RE: City of Sun Prairie Variance Request Menards and Continental 345 Fund developments

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1 DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING 300 East Main Street, Sun Prairie, WI Phone: (608) Fax: (608) January 23, 2017 CARPC 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd Room 362 Madison, WI RE: City of Sun Prairie Variance Request Menards and Continental 345 Fund developments Dear Commissioners: At the January 12th CARPC meeting regarding the City of Sun Prairie s variance request for the Menards and Continental 345 Fund, LLC projects, a few questions came up regarding ownership and maintenance responsibilities for the stormwater facilities and wetlands associated with these projects, and how the City will ensure the maintenance plan is executed as proposed in the variance request. Below please find background information from the City s ordinance and standard policies regarding these questions. The City of Sun Prairie created a Stormwater Utility effective January 1, Funding for the Utility comes primarily from customer charges based on the number of Equivalent Runoff Units (ERUs) on the property. The intent of the Stormwater Utility is to improve and maintain the City s stormwater management and conveyance systems. A single-family home is considered one ERU and currently pays a charge of $8.50 per month, which is increasing to $10.20 per month on July 1, Non-single-family and non-duplex properties are charged by square footage of impervious area (3,468 SF = 1 ERU) and are eligible for credits for mitigating stormwater runoff. Credits are available up to a maximum of 65% of the total ERU amount (30% for water quantity features provided on-site and 35% for water quality features provided on-site). These credits are reviewed annually and are contingent upon the following requirements: 1. Submittal of an annual checklist indicating maintenance performed in accordance with site specific maintenance agreements. 2. City staff performs inspections to insure private facilities are meeting maintenance agreement requirements. 3. For new developments, the credits are only applied if inspection by City staff occurs during installation, including inspection of native soil layers, construction materials and conformance with approved plans. 4. A recorded Declaration of Conditions, Covenants, and Restrictions for Maintenance is recorded with Dane County Register of Deeds that provides an easement to the City and sets forth

2 conditions under which the City may fix any problems caused by lack of maintenance of the owner, at the expense of the property owner. In past instances, the City has revoked stormwater utility credits for lack of compliance with any of the above listed requirements. Most often, this action has provided sufficient motivation for owners to perform the required maintenance. An additional question discussed salt management with regard to reduced buffers. There is no argument that buffers act as excellent filters for reducing chloride impacts on wetlands, and the proposed reductions would have some impact on the effectiveness of the buffers. In this case, the City s justification for approving the variance is based upon the increase in wetland quality that can be leveraged by requiring the restoration plan. If the City were to require the full buffers, the developers would not be required to provide a wetland restoration plan. This would result in providing the full buffer widths to protect a degraded wetland, with little to no degree of certainty that the farmed wetland area would achieve a desired aesthetic and/or higher quality natural resource. With the restoration of the 15.5 acre wetland, and the directing of the stormwater away from the wetland for detention and treatment before it reaches the wetland, we are anticipating a significant positive impact in both habitat and water quality associated with the projects. As Commissioner McKeever noted, it may be difficult to completely keep salt out of the wetlands in areas where streets are located in close proximity and buffers reduced, but impacts will likely be minimal compared to the overall size of the wetland being restored, and we feel that the trade-off will be a very positive one in the favor of water quality. With the City s desire to create a community feature with extensive trails incorporated into the design, we feel an improved wetland with some reductions in buffer widths will be a better long term solution for the community and environment. Considering the size and shape of this wetland, some degradation of the wetland fringe would be a minor negative in the view of the full scope of the projects. Sincerely, Tom Veith Tom Veith, PE Interim City Engineer Electronic cc: Scott Kugler, Planning Director

3 Memo To: Capital Area Regional Planning Commission, c/o Mike Rupiper From: Continental 345 Fund LLC CC: City of Sun Prairie Date: 1/24/2017 Re: Site Plan Modifications The City of Sun Prairie ( City ) recently submitted its formal request for relief from the 75-foot wetland buffer that the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission ( CARPC ) enforces. Continental 345 Fund LLC ( Continental ) attended a preliminary meeting before CARPC on January 12, Scott Kugler, Community Development Director for the City, presented the overall request which included Continental s multifamily development proposal. At the meeting, questions came up from various Commissioners regarding both the Menards and Continental developments. Specific to Continental s tract, the placement of the proposed public street, to be named Spring Street, was questioned. Spring Street has predetermined tie-in points at both its north and south intersections. Correspondingly, Continental had to engineer around a designated outlot on the site s northwest corner, to be utilized for future commercial development by the current landowner. Spring Street has also been designed to circumvent a large wetland, 9.21 acres of which is located on the subject property. Continental worked diligently with City staff to accommodate their needs on street section while respecting the wetland limits within the site. The City s street section required two drive aisles, two aisles for parallel parking, planting strips and public sidewalk/trail. In total, the street section is 67 in width adjacent to the wetland.

4 After understanding CARPC concerns over the street s proximity to the wetland on Continental s property, Continental approached City staff regarding a modified street section. Continental has worked with the City in redesigning the street section near the wetland to remove on-street parking along its east side, in turn pulling the public trail as well as the development s grading limits further from the wetland extents. Non-disturbed areas in this location have increased anywhere from 8 to over 20 at certain points (proposed grading exhibit attached for reference). Nearby on-street parking will still serve the needs of general public. As noted in the submittal narrative, Continental s stormwater management plan will result in improving the water quality on site before anything enters the existing wetland. The site s design meets DNR stormwater requirements (both quantity and quality) with the use of the two wet ponds on site. The proposed stormwater facilities along with Continental s wetland restoration plan will improve the site s water quality and enhance the aesthetics of the large natural feature on site. Page 2

5 ANTICIPATED MENARDS OUTLOT PROPOSED MENARDS SITE S. GRAND AVE. (C.T.H. C) SELLER RETAINED OUTLOT 1.61 ACRES± BLDG 7 (B16) BLDG 8 (B16) FFE GARAGE 7 GARAGE 8 GARAGE 9 FFE FFE GARAGE 10 GARAGE 11 BLDG 9 (B16) DETENTION POND PRESERVED WETLAND ACREAGE 9.21 ACRES ± R.A. Smith National Beyond Surveying and Engineering P:\ \Dwg\Sheets\GP-CARPCD60.dwg, Overall Grading Plan, 1/23/ :56:43 AM, rjy BLDG 5 BLDG 4 GARAGE 3 GARAGE 4 GARAGE 5 GARAGE 6 BLDG 6 BLDG 3 BLDG 2 BLDG 1 DETENTION POND POOL CLUBHOUSE FFE BLDG 10 PET PLAYGROUND 2,700 S.F. GARAGE 2 GARAGE 1 BLDG 12 BLDG 11 Milwaukee Area (414) Hearing Impaired TDD (800) CONTINENTAL 345 FUND LLC CITY OF SUN PRAIRIE, WI ALT. GRADING PLAN SHEET NUMBER