08/25/2003 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • Aqua Lane Comprehensive Plan Amendment page 2 Existing Adjacent Density: The Marshan Lake Townhomes were approved in 1995, with the second phase approved in 1996. The City began work on a new comprehensive plan in 1996 -97. The future land use map in the comprehensive plan was created as part of the planning process. The comprehensive plan was approved by the City Council in 2002. The entire Marshan Lake Townhomes site and the remaining four -acres along Lake Drive is guided Medium Density Residential. This allows a density of 3 -6 units per acre. However, the existing condominium townhomes were built at a density greater than six units per acre, in accordance with the approved site plans. That is, the land use map shows the development at a lower density than how it was actually approved and built. It is impossible to know exactly what caused this inconsistency, but several things may account for it. One, the method of calculating density has varied from project to project over the past years. Two, acreage data in the review of phase two of the Townhomes project seems to vary from data used in phase one. These differences in the data may have resulted in density calculations that were slightly above or slightly below six units per acre. Three, a structure was deleted from the plan somewhere in the 1995 review process: a four -unit building straddled the property line on the site plan. This further confuses the data for that project. At any rate, using upland data only and subtracting the parkland, the Marshan Lake Townhomes project includes 134 units on 20.9 acres: 6.4 units per acre. This falls into the High Density Residential land use category of the comprehensive plan. Current R -4 High Density Zoning: The site is zoned R -4, High Density Residential. One important aspect of the recent zoning ordinance overhaul was to specify the zoning districts that correspond with the land use categories in the comprehensive plan. Section 6, Subd. 6.C. of the zoning ordinance states: Land to be zoned R -4 must be in a High Density land use category according to the comprehensive plan, and development density within an R -4 District shall be within a range of six (6) to twelve (12) units per acre and shall be based on the buildable area. The current R -4 zoning is not consistent with the current Medium Density classification in the comprehensive plan. Such inconsistencies should be corrected by amending either the zoning or the comprehensive plan. Since the surrounding land is already developed at high density (6.4 units /acre) and according to R -4 zoning, it seems reasonable to amend the comprehensive plan. Future Site Development It is important to note that there is no actual development application yet. The R -4 zoning requirements as well as the shoreland ordinance requirements will apply. Setbacks, impervious surface, and other requirements will affect the number of units.