Agenda - Planning Commission - 05/22/2025

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Boulevard. The proposed development has 5 percent building coverage and 42.1 percent hard surfacing coverage (including the parking lot, drive -through lane, and sidewalks) on the lot, resulting in 47.1 percent impervious surfacing coverage on the lot. This impervious surfacing percentage is lower than typical developments in the COR, aligning more similarly to a suburban development pattern, due to the unique dimensions and location of the lot, as well as the proximity of wetlands to the east and north of the building site. The building is designed to have the main entrance along the east side, facing the parking lot. A sidewalk will connect the front entrance to the parking lot and to Armstrong Boulevard near the southwest corner of the lot, providing multi -modal access to the building. The Applicant is also proposing to install a bike rack at the southeast corner of the building for folks looking to bike to the site. Vehicular access to the site will come from a driveway at the south end of the site, tying into a private access road to serve the entire Bunker Lake Crossing development. This access road will allow vehicles to access Taco Bell from two directions: a right -in -only access along northbound Armstrong Boulevard, and a full access along the roundabout at Sunwood Drive and Ramsey Parkway. Traffic exiting Taco Bell will have to turn left (southeast) onto the full access road and exit the development via the roundabout. For example, the vehicular traffic pattern is similar to that of the Taco Bell located near the intersection of Bunker Lake Boulevard and Anoka County Road 7 (7th Avenue) in Andover, which was also recently developed by the Applicant. The drive -through lane is oriented counter -clockwise around the building to allow at least 11 stacking spaces for vehicles, as measured from the pick-up window along the west side of the building. This drive -through lane includes a bypass lane for most of its length, as is required by Section 106-525(6) of Ramsey City Code, with a taper down to one lane beyond the pick-up window to allow for a safer pedestrian crossing with traffic exiting the drive -through lane. More information on the Variance for the drive -through placement can be found below. For future enhancements to the site, the Applicant has sketched a potential future second lane for ordering, as has been incorporated into the designs of other nearby locations, in case of future demand. This second lane would allow drive -through traffic to diverge, place orders, and re -merge along the north side of the building, thus allowing for quicker service. The Applicant has also sketched a potential pay window ahead of the pick-up window, as has been built at nearby locations, in the event that Taco Bell transitions a two -stop service model. Minimum parking requirements for the building are one stall per three seats of design capacity, as stated in Section 106-560 of Ramsey City Code. Maximum parking requirements shall not exceed 20 percent of the required minimum, without submission of a parking justification report. The code sheet submitted by the Applicant states a maximum occupancy in the dining room and customer areas of 51 occupants, resulting in a minimum parking requirement of 17 parking stalls and a maximum of 20.4 parking stalls. The Applicant is supplying 23 parking stalls, 2 of which are ADA accessible, as is standard for their other locations in the north metro and across the region. Staff is supportive of this small over -supply of parking because it will limit the number of vehicles attempting to park along the private access road and/or along Armstrong Boulevard, both of which do not allow on -street parking. Architecture and Building Materials The building will be 19 feet tall, as measured from the finished grade to the top of the parapet cap. An entry tower above the main entrance will extend up to 21 feet (2 feet taller than the parapet), and a corner tower at the southwest corner of the building will extend up to 23 feet (4 feet taller than the parapet). Both towers provide visual interest to the building's most visible areas while providing screening of the rooftop equipment. The building materials will consist of Hardie plank lap siding and trim, Nichiha panels, and Western State architectural metal panels, on all four sides of the building. Additionally, there will be storefront glazing along the south and east sides of the building to highlight the dining area, with black awnings and "eyebrow" metal trim. The west and east sides of the building will also have "expression panels", which essentially function as semi -permanent banners to accent the building's color scheme. The plans also show a garage door near the northeast corner of the building to provide access to the indoor dumpster enclosure. A dedicated loading space is marked in the parking lot to ensure vehicles do not block access to this garage door. The north side of the building will have a service ladder to access the roof, and a co -location of utility services mounted to the wall. The ladder and service panel are designed to blend in with the building materials, and the drive -through stacking and menu board will provide visual screening of this back -of -house area from Armstrong and Bunker Lake Boulevards. The Applicant is also proposing to install bollards along the drive -through lane to insulate any potential impact