Agenda - Council Work Session - 05/11/2021

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Regular Planning Commission 7, 3, Meeting Date: 04/08/2021 By: Chris Anderson, Community Development Information Title: PUBLIC HEARING: Consider Ordinance #21-06 Consolidating all Landscape Requirements into a Single Section and Amending Landscape Standards in the Employment Districts Purpose/Background: The purpose of this case is to consider Ordinance #21-06, which amends landscaping requirements in the Employment Districts, as well as moves all landscaping standards from individual zoning districts into a single City Code Section entitled Landscaping. The notion of amending the Employment District landscaping standards arose as a result of the DeltaMod Tech project. In the Employment Districts, buildings tend of be larger and have a lot of areas dedicated for parking, maneuvering, and storage. The impervious areas, coupled with the stormwater management improvements (ponding), leave much less pervious area available to accommodate plantings (trees and shrubs). Compliance with planting requirements was either physically challenging and/or was resulting in overly dense plantings that would be problematic in the future. Thus, the Environmental Policy Board (EPB) directed Staff to initiate the process to amend the Employment District landscape standards. Historically, the zoning districts were drafted to be a 'one stop shop' for all requirements in an individual district. This seemed logical prior to the advent of online resources. Even though the same landscaping standards applied to all Employment Districts (E-1, E-2, and E-3), the standards were repeated in each individual district. However, rarely, if ever anymore, do we rely on hard copies of the standards for individual zoning districts (generally accessed now online) and thus, by consolidating all landscaping standards into a single Section, a lot of repetition within City Code can be eliminated. Notification: The Public Hearing Notice was advertised in the Anoka County Union -Herald, the City's Official Newsletter. Observations/Alternatives: Staff initially assessed planting requirements from surrounding communities and found that their planting requirements were either more stringent (required more plantings) or significantly less than Ramsey's. Ultimately, the EPB recommended utilizing the Canopy Cover Formula, which is the basis for landscaping requirements in the multi -family districts and is based on available planting area (e.g. pervious areas). Additionally, the EPB also recommended excluding stormwater ponds from the pervious calculation since plantings are not permitted within them. So, rather than basing the number of trees and shrubs on the square footage of the building footprint or the lineal footage of the site perimeter, it would be based on the Canopy Cover Formula and assigned square footage of individual tree/shrub species. While this will result in fewer plantings on a site, it should still produce an attractive landscape that is healthier and more functional. In addition to the aforementioned revisions, the Ordinance also 'cleans up' certain aspects of the landscaping requirements. The bufferyard standards in the R-2 Residential and R-3 Residential Districts have been eliminated, since the density transitioning standards between different types of densities also apply and are more restrictive. Also, bufferyard standards were added to commercial/industrial districts that currently are missing this requirement. The majority of the Ordinance is simply rearranging existing landscaping requirements from individual districts into a single section of City Code. ` """'r' COMMISSION CAS''