04/21/1998 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Public Hearing of 4/21/98 ,~u be news to him. The city saves trees. We have a Forester who goes to the new developments and attempts to save every tree he can. Margaret Strachan, 30791 Peppermill Court, said trees were cut down behind her lot so a drain could be put in. Mr. Elliott said that last year there were some flooding problems since the ground was approximately 10 feet higher than her property. The water was running down the hill. Rennie Homes installed about $15,000 worth of french drain to capture the water before it got to the rear yard swales. In doing so, there is a natural swale that comes from this existing property right behind the Stachan's unit. A pipe was run up there to capture that water before it could get back down into the swale lines. They did take down one or two lives trees, but most of the trees were Elm trees that were getting ready to go down. They had to take these down to capture the water. If not, the french drain would not have worked. Rennie Homes spent $15,000 to do something that was going to be corrected when this land is developed, but they did it early. Mr. O'Grady asked if the condominium owners were made aware of what was going to happen, and Mr. Elliott said they were. The plan was approved by the Board of Managers. He was out there during the work, and they minimized the number of trees to be removed. He has personally moved some underground utilities to save large stands of trees in that development. (One of the residents said she did not recall ever being informed properly--it was common knowledge because of the workers and heavy equipment.) Mr. Elliott said the area cleaned out is probably about 5 to 10 feet wide. (One of the residents spoke from the audience indicating it was a much larger area.) Mr. Elliott said there were numerous calls to the Building and Engineering departments last year because of the amount of water that was being drained off of the property (18 acres) to the back yards. At that point, he informed the Engineering Department of the work that would be done. The equipment was not very large--it was specialized equipment to minimize damage to trees. The residents' concerns were addressed, Rennie Homes spent $15,000 of their own money and mitigated the situation with as minimal damage to the property as they could. Mr. Gareau said the issue before Council was the actual future use of the property. Some of the issues raised this evening by the residents will be addressed at the Planning Commission. These issues will not be brushed aside, the Planning Commission will be very interested in those issues. As far as he is concerned, in light of the efforts the city made to annex this property, he would like to see a development pattern which maximizes green space and is consistent with the present development. He believes the legislation is appropriate, and this is an appropriate zoning classification for this parcel. Mr. Miller, a former Planning Commission member, suggested the residents bring photos of the area to Planning Commission. As there were no further comments, President Saringer adjourned the Public Hearing at 7: 3¢p. m. '~ arbara L. Seman, Cle of Council J et A. Saringer, President of C ncil 3 ,~,~,~.~ ri~,<~~~.~. ~,~ .~~~.,,~:. . ~~~~.~ ~.~,~,_._w.,~,:......,: t ,.