##VIDEO ID:3z-qY1iBmME## e e good evening everyone I'm going to call this meeting to order our first order of business is to adopt the agenda for tonight's meeting Commissioners is there a motion to adopt the final agenda and second so we've got a motion from commissioner Eder and second from I'm forgetting in John I Iverson my apologies uh all those in favor I any oppos no the motion carries um our next order of business is to adopt the minutes from the January 7th 2025 Planning Commission meeting Commissioners is there a motion to approve the minutes so moved second so I've got a motion from s commissioner Sora and a second from uh commissioner Reus all those in favor I I any opposed hearing none thank you the motion carries we are now moving to onto our discussion items uh tonight is item 3.1 the Rogers Memorial Hospital Incorporated at 8150 Bavaria Road our first in only item tonight is this item 3.1 considering a zoning text Amendment and conditional use permit for Rogers Memorial Hospital Inc at 8150 Bavaria Road this item does include a public hearing this discussion item will begin with a staff presentation followed by another short presentation from the applicant the Planning Commission will then open open the podium for public comments to the commission at this time please State at at that time you would please state your name and address comments will be limited to 3 minutes and should not repeat comments already addressed to the commission this is going to allow uh everyone here who wishes to come to the podium have a chance to present what they wish to speak please note that the Planning Commission does not engage in back and forth with the discussion during the public comment after the public comments are received the Planning Commission will then close the public hearing discuss the proposed project and make a recommendation to the city council and I now turn it over to city planner Brian mccan for the staff presentation thank you thank you commissioner ream and plan Commissioners tonight we have a request from Rogers Memorial Hospital Inc also known know as Rogers Behavioral Health their two requests are for a zoning text amendment to allow group homes as a conditional use in the R3 multif family residential district and for a conditional use permit to operate a group group home at 8150 Bavaria Road we'll start with the location it is a single parcel low over 2 acres in size it's on the west side of County Road 13 Bavaria Road uh but is also near the county road 18 82nd Street intersection is also north of the Arbor Woods development and south of the Applewood development and then the Landscape Arboretum is just to the east looking at the existing conditions of the site uh they the applicant is proposing occupancy of the vacant Emerald Crest building at 8150 Bavaria Road this uh Emerald Crest formally operated as a Memory Care Facility with a conditional use permit they do have a single full access on County Road 13 and the site has 30 parking spaces as well as some landscaping and a southern boundary fence which you can see on the south side of this image at the top here so Rogers Behavioral Health did provide a narrative with their requests this evening outlining what their business entails and how they would utilize the property uh they are looking at a maximum of 30 individuals for this site with separate Wings servicing adults and adolescents separately they're also uh proposing individuals admitted who on a voluntary basis to treat anxiety mood disorders Eating Disorders or trauma recovery services such as PTSD the operations would involve intensive daily treatment for residents for 30 to 90 days within a homelike residential environment they would have a structured daily schedule with catered meal activities such as art or exercise they would also have 24hour staff present with 12 daytime employees and seven evening or overnight employees they are a not for-profit inde independent provider looking at the zoning text Amendment request uh there was a zoning code inconsistency that was discovered by staff and the applicant we do have group group homes listed in our bulk regulations but they are not listed in our permitted or conditional uses within our R3 that led to a miscommunication about the possibility of a group home in our R3 district and our City attorney advised that the applicant pursue a zoning text Amendment as part of their request for this site we do have an existing zoning code definition for group homes though which is on the screen um when staff reviewed this request we determined that a group home was the most appropriate definition of the type of operations that they're proposing and then um their request is to include it as a conditional use not a permitted use meaning they need a conditional use permit for their request looking at the implications of if it is approved or denied I outlined both of those for you here so zoning text amendments are discretionary if the plan commission or city council is not in support of the request you do not have to approve it there is not a legal obligation to approve a zoning text Amendment since that is where we have the most discretion in our code if you choose to recommend approving the group homes as a conditional use in the R3 it would be list as a conditional use um which is basically a permitted use with specific conditions applied that are reasonable and associated with the use and then additionally I thought it was worth noting that group homes would just be approved as a general category we cannot discriminate between certain services or types of individuals that would occupy the space and a conditional use permit uh may be issued if the reasonable conditions are met but it can also be revoked if they are not meeting those conditions we do have a process in our code outlining a revocation of a cup if the zoning text amendment is denied the applicant cannot proceed there is not an appropriate route to get their conditional use permit approved uh the zoning code does not list group homes of this magnitude in any other District our single family districts are required as a permitted use to allow group homes serving six persons or less that is every city in the state so just for some context of what that means your next door neighbor if they sell their house to a group home someone could move move in and get a state license and operate a group home there without any additional approvals required looking at conditional use permits um the proposed use appears to be compliant with our general conditional use standards listed in zoning code section 31-2 related to our comp plan health and safety compliance with the standards our public infrastructure screening and Landscaping architectural standards zoning and traffic and then it's worth noting this evening if the plane commission does want to recommend adding group homes as a conditional use in our R3 District we do have section 31-3 which outlines specific conditional use standards so we can add a separate line item here and place reasonable specific conditions to a group home outside of the normal um permit process process that would have to comply with any other potential group home that comes in in the future so our internal and external reviews we had our Administration Community Development fire department and Public Works teams all evaluate this request they didn't have any significant comments to provide or any concerns with the proposed use and then externally we do have a CSO with the sheriff's department and they did not have any concerns with the use either so for the public hearing this evening it was published I don't know why that says final Edition it should just be published in The wakon Patriot on January 9th it was also mailed to Property Owners within 350 ft of the development it was posted online and at City Hall I did receive multiple emails and phone calls on this request I I provide copies of all the emails to you this evening which you should have on the DI in front of you um and then just a note for planing commission members and for audience members the planing commission is a recommending body the city council makes the final approval which will go to them on Monday evening at 6:30 p.m and then additionally a neighborhood meeting was conducted uh yesterday evening from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Victoria Recreation Center I was able to attend and listen to comments uh from the individuals that did attend there were about 15 who were there uh they had questions and comments for the applicants regarding the use of the site um specifically related to their business practices in Minnesota and Wisconsin the qualifications of their staff um safety concerns regarding uh patients on the inside and external residents outside of the facility as well as background checks or screening of patients uh emergency response at their other locations their funding and certifications uh they wanted to know why they chose Victoria and why this location specifically they also were curious about the patient transportation and periods of stay for these residents and um some of the residents shared their personal experiences and the local needs within Carver County for this type of facility so here are some suggested conditions if the planing commission decides to move forward with approval uh if you're planning to recommend denial obviously there are no conditions needed for denial so this is just if you decide to recommend approval this is what staff has prepared as potential conditions to move forward um setting a maximum on the number of individuals serviced which uh complies with their narrative that they provided as well as maintaining the existing final uh fence as additional screening for the residents to the South as well as use and operations of the building and property limited to the individual occupants and the management of the business uh compliant with all regulations of zoning code section 31 for conditional use permits as well as any other codes for City County state and federal requirements and that if they do propose any expansion or change of their use that a cup Amendment would be required they would have to go through the public hearing process again and get additional approvals similar to what they're looking for this evening and that any violation of the permit could result in the cup revocation process that I mentioned earlier and that they have a year to initiate the use from the date of the council meeting if they decide to approve it and that it has to be recorded against the property with Carver County and then as always I just have a note for you at the end that uh any other conditions that are reasonable can be applied uh here so with that I have some sample motions for you on the screen to approve deny or table the recommendation to the city council the applicants are in the audience tonight and staff can stand for any questions as well all right um thank you uh does the applicant wish to speak thank you yes up to the podium if you could um we have several of us I think that will talk tonight if that's okay yes I think that's fine just introduce yourself and start with your presentation okay thank you very much good evening my name is Kate Duncan I'm an attorney with corals and Brady I represent the applicant Rogers Memorial Hospital in connection with the proposed group home facility to be located at 8150 Vara Road um applicant has filed an application with the city and is here this evening before you seeking