[0:26] welcome to the March 10th 2025 meeting

[0:29] of the wi a Planning Commission I hereby

[0:31] call the meeting to

[0:32] order my name is Blake Cameron and I'm

[0:34] the chair of the Planning Commission I

[0:36] have just a few words about how to

[0:38] participate in this evening's

[0:40] meeting uh to join online it's a teams

[0:43] meeting the meeting ID is 253 644

[0:47] 36288 and the passcode is displayed

[0:52] members of the public may may attend

[0:54] this me Planning Commission meeting in

[0:55] person or watch and listen remotely by

[0:57] viewing the meeting on Channel 8 WCTV

[1:00] and at the city's website at

[1:02] www.a.org

[1:06] WCTV public comment during the public

[1:09] forum Andor public hearing portions of

[1:10] the meeting may be provided in person at

[1:12] the meeting in advance or by logging on

[1:14] to the teams meeting and raising your

[1:16] hand during the public hearing when your

[1:18] name is called in the meeting you will

[1:20] be seen and heard in our Council chamber

[1:22] and on the cable channel and online you

[1:25] will be asked to unmute and then you may

[1:27] begin your comment all public comments

[1:29] must include your full name and

[1:32] address the city encourages comments or

[1:34] questions about items on the agenda and

[1:37] when possible request that you submit

[1:39] them in advance by emailing public

[1:41] comment weta.org calling City staff at

[1:45] 952445 323 or mailing wetta City Hall at

[1:49] 600 R Street East wetta Minnesota 55391

[1:53] attention public

[1:57] comment next on the agenda is roll call

[1:59] planner corls could you please call roll

[2:02] yes commissioner planton here uh chair

[2:05] Cameron here commissioner Severson here

[2:08] commissioner El here commissioner van

[2:09] Loy here and please note that

[2:11] Commissioners Schwalbe and Ankeny are

[2:13] absent

[2:15] tonight thank

[2:16] you uh next on the agenda is approval of

[2:19] tonight's meeting agenda does anyone

[2:21] have any questions or proposed changes

[2:22] to the agenda as

[2:26] displayed no uh may I have a motion to

[2:28] approve the agenda as present

[2:30] so moved planton thank you second second

[2:36] serson thank you any further

[2:40] discussion um all those in favor say I I

[2:43] I any

[2:45] opposed the eyes have it the motion

[2:47] passes and the agenda is

[2:49] approved um next on the agenda is the

[2:51] approval of the consent agenda this

[2:54] evening consent agenda consists of

[2:56] approval of the meeting minutes from

[2:57] February 24th 2025

[3:00] and approval of the report and

[3:01] recommendation for the preliminary plat

[3:04] at 565 Ferndale Road West AKA Ferndale

[3:08] Bluff uh may I have a motion to approve

[3:10] the agenda as

[3:14] presented I'll make that motion

[3:18] vany may I have a second second El um

[3:21] and I did this out of order but does

[3:22] anybody have anything else they want to

[3:24] add or

[3:26] pull you sorry

[3:30] okay all those all those in favor say I

[3:32] I I I any opposed the eyes have it and

[3:36] the motion passes in the consent agenda

[3:37] is

[3:41] approved

[3:44] um next on the agenda is a public

[3:46] hearing

[3:48] item um which is this evening we have

[3:50] one public hearing which is the fence

[3:52] variance for 3:30 335 way Cliff planner

[3:56] Corrals could you walk us through the

[3:58] application for

[4:01] sure all right so this is a fence

[4:04] variance across three Parcels uh which

[4:06] means we have three separate owners and

[4:07] then they're represented by one

[4:08] applicant Andy sad with Andy's Lawn Care

[4:12] the project is located in the wak Cliff

[4:13] neighborhood which is on the north side

[4:15] of highway 12 South of gleon

[4:18] Lake the neighborhood is zoned R4 medium

[4:21] density and is guided uh generally

[4:23] medium density

[4:25] residential for a little bit more

[4:27] context uh because this is is a a

[4:31] subdivision that was built as a series

[4:33] of private Parcels it has private

[4:35] streets as well so you'll see that there

[4:38] are two uh Parcels here one private home

[4:41] which is half a town home another

[4:43] private home which is half a town home

[4:45] and then actually the street itself is

[4:47] its own parcel so it's broken out that

[4:49] way and then you can zoom in here and

[4:51] see how it all fronts along Hollybrook

[4:53] Road as well for some existing

[4:55] conditions that first image is the tail

