Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. I'd like to call to order the planning commission meeting. It is 4:30, Thursday, April 24th, 2025. The first item on the agenda is the approval of the March 28th, 2025 minutes. Are there any corrections, additions? I'll offer a motion to approve. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. Minutes have been approved. Next item on the agenda is the opening of the public hearing for Valley Sun Valley Properties LLC Liberty Street Variance. Sun Valley Properties LLC variance request staff report. All right, good afternoon planning commission. Uh John Nisley, planner with the city of Newm. This variance request is to allow the construction of a twin home to be placed 20 ft from the front yard property line. Uh the applicants for this variance request are Scott and Seth Dreman. The property owners are Sun Valley Properties LLC. The legal description of the uh properties we're talking about here are lot 7 and lot 8 of the Minnesota River Valley subdivision that was platted in 2005. Uh the street addresses for these properties are 13 Liberty Street and 15 Liberty Street. A deadline for a decision on this variance uh request is June 7th, 2025. The comprehensive plan land use designation for these properties is lowdensity residential. Surrounding land uses uh according to the comprehensive plan to the north is low density residential, west industrial, south medium and highdensity residential and then the east uh commercial and medium density residential. Zoning designation

for this property is R3 medium density residence district. surrounding zoning uh to the north and east is also R3. Uh to the south is R3 and R4 which is highdensity residence district. To the west it's I1 that's the planned industrial district. Uh currently these two sites uh or these two um properties are vacant lots. Um current area land uses include twin homes and apartments to the south. Uh to the north is uh vacant uh it's just a grass area. To the west is industrial development in agricultural fields and then to the east are twin homes. Notice provided to all property owners within 350 ft of the subject property and then published in the journal on April 12th, 2025. Uh to date, staff has received one phone call on the request asking about the specific uh proposal after a discussion with that uh phone uh that caller um and they understood the details of the request. They weren't in opposition of the variance. When staff was on site taking photographs, they were approached by neighbors regarding the proposal. Uh the neighbors expressed concerns about the wetness of the undeveloped lots as well as drainage and water pooling problems behind the twin home that was constructed to the south and directly abuing these lots. Uh they expressed that the drainage on these lots need to be uh addressed before they could support another twin home being constructed on those vacant lots. So the project description uh the purpose of the R3 uh medium density residence district is to provide medium-density housing including one and two unit dwellings along with directly related complimentary uses. Lot 7 has 50 ft of street frontage and is 10,577 square ft. And lot 8 is has 50

feet in street frontage and is 8720 square feet in size. Uh the applicant is proposing to construct a twin home on lots seven and eight and to be located again from uh 20 ft from the front yard property line. The required setback in that zoning district uh from the front yard property line is 30 ft. The side and rear yard setbacks uh would be maintained. So the rear yard setback here is 35 ft and the sides are 10 ft. Uh lots seven and eight are the last two undeveloped lots in this subdivision and at this time the city has not received any formal proposals to develop the property further to the north of this subdivision. Uh the property to the north is owned by a separate and private property owner. So go through a few site conditions here. Um the slope shown on the rear of the lots and I have it pulled up on the screen here uh in attachment five is approximately 29%. So that's from the top of the slope down to the toe of the slope. Um and that's that's very steep. Um at the toe of the slope there appears to be water seeping creating wet conditions. And that's also shown here in blue on the screen where when we were out on site it appeared that's where the wet areas occurred um at the toe of that slope. Uh the applicant is proposing to construct the twin homes 20 ft from the front of the property uh from the front property line in order to distance them as far as possible from that wet area and away from that steep slope in the rear of the property. Uh the applicant has stated that there is tile in these lots to help alleviate some of the water issues. Uh the tile outlets uh to the city storm sewer system and pond uh to the northeast of Liberty Street. The applicant uh anticipates

placing rock rip wrap on the slope uh on the slope with the intent of stabilizing the slope as much as possible. Um the proposed twin home would be slab on grade with tile around the perimeter of the footing. That tile would also drain to the storm water per that pond that serves this subdivision. Um I have here the storm water map in case anybody wanted to see it. Um so we have uh public storm water uh in the street. That's the kind of pink lines. Uh the red squares are catch basins and as you can see uh the water is intended to flow to Newm South and then over here into the catch basin. Um when on site uh and talking with the developer in black here there are two tile intakes and uh this these tile intakes also drain water into the city storm water system. So, um, lots seven and lots eight, you know, could potentially tap into those. Um, other information on the subdivision, uh, the twin homes constructed on the east side of Liberty Street uh do not have as much of a substantial slope uh issues as lot seven and eight have. Lot seven and eight have the most slope uh behind them in this subdivision. The abuing lots to the south uh do have slopes uh but the slopes start to taper and become less steep um as you go further south. Um there are private development covenants in this subdivision with an active homeowners association. Uh the proposed twin homes will be required to match other twin homes in the subdivision with regards to uh appearance according to those covenants. I would just uh remind the planning commission the city of New Alm does not administer private land

covenants. These covenants are administered by the association. Uh the applicant uh provided the following information on the project. We're only asking for a front yard setback variance because of the substantial slope to the south and west. These lots have steep slopes in the rear which other lots do not have to deal with. We have tried to set the homes back as far as possible without without having to do a lot of reshaping of the slope. Um staff's evaluation um the zoning ordinance variance criteria dictates that there must be features unique to the property such as physical surroundings, lot size and shape and topography, water conditions, or other physical conditions unique to the property. staff believes that the slope at the rear of the property and the wet conditions created by that slope make these properties uh unique. While there is slope to the rear of the properties going south, it's less severe um as you go towards North Highland Avenue. Uh staff staff believes that the variance request on its own uh would not be interest to other properties in the development um as it's been platted and available for development since 2005. That being said, uh the development the developer will need to make sure that storm water generated from this development be directed towards the municipal storm water utility system provided to the subdivision and not leave the site uh onto other neighboring properties. Uh the request being made uh is a reasonable use of the property and will not change the essential character of the neighborhood. uh staff did uh complete a findings of fact form and that's um that's in your packets here as attachment seven um and we can go through that in a little bit. So project considerations in order to recommend approval of the variance request the commission will need to adopt findings of facts and

