HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/24/2007
MINUTES OF THE MAPLEWOOD COMMUNITY DESIGN REVIEW BOARD
1830 COUNTY ROAD BEAST, MAPLEWOOD, MINNESOTA
TUESDAY, JULY 24,2007
I. CALL TO ORDER
Chairperson Olson called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m.
II. ROLL CALL
Board member John Demko
Vice-Chairperson Mall Ledvina
Chairperson Linda Olson
Board member Ananth Shankar
Board member Mall Wise
Present
Present
Present
Present
Absent
Staff Present:
Shann Finwall, Planner
Chuck Ahl. Public Works Director
Steve Lukin, Fire Chief
III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Board member Ledvina moved to approve the agenda.
Board member Demko seconded.
Ayes - Demko, Ledvina, Shankar, Olson
The motion passed.
IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Approval of the CDRB minutes for June 12, 2007.
Board member Ledvina had a correction on page 28, section a, the sentence should read,
"The only CDRB item was the Corner Kick proposal which was approved by the city council.
Mall Ledvina allended the meeting and gave a report on the board's review of the project."
Board member Ledvina moved approval of the minutes of June 12, 2007, as amended.
Board member Shankar seconded.
Ayes - Demko, Ledvina, Shankar, Olson
The motion passed.
V. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
None scheduled
VI. DESIGN REVIEW
a. The Shores (Redevelopment of St. Paul Tourist Cabin Site with Senior Housing) -
940 Frost Avenue.
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Ms. Finwall introduced the project. The applicant is requesting that the city approve 6 land use
requests for the construction of a 180 senior housing development at 940 Frost Avenue called
The Shores. The development requires several land use permits including the clarification of
the Gladstone Comprehensive Land Use Plan Map, public vacation of 20 feet of right-of-way
along East Shore Drive, public vacation of a sanitary sewer easement, preliminary plat,
conditional use permit for a planned unit development within the Shoreland overlay district of
Phalen Lake and design review approval. The planning commission recommended approval of
the first 5 items mentioned at the July 17 meeting. The Community Design Review Board
should review and make a recommendation on the design of the development at tonight's
meeting. The final review of this project is currently scheduled for city council review on August
13, 2007.
City staff recommends approval of the plans which were date stamped April 19. 2007, for the
180 unit four story Shores Senior Housing Development which will be located on 940 Frost
Avenue. This recommendation is conditioned on several conditions as outlined in the staff
report.
Board member Ledvina asked if city staff has discussed the tree placement for screening for
Lake Phalen. The condition is laid out as non-specific.
Ms. Finwall stated that condition is added based on the Shoreland Overlay ordinance, the
requirement is that this building be screened at least 80% from the center of Lake Phalen. The
condition should be reworded to state that the building be screened at least 80% from the
center of Lake Phalen.
Link Wilson of Kaas/Wilson Architects addressed the board. Mr. Wilson went through the
presentation of the project which went over alterations to parking spaces, screening of the
building and other areas of concern.
Board member Shankar asked iflhere are only 50 parking stalls for the whole development.
Mr. Wilson responded that there are 50 surface and 100 underground parking stalls. After a
study done regarding other Walker facilities of similar size, it is determined that this should be
a sufficient number of stalls for residents, staff and visitors.
Chairperson Olson asked how many employees will be staffed.
Mr. Wilson replied the total hired staff will be about 120 people, but the number of staff working
at one time will be around 32.
Chairperson Olson asked what the maximum capacity of the building is for residents.
Mr. Wilson responded that there are 180 units.
Chairperson Olson asked if any were double units.
Mr. Wilson said that there are 6 units that are 1,150 square feet with two bedrooms that may
have a married couple. The rest are one bedroom plus a den and smaller two bedrooms.
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Chairperson Olson asked how many elevators were in the facility.
Mr. Wilson replied there are 4 elevators and a 5th shaft that is installed at the center of memory
care, where an elevator could be added at a later date if needed.
Board member Shankar asked which route would be taken in the parking lot if a driver were
dropping someone off and parking of their car.
Mr. Wilson showed on the screen the route a driver can use to drop someone off under the
canopy. The drive isles are wide enough for 2-way traffic.
Chairperson Olson asked Mr. Wilson to show on the screen which area is to be eliminated in
reference to the earlier mention of removal of the street entrance to the underground parking
and asked for clarification on the emergency vehicle access.
Mr. Wilson responded that there is enough room for the emergency vehicles to move through
the site and back. If this entrance is removed the path would then need to be connected so
that emergency vehicles can drive through and continue on. The emergency path is designed
for fire emergency use.
