PC Packet 08-19-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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PLANNING REPORT DATE: August 15, 2014 CASE: LP2014-005, SP2014-005, ZA2014-002 SUBJECT: Site Plan, Special Use Permit, and Zoning Code Amendment Facilitating an Expansion of an Outdoor Aggregate Crushing/Recycling and Equipment Storage Land Use at 2200 Old Highway 8 NW APPLICANT: Murlowski Properties Inc. REQUEST&BACKGROUND Murlowski Properties Inc. (MPI), requests the following land use actions to facilitate an expansion of their current operation at 2200 Old Highway 8 NW, known as Belair Excavating: • Zoning Code Amendment — the existing and proposed land uses are permitted through Article 7 of Chapter 6 of the Zoning Code, titled Environmental Constraint Overlay Area. In order to process an expansion of MPI's operations (Belair Excavating), this ordinance must be amended to ensure the preservation of certain planning principals affected by this industrial use. While the request has been made by the applicant, mostly due to it benefiting only their business, City staff and the City Attorney have drafted the amendment and proposed conditions in a manner that aims to protect adjacent and surrounding land uses and the general public. • Special Use Permit — the applicant intends to use a portion of the expansion land for aggregate crushing and recycling and associated equipment storage, which is a specially permitted use under the Environmental Constraint Overlay Area Ordinance. As such, a special use permit request must be processed to ensure the conditions noted (and proposed to be amended) are met. • Site Plan —the proposed Site Plan is necessary as it illustrates how the applicant intends to use the additional property, how the existing property is impacted, and where certain functions of the operation will be located. The proposed requests consist of a 21 acre expansion of Belair Excavating's operations. Of those 21 acres, certain portions are slated for storage of piled material, storage of equipment, and infiltration features required by the Rice Creek Watershed District(see proposed Site Plan). This 21 acre expansion of the current 21.5 acre site, results in a 42.5 acre operation by Belair Excavating. The applicant's submittal materials include a four acre parcel denoted at "Track AX-1" on the survey as part of their expansion. Sufficient information has not been submitted to support MPI ownership of this property and/or rights to use this property for their operations (or a use other than rail). As such, staff has not included this land in any of these written materials nor would any approvals include the use of this four acre parcel for MPI's proposed expansion. Also worthy to note, the applicant's plans include a major grading effort on the expansion land and construction of two large infiltration basins. The grading plan accommodates two primary purposes: 1) creating usable area for pile storage of processed and unprocessed aggregate concrete, bituminous and black dirt, and 2) provides the required 4' minimum clean cover cap on the former landfill. Much of the land acquired by MPI for their expansion was used as a landfill and the applicant is being required by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to remediate the environmental issues by installing a clean cover cap. The applicant has devised a grading plan, which has already been reviewed and approved by the Rice Creek Watershed District. Prior to