I move to approve. >> I was just going to go ahead. >> How about you second? >> Okay, I'll second it. >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I Yes. Yeah, Mr. Chair and commission members, I'm going to turn it over to Lance Bernard from Transportation Collaborative. There are consultants that are assisting us with the 2050 comprehensive plan. Um, as you are aware, this is a process we do on a dennial basis. So, just kicking it off and this is meant for both um city council and planning commission to provide some input as we begin this process. >> Yeah, thank you chair uh members of the commission, council members as well. Um my name is Lance Bernard. As Brett mentioned, I'm with TC2. We're going to be leading this effort over the next 18 months. Um we have some other partners across a couple other different firms from Landform and ESRF that are going to be assisting us in some specialty areas throughout uh this effort. So we really just want to take tonight a quick opportunity to just kick off the plan, give you a quick kind of comp plan 101 um information, get a little bit of your inputs and thoughts on things that we need to be really thinking about as we update uh your comprehensive plan over the uh course of the 18-month period. Um, so with that, I just curious if there's anybody from the planning commission or city council that was part of the last comprehensive plan that would have been in 2018. I see a couple hands. So, there are some familiar folks with the process and this may be new to others as well. So, our goal really throughout this process is to really lean into the planning commission and city council to walk you through this process. We want to make sure we have enough checkpoints with you to really get you familiar not only with the process, but really why we're doing this, the in and outs of the requirements that we need to follow and just really make sure that we're making this a plan that you as a planning commission and city council and other uh members of the community can really use uh because this is really your guiding document to help inform your future decisions. So all the more reason why again I want to emphasize we we'll be having a number of checkpoints with you uh throughout the course of this project. But essentially this is really your your long range vision plan. It looks out 20 years. Uh this outlook is out to the year 2050 and it's really an opportunity uh to articulate where the community wants to go over that time period. Really how do you want to grow? How do you want to invest in your uh city services, your assets and your resources? So this is really the time to then think big but then also be realistic about some of those implementation measures that we want to focus in on over the next 10 years uh before you go through another update process in uh the coming years. Uh so this is a process that is required by state law. Uh we are uh we do need to follow a number of regional requirements. uh we need to make sure we're kind of checking a number of boxes to meet these uh requirements that are set uh by the metropolitan council. Uh they do provide they are the regional planning agency that really oversees uh the regional systems and how we plan and and think about growth uh within the 7ount metropolitan area. So there's a lot of resources, a lot of um things that we can lean into to make sure we're adhering to those requirements, but then again really tailoring this plan to be uh the communities uh and your vision for the future as well. Um so those requirements uh that uh regional vision is really set uh through a number of regional policy plans and uh guiding frameworks that were uh developed over the last few years. uh city staff and has had opportunities to review those um comment on those uh planning documents as they were being developed over the last 5 years. You may have been exposed to some of them, but if you're curious about just really how the region's thinking about growth, how they're investing in those regional systems. Um, I definitely would uh go through the metropolitical metropolitan council's website, take a look at some of those regional policy plans to just get a better um kind of understanding of where uh the region's going. Um so they are um not to blabber it too much, they they really are looking at those regional um elements from a land use perspective, water resources, uh regional parks, housing, and transportation. So those are really the four core areas that uh they address and that we need to really adhere to some of those requirements within those kind of five core areas. Uh one of the big things that we are really looking at that the region uh sets is really how is each community going to grow over the next 20 years. So Rogers is going to continue to grow. Uh those numbers are reflected here in this table. So there's some a good healthy steady growth from a population standpoint. there's opportunities to continue to uh provide uh different housing types throughout the community and really increase uh the job and employment throughout uh the community as well. So, a lot of the discussions that we start to have when we look at updating the comp plan is really how do we best address uh these growth numbers and best plan for them uh and continue to monitor them over time. Um, so I don't want to get into too far the details of all the requirements that we need to be thinking about, but these are things that we'll be talking to you in more detail uh at future meetings, but we really do start a lot of our conversations really more around land use and how we're planning for growth. Uh, we need to better understand how we're going to uh develop as a community. So, we need to establish um some density requirements that are uh part of this process. Uh we need to be also looking at how we're going to guide land to address different housing products to meet some of the community's housing uh goals as well. There's some new requirements moving forward with this round of the update that looks a little bit more closely at pedestrian infrastructure. So we need to pay closer attention to how we are mapping the existing system where some of the gaps are in the pedestrian network where there may be some safety issues for pedestrians u moving throughout the community. Um, one of the other uh new requirements at a minimum is just acknowledging the new state um goals uh that were set through uh the legislation a few years ago and reducing um emissions by the year 2050. So we can acknowledge that uh goal or we can expand on that and how the community wants to address