Loading...
2019.11.18 - MinutesApproved Planning Commission Minutes – November 18, 2019 CRYSTAL PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES Monday, November 18, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers, Crystal City Hall 1. CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Crystal Planning Commission convened at 7:00 p.m. with the following members present: X Commissioner (Ward 1) Sears X Commissioner (Ward 2) Selton [Chair] X Commissioner (Ward 4) Einfeldt-Brown [Vice Chair] X Commissioner (Ward 1) Heigel  Commissioner (Ward 3) Maristany [Sec. Vice Chair]  Commissioner (Ward 4) Johnson X Commissioner (Ward 2) Strand X Commissioner (Ward 3) Buck X Commissioner (At-Large) Seffren Other attendees: City planner Dan Olson, City Council liaison John Budziszewski; Rob Viera representing Verizon, Gary Lysiak and Larry Brown representing Owl Engineering, and other interested persons. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Moved by Heigel and seconded by Strand to approve the minutes of the August 12, 2019 regular meeting. Ayes all. Motion carried. 3. PUBLIC HEARING a. Conditional use permit and variance request from Verizon for a new telecommunications tower at 3200 Vera Cruz Avenue North (Application Number 2019-08): Planner Olson presented a summary of the staff report and stated he is recommending approval of the CUP and variance. Commission member Heigel asked how far the existing utility pole is from the proposed tower. Olson said its about 75’ and asked if Heigel was concerned about the tower falling on the pole. Heigel said yes. Olson and Rob Viera explained that the tower is designed to collapse on to the property making it virtually impossible that the tower would fall on the pole. Commission member Sears asked who the other providers are. Mr. Viera said that is unknown at this time. Sears said this area may have challenging soils. Viera said that soil borings were completed. Commission member Selton asked how tall of a tower do they need. Viera said they went to the maximum of what they are allowed and they do need to have these towers at that height in order to reduce the coverage gap. Approved Planning Commission Minutes – November 18, 2019 Commission member Heigel asked if an additional cabinet might be needed for additional providers. Viera said that the new provider would have to negotiate with the city to locate any new cabinets. Chair Selton opened the public hearing. A Crystal resident said he thought the variance requests were quite substantive so the Commission might review the ordinance to see if changes should be made to change the minimum required lot size, for example. He was supportive of the tower construction. Hearing no one else who wished to speak, Selton closed the public hearing. Moved by Sears and seconded by Seffren to recommend approval of the conditional use permit and variance for the construction of a telecommunications tower at 3200 Vera Cruz Avenue North, with the conditions in the staff report. Ayes: All. Motion carried. 4. OLD BUSINESS - None 5. NEW BUSINESS – None 6. GENERAL INFORMATION  City Council actions on previous Planning Commission items: Planner Olson said that the City Council approved the recent amendments to the city’s unified development code, which were reviewed by the Commission last August.  Update from Council Liaison: Mr. Budziszewski said the Council met with Ilhan Omar, serving in the U.S. House of Representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district. They discussed future infrastructure needs, the opioid crisis, and affordable housing. Mr. Budziszewski also spoke of the plans for the new Crystal police station on the City Hall property.  Staff preview of likely agenda items for Monday, December 9, 2019 meeting. Mr. Olson indicated that the meeting is cancelled because no applications were received by the deadline date. 7. OPEN FORUM Commission member Einfeldt-Brown asked what construction was happening on Douglas Drive. Olson said the only construction he’s aware of is the installation of fiber optic by the County. Einfeldt-Brown said he had toured New Hope’s new police station and city hall and really liked it. 8. ADJOURNMENT Moved by Heigel and seconded by Sears to adjourn. Motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.