09/22/2003 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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COUNCIL MINUTES SEPTEMBER 22, 2003 APPROVED 331 Councilmember Dahl commented that Bruggeman is not proposing anything that is not allowed for •332 this site. Councilmember Reinert asked City Planner Smyser to go down the list of substandard items 333 to remind the City Council of the concessions being requested in this substandard development. 334 335 City Planner Smyser stated the proposed plan appears to be consistent with the City requirements for 336 land use, infrastructure, utilities, etc. He indicated concerning traffic, a certain level of service needs 337 to be met. He advised the intersection at Birch Street and Hodgson Road was rated an F during 338 afternoon traffic, and a study has not been done to determine what the level would be after 339 improvements. He indicated they do show, on page 11 of the report, the afternoon peak additional 340 traffic generated. He stated Staff was comfortable that the number of cars would not be a problem 341 with the new turn lanes and traffic lights. 342 343 Councilmember Reinert noted the proposed project has substandard setbacks, the size of the garages 344 are substandard and the percentage of brick or stone fascia is substandard. City Planner Smyser 345 agreed the developer requested leniency on those three items because they are providing more open 346 space under the PUD provisions. He stated they are requesting a PUD because that allows the City to 347 grant them leniency on some development areas. 348 349 Councilmember Reinert commented the City goes through a lot of time setting standards because that 350 is what the citizens want to see, especially in residential areas. He does not know why they would 351 agree to go below those standards. 352 353 Mayor Bergeson stated one item of discussion at the work session was on garage sizes, and even .354 though the proposed garages do not meet the new requirements, they are bigger than garages in other 355 developments along Lake Drive. Councilmember Reinert indicated those new requirements were set 356 to upgrade the standards from where they were. He sees this as sliding back. 357 358 Councilmember Dahl asked what or how the developer could get the garages up to ordinance. She 359 questioned if they would need to decrease density. City Planner Smyser stated without being the 360 designer of the townhomes it is hard to say, but one option discussed was extending the fronts of the 361 garages out to add the necessary 90 feet. He noted that would create a `snout house' effect, where the 362 garage would be the closest to the street and the most visible. He stated the developer did not want to 363 do that. He indicated the other option would be to redesign the building from scratch; with eight unit 364 buildings it is hard to increase the garage size without going with a completely different product. 365 366 Councilmember Dahl questioned the comment on page eight of the report which says some of the 367 driveways will be shared. She does not remember any other developments where they have allowed 368 shared driveways, and does remember one that wanted shared driveways, but the Council did not 369 allow it. City Planner Smyser indicated they are shared because the garages are next to each other, 370 which is not unusual in townhouses. Councilmember Dahl stated she was thinking of a different type 371 of shared use. 372 373 Councilmember Dahl indicated Councilmember Reinert was unable to attend the work session and 374 has expressed that he has concerns with this project. She asked what it would take for him to change 375 his mind and approve it. Councilmember Reinert indicated he does not think there is anything that 376 could be worked out this evening. He stated he has been clear about his problems with this ift377 development from the start, and has not seen any movement toward changes. 11,78 8