September 6, RE: Windrose buffer. Dear Eric:

September 6, 2018 City of Maple Grove Eric Zweber, Interim Community Development Director 12800 Arbor Lakes Parkway P.O. Box 1180 Maple Grove, MN 55311-6180 RE: Windrose buffer Dear Eric: I am writing this letter as a follow up to the August 27 th Planning Commission meeting at which time our Windrose application was tabled. Our intent is to clearly outline our approach in dealing with the appearance of the neighboring storage yard to the east. We sometimes sell multiple homes to people over their lifetimes. They oftentimes refer their friends and relatives to our company. We have a vested interest in creating neighborhoods that are attractive and live well. We have a vested interest in building homes that are durable and that live well. We routinely proactively take steps to create the good will necessary to leave our customers with a positive feeling about our firm. From our experience, there are steps we can take to mitigate potential objections. Following is a description of the steps we have planned to take for this potential objection. 1. Disclosure Statement Each developed property has potential objections by home buyers. These may include the smells of farm fields, airplanes flying overhead, the sounds of nearby highways, and future commercial/industrial uses nearby. We have learned over the years to do the best job we can of informing our buyers of potential objections. All parties benefit from clear, solid communication. We create a disclosure statement for each of our neighborhoods and have every buyer read and sign the document to ensure that they are aware of these potential objections. In Windrose, one potential objection is the view from new homes to the existing storage yard to the east. We will carefully describe activities that go on with the storage business and clearly state that from their second floors they will see over the fence. We will further go on to describe the various uses that may be developed on the storage property in the

future, such as retail, office, multifamily housing, or single-family housing. The act of creating a disclosure statement and requiring all buyers to read it goes a long way in setting reasonable expectations with our buyers. For those potential buyers who find the objections to be too great, they will not buy home in this location. 2. Fence Whenever a visual objection exists from our neighborhoods, we consider the desires of our buyers. What would they expect? In this case we are dealing with multifamily buyers, who typically have higher tolerance levels than single-family home buyers. However, we recognize that some of our buyers may expect some type of visual barrier between the rears of their homes and the storage yard. We have chosen to create a permanent, opaque barrier: a privacy fence. Landscaping is also sometimes used to create a buffer. However, a row of trees is not always opaque. A fence is the ultimate in creating a visual barrier that separates uses. From our experience, a six-foot high fence is sufficient to create the necessary visual barrier. We will be constructing an eight-foot high Galveston privacy vinyl fence along most of the shared boundary with the storage yard (see landscape plan and attached fence graphics). In the area where the fence will not be constructed, we have an existing row of mature coniferous trees and a 3 to 5- foot tall retaining wall acting as a visual barrier to the farm. From our experience, these home buyers will find these visual barriers to be reasonable and desirable. Please call me at 952-229-0722 or email me at paul.heuer@pultegroup.com with any questions. Sincerely, Pulte Homes of Minnesota, LLC Paul Heuer Director of Land Planning & Entitlements

LANDSCAPE SCHEDULE TROY LANE (C.R. 101) LEGEND LANDSCAPE NOTES 8FT PRIVACY FENCE Know what's below. Call before you dig. Dial 811 LANDSCAPE PLAN WINDROSE LANDSCAPE REQUIREMENTS SITE DATA CONCEPT STAGE PLAN, DEV. STAGE PLAN, & FINAL PLAT BASS LAKE ROAD (C.R. 10) 733 Marquette Ave, Ste 700 Minneapolis, MN 55402 MAIN 612.758.3080 FAX 612.758.3099 www.alliant-inc.com