09-27-2023 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 27, 2023 T. Miller commented that from her perspective, she would be happy to let the Court of Appeals make the decision and is comfortable with the decision the City made. She commented that she would be willing to look at a stay, but a number of conditions would need to be imposed and adhered to in order to keep the stay in place. She noted some of the conditions that had previously been discussed, such as limiting the hours, having a security person on duty at all times the business is open (off -duty police or licensed security person), having regular monitoring of the parking lot for clean-up (at least every four hours), the back door shall remain closed at all times and only used as a fire exit, employees and customers of the Hookah Hideout would not have any contact with the other businesses/customers of the Thunder Bay mall unless first approached by those customers, and David Nelson would be required to be on premises a minimum of four hours per day to manage his staff and operation of his business. She commented that if there were any violations of those conditions, that would result in immediate revocation of the stay. D. Miller commented that he believes the Council made the right decision with the information it had, as there was a lack of cooperation from Mr. Nelson related to the activities of his customers. He commented that public safety is number one and that is related to the management of those customers. He commented that after denying the license, the open sign was still there and turned on, therefore he could not tell if the business was open or not. He stated that if the conditions are placed upon the stay, he could consider that. Kwapick acknowledged that this is not a court process, but a public hearing and in the previous public hearings there was testimony that there were customers driven away from other businesses, that employees from other businesses had to shift hours to be able to feel safe, local neighbors were bothered by noise, smell and other issues, along with other illegal activities occurring. He stated that from what he has e ra d about the public related to public safety, he supports the business remaining closed. Mayor Fischer asked if Kwapick believed the public safety would be protected if the business were allowed to operate under a stay with the conditions mentioned. Kwapick stated that he has yet to see the commitment from the business to actually follow through, or willingness to do so, other than what has been put on paper, therefore he is not willing to change the risk to public safety. Gutirrez commented that she feels that the business was posing a health hazard with the odors seeping into the adjacent businesses, and none of those conditions would mitigate that concern. Mayor Fischer commented that he agrees that public safety is the number one concern and stands firm that the Council made the right decision based on sound criteria related to compliance, public safety, and administration of the ordinance. He stated that as the Council has been advised, whether the stay is granted or not should be primarily based on public safety and being able to ensure the safety of the people that live, work and shop in that area. He commented that is a well -traveled area of the city that they were very proud of and that had eroded in recent years. He commented that if the stay is not granted, the case will go through the Court of Appeals and while the City believes firms in its stance, they do not know how that will turn out. He stated that if the stay is granted with a number of key 5