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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08.31.93 Special Planning Packett 1. CALL TO ORDER 7:00 P.M. 2. PUBLIC HEARINGS AGENDA PLANNING COMMISSION SPECIAL AUGUST 31, 1993 a. 7:00 P.M. Preliminary Plat and PUD of Prairie Creek a 57 Lot Single Family Subdivision on the East Side of County Road 31 North of Silver Springs b. 7:20 P.M. Variance Request from Charlotte Erickson of 1021 4th Street to Build a Fence in a Front Yard on Ash Street c. 7:30 P.M. Conditional Use Request from Farmington Floral for an Off- Premise Directional Sign at the Corner of Willow Street and Highway 3 d. 7:40 P.M. Request from City Council to Evaluate Revised Design and Materials Section of the City Code e. Continued Hearing for William Jacobson for a Front Yard Variance f. Continued Hearing Preliminary Plat and Variance for Farmington City Center 3. DISCUSSION a. Preliminary Plat and PUD for East Farmington b. Tim Carr Home Occupation 4. ADJOURN 1. CALL TO ORDER 7:00 P.M. AGENDA REPORT PLANNING COMMISSION SPECIAL AUGUST 31, 1993 2. PUBLIC HEARINGS a. 7:00 P.M. Preliminary Plat and PUD of Prairie Creek The preliminary PUD has been resubmitted in the form approved as a schematic plan. The preliminary plat of 57 lots also reflects the schematic plan that was approved. The only unexpected issue that has been raised involves 5 lots in Blocks 6 and 8 which have been identified by the Soil and Water Conservation as partially involving wetlands. None of the site includes wetland listed in the National Inventory of Wetlands, which means that 1 to 1 replacement is possible. The developer is working on this plan and will be able to discuss it at the meeting. The Engineering staff has suggested that the major unanswered question regarding the plat involves the existing drainage ditch which links the Nelsen Hills storm water pond with the DNR wetland located east of the first phase. The City purchased a right of way for drainage from Mr. Stegmaier but could not secure a clear title for the right of way. The money was not transferred. In the meantime, Mr. Stegmaier sold the entire property to Warren Israelson who has decided to relocate the drainage way as approved by the Planning Commission and Council. The City built the drainage way an an expense of some $60,000. Therefore, the developer will need to replace the drainage way and by doing so will involve a DNR wetland off the plat. The wetland mitigation measures to be taken should, therefore, be a condition of approval of this plat. The reason that conditional approval appears justified is the large amount of land being set aside for wetland mitigation, in addition to the wetlands that are not being disturbed. If it should be found that additional land is going to be needed for wetland mitigation, it will be taken care of in subsequent plats of Prairie Creek. It is apparent that the developed` is under a very real time constraint with regard to the building season and the first phase is straight forward. Recommendation Approve the preliminary PUD and Preliminary Plat subject to the completion of a satisfactory Wetland Mitigation Plan and a resolution to the right of way trade for the storm water drainage system. b. 7:20 P.M. Variance Requested by Charlotte Erickson The fence requested for 1021 4th Street is to provide a noise baffle between Mrs. Erickson's home and the traffic on Ash Street. The fence will be placed on the property line of Lot 8, Block 3, Greenway Addition along the south side in the Ash Street front yard. The applicant has suggested that a variance is justified because of traffic noise along Ash Street. Staff would agree and points out that it will only become more intense. The Planning Commission has allowed fences in front yards along other arterial /collector streets for reasons of privacy and noise. Because the fence will be stopped at the front edge of the house, it will not interfere with traffic at the intersection of 4th and Ash Streets. Recommendation Approve the variance based upon a noise hardship for this residential lot. c. 7:30 P.M. Conditional Use Request from Farmington Floral The existing off premise directional sign at Willow and 8th Street is required to be reviewed annually through the conditional use process in the zoning ordinance as it is now written. The staff would like direction to prepare an amendment delegating responsibility for annual licensing of off premise directional signs to the staff as is now done for billboards. The reason for this is cost for the sign owner and an unreasonable amount of both staff and Commission time in dealing with this issue. At the present time, Farmington has only one off premise directional sign. It also has five or six billboards. The billboards are handled by staff simply by sending a bill to the sign owner. The fee charged is based upon square footage and an estimate of the amount of time needed to process applications. The off premise directional sign appears to be unfairly singled out by an ordinance that requires a conditional use hearing. The sign in question is well designed and maintained. Normally this would be true for any such sign since business people involved wish to make a good impression in order to attract customers from the highway. The one negative aspect of reducing the cost is that there may be additional requests for directional signs. One local church was interested in a directional sign until they investigated the process. Recommendation Approve the Conditional Use and direct the staff to develop an ordinance amendment which will eliminate the conditional use process for off premise directional signs. d. 7:40 P.M. Request from City Council to evaluate the revised Design and Materials Section of the City Code The original Architectural Design and Materials section prepared for discussion involved a lengthy section which was designed to eliminate the "tract house" look from Farmington subdivisions. The ordinance prepared would have done that but because of the wording, it was confusing to both builders and the building inspector. The City Council attracted a considerable amount of heat when it was presented at a public hearing earlier this year. The Council decided to eliminate that section and made a suggestion to change the reference to accessory buildings as highlighted in the copy you received at the last meeting. The Council has asked for Planning Commission comment before acting upon the ordinance. e. Continued Hearing for William Jacobson Front Yard Variance The Jacobson's secured a site plan from the Engineering Department which includes their existing house and garage. They are in the process of preparing a site plan which will include the new garage and should have it ready in time to go out with other agenda material. By cutting a 15' x 24' rectangle from card stock and placing it on the site plan 55 feet from the paved street surface and 6 feet from the neighbor's property line, there does not appear to be a problem with the proposal. The caution that perhaps needs to be considered is to allow no additional curb cuts and to ask the applicant to provide landscaping to reduce the garage impact in the neighborhood. While the garage will extend into a front yard, the yard is unusually deep and fronts onto a very wide "Y" intersection. Recommendation Grant a front yard variance of up to 10 feet as requested by the applicant due to the circumstances unique to the property, including a very deep existing setback at this intersection. f. Continued Hearing for the Preliminary Plat and Variance of Farmington City Center Questions raised in earlier discussions of this plat have focused upon traffic generated by the proposed use and any accommodation that can be made to facilitate flow at the main Elm Street intersection. The developer has agreed to supply an educated traffic estimate from a regional transportation firm. From a local perspective, it is difficult to imagine that future traffic volumes will be any more heavy that those that are now experienced on Third Street and Highway 50. The mechanism that makes this intersection work, a center turning lane, likely would be acceptable to the Department of Transportation at the Hardee's and City Center entrance. Suggestions that Main Street should remain open have been diminished largely because it would contribute to increased traffic on First Street and the installation of a rubberized railroad crossing and crossing gates at this intersection would be very costly for the City. It has also been suggested that the elimination of the Main Street crossing would be helpful in negotiating new crossings for both 208th Street and 295th Street. The developer has been negotiating with Farm Service concerning the proposed vacation of Main Street with the intent to purchase that portion of Main that would go to Farm Service. Engineering detail that was unavailable at the last meeting has been supplied. Landscaping within public rights of way has not yet been determined but would be a condition of plat approval. Essentially, the requirement is to provide hardwood species 40 feet on center within adjoining boulevards. Recommendation Approve the three variances based upon the unique circumstances of the site and forward a recommendation for approval of the preliminary plat to the City Council. 3. DISCUSSION a. Preliminary Plat and PUD for East Farmington The preliminary PUD for East Farmington was not considered to be complete at the last meeting because the wetlands, NURP ponds, ponding areas and parkland issues were unresolved along the east side of the PUD. An accommodation with the Corps of Engineers has been worked out regarding the large wetland area adjoining Henderson Addition. Two blocks of low density residential development have been removed from the PUD as well as one block of townhouses. The land set aside for the prairie waterway has been expanded to 450 feet for approximately a three block area to accommodate a storage pond and wetland mitigation. Another three blocks have remained at 300 feet to handle NURP ponds and wetlands. The concept appears to work very well in terms of land area requirements but the City will need advice on the best organization of these spaces to avoid building ponding areas that may need to be replaced later. A wetlands specialist would be a beneficial addition to the engineering staff responsible for designing the prairie waterway to avoid the possibility that the ponding areas and stream adjoining East Farmington needing to be redesigned. The five acre park which was to be located east of the waterway has been moved to the west and is located one block from Henderson Addition adjoining Highway 50. The Adelmann family has made it clear that the proposed three acre park will not be situated on land that they own north of County Road 72. The alternatives are possible sites on Rother land east of the prairie waterway or the site immediately south of County Road 72 on land that is currently proposed for apartment construction. Some flexibility on this issue is not damaging to the overall plan. Recommendation Approve both the preliminary PUD and the first phase of East Farmington and forward both to the City Council conditioned upon the addition of a three acre ballfield site to serve the northern portion of the neighborhood. b. Tim Carr Home Occupation Mr. Carr was unable to attend the last meeting but will be available on August 31st. Charlie Tooker City Planner cc: file