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PL 12/15/1999 - 00002627CITY OF FRIDLEY PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING, DECEMBER 15, 1999 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Savage called the December 15, 1999, Planning Commission meeting to order at 7:32 p. m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Diane Savage, Dave Kondrick, Brad Sielaff, Leroy Oquist, Dean Saba, Connie Modig, Larry Kuechle Members Absent: None. Others Present: Barbara Dacy, Community Development Director Brad Scheib, Hoisington & Koegler Group Mark Koegler, Hoisington & Koegler Group John Haluska, 5660 Arthur St. APPROVAL OF THE DECEMBER 1, 1999, PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES: MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Mr. Oquist, to approve the December 1, 1999 Planning Commission meeting minutes as presented. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. MEMO TABLING REZONING, ZOA #99-06, BY NORMA WILSON, TO REZONE PROPERTY FROM R-1, SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL, TO R-3, FENERAL MULTIPLE UNITS, SO THE PETITIONER CAN SUBDIVIDE A SINGLE-FAMILY HOME INTO 4 DWELLING UNITS, LEGALLY DESCRIBED A LOT 2, BLOCK 1, FROID'S ADDITION, GENERALLY LOCATED AT 401 IRONTON STREET: Ms. Dacy stated that she did receive an update on this item0, so tabling the rezoning of ZOA #99-06 by Norma Wilson was not required. The petitioner has withdrawn the application. 2. PUBLIC HEARING: CONSIDERATION OF THE FIRST DRAFT OF THE YEAR 2020 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN TO BE SUBMITTED TO THE METROPOLITAN COUNCIL: MOTION by Mr. Oquist, seconded by Mr. Kondrick, to open the public hearing. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 2 UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS OPENED AT 7:33 P.M. Ms. Dacy stated that this is the last Planning Commission meeting for the year 1999, and it is appropriate that they are ending the year by planning for the future. The purpose of this public hearing is to receive comments on the first draft of the Comprehensive Plan. Planning Commission changes in the plan would be submitted to the Metropolitan Council by the end of this month. The City has completed almost two years of research and preparation for the plan with the planning area meetings and two vision meetings and surveys. There was an open house on November 18 at the Municipal Center. Ms. Dacy stated the packet contained a preface, community vision summary, and overview plan to give an idea of where the City is headed in terms of population, household and employment projections. There is a land use chapter, housing chapter, parks and open space chapter, and a transportation chapter. The sewer and water chapter is missing but is underway. A consultant has been hired to complete the water management part of the plan. A human resources chapter will probably be completed the first of next year. An implementation chapter takes the goals and policies together and outlines the implementation format in a time frame for the reader. Ms. Dacy stated the plan tries to make a strong connection between the community, surveys and vision meeting goals, and translate them into the plan with the goals, policies, and strategies. They want the plan to be the basis for how the Planning Commission makes the recommendations to the City Council. The plan is also for the City Council and community to evaluate development proposals or other issues for the future. It is staff's hope that this plan becomes a list of things to do with issues that they need to address even though there may be no consensus. It is their plan to bring the plan to the Commission on an annual basis so staff can identify areas that can be updated. Ms. Dacy stated Fridley is just one of the communities of the metropolitan area that is part of the developed area in which Metropolitan Council is encouraging growth. Less than three percent of Fridley's land is vacant so redevelopment will be the key for the future. The population is about 28,600 and will probably grow to 29,000 in a year according to Metropolitan Council. This will probably hold steady for the next 20 years. Employment growth, because of the commercial/industrial base and the Medtronic campus, will increase from 25,000 next year to 32,000 in the year 2020. Ms. Dacy stated that one year ago, the vision meetings identified four elements of what Fridley wants to be. It was clear that the community wants to be a balanced community with small town qualities. The City derives its sense of community from its heritage and history, and it is appropriate that this year is the 50t" anniversary. The City wants to strive to continue the friendly atmosphere. The vision meetings were also clear in PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 3 continuing an aggressive housing program to maintain the neighborhoods, work on the transportation system and create a distinctive image for a community. Ms. Dacy stated the first Planning Commission in November identified that these were the key issues that they came up with. Community image, how to take advantage of the opportunity presented by Medtronic, the need for move-up housing, the need to maintain the housing stock and the neighborhoods, maintaining economic stability, and what to do about traffic congestion. The Planning Commission indicated that they need to maintain the parks and recreation areas. The vision meetings had a lot of comments about revitalizing the commercial areas too. The Commission also emphasized the importance of bikeways and walkways. Rediscovering the river was also very important to the Commission. Ms. Dacy stated the draft tonight tried to relate back to these key issues. One way to enhance community image is to redevelop areas; for example, Frank's Used Car lot on the west side of University, JR's Automotive, or the Cash-n-Pawn building. These redevelopment projects can change the image of the community and meet unmet housing or commercial needs. Ms. Dacy stated they can take advantages of the Medtronic campus. The City can take a land use, housing, and transportation study to look at the corridor along 1694 and try to answer some of those questions. They could possibly try to actively seek those commercial types of uses that would complement Medtronic like a hotel and restaurant. Fridley does not have a lot of vacant land, so move-up housing from the range of $150,000 to $250,000 is scarce. They