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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1974-09-18 CC MIN . . . 244 COUNCIL CHAMBER Stillwater, Minnesota September 18, 1974 7,30 P. M. SPECIAL MEETING The meeting was called to order by President Powell The Invocation was given by Mr. Marshall. Present: Councilmen Balfanz, Peterson, Thompson, Wohlers and President Powell Absent: None Also Present: Press: City Coordinator, Marshall City Attorney, Kimmel Stillwater Evening Gazette - Douglas Sietz Citizens: Mr. & Mrs. Leo Casanova, Jan Wheeler, Shirley Tibbetts. Evelyn Roettger, Laur Kollander, John DeCurtins, Thomas Strandberg, Choe Junker, Pat Bantli, Owen Thomas. Dean Charlsen, Bob Lange. Lawrence Larson, Francis Rice INDIVIDUALS-DELGATIONS-PET1T10NS This was the day and time set for a Public Hearing on the request of Thomas Strandberg to use the First Baptist Church building at Fourth and Pine Street as an Antique Shop. Notice of the hearing was published in the Stillwater Evening Gazette, the official newspaper of the City, on September 5, 1974 and copies were mailed to all property owners within 300 feet. The Mayor opened the hearing. MR. THOMAS STRANDBERG, 1006 South First Street, presented the plot plan to the Council for their inspection. The Planning Commission has recommended the granting of this Special Use Permit. MRS. LEO CASANOVA, 215 West Pine Street - when she presented her petition against the proposed Special Use Permit, she went around to the immediate little block as they didn't want to be polluted with Commercial businesses. more than they are. at the present time. Mr. Simonet got a permit for his office and since then he has added on to it and it looks like a pool hall. If she wanted to live in a Commercial area she would have bought in such an area. The petition which Mr. Saandberg circulated has names on it of people who do not live in the area but work there and further some of them have moved out of state since that time. She felt that this was unfair and also there were some home owners within 300 feet that were not notified - Mrs. Evelyn Roettger and Leon Thurmes. THOMAS STRANDBERG said that he had left the petition at Mr. Simonet's office when he was out and in his absence his employees all signed it. MAYOR POWELL said that the petition is an indication of what they feel and he felt that the Council would weigh the pros and cons of this. JOSEPH THEISSEN, 604 S. Third Street, asked what benefit this would be to the City and what kind of a precedent this would create and would he be granted a bike shop at his house. JAN WHEELER, corner of Fifth and Pine Streets, said that Mr. Simonet's office started out in a small way and was built on to - there is Mr. Greeder's next door which is in a separate building - the people across the street sell every- thing out of their house and she did not feel that they should have another business enterprise in the neighborhood. SHIRLEY TIBBETTS, 663 South Second Street, said she is very interested in Stillwater to the point where this is not a beautiful building - it is in terrible shape and it is possible to restore it and make a beautiful building and put it back on the tax rolls, and that is what we are interested in Stillwater. JOSEPH THEISSEN asked what would happen if the Antique Shop was sold - what type of business would then go in there - could it continue on for something else. . '." \ . ''----.- . . ~ . September 18, 1974 - continued 245 .'"". MR. KIMMEL _ The Special Use Permit could be used for that type ~f use and another use would have to have a new permit. MRS. CASANOVA said when the old church on Fourth and Oak was operating as an antique shop he was closed down because he was cond~ing a business in a residential Qrea. MAYOR POWELL said that he never had obtained a Special Use Permit from the City. MRS. CASANOVA said that evidently the Council is not interested in confining businesses to the downtown area and at a special meeting of the Zoning Committee the Baptist Church represen~4tive s4id that they w~re not interested in selling it to another church or renting same to another church and she felt that there are a lot of people who would take that place over as a church. MRS. TIBBETTS asked how many empty churches there are in town and MAYOR POWELL said at least four. MR. MARSHALL read the letter from the Planning Commission setting forth the conditions on which they granted this Special Use Permit. Ij JAN WHEELER asked if it was not possible to have these buildings movedto another location - moved into a Commercial zoned area. ",,,.11 MAYOR POWELL said this wouldn't be allowed in the towntown area and also the building couldn't be moved. LEO CASANOVA, 215 West Pine Street, asked how far they are going to go with the fixing of the Church. For the past 15 years nothing has been done to that building and that no body here knows the condition of that chimney. He felt that they had a legitimate reason for that building not to be used for commercial purposes. MR. MARSHALL said that the recommendation of the Planning Commission included bringing the building up to meet all codes and the condition of the chimney was brought up at their