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r , { <br /> � f <br /> #10-3471 <br /> July 19,2010 <br /> Page 4 of 8 <br /> in the new plat. The resolution vacating the easements would be recorded immediately prior to <br /> the recording of the plat. <br /> Staff Comments on the Site Plan <br /> Site layout and ading_ Commercial buildings require a level area for parking, a level access, <br /> and usually have a large footprint. This site is challenging because it has a nearly 10 percent <br /> slope across the properry with the highest area of the site 6 feet higher than Shadywood Road. <br /> Doubling the challenge is the drop off to the wetland on the reaz of the property. The site plan <br /> places the access roughly at the�point where the site and Shadywood Road are at the same <br /> elevation. To the northwest of the access (toward the church)the site is cut, and to the southeast <br /> (toward the house/office)it is filled. The parking lot ends before the slope to the larger wetland <br /> begins. (The future building would sit on the slope.) At the northwest property line the cut is <br /> managed by a retaining wall ranging in height from 2 to nearly 7 feet. At the southeast property <br /> line the grade change is managed by a slope. The difference between the parking lot elevation <br /> and the elevation at the property line ranges from 2 feet at Shadywood Road to 8 feet at the rear <br /> of the parking lot. The cut along the northwest property line would not extend to Shadywood <br /> Road. The bank along Shadywood would be retained with the retaining wall curving around <br /> behind it. <br /> In 2007 the property owner proposed a multi-building office development. That plan had the <br /> access at the high point with the two level buildings placed in the slopes. One criticism of that <br /> site plan was that the view from Shadywood Road would be of a retaining wall and a two story <br /> . high building wa11. The parking would be on top of the retaining wa11. The desired view was of <br /> woods and landscaping with the building and parking area behind that. The proposed site plan <br /> responds to this desire. The bank along Shadywood and the location of the retaining wall will <br /> obscure the grade change and place most of the impact of the grade change on the site. The <br /> generous parking lot setback from the southeast property line allows for a flatter slope to the <br /> property line and for landscaping to obscure the grade change. The placement of the filtration <br /> � basins on the southeast side of the site allows the grade to be stepped down to be closer to the <br /> grade on the adjacent properties. ` <br /> The grading plan for the proposed building requires the removal of neaxly all the vegetation on <br /> the site from Shadywood back to near the buffer area for the larger wetland. This is usual with a <br /> commercial site, even a flat one. If an office building was constructed on the site the building <br /> would be two stories and the area of the future building used for the additional parking. <br /> Building Design: The proposed building would be residential in character. The character of the <br /> surrounding buildings is inconsistent. The church building appeazs to be a commercial office <br /> building, but it is not clearly visible from Shadywood Road because of mature trees. The building <br /> on the other side of the property resembles a house with the gazage converted to an office. The <br /> Freshwater Institute building is architecturally distinctive but is neither commercial nor <br /> residential in appearance. <br /> This site is the next to the south end of the Shadywood Road extension of Navarre. Farther south <br /> are residences on wooded lots mostly facing toward the cross streets. Between the adjacent <br /> church properry and the dental office to the north are about 325 feet of wooded frontage zoned B- <br />