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re- establish a natural landscape cover in the wetland area. The developer hes, <br />pursuant to requirements of the Watershed District, designed the plat to preserve a <br />significant portion of the existing vegetation in its existing state. As such, the <br />landscaping shown along the east and west wetland edges should be adequate to meet <br />the intent of this condition. <br />However, the re- grading has been accomplished with a series of retaining walls on ten <br />of the lots that are designed to support house pad elevations accessible to the street, <br />which is also much higher in elevation in the new plans. The new building pads sit on <br />more than ten feet of fill, in some cases, and the retaining wall heights are ten feet in <br />height, supporting a walkout level below the garage elevation. We have included an <br />illustration of this in the attached graphic. As noted above, this condition was not <br />apparent to the public or the City Council at the time of the public hearing on the <br />Preliminary Plat last fall. <br />Condition No. 7. This condition is designed to ensure that all other staff conditions are <br />included in the Planning Commission's recommendation and City Council action. <br />Summary and Recommendation <br />The submitted plat has been re- designed to meet, in plan view, most of the conditions <br />imposed by the City Council in its approval of the Preliminary Plat. In the meantime, <br />however, the physical impact of the subdivision has changed dramatically. In order to <br />accommodate the developer's intent to keep the lot count as high as possible, the <br />construction of the plat in this configuration would now require several retaining walls, <br />one set of which is necessary to make the lots buildable, and a'second set of which are <br />necessary to support the street and utilities. If the City believes that this Final Plat <br />configuration meets the intent of the Prelimimary Plat approval, planning staff would add <br />the following conditions, in addition to those recommended by the City Engineer, City <br />Administrator, and other staff: <br />a. Design of the retaining walls within the City right -of -way meet MnDOT <br />specifications for such walls, and the materials are subject to review and <br />approval of the City Council, with the expectation that such materials will be <br />chosen to maximize aesthetic values to the neighboring property owners. <br />b. An association of Preserve property owners is formed, with the specific <br />responsibility of maintaining (and rebuilding if necessary) any non - standard <br />improvements constructed within the public right -of -way, including retaining <br />walls. This responsibility shall include rebuilding of standard improvements <br />which are damaged due to the failure of maintenance of the non - standard <br />structures. <br />c. The several retaining walls on private lots are designed to be of <br />complementary materials, and are constructed as a part of the basic <br />improvements of the project by the developer. Because the lots being platted <br />