##VIDEO ID:VhMwxYOYhu0## e [Music] [Music] [Music] all right we'll call the meeting to order on behalf of the Planning Commission i' like to welcome our residents and viewers to this regular meeting uh it's Wednesday August 14th 2024 on tonight's agenda we have three public hearings and one discussion item uh before we get into the public hearings um we got one housekeeping item to take care of that would be the minutes from our July 9th regular meeting are there any additions or corrections to those minutes if not is there a motion motion to approve we have a motion approval is there a second I'll second motion a second all in favor say I I I Minister officially approved with that then we'll open up all three public hearings at this time we will take them as shown on the agenda um the first public hearing is a conditional use permit to allow the expansion of a truck terminal within the i1 zoning District the applicant is rnl carriers the location is 5260 2008 Street West and Tony you're going to take this I am thank you Mr chair commission members uh yes as uh chair Rod had mentioned uh before you tonight is a request for a conditional use permit um from rnl carriers uh for the expansion of a truck terminal within our I or industrial zoning district and as chera had mentioned the subject property is 5260 208 Street West uh the property owners uh there are two property owners that uh own property within the development site those being rlr Investments and P mkr real estate uh the location is the southeast intersection of Pilot Knob Road and 208 Street West the area is bounded by industrial uses to the east and south vacant industrial land to the north and Pilot Knob Road is adjacent to the West uh the zoning is again zoned I industrial and guided public semi-public in the 2040 comprehensive plan as far as the current land use uh it does consist of four Lots in total two of which are out lots and two are buildable Lots uh the existing truck terminal is located on one of those buildable lots and contains the following uh 67,69 ft trucking truck terminal building a 10,29 ft maintenance garage 216 ft fuel building and then the associated parking and storm water facilities that were developed back in 2005 with the original building the proposed expansion does include a 76230 ft terminal building expansion uh that would also include 115 bay doors the expansion would be on the south end of the existing truck terminal building uh they would be relocating uh the storm water facility um to the northwest corner of the site uh there will be a 3,178 ft addition to the maintenance building an additional parking area to the west of the existing terminal building will also be installed uh the expansion area will match similar to the existing building height and facade um as you uh likely saw there are no elevations in your uh packet um they did not by that but they did mention that it will match what the existing building is which is acceptable to staff uh this is the Alta survey that was submitted as part of the overall uh submitt package um as you can see there again these are the four Lots you have lot one and lot two of Farmington uh Industrial Park Third Edition uh so these two lots here are the two that are the buildable Lots uh this is where you have the existing truck terminal Building located here and then the two out lots are the two lots that are located directly adjacent to Pilot Knob Road those would be out lot A and B this is the uh overall site plan as I had mentioned the existing uh truck terminal building is located here the uh expansion area is this gray area here with the building here a paved area around additional parking added here in the Northwest uh corner of the site and then the large stor storm water Pond facility to be constructed um in the Northwest uh corner of the site as I mentioned the site is zoned I industrial the front yard setback requirement is 50 ft um side and rear are 25 ft uh the expansion does exceed all of those setbacks uh the closest setback being 77 ft which would be to the Western property line they are proposing 319 off street parking stalls uh with the expansion uh per code a total of 235 stalls would be required so they're well above that um additionally they are providing 250 trailer parking spots um as well access to the site will remain uh as it currently does today with the main entrance coming off at 28 Street West uh there and there is a secondary access that comes off at 210th Street as well um development the development site as I had mentioned does consist of four separate Parcels uh a replat of those Parcels into a singular lot will be necessary um in addition to that we'll have to vacate certain easements that are existing that were planted with that original plat back in 2005 um in order to construct the building so those will be uh applications that happen a little bit later uh as the commission is uh aware there are six conditions or criteria that must be met for approval of a conditional use permit I have those six criteria listed on the screen above um staff feels that all six criteria have been met with this particular application therefore the action as requested this evening is to approve the conditional use permit allowing the expansion of a truck terminal within the I or industrial zoning District at the property located at 5260 208 Street West subject to the following conditions one prior to issuance of a building permit the properties must be replanted into a single buildable lot and certain easements must be vacated to submitt of a landscape plan acceptable to planning staff and three obtaining all necessary building and fire permits that may be required all right thank you Tony with us tonight a representative from Arnell car Mr Richards do you have anything to add to the staff report I do not okay this is a public hearing if there are any comments or questions regarding this uh cup conditional use permit please raise your hand miss acan you want to can you hi my name is Barb acman and I own the one of the parcels directly south of this expansion and I don't have really any problems with the expansion as long as um I'm concerned about runoff which I've talked to Tony a couple times about I looked at the roof line and you just want to make sure we don't that's a long roof line we don't end up with a lot of water on our lot that's one concern the other concern is noise so if there's anything we can do about screening or things to cut down the truck noise so all right