do have rehab housing monies available that residents could use to add on and remodel their homes. When land does become available, they could evaluate that land site for a subdivision of that nature. Housing maintenance and the need to preserve their neighborhoods came through very strong. One example of a strategy addressing this is evaluating adopting a housing maintenance code that would apply to owner occupied property. Ms. Dacy stated a goal for the City for economic stability is encouraging businesses to expand. Encouraging new economic growth is another goal of redevelopment. In the salvage yard area in the northeast part of the City, they are trying to create new opportunities for office/warehouse uses or industries. Ms. Dacy stated traffic congestion on East River Road, University Avenue, and Highway 65 will continue over the next ten years, and that is a concern. The plan states policies to encourage access management. That is trying to reduce the number of driveways onto roadways, actively promoting rideshare and carpooling, transportation demand techniques and possibly an ordinance amendment that would reduce the parking requirements if companies like Medtronic would actively employ those programs. The City needs to take a proactive stance about transit. Promoting a variety of transit will help; for example, commuter rail combined with east-west bus service combined with the carpools, etc. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 4 Ms. Dacy stated maintaining the high quality parks and recreation services is important. There are a number of goals in the park and recreation chapter. The City is blessed with a good park system with a lot of variety and the Springbrook Nature Center. One issue that probably deserves additional attention is the bikeway/walkway system. The map is not in the draft yet, but they will try to make as many connections as possible to make sure that they have a full trail system. The recent underpass at Highway 65 was a huge victory, and that makes the community that much better. Bikeways/walkways will also be important in redevelopment projects. They want to use more of those to connect housing developments with bus stops and places with high employment concentration. Ms. Dacy stated commercial areas are an area for concern. The vision meetings talked about creating a gathering place in the Moon Plaza area. It is an attempt to add some definition for people to go and gather. There are a lot of underutilized commercial land areas so there are a lot of policies that address that issue. They want to try to make a connection with the neighborhoods through bikeway/walkways or roads or some type of architectural thing. There are some commercial/industrial uses up in the northwest part of the City on the east side of the River Road that are right next to residential areas. They want to do a zoning analysis to take a look at how appropriate the changes would be. Ms. Dacy stated a strategy is being suggested to rediscover the river. The City has an array of options to maintain the parks that are on the river right now. Possibly a redevelopment project would be considered to create a gathering space and combine different types of uses. The plan is emphasizing redevelopment to meet their housing needs and new commercial areas and industries. It is emphasizing to continue on the aggressive housing program track they have initiated already in the 90's. There is an emphasis to improve the image pertaining to the way the City was. They want to emphasize transit of all types to address the congestion issue in the future. The last emphasis is on linking the community together as best as possible. Ms. Dacy stated the Planning Commission and the one resident present are encouraged to have suggestions, changes, additions, or comments to change the draft if needed. In conclusion, the Planning Commission could make a motion to recommend sending the draft to Metropolitan Council. After the first of the year, there will be another set of drafts, but they want to talk in more detail about the land use map dealing with specific lots and parcels that Staff has recommendations on. They are so small that Metropolitan Council is not going to be an issue with that. There will probably be more comments from the public when this is available. Adjacent communities may have some comments as well. Ms. Dacy stated a letter from the Planner of Columbia Heights should probably be received into the record. Mr. Scheib and Mr. Koegler from Hoisington & Koegler Group are present tonight as well. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 5 MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Mr. Saba, to enter the letter received from the Planner of the City of Columbia Heights. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Mr. John Haluska, 5660 Arthur Street, stated that he is shocked that more residents were not present. This is probably the most important piece of business that has come before the City this year. It is much more important than the franchise fee vote which will affect the City for the next 20 years at least. It was hard for him to go through the plan in great detail, but it should probably be called the Comprehensive situation analysis. It is not really a plan per se, because there is a lot of it missing. It does not give any specifics about where the City wants to go. The attitudes expressed are extremely positive, but it does not seem to be underpinned with the principle that people of Fridley look for, which is livability. It seems to be more one-dimension looking at land use patterns, traffic analyses, and that sort of thing. He hopes that livability will be considered more. Mr. Haluska stated one of the things that came out of the workshops prior to the plan was the image of the City. Image is mentioned but there is no real substance in the plan to enhance the image. Fridley is a first ring suburb which is being pressured to urbanize to become more like a City, per se, as opposed to a suburban community. That is mentioned, but how is the City going to deal with those issues over the next 20 years? It is very important that the plan lays out the situation and ideas but how it will be implemented is most important. It should work much the way the City did the workshops that introduced the process to the City. The people should be on board for most of the planning that evolves. If he were on the Planning Commission, he would move that the plan