Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Mhm.

What we trying to take apart was the cleaning the backside. [laughter] But hey. Apparently. But no, we got it. We had it got it all together. The motor's all together except I forgot to order the water pump gasket. So I had to next day air [snorts] that. So it should be here tomorrow. [laughter]

Running the motor needs to be done. Close. And I'll be waiting for turbos that had a couple [clears throat] things welded on them to make them fit my car. Well, may the 4th be with you. And with that in mind, I will call the May 4th Planning Commission meeting to order. May we have the roll call, please? Thank you, Chair. Um first I would like to welcome our new Ward 1 uh Planning Commissioner, uh Chris Chris Merrell Merrell. Did I say that right? [laughter]

Welcome. We're I'm excited. This is kind of the first time we've had a full commission in a while. So, welcome. Uh then we will start uh see. So, Merrell. Are you present? Yes, present. Sorry. Schneck. Present. Tainter. Present. Seagull. Present. Casper. Present. McDougal. Here. Krabbenhoft. Here. Is there a motion to approve the May 4th agenda? So moved. Second. All in favor say I. I. Against, same sign. Is there a motion to amend or approve the minutes for the April 6th meeting? Motion to approve. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say I. I. Against, same sign. Paul, can you double check your mic? You're muted. There you go. Okay. Thank you. Are there any citizens to be heard on items that are not on the agenda this afternoon? Anyone here to comment on non-agenda items? Hearing none, we'll move to public hearings, of which we have three. There's a request of the City of Moorhead for conditional use permit for excavation, fill, and construction of a flood wall in the floodway and flood fringe. Is there a motion to open the public hearing? So moved. Second. Second. Those in favor say I. I. Opposed, same sign. The hearing is now open. Uh City Planner Houston, would you provide the Commission with an overview of this particular item? Thank you, Chair. Uh the City of

Moorhead is requesting a conditional use permit to construct a sheet pile flood wall within the floodway and flood fringe. Flood fringe is also known as the flood plain. Um this is in coordination with the First Avenue North Underpass Flood Mitigation Project. Uh the proposal includes excavation, fill, and construction um within both the floodway and the flood plain. We have not received any public comments um to date. Uh I wanted to point out, I'm not sure when you printed if you printed your packets, there was a typo under suggested action. Um we had reused the memo from the last CUP, and I missed um some language some old language. So, it should say um I think the old language said CUP for pedestrian bridge and path. The correct language is for excavation, fill, and construction of a flood wall in the floodway and flood fringe. Um so that was corrected. I just want to make you aware of it. Um and then the motion also includes the related findings of fact and the four conditions listed in your report. And please let me know if you have any questions, and our uh flood plain manager is also here if you want to ask any particularly uh technical questions. Are there any commission questions or comments on this particular item? I just had a question as I was reading the packet about how long the um disruption to Riverfront Park would be in place. Riverfront Park itself will only sometimes temporarily be closed just to

unload and um like the sheet piles. So, there should be no plan for it to be closed at all. Um just temporary, they might have to bring a load in, unload it, and then they'd get out of the way. That would be like a like an in a day, like might be a couple hours. It's probably a couple hours or an hour. I Yeah, it all depends on what the load is. Perfect. Be kind enough to identify yourselves Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Andrea Krabbenhoft. I'm City of Moorhead Utility Engineer. I do flood plain management and storm water management.

Thank you. Other questions of the members of the Commission? Are there any public comments to be made regarding this particular item? Last call. Quick question. Um I noticed that it said that there would be trees removed. Are they being replaced afterwards or will they just be removed and and left out?

The trees that are being removed are on um the east side of the flood wall past the lift station. Those will be removed cuz the flood wall will be placed there. So, those will not be replaced. Okay. Any further comments? Is there a motion to close the public hearing? So moved. Second. Those in favor say I. I. Against, same sign. Is there any more discussion or is there a motion for this item? Move to approve. Second. Second. It has been moved and seconded, and just uh to make sure we're clear on it, the motion is to recommend approval to the City Council the conditional use permit for excavation, fill, and construction of a flood wall in the floodway and flood fringe and related findings of fact contingent upon the following. All excavated material must be removed, not permanently stored in the floodway or flood fringe. No rise certification relating to excavation and or fill in the FEMA floodway required prior to the issuance of the flood plain development permit. Floodway and uh disturbed land is to be seeded or restored to pre-construction condition. And the applicant shall receive all required federal, state, and local permits, including a flood plain development permit. Those in favor of the motion say I. I. Opposed, same sign. And it is passed. Our second item is a request of the City of Moorhead for citywide zoning map amendments for light industrial and heavy industrial related to the 2022 onward Moorhead Comprehensive Plan Update. Is there a motion to open the public hearing? Moved. So moved. Second. Second. Those in favor say I. I. Opposed, same sign.

