Request for an Interim Use Permit to Allow for the Operation of a Church in the H-1 Highway 10 Business District on the Property Located at 6701 Highway 10 NW; Case of Northern Light Church

The City has received an application for an Interim Use Permit (IUP) from Northern Light Church to allow for the operation of a church facility in an area zoned H-1 Highway 10 Business District. The Subject Property is owned by the City and is located within the Official Map Area for the Highway 10 corridor.  A four (4) year lease agreement was approved by City Council on October 11, 2011 for the church to utilize space in a multi-tenant building (generally known as the Youth First building) located at 6701 Hwy 10. The Applicant is requesting the IUP for a term of four (4) years to coincide with the term of the lease. The Applicant will utilize the space for weekly worship services, educational programs and community outreach programs.

This project was initially presented to City Council at a work session on September 27, 2011 regarding a potential lease agreement and installation of a fire suppression system. At that time, based on the term of the lease and the uncertainty of whether revenue generated from the lease could be used to pay for expenditures (ie the fire suppression system), Council direction was to refund to the Applicant both the application fee and escrow deposit related to the IUP. After further research determined that lease revenue could be used to cover the cost of the fire suppression system, the lease agreement was presented to City Council again. However, based upon direction from the September 27, 2011 work session discussion, Staff thought it would be best to hold back the IUP request until action was taken on the lease agreement, which was approved on October 11, 2011. 

The proposal represents a change in use, which triggered the requirement for the installation of a fire suppression system.  Due to the research and review necessary for that and finalizing terms of a lease agreement for this proposal, the City, in accordance with Minnesota State 15.99, invoked a sixty (60) day extension to the sixty (60) day time limit for reviewing and commenting on the IUP application.  Said extension gave the City until December 1, 2011 to make a decision on the IUP.

In accordance with State statute, Staff attempted to notify property owners within 350 feet of the subject property of the public hearing via Standard US Mail. The Public Hearing was also noticed in the Anoka County Union, the City's official newsletter for public notices.

As the City Council is aware, the Applicant is interested utilizing the western half of the building's office area (roughly 4,900 square feet) for its operations. The building has roughly 10,000 square feet of office space (the other roughly 5,000 square feet is being utilized by Youth First) plus cold storage space behind the office area. The Applicant is proposing to utilize the area for worship space as well as for offices and educational and community outreach programs.

The primary activity on this site would be worship services, which would occur on weekends and would likely be either Saturday evening or Sunday morning. Attendance is estimated to be about thirty (30) people initially with the hope of growing to about fifty to seventy (50-70) members. Other offerings being contemplated by the Church include an evening bible study group (likely around ten adults or so) and/or a vacation bible study (possibly around 20 kids and several adults). Any larger, planned activities would still be coordinated and held at their Anoka location, which is designed to accommodate a much greater capacity then this site.

The existing uses of the building include Youth First and cold storage. Youth First typically utilizes their portion of the building only during the week (and occasionally on Saturdays) and the cold storage operation may have customers throughout the week including weekends, but by appointment only. It should be noted that Northern Light Church has partnered with Youth First on various activities in the past and there may be potential for more joint offerings with this location. It doesn't appear that the proposed use would conflict with the existing uses on the site and it appears to be compatible with the surrounding area.

The parking lot that serves the building has a total of twenty-six (26) striped parking stalls (this includes two handicap spaces). There is the ability to potentially add an additional fourteen (14) stalls around the median within the parking lot, which would provide a total of forty (40) parking spaces. Under City Code, places of assembly require one parking space for every three seats. Based on the projected overall attendance (70 people), a total of twenty-three (23) parking stalls would need to be provided. While there appears to be sufficient parking area, it may still be beneficial to consider striping additional parking stalls along the median to clearly demark designated parking areas.  A condition of the proposed IUP stipulates that parking must comply with Section 117-356 related to off-street parking and that any off-street parking violation, including encroaching into the Highway 10 right-of-way, would be cause to revisit the IUP to consider revocation.

Staff has received a floor plan from the Applicant outlining the seating area for confirmation of adequate parking.  In the past, the City has received concern from one of the existing tenants regarding the location of off-street parking in certain areas and conflicts with access to portions of the site. Staff believes this concern can be mitigated with the above referenced striping and monitoring of the number of off-street parking spaces required.

The proposed church operation does represent a change in use (from business to place of assembly) and therefore, per MN State Building Code Chapter 1306, a fire suppression system is required.  This requirement was addressed through the lease negotiations and a fire suppression system will need to be installed and approved prior to occupying the tenant space.

The request was forwarded to Mn/DOT for review and they stated that they have no comments/concerns regarding this request. 

The Planning Commission conducted a public hearing on September 8, 2011 and there were no written or verbal comments concerning the request.  The Planning Commission recommends approving the request for the IUP.

All costs associated with reviewing the application are the responsibility of the Applicant.

Motion to adopt findings of fact relating to Northern Light Church's request for an Interim Use Permit to allow for a church operation in the H-1 Highway 10 Business District.

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Motion to adopt Resolution #________ approving the request for an Interim Use Permit and declaring the terms as proposed.