2026.02.02 CC Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Sketch Plan Submittal January 12, 2026 Frenchman Village Page 5 of 6 JUDICIAL DITCHES 3 Rice Creek Watershed District Judicial Ditches cross the site. Judicial Ditch #3 Main Trunk, Judicial Ditch #3 Branch 2 and Judicial Ditch #3 Branch 3. Required roadway extensions by the City necessitate ditch crossings for both Fenway Avenue and Victor Path. At a minimum, large box culverts will be required for each of these crossings, with the potential for a bridge structure being needed for the Victor Path crossing. Judicial Ditch #3 Branch 2 will also need to be realigned in the area of the City Park. The applicant has met with Rice Creek Watershed district representatives to discuss this realignment. Watershed staff indicated acceptance of the proposed realignment but noted a permit process that could extend from 4 to 6 months. PARCEL CONSOLIDATION/EXISTING EASEMENTS The development currently consists of 9 separate parcels of land. Each of these parcels has existing easement encumbrances varying from one easement to several. The process to release each parcel from these easements will be daunting and must be completed prior to consolidation of the parcels via the platting process. SITE DIMENSIONAL AND ACCESS CONSTRAINTS The site is constrained by Frenchman Road to the North, and existing floodplain/Judicial Ditches to the south creating a long and narrow development corridor. This is especially true for the Downtown Development area, which can be as narrow as 300’ north to south. This creates a significant challenge for the design and function of the Downtown area, in particular vehicular access to the commercial/office/retail component. Site access from Highway 61 to the Downton Area could change this dynamic but it is the applicants’ understanding that a Highway 61 access point will not be allowed. Even with the site constraints noted above, the applicant believes they have met the intent of the City’s downtown plan utilizing an innovative site design with the Hugo Downtown Plan in mind. SOIL CORRECTIONS As previously mentioned, major site grading will be required to remove portions of the development site from the FEMA 100-year floodplain and create compensatory floodplain storage. In addition, because of overall poor soils on the site, significant soil corrections will be needed to create stable building pads and roadway sections. The full extent of required soil corrections will not be known until actual site grading is taking place.