“Um, next on the um item agenda tonight is old business and public hearing and there are none.”

Transitioning to the 'Other Items' section.

“Um, yes, that was a pun. I am trying to uh bring forward some of this because I do want to celebrate what and recognize what the planning commission has done over the year, what uh how that compares to past years and recognize the amount of work and deliberations and how city council takes those deliberations and uses them when they make their final decisions on these projects because I think it's a really important thing for the planning commission to see.”

Explaining the purpose of reintroducing the annual report.

“Uh, the meeting minutes from May 18th. Uh, a planning commission report and recommendation of approval for a zoning text amendment to chapter 950 and another one for to chapter 936 which is the tree preservation and general zoning district provisions.”

Summarizing the items on the consent agenda.

“Um, so the first piece is that I really want to highlight this was our first crack at this in six, seven, eight years kind of thing. And so, some of the terminology we want to refine a little bit closer to better reflect. Um, for example, development applications may be uh uh refined into what the individual actions within an application might be. So when I'm when we say that we received 12 total applications, there might be 29 different actions, a variance, a PUD amendment, a PUD uh general plan, a etc. within that. So you might need a a variance and a conditional use permit and etc. within the same application. There are some applications uh such as the Excel Energy monopole that we went through that was simply a single application conditional use permit for the use. Uh there may be design deviations that need to be baked into that. Some of the more complex projects that you've seen 200 lake uh Waler Lamborghini as examples have quite a few actions within them sometimes as much as up to six seven eight.”

Explaining the distinction between applications and actions.

“In 2025, the planning commission saw 29 development applications or development uh uh review is what I think I'm going to uh start trying to refer to it for the remainder of this presentation. Uh, you reviewed 29 individual actions that needed to be uh under the planning commission's perview and had different criteria for each of them. Those were contained within 12 different full applications or 12 different sites. They're broken out in this table here with variances being uh by and far the largest that you see forward coming forward. That's because a lot of times our single family properties are applying just for variances of which we had three or four just for fences last year. And then you're also getting variances on things like walls or Lamborghini or other larger projects as well. So they compound and it's why you're seeing that one is probably the most significant one that the planning commission reviews and why you're so familiar with those criteria.”

Detailing the number of development reviews and actions in 2025.

“Uh, the number of recommendations for denial was uh total five. So we are uh at a a pretty good level of we're certainly approving more of the individual application requests than we are uh moving forward with recommendations of denial.”

Reporting on the approval versus denial rates for planning commission recommendations.

“Uh, the nomenclature where uh we wanted to make special uh make the commission specifically aware of is that city council uh supported the recommendation of denial for the massing breaks, even if they did so in a slightly different manner than the planning commission did. So, if you recall, staff had helped guide what our interpretation of the massing breaks were going to be. Uh, we had staff had had three massing breaks versus two, and then council said they needed to be full massing breaks. Well, as it as it works out, uh, council still supported the action that planning commission took. So while I know that some concern had been expressed for a little while on whether city council was utilizing a lot of the work from the planning commission, I think that it was foundational in their decision making and I think these records will help show it.”

Addressing how City Council's decisions aligned with Planning Commission recommendations on the 200 Lake Street project.

“Uh, this was the second variance applied for on this property for the same use, wanting to go down from 50% retail or commercial uh service commercial uses and uh the planning commission um unanimously actually recommended denial on this one and city council also followed suit.”

Explaining the denial of the variance for 401 Lake Street East (brick and linen).

“Um, and what uh the design deviations were specifically for is where HVAC could be located. So, they were very cognizant of what the requirements were. However, older buildings, new design, tighter sites, not wanting to take out trees led to some design deviations to allow for some rooftop mechanical, but they were fully screened.”

Describing the design deviations for The Retreat project.

“Um, and the other reason is I wanted to be able to explain the denial approval piece of this one. Once uh planning commission had brought forward their recommendation of approval that was under the current code standards and where city council had expressed concern was, do our current code standards meet what we're wanting to see? And so we brought back some of those text amendments you saw and uh revised the code. And then once that had been done, city council saw the project again and uh was able to approve that final plat. So the text amendments were in between that though, but your work and your concerns and the uh concerns being expressed by the commission help guide the city council through that process and decision-making. Um, they referred to it quite often.”

Explaining the approval process for the 565 residential development, involving text amendments.

“Um, ultimately this was what the withdrawn application, one of the reasons why I wanted to highlight it. They brought this forward more than once to the planning commission and ultimately withdrew on both occasions uh due to your recommendation. So you were able to uh through your guidance say we don't feel like this use fits and by the time city council was at review uh that did not proceed forward uh based upon your recommendation. And I I wanted to make sure that I highlighted this project because it really highlights how valued your opinion is, not only by the city council and staff, but I think it's foundational to those applicants that listen.”

Detailing the withdrawal of the Excel Energy monopole application due to Planning Commission recommendations.

“I knew they needed to find a different home.”

Responding to a question about the Excel Energy monopole project's relocation.

“Um, but those years we don't have full assessment on in here. So actually I'm going to skip right down to the table here. Um, because I while I'm a visual uh learner I I really like this figure three uh or I'm sorry figure four table and it shows that we had uh slightly more applications not very many in terms of the 10 12 but in those 12 we had a lot of the development application requests and that's what we're seeing in 2026 as well. One of the real oddities to 2025 is that when you look at when the applications came in, the first third of our year saw all but like four applications. So we were heavily loaded from January till about uh April May time frame. We got a few in June and then they started to trickle off. Um, and I think that's what we saw into the uh beginning of 2026 as well. So we met semi-frequently because staff brought forward some of the text amendments and things of that nature. And we saw some of the same projects more than one time, but the actual applications were very front-loaded into 2020 or in 2025. In 2024, they were spread out uh largely evenly throughout the year. And as you go back to 2023, this is where it makes it puts us a little bit to shame in that we had uh 24 applications at 2023. And that's that's the full application with all the actions that is actually standard for the metro region when you look around. There was so much pent-up demand from 2122 and these projects take time to come forward that 23 was a bumper year for most communities and in those years planning commission is going to be busy and you guys did great work. Um, we will look at trying to provide some of that compilation in uh future years uh for greater detail, but it'll likely be in a table like this rather than going through the individual projects of that nature. 2022 only saw 12 applications. So again, we went back down to a more standard application level and 2020 and 2021 were very, very odd years that by the tail end of 2020, we had very few applications. So that's where that one becomes an outlier and not very useful in the measuring of the planning commission's workload.”

