2019 02 19-pcCHANHASSEN PLANNING COMMISION
REGULAR MEETING
FEBRUARY 19, 2019
Chairman Aller called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Andrew Aller, Mark Undestad, Steve Weick, Nancy Madsen, and
Michael McGonagill
MEMBERS ABSENT: John Tietz and Mark Randall
STAFF PRESENT: Kate Aanenson, Community Development Director; MacKenzie Walters,
Associate Planner; and Erick Henricksen, Project Engineer
PUBLIC PRESENT:
John Kunitz 6441 Bretton Way
Jerry Cone 6320 Minnewashta Woods Drive
Tony Fricano 980 Lake Lucy Road
Lynn Pelto 6581 Foxtail Court
Annette Stock-Lind 8104 Dakota Lane
Rodney Colson 6440 Pipewood
Colleen Johnson 5015 St. Albans Bay
Laurie Susla 7008 Dakota Avenue
PUBLIC HEARING:
CONSIDER A TWO-LOT SUBDIVISION WITH A VARIANCE FOR REDUCED LOT
FRONTAGE AT 3800 RED CEDAR POINT ROAD.
Taping of the meeting started at this point in the staff report.
Walters: …sewer access currently so from the north up here and the proposed Lot 2 on the south
had utilities stubbed in in 1974 off of Red Cedar Point to the south. Sorry I’m having a little
trouble changing slides for whatever reason. With regards to right-of-way streets and easements,
no right-of-way dedication is being requested. The plan is for Lot 1 to be accessed via the
existing driveway easement up through the vacated Kirkham Road onto Hickory. Lot 2 will
have driveway access to Red Cedar Point and the applicant is going to dedicate a 5 foot side yard
drainage and utility easements and then 10 foot easements along the front yard and they will be
dedicating, asking for the designation of the northern lot line here as the front lot for Lot 1, Block
1. This is really slow. Sorry, bear with me a minute. Regarding the proposed variance request
they are, they gave us a couple options to show the feasibility of doing the subdivision without a
variance. That’s shown as Concept A or Concept B. They’re proposing again having zero feet
actually on a strip public street because the front lot line would be where there is not a street.
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The reason for this is the Kirkham Road is not improved. In order to do it without requiring a
variance they could install a private street which would involve several thousand feet of
impervious surface within the area. They could also dedicate land to the city right-of-way and
conduct, construct a public street. They could also use a flag lot configuration which would
involve having a 30 foot neck that would service this rear parcel off of Red Cedar Point. All of
these would result in an increase in impervious surface within the subdivision and given that the
lots exceed the minimum dimensions required and lot area required staff’s preference would be
to minimize the amount of impervious surface installed within the shoreland district. Staff has
been contacted by several individuals in the neighborhood. Comments have fallen into two
categories. One was concern that the subdivision not exceed two lots. Staff’s reassured folks
that what’s being proposed is a two lot subdivision and there is no contemplation or potential for
more than two lots to come from this. There has also been concern expressed over the
subdivision’s potential impact on the area’s stormwater. Mainly staff’s been informed that
Hickory is a low point and there’s concern that increased impervious would cause more runoff to
be diverted into that area. Staff clarified that under the subdivision ordinance two lot properties
are not required to install their own stormwater infrastructure or improvements and that the
development would need to meet city and watershed requirements when they pull a building
permit. So looking over the proposed subdivision it could go forward without a variance through
the use of either a private street or a public street or through a flag lot which would require a
variance from the subdivision ordinance but it would likely meet all of those criteria. All of the
above mechanisms would require additional impervious surface. Staff as I mentioned believes
it’s important to minimize the amount of impervious surface within the shoreland district. Both
of the proposed lots are significantly larger than the residential single family district’s minimum
lot width, depth and lot area requirements. Lot 1 will have access provided to a public road from
the existing driveway easement which is a continuation of the current situation in the
neighborhood and the subdivision meets all the requirements of the city code so for all of these
reasons staff is recommending approval of the preliminary plat with the variance. I’d be happy
to address any questions you have at this time.
Aller: Any questions of staff at this point? Commissioner McGonagill.
McGonagill: One question I had is mostly my own education on Lot 2 I notice they have a rock
driveway going in.
Walters: That is conceptual for the construction so they, you know they can put the rock
entrance so that they can get the construction vehicles there when building. So they showed that
in the grading plan I believe on the plat.
McGonagill: Right, I was just wondering were they doing that to avoid an impervious surface or
are they thinking about they’ll pave it down the road?
Walters: It would be paved after construction. That would only be for like some of the grading
activities as part of the construction.
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McGonagill: Okay, thank you sir.
Walters: Yep.
Aller: Additional questions. Hearing none if the applicant would like to come forward and
make a presentation that would be great. If you could state your name and address for the record
sir.
Rod Colson: Sure Rod Colson with Colson Custom Homes, 6440 Pipewood Curve.
Aller: Welcome.
Rod Colson: Thank you.
Aller: Tell us about your project.
Rod Colson: Well it’s a pretty straight forward two lot subdivision. There’s nothing special
about it.
Aller: There had been some concerns stated about the amount of water runoff and whether or
not there’s a storm drainage problem based on the fact that this property would be built or
subdivided. Can you address those issues a little bit?
Rod Colson: Well I don’t think that it’s going to be creating more of a problem or making any
problems that are there worst than already the, Hickory Road is the low point anyway so a lot of
the water comes across and then it comes up from the lake when we have high water.
Aller: Will the property when you build the property it’s going to have it’s own drainage area or
no drainage area? Is it going to have, what’s it going to use to wick water away from your
construction?
Rod Colson: We’ll be well under the hard cover so it will, the soil’s pervious will absorb the
water. There’ll be some runoff but that’s normal. There’s already runoff coming through from
the lot to the west up high so.
Aller: Additional questions? Okay thank you.
Rod Colson: Thank you.
Aller: We’ll open the public hearing portion of this item so this is again an opportunity for an
individual that’s present to come up and speak either for or against the item. Make a comment.
The public hearing is now open. Seeing no one come forward I’ll close the public hearing. And
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entertain comments, concerns, questions, additional questions of staff or a motion.
Commissioner Madsen.
Madsen: Yeah it looks like a, as presented would be better than the flag lot or some of the other
alternatives in trying to reduce the impervious surface and that would be with the
recommendation that staff is proposing.
Aller: I see a lot of sense. Commissioner Weick.
McGonagill: And this will include the new address right?
Walters: That is one of the conditions of approval.
Weick: I was going to propose a motion.
Aller: Please do.
