08-23-2006 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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9940-ii 1, /fla MAYOR Bill Blesener COUNCIL Jim IaValle Rick Montour Barbara Allan John Keis 515 Little Canada Road, Little Canada, MN 55117 -1600 ADMINISTRATOR (651) 766 -4029 / FAX: (651) 766 -4048 Joel R. Hanson www. ci.little- canada.nm. u s MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Blesener & Members of the City Council FROM: Joel Hanson, City Administrator DATE: May 19, 2006 RE: Outdoor Storage in the I -1 Zoning District After reviewing the Planner's report for 194/196, 3164, 3175 Ryan Lane, I felt I should share a concern I have regarding more flexible allowances for outdoor storage in the I -1 zoning district. As you know, our I -1 district is already liberal in terms of what we allow to be stored outdoors and in comparison to what is allowed in other metro communities. While I believe that allowing outdoor storage in that area is appropriate, I feel we need to be very careful about allowing outdoor storage without a substantial, principle use on the property. Furthermore, even with a substantial principal use, I would urge caution about what would be allowed in these instances without having the specifics (or at least some strong standards) on the front end of the decision. My concern stems from the City's many year's of struggling with outdoor storage problems in Ryan Industrial Park. Autos and their related parts have been the biggest problem. (See Valor topic under Agenda Item #11.) Construction materials and equipment storage have been other areas of concern, but the Planner's recommendations should address those. We have also been challenged with a number of site that have conditional use permits limiting areas, numbers, and types of materials and equipment. A further concern that I don't believe the Planner's recommendation will address is the storage of self - contained items. For example, would we want storage areas packed with old gas pumps? How about portable restrooms? What about a bunch of semi - trailers used as storage containers? Should there be height limits even for those things that are in containers? As mentioned earlier, I am also concerned about storage without a substantial principle use, i.e. an entity that is really located in all or at least a major portion of a building. Allowing pseudo building occupants will allow other people's storage problems to come to our City without any real investment in our community. As such, we become a dumping ground for stuff no one else