Minutes - Council - 04/25/1995 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Motion carded. Voting Yes: Mayor Hardin, Councilmembers Peterson, Beahen, Beyer and Zimmerman. Voting No: None. Case #4: Request for a Conditional Use Permit for a Group Foster Care Home; Case of Patrick McLafferty Zoning Administrator Frolik stated that Patrick McLafferty of 7321 - 154th Lane N.W. has applied for a group foster care home to accommodate a maximum of eight youth. The City Staff has met with City Attorney Goodrich concerning this subject and its relations to §462.357, Subdivisions 7 and 8. It was Mr. Goodrich's opinion that a State-licensed, residential facility, serving from 7 to 16 persons, is not exempted from the local R-1 Residential zoning regulations. In order to be so exempted, such a facility would need to be located in a multi-family use district such as Ramsey's R-3 Residential zone. A State licensed residential facility serving six or fewer persons would be exempted from the City's R- 1 zoning regulations. It was further Mr. Goodrich's opinion that to locate a multi-family use or facility serving 7 to 16 persons in an R-1 zoning district in effect rezones that property to multi-family, which then becomes a matter of spot zoning, which is inappropriate. It was Mr. Goodrich's advice that the present application to increase the number of youth served at the facility from 6 to 8 be denied, because more than 6 is considered a multi-family use in the City's R-1 zone and it does not have a State law exemption. Ms. Frolik reported that Mr. McLafferty expressed a desire to pursue the issue and open the public hearing, despite Mr. Goodrich's advice. Such public heating, which initiated the conditional use permit process, was conducted by the Planning Commission. Following the advice of the City Attorney, the Planning Commission considered the matter from a zoning perspective, the proposed findings of facts, and recommended that City Council deny the request. Ms. Frolik explained that item #12 of the proposed findings of facts attempts to establish Ramsey's history and regulations for allowing multi-family type uses in single family districts. It states that permits for multi-family uses in a single-family district have not been allowed since 1976. Actually, it was 1977 and on two separate occasions the City allowed duplexes in a single family district. However, if we consider accessory apartments as a multi-family use, then the City has permitted multi-family uses in the single family district as recentiy as 1994. In addition, the finding, as drafted, states that there are no provisions in the City ordinances for multi-family uses without City sewer and water. The regulations for the R-3 Urban Residential District does establish minimums for multi-family structures, with and without City sewer and water. She recommended that item #12 of the proposed finding be amended accordingly. Patrick McLafferty, 7321 - 154th Lane N.W., resented his home being referred to as a "facility" He stated he is licensed for foster care and he has never heard of all this before. He was informed he had to have a permit for eight children instead of six and he fek that all the issues have been addressed. A conditional use permit versus zoning is the way he was originally told to approach this and now he's being told this is a spot zoning issue. He proceeded to address some of the concerns raised. 1) Traffic - with two more children the only additional traffic may be one more car a month because of the social worker visit. He suggested that the two day cares in his neighborhood (one with 10 children and one with 14 children) generate a lot more traffic on a daily basis. 2) Devaluation - he reported that he had to put $20,000 of work into his home before he could move into it plus he added on a $100,000 addition. It does not make sense that this could devaluate the surrounding properties. 3) Police calls - he stated he has two attributable police calls to his home and he was the one who made them. He reported that he has only teenaged boys and he is very strict. He calls the police if something comes up. He added that he checked with the police department and 76 calls were made to his neighborhood - two of them were to his house. He stated he has done everything legally that he can. He reminded Council that the subject City Council/April 25, 1995 Page 10 of 23