Welcome to the April 7th, 2025 meeting of the Weisetta Planning Commission. I hereby call the meeting to order. My name is Blake Cameron and I am chair of the planning commission. I have just a few words about how to participate in this meeting in this evening's meeting. Um, if you'd like to participate online, you can join the team's meeting with the with the credentials that have been provided. Members of the public may also attend this meeting um in person or uh watch or listen remotely by viewing the meeting on the channel 8 WCTV and at the city's website at www.wisetta.orgwv. Public comment during the forum and/or public hearing portions of the meeting may be provided in person at the meeting in advance or by logging into the team's call and raising your hand during the public hearing. When your name is called, you will be seen and heard in our council chambers and on the cable channel. You will be asked to unmute and then you may begin your comment. All public comments must include your full name and address. The city encourages comments or questions about items on the agenda and when possible requests that you submit them in advance by emailing public comment at wisetta.org, calling city staff at 95244-5323 or mailing Weisetta City Hall at 600 Ray Street East Minnesota 55391. Attention public comment. Next on the agenda tonight is a roll call. Director Sharp, could you please call roll? Thank you, Chair. Commissioner Ankeny here. Commissioner Planton here. Commissioner Severson here. Commissioner El here. Commissioner Vanly here. Chair Cameron here. Thank you. Uh, next on the agenda is the approval of tonight's meeting agenda. Does anyone have any questions or proposed changes to the agenda? None from staff chair. Perfect. Thank you. Um, may I have an a motion to approve the agenda as presented? Motion to approve. Elg. Thank you, Commissioner El. Second. Thank you, Commissioner Anthony. Further discussion. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose say nay. Uh the eyes have it. The motion passes and the agenda is approved. Next on the agenda is the approval of our consent agenda. This evening's consent agenda consists of two items. The approval of the meeting minutes for March 24th and the approval of the report and recommendation of approval for a PUD concept and general plans uh at 200 Lake Street and assorted other pieces. Um, does any commissioner have any questions or comments on any item on the consent agenda or wish to pull an item for separate discussion or action? Chair, um, I would like to pull um, B, the approval and report recommendation of the planned unit development. Okay. From our consent agenda, we can do that. Anybody else? Um, so we'll just take a vote then on approval of the meeting minutes. And we will um yeah can we understand why yeah do it at this time or if we're going to move it to further down the um agenda why you wanted to pull it is that what you're asking yes or do we move this to the agenda after the public hearing do we move this to the agenda after the public hearing or would would you like us to address that now uh chair you have the discretion to put this on the agenda where you'd like. I think you had a request to pull it from the consent. Um, you could take a a vote on what's left on the consent. Um, but maybe to address Commissioner Alex's question, uh, Commissioner Planted could say briefly why and then you could just indicate where generally that's taken up right after the consent. Um, unless you want to move it later in the evening. You just want to give a 30 second why you wanted to pull that item from the consent. Yeah, I'd like to have further discussions about our approval. based on the massing breaks. And just to make sure, I have a couple comments um that I'd like to add with my vote of approval for that recommendation and just have that on the record um for this approval. Second. Okay. Um let's um we're going to kick that to number six uh item number seven and move seven and eight down to eight and nine respectively. So, we'll move that after the public hearing. So, uh what I would like to do though is take a um take a vote on approval of the meeting minutes for March 24th. That good? Yes. Okay. Um can I have a motion to approve the meeting minutes for March 24th? So moved. Plantin second. Ankeny. Thank you. All those in favor say I. I. I I opposed. Nay. Eyes have it. And the motion passes. And the meeting minutes from March 24th, 2025 are approved. Um, hold on. I got to adjust my U. Next on the agenda is old business items. Do we have any old business items, Director Sharp? Chair? No, we do not. I uh will be revising future agendas. I didn't know to remove sections. It's all good. Out of practice I was familiar. No problem. Um okay. So then next on the agenda uh this evening is the um public hearing. Uh we have one item on the public hearing which is 701 Central Avenue. Um we're going to start that off with a staff presentation. Um then we'll go to the applicant presentation and then we'll have the public hearing portion. So commission consultant Weber, is this you this evening? It is chair. Thank you. Perfect. Thanks chair and planning commission. So the request here tonight is for a monopole that will include um I think I made an error there. It's a private PTE uh tower. Um, it's the type of antenna they're having for Excel to communicate with their equipment in this area of the West Metro. Uh, the owner is Excel Energy. Uh, the applicant is the individual uh from Excel that's here to um represent the application. So, the project location, this is uh right on the border of Weisetta and Plymouth. Uh so central well actually let me I'll go into more detail in the location in two slides here but uh generally you could see the elementary school cross street and loose line trail running um northeast to southwest uh along the border of that um that substation. The property is zoned R3 uh single and two family residential district. In the comprehensive plan, it is guided for semi-public/private due to it being a utility. Here's a little bit more of a closeup of um the substation and the surrounding properties. So the the border between Plymouth and Weisetta basically runs along the south uh side of the loose line state trail and then runs generally through the middle of Central Avenue. So across Central Avenue to the east is Plymouth. Uh loose line trail and north is Plymouth. Weisetta is basically south and southwest of this uh particular site. You could see uh Harmony Circle there in Weisetta in that single family neighborhood. Um Gleon Lake Elementary School uh directly to the east and then uh additional single family homes to the north and northeast in Plymouth. Uh so here's a view from the street. Um behind most that equipment is a uh existing shield pole that will be removed and and XL is proposed to replace it with the monopole. We'll get into more detail in the next few slides about that detail. So uh the process to approve this 140 foot private monopole communications device is the request for a conditional use permit. So the existing conditions uh the property there today contains the substation uh actually contains um uh connecting equipment to a substation in Madina and two separate substations in Plymouth. So, this substation takes the high voltage um transmission line that's along the loose line trail and converts it to a a medium voltage uh that goes distribution through the community to then substations that or uh sorry, transformers that feed individual homes and businesses. What they're showing there in green is the existing 100 foot tall shield pole and then in red is the 140 foot tall um monopole where they're proposing to install their antennas. So there the site area is about 2.14 acres. Excuse me. Um, so the the red dot uh kind of on the top left hand side of the plan is the the monopole that uh they're proposing to install. It's located uh closest to uh loose line trail. I'll go into some of the stepbacks here in a in a minute, but the specific ordinance requirement or ordinance section that they are um proposing this cadition use permit is city code section 919.02B. And that particular um uh section talks about that there are a number of uninhabitable items that uh may exceed 40 ft in