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Planning Commission - 08/11/1997 AGENDA EDEN PRAIRIE PLANNING COMMISSION &nday, August 11, 1997 7:00 p.m. COMMISSION MEMBERS: Beverly Alexander,Kenneth E. Clinton,Randy Foote,Bill Habicht, Ismail Ismail,Douglas Sandstad,Mary Jane Wissner STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE: Jessica Lind STAFF MEMBERS: Michael Franzen, City Planner Scott A.Kipp, Senior Planner I. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE--ROLL CALL H. APPROVAL OF AGENDA III. MINUTES IV. PUBLIC HEARINGS Withdrawn A. HARTFORD AREA 2-1997 by Ryan Companies. Request for PUD Concept Amendment on 17.9 acres,PUD District Review on 17.9 acres,Zoning District Amendment in the Commercial Regional Zoning District on 17.9 acres, Site Plan Review on 17.9 acres and Preliminary Plat of 17.9 acres into 4 lots. Location: Prairie Lakes Drive and Prairie Center Drive. B. BEST BUY CAMPUS CONCEPT PLAN-1997 by Best Buy. Request PUD Concept Amendment on 47.45 acres,PUD District Review on 3.5 acres,Zoning District Change from Rural to I-2 on 3.5 acres,Site Plan Review on 3.5 acres,Preliminary Plat of 47.45 acres into 1 lot and road right-of-way. Location: 7075 Flying Cloud Drive. V. PUBLIC MEETING VI. MEMBERS' REPORTS VII. CONTINUING BUSINESS VIII. NEW BUSINESS IX. PLANNERS' REPORTS X. ADJOURNMENT 0 APPROVED MINUTES CITY OF EDEN PRAIRIE PLANNING COMMISSION MONDAY,AUGUST 11, 1997 7:00 P.M. CITY CENTER Council Chambers 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Beverly Alexander, Kenneth E. Clinton, Randy Foote, Bill Habicht, Ismail Ismail, Douglas Sandstad,Mary Jane Wissner STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE: Jessica Lind STAFF LIAISON: Scott Kipp, Senior Planner; Elinda Bahley, Recording Secretary MEMBERS ABSENT: Jessica Lind I. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE-ROLL CALL Chair Clinton called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Commissioner Habicht arrived at 7:05 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Wissner moved, seconded by Foote,to approve the agenda as published. Motion carried 6-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Wissner noted on page 13,the last paragraph, Oppidan was spelled incorrectly. MOTION: Foote moved, seconded by Alexander, to approve the Minutes of the July 28, 1997 Eden Prairie Planning Commission meeting as amended. Motion carried 6-0. IV. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. HARTFORD AREA 2-1997 by Ryan Companies. Request for PUD Concept Amendment on 17.9 acres, PUD District Review on 17.9 acres, Zoning District Amendment in the Commercial Regional Zoning District on 17.9 acres, Site Plan Review on 17.9 acres and Preliminary Plat of 17.9 acres into 4 lots. Location: Prairie • Lakes Drive and Prairie Center Drive. Eden Prairie Planning Commission August 11, 1997 Kipp indicated the developer has withdrawn the project and notices were sent of the withdrawal to the neighborhood. MOTION 1: Wissner moved, seconded by Foote,to close the public hearing and return the plans to the proponent without prejudice. Motion carried 6-0. (Commissioner Habicht arrived at 7:05 p.m.) B. BEST BUY CAMPUS CONCEPT PLAN - 1997 by Best Buy. Request PUD Concept Amendment on 47.45 acres, PUD District Review on 3.5 acres, Zoning District Change from Rural to I-2 on 3.5 acres, Site Plan Review on 3.5 acres, Preliminary Plat of 47.45 acres into 1 lot and road right-of-way. Location: 7075 Flying Cloud Drive. Dave Clark, architect, explained Best Buy's need to expand and noted since 1994 there has been about a 21 percent growth of employees per year in the company. They have already maximized the building by adding a second floor to create new floor space. Some departments have been moved off-site but the key groups must be together and must be on the site. There is an area on the existing site to expand but that would remove many 30 plus inch oaks to create parking which is not a reasonable option. They also considered replacing the existing ballfield area that the employees use,but that also was not a reasonable option since they utilize it extensively. Best Buy has decided to purchase the site next door for parking as opposed to getting rid of amenities on the existing site. He reviewed the proposed concept plan noting there is only one possible location on the site that will support a building. There are two types of wetland on the site,Type 2 and Type 3 wetlands. Type 2 wetlands are one of the least robust wetlands with primarily tall trees with no standing water in a small area.Type 3 wetlands hold some water for a short period of time sometime during the year. There is no flow through the wetlands on the site. They are not part of a creek system and not part of a drainage system that flows through the site. This piece of property is completely isolated from the remainder of the wetlands in the area. The plan is to create additional parking and plan for a future 100,000 sq. ft. office building. This will include new landscaping and will centralize the wetlands area to the middle of the site and