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CC Minutes 4-9-07City Council Meeting - April 9, 2007 Mayor Furlong: And then how much, or what level of use our local businesses are making of your resources. Janet Kinney: Not enough may I say, but we're going to work on that. We are building quite a good business library. We have a lot of things on CD's or tapes so you can use them in your cars, whatever format you might need. So a lot of the current business literature we're getting in that format and we've got a nice collection that's not being used as well as I wish it were so that's part of our marketing emphasis too. We do have a tremendous number of databases that are only available through the library's web site. We're beginning to notice some use there but truthfully we need to do a much better job of letting the business community know the resources that we have, and also finding out from the business community what we don't have or what they do want. So I am a very new member of the Rotary. Thank you Todd, and I'm a member of the Chanhassen Chamber of Commerce and we really hope that through those relationships we might increase our visibility in the business community. Mayor Furlong: Very good, thank you. Any other questions? Councilwoman Tjornhom: Yeah, Mr. Mayor I'd like to say thank you for everything. The librarian also announced that Mark Peterson is here tonight and he is on the Carver County Library Commission and he's one of the newest members so I'd like to welcome him here tonight and thank him for his willing to serve. And we also, my daughter, I was in the library about 3 hours ago for a book on Betsy Ross. Mayor Furlong: Report's due tomorrow? Janet Kinney: I hope it was in. Councilwoman Tjornhom: It was in. Thank you. Janet Kinney: Thank you very much. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Very good. We'll move on now to next items of business on our agenda. T-MOBILE CELL TOWER, OUTLOT A, HALLA MARYANNE ADDITION: APPLICANT, T-MOBILE: CONSIDER SITE PLAN REVIEW FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A 145 FOOT CELL TOWER WITH A 4 FOOT LIGHTNING ROD AND A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT TO ALLOW A FENCE OVER 6 1/2 FEET. Kate Aanenson: Thank you. As you indicated Mayor, this application is a conditional use for a cell tower. I just want to clarify at the Planning Commission there was some ambiguity about the process itself and the location at this site. The subject site that is before you tonight is just north of Creekside, or south of Pioneer Trail on 101, just south of the Halla Nursery site. It is a conditional use which means that we would attach conditions to mitigate the impact but we wouldn't deny it. We did look at other opportunities for a cell tower in this area, but based on 5 City Council Meeting - April 9, 2007 their needs and the opportunity that we would have with our property, there wasn't another option at the time. So the pole itself is 145 feet, which does meet ordinance. There was a lightning rod that does need to be applied and there was a request for a conditional use to go higher with the fence and that was to accommodate barbed wire, but the staff at this time is recommending that the barbed wire be removed, and I'll talk about that in a minute. This item th did appear before the Planning Commission on March 20 and there were several questions that were raised by the residents. I just want to go through those just to make sure that we, the residents feel comfortable that we did address them. One was the climbability of the cell tower and there's extension ladders so the highest point to be putting it onto a ladder is 20 to 25 feet. Again the blinking light, it doesn't appear that needs to be put in place right now by FAA standards. Again the barbed wire is a conditional use. It is permitted in that district that it is but we're recommending no, and the reason for it is this property can be subdivided in the future. It would become legal non-conforming and we didn't want to have to deal with that at a future date. T-Mobile has done other sites in the city. The last one you saw was at the Murray Hill, the water tower there. If you remember we put a taller fence there. There was no barbed wire and again a residential area so we just want to make sure that we don't have a legal or a non-conforming situation in the future when this property could be subdivided. So going to the 6 feet would take away the requirement for the variance. So the fence would just be 6 feet with no barbed wire, and that would be modified in a condition which remind me to make sure I go back to. Again I talked a little bit about the service area, and I've got a map to show that in a minute when I go through those, and then how many antennas. This does provide for additional antennas and I'll go through that too. So the tower itself is 145 feet. The units will be placed at