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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986 03-13 PCP Planning Commission Information Sheet Application No. 86008 Applicant: Lombard Properties Location: Summit Drive and Earle Brown Drive Request: Site and Building Plan The applicant requests site and building plan approval to construct a 70,100 sq. ft. shopping center at the corner of Summit Drive and Earle Brown Drive (east leg) . The property in question is zoned C2 and is bounded on the northeast by Summit Drive, on the southeast by Earle Brown Drive, on the southwest by LaBelle' s, and on the northwest by Target. The proposed retail center is a permitted use in the C2 zone. A site and building plan for a somewhat smaller center on this site was approved under Application No. 81052, but was not built. The site plan calls for an access off Earle Brown Drive and two off Summit. The westerly access off Summit serves as a truck access behind the building. The customer access off Summit appears to be offset more than 125' from the access to the Farm site on the opposite side. The access on Earle Brown Drive is 170' back from the intersection, but the plan does not show hove it_ relates to the Davanni ' s access across Earle Brown Drive. The truck access to the center is immediately adjacent to a similar access for Target. It is regrettable that no agreement could be reached between the parties to provide a joint access. The truck access opens into the LaBelle' s site and an agreement has been reached with LaBelle' s for cross access through their lot to Earle Brown Drive. Another opening to the LaBelle's site also is proposed in front of the building to allow customer traffic free access between sites without entering the public streets. The site plan provides for 349 parking stalls and 85 proof-of-parking stalls for a total of 434 total potential stalls, just enough to meet the ordinance parking re- quirement for this building. Virtually all of the proof-of-parking stalls would exist in an enlarged greenstrip (33' wide; 18' for stall depth plus 15' normal re- quirement) adjacent to both Earle Brown Drive and Summit Drive. All parking spaces are shown as properly delineated by concrete islands. The applicant is aware of discussions concerning a possible downward revision in the City' s parking require- ment for retail uses. At this time, they have indicated that any surplus area would be used for ponding requirements, not for additional building space. The grading plan presently provides for most ponding in a corner of the parking lot adjacent to the street intersection. There are also smaller ponding areas desig- nated for roof runoff on the truck access behind the building. During a one year frequency storm (approximately 2" rainfall ) , there would be a one foot depth of water for about 40 minutes above the catch basin in the major ponding area. The drainage plan for this site must be reviewed and approved by the Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission for compliance with interim regulations pertaining to water attenuation and purification. That body will also consider the plans on March 13th and we expect some feedback on this project by the time of the Planning Commission meeting. The City Engineer has indicated that the skimming device pro- posed in this case will have to be modified to more permanently trap floatable debris. The landscape plan for the site calls for 21 shade trees, including 10 large (5" diameter) Skyline Honey Locust, 4 Red Oak, and 7 American Linden. Ten (10) decora- tive trees and 19 coniferous trees (all Green Spruce) are also indicated. The ten Honey Locust are all indicated in the sidewalk area in front of the building. 3-13-86 -1 - Application No. 86008 continued Other trees are all shown in perimeter green areas; none in parking lot islands. Six Black Hills Spruce have been added at the north end of the greenstrip adjacent to Target to provide screening of the back of the center from Summit Drive. Five (5) shade trees have been indicated in that area as well on the Target side of the property line. The plan also calls for 117 shrubs (72 Isanti Dogwood and 30 Arcadia Juniper and others) and over 600 Red Geraniums in two major planters in front of the building. The proposed building would have a brick exterior and a cano py overhanging g part of the front sidewalk similar to Brookdale Square (except better landscaped) . The rear of the building is provided with five dumpster enclosures. A sidewalk is in- dicated between the Summit Drive right-of-way and the large sidewalk in front of the building. No site lighting has been indicated. The building plans, which have already been submitted, indicate 400 watt high pressure sodium (amber) luminaires on 30' high poles. Five single light standards and two doubles are shown around the perimeter of the parking lot. Finally, the name of the shopping center is proposed as "Centerbrook Plaza". Staff have asked the applicant to propose a different name since Centerbrook is the name of the City' s golf course. Altogether, the plans appear to be generally in order. Approval is recommended, subject to at least the following conditions: 1 . Building plans are subject to review and approval by the Building Official with respect to applicable codes prior to the issuance of permits. 