focus the site inwards upon that. The existing Best Buy site is about a 45 percent landscaped open space and they want to focus the remaining wetland area in the middle of the site and bring everything towards it. 2 Eden Prairie Planning Commission August 11, 1997 One of the adjacent land owners was concerned about the water flow that currently goes through his site being interrupted. This will not happen because of the collection system they will design. There are four acres that need mitigation and they are willing to mitigate at a ratio of 4:1 instead of 2:1 as required by Code. They have already identified the property and made purchase of it contingent upon approval of the City. The proposed site has already been reviewed by the Corp. of Engineers and several other State agencies, and it's been reviewed and accepted. Alexander was concerned about the parking being sloped down toward the wetlands because of winter salt and motor oils running down in the wetland. Clark said water that comes off the roadways and the parking area will all be collected into a NURP pond and treated. Foote inquired about the discussions Best Buy had with City staff prior to the purchase of the property. Clark replied he was not involved in that but representatives of Best Buy were. Before Best Buy bought the property,they thought they should come and talk to staff to see what sort of obstacles there might be in terms of developing that site. There were no promises made but no serious objections . were made either. Clark stated that additional traffic will be generated by this proposal. There are currently 1300 employees with upwards of a 1000 more people in the next six or seven years. In the last few years Best Buy has developed car pooling programs to try to decrease the amount of single occupancy vehicles. The problem is Best Buy is competing for high tech employees in a lot of cases and it's very difficult to convince them to not drive in their own car. As a result of discussions with staff from Southwest Metro Transit,they need to communicate the various programs offered. Best Buy now has a car pooling system where they encourage people to do it and they get the number one choice of stalls near the front door of the employee entry. Wissner asked what the usual hours of work are for the employees. Clark replied it's between 7:30-8:30 a.m. to 4:30-5:30 p.m. Wissner commented there are only 28 registered car pools and was concerned this site is just a mass of parking. Foote suggested a width of 8.5 feet for parking instead of 9 feet like they do at the mall. Clark said he wasn't aware the City was flexible with the size so it's an option for them. Ismail asked if there were any other options for Best Buy's expansion to avoid touching the wetlands. Clark said they spent months looking at different ways to do that. The problem is the wetlands are dead center in the middle of the property and 3 Eden Prairie Planning Commission August 11, 1997 it's very difficult to work around it. There is only one location that will support a building and he explained why the other areas are not a possibility. Habicht was concerned about the off-site mitigation. Marshall Braymond, environmental specialist, explained he has been working on the wetland delineation and suggested the mitigation site they have selected for placing of this wetland. They have worked with all the resource agencies trying to identify a potential site that would be large enough to be able to accommodate the mitigation they are looking at. The site is sensitive to mitigation and to the loss of wetland to the site. Best Buy has proposed,without being asked,to have a 4:1 replacement ratio rather than the 2:1 as required by Code. The mitigation site identified is near Winthrop, Minnesota. It is in the same Watershed District but is quite a distance from the site. It is attached to 300 acres of wildlife management area. The site will require some drain tile, some excavation in several different areas, and planting of native prairie grasses. Ismail asked if they have any concerns about the fact that the site was an auto shop salvage yard. Braymond said there was concern about this and they have done exploratory drilling and a level one environmental assessment on the site to find any potential problems on the site. They did not find any contamination on the site. Habicht was concerned if the Planning Commission approved this that there be any further impact to the creek on the south. Clark replied there would be no further impact. Habicht asked if they considered going taller to a third level to reduce the impact to the wetlands. Clark said it's a possibility. Kipp indicated the project could be looked at in two parts, one being the concept amendment to include the 18 acre parcel into the overall PUD. The second half would be,if the Planning Commission is in favor of approving the Phase 2 parking lot that's outside any wetlands to meet their parking needs. The concept plan is for 100,000 square feet of additional office and approximately 990 parking stalls. Also included is rezoning of the Phase 2 parking from Rural to I-2 on 3.5 acres. The request is also to seek permission to do some surcharging of the Phase 3 parking area. This review is for concept approval only. In order to build a 100,000 square foot office building,they need to return to the Planning Commission with a detailed plan and guided plan change from Industrial to Office. The basic Code issue regarding the building can be met on the site. The critical issue that they are looking at today is the wetland alteration. There are 7.45 acres of rwetland on the site and approximately 4.9 would be effected through this concept. 