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PC-08-05-14 CITY OF SHOREWOOD COUNCIL CHAMBERS PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING 5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 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, and Maddy; and, Planning Director Nielsen Absent: Commissioner Muehlberg APPROVAL OF AGENDA Davis moved, Maddy seconded, approving the agenda for August 5, 2014, as presented. Motion passed 4/0. APPROVAL OF MINUTES  July 1, 2014 Davis moved, Labadie seconded, approving the Planning Commission Meeting Minutes of July 1, 2014, as presented. Motion passed 4/0. S T U D Y S E S S I O N 1. TRAIL PLANS • Trail Priorities Director Nielsen apologized for not providing a Trail Plan Priorities map overlaid with future street projects and noted that it will be very easy for him to describe. He also noted the meeting packet contains a copy of the Trail map. Director Nielsen explained that for the most part all of the Priority I trail projects are done or in progress. The County Road 19 trail segment (from the Smithtown Crossing to the LRT Trail) was constructed first. The Smithtown Road west sidewalk (from the Shorewood/Victoria border to the intersection with Eureka Road/LRT Trail) was constructed next. During its August 11, 2014, meeting Council will be asked to award the construction bid for the Galpin Lake Road walkway segment (from the Shorewood/Chanhassen border to the Shorewood/Excelsior border). A trail walk for the Smithtown Road east walkway segment (from the Eureka Road/LRT Trail intersection to Smithtown Crossing) is planned for the Planning Commission’s September meeting. Construction for that segment is scheduled for 2015. The Mill Street walkway segment project was put on hold for a while mainly because the City of Excelsior is not ready to construct its portion of that trail. CITY OF SHOREWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING August 5, 2014 Page 2 of 9 There are two walkway projects that will coincide with roadway projects. The first is the Strawberry Lane nd segment (from Smithtown Road to West 62 Street on to Cathcart Park). It is scheduled for 2019 along with the reconstruction of Strawberry Lane. The other is the Eureka Road north segment. Constructing the Strawberry Lane segment in conjunction with reconstructing the roadway will cost about one-half of the cost of constructing the segment standalone. He thinks the Strawberry Lane is the highest priority of the Priority II trails because of the volume of traffic on Strawberry Lane and because of the Boulder Cove development in the City of Chanhassen. • Safe Routes to Schools Director Nielsen noted that a number of years ago [2008] the City and the Minnetonka School District applied for a safe routes to school (SRTS) grant for a warning light for near the Minnewashta Elementary School. He stated that he and Finance Director DeJong attended a SRTS summit a few weeks ago. He explained they were told that just because you develop a SRTS plan it does not mean a city will get a grant. A SRTS plan is more of a program. The summit organizers were more interested in getting children to, for example, ride bikes more. They were not that interested in talking about trails. At the summit he told the organizers that parents are not going to encourage their children to ride their bikes if there is no safe place to do that. A number of years back the School put in place some of the things the SRTS program looks for. For example, it implemented the pedestrian bus concept where a person carrying a “pedestrian bus” sign leads rows of children walking to or from school. He stated staff will get together with representatives from Minnewashta Elementary School to discuss what it will take to apply for a SRTS grant(s) for the Smithtown Road east and Strawberry Lane walkways. Any trail / walkway segment would be a safe route to school; in particular the Smithtown Road east and Strawberry Lane segments. Staff may also discuss that with representatives from the Minnetonka School District. He then stated if there is a safe place for children to walk and ride bikes it could potentially reduce the vehicle traffic because not as many children will have to be driven to school. Children are not bused to school if they live within two miles of the School. He went on to state if there was money available he thought the next segment would be from basically Shorewood Lane to the City of Excelsior. People from the west end of Shorewood could then get to Excelsior’s trail system. Commissioner Davis stated if residents can get to the LRT Trail safely they can then get to Excelsior or the City of Victoria. She asked what the status is for the Lake Minnetonka LRT Regional Trail Overpass at County Road 19. Director Nielsen stated he thought the Three Rivers Park District (TRPD) was going to open bids late July and it would be built in 2015. Nielsen noted that he will get that information from the City Engineer and email it to the Commissioners. Davis stated a lot of people ask about the overpass. Director Nielsen stated it is his recollection that a resident who lives in Gideon Woods complained about the overpass. That individual did not think there had been enough process. People were not very aware of it. Commissioner Davis asked if repairs had been made to the new Smithtown Road west sidewalk. Director Nielsen explained there had been a utility break somewhere in