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1985-08-27 Joint Council-Planning Comm minutesPage No. 2330 August 27, 1985 CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS DAKOTA COUNTY STATE OF MINNESOTA Minutes of the Joint Meeting Held Tuesday, August 27, 1985 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the special meeting of the Mendota Heights City Council was held at 7:00 P:M., at the City Hall, 750 South Plaza Drive. Mayor Lockwood called the meeting to order at 7:08 P.M. The following members were present: Mayor Lockwood, Councilmembers Cummins, Hartmann, and Witt. Councilmember Blesener had advised the Council that she would be unable to attend. Also present were Planning Commission members Kruse, Burke, Frank, Henning, McMonigal, Morson, and Stefani. AGENDA ADOPTION Councilmember Hartmann moved adoption of the agenda as prepared. Councilmember Witt seconded the motion. Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 JOINT POWERS AGREEMENT Mayor Lockwood moved the adoption of Resolution No.85-65 WITH EAGAN "RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF A JOINT POWERS AGREEMENT WITH THE CITY OF EAGAN, MINNESOTA". Councilmember Witt seconded the motion. Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 SOUTH EAST AREA STUDY City Planner Howard Dahlgren gave a brief history of the plan- ning for the South East Area of the City. He indicated that some of the major landowners were now requesting rezoning of the land contiguous to 1-494. He then presented an updated analysis of the traffic that would be generated by the alternate development schemes and the ability of the area transportation system to handle that traffic. Planner Dahlgren indicated that the system should be adequate, with the possible exception of the Dodd Road/Mendota Heights Road intersection, for some, of the more intense development schemes might necessitate development of left turn lanes and perhaps even traffic control signals at some point in the future. He said that the studies by traffic engineer Jack Anderson indicated that approximately 45% of the trips generated by the new development would be oriented to the Dodd/I-494 interchange. Mr. Dahlgren said that his firm had developed two new concepts since the preliminary report, labeled as concept B-1 and B-2. Under concept B-1, there would be limited office use in the property south of the Visitation Convent and St. Thomas Academy. Low density residential would be the designation for the school district property immediately south of the Hazel Court development. For the property south of Mendota Heights Road, it would be high density Page No. 2331 August 27, 1985 residential toward the west, and medium density residential, (i.e., 4 units per acre) on the easterly portion. Planner Dahlgren said that the Visitation sisters preferred the office designation for their land, and that such a use was also more compatible with airport noise guidelines. He added that the owner of the three single family homes on Condon Court also agreed with that designation so it appeared that there was little controversy on this part of the proposal. Under Concept B-2, the property immediately south of Hazel Court would be upgraded to medium density residential (i.e, 4 units per acre), and there would be planned a 35,000 square foot neighborhood commercial facility at the southeast corner of Mendota Heights Road and Dodd Road. Concept B-1 also extends the medium density residential somewhat north of Mendota Heights Road on the easterly part of the property. Planner Dahlgren then briefly explained parts of the updated study that covered daily auto trip generations from different kinds of development, concerns with the groundwater, and the fiscal impacts on the City's tax base of the various alternate developments. He said that there were no unusual groundwater concerns in this area, but any development plan should be sensitive to the need to protect the recharge areas. With regard to taxes, he indicated that the studies done by the consultant and city staff showed that the net tax benefit to the City went up with increased density, and was highest for Concept D, which maximizes apartment use. Planner Dahlgren said that he felt the part of the project dealing with the Visitation/Tousignant project was not really controversial, and that the owners and surrounding land owners seem to agree on the designation. He also indicated that he thought Tandem Corporation's proposal for average 20,000 square foot lots on the Opus property were generally consistent with surrounding residential developments in the Friendly Hills and Delaware Crossing subdivisions. Mr. Dahlgren said that he thought the real issues were for the area south of Mendota Heights Road. Because of the airport noise considerations, as well as the fact that there would be no noise walls protecting this area from the freeway, he said that it was his opinion that some form of multi-family housing appeared most appropriate for this area. He felt that that should be apartments to the west, and townhouses at 4 units per acre in the more easterly area which would be protected from the freeway by a sizeable berm. Developer Jim Riley responded that he felt that townhouses at 4 units per acre for that area was really not economically viable, due to decreased values caused by airport noise and freeway, as well as anticipated assessments for utilities. Page No. 2332 August. 