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PC-07-01-14 CITY OF SHOREWOOD COUNCIL CHAMBERS PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING 5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD TUESDAY, JULY 1, 2014 7:00 P.M. MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Chair Geng called the meeting to order at 7:04 P.M. ROLL CALL Present: Chair Geng; Commissioners Davis, Labadie, Maddy and Muehlberg; Planning Director Nielsen; and, Council Liaison Siakel Absent: None APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Geng asked that Item 3 Noise Ordinance be deferred to the Planning Commission’s August 5 meeting. He has not had an opportunity to review the draft ordinance; it was not sent out with the meeting packet. Labadie moved, Maddy seconded, approving the agenda for July 1, 2014, as amended. Motion passed 5/0. APPROVAL OF MINUTES  June 3, 2014 Maddy moved, Labadie seconded, approving the Planning Commission Meeting Minutes of June 3, 2014, as presented. Motion passed 5/0. 1. 7:00 P.M. PUBLIC HEARING – PARKING REQUIREMENTS AND DENSITY ALLOWANCE FOR ELDERLY HOUSING Chair Geng opened the Public Hearing at 7:06 P.M., noting the procedures used in a Public Hearing. He stated this evening the Planning Commission is going to consider a proposed Zoning Code text amendment relative to parking requirements and density allowance for elderly housing. He explained the Commission is comprised of residents of the City of Shorewood who are serving as volunteers on the Commission. They are appointed by the City Council. The Commission’s role is to help the City Council in determining zoning and planning issues. One of the Commission’s responsibilities is to hold public hearings and to help develop the factual record for an application and to make a non-binding recommendation to the City Council. The recommendation is advisory only. Director Nielsen noted that elderly housing, senior housing, and housing for people over 55 years old are used interchangeably. He explained that during its June 3, 2014, meeting the Planning Commission reviewed a proposed Zoning Code text amendment to Section 1201.03 Subd. 20.b(8) relative to elderly housing requirements. The intent is to make Shorewood a more desirable city for developers who want to CITY OF SHOREWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING July 1, 2014 Page 2 of 6 develop elderly housing. The City’s very strict density requirements have been an obstacle for developers. What is being proposed is not a significant change in those requirements. He highlighted the proposed changes. The first change starts with the R-3A, R-3B and R-C zoning districts which are multiple family housing districts. The City does not have any land that is zoned R-3A or R-3B. A developer would have to apply for those two districts. The R-C District is residential commercial; it is a transition zoning district. There are a number of properties zoned R-C. For those three zoning districts the recommendation is to increase the density from 10 units per acre to 12 units per acre. The next change is regarding calculating density. The recommendation is to count assisted living units as one-half unit. Most of the people living in those types of units are not driving cars. Care providers are generating most of the traffic. The next group of changes is relative to the Smithtown Crossing Redevelopment Area. The proposed changes are premised on a project that meets the goals, objectives and guidelines of the Smithtown Crossing Redevelopment Study. Developers would have to earn the proposed changes through their development. One recommendation is to allow the density in that area to go up to 15 units per acre. Another is for projects that include a mixture of commercial and residential uses, the area of the entire site may be used to calculate the density. And, the last is to possibly allow the density for adjacent parcels within the Redevelopment Study Area to be transferred to the project site. The property the City owns is one parcel away from the main body of the redevelopment district. There is a property with one house on it between that district and the City-owned property that may or may not be part of a project. The R-1C zoning for the City-owned parcel would allow for up to 8 units per acre. This last change would allow for seven units of density for that parcel to be transferred to a project. The last two changes have to do with parking. The proposal for elderly housing is to require two parking spaces per unit for townhouse or cottage style housing. For apartments, one and one-half parking spaces per unit are required plus proof of parking demonstrating the ability to provide two spaces per unit. That second proposed change is to protect against the outside chance that the apartment style elderly housing would eventually no longer be for elderly housing; maybe it becomes multiple family and that requires two spaces per unit. The City’s covenants for elderly housing ties up the facilities for that purpose for quite some time. The market study that would be done as part of a potential project would demonstrate that the development would be successful. Nielsen noted the proposed changes have been discussed for quite some time. He also noted a change was made to elderly housing in 2013 to allow seniors to remain in their homes longer. He explained Shorewood adopted an accessory apartment ordinance. It would allow older people to create a separate living unit within their homes for their children or for children to create a separate living unit for their parents. Chair