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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApril 25, 2006 o C I T Y 0 F NDOVE ~. 5-ct-Qlo 1685 CROSSTOWN BOULEVARD N.W. . ANDOVER, MINNESOTA 55304 . (763) 755-5100 FAX (763) 755-8923. WWW.CJ.ANDOVER.MN.US PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING -APRIL 25, 2006 The Regular Bi-Monthly Meeting of the Andover Planning and Zoning Commission was called to order by Chairperson Daninger on April 25, 2006, 7:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, I685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Commissioners present: Chairperson Daninger, Commissioners Tim Kirchoff, Rex Greenwald, Michael Casey, Valerie Holthus, Devon Walton (arrived at 7:05 p.m.) and Michael King. Commissioners absent: None. Also present: City Planner, Courtney Bednarz Associate Planner, Chris Vrchota Others o APPROVAL OF MINUTES. March 28, 2006 Motion by Casey, seconded by Kirchoff, to approve the minutes as presented. Motion carried on a 6-ayes, O-nays, O-present, I-absent (Walton) vote. PUBLIC HEARING: CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT AMENDMENT (06-02) TO ALLOW TEMPORARY CLASSROOMS AT GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH LOCATED AT 13655 ROUND LAKE BOULEVARD NW. Associate Planner Vrchota explained the applicant is requesting a conditional use permit to place two temporary classrooms on their property. Mr. Vrchota reviewed the staff report with the Commission. Commissioner Holthus wondered if Rose Street will be closed off. Mr. Vrchota stated the street will remain closed. o Commissioner Kirchoff wondered what the height of the shrubs will be because he did not know if the landscaping would screen the portables if they were to remain there for only three years. Mr. Vrchota stated staffwill be looking at four to five foot shrubs to screen the building. o Regular Andover Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes - April 25, 2006 Page 2 Commissioner King wondered if the existing parking lot lighting will change. Mr. Vrchota stated there were no proposals to add more lighting to the parking area but there will be additional lights on the buildings. Commissioner King asked if the lights will reflect back on the neighborhood or would they be going the other directions. Mr. Vrchota stated the lights will be on the north side of the building and will have to meet the City's lighting standards. Commissioner Walton arrived at 7:05 p.m. Commissioner Greenwald wondered if this will become part of the building permit for the new storage building and trash enclosure or is this an addenda to that. Mr. Vrchota stated the temporary classrooms and trash enclosures will be reviewed as part of the same commercial site plan and be covered under one building permit as well. Commissioner Holthus stated she was glad to see that there will be some improvements done to the portables. Motion by Casey, seconded by Kirchoff, to open the public hearing at 7:06 p.m. Motion carried on a 7-ayes, O-nays, O-absent vote. o Ms. Marnell Wilmer, 3510 136th Lane NW, stated she would prefer to see the portables on the west side of the building where there is not any landscaping. She stated she liked the landscaping the way it is now. By not allowing the church to place the portables on the west side is causing the church to go through a lot of expense along with views to the neighborhood of the portabIes for three years. Motion by Casey, seconded by Holthus, to close the public hearing at 7:09 p.m. Motion carried on a 7 -ayes, O-nays, O-absent vote. Commissioner Casey stated the only thing he saw negative about this was emergency access to the building. He stated he liked the idea of having the portables on the west side also if the church was open to this. Chair Daninger wondered if the applicant has looked at placing the portables on the west side of the building. Mr. Vrchota stated the Council has indicated that they prefer the portables where proposed. Commissioner Walton wondered if when this was presented to the City Council, was the north side presented as a possible site along with the south side. Mr. Vrchota indicated the north side does not have adequate space with the setbacks. Commissioner Holthus thought this was a good place for the portables because it is close to the parking area and to the doors. o o Regular Andover Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes-April 25, 2006 Page 3 Pastor Mark Hellman, Grace Lutheran Church, stated they first proposed the portables be placed on the west side of the building and the City Council suggested where the layout is. This is closest to the educational area Commissioner Walton thought it would make more sense to run the portables north to south tucked into the current structure opening. This would block the portables from the neighborhood. Pastor Hellman stated they were open to anywhere the City wants to place the structures. Motion by Walton, seconded by Casey, to recommend to the City Council approval of the proposed Conditional Use Permit subject to the conditions in the attached resolution removing the date in items 3 and 4 of the resolution with a recommendation that further review be given for placement of the portable structures. Commissioner King stated if these are placed on the west side, there are still structures across the street that will block the view. He stated if the idea is not to block the view of the neighbors across the street, they would need to look at a completely new place to put it which is puts it further from where the classrooms are. o Chair Daninger indicated he would like to have some more definite before he makes a recommendation. He noted he was not in favor of the location but was :fine ..i1:h the .. cl~Ereems. h.~ u) ~ (L 4u.J::.L ~ irLt.... m Q..d.~ a.. JUUJY\1.fV1t..ndo-.h({~ O\) ~Cl0<.1...Q. l~c;-q-61,p) Commissioner Greenwald asked if the motioner was taking the date off the resolution that is written. Commissioner Walton stated he would. He was not certain this was the best possible place to put the structures. Commissioner Greenwald thought the date needed to be reflected as being removed in the motion. Motion carried on a 6-ayes, I-nays (Daninger), O-absent vote. Mr. Vrchota stated that this item would be before the Council at the May 2, 2006 City Council meeting. PUBLIC HEARING: REVISED PRELIMINARY PLAT AND PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT REVIEW OF PARKSIDE AT ANDOVER STATION IN THE NORTHEAST QUARTER OF SECTION 34, TOWNSIDP 32, RANGE 24, ANOKA COUNTY, MINNESOTA. City Planner Bednarz stated the second phase of the plat has been revised to change thetstyle from attached to detached units. The portion of the plat affected by these changes is shown in the attachments. This adjustment reduces the number of units in phase II from 36 to 33 units. o Mr. Bednarz discussed the staff report with the Commission. o Regular Andover Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes - April 25, 2006 Page 4 Commissioner Walton indicated Mr. Bednarz stated the shared driveway, side loaded garage style was positive because it broke up the number of garage doors yet he only saw one set of those in the drawings. He wondered if there was the intention of building more than just two of these with the shared garage. Mr. Bednarz stated the applicant could address that question but it was his understanding that the units were not assigned to specific lots at this point. Commissioner King stated of by 14-17, there is a road that goes off to the left and goes up to the 22 foot trail easement. He wondered if this was an easement for a trail or a road. Mr. Bednarz believed the width of the private driveway is twenty-two feet. Mr. Bednarz reviewed the plans for the roadways in the development along with the trails. He noted there will be a need for a public easement across the private driveway so that people will be able to get to the public street and into the park. Commissioner King wondered if this roadway will be wide enough for emergency vehicles. Mr. Bednarz stated the Fire Chiefhas reviewed the plans and has indicated it is sufficient for their needs. o Commissioner King stated if part of this will be an easement and part driven on, the easement will need to be kept up to the standards of a regular road and not just a walking path. Mr. Bednarz stated it will need to be plowed and maintained throughout the year and will be sufficient to support the weight of fire trucks and larger vehicles. Commissioner King stated the report indicates the trails will be born by the people who will be buying this area, is this part of that expense also. Mr. Bednarz stated the cost of constructing the road as well as the trail connection to that will be born by the developer. Commissioner Holthus wondered if the trail and driveway will be a shared surface. Mr. Bednarz stated there is not proposed to be a separate trail. The private driveway will act as the trail. Motion by Kirchoff, seconded by Casey, to open the public hearing at 7:33 p.m. Motion carried on a 7-ayes, O-nays, O-absent vote. Mr. Steve Sutherland, 13909 Nightingale Street NW, stated his concern is the elevation change in the lot right behind them. There is a concern with water building up on their land. Chair Daninger indicated the development cannot affect the neighboring land. And staff will need to look into this. o Motion by Casey, seconded by Walton, to close the public hearing at 7:35 p.m. Motion carried on a 7-ayes, O-nays, O-absent vote. o Regular Andover Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes - April 25, 2006 Page 5 Ms. Theresa