CC Minutes 11-13-2012 Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
e. Approval of Findings of Fact, Appeal of Administrative Decision, Naomi Carlson.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0.
VISITOR PRESENTATIONS: None.
WYNSONG; LOCATED AT 7042 GALPIN BOULEVARD, LOT 1, BLOCK 1, SONG
ADDITION; APPLICANT: STEVE KROISS, GALPIN BOULEVARD PARTNERS, LLC;
OWNER: CHARLES SONG:
A. CONSIDER APPROVAL OF PRELIMINARY PLAT TO SUBDIVIDE 9.37 ACRES INTO
4 LOTS WITH A VARIANCE FOR A PRIVATE STREET.
B. PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER APPROVAL OF VACATION OF DRAINAGE AND
UTILITY EASEMENTS.
Mayor Furlong: There will be a public hearing, is that correct Ms. Aanenson with regard to the drainage
and utility easement?
Kate Aanenson: Yes there will.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Public hearing did take place for the preliminary plat at the Planning Commission
if I recall correctly.
Kate Aanenson: That's correct.
Mayor Furlong: So we will have a public hearing with regard to the utility easements, drainage
easements in due course. Let's start with the staff report please and that will be followed by the applicant
and questions from council.
Kate Aanenson: Thank you Mayor, members of the City Council. As you indicated this item did appear
before the Planning Commission at their October 16 meeting. The Planning Commission did hold a
public hearing and voted 5 to 0 to recommend approval of the plat with the vacation. And then the
additional item, as you indicated on this would be vacation of drainage and utility easement. The subject
site is located on Galpin Boulevard. The Song property. Again this is the site itself. There's an existing
one home that access via Galpin Boulevard. One large lot. This property was actually part of the, was
the original property that included the Big Woods and that property was subdivided back in '93 -'94 so
this is the large estate that was left as a remnant piece that is now coming before you for subdivision. The
proposal includes 4 large estate lots so the 9 acres, just short of 9 1/2 acres be platted into 4 lots so 3 new
lots which the existing homestead. The city ordinance does allow for a private street if it can be
demonstrated that it's used to be preserve natural features. In your staff report a private street criteria was
reviewed in there. In looking at the prevailing development pattern does it make sense. Again there's 4
large lots. Significant amount of natural features including wetlands, trees, some slopes so looking at that
we believe that the use of a private street would enhance the natural features in the area so with that we do
believe it meets the criteria for the variance and are recommending approval of that. As did the Planning
Commission. There's a significant amount of trees on this property so on this slide we're showing the
homes. We do request that these, because they are being custom graded so as those projects come in they
will show which trees will be removed but we do require that they show at least a pad of 60 by 60 to give
some indication of where those trees will be removed. In your packet from the staff in your report we did
include the neighbors to the south located in this area here that did have some concerns regarding tree loss
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Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
and wanted some additional trees preserved in that area, particularly in this area here which the applicant
has demonstrated, indicated that those trees probably would be removed. The Planning Commission did
not consider at this time adding additional preservation for those trees at this time but I just wanted to
make sure that you were aware of the fact that they were concerned about some of that trees loss so they
had identified those in trees and number and those are kind of illustratively shown with a picture and a
number at the beginning of your staff report. So there are existing easements on this property. When,
again as I indicated in '93 -'94 when the Big Woods plat was put in place there was easements put on, on
the wetlands at that time and those were, at the time that they were put in place there were actually
conservation easements. So the manages, with this proposal and looking at the storm water and this is on
page 5 of 16 in your staff report, where the Water Resources Coordinator spent some time going through
talking about the size of the, because of the scale of the project's relative small that they recognize that
treatment options, of pre- treating it before it goes into the wetlands and Lake Harrison would be more
difficult that they thought that preservation of some of these more wooded areas, indicated here on the
slide and then this area here would also provide in some of that rate reduction before it would go into the
wetlands. So you can see where, and this area here. So this would hold some of that water before it go
into this wetland so we're pre - treating that and then in this area on Lot 2, excuse me this was Lot 3. Then
on Lot 2 again that wooded area would pre -treat before going into that wetland so again that was the goal
of that. Now when we looked at the stormwater calculations, those areas that were slated for preservation
were not calculated into any of the stormwater fees and again that is detailed in the staff report. A little
bit more detail on the lots itself. There is some change in topography. Again meeting the wetland
setbacks and the slopes. As indicated there is an existing drainage and utility easements and they will be
vacated and creation of new drainage and utility easements will be provided so with that we do request
that you hold a public hearing. I don't know if you wanted to wait til the end Mayor to do that. Want to
go through the entire presentation?
