Laserfiche WebLink
Commission Business <br />Motion by Commissioner Surma, seconded by Commissioner VanScoy, to recommend that City <br />Council adopt Ordinance #19-03 amending the definition of topsoil. <br />Motion Carried. Voting Yes: Chairperson Bauer, Commissioners Surma, VanScoy, Anderson, <br />Gengler, and Woestehoff. Voting No: None. Absent: Commissioner Onyambu. <br />6. COMMISSION BUSINESS <br />6.01: Review Updated Alternative Urbanwide Area Review (AUAR) for The COR <br />(Project No. 18-112) <br />Presentation <br />City Planner Anderson presented the Staff Report stating in 2003, the City Council adopted <br />Resolution #03-01-012 ordering an Alternative Urbanwide Area Review (AUAR) for The COR <br />(formerly known as Ramsey Town Center). An AUAR is an environmental review process that <br />can be used in lieu of more traditional environmental reviews such as Environmental Assessment <br />Worksheets (EAW) and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), as long as the geographic area <br />is covered by an acceptable Comprehensive Plan. When considering The COR as a whole, it is <br />likely that a series of individual projects in short sequence could trigger the need for an EAW. <br />For example, the recent project known as Affinity at Ramsey likely would have triggered the <br />need for an EAW based on the number of projects approved in the past several years. <br />City Planner Anderson explained the benefit of an AUAR is that it looks at the cumulative <br />impacts of planned or anticipated development within a specific geographic area, whereas an <br />EAW and/or EIS are project specific and typically can add significant time and cost to a <br />proposed development. The AUAR can assist with reviewing cumulative potential effects to the <br />environment, which may result from multiple developments within the specified geographic area, <br />and can be done in advance of those developments to eliminate potential project delays. <br />However, an AUAR does need to be updated every five (5) years until the geographic area is <br />fully developed. <br />City Planner Anderson commented in 2013, the City ordered an updated AUAR, which <br />expired in 2018. In April of 2018, the City Council authorized engaging the services of WSB to <br />complete an update to The COR AUAR. Since this is an update to an existing AUAR, it focuses <br />on what's been developed since the last update, whether there have been any significant changes <br />to the envisioned development plan, and looks at whether there have been any new findings <br />related to threatened or endangered species. <br />Planning Commission/February 7, 2019 <br />Page 17 of 18 <br />