Agenda - Council - 10/25/2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CC Regular Session 7.1. Meeting Date: 10/25/2011 By: Chris Anderson, Community Development Information Title: Request for an Interim Use Permit to Allow for the Operation of a Church in the H-1 Highway 10 Business District on the Property Located at 6701 Highway 10 NW; Case of Northern Light Church Background: The City has received an application for an Interim Use Permit (IUP) from Northern Light Church to allow for the operation of a church facility in an area zoned H-1 Highway 10 Business District. The Subject Property is owned by the City and is located within the Official Map Area for the Highway 10 corridor. A four (4) year lease agreement was approved by City Council on October 11, 2011 for the church to utilize space in a multi -tenant building (generally known as the Youth First building) located at 6701 Hwy 10. The Applicant is requesting the IUP for a term of four (4) years to coincide with the term of the lease. The Applicant will utilize the space for weekly worship services, educational programs and community outreach programs. This project was initially presented to City Council at a work session on September 27, 2011 regarding a potential lease agreement and installation of a fire suppression system. At that time, based on the term of the lease and the uncertainty of whether revenue generated from the lease could be used to pay for expenditures (ie the fire suppression system), Council direction was to refund to the Applicant both the application fee and escrow deposit related to the IUP. After further research determined that lease revenue could be used to cover the cost of the fire suppression system, the lease agreement was presented to City Council again. However, based upon direction from the September 27, 2011 work session discussion, Staff thought it would be best to hold back the IUP request until action was taken on the lease agreement, which was approved on October 11, 2011. The proposal represents a change in use, which triggered the requirement for the installation of a fire suppression system. Due to the research and review necessary for that and finalizing terms of a lease agreement for this proposal, the City, in accordance with Minnesota State 15.99, invoked a sixty (60) day extension to the sixty (60) day time limit for reviewing and commenting on the IUP application. Said extension gave the City until December 1, 2011 to make a decision on the IUP. Notification: In accordance with State statute, Staff attempted to notify property owners within 350 feet of the subject property of the public hearing via Standard US Mail. The Public Hearing was also noticed in the Anoka County Union, the City's official newsletter for public notices. Observations: As the City Council is aware, the Applicant is interested utilizing the western half of the building's office area (roughly 4,900 square feet) for its operations. The building has roughly 10,000 square feet of office space (the other roughly 5,000 square feet is being utilized by Youth First) plus cold storage space behind the office area. The Applicant is proposing to utilize the area for worship space as well as for offices and educational and community outreach programs. The primary activity on this site would be worship services, which would occur on weekends and would likely be either Saturday evening or Sunday morning. Attendance is estimated to be about thirty (30) people initially with the hope of growing to about fifty to seventy (50-70) members. Other offerings being contemplated by the Church include an evening bible study group (likely around ten adults or so) and/or a vacation bible study (possibly around