2. Grading, drainage, utility and berming plans are subject to review and approval by the City Engineer, prior to the issuance of permits. 3. A site performance agreement and supporting financial guarantee (in an amount to be determined by the City Manager) shall be submitted prior to the issuance of permits. 4. Any outside trash disposal facilities and rooftop mechanical equip- ment shall be appropriately screened from view. 5. The building is to be equipped with an automatic fire extinguish- ing system to meet NFPA standards and shall be connected to a central monitoring device in accordance with Chapter 5 of the City Ordinances. 6. An underground irrigation system shall be installed in all land- scaped areas to facilitate site maintenance. 7. Plan approval is exclusive of all signery which is subject to Chapter 34 of the City Ordinances. 8. B612 curb and gutter shall be provided around all parking and driving areas. 9. An as-built utility survey of the property shall be submitted to the Engineering Department prior to release of the performance guarantee. 3-13-86 _2_ Application No. 86008 continued 10. The grading, drainage and utility plan and the design of the storm water skimmer shall be subject to review and approval by the Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission prior to the issuance of permits. 11 . Fire hydrant locations shall be subject to review and approval by the Fire Marshal prior to the issuance of permits. 12. Plan approval acknowledges proof of parking for 85 additional parking stalls. The applicant shall acknowledge in writing that he shall install said stalls upon determination of the need by the City. Said acknowledgement shall be filed with the title to the property as a deed restriction. 3-13-86 -3- Planning Commission Information Sheet Application No. 86010 Applicant: City of Brooklyn Center HRA Location: Northerly of the intersection of Summit Drive and Earle Brown Drive Request: Rezoning The applicant requests rezoning from I-1 to R-7 of two parcels of land totaling approximately 7.1 acres in area located northerly of the intersection of Summit Drive and Earle Brown Drive. The parcels are currently described as Tract I , R.L.S. 1594 and Tract A, R.L.S. 1380. These two parcels are proposed for combination (to be described as Lot 4, Block 1 , Brooklyn Farm Addition) under Planning Commission Application No. 86007, The land is bounded on the east and south by Earle Brown Drive; on the west by Summit Drive and property proposed for office development by Ryan Construction Company (see Planning Commission Application No. 86012) ; and on the north by the historic Earle Brown Farm. The rezoning is requested in order to allow construction of 269 units of elderly housing in a high-rise complex. Although the rezoning request is submitted by the City HRA, rezoning is being sought primarily by Mr. Al Beisner of Earle Brown Commons, the developer of the proposed elderly residential project. Mr. Beisner has submitted his evaluation based on Section 35-208 of the City Ordinances (Rezoning Evaluation Policy and Review Guidelines) which is attached for the Commission' s review. It is the stated policy of the City that rezonings must be consistent with the Com- prehensive Plan and also, not constitute "spot zoning" , which is defined as a zoning decision which discriminates in favor of particular landowner, and does not relate to the Comprehensive Plan or to accepted planning principles. The Guide- lines (a through i of Section 35-208) and the above stated policy are the basis upon which the rezoning proposal is to be measured. Regarding the Comprehensive Plan, it must be pointed out that Table 14 and Figure 15 at pages 98 and 99 of the Comprehensive Plan recommend this entire area for Service/ Office uses. The proposal is, therefore, inconsistent at least with this element of the Plan. The Comprehensive Plan, however, also acknowledges as a stated policy, the need to preserve the character of the Earle Brown Farm. The Housing Plan, contained within the Comprehensive Plan, encourages the development of housing designs specifically for the elderly and the handicapped. If the Commission is inclined to recommend approval of the rezoning, based on an evaluation of the re- zoning guidelines, it must amend the Comprehensive Plan to eliminate this inconsis- tency. Regarding the guidelines contained in Section 35-208, Mr. Beisner states