recommendations using the re review criteria as provided provided in the findings of fact form in your packets. uh the planning commission and the city council must ma make an affirmative finding on all variance criteria in order to grant the variance request. The applicant has the burden of proof to show that all the criteria have been satisfied included a number of attachments and I think we should go through them um with this application. Um so attachment one is the variance uh request by the applicant. Attachment two is is um a site location map. So you can see where my point my cursor is right now. Uh these um larger farmed areas are in the industrial zoning district. Um there's storage sheds over here to the northeast and then um apartments uh to the south. Um here's the zoning map showing the I1 R3 and then other surrounding zoning districts to these properties. Here's the plat um of the Minnesota River Minnesota River Valley subdivision. Highlighted in red are the two lots that we're considering uh for a variance here today. Um, attachment five is a rendition of the showing the slope uh on the property and surrounding properties as well as those wet areas noted when we were on site and then approximate location of where the Twimhon would be located if it were set 20 ft back from the front yard property line. We have photos of the site. So this would be looking north uh kind of facing north and west towards those uh industrial areas. This is from uh the kind of uh where it's abudding the neighboring

property facing northwest. As you can see where my cursor is, this is all that wet seepage at the toe of that slope and kind of the darker brown here is behind the the twin homes further to the south. Um, looking uh this direction uh to the north where my cursor is now or uh where the proposed new twin home would be. As you can see, there had been water issues in the backyard of the twin home directly abuing this one uh these lots. This was an attempt at me trying to piece together um a whole view or a panoramic view of looking at the back of those lots so you could get an idea of what the slope looked like as well as uh where the the seeping is coming through. You can see where my cursor is. This these are the wet areas right at the toe of the slope. And then lastly, we had uh the findings of fact form. Staff would recommend two conditions uh if the if recommended for approval. One condition would be that the applicant's development of these lots shall not cause water to flow from these lots onto other neighboring lots. And then two, the applicant shall pay the cost to record the variance with the Brown County Recorders Office. Provided two potential motions. um one to recommend approval of the variance with conditions and one to recommend denial and that concludes the staff report. Okay, I am going to go through the finding of facts form, but first I would like to ask the commission fellow commissioners if they have read it and and or agree with it, but I'll do that at a later point so we could dispense with reading every question. I am going to open it up to questions and I have a few myself. back to the to the drawing that you had

up that had both sides of the street. This one I see water already on. I'm assuming these are all basementless just just um pad pad home slab on grade. Okay. So the so the lot eight is actually in the water path of that. So, there's already a a drainage issue with that property right away. But if I go and look, would you come go back and show me the retention ponds and or the storm? Sure. Water. Yeah. Okay. The little red squares are the storm water catch catch basins. Catch basins. Okay. And then the pink kind of purple line. Yes. for those catch basins take the water into the storm water pond. Is that sufficient for as much water as as that exhibit is showing? That storm water pond actually serves a much larger area than this than these these lots here. It just it it just to me when that came up, it just with the one little tile drainage indicated in the black dotted line didn't look sufficient to drain that much water off cuz the picture of lot six had quite a bit of property damage in their back backyard because of the water now. So, and I think that property owner is here and and she can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think what had happened was there had been a breach of a a temporary storm water catchment basin in the industrial area that broke loose and Okay. yard. So, that's been corrected. Well, I think they've

attempted to correct it. Um they might have other uh other thoughts on that. Um but they did um what was installed I don't have a great picture of it but this will show it. Uh there is some rock rip wrap and then these are called hickim bottom tile intakes uh to get to that that other intake I believe which is right about here. Yeah. If you want a little more clarity on that. Would you state your name and address please? Thank you. Uh Scott Dreman uh 1800 North State Street and I'll speak and Lann is the is the is the homeowner right here. Um she's here but what had happened there was to to explain a little bit better was some development up on top of the hill here. There was some dirt earth that was moved and they had built a dyke. It was last spring the dyke filled up and it it broke loose and that came down and now since then they put rock stuff there to try to contain some of that that broke loose came down here and that's what you see here um is just from last uh last year and there's no grass there right now got cleaned up. So then we clean that up. Um this here rip wrap there's tile actually a little bit more detail on that as well. There's tile that actually goes all along this top bluff right here is buried is down about 3 ft. We fill that up with rock, perforated tile comes down. This whole area where the last two twins are is tiled all the way around there. And that all goes to that storm sewer or storm storm sewers. And we we had received approval from the city prior to building our first twin and 18 I guess it was to

run that tile into that storm. Um so this now up on top. Um they have I feel corrected it and shaped that and sloped it and and tried to divert that water. The water all is supposed to divert back into that property owner's storm sewer. So a little hard to explain a little bit of a picture there but um I don't feel that that's a issue to what we're trying to do here. It's irrelevant I guess but Okay. Uh go back John like this map. Mhm. Yeah, we can go there. The other one is storm water one. You want to go back that one? Okay. So, we built this twin here and this one. So we we have tile on the perimeter of we have an intake uh here here here. Um so the water comes around if it doesn't go through this intake it'll go down into this intake. We also tiled all the down spouts from the roof. So all the roof water then also goes into them same tile which all ends up into I think we've got it going into One tile going into here, one going into here, I believe. Um, so it goes around here, goes around the top of this block. And actually, we planned ahead thinking that we would hopefully someday put another twin here. Then we also ran solid tile, perforated tile down here. So this whole area is all Are you saying you have solid tile between seven and eight? Is that what between

