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• City of Mounds View Staff Report Ordinance 595: Day Care Centers March 20, 1997 Page 2 centers and group nurseries and businesses serving liquor, liquor stores and adult 4111) establishments. City Council suggested that Planning Commission discuss these issues,and provide further input on possible changes to the ordinance to address them. The following additional information was provided to Planning Commission. Fumes: According to Gary Eckhardt, at the Minnesota Air Pollution Control Agency,there are no permits required from this agency for day care centers. Craig Hill,at the Minnesota Department of Human Services,Licensing Division, indicated that there are no requirements relative to air pollution levels which must be met in order to license a day care center. Stiff also asked Mr. Eckhardt to what degree vehicle traffic creates air pollution for adjacent land uses and how the problem of fumes might be addressed. He indicated that the studies which have been done show that intersections on high volume streets where a significant numbers of vehicles stop, idle and start,and congested roadways create the most localized pollution for adjacent land uses. Meteorological conditions also enter into the picture. He suggested that if a land use was 200 feet from the pollution source,the localized effect is more or less dissipated. He also noted that some soils along highway rights-of-way have lead contamination from when cars used lead-based gasoline. Soil testing would show if this was an issue in the play yard. The current criteria for day care centers and group nurseries state that these sites shall be served by arterial or collector streets. These are the streets carrying the higher traffic volumes. So a balancing act is required between keeping day care centers on higher volume streets so they do not add traffic to neighborhoods, and protecting the children from fumes. Stiff feels the most practical way to address this issue is to direct attention to Highway 10, which carries a very high volume of traffic and is unique in the community, and decide whether or not a distance requirement from Highway 10 is needed. If arterial and collector streets are included in general, existing elementary schools and day care centers will become non-conforming (examples: Pinewood Elementary, Sunnyside Christian Day Care). Even if our attention is confined to Highway 10, any distance requirement with make Kinder Care a non-conforming use. Distance Requirement from Certain Businesses: The City Code requires that premises holding a intoxicating liquor license be 500 feet from any school or church except that the 500 foot requirement shall not apply to any premise that receives at least sixty percent of its annual gross sales revenue form the sale of food(Section 502.05, Subd. 2). Day care centers are not mentioned as one of the uses triggering the 500 foot distance requirement. If it is the City's desire to have new day care centers located at least 500 feet from liquor establishments,then a criterion to this effect needs to be added to the conditional use permit requirements for day care centers. Adding this criterion will not prevent new liquor • establishments from locating within 500 feet of an existing day care center. The liquor code would