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RUMRTY BLE & BUTLER PROFESSIONAL ASSOC[ATIOS City of Lake Elmo April 20, 1999 Page 4 The 15 acre maximum lot size will prohibit the two churches which currently own undeveloped land in Lake Elmo from proceeding with their planned churches, and will severely interfere with or prohibit any church from establishing a new facility designed to meet the needs of today's worshipers. No other zone in the City has a maximum lot size. In fact, all other zones, including the City's business zones, have minimum lot sizes. In fact, the City's business park zone requires a minimum of 20 acres to plat a business park, and a minimum building foundation size of 1.0,000 square feet. There are no maximums on plat size, lot size or building size. The record contains no evidence of anyimpacts associated with churches which are so great that churches must be restricted to 15 acres, while business parks are required to be greater than 20 acres. The ordinance contemplates that either a church or a business park could be located adjacent to residential uses, and establishes extraordinary setbacks for both churches and business park from residential uses (see below). However, neither the ordinance itself, nor anything in the record leading up to its recommendation for adoption by the Planning Commission, supports the 15 acre maximum lot size for churches. The only reason the churches have heard for the maximum lot size is the desire to prohibit big churches and to limit the amount of tax-exempt property in the City. This is not a sufficient basis on which to interfere with the constitutionally protected rights of the churches and their members to assemble and practice their religion. The fact that the maximum lot size applies to other, non -religious uses in the public facility zone does notjustify governmental interference with constitutionally protected rights. Furthermore, as evidenced by the inventory of existing PF and P zoned sites in Lake Elmo, the 15 acre maximum is nonsensical as to all PF uses. Eleven of 26 existing P and PF zoned sites currently exceed the 15 acre maximum, several by hundreds of acres. The 15 acre maximum lot size should be eliminated. 3. The Residential buffer requirement is unsupported be any rational basis and is intended solelX to unduly restrict and prohibit religious uses. The 200 foot buffer requirement is unique to the PF district, far out of proportion to the impact of church uses, and nothing more than a thinly veiled effort to further restrict the size of churches. By comparison, the City Zoning Code requires only a 100 foot setback from a residential property line (200 feet from a residential structure) for animal buildings, feedlots and manure storage facilities. The City's general business and other business zones require only a 100 foot buffer from MumoG 588883,1