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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 9, 2008 0 REGULAR ANDOVER OPEN SPACE ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING JANUARY 9, 2008 MINUTES The Regular Meeting of the Andover ()pen Space Advisory Commission was called to order by Chairman Deric Deuschle, January 9,2008, 7:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Commissioners present: Gretchen Sabel, Jody Keppers, Jim Olson, Winslow Holasek, Bruce Perry and Kim Kovich Commissioners absent: None Also present: City Planner, Courtney Bednarz Others APPROVAL OF MINUTES 0 December 12,2007 Motion by Keppers, seconded by Perry, to approve the minutes as presented. Motion carried on a 4-ayes, O-nays, 3-absent (Sabel, Holasek, Kovich) vote. REVIEW EVALUATION CRITERIA/RANKING SYSTEM Staff previously forwarded the edited evaluation criteria to the Commission with a request to score the various criteria and to consider any other adjustments that may be necessary. The Commission reviewed and discussed the evaluation criteria scoring matrix. Commissioner Holasek arrived at 7:06 p.m. Commissioner 'Olson thought criteria two should have the highest ranking. Commissioner Perry thought the bottom five or six items should have equal ranking. Commissioner Keppers agreed. He explained how he came about with his scores for the ranking. Commissioner Keppers wondered if the description would be better to be more vague on the 0 value ofthe width of the area because the numbers are really kind of arbitrary for them on item 8. He thought the value of the buffer would be in protecting the width and length of the lakes, streams and wetlands. Chairperson Deuschle thought the Commission consensus was everyone liked item 8 the best out 0 Regular Open Space Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes - January 9, 2008 Page 2 of all of them. Commissioner Kovich arrived at 7:23 p.m. APPLICATION OF EVALUATION CRITERIA TO SAMPLE PROPERTIES The Commission is asked to use the evaluation criteria to evaluate the two sample properties in the packet. The GIS application of the natural resource inventory will be used to aid this process. Country 'Oaks West Commissioner 'Olson wondered if the parcel is owned by only one person. The Commission indicated it was. Chairperson Deuschle reviewed the criteria with the Commission and determined that the parcel was sufficient in size and location to preserve and enhance natural resources. It was noted this parcel includes one ofthe only large forest areas left in Andover. Commissioner Keppers thought ifthis 0 parcel were available it would be a good opportunity to have for forest land. Commissioner Keppers stated the other thing he noticed was it is just north of the 2020 MUSA boundary. Mr. Bednarz stated in this case the property is outside ofthe MUSA and the City does not have the capacity to serve it and in the near future it will be considered Rural. Commissioner Keppers asked what kind oflimits would be put on a development outside the MUSA District. Mr. Bednarz stated if it is outside ofthe MUSA the development has to have each parcel at 2.5 acres as a minimum to allow for septic and well. Commissioner Sabel arrived at 7:37 p.m. Commissioner Keppers wondered if it made sense to make a list on what items would be preserved. He thought one item would be preserving forests. Commissioner Kovich stated they would need to find out what type of plants would be in the forest worth preserving. The Commission reviewed the Evaluation Criteria for this property: Item 2 - would generate 20 points because it would provide an opportunity to protect significant Natural Resources that would otherwise be negatively affected. Item 3 - rated at a maximum of 15 points. Commissioner 'Olson thought it would rate higher because 0 it is within the Anoka County Corridor. Item 4 - Endangered species of plants or animals does not exist on this property so it does not fit the criteria and would score O. 0 Regular Open Space Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes - January 9, 2008 Page 3 Item 5 - would probably meet the criteria because ofthe native plant communities but they would need to review what types of plants would be there. This would score 8 points because some of the land will be disturbed by the easement. Mr. Bednarz stated the City's transportation plan's long term plan is to bring the connection forward through this parcel to provide access to the west side. Commissioner Keppers wondered what would be the effect on the parcel if the road were to go through. Commissioner Kovich thought it would be great because it would split the parcel in half. Chairperson Deuschle stated even if the road were to run through the property they could still have the land as community open space. Commissioner Kovich felt they need to put in negative items in the criteria such as the property may not be worth purchasing because of some certain circumstance. Commissioner Keppers thought this would be the second stage. Item 6 - The Commission reviewed the parcel for buffers. The Commission felt this should receive 0 a 0 because there are not any buffers adjacent to upland native plant and animal communities. Commissioner 'Olson wondered if it should get points by being adjacent to other very attractive parcels. Chairperson Deuschle stated the only thing about the other parcels is once developed they will not be buffers to this parcel anymore. After further discussion the Commission felt this should rate a 5. Item 7 - Chairperson Deuschle wondered ifthere was a Natural Watershed System on the parcel. The Commission reviewed the parcel for possible watersheds along with easements on the property. It was determined all of the land north of the easement is high land outside of the wetland. The Commission thought this should be rated a 5. Item 8 - There are wetlands on the parcel to the south ofthis property. Commissioner 'Olson thought it would make a bigger difference if the area adj acent to the parcel was open water. The Commission felt this should be rated a 2. Item 9 - It was discussed that if the property stayed as is and the street goes through and it is preserved on both sides it would make a nice area to drive through. This should be rated an 8. Item 10 - At this point there are no notable features unless reviewed. This should be rated a O. Chairperson Deuschle thought this parcel is bound by the railroad tracks and easement and it was unlikely anything substantial would come in there. 