Mayor Furlong: Why don't, I guess let's keep going on the presentation.
Kate Aanenson: Okay.
Mayor Furlong: At least to the point that we get staff, or council questions.
Kate Aanenson: Sure. So on the orange here, the top one would be the drainage and utility easements
again that were dedicated with the Woods at Longacres, so the drainage and utility easements dedicated
with the Song plat and then finally the drainage and utility easements vacated in 2000, excuse me
drainage and utility easements dedicated in 2001 and 2002 so you can see how those play in.
Mayor Furlong: Ms. Aanenson, what were the dates of each of these events occurring, do you recall?
Kate Aanenson: Well the drainage and utility easements with the Woods would have been probably '94.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Kate Aanenson: So they're going in chronological order here.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. So the Song plat occurred between Longacres plat and the dedication in 2001-
2002?
Kate Aanenson: Yes. I believe that's correct.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you.
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Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
Kate Aanenson: So this again would show those easement areas but I think I don't know if Paul wanted
to spend some time with a little bit more detail on any of the vacation for the easements or if you had any
other questions on that. Other than that we believe it's the best use of the property creating these larger
estate lots because based on the fact that there's slopes, heavily wooded, significant wetlands, higher
quality and one of again natural environment wetland which we have limited of so we believe that this is
well suited for this type of estate lots and would recommend approval based on the public hearing and
your recommendation on the vacation of the drainage easements. With that I'd be happy to answer any
questions that you have.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Questions for staff from council. Councilwoman Ernst.
Councilwoman Ernst: Kate, can you tell me based on the public hearing at the Planning Commission, did
you get any feedback other than the removal of, the concern for the removal of trees?
Kate Aanenson: That was the only person that spoke at the meeting.
Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. So no other feedback?
Kate Aanenson: No. Again the subdivision to the south did have significant trees too. I mean that was
called the Woods at Big Acres, the Big, I said that wrong. Big, now I cannot say it. Anyways that
subdivision, when that went into place that was controversy at times because we had the Meadows at
Longacres on the one side then the Big Woods on the other side and actually you know we worked really
hard to save some of the significant trees and that's when we were refining our tree preservation
ordinance so some of those lots, there probably was more significant tree removal done on those lots
unfortunately on some of those and it's always hard for the Planning Commission, the staff when we're
looking at other people's property when we had already recommended kind of those what we believed
were the higher quality trees kind of worked into those sloped areas and also provided the opportunity
through the preservation to increase the water quality for stormwater management so we believe that was
the appropriate way to go but that was the biggest concern is the loss of that visual barrier there.
Councilwoman Ernst: Thank you.
Kate Aanenson: And I'm sorry Mayor, I did want to point one other thing too. In the staff report we did
use the term conservation easement on those new easements and that would be under a condition. We
referenced adoption of the conditions and we would change that word specifically under the condition
under environmental resources conditions that we change the word conservation to preservation. Legally
they have different tests for them.
Mayor Furlong: What's the, what is the difference between conservation easement and you said
preservation easement?
Kate Aanenson: I'll let the City Attorney answer that.
Mayor Furlong: Good evening Mr. Knutson.
Roger Knutson: Good evening Mr. Mayor. Council. The conservation easement is an easement
recognized by statute that has a bunch of rules to it. One of the rules is once it's created it takes the
District Court to vacate it. A normal easement that you're involved in like a preservation easement or
drainage and utility easement, you can vacate that on your own elision but if you want to get rid of a
conservation easement you have to go to court and start an action and then it's quite a complicated
process.
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Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright, thank you. And I guess the questions I had with regard to the purpose of
those, of this preservation easement is for stormwater management?
