City Council Worksession

MINUTES OF THE Steve Washburn WATERTOWN CITY COUNCIL Deborah Everson Workshop Meeting Tuesday, January 9, 2018 Lindsay Guetzkow Adam Pawellk Michael Walters 1. Call to Order and Roll Call Mayor Steve Washburn called the Watertown City Council Workshop to order at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 09, 2018 in the Council Chambers of City Hall. Council Members present: Washburn, Michael Walters, Deborah Everson, Lindsay Guetzkow, and Adam Pawelk. City Staff present: City Administrator Shane Fineran, City Planner Mark Kaltsas, and Clerk-Treasurer Lynn Tschudi. Guests present: Aaron Schmidt from Bolton & Menk. Presenters: Brenda Lano and Allison Streich with the Carver County CDA. Those who signed in were: Jim Sandquist. 2. New Business A. Forest Hills / Carver CDA Ghost Plat Review Mayor Washburn introduced the Carver County Develpment Authority presenters: Allison Streich and Brenda Lano. Brenda with the CDA talked about the handout provided showing the proposed housing for the 20 acres of land on the east side of the Forest Hills planned unit development. The ghost plat consists of 12 detached single family homes, 6 slab on grade homes (villas), 7 twin homes (14 units), 4 buildings of row homes (22 units), and multi-unit apartment buildings. Allison and Brenda walked around council chambers pointing out exactly where these housing units would exist on the map (for clarity purposes). Walters expressed that the CDA is bringing a wide offering of housing that Watertown needs. Brenda continued the discussion with an engineer’s estimate as well as what each of the buildings would look like. Noting that all doors have clearances with wider widths for wheel chairs. She explained the villas are designed to be one level living. Guetzkow asked if there are similar homes in nearing communities. Brenda replied that the twin homes have been built in Chaska. Washburn clarified that the apartment complex is a future initiative. Allison confirmed. Brenda brought the attention toward real estate comps and pointed out that comparable buildings could be built for much more than what they are presenting. She would like direction from the City as how to move forward. Fineran stated that the CDA's vision is very close to the master plan for what was originally thought for Forest Hills (minus the apartment complex). One item that needs to be factored in is the park dedication fee. In complete build out with sidewalks and trails, and the housing types, it is consistent with what we need to see in the area. Page 1 of 3 Fineran feels this is a good fit. Kaltsas added that from a land use standpoint, this adds a good market that the City needs and is consistent with what was contemplated previously. Washburn asked about the infrastructure costs and if they are consistent with the going rate in Watertown. Brenda replied that Otto & Associates entered the costs based on previous work done in Watertown. Walters asked how this project would be funded. Allison replied that they have not discussed the details on funding. Walters liked the products offered, but hadn't thought about offering a large apartment complex. Everson liked the concept and photos provided. She agreed with Walters on the placement of the apartment complex. Guetzkow also believes we have a need for theses housing types. She asked about the underground parking in the apartment building. Allison said that these would be elevator buildings. Guetzkow further asked about income qualifications and age qualifications. Allison responded that the rental units would be at 55+ and 100% of area median income which is at $90,000. Pawelk agreed with all Council members. Washburn likes the apartment concept and thinks there is a demand for this type of housing. Washburn also likes the underground parking and giving the apartments a sense of community living. Washburn asked what kind of stress marking these units below market value puts on competing developers. Brenda added that these units would all have a master HOA. Fineran added that the fit and finishes is where the price differentials exist. Guetzkow asked about the rent on the apartments. Allison said that all units are affordable and they accept rental assistance as well. Guetzkow asked about the bid process and how vendors are selected. Allison stated that the CDA has specific vendors they use. Washburn asked about next steps. The CDA explained that their next steps would be presenting to the board to make sure this is something they would want to move forward with. Then funding would be the next step. Kaltsas said that a preliminary plat and site plan and ordinance revision would need to happen for planning and zoning. Everson thanked the CDA for taking on this project for Watertown. Washburn thanked the CDA for the hard work. He would like to know when the concept is presented to their board. Brenda updated on the small cities grant. She updated that Marios is almost done and his contractor was wonderful to work with. Scope of work is complete for four more businesses in Watertown, with four more to come and all the commercial grant money to be used by this summer. Brenda plans to begin work on the residential grant money as soon as possible. Page 2 of 3 3. Adjournment Workshop session adjourned at 6:08 p.m. Page 3 of 3