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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/21/20021. Call to Order MAPLEWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION Monday, October 21, 2002, 7:00 PM City Hall Council Chambers 1830 County Road B East 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Agenda 4. Approval of Minutes a. October 7, 2002 5. Public Hearing None 6. New Business a. Presentation about Rainwater Gardens - Chris Cavett b. Discussion on Commission Study Area (South of Linwood Avenue) 7. Unfinished Business None 8. Visitor Presentations 10. 9. Commission Presentations a. October 14 Council Meeting: Ms. Fischer b. October 28 Council Meeting: Mr. Pearson c. November 13 (VVednesday) Council Meeting: Ms. Junek Staff Presentations a. Reschedule December 2, 2002 Meeting 11. Adjournment MINUTES OF THE MAPLEWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION 1830 COUNTY ROAD B EAST, MAPLEWOOD, MINNESOTA MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2002 I. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Fischer called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. I1. ROLL CALL Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Mary Dierich Lorraine Fischer Matt Ledvina Jackie Monahan-Junek Paul Mueller Gary Pearson William Rossbach Dale Trippler Tushar Desai Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Staff Present: Melinda Coleman, Assistant City Manager Chris Cavett, Assistant City Engineer Ken Roberts, Associate Planner Lisa Kroll, Recording Secretary III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Commissioner Pearson moved to approve the agenda. Commissioner Desai seconded. Ayes - Desai, Dierich, Fischer, Ledvina, Monahan-Junek, Mueller, Pearson, Rossbach, Trippler The motion passed. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairperson Fischer would like the minutes to reflect two separate motions made on page 3 after number 6. and after number 7. Approval of the planning commission minutes for October 7, 2002. Commissioner Pearson moved to approve the planning commission minutes for October 7, 2002 as amended. Commissioner Rossbach seconded. Ayes - Desai, Dierich, Fischer, Monahan-Junek, Pearson, Rossbach Abstention - Ledvina, Mueller, Trippler Planning Commission Minutes of 10-21-02 -2- V. PUBLIC HEARING None. VI. NEW BUSINESS a. Presentation about Rainwater Gardens - Chris Cavett Chris Cavett, assistant city engineer gave a Power point presentation on the use of rainwater gardens in the City of Maplewood. Mr. Cavett showed how neighborhood meetings get residents involved in participating in rainwater gardens being developed in their yards. Mr. Cavett showed photos of drainage problems and solutions of installing rainwater gardens in the city. In his presentation he showed examples of other states using ribbon curbing and rainwater gardens. After the presentation planning commission members asked Mr. Cavett questions. b. Discussion on Commission Study Area (South of Linwood Avenue) Mr. Roberts said the planning commission recently expressed concerns about the land uses and development for the remaining underdeveloped property in south Maplewood. As such, city staff prepared information for the area south of Linwood Avenue. Mr. Roberts asked planning commission members to review the information and maps and direct staff as to what, if any, further issues or concerns the city wants staff to study. Commissioner Rossbach said he believes a developer would look at this area in south Maplewood and want to develop cluster housing or townhomes and leave the rest of the land untouched. Has the city given any consideration to this? Mr. Roberts said there is general language in the comprehensive plan that encourages that. To go in and identify land parcel-by-parcel whether cluster housing verses traditional housing should be used, the city has not done that. Staff traditionally doesn't set land use other than following the city's comprehensive plan. Staff tries to work with the developer when they come in with concepts on paper. Commissioner Rossbach said his company did some work in Lake Elmo where there were several homes on the lake. The septic systems had been condemned and they ended up putting in a neighborhood septic system and individual wells. He is concerned a developer could come in and build many houses and provide one huge septic system with individual wells. He wonders if the city is set up to handle a situation like this. Mr. Roberts said he thinks the city could handle a situation like that with the city's PUD ordinance. The code gives enough flexibility to do that. Commissioner Ledvina said staff has listed eleven sites in this plan. He asked Mr. Roberts how the eleven sites were chosen when he could have chosen fifty sites. Mr. Roberts said his first criteria was, the lots had to be privately owned, second it had to be located south of Linwood Avenue. The third criteria was what he knew about the properties did the property have the potential for more development then what is currently there. He said he could have missed some sites which staff would be happy to look at. Planning Commission Minutes of 10-21-02 -3- Commissioner Ledvina asked staff what the typical size was for an individual sewage treatment system and drain field? Mr. Roberts said he did not know the drain field size but to have a house, drain field and a well they are usually an acre to an acre and a half in property size. Commissioner Dierich thanked Melinda Coleman and staff for the maps. She is more concerned about small acreage in south Maplewood. She said when they owned the lot in south Maplewood her family was approached by a builder to buy their lot and the lot next door. The builder wanted to put eleven homes on the site and use one septic system. She said at that time she called Mr. Roberts and he said that could possibility work. She thinks this could be the possibility for the long lots on Carver Avenue and along Sterling Street. She thinks the big lots will bring in sewer and water by applying for a PUD. Ms. Dierich said in the Woodbury newspaper about one year ago it said Bailey's Nursery had platted for light industrial on the Woodbury side. She does