Minutes 6/17/2005 Saint Paul Planning Commission
City Hall Conference Center
15 Kellogg Boulevard West
Minutes of June 17, 2005
A meeting of the Planning Commission of the City of Saint Paul was held Friday, June 17, 2005,
at 8:30 a.m. in the Conference Center of City Hall.
Commissioners Mmes.,Zimmer Lonetti, Lu, McCall,Morton, Porter,
Present: and Trevino; and Messrs. Aligada, Alton, Anfang,Bellus,
Goodlow, Gordon, Johnson,Kong, Kramer, Mejia, and Scott
Commissioners Mmes. *Donnelly-Cohen, *Faricy and Messrs. Coletta, and *Dandrea
Absent:
*Excused
Also Present: County Commissioner Rettman, Councilmember Helgen, Larry Soderholm, Planning
Administrator; Patricia James, Yang Zhang, and Shawntera Hardy, Casey
MacCallum(PED intern),Nate Lischwe(PED intern), and Kate Fleming,
Department of Planning and Economic Development staff.
I. Approval of minutes of June 3, 2005
MOTION: Commissioner Trevino moved approval of the minutes of June 3, 2005.
Commissioner Zimmer Lonetti seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously on a
voice vote.
II. Chair's Announcements
Chair Johnson announced that a new small area plan will be started soon for the University-
Fairview area. He asked for any Planning Commission members who are interested in co-
chairing the task force to contact him. Mayor Kelly has expressed his interest to be kept
informed about neighborhood plans as recommendations are being developed. PED staff are
doing a series of briefings with the Mayor. The Phalen Corridor Middle Section Task Force has
begun. All planning commissioners are invited to attend the last American Planning Association
Audio Conference training session that will be hosted by the State Planning Agency before the
agency is completely dismantled. The audio conference is about recent developments in land
use law and is on June 29th from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m., third floor of the Centennial Building.
III. Planning Administrator's Announcements
Larry Soderholm reported on the planning-related items on the City Council agendas for June 15th
and 22"d. He announced the items coming up at the Site Plan Review Committee, including a
preliminary review of the new Xcel High Bridge Plant. The roofing company on the west side of
the ADM site that was rezoned by the City Council is suing the City about the rezoning to TN2.
IV. PUBLIC HEARING - Rice Street Small Area Plan and Zoning Study
Item from the Neighborhood & Current Planning Committee
(Yang Zhang, 651/266-6659)
Chair Johnson asked Vice Chair Alton to chair the public hearing. Commissioner Alton read
the rules of procedure for the public hearing. Notice of the hearing was published in the Saint
Paul Pioneer Press on May 28, June 4, June 11, 2005, and mailed to property owners along
Rice Street and the citywide Early Notification System list.
Yang Zhang gave a brief summary of the plan and proposed rezonings and showed maps and
photos of the area.
The following people spoke:
1. Jonathan Sage-Martinsen, Executive Director of SPARC, 843 Rice Street, Saint Paul, MN.
55117. SPARC was created in 1984 by an early business association of the District 6 Planning
Council. Their office building is in the study area and they also are in partnership with others in
developing four other properties on Rice. There were 16 members on the Task Force, 12 of
which were business owners or representatives on Rice Street. Sai Thao from SPARC has sent
out to all Rice Street property owners a two-page newsletter to keep people in touch with
changes being proposed. There are ten implementation steps in this small area plan for Rice
Street, four of which SPARC, and District 6 have begun implementing. There are eight City
properties in this plan; five of the eight are already in motion in the CIB process. There is eager
support by the neighborhood. It's only been two months since the last task force meeting, but a
lot of things are already in process.
2. Sai Thao, staff at SPARC, encouraged the Planning Commission to consider adoption of the
plan summary as a part of the comprehensive plan.
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3. Ray Moore, 977 Rice Street, Saint Paul, MN. 55117. He purchased this property in 1980
and the zoning was B3. It was his intention that some day he would be able to develop the
property for an auto related business but he is worried that with the change of zoning he would
not be able to do it. He supports leaving the zoning as it stands now, along with three other
neighbors on his block. Richard, one of Ray's neighbors, bought his property on this block
only three years ago. He works full-time as a mechanic and some day wants to open up his own
business; he has spent $100,000 on his property. He too is affected by this and asked Ray to
represent him at the meeting today. He also wants to keep the B3 zoning.
Commissioner McCall asked Mr. Moore if she understood correctly that Mr. Moore has owned
the property for 25 years and purchased it with the idea of changing it into a business, but has
not done so in that time. Mr. Moore said that was correct. It is being used as rental and storage
property.
