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City of Arden Hills Planning Commission Meeting for July 8, 2020 P:\Planning\Planning Cases\2020\20-013 Call Center Definition - ZCA Page 2 of 4 The available parking at the center does not meet the demand of National Recoveries. Call center uses typically require ample parking due to the high staffing demands. Because of this, National Recoveries has contracted with North Heights Lutheran Church to provide overflow employee parking. North Heights Lutheran Church has significant excess parking during the week. National Recoveries has a shuttle that transports staff from the church to their facility. The existing offsite parking is permitted by ordinance section 1325.06 Subd D, 6, stating that “if required parking is located on a site other than the site on which the principal building or use is located, a properly drawn legal instrument, executed by the parties involved, must be filed with the City, which provides for such parking and which shall not be terminated without approval by the City Council.” National Recoveries has provided the City with the parking contacts. At its December 2019 work session, the Council discussed call center parking requirements in regards to National Recoveries. Following a discussion, the City Council directed staff to review and propose a zoning code amendment to add a definition for “call centers” and parking count standards for the use. At its June 8th, 2020 work session, staff presented the proposed language to the Council. The Council directed staff to move forward with adding a definition and parking counts requirements for call centers. If this amendment is approved, National Recoveries would be considered legal non-conforming as the user would not meet the new parking requirement. National Recoveries can continue to operate their shuttle and provide their off-site parking, but if they expand or modify their facilities in a way that would trigger a land use request requiring approval from the City Council, their proposal would have to conform to the new call center requirements. Plan Evaluation Chapter 13, Zoning Regulations Review Under City Code Section 1305.04, definitions for items found in the Zoning Code are laid out in a glossary of terms. However, City Code does not have a definition for a “Call Center”. Call Center uses are currently considered office uses. Other communities define call center uses in their Zoning Code and a review of city codes by staff revealed a few definitions that could be adopted into the Arden Hills City Code. Staff offers the following amendment to the language in the Zoning Code under Section 1305.04 to include a definition for Call Center: Call Center. An office for providing incoming and outgoing telephone and computer services, customer service, technical service, or telemarketing activities through electronic communications. City Code Section 1325.06, Subd. 1, J defines the number of parking spaces requirements under each category of use within the Zoning Code. Currently, there are no standards for Call Center uses. The closest use to a Call Center use currently in City Code would be “Business & Professional Office” uses, which require one parking stall for every 250 square feet of office space. Due to the higher density of staff members working in call centers, the requirement for 1 parking spot for every 250 square feet of office space does not reflect the parking needs of the use. Given the greater staffing levels associated with a Call Center use, Staff is recommending that a greater parking requirement be put into effect for Call Center uses to anticipate the greater need for parking compared with other businesses. Staff offers the following amendment to the language in the