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ARDEN HILLS PLANNING COMMISSION – October 9, 2013 7 City Planner Streff explained that the applicant has applied to expand the higher educational use at 2 Pine Tree Drive to encompass the entire 189,804 square foot facility. Their objective is to purchase the building, and as leases expire, fully occupy the structure within 5 to 15 years. Bethel University has a plan to slowly expand their higher education uses, including administrative offices, general and specialized classrooms, meeting rooms and other general educational uses into the space. Bethel University previously obtained a conditional use permit (Planning Case #13-008) from the City to occupy approximately 26,000 square feet of the Country Financial building for higher education. The approval was granted for higher education but requires the University to seek additional approval for any expansion or intensification of the use. City Planner Streff stated the property located at 2 Pine Tree Drive is currently owned by Mutual Services Life Insurance Company (c/o Country Life Insurance Company) also known as Country Financial. The property is generally positioned north of Lake Josephine, south of County Road E, east of Highway 51/Snelling Avenue and west of Lexington Avenue. The property consists of three (3) parcels that total approximately forty-three (43) acres. Of the three (3) continuous parcels only the northern two have associated functions that currently relate to the proposed principle use of the property. The northern parcel which is 21.52 acres in size contains the access road off of Pine Tree Drive and the majority of the surface parking. The center parcel which is 19.16 acres in size contains the one (1) existing building and a small fraction of the surface parking. The remaining undeveloped parcel to the south is 2.43 acres in size and is made up of mainly woodlands and wetlands. City Planner Streff commented that the property is located within the B-2 General Business District, where higher educational uses are permitted by conditional use permit. The property includes a five (5) story, 189,804 square foot multi-tenant office building, of which 181,432 is rentable. At this time approximately 75,000 square feet of the building is occupied by Country Financial and other tenants of the building. Approximately sixty percent (60%) of the building is currently vacant. City Planner Streff stated that according to the information provided by Bethel University the property would have a diverse mixture of normal daytime office uses along with both daytime and evening classes. The University is planning for a mix of transportation modes to be used between the two campuses, including shuttle service, carpooling, personal vehicles, walking and biking. Shuttle services to and from the main campus would be provided to the students, guests, faculty and administration staff on a daily basis. A pedestrian and bicycle trail connecting the two campuses is also a desire of the University in order to provide safe routes for their entire student body. City Planner Streff reported classes at the Pine Tree location would be held between the hours of 7:00 am and 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Evening classes would also be offered and would generally be between the hours of 5:00 pm and 9:00 pm, Monday through Thursday. Peak classroom usage, Monday through Friday, is between 350 and 500 students during daytime hours and peaks between 240 and 375 students during the evening hours, Monday through Thursday. As shown by the applicant, two scenarios have been developed to understand the use of the Pine Tree Campus in terms of its student, faculty and administrative populations. Scenario 1 indicates the likely use of the facility at full capacity would be 797 people/seats. This scenario accounts for 237 staff or faculty and 560 classroom seats. Scenario 2 suggests the maximum capacity of