Agenda - Planning Commission - 01/03/2013

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• • • • LANDFORM • From Site to Finish 105 South Fifth Avenue Suite 513 Minneapolis, MN 55401 December 20, 2012 Chris Anderson Associate Planner/Environmental Coordinator City of Ramsey 7550 Sunwood Drive NW Ramsey, MN 55303 • • Tel: 612-252-9070 Fax: 612-252-9077 www.landform.net Re: McDonald's Site Plan Application Dear Mr. Anderson: We have received your December 13th comments regarding our application on behalf of McDonalds USA, LLC. At your request, we have prepared a colored 3D rendering of the building as viewed from the intersection of Sunwood Drive and Armstrong Boulevard and colored elevations for all four building sides. As you can see, we have prepared a building design that is consistent with the purpose and intent of 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. When evaluating this location for a possible new McDonald's restaurant, our team evaluated several different site layouts before settling on the plan that we submitted. We looked at the entrance to the site, which provides a full access from the internal drive and a right -in only from the north. This access limitation severely restricts the internal circulation options. Our goal is to ensure a well- functioning site that accommodates the approximately 1,200 daily drive-thru customers while providing safe pedestrian access for our customers that either drive and park or walk to the site. It is important to provide adequate stacking space at the drive-through and ensure that pedestrians do not have to cross drive-through lanes to enter the restaurant. None of the other site layouts optimize the operation of the restaurant while providing safe, convenient customer access like this plan does. Based on our world-wide experience operating McDonalds restaurants, we have evaluated a number of different orientations and layouts and determined that this plan provides the best option. 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 and planned 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 and the sketch plan approved by the HRA, Planning Commission and City Council, 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 of this block challenging. The buildings within this subdivision are oriented around an internal drive rather than the surrounding public streets. Our building entrance, like the Wiser Liquor building, the retail center and SuperAmerica (and any other campus setting), is Landform`, SensiblyGreen" and Site to Finish`s are registered service marks of Landform Professional Services, LLC.