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City Council Summary Memo — Work Session #3 — Zoning Ordinance Update —August 11, 2025 residential Planned Unit Development (PUD) is proposed. As part of the PUD, the City is being asked to provide some flexibility and in exchange it may be able to ask for affordable units. The second approach to requiring affordable units is not done within the zoning code, but may be dictated by City policy. Some Twin Cities communities have adopted Inclusionary Housing policies which require that a certain number of the units constructed as part of a residential development be established as affordable at a target level of average median income (AMI). However, these efforts stem from policy and are not part of the City's zoning regulations. SUBDIVISION REGULATIONS HKGi reviewed the existing Subdivision Chapter and noted that for the most part, aside from the need to reorganize and simplify the flow of the text, the code did not need extensive modification. A few items did stand out as needing to be addressed: The way that Arden Hills handles public use dedications is not common in the Twin Cities and may need to be simplified. Currently, new developments not only must provide land for open space (or cash in lieu of a land dedication), but they are also required to pay a park improvement fee. In most communities, the land dedication (or cash payment) is the only requirement; our experience suggests that the additional park improvement fee may be redundant. HKGi and staff will work with the City Attorney to review the City's approach and determine any changes that may be necessary. 2. The current code assigns the responsibility for reviewing subdivision proposals to the City Council, though they may assign this task off to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission is required to weigh in on the final plat. A more typical approach is to have the Planning Commission provide a recommendation to the City Council about the preliminary plat, and to have the City Council alone verify the final plat conforms to the approved preliminary plat. 3. Minor subdivisions, as described in the Subdivision Chapter, are not consistent with the definition in state statute. HKGi will propose an updated approach for reviewing and approving minor subdivisions that is consistent with state statute. In addition, the Planning Commission supported creating an administrative process to allow staff to review and approve lot line adjustments in situations where both resulting lots would continue to conform to the City's zoning standards. PROCEDURES Various procedures used for processing land use applications were reviewed, including: • Zoning text amendments • Zoning map amendments • Interim use permits • Conditional use permits • Planned Unit Developments • Comprehensive Plan amendments F