##VIDEO ID:cezUZZ-ExRQ## I'd like to call the January 2025 of the Richfield Municipal uh Planning Commission to order the first thing would be the approval of minutes from our previous meeting and I would take a motion to approve those commissioner charlon moves commissioner St second all in favor of approving the minutes from the previous meeting please say I I opposed all right the next thing would be the open Forum this is an opportunity for uh residents and concerned others to uh present before the city or before the City Planning Commission generally on items that are not on the agenda uh we there is an opportunity ahead of time to uh contact UM the uh planner kby with um comment beforehand did you receive any comments before the meeting no we did not um I would note that we did receive that all the members of the Planning Commission did receive a letter um from residents um and so that was some of the the comment that we received in in paper form from uh David dorer and Jody Spencer and each member of the plan commission received that um all right if there was no uh other comments ahead of time if there's anyone here who would like to comment uh please approach the podium all right seeing no one here for the open Forum we can then go to approving the agenda for tonight's meeting commissioner s move Charon seconds moved and seconded to approve the agenda for tonight's meeting all favor please say I I opposed all right the agenda is approved uh the first uh item on the agenda is a public hearing to consider request for two variances for setback requirements for a garage at 6612 5th Avenue South do we have a staff report thank you chair and Commissioners um Anita Perkins is here this evening requesting deviation from two setback requirements in order to construct a new detached garage that is exactly the same size and in exactly the same location as the previous garage the property is zoned R low density residential and as such it requires a two foot setback from the alley side and the garage is only or the foundation of the garage is only 1.8 ft from the property line so it's about a 2in difference and it requires a three- foot setback from the north side property line and the foundation is only 2.4 feet away so about a 7 in difference the reason the applicant is requesting the same setbacks as the previous garage is because the footing is still in place and in still in good usable condition we had in building inspector go out and visually inspect the uh Foundation just to make sure that um this is the case and being that uh this is pretty unique after all this time uh we uh find that it is a physical condition unique to the site that justifies deviation from the zoning code uh therefore we believe the requested variances are reasonable and we recommend approval of both the variances subject to the conditions listed in the resolution before you this evening thank you any questions for Planet Crosby before we open the all right uh I'd like to open this public meeting I I understand the applicant might be present if you would like to approach the podium there and introduce yourself hi I'm Manita Perkins um I just want to thank the planning committee for your time and consideration on these two variances um I appreciate that this process was available for us to use and the request this setb for the garage and we also want to thank Sam for all her guidance and support going through this getting everything together meeting all the requirements thanks for being responsive to my emails and my calls and my questions and um all those and uh expanding my vocabulary on the word impervious this is my new word of the day and uh that there's a certain amount of impervious material that can be on your property so again uh thanks and I look forward to hearing on this recommendation any questions was just going to Commissioners have any questions answer I'm curious to see if your neighbors arew of this variance request if they if there's any concerns or if they expressed any concerns no I talked to uh the neighbor that it would affect the most and there were no concerns there they received the notices in the mail as well so yeah thank you um curi curious did your previous garage or your current garage have gutters and will there be an intention to have gutters on the new garage I'm just curious about the footings on there you know keeping water away away just keeping them so it's seeable future right I don't know if the previous garage had um EES on it or gutters um I think we would want to have gutters on this one um I have a question for staff if that's okay um at what point does an applicant need to seek this process when repairing a garage and when is a when is a garage being repaired and when is it being replaced if the footings in the foundation are the same at what what what's the line when is it a new ship how many pieces are replaced um chair and Commissioners uh one year is the answer to that question it's a time period not an not necessarily an amount oh so the Mis inter I thought the garage was not is the garage was already demolished then okay I think I missed that yes that's right I'm sorry no problem actually the garage was demolished um sometime between 2009 and 2012 okay I missed that portion thank you thank you so much thank you is there anyone else present who is here to speak to this seeing no one else to comment I would entertain a motion to close the hearing commissioner St commissioner Charon seconds moved and seconded to close the public hearing all in favor please say I I opposed all right the public hearing is closed the next item on the agenda is a public hearing to consider request for site plan approval for you are correct thank you all right yes all right so uh we would need a motion to adopt the St recommendation about the variances commissioner motions any discussion on the motion I just want to state that I think it's a good idea um primarily not just because the economic of of keeping the foundation but also just the environmental impact I think is very important I was asking what gutters not because I'm a dork but because I think it's important that you know we're thinking about this and from the sustainability foundation in the future so having this in the future I'm in support yeah I just want to try say thanks for coming tell us what you need I strongly support that too um tearing out the concrete and rebuilding it is one up in the previous area quite a bit and two generating a lot of waste that you don't need so any other discussion all right so we do have a motion and a second to uh adopt the staff recommendation for the uh detached garage variances at 6612 Avenue C all in favor please say I I opposed now we can move on to the next item in the agenda which is a public hearing to consider requests for site plan approval of the new Wood Lake Nature Center on lakes Shore Drive