185-lot residential development planned for 78 acres in Otsego

by Joni Astrup

Associate Editor

A residential development consisting of 185 single-family lots is planned for 78 acres of land in Otsego.

The site is located north of 70th Street (County State Aid Highway 38) between Labeaux Avenue (County State Aid Highway 19) and MacIver Avenue.

“This property has been a long time coming in terms of development,” City Planner Dan Licht said during the March 25 City Council meeting. “Everything around it has subdivided, starting in 2005 when the city constructed the West Wastewater Treatment Facility.”

He described it as an “infill development” surrounded by the existing urban subdivisions of Arbor Creek, Martin Farms, Duerr Creek and Sunray Farms and said it will be compatible with the surrounding area.

The site is likely to have developed earlier but for limitations on sewer capacity in 2006 and 2018 as well as the effects of the Great Recession, according to Licht.

“The stars have aligned and there’s both market and (sewer) capacity to accommodate this infill development,” he said.

The 78-acre site consists of a 60-acre parcel that includes a former farmstead and cultivated fields and 18 acres that are comprised of 16 rural single-family lots platted in 1970 as the Meyer Addition. One home was built in the Meyer Addition; the other lots are undeveloped and cultivated.

The buildings on the property will be demolished and the lots, easements and right-of-way platted with the Meyer Addition are to be vacated, according to a city memo.

The Otsego City Council approved several items related to the development in an unanimous vote on March 25, including a zoning map amendment, preliminary plat and conditional use permit and vacation of existing right-of-way and drainage and utility easements.

Tamarack Development of Waconia is proposing the new housing subdivision. Brenden Sullivan, representing Tamarack, said this will be Tamarack’s fifth residential development in Otsego. The company previously added 453 lots in the city, he said.