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Memo to Planning Commission/LU 00-6&ZC 00-7 February 27, 2001 Page 2 • Overview Background The City of Elk River, in cooperation with Cargill, is proposing a land use plan amendment and rezoning of Cargill's property that is located east of the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks or south of 165th Avenue and east of Highway 10/169. The proposal is to change the land use designation from LR (Low Density Residential) and LI (Light Industrial) to A (Agricultural) and rezone the property from RI (Single Family Residential) and 11 (Light Industrial) to AR (Agricultural Research). Cargill's property west of the railroad tracks and north of 165th Avenue is not part of this request. The urban service boundary will also be adjusted so that the area to be rezoned is not part of the urban service area. The urban service boundary currently corresponds with the existing boundary between the 11 district and the R1a district east of the railroad tracks. The City is proposing to move the boundary to the west so that Cargill property east of the railroad tracks is not part of the urban service area. The property south of 165th Avenue is not currently part of the urban service area. The City and Cargill have been negotiating the status of Cargill's property for several years. Those discussions have also included the zoning of their property, and how to best define, for zoning purposes, the animal nutrition center, and whether any or all of it should be within the urban service district. As a result of those negotiations, the City is proposing a new zoning district AR (Agricultural Research) and new definition for animal, nutrition and agricultural research that would apply to Cargill's property identified previously, The establishment of the AR district and definition for animal, nutrition and agricultural research are the subject of a separate, but related, request. Analysis The subject of this particular request is the land use plan amendment and zone change to implement the new AR zoning district. Cargill owns approximately 980 acres in southern Elk River (see attached map). Of those 980 acres, about 820 acres are the subject of the proposed rezoning and land use plan amendment. The urban service boundary will also be adjusted so that the property zoned AR is not within the urban service district. The remaining 160 acres are not included in this request and their current zoning and land use designation will not be changed. The Cargill property included as part of this request consists of crop fields, the nutrition center and 2 single family dwellings. Most of the property is used as crop fields; the two single family homes are occupied by Cargill employees and • also function as caretaker residences. S:\PLANNING\SCOTT\ZC007.DOC