Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Uh I I'm calling to order the planning commission meeting for December 8th. Um for roll call, do we want to just um say your name so that it's clear who's in attendance? Commissioner Kolkowski. Commissioner Stersza. Commissioner Hoie. Commissioner Charlson.

The next item on the agenda is open forum. This is an opportunity to uh address the commission on topics that are not on the agenda. Um anyone who wishes to address the commission can um come to the mic. Again, this is for items not on the agenda. Anyone here for the open form? With that, um, I would take a motion to approve the agenda. I move to approve.

Colassy seconds. So with a motion and a second, can any discussion hearing? None. A vote. All in favor? I oppose. I uh okay uh noting that um approval of minutes is the next item on the agenda. Can I get a motion?

Commissioner who motions to approve the minutes from the last meeting. Commissioner Charlesson seconds. All in favor? I I opposed. See, I'm understanding that there are no presentations tonight. So, we will move on to public hearings. Uh tonight we have a public hearing to consider a request for by Minnesota Independence College and community for resoning conditional use permit uh preliminary platinum variances. Steph, we have a report.

Yes. and I'm gonna have graphics with it this time. All right. So, uh, chair and commissioners or acting chair and commissioners, Minnesota Independence Community College, uh, referred to as MICC is a nonprofit that provides vocational and life skills training for autistic and neurode divergent individuals. And they're looking to construct a two-story school on the north side of 76th Street between Morgan and Newton Avenues. The proposed building will serve as MIC's learning center and organizational headquarters. As you can see here, the second floor is offset from the first, enhancing the building's visual interest and providing a welcoming main entry feature on 76 Street. There are four parts to this requested approval. I'll touch upon each one briefly. The first is a reszoning from our lowdensity residential to MR2 which is multifamily residential. The parcels are already guided by the comprehensive plan to be multifamily residential. Therefore, the proposed resoning is required to bring the properties into compliance. And you could say that this is being required by the city, not the reason why it's being requested by the applicant is because it's required by the city. Um next uh part of the request before you this evening is a preliminary plat to reconfigure the four lots into two. One larger lot for the school which is a little faded uh here and one smaller lot which is um darkened here for future development of some kind. I want to say uh what is uh that nothing is being proposed to be built on this lot at this time and none of the variances that are being requested are

for this smaller lot. They're all for the main school. Um this proof of concept has simply been provided to show that this smaller lot is appropriately sized and shaped to support the housing that meets the zoning code. And uh it's also um helpful because these two properties will share access and parking and storm water. So you can kind of see how the two lots will fit together in the future. The next part of the proposal is um a conditional use permit or a a learning institution. They'll have um approximately 15,000 square feet of classroom space on the ground floor and roughly 12,000 square feet of administrative offices on the second floor. Per the zoning code, schools must be located on an arterial designed for easy and safe pickup and drop off. Um the any outdoor recreation, which is pretty much this area here, must be 40 feet from all lot lines. And um the property must be buffered to mitigate views and noise. Um the this layout as you see here complies with all of these uh requirements of the code. And then finally the last part of the request is uh a series of variances. Um the first three are setback variances from the west and south sides to allow the building to push into this um southwest corner which um both activates the streetscape along 76th and maximizes the buffer between the school and the residential properties to the north. They are also requesting a lot coverage variance um to increase it um from 30 to

37%. Lot coverage is the amount of building that covers a lot. And in this case, the increase is generated by that unique building design that you saw earlier and the desire to reserve some future space for uh hopefully housing in the future. Um and then finally, a parking reduction. um a 15 stall variance. Um staff considers this reasonable because only 12% of MIC participants even have a driver's license. Of those, only four have cars and mic does not allow their students to use their vehicles to go to class or programming. So, uh for this uh conclusion statement, this is a rendering showing the back of the building. The first one showed the front of the building. Um, in conclusion, staff finds that the proposed project aligns with the intent and policies of the comprehensive plan and complies with all of the zoning code requirements except as noted by the variances which are reasonable given both the context and the desire to reserve space for future development. Consequently, staff supports all aspects of the request and recommends approval subject to the conditions listed in the draft resolutions. I also have um received two um uh comments. Um the first was from Best Buy directly across the street. The facilities director um took a look at the plans and said that he has no concerns and it seems like a great addition to the neighborhood. The next is an email that I received from Kathleen Posai. Hopefully I'm saying her I'm not hopefully I'm not butchering her last name. Um, she says, "Dear Richfield Zoning Board, you are considering a request by Minnesota Independent College and Community on December 8th, and I'm writing to express my opinion on the proposal. I'm both a parent of a graduate and a homeowner in Richfield.

