The Fargo Planning Commission on Sept. 4 approved a minor subdivision, zoning change and planned unit development (PUD) master plan to redevelop a large site at 40 Fifth Street into a mixed-use project called Cove. The approval covers the subdivision plat, a zoning change to a general commercial PUD overlay, and the PUD master land use plan. The public hearing produced no public comment and the commission voted to approve the proposal. Megan Alsaug, city staff, told commissioners the application includes three linked actions: a minor subdivision, a zoning change and a PUD master plan. The applicant proposes to convert and partially add to the existing structure to create an innovation center with residential living, entrepreneurial workspaces and community amenities. “This is 40 Fifth Street Park, second edition, and 40 Fifth Street Park, sixth edition,” Alsaug said in introducing the item. She said the site includes a portion of Drain 40 and that the Southeast Cass Water Resource District retains ownership of the drain parcel. The master plan anticipates roughly 225 residential units, with the applicant evaluating increases up to 250 units. “We are still looking at the project, the unit counts,” said Nate Beaumont of Goldmark Design Development, the project applicant. He told the commission the team has sized parking so that adding a modest number of units would still leave an on-site surplus. Key elements and staff clarifications The development would reuse the existing large building, remove some projecting portions of that building and add a new front building of up to five stories (an 85-foot maximum building height was proposed). The PUD would allow residential and indoor “innovation-oriented” industrial uses in the existing and rehabilitated structures and would set development standards including a 15% minimum open-space requirement and building-material and façade standards similar to other arterial conditional overlays. Alsaug said the project requests several departures from the land development code: a reduced residential parking ratio, an established parking ratio tailored to research-and-development uses, a waiver of the drain setback, a waiver of parking-lot buffers, and a change to front-yard landscaping requirements (a requested shift from 70% to 30% landscaped area in the front). On the drain setback, Alsaug said city engineering staff and Southeast Cass Water Resource District staff “have confirmed that the necessary right of way is there,” meaning no additional right-of-way acquisition is needed for the drain alignment. Parking and unit mix The applicant submitted a parking study that, according to staff, cites the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Manual and Metro COG guidance and shows a maximum demand figure cited as 943 spaces in the study. Staff calculated that, applying standard code requirements except for the requested parking modifications, the combined needs would total about 964 spaces; the project proposes 1,101 on-site stalls, leaving roughly 137 excess stalls over the calculated requirement. The applicant is proposing a residential parking ratio of 1.5 spaces per unit (recommended in the parking analysis) and a research-and-development ratio of 2.77 spaces per 1,000 square feet (about one space per 361 square feet). The residential unit mix proposed in the packet is mostly one- and two-bedroom units: seven efficiency units, 105 one-bedroom, 98 two-bedroom and 15 three-bedroom units, though the applicant said the mix remains subject to change. Design, circulation and daycare The plan shows underground parking accessed via a ramp on the north side of the building; the development group said similar single-ramp designs have been used on nearby projects and handled two-way traffic. The PUD master plan also shows a central courtyard, pedestrian connectivity through the campus and the potential for a daycare tenant; the applicant said that if a daycare is secured, one portion of existing surface parking could be converted to open space. Waivers and easements Alsaug said the minor subdivision will consolidate four properties into a single lot while Southeast Cass Water Resource District keeps a separate parcel for the drain. The subdivision seeks a waiver of the 175-foot drain setback in the land development code; staff said necessary right-of-way for the drain is in place and recommended approval. Process and next steps The PUD final plans — the detailed permit-level drawings — will return to staff for review later. The commission’s approval covered the master plan and zoning overlay; final PUD plans and any required building permits, rights-of-way encroachments and construction approvals will follow. The commission approved the item by roll call after a public hearing produced no speakers. No conditions of denial or tabling were recorded in the meeting minutes. Ending The planning commission record shows the applicant team will continue refining unit counts and the final PUD submission will carry the specific engineering, landscape and permit-level details. The commission vote clears the way for the applicant to prepare final PUD plans and subsequent permit applications.