not know what the situation was for the Maplewood side. Commissioner Ledvina said in the comprehensive plan it indicates there is 107 acres for single dwellings in the critical area. It is also indicated that this area is being planned for Iow-density residential. He wonders how Iow-density factors into what the city is looking at for the current zoning for R-1 for the Mississippi River critical area. Mr. Roberts said the critical area is south of Carver Avenue and west of Highway 494 and that was established in the late 70's or early 80's. This was to protect the Mississippi River from storm water runoff, land use and the visibility factor. The city wants to make sure that development in this area won't have a negative impact on the Mississippi River. The critical area has rules about building on bluff lines and on slopes relating primarily to Fish Creek. Commissioner Ledvina said four years ago staff said there were 70 parcels in south Maplewood that were 3 acres or less. Staff indicated the parcels won't develop because it would be hard to get septic systems on these sites. He would disagree with that statement. He said you will see that builders will try to subdivide these parcels and build individual septic treatment systems on smaller lots. The Metropolitan Council has said those city supported individual septic systems are not suitable for long time use and there will be failure and contamination that will result because of this. His recommendations are to change the zoning ordinance that would have a limitation of the size of the lots that individual septic treatment systems could be built on. In the staff report on page 3 it says there are surrounding communities that have 1.5 acre up to 3 acres for developments in grant township. The city should try to eliminate these systems in this area and the city may want to revisit the large lot residential zoning. This is in his backyard and he has been watching this issue for five to six years. It is an opportunity for the City of Maplewood to plan this area as environmentally sensitive. Commissioner Rossbach said his company built a house in Lake Elmo that had no drain field, only a holding tank. He said land that was not worth that much is now worth something and people are doing what they can to have a system. Ms. Coleman asked if those types of tanks are legal? Commissioner Rossbach said he sees no reason they aren't. He said you aren't putting any waste into the soil, it gets put into the holding tank and it gets pumped out monthly. Planning Commission Minutes of 10-21-02 -4- Ms. Coleman said there is going to be a great deal of demand for land and the city feels that every day from developers all over the city. She said if the city says every lot has to have 40,000 square feet and you have to have so much for a septic system then you are throwing away the cluster development option. She said cluster development may be more environmentally sensitive. The city needs to be more careful to craft an ordinance that fits everything in south Maplewood that could be very difficult. The city needs to take more of a step-back approach and throw out the regulations and look at the end result and work from that. Some of the planning discussions that she has been involved in recently are trying to throw out the whole zoning concept because it doesn't work anymore. Commissioner Rossbach said he would agree with Mr. Ledvina that the city is ignoring this area in south Maplewood and Maplewood is not prepared for what could happen. He said maybe Maplewood could get sewer lines from Woodbury. He is a advocate for PUD development because it allows for more flexibility particularly in environmentally and topography challenged areas. Ms. Coleman said there has been some good feedback discussed. It makes sense to keep the Bailey Nursery properties R-1. The city should identify the more environmentally sensitive areas and look at those as places where the city should put in an overlay district. The city should try to get that in place so the city is not caught off guard. She said staff would take this a step farther and bring this study area back to the planning commission for further discussion. VII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS VIII. None. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS None. IX. COMMISSION PRESENTATIONS a. Ms. Fischer was to be the planning commission representative at the October 14, 2002, city council meeting; however, there were no planning commission items to discuss. b. Mr. Pearson will be the planning commission representative at the October 28, 2002, city council meeting. c. Ms. Monahan-Junek will be the planning commission representative at the Wednesday November 13, 2002, city council meeting. Chairperson Fischer said she wanted planning commission members to be aware that in last Thursday's newspaper there was an insert from the Metropolitan Council for the 20-30 development. The options were to vote by mail, by phone or by e-mail. Planning Commission Minutes of 10-21-02 -5- X. STAFF PRESENTATIONS a. Reschedule December 2, 2002, planning commission meeting. Chairperson Fischer polled the planning commission members and the decision was to reschedule the meeting of Monday, 12-2-02 to Tuesday, 12-3-02. Ms. Coleman said the City of Maplewood is hosting a forum for a discussion on group homes in Maplewood on Tuesday October 29, 2002, from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m. at the Maplewood Community Center, everyone is welcome to attend. Ms. Coleman said the planning staff is working on a number of items. These include the alignment of County Road D, the Hartford development by the Maplewood Mall and the AUAR presentation to the city council, the overlay district for the Hillcrest development, and the planning and engineering staff will be meeting in a few weeks to try and outline a redevelopment strategy for the city council's approval. She said if it were approved, staff would bring it back to the planning commission. Staff understands how important the south Maplewood study area is to the planning commission and they will bring more information as time permits. Xl. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 9:23 p.m.