for control of access to CSAH 17 at the
IInortherly access to the site shall be obtained .
22 . A 35 foot permanent utility easement shall be dedicated along the
IIeasterly lot line of the site for storm sewer purposes .
23 . The plans should address the proper movement of pedestrian traffic
around the building and site.
II24 . Access MUST be maintained for City forces to monitor and maintain Well
No . 4 at all times during construction and development of this site
IIand until such time as Lake Drive improvements are completed .
25. Construction traffic shall not conflict with the City' s improvement
project associated with Lake Drive.
I 26. If the City' s 18 inch watermain is not relocated, an easement shall be
provided across the southwest corner of the site and any cut or fill
I over this main shall receive prior City approval which will be
predicated on proper remedial actions taken .
II 27. The applicant shall provide screening for roof top equipment if the
same is visible from a public right-of-way.
I All voted in favor except Headla and Wildermuth who opposed and the motion
carried with a vote of 5 to 2.
II Headla : I think two reasons . Inadequate information available. I don' t
know what I 'm approving and I don ' t see anything in documentation of the
parking lot and drainage to make a judgment .
IEmmings : Same thing?
Wildermuth: Yes .
IIEmmings : I guess just as my closing comment I 'd say, I think this thing
probably should have been tabled in terms of what we should do in terms of
Isupplying information to the City Council . I think it ' s kind of half
baked and it results in our doing kind of a half baked job but I don ' t
( think the applicant should be held up for that reason. I think this stuff
Iris going to get ironed out between now and the City Council meeting .
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 30
CONTRACTORS YARDS .
Emmings : I have a little preliminary question there . We have something
new in our packets in the form of a little folder . Does that signify that
we should keep these for a while?
Hanson : Yes . The intent is a couple of things . On some of this stuff , '
especially the ordinance stuff and when we talk about procedures and so
forth, I expect we' re going to go through a few generations on that and
what I 'd like to do is not copy Minutes from the last 7 meetings when we
get to the point where we' re about to approve something so what I 'd like
to do is give you stuff that we anticipate that you need to hang onto for
a while . I
Emmings : Then I would also assume that from the time we get one of these ,
that will appear on every agenda after that as old business .
Hanson : We can do that, yes .
Emmings : I think we' ve talked about that several times and I think it' s a
good idea so that we have a handy checklist of the stuff that we' re
considering on an ongoing basis . Contractors yards, what have you got for
� us? ,
Hanson : Basically what I 'm really asking of the Planning Commission is
kind of a last check off to authorize us to go ahead and have the formal
amendment , if you will , put together and drafted so that we can schedule
it for a public hearing . What I 'd like to do is publish that so you have
what we' re itending to, at least consider for the adoption before you .
What the staff is suggesting is that we go ahead and delete contractors
yards as a conditional use in the A-2 district . I guess there' s one thing
I didn' t mention in there and I should have and that was the BF district .
Whether we' re going to delete it from that district . I was going to
delete it from the BF district also . Then under the conditional use
provisions, we could delete entirely the section on contractors yards. I
guess it' s a question of whether you want to deal with the BF district or
now or if you want to leave it there or if the intent is really just to
delete it from the A-2 district. Right now the contractors yards are
allowed in the A-2, the BF and the IOP.
Emmings : I ' ve got a question. The last time we talked about this we kind
of went around about whether we should say that we' re, in the published
notice for the public hearing , whether we ' re considering restricting the
intensity of the use or whether we' re actually going to abolish the
things . Whether we' re going to present that as an alternative or whether
we are going to just present one alternative. What are you proposing to
do? I
{ Hanson : What I 'm suggesting is the alternative to delete it as what
you' re considering. Not the option of the mom and pop. Continuation of
contractors yards as a mom and pop type operation.
Headla: Did you say delete the mom and pop?
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II Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 31
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I
Hanson : Yes .
IEmmings : Now the Section 20-574 is conditional use in the A-2 and 20-255
is what?
' Hanson : That ' s the conditional use requirements for contractors yards in
an A-2 district.
IEmmings : Then you'd add this section down there for BF also?
Hanson: That' s what I 'm wondering. If you want to keep BF or not. The
I conditional use requirements for the contractors , one ' s for the
non-residential and then there' s ones for the residential and agricultural
so the criteria is different in those two instances . If we leave the BF
alone subject to the conditional use requirements that apply in the IOP
IIdistrict.
Emmings : I 'm just trying to remember what was in the report that we got
II from Mark and it seems to me, I thought we had agreed that they were
appropriate in the IOP but that ' s all . So it seems to me the BF stuff
ought to be down here. Who ' s got comments on this?
Headla : I have a hard time giving up the mom and pop type of thing .
Emmings: I take it that we can still discuss that at the public hearing .
I The trouble is we' re not throwing it out in the public notice which is ,
the notice for the hearing and I . . .
IHeadla : That ' s my only concern .
Wildermuth : I guess I 'm in favor of deleting it in the A-2. I think
I that ' s the approach I 'd like to see taken with the public hearing .
Emmings : What about the BF?
IWildermuth : I think it could remain in the BF and IOP.
Batzli : I was just trying to recall . . .
IEmmings : Are you going to . . .