Geng opened the Public Testimony Portion of the Public Hearing at 7:17 P.M. Sandra Clapp, Chaska Road, stated she came this evening to ask if City staff or the Planning Commission saw the letter in the June 24 Lakeshore Weekly News Page A.4 regarding if communities are dealing with aging and providing for elderly housing. It was written by the Mayor of Chaska. Chair Geng stated that will be made part of the record. He thanked her for making the Planning Commission aware of the article. CITY OF SHOREWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING July 1, 2014 Page 3 of 6 Chair Geng closed the Public Testimony Portion of the Public Hearing at 7:19 P.M. Commissioner Davis asked how many units per acre were allowed at the Shorewood Pond development. Director Nielsen responded he thought about 6; it may be just shy of that. Davis noted she thought they were quads. Nielsen concurred. Davis asked what the density is at The Seasons. Nielsen stated he thought it is close to 8 units per acre; there are 24 units on just over 3 acres. Davis asked if one and one-half parking spaces per unit for apartment style elderly housing is the norm. Nielsen responded that is what was suggested provided there is proof of parking showing that an additional one-half space per unit could be added if needed. Davis also asked if the guidelines would apply for elderly cooperative units. Nielsen responded yes. Davis questioned if one and one-half spaces would be enough. Nielsen explained that frequently a couple will go down to one car when they live in that type of unit. He noted that based on the information he provided at the last meeting that is somewhat the norm. Davis asked if that included visitor parking. Nielsen stated it did and that he would have to go back and review if there was a stipulation for some of the resident parking to be underground. Commissioner Maddy stated that impervious surface requirements would likely require some underground parking for residents. Commissioner Davis stated she thought the next batch of seniors will have two cars for a while because they will have to work until they are 70 years old. Director Nielsen noted the current City Code states that there has to be at least one parking space per unit underground. There would be another one-half space likely outside for each unit. Labadie moved, Maddy seconded, recommending approval of the Zoning Code text amendment relative to parking requirements and density allowance for elderly housing as presented. Motion passed 5/0. Chair Geng closed the Public Hearing at 7:27 P.M. 2. TRAIL PLANS • Safe Routes to Schools Director Nielsen explained that staff is still researching the safe routes to schools (SRTS) grant. Next week he is going to a summit that will be held in the City of St. Cloud that is specifically on that topic. There will be two one-half day sessions on it. There are grant opportunities for cities that have SRTS plans. He stated it may be possible to include a chapter in the Trail Plan Implementation Report on the topic. There will need to be a lot of coordination and cooperation between the surrounding cities and the Minnetonka School District on a SRTS plan. Staff needs to determine what that effort would involve. There is also an educational component to it. He thinks there are proposed trails in the City that could qualify for a SRTS grant. He noted the Trail Plan Implementation Report contains a graphic which depicts where the schools and parks in the South Lake Minnetonka area are located. It also depicts a one mile radius from the schools. It is his understanding someone living within a two-mile radius of the schools has to pay for bus service. The entire City is within two miles of a school. And, virtually all of the City’s trails could qualify for a grant because they would get students to schools. CITY OF SHOREWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING July 1, 2014 Page 4 of 6 He hopes to find out what standards would be imposed for a trail that could qualify for a grant. Some grants require that trails be at least eight feet wide. Some require they be ten feet wide for a multi-use trail (a trail for pedestrians and bicycles). The trails the City has been constructing have been six feet wide and they are technically sidewalks. They cannot be posted as bikeways. He stated if people determine it would be worthwhile to apply for a SRTS grant then he thought it would be appropriate to have a section about the SRTS plan included in the Trail Plan Implementation Report. Nielsen noted he will have more information on SRTS for the August 5 meeting. • Trail Priorities Director Nielsen explained the next two trail priorities are the Galpin Lake Road walkway segment (from the Chanhassen border to the Excelsior border) and the Smithtown Road east walkway segment (from the LRT Trail to County Road 19). The Galpin Lake Road segment will be constructed in 2014/2015. And the Smithtown Road east segment is scheduled for construction in 2015. Council and staff are very aware there is not money currently available to construct any more segments without coming up with a funding source. With the exception of the Mill Street walkway segment the Priority I list segments will have been completed by 2015. The Mill Street segment has been put on hold. In part because Excelsior has no plans to construct its portion of that walkway at this time. And, in part because Hennepin County has it striped as an on-street trail. There was a Priority II segment from the Minnewashta Elementary School to the LRT Trail that was constructed as part of the