05/16/1979 P&Z Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 5 ,Planning and Zoning Commission, May 16, 1979 the area and their concern about the quadriminiums as far as population density and clutter, etc. The density was based on 3.8 maximum density. Mr. Reinert said that on the zoning issue, the Council had turned them down on the rezoning, and he felt they should handle that first. Mr. Blackbird said that outlot J is a commercial lot presently. There are several actions, and every- thing should be considered together rather than piecemeal. Mr. Heath asked in what way was this different from the last proposal. Mr. Blackbird said it was the location and number of the units; the last proposal was feasibility only and had the maximum number of units. Density has therefore changed from 6.-- to 5.5 units per acre. This plan also has a pond included. The former proposal was just to see if there were any objections to the area and so on. He said the citizens have also brought up many concerns. Mr. Blackbird mentioned the planner in Maple Grove, who said that Orrin Thompson's project there had the opposite effect on the citizens; that Orrin Thompson takes a mile square and then plats it with a cluster of townhouses and then R-ls and so on. He plats the one mile section into about 4 or 5 different plats. He said people in the townhouses do not want R-ls next to them because there is no control on maintenance of yards. Mr. Blackbird brought up that financing and energy conservation and so on all say we should look at something like this (quads) right now. He also said that this location is the only place that's good because of the sewer and water, and it's isolated from the R-ls. He felt that the increase in population could be handled by public services, as shown by the letters he presented. Mr. Johnson said the subcommittee started looking into density in regard to townhouses and quads, and so on at the time this was proposed. He said he has changed his thinking some- what in regard to these quads; he took the plat and called on Wyndham and Assoc- iates, who do the planning for Orrin Thompson, and some people from New Horizons. He had mentioned the plat initially proposed and they couldn't believe the density factor. All the information is not done yet because the committee is working on something else on a priority basis. Maximum density per Wyndham and Associates is 5 units per acre or 14 buildings and normally they have 2 acres of buffer with trees between townhouses and R-1. Mr. Johnson mentioned that he's said this before. Also, Mr. Lee Tuckner from Twin City Federal had said that a good guideline on quads was that the average cost of a unit in a townhouse should sell for $10,000 under the average cost of a home in that area, otherwise existing property values are depreciated. Mr. Johnson said that this has not been fully researched; this is just what other people have said. He added that he was all for townhouses if tastefully done. Mr. Johnson said Maple Grove had a maximum density of 4.8, and Wyndham and Associates said 5. He mentioned some other people from other cities and they all have ordinances but it hasn't been thoroughly looked at yet. He felt the Commission should look at green areas and so on. Mr. Blackbird expressed his willingness to work with the P&Z on this, and asked that nothing be considered hastily. He said in reference to the Rehbein name, that it does pop up a lot out here, as they own quite a bit of property. Mr. Johnson said that one thing came up in talking to these planners --they wondered that the density factor had ever gotten by the planner or city administrator. He referred to the original density factor as being 8 or 9. Mr. Blackbird said it had been 6.7. Mr. McLean thought it had been about 7.--. Mr. Gourley said on behalf of the planner that he is limited by the ordinances and publications that the Planning and Zoning Commission gives him based on its acts, and that we have no numbers on this. Mr. Reinert said that Mr. Blackbird had indicated that after his initial request was turned down, that he was going to meet with the people affected by this development; had he done that? Mr. Blackbird said that he had not, but he had given copies of his letters to the people here tonight. This area is backing