Batzli : Well , I should say I did and my problem was , I couldn' t even add
IIup the score of what the Council people were saying. I had 3 for ma and
pa . One for eliminate . Our Mayor saying that if you couldn' t limit them,
maybe eliminate them totally and then I don' t know what, so we kind of had
I3 for ma and pa , 1 for eliminate and 1 of the ma and pa was kind of
walking the fence and Councilperson Workman, I didn' t know what he wanted
to do but I assume he wants to get rid of it in the BF from his comments
itas well . Which leaves I don' t know what. I didn' t really get clear
guidance from reviewing that but I assume that since we only have 2 BF' s
and they' re both along TH 212/169 there. I would like to see them
eliminated from that because I don ' t think that ' s appropriate places to
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 32
put them due to the increase in traffic, etc . and it ' s already a pot
pourri of things that I don' t think are appropriate there anyway so my
bottom line is to eliminate them from A-2 and BF.
Ellson: Are we just deciding here what to say in the public hearing?
We' re not making decisions are we?
Emmings: No .
Ellson : Why are we going around like this? ,
Emmings: In some ways I think it would be nice if we wait to make up our
minds until after we have the public hearing .
Batzli : But we' re trying to decide what to say to the public though.
Ellson : But let them come anyway. I
Batzli : I spoke with you . I would like to give them an option. Invite
them in and hear their comments but if we' ve got to publish something , my
recommendation to publish is, eliminate it from the A-2 and the BF. My
mind is not made up in stone but if we' ve got to publish something , that' s
what I 'd like to publish .
Hanson : Could I maybe clarify one thing for you Brian?
Batzli : Go ahead .
Hanson : You' ll jump on me if I 'm wrong but just as far as what City
Council did when they looked at the issue because you did want to get some
input from them. Granted the Minutes don ' t, I don' t think the Minutes
read what was said.
Batzli : Hopefully they do . ,
Hanson : Well , I think it' s the words but my reading of what City Council
said, there were 2 people that said, let' s eliminate contracting from the
A-2 district . And there were 2 people who were supportive of keeping the
mom and pop operation.
Batzli : Johnson and Dimler? '
Hanson : No. One of those was the Mayor . And the Mayor ' s point was, if
there was a means where we could do it on a temporary basis , he would like
to retain the mom and pop but if we can' t, then his tendency was to say
well , then maybe we should lean towards eliminating them. My
understanding , and I don ' t recall who was on what side of the issue . I
would say then that the other person, I believe it was Ursula, was less
clear about what she wanted although she talked about the City ought to be
looking at what ' s going to happen in those outlying areas. And that would 11 tend to tell you whether you should allow that kind of a use out there if
it' s going to conflict with what you ' re going to do long range so she was
looking , I think, for a longer term solution on whether contracting yards
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II Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 33
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IIbelonged out there or not may depend on what the City envisions happening .
That was my sense of what was said. I took that in my mind to be a
II direction of Council that really their direction was , let ' s eliminate it
from the A-2. The question on the temporary use and Steve had brought
this up at Planning Commission previously about whether we could do
licensing . You have a memo in your packet from Roger on that and
essentially what Roger said is yes . They probably could do something
under licensing but the red flags in my opinion in his recommendation are
not quite as bright as they needed to be. I ' ve talked with him and he
I said, he feels that legally you could probably do it but that enforcement
of it is really going to be a headache . His concern is once you've
allowed the business in and you want to get it out, it 's going to be real
I hard to do . He did mention to me that he' s been involved in a case like
that where they had a business . It was supposed to be in for a temporary
time period and they had to get them out . He said the amount of legal
I fees and time that it took to get them out, he said it probably wasn' t
worth it . If I remember right , what he told me on the phone was they
spent close to $50, 000. 00 to get the business out . Even though it was to
be a temporary use. I think that' s his fear with it and that ' s why he
I said in there , if you' re going to proceed that way, he' d like to see us
proceed fairly cautiously.
Mayor Chmiel : Has that bill been introduced to allow a temporary use?
Hanson: I don ' t know if it has been introduced or not . I know that there
I i.s a bill proposed to change the conditional use to allow temporary.
Mayor Chmiel : For x number of years .
II Hanson : Yes . And there ' s also a bill on the conditional use process to
make it clear that a conditional use permit can not be denied. The City
can ' t say no to a conditional use permit . They can only put conditions on
Iit. So there is some legislation pending that could change the issue .
Ellson : It doesn ' t really bother me which way the public notice says it .
think we would get the same people either way we notify them.
II
Olsen : I think the only thing is , I remember Roger stating this before
that the public hearing states something that if you were to approve is
Isomething more restrictive.
Ellson : Then maybe you should ellude to the fact that it may end up being
II total elimination. Then I guess you should write it as strict as it could
possibly turn out . That ' s what you should do it .
Conrad: I agree. The only question is, should we instruct staff to
I prepare a procedure where we would allow ma and pa? Do we want them to
review that with us during that public hearing formally? Procedures and
the pitfalls of doing that.
IrEllson: Yes .
Emmings : I do .
II
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Planning Commission Meeting 11 March 15, 1989 - Page 34
Ellson: The pros and cons .
Emmings : Do you? '
Conrad : Yes .
Emmings : Dave does I guess . What about you Brian?
Batzli : Yes, I 'd like to see that . ,
Emmings : Jim too?
Wildermuth: Yes . I
Hanson : I 'm sorry, I missed that.
Erhart : Be prepared to discuss the pros and cons of the ma and pa if the
discussion goes in that direction. I guess if we get a lot of people that
come up and say. . . '
Ellson : We already have some council members that were thinking they
liked the idea of mom and pop. We should really know the pros and cons to 11 g
it because it ' s already being thought of seriously.
Emmings: Think about the kind of place that would be, somebody who ' s
lived here for 35 years and they've got 1 truck and 1 Bobcat and they run
this place right out of their home and they' re sitting on 40 acres . That
isn ' t the kind of thing we ' re going after in prohibiting these things.
