Planning Commission

Maple Grove Planning Commission Meeting minutes January 29, 2024 Call to order A meeting of the Maple Grove Planning Commission was held at 7:00 p.m. on January 29, 2024 at the Maple Grove City Hall, Hennepin County, Minnesota. Chair Lamothe called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance Roll call Planning Commission members present were Chair Craig Lamothe, Chris Ayika, Lorie Klein, Chuck Lenthe, Michael Ostaffe, Joe Piket and Stephanie Tomlinson. Present also were Kristy Barnett, City Council Liaison; Joe Hogeboom, Community and Economic Development Director; Peter Vickerman, Planning Manager; Jesse Corrow, City Planner; John Hagen, Transportation Operations Engineer; and Scott Landsman, City Attorney. Oath of office Councilmember Barnett administered the Oath of Office to Commissioners Lorie Klein and Craig Lamothe. Election of chair and vice Mr. Hogeboom requested the Commission elect a Chair and Vice chair Chair for 2024. Motion by Commissioner Ayika, seconded by Commissioner Klein, to elect Craig Lamothe Chair of the Planning Commission for 2024. Upon call of the motion by Chair Lamothe, there were seven ayes and no nays. Motion carried. Motion by Chair Lamothe, seconded by Commissioner Tomlinson, to elect Chris Ayika Vice Chair of the Planning Commission for 2024. Upon call of the motion by Chair Lamothe, there were seven ayes and no nays. Motion carried. Items to be removed None. from the agenda Consent items The following Consent Items were presented for the Commission’s approval: A. Regular Meeting – November 13, 2023  Maple Grove Planning Commission January 29, 2024 Page 2 B. Bella Woods – Postponed Indefinitely US Home LLC 18301 Arbor Ridge Parkway PUD Development Stage Plan, Rezoning, Preliminary Plat, and Final Plat for a 28 lot single family detached residential subdivision. Motion by Commissioner Piket, seconded by Commissioner Ayika, to approve the Consent Items as presented. Upon call of the motion by Chair Lamothe, there were seven ayes and no nays. Motion carried. Consideration of items None. pulled from consent agenda Update on city council Councilmember Barnett reviewed with the Commission what meeting items the City Council approved that was given direction at the Planning Commission level. She then commented on the budget and tax levy that was approved by the Council for 2024. She discussed the renovation plans that were being considered for the Community Center. OLD BUSINESS AMC Theater – North Motion by Commissioner Lenthe, seconded by Commissioner Outlot Piket, to remove this item from the table. Upon call of the motion by Chair Lamothe, there were seven ayes and no nays. 12575 Elm Creek LLC Motion carried. PUD development stage plan and final plat for Mr. Corrow stated at its meeting on July 31, 2023, the Planning the purpose of Commission tabled this proposal citing a number of traffic and construction two parking concerns related to the proposed development of two restaurants totaling new restaurants. Since that time, staff has met with the applicant 5,700 square feet on several occasions to provide a proposal that addresses the concerns raised by the Planning Commission. The revised site plan has reconfigured the parking arrangement that improves east/west traffic circulation within the site and reduces vehicle/pedestrian interactions. As a result of this reconfiguration, 10 additional parking stalls were added. The original site plan was reviewed for comparative purposes. Additionally, the applicant has provided an extensive traffic study and a parking analysis Maple Grove Planning Commission January 29, 2024 Page 3 aided by an aerial observational study of the parking field to determine actual parking lot occupancies and existing peak hour parking demands. Staff discussed the plans in further detail and made the following recommendation. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Motion to remove this item from the table. Motion to recommend that the City Council direct the City Attorney to draft a resolution and a Planned Unit Development agreement approving the AMC Theater – North Outlot planned unit development stage plan and final plat subject to: 1. The applicant addressing to the satisfaction of the city any remaining applicable comments contained in the memorandums from: a. The Transportation Operations Engineer dated January 19, 2024 b. The Engineering Department dated June 30, 2023 c. The Fire Department dated June 29, 2023 d. The Parks & Recreation Department dated July 20, 2023 The applicant shall acknowledge that park dedication requirements are based on staff review and recommendation to the Park and Recreation Board and their subsequent board action. Board meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month. Mr. Hagen discussed the traffic study that was completed in detail with the Commission. He reviewed the area that was included in the study and stated the effort was an extension of the City’s past efforts to try and get a right in to the Arbor Lakes shopping center to the west of Main Street. He noted the City has been working with the County for many years on this matter. He explained late in 2023, the County formally declined the City’s proposal for a right in access point. He stated the City was now looking at other improvements that could assist with facilitating easier movements in and out of this area. Mr. Hagen reported he looked at the full build out of the Maple Grove Planning Commission January 29, 2024 Page 4 remaining outlots on the AMC property, with existing and future traffic volumes. He indicated the preliminary findings are that the all-way stop intersection was operating at a Level B at both AM and PM peaks. He stated with the full development of the remaining outlots, including the already approved vet clinic and the proposed retail site (with Dave’s Hot Chicken and the breakfast bar) and the remaining outlot with a sit down restaurant, there was very little difference in the traffic operations at this intersection. The intersection still operated at Level B. Mr. Hagen