Agenda - Planning Commission - 02/05/2004

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Preliminary Plat Review: Ramsey Town Center 2nd Addition January 30, 2004 Page 2 of 6 Setbacks: additional green space with the eastern units. Additional green space has been provided between the back to back condominium units in the fbrm of trails and plantings. Staff does have some concern with the grades of the northern green spaces and have asked for clarification of the proposed grades as part of the grading plan review. Unit Placement: With the advent of a significant amount of townhomes within the City, of Ramsey, there has been concern raised on the look and feel of having a great wall of units viewed fi'om a street. From the unit elevations provided it appears that that the individual units will have architectural articulation and the units themselves will vary, in setbacks from the sidewalk in each building. Further review of the articulation and staggering of buildings will be addressed as part of site plan review. The TC4-b Zoning District requires the tbllowing setbacks Front Yard (min-max) ] 0-20 feet Side Yard Rear Yard Building Setback None, unless required by building code None, unless required by bui!ding code It was discussed at the December 2003 Planning Commission meeting that setbacks for the units will be measured from the back of the sidewalk to the unit. The preliminary plat shows all of the row house townhome units meeting this setback with the exception of Lots 8, 9, and 10 of Block 1. Due to the curve in the right-of-way of East Ramsey Parkway the sidewalk is further than 20 feet fi'om the front of the units. Please move the sidewalk in this area to bring the edge of the sidewalk within 20 feet of the front of the units. The setbacks for the back to back units (condos) will be unable to meet the 20' front setback since the City will require that these driveways setwing these units be 25 feet in length. Since the driveway and the front door will be located on the front of the unit, the setback will be 25 feet. Staff finds this setback acceptable. A concern raised bv Staff at the December Platming Commission meeting was the length of the proposed driveways. ARer discussion with the Developer and the City Council, staff finds the ~'ollowing situation acceptable. For units that have a fi'ont door on a public street, driveways less than 25 £'eet will be allowed. The length of the driveways are shown on Sheet 7A of the preliminary plat submittal. For the record, the Lots that will be able to driveways less that 25 ~'eet are Lots 1-25, Block 1 and Lots 1-34, Block 2. Lots 26, 43, Block 1, while teclmicallv having front doors on Ramsey Blvd. (CSAH 56), will be required to have driveways at least 25 feet [n length since it is undesirable to have visitors and/or residents parkiug on Ramscy Blvd. 74