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1987-07-28 Planning Comm MinutesCITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA JULY 28, 1987 - 7:30 P.M. 1. Call to Order. 2. Roll Call. 3. Approval of Minutes, June 23. 4. HEARING• a. CASE NO. 87-18, B'iorklund/Hanson, Subdivision. 7:30 P.M. 5. New Business: a. CASE NO. 87-19, Hallev, Variances. 6. Miscellaneous: Mr. Dick Putnam, from Tandem Corporation, will be present to informally discuss the parks issue/athletic complex in the SE area and the SE area of the City in general. 7. Verbal Review. 8 . Adj ourn Page 1 July 28, 198� CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, JULY 28, 1987 The regular meeting of the Mendota Heights Planning Commission was held on Tuesday, July 28, 1987, in the City Council Chambers. Chairman Morson called the : meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. The following members were present: Morson, Anderson, Burke, Henning, Krebsbach, and McMonigal. Commissioner Duggan had notified the Commission that he would be unable to attend. Also present were City-Administrator Kevin Frazell and Assistant Planner John Shardlow. APPROVAL OF Minutes of the June 23 meeting had been MINUTES submitted previously. Commissioner Anderson moved that the minutes be approved as submitted. Commissioner McMonigal seconded the motion. Ayes: 6 Nays: 0 CASE NO. 87-18, Chairman Morson called the meeting to BJORKLUND/HANSON order for the purpose of a public hearing SUBDIVISION, to consider an application from Richard IiEARING Bjorklund, Sr. and Roy Hanson. Mr. David Hansing, consulting engineer for the project, gave a presentation of the plan. He noted the steep grades on the site, and indicated that the developers ielt the two cul-de-sac arrangement as proposed was a better arrangement than servicing lots off Warrior Drive. Mr. Hansing noted that there will be drainage issues to the southwest corner of the plat and into Knob Road, and said that he would be meeting with the City Engineering department to resolve those issues. He said that public utilities will be serviced off Warrior Drive. He also noted that the plat proposes a 50 foot right-of-way for streets and a--�8�6' � foot radius on cul-de-sacs. He said that there were other alternatives that would have allowed the developers to put more lots on the site, but that those were less pleasing because they required massive grading. Chairman Morson questioned the plan for saving trees, and why a vegetation plan Page 2 July 28, 1987 had not been included with the application materials. He also noted the long length of Henry Circle, and questioned whether the two storm drain inlets as proposed would be adequate. He also questioned why there wasn't more information submitted on the complete storm sewer system and the relationship of the proposal to surrounding platted and unplatted property. Commissioner Henning asked whether it was realistic to believe that emergency vehicles could access homes on the cul- de-sac directly over Warrior Drive. Chairman Morson indicted his concern with the lot size. He felt lot sizes of less than 100 feet of frontage were too small for the sizes of houses that were usually built by the Bjarklunds. Mr. Hansing responded that a plan that strictly meets code could go up to 26 lots, but that it was a less pleasing plan than that being submitted. Commissioner Anderson said that he felt reducing the subdivision by one lot would help obviate a crowded feeling. Mr. Dave Bjorklund responded that there are lots of less than 100 feet of frontage in the Copperfield development, and that many times people simply set their house back farther than the minimum requirement of a 30 foot setback. Dick Bjorklund, Sr. said that the issue of School District No. 197 dedicating additional right-of-way along Warrior Drive was being worked out with them. He also said tha� he and Mr. Hanson, co- owners of the property, had met with City Planner Howard Dahlgren several years ago when the� first bought the property. Their original thought was a three cul- de-sac approach, which preserved 100 foot frontage on all lots. However, after meeting with Planner Dahlgren, they decided it was not the best layout because of the steep grades on the property. He indicted that a crowded feeling could be resolved simply by building some homes back further than the 30 foot minimum setback. Commissioner Page 3 July 28, 1987 Henning agreed that he felt sizable houses could be built with sufficient setback. Chairman Morson asked for questions or comments from the audience. Ms. Kay Hanzal, 1970 Knob Road, raised questions about cost for moving of electrical lines, where a holding pond would be located during the construction of the development, who would be paying for the storm sewer improvements, and would adequate provision be made for storm drainage coming into their properties. Dick Bjorklund, Sr. responded that the developers had a strong interest in seeing that the storm drainage flow was adequately taken care of, since they did not want to get into a liability issue with surrounding homeowners. He said the City would require a storm sewer project, which would actually cause an improvement for the existing neighborhood. There being no further questions from the audience, Commissioner Henning moved to close the public hearing at 8:19 P.M. Commissioner Anderson seconded the motion. Ayes: 6 Nays: 0 Mr. Hansing indicated that there were few organic soils on the site, and that it was mostly sand and gravel. Assistant City Planner John Shardlow said that their office supported the development and that Planner Howard Dahlgren felt the lots could be developed adequately. However, the question of whether to allow the less than 100 ioot minimum frontage was a policy decision for the Commission. Commissioner Krebsbach moved to recommend approval of the plat conditioned upon: 1. That a letter from School District 197 approving conveyance of the extra right-of-way along Warrior Drive be provided prior to final plat approval. Page 4 July 28, 1987 2. That there be no driveways extending directly to Warrior Drive. Commissianer McMonigal seconded the motion. Commissioner Anderson said that he couldn't suppor� the motion without removal of at least one lot. Commissioner Burke agreed that he would not support it either. Ayes: 4 Nays: 2, Anderson and Burke CASE NO. 87-19, Mr. Jeff Schoenwetter, representing the HALLEY, VARIANCES developer, briefly presented the two requested variances for Park Place. The first is for construction of a neighborhood recreation center on one lot, to be owned and operated ultimately by the Park Place homeowners association. The second variance was for six foot entrance monuments at the two streets entering the plat. He said that the reason for the entrance monuments is to help set a tone of a quality neighborhood. It was noted that there are also islands proposed to be constructed at the entry streets, and he said those would have low maintenance landscaping. Commissioner Anderson noted that the City Planner staff report