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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPCMinutes-20080310City of Hastings Planning Commission Minutes – March 10, 2008 Page 1 of 4 Hastings Planning Commission March 10, 2008 Regular Meeting 7:00 p.m. Chair Truax called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Roll Call 1. Commissioners Present: Truax, Schmitt, Zeyen, Peine, Stevens, McInnis Commissioners Absent: Hiedeman Staff Present: Planning Director John Hinzman Associate Planner Justin Fortney Approval of Minutes 2. –February 25, 2008 Motion by Stevens to approve the February 25, 2008, meeting minutes. Seconded by Zeyen. Upon vote taken, Ayes 6, Nays 0. Motion carried. PUBLIC HEARINGS City of Hastings – 3.Amendment to the Adult Use and Zoning Ordinance. Associate Planner Justin Fortney gave the staff report. Public Hearing opened at 7:06 Jerry Grotjohn of Custom Asphalt located at 2699 Commerce Drive said that there is nearly 100 percent opposition from the Industrial Park owners for allowing adult uses there. He presented a petition to the Commission. He added that they were not able to contact all of the people in time. He said the City would be up for a big fight to allow adult uses there. He said it is a bad area for that use because of Jan’s School of Dance, Vermilion Park, ball fields. He added that if the adult uses were visible they would go out of business like in Hopkins because people would be afraid to go there. He ended by saying King of Diamonds on Inver Grove Heights is always busy because it is hidden. Kristi Nelson of Tim’s Repair Shop at 682 Commerce Drive and resident of 3300 Malcolm Avenue said that adult uses raise crime, lower property values, increase transients, and lower ownership. She added that the 200’ separation between a house and adult business is only a half block. She said there is a lot of traffic on Spiral and you should do a traffic study to show that Spiral has less traffic than other roads. She said I know we can’t ban this but our quality of life would suffer. She gave a letter from Nova City of Hastings Planning Commission Minutes – March 10, 2008 Page 2 of 4 Frost to the Commissioners and said their business is a family owned business. Mel Behnke of Behnke Woodworking at 705 Commerce Drive said he is a former Hastings Industrial Park Board Commissioner and they spent many hours choosing businesses to locate in the Park and they worked hard to design the Park to be a nice place. rd Chris Gibson of 1805 Oak Street said that 23 Street was proposed to go through the area making it a more visible area and there are paths and sidewalks proposed in the area. Herriot O’Brian with O’Brian Chevrolet said that they bought the property because the surrounding property was industrial and they thought it was going to stay that way. She added that people in the C-4 District knew adult uses were allowed there when they bought they’re properties. She said there is just as much new residential development around the Industrial Park as there is along Highway 55. She said there are a lot of children walking the area. She ended by saying if we allow adult uses here it will detour new businesses from locating here. Father Martin Siebenaler said crime is getting worse in Hastings and he can’t see this enhancing the City no matter where you put it. He added that it should go nowhere. Thomas Brocks a police officer with West St. Paul said that many of us do not have a good solution for this issue. He added that adult use operators thrive on anonymity and this industry would be a black hole. He added that the Veterans Home is in walking distance, which could lead to temptation for people who are already having problems. Denys Avery of 1375 Roosevelt Road said she grew up next to the King of Diamonds and there was a lot of promotion to have local kids work there. She said her kids go to sporting events there. She added that we should only allow adult uses in the most expensive areas to keep adult uses from affording them. st Pat Regan owner of Minnesota Coaches Inc. located at 425 31 St E said he doesn’t agree that we have to allow adult uses in Hastings at all. He added that the expensive places in the C-4 District have clauses in their leases not allowing adult uses. If we have to have 5 to 7% of land for adult uses we shouldn’t allow it in multiple places. He asked what the difference was between I-1 and I-2. Hinzman said I-2 allows some exterior storage. Regan added that he has employees who work outside at night and would want them to be safe. Ann Rodriguez said she has 5 kids and we need to stand-up for morals because this is wrong. Jason Avery said we should make it as economically difficult as possible for adult uses to start here. He said we should keep the zoning as it is and just say no when an application comes forward. If they sue