Daley described Pulte Homes as being a nationwide homebuilder with a consumer driven focus

What that really means is that we’re really survey focused”

Hailey Daley, Manager of land planning and entitlement with Pulte Homes

The City Council is scheduled to act on the Preserve at Prairie Dunes application at its meeting Wednesday, August 21 at 6 p.m.

Holding an official public hearing to review and take feedback on plans for a new neighborhood Monday July 22, the Cottage Grove Planning Commission sent a request for comprehensive plant amendment relating to a new 162-lot neighborhood plat by Pulte Homes on to the Council for their review.
Pending approval of a comprehensive plan amendment, the neighborhood to be called Preserve at Prairie Dunes would be rezoned R-4, up from its current designation as AG-2. The site is currently guided in the city’s comprehensive plan as a mixture of low and medium density residential along with industrial use.
Previously approved as a preliminary plat under Summergate in 2022, the parcel with new developer and shaped like a right triangle will have two distinct lot sizes for housing, with said lots ranging from 45-foot lots on the north end to 65-foot lots on the south, a Planned Use Development (PUD) allowing for overall flexibility. The lots are described as being similar to both Settler’s Bluff and Graymont Village, nearby neighborhoods now in process or already developed. Maximum structure height would be 35 feet and maximum impervious surface would be 50 percent.
As to a more precise location, Preserve on Prairie Dunes abuts Grey Cloud Dunes SNA on its west and longest side, is bordered on the north by NorthPoint, on part of its eastern edge by Graymont Village, and is within the CA -SR Separated From River portion of the Mississippi River Critical Corridor Area on its southernmost end, a stormwater pond being proposed at this point.
Currently composed of agricultural fields with vegetative windbreaks in the form of trees, the site of Preserve at Prairie Dunes as proposed has already been the subject of a previous preliminary plat by Summergate Development, though Summergate later walked away from the approved neighborhood plat.
Also bearing on the present Pulte plat is the realignment of Hadley Avenue, connected via a parcel west of NorthPoint platted by Norhart Architecture, the alignment eventually bringing Hadley Avenue into Preserve at Prairie Dunes on the east side to join with 105th Avenue South. Preserve at Prairie Dunes would also be subject to the city’s tree mitigation ordinance, with trees in the north to be removed, while those distinguishing the site from Grey Cloud Dunes SNA would be mostly maintained.
Tree mitigation can be done by replacement trees or cash in lieu of fee, with the exact method to be described in the final agreement, it was made known. Preserve at Prairie Dunes is currently proposed to use boulevard trees, shrubs, and lot trees in its landscaping and ponding to meet the city’s mitigation requirements.
With summary of the proposal from city staff, a brief summary was given by Hailey Daley, working with Pulte Homes as a manager of land planning and entitlement. Also in attendance at planning commission was Dean Lauder, director of land planning and entitlement.
“As staff said I just want to give a brief overview of some of the homes we’re building, stuff like that,” Daley said.
Starting in 1950 and selling to all different types of people, Daley described Pulte Homes as being a nationwide homebuilder with a consumer driven focus.
“What that really means is that we’re really survey focused,” she said.
Selling homes in the Twin Cities under the brand names Pulte and Del Webb, the homes in Preserve at Prairie Dunes would be a Pulte neighborhood, it was made known.
“This proposed neighborhood would be a Pulte Homes neighborhood,” Daley said.
With details of each home lot and what it offered, the 65-foot lot homes offered three to four bedrooms and a third stall garage, while the 45-foot lot homes would range from two to four bedrooms as well as two to two point five bedrooms.
From there it was into questions, led out by Commissioner Derek Rasmussen.
“Those 45-foot lot homes, are they with basement or slab on grade?” he asked.
Slab on grade, he was told. But Rasmussen wasn’t over.
“The 65-foot lot homes. I wanted to make sure your rows line up with Graymont Village,” he said, receiving an affirmative answer.
Commissioner Jessica Fisher was next.
“Will you build spec homes and then sell them to individual people or will you sell them to individual people and then build?” She asked.
A mixture of both, Fisher was told.
Commission Chair Evan Frazier spoke last for the commission, clarifying that the homes on the north and adjacent to Grey Cloud Dunes SNA would be 65-foot lots, rather than 45-foot lots as the other northern ones.
From there it was into public comment, with Bonnie Matter asking some questions and commenting on the comprehensive plan.
“I just have a few questions,” she started. “There was the diagram of the housing - low, medium, high. And then there was another page with the zoning. And the color for the medium residential was the same color as the zoning. So if there could be a different color, because I know it’s all low density, correct?” she said, smiling. “Correct?”
Commissioner Frazier responded in turn.
“Well I think I recall from the presentation that right now AG-2 is the zoning, but the comp plan is a mix of different uses,” he said. Two separate applications would intervene to make the change.
“Ok, but it would be low density?” Matter pressed.
“That is I believe the application,” Frazier replied. “Yes.”
“Ok, I just want to make sure I understand that correctly Matter said. “Because there was a meeting in 2022, and it got bounced back because the request was for low and medium, and medium was not acceptable to the Met Council,” she said.
From there it was into questions of wetlands.
“Are there wetlands on the property?” She asked. “Where is the stormwater ponding located, and is that a wetland or is that new stormwater? There’s a recreational trail on the west, bordering the Grey Cloud Dunes SNA. What kind of buffer is planned between the property and the SNA? How will runoff be kept out of the SNA? Can the trail be made of a permeable as opposed to an impermeable material? Who educates the homeowners on the proper use of an SNA? Who keeps the dog poop, lawn refuse, and other garbage away from and out of the SNA? What’s the plan?” Matter asked.
Dogs are not allowed within the Grey Cloud Dunes Scientific and Natural Area.
Matter then asked how many trees were being mitigated as compared with caliper inches and asked what Pulte was offering in return for its request.
“With is Pulte providing the city for this Planned Use Development?” she asked of PUD flexibility, noting comment be made to the relevant DNR representative. “And then I’d like to know what happens following this meeting?” she asked.
City staff answering in the person of associate city planner Connor Jakes, Matter was told that the similar coloring was correct and represented different overlays in planning, with Summergate requesting medium density, the Met Council involved.
“Staff has been in contact with the Met Council on this application and they preferred that low density was still the guiding of that northern part of the site,” Jakes said in relation to Summergate requesting medium density and site zoning.
Touching next on stormwater ponds, Jakes said there are no wetlands currently on site. As to the recreational trail, it provided the barrier requested by the DNR in 2002 as well as a burn break, the SNA being subject to mandatory periodic burns to rejuvenate prairie grasses. As to trees versus caliper inches, the answer was 11, with reference to caliper inches explained as being city ordinance language.
Regarding the Scientific and Natural Area, the city would work with new residents and the developer to educate on the SNA and its use.
Responding next to a question from Commissioner Frazier, city staff said the trail was planned as an impervious trail, in part to act as a fire break.
With no other public comment made at the public hearing and the application for a comprehensive plan amendment was approved, with motion made by Rasmussen and seconded by Fisher.
The City Council is scheduled to act on the Preserve at Prairie Dunes application at its meeting Wednesday, August 21 at 6 p.m.