11-07-2011 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION November 7,2011 APPROVED CITY OF LINO LAKES 2 MINUTES 3 4 DATE : November 7, 2011 5 TIME STARTED : 5:30 p.m. 6 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council Member Gallup, O'Donnell, 7 Rafferty, Roeser and Mayor Reinert 8 MEMBERS ABSENT : None 9 10 11 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Community Development 12 Director Michael Grochala; Public Safety Director John Swenson; Finance Director Al 13 Rolek; City Clerk Julie Bartell 14 1. Temporary Signage (Planning& Zoning Board Members invited to Attend) 15 -Community Development Director Grochala noted the history of the council sending 16 the matter of the city's sign regulations to the Planning&Zoning Board for review and 17 the Board's response of no further action. Mayor Reinert attended that Board meeting 18 and received questions from the members about the city's enforcement policy and process 19 for the current regulations. Members of the Planning and Zoning Board were present 20 this evening and Board Chair Paul Tralle noted that he's been in touch with the local 21 businessman who brought up the issue of business signage. The basis of that person's 22 concern is that he feels he is being treated unfairly on his signs and, even though the 23 system is complaint driven, the city should be enforcing the regulations fairly. The 24 Mayor concurred that enforcement needs to be even. The council acknowledged that the 25 Board put much time and effort into developing the current regulations. Board Member 26 Mike Hyden recalled that the Board worked hard on regulations that would be fair and 27 workable for business owners, recognizing that it would be impossible to make everyone 28 happy. 29 Community Development Director Grochala explained the city's current enforcement. 30 Typically signs that are left on the right/of/way are picked up and, if contact with the sign 31 owner is possible, that is done. Temporary signs on a premises aren't normally dealt with 32 unless there is a complaint. Last spring,he explained, the city did send out an 33 information letter that included sign requirements and included information on obtaining 34 sign permits. When there is a violation,the city allows time for compliance but does not 35 remove signs from private property for non-compliance. Signs inside of windows are not 36 regulated. Mr. Grochala suggested that sign violations are a long standing problem for 37 cities and violations are present pretty much anytime you want to go look for them. 38 The council discussed the concept of how restrictive the city should become. Mr. Tralle 39 noted that he is comfortable with some of the current regulations but feels some could be 40 reviewed, adding that the Board's process of consideration did not include a lot of 41 business input due to businesses not coming forward during the public hearing process. 42 The mayor suggested that the discussion should be about enforcement and fairness. A 1