Kate Aanenson: That's correct. What the Water Resources Coordinator did is using the calculations
provided through Carver County for best management practices you calculate based on canopy coverage a
ratio so that ratio instead of putting a stormwater pond based on the topography, those meetings were held
early with the developer to say instead of trying to create a pre- treatment using stormwater and
eliminating or grading into the slope or eliminating some of those trees, that we would use a factor of the
canopy to help with the extraction of holding back that water before it went into the additional stormwater
pond so again with the preservation if there needed to be some tweaking or relocation of trees in the
future that the council would then through that terminology have the ability to adjust that in the future.
Mayor Furlong: And I guess the question I would have with regard to the preservation easement, is it in
terms of putting that in place, is that something that could be managed by staff if there's a desire by the
future property owners to work with that? I don't want to get into comments but vacation of a
preservation easement or something like that would certainly.
Councilman Laufenburger: Or modification.
Mayor Furlong: Or modification may require council action but I would believe.
Roger Knutson: Yes.
Mayor Furlong: The administration of that and how, what's allowed, we allow people to do things in
drainage and utility easements periodically with agreement and I would assume that a preservation
easement would fall into a similar type of management.
Roger Knutson: That's correct, yes.
Mayor Furlong: Administration as well. Okay. Alright, thank you. That's good information. Any other
questions for council or for staff at this time? And I guess.
Councilman Laufenburger: I do have, yeah please.
Mayor Furlong: Please.
Councilman Laufenburger: Kate would you just, would you go back one screen to there, multi colored.
So if I read this correctly the portion on the, call it on the right side of these 3 diagrams. The orange, the
blue and the green, all of those are, you're asking that those all be vacated, is that correct?
Kate Aanenson: I'll let the City Engineer speak to those. What those drainage easements were for.
Paul Oehme: Councilman Laufenburger, council, we are asking for those easements to be vacated at this
time but when the final plat comes in those easements over the existing utility lines would be dedicated at
that time so there would be no loss of maintenance or access to that infrastructure. At the final plat time.
Councilman Laufenburger: So these easements will be vacated but they will be replaced by easements
that serve the 4 lots, is that correct?
Paul Oehme: That serve the existing utilities.
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Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
Councilman Laufenburger: The existing, okay. Look at the blue one. That large triangle, actually it
looks more like a ballfield but on the upper right, I'm looking at the screen now. Is that in fact a utility
and drainage easement or is that the conservation easement?
Kate Aanenson: That's actually a conservation easement. That's the wetland one and I apologize on that.
If you look on, can I just go to.
Councilman Laufenburger: Yeah, show up the page.
Kate Aanenson: Yeah, that's actually part of that is, I believe in this area here where there's a wetland
and this area shaded around here is the buffer. That's in a conservation easement right now.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. So if it were possible to overlay the utility easements on this, could
you go back to that colored slide again. Is it possible for you to show with an arrow where the driveway
is? The private drive.
Kate Aanenson: I'm not sure I can on this one. Let me just see.
Councilman Laufenburger: Oh wait, okay.
Kate Aanenson: It's this one coming further south.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay, right there, okay. Alright, so the request is to vacate these easements
at this time but there will be dedicated easements on top of the utilities that exist, is that right?
Paul Oehme: Correct. The vacation would be contingent on the final plat being approved and those new
easements dedicated.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay.
Paul Oehme: It's a lot easier for platting to vacate the easements instead of describing it and then
replatting so there's some nuances there.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay.
Kate Aanenson: Yeah, and I just want to be clear we're only vacating drainage and utility easements.
We're not vacating conservation easement and I'm not sure that that's worded in the motion correctly but
it does say drainage and utility easement. We're not vacating a conservation easement and I think that's,
misrepresented on this illustration.
Councilman Laufenburger: Can you go back two slides? There. Where is, there's a culvert on the
property right now that goes under the driveway. Is that the yellow line that goes kind of in a, from a
southwest to a northeast direction? No. Farther, between Lots 2 and 4, yeah. Right there.
Kate Aanenson: Yeah.
Councilman Laufenburger: Do I read correctly that that culvert will be replaced or is it a dual?
Kate Aanenson: Yeah, it's going to be a culvert there. That's kind of what we're talking about.
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Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
Councilman Laufenburger: So that facilitates water movement from Lot 2 under the drive, under the new
private street to that wetland area which is in a conservation easement, is that correct?
