07/09/79 Special Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chairman Peterson turned this portion of the meeting over to Ron West for his .presenta- tion on the proposed building design and site plan approval ordin~ance. BUILDING DESIGN AND SITE PLAN ORDINANCE Chairman West (acting) said his committee has been meeting to work on establishing guidelines for-the City of Ramsey for new construction/new business coming in so that they will have definite standards to meet when they develop in the City of Ramsey. Art Dunn and Engineer Raatikka are working on lot sizes issue in regard to the on-site septic system capacities to arrive at guidelines that will establish the lot size minimums. Dexter Marston commented regarding the ordinance: There are terms which sho~uld be defined, Page 3, h) scre~ning~ landscaping~ the P & Z commission should note that it is not only for screening purposes But also for'appearance. And the tree sizes should be noted, he suggeste~ they go back to his critical area model ordinances on site plan review which is more specific in these areas than what they have. Art Dunn agreed that if the trees were to be used for a wall or fn place of a f~nce that the size shoo_ld be designated. Mr. Marston also noted that landscaping also is used as a means of improving the site. Without something more specific ~hey will have someone coming in notT. telling them the type or size of trees and when push comes to shove there could be a problem. Administrator Schnelle sited examples of McDonald's restaurant's in different cities and the affect the local ordinance requiring landscaping has on the appearance. Mr. Marston said the yard dimension and yard area should also be identified. Ron West stated that the committee felt that starting from "0" that the goal wasn't to have this so complicated as Edina, it wasn't to have everything pinpointed. They did not want to be too tough, it was the feeling to upgrade by 50 percent now and later on, bring it up to 100 percent. Ben Deemer said the City has to have certain limitations. Mr. Marston suggests P & Z look at the list he sent. He said parking should go into the zoing ordinance. It is easier for the ~ilding official to administer if he doesn't have to jump all around in the book looking for things. Things like screening for the parking lot, setbacks should go under parking. Ken Peterson said the present ~oning ordinance is laid out so that you have to go back and forth and he feels that the new ordinance being written specifically for commercial/industrial will have everything categorized and would be easier to administer. Mr. Marston suggested that the parking area, hard cover surface has a big visual impact and there shooftd be a divider of ten feet to break up the "sea" of asphalt which would result between adjoining businesses if it is allowed to extend the asphalt to the property line. -6- P & Z Special Meeting 7/9/?9