06-02-26 City Council Meeting Packet

Home Browse Search

The city is exploring new development design types to better meet the goals of future development at key points of transition between more dense sewered development and the park reserve, open space PUDs, or other existing rural development. While the city has open space development (septic) available in rural areas, there is not a similar category for urban development. Both forms of open space development are seen as consistent with the Community’s goals. This new future land use category would blend existing Open Space Planned Unit Developments (septic) with Low Density Residential (sewered). The lot sizes and densities would be similar to the existing LDR with open space requirements the same as an existing OP-PUD. The main difference is that the open space would be a network of publicly owned parkways with ped/bike trails, fields of prairie grass, and woodland preserves. This is consistent with the goal of retaining aspects of Lake Elmo’s rural character and promoting a nature-based approach to development. OP-LDR Requirements: 1. This category is only found within areas planned to be in the City’s MUSA boundary. 2. Density must be between 2-3 units per acre. Minimum lot size will be approximately 10,000 sq. ft. similar to a Golf Course Community. 3. Housing must be primarily single-family housing but may contain a small percentage rear-loaded townhomes/twinhomes/ADUs to meet density requirements. (Staff are looking to propose a specific maximum percentage of 10% townhome units in a future zoning ordinance amendment.) 4. Open Space must be a minimum of 50% of the gross land area. Wetlands are allowed and encouraged to be within open space areas. Areas within the OHWL of lakes are not allowed to count towards open space areas. 5. Open Space areas must be owned by the City and publicly accessible parkway amenities with ped/bike trails and conservation areas with either native prairie or woodlands. Open space would be netted out for density calculations. Water Treatment Plant Property – Anticipated Comprehensive Plan Amendments: Amendments anticipated to the Water Treatment Plant property include the following: • Change Future Land Use to Institutional • Extend MUSA Boundary • Amend Phasing Plan for 2020 decade development Depending on the arrangement and nature of the land acquisition, the steps above may also apply to the rest of the collective property that will be subdivided to create the water treatment plant property. FISCAL IMPACT: Beyond typical financial impacts from development, and for the OP-LDR sewed development concept to work, the open space must be owned by the City of Lake Elmo. This would create costs for the City in the form of ongoing maintenance for these properties. To reduce upfront costs, the City could require full restoration and