Agenda - Council - 08/14/2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Notification: In accordance with state statute, notification of the preliminary plat public advertised. hearing was properly Observations: As directed by City Council, Staff convened a meeting on July 10, 2007, with Tim Boe of Tri -Cor Development (the applicant), Durwood Sagwold (the owner of the middle, one -acre property), Tony Welman and another board member from the Victorious Jesus Church (owner of the northern parcel), John Peterson (Oakwood Development), and Ben Van See from Commonwealth Solutions, a development company. The topics discussed included: the mar ket value of the property, the feasibility of developing the parcels versus selling the parcels to the applicant, and the development potential of the property, given its size and zoning. The church representatives expressed interest in selling their parcel, indicating that they would not be able to develop it or act as a partner due to staff and time constraints. The owner of the middle parcel indicated that it was not possible to develop his parcel given the existing zoning and the requirement for a through street. The applicant expressed interest in purchasing all the properties. The developers that were present discussed the current market value of raw land, offering that $90,000 to $100,000 per acre (or $25,000 to $30,000 per potential unit) was a generous, realistic market value. Subsequently, the applicant conducted two separate appraisals of both properties to the north and prepared purchase agreements equivalent to the appraised value for the parcels. The offers were declined. The applicant is proposing 7 detached townhomes. The property is zoned R -2 medium density residential, which allows up to 7 units per acre. The overall density of the project is 4.1 units per acre. Because detached townhomes were not defined in City Code when the preliminary plat was considered, a PUD rezoning was processed and approved for this site. The units are a mix of single -level and two -level homes. Detailed building elevations have been submitted and are included in your packet. The preliminary plat for GAD's Prairie was contingent upon the following items: 1) A rezoning to PUD (which was introduced, and eventually rezoned) 2) The installation of the temporary cul -de -sac and conveyance of an access easement to the City across Lots 1 and 2 (the plan has been revised to eliminate the need for this access easement) 3) Lots 1 and 2 to be classified as outlots (the plan has been revised to eliminate two lots in order to accommodate the future cul -de -sac) 4) Compliance with the City Staff Review Letter dated May 24, 2006 revised June 23, 2006 One of the comments in the Staff Review Letter, revised June 23, 2006 noted that any City approvals are contingent upon addressing the access and traffic concerns of the County. (Please see the Access and Streets portion of the staff review letter.) However, the County failed to submit comments regarding this plat until May 7, 2007. In this letter, the County outlines its -146-