Agenda - Planning Commission - 06/05/2003

Home

(rowhouse style), and 2 six-unit building (new urbanist style). The townhomes will be subject to a site plan review for all other aspects of the proposal including but not limited to architectural standards, off-street parking, structure setbacks, and landscaping. The results of the site plan review may impact the actual number of townhomes to be developed on the property. The subject property is zoned R-2 Medium Density Residential which allows for townhome developments up to 7 units per net acre. The net area (exclusive of wetlands in the development portion and major road fight-of-way) of the development is 21.77 acres in size, which results in a net density of 6.98 units per-acre. The proposed development complies with City Code. The applicant has submitted drainage, utility, and grading plans that were reviewed by the City's Engineering Department. Several items needed to be corrected and changed. The applicant is in the process of making revisions to these plans in accordance with the City comments. Staff expects to receive the corrections early next week and will provide the Planning Commission a verbal report on the plans. The development is served by a combination of public and private streets and driveway collectors. Streets A, B, C, and D as shown on the plat are proposed to be public streets. The private streets will be driveway collectors and will serve the majority of the townhome units. The plat is showing on access onto County Road 56. This access will need to receive an access permit from Anoka County. It is expected that additional comments regarding the street layout may be generated by the revisions to the grading, drainage, and utility plans. A traffic generation analysis is currently being conducted for the proposed development by SKF Consultants,' 'The traffic generation analysis will look at what impact the development will have on the surrounding road network. The implementation of any findings generated by the analysis will be the responsibility of the developer. A tree survey was submitted along with the landscaping plans. The survey indicates 'that there are roughly 120 existing trees on the site. However, after visiting the site, it was clear there was a large area of the land covered by young ehns and other vegetation that was not 'noted on the plan. The survey also shows that all existing trees are being removed to facilitate this development. As noted in the Staff Review Letter, in Staff's opinion there are several areas that some significant trees may be saved. Staff will be meeting with the applicant to determine the feasibility to preserve these areas. The Park and Recreation Commission will be reviewing the plat at its June 12th meeting and will be making a recommendation for park dedication and trail fees. The preliminary plat is meeting the 40% open space and' 10% identifiable open space required of all multi-family developments. Recommendation: 296