Agenda - Planning Commission - 10/04/2007

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to put it on a title so people are aware this berm has special significance and it cannot just be taken down. Councilmember Strommen suggested the possibility of a funding source through an endowment account that would transfer to the Home O\vners Association when it is set up. This could be set up with contributions either through the developer or the homeowners would pay modest dues into a separate account for the first years. Councilmember Ehrig noted it appears that there may bea small swale as a drainage effort. He asked if the homeowner to the south has been consulted on this plan. Community Development Director Trudgeon replied he is not certain if staff has contacted the adjacent property owner directly. There are still things to address in this plan, such as the number of plantings, etc. before it is presented to. the adjacel~t landowner. J\1r. Gary Smith, 16821 Garnet Street NW, stated he is the homeowner to the south in the first addition. He has been working with the City Engineer to decide what kind of trees to put where. One of his main issues was that when a land deyelopercomes in and puts an addition in next to an established neighborhood such as his with 2.5 acre lots, the timing that they put the transition in is important. He has had to look at the grading of the property, and has been picking up the trash that blows into his yard. When they put the utilities in they actually cut into his property; their map showed a road going through his back yard. When they first talked about the trees being used as transitioning, the map changed from what was initially agreed upon .with J\1r. Trudgeon, Mr. Peterson and himself. The trees were to go to County Road 5 to the back lot line of the homeowner that was already living there. When he received the map it had changed, and he had not been notified. He appreciates that there is an outlot .with one house off the property line so that there is a little transition. The problem is that he called the City in March or April when they staked out the house beside his, and it was only 20 to 25 feet off his property line. When they put mro rows of trees there they would be about up to his garage, so he worked out a settlement for a single row along the property line, and when they get to the neighbor to the west of him they will go with two rows of trees. Mr. Smith stated the timing of when the trees get put in is really critical for future projects. It is not fair to the neighbor right next to him; he is sure he did not realize when he bought the property how many trees will be put there. In the future they might want to look at how soon they put the trees in, and they might want to call it tree screening; it is not really density transitioning with the size of the lots going down to a smaller lot size. Projects like this can work in Ramsey if they really look at the density transitioning on future lots, but he is not so sure that just the treetransitioning will be enough for the future. Mayor Gamec stated Mike McDowall is working to see if this can be sped up. Also, there was talk with the neighbors about buying those properties; he thinks there were about seven that said they would be interested in selling, but that went down due to the economy. He explained the trees are not put in ahead of time because they die with the work being done during construction. Most ofthem are put in afterward so the trees are not ruined during grading. , J\1r. Smith stated this portion of the development has been done for quite a while now, so it could have been done sooner. City Council / August 28, 2007 Page 10 of 33 P58