Planning Commission Minutes

CITY OF VICTORIA
REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
FEBRUARY 2, 2010

MEETING

Pursuant to due posted and mailed notice thereof, the Victoria Planning Commission met on February 2, 2010, at 7951 Rose in the Council Chambers.

Chair Simanton opened the meeting at 6:30 p.m.

Members Present: Chair Gordy Simanton; Commissioners: James Donadio III, Grant Peterson Michelle Siegert and Tom Vogt.

Members Absent: None.

Others Present: Community Development Director, Holly Kreft.

A. Adopt Agenda

A motion was made by Vogt, seconded by Simanton, to adopt the agenda. Vote: 5 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion Carried.
 

#2 APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

A. Minutes of the January 19, 2010 Planning Commission Meeting.

A motion was made by Donadio, seconded by Siegert, to adopt the minutes. Vote: 5 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion Carried.

B. Review Minutes of the January 11, 2010 City Council Meeting.

The above minutes were reviewed.
 

None.
 

Ms. Kreft said this is a revisit of the sign regulations. She explained there was discussion about dynamic signs and the consensus of the Planning Commission was to recommend that motion signs not be permitted mostly because of the proximity of the existing billboards to residential properties.

Ms. Kreft said the Business Development Committee recommended that the city consider on-premise digital signs given the advances in technology and these signs are becoming more cost effective. She noted a billboard is an off-premise sign.

Ms. Kreft stated that staff included background from the League of Minnesota Cities on dynamic signs in the packet.

Ms. Kreft said she would like feedback on supporting on-premise digital signage.

Commissioner Peterson asked if other communities have restrictions with on-premise signs. Ms. Kreft said the consensus of all the groups that looked at this ordinance were that the off-premise sign should not be allowed to be dynamic. She noted that Minnetonka does allow on-premise signs. Commissioner Peterson asked what kind restrictions there are. Ms. Kreft said she hasn’t looked at that.

Commissioner Peterson stated the downtown is so small and he doesn’t think it is needed. He said it would not be in character with the downtown area. Commissioner Vogt said he agrees and the whole purpose of the building standards was to get a look in the downtown commercial area. Commissioner Donadio commented on increased design standards being contradictory to dynamic signs.

Commissioner Siegert said she had three people come up to her and comment on how nice Victoria is starting to look. She noted they also said how much they like the blue flags.

Commissioner Siegert stated there are lots of opportunities for digital signs indoors. She clarified that if the sign is on-premise the content is restricted to the businesses personal use.

Chair Simanton said he agrees with the above comments. He said it is better to wait and let businesses come with ideas.

Commissioner Donadio noted they could go through the process of changing the ordinance at the time of a request.

Chair Simanton stated they are not saying no forever, just now since they don’t know a lot of what the technology can do.

Commissioner Vogt commented on having some difficulty controlling the signs they do have.

Commissioner Siegert said there are still a lot of safety studies being done on dynamic signs.

Ms. Kreft said the TH 5 projects are moving forward. She stated they recently learned that the mill and overlay and bridge projects have been combined and are scheduled to occur in 2012. She said the improvements include a mill and overlay with shoulder improvements and soil corrections by HEI. Chair Simanton asked where the traffic will be rerouted. Ms. Kreft explained that Mn/DOT has to use official TH detours. She noted that Stieger Lake Lane will be open. Ms. Kreft said the other improvements include turn lane improvements at Park Drive and Minnewashta Parkway, replacement of the bridge, a pedestrian underpass at Minnewashta Parkway and turn lane improvements on Bavaria Road to eastbound Highway 5.

Ms. Kreft said the county did look at improving the intersection north on Rolling Acres Road and in order to solve those issues a double left turn lane would be needed.

Chair Simanton commented on using Rolling Acres Road as a detour and said it would be a nightmare if everyone used it as a detour. He said they need to look at that and come up with another solution. Ms. Kreft noted that is a Carver County project.

Ms. Kreft reported on County Road 18 which is the gravel road on the south side of the Arboretum. She said that was originally planned for improvements in 2030 and has now been expedited to 2013. She noted it will connect to Lyman Boulevard. She stated the Arboretum is supportive of the project and also indicated they will give right-of-way that may be needed for the project.

Chair Simanton commented on the underpass and the opportunity to get access in to the Arboretum.
 

No council liaison was present.
 

Commissioner Siegert commented on a training workshop she attended in Shorewood. She said they focused on the role of the Planning Commission, development, ordinance authority, training and other items. She said examples were provided on opening statements to establish ground rules.

Commissioner Siegert said she was also provided with glossary terms.

Ms. Kreft reported the Carver County Office of Aging is working with Universal Design which is a practice that allows homes to be constructed for use by anyone. She said they requested a joint meeting with the Senior Commission to give an overview of this material. Ms. Kreft said the consultant is available to meet prior to the Planning Commission meeting on March 16^th at 5:30 p.m.
 

A motion was made by Simanton, seconded by Vogt, to adjourn the meeting at 7:09 p.m. Vote: 5 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,

Tanya Schmieg
TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc.