06-09-2025 - Agenda Packet City Council - regular meeting

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AGENDA ITEM Date: June 9, 2025 Item: 11 Title: LA25-000007, 4745 North Shore Drive, After -the -Fact Conditional Use Permit Amendment - Resolution 7589 Presenter: Melanie Curtis, Planner Section: Consent Agenda Purpose: The purpose of this application is to consider new retaining walls within the bluff and lake setback installed without City approval. An after -the -fact amendment to the CUP is required. 2. MN§15.99 Application Deadline: The application was received on January 30, 2025 and considered to be complete on February 14th; the original 60-day review timeline was extended and will now expire on June 14, 2025. 3. Background: The Council reviewed this request on April 28th and May 12th and tabled the application to allow the applicant to provide updated engineering and a revised landscape plan with native plantings. Review the minutes from the previous meetings: April 28 (video) / May 12 (video). 4. Analysis: The applicant provided an updated landscape plan, narrative, and photos attached as Exhibit B. Staff reviewed the revised landscape plan. The majority of the plants proposed are not native and do not appear to provide the desired screening of the walls. The following comments were shared with the applicant: 1. The "Kentucky Bluegrass" (KBG) shown on the path down the slope and along the base of the lower walls is not native to Minnesota. It requires frequent fertilization, mowing, and watering, does not meet the City's goals for screening, and does not support or stabilize the hillside. Staff would suggest using a taller, native fescue with interspersed native prairie grasses as an alternative to KBG due to their deep root systems, lower maintenance/mowing demand, screening potential, and durability. 2. Neither KBG nor a fescue alone will provide the required screening of the lower walls, which range from 3 feet to 5 feet tall. Your plan should be updated to include taller plants/shrubs/prairie grasses that will provide adequate coverage in front of each of these walls. Where it is not possible to screen the walls from the front, staff suggests incorporating a native vining species that could hang down and provide screening from above. 3. Although not native to Minnesota, the inclusion of Hosta plants along the stairs may be acceptable when paired with other appropriate native plants, such as the proposed wood lily, which is native to MN. The plan shows a large area to be planted with a no -mow fescue mix - along the stairs and on top of the lower walls. Consider incorporating native plantings with height and root systems to meet our goal of screening and stabilization. 194