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PC 2015 01 20 CHANHASSEN PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING JANUARY 20, 2015 Chairman Aller called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Andrew Aller, Kim Tennyson, Steve Weick, and Lisa Hokkanen MEMBERS ABSENT: Mark Undestad and Maryam Yusuf STAFF PRESENT: Kate Aanenson, Community Development Director; Bob Generous, Senior Planner; Sharmeen Al-Jaff, Senior Planner; Alyson Fauske, Assistant City Engineer; and Terry Jeffery, Water Resources Coordinator PUBLIC PRESENT: th Carissa and Steve Haverly 750 West 96 Street th Gary Bendzick 731 West 96 Street Robert Wold 730 Pioneer Trail PUBLIC HEARING: TH 750 WEST 96 STREET: REQUEST FOR A VARIANCE FOR AN ACCESSORY STRUCTURE IN EXCESS OF 1,000 SQUARE FEET ON APPROXIMATELY 2.5 ACRES OF PROPERTY ZONED AGRICULTURAL ESTATE (A2) AND LOCATED AT TH 750 WEST 96 STREET. APPLICANT: CARISSA & STEVE HAVERLY, PLANNING CASE 2015-02. Al-Jaff: Chairman Aller, members of the Planning Commission. The site that we’re looking at th is located at 750 West 96 Street. It is outside the MUSA area. The site is served by a well and septic. The request before you is for a stable to house horses. The owner of this property is a veterinarian who owns her own horses and just briefly before she purchased the property she actually contacted staff and wanted to know what are the city’s regulations and we explained that you need to be in an area where if you had 2 ½ acres you would be able to have up to 4 horses. At the time she had 5. She ended up selling one of her horses. Staff explained to her the regulations as far as the size of accessory structures on A2, agriculturally zoned property which may not exceed 1,000 square feet. And as the applicant decided this would be the property that she was going to purchase the, the site that she picked contained a single family home. There’s an existing gravel driveway that serves this site. There is also a shed on this site that has an area of 76 square feet. When the applicant started looking at the stable size, in order to meet city code requirements she cannot exceed 1,000 square feet. To do so she would need to provide enough area for each individual horse their own separate stall. I got to learn a lot about horses and how they need to be housed. I spoke to the, Carol Dunsmore who is the person that is in charge of inspecting stables and she also owns her own horses and she happens to be a neighbor in this case. She explained to me that the horses need enough room to be able to lay down. Get up without getting stuck, and the word to use is cast. Cast meaning getting stuck under, within the stall. I also learned that the hay needed to be stored within the space and there has to be a Chanhassen Planning Commission – January 20, 2015 supply of 5 months specifically during the winter because fresh hay won’t be available during the winter months. And there has to be enough for all 4 horses. We looked at the surrounding area to see if there has been any variances approved or denied and yes, there has been a number of variances that are in the, that have, on properties that have limited square footage of accessory structures and there were some that were excessive and they were turned down mainly because there were, there was adequate accessory structure uses on their sites. As you can see from this aerial photograph there are a number of properties within the surrounding area that contain accessory structures. Majority of them far exceed what the applicant is requesting. We are recommending approval of the request. Again one other thing I need to point out. Initially there was no limit on the square footage of an accessory structure within the agricultural estate district. A number of accessory structures started getting used for businesses and we discussed the matter at length at the time and we recommended a change in ordinance that would limit the size of accessory structures to 1,000 feet. However if you had an agricultural use that met the intent of the ordinance, then it would be up to the Planning Commission and City Council to evaluate those situations and determine if that variance would be approved, and in this case having horses on site is a use that is compatible with agricultural uses and again staff is recommending approval. We’ll be happy to answer any questions. Aller: Does the request for the square footage, it does also include the additional garage structure as well. Al-Jaff: Yes it does so in total it will be 507 square feet. Aller: Okay, and in looking at the report I see where we’ve denied variance requests in the past. They were for 12,000 square feet. Al-Jaff: That is correct. Aller: And/or a number of structures already on those properties and this particular property doesn’t have a large accessory structure presently. Al-Jaff: Correct. It’s a total of 67 square feet and it houses a lawnmower. Aller: I don’t have any further questions at this point. Commissioner Weick. Weick: Well yeah. I’m confused by the, you mentioned a garage structure. Did I miss that? Al-Jaff: No, there is a shed on the site and the shed is. Weick: Oh this? Al-Jaff: This. Aanenson: This little shed. Aller: Which will be an accessory structure. 