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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION – JUNE 26, 2017 4 stated it is proposed to eliminate the higher education land use designation and replace the category with “college campus” and “college office” so that there is a breakdown. Councilmember Holden was concerned this terminology would be too restrictive and questioned the definition of higher education. Eric Zweber, Interim City Planner, gave the example about STEM colleges, noting that those facilities may appear to behave like an office but could have HVAC systems powering their vent hoods. Some of those facilities also have outdoor storage of chemicals and gasses, so in these cases do not behave as an office and would need to have a college campus designation. He stated basically it comes down to what classes the educational institution is offering. Councilmember Holden was concerned that this terminology would be inclusive of Bethel and Northwestern but exclusive of everyone else. A short discussion ensued regarding higher education uses in the R1 and B1 districts. Mayor Grant asked if “college campus” could be a zone of its own. Interim City Planner Zweber stated that many communities have institutional zoning districts where educational facilities exist and many have a standalone zoning district specifically for colleges. Councilmember Holmes stated it is confusing that Northwestern is in the R1 district with a PUD and Bethel is in the B1 district with a CUP. She stated it would help if there were consistency in the Zoning Code as to what college campuses are zoned. Interim City Planner Zweber asked if the Council would like to remove the existing school higher education classification from the Zoning Code and replace it with the two separate uses. Councilmember Holden asked if that change occurs, would no higher education, other than a traditional college, be allowed in Arden Hills. Interim City Planner Zweber stated it is expected that the definition would be broader than simply college and would include, for example, a Rasmussen business school or some other technical college or VoTech. He stated the term “college” is used generally and wanted to know what the Council viewed as higher education. A short discussion ensued about the definition of higher education. City Administrator Joynes stated that he formerly was the Dean at Hamline University which also has a campus on the west side of the Twin Cities. He indicated that particular location was deemed as “college office” as it consisted of classrooms and computer labs with some office space and it mainly served graduate students. He said there were no ancillary spaces such as dining or athletic facilities. So in that example, “college office” would relate to a graduate school, a VoTech or a number of other things. He stated the misleading term is the word “office” and that perhaps a different title would be better.