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PL 04/01/2009 - 29941PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING April 1, 2009 Acting Chairperson Oquist called the Planning Commission Meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT: OTHERS PRESENT: Approval of Minutes: Leroy Oquist, Jack Velin, Marcy Sibel, Brad Sielaff, and Brad Dunham David Kondrick and Dean Saba Julie Jones, Planning Manager January 21, 2009 MOTION by Commissioner Sielaff to approve the minutes as presented. Seconded by Commissioner Velin. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, ACTING CHAIRPERSON OQUIST DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 1. PUBLIC HEARING Consideration of a Special Use Permit, SP #09-02, by Courier Systems, to allow overnight storage of commercial vehicles in the rear yard of the property, subject to easement of record, generally located at 5301 East River Road NE. The petitioner had withdrawn their request, so this item was cancelled. 2. PUBLIC HEARING Consideration of a public hearing for a Text Amendment, TA #09-01, by the City of Fridley to amend Chapter 506, Vehicle Parking, to prohibit the parking of large commercial vehicles, including motor homes, except for loading/unloading, on the street in all zoning districts. MOTION by Commissioner Dunham to open the public hearing. Seconded by Commissioner Sielaff. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, ACTING CHAIRPERSON OQUIST DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE HEARING OPENED AT 7:04 P.M. 1 Julie Jones, Planning Manager, stated this item is brought forth by staff. It is a proposed te�t amendment to Chapter 506 in City Code. The Police Department and the Planning staff have been increasingly encountering public safety concerns related to truck and trailer parking on public streets. Staff is still encountering truck drivers parking in areas posted "No Parking" along frontage roads on University Avenue and Highway 65. Trailers, disconnected from the truck are often a problem as well. This is probably due to the fact that Fridley is one of the few communities in the Twin Cities that allows truck drivers to bring their semi trucks home, provided they have a large enough paved surface to park them on, and they can keep them far enough back from the right-of-way. They can bring the truck home, but they cannot bring the trailer home if that is their occupation. So we often find trailers disconnected from the trucks parked in various parking lots throughout the community as well as on the streets. Staff is often able to resolve these problems as an illegal home occupation violation of the Zoning Code, but dealing with a situation like this can take years for staff to resolve in court. Staff is not just concerned about public safety concern but also how time staff is spending dealing with these problems. You can imagine the number of staff time hours involved in a court case that has gone on for two years trying to stop an illegal home occupation. Whereas, what staff is proposing here in Code would allow City staff to tag a trailer and have it towed away within 24 hours. Oftentimes that solves the illegal home occupation problem very quickly. Ms. Jones stated not just semi-truck trailers but other types of trailers like a construction waste trailer on wheels, which was tied to another home occupation case staff dealt with for a number of years. Staff finds many other types of trailers parked on the street, too, disconnected from motor vehicles for a long period of time. The Code allows people to load and unload in the street. However, this is a situation where people are leaving trailers for days if not weeks on end and of course causing vision safety problems for their adjoining neighbors. Ms. Jones stated the amendment request by staff is to amend the existing language in Chapter 506 that limits large commercial vehicle parking on residential streets. Staff feels there is a public safety concern for motors and pedestrians in this type of situation on all streets within the City, not just residential streets. She presented a photo of an illegally home occupation case the City dealt with where one side of the street was industrial, and the other side of the street was residential. The truck driver was parking his truck on the industrial side of the street, but the City was getting complaints repeatedly over time from people living in the residential area, overlooking the industrial area asking why someone was allowed to park a truck on the street. The Police Department felt they could not tow the truck because it was parked on the industrial side of the street. Ms. Jones stated staff has addressed trailer parking as a public nuisance, where Chapter 110, refers to obstruction of public right-of-ways. Staff has addressed a many truck parking problems by saying, you are obstructing the right-of-way by leaving this trailer parked in the street for long periods of time. This is mainly causing an obstruction in vision for the adjoining neighbors. Of course that can be debatable if there is still two 2 lanes of clear traffic on that road. Is that trailer really obstructing the right-of-way? Staff is uncomfortable taking a situation like that to court because it could be legally challenged. Ms. Jones stated motor homes have also been a problem. Every summer staff gets numerous calls from people complaining about neighbors parking motor homes on the street for long periods of time. Again, we feel comfortable with the Code allowing people to load and unload if they are taking a trip the ne� day to be parked on the street with their motor home and