Laserfiche WebLink
t <br />v L 3 ATTACP,MENT 2 <br />• CITY OF <br />FALCON HEIGHTS <br />2077 W. LARPENTEUR AVENUE FALCON HEIGHTS, MN 55113-5594 PHONE (612) 644-5050 FAX (612) 644-8675 <br />TO: Jan Wiessner, City Administrator <br />FROM: Susan Hoyt City Planner <br />RE: The Retroactive Application of Rear and Sideyard Screening for Existing <br />Businesses <br />INTRODUCTION <br />Inevitably some residential neighborhoods are located next to non-residential <br />land uses. Sometimes there is a comfortable co-existence. Other times the <br />non-residential land use creates a visual and/or audial blight for adjacent <br />residents. Buffering or screening has become a standard practice to reduce <br />the impact on residential zones from adjacent transportation, industrial and <br />• commercial land uses. These man-made buffers can enhance the aesthetics of a <br />neighborhood by visually obscuring the non-residential use and diminishing the <br />noise. Site plans for proposed new developments routinely include setbacks and <br />screening prior to receiving project approval (e.g. SuperAmerica, Hewlett Packard). <br />However, retroactively requiring screening between land uses that have co-existed <br />for several years, even decades, raises two policy questions - (1) what <br />constitutes screening? and (2) when should existing businesses be required to <br />provide such screening? A number of constraints enter into making these decisions. <br />1. WHAT CONSTITUTES SCREENILIG? <br />First, it is necessary to set general guidelines for acceptable screening <br />between existing businesses and residential zones. This information will be <br />used to determine which businesses currently conform and which businesses do <br />not. It will also determine how non-conforming businesses may come into conformance. <br />(The City Council gives final approval to individual screening plans; <br />(see Attachment 1).) <br />According to the zoning code, the purpose of screening is to "block direct <br />visual access to an object" using fencing, landscaping and construction materials <br />singly or in combination (see Attachment 1). "Direct visual access" is vague. <br />It may be interpreted to mean that standing at ground level looking toward the <br />business, the view of the business is obscured by landscaping (e.g. the northside <br />of the Thatcher Clinic) or a six foot high cedar fence (e.g. Embers). Some <br />businesses have three to four foot high chain link fencing along rear property <br />lines (e.g. Falcon Center). This would not impair the site line from adjacent <br />• properties in height, density or visual appeal, so it would not meet this requirement. <br />HOME OF THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR AND THE U OF M INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE <br />PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER <br />neE mr ~ ~~~{{JJJ <br />