the bottom. I've got a better site plan on that so there is an application or the ability to provide additional receivers on the site itself without going taller. Again once the tower's been approved administratively, those would just come in place. We did provide at the Planning Commission, we asked the applicant to show the perspective of the surrounding properties, so this would be Bluff Creek Golf Course looking across. The color itself is also blue, which you saw in the original one, and that's what you're seeing here. Which is called out in the staff report. This is looking from the golf course drive going, this would be looking north. Halla Nursery entrance. And these are the units on the base. Again they won't be in a building but there will be a fence around it. So this is what you would see, and this is the fence around again without the barbed wire, the tower itself and then the units. So this originally when this appeared before the Planning Commission we did ask the applicant to table because we were in the middle of finishing up the 101 corridor study. The ordinance does say that you have to be so far from a right-of-way. Because we had picked a preferred alignment, the applicant worked with us and actually while this site plan doesn't reflect it, it is in the conditional approval to move the site back. Mayor Furlong: Which way is back? Kate Aanenson: Sorry, this way. Here's 101. I'm sorry, I had it upside down. So it would be moved this way. The other request, the staff had originally that it would come through a shorter distance to the Halla Nursery site. There's issues regarding ownership of the underlying property. Mr. Halla's in control over it, coming off of Creekwood, so the driveway would come in this way. Again, the current cell tower would be moved in about 25 feet to the west. Okay, so the issue then is the expansion of the, well why don't we just show this one too. There was a 6 City Council Meeting - April 9, 2007 request regarding, I'm sorry. Where the location of the homes are. So this has got the distance of all the homes. This is the closest home which is 430 feet from the tower, and that's the historic home in the city right here. That would be the closest house to the property. Otherwise they're in excess of 600 feet. Again as required in our ordinance, we did look at the service area. They met all the standards for that as far as location. The ability to service that, the site itself. I've got a more detailed sheet on that but I think that's pretty self explanatory. The issue then that we wanted to address was the expansion. One of the conditions was that we had a stipulation agreement regarding use of the retail nursery site, so this is the original conditions. If you look now as it's expanded into this area here and if you look in more detail, it's being used as a storage area. This is the approximate area of the cell tower. So because that's expanded outside the stipulation agreement of the non-conforming use, we've made a condition of approval of the cell tower that before a permit's issued, that this, the nursery business, the equipment that's being stored, and now some of those cars are not operational. That those cars be removed and that he comply with the original conditions. So we have two uses on that site. One being the non- conforming. So with that we are recommending approvals and I do have a couple modifications starting on page 12. And the condition regarding the site plan would just be for a 6 foot chain link fence, and you can strike the barbed wire. That would be just in the motion. And then the last condition, well let's see. Well I guess that's it. The last condition is the one that relates to the nursery itself, the cleaning up of the site. There's a question that was asked. Condition it was. So with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Questions for staff. Councilwoman Tjornhom: I just have one. On condition 9. No, no. Yeah. The driveway off Creekwood Drive may not be used to service nor access the Halla Nursery. How is that going to be enforced or why is that an issue? Kate Aanenson: Well, the neighbors were concerned about that because of the amount of truck traffic that's associated with the nursery. Has been an issue. Again the current nursery has a main entrance off of 101, so now you're coming off of a more residential street, and they wanted to make sure since they're so close, that that doesn't become a secondary outlet. The sight lines are, it's 30 miles an hour right through there. It's slower speeds so sight lines a little poorer so we just wanted to make sure that that doesn't become a secondary access for the nursery is all. Councilwoman Tjornhom: Can we and how do we enforce that? Kate Aanenson: Well it's not built to you know be a dirt road. I guess we'd have to just manage it and cite them for that. You have a conditional use. It's not always the best way to go back and revoke it if they're in violation of the terms of the conditional use also. Councilwoman Tjornhom: Okay. Councilman Peterson: Do you know any other towers we have that tall around town, just to give me a perspective? 