Weick: I don’t want to rush anybody but the Chanhassen Planning Commission recommends
that the City Council approve the preliminary plat for a two lot subdivision and approve a lot
frontage variance for Lot 1, Block 1, Comer Addition as shown in the plans dated December 5,
2018 subject to the conditions of approval and adopting the Findings of Fact and
Recommendation.
Aller: I have a motion. Do I have a second?
McGonagill: Second.
Aller: Having a valid motion and a second, any further comments or concerns? I just want to
say that I think under our guides we are looking for what will be least impactful and a reasonable
use of the property and when we look at the situation here we have an opportunity to create a
situation where there’s better stormwater management and reduction of the impervious surface
so I think it’s a good plan as well. Any additional comments?
Weick moved, McGonagill seconded that the Chanhassen Planning Commission
recommends that the City Council approve the preliminary plat for a two-lot subdivision
and approves a lot frontage variance for Lot 1, Block 1, Comer Addition, as shown in plans
dated December 5, 2018, subject to the conditions of approval, adopts the findings of fact
and recommendation:
Building:
1. Demolition permits required for the removal of any existing structures.
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2. A final grading plan and soils report must be submitted to the Inspections Division before
permits can be issued.
Engineering:
1. Lot 1 shall have a 10-foot drainage and utility easement along its front lot line
(northernmost lot line) prior to recording of final plat.
2. An accurate soils report indicating soil conditions, permeability, slope, and groundwater
elevations shall be provided upon the submittal of grading permits.
3. The contact information for the responsible person(s) for erosion and sediment control
best management practices shall be updated on the plans prior to issuance of grading
permits.
4. Review and approval of the use of silt fence and bio rolls for perimeter control shall be
conducted by the city prior to the issuance of grading permits.
5. Add city detail 5302B – Erosion Control for Individual Lots, to the detail sheet.
6. If the 1974 sanitary and water services stubbed off Red Cedar Point Road that will
service Lot 2 are inadequate for use, they shall be abandoned in accordance with city
standards and re-installed.
7. The developer of Lot 2 will be required to pay all required city WAC and SAC fees
associated with service connections for the rate in force at the time of building permit
application.
Environmental Resources:
1. Any trees removed in excess of what is shown on the grading plan dated 12/5/18 will be
required to be replaced at a ratio of 2:1 diameter inches. Additionally, a birch and maple
on Lot 1 are not shown on the tree inventory, but are larger than the 10” dbh minimum
for the inventory. They will be preserved on Lot 1.
2. Tree preservation fencing shall be installed around existing trees to be saved prior to any
construction activities and remain installed until completion.
Fire Department:
1. The home on Lot 1, Block 1 must be addressed off of Hickory Road.
Parks:
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1. Park dedication fees shall be paid for one lot at the rate in force at the time of final plat
approval.
Planning:
1. An escrow of 110 percent (110%) of the estimated removal cost for the concrete pad on
the interior lot line between Lot 1 and Lot 2 must be received, and the concrete pad
removed within four months of the approval of the final plat.
Water Resources:
1. All permits and approvals must be received from other regulatory agencies prior to
issuing permits.
2. The applicant shall pay the SWMP fee for 1.06 acres at the rate in force at the time of
final plat approval.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
PUBLIC HEARING:
AMENDMENT TO CHANHASSEN CITY CODE PERMITTING CHICKENS IN
RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS.
Aller: Moving onto the amendments to the Chanhassen City Codes which have been put forward.
Do you want to hit these one on one or would you like to take them as a group?
Aanenson: Yeah…
Aller: Okay so we’ll hit item 2 which is an amendment to Chanhassen City Code requesting a
permitting of chickens in residential districts.
Walters: Alright, so the first code before you is, and I do apologize. This is not working, there
we go. Is again the question of allowing chickens. I’ll maybe give it a minute until folks can.
Alright the question is re-examining the City’s policy on back yard chickens. Currently the City
considers chickens to be farm animals. This is kind of reminiscent of if you’ll remember the bee
discussion we had last year. They’re restricted to parcels, agricultural or 10 acres or larger.
We’ve had a lot of people contact us express interest in having chickens on their properties.
Staff looked at, I think we surveyed 62 different cities, 44 of which now allow back yard
chickens. Looked at some literature and staff’s belief is that they can likely be accommodated in
residential districts so long as there are numbers of chickens. Limits on the number of chickens
and then also some performance standards. So some stuff that we looked at, and I apologize, I
put a lot of charts on this one slide but the different type of regulations that cities had. So I
mentioned we looked at 62 cities. 44 of these permitted chickens to be kept in the back yard. Of
those the most common limit was a limit on the number of birds. 40 of the 44 did that. About
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half required that additional setbacks beyond the base zoning codes be applied to like the chicken
coop or the chicken run. About half required licenses. The majority prohibited roosters. We
saw that was pretty common. We looked at the maximum number of chickens. Four was the
kind of the favorite number but there were a lot of different sliding scales and different systems
used. What staff is proposing for the city of Chanhassen would be allowing them on any parcel.
Parcels less than one acre, limiting them to 4 chickens. From the 1 to 2.5 acre range allowing up
to 8 chickens. From 2.5 to 10, up to 16 chickens. If you have over 10 acres you can have a
chicken farm so we didn’t really see a reason to limit it at that point. Beyond that we’d like to go
with a 25 foot setback from any adjacent residence not owned by the owner just to kind of
minimize a chance for noise or odor impact. Standard 10 foot lot lines. Requiring that coops
and runs be enclosed. That’s mostly to prevent predators from eating the chickens and rodent
proof food storage. Weekly waste removal again to deal with potential odor issues. Prohibiting
roosters and crowing hens to prevent noise issues and no discernable odor at lot line were the
performance standards and then probably requiring a permit similar to what was done with bees.
$25 lifetime permit as long as there’s no violation no need to reapply every year. With that I’d
be happy to take any questions. I know I through that quick and I can go into a lot more depth if
you’d like.
Aller: Did we look at the, I know we use articulation in our buildings. Did we look at the type
of coops? Are there differences in an open coop versus a closed coop for purposes of noise, odor
and view?
Walters: Yeah we’d need, we’d require a fully enclosed coops because it allows better
protection from the chickens from both predators and the elements but one of the things that
folks would have to take into account as they designed them would be proper ventilation to
prevent odor issues or you know disease for the chickens and also to make sure it’s comfortable.
But we didn’t go into like super detail you know designing their coops for them. We did put a
minimum of 4 square feet per chicken just to ensure the animals had room to be chickens in.
That seemed to be a pretty common provision from some of the other cities we looked at.
Aller: And a coop would be considered an accessory structure.
