Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All   right, we'll call the meeting to order. On behalf  of the planning commission, like to welcome our   residents and viewers to this regular meeting  of October 14th, 2025. On tonight's agenda,   we have one public hearing. Uh before we open that  public hearing, we have uh couple of housekeeping   items to take care of. We have minutes from our  August 12th regular meeting and we have minutes   from our September 9th joint uh meeting with  our city council. Are there any additions or   questions to those minutes? If not, is there  a motion? Motion to approve. We have a motion   to approve both minutes. Is there a second? I'll  second. Motion and second. All in favor say I. I.   Minutes are approved. Thank you. We'll open up our  public hearing at this time. Uh this is a variance   request from the required front yard setback and  a variance request uh from the maximum building uh   coverage in the I1 industrial zoning district. The  applicant is Kemp's Farmington Cultured Business.   The location is 15th Fourth Street. Tony, you're  gonna take this? I am. Thank you, Mr. Chair,   commission members. Yes. Before you this  evening is a application for a couple variances   uh for the Kemp's facility located at 15 4th  Street. Uh they're uh seeking variances from   the required front yard setback and the maximum  building coverage requirements of the I or   industrial zoning district. Uh this is an order  to construct a 3,900 ft² building addition onto  

their existing facility which again is located  at 154th Street. Uh the applicant is proposing as   I mentioned construction of a 3,900 ft addition.  Uh this addition would be on the west side of the   existing facility adjacent to 4th Street. uh in  your memo um or attached to your memo there is a   memorandum from the applicant kind of outlining  uh why they are requesting this and I'll just   read an excerpt from that. It says this expansion  aims to replace outdated cottage cheese equipment   which has surpassed its practical use useful life.  Modern cottage cheese equipment is larger in scale   than our existing equipment and will not fit into  the current production area. Additionally, because   of the way cheese is produced, it will need to  be contiguous to the packaging filling area,   which is on the west side of the facility. These  difficulties stem from the unique circumstances of   the building's age and design. The property was  constructed before contemporary cottage cheese   standards were developed, placing the building  at a disadvantage compared to newer construction.   Additionally, Kemps did not construct the original  structure of the plant. Therefore, the location   of the current equipment was inherited with the  purchase and Kemps did not have the opportunity   to complete adequate space planning that would  have considered future replacement options. This   outdated infrastructure restricts the ability  to upgrade without a variance. Uh the proposed   building setback would be set back 0 feet uh  from the western property line adjacent to Forest   Street. Now, that would go up to the property  line. It does not go up to the curb line of the   street. There would be roughly about 17 to 18 feet  from the curb to the to the actual property line.   Um the minimum required front yard setback in the  uh I or industrial zoning district is 50 ft. Uh  

therefore they are requesting a 50ft variance.  Um do want to note that uh the building itself   um in a number of locations uh currently does not  meet the uh required 50oot setback um even with   the original structure. So just wanted to uh make  you aware of that. Uh with the proposed addition   the billing coverage for the site would be at  51.35%. The maximum billing coverage allowed in   the uh I zone is 35%. uh with the existing billing  coverage as of right now sitting at about 48.41%.   Uh similar variances were granted back about  5 years ago. Uh this was to accommodate a new   boiler room addition on the north uh east side of  the site. Uh these variances included of a setback   variance of about 19 uh ft uh from the property  line um adjacent to Fifth Street. So again on the   other side of the site and a variance to increase  that building coverage up to 48 to what it is now   48.41%. Do want to mention that the expansion  will require the removal of the existing pylon   sign on site. Uh a new or future exterior signage  will have to have a sign permit uh applied for   and approved. Uh what we have here on the left is  the uh certificate of survey specifically for the   western property line uh adjacent to where the  or where the adj uh building addition would be   located. Um again wanted to reiterate that uh the  there's certain portions of the existing building   that are already within that uh setback. And then  the picture on the right is the concept site plan   that shows the proposed addition and the general  location that uh they are proposing for that  

