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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03 03 2014 PC meeting minutes PRIOR LAKE PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES Monday, March 3, 2014 1. Call to Order: Commissioner Phelan called the March 3, 2014 Planning Commission meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Those present were Commissioners Jeff Phelan, Perri Hite, Adam Blahnik, Eric Spieler and Wade Larson, Community and Economic Development Director Dan Rogness, City Planner Jeff Matzke, and Development Service Assistant Sandra Woods. 2. Approval of Agenda: MOTION BY HITE, SECONDED BY SPIELER TO ADOPT THE AGENDA FOR THE MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2014 PRIOR LAKE PLANNING COMMISSION. . VOTE: Ayes by Phelan, Hite, Blahnik, Spieler, and Larson The Motion carried. 3. Consider Approval of February 3, 2014 Meeting Minutes: , MOTION BY HITESECONDED BY LARSON TO APPROVE THE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2014 MEETING MINUTES AS AMENDED ON PAGE SIX. . VOTE: Ayes by Hite, Blahnik, Spieler, and Larson The Motion carried. 4. Public Hearings: A.DEV-2014-0003 Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) - SMSC is requesting an approval of a registered land survey to convey approximately 40 acres of land currently owned by SMSC in order to delineate the limits of Torrens property. The property is located north of County Hwy. 82 and east of County Hwy. 17. Planner Matzke introduced the proposed registered land survey and explained the current circumstances, physical site characteristics, conclusion, issues and alternatives. He stated staff is recommending a motion to approve the registered land survey for 40 acres into two tracts of land, subject to the registered land survey being recorded at Scott County within 60 days of approval by the City Council. He provided exhibits, including a location map and the proposed registered land survey. Commissions Comments/Questions: Phelan asked if there is other properties within the City that are owned by the SMSC? He questioned if we have went through this process with the SMSC before? Planner Matzke replied within the last nine years, to his experience and knowledge, there has not been a similar process. However, there has been other processes to register title egistered land survey process. He stated this process is to help to simplify legal documentation; therefore, this request is not out of the question for doing such entities. Spieler asked who owns the property inside of the horseshoe shape in Tract A? 1 Planner Matzke replied it is owned by a private property, not the SMSC. He stated most of this area appears to be wetland or lowland areas and is partially undevelopable land. Spieler questioned if there is a need to do a survey on that property at this time? Planner Matzke replied no, not at this time. Spieler asked how would this be zoned? Planner Matzke replied this land is currently zoned agricultural due to limitation of no utility access to this sector of the City. It is designated for residential in the comprehensive plan and does have some commercial designation along County Hwy. 82 on the south side of Tract B. Larson asked has the process for Bureau of Indian Affairs on this property already been completed? Planner Matzke replied this is a process that the SMSC goes through to put land in Trust. If this land was part of their Trust, the City would not have municipal regulations on this land. It is in fee ownership within the City, just as any other fee owned property that would be here. Larson asked between Tract A and Tract B, is that land already in Trust or is it owned by SMSC? Planner Matzke replied that most of it is owned by other private property, but that the SMSC representative should provide further clarity. Applicant/Representative: No Comment. MOTION BY PHELAN, SECONDED BY SPIELER TO OPEN THE PUBLIC HEARINGAT 6:10 P.M. . VOTE: Ayes by Phelan, Hite, Blahnik, Spieler, and Larson The Motion carried. Public Comment : None. MOTION BY PHELAN, SECONDED BY HITE TO CLOSE THE PUBLICHEARING AT 6:11 P.M. . VOTE: Ayes by Phelan, Hite, Blahnik, Spieler, and Larson The Motion carried. Commissions Comments/Questions: Larson stated he is supportive with the measures of this process. Blahnik asked if SMSC is asking if they can combine two separate parcels that are connected? Planner Matzke replied yes. He believes part of the core proceedings is about some survey legal description property line clarifications that need to be made and it is best if done through this registered land survey. He said this is what was suggested through the Scott County Administration System. Blahnik stated it seems very straight forward to simplify the process in pursuing their request to be registered as Torrens; therefore, he is in support of this application. 2 Spieler stated he agrees with his fellow Commissioners; it is a standard process with no issues. Hite stated she supports this application since this is no different than a private property who has acquired a number of parcels and is combining parcels and doing a survey. She stated that there may be some conditions attached to it, such as recording with Scott County within 60 days of approval of the City Council. She will be supporting this application. Phelan cation provided the guideline for registration is met by the applicant. MOTION BY BLAHNIK, SECONDED BY LARSON TO RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF THE REGISTERED LAND SURVEY SUBJECT TO THE CONDITION OF RECORDING THE REGISTERED LAND SURVEY WITH THE SCOTT COUNTY RECORDER OFFICE WITHIN SIXTY DAYS. . VOTE: Ayes by Phelan, Hite, Blahnik, Spieler, and Larson The Motion carried. 