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07-300Substitute 4/04J07 RESOLUTiON � Presentedby J�= CITY OF SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA i ',� /`_ �� i WF�REAS, the Legislative Hearing Officer recommends approving the amended condition for an Auto Repair Garage Lieense (007699'n by Christopher Walker, owner, doing business as Certified Auto, 977 Front Avenue, as follows: 1. No blockage of alley access by any vehicle at any time. 2. No exterior storage of car parts or business related products: tires, engine blocks, used oil, antifreeze, etc. 3. No use of garage or driveway on adj acent lot for business purposes of any kind. 4. No outdoor repair work on vehicles; no jacking of velucles outdoors rendering them dangerous. 5. No auto painting or body work of any ldnd. 6. No storage of parts vehicles outdoors on pmperry. 7. No more than four (4) vekricles on front lot and no more than four (4) vehicles on back lot after hours or on weekends. 8. No cleaniug of snow off property into alley or surrounding property; snow must be removed by other means. 9. No pazking of vehicles on public roadways or alleyway. 10. No cleaniug, washing or flushing of materials onto street or alley; if spillage occurs by accident, business must clean up problem. 11. No excessive noise is to be generated by the business; . .. . . The business can be open from 7: 00 a.m. to 9: 00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with repair work limited to the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. 12. Area must be kept clean and free of gazbage. 13. No driving down alleyway for purposes of vehicle testing (Driving down alley frequenfly and at excessive speed is a danger to residents and their children.). 'I`HEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the City of Saint Paul hereby approves the amended condition for this license; and be it RESOLUED, that the Council reguests the Department of Safetv and Insnections Licensine Division review the amended condition in 6 months and renort to the Council on comnlaints reeazdine this condition chanee. Yeas Na s Absent Benanav ✓ Bosffom ,/ Hazris � Hel en ✓ I.an �/ Mont ome ✓ Thmme i/ � / Adopted by Council: Date �/���G' � Adoption Certified by Council Secretary BY� / � / � � � o'� Approved by ayor: te ZZ Sy: /� Requested by Aepazpnent of: � Form Approved by City Attomey � Approved by Mayor for Submission to Council � Council File # 0 � Green Sheet # 3� o � �� � Green Sheet Green Sheet Green Sheet 6reen Sheet Green Sheet Green Sheet � co -����� Contact Person & Phone: Marcia Mcermond 2668570 Must Be on 28-MAR-07 Doc. rype: RESOLUTION E-Document Required: Y DowmeM ContaM: Jean Birkholz ConWCt Phone: 266-8673 2,-onaz-o� y Assign Number For Roufing Order Total # of Signatu2 Pages _(Clip All lowtions for Signature) CosURevenue Budgeted: Approving the amended condition, per the Legislafive I-fearing Officer, for an Auto Repair Garage License (0076997) for Christopher Walker, owner, doing business as Certified Auto, 977 Front Avenue. �tlations: Approve (A) or Reject (R): Personal Service Contracts Must Answer the Following Questions: Planning Commission y. Has this person/flrm ever worked under a contrac[ for this deparimenl? GB Committee Yes No Civil Service Commission 2. Has this persoNflrm ever been a city employee? Yes No 3. Dces this person/firm possess a skill not normally possessed by any current city employee? Yes No Expfain all yes answers on separate sheet and attach to green sheet Initiating Problem, lssues, Opportuniry fiNho, What, When, Where, Why): Advantages If Approved: Disadvantages If Approved: DisadvaMages If Not Approved: Transactian: Funding Source: Financial Information: (Explain) Green Sheet NO: 3037993 0 oond 1 oonN De ar(ment D"uce[or 2 3 4 5 " C7erk Ci Clerk Ad'Nity Number. reFV ; �' �saav�+ ���'.':�;� ��?l % _� .'�:�.� March 21, 2007 12:35 PM Page 1 Council File # D 7 �� Green Sheet # 3Q37993 Presented RESOLIlTION CITY OF SAIN�PAUL, MINNESOTA �� WHEREAS, the gislative Hearing Officer recommends approving the amended condifion for an Auto Repair Garage Lic se (0076997) by Christopher Walker, owner, doing business as Certified Auto, 977 Front Avenue, as follows: 1. No blockage of alley a ess by any vehicle at any time. 2. No exterior storage of c arts or business related products: tires, engine blocks, used oil, antifreeze, etc. 3. No use of gazage or drivew on adjacent lot far business purposes of any kind. 4. No outdoor repair work on ve ' cles; no jacking of vehicles outdoors rendering them dangerous. 5. No auto painting or body work o y kind. 6. No storage of parts vehicles outdoo on property. 7. No more than four (4) vehicles on fro lot and no more than four (4) vehicles on back lot after hours or on weekends. 8. No cleaning of snow off property into alle r surrounding property; snow must be removed by other means. 9. No parking of vehicles on pubiic roadways or yway. 10. No cleaning, washing or flushing of materials onto treet or alley; if spillage occurs by accident, business must clean up problem. I 1. No excessive noise is to be generated by the business; o...� r,r,.„a.... rw........