Walters: Yes it would.
Aller: So for purposes of the code enforcement and that would limit an individual’s use of their
property is they decide to put in a coop for instance. That would be their accessory structure.
They couldn’t have another one on the other side of the property. Without acreage.
Walters: Yeah I mean they would still be, it would contribute to the 1,000 square foot accessory
structure limit so if somebody already had 1,000 square foot garage they’d have to potentially
choose between how to use it but that’s similar to the choices they have to make for a lot of other
features.
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Aller: And we’re talking about specifically keeping chickens outdoors versus indoors?
Walters: We did put a prohibition against having them indoors. The rationale behind that is
there is some evidence that there’s a lot of, there can be increased risk of transmission of
illnesses from chicken to people when chickens and people live in very close confines. So just as
a safety disease control we didn’t necessarily think they’d be good household pets. That being
said you know if someone wanted to convert a portion of their garage or something to a chicken
coop, especially if it’s like a detached garage I don’t personally see an issue with that and we
didn’t address that in the code.
Aller: And then we’re not looking at butchering or anything else on a property correct?
Walters: So the language that staff is proposing would say no outdoor butchering. What we, our
approach was within the city of Chanhassen during a certain time of the year you can see deer
hanging from trees. There’s no prohibition about butchering a deer or any game animal that you
may hunt. We felt the intent of like butchery bans was to avoid potentially offending the
neighbors if in your garage you want to eat one of your chickens, we felt that was a choice
chicken owners could make.
Aller: Alright.
Walters: Again any of these provisions could be obviously amended if the commission has
different feelings on it.
Aller: Did we look at enforcement?
Walters: Enforcement would be similar to how we’re planning on enforcing bees and other
potential nuisances. If we receive a complaint we’ll go out there. If we find that the chickens
are being kept in violation of the permit it’d be grounds for revoking the permit which would
prevent them from being issued a new chicken permit but yeah it’s similar to any other part of
the code. You know we would not be doing annual or surprise inspections. It would all be
complaint response based.
Aller: And we were also looking at notification of neighbors with bees. Is that the same with
chickens?
Walters: Yes it is. We actually adopted the exact same language on that again just to make sure
everyone knows that there’s going to be a change and has some forewarning.
Aller: Any additional questions? Commissioner Weick.
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Weick: Did you, when you looked at the 62 other cities was there any information on the people
that have chickens, what they’re doing with them? Do they have them for eggs? Do they have
them for pets? Do they have them because they’re cute?
Walters: It honestly seems to be primarily eggs with a touch of good companion animals and
cute. A lot of people think it’s fun to watch them run around. They do also serve some
ecological benefits. Their waste produces a really good compost so you know gardeners like that
They also eat a lot of garden pests so some people strategically place their coops and runs next to
their garden so they eat insects before they even get to the gardens so a lot of kind of your green
ecologically friendly motivations but I think egg production tends to be like the over riding
factor.
Weick: And then a second question is it just, has there been any evidence of increased predator
activity around chicken coops?
Walters: A lot of stuff eats chickens and if the chicken coops are not well designed and not
properly enclosed your, everything from your neighbor’s dog to an eagle is going to get a meal
and that’s one of the reasons why we adopted the provision that both the coops and the runs
needed to be fully enclosed and well constructed and the hope there is if you don’t have
vulnerable chickens out where predators can get them hopefully they will not be attracting
predators.
Weick: That’s all I have.
Aller: Great. Commissioner McGonagill.
McGonagill: Question on the structures. I’m assuming the way this would work that, okay we
would have a code that would approve it but they would still have to get their homeowner’s
association to approve it. Like for example you know patios have to be approved you know or
you’re painting a house sometimes has to be approved by a homeowner’s association so they
would have to submit, I’m assuming they’d have to submit their plan to their local homeowner’s
association board for approval.
Walters: If their homeowner’s association had policies those policies would govern. From the
city’s perspective you know just with the examples you mentioned I do not ever, if someone
applies for a patio and they meet the city code I issue a patio permit.
McGonagill: Right.
Walters: If their homeowner’s association does not allow that that’s for the homeowner’s
association to address and enforce.
McGonagill: Okay.
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Walters: And you know most folks obviously are very good about doing their research and one
of the things that the notification is hopefully it would make sure the homeowner’s association
knew chickens were in the plans.
McGonagill: Thank you. Thanks MacKenzie.
Aller: Additional questions or comments? Hearing none I will open up the public hearing
portion of this item. So any individual wishing to come up and speak either for or against the
item can do so. Seeing no one come forward I’ll close the public hearing. Open it for
discussion, comment or action.
Weick: I’m concerned about attracting predators. I don’t know that, although we haven’t heard
from residents or anything I, it’s just a, I mean we have issues now I think with you know putting
bait in people’s back yards potentially. That’s my concern. I mean I don’t have anything against
chickens certainly and I think people will do it responsibly but that’d be my concern.
Aller: Additional comments, questions.
Madsen: I share that concern. I do like the fact that neighbors need to be notified. I do like the
fact that there’s a permit and so if there is an issue there’s a real you know process where people
can talk about it. Maybe find a solution so if there were predators, I mean I don’t know what that
solution would be except to remove the chickens if it was really bad but at least, and I like the
requirement that it be all enclosed to keep the chickens as safe as possible so.
Aller: Well I’m not, I’m kind of on the chicken fence. I mean I’m just, I don’t want to stop
somebody from using their property reasonably. We do allow bees. We do allow for other pets
but I agree with Commissioner Weick that we have to trust our citizens to act responsibly. I do
think that as in the bees when we were looking to do a permit process that that’s absolutely
necessary. That there’s notification to the neighbors. That there’s a permit taken out so the
neighbors have someone to turn to rather than creating a confrontation. You know as much as
we love to have neighbors be able to talk to themselves that doesn’t necessarily always happen
and so this would give an opportunity for people to turn to their neighbors. I guess I have an
additional question of staff. Is there any indication that this has been going on without being
permitted?
Walters: I did receive a complaint about chickens in June of 2018 I believe was the date I listed.
An individual was staying with their mother. Had brought their chickens. Had a kind of sub-
standard fencing. Chickens got out you know. As always we find out about stuff when someone
comes to us. You know if we did a proactive patrol it probably wouldn’t surprise me if we found
a few other properties with chickens but no I don’t think there’s like a huge number in the city.
If that is…
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Aller: Well I mean it cuts both ways. It’s also telling that if we would suspect that it’s out there
and neighbors aren’t complaining then it’s kind of leads to the opinion that the neighbors don’t
have a problem with it so that may be an unwritten will.