thank you we ask Mr Richards how will rnl respond to your your neighbors to the South uh thank you uh chairman and commission members and staff uh Stan Richards 600 Gillum Road Wilmington Ohio uh first of all I want to talk about the runoff we are building obviously due to the impervious uh areas that we're going to yes that might be easy yes sir so due to the increased impervious area that we're going to be constructing not only with the buildings but the pavement uh we are uh substantially increasing the detention Pond which meets local state and federal guidelines as far as runoff obviously no more runoff than what is currently going through um the the storm system system in that area will be increased and our Engineers here that can go into details if we need to do that uh with kimley horn um so runoff we're not concerned with with all due to the fact of how large the tension area that we're creating for the impervious area that we're increasing number two uh the noise the noise will not increase at all on this facility so want to help the neighbor and help the concerns that she has with the fact that the noise will not change due to the fact that we are going to be adding very few trucks to this situation the main reason for the expansion of the dock is not that we're going to add 75 or 100 docks to fill up that area but it's the distribution of freight we're getting such a large uh capacity of freight that's coming in on the current dock that we're having to handle two three and up to four times to get it separated putting it on different trailers moving it out of the way now we're going to be able to take this expansion and move that Freight down and separate it down in other areas so that we can be more cost effective for our customers and and the business uh of handling it just once or twice now so the noise level will not change uh but if there is a concern about that I'm happy to have further discussion if need be Miss acrian did that answer your questions construction I'm worried about R going to the South and theing like it's on the stormw that Mr Richards could you have your engineer just for five minutes explain uh long as you brought them with I mean put them to use and Austin wats with Kim Horn 200 South TR Street in Charlotte North Carolina um is is there a pointer that I can all right you can use the that's the best we got so the in the existing condition um this is our existing uh terminal there is a storm water Pond here and then there is a storm water Pond uh right here in this area and I was on site today uh looking at the existing uh existing system um just the way the topography Works everything discharges to the north so we do not currently have any discharge that runs to the South so so in the uh existing condition everything runs to this Pond and this Pond and then they both go north I can't see that on the cursor is hard to see that's I think that's what she's mentioning just go up to the screen if you could speak loud enough Aus you go to the screen yeah I can point yeah yeah I don't have a okay that's okay as long as as long as Barb can hear you speak loud so she can hear you all right if you can see the in the existing condition this is the existing terminal water goes to this Pond and then water also goes to an existing storm water Pond right here additionally there is a storm water Pond to the South that overflows and then runs up through this existing area to this Pond and everything runs to the north in the future condition of uh if we are approved and this terminal is built any water that comes off the roof is picked up in storm water inlets and pipes and then will pipe to this Pond and then this Pond's existing outfall will continue to notfall to the nor any other questions that we could help with Mr agan do you have anything you there out in that area too no no I'm I'm I don't have any questions I we have not experienced any drainage problems over to the bus terminal property okay there too and the only other significant factor is the wide easement that's got the gas pipeline right next to to the East and we're both south of rnl there's a wide uh easement for the the gas runs across I think it's 100 ft wide I believe so so nothing can happen across that 100 ft area so thater we hav experience noise problems we got a lot of trees pling on our north side there too Miss acrian did it answer your questions I mean um I'm more comfortable with telling me about that run off that work I didn't understand the the noise situation um not expanding your trucks today that doesn't mean 5 years from now the other thing would be is if they're moving in and out of those um docking station or whatever you want to call it those all those places where you prop materials to me that sounds like there's going to be a lot more movement it'll be good for you because I understand what you're saying you're just handling it once sure I worried about the amount you know right up to the back of my property and I we're we're commercial there very fair questions and points that you're making um so if you can picture this if you will is it already right to look and address her okay uh so to to help you understand we are currently taking uh in nyard uh yard trucks what we call them that do not go out on the road and those are moving around two to four times currently where once we build this expansion they'll be it'll be cut down to one or two times really doesn't matter if it's a yard truck ma'am or a semi that's backing in you would have the backup beeper and you would have the noise of it backing in so we're actually reducing um the amount of Noise by 50 % by doing this expansion can I ask you this how much noise do you experience right now exactly I don't hear anything right now but you know we got a buffer there so you're you're not hearing it with all that activity just a little bit but not that's fair consequence just I see that coming in right behind the property Andis which we do hear from 50 all the time at the stock they do theirs and all that so here's what I'll say because we truly uh pride ourselves on being good neighbors in the event that the noise does increase I would like for you to contact us and then I'll look at either landscape planning that we can increase or screening of the fences or whatever we can do to help reduce the noise because uh we we are currently um next to 65% of our facilities are next to residential areas so we pride ourselves on being good neighbors to the neighborhood okay appreciate that Mr Rich um Barb for your sake rather than trying to contact him you could go through city planner if you have any issues okay fair enough all right any other comments or questions regarding this condition use permit if not we'll bring it back commissioner tesy uh just a question with regard to truck movement is it limited hours during the day or are trucks moving in and out throughout the entire day and throughout the night good good question we are considered 24-hour operation and I'll explain why our uh forklift drivers to load the trailers come in about 5: or 5:30 in the morning our truck drivers start coming in around 8:00 a.m. they will sporadically leave depending on when their truck and trailer gets loaded between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. from 11:00 a.m. to about 4:30 p.m. we say that the lights go off the dock is swept up it's clean up for the next shift should be able to hear crickets chirping out on that dock we hope because we've got all that prayed off of there there'll be random trucks that will come in from different cities across the United States and they may drop off a load or two in between that 11 and 4:30 4:30 our next shift of forklift drivers come in and our drivers start uh coming in from their loads during the day uh one of the things we PRI oursel on not only the local deliveries but our drivers that go out uh to different uh terminals across the United States we pride ourselves that 93% of our drivers come home every night and the way we do that we strategically plan where trucks are going back and forth they trade trailers and they come home so by the way we do that most of our freight comes back in around 5:00 P p.m. that Freight gets distributed in trailers and about 11:30 or 12:00 at night the forklifts are done loading up those trailers for the next day okay throughout the night and the reason we call ourselves 24-hour operation though will be sporadic loads coming in much like an airport the planes are supposed to be there by 11:00 p.m. weather or whatever causes mechanical failures will cause it to come in at 2 am okay so we have the same situations okay sounds good that answers my questions commissioner winshuttle no I think it looks good I you know you've explained it to us before and it's a good explanation a good presentation and of course I welcome and appreciate the expansion it's good thank you thank you commission leato it looks good no questions thank you snck just curiosity any new jobs cre besides construction will there be additional jobs created for the so with that additional dock uh we're hoping that there'll be somewhere between 25 or 30 jobs created to start off with and as more freight comes in and we need more forklift drivers to move that Freight around we're open to see somewhere between 6 and 8% expansion of our employees every year great thank you for your work appreciate it anything else Mitch I'm good thank you um through Mr Richards and Miss arrian's questions and answers you've answered all mine I again um we had the opportunity to in a previous meeting go through a full presentation and did a nice job and so we are familiar with it and I agree with the rest of the commission it's it's nice to see rnl expanding out there sounds like your neighbors you know are are pleased with your company and again we always say it's it's be a good neighbor yeah um it helps and it's easy and so I I have no issues with it and i' look for a motion to close a public hearing motion to close the public hearing we have a motion is there a second I'll second motion a second to close the public hearing call a r please wi sh yes tesy yes Rody yes F yes snowback yes uh Mr Richards before we get into a motion on the cup to you accept the conditions that staff presented in the staff report 100% all right thank you with that then I look for a motion for the conditional use permit to allow the expansion of a truck terminal within the industrial zoning District at 5260 20000 na street with a three conditions that the applicant agreed to is there a motion I'll I'll make the motion you have a motion is there a second I'll second motion second is there any more discussion if not call the roll please tesy yes Rody yes yes snowb yes windsh yes all right thank you for your time and thank you for coming to the the hearing y you have a good night now with that we'll move into our second public hearing this is a condition use permit to construct a salt storage shed within the R1 zoning District the applicant is the city of Farmington the location is 190 fth Street in palab Road known as the northern maintenance facility get me again all right uh yes the request is from uh the city uh we are requesting approval of a conditional use permit uh for assault storage shed uh within the R1 low density residential zoning District it is at the North municipal center campus uh located generally at the southeast intersection of 195th Street West and Pilot Knob Road there is bound by multi family Town Homes to the east and south Pilot Knob Road is to the west and akchen Road Elementary is to the north North uh as I mentioned the property is owned R1 low density residential and guided public SL semi-public in the 2040 comprehensive plan uh the current land use uh the campus does consist of fire station number two Central maintenance facility police station a water tower and wellhouse uh currently the city obtains our salt from the Dakota County's uh facility located off of uh County Road 50 which is just west of McDonald's you might have seen the the shed that's out there uh the county is looking to relocate that facility and that relocation would put it outside of the city of Farmington um and this plan uh for that relocation is more near term than um long term um so because of that we must look at a uh internal location for salt just from a logistics and cost um standpoint um the long-term planning for for that North municipal center campus did include um an area for uh such a facility um public buildings are conditional use in the R1 zoning District which This falls into that uh the proposed facility would be a 65 ft in width and 112 ft in length so just uh just over 7,000 square ft uh the height will be just at about 30 ft um to the very top of the structure the maximum height allowed in our R1 zone is 35 ft so it's within that uh regulation uh and then the structure itself will consist of engineered fabric on a steel frame uh the fabric will be a tan or Sandstone color