Agenda - Planning Commission - 01/03/2013

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INTRODUCTION On behalf of McDonalds USA, LLC, Landform is pleased to submit this application for site plan and conditional use permit approval to allow construction of a new restaurant on Lot 4, Block 1, COR TWO. The 1.36 -acre site is part of a plat that was approved by the City of Ramsey and given conceptual site plan review as part of those approvals. This site plan is consistent with Development Plan 6.1, which was approved by the Ramsey HRA and incorporated into the COR Design Framework. SITE PLAN Restaurants and Uses with Drive-thrus are both permitted uses in the COR -2 District, subject to the standards in Section 117-118 of the Zoning Ordinance and the standards in the COR Design Framework. The COR Design Framework was developed with the acknowledgement that the urban core with the traditional pedestrian oriented streetscape would be focused in COR -1. The COR -2 district was developed to accommodate auto -oriented uses such as this and the design guidelines included the flexibility to allow a wide variety of users in this area. This parcel is part of the COR TWO subdivision which is uniquely challenged due to existing conditions related to public streets, internal access drives, existing buildings to the south and an approved (but not yet constructed) building to the east. We have prepared a site plan that complies with The COR Design Framework while addressing these site constraints. When the COR TWO subdivision was approved, there was discussion about the fact that this subdivision was created to allow a campus -like setting within The COR and provide a global fix for a number of existing conditions that make development challenging. The buildings within this subdivision are oriented around an internal drive rather than the surrounding public streets. This design was influenced by a number of factors, including the fact that Armstrong Boulevard and Sunwood Drive are 4-6 lane roads with limited access. While the City has worked to create an environment that is inviting to automobile drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians, this limited access to primary roads necessitated the development of an internal street. Our building entrance, like any other campus setting, is oriented to this internal drive. Additionally, this internal drive allowed the existing retail/office building on Lot 2 to be part of this campus environment and take advantage of shared parking opportunities with the new Wiser Choice Liquor Store building on Lot 3, thereby, solving an existing parking problem for those businesses. Due to the need for vehicles to maneuver around the site, the buildings cannot be constructed at the build -to line. However, the Framework anticipated this type of situation and provided a tool to create a street edge through the use of a stone and decorative aluminum fence as shown on our plans. The Framework states that when this street edge is used, the fencing edge should be 40% of the frontage. Our plans show that the fence edging covers 42% of the street frontage on Sunwood Drive. This exceeds ordinance requirements. The MCD11100 L ANDFORM November 28, 2012 Project Narrative 2