4 Eden Prairie Planning Commission August 11, 1997 He referred the Commission to the chart reflecting previous wetland alterations. Staff has identified some options they can explore to try to reduce that amount of wetland impact. The location is centered and irregular in shape so it's difficult to work any plan. It's been the City's policy to avoid wetlands, if possible, and if that's not possible, to minimize those impacts. The proponent could look at available upland areas to develop first, such as the baseball field and tennis court area. The second option is to reduce the building footprint by increasing building height or reducing total building square footage reducing the overall parking needs. Another option would be constructing structured parking for a portion of the development. He noted that Eden Prairie Center was reduced to 8.5 feet stalls which is somewhat of an industry standard in terms of the Southdale and Ridgedale Centers. The City has never granted a parking waiver before and this is the first time. This was more predicated on the fact there's a number of mixed uses there and one trip can accommodate a multitude of separate trips into one stop shopping. There was also a proof-of-parking plan provided which meets Code for 9 foot stalls. The City has approved other parking decks in the past few years, and just recently with United Healthcare. The options in the Staff Report individually or together can reduce the amount of wetland alteration. It's up to the Planning Commission to evaluate what's deemed acceptable as far as wetland alteration. Best Buy has also requested rezoning of Phase 2 parking. They can develop this without any wetland alteration. There is an alternative location for a NURP pond to stay out of any wetland area while this concept plan is evaluated. There will need to be waivers for the parking setback because there are 13 stalls that encroach on the 50 foot setback. The waivers have merit because it effects only 13 stalls out of over 50 parking stalls. It follows an irregular lot line and the average setback is very close to 50. The overall concept plan identified approximately 12 percent tree loss. The Phase 2 parking will not impact any significant trees. The remainder of the concept would impact a total of 372 caliper inches. The concept plan does show replacement for that. They did evaluate traffic for this property based on Best Buy's proposal for 100,000 square feet of office and their existing facility, and against other various scenarios that are within the current guiding of the property. Based on those alternatives which are outlined in the Staff Report, it shows Best Buy's proposal would generate the least amount of traffic on the site both in daily trips and a.m. and p.m. peak hour than what could be expected if the site were developed Industrial. Staff supports the PUD concept for 100,000 square feet of office but is concerned 5 • Eden Prairie Planning Commission August 11, 1997 about the amount of wetland impact. The proponent should take a look at alternatives to try to minimize that. If the Planning Commission is comfortable looking at this as a two phase approach,they can elect to approve rezoning of 3.5 acres of parking and the proponent can proceed with that. If they are uncomfortable with the concept plan. staff recommended the proponent take a look at an alternative to minimize the amount of wetland encroachment. Sandstad referred to the Carpenter proj ect on the wetland impact chart and asked why there was 4.32 acres of mitigation off site. 4.32 represents a 2:1 replacement of the wetland fill as required by the Wetlands Act. Sandstad asked if there would be any outstanding natural features that are being preserved on this site at the same time they are filling four acres of wetland. Clark said on the remainder of the site they have some significant natural areas they want to maintain and do not want to touch. Alexander expressed concern about the wildlife loosing their natural habitat and going to another location. Clark said there are geese and mallards on the site using the • ballfield. There is an existing retention pond plus the wetlands area, and it does hold water. It's not a huge loss of habitat for those kinds of things. The public hearing was opened. Al Hansen,resident of Eden Prairie, commented he has lived here 30 years and some type of wetland restoration is better than nothing. The suggestion to decrease the parking stalls to 8.5 feet probably would not work because these are executives who are sporting utility vehicles which are bigger vehicles and it would be tight in the parking lot. He hates to see wetlands go but if it's not wetland like over by where Flagship is,than the City should support some alteration. Habicht commented he hates to see wetlands go but would like to see areas of the creek not impacted and this plan does that. The reduction in the size of the parking stalls is something to be explored. To balance off the wetland,they need to recognize the fact that a campus would be pretty nice. The Commission does not see many projects with a 12 percent tree loss. They are also willing to eliminate the second driveway and come out of the parking lot on the west side. It's appropriate to get 30 days with respect to the second half of the proposal and split it to explore some of those options. Sandstad supported the rezoning but would like a continuation for the proponent to come back with less wetland impact. It does not balance keeping a ballfield and 6 Eden Prairie Planning Commission August 11, 1997 loosing wetlands. He would like them to look at other solutions for the wetland issue. He wants the wetland impact improved even if it's not down to zero. Foote concurred with Sandstad. Exploring 8.5 width parking stalls is something to look at and the possibility of a third story on the building. There is no problem with the parking to the west and the building area does not impact wetlands either. He supported a 30 day continuance to see what the proponent can come up with to lessen the wetland impact. Wissner agreed with the other Commissioners. The ballfield will only be used five months out of the year. If the ballfield and the tennis courts were not there as an option, she would probably balance this differently. Best Buy is important to this community and they want them to stay there. The City Council is very committed to not filling in wetlands and feel strongly about this. She encouraged the proponent to consider the different options. Alexander supported the rezoning of the Phase 2 parking. As much as she likes not to see wetlands go, she understood some may have to go. She would like to see it reduced considerably to about half of the wetland. Saving a ballfield is not as important as saving the wetlands. She liked the proposal for walking trails in lieu of the ballfield. She supported a 30 day continuance. Ismail agreed with all the Commissioners but they should be specific as to how much of the wetlands the Commission would be comfortable filling in. Ismail said 2 to 2.5 acres would be more reasonable. Sandstad commented he doesn't want to do that because he has a lot of confidence in the designer and wants to give them some flexibility. Clinton commented he would like the proponent to look at possibilities of reducing the wetland impact. He agreed with Sandstad to give them flexibility. He has always been uncomfortable with wetland mitigation off site and was not in favor of that concept. He supported a 30 continuance. Clark explained his problem with 30 days because of the time frame for surcharging and construction. The surcharging has to be done before October 15 and they are going to need that parking in the spring. Kipp said one option with the 30 day continuance would be upon return to the Planning Commission, if they are satisfied with the revised concept, forward it to the City Council at which time they could ask the Council for an early grading permit to do surcharging. Clark said it's a possibility. MOTION 1: Sandstad moved, seconded by Foote, to close the public hearing. 7 Eden Prairie Planning Commission August 11, 1997 Motion carried 7-0. MOTION 2: Sandstad moved, seconded by Foote,to continue to the September 8, 1997 Planning Commission the request of Best Buy for PUD Concept Amendment on 47.45 acres. Motion carried 7-0. MOTION 3: Sandstad moved, seconded by Foote,to close the public hearing of the request of Best Buy for Zoning District Change from Rural to I-2 on 3.5 acres, Site Plan Review on 3.5 acres,and Preliminary Plat of 47.45 acres into 1 lot and road right of way. Motion carried 7-0. MOTION 4: Sandstad moved, seconded by Foote, to recommend to the City Council approval of the request of Best Buy for Zoning District Change from Rural to I-2 on 3.5 acres,Site Plan Review on 3.5 acres,and Preliminary Plat of 47.45 acres into 1 lot and road right of way based on plans dated August 5, 1997 and subject to the recommendations of the Staff Report dated August 8, 1997. Motion carried 7-0. MOTION 5: Foote moved,seconded by Habicht,to remove the first motion passed, • which closed the Public Hearing on the entire request. Motion carried 7-0. V. PUBLIC MEETING None. VI. MEMBERS' REPORTS None. VII. CONTINUING BUSINESS None. VIII. NEW BUSINESS None. IX. PLANNER'S REPORT Kipp reviewed the agenda for the next Planning Commission meeting. X. ADJOURNMENT 8 Eden Prairie Planning Commission August 11, 1997 MOTION: Wissner moved, seconded by Foote, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 7-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m. • 9