06/14/2006 P&Z Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • Pheasant Stroll Estates page 4 percentages of materials. The details of the buildings were not pursued for this report because larger site planning issues pose significant questions that have not been resolved. Streets, Access: A local circulation system of roads and access points is one of the major elements of the 49/J planning study. Though the study is unfinished, all preliminary concept plans show conceptual options for providing circulation and access for land within the study area. The City is avoiding the creation of individual accesses onto the arterial roads. (Hodgson and CR J are arterials.) The City has recognized access management as an important planning consideration. Creating new access points creates new conflict points, decreasing safety and impeding traffic flow on the arterial road. A new local street located along the west border of this site would provide a single access for all properties between Ware and Hodgson Roads. Optimally, it could align with Shoreview's Kent St. on the south. Alternatively, the new street could be centered on the existing western property line of the Pheasant Stroll site. The point is to create one planned access points and eliminate all other driveways onto CR J. The submitted plan includes a private drive access onto CR J. The applicants propose a temporary private access to CR J which then would be removed in the future when the new public street is built. The private drive would connect to the new public street near the northwest corner of the site. Two problems arise with the proposal. First, it would be difficult to get the "temporary" access removed and connect with the new public street. Residents of the townhome neighborhood likely would oppose removing an existing driveway access and substituting a connection to a public street. Once an access exists, and the entire neighborhood is built and populated while that access exists, it is very difficult to remove it. In addition, we have experienced many occasions where residents oppose a new connection to an abutting development after they are accustomed to isolation. The second problem is that the proposed design puts all of a new street entirely on another property. This would mean that the property owner to the west would bear the entire loss of land to the road. It is typical to align roads on property lines, with half the right of way dedicated from development on each side. It is possible that the site could access directly onto Ware Road. However, this does not resolve the need for a future public road on the west side and right of way for that road. In short, the proposed design does not take into account the larger public interests in access management. Staff does not support the proposed design. The proposal does include additional 50 feet of right of way dedication for CR J. However, more right of way is needed: 60 feet from centerline, which is what the Anoka County Highway Dept. would plan for. This would push all the units north ten feet. In addition, the setback from an arterial road is 40 feet, not the proposed 30 feet. Therefore, with the right of way and complete setback, the units would need to move north 20 feet.