05-13-10 Site Review MinutesSITE DEVELOPMENT REVIEW COMMITTEE SUMMARY
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Lower Level Main Conference Room
201 First Avenue East
ATTENDING:
Paul Burnham, Asst. City Engineer Frank Castles, Deputy Public Works Director
Jeff Clawson, Building Official Sean Conrad, Senior Planner
Dan Diehl, Fire Chief Chad Fincher, Parks Superintendent
Tom Jentz, Planning & Building Director Kathy Kuhlin, Recording Secretary
P.J. Sorensen, Chairman
GUESTS: James Freyholtz, MDT
HEAR THE PUBLIC: None.
PERFORMANCE BOND REMINDERS: None.
OLD BUSINESS: ASI (Van E Apartments) — 420 Grandview; new senior apartments.
They called Burnham and asked if they really needed to provide the drainage information and he
told them that they did. He believes they are working on it now. They plan to begin
construction in June or July.
Western States Insurance — 33 Village Loop; new office building. Confusion over sidewalk.
This is tract land, not a subdivision. Burnham stated that in a subdivision you can allow them to
submit cash in lieu of sidewalks. He told them that typically they would need to put the
sidewalks in, but sometimes there are incidents where we have allowed cash in lieu. They will
take that back to the developer as an option. They will submit an estimate for our review. The
landscaping in the middle shouldn't alter their drainage. Burnham will check with Susie Turner
to verify the stormwater. They changed the layout and it's still a little bit in a state of flux
because they don't have enough parking spaces. Sorensen is encouraging them to move the sign.
The City has to be part of the Easement Agreement so they can't dissolve it without the City's
consent. This was passed by Architectural Review. They will submit their full landscaping plan.
They want to get started on their foundation and we will hold their remainder permit until this
has been approved through Site Review.
PLANNING OFFICE ITEMS: Conrad stated there are three use permits for the June meeting.
Regarding Faith Covenant Presbyterian Church on Third Avenue and Sixth Street East, they
are doing a 1,300 sq. ft. expansion with two floors. They need to submit a parking layout plan to
include paving the lot and the 16' alley. The resident along the alley that put in a concrete curb
will need to take it out. The church has sent a letter to the neighborhood inviting them to a
community meeting to discuss the changes. They will be enclosing the present breezeway. We
will need to know have much surface is going from pervious to impervious. They will be taking
out an old bathroom in the basement and putting in two ADA bathrooms. They will also put in
two classrooms downstairs, two upstairs, and an elevator and a code compliant walkway. They
will be looking to submit for a building permit between June 15th and July 1st. Burnham will
take a look at the sidewalks in front. Fincher will look at their street trees. They may need to put
in another driveway, and should talk with Fred about that. There will be impact fees for
stormwater, police, fire, and transportation, and a fixture count. Clawson has discussed fire
walls with them. They may upgrade their sewer hookup line that is extremely old. There should
not be a fee for that. Before issuing their Building Permit, we will need a parking lot layout plan.
Faith Free Lutheran Church on Liberty Street and Northern Lights Boulevard. They are
adding onto their kitchen, a large 60' x 100' meeting room/stage, a couple covered entries,
redoing some of the parking, and punching out to a private road to the west. Fire flow may be an
issue, and they may need to sprinkler to meet the fire flows. They have an encroachment on
several of their parking spots presently. They do not have any street trees in the boulevard.
Fincher will look at this. They need to show on their site plan what the existing surfaces are.
Buffalo Hill Terrace and Immanuel Lutheran Home on Claremont Street. They could be
backing into the right of way with new parking spaces and they have an island in their plan for a
dropping area for Eagle Transit. There is concern that the snow plow could have a problem with
this island. The pedestrian walkway needs to be continuing. Fincher will take a look at their
street trees. They need to move the parking spaces along Claremont closer to the building and
then modify the island. Diehl has concern about the fire truck radius on the main entry of
Buffalo Hill Terrace and the island could hinder access. Conrad asked that any comments be
brought to our next meeting.
Willow Creek was tabled indefinitely at last night's Planning Board Meeting. However, the
board probably shouldn't have tabled indefinitely because of statutory time limits and it will be
back before the board on June 8th. They will need to recommend either approval with conditions
or denial, and then it would go to the City Council. The Planning Department has identified the
particular issues in a letter to the Turner's today. There are at least four issues they need to
address. The Turner's could ask for a continuance on their own, as they need to have the
information into us two weeks prior to Planning Board Meeting. Conrad has asked Hubert
Turner to get back to him by Monday. The Turner's could go back to their original 2007
approved plan or they could agree to comply with the board's requests and agree to slow the time
limit. The sound wall for MDT is not being built to requirements. He has a 1 to 1 slope, and our
conditions say 3 to 1. The four points that the Planning Board made were: negotiating with
Rails to Trails to come up with an agreed upon solution, the Foy's Lake Road frontage area
needs to reflect the 2007 approval, i.e. landscaping and slopes, etc.; Butch wanted the collector
road to reappear through there, and the Planning Board generally wants to see a more cohesive
plan incorporating both the engineering and the more schematic design plans. Burnham stated
that the road in question is a collector and that's the purpose it serves. He thinks where we can
help the Planning Board recognize the purpose of that function of it is, he thinks what Butch was
looking at was more of an arterial. The truck route will be the arterial. The final point from the
Planning Board was getting a design team with the engineers to work out the stormwater ponds
to making Foys Lake Road to what the intent was in 2007. They will need to put in two 12'
lanes with a 6' paved shoulder on each side and curb and gutter along the north side of Foys
Lake.
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The new Wal-Mart is having their Grand Opening on June 15th, but will probably open before
that.
Regarding the Tenth Street Closure that the County was pursuing, they are backing down from
that due to the lack of funding. They avoid complying with City standards by always claiming
Agency Exemption, but we would like to see them follow our City standards and waive their
right to Agency Exemption.
Cottonwood Estates has approvals from the County, but they need sewer from the City. They
are outside the Evergreen Sewer District so they had to do a waiver. Conrad stated City Planning
received this for agency comment. They have a one foot control access strip between the county
road and their property line. At the cul-de-sac at the SE corner, there probably should be a 60'
right of way to the property boundary without a spite strip, and then put a 30' road on their side.
Helena Flats Road is a 40' county road. The Transportation Plan calls for this to eventually
become a minor urban arterial, which is 80 feet, so they need 40 feet on their side from the center
line. So they need to dedicate additional right of way on Helena Flats Road but not doing any
street improvements at this point and sign a waiver of protest. They have some low lying
wetlands. Public Works has reviewed all their sewer plans previously. If they've made changes
to their original sewer plan, they need to submit those. Public Works also reviewed their streets
that are being built to City standards.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:15 a.m.