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CC Minutes 03-11-2013Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 crazy so I would like some leadership. I don’t really want to wait. We’ve been after it for quite a while. Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Alright, thank you. Mr. Gerhardt, any thoughts or comments to this? I know there was an email that came last week to the council members. I know there’s been some discussions since then. Todd Gerhardt: Well I would agree with Mr. Chadwick. It is a complicated issue. I think we were talking earlier today about a chapter and a book has several chapters in it and that’s how this situation kind of lays out. Lot of history that goes with it and I think staff should sit down with Mr. Chadwick, Mr. Jeurissen and put something together and bring it back to council and very soon. So that would be my recommendation to the council is to meet with Mr. Chadwick and bring back some options for council to consider. Mayor Furlong: I think that makes a lot of sense. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Gerhardt? Councilman McDonald: Yeah, I have one question. As part of what you bring back, will you bring back a little bit of the history so we can understand all this in context. Todd Gerhardt: Definitely bring back the background. Definitely will do that. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Councilman Laufenburger: Mr. Gerhardt, just one clarification. Mr. Chadwick referencing the number of a million dollars. Do you know what exactly the assessment is on this property? Todd Gerhardt: No, not right now. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Mayor Furlong: That will be part of the staff report then. Councilman Laufenburger: Perfect. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Thank you Mr. Chadwick. Appreciate you being here tonight. Anyone else who would like to address the council under visitor presentations? No? Okay, very good. Let’s move on then to items on our regular agenda this evening. CONSIDER APPROVAL OF NON-CONFORMING USE PERFORMANCE STANDARDS, NAOMI CARLSON, 6411 BRETTON WAY. Kate Aanenson: Thank you very much Mayor, members of the City Council. Good evening. This item appeared before you last October and you directed the staff to work through some issues on this project, or this existing use. 6411 Bretton Way. The subject site is located off of a cul-de-sac on Bretton Way which is just north of Curry Farms neighborhood. As you recall this was a non-conforming use. In October the City Council directed the staff to develop some reasonable performance standards for the continuation of the current and future commercial industrial use of the building. As you recall there was a non-conforming industrial use in this property. An old machine shop there and over time it has been used for other uses. So back looking at the section of the City Code, the City Council and non-conforming land use can be changed to another non-conforming if it’s less intensity and it’s in the public interest and in these instances the applicant has the burden of proof so what we did is tried to go back and look at the history. There’s not a lot of records in some of this older documentation but to the best of our ability we 3 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 worked with what we had for records back in 1987 and then the 1995 structure which contained the wood working, Precision Finishing, small part painting and then the Roger Mclearen rebuilding of motorcycles so those were some of the documentations that we had on the record. So the request was then for the K2 Electrical Service, warehousing. Lake Country Builders, warehouse, and Custom Storage so what we were trying to do is kind of classify those type of uses and how they’re being used. Whether it’s kind of a studio or kind of outside, inside type uses. Warehousing. Storage. Actual building use so we tried to categorize them that way. So we did note also that the woodworking shop is the continuation of the previous non-conforming use. Again just to put in context, this was precipitated by the, a use coming into their maintenance lawn care service that was not part of it. It had outdoor storage which was a change in character so to go back and look at kind of what, how the uses being. How the property was being used and have the staff try to quantify that. Again trying to look at the warehouse storage. What was in the building and what was on the outside of the building. So with that, and an annual report of the tenants of the building we are recommending that maybe not, it says in January of each year but it might be something that every time there’s a change, that the owner notify us. We do not have a business license requirement so if there’s a change that the building would let the City know that there’s a change in tenant there. Then we would also make sure that they meet the standards of those permitted uses, which I’ll go through. Or the performance standards, which I’ll go through in a minute. So also letting us know if a tenant vacates. The new leases, as I stated, and that they meet the performance standards. And then any other use submitted to City Council for approval of a change in use so again, anybody can request those. We look at the intensity. The goal is to move away from the non-conforming towards less, lesser use. So again the other thing that was brought up from some of the neighborhood, trying to quantify as we learn sometimes if we leave things vague at what the interpretation of outdoor storage, where it can be located, we want to quantify kind of that current parking space and limit that to what’s shown in kind of the hard surface right now so that there wouldn’t be an additional parking on the grassy area or if somebody needed that to use it for their space. The performance standards themselves are what we worked on with the owner of the building and also we did have a neighborhood meeting to kind of go through what their concerns. Again I think the neighbors concern was definitely the traffic issues. Again this is non- conforming. As it’s being operated today there isn’t that much traffic but the concern is a use would be in there that wouldn’t meet that, these performance standards and we believe that these standards should direct it. Clearly the lawn care business did not meet those standards of a lot of trips coming in and out. Lot of outdoor storage so the performance standards that we have here before you now are what we’re recommending. We did add one, and that’s what I showed you on the parking. That vehicle parking be limited to the existing compacted gravel area so the performance standards then would be that the business be conducted inside the building so there’s not outdoor activity. Office use is prohibited. Artist studios are permitted. Working shops are permitted. Indoor storage for small businesses. That’s how some of them are being used right now. They’re using it to store equipment. Outdoor storage is prohibited. No mechanical or electrical equipment required voltage. Excess of 220 volts shall be