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5.6. SR 10-11-1999 rCI ----'\) ( ); tl~ Item # 5 . 6 . River TO: MEMORANDUM FROM: Mayor & City Council Michele MCPherso~ctor of Planning DATE: October 7, 1999 SUBJECT: Morrell Parking Lot, 809 Jackson Avenue; Staff Update Request At the September 27, 1999 City Council meeting, staff was directed to determine if an ordinance amendment could be drafted to allow a temporary commercial parking lot to exist at the above address. Analvsis . Staff has identified the following options for the Council to consider regarding this issue: 1. Determine that the use is not permitted and do nothing to the Zoning Code to allow commercial parking lots as a permitted use. Mr. Morrell would be given a specific period of time to discontinue the use. 2. Determine that the lot is temporary in nature. While the Comprehensive Plan for the City does not identify "future redevelopment" as a land use, the City intends for this site to redevelop into a use more compatible with the Central Business District use and Office District zoning. An annual General Planning Permit could be issued to allow the parking lot to be used each year. This Permit would be similar to those issued for garden centers and Christmas tree lots, uses that are not specifically identified in the Zoning Code but require regulation. The construction standards for the lot could be less stringent in order to acknowledge the temporary nature of the use. 3. Determine that the lot is desirable and should become a permanent part of the Zoning Code. A parking lot as a principle use may be useful as a transition to the station that will be constructed as part of the Northstar Corridor. The construction standards would be most stringent in this case, requiring pavement, curb and gutter, landscaping and screening and proper setbacks. . 13065 Orono Parkway · P.O. Box 490 · Elk River, MN 55330. TDD & Phone: (612) 441-7420. Fax: (612) 441-7425 Memo to City Council/Morrell Parking Lot October 11, 1999 Page 2 . 4. Determine that the lot is an interim use. Minnesota Statutes 462.3597 allows the City to identify interim uses. Interim uses may be permitted if the following are met: a. the use conforms to the zoning regulations; b. the date or event that will terminate the use can be identified with certainty; c. permission of the use will not impose additional costs on the public if it is necessary for the public to take the property in the future; and d. the user agrees to any conditions that the governing body deems appropriate for permission of the use. Interim use permits require public hearings similar to conditional use permits. . The City does not have interim use standards in its Zoning Code; therefore an ordinance amendment would be necessary. To allow the use to exist for the 1999-2000 school year, Mr. Morrell could be asked to process a General Planning permit while the City is amending the ordinance to allow interim uses. An interim use may be difficult to enforce (refer to the house on Main Street), especially if it is tied to the sale or redevelopment of the property. If Mr. Morrell is renting space to 40 students at $100 per year, the $4,000 may be adequate to pay the property taxes on the parcel and there may be little or no incentive to sell the property in the near future. Recommendation Staff recommends that the City Council consider issuing a General Planning Permit for the parking lot for the 1999-2000 school year with the following conditions: 1. The parking lot meet the 10 foot setback from the property lines. 2. The entrance from School Street be closed and vehicular access to the property be limited to Jackson Avenue. 3. The surface of the lot be Class IV. 4. Landscaping be installed along Jackson Avenue and School Street. 5. A neighborhood meeting be held with adjacent property owners. Staff has received at least one call from a resident from the adjacent apartment building concerned with dust from the parking lot. 6. The applicant process an interim use permit for future years after the City amends the ordinance for interim uses. The City Council may also want to consider requiring fencing along School Street to direct pedestrian traffic toward the School Street/Jackson Avenue intersection. . Staff also recommends that the City Council direct staff to process an ordinance amendment to allow interim uses.