Comparing application numbers and trends across different years.

“I do like this table as it shows that we have a fair amount of residential projects come forward. Um, that trend is going to continue with plats actually coming forward. You're going to see residential plat applications more and more right now and they are going to be some of the more difficult ones in some cases that you've already seen in 2026. They are infill developments and they are spurred by the property values that you're seeing in Weisetta. If you can meet minimum lat standards, people are going to want to subdivide. Um, and I think that trend is going to continue and you're going to start seeing more of it. Additionally, what you're going to start seeing, um, and I actually just said to a neighborhood group that we were meeting with prior to this meeting, you're going to start seeing some infill developments that may not need to come before planning commission and city council. Your difficult lots with weird grades or uh odd configurations of wetland, shoreland, etc. are going to start coming forward. Those lots that have sat for sale for just slightly too long, you're going to see the demo and a building permit issued on. And some of that disruption to the neighborhood is difficult and we understand it. And I encourage the planning commission and the public to in general reach out to us, let us know where there are issues so that we can uh respond to them and uh try to correct any behaviors that we need to. That's slightly out of the planning commission perview, but I do want to make sure because I've I hear you that a lot of the public comes to you as uh a comfortable person to speak with about city concerns. And so feel free to refer those to us in the community development department. We'll take it from there. If a code enforcement complaint is found, we open a case. The piece that I want to make sure you're all aware of is once a code enforcement case is open, we are not reporting on status. We just move forward with a code enforcement case until uh completion. In terms of the platting and things of that nature, some of the projects will be easier than others. Um, but I do think we are going to see more of those as you go forward.”

Discussing trends in residential development, infill projects, and the role of code enforcement.

“Chair, excellent point. Those are the types of cases that I love to bring forward when we have a track record of variances that are regularly granted when an application comes forward. That is the type that then staff would bring forward a potentially work session or or workshop from city council, see whether they want us working on that. Is this something pressing? And then if so, we would start that work and bring it forward when it would be convenient for a cleanup. There are cases and I'm I'm going to uh try to stay out of bringing up a specific case, but when they're in the front yard, that is going to be a different uh case than what it would just be the sideyard that's street side. Um, there are significant number of properties in Weisetta where it would be applicable for a variance for a taller fence in the front yard. However, I don't know that we would want to allow a taller fence in the front yard when there isn't something special like the highway or other types of things. And I think that's an excellent case for a variance versus the opacity between the front of the house and the back of the house which is where we currently have requirements. So that the commission is where we have opacity requirements and height requirement for when you're in front of the house. We have requirements from the front of the house to the back of the house and then the back of the house to the rear yard. It is one of the more unique aspects of our code. However, it was something that city council spent some pretty considerable time discussing in years past. Um, without a significant number of cases coming forward where variances are routinely granted, staff is not going to proactively bring that forward. But we've got a couple now that we could start looking at the front yard ones, of which there were two last year. I think we would need to be careful because otherwise people could put in 100% opaque sixyard or six foot tall fences in the front yard and that starts to look more less residential and more um institutional or other commercial in nature. So great question. as we see trends moving forward with that planner nerd in me loves bringing those forward. Don't worry, I will find them.”

Responding to a question about fence ordinances and variances.

“Next item, uh, meeting schedule and development activities.”

Introducing the next agenda item.

“Right now, I don't have something set up for the agenda. So, we may be cancelling that meeting. We have had four applications declared incomplete. So, we have a backlog coming forward. be aware. Um, it means summer meetings may end up being a thing towards the tail end. Um, but for the moment uh we want to make sure you have all the material materials you need for your review when they come forward.”

Discussing potential cancellation of the next Planning Commission meeting due to incomplete applications.

“Uh, Haley was doing her best from my notes. My handwriting is poor. Uh essentially she uh had reported that the harbors of Weisetta or Cantisimo, that property on the northeast side right up against the border uh was uh had extensions out to late July. They do have uh extension into July, but they need to apply uh essentially in early June here in order to bring that forward. and they need to come forward to city council to explain why they would need an additional extension or they need to move forward with their application and building permit and uh uh signed development agreement. So they're right on the cusp of their approvals lapsing. The other one that was mentioned was moments and she had thought that that was also in July. That was actually late September. So it's September 26th. So they have some time. However, that property has gone into receiverhip. I don't anticipate that we're going to be seeing anything on it. It would be another one that since we don't have a code enforcement case currently, I can speak to the fact that we will have code enforcement on that property. We've gotten a number of reports. So, we we've done our assessment. We will move forward and any violations would be noted, but as I noted earlier, we won't have updates on what those code enforcement pieces would be.”

Correcting information about development activity timelines for 'Harbors of Weisetta' and 'Moments'.

“Other than that, there aren't significant changes. I would like to note that while people are moving into Wells Fargo, they're also at 90% leased already. So, that's a pretty significant feat for that site. The town homes are anticipated to open uh or be available as they come online late June, early July. You'll start seeing final site work hopefully by the end of the summer.”

Providing an update on the Wells Fargo development.