All right. How's everyone doing tonight? Good. Yes. Happy summer. It feels like welcome to the May 14th, 2025 city vina planning commission meeting. On behalf of the rest of the commission, we are grateful you're here. Whether it's in person or those tuning in remotely, say it every time, but your curiosity, your participation, and your feedback is vital as we navigate change here together in Edinina, specifically regarding regarding the way in which we'd like to use our land. So, tonight we have one public hearing. um individuals who'd like to participate, I'll provide you some information to do so later when we get to that, which should be quick because there's nothing else on the agenda. But just want to reiterate your feedback matters. Any and all comments that get to the city get to us and we commit to consider them before we make decisions. The best avenue to do so is through the city's engagement website, which is ww.to togetherina.org. You can track and follow upcoming current or past land use related items that might be close to home or others that you might be interested in. So, just to give you a little idea what to expect, I'm just going to go through kind of the agenda here. We'll start with a call to order and then roll call. We'll have the approval of tonight's meeting agenda, followed by the prior meeting minutes from April 30th. Then we'll have community comment, which is your chance to speak about a matter not on tonight's agenda. Then we have the solo public hearing. Following that, we have chair member comments, staff comments, and adjournment. So without further ado, we'll call the meeting to order and then do roll call. Commissioner Nelson here. Commissioner Alky here. Commissioner Padilla here. Commissioner Smith here. Commissioner Bournestein here. Commissioner Phelp here. Commissioner Honaman here. Chair Bennett here. Next we have the approval of tonight's agenda. Motion to approve. Second. All those in favor say I. I. I. So moved. Next, we have the approval of the prior meeting minutes from April 30th. Motion to approve prior meeting minutes. Second. All those in favor say I. I. So moved. All right. Now, we're on to the community comment period, which is your chance for anyone who is here in person that would like to testify about a matter, issue, concern, something positive worth sharing that's going on that's not on tonight's agenda. You'd have three minutes to do so. You can come up to either podium. When the light turns green, you can begin. When it turns red, your time's up. We'll ask you to wrap up the comments. Is anyone here for a community comment? All right, seeing none, we can close that and move right on to our public hearing. So, we have one public hearing tonight. For those who are new and tuning into this process, just give you a little idea of what to expect. Uh so if someone an app like a resident uh developer any entity wants to do something that doesn't comply with our laws in relating in relation to land use um they have to apply for a variance you know or some deviation request to the code. And so tonight we have a variance and Addison will get into that. uh staff will do some research, put together some facts and findings, consult other departments, and contain that all in a staff report that's pretty thorough, and it'll contain staff's recommendation for approval or denial based on a certain set of conditions. They put all that together into a presentation that we're going to see tonight. After that, we're going to let the applicant have their chance at their own presentation or stand for question and answers. And we'll kind of combine those two items where question and answers back and forth between the applicant and staff. After that, we'll open it for the public hearing. And when I when we do that, I will give you some information to call in for those tuning in remotely, but we won't have you wait right now. So, just hold tight and we'll provide that info when we get to it. And then, similar to uh the community comment, you have three minutes to testify. When your time's up and no one else is there to speak, then we'll close a public hearing and then we deliberate as a commission and make recommendation for approval or denial of the request. So with that, we have the one variance request, a 6 and a half foot rear yard setback at 5120 44th Street. Addison, take it away. All right. Thank you, chair. Good evening, chair and commissioners. Um, this is a request for a 6 and 1/2t rear yard setback variance at 5120 44th Street West. The property owner is proposing to construct an accessory dwelling unit as an addition to the existing detached garage. The proposed ADU is located 5 and a half ft from the rear yard property line uh where a 12 foot setback is required. Um so here's a map showing the location of the property. It's in the Todd Park neighborhood just west of Highway 100 uh and at the northeast corner of 44th Street West and Brookside Terrace. Uh the property has a single family home with a detached garage in the rear yard to the north. Uh the property is