CC Minutes 7-8-19Chanhassen City Council – July 8, 2019
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3. No parking Fire Lane signs will be needed on both sides of all roads under 26 feet in
width. Yellow curb paint is required on both sides of all roads under 26 feet in width
where curbs are present.
4. Parking shall be limited to designated parking spaces.
5. Provide information showing that the gravel roadway can support up to 75,000 pounds.
6. All landscaping, rocks, planters, etc. will need to be kept back away from the roadway to
allow for proper turnaround of emergency apparatus. Additional space shall be provided
along all sides of the turnaround lane and entrance to allow for property maneuvering.
7. The location and design of all landscaping, rocks, plants etc, within 3 feet of the
turnaround lane and entrance is subject to the review and approval of the Fire Marshal.
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. The applicant may install directional and wayfinding signage as need for the safe and
efficient navigation of the site, provided it meets the height, size, and location standards
in section 20-1255(2) of the City Code.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0.
REVIEW REVISED PRELIMINARY PLAT AND APPROVE A GRADING PERMIT
FOR THE 1ST ADDITION OF THE PARK (GALPIN SITE).
Mayor Ryan: Alright Ms. Aanenson I think you’re still going here with the review of the
preliminary plat and approval of grading plan for the 1st Addition of The Park.
Kate Aanenson: Thank you Mayor, members of the City Council. I’d like to just kind of frame
this discussion because everybody’s kind of where are we going with this so when you approved
the preliminary plat on March 11th you gave directions for revisions so those revisions were
submitted and they’re dated May 24th so all the plans we’re referring to are the May 24th plans.
So what we did with this preliminary plat to show transparency to everybody we went through
Lennar with their engineer and made all the corrections based on the information and I’ll go
through that in a minute but I just want to reiterate what the preliminary plat does as opposed to
the final plat. So the preliminary plat is the marching order for the different phases. It’s not all
going to come in at once and I’ll go through the phase plans too. But really it’s the complete set
of what they propose to do. Number of lots. We included in your attachments the complete set
of plans so anybody watching if they want to go to this agenda item the complete set of plans is
there. We also attach the PUD ordinance so as they go through all the different models which
you saw and we also said that they could add to if they met, you know the requirements that you
had so they’ve already introduced some other models which we’re excited about. That we have
something unique to this site and that also they revised their compliance table. So all those lots
have to fit on there so let me go through each of the plat. We’ll show the compliance for each
final plat. So the compliance table is done for all the preliminary so what you see on the staff
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report reflects all the conditions as modified to the revised plat. So we wanted to make sure that
everybody was comfortable but they met those requirements because when we approved it on the
11th a little bit of a mismatch. We want to make sure everyone’s moving forward with the
correct plans so I’ll go through that first and then talk a little bit about what’s the next step. So
your goal here tonight is just to approve a grading permit. So this is the final plat so it’s hard to
see and I’ll break it down a little bit but this is the 169 lots with the trails going through.
Ultimately the dedication of the parkland will be included in that but this is the final plat. The
narrative portion is in the shoreland district and those were all the 15,000 plus lots and then the
smaller lots with a variety of ranges are in the south of that. So this is hard to see but this is the
landscaping plan so if you want to look at this in detail but you also asked is that these two
streets be a cul-de-sac. These are the northern off of Majestic. Those are cul-de-sacs and there’s
additional landscaping on both of those. Now when those come in for final plat you’ll see the
specific. They’re all on there right now if you were to look at these plans but again show you in
detail when that comes in for final plat and we’ll go through that final plat again in a minute but
those changes were made. In addition what you had requested is that there be a buffer on the
southern end so those lots were pushed to the north and there’s a greater buffer on the south end.
