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City of Arden Hills City Council Meeting for June 11, 2018 P:\Planning\Planning Cases\2018\PC 18-010 - 4061 Lexington Avenue - Site Plan Review\Memos_Reports_18-010 Page 2 of 7 Primrose Schools is a national system of private preschools that provide child care and early education. There are currently over 300 centers nationally, including 17 locations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. Primrose is considering purchasing the property located at 4061 Lexington Avenue for a daycare center and has requested a Site Plan Review to complete site modifications. The subject property is currently owned by Bremer Bank and includes an approximately 18,000 gross square foot bank and office building. Primrose would remodel the existing building to include 12 daycare rooms for up to 176 children ranging from infants to school-aged children. The basement of the building would be utilized for food preparation, staff space, a conference room, and storage. Primrose would only be completing minor modifications to the building’s exterior, such as installing new doors. The parking stalls and drive lanes on the west and south side of the building would be replaced with a 13,500 square foot playground area. The proposed playground would include a variety of different types of equipment for different age groups, including play structures, swing sets, and a basketball hoop. The parking area on the north side of the building would be modified to include two one-way drive lanes with diagonal parking stalls. Six new parking stalls would be constructed on the eastern side of the site south of the Lexington Avenue driveway. The site currently has driveways on County Road F and Lexington Avenue. The County Road F driveway has full access and the entrance on Lexington Avenue only allows right turns in and out of the site. Ramsey County has recommended that the Lexington Avenue driveway be removed due to proximity to the County Road F intersection. As a recommended condition of approval, the applicant would be required to work with the County to resolve this issue. An expanded sidewalk is proposed to provide safe pedestrian access to the center from the parking lot. Additionally, a new sidewalk would be constructed to connect the site to the existing sidewalk along Lexington Avenue. Other site modifications would include a new trash enclosure with brick veneer and a metal gate adjacent to the building within the northern parking area. New tree plantings would be added within the parking area on the north side of the building and along Lexington Avenue. A portion of the parking area on the south side of the building would be converted to turf grass and include tree plantings. Outside of the existing developed area, the majority of the property is forested with extensive tree coverage. The proposal would not impact this area except for the removal of five trees at the southeast corner of the development area. Plan Evaluation A full evaluation of the proposal was presented to the Planning Commission on May 9, 2018. The staff report to the Planning Commission is provided in Attachment I. Draft minutes from the Planning Commission meeting are included in Attachment J.