Minutes - Council - 12/18/2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Case #4: Request for Preliminary Plat Review of Birch Hill Lodges; Case of Orrin Thompson Homes Community Development Assistant Wald stated that Orrin Thompson Homes has applied for preliminary plat review of a townhome development that is proposing to construct 84 townhome units. The property is generally located south of Sunwood Drive and west of State Highway #47. The property is currently zoned B-1 Business. The applicant is requesting to rezone the property to R-3U Residential. The City Council introduced a rezoning ordinance at their December 11, 2001 meeting. The subject project will be required to obtain a Comprehensive Plan amendment unless the March 2001 Draft Comprehensive Plan is adopted. A rezoning and Comprehensive Plan amendment will allow the property to be developed at a maximum density of 7 units an acre. The property is approximately 14.08 acres in size. The preliminary plat shows a net density of six units per acre. The proposed townhome structures consist of eight, ten, and twelve units ranging in building size fi.om 9,248 square feet, 11,016 square feet, and 12,784 square feet, respectively. The preliminary plat is proposing a public street (Cobalt Street) through the development that will connect to a private street located on the Lord of Life Church property. The applicant is proposing a 30-foot by 10-foot center median on Cobalt Street. The Streets Supervisor has raised some concerns regarding the proposed center median island. The Street Supervisor's concerns include snow plowing constraints when a median exists on a public street. The developer is proposing to widen the entrance where Cobalt Street connects to SunWood Drive to provide wider accommodations for the snowplows. The proposed center median island alignment will require additional staff time to the snow plowing operations. Grant Riemer, the Streets Supervisor, has also stated concerns regarding overall maintenance of the center median island. Center medians collect salt during the winter months and do not retain a large water supply during the summer months to allow for high survival rates of plantings. Due to the issues raised by the Streets Supervisor, staff recommended that the proposed center median be eliminated from the preliminary plat. If the City Council is so inclined to approve the preliminary plat with the proposed center median island; the City Council may want to include language in the Development Permit related to who will be responsible for the'overall maintenance of the median and require that the median be irrigated, at the applicants expense, in order to increase planting survival rates. The site plan is also proposing private drives throughout the development that will connect the townhouse structures to Cobalt Street. The preliminary plat is indicating an eight-foot bituminous pedestrian trail along the southern and western boundary line. The trail located along the western boundary line was left on the plat in error. The developer is proposing to construct a trail running along the southern boundary line connecting to the sidewalk along Cobalt Street. The preliminary plat indicates that the sidewalk will be located on the west side of Cobalt Street. Due to comments made by the Planning Commission and Park and Recreation Commission, the developer will be relocating the sidewalk along the east side of Cobalt Street. Locating the sidewalk along the east side of Cobalt Street will provide for better pedestrian connections. The Park and Recreation Commission met on Thursday, December 13, 2001, and approved the proposed park dedication agreement. The City has received a letter from Cory Lepper of Orrin Thompson Homes stating they are agreeable to the terms set forth in the draft park development agreement. The project is subject to the review and permitting process of the Lower Rum River Watershed Management Organization (WMO). MnDOT is requesting the post and pre development run-off calculations. The City.received a letter from Robert Hutchison fi'om Lord of Life Church regarding the extension of Cobalt Street City Council/December 18, 2001 Page 10 of 27