06-04-1997 Planning Commission Minutes

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• MINUTES OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION WORK SESSION TOPIC: HOME OCCUPATIONS HELD JUNE 4,1997 ROLL The Orono Planning Commission met on the above date with the following members present: William Stoddard, Sandra Smith, Charles Schroeder, Elizabeth Hawn and Lili McMillan. Planning Commission members Dale Lindquist and Janice Berg were absent. The following represented City staff. City Planner /Zoning Administrator Elizabeth Van Zomeren, Assistant Planning and Zoning Administrator Michael Gaffron, Director of Public Services Greg Gappa and Recorder Carole Haseman. The meeting was called to order by Van Zomeren at 7:55 a.m. Members of the public were asked to introduce themselves. Donna Suske; Irene Silber represented her husband who has a home occupation license for Heliotrope Garden Design; Walter Holzer; Ben Meinhart owner of All Star Electric. Van Zomeren stated that she has been involved with home occupation licensing for several years as a planner with the City of Minneapolis. The City of Orono is unique with small lots in the Navarre area, large rural lots that are in the MUSA line and other residential areas with 1 or 2 acre lots. Three different zoning terms need to be addressed and we must be cognizant of development pressures arising within the Orono area. Changes may be occurring with home occupations that is may have been typical when Orono was considered more rural. The focus today should be on identifying the goals of Orono regarding home occupation and community standards. Should home occupation licenses be encouraged in some or all zoning districts? It is important to have a good definition of home occupation. Right now the definition is problematic in that it does include regulatory fragments such as parking requirements. Should a list of permitted uses be established? Performance standards need to be reviewed in connection with regulating hours of operation, parking or storage. Smith noted that this is the first work session of the Planning Commission to look at this issue and would like input from everyone to give them an opportunity to gather information. Van Zomeren told some humorous stories relating to home occupations which had been shared at planning conferences such as the person who released his homing pigeons only when the neighbor was having a party; another did not provide air conditioning for exotic birds on a small lot; another was an artist who vented the heat from his kiln out onto the side yard and also had 13 employees. Regulation varies from each municipality. Van Zomeren asked that everyone go through the work sheet. Smith requested that discussion be given as to purpose before starting the work sheet. Obviously, the character of the neighborhood should be maintained so as to not appear commercial. •1