07-17-2017 Planning Commission Packet

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CMP Part 3B. Land Use Plan Orono will coordinate its commercial development planning related to Wayzata Boulevard area with the City of Long Lake to ensure the Long Lake downtown area remains vital and viable, to focus retail development in a compact downtown retail area, and to prevent the extension of retail development west of Willow Drive in Orono. The retail development in the Wayzata Boulevard area will be community or neighborhood scale rather than 'big box' regional scale development. The types of retail uses will be those that focus on providing services to the residents and businesses of Long Lake and Orono, while also drawing from the reduced traffic stream on Wayzata Boulevard resulting from opening of the new Highway 12 corridor. However, the retail development is not to draw substantial traffic from beyond Orono. The development plans for the Highway 12 area will encourage locally-owned and operated businesses that provide services to Orono and Long Lake residents. Additionally, the Highway 12 retail area will be a pedestrian-friendly area. This involves providing trails/sidewalks along the roadways providing access to the retail uses. It also involves providing public amenities that provide a sense of place and provide a gathering place for the public. The commercial areas along Wayzata Boulevard within Orono are identified in Map 3B-7 and include the following: 1. Property abutting the north side of Wayzata Boulevard from Brown Road North to Willow Drive. This area was reviewed as part of Comprehensive Plan Amendment No. 2 in 1989, resulting in a guide plan calling for commercial uses abutting Wayzata Boulevard with primary access to a service road connecting from Brown Road to Willow Drive, and elimination of direct access to Highway 12. The area is currently bounded on the north by existing residential development at densities ranging from 1 unit per 2 acres to 1 unit per 1.3 acres. The western half of this area has since been developed via PUD as a nursery/garden center with included leasable commercial spaces. The east half of this area includes, a 10,000 s.f. office building, a strip shopping center, a small quasi-industrial machine shop operation, an office- condominium development, and a 62-unit senior independent living apartment building. The City Council in February 1998 adopted a General Concept Plan for development along Wayzata Boulevard indicating that the Council's vision includes community scale retail development (as opposed to regional or 'big box' scale development) focused in a more compact area in or near downtown Long Lake (closer to Brown Road than to Willow Drive, at least in the short term) for the following reasons: City of Orono Community Management Plan 2008-2030 Page 3B-39