01/22/2013 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Tuesday,January 22,2013 6:30 o'clock p.m. Due to the location of the existing building and the proximity to Old Crystal Bay Road North,the proposed parking area is set back six feet from the existing building where a 10-foot setback from the building is required and the 20-foot setback from Old Crystal Bay Road will be met. The variance requested may be reasonable due to the existing conditions. The parking areas as designed do not incorporate the required number of landscaped islands(1 per 20 stalls). Parking lot grades are proposed to conform to the 4 percent slope limit. All parking and drivi.ng areas are proposed to be paved as required. Due to the reduced number of constructed parking stalls,the applicant should address the anticipated snow storage or removal needs in order to ensure that the necessary number of parking spaces is available at all times during the year. In addition,the applicant is proposing to create an access for loading and pazking via the 550 Old Crystal Bay Road North property and easements should be granted for these access uses. The future modifications to remove the extra wide paved area and replace with lawn and trees on the south side of the property are not proposed until Orono Industrial Boulevard is constructed. Orono Industrial Boulevard is not expected to be constructed unless or until either the vacant site south of Orono Industrial Boulevard is developed or Morrie Wagener's property to the east is developed. The intent of the original Crystal Bay Business Center plat was that shared access would be maintained between and among the three lots lying between Orono Industrial Boulevard and Wayzata Boulevard via access easements so that all three lots would have access to Orono Industrial Boulevard,Wayzata Boulevard,and Old Crystal Bay Road. Those easements will be required to be retained whether or not actual access drives are constructed at this time. The applicants have proposed to continue the style and scheme of the landscaping plan currently in place on the SSO lot. Additional trees were required to be incorporated into the plan as a result of the conditional use permit for the alternative building materials. The minimum tree requirement for this property based on City Code is 60 trees. As part of the conditional use permit for alternative architectural materials, an additional 10 trees were required for a total of 70 trees. The applicant's current plan indicates 66 trees,including the 10 future trees on the south side of the building when the hardcover is removed from this area. Upon further review of the plan and the chart,it appears the transplanted trees were counted twice. The applicant is working on correcting the tree count as well as providing a plan for the landscaping to meet the City's goals of additional screening/beautification and balance the limited amount of space on the property. It appears the additional trees requested with the conditional use permit may not be feasible due to the available area on the property. The screening proposed along the west side of the new driveway entrance and along the west lot boundary parking area,will provide screening/buffering for that parking area and for the building. Some of that screening is proposed to be on the south part of the SSO lot. The applicant is proposing that all exterior wall lighting and pole lighting will be shielded luminaries and their lighting plan indicates there will be little,if any, light spillage outside the property boundaries. The wall signage being proposed is well within the limit of 5 percent of faqade wa11 area allowed for wall signage. The applicant has not identified locations for exterior placement of dumpsters and should clarify the proposed trash location. If the applicant proposes an exterior location for dumpsters or recycling Page 6 of 18