�, c...,,..a..,, v.nn „.... «„ ti.nn .. ..., T business can be oper2 from 7: 00 a.m. to 9: 00 p. m. Monday through Saturday, with repair work limited to e hours of 7: 30 a. m. to 7: 30 p. m. Monday through Saturday. 12. Area must be kept clean and $ee of garbage. \ 13. No driving down alleyway for purposes of vehicle testing (Driving speed is a danger to residents and their children.). THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the City of Saint Paul condition for this license. approves the amended \ \ alley frequently and at excessive � D �-3� LICENSE HEARING MINUTES Certified Auto located at 977 Front Avenue Monday, March 12, 2007, 10:00 a.m. 330 City Hall, 15 Kellogg Boulevazd West Marcia Moermond, Legislative Hearing Officer The hearing was called to order at 10:00 am. Staff Present: Reid Soley, Inspections and Environmental and Protection (LIEP); and Jean Birkholz, Council Research Others Present: Christopher Walker, business owner; Aleaandra L. Mertens, Attomey at Law, Fredrickson & Byron, P.A.; and Kerry Antrim, District 6 Planning Council. Certified Auto: Modify an existing License condition for the Auto Repair Garage license Ms. Moermond stated that this license application is for a Class N License which requires neighborhood notification. Other Class N Licenses include: entertainment, liquor, auto sales, etc.—things that have an immediate impact on their neighbars. The City received one letter of objection to the modification of this license which means that a Legislative Hearing was necessary. There are three (3) possible outcomes to this heazing. Ms. Moermond could: 1) recommend to the City Council that they grant this license without any conditions; 2) recommend to the City Council that they grant this license with agreed upon conditions; or 3} recommend to the City Council that they refer this matter to an Administrative Law Judge, which usually takes from four (4) to six (6) months. Ms. Moermond would use this option if she thinks that there's no way that this business is workable at this location or if sbe thinks that there are conditions that aze absolutely necessary to make it workable that the applicant finds unacceptahle. Ms. Moermond's recommendation wiil come to the City Council as a resolution and it will appear on the Consent Agenda. Ms. Moermond will begin with a staff report. Staff will be asked to explain their review of the application, and will also expiain their recommendation. Then, she will ask the applicant to talk about the business plan. Next, she will hear from people who are here in support of the issuance of the license and those with concerns about the issuance of the license. Then, she will talk about how to deal with some of those concerns. Finally, Ms. Moermond will make a recommendation which will be presented to the City Council. Mr. Reid Soley, Inspector, License, Inspection and Environmental Protection (LIEP), reported that this is an application for a request to modify an existing license condition for the auto repair garage license which has been issued for this business. There are thirteen (13) existing license conditions. Condition #11 reads as follows: No excessive noise is to be generated by the business; business is to operate only during regulaz business hours — Monday through Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The licensee has requested that condition #11 be revised to read: No excessive xioise is to be generated by the business; the business can be open from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday with repair work limited to the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. 0 7-3ov On January 23, 2007, the District 6 Planning Council Land Use Task Force met and voted to recommend denial of the proposed change of hours. There aze not any inspection requirements at this time because it is an existing business. At this time, LIEP has no recommendation. LIEP will defer to the legislative hearing process and the recommendation of the legislative hearing officer. Ms. Moermond sent the secretary out to get a copy of the minutes from the last hearing for Certified Auto approximately 1 Yz yeazs ago. Ms. Mertens stated that at that time, Ms. Moermond had recommended approval of the exact same modification that Mr. Walker is requesting today, but when it went to City Council, they voted against Ms. Moermond's recommendation and denied the request for modification. The City Council did not provide any reason far overtumiing Ms. Moermond's recommendation. Ms. Moermond asked Mr. Walker why he is looking for extended hours. Mr. Walker responded that he works at his business by himsel£ Many times, it is difficult to get work done by 6 p.m. Many people come in after work between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., and there aze many phone calls during that time, also. Sometimes, he needs to put out a"Do Not Disturb" sign in order to get things done by 6 p.m. Ms. Moerntond called for a short recess to gather the records. Ms. Moermond reconvened the hearing and asked Mr. Soley if there have been any complaints on this license since Monday, September 12, 2005. Mr. Soley responded that there have not been any complaints since then; the last complaint came in June 2, 