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Staff Report/Work Session Revised Preliminary PlatCity of Kalispell Planning Department 17 - 2°d Street East, Suite 211, Kalispell, Montana 59901 Telephone: (406) 751-1850 Fax: (406) 751-1858 Website: kalispellplanning.com Date: June 6, 2007 To: Kalispell Planning Board members From: Sean Conrad, Senior Planner Re: Willow Creek subdivision CTA Landworks, the consultants on the Willow Creek project, have submitted a revised preliminary plat. The revised preliminary plat includes 396 single family lots and 184 condominium units located within 17 multi -family buildings ranging in size from 8 units to 16 units. As part of the revised preliminary plat, all lots have been moved outside the 200-foot setback from Ashley Creek as recommended by Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Attached to this memo are the revised preliminary plat and a letter from Mr. Wayne Freeman of CTA outlining the various revisions on the new preliminary plat. Mr. Freeman's letter also discusses the issue of sawdust piles located on the 140 acre project site. The revised preliminary plat has been scheduled for discussion at your work session immediately following your regular meeting of June 12th. June 4, 2007 City of Kalispell Planning Department Attn: Sean Conrad 17 — 2nd Street East, Suite 211 Kalispell, Montana 59901 Re: Willow Creek Preliminary Plat-PUD Dear Mr. Conrad: Per our series of discussions on how best to proceed with the above referenced project, this letter requests that the project be referred back to the City Planning Board. There were a number of items that were mentioned as reasons for recommending denial of the application. We have attempted to alleviate the concerns raised by the Planning Board. Attached, you will find a revised preliminary plat of the project. Minor modifications have been made to several areas of the project. A significant modification has been made to the area boarding Ashley Creek. All of the condominium units have been removed from this area. They have been replaced with single family lots ranging in size from 4,800 square feet to 13,000 square feet. Most of the new lots are greater than 7,000 square feet. In addition to replacing condominium lots with Single family lots, all of the new lots have been removed from the 200' foot buffer zone along Ashley Creek. This should eliminate concerns from Fish, Wildlife and Parks and as such, my client's offer to mitigate the encroachment is removed. Though I do not believe it was mentioned during the planning board hearing, it was discussed several times in meetings with planning staff, we have reduced the size of many of the condominium units to reflect greater integration into a single family community. Another issue that was passionately discussed during the planning board hearing and cited as a reason for recommending denial was the issue of sawdust piles on the site. During the initial submittal, I was not personally responsible for conducting the Environmental Assessment for the project. I had obviously walked the site and studied it for purposes of design but had not made the effort to dig text bores under the sawdust piles on the 140 acre site south of Ashley Creek. cAdocuments and settings\wayneflmy documents\turner\conrad2.doc -1- I had discussed the condition with my client and he informed me that the sawdust piles on the south side of Ashley Creek were placed on top of the ground with the possible exception of the area along the proposed Kalispell Bypass. Since the public hearing, the sawdust piles have begun to be removed within the project area. We have excavated below grade everywhere within the project area where there is a trace of wood chips or sawdust. Indeed, there is no buried sawdust or wood chips within the project area. Like all projects, there will be a detailed soils report conducted on the project site that will tell the engineer how to design roadway sections and to determine shrink/swell conditions of the specific soil on site. The report will be conducted using numerous soil borings and it will include design recommendations for structural footings and engineered fill. Should any poor soils be encountered during the soil borings or during construction whether from sawdust piles, wet soils or any number of potential issues that occur during construction, the response is simple and consistent as an industry standard; over -excavate and replace with engineered fill via the recommendation and to the satisfaction of the soils engineer. While this is standard construction practice, we request that it be a part of the conditions for approval if there remains a concern by the planning board. It is worth noting that there is a significant amount of sawdust and wood chips on the north side of Ashley Creek. My client has been removing this from the area for nearly a year. He has found creative ways to recycle this aged material in compost and bio-fuels. He will continue to reclaim this material and thus eliminate an eyesore from this industrial site north of this project site. Finally, the overwhelming comments seemed to center on density. The initial CTA design for the project site was just over 5 units per acre. The 140-acre project site design proposed 711 total units as a mixed -income PUD. This revised Plat proposes 580 units which is nearly one unit per acre less dense than the original design. The revised plan focuses the condominium area in one larger area on the east side of the site and a small area adjacent to the entry park. As previously mentioned, we strived for smaller condo buildings. The project retains numerous generous parks linked by a bike trail and now has a 200' buffer to Ashley Creek. Per our discussion, please resubmit this revision to the planning board for their review. Thank you for your continued assistance with this planning effort. Be gard Wayne F emiLandWork:s ASLA Director, TA cAdocuments and settings\wayneflmy documents\turner\conrad2.doc -2- W ©f- ScwDcusi RtLf-S oN Rec