St. Paul Planning Commission Meeting - October 17, 2024
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St. Paul Planning Commission Meeting - October 17, 2024
Date Note: The agenda and raw transcription indicate this meeting occurred on November 15, 2024; however, the user-provided date is October 17, 2024. This summary uses the assigned date and notes the discrepancy.
The Planning Commission convened to approve previous minutes, act on two zoning items from the Zoning Committee, receive status updates from committees and staff, and conduct a discussion on training topics for 2025.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes from September 27, 2024: Motion by Commissioner Thomas, second by Commissioner Holtz. Passed unanimously without discussion.
Planning Director’s Announcements
- Drive‑throughs Zoning Text Amendment: City Council laid over the decision until September 2025 to coordinate with a forthcoming T district study.
- 470 White Bear Avenue Rezoning: Laid over to December 4, 2024.
- New Web Pages: Updated Planning Commission and Zoning Committee web pages have been launched, with FAQs and reorganized content to better serve the public.
Zoning Committee – Discussion Items
97 Oxford Street North – Conditional Use Permit (24-084-295)
Proposal to increase the number of residents at a sober house from 24 to 34. The Zoning Committee voted 3‑1 to recommend approval. The full Planning Commission approved without further discussion.
10 River Park Plaza – Master Plan Amendment (24-082-486)
Amendment to the West Side Flats Comprehensive Plan addendum, changing the land use designation on 2.9 acres from mixed residential to office/light industrial.
- Process Concerns: Commissioner Ortega questioned why the West Side Citizens Organization (West Co) was not included earlier and felt the process deviated from past practice.
- Staff Response: Staff explained that because the West Side Flats Master Plan is an addendum to the comprehensive plan, the amendment must go through the Planning Commission; normally such a small change would be handled administratively. The application was noticed for 30 days (longer than typical zoning), and future public hearings will occur at City Council and potentially before the Metropolitan Council. The adjacent foundry creates a land‑use conflict with the current residential designation, and the change provides a buffer between industrial and residential uses.
- Other Commissioner Views: Commissioner Hood noted additional hearing opportunities; Commissioner Reilly said the process was an improvement but needed clearer communication to the public.
- Vote: The motion passed, with Commissioner Tagan opposed.
286 Marshall Avenue – Conditional Use Permit
A proposal for 35 units of supportive/sober housing was laid over to the next Zoning Committee meeting to allow continued dialog between the applicant and neighbors. The committee heard public testimony at its previous meeting.
Committee Reports
- Comprehensive and Neighborhood Planning Committee: Did not meet. Next meeting scheduled for a future date (reported as "a week from Monday" according to the November 15 transcript).
- Transportation Committee: Did not meet. According to the November 15 agenda, the next meeting is scheduled for November 18, 2024.
- Communications‑Nomination Committee: Did not meet.
- Task Force/Liaison Reports: None.
New Business – 2025 Training Topics
Planning Director Yasmine Robinson led an open discussion to identify topics for commissioner training in 2025. Commissioners suggested the following:
- Parliamentary procedure training.
- Clarification of the commission’s legal powers and the scope of its authority.
- A high‑level flowchart showing the planning process from the City Comprehensive Plan through PED, committees, and decisions.
- Improved orientation for new members, including a digital handbook, a SharePoint site, and a "buddy" system.
- Relationship mapping with other bodies: Board of Zoning Appeals, Heritage Preservation Commission, Port Authority, Capital Area Planning Board, and the Recovery Act Reparations Commission.
- Deeper policy sessions on housing, industrial land preservation, and the city’s anti‑displacement work.
- A shared resource list (books, documentaries, TPT shows) and staff picks.
Director Robinson will prioritize and build a training program based on input and anticipated upcoming work.
Key Outcomes
- ✅ Minutes approved unanimously.
- ✅ 97 Oxford Street CUP approved.
- ✅ 10 River Park Plaza Master Plan Amendment approved with one opposed (Commissioner Tagan).
- 🔄 286 Marshall CUP continued to next Zoning Committee meeting.
- 📝 Training topics gathered; staff will develop a program for 2025.
Note on Dates: All timeline references in committee reports stem from the November 15, 2024 agenda/transcript. The meeting date assigned for this summary is October 17, 2024.
Meeting Transcript
I'm gonna call to order the November 15th meeting of the St. Paul Planning Commission. Our first order of business is approval of the minutes from September 27th. Do I have a motion? Motion by Commissioner Thomas. Do you have a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Holtz. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. Seeing no discussion, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor? All right. All those opposed. All right. So the minutes pass. Next up is chair's announcements. I have no real announcements today. Just thank you for coming on a slightly different schedule. The Friday where we're not always prepared to share. And with that, I'll wrap up chairs announcements because I know the director has uh quite a few today. So moving over to planning director announcements. Okay. Good morning, everybody. A few updates on two rezonings and then one item that uh I've been working on for a while that I'm excited to talk about. So let's uh first I'll start with the drive-throughs zoning text amendment. Uh this was at City Council on Wednesday. Um the city council laid over the decision until uh September of 2025, uh, so that we could also look at the uh the zoning text in conjunction with the T district study. So just wanted to let you know that that uh was pretty significant layover. Um, but you know, uh staff wise will be fine. And I think um, you know, we'll be able to bring that larger package of zoning text amendments related to the commercial uses and all of the things in the T district. So just an FYI on that. Um the uh 470 White Bear Avenue rezoning was also laid over to December 4th. Uh so uh that's another FYI. Uh and then finally we have uh two kind of like updated web pages, uh which I'm very excited about. Uh so we have a new planning commission uh web page and a new zoning committee web page. Um most of the same information is there, it's just reorganized in a more logical fashion and has some FAQs and some other helpful uh items for the public um and for people who received a postcard from us. So other committee pages will also be updated soon, but wanted to give you a heads up on that, and I can send you a link uh later today with that. That's all I've got. All right, thank you. Um I'm very excited about that page. Um next up is zoning committee. Um I believe Commissioner Tegov might be out sick. And so we are looking to see if uh Mr. Darmody and or Commissioner Sayed um are comfortable giving an update on those items. Anyway, sir. Go ahead. Good morning. Uh uh thank you, Chair. Um we uh our committee met on last week on week uh before on Thursday.
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