meeting and John Lawson is aware of the problem with the chimney. MR. STRANDBERG said the building has been inspected and it can be restored and brought up to meet the codes. MRS. LEO CASANOVA _ they don't want to be hemmed in by Commercial people - it has come to the point where there are only four of the houses in the block that don't have something Commercial in their homes and wondered when they are going to call a halt to this. She felt that Stillwater should be proud of its old homes _ her home is 101 years old and this will depreciate from their property. She felt that none of the Council would like to have such a situation on their area and that all business should be in downtown or at the Mall. DAVID CARLSON, member of the Baptist Church Board, said he felt it would be an asset to have that building brought up to code. He said the church will not permit it to be sold for any church use and any idle building will deteriorate and he felt that with it being occuppied it is going to look a lot better. The Mayor closed the hearing at 7:55 P. M. COUNCILMAN BALFANZ questioned the parking of four cars on the West side of the building and MR. STRANDBERG said they would have cars parked there off the street _ there would be no parking in front of the building and when they begin operation the County Courthouse will be closed so there will not be that parking in this area. - l;",i COUNCILMAN BALFANZ said that the Court House building people park on the street and MR. STRANDBERG said right now with the court being held in this old building they have more parking here, so when they move out there would be ample parking space _ also they would not have more than four or five cars at any time when they do open up the Antique Shop. COUNCILMAN PETERSON asked if Mr. Strandberg was aware of the stipulations put in by the Planning Commission and he will abide by these stipulations, and he agreed to this. COUNCILMAN PETERSON felt that by restoring this building it would be an asset and should not detract that much from the neighborhood. . ., \ . \ t "" . . 246 September 18. 1974 - continued . On motion of Councilman Peterson, seconded by Councilman Thompson a resolution was introduced "GRANTING A SPECIAL USE PERMIT TO THOMAS STRANDBERG FOR AN ANTIQUE SHOP IN THE OLD BAPTIST CHURCH BU1LDING AT FOURTH AND P1NE FOLLOWING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE PLANNING CO~1M1SSION AND ITS STITPULAT10NS. Vote - Ayes Nays Peterson. Thompson, Wohlers Balfanz and President Powell Motion carried - (see resolutions) 2 This was the day and time for the Public Hearing on the request of Jack Hooley to rezone the front 800 feet of his property abutting Trunk Highway 212 from Industrial to Commercial. Notice of the hearing was published in the Stillwater Evening Gazette, the official newspaper of the City. on September 5, 1974 and copies mailed to all property owners within 300 feet. The Mayor opened the hearing. JACK HOOLEY, 1219 West Willard. said there is a need for it to be zoned Commercial since space is limited in the downtown area of Stillwater due to the geographic and physical characteristics. The downtown will always do a good business and there are a lot of good ~tores there. They intend to keep their store down there and he felt this should be zoned Commercial. The Planning Commission suggested that they zone all eleven (11) acres Commercial and leave the balance as Industrial, but they did not want to put their store in an Industrial Park. He felt it would not only enhance their business but would serve the City of Stillwater and keep the back 80 acres for Industrial. COUNCILMAN THOMPSON raised the question of placing this store in an Industrial Park as he felt that the one at Burnsville has such a location. JACK HOOLEY said it abuts on 35-E and they sit out front and that it is all Commercial on the south side. MR. MARSHALL stated that the Cpuncil has received a letter from Bill Schwab in which he recommended to the Planning Commission the manner in which this should be zoned and it was on the bais of this report that the Planning Commission made their decision. Mr. Schwab feels that this kind of building would not be out of place in an Industrial Park type situation. He feels we should get more control of future roads and Mr. Hooley and Mr. Hadrath are willing to dedicate the right-of-way within the park. DEAN CHARLSEN, 116 South Sixth Street, said it could be Commercial for Mr. Hooley for his store on the front but the rest of the front should be Industrial. We do need Commercial and we do need Industrial, but in order to have Heavy Industrial you need railroad tracks and there are none in that area.. The abutting property is already made Commercial all the way down into Oak Park Heights and Stillwater Township, and why hasn't the County put a stop to it. You don't put Industrial on a good road frontage - Industrial has no business on a main street of any kind - you have got traffic certain times of the day with truck traffic all of the time; it doesn't make sense. In various areas such as Roseville, Rosedale or any of these suburbs on the highway you have Commercial retail and wholesale outlets but in the back