7 City Council Meeting - April 9, 2007 Kate Aanenson: The tallest one we have is the one that's off of Lyman Boulevard. That was probably 200 feet. That's the one that's on the corner of Stone Creek Drive. That would be the tallest one. I do have a list of. Councilman Peterson: I'm thinking of the one at Brown's. Kate Aanenson: That one, I don't think that one's that tall. There's one on Park Road that's behind an industrial building. South. Well, on the same side of the street as the city's public works. That's up against the railroad tracks. That's 150. Don't have heights on all of these. Councilman Peterson: That's fine. I just. Kate Aanenson: Actually a lot of them are on our water tower. The only, the most recent free standing ones would be, there's one up on Quattro Drive that we put in an industrial park. Then the other one would be on the Park Road. Otherwise most of them we've been lucky to get on water towers because we don't have public utilities. That obviously would have been our first choice, and I think that residents were hoping that too. South of Lyman but we don't have utilities in that area yet. Councilman Peterson: Okay, thanks. Mayor Furlong: Other questions. Councilman Litsey: Just a couple. One is, has there been any feedback from residents on the proposal here? Kate Aanenson: Yeah, they were concerned about just the fact that, why did this site get picked? Again we did look at our city park. The grades didn't work as well there and with the 101 shifting, probably would have been equally as visible so. Councilman Litsey: I mean no one's pursued anything further than inquiries? Kate Aanenson: Well I wouldn't say that they're happy that it's going up. I don't think anybody's happy when a cell tower goes up in their neighborhood. So I think, because it is a conditional use, again what we try to do is mitigate the impacts regarding, there will be a fence and trees planted around the structure itself. We tried to pick the color, and that's called out in the conditions of approval to blend that into the sky as much as possible, and that was the other reason to get the perspectives on the distance from the homes there too. Those are larger lots in that area but it's still a visual impact. Councilman Litsey: The other thing, you talk about re-positioning the tower and that it probably won't need to get, need FAA approval. I mean there won't be a requirement by the FAA to have a light on the top of the tower? Kate Aanenson: Correct. 8 City Council Meeting - April 9, 2007 Councilman Litsey: But we don't know that for certain or? Kate Aanenson: Well we did with the current location because they're moving it 25 feet to the east, I'm pretty confident that you're underneath the FAA requirements so more than likely it wouldn't be, and that was just another beacon that was a concern. Councilman Litsey: I just want to make sure that, I realize it's a very short distance but I don't want to see that happen and then you know have that light blinking at night irritating people. But I guess at this point there's no way to get assurance on that, or is that part of the approval? Kate Aanenson: Well I don't know if you'd want to see it again for that reason. Again we can't control it. That's a FAA requirement. It would still meet the height standards because under the 150, even with that, it still is, it's just that kind of nuisance factor. Councilman Litsey: Okay, thanks. Councilwoman Ernst: Kate, this is, is this like a collaboration between T-Mobile and Cingular? I mean it sounds, I see mention of Cingular throughout here and it sounds like. Kate Aanenson: Yes. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. Kate Aanenson: Typically when you build one, you try to get other users on there to pay for the cost so, and we have that similar on our water towers. We have multiple users on those too. Councilwoman Ernst: So bottom line, this is going to increase our. Kate Aanenson: Reception. Councilwoman Ernst: Our reception throughout the area. Kate Aanenson: Yeah, I have a map showing the service area. This is going to be hard to read too based on the scale, but this is one of the things that we do ask them to show. This is, at this scale it's hard to read but we're in this service area right here. So it increases the service area to here, over here. Yeah, so it significantly increases the service area. If you look at the topography there, it's also a challenge too as you go towards Hesse Farms and it's changing. So it does provide a significant service area in town towards the river. So as we provide sewer and water expansion, we'll have other opportunities with our infrastructure to meet some of the other needs that hopefully we can put them on our utilities and not duplicate other sites. Other free standing sites. We try to combine those uses so they're not such a nuisance. Mayor Furlong: Ms. Aanenson, conditional use permit versus interim use permit. Is this allowed as an interim use permit? 