Kate Aanenson: Correct, and we're adding a preservation area around that conservation easement to add
additional tree preservation for the ability to slow down the rate of the water before it goes into the
wetland here.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Okay, I understand that. Now would you go to the, there was an area
where you showed a concern at the public hearing regarding trees in Lot 3. Could you go to that? I guess
that's it right there.
Kate Aanenson: Yeah.
Councilman Laufenburger: So what was expressed by the, at the public hearing about these trees?
Kate Aanenson: The neighbor to the south actually got up and we included in your packet illustratively
enumerated trees that they would like to see saved that they would see out their, out their deck.
Councilman Laufenburger: What was their argument for that? Just that they wanted a better view?
Kate Aanenson: That they wanted to continue to preserve that view, right.
Councilman Laufenburger: Does that property owner have any trees of their own on their own property,
do you know?
Kate Aanenson: I'm not sure in that area if you look on the photo from their back yard looking out their
deck, it doesn't appear to be too many.
Councilman Laufenburger: Is there any restriction that the City has on how many trees somebody can put
in their yard?
Kate Aanenson: Put in their yard? No. No.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay good, thank you. Those are my questions Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Furlong: Alright, thank you. Other questions for staff at this time? Let's, since we've talked
about the utility, drainage and utility easements and there have been questions. Let's go ahead, well let's
go with the applicant first and we'll get all the information on the table and then we'll have our public
hearing with regard to the drainage and utility easements only. Is there a representative, or is the
applicant here or their representative that would like to address council? Good evening.
Todd Simnig: Good evening council. Todd Simnig. Kroiss Development, 2051 Pioneers Drive in
Chanhassen, 55317. I thought Kate did a very good job of describing the project so if you guys have
additional questions for me I'd be happy to answer otherwise it's I think fairly self explanatory in what
the project is.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, any questions? Mr. Laufenburger.
Councilman Laufenburger: Simnig, is that correct?
Todd Simnig: Yes.
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Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
Councilman Laufenburger: I'm looking at the drawing that shows the 60 by 60 foot squares or pads on
which the homes are intended to be built. Are you comfortable with that?
Mayor Furlong: Excuse me, these are the ones on the screen right now that you're talking about?
Councilman Laufenburger: Yeah, the ones on the screen right now.
Todd Simnig: The ones on the screen right now we're very comfortable with where the houses will be
placed, yes.
Councilman Laufenburger: And you're also comfortable with the trees that would likely remain and the
trees that would be removed?
Todd Simnig: Yes. You know with the, we worked with staff actually quite a bit with the two
conservation /preservation easements.
Councilman Laufenburger: Preservation easements.
Todd Simnig: And our only, our only real concern was Lot number 4 and we were trying to get a walkout
lot out of that one and because of, actually and I have to admit that I thought staff did a really good job
with us in working the line. We really wanted to get a walkout lot out of that one.
Councilman Laufenburger: Walking out towards the wetland?
Todd Simnig: Yes. We weren't able to. We got a lookout and so we were fine with that and so
everything that we showed on there as far as trees to be removed and pad wise worked out for us as well.
And you know a lot of developments somebody might go in and develop and sell the lots off and
somebody else build. My partner and myself, Steve Kroiss will actually be building the houses in this
development so.
Councilman Laufenburger: Good, thank you Todd.
Todd Simnig: You're welcome.
Mayor Furlong: Just a follow up question with regard to the house pads delineated here. The drawing
actually shows 100 by 100 and I thought Kate our ordinance requires 60 by 60, is that correct?
Kate Aanenson: Yeah. I'll just comment on it a little bit because these are executive homes. They're not
going to be in a perfect box. You're going to have a buyer that has specific needs and getting that lookout
or that walkout, potentially a pool so I think what we wanted to do is have a rough estimate. I know the
neighbors wanted to know exactly where the houses are going to go. Part of the challenge for engineering
too is to make sure that we follow the lowest floor elevation and each lot falls within that certain range
but you give flexibility to the builder who is trying to meet a buyer's need so what we try to do is
approximate what we think you know the shape is not going to be a square more than likely but that we
try to estimate what we think is going to be the tree Loss and that's really to the neighbors so we don't
increase or decrease expectations. We try to be realistic in what we think will happen based on past
practices of a typical executive home.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright, and other questions for the applicant at this point? With regard to the
grading plan, that's going to be a custom grade as opposed to a mass grade?
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Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
Todd Simnig: Yes.
Mayor Furlong: Could you explain that a little bit for people who may not understand the difference.
Todd Simnig: You know we'll actually, we'll actually grade the private street coming in. We'll put the
private street in there but as we design each individual house, depending on whether it's a two story,
whether it's a rambler, you know size, that's one of the reasons why we showed a 100 by 100 pad. It's
always best to I guess over emphasize it and then tone it down versus giving a smaller pad and then
saying oh boy, we need more. And so in this case they're 1 to 2 acre lots and we really wanted to give
everybody the opportunity to decide whether they wanted a rambler, two story, a walkout, or whatever
and so at the time of every house that we design we'll actually come up with a custom grading plan.
Submit that to the City. The City will actually look back and review it over and give us the okay, whether
it's, here's the trees that can go. Here's the ones that can't and here's where the walkout will be and
here's where it won't and so once we actually dig the foundation we'll actually grade it out per that
individual house.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Todd Simnig: And so our hope is to save as many trees, and that's the interesting thing about this you
know unique site is that there's so many nice trees on it. We're hoping to be able to save some of the
bigger trees depending on the home design and hopefully we can encourage people, as we're designing to
say hey, there's trees on this side over here. Let's move the house over here a little bit and here's what
we can do with it and then we'll go ahead and take down the trees that need to be and grade that out so
that's how the process would work.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, that's helpful. Thank you. Any other questions? Mr. Simnig, thank you.
Todd Simnig: Thank you.
Mayor Furlong: Appreciate the comments this evening. Let's go ahead and open up a public hearing
with regard to the vacation of the drainage and utility easements and I would invite all interested parties to
come forward with regard to that matter and address the council at this time. No? Okay. Thank you.
Without objection we'll close the public hearing and bring it back to council for comments. Thoughts.
Comments, thoughts, observations. Mr. Laufenburger.
Councilman Laufenburger: Just I was, I went into the property earlier today and it's kind of, I'm very
excited to see the possibility of 3 new homes coming into Chanhassen obviously but I think it's just a
beautiful area and I think the developer is going to have a, they may have a hard time fighting people off
from finding space there.
Mayor Furlong: Such a problem.
Councilman Laufenburger: Yeah, such a problem and I just think that it's, I think it's a good addition for
Chanhassen and I would support the, both the subdivision as well as the vacation of the utilities, or the
easements.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Other comments? Discussion. Councilwoman Ernst.
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Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
Councilwoman Ernst: No, and I agree. I think the developer has done a great job of trying to
accommodate the development and trying to save trees and I think it's going to be a great area. Beautiful
area so I would support it.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Mr. McDonald, any comments?
Councilman McDonald: No comments. I'd say that again everybody's done a real good job and I
appreciate the fact that what he's trying to do is custom build these within the lots so that there is a
minimal damage to the landscape and such and so I look forward to it also.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. I think it's a nice development. It's a beautiful piece of property and
will make very nice, nice spots for some new homes. I do also want to thank Ms. Aanenson, city staff for
their recommendation with regard to the elimination of a conservation easements being placed on, new
ones and moving it over to a preservation area and again, the reason we're looking at this and I think
credit is deserved as well for staff for saying that sometimes the one size fits all process doesn't work.
The whole reason we're looking at these preservation areas is because anytime there's a development we
have to deal with the storm water runoff and there are some pretty nice natural features around this
property that we want to try to minimize any effects from the development and one way to do that is to
put in a stormwater pond, which we see all across our city. This particular site doesn't really lend itself to
that and so by looking for some other alternatives such as recognizing the heavily forested areas in some
parts of this property and that the simple facts that plants absorb water and reduce runoff, reduce erosion
themselves and utilize that I think makes a whole lot of sense so thank you for doing that. I think that's
absolutely the right way to go and I think by moving the, by looking at a preservation area and treating
them similar to how we look at drainage and utility easements, that will also, one of our concerns always
is to make sure we're balancing public interest with private property rights. Each of these lots will be
owned by someone and someone who wants to develop their property as they think is best for them and
we want to try to encourage that but keep that balance there against the public interest of stormwater
runoff and such and so I would encourage staff as the property owners, the new residents that move into
these homes want to try to do some things perhaps in these preservation areas that we look to work with
them flexibly so they can achieve their goals of home ownership and at the same time make sure that
we're looking out for the natural resources and so it's, you know when applying best practices is good
and that's what we try to do all the time but we also recognize that there are, there are qualitative factors
that are included in that quantitative process of identifying the areas and so I think there, to the extent that
we can approach with some flexibility if requested by the property owners I think that would certainly be
the right way to go and I think by establishing preservation areas I think that that's appropriate. I did
notice there was some, one of the conditions here under environmental, I think number 5 talks about some
signage being put up. I assume that we don't need to be doing that. I can't imagine having signs in the
back of my yard or someone else at the edge of an easement so if it's a temporary sign and such for
construction purposes, that would certainly make sense but if that's something that we can remove as a
condition or however you think. It's number 5 under the Environmental Resource, if you see that.
