PC Minutes 05-05-20Chanhassen Planning Commission – May 5, 2020
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Weick: Yep and we’re excited to have you as well. Welcome and again look forward to
working with you as well Mark. No matter what’s in the background. Again tonight’s meeting
is a little out of the ordinary for us so I’d like to review the guidelines that we will have for this
meeting and just take a few minutes to walk through that. This is our first Planning Commission
attempt at this so we do ask for everybody’s patience. Also that the commission members not
hold chats or discussions on the side through the Zoom application as all discussions need to be
made public. Tonight we have two public hearings on tonight’s agenda and we will do our best
to follow the following format. Staff will present the item. At that time we will ask for
comments from the Planning Commission. The applicant will then be asked if they would like to
make any additions or comments on behalf of their petition. At that time then we will open the
public hearing. For the public hearing there are a couple different ways to join. All emails will
be summarized and read for the record. Any that have been submitted. If there are any in person
comments they’ll be taken here in the council chambers and we are practicing safe social
distancing. And the third way is for telephone calls and calls will be taken and the phone
number will appear on your screen at the time that the public hearing is opened for comments so
you can call in as well. Once we’ve heard, and we’ll take some extra time there to make sure
that we have the opportunity to hear from everybody that wants to be heard through whatever
channel they choose. At that time we’ll close the public hearing and the commissioners will then
have another chance to discuss the item. At that time I think it might work best to go, we’ll call
on commissioners to make their comments so that we’re not just talking over the top of each
other. We’ll see how that works and then we’ll need a motion, a second and we will take a roll
call vote so I will, I’ll call your name and you will vote either yay or nay for the item. With that
I will introduce the first item on the agenda this evening.
PUBLIC HEARING:
CONSIDER A REQUEST TO AMEND THE PUD AT 7801 AUDUBON ROAD (PAISLEY
PARK).
Weick: Kate we have a request to amend the PUD at 7801 Audubon Road which is Paisley Park
and that is Case No. 2020-04. With that I will turn it over to you Kate.
Aanenson: I’m just looking for the screen to come on. The power point. Awesome, thank you.
Thank you Chair. Good job on the announcements. So this item will be going to City Council
on May 26th so this is a request to amend the ordinance governing Paisley Park to allow for
unlimited smaller events and up to 12 larger events and one outdoor event per year. As you’re
aware Paisley Park is located on Audubon Road just off of Highway 5. In your staff report there
was a lot of detail regarding the background on this and I just want to remind everybody what the
background was especially for our new Planning Commission members. So back in October of
2016 the Planning Commission chose to make this a PUD which would allow for museum tours
and concerts affiliated with the park. Because the property was zoned office industrial, and
that’s how the recording studio was being used, the PUD was the tool then to implement how the
property was to be used. So in 2018 they also asked to allow for alcohol for special events. I
think the first test might have been some of the Super Bowl events and the like so and that has
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gone very well. So then we also amended it to do for all temporary, for a number of temporary
events. Not all temporary events so that was amended in 2019. So since that time there’s a new
Executive Director and I’ll let him speak in a minute here but they’re looking at some potential
amendments to, as I stated to allow for more smaller events instead of limiting it to the 12 which
was the original PUD. So the Executive Manager, or Executive Director Alan Seiffert met with
the City Council in January-February to discuss those desires so here we are today to process that
request. So again it’s permitted 12 indoor concerts but the calendar year requires a concert
specific seating plan and that’s really to make sure the Fire Marshal reviews that depending on
the size of the event. So alcohol can be served only in conjunction with the temporary event
permit and that’s all through catering because they don’t have a liquor license and no outdoor
events. We have had no problems up there and with the sheriff’s office and traffic again a lot of
the parking then is off site and they’re bused in or Ubered or the like or Lyft so the proposed
change then would allow up to 12 indoor concerts with over 200 attendees. They still would
have to do a specific seating plan for those but then allow unlimited private events. So
sometimes they will have corporate events. School events and the like so again we, as long as
they are following the fire department fire code issues we don’t have a problem with that so we
removed the provision requiring the temporary event permit to serve alcohol as long as they’re
getting the catering license we would follow through on that. So that would allow potentially
one outdoor concert per year. That’s what they’re talking about. Now I’m not sure this year will
come to fruition but that’s also something that we would work between the different departments
managing traffic, safety and all those issues too so there would have to be a protocol and a plan
put in place for that to move forward. So again as I stated to date there’s been no issues with the
alcohol service on site and we don’t feel like the smaller events require the level of review
associated with the permit and based on the A-3 occupancy the HVAC capacity, the heating
ventilating and potential parking issues don’t necessitate a cap on the larger events and justifying
requiring permits so some of the concerns that the outdoor events might be an attractive nuisance
so again that’s something that we would look at further refinement if they were to come in for an
outdoor concert. So we are recommending approval of the amended language is one of the
attachments in your staff report so with that following our protocol there I would let you ask if
the commission has any questions and I know Mr. Seiffert’s on the Zoom too.
