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_________________________________________________________________________________________ <br />City of Arden Hills <br />Planning Commission Meeting for September 6, 2017 <br />P:\Planning\Planning Cases\2017\PC 17-020 - Zoning Code Amendment - Higher Education Land <br />Uses\Memos_Reports_17-020 <br />Page 8 of 13 <br />the value of both Universities to the City of Arden Hills. The second paragraph asks for the <br />City’s participation in the three “C’s” (city-colleges-corporations) collaboration. The third <br />paragraph contends that there are many commercial and industrial vacancies and that other <br />communities are recruiting businesses away from the City. This last contention is not supported <br />by the evidence within the study report and seems to indicate that the Smiths Medical situation is <br />repeating itself elsewhere within the City. <br /> <br />Planning Commissioner Lambeth Comment Letter <br /> <br />Following the August 9th Planning Commission meeting, Planning Commissioner Jim Lambeth <br />provided his own personal comments (Attachment E) on the Commercial, Industrial, and Higher <br />Education Study. Mr. Lambeth’s comments have been summarized as follows: <br />1. Encourages City Officials to collaborate with Bethel University and the University of <br />Northwestern. <br />2. Recommends the adoption of the “Higher education, campus” definition as proposed. <br />3. Recommends the adoption of the “Higher education, classroom/office” definition as <br />proposed. <br />4. Recommends the adoption of the B-2 higher education, classroom/office CUP criteria as <br />proposed. <br />5. Recommends the adoption of the INST – Institutional zoning district as proposed. <br />6. Recommends allowing higher education uses in multiple zoning districts. <br />7. Recommends a requirement that any off-campus expansion of the universities would <br />occur as a lease, not through the universities owning the property. <br /> <br />Mr. Lambeth’s comments 1 through 5 are similar to the comments made by the other Planning <br />Commissioners at the August 9 meeting. Comment 6 was not expressed by any other Planning <br />Commissioners and is counter to previous City Council direction. Comment 7 regarding lease <br />versus purchase was discussed during the Planning Commission meeting, but staff does not <br />believe that this could be enforced after the permit is issued. The City Attorney would need to be <br />consulted on the legality of requiring the universities to lease building space. <br /> <br />August 21, 2017 City Council Work Session <br /> <br />The City Council discussed the Commercial, Industrial, and Higher Education Study report and <br />the proposed amendments to the Zoning Ordinance at their August 21 Work Session. The City <br />Council did not request any changes to the “Higher education, campus” definition nor the “INT – <br />Intuitional zoning district. The discussion was focused on the uses allowed within the “Higher <br />education, classroom/office” and the criteria used to evaluate the CUP. Mayor Grant stated that <br />he would support removing classrooms from this definition and allowing only administrative <br />offices. The other four City Councilmembers desired the classrooms to remain and even <br />discussed what other type of classroom supportive uses, such as laboratories and libraries, should <br />also be allowed. Based on this discussion, the phrase “laboratories integral to training <br />necessary for completion of a degree certification” was added to the definition of “Higher