09-17-18-WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 2 of 3 streets in the district. Staff has proposed revising the front yard setback requirement to 50 feet. This setback would be consistent with the front setback requirement for properties in the B-3 District. In addition, the design standards for the B-2 and B-3 Districts (Section 1325.05, Subd. 8) require that at least 50 percent of the largest building on each site be constructed at the front setback line of 20 feet. This requirement can be seen in how the Walgreens, Tavern Grill, and Goodwill sites were redeveloped. Staff has proposed removing this requirement from the design standards. This would give developers more flexibility in the placement of buildings on a site, provided that all other structure setback requirements are met. Parking Setbacks Section 1325.06, Subd. 1 of the Zoning Code requires off-street parking in all districts be located a minimum of 20 feet from the right-of-way line of any public street. The B-2 and B-3 District design standards include the following two requirements on the location of parking: • Placing parking between the street right-of-way and a building shall be discouraged • No more than 50 percent of the parking on a site may be between buildings or in the side yards Staff has proposed removing both of the parking setback requirements listed above. This would allow a developer to place parking between the building and the street right-of-way. Parking areas would still be required to be setback a minimum of 20 feet from the right-of-way. Façade Transparency The B-2 and B-3 District design standards include façade transparency requirements for commercial and residential developments. For commercial developments, 50 percent of the first level building facades that front a public street are required to be comprised of transparent windows or doors. For facades reasonably visible from the right-of-way, 20 percent transparency is required. Residential buildings are required to provide 20 percent transparency for all façades that front a public street. The City may consider reductions to the transparency requirements in cases where there are privacy concerns, or if additional transparent glass is used on other sides of the building. One of the issues that has come up with new development and redevelopment in the B-2 and B-3 Districts is that because of the building and parking setback requirements, some buildings have been oriented so the back side faces the public street. This has presented challenges for developers meeting the 50 percent façade transparency requirement since the back side of the building is typically where storage, mechanical, and service uses are located. If the City Council decides to change the building and parking setback requirements, staff expects there to be fewer issues with this design challenge. Staff would recommend continuing to require commercial buildings to have 50 percent transparency on the first level façades that front a public street, but that the 20 percent transparency requirement for façades reasonably visible from the right-of-way be removed. Staff is also recommending that the provisions on window configuration and materials be removed. These are very detailed design standards that are better addressed by the Building Code…