2.1. SR 11-22-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Brentwood Owners United 19757 Irving Street Elk River, MN 55330 November 22,2004 Mayor Stephanie Klinzing and the City Council of Elk River 13065 Orono Parkway Elk River, MN 55330 Dear Mayor Klinzing and City Council Members: One week ago, several property owners in Brentwood addressed you during a public hearing regarding CU-04-30, Request by Roth Development to Construct a US Bank. We asked for additional time to review documents and communicate with the new owner of Outlot-A. Per your request, we are providing our comments in writing for tonight's meeting. On a positive note, we have come to several agreements regarding landscaping: the evergreens around the bank will be at least 8 feet in height, they will be more densely planted, and the bank has agreed to put in "up to 6" additional 2-1/2" diameter Autumn Blaze Maples. While we do not agree with the language of that proposal ("up to 6" could mean 0), we believe that 6 additional maples would be acceptable. With the additional size and numbers of trees, we believe that our concerns regarding lighting and signage will be lessened. That being said, several areas of concern continue: The traffic analysis (completed by SRF Consulting Group) is flawed in the following ways: 1) It does not take into account the change in traffic patterns from 193rd to 197'h (see note under traffic speed and safety below). 2) It assumes an unsignalized intersection at I 97th/lrving/Holt (see Table 2 and the note beneath it), but at the Planning Commission public hearing on November 9, 2004, City Engineer Terry Maurer assured us that, once Holt is open, a four-way stop will be located at that comer. With the traffic study recommending no left-turn lane from I 97'h onto Holt, and with the promised 4-way stop, that intersection could potentially back up to 169 with left-turning, right-turning, and straight-going traffic all stopping at the intersection. (Note that there is only one west-bound lane on 197th.) 3) In Table 1, the study used "Fast Food wi Drive thru Window" as one of the developments. As this is not a possibility in this development (according to the original PUD public hearing, the two PUD restaurants must be of the type where customers are seated and then order), it never should have been included in the study. While this does not negate the study (a fast food establishment would likely generate more traffic than a sit down restaurant), it is symptomatic of the communication problems which have plagued this project; if that type of restaurant were prohibited in the development, then the developers should have communicated that information to SRF Consulting Group. Additionally, changing the restaurant type will likely change the "multi-use trip reduction" estimates as a "better" restaurant would more likely be a single destination of a couple or family. 4) When the study was reviewed to consider the possible US Bank addition (memo dated November 18,2004), the same flawed analysis was used. Brentwood Owners United, 1