City Planner Houston, would you please provide the Commission an overview of this item? Thank you again, Chair. Um as part of next steps for implementation of the 2022 onward Moorhead Comprehensive Plan, the city is requesting some complimentary zoning map amendments. Um last year, for some of you that were here last year, we did um residential districts, commercial districts, all of the mixed-use districts. And now this round I'm doing all the industrial districts and all the parcels that have industrial um future land use designation. So, I I reviewed 275 parcels, and only 15 parcels needed to be updated, and we did not create any um new non-conforming uses. We did not receive any public comments to date, and staff is recommending approval of the map amendments that are shown in the table in your packet. Please let me know if you have any questions. Are there any commission questions or comments regarding this particular item? Hearing none, are there any public comments related to this particular item before us? Hearing none, is there a motion to close the public hearing? So moved. Second? Second. Those in favor say I. I.

Opposed, same sign. And the hearing is closed. Is there any more discussion or a motion for this item? I make a motion that we [clears throat] approve the new map map amendment amendment as uh presented. Okay, is there a second? Second. Second. It has been moved and seconded to approve the motion to recommend approval to the city council the zoning map amendments related to industrial parcels. All those in favor say I. I.

Against, same sign. And it is approved. Our third item is a request of the city of Moorhead for text amendments related to the Moorhead City Code title 10 chapter 15 multiple use two neighborhood mixed-use district and chapter 18 use regulations. Is there a motion to open the public hearing? So moved. Second? Second. All in favor say I. I. Opposed, same sign. And the hearing is open. City Planner Houston, please provide the commission an overview of this particular item. Thank you again. In addition to citywide zoning map amendments, staff is um making starting to make complimentary changes to title 10, which is the Moorhead zoning code. We started this process in 2023 after we updated the comprehensive plan basically to modernize and clarify codes in our existing zoning code. After I looked looked at this a little more and I thought about it over the weekend, I need to pull um two of the items in the report, so I'm going to remove items three and four. I would like to work on those a little more cuz some of some other things came up as I was thinking about them over the weekend, so I'm just going to pull those out and so tonight we're just going to talk about items one and two. Item one addresses the updates for the mixed-use district. Um that essentially addresses the mixed-use two district used to be only for um the highway um 75 corridor along the campuses and that mixed-use two zoning was within half like a half a block in that area. So when we wrote that code originally, it was really for infill development. Well, since then

we've expanded that mixed-use district into other parts of the city um where we feel like some mixed-use could be a good use. Um like down on 40th Avenue, we have a couple properties Prairie Parkway and um south and north of the 40th Avenue. And then we also have another area off of Highway 52 that's also zoned mixed-use two, so we had an issue we had a brand new development in Prairie Parkway I think third edition and we're like, huh, we don't have any front yard or street side yard setbacks for new developments, so this is going to fix that and it's going to distinguish setbacks for the infill lots and then setbacks for brand new developments. So that's just kind of a housekeeping item. And then the other the second item, which I think it's item two, we are addressing adding a third lower potency hemp edible license state license for wholesaling. This was added last year and I don't know. I I read I try to keep up on all the cannabis news, but apparently I missed that one. So we do have a couple wholesalers. I want to say I think three that have gotten licenses already, so this is just adding that use into our use table. So another housekeeping item. We did not receive any public comments and staff is recommending those two changes um to title 10 chapter 15B and then also chapter 18. And please let me know if you have any questions. Are there any commission questions or comments regarding this particular request? Robin, I was curious about the front yard business. So this is for mixed-use only. Yes.

And it was 25 and now we're going to No, it was so uh for the mixed-use districts for single and two families, so like singles and twin homes, if it was going to go into an infill lot, we would use the average of the block set the front setback. So maybe somebody has a 15-ft setback and somebody had a you know, a 20-ft setback, you can average it, but it doesn't affect if you still have a garage that faces the street, that 25-ft setback that we established last year still holds. So it gives a little um flexibility for like corner lots cuz you can maybe put your garage on the other other street and your house could be closer to the other street if you're if you're in alignment with the pre like the homes that are on the block, but the problem was is we didn't have any setbacks noted for brand new developments cuz there's no averaging when there's no houses on that block. So this is going to fix that. We left it at 10 ft because that's the setback for all mixed-use districts in Moorhead and it's it's the shortest setback for twins and singles, but if you have a garage is still 25 ft. So it just gives a developer possibly some um they could be creative. Maybe they won't put a garage facing the street, they do a rear entry garage or a side entry garage and then they don't have to have that 20-ft 25-ft setback, they could do a 10-ft setback, so you have a shorter front yard. Is that clear? Yeah, thank you.

Okay. Other questions from the commission? Is there anyone here from the public that we wishes to speak to this particular request? Seeing none, is there a motion to close the public hearing? So moved. Second? Second. All in favor say I. I.

Against, same sign and the hearing is closed. Is there any more discussion or is there a motion for this item? I would like to make a motion to move forward with the recommended approval to this uh to the city council the text amendments related to the city code including title 10 as noted um items number one and two only. Second. Second. All those in favor may signify by saying I. I. I. Those opposed, same sign. [clears throat]

And that motion is approved. Is there any other business to come before us this evening? Any of the members? Seeing none, again we'd like to welcome Christopher Marohl to the commission. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Seeing as there no other business to come before us, is there a motion to adjourn? Second? Second. Declare the meeting adjourned. Thank you.