Hegland, Brueggeman Properties introduced herself and Mr. Leon Opatz, RLK Engineers. She stated as staffhas mentioned, they hoped to open this up to future home buyers to make the decision on the style of home they want. It is their goal to deminimize the garage doors in the whole development by having similar paint color and detail to the house. Commissioner Kirchoff wondered if it would be possible to have a shared and private driveway or would the adjacent buildings need to be the same. Ms. Hegland stated it would need to be a shared driveway with the two adjacent buildings. Commissioner Walton wondered if they have built that type of home before and if so, where and how frequently was the side loaded garage chosen. Ms. Hegland stated this is a new design for their company so she was not sure how popular the side garage would be. They are providing a lot of options and would anticipate it to be cho,sen. This is their choice for the model home. Commissioner Walton asked if there will be an association to help with the shared driveway or will that be the responsibility of the owners. Ms. Hegland stated all of the common areas and shared areas will be maintained by the association. o Mr. Opatz stated typically they need to make sure that there is no more runoff onto neighboring properties than before. They will be installing storm drainage and is reviewed by the City Engineering Staff and Coon Creek Water Shed District to make sure that does happen. . Chair Daninger thought there were some additional easements to the west. He wondered if that was a change at all. Mr. Bednarz stated condition five in the resolution is requesting a twenty-five foot wide easement along the western most lot that is served by that private driveway. It is wider than the typical trail easement because of the existing trees. They are going to wind the trail through there so that there is as little tree loss as possible and then the easement will cover that twenty foot wide private driveway to allow access to the public street and the future City Park beyond. Motion by King, seconded by Casey, to recommend approval of the revised preliminary plat subject to the conditions of the attached resolution. Motion carried on a 7-ayes, 0- nays, O-absent vote. Mr. Bednarz stated that this item would be before the Council at the May 2,2006 City Council meeting. WORK SESSION: BUFFERING RURAL FROM URBAN DEVELOPMENT o Mr. Bednarz stated the Council has asked for ordinance language to address this item and suggested several options be allowed. The Commission and Council would select the o Regular Andover Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes - April 25, 2006 Page 6 options most appropriate for the specific circumstances of the site at the time that the preliminary plat is reviewed. There would also be opportunity to give direction to the developer at the sketch plan phase. Mr. Bednarz reviewed the information with the Commission. Commissioner Kirchoff asked if this was only for areas that would never transition to urban themselves. He did not think it could be an area that could eventually change and become an urban area Mr. Bednarz stated the intent is that this be applied in areas that are against the MUSA and not in the middle of an area that is transitioning from urban to rural. Commissioner Kirchoff wondered if they saw any additional capacity in the future such as a satellite sewer and water station between northern Andover and Ham Lake to allow expansion of the MUSA. He noted a couple of scenarios how they could expand the MUSA in the future. o Commissioner Greenwald wondered if Commissioner Kirchoff was worried about putting up a buffer that may not be needed in the future because there could potentially be future development. Commissioner Kirchoff stated that was correct and could be a potential hardship on the developer. Commissioner Greenwald wondered if staff found this language from other municipalities. Mr. Bednarz indicated they did not. The language is generated from other screening and buffering ordinances but they did not find other cities with this type of ordinance. Commissioner Holthus indicated she called around to a few other cities to see if they had anything like that and she could not find an ordinance like this. The other cities looked at it on a per development basis and a lot of times they did not require screening unless there was business next to residential. Commissioner Holthus wondered where the MUSA line is in Andover. Mr. Bednarz showed a map of Andover and indicated where the area is located. Commissioner Greenwald stated he did not like this at all and it is over regulation. He thought this would make the developer buffer but he wondered who they would be buffering from. He thought this was a waste of funds for the developer to do. There