Planning commission recommends approval for Ivy Brook outdoor vehicle storage at Highway 13

The Burnsville Planning Commission on June 23 recommended that the City Council approve Ivy Brook Parking LLC’s application for a conditional use permit, a concept-and-development-stage planned unit development and a preliminary and final plat to convert parcels at 1900 Highway 13 W into an outdoor vehicle storage lot.

The project is limited to surface parking because, as Associate Planner Connor Jacques told commissioners, “the only use, without remediating the soils would be a surface parking lot.” The commission’s recommendation was unanimous and the item will be considered by the City Council on July 22, 2025.

The site is zoned B-4 Highway Commercial and lies within the Gateway Overlay. Staff noted historic use of the property as a demolition/dump site and said Dakota County completed phase I and II environmental assessments during a prior tax-forfeiture process. Those assessments, staff said, identified soil contamination that restricts the parcel to non‑excavating uses unless remediation occurs.

The proposal combines two lots into one commercial lot and would allow storage of commercial vehicles, recreational and passenger vehicles, equipment and “light materials.” The applicant, Trevor Penai of Ivy Brook Parking, told the commission that test pits on the subject parcels showed mostly elevated chemical readings rather than large debris and that he does not expect significant excavation: “I don't think we're going to reach that. It's going to be like 10 inches of class five—six inches of paving and typically what we do.”

The site plan calls for 57 parking stalls where code requires 40, including 48 stalls intended for semi-truck and trailer parking, seven stalls for trailer parking, and two passenger-vehicle stalls adjacent to the proposed 240‑square‑foot building that would contain an office, mechanical room and restroom. Access is proposed from the frontage road to the south rather than County Road 5; the driveway is shown at about 60 feet wide to allow truck maneuvers.

Project features the applicant and staff highlighted include a six‑foot maintenance‑free vinyl perimeter fence, planting of 16 trees where only four are required by code, stick‑built construction for the building (rather than modular), and surveillance cameras for site security. The applicant requested two PUD flexibility points: allowance for two 30‑foot light poles (the code’s accessory‑structure rule limits poles to the principal building height, listed in the packet as 13 feet) and reduced screening along the eastern property line because an existing retaining wall and adjacent uses limit visibility.

Conditions of approval recommended by staff and read into the record require, among other items, payment of development fees before plat recording, platting with Dakota County prior to building permits, completion of applicable third‑party permits and plan reviews (including MnDOT as applicable), compliance with the city engineer review memo dated June 12, 2025, written permission from Xcel Energy/NSP for improvements in easements, approval of the final landscape plan, limits on stored materials and heights (must not exceed the fence), all stored vehicles be operable and registered, prohibition on inhabiting vehicles overnight, sign permitting, and maintenance of green space along the frontage road and trail adjacent to County Road 5.

Commissioners asked multiple questions about the contamination and stormwater. Commissioner Timmerman said he was concerned the packet did not include the environmental assessment and called approval “a little premature” without seeing the report; staff and the applicant said the county’s phase I/II reports exist, that Bolton & Menk and the city engineer reviewed the assessments, and that required environmental permitting would be verified before issuance of building permits. The staff recommendation notes that the PUD benefits (landscaping, higher‑quality materials and fencing, and a use compatible with the contamination constraints) supported approval.

The planning commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to the Burnsville City Council, which is scheduled to review the item at its July 22, 2025 meeting.