uh so here are um kind of examples of what uh the structure will look like um and this is actually the color of the fabric that will be used uh with um this proposed facility so the minimum setbacks in the R1 front yard is 20 side and rear are 6 feet um again similar to our previous cup the set packs um for this structure well exceed what those minimums are uh the closest that this structure will be to any property line is 290 ft and that's to the easternmost property line uh the maximum loot coverage for structures in our R1 zone is 30% with the addition of this salt storage shed that lot coverage will be about 7.3% um all of those facilities that I mentioned before are all on one large individual lot uh the proposed facility will be centrally located within the campus uh of the uh of the campus and will be just north of the maintenance facility and west of the water tower so this is kind of a a site orientation um location map for the uh proposed shed um what you see there in yellow is the proposed location of the Sal sword shed with the maintenance facility and fire station directly to the South as you can see the water towers off to the west and the police station to the uh North so as I had mentioned it is centrally located um and with the color palette that they're looking to utilize it Blends in with the existing buildings that are out there they're all that tannish color so that's the main reason they went with that specific color is to try to tie it all together um similar to the previous conditional use permit there are six criteria that must be met for approval um staff does feel that uh this application does meet those Criterion uh that therefore the action requested is approve the conditional use permit allowing for the construction of the 65 by12 salt storage shed uh within the north Municipal campus subject to the falling condition and that being obtaining all necessary building permits that may be required and I will also point out that um the building official has looked at this structure and has found that it it would be acceptable from a building code standpoint so just wanted to throw that out there as well so all right thank you Tony uh this is a public hearing ing um there any questions regarding the cup young ladies you got anything nothing all right commissioner wind shuttle nothing looks good commissioner lato um I just forgive me but um when the salt's there is it just kind of like a pile of salt or is there some security I'm just concerned if like I you know a lot of people still go there to try and recycle boxes and things like that is there any concern about somebody going in there and damaging or trying to take some of it or anything like that there hasn't been any um expressed concern with that um specifically with its location by the maintenance facility the fire station and the police station right there right um we do have cameras throughout that area as well um so I I don't know that security is a a big issue okay so sounds good I just want to double check I've never seen this so thank you commission snow did you look at any other locations sites Tony when you went into this process or um I don't believe we did I think this was a site that we had identified back when we originally constructed the the campus up there back in 2001 MH um to my knowledge no we have not identified a secondary location is it one of the keys is it's efficiency with the having the maintenance building right there is that why they want to locate it by it yes okay it's efficient um you know I think really what would happen if if we had to take empty snow plows out on the roads um during winter time to let's say go to Randol to get salt um that's not an ideal situation for those operators um running that heavy machinery that distance with no load mhm again it's just not an ideal situation can it be done sureh but ideally that's not something something we we're looking to try to do we want to try to consolidate it keep it close just for efficiency purposes okay thank you commissioner tesy um can you just help answer a question for me so longterm this is permanent okay yes I was kind of confused on the wording of that so this is the long-term solution for location and placement correct um is it the long-term solution for structure I believe it is yes okay and this is a pretty standard type structure for this particular use the D design of those buildings up there are really well done so to to drop this in it just seems interesting um and just wondering if they've reviewed you've reviewed the wind load that that building can support because I don't know we get pretty wicked winds at times so I just want to make sure the uh contractor that we're looking to utilize for this um has some subed information that it does meet all wind and snow loads okay those are my only questions so thank you yep Tony this was noticed correctly it was okay the reason I asked is you know there's no residents and and it is in the middle and um I I think out of mostly out of sight but um you can say I I think I sent out 400 and some odd uh notices for this one yeah um you know and I I my questions were traffic changes but I don't I see there's none that'll be incurred um you know I somebody may have asked about this already about runoff issues they don't see any you know and that my first question that Christan was talking about you know about the the tent type structure right you said it was snow load was checked but you know I just remember the Metrodome was too and you know um that's the time you're going to need it is when that happens so right but I mean that there's Engineers that are really smart people out there that can figure this out and maybe they got that design so I'm not going to second guess it and I hope it hope it looks nice but you know from a visible standpoint it isn't real I mean it's hidden back there between the water tower and it's about the best location that you could find for that area if you're going to put one there that's the is it completely ideal maybe not but it's the best location that's out there okay I have no issues with it and with that I look for a motion to close a public hearing motion to close we have a motion as our second a second motion a second to close a public hearing call the roll please Rody yes Le yes snowback yes windsh yes tesy yes of the commission then a conditional use permit allowing a construction of a 65 by 112t salt storage shed within the northern Municipal campus with one condition