DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS - Bryan K. Schafer, Planning and Community Development Director
Title
GRANTING A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT TO ALLOW FOR A PRE-K THRU 4 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN AN RR (REGIONAL RECREATION) ZONING DISTRICT, LOCATED AT DAVENPORT STREET NE/105TH AVENUE NE. NATIONAL SPORTS CENTER AND SPRING LAKE PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 16. (CASE FILE NO. 17-0006/BKS)
Schedule of Actions
|
Planning Commission (Public Hearing) |
03/14/17 |
|
City Council (Conditional Use Permit) |
04/06/17 |
|
Action Deadline |
04/10/17 |
Planning Commission
The Planning Commission voted 5-2 (Ouellette and York) to approve the conditional use permit. There were no public comments offered at the public hearing.
Background
Spring Lake Park Schools (Ind. #16) has reached an agreement with the National Sports Center to purchase an 11 acre site at the SE corner of 105th and Davenport. Once purchased the school intends to build and operate a Pre-K thru 4th grade elementary school. The school itself would be a 2-story design with approximately 96,000 square feet.
The applications that have submitted and that require review are:
• A preliminary plat application to subdivide the NSC’s 93 acre south campus into two lots and one outlot. Lot 1(11 acres) would be the site of the school. Lot 2 would remain the NSC property. Outlot A (the site of the velodrome) is under an option for the school to purchase at some point in the future. The velodrome use is intended to continue for 2-3 more years.
• The school requires a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to operate in the RR (Regional Recreation). The City is currently processing a code amendment to the RR text to add “Elementary School” to the list of allowed uses.
Preliminary Plat
The proposed plat, while fairly straight forward, does represent a few issues that need to be addressed as part of the plat. Both lots (1 and 2) will meet the RR size standard of five (5) acres; however Outlot A (the velodrome site) does not meet the minimum lot size. Given that nothing is proposed at this time for the outlot, that issue will not need to be addressed until such time as the school or NSC decides they wish to build something new on the outlot. At that time, the outlot will need to be re-platted into a lot in order to obtain a building permit. Given that the lot is too small the owner runs the risk of a future City Council not permitting the re-platting.
Additional right-of-way is required for the western edge of the plat along Davenport Street. Because Davenport is the service road alignment in this area there are current and future improvements such as turn lanes that may need to be added as background traffic continues to grow in this area. Currently the City does not have sufficient r-o-w for the future improvements. The platting process allows the City the opportunity to establish the correct r-o-w boundaries. Additional right-of-way is also being dedicated to match the design of the proposed 105th Avenue reconstruction.
Site parking is typically more of an issue for the CUP but in this case the parking issues are more apparent with the NSC campus than the school itself. Attached to this item is a traffic report and parking analysis prepared for the NSC and school by SRF Consulting Group. The site parking is impacted by the construction of the school in that 650 parking stalls, that are currently available for NSC use, will be removed from the site. The school will build 175 stalls on their 11 acre site for their use which is adequate for the school. Those stalls will also be available for the NSC when school is not in session. The NSC will also be building a new parking area in the NSC’s SW corner which will add approximately 250 stalls. This will leave the NSC south campus with approximately 225 fewer stalls while at the same time adding the school use.
This reduction in the number of parking stalls is concerning for those of us that have seen the parking areas full at different times of the year. While additional parking is being built on the north campus those stalls are not generally available in the winter periods. The parking analysis provided by the applicant attempts to answer those questions. A condition to the plat has been added that recognizes that any future construction on the south campus that is thought to increase the demand for parking will have to either add sufficient parking or justify to the City why that is not necessary.
With the platting and creation of Lot 1 park dedication will be due and payable at the commercial rate of $8,704 per acre. Since a portion of Lot 1 will remain as soccer fields for the time being that area will be deducted from the land area calculations.
There are a number of other plat or NSC related issues that are handled as conditions on the plat which include hauling of fill material in and off of the sand mining pit, establishing a clear closure plan for the mining operation, access control on Davenport Street and handling of existing assessments on Davenport Street.
Conditional Use Permit
The proposed conditional use permit will permit the construction and operation of a Pre-K thru 4th grade elementary school. Because adequate parking for the school will be built on the school property there are only a few site issues that are not sufficiently handled by the RR zoning standards or the formal Site Plan Approval process.
The one significant site issue for the school that requires some discussion and condition of approval is the north driveway access (directly across from the National Market Center driveway). This access location experiences problems at evening peak times because it is too close to 105th and does not provide adequate vehicle stacking. Staff has evaluated this issue and believes it would be best to close this access into the school and direct traffic either to 105th or to the existing NSC driveway on the south side of the proposed school. An alternative, which has been proposed by the school, is to make the north access a right-in/right-out access. Staff has evaluated that and feels strongly that the better option for safe operation of the service road is to close the access.
NOTE: While staff is making a positive recommendation on both the plat and CUP staff has also raised concern over the loss of 225 parking stalls for the south campus. It is recommended that the City Council carefully weigh the concerns that have been raised given not only what has been stated in this report but also the experiences the council might have had with the NSC campus over the past15- 20 years.
Recommendation
By motion, approve the Resolution.
Attachments
See report for Preliminary Plat.
Body
WHEREAS, an application has been filed by National Sports Center and Spring Lake Park School District No. 16 as Conditional Use Permit Case File No. 17-0006; and
WHEREAS, a public hearing has been held by the Blaine Planning Commission on March 14, 2017; and
WHEREAS, the Blaine Planning Commission recommends said Conditional Use Permit be approved; and
WHEREAS, the Blaine City Council has reviewed said case on April 6, 2017.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Blaine that a Conditional Use Permit is hereby approved per Section 30.52 (e) of the Zoning Ordinance to allow for a Pre-K thru 4 Elementary School in an RR (Regional Recreation) zoning district located at Davenport Street NE/105th Avenue NE based on the following conditions:
1. The north driveway for the new parking lot west of the school to be designed as a right-out exit only onto Davenport Street. Exit to be used exclusively for buses exiting the site and gated at all other times. City to approve exit and gate design as well necessary signage as part of site plan approval.
2. The gated driveway entrance on the south side of the parking area, west of the school, is too close to Davenport Street and should be relocated to the east and serve the east drive aisle of the parking lot so that it has a greater stacking distance from Davenport Street.
3. Prior to and as an element of Site Plan Approval submit a narrative outlining on-site grading for the school site including fill requirements, source of fill, timing; etc.
4. The landscape plan for the school site to meet Performance Standards Section 33.08.
5. Freestanding site lighting will be limited to not more than 20-feet in height.
6. School business signage, both wall-attached and freestanding, shall be by separate review and permit. The school, based on the revised plat with lot frontage on 105th Avenue, will be allowed two wall elevations.
7. WAC (Water Access Charge) and SAC (Sewer Access Charge) will be calculated and paid as part of building permit.
8. One freestanding sign will be allowed with maximum height of 10-feet and area not to exceed 80 square feet. An electronic reader board is permitted within those standards.
9. The addition of other non-school uses such as a church is not permitted by the RR zoning text.
10. A SIPA and financial guarantee to cover site improvements are required to be put in place prior to start of site work for either the school or new SW parking area.
11. Formal Site Plan Approval is required from the City prior to start of site work for either the school or the new SW parking area.
12. The new SW area parking lot to be completed and ready for use no later than October 31, 2017.
13. A Coon Creek Watershed (CCWD) Permit is required prior to start of site work.
14. This is a conditional use permit for a Pre-K thru 4th grade elementary on Lot 1 Block 1 only and does not provide any approval for a school on other NSC owned/controlled property. Any subsequent expansion of the school on Lot 1, Block 1 will require a CUP amendment.
15. The issuance of a Conditional Use Permit for an elementary school requires a separate code amendment that is being processed through the City.
16. Approval of the CUP is contingent upon the code amendment to the RR zoning text being adopted by the City Council.
PASSED by the City Council of the City of Blaine this 6th day of April 2017.