used in the conduct of any business and no traffic generated by any business in greater volume that would be normally expected in a residential neighborhood. And again that’s why we’re asking if someone was to, if a use was to change that we be made aware of that so we can check to make sure that they meet these standards. Again that there’s no retail type operation where people are coming and going to exchange product or expect a sale. Then exterior parking be limited to one trailer or vehicle per business. I think one of the concerns you might hear tonight is limitation of number of businesses in there and then parking of commercial vehicles. Trying to quantify the size and the pounds to kind of what we consider a neighborhood use and then limiting where they would be stored. So with that those are the standards that we’re recommending. Again based on our meeting with the neighborhood and trying to take your direction that we weren’t going to make it go away but try to make it less, quantify that and make it as acceptable to the neighborhood, how it’s been operating in the past few years before we ended up with the lawn care business. So with that we are recommending that you approve the resolution with the modification of the one additional thing on parking and with that I’d be happy to answer any questions. 4 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Questions for staff. Mr. McDonald, question. Councilman McDonald: When I read through the report, something I’m confused about is the parking as far as the workers are concerned. You say that what happens is they generally come there, load up and then go off site. By having two spots, is that two spots for the workers or is that two spots for the business and there could be more parking if they had a crew of 3 or 4? I’m not clear as to what we’re recommending as far as workers. Kate Aanenson: Well no more than 2 parking spaces per business so if there’s trucks, how it’s being used right now, if they would load up or not as long as it didn’t exceed that. So if one business was using more than that, then that would be something that would not be in compliance. Councilman McDonald: No, I’m not talking about vehicles for the business. What I’m talking about is people who come there to work. They load up and they go off site. Did they bring cars? How many parking spots would they have? Is it limited to the 2 per business or would we allow, say it’s a crew of 3. Well they come up with 3 cars. Would we allow that? I’m not clear if we would or wouldn’t. Kate Aanenson: The intent was 2 parking spaces per business. Councilman McDonald: Okay, and so that would include if they have workers, they only get 2 slots and that’s it? Kate Aanenson: (Yes). Councilman McDonald: Okay. Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Other questions for staff? Councilman Laufenburger: Thank you Mr. Mayor. Ms. Aanenson, how many actual businesses are currently in this building? Kate Aanenson: Right now we’ve identified the 5. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay, 5. And do any of those businesses occupy 2 spaces? Or are they 5 equally sized businesses? Kate Aanenson: They’re not equally sized. Councilman Laufenburger: So is it, if for example one of those businesses were to leave and 2 businesses came in, would that be allowed? Kate Aanenson: Yes. Councilman Laufenburger: As long as they tell us what the businesses are and as long as we approve them as agreeable. Kate Aanenson: That’s correct. It’s driven by the performance standard so if they met all of the performance standards, correct. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. And is there enough parking space to accommodate up to 2 spaces for all the business locations? 5 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 Kate Aanenson: That would be what we would check. If there wasn’t enough parking for another business to go in there, then there’d be reason for us to say that you do not meet the performance standards. Councilman Laufenburger: Gotch ya. Kate Aanenson: So that’s kind of the check and balance. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. And just one reference here, you’re saying exterior parking of one trailer or vehicle per business is permitted. Kate Aanenson: Yes. Councilman Laufenburger: But you’re allowing 2 parking spaces so are you requiring that the other parking space always be empty? Kate Aanenson: Well that would be a decision they would have to make. How they want to operate it but they would have to have a maximum 2 per business. Councilman Laufenburger: So if a business, let’s for example let me go to one of them for just a moment. Say Larry Bremm. The artist workshop. If he wants to have a trailer outside where he stores maybe a trailer that meets the performance conditions and stores tools and if he has 2 parking spaces then he can come to his workshop in 1 car, then he’ll have a trailer and a car in his 2 spots. Would that be acceptable? Kate Aanenson: Yes. He gets 2 spaces. How he chooses how he uses them. That’s how it’s written. Councilman Laufenburger: Then I’m wondering if you should exclude the limitation of exterior parking of one trailer or vehicle per business is permitted. If you give them 2 spaces, if you give them 2 spaces then they should be allowed to use those 2 spaces even if it’s 2 vehicles or a trailer and a vehicle. Does that make sense? Kate Aanenson: Yes, except that you wouldn’t want them to use 2 trailers. Councilman McDonald: If I could, okay is that where the 22 feet comes in because you’re limiting them to 22 feet but no parking spaces 22 feet in length unless we’re, unless I’m missing something here. I mean a parking space is maybe 10-12 feet? Kate Aanenson: Well our typical parking space are actually 9 by 26 is a typical parking space so. So it could fit in there. Councilman McDonald: Okay. Kate Aanenson: I guess our intent is that you didn’t take your 2 parking spaces and use them for trailers. There could be an abundance of trailers out there so the intent is if you get 2, then you could use 1 for the trailer parking. And again that’s not how it’s being used right now. We’re again just trying to anticipate any changes. Councilman Laufenburger: I certainly understand the, you don’t want to have potentially 20 trailers out there, right? 