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Regular City Couucil Meeting Monday, February 25, 2008 Page 12 Staff sought Council direction on whether or not to schedule a public hearing to consider amending City Code to allow for more than ten liquor stores. Discussion included land use applications and considerations based on the health, safety and welfare of citizens; effect on market value of neighboring properties; proximity to churches and schools; and effects on traffic and parking; and addi- tional research or information for staff to provide the City Council. Councilmember Roe opined that he didn't like the City to be in a position to re- strict economic activity by arbitrary limits on licenses; however, noted that there may be a legitimate reason to limit the number of licensees in this state-regulated industry. Councilmember Roe questioned how the City originally ended up with ten licenses and the rationale behind that decision. Councilmember Roe noted that Roseville was unique as a regional retail center, as well as being a community of concerned citizens, and further opined the need to find a balance and solution to address interests of all parties; and expressed an interest in additional public comment related to the matter. Mr. Miller asked what forum was preferred by the City Council, with additional inforn~ation required to detern~ine if a formal notice for a Public Hearing, based on State Statute, for amending City Code. City Attorney Squires advised that he would need to further research provisions of State Statute 348 to determine if a Public Hearing was required. Councilmember Pust referenced a list provided by City Manager Malinen of other communities and their per capita off-sale licenses, and comparisons with Rose- ville's population and number of licenses. Mayor Klausing noted that some of the example communities (i.e., Minneapolis) had large warehouse liquor stores with a larger volume of sales and didn't know how valid the actual numbers were in terms of per capita licenses. Mayor Klaus- ing opined that he would like additional discussion after receiving additional in- formation from staff, indicating whether or not these businesses generated more police calls than other businesses; whether it was possible to quantify whether these business constitute additional costs to City Departments (i.e., Police, Fire, Code Enforcement, etc.) that are not recouped through license fees; and more dis- cussion on what government's role is in regulating this type of business other than compliance issues for alcohol sales to minors; market forces; and socio-economic decisions for Roseville, as well as rationale of other communities in their regula- tion of such licenses. Councilmember Ihlan noted that when this decision was held in November of 2005 she had found no good public policy reason to increase the number of off- sale licenses; and based on per capita examples, found no evidence that the City