St. Paul Planning Commission Annual Meeting - February 3, 2023
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St. Paul Planning Commission Annual Meeting - February 3, 2023
The St. Paul Planning Commission held its annual meeting on February 3, 2023, at 2:30 PM. The meeting included approval of minutes, election of officers and committee chairs, presentation of the 2022 annual report, and discussion of the 2023 work program. Commissioners also approved a conditional use permit for a supportive housing facility.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of January 20, 2023 Minutes: Motion by Commissioner Grill, seconded by Commissioner Hold, approved unanimously after clarifying which commissioner seconded a previous vote on the Mississippi River Critical Area public hearing.
- Conditional Use Permit for Supportive Housing at 135 Geranium Avenue East: Commissioner Riley reported that the zoning committee recommended approval of a conditional use permit for a residential treatment facility serving 81 residents, operated by Pyramid Health Care Inc. The public hearing had been closed with no opposition after the applicant met with the neighborhood. The commission approved the permit unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
No public comments or testimony were recorded during the meeting.
Discussion Items
- Announcements: Chair noted vacancies on the Transportation and Nominations committees and encouraged commissioners to consider switching.
- Annual Meeting Agenda: The commission proceeded with its annual meeting, focusing on the 2022 annual report and 2023 work program.
- Committee Reports:
- Zoning Committee: Upcoming meeting on February 9, 2023, with three items including a conditional use permit and rezoning at 271 Sailing.
- Comprehensive Planning Committee: Committee is approximately two-thirds through a study on 1-4 unit housing; expects two more meetings before setting a public hearing date.
- Transportation Committee: Next meeting February 6 at 4:30 PM with agenda including the 1% city sales tax proposal (public works director Sean Kershaw speaking), the five-year capital improvement plan, and the Phalen's Street Bicycle Boulevard Vision Plan. Commissioner Rosberg clarified the sales tax is a local option for St. Paul, not statewide.
- Election of Officers and Committee Chairs: The Communications and Nominations Committee proposed a slate: Chair Morales, First Vice Chair Grill, Second Vice Chair Presley, Secretary Risberg. Committee chairs: Commissioner Holst (Comprehensive Planning), Commissioner Risberg (Transportation), Commissioner Riley (Zoning), Commissioner Cantner (Communications and Nominations). All approved unanimously.
- 2022 Planning Commission Annual Report: Director Pierre presented the report, which is now a website format with PDF option. Report includes statistics on zoning cases (decrease in 2022), geographic distribution maps, commissioner quotes, and features on major projects (The Heights, Hillcrest, Rondo, etc.). Commissioners praised the report for its comprehensiveness and readability. Discussion included ideas for distributing the report to district councils and using it as a recruitment tool. Commissioner Holmes asked about the youth on boards initiative, which is being pushed by the mayor's office with staff support.
- 2023 Work Program: Director Pierre presented a preliminary work program, highlighting new projects: programmatic agreement with SHPO for HUD-funded historic review, Rethinking I-94 alternatives (expected release by MnDOT), Transportation Safety Plan, Downtown Plan update preparation, EV charging infrastructure zoning amendments (focusing on surface parking lots), zoning fee updates, and internal reorganization into current and long-range planning teams. Commissioner Rosberg suggested adding measurable goals to track outcomes. Director Pierre agreed but noted time constraints for evaluation work.
Key Outcomes
- Approval of Minutes: Unanimously approved.
- Approval of Conditional Use Permit for 135 Geranium Ave E: Unanimously approved.
- Election of Officers and Committee Chairs: Unanimously approved for 2023.
- Annual Report and Work Program: Discussed and noted; no formal vote required.
- Meeting Adjourned: Motion by Commissioner Underwood.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, everyone. Um, welcome to the February 3rd, 2023 State Bulk Body Commission meeting. We're gonna start with approval of the minutes of January 20, 2023 prepared motion. And I believe Luis has a um yes, thanks, Chair. Good morning, uh commissioners. Um weren't 100% sure from the memory or from the record uh about who seconded the vote to close the um uh the public hearing and refer comments on the Mississippi River critical area. Uh we believe it was Commissioner Hackney. I don't know if anybody else happens to remember that detail. Sure, that's sound familiar. Yeah, he was right over there. Uh yeah, sorry. Okay. So that's the only question we had. How do we remember that? Yeah, yeah. We all have consensus now. There's a motion to approve by Commissioner Grill to second. Second. Second by Commissioner Hold. All open favor. Uh any apple points fine. That motion to approve the minutes is approved unanimously. The next item, um just the announcements uh with the new year, new commissioners coming in. Um, I believe our next episode. Um, and then also commissioners leaving because they've either turned out or have no spot. There's a lot of um vacancies left open at both the transportation and the nominations committee. If anybody wants to who currently sits, for example, on zoning and wants to try to move to transportations or nominations or car plan and transportation nominations. Um please let me know. We do need more people. Uh, if I voted the possibility that I would switch more. I don't know if that's a something that we'll need to do, but we do have two commissioners or three commissioners coming in the next time. And so I'll see if I can uh judge them in the direction of transportation and nominations. So that's just a thought on that. And then uh open about the next item, which is uh Luisa's announcements. Thanks, Chair. Um, this is our annual meeting today, so we're gonna spend more of our time talking about um kind of what we did last year and what we're gonna what we're planning on doing this year. We also have um our slate, which we might want to take that up at we want to take that up at communications nomination. That could be um something we do there. So um both the officers and the committee chairs, where we have a little bit of change happening, but that's done. So we'll go on to zoning committee, Commissioner Riley. Thank you, Chair. Oh, we had an item on old business at our meeting um last Thursday uh for our conditional use permit for supportive housing facilities serving 81 residents um at 135 geranium avenue east. Uh 135 geranium avenue east has been um a long-term care facility for since it's uh the construction of the building in the 60s, um, and the uh the conditional use permit for the supportive housing facility, which is a um uh residential treatment facility uh provided by uh a new organization to the Twin Cities Pyramid Health Care Inc. Um and they need a conditional use permit in order to serve 81 residents according to uh zoning code. Um and the uh it was an item of old business because we had enough time to refer it back to the neighborhood organization in order for the applicant to meet with the neighborhood, which they did. Um, and therefore there was no one at the public hearing, um, which was closed, and the recommendation of the committee is uh to approve the conditionals permit this facility. I'm happy to take any questions if anyone had the motion coming out of the committee is to approve the use permit at 135 geranium avenue east. Is there any discussion on the motion? All of them in favor say aye. Any apple flights are that motion is approved unanimously to approve the C U B at 135 uranium.
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