Minutes - Council - 10/24/2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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establish density transition requirements. Through their discussion and thought process, they resolved that the intent of the Charter amendment is to protect those people that bough property thinking that the property next to them Would be developed consistent with their neighborhood. In summary, density transitioning would be required for new residential developments that result in an increase in density from existing, adjacent residential neighborhoods, with a couple of exceptions. The Planning Commission is of the opinion that il/would not be reasonable to apply density transition requirements to parcels that were already zoned for a higher density than single family at the time of the Charter amendment became affective (October 22, 1997). In addition, if a proposed residential development requires changing the zoning of the proposed site from Commercial or Industrial to Residential (R-l, R-2, R-3, MR or PUD), the proposed development should not be subject to density transitioning requirements because the residents adjacent to the site were anticipating a more intense use than residential. At the conclusion of the October 16, 2000 meeting, the Planning Commission directed staff to make the necessary modifications to the draft ordinance based on their discussion. By informal discussion and no formal motion, they also stated that the draft ordinance may be passed onto City Council with the caveat that the Commissioners have not had the opportunity to see their final draft in print. City staff met with the City Attorney to discuss the ordinance format and procedures. It has been determined that there have been significant Changes to the draft ordinance since the last public hearing. The City Attorney has advised that, although the City Council is conducting a public hearing on the Ordinance, Section 9.03.05 of the City Code requires another public hearing to be conducted specifically by the Planning Commission. It would not be appropriate for the City Council to introduce the ordinance until the Planning Commission has conducted another public hearing and then make a fortnal recommendation. Citizen Input Ben Deemer, 14501 Sunfish Lake Boulevard NW, Ramsey, read the following: "I am here tonight to state my concerns about the draft density transition ordinance that is in process. I have submitted a letter of concern on September 1, 2000, and would like that entered to the public hearing minutes tonight. I am also speaking from the hip so to speak, as I did not have access to the current draft of the ordinance when I was organizing this little speech. My very first concern is the protection of properties that were zoned for multiple families before the Charter amendment that has instigated this ordinance was passed. I know of six properties that were legally zoned R~3, that should be covered. I own two of them. There is one other adjacent to my parcels, that along with mine has been paying or paid for the assessments of sewer and water which was installed in 1993. I had started to develop the properties in 1996, and had financing and a development company at the table when the development moratorium was put on in 1997, which prevented any progress and drove the developer from the project, along with the financing. I would certainly be very upset if these properties were not protected from the new transitioning ordinance is some manner. The draft of the ordinance started out with a statement of purpose, to control the urban/rural transitioning area, and then in the very first section went on to regulate urban to urban transitioning. This is stretching the intent of the Charter amendment. There was a pervious moratorium in this City that was in place in 1977-1978, and established what was then known as the 1990 urban area, which was the first step toward having municipal sewer services. City Council/October 24, 2000 Page 8 of 31