that the proposal will provide a public need or benefit by providing full service housing for the elderly. The 12 storey office building (formerly Earle Brown' s office) although not on the Minnesota Register of Historic Places, would be preserved and function as a reception area and activity area for the residential project. He notes that the senior high-rise housing will support the historic preservation of the Earle Brown Farm by making use of the hippodrome to provide ancillary services to people living in the elderly high-rise. This, he claims, will help to make the preservation of the Earle Brown Farm economically feasible. He goes on to explain that the R7 rezoning and elderly housing proposal would be consistent with and compatible with surrounding land uses. He cites the Shingle Creek Towers complex, in the same general area, as a successful high-rise residen- tial in a heavily commercialized area. He believes the R7 zoning to be very com- patible with the retail and office uses in the area . He points out that the elderly housing will be ccmplimentaryand not in conflict with surrounding land uses in that travel time and peak hour traffic will not coincide with existing or planned developments. 3-13-86 _1_ Application No. 86010 continued Mr. Beisner argues further that: the proposed rezoning is not out of line with what has occurred in the south part of the Industrial Park. over the last 20 years; the broad public purpose of the proposal will provide a stimulus, catalyst and economic base for the preservation of the historic Earle Brown Farm buildings; an industrial type development of this area will not fit very well among the exist- ing land uses (office buildings, retail uses and a medical clinic) ; the rezoning will allow for a development that is in the best interests of the community because it does allow for historic preservation. It may come as no surprise that the staff concurs with the rezoning request. It is believed that the proposal does contain public benefits. Although the Comprehensive Plan, as mentioned previously, does recommend this area for Service/Office uses rather than high-rise residential , the Plan also recommends providing more elderly housing and also, as a stated goal , preservation of the farm buildings on the Earle Brown Farm. It should be noted that as far back as 1984 consideration has been given to allowing elderly housing in this area that could make use of, and assist in the preservation of, some of the buildings on the Farm. BRW undertook a review in 1984 of a housing proposal containing over 400 residential units (copy of the report attached) . Their conclusion was that a housing development was an excellent use for this site. They stated that "while this activity would not be consistent with sur- rounding development, it has the singular distinct advantage of being probably the best way to achieve long-term preservation of the Earle Brown Farm for historic purposes. The report cites excellent access to a wide range of services and goods within the area, (such as Brookdale Shopping Center and associated businesses; com- nunity recreation facilities such as Shingle Creek, Central Park, the Community Center; the Hennepin County Library and Service Center; excellent freeway access which allows movement to the rest of the Metropolitan area; and that MTC servicesare also available to the site)as good amenities for residential development. BRW' s report also notes that from a traffic viewpoint, the residential use will generate less daily and much less p.m. peak hour trips than other uses for the site. During June, 1985, the Planning Commission also reviewed the Earle Brown Farm Re- development Program and Tax Increment Plan at which time, among other things, the idea of a 269 unit high-rise residential development was discussed as part of the Plan for preserving the Earle Brown Farm. The Commission, in its comments, noted that it was willing to consider modification to the Comprehensive Plan and rezoning at the time a development proposal is brought forward. The Earle Brown Farm Committee has been considering also the question of preservation and the reuse of the Farm and the use of a portion of the Farm for services ancillary to a high-rise elderly residential use of the property is a real likelihood. Rezoning proposals, following introduction and initial review, are typically tabled and referred to the particular Neighborhood Advisory Group for review and comment. In this case, the Planning Commission serves as the Neighborhood Advisory Group for the Industrial/Commercial Park area. If the Commission is inclined to recommend the rezoning following review and comment and a public hearing, the matter should be tabled and the staff be directed to establish a date and publish a notice of a Comprehensive Plan amendment. Also, the Plan amendment must be referred to the Metropolitan Council . 