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Home My WebLink About15.D.1. Approval of Grading Permit for United Properties (Future Shenandoah Business Park) 15{J. I I CITY OF SHAKO PEE Memorandum COj~SE~'T TO: Mayor & City Council Mark McNeill, City Administrator FROM: Joe Swentek, Project Engineer SUBJECT: Approval of Grading Permit for United Properties (Future Shenandoah Business Park) DATE: June 7, 2005 INTRODUCTION: United Properties is requesting a grading permit to stockpile material prior to receiving preliminary plat approval for their future Shenandoah Business Park. The site is located East of Shenandoah Drive between County Road 101 to the North and 4th Avenue to the South. BACKGROUND: United Properties intends to file a preliminary plat application later this year and will require approximately 250,000 cubic yards of fill to accommodate the proposed office and warehouse space. The large amount of fill required is due to the high rock elevations on the site. Mr. George Burkards is the United Properties project manager and he currently has 30,000 cubic yards of material available. Staff is asking the City Council if they would permit placement of this material for future use since the site does not have preliminary plat approval. Should the City Council approve the placement of this material, staff would require the property owner comply with the following conditions: . The applicant shall comply with all requirements set forth by the grading permit application and the attached general conditions . The applicant shall place the material in an area which minimizes the disturbance of existing vegetation. . The material shall be placed in a limited area and shall not exceed six (6) feet in height. . Side slopes shall not exceed four (4) feet horizontal to one (1) foot vertical. . Erosion control shall be in compliance with all NPDES Phase II requirements. . The applicant agrees to hold the City of Shakopee harmless for any claims arising out of the City issuing the grading permit prior to approval of a preliminary plat. . The applicant shall comply with all conditions set forth by Mark Themig in his memo to Joe Swentek dated June 2,2005. The question before the City Council is whether to allow placement of this material on the site at this time, require preliminary plat approval prior to placement of any material on the site or require additional information prior to approval of this request. Staff believes an appropriate location has been found on the site. Stall also believes the placement of the material would be beneficial in helping the site develop. ALTERNATIVES: 1. Move to approve a motion approving a grading permit for United Properties with the conditions as outlined in this memo. 2. Move to approve a motion approving a grading permit for United Properties with the conditions as outlined by this memo, and as modified by the City Council. 3. Do not approve a grading permit at this time. 4. Table for additional information. RECOMMENDATION: Staff would recommend Alternative No. 1 as placement of the material will facilitate development of this business park. If Council wishes to add conditions to the grading permit, then Alternative No.2 is recommended. ACTION REOUESTED: Move to approve a motion approving a grading permit for United Properties with conditions as outlined in this memo. ;cd~~ Project Engineer CITY OF SHAKOPEE MEMORANDUM To: Joe Swentek, Engineering From: Mark Themig, Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Director Date: June 2, 2005 Subject: United Properties Grading Permit I am writing to provide you with comments regarding the grading and stockpile permit that United Properties has submitted. Andrea Weber and I met with George Burkards from United Properties on May 26. At that meeting, we discussed the grading permit application. The primary natural resource impact will be the removal of approximately 210 trees with a DBH of 6" or greater that meet the city's woodland management ordinance requirement for replacement. Mr. Burkards explains in the attached letter that the majority of the trees are non-native and generally less desirable tree species. While I agree with his comments, the ordinance does not differentiate between species, so tree replacement will be required per the city's woodland management ordinance for low-quality woodlands: one tree replaced for every three removed. In his letter, Mr. Burkards has agreed to this replacement. However, since we don't have a final development plan, I agree with Mr. Burkhards position that tree replacement now would not be prudent. Therefore, approval of the grading permit application should be conditioned on the following: 1. The applicant shall meet the full requirements of the woodland management ordinance as part of their overall development for the +/- 120 acres under United Properties control. 2. If the applicant is unable to accommodate replacement on-site, off-site replacement or other ecological enhancements will be required. 3. Tree protection fence must be installed and inspected to protect the trees that are to be preserved prior to any grading. Please let me know if you have any further questions or need additional information. . UNITED PROPERTIES May 25, 2005 Mark Themig Facility & Recreation Director & Accessibility Coordinator 1255 Fuller Street Shakopee, MN 55379 Dear Mark: We respectfully request approval for the removal of the trees/brush in the area shown on the attached plan prepared by our civil engineer, Metro Land Surveying and Engineering. We have an opportunity to acquire excellent quality fill material and would like to take advantage of this offer to utilize and place this material on this site, which would allow us to be ready for development in the future. Raising the elevation of this property will allow us to provide gravity flow sanitary sewer, a preference by the City. As previously mentioned to you last year, our company purchased this property in 2000 for the purpose of developing industrial buildings. The property was zoned for that use with limited or no restrictions on tree/shrub removal. We did not anticipate the current Woodland Tree and Management Ordinance, adopted in 2002 to affect industrial property that for the most part is laden with low quality woodlands. I expect the City of Shakopee, which has the property zoned for industrial use, did not anticipate the existing vegetation to remain and instead be supplemented with good quality landscaping at time of development. Although we consider the ordinance to be a hardship on this property we hope you are willing to have a discussion on a compromise. Last year we completed a tree survey, a copy of which was delivered to your department, which indicated all trees 6" or greater in diameter and all evergreens 12 feet in height or greater. As indicated by our survey and acknowledged by our landscape architect, Gene Ernst, at least 90% of the woodlands are of low quality consisting of elm, cedar and wild crabapple trees. The site we are proposing to clear and place quality fill material contains almost entirely of low quality woodlands. Based on the area to be disturbed, approximately 210 trees will need to be removed. Approximately 150 are elms, 50 are Cedars, and 10 are Crabapples. As we have not revised our tree survey, we are not aware of any of these trees being dead, which would reduce this number. Also, approximately 100 of the 150 elms are adjacent or near the residence we are donating to the Shakopee Fire Department for their training site, which home will ultimately be burned this summer. As your tree replacement policy requires one for every three removed, this would require approximately 70 trees of 1-1/2" cal to be replaced. 3500 American Blvd. w.. Minneapolis. MN 55431 . 952.831.1 000 · fax 952.893.8804 · www.uproperties.com Mark Themig May 25, 2005 Page 2 Since we do not have a specific development scheduled for this site at this time and since there is not any site sprinkling system, it would not be prudent to plant now. However, we would agree that at time of development the above number of trees would be planted on this general area. A resolution by the Board and or City Council would act as assurance in the event a replacement would be required. Our company has developed several business parks in the Twin Cities area and would welcome all of the members to visit either Mendota Heights Business Park, Parkers Lake Business Park in Plymouth, or Eagle Point Business Park in Lake Elmo. These parks will indicate the extent 2ndSCaPing our company requires when sites are developed. Thank you {or your considera on in advance. I Very truly Enclosure GIB/bls