[4:57] end of an existing fence

[5:00] uh on the west side and then the second

[5:02] image shows approximately where the

[5:04] proposed fence will be uh if

[5:07] approved the variance request uh is that

[5:11] typically when we have front yard fences

[5:13] which is fences between uh the house in

[5:15] the street we ask them to be 4T tall and

[5:18] 75% solid the applicant is requesting to

[5:21] extend an existing 6ft tall privacy

[5:23] fence uh across those three parcels and

[5:26] so that's a variance of 2T over the

[5:28] limit and uh 25 % increase in opacity

[5:31] that black dotted line there is the

[5:33] existing privacy fence and then that red

[5:35] dotted line is the extension of that

[5:37] privacy fence which is mostly on that

[5:40] private Street parcel and then um goes

[5:42] onto that private uh home parcel on the

[5:45] South

[5:47] Side uh the engineering department

[5:49] doesn't have any comments on the

[5:50] proposal the applicant sent a letter

[5:52] notification to the neighborhood on

[5:54] February 25th the cities sent theirs on

[5:56] the 4th for variances we don't require a

[5:59] neighborhood meeting and we haven't

[6:00] received any public comments as of

[6:03] today um as with any variants we want to

[6:06] ask ourselves is this consistent with

[6:07] the comp plan is it reasonable uh is

[6:10] this a unique property is there

[6:11] something special going on that necess

[6:13] necessitates the need for a variance and

[6:16] would the variants alter the essential

[6:18] character of the

[6:20] locality after having a discussion we'll

[6:22] ask you to direct us to make a report

[6:24] and recommendation of approval with your

[6:26] findings for approval at the next

[6:27] Planning Commission meeting thank you

[6:31] thank you planner corl Commissioners any

[6:34] questions for staff at this

[6:36] point uh the only question I have is the

[6:39] existing fence is 6 feet and with

[6:43] um

[6:45] 100% opaque 100% opaque exactly what I

[6:48] was thinking um is did that fence do you

[6:53] know if that um was built before the

[6:55] requirement for a variance or if it got

[6:56] a variance why it was it's there versus

[6:59] is uh meeting what the rules and rigs

[7:02] are today my assumption is that so for

[7:05] multif family buildings so more than two

[7:07] uh we typically require a privacy fence

[7:09] so you can see that the Hollybrook Town

[7:11] Homes uh are over on the the sort of

[7:14] northwest side over here so they would

[7:16] have had probably a fence required at

[7:18] the time that they were built and I can

[7:19] see it would have been natural for that

[7:21] fence to maybe extend into this parcel

[7:24] here for some reason or another so I

[7:25] think that fence is pretty far back

[7:27] pre-existing okay

[7:32] have a couple questions commissioner

[7:34] serson can you explain why it's a

[7:38] front yes so this has to do with how our

[7:41] fence code is written uh commissioner El

[7:44] is familiar with this uh so we Define

[7:48] for the purposes of the fence code a

[7:49] front yard is anything fronting a street

[7:52] basically so um in this case even though

[7:55] this is going to feel like the backyard

[7:57] for this particular homeowner or the

[7:59] side yard for this particular homeowner

[8:01] because it fronts Hollybrook we have to

[8:03] consider it a front yard and ask for it

[8:05] to be shorter in our code this means

[8:07] that a lot of corner Lots in town end up

[8:08] having to do a short fence on two sides

[8:11] uh which can be a bit of a burden uh in

[8:13] this case it ends up uh particularly a

[8:15] little interesting because we've got uh

[8:17] town homes and then as I mentioned that

[8:18] sort of private Street parcel as

[8:21] well and I think I read in the packet

[8:24] that there used to be trees and they

[8:27] lost quite a bit do you have more a

[8:29] little bit more history about why they

[8:31] like what happened there or is that

[8:32] something that they yeah I can ask the

[8:33] applicant to elaborate on that a little

[8:35] bit more but my understanding is that

[8:36] there's just been storm damage over the

[8:37] years so they used to have a lot more

[8:39] screening naturally and now they don't

[8:41] hence the request for the fence and then

[8:43] just last question if we pull back a

[8:45] little bit I think I know then on the

[8:47] other side of Hollybrook is the freeway

[8:50] yes right there yep M thank you thank

