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to slowly expand their higher education uses, including administrative offices, general and <br />specialized classrooms, meeting rooms and other general educational uses into the space. Bethel <br />University previously obtained a conditional use permit (Planning Case#13-008) from the City <br />to occupy approximately 26,000 square feet of the County Financial building for higher <br />education. The approval was granted for higher education but requires the University to seek <br />additional approval for any expansion or intensification of the use. <br />Theproperty located at 2 Pine Tree Driveiscurrently owned by Mutual Services Life Insurance <br />Company (c/o Country Life Insurance Company)alsoknown as Country Financial.The <br />property is generallypositioned north of Lake Josephine, south of County Road E, east of <br />Highway 51/Snelling Avenue and west of Lexington Avenue. The property consists of three (3) <br />parcels that total approximately forty-three (43) acres.Of the three (3) continuous parcels only <br />the northern two have associated functions that currently relate to the proposed principle useof <br />the property.The northern parcel which is 21.52 acres in size contains the access road off of <br />Pine Tree Drive and the majority of the surface parking. The center parcel which is 19.16 acres <br />in size contains the one (1) existing building and a small fraction of the surface parking. The <br />remaining undeveloped parcel to the south is 2.43 acres in size and is made upof mainly <br />woodlands and wetlands. <br />The property is located within the B-2 General Business District, where higher educational uses <br />are permitted by conditional use permit.The property includes a five (5) story, 189,804square <br />foot multi-tenant office building, of which 181,432 is rentable. At this timeapproximately <br />75,000 square feet of the building is occupied by Country Financial and other tenants of the <br />building.Approximately sixty percent (60%)of the building is currently vacant. <br />According to the information provided by Bethel University the property would have a diverse <br />mixture of normaldaytime office uses along with both daytime and evening classes. The <br />University is planning for a mix of transportation modes to be used between the two campuses, <br />including shuttle service, carpooling, personal vehicles, walking and biking. Shuttle services to <br />and from the main campus would be provided to the students, guests, faculty and administration <br />staff on a daily basis.A pedestrianand bicycletrail connecting the two campuses is also a desire <br />of the University in order to provide safe routes for theirentire student body. <br />Primarilyclasses at the Pine Tree location would be held between the hours of 7:00 am and 5:00 <br />pm, Monday through Friday. Evening classeswould also be offeredand would generally be <br />between the hours of 5:00 pm and 9:00 pm, Monday through Thursday.Peak classroom usage, <br />Monday through Friday,is between 350 and 500 students during daytime hoursand peaks <br />between 240 and 375 students during the evening hours,Monday through Thursday. As shown <br />by the applicant,two scenarios have been developed to understand the use of the Pine Tree <br />Campus in terms of its student, faculty and administrative populations. Scenario 1 indicates the <br />likely useof the facility at full capacitywould be 797 people/seats.Thisscenarioaccounts for <br />237 staff or faculty and 560 classroom seats. Scenario 2 suggests the maximum capacityof the <br />facility would be873 people/seats. This scenario indicates that 203 staff or faculty and 670 <br />classroom seatswould utilize the facility.(See Attachment C & D) <br />City of Arden Hills <br />Planning Commission Meeting for October 9, 2013 <br />P:\Planning\Planning Cases\2013\PC 13-013 -Bethel University CUP -Higher Education Use <br />Page 2of 9 <br />