590 homes proposed for Otsego.

Byline: Brian Johnson

A proposed housing development could bring nearly 600 new dwellings to the growing city of Otsego in the coming years.

Waconia-based Tamarack Land Development is proposing up to 590 housing units on a 208-acre farm property in the northwest Twin Cities suburb, which is roughly 31 miles northwest of downtown Minneapolis and 41 miles southeast of St. Cloud.

The city is doing an environmental review of the proposed Hunter Hill residential development. The housing mix includes 454 single-family houses and 136 attached twin homes and townhomes, according to a newly released environmental document.

The developer and Otsego officials couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday. The city is taking comments on the development's potential environmental impacts through June 25.

Surrounded by cropland, a dairy farm and existing homes, the development site has been in agricultural use since at least the 1930s, according to an environmental assessment worksheet. It's just east of LaBeaux Avenue/Highway 19 and north of 80th Street Northeast.

It's "anticipated" that construction will start in spring of 2020 and play out over the next five to 15 years, depending on market conditions, according to the EAW. A homeowners' association would serve at least some of the development, the EAW noted.

The development would do its part to add more roofs to a growing city. Otsego's comprehensive plan, which was most recently updated in December 2012, expects the city's population to grow from 19,040 residents in 2020 to 28,000 in 2030, a 47% increase.

Single-family homes account for 76.5% of the city's existing residential development, with a smattering of townhomes (21.3%) and manufactured homes (2.2%) rounding out the housing stock, the comprehensive plan notes.

Through April, the city has issued permits for 65 new homes this year, according to the Keystone Report, which tracks homebuilding permits in the 13-county metro area. In 2019, the city issued permits for 311 new dwellings, up 6% from 2018, according to Keystone.

On the Hunter Hills...