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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — OCTOBER 13, 2025 12 Ms. Trapp introduced Use Specific Standards. The use table will be organized to show: permitted, permitted with standards, and conditional uses. The idea is if we can articulate what the standards are, the applicant won't have to go through the process of getting a conditional use permit. If there are things that have historically been permitted but that Council has questions about, we can identify those standards. The goal is to update the table in a way that will strike that balance. It's fine to have conditional uses. Permitted with standards makes everyone's lives easier. Ms. Trapp said having permitted with standards requires having development standards for certain uses. They are pulling from existing code language. They will use best practices and Council preferences to develop these standards. She said they are proposing to have a Retail Sales and Service -Small and a Retails Sales and Service -Large. The small use would be allowed in more locations. The biggest question is what constitutes small and what is large. To provide scale, she said the recently built vacant building is 48,000 square feet. The individual uses at Arden Plaza are 7,000 square feet. They were thinking 25,000 square feet but are open to whatever number Council prefers. Where is it okay for these size buildings to be built? Councilmember Holden said the vacant building is only two stories. She asked how big Dunn Brothers is. She thinks that's a good size to consider for the small. City Administrator Jagoe would have to check to be certain but would guess Dunn Brothers is around 15,000 square feet. It seems to be about double the Arden Plaza units. Councilmember Weber said when he first thought about this 15,000 was what came to mind. He said 25,000 feels like a really big retail space. He asked why HKGi is leaning towards 25,000. Ms. Trapp said they have typically seen them a little bigger than that, but typical may not be right for Arden Hills. Councilmember Weber thinks 15,000 is pretty big for Arden Hills. Discussion ensued regarding different buildings in town and how big they are. Councilmember Holden likes 15,000 because we know we can get more unique businesses in there instead of national corporations. Mayor Grant likes 15,000, as well. Councilmember Weber said there is a business in B-4. It's a softball practice area and it's pretty big. If that's the general size of those tenancies we could be pushing out retail, if Retail Sales, Large is not allowed in that area. Councilmember Holden said they could come to us under a conditional use permit. Ms. Trapp said no. We would need there to be a C on the table for conditional use vs. the P. With the table, as it is today, it could not be conditional. Councilmember Monson said it is challenging without a sense of what exists. She agrees we could inadvertently cut off a business that would make sense in that district.