River Heights delays vote on senior-citizen PUD after road ownership and maintenance concerns

River Heights council members on Nov. 4 heard a detailed presentation about a proposed senior-citizen planned unit development ordinance and agreed to delay final action so staff can revise the section governing road ownership and maintenance.

The ordinance, presented by planning staff Noel, would create a PUD aimed at residents age 55 and older (with up to two dependents). Noel said the draft sets site-size minimums of 3.5 acres and a maximum of 6 acres, a top density of 4.6 units per gross acre, and dimensional standards that include 6,000-square-foot minimum lots for single-family homes and a 10,000-square-foot lot standard for single-family attached units. "This PUD will only be for single family, residents," Noel said, adding that buildings should present the appearance of single-family houses and that front elevations should vary.

The draft also calls for 20% open space, landscaping to follow Title 10, Chapter 15, and a requirement that proposed development site plans be approved by the planning commission and the city council before a rezoning is granted. Utilities and infrastructure would have to meet city and state standards; Noel told the council each unit must be served by its own sewer meter and that stormwater must comply with subdivision and state requirements.

Councilmembers focused on a code provision that—if left unchanged—would require applicants to install streets and deed them to the city. Speaker 6 and others warned that automatically mandating city ownership could force the city to accept roads that are costly to maintain or difficult to plow. Noel said the intent is that the city set specifications but that the ordinance should allow flexibility: "If it's deeded to the city, then the city would be responsible for it," he said, noting that giving the city an option to accept or decline roads would preserve negotiating space with developers.

Because of those concerns, the council agreed to postpone final adoption and asked planning staff to draft revised language for section 10109 D (the roadway/deeding section). Speaker 1 proposed splitting code approvals across two meetings and bringing the revised roadway language back at the council’s Nov. 18 meeting; Noel said he would provide the revision and supporting materials in advance. Noel also said the city attorney has reviewed the draft and given approval on the version presented, though the city engineer review was still pending.

Noel said the PUD provision was intended to be available if a developer proposes such a project; "as far as we know, there is no request" currently pending. The council’s next step is for planning staff to produce the narrowed roadway language, after which the council will consider the PUD ordinance together with related code changes.

Closing: The council did not take a final vote on the ordinance on Nov. 4; action was postponed so the planning commission/staff can prepare a revised road ownership and maintenance section for review on Nov. 18.