PL PACKET SPECIAL MEETING 06042012

Home Browse Search

1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The City of Saint Anthony Village, Minnesota (the "City") is divided into nine zoning districts. Five of the zoning districts are residential districts, one is a commercial district, one is a light industrial district, one is a planned use development ("EM') district, and one is a recreation/open space district. The PUD zoning district consists of both residential and commercial use. All of the zoning districts together comprise 1,231.53 total acres of land. The commercial and light industrial zoning districts are limited in size in relation to the City's land area as a whole. However, these districts represent the primary job creating and non- residential tax base portions of the City. Approximately 6.04 percent of the City's total land is devoted to commercial use. The commercial zoning district itself comprises approximately 2.43 percent of the City's land area, and approximately 2/3 of the PUD district is also devoted to commercial use, which increases the total commercial land use in the City to 6.04 percent. Approximately 4.99 percent of the City's total land is devoted to light industrial use, all of it exclusively located within the light industrial zoning district itself. Because the City has little of its space devoted to, and available for, commercial or light industrial use, it is important that the City properly determines what types of permitted or conditional uses may exist within these valuable zoning districts. The City has recently received two separate applications for conditional use permits ( "CUP ") for the use of religious assembly within the light industrial zoning district. The City Council denied the first of these applications in October 2011 based on its belief that a place of worship generally does not belong within a light industrial zoning district according to the zoning district's intended uses related to economic development and job growth. The City received another such application in February 2012 that is similar in many regards (i.e., the applicant desires to convert a business center within the light industrial zoning district into a place of religious assembly). On March 13, 2012, the City adopted an interim ordinance as authorized by Minnesota Statutes section 462.355(4). This interim ordinance would generally be effective for one year, but the City Council is scheduled to act on this particular interim ordinance by June 12, 2012, the same date on which a decision regarding the pending CUP application would have to be made under Minnesota Statutes section 15.99. The ordinance places a moratorium on CUPS for places of assembly within light industrial or commercial zoning districts until the City conducts a study to interpret certain language pertaining to "assemblies, meeting lodges, and convention halls" within the City's Zoning Code and to determine whether it is necessary to amend the Zoning Code to clarify its intended meaning (the "Moratorium "). Because of the City's recent interest from applicants in using property within the light industrial zoning district for purposes of "religious assembly," and the lack of uncertainty within the City's Zoning Code and under federal law related to whether any type of assembly may exist within the City's light industrial zoning district, the City felt the need to impose the Moratorium and conduct this study (the "Study "). -1- STUDY OF ASSEMBLIES, MEETING LODGES, AND CONVENTION HALLS CITY OF SAINT ANTHONY VILLAGE