Rosemount council approves Cub Foods plan Posted 8/18/00 by John Sucansky Staff Writer The Rosemount City Council unanimously approved Cub Foods planned unit development (PUD) amendment and the final plat at its Aug. 15 meeting. The council chambers were again full with Rosemount residents concerned about the issue. Council members listened to a review of the facts from the Planning Commission meetings on the subject presented by City Planner Rick Pearson. Some changes had been made since the last Planning Commission meeting Aug. 8. Paul Tucci, a representative from Oppidan, the developer of the site, presented the changes that were made based on the concerns of Rosemount citizens. The original amendment to the PUD presented by Tucci underwent several changes. The store will now be 68,018 square feet with potential for an 11,000 square-foot expansion area. The amount of brick will be increased with the objective of 50 percent overall. The southern Cub building elevation will still be rock-faced block screened from view by landscaping. The berm along 151st Street will be augmented with an eight-foot high masonry wall. Signage will be a total of 275 square feet instead of 300, and the 151st Street sign located in the southwest corner of the property will be turned off at 10 p.m. The driveway for trucks off of 151st Street will be eliminated and replaced with an entrance off of Crestone Avenue. Tucci also said that the pharmacy would only be open for business between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Citizens spoke during the public comments portion of the meeting. The Rosemount Residents for Responsible Development group had attorney Thomas Egan, former mayor of the city of Eagan, present their concerns. ìI believe that the residents made some solid arguments that would have presented bulletproof evidence to allow the City Council to prevent the Cub from building in Rosemount,î said Egan. He said that there were fundamental changes in the PUD for the definition of retail store and big box. ìRetail generally means daytime operation,î he said. With 24-hour operation of a grocery warehouse, it is going to attract a larger amount of traffic than traditional retail. Egan said that traffic increased 5.8 percent when the city announced that a grocery warehouse would be building in the area, according to a traffic study conducted by Rosemount Residents for Responsible Development. Egan said that there was sufficient evidence presented by the residents to grant a denial of Cubís application to build on the site. ìThe developer could not attract quality big boxes that the neighbors wanted and instead got a warehouse grocery,î said Egan. Egan said his clients were not opposed to the building of a Cub Foods in Rosemount, however, they would like to see it in a less sensitive area. He asked on behalf of his clients for a continuance in order for the group to perform additional traffic studies. Rosemount Police Chief Gary Kalstabakken addressed the concern that the Cub development would attract crime. He said that he spoke with the police departments in Eagan and Apple Valley, and neither had issues with the stores located in their respective towns. Kalstabakken said that because of the increased volume of traffic, the Eagan and Apple Valley police departments reported an increase in calls. However, two-thirds of the calls are service calls and not crime. He said that service calls are for situations where people are locked out of vehicles and parking violations. Egan said that the Apple Valley Cub store hired off-duty police officers at the storeís expense to monitor youths loitering in the area. According to City Planner Rick Pearson, the next step is to put together an amended PUD and record the plat. The developer will then apply for building permits and the city staff will ensure that the buildings are constructed with all the elements expected by the city. ©Thisweek Newspapers