that area and a segment of sidewalk needed to be repaired. A house is being built in the area and a contractor left some rocks on the sidewalk. That contractor was parking heavy equipment on the sidewalk this past winter. In addition to a driveway for the new house there will be another driveway in the area put in and that will result in disruption to a segment of the sidewalk. That will be at that property owner’s expense. CITY OF SHOREWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING August 5, 2014 Page 3 of 9 Commissioner Labadie clarified that children can be bused to school for a fee if they live less than two miles from the School. The fee is $100 per child with a maximum of $250 per family. Basically every child attending Minnewashta Elementary School has to pay to ride the bus. She stated she has a very good relationship with the principal at the School and the PTO president. She offered to approach them on a SRTS program if there is something Director Nielsen needs. Director Nielsen noted a large component of the SRTS program is school oriented. Commissioner Davis stated there are residents in her neighborhood who followed their children who road their bicycles to schools in their cars. Commissioner Labadie noted there is no safe way for her daughter to get to school on her bicycle. She stated if there is a group of ten of them then she feels her daughter is safe. They get there by going on less busy streets. She noted that parents of school age children are not going to let their children cross Smithtown Road to get to the new trail to go to school. Commissioner Davis stated it would be nice to have some safe passage down that part of Eureka Road. Commissioner Maddy asked if Eureka Road north is going to be reconstructed. Director Nielsen noted that the Finance Director changed the Street Reconstruction Capital Improvement Program (CIP) to reflect a mill and overlay for Eureka Road north. The Public Works Director asked that it be changed back to reconstruction. He stated that roadway will not be reconstructed to Minnesota State Aid (MSA) standards and therefore it is no longer classified as an MSA roadway. He noted that he will send information about the timing of project out with the information about the overpass. 2. NOISE ORDINANCE Director Nielsen stated the situation near Hillendale Road is more of an activity issue rather than a noise issue. He explained there is at least one decent code that addresses the use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). It states that ATVs can be started up to load them onto a trailer to take them somewhere but they cannot be operated in the City of Shorewood. That ordinance treats snowmobiles the same way. Nielsen explained that in 2013 the Planning Commission spent a fair amount of time talking about a noise ordinance. An ordinance the City has not had for 30 years. Chair Geng stated the copy of the draft ordinance included in the meeting packet seems to be the same as it was when in was discussed last year. He thought the ordinance is good. Commissioner Davis concurred. Commissioner Labadie stated she likes that snow removal equipment is exempt from the hourly restrictions on operations. Commissioner Davis stated she likes the exemption for emergency work. She then stated the use of recreational vehicles not licensed for travel on public highways is addressed. Director Nielsen noted that the optional provision under Subd.20.a.(4) allows a homeowner or occupant to do construction, repairs or maintenance, including lawn maintenance, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on Sundays and public holidays. Commissioner Davis asked if that means no leaf blowing after 6:00 p.m. on Sundays. Nielsen noted it does. Commissioner Davis noted that item 2 conflicts with that. Davis recommended taking lawn maintenance out of the optional provision. CITY OF SHOREWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING August 5, 2014 Page 4 of 9 Commissioner Maddy asked if dirt bikes are licensed for travel on public highways. He stated the driver of a dirt bike may consider them self exempt because they are not driving or operating a minibike or snowmobile. There was ensuring discussion about the use of dirt bikes on City streets in residential neighborhoods. Commissioner Maddy asked if the City’s hours match up with the City of Excelsior’s. Director Nielsen responded mostly but there were a couple of differences and he thought one of the differences was for refuse hauling. Chair Geng asked if Excelsior revised its ordinance. He suggested researching what Excelsior’s current ordinance states before forwarding this to Council for consideration. Nielsen asked if the Planning Commission wants to discuss the ordinance again once he finds out how Excelsior changed it ordinance. Commissioner Davis stated only if its hours of restriction changed significantly. Maddy noted that he thought the 9:30 p.m. end time for recreational vehicles and domestic power equipment is pretty late because he has small children. Commissioner Davis stated she also thinks that is late. Director Nielsen concurred. The following changes were agreed to.  Subd. 20.a.(1) Recreational vehicles and Subd. 20.a.(2) Domestic power equipment – the 9:30 p.m. end times were changed to 9:00 p.m.  The verbiage about hours of operation will be changed so that it is consistent in items a.(1) – a.(4).  Subd. 20.a.