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Plan Evaluation 1. Rezoning and Comprehensive Plan Amendment (CPA) The City’s 2030 Comprehensive Plan lays out the future land uses that are anticipated for all properties within the City. Based on the future land uses, the City can plan for improvements, anticipate infrastructure needs, and create appropriate land use regulations. The City’s Zoning Code identifies specific zoning districts through which the land uses and goals in the Comprehensive Plan can be implemented. The zoning cannot conflict with the future land use designation. When there is a conflict between a city’s comprehensive plan and a zoning code, the city is required to amend the zoning code to comply with the comprehensive plan, unless the city approves an amendment to the comprehensive plan. The Metropolitan Council has the final determination as to whether to allow a CPA or not, though they provide great deference to the City as long as the proposed land use change does not have a negative impact on a regional system (i.e. transportation, sanitary sewer, and regional parks). A city has broad discretion when reviewing whether to rezone a property or amend its Comprehensive Plan. Questions to consider include whether or not the proposed project forwards the broader goals and vision for the City? Would the rezoned property allow for a better development than the current zoning would permit? Is the proposed zoning district appropriate to that particular location? Would the proposed change forward the goals of the comprehensive plan? As part of the CPA for the Valentine Cove project, a change in land use designation from Public Institutional (1941 County Road E2) and Neighborhood Business (1901 County Road E2) to Very Low Density Residential at approximately 1.71 units per acre is being requested. The City’s 2030 Future Land Use Map would be amended to re-designate the property to reflect the change in land use classification. The Very Low Density Residential land use category allows for development at a net density of 1.5 to 3 units per acre. Net density is defined as the number of dwelling units per acre of land when the acreage involved includes only land for residential uses and excludes arterial street rights of way, wetlands and water features, and other publicly dedicated improvements, such as parks. If the City approves the CPA, one of the conditions of approval will be that the project is contingent on final approval from the Metropolitan Council. The request for the Future Land Use Map amendment will need to be submitted to the Metropolitan Council by the City. The Metropolitan Council then has 60 days to review the application, though due to the small size of the project and the lack of negative impacts, the City will be requesting a shortened review timeline of 14 days. Once the Metropolitan Council completes their review, they will notify the City of their decision. If the CPA is approved, the applicant can move forward with filing the Final Plat and applying for development permits. The City must also allow adjacent governments, affected special districts, and affected school districts up to 60 days to review the comprehensive plan amendment. This waiting period allows City of Arden Hills Planning Commission Meeting for January 7, 2014 P:\Planning\Planning Cases\2014\PC 14-034 - Valentine Cove - Plat and PUD\Memos_Reports_14-034 Page 4 of 14