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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 1977/12/19PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF MOUNDS VIEW RAMSEY COUNTY, MINNESOTA A regular meeting of the Mounds View City Council was called to order by Mayor Pickar at 7:30 PM on December 19, 1977 at the Mounds View City Hall 2401 Highway 10, Mounds View, Minnesota 55112. Members Present: Also Present: Councilmember Ziebarth Clerk- Administrator Achen Councilmember Hodges Building and Zoning Official Rose Councilmember Rowley Mayor Pickar Mayor Pickar noted that Councilmember Baumgartner was out of town on vacation. MSP (Rowley Ziebarth) to approve the minutes of the December 12, 1977 regular meeting. CITIZEN COMMENTS AND REQUESTS Jim Allen, 7943 Greenfield referred to the home occupation ordinance which had been passed at the December 12, 1977 meeting and questioned item B, which involves more than one room on the premises and asked if babysitting was taken into consideration. Mayor Pickar replied that babysitting does not fall under home occupations and Councilmember Rowley pointed out where it is covered under Chapter 40.10, Revi- sion 1, Subdivision B, Section 3. Mr. Allen also asked if garage sales would fall under home occupations since they were visable from the outside. Mayor Pickar replied that a home occupation Was a business that was carried on from day to day, whereas a garage sale was single event. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA MSP (Hodges Ziebarth) to approve the consent agenda as follows: ITEM A. Adopt Resolution No. 878 reapportioning special assess- ments for the Bernard re.ichcl minor subdivision of property located at 8408 Long Lake road. ITEM B. Receive the November, 1977, activity reports of the police, loyal, fire and nuisance abatement departments. 4 ayes 4 ayes December 19, 1977 Page 2 ITEM C. Approve the following licenses: GENERAL new Fred Haubrick Construction 7953 Woodlawn Drive Mounds View, MN 55432 ITEM D. Approve the December 19, 1977, bills for payment. Councilmember Ziebarth stated that he was concerned with the amount of time spent on recent calls to the Launching Pad by the Police Department and asked if there was a specific problem. Administrator Achen replied that a citiation had been issued and that the time spent also included that spent at the station as well as at the Launching Pad. He also pointed out that three officers had been working on the case and the time involved was their combined time. Mayor Pickar recessed the general meeting and reopened the public hearing on the Tomas Addition. VI'If1J TO S ADDITION PRELIMINARY PLAT TOMAS Administrator Achen reported that he had received a memo from :ngineer Hubbard concerning the development of lots 3 and 4 and possible water problems. In his memo Engineer Hubbard stated that he felt with a 50 or 100 year storm, the water could be handled by the swell, and the only stipulations that would be necessary to insure prevention of water problems would be to specify the final grading for the elevation of each of the houses on each of the lots, with split entries being on lots 3 and 4, and requiring drain tile for the houses on lots 3 and 4, erosion control at the outlet of the pipe and realignment of the pipes on lot 3. Walter Truh, 2406 Woodcrest pointed out that none of the lots are up to code since they do not have the required square footage or frontage and asked what the hard- ship would be for the City to approve the development of five lots. Mayor Pickar replied that the hearing was for the Council to determine what the hardship would be, if there was one. Mr. Truh asked how many cuts there were in the sewer and water pipes. Council member Ziebarth replied that there were four cuts. Mayor Pickar added that it would be the financial responsibility of the developer to put in the other cuts. Mr. Truh stated that he had checked with the builder of the homes across the street and that those houses would be in the $55,000 to $60,000 price range and stated that he did not feel the houses should be crowded in just to keep the cost down. Gene Tomas, developer of the property, stated that the cost of the houses would be between $50,000 and $55,000 this year and that he expected a 10 percent increase December 19, 1977 Page 3 in the next year. He also stated that a national study has shown that on the average, 25 percent of the cost of a home goes for the land and 75 percent for the actual house. He stated that with an 81' lot he would be able to stay within the price range of those houses being built across the street but that if he had to go with the larger lots, the price range would increase to $63,000 to $79,000 if he stayed with the same 25/75 ratio. Mr. Tomas also stated that if he was required to divide into four lots rather than five, he felt he would have a diffi- cult time selling the homes as people would rather have a fireplace or added feature to their home for the additional price, rather than a few more feet to their lot. act) Koblish, 5090 Irondale Road asked what the Planning Commission had recommended to the Council on the subdivision. Mayor Pickar replied that they had voted to deny the request, with a split vote of 5 to 3, but after considerable research, the Staff had recommended in favor of the five lot development. Official Rose stated that the Staff came up with their recommendation after viewing the lots, and the lots across the street, and that in checking the history of actual building permits taken out, which proved that 80' plus lots could have homes build on them. Official Rose stated that the lot size seemed to be a good average. Mr. Koblish pointed out that two variances would be needed and stated that he felt if the Council voted in favor of it, it would devaluate the adjoining property since the other lots in the area are all above code. He also stated that he had spoken to six of his eight neighbors and all six were against having the area divided into five lots rather than four. Councilmember Ziebarth asked Mr. Tomas what the hardship would be. Mr. Tomas replied that if he were required to put in only four homes, the additional cost of the land would have to be split between the four homes, which would result in each house costing approximately $3,000 more to the buyer, and that he did not feel he could find buyers who would want to pay that additional cost for just land. Councilmember Ziebarth asked Mr. Tomas if he was familiar with the building that had been done within the City in the past five years. Mr. Tomas replied that while he was a resident of St. Anthony he has shown a dozen or some homes in Mounds View but that he was not totally familiar with the building being done. Councilmember Ziebarth asked what the size of the lots were in the area that was being developed on the north end of the City. Officials Rose replied that some had 75 to 80 foot frontage and that the average lot was 85 feet, and that square footage averaged between 13,000 and 14,000 square feet. He also stated that the average cost of the homes was $38,000 to $48,000 for the home alone, and $52,000 to $64,000 with the lot included. Councilmember Hodges asked if any water level tables had been taken. Mr. Tomas replied that he had dug down 4 to 5 feet and found sand all the way, and stated that he would run a soil test if it was required. Administrator Achen asked Mr. Tomas if he had looked into the cost of running the fifth opening into the street. Mr. Tomas replied that he had and that it would present no problem. Mr. Koblish stated that if the Council approved the variance request, they would be inviting other people to come in for all kinds of requests and that if the variances December 19, 1977 Page 4 were going to be granted, the City should consider changing its standard rather than granting variances. MSP (Ziebarth Pickar) to deny the request of Gene Tomas for a five way split and to have the land platted into four lots because of the failure to see the hard- ship involved. A development agreement must also be entered into. A rollcall vote was taken: Councilmember Ziebarth aye Councilmember Hodges nay Councilmember Rowley aye Mayor Pickar aye Mayor Pickar stated that the reason he had voted against the five lot split was that he failed to see the hardship involved. Councilmember Rowley stated that she had also failed to see the hardship. Mayor Pickar closed the public hearing and reopened the general meeting. MID AMERICAN AUTO, INC. SPECIAL USE PERMIT AND LICENSE REVIEW Mayor Pickar stated that the reason the operators of Mid American Auto had been called in was because of complaints about the way their operation was being run, such as the number of cars on the premises, the number of junk cars, traffic and so forth. Mrs. Gestic, 8161 Spring Lake Road stated that the fences surrounding the business did not do an adequate job since she could look out her kitchen window and see their junk piled high enough to be visable over the fence. She also stated that customers were parking along the edge of the woods on her property line and turning around in her driveway. She also stated that there was considerable noise and that several junk cars were visable. She also stated that she had a vacant lot next to Mid American and was concerned with the lot being devalued and having trouble selling it. Gary Gestic stated that he was Mrs. Gestic's son and lived across the street and expressed concern that they would not