Kate Aanenson: Yep.
Mayor Furlong: And again since this isn't a conservation easement we obviously don't need signage
outlining such. But with that I commend staff and the developer and the property owner for working so
well together. I think that the people that are going to be buying these lots are going to be buying wooded
lots and that's what they want to buy and so there's going to be a natural hesitancy to be cutting down a
bunch of trees, especially the significant ones and so by moving forward with the process that's been laid
out here with the custom grading and the permits on, when the site's designed and as the, as Mr. Simnig
said, you know work to preserve trees, I think that's going to be everybody's interest so I thank
everybody for all their involvement in that. With that, this is a preliminary plat recommendation, correct?
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Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
Kate Aanenson: Correct.
Mayor Furlong: For preliminary and so this will come back to us with final. Is that the point, if we do a
motion tonight eliminating references to conservation easements and replacing them with preservation
areas, is that, can that language be incorporated in the final?
Kate Aanenson: Yep. Yes Mayor, typically those.
Mayor Furlong: Without us having to go through tonight.
Kate Aanenson: That's correct. Typically we would make those changes as they come back on your
consent typically agenda.
Mayor Furlong: And that would be fine. That would be fine. Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion?
If not, would somebody like to make a motion?
Todd Gerhardt: Mayor, council, before you motion. I just wanted to emphasize the Mayor's point.
Typically we'll sign anywhere from 50 to 60 encroachment agreements per year allowing residents to
encroach into encroach into drainage and utility areas or setback areas so you know the same would hold
to this development. If somebody would want to encroach in an area, our engineering department, Paul
Oehme's staff reviews those and works with Roger's office to draft the necessary agreement. And then
lastly the Mayor signs it and reviews it and.
Mayor Furlong: Sometimes asks questions.
Todd Gerhardt: Sometimes.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Would somebody like to make a motion?
Councilwoman Ernst: I'll make a motion.
Mayor Furlong: Councilwoman Ernst.
Councilwoman Ernst: So do we want to make the modification in here too with replacing the word.
Mayor Furlong: Including the change in language from conservation to preservation?
Councilwoman Ernst: Yeah. We just add that in.
Mayor Furlong: Why don't you add that in.
Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. I make a motion we approve the vacation of the drainage and utility
easement and the preliminary plat creating 4 lots with a variance for the use of a private street subject to
the conditions of the staff report and adoption of the Findings of Fact and replacing the word conservation
with the word preservation.
Mayor Furlong: Preservation areas.
Todd Gerhardt: Eliminate item 5?
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Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
Mayor Furlong: And eliminate item 5.
Councilwoman Ernst: And eliminate number 5.
Mayor Furlong: Under Environmental Resources.
Councilwoman Ernst: Under Environmental Resources.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Is there a second for the motion?
Councilman Laufenburger: Second.
Mayor Furlong: Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none we'll
proceed with the vote.
Councilwoman Ernst moved, Councilman Laufenburger seconded that the City Council approve
the preliminary plat creating four lots, plans prepared by Otto Associates dated 09/10/12, with a
variance for the use of a private street, subject to the following conditions and adoption of the
attached Findings of Fact and Recommendation:
Building Official Conditions:
1. The developer's proposed street name, Wynsong Lane, is acceptable and shall be shown on
the final plat of the property.
2. Demolition permits must be obtained before demolishing any structures on the site.
3. A final grading plan and soils report must be submitted to the Inspections Division before
permits can be issued.
