Saint Paul Planning Commission Meeting - February 12, 2024
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Saint Paul Planning Commission Meeting - February 12, 2024
The meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m. on February 12, 2024, though the printed agenda listed the date as February 16, 2024. The commission approved the previous meeting's minutes, received committee reports, and voted on a reestablishment of nonconforming use. Public testimony was not heard.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes from February 2, 2024, were approved unanimously (motion by Commissioner Holtz, second by Commissioner Syed, all in favor).
Chair's Announcements
- The chair reminded members that the meeting recording starts as soon as he begins speaking.
- A farewell was given for former Chair Ringle Morales, who received a laser-engraved plaque and a letter from the mayor; members expressed congratulations on his new role in Hastings.
- A brief steering committee meeting will follow the planning commission session.
Planning Director's Announcements
- Asma (substituting for Director Luis Pereira) reported that state legislative proposals were released the previous day; the director is reviewing them and will update the commission on alignment.
- Staff had a strong showing at the Capitol Mall Design Framework charettes last week. Ten projects were identified, including street design around the Capitol. Future opportunities for public input will be shared.
Zoning Committee – New Business
- Item #23-110-253: 475 Chatsworth Street – Reestablishment of Nonconforming Use – The applicant sought to reestablish a nonconforming automotive repair/service station use after a vacancy period. The zoning committee had previously asked for updated conditions (e.g., fencing, operational details) in response to neighborhood concerns. The applicant agreed, and the committee unanimously recommended approval. The full commission voted to approve the staff recommendation with conditions; all in favor, none opposed.
Comprehensive and Neighborhood Planning Committee
- Commissioner Holtz reported that the committee met on February 14 (Valentine's Day/Ash Wednesday) and received a presentation on the River Balcony Master Plan proposed addendum from Katie Dadless. Public comment on the addendum will open at a planning commission meeting in April 2024. The committee's next meeting is February 28.
Transportation Committee
- Commissioner Rosgard reported that the next regularly scheduled committee meeting is February 26 (delayed due to Presidents' Day). The agenda will likely include review of public comments on the St. Paul Bike Plan update.
Communications-Nomination Committee
- No report was given.
Task Force/Liaison Reports
- None.
Commissioner Announcement (under New Business)
- Commissioner Bradley announced that the city council has approved renaming a portion of Concordia Street back to Rondo Street, following the historic route. The change includes a section from Western to Rice and starting at Griggs Avenue. The council vote was unanimous; street signs will be updated soon. This was noted as a major accomplishment.
Key Outcomes
- Approved minutes from February 2, 2024.
- Approved the reestablishment of nonconforming use for 475 Chatsworth Street with conditions.
- Scheduled a public hearing for the River Balcony Master Plan addendum for April 2024 (exact date to be set at a future planning commission meeting).
- Acknowledged the Rondo Street renaming as a key milestone.
Note: The agenda printed the meeting date as February 16, 2024, but the meeting was held on February 12, 2024 per instruction. The transcript references February 16 in the agenda header, but the actual proceedings occurred on February 12.
Meeting Transcript
Planning commission is now in session. We're going to start off with legal of the minutes from February 2nd, 2024. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes? So moved. Moved by Commissioner Holtz. Do I have a second? Second. Commissioner by seconded by Commissioner Sayed. We'll now take a vote. All those in favor. All those opposed. All right. So the minutes passed. And then next up is the chair's announcements. Just a couple of quick reminders. Reminder number one, we record these meetings and the recording usually starts right before I start talking. So just I think it can sometimes be easy to forget that the owl is in the middle of the room. So just a friendly reminder that we record these meetings and that the recording is has started. Nothing has happened that makes me make that reminder. Just that for my own edification, I wanted to know what time we start recording and what time the recording is on. So a note for everybody that that's when the recording starts. Second note is last night there was a going away happy hour for the former chair, Chair Ringle Morales at Pemento. And I think we saw you know a good showing from the planning commission there. And he got a plaque, a laser engraved plaque, and a letter from the mayor. And everyone, you know, got to say uh goodbye and congratulations for him in his new um down in Hastings and his life in what seems like a civil war cabin. I don't think it's actually that, but uh he's learning about burning wood and some other fun thing, which I think was you know fun to hear. Um and we also got to see pictures of the baby who looks uh lovely and healthy and happy. So I think everyone's just very excited for him and sort of his new phase of life. Um and then uh my last note here is for folks on the steering committee. We're just gonna meet briefly um at the end of this meeting. It will not be a long, a long steering committee meeting, but we haven't gotten together in a while. Um so Louise and I thought it would be a good opportunity to sort of bring bring the band back together uh as it were. And then uh you'll also note that Luis is not out here today. Um and so we have the ASMA problem here in his place. So she will be providing the planning director. Thank you, Chair. Um, just a couple of quick items that I've gotten from Luis. First is that there are some state legislative proposals that have been um released to us um I think yesterday. So I think Luis is looking at them probably as we speak. Um and so he'll be getting more information to you about how we will be um aligning or not with some of those. Um so stay tuned on some of those. It's always exciting. Um gets to those answers of uh legislative items. Um second is um that we had a good showing of staff at the Capitol Mall Design Framework charettes that uh went on last week. Uh we had uh Tony, Nelly, Chris, Spencer, Alison from the HPC. There was people from public works, parks. So we had a um good planning uh showing as well as other departments of the city. Um they came up with a list of 10 uh 10 projects, um, several several that uh include street design around the capital. So I think we'll be seeing more um more of that in the future as well. And we'll keep you up to date on the names there and if there's any opportunities um for the commission or for the public to weigh in after the charite.
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