could be a natural resource out there that they would be buffering from. Chairperson Daninger indicated there is an exemption in the proposed code. . o Commissioner Greenwald stated his interpretation of this was they were trying to buffer something. Commissioner Holthus thought it meant a pleasant transition from high density to low density or vice versa o Regular Andover Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes -April 25, 2006 Page 7 The Commission discussed the reasons for buffering from the rural to urban areas. Commissioner Kirchoff wondered if instead of allowing the developer to clear cut to the property line, they are telling them they can only clear cut twenty feet from the property line. Commissioner Greenwald thought that was over regulation. He thought the developer would try to do what they could to try to preserve as many trees as possible. Commissioner Kirchoff indicated he did not like this idea. He hated to over regulate something and make it a hardship for the developer. Commissioner Greenwald wondered if this is a problem. Mr. Bednarz stated he has not seen this as a problem in the past. He thought that if this was not an issue for the Planning Commission maybe this is not needed. Commissioner Holthus wondered if staff saw the MUSA area expanding in the future. Mr. Bednarz stated they did not unless there are dramatic changes either in the way the city regulates or if they go back through existing trunk sewer lines and make them larger and deeper. o Chairperson Daninger thought this was pretty broad. He did not view it that trees would be planted. He thought there would be discussion about how the developer would buffer. Commissioner Holthus interpreted this as an issue of space. It could be a pond or some open area. Commissioner Greenwald stated he did not read it as a transition because it states it would require both physical separation and visual screening between urban and rural developments. Chairperson Daninger asked how many of the Commissioners were for something like this. Commissioner King stated he did not want it written in stone because then there are no exceptions whatsoever, if it was softer, it might be something to look at. Commissioner Greenwald indicated it did not have to be softer because if it is softer then they do not need it. Commissioner Kirchoff stated he did not think they needed it. If they go through the sketch process there will always be something that needs to be corrected and he thought they already had this review and did not need a code. Chairperson Daninger stated if the development is not a PUD, they cannot ask for trees in exchange for something else. Commissioner Casey stated he agreed with Commissioner Kirchoff and thought they should stay away from it because they do look at that in the site plan review. Commissioner Holthus stated she was for this. Chairperson Daninger stated he was for this also. o Commissioner Walton asked in the preliminary sketch plan, can they require a transition area unless they have something like this. He stated he would like to see the door open for the Planning Commission to ask for a transition if needed. o Regular Andover Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes - April 25, 2006 Page 8 Chairperson Daninger stated he does not want to see this so tight but he would like to see the developer propose the transition area. Chairperson Daninger thought this deserved a public hearing. He thought they needed to soften up the language a little bit. Commissioner Greenwald thought if the language were changed he would like this brought to another Worksession to discuss further. He thought if the City Council really thought this was needed, they needed to review this and discuss it further. Commissioner Kirchoff agreed and thought staff should see if the City Council wanted further review of this in order to bring it to a public hearing. OTHER BUSINESS. A. Planning Commission Training Update o Chairperson Daninger stated Commissioner King and himself went to a Planning Training Session. It was a very informative session. He stated what he has seen that their staff and City has done is great compared to other cities in the Metro area. Chairperson Daninger encouraged the rest of the Commission to go to a training session. Commissioner King stated the biggest issue that was brought forward was the City staff does provide a lot of information, which the other cities do not, and he does appreciate that. He stated they also need to educate their residents on what happens at the Planning Commission. ADJOURNMENT. Motion by Kirchoff, seconded by Casey, to adjourn the meeting at 8:4l p.m. Motion carried on a 7 -ayes, O-nays, O-absent vote. Respectfully Submitted, Sue Osbeck, Recording Secretary TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. o