9 City Council Meeting - April 9, 2007 Kate Aanenson: No, it's allowed as a conditional use which runs with the property forever, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to make sure that we take the barbed wire off now because we do put homes in there, then we've got a situation that we couldn't revoke that so. Mayor Furlong: Okay. And then with regard to the materials of the fence versus a chain link and again thinking ahead. Would a privacy fence… Kate Aanenson: You know the last one we did, if you recall on Murray Hill where we actually ended up doing a pretty tall wood fence? So there are other applications. As we looked at some of the ones that we have on our, next to our water towers, we actually have them in penthouses in this location. Not all of them. The one up on 41. There's two actual structures with roofs. The one that we just approved on Murray Hill is just fenced around the perimeter, so what we try to do is show some consistency, where they're located. Nobody can see that part of it. But I would agree, there's other applications for fences and security and further subdivision. Mayor Furlong: Well I know, if I'm recalling the same one you are on Murray Hill, there was a desire of a local resident to have the fence exceed the 6 feet high standard. Kate Aanenson: Correct. Mayor Furlong: And we have the opportunity here because there aren't necessarily residents with that view to go with the 6 foot high, but to use materials such as a privacy fence versus the chain link in anticipation so I guess, was that given some thought or were there any concerns about that? Kate Aanenson: You know honest, that part of it, I think we could have taken a couple different approaches on that. So certainly wood is an option. It has another maintenance issue, but wood certainly would be an option. Then you have to worry about the landscaping because that's a maintenance issue too. That someone's taking care of that landscaping. Mayor Furlong: Yeah, and I don't know that it necessarily would void the landscaping option but again from a material standpoint versus… Kate Aanenson: Right, it's a conditional use so you can attach whatever you want for screening, so wood is certainly an option and we've used it predominantly. Again to be clear, if you look at where we have it up on Quattro, because it's behind an industrial building, those tend to be chain links but when you're in a residential areas, I would agree. You know typically we've gone. Mayor Furlong: And we don't know how this area will develop but it could. Kate Aanenson: Correct. Right now it's guided large lot. Again with the comprehensive plan update, we're looking at, you know it was given large lot because the underlying owner at that time had a 1 per 10 density that he wanted to transfer forward. Now things have changed. That density's gone away. That we may want to look at just going with a more traditional residential zoning on that as we update the comp plan so, there could be more housing units there. 10 City Council Meeting - April 9, 2007 Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Any other questions for staff at this time? Is the applicant here? Anything you'd like to address the council on sir? Steve Edwards: No. Staff has already… Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Councilwoman Ernst: I have another question Mayor. Mayor Furlong: Yes. Councilwoman Ernst: So is the recommendation that we approve just that as a chain link fence as part of this or not? Mayor Furlong: What I heard staff saying is, the variance. Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, usually Mr. Knutson. The ordinance allows for a 6 foot high fence without a variance, is that correct? Roger Knutson: That's correct. Mayor Furlong: And what the variance was for was to exceed our variance up to 7. Now what staff was saying is, stay at 6 so basically there's no variance associated with the fence to stay at 6 with no barbed wire. Kate Aanenson: Correct. Mayor Furlong: And the only issue I raised was materials of the fence. Councilwoman Ernst: So we're going with the 6 foot versus the 7? Mayor Furlong: That's what staff's recommending. Kate Aanenson: Yeah, not to complicate it but I guess, the units themselves are probably closer to 8 feet in height, so if you know, since you noticed it with a variance and if you wanted to switch to other material, you could still go 7 foot wood and you would cover, you would screen more. I think we were just recommending that, we don't think it's appropriate when it could be developed. Put that barbed wire in long term. What I'm saying, since we noticed it with a variance, if you wanted to go to 7 to add more security, and visual block, you certainly could that too since it was noticed for 7 feet. Councilwoman Ernst: But we're striking barbed wire and we're. Kate Aanenson: Right. That would be my recommendation. Mayor Furlong: And you're also recommending no variance required in terms of height. 