Agenda Packets - 2020/05/26 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council May 11, 2020 Regular Meeting Page 7 1 2 Mayor Mueller explained the Ramsey County League of Local Government met on Friday, May 3 8th at 7:30 a.m. where the group discussed budgetary concerns. 4 5 Mayor Mueller reported the Minnesota Women in Government held a meeting on Friday, May 8th 6 She noted the women's suffrage 100 year celebration has been postponed to next spring. 7 8 Council Member Meehlhause commented on the NYFS Leadership Luncheon and noted Lori 9 Sturdevant was a great guest speaker. 10 11 Mayor Mueller encouraged all residents in Mounds View to fill out their 2020 census information. 12 She discussed the importance of being counted and thanked all of the residents who had already 13 filled out their census. 14 15 B. Reports of Staff. 16 17 Community Development Director Sevald commented on a code violation that occurred in the 18 City. He reported the violation had to do with a resident that had a fence that was taller than 48" 19 in the front yard. He noted the fence was placed in the front yard around a vegetable garden. He 20 stated after talking with the City Council it was recommended staff encourage the resident to 21 remove the fence in lieu of having it look more like a trellis. He reported the resident is requesting 22 the fence be allowed to remain as is. Staff requested direction from the Council on how to 23 proceed. 24 25 Nate Blinn explained he did a sun study in order to find the best location for a garden. He 26 reported he was looking for a location that got eight to ten hours of sun in his yard in order to 27 have a productive garden. 28 29 Kelsie Blinn commented further on the garden location noting it was 16 feet from the curb. She 30 questioned how the City defined a fence stating this was a gray area within City Code. She 31 reported her intention was for the fence to serve as a trellis for the vegetables to grow on. She 32 expressed concern that a citation was issued from the City prior to the project being completed. 33 She noted the garden would have landscaping around it to help blend into the surrounding area. 34 She commented that one of her neighbors who was very skeptical about the garden originally 35 approved of the final plans. She requested comment from the City Council how the City defined a 36 fence and questioned why this qualified as a fence when her intention was for it to be used as a 37 trellis. 38 39 Mr. Blinn indicated the trellis has been removed but noted the metal portion was still in place. He 40 stated the garden does not look that much different, but it would hurt given the fact the trellis 41 function had been lost. 42 43 Mayor Mueller thanked Nate and Kelsie for their input. She stated she was in favor of referring 44 this matter back to staff in order to resolve the matter. City Administrator Zikmund commented 45 staff would like to hear from the Council on how to modify City Code.