Board member Ledvina asked what the intentions are for the site signage and if any signs are
intended to be on the building.
Mr. Wilson stated that the largest sign proposed is a freestanding sign along Frost Avenue and
a smaller sign along East Shore Drive. There would probably not be many other signs other
than the address sign, which is required to be 12 inches for fire department identification.
Chairperson Olson confirmed that there will be green shingles on the building. Mr. Wilson
stated that was correct. He did not bring samples of materials but stated the images in the
power point clearly represent the building materials. He can supply city staff with samples if
needed.
Chairperson Olson opened the floor to any visitors.
Jan Steiner-McGovern of 1876 East Shore Drive addressed the board. Ms. McGovern
handed out a copy of her list of concerns and read them aloud. Ms. McGovern asked if the
perimeter trees remain after the vacation of the 20 feet on East Shore Drive. She requested
that the perimeter shrubs and trees on East Shore Drive be saved at all cost. The proposed
sidewalk is unnecessary because there is already an existing sidewalk on the east side of the
East Shore Drive. Ms. McGovern proposed a crosswalk and stop sign near the south end of
the property. There is no need for extra light fixtures along East Shore Drive, as the existing
ones are sufficient. Ms. McGovern strongly requested the community room not be open to the
public. She went over her concerns with parking. Ms. McGovern asked if Chief Lukin could go
over his concerns about the building being four stories. She suggests that the common space
be minimized and the living units be moved into the common space and the building be
reduced to three stories. Ms. McGovern stated concerns with the businesses inside the facility
and the increase in medical calls to the building.
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Chairperson Olson stated that the tree preservation, sidewalk, community room, the height of
the building and parking concerns are mailers that the planning commission addresses and
requested that Mr. Wilson cover the remaining questions.
Mr. Wilson responded to Ms. McGovern's questions. Mr. Wilson addressed the driveway,
sidewalk, preservation of the trees and the parking concerns. The proposed driveway is where
the existing driveway already is. The sidewalk concern is really a city issue and that to his
understanding the city will move forward with this improvement regardless of this development.
Mr. Wilson said they are working with S.E.H. to see if it is possible to make the rain gardens
and storm water ponds smaller. He stated that they are willing to work with the city to preserve
as many trees as possible. Mr. Wilson clarified that this will be a private building that is
enclosed, and there won't be many people coming and going 24 hours a day. He also clarified
that included in the calculations of common space are the elevators, corridors and stairs as
well as the different rooms that are common space. The senior amenities or common space
rooms take up 40,000 square feet of the 92,000 square feet. The community room in question
can only hold 42 people and is less than 1000 square feet.
Chairperson Olson requested that Fire Chief Steve Lukin go over his concerns with four story
building.
Chief Lukin stated he has concerns about ground ladder equipment but still believes that they
would be able to handle an emergency at this property as a four story building. The fire safety
aspect is the same in either a three story or four story building. The city has a truck that can
service a building up to seven stories but would prefer to keep buildings at three stories to
prevent too many buildings going taller than that. The life safety issue is very minimal and is
the same for three and four story structures.
Chairperson Olson asked Chuck Ahl, the Public Works Director, to address the issue of the
sidewalk.
Mr. Ahl stated that the city's designers are looking in detail on the issue of the sidewalk. The
city designers are suggesting that the existing sidewalk on the east side of East Shore Drive is
in need of repair and the city's money may be best spent repairing that sidewalk. This is
something that can be discussed more next month when the designers finalize this item.
Chairperson Olson asked if there is a bus route already on Frost Avenue. Mr. Ahl responded
that there is not but usually the bus service is open to adding additional routes to an area that
may generate bus business, such as this development.
AI Galbraith of 1770 Edward Street addressed the board. Mr. Galbraith asked if Walker is the
owner 100% and what the track record is of the developer. He stated that the proposed area
for the round-about is dangerous because it is on a slope. He is also concerned about the
amount of emergency calls that would take place at the property and concerned about snow
removal.
Mr. Wilson responded that Walker is a minority shareholder in the project. The project is
owned by a board of directors who are investing in the project, which is not an unusual
circumstance. Mr. Wilson then gave a history of his past development projects. It is the
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responsibility of the maintenance crews to maintain the property when it snows. Mr. Wilson
stated that he cannot speak about the number of emergency calls but can say that Walker staff
gives quality care and tries to care for the medical needs of the residents to prevent excessive
emergency calls to the property.
Ms. McGovern restated that she would like the developers to move the main driveway as far
south as possible because of the ambient light that will come off the property.
Chairperson Olson stated that the current city light code prohibits any light creep beyond the
edge of the property. The revised lighting plan has to have a zero foot candle creep at the
property line. Chairperson Olson asked if the proposed round-about will be able to handle bus
traffic.