height if a issues permit is issued. One of those listed in that is uh it's listed number five communication reception transmission devices. So that is the conditional use permit that they are requesting tonight. Uh so uh regarding setbacks uh we have the R3 setbacks in the mil middle middle column and then the proposed setbacks in the right hand column. Uh for R3 the front would be uh Central Avenue that would a requirement of 20 ft. Uh they're proposing almost 300 ft for that. Um it happens to be because it's a triangular property. It's actually two sideyards. Um but to the south the requirement uh so that's the Harmony Circle neighborhood the requirement is u 10 feet and they're proposing more than 100 ft and then to the northwest towards the loose line trail the minimum is 10 foot and they're proposing almost 30 feet. So again uh this kit is permit is addressing the structural height. Um we already uh went in detail the code section that uh allows uh a conditional use permit for communication reception transmission devices to exceed more than 40 ft. The monopole itself is proposed at 140 ft. Uh the antennas would be mounted at 131 ft um on that 140t monopole. uh they are not proposing any lighting and the FAA does not require any lighting for a structure this size. Uh so here's an exhibit that Excel provided to uh state why they are requesting the 140 ft in height. Uh on the left hand side is the coverage area shown there kind of in that modive color at 135 ft for the antennas and then on the right is the coverage area at 100 ft. And you can see particularly to the north and to the south uh there's quite a bit more gap at 100 ft than at 135. So, Excel Energy uh is selecting uh locations for these types of devices uh to maximize their coverage. Uh but just stating that not every Excel Energy substation needs a communications monopole because of that coverage area uh covers quite a few uh substations for Excel. question. Not right. Not during the um presentation. We'll have the questions for the are during the public hearing portion. So the um this was published in the Sun Sailor on March 27th. Uh we published uh or we sent out a mailing on March 26 notifying all properties within 500 ft. Um, we've received two public comments to date. Both of those are in at your desks. In summary, um, one of the comments was asking if other Excel locations were considered other than this particular substation. And then the second comment letter asked about both potential health impacts and aesthetic impacts. Um, I would state that I guess in order that you have is probably the first comment letter. That first comment letter was was sent to the school district superintendent, but it was included uh the email addresses of the mayor and and a city staff member. So, that's why we're including that as a comment letter even though it was addressed to the school district superintendent. Uh the engineer has uh reviewed this and has no comments regarding the cup approval. uh should this get approval, the the city engineer and the building official will be revealing the building permit submittal uh for this monopole. So a couple of the primary questions to consider uh these are standards or findings that need to be made uh for the conditional use permit itself is is this proposal compatible with future present and future uses in the area? Would this proposal have a negative effect on the area and will this proposal have positive impact upon existing public services facilities? So the next steps uh uh the commission can ask clarifying questions of staff about this uh presentation. Following that XL the applicant will come up and provide their comments. uh you will have the opportunity to to question the applicant after that and then we'll conduct the public hearing and then finally after the public hearing we can have uh discussion and um hear your decision. Um so the requested action is to after considering the items outlined in this report and holding the public hearing for the application and discussing the request the application the planning commissioner should direct staff to prepare a draft planning commission report and recommendation with appropriate findings reflecting an recommendation on the application for review and adoption at the next planning commission meeting. So with that, I would take any questions that the planning commission may have. Commissioner Severson, do you have any idea of how tall those transmission lines are along the loose line? I think it's probably 220 KB line. Yeah, the uh XL has stated that those are 100 ft tall. 100 ft. 100. Um are there other uh communication towers in the city standalone? Uh there there the water tower happens to be a communication tower by fa by default. There are antennas on the water tower. There is another uh communications tower uh kind of behind the Bose Clinic between Highway 12 and and Bose Clinic. Um there's a a communications tower there. Is that a standalone there? That is a standalone. Yep. How tall is that? That one's 77 feet. 77. Yep. Okay. Isn't there one as well um by um kind of off uh the middle school in that open area? Thought there was one there too. That's kind of big. Yes, you are correct. Right. The middle school. Um right. Along the highway. Yeah, along the highway. I don't know how tall it is. I don't at this particular time either. I will say that um the commercial telecommunications ordinance allows poles to be up to 150 ft. There is actually even a provision that they could be taller than 150 ft if uh the applicant shows that shows that that is needed. But uh the standard for uh commercial telecommunications poles are 150 ft. Is there any benefit to the city having this here? I think it would probably be best for Excel to expand on this, but it's to provide additional reliability to electric service. Okay. Anyone else? Thank you, Planners Weber. Um, thank you, staff. Um, at this time, I'd like to ask the applicant, invite the applicant to come forward and address the commission. Um, please state your name and address for the record. Um, and if you're not, uh, and your role. Um, and we will Did we give them guidance on timeline timing? I did not, but they they didn't bring a presentation. So, perfect. All right. Uh, sounds like everyone can hear me. Uh, hello. My name is George Wiki. I'm with the XL Energy sighting and land rights department. Uh, kind of my role at Excel is to lead the charge when it comes to uh, cadastral and zoning permitting as well as dealing with other kinds of land acquisition like easements and uh, purchasing land. Uh, so yeah, today here I'm kind of want to just uh, build on what Mr. Weber mentioned as far as our project kind of the first main point I want to drive home is that this is not really a tower like the ones that you'd see maybe elsewhere out in the countryside. This is not exactly a cell tower in that traditional sense mostly for the fact that this tower is or excuse me this monopole no one is going to be using it as a cellular network. It will not be used to take or make phone calls. The entire purpose of this uh of this project is to take existing XL Energy meter data that's transmitted of course between said smart meters and substations. The goal is to take it off of the public cellular network. Uh right now this data is being transmitted on I want to say the third or fourth bands of the the cellular spectrum. Uh and uh the goal here is we have leased out uh a separate spectrum uh for the next 30 years uh and that's on the eighth band. So right now all of this customer data that's being transmitted by these smart meters is on the public uh uh cell spectrum. And by taking it off that and moving it to a completely separate band of the cellular spectrum, it's a massive security uh uh upgrade uh not only for you know Excel itself but also the customers uh you know who who who have uh usage data and whatnot from the smart meters transmitted uh over this network. Um I'd also like to maybe go over some of the comments or the questions that were routed to me uh earlier today. Um, let's see. First of which, let's see. I got a lot here that I want to go over. Yeah. First of which, I want to go over the health impact one. Um, so currently this technology, this private LTE technology