that. Uh but uh that is one new thing that we need to address. And then there are certainly some stronger focuses around natural systems and water supply planning certainly within the community. We're we're looking at the future water infrastructure investments that the um are being put in place here over the next few years in the community. So just a couple other things that we'll dig a little bit deeper in um more detail with the planning commission and council over the next uh year. Uh early on we'll just be revisiting your vision and guiding principles. Really where are there opportunities? refined that vision. Do these still make sense uh to you and the community? Uh that really helps set the foundation for us in um establishing more detailed policies or changes that we want to think about as the community grows. Um as I mentioned before, we'll spend a lot of more time early on and really getting more into the land use side of things. Uh where is the community going to grow? Uh this is opportunity to look at uh maybe some new focus areas. It's definitely an opportunity to integrate all of the great work that's been done on planning for the downtown. So, we'll want to pull that in as part of uh this update process as well. So, there'll be a lot more conversations around how we update a lot of these maps and a lot of the data that needs to go into your land use chapter. Um, as I mentioned, there's a focus more on water resources. So there is certainly the wastewater treatment plant that's being planned here uh anticipated being online um 2031. Uh so we'll just want to be uh cognizant of those efforts and how we best integrate that into uh this update and how some of those investments for water resources also align with your growth projections and how you're planning for future development as well. Um, so those are just a quick kind of highlights of some of the things that we'll be looking more closely at. Uh, what we really like to do through this process is really kind of look at this in a number of different tasks. Uh, really stretching this out over the course of that project. So early on, we're really going to be focusing much more on identifying the issues and opportunities, revisiting your goals and vision, and then a little bit later in kind of the six to plus month period, that's when we really start to uh get more into really where the bigger updates are going to happen in your comprehensive plan. Where are there potential bigger changes that we need to uh think through more closely? And then near the end of the planning process is where really where we're looking at the implementation. How do you best implement some of these new ideas? Um how do you set that next five years of capital improvement programming? Um near the end of the process will be a bit longer because there is a review process we need to follow where we're asking your adjacent communities um state regional agencies as well to review your draft plan and more importantly making sure it's meeting all the met council requirements. So there's going to be a pretty uh about a six month to eightmonth period where we're really going through a lot more of that review process as well. Um but throughout that we also really want to have a very um kind of genuine authentic engagement uh approach where we're involving the community. I believe in your packet we have a a community engagement plan that we've put together. That plan is really meant to be flexible as we kind of learn how the community best engages with this process. It's it is at times hard to get people to think about that 20-year vision when we're really focused more on our day-to-day needs. So, we really are trying to develop some more engagement strategies that focus more on those day-to-day needs. Really, what is your what what do you need to improve your quality of life um and and try to leverage that type of input to best inform updates to the plan as well. Um so, that engagement plan lays out just where we're going to go over the next year. Uh we're going to be popping up at the community. uh we really need to go where people are. Uh we don't necessarily want to just lean on people coming to us. We'll be out in the community talking more to people and setting up opportunities to have some more focus group discussions around some key topic areas that you feel is important. Uh so within the next uh probably month, we'll be launching a community uh survey, a project website to just really be more transparent of how people can get involved and how they best can provide input throughout that process. Um, so I can't emphasis enough, you know, really at the heart of the process is really working with you as a planning commission. Uh, really finding opportunities to uh best uh engage you to get the best input uh we can to really make sure this is a usable document for you in the future. So again, we'll be uh working with you closely. Um, so to just touch on real quick, I think things that we want to maybe just throw out there now to kind of spark some ideas or get your minds uh um rolling with ideas is really thinking about what quality of life means for Rogers and how things have changed since the last comprehensive plan update. A lot has changed in the last 10 years. Uh we've gone through a pandemic. The economy is always changing. there's a lot more uncertainty on around uh some some of the economics and the economy um of scale and a lot of other external forces that we can't control. But what we really want to focus in on is is just that quality of life around housing. Are people having the right uh housing products, the right housing types to live in the community that uh meet all age levels, um all life cycles, all um income levels? um how do we best address some of the missing middle shortages? So, we always generally do a really good job of building detached homes and apartments, but where are those where's that middle ground that a lot of people are looking for? Uh today, uh so those are some of the housing topics that we'll start to kind of dive a little bit more into. Uh when we think about commercial and retail from a quality life perspective, uh people are shopping much differently now. Um the commercial retail market's always changing. um big box stores are shrinking. Um that market's somewhat saturated. So really how are best people um you know going about their daily needs to get their groceries uh and so forth. So, some of the bullets up here are just kind of a sprinkling of some of those kind of trends that we've seen um regionally that we want to think about and how they really