surrounded by single family homes on the north, east, and the south. Uh to the rest, to the west, there's a railroad rightway. Uh and here's a look at the existing garage that the ADU would be attached to. The addition would be here to the left of the garage. Uh this is just a view looking west. So this is directly across the street from the garage towards that railroad rightway. And then looking east towards the other neighbor there. These are some renderings of the garage with the addition. And then here's an image showing it uh within the context of the site next to the neighboring property. Uh and then the applicants provided some floor plans here for the ADU. So there would be on the main level a living area, a small kitchenet and a bathroom with a shower and then a spiral staircase going up to a second story here that this portion would be the second story uh where there would be an office and some additional workspace. Um so here are the elevation drawings of the proposed structure. So um this portion right here is that twostory portion. Um and it exceeds 18 feet in height. It's 18 ft and 11 and I think it's 38 in. Um so it's a little over that 18t height limit, but it is a full second story. So that is what is triggering that 12t rear yard setback. Um this portion just to the left is just the one one story and it is under the eight feet 18 feet in height. Um so as you may recall when we developed the accessory dwelling unit ordinance about a year ago um we have different setback requirements depending on the height of the structure. So for an accessory dwelling unit that's up to one and a half stories or 18 feet in height or less um that structure can be 5T from a rear yard setback. But if it is um over 18 ft in height up to a maximum of 25 um or if it is a two stories then it is required to meet that 12t rear yard setback. Um so here is their proposed survey showing the addition. You can see it's just 5 and 1/2 ft here from the rear yard property line. So the 6 and 1/2t rear yard variance is being requested. Um so with any variance um the criteria that that you all consider and whether or not uh you decide to approve the variance um it's laid out in in state statute in our city code and um this is that criteria. So it's that the variance would be in harmony with the general purposes and intent of the ordinance. The variance would be consistent with the comprehensive plan. There are practical difficulties in complying with the ordinance. Uh the term practical difficulties means the property owner proposes to use the property in a reasonable manner not permitted by the zoning ordinance. The plight of the land owner is due to circumstances unique to the property not created by the land owner. And lastly, the variance if granted will not alter the essential character of the locality. Um so I've provided some analysis of this criteria in the staff report um and find that the criteria is met. Uh just kind of to briefly summarize um that justification is primarily based on the fact that this property has two has to meet two front yard setback requirements. Um one that their their actual front yard setback requirement um is pretty significant. It's based on the property to the east. So it's 49.1 ft. Um that's a pretty large front yard setback requirement. So that put kind of pushes the house further back. They wouldn't be able to build closer to the front than that. Um, and then also because the the house to the north is oriented towards Brookside Terrace, they are also required to meet a front yard setback along Brookside Terrace. So that's 30.1 ft. So that eliminates a good portion of the lot um for for buildable area. Um I also think that they are really meeting the spirit and intent of the ordinance in that um you know even though only a portion of it is the two stories and over the 18 feet in height the whole structure is required to meet that greater setback. However the portion that is two stories and is over 18 ft in height is set back more than 12 feet. It is 16 feet set back from that rear property line. um you know if the whole structure was just the the 18 feet one story it could be located where it is but the the height that's triggering that 12 foot setback um it is it is set back more than 12 ft. Um so with that staff is recommending approval of the requested variant subject to the findings and conditions in the staff report. Um and with that be happy to take any questions and property owners are here as well if you have questions for them. I guess we could give the opportunity the applicant to maybe provide their own presentation or just simply stand for questions and answers. Um, what do you guys think? You guys have anything? All right, come on forward. Uh, just state your full name, address. Yeah, either way you can go there or Hi, my name is Andrew Vic and it's my wife Janelle, uh my son Nelson, and I was told to make sure if I did get a chance to say something to write it down uh just to make sure um we're all on the same page. Thank you, Addison, for your hard work on all this. Uh, I'm