Mr. Ahl responded that the final size has not been determined at this time but will be designed
to handle buses.
Chairperson Olson asked if Chief Lukin could address the issue of the number of emergency
calls to other senior centers and if there would be any problems with maneuvering emergency
vehicles in the round-about.
Chief Lukin responded that the city did a study on the number of emergency vehicles called to
senior housing earlier this year. He didn't have the results of that study for this meeting so that
information was not brought at this time. Chief Lukin stated that he does not anticipate any
issues with the round-about as the Public Works Director knows the size that is needed for
emergency vehicles.
Chairperson Olson closed the public discussion.
Chairperson Olson stated that she likes the idea of eliminating the sidewalk on the west side of
East Shore Drive to save trees.
Board member Ledvina stated it would be nice to eliminate the sidewalk along the entire site
on the west side of East Shore Drive, but would defer to staff and engineering on how that fils
into the regional picture for the trail systems and such. The applicant should work with the staff
on this issue.
Chairperson Olson said that the southern part of the sidewalk would be used by residents to
give access to the lake and should be kept in the plan.
Ms. Finwall pointed out that all phase one public improvements will be back before the board,
planning commission and city council for review later this year. That would be the time to
review the sidewalk issue.
Chairperson Olson expressed a concern about the number of parking stalls being insufficient.
However, if the applicant believes that staff at The Shores will be able to park in the
underground parking stalls, that would take care of most of the concerns.
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Board member Shankar would like to discuss the possibility of closing the north driveway and
keeping the south driveway.
Board member Demko responded that removal of the north driveway would direct traffic
through the parking area, which would not be optimal. The proposed north drive should not
affect the site line issues as it is sloped and the landscaping on both sides of the drive help to
buffer that concern. One of the drives should be closed and he believes that the south
driveway should be closed.
Chairperson Olson added that having the driveway more towards the middle of the property
may actually slow traffic because of the slope and curve of East Shore Drive.
Board member Demko stated a concern that the removal of the second driveway will increase
the traffic through the parking lot because there is only one entrance.
Chairperson Olson stated that the board should not be redesigning the parking layout and let
the applicant, city staff and engineers work that out.
The board agreed.
Board member Ledvina stated that improvements can be made on the landscaping design. A
recommended change is in condition 3a, the requirement should be focused to 20% visibility
from the center of Phalen Lake and not specify the height of the evergreen trees.
Board member Ledvina stated that the applicant should resubmit a lighting and photometric
plan.
Board member Ledvina stated that a change to condition e, the city doesn't normally regulate
interior signage of a building and this condition does. The last part of the condition that
includes interior signage should be removed.
Board member Ledvina moved to recommend approval of the plans date stamped April 19,
2007, for the 180-unit, four-story Shores senior housing development to be located at 940
Frost Avenue. Approval is subject to the applicant doing the following (changes made by the
Community Design Review Board during the July 24, 2007, meeting are underlined if
added and stricken if deleted):
a. Repeat this review in two years if the city has not issued a building permit for this
project.
b. Prior to issuance of a grading or building permit, the applicant must submit to staff
for approval the following items:
1) Verification The Shores plat has been recorded.
2) Have the city engineer approve final construction and engineering plans. These
plans shall comply with all requirements as specified in the city engineering
department's May 22, 2007 review and SEH engineering consultant's May 17,
2007 review. In addition, the engineering plans should be revised as follows:
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a) Trees Preservation:
1. The revised grading plan shall preserve the large specimen
collonwood tree (heritage tree) located on the north side of the
property, adjacent Frost Avenue (4S-inch tree).
2. Revision to the grading plan showing that the most easterly
retaining wall is shifted to the west to make every effort to preserve
the three specimen oak trees and other significant trees in the area.
3. Revision to the grading plan shifting the retaining wall located on
the north side of the wetland to the north, toward the building, to
make every effort to preserve significant trees in this area.
b) The applicant shall work closely with the city engineering department to
reduce the size or quantity of rainwater gardens needed on the site in an
allempt to reduce grading and ultimately preserve trees.
c) The applicant shall work closely with the city engineering department to
explore areas on the development where pervious pavers can be
implemented.