that we use. Uh, it does use the same kind of radiation as a Wi-Fi FM radio, uh, as well as microwave ovens. However, it's at an even lower power level. Um, this nonionizing radiation as well doesn't have enough energy. It's scientifically proven to damage any DNA or cells. And other organizations such as the FCC, they've limit pretty strict exposure limits on this kind of uh uh radio frequency radiation. Uh, and all of the devices, especially Wi-Fi, FM radio, which I had mentioned previously, uh, these all operate at way below um that that uh, excuse me, uh, at that exposure limit. they all operate well below that. Um so and that that doesn't that that does take into account the uh the distance from uh said uh uh monopole. Uh additionally public health agencies such as the uh WHO and CDC they have not found uh uh excuse me consistent evidence that links uh you know cell signal exposure to negative health effects. Uh I was unable to find myself any peer-reviewed uh double blind studies that also confirm this. Uh so I just want to make that uh especially clear. As far as aesthetics go, this uh monopole will be uh galvanized steel uh and will resemble the other uh structures currently on the site. Essentially like uh Mr. Weber mentioned we are replacing replacing an existing galvanized steel pole and just putting it in with uh another galvanized steel pole that just sits a little bit higher. Additionally, I'm someone who's been to uh a ton of the XL Energy substations all around the metro network here and uh just from my own personal experience, I can attest that this is one of the most uh um screened off uh substation with the trees and whatnot. I know most of these other ones that you know sit essentially next to freeways or next to other subdivisions are completely barren. So in terms of screening measures um you know this one sits far above many of the others. Uh I also want to talk about the question about sighting and why we wisetta in particular. I sure hope I have enough time. But uh to answer the particular question, uh yes, the substation that we have in Plymouth that I think it exists a little bit to the north or to the east, uh I know we have a couple Plymouth substations, but yes, all substations in XL Energy's metro network were uh uh vetted for this, you know, selection process. Uh the main criteria that we kind of look at is again we want to encompass uh as much of the metro area as possible with minimal redundant overlap with our other network or with our other uh monopole locations. Um I was unable to secure a map of the entire network as we have it now because it's also still being built out. Uh but what I can divulge is that we do also have these monopoles set up in Eden Prairie and in Rapids. Um, so to kind of answer that question, if we continue to move for further north into Plymouth, uh, that would create a heck of a lot of, uh, unnecessary redundancy with the network established by the, uh, monopole in Rapids. Similarly, if we move south to, I don't know, Minnetonka or something to that effect, it would get pretty close to the network that we have established uh, by the monopole in Eden Prairie. Uh similarly if we start to move east uh then we start to get into the uh network established by the monopole in St. Paul and then as you start to move west we start to lose a lot of the uh smart meters and whatnot that we want to encompass within this network. I also want to uh this is something that I didn't quite have a chance to discuss with Mr. Weber. Um, but another kind of idea here and that that led us to decide that the Gleon Lake substation on central is the one that we wanted to build this at was just the sheer number of the smart meters and substations that are included within this network. It was the highest number that we could find. Uh, all of the others exp uh uh provided less than desirable results. So again, I just really want to to to hammer some of those uh those points home. And yeah, again, just reiterate that this is more of an upgrade than anything, especially on the cyber security portion. Oh, and before I forget, too, I know that there were questions about colllocating this on possibly, you know, other telecommunications facilities in the city or uh on a water tower and whatnot. Uh I don't make this directive, but uh XL Energy's security team is pretty serious about the kinds of facilities we locate um you know these types of projects in and they say they have to be in uh facilities that are fenced in that meet our existing XL Energy security requirements. Um and the only one in kind of the whole area here that that that makes sense with is uh our substation properties. Um uh yeah, that's that's kind of what I wanted to go over. Um, and I guess I've got a FAQ here to answer some of the questions for the public hearing, so I will pass it back to you. Thank you, George. Um, commissioners, do anybody have any questions for George? Commissioner Severson, can you talk a little bit more about this particular um, monopole and what you have on there and what are you doing with that? what and what's the benefit as Excel customers and as local residents of having this particular piece of equipment? Yeah, sure. So, I kind of want to go back again to the whole security idea and that's really what this is. It's a massive security upgrade to a lot of this customer data and or mostly usage data uh from the smart meters that's that's being transmitted here. So again, establishing this network and making sure that it stretches as far across the metro area as we can really locks down a lot of that, you know, it could be sensitive information that's transmitted and we want to make sure that uh we we you know prevent any possibility of cyber attacks again to not only uh uh reinforce our electric reliability of our network uh but also continue to have a positive relationship uh you know with uh with our customers and you know having being able to understand and having that peace of mind that that kind of information is securely off the grid or off the the public cell network. Uh I feel is is is pretty important to this this project. Be more specific about what customer data you're talking about. Can I phone a friend who's in the audience? Josh, you don't mind? I'd like to introduce uh Josh. He is uh with kind of the IT department uh who's working on this project. Yeah. Josh, uh, step over to the microphone and just introduce yourself for us. Hello, my name is Josh Lang. I'm PLTE lead with XL Energy and kind of addressing like your question with what's being transmitted over this the customer data of the meters whether it's how much of the usage command and control um that's obviously a little bit more on the Excel side than customerf facing. So from our perspective we want to pull all of that off of the customer networks. Um, you might be familiar with Salt Typhoon as of recently with a lot of the commercial carriers being impacted by hacking and everything else from overseas. That's really what the goal of a project like this is is to remove those capabilities. I previously come from working for a cellular carrier in the re in the local area and I can say from my perspective that XL has had a lot more security concern or they've focused a lot more on security than my previous experiences. So from that perspective, this is definitely a lot more secure mindset than if you were colllocating on other towers or other locations. You can, Commissioner Anthony. Um, so you said you have one in Rapids and one in Eden Prairie and then one in Weisetta. Have you thought about keeping the one at in Weisetta at 100 and doing another place 100 so we're not going above the existing? uh kind of the strategy with this project was to again maximize the extent of the network, minimize the redundant kind of uh uh overlapping of the networks um while also building as few of these towers as possible. Um I think also too it was shown up uh a couple slides ago that as you decrease the height of the monopole the strength and effectiveness of the network drops off significantly. Um as you can see with the proposed 135 ft center line height of the antennas. It's a pretty almost a perfect circle. Of course, you know, you got some some small gaps there as you start to reach Delano, but