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Supplement to 2023 Land Use Application by Alatus LLC February 16, 2023 City of Arden Hills 1245 West Highway 96 Arden Hills, MN 55112 Re: Proposed Zoning Code text amendment to allow use of solar energy systems Dear Staff: Please accept this letter as a supplement to our Land Use Application for a text amendment. This request is for a text amendment to Chapter 13 of the Arden Hills Code of Ordinances (“Code”) to allow for the installation and operation of solar energy systems as a conditional use within the Conservation District. The purpose of the Conservation District is to provide a “holding zone” for federally owned lands on the Arden Hills Army Training Site to ensure that future development is staged, maintains a sustainable level of public expenditures for utilities and services, and protects those areas generally determined to be unsuitable for development. A portion of these federally owned lands, the Primer Tracer site, is currently up for auction and is being considered by prospective purchasers for future development. We are contemplating the Primer Tracer site as a potential location for a solar energy facility. Such a facility would be consistent with the purpose of the Conservation District in that it will generate and provide electricity to existing and future development in the area. As the federal land becomes privately owned and further developed, the City’s need to provide the public with utilities would be greatly benefited by clean energy generation from a solar energy facility. For these reasons, we desire to amend the Code to permit this use with the appropriate City approval. Specifically, we request the following text amendment: 1. Code Section 1305.04 is amended to add the following definition: Solar energy system. A system or set of devices whose primary purpose is to collect, convert, store and distribute solar energy, including for heating and cooling of buildings, electricity generation, water heating and other energy-using processes. 2. Code Section 1320.05 is amended to add a new provision to the Land Use Chart so as to add Solar Energy System as a conditional use in the Conservation District (CD).