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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/19/2006 AGENDA CITY OF MAPLEWOOD COMMUNITY DESIGN REVIEW BOARD Tuesday, September 19, 2006 6:00 P.M. Council Chambers - Maplewood City Hall 1830 County Road BEast 1 . Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Agenda 4. Approval of Minutes: August 22, 2006 5. Unfinished Business: 6. Design Review: a. Cottagewood Town House Development - South of Highwood Avenue, east of Dennis Street, west of 1-494 7. Visitor Presentations: 8. Board Presentations: 9. Staff Presentations: 10. Adjourn MINUTES OF THE MAPLEWOOD COMMUNITY DESIGN REVIEW BOARD 1830 COUNTY ROAD BEAST, MAPLEWOOD, MINNESOTA TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2006 I. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Olson called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Board member John Hinzman Vice-Chairperson Matt Ledvina Chairperson Linda Olson Board member Joel Schurke Board member Ananth Shankar Present Present Present Absent Absent Staff Present: Ken Roberts, Planner Lisa Kroll, Recording Secretary III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chairperson Olson moved to approve the agenda. Board member Ledvina seconded. Ayes - Hinzman, Ledvina, Olson The motion passed. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Approval of the CDRB minutes for August 22, 2006. Board member Hinzman moved approval of the minutes of August 22, 2006. Chairperson Olson seconded. Ayes --- Hinzman, Olson, Abstentions - Ledvina The motion passed. V. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. VI. DESIGN REVIEW a. Cottagewood Town House Development - South of Highwood Avenue, east of Dennis Street, west of 1-494. Mr. Roberts said Mr. Phil Soby is proposing to build 15 detached town houses in a development called Cottagewood. It would be on a 3.71-acre site on the south side of Highwood Avenue, east of Dennis Street. Community Design Review Board Minutes 9-19-2006 2 To build this project, Mr. Soby is requesting that the city approve the project design plans (architectural, site, landscape, and lighting plans) for the site and buildings. The project plans show that there would be three styles of town houses and that they would have a mix of exterior treatments. These include horizontal-lap vinyl siding, vinyl board and batten accents, aluminum soffits and fascia and brick or stone veneer accents near the doors and on the base of the columns. In addition, each town house unit would have a two-car garage. On August 28, 2006, the city council approved the following for the Cottagewood development: 1. A revision to a conditional use permit (CUP) for a planned unit development (PUD). This revision was necessary since the city had approved different plans for the site in 2003. The PUD gives the city and developer a chance to be more flexible with site design and development details (such as setbacks and street right-of-way and pavement widths) than the standard city requirements would normally allow. Specifically, the proposed PUD revision would allow for smaller average lot sizes, for the town houses to have a smaller setback to the front, side and rear property lines than code allows and to have the town houses on a private driveway. 2. A preliminary plat to create the lots in the development (15 lots for the town houses and one lot for the common area). The project plans show 15 detached town house buildings within the site with three different exterior designs. The proposed town house buildings should be attractive and should fit in with the design of the existing homes in the area. They would have a mix of exterior materials that include horizontal vinyl siding with a stone veneer near the doors, on the column bases and on the fronts, and the roofs would have asphalt shingles. In addition, there would be a mix of lookout, full basement and walkout units, and each unit would have aluminum soffits and an attached two-car garage. Staff does not have any major concerns about the proposed town house elevations since this development will be on a cul-de-sac and would be somewhat isolated. In fact, only the buyers of the town houses would be able to see the fronts of the new buildings. However, the project plans do not specify the colors of the materials for any of the units. Staff should review and approve a color scheme for all building materials in the whole development before the city issues a building permit. Chairperson Olson asked how the traffic would impact the existing neighborhood from this development proposal? Mr. Roberts said its staff's opinion, based on statistics that each town home would generate about 6 vehicle trips a day for each of the 15 detached town homes meaning about 90 trips a day. As such, the traffic wouldn't create a large impact on the area. Community Design Review Board Minutes 9-19-2006 3 Chairperson Olson asked if there were any significant trees on the site and would the new tree ordinance apply to this proposal? Mr. Roberts said there are some significant trees on the site and the southern part of the site will be put into a conservation easement and protected so trees are being preserved in that area. Some trees will be lost and staff was not sure of the count. Chairperson Olson asked the applicant to address the board. Mr. Phil Soby, Owner and Developer, Lauren Co. Development, 200 East Chestnut Street, Suite 204, Stillwater, addressed the board. Chairperson Olson asked if he brought any building material samples to show the board? Mr. Soby said he apologizes but there was a miscommunication regarding the color samples for the siding, shingles and stone so those aren't available but he did bring a sample of the exterior light. The siding is vinyl and will be offered in 7 earth tone colors. The buyer will determine which lot they prefer and which town home design they prefer, plan A, B, or C and they will choose the building material colors they prefer. What has been determined is which units would be on the two lots facing Highwood Avenue to address the concerns of the design of the end units which are designed so the garage is to the opposite side