My daughter graduated from the MIC undergraduate program in 2020 and is a participant in the community program where she receives support which enables her to live independently in a single family home in Richfield. She has worked for London Berley's in Adina for the past six years and counting and is successful in her employment. If it were not for mic, Kayla would not be living on her own own, nor would she be gainfully employed. MIC taught her the life skills necessary to cook, clean, do laundry, etc., as well as helped her gain valuable work skills that enabled her to get and keep a job. Without mic, she would need to live in my basement or a group home. This program is truly lifechanging for both the participant and their family. Our entire family is so thankful that mic program exists and gives neurody divergent individuals a place to learn independent living skills and vocational skills. Allowing mic to build an education building would only enhance the Richfield community. As a homeowner, I strongly urge you to grant their resoning request. Sincerely, Kate. Um, with that, I will entertain any questions you may have.

Thank you. Any questions? Commissioner Hoie. Uh, just a couple questions for staff. Um, what is the reasoning I'll I'll just ask both. You can answer them after. What's the reasoning for MR2 zoning in this instance since it is a a school office type building? Yes. So, the property is guided um medium density residential and MR2 is the only zoning district that um complies with that comply zoning with Yeah, you have to

plan and then we have an exception for the use. Yeah, you have to align the two. And luckily, a school is permitted with the same conditions in both R and MR2. So, this requirement for resoning does not impact their request. That makes sense. Just double checking. Um, and then why two parcels here? Um, why separating the other one out, especially since the parking is going to serve both of them. If they decide they don't want to build that and want to sell it at some point, can anything actually be built on that parcel? Yes. um as they uh represented in their proof of concept drawing um they can build housing that meets our minimum requirements.

But someone else though that doesn't have access to their parking if they well there is going to be a joint um like a cross access parking and storm water agreement that is going to be um established um now. So if in the future they decide to sell the the smaller lot that would that would go with it that the future owners would have access to. Yes. I mean, is there a reason for separating them out, I guess, administratively, or rather than just having one big

um It it gets Well, both the city and MIC have um desired to have housing associated um with this project. Um it doesn't seem viable at this time, but it does seem um beneficial to um kind of lay the foundwork or lay the foundation for um uh getting this a little bit closer to a possibility in the future. And that's what doing all of this at this time does. Okay. Sure. So that's required if they wanted to do phase two is to do that separate parcels out. Um it's just easier if they're platting the property now. Yeah, it just makes sense.

Thank you. Any other questions by commissioners? introduce yourself and happy to hear those.

Good evening. [clears throat] My name is Amy Goodmstead. I am the CEO of MICC. Um, I just want to express our sincere gratitude to the city of Richfield staff who have spent countless hours with our team and um, your guidance and expertise and collaboration has been invaluable. I also want to thank the planning commission for their thoughtful review of our work um, and that what you do on behalf of this community. We deeply um, appreciate your consideration and support and we want to thank you for being a part of MICC's mission. Thank you. Commissioners, do I have any questions for the applicant at this time?

Seeing none, I will open the public uh or the public hearing. Yes, public hearing. Um with that, I'd like to say that if you wish to testify, please approach the podium and sign in so that we have an accurate spelling of your name. Um so that the meeting minutes are accurate. Is important that all speakers be identified. Please address as you make your comments, please address the commission directly. If you have any questions for staff or the applicant, the commission will take note of those and once the public hearing is over, we will uh ask those ask for answers to those questions before considering a recommendation. With that, um if anyone has any uh comments to make, we welcome them. Good evening everyone. Nice snowy evening out there. My name is Elizabeth Sunohada. I live at 7525 Morgan. I'm just up the street from MICC's um as I like to call it, their clubhouse on the corner. So, um, I've called Richfield my home for 60 years. I've called 7525 Morgan my home for 60 years. You probably can guess this is something that's near and dear to my heart and something that is I I definitely

