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1999-06-22 Planning Comm MinutesCITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS DAKOTA COUNTY, MINNESOTA PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES June 22, 1999 The regular meeting of the Mendota Heights Planning Commission was held on Tuesday, June 22, 1999, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1101 Victoria Curve. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. The following members were present: Duggan, Koll, Friel, Lorberbaum, Kleinglass and Tilsen. Commissioner Betlej was excused. Also present were Civil Engineer Marc Mogan, Planner Meg McMonigal, Administrative Assistant Patrick Hollister and Senior Secretary Linda Shipton. AMENDED AGENDA Chair Duggan stated that Mr. Bjorklund had consented to exchanging places with Mr. Koury on the Agenda because it was anticipated that the discussion on Mr. Koury's application would be significantly briefer than the discussion on Mr. Bjorklund's Concept Plan. Commissioner Friel made a motion to that affect. Chair Duggan seconded the motion. AYES: 6 NAYS: 0 APPROVAL OF MINUTES Commissioner Friel moved approval of the May 25, 1999 minutes with corrections. Commissioner Koll seconded the motion. AYES: 5 NAYS: 0 ABSTAIN: 1 PLANNING CASE NO. 99-19: THOMAS KOURY LOT LINE ADJUSTMENT Mr. Koury, 1061 Esther Lane, stated that since the last time he had been before the Planning Commission, he had his lot surveyed and submitted a proposal to PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES - JUNE 22,1999 shift the lot line. He would be exchanging square footage with his neighbor, who is his mother, to move her corner lot line and his corner lot line to create a ten foot setback for his home addition. Mr. Koury stated that he had gone to City Council and had received a contingent building permit and now needs the Lot Line Adjustment to meet the required side yard setbacks for his undersized lot. Commissioner Friel clarified that Mr. Koury's lot didn't meet the lot size requirements as they exist today, before the lot line was adjusted, and they still don't meet them. The fact that Mr. Koury made the adjustment, after that standard is imposed, requires the granting of a variance to get the line adjusted and that under the circumstances there clearly is a hardship. Mr. Koury requested that because he incurred a lot of cost to prepare this Lot Line Adjustment, that he be refunded his replat fee. Commissioner Friel moved to recommend the City Council approve the Lot Line Adjustment. Commissioner Kleinglass seconded the motion. AYES: 6 NAYS: 0 ' Commissioner Friel moved to recommend a refund of the entire $335.00 except for such costs the staff believes ought to be deducted to cover their expenses. Chair Duggan seconded the motion. AYES: 6 NAYS: 0 CASE 99-18 DAVID BJORKLUND PUD CONCEPT PLAN Mr. Dick Bjorklund appeared in front of the Planning Commission for his son, Mr. Dave Bjorklund and expressed that what they were looking for was input from the Planning Commission. Mr. Bjorklund stated that what his son is proposing to do is to plat 5 lots out of a 2.5 acre parcel. There is a house owned by Dr. & Mrs. Owens, on the middle of the parcel and it would is proposed to move their house to either lot 1 or lot 5. Lot 1 and lot 5 are the lots along Delaware Avenue. Mr. Bjorklund stated that the parcel has many large trees and he would like to locate the houses where most of the trees could be saved. Mr. Bjorklund stated that Dave is requesting a 5 lot subdivision served by a private driveway of about 160' long. He said their proposal is unusual but that it has happened in other cities as well as on Wentworth Avenue in Mendota Heights. Mr. Bjorklund PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES - JUNE 22,1999 commented that his son believes that it doesn't make sense to construct a city street with a cul de sac with this small of a piece of property. Chair Duggan commented the different concerns that the staff raised were not only on the size of the road but also on the lack of the ability for a rescue vehicle or a fire engine to enter and fight a fire. Chair Duggan stated that they would not be able to do that with the proposed private road and he would suspect that the proposed homeowners might have some concerns as to what might happen in case of a fire. Chair Duggan asked whether it would be acceptable from the point of the Fire Marshal and the Fire Department to use a private road access. Chair Duggan stated that there are certain members of the Planning Commission that are not comfortable with private roads because eventually someone doesn't plow or maintain them properly and then they want the city to take over. Mr. Bjorklund asked what size cul de sac would be required. Civil Engineer Marc Mogan stated that a common size cul de sac would be a 36.5' radius bituminous driving surface. Chair Duggan stated that if they do widen the road to fit the 36.5' radius for a turn around then the lot sizes would change. Chair Duggan stated that in order to widen the road they would need to take space from lots 4 and 2 to increase the • size of lots 1 and 5 to meet minimum lot sizes. Chair Duggan commented that he suspected that there would not be a lot of flexibility in the configuration of the plat to account for Fire and Safety concerns even though it was a shorter road. He asked about exploring the possibility of getting Fire Protection access via one of the other adjacent roads. There are two cul de sacs that come close to the area, and there would be only