11 City Council Meeting - April 9, 2007 Kate Aanenson: Unless you wanted to. Mayor Furlong: Unless we wanted to. Kate Aanenson: Correct. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Okay, any other questions? Okay, any questions for the applicant at this point? If not, thoughts, comments. Any thoughts? I guess my, to follow up on Councilwoman Ernst's line of questioning. I don't see any reason to go above 6 feet. I don't think that's necessary. Keep that within our ordinance. The chain link versus another privacy material, I guess my preference would be to go with some sort of privacy fence of material, if there's a maintenance issue that comes up and have staff work with them in terms of approving that. Just in anticipation. I don't think it's our, we need to necessarily block the potential view of anybody ever from seeing these. At least it's going to be there when homes are ever built but putting that privacy fence up now, and continue with the landscaping plan over time, the landscaping will also soften and cover and screen as well but, that will give us screening currently. Depending on what they do. So that was my only thought there. But from a, looking at the findings of fact and with staff's recommendation on the fence, avoiding the 7 foot high and certainly aborting the barbed wire, I think that makes sense. The other conditions seemed reasonable. Any other thoughts? Councilman Peterson: Motion to approve. Councilwoman Ernst: Second. Mayor Furlong: Approve what? Councilman Peterson: Deleting the barbed wire and maintaining our ordinance on the fence with some kind of inferring the view so, privacy fence. Mayor Furlong: Is that on the site plan that we need to have that condition then Ms. Aanenson? Kate Aanenson: Yes. Mayor Furlong: Or is that the conditional use permit? Kate Aanenson: It's under, it's actually under both. Mayor Furlong: Okay, where do you want it? Councilman Peterson: Both. Mayor Furlong: Keep it in both? Kate Aanenson: Yeah. 12 City Council Meeting - April 9, 2007 Mayor Furlong: Okay. So rather than chain link, insert the words privacy? Under both. So 6 foot high privacy fence and strike the words barbed wire on both the site plan and the conditional use permit? Councilman Peterson: Affirmative. Mayor Furlong: Okay, that was the motion made. Councilman Peterson: Adopting the findings of fact as submitted. And as changed. Mayor Furlong: Okay, very good. And there was a second on that as well? Okay. Motion made and seconded. Does everybody understand the motion made? Any discussion on that? Councilman Peterson moved, Councilwoman Ernst seconded that the City Council approves Site Plan Review #07-04 for a 149-foot telecommunication tower and a 6-foot privacy fence as shown on the site plan received January 19, 2007, subject to the following conditions: 1.The applicant shall enter into a site plan agreement and submit financial security to guarantee the improvements. 2.Clearing for the tower and equipment pad shall be no greater than 15 feet from the edge of the pad. 3.A maximum of 25 feet is allowed for clearing the access road to the site. Trees shall be preserved to the greatest extent possible. 4.The applicant shall install a minimum of eight Black Hills spruce around the equipment platform. Trees shall be at least six feet in height. 5.Site grading and vegetation removal shall be minimized to the greatest extent practical. If any excess material is anticipated to be generated as a result of access road construction, the disposal location must be approved in writing by City staff prior to road construction. 6.A rock construction entrance complying with the City’s standard detail (#5301) shall be included on the Erosion and Grading Plan and shall be constructed prior to the remainder of the gravel road. 7.If applicable, the applicant shall apply for and obtain permits from the appropriate regulatory agencies (e.g., Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency) and comply with their conditions of approval. (Watershed district and MPCA permits are necessary if the total disturbed area is in excess of 1.0 acres). 8.The monopole/tower shall be moved 25 feet to the west for a total setback of 175 feet and maintain a minimum of 150-foot setback from the north, west and south property lines. 13 City Council Meeting - April 9, 2007 9.The driveway off of Creekwood Drive may not be used to serve nor access the Halla Nursery commercial operation. 