be able tosell the vacant lot due to the auto lot. He also stated that people were turning around in his driveway and that considerable debris was visable from his yard. He also stated that he felt there were excessive cars on the lot for the square footage and pointed out that in winter the cars were moved out to the street while the lot was being plowed, which caused congestion on the street. Mayor Pickar read the report that Staff had put together, listing the violations, such as junk vehicles, junk parts outside the building and congestion due to the excessive number of vehicles. Jeff Getz identified himself as co -owner of Mid American Auto and stated that they were moving the inoperable cars out of the lot as fast as they could but that sometimes there was a buildup of them until they could be moved. He also pointed out that the fence they have is 6.5', which is the maximum allowable and that he did not feel the neighbors could see over the fence since they were the same 3 ayes, 1 nay December 19, 1977 Page 5 elevation as he. Mayor Pickar questioned the storage in the back and stated that he would like to see it eleminated before renewing the license. Councilmember Rowley pointed out that when the special use permit was first issued in 1974, the operators had agreed to meet the requirements of the Planning Commi- ssion and City Council, which included no outside storage of parts. Councilmember Rowley presented the operators with a copy of the minutes and motion from 1974, showing them what they had agreed to. Mr. Getz stated that he had interpreted it that anything that was inside the fence was okay. Mayor Pickar suggested that perhaps the junk vehicles could be stored next to the fence. Councilmember Rowley also pointed out from the 1974 minutes that Mr. Getz had stated that there would be no more than 15 to 20 cars at one time, but that a definite limit had not been set so that he wouldn't have to worry about having 21 cars and being in violation. Administrator Achen stated that the customers had been required to park in the lot, rather than in the street. Mr. Getz replied that it was hard to get the customers to park in the lot. Administrator Achen pointed out that only 17 cars were shown in the original plan, which is what the Planning Commission and City Council had been planning on. Mr. Getz replied that his interpretation had been that they were not to have more cars on the lot than they could accomodate, and that if they really pushed them in to capacity, they could have approximately 75 cars on the lot. Attorney Meyers joined the meeting. Official Rose drew a sketch of the business as it is presently situated and explained that Staff had viewed the lot twice since the complaints were received and that there were 43 cars on the lot the first time and 45 the second time, with some parked on the grassy area. He pointed out that the traffic corridors are minimal so if they were used for parking, it would make it diffcult to drive through, and expressed concern that emergency vehicles might have a difficult time getting through. He also stated that with the way the cars are situated, there really is no customer parking available in the lot. Mayor Pickar stated that the parts should be stored inside somewhere and asked what Mr. Getz would recommend to be the maximum number of cars allowed on the lot. Mr. Getz replied that he would rather guarantee adequate customer parking rather than limit himself to a certain number of cars. Councilmember Rowley asked if there was a certain number of customer parking spaces required. Official Rose replied that Mid American Auto did not fall into a cer- tain classification but that Staff had estimated the required spaces by computing the office space and so forth, and found the minimum number of customer parking spaces for Mid American Auto should be 10. Councilmember Rowley stated that she December 19, 1977 Page 6 would like to see where the cars are going to be parked. Councilmember Ziebarth asked if the customers were allowed to test the cars in the street. Mr. Getz replied that it was difficult to stop them from taking them in the street and since access to Highway 10 was so bad, they often used Spring Lake Road. Mr. Getz pointed out that it was a dump truck that was visable over the fence and that the dump truck was used for the garbage and was emptied when it was full. Mayor Pickar recommended that the dump truck be covered with a canvas to cover up the garbage. Councilmember Ziebarth stated that he believed there was enough evidence that without some restrictions, the growth of the business might continue on the wrong track and that Mid American Auto should be appraised of what the original agreement was and be told to follow