are affecting Rogers or um where do we find our niche as well to really be a competitive place to work and do business. Um, in addition to that, really making sure we're, you know, leaning into our our industrial, light, manufacturing, um, um, companies that are here today. How do we best support them? How do we continue to foster uh, those sorts of jobs and and that job market within the community? Uh, there's certainly a change in how uh, some of those off, you know, there's a lot no need for office anymore. More people are working from home. So there's a lack of demand for new office space, but there's continuing a steady increase in industrial light manufacturing demand for space as well. Uh there are certainly some larger tech um uses that we need to be cognizant and thinking of as as those rise and become more of a hot topic that you probably see in the paper today uh every day around data centers and and we need to think more closely about that as well. Um, so again, just kind of a sprinkle of things that we're thinking about and how we want to maybe uh consider some of those trends as as part of this update process. And then finally, just a quality life perspective from how people recreate and socialize within the community. Really looking at our parks and open spaces and community gathering places. People really continue to um want those third third spaces being places that you can see your neighbors. Maybe it's just grabbing a beer or being out in open space. So really finding the ways that we can promote and and articulate what some of those uh needs are from a social socialization and recreational standpoint will go into updating your parks chapter. Um so that's just a lot to throw at you probably in that 10-minute time frame. Um happy to answer any questions about our comprehensive planning process, some of the requirements we may be needing to address. Otherwise, we really have just a couple questions that myself and staff wanted to ask in respect to what you're starting to think about from uh future vision for the community. Any questions or thoughts on the comprehensive plan process before we throw a couple directed questions at you? >> Yeah, I have one question. Um, so you talked about the quality of life and like missing the middle. um between apartments and like single family homes. How how would you determine that if there the people aren't here? How what's what's the process to decide um the people want to be here but aren't? >> Well, I think some of that, you know, kind of a qualitative side will come out of some of the community engagement. Um certainly that's talking to your existing residents as well. So, we we um don't necessarily have a snapshot of what people how do I want to answer this? Sorry, let me pause for a second, gather my thoughts. Um, so yes, so community engagement will play a part of that of just trying to understand what type of housing product is missing within the community, but there's just a lot of housing data that's out there today um through the Metropolitan Council that really talks about where that demand is and what are we missing. So there's a lot of great information we can lean into around where that um [snorts] missing middle might fall within the community of Rogers. what what do we really need to be planning for? And so if you go back and kind of look at what the Met Council has allocated as in your um affordable housing goals is about 545 units. Uh so from that perspective, we really just need to make sure we're guiding um different land for different densities to accommodate that. Uh which starts to address some of that missing middle need as well. >> Thank you. you guys know what missing middle means generally like what housing types that is. So you're looking at a similar scale to larger single family homes um or town homes that sort of a broader unit count, right? So they're they're between like uh you know what's their high density at now? Like 12 units an acre. They're kind of like between your two to five. in. So if you're looking at what district that could be is our mixed residential district is kind of similar, but there's a a few housing types that just aren't allowed. Got your duplexes, your triplexes, your quads, those multif family or smaller multif family products. Yes. Yep. As part of that community survey, we can start to look at um targeting some of those questions questions to some of the larger businesses. Any other questions? So I think on that note what we were really hoping to just spend a few minutes um is really asking you what's some of the bigger trends or issues that you see that we need to really focus in more and address as part of this update. Whether that is some of the housing um recreational job trends that we just briefly covered here. >> I can start if if that's okay. Um I think you you highlighted it. I went back to the slide of like the requirements pedestrian infrastructure and that goes along with traffic as well. So obviously as the community grows um you know housing density changes or increases how do you make sure that we have safe passage for our kids going to school essentially. Thanks. What are some of the bigger issues you guys have been facing as a planning commission or things that you're seeing that you're discussing a lot of in recent years? >> We've had a little bit of push back on the housing growth in the area. I know people buy a piece of property and think that it's going to be like that forever. Um, but things change and I'm sure figure out more as we go along here, but I know that's something that we've seen some push back on. >> Sure. >> I think there's a lot of concern about the like city infrastructure. I know you mentioned the uh treatment plant, but schools being overcrowded. I think that goes in with, you know, the the traffic. And I think a lot of the push back on the housing developments are that what roads are people going to use to get there, how many cars per house and all of that. Um, so even when things are aligned with like R1, R2, R3, and our zoning, there's still a lot of push back from the community just because I don't think a lot of people understand or know the whole how the whole thing works from a systematic standpoint. So >> I think making sure like the city infrastructure can keep up with >> the growth is a big concern. >> Thank you. >> Any other thoughts, comments? So going back to the the housing and the increase in population, I I think the big thing I've seen and thought about myself is maybe a billion dollar question here, but as we're fitting the emerging suburban edge or the diversified