stated he looked further at how this intersection operates given the complaints the City has received. He explained an all way stop with multiple lane approaches can lead to confusion for drivers. He indicated he looked at a range of different intersection options and noted the Council would be briefed on the four top options. He stated he brought this information to the Planning Commission to make them aware there is a parallel effort to address the concerns at this intersection. Mr. Hagen then spoke to the review of the trip generation analysis and parking analysis for this this property including the AMC North Outlot development. He stated this property was expected to generate less traffic than the AMC Theater operation. He provided further comment on the parking analysis. He commented on the amount of parking available during peak times for weekdays and weekends noting occupancy would be 86% to 88%. He reported staff agreed there was enough parking for the proposed use, but staff thought it was important to point out that because the area would be heavily parked some visitors may be deterred from visiting this site. Discussion Commissioner Tomlinson asked if the percentage of parking available took into consideration snow storage during the winter months. Mr. Hagen stated he was simply responding to the parking analysis and he had not taken into consideration onsite snow storage. Commissioner Lenthe questioned if access would function adequately throughout the development or would traffic back up Maple Grove Planning Commission January 29, 2024 Page 5 around this site. Mr. Hagen reported staff did not see the need for any internal improvements. Commissioner Ostaffe asked what would happen if the field of parking to the east of Red Lobster was developed. He indicated these parking spaces were not owned by the applicant. Mr. Hagen stated he was unsure if the applicant has had discussions about joint or shared parking. He indicated the shared parking to the east of Red Lobster was rather large. He reported it was unlikely that people would park this far away from the proposed development. He commented further on how the parking analysis was completed and discussed the shared parking that was considered. Commissioner Ostaffe indicated there was a potential that people would go elsewhere if they were not able to find a parking space close to this development. Mr. Hagen stated this was a concern for him during peak times. He commented further on the dates the traffic study was conducted and how drones were used to assist with the parking analysis. Commissioner Ayika questioned what percentage of the parking was assigned to Red Lobster. Mr. Hagen deferred this question to the applicant. Commissioner Lenthe inquired if the cross easements include all of the Red Lobster property, along with the AMC parcels. Mr. Corrow stated the large parking field to the east of Red Lobster was included in the cross easement area. Commissioner Lenthe commented on how if one of the restaurant uses were to change, this would have impacts on traffic and parking. Mr. Corrow explained this would be the case and noted the traffic study that was completed was based on the proposed uses. Commissioner Klein asked if the parking and traffic analysis assumed a certain level of traffic for restaurants. Mr. Corrow stated the concept plan was approved open ended for these building pads. He noted a condition of the concept plan was to provide a traffic study based on the proposed uses, which led to complete the traffic study. He noted this site was proposing two restaurants and a future sit down restaurant. Maple Grove Planning Commission January 29, 2024 Page 6 Commissioner Ostaffe commented on how the traffic generation would be lower for retail than for two high volume restaurants. He commented on how most restaurants were open until 10:00 p.m. to midnight and noted the Hope Breakfast Bar may change their business model at some point in the future, which would impact traffic for all of the surrounding businesses. Chair Lamothe explained the Hope Breakfast Bar sometimes do private gatherings after 3:00 p.m. He noted even if this project were made to fit, there could be uses that could come in that were more intense. He questioned how the City would keep this in check. He indicated he had questions on the traffic study. He understood the intersection operates at a Level B. He asked if all legs of the intersection were at Level B or were some operating more poorly. Mr. Hagen stated the levels of service were for the overall intersection. He reported none of the approaches were below Level C and this was because of the level of pedestrians using the westerly approach at the intersection. Chair Lamothe thanked staff for all of their efforts on the traffic study and for the improvements that had been made internally. He appreciated the fact that a parallel process was being pursued with the City Council. He requested further information regarding traffic safety and asked how many crashes there were at this intersection in the past three years. Mr. Hagen stated the analysis that the City was running looked at the crash history at the all way stop intersection. He reported over the past five years this intersection has lower severity and lower crash rates than the State-wide average for similar all way intersections. He noted there were crashes, but they were typical of all way stop intersections. Commissioner Ostaffe inquired where the AMC parking data came from. Mr. Hagen stated this was an estimate from the number of screens the theater had. The applicant was at the meeting to answer questions. Dan Reagan, Launch Properties, introduced himself to the Commission and thanked staff for working with him on the amended plans. He believed he had taken into the consideration the Planning Commission provided to him at previous meetings. Maple Grove Planning Commission January 29, 2024 Page 7 He was of the opinion the changes would improve traffic flow, while increasing the number of parking stalls near proposed restaurant. He explained