Agenda Packets - 2001/04/23 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item No: 7A Meeting Date: April 23, 2001 Type of Business: PH & CB WK: Work Session; PH: Public Hearing; CA: Consent Agenda; CB: Council Business City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor & City Council From: James Ericson, Community Development Director Item Title/Subject: Public Hearing and Discussion Regarding the Pinewood Elementary School Expansion and Consideration of Resolution 5540; Planning Cases DE01-001 & CU01-001 Date of Report: April 18, 2001 Background: Perkins & Will has been contracted by Independent School District 621 to coordinate a facility expansion at Pinewood Elementary, located at the southeast corner of County Road I and Quincy Street. A development review and conditional use permit are required for this project. There are three areas of building expansion which will total 10,000 square feet of additional floor area to be used for classroom, multi use and office space. The plans also call for an expansion of on-site parking from the existing 68 spaces to 110 spaces. Originally, this project also included a variance request to expand the parking lot alongside Quincy Street, which encroaches into the City’s right of way, and for the new auxiliary parking lot at the southwest corner of the lot. Prior to Planning Commission action on the request, the site plans were altered to eliminate the need for a variance. The Planning Commission held a public hearing on March 7, 2001, which was well attended by neighbors of the school. Residents were also well represented at the March 21, 2001 meeting. The residents’ concerns were based primarily on parking issues, student safety, cross walks, parking enforcement, snow accumulations and parking restrictions. No one from the Pinewood School administration or school district was available for either of these two meetings, although Carl Colmark, Executive Director of Administrative Support for the school district did attend the meeting on April 4, 2001. Mr. Colmark addressed the concerns of the residents, apologizing for the lack of representation at previous meetings. Mr. Colmark provided a letter to the Planning Commission which he read aloud for the benefit of the residents. He acknowledged that parking was a problem at the school which was one of the reasons for the expanded on site parking. He assured the residents that the school district would work with residents and staff to resolve all issues not directly related to the planning request currently being considered. Development Review Discussion: Setbacks: Other than the building expansion on the west side, there will be no change to the building or parking lot setbacks as a result of this project. All building setbacks comply with City Code requirements, as do the parking lot setbacks with the exception of the existing angled-parking along Quincy Street. (As the Council may be aware, the parking lot along Quincy Street actually extends into the right of way by seven feet.) There would be no expansion of the parking lot in this