the house? It goes right here. Okay. So, we we will eventually put another intake here and here just like we have here. Is there any tiling along that slope? We know it's going to right through there. Yeah. At the bottom of this at the toe to the top. Well, we know there reason we're asking for another 10 ft to slide that house ahead a little bit is so we can build a swale back here. Okay. Because of the water issues, right? So, we'll another 10 ft. We'll slope that water, slope the the earth, and run it back into these intakes here. All right. Originally, we actually I don't have it with me, but we originally had a site plan tile map designed by engineered by Bolton Make before we started anything. Can you can you step a little closer to the I know you we need to get pointers or something. Um, originally, like I said, uh, we had we had Bolton Mate design us a a tile map for this because it it was it was a wet there was wet lots. There was water that was running down the street that's been corrected. It was just supposedly there's they say there's a spring back in here, but it's it's dry now. Is any of the sight grading up on top of the hill in the industrial area, is that affecting anything that's coming out at the slope at the toe? Is it making it worse or No, it shouldn't. Okay. I I mowed this last SP. Uh we cleaned up this back here. Um we just did it, I guess, all that away and then I mowed I mowed the entire property and I was able to mow everything that I could. This slope is is not mowable. You can't get up it. Um, so like John said, we're our plan is to uh we'll lay down some fabric and rip wrap that slope with like some six or

eight inch boulders just to stabilize it cuz you can't you can't mow it. We did take a look at the grading on the industrial lot directly abudding. Um and sort of there's a building here now, but there's actually two catch basins um on this site. one towards Thompson Street and then the other one to the north uh let's call it north corner, northeast corner and then there is slope behind that that goes down towards these folks's property along Liberty Street that was just done in the last fall into the spring and they're sp they're actually supposed to seed it this week. Um so that'll be seated uh into permanent vegetation. Now, you know, there between now and then it uh could rain could rain. Um we hope it does. But the idea they they did grade the site to take water towards either the catch base basin in the south uh southwest or the northeast. So that's the way it was. It's going to the southwest and there's like a bridge line where it breaks. Yep. Okay, I get it. You said the uh um spring has dried up. So it's not is this is we're talking mostly the biggest concern is runoff and not necessarily a spring bringing it up. I I would like I said this I feel like that was microphone John. I'm sorry. That's okay. Um, I feel like the majority of that spring water was back over here. Um, but like I said, I last fall I I mold this whole thing

here. It was it was dry. Um, the tile has been in since 18. Um, it needed to be done. We knew that prior to purchasing the lots. Um, and tile will serve its purpose. So it's it's taking care of the water. John, what's the standard setback? Is it 30 ft? Um, Madame President, just a comment that the pond that you see there was designed by an engineer. That's a requirement uh for a storm water pond. that and that's why I was looking at it because there seemed to be a lot of water behind these lots now on the the the one drawing and it seemed to me that there was a an issue with how it was draining into the retention pond, but the city seemed satisfied with it going into the storm drain and the storm drain taking it over. Is that correct? Okay. Are there any other questions? Please step up to the microphone. State your name and address, please. I'm Lanne Liner and I live at 11 Liberty Street which is this house. The house backyard backyard. So, a few things. The blue in this pond, there's no water there. That's fine. There's no water.

But there is a holding pond in here that usually has water. just as I listen here a few things. Um, one of the questions is, is it worse? Yeah. How much rain have we had today? My phone said 2 in. I I think it's maybe more, but I have a pond in my backyard. My yard has not dried up since spring. So, do I think that spring is worse? Well, we're in spring, but since it rained the 1.8 eight inches. It's just wet and their lot is wet. So, um I think it has gotten worse. I think that taking down the trees on the hillside, did that comp, you know, compromise the hillside? Maybe. And all the fill that was filled. I would say how how much did they raise that lot up? 50 ft. I mean, it's it's a mountain. and to have that mud coming at me was a concern. So my question is can this be tiled? I am definitely looking at some retaining something. Um but to me in my head this at the bottom of that hill, it needs a pipe. It needs a drainage system there. We've got enough drains all over that we can take that water to a drain, but I'd really like to see something at the bottom of the hill catching some water or I think my water and I have it on my phone and this afternoon when I got home, I put it a video on my phone to show the the pond that is there. The birds love it. It's my water, my bird fountain. But um I really want a backyard and I didn't have one all last

summer. Last summer was all rock and thanks to Seth and Scott and their kids, their three boys, I at least got the rock picked up and it's um the seed never really came. So it's mud, but um kind of waiting to see what will be done next to me. Um, I've talked to a few people out in the in the Liberty Street. Um, people that I would like to see between the two lots, maybe one of the dry river creeks that you could put grasses, you could put rock and you can tile it. I just want water tiled somewhere. Um, I walk these drains a lot. That one, I think it's one of these, too. It never stops running up there. If you go to those one of those drains, and I can walk you to it, you always will hear water. So, um, some active springs in the area. And we haven't had enough rain. If we have 7 in and that river comes at my house again, oh my goodness. So, um, yeah, those are my concerns. I don't know. Thank you. Can you come can you come up to the microphone and ask your question? State your name and address, please. I'm Elaine Pollson. I live at 8 Liberty Street. Lannne, last year when all this rain came, it Can you step closer to the microphone, please? It not only came in your backyard, did it? It came into your house. Um, okay. What came into my house was I was gone for a week and we had seven inches of rain. Actually, Mano had 10 inches that week. Came back for a funeral and I walked into my house. My patio door, the frame of the patio door, that's where it leaked in. And I have

pictures of it. I'm been cataloging all this. Um, probably not a whole lot of mud. It cleaned up very good, but yeah, it leaked there on my house. And I also took a picture of the bottom board or siding of my house. I don't know, it's maybe that wide and halfway up there was a water line. So when that came down, it started May 31st and it was a little river and 20 minutes later it was a larger river. Um but it was bad when my opinion is a a Olympic swimming pool was po formed between these two properties and when that found an outlet. It was mud in my rock, mud on my patio and um yeah but that has been fixed. Um you know they have worked up there and I had equal logs around my house for a while. So, so for me it will be yes. If I sell my unit, I have to say I had mud in my house. So, and water up to it because it just came down here and right to me. And you can tell this is all mud yet or dirt. Um, and there is a drain between us right in there that you don't see right there. So all around us is tiled. Seth, do you think that putting in the swale and all the other corrective actions that you mentioned, do you think that that would correct the issues that she's talking about? This was Oh, I'm sorry. You look the same. I mean, address, please. I'm Seth. That's Scott. Seth Dman with Okay. Sun Valley Properties, 1800 North

