PC Minutes 01-03-2012Chanhassen Planning Commission – January 3, 2012
Undestad moved, Hokkanen seconded that the Chanhassen Planning Commission, as the Board of
Appeals and Adjustments, approves Planning Case #2012-01 for a 13,191 square foot multiple
accessory structure area variance on property zoned Agricultural Estate District as shown in
Exhibit A, subject to the following conditions and adoption on the Findings of Fact and Decision:
1. The applicant shall call Gopher One State Call (651) 454-0002 to complete a locate request prior
to construction.
2. The shed must meet all setback requirements.
3. A Zoning Permit is required.
4. The accessory structure may not be used for a home occupation as outlined in the Chanhassen
City Code and may only be used for agricultural purposes as defined by Minnesota State Statute.
5. The accessory structure may not be used as a separate dwelling unit.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Commissioner Thomas noted the verbatim and summary Minutes of
the Planning Commission meeting dated November 1, 2011 as presented.
COMMISSION PRESENTATIONS:
None.
CITY COUNCIL UPDATE.
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Aanenson: Thank you. On Monday, on November 14 the Nowling variance appeal was, went to the
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City Council and that was approved. On November 28 the Walmart meeting, City Council meeting
Walmart was a conceptual was approved, was denied. Excuse me. Was denied and so the staff did
prepare Findings of Fact which were approved on their next meeting. Pioneer Pass Addition was
approved, the second phase and that is actually kind of in this area we were just talking about. And then
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Findings of Fact for the Walmart again was approved by the City Council on December 12.
Aller: Great, thank you.
DISCUSS CODE AMENDMENTS: RESIDENTIAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENTS.
Thomas: Are we going to adjourn?
Aanenson: We’re going to keep this on. We’re not going to adjourn.
Aller: This is discussion prior to adjournment.
Thomas: Got it.
Aanenson: We decided it would be, it might be, if there’s someone watching out there, it might be good
information for them. We’re going to be holding some neighborhood meetings which Angie will explain
here.
Kairies: Yes, so we have brought this to you previously in September and then also last June because
what we’re trying to do at a staff level is find the standards for these planned unit developments that were
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – January 3, 2012
done at the beginning of time and so we’re going through and we found that some have been approved
with the final development. Some of the standards have been approved with the site plan. Some with the
subdivision. Some we can’t find at all so we’re trying to go through each, not every single lot in the
subdivision but to try and get an overall idea of what the standards were. So in doing that we’re trying to
figure out the best way to handle these planned unit developments and with many of them what we’ll do
is use our standard or PUD ordinance form that we have today and adopt that with standards so that it will
be uniform. Everybody will have the information. We’ll be able to communicate that with the residents
when they call with they want to do improvements and know what their setback is or their hard surface
coverage. Some of them we already have those ordinances in place but we did not put in an underlying
zoning district so if that planned unit development is silent on an issue, such as parking or signs,
something like that, we need to make sure that that standard is there from the code so we’ll say unless
otherwise stated in this ordinance the RSF zoning district applies for everything else. And so that could
be just an easy amendment for some of the more recent ones. Another thing that we’re looking at doing is
to see if we can fit some of these PUD’s into our standard zoning districts so we have the RLM district
which is the low medium density. If the lot areas work out, if the setbacks work out, things like that we
can maybe rezone those. So some of them will have more extensive changes or could possibly have more
extensive changes than the others so what we would like to do is at a staff level have neighborhood
meetings with those property owners. If they’re going to be rezoned they’re going to want to know what
that means to them. How that will affect them. If it’s simply just a change to say reference this
underlying zoning district we will not have meetings so that’s the gist of what we’re going to do and then
we’re going to plan public hearings for those subdivisions as we get through those meetings.