3-13-86 -2- Planning Commission Information Sheet Application No. 86012 Applicant: Ryan Construction Company Location: Summit Drive ddqd rle.B o n D ive. west) Request: Site and Building pecia� �se �ermi� The applicant requests site and building plan and special use permit approval to construct a 111 ,755 sq. ft. office building on a 5.9 acre parcel at the northeast corner of Summit Drive and the west leg of Earle Brown Drive. The property in question is zoned I-1 and is bounded by Summit Drive on the south, by Earle Brown Drive on the west, by a vacant I-1 parcel also owned by Ryan Construction on the north, and by the Earle Brown Farm site and the site of a future elderly housing development on the east. Office uses are allowed by special use permit in the I-1 zone. Access to the site will be possible at three points. The site will have an access of its own off Summit Drive and joint accesses shared with the office site to the north and with the future residential complex to the east. The plan provides 503 parking stalls on the site, including 33 proof-of-parking stalls. The plan provides 463 spaces for the office building and 40 additional spaces for lease by the City for the Earle Brown Farm site. The 463 spaces exceeds by 9 the requirement for the office building if only general office tenants occupy it. Mathematically the parking formulas would allow just 2,700 sq. ft. of gross floor area to be devoted to medical uses. The parking spaces to be leased by the City will be located at the northeast corner of the site. The landscape plan for the site has been worked out in cooperation with Tim Erkila of Westwood Planning, the City' s consultant on design aspects of the restoration of the Earle Brown Farm site. There has been an attempt to preserve the key sight lines, especially from the intersection of Summit and Earle Brown Drives to the water tower on the Farm. The plan calls for 66 shade trees, including Ginko (3) , American Linden (6) , Red- wood Linden (6) , Summit Ash (13) , and Skyline Locust (38) . Shade trees are proposed in the perimeter greenstrip as usual , but also in most parking lot islands and in the large open plaza areas north and south of the building. A gap is left in the trees along Earle Brown Drive to allow visibility of the northwest portion of the Farm site through a "window" between this proposed building and a later phase to the north. The plan calls for only three decorative trees (Radiant Crabs) and eight coniferous trees -- four clumped at the street intersection and four clumped in a lawn area east of the building. The plan also calls for over 200 shrubs in parking lot islands and in planters at the northwest and southeast corners of the building. A pond for both aesthetic and drainage purposes is to be located northeast of this proposed building on both this site and the site of the next phase. The pond will be surrounded by a lawn and pedestrian path. A circular drive for dropping people off is proposed between the buildings. A walkway will curve around the edge of this circular drive and will meet the water' s edge supported by a retaining wall . The pond will occupy the area closest to the residential buildings on the west side of the Earle Brown Farm site and will serve as an aesthetic buffer between the Farm complex and the office complex. 3-13-86 -1- Application No. 86012 continued The grading, drainage, and utility plan for the site has been worked out in coordi- nation with Westwood planning to insure maximum visibility of the Farm complex from Summit Drive and to provide adequate runoff attentuation and purification to meet the interim regulations of the Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission. (Note: the Watershed Commission must review and approve the drainage plans for this site. That body will consider the plans also on March 13 and some feedback will hopefully be available by the Planning Commission meeting) . All drainage from the parking lot will be conveyed by storm sewer to the holding pond on the east side of the Ryan complex. An outlet with a skimmer will be set at elevation 840' and will con- vey overflow via a 42" storm sewer line to the City storm sewer in Summit Drive. The outlet will be constricted so that. pond level will rise to 843' during rainfalls. The holding pond will accept drainage from the Earle Brown Farm site as well as both phases of the Ryan office complex. The judgment of the City Engineer is that the design of the skimmer will have to be modified to permanently trap floatable debris. Such modification should be a condition of approval , subject to the recom- mendations of the Watershed Commission. The proposed building is to step up in height from four stories at the east end, to five in the middle, and six at the west end. The exterior is to be reflective glass and spandrel panels. Colored spandrel panels