LINO LAKES — Lino Lakes and Hugo residents may have a new place to shop for groceries. ISG submitted an ALDI site and building plan review to the Lino Lakes Planning and Zoning Commission, whose members unanimously agreed to send it to the City Council.
The grocery store would be located south of Main Street, east of I-35E and west of Otter Lake Road in Lino Lakes, near the border with Hugo. Currently, the 28-acre site includes three existing lots. The site is zoned General Business (GB) and is guided commercial per the city’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
Katie Larsen, city planner, said that staff requested that the applicants submit a master plan for the site. A master plan, also known as a ghost plat, lays out the potential future development of a site. It is not the final plan.
According to Larsen, the master plan shows the possibility of a medical clinic, a retail restaurant and an automotive store.
“This does not mean this is how the future site is going to build out,” Larsen explained regarding the master plan. “We wanted to make sure that the ALDI site was being laid out in a fashion that we can best develop the rest of the site.”
She added that any future development of the two outlots shown within the preliminary plan, proposed by Thyme Properties LLC, will require a preliminary plat and final plat.
The proposed ALDI store will be approximately 19,437 square feet. Its main access will be at Main Street and 70th Street. There will be a stormwater pond located on the west side of the property. Wetlands on the site will not be impacted.
“There is a trail along Main Street, so we want to at least have a sidewalk come into the development off of Main and along 70th,” Larsen said when discussing what revisions city staff asked to be made to the site plan.
She added that staff requested additional revisions be made to rear setbacks, parking and drive lanes within the lot, landscaping and outdoor lighting.
According to the staff report, a traffic study was completed. The study analyzed the Main Street and I-35E southbound and northbound ramps, the Main Street and Otter Lake Road intersection and the Main Street and the Frenchman Road/Osborne Road and Victor Hugo Boulevard intersection.
The study analyzed a Phase 1 development scenario that included a supermarket, fast food and retail spaces. Phase 1 of the development is expected to generate 1,658 new weekday daily trips.
Lino Lakes Planning and Zoning Board Chair Michael Root shared his thoughts about the project.
“It is nice to see this area being developed, because it’s been really building up in that area,” he said.
Board Member Isaac Wipperfurth said he thinks it would be a good idea to have a sidewalk on both sides of the private drive located on the site on 70th Street.
“I think in the future there is probably going to be a walkway along Otter Lake Road, and people may exit the site both directions. It would avoid a crosswalk, depending on where they come onto that sidewalk.”
The Planning and Zoning Board recommended approval 6-0 (Board Member Perry Laden was not present).
Madeline Dolby is editor of the Quad Community Press. She can be reached at 651-431-1226 or [email protected].