2019 06 04-pc
CHAHASSEN PLANNING COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
JUNE 4, 2019
Chairman Weick called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Steve Weick, Mark Undestad, John Tietz, and Doug Reeder
MEMBERS ABSENT: Mark Randall, Michael McGonagill, and Laura Skistad
STAFF PRESENT: Kate Aanenson, Community Development Director; and Bob Generous,
Senior Planner
PUBLIC PRESENT:
Katrina Fiihr BDH & Young
Jeff Gears BDH & Young
Mike LaQua Bauer Deign Build
PUBLIC HEARING:
CONSIDER A SITE PLAN REVIEW FOR DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE BLUFF
CREEK CORRIDOR FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT 8077 CENTURY BOULEVARD
AND ZONED PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (PUD).
Generous: Thank you Chairman Weick, commissioners. As you stated this is a site plan review.
Control Concepts has approximately a 54,000 square foot office/warehouse manufacturing
building that they’re proposing within the Arboretum Business Park which is the property is
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located at 8077 Century Boulevard. That’s Lot 2, Block 1, Arboretum Business Park 7
Addition. It’s just on the east side of Century Boulevard just south of Water Tower Place at that
intersection. The property to the east of it and to the north of it is part of the Bluff Creek primary
zone. As part of this development we will be preserving that area. Again this is site plan review
for two story, 54,276 square foot office/warehouse manufacturing building. Previously, last year
they came in for a two tenant building and they’ve revised their plans and come in with a slightly
smaller building. Now there’s only going one tenant in this building. The property is guided in
the Comprehensive Plan for office industrial uses. It’s zoned planned unit development (PUD)
for the Arboretum Business Park so it has it’s own design standards. Office manufacturing and
warehouse uses are permitted in the PUD district. Again the site plan, the site is approximately 5
acres in size. This development will have 48 percent coverage on the property. The balance will
be open space, green space or other open spaces. As part of this project a trail connection to the
Bluff Creek, there’s a wetland trail that goes around the approximately 100 acres of open space
that’s in to the east of this site. This is the last segment. There is a small retaining wall as a part
of this project. Previously they had a 17 foot tall one. Now they’re down to 4 foot tall one so
they shifted the building farther south and reduced it’s expansion to the east. Building
Chanhassen Planning Commission – June 4, 2019
schematics. This is a, how it would appear from Century Boulevard. Two story building. The
main entrance is on the left side of the northwest corner of the building. Building materials
consists of exposed aggregate, concrete panels. The top part is exposed aggregate. The bottom
part would be racked finish and then there’s darker portions of the building that are sand blasted
finish so it helps to give it a little bit of articulation and artistic value so. Again two levels of
offices on the western third of the building approximately will be two story. The rest of it is a
one story structure. The north elevation of the building was something that we were a little
concerned about. The original presentation had a long wall that was broken up by a lot of
architectural detailing. The bottom portion of this shows that they’re adding another area of sand
blasted concrete panels so it will get a darker color out of that and also they’ve combined
groupings of windows up for overstory windows in the warehouse portion of the building. We
believe that this change in the elevation has improved it’s aesthetic value. The dark gray, the
light gray and the medium gray plus the red highlight at the entrance and then if you add in the
landscaping will provide an opportunity to have a pleasing industrial building so again the, like I
said the western portion of the building has office space in it and meeting areas and break rooms
and then the northern part of the eastern side of the building is warehouse space and the southern
part is the manufacturing area. At present the second floor office area is just an open space and
they’re going to use it for storage until they need to expand their offices. As part of the site
again the grading for the trail system into the City’s wetland trail and then they’ve reduced the
grading on the site. There’s a reduction in the amount of retaining walls that will be required on
this development. They’re proposing two access off of Century Boulevard, the northerly one and
the southerly one. This, well it disappeared. This will be a 16 foot drive aisle so it will be for
emergency access and for truck access out of the site. Primary entrance will be in the northwest
corner of the development. Parking is located on both the west, north and there’s a few parking
spots on the east side of the building. The truck docks are located on the east side of the building
so they’ll be screened from public view on Century Boulevard. There’s not a whole lot of issues
in the grading from an engineering standpoint. Landscaping plan, they’re slightly deficit in the
amount of landscaping in this north buffer yard. They’ve been working with the City Forester to
do improvements and so I don’t believe that will be an issue. Again the grading of the grade will
be, create a nice contrast in the building outlay. I should point out that in the southwest corner of
the building they have a patio area for their employees and then again the trail connection.