[8:55] youone else

[9:00] all right um thank you staff at this

[9:02] point I'd like to invite the applicant

[9:04] to come forward and address the

[9:05] commission um please state your name and

[9:07] address for the record and your role if

[9:08] you're an adviser or other part of the

[9:10] applicants

[9:11] team good evening thank you for uh

[9:16] having this meeting my name is Reed Shaw

[9:18] I live at 470 W Cliff Drive North I'm on

[9:23] the board of waycliff town homes

[9:25] Association and with me to answer any

[9:28] questions that you might have have our

[9:29] Sue winsler who lives at 625 W Cliff

[9:33] Drive North and she is also a board

[9:36] member for the HOA and then also here is

[9:40] Andy soul stad from Andy's lawn care

[9:44] which is way Cliff's uh longtime

[9:47] maintenance and grounds partner and

[9:49] would be installing the fence his

[9:52] address is

[9:55] 23650 State Highway 55 Loretto

[10:02] so uh first I'd like to thank uh city

[10:05] planner corals and the city staff for

[10:08] guiding us through this process we

[10:10] really appreciate and I'd also like to

[10:12] thank all of you for devoting the time

[10:13] to consider all of these matters in the

[10:16] way of development for waya we

[10:18] appreciate it um as as was noted this is

[10:23] an extension of a an existing security

[10:27] fence that is put up for uh that

[10:32] HOA um I don't know how long the fence

[10:35] has been in existence that portion of

[10:38] the HOA has been in existence since

[10:40] 1994 so I'm presuming that it precedes

[10:44] any uh statute or code that's currently

[10:49] in place and one of our goals in once we

[10:54] decided that it would make sense to do

[10:57] this 136t extent

[11:00] was to uh be sure that there was as much

[11:03] similarity in appearance as we could and

[11:06] that was the reason for the request for

[11:11] keeping the same height and the same

[11:13] opacity as currently exists in that

[11:16] fence um I should also note uh partly in

[11:19] response to commissioner severson's uh

[11:22] comments and question that the fence is

[11:26] actually located several feet above

[11:29] above the sidewalk Trail Street which is

[11:32] Hollybrook Road that's a um an actual

[11:36] County Trail that was put in three or

[11:39] four years ago and the fencing is at the

[11:43] top of the hill that looks down on that

[11:45] and the Privacy aspects are both for the

[11:50] residents and Street noise and whatever

[11:54] um but also for people going and walking

[11:57] along that trail because because there

[12:00] is a parking Circle that backs up along

[12:03] what would be the fence so it's people

[12:06] walking by seeing cars in that parking

[12:09] area as well there is a secondary uh

[12:13] consideration that it would increase um

[12:16] security for us we did have a series of

[12:19] break-ins back in 2021 but the principal

[12:22] reason is to help replace the Privacy

[12:26] that has been lost including a couple

[12:28] large trees this past summer that was

[12:30] the precipitating cause for us to

[12:32] explore this investment and it is the

[12:34] HOA that is paying for

[12:37] everything um with that I think I'll ask

[12:40] if there's any other questions that we

[12:42] can respond

[12:50] to well I think we're okay

[12:54] yeah I okay okay thank you very much we

[12:58] appreciate it

[12:59] yeah thank you Reed

[13:01] um now I'd like to turn to the uh public

[13:04] hearing

[13:06] um uh this is really just a time for us

[13:09] to listen to our community um for the

[13:11] approval requests we are considering

[13:13] it's part of the process um and you know

[13:17] just to be heard right it's a it's a

[13:19] great part of you know who we are so um

[13:22] if there's if somebody asks a question

[13:25] um we're just going to hold questions

[13:26] until the end and um but but otherwise I

[13:29] will open the public hearing

[13:33] now if you wish to speak please come

[13:35] forward um if you're online please raise

[13:39] your

[13:42] hand do we have anybody online uh I just

[13:45] have one person in the chat online who

[13:47] uh wanted to ask if there were any trees

[13:49] uh that were going to be affected as

[13:51] part of the project so if the applicant

[13:52] could come up to the podium and just uh

[13:54] clarify that

[13:59] I read Shaw again and the answer to the

[14:01] question is no there is not any tree

[14:04] affected that is part of the plan thank

