HomeMy WebLinkAboutAugust 1977Published by the Arden Association
No. 110 August 1977
' So here is the first questions What is the purpose of the Planning Commission? In
June this group considered two requests for setback variances for two new houses that wanted
to be built. In Arden Hills, a now house is supposed to be set back at least 40' from the
road, and neither of these houses fit its lot in accordance with this rule. After two hours
of discussion, the Planning Commission denied one request and granted the other. (I do wish
when people present plans to the Commission or Council they would show the audience also.
I'm not pushy enough in this job yet to go peek over the counter when someone is huddling
with the Council with maps and pictures. I have no idea what either of these houses looks
like.)
The time I spent at the following Council meeting was like two hours of d'eja vu. The
two variance requests were red iscussed,-reargued and rehashed --only the faces behind the
bench were different. The Council finally granted both variances. I came away feeling
that at least one of these meetings had been a total waste of time.
' Disturbed over the situation, I called several members of the Planning Commission to
get their views. Since the final decision-making power lies with the Council, I asked the
Planning Commissioners if they felt their job was doing any good. Dick Ericson laughed at
my question but agreed that there is a tremendous duplication of effort between the Planning
' 01 mission and the City Council. "However," he said, "most people like to have their oases
heard twice. This does indeed cause a certain redundancy of effort, but we must remember
This is my fourth attempt at writing the Town Crier
for you. In these few months I've learned a good
deal about how our city operates and how to put
'
Titems
together for this newsletter. The main problem
with this publication stems from the terrible time
O
lag from the minute I finish typing the original
'
copy to the.time you receive your issue in the mail.
w
It was unbelievable last month. I took the original
'
to the printer, Joe Bender, on Sunday evening, June 19.
CN
The 1900 copies were returned to me Thursday evening,
June 23. Velda Pierson addresses them for me before
Rand
after her regular hours at the Village Hall, and
she finished with them on Wednesday, July 29th. I
'
packaged the little devils into bundles of 100 on
Wednesday morning, and John Buckley kindly hauled them
E
to the New Brighton Post Office that afternoon. (I'd
take them myself, but the mail sacks are quite heavy.)
I received my copy at home on Tuesday, July 5. Now,
I realize there was a holiday and all, but that really
•
is slow mail delivery. I'd love to take my business
elsewhere, but let's face it, the U.S. Post Office
is the only store in town.
As a result of this time lag however, the type
®f article contained in
this paper becomes rather limited. There is no point in trying to
print up-to-the-minute
news; for that you will have to consult the New Brighton Bulletin or
the North Ivrea Section of Tuesday's St. Paul Dispatch. And if you want to know exactly and
'
entirely what the Arden
Hills Council is doing, you can read the minutes of the meetings.
Therefore, this paper must lean heavily on news of general information, human interest, and
controversial problems.
As William Buckley put it so well in his column of July 7 in the
'
Dispatch, *What a newspaper does best is to question." And that is what I hope to do.
' So here is the first questions What is the purpose of the Planning Commission? In
June this group considered two requests for setback variances for two new houses that wanted
to be built. In Arden Hills, a now house is supposed to be set back at least 40' from the
road, and neither of these houses fit its lot in accordance with this rule. After two hours
of discussion, the Planning Commission denied one request and granted the other. (I do wish
when people present plans to the Commission or Council they would show the audience also.
I'm not pushy enough in this job yet to go peek over the counter when someone is huddling
with the Council with maps and pictures. I have no idea what either of these houses looks
like.)
The time I spent at the following Council meeting was like two hours of d'eja vu. The
two variance requests were red iscussed,-reargued and rehashed --only the faces behind the
bench were different. The Council finally granted both variances. I came away feeling
that at least one of these meetings had been a total waste of time.
