02-16-2021 Planning Commission Minutes

Home Browse Search

MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION Tuesday, February 16, 2021 6:00 o'clock p.m. Barnhart thinks they can achieve the same number of units fronting Willow and Wayzata in just these three blocks if they have a 30 -foot setback off of Willow and a 35 -foot setback off of Wayzata. He said that goes against what the Planning Commission and City Council talked about earlier. The Applicant seems receptive to that but has been leery to change the plan knowing the Planning Commission and City Council had commented opposite of that. Barnhart would like to hear some feedback on that type of change. The Applicant shows landscaping along the exterior of the project, and a row of arborvitae to show some screening as well as the decorative fence which will not block view but will provide a decorative edge to the public and private space. The Fire Chief has provided comment and he absorbed it into his Staff comment letter — basically his main issue was the fire hydrant is shown on the east side of the new road intersection and he would prefer it on the other side. Staff is recommending approval of the four applications subject to the five conditions included in the memo. Staff has received 6-7 comment letters and most of them seem to be focused on the location of the driveway and its potential impact from a headlight perspective with the residential units on the other side. He also noted quite a few comments with concern about the design of the building, not so much what they are, but want to make sure the materials are hardy plank rather than vinyl siding, and wanted some variation in the color or texture of the building. Staff is looking for some feedback on the architecture and whether the Planning Commission would like to see any changes. Regarding the driveway location, the City standard is relatively minimal; it is 100 feet away from an intersection. Barnhart pointed out 100 feet on screen and said a bigger issue is there is a turn lane and generally they would look for 300 feet on the turn lane and pointed it out 300 feet on screen. He pointed out the building across the street that would be impacted by headlights and said there is not a lot of opportunity to provide screening on the other side of the street because where this road intersects Kelley Parkway on the other side from the Stone Bay Development is an unimproved fire access, so trees and plantings are prohibited in that area in favor of maintaining an access for emergency vehicles. He noted the Applicants are here. Staff recommends approval and is looking for feedback on any changes to the plat, any comment for the architecture of the buildings, and anything else the Planning Commission has identified as a concern. Ressler said seeing how it is proposed and how it is guided, what was going to go there, was it supposed to be an apartment complex. Barnhart thinks the 20-25 unit would have almost required an apartment building and there was an apartment building proposed for that property that did not require any wavers, met all the setbacks, with all the parking, etcetera. The City Council felt that was too dense at the sketch plan level about a year ago so their direction at the time was to look at something a little more consistent with the Stone Bay Development and that is where they are at now. Bollis said regarding the driveway or road, it appears that it correlates directly with the cul-de-sac to the property to the north and asked if that is correct. Barnhart replied yes. Libby asked for a clarification on the five conditions; the orientation Staff is recommending versus what the Planning Commission received in the original drawings, are they recommending that there be no garage and driveway facing to Wayzata Boulevard or Willow and asked why. Barnhart is suggesting the driveway and garage door side of these four blocks, they face interior to the site so there would be a road roughly here (on screen) and the "public" front door portion of the property would face Willow Drive and Wayzata Boulevard. Page 23 of 38