have emotion about it. All right, I'll start with that. Did a little bit of research. Unfortunately, I have not been able to be in town. I haven't been able to be present when you guys have had previous meetings. Um, this when I got the postcard in the mail and I saw it was going to be on a time when I was going to be in town. Fantastic. I made it my point to be here. Made sure that I was going to be able to speak with you folks and give you my take on all of this. I looked up MICC's mission statement and they state to prepare young adults with learning disabilities to achieve personal and financial self-sufficiency. That is a great mission statement. It really is. And I tip my hat to the the the folks that started this school living on Morgan Avenue. I have met several of the students that have attended the school there. I have seen several of the students who have thrived as a result of that school. Reason I'm here tonight and reason I'm here with passion in my heart is because I feel mic is missing out on a golden golden opportunity. That golden opportunity is in those four houses that they own. Rather than pave paradise and put up a parking lot, they have four properties that they have the potential to teach these students skills that they can move on with life. They can teach them electrical, plumbing, construction, landscaping, potentially restoring and renovating these homes. these homes that were built back in the 50s and 60s when

solid construction was very evident. My home at 7525 is a solid home. The homes all around me are solid solid construction. They're not the the the blowdown construction that goes on today that we see in so many of the developments. And I truly feel that they're missing an opportunity to take those homes, create spaces for learning as well as for potentially using that as office space or like I said, I call the the house on the corner their clubhouse because I see a lot of the kids, they have a lot of activities down there and I see a lot of the students, a lot of the young adults, they go down there, they go and in the summer I'll see them playing, you know, um playing game yard games. I'll they have gettogethers every so often and it's a great social spot for a lot of them and I feel that the school is missing out on a huge opportunity with that. Also directly across the street from that is a huge corporate campus that Best Buy owns. Best Buy who in looking at who's on the board of their of the mic, there is a Best Buy member on their board. Why they haven't brought it to them that they could potentially use some of the space in this Best Buy corporate campus? That campus, it's not 100% occupied. There's space in there where they could MIC could potentially put um offices, classrooms.

They have a chance also at Best Buy. I know they've come to the city and they've asked for more tax breaks. This would be a great way for Best Buy to potentially offer up some tax write-offs, potentially give MIC a a bit of a break on the cost. I'm sure that tearing down these homes, raising these homes, and putting up a new structure is costing a great deal of money. Whereas if they go to Best Buy and say, "Hey, we would like to rent lease X number of space for this many years. What kind of a deal can you guys give us?" Now, since it's an educational proposal, there's a good write-off for Best Buy. Also, making Best Buy a good neighbor, making them not the ugly building that's at the end of our street. Um, I I just feel that they have more opportunities there. And in the Best Buy corporate building, there's a daycare center, a place where they could potentially some of the the students that are interested in getting into daycare, getting into education, things like that. They could potentially work with that as kind of a, you know, um, internship, so to speak. there's a great opportunity for them. I'm I'm I'm just kind of disappointed that a school that was created out of innovative thinking. I mean, this was a genius solution for these adults that these young adults that have

disabilities, a chance for them to learn a skill, learn learn life lessons like was said that you know the the young lady who got the job at Luns Berles and she's able to create a life for herself. She's creating independent living using these four houses as learning opportunities because let's face it, not everybody can be an influencer. Not everybody can be a gamer. Not everybody can be, you know, some little YouTube, Tik Tok success. We need people to fix the light switch at our houses. We need people to fix the the the drippy pipe. We need somebody to, hey, I want to take down this wall and I want to put up this, this, and this. I need somebody who can do that. I want to rellandscape my yard, but I don't have the opportunity to come up with a creative idea. In comes somebody who has those skills. We need people in the trades. It's I I I just feel they're missing out on an opportunity.

Are you wrapping up in a Can you I'm starting to wrap up here. Yeah. Okay, great.

Yeah. One of my one of my other points is, you know, we haven't looked at the traffic impact. We haven't looked at, you know, how this is going to impact the neighborhood. These kids that do walk down to the clubhouse in the corner, how are they going to potentially impact that? And keep in mind, they're going to be tearing down trees that provide homes for the songirds, the turkeys, the the critters that roam the neighborhood. You know, it's I feel that there's better opportunities for them. I really, really do. And I I realize many of you have made up your minds. You already have it set in stone that you're going to this is nope. There this is what we want. But if I can get you to think about, you know what, there's other options. There's other possibilities and let's let's get creative, you know, let's I I'll be honest, the RSB came up with a very boring design. It's as a as a student of architecture, it's they can come up with something a little more creative, I would think, but I would rather see them take those four houses and use them to potentially create something wonderful. You know, Bridgefield is called the urban hometown. Let's keep it an urban hometown. Let's let's make these kids feel like this is their home and have them continue to be part of this community. All right. Thank you.