State. Um, I really feel like we're being punished a little bit here for what happened up above. It was a different property. What was formed there through construction of that was basically a swimming pool. It was a levey that broke. Mhm. And since we've owned this 18 17 17, we've tiled it between each properties. Like Scott said, we have intakes in the back. There's an intake back here where this black dot is. So, intentions to put the tile at the toe of the slope going to the end of the next lot, but there's never been a water issue until the construction that was up above. Okay. So, which doesn't answer any of the problems. What is addressing the issue that happened up on top to help with the the the poor neighbors? Well, that was addressed by the homeowner up above by putting in the storm. Uh that's actually sloped away from his property now, so it's not running down. What What did happen? surface water. What happened? Can you step up to the microphone, please? What had happened up above was during construction, they didn't get it complete. We have a 7in rainfall and it was they didn't have enough time to get the fill hauled in. Mhm. Which then, like Lann said, we had a 7-in rainfall. It was sloping towards here, sloping towards this bluff and it ran down here. So they had to wait for it to dry up before they could finish their construction. And I think they actually, like John said, I think they're seeding

it this week. So it's has taken that long. It was farm field before this whole thing slopes towards here. We knew that of course when we bought it. Um but now when you raise it up even higher and say you raise it up 30 ft and you don't get finished and you get a rainfall, it's going to still run. It's going to run faster. And they built a a a dyke right here. And that dyke filled up with water, lots of water, and it let go. So, is is all of the repair complete or is it do we have to wait another week or something? You talked about John talked about grass being planted and and things. So, has that correct? The issue is corrected in your mind. We checked with the city engineers office um who is in charge of the storm water management on these types of developments. They checked with the developer today um and the site grading is largely done. They have to bring in some top soil and then they will be seating here. They were supposed to start seating this this week, but they haven't had the chance with with the wet weather. But she still has water in her yard today. That would be I would assume groundwater that's from from I always have it's always wet and you can see the hill. Thank you. I appreciate it. So it has been wet. It's always wet. Um but I don't usually have the pond of water. And you have a pond today. I have a pond today again and it had just kind of gone back and you can see halfway up the hill and I think even for them on their property if you look at the hill it's wet. So I just I worry about the amount of spring water in there and

um yeah I can I plan to do something. It's either going to be some tiling or something. Um, so it's a lot. So I I'll disagree with Lan just a little bit, but it if a spring is a spring, it's wet all the time. Yes. Like I said, I went back here after this was cleaned up. We'll take the credit for that because nobody else wanted to clean it up. It should have been this person up here that should have came down and cleaned this. We didn't cause the problem. John, would you turn the microphone a little bit towards hired us to clean this mess up? We cleaned it up. We put everything back. We regraded it, put dirt in there, seated it. It was last fall. It's probably still wet right now because it hasn't had a chance to grow. Prior to us doing any home construction here, we're first going to uh stabilize this hillside. We have to before we put a home in there because we won't be able to get back in there. So, we our plan is to rip wrap this hillside from we'll go over into Lann's property. We'll talk to her. I'm sure she won't oppose to it. Um or if she wants to do something else, that's her choice. But we'll rip wrap this hillside here to stabilize that hill and make it buildable. We're not going to we're not going to uh take the chance of liability and stick a hole in there and and not do do the work ahead of time. Go ahead. So, so you'll stabilize the hill with rip wrap and then are you going to swail at the toe and then at the bottom here then we'll slope from that toe to each to the drain on each side from from the back side of the house the patio we'll slope that down 10 ft and we'll slope the other way 10 ft and that'll run there'll be an intake here and there's an intake here. Okay. So, it'll take care of whatever this tile on the top of the hill here doesn't catch. It'll come down here and it should catch

it there. Okay, Scott, the tile lines, are they s sufficient for the size? Are they like a six eight six inch? Six inch. That's what Bolton requested. And I think our mains are our mains are 8 in tile. So we got mains here, 8 in here, here, here, and then a 6 in here that comes down. And the whole thing is tied together. There's no bike separation. So, it comes down, goes this way, goes this way, goes into this storm, goes into that storm. Prior, like Seth said, prior to this construction, we never we've owned it since 17. We haven't any issues and we've had other rainfall events like Sure. a 7 in rainfall. And and with Luen's concern about the water, we these are just bare lots. We never graded anything to get anything to flow away because of us having to shape that hillside, dig some out. So, we weren't going to waste the time on that. Y and her lot where the damage was done, we didn't seed that till last right fall. So, that's why there's no vegetation yet. Um, but there is slope from the damaged grass there to this intake right here. Sure. And if and to L's point, if there is a a hole here or a little pond of settling, we'll fix it. I'm not going to leave that and not if we got to do a little reshape in there means it was so late in the season and it maybe settled or we'll fix it. I'm not opposed to making it right. Did you have a question, Bobby? Well, I was just going to ask and I mean an engineer would probably have to look

at it, but is it is it viable to put like a tee in there that would help that drainage right where that pond was? Or is that sufficient with a little extra? Yeah, right there on that property. I don't know if it's you could I mean you could run a perforated tile up in there. She does have a sprinkler system. Oh, so so maybe a little extra grading might help. And I truly I think it would fix the problem if I don't think it's had enough time to get seated. That that tile that on the one pitcher that's on the top side, it comes all the way along the top. Yep. Starting from here up the hill all the way down and then it comes down like in Luan's property here. We come down into the center there and that tile is tied into this intake that's in the center over here. Okay. And that's that's new since the the one with the rock and everything that was that was there before the event last fall. The only reason that it didn't it didn't have the capacity for the right so we put because of the amount of water that came down that hill when that levy let loose uh we ended up putting much bigger rip wrap in there to withstand that issue I just go ahead want to note that um I grew up on West street and right behind me was a hill. Yes. And our next door neighbor had a spring coming out of the hillside. Watered his garden in the summer. In the winter time, they actually had to pipe it into the basement so there was a place for the

