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<br />City of Arden Hills <br />City Council Meeting for October 10, 2016 <br />P:\Planning\Planning Cases\2016\PC 16-030 – Higher Education Moratorium\Memos_Reports_16-030 <br /> <br />Page 1 of 2 <br />CONSENT ITEM – 5C <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br />DATE: October 10, 2016 <br />TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers <br /> Sue Iverson, Interim City Administrator <br /> <br />FROM: Matthew Bachler, Senior Planner <br /> <br />SUBJECT: Planning Case #16-030 <br /> Applicant: City of Arden Hills <br />Request: Ordinance No. 2016-008: An Interim Ordinance Temporarily <br />Prohibiting Land Use Applications and Reviews for Higher Education Uses in <br />Residential, Business, Industrial and Other Zones. <br /> <br /> <br />Requested Action <br /> <br />Motion to adopt Ordinance No. 2016-008: An Interim Ordinance Temporarily Prohibiting Land <br />Use Applications and Reviews for Higher Education Uses in Residential, Business, Industrial <br />and Other Zones. <br /> <br />Background <br /> <br />Over the last several years, both Bethel University and the University of Northwestern have <br />requested higher educational facilities to be located off of their traditional campuses. These <br />previous requests were both in residential and business zoning districts. The City Council <br />discussed the compatibility of higher education uses in industrial districts at its work session on <br />August 15, 2016. At the September 19, 2016 work session, the City Council reviewed a concept <br />plan from the University of Northwestern for the former Smiths Medical facility and expressed a <br />number of concerns about the proposal. <br /> <br />Staff desires to study the concerns raised by the City Council concerning higher education uses <br />in industrial zones, but also study concerns about the location of higher education uses within <br />residential zones (such as dormitories) and commercial zone (such as the conditional uses now <br />allowed in the B-4 zoning district). To allow time for the City to study the impacts of locating <br />higher education uses off campus, staff recommends that the City Council adopt the attached <br />Ordinance placing a temporary moratorium on higher education land use actions for a period of <br />one year for all zones within the City.