Agenda - Council - 08/14/2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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more towers in the community. Mr. Edwards stated he would be more than happy to be available at a work session to discuss this topic. Case #2: Request for Preliminary Plat and Preliminary Site Plan Review of Anoka County Medical Examiner Facility; Case of PSD, LLC, and Anoka County Presentation Assistant Community Development Director Frolik stated that Anoka County has entered into an agreement with PSD, LLC to develop a new facility for the medical examiner on Outlot GG of Ramsey Town Center. The site is adjacent to Rhinestone Street N.W., south of Sunwood Drive and north of Civic Center Drive. The facility currently serves 7 counties; that number is expected to increase to 10 in the new Ramsey facility; with a potential to serve a total of 15 counties in the future. The project includes a minor subdivision to create a lot for the facility on Outlot GG of Town Center. The proposed lot will be approximately 1 acre in size. The property is zoned TC -3, a work place sub - district of the Town Center for which corporate and medical campuses are encouraged. The proposed medical examiner facility will be approximately 17,208 square feet in size and is placed on the site to allow for a future expansion. Assistant Community Development Director Frolik stated the TC -3 District regulations require 2 -4 story buildings; the proposed building is 1 story. However, the Town Center Guidelines for the TC -3 District indicate that occasional 1 story buildings are acceptable if they don't dominate the street frontages and the rooflines are at least 18 feet in height. The medical examiner facility has been designed with a clerestory to give the illusion of a 2 story building. The height to the top of the clerestory is 24 feet. The clerestory includes some windows to bring natural light into the building. To intensify the illusion of a functional second story, the architects have added spandro glass, which looks like a window but does not function as a window. These same spandro windows have also been added to the main floor of the building to give it more street level interest where windows would not normally be placed based on the interior floor plan. One additional consideration of the 1 story building is that the site location is not on a highly visible Town Center corridor such as Sunwood Drive or East and West Ramsey Parkways. Ms. Frolik advised the TC -3 District setback from street is 0 -15 feet; the proposed setback of the building varies from 15 -53 feet. However, a planned future expansion of the building would occur on the west wall facing Rhinestone Street and will bring the building into compliance with the 15 foot maximum setback. The applicant has applied for a variance to the maximum setback until that expansion occurs. In the interim, the site has been designed to use wrought iron fences, garden, patios, entry canopies extended to the sidewalk, and landscaping to bring the hard edge of the site development out to the sidewalk. Assistant Community Development Director Frolik indicated the site will derive public access from Rhinestone Street N.W. Rhinestone Street and Civic Center Drive were identified as City constructed improvements in the Ramsey Town Center street construction exhibit. Assistant Community Development Director Frolik advised the Town Center zoning district sets a maximum parking space standard of 4 per 1000 square feet of building for medical clinics and Planning Commission/ June 7, 2007 Page 8 of 31