4. Retaining walls over four feet high require a permit and must be designed by a professional
engineer.
5. Each lot must be provided with separate sewer and water services.
Engineering Conditions:
1. The private road must be within a 30 -foot wide access and maintenance easement recorded
against all four properties.
2. At the end of the project, the developer must submit documentation stating that the private
road meets a 7 -ton design.
3. The developer shall work with the existing homeowner to minimize service disruption during
construction.
4. Lot 1 has paid the sanitary sewer hook -up charge.
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Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
5. The sanitary sewer hook -up fees for Lots 2, 3 and 4 will be collected as set forth in the City
Code at the rate in effect at the time.
6. No water hook -up charges are due with this plat.
7. The existing 12 -inch drain tile and the proposed 4 -inch drain tiles shall be privately owned
and maintained.
8. Should the gas service to the existing home be relocated with this project, the existing service
via Lake Harrison Circle must be cut according to CenterPoint Energy's requirements.
9. Staff will work with the developer's engineer to either realign the wall so that it lies entirely
on one property, or draft an encroachment agreement for the wall, which would be recorded
against both properties.
Environmental Resource Specialist Conditions:
1. The applicant shall custom grade lots and work with staff to try to preserve any of the
following trees currently proposed for removal:
Lot 2: #78, #86, #97, #70
Lot 3: #49, #59, #63, #64, #66
Lot 4: #133, #134, #137, #138, #142, #143
2. Prior to grading, each lot shall install tree protection fencing at the edge of grading limits.
3. Building permit surveys for each lot shall be required to show all inventoried trees within the
grading limits and 10 feet beyond and their removal or preservation status. Tree removal for
each lot shall be approved by the city.
4. The applicant shall work with staff to develop conservation easements to preserve existing
wooded areas on Lots 1, 3 and 4.
Fire Marshal Conditions:
1. A three (3) foot clear space shall be maintained around the circumference of the fire hydrant
per MSFC Section 508.5.5.
2. Nothing shall be placed in a manner that would prevent or hinder operation of the fire
hydrant by firefighters per MSFC Section 508.5.4.
3. A street sign shall be installed at the street intersection prior to any new home construction
per MSFC Section 505.2.
4. "No Parking Fire Lane" signs shall be installed in the hammerhead turnaround. Contact
Chanhassen Fire Marshal for location of signs
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Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
Parks & Recreation Conditions:
1. The developer shall pay park dedication fees at the rate in effect at the time of final plat approval
concurrent with or prior to recording the final plat in lieu of parkland dedication or donation.
Planning Conditions:
1. Revise the front lot line of Lot 1 to meet the 125 -foot minimum lot width.
Water Resources Coordinator Conditions:
Surface Water Drainage and Treatment
1. Alternate stormwater management techniques will be allowed for the site. The proposal is to
use enhanced buffers and tree preservation for volume reduction and stormwater
management. Tree preservation areas must be contained within a legally recorded
conservation easement before release of the final plat. The wetland buffer must be included
within a drainage and utility easement or conservation easement.
2. Appropriate signage demarcating the boundary of the conservation easement must be placed
by the applicant before release of the final plat. The signage must be at any point the
easement boundary intersects with a property line, either existing or proposed, and any point
of deflection greater than 10 degrees. At no point may the distance between signs be greater
than 200 feet. Sign placement must be shown on a plan sheet.
3. Stormwater efficacy calculations shall be based upon Carver County Rules Calculator
Version 1.1 or the Minnesota MIDS Calculator Worksheet. This worksheet shall be updated
to reflect the conservation easement area and must exclude any wetland within the easement.
4. The eastern limit of the conservation easement on proposed Lot 4 shall be as shown in figure
2, protecting a wooded buffer at least 50 feet in width from the eastern wetland boundary and
preserving trees 133, 134, 136 and 140.
Natural Resource Protection
1. All wetland buffers shall meet the requirement codified in Sections 20 -411 and 20 -412 of
city code.
2. Buffers not meeting the minimum requirements for native vegetation as required by code or
being considered for enhanced buffers for stormwater management will require a vegetation
management plan.
3. Appropriate signage demarcating the boundary of the wetland buffer must be placed by the
applicant before release of the final plat. The signage must be at any point the buffer
boundary intersects with a property line, either existing or proposed, and any point of
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Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
deflection greater than 10 degrees. At no point may the distance between signs be greater
than 200 feet. Sign placement must be shown on a plan sheet.
