10-25-23 EDC Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – OCTOBER 25, 2023 4 Commissioner Brausen thought Arden Hills has a clear division between business and housing. Areas such as County Road E and Lexington South of 694 in Arden Hills are all businesses. Commissioner Gronquist liked having many districts and thought changing all of them would be more confusing. She liked that the other cities were relative to the size of the building and noted that Arden Hills didn’t take that into consideration. If a business needs signage on two sides of a building they have to split the amount between the signs without taking the size of the building into account. She thought the way a building is situated should be taken into account. Senior Planner Fransen said in the case of having more than one frontage, typically applicants would apply for whichever sign district they have greater flexibility in. Community Development Director Jagoe added that as an example, if there was property at the corner of Lexington and County Road E, they look at what was considered to be the lot front. City Code says the lot frontage with the wider width is the side. The property would still have one front lot line. Commissioner Williams felt 16 variances in 21 years didn’t seem like that much. He wondered if they had been clustered recently so this has become an issue. Senior Planner Fransen said the intent was the group would come from the perspective of businesses and how the sign code could be improved for the business and residential community. Council Liaison Rousseau said about ten percent of planning cases this year are sign code related. Commissioner Gronquist stated that there are likely businesses that decide not to apply for a sign code adjustment because of the time and hassle. Commissioner Brausen thought a percentage of the building facing the main roads would be easiest. Commissioner Gronquist felt if we base on size and there are different sized tenants it could look a little hodge-podgy on the building if tenants all have different size signs. She noted this could be an aesthetic issue in the long run. Commissioner Williams wondered if there were businesses on Lexington when the ordinance was created. A lot has likely changed since it was put in place. Commissioner Subramanian wondered how the sign districts were determined and how different locations were grouped together with the same sign requirements. Senior Planner Fransen commented on the location and development in the locations of the sign districts. Commissioner Williams offered that maybe some of the sign districts could be combined to be simpler and to address challenges when a property is on a corner lot with two frontages.