the deterioration of the network is pretty significant as you uh you know, as you uh uh shorten the height of the monopole. You know, if I I just kind of adding on to that, if I look at this map, it doesn't even look like your coverage circle in either instance reaches Rapids. Yeah, that the the the site in Rapids, it it it's in Rapids and then it expands. And there obviously is going to be a little bit of that overlap there, but again, if we were to move to another site, it it would be a whole lot more that would, you know, again, make a whole lot of redundancies. Um but yeah, the Rapids uh t uh the Rapids monopole does fill in those gaps. Understood. But either neither Weisetta is covered in either of these. So what's the benefit to Weisetta to put it in our backyard? Again, the benefit comes to the customers with the additional security enhancements that Josh uh delt into further. Anybody else? Commissioners All right. Um, thank you, George. Thank you, Josh. Appreciate it. Um, commissioners, are there any, uh, follow-up questions for staff? All right. Um, well, perfect. Uh, then I'd like to turn to the public hearing. Um, I'd like to before we begin, I'd like to just make a couple of quick comments. This is a time for us to listen to the community about the requests we're considering. Um, it's an important part of the process that allows us to members of the public to participate and interact with us and share their perspective with us. Um, any questions asked during the public hearing will be held until the end of the hearing and may be addressed as step by staff at that point. With that said, um, I will now open the public hearing. If you wish to speak, um, please come forward to the podium or raise your hand if you're on teams and state your name and address for the record and let us know if you're connected to the applicant in any way or representing anybody else. Um, help David Sorry. Yes, chair. Um, so generally the way the public hearing works, as the chair explained, is it's a chance for the public to provide public comment and perspective about the applicant. If you have questions, you can certainly voice them, but the public hearing is not a Q&A back and forth with the applicant or with staff. So, we'll note your questions. Um, and at the end of the public hearing, uh, the chair can ask us to address those questions. Does that help? Sure. Okay, perfect. Um, so if you'd like to speak, um, feel free to just step up step up to the, uh, uh, podium and and, um, like I said, intro introduce yourself and, um, ask your questions or, uh, share your perspectives. Hi, I'm Lisa Peterson Nelson and I had submitted the question about the alter alternative locations. Um, because the Plymouth location, as you all know, is like 2 miles away from Excuse me, chair. Just make sure we get an address from address. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Go ahead. I'm on Harmony Circle, 655 Harmony Circle, Lisa Peterson Nelson. And the Plymouth location that I think most of you are aware of is the one right on 494 on County Road 6, which is right south of the Home Depot. It's a huge substation. It's been there for a long time. And you know the concern would be that's our neighborhood is residential both on the south side of that substation and on the north side that substation and it doesn't matter where you would walk within Harmony Circle and the people who live right there next to Loose Line would certainly see the height of this pole. I mean there's no question about it. I understand all the technical reasons why Excel may have chose it. But one of the thoughts I had is if I was on the planning commission, I would probably ask Excel to create a simple similar circle diagram showing it in Plymouth, put the monopole at that Plymouth location, see what it looks like because that would be just interesting to me to see what does that coverage look like in Plymouth given that it's a nonresidential area. So, you know, people in excuse me, people on Harmony Circle are worried about their property values, honestly, because if you look at statistics, anytime you put any type of a tall structure in a residential neighborhood, I don't care if it's a power line, I don't care if it's a cell phone tower, you will have people that will come to look at your home when you're trying to sell it and say, "I don't like that." And so, your property values could decline. Who knows what will happen? Weisetta is a very, you know, popular area. Everybody wants to live in Weisetta. They love the community. They love everything about it. But there's no question that residents are concerned about that poll. And we wonder what other places could that pole be. Understanding that we want security, we want all those good things that will come from this new technology, but does it really have to be right there? Does it have to be in that substation? Could it be in the Plymouth substation? Could it be in a in a There's another substation west. It's smaller. I don't remember the name of the road right now. It's out on six. If you go a little further west, it's a very kind of undeveloped area still. It's highly affluent, but there is a substation out there on if you go west on County Road 6. Why not put it there? That would give them even more coverage because it would head into the western BBS that are being developed. So th those are just some of my thoughts when I heard the presentation and thought about um you know the people that live in our neighborhood. I don't have concerns about the health either. That doesn't matter. That I don't think that was important. It's more trying to represent that we don't want to look at that big tall pole that cascades above our tall trees. It's it's just not a good good look and we live right there. So that's my comment. Thank you, [Applause] Lisa. Whoops. Hello, my name is Gil Stasart. I also live on Harmony Circle at 660 Harmony Circle in Weisetta. And I have a few uh concern to build on what Lisa was saying as well. Uh so I will try to not be too repetitive but I just want to address uh what I have on my list over here. So the first one is obviously we already have a power station next to our neighborhood in Weisetta over the past 13 years that I have owned this property. It's increased significantly in size already with them adding additional transformers back in 2016 I believe and then replacing all of the power lines uh that are located on the loose line which now are that really ugly rust color uh that's an eyesore for everybody that works on the loose line. Um, so I think that the neighborhood has been really um forgiven of of uh what uh they've done in the past and I will say uh the service has been a lot better. 13 years ago we used to have electrical outage all the time on Harmony Circle which we don't have anymore. Uh but the main concern comes around the aesthetic impact and why is a small town with a beautiful lake and our neighborhood is small uh beautiful homes. You can't even remove trees unless you get a permit from the city. So adding massive towers that everybody can see uh will definitely uh in my opinion uh be uh a negative for the the city in its own. Um it it would be um let me see sorry. Um anyways just just about that uh for for it the elf concern I'm not uh really uh concerned about it either but uh I did hear from uh the school that they had been communicated last week which unfortunately was in the middle of spring break. So nobody was able to receive the communication from Excel Energy until this morning. Uh which is why the school is not represented. But I do believe that because this antenna is going to be located within 150 ft of the playgrounds of the school, the parents should be given the opportunity to weigh in on this issue as well if they wanted to decide to uh come to a public hearing if we have another one. Uh and then finally, the alternate the the alternate solution as well like Lisa uh mentioned. Um I did actually uh do can I come and give a packet to you? Is that okay to approach? Sure. All right. So before I come uh I did uh circle that station that's just down the tree down the loose line as well. And I'm not an expert, so I'm not going to say that I circled it perfectly, but I took the approximate same dimension than