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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021/03/03 - ADMIN - Minutes - Planning Commission - RegularMeeting: City council Meeting date: April 19, 2021 Consent agenda item: 4e Official minutes Planning commission March 3, 2021 – 6:00 p.m. WEBEX Members present: Jim Beneke, Imran Dagane, Matt Eckholm, Courtney Erwin, Jessica Kraft, Tom Weber Members absent: None Staff present: Gary Morrison, Sean Walther 1. Call to Order – Roll Call 2. Approval of Minutes - none 3. Public Hearings A. Costco parking lot expansion Applicant: Costco Wholesale Corporation Case No: 21-06-S, 21-07-PUD Mr. Morrison presented the report to the commission . Commissioner Weber asked if employees can enter the building from the back side of the building as presented. Mr. Morrison stated yes, there is an entrance in the back of the building. Commissioner Weber stated he has concerns about losing the pond and asked what the city code says and if it needs to be replaced. Mr. Morrison stated underground treatment is an acceptable option. The proposed underground treatment is upgrading the pond to today’s regulations for water treatment and containment. Commissioner Weber asked if this is a man -made retention pond. Mr. Morrison stated it is man -made . Commissioner Weber asked more about how Gamble Drive will be improved within this project and if it will be a better traffic flow there . Mr. Morrison stated the intersection was reviewed a few times since it was built and improvements were made from the original design . How ever, Mr. Morrison stated options are limited in that area, and they tried to work within constraints, including closing off one of the parking lot entrances on the east side of Gamble. Chair Eckholm stated he has similar concerns in that area and asked what the lane widths are . Mr. Morrison stated they are standard size. City council meeting of April 19, 2021 (Item No. 4e ) Page 2 Title: Planning commission meeting minutes March 3 , 2021 Chair Eckholm asked if a 14-foot-wide lane is necessary here. He added he has concerns about customers parking in area 4 and walking across Gamble. He stated he would want to see pedestrian improvements there, so as to be able to cross the traffic lanes safely. Mr. Morrison noted this area would be for employee parking only. Chair Eckholm stated that is also a concern for employee parking there and walking over. Commissioner Web er suggested moving the entrance and exit lanes and making it a one-way driving area. He added stop lights could also be considered in the area as well as thinking about areas to separate traffic flow. Commissioner Erwin stated these are all valid points and asked if Costco could engage a traffic study there to improve the situation. Mr. Morrison stated staff has looked at the traffic here over the years, but it is a difficult area. He continued some improvements have been made over the years. Chair Eck holm stated he is concerned introducing more parking here, noting the traffic situation will become worse. Commissioner Beneke agreed with all the commissioners. Commissioner Weber stated overall he likes what is proposed, but he would be more comfortable with less parking proposed. He added possibly the entrance could be moved as well. Chair Eckholm opened the public hearing. Steven Cross, the applicant, stated he has looked at the turn lane and it is an extra wide lane at 14 feet. There is no way to add more lanes. He stated he would be happy to take a closer look at this within the confines of this challenging area. He noted the employees parking across Gamble do have walkways to cross to the building. Commissioner Weber asked if he is directed to work within the parameters of that intersection, or is he allowed to make changes to the actual intersection. Mr. Cross stated they have not explored or considered a total reconstruction of the intersection, noting this is a shopping center area, and this is an undertaking related to parking. He added filling in the retention pond is also significantly costly and makes the project challenging as well. He continued changing the actual intersection would be too costly but noted they would look at working with the commission and staff on parking area changes. Chair Eckholm stated the issue here is the way people behave within the space as it is currently constructed. He stated he has concerns about adding 90 parking spaces and more parking stalls will not solve these high traffic concerns . He asked what traffic studies the applicant has done and what solutions they might have. City council meeting of April 19, 2021 (Item No. 4e ) Page 3 Title: Planning commission meeting minutes March 3 , 2021 Mr. Cross stated he is not aware of any traffic studies that have been done at the site. He added they are only looking to add parking stalls and moving employee parking to the back of the building to open more front area parking for customers. Caller – Anna Kasinski, 1632 Zarthan Ave S, stated she is adjacent to area 1 and she has concerns about this. She stated the parking and fence would be an eyesore in the area, and she would like Costco to mitigate impacts to neighbors and she agreed also about traffic on Gamble Drive as well. She stated she walks in the area quite often vs. driving into the site, and thanked staff and Costco for the discussion. Commissioner Weber noted the geese in the area love the ponds and asked if the pond is removed, will the rest of the geese move over to the other pond and cause problems there as well. Mr. Cross stated he is not aware of this issue and would need to look into measures that could be done . Chair Eckholm closed the public hearing. Commissioner Erwin thanked the caller for their comments. She stated perhaps the commission should refocus on this measure of parking, and if there are future issues regarding traffic control, they could be discussed at a future meeting. Chair Eckholm stated he feels the traffic is a consideration but did note Commissioner Erwin’s comments. Commissioner Erwin noted another concern for residents could be lights shining into homes in the area, and possibly Costco could add a privacy fence there to create an edge also. Commissioner Weber added the height of the berm might alleviate that problem, but it could be an issue with larger trucks. Mr. Cross stated the y will be cutting into the berm resulting in a retaining wall on the west side that will block the headlights for the