2005.01.13 PC Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Planning Commission Minutes — January 13, 2005 between buildings. He also talked about the demographics of the typical townhome owner; most had no children to impact the schools and were usually one-person occupied so there would not be as much impact on traffic. He also explained plans to have Festival Foods occupy the grocery site. The other two building sites would possibly be sit-down restaurants. They were proposing 15,000 square feet of commercial, though there were no specific tenants at the time. Chair Schumann talked about the building elevations, pointing out that there was no single family townhomes proposed in the development. Commissioner Hoffbeck recalled being told by Victor Garden's sales people that the townhomes to the north would be single level around $200,000. Mike Waldo, Contractor Properties, showed the Commission where the single level villa projects would be in the future (south of the former Crain property, now Victor Gardens 4t1i) and said they would be between $200,000 and $240,000). Waldo said they were very proud of the development they have already done. Commissioner McRoberts pointed out that he owns property directly north of the proposed development and he had no problem with the proposed buffering but felt the lack of transition was crucial. He said the proposed development lacked variety in the housing types and there was no parkland. McRoberts asked why some of the townhomes on the north edge couldn't be single family homes. Mike Waldo said there was actually less density than what was originally approved. Commissioner Hoffbeck said she felt the developers had done a fabulous job on the south side of CSAH8. She said she understood another development done by Pratt, Liberty on the Lake, had problems because it was too dense, not well planned. Other issues with Liberty she sited were the development was too `tight', trouble with the fire department, drainage, and neighbors too close. Hoffbeck also questioned whether Victor Gardens North was scaled down from what was developed on the south. Waldo explained they were unable to get the same price per square foot because of the large grocery store and they needed to make it affordable. Gene Zerwas said there was no variety; all you see is row houses. Commissioner Hoffbeck pointed out that they were still beautiful homes. Commissioner McRoberts said that no one was disputing the quality or attractiveness of the units, but there was no transition. Hempel said the ground water table is extremely high and would not accommodate houses with basements.