Agenda - Planning Commission - 05/07/2020

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Variolite or in the Brookfield neighborhood. Staff sent letters to the two (2) residents whose homes are directly adjacent to the proposed new lots offering meetings or personal calls. Staff heard back from one (1) of the two properties and had a conversation about the project. The resident was not concerned about the project, noted that he appreciated the letter, but that he understood development would happen onsite. He stated that he was hopeful the project would reduce his taxes. Change.org Petition: A resident of Ramsey has created a Change.org petition as an advisory petition against the project with 325 signatures. The signatures from the petition are attached for reference as well as comments that some signers left. It does appear that the original petition page, which received over 100 signatures, was written as petitioning Low Density Residential to High Density Residential, which is not correct. The owner of the petition has since changed to accurately reflect the project. An advisory petition of this nature is not typical with these projects, but will likely become a more standard tool as the City practices social distancing measures. For future petitions, residents should sign with their names and addresses so that Staff can ensure they are Ramsey residents. Staff attempted to match names from the County GIS File. Staff would estimate that up to 25% of the responses came from non -Ramsey Residents. Staff has not been able to verify the address of nearly half of the signatures, although it is assumed that many, if not most are truly Ramsey Residents. Regardless, there appears to be a clear indication of a cluster of signatures along Variolite Street. In response, Staff suggests a City initiated survey to ensure proper data is provided in terms of existing vs. proposed conditions and ensure addresses are included in the response. City Code Sections • Section 117-111: R-1 Residential (Existing Zoning and Partial Proposed Zoning) • Section 117-111: R-2 Residential (Partial Proposed Zoning) • Section 117-588: Major Plat • 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, preliminary plat, and for a project of this scale, an EAW (Environmental Assessment Worksheet) to lay out the basics of the project and determine if an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is required. 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. Alternatives Alternative 1 (Current Proposal): Recommend approval of Ordinance #20-07 rezoning the Subject Property contingent upon preliminary plat approval by the City. This would allow 55, 65, and 75 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 #20-07 allowing 65 and 80 foot wide lots on the Subject Property and recommending the Applicant keep 80 foot wide lots along Variolite Street 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 located in the R-1 Residential District and each lot size would fit within the City's current set of zoning standards (either in the standard subdistrict/80 foot wide lots or the detached villa subdistrict/65 foot wide lots). Alternative 3 (Existing Zoning): Recommend denial of Ordinance #20-07 rezoning the Subject Property and recommend that the Applicant makes major changes to the sketch plan to comply with existing zoning (80 foot wide lots) before moving forward with preliminary plat. Funding Source: The Applicant is responsible for all costs associated with review.