03-29-2021 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, March 8, 2021 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 12 of 23 Planning Commission: setbacks, the unit count, and to find a place for the open space area play structure inside the community - originally it was along Kelley Parkway and Planning Commission felt it was not safe there. This particular plan and the way it navigates the streets, the way the homes are designed, and the walkway system has a safe access to a majority of the units to walk to the park from the front door rather than crossing the road and going into it. They tried to flip this one building and presented that option to the Planning Commission and Commissioner Libby who is present tonight supported that. Mr. Saddiqui’s team feels with the flow of the streets this works better, when they flipped the units facing Wayzata and Willow, the first question that came up was if someone is living there would they want to wake up every morning and look at Wayzata Boulevard or Willow Drive. From that perspective, they looked at what they could do to make it work, and they thought of flipping it so they have a parallel street next to Willow and Wayzata which gives the setbacks they need and the street system. Then they asked what else can they do to secure it a little bit more, so they brought in the ornamental fence and the arborvitaes. Some concerns the Planning Commission had is the survival of the arborvitae and the Applicant is open to the idea if the City wants to recommend a certain plant. David Weekley Homes’ landscape architect feels the kind of plantings they are proposing will serve well and sustain as the distance is quite far from the snow and salt and it would work out well. As they all know, it is 100% HOA maintained for all the utilities, streets, streetlights, parks, etcetera. The way they have finalized it – and they are open even at this point in time, if the Council decides to flip the building – he thinks the street will be an issue the way the stubs will come out, and they circulated that plan, it did not look that great, so they went back and revised it. The Planning Commission thought the same thing as David Weekley Homes and more importantly, as a home owner, what would they want to see if they are living there. That is what is really comes down to. Walsh likes the sidewalks, safe walking, the streets are wide enough, and they want it to be livable. He thinks it makes a lot of sense to have things, not unlike across the street when looking at all of their public areas, they are all in the middle rather than the outsides. Mr. Saddiqui said one comment from the Stone Bay neighborhood meeting was that a play structure does not serve well in their community. If the Council is open to any other structure such as a pavilion, he is open to that idea. For now, they just left it with the play structure to perhaps target single parents, young couples, or retirees. If the play structure does not work out, they are open to changing that. Crosby believes at Stone Bay they have some type of gazebo. Johnson asked the price point on these homes. Mr. Saddiqui answered currently they are shooting between $440,000-$470,000 and are still about $40- $50,000 below Stone Bay but they feel very good about where they are at. Initially they thought of around $390,000-$410,000 but in the last 7 months the prices have skyrocketed. Crosby likes the things the Applicant has done and thinks they are being about as accommodating as one can. They have reduced the density and he likes that the center is the attraction. Johnson thinks that Staff was saying if this gets built and people complain about seeing garages, they warned the Council. Crosby said he is not as concerned with people driving by but the people that are living there.