PUBLIC HEARING: Northstar Truck & RV Parking - Rezoning and Site Plan Review - 15861 Jarvis St. NW

Site Location
The site is located along the east side of Jarvis Street, immediately north of the BNSF railroad.   The property is split with the western portion located in Elk River and Sherburne County and the eastern portion in Ramsey and Anoka County.  The east side is adjacent to the Links at Northfork golf course with single-family residential to the north.  Access to the site is on the Elk River side of the property.  

Property Use and Zoning
The applicant's business is leasing out spaces for semi-tuck parking and RV parking.  Many of his clients are independent truckers who cannot store their trucks at home.  Generally, a client drives his or her personal vehicle to the site, parks, and then takes the truck out for work.  At the end of the route, the truck driver returns, parks the truck, gets into the personal vehicle, and goes home.  Several trucks are also owned by area businesses as overflow parking for their sites.  There are no buildings on the site.  Parking for recreational vehicles (RVs) and boats would also be allowed, though parking of these vehicles will likely be for longer periods or seasonally.  

This type of use would be considered somewhere between a storage yard and a parking lot. Ramsey City Code does not have a category to accurately describe this business use.  Elk River does have a zoning district that allows for this type of use.  Ramsey staff were not comfortable bringing forward modifications to the existing I-1 Light Industrial district as that has implications for other I-1 properties.  Instead, both cities' staff are proposing a joint solution to rezone the property in both communities to the same Planned Unit Development (PUD) to accommodate this use while having a uniform set of rules.  A PUD offers custom-tailored regulations for unique sites that cannot otherwise be achieved by standard zoning while conforming to the Comprehensive Plan (which is guided Business Park).  

It should be noted that the business is currently operating without the necessary approvals.  Staff has been working with the applicant on a path to bring the property into compliance with both Ramsey and Elk River Zoning and Maintenance Codes.  Use of the property started over a year ago and was discovered via a code enforcement complaint. There are several damaged and inoperable vehicles on the site, some piles of debris, miscellaneous storage, all of which are not allowed by either City's Codes.  Additionally, there are several vehicles that are being stored on the site that are owned by car dealers and salvagers.   The applicant has been cleaning up the property, including working with the Fire Department by burning the old farmhouse and outbuildings.  

Site Plan
The site plan shows a large bituminous-paved parking lot across the site.  Along the city/county border, a concrete stripe will be set so that anything requiring a jurisdictional designation (i.e., prosecution of a vehicle theft) can be clearly determined.  The parking lot will have concrete curb and gutter to direct storm water to management basins and infiltration trenches. 

The parking lot is enclosed by an existing decorative extruded aluminum fence with a screening mesh along the Jarvis Street and BNSF sides.  The plans propose a six-foot privacy fence along the property line with the residential property to the north.  No fence is shown along the golf course side of the property nor is there a gate to the site, so the site is not considered secure.  Should the applicant add a gate, the Fire Departments for both communities will require a lock box for their access.

Grading and Drainage
The site is generally flat.  The applicant is proposing to lightly grade the site for drainage with storm water collecting in a basin at the south end of the site or a storm water trench along the southeastern portion of the site.  Storm water management of this site is reviewed by the Lower Rum River WMO.  Additional refinement of the grading and drainage plans are needed before submittal to the WMO.  

Off the eastern property line on Links at Northfork property is a large berm.  The applicant has reached out to golf course management to add trees to this berm for additional screening and to fulfill the landscaping requirements of the site.  Some of the plans indicate modifying the berm and adding a retaining wall.  Golf course management has indicated that they will consent to the landscaping, but not the grading and wall.  Additional modifications to the grading plan along the eastern property line are likely necessary, but would not substantially impact the site design.  

Landscaping and Screening
From the EPB's January 15, 2025, meeting, it was noted that the submittal does include a Landscape Plan for the project.  While there is a request to rezone the Subject Property to a PUD, which has no specific standards, the proposed use is most similar to that of an industrial use, and therefore, the minimum required plantings are to be determined using the canopy cover formula.  As submitted, the Landscape Plan needs to be revised to include at least another 27,370 square feet of canopy cover.  If, for example, the Applicant were to add a species such as American Elm, Bur Oak, and/or White Oak, this could be accomplished with as few as seven (7) additional trees.  All the plantings along the eastern boundary are shown to be on the adjacent golf course property (on top of the existing berm).  Staff has informed the Applicant that they need to provide the city with a copy of the written authorization from the adjacent property owner for the plantings to be on the golf course property.

The Landscape Plan does include a sixty (60) foot wide bufferyard along the northern property boundary, which abuts an existing residential property.  Within the bufferyard, the Applicant is proposing a combination of deciduous overstory trees (Red Maple), evergreen trees (Green Giant Arborvitae), and a six (6) foot tall wooden privacy fence.  Typically, a bufferyard would need to be landscaped with an additional thirty percent (30%) of the required plantings.  However, the inclusion of the privacy fence reduces the amount of required plantings in the bufferyard by fifty percent (50%).  Thus, an additional 6,320 square feet of canopy cover is needed and again, depending on the species chosen, could be accomplished with as few as two (2) additional trees. 

City Code does provide standards for parking lot landscaping (one tree for every ten parking stalls).  However, neither Ramsey nor Elk River Staff consider this to be a typical parking lot.  This, in essence, simply serves as a storage area for larger vehicles.  The landscape requirements for parking lots are intended to ensure there is some shade available for customers and/or employees (they are parking for shorter periods of time) and to create some visual relief.  The users of this site will be parking their vehicle and essentially storing it on the Subject Property for longer periods of time.  Additionally, it is worth noting that the plantings along the eastern boundary are directly adjacent to the easternmost row of stalls and thus, will provide some shade for those areas. 

Lighting
The applicant has provided a draft lighting plan.  The plan shows areas where additional lighting is possible with the addition of freestanding light poles.  The northern portion of the site is limited to a 20-foot mounting height (due to the adjacent residential use) with the majority of the site having a 30-foot height.  Given the nature of the use, larger and wider drive aisle and deeper parking spaces for the trucks and trailers make pole placement challenging.  With some modification, all of the parking areas should be able to meet Ramsey's 1.0 fc parking lot requirement.  Many areas of the large drive aisles will be dimmer due to longer distances from light poles, but should be able to achieve the 0.5 fc exterior storage area requirement.    

  

 

Staff mailed public hearing notices to property owners within 350 feet of the side on the Anoka County side.  Elk River staff sent notices in their community.  A Ramsey "proposed development" sign was placed on the property along Jarvis Street.  A public hearing notice was published in the January 17 Anoka Union Herald Newspaper.  

Alternatives to Consider:
1.  Recommend to the City Council approval of the PUD Ordinance and Site Plan Review Resolution as presented by staff.
2.  Recommend to the City Council approval with any modifications that the Planning Commission sees appropriate.  
3.  Recommend to the City Council denial of the proposal and resume Code Enforcement actions.  

All costs associated with processing this application are the responsibility of the applicant.  

Staff recommends approval of the PUD and associated site plan, contingent upon staff's review comments. 

Motion to recommend approval of the Planned Unit Development and Site Plan Review to the City Council.