water to go 24 hours a day, 365 days a week. Along this um starting at this location going all the way to the south, there are pockets of springs. Mhm. And it's just something that people that live in those neighborhoods, something they have to they have to deal with. Um the hospital takes out a tremendous amount of water and that's why there's always water in that pond. So it it's just something about the geology of that area that can can also be a contributing factor. No is very rich in water. There's springs along German Street all over by the ballpark as we know it was flooded. There's the springs by the hospital. There's a lot of issues. I Are these people disclosed when when they're purchasing the property that there is a spring issue in the area? Um because it would affect how you how you build. at the, you know, at the time a lot of this was developed, that's probably wasn't something that was um known um known or discussed or what the impact would be. Um yeah, but I think since that time um maybe disclosure would be required. Well, that was my question earlier about whether this was on a a a flat block or was whe whether it had a basement because basement issue would certainly be more of a a problem. Um I was looking again at where the initial pond is behind um Lann's and and lot seven and

eight. and that comes up onto the platform for for lot eight. But you're saying to to me, Seth or Scott or whoever that that pond is ponding is going to be cured by the RIP Rob whatever. And so that is not going to reoccur and the city engineer has agreed. I think we're talking about slightly two different things. Um the pond was created through a an event where they had 7 in of water and and dam broke loose up above. Okay. Um what these gentlemen had just talked about if if needed, they would bring it sounds like probably top soil or what have you to level off the area that was flooded and is not currently growing grass. Um, but the springs are the springs are springs. Springs. Um, they're going to be running like Dave said 24/7, 365 days a year. Um, one of the things they had mentioned here was of course tiling around the house. Um, but also catching water like they said um in a uh in kind of let's call it a swale and then directing it towards that tile intake um right here. Mhm. Plus one. Sorry. But plus there'll be another one over here. Right. Yeah. So this water is going to come into the swale and we're going to divert it. Okay. We try to split it in between the middle of the homes or basically the parcel line. So split it from here that way. And if need be this way. Mhm. Or and on the elevation of our house all might go this way to this one. Okay. And then that'll go

around. Okay. John, would you go back to the setback map, please, for me? Let's see. Okay. Yes, that that's that one. And I'm I'm looking at the 20 foot marker on on lot eight. It actually comes closer than or is it's because of the curve. It's really all behind the 20 foot marker where on lot seven you could come up farther. If it were placed like the other twin homes in this subdivision that are along the curve, the closest point to the front yard property line is basically the center of that home. Um, so that's why if you look uh the 20 foot is right here. Mhm. This corner and that corner actually set back further. Okay. So they'd be building a a straight in a straight line. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. We're not actually to your point, we're not actually utilizing the hole setback because of the curvature of the road and the straightness of the hole. Okay. Just the center. Are there any other questions concerns before David? I I would just like to add a comment that I think the approach that the duckmans have indicated that John has talked about this is a drainage issue. Yes. And you you have to move the water from the backyard to the front yard. And you do that most easily probably through the construction of swailes um and um getting water going in the proper direction. Yeah. And I understand it's a setback issue is is the the question is setback and not water. It's I'm just wondering if it's enough of a setback or

if But that's 20 foot is is about as low as it would normally go. Correct. For setback. I would agree. I think the more area that you have to work with in the backyard helps you deal more effectively with the drainage issue. Yeah. That's why I was wondering in my mind I was thinking like 15 feet, but then that puts it way in front of the other properties in the neighborhood and it's okay. Well, I think about that if you have a vehicle being 20 ft, they can park in the driveway, right? And it's not hindering the sidewalks, right? And I'm going to just add, we have done a couple curves within the city for a smaller setback up on South Ridge. There was one that we did about I don't know, seven, eight years ago. I remember sitting on the zoning for that capacity because he was adding another stall in his garage to circle. Yeah. In those regards. at all. Okay. So, is the is the yellow rectangle does that represent the footprint of the new building or is that just the building envelope? Approximately. Yeah. Okay. So, then between that rectangle and the slope, you put the swale in there. All right. When we actually went out there to measure it off at 30 ft, it actually looks better at 20 because next to Lann's house, that corner was, you know, 10 ft further back from the corner. Mhm. She would have benefited more from the setback being 20 ft. Well, just because of the curvature of the road. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I honestly I'd like to reassure everyone here, whoever came, we've spent numerous time putting tile in this development for two twin

homes, planning for the two, but also the third. So, I think a little confusion may come on how much tile we have, but we've tiled between every home in the back, put intakes to catch basins for that water, tied in each downspout, uh, where able. Um, I think, but if you go back, I think all of them, but maybe one or two aren't I tied in just because of uh have to double check that. But we tied in the the rain gutters to get rid of that water. Um so it's just there's a lot of tile out here actually and rock to allow for this. Any other questions? I'm good. Picture of the lot there either. Okay. Well, this will work. So the like success point we build this home we'll do the same thing here. Lann's downspout gutters is going into this tile here. And then when we do this home here we'll do the same thing to eliminate as much water as we can on the surface. We'll run that into that tile as well to not cause any issues. Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments? Does anyone else in the audience wish to speak? If not, I'm going to move on to the finding of facts. I just need to get to it. Has everyone on the commission read the finding of facts? Yes. Yes. Do you all agree

with the consensus as it is written? Yes. Yes. So, is everyone agreeing to wave the finding of facts form? Yes. Yes. Okay, that saves us some time. Okay, I'm if there are no other concerns or questions, then I'm going to go ask someone to go back to the motion page, please. And somehow I got into park and wreck. Okay, I'll I'll make a motion to recommend approval with conditions the variance request by Sun Valley Properties LLC to construct a twin home 20 ft from the front property line as shown in the site plan provided with the variance application on the property legally described as lot 7 and lot 8, Minnesota River Valley subdivision. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Are there any other questions or additions? All in favor? I opposed. Motion carried. When does this appear at the commission? This goes to the city council on May 6th at 4:30 p.m. Thank you. Thank you all for attending and and and speaking. Yep. Good luck. Thank you. Yes, Lan. Good luck. Especially I'm closing the public hearing on the valley Sun Valley Properties LLC. Moving on to plats preliminary plat Highland Apartments edition Highland Apartments preliminary plat staff report with