would not go to Metropolitan Council until he saw how the whole process would work with implementation. Mr. Koegler, Hoisington and Koegler Group, stated that Mr. Haluska raises some good points. There is a great deal of work to pull all of this together in the implementation section. One of the things they did in the vision meetings was ask people what they wanted to happen, how, and what kind of a time frame and order of sequence things should occur. They have the information from the vision meetings that will be integrated in with all of the decisions on the implementation section. The plan presented tonight is analysis and strategy work. The implementation piece is not there yet that does pull all of that together. They need the latitude of playing that last part out. The plan submitted to Metropolitan Council is basically an informal review, since the plan will not 100 percent complete. They need feedback on some of the larger issues discussed. Ultimately they will have to pass judgment on the full plan. The plan submitted by the end of this year does not usurp the total review they will do later on. Ms. Savage stated that the implementation is still to come and Metropolitan Council will have that at some point to review. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 6 Mr. Koegler stated that they will get an initial review of the pieces that are going to them at the end of this year. When the follow-up pieces are together the whole package will receive the formal review at that time. One of the things they require is the storm water management that is just underway. There will be other opportunities for the Planning Commission and the public to do a formal review early next year. Ms. Savage asked Mr. Koegler to clarify the deadline for the Comprehensive Plan. Ms. Dacy stated deadline was actually December 31,1998. The majority of communities asked for extensions because the law was passed in the legislative session before that. They have received a one year extension and her recommendation after a lot of thought is to get a majority of the plan into them within the time frame so they are only missing a couple of pieces. They will be bringing those pieces back to the Planning Commission anyway for future review before submission to the Metropolitan Council. They will have plenty of work to do because a significant amount of communities are in the same situation. Ms. Savage stated that it sounds like the implementation part is missing. Ms. Dacy stated that is correct. They will bring that back to the Planning Commission, but she wanted something in the Metropolitan Council's office. Mr. Oquist stated that in the preface on the last page, it states that the City Council reviewed the plan on December 13. Ms. Dacy stated that there was a quirk in the dates, and they have not submitted anything to Metropolitan Council. The date of December 13 is correct because they did receive the plan, but did not forward it to Metropolitan Council. They did pass a resolution that simply authorizes staff to submit the plan after the Planning Commission's review. Mr. Oquist asked if the implementation plan would include a"what" and "how", or just a "how to implement". He felt that there was a lot of data but not what they are going to eventually do. He is assuming that the implementation will state some whats and hows. Ms. Dacy stated that the "hows" will have a time frame attached to them and will probably define some type of strategy. As they move through time, they will review the plan and amend the implementation chapter. Mr. Oquist asked if it will be a dynamic plan. The plans they have done before have not included a dynamic plan before. Mr. Koegler stated that the vision session focuses on the whats, hows, and the plans and hopes. They asked people what kind of time frame they would like to see with general categories and things that need to happen. They will be attempting to PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 7 document as much of a road map as they can of how they can get to where they want to go. The annual update allows more planning. Ms. Dacy stated that they have answered the questions that Metropolitan Council requires them by State law to answer. They have the charts and the tables and they know the region is growing and they want to know how much of those people are going to come into Fridley and how they are going to accommodate that. How does it affect the water and sewer system, transit, I-694. Some of those questions have been answered, but there is a lot more out there of a local nature that they will come back with after the first of the year. They have some specific ideas on the bikeway/walkway issue, the 2020 land use plan with recommendations on specific parcels less than '/ acre in size, but it may address the livability issues Mr. Haluska has identified. There is a lot of detail work they would like to run through the Planning Commission again. At this point, they are trying to satisfy the requirements to a certain degree. Mr. Kondrick asked if they have the route planning for the bikeway/walkway plan for a 20 year plan. Ms. Dacy stated that was part of the mission. They have a draft map of some of the connections suggested. They are looking at making a connection through the Medtronic corporate campus from Highway 65 through to 7t" Street and over on 57tn Avenue and eventually take that over to the commuter rail potential site at 61St and Main. Mr. Oquist asked if it would go under or over Highway 65. Ms. Dacy stated that they do not have any plans to go under or over. Mr. Oquist stated it will be a very difficult bikeway and will only get worse. Ms. Dacy stated that they are evaluating additional lanes across Moore Lake from East Moore Lake Drive down to the intersection using the sheet pile wall method. They are suggesting that the cantilevered bikeway/walkway on the east side of Highway 65 will provide another good length and also a little fishing pier there too as well. They are trying to see if there is an underpass possible underneath the railroad tracks to provide a connection between the two potential rail station areas. Another link would be on 85tn Avenue from University west to provide access to the nature center. To address Mr. Saba's concern for the parks, they want to come back to the Parks & Recreation Commission and Planning Commission with some more internal ideas as well. That would occur probably in January. Ms. Savage stated they have the new Highway 65 underpass at Rice Creek and that is something they could look at. Mr. Kondrick asked if the Metropolitan Council is going to wonder how much money Fridley will have to put forth to accommodate these goals. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 8 Ms. Dacy stated that would be nice if they would offer some money. The issues they are looking at are issues that relate to the major systems they have control over. They do make federal funding recommendations such as on Highway 65 materials. There probably are not any sewer capacity issues. They have some transit issues they will have to work with them on. If they are implementing some of the same objectives that they want to accomplish, having those identified in the plan makes it easier for the City to apply for the grant programs. One of the two programs that they do have available is the tax base revitalization account to help developers clean up polluted properties. The program they have not been able to take advantage of is their housing programs to promote affordable housing. They are not going to get involved in some of the local issues and funding. Mr. Kondrick stated that most of the implementation of what they are talking about costs money. Ms. Dacy stated that was correct and to some extent, some implementation issues are going to be HRA's issues. Mr. Saba stated that they have talked about the entrance and development plan for the 20 year plan for the nature center. He sees very little of that mentioned in the Parks and Open Spaces chapter. He thought they were going to leave a big space for that. Ms. Dacy stated that they can do that. Ms. Savage stated that in the memo on page 3 under recommendations, Ms. Dacy asks the Planning Commission to comment on the transportation and parks and open spaces chapters. Perhaps they could start out with the transportation report. Is there a recommendation for light rail transit in Fridley? Ms. Dacy stated that it seems like the commuter rail option would take significant amount of funding to get it to the point in the planning process is significantly underway and completed within the next 18 months. If commuter rail happens, and it is projected that it will by the year 2004, it is probable that the light rail route that was planned for the east side of University Avenue would not occur for some time. The region is prioritizing the light rail route from downtown Minneapolis down to the airport and the Mall of America. It was presented to them from the Northstar folks that the likelihood of that being funded would not happen for a while. Ten years from now it could. Mr. Scheib, Hoisington and Koegler Group, stated that there is a light rail transit plan as well as a commuter rail line. The commuter rail study seems to be moving along a lot faster and more likely to be implemented than the light rail. They do, through policy statements, still plan for light rail transit. On page 28, in policy 9, it states that they preserve the right-of-way on Highway 47 if a project comes forth for light rail transit. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 9 Ms. Savage stated that the commuter rail was supposed to join up with light rail in Minneapolis and go north to St. Cloud through Fridley. Ms Savage asked if there were any comments on the transportation report. Mr. Kondrick Highway 65 was going to become three lanes as opposed to two lanes. Ms. Dacy stated that the three lane section was only across Moore Lake and was not planned beyond that median. Ms. Modig asked if doing that creates more congestion and would create a potential bottleneck if they do not extend three lanes north beyond Moore Lake. Ms. Dacy stated that if there is funding available, making three lanes all the way up through Anoka County would be the ultimate solution. The rationale to get across the lake with the three lanes is that intersection is so close to I-694, and will make the difference in the volume of traffic. It will narrow by the East Moore Lake Drive intersection to go to points north and south. It is in the category of a management type solution to try to attack that one issue with the regional roadway. Ms. Modig asked how they would deal with the Medtronic Parkway intersection and the lake expansion with the portion of the lake and the wetland area. Ms. Dacy stated that it will not take up a lot. The shoulders on either side of the roadway would become the additional through lanes. Then there would be an additional 8-10 feet for the new shoulders. By constructing the sheet pile wall, the impact to the lake would be minimized on either side. The HRA conducted soil analyses to see if that approach would work to go deep enough with the walls to anchor it to the earth and anchor it to either side of the causeway. The results came back positive. Mr. Kondrick stated that on page 10, there is a list of all the major arteries and intersections in the transportation systems. Why is there such a major discrepancy in the estimated traffic volumes between the Metropolitan Council's numbers and the other estimated volumes? Mr. Scheib stated that he could not answer the question directly, but he knows that Metropolitan Council's projections were done prior to having a lot of the data available currently. The estimated traffic volume in the 20/20 plan was done by their traffic engineer. The Metropolitan Council wants to get a better picture from a local perspective. The Metropolitan Council has a regional model and there are a lot of complications with that. It includes looking at a regional perspective of land use and future development. They have to work with the data from local systems, Anoka County Transportation Department, and from Mn/DOT. They include Metropolitan Council projections because this will be submitted to Metropolitan Council. Metropolitan has acknowledged that I-694 would be a problem and as the region grows without PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 10 expanding the roadway and implementing light rail transit. They will not be able to resolve the problem. Mr. Saba stated he would like to see a real high priority to resolve these discrepancies in numbers. You can make any decision based on which column you choose. Ms. Dacy stated that to a certain extent, they need to point out to Metropolitan Council that this is more recent data, and they need to go back and change the numbers. Ms. Saba stated that they need to change these numbers and get some