away from Highwood Avenue. The more detailed elevation in the staff report that is shown with the fireplace and the windows would be design of the elevation that would face Highwood Avenue. There are two different types of siding, the siding below the roofline is lap siding and the other above the roofline and the side and front gables is referred to as a board and batten type siding which is also a vinyl product and would be in a two tone scheme. For example, the lower portion may be tan and the upper portion could be linen color with white trim to give a dimensional look to the design. All of the units would be done in the same manner in terms of the trim and four sided architecture. The stone chase fireplace will be an optional feature and expense and we are not sure how many customers will choose it. The standard gas fireplace would be the doghouse bump out. Each town home unit will have the same lighting fixtures throughout the site with a light on each side of the garage door and by the entrance to the home. The garage doors will be a cottage style to fit in with the craftsman style design of the town homes. They want the townhome units to have character and will have custom features, they don't want the units to look uniform but they still want things to be somewhat consistent in design throughout the site. Board member Hinzman asked if the garage doors on the townhomes would be a standard feature or an upgrade for the customer? Mr. Soby said the garage doors as shown would be standard and would have a lot of curb appeal. Board member Hinzman asked if the board and batten vinyl siding would project? Community Design Review Board Minutes 9-19-2006 4 Mr. Soby said yes. The old fashioned manner for structures such as a barn was to use a 1 x 2 product and that is the same projection this molded vinyl product will have and be installed vertically 8 inches on center. This gives a good shadow line detail and adds style to the home. Chairperson Olson said you referred to these townhomes as affordable units. She asked what the asking price will be for these individual units? Mr. Soby said what is considered to be affordable now is possibly unaffordable to others but the goal is to keep the units under $300,000 and would be priced in the high $200,OOO's, however; these units have the "potential" to be priced over $300,000. There will be a base price of about $275,000 and if the customer would like extra options added the price would go up to around $300,000. Chairperson Olson said this appears to be a proposal using quality products with a nice design to the town homes and she likes that they are detached units. Board member Hinzman asked if there would be an overhang of the main floor over the walkout elevation for the rear elevation? Mr. Soby said that's a flat surface with a rim board or starter board and in a color band of the trim color. It's pretty close to where the bottom of the floor trusses would sit at the top of the foundation. Chairperson Olson asked how they are proposing to construct the retaining walls and what product would you use? Mr. Soby said in the areas where the retaining wall is drawn consecutively on the site plan it will be one whole retaining wall. Where room allows they will use a boulder retaining wall to keep with the natural look of the site. There are a few areas where the retaining wall area is less in lineal footage and they will probably have to use a retaining wall block in 12 inch form, if room allows they will use a boulder retaining wall. Mr. Roberts displayed on the screen where the retaining walls would be on the site map. Board member Ledvina said it appears they are going to have some split retaining walls by the pond. He asked if the intention was to keep the retaining wall less than 4 feet in height? Mr. Soby said due to comments from the watershed district there has been a revised plan for the pond layout in the last few days. The retaining wall changed to one retaining wall at a height no taller than four feet. The retaining wall will be two rows of boulders or sometimes they will start off with larger boulders and taper down to smaller boulders. Board member Ledvina wanted to clarify that they will in fact be using boulders for the retaining wall whenever possible so that can be memorialized as part of the conditions. Community Design Review Board Minutes 9-19-2006 5 Mr. Soby said to clarify we will use boulders whenever possible; when space is tight we will use a 12 inch retaining wall block of some kind. Chairperson Olson said she wondered if there would be any problem with erosion problems using boulders? Mr. Soby said the experience has been that boulders are more stable as a retaining wall and usually don't erode due to their expanse compared to the use of a retaining block wall. We us a fiber net behind the boulders as well which helps contain the boulder in place. The boulders are very significant in size and we usually get high marks from the engineers with this type of retaining wall. Chairperson Olson asked to see the light fixture proposed for this development. Mr. Soby passed the light fixture around so the board members could see the finish, size, and the style of the light fixture. Board member Ledvina said he thinks this is a nice development. He likes the layout of the proposal which is a vast improvement over past proposals. He likes the detached town home units. He likes that this design doesn't have overpowering garages that standout and overshadow the unit itself. He likes the style of the townhome units and he thinks a lot of thought has gone into the style of the homes and the development site as a whole and he thinks this proposal is very well done. Board member Hinzman agreed with those comments. These detached town home units have tremendous curb appeal and will be well placed in the marketing of these units and will be a nice transition from the single family homes in the area with this density proposed. Chairperson Olson said we need to discuss the shortcomings in the landscaping that staff commented on. Mr. Roberts said the only thing the plan did not call out was the exact size of some of the plantings and there is a condition included in the staff report on page 7 item (11) which reads shows the sizes and for all trees and plants. The deciduous trees shall be at least 2Y:. inches in diameter and the coniferous trees shall be at least eight feet tall. Board member Ledvina moved to approve the project plans date-stamped September 6, 2006, (site plan, landscape plan, grading and drainage plans and building elevations) for the Cottagewood PUD. This development will be on the south side of Highwood Avenue, west of 1-494 and east of Dennis Street. The city bases this approval on the findings required by the code. The developer or contractor shall do the following: (Additions are underlined and deletions are stricken.) 