he has done his best to estimate future traffic and parking utilization throughout the lots, while remaining as conservative as possible. He commented further on how the parking study took into account an 8,000 square foot sit down restaurant. He reported north outlot, with the other uses, the traffic has been estimated and calculated to the best of his ability. He stated the data shows that the proposed uses, even with the east outlot analyzed in the conceptual manner, has fewer parking needs than was utilized for the AMC Theater use. He commented on the future use for the Floor and Décor property, but noted it may be getting off track by considering what may or may not occur on this site. He indicated the majority of the Red Lobster parking occurs on the east pad. He noted Red Lobster also has rights to 200 parking stalls to their east. He indicated nothing could develop in that area because there was a need for those parking stalls. He stated he has done his best to provide ample parking, good circulations while also enclosing the trash enclosure. Commissioner Piket requested further information regarding the two uses proposed for this site, which were Dave’s Hot Chicken and the Hope Breakfast Bar. Alex Humphries, owner of Dave’s Hot Chicken, explained this restaurant would have dine-in, take out and third party delivery. He estimated 20% of the visitors would dine in, which would take approximately 20 to 30 minutes. He noted 75% of people would be picking up their orders to go and this would take people 10 minutes to complete. Commissioner Piket stated this would mean the parking spaces would be turning over five and a half times during peak hours. He questioned if the business owner anticipated peak traffic to remain steady after one year. Mr. Humphries explained when he opened in Minnetonka the first month was very busy and only dine in or take out was available. He reported after the first month, third party delivery and online ordering was made available which accounted for 35% of visitors. Chair Lamothe opened the meeting for public comment. AJ Stevens, Malone’s Bar & Grill, provided the Commissioners with printouts. He discussed the traffic at the all way stop Maple Grove Planning Commission January 29, 2024 Page 8 intersection and noted it has been for quite some time. After speaking with the Police Chief, he understood the intersection has 50 accidents per year. He commented on how having three restaurants between Malone’s and Rojo was scary for him, given the traffic counts. He believed the traffic count numbers were confusing in the traffic analysis. He reviewed the proposed parking for the site and explained the proposed conditions may not have been a true depiction of actual conditions at Malone’s. He discussed the number of employees that would be onsite at Dave’s Hot Chicken and stated this number should have been taken into consideration when considering the number of parking stalls needed for this business. He anticipated the proposed 15 parking spaces for Dave’s and 24 parking spaces for Hope’s would be inadequate during peak hours. He estimated these numbers should be doubled. He stated he was concerned with the lack of parking spaces that would be available for visitors to this property. He commented on how the Hope Breakfast Bar would be available for hosting events, up to 100 people after 3:00 p.m. and noted this would greatly impact parking for the entire area. He then read the language in City Code regarding PUD’s stating PUDs were intended to result in a living and working environment that was better than could have been achieved through strict enforcement of zoning requirements. He reported the developer must demonstrate the PUD results in a more desirable environment than would be possible through strict application of the code. He explained code requires 700 parking stalls and the developer was asking for 267 spots less which was concerning to him. He commented on the fact the City’s traffic engineer has stated that the parking levels were right at the threshold where he would not be comfortable. He reiterated the numbers within the parking analysis were low for his business, which meant the site would not be adequately parked if this project were to move forward. While he understood this outlot would develop at some point in the future, he stated he was concerned with the fact there would be three restaurants between Malone’s and Rojo. Councilmember Barnett asked that the Council be provided with the handouts that were provided by Mr. Stevens. Mr. Hogeboom stated he would pass this information along to the City Council. Chair Lamothe closed the meeting for public comment. Commissioner Ayika stated has reviewed the documentation and Maple Grove Planning Commission January 29, 2024 Page 9 has listened to all of the presentations that have been made. He noted action was tabled on this item to allow for the applicant to address the Commission’s traffic and parking concerns. He explained the information that was provided in the traffic analysis shows the applicant did his due diligence. He was of the opinion the applicant completed the tasks that were assigned by the Planning Commission. He was of the opinion when this task was done the traffic study would show this project would not be supported. He did not expect the traffic study would come back clean. He understands this intersection has crashes at time, but it appears the crashes were not a-typical. For this reason, he would be supporting this project moving forward. Motion by Commissioner Ayika, seconded by Commissioner Lenthe, to recommend that the City Council direct the City Attorney to draft a resolution and a Planned Unit Development agreement approving the AMC Theater – North Outlot planned unit development stage plan and final plat subject to: 1. The applicant addressing to the satisfaction of the city any remaining applicable comments contained in the memorandums from: a. The Transportation Operations Engineer dated January 19, 2024 b. The Engineering Department dated June 30, 2023 c. The Fire