rural, how do we keep that like history and that that the people that have existed here, how do they feel like they're still a part of the community and that there's not a divide between the new and the old? And um I think I think there's a lot of things on here that can connect with that, right? The the open spaces and whatnot, but that's I think should be a main theme. >> Great. Appreciate any other thoughts, comments? I think addressing the the need for a commercial space specifically office space which you mentioned at the presentation trying to get some quantitative analysis that just addresses what is the need what are the vacancy rates compared to other areas and I saw the word demo. So what does that space become? uh looking at the next major project, Main Street is going to be occurring during I think the time frame that we're reviewing this plan. So, what's the next huge emphasis for Rogers? >> Great. Thank you. >> Well, we're going to throw one or two more questions at you if that's okay. uh chair. [laughter] So [snorts] um this is uh something we want to try to wrap our heads around a little bit more is just how does Roger want to Rogers want to define sustainability and resiliency and there is a chapter and some language within your comp plan that define this. Now it certainly means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Uh so just trying to get a pulse on whether or not this uh changes in any context uh when you think about those two words. Um and that sometimes stems around um you know whether that's around environment, economy, social needs. That's some of the things that are in your current definition today. But would love to get you to think a little outside the box and ask tell us if this has changed in any way today. I'll say it's kind of to my previous point. I'm in a lot of the social media groups and a lot of people have concerns with the amount their taxes are going up and then the the in the cost of the infrastructure that's needed for these new developments. So, everyone says the new developments, the new housing is great. Um, but is the per capita rate of taxes increase like going to offset building a new school, building new roads and stuff like that? So when I think of like sustainability and resiliency, you know, not not compromising future generations, right? Like make sure it's smart, right? I see I've seen a lot of talk about the the Lakeville moratorum on building for the next like so many months. So I just see a lot of feedback like that from the community. Yep. just because it aligns with our comp plan and our districts like doesn't mean it makes sense on all those other facets as well. So when I think of sustainability and resiliency, making sure we're not going to get ourselves in a pickle where we're going to need to spend 20 million and only bring in 10 million or for semantic purposes. Yeah. >> Great. Thank you. We are meeting with them on Wednesday. [laughter] >> One thing I'll add on that and it's something we've talked about internally as a group. It's not a requirement to have a section on emergency services. Um, and we don't know if it's going to be a direct section or integrated throughout, but that's something that we want to include because I think that's something [snorts] from a overall process standpoint has always been kind of left out and hasn't really been actively engaged and that's something we're going to actively put in. Um, not just for the planning of the size of either police or fire, but also when you're looking at facilities, like how are we properly planning if we ever do need a future fire station 3 or whatever it may be. Having that early on in the process to at least have ideas of where those would go just for future generations. It may not be in the lifespan of this plan, but just so we're being thoughtful about it through the entire piece. Uh does the conversation in a plan include incentives for industrial commercial space? So what is Rogers able to do through Met Council County? >> Are you saying like financial incentives tax >> financial incentives? Yeah. >> Uh it would not touch on that. We have our economic development strategic plan which hits on that a little bit and then it's more defined in our business subsidy policy. Um, most of the cities and their incentive capabilities are fairly limited by state statute. So, there's only set districts you can make through tax increment financing, set items that tax abatement can be used for. Um, and cities can do like revolving loans and facade improvement grants, things like that, but it's pretty limited. There's a business subsidy statute that really guides what any city can do. >> Okay. I don't know enough about this question then to offer any input unless you have more to share. It's sustainability is a big word and it goes into green energy and >> yeah there is a piece in our business subsidy policy that if a business wanted to and a revolving loan fund policy if they wanted to make sustainability improvements like geothermal whatever it may be that there is potential loans that can be granted to it and there al are some metro wide loans through uh pace which is operated by St. Paul Port Authority which all operates like a deferred assessment on your taxes that they can utilize as well. But we have that pretty well defined in our >> Yeah, that's on the city side. So, I'm just asking Lance. I I could you tell us more if you want a more thorough response? >> No, I I know this is a pretty broad conversation, but it's something that we're just throwing out there to see if it resonates with you in any way. uh because it has been a topic of discussion in other communities, but just hearing some of the input right here around just growth and um thinking about it through an economic development standpoint is is helpful. But we will definitely get a much more deeper into this qu um in the future. Yeah. And I wonder if it implicitly that has to do or intuitively it has to do with just the size of Rogers, right? If you have a town of 100,000 uh versus 10,000, that word, it correlates with different projects at a a different level. So, yeah. Yep. Yeah. And I I think, you know, every community defines this differently. And when you think about a community like Rogers that has some rural edges, you know, people are talking more about natural resource protection, preservation, restoration. Um and then yeah when you are starting to think about more of the kind of developed parts how do we a maybe do more green infrastructure but how do we stay resilient from an economic standpoint? How do we keep and