Good evening. Welcome to the Oakdale Planning Commission September 3rd, 2026. First on the order is call to order. Call of RO. >> Pearson >> present. >> Willing >> here. Data >> here. >> Campbell is absent. Wilson >> here. >> Shava >> here. >> Bates >> here. Pledge of Allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Uh, approval of the agenda. Anyone have any changes to the agenda? Seeing none, I ask for a mo motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? Motion passes. Approval of the minutes. Anyone have any changes to the August 6, 2026 minutes? >> Seeing none, I ask for a motion to approve the minutes as presented. >> So move. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. Now's the time for open forum. This is a time for anyone in the audience who wishes to present an issue that is not on the agenda. I repeat, not on the agenda, please come forward. State your name and address and state your case. Seeing none, I'll just ask one more time to be sure. Anyone wishing to come forward to open forum, please come forward. Seeing none, I close the open forum and we move to new business. A public hearing on Hadley Storage 6815 55th Street North a comprehensive plan amendment resoning preliminary plat and variance. >> Thank you chair. For you tonight uh commission is a request for a selfservice storage facility located at 68155th Street North. Uh it's titled Hadley Storage and this is regarding a comprehensive plan amendment reszoning variance for a setback and preliminary plat. This is located just southeast of the Highway 36 Hadley interchange on a vacant lot adjacent to industrial users. Uh the purpose here is to allow for the construction of a 26,000 square ft footprint uh self-service storage facility. The property itself is 8.2 acres, about 3 acres of wetland, and some existing encroachments on the eastern edge, including a radio tower built between two property lines, a shed, and outside storage. The site is zone B4, general industrial, which is intended for heavier industrial uses. Selfservice facility is only permitted in the B3 light industrial district, necessitating a reasonzoning from B4 to B3. Similarly, the site is guided in the comprehensive plan for general industrial where self-service facility is not a permitted use. As a result, the developer is requesting a comprehensive plan amendment to reguide the site from general industrial to industrial office where it is a permitted use. It's worth noting that if the proposed applications were to be approved, the applicant would need to return for final plat and site plan approval which are more technical in nature. So, here we have a site layout. Uh, the site would be accessed via Hadley Avenue and is proposed to have 10 parking spaces as well as two drive-in bays. The building would be three stories in height, reaching a max height of 29 ft. Building height setbacks and impervious surface coverage limits uh would appear to be met and would be further verified at time of sight plan. Here we have initial elevations of the project. Uh class one material breakdowns would be verified at the time of site plan. Please note that these particular updated elevations show two overhead doors which were not shown in the packet. Before diving into more technical analysis, I do want to speak to the comprehensive plan amendment and resoning request. As stated earlier, the developer is seeking to reggu the property in the comprehensive plan from general industrial to industrial office and reszone from B4 general industrial to B3 light industrial in order to allow the use. Staff finds that these requests are appropriate uh given that the properties to the east are primarily heavy industrial users and properties across the street to the west are low density residential. So a lighter use uh like storage could serve as a transitional space between the two. As a result, uh staff is recommending approval of the comprehensive plan amendment and resoning request. Here we have a layout showing the buffer distance from the nearest residential property. I'll zoom in to make that a little more clear. Uh per section 259117 of the city code, uh self- storage facilities must be at least 350 ft from the nearest residential property as measured from residential property line to the building line of the facility. Based on the plans, uh the proposed facility would be 253 to way 253 ft away, necessitating a variance. In general, variances must be consistent with the comprehensive plan, result in a reasonable use of the property, address unique circumstances that are not created by the landowner, not alter essential character of the area, and not be solely for economic reasoning. Given that uh similar uses and more intensive uses are nearby, uh staff finds that self- storage would be a reasonable use of the property. Additionally, uh due to the presence of wetlands and unusual shape and access, uh the property is constrained in a manner that is not created by the property owner, making it challenging to meet the 350 ft buffer without a variance. As a result, staff is recommending approval of the variance for the 350 ft buffer requirement. Here we have the preliminary plat for Hadley storage. The developer here is proposing one buildable lot for the storage facility, one lot for the wetland, and one lot for the encroachments. There are some more complex components with this plat, so I'm going to walk through each one by one. First, I want to point out the existing gap lot space near the site. Essentially, there is unaccounted for space between the applicant's parcel and the industrial property to the south. As a result, the applicant