The question is whether or not you can reasonably write any kind of
standards .
Batzli : And then enforce them.
Emmings : And then enforce them, yes . So I guess that' s the problem.
Wildermuth: The other side of the coin is , maybe we've got to look at
some zoning too .
Emmings : I don ' t know what you mean though.
Erhart: I think Jim, my point is, you've got a lot of this A-2 out there
really is residential today and when you' ve got a downtown area where
we' ve got some pretty restrictive uses of in town lots in terms of
overnight parking and what you can have in your front yard and what you
can store in your back yard. We as Chanhassen, we have those rules yet
now you' ve got essentially a residential area out there that a guy can
have his Bobcat and his dump truck right next door so if we do it at
i large , I think that ' s the easiest way for the City and other cities have
filled precedent that they' ve eliminated contractor ' s yards when they get
to our stage of growth . On the other hand , if we' re going to allow some
ma and pa, then I think we ' ve got to do what Jim' s referring to and that
is , I think we need to look at the A-2 area and find out which is
II Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 35
a
IIresidential and which is rural . I 'm okay with either approach .
IIHeadla : Where are you going to draw the line on this?
Wildermuth : If we say we want some contractors yards like the ma and pa
I operation , then I think we've got to look at some zoning allowing them on
critical highways .
Headla : Are you getting to a point that if you own a Bobcat , you' re in
' violation of some ordinance?
Emmings : No , that' s not the objective. That ' s not going to be a
II contractors yard . That' s not going to fit under the definition of a
contractors yard .
Erhart : If you have a business with that Bobcat . If your business uses
IIthat Bobcat, then that falls under the definition of contractors yard .
Headla : I don ' t know of a single Bobcat that ' s used that isn ' t used for a
IIbusiness of making money.
Erhart : You' re probably right . Your initial question was what then?
i Headla: If I owned a Bobcat, I 'd be in violation of some ordinance here?
Erhart : You' re saying then that you own that Bobcat and you operate a
IIbusiness with that Bobcat?
Headla : Yes , that ' s what you' re implying . I wouldn ' t own a Bobcat if I
Ididn' t expect to make some money on it.
Erhart : But then if you owned a lot , do you want your neighbor to operate
II a business with that Bobcat where he' s loading it up, unloading it? The
question is , the real basic question here is , is that kind of business
appropriate for an urban neighborhood?
I Headla : That isn ' t my question at all . My question is how definitive are
you going to get? What if I ' ve got a tractor with a bucket on it? You' re
going to get down in a gray area there that you could hit a lot of people
ISO I think we' ve got to be prepared for that .
Erhart : I think the definition is , does he use that for his main source
of income. I think that ' s the definition.
IEmmi.ngs : It isn ' t the definition but maybe we want to look at that too .
We may want to look at all this stuff. We' re getting beyond what we' ve
I got to do tonight. Are we? What I 'd like to do , I guess you have an
idea of what we want for the public hearing and I guess we' re saying go
l ahead and do it. Is that what we ' re saying?
Erhart: Both districts right? For the public hearing .
Ellson: Right . As strict as it might possibly be.
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15 , 1989 - Page 36
Erhart : And then we can back off from there?
Ellson : Right . ,
Wildermuth : Let' s say eliminating it altogether from everything .
Erhart : Well we 've got to have it in the IOP.
Emmings : What he ' s saying is if you want to make it most restrictive,
just say we' re going to consider eliminating them.
Erhart : I don ' t think we want to eliminate them from the IOP.
Wildermuth: If you just have it in the IOP, it ' s tantamont to eliminating
it pretty well . Except for the one little IOP that we' ve got down here .
Erhart : IOP is the industrial park.
Wildermuth : I know but who can afford to put a contractors yard in the
industrial park.
Hanson : You have one that you' ve approved in the A-2 district that ' s 11 looking at locating in the Industrial Park.
Erhart : I think when all the other cities have outlawed them, essentially
they have to go to the IOP' s . I think it' s a good business and I think we
do want them in Chanhassen and I just think the IOP is a good place for
the. I think we ought to at least put our sign out someplace for these
businesses . I guess I assumed all along that we were talking about
allowing them in the IOP' s.
Ellson : Jim was just saying , if you' re going to go the most severe
possible in the public notice, do it that way.
Erhart : That ' s almost like saying , we want to chase you guys out of town
completely. I 'm uncomfortable with that. It doesn ' t leave us the
argument that . . .
Wildermuth: If they've got a permit , we can ' t do that anyway. They' re in
because the permit goes with the property.
Erhart : I understand that . I 'm just saying that if somebody comes into
our town with a contractor ' s business, what this is saying is we don' t
want you. Do you want to leave that answer with them?
Emmings: Do you need any kind of a motion or anything or you' ve just got
the idea?
Hanson: Yes .
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ICONVENIENCE STORES .
IIHanson : As you may have heard me mention to you, the City Council on
December 19th put a moratorium on convenience stores within the City. It
really resolved around two issues . The two issues were, first of all the
IIproliferation of convenience stores and there was a concern for that .