Access out on the, pedestrian access out onto Century Boulevard and from the main entrance of
the building. Sewer and water services are available in Century Boulevard. They’ll be brought
into the southern part of the building so no problems with that. Storm sewer improvements,
they’re using an underground system for infiltration purposes and for pre-treatment. It
discharges out to the City owns this outlot up on the north side. There is one condition in there
that they look at the discharge point in there and evaluate how that will impact our outlot and the
stormwater. There’s two issues involved with that. Is there sufficient capacity in the existing
stormwater pond for the water that’s coming in and will the discharge from the pipe create a
channelized system and so we want them to evaluate that prior to beginning construction. And
then they have another drain system, underground drain system that connects up to the front and
again it all discharges up to the north. Like I stated before 48 percent of the site will be covered
with hard surface and the balance would be some green area so generally in industrial
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – June 4, 2019
developments you have a 70 percent coverage so they’re doing very well. And again the
engineering wanted me to put this in. Right now water sheet drains across this property so all the
water that’s coming off this site goes over a large area into the wetland. Into the natural area.
There’s some wetland out there and then the City’s stormwater pond. This is a pond we would
need to have evaluated to make sure that it’s sized correctly to accommodate their development.
And then one other thing that the engineering staff has requested the applicant determine is
there’s a slight offset where the entrance is from Water Tower Place and they want a traffic
engineer to look at it to make sure that traffic movement is efficient and safe for everyone so we,
it’s one of the condition number 1 under the engineering design. With that staff is
recommending approval of the site plan 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.
Weick: Jump in if you have any questions. Anybody? From the presentation. No? Nothing.
With nothing we would invite the applicant or developer to have the opportunity to give a
presentation. Welcome.
Applicant’s Representative: Good evening commissioners. Thanks for your time this evening.
Bob thank you for your presentation. I don’t know if we have a lot more to add. I think Bob did
a very good job of going through there and explaining the design that we’ve proposed here. One
thing I would mention, and you may have said it and I just maybe didn’t catch it is in the revised
elevation that we did submit one of the things we did is we did a little bit of articulation with the
parapet height just to add some visual interest. So I think that would be the only other thing that
I might add. Oh they’re putting it up there. There it is. So being that it’s a warehouse use we
had some limitations in terms of what the actual function is going on the inside and how else we
could achieve articulation so through color choice and creating vertical elements and extending
the parapet and reorienting the windows we were hoping that we’re achieving some articulation.
That’s all I have.
Weick: Thank you. Any questions of the applicant? Wow.
Tietz: How much did you, I know Bob mentioned and I didn’t look back at the old presentation.
What’s the footprint and how much did you reduce the footprint of the building?
Applicant’s Representative: Do you remember that number offhand. I think it was.
Audience: I think it was only about, I think maybe 5,000 square feet on the actual footprint of
the building. But the location of the building and how the parking lot was structured the.
Aanenson: Maybe you can come up to the microphone.
Audience: Yeah so the location of the two tenant building it made it really, really difficult to
achieve you cost effective structure to deal with the 20 foot retaining wall. It just wasn’t
working so we went back to the drawing board. Made it a single tenant. Moved where the
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – June 4, 2019
loading docks were. You know changed the parking lot to a fire lane. Skeech the building south
as much as we could and that really reduced everything. Just everything just kind of worked out
better so we’re excited about it.
Tietz: Yeah it looks a lot better. Hope it works for you guys.
Audience: So thank you.
Weick: Thank you. At this time we would open the public hearing portion of this item. If
anyone would like to come forward please do so. Seeing nobody come forward I will close the
public hearing and open for commissioner discussion. Sounds like there isn’t much.
Undestad: Like everybody said it’s a much better layout for engineering and it looks like they’re
going to get what they want out of the building so I think it looks nice.
Weick: Yeah.
Tietz: Yeah agree, no problems.
Weick: I mean you had concerns John about just the path right and the retaining wall.
Tietz: …precedent with that huge retaining wall and the path was like here and all the snow was
going to come down on top of the path and you know parks got their, a much better path
connection and there’s a modest retaining wall so there’s some savings there which I’m sure in
construction so yeah it looks like a good use finally of that site.
Weick: Perfect. We could certainly entertain a motion if there’s no other discussion.
Undestad: I’ll make a motion. The Chanhassen Planning Commission recommends approval of
the site plan for a 54,276 square foot two story office/warehouse manufacturing building subject
to the conditions of approval and adopting of the Findings of Fact and Recommendation.
Weick: We have a valid motion. Do we have a second?
Tietz: I’ll second.
Weick: Second from Commissioner Tietz. Any further discussion on the item?
