Agenda Packets - 2019/07/08 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council June 24, 2019 Regular Meeting Page 7 1 Community Development Director Sevald stated INH Properties is proposing to develop a 128- 2 unit apartment building at the south corner of Mounds View Boulevard and County Road H2. 3 The project involves multiple planning applications including a request to amend the City Code 4 to allow Studio Apartments. He discussed the allowed square footage and the proposed change to 5 the allowed square footage. He reviewed the minimum square footage allowed in neighboring 6 communities. Staff provided further comment on the proposed City Code amendment with 7 respect to minimum floor area per dwelling unit and reported the Planning Commission 8 recommended approval of the Ordinance amendment as requested. 9 1 o Council Member Hull arrived at the Council meeting at 7:54 p.m. 11 12 Mayor Mueller questioned how many of the units would be studio apartments. Community 13 Development Director Sevald reported 7% of the units would be studio apartments. 14 15 Mayor Mueller opened the public hearing at 7:58 p.m. 16 17 Sandra Spector, 2556 Sherwood Road, asked if townhouses were considered for this site. She 18 commented on the benefits of having owner -occupied units versus additional rental units. 19 20 David Piskorski, 7878 Woodlawn Drive, questioned what the concerns were to having the 21 apartments units 630 square feet. He inquired what the drawbacks would be to building a 22 development with 520 square foot units that the market did not support. 23 24 Mayor Mueller stated the impact to the City would be none, but the developer would see a 25 reduction in revenues. 26 27 Hearing no further public input, Mayor Mueller closed the public hearing at 8:02 p.m. 28 29 Mayor Mueller asked if there was a demand for studio apartments. Community Development 30 Director Sevald stated he believed this was the case. He noted the developer completed a market 31 study and there was a need for studio, 1, 2, and 3 -bedroom apartments. 32 33 Mayor Mueller requested the developers come forward and speak to the size of studio 34 apartments. 35 36 Jim Elias, INH Properties, commented on the professional third -party market study that was 37 completed for this project. He noted he also conducted his own research. He stated there was a 38 demand for 10% to 15% of the building to be studio units. He discussed how modern apartment 39 buildings have a great deal of amenities (community rooms, theaters, fitness room, etc.) which 40 led renters to have smaller square foot apartments. Because of this change, there was a very high 41 demand for studio apartments. He commented 16 total units would be studio apartments. He 42 further discussed the floor plans for the studio apartments. 43 44 Council Member Meehlhause asked if a developer came forward with a townhome development 45 for this site. Assistant City Administrator Beeman stated there were inquiries, but noted the