Agenda - Council - 03/08/2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The parking structure is ant accessory, use. to the Ramsey Municipal Center. Along Sunwood Drive, the RamseYiTo. Wn ce~r!ter Plan shows a commercial/retail building, on a separate lot in front of the Earking sOmcture.' Once the new lot is created, the pm'king structure will .no longer have direct ifrontage onto Sunwood Dr. At this point, it is uncertain when this structure will be built iand the lot created, but Staff believes it will occur within the next two years. Staffbelieves that the 0-5 foot front yard setback for the TC-1 District should not apply to the municipal parking structure since it is an accessory use and the fact that a new 10t will be created in front of the parking structure and thus removing the "frontage" of the building fi:om Sunwood Dr. Staff has reviewed the utility, drainage, and grading plans and have no significant comments at this time. Furflier revie~ of the plans will occur at time of final site plan submittal. Staff has also reviewed the: Proposed landscaping plan and finds it generally acceptable, subject to the comments and request for additional information contained in the City Staff Review Letter. The Town Center Technical Advisory COmmittee met on January 12, 2005 to review the architecture of the building.. In gener~tl, the TCTAC liked the building, recognizing its utilitarian use. They liked the ;look-of the "warehouse" style and thought it was appropriate. The structure will consist of east in place concrete with an architectural finish, colored precast concrete with a stoneipattem nod precast concrete with both a brick infill and an architectural finish. Architec~ml precast cOncrete and brick will be used on the first level to provide for a more pleasing a~sthetic at .the ground level. Brick will be placed primarily to emphasize the comers of the building an~l the stair towers. The most prominent feature of the structure will be the glass stair towers 10cated .at the northwest, and southeast comer of the structure. The southeast glass stair tower will be built in the first phase and contain elevators. The northwest stairwell will be constructed as part of Phase II and will also contain elevators. The northwest stairtWell will ?be in a prominent location along Sunwood Drive adjacent to the proposed movie theater and retail. It was decided to have this stairwell be part of the second phase due to budget constraints in the first phase, the uncertainty of the most appropriate location adjacent to the retail, and the possibility of physically connecting, or integrating the stair tower into the retail building. The southWest stairwell will be quite visible from Hwy. 10 and will greatly complement the Ramsey Municipal Facility to ~e east. 'Besides serving a functional purpose, the stair towers will also be a focal point of th,e. structure~,, especially at night when the stair wells are lit up. The TCTAC suggested some minor design changes to .the stairwells in order improve the impact of the design. Overall, .the rI'CTAC liked the design of the structure and recommended that it proceed for approval. ~ Stafftook a hard look at the budget and the design of the building to make sure that we had a quality building while not exc~eding thc preliminary budget.' In order to do that, we are proposing to reduce the amount of:finishing along lower portion of the North elevation (Sunwood Drive) due to the facI,.that it Will eventUally be covered by the retail building. Staff is also proposing a more basic design: alung the western' elevation since this facade will need to be removed as part of the se¢0nd Phaso eXpansion to the west. The bulk of the design has been put into the southeast glas~ stair tow~r, and the south (Civic Center Drive)'and the east elevation. It should also be noted that there willbe significant architectural treatment on the upper elevation on north elevation (SUnWOod Dr.) since it will be visible even after the construction of the retail building.