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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes <br /> January 6, 2004 <br /> Page 8 <br /> 1 Village,you need to look at all of them and not just those who own the most expensive homes. <br /> 2 <br /> 3 Mr. Archambault stated the Study Group looked at traffic patterns and found that 63% of the fire <br /> 4 calls are north of 33rd Avenue. That leads you to believe a site north of 33rd Avenue is more <br /> 5 reasonable if looking for shorter response times. He noted that every person that lives on Silver <br /> 6 Lake Road is impacted by each call that goes north of Kenzie Terrace and asked if that is fair. <br /> 7 They are all impacted by that traffic noise. With the selected site, the residences are only <br /> 8 impacted if calls are going north or south,but not all of the calls. When you look at impact, it is <br /> 9 not just the impact to those adjacent to the fire station. Mr. Archambault stated he lived within <br /> 10 the radius circle and has been able to see the front doors of the fire station for 23 years. He <br /> 11 explained that he was only awaken twice by a fire truck leaving in the night. On quality of life <br /> 12 and using his yard and property, he looked at his own neighborhood. Several of his neighbors <br /> 13 have added onto their houses and purchased knowing the fire station was located there. With that <br /> 14 in mind,he has found more irritation with a neighbor running their lawn mower than two <br /> 15 seconds of sound from a truck leaving the fire station. <br /> 16 <br /> 17 Mr. Archambault advised that there are 900 emergency calls a year in St. Anthony, which is less <br /> 18 than three per.day. He asked how many of those calls will be of concern,noting they occur at all <br /> 19 times of day,while residents are at work, sleeping,watching television, etc. He stated that the <br /> 20 Study Group looked at all of these factors and did not take them lightly. <br /> 21 <br /> 22 Mr. Archambault stated he heard today that this was a hasty decision but the studies have been <br /> 23 going on since 1999 and started with professional engineering studies. But, the City wanted <br /> 24 citizen input so the Study Group was advertised on the City's web site and through newsletters <br /> 25 and bulletins to get people to be involved in the process. Mr. Archambault stated he feels badly <br /> 26 that the residents in attendance tonight did not show up for the ten open meetings, open houses, <br /> 27 or City Council meetings. He noted the City mailed four letters to resident's homes to invite <br /> 28 them to attend. <br /> 29 <br /> 30 Mr. Archambault pointed out that the decision on the fire station location was made in May and <br /> 31 there has been very little activity taken since May. Yet, all of the Council was re-elected except <br /> 32 for Amy Sparks who did not run for reelection. He stated this is an affirmation of the City <br /> 33 Council's decision. <br /> 34 <br /> 35 Mr. Archambault stated the Study Group was charged with keeping the cost of the fire station <br /> 36 low and looked at the cost of taking commercial property off the tax rolls versus taking <br /> 37 residential property off the tax rolls. He asked if any of the petitioners has looked at that issue. <br /> 38 Mr. Archambault explained that with the temporary location, the annual property taxes now are <br /> 39 over$14,000 per year. If that building sells for the asking price,based on last year's taxes, the <br /> 40 taxes will be $26,178. The property taxes at 3501/05 Silver Lake Road combined was $3,522 a <br /> 41 year. He noted that is an extra$1 million in taxes over the 50-year life of the fire station. Mr. <br /> 42 Archambault stated all of these issues were looked at by the Study Group but they knew that no <br /> 43 matter what recommendation was made, someone would be unhappy. <br /> 44 <br /> 45 Mr. Archambault stated some people who had been approached to sign the petition called him <br /> 46 and indicated they were"buttonholed"after church with no time to study the issues, or at the <br />