In addition the trail was put along the perimeter of those lots. That again was your
recommendation from March 11th meeting. In addition you asked for an 8 stall parking lot and
I’ll go through that in a minute. This is where the parking lot is so this is the plat itself and a
different scale without the landscaping. It’s a little easier to see so this is this portion of it with
all the lots again, they show the compliance table. All those lots meet requirements. All the
streets. We’ve had a lot of questions on street names. The street names get approved with the
final plat. They are still working through the underlying owners of the property to work through
those street names. You will approve those street names. The staff internally looks to make sure
there’s no conflicts with other street names. We have street names like Huron, Heron which gets
confusing so we want to make sure there’s no conflicts so we’re still working through that so you
will approve those when we come in for the final plat. So this is one portion of the plat and this
is the northern portion of the plat. Again the cul-de-sac, this is the two cul-de-sacs here and Lake
Lucy Ridge. This is the parking lot that you asked to be incorporated. You asked for an 8 lot
parking lot. It’s recommended that it be moved to this area so that’s one of the reasons why
we’re not doing the final plat tonight. There’s some engineering that needs to be done on that so
the parking lot was shown here. It’s being moved closer to the trail on the south. There will be a
retaining wall that’s required on that south end but they will still have access to the trail on the
west of the site. So that will come in with final plat. So there is a phasing plan. The phasing
plan is 3 to 5 years depending on how the market works. Each of these phase requires a final
plat. All of those final plats have to come back to the City Council so the preliminary plat has all
the conditions and when they come in for final plat the conditions that apply to each phase we’ll
put into a development contract and you will review that development contract. For example the
street names up here will not be incorporated down here so you will approve that when that
comes in, so development contract for each of those phases. Again those typically go on consent
but you will see that it meets all the conditions that were in the preliminary. We say this applies
to this phase or it doesn’t so this is phase 1, the blue. Phase 2, 3 and 4. Again depending on
market conditions will be how fast that gets developed. The grading plan is a little bit different
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than the phasing plan. Grading plan for Phase 1 is a little bit larger than the plat itself in the fact
that there’s some additional grading for stormwater, street utilities and the like so it goes a little
bit beyond that. So tonight when the City Engineer will show a little bit more detail in the
grading plan but with the grading plan we also have construction, erosion control. That’s what
I’m trying to say…City Forester so we usually have a pre-con in that to make sure that
everything is, all the conditions are met. They are also posting security as a part of that. So
typically we have let grading plans go ahead because there’s work that can be done ahead of
getting the final plat and they should be back with final plat within the next meeting or the
meeting after so you’ll see it within, at the latest one month. They are going to put a temporary
sales trailer, that’s very common. Once a model gets built, and it’s my understanding they’d like
to have a model up later this fall. Once a model is up the sales trailer goes away. The City
Forester has met with them where that sales trailer is. This is up on the high point of where the
existing home was. We think we’ve kind of walked that area there so the sales trailer, we’ve sent
them a letter with all the standards that has to be with that and that’s run through the building
department but once a home is built then it becomes a model and the sales trailer would go away.
So that will be located here so they’ll be accessed off the existing driveway to the original
homestead. Again that’s all required by permit so I just want people to be aware even with the
preliminary plat the sales trailer will be going out there. So again looking at the whole project,
this is Phase 1 right here. The final plat will be coming in so this is approximately where the
grading’s going to be. So I’ll let the City Engineer talk a little bit about the grading plan.
Jason Wedel: Yeah thank you Mayor, members of the council. So what’s shown there is what’s
going to be graded as part of this first phase. The blue areas are where the proposed stormwater
basins are going to go and the green is the wetlands. So as a part of our engineering review we
look at protecting the wetlands and looking at the impacts there. Making sure the stormwater
ponds are designed appropriately to meet our stormwater requirements. We look at where the
locations of the silt fence are going to be. Where tree protection fence is going to be and as Ms.
Aanenson mentioned earlier there is a pre-construction meeting so before they even start moving
dirt they have to put up all that fencing. The erosion control fence and the tree protection fence
and we’ll go walk that as will Jill Sinclair our environmental person to make sure that those are
on all the right places and the right things are being protected before the earth work equipment
can actually start moving dirt. So those plans have all been reviewed and we are comfortable
with moving forward with this phase of the grading. The biggest stormwater pond, the one that’s
kind of shown on the right side of the screen that’s going in with this first phase. That actually is
the stormwater pond that’s going to serve a majority of the site so it’s good to have that done
with the first phase. That way it’s in place. They can get vegetation re-established on it and that
will be up and running before the future phases come in.
