The Two Rivers City Council on a unanimous roll-call vote approved amended conditional-use permits for two businesses at 2005 Hawthorne Avenue — Ross Auto and Transmission Service and Green Acres Landscaping — after the planning commission recommended changes addressing outdoor storage, retail activity and traffic circulation. The permits were amended to define where outdoor storage may occur, require screening and to set limits on retail hours and access.

City staff and planning commissioners had discussed site plan details and screening for materials such as mulch and stone during plan commission review. The landscaping permit was revised to explicitly allow retail operations related to the landscaping business on the premises, and to require a six-foot-high privacy fence or plantings along property lines adjacent to residential uses if existing tree buffers are removed or diminished.

Council members also modified retail hours. The council set retail sales hours for the landscaping business and the auto repair site to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; the auto repair business’ employee access for vehicle retrieval and seasonal operations (lawn care, snow removal) remains addressed separately in the permit language. The council directed that two-way traffic be permitted along the easterly drive to match the plan commission recommendation and added a prohibition on on-site commercial-scale composting, and a requirement that sod and combustible/compostable materials be stored adjacent to water access behind buildings.

The council president noted the documents will be adjusted for recording standards (paper margin) after a city attorney review and that staff will reconcile any differences between the council-adopted amendments and the plan commission’s written recommendations so the recorded permits match the planning commission actions. The council approved both amended conditional-use permits as recommended by the planning commission.

Background: The two permit amendments relate to previously issued conditional-use permits on the same parcel; one earlier use (a U-Haul business) is no longer active, and plan commission review and site visits prompted the updated provisions to address outdoor storage, screening and retail use while minimizing impacts on adjacent residences.