12/11/2024 P & Z Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Planning & Zoning Board December 11, 2024 Page 3 APPROVED MINUTES Mr. Wipperfurth requested clarification on the City’s annual number of units and how it relates to this project. He questioned if there was flexibility on setbacks for Watermark. Ms. Larsen confirmed there was flexibility. He also questioned if it was the intent to require the developer to connect Peltier Drive so it is not a dead end. Ms. Larsen said it would be required and temporary. Mr. Wipperfurth also asked about the Comp Plan Guidance and the Met Council requiring an update due to the how it was drawn. He questioned if the City would run into this problem in all areas that have a blanket overlay. He felt when the City completes the next comp plan they would need to be more specific. Ms. Larsen said it would be impossible to know how a development would lay out and that there is flexibility in the layout. Mr. Vojtech commented on the smaller garage sizes and questioned if the townhomes would be in an HOA as they would have no room to store equipment for snow removal. He also thought the smaller garages would be problematic for single family households. Mr. Vojtech questioned the yield plan in the south part of the development where the wetland is. He said the yield plan was over 500 but our high would be 342 and he wanted to know how that would work. Ms. Larsen said if it exceeded density requirements it would need to be corrected on the yield plan. Mr. Vojtech questioned what the Met Council required per acre when we run City water and sewer. Mr. Grochala stated this development has three different land uses so it will ultimately be a little higher but compensates for other areas that are lower density. Our normal density Citywide is around 3 units per acre and we could go down to 1.6 units per acre. Mr. Laden believes there is a lack of value in the yield plan unless buildable areas are taken into account and how much drainage and ponding is actually needed. He would like to see more attention put into those details when yield plans are completed. Mr. Laden addressed lots within the shoreland area where there is talk of reducing it to 65 feet. He does not think it is a good argument to say if they do a duplex and split them, then the lot would be 65 feet. He said the developers have tried that argument before and staff would not allow it. He also does not agree with the concept in a shoreland to have the lots deeper if it is going to take away from the open space. He would rather get flexibility on the lot depth and not on the lot width in order to give the City more open space. He understands that it may not benefit the developer in terms of number of units he gets in but feels it would be a fair trade off. Mr. Laden also stated in the future he would be looking for less monotony in the architectural view of the townhomes. He would like to see more staggering of garages and less of them in a row. Mr. Wipperfurth questioned if we are close to capacity if the City does not use well #2 or add well #7 to the system. Mr. Grochala confirmed we were close to capacity. He further added that the City Council has approved well #7 but there is a process to follow.