CCP 03-09-1987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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COMr~ENTS . l. The present zoning and the Comprehensive Plan designation indicate the City's desire for office development. This is because office use is considered a more compatible neighbor for residences due to the limited nighttime and weedend impact of offices. At the present time, there is no interest for office development on the site since the office market in the area is generally soft. Whether the site will ever attract high-quality office development despite its relative isolation and its relationship to the arsenal's vehicle storage area is a debatable question. While interest for office development has been absent, strong interest has been shown for retail commercial development of the site during the past year. The applicant's Comprehansive Plan Statement indicates that convenience retail demand has increased significantly in the past 10 years as single-family development has expanded in the northern portion of the City. This is undoubtedly true. However, the primary factors that caused the site to be designated for office use related to land use compatibility, and those factors have not changed. 2. Conveni ence retail /servi ce centers located at the fri nge of resi denti a 1 neighborhoods and adjacent to major thoroughfares is a relatively common land use pattern. Arden Hills, however, has, by policy and practice, concentratedcorranercial development in the City to avoid . compatibility problems with residential neighborhoods. 3. The City has expressed a desire to achieve development on the site which is visually compatible with adjacent residential uses and addresses problems of physical relationships. The proposed development plan, although preliminary, concentrates parking at the north side of the site, offers single-story buildings of sloped-roof design, and provides vegetative screening along the south property line. In terms of visual compatibility, the proposed retail/service development would be similar to an'office development. In fact, many of the tenants of the center might be of an office nature. The nighttime and weekend impact of the retail/service center is considered the primary unresolved issue. 4. Since traffic is consistently of concern, a brief comparison of the traffic generation characteristics of office and a retail center is warranted. Based on the Trip Generation Manual of the Institute of Traffic Engineers, a small-scale retail/service center will generate 5 to 6 times as much traffic per 1000 square feet of floor space as general offices will. However, a significant percentage of traffic to and from the retail/service center is syphoned from traffic already on adjacent streets. Furthermore, the retail/service traffic tends to be distributed over more hours of the day, rather than concentrated during peak hours like office traffic, The net result is that a retail/service center will generate many more . trips than an office development, but an office development will have a greater impact on peak hour traffic (morning, noon, and evening) . TIQCb CASE #87~04 PAGE 2