Department dated June 29, 2023 d. The Parks & Recreation Department dated July 20, 2023 The applicant shall acknowledge that park dedication requirements are based on staff review and recommendation to the Park and Recreation Board and their subsequent board action. Board meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month. Commissioner Ostaffe stated from the numbers that were presented by staff, using 140 for Malone’s may have been low and the number should be closer to 170 or 180. He explained this discrepancy would mean the parking lot was now 98% utilized. He commented further on how the parking would be impacted if Hope’s were to host private events in the evening hours. While he Maple Grove Planning Commission January 29, 2024 Page 10 appreciated the fact the data was brought to the Planning Commission, he still feared that the site would be overparked. Commissioner Piket reported back in July he had concerns regarding traffic and parking. He noted after hearing the presentations from staff, the applicant and Malone’s he understood this parking lot would be very busy. He indicated there would be people moving in and out of this site at a very high right. He did not believe this site was conducive to adding two high use restaurants. He anticipated Dave’s Hot Chicken would be a busy establishment as would Hope’s Breakfast Bar in the mornings and weekends. He stated he was not in favor of this use in this area. He indicated he would be voting against this motion. Commissioner Lenthe questioned if the parking requirements for these restaurants were higher or lower than the recommendations from the parking generation manuals. Mr. Hagen stated from the information that was provided to him, the parking generation numbers were taken from the IDE parking generation manual, which was what he used for any estimates. Commissioner Lenthe reported the Planning Commission has debated this area for the past six months. He noted there is a vast expanse of parking available. He recognized that if the City does nothing, the area is terribly overparked or there is significantly excess spaces. He concluded that there was an opportunity for development and this would bring value to the community. He anticipated Malone’s would be impacted by cross parking, which would push patrons further to the south. He believed doing nothing was not the right choice for this area. He indicated he would be supporting this motion. Commissioner Piket stated he was not against some use going onto this site, but he was concerned about putting a high volume, high use restaurant onto this site given the level of traffic and parking that would be generated. He indicated he could support a lower volume use on this property. Chair Lamothe commented traffic wasn’t his concern when he saw this project at first. He explained there was a concern with how the intersection operates and he appreciated the fact staff would be working on this further with the City Council. He stated Maple Grove Planning Commission January 29, 2024 Page 11 any changes that are made to the intersection would be perceived as an improvement to the area. He indicated he has had a concern with parking for this development since it was originally presented to the Planning Commission. He reported he spent the first five years of his career as a transportation planning consultant that focused on parking. He stated he learned through the City Attorney that he would take the review of concept development plans much more seriously going forward. He expressed concerns about all three of these outlots when they were proposed, given the function of parking. Chair Lamothe indicated the IDE parking generation manual was a collection of samples from across the country. He explained they are not unique to the local situation. He stated looking to the specific uses on this property, actual numbers should have been used versus numbers from the manual. He believed the parking numbers were alarming enough, given the fact the site would be 85% to 90% parked. He reported parking at this high of a level would lead to a break down in the parking system. He feared the site may be closer to 95% parked. He stated snow storage on the site would only exacerbate the already tight parking conditions. He indicated the only way he could support this project moving forward would be if a condition was added to require the property owner to remove all snow from the property within 24 hours. He noted he would not be able to support the motion on the floor because he believed these were two wrong uses for the site, there would be too much of an impact on the area, the site would not function well, and there would be harm to pedestrian safety. He explained this situation could be fixed through a site plan adjustment. He recommended the parking be balanced across the zones and that the restaurant pad be repositioned. He believed the vet use worked well on this property and other retail uses would be a good fit for the outlots, but not the proposal before the Commission. Upon call of the motion by Chair Lamothe, there were three ayes and four nays (Commissioners Ostaffe, Piket, Tomlinson and Chair Lamothe opposed). Motion failed. Motion by Commissioner Piket, seconded by Commissioner Tomlinson, to recommend that the City Council deny a Planned Unit Development agreement for the AMC Theater – North Outlot planned unit development stage plan and final plat. Upon  Maple Grove Planning Commission January 29, 2024 Page 12 call of the motion by Chair Lamothe, there were four ayes and three nays (Commissioners Ayika, Klein and Lenthe opposed). Motion carried. New business No items to present. Discussion items There were no discussion items. Adjournment Motion by Chair Lamothe, seconded by Commissioner Ayika, to adjourn the Planning Commission meeting. Upon call of the motion by Chair Lamothe, there were seven ayes and no nays. Motion carried. Chair Lamothe adjourned the meeting at 8:40 p.m. to the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Planning Commission scheduled for February 14, 2024.