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<br />, . <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />~ Arden Hills Council 9 November 8, 1993 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />PUBLIC COMMENTS (continued) <br /> <br />Robert Bainbridge, 4113 James Circle, referred to the Anderson <br />request for a variance which the Council recently sent back to <br />the Planning Commission for further review. He stated that he <br />believes the Andersons "gave up" in trying to get the City to <br />allow them to improve their property. <br /> <br />Bainbridge commented that the City needs to begin being more <br />sensi ti ve to the need for certain areas of the Ci ty to be <br />improved and perhaps make allowances for such improvements, <br />particul ad y on substandard properti es. He s ta ted that if <br />reasonable allowances are not made, property owners will be <br />discouraged from making necessary improvements, and the City <br />will ultimately suffer from resulting poorly maintained <br />properties. <br /> <br />Bainbridge added that the "hardship" test required for the <br />granting of a variance is often too difficult to satisfy and <br />impedes positive improvements. He suggested that if an <br />improvement to a substandard property is acceptable to <br />.. neighbors and conforms to proper building codes, etc., the <br />,., City should be more lenient in providing opportunities for <br />such improvements. <br /> <br />Bainbridge suggested that the City find ways to make <br />reasonable exceptions for the betterment of the community and <br />remember to treat applicants like the Andersons as <br />"customers". <br /> <br />Mayor Sather commented that he believes the Council does make <br />an effort to treat the public like customers, but it is often <br />difficult to uniformly and consistently apply regulations in <br />a manner not to discriminate against or allow extra privileges <br />to individual applicants. <br /> <br />Councilmember Aplikowski suggeste~ that perhaps the. <br />establishment of a Housing Committee or Task Force might be a <br />good way to handle this matter. - <br /> <br />Counci Imember Probst stated that Bainbridge's comments are <br />valid, and he would be open to suggestions for reasonable <br />means of addressing these types of matters. He invited <br />suggestions from the public in this regard. He suggested <br />directing this concern to the Planning Commission for their <br />review and discussing the matter further at the November 18 <br />~ worksession; Sather concurred. <br />