Undestad moved, Tietz seconded that the Planning Commission recommends approval of
the site plan for a 54,276 square-foot, two-story office, warehouse and manufacturing
building, plans prepared by Loucks and BDH & Young, dated 05-03-2019, subject to the
following conditions and adoption of the Findings of Fact and Recommendation:
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – June 4, 2019
Building
1. The building is required to have automatic fire extinguishing systems.
2. Building plans must be prepared and signed by design professionals licensed in the State
of Minnesota.
3. Building plans must include a code analysis that contains the following information: Key
Plan, Occupancy group, Type of construction, Allowable height and area, Fire sprinklers,
Separated or non-separated, Fire resistive elements (Ext walls, Bearing walls - exterior or
interior, Shaft, Incidental use), Occupant load, Exits required (Common path, Travel
distance), Minimum plumbing fixture count.
4. Detailed occupancy-related requirements will be addressed when complete building plans
are submitted.
5. Structure proximity to property lines (and other buildings) will have an impact on the
code requirements for the proposed building, including but not limited to: allowable size,
protected openings and fire-resistive construction. These requirements will be addressed
when complete building and site plans are submitted.
6. Retaining walls (if present) more than four feet high must be designed by a professional
engineer and a building permit must be obtained prior to construction.
Engineering and Water Resources
1. The applicant shall provide a traffic memo, prepared by a licensed traffic engineer,
evaluating conflicting driving movements with Water Tower Place and the northern
driveway access
2. Vacate drainage and utility easements except the standard 10-foot wide easement
associated with the front of the parcel in addition to the standard 5-foot wide easement
associated with the side and rear portions of the parcel.
3. The wetland, wetland buffer, and the Bluff Creek Overlay District on the site shall be
preserved and protected in perpetuity. Staff recommends that the developer dedicate
those areas to the city to ensure conservation of these critical areas.
4. Provide a permanent 20’ easement over the trail throughout the parcel.
5. The applicant shall remove all existing fence located on the east side of the property.
6. Apply for an Encroachment Agreement for the private sidewalk.
7. Provide top of wall and bottom of wall elevations for entire retaining wall build, which
includes retaining wall built below grade, i.e. bottom of wall.
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – June 4, 2019
8. Replace any striping removed in Century Boulevard.
9. All striping and signage shall meet the requirements of the MN-MUTCD manual.
10. Indicate lineal (running) slope design for the trail. Trail slopes shall meet ADA
requirements.
11. Staff recommends the installation of a gate valve downstream of the trench drain to
isolate possible hazardous material from entering the storm system. The operation and
maintenance plan for the storm system should include the procedure for this isolation
protocol.
12. Salvage existing topsoil and indicate stockpile location.
13. Water main fittings shall be epoxy coated.
14. Core drill to existing sanitary sewer main will require the installation of a boot at
connection.
15. As the developer will be required to remove all material surrounding the existing public
sanitary sewer manhole that is being proposed for connection, Public Works will inspect
and determine if repair or rehabilitation of the manhole is required (e.g. rebuilding
chimney, installing I/I barrier, etc.).
16. Appropriate city permits for construction within the public right-of-way shall be obtained
prior to construction. Work within city streets requires a traffic control plan.
17. A preconstruction meeting with Public Works and Engineering shall be scheduled by the
contractor prior to working within the public right-of-way and the connection to any
public utilities.
18. Identify stockpile locations on plan.
19. All call-outs on construction plans that reference a detail shall be updated to incorporate
the sheet the detail is illustrated on and the detail number referenced for construction.
20. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure and submit proof that permits are received
from all other agencies with jurisdiction over the project (i.e. Army Corps of Engineers,
DNR, MnDOT, Carver County, RPBCWD, Board of Water and Soil Resources, PCA,
etc.).
21. A SWPPP shall be submitted for review that meets the conditions of the NPDES
Construction Permit
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – June 4, 2019
22. Provide design details for the stormwater management systems and associated hydrology
models.
23. The applicant shall assess alternatives to conveying stormwater system discharge on and
across City property that will not cause erosion or degradation.
24. The applicant shall demonstrate through modeling that the receiving municipal
stormwater system has adequate capacity to accept the increased drainage volume.
25. Provide a planting and revegetation plan specific for grading within the bluff impact zone
and the wetland buffer.
26. Provide boring locations on grading and stormwater utility plan sheets.
Environmental Resources
1. The applicant shall revise the landscape plan to meet minimum requirements for the north
bufferyard. Plantings shall be located between trail and parking lot.