a professional photographer who started dreaming of having a Dina based business when I first got my job at the Edina Chamber of Commerce back in 2002 and my father ran the schools and I was co-signing because he was co-signing the house. he required me to have an Edina zip code and uh so we found the smallest house we could possibly find that I could afford and uh he signed off on that and so we bought uh this property 22 years ago,400 square ft and we've been improving it ever since. A small prairie house that was built 1920 along the railroad and the last gravel road in town at the time and that was my 5-year plan. We know all those things can change. Fell in love with the history of the neighborhood and work closely with the city to rally neighbor support to get the road paved just a few years ago and now have two busy boys at Highlands and my school. It's a school my mom taught at. So, it's really the craziest Edina kid dream graduating and getting to come back home. Uh we've dreamt of moving the studio home starting in 2019 and seeing a need for a better work life balance and my aging parents. We've partnered with the city on the plans along the way starting back in 2019 and obviously we know what happened in 2020. So over a year of unemployment, never thought I'd ever have the opportunity to even stand before you today and present this beautiful um piece. And so we've taken our time to review all of our options and felt like on behalf of our family and the needs I have with the business and uh in the best needs of the historic lot and property and the integrity of Creekide neighborhood uh to be the best. I've been renting a studio in St. St. Louis Park by bunnies for about 18 years. And over this time we've been partnering with community organizations like the u interlocking country club, Edina Country Club, the Edina schools for mentoring and helping kids and and would um assume that we'd be using this space as a bit of a resource as well for kids to learn uh along the way. Uh we've been awarded the photographer of the year award for the Minnesota Bride magazine and I'm really proud that I get to call this place home and uh I consider you guys a resource as much as hopefully I can be a resource to you. Uh so with that we look forward to a partnership to continue for years to come and I do know that my wife wanted to uh add a small piece. Thank you. My name is Janelle. All I wanted to say was uh in response to the letter that went out um from the city to all of our neighbors. Uh it was really fun. Our boys, we put together a letter. We printed out a picture of the rendering of the project and we went and handd delivered them to every single address that we received from the city. And we only received personally one text from someone on the just saying who we don't know super well just saying we approve. So excited for you. This is great. Um hope it goes well. and also that we did meet in person with the two neighbors that are that we share the road with behind us and showed them the project, had conversations with them, answered all of their questions, and they said they were in full support and said that they would let you guys know that as well. So, I just wanted to say that we're trying to be good neighbors, too, and be respectful. And we're obviously 22 years in. I came in in 2009 and um and yeah, so we're just excited to spend the rest of our lives here and invest in the community more and we want to invest in our property now rather than um renting for that many years. So this has been a long time dream. So we're both um nervous and um a little emotional. So yeah, so just wanted to say thank you guys for taking the time. Thank you, Addison, for um doing all the research and um preparing this for everyone to learn more about the project. And also, I just want to say that I'm super excited that we have um Andy Campbell who did the design work on when we did the renovation eight years ago to add on to our property. It's the same architect who designed this project as well. So, um, we've just kept those kept that relationship and I just think he did a really good job of bringing our house and the home studio project together. And so, yeah, that's all I want to say. Be here if it wasn't. Yeah, it's his birthday today. Otherwise, he'd be here. Thank you. Thank you so much. And thank you, Addison, for the thorough comment and details. Uh, I guess bring it back to the planning commission for any questions that you might have for Addison or the property owners. Thank you for Addison. Um, so how many ADUs have been built since the ordinance passed? And of those, how many have needed variances? Yeah, so we had the other one come forward for variance. That was our first. Yeah. Um, we have, I think, three or four that are in for permit right now that I think should be approved without any variances. Um, but no others have been permitted. Got it. Yeah. So, this would be like numbers number six or two, depending on how you count it or five or there's a couple in there that are like associated with new home permits