City Council Meeting Date: February 16, 2021
To: Mayor and City Council
City Administrator
From: Mikayla Schmidt, City Planner
Mitzi Baker, Community Development Director
David Bennett, Public Works Director/City Engineer
Title
Requested Action on the Conditional Use Permit for St. Olaf College - Ole Avenue Housing Project for the Perimeter Transition Area.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council is being asked to approve a Resolution on the Conditional Use Permit for St. Olaf College - Ole Avenue Housing Project for the Perimeter Transition Area.
Summary Report:
The City Council discussed the Ole Avenue Housing project at their last regular meeting on February 2. Further discussion was held on parking and traffic. Based on that discussion, staff has brought forward two resolutions for Council consideration. One resolution includes the recommendations with conditions identified by staff and the other resolution includes the same conditions but will remove the net new 28 parking spaces included in the project.
Project details continue to be refined as the applicant works toward site plan approval. Additional project features and updates include:
• St. Olaf has lowered the Kelvin temperature of the lighting from 4000K to 3000K
• The sidewalks on the north and south side of St. Olaf Ave., adjacent to the project area, are being widened to 9 ft.
• On street bike lane / shared bike lane concept will be striped on the street (like on Washington St.)
• There will be repairs to the street sections where the utility connections occur
• Two crosswalks will be marked to connect the townhomes and residence hall across St. Olaf Ave.
***Below is the staff report from the February 2, 2021 Council Meeting***
At the January 19, 2021 City Council meeting, there was significant discussion and questions around parking for the project. In response, St. Olaf College has submitted a letter and two attachments that describe the parking for the housing project. Please see the attachments and graphics that explain the parking detail and locations.
To summarize St. Olaf’s letter:
• The College owns 31 homes along St. Olaf Ave., 1st St. W., 2nd St. W., Lincoln Ave., Forest Ave., and Walden Pl.
o 19 of those homes are used for student housing or honor houses.
o 4 homes are used for overflow/quarantine
o 3 homes are used for program/office space
o 5 homes are used for faculty/staff housing
• 138 students are living in the 19 honor houses - all of which will be housed in the new town houses upon completion of the Ole Ave. Project
o These 19 houses will no longer be used for student housing
o The honor houses have 85 available parking spaces associated with them
• 9 buildings, including 7 honor houses and 2 program/office houses, will be demolished or moved as part of the construction project:
o The 2 program/office homes are the Boe and President’s house (the President’s house has already been demolished)
o These 9 buildings have 49 existing parking spaces that will be eliminated from their current location
• After project completion, 9 other homes will be deconstructed or moved
o 7 are honor houses
o 1 is a program office
o 1 is a student overflow/quarantine house
o These 9 homes have 35 existing spaces that will no longer be available to students
• At the end of the project, 5 existing honor houses will be re-purposed for visiting faculty or temporary housing for faculty/staff until they can find permanent housing in Northfield
o These 5 homes were identified as being in the best shape
o They are also adjacent to homes which the College does not own
o Long-term the 4 houses located on St. Olaf Ave. and 1st St. W. will eventually be deconstructed or moved to achieve the open green space vision shown on the site plans.
o The fifth house could be put on the market for sale (that may happen at the completion of construction)
o 20 existing parking spaces are associated with these homes that will be used by faculty/staff. These 20 spaces will no longer be available for student parking
o The college will continue to use the houses currently being used for faculty/staff housing after the Ole Avenue Project is completed.
• 189 parking spaces are included in the Ole Avenue Project
o 161 total existing spaces replaced in project design (breakdown below)
§ 57 (existing spaces at Klein Field lot)
§ 49 (existing honor house/office spaces demolished for construction)
§ 35 (existing honor house/office spaces demolished at completion of construction)
§ 20 (existing honor house spaces to be used by visiting faculty/staff and no longer available for student parking; long-term these houses are deconstructed or moved with parking spaces eliminated)
o 28 of those spaces are net new
o 189 total designed spaces
• Students living in the new housing facilities will be juniors or seniors who often have practicum or internships
• At the neighborhood open house in September (St. Olaf’s letter stated August, but it was in Sept.), the biggest complaint the College received from those attendees was the number of students who park on city streets in the residential neighborhoods east of Lincoln Ave.
