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ARDEN HILLS PLANNING COMMISSION – March 4, 2015 2 City Planner Streff explained that Landmark of Arden Hills has a purchase agreement with Bethel University for approximately 4.77 acres of land consisting of two contiguous parcels at 1941 and 1901 County Road E2. The property at 1941 County Road E2 is the site of the former Ramsey County library, which closed in December of 2010. The Minnesota Baptist Conference occupied the facility at 1901 County Road E2 for a number of years beginning in the early 1970s, but this structure is also currently vacant. The applicant is requesting approval for a project that would result in the redevelopment of both properties for seven (7) single-family homes. City Planner Streff commented that the property at 1941 County Road E2 is zoned R-1 Single Family Residential and is guided for Public Institutional uses in the City’s 2030 Comprehensive Plan. The adjacent property at 1901 County Road E2 is now zoned N-B Neighborhood Business and is also guided for Neighborhood Business uses in the Comprehensive Plan. The site is bordered to the north and east by a system of wetlands within Tony Schmidt Regional Park, managed by Ramsey County. Generally, the topography of the properties is relatively flat around where the existing structures are located, but slopes down more significantly along the northern and eastern edges of the site. Small wetland areas are present in the far northeast and southeast corners of the site and are currently protected by easements held by the Rice Creek Watershed District. The Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Department has a sixty-eight (68) foot wide easement across the western portion of the 1941 County Road E2 property for the purpose of a future trail connection through the wetland complex in Tony Schmidt Regional Park. City Planner Streff indicated that the site is approximately 4.77 gross acres in size and located near the intersection of New Brighton Road and County Road E2 and bordered by Tony Schmidt Regional Park to the north. The site is comprised of two contiguous parcels, both of which have existing structures on them that would be demolished as part of the project. Three separate driveways on County Road E2 currently provide access to the properties. After accounting for the right-of-way area that extends into County Road E2 and the flood plain/wetlands areas located on the site, 4.54 acres of net buildable area exists on the site. The applicant is requesting approval to subdivide the site into seven (7) single-family lots. In this case, the applicant is proposing four (4) driveways from County Road E2 in order to provide access to the residential lots. This is an increase of one (1) additional driveway from the existing conditions. Limiting driveways from County Road E2 is accomplished by incorporating shared access from the County roadway for six of the proposed lots. The plans as submitted indicate that every other property would share an access with the neighboring property, except the easternmost lot would have its own individual access from County Road E2. City Planner Streff stated that in addition to the Preliminary & Final Plat for the subdivision, a rezoning and Comprehensive Plan amendment are being requested. Both properties would be rezoned to the R-2 Single and Two Family Residential District. In order to rezone the properties, the City’s 2030 Comprehensive Plan needs to be amended to reflect the new Very Low Density Residential land use for the site. Planning Case 15-004 includes three (3) requests: 1. Preliminary & Final Plat. 2. Rezoning to amend the zoning designation for 1941 County Road E2 and 1901 County Road E2 to R-2 Single and Two Family Residential District. 3. Comprehensive Plan Amendment to amend the 2030 Future Land Use Map to classify 1941 and 1901 County Road E2 as Very Low Density Residential land use.