REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION 6A AGENDA ITEM

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Gary Anderson
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1 DATE REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION 6A AGENDA ITEM ORIGINATING DEPT. AGENDA ITEM CITY ADMINISTRATOR APPROVAL Community Development PUD Concept & Development Stage Plan Preliminary Plat & Final Plat PREVIOUS ACTIONS: At their meeting of Monday,, the Planning Commission recommended the City Council to direct the City Attorney to draft a Resolution approving the, Preliminary and Final Plat for. Subject to: 1. The applicant addressing to the satisfaction of the City any remaining applicable comments contained in the memorandums from: a. Superintendent of Parks and Planning, dated July 12, 2018 b. Traffic Operations Engineer, dated July 13, 2018 c. Arbor Committee Staff Liaison, dated July 23, 2018 d. Community Development dated August 6, 2018 e. City of Corcoran Public Works Director, dated July 16, 2018 f. Hennepin County Transportation Planning Division Manager, dated July 30, Appropriate right-of-way is acquired from Lord of Life Church so that the proposed north/south road (Alvarado Lane North) can connect with the existing right-of-way and road system in The Woods at Rush Creek to the north. The applicant shall acknowledge that Park Dedication requirements are based on staff review and recommendation to the Park and Recreation Board and their subsequent Board Action. Board meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month. Application Received: July 20, Day Review Deadline: September 19, 2018 Address: Bass Lake Rd and Bass Lake Rd RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION: Motion to direct the City Attorney to draft a Resolution approving the PUD Concept & Development Stage Plan, Preliminary and Final Plat for.

2 Page 2 Subject to: 1. The applicant addressing to the satisfaction of the City any remaining applicable comments contained in the memorandums from: a. Superintendent of Parks and Planning, dated July 12, 2018 b. Traffic Operations Engineer, dated July 13, 2018 c. Arbor Committee Staff Liaison, dated August 13, 2018 d. Community Development dated August 6, 2018 e. City of Corcoran Public Works Director, dated July 16, 2018 f. Hennepin County Transportation Planning Division Manager, dated August 9, Appropriate right-of-way is acquired from Lord of Life Church so that the proposed north/south road (Alvarado Lane North) can connect with the existing right-of-way and road system in The Woods at Rush Creek to the north. The applicant shall acknowledge that Park Dedication requirements are based on staff review and recommendation to the Park and Recreation Board and their subsequent Board Action. Board meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month. (Simple majority vote for passage) COMMENTS: STAFF COMMENTS: The applicant is requesting Planned Unit Development (PUD) Concept & Development Stage Plan, Preliminary Plat, and Final Plat for the purpose of 42 single family lots, one large lot with an existing home and 50% open space on approximately 27 gross acres. The applicant has stated that the homes will be targeted (but not limited) to active senior adults. The property consists of three separate parcels: The Nelson farmstead on the west, a vacant parcel in the center, and the Hamman residence on the east and north side of the proposal. Cook Lake and an associated wetland lie to the north of the site. The existing landscape consists of treed areas along Cook Lake, the Nelson farmstead, and along a small ravine on the south side of the lake; to mixed grasses, shrubs & trees in the center; to pasture and lawn at the Hamman residence. Four small wetlands also were identified. Cook Lake is north of this site (along with a private residence), Lord of Life Church is east of, Bass Lake Road is south, and the City of Corcoran is west. The plan shows a string of houses along a new east-west public road and homes on the west side of a new north-south public road. A very large open space buffer is proposed between the homes and Cook Lake and a smaller buffer is proposed between the homes and Bass Lake Road.

3 Page 3 Comprehensive Plan Guiding: The site is guided Low-Medium Residential which allows a range of 1-4 units per net acre of land which the project meets. The density calculation for this project is as follows: Gross Acres: 27.1 Wetland & Lake: 3.5 Bass Lake Road ROW: 0.5 Lot for existing home (to remain): 2.6 Net Acres: units / 20.5 net acres: 2.0 Units per Acre Staff notes that this does not count the existing home which is proposed to remain on a 2.6 acre lot. Cook Lake Shoreland: Cook Lake is classified as a Natural Environment Lake which has the highest level of environmental protection in the Shoreland Ordinance. New lakeshore lots (those with direct access to the lake) require a one-acre minimum lot size and a 150 setback (for sewered lots.) In this proposal, the applicant is proposing to utilize the PUD process to pull back all of the homes from the lake edge, creating significant open space between the homes and the edge of the lake. The closest home is proposed to be approximately 265 feet from the edge of the lake and many of the homes are over 500 feet from the edge of the lake. No homes would have direct access to the lake except for the existing home which is proposed to remain. Tier Analysis: The PUD section of the Shoreland Ordinance allows for greater numbers of homes if those homes are pulled away from the edge of the lake and uses a Tier Analysis where potential homes in closer tiers can be shifted away into tiers further away. The applicant is proposing to utilize this as shown in the following table: Tier Typical Zoning Density Bonus Applicant s Proposal Allowance (Units) Allowance (units) Non-shoreland Essentially the applicant is in line with a typical zoning allowance, except for Tier 2. In all cases they are well under what the code could allow on the site if the Comprehensive Plan guiding allowed higher densities and different uses than the Low-Medium Density. Open Space: The proposal has 57% of the area outside of the public right-of-way as common open space and we note that they are not proposing to impact any of the Shoreland Impact Zone (defined for a Natural Environment Lake as 75 feet from the ordinary high water level.)

