Saint Paul Planning Commission Meeting - September 13, 2024
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Saint Paul Planning Commission Meeting - September 13, 2024
Note: The agenda and transcript indicate the meeting occurred on September 27, 2024, but per instruction this summary uses the date September 13, 2024.
The Planning Commission convened at 8:30 a.m. in City Hall Conference Center Room 40. The meeting covered approval of prior minutes, director announcements, a zoning committee report on a conditional use permit, and committee updates.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the minutes from the September 13, 2024 Planning Commission meeting by a voice vote with no opposition (motion by Commissioner Holst, second by Commissioner Syed).
Planning Director’s Announcements
- Director Yasmine Robinson recapped the APA planning conference in Bloomington, noting a panel on cannabis zoning featuring Tony Johnson and other city planners. She highlighted the value of the sessions and indicated upcoming APA events.
Discussion Items
- 780 Rice Street Conditional Use Permit (CUP): The zoning committee (meeting September 26) considered a CUP for outdoor auto sales and rental with a modification of lot area requirements at 780 Rice Street. The site is a small lot (55-foot setback vs. required 60 feet) with an existing security fence. The District Council recommended approval but also wanted stormwater management onsite, which was infeasible due to lot size and not made a condition. The committee voted 4-1 to approve. Commissioner Hackney, the lone dissenter, explained his vote: he opposed requiring closure of the curb cut on Rice Street because Ramsey County is planning a 4-to-2 lane conversion and sidewalk extension in 2027, which would likely relocate the driveway apron anyway. He argued imposing that condition now would be onerous for a small applicant trying to revive the vacant lot. The full commission later voted to adopt the committee’s recommendation, with no further opposition noted.
- Transportation Committee Report: Commissioner Risberg reported the committee met two weeks prior to discuss the Met Council’s Imagine 2050 transportation section. The committee decided to submit comments and will meet on Monday, September 30 (4:30 p.m., City Hall Annex) to finalize those comments with staff assistance.
- Comprehensive and Neighborhood Planning Committee: Commissioner Holst reported the committee’s September 25 meeting was canceled; no next agenda yet.
- Communications-Nomination Committee: No items reported.
- Task Force/Liaison Reports: None.
- New Business: Commissioner Riley noted an upcoming anti-displacement study presentation to the public and the Planning Commission.
Key Outcomes
- Approved September 13, 2024 minutes.
- Approved the conditional use permit (24-072-617) for 780 Rice Street (outdoor auto sales and rental with lot area modification) on a voice vote.
- The Transportation Committee will meet on September 30 to draft comments on the Met Council’s Imagine 2050 plan.
- The next Zoning Committee meeting is scheduled for October 3, 2024 at 3:00 p.m. in Council Chambers, with items concerning the University of St. Thomas (postponed) and two items for 470 White Bear Avenue (rezoning and supportive housing CUP).
Meeting Transcript
All right, I'm gonna call the order the September 27th meeting of the St. Paul's Planning Commission. Uh the first order of business is approval of the minutes from September 13th, 2024 planning commission meeting. Uh do I have a motion? So motion by commissioner holst. Second by Commissioner Zay. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right, seeing none, we'll vote. All those in favor? All those opposed. All right. The motion passes. The next step is chair's announcements. Um nothing from me this week. I will pass it to the director for the planning director now. Good morning, everybody. Um just wanted to give a quick recap on the uh planning conference that was in Bloomington. Uh it was a really interesting uh group of sessions. Um and uh Tony Johnson presented um with uh a panel of other uh planners from other cities about cannabis zoning and it was really interesting conversations. So um just wanted to let you know that rate time was had by all and um I think that there will be more um APA events coming up. So I'll let you know about those in case you're interested. All right, thank you. Uh the next item on the agenda is the zoning committee. Um I'm gonna look at both Commissioner uh Sayed and Tangia, and I I know the staff is here as well. Um so uh the first item I think on the agenda was that rice. Thank you, Chair. If you want to keep consultative, I will get the program easy. Thank you, Chair. Um well, our committee met on last Thursday. Um we had one item, uh 780 uh rice uh kept with a modification conditional conditional use uh betterment with the outdoors auto sales and rental with the modification. Um we had a a good discussion and uh through our committee and uh um we needed more samurai. Uh we have almost Germany here. Um, but we uh um a committee after discussion and uh and uh we uh voted uh four to one to approve. Um so we'll um get a more detail than we can get a during dollars. Um commissioner and it looks like we have a question from Commissioner Witzberg. Yeah, I was just curious. Um what where the district council sit on this uh if staff wants to come up and give us uh that was yeah. Um the district council uh recommended approval. They also uh wanted to see some kind of stormwater management on site, but it is already the site is too small, which is why they require the modification of their CUP. So you would like accessible owners to the umbrella. Um, but that wasn't the condition for their approval. Thank you, Chris. Thanks. Uh actually while Chris is in the area. Um we stick around during well you asked the question. Uh Commissioner Hackney. Thanks, Chair. I was just wondering what the loan dissent of the vote, what their uh interview would have been. Commissioner. Um I was the loan designator, uh, Commissioner Hackney.
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