HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 16 - CC Report Inwood Concept Plan 9-16-14
MAYOR & COUNCIL
COMMUNICATION
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DATE: 9/16/14 REGULAR ITEM #16 RESOLUTION 2014-072 AGENDA ITEM: Inwood Planned Unit Development – General Concept Plan SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Klatt, Community Development Director
Nick M. Johnson, City Planner THROUGH: Dean Zuleger, City Administrator REVIEWED BY: Planning Commission
Jack Griffin, City Engineer Mike Bouthilet, Public Works Superintendent Greg Malmquist, Fire Chief
SUGGESTED ORDER OF BUSINESS:
- Introduction of Item .....................................Community Development Director
- Report/Presentation………………………...Community Development Director
- Questions from Council to Staff ............................................. Mayor Facilitates
- Call for Motion ............................................................... Mayor & City Council
- Discussion ....................................................................... Mayor & City Council
- Action on Motion .................................................................... Mayor Facilitates POLICY RECCOMENDER: The Planning Commission unanimously recommends approval of
a Planned Unit Development (PUD) General Concept Plan for a mixed-used planned development to be named Inwood, located in Stage 1 of the I-94 Corridor Planning Area. In recommending approval of the PUD Concept Plan, the Planning Commission made several findings of fact and recommended 25 conditions of approval.
FISCAL IMPACT: TBD – All costs incurred to the City through the review of the application
are reimbursed by land use application fees and a development escrow. The project covers 157 acres of land, and will include the extension of public services (water and sewer) into the site. The developer will be required to prepare a developer’s agreement for all phases of the project, at which
City Council Meeting [Regular Agenda Item 16]
September 16, 2014
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point all public and private improvements will be identified. The developer is proposing to
construct 5th Street as privately as part of the overall improvements. SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUESTED: The City Council is being asked to consider a request from Hans Hagen Homes and Inwood 10, LLC for a Planned Unit Development (PUD)
Concept Plan for a new mixed-use development on 157 acres of land located at the southeast corner
of Inwood Avenue and 10th Street in Lake Elmo. The concept plan as submitted includes 273 single-family residential lots, 144 townhouses, 150 multi-family units, 120 senior townhouse units, and approximately 68,814 square feet of commercial/office uses. The Planning Commission held a public hearing and considered the PUD at its August 25th meeting, and postponed taking action
on the concept plan until its September 8th meeting. After further discussion at is September 8th
meeting, the Commission is recommending approval of the PUD General Concept Plan with 25 conditions of approval, some of which will require modifications to the plans as presented. The suggested motion to adopt the Planning Commission recommendation is as follows:
“Move to adopt Resolution 2014-072, approving the Inwood PUD General Concept Plan.”
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY/PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT: The Planning
Commission considered the PUD plans at its August 25th meeting and conducted a public hearing
on the request at this time. There were several comments received from the public at this meeting, and in addition to these statements, Staff also received written communication from the Department of Natural Resources and from a neighboring property owner. Rather than summarizing the public comments in this memorandum, Staff has attached an excerpt of the
minutes from the Commission’s meeting concerning the PUD for review by the Council. The
letter from the DNR and neighboring property owner is likewise attached. After discussing various aspects of the project suggesting several modifications to the conditions of approval, the Commission ultimately postponed taking action on the PUD.
As part of its ongoing review of the proposed project, the Commission conducted a site visit to a
similar development that the applicant is building in Blaine, Minnesota on September 3, 2014. In addition, as a follow-up to the public hearing, the developer submitted a revised site plan in order to address the initial comments and recommendations of the Planning Commission. Staff has included the revised site plan with this report.
The Commission continued its discussion on the PUD Concept Plan (and reviewed the updated concept plan) at its September 8, 2014 meeting, and received additional testimony from members of the public at this time. The City Council has been provided with the draft minutes from this meeting as part of its meeting agenda packet, which includes a summary of the comments that
were received. As part of its discussion, the Commission recommending the inclusion of eight
additional conditions of approval beyond those drafted by Staff, which included the requirements/conditions as follows: 1) All multi-family housing is to be located south of 5th Street.
City Council Meeting [Regular Agenda Item 16]
September 16, 2014
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2) Sidewalks will be provided on one side of every street with cul-de-sacs except 9th Street.
3) The trail along the Stonegate boundary will be located as far west as possible. 4) The lots at the end of cul-de-sacs in neighborhoods E, F, and H will be designed as designer (larger) lots. 5) The developer will consider adding a small park to the northwest portion of the site subject
to review by the Park Commission.