kind of agreement that they should amend this wide discrepancy and make a statement in the comprehensive plan that these numbers should be updated. Ms. Dacy stated that Mr. Scheib stated that Metropolitan Council may make different types of assumptions in their computer modeling. They may be factoring in commuter rail and transit trips. They will investigate the estimate Metropolitan Council's estimated 11,200 on Mississippi Street. Mr. Haluska stated that the conversations clearly indicate that the meat of the plan is in the implementation strategy. The Planning Commission is being asked to forward a review to the Metropolitan Council, which they have not seen. As Chairman of the Anoka County Library Board, he does not forward anything until he has seen it and read it and approved it. Ms. Savage stated they are not being asked to approve the implementation. Ms. Dacy stated that the Planning Commission will receive the implementation chapter before they forward it. Mr. Haluska stated that he thought this was the last meeting before the plan was submitted. Mr. Oquist stated that this is the first meeting. Ms. Savage stated that they are not going to be submitting the entire plan. Ms. Dacy stated that the only thing they were going to submit was what they had in their packets. Mr. Haluska asked if the Planning Commission was accepting the numbers and concepts in the packet. Ms. Savage stated that was not the way she understood it. Mr. Haluska stated that he could formulate an argument that the Planning Commission is accepting the numbers and concepts because they passed it on. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 11 Mr. Oquist stated that this plan is draft one. They will not do the whole plan until early next year when they will formally approve it. Mr. Haluska stated that he does like what he sees and the attitudes of review. Mr. Sielaff stated that the preface outlines a planning process. The public hearing they are doing now is just one of many public hearings. The implementation plan would be part of another public hearing. Are they going to be submitting the plan to Metropolitan Council piecemeal after each public hearing? Ms. Dacy stated that it is confusing; but the City, after the Planning Commission review, submits to Metropolitan Council a plan for comments. Metropolitan Council analyses it and states what they need to do yet. The City and the Met Council go back and forth. Once there is consensus, then it goes to the City Council for final action to actually adopt a plan. They are nowhere near adoption by the City Council at this point. They are about 6- 8 months away from adopting it. They need to get all the words on paper in one draft. They need to submit it to Metropolitan Council, get their comments, come back to the Planning Commission and have another set of public hearings and then the Metropolitan Council approves it. They are trying to feed the chapter drafts to the Commission as they go along. They are also being sent to the City Council. The Planning Commission will see the other chapters when they are completed, possibly have another public hearing, and once all the chapters are submitted, it is not approved until the City Council approves it by a resolution at the end of the process. Mr. Sielaff stated that there will be a public hearing by the City Council to approve it. He feels that Metropolitan Council review is not the end of the process, but just the beginning of one. Ms. Dacy stated that is correct because they are trying to evaluate their local issues as they relate to the regional issues. Mr. Sielaff asked how Metropolitan Council takes all of the comprehensive plans of all communities and counties and review them at the same time and make sure they are cohesive and make sense. They never will have a final comprehensive plan, it is always a work in progress. When are these plans going to be implemented? Ms. Dacy stated that the City Council will have to approve it and have a resolution. They will probably go through at least two more drafts until everybody has a consensus. Hopefully by that time, they will have satisfied Metropolitan Council's issues and resolved some local issues. Mr. Sielaff stated that this preface may not be accurate in telling them what the full process is. Ms. Dacy stated that they can change the preface. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 12 Ms. Modig asked Mr. Sielaff if he thought they needed a more specific timeline. Mr. Sielaff stated that he was referring to a more specific timeline. Ms. Dacy stated that their goal was to complete it in the next 6- 8 months. The hard part of the process is that Metropolitan Council will be so busy reviewing 180 plans. Ms. Savage stated that it is really important to keep the public informed and have the public hearings and possibly other information coming from the newsletter. The public needs to understand what is going on so they do not run into a situation like with the franchise fee where there is not enough information out. Mr. Kondrick stated that he wants to encourage the City, County, and State to make Highway 65 from I-694 north to at least Highway 10 three lanes on each way and have a six-lane artery. Mr. Oquist stated that then they create a bottleneck to Spring Lake Park and you would have similar to the I-394 situation going into downtown Minneapolis. Mr. Kondrick stated that they are on the Fridley Planning Commission and Spring Lake Park has their own situations. Mr. Oquist stated that if they do not do anything on Highway 10, a tremendous problem would be created. You have to be careful about having three lanes all the way and then just stopping. I-694 is three lanes and then two lanes and it is almost impossible. On Page 24, when it states, "In addition, the planning for the Light Rail Transit precludes the addition of lanes to improve traffic on TH 47", and on page 30 it states that light rail is longer term than the commuter rail. TH 47 is horrendous at certain times. Waiting 20 years for light rail will cause a parking lot there, not a highway. The areas north of them are creating the traffic, but they have to do something, and maybe they should say they want to go in parallel with three lanes. Ms. Dacy stated that she does not think the City wants TH 47 to be six lanes. That really changes the whole character of the City. The Light Rail Transit is within the right- of-way and may need to eat up some of the frontage road on the east side but that is why they need to emphasize commuter rail. She does not want to set the City up for suggesting that they should go to six lanes on University Avenue. Mr. Oquist stated that they should look at that because they have to move the traffic. The two lanes that they might add in the future could become the light rail lanes. Mr. Kondrick stated that Tucson, Dallas, and many southern cities have countless numbers of six lane highways. Why does Fridley not need that? They have as much traffic if not more. What is the problem with that if it works in other communities. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 13 Ms. Dacy stated that it has to do with implementation. There is no money. The whole issue on TH 65 is that there were 300 applications for the federal funding application process that the City made for the TH 65 project. There is no way that that amount of federal funds is going to fund all of those projects from around the metro area. Metropolitan Council is stating that they cannot build their way out of traffic congestion. They do have to take another look at that and the State eventually wants to turn back TH 47 to Anoka County. The County is not thrilled with that idea, they already have significant amount of mileage to take care of already. The best approach at this point in time is to emphasize the transit, and she agrees they need to be open to all different types of alternatives, opening 6 lanes on TH 47 does affect the neighborhood livability. Mr. Oquist stated that it is a major highway, and they are stuck with it. It is going to get worse because all points north are going to continue to expand and have people driving. Minnesota drivers like to drive their own cars and it will only get worse. Ms. Dacy asked at what point does the region decide no more cars. Ms. Savage stated that is something she wishes they would consider. When she travels, she is always very impressed with the transportation systems that are there. She realizes that people like to drive their own cars. Light rail should be considered before they consider expanding with more cars and more car pollution. Mr. Oquist stated that he agreed, but, in reality, the cars are there and will only increase. Light rail is maybe 20 years from now and 20 years of living with two lanes of traffic will only create more pollution. Mr. Sielaff stated that he is not sure that there will be as much traffic as they think will be on University. The traffic count on East River Road is down because of 610. The additional traffic can bypass Fridley by taking the new Highway 10. Mr. Oquist stated that the one way to get to Highway 10 is by taking University Avenue and Highway 65. Highway 610 is another fiasco. There are 4 or 5 lanes coming to two lanes. That design is a whole other issue. They have to work with other communities to get the traffic out of here. Mr. Kondrick stated that maybe computerized lights and technology will allow the traffic to flow better somehow. Ms. Dacy stated that Mn/DOT upgrades the lights. She would have to find out more information about that. Mr. Sielaff stated that they could do more on public transit, have better bus service and keep traffic counts down on University and Highway 65. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 14 Ms. Modig stated that the issue of transporting people across the TH 65 and I-694 by Moore Lake should be addressed. They are going to have additional people coming over from the Medtronic site. Ms. Dacy stated that they will try to evaluate that. Mr. Sielaff stated that he has taken the bus from the Northtown transit hub. The cars parking there has increased substantially over the past year. It would be interesting to know how many riders are taking the transit. He uses that to commute to St. Paul and it takes him 35 minutes. The metro-pass program would really help to increase ridership. He rides all year for only $60.00. Ms. Savage stated that the next issue to address would be the parks and open spaces chapter. Mr. Kondrick stated that the issue of addressing the Springbrook Nature Center plans is very important to take a note of in the comprehensive plan. He feels that there should be more ways to get to the parks by bikeways/walkways. That includes getting to major facilities also. Ms. Modig stated that there is no signage around the park by the Target Distribution Center. Last time she was there the park was kind of in disrepair as far as the parking area was concerned. Ms. Savage stated that the park is maintained by the County. Ms. Modig stated that a new person into the area may not know about that park because of the lack of signage. Mr. Kondrick asked if anybody thought they had too many parks. All Commission members stated that they did not have too many parks. Mr. Kondrick stated that he does not think so either, but he has had a few interesting calls about the cost of the parks. Ms. Savage stated that livability includes preserving the green spaces. Ms. Modig asked Ms. Dacy if the park that used to be by Innsbruck with the A-frame was gone. Mr. Kondrick stated that it has been left to go wild. The City does still maintain the park. Mr. Sielaff asked if the Parks and Recreation would also include programs within the parks. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 15 Ms. Dacy stated that she does not know if they use the word programs but there are some general policy statements on page 11, #9. Mr. Sielaff stated that maybe the plan could include more programs for the parks. Ms. Savage stated that the proposed strategy is included in the future land use strategies on page 21 and 22. Mr. Kondrick asked if people talk about Fridley mainly being a place to work. Ms. Dacy stated that there is a lot of emphasis about mixed use developments and integrating places of employment in near proximity to shopping centers and transit. The market demand might be transforming what Fridley might look like from a housing standpoint. Mr. Kondrick asked if the movement might be for people to live close by to where they work. Mr. Oquist stated that people work in different places of employment all the time. Mr. Saba stated that he feels that more people will be working in their home more often by using the Internet, e-mail, voice mail. Shopping on the Internet is more common. He feels this will have a big impact on the future. Mr. Sielaff stated that it would affect the whole metro area, so he is not sure that is something they need to get Metropolitan