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ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — AUGUST 11, 2025 9 Councilmember Rousseau said she's fine with data centers being called it out to show it's not allowed at this time. She would like to see an option for Staff to escalate to the next level on home occupancy if we haven't listed everything. She thinks the affordable housing component should be addressed, as well. She is pleased with what she has seen so far. Councilmember Holden said one of the issues with home occupancy is odors. People were doing perms in their homes and neighbors can smell it. Waste is another issue. People doing car repairs and small engine repairs. She isn't sure what Council wants to do. Some of these, like the piano teacher, is an easy one. There are other businesses that are not good for neighborhoods. Jason Zimmerman is hearing the primary concerns are around traffic, odors, hours of operation, waste and advertising. They can come back with language to address those concerns. Councilmember Holden asked what the difference is between a twin house and a townhome. Jason Zimmerman said there is some overlap there. Twin homes are two units on two separate lots. Townhomes can be two -five or larger clusters. There is not much difference between a twin home and a two -unit townhome development. Rita Trapp said the reason there are two definitions is that in some districts maybe Council is only comfortable allowing a single or two -unit but not allowing townhomes which could have higher density. Councilmember Holden would rather have affordable housing be a policy vs. including it in the zoning code. If it's in the zoning, we don't have as much play as we could, with it. Through a PUD we can play a lot more. If it's in zoning, that's what they're bringing in and we're done. Mayor Grant isn't aware of a zoning component that says affordable housing. There isn't high rent zoning and affordable zoning. That would get tossed out really quickly. He isn't sure what is being proposed for that. ADUs have been brought up. Those are all different, too. Having an extra unit in the back yard vs. adding on to an existing house is a different concept. He is not onboard with a tiny house being allowed to be placed in a front or back yard. He doesn't think the residents of Arden Hills will appreciate the view out of their window. He is not a huge fan of affordability. It has its place but you can also go too far. Discussion ensued regarding how Shoreview addresses affordable housing. Mayor Grant said Land O Lakes and Boston Scientific probably have some data center -like element. The memo states the Planning Commission and City Council recommend this use be added to the principal use table. If there is a huge impact from a data center, it's not desirable. However, we can't completely turn our back on this technology right now. He suggested data centers could be allowed if it services a company vs. one that services the web or ChatGPT. We can put boundaries in there. He agrees the earlier comment to use the PUD process to get better building materials. As a Council we want the very best thing to go in there. If the consultants have a better or different way he is open to hearing it. Councilmember Weber said when addressing affordable housing in the zoning code we are talking about creating a list of items to ask for, in return for variances that are requested in PUDs. The other way to address it is through policy. He supports both. This was highlighted in his first