08-27-2003 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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8. The provisions of Section 921.010.C. of this ordinance are considered and satisfactorily met. At issue on this site is whether the City is interested in expanding its interpretation of allowable vehicles as part of this Ordinance section, and under what conditions (if any) the applicant could operate a rental agency for Recreational Vehicles. Since the original contacts by the City's Code Enforcement staff, the applicant has begun to store his Recreational Vehicles on an adjoining property to the east, zoned B -3, General Business. This storage has been arranged in an attempt to avoid the City's regulation limiting on -site storage to four automobiles. The applicant indicates that he is not proposing "overnight" storage of RVs on his Rice Street property, but would deliver and receive rental vehicles, and conduct clean -up and maintenance activities there. In planning staff's view, the rental transaction would be an office activity that would be permitted in the district. However, ANY storage (even temporary) would not be allowed by the zoning district language. Second, Recreational Vehicles are a distinct class of vehicles from passenger automobiles which the Ordinance was adopted to accommodate in a very limited fashion. Finally, the B -3 zoned property where the applicant is storing the Recreational Vehicles does not allow outdoor storage as a legal use of property, particularly as a separate principal storage use. There are some commercial parcels on which outdoor storage has been allowed by special permit, but only as an accessory use to a legal business on the same site. In summary, the applicant could conduct rental transactions in the office as a permitted use of B -4 property. However, any period of storage (however short) would be a violation of the zoning ordinance and of the approved CUP. Instantaneous delivery of a rented vehicle may be theoretically possible, but any period of storage for the purpose of awaiting a delivery or conducting clean -up or maintenance would not be allowed by the regulations. Moreover, outdoor storage in Little Canada is only allowed as a principal use of property in the 1 -1, Light Industrial District. It is not clear how the delivery of vehicles could be handled without resulting in a violation. Summary and Recommendation Because it would appear that transactions of this type are almost certain to result in some degree of violation due to the need to temporarily store Recreational Vehicles on the property, planning staff does not recommend approval of the CUP. The purpose of the ordinance section allowing automobile rental was to accommodate rental offices, with an intentionally strict limitation on storage — an ongoing enforcement issue for many areas of the community. Approval of this permit would appear to raise only more enforcement and monitoring issues for City staff, a problem that would not be welcome along Rice Street at a time when many positive redevelopment activities are occurring. pc: Kathy Glanzer Steve Westerhaus Lee Elfering Greg Schroeder Patrick V. O'Brien, U -Save Auto Rental, 2608 Rice Street, Little Canada, MN 55117