will need to update the plat to address this gap. on the southern edge of the property. Second, I want to point out some complexities with the wetland. Historically, the city has required wetlands to be dedicated as outlots to the city. Over the past few months, city staff has been working with the city council to determine criteria that essentially helps determine whether or not the city should assume ownership of the wetland. Reasons to decline ownership include known contamination, no public benefit, inadequate frontage, or creation of irregular lots. Given that this wetland would be challenging to access from the city's perspective, it's not accessible from public streets, and there doesn't appear to be a public benefit for drainage, uh, recreation, or critical habitat. The developer will need to revise the plat as a result to not have a separate outlot for the wetland, thereby waving city ownership. Instead, the wetland would be included in the primary lot, but include access easements to the wetland. Third, I want to discuss some encroachments on the eastern part of the site. There's currently a cell tower uh that is on two lots as well as an out building and outside storage. Uh given that this both this lot and the existing industrial lot to the east are under the same ownership, staff is recommending a condition for the developer to include the lot to the east with a lot line adjustment to ensure that no encroachments are present and to help clean things up. I'm returning here for a general view of the plat and to discuss some smaller items of importance. There's currently a sidewalk stub on the east side of Hadley. To improve site access and better develop the sidewalk network, staff is recommending a condition to extend the sidewalk to the southern property line. Additionally, the developer is currently not showing required easements on the plat. As a result, the developer will need to update the plat to include drainage and utility easements. There is also a sewer lift station near the central south portion of the site. As a result, the developer will need to work with the city engineer to explore some potential access solutions due to possible easement issues. And these are primarily technical issues in nature. To conclude, staff is recommending approval of the comprehensive plan amendment, resoning, variance, and preliminary plat subject to the following conditions, all of which are from the preliminary plat resolution. Approval of the comprehensive plan amendment reguiduing the site from general industrial to industrial office. Execution of a development agreement between the developer in the city. Approval of the site civil construction plans by the civil engineer or the city engineer. Include drainage and utility easements on the plat as required by the city's subdivision ordinance and to the satisfaction of the city engineer. Include the gap parcel located to the south as part of the plat. Vacate easement areas as necessary. Update the plat to include 69955th Street North in order to resolve the encroachments present on the proposed block 2 lot one. Update the plat to create an access easement to the existing lift station to the satisfaction of the city engineer. Update the plat to remove the wetland outlot and include the existing wetland within proposed block one, lot one and block two, lot one with easement access. Extend the existing sidewalk on the east side of Hadley Avenue to the southern property line of the applicant's parcel. Satisfaction of park dedication requirements. Satisfaction of tree replacement requirements. Permits and approvals must be obtained from all applicable outside agencies and proof of approvals must be provided to the city. As a reminder, um this is a public hearing and the applicant is here with us in attendance. And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions from the commission. >> Thank you, Max. Does anyone have any questions immediately for Max? Seeing none, then I will go to open the public forum for this issue. Anyone wishing to come forward, please state your name and address and take your issue. >> Good evening. My name is John Dobs. Uh 2119 Avon Street North in Roseville. I represent the land owners who are sitting next to me. Um and I've been working with staff and trying to work our way through the process. Um uh the parcel itself actually came to be after Hadley. Um the flyover was created and um and 36 was rebuilt and the leftover parcel is what you're looking at there. The access point was uh granted by Washington County um as part of the condemnation process. Um we uh picked the use because the amount of traffic coming and going and landing on Hadley with this particular use will be pretty minimal um compared to some other potential uses that are in the same category. Um so that's a little bit of the background. Um, one thing I would like to just try to make clear is is that the the preliminary plat there's a dash line through the center. Uh, the west side of that line is what we're asking to reszone and um the comp plan accordingly if uh planning commission and council are um uh agreeable to that. Uh the existing zoning we want to leave to the east of that line because it is attached to the industrial heavy industrial property that's already there. Um, in terms of all the other conditions, we've been working with uh staff working through some of that and then uh the more recent ones that came out with the staff report, we don't see any real problem with that. Um, I've already began to kind of address getting the parcel from 6995th Street North to become part of this plat. It would clean up some