Minutes 1-09-2008
SUMMARY MINUTES OF THE
SAINT PAUL CITY COUNCIL
Wednesday, January 9, 2008 - 3:30 p.m.
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 3RD FLOOR
City Hall and Court House
15 West Kellogg Boulevard
The meeting was called to order by Council President Lantry at 3:30 p.m.
Present – 6 – Carter, Harris, Helgen, Lantry, Stark, Thune
Absent – 1 – Bostrom (arrived after the consent agenda)
CONSENT AGENDA (Items 1 – 15)
NOTE: ALL ITEMS LISTED UNDER CONSENT AGENDA WILL BE ENACTED BY ONE MOTION. THERE
WILL BE NO SEPARATE DISCUSSION OF THESE ITEMS. IF DISCUSSION IS DESIRED BY A
COUNCILMEMBER, THAT ITEM WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA AND
CONSIDERED SEPARATELY.
Barb Benson stated Item 11 was withdrawn as the fine was paid.
Councilmember Stark moved approval of the consent agenda as amended
Adopted Yeas – 6 Nays – 0
COMMUNICATIONS AND ADMINISTRATIVE ORDERS
1. Claims of Waffiyyah L Adams, Rafail Borurhov, Shane C. Davis, Mathew D. Dziuk,
Neal D. Harms, David R. Hill, Patrik B. Hirvisalo, Christopher Janson, Samuel B. Paul,
Jeffrey J. Riegle, and Richard A. Zarmbinski.
2. Letter from the Department of Planning and Economic Development announcing a public
hearing before the City Council on February 6, 2008 to consider the application of
William Edrington to rezone property at 180 George Street West, between Bellows and
Waseca Streets, from RT1 (Two-Family Residential) to RT2 (Townhouse Residential) to
legalize a triplex. [ZF 07-179-179]
3. Letter from the Department of Planning and Economic Development announcing a public
hearing before the City Council on February 6, 2008 to consider the appeal of Winston
Kaehler to a decision of the Planning Commission determining that use of 1704 Palace
Avenue (between Davern and Wheeler Streets) to house volunteers in a program run by
the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet is similar to a convent, monastery, or religious
retreat. [ZF 07-227-455]
January 9, 2008 City Council Summary Minutes Page 2
4. Letter from the Department of Safety and Inspections/Code Enforcement declaring 951-
953 Desoto Street, 60 George Street East, and 426 Minnehaha Avenue East as nuisance
properties. (For notification purposes only; public hearings will be scheduled at a later
date if necessary.)
FOR ACTION
5. Approval of minutes of October 3 and 10, 2007 and November 14, 2007 Closed Door
Session.
Adopted Yeas – 6 Nays – 0
6. Resolution – 08-24 – Authorizing the Department of Public Works to accept an American
flag from the Minnesota National Guard that was sent as a thank you for the safety
equipment that was donated to members serving in the Iraq conflict.
Adopted Yeas – 6 Nays – 0
7. Resolution – 08-25 – Approving the November 6, 2007 decisions of the Legislative
Hearing Officer on Appeals of Letters, Correction Notices, and Letters of Deficiency for
properties at 955 Seminary Avenue, 2104 Highwood Avenue, 907 Margaret Street, 217
Winifred Street East, 47 Douglas Street, 1238 Sherburne Avenue, 1367 Stanford Avenue,
and 758 Maryland Avenue East.
Adopted Yeas – 6 Nays – 0
8. Resolution – 08-26 – Approving the November 20, 2007 decisions of the Legislative
Hearing Officer on Letters of Deficiency for properties at 60 Hawthorne Avenue East and
129 Wilder Street North.
Adopted Yeas – 6 Nays – 0
9. Resolution – 08-27 – Approving the November 20, 2007 decisions of the Legislative
Hearing Officer on Letters of Deficiency for properties at 333 Maiden Lane, 746-748
Smith Avenue South, and 741 Jessie Street.
Adopted Yeas – 6 Nays – 0
10. Resolution – 08-28 – Memorializing City Council action taken December 5, 2007
denying the appeal for property at 5 George Street West, per the recommendation of the
Legislative Hearing Officer.
Adopted Yeas – 6 Nays – 0
11. Resolution – 08-29 – Approving adverse action against the Cigarette/Tobacco license
held by The American Dream Builders, Inc., d/b/a Christine Liquors, 111 Cesar Chavez
Street.
Withdrawn
January 9, 2008 City Council Summary Minutes Page 3
12. Resolution – 08-30 – Approving adverse action against the Sidewalk Café license held by
Rudies Coffee House, Inc., 1169-7th Street West.
Adopted Yeas – 6 Nays – 0
13. Resolution – 08-31 – Approving adverse action against the Wine On Sale and Malt On
Sale (Strong) licenses held by Zander, Inc., d/b/a Zander Café, 523 Selby Avenue.
Adopted Yeas – 6 Nays – 0
14. Resolution – 08-32 – Authorizing an inspector from the Department of Safety and
Inspections to accept a donation of airfare, lodging, and per diem, at an estimated cost of
$1,376.00, from Sheet Metal Workers Union, Local 10, in order to attend the
International Code Commission Code Hearings in Palm Springs, CA on February 21-24,
2008.
Adopted Yeas – 6 Nays – 0
15. Resolution – 08-33 – Accepting donations of excess animal food for the past three
months (total value of $235.00) from Animal Ark to St. Paul Animal Control, and
thanking Animal Ark for its generous gift.
Adopted Yeas – 6 Nays – 0
FOR DISCUSSION
16. Resolution – 08-34 – Honoring Terrence Garvey, Assistant City Attorney, for more than
32 years of dedicated public service to the City of Saint Paul.
Council President Lantry read the resolution honoring Mr. Garvey.
Mr. Garvey responded with words of thanks and appreciation.
Councilmember Harris thanked Mr. Garvey for his work on the Library Aency and
Councilmember Thune thanked Mr. Garvey for his work on the Housing and
Revitalization Authority (HRA).
Councilmember Thune moved approval.
Adopted Yeas – 7 Nays - 0
17. Resolution – 08-35 – Giving preliminary approval for City of Saint Paul Winter Bond
Sale.
Bob Guers, Office of Financial Services, distributed a new attachment for the the
resolution.
January 9, 2008 City Council Summary Minutes Page 4
Councilmember Thune moved approval
Adopted Yeas – 7 Nays - 0
18. Presentation by the Second Shift Youth Commission.
The following people spoke:
Maryama (Emjee) Green, Harding High School, representing Ward 7, Dayton’s Bluff
area;
Corey Vance, Central High School, representing Ward 2, West Seventh area; and
Ayana Cole, Highland Senior High School, representing Ward 1, Frogtown/ District 7
area.
Councilmember Helgen stated he would like to refer their platform agenda to Council
Research to incorporate into any City platforms.
19. Resolution – 07-646 – Ordering the owner to remove or repair the property at 851
Conway Street within fifteen (15) days from adoption of resolution. [Public hearing held
July 18; laid over January 2] (Legislative Hearing Officer’s recommendation is
forthcoming)
Marcia Moermond, Legislative Hearing Officer, stated she spoke with the realtor a few
times today and there is potential for a rehabilitation plan. She suggested the Council
refer the matter back to a Legislative Hearing on January 22 and City Council Hearing on
February 6.
Council President Lantry moved to lay over to February 6.
Laid over to February 6 Yeas – 7 Nays - 0
20. Resolution – 08-22 – Ordering the owner to remove the building(s) at 763 Fuller Avenue
within fifteen (15) days from adoption of resolution. [Public hearing held and laid over
January 2] (Legislative Hearing Officer recommends approval)
Marcia Moermond, Legislative Hearing Officer, stated she received a letter that indicated
money will be set aside for rehabilitation. All the conditions were set on January 8. She
recommended the Council grant 120 days for rehabilitation of the property and ask for
feedback in 30 days. The matter can come back to Council if money is not expended.
Councilmember Carter moved approval as amended.
Adopted as amended (per the recommendation of the Legislative Hearing Officer)
Yeas – 7 Nays – 0
A progress report will be given by Marcia Moermond on February 13
January 9, 2008 City Council Summary Minutes Page 5
21. Consideration of the application of Randolph Hill, LLC to rezone property at 1094
Randolph Avenue (block bounded by Randolph, Lexington, Juno, and I 35E) from RM2
Medium-Density Multiple-Family Residential and R2 One-Family Residential to TN2
Traditional Neighborhood. [Zoning File 07-179-230] (Public hearing held and laid over
January 2)
Councilmember Harris stated this is a difficult project but he will support it. It is a
complicated site, and there are ongoing issues. The Planning Commission voted 13-1. .
From a zoning standpoint, it is appropriate as TN2. The traffic issue was always a
concern for him and he has gone through the traffic report. There were competitive
issues, but that is not what they are charged to do. This is about the appropriateness of
TN2.
Harris moved to grant the application.
Councilmember Stark stated the project is complex and raises a lot of issues. He agrees
that TN is appropriate for this site but said he has a number of concerns about the
property himself. What is in front of them today, however, is the rezoning and he
supports that.