Commissioner Kramer further inquired about the current use of this property.
Mr. Moore said his property is currently being used as a rental two-bedroom house with a large
garage being used as storage. But it is much more than a garage. It is actually a commercial
building with plumbing, heating, electrical, cable and telephone. He will be severely impacted
financially, as with his neighbors, by a change from B3 zoning.
3. Terry Luther, 890 Rice Street, Saint Paul, MN. 55117. Mr. Luther said he is against the
rezoning, and feels he will have less chance of being able to sell his property. It's a smoke shop
at the present time, which he understands will be permitted under TN2.
4. Kerry Antrim stated that the District 6 Planning Council strongly supports the rezoning. Rice
Street is one of the main streets into downtown Saint Paul so there is a lot of traffic. Rice Street
is making a huge attempt to provide more shopping, to clean and fix up store fronts, and to
make the street more attractive to commuters from outside of the North End. The rezoning
would a direct positive impact.
Commissioner Kramer explained the differences between the B3 and TN2 zoning.
While TN2 limits auto-related uses, it increases options for residential uses of property. Yang
Zhang stated the TN2 zoning has more design guidelines and is more pedestrian-friendly.
MOTION: Commissioner Bellus moved to close the public hearing and refer the matter back to
the Neighborhood and Current Planning Committee but to accept any written testimony until
4:30 p.m. on June 21, 2005. Commissioner Zimmer Lonetti seconded the motion.
The motion carried unanimously on a voice vote.
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V. Riverfront Compact
Gregory Page,Director of Special Projects as the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation gave a
PowerPoint presentation on the results of the three-day riverfront planning charrette held this
spring. The Riverfront Corporation brought in Ken Greenberg,the Toronto-based consultant who
was the primary author of the Saint Paul on the Mississippi Development Framework in the
1990s, and several other consultants to help with the charrette. The themes of the work are to
make the riverfront both more urban and more natural and to promote neighborhood connections
to riverfront parkland throughout the river corridor. Then Mr. Page explained how the Planning
Commission would participate in the Riverfront Compact,which Mayor Kelly has proposed as a
way to enlist collaboration for common development goals from the private sector,public
agencies, and citizen organizations. Part of the Riverfront Compact and/or Great River Park Plan
will probably contain policies that should be incorporated into the City's Comprehensive Plan.
VI. Zoning Committee
(No zoning cases for this meeting)
VII. Comprehensive Planning Committee
Chair Johnson reported that Commissioner Donnelly-Cohen has asked to be relieved from being
the committee chair due to an increasing workload at her job. Chair Johnson said he looking for
a new committee chair.
The committee had no report.
VIII. Neighborhood and Current Planning Committee
Commissioner McCall gave a brief report. The next committee meeting will be June 22' where
the agenda will deal with residential design guidelines for the North End/District 6 and with
overall progress on updating the neighborhood plans section of the City's Comprehensive Plan.
IX. Long-range Policy Committee
Commissioner Bellus gave a brief report. The committee intends to review change in the past 25
years to see what key changes affected the city's development—for example, Riverfront
redevelopment, immigration, and loss of large industrial employers—and then to project what the
similar key changes may be in the next 25 years. What can the City be doing now to prepare for
them and make the most of new opportunities? The next committee meeting is scheduled for
June, 30th at 8:00 a.m.
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X. Communications Committee
Commissioner Trevino reported that the Planning Commissioners' business cards are done and
were distributed this morning. The committee would like, as its next task, to provide better
public information on the City website about the work of the Planning Commissioner.
XI. Task Force Reports
Commissioner Zimmer Lonetti gave a brief report on University-Lexington Design Advisory
Group, which reviewed the TCF Bank site plan and discussed the possibility of the Wilder
Foundation moving its headquarters to the site.
Commissioner Porter gave a brief report on the Loeb Lake Task Force, which met the previous
night and toured the study area. The next meeting will be on July 14th, at 5:30 p.m.
XII. Old Business
Commissioner Gordon gave a brief report on the STAR Board. Applications for large STAR
projects were due on June 14th. The bus tour of proposed project sites is set for July 6`''. They
are inviting legislators, City Council and the Mayor's office to participate in the bus tour.
Interviews of the applicants will be on July 20th and 215`. Recommendations will be made on
July 27"'
XIII. New Business
None
XIV. Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at10:05 a.m.
Recorded and prepared by
Kate Fleming, Planning Commission Secretary
Planning and Economic Development Department,
City of Saint Paul
Respectfully submitted, Approved
(Date)
1104
Larry derholm e McCall
Planning Administrator Secretary of the Planning Commission
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