10-21-2002 Planning Commission Minutes

Home Browse Search

MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday, October 21,2002 6:30 o'clock p.m. (#14) #02-2840 DAHLSTROM DEVELOPMENT LLC, 2550 KELLEY PARKWAY, Continued this project so that the Council could come to a decision about what they should be asking for over the next week or two. Mr. Dahlstrom interjected that they would be meeting with Administrator Ron Moorse and their financial people in the near future to see what's available, and discuss the issues of affordability and how the City could participate with them in order to achieve affordability. Loraine Kaley, 1395 Brown Road South, stated that, according to her recollection, the last time the development was discussed, the affordable units were going to run $170,000, she questioned how these had gone up so considerably since then, at a current price point of $220,000. She indicated that, according to the papers, the Met Council has been contacting local municipalities and questioning why they have not been willing to participate in affordable housing initiatives and cautioned the Council that they could be next. Dahlstrom pointed out that the $170,000 price point Mrs. Kaley was referring to was likely what the Met Council had identified as affordable. He indicated his willingness to work with the City in determining what level of affordability they will use to define this project and keep in check what sort of income level people have to have in order to qualify for those homes. He added that he would be attempting to bring in Don Soley, of US Banks, to talk with the City about what is affordable. Lindahl agreed that the affordable housing issue is a very complicated subject. She pointed out that it is difficult to compare Orono to other communities who have housing departments, like Minnetonka and Plymouth, where people work full time to get funding sources lined up. The challenge here is to design a program that provides affordable housing that the City says they want and need, without having the staff dedicated to making the housing affordable and keeping it affordable over the long term. Although a difficult task, it would be possible to make affordable homes at $199,000, but Lindahl stated they don't want to see those homes resold the next year at a huge profit rather than being kept affordable units. Hawn stated that she had difficulty moving this application forward without the traffic report in hand. Furthermore, since this was slated for affordable housing, she could not, in good conscience, support the proposal without a measure of affordability built into the project. Shelly Johnson, of Bonestroo, stated that he had been conducting the traffic study and apologized that the actual report would not be available until the end of the week. With this being said, Johnson indicated that they had defined Kelley Parkway as a mini-collector road. He believed that once all of the parcels were developed, one would see 2000-4000 trips per day on Kelley Parkway, easily supported by a 32' roadway and 30 mph. From a traffic perspective, Johnson stated that it was a nice project with good access, and once the third drive from the loft area was eliminated, it would work wonderfully. Finally, he noted that they would recommend two approach lanes to Willow be added. Page 23