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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL – JANUARY 26, 2015 10 for use as administrative offices and storage. The existing building is a one story split-level with 23,155 square feet of space on the main level and an additional 18,661 square feet in the basement area. Frattallone’s is proposing to renovate 12,770 square feet on the main floor for general office space and 8,746 square feet of space in the basement area for storage space for off-season items for the hardware store operations. The remaining 20,300 square feet in the building would remain unoccupied at this time. The renovations do not include alterations to the exterior of the site other than resurfacing and restriping the existing parking area. A fifteen-foot wide one way traffic lane is proposed with vehicles entering at the eastern access driveway and exiting at the west end of the parking lot. Associate Planner Bachler indicated that the property is located in the City’s B-2 General Business District. The Zoning Code requires that proposals for new construction, redevelopment of a site, and significant modifications to existing sites in this district to use the Planned Unit Development (PUD) process. However, minor internal alterations to buildings and the maintenance of existing exterior feature such as façades, signage, landscaping, and parking lots are not considered to be significant modifications and are exempt from the PUD process. The City has also adopted design standards for properties in the B-2 District. The standards in this section only apply to building or site elements being developed or significantly altered and are not applicable in this case. Associate Planner Bachler explained that the applicant has requested a Site Plan Review for a reduction in the number of required parking stalls for the proposed use of the building. Under the City’s Zoning Code, the number of spaces required for a specific use may be reduced through the Site Plan Review process if documentation can be provided that a lesser number of spaces will actually be needed. Associate Planner Bachler noted that the Zoning Code requires that a minimum of one parking stall be provided for every 250 square feet of gross floor area for office uses. Based on the proposal for 12,770 square feet of office space, 51 stalls would be required. For warehousing uses, one stall is required per 1,000 square feet of floor area. The additional 8,746 square feet used for storage would require 9 stalls for a combined total of 60 required parking spaces for both uses. The proposed site plan includes a total of 26 parking spaces for a parking deficiency of 34 stalls. Associate Planner Bachler stated that it is unclear the total number of existing stalls within the parking area because the striping on the surface has faded. As part of a variance request that was approved by the City in Planning Case 75-009, the property was permitted a reduction in the required number of parking spaces from 89 to 41 stalls. However, as noted by the property owner in their application, in order to satisfy the City’s dimensional requirements for individual parking spaces, only 26 spaces can be accommodated within the boundaries of the existing parking lot. Associate Planner Bachler commented that the applicant has provided a letter explaining why a reduced number of parking stalls will be sufficient for the proposed uses on the site. Frattallone’s intends to only have 13 administrative staff working at the site and does not foresee growing their staff to more than 25. The applicant also does not expect the storage use to have an impact on the parking needs for the site. The storage area in the building will be used for keeping winter materials in the summer months and lawn and garden equipment during the winter. Loading and