Laserfiche WebLink
Page 4 of 7 <br /> <br />Town Center and Transition Neighborhood <br /> <br />The Town Center District allows high-density housing and certain free-standing commercial <br />uses. Developers have expressed significant concerns regarding mixed-use residential buildings. <br />Developers felt that requiring commercial readiness on the ground floor of pedestrian frontages <br />(to allow for mixed-use conversion at a later date) would be financially risky and would be a <br />disincentive for development. In response to these concerns, the City Council prohibited <br />residential as a component of mixed use buildings on TCAAP. Mixed use buildings with office <br />and retail are allowed. The maximum density in the town center neighborhood is 40 units per <br />acre. <br /> <br />The Transition Neighborhood is zoned to allow small- and medium-density multi-family as well <br />as small-scale commercial uses such as restaurants, banks, daycares, and retail. This district is <br />intended to provide a transition from the relatively low-density single-family neighborhoods to <br />the higher-density Town Center District. While the maximum overall density is expected to be <br />10 units per acre, the City Council has directed staff to draft zoning in which the Transition <br />Neighborhood is divided into higher- and lower-density zones. The City Council’s goal with the <br />new zones is to ensure that diverse housing products are built. In other words, they would prefer <br />a combination of row homes, townhomes, cottage homes, and small lot single-family as opposed <br />to one product type across the entire neighborhood. The new zoning districts will be presented <br />for City Council review in January 2015. <br /> <br /> <br />Spine Road Realignment <br /> <br />Ramsey County has requested that the City consider a realignment of the Spine Road to allow a <br />20-acre retail parcel on the west side of the Spine Road as well as a 20-acre office parcel that is <br />far enough north to allow visibility from I-35W. The City Council is generally supportive of this <br />request and has provided direction on shifts in land uses on the east side of the spine road to <br />accommodate the realignment: <br />• Realign green spaces west of the Spine Road and in the Town Center so that they are <br />along an east-west pedestrian corridor <br />• Reduce retail space on the east side of the Spine Road by roughly half to approximately <br />2.5 acres <br />• Increase gross acreage for Town Center to approximately 17 to 18 acres <br /> <br />Projected Density and Number of Units <br /> <br />Based on City Council direction on the residential neighborhoods, the following chart includes <br />estimates of total units and maximum residential density. The following chart does not take into <br />account shifts in land uses as a result of the Spine Road realignment. Once the consultants are <br />able to provide updated maps and acreages, revised numbers will be provided to the City Council <br />and JDA.