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PL 12/18/2002 - 30927� � �"1 � CITY OF FRIDLEY PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING, DECEMBER 18, 2002 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Savage called the December 18, 2002, Planning Commission meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Members Abserrt: Others Present: Diane Savage, Dean Saba, Dave Kondrick, Larry Kuechle, Leroy Oquist Barb Johns, Brad Dunham Stacy Stromberg, Planner Paul Bolin, Planning Coordinator APPROVE THE DECEMBER 4, 2002, PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES: MOTION by Mr. Kuechle, seconded by Mr. Saba, to approve the December 4, 2002, Planning Commission meeting minutes. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 1. RECEIVE THE MINUTES OF THE NOVEMBER 19. 2002. ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY & ENERGY COMMISSION MEETING. MOTION by Mr. Saba, seconded by Mr. Kondrick, to receive the November 19, 2002, Environmental Quality & Energy Commission meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 2. RECEIVE THE MINUTES OF THE NOVEMBER 14, 2002, HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT MEETING. MOTION by Mr. Oquist, seconded by Mr. Saba, to receive the November 14, 2002, Housing & Redevelopment meeting minutes. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3. RECEIVE THE MINUTES OF THE NOVEMBER 4. 2002, PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING. MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Mr. Oquist, to receive the November 4, 2002, Parks & Recreation Commission meeting minutes. . UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 4. PUBLIC HEARING: PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING, DECEMBER 18, 2002 PAGE 2 4. PUBLIC HEARING: !� Consideration of Special Use Permit, SP #02-10, by Greg Kaasa, Kordiak Property Management, to allow outdoor storage, legally described as Lot 7, Block 2, Commerce Park Addition, generally located at 7500 University Avenue NE. MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Mr. Saba, to open the public hearing. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS OPENED AT 7:37 P.M. Ms. Stromberg stated the petitioner, Greg Kaasa of Thorne Brothers Custom Rod & Tackle, is requesting a special use permit to allow outdoor storage of a storage container in the side yard of his building. He is requesting that a 9' x 29' storage container be allowed to be stored on the property on an annual basis from October 15 to January 15 to store fish houses. She presented a slide showing a picture of the existing building which is located on the West University Avenue service road. The property is zoned C-2, General Business. The petitioner is requesting to store the 9' x 29' storage container directly behind the building in the side yard of the property. He intends to screen the container with a 10-foot cedar fence. Ms. Stromberg stated the City Code requires the maximum height of a fence to be 8 feet in the C-2 zoning district. Therefore, a 10-foot fence would be in violation of the Code. A 9-foot storage container would be visible beyond the height of the Code-required 8-foot fence. Cedar fencing materials wouldn't be considered adequate screening in this zoning district, because, over time, cedar fences become a maintenance issue. A cedar fence also isn't architecturally compatible with the existing building. Allowing this type of screening would be inconsistent with %� what the City has done in the past for screening of outdoor storage. Ms. Stromberg stated that in 1994 Wal-Mart was granted a special use permit for outdoor storage. A condition of that special use permit was to screen the outdoor storage using materials that were architecturally compatible with the existing structure. Wal-Mart essentially constructed an extension of the building using rock-faced block with matching colored banding to enclose its outdoor storage. This addition took on the character of a structure, which had to meet all building code and setback requirements. Ms. Stromberg stated that storing the container as requested by the petitioner in the proposed location would be highly visible from University Avenue, which would potentially diminish the character of the University Avenue corridor. Allowing such outdoor storage to exist on this site could become infectious, causing neighboring properties along the corridor to request the same type of outdoor storage. Therefore, the granting of this special use permit could set a precedent. Ms. Stromberg stated the proposed location of the storage container could also potentially disrupt circulation patterns around the building. Circulation may be compromised when service vehicles are on site, because the service vehicles narrow the drive aisle behind the building, which could cause confusion for customers trying to get in and out of the site. Storage of this container would also eliminate additional parking flexibility in the future. Ms. Stromberg stated that in his letter, the petitioner stated there is inadequate space inside the building to store fish houses. Ms. Stromberg stated that altematives to the outdoor storage do � exist. The petitioner could consider ordering the amount of fish houses according to his inside storage space, or acquire off-site storage in an area approved for warehouse storage. This is 2 PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING, DECEMBER 18, 2002 PAGE 3 the first year staff has noticed any type of outdoor storage on this site. Therefore, the petitioner /'� has been able to accommodate his outdoor storage needs in the past. Ms. Stromberg stated staff received a letter from one neighboring property owner who is concerned about the image the outdoor storage may have along the University Avenue corridor. The Commission members have received a copy of this letter, tonight at the meeting. Ms. Stromberg stated City staff recommends denial of SP #02-10 due to the lack of architecturally compatibility of the screening materials with the existing structure, the diminishing image of a building along a major City corridor, the impact outdoor storage will have on neighboring properties, and the disruption of circulation patterns and parking possibilities. Ms. Savage read the letter received by George Halverson, 7520 University Avenue NE, stating his objection to the granting of the outdoor storage as requested in SP #02-10. MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Mr. Saba, to receive the letter from George Halverson, 7520 University Avenue NE, into the record. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Mr. Oquist stated that he noticed on the agenda it refers to Kaasa Kordiak Properties, but yet it is Thorne Brothers Tackle. Why is this? Ms. Stromberg explained that Kordiak is the owner of the building and Greg Kaasa leases the /� building. Mr. Oquist also stated that staff referred to the storage in the side yard, but it is really the rear of the building. It was kind of confusing. Ms. Stromberg stated when they figure the front yard on the property, they take the shorter frontage, and the shorter frontage of that property is along the University Avenue service road. So, the container would be stored in what seems like the rear yard because it's the rear of the building, but, technically, it is the side yard. Mr. Oquist stated that if screening is allowed, there should be a brick fence because that would be architecturally compatible with the building. Ms. Stromberg stated, yes, something that would be architecturally compatible. Mr. Kuechle asked if there is space on that property to expand the building, or are they locked out in the building square footage? Ms. Stromberg replied that if the petitioner considers an addition, it would need to meet lot coverage and parking requirements. She knows they are actually short on parking now so an addition probably wouldn't be possible. Mr. Kondrick stated that he has driven by this building many times, dropping mail in the mailboxes for the post office, and cars are parked where he would refer to as being the back of the building, so there really isn't much room back there. A couple of times there have been � trucks the size of UPS trucks parked in those parking spots. It's really close to park up to the 3 PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING, DECEMBER 18, 2002 PAGE 4 building, and these trucks are parked in those spaces behind the building. It's pretty narrow �"� back there. He didn't think even a fire truck could get back there, and that bothered him. Ms. Savage stated neither the petitioner nor a representative was at the meeting. Has staff heard anything from the petitioner? Ms. Stromberg replied, no. MOTION by Mr. Savage, seconded by Mr. Kondrick, 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 7:48 P.M. Mr. Saba stated he is really concerned about a precedent being set for outdoor storage. They turned down the outdoor storage request for Van-O-Lite, and they should do the same for this request. They have to be really careful about setting any precedent for outdoor storage. Mr. Kuechle stated he agreed and didn't see any mitigating or special circumstances here that would waRant a deviation from their procedure to not allow outside storage. Mr. Kondrick agreed and stated he didn't think there was enough room for storage back there anyway. He would not be in favor of approving this request. Mr. Oquist stated he would agree also. They already denied the outdoor storage request for Van-O-Lite, and they don't want to set a precedent. Also, a 10-foot high fence is pretty tall. � Ms. Savage stated she totally agreed with all of them. They denied the request by Van-O-Lite, and that storage was behind the building away from University Avenue; and, with this request, the storage would be quite visible from University Avenue and would be very crowded back there. MOTION by Mr. Kuechle, seconded by Mr. Kondrick, to deny special use permit, SP #02-10 by Greg Kaasa, Kordiak Property Management. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Ms. Savage stated this request will go to City Council on January 6. 5. OTHER BUSINESS: Ms. Stromberg gave a year-end review presentation for 2002. They had one comprehensive plan amendment, two lot splits, three plats, one rezoning, ten special use permits, and only one zoning text amendment. Mr. Kuechle asked of the special use permits, how many of those were for oversized buildings on residential lots? Mr. Bolin replied 7 of the 10. � Ms. Stromberg stated that in looking at it from a normal workload point of view, it looks like they are down quite a bit from 2001 and 2b00. Last year they had seven zoning text amendments, � PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING, DECEMBER 18, 2002 PAGE 5 and this year they only had one. So, they had 25 actions in 2000, 27 in 2001, and only 17 this ^� year. Ms. Stromberg thanked the Planning Commission members for all their hard work in 2002 and wished them Happy Holidays. Ms. Stromberg stated the next Planning Commission meeting will be January 15, 2003. ADJOURNMENT: MOTION by Mr. Savage, seconded by Mr. Oquist, to adjoum the meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SAVAGE DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE DECEMBER 18, 2002, PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 7:52 P.M. RespectFully submitted, ���-f.4�2�-4?�l• o��� Denise M. Letendre �� Recording Secretary �'1 �� 5