PC Minutes
CHANHASSEN PLANNING COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
JULY 18, 2017
Chairman Aller called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Andrew Aller, Mark Undestad, Steve Weick, Nancy Madsen, John
Tietz, and Mark Randall
MEMBERS ABSENT: Maryam Yusuf
STAFF PRESENT: Kate Aanenson, Community Development Director; Bob Generous, Senior
Planner; Alyson Fauske, Assistant City Engineer; and Stephanie Smith, Project Engineer
PUBLIC PRESENT:
Tom Bakritges, Homestead Partners 6035 Culligan Way
Miron Marcotte 7240 Galpin Boulevard, Excelsior
Maryanne and Gary Halama 670 Creekwood Street, Chaska
PUBLIC HEARING:
FAWN HILL- REQUEST FOR REZONING FROM AGRICULTURAL ESTATE (A2)
TO RESIDENTIAL LOW AND MEDIUM DENSITY DISTRICT (RLM);
CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT FOR DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE BLUFF CREEK
CORRIDOR, AND A PRELIMINARY PLAT FOR 10 SINGLE FAMIY LOTS
CREATING 9 NEW HOMES AND ONE EXISTING HOME TO REMAIN WITH 6
OUTLOTS WITH A VARIANCE, FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT 7240 GALPIN
BOULEVARD. APPLICANT: HP HOLDINGS, LLC. OWNER: ANNE MARCOTTE.
Generous: Thank you Chairman Aller, commissioners. Planning Case 2017-15 is a Fawn Hill
subdivision. As you stated it’s a conditional use permit for development within the Bluff Creek
corridor. Rezoning of the property and preliminary plat with variances. The applicant is HP
Holdings LLC and Chanhassen Investments LLC and the owner is Anne Marcotte. Again this is
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the public hearing for this proposed development. It goes to City Council on August 14. The
property is located at 7240 Galpin Boulevard. This area is guided in our Comprehensive Plan for
residential low density uses which permits densities of 1.2 to 4 units per acre. Current zoning of
the property is Agricultural Estate District (A2). That zoning is inconsistent with the land use
designation. However we didn’t make people upzone until development came in so this is the
appropriate time for that. To the north of this is a subdivision that was approved many years ago.
Fawn Hill Road was stubbed to this property and stopped. Sewer was, water extended to the end
of that road. Two years ago in 2014 the Vistas at Bluff Creek, the development to the south of
this was approved and it was constructed in 2015. It extended the sewer line to the south edge of
this property as well as a water line. With the Vistas at Bluff Creek the development was zoned
Chanhassen Planning Commission – July 18, 2017
Residential Low and Medium Density which is the zoning that they’re requesting as part of that.
As part of that plat they originally showed a preliminary, a ghost plat for this area of how it
potentially could be developed. Again the rezoning is from Agricultural Estate District to
Residential Low and Medium Density. It’s a conditional use permit for development in the Bluff
Creek corridor and preliminary plat approval with a variance for a double fronting lots. The
existing home site will be on 2 local streets which is a variance from our requirements as well as
for a street grade in excess of 7 percent and this is just for the northern connection where Fawn
Hill ends on the north side. It exceeds, it’s at 10 percent right now and we need to match into
that when we get there so. Rezoning from Agricultural Estate to Residential Low and Medium
density. As part of the land use for residential low density permits up to there’s 4 different
zoning categories that could be appropriate for this. They’re requesting the RLM zoning which
is consistent with the zoning to the south. As part of that, the intent of that is to preserve large
areas of upland will be preserved or created as permanent open space and the western portion of
this site used to be some pasture land that is a perfect area to preserve and it’s consistent with
other types of development. Staff is recommending approval of the rezoning as part of this
project. Conditional use permit is for any development within the Bluff Creek Overlay District
corridor must receive a conditional use permit. The basic standards are that you have to maintain
a 40 foot structure setback from the primary zone boundary with the first 20 feet being a buffer.
And the second thing is that you preserve the Bluff Creek corridor. As part of this development
Outlot E represents the Bluff Creek primary zone and that land will be dedicated to the City as
part of the subdivision process. Again staff is recommending approval of the conditional use
permit subject to those conditions as well as some signage within the corridor. The proposed
subdivision creates 10 lots and 6 outlots. One of those lots contains the existing house on the site
and that’s on Lot 3, Block 2. The rest of them would be for new development. As part of this
project they will be dedicating the public right-of-way for Fawn Hill Road, that connection of the
two roads that are in place as well as Galpin Boulevard. They’re going to dedicate the 50 foot
right-of-way which would be the other half of the right-of-way within that corridor. Galpin
Boulevard in this area is a county road. All the proposed lots exceed the minimum requirement
under the RLM district. Additionally only one of the lots would be less than what would be
required if this was zoned single family residential. However this type of zoning allows a more
intensive use of the individual lot. We allow up to 35 percent lot coverage. However it has a
common open space that’s preserved that balances it all out and you still maintain the 25 percent
hard cover overall. All the lots comply with the RLM district regulations and staff is
recommending approval of that preliminary plat. Grading, drainage and erosion control plans
were submitted and reviewed. The one issue that came up during the process is in this southeast
corner of the project. There’s some drainage issues onto the Vistas at Bentz Farm and there’s a
condition in it that the applicant and the engineer work with the City to resolve that problem.
