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Mounds View City Council December 12, 2022 Regular Meeting Page 7 development be considered at Mounds View Square with commercial or retail space ground level 1 and apartments above. She requested the City not burden her neighborhood with yet another high 2 rise building. She indicated the five story apartment building would be an eyesore that would 3 destroy the value of her property. 4 5 Rebecca Scholl, 2467 Hillview Road, stated she has not spoken on this issue before, but she has 6 been listening to her neighbors. She indicated she was in favor of development, but she was not in 7 favor of the proposed apartments. She agreed the developer was trying to fit a square peg in a 8 round hole with this project. She noted this was the wrong project for this property, especially 9 considering the number of deviations the developer was requesting in order to make this site work. 10 She suggested the City hang onto this property in order to see what other type of development 11 could occur. She suggested townhomes or a mixed-use project be considered for this property. 12 13 Cynthia Camarillo, 5299 Greenfield Avenue, noted she has been a resident of Mounds View for 14 the past 33 years. She explained she was concerned with the fact this project has two phases and 15 noted there would be additional traffic implications once Phase 2 was completed. She understood 16 that the Skyline Motel property would have apartments, which would generate additional traffic 17 in this area of Mounds View. She indicated the City had recently lost two police officers to 18 retirement and the department was having a hard time recruiting, which was a concern for the 19 entire community. She reported she was concerned with how dense the proposed development 20 was, noting the developer was hoping to put 270 units on five acres. She appreciated the passion 21 that was being shared by her neighbors, noting no other neighborhood in Mounds View would 22 want this apartment complex in their backyard. 23 24 Doug Donley, 5210 O’Connell Drive, thanked the Council for hearing the concerns being raised 25 by the neighbors. He suggested this property be kept R-1 and that it be subdivided into six one-26 half acre parcels, which would allow for six additional houses. He anticipated the wildlife and 27 greenspace would be better preserved and the neighbors would no longer be overly burdened. He 28 suggested the City partner with Habitat for Humanity for these six homes and noted he would help 29 build these new homes. He explained if the Council were to rezone this property, the floodgates 30 would be opened and this site would be pushed towards a highly dense apartment complex. 31 32 Mark Dieter, 5219 Jeffery Drive, stated he sympathizes with the Council when addressing these 33 types of issues. He indicated he would like to find a way for the community to work together but 34 believed this project doesn’t seem like it was a natural fit. He requested the Council consider what 35 the best parts of Mounds View were. He believed the best parts were the police department, the 36 people and the schools. He noted he was a teacher in the Mounds View School District and 37 discussed how things were changing in the community, especially the schools. He anticipated the 38 likelihood of this change will continue with every apartment building the City approves, which 39 impacted every student within the district. He believed there had to be a better place for the 40 proposed development that would be closer to a City park and mass transit. 41 42 Brian Amundsen, 3048 Woodale Drive, discussed the things he thinks about when he thinks about 43 Mounds View, such as well-developed trees and extremely affordable housing. He stated Mounds 44 View was a very desirable community to live in that had major freeway access to both Minneapolis 45 and St. Paul. He encouraged the Council to consider if the additional housing was necessary. He 46