us we should fight it all the way to the top. He ended by saying the community is telling you to fight it and we support the cost to fight it. City of Hastings Planning Commission Minutes – March 10, 2008 Page 3 of 4 th Corey(?) Braucks at 7604 160 St E said she has a little law experience and the Supreme Court says that this kind of business is obscene and we can outlaw it. Rachel Benish at 2543 Yellowstone Drive said that our neighborhood is riddled with children and we don’t want this. Paul Hanson said he grew up here and his kids play soccer near here and his daughter used to go to Jan’s Dance School. He said he does not want adult uses anywhere. Don Myers at 18120 Joan Avenue said if you don’t want to spend money to fight to keep adult uses out of the city you can raise my taxes, I will gladly pay more to fight it. Jerry Joswiak owner of Mal-O-Sen Company Inc. at 465 Spiral Boulevard said that there used to be restrictions on what types of businesses could come into the Park now we want to allow this. He added that it could give him reason to move to Prescott. He ended by saying he and his kids would like to stay. Paul Lorentz of South St. Paul who works at Behnke Woodworking at 705 Commerce Drive said why are we worried about money for fighting. He added that crime costs money and property value is money. He asked what God has to say about this. Tim Nelson of Tim’s Repair Shop at 682 Commerce Drive and resident of 3300 Malcolm Avenue said there are always kids biking in this area, if we have to allow it lets not make it easy. Jennifer Whaler from 10 miles outside of Hastings said she was raised in a small town and she came here because it has the same small town feel of her old town. She said if we let this happen, what kind of role models are we. Dave Wright said if you can say I can’t smoke you should be able to say we don’t need this. He added that he doesn’t smoke. Public Hearing closed at 8:14 Commissioner Schmitt asked why we want to move the adult uses from the C-4 District. Hinzman said to limit the visibility of adult uses. He added that he has heard some valid points tonight on why not to allow it in the Industrial Park. He said that last year he received an adult use examined locating at Westview Mall. Schmitt said we are not deciding if we want adult uses in the City of Hastings. We are trying to determine if adult uses would have more of a negative effect on the community in different areas. Commission Chair Truax stated that there is a permitting process for these types of use prior to them opening-up. Hinzman added that they would have to obtain a Special Use City of Hastings Planning Commission Minutes – March 10, 2008 Page 4 of 4 Permit. This would allow us to put conditions on the establishment but we would ultimately have to allow it. Truax said the Minnesota courts that have said adult uses must be allowed. He added that we could keep adult uses where they are, but add more restrictions like increasing the distances from homes and other adult businesses. Schmitt added that court precedence has shown that we can do that as long as we don’t totally exclude them with restrictions. Truax said most business owners would restrict leasing to adult uses but if they had a vacancy for some time, they may change their mind. Commissioner Peine asked if we could zone the most valuable properties for adult uses and keep updating the zoning to reflect this. Schmitt said these businesses make money and may be able to afford the high priced real estate. He added that if it goes on Highway 61 are we going to be proud that we left the regulations to allow it there. He ended by saying that leaving it where it is would not be the right choice. Hinzman said we can use a moratorium to investigate an issue, but not to ban it completely. Schmitt asked if the Commission can get information on other city’s adult use restrictions. Action by Planning Commission: Motion by Stevens to table the amendment to receive information on other city’s ordinances. Zeyen added to the motion to request that the City Council once again place a moratorium on adult uses to allow for further study on the issue. McInnis added to the motion to request that 1 or 2 public hearings be added to the process. Seconded by Peine Upon vote taken, Ayes 6, Nays 0. Motion carried to table the request with the following direction: Staff provides the Commission with information on other city’s ordinances  Request the City Council place a moratorium on adult uses once again  1 or 2 public hearings be added to this ordinance amendment process  Adjournment 4. Motion by McInnis to adjourn the March 10, 2008, Planning Commission meeting. Seconded by Stevens. Upon vote taken, Ayes 6, Nays 0. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m. Respectfully submitted, _____________________________ Justin Fortney Associate Planner