04-25-07 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

MINUTES CITY COUNCIL APRIL 25, 2007 4. Potential depreciation of neighboring property values; 5. Burden on City's service capacity; 6. Compatibility with surrounding buildings. The City Planner indicated that it was his opinion that Valor Enterprises fails on many of these performance standards in a number of different ways. For example, Valor provided no evidence that the use does not depreciate neighboring property values. The Planner also noted the burden this business has placed on the City's service capacity, pointing out the extensive history of code enforcement violations at this property over the last several years. The Planner indicated that the code enforcement violations have been highly disproportionate to the use that was there. There have been a significant amount of zoning and code violations on this property and those violations continue to exist. The City Planner recommended denial of all Valor applications under consideration this evening. Blesener noted that Fred Sedaghat, Valor Enterprises, has had 7 years to get this property into compliance, 1999-2006. The City has worked long and hard with the property owner during this time period to get the property into compliance. Blesener noted that in September of 2006, Valor Enterprises' Conditional Use Permits were revoked and the Motor Vehicle Repair and Motor Vehicle Sales Lot Licenses were not renewed. The City Administrator reviewed in detail the past history of the Valor Enterprises Conditional Use Permits for outdoor storage and motor vehicle sales lot, which were granted in 1999 and 2000 respectively. A detailed listing of this history (Valor Enterprises Timeline) is included in the Council's agenda packet. The Administrator summarized that the City sent its first letter to Valor Enterprises in July of 2000 asking that the property be brought into compliance with the conditions of the CUP approvals. Code enforcement letters and compliance efforts on the part of the City continued throughout 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. Finally, site inspections were done in April of 2006, and on May 1, 2006 citations were issued. The City began the CUP revocation process in May, 2006. The City Administrator noted that in June of 2006, the City agreed to give Mr. Sedaghat 90 days to bring the site into full compliance, indicated that if this was not accomplished, the CUPS would be revoked and the licenses would not be renewed. On September 27, 2006 the Council found the property was not in compliance with conditions of the CUPS, and revoked both CUPS and did not renew the auto repair license and the motor vehicle sales lot license. The Administrator noted that code enforcement efforts continue from October, 2006 and forward, including involvement by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department in that vehicles owned by Valor are showing up on other properties within Little Canada and surrounding cities. Vehicles are towed and additional citations are 15