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3. Staff Report Development Code Ordinance Amendments TKDA | 444 Cedar Street Suite 1500 | Saint Paul, MN 55101 651.292.4400 • tkda.com An employee -owned company promoting affirmative action and equal opportunity. Memorandum To: Scandia City Council Reference: Potential Development Code Amendments Copies To: Brenda Eklund, Clerk Ken Cammilleri, City Administrator Project No.: 18109.000 From: Evan Monson, Planner Routing: Date: April 14, 2021 SUBJECT: Potential ordinance amendments to the Development Code regarding Accessory Structures, Government-related land uses, Building Types and Materials, and Signage MEETING DATE: April 20, 2021 BACKGROUND The Development Code includes the regulations for land use and development in the City of Scandia. Chapter 1 lists the definitions of words and terminology used in the Development Code. Chapter 2 has the zoning districts and the requirements specific to certain land uses. There have been a number of issues identified with the Development Code, hence why it is in the process of being rewritten. While the proposed changes could’ve been made as part of the rewrite, making the proposed changes now can prevent issues for some upcoming or potential projects, such as the Arts and Heritage Center. SUMMARY OF PROPOSED AMENDMENTS Government Uses When a question arises of whether something is one use or another, one can refer to the definitions of uses. Since different uses are not permitted in certain zoning districts, or may require additional permitting and review, how definitions for uses are written can make a difference. Part of the issue with the current iteration of the Development Code is that certain uses are not well defined…or just not even defined. One of those uses happens to be for the City Hall and Community Center. Another is the planned Arts and Heritage Center. While many of the inaccuracies with definitions are planned to be addressed as part of the rewrite of the Ordinance Amendments Staff Report April 20, 2021 Scandia City Council Page 2 Development Code, it would be ideal for the City to make changes now so that the Arts and Heritage Center project can move forward without delays. Since the Community Center is on the same lot as the proposed Arts and Heritage Center, it would be ideal to make sure there is no ambiguity in our definitions that would leave it nonconforming. The proposed changes would revise the definition of ‘Government Uses, Buildings, and Storage’ to remove any ambiguity with uses of the Community Center. Two new uses would be defined in the definitions: ‘Arts and Heritage Center’ and ‘Institutional Use’. The ‘Arts and Heritage Center’ use is self-explanatory; the ‘Institutional Use’ would include churches, parks, trailheads, and other similar uses. These two new uses would then be permitted in the VMU A and VMU B zoning districts (the Community Center parcel is zoned VMU B). Signage The requirements for signs are found in Chapter 2, Section 3.13. When working to get signage for the Lilleskogen Park, the City Administrator noticed that the current language would actually prevent parks from having signage, since the rules defining the amount of permitted signage is based off of buildings. A park with no building would therefore not be able to have a sign under the current regulations. The solution is to add language allowing a sign by right for Institutional Uses, such as parks and cemeteries. Building Materials and Types The requirements for design standards in the Development Code are also found in Chapter 2. There were conflicting requirements for what was permitted in the Development Code but not permitted under the Architectural Guidelines. The proposed changes would remove these conflicting requirements, as well as clarify requirements that were ambiguous and easy to misinterpret. Requirements for Accessory Structures The Planning Commission has discussed at multiple meetings possible changes to the requirements for accessory structures such as garages. One portion of the current requirements allowed for permitting a detached garage on a property if the property has no attached garage. This requirement was intended to allow for a garage if the site had none, though the way it is currently written did not reflect that. The Commission members worked out a revised writing of the requirement to now permit a garage, attached or detached, on a site if it currently has none. The permitted garage could be up to 864 square feet in size (such as a 24’ x 36’ garage) before the square footage would count against the total amount of square footage allowed on a parcel. Such garages would still need to follow setbacks, impervious surface requirements, and other applicable rules in the Development Code. ACTION REQUESTED The City Council can review the proposed amendments to the Development Code, and can do one of the following: 1. Approval 2. Approval with changes 3. Denial 4. Table the request for further study Ordinance Amendments Staff Report April 20, 2021 Scandia City Council Page 3 PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION Included with this staff report is a draft ordinance showing the proposed changes to the Development Code. The Planning Commission recommended these proposed changes for approval. The size recommended for Institutional signage was 25 square feet; the new proposed park sign for Lilleskogen Park is 32 square feet in size. Staff would recommend that if the Council approves the amendments that the square footage permitted be revised to 32 square feet. The draft ordinance already includes this revision in it.