one yard to cross to provide Fire Protection for proposed lots 2, 3 and 4. Chair Duggan stated that the second major consideration was tree preservation. The recommendation of staff was to review each site, individually to try to determine how many trees can be preserved. The challenge would be to identify the trees to be preserved relative to the house pad for each of the units. Commissioner Koll said she had three concerns; one of which is the lot sizes. Commissioner Koll said that by comparison to the other lot sizes in the neighborhood, these platted lots where much smaller. Commissioner Koll's second concern was a public street vs a private street decision. Commissioner Koll inquired as to whom would pay for the replacement of potholes and if an association would be formed. Commissioner Friel stated that with private streets an association would probably need to be formed. Commissioner Friel also stated that eventually the private streets are not kept up and then they become public. The City usually has problems with subsequent owners of the property. Commissioner Friel stated he has a very strong opposition to private streets because they eventually become public streets. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES - JUNE 22, 1999 Commissioner Koll stated that her third concern is to maintain the character of the neighborhood. A tree survey would be required. Commissioner Friel said the zoning on the site is MR-PUD. Commissioner Friel stated that our current ordinance does not permit a PUD on anything less than 10 acres. Under exceptional circumstances, it is permitted for 5 acres or more but under no circumstances under 5 acres. Commissioner Friel stated that a MR- PUD has some of the same requirements as an R-2 Zoning District and he felt that the Bjorklund's would be better off seeking a rezoning to R-2, rather than proceeding with a PUD. Administrative Assistant Patrick Hollister stated that the reason the Bjorklund's went ahead with the PUD Concept Plan was because staff instructed them to do so because of its current MR-PUD zoning. Commissioner Friel stated that he has concerns on processing this as a PUD because it just does not meet the requirements of Sec. 22 of the Zoning Ordinance. Commissioner Friel stated that when the Bjorklunds do their calculations on impervious surface and some other PUD requirements they are going to run into more problems than just the acreage requirements. Commissioner Friel also commented that the Council is in the middle of a Comprehensive Plan revision and that this is the kind of parcel that gets lost with respect to the fact that it is an orphaned MR-PUD zoned parcel. Commissioner Friel stated that he thought that the Bjorklund's would be better off with an R-2 proposal because the requirements are consistent with a MR-PUD. Commissioner Lorberbaum recommended that there not be three driveway access cuts onto Delaware but rather one. Chair Duggan suggested that Mr. Bjorklund propose driveways from the private road to each of the 4 or 5 units, all of them exiting onto Delaware. Commissioner Tilsen had concerns about the depth and size of the lots relative to the other lots around them. Commissioner Tilsen also stated that he was concerned that the Bjorklunds were trying to get too much out of the site and that the limited buildable area on each lot would necessitate the removal of all trees within the setbacks when a house is built. Commissioner Tilsen stated that he would feel comfortable with 3 lots on a private driveway, but if the Bjorklunds were looking for 5 lots that Commissioner Tilsen's preference would be for construction of a public street. Chair Duggan stated that a major area of concern that had not been addressed was the relocation of Dr. Owens home. He suggested that two or three plans be presented to the Planning Commission showing the location of the home, as well as the potential grading plans. Chair Duggan suggested that one plan show a public road with a 36.5' radius and driveway access to each of the homes off of that road rather than two of them onto Delaware. Chair Duggan believed that PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES - JUNE 22, 1999 when these adjustments are made, the Bjorklunds may have 5 lots each with 15,000 sq. feet, at best. Commissioner Friel stated that he felt because of the strange zoning on this land that all had been misled because the proposal in front of the Planning Commission is for single family dwellings. MR-PUD is a zoning classification consistent with Multi-Family medium density residential which is inconsistent with what the Bjorklunds are proposing. Commissioner Friel suggested that if a rezoning is thought about, that R-2 be selected. Commissioner Friel also mentioned that another issue was the possibility that the parcel is in an aircraft noise zone, possibly zone 3 or 4, which would create some problems with the Met Council. Administrative Assistant Patrick Hollister stated that this parcel could be considered infill and there is a clause in the Met Council noise requirement regarding infill development . He felt that they would not get any active resistance from the Met Council in respect to airnoise. Verbal Review Mr. Hollister summarized the status of previous planning applications. Adjournment Chair Duggan moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:22 p.m. Commissioner Friel seconded the motion. Ayes: 6 Nays: 0 Respectfully submitted, Linda L. Shipton Senior Secretary PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES - JUNE 22,1999 '