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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, May 24, 2010 Page 9 Larry Leiendecker, 983 Larpenteur Avenue W, Attorney Mr. Leiendecker's written comments we included in the RCA through a letter of appeal dated April 26, 2010 (Attachment A); as well as an e-mail dated May 21, 2010, provided as a bench handout, responding to RCA documents. Mr. Leien- decker verbally reviewed the points from those comments, alleging that the ad- ministration determination was not based on aquasi-public use determination, as nothing in the letter to North Como Presbyterian Church (NCPC) from Associate Planner Bryan Lloyd indicated that such a low impact decision was made, as well as nothing in the subsequent a-mail from the Department to Ms. Kimberly Spear. Mr. Leiendecker opined that if the religious nature of the church were removed, it would be anon-profit operating in a business district, on R-1 land and needing to abide by those rules. Marty Marchio, 962 West Larpenteur Avenue (directly across from pro- posed garden) Mr. Marchio's written comments were provided as a bench handout. Mr. Mar- chio opined that he had always maintained a good relationship with NCPC, with rio previous problem, even with the number of businesses run from the church. Mr. Marchio provided photos, also included in his written comments; expressing concerns with the visual impact in this gateway to Roseville; liability concerns; on-site storage; actual number of garden plots intended; and number of "em- ployees" to plant and maintain the gardens. Mr. Marchio opined that the first step in the church considering such a public use should have been involving the neigh- bors early in the planning process. Kimberly Spear, 1509 Pascal Street N; member and representative of NCPC, and close neighbor Ms. Spear's written comments were included in the packet materials (Attachment C. Ms. Spear provided a history of this community garden process to-date from the church's perspective, with her originally asked by their Pastor to lead a plan- ning committee to review feasibility of bringing a community garden to their property, as part of their efforts to renew and revitalize their congregation and the church community. Ms. Spear noted receipt of nominally grant funds, and the Pastor's charge for this committee to: look at the feasibility of a community gar- den; determine if it was something that could be done; whether there was suffi- cient church property available; is it sustainable by the church; and did it make sense at that location. Ms. Spear advised that the committee toured other com- munity gardens throughout the metropolitan area, and found many different varie- ties and the potentials. At that time, the committee presented their findings to the NCPC congregation in the fall of 2009, with three different efforts identified for the community garden: congregation, neighborhood, and outreach, in that order. Ms. Spear noted that their congregation was small, but that they received a com- mitment from a small group of the congregation to participation in the food shelf portion, but that there had been little interest in the congregation portion of a gar- den; therefore moving them forward more quickly than intended to the communi-