yes thank you I'll I'll let you know when I need to advance the slide we have a little PowerPoint up as well for your for your information um so we're be here before you this evening seeking a text amendment to allow group homes as a conditional use in the R3 zoning district and we're also then seeking if that is approved um a conditional use to allow the property 8150 Bavaria road to be used as a group home specifically for a residential behavioral health treatment facility here this evening on behalf of the applicant are the following individuals we have Dr Heather Jones who is the vice president of Clinical Services for Rogers we have Mr Jack ker who is the vice president of development for Rogers and we have Mr Eric witell who is the vice president of financial operations for Rogers um the the property at issued tonight is located at 8150 Bavaria Road it is zoned R3 multif family residential district historically the R3 District allowed group homes as a conditional use and there are several group homes in uh Victoria in the R3 District throughout the city but at some point this use was partially removed from the city zoning code as Mr McAn mentioned currently the codee's a little confusing and aru arguably a little ambiguous because it removes group homes from the list of uses allowed in the R3 District uh But it includes group homes as contemplated principal uses in the bulk regulation section of the R3 District so the proposed text Amendment before you tonight will include group homes in the list of conditional uses allowed in the R3 District I also think it's important to note that group home is defined by the zoning code as an establishment qualified for a license by the state of Minnesota which provides resident services to individuals who are unrelated individuals are handicapped aged disabled undergoing Rehabilitation or extended care and are provided services to meet their needs so in speaking with staff they determined that Roger's proposed use and the and the use that we're going to explain to you tonight was best suited to be situated under that group homes category and so that's why we've asked for the group homes category to be included in the R3 district and then on top of it as a conditional use um it's important to note that the property has historically been used as an Institutional residential use for many years previously used as the Emerald crest of Victoria Senior Living facility uh the property is already a multif family home that previously provided group living and includes private bedroom suites group living areas a kitchen and offices the existing property will perfectly suit Roger's proposed use and in fact that is one of the things that was most appealing about this property when they they came to see it is that they really could just move in and start operating pretty much as is with a little redecorating and that's about it that would be necessary um in connection with its proposed use of the property and in addition to the text Amendment we filed this conditional use application to specifically allow this property to be used as a group home um there are approval requirements in the Victoria zoning code for conditional use approval and I think Mr McAn went through those as well just briefly with you and we think you will see both in our presentation and in the staff report that was presented to you that Rogers proposed use meets all review and approval requirements necessary for you to recommend approval of the requested appliation for the proposed Roger scoup home facility um I also wanted to mention we did host a community meeting last night and it we did have a um about 15 people attend from the neighborhood there were some people who had a lot of questions about the facility there were some people who were in support of the facility um and so I just wanted to mention we were glad to have the opportunity to talk with the neighbors and Rogers you will hear from them more is very committed to keeping an open dialogue with the neighbors and and having neighborhood meetings on a regular basis and they're very interested and continuing to get to know their neighbors if they're allowed to use this property for their intended purpose um so with that I'd like Heather Jones Dr Heather Jones to come up and talk to you a little bit about The Clinical Services and how this facility will be operated hello I'm Heather Jones I am a psychologist in Wisconsin and Minnesota um this is my first city council meeting meeting so I'm grateful for your attention and hope I can provide some insight on who we are and and what we do um Rogers is a nationally recognized non-for-profit Behavioral Health Organization we've been in existence for 117 years we started in southeastern Wisconsin a very long time ago um we serve individuals that um need services and specialize in treating individuals for whom we can offer highly effective evidence-based treatments so the you'll hear me talk throughout my presentation about the intended use and the types of individuals that we intend to serve and that is very intentional and and strategic based on our mission another thing I want to point out is Rogers is a non-for-profit Behavioral Health Organization which is very different than a for-profit Behavioral Health Organization we are mission focused we do not operate to generate revenue and we reinvest anything that we have back into the organization to expand and meet the needs of individuals in our communities next slide thank you uh Rogers does have a national footprint um as you can kind of see on the slide um we do operate locations coast to coast in multiple different states the individuals out or the the individual sites outside of the state of Wisconsin are mostly mostly partial and intensive outpatient programs which mean that they operate 6 hours to 3 hours a day respectively Monday through Friday um in southeastern Wisconsin we operate three impatient hospitals and I want to take an opportunity to designate the difference between an impatient Hospital level of care and a residential level of care impatient hospital is for acute stabilization for individuals who are unsafe either to themselves or someone else else they are locked they can be voluntary and not voluntary that is very different than a residential level of care a residential levels of care we have 17 programs in southeastern Wisconsin they are all voluntary and um so individuals are are seeking our care and coming to them willingly we offer nine Specialty Service lines so again we don't kind of just treat anything we have as um the city planner mentioned very specialty treatment um service lines for obsessive compulsive disorder anxiety disorders trauma um eating disorders and so we we've really prided ourselves on being um an a specific Behavioral Health Organization for individuals in need so as I had previously mentioned we pride ourselves on maintaining high quality standards and at the same time serving communities in need um we collect uh outcome data from the individuals that we serve and so on an annual basis collect over 100 million data points to monitor the effectiveness of our treatment and the individual experience of the people that we serve it helps us B build insight into their care as well as how effective our programs are over time and as we're building new pro programs um of re relevance to individuals and their families when enter our care um most have been impacted in terms of their everyday functioning going to work managing household responsibilities maintaining relationships all things that are impacted by mental health challenges like anxiety and depression and these are the things that we specialize in helping people overcome one measure that is on the screen right now is the work and social adjustment scale when patients come to us they score around a 20 which indicates moderate to to severe challenges in their daily functioning during treatment we work closely with them on areas like building a healthy routine effectively managing overwhelming emotions so as an aside my anxiety is I can feel my anxiety in my body right now and that's something that individuals who have an anxiety disorder experience all day every day so imagine getting up and doing a public presentation and the stakes are high and individuals are experiencing that in their day-to-day lives the moment they wake up we help them overcome these emotions build responsibilities in their relationships with their parents spouses and friends and by the time they complete our treatment most of our patients have achieved a significant um Improvement in their ability to function I use this measure as a specific example because um getting getting integrated back into and achieving full well-being is something that is is really important to people and something that we can all resonate with next I'd like to provide an overview of what Residential Treatment looks like and describe the individuals that we serve so again I will mention residential treatment is um voluntary and we hope to be able to provide services to adults and teens with depression and anxiety um this is is relevant because for two reasons one um 8.3% of adults in the United States will experience a major depressive episode annually this number jumps to 20% of teens So 20% of teens will experience a significant depression depressive episode annually and two 19% of adults will meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder and of those 19% 50% of those will experience moderate to severe impairment as a result of their anxiety and in 20121 rates of adolescent anxiety were estimated at over 31% we are offering highly effective treatment for commonly occurring challenges for individuals we know that there is a need for these services and providing high quality services for very treatable mental health challenges is what we specialize in knowing the barriers individuals face in seeking help especially in Seeking a 24-hour program we strive to treat we strive to provide treatment in safe non-stigmatizing homelike environments not institutions the care we provided is intended to be delivered during a short-term intensive period with the objective of individuals returning to their homes families schools and work as soon as possible so as you can see our average length of stay I know it varies in some of our residential programs but for this program that we intend that we hope to be able to offer this community we anticipate an average length of stay of 30 to 45 days in that period of time individuals self-reported self-report significant reductions in anxiety and depressive symptoms in comparable programs and see a considerable Improvement in overall functioning as I mentioned again our Residential Care is voluntary and to highlight this point um over 50% of individuals that travel that attend our residential programs in Wisconsin travel from out of state um sometimes from out of the country to better assist your understanding in what a typical client looks like and what they have personally experience prior to and after her treatment I would like to show a brief video there are times where it's just too much and in my case I was 51 years old and I was pulling back from engaging with my family and it was serious and you know it's not something you just talk about with everybody my family didn't know most of what was going on with us they just know that Steve didn't show up for holidays and we made excuses and you know did our best to kind of hide that but we didn't we