Planned unit development topic is standing room only in Baxter

BAXTER -- More than 90 people crowded into a meeting room Thursday afternoon to hear why planned unit developments are so controversial these days.

"We knew this would be a hot topic," said Phil Hunsicker, 1,000 Friends of Minnesota program director.

It was standing room only at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in Baxter for a Brainerd Area Environmental Learning Network sponsored presentation on PUDs.

A PUD is a project or subdivision that includes common property owned and maintained by a homeowners' association for the benefit and use of the individual PUD unit owners. The common area may be a beach, open space or trails. There are residential and commercial versions of PUDs.

Charles Marohn, Community Growth Institute president, said he was not going to provide a sentiment for or against PUDs, but wanted to focus on what the development is and why the controversy about them exists.

The city of Baxter established a six-month moratorium on PUDs in November. And Crow Wing County adopted a six-month shoreland PUD moratorium in December. Using language from the state regulations, Marohn said PUDs exist as an option primarily to allow sensitive areas to be left undeveloped.

The design goal is to create more open space, flexible architecture, centralize sewer and water and shoreland recreation (such as beach facilities and docks), cluster the dwellings and avoid a cookie-cutter monotony.

Marohn said with those goals people may ask why all new developments aren't PUDs. He said the answer is a combination of time and money. PUDs require more cash upfront to build the roads, cluster the sewer and the homes. The application time takes six months to a year or more while a standard subdivision's application time is three months. As an example, the up-front cash needed for a standard subdivision may be $318,000 while a PUD allowing base density needs $1.1 million.

The profit for the PUD developer can be much higher in the end, but the time equity tied up in development can be daunting. Allowing PUDs to increase the units was one way to entice developers.

For resorts a form of the development can take existing resorts and, for instance, have each cabin owned by an individual. The private owner may use the cabin three to four weeks a year for summer and winter and then agree to let the resort rent it the rest of the year. The resort and cabin owner split revenues. Marohn said it's a way to fund a modernization of resorts with outside dollars and can be used to fix existing environmental deficiencies.

Marohn said the trade is more units for the expected economic benefit from retaining resorts for tourism. But the question arises as to whether the cabin owners will keep up the rental agreements.

"Is the increased density worth the trade-off?" Marohn said.

PUDs will be discussed in depth at a conference titled "Saving our Shores: The Future of Commercial Shoreland in Minnesota," set 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 2 at Timbermist near Merrifield.

RENEE RICHARDSON can be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.