6.4. SR 02-17-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Memo/Mayor & City Council/P 97-20 February 17, 1998 Page 3 .Trees The property has a large mass of existing hardwoods which basically surround the entire ridge line. The tree line stops at the bottom of the ridge at a point where the wetland conditions basically begin. There are also some existing trees along County Road No. 33 which appear as though they will be saved, with the exception of having to cut through a 60 to 80 foot opening for the new street. The topography of the site will create some real challenges to balance the need for grading while still preserving as many trees as possible. Most all of the homes will be placed below the street which will require the driveways to be graded in at a maximum of 10% down to the house pad. In order to accomplish this on several lots, the driveways will have to be curvilinear to minimize the grade change. In a couple cases, particularly on Lots 5 and 6 of Block 1, significant grading will have to be done to get access to the lots. Staff is recommending that 5 and 6 have a shared driveway which will eliminate a significant amount of grading and therefore, eliminating the need to remove several trees. Letter from Sherburne County Tree Board Attached is a letter from Tim Edgeton outlining some of his concerns and recommendations for developing within this wooded area. As Tim describes in his letter, the area is forested with a majority of pin (red) oaks. Red oaks are more susceptible to oak wilt than white and bur oak. Therefore, extra care should be taken during development and home construction to protect the trees. Staff has added condition #25 to address tree protection. (Please refer to Tim's letter for additional information). Wetlands The proposed road will be crossing a wetland area which will require the filling of approximately 6,900 square feet. In exchange for the filling of the wetlands, there will need to be some mitigation work done on site, as well as construction of storm water ponds to capture the water off the streets before entering into the wetland and County Ditch No. 31. Dimensional Requirements All of the lots within the proposed subdivision meet the dimensional requirements for the Rla district. Each lot has a minimum frontage of 160 feet and a lot area of 2-1/2 acres. A majority of the lots extend into the wetland areas, therefore, the actual buildable area is less than 2-1/2 acres. f:\shrdoc\council\p97-20.doc