will be your industrial, warehouses and truck storage areas. He felt that there was no reason for denial of this on the highway. Since he has been in the Chamber of Commerce there have been several requests, one in particular. for a pharmicutical house and they begged for land and they could not get it because of sewer and water and fire protection. Another was a request from a fellow from Chicago who needed a building to warehouse supplies such as paper and since he has moved to St. Paul. We are badly in need of the land, possibly not for the immediate future. but the Chamber of Commerce feels that is the thing we have to look at, at the present time. MAYOR POWELL felt that it is a shame to have Stillwater provide a sanctuary for industry. Industry doesn't come beating a path at our door. JAMES GREEDER. 520 South Fifth Street, said there is no industry on that land and if Mr. Schwab thinks industry is going to be there, he felt that the City of Stillwater needs that piece of property zoned Commercial. MAYOR POWELL - The type of industry the Planning Commission hopes to get is Light Industrial - they are looking for something like Kroy Industries and again he felt that we are not overwhelmed by such requests. If he was a property owner, he would like to see it developed in one way or another of about $100,000 or $200,00 but in the same types for Commercial or Industrial. \, '- . . . September 18, 1974 - continued -.-., " 247 \ . " . CHUCK SWANSON, Washington County Engineer and Member of the Planning Commission- they are not looking for the industrial growth that would require trackage and they are not against wholesale merchandising. It is not good planning to take half of it and zone it commercial and leave the balance industrial. There is an uncertainty as to what the remaining area would be used for and why not rezone 11 acres Commercial and leave the other Industrial - a good answer for that is that should something happen later and Mr. Hooley decides not to construct the CUB Store, then you have 11 acres zoned Commercial and the remaining Indus- trial and by going to Planned Unit Development you can still allow his store in an Industrial zoned area and not make it piecemeal. JACK HOOLEY - the problem would be that it is pretty hard to go out and get clients and tennants if you are going to have any kind of development - you are going to have to have it Commercial to begin with. We have put it in the hands of a developer and they are professionals in the building field and you have the zoning first. I~ DEAN CHARLSEN - Commercial runs right to the property to the east - Commercial runs right on the property to the west - across the road you have got all merchants - everything is Commercial up to 212 and 36 - why not let it continue like the rest of it. MR. MARSHALL - everything west of Oasis to County Road No. 5 is Industrial. MR. CHARLSEN - we have got to have land to expand - the other area was all zoned and why don't they follow it. COUNCILMAN THOMPSON - The Planning Commdssion has not been known to move fast on items and has been talking of this Cub Store going in there for about a year. Possibly in the last month or month and half the Planning Commdssion has been asked to change 135 acres from Industrial to Commercial - no plan of where the street right-of-way is to go in. He felt the Planning Commdssion denied this basically because they wanted more details and they wanted to take more time on it. They felt it was being shoved down their throat by one business that wanted to get in there. The people on the Planning Commission are not against development in this area if it is Commercial or Industrial. There was not too much information given to them up to this point. DEAN CHARLSEN questioned the cost of getting sewers out to this property - no way until it is planned for a particular building. COUNCILMAN THOMPSON - it cannot be developed until we have sewer and water - someone should care as to where the sewer is running. \ , ,~ JACK HOOLEY - Everybody knew when we annexed to the City of Stillwater that we planned to put a store in there. It was in January before we could do anything out there - at that time we started to get plans drawn and our plans call for getting something in there this fall - it is a matter of utilities. CHARLES HOOLEY - The Metro Sewer Commission is aware of this and there are some temporary plans given to the City on the sewers, and they will have concur with the Metro Sewer Plan - Duane Elliott is working on that now. ROBERT LANGE, 213 Echo Lane, you are dealing with the dividing of land - we need additional retail space for the people in the area and they are looking for improvement in the area and why not keep them at home - Oak Park will take them. COUNCILMAN WOHLERS asked about making the back property Commercial also and Mr. Hooley said this property is zoned Industrial and will still be Industrial. MAYOR POWELL - we do have Industrial there and there is room to develop behind there - we are not destroying the completion of an Industrial Park. COUNCILMAN WOHLERS - Oak Park Heights is grabbing everything-there is no rhyme or reason to any of it - I would like to see the rest of that kept Industrial. MR. MARSHALL said one thing we have to do is maintain control over future developments - any rezoning that we do we should require special use permits for developments in this area. MAYOR POWELL - The City at one time was going to require a Speci.al Use Permit for everything zoned multiple dwellings. Any Commercial or Industrial must require Special Use Permits to that it comes before the Planning Commission - not as a use as a type of building, aethetics and other things so that it fits into the area. 1 . . . . I . , . "''"''U . ; . . ~-r"'-"."