loading their motor home for that trip. However, if the motor home is parked there for days on end, we start getting the complaints. There are also definition changes being proposed in this te�t amendment. Currently the Code does not define "motor home" at all. Let alone define it as a large commercial vehicle in that section that is in the last paragraph in the te�t amendment in the Commission's packet that refers to the parking restriction. Because of their size and their impact to public safety, staff feels that motor home parking should be restricted on the streets. Ms. Jones stated another definition change proposed is separating out the term "motor vehicle" and "vehicle." Currently in Chapter 506, in the definition list, it lists "motor vehicle" and goes on to define the word, "vehicle," and really combines in the definition language from both of those word's definitions in State Statutes. The City Attorney always advises staff to use definitions in State Statutes. So staff is suggesting that they separate the two, defining "motor vehicle" separate from the word, "vehicle," and use the definitions from State Statutes. In "mobile home" we have actually taken that language from the State Statutes. Ms. Jones stated staff recommends approval of this Te�t Amendment #09-01 which would prohibit large commercial vehicles as well as trailer and motor home parking on all City streets within Fridley. This item is set to be heard by the City Council on Monday, April 13. Staff did get one phone call from a resident who is opposed to the restriction of semi-truck parking on City streets feeling that was anti-business. Staff of course has been very cognizant of the fact as we have approached this te�t amendment that we have a lot of industrial businesses in Fridley. There are a lot of folks who are truck drivers that live in the community and bring their semi-trucks home. Staff is not trying to put anyone out of business and inhibit any one local business, but they are trying to find an agreeable point where we can protect public safety as well as allow folks to go about and do their business. Ms. Jones pointed out a correction to the te�t amendment as it is printed in their packet, the definition for the term "motor vehicle" should be underlined. Commissioner Sielaff asked Ms. Jones if she would go over again how Fridley's ordinances are a little bit different than other cities'ordinances? Ms. Jones replied that Fridley code allows semi truck drivers to bring their trucks home and park them at their residences. The code not only applies to semi trucks, but other large commercial vehicles as well. So a resident can have one large commercial vehicle 3 parked at their residence, provided it is parked on a paved surface and that it is at least 10 feet back from the property line, so that it provides sufficient vision clearance for neighbors backing out of their driveway. Commissioner Sielaff asked do we also allow the trailers then? Ms. Jones replied, no, just the trucks. Commissioner Sielaff asked, and that is what differentiates us from others? Ms. Jones replied what differentiates us from other communities is that many communities do not even allow the large commercial vehicle to be parked at a residence. Commissioner Sielaff asked is motor homes were allowed? Ms. Jones replied a lot of communities restrict motor homes as well. It was her understanding that Fridley is one of only a few communities that allows them parked at a residence. Acting Chairperson Oquist asked what about the construction trailers parked on a property? Ms. Jones replied that a construction trailers being used for construction debris is not required to be on a paved surface. Anything motorized would need to be on a paved surface. Acting Chairperson Oquist stated but they are allowed on the property whereas a trailer for a semi is not allowed on the property. Ms. Jones replied, right. Unless a trailer is part of a home occupation and it is having an impact to the residential character of the neighborhood, then it would be prohibited. However, if someone doing working on their own home, they could have a trailer like that and have it full of waste such as was in the photo she showed. Commissioner Sielaff asked if the problem staff has now is that you have to use another part of statute to correct complaints concerning this issue? Is that right? Ms. Jones replied, it is not so much that it is part of a different statute. Commissioner Sielaff asked Ms. Jones if she is talking about an illegal home occupation? Ms. Jones explained that it is difficult to resolve some of these cases. Staff tries to work with people and send letters, but we often meet a lot of resistance. 0 Commissioner Sielaff asked what is the basis of an illegal home occupation and why staff needs them to get their trucks/trailers off the road? He does not understand what the basis is. Ms. Jones replied, in the te�t amendment? Commissioner Sielaff replied, no, the issue right now to try and alleviate the problem. Ms. Jones asked, as far as illegal home occupations? Commissioner Sielaff replied, yes. Ms. Jones stated the concern there is when someone's business is impacting the residential character of the neighborhood then it is considered an illegal home occupation. The existing code restricts homeowners to one large commercial vehicle. When someone goes beyond that, staff feels you are impacting the residential character of that neighborhood. It is very evident from the complaints we get from neighbors. Commissioner Sielaff stated that he did not understand what the problem was in getting such a problem alleviated if you use that as a