Weick: Okay thank you Kate. I would at this time open it for any planning commissioners who
would like to ask Kate questions or need clarification.
McGonagill: Steve you want to go down the line or you just want us to go individually?
Weick: For this one I was just going to let you jump in.
McGonagill: Okay I guess the only question I have on this Kate is the last meeting or a couple
weeks before we approved The Moments of Chanhassen which is across Highway 5 from this
and the only concern I have is, was that senior citizen area there, an outdoor concert at Paisley
Park. The impact that that would have on the residents. I realize that they have to kill, or they
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have to turn off their loud speakers at 10:00 but as we know in places like that people retire a lot
earlier than that and so did you all consider that or talk to Paisley Park about that?
Aanenson: Yep and I’ll let the Executive Director talk about that more specifically but we’re
saying that’s a potential. There’s still a lot of logistics to work through. Some of that being that
it’s next to MnDOT. Highway 5 and then congestion and traffic because they’re getting bused
there or you know there’s not that much parking on site because it’d be a much larger event,
some of those things would have to come into play so it’s not a given. They’d still have to have
a workable plan before it could be approved but we’re saying the potential is there.
McGonagill: So for that, for that permit to be approved would it go to City Council or just to
staff? How does that process, let’s say we approve the PUD tonight and they want to do an
outdoor event and let’s say there’s concerns like I mentioned for example with The Moments of
Chanhassen, how, what form does that come up in?
Aanenson: So that’s part of the event permitting. So again that goes to, that would be
engineering or else it’d be the fire department, planning. That’s what MacKenzie works on and
of course anybody else that would have, the sheriff’s office also weighs in on those too and so if
it can’t meet the satisfaction of safety for those departments then it would not be approved just
like any other temporary permit.
McGonagill: Thank you.
Weick: Thank you Commissioner McGonagill. Any other commissioner comments at this time?
Skistad: This is Laura Skistad and I just had a question on parking and how that would work if
you know would they ever utilize Lake Ann Park during…with busing in or.
Aanenson: That’s a great question. They were asked that too and because we have so many
summer activities I’m not sure that would be a decision of the Park Director but I think there
were some concerns too people going across underneath the tunnel. Whether they would try to
go, cross above grade instead of under the tunnel so those, that’s a good question but those are
some of the logistics that we would want more details on and how they would manage that. So
again these are things that we said we need to understand that that would work so they’d have to
still get approval for that permit.
Skistad: Okay. And then my only other question was the HVAC system not designed for A-1
occupancy so what are the risks in that?
Aanenson: Well it’s just as a limited capacity of how many people they can have in there so as
they have a certain number of people inside and number of times that that at some point needs to
be upgraded. But if it’s an outdoor concert it wouldn’t affect that but they also have provided for
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restrooms and the like anything else that would be associated with that. Again those are some of
the logistics that they need to demonstrate.
Skistad: Okay thank you.
Weick: Thank you Commissioner Skistad. Other comments for Kate? And hearing none from
the other commissioners.
Aanenson: Yep so Alan Seiffert I saw him on the Zoom earlier so he’s the Executive Director
out at Paisley so if you want to just make any comments Alan.
Alan Seiffert: First of all thank you. I think Kate laid it out very well. We are really interested
in working very closely with the City just to make sure that whatever we do is going to be
successful, not just in terms of what happens at Paisley but for the overall community. We feel
that, that after really in the last 6 months in particular, we’ve been spending a lot of time really
trying to work with Kate and the team just to make sure as we, as a business grow in scale that
we do it in a way that is mindful. We do think we have some great solutions for outdoor but as I
think Kate mentioned we will…and we will only move forward in there where all of us feel,
whether it’s the City, you know Fire Chief, Carver County whether we all feel comfortable with
it. Yes we are aware of the local residents. We are aware of whatever we do outside would
impact and so as I said we do have some thoughts about how to best indicate that. Just to be
clear we’re talking about outdoor you know, this is Paisley Park. We are not hoping to kind of
create some you know extra loud festival. This is really about kind of enhancing the overall
experience and we think giving a bit more visibility to Chanhassen and to Paisley so we’re really
pleased. We think this is a thoughtful approach and we are, we very much appreciate it.