Walters: In the one complaint we received the verbatim comment was I didn’t care until they got
in my garden which is understandable.
Aller: Based on those questions any additional comments? Questions. Concerns.
Weick: I’ll probably oppose it, unless we considered maybe increasing the lot size so that it,
because as I understand it there is no lot requirement so I would say if you mandated it on some
lot size smaller than agricultural but you know with bigger than I don’t know.
Aller: So could you put up the slide again with the different, there we go. If that will help your
thought process at all.
Weick: Yeah because I’m just leaning if lot sizes are bigger there’s just more space. There’s
more opportunity to you know create a coop or something that’s, you know you’re not going to
have neighbors necessarily on top of you at that point. You know jut thinking about the nuisance
factor. Potentially smell and other stuff so if it was, I guess I’m most concerned about the you
know chickens on less than an acre. I’m not sure. You know I’m just trying picturing my
neighborhood right and if my neighbors had chickens I don’t know if it’d really like that. I don’t
know.
McGonagill: I’m looking at your page 3 following up on your comment. It says that there’s 7
cities that had minimum lot sizes. Do you remember what those were MacKenzie?
Walters: Not off hand. Most of them that had the minimum lot sizes did it by zoning district and
I didn’t necessarily cross check you know what those thresholds were.
McGonagill: Okay.
Walters: That’s definitely something we could get back to you on if you wished.
Aller: My understanding is Rosemount allows for hens and no roosters and you have to get
written permission from all your neighbors if that helps or perhaps taking the less than one acre
and excising it and going 4 and 8 instead of 8 and 16 so something that’s workable. I mean it’s
not that I’m pushing it at all but if you’ve got an idea that you want to put forward that’s fine.
Weick: Yeah and you know this can certainly pass without me so you know I don’t want to, I
would just throw if several, I’m just trying to be open about it. If several of us are on the fence I
would propose starting at one acre and then stepping it up from there. But if the consensus was
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that you know to vote in favor of it I have no, you know that’s perfectly fine as well. I just
wanted to express my concern there that’s all.
Aller: Your point’s well taken. I mean people are discussing things for a reason because we
have.
Weick: Right, right.
Aller: We don’t want to disrupt our neighbors and our neighborhood and at the same time we
want to make sure that our neighbors have an opportunity to have appropriate pets and to use
their property accordingly so. Any comments or?
Undestad: I’ve got one more on the setbacks. So we’re doing 25 feet on the sides for each
residential. 10 feet from the lot line.
Walters: Yep. So the coop or run would not be able to be located within 25 feet of any of the
neighbor’s housing but could be 10 feet from any lot line and that was to try to guarantee that
like on very close lots or lots where there wasn’t a lot of space you know you couldn’t put a coop
right outside your neighbor’s window.
Undestad: So I guess but you know looking at that too I guess I kind of agree with
Commissioner Weick.
Aller: Go in the back yard.
Undestad: Yeah if you’re just 10 feet, if you’re in those smaller lots on there and you have you
know if you don’t like chickens and you’ve got them 10 feet away from your back yard and
you’ve got only a 30 foot deep back yard, oh there’s your chickens so. Maybe I guess that less
than an acre might be a little tight for many.
Aller: So I’m hearing acreage as being the sticking point so to speak and what about any of the
other conditions are concerning of anyone?
Undestad: Well I just would like on an acre or more you’ve got room to do this stuff with the
coops and the runs and all that so.
Aller: So if that’s the case would someone like to propose a motion regarding that or do you feel
as though it’s not worth it at this time and you want to send it back.
Weick: I’ll propose it that way. I would say I’d still keep it at 8. Starting at 8.
Undestad: On one acre.
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Weick: I think you put good research into that. That seems to be a good number. I mean I don’t
think we have to reduce the number of chickens people can have but I mean I can certainly give
it a shot. I’ll propose a motion.
Aanenson: Just so you can read the motion…
Weick: Okay the Chanhassen Planning Commission recommends that the City Council adopt
the proposed ordinance amending Chapters 4, 5 and 20 of the Chanhassen City Code concerning
chickens with the following modifications. The lot size requirement will start at one acre with 8
chickens being the maximum and scale up from there. So we would be removing less than one
acre as a possibility.
Walters: Understood.
Aller: So we have a motion. Do we have a second?
Undestad: Second.
Aller: Having a motion and a valid second any further discussion?
Weick moved, Undestad seconded that the City Council adopt the proposed ordinance
amending Chapters 4, 5 and 20 of the Chanhassen City Code concerning chickens with the
following modifications. The lot size requirement will start at one acre with 8 chickens
being the maximum. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of
5 to 0.
Aller: Moving onto item 3. Item 2 having carried. Will that also be on February 25th?
Walters: No it will not. That would be March 11th.
Aller: So March 11th.
Aanenson: Can I just go back to that one because we didn’t have a quorum last time we agreed
to fast track the previous application because that was on last, 2 weeks ago.
Aller: So if all those that are watching at home and present would like to follow that item for
final action that will be on March 11th before the City Council. Moving onto item 3.
PUBLIC HEARING:
AMENDMENT TO CHANHASSEN CITY CODE REVISITING THE COMMUNITY
COMMERCIAL DISTRICT SECTION’S FORMATTING.
Chanhassen Planning Commission – February 19, 2019
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Walters: Yep so for reasons unknown to staff the community commercial district is not
formatted within the city code with the same break out of subsections as the other zoning
districts. It just makes it a little challenging to read and find stuff in that. It also would hinder
any future amendment to that section because instead of being able to call out a specific
subsection for amendment you could have to wholesale amend the entire zoning district so staff
you know we’re just going through and we identified some ways we could improve the
readability and usability of our code. This has been one that I wanted to change for a while and I
would, staff’s recommending that we just make it match to format of the others. And just so you
know this is the location of the, oh no. It lost. I apologize. My graphic seems to have lost the
little circle I drew around the commercial district which is unfortunate. But it is this section I
believe.
Aanenson: I don’t know if you recall we added this to the downtown when we did the
Comprehensive Plan. We don’t have anything that’s in there but we proposed it for
redevelopment to kind of continue the, to allow for some larger footprint commercial buildings
in the downtown core. I think the only one that came under this one was the Walmart one which
was denied. It needed variances which were not approved and so we want to make sure those
standards in that zoning district are codified similar to the other ones so, again it would take a
redevelopment project for somebody to go in there. There isn’t any vacant lots in there right
now but we’ve had other interests over the years to do redevelopment. Nothing at this current
time
Aller: Alright questions of staff. Commissioner McGonagill.