really didn't know what was going on you know Jake spent a lot of his life feeling like he was broken and of course I've spent a lot of my parenting life feeling like I was a terrible parent like a good parent sorry a good parent would have figured out had I was very discouraged not motivated at all isolated myself did not want anybody to know what was going on at all everything had a home and everything had to be in its home before I would go to bed I didn't like having visitors or company even my daughter would mess stuff up my poor wife she would go shopping bring home the groceries and not know where they belong or how to put them away there was a lot of I don't want to say probably tension maybe um where they just were afraid that they were going to upset the apple cart um based on where I was at once you accept that you have anxiety and it's okay to not feel okay um then it it becomes okay he turned to me and he said mom I've got this like I have my tools I'm good you know and I just started to cry yeah it's pretty special if I had never come here yeah it would be very sad I would I would be a very unhappy person um Rogers definitely saved my life in more ways than one before attending the program at Rogers sometimes I would go into stores and have to leave Midway through because I'd have an anxiety attack or panic attack and now here I am owning a store and I never would have imagined that I'd even be in a place uh well enough to do this and thriving push yourself to do things that are hard for you even if you're in that position where you don't think you can the first First Step just going to the facility just sitting down just take a step ask for help or reach out to someone and little by little you'll get where you need to be focus on the step not the staircase I am enough can you guys say that you ready I am enough so the Craig that sits here today is wow I am just uh happier I think my daughter would say I'm a lot more fun than I was before Ro so that's definitely a positive and and I know this when I go to bed at night I feel like a different person than I did prior to my Rogers years where I am just content I'm happy I'm not worried about tomorrow what it holds it will be what it will be to anybody just struggling with OCD and not knowing where to turn um they're here with open arms and they know what they're doing I think one of the most meaningful things that ever said about his experience here is when he came home he said um when I have kids I'm going to name them after my team at Rogers because they made everything possible and I like as a parent there's like there's no greater blessing than something like that thank you next I want to speak to and address the residential operations um proposed at Bavaria Road currently there are 35 beds in the building we plan to serve up to 30 individuals only 15 adults and 15 adolescents on each Wing there will not be contact or cross programming between the adult and teens in the building each individual who um seeks out our care including those that we would serve at Bavaria Road will go through a robust screening process to ensure our care model is the right fit for their needs while this screening process is not meant to be a barrier to access for them accessing care we also ensure we do our due diligence and screening for and assessing for behaviors and histories that are not conducive to our treatment model or treatment in a residential setting information provided by parents and previous medical and psychiatric records are also obtained these comprehensive screenings and all relevant previous medical records are reviewed by a panel of expert psychiatrists against admission and exclusionary criteria that we have established and developed for our programs they use this information to provide acceptance and recommendation to programs and Specialty areas once we have an acceptance and recommendation to a program an individual is contacted for an admission date once an individual arrives on site a psychiatric nurse therapist and psychiatric provider complete another comprehensive evaluation of psychiatric medical history presenting symptoms and reviews collat collateral documents to set the course of individualized treatment it's important to note that should it be determined at that admission assessment that an individual is not an appropriate fit for this care they will immediately be referred to an alternative placement that can meet their needs a a team of expertly trained clinicians will support treatment this includes Bachelor level mental health technicians who are trained in nonviolent Crisis Intervention CP R and principles of cognitive behavioral therapy the team also consists of expertly trained um Masters and doctoral level CL clinicians including a psychologist and psychiatric providers I do want to address um Staffing ratios as this was a a question that came up last night the state of Minnesota licensing standards for residential treatment facility call for a 1 to 10 Staffing ratio for adults a a 1 to6 ratio for adolescents and has has a more liberal limit on um during sleeping hours so they call for one staff um available in the building during sleeping hours for 16 patients our staffing grid will far exceed these ratios by offering support at a 1 to 1.7 ratio for adolescents and 1.8 ratio for adult patients the ratio in um the evening if we are at 100% capacity so all 30 beds are fil filled would be a one to 1.75 1 point one to 7.5 ratio excuse me um and to note um 30% or 30 patients in beds 30 individuals being served at one time is always our goal because we want to make sure that people get get access access to the care that they need um our capacity our typical capacity in residential is 80% it's hard to logistically do that turnaround so I just wanted to note that our staffing ratios will vary depending on individual need and we will ensure we'll have the appropriate Staffing to meet the the needs of the individuals that we serve a typical treatment day will consist of routines both in the morning and the evening therapeutic groups individual sessions family sessions expressive therapies um exercise Wellness routines and all the things that we know to um contribute to overall well-being and recovery so why Victoria thank you last year we served 150 individuals from the state of Minnesota in our residential facilities in wiscons that means 150 individuals and their families had to leave home and travel in order to get access to care this prompted us to do a survey of over 800 adults in the Minneapolis St Paul metro area to understand the need and the kind of appetite for providing Behavioral Health Services in our residential program here 0% of the individuals pulled and asked said they would access the services for themselves or their families in addition aligning with national prevalence rates depression and anxiety were the most common top of Mind mental health struggle for this population that we had pulled and asked the picture in this slide is worth noting um is in a residential area in Wisconsin there is a 24 bed program just to the kind of the center of that yep right there of that area where we have um where we have operated and my colleague Jack will talk more about that in a moment next slide thank you we have outpatient sites in Eden Prairie and Woodberry that have operated since 2016 and 2019 respectively I do want to acknowledge and recognize that there are some bad reviews online from a very narrow representation of people that we serve of the 24 Google reviews from the Eden Prairie Clinic 15 were less than five-star reviews nine were five-star reviews the 24 reviews posted for our eating prairie location is from a patient population of 2900 IND individuals that were served since 2016 the overwhelming majority of patients who receive our care have had positive experiences not only have their experiences been favorable but more importantly they have achieved Improvement in quality of life a significant reduction in depressive and anxiety symptoms and I do not we do take feedback very seriously from the people that we serve it helps maintain a mindset of continuous Improvement in what we do and who we we serve and this services that we provide and we've made key changes in response to feedback of some of that feedback there is also a review that we have not accepted a patient into our care and I can only imagine as a parent myself the frustration when you're at the end of your rope and you don't know what to do and the program that you're reaching out to is saying that they can't help your child and again that comes back to we do our very best to screen and accept people that we know that we can serve and help safely in the levels of care that we have and finally to talk about safety and client Management in our residential programs as mentioned the maximum capacity would be 15 patients on either wing and they will always have two highly trained bachelor's level staff available to them at least two between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7 a.m. so while they're sleeping there'll be two people available um the mental health technicians round throughout the program every hour 24 hours a day to ensure patients are safe and where they should be throughout the programming day check in with them make sure they're doing their treatment work are on task and safe we have on call directors and psychiatric providers in case questions or concerns arise 24 hours a day we have implemented a technology um called observe smart it is similar to an a eyewatch that all of our residential um people that access our Residential Services wear it is not removable as easily as an eyewatch but it it um kind of like a wristband if you go to the carnival it snaps on and is is hard to remove over the past three months I just came from our quality meeting community meeting this morning in our residential programs in aonach we have had 100% compliance with banding so people who have come to our care saying yep put the band on keep the band on um and over 98% of compliance with ontime rounds so every hour within that hour I know where you are and I I am eyes on you you might ask you might be asking yourself how can this be the case or why wouldn't someone just take it off or cut it off or throw it off to the side it's because people are voluntarily seeking these treatments they are coming to us sometimes they're waiting for periods of time in order to access our care there are times when we need to rely on our Community Partners to support us so I do want to address the questions that came up last night as well in a similar sized and located program from last year sorry from 2023 there was one call to police it's a 28 bed program in a residential Community um that patient was struggling was endorsing suicidal ideation with intent and plan and so we leveraged Our Community Partners to transport them to our impatient unit in 2024 there were four calls to police one incident was a medical emergency there was one incident of a patient who was suicidal and needed to be stepped up into a higher level of care and there were two incidents of elopment and I want to tell you this story two patients left the program together to go on a walk and didn't tell anyone so to address that that issue that we've had we're actually working with observe smart to increase our utilization of their technology so the watchbands will actually notify staff when um when an individual leaves the building so we've utilized similar technology in