1. Repeat this review in two years if the city has not issued a building permit for this project. 2. Complete the following before the city issues a building permit: Community Design Review Board Minutes 9-19-2006 6 a. Have the city engineer approval final construction and engineering plans. These plans shall include: streets, grading, utility, drainage, erosion control, tree, sidewalk and driveway plans. The plans shall meet the following conditions and shall meet all the conditions and changes noted in Michael Thompson's memo dated July 28, 2006. (1) The erosion control plan shall be consistent with city code. (2) The grading plan shall: (a) Include building, floor elevation and contour information for each home site. The lot lines on this plan shall follow the approved preliminary plat. (b) Include contour information for the land that the construction will disturb. (c) Show sedimentation basins or ponds as may be required by the watershed board or by the city engineer. (d) Show all proposed slopes steeper than 3:1 on the proposed construction plans. The city engineer shall approve the plans, specifications and management practices for any slopes steeper than 3:1. This shall include covering these slopes with wood- fiber blankets and seeding them with a "no mow" vegetation rather than using sod or grass. (e) Show all retaining walls on the plans. Any retaining walls more than four feet tall require a building permit from the city and shall have a fence along the top. The developer or contractor shall use boulder walls around the storm water ponds located on the northeast corner of the development and for the QradinQ associated with the cul-de-sac. The boulder walls are recommended for use in other areas of the development if possible. (f) Show the proposed street and driveway grades as allowed by the city engineer. (g) Show the drainage areas, and the developer's engineer shall provide the city engineer with the drainage calculations. The drainage design shall accommodate the run-off from the surrounding areas. (h) If required, show details about any proposed pond fencing including the materials, gate, height and color. (3) The tree plan shall: Community Design Review Board Minutes 9-19-2006 7 (a) Be approved by the city engineer. (b) Include an inventory of all existing large trees on the site and shall show where the developer will remove, transplant, save or replace large trees. (c) Show the size, species and location of the transplanted and replacement trees. The new coniferous trees shall be at least eight feet tall and shall be a mix of Black Hills spruce and Austrian pine. (d) Be consistent with the approved grading and landscape plans and shall show no tree removal beyond the approved grading and tree limits. (4) The street, driveway and utility plans shall show: (a) A water service to each lot and unit. (b) The repair and restoration of Highwood Avenue (including curbing, street, and boulevard) after the contractor removes the existing driveways, connects to the public utilities and builds the new street, sidewalks, trails and driveways. (c) The street and the driveways shall have continuous concrete curb and gutter except where the city engineer decides that it is not needed. (d) The developer or contractor shall post the streets and driveways with "no parking" signs to meet city standards. (e) The public streets and private driveways labeled on all plans. (f) The common areas labeled as outlots on all plans. (g) Areas for proof of parking off the streets wherever possible. (5) The design of the ponding areas and any rainwater garden(s) shall be subject to the approval of the city engineer. The developer shall be responsible for getting any needed off-site utility, grading or drainage easements and for recording all necessary easements. b. Submit a certificate of survey for all new construction and have each building staked by a registered land surveyor. c. Submit a revised landscape plan to staff for approval which incorporates the following details: Community Design Review Board Minutes 9-19-2006 (1 ) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) 8 All lawn areas shall be sodded. The city engineer shall determine the vegetation within the ponding area. The developer shall install landscaping in the ponding areas to break the appearance of the deep hole and to promote infiltration. Such landscaping shall be approved by the city engineer and shall be shown on the project landscape plans. Shows all landscaped areas, excluding landscaping within the ponds, with an underground irrigation system (code requirement). The plantings proposed around the units shown on the landscape plan date-stamped September 6, 2006, shall remain on the plan. A concrete walk from the driveway to the door of each unit. The manicured or mowed areas from the natural areas. This shall include planting (instead of sodding) the disturbed areas around the ponding area with native grasses and native flowering plants. The native grasses and flowering plants shall be those needing little or no maintenance and shall extend at least four feet from the ordinary high water mark (OHWM) of the pond. This is to reduce maintenance costs and to reduce the temptation of mowers to encroach into the gardens. Specifically, the developer shall have the natural areas seeded with an upland mixture and lowland mixtures as appropriate. In addition to the above, the contractor shall sod all front, side and rear yard areas (except for mulched and edged planting beds and the area within the ponding area). The contractor shall restore the Highwood Avenue boulevard with sod. (9) Show the in-ground lawn-irrigation system, including the location of the sprinkler heads. (10) Shall be approved by the city engineer (including the plantings in the ponds and rain water gardens) before site grading and shall be consistent with the approved grading and landscape plans. (11 ) Shows the sizes and for all trees and plants. The deciduous trees shall be at least 2Y:. inches in diameter and the coniferous trees shall be at least eight feet tall. d. Show that a contractor as properly sealed all wells on property. e. Get the necessary approvals and permits from the watershed district and provide the city verification that all watershed district provisions are met before the city issues a building or a grading permit for the site. Community Design Review Board Minutes 9-19-2006 9 f. Submit a site lighting plan for city approval. This plan shall show the installation of at least two streetlights and how the lighting on the buildings would add to the site lighting. This plan also shall show details about the proposed light fixtures to ensure they are a design that hides the bulb and lens from view to avoid nuisances. The light fixtures must have concealed lenses and bulbs to properly shield glare from the adjacent street right-of- ways and from adjacent residential properties. This plan shall show the height and style of all outdoor lights and that the light illumination from outdoor lights does not exceed 0.4 foot candles at all property lines. g. Have the Saint Paul Regional Water Services (SPRWS) approve the proposed utility plans. h. The developer or builder will pay the city Park Access Charges (PAC fees) at the time of the building permit for each housing unit. i. Submit the homeowner's association bylaws and rules to the city for approval by the city staff. These are to assure that there will be one responsible party for the care and maintenance of the common areas, outlots, the private utilities, trails, sidewalks, signs, landscaping and retaining walls. j. Submit revised, detailed building plans and elevations for each building type to city staff for approval. These elevations shall show or include (but are not limited to): (1) the colors of all materials, (2) all elevations of all buildings (including the rear elevations of the walk out and at-grade style units) (d) re'/isions to the north siEloG of tho end units near High'llood /\vonuo to include more features inslllEling windows and stone wainscoting. (4) any shutters or window grids and (5) the style and materials of balcony or porch railings. k. Provide the city with a letter of credit or cash escrow for all required exterior improvements. The amount shall be 150 percent of the cost of the work. 3. Complete the following before occupying each building: a. Replace property irons that are removed because of this construction. b. Restore and sod damaged boulevards and sod all turf areas. c. Complete all landscaping and turf irrigation for that building and its rainwater garden(s). d. Install the required concrete curb and gutter. Community Design Review Board Minutes 9-19-2006 10 e. Install a reflectorized stop sign at the exit onto Highwood Avenue and install addresses on each building for each unit. In addition, the applicant shall install "no parking" signs within the site, as required by staff. f. Install and maintain all required trees and landscaping (including the plantings around each unit and around the pond) and an in-ground sprinkler system for all landscaped areas (code requirement). g. Install on-site lighting for security and visibility that follows the approved site lighting plan. All exterior lighting shall follow the approved lighting plan that shows the light spread and fixture design. The light fixtures must have concealed lenses and bulb to properly shield glare from the adjacent street right-of-ways and the nearby homes and residential properties. h. Install additional trees along the west property line of the site where the vegetation does not adequately screen the new town houses from the existing dwellings. These additional materials are to ensure there is at least a six-foot-tall, 80-percent opaque screen on the west side of the site. The location, design and materials of the additional landscaping shall be subject to city staff approval. i. Install city approved conservation easement signs at the edge of the conservation easement. The signs shall notify that there shall be no building, mowing, cutting, grading, filling or dumping within the conservation easement. j. Install all the required exterior improvements, including all exterior lighting. k. Show that Ramsey County has recorded the final plat for this development. I. The developer or contractor shall: (1) Complete all grading for the site drainage, complete all public improvements and meet all city requirements. (2) Place temporary orange safety fencing and signs at the grading limits. (3) Remove any debris or junk from the site. 4. If any required work is not done, the city may allow temporary occupancy if: a. The city determines that the work is not essential to the public health, safety or welfare. Community Design Review Board Minutes 9-19-2006 11 b. The above-required letter of credit or cash escrow is held by the city for all required exterior improvements. The owner or contractor shall complete any unfinished landscaping by June 1 of the next year if the building is occupied in the fall or winter or within six weeks of occupancy if the building is occupied in the spring or summer. 5. All work shall follow the approved plans. The director of community development may approve minor changes. 6. This approval does not include signs. Any signage will be reviewed by city staff through the sign permit process. Board member Hinzman seconded. Ayes - Hinzman, Ledvina, Olson The motion passed. VII. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS No visitors present. VIII. BOARD PRESENTATIONS None. IX. STAFF PRESENTATIONS None. X. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:50 p.m.