• Project delays would create cost and timeline implications. Boldt Construction estimated a cost factor of $70K to $80K per week should the project have delays.
o This takes in the overtime costs of the laborers to keep on track for a Fall 2022 occupancy
o This assumes footings would begin early March 2021
o Tree/shrub clearing and soil correction work would need to begin mid-February 2021
***Below is the staff report from the January 19, 2021 Council Meeting***
St. Olaf College proposes to develop new student housing that will facilitate decompressing and improving existing dorms and will also replace aged honors houses. College owned properties along the north and south sides of St. Olaf Ave, west of Lincoln St. are proposed for site improvements including new student housing, stormwater management, landscaping, parking and gateway enhancements. The St. Olaf project will be comprised of several multi-story structures, including a 300-bed residential hall to be constructed on the south side of St. Olaf Avenue, townhome-style residences with 140 student beds, to replace the existing honors houses on the north side of St. Olaf Avenue; and a total of 189 replacement and supplemental parking stalls throughout the project site. Gateway enhancements, new landscaping, pedestrian facilities and bicycle parking will be included in this project as well.
The Planning Commission (PC) approved, unanimously, to recommend approval to Council, the Conditional Use Permit with the conditions in the staff memo plus the condition that new parking be removed from the site plan. Based on the PC’s recommendation, one forthcoming resolution will be prepared with the added PC’s condition to remove all new parking from the site plan. Another resolution will be prepared without the added PC recommendation, as staff did not concur with the additional condition as many of the stalls replace existing student related parking and insufficient accommodations is likely to result in more parking in adjacent neighborhoods. Staff will be looking for direction from Council on the PC recommendation as well as the alternative staff recommendations and/or other conditions to further inform preparing resolutions for consideration. The City Council is the authority on a final decision. A map of the PTA overlaid on the site plan is forthcoming and is planned to be sent out in a supplemental memo. The resolutions for the CUP are not attached to this staff report and will be presented at the February 16 Council meeting for formal action.
Process:
Most of the St. Olaf campus is currently zoned CD-S. This zone is comprised of two sub-districts; the IDA - Internal Development Area, which is more than 200 feet from the external boundary of the District; and the PTA - Perimeter Transitional Area, which is the outer 200 feet of the CD-S zone and/or center line of right-of-way. Development within the PTA sub-zone is subject to review by the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) process. The Planning Commission and City Council will consider this CUP for development within the PTA, consistent with the Land Development Code (LDC).
Multiple steps and development applications are required for this project, beyond the CUP. A request to re-zone property, to expand the College zone, is being considered concurrent with this CUP. Other applications/approvals are administered by staff and include: Site plan - including layout, landscaping, lighting, parking and circulation; civil plans - including grading, storm water management, and utilities; fire safety and emergency access; and building/construction permits.
Neighborhood Meeting:
A neighborhood meeting and parking study are also required as part of the PTA review. St. Olaf College held a neighborhood meeting on September 21, 2020. Invitations were sent to the surrounding addresses that were 350 feet from the project area and 20 households attended the open house. A report from the first neighborhood meeting is attached. A second neighborhood meeting was held by St. Olaf College on December 21, 2020. Invitations were sent to the surrounding addresses that were 500 feet from the project area.
Parking and Traffic:
Student enrollment at St. Olaf College is currently approximately 3,000 and is not proposed to expand further. The 440 beds created from the project will decompress existing residence halls on campus and bring about 100 students currently living off-campus, back to living on campus. Leaving approximately 100 students living off-campus, most of whom live within a ½ mile and mainly walk or bike to campus.
A parking and traffic impact study were also completed. Table 3.8-2 in the LDC lays out the parking requirements. For CD-S zones, the minimum states:
Campus-wide requirement as determined through a parking study. One parking space for each faculty, staff, student vehicle, and the number of parking spaces equal to the average visitor parking demand as documented in a parking study. On street parking adjacent to property owned by a college may be counted towards meeting the parking requirement.
The LDC points to having one parking space for each faculty, staff and student vehicle, not a parking space for each faculty, staff and student. St. Olaf College has reviewed the parking for the Ole Housing project area and found approximately 28 net new parking stalls will be created from the proposed project. The remaining 161 parking stalls were existing as part of the honor houses, President’s House and event parking.
