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2016.02.08 PC Meeting Minutes Approved Planning Commission Minutes February 8, 2016 CRYSTALPLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES Monday, February 8, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers, Crystal City Hall Commissioners, please call 763.531.1142 or email dan.olson@crystalmn.gov if unable to attend * Items for which supporting materials are included in the meeting packet A. CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Crystal Planning Commission convened at 7 p.m. with the following members present: X Commissioner (Ward 1) X Commissioner (Ward 2) X Commissioner (Ward 4) Sears \[Secretary\] Selton Einfeldt-Brown X Commissioner (Ward 1) X Commissioner (Ward 3) Commissioner (Ward 4) Heigel \[Chair\] VonRueden Johnson \[Vice Chair\] X Commissioner (Ward 2) X Commissioner (Ward 3) X Commissioner (At- Erickson Buck Large) Strand Other attendees: City Planner Dan Olson, City Council liaison Jeff Kolb, Greg Dehler (Wold Architects), Jim Gerber (Robbinsdale School District), Brent Boelter (Inspec), Mike Kevitt (SVK Development), Reid Schulz (Landform), Lisa Counts, Chris Counts, Mindy Solomon, Brandon Gingerich, Angela Oseland, Nicole Wickman, and other interested persons. B. APPROVAL OF MINUTES * Moved by Selton and seconded by Sears to approve the minutes of the January 11, 2016 regular meeting as written. Ayes all. Motion carried. C.PUBLIC HEARINGS 1. Conditional Use Permit Application to allow an approximately 12,000 SF building th expansion at Forest Elementary School at 6800-47 Avenue North Planner Dan Olson presented a summary of the staff report, and stated that staff is recommending approval of the conditional use permit with the conditions listed in the staff report. Commissioner Erickson asked when construction would take place. Jim Gerber said construction would start in the summer of this year and should be completed in the fall. Approved Planning Commission Minutes February 8, 2016 Commissioner Von Rueden asked if the school district hadany problem with replacing the trees that are removed. Jim Gerber said no, and that they would comply with the No one from the public spoke on this item. Moved by Selton and seconded by Einfeldt-Brown to recommend approval to the City Council of a Conditional Use Permit Application to allow an approximately 12,000 SF th building expansion to Forest Elementary School at 6800-47 Avenue North with the conditions in the staff report. Ayes all. Motion carried. 2. Gardendale Subdivision Preliminary Plat Application to create 10 new single-family home lots, with variance request to reduce street width Planner Dan Olson presented a summary of the staff report, and stated that staff is recommending approval of the preliminary plat and variance to street pavement width with two amendments to the conditions listed in the staff report: 1) the correct address nd for condition #5 is 6606 - 32 Avenue North, and 2) the addition of a new condition #6 If the overhead utility lines in Lots 5 and 6, Block 2 are relocated or extended, the lines shall be buried underground. New private utilities, such as Xcel Energy, Center Point Energy, or Comcast shall be buried underground. Under no circumstances shall additional overhead utilities be installed, whether main lines, feeder lines or service lines to the new houses. Commissioner Selton asked if the homes would meet setbacks with the 28 foot width street. Planner Olson said that would not be a problem since the setback requirement is measured to the right-of-way line, and the street is located within that right-of-way. Selton asked if the hill on lots 5 and 6 would be removed. Planner Olson said yes it would be removed before the homes are built. Selton asked if the applicant would be grading the site. Planner Olson said they would, and the applicant has submitted a grading plan. Commissioner Sears asked if the soils are okay for the street. Planner Olson said that the applicant has dug some test pits and has determined that the soils are acceptable for the street construction. Commissioner Erickson asked about the timing of the watershed review of the erosion control plan. Planner Olson said that the review of the erosion control plan by the watershed is not expected to take a long time. Mike Kevitt spoke about the history of SVK Development in Crystal, and the philosophy of the company. He stated that they will be doing soil correction by compressing the soil for a year, and will bring down the grade elevations for the site so they are in-line with existing homes in the area. Soil pits were dug in the proposed Georgia Avenue extension to determine soil suitability, and Public Works staff met on site with SVK to review these test pits. Commissioner Heigel asked if soil borings were done west of Georgia. Kevitt stated that borings were not done, but they looked at previous soil testing done to construct other homes in this block. Commissioner Von Rueden asked if SVK will build spec homes. Kevitt said that they will build the homes and then sell Approved Planning Commission Minutes February 8, 2016 them. Commissioner Heigel asked if they would have basements, and Kevitt said yes, although -outs or look-outs. Commissioner Strand asked about the phasing of construction. Kevitt stated they will build the homes over time, and the first step is to construct the public infrastructure. Commissioner Einfeldt-Brown asked if pilings would be required and how many trees would be removed. Kevitt said piling would not be necessary and that SVK would replenish the site with new trees. Planner Olson said that a tree removal plan and planting plan has been submitted by the applicant. Commissioner Selton asked if the lots and homes would be similar to what is in the neighborhood now. Planner Olson said there are quite a few lots of the same size within this block as what is proposed, although there are double-deep lots. The new homes will be located on similar lot sizes and will have the same required setbacks. Commissioner Erickson asked how large the wetland is. Planner Olson said the wetland is about 400 SF in size and spans lots 1 and 2, and two adjacent existing lots outside this plat. Mindy Solomon, 3225 Florida Avenue North, showed a photo of flooding in her back