2 Chanhassen Planning Commission – January 20, 2015 Weick: And it’s included, okay. Al-Jaff: So the 1,000. The 1,000 square feet would include this accessory structure as well. Weick: Thank you. Aller: Okay. Thank you for the report. At this point in time we’ll ask the owner, developer to come up if they’d like to make a presentation. Have you read the report? If you could just state your names and addresses for the record, that’d be great. Carissa Haverly: Hello. My name is Dr. Carissa Haverly. This is my husband Steven Haverly. th We’re the owners of 750 West 96 Street. Aller: Welcome. Carissa Haverly: We, I think Sharmeen did a great job explaining our current situation. I’m a small animal veterinarian here. I’m licensed in the state to practice medicine and I do. This has been a fairly difficult time for me since I spend my days helping people take very good care of their pets and in this case I have not been able to take very good care of my pets since they’re currently here in Minnesota but they’re away from me. They’re at a separate boarding stable. My hope is that if the variance is passed I can get my barn built and get my girls back home as soon as possible. You know if you would like me to go over a little bit more of the city code I certainly can or why I need so much hay storage I certainly can as well. Aller: But you presently own 4 horses. Carissa Haverly: I own 4 horses. Aller: So we’re just, so if this is allowed we’re allowing a stable area so that you can have them on your own property. Carissa Haverly: Yes it is. Aller: And then if you could just explain, so that the public and the individuals here and we can further understand the food requirement. Is there a reason that we can’t go get it on a regular basis and have it delivered or what is the site requirement for the food? Carissa Haverly: Yeah that is a great question. So with horses, an average 1,000 pound horse needs to eat 2 percent of it’s body weight per day. That’s about 20 pounds in normal temperatures. When the temperature gets below zero horses actually stay warm by eating more food. They’re what’s call a hindgut fermenter which is where they use bacteria in their gut and a by-product of the bacteria digesting their food is heat so that’s how they stay warm so a horse in wintertime can even eat up to 40 pounds of hay per day. And using let’s see here, the National Research Council which is what the city ordinance uses, I extrapolated that I would need between 400 or 500 square feet, 12 feet tall in order to store enough hay. Also for horses, hay 3 Chanhassen Planning Commission – January 20, 2015 needs to be kept dry. It cannot be baled when it’s wet and it cannot get wet. Wet hay can be fed to cows. However if the wet hay is allowed to sit it will mold and that mold can become lethal to the horses. Also hay needs to be kept away from wildlife such as possums. Possums carry a parasite that causes a disease called Sarcocystis Neurona in horses so that’s why it’s very important to keep the hay high, dry and away from wildlife. Also in the wintertime it’s very difficult to find hay that has not been kept outside. For dairy farmers, outside hay is perfectly fine but in the wintertime it’s hard to find hay. It’s hard to move in a couple tons of hay when there’s a couple feet of snow on the ground so that’s why most farmers keep, you know or horse people keep their hay inside throughout the winter months. Aller: Okay, thank you. Any additional questions? Comments. Thank you very much. Carissa Haverly: Alright, thank you. Aller: At this point in time I’ll open up the public hearing portion of the item. Anyone wishing to speak either for or against the request can do so at this time. If you could come forward, state your name and address for the record, that’d be great. th Gary Bendzick: I’m Gary Bendzick. I live at 731 West 96 which is just diagonally across from Carissa and Steve. Aller: Welcome Mr. Bendzick. Gary Bendzick: I’ve looked at their plans. I think it’s an excellent design and I believe it’s very consistent with the rest