6) The high density housing area will be limited to a maximum of 15 units per acre. 7) The design for the commercial and multi-family areas will be consistent with the single-family housing and throughout the development. 8) All cul-de-sac will meet the City’s maximum length requirements.
Since the Planning Commission meeting, Staff has received comments from the Chair expressing concern that the issues associated with the lot sizes within the development did not receive much discussion at the meeting. As noted in the development plans, the developer is proposing a mix of different lot sizes within the “lifestyle housing” portion of the development, and these lots would
be allocated as follows:
• 20% 38 foot wide lots
• 60% 50 foot wide lots
• 20% 58 foot wide lots It is Staff’s expectation, that should the project be approved, that the final development plans will need to follow this general allocation of lots throughout the project. While there was no specific
motion at the Planning Commission meeting to regulate the number of each type of lot permitted,
at least two Commissioners have indicated that they would prefer a higher percentage of larger lots within the development. At this time, Staff is asking that the Council review this aspect of the project plans as it considers the Planning Commission’s recommendation, and would need to request changes to the development plans if it finds the allocation of lot sizes to be unacceptable
to the City. Staff is on record as supporting the proposed lot size mix as proposed by the developer.
In order to provide the City Council with a complete description of the information considered by the Planning Commission, Staff has attached the detailed reports submitted for both the meetings at which the Planning Commission considered the PUD. These reports include detailed
information concerning the concept plan in addition to the staff review and analysis of the request.
As noted earlier, any updated plans that were submitted by the applicant in between Commission meetings have been integrated into the plans attached to this report. After a lengthy discussion concerning the PUD Concept Plan and the recommended conditions
of approval, the Planning Commission adopted a motion to recommend approval of the Inwood
PUD General Concept Plan with conditions of approval. The complete list of recommended conditions may be found in Resolution 2014-072 (Attachment #1). The motion passed with a vote of 5 ayes and 2 nays. The dissenting Commissioners did not agree that that the PUD plans were consistent with the City’s Comprehensive Plan, and noted that these plans did not meet the
minimum standards of the LDR zoning district.
City Council Meeting [Regular Agenda Item 16]
September 16, 2014
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION (SWOT): Strengths • Approval of the Inwood PUD Concept Plan allows the applicants to move forward with the preparation of a PUD Preliminary Plan and Preliminary Plat application.
• The Planning Commission and Staff both determined that the proposed Concept Plan is consistent with the City’s Comprehensive Plan.
• The proposed planned development offers unique design that is
consistent with the City’s desire to promote walkable single family neighborhoods with common open space. Weaknesses • The project includes several conditions of approval that will need to be met by the applicant.
Opportunities • The PUD will add users to the City’s public water and sanitary sewer system (with connection fees).
• The project includes a major piece of the planned 5th Street minor collector road.
Threats • The City of Oakdale has raised concerns about transportation access issues along Inwood Avenue. Washington County has agreed to assist in the development of an access spacing plan for Inwood Avenue in the near future.
RECOMMENDATION: Based on the above report, background information, and related attachments, the Planning Commission and Staff are recommending that the City Council approve the Inwood PUD Concept Plan with 25 conditions of approval. The suggested motion to adopt the Planning Commission recommendation is as follows:
“Move to adopt Resolution 2014-072, approving the Inwood PUD General Concept Plan.” ATTACHMENTS:
1. Resolution No. 2014-072 2. Planning Commission Staff Report – 9/8/14 3. Planning Commission Staff Report – 8/25/14 4. Location Map 5. Application Form
6. Project Narrative (Revised/Supplement) 7. Project Narrative (Original) 8. Inwood PUD Concept Plan w/Details (Revised) 9. Inwood PUD Concept Planning & Design Booklet (Color Copies) 10. City Engineer’s Review Memorandum, dated 8/13/14
11. Fire Chief’s Review Memorandum, dated 8/19/14 12. Washington County Review Memorandum, dated 8/20/14 13. Minnesota DNR Review Comments 8/25/14
City Council Meeting [Regular Agenda Item 16]
September 16, 2014
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14. City of Oakdale Review Comments 8/29/14
15. City of Oakdale Email Comments 9/8/14 16. Tom FitzGerald, Email Comments 8/25/14 17. Stonegate Neighborhood Petition 9/8/14 18. Planning Commission Meeting Minutes (Excerpt) 8/25/14