and so Got it. They're going back for comments, but the ADU piece looks looks like it's going to be good. And so there's yeah, I think three for sure that should be permitted here in the next month or so. Great. And then my only other question was do you know if you don't know maybe it's a question for the homeowners, but was the the part of this proposed structure that's 18 ft. Um, was it was this designed specifically to make it so that you know the part that was shorter than 18 feet was the part that the part that was closer to the the part that was going to make it need a variance was less than 18 feet? I mean did in other words did the design try to come into conformity in some degree you know with was that part of the thinking about designing it that way the code or are you designing that way just for some other reason? Would you come up to the mic? Hi. Uh yes, that was the hope and the intent was I think original plan was a full twostory structure on that and it just looked overbuilt um on that property size and I said at the end of the day if I could just get a third stall garage with enough of the loft space and we tried to build that within uh condition thus the inside of the 12 ft the taller part but to get the ceiling height to get up there was is the reason we need the 11 in Other questions Smith? Yeah, thank you for the presentation. Uh, if this were abuing an alley, what would be the setback requirement for that? So in that case um when abudding an alley um an accessory dwelling unit over 18 ft but not more than 25 ft could be 5 ft from a rear property line abuing an alley. Got it. Uh I think that's the questions I had questions. All right, we're good. So again, this is a public hearing, so this is the part of the meeting where we open it to that. Don't see anyone else who's here in person, so we'll move right to the virtual portion of it. So for those tuning in remotely, take out your phones, get your fingers ready, and hopefully we'll put the instructions on the screen. So please call the following number 3125358110. Then you will enter access code 2864 3463 39 392. Yeah, let's say that again. 2864 3463392. And then you'll enter password 5454 and then press star three on the keypad to get into the queue to speak. We there's about a minute lag, so we will wait a full minute. We don't have any elevator music yet, but we're working on it. So, just sit in silence to your thoughts and rejoin in about a minute. It has been a minute and nobody has joined the queue to speak. So I believe it's safe to proceed. All right. I'll welcome a motion to close the public hearing. Motion to close the public hearing. Second. All those in favor say I. I. So move the public hearing is closed. So now is the time we bring it back to the planning commission to deliberate. Uh we can maybe just go down the row with comments just maybe one by one. And again reminder the the decision we make for approval or denial is a binding one. So this would be the final decision. Doesn't go to city council. Just to clarify. Maybe start with Commissioner Nelson. Sure. Um, thank you for presenting tonight and uh, Addison for uh, the comments you made. Um, I think it's a great uh, looks like a great project. It's fun to see an ADU going in place. So, uh, I think the design fits the neighborhood very well and you worked well with the architect and and city to get this through as long as well as your neighbors. So, thank you for the steps you took in doing that. Um, I just wish you well with the project, assuming this goes forward. And, uh, that's really all the comments I had. Thank you. I was going to say exactly the same thing as Commissioner Nelson. So, I'll save some time and say ditto. And, uh, good luck with your project. Thank you guys. You sound You do sound like terrific neighbors. And um I did I just I wanted to compliment you on the applicant narrative that you included in um with all the paperwork that we got. I thought it was very well thought out and I thought it was a great example for others who need to write out you know and I thought you you brought it forward from um many different perspectives. So you had given um thought to a lot of the different aspects of your project and that was very much appreciated um at the commissioner level and Addison I want to thank you too for um talking about this as far as the spirit of the ordinance because I think it's very important that we're looking at the spirit of the or ordinance as well as the letter of it. So um with that I applaud you both and I'm in uh full supporter All right, I have a couple points. Uh, just wanted to give some comment, a little bit of background, high level. Um, six points really. Uh, I know when we were designing the ADU ordinance, it was a little bit easier for us to think about it as a attached structure internal structure and we had quite a bit of deliberation on detached structures, right? We really wanted ADUs to be something that um residents could could build with their over, you know, ideally garage space and not have to uproot it and move it