attachments please. Okay. The applicant in this particular case is Chris Raymond on behalf of Keepers Incorporated. The property owner is Keith Marty. The legal description is part of outlot 194, 195, 196, and 197. Street address of the property is 901 North Highland Avenue. Property location. It abuts North Highland Avenue on the east and is located north of 7th North Street. Deadline for a decision on this matter since this is a preliminary plat is August 9th, 2025. The comprehensive plan land use designation now is high density residential. Surrounding land uses are to the north. lowdensity residential, medium density residential and public semi-public. To the east is low density residential. To the south is commercial low density residential and parks and open space and to the west low density residential. The zoning designation is OAS which is agricultural open space. uh within the next month or at next month's meeting, you can expect, I anticipate, to receive an application for a planned unit development zoning designation for that property. The surrounding zoning to the north is OAS and INS, which is institutional educational district. That's for the high school. To the east it's R2 which is single and two family residence district and R1 which is

single family residence district. To the south it's R1 and to the west it's OAS and R1. Um current site use or perhaps past site use is that property was farmed. To the north it's farmed and you have the new alm high school. To the east, it's twin homes and single family dwellings. To the south, kids XL Center, single family dwellings, twin homes, and Fender Park. And to the west, it is farmed. Notice, none is required. Public comment, uh, none received to date on the plat. Utilities are located in North Highland Avenue and south of 7th North Street. And by south of 7th North Street, what I mean is that there are side streets coming up to 7th North Street where the utilities are located, but they have not gone into 7th North Street. Comprehensive plan does not recommend a park within the platted area. The area proposed for platting totals 9.9 acres. The property generally slopes from north to south. Property currently consists I indicated previously part of four outlots. Um outlots are generally 4 acres in size. The plat will divide the property into four lots and it will also provide street right away for the extension of 10th North Street. Okay. The four lots will have frontage on the extension of either 10th North Street, North Highland Avenue, or 7th North Street. The lots have the required

frontage on an existing or proposed street. The plat will divide the property as follows. Lot one will have, and I'm going to round this off, 93,000 square ft, which is 2.14 acres. Lot two will have 105 square ft or 2.42 acres. Lot three will have 87,900 square ft, which is 2.02 acres. And lot four will have 100,700 or 800 square ft which is 2.31 acres. Then we have the rightaway for 10th North Street that is 43,750 square ft and that is 1 acre. So you have a total area of 40 431,000 square ft or 9.9 acres. The property is proposed for platting as a plan unit development district. The plat has been evaluated using the development standards for the R4 high density residence district. And whenever we receive a request for a plan unit development or anticipate receiving one, we go to our zoning ordinance and we try to find the zoning district that best matches the proposed use of the property and we use that then to evaluate um in this case the plat. All four lots comply with city zoning standards for the R4 zoning district. Um the proposed buildings comply with city setback requirements. Okay. There are a number

of attachments. Um and the first one consists of a number of documents. We have the application. We have the preliminary plat. We have the site plan and we have the aerial photo. And I'd like to go back to the plat. And so what John has on the screen, that is the official preliminary plat. And John, why don't you point out the location of at least the streets in the area if you can? Okay. So, here's 10th 10th North, uh, which would be extended, um, through this project. Here's 9inth North. This is North Highland Avenue. Um and then the 7th North Street Old County State Aid Highway 27 27 uh is here to the to the south. Kids Excel Center is right here on the corner and the new high school is over here as well as the uh termination of Oak Street. Okay, thank you. Um attachment two is a site location map. Attachment three is a zoning map. attachment for our ground level photographs. That that part that's outside of the preliminary plat that's next to this Excel Center, is that being planted is south in Yeah, that that corner of the field there. That's owned by Kids Excel Center. It is. Yeah. Okay. All right. And in the past there has been some discussion about that being a possible expansion location for the Excel center. For the Okay, awesome. More curious than anything. Yeah. Staff would recommend approval of the

preliminary plat with conditions since it complies with city code requirements. Uh the conditions are as follows. There's six of them. uh pay the parkland dedication fee of $4,200 for the plat. That's $1,50 per lot. So, we have a different requirement when we're dealing with um something that is a planned unit development or something that is a highdensity residential um use. Uh secondly, provide an electronic file of the platin and AutoCAD 2016 or newer format. Third, determine if a connection fee must be paid for access to a storm water quality pond located south of 7th North Street. A little bit of explanation. um a good or a portion of the area to be platted um is part of a larger drainage district that extends to the south to that pond that um abuts Fifth North Street and serves the Milford Heights area that's closest to the Milford Heights area. Um and so um the proposed site that's to be platted if it drains if it sets its storm water systems up to drain in that direction and to eventually go into that pond then there is a fee that is to be charged for having that access or using that access. So, that's a decision that the developer needs to make whether they're going to hold their water on site or are they going to allow it to

drain to that pond. Okay. Number four, developers shall enter into a development agreement with the city of NOAM. That would be part of the plan unit development process. Um, number five, the resolution approving this request, that being the plat, will be filed with the Brown County Recorders Office. And number six, the owner and/or developer will secure the planned unit development zoning designation for the platted area. There are two um motions, one to approve, one to deny. Now, I'd like to point out um something that is somewhat unique about this property. when it comes uh to platting um the area that um Mr. Marty owns which um is more than just the area that you see to be platted. John, do we have a Okay. Could you maybe show the location of the Marty area? It's everything in red except these two pieces as well. Okay. that has that is what is called Torrren's property. And there's kind of two different types of property. One is abstract, which lists everybody that owned the property from when things first uh started. And then there is Torrance property which is um I'm going to get this probably wrong probably but the district court issues a certificate of title which means that you don't worry anymore about who owned it in the past. The district court has determined that that person who is making that request that they are the lawful owner of the property. So going

