03-15-21-WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

2 | P a g e Arden Hills City Council February 17, 2021 (i.e., noise, odors), except between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday. We brought this to Mike Mrosla’s attention in December 2020 and he stated it would be immediately addressed but even after 60+ days this remains a persistent issue. b. Commercial HVAC Equipment: Current operations entail the air handling units running 24/7. Varying degrees of noise are emitted from these pieces of equipment and that needs to be studied in their current, future, and max-output operation for noise emission. Adding to the current noise levels will be two and likely three additional pieces of equipment mounted to the roof structure. The increase in noise of these running simultaneously is yet to be understood. The new height would be unobstructed by trees and noise will surely increase the noise level in surrounding neighborhoods. c. Argon Gas Storage: Refills occur on a regular basis but are not uncommonly completed prior to 6:00 AM on weekdays. The hissing sound is clearly audible during these events and is also out of compliance of City of Arden Hills Code: 1325.06 Subd. 2 I. Off-Street Loading. Off-street loading space shall be provided in connection with any use which requires the receipt or distribution of materials by truck. Where noise from such loading space is audible in a residential district, the activity shall terminate between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. d. Previous Noise Studies: Noise studies were conducted by a contracted third party due to a previous Building 14 expansion and the data findings were conclusive; Boston Scientific was NOT in compliance of state noise laws at time of study. Mitigation steps occurred via plantings but some of those plantings have since died and been removed. No additional plantings were completed to replace those trees nor have follow up noise studies been shared with the community. Independently contracted noise studies of a statistically significant data set should be conducted, reviewed, and shared with the community prior to voting on any current or future proposals. The data collection needs to occur where the noise is impacting the adjacent residents (on decks, outside 2nd or 3rd floor bedroom windows or in back yards NOT buried in the woods as proposed along the BSCI property lines). When the study occurs, you will capture the above activities. Time stamped audio recordings have already been captured to validate the concerns. 2. Building height/visual pollution: Building 14’s existing structure sits at a height of 21 feet. The proposed expansion will almost double in height to a proposed height of 40 feet and sit exposed as a visual monstrosity. It should be noted that a significant number of mature trees were removed from the southwestern portion in the summer of 2019. These stumps can be observed from the community trail and would have considerably obstructed the view of this proposed expansion. A revision to the proposed building height should be made to remain consistent with the existing Building 14 structure; the City of Arden Hills should not grant a variance to the current zoning maximum height restriction of 35 feet. a. City of Arden Hills Code: 1320.06 District Requirements Chart: