City Council Meeting Date: August 4, 2025
To: Mayor & City Council
City Administrator
From: Jake Reilly, Community Development Director
Mikayla Schmidt, City Planner
Mathias Hughey, Associate City Planner
Title
Consideration of a Conditional Use Permit for St. Olaf College to add 26 Parking Stalls to the Lincoln St. Parking Lot within the Perimeter Transition Area.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council is being asked to consider the attached Resolution approving the conditional use permit (CUP) for St. Olaf College to add 26 Parking Stalls to the Lincoln St. Parking Lot within the Perimeter Transition Area.
Summary Report:
The applicant, St. Olaf College, has applied for a CUP to add 26 parking stalls to the Lincoln St. Parking Lot within the Perimeter Transition Area. St. Olaf applied to have 28 additional parking spaces when they first constructed the new townhomes and residence halls in 2020. The existing parking lot was constructed in 2022 as part of a larger campus development that included expansion of student housing in the area. At that time, the amount of off-street parking permitted in the area was limited.
At the July 22, 2025, City Council meeting, Councilors reviewed the application, Planning Commission findings, and public comments and directed staff to draft a resolution approving the Conditional Use Permit. A draft Resolution is attached.
The applicant cites an increased number of staff and students on campus, a waitlist for student parking passes (approximately 300 students), event parking challenges, and periodic parking on neighborhood streets to justify the requested increase. In total, St. Olaf proposes to add 119 parking spaces on campus to accommodate the additional 100 faculty and staff, and 130 students added since 2020. 26 of these spaces are proposed for the parking lot located at 219 Lincoln St. W.
St. Olaf manages student parking through a lottery system. First year students are prohibited from bringing a car to campus, exceptions are available for those living more than 250 miles from campus, or those with medical conditions.
As recently as 2020, St. Olaf issued permits on need-based system, that prioritized criteria including, medical, academic, work, volunteer, and commuter needs. This system resulted in under-utilized on-campus parking.
Student parking on neighborhood streets is localized to the 900, 1000, and 1100 blocks of 1st St. W, the 100 block of Madison St. S., 100 block of Madison St. W. and the Southwest portion of Lincoln Ln. St Olaf Ave and Lincoln St. N. have parking restrictions in place.
Student parking on these streets is limited to approximately September through November 15, when the winter parking regulations take effect, and March 15 through mid-May when spring semester ends.
To address neighborhood concerns about crowded street parking, the police department has been enforcing the 48-hour limit for on street parking in these neighborhoods. Enforcement requires marking tires with a piece of chalk and then checking the area again 48 hours later, to see which cars have moved. Cars that have not moved are towed, and the owner is charged for towing and vehicle storage. This is a time-consuming process and easily circumvented by moving vehicles an arbitrary distance.
Staff have discussed potential solutions to address neighborhood complaints about on-street parking by students. These include creating a permit system, prohibiting overnight parking, or creating other time-limits. The area impacted is small and the cost/benefit of implementing and enforcing a permit system is low. Other restrictions or prohibitions will negatively impact residents who rely on the on-street parking. Any of these interventions should involve thorough community engagement prior to implementation.
According to the Federal Highway Administration’s Traffic Calming ePrimer (Traffic Calming ePrimer | FHWA <https://highways.dot.gov/safety/speed-management/traffic-calming-eprimer>), on-street parking can be an effective traffic calming tool, reducing speeds between 1 and 5 mph, but only if the parking is more than 50% utilized. It is also considered to have a minimal effect on motorist safety or the number and severity of pedestrian/vehicle conflicts. While tradeoffs are involved, concerns about safety impacts on on-street parking are not supported by research, and additional street enhancements, i.e. corner extensions or “bump outs,” can effectively address issues of pedestrian visibility.
The site development standards for the CD-S: College Development zoning district require any development within the Perimeter Transition Area (PTA) to undergo a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) process, including a neighborhood meeting. The applicant must also provide a parking study that assesses the supply and demand of parking and mitigation strategies to reduce overall demand for surface parking. St. Olaf last conducted a parking study in 2020 (attached) and has submitted a memo (attached) providing an update to that study. The 2020 study concluded that St. Olaf was providing adequate parking and recommended pursuing additional strategies to reduce demand as the campus population increased.
The Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code guide surface parking to be carefully considered, especially in the PTA, where it negatively impacts the essential character of the adjacent residential neighborhoods. While enrollment and employment have increased, the number of student housing units served by the lot at 219 Lincoln St. have not. St. Olaf has adequate space to add additional parking in the Internal Development Area (IDA) portion of its campus.
A CUP follows a Type 4 Review Procedure found in Section 8.4.7 of the land development code (LDC). Type 4 Review Procedures require the Planning Commission (PC) to hold a public hearing and make a recommendation to City Council. The City Council makes the final decision on the CUP.
The PC has recommended (on a 3-2 affirmative vote with two absent) denial of the CUP for the additional 26 parking spaces, in support of the staff recommendation.
When approving a CUP, criterion (a) must be met, and criteria (b) through (n) shall be considered in the review of conditional use permit applications. An analysis of the criteria is provided in the draft resolution for consideration.
Staff Recommendation:
Staff recommend denial of the CUP to add 26 parking stalls to the lot within the Perimeter Transition Area at 219 Lincoln St. W.
Alternative Options:
If a resolution of approval is passed by City Council, a condition could be added to require parking permits for the parking lot behind the townhomes on St. Olaf Ave. and the parking lot on the west side of Lincoln St. N. be granted only to students living in the new residence hall or the new townhomes (located on the east side of campus on St. Olaf Ave.).
Currently, other than the parking lot behind the new townhomes, St. Olaf College does not issue parking permits assigning students to park in certain lots. Students park their cars in whichever lot they wish and on a “first-come-first-serve basis”. This method is easier for St. Olaf to execute and requires less enforcement but potentially creates a situation where students living on the east side of campus are then unable to park near their housing and may then choose to park in the adjacent neighborhoods. While this would not likely completely remove parking in the adjacent streets/neighborhood, it has the potential to reduce the impacts while creating minimal enforcement for St. Olaf. The potential added conditions related to parking permits are listed below. They are enumerated for ease of addition during the meeting, if Council chooses to take this agenda item of the Consent Agenda and move it to the regular business portion of the agenda.
1. WHEREAS, St. Olaf College is required to provide parking permits for the parking lot behind the townhomes on St. Olaf Ave. and the parking lot on the west side of Lincoln St. N., and assign parking permits to those lots only to students applying for parking permits who have been assigned to live in the new residence hall or the townhomes on St. Olaf Ave.; and
WHEREAS, St. Olaf College shall implement and execute said parking permit system for the parking lot behind the townhomes on St. Olaf Ave. and the parking lot on the west side of Lincoln St. N. to students living in the new residence hall or the townhomes on St. Olaf Ave. for the 2026-2027 school year; and
WHEREAS, this is with the understanding and knowing there will not be enough parking spaces to park all the students in either the new residence hall or the townhomes on St. Olaf Ave. in the parking lot behind the townhomes on St. Olaf Ave. and the parking lot on the west side of Lincoln St. N., but that those lots will be only used to park students from the new residence hall or the townhomes on St. Olaf Ave.; and
The council could also add the following conditions indicating how staff/the city is supporting current efforts by St. Olaf College to add parking, and a potential way to find additional parking solutions. See below.
2. WHEREAS, the city is supporting additional parking on campus by reviewing a site plan application from St. Olaf College to add 92 parking stalls near Skoglund Center; and
WHEREAS, the city can review areas where shared parking could occur with city-owned or privately-owned parking lots. This could be a potential revenue source for the city and give students an alternative to parking on the neighboring streets; and
WHEREAS, the indoor bike parking in the new residence hall on St. Olaf Ave. is full and staff supports the addition of more indoor parking and is directed to work with St. Olaf College to review the process to add more indoor bike parking.
If there is interest to add any of these, there should be a request to remove from the consent agenda for separate discussion with opportunity to provide amendments to the resolution recommended. Otherwise, the main resolution is on the consent and does not have any of these added provisions.
Financial Impacts:
Not applicable.
Timeline:
June 4, 2025: Public hearing notice published in the Northfield News
June 5, 2025: Public hearing notice mailed to property owners within 350 ft.
June 16, 2025: Public hearing and recommendation by Planning Commission
July 22, 2025: Initial Review by City Council
August 4, 2025: Final Approval by City Council