Then the second part of it was the issue of service stations allowing full
service and having service bays . The one concern, it really centered
around the Amoco project coming in and losing those service bays and
having it replaced with essentially a convenience gas facility. At that
time one of the real concerns and issues was how do you define what a
convenience store is. In all honesty in my mind, that' s still a cloudy
I issue . It ' s a situation where I think you talk to the normal person on
the street and you say a convenience store, gas pumps , they think of Tom
Thumb or a Holiday or 7 Eleven. You have an image of what it is and
I typically those facilities are around 3 , 000 square feet. The problem is
trying to put a definition on that . If you say 3 , 000, then does that mean
if it' s 2, 900, it' s not a convenience store, it ' s a gas station? Or at
what point , is there an upper limit on it? Is there an amount of the
IIsquare footage inside that' s important? In the memo that you have before
you, it ' s by no means intended to be a definitive answer on what a
convenience store is but what I wanted to do at this time is give you some
IIbackground information . The first part of that is a list of where
_ convenience stores with and without gas pumps are allowed. Be it as a
permitted use or as a conditional use. Also , where auto service stations
are allowed. One definition that is not included in the present Code is
•
II what I would call , for lack of a better term, a gas station or a self
service gas station where you don' t have the convenience. It ' s not a
convenience store but it ' s not a full service gas station either . I don ' t
IIknow, to my knowledge, we don' t have one of those in the City per se
unless you were to classify the one down on TH 212 and TH 169 , the Super
America down there and I 'm just not real familiar with that facility but I
I think it ' s more than just the gas station. It doesn ' t fall within that
kind of a definition. The other thing I ' ve included in the information is
the conditional use requirements for those facilities . The intent
statements for the various zoning districts within the town. I ' ve given
IIyou a brief definition , a shot at a definition for a convenience store.
And what I 've said in there, probably the critical part is that if it has
over 400 square feet of floor area for retailing of non-automotive goods.
I Then also some proposed additions to the conditional use provisions. The
first of those stating that it must be attached to an integrated shopping
center so that it' s not a free standing facility. Secondly, that there' s
no outdoor storage and display which I think typically has been a
IIcondition that' s been placed on the conditional use for convenience stores
that have gone through. In looking at that from that standpoint and I ' ve
taken just a rough shot at where those uses would be allowed . In
Ireviewing the Code right now. . .the right way to look at neighborhood
business , there' s a couple ways to look at the convenience side. Whether
it ' s a convenience to the residents in a neighborhood or whether it' s a
IIconvenience to the people commuting to work. If the intent is to be a
convenience for the residents in a particular neighborhood , then my logic
would say, then you allow the business center in a neighborhood business
district. But if the convenience store is really convenient for the
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Planning Commission Meeting
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traveling public , then it really belongs in the hi hwa y business district.
Whether you want to make that distinction or not , that ' s kind of a flip of
the coin . I don' t think from a land use standpoint or a planning
standpoint, I don ' t see that there ' s a real issue that you can put your
finger on and say that it makes more sense than one or the other . In the
proposal that I ' ve put down there, what I ' ve suggested is that a
convenience store without gas pumps would be a permitted use in the
neighborhood business, the CBD area and the general business and the
general business is intended to allow virtually any retail use . That it
would not be allowed in the highway business or in the business fringe .
Now if it' s a convenience store with gas pumps , then it would be a
conditional use in the neighborhood business, the highway business and the
general business as a permitted use and not allowed in the CBD and BF
district. Now I 'm aware that the Brooke Center is in the CBD and it has
convenience and it has gas pumps . When I read the intent of what the CBD
is , personally I think that ' s a mistake. I don' t think that ' s the
appropriate location for a convenience store with gas pumps is not in the
CBD. I don' t think that ' s the kind of activity you' re trying to encourage
down there. It belongs more on the fringe of that area . It belongs
either out on the general business or in the highway business. I guess I
tend to look at the convenience stores and the gas stores , the logical
place for a lot of those is on the major intersections where you have the
traffic . It ' s a question of accessibility and getting on there and
getting off and getting back on your way. So I guess the bottom line of
this long discussion is that I don ' t have a clear answer for how the
convenience stores ought to be dealt with. I think a lot of it is how you
perceive the problem. I think some people ' s perception is that the
convenience stores are taking away from what everyone would like to see as
far as a full service grocery, larger grocery. I have a hard time with
that argument because I don' t think the convenience store is taking
business away from that. I personally don' t think the market ' s here yet
to support that grocery store. I think those facilities are being
provided by our neighbors and until we get a little more population and
market that can support that, that type of facility isn ' t going to happen .
When it does happen, I don' t see that the convenience stores will take
away from it . I think just the opposite is probably going to happen. The
grocery store will take some of those convenience shoppers from the
existing convenience stores . When you go and you buy the gas and you go
in and buy a candy bar or the Coke or whatever , it' s not going to take
that , I think some of the normal grocery items that I would expect at some
of those convenience stores would lose some of those. Another suggestion
was that there be a minimum separation between convenience stores . A mile
or half mile or whatever figure you want to have. I guess if the concern
is that there ' s such a proliferation of convenience stores then that ' s a
way to get them separated. On the other hand, I think the trend has been
that they like to be next to each other . Not necessarily right next to
each other but on the same intersection so they' re picking traffic. For
example , if you' re on TH 5 and you' re westbound , it ' s a whole lot easier
t to go to the one that' s on the right hand side of the road rather than
having to make two left turns . One in and then another left turn to get
back out on TH 5. So consequently it makes sense from that standpoint to
have a convenience on both sides at a major arterial where you can get in
and out fairly quickly. The existing stores , just for your information, I
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' did a quick look at what sizes they are. The SuperAmerica , the new one
that' s up on TH 41 and TH 7 is roughly a 3 , 300 square feet. The Holiday' s
I 3 , 900. It ' s the largest . The Total Q is 3, 000. Brooke' s is about 3 , 000.