5. Old Business: A.Thrive 2040 Met Council 2040 Forecasts Update 2040 population, household and employment forecasts. Director Rogness introduced the purpose of Thrive 2040 Met Council Forecast Update and explained the history, current circumstances, conclusion, issues and alternatives. He stated staff is addressing this as a discussion matter right now. These figures are important since they provide the basis for the upcoming 2040 comprehensive planning process in Prior Lake. He provided exhibits including a City letter to the average annual increases, Draft Plan for Public Comment, and Met Council 2040 forecast comparison in Scott County. Commissions Comments/Questions: Phelan said that the map shows a progression from urban center to urban to suburban edge, and there is actually some diversified rural. He asked whether staff knows the logic of these categories? He questioned the basis on growth rates and asked how they categorize Prior Lake, Waconia, Chanhassen, Chaska, Carver, and Lakeville as emerging versus an alternative classification? Does staff know what their criteria is? Director Rogness the Met Council uses for that. Phelan asked how did staff come up with the recommendations for the Met Council to revise its population, households and employment numbers? th Director Rogness replied that it was identified in the letter dated November 26 to the Met Council from Mayor Hedberg. He stated there were two options when staff looked at population and households. Option one was averaged at a 500 people per year and 200 households per year increase for the years of 1980-2010. Staff then looked at a shorter time period 1990 2010 with an average slightly higher at 550 persons per year and 250 households increase per year. Therefore, our letter basically supported option 2 which was the 550 persons per year and the 250 households per year and the Met-Council in population 3 outcome did agree with us. Staff looked at historical trends and averaged those to get to the recommendations for the Met Council. Director Rogness further explained the employment increase may be based on some assumptions of how much the orderly annexation area is fully developed. He stated that some assumptions were made based on the comprehensive plan that designated land for industrial and commercial. He thought that more research could be done by staff and report back to the Commission at a future meeting. Hite noted that on page three, staff assumed one employee per one-thousand square feet of building space and asked if this formula is based on historical data or another formula? Director Rogness stated the formula is a city staff figure, which was found to be a commonly used standard fa truly universal formula, but all examples are based on various assumptions. Hite asked whether the Met council no longer supports the level of infrastructure investments made by the city to support growth? Spieler asked if the Met Council is being conservative based on the 2030 plan and the market downturn during the past decade? Director Rogness replied yes- impacting their 2040 forecasts. He explained that people in the suburbs are commenting on the revised forecasts, many of them more satisfied with their revisions. Rogness said the City has an opportunity to comment on the revised forecast now with a deadline in the middle of April. Spieler asked are there any other surprises in the report? Rogness stated not so far; however, this is a lenthy document that just came out that will need to be reviewed. He thought the emerging suburban community label fits Prior Lake fairly well, but he would need to do more research in order to make a final conclusion. The revised forecasts seem to be much more accurate for Prior Lake. Employment is more difficult to predict than population and households, but they will be re-visited every ten years anyway. Larson asked if there a reason why numbers, compared to Savage, are actually higher? Director Rogness stated that he is not aware of what other city responses have been. He was surprised that employment figures were revised downward for Shakopee and Savage upward revision. Larson stated if Prior Lake is going to see more multifamily residential development? Rogness replied that, in general, as any community grows, a variety of housing is needed to fit the life- cycle needs of the population. However, Prior Lake has been more attractive for single family housing because of features such as lakes, wetlands, parks, trails and topography. 4 Blahnik stated appear to be better than surrounding cities. Chaska is suburban edge and Chanhassen is emerging suburban edge. He asked how did they classify these cities? He questioned whether emerging suburban edge is a good classification for Prior Lake. Director Rogness agreed that it does look a bit odd on the map as described by Blahnik. Planner Matzke thought that, most likely, Chaska has more commercial/industrial and other service amenities than Chanhassen. Carver, Victoria and Chanhassen all feed into Chaska for those types of services, therefore leaving Chaska as more suburban. 