08-14-2019 Workshop & Council Packet

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STAFF REPORT TO: Mayor Keis and Members of the City Council FROM: Heidi Heller, City Clerk DATE: August 14, 2019 RE: 3354 Rice Street – Sign Variance Caribou Coffee at 3354 Rice Street is seeking variances to allow additional signage on their property due to the re-alignment of the I-694 and Rice Street bridge and Country Drive. The property is zoned B-3, General Business, and currently sits on the corner of Rice Street and Country Drive with two street frontages. The boundary between Little Canada and Vadnais Heights runs along the current north border of Caribou’s property. Ramsey County purchased and removed the former Vadnais Inn that was adjacent on the north side, and Caribou was able to acquire some excess land from the County that will be combined with their current parcel and allow for a parking lot expansion. There is currently wall signage only on the west elevation, along with a 15-foot tall free-standing pylon sign at the corner of Rice Street and Country Drive. There are also four directional signs on the property for the drive-thru lane entrance, height limit and menu board. The existing signage meets the City Code requirements. Once the I-694/Rice Street reconstruction project is complete, this property will be a stand-alone parcel entirely surrounded by roadway, and incorporated into a round-a-bout that completely changes access for the site. There are currently access drives off Rice Street and Country Drive, both allowing right and left turns in and out of the site. The reconstruction project will remove the Rice Street access and add a median that will prevent left turns from southbound Rice Street. There will be a new right-in only entrance-only access on the north side of the property. After the road construction is complete, it will be less obvious how to access the site than it is currently. Due to changing the entire area’s roads and freeway entrance and exit ramps into round-a-bouts, Caribou is concerned about customers figuring out how to access their site, and also being able to see that there is a Caribou here soon enough to correctly navigate through the round-a-bouts. The total amount of wall and free-standing signage allowed is 15% of the of the gross silhouette area of the front of the building. Based on two building faces, this parcel is allowed a total of 317.25 square feet of signage. The sign code allows counting two building faces for corner properties with dual street frontage, but has no allowances for a property that has four sides of street frontage since it so seldom occurs. The applicant has requested a variance for wall signage on all four sides of the building since the roadway will surround the site and all sides of the building will be highly visible. There is currently a 61.3 square foot wall sign on the west side facing Rice Street. The applicant is proposing the same wall sign on all four sides of the building for a total of 245.2 square feet.