The proposed one in West Village is approximately 3 , 200. The Amoco site,
the one that ' s being proposed there , that building is only 1,000 square
I feet so there' s a dramatic difference in size between those. The thing
that ' s interesting when you look at it , the signage that was proposed for
Amoco, they called it a Food Store. But the retail area within that Amoco
site is approximately 570 to 740 square feet . It depends on whether you
II include the coolers in that retail space. The coolers are, you open the
doors and access them but there ' s also storage in part of that. So
they' re roughly 60% to 75% of that facility is retail space.
Ellson : Both SuperAmerica ' s are 3, 300?
Hanson: No. The one that was approved up on TH 41 and TH 7. But a lot
I of those are in the 3, 000 square foot range. The last issue is the issue
of the auto service/full service stations . I guess one way to try to
encourage that is to take one , have one of the zoning districts that
I allows that particular use and say, for example does not allow a
convenience store with gas pumps . I don' t know if that' s something that
you would want to do . I guess I have a hard time saying that the highway
business is really intended for a full service gas station and it ' s not
,( intended for a convenience store with gas station because really, when you
look at the intent is to service the highway users . Both of those are
highway users. If you have an area that you felt was appropriate for
1 automotive uses , that maybe there ' s some credence to that having a
district that' s intended to have automotive related areas. I think when
you start to do that though, we ' re not talking about that large of an area
I where the business districts are . I had mentioned I think in the report
that there was an attachment . This is just a copy of the zoning areas and
really the commercial districts we' re talking about are around the CBD
I area with the exception of the commercial zoning up on TH 41 and TH 7
where you have a SuperAmerica. There' s not a spot on that particular site
for another one . You have the other SuperAmerica down in the BF district .
Then in the memo I ' ve just kind of listed a bunch of other things that can
II be considered as far as restricting or trying to define the difference on
these. What I wanted to do at this time was just kind of go through this
and get any comments that I can . What I 'd like for the next meeting is
I I 'm trying to get some information from the convenience store operators
and owners as far as how they view what their business is . Hopefully I
can get that so we can present that at the next meeting.
1 Emmings : How about some samples of how other communities have dealt with
the same issue? Like any information like that?
IHanson : I ' ve talked to some. A lot of people haven ' t done anything .
Emmings : Could we find some examples though where they have?
IIHanson: Yes , we can get some examples of that .
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Olsen : I can ' t remember which city it is but I know they allow
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convenience stores with gas pumps but they also require them to require
service stalls . I ' ve heard that' s one way to remedy. '
Emmings : And then they just let the service stalls sit there?
Erhart : What was the fundamental for imposing this temporary moratorium? ,
Emmings: Too many.
Erhart : Simply what , too much competition concern?
Hanson: No. I think there was a sense that there were too many
convenient stores .
Ellson : It was a concern of mine I remember when that came through.
I just thought, a person will drive in and we don' t even have an
established dry cleaners or anything like that and all these convenience
stores are here before a true downtown area is anywhere and I know that
was a concern of mine .
Erhart : You have too many because one' s going to go broke? We have too
many because it' s cluttering the City or people are buying too much?
Emmings : It was my perception Tim that there were just so many over such
a short time. Getting so many applications and so many of them springing
up but I don ' t know if that ' s right . '
Mayor Chmiel : That basically is right what you' re saying . I think the
other intent was the fact that you ' re losing a full service to be provided
to the citizens .
Emmings: And the full service one you' re losing is Amoco . It ' s obvious
that Amoco has made a decision to convert, I 've seen them converting one
station after another from a full service type operation to the
convenience store with gas pumps. It' s like the gas station that we kind
of all knew and grew up with is a thing of the past . It just doesn ' t
exist anymore.
Hanson : One of the comments that , when I talked with Amoco , and it wasn' t
during the meeting but outside of the meeting , one of their comments was
it' s becoming almost virtually impossible to try to be able to service the
vehicles that are coming in now. What they' re saying is because of some
of the high tech applications , that they just can ' t do, if somebody drives ,
in and their car doesn' t work and they say well , they can' t deal with it.
We can change a tire and those things.
Ellson: Like towing services and things like that, I know that they were
( the ones that were assigned by whomever to tow all of TH 5 here just last
N.- night. What do we have as choices around here? Is it just saying that we
basically ousted the little guy that ' s next to Kenny' s there. Now this is
being gone. We' re saying here we' re this great city. We' re growing.
We' re going to provide you with what? Nothing for your car . You' ll have
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t,
IIto go in town. I like her idea that we almost encourage the convenience
store with the gas pump, please with the service bays if you could. We'd
I certainly help your bottom line if it ' s the convenience stores that' s
going to get you that but I don ' t want to be a city that doesn' t give
everything you need . I don ' t want to have to drive into Bloomington to
IIget my car serviced or whatever .
Emmings : But it seems like this is a market thing . If the market is here
for some guy to open a repair shop and make a living at it, he' s going to
II do it but if he can ' t service most cars because he needs such high tech
instruments and tools to do it is more and more of his work I 'm sure and
with extended warranties on cars , I 'm sure more and more of the work is
Ibeing done at the dealerships. You' ve got a 6 year/60, 000 mile warranty.
Conrad : Fewer problems literally in the business . They' re making cars
that just don't have that many problems, even though we think they do.
IThey' re forecasting that that business is being reduced a great deal .
Emmings: But I don ' t think it ' s going to matter whether we make it, if we
IImade it a permitted use in every district in the City. If the can ' t make
a living, it' s not going to happen. I don ' t know.