6. New Business: A.Transit Merger with MVTA Reviewal of a proposed merger of transit facilities and operations between the cities of Prior Lake and Shakopee with the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA) by January 2015. Director Rogness introduced the purpose of Transit Merger with MVTA and explained the history, current circumstances, conclusion, issues and alternatives. Jane Kansier, previous staff with Prior Lake, is now a key staff person with MVTA overseeing the merger process. He mentioned Savage is already part of the MVTA transit system. Rogness felt the pending merger is intended to provide greater efficiencies, to maintain existing services and to provide more transit options in the future. He provided exhibits included a memorandum dated February 12, 2014 from the MVTA and PowerPoint slides for the merger. Commissions Comments/Questions: Phelan stated there appears to be twenty seven percent of the service population with only seven and a half percent of the ridership. He questioned why we are a third of what you might expect of that twenty some percent of the population and not twenty plus percent of the ridership? He stated Prior Lake and Shakopee have a fair amount of routes, but the majority of those routes are in the boundaries of Shakopee. He asked whether staff has looked at Prior Lake and Shakopee separately? Phelan asked how the city is spending those dollars efficiently and effectively? He also asked if there are plans to develop more routes in Prior Lake? Director Rogness replied that he would like to record commissioner questions in order to do more research. Since Jane left, staff is learning much in a short time period. Phelan stated that Rosemount is not terribly developed, but Apple Valley, Burnsville, Shakopee and Eagan are covered with routes. However, Prior Lake and Rosemount are not really developed well and he would like to have a better understanding of the metrics. He asked whether there are plans, either through the elective or technical work group, to better leverage the money being spent and to allocate the cost burden differently? Hite commented that she takes the bus downtown whenever she can, and she does appreciate the five routes that are available. However, she would like to see routes/services expand with the merger; transit service is a huge benefit to the community. Spieler asked about the operating expenses of two million dollars for Prior Lake and Shakopee and where the revenue is coming from? 5 Director Rogness s being less than fifty percent of operating expenses, maybe closer to thirty percent. The other seventy or so percent must come from a subsidy, including federal and state funding. Shakopee has a fixed route circulator bus system; Prior Lake does not have this local service. He explained how Scott and Carver Counties jointly operate a Dial-A-Ride service. Details will need to be worked out in the merger process. Spieler asked if the Laker Lines name and service will become non-existent with the merger? Director Rogness replied that Laker Lines will still be the name and service as part durng a seamless transition period. However, at some point they will become MVTA buses. He also mentioned that Schmitty and Sons is the operator for Shakopee, Prior Lake and MTVA systems. MTVA is going through a new bid process this year, but Prior contract with them is through 2017. They are two different systems that will need to fully merge eventually with more details to come. Blahnik stated this would increase the options for city residents who are utilizing the transit system and provide greater efficiencies. He echoed words of Phelan on making sure the cost is allocated proportionally. He expressed concerns regarding parking in downtown Prior Lake with the bus stop. Larson asked about bus service that was running only during the summer months for the youth going to work locations. He asked about routes for employees of Mystic Lake and bus storage. Director Rogness replied that they have been discussing the possibility of a merged system taking over the Mystic Lake employee buses. He further explained the reverse bus route expressing that buses will bring people back to Scott County rather than have empty buses coming back from Minneapolis. There were buses being provided to summer workers in Prior Lake; however, Rogness believed that these 7. Announcements: Director Rogness mentioned that Godsons Way was approved in the last Council meeting. He introduced the following meetings: th Monday, April 14, 2014 from 5 to 6:40 p.m. in Parkview Conference Room. City Attorney Rosow will provide training for members of the City Council, various boards/commissions and city staff regarding common legal issues, staff commission roles and day-to-day issues. nd Monday, April 22, 2014 from 5:30 to 10:00 p.m. at Club Prior. This is one of the most important City meetings of the year to 8. Adjournment: MOTION BY PHELAN, SECONDED BY SPIELER TO ADJORN THE MEETING. . VOTE: Ayes by Phelan, Hite, Blahnik, Spieler, and Larson The Motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 7:08 p.m. Sandra Woods, Development Services Assistant 6