04-18-2016 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF TAE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,April 18, 2016 6:30 o'clock p.m. reguided for higher density at 10 to 15 units per acre. The City Council agreed to the higher density and put in place a plan that would allow one or two multi-tenant buildings in the area of the property that is not within the former landfill. The area that is not being developed at this time is the former landfill site that was operated back in the 1960s and 1970s. The landfill has been capped and the applicant has spent quite a bit of time determining the boundaries of the landfilled area. The portion of the site proposed for development at this time is high ground overlooking the wetland and sitting 10 to 15 feet above Wayzata Boulevard. The site being developed is a former homestead and the site contains a number of mature hardwood trees surrounded by areas of low vegetation formerly maintained as lawn. The southwesterly portion of the property used to be a landfill for a number of decades and is currently open space with volunteer tree growth at its perimeter. The existing trees near the south side of the property provide some measure of visual and sound buffering to the Highway 12 freeway. The southerly two-thirds of the property contain a significant area of wetland, a portion of which was filled as a demolition and/or general landfill during the 1960s-1990s. While no existing wetlands are being impacted by the proposed development,the applicants are proposing substantial areas of wetland buffer to be preserved or established along the entire wetland boundaries of the property. Wetland buffers are shown at 40 feet in width along the portion of the property being developed. Where the 40-foot buffers are proposed building setbacks are shown as meeting the City required 10-foot setback from the edge of buffer. The City will require a Conservation and Flowage Easement over the wetlands being preserved. It is likely a majority of the mature hardwood trees will be removed in order far the development to occur. The existing trees along Wayzata Boulevard are also at risk of being removed and quite likely to the point where the existing level of screening between the highway and the proposed development will disappear. In its place, the applicants are proposing to provide vegetative screening but no berm or other visual/traffic noise screening is proposed. It has been the City's practice to rezone properties in the Highway 12 corridor area at the time an acceptable development plan is approved. Because this property has never been rezoned to match the CMP-guided density, the current application includes a request for rezoning. The application will be processed as a rezoning to RPUD and review will be guided by the RPUD standards. The RPUD District contains detailed development standards with regards to lot size and setbacks, building design, landscaping, screening and buffering, and trails and recreation. The RPUD District also offers flexibility as a planned unit development process in that variances from the standards are considered as elements of the RPUD zoning rather than as variances. The property does meet the minimum acreage standard established within the Zoning Code to be eligible for RPUD rezoning and exceeds five acres in area. Proposed Lot 1, Block 3, is approximately 200 feet from the estimated OHWL contour. The Planning Commission should discuss whether Block 3 should be reconfigured so that no parts of the proposed building lots are within 250 feet f the OHWL. This likely will require additional survey work to establish the location of the OHWL on the north side of Wayzata Boulevard. Also for discussion is whether to rezone the entire site to RPUD or just the area being developed. Although the approvals being requested at this time do not include development of homes in Outlot A, Page 11 of 32