Conrad : I think an interesting issue is , we' re sort of around it , why
isn' t anybody coming into town? What is Gary Brown doing? Does he see a
'' viable business opportunity here in town? I really can ' t believe, for a
population that ' s growing , I can' t believe somebody doesn' t want to come
II into town. Whether it be Gary, and it ' s just not Gary. There should be
enough market here to support a couple service stations that can change,
take care of the radiator and a few of those things. I guess the question
II in my mind is , why aren' t they moving in? What ' s wrong? Based on what
Gary' s perception is and Don maybe you've talked to him and maybe we have
some of those answers but I think the City should be encouraging that kind
of stuff coming in . I 'm not sure it ' s with what you had down here as I
IIwent down the list I put no by each one. I like the intent statement but
I 'm not sure I want to encourage it with those particular reasons but I
think the City should aggressively go out and try to pursue whether that
IIbe through Brad or whatever . Bringing somebody, some groups into town .
Mayor Chmiel : B.F. Goodrich is looking at it as well . Gary is looking at
I putting his own 4 to 6 bay service shop in adjacent but he can ' t put it on
Amoco property. They won ' t allow them. Amoco won' t allow the existing
dealers to continue with their kinds of service. They want to promote
their Certicare which again is increasing his cost in operation of that
I particular facility. To rent the so called food shop or just with gas
alone, I think his increase would more than double. They want $7,0001. 00
per month. They' re interested in must pumping gas .
IIEllson: It will be a self serve too I ' ll bet you .
IIMayor Chmiel : Now you take into consideration too , for our residents
within the community, handicapped people, they have to have, we have to
have some kind of convenience for those people .
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Conrad : I think the promoting , somehow getting those interested parties
in. I think we should be doing that. I think Steve what you' ve done
makes some sense to me. There are a couple things that, I went back to
objectives . What are we really trying to do here and one of my objectives
is to encourage service stations . Full service stations into town.
That ' s an objective and that was what I was reacting to when Gary was
forced out over there. I wasn ' t reacting to convenience store as much as
I was hey, there goes another and I don' t think we' re a good community if
we don ' t have service stations that can work on some of the minor things
that go wrong with the car . I think there are some other objectives that
we may want to look into . Do we care about looking like a convenience
center town? Does that have any kind of impact and when a grocery store
comes in, it will impact their business so then are we stuck with a lot of 11 operators that aren' t going to make a living? They' re going to make a
living right now but when a grocery store comes in , does that have an
impact so I think I personally would like to have staff tell me something
about that . I think the market will determine how many convenience stores
can come in right now but we know something that we know that there ' s a
grocery store that might come in sooner or later and what impact will that
have on a variety of convenience stores. I think another objective is to
provide convenience stores where they' re necessary. I guess being really
convenient.
I Wildermuth : Promote it through appropriate zoning .
Conrad: Right. So if they are convenient stores , we should make sure
they are convenient . My mind even got to the point where should service '
stations be convenient to the neighborhood? That' s sort of radical
thinking for me because I 'm not trying to get these little neighborhood , I
think you lose some control when you start putting your business
neighborhood stuff around . But then again , what ' s wrong with having a gas
station that can work on your car a couple blocks away from your house. I
don ' t know that there' s a negative to that . I ' ve thought of some. They
can be hang outs. There can be some negatives so therefore I question
whether the auto service station or whatever , shouldn' t be in the business
neighborhood. Maybe it should. Maybe because my objective was to make it
convenient for the neighborhood . That ' s not that we have to put in ,
that' s a low intensity use I think so some of that makes sense. The other
objective would be to protect the neighbors around that. Then my other
objective would be to provide highway services for tourists and people ,
going through town which tells me, I don' t care if they have convenience
stores in the business and highway business district if Chanhassen wants
to make some money on people driving through town. I don ' t care if they
stop for gas and food at the same time. So those are my, and I went back
to objectives . Encourage service stations into town . Keep us from
looking like a convenience mecca because they may close down in the
future. Provide the convenience of these things where it' s necessary for 11 the residents . Protect the residents and provide services for highway
traffic which probably could be gas and food. That' s where I started. I
don ' t know where that goes .
Batzli : Picture the strip in Eden Prairie right across from this shopping
center , is that your idea of a convenience mecca? Starting at, what is
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} it , Hardee ' s going down to the gas station and Skippers and all that other
stuff down there? That, in my mind, is the epitome of a convenience
IImecca , that strip right there . I think it looks tacky personally.
Ellson: And that' s what our downtown is turning into. It ' s very close
all around here but you' re right . $5 . 00 will go a long way between
I
multiple storage of something.
Conrad : And that will be what our BG district looks like . For sure
II because that' s the less restrictive district that we've got downtown.
Because we couldn ' t bundle it into CBD so you' re BG district is the one
that sort of says, all the strip stuff, anything that needs a stand alone
Iunit ' s going to go down there and that' s what it ' s going to look like .
Ellson: Versus a downtown like Excelsior which is what I 'd rather .
1 Erhart : . . .convenience store.
Conrad : Which?
IErhart : Over by that Eden Prairie Center . It ' s all fast food
restaurants .
Batzli : I know but in my mind , I guess we do . We have Midas so that ' s a
bay place.
IIErhart : The Q station in there is the only convenience store .
Batzli : Is there only one? But to me it ' s a convenience mecca .
IIErhart : I agree , it ' s a mess but I don' t know that what we ' re talking
about here is going to prevent that. We' re talking about it' s a mess of
fast food restaurants . A muffler store and a convenience store .