included a recommendation that the gazebo be moved closer to the center of the tennis • courts, the tot lot closer to the public street, and some benches constructed for watching children. It was noted that the plan as submitted by the developer in the packet did not include these changes. Chair Morson felt that the application should be sent back to the developer to draw up a revised plan for resubmittal to the Commission. Mr. Schoenwetter indicated that each homeowner would be paying approximately $50 a quarter toward the maintenance of the recreation facility, which should be adequate given the low maintenance types of improvements planned. Chair Morson noted that City staff seemed to have some concern about on-going cost of Page 5 July 28, 1987 maintenance. City Administrator Frazell said that he disagreed with the recommendation in the City Planner's report that the City have authority to take over maintenance of the lot and assess the homeowners for such. Mr. Frazell said that he doubted that the City had legal authority to do that, and instead suggested that the variance carry a condition that at such time as the homeowners association fails to adequately maintain the recreation lot, the variance approval will be withdrawn and the City will order the removal of the recreation improvements. Chairman Morson said that he couldn't agree to the monuments as requested at the entry ways since he felt Wachtler Avenue was already a safety hazard, and this could reduce visibility for traffic trying to get on and off of Wachtler. He also said that he thought the zoning code standard of a height of no more than 30 inches in a front yard should be maintained. The monuments, as proposed, are six feet. Mr. Schoenwetter said that he felt the monuments were set back far enough from the Wachtler right-of-way to preserve existing site lines. Commissioner Henning said that he thought the plan for the recreation lot should be revised per the discussion with the planner and brought back to the Commission. Mr. Schoenwetter responded that the developers were most amenable to making those changes, but would like to get them approved since time was of some concern. Commissioner Anderson moved that the requested variance for installation of the entrance monuments be denied. Cammissioner Henning seconded the motion. Ayes: 6 Nays: 0 Commissioner Henning moved that the plan as presented for the recreation lot be postponed until the plan is revised as suggested in the City Planner's report, and the issue of on-going maintenance by the homeowners association is more clearly discussed. Page 6 July 28, 1987 Commissioner Burke seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 Nays: l, Krebsbach INFORMAL REVIEW OF Mr. Dick Putnam of Tandem Corporation and SE AREA DEVELOPMENT Mr. Tom Boyce of Centex Corporation were PLANS BY TANDEM & present to have a preliminary discussion CENTEX CORPORATIONS with the Commission regarding their plans for submittal of development proposals in the southeast area of the City. Mr. Putnam began by briefly reviewing the City's southeast area comprehensive plan amendment, and the original proposal submitted by Tandem/Centex for low, medium, and high density development south of Mendota Heights Road, as well as a commercial center at the corner of Dodd and Mendota Heights Road. He said that at the July 7 City Council meeting, the Council discussed its alternative options for development of a community athletic complex, and requested that he and Centex submit an alternative plan for the southeast area that would accommodate an athletic complex, in case the City decides not to do a joint project with School District No. 197 on the Henry Sibley campus. He then presented such a plan to the Commission. He indicated that the developers feel there is still a need for a neighborhood park in the area, even with the athletic complex, since the uses are different. He presented both a plan that had been shared with the Parks Commission two weeks earlier, as well as a newly updated plan that connected the neighborhood and athletic parks. The new plan places the most highly lit facilities, i.e., baseball and softball fields, south alang the freeway, with tot lot and picnic areas to the east. Athletic facilities with less lighting, i.e., soccer fields, are to the north, with the passive neighborhood park facility farthest north along Mendota Heights Road. He noted that they are proposing to put high density development around the park, with medium density development north and east toward the intersection of Mendota Heights Road and Delaware Avenue, and single family homes to the southeast Page 7 July 28, 1987 toward the intersection of 494 and Delaware avenue. He said this plan keeps the most objectionable sports uses south closest to the freeway. He said that the City's parks consultant, Barry Warner, would have ta compute construction costs for the new proposed development, as well as make some judgement on land costs. He indicated that Centex Corporation was willing to sell the acreage to the Ci�y at the same price at which it would be acquiring the property from current owner Jim Riley. Mr. Putnam said that the total park proposal as presented was about 32 acres, and that a portion would be dedicated by the developers as their park dedication for the overall development. A question was raised as to what this plan did for overall density in the area versus the plan without the athletic complex. In the area roughly around the park, Mr. putnam indicated that there were 350-400 units under the new plan with the athletic complex, versus about 550 units without the complex. It was noted that the developers would be filing a formal application, and that the item would be on the Commission agenda for public hearing and formal consideration at its August meeting. City Administrator Frazell indicated that the public hearing notice would also include notice to residents that we would be considering whether there should be a change to the park designation of the School Forest property, since there are not currently any plans that would place an athletic complex on that site. MISCELLANEOUS Commissioner Henning raised a question about why the Commission is getting applications, i.e., the Bjorklund/Hansan subdivision, that did not have all the submittal materials as required by the subdivision ordinance. City Administrator Frazell responded that he felt the City Planner and Engineering department were meeting with developers and indicating to them what was required. However, Mr. Frazell said that perhaps Page 8 July 28, 1987 staff was not being careful to follow-up and make sure that all of those items were included with the submittal materials before they are actually forwarded to the Planning Commission. He indicated that he would check on it, and correct the problem. ADJOURN There being no further business to come before the Commission, Commissioner Burke moved that the meeting be adjourned. Commissioner Henning seconded the motion. Ayes: 6 Nays: 0 TIME OF ADJOURNMENT: 10:32 P.M.