(4) Construction activities – in the optional provisions the construction hours were changed to 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.. They had been 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Including lawn maintenance will be removed. The word optional will be removed. Davis moved, Labadie seconded, recommending approval of the Ordinance amending Title 500 of the Shorewood Zoning Code regarding nuisances (noise) as amended above provided the City of Excelsior has not significantly changed its hours of operation. Motion passed 4/0. 3. GREENSTEP CITIES PROGRAM UPATE Director Nielsen explained the City has implemented a number of the GreenStep Cities Program best practices (BPs). The City has reached the first step in the program and it received a small recognition award for doing so. There are some areas that the Planning Commission should work on. Chair Geng suggested focusing on the items the Commission needs to address. Director Nielsen highlighted and explained the items for the Planning Commission; items that have been completed since the first GreenStep was achieved and items that need to be done. Density bonus – The increased density proposed for the Smithtown Crossing redevelopment area  is being considered by Council. Council has asked for more information (e.g., sketches of what 60 units on four acres might look like). Historic preservation ordinance – The City Ordinance contains a provision that allows people to  keep old, historic, nonconforming structures and still be able to add accessory structures. CITY OF SHOREWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING August 5, 2014 Page 5 of 9 Development and design standards that facilitate infill and redevelopment – The Smithtown  Crossing Redevelopment Study did that. The implementation the Planning Commission recommended to the Council also fulfills that. Mixed uses – The Planning Commission has recommended to Council higher density for senior  housing. The Comprehensive Plan states the City should be addressing and providing some variety of housing for seniors. The Smithtown Crossing Redevelopment Study specifically talks about that. Safe routes to school (SRTS) – The Planning Commission will be involved with that effort.  Renewable energy: solar energy standards and model wind energy ordinance – The Planning  Commission will be involved from a residential regulatory perspective. If the City decides to implement renewable energy alternatives that will have to be regulated as well. Buildings located within walking distance of transit and/or residential zoning – This is an ongoing  item. For example, the Smithtown Road east walkway segment will connect the Smithtown Crossing area to the Minnewashta Elementary School and the residents beyond. Commissioner Davis asked if the City reviews the status of its progress with implementing GreenStep Cities BPs often. Director Nielsen stated not often enough. He thought it should be reviewed at least annually. It has been two years since a review has been done. Davis stated that it is possible that additional practices may have been implemented as part of normal business. Davis then stated the City might be able to get credit for backyard gardening and chickens. Commissioner Labadie stated that is BP Local Food 27.4.b. Commissioner Labadie questioned if the City could get credit for being a bee-safe city. Commissioner Davis stated maybe backyard gardening could include bees. Commissioner Davis stated she thought the City used to advertise that it was a tree city. BP Urban Forests 16.1 is about qualifying for being a tree city. Director Nielsen stated he is not sure the City still is. Davis suggested finding out what it takes to qualify. Davis noted that BP 16.2 talks about adopting as policy Minnesota Tree Trusts’ BPs and using the guidelines in at least one development project to achieve an excellent and exemplary rating. There may be other BPs under Urban Forests that the City has or could easily implement. Chair Geng noted the City is the first city in Minnesota and third in the nation to pass a policy encouraging planting bee-friendly flowers and restricting certain pesticides. 4. MATTERS FROM THE FLOOR There were no matters from the floor presented this evening. 5. OLD BUSINESS / NEW BUSINESS 6. DRAFT NEXT MEETING AGENDA Director Nielsen stated that in order to get the Smithtown Road east walkway feasibility report to Council in September the Planning Commission needs to walk the area during its September 2, 2014 meeting. He noted that the Commission has an informal policy not to meet the day after a holiday. He stated it is starting to get dark earlier. He thought the walk would take about one hour. He suggested starting that meeting at 6:00 P.M. and allowing up to 90 minutes for the walk. Applications will not be scheduled until after 7:30 P.M. CITY OF SHOREWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING August 5, 2014 Page 6 of 9 Nielsen stated that in addition to the trail/sidewalk walk there will be two applications on the September 2 meeting agenda. One is a minor subdivision. The other is for a conditional use permit (C.U.P.). The property owners want to build more accessory space and there is already a nonconforming structure on the property. The City Ordinance states a property owner cannot add accessory space if there is a nonconforming structure except if it is architecturally significant, culturally significant or historically significant. It is up to the applicant’s architect to justify why the nonconforming structure should remain. Chair Geng asked if Jon Monson is the C.U.P. applicant. Director Nielsen responded yes. Geng stated he knows Mr. Monson and when he was with him recently Mr. Monson asked if they could go over what he was proposing with him. Geng noted that he told him that would not be a good idea and explained why. Mr. Monson clarified he was not trying to do anything improper. He related that Mr. Monson had indicated that Shorewood does things different than, for example, the City of Excelsior. He stated he thought it was nice that someone reacted positively to that. Director Nielsen stated the Planning Commission will receive a copy of the feasibility report on the Smithtown Road east walkway before it goes on its trail walk. Chair Geng asked what the timetable is for that project. Director Nielsen explained the feasibility report is due by August 27. The Planning Commission will do the trail walk, discuss the report and make its recommendation on September 2. Council will consider the report on September 8. The Planning Commission will host a neighborhood meeting on September 30. In mid-October Council will award the contract for land acquisition services and authorize the preparation of plans and specifications. The ground breaking ceremony will be the end of June 2015. In response to a question from Commissioner Maddy, Director Nielsen stated the walkway will end at County Road 19. Nielsen reiterated that he thought the next trail priority after Strawberry Lane would be to extend the Smithtown Road trail from County Road 19 to Excelsior. Commissioner Davis asked if Excelsior would cooperate on that extension. Director Nielsen stated he hoped so and that he hoped Hennepin County would also help. Davis stated she assumes the people along Galpin Lake Road are happy because of that trail. Nielsen stated most are. 7. REPORTS • Liaison to Council Chair Geng reported on Council’s July 24 meeting (as detailed in the minutes of that meeting). • SLUC Director Nielsen stated he has been somewhat disappointed with the Sensible Land Use Coalition (SLUC) offerings lately. Commissioner Davis stated the round tables of knowledge will be coming up and that she thinks those are quite good. • Other Commissioner Davis asked if the City has heard anything more from the residents in the Summit Avenue area. CITY OF SHOREWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING August 5, 2014 Page 7 of 9 Chair Geng stated he was at the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) Board of Managers meeting on July 31. He explained that about ten Summit Avenue area residents showed up because the MCWD was considering a permit for the planned unit development (PUD) in the City of Chanhassen not far from the Summit Avenue area. The developer had excavated the southernmost property on the PUD site and left huge mounds of dirt. The mounds were easily 15 feet high. The developer had not put any silt fences in. The stormwater flowed across the street and flooded several yards. The residents brought photographs that had been taken the previous day to show the Board. The developer had egg on his face. The Board was quite concerned because the silt fences were not up. What should have been a relatively simple permitting matter ended up consuming about 45 minutes of time. He noted there was nothing the MCWD could do because it does not have regulatory authority over that part of Chanhassen. Director Nielsen explained Shorewood is a local government unit (LGU) and it delegates that work to the MCWD for areas within the MCWD’s jurisdiction. Because the Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District (RPBCWD) was not doing much with permitting a number of years ago the City obtained approval to have the MCWD have jurisdiction over that small area in the City that is in the RPBCWD boundaries. That area is basically the Christmas Lake and Silver Lake areas. Chanhassen is its own LGU. Chair Geng stated those residents raised other issues not relevant to the MCWD. For example, they criticized the rain gardens. MCWD staff stated those rain gardens were well designed. He then stated a couple of the members of the Board asked if any of the trees in the conservation easement area would be damaged by construction. They also asked if the protection area should extend out further than the drip line. Director Nielsen stated for the Summit Woods PUD the only things that will be built close to the easement are the rain gardens. The easement area in Shorewood will be fenced off before any digging begins. Chair Geng stated the MCWD staff was on top of things for the most part. He then stated it appears the work Shorewood did as part of the various PUD approval processes was good from the MCWD’s perspective. Director Nielsen stated the City’s engineers had never seen a response from the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) like the one the City received regarding the Summit Avenue traffic study. He explained that in Minnesota the standard posted speed for a residential street is 30 miles per hour unless a speed study is done and extreme circumstances are found which indicate it should be lower than that. A new posted speed is set to the speed 85 percent of the traffic was traveling at. Therefore, the posted speed could be increased. The study came back with a recommendation to not post a speed