Agenda - Planning Commission - 05/07/2020

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. Section 117-614: Subdivision Design Standards Preliminary Plat/Next Steps At time of Preliminary Plat, the City requires: Grading Plan, Landscape Plan, Tree Inventory and Preservation Plan, Utility Plan, and Preliminary Plat. At this time, the Applicant and Staff are looking for high level review of the project as opposed to going into detailed engineering plans which takes place with the Preliminary Plat. It is likely that this project will need to be coupled with The Excelsior's Group project for the required Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) as they are clearly connected decisions. Alternatives Alternative 1 (Current Proposal): Recommend approval of Ordinance #20-08 rezoning the Subject Property contingent upon preliminary plat approval by the City. This would allow 55 and 65 foot wide lots on the Subject Property. The Zoning Amendment would not be finalized before a preliminary plat is approved. Recommend the Applicant move forward with developing a preliminary plat as the sketch plan indicates. Alternative 2 (Compromise Scenario): Recommend modifications to Ordinance #20-08 allowing 65 and 80 foot wide lots on the Subject Property and recommending the Applicant keep 80 foot wide lots and abutting existing residential homes, while putting smaller 65 foot wide lots interior to the site to create a natural density transition. Recommend the Applicant modify the Sketch Plan to remove 55 foot wide lots. This would keep the entire site zoned Low Density Residential and each lot size would fit within the City's current set of zoning standards. Alternative 3 (Existing Zoning): Recommend denial of Ordinance #20-08 rezoning the Subject Property and recommend that the Applicant makes major changes to the sketch plan to comply with existing zoning (80 foot side lots) before moving forward with preliminary plat. Funding Source: The Applicant is responsible for all costs associated with review. Recommendation: Since this is a legislative (policy) decision of the City due to the fact that the request requires a Zoning Amendment, Staff needs broad policy direction before formulating a recommendation. The Planning Commission should provide feedback on moving the project forward to Preliminary Plat. This is a key time in the project to make major layout changes, provide feedback on lot sizes, road alignment, trails, etc. before the Developer incurs the expense of detailed civil engineering drawings. Staff does believe there is room to compromise on a mix of lot sizes. Based on the 60 Day Rule (Minnesota Statutes 15,99), Ordinance #20-08 does need to move forward to City Council. If approved, the Ordinance would be contingent upon approval of a future Preliminary Plat and tied to this project specifically. The Planning Commission could request that the Applicant approve an additional 60 Day Extension to provide additional time for discussion, negotiation and compromise. This would require written confirmation by the Developer. Staff is hopeful that the Developer will be willing to provide an additional extension if the City desires to explore a compromise concept plan. Action: Motion to recommend that the City Council approve/deny/modify the Ordinance #20-08 approving a Zoning Amendment for the Hunt Property for Platinum Development, LLC. Procedural note: The Planning Commission may ask the Developer for an extension, but explicitly approval by the Developer is required. The City has exhausted its administrative extensions. If the Planning Commission desires additional time to discuss, but the Developer is unwilling to provide the necessary extension, the Planning Commission should recommend denial of the Zoning Amendment. It is noted that the Developer has expressed a willingness to continue discussions.