Agenda - Council Work Session - 10/07/2003

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be constructed to serve the apartment building. The access drive will go across Lot 1, Block 1 of the new plat and exit onto Nowthen Blvd. (CSAH 5). Proof of an access easement needs to be provided to the City that will allow the apartment building residents to cross onto Lot 1, Block 1. The apartment building will consist of three stories. The proposed height of the apartment building exceeds the 35-foot maximum height for structures allowed under City Code. The applicant applied for a variance to exceed the maximum height concurrently With the site plan review process. The Board of Adjustment denied the variance request and the applicant is appealing that decision to the City Council. The first stoW will contain 15 apartment units and the second and third stories will contain 16 apartment units each. The building will have 6 one-bedroom and 41 two-bedroom units. The one bedroom units will be 770 square feet and the two bedroom units will range from 966 to 1,320 square feet. The floor area for all of the units exceed City Ordinance requirements. The exteriors of the structure is proposed to consist of metal siding, block and brick veneer. The roof will have asphalt shingles. The apartment building will have 48 underground parking stalls for use by the tenants and will provide 33 off-street parking spaces in front of the apartment building for 'a total of 81 parking spaces. Under the MR Multiple Residential, a total of 91 parking spaces would be needed for this development. The previous senior apartment development, Savannah Oaks, used a standard of 1.5 parking spaces per unit. If this standard is applied to the Lord of Life apartment building, a total of 72 parking spaces are needed. Staff is recommending that this standard be used again since very few of the residents have two cars and some have none. On September 10, 2001, the Planning Commission tabled a decision on the site plan to allow the applicant to work with the neighborhood groups regarding the proposed access drive, screening, tree preservation, safety and address any Staff concerns and return to the Planning Commission meeting in October with a revised site plan. The applicant met with residents of'Fluorine St. and basedon those discussions modified the site plan as follows: 1) the access road hots been moved to be approximately 60 feet from the shared property line between the church and reSidents. The new location of the access road will not cause any of the existing trees to be lost; 2) Additional trees will be planted along the exit route from the Church to provide better screening for the resident at 14621 Fluorine St; 3) Additional plantings will be located between the western property line and Solstice Park and :'the access road to provide for additional screening; 4) The Church has-also pledged to put additional trees along the western edge of the access road to provide additional screening for the Fluorine residents. The applicant has also met with the Fire ChiefKapler regarding a secondary emergency access to the apartment building. Based on those discussions, the applicant will extend the 'existing gravel drive to the east and construct concrete steps where the grade drops down to the apartment building. This change is satisfactory to the Fire Chief. The applicant's landscape plan has been received meets all of our standards. The species selection and placement is very well thought out and the submittal is one of the best plans we have received in a long time.