Discussion:
Site Information:
Address: 1760 4th Avenue East
Applicant: Matt Soucek, Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative
Property Owner: Shakopee Council 1685 Home
Lot Area: 3.37 Acres (Proposed 1.34 and 2.03 acre lots)
Current Zoning: B-1, Highway Business
2040 Comp. Plan: Mixed Residential (6-30 units / acre)
Matt Soucek, representing Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative, (Beacon) has applied for the preliminary and final plat of Prairie Pointe and for a Planned Unit Development (PUD) of Prairie Pointe. The current zoning of the property is B-1, Highway Business, which allows for commercial uses like restaurants, retail / service businesses, offices, vehicle repair, or mixed use developments. The applicant is proposing to develop a 46-unit apartment building on the vacant portion the property, and sell the existing building to Resonate Church, which currently meets at West Middle School. A conditional use permit request for a place of worship for Resonate Church was approved by the Board of Adjustment and Appeals for the use of the existing Knight of Columbus building on May 7th.
The property is unplatted and the current home of the Knights of Columbus Hall and the applicant is proposing to plat the property to create one 1.34 acre lot for the existing building and a second 2.03 acre lot to allow the construction of a three level, 46-unit apartment building (see attached site plan / plat drawings).
Per submitted materials, Beacon (www.beaconinterfaith.org) is a collaborative of congregations united in action to create homes and advance equitable housing for low income families, seniors, young adults, or those experiencing homelessness. Beacon owns and operates over 700 units of housing that is affordable in the Twin Cities metro area. Beacon partners with Volunteers of America (www.voamn.org), which provides a wide array of health and human services to support residents of their properties. Residents of Prairie Pointe would earn 30% of the area median income or less. The anticipated residents of this development are single-parent families (see attached narrative).
Beacon chose to pursue development of this property for supportive family apartments because of the following reasons:
- Close proximity to employers along 4th Avenue and in Valley Green Industrial Park like Amazon, My Pillow, RTL Construction, and LeGrand AV and other major employers in Valley Green Industrial Park.
- Access to MVTA Bus Route 497, which stops at 4th Avenue and Marschall Road, approximately 1/3 mile west of the intersection of 4th Avenue and Sarazin Street and is accessible by trail / sidewalk.
- The proximity to Prairie Bend Park about 800' from the site.
- Land use compatibility with a church for shared parking and potential use by residents.
- The site is guided by the comprehensive plan for densities of 6-30 units / acre.
The proposed building is 3 levels and the proposed unit mix is:
- 1 Bedroom: 8 units
- 2 Bedroom: 26 units
- 3 Bedroom: 12 units
An existing comparable sized and configured building in Shakopee to Prairie Pointe is The Henderson, a project developed by Scott County CDA in 2015, located at 500 Sommerville Street. The Henderson is 51 units on a 1.23 acre lot (41 units / acre density) and has garage parking, but is on a lot that is 60% of the size of the proposed Prairie Pointe lot and across the street from single-family residential housing. Because of the garage and topography of the lot, The Henderson varies from 3-4 levels above ground. The proposed density of Prairie Pointe is 22.7 units / acre. Because this property is intended for families with children, it has a larger percentage of two and three bedroom units than recent market rate apartment buildings developed and proposed in Shakopee.
The applicant has completed a parking study for their proposed development (attached). The proposed parking for the entire site, including the church is below:
- 52 spaces on the church lot for exclusive church use (58 is required for a 200 seat church)
- 35 spaces on the Beacon lot for church exclusive use
- 20 shared spaces with no exclusive use for either user
- 35 spaces exclusive use for Beacon
Based on the unit mix, the parking requirement in City Code is below:
8 one bedroom units (8 x 1.5 spaces): 12 spaces
26 two bedroom units (26 x 2 spaces): 52 spaces
12 three bedroom units (12 x 2.5 spaces): 30 spaces
Total: 94 spaces
Beacon is proposing 55 parking spaces. The City Code requirement equals 2.04 spaces per unit. Based on City Code, if both uses are at peak parking utilization at the exact same time there would be a deficiency of 10 parking spaces, or 7% above what is provided.
