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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION – MARCH 10, 2025 8 Councilmember Weber agrees. If there was anything on the list that he thinks should require a conditional use, it would be the Cottage Courtyard. It would impact existing communities. Councilmember Monson agrees with the idea of reducing CUPs. She is looking at the table and what we actually have zoned vs. what’s already there. She thought we may end up rezoning some areas to better reflect what exists, thus allowing residents to have more flexibility to improve their homes. She is struggling with the impact of R-3. She wonders how we reconcile having a multi- family dwelling as a permitted use in an area that is simply single-family homes right now. City Administrator Jagoe said the consultants may have to come back with that information. At the Planning Commission meeting the commission did not review the zoning districts and how the existing neighborhoods are built out. That was a request of the Commission to have the consultants bring back data on what the neighborhoods currently have and they asked for the visuals to be more applicable and reflective of those neighborhoods. They requested more information and didn’t get deep into discussion regarding rezoning. They liked this structure for how approvals might work, and they were open to looking at expanding housing options. They wanted to see more data before having that discussion. Councilmember Monson said she likes the standards. She thinks it would be good to look at where we would allow a small multi-family dwelling that is four to six units. That’s different than what we have today. She doesn’t know where we would choose to make those changes. It doesn’t seem fair to go to residents in a completely single-family neighborhood and tell them they are being rezoned for a higher density neighborhood. She wants to remain true to who we are. She wouldn’t want to create false issues. Councilmember Weber agrees that needs to be a priority. The idea of reclassifying our neighborhoods into something that they clearly are not right now is way outside the scope of this project. Council and Staff all agreed. Mayor Grant said he would like to discuss Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). City Administrator Jagoe said the consultants laid out the different ways we can expand on housing. Council’s direction was that we wanted to have another discussion amongst ourselves. Council would want to provide feedback and direction before the Planning Commission dives into this discussion. The consultant is looking for council direction on if that review should be occurring simultaneously with this process. It’s a big project. There are a lot of factors that go into that type of review. The thought is they could reserve a placeholder chapter in the revisions that state where it might fit in. Then we could discuss the details at a future work session. That would be a separate conversation from these revisions. Mayor Grant thinks Council needs to weigh in. Councilmember Monson agrees we should separate it. There is too much to talk about there. The short term licensing discussion would go hand in hand with that topic. It should be separate. There should be community engagement. There is a lot to dig into with these processes.