4. Setbacks shall be labeled on the plan set as to if they are setbacks from the OHW of a Public
Water or setbacks from a wetland buffer.
5. All tree protection fencing shall employee metal T- posts.
Erosion and Sediment Control
1. All silt fences shall be machine sliced or heavy duty as defined in part 3886 of the MnDOT
Standard Specifications for Construction 2005 Edition.
2. Those areas to be protected from grading, construction traffic, material stockpiling or other
disturbance shall be clearly labeled on the plans and adequate protection in the form of
fencing with metal T -posts shall be shown on the plans and installed prior to any earth -
disturbing activities. This shall be included as part of the SWPPP.
3. Final stabilization must be shown on the grading plan. The graded areas contiguous to
wetland 1 and wetland 2 must be stabilized with Method 2, 3 or 4 as defined in part 2575 of
the MnDOT Standard Specifications for Construction 2005 Edition.
4. Seed mix or other method of establishing vegetation in disturbed areas shall be called out on
the plan set.
5. A method of establishing native vegetation within the disturbed buffer areas shall be called
out on the plans.
6. Sediment control best management practices shall be specified on the plan set for both
culverts draining to wetlands. Strong preference shall be given to inlet protection.
7. It shall be the responsibility of the applicant to assure compliance with all other pertinent
regulations and requirements, including, but not limited to NPDES permit requirements for
phased development where the total disturbance associated with the common development
exceeds the minimum threshold.
8. All applicable details shall be included within the plan set. The city can make these available
to the applicant.
Surface Water Management
1. The applicant shall provide the city with an exhibit quantifying those areas within
conservation easement, wetland, and wetland buffer areas so that the fees accurately reflect
the amount of developable land.
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Chanhassen City Council — November 13, 2012
2. Based upon the information provided, SWMP fees due at Final Plat are estimated to be
$33,305.60.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0.
Resolution #2012 -63: Councilwoman Ernst moved, Councilman Laufenburger seconded that the
City Council adopt a resolution to vacate the drainage and utility easements on Lot 1, Block 1, Song
Addition as shown on the attached exhibits prepared by Otto Associates. All voted in favor and the
motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0.
COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS.
Mayor Furlong: Comments or discussion from council.
Councilman McDonald: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Furlong: Mr. McDonald.
Councilman McDonald: Yep. Well I just wanted to say that as everybody knows there was an election last
week and spent a lot of time out campaigning and such and I just want to thank all the residents and
everybody who allowed us to come up to their front door and knock on their door and spend some time
talking to us. I know that a lot of people kind of get swamped out with all of this stuff but I'm really
appreciative of everybody who supported both myself and also speaking for Ms. Tjornhom who's not here
right now but we are very grateful for everyone who would listen to us and we're very grateful for all the
support and the votes that we did receive so thank you Chanhassen and look forward to serving you for
another 4 years.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. And I think in that regard maybe if there are other comments about the
election, earlier this evening the 5 of us sat as the Canvassing Board and approved the election results and
voter turnout was very high in Chanhassen. I think we all appreciate that and thank everybody that took the
time and effort to, in their day to come out and vote and that's really, it's a right that all of us have but it's
also a responsibility to exercise that right to be an informed voter and so we certainly appreciate everyone's
involvement in that. And I'd also like to thank Karen Engelhardt who is our Chief Election Officer in town.
All the election judges. What do we have Mr. Gerhardt, about 120? Does that sound right or over 100
election judges many of whom spent their entire day from before 7:00 in the morning til after 8:00 at night at
some of the polling places so there were a lot of changes in where people voted this year. It seemed to go
fairly smoothly and that's a credit to the planning ahead of time. The election judges on site and then also to
the many partners, the churches and others that open their doors and allowed us in as a city to help us conduct
our elections. We appreciate all their support as well. Other comments.
Councilwoman Ernst: Yes.
Mayor Furlong: Councilwoman Ernst.
Councilwoman Ernst: I just want to talk a little bit about the Yellow Ribbon. What a great event at the
Legion and I want to recognize Laurie because I know Laurie played a big part in that.
Mayor Furlong: She did.
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