which Tony you agree to right absolutely all right with that I'd look for motion motion to approve motion for approval is there a second I'll second motion a second is any more discussion if not call the roll please Le yes snowback yes windsh yes tesky yes Rody yes all right we'll move into our third public hearing this is an ordinance amendment to city code section 1063 regarding election signs just the time of year for that huh Tony yes it is I'll take that oh taking that one all right uh thank you chair Planning Commission members um as you said election season um is in full swing here um and staff is proposing a minor ordinance Amendment in relation to uh the allowable time to post and remove election signs for state general election years um currently our city code allows um any election signs to be posted 60 days prior to any election and must be removed 7 days after that election however State Statute says election signs for state general election years are allowed to be posted 46 days prior to the state Primary in a state general election year and must be removed 10 days after the state general election uh city code does not call out this um specific uh designation with the state general election years um so therefore staff is proposing to add um the attached ordinance amendment that adds language referring to State Statute uh to allowable time to post and remove election signs for state general election years while keeping the existing code for non um general elections uh so the action requested for you guys tonight is to recommend the city council approve ordinance 20249 um an ordinance amending city code section 1063 as it relates to allowable time for posting and removal of election signs thank you Jared so you don't want them to put the sign up and then take it down and put it back up again after okay all right this is a public hearing again if you have any comments regarding this young ladies no okay all right bring it back to the table commissioner leato uh no questions it looks good thank you commission snow is a reason why you'd leave it seven days following the election for on non-general Election um and 10 for general election would it be just easier to keep them both at 10 or what was the thought process on that for removal of the signs um there was no specific thought process on the relation between them um this was just more just to make sure we are following State Statute when it become when it comes in line with the state general election years there's no specific trying to correlate between the two okay thank you lots of times are frozen in the ground too bad you have a heck of a time getting them out done Mitch yeah thank you commissioner winshuttle nothing looks good commissioner tesy yeah it looks good I have no issues either I think it's probably a good thing it's probably something that hasn't been enforced but you know should you know so it's time to change it yep with that I look for a motion to close the public hearing I'll make a motion we have a motion is there a second call second motion a second call the r please snowback yes windsh yes tesy yes Rody yes yes in front of the commission then is a recommendation to our city council modifying ordinance 1063 regarding election signs as it relates to uh posting and removal is there a motion I'll make a motion to approve okay is there a second a second we have a a positive recommendation to our city council to amend this ordinance any more discussion call the RO please wi shidle yes tesky yes Rody yes leato yes snowback yes all right finally ladies we're at your thing now discussion items this is a potential beekeeping ordinance jar you're going to take this yes I am thank you chair planning members uh Nick GLE is here uh resident of Farmington um here to are requesting a discussion on potential beekeeping ordinance um So currently city code currently defines bees as a farm animal where they are only permitted um on Lots um greater than 2 and a half acres um so potential beekeeping or ordinance uh would involve allowing them on smaller Lots with certain conditions probably similar to our Urban Chicken uh ordinance um if the Planning Commission would like to move forward staff would most likely bring draft language for discussion at a future meeting um so action request tonight is just for discussion only uh Nick has a brief presentation here that he'll go through um and then we'll just look for some direction from the Planning Commission so all right St if you want to push the arrows uh we're learning about civic duty at the same time Nick would you like to introduce your sorry my name is Nick gessel uh I'm resident at 19881 dearb path I brought my oldest daughter Stella here with us as well as a neighbor uh ASA and we're both learning about the uh the Civic duties uh responsible to this but also uh trying to draw attention to Urban beekeeping um and requesting again the amendment to the ordinance that was proposed um we found out uh through the process of working to keep bees and actually mistakenly going about this the reverse way we adopted a bee colony and quickly found out that uh it was W excuse me wrapped up under the be under the farm animal ordinance and restricted by either lot size Andor uh a plot location and so again we're here to request that that ordinance be amended to exclude bees um and to follow a similar suit to surrounding communities um I think in most cases you will find that our surrounding communities are embracing the uh food at home initiatives uh as well as embracing uh bringing bee awareness um bees are uh not the only pollinators but are our primary source of pollination for our fruits vegetables things that we eat consume and the flowers that we love and observe uh around us and so uh there are bee shortages if you will uh due to pesticide utilization as well as over urbanization of of public areas and so again our presentation here I won't drain each and slide uh mainly for uises and or public consumption um but again you know the overall objective here is to draw awareness and to request the amendment to the ordinance um I did include some slides here about benefits of beekeeping again uh you guys take Peak a look at that we're supporting pollination uh increasing biodiversity uh in our communities we're also uh working to counteract uh bee population decline the bees that are commonly kept uh by beekeepers are suitable species due to their their temperament and or their desire to be kept in like Minnesota