1996-09-11 Sketch Plan of Roden Property
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13736 Johnson Street N.E. . Ham Lake, MN 55304 · 757-4052
September 11, 1996
Members of the Planning Commission
c/o Liz Stockman
Planning Consultant
5975 Main Avenue NE.
Albertville, MN 55301
RE: Sketch Plan of Beatrice Roden property prior to preliminary plat application
Dear Ms. Stockman:
This letter outlines the basic plan and issues concerning our development proposal for the
R-l zoned land between Westwind and Parks ide 3rd Addition. Due to parcel and zoning
map configurations, we believe the parcel under application is zoned entirely R -1. As of
September 10, Kenco is now the owner of this property. As part of our purchase, we
secured both temporary and permanent easements along the southerly property line of the
B-3 zoned Roden property to construct the trunk sewer line.
Site Plan Deshro
Consistent with zoning code standards, all lots meet the minimum size for area, minimum
depth and minimum width at the specified front setback lines. In late July we met with
staff to review a similar concept plan. The perspective of the Engineer and public works
would be to eliminate the "eyebrow" half CuI de sac at proposed lots 6,7, & 8 and create a
continuous width 32' wide road in a 60' standard right of way (ROW). At that time, there
was the belief that so long as the lot of record had a minimum of 40' of frontage, it could
not legally be considered a "flag lot". A dashed line on the attached Kencoexhibit shows
that radial property lines from the public ROW do provide at least 40' of frontage. Should
the City desire to eliminate the eyebrow, this plat would continue to maintain the
structure building pads at the locations determined by the eyebrow design. Kenco would
then agree to legally covenant via development contract and recorded documents with
Wright County the lots to have single car width driveways accessing the public streets
via the longer front yards (proposed lots 7 & 8). This design yields the most green space
possible for the subdivision, yields the City and the developer the same tax base and
dwelling unit count and does not diminish the health safety or welfare of the public or the
proposed buyers. More than adequate snow storage will exist with this design. (CuI de
sacs generate two times the volume of snow storage on the boulevard areas if the City
does not create an island of snow within the CuI de sac).
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Variances
According to advice received by Kenco at staff meetings with the Engineer and City
Clerk, Kenco needs to request a variance to the front setback measuring point for
proposed lots 6,7 & 8 of Block 1. The variance is to measure the setback at greater than
35 feet from the right of way . We have not been presented a copy of the City Code which
describes that a setback must be measured at this point, and request that this be done prior
to final City Council action. If we can obtain a refund of our $300 application fee due to
the request not being needed after all, we would appreciate the consideration. The
request for variance does not grant Kenco any additional lots. The granting is actually a
benefit to the City in reducing long term maintenance costs in road upkeep. The lots still
have about 50 feet of frontage on the public street. Each will have a slightly longer than
average driveway for R-l property, but considerably less than most properties on larger
nonsewered lots.
Park Dedication
As a proposed trade off for maintaining the lot count as proposed and deleting the
eyebrow road costs, Kenco will build the City a small parking lot (at no charge) on the
land proposed to be dedicated to the City for park purposes. If the eyebrow stays, then we
will build the parking lot with a credit against our park dedication contribution. Kenco
will also mitigate on our adjacent lands enough wetland fill to provide for the parking lot
and a trail linkage into the subdivision. If our land credit, sewer and water stub, road and
parking lot costs exceed the 5% requirement, then we would like recognition that in this
case we have gone beyond the minimum requirement. Our design shows room for 10
cars without appearing to constrain any of the existing improvements. The ultimate
design for this proposed lot will be furnished to Kenco to use in our final design
drawings. We are also proposing that the City consider whether the furnishing of a
standard sewer and water stub to the park would be wise. Should a bathroom and
drinking fountain facility be desired at some time in the future, this would be very simple
to provide. In addition, Kenco would create additional easements along the front yards of
the southerly lots to allow for a sidewalk or trail connection to the park in Parkside 3rd
Addition. In lieu of additional park or development fees at the final plat, Kenco may be
able to build the trail as well within a specified period of time. This idea will depend on
financial estimates as the time of final approval. All of these ideas are meant to convey a
willingness to offer final construction to public facilities which benefit the City as a
whole long term. In the short term, having completed park facilities benefits our
marketing and buyers, and the existing residents. We do not believe any of these
discussion items to be unreasonable or special nor will they require a use of the PUD
zomng.
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Utilities
Standard services will serve each lot. As part of the abandonment of the lift station in
Parkside, Kenco has asked the City through a separate letter to examine fees for this
abandonment. Since some of the pump equipment, electrical panels, etc. is still usable,
we believe that the city could hold such items for reuse by Kenco in the future lift station
of the lands to the west. We will await the City consultant response on this issue. Due
to the depth of the sanitary sewer between proposed lots 10 and 11, we will request the lot
lines for Lots 9, 10 and 11 to parallel the pipe. This will cause some lot lines to not be
perpendicular to the street. However, it does not diminish the buildability, visual quality
or functional value of any of these lots.
Summary
In conclusion, this small project provides a long term benefit to the development of this
area. It provides for gravity sewer and minimizes current maintenance budgeted items
regarding a lift station. It provides a paved access and parking lot to a small public park.
It provides valuable circulation into two subdivisions for emergency vehicles, snow
plows, mail and other delivery vehicles. We believe the only minor issue to be whether
the City wants more pavement and an 'eyebrow CuI de sac", or slightly longer drive ways
to the same house pad locations. We prefer less street costs but will build it either way.
We will not accept a condition to build the street without an eyebrow and eliminate a lot.
Kenco has submitted for sketch plan review, preliminary and final plat. We ask that the
City process only the sketch plan at this time in order to discuss the overall issues and
minor lot changes for the first month. Weare then requesting that the City automatically
extend the approval deadline to 120 days. We believe that after the first public hearing
and Commission reviews that the preliminary plat and final plat can be prepared without
requiring needless revisions. This would allow for ultimate approvals to be granted prior
to December, ahead of the 120 day time period. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
~~
Donald Jensen
Land Development Director
cc:
Peter Carlson - SEH
Gary Hale -- Administrator
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