Agenda - Planning Commission - 08/03/2006

Home

Joel Anderson - 6080 151st Lane N.W. - Inquired as to what constitutes changing the zoning laws. Chairperson Nixt replied that the criteria fora land use or zoning change was established by City Council years ago. Council has also adopted an Interim Policy for Comprehensive Plan amendments untif the Comprehensive Plan is updated. Land use is intended to go to the best and highest use. In this case, it could be argued that the best and highest use, because of the presence of two major traffic corridors, is townhomes. Land costs, yield in units, access to public facilities - all of those aspects drive land use changes. In this particular case, there are townhomes to the northwest; there is a developer interested in providing amenities that provide opportunity for higher density. In some cases it is appropriate and in some cases it is not. There are also geographic differences between the east and the west side of County Road #5. Jeff Liftin - Minnesota Skyline Partners - Stated that they have made lots of concessions and are proud of the plan they are presenting tonight. Density, traffic and a second access were issues and the developer feels that they have been addressed in this plan. The density is down to 5.2 units per acre and we may have to reduce it even more based on Staffs review letter. The traffic analysis revealed nothing out of the ordinary. The school has issues but they can't be made the developer's issues. A second access was important and it was obtained. Bruce Chalupsky- LHB - Explained that they are not big developers and this site in an opportunity' for a signature development. Referred to the inquiry for a compelling reason to . change the Comprehensive Plan. He stated that he reviewed the Comprehensive Plan as it relates to the Skyline development. Bruce presented exhibits (attached to these minutes as Exhibits A through F). Exhibit A addressed Skyline Pointe as it relates to general housing goals listed in the Comprehensive Plan. Exhibit B reflects how SkyliIle Pointe fits the definition of medium density residential development in the Comprehensive Plan. Exhibit C identifies that the type of development is compatible with surrounding development that also reflects the goals of the Comprehensive Plan. Exhibit D recalls the original plan for Skyline. Exhibit E represents plan changes based on discussion at the February Planning Commission meeting. Exhibit F represents changes to the plan based on City Council and City Staff comments. Bruce noted that the developer has consistently taken the advice of the City and continues to work with Staff. The latest request is to reduce the density on the Haubrich parcel to low density which allows 4 units per acre under a Planned Unit Development. Bruce stated that the developer is willing to do that in order to keep the process going. Brian Nemeth- Bolton and Menk - Brian noted that the traffic counts used were taken last November when the school was in session. However, the school traffic does not occur during 'peak' hours; consequently, that traffic is not counted in the traffic report for peak hours. For townhomes, the average trips per day is 6 per unit; the average for single family homes is 10 per day. With the realignment of the cul-de-sac in Skyline, 50% of the traffic will use 151 st and 50% will use Alpine. The County has expressed that they do not want any more accesses onto County Road #5 and eventually, they would like to widen #5. The report recommends pushing the outlet. to Alpine as far west as possible, away from the intersection of #5 and Alpine. ' Any distance shorter than 250 feet would mean that when turn lanes are installed on Alpine, the outlet from Skyline to Alpine would enter into a turn lane. If the intersection of #5 and Alpine is Planning Commission/July 10,2006 Page 7 of 14 P7