do we have a staff report chair we do thank you HDA on behalf of the Richfield Recreation services department has submitted an application for site plan approval to construct a new wood link Nature Center building at 6710 Lakeshore Drive as most parks in the city the property is zoned are low density residential governmental buildings are a permitted use in District in this District um but site plan review is required due to the construction of a new building uh the proposed site plan is designed to Prov provide a new one-story building that will be more than twice the size of the existing facility the new building will be 40 feet farther from the lake and 80 feet closer to the street um it will be characterized by dark brown wood siding and green roof forms the parking lot will be improved through the addition of landscaping perimeter plantings and electric vehicle Chargers but it will remain mostly unchanged construction is set to begin in the spring of this year with completion in the spring or summer of 2026 no variances are requested as part of the project but there are certain modifications necessary in regard to Landscaping requirements as discussed in the policy section of the stff report staff finds these modifications reasonable based on the unique nature of the property and the project sustainability and energy reduction features staff recommends approval of the pro of the project subject to the conditions listed in the draft resolution of approval um the applicant is here um Carl Hiller the Recreation services director and um a representative from HDA that has worked with them throughout the process is Al also here um so if you'd like to hear from them they're chair Commissioners thank you I'm Carl Hiller I'm the rec Services director the whole Department's really excited to be managing the design and construction of this building um it should really enhance the park and'll provide a lot more space for education for community building for um people just to spend time and enjoy and be out in nature um the new building the process for the new building started back in 2021 um it's gone through a a long design process with a lot of community engagement involved in it it'll most sustainable buildings in Richfield with geothermal heating and cooling bird glass um the green roof and lots of native plantings as well um the new building expands the education space so we can have more school groups come and do a lot more programming we'll have an event space with a large deck so that we can have um an event space in the city which there currently isn't really and then uh we'll have Community spaces like a quiet bird watching lounge and a coffee area with hot jues where people can spend time and hang out as well and then the exhibit space will be expanded as well for more educational opportunities so I'm here and Andrew from hga is here as well we're happy to answer any questions um really appreciated uh chance to review this this is an exciting project for the city and um really excited to delve and I noticed in the staff report that 75 trees cut down and another I think 13 are going to be um moved and I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about the 75 where they are on the site what types of trees they are the condition and then also how it was decided that the 13 um could be moved and kind of talking through that process a little bit Yeah so we have um so we have a map hopefully we can put up that um shows the location of the trees the majority of the trees are either cotton Woods trees that have sprung up just kind of Taken root when the building was initially built they didn't plant very many trees and so everything that um has grown up is a volunteer tree and just kind of gone up so the the large trees you do see on site are all really large cottonwood trees that have a lifespan about of 50 to 70 years so they're all kind of reaching the end of their their life um a lot of the big cottonwoods have also grown close to the building so they endanger the current building and building as well and so um the ones that are the large cottonwoods that are in place where they would endanger the building would be taking those down um a number of there so there are a couple of things it's it's the trees that would endanger the building because the footprint of the building's expanded we've expanded it mostly into open space but there is spaces where it impacts trees um we do need to raise the raise the floor of the building so that we're out of potential flooding and so Water Runs the building um by raising the soil depth a number of trees get covered by that and if you increase the soil depth around the trees it in the long term it kills the trees so we're going to be taking some out and replanting instead um and then the uh trees that we're keeping are smaller younger trees that can sustain the trauma being moved um so most of those are on the uh west side of the site um there's a small Maple Grove that was planted a number of years ago and those trees will be transplanting so that we can use them for Maple surfing programs in the future and so we'll place them around the building places we are doing our best to keep as many of the trees as we can and we have been able to keep a number of the large cottonwood trees as well as um some of The Birches and other trees around there as well so on the map here you can see um it has the the current building there and then as you go west along the lake out Tre Tre Tre parking lot those trees that are being removed are mostly being removed either because the building's going there or that gring is happening and we're raising it kind of spreads out and thank you I have a question on irrigation so it looks like the modification of the variant original plan states that you need to have in underground mechanical irrigation system but you guys are planning on putting in drought tolerant native plantings is that basically a French drain um or can you kind of describe that type of irrigation system on putting in so um I guess our understand we were um because it's within a park and um we're putting in drought tolerant plants we weren't going to have any irrigation system we will have spet on the building that we can use when it's um extreme drought conditions to water the plants um as part of our funding through B3 if we did put in an irrigation system after five years we are not we're not allowed to use it otherwise it threatens our um and because it's within the park um you get into the question of how far should the irrigation go because if there is a Dr things are happening then um it's going to be impacting the whole park so you'd have this circle of green at the parking lot and then everything else would be more not so Lush and um we do have staff who um are dedicated to maintaining the the grounds and the the whole entire park actually and they'll be focusing on ensuring that those plans have get well established and are able to survive times don't any other questions of City St then I would like to open the public hearing is there anyone present to speak on this matter CR did we receive any comments about this ahead ORS sorry that's okay chair we did not seeing no one here to comment uh I would entertain a motion to close the public hearing commissioner charlson moves to close commissioner seconds moved and seconded to close the public hearing all in favor wee say I I I opposed public hearing is closed now we would need a motion to adopt the recommended staff action Commission moves to approve the recommended staff action there second any discussion my only thought is that this all the reasons that we listed in what would be variances and things are are well rationale um especially the drought H implants and everything I think it really serves that natural aspect of the park really well and I'd also um think that you know this was up for referendum and the voters passed it and so I don't want to I think it's important to respect that as well so cents I just add that I think is beautiful I love that it is away that closer to the road I love that it incorporates almost all of the ideas that we had dreamed up in our I appreciate that it reflects that I think um what's being requested is reasonable and deviations are um appropriate for the site so I'll be supporting any other discussion all right we have a motion before us to adopt the recommended staff action and findings and seconded all those in favor please say I I opposed the next uh item on the agenda would be liazon reports um community service advisory sorry the board of directors of wood lake is taking uh applications for members Board of director members so they've gotten one application so far and they reviewed that in the meeting all right um city council that's me um so the city council had their organizing um meeting um they swore in New members at a special meeting and then they had their first regular meeting where they selected uh um council member Hayford o as the mayor proem in case mayor um Supple is outside the city limits and some general organizational um tasks like that they also approved um a collective bargaining agreement with the teamsters that represents some of the members of the police force all right um the next uh item on the or the next uh Le in report would be Housing and Redevelopment so last week that H um approved a memorandum of understanding to support financial assistance and 40 tax status for temple real estate um the apartments the New Orleans Court Rich Richland Court and wion house um are um let's see 236 units of natural occurring in housing market and the hemple has approached the city or the H to partner in preserving their affordability um and the action last week was the first um action um to uh provide financial assistance and to um support the 4D tax status it's going to be in front of the council tomorrow and then H um it will review it again in February um took some public comments on it so um something that I think the community is um more engaged in and it will be an interesting conversation at the all right uh Richfield school board thank you chair uh School Board met on January 6th to elect new officers superintendent presented on enrollment throughout the district as well as matters particular School the school board met again on January 21st the uh superintendent presented on Extended Learning options including after school programming for elementary middle and high school students same date there was also a study session presenting on the school district's legislative platform this year all right um transportation um commission he is not here Chamber of Commerce nothing pertinent to chair sustainability commission uh nothing from the January 23rd meeting has been posted yet all right uh now we have the uh city planner reports thank you chair and Commissioners um the first reading for the text amendment to allow Dynamic drive-through signs uh went before the city council on January 14th they did have a couple minor comments and um the second reading will be held tomorrow evening uh their uh minor comments have been incorporated into um into the ordinance um basically it was um that uh if a dynamic display is already existing on the property that they would not get Dynamic drive-through signs and then conversely if there are already Dynamic drive-through signs on the property that they would not get then a dynamic sign in like a freestanding pylon or their main advertising sign um can I ask go quick CL yeah is that you can only have one sign with Dynamic language or is it first come first serve like if they already have a dynamic sign then they can't add one yeah yeah I think sorry to clarify I'm just no no problem I think the intent is that they that it was originally only one Dynamic sign per property and even though um we allow drive-throughs to have more more than like one menu board um they're much smaller in size so it's it's um pretty comparable so it's it's one or the other either it's on your main pylon or it's on the dynamic thank you I mean on the drivethru um I did want to also mention that um there is a work session uh scheduled for uh February 24th um the same evening as the February Planning Commission meeting now we don't actually have any land use applications for February to review but there are a number of um administrative items such as the bylaws the calendar um electing uh um the chair and vice chair so um I thought I would uh leave it up to you guys whether or not you want to um push those administrative items to March and cancel the February meeting or since you're going to be here anyways for the work session just uh go ahead and and meet in February for the administrative items even though there's no actual land use requests so chair if you want to discuss that thoughts my thinking is that we're here anyway and um that way if there's nothing for March we could potentially cancel the March meeting but even if there is we would have one less thing on the agenda we wouldn't have to do the administrative task so my thought is we should just have it anyway what are your all thoughts agreed agreed yeah okay thank you very much for the feedback I appreciate it we'll go that direction um and and and that's it for my report all right so we do have that um work session on the 24th and meeting um there's nothing else on the agenda for tonight I would is the question topic do we know yeah it's MR2 and MR3 zoning code updates thank you good question all right um yeah I think that that's a good I'm glad we're gonna have a meeting um I would entertain a motion to adjourn commissioner tson moves to adjourn commissioner can seconds moved and seconded to adjourn uh all those in favor please say I I opposed all right we standard joined