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HRA Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, April 21, 2015 Page 2 1 and deck overlook area. Ms. Mix stated that past attempts by the townhome association to 2 purchase the property to ensure protection of those areas of concern had not been successful. 3 4 Ms. Mix encouraged the HRA to become involved in the purchase and/or oversight of 5 development on this site that would provide additional housing while preserving the wetlands 6 and views for their property as well. Ms. Mix offered several ideas for that development. Ms. 7 Mix assured the HRA that they were not opposed to low- or moderate-income housing, but 8 only with the need to preserve privacy or both properties; with their townhome association still 9 willing to purchase all or a portion of the property to preserve it, and address any issues with 10 traffic and/or access points. 11 12 At the request of Chair Maschka, City Manager Trudgeon advised that no applications for a 13 development had yet been filed, nor had an application for a building permit been requested. 14 Mr. Trudgeon clarified that, since the first of the year when the developer had presented a plat, 15 nothing else had been processed. Mr. Trudgeon advised that any development on the site 16 would create an encroachment issue for townhome decks, causing the need for property lines 17 to be sorted out; and until any development could take place, a developer would need to sort 18 those lines out with the townhome association and resolve the issue prior to proceeding. At the 19 time the plat had first been presented to City staff by the developer, Mr. Trudgeon advised that 20 they had been encouraged to sit down with the neighborhood to review any current or past 21 development proposals and address concerns. Mr. Trudgeon reiterated that he had heard no 22 conversations over the last month or so, nor had he heard of any direct contact by a developer 23 with staff at this point. 24 25 Chair Maschka noted that this was a classic parcel similar to the Dale Street Fire Station 26 property that could be interesting for HRA development. However, Chair Maschka noted that 27 the City and/or HRA would need to own the property prior to considering any development. 28 29 At the request of Chair Maschka, Mr. Trudgeon stated that he was not familiar enough with the 30 property details at this meeting to address the wetland area; but typically the wetlands would 31 need to be retained, or measures put in place as part of any development project to replace 32 them or mitigate impacts to them, as required by the area watershed district and other 33 appropriate agencies. 34 35 To clarify, Member Majerus asked for confirmation that the Planning Commission did not 36 know about, nor were they processing any application at this time, nor was the watershed 37 district, or Department of Natural Resources (DNR) involved at this point. 38 39 Mr. Trudgeon confirmed that perception and that the property had previously been zoned 40 single-family residential prior to its current HDR zoning (as of 2010 and as part of the 41 Comprehensive Plan update completed in 2008/2009). Mr. Trudgeon did advise that, if the 42 development met all the City Code standards for development under that zoning designation, 43 they may not need further Planning Commission and/or City Council review. However, Mr. 44 Trudgeon noted that there would still need to be watershed district approvals; and even if a 45 development met City Code, there were other safeguards in place as part of the building permit 46 review process that would address the concerns of the townhome association. 47 48 Based on his familiarity with this site, Chair Masche complimented Ms. Mix on her 49 description of the property and situation; opining that the property located at 3261 south of the 50 townhomes as shown on the displayed map was certainly not compatible with the 51 neighborhood, and desperately in need of redevelopment due to his perception of its severe 52 blight. However, Chair Maschka noted the beautifully maintained Executive Manor 53 development. 54