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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/21/2006 MAPLEWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION Monday, August 21,2006, 7:00 PM City Hall Council Chambers 1830 County Road BEast 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Agenda 4. Approval of Minutes a. August 7, 2006 5. Public Hearings 7:00 Street Right-of-Way Vacation - Engstrom (Century Avenue and New Century Boulevard) 7:15 Easement Vacation - Hillside Estates (between Linwood Avenue and Springside Drive) 6. New Business None 7. Unfinished Business None 9. Visitor Presentations 10. Commission Presentations August 14 Council Meeting: Mr. Hess August 28 Council Meeting: Mr. Pearson September 11 Council Meeting: Mr. Trippler September 25 Council Meeting: Mr. Desai 11. Staff Presentations Reschedule September 4 Meeting (Labor Day) - Wednesday September 6? 12. Adjoumment MINUTES OF THE MAPLEWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION 1830 COUNTY ROAD BEAST, MAPLEWOOD, MINNESOTA MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 2006 I. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Fischer called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Vice-Chairperson Tushar Desai Commissioner Mary Dierich Chairperson Lorraine Fischer Commissioner Michael Grover Commissioner Harland Hess Commissioner Jim Kaczrowski Commissioner Gary Pearson Commissioner Dale Trippler Commissioner Jeremy Yarwood Present Present Present Present Absent Present Present Present Absent Staff Present: Ken Roberts, Planner Lisa Kroll, Recording Secretary III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Commissioner Dierich moved to approve the agenda. Commissioner Grover seconded. The motion passed. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Ayes - Desai, Dierich, Fischer, Grover, Kaczrowski, Pearson, Trippler Approval of the planning commission minutes for August 7, 2006. Commissioner Trippler had two punctuation corrections on page 8, last paragraph, third sentence, add a comma after the words light poles would be.....and a comma after the words lights would be on.. Commissioner Dierich had a correction on page 6, fifth paragraph, second line, change pervious to impervious. On page 9, third paragraph, after Mr. Frantz add the words was in favor of it but he. Commissioner Desai moved to approve the planning commission minutes for August 7, 2006, as amended. Commissioner Dierich seconded. Ayes - Desai, Dierich, Pearson, Trippler Abstentions - Fischer, Grover, Kaczrowski Planning Commission Minutes of 08-21-06 -2- V. PUBLIC HEARING a. Street Right-of-Way Vacation - Engstrom (Century Avenue and New Century Blvd) (7:11-7:18 p.m.) Mr. Roberts said Mr. Paul Engstrom, representing the developer of New Century, is proposing that the city vacate part of an existing street right-of-way. This excess right-of-way is on the northwest corner of Century Avenue and New Century Boulevard. Mr. Engstrom wants the city to vacate this right-of-way so the sprinkler and irrigation equipment that is now on the property in question would be on property owned by the homeowner's association and not on public property. Chairperson Fischer asked if the structure there is in compliance with the 30-foot setback? Mr. Roberts said this structure was put up without permission. The city has not had it surveyed to determine if it meets the 30-foot setback. Chairperson Fischer asked if that could be something that may need a variance? Mr. Roberts said yes potentially. Commissioner Dierich said the structure is enclosing water fixtures for the development irrigation system that have been there for many years. They just enclosed the fixtures because there were vandalism problems. She believes this structure is pretty close to the 30-foot setback. Chairperson Fischer said the fixtures by themselves would not need a variance but once you put a structure around the fixtures that may need a variance. Mr. Roberts said the applicant contacted staff and said he had a conflict with attending tonight's meeting. There were no visitors in the audience to speak regarding this item. Chairperson Fischer closed the public hearing. Commissioner Pearson moved to recommend approval of the resolution on page seven in the staff report. This resolution is for the vacation of part of the street right-of-way on the northwest corner of Century Avenue and New Century Boulevard. The reasons for the vacation are as follows: 1. It is in the public interest. 2. The city and the property owner do not need or use the right-of-way in question for street or utility purposes. 3. The properties adjacent to the right-of-way have adequate street access. This vacation is subject to the property owner granting to the county a ten-foot-wide public highway and drainage and utility easement over the east ten feet of the property in question. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-21-06 -3- Commissioner Trippler seconded. Ayes - Desai, Dierich, Fischer, Grover, Kaczrowski, Pearson, Trippler The motion passed. This item goes to the city council on September 11, 2006. b. Easement Vacation - Hillside Estates (between Linwood Avenue and Springside Drive) (7:18 -7:24 p.m.) Mr. Roberts said Josh Clendenen of Delaney Company LLC is requesting the vacation of a public drainage and utility easement located on two vacant lots (Lots 2 and 3, Hillside Estates Plat - 2412 Springside Drive and 2417 Linwood Avenue). The vacation of the easement is requested in order to reconfigure the existing infiltration basin on Lot 3 to better accommodate the development of a single-family house. Mr. Clendenen will dedicate a new drainage and utility easement to the city to cover the reconfigured infiltration basin. The commission did not have any questions for staff. The applicant was not present in the audience and staff had no contact with him. There was nobody in the audience to speak regarding this item. Commissioner Trippler moved to approve the drainage and utility easement vacation resolution attached in the staff report. This resolution approves Josh Clendenen's request for the vacation of a drainage and utility easement on Lots 2 and 3, Hillside Estates. The city should vacate the drainage and utility easement because: 1. It is in the public interest. 