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commercial façade transparency requirements are not necessarily appropriate for residential buildings. Changes were also made to the commercial façade transparency requirements for building walls that do not face a public street or include the primary building entrance. The revised standards still require these facades to have 20% window coverage, but allow the use of opaque or simulated windows on service areas. The requirement that a minimum of 50% of the first level façade that includes the primary entrance and/or faces a public street include transparent windows and doors would remain unchanged. The City should develop standards that balance between accommodating the need of businesses to use opaque windows for service areas and providing adequate transparent window coverage for architectural interest and to enhance street vitality. For example, concerns have been raised recently about the use of opaque windows by Walgreens Pharmacy on the County Road E façade. However, due to the floor plan design and the placement of storage and service areas along the north building wall, there was a need to make these windows non-transparent. Guidelines for window and door arrangement on a building wall are included in the revisions. These guidelines are meant to ensure consistency between the overall design of the building façade and the placement of window and door openings. The list of acceptable materials for windows and doors complements the permitted building wall materials for the districts. Bicycle Parking Section P of the design standards addresses pedestrian and bicycle circulation improvements. Bike racks shall be guidelines are given on the design, dimensions, or location of bicycle parking, and a minimum number of bicycle parking spaces is not specified. Staff has made revisions to provide greater specification on bicycle parking requirements. These revisions address what qualifies as bicycle parking, where bicycle parking should be located on the site, dimension requirements, and the total number of bicycle parking spaces required. In developing the draft revisions, staff reviewed bicycle parking regulations used in Roseville, St. Paul, and Minneapolis. Additionally, information on dimension criteria for bicycle parking was obtained from the Minnesota Department of Transportation Bikeway Facility Design Manual. Requested Action Review recommendations for amendments to the B-2 District Design Standards and provide further direction to staff. Attachments Working Draft: Section 1325.05, Subd 8. Black-lined Version May 8, 2013, Planning Commission Minutes City of Arden Hills City Council Work Session for October, 21 2013 33 Page of