addition. Variance criteria. As the commission  is aware, there are nine criteria uh that must   be met um for the planning commission to approve  a variance. Um, I've outlined in the memo uh that   it staff's recommendation that the above criteria  have been met. Uh, and the plan commission should   approve the requested variances. Therefore,  the action that's requested this evening,   staff recommends approval of the requested  variances to exceed the front yard setback   and to exceed the maximum building coverage  requirements in the Izzoning district subject   to the following. one, obtaining all necessary  building permits and two, sign permits shall   be applied for and approved for any future  exterior signage. All right, thank you Tony.   With us tonight is a representative from Kemps  and also a representative from their consultant,   Kimley her. Did you want to add anything to the  staff report? Yes, I can. All right. Thank you. Just in case you need that. Hello everyone.  My name is Grace Rasteder with Kimley Horn   representing Kemps. Um, thank you all for taking  the time to listen to our variance requests this   evening. Um, and thank you Tony for doing um, a  great job with the summary of our requests. Um,   just want to uh, reiterate um, we're looking  to replace our existing outdated equipment. Um,   and that equipment the modern equipment for it is  larger than the existing um, or you know what's   currently there. Um, and that is why we need this  um, expansion in order to replace that equipment   that's passed its useful life and continue our  operations. Um, don't have much to add uh, other   than what Tony already explained, so I won't go  through it all again. Um, but happy to answer any   questions that uh, there may be. All right. Thank  you. If you'd stay available, u, we'd appreciate  

it. Uh, we'll start with Commissioner Tesy. Yeah.  Um I mean I don't see anything glaring other than   the fact that I mean the majority or the entirety  of the building is within that setback. So um it's   just a really tight site and I'm just wondering um  does Kemp's plan to have any I mean not that we're   going to know but future expansion I mean we're  just running out of room on this site. Yeah. No,   I completely hear you. Um I do not know of any  future expansions planned. I know there were   other parts of the site that were analyzed. Um,  and those were considered not viable options. Um,   partly just because like to the south there's  not much room and then they have their docks. Um,   and then in addition based on how cottage cheese  equipment works, it needs to be contiguous to that   western side of the building. Um, so I I guess  I do not know of any future expansions. However,   I do know that other locations were considered  for this equipment that were not viable. So,   and then everything is contained within  this building that's being proposed and   there's no no loading or or deliveries  that would have to happen. Correct. Okay,   that's it. That's all I have. Commissioner Win  channel, just a couple questions. The building,   is it going to be the same height as the  existing structure that's there? Yes. So,   we're still working through um I guess the  the the details of the design. Um, however,   it is not anticipated that the building would be  taller than the existing building that is already   out there. Okay. And Tony, just so I have it  straight to residents that might watch this,   um, it goes up to basically the black box  around is that where the building would go   up to or because it doesn't go up to the street.  Correct. No, it does not go up to the street. So,   if you Yeah. Yeah. where there's like those um  it the gray area is the proposed building. The  

property line is the dashed on the specifically on  the one on the right. Um the property line will be   kind of that dashed black line. Um the curb like  I had mentioned is roughly about 17 to 18 ft from   that property line. So there'll be some grass in  between the the roadway and the actual building,   but the building itself will go right up to  the property line. Y Okay. Thank you. Looks   good. Commissioner Snow. Yeah. When I was there, I  was just checking it out. Is there any talk about   having a sidewalk in front of that just to to give  people a flow because there's, you know, going to   be busy sides on both sides of the street? Has  there been talk about that? That's not something   that we've discussed at this point. Um, however,  it's a good suggestion. I guess I would need to   look and see. It's hard to tell from the aerial  what the what the sidewalk is in that location.   Now, I don't believe there is one, unless I'm  there. There's sidewalk on the west side. Um,   I do know that Willow Street will be part of  a reconstruction uh project in the upcoming uh   year. Uh, we can certainly have that discussion  with our public works director. Typically, you   only have sidewalk on one side of the road. Yeah.  So, so can I interject or something? Somebody just   commented something. Um, Willow Street's going to  be reconstructed. Yes. Wasn't it reconstructed a   while back? Not so long ago. I mean, the stuff in  front of the greenhouse is is pretty banged up,   but I thought the stuff from I don't know what  road it is that goes back by Tffy Westonberg   back there. Anyway, that road uh to the to the  west Lynen Street. I think Lynen Street may have   had some work done, but Willow Street I do not  believe has been. All right. So, I was on Willow   today and it definitely was not done. You know,  the part around the curb by the park. Is that I   don't think so. Well, and I don't know how far  south um from the curve at Willow it will go  

