PL MINUTES 09071982 - Laserfiche WebLink

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-10- He explained .the differences between St., Anthony 's situation and West St. Paul where the City is taxing amusement devices . When Mr. Zawislak • wondered whether . it might be best for. the City to issue all the licenses which were. requested but to charge fees large enough to make them unattractive ,. the Attorney told him- the general law is thatamount of * fee .which is charged must have direct. relationship with the municipality ' s costs for processing the application. The .Planning -Commission member suggested those costs .could co ver . the expenses of putting on extra police. Questions regarding who- would get the first license which was freed up if a .limit were placed .at thenumber. now existing in the City were explored. Mr. Bjorklund said he didn't want the City to overreact to the . residents pressure in this regard. He foresees within a few years there will be thousands of the games in homes all over the City and personallycan' t conceive how . a. single game could reduce the morality of any kid. He has the games in his own home and considers them an excellent learning tool.. He believes the City can already restrict these devices where they. become.. a health or safety hazard or promote loitering and vandalism- which would be a .detriment to the neighborhood.- Mr. Zawislak suggested limiting each ..game to a designated amount of space so too many of them. aren' t concentrated- in one room. Mr. Bowerman wondered if the limit on total numbers of games could be set at between 200 .or 250 , to provide -future protection for the City , since "nobody is sure. what type of. game is being developed" . The Manager suggested -that if the limits are raised too high, the existing • businesses would probably snatch up all. that are .available because the "market will . rise to the limit" . Mrs . Makowske sees "a whole lot of difference between having computer games in: the. home and having children- play- them out of the home" . She would not like to see .the licenses issued to be more than 100 . Four out of the five Commission members agreed an arcade should be defined as having more than six amusement devices since that number did not appear to be a problem and arcades .can be controlled by conditions set -for them because they are conditionally permitted uses . Mrs . Makowske wondered why Minneapolis- can regulate pool halls . Mr. Zawislak commented. that Chick 's. in: .Coon.-, Rapids is a well regulated operation but is so isolated any disturbance wou-1d .go unnoticed, unlike its location in St. Anthony. He told of his own problems when he ran the University Park bar andpool hall and said most of the problems are with. coin operated pool tables . He also believes "people who are hanging around at 2 :00 A.M. are not the type of persons who aren 't ever going to fight" . ' Mr. Childs: cautioned the Commission members that denying the licenses to the Fun Center when the licenses come up for- renewal would not be an easy thing unless the police department logs valid .calls for ordin- ance violations . or annoyances and.-.they were reminded by Mr. Kozlak of the difficulty .neighboring municipalities have had trying to close down operations which had become unbearable for the neighbors .