other ways but this will ensure that if someone is leaving to go on a therapeutic pass for example with their family we should expect that their wristband will beep and we'll know that and it it's authorized or accepted also of note we have had no history of incidents of violent crime on or near our existing existing re excuse me our existing residential facilities since an operation resident residents will leave um to go as I mentioned on therapeutic passes with their families but as mentioned earlier we focus on um good hygiene and all clients need to return to the building by 800m so we limit any comings or goings in the evening hours or non kind of business hours because we want people to be in the program and settle in for the evening I'm going to next um turn it over to Jack Collier and I um I'm sincere really grateful for your time thank you thank you thank you thank you for hearing us my name is Jack klier I a vice president of development on my role is real estate operations uh facilities and so forth at Rogers um we acknowledge this is in a residential neighborhood and but all of our properties are in residential neighborhoods we're not immune to that they has if you could see the uh the two Wings what's ideal about this facility it has two separate um pods so to speak connected with a common hallway for Access between uh staff and so forth uh it has 30 parking spaces more than enough that we could would need our residents are dropped off they don't drive themselves here and leave a car so we're we estimate between 15 and 20 staff members on a given on the high shift um so there's more than ample parking next slide please um it has its own entrance off the B varia Road um we understand that uh 82nd street is going to be uh under construction uh I contacted um the uh project manager of that uh project and he assured me that Bavaria Road uh is at a 75% capacity um its operations excuse me its traffic today versus what that road is built County highway is built to and that's before the improvements and turning lanes that are going to be done in the next year or so so access to it and we will be no adding no more uh traffic to it than uh Emerald Crest had in the the past uh again it is surrounded by uh neighbors uh we have a a fence on the Southside and a wooded uh buffer to the north um it we are pretty much self-contained there is a fence uh on the North side a 5- foot chain link fence that's existing and for the most part our residents stay inside uh they will go outside from time to time but there's uh very limited activity on the outside next slide please parking again uh is more than adequate uh we have a a separate entrance in the lower level for office staff um that uh can come and go and then they can work their way up into the uh on the unit um throughout the day and um overnight again as Dr Jones had said um our uh staff is on the unit 247 and constantly monitoring even at night time during sleep time um maintenance of the facility will be run very similar to uh uh emal Crest in fact we've talked to uh the owner um about uh their maintenance contracts and continuing those we understand there's never been a complaint about the outside maintenance and the snow plowing um Landscaping uh yard maintenance and so forth and assuming that's accurate you know we could probably continue those contracts to be assured that uh it will continue to look as a a top rated facility from the exterior uh one of the biggest misconceptions um about us is and words that or uh comments that we've heard is property values how we as a neighbor are going to be affecting the neighbors around us and that is what of the largest misconceptions the are two main properties in the village of summit uh the L I'll give a perfect example of what happened there versus very similar to this uh the lower right um uh property uh is uh was acquired in 2013 and was surrounded by very high-end homes uh at that time there was a huge outcry from the community public hearings held and all these misconceptions of what Rogers is going to be the noise you know 28 res this was a nursing home um prior when when Rogers purchased it and now it is to for our OCD patients and not only have the property values got Skyrocket and we've given some some examples there of uh you know a million and a half knot on the lake uh another million there the ne neighbor to the north it's hard for me to D show but that that hook um of the lefy she uh led the homeowners association 2013 before Rogers um purchased it uh to come against Rogers and to fight the project today they're one of our largest supporters and that's their family home they've been there forever um they've understood that nothing all the claims that were out there of what we do to neighborhoods is false not only the values increased um substantially um on the upper left corner uh there's a home value sold at 7.2 million five years ago that H sold for three and a half million and there have been no new improvements to it to double its value so there's no no uh truth to the fact that we're going to deteriorate values by any means next slide please um the one that Dr Jones spoke about in neighborhood this is our 24 bed uh facility in fact those home value the the subdivision that was put in I think about six years AG five years ago maybe even less than that uh the Lots vacant Lots I sell for 380,000 I believe uh newer home a million two the developers of this subdivision were the lefes that were our neighbors to our Cedar Ridge project now I would assume that if they had concerns about putting money in an investment into the vacant land they wouldn't have done it if they felt that they that we would be an impact to uh their sales uh we work with our neighbors uh everywhere we go every single one of our facilities has a annual meeting uh with neighbors some show up some don't but we're always available by by phone call if there's any concerns of neighbors and we address it right on the spot uh your homes I just briefly did a a a study with the uh Emerald Crest the the homes values on per square foot value are very similar uh that aren't adjacent to it and further to the north versus the ones that abought our Southern Property all about the same square footage uh costs and there's going to be some variances slight VAR but that's due to the interiors and design of the homes themselves but very low impact uh one home I just see sold for a million one I think it was in 23 adjacent to this so some substantial home values and we appreciate your concern you this is your major investment um and uh we're respectful of that but we can assure you we have not done anything to we in any of our facilities any of our locations to deter those values than thank you very much okay I just want to do a quick wrap up for you so um as we stated at the beginning we're here requesting first the text amendment to allow group homes as a conditional use in the R3 zoning district and then we're requesting the conditional use to allow the property at 8150 Bavaria road to be used as a group home um with respect to the text Amendment and your consideration of that applicant understands that historically this property has been used for similar purposes as to applicant's intended use most recently by Augustana Emerald care who operated the memory care facility on the property up until a little up until about a little over a year ago um historically the Victoria zoning code allowed for group homes in the R3 district and even today this the code is slightly confusing as to whether R3 allows a group home or not uh this text Amendment will alleviate any confusion or uncertainty as to whether group homes are allowed in the R3 District um with respect to the proposed conditional use approval standards that will specifically allow Rogers to operate a group home on the Bavaria Road property um applicants required to demonstrate that it meets the standards including in the included in the zoning code so one that the proposed use is consistent with the comprehensive plan uh Rogers believes that that um standard has been met the comprehensive plan lists this property as high Den residential and Rogers believes its use is consistent with that designation the second criteria is related to health and safety and I'm just gonna I'm gon to Rattle it off because I think it's important for you to hear and then to also hear how we think we meet the criteria because it's sort of a longer one and there's a lot sort of built into that criteria for you to consider so the pro the proposed use shall not negatively impact the health safety and general welfare of occupants surrounding lands and general welfare of the city including but not limited to the factors of noise glare odor electrical interference vibration dust and other nuisances fire and safety hazards existing and anticipated traffic conditions parking facilities on adjacent streets and land the effect of surrounding properties including valuation Aesthetics and Scenic views land uses and character and integrity of the neighborhood impacts on governmental facilities and services including roads sanitary sewer water police and fire effects on sensitive environmental features including Lakes surface and groundwater Supply and quality Wetlands slopes flood Plains and soils and other factors found relevant by the city so we've provided applicant has provided testimony and unoffered narrative evidence along with our application that the proposed use will not negative imp negatively impact the health safety and Welfare of the surrounding lands or of the city applicants provided testimony regarding the specific types of programs that will be offered at the facility namely that these are anxiety and depression related programs for fi for high functioning adults and adolescents who have been properly and thoroughly screened prior to admission and whose health issues are able to be treated at a facility such as Rogers is proposing to operate since the patients have been well screened and in Rogers experience are treatable with the services offered on the site Rogers does not believe that its program will in any way negatively impact the health safety or welfare of the neighborhood of the city applicants also o offered testimony that it operates similar facilities very safely in residential neighborhoods that are similar and it's had zero incidents of violent crime and 15 years of operating similar residential programs actually since the start of operating their residential programs it has also had very minimal police calls for similar residential programs applicants offered testimony regarding the operations of these programs and the in the supervision that's provided by staff including the number the type of employees who will be on site to support its position that there will be no impacts to city or neighborhood health safety or welfare as a result of the proposed facility applicants also offer testimony regarding the fact that there are sufficient parking spaces on the property to serve the rogers's employees and uh as well as the fact that the residents will not have cars and accordingly Rogers has demonstrated that it will not create any traffic issues in the neighborhood applicant is not changing the use of the building it was previously used for residential group living as a Memory Care unit for seniors applicants not changing the exterior or interior of the building as a result applicant is not creating any conditions that will result in noise glare odor electrical interference vibration