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U • Published By The Arden Association No. 106 March 1977 T OAs with Jimmy Carter, who started his new term in the office of President of the United States facing a nation and a world in the throes of a Winter of our Discontent, so too C N with the Arden Hills Council. RThe issues of the Proposed Zoning Ordinance and the expansion plans of Northwestern Col- lege have been simmering and bubbling for a long while and are now boiling. These two issues are closely inter -twined and one can- • • • not be discussed without reference to the other. Here goes: On February 29, 1976 Northwestern College made application for a Special Use Permit to construct and operate a Fine Arts Center on its campus in Arden Hills III. This proposed expansion of the institution, which is bounded on two sides by an old and established Arden Hills residential community, on the third by Lake Johanna and on the fourth by Roseville, was a source of immediate concern to adjacent A.H. residents. The ArdenIIIAssociation, a long-standing association of neighbors joined together over the years to maintain the quality of their residential area and its beach, looked at the plans for the building, expansion of on -campus parking facilities and other growth possibilities, with growing alarm. The issue was under discussion in the Planning Commission throughout the summer of 1976. On August 3, 1976 the Commission recommended to Council that the Special Use Permit for the Fine Arts Building be approved, with a long list of 'conditions'. Despite a history of normally supporting recommendations from its various advisory committees, Council did not support the Commission's recommendation for approval of the Special Use Permit and voted 3 to 1 to deny it. (At this time Council was composed of the Mayor and three Councilmen instead of the usual four Councilmen due to the recent resignation of Bill Feyereisen.) Having great bearing on the issue and its outcome was the status of the new Proposed Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance and Map, which by now was in the hands of Council awaiting adoption. Discussion and development of this Ordinance had been going on for some 3 -plus years, involving not only current members of the Council and the Planning Commission, but also previous Council and Planning Commission members. The purpose of a new Zoning Ordinance was to up -date the existing Ordinance, adopted in 1966, and amendments made to it in the past ten years. Naturally enough.after years of being -in -the -works, those involved in government and planning would welcome adoption of the new Ordinance.