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2.0 HISTORICAL RECORD 2.1 In 1994, when the Commission and Council adopted the City's Comprehensive Plan, a key element of the land use policy was to eliminate retail and business encroachment into residential areas; growth for these business sectors would have to occur by intensification on existing sites, by redevelopment, and by conversions of brown field industrial areas. 2.2 In 2000, the City Council reviewed shopping center building expansions. A major issue was lot coverage at the Roseville and Har-Mar Shopping Centers and other "SC" districts, The Council provided clarification and direction for interpretation of the Code on January 24, 2000, suggesting that the broader issue oflot coverage in shopping center districts should be discussed at a future date. Three terms (lot area, building area, and floor area ratio) are critical to the understanding of the existence, continuance and expansion of these centers. What follows is a discussion of some of the issues related to these terms and suggested remedies. 3.0 REVIEW of REQUEST 3.1 Shopping center zoning and other retail business in Roseville cover only 5.5% of the land area or about 490 acres of the 8,861 total acres within the city. Yet, the shopping center and other retail business (not office) provide 28% of the tax base in the community. Approximately 31 % or 12,250 of the city's jobs are related to retail sales. It is an important physical and fiscal feature in the City of Roseville. 3.2 Section 1006 pertains only to shopping centers and shopping center districts. Section 1006.02.C. states: Not more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the lot area (of the shopping center) shall be occupied by buildings. Section 1006.02.B. states that the floor area to lot area ratio cannot exceed .5 (50%). Both of the requirements were part of the original City Ordinances from 1959 and were more likely adopted as a method of reducing the impact of the buildings and their associated activities on existing, adjoining properties and street systems. In 1959, there were very few performance standards to mitigate the size, shape, materials, location, light, noise, and traffic for retail development. Space (large lots) and distance (separation of buildings) were used as the primary substitute. 3.3 Staff has interpreted Section 1006.02.C. of the City Code as follows: Building Coverage: Not more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the shopping center master planned lot area shall be occupied by the building footprint. To staff this suggests that it includes the area within the exterior walls of all commercial buildings, not parking ramps. 3.4 The "Master Planned" lot area includes the main structure, all outlots, non-buildable pond, landscaping, setback, and buffer areas; all principle commercial structures or accessory structures; and accessory parking and parking structures within the legal description( s) ofthe site. The lot area must be defined within a boundary survey completed by a state registered land surveyor. The boundary survey must also include the square footage of all building footprints and the lot area in square footage. In 2002, the Council determined that only lot area directly usable for the shopping center and its outbuildings is to be included as developable, but left unchanged the provision that only 25% of the land may be built upon - this is the building coverage requirement; the easements, exceptions, or road right-of-way 2