forward you only you start at that point. Um and so apparently though those regulations are going to require a plat of the Torrance the entire Torrance property and then within that area they're going to have to plat the portion that's going to be sold for the apartment project. Okay. Oh, so we're going to be vent what you're saying is we're going to see another preliminary plat for the rest of this whole space. Yes. And you're going to see us so you're going to see two plats actually simultaneously. One following uh the procedures that we have uh in place for this. So there'll be a final plat and then we're going to see another. Um so that would um conclude the um the staff report. We have a representative here um from Bolton Mink who was involved in the preparation of the plat and he might be able to give a better explanation about process than I do. I'll if you're satisfied with mine otherwise you can feel free to speak. Please state your name and address. Absolutely. Hi, my name is Nate Meera. I'm a project manager at Bolton and Mink uh out of Mano. So, 1960 Premier Drive is our address. Um I've helped create this plat. Um and kind of when we submitted this plat, we weren't under the understanding that this was Torren's property, though it was abstract property. Well, there's key things, key differences how we have to handle Torrren's property. And again, you did a great job explaining Torren's property. There's a little bit more to it than that. Obviously, the district court has an action against the property. So, what

they do is they um go through the torrening process. Torrening process actually notifies all the adjoining owners. Gives them an opportunity to make claim on that property. So, the torrening is really more of a making sure nobody can adversely claim that property after the action has happened. So, this property all has that now against the property. So by state statute we have limitations on how we uh fractionally split off Torrren's property and you can do it in two ways. Either an RLS plat which is a registered land survey which follows the same platting guidelines in the city of Newm as a regular I call it a 505 or the statute 505 platting. um in this case and I think different than what we had talked last Dave uh is they're going to go with the regular plat rather than the two plat scenario. So what will happen is when this comes back to you we'll give you a revised preliminary plat that shows you the balance of the property as an outlot and then the new would follow the exact same uh preliminary plat that you're seeing tonight for the creation of 10th and the creation of the four lots. Um, and I kind of listened to the conditions of the platin. I I agree with all of the conditions. Um, obviously we will continue to work with staff on the storm water fee um and best evaluate that so that we can make sure that um with the additional storms that we're having to making sure that we have some storm water control on site before it gets to the regional pond. Um, so we'll again keep working with staff and make sure that we get that taken care of and uh that it meets or exceeds city code. So with that, uh, I'll answer any additional questions that you would have um, on the project. I have one. Yeah, maybe directed at our engineering staff who's not here

tonight. Um, but I'm just wondering if if the location of the existing surrounding streets and the planned extension of 10th at a future platting, are we going to be able to connect up? Are we cutting off any of the options for connecting future streets? Yeah, absolutely. Sorry about putting you on the spot. That was No, we actually um our city engineering staff has drafted some potential street layouts for that area and they're circulating that amongst staff to take a look at and provide feedback. Okay. Um so they are trying to think actually kind of based on your comments when we when we first looked at the the comp comprehensive plan change. Um uh so they've they've put together a layout um and they are trying to connect Oak all the way down to seventh in some fashion or or there will be there will be streets from Oak to get down to seventh may not be a direct connection but okay I think something I would like to do since that was brought up at the time we talked about the change to the comprehensive plan and that land use is uh maybe to you know put together some potential layouts um and then some also identify some possible land use uh designations and then that's something the commission can maybe look at and discuss and decide what they think um would be appropriate for that area. And I'm thinking that maybe we would look at the entire Marty property um uh you know as um as kind of our our location of study. Yeah. be that'd be good to see cuz with the school, you know, if you ran oak

straight through there, I'd be concerned about um speed limits and that kind of, you know, with the kids driving and stuff. It actually might help in the in the one intersection, but might if it's a straight run, you might get some bad driving. I don't know. Just I mean be good to I'm just saying I'd like to see some different ideas. Well, when we get those layouts, we'll bring them back to the planning commission for your review and and andor recommendation. Thanks. Thank you. Are there any other questions, concerns? I have just one other and it's it's really not related to this plat specifically, but um I noticed that there's no public hearings for preliminary plat. Why is that? It's uh been the city's um plat approval procedure that the public hearing is held before the city council. Oh, okay. At their um with the final plat. just a thought and that is that once you get to the final plat um as long as it's consistent with the preliminary you don't really have many options to say no anymore. So if there isn't a public hearing earlier than that I I evidently it's never been a problem but I'd be a bit nervous. So I'm not sure why there why there isn't a public hearing held earlier in that process. Um, it's just been, I guess you say, tradition or that's just the the policy that or the process that we've followed and it works. So, I'm not here to change anything. I was just curious. Right. If there are no further questions or comments, I would entertain a motion.

Off for a motion to recommend approval with conditions preliminary plot of Highland Apartments Edition. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? All in favor? I opposed. Thank you. Is this next week at the council or the same meeting as so it's May 6? Next item on the agenda is a preliminary plat Sarah Hills fourth edition staff report. Um members of the planning commission um in this particular case the applicant property owner is Melvin Schugal Jr. The legal description of the property is out lot A and B Sarah Hills first edition out lot A and B Sarah Hills third edition and part of lot two auditor's plat of the balance of lot two the northeast quarter the northeast quarter section 24 township 110 north range 31 west the street address of the property is 1827 Ryan Road and 1900 Allison Avenue. Property to be platted a butts the west side of Ryan Road and the east side of Allison Avenue and is located north of Maplewood Drive. Deadline for action on this item is August 13, 2025. Land use designation in the comp plan is low density residential. Surrounding land uses to the norththeast is low density residential. To the south is low density