' Disturbed over the situation, I called several members of the Planning Commission to
get their views. Since the final decision-making power lies with the Council, I asked the
Planning Commissioners if they felt their job was doing any good. Dick Ericson laughed at
my question but agreed that there is a tremendous duplication of effort between the Planning
' 01 mission and the City Council. "However," he said, "most people like to have their oases
heard twice. This does indeed cause a certain redundancy of effort, but we must remember
that a democracy is very inefficient in many ways." And I guess he's right. The time
wasted is made up with the justice gained. It's much better to be slow and sure than I quick and sorry.
At the last Planning Commission and Council meetings, our now city planner Orly&
Miller has really come across as knowledgeable, fair, and practical. He reminded everyone
that the real reason for granting setback variances was for "hardship" rather than esthetic $
and that "hardship" must relate to "the characteristics of the land." On the other hand,
he pointed out that "strict enforcement of ordinances encourages mediocrity."
This brought up the question then ofs Wby have ordinances if variances are routinely '
granted? Apparently the problem goes back to the seller of a lot. He understandably
never points out to the buyer that although the lot may contain the minimum square footage
required by Arden Hills, the lot itself may be strangely shaped. There are lots that will
take only a certain style house, perhaps a style not desired by the lot purohaser. (For
instance there was the young couple that had a lot that would take only a long, narrow house.
They were already living in a mobile home.) So if you plan on building a new home in Arden
Hills, better make sure your dream house will fit on the lot you buy. 1-1
Received some critical letters -to -the -editor this month (my husband refers to them '
as my "fan mail") on the article suggesting that the school board members shouldn't all be
educators. The writers objected to the fact that I put forth my opinions on this matter
in the Town Crier rather than writing a letter to the New Brighton Bulletin. Both of the
angry letter writers are employed by School District 621 and both live on Indian Oaks Trail.'
Here are some exoerptss
"One of the efforts of a public school in a free society is to teach students the in-
equality of pro -judging a person because of his associations, his jobs, his religion, or
his ethnic background. Let each person 'prove' himself before the voters. I find your
bditorialt, if that is what is is, offensive to the democratic spirit in Arden Hills."
That one was from Bill Feyereisen. This next is,from Tim Glaros. ,
"I was dismayed at the use of this otherwise very informative publication for your
personal f orwn. I don't believe the Town Crier is the appropriate place for your editorial
statements." ,
'Nell. The original purpose of this newsletter was to get information to the residents
of the Village in a manner interesting enough that it would be read. It is very difficult
to be interesting and to ' please all of the people all of the time.' One of my very first '
instructions was to criticize where I felt it was needed. The Tarn Crier is not here to
pat everyone, on the back or to be blindly supportive of every activity. I truly didatt
realize that this particular article would be offensive to anyone; in fact, it was sort of
a 'filler' item. And, although I editoralize in practically everything I write, this was
the only thing that stirred up anger.
I did receive one letter agreeing with my remarks from Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Peterson
on Edgewater. They saids "By the way I agree with your comments that we need sante people
with broad experience that are not educators, on the Mounds View School Board. �xve no
complaints about past school boards, but I think the majority on a school board should con-
sist of people not associated with education directly..... or with firms that sell products '
to the educations marts^ t- Un the other hand, one or two members should be or have been
educators. I believe the net result would be that the views of residents would be given
more serious consideration..." ,
The Petersons have a good point. Being or not being an educator is oertainly not the
�oon__l__y�� reason to vote or not vote for someone; however, it is important. Contrary to what Mr,
Fyereisen says, anytime a person mares a choice about anything (his associations,his jobs,
his religion), that person is making a eta-toment about himself and can be evaluated on that '
basis.
In Roseville, my son's orthodontist has been elected to the school board. Judging his
on the basis of his job, he will no doubt get everything straightened out.
