##VIDEO ID:0bJ2l_4rSnw## I'd like to call uh this December 9th meeting of the Ridgefield Planning Commission to order um the first thing would be the approval of last month's minutes commissioner so move is there a second commissioner can seconds right all those in favor of approving last month's minutes please say I I opposed all right uh the um next thing on the agenda is the open Forum this is an opportunity for citizens to address the Planning Commission typically on items that are not before the commission tonight have we um uh planner Crosby fer via have we received any Communications before the meeting today chair no we have not all right if there is no one to speak uh for the uh open Forum the next thing would be to approve the agenda for this evening commissioner serso move commissioner canale second all those in favor please say I I opposed right the agenda is approved um the first thing on the agenda then is a public hearing to request a zoning code Amendment regarding drive-through signs uh could we please get the staff report thank you chair yes um border Foods is proposing to replace their existing menu board sign at Taco Bell with a dynamic display the zoning code currently does not address Dynamic display drive-thru signs the sign code permits only one per property and it limits the area of the Dynamic display to no more than 35% of the sign area in practice these regulations make it difficult for existing drive-thru uses to convert their existing menu boards to digital displays um as they often already have a p primary Dynamic display or multiple drive-through signs uh the 35% limitation is also impractical as it requires um the drive-through sign to be majority static um the applicant border Foods um has Justus requested an ordinance amendment that would establish regulations specifically for dynamic drive-through signs um currently the zoning code only addresses drive-through signs within the conditional uses section of the mixed use districts and they're not really called a sign they're they're um referred to as order boards they're limited to 40 square ft and 8 ft in height and they have to be located within 60 60 ft of the business which they serve um this is a little a little confusing because drive drive up uses are also allowed conditionally in the C2 District but there's no mention of order boards in the listed conditions of that District so um for consistency and Clarity we're proposing to move or order board regulations to the sign section of the code that way it would apply to both any any District um and also rename renam them to drive-thru signs um we are also Pro proposing some um exemptions for dynamic display regulations that would allow drive-thru uses to have um more than one Dynamic display and um to have a sign that basically takes up for drive-through sign specifically that take up 100% of the sign area so you don't have to be limited to that 35% limitation um and yeah I think that's it I didn't want to mention we got one email inquiry from um a resident but I sent them the the packet when I was ready and I I never heard back from them so before we take any testimony is there are there any questions for staff uh if the applicant is here here or if there's someone else to speak to this um please approach the the podium all right sure go ahead and uh say your names and addresses for the uh record then and sign in Shannon King Andrew Davies 5425 Boon Avenue North New Minnesota all right um and U you represent are you I am a representative of board of foods uh franchise of Taco Bell okay this is my associate he's our signage installer he's our expert and do you want to explain a little bit about the situation with the sign or what you're trying to do absolutely so uh we are looking to replace our current menu board with is it's called an outside digital menu board as we reference it through Taco Bell corporate and we are looking to replace the existing menu board on the existing foundation with the new digital menu board um it's a corporate roll out and this is the last Taco Bell in Minnesota that we are looking to swap that one out with the digital menu board of U there's no actual signage on it physically but there is rolling signage that slowly goes across the screen in between orders happy to answer any questions you guys might have and and it's actually smaller than original that's going up yeah that's what I was going to ask it looks like it's significantly smaller than the current signage correct size goes from 7 foot2 to 6' one and then square footage goes from 40 square footage to 25 square footage so it is a smaller board any questions from Commissioners thank you so much thank you you're welcome if there were no comments received beforehand and no one else is here to speak I would entertain a motion to close the public hearing commissioner Canal so moved commissioner surma second right any discussion all those in favor of closing the hearing please say I I opposed all right um do we have any questions for staff or any further discussion for discussion I just think this is really straightforward especially since McDonald's already has one of these approvals that I feel like it doesn't make any sense to pick and choose which vendors get this or not so that's my two cents I'm strongly in favor of this I guess I do have a question for staff I see the recomend I was just trying to find it in the staff report um the so I'm not going to get the language exactly right but um I know that you're um recommending that we permit two board or two boards when there's two two lanes and I'm just wanting to clarify is it two boards when there's two lanes or is it two boards regardless of how many lanes are there um it is two boards per drive up Lane which is a little confusing because there's only one fast food restaurant in Richfield that has two drive up planes so the majority of um users will only have one drive up Lane which would mean you can have the two that equal 50 squ foot feet in total um but if you decide to if they decide to do only one sign it can't be more than 32 square feet and what we're trying to do with that is basically um limit provide some Freedom with um basically if the provide some Freedom with um choosing how big you want either one so like if you want to have two 25 square foot signs then that's fine um if you want to have one larger one and one smaller one that's fine we just