Council's input on. Ms. Modig stated that some communities have ruled that their employees who work in the City live in the City. Mr. Oquist stated that on page 21 regarding land strategy, paragraph #3 should really be emphasized. They should be looking at the comprehensive plan before they approve any special use permits. They should get that in the implementation to fall back on the plan if they do not want a certain special use permit in a certain area. He wants to make sure they do not have more situations like with the Holiday station that will impact people's safety with compounding intersections. Ms. Savage stated that was the essence with planning and zoning to make that separation with commercial/industrial and residential. Mr. Oquist stated that he realizes they only have three percent left to develop, and they will do a lot of redevelopment in the future. Ms. Modig stated that at some point they have to stop grandfathering in some things because it gets to be a crutch. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 16 Mr. Oquist stated that if they have a viable, dynamic action plan, they can use it. Mr. Kuechle stated that many of the things they want in the plan are out their control like the six lane highway. The plans are going to be driven, to a large part, by the economy. They need a very pro-active community development staff and somehow have to convince the general population that it is a good thing for the City. There are sometimes feelings that the City is trying to tell its citizens what to do. The City really needs to be an opportunist to act if something opens up. Mr. Sielaff stated that he feels that wellhead protection, that the County is taking care of right now, would have ramifications on land use. Ms. Savage stated that in the housing chapter on page 20, there are housing strategies. Mr. Kondrick asked Ms. Dacy if they have enough multi-family housing properties available? Ms. Dacy stated that they have a good ratio of multi-family to single-family. The multi- family is spread out to a certain degree. The problem in general with the housing stock is that it is through its life cycle of one full life. Apartment housing has some areas that are truly not in good condition. Mr. Kondrick asked if the Metropolitan Council feels that Fridley has its share of multi- family units. Ms. Dacy stated that they do. Ms. Savage asked if Fridley has enough low-income housing. Ms. Dacy stated that in today's market, the vacancy rate is very low. That has tended to drive the rental rates up. The City could use more low-income housing. The City wants to have a balanced housing supply, there is a demand for move-up housing, and there is a demand for senior housing. Mr. Kondrick asked if they should be considering high-rise apartments. Mr. Saba asked how many units there were in their senior housing. Ms. Dacy stated that there were 108. Mr. Kondrick stated that high-rises can be efficient and a nice place if constructed properly. The 12 story building on Monroe and 4t" has beautiful grounds and underground parking. The aging population seems to be saying that they want to stay in Fridley, but they cannot keep their houses going any longer. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 17 Mr. Sielaff stated that the question for him is how much housing Fridley has. Do they really want to find out what their needs are going to be in the future and satisfy those needs or what needs do they want to satisfy? Ms. Savage stated they cannot decide that without input of what people want. Mr. Saba stated they have to listen clearly to the comments from the vision meetings with the community. Mr. Sielaff stated the vision meetings stated that the community wants diversity, but it does not state how much. Ms. Modig stated that it is hard to plan for that kind of diversity when you are not sure of the age groups or what will be most viable. Mr. Sielaff stated that the development over by Holly Center was once considered for senior housing. They have some single-family homes in there, but it seems they sacrificed senior housing and had multi-level townhouses. Mr. Oquist stated they could still have pockets where they could affect different types of markets. They need to look at a balance in the City and not exclude one from the other. Maybe what they have in the senior housing today is the right balance for example. Ms. Savage stated that in the survey there was a question about move-up housing. She thought there was a study done prior to the Holly Center development as to what kind of housing needs. Mr. Saba stated that they need move-down housing so aging people do not have to maintain a big yard and big living area. Ms. Dacy stated that Rottlund had proposed condominiums for the seniors. Economics just did not work out on that and they could not sell them at the price they would like them to sell. The Banfill Crossing project came through the process and that provided 108 rental units for the moderate income range that fits in nicely with the senior demand. Mr. Kondrick stated that it could have been done, but Rottlund could not do it. Ms. Dacy stated that is correct, but it is true that the City can never meet all of the needs. The one-story townhomes that Mr. Saba mentioned did not meet all of the demands that the seniors wanted. They have three senior developments right now which have about 250 units. There are some one-stories also that have 130 units. Mr. Oquist stated that they have to look at their housing stock and ask what they have to do to upgrade. They should really heavily promote some other programs so people will upgrade their houses. They need to emphasize this in the immediate future. In PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 18 every neighborhood there are homes that really need to be upgraded and this could tend to be a downward spiral effect. Whether this could be emphasized through ordinances or whatever, they need some way to ensure that people will maintain their house. Ms. Savage asked Ms. Dacy about the survey on page 10 of the memo. Ms. Dacy stated that the Community Development staff inet on a regular basis for a couple of weeks to develop the map depicting certain projects or issues to be addressed. The Central Avenue corridor between Rice Creek Road up through the existing Medtronic campus with the addition of Roadway East will create some pressure to develop some sites along Central Avenue between Rice Creek Road and Mississippi