Kenjoh Outdoor Advertising - CUP and Variance for an Off-Premises Digital Billboard Sign at 6111 Highway 10 NW. 

Kenjoh Outdoor Advertising (the Applicant) has submitted a Land Use Application requesting a conditional use permit to construct and operate an off-premise digital billboard sign along with a variance to the distance separation requirements.  The proposed site is at 6111 Highway 10 NW, a multi-tenant retail and self-storage building.  The proposed sign would be placed near the driveway on the eastern side of the property.  The sign base will take up one parking space with the sign face elevated well-above the adjacent spaces and drive aisle.  The Applicant would lease the space from the property owner, 6111 Ramsey Properties LLC.

This sign would be the third off-premise digital billboard in Ramsey.  City Code limits the number to three within the community.  In 2022 and 2023, iDigital received approvals and built the two existing signs--one near Riverdale Drive and Traprock Street and the other along Highway 10 opposite Alpine Drive.  

The proposed 672 sq.ft./50-foot-tall sign meets the design requirements of Chapter 108.  The sign structure includes a decorative base, as required by City Code, that matches the building.  The one provision of City Code that the sign does not meet, however, is the two-mile spacing between signs.  The distance between the proposed sign and the Riverdale iDigital sign is 1.85 miles, 811 feet short of meeting the requirement.  There are other business properties to the east, but not with enough additional spacing to meet the 2.00-mile mark.  That mark is within the City of Anoka in the Anoka Technical College parking lot.  The applicant is requesting a variance and has outlined their practical difficulties in the narrative attached to this report.  

The loss of one parking space will not be decremental to the site.  Clearance under the sign that extends over the drive aisle is well above the needs of a fire truck.  

Landscaping
The property was approved for a conditional use permit for the self-storage use in back as well as a setback variance for the rear-yard setback in 1999.  With that review came a landscape plan (attached).  It appears that everything was installed according to plan, but the shrubs have since disappeared and some of the ash trees appear to have been infected with Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).  The applicant is willing to revise the landscaping to meet the intent of what was approved in 1999 with hardier, more durable selections in order to bring the property back into compliance with its approvals.   Staff will work with the applicant and property owner on a suitable plan.  
 

Mailed notification was made to properties within 350 feet of the site.  A "Proposed Development" sign was placed on the site.  A legal notice was placed in the August 15 Anoka Union Herald Newspaper.

Alternatives to Consider:

1.  Approve the variance and recommend approval of the CUP, as requested by the applicant.  
2.  Approve the variance, but recommend modifications to the CUP.
3.  Deny the variance which, by default, denies the CUP.  The applicant can appeal to the City Council to override the Commission's variance decision.  
 

All costs associated with this project are the responsibility of the Applicant.

Staff acknowledges that the applicant provided responses to the variance practical difficulty criteria in their application.  Attached to this report is a resolution based solely on the practical difficulties provided by the applicant.  Should the Planning Commission be in support of the variance and conditional use permit, staff will prepare a conditional use permit resolution of approval for the City Council meeting on September 9.  Should the Commission feel the responses are inadequate for granting a variance, and therefore the CUP, please provide findings that staff can use in a denial resolution. 

Motion to [approve or deny] Resolution #25-196 for a variance to distance separation requirements for an off-premises digital billboard sign at 6111 Highway 10 NW.  

Note: if a motion to approve the variance is made and adopted, then the following motion must be made: Motion to recommend approval of a conditional use permit for an off-premises devital billboard sign at 6111 Highway 10 NW.
If a motion to deny the variance is made and then adopted, there is no need to make a motion on the CUP.

If a motion to deny the variance is made, please state the reasons why the practical difficulties submitted by the applicant are not appropriate or sufficient for the request.