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Variance Board Meeting Minutes – Wednesday, March 2, 2016 Page 2 Member Daire sought clarification on normal operating hours beyond after-hours access 47 and/or emergency situations; as well as what average number of emergencies they 48 handled in a day, week or month. 49 Manager Rachel Mensink, 1335 Mackubin Street, St. Paul (just south of the site) 50 Mr. Wetherill advised that their facility was staffed for emergencies 24/7 and 365 51 days/year. Regarding the average number of emergencies, Mr. Wetherill deferred to his 52 business manager, Ms. Mensink. 53 As a six-year manager of the business, Ms. Mensink responded that on a normal 54 business day, their facility would see on average between 2 to 8 cases within the span of 55 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., with the majority coming in during evening hours. During those 56 hours, Ms. Mensink clarified that those were strictly emergency situations, with 1 to 2 per 57 week typical where there is a life threatening situation for a pet with their owner perhaps 58 in panic mode. Ms. Mensink advised that most cases were considered “urgent care” and 59 didn’t require emergency assistance at the owner’s vehicle or outside the facility itself. 60 At the request of Member Daire, Mr. Wetherill reviewed the emergency entrances, noting 61 that the new hospital would be designed for primary entrance into the emergency clinic 62 and triage rooms and emergency treatment room. Mr. Wetherill advised that the building 63 design would include a loading bay in the back to receive supplies; and also serve to 64 receive any animals deemed as aggressive to protect the animals, staff and surrounding 65 area and keep from those animals from getting out-of-hand. Mr. Wetherill advised that the 66 design of the clinic and emergency treatment room had been intentionally designed for 67 that purpose. 68 At the request of Member Daire, Mr. Wetherill confirmed that the garage door/receiving 69 area would be located on the north side of the building adjacent to the employee parking 70 area; and not near the abutting apartment building. Mr. Wetherill further clarified that the 71 portion of the building facing the existing apartment building was intentionally planned to 72 be non-intrusive and consisted of luxury suites for animals housed at the facility. 73 Daire - Separation of apartment and back west wall of hospital 74 Philip Walz, Project Architect 75 At the request of Member Daire, Mr. Walz estimated that this facility on the back west 76 wall would be separated from the apartment building by approximately 40’, consisting of a 77 16’ drive land and 10’ setback from actual property lines. Mr. Walz noted that the actual 78 apartment building was set back another 15’ from the CPAC property line. 79 Public Comment 80 Mr. Paschke referenced several emails received to-date, including one from Pete & 81 Mel Zeller, 1773 Alameda Street, speaking in support of the project; and Arne 82 Jessen, 1716 St. Albans Street with questions for staff related to the project. 83 Georgiana Gjertson, 1703 Alta Vista Drive (next door to the north) 84 Ms. Gjertson stated that she was thrilled with the new clinic location, and that she would 85 no longer have to drive to access it, and stated that “next door will be wonderful!” As a 86 resident at her location since 2009, Ms. Gjertson stated that she found the previous 87 building located on this site horrible; and therefore, was so glad for this redevelopment 88 and the well-lit lot proposed. Ms. Gjertson stated that she was very pleased with this 89 proposal; and expressed no worry with traffic hoping CPAH would receive approval for 90 access off Larpenteur Avenue. Ms. Gjertson expressed her confidence that the property 91 will be better maintained than in the past; and expressed hope that a privacy fence would 92 be provided, since her experience had been that so much trash blew around from the 93 apartment building and blew throughout the neighborhood. 94 Eugene “Gene” Anderson, 1707 Alta Vista Drive (house north of Georgiana) 95 Mr. Anderson expressed his hope that this would go through. As a residence since 1977, 96 Mr. Anderson noted previous access off this site off Larpenteur, and expressed hope that 97 those accesses would be re-approved to keep traffic off Alta Vista Drive. 98