0 The Total ranking for the property would be: 63 The Commission felt this property should be reviewed further because they did not have enough information to rank it properly. 0 Regular Open Space Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes - January 9, 2008 Page 4 Round Lake Boulevard and South Coon Creek Drive The Commission reviewed the parcel to see if it would be worth evaluating. The Commission reviewed the Evaluation Criteria for this property: The Commission felt the prerequisite was met. Item 2 - Commissioner Holasek did not think this plat was developable because there is no way to access it. Mr. Bednarz showed on the map possible development ideas for the area. He thought it is under a threat for development because it is within the sewer area so it qualifies under these criteria. Commissioner Keppers thought in this part of town green space is getting fairly scarce. The Commission scored this a 15. Item 3 - The Commission felt this was on the Anoka County Conservation Corridor and should receive a 15. 0 Item 4 - The Commission thought this should receive a 0 unless they get some sort of documentation that it is by the Blandings Turtle areas. Commissioner Olson thought they should get more up to date information in order to rate the properties because some of the data was over fifteen years old. Item 5 - The Commission determined by the map that there were not any natural plant communities on the parcel so it should receive a O. Item 6 - There are no buffer areas adjacent to this parcel and should be rated a O. Item 7 - The Commission felt there was not a natural watershed system along the parcel and should be rated a O. Item 8 - The Commission reviewed this and determined there is wetland to the southeast to a degree but they do not know what the quality ofthe wetland would be. The Commission felt this should be rated a 5. Item 9 - It was determined that part of this parcel was visible to Round Lake and could be more valuable because the adjacent parcels are residential and other areas nearby are being developed. 0 This should be rated a 4. Item 10 - The Commission determined that there are no notable features on this parcel so it received aO. 0 Regular Open Space Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes - January 9, 2008 Page 5 The Total ranking for the property would be: 39 The Commission felt the first property reviewed should have a higher value because it seemed like a more valuable parcel compared to the second. The Commission wondered and discussed if there should be extra points for higher valued land. The Commission reviewed the differences in point values between the two parcels. Commissioner Sabel thought if they made Item 5 in the rating system a 15 they could have higher points for better, more valuable land. Commissioner Kovich stated that property two would not be a good investment for the City but property one was and he wondered how they could present it to the public showing why it would be a good investment. Mr. Bednarz thought they needed to move away from the school look of one hundred points and as they look at more properties they are going to start to have more of an understanding of where properties will fit on the scale. Commissioner Sabel thought they should take item 4 and merge it into item 5 and give it a total of 0 15, this would leave item 4 open to be contiguous to a larger conservation area with a maximum value of 10. Parcel one would receive a 10 on item 4 which would bring the total of parcel one to 73. Commissioner Keppers stated his idea for item 8 should read "Scoring based on the width of area and it's utility in helping to preserve lakes, streams and wetlands" and eliminate the reference to specific size. DISCUSSION OF 2008 DNR GRANT CYCLE The deadline for applications is March 31, 2008. Staff would like to discuss the necessary steps to complete an application for the 2008 round of grants with the Commission. Mr. Bednarz reviewed the staff report with the Commission. Chairperson Deuschle wondered if they could move fast enough on this in order to have a site by March 2008. He was not sure they could make the deadline unless they had someone they were ready to talk to. Mr. Bednarz stated the Commission's next meeting is in February and they would need to get 0 Council approve around that time but he thought it might be difficult to have a property to discuss and go after by that time. He stated one thing about the DNR grants is there will be a grant available for this type ofproject in the future. Commissioner Kovich thought the time frame was way too soon. The other Commissioners 0 Regular Open Space Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes - January 9, 2008 Page 6 agreed. Commissioner Keppers wondered if there were any properties that would be available to look at. Mr. Bednarz stated the property that received a 73 was one to look at and the owner contacted the City but he did not think it could be done in time to apply for the grant. The Commission felt it was too soon to apply for a DNR Grant and felt they should wait until 2009. Motion by Commissioner Keppers, seconded by Commissioner Sabel, to not pursue the application for 2008 because they are not ready to have a proposal and the Commission wants to complete a City wide inventory prior to making a grant application. Motion carried unanimously. OTHER BUSINESS a. Next Meeting 0 The next meeting is scheduled for February 13, 2008 The Commission reviewed some upcoming workshops that they could go to. Mr. Bednarz stated the Council has asked for an update on the Commissions work for the January 22, 2008 Workshop. He also wondered if they wanted to have a joint meeting with the Council. The Commission felt it would be a good time to have a joint meeting. Mr. Bednarz stated there are some funds available from the MPCA to do some projects in the area. This money would be used for survey work, evaluation of the sites and other expenses. This is something staff will be working on with the MPCA. Motion by Kovich, Seconded by Olson, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Osbeck, Recording Secretary 0