Otherwise grading is fairly standard. We did receive an email comment about the grading along
Galpin Boulevard. Removing all the mature trees that are there. Unfortunately because we
require them to extend the road and create acceptable building pads and provide positive
drainage away from the housing sites, they grade into that area and they’ll be removing the trees.
However they will be coming back and replacing that as part of a landscaping plan. Storm water
improvements. They will be extending the storm water pond that’s located to, in the southwest
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – July 18, 2017
part of the site. It’s actually on the Vistas on Bluff Creek. This is at Bentz Farm. They are
meeting the 1.1 inch of infiltration that was required on it, or at least that’s what they’re
specifying and so they comply with all the watershed regulations and City requirements. They
will provide storm water connection. There’s a pipe that ends here and they’ll bring it all the
way over to their storm water pond. Again sewer and water were available to this site. They
will complete the system, loop system for the water main by connecting it on the north and south
side and then the sanitary sewer comes downhill into the existing and end at just the north of
Bentz Court. On Friday we did finally receive the landscaping plan. Jill hasn’t been available to
review this for compliance with our ordinance but we have something now that we can comment
on and before we send it to City Council we will determine if it meets our standards. Again this
is an area that, this is the area that the trees are coming out. It looks like they’re doing a good
effort to replace them. Unfortunately they’re smaller trees than are there so. Staff is
recommending approval.
Aanenson: Excuse me Bob, can I just interrupt you? Can you go back and talk about the outlots
please?
Generous: Oh, yes as part of the subdivision they created these 4 outlots on the west side and
this one outlot here in this corner. Outlot F. The 4 on the west side are landlocked and they
don’t, the City ordinances preclude us from approving that. We have recommended that they
either be attached to Lots 1, or 3 and 4 of Block 1 and they, so run this common lot line all the
way down and they’d end on this end. Or come up with, they’d like to sell them to the
neighboring properties to the north but we need to have some type of agreement in place or
resolution to show that they’re not going to be landlocked properties. This is a condition of
approval. We say that we will not go to final plat approval until that’s resolved. Outlot F is a
remnant piece. We don’t permit that either so we recommend that that either be attached to Lot
6 or again they come up with the agreement with the Lot 4, Block 2 in the Vistas at Bentz Farm
development. And again that’s one of the conditions of approval for the preliminary plat that’s
in the staff report. So again, so we’re recommending approval of the rezoning to Residential
Low and Medium Density, the Conditional Use Permit for development within the Bluff Creek
corridor and preliminary plat approval with the variance for the double fronting lot for the
existing home site and for street grade in excess of 7 percent subject to the conditions in the staff
report and adoption of the Findings of Fact and Recommendation. With that I’d be happy to
answer any questions.
Aller: Does anybody have any questions at this point in time of staff? Commissioner Weick.
Weick: Two questions. One, it looked like you had talked about the existing home having a
double access but is the intention to connect that existing home to the Bentz Court and not have
it connect to Galpin?
Generous: Correct. We’re going to remove the access directly onto Galpin as part of the
subdivision.
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – July 18, 2017
Weick: Okay.
Generous: They would have one driveway which is permitted by our code. They cannot connect
to Fawn Hill Road unless they got rid of the other driveway or came in for a variance.
Weick: Oh, oh, that’s what that point is. Okay. And then. Oh, go ahead.
Generous: As part of the ghost plat they actually looked at creating two lots on the house site
and so if the house had gone away then they could have had frontage on both streets and no
variance.
Weick: Okay. And then when you showed the landscape were all those circles, are those new
trees?
Generous: Those were all new trees or shrubs or evergreens, yes.
Weick: Okay. And that would, just at first count does that cover? I know there was kind of a
shortage.
Generous: I believe there was 81 that were required as part of the development and that’s quite a
few.
Weick: Yeah, okay. Those were all my questions. Thank you.
Tietz: Mr. Chairman?
Aller: That number of trees that are required, they’re still part of the conditions?
Generous: Yes.
Aller: So even though it’s not shown on anything that’s before us tonight that would be a
condition to be verified prior to.
Generous: It going to.
Aller: It moving forward.
Generous: That’s correct.
Aller: Commissioner Tietz.
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – July 18, 2017
Tietz: Yeah Bob, regarding the drainage plan along Galpin and it’s unfortunate that all of those
pin oaks, that’s really a nice grove of pin oak. There’s I think 3 rows of pin oak that are
probably 12 to 16 inches in diameter and they’re absolutely spectacular in the fall. There’s no
way of getting that would save some of the replanting along there. There’s no way to make a
drainage plan work with at least saving a row closest to the right-of-way? And you don’t have to
answer that. I’m sure if you’ve worked on it but if there’s further consideration of that it would
be worth looking into because I hate to see 2 or 3 inch trees planted when we’ve got 16 inches
that are being cut out and they’re just magnificent.
