03/27/1995 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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DEVELOPMENT DENSITIES The aforementioned Wetlands Act, along with local zoning, subdivision, floodplain regulations which serve to protect environmentally sensitive areas of the City, have significantly reduced the development densities that have occurred in Lino Lakes in the following ways: 1. The 1991 Wetland Conservation Act applies to all wetlands. As a result, it has removed development potential from land that may have previously been developed. This reduces the supply of buildable land within a subdivision. 2. Subdivisions that must integrate wetlands into the lot layout frequently lose density due to irregular shapes of the wetland resulting in oversized lots. 3. The City has zoning/subdivision performance standards (Zoning Section 4.5.3, Subdivision Section 1001.08, Subd. 6.4, attached) requiring the residential lot areas to be exclusive of water courses mandates larger lots in areas of wetlands, floodplains and environmentally sensitive areas. 4. In addition to Section 4.53 of the Zoning Ordinance, the Lino Lakes Floodplain Ordinance Section 5 requires: "No land shall be subdivided which is held unsuitable by the City of Lino Lakes for reason of flooding, inadequate drainage, water supply or sewage treatment facilities. All lots within the Floodplain District shall contain a building site at or above the Regulatory Flood Protection Elevation. All subdivisions shall have water and sewage disposal facilities that comply with the provisions of this Ordinance and have road access both to the subdivision and to the individual building sites no lower than two (2) feet below the Regulatory Flood Protection Elevation." A survey of ten subdivisions (Table C) developed in accordance with the City regulations and the 1991 Wetland Conservation Act reveals that the residential densities are much lower than the density standards allowed in the base zoning districts. After the consideration of the wetlands as physical constraints, recent subdivisions produced a gross density of 1.4 units per acre and a net density of 2.1 units per buildable acre. The densities result in average lot sizes ranging 20,742 square feet to 31,114 square feet. The current wetland regulations and local zoning regulations demonstrate that even with single family lot sizes flexibility being requested, the average residential densities in single family subdivisions will be comparable to State shoreland standards. 5