IBatzli : I think there ' s just an incredible mish mosh of convenience
everything there now that I think about it . I was thinking there was like
I 3 of them in there. There' s one right by the Midas shop and then I
thought there was another one up by Hardee ' s.
IErhart: There' s a Standard station there.
Batzli : Okay, that ' s a Standard?
IConrad: It ' s hard to prevent that .
Ellson : I know. That' s why I 'm saying , maybe we should actively be going
1 out after what we want before the other stuff comes in.
Conrad : I think a market will drive a lot of this stuff and I hate to get
I in the way of the market but I think sometimes we know more, we might know
something that the market may not take into consideration and that ' s in
grocery stores. That may impact a bunch of these. My real issue goes
back to , let ' s make sure we have service stations in Chanhassen which is
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really not protecting, really is not as keen on the convenience store
issue as let' s make sure we get those service stations . I literally think
we should have 2 of them in 6 months . '
Hanson: This isn' t going to shed any light on it but just food for
thought . I do know that there ' s another convenience store that ' s waiting
in the wings .
Emmings : What will be their location?
Hanson: They' re tentatively talking about the Legion site.
Emmings : That ' s 3 back to back then.
Hanson:. They' re literally on top of each other .
Ellson : That ' s exactly what I think would be terrible. ,
Emmings : Ladd, do you think that the separation notion for now will keep
the number down?
Conrad : But it' s going against what Steve said . Convenience stores go on
major intersections so they, by the nature of their marketing strategy,
they have to be on those intersections . So if we say there ' s a space, we
are definitely not eliminating . . .
Ellson : We' ve answered it already with one of the left at that corner and
one on the right at the corner .
Conrad : You won' t have one on the left and right . You' ll have one if we
have a distance requirement.
Ellson : I 'm talking about the ones that are grandfathered in right now
are there. Those we' re not going to say, leave Holiday. Leave Amoco .
Leave Total . As far as we' re trying to sell that sort of area . I don ' t
want that to come in on that corner . I want a reason to say no and I 'd
like to run after what I 'd like to have in there. So a sell job to
somebody else.
Mayor Chmi.el : Go by total numbers? Go by population as to what, or is
that . . .
Hanson : That would be pretty tough to regulate . When they' re trying to
locate one, they' re doing that as far as assessing the market . '
Emmings : But that ' s try of the population of the City that may be insofar
as the neighborhood is giving it business but then they' re looking at how
much traffic goes by that corner and those people of course may be coming
( from anywhere I supposed so I don' t even know how you 'd figure it out. I
guess what you' re saying though is that there should only be a certain
number of stores per , for every 1, 000 population there' s a quarter of a
store or whatever .
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IIConrad : The stations do that or any good marketer does that . They figure
the population. They figure the traffic and they know if there' s one gas
IIstation , they' ll pick up so much they know they can pick up half the
business. So they do the same ratio that we' re talking about when they
determine to put a unit in.
I Mayor Chmiel : By the same token, before putting up a station in
residential areas, that' s a long time where stations go into locations .
They don ' t last very long . . . total gallons of gas should be pumping in
II accordance with Amoco or Holiday or whoever. So that sort of knocks those
out . When you go into a lot of the older areas where that works , the
traffic flow and the station is no longer there.
IConrad : That ' s what I started thinking about is the old fashion corner
service station.
1 Mayor Chmiel : There' s not enough to support them is the problem.
Conrad: But if they put food and a service bay and a gas pump.
IIHanson : At least we haven ' t seen the Amoco/Burger King station come in .
I don' t know if you' ve seen, there' s one of them. . .
Ellson : It really is a tie in now?
Hanson : Yes . The one that I 'm familiar with , the one in Denver that was
I close to where I lived. You drive in and you get your gas and while
you' re getting your gas you can order your burger from the thing and you
drive up to the window and you pay for your gas and you pay for your
I burger and they hand you it. That ' s a combination. It was either Amoco
or Standard and Burger King .
Ellson : I think something has to be done. I don' t know that we' ve come
Iup with an idea but, especially if there' s one waiting in the wings, I
don ' t want it. I want a way to tell it no .
IConrad : What do you want to do on a special meeting? I have to go .
Emmings: What do you want to propose on a special meeting? It wasn ' t for
Inext week though was it?
Hanson : We had I think contacted some of you. Some of you were out of
town. We' re trying to set up a special meeting so we could get the
I Comp Plan cranked up . What Mark and I had talked about, what would be
ideal is if we could have a special meeting where we don' t have anything
else on the agenda because it' s been so long , so we could take a couple
I hours and really try to bring everybody up to speed on where we are and
bring you up to speed on the revisions that have been made to date and
things .
IEmmings : What date are you proposing?
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Hanson : We had tried to set it up for the 29th . We couldn' t get a hold
of some of you and some of you were going to be out of town that week.
Emmings : Is that a Wednesday? '
Hanson : Yes . And if I remember right , I think Mark has a conflict .
Emmings : Are you going to be out of town on the 29th?
Conrad : I ' ll be gone next Thursday through the following Monday. I ' ll be
gone for 10 days.
Emmings : So we either do it next week or after that if Ladd ' s going to be
there.
Erhart : Is transportation one of the items we' re going to discuss? Is
the official mapping going to be done April 10th for the TH 212 freeway.
That ' s on the City Council agenda. Does that a significant impact on the
Comp Plan discussions? It seems to me it would.
Hanson : Yes . '
Erhart : Would it make sense to do this after that or can we assume what
will happen?
Hanson : There are several sections .