Fauske: Commissioner Tietz we certainly can continue working with the developer and their
engineer to see if there’s some accommodations that could be met to meet both the drainage and
try to save some of those trees. We can continue working on that.
Tietz: Okay. Follow up question is on the drainage in that area and then out to the wetland.
With the Bentz Farm project, that was a significant corner problem and Bob you mentioned that.
I know even after construction that was reworked a couple times. I don’t know if the problem is
solved yet but if we’re going to add more lots in that area I think it will be beneficial to the
homeowner who buys one of those lots that this issue be satisfactorily resolved through
engineering and not just yeah, we can make it work.
Fauske: That’s certainly we’ll continue to work with the developer’s engineer on that.
Tietz: Yeah that’s a real problem corner. There’s a lot of drainage that comes across from, on
the east side of Galpin and when we get a 2 or 3 inch rain it just comes roaring through there so
that lot, that last lot in Bentz Farms has been prior to construction it’s been under water as
recently as last fall.
Fauske: And the developer’s engineer, if available this evening could perhaps better address but
as Bob’s showing here on this slide they do show picking up some of that drainage so that it
would be in a piped system versus over land so that will hopefully mitigate a lot of the.
Tietz: And then it should have volume capacity to handle whatever comes through there. Okay
thanks.
Fauske: Thank you.
Aller: Any additional questions at this time for staff? Seeing none if the applicant would like to
come forward and make a presentation that would be great. If you could state your name and
address and representational capacity.
Tom Bakritges: Good evening Mr. Chair, members of the commission, members of the audience
and staff. My name is Tom Bakritges with Homestead Partners, JMS Custom Homes. I’m the
Land Director for the company. Also in the audience I have Bob Molstad who is our project
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engineer and also principle of Sathre-Berquist. It’s been great working with staff on this project.
It’s been unique in a sense that it’s interesting that we’re back here again. I wasn’t here 20 some
years ago to the north but the owners of JMS Custom Homes developed the neighborhood to the
north, Forest Meadows and then they’re the same developers who did Vistas at Bentz Farms to
the south so the line inbetween we are finishing it off now so that’s an important thing to realize.
As we go through here I just wanted to make sure that you understand that when we’re looking at
this rezoning this plat does exceed the minimum density by 120 percent. There’s a lot of acreage
that we’re actually dedicating to the City and to the County for the road so just want to make
sure that of the 11.64 acres, half of that’s being dedicated to the entities. There are some things
that we want to still work with staff on the plans and that we will do but what one of the things
that we do need to discuss, and we’d like to have some opportunity to talk further with staff and
yourselves and with the council is the timing aspect and I don’t know if the camera’s on this
right now but the timing aspect of the outlots. And we believe even though this is upland we
know that nothing’s going to be actually developed in those areas. However we believe there’s
value to the adjacent homeowners to the north of Outlot A. To the north of Outlot B. Possibly to
the north of Outlot C or it goes to Lot 4 or Outlot D goes to Lot 3. There’s 6 or 7 different
scenarios here that we can work on that we just need some market time. To have it resolved by
the council meeting I’m not saying it’s going to be difficult. It’s going to be a challenge but to
have letters of intent or some documents of contracts might be difficult. I do know there are
some members of the audience that I spoke to Tim today, Hane on some interest of Outlot B and
there’s others that have some interest there but what we’re looking for is maybe an opportunity
as that we hold back on Lot 4 and don’t build on Lot 4 until we have these agreements in place.
That’s just one opportunity so we want to look at some options where give us some time to work
with the adjacent landowners. We’ll hold back a lot or two until we have some agreements with
those, if they’re interested. If not then we would work with the consumers of potentially Lot 4
and 3 to extend the lot line. We could extend the lot lines now. Work with the homeowners to
the north to do an administrative lot split in the future. That’s always an opportunity but I’d like
to try to do something ahead of time so we just need some time to work with staff and with
council on that issue. It’s not really an issue. It’s just a timing aspect of the market.
Aanenson: Can I just get clarification from the council. I think what we put in there is time of
final plat. If we don’t have those encumbered they become land locked. It’s against the city
ordinance so if we show something and there’s an intent to buy and the buyer backs out, we’ve
got a land locked piece of property. If you look at the grades there it’s, for us there’s no park
value because we can’t get to it and the like. It’s very steep so we’re just saying that we need to
see a good faith effort of how that’s going to be accommodated and final plat’s different than
getting preliminary plat so that still gives you some time before final plat so we just want to
make sure that it’s more than just an intent to buy and then the buyer backs out because our city
ordinance doesn’t allow a land locked piece of property. So I understand their desire to try to
sell those properties to adjoining properties. They may or may not be interested or change their
mind and it’s just, it’s not a good situation for both parties so we’re just hoping that we can get
that figured out before we get to final plat.