maintain uh residents and employers? So it's very broad but you know this is since it's in your plan today we wanted to just start to test the waters to see if it it means something different to you. Yeah, some of that conversation actually just held I mean back to that first question of themes or trends and something we hear so much about is trying to preserve rural Rogers. So that's where that push back right on the fringe is >> so how do we honor and make room for green space right and rural space >> and then also expand with what we have. >> Yep. >> Great. >> Yeah. So the watershed district is one of the agencies that will need to review uh this plan when it gets ready for adoption. So they'll have an opportunity to uh comment on it, but then we'll also be integrating a lot of their work in this as well. So they have their their plans and policies in place that we need to be cross-checking, making sure we're consistent with. So I I think we'll just wrap up with maybe a last question here is just really you guys are using your comprehensive plan. Um you use it in guiding a lot of your decisions. Is there anything that this plan can do differently to really help guide your uh decision-m? Uh so you're probably leaning into it when you're reviewing development reviews, but is there something that you felt has been missing in the last 10 years uh in that plan? things that you were hoping would be addressing more and heard a little bit about that here just in the last couple questions as well. Generally, there's not a lot of broad support I would think for uh big changes in land use. Mhm. >> that the changes we've already made have been kind of upsetting to some people scout plan. So to make any further changes or to revert back >> may or may not be the right decision. >> Y great. I appreciate that uh input um chair. Uh that's something that you know we've already started to talk uh a fair amount with staff on is just where if any changes would happen and I think from our perspective there really isn't a whole lot of big changes. It's just trying to align things a little bit more with um new policies and and thinking about how we best address some of the future growth. So um this is kind of all we have tonight. Um, yeah. >> Chapter or something and then comment a little bit on how that factors into everything. >> Yeah. So, it is a standalone. It is a chapter within your comprehensive plan. So, I think we are always trying to make sure we're balancing land use transportation decisions, right? you know, we don't want to just look at these chapters as individual chapters. They need to speak to one another. Uh certainly with some of the new um kind of policies and direction that uh state agency MDOT's taking and and not expanding roads um because of the greenhouse gas um laws in place. Sorry, I got to back up for a second before I stumble over my words. So there's a lot more discussion I think that will go in this chapter about really how we think about building our roads in the future as uh we think about expansion. There's a lot more that goes behind that in today's kind of current um greenhouse gas laws about what that really means. If we are going to continue to build roads we need to offset and mitigate for that as well. So I think as part of this transportation chapter, we need to as I mentioned early on is a just acknowledge uh that policy or do we look at this a little bit differently and and articulate uh just how you are making your own infrastructure decisions on your own local roads and how the county is starting to look um at their investment decisions as well. So, um, we just need to kind of navigate a lot of different roadway agency policies as part of this chapter as things have kind of changed with more of an emphasis also on active transportation, multimodal needs as well. So, that'll be a larger part of I think the transportation chapter update. Yes. Yes. Yep. Yes. So we will be relying on some of the work the Henip County is doing to project traffic forecasting. Uh we want to leverage some of that to really better understand traffic flow, traffic impact um as this part of the region continues to grow and what that means to the >> understanding the community effects. I mean, we got a lot of people passing through. >> Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And I there's a lot of kind of traffic studies that have been done too, certainly with uh a number of the recent developments in the area too that we can really kind of lean into and understand what some of their findings are. And we've had the opportunity to work on a few of those uh with the with Rogers um within our traffic group. So, we've got a pretty good handle, I think, on what what some of those numbers are telling us. Rogers is directly connected to, you know, the infra uh interstate system. Yes. And one of the very few communities that does not have public transportation. >> Um will that be looked at? >> Well, that really >> yes and no. So, we will address what some of those transit multimodal options are. There's certainly policies in place where there just isn't any investment of having regular route transit serving this area. There's been more work done on microtransit and where there's opportunities for microtransit expansion and that's a little bit more of a kind of a robust kind of dialeride system if you will. That's kind of a general way to put it where there are smaller kind of vans that are providing people um pickup services to get them to uh other transit regular transit routes as well you know Maple Grove Transit Center certain things like that. So that'll be a new piece that will get wrapped into that transportation chapter is just where the region's going with some of their transit planning. >> Yeah, I'd like to see something in the survey um as to what what percentage of people use uh public transportation. I've worked downtown at times and have gone to Maple Grove or I've taken the Northstar in the past. Um but there's, you know, really few options and and driving is can be another another 20 minutes on your commute if >> Yeah. Oh, appreciate that input. >> So, one thing too is um with the freeway splitting the town kind of in half, >> there's can be some challenges on feeling that connection between north and south. >> Okay. Yep. Yeah. I think that's something we've heard, you know, early on, right? That's the interstates a it's a barrier. And so even when we start to think about the multimmoal aspect and how people move throughout the community, how do we get from the north side to the south side? So back to some of those