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<br />City of Arden Hills <br />Planning Commission Meeting for October 5, 2016 <br />P:\Planning\Planning Cases\2016\PC 16-024 - Arden Plaza - 1150 County Road E - Final PUD\Memos_Reports_16-024 <br />Page 2 of 14 <br />1. Overview of Request <br /> <br />MedExpress has requested a Final PUD for Phase II of the Arden Plaza Master PUD to develop <br />Lot 2, Arden Plaza for a 4,733 square foot neighborhood medical clinic. The Master PUD Site <br />Plan shows Phase II being developed as a 6,000 square foot commercial building (Attachment <br />C). The proposal by MedExpress would result in an overall lower density of development on the <br />site than what was originally approved for Phase II. The development plans are in substantial <br />conformance with the Master PUD plans. <br /> <br />MedExpress operates numerous medical centers similar to the one proposed for Arden Plaza <br />across the country, and the company is expanding its operations in Minnesota. Local medical <br />centers have recently opened in the communities of Eden Prairie and Plymouth. MedExpress <br />offers a broad scope of services, including urgent care, employer health services, and basic <br />wellness and prevention services. The Arden Hills center would be open daily from 8:00 a.m. to <br />8:00 p.m. <br /> <br />The proposed site design orients the clinic towards the other buildings within the Arden Plaza <br />retail center with the main entrance located at the southeast corner of the building. Surface <br />parking with a total of 29 stalls would be located on the south side of the lot and would be mostly <br />screened from County Road E by the building and landscaping improvements. Sidewalks have <br />been provided to create pedestrian connections with the public sidewalk on County Road E and <br />the internal retail center sidewalks. <br /> <br />2. Planned Unit Development (PUD) Process: <br /> <br />The Planned Unit Development process is a tool that provides additional flexibility for <br />development that an underlying zoning district would not otherwise allow. For example, a PUD <br />may make exceptions to setbacks, lot coverage, parking requirements, signage, building <br />materials, or landscaping requirements. It is intended to overcome the limitations of zoning <br />regulations and improve the overall design of a project. While the PUD process allows the City <br />to negotiate certain aspects of the development, any conditions imposed on the PUD must have a <br />rational basis related to the expected impact of the development. A PUD cannot be used to <br />permit uses that would not otherwise be permitted in the underlying zoning district. <br /> <br />If a PUD is comprised of multiple lots, it is often treated as one continuous development. The <br />development as a whole would be expected to meet the landscaping, stormwater, and other <br />similar requirements. For example, one property in the PUD may have 60 percent building <br />coverage, but the development as a whole may not exceed 50 percent building coverage to <br />maintain conformance with the underlying zoning district. In order to maintain shared amenities, <br />such as parking spaces, access drives, and stormwater ponds, the development is required to <br />create a legal entity to manage and maintain the shared facilities. <br />