basis for correcting the problem. Commissioner Dunham asked are these cases not cumbersome to process? Ms. Jones replied that it is just one of those situations that staff cannot abate. They have to issue a citation, which takes a long time. Commissioner Dunham stated they go through a citation process and that also may end up on an appeal somehow and e�tend it, etc. Ms. Jones replied, yes, and some of these cases are not just illegal home occupations; but we have run into a situation recently where we had a trucking operation leasing office space in a commercial location where truck storage was not permitted. They were storing their trucks on the streets throughout the City and moving them around throughout the day. Some of these cases are related to zoning violations. Again, a zoning violation like that is very difficult to resolve legally sometimes. Commissioner Velin stated he thought we had no parking for vehicles during a certain time during the winter for private cars. This does not say anything about automobiles. Is that a different ordinance? Ms. Jones replied, yes, that is in a different section of Code. That of course would be upheld. Elsie Hanson, 6000 Stinson Boulevard, asked how many hours that they would be restricted to park on the street? How long can they park on the street in front of their home? 5 Ms. Jones replied, the proposed language would be the same as local Code now where it is saying that they shall not park or leave standing refers to a truck, semi-trailer, or bus. Those things that are restricted cannot be left unattended on a public street unless in the process of loading or unloading and then only for a period of time necessary for loading or unloading. Ms. Hanson asked are they going to set hours or days? Who is going to decide when you have been on the street long enough and you should have been loaded or unloaded by now? Ms. Jones replied that would be up to staff to determine what is a reasonable time limit. Acting Chairperson Oquist stated if somebody has their equipment on the street and it has been there for a long period of time and you as a neighbor would call in and say, this person has that trailer out there, and staff would have to go out and take a look at it and see what is happening. Ms. Hanson stated she is more interested in a motor home. Because how would you know how long it takes to unload or load it? Acting Chairperson Oquist replied, he thinks common sense would say it does not take 24 hours to load and unload a motor home. Ms. Hanson stated you bring that motor home back home to load, you have to plug it in, get the refrigerator cooled, etc. She is asking who is going to decide that it has been here long enough. You are going to get ticketed because you have been here too long. Acting Chairperson Oquist stated he thinks staff would say that if it is there over 24 hours, then it has to be moved. He thinks that would be acceptable. However, you could not bring it home and then two or three days later decide to leave. Ms. Hanson stated if you have that motor home and you are going to be gone say for the weekend, you have to get it out of storage and bring it home. When you have to work, you cannot always load it right away. She just thinks they have to give people some kind of idea what the time limit is. Not just saying, okay, that has been here long enough. You are going to get a ticket because you should have left by now. Commissioner Sielaff asked would that not be based on a complaint. Does the staff actually go around or will they just be swamped with complaints? Ms. Jones replied, typically staff is familiar enough with the neighborhoods that we know when something is new. Also, our community service officers are often the people who are responding to these complaints as well. Often they will knock on the door of the property owner and talk to them about the situation before they are hasty to write a ticket. A lot of times they will work with people and educate them or resolve it by a letter. � Commissioner Sielaff stated would it be standard procedure to give a warning, etc.? Ms. Hanson asked what if someone comes to visit you and they park in front of your home and they want to spend one or two nights? Is that not going to be allowed anymore? Ms. Jones replied, she would say that would not be allowed. Commissioner Sielaff asked whether that was ever really allowed? Ms. Jones replied, there is no ordinance defined right now. Commissioner Velin stated as he recalls it was not too many years ago there was a big thing about parking motor homes in residential. In fact his neighbor has a driveway alongside his garage for his motor home. He sees a lot of motor homes parked alongside their driveway or in the back In most cases they park in the street, not the driveway, and in a few days they are gone. He does not see anything wrong with that himsel£ He would not want them parked there forever. Ms. Hanson replied, she agrees with that. She does not want anybody parking there indefinitely either. Acting Chairperson Oquist asked what we do about something like that where somebody comes and visits with a motor home and they are going to be there two or three days? Ms. Hanson replied, they have found that most times when traveling if you ask the City first if it is alright that we have company coming from out of town and is it alright if they park there for a couple of days, they have never been turned down. Commissioner Velin replied, if he recalls, back after the tornado of 1965, some people had trailers and motor homes where their homes were but they had to get permission. Because of the emergency they could park