3) Revised landscape/tree replacement/shoreland screening plans showing:
a) Revised detail of south elevation building elevations from the center of
Phalen Lake showing compliance with shore land screening requirements
(code requires that the buildinq be at least SO percent screened from the
lake). To ensure compliance, the applicant shall submit a revised
landscape detail of the southerly ponding area showing a dractic increase
in the number and size of replacement trees (possibly as large as 15 foot
high evergreen trees) in order to ensure reduced visibility from the lal<e.
b) Revised tree preservation plan shall maximize preservation of the
significant/specimen trees on the site. The revised tree plan and
replacement calculation to be approved by staff prior to issuance of a
building permit. The Communitv Desiqn Review Board encouraqes the
citv to redesiqn or remove the sidewalk proposed alonq the west side of
East Shore Drive. adiacent the Shores propertv. in an allempt to preserve
trees alonq the west side of the propertv.
c) Revised landscape plan which shows additional plantings in front of the
loading dock and the location of all proposed ground mechanical units
which are screened by landscaping.
d) Revised rainwater garden plantings based on any grading changes.
Rainwater gardens to be reviewed and approved by the city's naturalist
prior to issuance of a building permit.
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e) Revised landscape plan showing the installation of underground irrigation
for the landscaped areas. The applicant should explore the use of
conservation sensor sprinkler devices which will shut off when it is raining.
4) Revised site plan showing:
a) The location of trash and recycling receptacles throughout the site.
b) The location of benches scallered throughout the site, along the trails and
sidewalks.
c) Removal of the south drivewav on East Shore Drive.
5) Revised elevations showing:
a) Sight line perspective of the building as seen from East Shore Drive and
Frost Avenue. These perspectives should show the height of the building
in relation to mature trees, proposed lighting, adjacent buildings, at a
human scale.
b) An increase in the height of the loading dock screening fence along Frost
Avenue. This can be accomplished through the use of design elements
proposed on the arcade/trellis to increase the height and create more of a
screen to the loading dock.
c) The proposed northwest patio and entry door on the building elevations.
d) The proposed fence around the healing garden.
6) Watershed district approval.
7) Building material samples showing color scheme for the project as shown
on the power point presentation presented to the Community Design
Review Board during the July 24, 2007, meeting.
8) Enter into a developer's agreement with the city which will cover the installation
of all public improvements surrounding and within the property.
9) Sign a maintenance agreement for the ongoing maintenance of all required
rainwater gardens and infiltration basins.
10) A cash escrow or an irrevocable leller of credit for all required exterior
improvements. The amount shall be 150 percent of the cost of the work.
c. The applicant shall complete the following before occupying the building:
1) Replace any property irons removed because of this construction.
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2) Provide continuous concrete curb and guller around the parking lot and
driveways.
3) Install all required landscaping and an in-ground lawn irrigation system for all
landscaped areas.
4) Install all required outdoor lighting.
5) Install all required sidewalks and trails.
d. The lighting and photometrics plan is not approved. The applicant must submit a
revised lighting and photometrics plan for community design review board approval
which complies with city code and is compatible with the Phase I Gladstone public
improvements.
e. Signage is not approved. The applicant must submit a sign plan for community design
review board approval. The plan must show a monument sign to be located at the
intersection of Frost Avenue and East Shore Drive which announces the entryway to the
Gladstone Neighborhood, interior or exterior signage which calls out the previous use of
the property as the gt. Paul Tourict Cabin gite, and any exterior signage advertising The
Shores.
f. If any required work is not done, the city may allow temporary occupancy if:
1) The city determines that the work is not essential to the public health, safety or
welfare.
2) The above-required leller of credit or cash escrow is held by the City of
Maplewood for all required exterior improvements. The owner or contractor shall
complete any unfinished exterior improvements by June 1 of the following year if
occupancy of the building is in the fall or winter or within six weeks of occupancy
of the building if occupancy is in the spring or summer.
g. All work shall follow the approved plans. City staff may approve minor changes.
Chairperson Olson seconded.
Board member Shankar made a friendly amendment to add to item 5.b.7. as follows: "Building
material samples showing color scheme for project as shown on elevations included in the
power point presentation presented to the board on July 24, 2007."
Board member Ledvina made an addition to item 4, an addition of c to read "Removal of the
south driveway on East Shore Drive."
Ayes - Demko, Olson, Shankar, Ledvina
The motion passed.
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This project is to go before the city council on August 13, 2007.
VII. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS
No visitors presentation.
VIII. BOARD PRESENTATIONS
No board presentations.
IX. STAFF PRESENTATIONS
a. Community Development Department Bus Tour Reminder - July 30, 2007, from
5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Please R.S.V.P to the Community Development Office.
b. Representation at the August 13, 2007, City Council Meeting - item to be
discussed include The Shores.
Chairperson Olson volunteered to be the Community Design Review Board
representative at the city council meeting.
X. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 8:24 p.m.
For complete coverage of the meeting, one can purchase
a DVD copy of the meeting for $5 from City Hall.