at the tops of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth floors create accent stripes on the building facade. The reflec- tive surface is tentatively to be lightly rose tinted and the stripes would be red. The project architect, Wayne Bishop, has suggested this color scheme as complemen- tary to the red buildings of the Farm complex. The entrances on the north and south sides of the building will be recessed for two floors (the third through fifth floors overhang the entrance area) . There are secondary entrances at the east and west sides of the building. A small lunch room is shown at the west ends of .the first floor. Accessory food establishments and other internal shops up to 10% of the floor area are a permitted use in office buildings over 40,000 sq. ft. of gross floor area, provided there is no exterior signery. Trash will be stored inside the building. Site lighting will be provided by 250 watt metal halide luminaires on 25' poles. Regarding the special use permit standards (see Section 35-220 attached and also Section 35-330.3f pertaining to commercial uses in the I-1 zone) . Mr. James Zahn of Ryan Construction Company has submitted a letter discussing the proposal as it relates to those standards (see letter attached) . Mr. Zahn notes that the City has been consulted in the planning of Brookdale Corporate Center III from the beginning. He points out that the proposed glass facade building is an improvement for the area, that important sight lines are preserved, and that the pond and walkway will benefit the entire area. Mr. Zahn also states that the office development is com- patible with surrounding developments and is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Finally, Mr. Zahn points out that the proposed office development is consistent with the probable development scenario assumed in the May, 1985 traffic study by Short- Elliott-Hendrickson. All the above points are valid and relevant to the issue of granting a special use permit for office development on this site. Of particular concern at this stage is the development' s conformance with the traffic study. When the SEH traffic study was conducted, the land in question was subdivided in a different configuration. However, Ryan Construction did own a 6+ acre parcel which was projected to have approximately 130,000 sq. ft. of office development. Since the proposed building is 111 ,755 sq. ft. on 5.9 acres, it clearly lives within the assumptions of the study. Development of the second phase office building to the north will , however, require a much more detailed evaluation of projected traffic. That phase is not a part of this application and no approval of that development is implied by a favor- able action on this application. 3-13-86 -2- Application No. 86012 continued Altogether, the plans do appear to be in order and approval is recommended, subject to at least the following conditions: 1 . Building plans are subject to review and approval by the Building Official with respect to applicable codes prior to the issuance of permits. 2. Grading, drainage, utility and berming plans are subject to review and approval by the City Engineer, prior to the issuance of permits. 3. A site performance guarantee and supporting financial guarantee (in an amount to be determined by the City Manager) shall be submitted prior to the issuance of permits. 4. Any outside trash disposal and rooftop mechanical equipment shall be appropriately screened from view. 5. The building is to be equipped with an automatic fire extinguishing system to meet NFPA standards and shall be connected to a central monitoring device in accordance with Chapter 5 of the City Ordinances. 6. An underground irrigation system shall be installed in all landscaped areas to facilitate site maintenance. 7. Plan approval is exclusive of all signery which is subject to Chapter 34 of the City Ordinances. 8. B612 curb and gutter shall be provided around all parking and driving areas. 9. An as-built survey of the property shall be submitted to the Engineer- ing Department prior to release of the performance guarantee. 10. The grading, drainage and utility plan including the design of the storm water skimmer shall be subject to review and approval by the Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission prior to the issuance of permits. 11 . Special use permit approval is deemed consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and with Sections 35-220 and 35-330 of the Zoning Ordinance and further is subject to all applicable codes, ordinances and regulations. 12. Plan approval acknowledges proof-of-parking for 33 additional parking stalls. The applicant shall acknowledge in writing that he shall install said stalls upon determination of the need by the City. Said acknowledgement shall be filed with the title to the property as a deed restriction. 3-13-86 -3-