02-25-2004 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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NORTHWEST ASSOCIATED CONSULTANTS, INC. 5775 Wayzata Boulevard, Suite 555, St. Louis Park, MN 55415 Telephone: 952.595.9636 Facsimile: 952..595.9837 Planners @nacplanning.com MEMORANDUM TO: Little Canada Planning Commission FROM: Stephen Grittman DATE: February 19, 2004 RE: Little Canada — Town Office Parking Demand FILE NO: 758.10 — 04.02 The City Council asked for additional comments from staff with regard to the requirements for parking in small office developments such as the proposed Mendota Homes Town Office project. We have been working with another party in verifying the standards that the City adopted approximately two years ago. At this time, we have not been able to finalize that study. In the meantime, we have attempted to make occasional observations at other Town Office projects, and we are checking on experiences that other communities have had with this type of office development. With the information we have gathered so far, the "70% Rule" (allowing a reduction in parking totals by assuming that usable floor area will be about 70% of the gross) appears to be a reasonably accurate forecaster of parking demand in these projects. While we found another project in the Twin Cities area that is being developed at nearly 80% of floor space usage, many office parking ordinances call for parking requirements at one space per 250 or 300 square feet (rather than the one space per 200 square feet in Little Canada's Ordinance). As such, the net result is similar to the City's current standard. In the observations we have been able to make to date, there did not appear to be any overflow problems. The Planning Commission also reported that in their use of the local Town Offices projects, they were not aware of problems finding parking. It was suggested that one of the uses in the Tacheny project (where a concern exists) may have occasional problems due to the scheduling of certain client or staff meetings. At this time, we believe the current standard will work well for the Mendota Homes project. In the event that occasional overflow causes the need for on- street parking,