27, 1985 Planner Dahlgren said that 4 units per acre would be three times the density of the McNulty proposal which was once planned for the area, but did not prove to be economically feasible. Mayor Lockwood asked about the possibility of rezoning all of the property south of Mendota Heights Road to R-1A, 40,000 square foot lots. He said that he felt people who could afford to build houses on that size of lots could also afford the soundproofing necessary to protect their houses from airport noise. Planner Dahlgren responded that people who could afford to live in that kind of a house probably would not choose an area contiguous to a freeway and heavily impacted by airport noise, as well as the special expense of noise attenuation. He also said that he felt that such a development simply would not be economically viable. Councilmember Cummins questioned the economy of assessments for the townhouses at 4 units per acre. Planner Dahlgren responded that that density had proven viable in other parts of the metropolitan area, and he felt it could work here. Councilmember Cummins also said that concern had been expressed to him about the adequacy of the utility system to handle more dense development than was currently zoned. Public Works Director Jim Danielson said that he felt the system really was quite adequate to handle any of the develop- ment schemes. Mayor Lockwood responded that as he recalled the City's trunk sewer system had been built to handle an anticipated population of 20,000. Councilmember Cummins questioid whether there might be any reason to consider extending the office use further to the east in lieu of the high density residential. Planner Dahlgren responded that would be possible, but that he felt the Visitation property to the west was much better suited for that use, primarily because of the available transportation system. He said that the transportation system going east toward Delaware Avenue tends to "peter out" as viable for office use. He also said that he thought that type of office use could conflict with the existing residential neighbor- hoods to the north. Councilmember Witt asked about the concern that had been expressed by some over renters versus owners in such large numbers. Planner Dahlgren responded that in the early '50's, there was a perception that renters would not have a "stake" in the community, and would not therefore be good residents. He said that in the ensuing years that had largely been found to be a myth. He added that renters, if anything, tend to be disinterested in local affairs, rather than forming any kind of coordinated voting block that affects local politics. He said that people who rent in a community frequently also choose to buy in that same community later, and the recent ADJOURN Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 Page No. 2233 August 27, 1985 studies of the Riley apartments at Lexington Heights showed that the rents are quite high, and the type of people living there to be similar to other types of people you might find in Mendota Heights. Developer Riley said that he had commissioned an appraiser to do an analysis of alternative land uses on his property south of Mendota. Heights Road. He said that that preliminary report would be presented to the Council in the near future, but' it appeared that the combined impact of the freeway and airport noise zoning would tend to decrease market values of properties in the area by 10 to 15%. Therefore, it appeared that the appraisers opinion would be that owner occupied housing in the area would only work at 8 to 10 units per acre, and they would have to be lower cost units. Mr. Riley said that he felt the City would be much better off with the high- quality, low density apartment project that he was proposing. Planner Dahlgren noted that the City of Eagan has designated about 3,000 acres running south all the way along 1-494 for commercial and industrial development. Marsha Knittig, Park Commissioner, indicated that the park commission had requested that any final determination on setting aside land for parks or park dedication fees from this development be postponed until the City's master parks plan is completed later this year. Planning Commission Chairperson Cam Kruse asked about the impact of traffic on Dodd Road. Planner Dahlgren responded that he thought that Dodd Road was going to be more signif- icantly impacted by the development to the south in Eagan, than by anything Mendota Heights would do in the southeast area. It was agreed that a follow-up special workshop between the Planning Commission and City Council would be necessary to start to make some decisions on the various alternatives presented. That meeting was set for Tuesday, September 10th, at 7:00 P.M. There being no further business Council, Councilmember Hartmann adjourned. Councilmember Witt seconded the to.come before the City moved that the meeting be motion. TIME OF ADJOURNMENT: 8:40 o'clock P.M. Kevin D. Frazell, Cit ATTEST: itr &L Robert G. Lockwood, Mayor Administrator