PRESCOTT – The Prescott City Council Feb. 9 approved an ordinance to amend the official zoning map for the new Great Rivers development additions. Great Rivers is a residential development located east of Prescott, north of 570th Avenue, and adjacent to the Pine Ridge subdivision.

The existing zoning for the next Great Rivers addition, which is 242 proposed lots, is currently R-5 single-family and A-1 agricultural, so rezoning is needed for the A-1 areas.

The current concept plan includes 39 lots at 55 feet wide, 155 lots at 65 feet wide and 48 lots at 75 feet wide. The current R-5 zoning requires a 75-foot minimum lot width, so a Planned Unit Development overlay is needed for the smaller lots. Setbacks will be 25 feet for the front and rear (as required by the ordinance), but the developer is asking for 7.5-foot side setbacks, which zoning currently requires to be 8 feet. The corner lots’ side right of way would be at 20-feet, 5 feet less than the current required 25 feet.

The city council approved the Great Rivers Concept Plan Jan. 12 upon recommendation from the plan commission. However, the following requests were included for the approval:

• Evaluate need for turn lanes on 570^th Avenue, the costs and potential developer participation.
• Discuss developer assistance for a future parking lot for the park.
• Plan for a Coulee River Trails connection (a required PUD component)
• Add sidewalks to allow for future city connections and update layouts for review.
• Addressing low water pressure concerns, which are currently at 35 PSI with a standard goal of 50 PSI.

The conditions for approval in the ordinance include:

• A master grading plan with preliminary plat required
• Install all required sidewalk improvements and address trail connection considerations in general accordance with the city’s pedestrian plan (refinable during plat engineering)
• Complete traffic memo west of 570^th Avenue and Sea Wing Boulevard; includes current and projected daily traffic volumes. The count must take place over 4-5 days including one weekend day.
• The developer must dedicate at least 2 additional acres to parkland. In lieu of land dedication, the developer may enter into a development agreement to provide a fee to be used for future city park planning, city parking lot construction and city park improvements.
• Complete a water main looping along 570^th Street from the west intersection with Sea Wing Boulevard to the east end of Sea Wing Boulevard.
• A maximum development cap, meaning the PUD is limited to the 242 proposed lots.
• No lots less than the 55-foot lots proposed.
• Side yards may be reduced to 7.5 feet per side if combined side yards are > 15 feet.
• Corner lots must have a 25-foot setback from all front-facing building elevations and the street-facing side yard may be 20 feet (reduced from 25 feet).
• All other R-5 standards apply unless modified by PUD approval.

At some point, the city may consider putting a new water tower and well along 570^th or purchasing some land south of 570^th to develop for that purpose, City Administrator Matt Wolf said.

Alderperson Maureen Otwell asked if JP Brooks, the developer, had decided if it was going to develop the park or pay a fee in lieu of. Wolf said he believes they will take the pay option.

“One thing we haven’t done yet, about two years ago now I think, we did a full survey of what people would like to see so we have all those results,” Wolf said. “So ideally what we would like to do is take those results and then turn them into a concept plan. That’s what we did for Fairy Wonderland Park. That’s what we did for Magee Park working with Coulee River Trails.

Developing a concept plan would allow the city to determine a cost estimate of what people would like to see there.”

The proposed park would be 10 acres, the largest in the city, with a 2-acre stormwater pond.

The Bluffs

The council also discussed a concept plan for a new development by Capital Investment Partners on 3.28 acres at the corner of Dexter and Glenridge.

The Bluffs is a 106-unit multi-family development proposed for 1452 Glenridge Drive in an R-4 High Density Residential district. Three main apartment buildings and detached garage accessory buildings would contain a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments for a total of 151 bedrooms.

“As part of the request, they are requiring a Planned Unit Development overlay,” Wolf said. “This is exactly what we did with Pine Meadows across the street.”

Right now, the city’s R-4 standard zoning requires that all the development must be in one principal building with a total of two accessory structures per parcel.

“The proposal is three principal buildings and the four accessory garage buildings,” Wolf said.

A public hearing will be held at the March 2 plan commission meeting. City council will vote on the proposal at its March 9 meeting.

The developer is also asking for a tax increment assistance request, which would involve extending Tax Increment District #6. Wolf said this is to facilitate the project development due to construction costs of the $22.7 million project. The plan commission and TIF Joint Board of Review will consider the request. A public hearing will also be held on this request at the March 2 plan commission meeting.

Otwell wanted to know if the developer would consider adding low-income units to the project. Wolf said he wasn’t sure because it might change their bottom line.

“We do know that low-income housing and first house buyers, it’s really difficult to rent or buy in our city at this time,” Otwell said. “If we’ve planned our TIFs to bring in businesses or industry in particular, those would be geared to lower-income people. Not necessarily the lowest income, but lower-income people than people that are currently working in the Twin Cities. I just want us to be aware that we are becoming an exclusive market.”

Alderperson Mike Gerke mentioned that even low-income prices are considered high these days, when a one-bedroom unit can go for $1,400 per month. Wolf agreed.

“So I mean that’s the reality of housing everywhere,” Wolf said. “Not even St. Croix, Pierce County but also just across the river. That’s what everybody’s dealing with, the benchmark of what is low-income is definitely becoming more, raising and raising as we go with inflation and all other factors that we’re dealing with.”

The council approved the concept plan 5-1, with Otwell voting against. Alderperson Dar Hintz was absent.