Anyone else uh wishing to speak? Hello. Uh, my name is Jeff there. I am homeowner at 7526 Morgan Avenue South. Uh, I'm also on the board of directors of MIC and have been for a while. Um, I got involved with MIC 20 years ago. I have a daughter who was non-neurotypical and we found this school. It was the only chance that we had for a opportunity for my daughter to pursue an education after high school. She did not have the wherewithal to attend a normal college. So she did. She attended MIC, spent three years there, graduated, and upon graduation, she had a job instantly. She has worked for the last 20 years now, non-stop. She works for a place called Kinder Plats. She is a U assistant teacher at a Kinder Plats, which is a preschool in Bloomington. Um, my daughter Carrie has lived there, as I said. U, she's been involved in the school. She's lived at Morgan Avenue for 10 years, uh, going on 11 years right

now. Um, she loves living in the community. And what I can tell you as a board member, I have watched these students come through over the past 20 years and watch these students come in with scared, with no friends, with no real opportunity in sight. They don't even envision it themselves. And I've watched these young adults turn into mature adults. Some of them get married. They live in the neighborhood. They support each other. They work. They pay taxes. They enjoy where they are. MIC as an as a school does a tremendous job. I think that MIC also provides significant benefit to the to the city of Richfield. I mean, Richfield has done a tremendous job of supporting MIC. We currently operate out of three separate buildings. Both at the apartment complex at the Colony apartment complex at the four houses that were referred to and then at the church where we have classrooms. We worked with the church to to negotiate to get space at those classrooms. It's worked out very well over the years except that it is tremendously inefficient to operate out of three separate locations. Causes us to have tremendous overlap in both resources of people and res just classroom resources, room space. And so in order to to become a more efficient entity, we're looking at this building to provide an opportunity for us to operate out of one location. One location that we own. We have we don't own anything but the four

houses right now. We've operated out of Colony Apartments for 25 plus years. And thankfully the the colony apartments have been tremendously helpful to us over the years to be able to convert some of the apartments into classrooms and offices. But as I said that's worked for 20 years but it's it's as we get more mature as an organization as we bring more people in particularly through the community program. The college program at MICC is a three-year program, but the the community part of it, what happens is that these students after they graduate, they want to stay in the community. We have students from all over the country. They want to stay right there in the community. There's over a half a dozen people like myself that have purchased homes in that area specifically so that our children can stay in that area where they have developed friends. They've developed relationships. They know the transportation routines. They know how to get to work. They know how to go grocery shopping. They have all of their needs met in that one location. And what I can tell you is I think that it would be tremendously beneficial, not only to the school, but to the community at large to have this building so that the school can go ahead and move to the next level of where they really need to be. That's my comments. Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh, good evening. I'm Markas. I'm a partner in Colony Apartment Homes and my involvement with MIC now goes back 30 years. I remember when they first broke ground in the mid 90s it was Beon Pat who had the idea and the funding to make it started and it all went into four apartments and over the last 30 years I've seen them grow and thrive and we've been their partner throughout. We host three components of my colony apartments. We host the school and the administration of it. We host the residence for the students and we also uh are the the renters for dozens of their alums who do it. It's been a very good partnership. It works very easily. Uh it fits very well into a residential neighborhood including ours is that and it's really not an interference on it. I think it seems to be appropriate uh evolution of the school to have their own building for the classrooms as as mentioned. While they do have the classrooms, it's kind of a apartment. It works reasonably well. We've made it work. But I can see how it'd be much much better to have a dedicated space for it. And we very much look forward on this is once this is developed that we will continue to be their partners. It'll just kind of evolve into it. We can continue to provide housing uh for their both their students and also for their lums. And it's been a very easy way to go about it. Uh there are very few cars. There is interference, the residents are perfectly fine. Probably actually less difficulties than with our residents at large. Uh and so it's, you know, I just want to say give all support to LCC.

Thank you. And if you didn't sign on before your comments, will you sign in now? Thank you. Any additional comments? There are no additional public comments. Um, I would take a motion to close the public hearing.

Commissioner Charlton moves to close the public hearing. Commissioner Hoy seconds. It's been moved and seconded to close the public hearing. Uh, any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? I I opposed. Just uh recapping the question, the one outstanding question that I heard from the public hearing that I wondering if uh city planner Crosby could address is um if the traffic impacts have been studied.