stuff for us as well. Um, so we're working [clears throat] through that. Um, the one thing that I will say out loud, and I talked to Mark, the engineer, today about it, was just the lift station itself. um list station actually exists uh off of our property on the property to the south. So we can't uh on our end only grant access, but we will do what we can to try to uh facilitate that issue that kind of has come up as part of this platting process. Um I believe the actual parcels themselves were platted a long long time ago and so it's just been kind of complex. Max can probably speak better to the history than I can, but trying to get all that stuff together, which is the encroachments and some of the other stuff. So, platting it makes a lot of sense to clean a lot of things up. So, we're pretty excited about this. Um, and I think it's a great use of the land and staff has been awesome and uh I'll answer any questions that you may have. I'm unfortunately not a building guy. I'm a land developer guy. So, if there's construction questions, Tom, okay, he is here and he can field those. But uh from the land development side, I've done all of that stuff. >> Thank you. Anyone have any questions for him? >> I just have one. Um so in terms of the landscape plans, I think part of the natural charm of the Gateway Trail is that as you exit the Twin Cities, it becomes more woodsy. So I'm just curious if um the trees, like what kind of trees will be planted? Will they still cover like the buildings? like will it still feel like you're actually on the gateway trail? >> Oh, um yeah, good question. Um we have begun to address uh one of the comments in the staff report was the uh tree replacement plan. Um and we have updated that, but I don't think we got it here quick enough that we've gotten some comments back yet. Um and then as part of the site plan process, that's my understanding when we start to work through the landscaping aspect of the plan, if I'm right about that. And we haven't uh addressed a site plan yet. Okay, >> that's coming. And final plat as well. >> Oh, thank you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Very aware that the gateway Yeah. I mean, it's great neighbor. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um and some people have ridden on it a lot is my understanding. Um and been riding on it a long time. So, yes. >> Any further questions? >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Does anyone else wish to come forward to speak to this issue? In which case, I'll close the uh open forum, bring it back. Any further questions from anyone on the commission? Seeing none, then I guess we move to the motions. First one is a motion to recommend approval of the comprehensive plan amendment for Hadley storage. >> So moved. Second. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion to recommend approval of the reszoning of Hadley Storage. >> Some move. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I I. >> Any opposed? >> Third, a motion to recommend approval of the variance for Hadley storage. Although second >> Tom and then Bo. Okay. Uh all those in favor >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Thank you. Motion passes. Motion to recommend approval of the preliminary plat for Hadley storage. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. Uh concludes this issue. Thank you very much. [clears throat] >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Hi, >> thank you. >> So, we are on on to staff leaison update. >> Yes, thank you. So, expect a planning commission meeting in October. We have at least one application that is ready to go for next month's meeting. And the other thing I just want to mention, if you haven't done so already, please welcome Jeff Bates to the planning commission. Uh, our newest member here, appointed by the city council recently. And that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Next is commissioner updates. Does anyone have any updates they wish to speak to? Seeing none, we'll move to the last issue, council liaison update. Well, good evening everyone. I only have about a half an hour's worth of items. [laughter] Uh, [clears throat] as Luke mentioned, welcome to Jeff Bates. Um, we're glad you're here. Jeff and I sat together on the Economic Development Commission. He was actually our chair when uh when that commission was decommissioned, I guess. Um but I he's a good addition to this uh commission and we're grateful to have you. So, thanks, Jeff. Well, >> thank you. >> Um just a couple things that council's been up to. Uh we've we've took action on the planning commission items from the last month or so uh at our last meeting. Um, so I think this might be the only outstanding Well, this isn't even ready to go to council yet, but um, we are finalizing the 2027 budget levy for 20 for next year and the numbers are looking very good. We're we're very happy with that. So, um, hopefully we'll keep your taxes, at least the city portion, low for 2027. Uh, a couple events I'll promote. Citywide cleanup event is September, Saturday, September 19th. It's a great opportunity to get rid of some stuff that's hard to get rid of. Uh that'll be at public works, I think the new public works building. And then lastly, the family funflatables event, which is another great event, especially for kids or grandkids. That'll be on September 26th. So another great event. Any questions for me? >> I guess not. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> And so we move to adjournment. >> So move. Second. Second. >> All those in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. We are adjourned.