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ARDEN HILLS PLANNING COMMISSION – September 6, 2017 8 Senior Planner Bachler stated any amendments to the regulation of higher education uses will need to be ultimately approved by the City Council by October 9, 2017 before the moratorium expires. The economic development issues will continue to be discussed as the City develops the Comprehensive Plan update, which is expected to be approved in the first quarter of 2018. The existing definition for higher education schools in the City Code is: “Schools, higher education. Junior colleges, colleges and universities approved by the Minnesota Higher Education Coordinating Board for the Minnesota Department of Education.” Senior Planner Bachler commented the proposed Zoning Code amendment would eliminate the existing definition for higher education schools and replace it with two new land use categories: “Higher education, campus” and “Higher education, classroom/office.” The “Higher education, campus” definition would describe the uses expected from a traditional four-year, undergraduate institution. The staff suggested definition is: “Higher education, campus. The facilities for technical colleges, junior colleges, colleges and universities approved by the Minnesota Higher Education Coordinating Board for the Minnesota Department of Education. These facilities can include, but are not limited to, classrooms; laboratories; seminaries; dining and residence halls; athletic, wellness, and spiritual facilities; administrative offices; performance art centers; parking and transit structures; and child care facilities.” Senior Planner Bachler explained the “Higher education, classroom/office” use is intended for classroom space that is becoming more common for off-campus continuing or graduate level education and other higher education uses that function similarly to a traditional office use. The staff suggested definition is: “Higher education, classroom/office. The facilities of technical colleges, junior colleges, colleges and universities approved by the Minnesota Higher Education Coordinating Board for the Minnesota Department of Education that function in a similar way to a traditional business office use regarding traffic, trip generation, parking, hours of operation, noise, odors and other effects. These facilities are limited to classrooms, laboratories integral to training necessary for completion of a degree certification, administrative offices, or similar uses.” Senior Planner Bachler indicated the purpose of the separate Higher Education, Classroom/Office use is to allow for higher education uses that function similar to traditional office uses or have similar impacts or benefits as traditional office uses. The method to ensure that the higher education uses do not create impacts greater than traditional office uses would be to codify conditions and standards that a Conditional Use Permit for higher education uses would need to comply with. These conditions could also address the City Council’s concern that higher education would occupy too much of the City’s limited commercial area. Staff would recommend that Higher Education, Classroom/Office be limited to a conditional use in only the B-2 zoning district. This would be more restrictive than the current Schools, Higher Education use which is a conditional use in the B-4 and Civic Center zoning districts as well. There are currently no higher education uses in the B-4 and Civic Center zoning districts, so no uses would become non-conforming if higher education was eliminated from those zoning districts.