HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-01-22-Council Special Work Session MINTUES
OF THE STUDY SESSION OF THE
EDINA CITY COUNCIL
TUESDAY,JANUARY 22, 2008
7:00 A.M
Mayor Hovland called the meeting to order at 7:00 a.m. in the Community Room of Edina
City Hall. Answering rollcall were Members Bennett, Housh, Masica, Swenson and Mayor
Hovland. Also present were Planning Commissioners Brown, Fischer, Risser, Schroeder,
Staunton, and Chair Lonsbury. Staff present included Gordon Hughes, City Manager;
Heather Worthington, Assistant City Manager, Cary Teague, Planning Director, Dan
Cornejo, Comprehensive Plan Coordinator, and Debra Mangen, City Clerk.
Mayor Hovland said the purpose of the study session was to review the draft of the 2008
Comprehensive Plan. Manager Hughes briefly outlined the history of the Comprehensive
Plan revision to date. Dan Cornejo presented an overview of the changes made from the
1998 Comprehensive Plan and the draft of the 2008 Comprehensive Plan Update.
The Council, Planning Commissioners and Staff reviewed and discussed the draft plan as
follows:
• Improve the definitions of "step down" and "step back" in Land Use and
Community Design chapter. "Step down" means that buildings should step down
to the sidewalk; "step back" means that buildings should step back from nearby
and adjacent lower-height residential areas. A drawing or photo will be added to
help illustrate the term.
• Clarify bonus height and density - developers would need to earn either in
exchange for
• 450 acres or about 5% of the city could change in terms of land use and densities.
The other 95% is not recommended to change. The draft Plan does comment that
within this 95%, and possibly within the other 5%, there could be proposals to make
smaller zoning changes to facilitate the provision of affordable housing, lifecycle
housing to accommodate seniors' needs. However, the draft Plan does not call for
immediate zoning changes, nor does it specify certain areas for these changes. This
point was emphasized: NO changes are recommended in the single-family areas.
• The height maps need an accompanying narrative text that details what heights are
recommended for which areas.
• Change map on page 4-50, regarding the Cahill area: the OR area should be 12-16
stories, and the GMU area should be 3-5 stories.
• Develop better definition of lifecycle housing and inclusionary housing.
• Potential links between height-density-transportation.
• Mixed used development and its future potential
• What, if any zoning changes would be implied by the Housing Chapter. Plan would
be a policy or visioning document.
• Receipt and review of the recently written Energy and Environment chapter
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Minutes/Study Session/January 22, 2008
• Discussion that Plan would be a vision or give direction, and offer broader policy
framework for further study and focus to achieve the city-wide goals and to guide
future changes.
• Several language revisions were suggested to be incorporated on specific pages that
staff will incorporate into the Plan.
• Small Area Plans were briefly discussed including how to formally remove the
small area plans from the existing plan.
The Mayor and Council offered their thanks to the Planning Commissioners for their work
on the update to the Plan.
Mayor Hovland declared the meeting adjourned at 9:00 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
ebra dangen, City Clerk
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