Notice from the Police Department (and the Common Sense Department) --Please keep your
garage doors closed unless you are outside and/or working in the immediate area. It's easy
for thieves to make off with items from an open garage and difficult for the police to
reo over them. It is particularly foolish to leave the doors open if you are away from
home; in this instanoe, the thief generally enters the prage, closes the doors himself, and
works unhampered. In attached @Lrages, entry into the house often follows and is generally
unnoticed by neighbors. So, do please use this simple method of protection.
.Well, I certainly discovered one thing at the Planning Commission meeting of July 5 --
the Village Hall could use a larger parking lot. If ever you want to come there, and you
think there could be even a very small crowd, arrive_earlyl I parked over in the Public
Works area, and when I left (around 1Os00 p.m.), every available spot was taken. And even
some that weren't available.
The meeting itself wasn't very exciting. Mutual Service presented plans for their
proposed building Southeast of County Road E and Snelling, and met with little objection.
I did wonder later why there were so many people at the public hearing for this project
if everyone was in favor of it. I guess the reason is that people want to make certain
the Insurance Office Building goes in there rather than something elses low-income housing,
high-rise apartments, rendering plants, oto. I asked Charlotte McNeish, our City Clerk -
Administrator about this,and she suggested that perhaps people are beginning to figure out
that if you favor something but don't speak out then the vocal minority will be heard.
Actually only two gentlemen stated that they were opposed to the project and they
weren't particularly violent in their opposition. They said they felt it was poor govern-
ment to change the zoning of the land from R-1 to R -B just because this proposal had come up.
They, like most of us, would still like to see a development on this land of 1 -acre, $40,000
homes. Unfortunately, such homes would now cost closer to $100,000 and who could afford them4
There will be a Public Hearing on September 8 at the Finance Committee meeting on
how Arden Hills should go about spending the Revenue Sharing Funds from the Federal Govern-
ment. The September 26 Council meeting will discuss next year's budget even more. These
are probably two of the most important meetings of the year and probably two of the most
poorly attended.
I'm sure that by now you've all read about our new dog ordinances It's O.K. for a dog
to be loose in his own yard or out walking with his owner if the dog is under effective
control. Dog licenses will be issued on a two-year basis for a $10 fee with proof of rabies
vaccination necessary for licensing. Noisy dogs (yowling, barking, whining, screaming,
singing) are verboten; two people from different households can complain about such noises
and the owners can be tagged. All feces deposited off the dog's own yard must be cleaned
up by the dog's owner.
It's very difficult for me to even discuss this anymore because our beautiful collie
died in July. The doctor said it was some sort of liver disease. You've never seen a cat
get as much loving as ours has received since the dog died. And the oat couldn't really
care less.
The search for a new police chief for Arden Hills goes on. Although over SO applioa-
' tions were sent out, only 10 people took the written exam. I thought this was a rather
disappointing number (doesn't ever one ,want to live or work in Arden Hillel), but those in
charge of the selection seem to regard it as quite gored. Only 18 applications were returned,
' and several were discarded because the qualifications were below par. Me hope to have the
new chief on the job before October 1.
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AUGUST - SEPTWER CALMMAR
All meetings begin at 7s30 p.m. except Parks and Recreation which is at 8s00 p.m* It's
always a good idea to check with the Village Hall (633-5676) about any possible changes
before you costs, though.
August 1 'Public Safety
2 Planning Comission
3 Public Works
4 Huwan Rights
8 City Council
9 Parks and Recreation
10 Rico Creek Watershed
August 11
Finance
24
Rice Crook Watershed
29
City Council
September 6
Planning Commission
8
Finance
12
City Council
26
City Council
The Arden Association is a non-profit organization exists for the purpose of is -
forming residents of Arden Hills of Village activities and business. The Town Crier
expresses opinions of the editor on these matters and attempts to make its contents inform
atiwe and interesting. Readers' cosnnent on anything is welcomed and may be printed.
(In fact, it probably will be printed unless I start getting too much, but that seems
remote:) Deadline for next issues September 16. Secretary -Editors Diane McAllister '
1200 Ingerson R1.
55112 484-0773