this little pink uh uh circle up there, and I put it uh on the other side that's right on the street. And I just wanted to share that with you so you can see uh the difference, which is very minimal. Thank you. So, if you look at page two of the uh paper I just gave you, uh it's basically what you see up there on the the slide. And then page three is me taking the substation right down the street and doing the same uh estimate which I'm sure is not accurate uh to the precision of what Excel Energy would do. But now that I have the information that they have a subst that they have a substation with that monopol in Rapids, one in Eden Prairie and one in St. Paul, I really have a hard time seeing how the entire area wouldn't be covered if we put the substation uh in Plymouth in that other area. Uh and then finally uh also um to address the same uh topic as Lisa on the economic impact. So I do have another packet to uh share with you. It's a study that was conducted in Georgia. So it's not a YA example, but I couldn't find one of those right before COVID. Uh and the study was done uh with a number of homes around the the city over there. and they've uh come to a conclusion that uh if your house is located within 1,500 ft of one of these uh towers, the value of your house, and I will give you these packets as well, in average falls down by 7.6%. So, uh, if you look at these homes that are selling, you know, between five and $700,000 this year, that's a significant amount of money that, uh, the homeowners would be losing, uh, because of this antenna. So, uh, thus the reason why they are always located in commercial uh, environment. I was unable to find an example uh of one of these antenna in the city where it was located in a residential area such as this one. When you look at that 1,500 uh feet uh around the where the antenna would be located, it's couple hundred ohms that would be affected and their value would decrease because of that. So I will uh share this packet on my way out. But anyways, as you um kind of uh talk and decide if you want to move forward uh with this proposal, uh I would ask for a couple things. So the first one is to give the school and parents the opportunity to voice their opinion if they decide to because they weren't able to uh during spring break. And then also ask yourself, is this something that you want? And why is that? We already have one that's 100 foot tall. Why do we need a taller one? Thank you. Thank you, Jill. Sorry, that's me. Thanks. Thank you. I'm Mike Katikio from 17805 4th Avenue North. It's just to the north side of this in Plymouth. Um question I guess to the into the blind here for XL and for you to probably already thought about what properties are within 140 or whatever feet it would be would be affected by this if the pole fell. Seems like the uh windmill question a few years ago was you can't build it because it'll fall outside your property. What's it look like from the neighborhoods from the north and northwest which is our neighborhoods going to be an isore? And is this the highest elevation of a site that they own that they can build into and maybe more rural? So this thing is going to be 40% taller than what's already there. It's almost another half taller. You think there's going to never be a light. You think there's never going to be another antenna on there. and they're not going to upgrade the interaction that goes on out of that poll. I think you're naive if you don't think it's going to get upgraded. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. Hello. Thank you for holding this hearing. It's it was informative to hear from Excel. Uh although I I did hear a few gaps in this person's knowledge about where the other substations were located around the area. But I simply want to echo Let me interrupt you real quick. Uh can you introduce yourself? First name, last name, and uh Patrick Mandel. I'm at 300 Narcissus Lane, uh just north of the substation off of Third Avenue. Thank you, Patrick. So, I've lived there for 40 years and I must go past that substation at least an average of three times a day. And um while you think you'd get used to it, uh you really don't. And um I would comment I I got a kind of a lingering concern about the rustcoled poles that are there. I'm sure you've all been to this site and you've seen three new pairs of rustcoled poles. I assume that's taking lines down the down the loose lines, but those are the biggest eyes uh to date on that property. And I would ask since they're likely not going to take them down, um if you could request that they be painted a more neutral color. I mean, it's it it is really quite disturbing and a reminder of the uh electricity that's going in and out of that area. in any event. Um I don't know if that's a purview of this approval. It probably isn't. So um it brings to mind a little bit the uh long-term plans for this site. Um you know, I don't think we were notified about those rustcoled poles that went up in that area. I never was and I don't know if any of our neighbors were but and I don't know if it was required but I'm certain you do certain amount of certain amount of of goodwill in terms of getting getting the clients and customers informed about things like that. But if you haven't been by the site recently, I would encourage you to go there. Um, and perhaps think about it being in your own neighborhood uh within a block of where you live, going in and out of your neighborhood three or four times a day. Um, and I understand the fact that this uh site is there. It's established. uh it's serving a purpose and we appreciate the electricity we get to our homes, but to add these kinds of of uh equipment and eyesource to a neighborhood where we're trying to protect our property values, as was so clearly stated, uh I think it's important. I think the other thing that surprised me with the Excel representative was I thought I heard him say he couldn't find a map where the other substations were located across the city. And I certainly echo the suggestion to put this in another location that isn't in the middle of a neighborhood and a and a a school. Um there there is obviously the big one that's down on 494 that's within the middle of a business district and and um and there is one to the west along the loose line. I can't tell you the exact location of that one either, but um between the one that looks like they're overlapping in Rapids, if if I was right in suggesting they have one there, and Eden Prairie, this doesn't even seem to be as centrally located as it probably could be. Um I you know personally uh have been interested in the issue of radio frequency exposure having little children and now grandchildren and um well this probably isn't the purview of of of this discussion I I I really think more study should be done on this and uh it's you know it's emulate emulating from the uh power station itself but also now the communication pole. So, um it's a concern and that's why it's a concern to us in uh our populated area. Um let me see. I have just a couple of other notes. Appreciate you guys having this hearing. How will we be notified of the decision? I could ask. So, to address your question and I think Mike's question and Jill brought it up too. So um just from a process perspective, so um tonight is the planning commission meeting and then the planning commission is going to make a recommendation for approval of the request or denial of the request. Tonight um tonight we will make we will make that recommendation and then it'll be on our consent agenda in two weeks where we approve um kind of what we what we started out the meeting with. Um and then from there that actually goes to city council. So we don't actually hold any decision-making power. Okay. Um we hold a uh a strong recommendation for city council. Um but city council ultimately gets to make um the decision on this. Um and that meeting will be scheduled after um our recommendation for approval or denial is fully um baked out. Yeah. Uh does that make sense? Yeah, that that's helpful. Um, you know, it it was mentioned, I think somewhere in the letter, that there isn't a home structure within 100 ft of this pole, but I sure hope that's been vetted and and um shown on the plans because I