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

Home

abandoned the project. A new developer took it over and requested a revised preliminary plat to do attached townhomes, which is what was reviewed by the Council in February. The City Council tabled the proposal for staff to bring back findings for denial based on access issues. The developer went back to the preliminary plat for GAD's Prairie, which is good for one year after approval. The developer is seeking final plat for the GAD's Prairie plat. Councilmember Jeffrey stated if he had been present when the GAD's Prairie preliminary plat was approved the vote would have been 6 -l. In his opinion until there is access to 146 Avenue and there is an agreement with landowners he holds the same position regarding the access and cannot support this project. Highway 5 is too congested and he cannot support this project. Councilmember Look noted the church owns the neighboring property to the north of this and the gentleman representing the church had some concern with regards to where this left his property. He had hoped this property could come to an agreement with the neighboring properties to come up with a workable plan that does not impact one property owner negatively. He questioned if nothing has been brought up on this since February. Associate Planner Dames replied no; staff maintains that proposing a new access that does not get access off of CSAH 5 is preferred, but nothing has been resolved on that issue. Councilmember Look asked if this plat includes the same road position as the Pine Prairie plat. Associate Planner Dalnes responded in the affirmative. She stated staff maintains that a public road is required to go through these properties no matter what, and that the cul -de- sac would take up a lot more right -of -way than a simple through street. Mayor Gamec commented that approving this would get the sale of the other two properties quicker; it is impossible to deal with one of those particular property owners. Associate Planner Dalnes stated the County has said that only one access will be granted for these three properties. Councilmember Strommen stated as she recalls, when they first looked at GAD's Prairie the Council sent it back for the applicant to work with the Jandowners to the north regarding the access and they were unable to come to an agreement. She reluctantly went along with this because there was not an option to the master plan. The City cannot force the landowners to work together and they ran into the situation of whether this property owner will be held hostage since this could not be worked out with the adjacent landowners. —162-