2. The applicant shall protect existing trees to be preserved along Century Boulevard. Tree
protection fencing shall be placed at the dripline or greater distance prior to any
construction activities and maintained until construction is complete. Any trees that die
will be required to be replaced.
3. The trail alignment within the Bluff Creek Overlay District shall be field inspected and
approved by the city prior to any removals and construction activity. No live, significant
oak trees shall be removed for trail construction.
Fire
1. There is only one hydrant on the property. Several are needed to meet minimum spacing
requirements per MN Fire Code.
Parks
1. The developer shall be responsible for planning, engineering, and constructing the
“wetland trail.” Connection points for this new trail shall be the terminus of the Trotters
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Ridge trail, the intersection of Century Boulevard and West 82 Street, and the
intersection of Century Boulevard and Water Tower Place. Bid documents, including
plans and specifications, shall be approved by the Park & Recreation Director and City
Engineer prior to soliciting bids. Project bidding shall occur in a competitive
environment with a minimum of three bids being received. The results of the bidding
process shall be reviewed with the Park & Recreation Director and City Engineer prior to
award. Cash payment for trail construction shall be made from the City of Chanhassen to
the developer upon completion, inspection, and acceptance of the trail.
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2. Trail easements within Lot 2, Block 1, Arboretum Business Park 7 shall be dedicated to
the city to accommodate the “wetland trail”.
Planning
1. The applicant shall enter into a site plan agreement and provide the security required by it
prior to receiving a building permit.
2. A separate sign permit application, review and approval shall be required prior to site
sign installation.
3. The building needs additional articulation to break up long expansions of wall area on the
north side of the building.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0.
Weick: Thank you Bob.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Commissioner Undestad noted the verbatim and summary
Minutes of the Planning Commission meeting dated May 21, 2019 as presented.
COMMISSION PRESENTATIONS. None.
ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS.
Weick: Kate.
Aanenson: Yes just give you a couple council updates. The one thing that we put in here is
there is a, Solomon Real Estate Group has been working on the Applebee’s site. They bought
that piece of property and they had restrictions on it. There was when that project went in, where
the Walgreen’s was there was a bank so there was a condition put across, there were 4 properties
there. Or actually, yeah 4. The tire store, the Chipotle and Buffalo Wild Wings and then
Applebee’s and then the bank. They all had a common interest in parking and access and so
there was restriction on there for no additional banks even though the bank had left, that
restriction still lies in place so Solomon went to the City Council and said can we have that
restriction removed. They were interested in doing a bank and then the council asked them to
give hard consideration to doing a restaurant so they’ve been working on trying to land a
restaurant. They’ve got an end user in mind but based on some of the parking things, how
Applebee’s operated and then the restaurant they would like to put there, they want additional
parking and in order to accommodate that would have to be across the street. So we’ve been
working with them. The staff. Their engineer. Our engineer working on looking at a site plan
there for additional parking. I’m not sure that would come to you. It’d probably be just
administrative and mostly remodel but what they’re looking at is a significant you know million
dollar reinvestment and remodeling on that site if they can make it go so that’s what the
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – June 4, 2019
council’s working on right now so stay tuned on that one so. Then for your schedule your next
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meeting is June 18 and we have Camp Tanadoona coming on that site plan so they’re redoing
the lodge building so they’re taking that one down so they’re getting through the process now
because as soon as camping season ends, which is I believe Labor Day weekend, they want to
start moving dirt and it’s you’ll see the plans. A very, very nice plan how they’ve redone that
and it’s got a lower level walkout so it accommodates not only if there’s storms or something.
Also the people that stay there that they’ve got a kitchen area for them to eat in too so.
Tietz: Kate I have a question.
Aanenson: Yeah.
Tietz: Are they connected to sewer and water?
Aanenson: Yes that’s a good question. They did connect to sewer a couple years ago. They had
a failing system and we let it go on and I think like 2 years ago we insisted that they had to fix
that so they are connected and with this project they will do water yep. So that was one of the
things that they’ve been raising funds for to get all that to put in place so yeah, thanks for asking.
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So that will be on your meeting on the 18. I don’t think we have anything else on for that
meeting right now. Then there’s no meeting, historically we don’t have on the fourth of July
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because there’s so much going on up here and a lot of people are traveling. And then on the 16
we’re revisiting the design standards which is Chapter 18 of Subdivision and that includes cul-
de-sac lengths and some of those things. The Fire Marshal has commented on that and so you’ll
be reviewing those and giving recommendations to the City Council. In addition to that Xcel has
a tower as a conditional use that is over a certain height and they’ll need that. Just wanted to let
you know we are working through, there’s some properties that are trying to do subdivisions.