Councilmember Thune spoke in opposition to the rezoning saying this is not where a TN
district should be created as it will place a huge traffic burden on Grand Avenue and
there will be a deterioration of traffic on Lexington Avenue. Randolph has a lot of traffic
now and it will increase. At the hearing, they called Randolph Avenuea business street; it
is not. This brings a medium sized big box to a neighborhood and it will be a freeway
strip mall. All of the calls and letters have revolved around having Trader Joe’s and how
we do not want to be the first city to turn it down. However, they have no spins off
businesses; they buy all of their goods from Illinois, they are non union, they compete
with other businesses, and probably will drive at least one out of business. This is not the
kind of traditional neighborhood change we should have in our City, Thune said.
Councilmember Carter asked about variances being awarded before a site has been
rezoned. He echoed some of the concerns about the site plan and hopefulness about
being able to impact the site plan in the future. He would be interested in having a
conversation about zoning that can be isolated from the competitive interest. Council
President Lantry responded that the only thing before the City Council is whether this
corner should be zoned TN2. Variances only come to the Council when someone appeals
them. In this case, the variance was never appealed to the City Council. This case is
illustrative of a lot of things they deal with: how to get everything else out of the way and
just think about this corner being TN2. Design and variances are not before them. Some
they think they are rezoning for today or tomorrow but they are zoning for the future. If
January 9, 2008 City Council Summary Minutes Page 6
for some reason the uses change, the neighborhood has much more control on what goes
with TN zoning.
Motion of Intent - Application granted Yeas – 6 Nay – 1 (Thune)
ORDINANCES
NOTE: AN ORDINANCE IS A CITY LAW ENACTED BY THE CITY COUNCIL. IT IS READ AT FOUR
SEPARATE COUNCIL MEETINGS AND BECOMES EFFECTIVE AFTER PASSAGE BY THE
COUNCIL AND 30 DAYS AFTER PUBLICATION IN THE SAINT PAUL LEGAL LEDGER.
PUBLIC HEARINGS ON ORDINANCES ARE HELD AT THE THIRD READING.
22. Final Adoption – 07-1148 – An ordinance amending Chapter 65.774 of the Saint Paul
Legislative Code, Malt Liquor Manufacturing, by permitting the use in the B2
Community Business District and permitting the sale of malt liquor at retail on the site
where it is manufactured; and amending the use table in Chapter 66.421 adding malt
liquor manufacturing as a permitted use in Table 66.421. (Substitute ordinance introduced
January 2)
Councilmember Thune moved approval.
Adopted Yeas- 7 Nays – 0
23. Final Adoption – 07-1193 – An ordinance amending Chapter 409.21 of the Saint Paul
Legislative Code to allow sales of gambling equipment within a leased premise by an
employee of the lessor from a common area where food and beverages are sold.
Councilmember Helgen moved approval.
Adopted Yeas - 7 Nays – 0
24. Final Adoption – 07-1195 – An ordinance amending Section 409.15 of the Saint Paul
Legislative Code by deleting on-sale wine license fee amounts and referring to Chapter
310.
Councilmember Thune moved approval.
Adopted Yeas- 7 Nays – 0
Suspension Items
Councilmember Thune moved suspension of the rules to introduce the following resolution:
Yeas – 7 Nays – 0
January 9, 2008 City Council Summary Minutes Page 7
Resolution – 08-36 – Waiving the 300 foot distance from a church restriction, and
granting On Sale liquor-100 Seats, On Sale Liquor-Sunday, and Liquor Outdoor Service
Area-Patio licenses to Salut Grant, LLC, d/b/a Salut Bar Americain, 917 Grand Avenue.
Councilmember Thune moved approval.
Adopted Yeas – 7 Nays – 0
Council President Lantry moved suspension of the rules to introduce the following resolution:
Yeas – 7 Nays – 0
Resolution – 08-37 – Approving the appointments, by Mayor Coleman, of Becca Hine,
Julie Gugin, Dave Pinto, Jacob Dorer, and Diane Gerth, and the reappointments of Gary
Unger, Gene Olson, Paul Savage, Michael Steward, and John Dunkleyto the Long Range
Capital Improvement Budget (CIB) Committee.
Council President Lantry moved approval.
Adopted Yeas – 7 Nays – 0
Councilmember Bostrom requested the public hearing for the following ordinance be
rescheduled from January 16 to February 20, 2008:
Third Reading – 07-1194 – An ordinance amending Chapter 33 of the Saint Paul
Legislative Code, Building Code and Inspection, as it relates to Certificate of Code
Compliance. (Substitute introduced December 26)
Councilmember Thune moved to adjourn the meeting. Yeas- 7 Nays – 0
ADJOURNED AT 4:17 P.M.
ATTEST:
_____________________________ _______________________________
Mary Erickson Kathy Lantry, Council President
Assistant Council Secretary
Submitted by: March 5, 2008 ___________________
Racquel Naylor Minutes approved by Council