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Tom Bakritges: Yeah and our goal, just to let you know our timing is because now we’re
looking at the middle of July and our desire, if we can meet the scheduling with the staff to have
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the preliminary and final presented both on August 14. I’m not saying that’s going to happen
but that is the goal we want to do because we’d like to try to start some time in September and
have development done by the end of October. We do really want to connect the road to the,
Fawn Hill to the north and Fawn Hill to the south and get Bentz Court completed. That’s what
we’d like to do. That is, it’s an aggressive goal but that’s where the timing is right now in part of
the season. Primarily those were, first I want to apologize that we did not submit a landscaping
plan but we do have a landscape plan now that has all 81 trees that are required for the
development. We’ll work with staff and see if there’s a way we can work on the drainage and
save some trees along Galpin but Bob Molstad maybe has an idea or an opportunity to discuss
that with you. I think that’s primarily what the main topic we had was regarding the outlots.
Just giving us some time or some opportunity or something and we can work that out. Thank
you for your time. Miron Marcotte is here who we have the underlying contract with and if you
have any questions for me I’d be pleased to answer those for you but thank you for your time.
Aller: Any questions at this point in time? Commissioner Weick.
Weick: Is the, I know you mentioned that you also did the Vistas property as well. Is the
intention to continue that design?
Tom Bakritges: Yes.
Weick: With these homes so there’s a consistent kind of look.
Tom Bakritges: That is correct.
Weick: Okay.
Tom Bakritges: But the builder’s going to be JMS Custom Homes. We won’t sell off the lots.
It will be our product. It will be very consistent.
Weick: Okay. Great.
Aller: So I would just request that we follow up on some of those water issue questions and
maybe the engineer can come forward and answer those.
Tom Bakritges: Sure, absolutely.
Aller: That would be great.
Bob Molstad: Good evening, I’m Bob Molstad with Sathre-Berquist. We have looked at that
drainage. I know that is an issue coming down Galpin. We added a catch basin in the ditch there
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – July 18, 2017
and that will be hard piped so that should alleviate the water running down onto the Vistas lot.
Also that Vistas’ lot was held down for the home that’s being built there so I mean that increased
the problem last year because it was 3 foot lower than what the finished grade will be this year.
We’ve looked at that and we’ve made some revisions to it. Haven’t resubmitted that to the City
yet but those will be coming in shortly.
Aller: Great. Any additional questions at this point in time? Thank you. Okay we’ll open up the
public hearing portion of this item. At this time anyone that’s present would like to speak either
for or against the item before us can do so. Please come forward. State your name and address
for the record and give us your opinion.
Jeff Hagen: Good evening. I’m Jeff Hagen at 2319 Fawn Hill Court.
Aller: Welcome.
Jeff Hagen: I’m the guy that’s got the other white fences that hooks up with Miron’s. Pleasure
to address the Planning Commission tonight Mr. Chairman and staff. Good to see you Mr.
Undestad again. It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other. I think we go back to high
school if I remember right. You were one year above me or something, something like that
alright. We don’t see each other too often but we do know each other. So you know I’m
working off of these plans I guess I’ve got a number of questions but being the homeowner
directly to the north of Lot 4, I think the most primary question I’ve got really is, is that we do
have that walking trail just to the east of us and I know at times talking to the City that was
always intended to connect up over to the west end and just wondering what the plan is to do
with that trail and depending on if that goes you know behind my fences or behind my, or to the
south of my property line leads me to additional questions. Any idea on what we’re doing with
that trail?
Generous: We contacted the Parks and Rec Director and they have no intention of extending it
to the west. It was too steep back there for them so.
Jeff Hagen: Oh, okay.
Generous: It will stop there. We’ll have the sidewalk in Fawn Hill Road from the south end but
it will stop at the park.
Jeff Hagen: Okay, thank you. Well I’m not against the development at all. I mean everybody
has the right to develop their property and sell it and of course I’ve had, oh I don’t know 16-17
years something like that of incomparable views. It’s been amazing. Thank you for that time
and the prior owners of the property because there’s nothing better than sitting on my desk
looking at those horses in the morning and watching the sum come up and such so I understand
that that’s going to change and so be it. That’s just great. So that leads me to just the normal
concerns that I have of course is how do the lot lines match up. You know there’s a pretty good
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – July 18, 2017
grade right there that drops down into the pasture and then it levels off. You know I’m against
retaining walls or I don’t like retaining walls and that and so my concerns are there and if there’s
going to be any buffer that you may or may not be putting in on the property line or along my
fence line and such and of course I don’t remember how close my fence line is to the property
line. It was approved by the City of course but I think it’s right there and concerns, you know
are you going to disrupt it or anything like that you know and any concerns on my fence and
those all can be answered tonight or at any time that you’d like to.
Aller: Thank you.
Jeff Hagen: Thank you.
Aller: So hold off of anyone else coming forward and maybe we can get an answer to those
questions as we can tonight and if we need to get more information we can do that.
Fauske: Chairman Aller, thank you for the opportunity to address that question. As part of the
requirements of subdivisions we require all grading to take place on the property. Any proposed
grading off the site they would have to get the necessary permissions. In this instance the
developer is not proposing to do any grading off site. The grading would cease at their property
line and therefore should not have any issues and impact to Mr. Hagen’s fence.
Aller: Great, thank you. And now any additional individuals in the audience who would like to
come forward and speak either for or against the item before us can do so at this time. Welcome
sir. If you could state your name and address for the record that’d be great.
Tim Hane: Yes Mr. Chairman, members of staff. My name is Tim Hane. I live at 2345 Fawn
Hill Court. I’m the property owner immediately north of Outlot B for reference, if that would
help. The one question I had was similar to my neighbor Jeff Hagen was around the extension of
the property line from, or the trail across down through here. I understand that it is a bit steep
but I would disagree with them in that consistent with other trails that already exist off Moccasin
and Vasserman Ridge there are rather steep trails in existence already. That one would likely
could extend down the street or sidewalk before it connected across possibly between, some sort
of easement off Lot 2 on the south side of that. That’s something to consider. Something that’s
to look at if we did indeed want to continue this trail all the way across from the back side of
Vasserman and Moccasin back over to this side because there are quite a few people that already
use this trail in this direction. Along with that it was more of a question and is that, has there
ever been any sort of assessment of the traffic flow that will likely now be altered through that
direction and extend through as sort of a shortcut if you will into past Hunter on the north side of
Fawn Hill Road. There are a number of small children. Some infants are going to be learning to
ride their bikes in the next few years that live right there in addition to some other small children
that live close by and we’d want to see some sort of potential speed controls. Speed bump.
Something that would at least potentially address that or look into that question. It would
certainly ease some of the minds in the neighborhood there. Thank you for your time.
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – July 18, 2017
Fauske: Thank you Chairman Aller.
Aller: Enlighten us.
Fauske: Regarding the traffic flow and cut through traffic, this is a local street connection. Staff
doesn’t anticipate any cut through. As you can see the existing curves of Fawn Hill Road, both
north and south, the existing portions have some horizontal curves to them and that’s to get the
speeds down and discourage cut through traffic and the sort so we don’t, specific to the question
no we did not analyze for traffic as our experience has been in these situations that we don’t
typically see any cut through traffic. And again with regards to speeds the street design is for 30
miles an hour. We do have some horizontal curves in there. We do not install speed bumps as a
practice here in Chanhassen. We do work with communities if they start to see a speeding issue
to get some education component out to the neighborhood. To get that out there so that people
are aware of what the speeds are and that’s what we would anticipate doing here if a situation
arose.
Aller: Thank you. Any other individuals wishing to come forward to speak either for or against
the item? Seeing no one come forward I’m going to close the public hearing. Open up the
discussion amongst commissioners. Any comments, questions, concerns or motions?
Commissioner Madsen.
Madsen: I’m not sure I heard correctly but I just want to verify. Is the builder of these homes
the same builder as the homes to the north and/or the south for the consistency? I thought I
heard that was addressed but I didn’t quite hear the whole response.
Tom Bakritges: Mr. Chair and Commissioner Nancy. JMS Custom Homes has been around for
33 years. Primarily building in the southwest, west suburbs, Edina, etcetera. Our homes are
very consistent to the homes that we sold to Paul Donnay. The lots we sold to Paul Donnay and
to Gonyea Homes. The builder to the north was also JMS Custom Homes but I wasn’t around so
I don’t know if that was all their product or if they sold some of that off to other builders. But
very consistent in the neighborhood.
Madsen: Okay, thank you for that clarification.
Aller: Thank you. Commissioner Tietz.
Tietz: Yeah Kate about those outlots. If they’re not sold to adjacent property owners or future
property owners could they in fact be, and they would be land locked is it possible that they
could then be dedicated to the City just an extension of the other dedicated wetland area?
Aanenson: Yeah that was one thing we talked about. The Park Director wasn’t interested in
pursuing, nor was the City Forester in the fact that it’s very, pretty steep and I think that’s one of
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – July 18, 2017
the reasons they looked at the trail. Certainly we can revisit that issue regarding the trail but we
would, in speaking with the City Attorney would be very uncomfortable going to final plat
without this resolved so I’m not sure how we can get that resolved and say we’re going to figure
it out and then have land locked pieces of property, because we’ve had that happen during a
period of time when the economy turned and people purchased lots and not attached it and then
maybe they lost their home and they had two different PID’s and someone tried to buy a lot that
there was no access to. It’s just not good practice and so we’d have to solve this beforehand. A
purchase agreement wouldn’t be enough to resolve this situation but we can revisit the park, the
trail issue I think but again with the steep slopes if you look at, if you go to that slide and how
that it’s, I think the City Forester’s response would be, it’d be difficult to maintain that part of it
so we’d really like it to be in someone else’s ownership but we can certainly visit that and take
the advice of the council too. Looking for your recommendation and pass that onto the City
Council. We’ve given you our’s.
Tietz: Okay, thanks Kate.
Aller: My understanding is that they’re not foreclosed from doing any of the options that were
discussed.
Aanenson: That’s correct.
Aller: Based on the timing including just not moving forward if it doesn’t work for them.
Aanenson: Well but what they’re saying is they’d like to do preliminary and final plat at the City
Council. Well that, you have to have all those issues resolved because there’s no way then to
preclude a land lock. If someone in, that lives to the north says I’m not interested in buying it
then it just becomes you know by right of use vacant land and then ultimately becomes the City’s
property so we’d like to have that, the City doesn’t have that desire to own it. We should resolve
that. If that makes sense. We would get it by default.
Aller: Any other questions or comments?
Weick: Chairman Aller does that affect any of the decisions that we’re making this evening
though? Because they have until final plat.
Aller: Well and that’s what I’m getting to is I wanted to just confirm that they’re not precluded
by anything we’re doing.
Weick: Okay.
Aanenson: That’s correct.
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Aller: So it’s really an applicant that’s coming forward to promote their own interests and I’m
thinking that it’s best to leave them to their own negotiation and devices and decision making as
to whether or not it’s good for them to hold off on the lots. To transfer property. To pay more.
Pay less. Those are things that we probably shouldn’t control and especially when we’re
impacting the decision which would impact other individuals when they come forward later on
that we’re going to get into the negotiation process for developers on a case by case basis every
time somebody comes forward. Instead of saying this issue should be resolved before it comes
forward.
Weick: Okay.
Aller: Any other comments? Other than I think it’s a great project. I’d like to see it go forward.
I too would love to have seen those, and from what I’m hearing there’s still some potential that
some of those trees could stick around depending upon the ability to create a situation where that
could happen so I’m encouraged by that. I’d also love to see, and it all depends on what can be
worked out with the trail that we actually look at, go ahead and take a look at that again but I’ll
stick with Park and Rec’s and their decision on whether or not that’s beneficial to continue that
trail knowing that in the past it’s always been our custom and practice to look to try to connect as
many trails as possible for the continuity and flow. Any other comments? Would anybody like
to make a motion?
Undestad: Sure.
Aller: Commissioner Undestad.
Undestad: The Chanhassen Planning Commission recommends the City Council approve the
RLM rezoning, the Conditional Use Permit and Preliminary Plat approval with a variance for the
double fronting lot and the street grade greater than 7 percent, subject to the conditions of
approval and adopts the Findings of Fact and Recommendation.
Aller: I have a motion. Do I have a second?
Madsen: Second.
Aller: Having a motion and a second, any further discussion?
Undestad moved, Madsen seconded that the Chanhassen Planning Commission
recommends the City Council approve rezoning of the property from Agricultural Estate
(A2) to Residential-Low and Medium Density (RLM); a Conditional Use Permit to permit
development within the Bluff Creek Corridor; and Preliminary Plat approval for 10 lots, 6
outlots and public right-of-way with Variances for a double fronted lot for a single family
detached subdivision and a roadway slope in excess of 7 percent, subject to the following
conditions, and adopts the Findings of Fact and Recommendation:
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – July 18, 2017
Conditional Use Permit:
1. Outlot E, encompassing the large wetland area, shall be dedicated to the City.
2. The developer shall install signage at lot lines corner and at the change in angle along the
west portion of Lots 2, 3 and 4, Block 1 to demarcate the Bluff Creek Primary Zone.
Subdivision with Variances:
Building:
1. Provide a 1:200 “clean” plat drawing.
2. Demolition permits required for the removal of any existing structures.
3. Proposed street-name (Fawn Hill Road) is acceptable to the Building Official.
4. Buildings may be required to be designed by an architect and/or engineer as determined
by the Building Official.
5. A final grading plan and soils report must be submitted to the Inspections Division before
permits can be issued.
6. Retaining walls over four feet high require a permit and must be designed by a
professional engineer.
7. Each lot must be provided with separate sewer and water services.
8. The applicant and/or their agent shall meet with the Inspections Division as early as
possible to discuss plan review and permit procedures.
Engineering:
1. The plat shall be modified to dedicate drainage and utility easements over the pipe from
CBMH 2 to CBMH 12 to FES 13 and CBMH 14 to CBMH 7. The easements shall be
sized to allow future excavation for a ratio of 1:1 (min) or 1:1.5 (preferred).
2. The developer will work with the city to resolve the drainage at the southeast corner of
the proposed development and the northeast corner of Vistas at Bentz Farms.
3. The applicant shall submit a soils report indicating soil conditions, permeability and
slope.
4. The benchmark location and elevation used for surveying shall be indicated on the
grading plan.
