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4.1. PC DRAFT MINUTES 03-28-2023 Meeting of the Elk River Planning Commission Held at Elk River City Hall Tuesday, February 28, 2023 Members Present: Acting Chair Perry Beise, Commissioners Dennis Booth, Eric Johnson, and Rob Rydberg Members Absent: Chair Jill Larson-Vito, Commissioners Tony Mauren and Craig Keisling Also Present: Councilmember/Liaison Matt Westgaard Staff Present: Community Development Director Zack Carlton, Senior Planner Chris Leeseberg, and City Clerk Tina Allard 1. Call Meeting to Order Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the meeting of the Elk River Planning Commission was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Acting Chair Beise. 2. Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 3. Consider Agenda Moved by Commissioner Rydberg and seconded by Commissioner Johnson to approve the February 28, 2023, Planning Commission agenda as presented. Motion carried 4-0. 4.1 Consider Minutes Moved by Commissioner Johnson and seconded by Commissioner Rydberg to approve the January 24, 2023, Planning Commission minutes as presented. Motion carried 4-0. 5.1 Carnova – Omar Alnauimi, 17242 Ulysses St. NW  Conditional Use Permit for Automobile Sales and Repair, Case No. CU 23- 02 Mr. Leeseberg presented the staff report. Planning Commission Page 2 February 28, 2023 ----------------------------- Acting Chair Beise opened the public hearing. There being no one to speak to this issue, Acting Chair Beise continued the public hearing to March 28, 2023. th 5.2 Rinker Pipe – 1340 6 St. NW  Conditional Use Permit for construction of a steel production building, Case No. CU 23-03 Mr. Carlton presented the staff report. Acting Chair Beise opened the public hearing. Mary Artmann, 1822 Meadowvale Road – Expressed concerns for noise at 4:00 a.m. along with a nearby wetland. Mr. Carlton stated the application does not show any disturbance to the wetland. Bryan Olson, Director of Operations at Rinker – Introduced his team and stated they have been in business at the current location since 1917 and were formally known as Elk River Concrete Products. He further discussed the history of their facility, employees, and production operations. He reviewed the conditions recommended by staff. Condition #2 – All exterior openings shall be closed when industrial operations occur within a building during the prohibited periods. No issues with complying with this condition. Condition #3 – All vehicle back-up alarms shall be converted to a white-noise style by June 30, 2023. No issues with complying with this condition. They have already replaced several of the loud beeping alarms and are working to find the best technology available. OSHA requires the volume of the alarms to be above the ambient level by several decibels. They have found a new technology that adjusts based on the ambient noise around it. It’s OSHA compliant and keeps the sound at a minimum. Condition #4 – The applicant shall submit a dust control plan for the operation prior to issuance of any building permits. They will be implementing a more robust dust control plan this year but are currently waiting for some information from their vendor. Condition #5 – The applicant shall submit documentation demonstrating compliance with state and federal wellhead protection standards. A consultant has been hired to provide this documentation. Planning Commission Page 3 February 28, 2023 ----------------------------- Condition #1 – Industrial operations outside of a structure are prohibited between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., Monday through Saturday, and on Sunday. It is a challenge to meet this condition because their operations with manufacturing and loading are all about timing. The new building will help reduce noise by moving a lot of operations inside. Their team met and determined they can’t meet the recommended hours of operation and would like to be able to start at 5:00 a.m. The local company delivering their raw materials has operational hours of 6:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Mr. Olson outlined their processes and how they would be set back if they don’t start early enough. Delivery shortages in recent years have been challenging and they’ve had to be resourceful in finding product, which leads to delivery happening at differing hours. Employee retention can be difficult. Employees work long hours and want to get home in the evenings to family. Changing the hours could have a negative impact on retention. Due to Mn/DOT restrictions, loading and getting product to customers often needs to be done by 6:00 am or the trucks are required to be pulled from roads. During a construction project there could be timelines with major road closures, such as the Highway 169 project, and an item like a girder beam may need to be set during this timeframe, so sometimes there maybe product loading at midnight, which