05-05-21 Planning Commission - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

!Places of worship are destination places thus people coming to the church will be accustomed to the traffic and parking patterns within the industrial park. !A CUP will ensure that the any request will be reviewed by city staff, planning commission, the city council and the public to ensure that the request is appropriate and compatible. !Places of Worship are vibrant and energetic creating activity and fellowship to a neighborhood. We understand that this request is not specific to our site or our desire to be in Arden Hills but will be considered as a change for all land within the I-Flex zoning district. We strongly believe that the addition of Places of Worship as a CUP in the I-Flex district is appropriate and reasonable. The industrial park appears to be in a transition from an older traditional industrial park to a more mixed-use business park. This transition is recognized by the city under the newly designation of Mixed-Use in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, blending the Mixed-Use designation into both the I-Flex and B districts to the west and south. With the transitioning of industrial parks throughout the country and the metropolitan area it is common to see places of worship as an allowed use in similar type industrial/business parks. For example, the Westwood Community Church in Bloomington was approved as a CUP in an Industrial Park in 2018. Similar to this request, the Church (Places of Assembly) requested to move into a vacant office/ warehouse building within a I-2 zoning district. The site is adjacent Interstate 494 to the south, Office/Warehouse zoning to the north and west and Office CO--1 zoning to the east. The vacant office/warehouse building is 71,798 square feet in size with Westwood Community Church occupying the southern half and the remaining space to be leased. The Church is located at 6301 Cecilia Circle, Bloomington. (see attached photos) As part of our congregation fellowship and community outreach our plan is to serve coffee and light snacks after services and during other church activities. We would like the opportunity to provide this same fellowship to the general public as a retail sales and service accessory use to our Church. Our intent is to welcome the community to the church by providing them an opportunity to visit our building while enjoying a beverage and/or light snack. We look forward to being a part of Arden Hills. Thank you for your consideration.