02-21-2017 Planning Commission Packet

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#17-3898 2060 Wayzata Blvd. February 21,2017 Page 4 Parking Layout. The parking areas as constructed meet all required setbacks. The parking stalls have never been striped, so reference to the site plan is necessary. By all indications it also appears that the wear course of bituminous has never been installed. A back-up apron was included at the end of the most northwesterly parking area. This provides a necessary function for this dead-end lot,and was located so as to be usable for a potential future service road connection to the west. While such a connection is immediately unlikely,easements for a through-route for a traffic connection between Brown Road and Willow Drive were required in past approvals for this site, but were never granted as the original developer defaulted. Establishment of a play area as proposed within the northerly six stalls of the lot would at least temporarily preclude the possibility of a future connection and negate the backup apron at the north end. This will be discussed further with the CUP review. Site Vehicular Access. The site shares a driveway entrance to Wayzata Boulevard with the Orono Woods Senior Housing property. Original office condo approvals in 2007 and earlier took into account the lack of a direct full-turning-movement access to the site from Wayzata Boulevard,due to the in-place median and no turn lanes.To this end, when the Senior Housing project was approved in 2001,the City required a cross-access easement through the Senior Housing parking lot to allow direct access to/from Brown Road from the 2060 parcel. The current plans for Hennepin County improvements to Wayzata Boulevard will remove the median and insert an opposing left turn lane system, allowing full turning movements at the shared driveway. This will make access to the applicants' property much easier and less of a burden to the Senior Housing. Site Topography,Stormwater Management. This site was extensively re-graded to create a rear walkout situation for each of the 5 building pads.The regrading included substantial boulder retaining walls and a storm sewer system in the parking lot and at the walkout level, connecting to the Senior Housing storm sewers and eventually discharging to the stormwater pond in the NW quadrant of Brown Road and Wayzata Boulevard. The office condo developer completed required expansions to this pond to accommodate all drainage from the 2060 property, hence no on-site stormwater ponding is required. Analysis The proposal to allow the daycare use should be evaluated against the goals of the Community Management Plan. The CMP maps the subject property for office use, but guides it for"a mix of commercial uses including retail,service and office components". Daycare is certainly a service that is vital to the community. Sandwiched between a multi-family senior housing development and a retail/service mall with a minor office component,the daycare use may be an appropriate use for this site. In addition to evaluating a proposal against the CMP,the character of the existing neighborhood is often used. The current use, CMP guidance, and zoning of adjacent parcels is: Use CMP Zoning North Single Family Residential Residential R-1A PRD South Trucking Operation Commercial B-1 East Multi-Family Senior Housing Residential RPUD West Commercial Strip Mall Commercial B-1 The character of the immediate neighborhood is varied. Some businesses in the Highway 12 corridor provide services to a sub-regional area, not necessarily specific to Long Lake and Orono,while others are quite localized. The proposed daycare use is likely to be providing service to local residents and potentially to some smaller subset of commuters.