McGonagill: A question, you know this is mostly again mechanics. You all spend a lot of time
and work doing exactly what you said, the commercial district. You did a lot of mission work.
What should be down here. Realize this is code but how does that get rolled into this? I mean
you talk about what’s permitted but you all did a lot of work on the intent of what you wanted
downtown to look like and where it wanted to go so how does that drive what people are allowed
to do? You understand my, where I’m going with the question. It’s almost like the
Comprehensive Plan itself.
Aanenson: Yeah.
McGonagill: How does that plan get included in the direction you would give to someone?
Aanenson: So the Comprehensive Plan describes land uses. When it says commercial. Then
you go to the zoning ordinance. Within the zoning ordinance there’s a subset of types of
commercial like you have the central business district. You have highway business. You have
as MacKenzie talked about the regional commercial zoning district. This is what we added a
number of years ago. The central, or community commercial.
McGonagill: Right.
Chanhassen Planning Commission – February 19, 2019
15
Aanenson: Which allowed for larger footprint of buildings. So if you look at like Target or a
grocery store, we didn’t have an opportunity for some additional, adjacent to the core of
downtown so it would kind of extend that so it has permitted uses within that district.
McGonagill: But you all did write a document. I know around that kind of stuff if I recall what
you wanted in the commercial district.
Aanenson: Absolutely. In this community commercial district.
McGonagill: Right. So can the code point to that and said you know reference this, use this, you
know it’s like.
Aanenson: Yes it’s currently in the code right now.
Walters: Yeah if you, sorry if I may jump in. If you check the staff report we actually pulled the
code for community commercial and you’ll notice the first section is intent and I think that gets
to what you’re getting at. Where we looked at the Comprehensive Plan and then within the
zoning code we said this is what this zone is designed to do. To clarify the channel…
McGonagill: Let’s see it’s 20-741.
Walters: The changes here are purely cosmetic and for readability. They don’t change any of
the intent or.
McGonagill: So that’s how you’re rolling in the direction you want to take it.
Aanenson: Correct. Yep. So again the intent of this wasn’t to you know to do a lot of smaller
type businesses but to provide the opportunity for some larger accessory offices or something
like that. Yes.
McGonagill: So based on the code, this is, I know I’m off base here if you’re talking just
formatting.
Aanenson: Correct.
McGonagill: I’m trying to educate myself a little bit. If someone came in with a smaller
footprint, as a real small deal you could deny it because it doesn’t meet this?
Aanenson: Well once this is the total building on any single level could be no more than 65,000
square feet and then you could have one at 15,000 square feet. At a time there was a lot of fast
foods that wanted to come in and that wasn’t what we wanted to see in this district so we tried to
Chanhassen Planning Commission – February 19, 2019
16
say there had to be a minimum of tenant space of 15,000 or up to 65,000 which would prevent a
larger warehouse type thing.
McGonagill: Alright got it. Okay that answers my question, thank you.
Aller: Additional questions? Alright. I’ll open up the public hearing portion of this item.
Having heard the request and the comments so far anybody will come forward and speak either
for or against the item and make a comment? Seeing no one come forward I’ll close the public
hearing. I think the discussion that was just had shows the need for the clarification and the fact
that the ease of readability and the assistance that it will give an individual looking at the code
and pointing those things out is beneficial so thank you for requesting the modification. With
that any other comments so I’ll entertain a motion.
Undestad: I’ll propose a motion. The Chanhassen Planning Commission recommends that the
City Council adopt the proposed ordinance amending Chapter 20 of the Chanhassen City Code
concerning community commercial district formatting.
Aller: I have a motion. Do I have a second?
Madsen: Second.
Aller: Thank you Commissioner Madsen.
Undestad moved, Madsen seconded that the Chanhassen Planning Commission
recommends that the City Council adopt the proposed ordinance amending Chapter 20 of
the Chanhassen City Code concerning community commercial district formatting. All
voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
Aller: Motion carries. Again that will be heard on March 11th. So anyone wishing to follow that
item before the City Council for final action will be March 11th. Moving onto item 4.
PUBLIC HEARING:
AMENDMENT TO CHANHASSEN CITY CODE TO ALLOW CONTINUING CARE
RETIREMENT FACILITIES IN HIGH DENSITY RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS.
Walters: So one of the things staff does is we periodically review the code for internal
consistency and one of the things we noticed in our last round of reviews was that the continuing
care retirement facility performance standards set a maximum bed limit of 6 beds per acre and
specifically mentioned that they were allowed in high density districts so the R-12 and R-16
districts. Districts guided for up to 16 units an acre. However when we cross checked those
districts it’s not listed as a permitted use within any of the high density districts so I did a little
research. Looked at the initial proposal. How it ended up being passed and it looks like what
happened was when the original code went through it was paired with the Beehive development
Chanhassen Planning Commission – February 19, 2019
17
that was in a medium residential district and essentially in one of the revisions the R-12 and R-16
was omitted and it was passed just narrowly targeted to that one development instead of with the
bigger all over arching intent of the initial draft. So staff is proposing to bring it in line with the
listed performance standards and add continuing care retirement facilities as permitted uses in
high density residential districts in line with the original intent of the drafted ordinance before it
was you know combined with a specific project, if that makes sense.
Aller: Questions of staff? I think it’s pretty straight forward the way you presented it. You’re to
be commended on the report. Any individual, I’m going to open up the public hearing portion of
this item. Any individual again wishing to speak either for or against this item or make a
comment can come forward and do so at this time. Seeing no one come forward I’ll close the
public hearing portion of this item and open it up for discussion or action.
Undestad: I’ll propose a motion.
Aller: Commissioner Undestad.
Undestad: The Chanhassen Planning Commission recommends the City Council adopt the
proposed ordinance amending Chapter 20 of the Chanhassen City Code concerning continuing
care retirement facilities.
Aller: I have a motion. Do I have a second?
Weick: Second.
Aller: Commissioner Weick. Having a motion and a second any further comment or discussion?
Okay I, I’m glad to see this before us. I think that our city has taken strides in the last couple of
years to make sure that we’ve been taking care of our elderly and making sure that our housing
program fulfills the mission of Chanhassen becoming a life long community so an individual can
literally have their starter home here and then move into a facility like this and be present in
Chanhassen for the remaining days so I think it’s incumbent upon municipalities like the City of
Chanhassen to step up and make sure that these things are taken care of in code and I think that
we’re doing so, so I would at this point in time request a vote.
Undestad moved, Weick seconded that the Chanhassen Planning Commission recommends
the City Council adopt the proposed ordinance amending Chapter 20 of the Chanhassen
City Code concerning continuing care retirement facilities. All voted in favor and the
motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
Aller: Motion carries and again that will be on March 11th so any individual wishing to follow
the item for final action it will be heard on March 11th before the City Council.