Street. That may be an area for potential change. Ms. Dacy stated they have talked historically about the salvage yards and redeveloping that area. The implementation section may show this as one of the first things to do in the next five years. The conflict of land uses in the northwest part of the City along the railroad tracks have residential all around an island of commercial uses. Should they continue that or discourage that. Should they be changing the zoning in some of those areas? Ms. Dacy stated the Hyde Park neighborhood has had a lot of rehab programs and will be a site for the commuter rail station which will be a benefit for the neighborhood. The United Defense property that is supposedly being sold could be a redevelopment opportunity for industrial development. There are many apartments in the City that they could take a look at and maybe there are existing lands within those existing zoned areas that they could build additional density for affordable housing. The Girl Scout Camp may become available right on the river. That may become move-up housing or a site for another park. Mr. Kuechle's comment about the economy and other external factors was very good because the City may not be able to do anything because of certain types of economic issues. Ms. Savage stated that the East Moore Lake shopping area needs some improvements. Ms. Savage stated that she was curious about what it meant about Rice Creek on page 11. Ms. Dacy stated that the owner of the Fridley Bus Company still owns the site right next to the creek and uses the building as a maintenance garage. That is an example of where the Appeals Commission has had a conflict of land uses for the neighborhood there. The City may want to promote some type of park there, but not remove Stylmark. Ms. Savage stated that it is an attractive industry, but it is right in the middle of a residential area. There is a path there that needs some improvement. Ms. Savage asked what the idea of the Target/Petco area was. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 19 Ms. Dacy stated that they have received a couple of inquiries of purchasing the United Store Property that is now for sale for redevelopment for a hotel and restaurant site. There has not been anything of a concrete proposal put together at this point but because that area is zoned commercial already it is a good candidate. There is a large parking lot that is underutilized at certain times of the year that could be a development opportunity. They do have to investigate soil conditions under the parking lot due to a drainage way that ran north to Moore Lake. Ms. Savage stated that the parking lot is too big and not used at all. One of the suggestions before was for an upscale hotel and restaurant in connection with Medtronic. Ms. Dacy stated that it could be a possible site for those uses. There are many factors involved, but the phone calls are beginning to happen. In just one year's time there will be more inquiries about redevelopment. Mr. Kondrick stated that the survey about the fence upon University Avenue states that more people are in favor of taking the fence down than leaving it up. He feels that it should be taken down. It would really enhance the beauty of their City immensely. Mr. Oquist stated that he agrees with him, but they need something as a barrier. Ms. Modig asked what they would replace it with then. Mr. Kondrick stated they would replace it with wrought iron. Mr. Oquist stated that they are going to replace the fence and they need something there. Ms. Modig asked how far along it would be replaced. Mr. Oquist stated that he thinks it would be replaced the whole way along. Ms. Dacy stated that MnDOT conducted a special noise study along State highways. The City Council held a public hearing for construction of a noise wall on University Avenue between 44t" Avenue and 53rd Avenue. That stretch of highway came up above the noise threshold between the residential area and the highway. The majority of the people agreed with the noise wall. The wall would be on the west side. They will work with MnDOT Staff on the appearance of the fence and the design. Mr. Oquist stated that the one in Shoreview by Highway 96 is very nice. Mr. Kuechle asked if Target was proposing to move their data processing center. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 20 Ms. Dacy stated that they have not confirmed if they are going to maintain the facility next door to the Municipal Center or sell it. She talked to a Target representative in August and they were still evaluating that. The building is fairly adaptable for any financial institution or large office type of user. Prior to evaluating the southwest quadrant as a residential use, they did make a very strong proposal to Target in 1990 or 1991 to use the southwest quadrant as a corporate office. Because of the economy, they decided not to pursue that. Now they are looking at a bigger kind of facility in Brooklyn Park. MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Mr. Oquist, to close the public hearing. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS CLOSED AT 10:00 P.M. Ms. Savage asked if they were making a recommendation for the draft. Mr. Saba asked if the comments made tonight go along with the draft to Metropolitan Council. Ms. Dacy stated that they will include the comments where appropriate. The traffic count issue may not be able to be resolved because they need their feedback returned. The comments about the nature center and bikeway/walkway map and storm water drainage plan will come back to the Planning Commission first before they submit the plan. MOTION by Ms. Modig, seconded by Mr. Oquist, to submit the Comprehensive Plan draft to the Metropolitan Council. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3. RECEIVE THE MINUTES OF THE NOVEMBER 4, 1999, HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING: MOTION by Mr. Oquist, seconded by Ms. Modig, to receive the minutes of the November 4, 1999, Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. ADJOURNMENT: MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Mr. Oquist, to adjourn the meeting. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. DECEMBER 15. 1999 PAGE 21 UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED MOTION CARRIED AND MEETING OF THE DECEMBER 15, 1999, PLANNING COMMISSION ADJOURNED AT 10:02 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Signe L. Johnson Recording Secretary