Aanenson: So again we are recommending approval, just as Mr. Seiffert said, you know we’ve
kind of taken baby steps through this whole process and kind of building on success and that’s
where we want to continue to go.
Weick: Great.
Aanenson: So I do have a motion. I’m assuming they can see that if the screen is up, the
motion.
Weick: Everybody in the public.
Aanenson: Yep, oh let me just on that too. I did not receive any comments or emails on this
item and it was noticed so.
Weick: So at this time we will open the public hearing. As Kate mentioned there are no emails
to be summarized for the record. I would certainly invite anyone here in person who wishes to
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speak on this item to come forward. Seeing no one come forward in person, I guess we’d see if
there’s telephone calls.
Aanenson: We don’t have any.
Weick: And we don’t, we don’t have. So we will give that a minute. See if anyone attempts to
dial in. While we’re waiting I will say it’s exciting to have a place like Paisley Park I think in
our city as Mr. Seiffert mentioned. It’s a very nice you know addition and public attraction,
museum and event space that’s very unique and I think very special for Chanhassen so we are
pleased to have them as neighbors. So did not hear any phone calls, no one called in so I’m
going to assume that we don’t have any of those either and I will close the public hearing portion
of this item. At this time our Planning Commissioners can make comment. I will go around the
table for those comments at this time. I’ll call you out by name and if you want to make any
special comments or ask any final questions you may do so at that time. Once we’ve gone
through each commissioner then we could consider a motion and a second. So I’ll start with
Commissioner Randall. Any comments or questions?
Randall: I do not have any comments or questions. I just think it’s a good move and I’ll be
voting in favor of it.
Weick: Great, thank you Commissioner Randall. Commissioner Reeder. Any comments or
questions?
Reeder: I have no comments at this time. I see no problem with what they’re proposing.
Weick: Thank you. Commissioner Noyes?
Noyes: I don’t have any questions or comments at this time either and I’m very supportive as
well.
Weick: Thank you. Commissioner McGonagill?
McGonagill: I don’t have any comments Chairman and I do appreciate Paisley Park’s approach
to this and working with the City and just continue to be thoughtful as you step through it and I
know you’ll continue to grow and that’s what we want so I will be voting in favor as well.
Weick: Thank you. And Commissioner Skistad.
Skistad: My only comments is they have been good neighbors and I’ve had good neighbor
conversations with many of my neighbors as well and we like what’s going on there so I will
also be voting in favor of this.
Weick: Thank you. That’s a good perspective. And finally Commissioner Von Oven.
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Von Oven: Again no questions just that Paisley is a very special place in our community and
I’m happy to vote in favor.
Weick: Wonderful. So at this time we can consider a motion. It’s in your packet or on the
screen.
Randall: I’d like to make a motion. Can you hear me?
Weick: Yep go ahead.
Randall: Yeah I’d like to make a motion.
Weick: Okay.
Randall: The Chanhassen Planning Commission recommends that the City Council approve the
proposed amendments to Paisley Park’s Planned Unit Development (PUD) ordinance.
Weick: Thank you Commissioner Randall. We have a valid motion. Do we have a second?
McGonagill: I’ll second it.
Weick: We have a second from Commissioner McGonagill and at this time I will take a roll call
vote on the item.
Randall moved, McGonagill seconded that the Chanhassen Planning Commission
recommends that the City Council approve the proposed amendments to Paisley Park’s
Planned Unit Development (PUD) ordinance. All voted in favor and the motion carried
unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0.
Weick: So we have a majority. 7-nothing unanimous vote in favor of amending the PUD for
Paisley Park. Thank you Kate.
PUBLIC HEARING:
CONSIDER A REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF THE SUBDIVISION OF 6.4 ACRES
INTO TWO SINGLE-FAMILY LOTS WITH VARIANCES FOR PROPERTY
LOCATED AT 1641 WEST 63RD STREET (NYE ADDITION).
Weick: This is Planning Case 2020-06. We will follow the same format and with that I will turn
it over to Sharmeen for our staff presentation.
Al-Jaff: Chairman Weick, members of the Planning Commission. The application before you is
for.