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City of Arden Hills City Council Meeting for May 26, 2015 P:\Planning\Planning Cases\2015\PC 15-008 - Holiday Station - PUD Amendment\Memos_15-008 Page 4 of 7 1. Existing and anticipated traffic and parking conditions; 2. Noise, glare, odors, vibration, smoke, dust, air pollution, heat, liquid or solid waste, and other nuisance characteristics; 3. Drainage; 4. Population density; 5. Visual and land use compatibility with uses and structures on surrounding land; 6. Adjoining land values; 7. Park dedications where applicable; and the 8. Orderly development of the neighborhood and the City within the general purpose and intent of this ordinance and the Comprehensive Development Plan for the City. Discussion The Planning Commission has recommended two conditions that would require automatic dimmers to be installed to reduce the nighttime brightness of the proposed architectural accent lighting and the existing LED lights on the Holiday monument sign. Each dimmer would reduce the light output of the fixtures to 350 nits at night. As a point of comparison, Holiday recently recorded a reading of 1,113 nits for the blue LED lights on the monument sign. The applicant has agreed to these conditions and would work with staff on completing a test of the light fixtures after installation to ensure compliance. A nit measures luminance, or how bright a light fixture is at its source. The technical definition for this unit of measurement is one nit is equal to one candela per square meter. A common candle has a luminous intensity of approximately one candela. Currently, the City does not have standards in place for the permitted luminance of decorative accent lighting. The Zoning Code only regulates the illuminance of a light fixture, which is the amount of light falling onto a surface. The nighttime requirement of 350 nits or less recommended by the Planning Commission was based on standards adopted by the City of Bloomington, Minnesota. Bloomington requires that unshielded decorative lighting on sites which are visible and within 500 feet of residential properties maintain a reading of no more than 350 nits during nighttime hours. This also corresponds with the recommendation of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA), which has determined 300-350 nits to be acceptable for nighttime brightness. Findings of Fact The Planning Commission reviewed Planning Case 15-008 at their regular meeting on May 6, 2015. Draft minutes from the meeting are included in Attachment I. The Planning Commission offers the following findings of fact for consideration: