HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-02-26 Council Work Session MINUTES
OF THE STUDY SESSION OF THE
EDINA CITY COUNCIL
HELD AT CITY HALL
FEBRUARY 26,2008
11:30 A.M.
Mayor Hovland called the meeting to order at 11:30 a.m. in the Community Room of City
Hall. Answering rollcall were: Members Bennett, Housh, Masica, Swenson and Mayor
Hovland. Staff present included: Gordon Hughes, City Manager; Heather Worthington,
Assistant City Manager; Cary Teague, Planning Director; Kris Aaker, Assistant Planner;
Steve Kirchman, Building Official; and Debra Mangen, City Clerk. Also present were
consultants from Ben Metzdorf and Brian Lubben from the Collaborative Design Group.
Mayor Hovland said the purpose of the work session was to review work done by staff in
conjunction with the consultants on the massing issue.
Manager Hughes said the Council had directed staff to study the massing issue and bring
back recommendations on how to further regulate new homes being built in the City,
should such additional regulations be desired. He said staff hired Collaborative Design
Group to build a three-dimensional computer model of three existing neighborhoods to
assist in developing ordinance provisions to address the issue of massing. Specific homes
selected had been recently torn down and rebuilt. These homes were: 5617 Chowen, 5308
Oaklawn, and 5504 Halifax. Mr. Hughes noted that Edina was most likely the second
most restrictive community in addressing the massing issue. Mr. Hughes said that two
areas that might be looked at were floor area ratio (FAR) and a height limitation to the
ridge line of a home. He suggested that after reviewing the model and discussing the
issue, if the Council desired to proceed, any changes to Edina's regulations should be
referred to the Planning Commission for consideration before flowing back to the City
Council.
Mr. Hughes introduced the consultants, Ben Metzdorf and Brian Lubben, who reviewed in
detail the animated models of the three houses previously listed, showing the effect the
recently adopted zoning amendments would have had on the houses. It was noted that
the recent amendment would have had some fairly significant impact upon the size and
height of the homes.
The City Council along with staff and the consultants discussed the models and issues
surrounding massing. They discussed in detail whether FAR would be something that
would address the current concerns. Issues included in their discussion were: allowing
150 feet of lot depth to be used when calculating lot coverage or FAR; if the square footage
of attached garages should be included when calculating FAR; should the Country Club
have its own zoning regulations due to the historic nature of the district; methods for
handling peninsula and corner lots; whether or not to leave regulations alone and see if
the recently adopted regulations take care of the issue; could imposing FAR affect
property values; should some type of sliding height regulations be devised; and the need
for balance of maintaining neighborhood character while not discouraging revitalization
of housing stock. The Council directed staff to proceed looking at the overall height of
allowable buildings and some kind of FAR regulations. The items will be reviewed by the
Planning Commission and come back for Council's consideration.
Following the massing discussion, the Council briefly reviewed the process to follow in
their review of the Comprehensive Plan. The Council directed staff to prepare for a special
meeting of the City Council on the 27t1i of March to hold a public hearing on the
Comprehensive Plan to be followed by 30-45 days of comments, followed by work
sessions as necessary, if the Planning Commission approved the draft of the
Comprehensive Plan at their February meeting
Mayor Hovland adjourned the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Debra Mangen, &y Clerk