Agenda - Council - 05/11/2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Sketch Plan Review: Ramsey Town Center 3rd Addition April 30, 2004 Page 2 of 3 3) Stormwater Ponding. The storm.water pond shown on the revised sketch plan increases the area of ponding from the previous sketch plan and has made it more of an amenity as directed by staff. [t should be noted that the City's Engineering Department still needs to review the capacity of the ponding to ensure that it will properly function 4) Northwest retail commercial node. The retail node shown adjacent to Armstrong Blvd. and Town Center Parkway extends into the area zoned TC-3b (Residential) which only allows for limited retail opportunities, For the area to be developed as shown in the sketch plan, portions of the this area will need to be rezoned to TC-2 (Commercial). Staffis supportive of this change since the character of western edge of the Town Center south of Ramsey Parkway has always been shown to be fairly intensive retail. The buildings in this location have been reoriented to have the rear of the building face Ramsey Parkway. The orientation of the buildings in this area and Staff supports the change. However, sufficient buffering and architecture will need to be present on and around the rear of the buildings to maintain a pleasant aesthetic. Staff is also asking for appropriate landscaping along western edge of the parking lots serving these buildings to help mitigate the view of this area from Armstrong Blvd. 5) Sunwood Drive. The sketch plan has been changed to remove the landscaped median and angled parking along S unwood Drive per Staft direction. S taft is still open to the possibility of having a median near the entrance of the Town Center, but it would have to be designed appropriately and not interfere with our public works operations. Also in relation to discussion with Staff, the Applicant has created landscaped entrance at Sunwood and Armstrong Blvd.. More detail will be needed but Staff feels the Applicant is headed in the right direction. 6) ParMng lots. As part of the Town Center Ordinance, the Developer shall provide the City with a master parking plan. At this point, the City has seen some preliminary numbers regarding the need fbr parking. The City will require information regarding the'need for parking as part of the preliminary plat submittal. 7) 8) 9) Pedestrian Connections. The revised sketch plan seems to address some earlier concerns with pedestrian connections. Staff would like to emphasize once again the critical need for pedestrian connections. As this development proceeds to -the preliminary plat stage, more detailed information will be required about these pedestrian connections. TraJ'fic Generation: As part of a future preliminary plat submittal, Staff will be requiring a traffic generation study to review the traffic demand in this area of the Town Center to ensure that there is adequate infrastructure to handle the expected traffic. Land Use Applications. The revised sketch plan will require several variances, two conditional use permits, a zoning ordinance text amendment and a rezoning for the plan as shown to receive site plan and prelimina~ plat approval. The variances would need to be issued for building that exceed the maximum setback of 20 feet. The conditional use permits will be needed fbr the drive-thru pharmacy and the car wash. The zoning text amendment will be needed to allow for the gas station and the rezoning will be needed allow for the commercial building located in the northwest quadrant of the sketch plan.