Minutes - 2004/01/12 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Mounds View City Council January 12, 2004 Regular Meeting Page 9 Director Ericson indicated there is substantial cost for a full blown hydrology analysis and without preliminary plat approval it is unreasonable to expect it. Director Ericson indicated that Staff concurs with the City Attorney's recommendation to approve subject to the many conditions listed by Staff. He then indicated that if the plan were approved, the applicant would need to obtain a wetland alteration from the City and there are numerous requirements that would need to be met. Mayor Linke asked if the City is covered through a development agreement with the developer to cover all Staff costs and engineering costs. Director Ericson indicated the application that was included with the Staff report contains a disclaimer indicating that the applicant is responsible for the costs associated with the application. Council Member Gunn told residents the preliminary plat approval contains 10 conditions and said that the document was in the public book if they wished to read them. Mr. Harstad addressed Council and provided an overview of his development requests for this property. In 2001 he had before Council the 11 lot plat that required variances along Longview Drive as the lots did not meet the lot width requirements imposed by the wetland ordinance requirements. He then indicated that the City had requested Rice Creek Watershed District approval before he came to the City so he obtained that and was ultimately denied the variance. He further commented that the previous plan did not have any lots along Silver Lake Road and would have provided a tree buffer through a conservancy easement to maintain the block of trees that was 150 feet wide. Mr. Harstad indicated that the site in general has not changed since 2001. It is the storm sewer for Silver Lake Road and Longview due to the lack of catch basins in the area. He further commented there is a culvert from Silver Lake Road that dumps onto this property. He then indicated that when the first proposal was before the watershed, the one thing that they were excited about was that the water would have been channeled to a pond to be treated before entering the wetland. Mr. Harstad indicated that as part of the new project they would be treating storm water into a pond so the quality of the wetland would improve. He then said they would be doing some significant land modification staying under the half an acre requirement and will be replacing wetlands at a 2 to 1 ratio. He further indicated they would be filling .47 acres of land and recreating, along with credits for cleaning up storm water, 8.6 acres of wetland. Mr. Harstad indicated that he has been asked whether he likes this development better than the first proposal and the honest answer is that he does not because he would prefer the buffer of trees but the Council and Planning Commission said they did not want the other development because it required a variance for lot width.