[14:07] you perfect thank you anyone else uh not

[14:10] online no okay anybody

[14:13] present all

[14:16] right um seeing there that then I will

[14:18] close the uh public meeting and bring it

[14:20] back to the commission for

[14:23] discussion uh Commissioners do you have

[14:26] any questions for staff um or any

[14:28] questions raised in the public hearing

[14:29] that you'd like staff to

[14:31] address no no no seems pretty

[14:35] straightforward they know in their

[14:36] appliation all right

[14:41] um any

[14:44] comments um yeah I'd like I'm it seems

[14:47] like a reasonable request um you know

[14:49] it's an extension of an existing fence

[14:51] which has helped with you know both

[14:52] security and privacy um keeps the

[14:55] neighborhood consistent with the same

[14:57] look and feel and I don't think it'll

[14:59] alter the essential character of the

[15:01] neighborhood um so I feel like it's a

[15:03] reasonable request

[15:05] okay agreed I don't think I don't think

[15:07] there's anything in our comprehensive

[15:09] plan that would tell us that this

[15:10] doesn't

[15:13] fit yeah I would agree and as someone

[15:16] who lives on a frontage road I'm very

[15:17] sympathetic um to to you all and the

[15:20] privacy and just in that part of the I

[15:23] want to clarify too in that part of town

[15:26] where it's you know AB budding up to the

[15:27] highway it's kind of tucked back in you

[15:30] know it's not like a very visible

[15:32] location like on wetta Boulevard where

[15:34] we've had some other fence variances um

[15:36] I do feel like it's really reasonable

[15:37] and there's already a fence there and

[15:39] it's just an extension so I think um I

[15:42] think it's a reasonable request and U I

[15:44] think there is some uniqueness to your

[15:46] property in the W Cliff neighborhood

[15:47] that maybe it's a little different than

[15:49] other areas of the city so I'm

[15:50] comfortable with

[15:54] it I agree in this situation I I would

[15:59] on a fence there as well

[16:01] um and and the only concern that I have

[16:04] is that the the current fence there uh

[16:08] looks like it's aged reasonably well to

[16:11] this point and I just wonder how much

[16:13] more life it has in it and kind of

[16:15] curious about the plans for fence

[16:18] maintenance going down the road it

[16:19] doesn't look like that was ever treated

[16:22] um and just hope that any future fence

[16:26] is maintained so it has a long healthy

[16:28] life and and has an at least an

[16:32] appealing look so it keeps the

[16:34] neighborhood nice looking um but I think

[16:37] the request is reasonable um yeah I I

[16:41] live in a very similar situation and boy

[16:44] with people walking there every day and

[16:47] the highway on the other side of that

[16:49] path um I would want uh a little barrier

[16:53] between my home and and those activities

[16:59] commissioner Al raised a good question

[17:01] I'm going to come back to staff with a

[17:02] question um if they with that existing

[17:05] fence where it is today if they have to

[17:07] replace that are they going to need a

[17:08] variance for that uh they need a

[17:11] variance to replace it they wouldn't

[17:12] need a variance to maintain it so if

[17:13] they wanted to you know replace boards

[17:16] that would be fine okay all right thank

[17:19] you um yeah I think it's uh it's totally

[17:21] reasonable and you know having like

[17:24] having been by there there's like a huge

[17:26] gap kind of right at that end right

[17:27] where those three parking spots is um so

[17:30] I mean totally can totally see it and

[17:32] would support it 100%

[17:35] so um sounds like we have a consensus um

[17:38] can I have a motion to direct staff to

[17:40] um prepare a report and recommendation

[17:43] for approval of the um variance for the

[17:50] fence okay um yeah I propose um to make

[17:53] a motion um to direct staff to prepare a

[17:56] PL draft Planning Commission report and

[17:58] recommendation with the appropriate

[17:59] findings uh reflecting reflecting a

[18:02] recommendation of approval on the

[18:04] application for review and adoption at

[18:07] the next Planning Commission meeting I

[18:09] look was right there second

[18:13] El thank you

[18:15] Commissioners any further discussion

[18:18] none no all right all those in favor say

[18:20] I I I any

[18:23] opposed the eyes have it and the motion