certainly believe the people in Harmony Circle and the people across Third Avenue live within a a very close proximity to this. if it's not within the center of their home 100 ft, I'm certain that their backyards and our backyards across the street are within 100t of that. And I I don't know where that statute sits. In any event, I ask you to consider this um as you would someone putting a pole like this and developing a power station uh within your own neighborhood. I mean, we're there. It's been there a long time, but the development that that will continue to go on there and including this poll, um, we'd like you to take into consideration has an adverse impact on our our living. Thank you. Thank you, Patrick. [Applause] Uh, my name is Jim Nelson. I live at 655 Harmony Circle. And would you put that last screen that was up there just a minute ago back up? Um, I guess my major concern here is that we would even propose an item like this without having all the infrastructure, the complete plan with all the different overlaps, all the different polls to even identify whether we have the overlap that we want and if it's even necessary. It looks to me like the area that it picks up is all the way into Minneapolis. I'm sure there's uh you said there was one down in uh Chanhassen and I'm sure that sweeps clear up probably pretty close to Weisetta and the one up north, but we don't know that. We don't know what the overlaps and the coverages are. We don't even know what the long range plan is. And I would think that it would be very difficult if I was sitting on the planning commission or anything else for me to make a determination on my city if I didn't know whether what I'm approving is a waste of time or could be done elseow and affect fewer people uh and still get the same kind of reaction from the the system that I know uh Excel wants to get. So I think it was kind of remiss in in Excel's standpoint not to show not to explain where all those other uh poles are and what the overlap of these systems are so that we could make a reasonable determination with that information. Thanks. Thank you, Jim. Good evening. Uh Bill Musky, 178253rd Avenue North Plymouth. Um, thank you for taking our questions. I wish we could do a little one to one, but I understand the the difference here. Uh, just echoing what Jim just said and what Micah has said on a couple of things that what are the options here? We're given one one choice. Take it or leave it kind of thing. And um, it doesn't quite make sense to me that there aren't more alternatives to look at. And I'm sure they've looked at them and I'm sure this is probably the most convenient for them. But I hardly think it's convenient for anybody with a home close to it. And there are more convenient locations that don't that don't interfere with the homes, the home value and the aesthetics. So I'm a little confused as to, you know, this kind of this is what we want. I I hear that. Sue, you asked a great question saying, you know, what's what's in it for us? you know what's the benefit and the security part did not I guess I wasn't smart enough to understand this but um supposedly 100 foot tower can't give you security but 130 or 140 foot could I I I don't understand how that couldn't be revamped to to whatever technology you have to make that secure I understand the distance difference between 140 and 100 but I don't understand the security change that makes no sense to me and if it does to anyone else please explain explain it because I I don't see how that that differs and I can't see why smaller towers, maybe more of them in different areas wouldn't do the same thing without interfering with property values and aesthetics. So, I thank you for taking my questions or concerns and uh good luck with your process. Thank you, Bill. Hello, Jamie Stassard. I live at 660 Harmony Circle. Um, my questions, I guess, are around community benefit. Um, Excel came up here and was talking about the security, but it really just sounds like it's a one-way communication to their applications. So, they've kind of failed to really say other than usage information, what's being what's at risk? Is it is it address name? you know, is it, you know, I come from a healthcare industry, so there are certain things you want to keep private, but all they said was usage information. So, I would urge the planning commission to uh have them maybe elaborate a little bit more on how that's actually providing a benefit to the um to the citizens of Weisetta. And then um once the conditional use permit is approved, I'm just curious, is there anything preventing them from renting out space on that tower to additional antennas and stuff from other communications applications? So, thank you. Thank you, Jamie. Director Sharp. Director Sharp, do we have anybody on teams? Apologies. Chair taking down notes. That's okay. We do not have anyone wishing to speak at teams on this at this time. Okay. Um going once, going twice. Public comments. All right. Um with that said, I will uh I will now close the public meeting and bring it back to the commission for discussion. Um, commissioners, do you have any questions for staff or any questions raised during the public hearing you'd like staff to address? I I don't know if it's to staff um but uh to to mirror some of the comments as I read through this. I was hoping that that we would have a presentation from Excel that would paint a picture as to why this was the best location as to why 140 ft is better than 130 ft is better than 120 ft is better than 110 ft. Um uh and I if they had considered uh uh any other masking of of the uh uh uh of the poll, if this was the best location and it had to be 140, if they proved those, my next question would have been uh I I recently came back from a from a trip to Walt Disney World and they have a huge cell tower and it looks like a pine tree. Um, if you look close, you can see it's a cell tower, but when you're driving by, you don't see it's a cell tower. And, uh, so I haven't heard I haven't heard why this is the best location. I haven't heard um the impact of of of moving this to a much more commercial location that's a few miles away. Um, I haven't heard uh why it needs to be the height. I understand if it's higher it's better for them. Uh uh certainly understand that and I haven't understood um uh what what the impact would be uh to to to moving that around. The the presentation was basically this is what we'd like to do. Uh uh please please approve it. Okay. Um I have a question for staff actually too. um kind of along sim similar um if they were to use the existing I think they called it a shield pole would they need a cup to put antennas on that? Yes, they would because um that shield pole currently does not have antenna and um you know this it would be the same cup request. It's over 40t tall for a communications device. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Any other questions for staff? All right. Um, since uh, Commissioner Vanly let us off with some thoughts. Anybody else have any thoughts they want to share? Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Vano. I may have not put it in the right spots already. It's all good. Don't worry about it. It's all good. I actually have another question for Excel. Can I ask them? For sure. Yeah. Are the Rapids and Eden Prairie Towers in residential sections that you mentioned the 140? Yes, please. Okay, let's see. I know I got a number of questions and whatnot to respond to. Uh so as far as the Rapids and In Prairie sites, uh those ones are actually not located in uh residential neighborhoods. Um let's see, another one I wanted to clarify. I did not say that I could not find a map. Uh I literally cannot provide a map of the entire network here. Uh, so since it's a private network, me being so low on the totem pole, I just do not have the security clearances within XL to divulge the map of every single individual tower. Although I understand why uh, you know, folks would would want to understand that. Um, as far as the transmission line poll, sorry, I'm just going to keep you on task to the question. Commissioner, can you ask? Thanks, though. I I actually Yeah, the answer was yes. Oh, yeah, for sure. So, you said the two are not in residential. They're not. So, we're the first one to be asked at 140 ft in Weisetta to have a residential tower. Trying to think. I know there are other confirming that. Is that correct? I got to think of where the other ones are. Either being planned or where they I know we have a couple in Wisconsin, but I don't work on the Wisconsin projects. So, we're the first in Minnesota. You think of any other ones? I want to say Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I have a question. Um, how tall are the poles in the Plymouth substation that's just across the freeway that were um has been in conversation discussion? Yeah, I did not perform the propagation studies as far as the the actual sighting location. So, I that off the top of my head I I don't know the the height of the the structures on at the Plymouth sub. Sorry about that. Thank you. Anyone else question followup questions for Excel? Thank you team. Thank you. Appreciate it. Anyone else have uh thoughts, comments? They want to share. I'm not sure we need to lead or bleed on this one. Well, I think I Yeah. So, I'll I'll share. So, um I work at a utility. I work at a not a competitor, but a a similar company as Excel, a lot on a lot smaller scale. So, I get the kind of opposing, you know, looking at uh we want electricity, we just don't want it in our backyard. So, I get it. I'm empathetic to it. It's my what I do for a living. I did not hear a compelling reason why why Zetta is the right place to do it. Um, and it's it's it's a great for Excel. So, yes, you come in and you say this is where we want to put it and this is where it makes sense for us. Um, but I don't think that you sold us um on why it's the right fit for our community. Um, I understand the smart meters and all of that and and yeah, we we need that. We are significantly more um play on energy and our uh we're going to see significant growth in energy usage over the next couple of decades. So, I get all of that, but again, I don't see why it has to be in in Weisetta in a residential area. So, that case was not very clear to me. So for you all to go back and understand that and have more community discussions with with us and and um so as to why you chose us, I don't know. And I don't really think that that's necessarily the the biggest question that I want to answer today. I want to know why is it the right fit for us, though. So thank you, Commissioner Seerson. I've I've got I've got a couple thoughts on this, too. So I el go ahead, Commissioner El. Couple things that I would have liked to have seen. One has been mentioned several times, but I'd like to see where those other towers are and the overlap. I, you know, I your to your comment on the smart meters um exact coverage. You know, where is the highest density of those smart meters? Is there a high density of those smart meters to the west? Uh, if there isn't, moving it two miles to the east makes a lot of sense in a commercial area. Um, I speculate that it, you know, there's one there, so why not do it here? Um, may make it the easiest, but, uh, I think, uh, the residents have, uh, proposed a really good alternative in that, uh, 494 Plymouth location. And um and without seeing the specific overlap from other towers, uh it's not compelling to me that it has to be right there. You might get a couple miles further to the west, but again, what's the density of the smart meters there? I get all about the safety. It's going on its own separate frequency. Uh I appreciate that. getting it off of the uh cellular frequencies, um keeping it more private, getting more of those smart meters online. Um but this uh hasn't been a compelling argument why it should be right there. And I uh completely respect the uh concerns of the neighbors about aesthetics and property values. I myself have looked at properties and have passed on properties because of things like that. Um, so I get it. Thank you, Commissioner Al. I would say, you know, in looking at the primary questions we're considering, you know, um, you know, one, two, and three, I just don't see this having a great positive impact, of course, for the residents nearby or even having this in a residential area. So, when I look at those questions, it just seems that um, we could consider alternative locations. Um, I just don't think this is right for a small residential uh, community. Thank you, Commissioner Planton. Um, I I would echo I think some of uh Commissioner Plant's thoughts just now. I think, you know, when I asked myself, is it compatible with the present use of the area? The present use of the area is residential, right? Um, and the future future use, I mean, it's guided public, private in the in the um comprehensive plan, but the area around it isn't going to change. It's it's going to continue to be houses. Um, and it's there's a lot of houses. Um I think uh uh Mr. Stasher um want brought up uh impact on property value potential impact on property value and I think that's real. I think you know maybe slightly one's one one outcome if property values do decline maybe that means taxes will go down but probably not. Um kidding. Um and and I think so and I heard what Excel said about um what they want to do with their network. Um you know again uh I think what I'd go back to though is like smart meters putting smart meters in in our houses was Excel's decision. It wasn't we weren't asking for them. They just said we want to put smart meters in. And so I don't know that this is something that you know is really right has benefit to us um in terms of our public services that it's providing. Does it make their network more secure? Absolutely. But I don't quite understand why. So and I I again I would also echo the comments of um using the Parker Lake substation um which is significantly larger um and located in an industrial area rather than a residential area. I would just add um I agree that that should be looked at and if that if there's a reason that doesn't work and it has to be this. They have not made that case 100%. Yeah, I would agree. Um uh they haven't made the case that 140 is better than 130 is better than 120. Uh uh and they haven't made the case that this has to be the the location. They showed us a map and asked us to approve it. Cool. Um, it sounds like we have a consensus. Then, um, can I have a motion to direct staff to approve a draft report and recommendation of denial of the conditional use permit? I I so move. Uh, thank you, Commissioner Vanly. I second. Oh, sorry. Can I have a second? Thank you, Commissioner Aneny. Y um, further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed say nay. Um the eyes have it and the motion passes. The draft recommendation report and recommendation will be on the consent agenda in our next meeting in two weeks and after adoption will go on to city council for their consideration. Um thank you to the applicant Excel um staff and members of the public for coming tonight and your participation. Um, yes. Thank you. Um, next on our agenda, this is where I pushed. Okay. Yes. I think it's the Steve. This one. This is where I pushed our um when we pulled the uh uh report and recommendation for approval for the PD concept for Tuner Lake. Yep. Let's discuss. Okay. Ready to go. Commissioner Planton. All right. You know, um after reviewing um that report and recommendation letter, I just wanted to add some comments um to my vote for approval on the record. Can you Sorry. Can you just Our our meeting isn't done, so the members of the public could Excuse. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Commissioner. Get out. That's okay. Um I have so many notes here. Um you know just after reviewing the report recommendation letter um further I just wanted to add some comments to my vote of approval for the record. Um I did vote in approval for it but that was in um with modifications and they're very important and significant modifications. So much so that if they were not in place or we did not include them, I would not have voted in favor for the application. Um I just that condition modification um in this application is to conform with the design standards for massing brakes and these are full massing brakes and I would argue more that you know in our design standards for this district. Um without these significant modifications to that building it doesn't it fails to meet the criteria for our PUB um consideration. um in no instance does architecture of detailing mitigate a 750 foot long building and it does not evoke charm. Um also in our comp plan we state that you know we are stewards of our most important asset and that's Lake Minnetonka and I would say that without those massing brakes we are not good stewards of the lake. um our designs, you know, standards for the Lake District or uh Lake Street say that we have to protect the view to Lake Minnotonka. And I would argue the the view from Lake Minnotonka is equally as important and I would just like to have that stated um with my approval comments. So can I ask a question? Was there something missing from the draft report or was there No, I just want to make that clear that I think they are that important that if they are not observed and I'm I I feel that strongly about this application um and that even with some of the massing breaks that we proposed, we are still not addressing the views from Lake Mitanka, we are to Lake Minnetonka, but um I just would like to have those comments in the minutes and on the um on the record. Other discussion. Agreed. I agree. I I agree. I just I'm curious just process why this had to be uh taken. Could those comments not have been could we not have had a motion to approve and then had conversation or do you not have conversation about a consent agenda? I guess that maybe is why it's called a consent agenda. just education you are you're working it out uh through through talking through yes uh chair and commissioner that's right so things on consent agenda are generally routine that don't require discussion and I think I would encourage all of you as commissioners when you want to make a point like commissioner Planton did or you have questions pull the item from the consent agenda ask staff to answer questions make a point that you want to make our points um and and vote on it separately. That's perfectly appropriate. What does this do in terms of do we have to does it have to come back next meeting on the consent? No, no. Uh no, this is just now you will take action on this uh when the when the question is called uh the chair will entertain a motion to approve the draft report and recommendation or adopt it as presented. And you will have after a motion and second, you will have further discussion. And so you could also chime in there if you'd like, you want more discussion. Um I I think Commissioner Planton brings up a good point though. Um Director Sharp. Um and if so, if we could get a workshop together to talk about design standards, I think that'd be good. Um because we really haven't addressed anything anywhere in the views from the lake, right? And that obviously would not be applicable to this to this piece, but I think going forward, I think design standards need to um incorporate that element as well. So, um well, and I think two weeks ago, um Commissioner Zwber said their interpretation of the design standards was different than the view that the developer had in terms of um you see the images and you see a masking break that's through the building, but the language says at street level or whatever. So I think we need to clarify that and for sure I don't know if that's part of the conversation you're talking about. Yeah, I think that I think that gets looped in there too. I think then it can be it can be very clear to people who come afterwards. So again, I guess in terms of process, right, we're we're capturing changes to what we normally would have approved as a So does it get pushed to the next week or how does this work? So unless we So from a process perspective, and city attorney um Shel, if I get this wrong, correct me. Um but from a process perspective, we're just going to um we're going to have a vote here on the con on this portion of the consent agenda. And assuming it passes, right, then it's just going to go forward because we haven't really changed anything other than to make a request to staff and to um really just to have some additional discussion around it, right? And and um get a couple, you know, pieces of additional pieces on the record, but nothing's really fundamentally changed that would require us to go back and and redo it again, unless we deny it, right? Then in which case, we would have to go all the way back to step one. And in this case, we're not changing anything on the recommendation or the report. It's just pulled for further comment and clarification. Yes. Okay. Did I get that right? Uh chair and commissioners, I think that's essentially correct. Assuming that the motion is to adopt the draft report and recommendation as it was presented in the packet, then nothing in that report and recommendation will have changed. I think comments will go into the record. Commissioner Planton has explained some of her concerns and how important she views those conditions on approval of the PUB plans. Um, and there's been also some discussion about asking staff to look at a workshop to examine the design standards as they relate to views from the lake. I think that's what I heard. But if you move forward with a a motion to adopt the draft report and recommendation that was in your packets, nothing will have changed in your report to council. My my question I guess is uh with your concern um and not having memorized what it says because because uh uh my question is does it say that that it will conform to the design standards or does it explicitly indicate that we that we as a group want to ensure that it includes our understanding of the massing brakes going all the way to the all the way to the sky. as opposed to their interpretation of the massing break. So chair and commissioner, uh there is only one interpretation of the design standards as it stands today and that's staff's interpretation. It's the city's interpretation. So the applicant has voiced a different viewpoint, but that's just the applicant's own perspective. Okay. So, so it just to be perfectly clear, staff's design critique and review of the design of the proposal requires that deviation for massing brakes in two points in the building. And that's your recommendation in this draft report is that that request for a deviation be denied and that approval of the PUD, there's three types of 3D uh PUD approvals um are conditioned on modifying the plan so that they conform to the design standard for that. Thank you. Well said. Thank you. Further comments, discussion. All right, I gota find my script. Sorry. Um, can I have a motion to um to approve the uh um approval for approval of report and recommendation for approval for 200 lake street? So moved. Severson. Commissioner Stevenson. Second. Second. Thank you, Commissioner El. Um, all those in favor say I. I. I. Oppose say nay. The eyes have it and the motion passes and the uh report and recommendation will be uh forwarded to city council. Um then last on our agenda is uh other items review of development activities and planning commission meeting schedule. Is this uh director sharp? This is perfect. Uh so we do not have any additional updates at this time though we do anticipate some permits coming forward in the future. So, I think we'll have a couple more to report to you at your next meeting. And then the next city council meeting is on April 15th and next planning commission is April 21st. Perfect. And what's on the agenda for April 21st? You isn't it? So, are you going to sit up here with us and then leave and go? Is that how it works? And then you come back. You obviously don't stare at us and then I have to I I can't vote. Obviously, you won't come back up here and vote, but then you come back up here for the rest of the meeting. Yeah. Yes. Okay. I just I must drive by. Are you Are you applying for a variance? Yeah. I'm going to have to be tough on you guys. Okay. Um All right. Let's get this thing uh closed up first. Um that concludes items on our agenda. Can I have a motion to adjurnn, please? So moved. Planton. Thank you, Commissioner Blandon. Severson. Second. Thank you, Commissioner Severson. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose? Nay. The eyes have it. The motion passes and the meeting is adjourned. I saw