newer requirements around focusing more on the pedestrian connections, we can start to look a little bit more closely at what some of those barriers are and where some of those investment needs may need to happen to help overcome that walkability, bikeability um for all ages abilities over these bigger barriers in the community. Yeah, I'm glad council member brought that up because uh Maple Grove I think has somebody correct me eight nine 10 pedestrian dedicated tunnel or bridges. Uh Rogers was going to try to bring money together from city, I think the interstate uh and then county for one bridge, but it would be nice to have one formal um two might be a pipe dream >> crossings [clears throat] in this space. So yeah, >> they are very expensive. >> They're they're expensive. It'd be nice for the county to know that Rogers is here. >> Yeah. once in a while and not just treat it as a tertiary city. So, yeah. Well, I'll add real quick the the the funding pot that the Metropol Council uses to allocate dollars uh competitive grant program toward called regional solicitation goes um to a number of multimodal projects in need. So, you know, we can look at kind of that program and how we can best identify some projects we might want to put in the comp plan that could, you know, score well. So, yeah, without getting in nerding out about it, I think there's opportunities where we want to identify where there's some improvements and investments that need to happen and try to align that with some funding sources. So once it's in your comp plan, you know that it's a priority and helps tell a better story than when you're applying for some of these dollars in the future. And that could go toward the next big thing, right? Rise vision with Rogers kind of in tandem with that. Yeah. So >> Yeah. Well, with the recent adoption of the downtown plan, we will integrate that right into to this uh comp plan update. And then we'll look at revisiting some of the other focus areas that were in the plan as well. Yes. Yep. So, the the update uh needs to be done and adopted by the end of 2028. Um there's always extensions that can be granted, but we don't want to we want to avoid that. So our goal is to really get through the next 18 months um to update this. >> From your first experience with these, what are the biggest challenges of getting through the process today? Well, my honest opinion, having gone through several cycles of this, I think what some of the challenges are is really just making sure we're interpreting all the new requirements and really working closely with Metropolitan Council on what their expectations are to check those boxes. That tends to be where a lot of energy is put. So, we within our process, we're always having regular updates and checkpoints with uh staff at the Metall Council to make sure we're really making checking all those boxes. uh cuz when we do give them the opportunity to review it, we don't want that to come back and say that's incomplete, that's incomplete. Um so I think that's uh where we spend most of our time where some of the challenges are. Otherwise, I think having a process that we've laid out where we're really leaning into planning commission conversations, uh having that community engagement really helps make sure that you are all buying into this plan and feel comfortable with it. So when we are in front of you in 18 months for that adoption, it hopefully goes very smoothly. >> Any further anything further here? >> Nothing for me. So thank you for your time, >> commissioners. Well, we'll move on to the uh public hearing consideration of a site plan variance request for a retail center at 21 355 136th Avenue. Thank you, Mr. Chair and commission members. I'm going to quick pull up presentation. All right. Uh, as mentioned, the item before you is consideration of a site plan and variance request for a retail center at 136 and Rogers Drive. Um, this is the lot that is directly adjacent to the Maynard's restaurant. Um, this is currently owned by the city. About a year ago, we entered into a purchase agreement with Cloier Properties for the development of what you're seeing in front of you tonight. Uh right now it's comprised of two different parcels that are combined about 1.31 acres. In parenthesis, you'll see additional land to be added. I'll detail that on the next slide. Uh it's currently zoned RC, which is our regional employment center and guided as commercial. Um it's been vacant since its inception. It's never been developed. The city acquired it uh in the early 2000s with the intent of potentially having that as a liquor store. it was deemed that that was not going to be a site for a liquor store and as such the city um moved forward with entering into a purchase agreement and soliciting offers for the site. Uh the proposed use is a multi-tenant commercial building. Um their site plan identified a couple quick service restaurants, takeout and retail uses. Some of the adjacent uses include multi-tenant in a movie theater to the east. Financial is 21st century bank and multi-tenant to the north. Uh storm water ponding directly to the south. That's a mix of both city and mindot uh stormwater as well as what is the Dairy Queen and the Take Five building which has Dave's Hot Chicken and Crispen Green. And then to the west being Maynard's restaurant. Uh so the area of land to be added is down the east side of the property. Uh previously there was a roadway realignment and as such we have quite a bit of excess right of way that is in that space. Uh so the planning commission doesn't have to act on vacations. Um but this is just for your awareness there's going as part of this there's a request to vacate that right away to bring the property lines to more what they should be and not have a significant amount of excess rightway in that location. So, a little on-site plan itself. Uh, it's approximately 9,100 foot building anticipated to be four tenants. Two access points. One would be on the frontage road and one on 136th. Uh, so the north and south sides. The front would face the Rogers Drive intersection where it curves and um so facing towards the movie theater. Um there would be a drive-thru on the southern um tenant space with the stacking going around the back side of it. So you'd have two-way traffic around the north, east, and south side and then oneway traffic on the west side. Um there's a also a small patio space for the restaurant that would be on the north end. And in total, there's 93 parking stalls proposed throughout which would all be shared. um since they are multiple tenants. Looking at the