residential and plan unit development and to the west is low density residential commercial and parks and open space. Zoning is R1. Uh we have R1 zoning to the north. to the east along with AOS which is agricultural open space to the west it's R1 B2 which is general business district and AOS and to the south it's R1 it's planned unit development and Brown County has an A1 agricultural zoning district the current site use is undeveloped Um area land uses are single family dwellings to the north single family dwellings to the east along with some mining to the west single family dwellings and the design home center and then it's vacant property and to the south it's single family dwellings it's vacant and we have farming notice none required public comment noneto date Um, utilities are located in both Ryan Road and Allison Avenue to serve the property. Services have been extended previously. Um, the comprehensive plan does not recommend a park within the platted area. Uh, the platted area totals, there's a mistake here. Um, it's not 2.75 acres, it's 0.58 acres. Property is generally flat. The property currently consists of four outlot or four outlots um and one parcel of property being the um airport former airport street. Now

when I refer to four outlots those are four smaller outlots. Those aren't the traditional outlots that we normally talk about. Uh plat again will divide the property into two lots. Both lots will have the required frontage on either Allison Avenue or Ryan Road. Platt would divide the property as follows. Lot one block one would be 12,500 square ft. That's 0.29 acres. Lot 2 block 2 would be 11,761 square ft. That's 0.27 acres. Um the alley uh which would separate the two lots is um 1,200 square ft or 0.02 acres. So the total is 25,461 square ft or 0.58 acres. Um as noted previously, both lots have the required frontage on their adjoining streets. Uh both lots comply with city zoning standards. Um the largest portion of both lots is 60 ft wide and that was the former location of Airport Road. Airport Road was never dedicated as a public street and therefore it is not necessary to vacate it. Um it has been the city's intent to establish two lots in this location with the platting of Siri Hills first edition in April of 2005. So 20 years ago a decision was made that we wanted two lots in this particular location. um the um attachments. Attachment one is a preliminary

plat. John's going to show that. Attachment two is the site location map. Attachment three is the zoning map. Attachment four is the site map. And attachment five are ground level photographs. Staff would recommend approval of the preliminary plat with conditions since it complies with city code requirements. Um the recommended conditions are pay the platting fee at $260. Um second is to pay the parkline dedication fee of $700. Third is to uh provide an electronic file the platin and AutoCAD 2016 or newer format. And fourth is to provide um easement areas um and they would be located 10 feet abuing the front property lines of lot one and two that's both on the Allison Avenue and Ryan Road uh frontage and then a 5- foot um easement area abudding the rear or alley property line and that would apply to both lot one and lot two. I would note that we have easement areas on both sides of these lots. That's why we want to connect them. Uh, two motions, one to approve and one to deny the report. That will conclude the staff report. Questions? If not, I'd entertain a motion. kind of seems to me that this is simply finally bringing to fruition something that's been planned for like 20 years. So, I would um offer a motion that we would recommend approval uh with the

conditions outlined there by staff. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carried. City Council decisions concerning planning commission matters of March 2025. Okay. For um it says March, it should be April. Excuse me. Okay. I'll go with April. We're still in there. Okay. At the April 1st meeting, um they approved the vacation of a street rightaway on 16th North Street between the GOG building and the bike trail. It's a half block property. Um so that was unanimously approved. uh approved the conditional use permit for the National Guard readiness center where they wanted um to use a bob wire fence and that was in order to be able to connect uh two different um parking lot areas. Now, uh, they approved the interim use permit at 115 North Washington Street to Brett Meyer to allow a gunsmithing shop. And that was with conditions. Um, they approved the simple lot division of lot 5, block one, Front Street Industrial Park, second edition. That address was um, 1100 North Front Street. That concludes that particular meeting. April 15th, um they authorized or they approved a purchase agreement uh with Landhaven Development LLC and uh this is out in the airport

industrial park third edition and it's with uh Tony Golden is the president of this particular firm. The address is 2211 Jacob Street. So, it's right behind Walmart. And what he's proposing to do is construct 29 or flat 29 lots, service them with private roads, and on those 29 lots would be storage built. And some of the storage buildings would be connected to water and sewer and would allow for residential um uh living in those locations. And I'd say about 50% of the lots would would qualify. Now, this obviously requires a plan unit development and so Mr. Golden will be appearing before you future meeting. Um, he also will need to plat the property and so that will also have to come back. Does this is this the answer to our tiny homes? What's that? Is this the answer to our tiny homes? No, these are going to be regular storage buildings. Okay. Um, and a segment of the building would be devoted to living quarters. Okay. It's a sh It's a big building. opposite of a 10. Yeah. Yeah. Some of these are going to be So, these are big storage units. Yeah. Okay. And and he's proposing three different sizes. Um all the same color. There's going to be an association that runs them. And um they're going to be sounded like pretty um strict on uh what is allowed outside of the uh storage

buildings. They want it to look nice. So interesting. I would note that we're we're potentially going to have three plan unit developments coming next month. So that being said, I really want I'm probably going to be summarizing a lot up here. And I hope that you guys take the time to read the whole general development plan because that's the meat and potatoes of of that whole process. Um because otherwise we could be here for many hours reading through those whole things. So just keep that in mind. Okay, great. There is nothing um to come before us from the Heritage Preservation Committee activities. So, is there any other business other than we more or less confirmed that we we did receive the money for the Shipo conference, but well, we ordered the horses for the tours at least. I would note, maybe I should just follow up on what I talked about real briefly last month about legislation that would um basically establish statewide standards for um increasing density with the intent that somehow that was going to create more housing. Um apparently the the bill is stalled in both the um Senate and the um House. However, um nothing is really ever dead at the legislature until a final gavvel sounds. So now what the um approach is that they're taking is to say that um when you apply for a grant or from a loan or for any type of program, a financial program that the um

state of Minnesota provides that if your community has the standards that um were in these bills that increased density that you get points for that. And so basically, um, a community that doesn't do that probably has no chance of getting a grant from the a housing grant from the state of Minnesota. Makes absolutely no sense because we're no longer concerned about need. We're now concerned about um employing something that um will probably work in the metro area but will not work in greater Minnesota. It's pretty difficult outstate. Correct. And then but then there's also some other bills that have been come out of nowhere. Um and so like I said, you you just really never know that. Stay tuned. Stay tuned. Yeah. Is there any other business? If not, we stand adjourned. Thank you. I shouldn't have let him talk.