of our neighborhood with what we would all like to have there. I know we’ve had some difficulties here in the past year or two but I think the consistency is what our neighborhood is looking for and I think it meets those requirements very well and I’m glad to see that the Planning Commission is recommending approval of it. Aller: Thank you. Yes sir. If you could just state your name and address for the record when you get up there. Robert Wold: My name is Robert Wold at 730 Pioneer Trail. Aller: Welcome Mr. Wold. Robert Wold: My property is next door but across the way facing Pioneer Trail. We also have 2 ½ acres roughly. We had a horse until last year and I don’t think that you can conceivably keep a horse in a place safely in a building that’s 1,000 square feet. You need that much room to have the hay. When you have that much property you also need other equipment that you have to be able to put inside and store. I think the idea of putting 1,000 square foot limit on a building where you have 2 ½ acres and you want equipment inside, out of the weather. You want hay inside and out of the weather is just a very, it’s a, I can understand it on a city lot but on property that size and that kind of an area I would fully support them having that building there. I see no problem with it at all. It’s actually one of the smaller out buildings in the neighborhood. I would support it 100 percent. Thank you. 4 Chanhassen Planning Commission – January 20, 2015 Aller: Thank you Mr. Wold. Any additional comments? Seeing no one come forward, I’ll close the public hearing portion of this item and open it up for commissioner discussion. Any for discussion? Hokkanen: Looks like a thorough report. Weick: Yeah. Tennyson: It makes sense. Aller: I think it makes sense. It meets the requirements and we’ve looked at these before and it certainly is not asking for any more than is needed to fit the reasonable need that they’re requesting so that would be my comment. And with that I’ll entertain a motion. Tennyson: I’ll make a motion. The Chanhassen Planning Commission as the Board of Appeals and Adjustments approves Planning Case number 2015-02 for an accessory structure area variance subject to the conditions of the staff report and adoption of the Findings of Fact and Decision. Aller: I have a motion. Do I have a second? Hokkanen: Second. Aller: Having a motion by Commissioner Tennyson, seconded by Commissioner Hokkanen. Any further discussion? Tennyson moved, Hokkanen seconded that the Chanhassen Planning Commission, acting as the Board of Appeals and Adjustments, approves Planning Case #2015-02 for a 1,440 square foot stable for a total area variance of 507 square feet, subject to the following conditions and adoption of the Findings of Fact and Decision: 1. The grading of the proposed driveway must be revised to not exceed a 10% slope at any time. 2. The engineer must also work with the Engineering Department on the alignment of the proposed driveway to meet adequate turning radius for vehicles. 3. The private stable must meet all setback requirements. 4. Building permit is required. 5. The structure must comply with Minnesota State Building Code. 6. The applicant must obtain a stable permit. 5 Chanhassen Planning Commission – January 20, 2015 7. 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 4 to 0. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Commissioner Hokkanen noted the verbatim and summary Minutes of the Planning Commission meeting dated January 6, 2015 as presented. ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS. Aller: Kate, do you have any future planning agenda items? Aanenson: Yes I do. Just wanted to… We did receive the lifestyle concept PUD. That came in th last Friday so that will be on your agenda on the 17 so I tried to block off the rest of the meeting. I think that’s going to be a pretty protracted conversation with a lot of issues out there rd so anticipating that. And then we do have a meeting on the 3. We’ll have a code amendment and then the Comprehensive Plan which we’re going to talk about here in open discussion a little bit later so those will be the projects that are coming forward. As far as City Council items, we did not have any action items on the last City Council so that’s all I have for you Chairman. Aller: Great, thank you. Having no other items on the agenda, no further business, entertain a motion to adjourn. Hokkanen moved, Tennyson seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0. The Planning Commission meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m. Submitted by Kate Aanenson Community Development Director Prepared by Nann Opheim 6