Agenda - Environmental Policy Board - 03/18/2019

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City Planner Anderson clarified that the buffering is not specific to the senior housing parcel, but there is a desire for buffering between the different density products as well as the commercial lot. Councilmember Shryock stated that she would want to ensure that the developer keeps in mind some greenspace that can be used for recreation for the senior housing product. She stated that the City Council recently looked at some proposals for an interchange at Highway 10 and Ramsey Boulevard, noting that some of the scenarios would impede on this site. She noted that the Council did not necessarily support the options that impeded onto this site and therefore she did not see an issue approving a full plan for this property. 5.03: Review Updated Environmental Review (AUAR) for The COR (Project No. 18-112) City Planner Anderson presented the staff report. He noted that in 2003, the City Council adopted Resolution #03-01-012 ordering an Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR) for The COR (formerly known as Ramsey Town Center). An AUAR is an environmental review process that can be used in lieu of more traditional environmental reviews, such as Environmental Assessment Worksheets (EAW) and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), as long as the geographic area is covered by an acceptable Comprehensive Plan. When considering The COR as a whole, it is likely that a series of individual projects in short sequence could trigger the need for an EAW. For example, the recent project known as Affinity at Ramsey likely would have triggered the need for an EAW based on the number of projects approved in the past several years. City Planner Anderson stated that the benefit of an AUAR is that it looks at the cumulative impacts of planned or anticipated development within a specific geographic area, whereas an EAW or EIS are project specific and typically can add significant time and cost to a proposed development. The AUAR can assist with reviewing cumulative potential effects to the environment, which may result from multiple developments within the specified geographic area and can be done in advance of those developments to eliminate potential project delays. However, as AUAR does need to be updated every five years until the geographic area is fully developed. In 2013, the City ordered an updated AUAR, which expired in 2018. In April of 2018, the City Council authorized engaging in the services of WSB to complete an update to The COR AUAR. Since this is an update to an existing AUAR, it focused on what has been developed since the last update, whether there have been any significant changes to the envisioned development plan and looks at whether there have been any new findings related to threatened or endangered species. City Planner Anderson stated that WSB has completed a draft update of The COR AUAR and there have been no new findings or threatened or endangered species (based on the Natural Heritage Information System). There have been no significant deviations or changes to the overall vision or development plan for The COR since the last update. The document has been updated with all development within The COR since the last update and the Mitigation Plan has also been updated. The EPB reviewed the draft of The COR AUAR in October. The City did receive comments from multiple agencies during the 10-day comment period and responses were incorporated into the document where necessary. The document is now ready for adoption. Chairperson Valentine stated that it is extremely valuable to have the AUAR in place, as that is a tool that handles environmental review for multiple projects within a smaller development area and helps to avoid all applicants being required to complete an EAW or EIS. He commended staff for the excellent job they have done to compile the information for the update. Environmental Policy Board / February 25, 2019 Page 4 of 5