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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-03-1999 Council Work SessionCITY OF ORONO NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE is hereby given that the Orono City Council will meet in a work session at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 3,1999 in the Orono City Council Chambers, 2750 Kelley Parkway, Orono, Minnesota. The purpose of the work session is to continue discussion related to the update of the Comprehensive Plan, particularly the sewer policy element of the plan, and to discuss other issues of current interest. This meeting is open to the public. /s/ Linda S. Vee City Clerk Posted at: City Hall Navarre Post Office • .• To:Mayor and Councilmembers Planning Commission Members Ron Moorse, City Administrator From: Date: Miki Gaffron, Senior Planning Coordinator May 27,1999 Subject: June 3 Council Work Session The next Council work session regarding the Comprehensive Plan update is: Thursday June 3,1999 7:30 AM (Council Chambers) The topic for discussion will be Sewer Policies, primarily related to the Rural Area. The current sewer policy chapter of the 1980 Comp Plan is entitled Comprehensive Sewer Policy Plan (CSPP) and is 56 pages in length. Many of the elements of this chapter are very outdated and will require extensive updating. The CSPP contains a number ofimportant policies which Council should confirm or clarify. Please consider the following policy statements, and be prepared to discuss whether they reflect Council's current vision for Orono: 1.The provision of sewer to the City's rural area will not be used to increase the density of development in the Rural Area. 2. The MUSA is fixed - it will not be expanded - (except), A.To address situations where an area of existing homes has failing or non-conforming septic systems and alternate septic sites are not available. B. Where an individual home has a failing or non-conforming septic system, does not have an alternate septic site, and is adjacent to sewer. 3.There are existing residential neighborhoods with non-conforming septic systems that have alternate septic sites, but would prefer to obtain sewer service rather than install a new septic jystem. Their reasons include: A. They would not have another alternate site if the new system failed or became non- conforming due to new regulations. 6-3-99 Sewer Policies Work Session May 27, 1999 Page 2 B. Use of the alternate site may requ *e the removal of a substantial number of trees, significantly changing the character of individual lots and potentially that of the neighborhood. C. The one-time cost of sewer provides a permanent solution vs. the potential of future replacement of the new septic system. 4.Provision of sewer to an existing Rural Area neighborhood of substandard lots will qqI result in a rezoning of the neighborhood so that the zoning standards will match the existing lot sizes. 5.Proximity of undeveloped land to an existing sewer system may result in development with sewer if conditions warrant and the developer wants sewer, but the land must still be developed under rural zoning standards. 6.Orono's Urban Area and Rural Area should each be defined by their allowed density of development, not by whether they are provided with sewer. 7.Similarly, the ability to accomplish on-site sewage treatment by future methods which do not require large lot sizes, is qqI a reason to allow smaller lot sizes in the rural zone. Despite Orono's long-standing plan to not sewer the Rural Area, we do expect pressure for this to occur. This pressure will likely come from residents who, when faced with the prospect of having to replace their septic system, will view City sewer as a better option. Attached to this memo is a short discussion about how we got to where we are, what new things might be facing us, and suggesting some priorities for expanding the sewer .system, i.e. creating a plan for dealing with this pressure. j ATTACHMENT (FOR DISCUSSION) Subject: SEWER SYSTEM EXPANSION Orono's first municipal sewers were constructed in the Navarre area in 1963, ahd at the same time the Orono sewage treatment plant on Old Crystal Bay Road was constructed. The sewer system grew during the 1960's and 70's to include the Saga Hiii and Tonkawa Road areas, plus a number of outlying areas such as Chevy Chase and Hackberry Hill as well as the extension of the Long Lake system to serve the Orono Schools and our industrial park. Prior to 1975 Orono's 'rural' areas were zoned for 1-acre, 1-1/2 acre and 2 acre minimum lot sizes per the 1967 zoning code. Prior to the mid-1970's, most of rural Orono away from the lake had not had significant amounts of development, just a relatively small r’unber of residential developments created in the 1950's and 1960's at a 1-acre density, such as Webber Hills, the Long Lake Country Club Addition (Lakeview Terrace), and Fox Hill. During the 1970's it was concluded that discharges from the municipal sewage treatment plants around Lake Minnetonka were a detriment to the Lake, and those plants were subsequently dismantled. Lake area sewage thereafter was piped to tlie Blue Lake Treatment Plant on the Minnesota River. Environmental studies concluded that the next biggest problem for the Lake would ultimately be nutrient-laden urban runoff, which would lead to early eutrophication of the Lake, making it >ess usable for recreational purposes. In 1975, as part of an effort to protect Lake Minnetonka from the ravages of urban runoff, 80% of Orono's land was rezoned to low densities (2 acre and 5 acre minimums). As clearly spelled out in the 1980 CMP, the City firmly entrenched itself in the philosophy that the Rural area should never be sewered, because sewers would automatically lead to high-density housing within the upper watershed; that would generate more urban runoff than the natural wetlands could assimilate, and might lead to high water levels that would jeapordize existing shoreland development. Orono's 1980 Community Management Plan (CMP) established that extension of municipal sewer would only occur in the designated Urban area, not