DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS- Bryan K. Schafer, Planning and Community Development Director
Title
SECOND READING
GRANTING A REZONING FROM FR (FARM RESIDENTIAL) AND B-1 (NEIGHBORHOOD BUSINESS) TO DF (DEVELOPMENT FLEX) AND PBD (PLANNED BUSINESS DISTRICT FOR PARKSIDE NORTH DEVELOPMENT AT 125TH AVENUE/LEXINGTON AVENUE NE. PAXMAR. (CASE FILE NO. 14-0034/SLK)
Schedule of Actions
Planning Commission (Public Hearing) |
11/12/14 |
City Council (1st Reading Rezoning) |
12/04/14 |
City Council (Comp Plan Amend/2nd Reading Rezoning/Plat/CUP) |
12/18/14 |
Action Deadline (Extended By City) |
02/01/14 |
Planning Commission
The Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the comprehensive plan amendment, rezoning, preliminary plat and conditional use permit. Several residents spoke at the meeting with concerns about drainage and wetlands.
Background
This property is comprised of several 20-40 acre parcels at the southeast corner of 125th Avenue and Lexington Avenue. Many would recognize the 137 acres as the Finn Farm that the Finneman family owned for many decades as well as the large barn that stood on the property until earlier this year. The current owner (Paxmar Land) has purchased the property and began a planning process for development in 2013. An EAW (Environmental Assessment Worksheet) was prepared for the project in 2014 with that process concluding in October with the City Council Declaring a Negative Need for EIS at the October 2nd City Council meeting.
The proposed project proposal includes land set aside for the following uses:
· 170 single family lots (Lennar Homes)
· 90-100 attached and detached townhomes (future phases)
· Multi family sites (two) for up to 330 units of apartments, condo's or senior housing (future phases)
· 20 acres of commercial land for up to 120,000 square feet of commercial, retail, restaurant, office or service uses (future phases)
· Storm ponding, parkway, trails and open space
The project is proposed to be graded generally as one phase with utility and road extensions starting on the south edge (from Woodland Parkway) to the proposed intersection with the Lever Street alignment to serve the 1st phase of single family lots in late 2015. It is proposed that second phase of the single family neighborhood would extend utilities and Lever Street to 125th Avenue. Woodland Parkway extension with utilities to Lexington would also be anticipated in the 2015-2016 phase
Land Use
The project area has a land use that was adopted with the Northeast Area Plan in 2001. The proposed project proposes a land use mix that is generally consistent with the adopted land use with only minor amendments. Below is a quick summary of the differences:
Land Uses |
2030 Plan (Acres) |
Parkside North (acres) |
LDR (Low Density Residential) |
55.2 |
85 (up 30 acres) |
MDR (Medium Density Residential) |
34 |
16.9 (down 17 acres) |
HDR (High Density Residential)*** |
8.3 |
16.1 (up 8 acres) |
CC (Community Commercial) |
15.8 |
0 (down 15 acres) |
PC (Planned Commercial) |
0 |
19.9 (up 20 acres) |
PC/LI (Planning Commercial/Light Industrial) |
19 |
0 (down 19 acres) |
*** For purposes of the above chart and in calculating development density, the HDR/PC land use that is proposed for 8.2 acres is calculated in the HDR category.
Generally speaking the land use amendment that will need to be processed will reflect the following changes:
· Increase in the available LDR land from 55.2 to 85 acres |
· Decrease in the MDR land from 34 to 16.9 acres |
· Increase in the HDR land from 8.3 to 16.1 acres |
· Decrease in the available commercial land from 35.1 to 19.9 acres |
· Removal of the available industrial (LI) land |
Rezoning
Currently, the property has two existing zoning designations, FR (Farm Residential) that covers most of the property and B-1 (Neighborhood Business) over the approximately 38 acres in the south east corner of the 125th Ave/Lexington intersection. The project zoning is proposed to be DF (Development Flex) to cover all of the residential uses and PBD to set the standards for the commercial uses. With both the DF and PBD all uses, housing products and neighborhood design issues will require or be regulated by specific Conditional Use Permits (CUPs).