6 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 Kate Aanenson: That’s correct. Councilman Laufenburger: No, 10 trailers out there I guess. You wouldn’t want that but if somebody has a legitimate business let’s say for maybe a 12 foot trailer and then they pull up in their car, it’s quite possible they’ll pull their car in the morning and then they won’t leave until the end of the day, that means that trailer and the car would be violating the performance requirements. Kate Aanenson: No. Councilman Laufenburger: Exterior of one. Mayor Furlong: They’d use the 2 places but I think the inconsistency potentially here is that the exterior parking of 1 trailer or vehicle per business is permitted so. Councilman Laufenburger: That’s what sounds inconsistent to me Mr. Mayor. Mayor Furlong: I think if there are 2 spots, maybe limit it to 1 trailer. So that would give them a vehicle and a trailer or 2 vehicles. Kate Aanenson: That’s the intent. Mayor Furlong: Is that the intent? Kate Aanenson: That’s the intent. Mayor Furlong: So it sounds like we need to. Kate Aanenson: Clarify that. Mayor Furlong: Strike the “or vehicle”. Kate Aanenson: Okay. Mayor Furlong: Would that then, then they’d work consistently I think. Mr. Laufenburger is that? Councilman Laufenburger: I think it does and I would. Mayor Furlong: I think it’s reasonable. Councilman Laufenburger: And I would actually defer to the users of the facility, does that satisfy them that there’s 1 trailer and then an empty spot for a worker to pull in or leave. Mayor Furlong: Well and we’ll have an opportunity. I think the applicant’s here so we’ll have an opportunity to hear from the applicant tonight too. Councilman Laufenburger: That was my only question. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Other questions for staff? Just for understanding, we say one of the, again on traffic will be generated at a volume that would normally be expected of a residential neighborhood. I’ve heard numbers, what is a, what’s our expectation trips per day or, and I know it will vary but what do we, what’s a typical residential neighborhood traffic? 7 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 Kate Aanenson: Yeah, I mean you’re going to have delivery trucks in. You’re going to have the trash truck in. The mail carrier. School bus, I mean so. Mayor Furlong: And even just normal coming’s and going’s for the home themselves. Kate Aanenson: Correct. Correct. Correct. So that’s exactly, so it’d be the same number of trips that you’d expect for a residential. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright. So the point is it’s not just the expectation that a car will come in the morning and stay there all day and leave. That there’ll be other vehicles coming and going. Kate Aanenson: Correct. Mayor Furlong: And perhaps vehicles coming and going from those businesses themselves during the day. Kate Aanenson: Correct. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Good. Any other questions for staff at this point? If not, is the applicant here? Ms. Carlson, if you’d like to address the council on anything. We may have some questions as well. Naomi Carlson: Hi. I’m Naomi Carlson. Mayor Furlong: Good evening. Naomi Carlson: And I have one question too so I don’t know if you want to ask your’s and then I ask mine or. Mayor Furlong: No, we’ll start with your’s first. If you could just state your address for the record, for the please, I’d appreciate that. Naomi Carlson: Oh, okay. 5955 Cathcart Drive, Excelsior. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Why don’t you go ahead and give any comments or questions if you’d like to. Naomi Carlson: Okay. I think the conditions are fine. I have one question though. You’re excluding office use and I’m wondering why because I would think that would be a pretty good use for some of the space. A quiet office so do you mind telling me why you put that in there. Kate Aanenson: I guess looking at the non-conforming and the traffic, I guess I’d let the council if they wanted to give some feedback on that. I guess when you look at office space, if you limited that, that’s where you could have quite a few. If it was just individual office, someone that wanted to use it. Naomi Carlson: Yeah. I mean not with, I mean maybe like a, if a psychiatrist or psychologist would have one client at the time but nobody’s ever approached me for that but just for private, for a private office without people coming and going. No sales or anything like that. I’m just curious. Right now I don’t have any plans for but I have been approached in the past and I would think that that would be a suitable use for it. 8 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 Mayor Furlong: Alright. And we’ll, that’s a good question. We’ll talk about that when the council discusses that. Naomi Carlson: Okay. Mayor Furlong: And that’s a fair question. Any other comments? You said generally the performance standards seem okay to you. Naomi Carlson: Yes they do. Yeah. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Naomi Carlson: In the future, I’m working really hard to get my house sold so that I have some money to put into the building. Until somebody comes along and wants to buy it and put some homes there, but as long as I’m using it I might want to talk with somebody about rearranging parking or something you know so that it’s, it looks better. Looks nicer and that sort of thing so that’s the only comment I have I guess. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Naomi Carlson: Would you like me to stay up here or sit down? Mayor Furlong: Why don’t you stay here in case there are questions. Naomi Carlson: Okay. Mayor Furlong: Any questions for Ms. Carlson? One of my questions really was your opinion on the standards so I appreciate you talking to that. There was the other question that Mr., Councilman Laufenburger brought up about the 2 parking places and allowing 2 vehicles. A trailer and a vehicle or 2 vehicles. Does that seem agreeable to you? Naomi Carlson: Yes, that’s fair. That’s you know, right now there’s only, there are 2 that have a trailer or a truck there that are left overnight where they come during the day but then somebody mentioned Larry Bremm. He’s the one right now who does have the trailer with his supplies and things in it so, so I would hope that he would be allowed to continue to do that. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright. Any other questions for Mrs. Carlson? Okay, very good. Thank you. Naomi Carlson: Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Appreciate it. Ms. Aanenson, there was a neighborhood meeting as well. Kate Aanenson: Yes. Mayor Furlong: How many people attended that? Kate Aanenson: I’m not sure of the exact count. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Kate Aanenson: Actually Bob Generous held that meeting. I know some of the residents are here. 9 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 Mayor Furlong: Yes, and I just wanted to, I don’t know if everybody that was at that meeting is here or maybe there are other people but certainly if there are some of the residents that would like to provide the council with some comments, be happy to listen to that at this time too. Kate Aanenson: Yeah, I was just going to say. There was a pretty good summary based on what happened at that meeting. A perspective of that and I think that was mostly the traffic generation and I think again that was precipitated by the use that kind of made us re-examine how the use is being, the property is being used and make sure that we have good information on how it’s being used. Who’s in there and the traffic and the like so I think that was the biggest issue. Mayor Furlong: Alright. Okay, thank you. Are there some members of the public that would like to provide comment to the council? Good evening. Marcus Zbinden: Good evening. My