for example there are uh a variety of species of bees if you guys you know look deeper into this um and they all are readily acceptable by the Minnesota beekeeper Society uh society as well as there's a University of Minnesota beekeeping extension uh that offers classes and things like that related to this um and then with that also promoting a a healthier more robust ecosystem common concerns uh kept with beekeeping uh most people think that anything that flies and stings is a bee uh more often than not uh what you guys are observing out there that's bothering you are hornets and wasps things of that nature uh bees you more commonly will not see they're sort of an up andout creature while there's thousands of them in the hive they don't all leave The Hive there's certain types of bees that come and go uh are collecting the actual ual pollen um and those types of bees again are very uh task driven and and if a a bee stings you it it dies and so uh it's not looking to pester and bother you similar to a wasp or hornet Unfortunately they all kind of look similar and uh Buzz and bother sort of similarly and so they get a bad wrap if you will um allergies and sworming myself personally we uh had an allergy plan we went out and bought an EpiPen we were aware of our neighbors that had uh potential allergies for them after speaking with them um not saying that everybody would do that but our personal plan included that and also others do include that uh as well as notifying your neighbors that may potentially be impacted uh by observing The Hive Andor the activities it's sometimes alarming to see somebody go out in a beit or have their kids out there in a beit uh goofing around people kind of wonder what's going on it's a bit of an alien process um and so that comes the education piece swarm management so bees will upscan from their hives if conditions aren't kept uh appropriate and so from time to time you will see bees leave traditionally they'll swarm to a nearby tree or something like that there are um swarm and flight barriers that can be put into place as well as where your hive placement is on your property adjacent to nearby structures and or people forcing those bees to go up and out versus over to somebody else's property uh invading their space and Place uh and then again as I spoke to emergency plans um that's just general awareness again in most cases bees bees you won't see uh it's typically again hornets and things like that but as a as a beekeeper having an emergency plan in place ours for example was having an EpiPen or epipens at our home available to not only my family but anybody that came into contact the other piece that uh we were planning or or would suggest including for any beekeeper is signage uh keeping kids away uh Andor potential neighbors or animals coming to take a look doesn't have to be anything crazy you know you don't require any electric fence or anything like that just something to keep people away and aware that if they do approach and they are in the area that they may potentially be exposed um and then safety measures we kind of hit within the the concerns uh as far as high placement barriers and then uh you know conducting regular inspections to make sure that your bees are going to stick around versus leave you uh and removing the risk of that swarming activity I provided some B facts here uh one of the ones I'll hit because this came up when I produced this uh document and posted it on Facebook for the community to look at one of the biggest questions that came up was travel distance how far do bees go uh again bees traditionally are coming out of the hive and going straight up they don't travel linearly they travel up to about 20 or 30 feet and then produce their travel distance uh after that fact but they will travel between 3 and 5 miles from their hive but that is dependent based on the resources available around them so my hive as an example was based in my garden my bees probably aren't leaving my garden um if you placed it in the middle of an empty Urban lot they may go up and out and have to search for food elsewhere but again that comes with high placement as you will see in my uh example ordinance that I provided to you guys there are certain placements and things like that to be considered when you put your hive in place so that you again aren't invading either your neighbor space Andor those around you uh again whether addressing com I went backwards sorry um I did produce a model ordinance here for you guys uh this is a model ordinance produced by the Minnesota beekeepers organization uh you guys will see I also included the surrounding city ordinance that have been adopted for beekeeping they all are very similar and they are based off of this model ordinance some of them include uh elements of required education Andor required inspections by the city um all those things of course incur a cost uh and so that would be based on your guys' desire but they all are included within this uh Minnesota beekeeper organization uh uh model ordinance another concern that came up uh within the ordinance placement was the amount of hives uh of course you don't want somebody you know having a commercial apiary in their backyard and so there are suggestions on uh number of hives and if you're not familiar a hive is a singular set of boxes they could be uh you know 10 high but a hive is is that square SP space and then the height is based on of course how much honey is being produced at the time um more boxes doesn't necessarily more mean more beans more boxes is more storage so if you see a hive that's fairly tall that it's there's more honey than there are bees in there um it doesn't necessarily mean you're You're Building A B Empire if you will um and in this suggestion you'll see on most residential lots the suggestion would be to allow two hives the reason for two hives is uh so that you have a disaster control plan in your beekeeping book um and essentially what you can do is you can use the hives to support one another so that if you have say an accident or disease or something like that that were to overcome one of your hives you can utilize your other Hive to supplement and go back and forth um this is just uh a good beekeeping uh policy uh for those that keep bees and so you will see in most of our cases in this small ordinance it allows for two hives uh for most of the properties uh that exist today I did here again provide surrounding area beekeeping ordinance you did make me