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_________________________________________________________________________________________ City of Arden Hills Planning Commission Meeting for March 8, 2017 P:\Planning\Planning Cases\2017\PC 17-006 - Higher Education Study\Memos_Reports_17-006 Page 6 of 10 • Implementation of City Plans: The City has adopted a guiding plan for the B-2 district, and one of the purposes of the district is to implement that plan. The B-3 and B-4 districts do not have guiding plans. • Flexibility in Land Uses & Site Development Standards: The B-3 district promotes more flexibility in these areas than in other districts in order to achieve the ultimate goals of the district. • Grouping/Critical Mass: All three of these districts emphasize the importance of grouping similar and mutually supportive businesses together. • Business Prosperity: This topic is in the purpose statements of the B-3 and B-4 districts. • Redevelopment: Redevelopment is stated as a priority within the B-3 and B-4 districts. It discusses allowing transitional reuse of buildings until they can be redeveloped and prohibiting uses that would impede redevelopment. • Surrounding Communities: Allowing for uses that serve not only residents, but surrounding communities is a priority in the B-4 district. • Serving the Community and Motorists: Maintaining an adequate supply of different businesses to serve residents, and having businesses with easy access to arterial streets and highways is emphasized in the B-3 district. Uses Allowed: These three districts have fourteen industries that are allowed in all of them. The only industry that is not universally allowed is Real Estate and Rental Leasing, which is only allowed by Conditional Use Permit in B-3. Group 3: Gateway Business (GB) and I-FLEX Purpose Topics: • Architectural/Identity Elements: This topic is present in the purpose statement for the GB district. The GB district is an entry point to the City and highly visible to motorists passing through. • Nuisances/Traffic: Both of the districts emphasize only allowing uses that will not create traffic issues on surrounding roads. • Natural Resources/Environmental Elements: A purpose of the GB district is to protect the site’s natural resources. • Implementation of City Plans: The City has adopted a Comprehensive Development Plan called the I-694/I-35W Plan that pertains to the GB area, and a purpose of the district is to implement that plan. • Flexibility in Land Uses & Site Development Standards: One purpose of the I-FLEX district is to allow flexibility in standards. This item is not present in the GB purpose statement. • Maintain Existing Character: This topic is repeated several times in the purpose statements for the I-FLEX district. The goal is to protect and enhance existing development, while also allowing for new development that fits with the existing character of the area.