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Planning commission backs Oakdale City Hall and police department expansion at 1584 Hadley Avenue North
Summary
The commission recommended a site-plan amendment for a 27,000 sq ft addition to the existing City Hall/Police Department (bringing the total to ~44,000 sq ft), approved subject to conditions including engineering plan approval and watershed permits; tree removals (64) and replantings (103) were disclosed.
The Oakdale Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of a site-plan amendment for the City Hall and Police Department expansion at 1584 Hadley Avenue North after staff and the project team outlined the design, access and mitigation measures.
Staff (Luke) said the existing building of roughly 17,000 square feet would receive an approximately 27,000-square-foot addition, resulting in a total building area of about 44,000 square feet. The design retains two existing accesses from Hadley Avenue, adds a new primary public entrance from 15th Street with 49 parking spaces (including two ADA spaces), and keeps one Hadley access reserved for staff and police with gated control. The project team indicated the parking reconfiguration will reduce parking in the immediate park area from 281 to 243 spaces but that overall parking across nearby park lots exceeds zoning minimums; staff noted the zoning minimum is 110 spaces.
Site and building details presented by the project team include a proposed 85-foot south setback, an approximate maximum building height of 36 feet for the new lobby (under the 40-foot zoning limit), and exterior materials meeting the 70% class-one-materials requirement (brick, metal panels and glass). The team said 64 trees are proposed for removal and 103 new trees would be planted under the submitted landscape plan. The submitted photometric plan shows maximum illumination at the south and east property lines of 0.2 foot-candles, below the 0.5-foot-candle limit in the zoning code.
Don Tyson, the city's owner's representative on the project team, and project manager Michael Healey (identified in the record as with BKV/BKB Group) answered commissioners' questions about traffic and access. Tyson said the team coordinated with the city engineer in designing the 15th Street entrance and that adding a dedicated left-turn lane could introduce conflicting turning movements given the proximity of the Hadley turn lane. "If you start building a turn lane, you're going to see two turn lanes coming together... and that's probably going to cause more confusion," Tyson said.
Staff recommended approval subject to four conditions on the record: provide additional details/methods for screening rooftop utilities; add a roof to the external trash enclosure; obtain site civil construction-plan approval from the city engineer; and obtain required stormwater permits and approvals from the Ramsey Washington Metro Watershed District. The commission moved, seconded and approved the recommendation by voice vote.
The recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council for final action. The project team said they held two voluntary open houses and maintain a project webpage for public information on design and timelines.