10.Building Official Conditions: a.A building permit is required to construct the tower and equipment platform; the tower must be designed for a wind load of 90 MPH for 3 seconds (ref. 2000 IBC, Sec. 1609) and include the effect of one-half inch of radial ice (ref. MSBC 1303.1800). b.The plans (tower and platform) must be signed by a professional engineer licensed in the State of Minnesota.” All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. Councilman Peterson moved, Councilwoman Ernst seconded that the City Council approves Conditional Use Permit #07-04 for a 149-foot telecommunication tower and a 6- foot privacy fence as shown on the site plan received January 19, 2007, subject to the following conditions: 1. The applicant shall enter into a conditional use permit agreement and submit financial security to guarantee the improvements. 2. The tower shall comply with the requirements in ARTICLE XXX. TOWERS AND ANTENNAS of the Zoning Ordinance. 3. The tower shall not be illuminated by artificial means and shall not display strobe lights unless such lighting is specifically required by the Federal Aviation Administration or other federal or state authority for a particular tower. 4. No signage, advertising or identification of any kind intended to be visible from the ground or other structures is permitted, except applicable warning and equipment information signage required by the manufacturer or by Federal, State, or local authorities. 5. The applicant shall submit documentation at the time of building permit application showing the height above grade for all potential mounting positions for co-located antennas and the minimum separation distances between antennas. A description of the tower’s capacity, including the number and type of antennas that can be accommodated should also be provided. 6. The monopole color shall be the brand “Tnemac” and the color “Blue Elusion”. 7. All outdoor storage associated with the Halla Nursery and located within Outlot A, Halla Maryanne Addition, shall be removed prior to issuance of a building permit for the tower and the area shall be revegetated.” All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. 14 City Council Meeting - April 9, 2007 Todd Gerhardt: And the minutes will reflect that was for both issues. The site plan and the conditional use. Mayor Furlong: Site plan, yes. Yes, that was both motions as amended in the staff report. APPOINTMENTS TO THE PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION, SENIOR COMMISSION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION. Mayor Furlong: The City Council has authorized four standing commissions whereby residents are appointed to assist the council on various matters throughout the year. The commissions include the Planning Commission, Park and Recreation Commission, Senior Commission, and Environmental Commission. Appointments to the 7 member commissions are for 3 year terms beginning with April of each year and are staggered such that 2 or 3 positions expire each year. Appointments for mid-term vacancies, if any, can occur at any time and such appointments are for the unexpired portion of that vacancy's term. Over the last 3 weeks the City Council has interviewed a number of candidates for open positions on all the commissions. At our last meeting we appointed 3 members to the Planning Commission. This evening we will consider the Senior, Park and Rec and Environmental Commissions. The City Council is grateful to all who applied and we recognize that each applicant is willing to offer a substantial commitment of their time and energy for the benefit of all of us, and we appreciate that. Unfortunately there are a high number of high quality, qualified candidates that exceeded the number of available positions and as such we were not able to appoint some applicants of whom we are confident would have served well. After full consideration of each applicant's background, skills, desires, the current and anticipated issues facing the various commissions and the City Council, it's the City Council's intention to make the following appointments. To the Senior Commission. Curt Robinson and Charlie Robbins for terms expiring in March of 2010. Carol Buesgens for a term expiring March of 2008. Park and Recreation Commission. Tom Kelly and Thor Smith, terms expiring in March, 2010 and Daniel Campion for a term expiring in March of '09. Environmental Commission. Dennis Hansen and Rose Kircher, both for terms expiring in March of 2010. At this time I would hereby move these nominations and ask for a second from the council. Councilwoman Tjornhom: So moved. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any discussion on these appointments? I took that as a second. Councilman Peterson: We're just not used to having you move. Mayor Furlong: I know. It's rare. Any discussion on these appointments or comments on the process. Mayor Furlong moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom seconded that the City Council make the following appointments: 15