It's uh 6 p.m. We'll call the meeting to order. Abby, can you take the role, please? >> Commissioner Hoyman, >> here. >> Commissioner Wagner, >> here. >> Commissioner Steeler, >> here. >> Commissioner Stener >> here. Um, Chair Gerard >> here. >> I'll note for the record, Commissioner Young is absent. >> All right, we will. Next on our agenda is the oath office for Andy if you want to come up. >> You'll want to be in front of the podium just for >> um >> um poll turn this way. Andy fates me and then that way at least I'm then Andy can be seen on TV. >> You're good. >> So you see the back of my head. >> That's great. It's actually kind of profiled for both of you. >> Andyly swear >> swear >> to support the Conution of the United States. Support the Constitution of the United States. >> Constitution of the state of Minnesota. >> Constitution of the state of Minnesota. >> Discharge faithfully. >> And faithfully duties of the planning commission for the city of Lake Minnesota. >> The duties of the planning commission for the city of Lake Minnesota. >> To the best of my judgment. >> Our latest newest arrival. Come on up. >> Congratulations. Welcome aboard. >> You're not anytime soon. I ask if you're able please stand and join us for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Andy, if you open up that laptop, it should be right set up for you on the agenda. Move the mouse around a little bit. We're good. >> Thank you, Commissioner Steeler. >> Yeah, >> I'll add that to my um on boarding of just so that I remember to do that. >> You did get a amended agenda in front of you this evening. The main change is that we're going to uh just handle the one item uh which is the landscape, finish up the meeting. we'll adjourn the meeting and then we will um then do the training after we adjourn the meeting. So that's pretty much the the basic of it all. So with that, the chair is looking for a motion to approve the agenda as presented or with changes. >> So moved. >> I got a motion. I have a sec. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. It's non-debatable motion. All those in favor signify by saying I >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. Motion carries. We've come to the part of the meeting where our open forum. We ask if anyone would like to speak to the planning commission tonight, please come up, state your name and address for the record, spend a couple minutes giving your thoughts. Once we have heard from everyone, we will uh close the open form and we'll move on to our consent agenda. So with that, does anyone wish to speak at the open forum this evening? >> Abby, is there anything to be read in? >> There is not. Seeing no one come forth, we will uh close the open form and move on to item seven, the consent agenda. We have one item approved in minutes from the regular meeting of July 9th, 2025. Chair is looking for a motion. >> So moved. >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> I'll second it. >> I have a motion second. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I >> I >> opposed. >> Extensions. >> No. I mean, yes. Sorry, I didn't say it loud enough. Sorry. >> All right, we'll move on to item eight, regular regular agenda item. We only have one. It's a landscaping regulation for ordinance number 757 and 758. Abby, are you presenting? >> Sure. I hope so. >> I'm sorry. >> Yes. >> Um, at the commission's July meeting, you received an ordinance amendment for landscaping and you held a public hearing on that. There was no public comment, but the there was discussion from the planning commission and you directed staff to amend the ordinance in a few different ways. So, bringing back before you are two ordinances with uh changes as directed by the planning commission or um in a couple cases not changed and staff is going to outline why. So, um to just highlight those really quick, the first had to do with the perimeter versus area calculation for non-residential developments, anything but single family and two family. At the time there was quite a bit of consideration over should we be using the area of the the lot the developed area the non-developed area um staff is actually requesting we keep this as perimeter and the single largest reason is it's easier for staff I don't mean it in any sort of other way but we can easily add four numbers versus trying to do the area calculation if that area is not provided to city staff on a site plan. Um, a big thing is is as we continue to onboard new people, just trying to make these things easier right now, um, in the long run. Again, um, I do want to point out that when this was brought up last time, the, um, uh, Commissioner Young did point out the change is fairly negligible when we're using a perimeter calculation versus an area calculation. So um staff is asking that you consider to keep that perimeter calculation though non-traditional it is a lot easier for the city staff to administer at this time under story tree calculation. Um there were two um uh measurements in the code or calculations for that. One was dividing the perimeter by 10 and then dividing it by 15. staff has chosen to uh insert it by 10 which does result in more understory trees. However, again the code does say you can require less or you could require more if reasonable. So thought that the more um the landscaping that was more um a little more I want to say restrictive uh provided more trees in Forest Lake um might be a good start and again we can always re-evaluate these. I know that's not been our