their rental trailers there. Acting Chairperson Oquist stated that is a situation we will have to deal with because there are those situations. People on his block used to come and visit for a week and they would be parked out on the street. Is there some kind of loophole we can put in for something like that? His thought is they have to park in the driveway. Ms. Hanson replied there are a lot of homes that do not have adequate space in their driveways. Ms. Jones stated if the motor home is that large that it does not fit into the driveway, then it is awfully large to be parked on the street and would likely be blocking someone's view. Staff is looking at this in terms of public safety and what we see when we are out 7 in the field. She has personally seen motor homes parked on the street and elderly people in walkers trying to maneuver around them, because we have very few sidewalks. Or she sees kids on bicycles having to go around them and head into oncoming traffic. The tough thing is you cannot write exceptions for every little thing if you are going to protect public safety. Commissioner Sielaff asked Ms. Jones regarding the motor home, what are other cities doing on that? Ms. Jones replied, it is her understanding that most cities do not allow camping in motor homes on the street. The City ended up allowing motor homes to be stored on residential properties on paved surfaces in the debate that Chairperson Velin is referring to. MOTION by Commissioner Dunham to close the public hearing. Seconded by Commissioner Sielaff. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, ACTING CHAIRPERSON OQUIST DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE HEARING CLOSED AT 7:34 P.M. Commissioner Sielaff stated he is not sure how much of a burden this is on City residents not being able to do that. He does not own an RV but he is kind of wondering if the people who visit in RV's, can they pull in someplace else? Acting Chairperson Oquist stated he knows for a fact the people on his street would stay for like two weeks at a time. They would have their cable run into the house, and they actually stayed in the motor home. Because of the size of the motor home, and it was a large and wide one, it is sitting out on the street and most of the residential streets, like his, are not that wide. So you have to be able to get around them and, if you have other cars parked on the street or something, it does help to block the street. Commissioner Sielaff stated he is not that persuaded it is a real heavy burden on where the RV is being parked by people visiting. There are other alternatives. Acting Chairperson Oquist stated and if you allow them to stay in the street, then do we put a limit on how long they can visit? Commissioner Dunham replied he agrees. The streets are not a parking spot for RV's. Acting Chairperson Oquist stated, yes, most streets are too narrow for that. Commissioner Velin stated he still thinks that if you have someone in town for two or three days he does not have a problem with that. However, if people think it is going to block up the street they should at least notify the City that they are going to have visitors and maybe put a time limit on it — like two or three nights. Commissioner Dunham stated he can see the logic in that if it is a few days. However, the issue is safety. Acting Chairperson Oquist stated it is an issue of safety. He does not think we can put a time limit on it. Commissioner Sielaff stated this te�t amendment is for the entire City. You do not want to get into situations where you are making exceptions here, you do not know how far it is going to go, and where do you draw the line. MOTION by Commissioner Dunham approving Te�t Amendment, TA #09-01, by the City of Fridley to amend Chapter 506, Vehicle Parking, to prohibit the parking of large commercial vehicles, including motor homes, except for loading/unloading, on the street in all zoning districts. Seconded by Commissioner Sielaff. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, ACTING CHAIRPERSON OQUIST DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3. Receive the Minutes of the December 9, 2008, Environmental Quality and Energy Commission Meeting. MOTION by Commissioner Velin to receive the Minutes. Seconded by Commissioner Dunham. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, ACTING CHAIRPERSON OQUIST DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 4. Receive the Minutes of the January 8, 2009, Housing and Redevelopment Authority Commission Meeting. MOTION by Commissioner Sibel to receive the Minutes. Seconded by Commissioner Velin. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, ACTING CHAIRPERSON OQUIST DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 5. Receive the Minutes of the December 1, 2008, Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting. MOTION by Commissioner Sibel to receive the Minutes. Seconded by Commissioner Dunham. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, ACTING CHAIRPERSON OQUIST DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. � 6. Receive the Minutes of the February 2, 2009, Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting. MOTION by Commissioner Sibel to receive the Minutes. Seconded by Commissioner Dunham. OTHER BUSINESS: There was no other business. ADJOURN MOTION by Commissioner Dunham adjourning the meeting. Seconded by Commissioner Sielaff UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, ACTING CHAIRPERSON OQUIST DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:40 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Denise M. Johnson Recording Secretary 10