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Planning commission recommends rezoning for 7 Oaks PUD despite residents’ traffic safety concerns
Summary
After a developer presentation and extensive public comment focused on the Highway 7/Buck Lake Road intersection, the Minnetrista Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the city council rezone the parcel to a Planned Unit Development (PUD) and approve a preliminary plat for 7 Oaks subject to staff conditions and three added conditions on traffic, construction routing and green space.
The Minnetrista Planning Commission recommended that the city council rezone about 68–69 acres for the 7 Oaks Planned Unit Development and approve a preliminary plat, saying the developer must meet staff conditions plus three additional requirements the commission added after public comment.
Developer John Anderson, representing Bridal Anderson Homes/7 Oaks LLC, told the commission: "We're here tonight to ask for, approval or recommendation for approval of the preliminary plat and the rezoning to PUD." Anderson said the project would include roughly 214 units composed of single‑family homes, a villa product and townhomes, would be built in four phases, and that the developer would construct and pay for a lift station, sewer force main and street paving as part of infrastructure work.
Residents and Watertown Township officers strongly urged delay or more conditions until a multi‑jurisdictional traffic solution is identified. Joe Bruner, a Watertown Township supervisor, told the commission: "The added traffic that's gonna be on Buck Lake Road is just a simple country gravel road" and warned of higher maintenance costs and safety risks if drivers divert from Highway 7 onto gravel township roads.
Commissioners and staff said a traffic study — to be completed by the developer and reviewed by SRF and MnDOT — is a required condition; the commission added three specific requests before forwarding a recommendation: (1) a construction traffic management plan that restricts construction vehicles from using township gravel roads, (2) an encouragement/condition for a park or green space within the development (HOA park) with corresponding credit toward the 12% park dedication, and (3) language reinforcing that the traffic‑study outcome must yield a safe intersection solution at Buck Lake Road and Highway 7. A commissioner moved to recommend the council adopt an ordinance rezoning the properties to PUD and a resolution approving the preliminary plat known as 7 Oaks "subject to staff report conditions 1 through 18 and the three additional conditions," and the motion passed unanimously.
The commission emphasized that final construction cannot begin until the developer meets all preliminary‑plat conditions and obtains final plat approval; MnDOT and Hennepin County will determine intersection design and any needed offsite improvements. The recommendation now goes to the Minnetrista City Council for final action, where the public will have further opportunity for comment.
