04-20-2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Item No: 7 Meeting Date: April 20, 2005 Type of Business: Action City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Mounds View Planning Commission From: James Ericson, Community Development Director Item Title/Subject: Public Hearing, Review and Consideration of the Snyders Variance Request and Development Review Introduction: Synders Drug Store, a fixture at Moundsview Square since it opened in 1975, has entered into an agreement to purchase the Gas For Less site at 2525 County Road 10 and replace it with a stand-alone building for their own use. Dave Leonard, the Vice President of Real Estate and Store Development for Snyders, indicates that the drug store is now at a competitive disadvantage in the city due to its location hidden within Moundsview Square after other drug stores in the community constructed new stores at prominent intersections. At only 5,975 square feet, the proposed building would be much smaller than the other drug stores yet a smaller building is more in line with the Snyders stand-alone prototype. After observing what was approved for CVS, Walgreens and other corridor developments, Snyders has requested a similar five-foot parking setback along County Road 10, Long Lake Road and Bronson Drive. On the east property line shared with the City, Snyders is requesting a zero-foot parking setback along which they propose parallel parking for their employees. These setbacks would require approval of a variance. Background: Setback requirements are addressed in Section 1104.01, Subd 4 of the Zoning Code. Commercially zoned properties are required to maintain a thirty-foot front setback for BOTH parking and principal building. Commercial side and rear parking and driveway setbacks are five feet. Because the Gas For Less site is bordered by three streets, only one of its lot lines would have a five foot setback—the north, west and south lines would all have to satisfy the thirty foot requirement. Staff had worked with the previous owners of Gas For Less in 2004 to coordinate a purchase and redevelopment of the site, but at the final approval step, the City Council decided to pass on the acquisition after new owners came forward with designs to purchase and operate the gas station, promising improvements to the site. No improvements were made and less than a year after acquisition, the new owners put the site back on the market. Staff had intended to coordinate a redevelopment of the site, however it was recognizing that the site—an irregularly configured triangular corner lot with three street frontages—had some inherent practical difficulties impeding redevelopment, a fact that was pointed out by the developers staff had contacted during that time.