name is Marcus Zbinden. I live at 6460 Bretton Way. Mayor Furlong: Good to see you, thanks. Marcus Zbinden: Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I have a few comments regarding the proposal here. The residents in our neighborhood have tolerated the existence of the business located at 6411 Bretton Way because some commercial business was present when we moved in. Over the years many things have changed as tenants moved in and out. The building has clearly gotten older and the property owner has allowed it become an eyesore. Now we’re in a situation where the property owner continues to collect rent from the business and the apartment that they own next door and allows the building to become an eyesore and it’s in disrepair like I had mentioned. Meanwhile the neighborhood, the people who live in the neighborhood are negatively impacted because our property values have decreased because of that property and I’d like to see that somehow addressed because as of right now the Chanhassen building officials have been sending the property owner notices regarding the violations but at this point nothing’s been done regarding repairing the outside of the building. I have read the information drafted by Mr. Generous and have the following comments. In the summary of the neighborhood meeting that was just mentioned, he lists two main concerns about the property which are traffic and of course the poor maintenance. There’s a third issue that is also a major concern of residents and that is the outside storage which you’ve also discussed a little bit here. In particular the trailers and the vehicles. In the performance standards staff does not place a limit on the number of businesses allowed. Currently there’s 5. At one point there was 6 before the lawn care service left but there’s no, nothing preventing them other than the parking restrictions there that would limit the number of businesses in that structure. Staff has stated that there will be no materials and equipment allowed to be stored outdoors. This is in contradiction when you include the standard which allows each business to have a trailer. Most contractors use trailers for storing equipment and material so those two items are contradiction with the other and certainly we do not want to see, the neighborhood does not want to see 5 to 6 trailers stored there permanently with trucks as well. That’s also an eyesore and that’s currently not happening. When we moved in there was no trailers at all in that location. They have been added over the years but when we moved in there wasn’t any so that’s something new to us. So my request would be for the City to require the owner to come into compliance with the building code violations. I’d like to see a limit placed on the number of businesses allowed and I’d also like to see the elimination of any outside storage including the trailers and the trucks. Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Any questions for Mr. Zbinden? No? Thank you. Others that would like to provide comment. Sara Harvey: Hello Mr. Mayor, City Council. Sara Harvey. 10 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 Mayor Furlong: Good evening. Sara Harvey: I live at 6281 Teton Lane in Chanhassen. I just wanted to say that I agree with everything that Marcus just stated and really our concern, another concern is we just want the property owner to be held accountable. As Marcus stated she has been asked several times to bring the property into compliance with the ordinances and has been you know delaying the process and not been held accountable so I guess one question I have, I don’t know if I can ask a question but I’m wondering what would happen if she doesn’t comply with the performance standards and the conditions laid out and if at all possible if we could put something into the performance standards that if she doesn’t comply with them that she would lose that ability to have those non-conforming uses. Mayor Furlong: Well let me go to staff and perhaps this is the City Attorney if necessary but once the performance standards are in place, if there’s non-conformance with them what would be the process? As you both look at each other. Roger Knutson: I didn’t want to step on what she was going to say, sorry. Well there’s several things. First you’d send out a letter saying you have to come into compliance. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Roger Knutson: And if she didn’t we could have a, there’s a couple options. One would be to bring an injunction action to require her to roll back to what’s allowed and stop violating these requirements or potentially a criminal citation. Mayor Furlong: And initially that would be at the staff level that those, and that’s typical. That’s not unique to this situation. Kate Aanenson: Correct. Mayor Furlong: Any type of non-conformance, non-compliance I should say. Non-compliance would be interpreted or viewed by the staff and evaluated I assume and then appropriate steps would be taken. Roger Knutson: Sure. Kate Aanenson: Yeah I just wanted to separate the two issues here. What we’re addressing in this is the performance standards. Certainly the neighbors would like to see the nexus between the property maintenance. We are pursuing that on a separate track. This is what the direction of the staff all based on what you asked us to do and that was to try to get a clear picture of how the building’s being used and who’s in there. The other issue is still ongoing between the applicant’s attorney and our attorney’s office. Some things are time sensitive or temperature sensitive so we are working through those issues. Mayor Furlong: That’s with regard to the building maintenance. Kate Aanenson: That’s correct. And so we will get with the applicant is working on those so we are moving forward on that so again it’s, has to do with seasonal issues that we can’t address when there’s snow on the ground so we, some things haven’t been taken care of but we’re moving forward on that issue so that, we didn’t put that as a part of this but that is a separate track we’re working on. Mayor Furlong: Okay. 11 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 Sara Harvey: So yeah, I mean we understand that it’s a separate issue. We just felt like it’s, we still feel that it’s relevant to the case of allowing her to continue to rent or to rent to new tenants if the building is potentially unsafe or hazardous and some of these things haven’t been dealt with so that’s where we’re coming from. And then again I second just what Marcus said about the concern about the additional vehicles and the way that these performance standards are worded is that it could potentially allow for an unattended consequence of allowing for an intensification of the use and a legal intensification of the use if you allow these two vehicles for property and then all of a sudden you have a landscape company come in again and they’re parking vehicles and trailers outside so that’s our concern with that so thank you very much for your time. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Question on the outside storage and the trailer Ms. Aanenson. Is the intention with allowing a trailer, if there’s storage it would have to be inside that trailer or a vehicle? It couldn’t be outside a vehicle or trailer, is that? Kate Aanenson: That’s correct and that kind of goes back to the question of the one trailer so that would prohibit somebody that’s main business would be hauling trailers to construction sites. Mayor Furlong: Two trailers would not be allowed under these standards? Kate Aanenson: Right, so that wouldn’t allow somebody that has a large construction business or landscaping business to store all those trailers out there overnight. Having said that, if you had 5 different types of businesses, it did allow for you know you could have one per of those businesses. Again we have to look at all those on an individual cases. I think part of the issue there is we tried to more carefully look at the landscaping requirements on that. They’re limited in where they can park. Keeping the drive aisles clear and that sort of thing so that’s part of the performance standards too to be able to park on site and still provide circulation in the area. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Thank you. Others that would like to provide public comment this evening. Good evening sir. Daniel Feller: Good evening. Daniel Feller, 6430 Bretton Way. Just a couple questions I have with restrictions or the rules for the different people who can be in there. Is the first on the traffic. My concern with that is if we allow 2 vehicles per tenant of this building, that’s at least 10 cars there at least the 5 businesses that are located in there and there’s nothing you know saying that we can’t, you know that they can’t split these businesses up and actually have 10 businesses there which is not 20 vehicles. Basically it turns our, you know the neighborhood into a big parking lot across the street from my house. Not something that I care to look at so I’m kind of curious if there’s any limits on how many businesses can be in here as well as you know the total number of cars for the overall property in itself. And then the second part which kind of goes you know with it, the businesses is just hours of operation. You know when can these people be coming and going and loading their vehicles up and you know making the noise across the street from our house so those are my two comments for that. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Ms. Aanenson any discussion with Ms. Carlson on either of those two issues? The businesses or the hours of operation. Kate Aanenson: Well you know I guess I’d go by our typical nuisance ordinance for loading. What we would have like in a development contract. Not before 6:00 a.m. Done by 9:00. Mayor Furlong: Is that part of our current ordinances or noise ordinances? 12 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 Kate Aanenson: Our nuisance ordinance. That’d be mowing lawns, that sort of thing. Typically if somebody’s doing work inside a building, if someone shows up to work and they’re working inside their building, we don’t regulate that because there’s no exterior noise if someone was to pull up. I guess how we looked at it too, if you could 4 homes on here what would typically be generated by that type of traffic and it’d be similar. If you look at the type of uses and that’s really how we came up. If you look at the history of this building, I’m not sure we’ve had a lot more, you know maybe would there be 10 businesses in there? It hasn’t happened but to say it couldn’t, don’t want to say that but again based on the parking. The only thing you, we could do more specifically is try to assign some sort of parking matrix to that to limit that if you could get more than, if all 10 businesses went in there. Mayor Furlong: Well I think one of the, if I’m looking at this correctly your, if you could bring up your performance standards again on the screen. The item you added at the bottom, vehicle parking be limited to existing compacted gravel. That indirectly places a limit on, if businesses can have 2 vehicles, there’s at least a limit there. I don’t know with that space and how it configures both from an area standpoint. How many that would be but, and I’ll provide a comment here maybe stepping out a little bit. If one business is currently taking up more space than the other businesses and if the large tenant leaves, then you’re limiting somebody to that large tenant as opposed to possibly doing something more economical with that space so that’s what I’m a little concerned about picking a number of businesses but we have some other parameters in terms of property use and the external use of the property with what’s being proposed here with regard to number of places as well as where vehicles can park and I think one of the things, if I recall when we had this back in October, we had the landscape company parking in the back of the building or the north side of the building I should say. Kate Aanenson: That’s correct. Mayor Furlong: On the grass and so I think that’s precipitated this last proposal here that it would be limited to the gravel parking area which Ms. Carlson I assume that’s part of, that seems reasonable to you on that so. Mr. Gerhardt, thoughts or comments. Todd Gerhardt: Mayor, council members, you could put in a maximum. You know not to exceed 10 parking spaces. You have that authority. Mayor Furlong: And so it’s nice to know what our options are there again I think this last component helps with that a little bit in terms of limiting where the vehicles are. How much space there is for vehicles to park so. So okay, thank you for that. Anyone else that would like to provide? So I guess getting back to Mr. Feller’s question about hours of operation, if I’m not mistaken, our existing ordinances would likely cover any noise issues or nuisance issues. Kate Aanenson: Right we would handle it, yeah we would handle it the way we would with any other nuisance. Making loud noise after those same hours. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright, thank you. Jerry Story: I’m Jerry Story. I live at 6281 Teton Lane. Right behind 6411. There’s still outdoor storage going on on the property. That’s been 5 months since they’ve been notified. Especially on the east end there’s still outside storage. There’s a pick-up cover that’s leaning up against the building. I think that’s actually in the front of the building. I’m concerned about parking in back of the building also because the roadway’s only like 8 or 10 feet wide so there’s actually no way vehicles could park back there without blocking. In other words if there was 2 vehicles, one would be blocking the other and there’s no way to get around. 13 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 Councilman Laufenburger: Mr. Story, when you say the back, you’re talking about the north side of the building, is that correct? Jerry Story: The north, yes. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay, thank you. Jerry Story: Yes. And another concern I have is to take up these parking spots, what if they allow someone who’s not even a tenant to take up one of those parking spots with a trailer or whatever? There’s no way that we’re going to know this. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Jerry Story: Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Thank you Mr. Story. Others that would like to provide public comment this evening. Okay, thank you. I appreciate everybody’s thoughts and comments on that. Council, discussion. Thoughts. Questions. Questions for staff. Mr. Laufenburger. Councilman Laufenburger: Just a comment Mr. Mayor, thank you. Kate, let’s go to the phrase the performance standards. Outdoor storage of materials and equipment is prohibited. Would it be more accurate to say that unenclosed outdoor storage of materials and equipment is prohibited? Because what you’re saying is if the business has, I think Ms. Carlson said that Bremm Restoration, they have a trailer, or he has a trailer where he keeps tools. That’s acceptable according to these performance standards but if he had wood that he leaned up against the side of his business, you wouldn’t want that to happen, right? Or would that be acceptable? You understand my comment? Kate Aanenson: Yes. Yes I do. I’m just trying to think that through. How some people run their business. If you set something out there temporarily for 24 hours or you know whether it’s a continuous storage issue. So the intent is that we don’t have things piled up on the site. Councilman Laufenburger: But if they’re piled up inside an enclosed trailer, we don’t care about that. Kate Aanenson: Correct. Councilman Laufenburger: Or that would be acceptable. Mayor Furlong: Under these standards. Kate Aanenson: Yeah so, I mean are you saying except for a. Mayor Furlong: I think it’s a question. I don’t know if it’s a recommendation. Councilman Laufenburger: It is a question. Kate Aanenson: Well where I’m going with that is, if someone was to build little structures out there to put outdoor storage, to add additional buildings to cover them up so I think we’re saying outdoor storage is prohibited. The caveat to that would be, the fact that you can have a trailer. That it may have some storage in it. So I think it’s. Councilman Laufenburger: Outdoor storage except inside an approved trailer is prohibited. 14 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 Councilwoman Ernst: So it has to be enclosed. Councilman Laufenburger: I’m not trying to craft your language here. I’m just trying to paint a picture in my mind that would prohibit or that would satisfy what Mr. Story described as some things leaning against the east side of the building. That sounds like that probably shouldn’t be here according to these performance standards which the council is considering tonight. Kate Aanenson: Correct. That’s correct. Roger Knutson: Mayor and council, if it’s inside a trailer in my judgment it wouldn’t be outdoor storage. We have limitations on outdoor storage all over in the whole city and no one, if you want, no one looks in what I keep in the trunk of my car. That wouldn’t be considered outdoor storage. Mayor Furlong: And I guess my thought would be, as much as we can allow our existing, this is just a comment and be happy to listen to other. As much as we can keep the existing ordinances as. Councilman Laufenburger: Governing. Mayor Furlong: As governing we should do that because that’s what we’re trying to look at is what’s unique here that has to be addressed because of the non-conforming nature of this building. Kate Aanenson: Thank you Mayor, that’s what I was trying to say. It’s covered by the fact that you’ve got, you can have a trailer. You can store in your trailer so I think it’s covered. That’s what I was saying. Mayor Furlong: Yeah. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Kate Aanenson: Then we already have the nuisance ordinance which is addressing kind of the hours of operation. If someone’s pulling in and going inside the building, that’s fine. You can leave your residence at any time. Mayor Furlong: Yep. That would be normal residential traffic, you can come and go 24 hours a day. Kate Aanenson: Quietly, but if you’re you know starting up equipment or those sort of things outside then that would fall within the nuisance which we already have in place. I think the one thing I heard you say, state Mayor and that was, and it came from the residents, because our map is, does show this hard surface up here. If that would be your intent to not permit parking in that area, I think that’s something you may want to clarify if you do or don’t went it there. Mayor Furlong: If it’s part of the existing gravel, I mean if you know if that’s where they’re limited then that wouldn’t necessarily, if that’s where some of the parking places would be because that’s where somebody’s business entrance is you know if we’re limiting it to 2, again I don’t want to speak for the council. I’m just sharing some thoughts. We’re trying to limit it to what’s existing there now so as I read that, what we, by saying existing, part of the non-conformance is we’re not looking at expansion of the parking surface area beyond what’s there now. And that I think does bring in, because of the other performance measure that’s being recommended of the two parking places per business that the existing parking area does provide somewhat of a natural limitation on number of businesses as well. I don’t know if that’s the existing 5. If it was 6 there before or not so that would be a function not only of the 15 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 area obviously but access as well as configuration and such. Mr. McDonald, did you have a question or comments? Councilman McDonald: Well I’ve got a couple but to piggyback on what you’re talking about. If we leave it to just what’s the existing parking, that will limit the number of businesses because again if you’re saying that you’re only going to allow so many spots based upon that then at some point a business comes in there and they’ve got no place to park so I think leaving it at the existing as you proposed Mr. Mayor does address one of the issues that came up tonight. The other thing Ms. Aanenson that I wanted to ask about that was brought up by a couple of people. They talk about they’re not in compliance with either health or safety or standards inside the building. As part of all this did we inspect the building? Kate Aanenson: We have for the code enforcement yes, and that’s the issues we’re working on. Yes. Councilman McDonald: Okay, so there are ongoing issues and they’ve been identified and they’re being worked. Kate Aanenson: That’s correct. Councilman McDonald: Okay. That’s really it Mr. Mayor. I mean I agree in principle with what you’re saying is we’re trying to keep from intensifying but yet we’re trying to define and stay within what the ordinances would provide and I think that you know keeping existing parking does address some of the issues and everything so thank you. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Other questions for staff? If not, comments from members of council. Any comments? Councilwoman Tjornhom. Councilwoman Tjornhom: I think I’m satisfied with the improvements and some of the details that have been worked out so I’ll be supporting this. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other comments? Councilwoman Ernst: Mayor I have a comment. Mayor Furlong: Councilwoman Ernst. Councilwoman Ernst: I just want to say that I appreciate the residents coming in and offering their feedback on this property as well as staff working with the applicant to make the modifications but still make sure that we’re conforming with the standards. And I certainly would support the resolution because I feel that it, it’s working with all the groups. Especially if Kate you continue to work on the maintenance piece of it. That was one that was brought up tonight and I think we need to make sure that we’re addressing that as well but in my mind it feels like everything’s been addressed and I would support it. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other comments? No? Mr. McDonald. Councilman McDonald: Yeah my comment to all this is, I understand the residents concerns and everything and yet by the same token this was an existing, or this was an existing, I don’t know if you want to call it business or residence or whatever but it was there. You admitted that yourself that there were things there. I do agree that we need to do things to try to limit it to what was there before and not to expand the business, which was part of the problems that you came with last fall. Yeah I wrestled with this one for a long time. I really want to thank staff. I think you have put together something that looks 16 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 as though it’s workable, at least in the near term. It by no means solves the problem. I think this is an ongoing problem that’s going to need to continue to be worked and Mrs. Carlson I think she does understand that there’s a lot of shortcomings that have to be taken care of. I mean in the long term there’s a lot more that has to be done with this property. I understand part of the problem you have is money and yeah, it does cost to have property. I think what we’re offering you here as far as the City and hopefully what your neighbors will give you is a little bit of time but I do sense that patience will run out quickly if improvements are not made that people within the neighborhood can see that you’re also doing your part in all of this to again fit into the neighborhood and be a good neighbor but the way things are, I could easily support it. I think we brought up a number of issues tonight to clarify some things that will help it so I could support this. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Mr. Laufenburger any comments? Councilman Laufenburger: Thank you Mr. Mayor. I appreciate comments from my colleagues about this. I’m just reminded, not in a bad way but just in a subtle way that neighborhoods are made up of people in different seasons of life, different circumstances, yet what I think are the most successful neighborhoods are those where the neighbors recognize the differences between them and the people around them and they reach out and perhaps help, assist, encourage, look out for, look after the other people in the neighborhood and this is not, I’m not convicting anybody here. I just think there’s probably circumstances involved here on all of the neighbors part that with a little bit of grace they might find it quite acceptable to have the businesses that Mrs. Carlson has in that structure, that they could be contributors to the neighborhood as opposed to what are currently described as detractors from the neighborhood. The character of the neighborhood is made up of, made up by the characters in the neighborhood. So I would just encourage that people would find ways to be good neighbors. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Mayor Furlong: Certainly thank you. I generally agree with some of the comments tonight. What I would suggest some specific changes to the proposal that have come up tonight so whoever ends up making a motion in terms of looking at some of these components. First of all Ms. Carlson asked about office use. Second bullet point says office use is prohibited. I would think that that would be viewed as perhaps the same or lessening of intensity as long as it follows the subsequent requirement that the traffic volume be no greater than that expected in a residential neighborhood so I think to the extent the traffic volume, which is what I’m hearing quite a bit is cars, vehicles coming and going, parking, office use to me I think would be a permitted, could be a permitted use and I would suggest to the council that we include it as a permitted use, realizing that there are safeguards both in terms of the parking requirements, limitations, subsequently as well as the traffic volumes so I would certainly listen to other comments there if people have some. The other bullet point that talked about, we talked about earlier which is the second from the bottom in our council packet. I think it would be third from the bottom with regard to the proposed, with regard to the exterior parking, that we strike the words “or vehicle” there and limit it to one trailer per business. It would be third from the bottom on the screen now. I do agree with the additional bullet point that’s been added here by staff at the council meeting that wasn’t in our packet about limiting it to the existing gravel area because as we’ve discussed, Mr. McDonald talked about that, that is a limiting component in terms of the other concern about number of businesses. The other thing, looking at the other conditions of the motion, I would propose that we strike the annual report requirement on the tenants. Some of these tenants have been there for many, many years. Really what I think from a city’s role we’re interested is if there are changes. To the extent that they, item number 2. Letting the City know if there’s a tenant vacancy because of the non-conforming component and the one year requirement there of that use, that would be important. Something that we’d have to see. Also notification of new tenants coming in and obviously seeking any changes would come to a council so I think under the conditions, I don’t know that it’s necessary to receive an annual report. I just think that’s putting an administrative burden on staff that I don’t know that we have to do and I don’t know what 17 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 value it comes. If it’s just no changes so to the extent that there’s a request, a requirement for notifications of tenant vacancies and new tenants coming in and for the purpose for staff to evaluate their compliance with the performance standards I think those are reasonable and appropriate requests so it’d be my suggestion that number 1 comes out and the other 3 be re-numbered. Any thoughts or comments on that? Councilwoman Tjornhom. Councilwoman Tjornhom: Can I just ask staff why number one’s in there? That’s the one the mayor wants to strike. Kate Aanenson: Yeah. I’m