05-04-15-WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—MAY 4, 2015 4 Mayor Grant reconvened the special City Council work session at 8:15 p.m. Councilmember Woodburn shared a handout with the Council on warehousing. Councilmember Holden inquired about the warehousing definitions and how they fit with the TRC. Community Development Director Hutmacher stated that warehousing is not permitted. She noted that definitions only appear in the TRC if they are not already in the Arden Hills Zoning Code. She passed out a memo written by Matthew Bachler regarding regulations on warehousing uses within the TRC. Councilmember Holmes stated that she felt that the Code was unclear and asked that warehousing be removed from pages 33 and 35. Councilmember Holden suggested that language be added stating that warehousing is only allowed as an accessory use to manufacturing. Councilmember Holmes stated that table 5.2 indicates that buildings where manufacturing and processing are a principal or accessory use, a minimum of 30 percent of the gross building square footage must be in office use. She said that there is no way to interpret that differently. She suggested that warehousing be taken out as an industrial use on page 33 as well as removing it from page 35. Councilmember Holden questioned if warehousing had to be in the same building as manufacturing. She also questioned what temporary means. Further discussion ensued regarding whether or not the Council wanted a building that is 30 percent office and 70 percent warehouse. Council agreed that they did not want the definition to be ambiguous. Consensus was to have staff work with the City Attorney to establish the appropriate language within the Code. Councilmember Holmes suggested that the Council discuss the gateway overlay. She stated that the developers have said that people will not want to drive through industrial areas to get to their million dollar homes. She felt the gateway overlay was too vague in the TRC. Mayor Grant agreed and stated that he did not want the gateway overlay language to be vague. Councilmember Holmes noted that the Code simply states that "more landscaping" will be required and she questioned what that means. Community Development Director Hutmacher stated that the type and amount of landscaping is at the discretion of staff and the Joint Development Authority. She indicated that there will be more required than just enhanced landscaping. Councilmember Holden suggested that trees could be spaced differently than they are along the Spine Road and that the lighting could also be different.