§ 537.11. Other Performance Standards.

Subdivision 1. Development shall comply with the provisions of Section 544 and the following standards.

Subd. 2. Exterior Lighting. Exterior lighting should be used to provide illumination for the security and safety of entry drives, parking, service and loading areas, pathways, courtyards and plazas, without intruding on nonadjacent properties. Exterior lighting shall comply with 544.09 and the following standards:

a)

Poles and fixtures shall be architecturally compatible with structures and lighting on- site and on adjacent properties.

b)

Security lighting shall be adequate for visibility, but not overly bright.

c)

Metal halide lighting shall be used with a concealed light source of the "cut-off" variety to prevent glare and "light trespass" onto adjacent buildings and sites.

d)

Separate pedestrian scale lighting or other low level fixtures, such as bollards, shall be incorporated for all pedestrian ways through parking lots and drop-off areas at entrances to buildings.

e)

All primary walkways, steps or ramps along pedestrian routes shall be illuminated.

Subd. 3. Architectural Standards. Exterior windows shall not be flush with the exterior walls. The windows shall utilize window trim with a minimum relief of 1" from the exterior wall or other similar articulation.

Subd. 4. Building Relationship to Street and Pedestrian Areas. All new retail, commercial, office, and mixed-use buildings are to provide a variety of active uses along a public street and/or major pedestrian area. This includes, but is not limited to, the use of multiple street front shops or businesses, multiple entrances into large single tenant buildings and design treatments of entrances, windows, facades etc. New buildings and developments shall comply with the following standards for building orientation and primary entrance:

a)

All buildings shall have at least one (1) primary patron entrance facing an abutting public street, rather than the parking area. Buildings abutting a major pedestrian circulation area as defined in Subsection 537.11, Subdivision 8 shall have at least one (1) primary entrance facing and accessing the major pedestrian circulation way. Primary entrance is defined as the principal entry through which people enter the building. A building may have more than one (1) primary entrance. Primary entrances shall be open to the public during all business hours.

b)

Primary building entrances shall be architecturally emphasized and visible from the street. Principal patron entrances should be clearly defined and highly visible utilizing such design features as awnings, canopies, pillars, special building materials or architectural details.

c)

Commercial or mixed-use structures that have over 60 linear feet of frontage on a major pedestrian area, public sidewalk or major street shall have a principal patron entrance onto the major pedestrian area, public sidewalk or major street. For building facades over 200 feet in length facing a street, two (2) or more building entrances on the street must be provided.

d)

Building entrances shall incorporate arcades, roofs, porches, alcoves, porticoes and awnings that protect pedestrians from the rain and sun.

e)

Buildings shall include changes in relief on 15 percent of their street facades such as cornices, bases, window treatments, fluted masonry or other designs for pedestrian interest and scale.

f)

Building facades greater than 100 feet in length shall have offset jogs, using elements such as bay windows and recessed entrances or other articulation so as to provide for pedestrian scale to the first floor and to avoid long continuous unbroken building facades.

Subd. 5. Windows, Window Walls, Blank Walls and Design of the Ground Floor of Nonresidential Buildings.

a)

All development shall provide ground floor windows along street facades, parks, plazas or other public outdoor spaces. Required window areas must be either windows that allow views into working areas or lobbies or pedestrian entrances or display windows. Required windows shall have a sill no higher than four (4) feet above grade, except as follows. Where interior floor levels prohibit such placement, the sill height maybe raised to allow it to be no more that two (2) feet above the finished floor level up to a maximum sill height of six (6) feet above grade.

b)

For any wall within 30 feet of a street or a major pedestrian area, at least 20% of the ground floor wall area facing the street or pedestrian area shall be display areas, windows, or doorways. Blank walls along streets, public outdoor spaces and major pedestrian areas are prohibited.

c)

Darkly tinted, frosted windows or any windows that block two-way visibility are prohibited as ground floor windows along street facades.

Subd. 6. Upper Story Setbacks. Upper story setbacks shall be required for structures over three (3) stories that are adjacent or across a street from residential or public parklands. Upper story setbacks shall be achieved by:

a)

Floors above the third floor or 50 feet shall be stepped back a minimum of 20 feet, and

b)

All buildings shall be stepped back such that the height of the building façade does not exceed an angle greater than 45 degrees from the average street elevation beginning at a point at the curb on the opposite side of the street.

c)

Exception. The Director may waive the building step-back requirements of this Subsection provided that the applicant clearly demonstrates the proposed project:

(i)

Includes window treatments, entry placement, façade relief and other architectural treatments to provide visual interest and pedestrian-sensitive design at the street level and to maintain a human scale in the streetscape; and

(ii)

Extends the same architectural features above the ground floor level through variations in design, detail and proportion and by avoiding designs featuring a monolithic street facade and Is designed as not to obstruct sunlight from falling on a given point on the back of the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street for more than four (4) hours in any given day between September 21 and March 21.

