The Hutchinson Planning Commission gave its unanimous recommendation Tuesday night to a site plan and rezoning request to build as many as 120, two-bedroom apartments in 10 buildings at the northwest corner of the Century Avenue/Sunset Street intersection.
The recommendations did not come without concerns expressed by residents of the neighborhood north of the McLeod County Fairgrounds. They had concerns about drainage and traffic.
The proposal was put forth by Century Court III, Crowne Pointe Developer, developer of the similar Century Court Apartment built in 1994 east of Sunset Street. Each of the 60-by-130-foot buildings will be two stories high. The project would be phased in, said project engineer Marty Campion. Two or three buildings along Century Avenue could be started this fall.
Planning and Zoning Director Dan Jochum said the project meets setback requirements for the requested R-4 district, which allows 12-unit buildings. The approximately 8.57 acres meets density standards and the 20-percent requirement for open space, he added. The 309 parking spaces planned, including 120 inside garages and another 120 in accompanying driveways, exceeds the 300 required in Hutchinson ordinances.
City planning staff had two major recommendations related to access. They recommended the developer close one of three access points to Century Avenue - one just west of Sunset Avenue - while adding one off of Cleveland Avenue Southwest to the north. They also want internal streets to be 24 feet wide, two feet wider than proposed.
Campion said his client was acceptable to those changes. He said the first buildings would likely be those planned along Century Avenue because of the proximity to utility connections.
Jochum said the plan includes a large stormwater retention pond near the middle of the development that would handle runoff. A large playground is shown along the west side of the development, midway between Century and Cleveland avenues.
A Cleveland Avenue neighbor was concerned about residents of the development parking on the street.
Bruce Naustal, who developed the Ravenwood neighborhood to the southwest, asked if any runoff will flow toward his development's large pond. Public Works Supervisor John Olson said Century Court's pond will empty to stormwater lines running east, then south, away from Ravenwood.
Naustal also asked if enough green space was being provided and questioned if standards had changed since his project was built.
Century Court's developers meet the 20-percent open space standard and also will pay the city's park/playground dedication fee.
"Traffic is a problem in my perspective," said Joyce Krcil, 1120 Keith St. S.W. "I'm not really happy about all the accesses onto Cleveland."
Commission Chair Christie Hantge also was concerned about the number of accesses. The plan has two planned off of Century, two off of Sunset and three off of Cleveland.
City staff believe much of the traffic will use Century Avenue as the most direct route east to work and shopping areas. Fewer would go north on Sunset and Keith to get to South Grade Road.
"The amount of traffic (on Century) is really not that high now compared to some other streets in the community," Jochum said. The plan will spread traffic out more instead of concentrating it at just a couple entrances, he added.
"A lot of (standards) we are designing to today are different that what was done 20 years ago," Campion said.
As for the rezoning, Jochum said all of the senior housing projects just west of this proposal are zoned R-4 high-density residential.