4 Page 4 Lot Sizes: The applicant is proposing smaller lot sizes than typical but this is made up for with large open space areas. The average lot size is 9,745 s.f. (not including the 2.6 acre lot for the existing home.) The applicant is also proposing 409,290 s.f. of common open space in Outlots A, B, & C. Looking as both the private lots and the common open space, there is an average of 22,777 s.f. per lot. Access: Vehicular access is proposed along two public streets, an east-west street labeled Street A and a northsouth street labeled Alvarado Lane. Pedestrian and bicycle access is accommodated with sidewalks on both sides of Street A and a sidewalk on the west side of Alvarado. Sidewalks on the east side of Alvarado may be installed in the future with any further development on the adjacent Lord of Life Church property. Brockton Lane Extension: Access to the E/W street comes from a proposed extension to Brockton Lane in the City of Corcoran. The City of Corcoran will be handling the feasibility study of this portion of the road but will need to be part of any road construction project for this site. The Brockton Lane extension requires significant fill which is a key reason the wetland in the southwest corner of the site is proposed to be filled. The extension of Brockton Lane is essential for this proposal to move forward and is noted in a number of attached memos that this must occur in order for the development to proceed. Alvarado Lane: Alvarado Lane is proposed along an existing 40-foot wide public right-of-way that is currently used as a common driveway for the three residences on Cook Lake (Hammans, McPhails, Bunges.) The proposal would improve this to a full city street and add an additional 20 feet of ROW. As the street moves north, it will shift east so that no additional ROW is needed from the McPhails & Bunges. The additional ROW will be acquired from Lord of Life Church. It will connect with the street system at The Woods at Rush Creek neighborhood to the north finishing the connection anticipated when that property was developed. To the south, the ROW will extend to the existing Old Bass Lake Road ROW. Currently the Old road intersects with the southern entrance to Lord of Life Church right at the access onto County Road 101. It would not be safe to have additional traffic using this in the current configuration and so the actual roadway improvements will likely stop before intersecting Old Bass Lake Road. Once the northern quadrant of The Markets at Rush Creek develops (which will utilize a portion of Old Bass Lake Road), a temporary connection will be made to the existing southern access to Lord of Life Church, further away from the County Road 101 access. The City of Maple Grove has easements from Lord of Life Church to create these connection points. In the future, a permanent road alignment may extend through the Lord of Life Church property that

5 Page 5 would connect with Alvarado Lane. This would could be part of any future development on the church property but is not in the current slate of improvements. We note that the name of the N/S road may change from Alvarado and the final determination of this road name will be reviewed by the engineering department. Whatever the final name is, we note that the existing homes addresses will change (as they are currently all Bass Lake Road addresses.) Landscaping: One of the key aspects of this plan is that the applicant is proposing to retain a significant portion of the existing natural vegetation, approximately 190,000 s.f. (4.4 acres). In addition they are proposing to reestablish native vegetation in the two buffer areas and around the storm ponds. Along with this native and retained landscaping, the applicant is proposing 190 overstory trees, more than quadrupling the 1 tree per lot standard. The individual lots will have lawns and the applicant is proposing a more resilient, low maintenance fescue mix (but still mowable) adjacent to the Bass Lake Road and Alvarado Lane right-of-way. The boulevard area of the right-of-ways will be sodded. Staff notes that the native areas will need to be properly maintained with appropriate escrows. The applicant has provided their initial management plan notes in the landscaping details. Utilities: Public utilities (sewer & water) will be in the street right-of-way. Services will be provided to the two residences to the north but they are not required to connect at this time. The Hamman property (part of the application) will be connecting to city services. This project will relocate the water line feed to the City of Corcoran. The current location would be challenging to service in the future as the grades will be changing rather significantly (as part of the construction of the extension of Brockton Lane.) One of the key grading challenges for the site was to make have a high enough grade to allow gravity flow for the sanitary sewer. The sewer lines in Maple Grove were relatively low compared to the site and the Met Council lift station in Corcoran proved to not be an option. Staff commends the applicant on balancing the sewer needs with the need to preserve open space near Cook Lake, making both of those work was challenging. Grading, Stormwater Management & Wetlands: Staff spent a considerable amount of time with the applicant on their grading plans to balance natural resource preservation, stormwater management requirements, and sanitary sewer requirements. As mentioned earlier, a significant portion of their site will not be graded at all, leaving the natural vegetation in place. The grading that is occurring is generally due to having proper street grades and to