Kate Aanenson: So again I’m going to talk a little bit about what the final plat does. The final
plat will then dedicate right-of-way so when they come in for that. So right now we’re just
giving them permission to grade. Move the dirt around while they’re coming back within 2 to 4
weeks with the final plat. The final plat will show the dedication of the right-of-way. We’ll also
take the dedication of the large park area with that. We anticipate with this project we will take
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right ownership of all the ponds and wetlands so those will be in control of the City to manage
those so as each phase comes in with the appropriate phase we would also take those but with the
first phase we will be taking the parkland so that’s clear and then like I said we’ll come back
with the street names and overall master, that’s the other thing that they are still working on too
so the grading plan does not incorporate sewer and water. Those plans have been reviewed. I
think we’re pretty close. I think there’s just a couple of tweaks we need to make on that so that
will be the next step with the final plat so again as the City Engineer had mentioned we’ve
reviewed the plan. The preliminary plans and the final plans for this but we’re not ready to give
you the final approval for that but just for the grading permit so that’s really all we’re looking at
so we wanted you to be assured that we’ve gone through everything in the preliminary plat to
match up what your recommendation was in March and modifying the location of the parking
lot. We’ll come back with the final plat and let them proceed with security in place for the
grading permit for this first addition. So we are recommending approval and I’d be happy to
answer any questions that you have on the process or concerns. It’s a lot to take in.
Mayor Ryan: It is. Council any questions? No? Councilwoman Coleman anything? Well I
have some questions please. I know you knew I was going to say that. So a couple of things that
you, Ms. Aanenson could you scroll back and then I’ll go through some other notes. Just that go
two forward. Almost the last slide I think you presented. It has the stormwater and.
Kate Aanenson: Oh the grading plan?
Mayor Ryan: Yes.
Kate Aanenson: Sure.
Mayor Ryan: So Mr. Wedel this is probably for you since you talked about this slide
specifically. When you determine stormwater basins without getting too much in the weeds, no
pun intended but how do you determine how many you’re going to need and the location? And
the reason why I ask that is because of the considerable you know grading on the overall on the
site but then the concern of that it’s a very wet area, especially on that southern end. If you could
just explain how, why, you know the number is determined as is. In layman’s terms.
Jason Wedel: Thank you Mayor, members of the council. So stormwater ponds are two
purposes. One is to control the rate of stormwater leaving the site and the other one is to control
the quality of the stormwater leaving the site. So when they put in a new development they have
to account for all the new impervious area that’s going to be added to the streets and the homes
and how much quicker water when it rains would run off those surfaces and leave the site so
these ponds have to be sized such that the rate of the water leaving the site doesn’t happen any
quicker after the development as it did compared to what it was the pre-development conditions.
And then likewise those ponds also have to be designed to treat the stormwater from a
phosphorus and sediment removal depending on the size of the basin and the depth. There’s
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removal rates that are calculated to accommodate the water quality too so based on those criteria
the ponds are sized accordingly to meet those requirements.
Mayor Ryan: Okay and the concern you know in addition to the wetness of the area was you
know where it was draining and the impact to you know Lake Ann and Lake Lucy and so I was
curious about that. Another piece in terms of the grading. You mentioned some of the erosion
prevention, sediment control and when I look across you know the southern side and the western
portion of it obviously that all goes into wetlands in that area and we know that if graded
improperly there could be impacts with sink holes or losing you know the ground and I want to
make sure that we don’t run into that situation. So how do you protect residents from that?
Jason Wedel: So Mayor the grading is reviewed during construction. They are required as part
of their permitting they have to get a permit from the MPCA that requires them to perform
weekly inspections or after a half inch rainfall event would also trigger a permit so there’s a lot
of eyes that are going to be on this site watching it as the grading work progresses and if they are
not in compliance with those requirements then they could get shut down or we could use their
security in essence to fix anything that needs to be fixed.
Mayor Ryan: Okay. I’ll kind of leave that alone for now. One of the conditions that I read, and
Ms. Aanenson this might just be more for you. Sorry I don’t have the exact number but it was, it
talked about the trees and it was modified from the requirement of 590 to 461 trees and I didn’t
understand where that was taking place or why. What area we were losing all those.
Kate Aanenson: That may have come from the City Forester regarding areas that we changed
around. I’m guessing it’s probably some of this area down in here that we preserved along the
south side that we preserved so I can find out because it’s coming back for final plat.
Mayor Ryan: Okay.
Kate Aanenson: But I will check on that.
Mayor Ryan: Okay, okay. And then with that I guess that leads to my next question, I think
some of those questions may be more appropriate for final plat in terms of the, some of the
specifics so I’ll leave that for now. In the interest of, I know as council we received some emails
and questions. The timeline for the final plat. What are we looking at?
