03/20/2017 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,March 20,2017 6:30 o'clock p.m. Wayzata Boulevard in July of 2016. The property is currently zoned RR-1B and will be rezoned to PUD following final plat approval. Pending more favorable market conditions,the applicants have chosen to not proceed immediately with the residential development. The applicants are requesting,however,to be able to allow temporary use of the site as a staging,storage and materials recycling yard for the upcoming County Road 112 improvement project expected to begin in 2017. This project is being done in phases and could take up to four to five years for completion. Because construction staging is not an allowed use in any Orono zoning district and is not a permanent use,the only functional method for approving it is through an Interim Use Permit. The zoning code currently does not contain provisions for Interim Uses. The applicants are requesting the City amend the zoning code in order to allow Interim Uses. State statutes permit cities to allow interim uses. Interim use is defined by statute as a temporary use of a property until a particular date, until the occurrence of a particular event,or until zoning regulations no longer permit it. The statutes indicate"the governing body(City Council)may grant permission for an interim use of property if: 1. The use conforms to the zoning regulations; 2. The date or event that will terminate the use can be identified with certainty; 3. Permission of the use will not impose additional costs on the public if it is necessary for the public to take the property in the future; and 4. The user agrees to any conditions that the governing body deems appropriate for permission of the use. Any interim use may be terminated by a change in the zoning regulations." Gaffron noted it is important to remember that a conditional use permit is permanent and runs with the land. In contrast,an interim use permit provides the tools necessary to `sunset' a use that may be appropriate for some temporary time period but is not generally appropriate on a permanent basis. Staff has long felt that an interim use ordinance would be a very useful tool for Orono because it provides flexibility with a high level of city control. A past example of where that type of ordinance would have been helpful was in the case of a daycare facility located at the corner of Highways 6 and 12. It sat empty for five years because the City did not have an Interim Use Permit. In order to allow the proposed staging use,the applicants are requesting the Code be amended. Staff recommends that an Interim Use section be added to the zoning code and that the RR-1B District be amended to include a list of allowed Interim Uses to include"Construction staging,materials and equipment storage and materials recycling"under specific conditions. In order to allow the proposed staging use on a temporary basis,the Code must be amended and the following factors should be considered: 1. A general"Interim Use"ordinance should be adopted that establishes parameters for any interim use regardless of zoning district. This would,as a minimum,read similar to the statute language Page 6 of 43