Deephaven commission advances rewrite of site‑plan and landscaping rules, sends draft to council

The Deephaven Planning Commission voted to forward a package of code amendments to the city council that would reorganize site and building plan review and add clearer landscaping and parking‑lot standards for commercial and public‑use properties.

Patrick, planning staff, said the main goal of the rewrite is procedural clarity: "Deephaven has historically had non conforming buildings... and what we wanted to make sure was that we weren't creating those nonconformities anymore," he told the commission. The draft would require planning‑commission and city‑council review for additions to public institutions and similar properties and would notify neighbors even when a variance or CUP is not required.

Commissioners spent the majority of the meeting debating numerical standards for landscaping and parking lots. The discussion covered approaches used by nearby cities — Minnetonka, Excelsior and Chaska — and whether to tie landscaping to project valuation, require planting islands, or use a table of minimums. The commission negotiated several specifics during the meeting: most members supported simplifying the requirement to a flat landscaping percentage of project valuation; others argued for table‑based minimums or higher percentages for larger projects.

The commission also debated how to trigger planting islands in parking lots (options discussed included thresholds of 150, 20, 10 stalls or a percentage of parking area) and whether to require islands or allow peninsulas and perimeter planting as alternatives. Commissioners additionally discussed species diversity caps to reduce disease risk; the commission directed staff to reflect a cap on dominance by a single species (the motion used a 50% cap as drafted for staff consideration).

A motion to replace section 13.10.09 with a new section 13.23 and to forward the proposed language to city council passed on a voice vote. The motion as recorded during the meeting asked staff to carry forward a flat 2% landscaping requirement by project valuation, a cap on any single tree species, and a parking‑lot landscaping rule that requires planting islands or peninsulas occupying a minimum percentage of parking‑area surface as further refined by staff.

"We want to get this thing approved so that when Saint Teresa brings anything forward we at least have our processes crisp enough," the Chair said, urging the commission to move the package along. Patrick will redraft the ordinance text to reflect the commission’s direction and return documentation to city council for public hearing and final action.

The measure will be refined in staff draft form and considered at a future city council meeting.