most part. Additional landscaping will be added to complete the screening. He added they will also replace the speed bumps with speed humps in that area to reduce the noise, and they will be adding trees there for screening as well. Commissioner Kraft noted in area 1, the berm would cover the lights issue, also noting she would have concern about adding a fence there but thought trees with more openings there would be better for safety. She asked about area 2 and if traffic comes from that area as well. Commissioner Weber stated in area 2, there is no entrance or exit onto Cedar Lake Road, asking possibly if this is the time to open another entrance there . City council meeting of April 19, 2021 (Item No. 4e ) Page 4 Title: Planning commission meeting minutes March 3 , 2021 Chair Eckholm stated he would like a traffic study in the area and if there is historical information as well that staff can provide, he would like to see that. Mr. Walther stated this entire area was a major redevelopment of an industrial property . He noted the traffic entrance s were limited to Park Place Blvd and 16th Street primarily due to neighborhood opposition to access being added to Cedar Lake Road and especially not to Zarthan Ave S, which results in traffic being funneled to only two points. He reiterated that small ad justments to improve the traffic flow have been made over the years and the site complies with previous approvals. Mr. Walther added this is an unusual application as they are increasing the parking and but not the building area. The building area is typically used to model increases in the traffic and parking demands in the code. This does not mean that there could not be induced demand created by adding parking. He noted this business is doing very well and is a victim of its success and they are working to alleviate the parking concerns their customers have voiced. Commissioner Beneke asked why since parking is so tight, Costco is selling off the land . Mr. Cross stated Costco is trading land in one area in order to acquire the pond in another area, so as to create additional parking. Commissioner Weber stated the entrance to the parking lot should be reconfigured to force more traffic into the parking lot before turning. Ms. Jeri Krieg, with Costco, noted the parking count at the St. Louis Park store is very low compared to other Costco stores around the country. She stated they have worked with city staff to improve as much as they could over the years. Commissioner Beneke stated typically he would say the commission is discussing items beyond the scope and possibly the commission should recommend the city review the traffic concerns in the area. Commissioner Erwin agreed . Commissioner Erwin made a motion, Commissioner Beneke seconded, recommending approval of the major amendment to the PUD and preliminary plat subject to the conditions recommended by staff, and to have the city council review the traffic concerns noted by the commission on Gamble Drive . The motion passed on a vote of 4-2. (Chair Eckholm and Commissioner Weber opposed.) B. Major Amendment to Park Place Plaza PUD Applicant: Bianco Properties Case No: 21-05-PUD Mr. Morrison presented the report. Chair Eckholm opened the public hearing. City council meeting of April 19, 2021 (Item No. 4e ) Page 5 Title: Planning commission meeting minutes March 3 , 2021 There were no callers on the line. Paul Hu miston , the applicant, was available for questions. Chair Eckholm closed the public hearing. Commissioner Weber stated he will approve this and would like to have the city council review the traffic in the area as well. Chair Eckholm agreed and asked if they could also look at how to improve the pedestrian experience as well. Commissioner Erwin asked how large the proposed retail units are. Mr. Hu miston stated at this time there are no tenants identified. It is designed for 1 – 3 tenants. There is a patio for outdoor seating on the north end to accommodate a coffee shop option. Commissioner Erwin stated she would have concerns about traffic at the intersection, but noted it seems these businesses will be smaller. Commissioner Weber made a motion, Commissioner Erwin seconded, recommending approval of a major amendment to PUD as recommended subject to conditions recommended by staff, and to recommend to city council to do a traffic study as well as look at pedestrian enhancements. The motion passed on a vote of 6-0. C. Target Knollwood – Boone Avenue reconstruction Applicant: Target Corporation Case No: 21-03-CUP, 21-04-PUD Mr. Morrison gave the presentation to the commission. Commissioner Kraft asked if the city asked Target to take this project on, or did Target know about the issue. Mr. Morrison stated it was a concern of both the city and Target, and Target is responsible for the private road and is initiating the project. Commissioner Weber asked if the watershed district must approve it as well. Mr. Morrison stated yes. The watershed stated it meets their floodplain regulations and a variance request for a wetland buffer will be reviewed by the district. Commissioner Beneke stated he is surprised Target is okay with losing parking s paces, and his only worry might be if they ask for more parking in the future. Chair Eckholm opened the public hearing. There were no callers on the line. City council meeting of April 19, 2021 (Item No. 4e ) Page 6 Title: Planning commission meeting minutes March 3 , 2021 Ryan Hyllestad , Kimley Horn, on behalf of Target, was available for questions. Chair Eckholm closed the public hearing. Chair Eckholm stated this is a recurring problem and he is glad Target is proactive on this to rebuild the road and he will support this. Commissioner Kraft made a motion, Commissioner Dagane seconded, recommending approval of the CUP to place fill in the FEMA floodplain subject to the conditions recommended by staff. The motion passed on a vote of 6-0. 4. Other Business - none 5. Communications Mr. Walther stated on Monday, April 12, the commission is scheduled for a joint meeting with the city council at a study session. Chair Eckholm will present the planning commission’s 2021 workplan to council. Mr. Walther stated the city council has received several applications for the planning commission and they will be reviewed and finalized by the end of May. Mr. Walther stated the March 17 planning commission meeting will be a study session only . 6. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 7:53 p.m.