5. Proposed spot elevations shall be shown on the grading plan at the center of the proposed
driveway at the curbline and at corners of proposed building pads.
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – July 18, 2017
6. The plan shall be revised so that Note 10.A on the grading plan reads that disturbed areas
will be restored with 6” of topsoil.
7. To provide draintile service where runoff will flow from the back to the front of lots, the
plan shall be revised to include draintile between Lots 3 and 4 of Block 2.
8. Lot 4, Block 1 and Lot 4 Block 2 grading plans shall be revised to grade away from the
building pads.
9. The proposed development will exceed one (1) acre of disturbance and will, therefore, be
subject to the General Permit Authorization to Discharge Stormwater Associated with
Construction Activity Under the National Pollution Discharge Elimination/State Disposal
System (NPDES Construction Permit).
10. The applicant shall submit the full SWPPP document to the city for review prior to
grading on site.
11. The plans shall identify the areas intended for stockpiling materials on site during
construction.
12. The applicant shall meet the minimum requirements for stormwater set forth in City
Code §9-VII and requirements of the Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District.
13. The applicant must obtain a permit from RPBCWD prior to final plat recording.
14. The SWMP Fee is $58,915.20. The SWMP Credit given for meeting the 1.1” volume
abstraction is $29,457.60. The applicant must still verify that the 1.1” abstraction is met
for the site. The net SWMP Fee due at the time of final plat of is $29,457.60.
15. Both walls shall be moved outside the perimeter drainage and utility easements that will
be dedicated with this plat.
16. The existing retaining wall at the temporary turnaround constructed as part of Vistas at
Bentz Farms shall be removed.
17. The Fawn Hill plan set proposes a 10.25% slope, but the developer’s engineer shall revise
the plan to achieve the 10.0% slope per the Forest Meadow as-built plans and the Vistas
at Bentz Farms ghost plat of this parcel.
18. Fawn Hill Road and Bentz Court shall be public streets, owned and maintained by the
city after acceptance of the public improvements by the City Council.
19. The street plan shall be revised to callout right-of-way widths and centerline gradients.
20. A street light shall be installed at the intersection of Fawn Hill Road and Bentz Court. A
$300 fee shall be collected with the development contract for electricity costs for the first
year of operation.
21. All proposed driveways shall follow the city setback requirements of 10 feet from the
property line. The driveways for Lots 2-4 of Block 1 and 3-5 of Block 2 shall be revised
to meet the setback.
22. ADA compliant pedestrian ramps shall be installed at the intersection of Bentz Court and
Fawn Hill Road and at the entrance to Sugarbush Park.
23. Sanitary sewer shall be owned and maintained by the city after acceptance of the public
improvements by the City Council.
24. The existing home on Lot 3, Block 2 shall be connected to the proposed sewer system
and the existing mound system shall be removed prior to the acceptance of the public
sanitary sewer.
25. Water main shall be owned and maintained by the city after acceptance of the public
improvements by the City Council.
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – July 18, 2017
26. The existing home on Lot 3, Block 2 shall be connected to the proposed water system
prior to the acceptance of the public water main.
27. Storm sewer installed with this subdivision shall be owned and maintained by the city
after acceptance of the public improvements by the City Council.
28. The grading proposed will route some of the Galpin Boulevard ditch runoff as overland,
sheet flow to a pick-up catchbasin located on Lot 5, Block 2. The plan shall be revised to
include a pick-up catchbasin within the right-of-way rather than routing the stormwater
onto the residential lot.
29. The plan shall be revised to locate CBMH 4 outside of the driveway area for Lot 1,
Block1.
30. The plan shall be revised to include CBMH 14 in the structure table on plan page 4.
31. The plan shall be revised to show velocities on the FES table on plan page 4. All FES
pipe shall have non-erosive velocities (3.5-5.0 feet per second).
32. The plan shall be revised to remove the environmental sumps from CBMH 7 and
installed on CBMH 3 and 6. This CBMH are preferred because they are downstream to
catch more debris and are on the street for easier future maintenance access.
33. The plan shall be revised to show the entire storm pond that the development is using for
stormwater management.
34. To avoid having stormsewer pipe in backyard easements, staff recommends routing the
stormwater system down Bentz Court and up Fawn Hill Road rather than between Lots 1
and 2 of Block 2.
35. The storm crossing elevation at Station 1+25 shall be corrected.
36. The plan shall be revised to increase the pipe slope to FES 13 to 1.00% or greater per the
MN Stormwater Manual to prevent ice damage to the pipe.
37. The plan shall be revised to use 15” RCP as the minimum stormwater pipe size for future
maintenance access.
38. Water and sewer partial hook-ups are due at the time of final plat. For 10 units, the
sanitary partial fee is $6,910.00 and the water partial fee is $21,470.00. The remaining
hook-up fees will be due with the building permit at the rate in effect at that time.