Subd. 7. Vehicular Circulation and Parking. Parking and vehicular circulation shall comply with the standards in Subsections 544.11, 544.13 and the following standards:

a)

Parking drives should be located away from building entrances, be designed to minimize pedestrian conflicts and shall not be located between the main building entrance and the street;

b)

Surface parking lots shall be oriented behind or to the side of buildings;

c)

Driveway access and parking lots shall be shared as much as possible;

d)

Above grade parking ramps shall be located towards I-494 to provide shielding or buffering of I-494 from other uses on site;

e)

Parking ramps shall be designed to be architecturally integrated into the overall site and be made of comparable materials and decorative elements;

f)

For parking lots within pedestrian corridors, refer to Subdivision 8;

g)

Bicycle racks or storage shall be provided; and

h)

Cross access and circulation across adjoining parcels is required, where appropriate and feasible. Joint circulation shall be documented in a cross access and circulation easement and agreement,

Subd. 8. Pedestrian and Bicycle Circulation. Pedestrian and bicycle circulation and access shall comply with the standards in Subsection 544.15 and the following standards:

a)

Developments shall implement an on-site pedestrian and bicycle circulation system that complies with the Vision Plan for the district as adopted in the Comprehensive Plan or any other redevelopment plan for the district; and

b)

Sidewalks are required along both sides of all public rights-of-way.

Subd. 9. Required Open Space. Within the mixed-use districts, a "major pedestrian area" of usable open space is to be the central organizing element that links the different parts of the corridor into a whole. The major pedestrian area is to be a continuous central spine of pedestrian circulation along the length of the I-494 corridor roughly midway between 77th Street and I-494. This pedestrian area shall be designed for pedestrian circulation and may include gathering and event space.

Landscape setback areas and other impervious areas are to be landscaped to enhance the aesthetics of the area and to define outdoor space. The landscape setback area next to I-494 is to be a green edge of landscaping that may include, but not be limited to trees, shrubs, vines and herbaceous plants. Open space can shape and serve as a transition between different uses and provide focal points and anchors for pedestrian activity. The required open space shall:

a)

Abut a public sidewalk or major pedestrian circulation area and shall be accessible to the public during daylight hours;

b)

Include a combination of public and semi-public gathering spaces, such as plazas, tied together through a linear green corridor along its center;

c)

Include a buffer of landscape plantings along I-494 or other physical barriers to enhance the community's image and to buffer uses from noise or other nuisances;

d)

Be used for treatment of stormwater, only if it is designed as part of the overall open space system such that the stormwater treatment or storage is used as a decorative element, and has no negative impact on recreation or the enjoyment of the open space;

e)

Include plazas, or patios that are integrally designed to accentuate the architecture on-site and to tie off-site elements into an overall theme or character by use of decorative pavers, public art, decorative lighting, seating, planters, or other features. Usable open space shall be a minimum of 1,000 square feet in size and a minimum of 20 feet wide in any direction;

f)

Be designed to have good public visibility to encourage pedestrian use of the on site outdoors amenities, while at the same time enhancing the security of such places by placing public entrances on the open space and ground floor windows along the open space; and

Be designed such that, in the City's judgment, the spaces adequately enhance such development and serve as gathering places for visitors, customers, residents, and employees and are consistent with the Comprehensive Plan or any redevelopment plan for the district.

Subd. 10. Use Transitions. The following options should be used as use transitions:

a)

When multifamily, office, small-scale retail, pedestrian intensive retail, civic or public uses are planned as part of a mixed use development, the lesser intensive uses or the more community serving uses may be used as transitions to adjacent residential uses.

b)

Larger commercial or office buildings may be mitigated with building façade articulation, by locating parking lots or structures or other potential nuisances away from residential uses, or by stepping down building height in the area immediately adjacent residential uses.

c)

Streets and streetscape can be used as a transition between uses. The distance and separation afforded by the public right-of way, together with streetscape improvements on both sides of the street may be utilized as a transition to adjacent development.

d)

Green spaces, courts, squares, parks, plazas, etc. may be used to create a meaningful transition between uses.

e)

In situations where the above do not provide adequate transition, additional landscaping may be required as determined by the Director.