Preliminary Plat
The Preliminary Plat that has been submitted intends to layout the subdivisions for the 170 single family lots, dedicate the necessary right-of-way for required street alignments and set up parcels for future subdivision associated with subsequent review and phases. The plat shows three primary access points, one each on Lexington Avenue, 125th Avenue, and the other with the extension of Woodland Parkway.
The Lexington Avenue access (123rd Avenue) will access the west side of the plat just to the north of the electric substation property and is aligned with the future extension of Lakes Parkway that will also connect to Lexington Avenue at some point in the future. It is envisioned that this would be a controlled intersection at some point in the near future. As the project moves forward additional discussions will be had with Anoka County Highway Department to determine the extent of the improvements and the timing of installation.
The second primary access is at 125th Avenue and Lever Street. This access also meets Anoka County access guidelines for a full access. When signal warrants are met at some point in the future, a controlled intersection will be installed, although timing could be after this site is developed. Connection of this access to 125th Avenue is likely to occur later in 2016 or even 2017 depending on timing of 2nd phase project improvements.
Additional mid-point access locations that are proposed on Lexington Avenue and 125th Avenue would be limited to right-in/right-out and would need to meet the County's access and design guidelines at the time they are proposed to be constructed.
A third primary access already exists once Woodland Parkway is extended from the south edge of the Plat.
Sidewalks and trails to be constructed as shown on the plats presented for approval with six foot concrete sidewalks required on all residential streets and collector streets. Also, eight or ten foot bituminous trails required on all collector streets and a ten foot bituminous trail extension south along Lexington Avenue toward the Athletic Complex.
Trunk sanitary sewer and water main shall be installed in the development in accordance with the City's Sanitary and Water System Plans. It is proposed that the City will pay for oversizing of the utility improvements constructed throughout the plat with each phase that the improvements are constructed. Payment to be made after the improvements have been installed by the Developer and accepted by the City. This project area was part of a previous trunk sanitary sewer petition process and therefore no additional trunk fee will be due.
A protected plant species (rare plants in the blackberry family) was found within the project area. The plants will be protected by being placed within Outlot D. Outlot D is also part of the power line easement and will be deeded to the City once all site grading has been accomplished.
The 170 single family lots have been designed to fit the house pad requirements for Lennar Homes. The lot sizes and home plans that are proposed are similar in design and nature to those currently being built in Woods of Quail Creek. Lots are typically 65-foot in width minimum with corner lots being 74-feet to over 90-feet. Lot depths are typically 125-135 feet. The lots that back onto 125th Avenue are deeper at 190-feet to provide greater separation and room to add additional landscaping. Minimum lot area is 8,125 square feet with many lots over 15,000 square feet.
A neighborhood design issue that has been discussed since preliminary concepts were drawn is to minimize the amount of direct driveway access lots onto Lever Street. Currently there are 26 lots that propose direct access to Lever Street. The traffic study that was done for the EAW and to address this issue indicates that approximately 900 vehicles a day would be using the southern portion of Lever Street in the area where most of the driveways will be located. This number is within, but at the higher end, of the acceptable traffic volume range for direct access to a collector street.
Park dedication will be required with the platting of each new lot. The Lexington Athletic Complex (LAC) currently being built just to the southwest of this Plat is located on 40 acres that were purchased from the applicant. An element of that purchase relied on future park dedication as a credit for what the City owes on the balance of the purchase (currently $1.4 Million). The Park Dedication that will then be due from the platting of the residential and commercial lots will be established as a credit against the $1.4 Million that is owed by the City. Also consistent with the park purchase agreement the 2011 park rate of $2,435 per residential lot/unit and $7,163 per commercial acre will be used to calculate the credit. Future lots that are final platted will also be calculated as a park credit in the same manner.