-" ......., ........... - _....u.....u........ MR. KIMMEL - You have to understand that you are in the same situation with the multi-dwellings. We were arguing about the number of units and the land: You cold do the same thing with Commercial or lndustrial- arguing about what the building is going to look like, the grading, on-sight improvements. The problem you are going to get into are the same arguments as the Brick Pond. If it is zoned Commercial and you still have a special use and then it is a questions of what it is going to look like. MAYOR POWELL - The Planning Commdssion is not that far away from Mr. Hooley asking simply to have a Special Use Permit for 11 acres, the same process would happen. If it is zoned Commercial you have something to offer prospective buyers. If you have an Industrial Park in a sense, we do have this on Oasis Avenue. DAVID JUNKER. 1001 North Fourth Street. said let the Planning Commission "monkey" around with it for four months - it is time to get the Council to ClOve forward on it tonite so that Mr. Hooley can proceed - we need this CUB Store in Stillwater. COUNCILMAN BALFANZ referred to Mr. Carl Dale's study for Washington County corridor he mentions two developments between North St. Paul and Stillwater and he felt that we should look at the overall corridor as to what types of develop- ments we are going to show resident~al, where we are going to put Commercial and where we are going to show Industrial. DEAN CHA..1U..SEN - We haven' t got any retail along 212 - Mr. Schwab and Carl nale's rules and regulations are not being followed and asked how come. MAYOR POWELL - The land in Stillwater Township was farm land; it was rural in nature but their plan indicated that it should be Industrial and the land to the east of that, a lot of that was already developed Commercial. It looks to him that the natrual thing to do is to make it Comm@.rcial to tie-in with the other area. COUNCILMAN PETERSON said regarding the Special Use Permits for Multi-Dwellings it was a question of whirh kind and we did get a better multiple dwelling because of the requirements of the Special Use Permit and he asked the question of what the feelings of the City Attorney were on the use of Special Use Permits on all Commercial zoned areas. JACK HOOLEY - We would do the best to enhance our own project and any others would have to work in with the full plan, and the only problem with Special Use PERMITS IS NOT L1KE HAVING IT AT ALL. MAYOR POWELL - Some of the Ci~ Staff and Council took the time to go down to Burnsville to see the ~~ore there and felt that something like that would look good in Stillwater. If it were zoned Commercial then all you have after that would have to come up to the specs - they look at the building and it it looks good. it goes in. If that takes over thirty days that is all you have to do - not interested in where the streets will run. Mr. Hooley stated that the lots would be five acres in size and that would have a bearing on it. He would hope that the Planning Commission would approve smaller buildings. He hoped that the Planning Commission would take a good hard look at something like that. CHUCK SWANSON - When you look under allowable uses and the zoning for Oak Park, this was allowed prior to the County Plan. THE MAYOR DECLARED A RECESS FROM 8,55 to 9,05 P. M. Following the recess, Jack Hooley showed some slides of their other Cub Stores and the adjoining operations. The Mayor closed the hearing at 9:10 P. M. On motion cf Councilman Wohlers, seconded by Councilman Peterson, the Council will have the second reading of an ordinance entitled "AN ORD1NANCE REZON1NG CERTAIN PROPERT1ES IN SECTlON 32 FROM INDUSTRIAL TO COMMERCIAL" on September 24 with a stipulation that we include Special Use Permits for Commercial areas. 3. The hearing for the Special Use Permit Request, Case No. 173. William Gannon for an automotive shop in his home at 1224 North Owens Street will be continued to October 8, 1974 at 7:30 P. M. . . h,- \ . ..... ~ 1 1 4 . . . . "', September 18, 1974 - continued APPLlCATIONS On motion of Councilman Peterson, seconded by Councilman Wohlers the Council granted a Sunday On-Sale Liquor License to the American Legion Club for Sunday, September 22, 1974 and set the fee for $5.00. RESOLUTIONS The following resolution was read and on roll call was adopted: 1. Granting a Special Use Permit for an Antique Shop - Strandberg. (Councilman Balfanz and President Powell opposed) o ADJOURNMENT On motion of Councilman Wohlers, seconded by Councilman Thompson the meeting adjourned at 9:20 P. M. Q)#&E4;O~ Mayor ,;::; ._~ 249 \. " '. / .