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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011 07-19 CC MINUTESCITY OF GEM LAKE, MN 4200 Otter Lake Road Gem Lake, MN 55110-3227 Telephone 651-747-2790 E-mail City()gemlakeMN.or-g Minutes of Gem Lake City Council Meeting. 19 July 2011 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Gem. Lake was called to order by Mayor Uzpen on Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 7:00 pm in the Gem Lake City Hall meeting room. The following members were present: Mayor Robert Uzpen, Councilmembers James Lindner, Gretchen Artig-Swomley, and Thomas Rasmussen. Councilmember Richard Bosak was not present at the meeting. Members of the public attending per the sign in sheet sent around the room. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND MEETING MINUTES. City Council Agenda: Mayor Uzpen called for additions, deletions and corrections to the agenda. Upon motion by Councilmember Artig-Swomley, and seconded by Councilmember Rasmussen, the agenda was approved for July 19, 2011.. Ayes — 4, Nays — 0. City Council June Meeting Minutes: The June 2011 minutes were presented and corrections were needed. Upon motion by Councilmember Lindner, and seconded by Councilmember Artig-Swomley, the minutes of June 2011 were accepted with corrections being made. Ayes — 4, Nays — 0. Planning Commission June. Meeting Minutes: The Planning Commission June minutes were presented. Upon motion by Councilmember Rasmussen, and seconded by Councilmember Artig-Swomley, the minutes of the June Planning Commission minutes were accepted with corrections being made. Ayes — 4, Nays — 0. Planning Commission Chair Report: Chairperson Faith Kuny, 9 Daniels Farm Road, spoke in front of the City Council to update them on current issues. The Planning Commission passed the ordinance dealing with variances without corrections. OLD BUSINESS Newsletter: Councilmember Artig-Swomley suggested for the August issue, the National Night Out on August 2, 2011 before the Planning Commission meeting. Councilmember Artig- Swomley would like to interview the gardener at the Hansen property. Mayor Uzpen Gem Lake City Council Meeting Page 2 of 7 suggested putting in the newsletter about the two Public hearings regarding VLAWMO and the preliminary budget for 2012.at the August City Council meeting. Also a report on Mr. Marc Putnam who is speaking to the council at the August 1, 2011 workshop. In addition, it was suggested to remind the residents not to rake fallen leaves into the street. Mayor Uzpen spoke to the coyote issue in Gem Lake. Coyotes are a protected animal, although if a resident feels threatened, they are to take necessary measure to protect themselves and/or their property; and/or call 911. PUBLIC HEARING Zoning Administrative Report: Robert Uzpen, acting as zoning administrator got up and spoke to the City Council regarding the Conditional Use Permit for Vera Auto Sales/S.G.S. Holdings in September of 2010. At that time, the City Council approved the Conditional Use Permit with eight conditions. Mayor Uzpen stated there are some violations regarding the following conditions: number four stated no cars for sale on County Road E or Scheunemann Road. Number five, cars to be sold from former car wash along Enterprise parking lot. Number six, one car parked per parking space. The City Council was provided with a map stating where the cars were suppose to be parked that was agreed to by the City Council and the owners of Vera Auto Sales. Mayor Uzpen stated that early in December 2010, he stopped by Vera Auto. Sales due to cars not parked in the allotted places. The Mayor spoke to the owner regarding the parking issue. Mayor Uzpen noticed there was construction going on and was asked by the owner for more time to get the remodeling done. Mayor Uzpen gave him until. March. Mayor Uzpen returned in March, as there appeared to be no change and spoke to the owner again on the same issues. The owner again asked for more time. The Mayor gave them until May. The Mayor returned to Vera Sales on May 20, 2011 and nothing had changed. The business was still under construction and the Mayor stated to the owner that he was in violation of the Conditional Use Permit and if he did not correct this problem, he would receive a letter from the City Council and would have to go before the June City Council meeting regarding the violation. The Mayor waited until June 7, 2011.and still seeing no change, sent a letter to Vera Auto Sales to appear before the City Council at the June City Council meeting for Conditional Use Permit violations. At the day of the June City Council meeting, Mayor Uzpen received a phone message from the owners of Vera Sales stating that they were going out of the country and would not be able to attend the June City Council meeting, but wouldlike to discuss the issue at the July City Council meeting. The City Council discussed the violation of numbers four, five, and six of the Conditional Use Permit. The