Aanenson: I was just going to clarify or maybe iterate what Angie was just saying. So if it’s a straight
PUD our goal then would be to notify the HOA President or the Board to let them know. If there’s more
changes are required, some of these older ones there are just anomalies in there that there’s no impervious
surface requirement or some of them actually allowed some commercial zoning districts in some of the
middle of residential so it’s our way to try to communicate with all those homeowners. For example even
in let’s say like Longacres it’s just silent on the adoption of the PUD so we’d probably just send it to the
association. I don’t think there’s a need for much communication to resolve any issues but we want to
make sure that people understand we’re not trying to restrict their property. Make it more onerous but
make it clear if they’re selling because people are doing title checks on these and it’s just a black hole that
we’re finding on some of these. It’s similar to what we did on the industrial but then you had one owner.
Now we’ve got a lot of owners so Angie’s going to kind of show you what the, where they are and kind
of how they break down but our goal is to meet with them before they come here for the public hearing so
we’ve kind of done a lot of that, just explaining it so we’re not having that dialogue in that meeting and
some of them may take a few meetings to get through and explain it all so we’re, this has been Angie’s
big project this last year to try and figure out a way to break it into sizeable pieces for us to manage and
for you to manage as we go through these so.
Aller: Great.
Kairies: So here’s a breakdown of what we have so far. There are three that have been struck out and
that’s because they’re already done. You might remember the Ches Mar Farm when was that, last year.
And so we kind of took care of that one at that time and so we’re going to do similar with the rest of
these. So just to give you kind of an idea of where we’re located, this isn’t all of them. Like the Lake
Susan Hills, because that one’s done I didn’t indicate it but these are, they’re just throughout the city and
we just want to make sure that we’re able to communicate with the property owners when they have
questions.
Aanenson: And again the PUD’s we’ve done in the recent past are all correct so these are going back to
probably the early 90’s.
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – January 3, 2012
Kairies: Oh, early 70’s.
Aanenson: Yeah I mean I’m sorry, as more recent as probably 90 past we’ve been doing correctly.
Kairies: Right, right.
Aanenson: So these would go way back from the early 70’s and again just people that are trying to sell
their property want to know, or even people that want to add on. What are my setbacks and it’s just like
Angie said, sometimes they’re in a development contract and some of those things expire. Some of them
have longer terms so that’s what we want to make sure there’s no ambiguity on those.
Ellsworth: Angie, could you go back to the list?
Kairies: Sure.
Ellsworth: Isn’t like Liberty on Bluff Creek, isn’t that fairly new?
Aanenson: That one is.
Kairies: Yes, so that one could probably be struck out.
Aanenson: We haven’t finished redoing that one. That one’s on Kate’s.
Kairies: And that’s just going through to make sure that it has that line in there that says.
Aanenson: So we put them all on the list.
Kairies: …district.
Aller: I think it’s a great project and I think you should be applauded for doing it in the first place.
Thomas: It’s a lot of work.
Aller: It’s a lot of work but secondly and more importantly the fact that you’re going out to the
community and receiving the input so that they understand it fully. Are aware of what we’re trying to do
and it’s, that probably is nothing more frustrating than having to try to find out that they can’t use their
property in a certain way without taking action or without coming before us because it hasn’t been
addressed and these are exactly those properties that are going to be turning over or that need work done
because of the older properties so I think it’s a great project.
Aanenson: I think too it’s an opportunity for us, the planning staff to go out and meet with the neighbors
and see what other issues they may have so it’s a good opportunity. Like you say it’s some of the older
neighborhoods and see what they may have some other issues that we can communicate back to you and
to the City Council also.
Aller: Great. And so we’ll be setting an agenda for those in groups?
Aanenson: Yep.
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – January 3, 2012
Kairies: Yes. We’ve gotten, so far we’ve gotten a list and most of them researched but we still have
quite a few holes so.
Aller: So individuals can look to the website if they want to see when these are on the agenda?
Kairies: Yes.
Aanenson: We’re probably also, that’s why we wanted to put it out here public, we’re thinking of ways
that we communicate this too that we can put those out on our website and we’re looking at ways that
people can do their own research of why am I going through this and why is my neighborhood selected
and try to do a good communication, kind of marketing on that too.
Aller: Anything further from anyone? Do we have a motion to adjourn?
Thomas moved, Hokkanen seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion
carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0. The Planning Commission meeting was adjourned at
7:20 p.m.
Submitted by Kate Aanenson
Community Development Director
Prepared by Nann Opheim
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