01/17/2007 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE � ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION Tuesday,January 16,2007 6:00 o'clock p.m. (#07-3250 Philip Carlson,Continued) � 2. Preliminary Plat approval in order to create 10 unit lots and one common lot; . 3. Commercial Site Plan approval in order to obtain building permits; 4. Easement vacations in conjunction with dedication of new easements. The applicants have proposed development of five duplex office condo buildings on approximately 2.6 acres located at 2060 Wayzata Boulevard West. The proposed condos will be two-story walkouts containing approximately 33,570 square feet of usable space. Each building will contain a walk-out level, a main floor level, and an upper level loft. The property was part of a seven-acre tract that was platted into two lots for development in 2001. The easterly lot was rezoned to RPUD and is now the site of Orono Woods Senior Housing. The west 2.6 acres became Lot 1, Orono Ambar,and was rezoned to B-6 PUD,Highway Commercial District. Lot 1 is the subject of the current application. In December 2004,Interspace West filed an application proposing to construct an office condo development on the site. That application resulted in general concept plan approval in March 2005 for five 2-unit, 1-1/2 story walkout office condo buildings. The applicants worked through spring and summer 2005 to produce detailed plans and had discussions with the City regarding changing access to the site based on new information about future access points along Highway 12. Applicants ultimately chose to not make the suggested revisions to their plans. In October 2005,the Council conditionally granted the applicants general development plan approval, commercial site approval, and preliminary and final plat approval. White it was unusual to grant preliminary and�nal plat approvals on the same day in the same resolution,the applicants expressed a need to move quickly. Those approvals were conditioned on timely submittal of required documents, fees, and other agency permits. The resolution indicated that all approvals would expire if the plat was not filed by April 10,2006: Because preliminary and final plat approvals were granted simultaneously, the effective periods of preliminary and final approvals ran concurrently. Final plat approval expired six months after adopting the resolution on April 10,2006,because the conditions of the resolution had not been met and the applicants had not made the necessary submittals. Preliminary plat approval continued in effect until one year after adoption or until October 10, 2006. On October 23,2006,the City Council voted 4-1 to deny an extension of the effective period of preliminary plat approval and denied the request for a second final plat approval,finding that the conditions of Resolution No., 5387 had not been met within the allotted time period. Council concluded that submittal of permits from MnDOT was an essential element of the conditions that was not completed and the applicants were directed to begin the entire review process anew. Gaffron stated the main issue that remains outstanding at the present time is access to the site. Access to ' the site was originally established during the approval process for PUD No. 2 and consists of a shared right-in/right-out driveway access directly to Highway 12 at the southwest corner of the senior housing pro,perty and a shared driveway access eastward through the senior housing site to Brown Road North. Outlot D was platted as a potential service road corridor behind the Orono Shopping Center and Service PAGE 7