02-16-2021 Planning Commission Packet

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FILE#LA21-14 February 21,2020 Page 5 of 8 Setbacks, internal. In a townhome development, property lines are generally established at the border of the building, with at least one building wall shared by the adjoining unit. In these developments, the primary focus is the distance between buildings, and the distances between the garage door and the street. The plans show a minimum distance of 10 feet between the sides of buildings. The distance between the house pad and the edge of the private street is 20 feet, which will allow parking without encroaching into the street. This configuration is similar to the Stonebay townhomes, though those driveways can be as short as 18 feet. The town homes in Stonebay have a variety of side yard setbacks,with the smallest at 14 feet. Roads. The private road widths does not conform to the road width requirements for this number of units. For roads serving more than 6 units, 28 feet pavement width is required, they propose 24 feet. 28 feet allows for parking on one side, less than that does not permit street parking. The code does require 50 foot right of way,which is provided. Parking. The proposal includes 10 spots for visitor parking. This is in addition to the 2 staff garage parking and the driveway parking for each unit. There is no code requirement for visitor parking. Given the width of the private road,there will be no parking on the road. Building design. The applicant has provided drawings of the proposed buildings, attached as Exhibit C. Staff has advised the applicant that the buildings should convey the same 'character' as those in Stonebay: colors, materials, roof pitch, etc. Staff has some concern from a design standpoint on the orientation of Blocks 5-8. These blocks feature the garage door side of the structure facing out, toward Willow and Wayzata. Often these sides are the utility side of a structure, where the garbage and recycling cans are kept, etc. While the applicant proposes landscape screening, staff recommends flipping these blocks, so that the buildings face Willow and Wayzata, and the internal road be on the 'inside of these homes, forming the edge of the internal open space. To do so,though, requires further waivers from the external setbacks. Staff recommends that the Commission support a waiver to permit these blocks to be no closer to 30 feet from Willow and 35 feet from Wayzata, provided these homes face these street (and the garage doors are to the rear. Landscaping. The proposal includes a landscaping plan that conforms to the standards outlined in the RPUD district. The landscaping plan is provided in Exhibit B. Utilities. Utility plans have been created and the city engineer has provided comments. Typically, the preliminary plat and Master Development plan approval is conditioned on City Engineer approval. The Watershed will also need to approve the stormwater management plan. Fire Review. The Fire Chief recommended an adjustment to the location of one of the hydrants. This requirement was incorporated into staffs comment letter, Exhibit F.