Wayzata commission says no' to Boatworks building.

Byline: Matt M. Johnson

The Wayzata Planning Commission is recommending that a massive proposal for mixed-use office and condominium building on the shore of Lake Minnetonka be denied, and other developers in town back that denial.

Rick Born, who owns the 68,000-square-foot Boatworks building at 294 Grove Lane E. is proposing to redevelop the 3-acre site and to build a five-story structure. The building would include 33 condos, 68,000 square feet of office space and an 8,000-square-foot restaurant.

But the proposal, which Born said has been developed over the past two years, ran afoul of the city's height restrictions along Lake Street East, which have generally allowed for only three-story buildings.

The Planning Commission recommended on Monday night that the city reject consideration of Born's request for a text amendment to the city's development code that would allow for the extra height. The body also recommended that the city not consider requests to approve a shore land impact plan and a conditional use permit.

The project was presented to the city last September as a four-story concept. Terry Schneider, who is president of Minnetonka-based Project Developers Inc. and who was Wayzata's mayor between 2008 and 2018, said five or six penthouse condos on the fifth floor priced at a "premium" level were added after the four-story design failed to pencil out. Project Developers is part of the Boatworks redevelopment team.

"It did not work. We could not proceed with it," he told the commission.

Opposition to the plan came principally from three developers working on projects on the other side of Lake Street. They say their projects would lose their views of the lake if the Boatworks redevelopment was allowed. David Carlson, a Wayzata resident and a member of the development team currently building the three-story, 18-unit Wayzata Blu condominium and office/retail projectat 259 Lake St. E., said potential buyers have been scared off by the prospect of lake views being blocked.

"It's costing our project and our partners a lot of money," he told members of the Planning Commission during a public hearing at Monday's meeting.

Brad Hoyt, who received approval last year to build thethree-story Ventana Condosat 253 Lake St. E., told the commission that his opposition to the...