05/17/2000 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MEMORANDUM May 17, 2000 to: City Council from: Jeff Smyser subject: Sno Barons and Hay Days The Sno Barons is a snowmobile club that puts on the annual Hay Days event in Columbus Township. The Sno Barons would like to purchase approximately 100 acres in northeastern Lino Lakes. The club would establish its headquarters there and it would be the new site of the Hay Days event. I spoke with a member of the club last October. I asked for comment from other City staff, including Community Development, the Police Dept., and the Centennial Fire District. After receiving comments back, I informed the club member that staff would not support having the event at the proposed location. The primary concern is traffic, but there are other concerns as well. In February of this year another club member, John Weber, called me to pursue the issue again. I explained what I'd told the first club member, but Mr. Weber wanted to pursue it anyway. I asked him to send me a letter with some information on what they had in mind. I would ask staff for comments again, though I didn't expect anything to change. Nonetheless, Mr. Weber asked if there were a way for him to talk to the City Council, so we scheduled it for a work session. Staff's concerns are summarized below. Land Use The site is guided for rural uses and zoned Rural. • The Rural district uses include such things as horse arenas, riding stables, wild game farms, gun clubs, and commercial sports arenas as conditional uses. These do not really relate to the proposed use as a snowmobile club or the Hay Days event. • 40,000+ attendees of Hay Days in a remote, hard -to- access location (see Traffic) • Concentration of snowmobiles at the club headquarters on a day -to -day basis has the potential for noise that would create a nuisance for surrounding landowners. • Hardwood Creek is protected by the shoreland ordinance with a shoreland zone 300' on each side of the creek. • Water quality impacts are unknown. The concentration of large numbers of people and riders raises potential issues. 600 Town Center Parkway, Lino Lakes, Minnesota 55014 -1182 Phone: 651 - 982 -2400 • Fax: 651 - 982 -2499 • TDD: 651 - 982 -2410