Agenda - Council - 12/14/2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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facilitate emergency management operations and other training, and a Police Station with a detention center. The City Hall portion of the Ramsey Municipal Center will be two stories, with the possibility of adding a third floor. The Police Station portion will be one story initially, with the potential to add a second level. The Ramsey Municipal Center will have a main entrance on Sunwood' Drive for pedestrians. Additional entrances will be located in the rear of the building. The rear of the building will be served by 42 stall parking lot. This parking lot is intended to serve the general public as they conduct business at the Ramsey Municipal Center. Additional free Parking will be available in the adjacent City-owned parking ramp. Since the proposed Ramsey Municipal Center is to be located in the Ramsey Town Center, the Town Center Zoning District regulations and the Town Center Development Guidelines apply to the site plan. The Town Center Technical Advisory Committee (TCTAC) reviewed the site plan on November 23, 2004. The Ramsey Municipal Center property is zoned TC-1 Mixed-Use Core District. Municipal buildings are permitted uses within the TC-1 Zoning District. The Proposed site plan meets the standards for the district with the following comments: Lot Coverage/Floor Area Ratio: The Ramsey Municipal Center and City parking ramp will be located on, 4.4 acres. The TC-1 Town Center Mixed Use Core requires a Floor Area Ratio (F.A.R.) of 1.0. For this site, a F.A.R. requires 191,664 square feet of building. Absent the City parking ramp the lot coverage of just the Ramsey Municipal Center area is 0.36 'F.A.R. (0.42 when the future expansion is factored in). However, when factoring in' the City parking ramp (270,000 square feet) the F.A.R. will be 1.7. The parking ramp is proposed to begin construction in the Spring of 2005. The proposed Ramsey Municipal Center in conjunction with the City parking ramp will exceed the required F.A.R. of 1.0. Setbacks: The proposed Town Center Zoning District has setback standards- based on the principle to have them serve more as "build to" lines rather than traditional setbacks. This is especially important for the. front yard since the building presentation to the-street is critical. The "setback" requirements anticipate a minimum and maximum setback for the front yard. For the TC-1 District, the minimum setback is zero and the maximum is 5 feet with at least 60% of the front fa¢ade within the maximum setback area. From review of the plan, it appears that only 33% of the front fagade is within 5 feet of the property line, Under the Town Center regulations, a variance will be required to allow for the current configuration.' It should be noted that 60% of the front fagade is located within 18 feet of the property line. There are several factors that may mitigate the effect of the' larger setback that should be considered during the variance discussion. One is the creation of the public plaza at the front entrance along Sunwood Drive. These types of spaces are encouraged as part of the Town Center Development Guidelines. The second factor regards the placement of the building. In order to make the building architecturally interesting, the Municipal Center will be curved and not have a long flat, monolithic wall .along Sunwood Drive. In addition, where the building is pulled back on Sunwood Drive, raised landscaped areas will be brought up to the lot line that will to some extent feel like an extension of the building. The TCTAC has reviewed the layout of the building and is supportive of a variance to allow for the building to be pulled back