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3 <br /> <br />Initial Proposal <br />When proposals were initially sought by the City Council of Mounds View towards the end of <br />last year; Pulte had 3 concepts all which proposed townhouses. Total unit count of each <br />proposal varied greatly from 50 to 74 to 113 townhomes. Since our presentation to the City <br />Council, we have worked through many different site plans. The more we studied the site and <br />became familiar with what is known about the soils, site access, floodplain, wetlands, etc we <br />refined the site plan accordingly. Also of note, the City Council expressed an interest in Pulte <br />Homes forming a partnership with YardHomes to provide more affordable homes in the <br />community. This site plan reflects this direction by the City Council. Below are important <br />elements that have helped shape why we are proposing the current site plan. These items will <br />be addressed later in this narrative. <br /> <br />• Site Access <br />• Wetlands <br />• Creation of wetlands <br />• Partial Geotech <br />• Floodplain <br />• Available property <br />• Partnering with YardHomes <br />Site Plan <br />There are several considerations to contemplate when designing a new neighborhood in <br />general. Infill neighborhoods have even more nuances of which to be aware. To the immediate <br />west is Long Lake Road. Pulte is proposing to build townhomes on nearly 8 acres of the land; <br />while YardHomes is proposing to build 12 Cottage Homes on approximately 1.5 acres of the <br />land located south of LaPort Drive Right of Way. There are large lot single family homes/lots to <br />the west, south and southeast of the proposed development site with a wetland areas to the <br />immediate east. The site is heavily wooded. While there is floodplain present currently, we <br />would mitigate that floodplain in areas between Hwy 10 and the existing wetlands. <br /> <br />Site Access: Access to the site is proposed to come from Ardan Road off of Long Lake Road. <br />Originally, we proposed a separate access into the proposed development to come off of Long <br />Lake Road. City staff met with the County Engineering staff to discuss if this access spacing <br />was acceptable. City staff informed us that the County did not want an additional access from <br />Long Lake Road into our development. As a result, we are proposing Ardan Avenue become a <br />3-lane access off of Long Lake Road so that traffic can flow both into the yard waste site north <br />of Ardan Avenue and into the newly proposed townhouse neighborhood. None of the townhome <br />traffic will be able to go southward to LaPort Drive or Woodlawn Drive. YardHomes Cottages will <br />gain access into and out from the YardHome development via Woodlawn Drive. <br /> <br />Wetland: The fact that there are existing wetlands on the site that we are wanting to preserve <br />has influenced our site plan as well. Factored into the site plan is additional space where <br />wetlands could be created by the city for banking purposes. A wetland delineation was <br />completed by the city this past summer and that information was very helpful and informative to <br />our site plan. <br /> <br />Geotech Information: There were several borings drilled previously, the information of the soils <br />provided by these borings impacted our site plan access. We eliminated the LaPort Drive