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