[18:25] passes uh the draft report and

[18:27] recommendation will be on the agenda at

[18:29] our next meeting and after adoption

[18:31] we'll go to the city council for their

[18:33] consideration um thank you applicants

[18:35] for your time tonight um and for members

[18:37] of the public um who submitted the

[18:39] question about the

[18:41] tree um that concludes the public

[18:43] hearing portion of our meeting um next

[18:45] on the agenda tonight is other items um

[18:48] Carl I will defer to planner's waer for

[18:51] a review of development activities

[18:52] planner is a web thank you um I know I

[18:56] mentioned it uh this project a number

[18:58] times the past but the multif family

[19:01] portion of the former Wells Fargo um

[19:04] which is at 910 wi at Boulevard East

[19:07] that that underground garage the um

[19:11] walls are starting to appear uh still be

[19:15] a couple weeks to months before you

[19:17] start seeing the multi family building

[19:20] itself but it's moving along which is

[19:22] good to see um one project you probably

[19:25] haven't noticed much activity of yet but

[19:28] should soon is kind of kitty corner at

[19:30] 150 Broadway they're doing the utility

[19:33] and foundation work now but uh should

[19:36] start to see some walls uh come up

[19:38] soon then we have uh two complete

[19:41] applications that you'll see at the next

[19:43] couple of Planning Commission meetings

[19:44] including at uh the March 24th we have

[19:47] the 200 Lake Street um they actually do

[19:51] have their neighborhood meeting

[19:53] scheduled this Thursday here in the

[19:55] council chambers that's intended for for

[19:59] um you know the the neighbors

[20:01] surrounding their property and anybody

[20:03] else interested in the

[20:04] public and then we have a request for

[20:09] the um XL substation up at U I believe

[20:13] it's 701 Central Avenue North it's right

[20:16] on the edge with Plymouth they are

[20:19] actually planning on removing uh an

[20:21] existing piece of equipment and

[20:23] replacing it with a Communications tower

[20:26] that is a private Communications Tower

[20:28] only to provide Excel the ability to uh

[20:32] communicate with their other

[20:33] infrastructure that will be the first

[20:35] meeting in April then finally we have a

[20:38] couple development staff related updates

[20:42] uh first uh community development

[20:46] director Alex sharp uh did start last

[20:49] Monday but he had a pre-scheduled uh

[20:52] holiday here this weekend so uh March

[20:57] 24th will be his first first Planning

[20:59] Commission meeting so feel free to

[21:02] welcome and then for the second I will

[21:03] turn it over to uh city planner corals

[21:06] so March 24th will be uh community

[21:09] development director Sharp's first

[21:10] Planning Commission meeting and it will

[21:12] be my last Planning Commission meeting

[21:15] uh I've accepted employment at the city

[21:16] of St Paul as a senior city planner and

[21:18] we'll start in April so that means I'm

[21:20] wrapping up here in wetta in March so

[21:23] we'll go out with a bang at our March

[21:25] 24th meeting with uh the TCF project and

[21:27] then from there I just get to come here

[21:29] for fun so it has been and I'm I'm doing

[21:32] the it has been stuff because I'm sure I

[21:33] won't want to waste anyone's time with

[21:35] it on the 24th but it has been a

[21:36] pleasure working with this and prior

[21:38] planning commissions and you guys are a

[21:40] model for how planning commissions

[21:41] should function so thank you for

[21:42] providing me a great place to

[21:44] learn congratulations thank

[21:46] congratulations and thank you for all

[21:48] that you've given this city yeah

[21:52] congratulations we'll miss you yeah a

[21:55] lot

[22:01] in terms of schedule updates our next

[22:02] meeting is the 24th that's that's our

[22:04] next meeting yep okay all right next

[22:07] meeting is 24th okay um thank you all

[22:10] public for your participation in this

[22:12] evening's meeting thank you

[22:14] Commissioners thank you staff um that

[22:18] concludes the meetings the items on our

[22:19] agenda um can I have a motion to adjourn

[22:22] I will move to adjourn may I have a

[22:24] second second thank you any further

[22:27] discussion

[22:29] all those in favor say I I any opposed

[22:33] eyes have it the motion passes and the

[22:35] March 10th 2025 Wisa Planning Commission

[22:37] is adjourned