Agenda - Planning Commission - 02/22/2024

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should be Street and the northern 168th Avenue should be Lane. At the northeast corner of the site, 168th Lane is stubbed to provide a connection to the property to the east should that landowner decide to subdivide someday. This connection point would make a convenient pedestrian connection to Brookside Elementary School and for the ability to severe it with utilities (other properties along Zirconium Street will need sanitary sewer extended from the southeast which is several years away). Pedestrian Connections All the internal roadways will have a sidewalk on one side of the street per City standards. The site is within the required walking distance of Brookside Elementary School. A cut -through walkway is proposed to provide a direct pedestrian connection to the school. The applicant is working with the School District about construction logistics. No pedestrian connection is shown to Nowthen Boulevard, however, because there is no trail or sidewalk along the east side of the roadway. There is a trail along the west side of Nowthen Boulevard, though crossing Nowthen Boulevard to get to it from 168th Avenue is not advised due to the speed of the roadway and the presence of a ditch between the trail and roadway. Grading and Drainage There is a small area of wetland in the central portion of the south end of the site. No impacts to the wetland are proposed and the required buffers will be in place. Just northwest of the wetland will be the stonn water basin for the site. The storm water plan will be reviewed by the Lower Rum River Watershed as part of the typical process. Slight adjustments may be required after their review, which is after City Council review of the preliminary plat. The site is being graded to accommodate split -entry or split-entry/walk-out house pads. Utilities The site is within the MUSA and municipal sanitary sewer and water lines will be installed. Water will be looped through the Coquina Street connection to the water main along 167th Avenue. Sanitary sewer, however, will not be extended under the temporary Coquina Street roadway. It will need to be extended in the future should the adjacent property owners decide to subdivide. Both water and sanitary sewer will be extended to the east end of the site via 168th Lane to provide extension to the eastern property should that owner decide to subdivide in the future. Landscaping and Screening From the EPB's report for February 12, it was noted the only existing trees on the site are along the northern boundary and adjacent to the wetland in the southern portion of the site. The proposed tree removal exceeds the removal threshold (allowed to remove up to sixty percent [60%] of the significant tree DBH inches; this project is proposing to remove seventy-six percent [76%] of existing significant tree DBH inches). This requires reforestation of at least 331 inches of newly planted trees. The Landscape Plan includes 500 inches of new trees, which does satisfy the reforestation requirement. Landscape Plan The Landscape Plan provides a minimum of two (2) trees per lot, with the lots abutting Nowthen Boulevard and some of the lots abutting the elementary school parcel having additional plantings in the rear yards. Additionally, there are extra trees proposed in the rear yards that back up to the proposed storm water basins. There is a healthy mix of deciduous and evergreen trees with no genus constituting more than twenty percent (20%) of the overall plantings. All species and sizes are acceptable. The Planting Schedule indicates that some trees will be three (3) inches in size at the time of planting. The total proposed inches being planted should be updated, as it was based on all trees being 2.5 inches (meaning the reforestation is actually higher than the proposed 500 inches). Staff has also recommended that fencing, in addition to the proposed plantings, be installed now on the lots backing up to Nowthen Boulevard to assist with screening and possible noise reduction. Park Dedication Park dedication is required with this plat. Cash in lieu of land is recommended as adjacent Brookside Elementary School serves the park function for the area. Funding Source: