Laserfiche WebLink
<br />City Council worksession 10/24/06 <br /> <br />2) HealthQuest Land Use <br /> <br />Community Development Director Trudgeon stated the existing Healthquest site, located <br />on the northwest comer of Bunker Lake Boulevard and Sunfish Lake Boulevard, is <br />currently zoned E-1 Employment. General Contractors of Minnesota has requested <br />consideration of the possibility to rezone the parcel to B-1 General Business. The current <br />zoning, E-1 Employment, permits industrial uses such as offices, warehousing, storage, <br />and manufacturing. B-1 General Business zoning permits such uses as single and multi- <br />tenant retail, restaurants, clinics, and convenience stores. A formal zoning amendment <br />request and subsequent land use change would be required, and would accompany a site <br />plan once a specific business or businesses are secured. :Mr. Trudgeon explained the area <br />contains a mix of land uses and zoning designations. The property immediately adjacent <br />on the north and west of the Healthquest site are E-l Employment. Both GMI and <br />LifeFitness are industrial users. The southwest and southeast comers of Sunfish Lake <br />and Bunker Lake Boulevards are industrial users as well. On the east side of Sunfish <br />Lake Boulevard, there are both B-1 General Business and R-3 High Density Residential <br />uses. With the exception of this comer, the area is dominated by industrial users and E-l <br />zoning. Furthermore, access is limited on this site to two county roads. Currently, the <br />Healthquest site has a single access onto Sunfish Lake Boulevard.. Any additional <br />accesses would be discouraged and are subject to the County Highway Department's <br />discretion. Mr. Trudgeon advised despite the prominence of industrial uses and zoning in <br />the area, this particular intersection experiences a high level of traffic. The lot could be <br />suitable for a retaillbusiness use. General Contractors of Minnesota would like to market <br />this parcel for a retail use, particularly a pharmacy/drug store. Before submitting an <br />application for site plan, General Contractors of Minnesota would like general discussion <br />regarding the Council's desire to have the property rezoned to commercial. This <br />discussion will be presented to the Planning Commission on Thursday, November 2. <br /> <br />Councilmeniber Elvig commented commercial would likely be a good use for this <br />property. He indicated there was discussion at the last EDA meeting regarding the <br />possibility of stockpiling some good properties for redevelopment, depending upon how <br />Town Center's ripple effect starts to occur. The question is whether it is the time to start <br />this type of process, and whether commercial use would be the ultimate use for this <br />property in the long term. Councilmember Elvig stated this type of comprehensive <br />planning process could become enormously valuable five years from now. <br /> <br />Community Development Director Trudgeon indicated General Contractors of Minnesota <br />has several options on the property; one option was a multi-tenant building. They would <br />like to proceed with the single user drug store use. <br /> <br />Councilmember Cook commented the site could proceed with the use the owner has <br />suggested and could be redeveloped inanother 15 years, or the adjacent properties could <br />redevelop in the future as well. <br /> <br />64 <br />