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Maplewood council approves setback variance for Community Dental clinic; mayor spotlights new Carlton Street location
Summary
Council approved a setback variance for Community Dental’s new Carlton Street clinic to allow a pull-through pickup and short-term parking for sedation patients; city staff said topography and site constraints justify the variance, and the clinic’s CEO described staggered scheduling to avoid vehicle stacking.
Maplewood, July 28 — The Maplewood City Council unanimously approved a setback variance for Community Dental Care at 600 Carlton Street North to permit a patient pickup drive and short-term parking area that staff and the applicant say are necessary because of site topography.
Mayor Abrams opened the meeting by welcoming Community Dental’s second Maplewood location and noting the clinic’s expanded capacity; the mayor said the new site “now offer[s] 60 ... operatories.” Karen Flanagan Kleinhaas, CEO of Community Dental, said the organization is a “safety net dental clinic” serving people on Medicaid and the uninsured and described a prior relocation that expanded a 16-operatory clinic to 40 operatories in a larger building. Both figures appear in the transcript and are reported here with attribution.
Planning staff presenter Danette Parr told the council the two-and-a-half-acre site has significant topographic constraints and that a pull-through pickup area on the lower level is needed so pediatric patients who receive sedation can be rolled to awaiting guardians without navigating stairs. Parr said staff reviewed alternatives, received no adverse public comments within a 500-foot notice area and recommended approval. “We have talked about this internally... and the applicants can speak to this,” Parr said, describing scheduling and design steps intended to avoid traffic stacking.
Karen Flanagan Kleinhaas told the council the clinic will have only three operatories set up for sedation and expects staggered pickups so that “we expect only 1 child to be picked up at a time,” and that scheduling will limit vehicles using the pickup drive.
Council action: A motion to approve a setback variance resolution for a patient pickup drive and short-term parking area for Community Dental Care at 600 Carlton Street North carried by roll call vote; the transcript records all council members voting yes.
Next steps: Staff will proceed with permit and building-department conditions noted in the staff report; the site changes (trash enclosure relocation, portico, and pickup sequencing) will be incorporated in final plans.
— Reporting from the Maplewood City Council meeting; Danette Parr and Karen Flanagan Kleinhaas spoke to the project.