Chanhassen Planning Commission – February 19, 2019
18
Aanenson: Chair I’d just like to add a couple things. I think sometimes we’re moving through
this, just for clarification for everybody so we added this definition. If you remember we had
that kind of that remnant piece along Highway 41 that we were trying to find a use for so we
thought that would be a good use so we added this as a new definition as MacKenzie talked
about. The Beehive because they’re living in a group home. They don’t really have individual
kitchens and everything so there’s a new definition added so we’ve got this one and then shortly
after that we had the one that came down off of Lyman Boulevard. The Olive, so that’s our
second one so this is a little bit different where we, there was new introducing to the city and as a
need and so what we’re seeing now is to codify that with some of the other senior housing that
we looked at that there may be some other uses coming down the road and so it’s just codifying
all that but up until Beehive came in we didn’t accommodate that type of use.
Aller: Thank you.
PUBLIC HEARING:
AMENDMENT TO CHANHASSEN CITY CODE TO UPDATE SIGN DESIGN AND
CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS REFERNCE (BUILDING CODE).
Walters: This is another example of checking for internal consistency. We were contacted with
a request to provide the 1997 Uniform Sign Code and we do not have a copy of it and so we
spoke with the building inspectors and the people who actually inspect commercial signage and
they recommended that we adopt Appendix H of the International Building Code. It’s a much
more common document. Much more easily attainable. It’s one that we feel sign contractors
and our inspectors are both more familiar with and so staff is proposing that the section of the
code that requires all commercial signage to meet the 1997 Uniform Sign Code standards be
replaced with requiring them to meet Appendix H of the International Building Code which also
has construction design standards and is on file with the City.
Aller: Great. Any questions of staff?
McGonagill: One question.
Aller: Commissioner McGonagill.
McGonagill: We adopt Appendix H, do you know of any violations of Appendix H that already
are out there that we would have to deal with?
Walters: Not to my knowledge.
McGonagill: Okay thank you.
Aller: Any additional questions? Commissioner Madsen.
Chanhassen Planning Commission – February 19, 2019
19
Madsen: So is Appendix H similar to what you remember that the 1997 edition was?
Walters: I must confess I have never read the 1997 edition of the Uniform Sign Code. Could not
comment on that. We did look, we did read Appendix H. I did go over it with Eric Tessman
who is the City Building Official. It from our perspective seemed to be comprehensive. Seemed
to discuss wind load. You know proper securing. All the things we’d want to protect the safety
and welfare of our citizens. It is somewhat difficult for me to imagine that there were
meaningful standards that were different between the International Building Code and
construction standards in another sign code manual but again I have not personally read it.
Aanenson: Just to be clear all building permits for signs go through the building department so
they are inspected and reviewed for compliance. This just documents that, what we’re using for
that compliance.
Aller: Which is going to just a follow up question if I might and that is in your discussions were
there any concerns that this subdivision would leave out something that they would want to have
in?
Walters: No. This is what the inspectors asked me to propose.
Aller: Okay. Additional questions, comments? Hearing none open the public hearing portion of
the item. Again having heard the request any individual wishing to come forward and speak
either for or against the item or just give a comment can do so at this time. Seeing no one come
forward we’ll close the public hearing portion of the item. Open it up for discussion, comment
or action. Have you done one yet today?
McGonagill: I’m getting ready to.
Aller: Commissioner McGonagill.
McGonagill: I was getting ready to read it. May I?
Aller: Absolutely. Commissioner McGonagill.
McGonagill: Thank you. I’d like to propose a motion that the Chanhassen Planning
Commission recommends that the City Council adopt the proposed ordinance amending Chapter
20 of the Chanhassen City Code concerning sign design and construction standards.
Aller: I have a motion. Do I have a second? No race this time.
Madsen: Second.
Chanhassen Planning Commission – February 19, 2019
20
Aller: Commissioner Madsen, thank you. Having a motion and a second, any additional
comments, questions or concerns?
McGonagill moved, Madsen seconded that the Chanhassen Planning Commission
recommends that the City Council adopt the proposed ordinance amending Chapter 20 of
the Chanhassen City Code concerning sign design and construction standards. All voted in
favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
Aller: That motion carries and again that item will be forwarded to City Council on March 11th.
PUBLIC HEARING:
AMENDMENT TO CHANHASSEN CITY CODE CLARIFYING TRASH STORAGE
ENCLOSURE EXEMPTION.
Walters: So this is another housekeeping internal consistency and making sure the code reads
like we want it to. I was reviewing the trash enclosure section of the code and I noticed that the
way it was structured we have a section that requires all trash containers to be stored within
basically a self contained building and then we have an exemption from that that says single
family properties don’t have to do this. So the goal was this, the enclosure provision was
designed to regulate industrial and commercial properties. We wanted to make sure it didn’t also
regulate single family properties so they exempted them from it. However the first sentence of
that section also is a section that prohibits the exterior incineration of trash so by exempting
single family residences from the enclosure provision it also exempted them from the provision
preventing them from exterior incineration of trash. Now I don’t believe anyone but myself and
now yourselves noticed this so no one has yet made the case that they’re allowed to burn in an
enclosed trash container in their yard but we thought it would be wise to separate this out and fix
the problem before it occurred. So staff is proposing to break that into 3 subsections. One
subsection prohibiting the exterior incineration of trash. The other exempting single family
residences from the enclosure provision. Does that make sense?
Aller: Yeah.
Walters: Yeah, okay.
Aller: Questions?
McGonagill: Another educational question.
Aller: Commissioner McGonagill.
McGonagill: What is the code on burning leaves? I wanted to ask that because I really don’t
know.
Chanhassen Planning Commission – February 19, 2019
21
Walters: I would, I wish the Fire Marshal was here. I’d defer to that but I believe you are not
supposed to burn yard waste. Nope.
McGonagill: Okay.
Aanenson: You can get a burning permit but it’s highly regulated so you’re not supposed to
burn.
Aller: I was going to say when in doubt call the fire department and ask to speak with them and
see what you need to do to get a permit.
McGonagill: Thank you very much.
Aller: Commissioner Madsen.
Madsen: Now if you happen to be in an association that requires that it be inside a garage or
have some sort of covering in front of it, would that pre-empt this?
Walters: Yes. So as always association rules can be more stringent than the City but not less
stringent. So the City also just for full discussion we have another provision in our general code
that says trash containers must be kept out of public view except on day of pick up. And so
obviously if your association also had an additional provision defining what out of public view
meant like in garage, behind wall, whatever it may be that would not be affected by this change.
