Staff has asked that those outlets be as outlets and deeded to the city for stormwater purposes.”

City senior planner Samantha Pierret

It’s a brand new year in Cottage Grove, and that means planning! Included in the Jan. 27 Plan Commission meeting were two such matters, one related to a mining permit and another to rezone an area off Jamaica Avenue from AG2 to R4, for a development to be called Lochridge.
As for the mining permit, the renewal application from Holcim calls for continued mining in the central and western portions of Lower Grey Cloud. Cottage Grove Plan Commission Chair Evan Frazier led out discussion on the matter.
“With that we will move to Item 6A,” Frazier announced Jan. 27 after explaining the hearing process. “Item 6-A is the Holcim Mining Permit - MP 2025-001, with Riley Rooney presenting.”
City associate planner Riley Rooney approached the microphone.
“Good evening Mr. Chairman, members of the commission” she said. “Before you this evening is the mining permit for Holcim MWR. I just want to note before we get into everything. This application is separate from the EIS going on for Lower Grey Cloud Drive.” Located at 11250 Grey Cloud Trail, the current mining facility works with aggregate materials to load these onto barges and trucks for transport. Mining volume in 2024 on Lower Grey Cloud reached 510,000 tons, with public safety reporting no noise complaints, Rooney said.
“I should note that most of these materials are being loaded until barges rather than trucks,” she said. “Less than 10,000 tons were hauled on trucks, the rest were taken up to St. Paul via barge and then distributed from there.”
Included in the details of the current mining permit form Holcim was a proposal to continue mining for three to four years, with hopes to process over 700,000 tons of mining aggregate this year. Alongside mining are reclamation efforts, with restoration of oak savanna and prairie areas and removal of non-native plants.
“This year they are planning to continue to reestablish the oak savanna,” Rooney said of current reclamation efforts at the site.
With no commissioner questions for staff, Patty Bestler from Holcim approached the microphone.
“Good evening Chairman Frazier and members of the Planning Commission. I’m Patty Bestler with Holcim - MWR,” she said. “Riley summed up our application very well. It’s status quo, operating as we have for many years.”
Bestler went on to say that a suction dredge added by Holcim in 2023 would be used to help mine an area first mined in the 1950s for material they didn’t have the capability to get at the time. Reclamation work that Holcim is doing with Great River Greening to remove buckthorn and reestablish oak savanna was agreed to by the city back in 2010 she said, “in lieu of us planting many trees down there that were not surviving due to droughts we’ve gone through.” Reclamation work was also working on getting the land to grades desired by the landowner for when it would presumably go to development in many years time.
With no questions from the Commission Derek Rasmussen and Jessica Fisher both thanked the company for their work, including with endangered species at the mine site.
From there it was on to the next presentation, about a proposed land rezone for a proposed new housing development on the Woodbury border. City senior planner Samantha Pierret presented on the proposed rezone and housing development.
“Pulte Homes has applied for a preliminary plat and zoning amendment for their proposed Lochridge subdivision,” she said.
The application by Pulte seeks a zoning amendment for 62.71 acres located just south of Woodbury and west of Jamaica Avenue, moving these to R4 from AG2. The development resulting from this change would be called Lochridge, with 99 single-family lots and 84 townhome lots on the preliminary plat.
“Multiple plat proposals and developments have been brought forward to this commission in the past,” Pierret said. “Challenges have included the presence of bedrock and the Lake Robert wetland, all of which are restricting the buildable area here.”
Included with the proposal and sandwiched between it and Michael’s Pointe was Outlet A, slated for dedication to the city when the site had first been brought to the commission for development in the early 2010s.
As for particulars, Pierret told the Plan Commission that rezoning was consistent with the city’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan, said plan calling for low density residential and parks and open space. Low density residential in the city code calls for two to four units per acre, with the applicant proposing 2.92 units per acre.
No Planned Used Development (PUD) overlay was requested for the site, Pulte following all requirements for R4. Three stormwater ponds are also included in the proposed development.
“Staff has asked that those outlets be as outlets and deeded to the city for stormwater purposes,” Pierret said.
Also included in the Pluto Homes development is a transportation plan for the site, with access from Jamaica Avenue. Pierret said Jamaica was designed for 15,000 trips daily, with current traffic just under a third. Of this. The proposed development by Pulte would add over 1,000 trips daily. A trail around Roberts Lake and tying into the city’s existing trail network would also be part of the proposed new home build. The trail later came up for a prolonged discussion among Commission members, the Commission ultimately recommending 4-3 that the city approve the zoning change “subject to stipulations in the staff report.” Several members of the public also weighed in on the proposed housing development.
Now in council hands, the two applications for mining permit and development named Lochridge will be acted on at the city council’s regular Feb. 19 council meeting.