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LoHKG•i <br />Planning Landscape Architecture I Urban Design <br />CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION AGENDA ITEM - 3A <br />TO: Arden Hills City Council <br />FROM: Jason Zimmerman and Rita Trapp, Consulting Planners <br />DATE: October 22, 2024 <br />SUBJECT: Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance Diagnosis <br />MEETING DATE: October 28, 2024 <br />OVERVIEW <br />Over the past five months, HKGi has been working to understand and diagnose the issues within the <br />zoning and subdivision codes for the City of Arden Hills in advance of recommending updates to the <br />City Council for consideration. Having completed the first two phases of the four phase project, HKGi is <br />prepared to share the preliminary findings with the City Council and Planning Commission in order to <br />receive feedback on the diagnosis and discuss potential solutions. <br />BACKGROUND <br />As part of Phase 1, HKGi provided an introduction and overview to the City Council at a work session; <br />met with City staff to discuss their recent experiences working with the zoning code; toured the city; <br />and reviewed plans, studies, and documents related to zoning and development. This provided the <br />consultants with an understanding of the structure and application of the existing zoning and <br />subdivision regulations. <br />In Phase 2, HGKi mapped the zoning districts to help assess their consistency with the adopted land use <br />plan; reviewed the existing zoning code; and evaluated the overall structure and organization. <br />Members of the City Council and Planning Commission were provided an opportunity to take an online <br />survey to share their thoughts about the current code and issues related to development. <br />DIAGNOSIS <br />The City of Arden Hills sought a review and update of the zoning and subdivision chapters of its City <br />Code in order to remove inconsistencies, improve formatting, review standards, insert illustrative <br />graphics, and explore new ideas and City Council priorities for inclusion. Upon evaluation, HKGi <br />identified eight areas to be addressed as part of the update project: <br />1. Restructure code for better access to information. <br />2. Simplify code for ease of use: remove repetitive language, add illustrations, create tables in <br />place of text, etc. <br />800 Washington Ave N Suite 103, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401 <br />(612) 338-0800 — www.hkgi.com <br />