council discussed the options regarding the violation by revoking the permit, fining S.G.S. Holdings. The Public Hearing opened at 7:23 p.m. Sally Ackerman spoke on behalf of Vera Auto Sales/S.G.S. Holdings regarding the violations. of the Conditional Use Permit. Ms. Ackerman stated that they were out of the country the month of June and correspondence was sent by email to the City Council and Mayor Uzpen. Look for us on the World Wide Web at geinlakeinn.org Gem Lake City Council Meeting Page 3 of 7 Ms. Ackerman feels there is a misunderstanding regarding the Conditional Use Permit as when they applied for the permit the map did show correct parking. S.G.S. Holdings does not contest number five of the Conditional Use Permit. The wordage in the minutes was different from the permit states. S.G.S. Holdings met with the Planning Commission many times and the Conditional Use Permit was written up after the sale of property. Ms. Ackerman bought the property based on the email stating additional cars could be parked outside the car wash. The remodeling is now done and White Bear Township Inspector Mike Johnson has signed off on the remodeling. Ms. Ackerman handed out pictures of the finished project. At this point, there are no cars parked on County Road E or Scheunemann Road. Currently Ms. Ackerman feels they are abiding by the Conditional Use Permit. The City Council spoke with Mayor Uzpen regarding the issue of where the cars are parked. and facing in the right direction. The council showed S.G.S. Holdings where the cars should be parked per the Conditional Use Permit and; stated to the owners that they need to follow the Conditional Use Permit. Commissioner Herzog spoke to the City Council explaining the Planning Commission worked with S.G.S. Holdings many times regarding applying for the Conditional Use Permit. Councilmember Lindner stated that the permit stated that S.G.S.- Holdings was allowed 27 spaces plus six or seven cars.in the building. The Public Hearing closed at 7:45 p.m. City Attorney Trevor Oliver spoke to the council regarding the parking issue of the Conditional Use Permit. For dealership parking there are three parking spots for every 1,000 square feet. Regarding S.G.S. Holdings, nine of those spots must be for customer parking. The City Council discussed the Conditional Use Permit and Councilmember Rasmussen stated he feels no change needs to be made, but the permit needs to be followed. The issue before the council is not rewriting the Conditional Use Permit, but needs to clarify wordage of the permit. Councilmernber Artig-Swomley wants to clarify that based on S.G.S. Holdings drawings; it is expected for cars to be parked according to the Conditional Use Permit going forward, Councilmember Artig-Swomley clarified with Ms. Ackerman that the Conditional Use Permit does agree with the diagram Ms. Ackerman presented initially. Upon motion by Councilmember Lindner and seconded by. Councilmernber Artig-Swomley, to leave Conditional Use Permit as is and review in two months, September 2011 to make sure the highlighted areas of the permit that the cars are parked where they should be and at this time, no penalty will be involved. Ayes — 3, Nays — 0, Abstain - 1, NEW BUSINESS Resolution Number 2011-04 Willow Lane Elementary School: The City of Gem Lake will give $1,500 of the receipts from charitable gambling to Willow Lane Elementary School now Look for'us •on the: World. Wide Web at. gerlakemn.org Gem Lake City Council Meeting Page 4 of 7 and more in October 2011..Upon motion by Councilmember Lindner, and seconded by Councilmember Artig-Swomley, Resolution Number 2011-04 passes. Ayes — 4, Nays — 0. Claims for July: The claims for July were discussed and authorized to pay. Mayor Uzpen passed out a corrected copy of the claims for July. Upon motion by Councilmember Rasmussen and seconded by Councilmember Lindner, motion passes. Ayes 4, Nays - 0. Monthly Financial Reports: The. City Council received and reviewed the report. No questions were asked from the council. Flag Pole. Discussion: Mayor Uzpen stated there is $3,000 in the budget for purchasing a new flagpole, as no used poles are available at this time. The flag will be flown 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so need to have a light shining on the flags. The electrical bill will be $1,000, which will leave $2,000 in the budget for the pole. Upon motion by Councilmember Artig-Swomley and seconded by Councilmember Lindner, motion passes. Ayes 3, Nays — 1. New Street Sign Discussion: Mayor Uzpen discussed the sign for the building. There was discussion among the council whether it would be a street sign or a monument sign. Mayor Uzpen spoke with Gopher Sign and they only do street signs. Gem Lake has $3,000 in the budget and will receive another $1,000 from White Bear Township. Councilmember Artig- Swomley suggested going with a monument sign. Mayor Uzpen suggested having a wooden sign versus a stone sign. Councilmember Rasmussen would like to get quotes from several sign companies. PRESENTATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC Mr. Tom Hansen, 1231 Little Fox Lane — spoke to the City Council and introduced Xiong Her, 1919 Orange Avenue East, St. Paul, MN who is in charge of the garden plots of land on his property. Mr. Her stated they come in peace and do not want to make trouble, just want to work on their gardens for their families. Mr. Her handed out to the council the rules gardeners receive when they start planting their gardens. Mr. Hansen spoke to the council regarding the setback on the land and the clarifications regarding the wetlands. Mr. Hansen stated that he makes sure the people pick up their weeds and debris. There were horses on the land and he wanted to make sure that in the future if conditions change that he can still have horses and/or grow hay. Mr. Hansen inquired. regarding the costs of the zoning. Mayor Uzpen explained the Garden Overlay Ordinance is a request for zoning change, which under current zoning change requirements is $4,000 with a $4,000 escrow. This is one time expense. Then there is a Conditional Use Permit required each year that gardening is done and the current fee is $600 for the Conditional Use Permit with an escrow of $1,000. Any unused money from the escrow account would be returned to Mr. Hansen. City Attorney Trevor Oliver went over the questions in Mr. Hansen's letter to the City Council, dated July 16, 2011. This Ordinance is a zoning Ordinance. The fees have already been established. The Ordinance is for the whole city. Spring and fall plowing is an issue. The Lookfor us on the World Wide Webat gemlakern.org Gem Lake City Council Meeting Page 5 of 7 owners wants two weeks and the City Council wants to be accommodating and will amend the Ordinance to allow spring and fall plowing to occur between the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday with no weekends until the plowing is complete. Setback: Mayor Uzpen does not have a problem with a 20-foot setback along County Road E and Daniels Farm Road, but feels that along the residential areas that is too small. The Ordinance states 60 feet. Councilmember Rasmussen suggested a compromise of 150 feet from the property owners' home. The City Council agreed to the compromise. Mr. Hansen was asked if he agreed to the compromise and he said that he did. The question of how to stake the area in front of the property owner's home was discussed. A suggestion of using an arch was made as well as just creating a box. It was also stated that this could be worked out with the property owners. Mayor Uzpen asked Mr. Hansen if he agreed to the changes and he said that he agreed to them. A discussion took place concerning wetlands. Tom Hansen's property is in the Ramsey Water shed and Brian's is in the VLAWMO water shed. Attorney Oliver will be working on updating the City of Gem Lake's Wetland rules to mirror those of Ramsey and VLAWMO. The landowner is responsible to follow rules on wetlands. Regarding weeds/grass clippings and debris, the rules will need to be followed for composting. Large scale composting is not permitted. Attorney Oliver went over the .changes and read them back to the City Council. Upon motion by Councilmember Artig-Swomley and seconded by Councilmember Rasmussen, Ordinance Number 122 as amended passes. Ayes -- 4, Nays — O. Summary Ordinance for Publication: Upon motion by Councilmember Lindner and seconded by Councilrember Artig-Swomley, the Summary Ordinance for Publication motion passes. Ayes - 4, Nays — 0. OPEN ITEMS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL Mayor Uzpen stated he received a letter from the Department of Transportation regarding changing the population number on the signs for the city. Mayor Uzpen wants to have Hoffman Road surveyed to clarify the boundaries between Gem Lake and Vadnais Heights. The. City of Gem Lake will have to hire a surveyor to go over the boundaries. Councilmember Artig-Swomley asked if all arrangements were made for National Night Out. Councilmember Lindner is in charge this year and almost everything is done. FUTURE COUNCIL MEETINGS Workshop. Meeting: August 1, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. City Council Meeting: August 16, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. ADJOURN Look for uson the World Wide Web at gemlakemn.org Gern Lake City Council Meeting Page 6 of 7 The. July 19, 2011 regular meeting of the City Council adjourned at 9:27 p.m. Upon motion by Councilmember Artig-Swomley, and seconded by Councilmember Lindner, the City Council meeting was adjourned. Ayes— 4, Nays -- 0. APPROVED: ATTEST: ATTEST: Julie Newkirk Recording Secretary Robert Uzpen Mayor Look for us an the World Wide. Web at gemlakemn.org Gem Lake City Council Meeting Page 7 of 7 SIGN UP SHEET: Faith Kuny John Kuny Paul .Enneott Sally Ackerman George Goehleshrnill Beth Herzog. Steve Herzog Beth Hansen Xiong.I Ier Joua Yang Thomas Davis Look for us on the World Wide Web at gemlakeinn.org