Agenda - Planning Commission - 08/29/2002

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52 The townhomes will be subject to a site plan review at a future date for all other aspects of the proposal including but not limited to architectural standardi~ 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 R-2 Zoning District does not have a minimum lot size for townhouse units. However, the R-2 District does require certain setbacks. All structures must be setback 30 feet from the exXedor boundary Iine. It appears that all of the townhouse units meet this requirement. Under the District, townhouses must be setback 25 feet from the public right-ofZway and 25 feet from the edge of curb of the private street. It appears that all townhouse units meet the setback from the public street. However, several lots having access on private streets appear not to meet the setback requirements nor the minimum driveway width. Specifically, Lots 9 and 10, Block 1 and Lots 9 and 10, Block 3 appear to be deficient. These units will need to be reconfigured or eliminated from the plat. The single-fam!ly lots meet alt of the dimensional requirements required by City Ordinances. City Ordinances require townhome developments to be served with public streets and driveway collectors that are private streets. Under City Ordinances, the allowable length of the private streets are determined by.the type of:turn around provided. The private streets shown appear to meet the private street standards. The applicant is proposing to provide public roads to access Alpine Dr. and Sunfish Lake Blvd. (CSAH 56) . The access on Sunfish Lake Blvd. will need Anoka County approval. The preliminary plat shows public road accesses that will serve properties to the north, east, and west. Under City Ordinances, toWnhome developments shall have'a minimum of 40% of the development property as open space for the enjoyment of its residents. The preliminary plat meets this standard. Of the 40% open space, 10% of the open. space is required to be grouped together in a way that is easily identifiable and used as common space. In the sketch plan, the developer indicated that in a future phase that they will be constructing a community building that wilt serve the residents of this development. The Cky will count this as meeting the 10% common space requirement. However, if the co.mmunity building is not built, the developer will be responsible for creating the required common space in future phases. The developer has submitted a tree protection plan. Currenti~ the City has no ordinances governing tree preservation. However, a task force has been set up to prepare an ordinance governing tree preservation. At this time, the plan appears to be generally acceptable, but the City is encouraging the developer to work closely with City Staff to identify additional areas for tree protection. The City of Ramsey has recently adopted a density transition ordinance. Although it_is not now in effect, staff' would encourage the applicaPlt to apply density transition techniques to the plat since the development abuts a large-lot R-1 'Single Family development to the north: Methods for density transition include landscape buffering or the matching of densities around the perimeter of the development property. I I I I I ! I I ! I I I I i I I I I I