common place to re-evaluate our ordinances, but again, we can always look at how this is working after a few uh site plan reviews, single and two for story or single and two family properties. As a reminder, the code had previously the ordinance had previously said four trees per lot. You asked us to um divide that up a little bit more. So now it is at a minimum two overstory and two understory and additionally a minimum of two trees per lot in the front and sideyard. So knowing that we want to have some trees in the front and some in the back minimum of two of them in the front and sideyard. Um there was also a request to reference the American Society of Landscape Architects. Uh but this is in reference to licensed landscape architects. figured just leaving that just blank licensed because depending on the state that lure comes from the state and not necessarily from the society of architects and then um staff did after spending a little bit more time with us did notice two areas where we felt that we needed to put in additional language. one is a an existing practice. If you have a home that gets its that's final in December um that we offer temporary certificate of occupancies for those homes until that landscaping is installed in the spring. Just added in some language about that just to memorialize the practice that we've got going on right now. And then um plant materials uh should be planted in a fashion that will that will accommodate the plant's maturity. Um it's peak code enforcement season and as all of you might imagine we get quite a number of neighborly um complaints and concerns and a lot of them have to do with my neighbor's tree is overhanging the lot line. Um, generally that's a private property owner matter, but what we're encouraging is for any new development that you just think of the maturity of the tree and hopefully that whole mature tree stays on your own property. Hopefully avoiding future complaints. It's probably not going to, but so those are things staff is also asking um your consideration tonight. So, uh, I recommend you review this, discuss this, and then if you're favorable, um, make a couple motions to recommend the city council approve ordinance 757 and 758. Both of those motions are on page 14 of your packet. Any questions? >> Questions for staff? Yeah, I have a >> question on the um >> existing um practice of of allowing a um temporary or occupancy and then they put in the landscaping later. Has that been a problem in the P? I know like big commercial developments, they'll they'll make the developer put up a bond, you know, and if they don't get all the landscaping in, they they lose that money. I don't know if the city does something like that or >> we do for both residential and commercial. So commercial will always be governed by having a site improvement agreement and either a letter of credit, a bond, um maybe even a financial deposit. Uh new single family construction also is required to put down a a deposit that covers um it's an escrow deposit that will cover grading, landscaping, all of those things. Um, and yeah, we generally don't have a problem with the putting in of the things later on down the road, but we wanted to at least memorialize what we've been doing. >> Yeah. Um, sometimes I've found that we have practices that are not well vetted in our ordinances or well um authorized in our ordinances and where we can better align our um permissions with what we're I practice is is good policy. >> Other questions to staff? >> Abby, I only have one. It has to do with page 16. um two I two two two I's so A and B you know we have the uh overstory trees and and we're going to allow 3 to one and then the other one is 20 to one is is that a reasonable number >> so what this does is this is um allowing for a plant equivalent so up to 50% of overstory trees you can use for ornamental trees And then up to 50% of the ornamental trees could be 20 shrubs. So it's essentially saying if you want to have less trees, that's fine. We just want more shrubbery and more ornamental trees on the property. >> Yeah. You want three more instead of a regular tree for the ornamental and you want 20 more shrubs. >> Yeah. So this is only for um other than one family and two family. So, this is going to be for commercial apartments, commercial build apartments, commercial buildings. >> But am I understanding right that um that the way it's written is that if you want to substitute for an overstory tree, you got to put three understory trees in for each tree. >> Three for each overstory. Three ornamental trees. And then it's 20 shrubs for >> one ornamental tree. >> It does that seem like a reasonable number. 20 shrubs to one. >> Depends on the size of the shrub. >> Pardon me. >> Kind of depends on the size of the shrub, I would say. >> All right. I mean, I'm not going to fight it. It just seems like a lot of shrubs. It does seem like a lot of shubs, but the one thing I will say is um the co the the way the ordinance is written, you have discretion to ask for more or require less without variances. >> So I think the idea is let's put in what our standards are and let's see how this works. We know right now that our nobody can achieve our existing landscaping regulations >> at all. And so this is a start to see if we can get something that's better in line with what properties can achieve. Um those are two areas or that's an area though uh chair Gerard that I think that we just kind of keep an eye on as we implement it. >> It it'll just be interesting to see if someone comes with 900 shrubs because they want to put a tree in. >> Well, and I do think it'll be interesting to see if anybody opts for these equivalents. >> Yeah. >> Right. If we've reduced the overall requirement, is it more in line with a property to where we don't need to have this equivalent planting standards in place? >> All right. Other questions to staff? >> I have one. Um on uh the detached single family, the lots are getting so incredibly small that there's not necessarily going to be an ability to put in an overstory tree or two of them and not have them either be on the property line or encroach in the house. >> Um yep. So the requirement is not that they have to uh meet the maturity standards on their property, but design with respect to it. Um, you are right in that our single family residential lot, some of our single family residential lots are getting smaller. I don't think that the four trees per lot is excessive. Um, but it could be possible that maturity doesn't allow for that to stay contained on the property. >> Staff give. >> We would still we would still be approving these. I think the intent is where we can try to minimize those future conflicts. Let's let's think about them. There's quite a bit in the ordinance that I think is designed to kind of say, hey, property owner, developer, builder, designer, keep these things in mind. Reducing the effects of heat. you know, some of it of um plant on the the north or the south or the east or the I don't remember to be honest with you which one we're recommending, but these are all keep these things in mind as good planting suggestions, not necessarily laws. I think there's a lot of shoulds as opposed to shells. >> Other questions? >> Great question though. Hearing none. Um staff is recommending that we uh make a motion to uh to the city council or recommend to the city council to change our ordinance 757 758 says they can be do individually or together. I'm going to request for two motions then it's always clear. Um so with that uh chair is looking for a motion. I will make a motion to recommend to the city council to approve ordinance number 757, an ordinance repealing and replacing certain sections of city code chapter 153 pertaining to landscaping regulations. >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Opposed. Abstensions. Motion carries unanimously. Chair is looking for a second motion. >> Chair, I make a motion to suggest adoption of ordinance 758. Uh this would be an ordinance amending the title uh X5 chapter 153 section 153.074 074 uh and the rest pertaining to the landscape regulations as written. >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> I'll second it. >> I got a motion in a second. Any discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed? Abstensions? Motion carries unanimously. All right, we will move to uh our discussion and updates are always kind of the same thing. And we and we'll start with our esteemed leaison uh council person Larson. Good evening, Mr. Chairman and commissioners. Um we've had some council meetings with some discussions. Um, however, there's not been too much stuff, especially since you folks haven't met for over a month now, uh, pertaining to things. So, I don't really have anything to pass from the council point of view to to you folks as far as that goes. So, unless Abby has something to enlighten me with that I might be forgetting or missing. >> Not at the moment. No. >> But I'd be happy to answer any questions of you folks if you have any >> questions. How's the budget coming? I might as well ask for Susan. >> Okay, Susan. Um, I think we're doing okay. We're uh we're kind of pinch hitting a couple of things. I know our public works facility is is a big topic of discussion. Um, but we're we need to work on that and whittle things down a little bit because the price tag I think is a a little excessive. But uh um I think between the council uh public works director Adams and and uh things I think we're we'll be working on some stuff. Um we made a decision to proceed to the site down next to the recycling center and I think we chose option two. Uh so we have a an area where they could have made a drainage area or a building uh structure that we can sell to help offset the cost of things too. plus the sites, the public works building that we currently have and some of our other storage stuff, maybe looking at selling that off to also help offset the cost, but we haven't determined any type of uh price tag or anything like that for that stuff. So, it's a work in progress, as they say. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. Um, I'd like to welcome Andy. Nice to see you. It's been a little bit of a stretch here. We're up to full staff now. So, we're looking good on that. Um, one other thing I'd just like to mention is uh a heartfelt condolence to the Forest Lake Police Department for the loss of their officer, Detective Josh Brown. Um, today they brought his body back from the medical examiner's office and we had a procession through town down Broadway up Lake Street to Matson's funeral home which looked like it was very well received. So, um, health heartfelt condolences to the Forest Lake Police Department, uh, his wife and their family at this time. >> So, >> thank you. >> Thank you kindly. Amy, what do you have for us? >> Um, just a couple things. Earlier this week, um, the city council actually directed staff to include in the preliminary budget increasing our code enforcement officer Dan Pearson's