Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

evening everyone i call the july 1st 2026 apple valley planning commission meeting to order the first item of business is the approval of the agenda any changes from staff madam chair members of the commission uh for those of you who don't remember my name is tim benetti i'm the community director it's been a while with me we have sydney strohing and brianna vincent and also our attorney uh we have no changes for the agenda tonight

Thank you. I was kind of getting used to that. Any changes from the commissioners?

Move approval. Second.

approved by Commissioner Schindler, I forgot how to do this, and seconded by Commissioner Scanlon. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. Motion carries. The next item of business is the approval of the consent agenda. The consent agenda items are considered routine and will be enacted with a single motion without discussion unless a commissioner or citizen requests to have any items separately considered. It will then be moved to the regular agenda for consideration. Can I get a motion of approval?

So moved. Second.

Made by Commissioner Scanlon, seconded by Commissioner Schindler. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed nay. Motion carries. That brings us to public hearings tonight and we do have one. So I will at this time will open the public hearing. We now open the public hearing for agenda item 4A. The affidavit of publication for the notice of public hearing is available for inspection in the planning department. Everyone wishing to speak at this public hearing should be sure to fill out the attendance roster. Please include your name and address so that accurate records can be maintained. We will begin the procedure with a brief presentation by city staff, followed by a presentation by the petitioner of the hearing. upon the conclusion of the presentation city staff will be asked to comment on their proposals conformance with pertinent regulations and policies after that comments will be taken from the general public and we have miss sydney stroeing the planner thank you chair and commissioners it's good to see you all tonight i'll be presenting to you a proposed text amendment within pd703

Specifically, you're asked to consider a text amendment to allow additional ground signage in Zone 6 of the PD. The applicant for this request is Presbyterian Homes and Services, which is the property owner of Orchard Path Senior Living Facility, located at the intersection of 157th Street West and Cobblestone Lake Parkway. property again its own PD 703 which is the plan development for the cobblestone neighborhood and it's within zone six of that PD which is more of the commercial and then multifamily area of that plan development the remainder of the zones are either for parks or more low density housing like townhomes or single-family Just to give some background, this is a multi phase project that was originally approved in 2016 the latest phase three was approved in 2024 and it's currently under construction nearing completion. The phase three is highlighted here in blue, with a primary access off of cobblestone like parkway so this phase has a separate access from the main. building, which has an access more off of 157th Street. It's also addressed, the existing building is also addressed off of 157th Street West. So there are two different accesses, two different addresses, and this addition can only be entered from the cobblestone lake parkway for not only residents but guests vendors and then emergency response services so that new address is 15971 cobblestone lake parkway south and that was required by the city so that emergency services could find that new entrance for the addition and then on the site plan site plan you can see the proposed signs circled here in black near the Cobblestone Lake Parkway. This is a more recent aerial of the campus. Construction is further underway, so this is a little out of date, but on this image you can see highlighted over here by the main entrance is the existing monument sign, and then this is where they're proposing to put the new sign. For the proposed sign plans, it's a fairly standard monument sign. It's just under six feet in height, and then the message area is around 31 square feet in area. This is the existing sign we have record of in our permit system for that sign that's at the main entrance. So they look fairly similar in size and appearance. And then the only main difference is that the old one, oops, I need to go back. Sorry about that. The new one will be with the new address and then the existing one is with the existing address. Under current requirements for the sign code as well as within the PD, they would only be allowed one of those signs. So they are requesting for the additional sign because of that new entrance in the address in order to provide better wayfinding for anyone who's trying to access that new addition. Both ground signs meet all other requirements. The proposed plans meet all requirements. So with that, staff has drafted a proposed amendment to allow the additional sign. So in Zone 6, that more commercial and multi-family residential zone of the PD, up to two ground signs may be allowed when conditions are met. And those conditions are that it needs to be an apartment or continuum of care retirement community, which is what Orchard Path is. It needs to be a corner lot. There cannot be any building signs on the building. The ground sign needs to meet all of the requirements set forth in the sign code. And then the primary building on the lot needs to have two or more separate distinct street addresses. And then the signs need to serve those separate addresses. So the way that it's drafted is really set up to only allow it on this lot. And then with that, it would only affect PD 703. It would not affect any other property, any other planned development. So with that, you're asked to hold the public hearing. And then if there are no outstanding questions or comments, staff recommends that the Planning Commissioner recommend approval of the ordinance as drafted to allow the additional ground signage in Zone 6 with those specific conditions. And with that, I can take any questions. And we also have the applicant here tonight if you have any questions for her. Thank you. Thank you, Sydney. Commissioners, any questions? well it seems like obviously obvious reason would be for the fire department i mean if we don't have that there i mean that's major for the fire department to find yeah correct chair kurtz and the um the only other uh signage that they would be allowed if this amendment were to not go into place where would be a very small directional sign um which probably wouldn't be you know as easy to find and readable in in those types of scenarios