aware that one of the links did not work here I could provide that outside of it but a lot of this what you'll see here is um all of the surrounding areas have for the most part adopted some level of beekeeping ordinates they vary in depth of oversight uh in management and so there's going to be a blend there obviously of what's right for each city um one of the biggest ones I wanted to call out here is Minneapolis as an example one of the people that I spoke with online called out uh you know we don't want hives in in urban locations um most times more often than not hives are already there people just aren't noticing them uh great examples of that is actually the the uh um the uh City Hall of Minneapolis has beehives on its roof Minneapolis art institute also has a B Installation and the uh Min uh Minneapolis art Garden uh as well has a be installation at it um and they're there most people don't realize they're there they're not experiencing them again you're not seeing them um but it does work in saturated areas New York City another example New York City has a big Initiative for rooftop beekeeping um that encourages people to place bees on the rooftops wherever they have a flat service and they can allow that available space to a bee I did provide some additional resources here uh this is just a be information why Urban beekeeping is important to our environment uh The Surge and popularity in beekeeping uh like I said I would assume there are probably more residents like myself that just haven't been noticed and so again drawing attention to the opportunity uh as well as providing some uh notable articles here about why this is becoming a popular activity um it's it's you know kind of the food at home craze uh as well as being able to provide for yourself obviously not promoting starting a business here with the the beob in the backyard um but more so educating my children the neighboring children and providing food for my family and that is the end anything you guys wanted to add no perfect any questions no Mr gusley you did a great job um if you could just stay available maybe some of the Commissioners might well start with Mitch yeah yeah I'd be interesting and maybe on our side of of reaching out to the eagens and and the Lakeville to see if they've had any you know um concerns from their citizens or problems in the process um just to find out how it's work for their communities um that's one thing I would appreciate if if you guys could could look into um rather than just kind of start on ourself let's find out what's happening around us um your presentation was awesome I learned so much it was really sweet of you guys to do that um but uh how about if there is a a concern of of a of a neighbor um would there be a process for them to to approach the city approach The Beehive person um what does that look like does what does it look like I I looked at uh Egan and Lakeville um so there is I mean obviously the ordinance the ordinance you're allowed to keep you know whatever based on how that ordinance turns out however you will see in a lot of the ordinances that there is a reserved right to inspect and and revoke those privileges if there are uh complaints and so um in a lot of these cases uh and one of the things that I've talked about with a couple of you guys is that inspection probably isn't a a realistic opportunity for the city of having somebody go out and check all the time and so it would have to be a complaint-based system where essentially if your neighbors are having issues with it uh Beyond just that they don't like it and or you know concern my hope would be that neighbors could figure it out face to face but if it were to escalate beyond that point you will notice in some of the ordinances there is an opportunity reserved in there to inspect and remove the use permit if you will in most of these cases similar to chickens you're required to submit for a permit and your permit could be denied or revoked at any time sure I mean a yearly permit or two yearly permit so if there is a problem maybe it happens on the permit timeline if I mean too if if you've got a don't get me wrong bees can go Rog and that's up to The Beekeeper to obviously Monitor and maintain their hives and so my hope would be that if something were to go R and somebody complain that you guys would reserve the right in any ordinance written to revoke that permit at any any given time should a problem occur if that beekeeper is not willing to resolve that situation sure obviously got to allow people time to fix the the situation uh dealing with the the Planning Commission when I got my request to remove my Ive I made a phone call and I said look this isn't moving a trash can or stuff on the side of my house I need a little bit of time to rectify this but I think as long as obviously a resident's willing to work and fix the problem in meaningful amount of time you know that's one thing but again you'd be Sly not to craft something within the ordinance that reserves the right to either uh Monitor and or revoke those privileges if those requirements aren't met is there a concern of oversaturation let's say five houses right by each other want to have hives in your research and your experience uh you you certainly could um in most cases traditionally not going to happen because beekeeping isn't that popular sure yeah it's uh it's it's a bit of an odd duck hobby uh and something a little bit crazy to get into I mean uh o oversaturation from the point of of will you have a problem again uh bees aren't traditionally creatures you see I I would beg to offer that you guys have probably seen like the big fuzzy bubble bees every once in a while but a true honeybee you you probably haven't seen or or even paid any attention to again it's was Hornets things like that so even if like I had bees at my home and Phil four or down had bees at his home it it's not going to produce an issue um so long as both hives are managed um also as beekeepers you would want to work with one another because bees will rob each other um and so they they kind of self-manage and govern in that sense and so as a as a beekeeper um you you wouldn't you'd want to work together and you wouldn't want to oversaturate an area to your question sure well appreciate your time and your experience in in the beekeeping realm thank you yeah absolutely thank you for the question thanks M Phil no I think it looks good I'm just curious to see what other cities have for the exact ordinances