position from 13 and a half hours a week to 40 in 2026. Um, the council recognizes, as I've been sharing with them, that there is too much enforcement efforts out there to be operating with a quarter-time employee. I did tell the council that that was going to be the case when I asked them to convert our insummer intern dollars to a year- round full-time position or a year- round position. Um, but I think that it was I thought and the council agreed that it was important to have a person here conducting code enforcement year round. Um, turns out that when you advertise that you have a code enforcement officer, your enforcement efforts um just have to increase because your complaints increase. Um, a lot of them are are neighbor complaints that we we're the government isn't here to solve, but we try to help. Um certainly a lot of city code violations um that are worthy of inspection um and then quite a number of large nuisances, many of them back burnered for a very long time that we're trying to work through very slowly. Um so I am hopeful that the council will continue to keep that position in at full-time from preliminary to final uh budget adoption. But wanted to at least let you know that um support has been here to help um increase our enforcement efforts and the council recognizes that and would like to increase that. Um also, you should have received notice this week that our August 27th meeting is canled. Uh, as I shared with the council, even though the planning commission's agendas have been light, we are still very busy in our permitting and we have a number of developments that are going to be coming through entitlement still this fall. We've received uh the final or the preliminary plat for Chestnut Creek phase 2. Some of you might remember that it was a that's a 10-year-old development that had quite a number of problems in trying to get that second phase. um off the ground, but we do have a new developer that's come in to try to get that neighborhood finished, which is going to be very big uh for Forest Lake. Um we also have started conversations on a couple other residential land developments that would be prepping now for next spring. Um I think we we probably have conversations with about six different large parcel developments. So you can expect certainly a busy 2026, but through the the fall you'll have consistent meetings. Your next meeting then would be September 10th. I say that right. September. We're in August. September 10th. Um and at that time we'll have a new phase. Our assistant community development director, Steven Gilmore, starts on the 8th. So he'll be here with me that evening. And so then um Steve, did you say his name was >> Steve? Yep. >> So then he'll be here and you'll be out of here again. >> No, not right away. You guys have me for a while. It'll take a while to get um Steve on board and then we have posted for our planner position replacing Ken Roberts or you know that Ken had vacated. Um it will have that position closes in two weeks. We have a kind of a tight timeline. We obviously going to open it up, but the hope would be to have somebody in the next couple months at most. Um, those two people will probably be your primary staff. Um, so yes, in time I'll kind of maybe have less night meetings a month. Um, but it I'll still be here for a while. >> Questions for Abby? >> Yes. So, the meetings switch back to 7 o'clock in September? >> No, they will remain at six o'clock. And I will say I do appreciate them at 6 um just for the simple fact that I get to tuck my kid in at night. Really do and come the winter it'll be nice to maybe not drive in. >> Who am I kidding? It'll still be pitch black. >> Yeah. >> I have one more question. Maybe this is outside of your scope. Do you know if the project on Highway 97 is at ahead of schedule? >> You know, I don't know. Um, I certainly can check with our engineer, uh, Ryan Goodman and I can get something out to you to just see where that update where that project is. >> There is posted updates online also by it. There's a site that you can just go to and they post stuff regularly. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I can send that that file link out. >> Any other questions? Abby, >> Jim, >> has there been any plans for any commercial development or is it strictly residential that's coming to the city as recently? >> Um, as of recently, we don't have any new applications for commercial development, but are in a discussions with quite a number of different properties about the potential future development. Um, nothing uh even at a pre-application level yet. Uh, one of the challenges is just part of it has to do with the road construction. Um, some of the the sites that we're talking about are along Highway 97. Um, uh, Forest Lake Garage Condos, that one will be coming forward. You'll be seeing that one in se, I believe, September. So, there is some non-residential, but I was thinking more retail, but so it's a little bit of mix. >> I like how I started out by saying no and then I ended with yes. Any killing? >> No. Um, I don't have anything to ask. >> None. >> No. >> Yes, sir. >> Nope. >> Martin, >> I'm good. >> I have uh nothing else to add. So, with that, the chair is looking for a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> I have a motion. Do I have second? >> Second. It's a non-debatable motion. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Motion carries. Thank you all for your service this evening and we'll resume in a few minutes with training.