2. The vacation will allow the creation of a new filtration basin on Lot ~ ~ which will allow a single-family house to be constructed on the lot which meets the front yard setback required by city code. 3. The property owner will dedicate a new drainage and utility easement to the city. The vacation of the drainage and utility easement is approved with the following conditions: 1. Prior to issuance of a grading or building permit for Lots 2 and 3, Hillside Estates, the applicant must submit the following to city staff for approval: a. A revised grading and drainage plan which shows all changes required by Jon Jarosch of the Maplewood engineering department in the August 16, 2006, engineering review. b. Proof that the revised drainage and utility easement has been recorded with the county. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-21-06 -4- c. A tree preservation plan which shows the size and species of all trees on Lots 2 and 3, which large trees will be removed from the lots, appropriate measures needed to protect trees which will be preserved, and the location, species, and size of all required replacement trees. d. A letter of credit or cash escrow to cover 150 percent of the cost of all replacement trees. 2. Prior to certificate of occupancy for a new house on Lots 2 or 3, the applicant must install all required replacement trees and complete the construction of the infiltration basin as per the approved plans. Commissioner Desai seconded. Ayes - Desai, Dierich, Fischer, Grover, Kaczrowski, Pearson, Trippler The motion passed. This item goes to the city council on September 11, 2006. VI. NEW BUSINESS None. VII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. VIII. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS None. IX. COMMISSION PRESENTATIONS a. Mr. Hess was the planning commission representative at the August 14, 2006, city council meeting. Commissioner Hess was absent this evening so Mr. Roberts reported on the meeting. Although the city council meeting went very late and had to reconvene on Thursday, August 17, the only planning commission item to discuss was Carpet Court at 1685 Arcade Street, the city council approved the zoning map change for the lot to the west and then denied the building setback variance which meant the project did not pass approval of the city council. Commissioner Trippler said ifthe applicant purchased 42'h feet of land from the adjoining land owner and got that land rezoned with the city that would take care of the problem. Mr. Roberts said he wasn't sure if the applicant had tried to purchase additional land for this proposal or not. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-21-06 -5- b. Mr. Pearson will be the planning commission representative at the August 28,2006, city council meeting. Planning Commission items to discuss include the Easement Vacation for Ronald Erickson at 2699 Hazelwood Street, the CUP for the White Bear Avenue Family Health Center at 2099 White Bear Avenue, CUP Revision for Hill-Murray School at 2625 Larpenteur Avenue, and the Cottagewood Town Houses at 2666 Highwood Avenue. c. Mr. Trippler will be the planning commission representative at the September 11, 2006, city council meeting. Planning Commission items to discuss include the Street right-of-way vacation for Century Avenue and New Century Boulevard and the Easement Vacation on Hillside Estates between Linwood Avenue and Springside Drive. d. Mr. Desai will be the planning commission representative at the September 25, 2006, city council meeting. At this time it is unknown what items will be discussed. e. Lorraine Fischer said she read an article in the Maplewood Review regarding the Gladstone area and the original developer who made a presentation to the HRA for the St. Paul Tourist Cabin site was not the same developer that had been mentioned in the article. She asked what happened to the plan that the original developer Central Community Housing Trust (CCHT) proposed to the HRA? Mr. Roberts said when CCHT made a presentation to the city council CCHT was not well received by the city council and interim city manager so the developer decided not to pursue the proposal. Chairperson Fischer said the article referred to money for a grant from the Metropolitan Council, has that been submitted and if it has been submitted, has the city heard anything back yet? Mr. Roberts said the application for grant money has been submitted and the city has not heard anything back and that the grant review process usually takes many months. f. Dale spoke regarding the preliminary plan for Carver Crossing. The statement regarding the Mississippi River Critical Area states in the last paragraph the designated areas within the site have qualifying bluff lines that have been full evaluated. Although there are clearly slopes of 18 percent or greater within the site, additional criteria necessary to establish bluff lines is defined as defined by city ordinance are not met. Qualifying areas require direct drainage to protected water (Fish Creek) must be greater than 200 feet in length (top to bottom), or greater than 500 feet in width (side to side). Do all of those conditions not exist at that bluff? Mr. Roberts said that is correct. There are some bluffs on the very west end of the site that might meet the criteria but don't drain to a protected water area, it drains down the hill into St. Paul. The bluffs that are steep that go to Fish Creek don't meet the ordinance height and length requirements. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-21-06 -6- Commissioner Trippler said the bluff that faces west isn't considered at all, why is that? Mr. Roberts said correct because it does not drain to a protected water area and it does not meet the criteria. Commissioner Trippler said when you look on the map it looks like the drainage could go into Fish Creek. Mr. Roberts said staff will check further on that with the Watershed District. Commissioner Trippler said regarding the CoPar letter on page 2 it says Community feedback and planning commission recommendations made it clear that a PUD is appropriate but an alternative multiple dwelling proposal is not acceptable or should the comprehensive plan be changed. It meets the comprehensive plan. He said this seems inconsistent to him. Mr. Roberts said the feedback the applicant got back from the planning commission for the proposal for 299 units with some detached town homes, attached town homes, 2 condo buildings, and six and eight unit buildings was fairly negative and the planning commission recommended denial of that proposal. Because that project had attached units it needed a comprehensive plan amendment. The developer has reduced the number of units from 299 to 191 with a plan for detached units and the comprehensive plan has it shown as single family. Thus as the plan is proposed, it does not need an amendment to the comprehensive plan because they are detached units similar to single family homes. Reducing the number of units was to reduce the traffic impact, no multi-family homes, and the developer doesn't think he can get the four votes from the city council that would be needed for a comprehensive plan amendment. They tried to redesign the project so that it would be consistent with the comprehensive plan thus the plan we have now. Commissioner Trippler asked if the current zoning was R-E? Mr. Roberts said the zoning is mixed, the north half is farm and the south half is R-1(R). Commissioner Trippler asked if the R-1 (R) zoning was in existence when the comprehensive plan was last approved? Mr. Roberts said no the R-1 (R) zoning came in after. Chairperson Fischer said the fear was there was no sewer connection there and plans were beginning to come forward regarding future development. It was recognized that the soils may not support individual sewer systems. Commissioner Trippler said he is happy that passed and he thinks the south leg of Maplewood is uniquely different and should remain unique. He thinks when we make the revisions to the comprehensive plan that some areas that are now designated R-1 will be R-1 (R). Planning Commission Minutes of 08-21-06 -7- Mr. Roberts said that is one of the inconsistencies between the zoning ordinance and the comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan has 25 land use categories where the zoning ordinance only has 14 categories. In some ways the comprehensive plan is more comprehensive because it has more categories but in other ways it is less because we treat all single family as single family on the land use maps. Mr. Roberts said one thing to keep in mind with this site however, is looking at the R-1(R) ordinance one thing that was discussed was the availability of sanitary sewer. It is the public works department's opinion that sanitary sewer is available to this site. It is available at Carver Avenue and at the end of Heights Avenue at the temporary cul-de-sac to the west of the project. They have also redesigned this project so it no longer needs a lift station, which makes public works happy. The sewer at Heights Avenue is deep enough so that almost all the new sewage from this project can go to the west and to into the cul-de-sac and tie into the existing sewer. The developer is making the argument that sewer is available here and they have the right to hook up to it. The developer thinks the city expected to extend the sewer here at some point because of the locations where the sewer connection ended. Commissioner Trippler said this is going to be a referendum whether the city wants to retain the character of south Maplewood or whether we want to pave it over. Commissioner Dierich asked what a jack pit is? Mr. Roberts said that is a place they can set up equipment to jack the pipe under the freeway. He hasn't talked to Chuck Ahl about this but when there was talk of a lift station in the earlier project Mr. Ahl was considering with the public improvements for this project if this goes forward to look at extending the sewer under the freeway at the same time because of the timing of the work being done. Mr. Ahl didn't want the new development to be built and then come back two years later disturbing new and current residents with a sewer project. If the developer's engineers have set it up that there is room to do the work in the future with the jack pit there may not need be a need to extend the sewer at this time. But staff will have to clarify that with the engineering staff. That was one of the fears for the people living along Sterling. If this project went forward and the city putthe sewer in under the freeway; that would almost force new development on that side of 1-494. Staff doesn't know if that is still the case with this project or not or if the sewer can be done at a later point. Commissioner Dierich asked staff to briefly explain what the developer is proposing for the park dedication piece? Mr. Roberts said as he recalled the developer made two proposals. To meet the park dedication requirements for the project the builder would pay a park dedication fee of $3,000 per building, that would amount to $600,000 for the city with the understanding that the city would guarantee $250,000 of that money would be spent south of Carver Avenue on the project and if that was the case, the developer would be willing to add an additional $250,000 for such things as trails, a scenic overlook, a bird watching location or tot lot focused within that development. The other alternative is dedicating 10 to 15 acres of land that they would deed to the city or to Ramsey County for additional park land and pay no money. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-21-06 -8- Mr. Roberts said in most cities when a land dedication is made it is 10% of a project site which in this case would be 7.2 acres. A lot of the land here would not be utilized anyway. Bruce Anderson, the Park and Recreation Director said he would prefer option 1 and have the money. He doesn't see a need for additional park land in that part of Maplewood. Commissioner Trippler asked how staff sees the process of revising the comprehensive plan? Mr. Roberts said he believes that either the Community Development budget or the Public Works Department budget put the request in for money to hire a consultant to assist with the comprehensive plan in the 2007 budget. The comprehensive plan has to be worked on in 2007 because it is due to the met council in 2008 and staff told that to the city management through the budget request. Mr. Roberts said he worked here during the last two revisions of the comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan had been worked on by a consultant, the help of city staff and with some assistance from the planning commission. The comprehensive plan was due in 2000 but it took until 2002 to complete and it was adopted. Because staff was doing most of the work it was about a 3 year process. Commissioner Trippler said he would like to make a suggestion. Serving on the environmental committee the committee felt that in order to get projects done faster they selected sub committees to work on individual projects. These sub committees consisted of two or three environmental committee members and they met two or three times a month with staff and/or the watershed district. He asked ifthe commission thoughtthis could also work for the process of revising the comprehensive plan? There could be a sub committee of three or four members that want to work on the comprehensive plan. Those committee members could work with staff when there wasn't a planning commission meeting. This would be a way to assist with the process of revising the comprehensive plan. Chairperson Fischer said one of the revisions to the comprehensive plan was more of a housekeeping process and was not as time consuming as if you were doing a total overhaul to the comprehensive plan. Mr. Roberts said the first comprehensive plan was a major overhaul and the last revision that took place was more of a housekeeping issue. He said one thing the commission may want to think about is what are the issues the commission has with the current comprehensive plan? Start identifying things you think should be changed such as text, maps, or information. A lot of the goals and policies still work but things like adding an R-1 (R) category could be looked at. There are some things the Met Council will require be updated such as the population estimates, transportation, sewer flows, etc. but a lot of that information the city gets from the met council. The city will not be doing major projections and studies because as the city is more built out, in theory there should be less change. More importantly is if the city council makes a final decision regarding the Gladstone Redevelopment Area that would be a major change to the comprehensive plan. Commissioner Trippler said since 2002 the city has improved the GIS and mapping capabilities so he was thinking this would be a good time to go through the land use maps and zoning maps and make sure they all coincide and all the neighborhoods are geographically correct. Planning Commission Minutes of 08-21-06 -9- Mr. Roberts said one example where there is an inconsistency is where Carpet Court is proposed. There are different zonings there but yet the whole site is planned business commercial. Should the land stay the way it is or should the land eventually be all commercial, that is something the planning commission should be thinking of. Commissioner Trippler said there have been a lot of areas that have developed in Maplewood since the last comprehensive plan in 2002. Mr. Roberts said the recommendation for a sub committee is a good idea. Any assistance city staff can get they are not afraid to take it. Chairperson Fischer said the original comprehensive plan was done by the planning commission as a whole, they thought about a sub committee but they found out there was strong feelings by members about that. The revisions to the comprehensive plan was time consuming but that was the first time around writing the comprehensive plan and now it would not require as much time or require the verbiage, goals and objectives. Commissioner Trippler said the sub committee for the environmental commission came before the environmental commission as a whole and discussed the issues at hand and discussed what was talked about. Just because you have a sub committee working on something doesn't mean the sub committee is going to make decisions, they would just expedite the process so we can get to the decision process faster. He said he was only making a "suggestion" for a sub committee. X. STAFF PRESENTATIONS Confirmation that the Monday, September 4, 2006, PC meeting has been rescheduled to Wednesday, September 6, 2006. This planning commission meeting will be to discuss Carver Crossing. Chairperson Fischer said she would be absent for the September 6, 2006, planning commission meeting. Tushar Desai will be the Acting Chairperson and Commissioner Dierich said she would arrive late to the meeting. XI. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 p.m.