dust or any type of other nuisance or fire hazard applicant will not be impacting any governmental facilities or services and it anticipates the same level of services from the city that were used by the prior Emeral care user including water sewer police and fire Services uh because it's not constructing anything applicant will not be changing any sensitive environmental features such as Lakes surface and and groundwater supplier quality Wetlands slopes flood Plaines or soils and finally applicant offered testimony and data tonight regarding the status of property values on properties and areas immediately adjacent to its ex to its existing similar facilities so applicant has provided evidence that the neighborhoods surrounding those similar facilities have not had a decline in or a negative impact on property values even with location of the residential program in the neighborhood as you have heard applicant wants to and will be a good neighbor it will offer high quality care to its patients which will in turn protect the safety and integrity of the neighborhood it will maintain the property in good condition so that the Aesthetics of the neighborhood will also remain unchanged and finally it will continue its dialogue with its neighbors with all of the neighbors and will have open lines of communication with neighbors related to any issues that the neighborhood may have couple more of these I'm sorry um compliance with standards the city need you're supposed to consider whether the proposed use complies or is likely to comply in the future with all standards and requirements set out in the regulations or ordinances of the city or other governmental bodies having jurisdiction over the city because it's reusing the existing building um the applicant will comply with all the standards of the zoning code and if the text amendment is adopted that is and if the conditional use permit is granted um public infrastructure Services you're supposed to consider whether there's adequate public facilities and services to be provided to the site where the use is proposed and or if the existing infrastructure is able to absorb the additional demand for public services such as utilities streets parks and schools applicant will not be using any of the schools the none of the even the adolescence that go here will have um programs in the home and not outside of the home um and since it's replacing a senior living facility that actually housed more residents than the applicant is proposing to have the use of infrastructure demand will not increase existing Parks utilities and streets are all adequate to serve the proposed use um screening and Landscaping is another criteria for your for your review um and there is significant Landscaping already existing on the site along with existing fences that allow the proposed property to be to be screened and accordingly we believe that criteria has been satisfied architectural standards is another criteria for your review applicant is not proposing any changes to the building or landscaping and applicant believes the existing building meets the architectural and Landscaping standards as it exists and then um zoning the use has to be consistent with the requirements of the zoning ordinance um and again if the text Amendment and the conditional use permits are granted only then will it meet the requirements and be consistent of with the zoning ordinance and finally um traffic the city shall EV evaluate the gener the potential generation and characteristics of traffic associated with the use and its impact on traffic volume and safety so applicant again has offered testimony tonight that the use of the site is low intensity with only employees and occasional visitors coming to the site with residents not having cars while they're living on the site as a result there will not be uh much daily traffic to the site certainly no more than emerald care had there when it was operating and so applicant does not anticipate any negative impacts to traffic okay so with all of that um applicant believes that it has met all of the criteria for approval for both the text Amendment and the subsequent approval for the conditional use permit um to allow the proposed group home to for the behavioral health treatment facility on the property and accordingly we applicant respectfully requests respectfully requests your favorable recommendation of these applications and our team stands here ready to answer any questions that you might have thank you thank you so um I will now open the public hearing um is there anyone in the chamber this evening who wishes comment on this item and if so please come forward and as I said mention your name your address keep the comments to three minutes and good evening Council people um I wasn't prepared to do this uh we actually opened our mail a little after 4:00 this afternoon because we were out of town and open it to quite some surprise regarding the letter from the city of Victoria as well as from the Rogers mental health facility so I will try to be as concise as possible but I literally had an hour and a half to prepare for this so um my name is Dr Bonnie hul um my husband Michael and I are lifelong Educators he began his career as an athletic coach for the USA Olympic Committee and then he taught 25 years in the Carver County Schools as a middle school teacher I've taught uh 20 years as a uh teacher literacy coach um coach for teachers an administrator as well as 15 years at as a professor at the University of Minnesota and bethle University I finished my last couple years before semi-retirement at Holy Family high school around the corner so I'm well-versed in the behaviors and not so good behaviors of young adults um at the middle school through college age um love them dearly but I have a very realistic perspective um I'm going to begin with speaking about why my husband and I firmly um reject the thought of resoning I'm going to go through it piece by piece as quickly as possible number one the original purpose of emerald Crest was to support seniors with memory health issues that's a considerable difference than those with behavioral issues very different and I speak from a lifetime of experience in that so the purpose will have changed um it was zoned for Aged disabled and handicapped folks not for Behavioral disordered folks and there is a difference um also by changing a rezoning you're creating future instability in our neighborhood so that somebody else could open such a facility in one of our residential homes in our neighborhood um it's also uh problematic because of this loss of oversight by the city council by changing this zoning um secondly I believe it or not managed to look through quite a few online reviews and granted as a research project I would have spent a great deal of more time on this but what I found was uh regular reviews Better Business re reviews indeed and glass door and they do not compare to the reviews shared by the organization that's proposing this their reviews were D minus on the Better Business Bureau A 2.6 and a 2.8 on two other sites there was 10 one out of 10 reviews that came up with quotes such as felt like prison life staff needs trauma training still I still have nightmares from my time there feel free to Google that I admit I didn't have time to fact check it all but that's what popped up and was very disturbing to me especially with um with what we're proposing when you look at that picture what you don't see is on the left where there's a small BM of trees that's my backyard as well as other people in this room with children on the other side of that driveway where you see that wall there's other homes and then on the other side of the parking lot there's homes um so we're we've got to get this in a perspective of where this is located um level of care the ratio sounds good but when you're working with a behavioral disorder Ed teen or young adult I am a six-foot woman and I can be intimidated if somebody is needing some redirection so don't minimize that ratio um security uh no background checks voluntary um I have to talk faster okay I'm g go really quick then proximity of location security our time for review um and the the data that was shared um look up those three sites Eden Prairie kok and Delafield they're in a facility that's in a parking lot near Hospital we're in a neighborhood walk that neighborhood before you vote and please respectfully consider that we really appreciate teens needing this but not in a neighborhood that's set up like ours thank you thank you are there others in the audience that would like to come forward give your name address keep it to three minutes I'll do my best apologize though I was just sick so um good evening my name is Mark stuss I reside at 776 Arbor Woods Road Victoria Minnesota my property directly borders the proposed zoning change text Amendment and conditional use permit at 8150 Bavaria Road I'm here to request that the city commissioning deny the proposed zoning change text Amendment and conditional use permit for 8150 B Road the proposed changes would have a significant impact on the character of the neighborhood by introducing uh use that is not in harmony with the existing residential environment it is CR critical to maintain the current zoning to preserve the community quality of life which includes maintaining the peaceful residential nature of the area according to the survey results presented by uh Rogers Behavioral Health 80% of individuals believe that there's not enough help when needed however it was clarified in last night's meeting and tonight that these surveys were conducted in the Minneapolis area not in Victoria this suggests that our community might be under service in different ways and adding another facility might not address the root issues uh effectively in our context up until now there's been minimal commun uh minimal Community involvement in the decision-making process despite the survey by Rogers Behavioral Health the process seems rushed and there has not been s sufficient Community input before moving forward with this rezoning this lack of Engagement undermines the democ Democratic process and the local governance the introduction of this facility would not only increase the demand of local emergency vehicles which are already stretch thin but also bring about additional noise pollution impacting the Serene environment we value this could strain the community resources that locals depend on from a personal experience I have dealt with a child who suffered from anxiety and depression I understand the importance of mental health service Services however I believe that the state's effort to address these issues could be more comprehensive and Community specific designating 8150 Bia Road for seniors was a decision made with the community's needs in mind and it should remain so to cater to our aging population in conclusion the proposed change at 8150 Bia Road could disrupt the neighborhood's character strain local services and was not uh was not decided with adequate Community input it was originally designated for seniors which aligns with our community's demographic needs and should remain that way I urge the commissioner to reject a proposal for the benefit of the community's current and future well-being thank you thank you you thank you um are there others that would like to come forward and just U I did say this earlier try to stay away from repeating the things I know people are before you we do want to hear everyone