Emming : We' re going to meet more than once .
Hanson : Yes . We' re looking at , I don ' t have the schedule that Mark and I
have worked up but we had, I believe 3 or 4 meetings with the idea that
we'd get to May and we 'd have the draft of the plan so we could say at
that time schedule public hearings . The one thing I did want to mention
to you, we talked about our list . Our to do list . Our goals and that at
City Council on Monday. At some point I want to go through those with you
as far as what some of the priorities were . One comment that was made was
maybe Planning Commission ought to look at taking half it ' s time and only
allowing half the time for development requests and the other half to deal
with the to do list and the Comp Plan so that we don' t get it continually
pushed off because we don' t have the time. Really we ought to maybe take
some of the development requests and push them off. Maybe our priorities
are are skewed. I think that ' s something else that we need to talk about .
Right now what I 'd like to try to do is if we can set some time when we
could get together and at least get the Comp Plan process going . '
Emmings : I ' ll make a suggestion . I can ' t give you any dates because I
don' t have my calendar. I think it sounds like, can you be ready by, is
next Wednesday something that we can do or is that too soon?
Hanson: We can do it but Mark ' s not going to be able to be here .
Conrad : How about Tuesday?
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IHanson: Tuesday would probably work.
I Emmings : Why don ' t you call , why don' t we all call in and give you dates
that are open because I think everybody should be there. As many as
possible but it would be nice if everybody was there. These are important
I I think. So why don ' t we all call in and give him our schedules . Maybe
we' ll even have to push it into April .
Hanson: Yes. Even if for like the next 3 weeks or something. Dates that
Imight work and maybe we ' ll hit one . Sunday at 7: 00 in the morning .
Emmings : What was the Tuesday that you could make? The 28th are you
Italking about?
Conrad : Next week. Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.
I Emmings : And that' s it. It sounds like that ' s too soon so maybe we
should try for the week after our next regular meeting . That ' d be the
second week in April . Does anybody know they have a conflict there for
Ithe week after our next regular meeting . On the 12th.
Wildermuth: I won' t be here on the 12th of April .
III Erhart : Either will I .
Emming : Alright . Let ' s all call in and give him our dates for the next 5
I or 6 weeks and then we ' ll just let him pick a date when most people are
available .
IIHeadla : Call in your available dates for the next 5 or 6 weeks?
Emmings: No, for the next 5 or 6 Wednesdays .
I Ellson : What if it happened to be a Tuesday? Maybe just say when you
absolutely can not. If you find certain days left open without x ' s
through them.
IEmmings : Let' s try for Wednesdays unless it ' s impossible. Are there any
more comments on this convenience?
IBatzli : Did we decide on anything on the convenience stores?
Emmings : We don' t have to . He ' s going to come back with more information
Inext time. It was a discussion item. Keep your stuff .
I Erhart: I 'd like to hear what the Council . Even though I was there
Monday night , I did have to leave at some point and I did miss the
discussion Monday night on what the Council ' s reaction to our work
Ischedule was . I 'd like to hear .
Hanson : I ' ll give you a synopsis . Initially I was just going to present
the list and I thought well , I probably ought to give a shot at what I
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Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 48
thought the priorities were . What I had suggested to the City Council was
the Comprehensive Plan was a priority in completing that update. Then I
had listed under the Zoning Code amendments as a priority, contractor ' s
yards . Completing that. Updating the zoning map. Convenience store
moratorium. Talking about that . Then I dropped down to updating the
development procedures. From my standpoint, that' s what I said I felt
that our priorities ought to be , or at least from my perspective. I think
there was a general concurrence with that from Council that those were
priorities but not necessarily that that was all of the priorities . There
were listed, and there really wasn' t a concurrence I don' t think by the
whole Council that these were all the priorities but a couple of the
members listed a couple and those were the blending ordinance. The sign
ordinance . Wetland violations . How to deal with those. How to deal with
after the fact wetland permits? Just generally violations on how
violations of the Code ought to be handled . Outdoor storage and front
yard fencing . Those were two new issues from when we had met. Then
computerizing the land use files . Trail involvement by the Planning
Commission. Recycling oil . Eurasian Water Milfoil .
Ellson : What was that one?
Hanson : The water milfoil from Lake Minnetonka that ' s the latest and
greatest weed to be infecting the area .
Erhart : On the trails, what was the comment?
Hanson: It was just a comment that the Planning Commission should be ,
involved and participating . I mentioned in the memo that I gave them that
yourself and Dave were both interested specifically.
Ellson : That weed thing , that weed problem, how would that come to i
us? Land use turn into a weed problem?
Hanson : It was something that was mentioned . Really it ' s being handled I
by Public Safety.
Ellson : It ' s just a priority of your department? 1
Hanson: It ' s a priority of the City.
Emmings : When you say it' s being handled , what does that mean? It ' s my
understanding that as long as, if the public access is open, you' re going
to get it.
Hanson : It ' s being handled in the sense , what I meant by that is it' s
been delegated to somebody to be responsible for and to put together
essentially a study and a group or whatever is going to take place .
i Mayor Chmiel : One suggestion was just close off all the accesses for one
year?
Emmings : But then we just delay it for a year .
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I Planning Commission Meeting
March 15, 1989 - Page 49
t
IHeadla : What are we going to do , shoot all the ducks and geese flying
over Minnewashta?
T
Batzli moved , Wi.ldermuth seconded to adjourn the meeting . All voted in
I favor and the motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 10: 20 p.m. .
Submitted by Steve Hanson
Planning Director
IPrepared by Nann Opheim
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