Applicant, would you like to come up? You don't have to, but if you would like to we certainly would enjoy hearing from you.

Thank you and good evening. My name is Pamela Bells. I work with senior housing partners and Presbyterian Homes doing the development for Orchard Path, this last phase. We certainly appreciate consideration of our request. When we went through entitlement, we weren't really envisioning that it would be a completely different address on a completely different street. So appreciate Sydney's explanation of it and her really well done report. It is really important to us or we wouldn't have brought this request forward to have an additional monument marker there not only for EMS and other services but for our own residents wayfinding and their friends and family. It will certainly make them feel like that is their front door and they're in the right spot and they're not coming in a back of house kind of entry. So that will be helpful as well to kind of project that image that you're just as important as everybody over here and this is your front door and we will make sure that everybody can find it. So I'm certainly around for questions, and we certainly would request that we find a way to approve this one. Thank you.

Thanks, Pamela. Anybody have, commissioners, have any questions for Pamela? Commissioner Scanlon, I guess, Pamela, if you would ask.

I've got a question for you, Pamela. This is just more of a curiosity question. I don't recall, is this going to be all assisted living or the...

The new phase that we're just completing is 75 independent apartments, and it's fully reserved. So we shall open full.

Wow. That's wonderful.

Thank you.

Well, we have an empty audience here, but we'll go forward anyway. Please come to the podium to speak and address all comments and questions to the chair. And I'm going to guess that nobody has questions. So we're going to go ahead and close. If there are no further comments, I would close this public hearing. It is the policy of the Planning Commission not to act on an item on the same night as its public hearing. The Planning Commission will weigh all comments and information received tonight in its deliberations at future meetings. This item will continue to appear on future Planning Commission agendas until a recommendation on the petition can be forwarded to the City Council. Meaning there are no outstanding public comments or questions. Commissioners, would anyone like to proceed with the motion?

madam chair i recommend approval of the ordinance amending article 28 plan development number 703 to allow additional ground signage in zone six under specific conditions outlined in staff report second motion made by commissioner scanlon seconded by commissioner schindler any discussion if not all those in favor say aye aye aye opposed nay motion carries

There's no land use action items, so that'll bring us to other business with Mr. Bonetti.

Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the Commission. Just a reminder, two weeks from now, we will have another meeting on the 15th of July. We have one action item. It's a land use item. It's a sketch plan review for the vacant lot next to the Zavago co-op at 153rd and Galaxy. Developer is proposing a development, and what you're intended to do is just... See the case or see the proposed development and provide general feedback or comments nothing substantive This does not go back to City Council is just feedback more or less So look forward to that our next meetings are July 9th and the 23rd for Council you are probably going to hear about this very soon that on July 9th, we are intended to present a moratorium on data centers for our community as well. You may have heard that a few communities around us, Rosemount, Eagan, Invergrove Heights, Carver, Vadnais Heights, even Minneapolis have set some moratoriums on data centers. And this is gonna give us time to also allow for or authorize a study. And our intent here is staff will work on this study and we'll be presenting new information back to you for your review, your consideration, and eventually we hope to have new regulations or standards for our community specifically geared or related to data centers. Don't know what that's going to look like, but more information will be coming down the pike. This will be at least a year-long study, but we can do up to 18 months if we need to.

And that's July 9th at the city council meeting?

At the city council. And that will be under a public hearing, which they normally don't hold. And don't be offended. These ordinances don't go through you for any review or your recommendation. By state statute, they have a right to just go to council for that action. And that's all. And please have a very, very wonderful 4th of July and safe travels if you are traveling.

Thank you and same to you and same to all the commissioners. Can I get a motion to adjourn?

So moved. Second.

Made by Commissioner Schindler, seconded by Commissioner Scanlon. All in favor say aye.

Aye.