that wants to speak so I believe you are next if you would come up and then sir chair and Commissioners I I just want to note as well it's been mentioned twice now uh this request this evening is not a rezoning it's a zoning text Amendment and a conditional use is permit thank you good evening my name is uh Jen Martinez and I live at 792 arborwoods Road um I want to point out that I you know the picture seems a little bit deceiving in that um you know you walk out of the front door of this facility just across a driveway and you're in our backyard um and it's been pointed out a number of times there is a fence but I want to point out that it's not a enclosed fence so all you do is walk up to the fence go around the edge and you're in um all of our yards the neighborhood that you know I live in and and chose to live in is a neighborhood where kids freely run around their kids are always over in our yard and over in their yard and um you know not looking to change the safety um and have to change how our kids play in our neighborhood um I want to point out that you know like was mentioned there is no background checks that are done on these individuals and safety checks um happening every hour a lot can happen in an hour that someone's maybe disappeared um from from the facility and so I ask um all of you to keep that in mind um it was mentioned in Mr mcan's statement that there'll be seven people um working overnight and it's my understanding from talking to the team last night that that that number is four so correct me if I'm wrong um so I um want to stress that I don't agree with the statement that this isn't changing the safety of the neighborhood in which we live um a number of people um last night it's been mentioned were there in support of um kind of this coming into the community I want to point out that most if not all of them didn't live in Victoria um there was people there from chasa and other communities that were were um very vocal in their their support um so I ask um you know the city uh to not approve this conditional use permit thank you sir I believe you were next I'll go quick I'm Lance breson I live at 780 Applewood Circle so I'm directly behind it um there's a tree line that separates us with a chain link fence um I will not I'll do my best not to repeat at it was 5:55 today when I realized we were coming here so I wasn't prepared to talk but the chain link fence is the only thing that separates my backyard with grand grandchild today grandchildren in the future um and I I have safety concerns um and by the way the trees are all dying so there'll be nothing for the people that live there just so we know they're dying I've had people come and look at them they're all dying they've got a disease so we're going to have nothing separating us but a a chain link fence um they talked a lot about property value that it's not going to have any NE negative impact if that's true then I would like them Rogers to commit as well as the city of Victoria to commit to having it have real a group of Realtors come through and and state what it would be it would the sale price would be for it today without this in the backyard and then when we go to sell we get the difference or more that's fair they're saying there's no imper no concern about home value then put their money where their mouth is that's my that's that's all I had to say thank thank you um sir oh can I say one more thing sorry um I did get a phone call yesterday from a friend that lives on the other side of Victoria and they said to me I hope you're selling today get out because your home value is going to plummet and I'm I live right next door to Lance so we have the same uh proximity to this place I have a question for the folks from Rogers is is smoking a lot on the property okay so not not indoor but does it can they go outside and smoke sir if we could redirect we this is a purpose for you to have public comment I thought said we could ask questions that that we could ask I'm asking a question if if they're going to allow smoking on the property because they made the com they made the statement I don't understand why you're objecting to this they made the statement that there wasn't going to be an odor they had a list of things that they presented so I think that's a fair question this the way I introduced it and this is my first time doing this with a public hearing so I'll just owledge that I did read that it is not a back back and forth exchange either be with the entity that's applying or with the coun the commissioner but that's not what was said so I'm being reprimanded not able to ask this question I'm clarifying sir if there is smoking allowed outside and I'm guessing that with all the people coming to there some of them are smokers the most there's two places they can smoke out front or they can smoke out in the backyard there's going to be odor and I'm going to be looking at that all right my other point is um I would not buy my dream house today Bonnie and I built 20 years ago we bought that lot we built our dream house I would not by that house today knowing that there was a a mental health facility of the nature that we're talking about having there so and then the final thing that I want to say is um a couple times it was mentioned that uh there they would do regular meetings to get together with neighbors and to talk about different things that does not that does not sit well with me because right now I don't have to have meetings to make sure that everything's going fine in my neighborhood and the last thing I just want to say please don't let this go through thanks thank you are there others in the audience that would want want to come forward you I yeah okay I I thought you were acknowledging so yes hi my name is Valerie spear I live in the arborwoods neighborhood can't picture our house or can't see our house in the picture but wanted to obviously go over very similar comments that others have already made I guess I'll Focus mine on the safety concerns as a mom of a very young child one on the way and having lived in the neighborhood for I think four years now um I can vouch for the fact that our kids are in our neighborhood all of the time I think in Arbor Woods we have 40 children between I want to say 18 houses I believe yeah so many many children that's just our small portion of the neighborhood That's not including Applewood that's directly behind the facility and I think that's I mean as a mom number one concern and also just the perception the pictures and others that I've seen of Rogers others facilities throughout the Midwest this is truly nestled between two neighborhoods I mean we can literally walk into the Rogers property we go for walks into Applewood all the time we're walking directly in front of the facility I mean it's it's accessible to our neighborhoods I mean within walking distance so one point there um let me see here want to make sure I'm not going over other points made so the I know that others have said this but they've mentioned about the background checks I would like Rogers to provide some clarity because they keep mentioning that for the residential facilities it has to be voluntary admission I've read that at these types of facilities residential not specific inpatients that they can also be coure ordered and there were a lot of reviews about Rogers that discussed patients being court ordered to attend these types of facilities so if Rogers could provide some specific information about is that the case with their patients when we've asked that question as a community they've told us that they do a I believe a questionnaire is the extent of what they confirm in terms of any type of criminal record um let's see here of course patients being able to be discharge at their will at any time of night major concern they've confirmed with us that there'll be no security I think they also confirmed at maximum four people at night for the overnight hour shifts so major concern on that front um let's see and then the last piece I know you would mention it's not considered rezoning I forget the term that you used but what does that open up changing that characteristic in Victoria for R3 moving forward Ken Rogers you know they say they have no intention at this moment to build upon that facility but does this change in the zoning Amendment or whatever it's called will that have impact for the future where they say we need a 60 bed facility do they build up what does that look like for this facility but also for Victoria in general so um let's see outside of that I think most people went over other other items I would like to know I mean our neighbors that directly face this they are looking into the facility it is within steps of this location so thank you yes thank you sir I'll be quick to um name and address please yes Anthony Wilder 859 I Woods Road um on the HOA Board of Arbor Woods um this is a good um aerial shot uh I agree I Echo everything that the residents of Victoria have said already and I share in all of their concerns I'm going to try to add on to them without repeating them um yeah what this doesn't show is all the kids that go between the arborwoods neighborhood and up to the um Applewood neighborhood I mean it's a sea of kids back and forth all the time so if you have to you have to if you you know approve a facility that you have to put put bracelets on people to keep them in the rooms like what I I just don't get it I think Victoria's doing a really nice job of keeping it quaint keeping it safe this would be 10 steps backwards for this city so deny deny deny that is my that's the only thing I'm gonna say deny deny deny I'll St here for three minutes okay you thank you yes sir um I'm going to be the contrary opinion my name's Jamie k now I live at 622 West 82nd street so I'm kitty corner from that property um and I believe that the concerns that people have will are you know they're legitimate concerns I think that that's um a stretch I have worked near group homes I've had uh people live near group homes um I've I taught in the district for 25 years I've been a teacher for 35 years years I'm now retired and I'm a construction I run a construction company but um I believe there's a need for that I think Kyra county has a need for a facility such as this there's any number of uh kids that I've worked with that could have been served by this I think having something nearby would be beneficial and I think that the concerns again well legitimate are are misplaced so I I I'll end that thank you sir thank you excuse me West sour 848 Arbor Woods um would like to highlight the fact that the short amount of time that we've all had to absorb this information um but yet the passion that everybody here is showing and the concern over this issue um I would just urge the committee and the council to um take the time that's necessary to make the decision um that's best for all of those of affected um not the least of which are those in the immediate proximity um the city council made at some point in the not too distant past to remove um group home as an intended use um there may have been a table in an appendix buried somewhere that somebody forgot to amend that shouldn't um undermine the fact that a very deliberate change was made and I think it's very obvious why the change was made the change was made because this use is not compatible with the rest of the neighborhood into which is zoned and to just highlight um a few of the comments that others here have made um when my daughter