it. He also recommended that the number of cars on the lot be controlled. MSP (Pickar- Hodges) to renew the license for Mid American Auto Inc. for 1978 with the following conditions, that the owner marks ten customer parking spaces, paint- ing them on the pavement on the premises, and that it be shown in the plat plan of the entire premises and that approval be contingent upon the City receiving the plan, and the owners being aware of the violations that are currently taking place, specifically the outside storage of junk parts and the minimum number of junk cars. 4 ayes. Mayor Pickar clarified that outside storage includes anything that is not mounted on a car. Howard Brastad, 8101 Spring Lake Road stated that he lived adjacent to the property and that he was not bothered by the view or traffic or customers at all. CITY HALL BASEMENT REMODELLING SPECIFICATIONS Administrator Achen reported that the base bid specifications includes all the work in the recreation office, the kitchen, the south wall storage closet, and carpeting the general areas, foyer and stairs. The estimated cost of the project is $6,130, and the option for sliding partitions in the general area is estimated at $7,000. Official Rose reported that the cost for a single, mixed occupancy bathroom in the basement would be approximately $2,000. He also stated that it would be cheaper to go with a three part sliding door rather than one large one. Councilmember Ziebarth expressed concern that people would be able to hear each other, even with the doors closed. Official Rose replied that if a suspended ceiling were put in, it would help the noise considerably but that if one were put in, the sprinklers would have to be extended and present lighting would have to be replaced. MSP (Pickar- Hodges) to have the City send out specs for bids on the City Hall remodeling on the lower level, with the bid opening to be set for Thursday, Janaury 19, 1978 at 11:00 AM. 4 ayes MSP (Ziebarth- Rowley) to amend the previous motion to include in the bid specs that the north /south wall have some access to the fire sprinklers. 4 ayes December 19, 1977 Page 7 CETA PUBLIC SERVICE EMPLOYMENT APPLICATIONS Administrator Achen reported that the openings would be for a public information officer, landscape architect and accounting technician. The Staff proposals are for one year CETA funded positions and the Ramsey County CETA office indicates a fair probability for funding of the public information officer, which would tie in well with the Council -Staff retreat commitment to examine ways to improve the City's public communications. Rowley d •f the Cit would be req ired to r the employ Councilmember nviti cy asked i ment once CETA funding expired. Administrator Achen replied that the City would not. Councilmember Rowley also asked what material goods the City would have to purchase, such as landscaping tools. Administrator Achen stated that some would have to be purchased but he did not anticipate much expense. MSP (Ziebarth Rowley) to apply for all three positions with CETA with the sti- pulation that if the City does get someone, they must meet with City approval prior to appointment, and that the landscaping architect be limited to $833 per month in salary, and that there will be no strings attached and the City will not be obligated to hire them once CETA funding runs out. 1978 SALARIES AND FRINGE BENEFITS Administrator Achen reported that the proposed resolution adopts the rates pre- viously reviewed by Council except for increases at the end of Dickinson, Anderson and Ackermann's probationary periods and a mid -year increase for Hubbard. Casci's rate is 8 cents higher than originally proposed as a result of budget team consideration of Anderson's memo. MSP (Pickar- Rowley) to establish salaries as presented in Resolution #879. 4 ayes ADMINISTRATOR ACHEN'S REPORT Administrator Achen had no report. ATTORNEY MEYERS REPORT Attorney Meyers reported that a hearing had been held to determine whether the court could issue a temporary restraining order for one individual for truck parking but that no decision had been reached yet. COUNCILMEMBER ZIEBARTH'S REPORT Councilmember Ziebarth stated that the report he had planned to present was not ready and he would present it as soon as possible. 4 ayes December 19, 1977 Page 8 COUNCILMEMBER ROWLEY'S REPORT Councilmember Rowley stated that she would be attending the Coon Rapids Council Meeting on December 20. Councilmember Hodges stated that he would be attending with her. COUNCILMEMBER HODGES' REPORT Councilmember Hodges had no report. MAYOR PICKAR'S REPORT Mayor Pickar had no report. MSP (Rowley Pickar) to adjourn the meeting at 10:00 PM. Respectifully submitted, Mark Achen Clerk- Administrator 4 ayes