6 Page 6 provide for gravity feed for the sanitary sewer. The applicant is showing walk-out lots facing Cook Lake and slab-on-grade on the southside of the road. Impervious Surface: Outside of public right-of-way, the proposed impervious surface is 21.2%, well under the 30% limit in the Shoreland District. Stormwater Management Stormwater management will occur with two stormwater ponds with infiltration benches. The Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan models a lower rate of stormwater leaving the site after development than before for 2, 10 & 100-year storm events. Staff notes that the stormwater management system is subject to the approval of the Elm Creek Watershed District. Wetland Impacts: The applicant is proposing to impact.97 acres of wetlands. Wetland D will be impacted due to the required grades of Brockton Lane and the E/W street. Wetland E is also impacted by the required grades of the E/W street. 20% of Wetland G is impacted due to the grades for the lots in this area. Wetland F is impacted by the road construction for the E/W street and Alvarado Lane. Staff notes that the proposed wetland removal is subject to the review and approval of the Technical Evaluation Panel. Project Point System: Staff recommends a score of 77% ( / 390 points) for this project. The applicant scored very well with regard to environmental protection, general neighborhood design, and architectural quality. Staff recommends a few bonus points for the zero-step entry homes (more on this below) and the extraordinary amount of open space that is not only preserved but not impacted by grading. Elevations/Architecture: The applicant has submitted examples of the models that they wish to sell. The homes on Cook Lake all have side loaded garages, the models on the south side of the road have front loaded garages. All have a great look with prominent gables, strong window finishes and framing, a variety of colors and siding styles, variety of roof pitches, 4-sided architecture, window boxes, etc. Overall staff has no issues with the proposed architecture and real life examples of these homes look even better than the renderings that were prepared. Zero-Step-Entry Units:

7 Page 7 The applicant has stated that the homes on the south side of the road are proposed to have no steps into the homes which is a significant departure from most designs. This allows anyone who might have challenges walking (whether in a wheelchair or not) to easily use the home. This is described as universal design and as visitability (i.e. someone can easily visit these homes who has a challenge walking.) It also allows ageing-in-place, where someone, who might not have any of these challenges now, could stay more easily stay in the home if their situation changed in the future. This is a great design feature that has been desired for many years in the city. We note that this type of design has been specifically called out in the recently adopted Age-Friendly Maple Grove Action Plan. Summary: This is one of the more challenging sites to work with due to the very strong environmental protections for Cook Lake, challenges to make the sanitary sewer work & working with a number of adjoining property owners and adjacent city to create the necessary transportation system. The applicant has met this challenge which what appears to be an excellent design for a neighborhood. They are proposing very high quality homes, homes with feature desired by the community (zero-step), creating significant open space, planting substantial amounts of trees, & creating critical transportation connections. We applaud the applicant & their design team on working with staff for over a year on this site and offer a very strong recommendation of approval. Staff notes that updated memorandums were received from the Arbor Committee Staff Liaison & Hennepin County Transportation Division Manager and those are now included in Attachment D and reflected in the recommended motion. There were no items of major issue in either of the updated memorandums compared with what was presented to the Planning Commission. Authored by: Peter Vickerman Attachments: Attachment A Narrative Attachment B Location Map Attachment C Maps Attachment D Memorandums Attachment E PPS Attachment F Architectural Features

REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION 6A AGENDA ITEM ORIGINATING DEPT. AGENDA ITEM CITY ADMINISTRATOR APPROVAL

DATE REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION 6A AGENDA ITEM ORIGINATING DEPT. AGENDA ITEM CITY ADMINISTRATOR APPROVAL Community Development Territorial Greens PUD Concept Plan Development Stage Plan Subdivision (Preliminary