Agenda - Council - 02/26/2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

6.01: Review Updated Alternative Urbanwide Area Review (AUAR) for The COR (Project No. 18-112) Presentation City Planner Anderson presented the Staff Report stating in 2003, the City Council adopted Resolution #03-01-012 ordering an Alternative Urbanwide Area 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 explained 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 and/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, an AUAR does need to be updated every five (5) years until the geographic area is fully developed. City Planner Anderson commented in 2013, the City ordered an updated AUAR, which expired in 2018. In April of 2018, the City Council authorized engaging the services of WSB to complete an update to The COR AUAR. Since this is an update to an existing AUAR, it focuses on what's 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. Commission Business Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner VanScoy, to recommend that City Council adopt Resolution #19-041 approving The COR AUAR Update. Motion Carried. Voting Yes: Chairperson Bauer, Commissioners Anderson, VanScoy, Gengler, Surma, and Woestehoff Voting No: None. Absent: Commissioner Onyambu.