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AGENDA ITEM C MEMORANDUM DATE: August 19, 2013 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers Patrick Klaers, City Administrator FROM: Ryan Streff, City Planner SUBJECT: Bethel University Discussion Background/Discussion Bethel University has submitted a letter of intent to purchase the entire Country Financial property located at 2 Pine Tree Drive. Their objective is to purchase the building, and as leases expire, fully occupy the structure within 5 to 15 years. During this time Bethel University would slowly expand their higher education uses, including administrative offices, general and specialized classrooms, meeting rooms and other general educational uses into the space. As part of their due diligence prior to purchasing the site, Bethel University intends to apply for a conditional use permit that would allow the entire site to be converted to educational use. The Country Financial property, currently a multi-tenant building, is approximately 200,000 square feet in size on two tracts of land that total 40.68 acres. The property is located within the B2 Zoning District, where higher educational uses by conditional use permit are allowed. In June of 2013, the City Council approved CUP #13-008 to allow a higher educational use within the Country Financial building. The approval granted Bethel University the ability to occupy 26,000 square feet of space in the building, and required Bethel University to seek City approval for any expansion or intensification of the use. Discussion Topics 1.Consolidation of uses and other buildings used by Bethel University. 2.Safe connections between campuses (i.e. trails and sidewalks). Attachments Attachment A: Site Map Attachment B: Bethel University Campus Master Plan Executive Summary 2012 Attachment C: Letter from Kathleen Nelson dated August 5, 2013 Attachment D: Bethel University Preliminary Planning Document 11 Page of