CC MINUTES 11221988 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 which the Commission had not been able to get answers during the hearing were cleared up. 3 Mr. Childs indicated the City Ordinance would not prevent the store from 4 having the lights in the window, but only said they should not be 5 flashing. (He said they are not at this time.) The City Manager 6 reported the Public Works Director was waiting to hear the Council's 7 direction that evening before proceeding with the inspection and 8 issuance of a permit for the expansion. Councilmember Makowske said she 9 personally had no problem with Mr. Belisle keeping the lights in the 10 window as long as they aren't flashing and are turned off when the store 11 is closed. Councilmember Enrooth indicated he was still concerned that 12 this was just another situation where a store owner takes actions with 13 complete disregard for the City's codes and ordinances and then pleads 14 ignorance and is allowed to continue to be in non-compliance. 15 Mr. Belisle stated that there had been communication problems with the 16 City regarding the lights, reiterating that he had received no response 17 to the letter his franchise lawyer had sent to the City in 1984 18 insisting that the lights should be considered "historical symbols". 19 He said he had thought the matter was a dead issue when he had gotten 20 no response from the City. 21 Mr. Childs recalled that the Planning Commission had considered the 22 lawyer's letter and refused to accept the historical symbol concept it 23 proposed. The City Manager said although he had no copy of a letter 94 informing Mr. Belisle of that ruling, he thought he had called the store owner. Since that had all happened in 1984, he couldn't be z6 absolutely certain what action had been taken so long ago. 27 When Councilmember Ranallo expressed some concerns about the extent of 28 electrical work the store owner and the other Video Update employees had 29 done in the new space, Mr. Belisle said all they had basically done was 30 to lift the electrical junction boxes up into the suspended ceiling 31 without disconnecting the conduit at all. Mayor Sundland indicated that 32 was one of the reasons he perceived it would be necessary to make the 33 permit extension contingent upon the Building Inspector's assurance that 34 the remodeling met all the necessary codes and ordinances. 35 Condition #4 in the original permit was not considered relative to the 36 permit because the stop sign it called for had been installed in the 37 meantime. Councilmember Marks said he shared Councilmember Enrooth's 38 sense of frustration with the unauthorized expansion and continuation 39 of .non -conforming signage in this store. He recalled experiencing the 40 same type of frustration during the years he served on the Planning 41 Commission when applicants would come in at the last minute to request 42 an "'immediate' variance for a project which had to be constructed 43 before the frost set in, etc." The Councilmember said then as now he 44 considered these to be cases where the owners exhibited very poor 45 planning but wasn't certain what other action the City could take with 46 this expansion already completed. Councilmember Enrooth indicated he ^7 would be satisfied to have the property given a thorough inspection by 0