yard as a result of an above average rainfall, and wanted to know how the development would either hinder or help this situation. Planner Olson stated that the applicant will improve the existing drainage in this area by removing vegetation which hinders water flow. The applicant is also conveying a 30-foot wide drainage and utility easement through the existing drainageway, which will make it easier to maintain so that it functions more effectively. Reid Schulz added there will be managed turf in the drainageway instead of the volunteer vegetation, and the site grading will be changed r system. Additional inlet structures and catch basins will be added to the area. Reid Schulz also stated that the watershed will not review erosion control plans until after City Council approval so SVK cannot proceed to develop the property without this permit from the watershed. Ms. Solomon also asked that a tree be removed in the development that could fall on her house, and said that SVK did some grading on the lot to the south of her and severed a Comcast cable that had to be repaired. She wants SVK to be a good partner to the neighborhood. She ended her comments by saying that there are broken-off tree stumps on the lot to the south of her that could be hazardous, and that the street was damaged when SVK graded that lot. nd Lisa Counts, 6524 32 Avenue North, said she is concerned about flooding on her property as a result of this development and wondered whether the watershed district will review any impacts to the wetland. Planner Olson said that the watershed does not review impacts to the wetland, and defers that to the City. The City collects an escrow and does inspections to ensure the stormwater system is built to City standards. Ms. Counts also wondered how long soil corrections will take last. Mike Kevitt said that he believes there lives. Additional catch basins will be installed in her area to alleviate springtime flooding on her property. Mr. Kevitt also said the watershed will not look at their erosion control plan before approval of the preliminary plat by the City Council. Angela Oseland, 3224 Florida Avenue North, said there is flooding on her property in the spring. Approved Planning Commission Minutes February 8, 2016 Commissioner Erickson asked if there were any comments from residents on Hampshire at the neighborhood meeting. Planner Olson said that when residents specific street. Nicole Wickman, 3226 Hampshire Avenue North, is concerned that there will be drainage on the rear of her property from this development. Brandon Gingerich, 3232 Hampshire Avenue North, said that SVK was involved in a lawsuit for not draining a development properly. Mike Kevitt showed an elevation drawing of how the drainage for the Gardendale Subdivision takes place now and how it will be improved with the addition of new catch basins in this development. Commissioner Erickson asked how SVK will be made responsible for constructing a stormwater drainage system that will work effectively. Planner Olson said that the City engineer has been very involved in reviewing plans up to this point, and attended the One of the conditions of approval is that the City engineer review and approve all construction plans for public infrastructure, including the stormwater management system. The City will also collect a cash escrow which SVK will not receive back until the City has inspected and approved of the construction of all public infrastructure. Commissioner Erickson asked if the development could be phased in so that lots could be built first that are located close to existing infrastructure, and then build the lots on Georgia. Reid Schulz said that SVK has submitted a report to the City showing existing conditions, where the discharge points are, and what the appropriate infrastructure is to construct to handle the increased impervious surface. A baseline rule of thumb is not to increase the rate of discharge. For this development, the rate is not increased on any existing properties. Construction plans for the stormwater system will be submitted to the City for their approval. A builder will not construct a home on substandard soils. Drain tile nd will be installed on 32 Avenue and will collect any water under the new road. This drain tile is an example of how they have incorporated extra precautionary measures to alleviate drainage issues. Commissioner Heigel asked how long after the infrastructure is in will the homes be built. Reid Schultz said to get the infrastructure in so that they can receive the escrow back and start construction on the homes. Moved by Sears and seconded by Einfeldt-Brown to recommend approval to the City Council of a Preliminary Plat Application called Gardendale Subdivision to create 10 new single-family home lots, with a variance to the required street pavement width, with the conditions in the staff report as amended above. Ayes all. Motion carried. D.GENERAL INFORMATION 1. City Council actions on previous Planning Commission items: Special Land Use Application (Subdivision, Site and Building Plan, Conditional Use Permits, and Variances) to create a new Approved Planning Commission Minutes February 8, 2016 parcel for a 5,000 SF commercial building at 5537 West Broadway Avenue (Target store property) and to allow an off-premise sign at 6801-56th Avenue North (Crystal Shopping Center) Planner Olson reported that the Council approved this development on January 19, 2016 with the same conditions as recommended by the Planning Commission. 2. Update from Council Liaison Council liaison Kolb informed the Commission that the public hearing on municipal consent for the Bottineau LRT project has been rescheduled to February thnd 16. The original public hearing date was February 2, but that meeting was canceled due to weather. 3. Update on City Code Review Task Force Council liaison Kolb reported that the Council recently reviewed changes to City Code Section 300. 4. Staff preview of likely agenda items for Monday, March 14, 2016 meeting Planner Olson said th that no applications have been submitted, but the deadline is not until February 16. E. OPEN FORUM No one from the public spoke at this time. F. ADJOURNMENT Moved by Erickson and seconded by Buck to adjourn. Motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.