setbacks and zoning, it exceeds the building setbacks as we have defined in our code. Uh parking setbacks, this is within the corridor overlay district. So it calls for 20 ft. That is what the variance request is in regards to. Uh the maximum building height is at 22 feet which is under the maximum height we have for the RC district. And this site is part of our regional storm water system. So it is served via regional storm which happens to be that pond that's just to the south. Uh for the landscaping most of the landscaping proposed around the edges of the building um with a mix of overstory and evergreen trees, shrubs and arborites. Um this site is currently all just grass. So there are no trees being removed as part of this proposal. So any new tree, shrub, um would all be just new to the site. Uh a little on the renderings, it's a mix of stone, brick, and ephus primarily with glazing. Um so it really is hitting the corridor standards to a te one of the um examples that the um applicant has provided. And when we went through the purchase agreement, if you're familiar with the building that's adjacent to Burk and Bourbon and Maple Grove that has Paris Baguette and a few pancheros, uh the developer is the one who actually completed that building. So, it's really meant to have a lot of the same features that that building presents. And here are some just additional renderings, the more 3D renderings to give a good example of what the building would look like. Uh so for the variance request, they are requesting a um variance from the 20- foot parking setback to allow for 10ft parking setback on the north and south side and then zero uh feet on the east side. Uh looking at some of the reasoning, there is regional storm water availability. The effective setbacks with the right of way provide that from the back of the curb to the um actual pavement it's going to be over 20 ft in all areas. So still achieving that green space um from the parking lot to the actual roadways. Um it with the vacation it does have a fairly unique property shape on the east side. Um it's one of the few properties that's has three fronts. So it actually has uh about streets on three of the different sides matches Scott plan goals and then another one it's very similar to what you see around. So if you look at the Maynard's restaurant um the strip mall to the east um Dairy Queen Take Five, they're all under the 10-ft setback from their parking lots. I'm not going to read through these, but uh obvious we just went through the process of updating our variance code. So there's state requirements for variance review criteria. Um so as mentioned since this is has a variance request, there is a public hearing component to it. Um and there is a recommended action and a potential resolution uh included in your packet. And with that, I'll stand for any questions from staff. And before I open the public hearing, do you have any questions about the staff report and recommendations? I I hate to ask but traffic study if we have four tenants you have fast food you have casual then you have Dairy Queen you have Maynards that intersection is very narrow from is it what's the road right adjacent to Dairy Queen Rogers drive that's Rogers drive so there's that left so just a question of what it does to the sighteline if we allow a zero foot variance there. Um that's a two-lane road, right? Um that you're turning onto. So traffic both ways. Um looking seriously at that intersection and the additional traffic flow that that might cause. Have you looked at that already? >> Yeah, Mr. Chair and Commission members, we don't require a traffic study as part of land use proposals. These are collector roads that surround the uh proposed development in that intersection that you're mentioning that turn that's the area that's going to be vacated. So the sight line should stay pretty consistent. It's on the bottom of your image that you see on the screen right now. Um so that area is not going to be part of the actual built building side of it. So >> yeah, >> and impact sight lines for that intersection, >> landscaping or anything there or >> landscaping, but it's mostly going to be smaller in nature. And you're still when you see this curb line to the property line, there's still a 20 foot plus difference from that. >> Yeah. And there's no sidewalk or anything there. >> Um just so that we're aware of it with with a variance because of that collector road there. It collects a lot of traffic at various times. >> Yep. Mr. Chair and Commission, I should also note the variance request is hits a zero foot on that side, but it's really only two small points where it kind of hits out here. Actually, I don't know if you can see my cursor right here and here. So, these are the only two spots that are actually zero. The rest is significantly larger than zero. It kind of grows as it gets more towards the center. >> [clears throat] >> I have a question. The variance itself, does it affect the It looks like it does. Does it How many parking spaces does it affect or does it affect it at all? Six parking. >> Yeah, it looks appears to be about six. So, the reason why there is a variance request is to ensure that there is adequate parking throughout the site. um without that variance request it would take out >> approximately >> that amount of >> I mean I know the some of the other restaurants well Maynards I know there's can be parking issues over there so the more the marrier I think on parking so that's why I ask >> will it connect to the mayor's parking lot at all or will be completely separate >> Mr. trans commission. It'll be completely separate. Um part of that it would be obviously two separate ownership groups. Um part of that was from a staff direction. There are some very large evergreen trees that run that property side. Um which would be great to preserve if we can. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, it's and there is quite a great change. Mr. Chair and Commission, not at this time. Um, as you get even further in that site, there are no further trail connections going to the north. Um, really what we're going to especially even if you get past the next direct next site, then you get to the cemetery, which there are no trails there. Um really what we're going to be looking at is really trying to focus that on the east side because that's where you're going to have the further trails to and kind of easiest path to get to the schools too and the park. So that's really where we're going to focus our trail efforts as part of this comp plan and how Lance talked about the pedestrian piece. >> Personally, I'd like to see a connection to this site itself and I don't necessarily need to say a regional trail, but you know, >> people will be coming here by foot. >> Yeah. Yeah. And they need a safe way to get to the balloon. >> Yeah, I second that. Um, and I these aren't I understand what we're looking at with the the site plan itself perhaps, but looking at that in consideration with it. Um, if you move that crosswalk down with public works, yeah, there's traffic. You have the movie theater there. You have kind of a teenage population of kids walking. So, I think that's probably why that crosswalk came about. I don't know where they walked to on that other side. There's not a trail like you say, but it at least gives somebody a safer passage over Main Street frontage road there. >> Yeah, there there is a sidewalk on the east side of um RERS Drive where it bumps down there, but yeah, I'm not sure where the crosswalk was originally intended for with this one. Um but we can potentially look to make an internal connection in the site. That's all Rogers streets, correct? >> Correct. Yeah. So, I think Yeah, just not removing a crosswalk from a major collector road would be a positive with any change right within those intersections. So, >> yeah, Mr. sharing commission. We'll we'll have to um explore it as it comes alo down to if there's any storm water requirements above and beyond the regional, it would likely be placed in that area that's to be vacated. Um so we'll just have to explore that. Um but I do I have noted that. >> Speaking of storm water, when the city controlled and MDOT controlled storm water treatment facility, BMP, um are they buying credits or anything like that to use that facility? >> Uh Mr. chair and commission, there would not be the need to buy credits. Um, so if you're looking at this image that's on your screen, this eastern side one is a city one. Um, and this western one is mostly MINDOT. There's kind of a weird line throughout. So, it's a mix of both. Um, but back in I want to say 2013, there was a large study done for this general area that identified all the parcels that would go into that regional system. this of being of which which had implied impervious surface coverages for each parcel um when it was built out. So it had an anticipation of up to 85% impervious for the entire area. So this would be still below it. >> This this particular project is less than uh 85% or less impervious. >> Correct. Okay. Thank you. And >> that's districtwide for that entire area. But >> this project too meets density requirements. Yeah, mostly with the area that would be vacated to hit that open public hearing. Anyone who wish to speak the audience, we're online. see in the chat here. I've got uh nobody here raising their hand. So, I will close the public hearing. >> Mr. Chair and Commissioner, I should have mentioned the applicant is here tonight, too. In case you did want to hear from them at all. >> Well, any further discussion? Would you like to put it to a motion? Good. >> Is it the one on the screen right there? >> Yeah, it's the middle one. Y >> I'll move to recommend approval of resolution 202649 approving the site plan and variance request for retail center at 2135536th Avenue. >> I'll second it please. >> Motion and we got a second. All those in favor say I. I post Uh yeah, I can quick go through it. So last meeting we had North Preserve second edition preliminary plat which was for the additional parcel that was getting added in. Um that item went to council on April 14th and was approved. We had a few code amendments including the variances, accessory, structures, and fences. U those were all approved on April 14th by the council. Uh the main street master plan, um that was adopted by the council on April 14th as well. Um the cannabis business, uh we had that discussion about that and the measuring of uh the buffer requirements. Uh the city council um approved those amendments based on the planning commission recommendation for how to measure that. And then Hawkins Drive, they did provide feedback on that senior living concept. I'm not sure if you've heard from the applicant on what their next steps would be. I haven't heard yet where I think we're they're looking at um working with the nearby residents to resolve any issues or mitigate any issues they have before coming back with the full submitt. >> And then the only other two items we have I put update on Little Caesars which went through the process in 2025. They are no longer moving forward on that lot. Um, Little Caesars had to change corporate structure of how they would lay out their building. Um, so as such, they didn't have a timing of when they would close and begin and would likely have to rego through all site plan process. So instead of continuing through that path, we're opening it up to additional offers. If they get ready in time and want to continue on the light site, they'll have to reenter into a new purchase agreement. Um the RayJ's development is still moving forward. They're working through a few different uh small items, but um that one's tracking forward and good progress and there's potentially some exciting changes that I hope will be coming before the planning commission with that one here pretty soon. And then the last item, the Northdale light industrial, which came before planning commission in 2024 and 2025, um right at the Crow River. So, Northdale at where it dead ends in right at the crow. Um, they're going to be starting construction here in the next probably one to two weeks with grading for that site. >> Yep. So, that that's a phase development. So, buildings A and B which total 447,000 square feet. Um, they'll be pulling the permits for both. >> There was some push back from residents on the west side. Which phase will be starting first? >> It's the two buildings. So they that are the southernmost. So none of the truck docks will be visible. The third one is to the northeast. That will be the last phase. Um but through the process of their approvals, the developer has committed to plantings as soon as they can. Um so they will be looking to do that. We had quite an extensive discussion on lighting. Um, and I can't remember if that was incorporated when it came to planning commission or after, but they've reduced the lighting heights on that western side. So, we're working through all those process. And I did inform all the neighbors last week via email that this project was starting as well. >> Thank you for standing [clears throat] up. Appreciate I so move. >> Second second. All those in favor I