Natural Resources:
1. The minimum number of overstory trees required to be planted in the development is 81.
2. Tree preservation fencing shall be installed around existing trees to be saved prior to any
construction activities and remain installed until completion.
3. The applicant shall install the required bufferyard plantings along Galpin Blvd.
Parks:
1. Full park fees in lieu of additional parkland dedication and/or trail construction shall be
collected as a condition of approval for Fawn Hill.
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – July 18, 2017
Planning:
1. The applicant shall resolve the issues with Outlots A, B, C, D and F prior to final plat
approval.
2. Outlot E, encompassing the large wetland area, shall be dedicated to the city.
3. The developer shall install signage at lot lines corner and at the change in angle along the
west portion of Lots 2, 3 and 4, Block 1 to demarcate the Bluff Creek Primary Zone.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 6 to 0.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Commissioner Randall noted the verbatim and summary
Minutes of the Planning Commission meeting dated June 20, 2017 as presented.
COMMISSION PRESENTATIONS. None.
ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS.
Aller: So City Council action update please.
Aanenson: A long meeting at the City Council. The City Council took the action on the three
items that you took and had a long meeting on, Avienda, Venue and Aldi.
Aller: Can we go ahead and get that door closed please, thank you.
Aanenson: Yeah. So Avienda was approved. That was the last item on the agenda that night
and that was approved unanimously. Venue/Aldi was also approved and West Park was also
approved. West Park is actually going for final plat approval on Monday night so they were
actually kind of dual tracking those and had all the plans in ahead of time before Planning
Commission making those changes so they’re ready to get going on that. One of the other things
we learned, Stephanie who was in and has left, we did get the right-of-way vacated so that won’t
hold up that plat because they’ll get that right-of-way at 101 vacated and that will be at an
upcoming City Council meeting. Maybe in 2 or 4 weeks and then they’ll add that
administratively to the plat so it won’t hold up the final plat so, so that’s good. We’re getting
that back to the developer so that was one of the issues that we looked at on that and then also, so
the drainage and utility easement was vacated but then we’ll also do that in a separate action
without holding up the plat on West Park so they’re ready to get rolling out there with all their
approvals. I did want to talk about future Planning Commission meetings.
Aller: Okay.
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – July 18, 2017
st
Aanenson: So we do have a meeting on August 1, which is National Night Out. Right now
where people are feverishly trying to get projects in the ground and getting approval so on
st
August 1 we do have the Natural Resources section of the plan and then also we’ve got
Bongards will be before you with an addition to their building. 7,000. Just over 7,000 square
feet so they bought that property last year. Did some minor changes to it to kind of hold them
over through the winter and now they’re ready to go forward with their addition so again to get
their approvals and get in in a timely period we are accommodating that. So that’s what we’ve
th
got upcoming besides our tour which is set for August 8. That agenda is put together so we’ll
be doing that with the Park Commission, the Senior Commission and then the Environmental
Commission so I’ll send that agenda out. Be starting here at 5:45 and try to get back here by
7:45 and kind of have some social time. Kind of talk about what we saw but we’re going to go
by water treatment. We’re going to go down to Fox Woods, thank you. Yeah look at that. That
passive trail that’s down there. Look at that lot. Those subdivision lots. Trying to think of, I
mentioned the water treatment plant. I think we’ll go through the downtown area again and kind
of look at some of the projects that we saw last year. See how they’re working. Avienda, we’ve
talked about how they’re using the pervious pavement on a lot of that to manage their storm
water so we’re going to kind of go back and look at Chick-fil-A. How they’ve got their’s in.
That’s another system in place and looking at that. That’s all I can remember off the top of my
head but so I think it will be a good tour. I’ll send out the agenda and then let me know if you
are able to attend. So that’s what we have right now for upcoming items and that’s all I had
Chairman.
Aller: Great and thank you. And then Alyson this is your last meeting.
Fauske: Yes it is. I saved the best for last.
Aller: There you go.
Fauske: And I specifically chose my last day of work here based on the meeting and being able
to present to you the sewer and water comp plan so.
Aller: Well we certainly appreciate it and on behalf of myself and I believe everybody else on
the commission I want to thank you for all the assistance you’ve given us over the years and
turning the language of engineers into common English so we can understand just what we’re
looking at up here and good luck. We appreciate you.
Fauske: Thank you. It’s been a pleasure working with the commission.
Aller: Alright, so at this point in time we’re going to adjourn so the public knows what we’re
doing. We’re going to have an open discussion on the 2040 Comprehensive Plan and we will be
discussing Housing, Land Use, along with several use requests. The Water segment, the Sewer
segment and the Park and Rec’s segments for the 2040 Comprehensive Plan so at this point in
time I’ll entertain a motion to adjourn.
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – July 18, 2017
Madsen moved to adjourn the Planning Commission meeting. All voted in favor and the
motion carried unanimously with a vote of 6 to 0. The Planning Commission meeting was
adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
Submitted by Kate Aanenson
Community Development Director
Prepared by Nann Opheim
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