HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning Commission Minutes 01-19-2011Approved Minutes
City of Plymouth
Planning Commission Meeting
January 19, 2011
MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair James Davis, Commissioners Dick Kobussen, Gordon Petrash,
Scott Nelson, Erik Aamoth and Marc Anderson
MEMBERS ABSENT: Commissioner Nathan Robinson
STAFF PRESENT: Planning Manager Barbara Senness, Senior Planner Shawn Drill, Senior
Planner Josh Doty, City Engineer Bob Moberg and Office Support Specialist Laurie Lokken
1. CALL TO ORDER - 7:00 P.M.
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
3. PUBLIC FORUM
4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
MOTION by Commissioner Petrash, seconded by Commissioner Kobussen, to approve the
January 19, 2011 Planning Commission Agenda. Vote. 6 Ayes. MOTION approved.
5. CONSENT AGENDA
A. APPROVAL OF THE JANUARY 5, 2011 PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
MINUTES
MOTION by Commissioner Petrash, seconded by Commissioner Kobussen, to approve the
January 5, 2011 Planning Commission Minutes. Vote. 6 Ayes. MOTION approved.
6. PUBLIC HEARINGS
A. WOOD CREST OF PLYMOUTH, LLC (2010094)
Chair Davis introduced the request by Wood Crest of Plymouth, LLC for rezoning to RSF-3 and
for a preliminary plat for "Wood Crest 2nd Addition" for 42 single-family lots for property
located at 5600 and 5660 Vicksburg Lane North.
Senior Planner Drill gave an overview of the staff report.
Commissioner Nelson asked why the city would be taking responsibility for the trail between the
two wetlands. Senior Planner Drill responded that would become a city trail. He said that an
eight -foot wide public trail is required by our Parks Department. He said the trail would be
installed by the developer but would be maintained by the city like other public trails.
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Commissioner Anderson asked if retaining walls would be needed on any of the lots and if so,
would the city be involved in the inspection of them. Senior Planner Drill said there would be
private retaining walls included in the development. He indicated where retaining walls would
be located on the site. He added that the retaining walls would be inspected during construction
as part of a required retaining wall permit.
Commissioner Kobussen stated that he would recommend that the developer review the tree plan
to see if more could be saved. Senior Planner Drill replied that trees would be looked at in much
more detail during the final plat stage. He said they would be required to plant trees and between
what they would be planting and what they would be saving, they would meet city requirements.
Chair Davis asked about the shoreland indicated on the proposed Lots 15, 16 and 17. Senior
Planner Drill responded that those properties are in the shoreland overlay district for Bass Creek
located south of the site. He said that when a building permit would come in, staff would review
to make sure the lot doesn't exceed 25% impervious surface coverage.
Commissioner Kobussen asked why the proposed sidewalk on Shenandoah Lane would go on
the north side instead of the south side of the street. Senior Planner Drill responded that it is up
to the developers what side they put sidewalks on. He deferred that question to the applicant.
Commissioner Kobussen asked who would be responsible for cleaning the sidewalks. Senior
Planner Drill replied that sidewalk maintenance is the responsibility of the homeowner or
homeowners association. Commissioner Kobussen said that to get to the back side of Lot 4 to
clear the sidewalk would be almost impossible. Senior Planner Drill responded that Wood Crest
has a homeowners association but is not sure if the homeowners association clears sidewalks.
He deferred that question to the applicant as well.
Commissioner Kobussen asked if the trail easement would be to the right or to the left of the 60 -
foot right-of-way line along Vicksburg Lane. Senior Planner Drill responded that it would be to
the right or east of that line. He indicated the easement locations on the map and added that a
10 -foot trail easement document would be recorded on those properties.
Chair Davis introduced the applicant, Dean Hanson, representing Wood Crest of Plymouth, LLC
and owner of Hanson Builders. Mr. Hanson said that the first phase of Wood Crest turned out
great. He said that the second phase would maintain similar architecture. He said this site is
more difficult due to grades but it has some beautiful wetlands. He stated that overall, they have
been very excited and happy to work with the city.
