City Lights: Hillside Surprise

City Lights: Hillside Surprise

This week City Council debated vigorously on the Hillside Memory Care project in Glen Lake, with a surprising vote result. Contrary to “deny” recommendations by the Planning Commission and the Staff, the project was moved forward by their 4-to-3 vote.

The proposal is to build a 46-bed, two-floor memory care facility on the combined two existing single-family residential lots on Williston Road immediately to the north of Kramer’s Hardware. This requires an amendment to the land use designation from Low-Density Residential to High-Density Residential. This is the third and most modest proposal for this property since 2005.

Each proposal was recommended for denial. Here are the Staff highlights from the 4/21/11 Planning Commission Meeting Packet:

Staff Recommendation

1) The proposed rezoning, and resulting development, would not be consistent with the city’s current guide plan designation of the site.

2) An amendment to the comprehensive guide plan designation from low-density residential to high-density residential is not appropriate as:

a. In the 2030 update of the comprehensive guide plan, the city determined that existing guide plan designations in the area should remain. In doing so, the city determined that redevelopment proposal and any necessary Guide Plan amendments should be judged on their own merit.

b. The proposal does not meet various criteria for a comprehensive guide plan amendment, specifically:

(1) The change would not be consistent with the policies, strategies, or other elements of the 2030 Comprehensive Guide Plan and the city’s Strategic Framework, including those for certain long term planning areas.

 (2) Development resulting from the change would create an undue impact to surrounding properties. The development would not be consistent with the physical character of surrounding neighborhood nor would upgrade and improve its viability.

 (3) The change would not allow a more viable transition to the planned uses on adjacent properties than the current land use.

The applicant’s main argument was the benefit of a transition from the commercial corner via the new  high-density facility to the single-family neighborhood. The Council Members voting against this proposal disagreed, noting that the hillside provides transition from the residential lot to Kramer’s. Residents were very concerned that the hilly Williston Road with its blind spots and icy winter conditions is not suitable for the additional traffic load of the facility. Mayor Schneider and Council Member Wagner declared themselves swing voters at the start of the meeting, and pointed out pros and cons of the project. A concern about future development of the Kramer’s property was a factor in the discussion, and strengthened the argument for the Hillside Memory Care facility transition benefit. I felt that the Council was feeling backed into a corner with the existing deteriorating houses, so were more open than past years to a compromise so that the land could be put into good use.

I called City Staff afterward to ask about details that were not covered by the applicant’s presentation or the City Council discussion. My own concern is about the viability of the project in light of the poor economy, and the large new St. Therese building providing additional memory care beds for Glen Lake. I also inquired about the experience of the applicant with this kind of facility. The answers were very interesting.

The project is not asking for city financial support, so the city is not able to ask for financial information. Nothing is known about their financial backing. The site’s property taxes are delinquent, and the applicant is working on a payment arrangement with Hennepin County.

The data they showed about the shortage of special needs senior housing in Minnetonka did not include St. Therese.

The facility will be managed by a Canadian company, International Care Management Services, which was also named in the 2009 proposal. You can read about this company at their website, http://www.internationalcare.ca/.

I also asked about the possibility of routing the access onto Excelsior through some arrangement with neighboring properties. The city said that they have a right to Williston access, and the city will help them identify the best line of sight point for the driveway on Williston.

At the City Council meeting there were many procedural questions.  An important one for you to know is that the normal supermajority vote (5 out of 7) requirement for this rezoning is reduced to a simple majority (4 out of 7) due to the plan including nine affordable housing units. The details of the affordable housing will be presented at the Economic Development Advisory Commission meeting on May 26th.

I will continue to follow this proposal. I am against the project given the information available today. It’s not a good fit for the residential neighborhood. Also, besides having plenty of Senior Housing in Glen Lake, the last thing the neighborhood needs is another ugly vacant lot waiting for financing to come together before building. The St. Therese property was an eyesore for a long time and the Kinsel Point property continues to be vacant . The applicants gave no timeline and no financial assurances, and their delinquent property taxes are not a good signal.  Minnetonka can wait for a better proposal for this property.

Coming next on City Lights: Williston Fitness Center Entrance Encounter