doesn’t happen all the time. They want to be a good neighbor and feel they have shown they are being a good neighbor. The commissioners discussed the following: The 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. restricted hours seem tied to noise issues. If the applicant is working to minimize the noise, it would be fair to say there would see less complaints. And if the noise is lowered, the restricted hours wouldn’t be needed. Mr. Carlton stated the condition could be modified by differentiating loading from manufacturing. Mr. Olson stated they are working to abate the noise but want to make it clear they feel they will never get to a point where it will be eliminated. There being no one else to speak, Acting Chair Beise closed the public hearing. The commissioners discussed condition #1 and agreed that removing the condition is appropriate based on the testimony from the applicant. Moved by Commissioner Booth and seconded by Commissioner Johnson to recommend approval of the Conditional Use Permit with the following conditions to satisfy the standards set forth in Section 30-654: 1. Industrial operations outside of a structure are prohibited between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday and on Sundays. 2. All exterior openings shall be closed when industrial operations occur within a building during the prohibited periods. 3. All vehicle back-up alarms shall be converted to a white-noise style by June 30, 2023. Planning Commission Page 4 February 28, 2023 ----------------------------- 4. The applicant shall submit a dust control plan for the operation prior to issuance of any building permits. 5. The applicant shall submit documentation demonstrating compliance with state and federal wellhead protection standards. Motion carried 4-0. 6. General Business There was no reported general business. 7. Council Liaison Update Councilmember Westgaard provided an update on City Council activities as noted in their respective meeting minutes. The Planning Commission recessed at 7:06 p.m., then reconvened at 7:07 p.m. in work session. 8.1 BK Land Development – Zach Brown, 13161 US Highway 10  Concept Review for 9-unit Residential Project, Case No. CR 23-01 Mr. Carlton presented the staff report. The Commission consensus was this was a better fit and would lower impacts to surrounding properties compared to previous proposals. A safety concern was expressed for crossing Highway 10. 8.2 Home Occupations Mr. Leeseberg presented the staff report. There was discussion about the following:  challenges with building code compliance: residential verse commercial standards.  expenses to the applicant.  customer service verse complaints received by neighbors.  operating out of the home verse accessory structures  the scale of the business operations.  property owner verse rental property. The commission concurred a home occupation should be restricted to an owner- occupied home. Otherwise, it’s a commercial operation and the operation should move to a properly zoned location. The commission questioned how many legal non-conforming properties would be created with this change. Staff indicated one. Mr. Carlton highlighted recent applications for home occupation conditional use permits and noted that many have been for auto repair. He also asked the Planning Commission Page 5 February 28, 2023 ----------------------------- Commission to think about home occupations and their intensity from a land use perspective. You are placing businesses in residential neighborhoods, impacting commercial areas where we see commercial growth, jobs, and customers supporting adjacent business. The commission noted a home occupation’s impact can be dependent on the type of business, such as having multiple employees, chemicals, and creating higher impacts due to more intense operations versus a one employee office setting. They also felt business size (square footage) and location within an accessory structure should be researched further. The commission suggested a cap on the number of employees and on square footage. Councilmember Westgaard questioned if there are ways to differentiate when the architectural standard is required or if there are exceptions to the rule. Mr. Leeseberg stated there is no easy answer to separate the building code requirements for one customer versus 40 and still meeting the commercial building standards. He stated staff will continue to research further. The commission discussed other issues such as liability and property tax changes that the applicant may not be aware of and should be part of the discussions with a new applicant. The commission would like further discussion and asked staff to provide additional information based on their discussion. 9. Adjournment The meeting of the Planning Commission was adjourned at 7:55 p.m. Minutes prepared by Tina Allard. ___________________ Tina Allard City Clerk __________________ Jill Larson-Vito Planning Commission Chair