Commissioner Kobussen asked if there was any possibility or consideration given to saving any
more trees on this site. He also asked if there would be any water drainage issues from the upper
lots of Wood Crest onto the lower lots of this proposed development. Mr. Hanson replied that as
a builder, it is extremely important to keep drainage away from houses and to keep dry
basements. He said that they have not had any wet basements for many years. He said that the
engineer had worked hard to make sure that water would be diverted properly between
developments.
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Mr. Hanson stated that this site does not have a lot of trees and is mostly open land. He said that
many of the existing trees are softwoods and not desirable. He said a lot of trees would be
replaced with spaded, high-quality trees. He said that they did plant a lot of trees in the Wood
Crest development and that they would also be planting a lot of trees in this development. He
said that most of the existing trees that would be removed would accommodate placement of the
roads and ponds but that they would do a good job of planting trees to make up for the removal.
Mr. Hanson said that the sidewalk along Shenandoah Lane could move to either side. He said
that from a builder's perspective, they would prefer not to have a sidewalk in somebody's front
yard crossing so many driveways. He said that on a single -loaded street like Shenandoah, it's
better for the people that own the homes on that side as their driveways tend to be a little longer
and not quite as steep. He said that from a developer's perspective, the sidewalk could go to
either side and would not be an issue either way.
Chair Davis asked if the homeowners association would take care of the sidewalks. Mr. Hanson
responded that the homeowners association does not at this time.
Commissioner Anderson asked if sidewalks are installed with construction of the streets. Mr.
Hanson stated that generally, the sidewalks go in with the streets before most of the homes are
built.
Chair Davis opened and closed the public hearing as there was no one present to speak on the
item.
Commissioner Anderson asked about wetland impacts when the city builds the trail on the east
side of Vicksburg Lane. City Engineer Moberg responded that the city would be looking at trail
construction very similar to what we would with the roadway construction itself. He said that if
we determine that wetland impacts are unavoidable, we would have to come up with some means
of mitigating for impacts. He said that in this particular case, we are not close to having a final
design put together for Vicksburg Lane reconstruction but ideally, we'd be looking at a trail
corridor within the boulevard so that the trail is not right behind a curb. He said that in a
situation like this, we may have to look at pulling the trail in behind the curb to either avoid the
wetland or minimize the impact.
Commissioner Petrash asked how Lot 4 would get sold to someone when they would have to
walk all the way around the block to shovel the Shenandoah Lane sidewalk. Mr. Hanson
responded that currently, some of sidewalks in Wood Crest are cleared by the homeowners
association instead of the abutting homeowners. He said they could have the Shenandoah
sidewalk added because of the fact that it is inconvenient for those four lots. Commissioner
Petrash said that would make it more desirable to purchase those lots.
Commissioner Kobussen asked if they had ever thought about dividing Lot 4 into two lots. Mr.
Hanson replied that it would be a challenge with the steep grades there.
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Commissioner Kobussen asked if the southerly cul-de-sac would be in the Taylor Creek
homeowners associations. Mr. Hanson responded that it would be in the Taylor Creek
homeowners association.
Commissioner Anderson stated that this plat complies with density goals. He said that it is right
at the 50% limit on tree preservation and trees will be further revisited with the final plat. He
said that he likes how the development works for the land. He said that he would vote in support
of this request.
Commissioner Kobussen said that the layout is a very good layout. He said that there is a lot of
elevation change on the site. He said it is a challenge to put all the roads in and keep the grade to
be able to drive up and down without too big of a hill. He added that a stipulation should be put
in somewhere that the homeowners association must take care of maintaining the sidewalk along
Shenandoah.
Commissioner Kobussen asked if the eastern most two lots on 56th Avenue would be left vacant
until 56th Avenue gets extended or how the turn around would be done. Mr. Hanson replied that
those two lots are bigger and deeper lots. He said that when built, the homes would be back
farther so that a temporary cul-de-sac would be created and then when the road finally goes
through, those lots would have slightly longer driveways.