looking for what you’re looking at. You’re looking at conditions. Councilwoman Tjornhom: The annual report of tenants in the building. Kate Aanenson: For that reason I think we’re perfectly comfortable. It makes more sense really to just say if there’s a change in use we’d hold it up against the performance standards and we can certainly put it on an agenda. Just informational to let you know there’s been a change. Communicate that, yeah. Mayor Furlong: Yeah that’s fine. Or to the extent, like so many things that you do currently, which is all sorts of stuff that we never hear about because it’s just handled administratively. Kate Aanenson: Yeah, correct. Mayor Furlong: With normal code compliance requests and obviously anything that you think is important for us to know, putting it into our council packets would be the proper way to do that. Kate Aanenson: Agreed. Yeah. Mayor Furlong: Does that answer your question Councilwoman Tjornhom? So, so again just looking at my list here. Those I think were the components that I recommend but overall I want to thank everybody that’s been involved. Ms. Carlson, the Story’s, Mr. Zbinden, Feller, other neighbors that are not here tonight, finding a way. All this is about finding a way to try to balance everybody’s interest and work together and my sense is it may not be perfect for everybody but I think we’re getting pretty close to what’s a fair balance here and ultimately that’s what we’re looking to do so I would certainly support the motion with the recommended changes. So would somebody like to proceed with a motion? Councilman McDonald: I’ll do the motion. See if I can do justice. Mayor Furlong: Mr. McDonald. Councilman McDonald: I guess the first thing I would propose to the council is that we modify the performance standards to include the addition of an office within this facility so long as it meets the other performance requirements. Again that’s parking space and those types of things and also within the performance standards does include the thing about normal neighborhood traffic so that would limit the type of offices. Also and changing the wording down where it says exterior parking of one trailer. Change that to exterior parking of a trailer. Does that fit within what? Mayor Furlong: That’s fine. Ms. Aanenson, that’s okay? Kate Aanenson: Yep, that’s great. 18 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013 Councilman McDonald: And then also then within the recommendation I would like number one, renumber 2, 3 and 4 to be 1, 2 and 3. Then with that I would recommend that the council adopts that motion as put forward by staff with the modifications that I have enumerated upon which would be approving for the non-conforming uses at 6411 Bretton Way. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. I think that’s. Kate Aanenson: Yep, just clarification, yes. We also put in your packet a resolution so I’m assuming that’s also adopting the resolution. Mayor Furlong: Adopting of the resolution. Is that resolution consistent with the change in the performance standards…? Kate Aanenson: Yes it is. Again trying to clarify the standards and our to zoning and the like so. Mayor Furlong: Okay, and so adoption of the resolution Mr. McDonald would be part of your motion? Councilman McDonald: Okay. Then I recommend we adopt the resolution. Mayor Furlong: Thanks. Thank you. The motion’s been made. Is there a second? Councilwoman Tjornhom: Second. Mayor Furlong: Motion’s been made and seconded. Any further discussion? Or any discussion on the motion? Further discussion on this item. Hearing none we’ll proceed with the vote. Resolution #2013-20: Councilman McDonald moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom seconded that the Chanhassen City Council adopts the Resolution Approving Non-Conforming Uses at 6411 Bretton Way with the following performance standards and conditions: 1. The City shall be notified when a tenant vacates the building. 2. The City shall be notified of new lessees prior to occupancy of the building. Such uses shall comply with the performance standards approved by City Council. 3. Any other use must be submitted to City Council for approval of changes in use. 4. Performance Standards:  The business shall be conducted entirely within the building.  Office use is permitted as long as it meets the other performance standards.  Artist studios are permitted.  Woodworking shop is permitted.  Indoor storage for small business is permitted.  Outdoor storage of materials and equipment is prohibited.  No mechanical or electrical equipment requiring the use of voltage in excess of 220 volts single phase shall be used in the conduct of the business.  No traffic shall be generated by any business in greater volume than would normally be expected in a residential neighborhood.  No more than two parking spaces per business shall be permitted. 19 Chanhassen City Council – March 11, 2013  No commodities, merchandise, or supplies shall be sold or offered for sale upon or from the premises, whether at retail or wholesale.  Exterior parking of one trailer per business is permitted.  Parking of commercial vehicles in excess of 22 feet in length is prohibited. No commercial vehicles in excess of 9,000 pounds gross weight shall be used in connection with the business or parked on the property. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS. Mayor Furlong: Southwest Metro Chamber of Commerce committee or board hosted a meeting this morning at IWCO with, who was the host, with Councilman Representative Congress Paulson, thank you. Screwing up my words so anyway it was, there was good attendance. Very good questions and it was nice to see Congressman Paulson here in our town working with our businesses. There were some questions that came up too about the businesses and trying to work with the high school and get more internships involved and I think Mr. Gerhardt if we could follow up with that too. Bev over at IWCO raised that question as well and looking for opportunities for high school students, especially those that might be more interested in the industrial arts to seek and develop internships with our local businesses as well. So it was a good meeting. I just want to on record thank Representative Paulson for coming to Chanhassen and meeting with our area businesses. Administrative presentations, Mr. Gerhardt. ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS. Todd Gerhardt: Just one quick one. We do have a leaders meeting with 112 this Friday and so we can bring that internship program with them. That’s it. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Gerhardt. CORRESPONDENCE DISCUSSION. None. Mayor Furlong: We will continue our work session items immediately following the meeting and so if there’s no other business to come before the council this evening, is there a motion to adjourn? Councilwoman Ernst moved, Councilman McDonald seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. The City Council meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m. Submitted by Todd Gerhardt City Manager Prepared by Nann Opheim 20