was asking me where I was headed tonight um I shared with her that I was going to show up to the city council not knowing whether I would actually even speak but I wanted to hear what this was about because I had some level of concern and I um and she asked what I was concerned about and and I said well there's a behavioral health facility moving and there'll be maybe a lot of new neighbors and a small thing and her response to me was does behavioral health mean that people have challenges behaving themselves and I said well it can um and she was concerned and she said Daddy I am scared about running into people in our neighborhood I play there my daughter 11 years old has some concerns about this and many others children and family members have concerns and that's why we're here thank you thank you thank you good evening uh my name is Doug everling uh 851 arborwoods road is where I live um and so there's been a lot of comments tonight about ambiguity in the zoning and uh eagerness to engage in Community conversations but also that there's an intended timeline to close the sale by the end of January I find those comments about engaging Community a little in congruent when the first community meeting is January 20th and a proposed close to this deal is end of the month um to Echo W's comment I think that at the very least there needs to be more time to evaluate what's going on um my bias if I was forced to vote today is to deny the conditional use permit and the zoning text Amendment um my background from an undergrad perspective was in City Planning uh I've spent the last almost 15 years in healthcare so I understand a little bit about the planning process but also um healthare and the need for mental healthare um there's undoubtedly a need for Behavioral Health Services and Facilities um there's probably even a need in Victoria according to their stats 57% of their clients are from out of state so I don't know that it's solving a local problem in the same way that they would like to claim that it is um secondly uh the changing in the zoing statute to remove group homes and the current definition of group homes I would challenge if it is appropriate um I did when the definition flashed up there I read through it real quick and I can't articulate all of it but um the only piece of that that I thought could potentially be relevant was the extended care definition um additionally uh you know the historical precedent of oh there used to be group homes included in the R3 zoning statute um feels like a convenient loophole based on an outdated historical precedent um at the time my neighborhood didn't exist so that was put in when probably the very first homes in Applewood were being built um so very different context different application different purpose for that facility when it's Senior Care um you know how this from a practical day-to-day standpoint I would really Challenge and I didn't hear anything addressing this tonight so it's just an open question how this facility will address the therapeutic and clinical needs of folks when a big portion of that is I heard the word exercise used but getting Outdoors a lot of what we why we moved to Victoria and love Minnesota living right next door to the Arboretum is to spend time outside um I've worked in healthcare long enough to know that time outside and uh exercise are important components in mental health uh and I don't believe that there is adequate space for them to meet the needs of their clients in this at this location um we talk about where are they going to go for walks through our neighborhoods that's what's available so um with that I'm probably at time yeah and ask you to please reject the uh text Amendment and the conditional use permit thank you thank you sir yes please come forward good evening and thank you for allowing me to speak my name is Kathy cop and I represent the current owner at 8150 Bavaria Road and we have been in the neighborhood for 20 years and we were originally built and designed to provide a group home to service memory loss residents both from a early to Middle to late stage memory loss facility and we did have some behavioral health issues with some of the residents that we served over the last 20 years at this property um and I I see a lot of things that are the same on what will be serviced in this location there's OB obviously differences also but I did want to point out a few things that are the same is that we have been in the neighborhood for 20 years I listen to the population that Rogers is going to be serving and it's similar in the fact that we did have anxiety and depression in the residence that we served we did have a staff ratio that was similar we had about 30 to 35 employees at the property so it doesn't impact the traffic our programming was very um different but very similar in that we had a defined day of um that people got up in the morning they had activities they had rest period they had outdoor time and we had outdoor time every single day that we could be outdoors with our clientele um we also are a nonprofit organization they're a nonprofit organization I'm passionate about that I think you heard they they're passionate about that because we believe nonprofits reinvest back in the programs the services the properties and the communities that we've been in and I think that they will do the same um the programming and the clinical support I think is very um different because we served a different population base but the ability to be able to serve people and have good outcomes is really based on the programming and you heard from their clinical physici here I believe they're going to have a good program that there are going to be good outcomes and yes I would be fearful if I was a neighbor but I don't think would would be as fearful as a neighborhood is um proposing here tonight um I also think that we have had more probably resources used by having memory care in the community on average in 2023 we had 50 ambulance calls and to the hospital because of the medical complexity of the clientele that we saw and in 2022 we had 45 they talked about use as being 1 to four we had 45 to 50 so we probably were a much larger use on um Community Resources with the population that we served so we support um also wanted to clarify that the property closed in q uh one of 2024 and also okay thank you um and also that we close due to the fact that the demand was uh dwindling in the marketplace and that the resources about 80% of our customers were being paid by government funders and the government funders um could not keep Pace with the cost of care today and that's why we had to close so thank you for the opportunity to speak thank you thank you do I see any yes I think there's a couple more yes sorry my name is Katie and I am not going to provide my address because I'm a community mental health provider in this community and a mandated reporter but I live close enough that I received the letter about this and I wanted to express my concern about it coming to our neighborhood with children and uh my request to reject the proposal um one of the biggest concerns I had is when Mr McAn said that once it is permitted you cannot discriminate based on diagnosis or need so while they are highlighting a need for anxiety and depression Based Services that also can go into more difficult Behavioral Health needs um and more possible behavioral disregulation in a community filled with children in the not two recent past we had a sexual um offender in the Victoria Community which was very concerning to many of us parents and without them providing a background check diagnostic assessments are primarily done through self-report so you don't have to provide information about sexual deviant you do not have to provide information about patterns of law breaking or sexual um sexual deviant um theft um those kind of things so I think without a background check and um with our concerns about children it should be rejected thank you thank you sir I think the back R yeah all right so my name is Cole I'm at 827 Arbor Woods um we have concerns that U while they say they're not going to expand operations now um most of their facilities well they have 22 locations uh eight of which are in patient um are very large um institutions not this um smaller more uh residential site so um while this resoning I'm not sure the formal language but um it does open the door to uh rebuilding or expanding uh the current facility um so I would just urge the uh council members take their time in um making this decision I mean I know Tech with some other concerns that a lot of people here had only just received notice of this like a couple hours ago and I'm only aware of six houses that um received the formal notice uh which does concern me that they're going to make decision next week um so I think that's all I have to say thank you thank you looking around there you go all right Randy Peterson I live at 816 Arbor Woods Road um yeah right next to it um just wanted to Echo uh the deny uh request uh but just also wanted to ask formally uh Mr McCain have you received the letter that the HOA has sent yes we have perfect okay um all right thank you you thank you you I'm looking around anyone else interested in coming forward okay I'm not seeing anyone is that correct okay um well hearing no additional public input uh Commissioners may have a motion to close a public hearing so moved okay second second okay I've got a motion and a second uh all in favor say I I any opposed hearing none um thank you the motion carries and the public hearing is closed I will open up the floor to the Planning Commission to discuss Commissioners are there any questions more comments question for the lady that made the presentation yes um during your presentation you were talking about nine areas of help that the facility would offer to the patients there two of them being anxiety and depression can you enlighten me on the other five or seven that were missing yes so I was speaking globally as an organization we have nine specialty areas and I will do my very best um we have an adolescent um emotion regulation uh program so it is a specialty dialectical behavioral program residential in Wisconsin we have an integrated um healing program it is a partial hospitalization program in partnership with Children's Hospital of Wisconsin that offers Specialty Care to Children and adolescents who have both mental health and medical comp medical needs we have a mental health and substance use recovery program in Wisconsin both residential partial and um IOP programming as well as we do detox in our impatient unit we have um eating disorder programs specialty programs in residential PHP IOP for adults and adolescents we have an OCD and anxiety um program for adults adolescence and children children we have a depression recovery program for both adolescents and adults we have a trauma recovery program and service line so um individuals who well trauma recovery we recently just opened a uh veterans intensive outpatient program it's virtual in the state of Wisconsin um to provide a service to Veterans and um First Responders oh man I guess I'd be more concerned with the ones that would be offered here specifically would would there be any alcohol or drug treatment whatsoever no sir what about working with people with Autism uh Asbergers Down syndrome any of those type of learning disabilities we because of the nature of the treatments that we provide we that is part of the screening process