2005. The applicant was operating undet a management agreement at that tame. A few months after that,lvIr. Walker requested a modification to his hours resulting in a legislative hearing and the City Council ultimately decided to deny his request. At that time, it seemed that there was a concern that Mr. Walker was not abiding by the conditions that were on his license. Ms. Mertens added that this azea of business is not strictly a residential azea; it's a mixed residential and commercial area. She introduced a map to show this. She stated that Mr. Walker has a7so put together a list of other garages in Saint Paul which have hours of operation open, some as late as 11 p.m; ali of them later than 6 p.m., demonstrating that it's not unusual or unreasonabie for repair garages in similar mixed residentiaUcommercial areas to be open past 6 p.m. This list was also added to the file. Additionally, she entered similaz letters of support from customers noting that it would be useful to have the business open later. Ms. Kerry Antrim, District 6 Planning Council, added testimony. Ms. Antrim stated that their concerns minor the concerns they had back in 2005. They do realize that this area is not primarily a residential neighborhood, and they do agree that the business could be open past the current hours of operation if no work on vehicles is done past 6 p.m. Mr. Walker owns the business and certainiy has a right to be in there 24 hours a day, seven (7) days a week, if he so chooses. It's the hours of operation of the shop that the neighborhood is concerned about and would like to limit to day time hours. District 6 Planning Council alsa has not had any complaints about this business; however, they think that it's because of the limited hours of operation (not past 6 p.m.). Ms. Anirim noted that they had tried to ca11 Mr. Walker severai times to invite him to their meeting, but they did not get an answer or an answering machine. She added that there are other arrangements that folks could make to pick up their cars after hours. 07 �3Dz� Ms. Moermond reviewed the letters entered by Mr. Walker. Things expressed in the letters of support: What a great shop this is; please extend the hours. Chris is a great guy. It's a well run business; why not give him a chance. Doesn't foresee any adverse impact if the hours aze extended. All is fine with the business. Ms. Mertens noted that one of the neighbors is a cemetery; not likely to generate many complaints regazdless of the hours of operation on vehicles. Mr. Walker stated that he usually doesn't open up until later in the morning because he has permanent back probiems and needs to exercise first thing in the morning. Ms. Mertens suggested that Mr. Walker explain the steps he has taken to make sure the sound levels azen't abused. He installed insulation around some of the noisier machines as well as making sure all the work is done inside closed doors. Mr. Walker bought a sound meter and tested his toois and he made a sound proof room for the air compressor. He bought tools that are less noisy and he doesn't use many air tools. The shop is not a high volume, high traffic type of place. He is a sole proprietar and he uses mostly hand tools. The complaint that his neighbor across the street voiced in 2005 was the first complaint that he was made aware of. Supposedly, she had complained ever since he bought the place in '43, but in all those years, she never once called or came over to talk with him about her concerns. Mr. Walker added that before he owned the place, it had been owned by various people, and there were a lot of problems. The property was decrepit; there were engines outside leaking gas and oil. Many of the neighbars didn't want it to continue to be an auto repair shop. Since he bought the place, he has made friends with all of the neighbors, except for the one who did the complaining. He believes that a lot of the noise that she is hearing is actually from traffic. There are many cars with loud exhaust and many diesei trucks that drive by. Ms. Moermond stated that it is not incumbent upon a neighbor who has complaints to pick up the phone and call; however, she wishes that neighbors would do that. Some neighbors don't feel safe enough to do that in some circumstances. Ms. Moermond thinks that it's a good sign that there is no letter of objection from that neighbor regarding the modification of condition #11. She added that there are two (2) schools of thought regarding not having any complaints for the past i'h - 2 yeazs. One school of thought would say that the conditions are working; leave them be. The other school of thought would say that he's really trying hard to be a very good neighbor; let's give him a break and reward that. Ms. Moermond noted that she will stick with the second school of thought today and recommend approval of the requested modification. She will recommend that condition #11 be modified as foilows: No excessive noise is to be generated by the business; the business can be open from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday with repair work limited to the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The hearing was adjourned at 10:31 a.m. /jab