to meet the ordinance. Um so that was always the the tricky uh thing for us. But I think we made some really good decisions on how we move that one forward. So that's the first point. Just a detached structure is usually always a little bit trickier to deliberate on than an an attached or internal structure. Um, second point is, you know, again, uh, to make this easier to build. Um, we certainly were very sensitive to if you have a a a garage space where that's 5 foot from the setback line, you know, to dig that up, move it, you know, 12 ft to put a twotory thing. It it it it would be so costly and and inefficient for homeowners. And so, you know, that's just kind of one thing that we were very sensitive to. Um, in terms of height, uh, we always think about it as how can we make it work for the resident because it's obviously you you guys property, it's your land, but you're also impacting neighbors, right? So, we wanted to think about it from a perspective of how can you give you maximum use of that space for your family's needs. You know, in your case, the the the photography studio and and and other needs that you have, but at the same time, not have it be superimposing on neighbors, right? So we came up with this whole concept of setback requirements if you want to go up. Um one of the things that we did talk about was a sliding scale and that if you could remember uh during the conversations we said okay for every foot you go up above the one story you go back one foot and that is what we came up with as the the sliding scale rule essentially. Now, this is not 25 ft. It's 18 ft. Just above 18 ft. So, if those few inches above 18 ft were added onto the 5T, this would totally make it, right? And so, we had this idea. And we also thinking that 25T is what you would normally need for a two feet twostory building, but you were able to make it happen with 18, right? You wanted that loft space. And so, you were really trying to stretch it in there to make it work, which was really impressive. And so I could tell that you were trying to meet the ordinance uh by by the design and and the shape and how you were trying to do it. So that's very commendable. Um yep talked about you guys trying to make it work. And then the sixth point really uh you know we also considered folks who live on alleyways right again with the whole idea of impacting neighbors. If you lived on an alley you you wouldn't have to go back 12 feet because nobody lives in the alley. But in your case, right, yes, there's a road behind there, but then there's also a train track and I don't see any homes being built anywhere on a train track, right? And so if I would have treated as an alleyway, you know, just mentally, then this again wouldn't really have an impact. And so all these reasons, right, the detached garage structure, the siding scale idea and the spirit of what we're trying to do, the low impact on your neighbors and your e efforts to make it conform within the space. Um, and just if I were to compare it to if it was an alley, my, you know, the easiest reference point for me would be that this would totally make sense and would still fit in. So I'm in full support of of of this design structure and uh what you guys have proposed tonight. Yeah, I think just not to repeat what anybody else said, but um for me, I think the the fact that you adapted the design to make sure that the part that was infringing on the setback requirement um was a lower height was kind of the factor that tipped the scales and and allowing me to kind of get to a conclusion that I think when you consider all the other factors, the practical difficulties aspect has met. I think if you hadn't, I probably would be on the other side of it, but commend you for being thoughtful about doing it and um we'll vote to support. Thank you for being here. I think I was in the audience when you got a variance for your house. So, it's fun to see it come. [Laughter] Absolutely. Absolutely. Um I'm in full support of this. Remind me your son's name. Nelson. Nelson, thank you for coming. Thank you for watching your parents work through these kinks as we embrace this exciting ability that our residents have to to build these ADUs and add more home. Um, thank you guys. I don't want to repeat anything, but good job. I know grown-up stuff's boring, but thank you for coming and being part of it. I'm going to try not to repeat but this is everything good about process and edina and accommodating change because again a year ago you know listening to residents you know if we didn't make the accommodation for ADUs like that dream couldn't even happen and then we knew that there couldn't be a magic bullet for situations like this and we just deferred it to a case by case scenario and this is just such a beautiful piece that fits in a complicated puzzle. So, just wish you the best on the project and hopefully people, you know, going by can see it as such like a beautiful example of what you could do and get creative with your space. And that's all I got to say. I guess I welcome a motion. Motion