um on on Fourth Street. Okay. Um All right. But  that is still something we can certainly discuss.   No, and that was my followup question was like  there's not an existing sidewalk that goes down   the rest of the street. So, I don't know how  common that would be to do it, but it just   seems like a natural thing to have there since it  is going to be so close to the road. I just was   brainstorming on what would be look nice and be  good for people that are walking in that area cuz   your parks right across the road, right? And then  when I was looking down the road, I'm like, well,   would it be nice if they could cross the road  and be in that? If you're not going to extend it,   I don't know how common that is to have a  sidewalk that doesn't connect on the other   side. You typically don't want that to happen.  Yeah. Yeah. Just a thought. Right. Thank you.   That's all I got. Thank you, Commissioner B. Um,  good questions. I think the only question I have,   and Tony, this might be more for you. It looks  like on the north side there, there's a parking   area right there. Correct. any concern with  building that out more towards the west side that   there would be problems with traffic or seeing  around that corner as folks are pulling in and out   of that parking lot. Uh I don't believe so. Okay.  I don't believe so. It's not a truck delivery   spot or anything like that. It's more just their  loading docks are on the back side. Now they do   have their I think their weight station on that  northern end. They do um tankers would come in   the proposed building right there. Okay. So, okay.  No coming out. Okay, that makes sense. Thank you. Yeah. And I guess I was more concerned about  trucks, like you said, the tankers coming in   and out, but Okay, that makes sense. No, as a  as a guy who grew up on a dairy farm, I'm all   for more cottage cheese. No, that's great. Thank  you. Well, thank you everybody. Um, as usual, good  

questions from the commission. I think took most  if not all of mine, which is a good thing. Um, one thing that that was in the staff  reporter and one of the reports was   that this property was constructed  before our ordinance were drafted. So,   a lot of these issues are inherent of property  that was done at that time. And so I I agree that   um you know this is a it's a very good  business here. We want to keep it here. Um questions on sight lines are important. It is  it is kind of a dangerous curve. Um anything   that chems can do to help with traffic flow  around that curve. Um, again, because it's   so close to a park and access to trails that  there are a lot of our youth that tend to walk   and bike in that area and whatever else they're  doing now with with scooters and whatever. But,   um, it it is it can be a troublesome corner, I  think. But, I actually I support the variances   for this. Um, great questions on future growth.  Um, because you're getting pretty full. I mean,   I'm pretty full there. Very full. But, uh,  but again, it's such a good business that we   certainly want to support it and keep it in our  community. So, I would support that. Um, just   want to make a note for any viewers here that we  have nobody in the audience to ask questions. So,   that's why we didn't take any questions from the  audience. If there were, we would certainly ask.   And with that, I'd look for a motion to close the  public hearing. Motion to close. Have a motion. Is   there a second? Second. Motion and second. Call  the role, please. Uh, Win, yes. Tesy, yes. Rody,   yes. Snowback. Yes. Bird. Yes. In front of the  commission then is uh two variance requests. One   to exceed the front yard setback as Tony explained  to the amount and the maximum building coverage as   outlined in the staff report. We have two  contingencies. Um obtaining all necessary   building permits and assigned permit shall be  applied for and approved for any future exterior  

signage to camps or the consultant agree to those  contingencies. Yes. Okay. With that then I'd look   for a motion. I'll make a motion. We have a motion  for approval. Is there a second? Second. Motion   and second. Any more discussion? If not, call  the role, please. Tesy, yes. Rody, yes. Snowback,   yes. Bird, yes. Windshadow, yes. Well, thank you.  Thank you for coming to our meeting. Um Tony, was   there anything else from staff? I have nothing,  sir. Anything else from the commission? Nothing.   If not, I'll remind the commission because this is  a bit of a change. Our next regular meeting will   be on a Wednesday. It'll be uh November 12th,  correct? due to Veterans Day. So with that, I'd   look for a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn.  We have a motion. Is there a second? I'll second.   Motion second. All in favor say I. This commission  is officially adjourned. Thank you everybody.