2008 03-18 CCP - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY OF GEM LAKE, MN 4182 Otter Lake Road Gem Lake, MN 55110-3227 Telephone 651-747-2790 Planning Commission Minutes, 3-4-2008 Planning Commission Chair Jim Lindner opened the March meeting at 7:0OPM in the. Gem Lake City Hall. Commissioners Lindner and alternate commission Beth Herzog. were present. Also present were Bob Uzpen, Hutch Schilling, Tom Rasmussen, Faith Vadnais, Trevor Oliver, Steve Herzog, Tom Hansen, and Rob Hansen. Moratorium Area Jim Lindner stated there is some movement in the moratorium area with regards to potential opportunities. Don Waldoch is tentatively planning to close his store and put his properties up for sale. Per Mayor Emeott's request, we discussed certain types of . businesses we would like to see in this area. Marc Putman has drawn up guidelines for this area but how best to put substance to those drawings is the Planning Commission's task. Lindner opened the discussion to those present to see what types of ideas people might have. One suggestion was to keep opportunities for small businesses available. Another suggestion included apartments and condos which is in line with the mixed use intention of this planning area. Another suggestion was for larger anchor type stores that would be a primary reason for people to come to this area then stay for other reasons. Anchor stores for consideration are grocery stores of a more specialized nature. CUB or Rainbow do not fit this definition, but Byerlys is a possibility. Somebody suggested a drug store such as Walgreens or CVS. A hardware store is another idea. We discussed parking and how it must be arranged to allow people to circulate between the several types of stores the area might include. Lindner offered Tamarack Village in Woodbury as an example. Parking in that development is not dedicated to one store, but allows people to park and shop at several locations.. A medical facility with urgent care might be another possible tenant. The whole idea of general office space such as an office park could also fit in. In any event we would consider structures up to three stories in height. This is a departure from current zoning, but for mixed use to work best, higher buildings might be in order. Form -Based Zoning Challenges City Attorney Trevor Oliver then spoke to the Marc Putman concept of form -based zoning. While this style of zoning has its advantages, Trevor warned it also has some challenges. Specifically Gem Lake would need to write its code so that anyone, both current and future property owners, can develop their property. Trevor compared form based zoning to our typical Euclidian zoning with setbacks and PUD, and review boards, etc. Form -based zoning emphasizes how things will look and said it works best with developer -driven concepts. But any code must work for all property owners and not just. those developers with large amounts of investment capital. Trevor's firm, Kelly and. Fawcett, has draft ordinances to help facilitate the process. Look for uson the World Wide Web at getnlakemn.org.