or advisory on Summit Avenue. Residents are expected to drive according to the conditions (the narrowness of Hummingbird Road and the curves and hill on Summit Avenue). He noted the City is still going to consider which of the four alternatives for improving Summit Avenue should be pursued. He clarified that the residents there do not like any of the four. In response to a comment from Commissioner Davis, Chair Geng noted the City of Saint Bonifacius has regulated the use of drones in the City. It is the first City to have done that. There was ensuing discussion about drones. Commissioner Davis asked what the next ordinance the Planning Commission will work on is about. CITY OF SHOREWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING August 5, 2014 Page 8 of 9 Director Nielsen explained why the ordinance amendment related to higher density for elderly housing was not adopted by Council during its July 28, 2014, meeting. Council wants to look at sketches of what that type of density would look like and how it would fit on the Smithtown Crossing site. There was concern about how 15 units per acre might look. The information from which staff determined that the City has a need for senior housing is about 23 years old. The Mayor thought that need should be revisited. If the rest of Council agrees with that then he will propose having Mr. Rick Fenske, an expert on senior housing, come to a future Council work session to talk about life cycle housing. He assumes the Commissioners could attend. Nielsen stated the next area will be related to the GreenStep City Program best practices. The Planning Commission has briefly discussed wind generators and Council has suggested alternative energy in general be discussed with a focus on wind energy and solar energy. He explained Council has asked that a request for proposal be written for a consultant to do a study about what alternative energy opportunities there are for the City. On February 24, 2014 the Council heard a presentation by a representative of a company that proposed the City install a solar array that would provide some portion of the electric power consumed by the Southshore Community Center (SSCC), the Badger Park well building, Badger Field and Shorewood City Hall. The company would pay all of the infrastructure costs and basically sell the electricity to the City at a rate less than or equal to Xcel Energy’s rate. The rate would be guaranteed for a number of years. Some Council members were uncomfortable with moving forward so quickly. He clarified that the Commission would be discussing alternative energy from a regulatory perspective for residential properties. Chair Geng stated that in July he attended the Workshop-on-the-Water. The workshop was presented by the University of Minnesota in cooperation with the Basset Creek Watershed Management Commission; Carver Water Management; the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District; the Nine Mile Creek Watershed District; and, the Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District. The workshop was held on the Queen of Excelsior. He noted the workshop was very good. It was about water quality. He stated there will be another workshop in September and it will be about stream bank restoration. Commissioner Davis explained that this year she was a judge for Metro Blooms for the Urban Garden awards. There were 1,000 gardens and 100 judges. She had 10 gardens to judge. She saw two gardens in south Minneapolis that were incredibly beautiful. They were typical homes in residential neighborhoods. She saw a fairy garden on a boulevard that was spectacular. People can look at last year’s pictures on Metro Blooms’ website. It would be fun for the South Lake area to do something like that. She noted she did not see any rain gardens on the properties she judged. She spoke with Metro Blooms about possibly putting on another rain garden session in the South Lake area. She indicated she would be willing to coordinate that endeavor. She noted that rain gardens require more maintenance than a garden. Commissioner Maddy asked if people have tried Milorganite. It is not touted to control deer but people say it does. Director Nielsen stated the operators at the camp ground they leave their camper at have indicated it works well to help control deer. Maddy stated he liked the rain garden idea. He noted the GreenStep Cities BP Stormwater 17.5 is about adopting and implementing guidelines for, or adopting required design standards for at least one of the following stormwater infiltration/reuse techniques: rain gardens, green roofs and green alleys. He stated his property is on about 200 feet of clay. He asked if that is an issue for a rain garden. Director Nielsen responded it is and noted that Shorewood is not the ideal place for rain gardens because they depend on infiltration. When they are on clay the gardens need to have an outlet on the bottom. CITY OF SHOREWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING August 5, 2014 Page 9 of 9 Chair Geng noted that the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) has a cost share program. The intent of that program is to encourage the implementation of best management practices. 8. ADJOURNMENT Maddy moved, Davis seconded, Adjourning the Planning Commission Meeting of August 5, 2014, at 8:43 P.M. Motion passed 4/0. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Christine Freeman, Recorder