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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/17/2008CITY OF APPLE VALLEY PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES DECEMBER 17, 2008 CALL TO ORDER The City of Apple Valley Planning Commission meeting was called to order by Chair Jeannine Churchill at 7:00 p.m. Members Present: Tom Melander, David Schindler, Jeannine Churchill, Keith Diekmann, Tim Burke and Ken Alwin Members Absent: Frank Blundetto Staff Present: Community Development Director Bruce Nordquist, Associate City Planner Margaret. Dykes, City Attorney Sharon Hills and Assistant City Engineer David Bennett 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Churchill asked if there were any changes to the agenda. There being none, she called for approval of the agenda. MOTION: Commissioner Burke moved, seconded by Commissioner Diekmann, to approve the agenda. The motion carried 6-0. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF DECEMBER 3, 2008 Chair Churchill asked if there were any changes to the minutes. There being none, she called for approval of the minutes. MOTION: Commissioner Burke moved, seconded by Commissioner Diekmann, to recommend approval of the minutes of the December 3, 2008, meeting. The motion carried 6-0. 4. CONSENT ITEM --NONE-- 5. PUBLIC HEARING A. Apple Valley Transit Station - Consideration of rezoning from PD-244/Zone 4 to PD-507, and the creation of two new subzones to allow for a transit station, and high-density housing and commercial uses; and site plan building permit authorization to allow for an approximately 480-space parking ramp, surface parking lot, and 1,700 sq. ft. enclosed transit platform. Associate City Planner Margaret Dykes stated that the property is currently zoned "PD-244, Zone 4" (Planned Development). The applicant is requesting that the property be rezoned to "PD-507" and S:\planning\PLANCOMM\2008 agenda & minutes\121708mdoc that new subzones be created to allow for the parking ramp, and high-density housing and commercial uses. PD-507 is the zoning of the current park-and-ride station to the south. The proposed zoning will divide the 10 acre parcel into 2 subzones: Zone 7a will regulate the western 6 acres of the site, and Zone 7b will regulate the eastern 4 acres of the site. Zone 7a will allow the transit station, the platform, and the parking ramp as permitted uses and the surface parking lot as a permitted accessory use. Zone 7b will allow high density commercial and housing as permitted uses. The site plan shows the construction of the parking ramp and surface parking, as well as an approximately 1,700 sq. ft. two-story enclosed transit station, and loading platform for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Cedar Avenue. The ramp has approximately 480 spaces on 3 levels (1 ground, 2 structured), but the ramp is being constructed so that there may eventually be S levels. The site plan also shows 265 surface spaces. The total number of spaces proposed is about 745, but if additional levels are constructed on the ramp, the total number ofpazking spaces could reach 900-1,100, which is the number of pazking spaces desired by the Metropolitan Council. The ramp and surface parking lot occupy approximately 6 acres. The applicant has also submitted an alternate surface parking plan that could be constructed if full funding for the 3-level ramp were not to materialize. That plan shows 425 surface spaces. It is staff's understanding that the Metropolitan Council fully supports the construction of the 3 levels and, therefore, the City is anticipating that the additional surface spaces will not be necessary. This will ensure that there will be 4 acres for the future development of high density commercial and housing. The transit station and platform abut the west property line, and actually extend into the right of way (ROW) for Cedar Avenue. Buses will pick up passengers from this transit platform. Dakota County is currently working on the final design of Cedar Avenue to accommodate the BRT system. The site is accessed by driveways on 155th Street West, which is a local collector road. The existing curbcuts are to be removed and relocated. The western curbcut will align with Gaslight Drive to the south, and the eastern curbcut will align with a driveway accessing the existing park-and-ride to the south. Staff has no issue with the proposed curbcuts. No access to the site is pemritted from Cedar Avenue. Staff is concerned about the potential impacts to traffic in this area that maybe caused by the transit station. Dakota County is proposing to have'/4-access to 155a' Street West. What this means is that there will beright- and left-turns from Cedar Avenue to enter 155th Street, but only aright-turn to exit 155th Street. There will not be alert-turn from 155th Street onto Cedaz Avenue. Those passengers wishing to travel south after leaving the transit station will have to take Gaslight Drive south to 157th Street and turn south onto Cedar Avenue at that point. There are several single family homes that have driveway access onto 157th Street, and staff is concerned about potential impacts to these houses. 157th Street is a local collector, and Gaslight Drive is a local street. Sidewalks have been constructed on both sides of 155th Street West and Cedar Avenue. There are sidewalks throughout the site and connections made to the trails on Cedar Avenue. It appears that some sections of sidewalk on the transit station site could be further extended to connect with the public sidewalk on 155th Street West. S:\planning\PLANCOMM\2008 agenda & minutes\121708m.doc The site is flat and minimal grading is necessary to construct the proposed parking lot. The grading plan shows several stormwater infiltration areas to capture the first %2 inch of any rainfall event. All utilifies are available to the site. There is a sanitary sewer line that runs along the west property boundary that will need to be relocated. The City will require a utility easement over the relocated sanitary sewer line when the final location has been identified. The Assistant City Engineer has reviewed the drainage and utility plans and has several outstanding issues that must be addressed by the applicant. The Natural Resources Coordinator has reviewed the landscape plan and has some concerns about the plan. He would like clarification on the types of species indicated on the plan, and would like some species to be replaced with those that are better suited for a transit station site. The Fire Marshal has stated that an enclosed transit station building must have a sprinkler system. The parking ramp does not require a sprinkler system. There are several other Fire Code related issues that must be addressed by the applicant. The elevations show the parking ramp is 37 feet tall, and will be constructed of pre-cast concrete panels and decorative aluminum screening panels. If two additional levels are constructed onto the 3-level parking ramp, then the expected height of the ramp would be 75 feet. The color renderings submitted by the applicant show the ramp face will be pre-cast concrete panels with integral color with three textures used. There are crescents in the concrete that will be recessed into the panels and will be one of the different textures. The top cap and slab edge will be one color and the vertical panels will be a second color. The concrete on the stations will be cast-in-place with a stone type form liner. The concrete will be colored with a sandblast finish to expose some of the aggregate. A 3-story glass enclosure will house the elevator serving the ramp. The enclosed transit platform is 20 feet tall and constructed of glass and concrete. Staff has no issues with the design of the ramp or the transit platform. Dykes introduced City Traffic Engineer Consultant, Tom Sohrweide. Mr. Sohrweide stated that City staff has concerns of potential traffic impacts of this facility, which, when fully built-out, will be five stories and 1,100 parking spaces. The County has been undertaking. a Cedar Avenue Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) study for the past three years. As part of that study, at this point, there is an approved plan for intersections for the year 2015, based on forecasted traffic studies. That plan includes removing the traffic signal and creating a 3/4 access at the 155th Street and Cedar Avenue intersection. The 3/4 access means that a vehicle is allowed to make left turns off of Cedar Avenue onto the side street. From 155x` Street, a vehicle can make a right turn onto Cedar Avenue or a right turn from Cedar Avenue onto the side street. The only movement that cannot be made is from 155th Street, is to turn left or go straight across. It gives a little more access than aright-in, right-out access does. The main access from the park-and-ride facility lines up with Gaslight Drive, which runs south and connects with 157th Street. As part of the plan, 157th Street would be a fully signalized intersection. Traffic exiting the park-and-ride facility destined to go south, would need to go to Gaslight Drive to 157th and turn right and then take a left at the signal onto Cedar Avenue. The plan includes two approach lanes on 157th to Cedar Avenue, one being athrough- and right-lane; the other being aleft- turn lane. S<\planning\PLANCOMM\2008 agenda & minutes\121708mdce Mr. Sohrweide stated that he made some assumptions for his analysis of the traffic impact of the park-and-ride facility. The first one is based on traffic counts taken at the Burnsville park-and-ride facility on Nicollet Avenue. It is a good entrance to get data from because there is one entrance and one exit. Approximately 50% of the site capacity exits the facility in the p.m. peak hour. The second assumption is that in recent past there have been 600 at-grade parking spaces in the area for park-and-ride. Ultimately, we're looking at 1,100 spaces. So he stated he looked at a differential of 500 spaces. With the logic gained from the Bumsville site, that would mean an additiona1250 trips from the facility being added onto the street system during the p.m. peak hour. About 50% of the exiting traffic, will be destined to head south. With the 3/a access at 155th Street, all of the additional southbound traffic would need to go down to 157th. That would cause traffic to back up to Gaslight Drive and to the ramp leading to the park- and-ride facility. Part of the problem is the significant amount of traffic southbound turning left, from Cedar Avenue onto 157th Street, during p.m. peak hour, which are approximately 300+ vehicles. That competes with time at the signal at 157th and Cedar Avenue. Mr. Sohrweide looked at what could be done to help the 157th/Cedar Avenue intersection to operate more effectively. Installing dual left turn lanes on 157th Street, would make this function better. The left-turns would have about a 95 second delay per vehicle, but this is generally an accepted and expected type of situation for the p.m. peak hour and turning movements at this intersection. Mr. Sohrweide also looked at possibly modifying the Cedar Avenue plan and taking the 3/4 access at 155th and making the intersection a full access with a signal. If it were to remain signalized, it would not be able to accommodate all of the traffic needing to go south on Cedar either. Although, with as few as 50 of those vehicles routing to Gaslight Drive to go south on Cedar Avenue, both of the left-turns would function relafively well with about a 65 second delay. Installing a signal at 155th Street would still maintain athrough-traffic flow on the main street for this analysis, which included only the p.m. peak hour. Mr. Sohrweide's analysis did not analyze the a.m. peak hour or for the remainder of the day. Mr. Sohrweide said that the County has indicated they would be in favor of and support the option of maintaining. the 3/< access and accommodating the additional traffic with the dual left-turn lanes on 157th Street to allow for a left turn onto Cedar Avenue. This would stay relatively consistent with the concept and corridor plan that have been approved to date. Mr. Sohrweide stated that there are means and the ability to accommodate the additional traffic that the park-and-ride would bring from this facility. Beverly Miller, Executive Director with the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA), stepped forward to introduce herself to the Planning Commission. She stated that MVTA has been working hard with Dakota County, City Staff, City Council, US Department of Transportation and the MN Department of Transportation. The park-and-ride facility is part of the BRT system, which is a pretty comprehensive plan for moving buses through the Cedar corridor on a shoulder running busway. This is also first of many expected stations in the corridor. As part of the Urban Partnership Agreement, which is funding the prof ect, there will be a new park-and-ride lot opening in December of 2009 in Lakeville and another site at the Cedar Grove park-and-ride. There are also other stops planned in the Cedar corridor. Those stops will be studied in 2009. MVTA currently has apark-and-ride lot in use at Palomino Hills in Apple Valley. Additional stops are identified at S:\planning\PLANCOMM\2008 agenda & minutes\121708mdoc q 140th and 147th Streets. Ms. Miller introduced Mike Monahan with SRF Consulting Group. Mr. Monahan is leading the design team for the park-and-ride facility. Mr. Monahan stated that it is his goal for the facility to look good at the time it opens and continue to do so as time progresses. It needs to have a long life expectancy because it is a huge investment. This will be the first station in Minnesota as a BRT. His goal is that this building and system will set the design standards for future stations. Design renderings and building materials were presented to the Planning Commission. Dykes stated that although this is a public hearing, the applicant is requesting a motion this evening. Commissioner Burke asked as people disembark from the buses, will there be room to accommodate everyone inside of the building, up the escalator and across or will people be lined up outside waiting to enter. Mr. Monahan replied yes. There is a waiting room azea and some of the people will take the elevator up and others will use the stairs. There is also room on the platform for a second bus to pull up and disembark. Based on the pedestrian movement, there is adequate room both inside and outside. Chair Churchill asked how and where the buses pull in and where they will actually load and unload. Mrs Monahan demonstrated this on the color renderings. Chair Churchill stated that the City had heard concerns from some of the businesses on the west side of Cedar Avenue in regards to the use of their parking lots.- She asked if their concerns had been addressed. Dykes clarified that the west southbound station is not under consideration this evening. The City and MVTA are still working with the property owners to resolve some of those issues. That and the skyway will come back at a later date once those issues are resolved. This evening it is just the northbound station, the ramp and the surface parking lot that are under consideration. Chair Churchill asked what will be the interim plan for unloading buses that are southbound. Dykes replied that the MVTA is working to resolve this quickly so that the project can progress. Mr. Monahan replied that there aze legal requirements of the site plan approval without the land ownership. The Metropolitan Council is doing the acquisition of the land and the easements. The Met Council authorized that on December 10, 2008. The MVTA is trying to open the bids on January 20, 2009, so that it can get ahead of either stimulus programs and/or something else. The bidding market right now is very good and that is why they're trying to move forward. Chair Churchill asked for comment from any members of the public. Hearing no comments, she closed the public hearing. Although it is usually not the policy of the Planning Commission to act S:\planning\PLANCOMM\2008 agenda & minutes\121708m.doc on an item the same evening as the public hearing, the petitioner has asked for a motion this evening. Chair Churchill asked for a motion. MOTION: Commissioner Diekmann moved, seconded by Commissioner Burke, to recommend approval to rezone Lot 1, Block 1, Menazd Addition from "PD-244, Zone 4" to "PD-507, Zones 7a and 7b", subject to revisions by City Attorney and the execution of a Planned Development Agreement. The motion carried 6-0. MOTION: Commissioner Diekmann moved, seconded by Commissioner Burke, to recommend approval of site plan building pernut authorization for the Apple Valley Transit Station, including a 1,700 sq. ft. enclosed transit. station, 480-space parking ramp, and 265-space surface parking lot, as shown on the plans submitted to the City on December 4, 2008, subject to all applicable City codes and standards, and the following conditions: a. The pazking ramp shall contain a minimum of 3 levels (1 ground, 2 structured), with the final build-out containing up to 5 levels of parking. b. Issuance of a Natural Resources Management Permit shall be subject to the revision of the site plan, grading, drainage, and utility plans to address the concerns of the Assistant City Engineer as listed in his memo dated December 11, 2008. c. Issuance of a building permit shall be subject to the revision of the landscaping plan to address the concerns of the Natural Resources Coordinator as listed in his memo dated December 11, 2008. d. Issuance of a building permit shall be subject to the revision of the site plan to address the concerns of the Fire Marshal as listed in his memo dated December 11, 2008. e. Issuance of a building permit shall be subject to the revision of the site plan to address any concerns stated by the City's Traffic Engineer when those comments are presented to the City. i. The intersection of 155a' Street West and Cedar Avenue shall remain a fully signalized mtersechon m perpetwty; or ii. There shall be dual left turn lanes constructed at the east intersection of 157a` Street West and Cedar Avenue. The motion carved 6-0. 6. LAND USE/ACTION ITEMS --NONE-- OTHER BUSINESS A. Review of the upcoming Schedule and other Updates Community Development Director Bruce Nordquist thanked the Planning Commission for their time commitment to the extra meetings throughout the year in regards to the 2030 Draft Comprehensive Plan. The draft Comp Plan is still available via the City website at www.ci.apple- valley.mn.us. Also, comment forms are available for feedback. An update will be provided in early 2009 as to additional activities in regards to the 2030 Comp Plan. Ken Alwin introduced himself to the public. He has lived in the City of Apple Valley for the past 11 years. He is excited to be joining the Planning Commission. S:\planningV'LANCOMM\2008 agenda & minutes\127708m.doc 8. ADJOURNMENT Hearing no fiirther comments from the Planning Staff or Planning Commission, Chair Churchill asked for a motion to adjourn. MOTION: Commissioner Schindler moved, seconded by Commissioner Burke, to adjourn the meeting at 7:57 p.m. The motion carried 6-0. S:\plaiming\PLANCOMM\2008 agenda & minutes\121708m.doc