02-16-2016 Planning Commission Packet

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! . i�OD 7 �ebruary 11,2016 Page 5 west is the Dumas Orchard which is similarly guided for firtiu�e Viedium-High Density Residential use at 7-10 units per acre; and to the immediate north across Wayzata Boulevazd is the Oz�ono Schools Campus. Property across the intersection to the noi-theast is guided and developed far office uses. Criven the commercial, industrial, institutional and transportation uses that surround the site on three sides,the proposed meditum density(3-7 units per acre) residential use would appear as an appropriate fit for this site as a transition to the 3-acre zoning located south of the Highway 12IRailroad conridor. General Site Characteristics The site is generally open,a majority of it being former cropland, with a few mature trees located at the southeast and northeast corners where single family homes once stood. The property is very flat with shallow wetlands delineated in tlie west central portion of the property. The property is loca,ted just outside the Shoreland Overlay District. Soils on the site include Glencoe silty c�ay loam, Dundas silt Ioam, and Le Sueur Ioam, a11 of which exhibit high water tables and make development with basements chailenging. Conservatio�Design The applicants have submittsd a Conservation Development report prepared by Kjolhaug Environmental Services Co. pursuant to the Ci�y's Conservation Design ordinances. Key elements of the report include a review of the Rural Oasis Study of which this site was a documented corridor; Natural Resources Inventory including review of the MLCCS Land Cover Classification data,, wetland delineations {approved by the MCWD), tree inventory, and review of existing drainage patterns; and outlini� of a Basic Conservation Design Master Plan, which appears on pages 4-5 of the report(Eahibit G). The Master Plan is ��mmari�.�d as follows: - Runoff will be mana.ged by creation of two ponds and a filtration basin, each discharging to the existing wetlands and then draining naturally westward per the existing area drainage pattem. Rate,volume and sediment control are addressed. - Dead, damaged and diseased trees will be removed. Where buckthoz�n exists, it will be rec�uired to be reinoved. - Although the existing site has only minimal tree cover with few significant trees, those significant trees will be preserved where feasible, and the landscape plan indicates 226 trees will be planted as mitigation and for screening purposes throughout the site. - Wetlands will be avoided with the exception of a small degraded wetland at the northerly road entrance ta the site which will be completely impacted, requiring an anticipated approximatety 20,000 s.f. of mitigatian, Applicant's initial discussions with MCWD suggest this mitigation will occur offsite— a fu�al determinatian has apparendy not been made. Wetland buffers are proposed including buffer averaging intended to meet MCWD requirements. - No Ecologically Significant Natural Resource Corridors or Conceptual Gxeenways aze found on the site. Wetland and hydrologic connectians to the west will be maintained. - The Rura1 O�sis Study conducted by DSti Inc. for the City in 2005 noted that views into the site were generally negative, i.e. an zuilcempt pasture. Applicants have progosed a landscaping plan that includes perimeter berming and screening as visual buffers to the development.