Smithtown Road west sidewalk project. Council has asked staff to create a map showing the relationship of trail segments in the Trail Plan Implementation Report to upcoming road projects. The thought is if there is a trail planned for construction alongside of a roadway that is to be constructed they should be done at the same time. Unfortunately, there are not many roads up for total reconstruction over the next ten years. Staff is going to recommend that Strawberry Lane be moved up in the 20-Year Pavement Management Plan (PMP) primarily because of the Boulder Cove project being done in the City of Chanhassen. As a result there will be children living in that area that will go down Strawberry Lane to the Minnewashta Elementary School. Those children will live within what the school considers walking distance so the school will not bus them. There will more children and more traffic on or alongside of Strawberry Lane. In addition, staff will recommend that a Strawberry Lane sidewalk segment be moved up in the Priority II list; maybe to the top of the list. When the Trail Plan priorities were identified, roadway traffic, proximity to the schools and proximity to parks were all taken into account. Nielsen stated that the priorities for the segments in the Priority II list will be discussed during the Planning Commission’s August 5 meeting. 3. NOISE ORDINANCE This was continued to the Planning Commission’s August 5, 2014, meeting at Chair Geng’s request to give the Commissioners enough time to review the ordinance. CITY OF SHOREWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING July 1, 2014 Page 5 of 6 4. MATTERS FROM THE FLOOR There were no matters from the floor presented this evening. 5. OLD BUSINESS / NEW BUSINESS Commissioner Davis stated that a year ago Councilmember Woodruff had asked her to write an article about zoning ordinances; something she really did not want to do. She stated apparently people do not know there is a framework to run the City and to have peaceful neighborhoods. She has started to write the article which will have issues and their related answers. She noted that Director Nielsen will help her with the answers. She stated she sent the Planning Commissioners the original copy she drafted one night and then a copy that Pat Arnst had edited with her comments in parentheses. The deadline for the newsletter is July 11. There was a recommendation to publish articles in the newsletter that are applicable to the season. After the whole thing is completed maybe it can be put out on the City’s website. Director Nielsen stated Commissioner Davis’s point is well taken about how it is presented to the public. It is about informing people there are codes and that there is a reason for them. He thought doing this is a great idea. Commissioner Davis stated the things she identified are common problems. She commented that she talks with Ms. Arnst all the time about the issues. Davis’ husband was surprised that a couple of things existed. She stated she works with people in other surrounding communities and they all have the same issues as Shorewood. None of the issues are unique. Director Nielsen stated one of the things Commissioner Davis mentioned in her draft article was about trash cans being left out all week long. It was just two years ago that the Council approved an ordinance that states they can be left out twelve hours before and twelve hours after pickup day. Commissioner Davis stated many people mentioned moving PODS and fire pits. Director Nielsen clarified people do not need a permit for the pit itself but they do need a permit for the fire that is burned in it and the fire department issues that permit which is free. Davis asked the Planning Commission and Director Nielsen to provide her feedback as soon as possible. Commissioner Muehlberg stated people don’t want to call 911 because then their neighbors will know that they called. Director Nielsen stated that is how residents can get in contact with the South Lake Minnetonka Police Department (SLMPD). Commissioner Labadie suggested publishing something in the newsletter about who to call for boaters who are violating the slow-no-wake restriction on lakes in the City. Director Nielsen stated he thought that is posted on the City’s website. 6. DRAFT NEXT MEETING AGENDA Director Nielsen stated the August 5, 2014, meeting will be entirely a study session. The noise ordinance, safe routes to schools, and trail priorities will be on the agenda. He noted that he will cook brats for the Planning Commission before that meeting. He encouraged Commissioners to come about 6:30 P.M. Chair Geng asked Director Nielsen to give an update on the GreenStep City Program during the next meeting. CITY OF SHOREWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING July 1, 2014 Page 6 of 6 7. REPORTS • Liaison to Council Chair Geng reported on Council’s June 9 and June 23 meetings (as detailed in the minutes of those meetings). • SLUC • Other Chair Geng related that a resident out on Enchanted Island asked that he thank the City for its efforts dealing with the water issue on Enchanted Lane. He stated Public Works Director Brown and the Public Works staff have been incredibly responsive. They have been out there on weekends and early in the morning and late at night. He asked Council Liaison Siakel to convey that to Council during its next meeting. 8. ADJOURNMENT Davis moved, Maddy seconded, Adjourning the Planning Commission Meeting of July 1, 2014, at 7:55 P.M. Motion passed 5/0. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Christine Freeman, Recorder