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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes <br />January 26, 2021 <br />Page 10 <br /> <br />planning and zoning customarily are governed by the principle to avoid conflicts of use. Here 1 <br />there is about as intense commercial use as could be imagined. A high velocity car wash with 2 <br />high vehicle traffic counts immediately contiguous to a multi-family residential condominium 3 <br />building and a single-family neighborhood. He stated with all respect to Planner Grittman, it is 4 <br />not the burden of the City to establish the compliance with the finding, it is the burden of the 5 <br />applicant. The statement by Mr. Grittman that it is very difficult to deny a Conditional Use 6 <br />Permit completely flies in the face of Minnesota Land Use Law. The decision of the City 7 <br />Council must be based on the facts in the record and the facts are measured against the required 8 <br />findings in the City Code. There has been ample testimony from residents contiguous to the 9 <br />property regarding adverse noise impacts. There has been testimony regarding air quality 10 <br />impacts and concerns, there are concerns with regard to light pollution and impacts directly on 11 <br />nearby residents. There are multiple statements of adverse impacts on nearby residential 12 <br />property values. A property owner is competent to testify as to impacts to their own property. 13 <br />There are also the opinions of real estate professionals and most notably a real estate professional 14 <br />that has represented hundreds of clients within the Kenzington Condominium community. 15 <br />Given the intensity of the car wash impacts, of vehicle trips, noise and air pollution, and safety 16 <br />concerns, this use is simply incompatible with the existing surrounding neighborhood residential 17 <br />uses. He stated there are many compatible uses that this property can be reasonably put to 18 <br />without imposing the conflicts of land use and can satisfy the requirements of the Conditional 19 <br />Use Permit. He respectfully requests, based on the facts and the record and the City’s Code that 20 <br />the Conditional Use Permit must be denied. 21 <br /> 22 <br />Mr. Casey Scott, 2501 Paul Avenue, St. Anthony, explained he has known Tom Archambault 23 <br />and his family for many years, and they have been great neighbors. This particular decision to 24 <br />put a car wash so close to the neighbors on 27th seems to be very much in contrary to past 25 <br />decisions that he and the prior owner have made. He found it kind of strange that the owner 26 <br />talked about running the operation from 8am to 5pm and then the City expanded that from 7am 27 <br />to 10pm., especially when this is right near so many houses and residential areas. He thought the 28 <br />hours of operation should be explored, especially on the weekend. Right now, Mr. 29 <br />Archambault’s business does not operate on the weekend so he wondered if there was a need to 30 <br />have this business operate on a weekend. The big difference he sees between the other car 31 <br />washes mentioned during this meeting and this car wash is that this one is extremely close in 32 <br />proximity to the residential neighbors. He appreciated that City staff recommended there be a 33 <br />number of changes to try to mitigate some of this impact, but he also noticed that there has been 34 <br />nothing done to measure the current noise, air pollution, current water runoff, etc. so that there 35 <br />can be some comparisons to other car washes in the neighborhood that were mentioned to see 36 <br />what the difference would be. He thought there are some of those steps that Mr. Keane 37 <br />mentioned and others that should be taken before a decision is made. He would recommend that 38 <br />at a minimum the decision should be tabled until further study is done to be able to understand 39 <br />the impact on the residents in the community. 40 <br /> 41 <br />Mr. Scott asked how big the trees will be because if small trees are planted those trees will not be 42 <br />able to mitigate for several years. If large trees are planted there is a risk of them dying in a few 43 <br />years and whose responsibility will it be to replant the trees. He thought there were some 44 <br />specific details that needed to be worked out about all of these mitigation steps to make sure that 45 <br />10