don't want a really big 50 sare foot um sign if that makes sense so yes it's two Par Drive of Lane but it won't really apply to many uses in Richfield already um and I I guess in terms of comments like this for this specific use it makes all the sense in the world um I appreciate that staff um looked at cleaning this up and making it more up to date but I do think it opens up um I mean much of our C2 district is bodying residential um and so I want to be very mindful of the fact of signage by residential um and wanting to make sure that there's still um opportunity uh through the conditional use permit or cup process that we would be able to have um conversation for new proposals and I'm correct in understanding that it's still a cup process for C2 districts or is it just a cup process for mixed use it's a cup for um mixed use and C2 it's just that mixed use has a lot more conditions sure okay yep as long as we still have um it's still a C cup process for C2 I'm comfortable with these changes and I appreciate the work that was done to um bring these up to current standards go Ahad commissioner cby Jeff if I may I just want to clarify that um while a drive-thru is conditional use permit the ass sign itself is not a conditional use permit a sign if any um location that's already existing as a drive-thru wants to change their sign to be dynamic now after this is adopted they could just do so with a sign permit just making sure that's clear sorry that opens up another question um sorry to believe this but so I noted in the so noting that this now kind of Grandfather grandfather is not the right word but um the list that was in the staff report of the um 17 properties there were 17 properties that the city identified that has a drive up window and then there there was a list of um drive-throughs with sign sizes but that did not include all of the drive-through signs in the city what was the or what was the difference in no like um like uh Dunkin Donuts has a sign but it wasn't listed in under historical context yes so um that was we you the table for the historical context we used um old sign permits that we have on file and um that was all we could find so if we would have gathered the information for all the other ones we could have gotten we would basically have to go out and measure or get information from the fast food users um but we also wouldn't know if they were approved or not sometimes signs change without getting signed permits um so that's that's the difference um but we um this wasn't included in the staff report but um of the 11 fast food drive-throughs only four about but residential properties um and three of the 11 um don't meet the 150 foot separation that we require between Residential Properties and um Dynamic displays so if um if an existing drive-thru use wants has a non-conforming sign like their sign doesn't meet the 150 foot they would not be able to like convert it to Dynamic display without um putting it further back or or solving that in some way um so they would have to just not do it or get a variance um so I don't know if that's so they would not be permitted to automatically go to Dynamic sign like Duncan wouldn't be able to no no Duncan doesn't mean it um that was one of the the three that we identified thank you for the clarification I just wanted to say too I for this location this use it it's very logical and again that there is obvious care put into the proposal my concern is just like the um with the sign at the park you know several months ago is the maximum lighting emission because these signs can be you know you all know if you have your phone on and it's not in dark mode and you're in a dark place it can be very very bright so my I feel like we should have clear standards on the total light emissions from these kinds of things at night but in terms of this proposal this makes sense and for this applicant any other discussion or questions but to clarify what we're approving is not just this applicant right okay chair I do just want to mention really quick um we do have brightness standards um like when we approve a new Dynamic display we ask for proof that um that this sign has um capability ambient lighting capabilities um but that is something we've identified for the future um we don't have specific like um like some cities have um maximum foot candles that you can have from a certain point away from the sign and we don't have that um so that's something we've identified we just haven't got into it but we do have some we do have brightness standards thank you for the clarification and yeah I would think that perhaps clear um standard of Maximum light in a measurable objective way might be helpful for future um changes to the code any other discussion all right um we would need a motion to approve the staff recommendation I'd like to commissioner surma moves to approve the staff recommendation is is that sufficient information okay okay is there a second commissioner charlon seconds any other discussion all those in favor please say I I I opposed all right Community Services advisory commission no report for this month uh the commission is not meeting in December either all right um city council that's me um the city council has had a um a few work sessions and um a joint session with the school board um at the most recent council meeting they were um doing some routine um approval of election results and also so considering a proposal about not having to count um all wrin votes unless the candidate has requested their wrin votes to be counted um and then uh approving uh beginning the process to assess the sales tax that was approved by the voters Housing and Redevelopment U no update since the last uh School Board no report chair all right Transportation no report Chamber of Commerce oh yeah of course that makes sense um and uh sustainability commission uh only update from sustainability is that the city is planning on putting solar uh Power infrastructure on top of the new public Arena um and that will save the city about $72,000 all right um the city planners report being there's only two weeks since our last meeting I don't have any updates at this time all right we um we'll resume at our next at our normal cycle next month um I would entertain a motion to adjourn commissioner Canal I move to adjourn seconded commissioner Surman all those in favor please say I I I opposed We Stand adjourned