to approve. Second. All those in favor say I. I I oppose. Motion carries unanimously. Great. Good luck with your project. Thank you so much. Come by for head shot anytime. That was after the decision everyone. How much they cost. Thank you. Thank you guys. It's been a journey. Thank you. And with that, we have nothing. Yes. With that, we have nothing else on the agenda. So, it moves right to chair member comments and then staff comments. Do we have any chair member comments tonight? Oh, I I have I have an very important comment. We have one of our commissioners missing. And while that might be sad news to some, it's actually great news. him and his wife welcomed twins into the world. And yeah, if if you know Ryan, you could reach out to him. He'll send you photos. I'm not going to go put one up on the screen, but Henry was 6 oz. Natalie was 6'8 O. They're both healthy babies and mom is doing very well. Very exciting news. When was it? It was Sunday. Sunday night. So, very exciting. All right, more Little Edina residents. So, yeah, that's Thank you for the reminder. Anything else? Boring update, but uh we Addison did communicate um to those uh companies that were going that we interviewed a few weeks ago who are going to help us with the zoning task force. And one was selected and we're going to move forward. Okay, great. I have something I thought of. Um, well, and it's not a comment, but it's something that I've been thinking about because I've worked from home from 20 years and um, you're working from home obviously and I don't know when the where's Carrie when you need him. Um, I don't know the last time we updated our kind of work from home ordinance because we've got a zoning section on that too, which I always thought was pretty open and fairly easy, but the pandemic has happened since and the nature of work has changed a little bit. So, I'm wondering if we're ever going to kind of look at that. Yeah, I think it has been a while. Um, I think with our code update that we're going to be doing, that's something we can take a look at. Can you clarify what you mean by work at home? Um, well, our zoning code has a section in chapter 36. Oh, I think I've got it in here. Um, that talks about what you can't how you can work from home, how many people you can have working from home. You have to be a resident, you have to be an owner of the home. um no more than 10 client trips. You can even have like a dance studio at home, you know. So, there's types of businesses that can work at home and types of businesses that can't work at home. But then I started thinking about people who are getting together to work for on like say a film and and two people are kind of working on a project together. they're working on a on a record and they're both two people are sitting down kind of cutting and one isn't you know a resident of the home and one is I mean I think there's also certain like project kind of work or um and workers are different too I mean some people just kind of work on project by project so I'm thinking it might be good to update it a little bit great comment I'm assuming we can include that into at least a key bullet of something to readress during that update. Yep. I think it's something that staff also has wanted to take a look at. Oh, cuz you guys want No, I'm kidding. The move city hall back to the homes. Yeah, kidding. Any other comments? Yeah, Commissioner Nelson. Yeah, I mentioned this last meeting, but uh this Saturday the Dina Morningside Rotary Club and the YMCA, the Southdale YMCA are hosting Edina Rides 9:00 Saturday in the back lot of uh the meet in the back lot of the YMCA and we will ride the trail uh around up up through and to Bredesen and around Bredesen Park and back. There will be bouncy houses, there will be food, everything in the back lot of the YMCA. So, it'll be a fun event. So, I welcome everybody to join us there uh Saturday morning um this coming Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. 9 to noon. Thank you. Thanks. That's awesome. Hope to see a bunch of people there. Any other comments? All right. Staff comments. Council did um approve the proposal from Opus for the office office building at 5100 Eden. Um and I don't know if you saw the developers did incorporate uh the three conditions that you guys had recommended um for revising the building materials on the first level. Um and then improving the pedestrian connectivity to like to the entrance on the east side and also to connect to that walkway. Um and then they also approved the Lincoln and London area small area plan. on some light. So, great news. Yeah, thank you for the updates. Any questions following up on that? How did they revise the materials? Um, it's going to be stone on that first level. So, where they were showing kind of the the wood looking metal panel is going to be a stone material. Great. All right. Last item of business. Motion to adjurnn. Second. Second. All those in favor say I. The meeting's been adjourned. Thank you everyone. You nailed it, Liz. 7:30 and we all had five minutes apart here.