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CC Minutes 6-25-07City Council Meeting - June 25, 2007 Mayor Furlong: Alright. Any other questions? Okay. At this time then we would open up the public hearing and invite all interested parties to come forward and address the council on the matter before us. Anyone? Seeing nobody, without objection we'll close the public hearing and bring it back to council for discussion or motion. Is there any discussion on this? Additional questions. Is there a motion to approve? Councilman Peterson: So moved. Councilwoman Ernst: Second. Mayor Furlong: Made and seconded. Any discussion on the motion? Resolution #2007-41: Councilman Peterson moved, Councilwoman Ernst seconded that the City Council approve Planning Case #06-14 for vacation of drainage and utility st easements, Outlot A, The Preserve at Bluff Creek 1 Addition subject to filing The nd Preserve at Bluff Creek 2 Addition plat and development contract. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. ND HOLIDAY STATIONSTORE, 2960 WEST 82 STREET, APPLICANT: HOLIDAY STATIONSTORES: REQUEST FOR A VARIANCE FOR A CANOPY SIGN. Kate Aanenson: Thank you Mayor, members of the council. This item appeared before the th Planning Commission on June 5. At that time the applicant wasn't present but the Planning Commission did hold a hearing and they voted unanimously to deny the variance. Again the variance was for a request for a sign on a canopy located at the Holiday gas station at the nd intersection of Highway 41 and 82 Street. The Planning Commission had a few questions that the staff addressed in their report regarding lighting. Limit canopy signs. I'm not going to go through it but I think I'll answer them as we move through the report. The applicant in his request stated that the reason that they wanted the signage, the canopy signage to indicate that the business was open 24 hours. But in reviewing the development contract and the site plan itself, …there's enough information or queuing that it can be determined that it is open. Sign variances…city code are required to go to the Planning Commission and the City Council. While they did hold a public hearing…opportunity also at the City Council level. The gas station itself was approved in 1999. Originally it was a Kwik Trip as you recall. Recently it was a Citgo and then Holiday has taken over the project and introduced… So with that they did apply for the canopy sign which the staff recommended denial and here we are. So the request itself is for, on the canopy. It is light… What we did is look at some of the other sign canopies. Is that me rocking that? We took pictures of other sign canopies in the city. What we found is there's only one sign on a canopy and that's the Sinclair station which is the oldest one in the city and actually that is being considered for redevelopment. But we did look at the different night time views of Super America. Oasis Market. These are in the back…the Kwik Trip. All these have the lights… Here's the Holiday at 5 and Market Boulevard. They don't have the lighted canopy…and the Sinclair station which is the one that does have it but they're going through a redevelopment. If you look at the findings that it says in City Code where a variance is granted, we look at topographic issues. If there's something that they are a unique situation where it's difficult to see queuing, those sort of things… It's staff's interpretation that…illuminated canopy, 10 City Council Meeting - June 25, 2007 it's not a hardship and we looked at a couple other facts in here and that is being that there are two signs… There is opportunity to put a directive, Open 24 Hours on the sign. There's actually two monument signs on the site itself so they can do a written message on that and since the light's…and there's lights on behind the building, staff felt, as did the Planning Commission, that that was adequate…this was open without the lights on the building itself. So for those reasons the Planning Commission and the staff did recommend that the City Council adopt the motion denying the variance with the conditions and the Findings of Fact in the staff report and I'd be happy to answer any questions. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Questions for staff. The lighting on the canopy itself. The lights underneath the canopy lighting up. Kate Aanenson: That's correct. Mayor Furlong: Those are still on. Kate Aanenson: Correct. And that was our opinion… Councilman Litsey: So the big concern is that it allows people to see that it's open 24 hours? Kate Aanenson: Yeah, you can ask the applicant but that was our indication. Allowing an additional message that they're open. Councilman Litsey: And the only other is the Sinclair which is the oldest probably in the city. Kate Aanenson: For gas stations, that's correct. Councilman Litsey: Yeah. Okay. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other questions for staff? Councilwoman Ernst: Did you say that there was…open 24 hours? Kate Aanenson: On the monument sign. Yeah, there's writing on that… There's a monument sign up here as you're going up the hill on 41, and also at the bottom, so that was adequate identification without a lit sign to put that on. 24 hours would fit on that. Besides what we felt was a visual for the lights coming down. Mayor Furlong: Any other questions for staff at this time? If not is the applicant here this evening? You have any comments or anything you'd like to address the council on? Good evening. Duane Downey: Hello Mr. Mayor, council members. I'm Duane Downey with Amtech Lighting representing Holiday Stationstores. The canopy gas signs...further indication message that the store is open. They're usually not very you know, they usually aren't very bright anyway. They're all in red letters and then back lit with LED so they're not very bright so it 11 City Council Meeting - June 25, 2007 doesn't really add to any light pollution. But it does add to the attractiveness of the stations in the night time and that when you're driving around and lights don't work or something, you can actually see that it really is open and that's usually a good indication that the signs are all on and that's basically where we're coming from. Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Any questions for Mr. Downey? Councilwoman Ernst: I just have one question. Aren't all the Holiday stations open 24 hours? Duane Downey: Well actually not. But the majority are, yeah. Councilwoman Ernst: I guess I always thought they were. Duane Downey: Yeah, there's just a… Mayor Furlong: Any other questions? Thank you. Any follow up questions for staff? If not, any discussion. Thoughts. Who'd like to go first, before I start calling names. So the question is do I feel lucky. Mr. Peterson. Councilman Peterson: You know I'd like to offer my assistance…business in any Chanhassen organization but I also, I can't see how we would grant this organization a sign variance that we've been pretty rigid on before with all the other gas stations. I would certainly be in here right away saying I want the same thing. It doesn't have to be open 24 hours…so to that end I can't support the variance and I would support what the Planning Commission and staff is recommending. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Councilwoman Tjornhom. Councilwoman Tjornhom: I guess I have a hard time justifying any hardship for this. There are monument signs there already and I echo Councilman Peterson's thoughts of always wanting to be supportive of business but it is also in a specific spot in our town by the Arboretum in there that is going on, and I think we have always been strict about these regulations so I think you have to stick to those just because we would be seeing more and more growth and more and more of these issues as time goes on so I'm sorry but I'm also going to have to side with the Planning Commission. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Councilwoman Ernst. Councilwoman Ernst: Well as I said earlier, I thought all Holiday stations were open 24 hours so as far as that and also, our regulations I would have to support staff's recommendation on this as well. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Councilman Litsey. Councilman Litsey: The nice thing about going last is it's all been said and I don't think there's any compelling reason to vote against what the Planning Commission recommended so. 12 City Council Meeting - June 25, 2007 Mayor Furlong: Thank you. My thoughts are similar. Lack of a hardship I think is the biggest issue for me. I think with the lack of a hardship and the precedence…Planning Commission and staff did look at it and I would support their recommendations as well. Any further discussion? If not, is there a motion? Councilman Litsey: So moved… Councilman Peterson: Based on the Findings of Fact. Mayor Furlong: Motion to deny. Thank you. Is there a second? Councilman Peterson: Second. Mayor Furlong: Made and seconded. Any discussion on the motion? Councilman Litsey moved, Councilman Peterson seconded that the City Council denies Variance #07-12 for canopy signage above the gas pumps based on the attached findings of fact. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS: Councilwoman Tjornhom: I attended the 41 river crossing meeting last week and it's a good start. Some interesting discussions…was inconclusive. After the study was done there is no opinion. I mean there are several opinions that will be discussed in the future. The saga continues. Councilman Litsey: It's a quick read. Todd Gerhardt: Mayor and council members, in your packet, or in front of you there's an executive summary of that thick packet and…you see in there that give you a small outline of each of the alternatives for the 41 river crossing. Both the Mayor and I attended a meeting with Shakopee, Scott County, Carver County on Friday and it seems as though that group is going to meet in the future and help determine which alternatives should be selected since the study was inconclusive so this is an ongoing process and appreciate Councilwoman Tjornhom attending… Mayor Furlong: He wants you to verify that the executive summary accurately covers the issues. Councilwoman Tjornhom: I'll get right on that. Mayor Furlong: Any other presentations? Councilman Peterson: The only other thing that I think probably in the next month, …recommendation for updating and improving…last few months and I think we've got a plan that we can present and…so I hope that will happen in the next 30 days. 13