in the Rural area. The CMP also, however, specified that 5 identified "Rural Clusters" (historic high-density neighborhoods in the rural area, most with 1/4-1/2 acre lots) would be provided with sewer if studies determined that septic systems were not a viable long-term alternative. After studies were completed, the City ultimately provided sewer to all 5 "Rural Clusters" between 1980 and 1992. These 5 areas included the Minnetonka Bluffs/West Femdale area, the Crystal Bay neighborhood, areas along North Shore Drive, and the north half of Stubbs Bay. In the mid-1990's the City identified 10 additional rural "Hot Spots". These v/ere neighborhoods of medium density (typically 1 -acre lots) where long-term use of septic systems was determined to be difficult, especially in light of new State legislation which eliminated the 'grandfathering' of existing Attachment Page 2 systems not meeting a 3’ seasonal water table separation. It was determined that perhaps as many as 60% of the existing systems in Orono would not conform to the standard, and would eventually have to be replaced. During the latter half of the 1990's the City worked aggressively to bring sewer to the "Hot Spots" neighbor!toods. This seemed more prudent than forcing homeowners to construct new mound septic systems on sites that in many cases were marginal due to soils, topography and available space. Most of the 10 "Hot Spots" have been sewered, or are expected to be in the next two years. One of the results of solving these scattered neighborhood problems, has been the creation of a MUSA boundary that has multiple inroads and islands. There are few portions of the Rural Area that are more than a mile from the nearest sewer. This can lead residents to the perception that sewer is 'just around the corner’. The 1980 CMP did not specifically set a goal of providing sewer to the entire shoreline of Lake Minnetonka. However, the current Council appears to be of a single mind that this should occur. A prime example is the 1998 MUSA amendment that allowed the 7-lot Little Orchard subdivision to be sewered, and brought the entire northeast shore of Maxwell Bay into the MUSA. One of the (perhaps not anticipated) side effects of low-density zoning has been the gradual 'gentrification' of Rural Orono. While the 1980 CMP states that "Orono's rural areas provide the opportunity for low density housing at affordable prices...", opportunities for 'affordable' rural housing have dwindled due to skyrocketing land values. In Orono's rural area (2-acre and 5-acre zones only), 21 new homes were constructed in 1998. The range in construction values for these 21, not including land costs or landscaping, ranged from $185,000 to $1,597,000. 14 of 21 exceeded $300,000 construction value. The average construction value was $452,000 which likely translates to a selling price around $550,000. The point here is that as a higher percentage of the rural area is developed with housing cf high value, a greater percentage of rural property owners may be willing to accept the high cost of sewer in order to not have to deal with septic problems. This will lead to pressure to retrofit 2-acre conforming lots with sewer for neighborhoods that are willing to pay for it. And then perhaps it's only a short leap to the idea that we might actually develop 2-acre neighborhoods with sewer from the very start. Met Council policies notwithstanding. Over tlie last 20 years the urb«n spiral ha^ apparently been held at bay, and we haven’t been forced to become Plymouth. This could be attributed to a progression of City Councils who refused to tezone the rural area while watching it develop at a slow, steady pace. It also could be attributed to a market that eats up new 2-acre developments as quick as they are created, apparently indicating that the "rural" lifestyle Orono provides is an attractive one. Attachment Page 3 However, it also has resulted in some Orono residents concluding that a 'cornfield castle' plopped on every 2 acres, does nol functionally preserve open space or the 'rural vistas' that the 1980 Plan sought to protect. Clustering is probably the next (last) step to take in order to preserve what open spaces are left. But clustering septic systems in our clay soils could result in inadequate treatment and system failures due to groundw'ater mounding, etc. which could be avoided by developing with sewer. in hindsight, we might have developed the 80 acre Dickey property into 37 half acre lots on 20 acres near the intersection of Willow and Watertown, and preserved 60 acres of open fields via permanent covenants. We would have needed sewer to do it. We might have needed to adopt some density incentives to make it economically attractive to developers. We would have created a Plymouth-type development in order to preserve some of our rural character. The saving grace in all this is that, over time, say 20-25 years out, the cornfield castles will disappear behind mature trees as they have in the developments created 3 decades ago such as Webber Hills, Long Lake Country Club Addition and Cygnet Place. So, if we think that there will be pressure to bring sewer to Rural Orono. it would make sense to establish some rational basis for making future decisions as to when and where. For discussion purposes, here is a possible priority ranking to consider: Prioi ity 1 Properties that abut the shoreline of Lake Minnetonka Priority 2 Priority 3 Priority 4 Priority 5 Properties that abut other Orono lakes Properties that abut City-protected tributaries (Long Lake Creek, Painter's Creek, etc.) All other properties within the Shoreland Overlay District ^nh<;tanHflrd developed lots not covered by Priorities 1 thru 4 Priority 6 Conforming de^'eloped lots not covered by Pnorities 1 thru 4 Priority 7 New development not covered by Priorities 1 thru 4 Priority 2 New development using clustering that permanently preserves blocks of open space i o o o o 00 00 00 00 oooooKSoooommmm__________00 *.iOOOOOOOOOSQ\0\Ov T}*T}-^^T}*csr}rnfAfArnT}*T}*Ti*^ ^^Tr'^Tf*-^r-*(N(Nvn»nvr»wovnvn 2 (o (o ® (o'C © C? 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