From discussions with the applicant, the applicant's typical residents of supportive housing are single parent households and have only one vehicle. The additional bedrooms in a unit generally mean additional children, not drivers and vehicles because they can't afford or don't have drivers for additional vehicles. Beacon has residents of their properties register their cars and they do random checks for parking compliance. The applicant has stated they would issue parking permits if necessary. In the case Beacon residents occupied all 20 of the shared spaces, there would be 87 spaces remaining for the church, which is 29 spaces above the City Code requirement. Resonate Church has agreed to the proposed parking plan for the site.
Based on information provided by the applicant from their other properties, the amount of on-site parking is between 0.9 and 1.1 spaces per unit, with car ownership in suburban Hennepin County averaging 0.75 vehicles / unit. For other similar properties surveyed in Scott and Carver County, the vehicle ownership averaged 1.2 vehicles / unit.
Staff believes a situation of peak parking utilization is highly unlikely for the following reasons:
- Full occupancy of apartments is generally considered 95%, at any given time 2-3 units are likely vacant in a 46 unit building.
- It is likely that some of the residents of Prairie Pointe will be working on Sunday mornings.
- The church is unlikely to have 200 people attending each service.
- The anticipated car ownership rate for suburban supportive housing is 58% of the City Code requirement for vehicles per unit.
Site Development:
The applicant is proposing a three-level pitched roof building with brick, fiber-cement lap siding, and fiber cement panels as exterior material (see attached elevations). The proposed materials comply with City Code requirements for aesthetics and durability. As proposed, the building has varying wall depths on different levels, but the depth of the variation does not currently comply with the depth requirement in City Code. However, staff understands that having balconies in family housing with many children is not reasonable from a safety standpoint. The proposed roof variation meets City Code for roof variation.
The current parking lot has no parking lot islands or landscaping. The proposed development complies with the landscaping ordinance, which requires parking lot islands with trees. The applicant is proposing a playground on the site. The amount of proposed landscaping on the site complies with the landscaping ordinance.
For a PUD, the City Council must consider whether the proposed site is indeed a candidate for a PUD based on the PUD ordinance and whether the proposed development is acceptable as a PUD for the specific site. The criteria from the City Code on PUDs is below:
Criteria for granting a planned unit development application.
The City Council shall base its decision to grant or deny an application for a planned unit development upon the following factors, and shall adopt findings relative to these criteria.
- Is the proposed development consistent in all respects with the comprehensive plan and with this section;
This proposed development is consistent with the allowed density of the Mixed Residential classification.
- Is the proposed development, including deviations from design standards compatible with surrounding land uses;
The site is currently zoned B-1, Highway Business and is located between light industrial development north of 4th Avenue and single-family houses and adjacent to a townhouse development zoned R-3, multiple-family residential.
- Does the proposed development provide adequate open space, circulation, pedestrian orientation, parking, recreation, screening, and landscaping;
The proposed development meets the open space requirement for their lot and is connected to sidewalks and proposes adequate circulation with the existing parking lot.
- If the primary function of the PUD is to encourage development which will preserve and enhance the worthwhile, natural terrain characteristics, it should not force intense development to utilize all portions of a given site in order to arrive at the maximum density allowed. In evaluating each individual proposal, the recognition of this objective will be a basic consideration in granting approval or denial;
The proposed development is a redevelopment of a commercially zoned parcel and is below the maximum density of the comprehensive plan and maximum height.
- Whether there exists an overall compatibility of land uses and overall appearance and compatibility of individual buildings to other site elements or to surrounding development: however, the architectural style of buildings shall not solely be a basis for denial or approval of a plan; and/or
The applicant is proposing to plant evergreens along the south side of their lot and there are several significant mature trees on the adjacent lots to the south that screen this site.
- Whether the proposed PUD plan would afford a greater general public benefit than would be realized under the underlying zoning district and/or general zoning provisions.
The proposed PUD allows for a development of housing that is affordable. A goal of the comprehensive plan is to providing a mix of housing types and price levels. This project fills a need that is not currently met in the region.
City staff has received a significant amount of feedback on this development on the city website and emails. The feedback received at the time of drafting this report is attached as attachments and is sorted by support or those opposed to the development.