All this would do is guarantee no one can ever make the argument it’s okay I lit my trash
container on fire because of X.
Madsen: Okay thank you.
Walters: Yeah.
Aller: Additional questions, comments? Hearing none I’ll open up the public hearing portion of
the item. Again it’s the last opportunity of the evening. Any individual wishing to come
forward speak for or against the item. Seeing no one come forward we’ll close the item. We’ll
bring it up for discussion, comment or action. Anyone?
Madsen: No.
Undestad: Then I’ll make the motion.
Aller: Commissioner Undestad.
Chanhassen Planning Commission – February 19, 2019
22
Undestad: The Chanhassen Planning Commission recommends the City Council adopt the
proposed ordinance amending Chapter 20 of the Chanhassen City Code concerning trash
enclosures.
Aller: I have a motion. Do I have a second?
McGonagill: Second.
Weick: Second.
Aller: Commissioner McGonagill got it.
Weick: You got it.
McGonagill: I sure did.
Aller: Thank you. Having a valid motion and a second, any further discussion or comment?
Undestad moved, McGonagill seconded that the Chanhassen Planning Commission
recommends the City Council adopt the proposed ordinance amending Chapter 20 of the
Chanhassen City Code concerning trash enclosures. All voted in favor and the motion
carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
Aller: Motion passes. That concludes our public hearings for today’s meeting and we’ll open up
request for approval of the Minutes.
McGonagill: A lot of good work MacKenzie by the way on going through all this stuff.
Walters: Thank you. I have a whole other 40.
McGonagill: Okay.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Commissioner Madsen noted the verbatim and summary
Minutes of the Planning Commission meeting dated January 15, 2019 as presented.
ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS. CITY COUNCIL ACTION UPDATE.
Aanenson: Thank you Chairman, members of the Planning Commission. So on January 28th the
City Council took under advisement during the work session the Galpin site. They also
discussed it again on February 11th and you will be seeing it on your March 5th meeting. It’s not
a public hearing because you held a public hearing on it. There were specific directions given to
you and I’ll be working with the City Attorney’s office on that formatting how that meeting is
Chanhassen Planning Commission – February 19, 2019
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going to go. Wanted to see you know what the reception is for the redesign and the other is
reception or thoughts about preservation of the open space so I’ll be structuring that.
McGonagill: So you said we will get instructions on how that will go.
Aanenson: Absolutely, yep. We’re working on the staff report now, yep.
McGonagill: So it will come in…
Aanenson: What you’re doing is, it’s remanded back to give some additional information back
to the City Council.
McGonagill: Okay.
Aanenson: Not formalizing correct.
McGonagill: So very, very specific.
Aanenson: Correct because to have the public hearing would be different notification and then
in addition to that would be all the engineering plans that you approved so those would just be
revised as it moves forward to City Council. The City Council will be making a
recommendation also at their March 11th meeting so it’s going to be a quick turn around from
that with all their engineering so there’ll be specific instructions regarding that and it is being
noticed, a flyer attached in the Villager and there’s information out on the City’s website too for
anybody that wants to come comment on the project. So that was one of the issues to make sure
we had additional.
Weick: But they can’t comment though right?
Aanenson: Pardon me?
Weick: There was no public hearing I thought.
Aanenson: Well it’s public comment.
Aller: It’s not technically a public hearing.
Aanenson: What they want is input but it’s not a public hearing. The legal form when you do
notice to everybody within 500 feet.
Aller: So there won’t be Findings in there and there don’t have to be notices.
Weick: So you will open it for public comment?
Chanhassen Planning Commission – February 19, 2019
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Aanenson: That’s the whole purpose correct.
McGonagill: So will we or will we not be voting on it? I just want to be sure.
Aanenson: Well that’s what I’m trying to formalize yet. How that works.
McGonagill: Okay.
Aller: We left them with a 3-3 the last time.
McGonagill: Yeah.
Aanenson: Yep so or summarizing what the majority of the comments were and that sort of
thing so that’s what we’re working on yeah so.
McGonagill: Okay.
Aller: So they want.
Aanenson: More to come.
Aller: They want more. They said go back to work.
Aanenson: So right now at the, that’s the only item on for that meeting. We were going to try to
put some additional code amendments. As you know with the Comprehensive Plan there’s some
other code amendments that will be coming too. Mostly regarding stormwater management. A
big chunk of them but so right now we’ll just put that item on because I don’t know how many
people are going to be here and that want to be heard on that so we’re just kind of leaving that
open just for that item as long as we had nothing external. It would just be internal things that
we’d be bringing forward to have more flexibility. So with that also at that, the 11th meeting you
know there’s discussion of the Applebee’s site so there was a desire for redevelopment on the
site. The council encouraged the developer to find a different type of business for that site so
they’re ongoing with that one too. Again there’s been a lot of work trying to find restaurants and
they’ve struggled to try to find a restaurant to go in there and it is permitted for some other type
of commercial uses would be permitted in there too so we’ll see what happens with that. So
that’s all I had for council updates.
YEAR END REVIEW/2019 WORK PROJECTS ANNUAL REPORT.
Aller: Great. So then we would move onto our year end review.
Chanhassen Planning Commission – February 19, 2019
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Aanenson: Yes. So for everybody’s edification, not just the Planning Commission but we at the
end of every year do an annual report and this is also the City Council. This is in the By-laws of,
and the duties and powers of the Planning Commission to get an annual report. So this is this
year’s annual report and the first thing we’ll talk about is a population projection. As of April 1st
will be 26,355 so we are continuing to grow. Having problems with our power point here. I’m
just going to kind of go through the, maybe MacKenzie can just kind of scroll along. Go through
kind of what the 2018 year in review and kind of what we see anticipating or what we anticipate
for 2019. So for 2018 the conditional use permits, 3 of those. Four planned unit developments,
PUD’s. One rezoning. Three site plan reviews. Again site plan review is either an office,
commercial or industrial. Four subdivisions so those can be a one lot subdivision, two lot and
then 9 variances so that added up to 20 cases. And also in 2018 we had a record number of 373
dwelling units which is typically about double what we usually do and again those were driven
by two, the senior housing project down it’s now called Riley Crossings Senior Housing which
formerly was called the Mission Hills down at 101 and Lyman. If you’ve driven by and seen
that. And also the Venue downtown. So we see about a 2 percent increase in the housing stock.
