Consider the Natural Resources Aspects of a Site Plan for Elevate Hope House Located at the Southeast Corner of Sunwood Drive and Yolite Street (Project No. 26-111); Case of Elevate Hope House

The City has received an application from Melinda McDermott (the "Applicant"), with Elevate Hope House, for a proposed mixed-use project to be located at the southeast corner of Sunwood Drive and Yolite Street (the "Subject Property").  The Applicant is proposing a new, mixed-use building that includes a tea/coffee house on the first floor, along with flexible community gathering, meeting, and event spaces for local artisans and small businesses.  The second floor of the building will consist of three (3), two-bedroom apartments, intended to provide affordable transitional housing for graduates of Elevate Hope House, as they move toward independent living.

Project Overview
The Applicant is proposing a two (2) story building that will be approximately 8,700 square feet in area (including both floors).  There will be gathering spaces and a coffee/tea house on the main floor with three (3), two-bedroom apartments on the second floor.  The Subject Property itself is approximately 0.52 acres (22,690 square feet) in size and is just over eighty (80) feet wide.  The building is proposed to be situated on the northern half of the Subject Property, with the parking lot and trash enclosure on the southern half.  The proposal includes landscaping in both the public realm (streetscape) and on private property.

Existing Conditions
The City's Natural Resources Inventory (NRI) does not indicate any native plant communities within the Subject Property.  Likewise, there are no wetlands or floodplain present either.  The Minnesota Land Cover Classification System (MLCCS) categorizes the entirety of the Subject Property as 'Urban with Little Vegetative Cover'.  There are no trees on the Subject Property.  But, there are existing plantings, including trees, shrubs, and perennials, in the adjacent planter bed along Sunwood Drive, which will remain.

Tree Inventory and Preservation Plan
As previously noted, there are no existing trees on the Subject Property.  Therefore, there was no need to develop a Tree Inventory and Preservation Plan.

Landscape Plan
The submittal did include a Landscape Plan.  The plan generally consists of trees, perennials, and decorative grasses along Yolite Street (along the boulevard) and perennials and decorative grasses along the front lot line adjacent to Sunwood Drive.  Furthermore, additional perennials and decorative grasses are proposed adjacent to a secondary outdoor seating area on the west side of the building.  Turfgrass is proposed across all other areas not otherwise proposed to be finished with impervious surfacing. 

As the Board knows, the COR Design Framework puts a heavy emphasis on the public streetscape.  Other than Sunwood Drive, which is classified as a Destination Street and requires planter beds and a ten (10) foot wide sidewalk, Local Streets, such as Yolite Street, are to be developed with a six (6) foot wide boulevard and a six (6) foot wide sidewalk (there is already an existing, six (6) foot wide sidewalk along Veterans Drive, along with a narrower (less than four [4] feet wide) boulevard, which is not wide enough to provide sufficient space for street trees.  Boulevards are to consist of street trees, spaced approximately thirty-five (35) feet on center, and sod.  The current Landscape Plan shows the entire boulevard along Yolite Street consisting of seven (7) street trees and a mixture of deciduous shrubs and decorative grasses, within a woodchip bed.  Staff has requested that the plan be revised to only include the seven (7) street trees and sod in the boulevard area.  The perennials and decorative grasses currently shown in the boulevard area could be shifted to the interior of the Subject Property, where they could potentially serve to screen the parking lot from Yolite Street and Veterans Drive, and/or eliminated from the plan.

The COR Design Framework also requires screening whenever a parking lot faces a street frontage.  The parking lot faces both Yolite Street and Veterans Drive and thus, screening needs to be provided along these two edges of the parking lot.  Screening may consist of a decorative wall, an ornamental fence, a hedge, or some combination thereof.  Screening must be a minimum of three (3) feet and not more than four and a half (4.5) feet above the surface of the parking lot.  If a decorative wall or an ornamental fence (with plantings to provide screening) were installed along the western edge of the parking lot, south of the entrance, and along the southern boundary of the Subject Property, that would satisfy the screening requirements.  

The existing sidewalk along Sunwood Drive, up to the eastern boundary of the Subject Property, is ten (10) feet wide, excluding the planter beds.  This same width sidewalk shall continue west to the intersection with Yolite Street.  This will essentially eliminate the proposed plantings along the front property line.  Staff has recommended consideration be given to utilize several large planters that could be used as accents to the outdoor seating area.

 

While there are a number of comments regarding the Landscape Plan, none of them are significant enough to significantly alter the project.  Furthermore, the revisions should be relatively easy to address before the next submittal.  Thus, Staff recommends approving the natural resources aspects of this project, contingent upon compliance with Staff's review comments.

Motion to recommend approval of the natural resources aspects of the Site Plan, contingent upon compliance with Staff's review comments.