Certainly, chair and commissioners. Um, we did request that the applicant provide a traffic analysis um, just because it is some of somewhat of a unique use that you don't see every day and we didn't want to just rely on on staff alone. Um, the analysis came back and estimates an increase in chip trip generation um, by approximately 10 peak hour trips or less. Peak hour that would be so peak hour in the morning and peak hour in the evening. 10 trip increase in each. Overall, they're looking at a potential for 100 additional daily trips over the course of the entire day. Um, for those who who aren't accustomed to traffic and trip generations, this is extremely low. Um, it is um practically I I mean it's almost equivalent to what they have out there now. um in relation to noticeability like to the average person that might you know be nearby. Um so uh the main re rationale for why the trip generation came back so low is because MIC is already operating in the immediate area. So a lot of their trips are already accounted for in the existing conditions.

Thank you commission. I'd open it up to discuss.

Commissioner motions to accept the staff recommended action. Motion on the table. Is there a second? Commissioner Sherman seconds. There's a motion and a second discussion.

I'd just like to share my comments. Um so first of all um it's been great chatting with you through different planning meetings and things. It feels like um you have listened to our feedback and as we we've had conversations about this and it's exciting to see this all kind of come to fruition. Um I love seeing my pollinator garden in there. I was excited about that on the unused lot right now. Um I like many of the others you have said tonight. I think everyone loves the the the mission of of the school and we're very excited to see that and I love that it is rooted in Richfield. Um, as I believe everyone who spoke tonight and myself, I am a Richfield homeowner and I understand what it's like to want to have your own space and utilize it specifically for your needs. And schools are very different than apartments and they're very different than single family homes. the needs and just the amount of things that can be fit into your new facility is so much more than what you have right now and removing the uncertainty. The Colony Apartments and the church have been great up until now, but we don't know what will be in 30 50 years and there's just uncertainty there. We don't know what will happen with Best Buy in 30 50 years or any of this. And so I empathize with the school's desire to have their own space and um an independence for how how you want to to use that space. Um I also think it's great for the community at large to free up housing and planning apartments. When phase two goes on, there would be more housing units added. It creates it's all a [clears throat] small piece in the pie moving towards more housing units in Richfield and more affordable housing for for everyone. And so I'm partily in favor of of the school and excited about it. So

um Commissioner Charlton, I I echo the same thing. I I was moved by the testimony about um the houses nearby and things, but I I think the packet that they submitted lays out pretty well the use case for why they want to do what they want to do. And I I second what Commissioner D says. I think it's a great use of space. Um I I have no issues with the setback changes and everything. I know that that's something we should consider what we get out of it. But I think it's apparent that MCC does good work and helps the community. And I think that's the benefit that would, you know, makes those things approvable. So, no issues here.

I would add that um I echo comments that have already been made. Um I really appreciate um the perseverance to get something before us. Um I you know I I um respect that there are wishes for um other projects that are not before us. But um this is the project that we have before that we are required to vote on and having sat through several uh work sessions where there were different iterations that were filled with different dreams and different hopes. I also know that in this time and in this moment what is before us is what is feasible and I appreciate that. I appreciate that um what was discussed in the work session was taken to heart. I see that in the plans that um were submitted and I will be supporting it. And I would also encourage the city to look at amending amending the setback for requirements for non-residential. Um I think it is a shame that Well, I'll leave it at that. Um uh so those are my comments. Are there additional comments before we take a vote? Hearing none. All in favor? I I

All opposed? on reports. Um to make the sequencing a little bit easier, um Commissioner Tarzel, do you want to just begin and we can go down the line for our reports and could you add what uh body you are reporting on as well? Thank you. Uh Commissioner Harson, I do sustainability and I have no report Commissioner Hoie, Community Services. They've not met since we last met. Commissioner Stersa, H. Same boat. They haven't met in the last two weeks.

Commissioner Kolcowski, uh, same report. I think Chamber of Commerce wrapped up for the year, so we'll hopefully hear something in January.

Commissioner Surma here for Transportation Commission. uh the county and city and all those all the stakeholders involved in the reconstruction of Penn Avenue that is planned for 2028 are seeking public involvement. I believe there is a survey open right now. Please go and take it. Uh anyone who lives in Richfield should absolutely give their input on uh the proposed redesign for that very important corridor because this is really a once in a generation opportunity to shape what uh Penn Avenue will look like for the next 50 or 60 years to come.

Thank you. And the planner's report I don't think anything has happened since the last time we met. I don't I don't have a report. Very good. Oh, I will say that um we do have one more week left before the deadline to apply for the January planning commission, but as of right now, we do not have any applicants. So, it is looking like a probability that the January planning commission meeting will be cancelled. Thank you. Uh with that then uh motion to adjurnn. Commissioner Charlesson moves to adjourn. Cy second motion and a second.

I opposed. We are ajourned.