08-06-25 PC Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ARDEN HILLS PLANNING COMMISSION – July 9, 2025 2 collection/donation area or receiving and transferring of goods exterior of the business. However, a Planned Unit Development Amendment is required at this location to allow for a thrift store use due to the current permitted use in the Planned Unit Development Agreement is limited to retail sales and services. Senior Planner Fransen reported the City approved a Master PUD for the Arden Plaza retail center in 2009 (Planning Case 09-011). This site is situated at the southwest corner of the County Road E and Lexington Avenue intersection and is approximately 11 acres in size. The approved plans included the demolition of an existing office complex and the phased redevelopment of the site to be completed in three stages. A total of 97,035 square feet of retail and commercial building space was approved under the original PUD. The total square footage included the existing 35,647 square foot Building #5, where the Subject Property is located, and the original PUD established the building’s use as retail. Senior Planner Fransen explained the proposed use, Odds & Ends Again, a thrift store associated with the company Senior Life Management. Odds & Ends Again is a thrift store where items received through the moving and packing services component of Senior Life Management may be consigned for profit. Items at Odds & Ends Again are primarily sourced from clients of the moving and packing services. The operations of Odds & Ends Again fall under the City’s definition of Thrift Store. By definition in the Zoning Code, a thrift store use is defined separately from a retail sales and services use. Senior Planner Fransen reported that the Arden Plaza PUD establishes retail sales as the permitted use for Building #5. Due to this language in the PUD Development Agreement, a PUD Development Agreement Amendment is required to allow for other uses at the Subject Property. The Applicant is proposing an amendment to the PUD Development Agreement to allow for a Class I thrift store use within Building #5 of the PUD. Senior Planner Fransen provided an overview of the request, reviewed the Plan Evaluation and offered the following Findings of Fact: 1.Brett Foss has requested approval of a Planned Unit Development Amendment to the Arden Plaza Master PUD to allow for a Class I thrift store use at 3529 Lexington Avenue, located within Building #5 of the Master PUD. 2.The original Master PUD for the development was approved in Planning Case #09-011. Subsequent PUD Amendments were approved in Planning Case #11-016, Planning Case #15-002, and Planning Case #15-016. 3.The original Master PUD established retail sales and services as the permitted use for Building #5. 4.A Planned Unit Development Amendment is required to allow for a thrift store use in Building #5 of the PUD. 5.A Class I thrift store may be permitted if they meet the conditions for all thrift stores, conditions in the thrift store, Class I definition and the thrift store, Class I conditions. 6.The applicant has demonstrated that the proposed tenant space is located within a multitenant building and is under 7,000 square and less than 20 percent of the total multi- tenant building square footage, meeting the definition of a Class I thrift store. 7.The applicant has submitted materials with their request to demonstrate that the proposed thrift store use would comply with the Zoning Code requirements. 8.A public hearing for a PUD Amendment request is required before the request can be brought before the City Council.