Again we’re predominantly and will always be predominantly single family residential as our
largest portion of the housing stock. We also permitted, the average is 132 single family and 69
attached so attached can be a townhouse or a tri-plex or the like. So again there’s a slight
deficiency of approved lots available for development with lot inventory of 103 platted lots. We
keep that report in there too. That’s one of the things Bob’s done a great job of tracking all that
so we track all the permits that come through so we’re always looking at our land inventory.
That affects prices and fluctuation and when developers want to increase their stock so the one
that we went through pretty quickly because there was some pent up demand for that price point
was the townhouses down at 101 and Lyman, just north of the Kwik Trip there. Those went
through pretty quickly and then scattered 61 single family lots. So you can see there the projects
that went through. The Arbors 2nd Addition and then Red Cedar Point, just a two lot subdivision.
The Arbors a 3 lot so those were some of the smaller ones. The ones on 101 and Lyman, kind of
the cottage type homes those are still working their way through the permitting. Again market
based. So what we do anticipate in 2019, some of the big projects coming through is Avienda.
They were going to go to the Planning Commission, go to that one slide right here. So that’s the
lot information right there. That’s hard for you to read but we keep that internally and we keep
track of how many vacant lots are per subdivision. We get that request from developers when
they’re out doing some of their market studies so we know on the top half of that is actually the
single family and the bottom half is the multi-family so it kind of, when a subdivision comes in
not always get final platted as you know. They bring in so many lots. Put the infrastructure in
and then they’ll do phases on those so that helps us kind of keep track of that. That also
happened on the townhouse projects so this is typical in multi-family too. Typically it’s not on
an apartment. They pull a permit and that’s what kind of skews your numbers so an apartment
like senior, the senior hill, the senior housing and the Venue downtown, those permits for you
know 130 approximately in each of those units get pulled all at once. Typically that doesn’t
happen in other types of multi-family or single family so those are the things that we keep track
of on an annual basis and helps us understand what’s happening in the marketplace. What’s
moving. So going back to what we see happening next year, you approved as did the City
Chanhassen Planning Commission – February 19, 2019
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Council the Avienda project and that project, the lifestyle center has made some changes to it.
They got their grading permit at the end of last year. They came in for final plat and now they’re
going to make some changes to that. They are working in getting their grading permit tied to the
preliminary plat. That’s not uncommon that we do that. They would still provide security for
that project. They still have to dedicate the 23 acres of the wooded knoll. They had that all
staked and there’s some other requirements that were tied to the wetland permit. Wetland
banking. Also some additional money for acquisition on Lyman Boulevard so those things will
happen before they get the grading permit. I’m working on that with Project Engineer Erick
Henricksen on that and they’re hoping to start grading on that sometime in April. Meanwhile
they’re going to make some changes to the project itself. Some of the internal things. You know
there’s a hotel. Some senior housing also in that project. Some smaller lot housing in there.
Some office and as I mentioned retail so some of those are going to move around a little bit so,
because they’re amending that PUD that does require a public hearing back before the Planning
Commission so you’ll see that. But before it comes back to you it will start at the top at the City
Council. They’ll present to the City Council what they’re thinking about those plans before you
see that but we do anticipate that sometime this spring again. Kind of all the same time they’ll
be coming forward with the grading permit so that will probably be a pretty large discussion on
that meeting too kind of going through all the idiosyncrasies so when we do a big PUD like that,
that also has design standards so we put together the architectural package which I think they
might be making some tweaks. As you recall that had a unique attributes to their sign package
so that’s a pretty large development so we’ll be going through all that again with you so have an
opportunity for input on that.
Aller: So this will be a reverse concept process. It’s going to go by City Council first for
comment and then come back to us.
Aanenson: Correct yep, yep. Yep, yep so they’ll get a chance to see it. I think they were
anticipating that they might be on this coming up council meeting but I think they wanted to
refine a few things before they come back before the council. I know we’ve got a lot of requests
from neighbors that think that that project went away. It’s not. I think some of the changes are
really for the better. Making not only architecturally but some of the uses and the location of
some of those uses so anticipating bringing that forward to you. Again looking at our growth
rate, about a 2 percent growth rate. We talked about the city code with the changes with the
Comprehensive Plan. We did get some feedback on the Comprehensive Plan. It seems like
every city got some minor tweaks that we’ve had a little angst over. We have a nuance wording
that we’re working through right now on getting those changes. Some of it also involves some
watershed district comments so we’ve got our consulting engineers working on that so we’re
anticipating that going back up to the Met Council for a final review and then once we get that in
place then the clock’s ticking for us to do some more code amendments so you’ll be seeing that.
Although the watershed or the wetland actually goes first because we have a shorter window
when those changes need to be made. So I think we’ll spend some time with you on that.
Education. We talked about that before we spent a lot of time last year on that. The four
different watersheds. How we make our rules align so our residents aren’t bumped around
Chanhassen Planning Commission – February 19, 2019
27
between all the different rules and we’re taking back the permitting on that so there will be a
little bit more education on that moving forward so we’ll spend some time on that.
Comprehensive Plan we talked about that. What else am I looking up there? Joint commission
tours. So we’ll plan that again. And then also we have our typically our meeting in April is a
work meeting because we have our new commissioners that would be involved in that so we’re
looking through, kind of thinking of some ideas that we might want to spend some time doing a
deep dive on some educational things and if you have suggestions we’d love to hear about that
too. So and then also for our tour but those are really the big things we’ve got going. I don’t
know what I missed on the slides there that Bob had put together but again it’s in a formalized
report. We’ll make sure this gets out online. It tells you kind of where we are in the permits.
We also have good numbers in here. What’s our valuation. Our housing valuations compared to
other cities and that sort of thing. What our building permit valuation is and that’s total number
of inspections. We have a lot more detail on there too so that will be out on the website too so
again we just want to share that with you. Be happy to answer any questions that you might have
about it.
Aller: Any questions or comments at this point? Other than you know thank you again for
providing us with a really deep dive report on the status of planning in Chanhassen. Keeping up
with it is a bear just on a bi-weekly basis for us but you keep track of everything so we
appreciate it and the fact that it will be put on the website. It gives the public an opportunity to
deep dive on their own and take a look at ask questions and be prepared to come in and give their
ideas on where they want Chanhassen to head in their planning. So thank you. And is that it for
our agenda? Any correspondence? None. Okay so I’ll entertain a request for adjournment
immediately following the meeting or after a short break I believe there’ll be a work session for
interviewing commission applicants so we look forward to doing that.
Aanenson: Yep.
Aller: And what that I’ll entertain a motion to adjourn.
Commissioner Undestad moved to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion
carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. The Planning Commission meeting was
adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
Submitted by Kate Aanenson
Community Development Director
Prepared by Nann Opheim