MOTION by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve the
request by Wood Crest of Plymouth, LLC for rezoning to RSF-3 and for a preliminary plat for
Wood Crest 2nd Addition" for 42 single-family lots for property located at 5600 and 5660
Vicksburg Lane North.
MOTION AMENDED by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Kobussen, to
approve an additional condition that the Homeowners Association be responsible for maintaining
the sidewalk along Shenandoah Lane. Vote on amended motion. 6 Ayes. AMENDED
MOTION approved.
Roll Call Vote. 6 Ayes. MOTION approved unanimously.
B. CITY OF PLYMOUTH (2010097)
Chair Davis introduced the request by the City of Plymouth for rezoning from O (office) to I-2
general industrial) for property located at 2730 Fernbrook Lane North.
Senior Planner Doty gave an overview of the staff report.
Commissioner Anderson stated that this was a zoning change but not a guiding change. Senior
Planner Doty confirmed that was correct.
Commissioner Anderson stated that this was an application from the city and asked where the
building owner was in this process. Senior Planner Doty responded that staff had spoken with
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the owner numerous times and that he is very much in support of the rezoning to industrial. He
said that the owner has had a lot of difficulty finding tenants due to the lack of parking.
Commissioner Anderson asked why the city was the applicant and not the building owner.
Planning Manager Senness replied that the city took the initiative to make the change. She said
that the other properties have all been able to maintain their legally, nonconforming status and
are still operating as industrial buildings with industrial uses. She said that the previous user
vacated the property over a year ago and the building owner lost their legally, nonconforming
status. She said that given the situation, there's not a lot that they can do without rezoning and
that the city took the responsibility to make the change.
Commissioner Nelson stated that the other four properties are in industrial use right now and that
makes them legally nonconforming. Planning Manager Senness confirmed that was correct, as
long as they continue to operate without a year lapse between uses. Commissioner Nelson stated
that our goal is to rezone this particular site to allow industrial use but still maintain this site for
future development for office use. Planning Manager Senness responded that when the city
reguided and rezoned this property in 2000, there was a considerably different economic climate
than there is today. She said that staff anticipates that it would be some time before this area
would be ripe for development but there is still potential for that in the future. Commissioner
Nelson asked that if it were to be redeveloped, it would take someone who owned all of the
properties to come in. Planning Manager Senness said that it would work best as a larger
assemblage.
Chair Davis stated that the thought was for this corner to be like West Health South. Planning
Manager Senness replied that this is a very prominent corner in the city and that the hope was in
2000 that it would be redeveloped into something of that caliber.
Chair Davis asked how much parking would be needed. Senior Planner Doty responded that the
building is relatively large in relation to the amount of parking provided. He said that an
additional challenge with this particular site is the width of pavement from the building to the
property line. He said that there is only space for one row of parking due to the need for a drive
aisle and fire lane.
Chair Davis opened and closed the public hearing as there was no one present to speak on the
item.
MOTION by Commissioner Petrash, seconded by Commissioner Kobussen, to approve the
request by the City of Plymouth for rezoning from O (office) to I-2 (general industrial) for
property located at 2730 Fernbrook Lane North. Roll Call Vote. 6 Ayes. MOTION approved
unanimously.
7. NEW BUSINESS
Chair Davis thanked Commissioner Aamoth for his four years of service on the Planning
Commission. Commissioner Aamoth thanked the staff. He said that it had been a lot easier for
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him to know what had been going on with all of the expertise they have and that he was amazed
by that. He thanked the Mayor and the City Council for giving him the opportunity to serve and
he thanked the current commission members and those he had served with in the past. He said
that he has really enjoyed the opportunity. Planning Manager Senness added that staff also
thanks him for his service. She said that it is always a pleasure to have commissioners that do
their homework and participate and he has done an excellent job in both regards.
8. ADJOURNMENT
MOTION by Chair Davis, without objection, to adjourn the meeting at 7:54 p.m.