um you know and I think something could be made similar to the chicken ordinances that we ordinance that we have as far as the inspection um you know obviously the the no sale of honey coming to your front door you know with eggs the same thing um but yeah I think it I think it truly is it's going to have to be a complaint driven I don't think it's costeffective for the city to to physically inspect uh you know every year or every six months or you know so right and staff aren't trained in a area to know what is you know accurate or not accurate or good or bad yeah so I think I think it certainly has it's got potential I think we just need to look into it a little more with surrounding cities anything else F no Christa um I agree I appreciate the presentation I think it's really well done and I appreciate your passion around the bees um I think it's like Phil had said we just need to look at the other communities and what they're doing um from their be uh maintenance or be um similar I I kind of joked earlier like bees are the new chickens um but I do appreciate I mean even my employer is embracing bees we've got a lot of real EST throughout the United States and we're putting you know B boxes on top of rubs so um really appreciate this and I look forward to see where this goes any else Le I think it looks really good and I'm glad that you brought your kids because I think it's great to kind of get them involved in certain things the only question I have is would there be any sort of education requirement the only reason I ask this is I know I mean honey doesn't spoil and it's a really good nutritious product you can use it medically as well but I do know that if you have an infant under the age of a year they can be subjected to botulism if they're exposed to it so would we want to consider having some sort of Education around that so people have that awareness that's the only thing I would add to it we can certainly look at that um I think part of that will be staff doing our research with not only the surrounding communities but also with um what that model ordinance provides as well but yeah I think all of that will probably be under some sort of consideration okay sounds good that's all I have thank you Mr gule thank you for coming um you've lit the spark I'll say that um our process isn't going to be tonight you probably know that um I'm not sure what your timeline is I'm not sure Tony what your time your timeline you're thinking um I actually I'll get right to it I think we should look at it I absolutely do um I know the people reference chickens and we have a chicken ordinance in this community um it's been modified a couple times but you know you you start with what you think is right and you modify it there and in some cases it's um less I'd say more administrative now than it was before I mean not to the benefit of the uh applicant um but you know something like this is new and I I agree with you I think the Raptor taking are the WASP I mean everybody gets those and they can be mean um and a lot when we we've had the people come in for ordinance of the of the chicken for egg issues um very similar but we always tell them you got to be a good neighbor and it's really the ones that are manage it well and are responsible that do a good job and those that don't probably aren't doing it for very long um and I and I don't you don't answer some questions that didn't I mean there's enough people that are doing it but there's not a lot um and I suspect the bees might be very similar I mean it it takes somebody that's going to be dedicated a family that's going to be dedicated to do this it's fairly expensive too so it's not just uh it's not obtainable by most uh I would say in in doing it um in the sense that you it's not something you're going to wake up and be like oh let's keep bees tomorrow um my initial bee Colony as an example was over $200 so that's just the animal um and then you have everything you need to keep them and so for most people it's not even to cross their mind they're going to keep going to the store and buying a cute little bear container uh and moving on but uh you know we're looking at it to to satisfy my educational desire and try something new as well as the kids yeah I think that's why most people do it to go into the whether it be bees or eggs for chickens um but having said that you know I I think when we look at ordinances and talk to communities you really have to think of the neighbor because yep I mean it's great educational and all that but we always say you know be a good neighbor don't be intrusive on on somebody next door and and I think the other the ones that I looked at the other communities have acknowledged that also and uh the ordinances are really written to say okay you know it's great for you but maybe your neighbors on one side or the other won't appreciate it right um so you know I think we got to write that with mine but we can look at it as long as you know the timeline isn't and you're okay where you're you're at now Shameless plug uh Aaron Brand and myself have worked out a deal uh my bees are currently out at his farm know that's we go visit uh weekly so I'm not in any immediate H or rush and that's what I was trying to get asked cuz you know we've got some busy meetings coming up the next couple months and so I don't expect this to be back to us next month you know not likely next month knowing what we have coming up yeah that's what I kind of anticipated so but anyway we'll get on it and uh do the best we can and that you know ours is will be a recommendation our city council will have the final say on this as they do with all ordinances in this community um so um but you know they you know we'll get it to them as soon as we can and they'll act upon it as soon as they can also sure thank you all right well thank you and thank you ladies for coming appreciate you guys taking the time all righty and I will mention we will let you know when we have those future discussions so so you can be part of that uh process sounds good we'll stay in touch thank you guys yeah thank you all right that concludes our agenda was there anything else from staff nothing sir anything else from the commission if not I'll remind our viewers our next meeting is uh September 10th with I look for a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn we have a motion is there second second I'll second motion a second all in favor say I I I we officially adjourned thank you everyone [Music] you