that we assess for an and ask about um learning learning difficulties or individuals um on the autism spectrum so it is not something that it's not an area that we provide specialty treatment and individuals benefit from our treatment when they have the cognitive capability to do to participate in our treatment model so okay uh my only other comment is you also mentioned that uh for 117 years you were specifically treating addiction uh um through Rogers I guess a little bit that is fair so 117 years ago that wasn't a thing so 117 years ago um Dr Rogers started a um a location that was a respit location and the the modalities of treatment and the way that mental health was viewed in the community was very very different so I think that's a that's a very fair comment on the slide that could be than you adjusted thank you for your questions I have a couple questions for Brian so thank you um and are there other already designated group homes in Victoria uh chair and commissioner cth there is at least one other operating group home that the city is aware of that's the humanity Alliance Property located at 7600 Victoria Drive uh that is another Residential Group Home type use I believe with 12 bedrooms uh similar R3 zoning that received conditional use permit approval uh back in 2019 I believe uh so uh in accordance with that removal of the group homes from our zoning code I believe uh residential single family group homes I don't have an estimate on the number since those are outright permitted use is I mentioned in my presentation someone could just move in and operate and we don't even have to know yeah okay um and then I just wanted to clarify because sorry I also have three kids and I'm low on sleep so um are group homes allowed in any other so they're not in R3 but are they in any of the other Zone I couldn't remember correct they are in our R1 and R2 now those ones are specifically to allow six or fewer persons um this would serve 30 individuals just for reference and that's a statutory requirement that we have to allow those that's not something that we can change in our zoning code our R3 District servicing group homes in a multif family District that's something we do have the discretion to regulate Goa thanks Prime to my interpretation of a group home I think what the applicant here is trying to have is more of a hospital rather than a group home just uh one question one question Brian on the um on the group home so there's no other um conditional use for a group home in our code at all aside from R1 and uh R2 for a conditional use for a group home within our five residential districts and our three commercial districts uh no they're permitted in those two districts I mentioned earlier and Brian just as a CL you know the clerical when I was doing the prep the one you and I talked about it the bulk regulation where it did reference the group home it is not in there the conditional use is to create it if we had this text Amendment so it was confusing I think for those who did read it um we were able to clarify that that was an error correct as as one of the residents mentioned as well um it was a oversight by previous staff when group homes were taken out they just were not removed from the table which resulted in confusion for applicants and people looking at the property in general to utilize it only other comment is I um I share the view that uh could be a slippery slope to approve something that may or may not fit the use and ultimately then have that same uh use come up and have to be approved under our code and not be able to then have the ability to regulate uh which is per our residents per our neighborhoods per our city uh so my view is that um it wouldn't be appropriate to amend our code uh and it wouldn't be a conditional use if I can build on that I I share the concern that um well let me just back up for a second first of all I appreciate the acute need for this service I have no doubt that we need this service in our community um the question is where and the concern I have is is somewhat um nuanced in the sense that this is a high density area uh unlike some of the other facilities that Rogers has that we saw um I'm also concerned uh I I think that we need in our zoning code an area for group home facilities um but group home facilities run a spectrum from memory care perhaps on the lowest risk part of the spectrum to I don't know halfway houses perhaps or other facilities that would be perceived as higher safety risk at the other end of the spectrum um and if we were to uh approve this conditional text Amendment uh and don't have an ability to discern um I would be worried about future leaving this all to one side future examples of group homes in our three residential districts without an ability to customize uh safety for the residents I also feel like we need more information at this point I I do share the view that this has come up rather quickly I'd like more information on property value impact and I'd like to know more about screening criteria and safety planning I I take some comfort in knowing that there haven't been any serious incidents in the last five years but I don't know what the screening criteria are uh and I think that's really important for us to know and I don't know what's lawful candidly um you know does the screening criteria include some sort of safety assessment um so I I I this is all top of mine and I have more questions than I did coming in as a result of the inputs on both sides tonight but again I think I think there's a real need for this service I just don't I worry about this particular location I was um I was involved um in 19 I think it was um on the other group home and the discussion that was involved in that at the at the same time and and it was location um was um was not a an objection for for um all of the members of the Planning Commission and then also on the city council at the same time so you know I um you know everyone has spoke 40 kids you know young families um you know I mean we can all we can all understand we can all relate relate to that um the uh the the original intent of course was a Memory Care memory care unit and um and many and I wasn't around 20 years ago when when that went through but many would say that would be harmless um but there's you know what what I'm reading what I'm hearing and then and then in the uh the neighbor um website at at the same time it's been very vocal and and there's some you know um I mean it's it's safety safety safety is a concern and and if if we're not good neighbors that's that's a that that is a concern that's a very um a very genuine a very genuine concern I think when you get into into uh property values um it's full disclosure Ure that that one has to make uh if you're if you're selling your home you have to make full disclosure on whatever you know for the most part everything that you know of the of the area so you know I think that that's there there could be an interpretation uh for sure I think that um you know I think that it it was it was said by by many uh that the um that the the the survey says and an online survey is not uh it's not positive quite frankly and and typically surveys would get the would get the lowest common denominator at the same time but in this particular case the uh uh the survey is is um is very well defined I think so you know I think that um one of the things one of the things that the Planning Commission does and of course one of the other one of the things that the city council does at the same time is that it literally sets a precedent and and if if it's okay today it very much is okay tomorrow and and what whatever you do for me um you know it has to be done for everyone else so you know I think it's a um you know I'm very pleased I'm very pleased to see the involvement I'm very pleased to see the concern and uh and very pleased that that's how this whole process does work so thank you very much Brian Quick question was the facility in question there before the homes were developed or after uh commissioner Rus it was a combination of both so I believe the Applewood neighborhood to the north was existing prior to Emerald Crest being constructed and then the Arbor Woods development to the South came in after thank you I have one more question to you Brian can you remind me um when they do the conditional use permit if ownership Chang does the conditional use permit also transfer or do they have to reapply I can't remember commissioner C Comm conditional use permits run with the land and are recorded against the property so theoretically if they were to move locations someone else could move in and operate under the same conditions that they were approved for okay that's what I thought I'll be the last one to speak up and then maybe we can have have a decision when I reviewed this you know it does appear to be moving kind of quickly it was something in the in our ordinances that was a little bit unclear and there's been a lot of sentiment mostly unanimous for concerns that you all have in our community and this is a choice that we all have the responsibility to make in ter terms of again the decision we make now may have implications for other you know projects is there another plac this could go those are maybe questions we have to ask with a little more time to consider the options I don't know what that means for you know Rogers but um I think everyone on the panel has probably arrived at a thought on what they're going to do so Brian if we could maybe pull up that motion um so I'm going to ask is there you know does someone want to say what their thinking is on what we should be considering I'll make a motion to recommend the city council deny the request for Rogers Memorial Hospital Inc at 8150 Bavaria Road can I get a second second Okay so we've got commissioner Reus and commissioner Iverson seconding that um all in favor I I any opposed not hearing any U thank you the motion fails and um Commissioners that concludes our discussion item for the evening moving on to miscellaneous sections OFA for point of clarification for process orders of minutes the motion passed to deny passed to pass to deny thankk than you that was very yeah that was good clarification carries yes and one one other clarification to deny the text amendment that automatically denies the conditional use permit uh available underneath yeah correct thank you it's both matters yeah um are there any miscellaneous items from staff uh chair and Commissioners just covering what we're going to talk about the next meeting we had planned to to start some of that zoning code overhaul that we talked about recently for this meeting um but we had to push that back a little bit for our own timelines so uh Travis has prepared the first article of what 12 articles or 12 weeks of Planning Commission reviews that we're all super excited about to go through um so we'll start that at our next meeting and then also West Creek Village the Lenard development that was proposed uh for for about 150 town homes and 15 single family homes with the extension of Creekside Lane they've resubmitted uh for preliminary plat so that will be reviewed at the next meeting as well okay Commissioners do we have any miscellaneous items from any of you not seeing any um Commissioners there are no more items this evening can I ask for a motion to adour a motion to ajour Second all right thank you thank you everyone can come back now yeah yeah yeah I understand 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