Because of the proximity and neighborhood park amenities of the new LAC the City will not be looking for additional park land within this development.
The purchase agreement for the LAC park purchase also outlined that SAC, WAC and payments for wetland mitigation could also be used as part of the credit on park dedication payments. This will be further identified and called out in the Final Plat and Development Agreement.
There will be a significant number of trees that will be removed as part of the plat grading and development. The area of trees covers approximately 16 acres which would result in the need to replace 112 trees (7 trees per acre). The landscape plan for the single family development (two trees per lot plus the perimeter trees) will be more than sufficient to meet the replacement requirement.
Conditional Use Permit
The Conditional Use Permit (CUP) being brought forward at this time will only address standards for the 170 single family lots. Other housing products, the apartments and commercial areas will be part of subsequent applications, review and CUP approval. The standards being suggested for the single family lots are similar to those used in other DF zoned single family neighborhoods as well as Lennar's product lines in the Woods of Quail Creek development.
Lennar has indicated that they will be using the same product and standards that have been used in the Woods of Quail Creek. The Lennar "Everything is Included" series of homes will range in size from 1,900 square feet to over 3,300 square feet above grade. Lennar's home plan descriptions and pictures outline the elevations, floor plan options and exterior materials for the homes. All home elevations will utilize engineered wood siding on the front of the home with use of brick, stone or other masonry accent products.
The required minimum setbacks for the home and garage are as follows:
· Front Yard 25 Feet |
· Rear Yard 25 Feet |
· Side Yard Interior 7.5 Feet |
· Side Yard Corner 25 Feet |
There are approximately 40 of the 170 homes that are within 500 feet of 125th Avenue. Those homes will be required to apply the Noise Abatement Standards in their construction. All other CUP requirements are spelled out in the recommendation section of this report.
Recommendation
By motion, approve the Ordinance contingent upon review and approval by Metropolitan Council of the City's Comprehensive Plan Amendment.
Attachments
Zoning and Location Map
2030 Land Use Plan Map
Proposed Land Use Map
Project Narrative
Preliminary Plat
Grading Plan
Landscape Plan
Home Elevations and Floor Plans (Lennar Homes)
Phasing Plan
Lever Street Extension Memo
Body
THE CITY OF BLAINE DOES ORDAIN: (Added portions are underscored and deleted portions are shown in brackets with overstrike.)
Section 1. The Official Zoning Map of the Zoning Code of the Municipal Code of the City of Blaine is hereby amended to change the zoning classification of the following described property:
THE SOUTHEAST QUARTER OF THE NORTHWEST QUARTER, THE SOUTHWEST QUARTER OF THE NORTHWEST QUARTER EXCEPT THE SOUTH 600 FEET THEREOF, THE NORTHWEST QUARTER OF THE NORTHWEST QUARTER EXCEPT THE NORTH 319 FEET OF THE WEST 316 FEET THEREOF AND EXCEPT PARCEL 17, ANOKA COUNTY HIGHWAY RIGHT-OF-WAY PLAT NO. 81, THE NORTHWEAST QUARTER OF THE NORTHWEST QUARTER, ALL IN SECTION 12, TOWNSHIP 31, RANGE 23 EXCEPT PARCELS 34 AND 35, ANOKA COUNTY HIGHWAY RIGHT-OF-WAY PLAT NO. 61; AND
TRACT B, R.L.S. NO. 260, ANOKA COUNTY, MINNESOTA.
Section 2. The above described property is hereby rezoned from:
[FR (Farm Residential)] and B-1 (Neighborhood Commercial)
DF (Development Flex) and PBD (Planned Business District)
Section 3. The City Manager is hereby directed to make the appropriate changes in the Official Zoning Map of the City of Blaine to reflect and show the changes in zoning classification as set forth above.
INTRODUCED and read in full this 4th day of December 2014.
PASSED by the City Council of the City of Blaine this 18th day of December 2014.