Kate Aanenson: Sure. Let me go back up to that map. Again so the final plat will be before you
within a month is my understanding from Lennar. Again they see the buildout in 3 to 5 years.
All that depends on market forces so, and again anticipating as were colored, as I mentioned the
one, the blue, the yellow, the pink and then the green on the top but something could change if
the market got hot and everybody wanted to move there so.
Mayor Ryan: And so the only grading that’s taking place is in the blue area?
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Kate Aanenson: Correct. Except the.
Mayor Ryan: Nothing else is going to be.
Kate Aanenson: Correct except a little bit beyond that in order to get the stormwater pond in.
Just slightly, maybe a little bit in this area but that’s all in, show in here yep.
Mayor Ryan: Okay. And when it comes back for final plat we’ll have an opportunity to discuss
this in it’s.
Kate Aanenson: Yeah so you’ll see the street names. You’ll see the specific landscape plans.
All that will be with that final plat and be consistent with again the preliminary conditions will
show all those meet again.
Mayor Ryan: Okay perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Yes.
Todd Gerhardt: And Kate can we have the developer also show a detailed landscape plan for
Topaz and how they’re going to buffer the two cul-de-sacs.
Kate Aanenson: Sure. Yeah we will do that with that final phase but they have that. I probably
could have shown that separately yeah or if anybody’s interested.
Todd Gerhardt: It’s just difficult when you zoom in to see that so what I’m looking at is a cross
section of just that area so you can see where the trees are going to line up. It’s difficult when
you send it out, it’s just very blurry.
Kate Aanenson: Yep we can do that. I think the one thing is what we’ve learned is sometimes
once we get the house picked out and we’ve had better success is trying to put back trees where
they’re most effective. So we would like to do that, you know I can show that now but I think
we always try to be flexible. I think the City Forester likes that too is once you get the home
picked out, the one next to the existing one that they work to put the trees in the best place to
provide the most buffer. I think that’s where you’re going to but we can show what they have
right now in a better scale, yep.
Todd Gerhardt: Just so there’s some comfort in the neighborhood so they understand what that,
what we mean by buffer and which is a little different than the buffer to the south.
Mayor Ryan: In addition I think that there is concern as well along the northern part, the tree
loss on the bluff and how much it’s going to be cut into the bluff to get those two houses in there.
So to clarify that as well would be great. Alright council if there’s any further questions, now is
the time. Otherwise if there is a motion, I would entertain a motion.
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Councilwoman Coleman: I’ll make a motion.
Mayor Ryan: Councilwoman Coleman.
Councilwoman Coleman: The City Council approves the grading permit for the first addition of
The Park.
Mayor Ryan: Is there a second?
Councilman Campion: Second.
Councilwoman Coleman moved, Councilman Campion seconded that the Chanhassen City
Council approves the grading permit for the 1st Addition of The Park. All voted in favor
and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0.
Mayor Ryan: That motion carries 4-0.
COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS.
Mayor Ryan: Alright next council presentations. Any council presentations? I would like to
extend my appreciation for a fantastic, another fantastic 4th of July celebration. There is as
anyone who knows and attends we get, I think they say over 70,000 visitors to the city over the
course of the 3 days and what’s amazing is that, as a spectator or not even a participant
everything looks seamless and that is due totally in part to the hard work of our city staff. I
know that there is countless hours that go into planning this event so I just want to acknowledge
how much I appreciate, we all appreciate how hard city staff works as well as law enforcement
and the fire department for the commitment and dedication to making this such a successful
event. And I would remiss if I didn’t also say thank you to the vendors that participated. I
know you were going to say that as well but you know and the Rotary we couldn’t do it without,
without all of them but I know a lot of the heavy lifting goes right back to city staff so I just want
to say it was a tremendous event. A lot of fun and just really appreciate how you just really
make Chanhassen shine so congratulations on a fantastic 4th of July. Appreciate it
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah I did it all myself.
Mayor Ryan: Well done.
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah. But Todd Hoffman and his team are a well oiled machine. Jerry,
Audrey, Nathan. You know Jill Sinclair ran the recycling program and that gal went nonstop on
Wednesday night on recycling and her team. I think she had some County staff helping her out
and they’re the ones that really deserve the credit. And the Rotary. Without the Rotary’s help
you know with the parade, of course the beer garden and the Taste and the local vendors that we
had participate all did very well and enjoyed the event and got their message out. Where they’re