The public works department has provided further analysis of the Traffic Impact Study from St. Olaf College. The PowerPoint presentation explains the existing traffic conditions and anticipated traffic conditions from St. Olaf Ave., Lincoln St. and Hwy 19. The PowerPoint also shows the intersection operation at its current status and anticipated status after opening of the housing project. Total traffic is not anticipated to increase, but there will likely be a redistribution of some trips from the Hwy 19 entrance to Lincoln St. N. / St. Olaf Ave. Vehicle trips on St. Olaf Ave. after the housing project opens are anticipated to increase by 65 trips per day, which is less than the previous traffic volumes from the early 2000’s.
Conditional Use Permit Analysis:
The analyses are provided as part of the two resolutions attached to the staff report.
Recommendation:
Staff recommends the City Council consider recommending approval of the Resolution for the Conditional Use Permit subject to the following conditions:
1. The findings provided by staff from the Planning Commission meeting on November 19, 2020 are hereby adopted and attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference as Exhibit B without the condition that 28 parking stalls be removed from the site plan.
2. The Conditional Use Permit to allow a 300-bed residential hall, townhouse-style residences with 140 student beds, 189 additional parking stalls, green space, and other improvements on the Property located on the north and south of St. Olaf Avenue owned by St. Olaf College, which is zoned College Development (CD-S), legally described in Exhibit A, is hereby approved, subject to the following conditions:
a. The Conditional Use Permit shall be recorded by the applicant at the applicant’s expense within 180 days of the approval hereof. Failure to timely meet this condition shall render the Conditional Use Permit null and void and of no further force or effect;
b. The final site plan, subject to approval of the City, will include a safe pedestrian connection from the north parking lot to the townhomes and athletic fields;
c. The final site plan, subject to approval of the City, will incorporate adequate apparatus access and turn around for fire and emergency safety vehicles and personnel; and
d. This project is subject to other City approvals pursuant to City Code, including but not limited to site plan approval, which could result in additional required project modifications.
The second resolution includes the four conditions listed above and removes the new 28 parking stalls included in the project.
1. The Planning Commission’s findings from its November 19, 2020 meeting are hereby adopted and attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference as Exhibit B.
2. Except as provided in the below conditions, the Conditional Use Permit to allow a 300-bed residential hall, townhouse-style residences with 140 student beds, green space, and other improvements on the Property located on the north and south of St. Olaf Avenue owned by St. Olaf College, which is zoned College Development (CD-S), legally described in Exhibit A, is hereby approved, subject to the following conditions:
a. The Conditional Use Permit shall be recorded by the applicant at the applicant’s expense within 180 days of the approval hereof. Failure to timely meet this condition shall render the Conditional Use Permit null and void and of no further force or effect;
b. The final site plan, subject to approval of the City, will include a safe pedestrian connection from the north parking lot to the townhomes and athletic fields;
c. The final site plan, subject to approval of the City, will incorporate adequate apparatus access and turn around for fire and emergency safety vehicles and personnel; and
d. This project is subject to other City approvals pursuant to City Code, including but not limited to site plan approval, which could result in additional required project modifications.
e. New parking of 28 parking stalls shall be removed from the site plan reducing the additional parking stalls from 189 to 161.
The Planning Commission (PC) approved, unanimously, to recommended approval to Council, the Conditional Use Permit with the conditions in the staff memo plus the condition that new parking be removed from the site plan.
Alternative Options:
The Council has been presented two resolutions. The Council could approve subject to conditions recommended by staff, subject to those conditions as well as the additional item recommended by the Planning Commission, or subject to other conditions deemed necessary to meet the criteria.
If a proposed conditional use satisfies both the general and specific standards set forth in the zoning ordinance, the applicant is entitled to the Conditional Use Permit. Importantly, if the applicant meets the general and specific ordinance standards, the City usually has no legal basis for denying the CUP.
Financial Impacts:
There are no immediate financial impacts to the City.
Tentative Timelines:
The zoning map amendment to expand the College Development District is anticipated to go into effect on February 12, 2021. Action on this CUP would then be appropriate, as the zoning will be in place.
For St. Olaf College to stay on schedule for students to move into the housing in fall of 2022, tree/shrub clearing and soil correction work would need to begin mid-February 2021 and footings would likely begin in early March 2021.