Maybe some are up to, you saw one last time a split at your last meeting but these other ones,
maybe it might be 4. Might be 10 lots. They’re all complicated so, so if you’re interested in any
of those some of those may be going to the City Council for work sessions first. Again this ties
into the whole discussion of how we connect streets and the like. When we’ve got a stub street
and we don’t connect them so that will be going on. We also have our annual retreat. Excuse
me tour we’ll be taking with the other commissions so I think one of the places we want to be
able to stop at, and they should be far enough along that we can potentially get in the building
and that would be the Venue so we can get inside that building so we’ll work on that but if
anybody has something that they’d really like to see let me know. The last update I give you is
we have been working with Avienda. We did have a meeting with them again last week. They
did get their NPDES permits. They are getting their watershed approvals so they’re working to
proceed to grading. I know I keep saying that and lose some credibility there so hopefully by the
end of July so everything’s lining up that way that they would start grading in July.
Tietz: So the crop that’s planted.
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – June 4, 2019
Aanenson: It’s just a question. I’ve gotten a lot of calls on that too. So I think it depends on the
dollar so that would be compensated so yeah. I think there’s also someone that enjoys planting
so put that out there so. So if you’re on the tractor you might as well keep, so I’ll keep you
posted on that but right now I’ll give you a heads up on that one too. Oh thank you. There is a
variance appeal on your item that was heard last time. Both parties appealed. The applicant and
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the neighbors so that is going to the City Council on the 10. So they have wo unhappy parties
so. So that’s it so.
Tietz: I have one question Kate.
Aanenson: Yeah.
Tietz: You mentioned parking at the old Applebee’s site. I read with interest the council work
session on the proposed breweries on that site that was going to be a dental office.
Aanenson: Yes.
Tietz: How does parking work on that site and how does access work for all those folks that
might want to go to the brewery?
Aanenson: Correct. So they have to do a traffic study too so there’s a purchase agreement put
together. That was one of the things they have to look at. One was a little bit smaller. Had more
parking than the other one. One user had probably little bit more robust plan so I think the
council kind of went with the smaller plan but they have to demonstrate how that works too so
that’s great.
Tietz: I just remember that dental office that was really kind of a contorted parking situation
with a kind of spearhead site.
Aanenson: Correct.
Tietz: And it wasn’t, you know there was land but not very developable.
Aanenson: Right. So it will be a challenge. I think long term wise we looked at other ways to
service that. You know we’ve talked about if the, if we could connect where we come in to the
restaurant, Potbelly and the like if that would come up where Valvoline is or one of those, you
could make that street connection there too and try to eliminate some of those turn movements.
It’s difficult there because of the train tracks there so providing some additional, just better sight
lines and some of those sort of things so we’re looking at that too so you guys will see that
project for sure. So that will come in for review so they’re working on just putting together a
more detailed business plan and some of their landscaping detail and so they’re using the same
architect on that one that Camp Tanadoona is so it’s a nice looking building. I think that was one
of the goals too that we had. A nice presence because that’s a gateway to downtown so. Just
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Chanhassen Planning Commission – June 4, 2019
status on projects. As you can see the Venue is zipping right along and now the Aldi’s has got
their steel up and they’re both hoping to open by September and if you’ve gone by Lake Riley
Crossings the senior housing, that’s coming right along too so both those projects are kind of
wrapping up so starting some other ones here pretty soon so that’s all I had.
Tietz: Now that you mentioned senior housing I just drove by the other day on 7 and 41, I
noticed the Beehive is now a…
Aanenson: Yeah they bought their franchise with Beehive out of Utah so now.
Tietz: So now it turned into Pendleton?
Aanenson: Yep. And they also wanted to expand. I think they wanted to just preserve most of
that area that was Mr. Gowan’s property with the hostas yep. They had talked about that and that
they might do a better regional ponding there so they would add on that third phase and then do a
significant regional pond that which they could use for all that area just south of 7. That drains
that way. Yep, yep. And then also I don’t know if you’ve noticed the North Coop is open now.
That new restaurant there. You can see it was a remodel. It’s right on the corner of 7 and 41 just
right across from the middle school there so they just opened last week or the week before, yeah
so doing very well. They have long waits for dinner so. Yeah.
Tietz: Good.
Aanenson: Yeah, that’s all I had Chair.
Weick: Thank you very much. I would entertain a motion to adjourn.
Commissioner Undestad moved to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion
carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0. The Planning Commission meeting was
adjourned at 7:30 p.m.
Submitted by Kate Aanenson
Community Development Director
Prepared by Nann Opheim
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