07/07/2012 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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We are recommending a number of revisions to the ordinance based on discussions with City staff and our professional experience writing and implementing ordinances. The proposed changes have been shown as deleted text in strikethrough, added text in underline in the attached document. Background In our initial meeting with City staff we discussed the City's concerns with the existing Industrial zoning districts and begin discussion of potential changes to help the City implement their vision. The following key issues were discussed: • Non - conforming uses in the Industrial districts • The challenges specific to the Light Industrial area on Lake Drive (e.g. non - conformities, proximity to single family residential, lack of municipal sewer and water, zoning that is inconsistent with Comprehensive Plan) • Need to balance property owner rights with the rights of adjacent landowners • Need to analyze the long term goals vs. short term requests • Need to analyze tax impacts for the city as a whole • Importance of Lake Drive as a gateway for the City • Outside storage needs to be clearly addressed, including updated definition of outside storage to address vehicle parking, dumpsters, display areas, etc. It is our understanding that there were some in the City who felt that the existing ordinance may have been overly restrictive and discouraged new businesses from locating in Lino Lakes. Our experience shows that one of the roles of zoning is to protect property rights of existing landowners and businesses by maintaining a standard that ensures quality and maintenance of adjacent properties, which helps to maintain property values. My conversations with site selectors and developers indicate that few buildings are being built on speculation. The only buildings being built are for specific tenants and each tenant has specific locational criteria that will drive site selection more that any zoning standards. The general consensus is that businesses are looking for land as close to the central cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul as possible and those businesses generally will not move out from that core until they can find land that is priced to fit their needs. The supply of industrial land in places like Blaine is diminishing, which will make land in Lino Lakes more appealing. Throughout the metropolitan area, performance standards have been increased and businesses seem to understand this baseline expectation has increased over what might have been acceptable 30 years ago. None of site selectors I spoke to cited Lino Lakes as having an ordinance that was too restrictive, but all noted the importance of flexibility for users. Proposed Revisions One of the significant changes relates to the general format of the Zoning Ordinance. It is our intent to make the Industrial district standards clearer with these updates. However, it should be noted an update to Section 3 (general performance standards) will be required to supplement these updates. The key changes proposed in the LI and GI districts are as follows: • Eliminated motor fuel stations as an allowed use in both the LI and GI zoning districts. We believe that these users should be located on commercial property with convenient access. This will free up the remaining Industrial land for true industrial uses. Revisions to Industrial District Standards (Section 8) 3 July 2, 2012