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Planning Commission Meeting —Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance Revisions —Work Session #3 —July 9, 2025 Subdivision Regulations The Subdivision Chapter (Chapter 11) deals with how land is divided and platted, and includes minimum standards that dictate the design of streets, blocks, lots, easements, and other elements of land development. It also contains requirements related to public improvements that must be installed by the developer, such as streets, street trees, street lighting, utilities, sidewalks, etc. For the most part, the existing code is typical for a suburban community and does not need extensive modification. HKGi is proposing to reorganize some parts of the chapter and to simplify some of the language. Park Dedication The biggest area of potential change is associated with Public Use Dedications. Minnesota Statutes allow cities to require the dedication during subdivision of a reasonable portion of land for streets, utilities, stormwater ponds, parks, trails, open space, and other features. Dedication of land for parks (or a cash equivalent) is a typical component of subdivision regulations, with formulas applied to determine the appropriate amount of land and/or cash. The requirements of the Subdivision Chapter in Arden Hills related to parks are atypical in that they not only require the dedication of land (or payment in lieu of dedication), but also require a park improvement fee be paid to the City if it is determined that a project will result in an increased demand for park land or park improvements. Based on work with other communities, HKGi recommends this two -pronged approach to park dedication be revised. A more typical approach is to focus on the dedication of land (or payment in lieu of dedication) and not to also require a general fee. Given our past experiences with subdivision codes, the City Attorney should be utilized to review the current language in the Arden Hills chapter as well as any potential new approach to park dedication to ensure it could withstand any legal challenge. Current code language also gives the City the ability to require a dedication as part of the consideration of a conditional use permit or a PUD. Minnesota Statutes do not support this approach, and HKGi recommends removing this requirement. If park land is needed to support development as part of a PUD, it could occur through the typical approach to platting or through negotiation between the City and the developer over the public benefits that should be provided in exchange for some flexibility from the requirements of the zoning chapter. Platting Current code language places the responsibility to review subdivision proposals and conduct public hearing with the City Council, though it allows the Council to assign this task to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission is required to weigh in when the City is evaluating a final plat. Updating the procedures to assign the initial review of the preliminary plat to the Planning Commission would remove any ambiguity around how subdivisions are processed and would also ensure consistency across projects and between preliminary and final plats. 4