Planning commission signs off on phase one of the Kmart park-and-ride proposal

In the latest chapter of the ongoing debate around the future of the former Kmart site, Rochester’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted Wednesday to recommend that the existing lot be approved as a park-and-ride site.

The motion passed 3-2. Four commissioners were absent from the meeting.

In case you are just catching up, Mayo Clinic has proposed converting the site into a park-and-ride hub with more than 1,200 employee parking spaces. Employees would be shuttled from the site to St. Marys Hospital.

Mayo says the lot would be a temporary solution for staff parking as the city works toward its goal of establishing a downtown transit circulator.

The plan, however, has been met with resistance from neighbors, who are concerned about the potential for increased traffic congestion on nearby residential streets. While there was no public hearing Wednesday, many neighbors did show up with signs protesting the parking lot proposal.

Rendering of the recommended 20’ buffer between the street and park-and-ride site

Though commissioners ultimately approved the first phase of the plan, which calls for 628 parking stalls in the existing surface lot, they did so with a couple of caveats. First, they accepted staff recommendations regarding the installation of elements like buffered landscaping and bicycle parking. Second, commissioners added in a condition of their own stipulating that the lease would be for five years. Mayo had proposed 10 years.

Commissioners noted that their recommendation of a five-year lease reflects the timetable expected for the circulator to be up and running.

Several members also added that their vote does not necessarily suggest they support the use of the Kmart site as a park-and-ride location. In fact, there did appear to be consensus on the commission that it was not an ideal site for surface parking — given it closes proximity to the downtown.

“It seems contradictory to everything that has been pushed on Rochester,” said Commission Chair Thomas Hill. However, Hill — who voted in favor of the final motion — suggested that his personal feelings on the topic were not what was being asked of him. “I don’t think this is an appropriate location for this,” he said. “But looking at this, as far as the conditions go — and ‘does it meet this and does it not meet that?’ — I would be in favor of a motion approving [phase one of the park-and-ride location].”

To get around zoning requirements — including those included in the recently-adopted Transit Oriented Development zoning district — the city has recommended designating the site a public parking facility.

That means the city would essentially work as an intermediary leasing agent between the property owner and Mayo. It also means that some number of parking spots would have to be made available to the public.

Commissioner Krystal Jorgenson, however, noted that as of now there is no indication of how the spaces would be allocated in terms of public versus private. She made a motion requesting a continuance on the topic until the applicant comes forward with more information on the lease agreement.

(According to the city, members of the community could express interest in having a stall there during an initial public offering. However, it is still unclear how many spaces would be made available for public use. In other public park-and-rides in the city, it is estimated that 95 percent of users are Mayo employees.)

“Until we see the lease agreement or some more information defining what this is, right now we’re saying yes to a few ambiguous bullet points,” said Jorgenson, whose motion failed 2-3.

It was one of two unsuccessful motions brought forward Wednesday night. The other, introduced by Commissioner Ian Lochridge, recommended rejecting the site as a park-and-ride altogether.

In both cases, Lochridge and Jorgenson were on the losing side of the votes. Both argued that it was well within their purvey to take positions not only on the zoning manual, but what they feel is in the best interest of the city.

“Yes, it is our role to say what we do or do not agree on with the land use manual,” said Jorgenson. “But it is also our role to be the visionaries for the city, and to move this city forward based on the comprehensive plan.”

As part of the vote taken Wednesday, the commission accepted the staff recommendation to deny phase two of the project, which calls for demolishing the existing 115,736-square-foot Kmart/Salvation Army building to create an additional 609 parking stalls.

That is not to say the second phase of the park-and-ride won’t happen. What it means is that the property owner/Mayo would need to come back with another application that addresses the anticipated traffic issues connected to the second phase of the proposed project.

“We recommend that the applicant engages with the neighborhood on exactly what a traffic calming project would look like. That has not taken place,” said Ryan Yetzer, the principal planner for the city.

Mayo’s goal is to have phase two of the project up and running by fall 2020. In the meantime, Deputy City Administrator Aaron Parrish said he believes the initial use of the lot could help inform how traffic will be impacted.

“Phase one would give us some insight to how those traffic operations will actually perform,” Parrish said at Wednesday’s meeting.

With approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission, the permit application now heads to the Rochester City Council, which has the final say on the matter. A public hearing is expected to take place in January.

Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.

Cover graphic: Outline of the proposed park-and-ride site