Agenda - Council Work Session - 04/27/2010

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Jo Thielin From: Ronald J. Touchette, Broker, CEO (Ron@rocksolidcommercial.com] Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 12:39 PM To: Amber Miller; Mayor Ramsey; Matt Look; CM McGlone; David Jeffrey; CM Dehen; Kurt Ulrich Cc: Ronald J. Touchette, Broker, CEO; Lori Touchette, CFO; Jo Thieling Subject: Action request from the Touchette family regarding problems with the old Holiday Gas station site Attachments: P1040198.jpg; P1040199.jpg; P1040200.jpg; P1040201.jpg Importance: High Dear City of Ramsey, Honorable Mayor & City Council, I am writing to you today to ask you to consider righting a wrong and removing a blemish in the city of Ramsey that negatively reflects on and affects the entire community. Namely a neglected, abandoned building that is blighted and should be removed permanently; the abandoned Holiday Gas station on the corner of Highway 10 and Ramsey Boulevard that is in fact now owned by the City of Ramsey! Having a boarded up building anywhere is bad but when it's: a, right on the corner (and also the gateway to Ramsey Town Center) and b, right next to a building that I need to lease/sell it is a really big problem. As an owner and a part of the community I do my part to make sure that my property looks good and is well maintained. When something needs to be updated, repaired, cleaned up, or when someone comes by and dumps things at the property I end up having to take care of the mess. Having an abandoned building next to me is very detrimental for the following reasons: Since it is boarded up and abandoned people think that they can just dump things there and it's alright! Tires, garbage, appliances and miscellaneous other "junk" is routinely dumped at the old trash enclosure or behind the building. Unfortunately as the neighbor I am the one who is paying to clean this stuff up because if we don't then it looks like my property is also abandoned. I have attached pictures of the items that are currently dumped (and remain) at the property for your review! 2. When a property becomes a routine "dumping site" and the Owner does not immediately take steps to clean up the dumped items and does not take steps to cause the site to NOT be a continuous dumping ground the health, safety and wellbeing of the community is at risk. In fact RIGHT NOW! there could be a child that would be suffocated to death in the abandoned refrigerator lying with its doors still on at this site, your site, your property, that YOU own and are responsible for. Or more accurately that we ALL own and are responsible for as every Owner and Resident in the City has a vested interest in and therefore at the very least a financial exposure to the situations that exist in at or in conjunction with the operation of the City's assets. (You might ask why I have not taken steps to ensure that a child is not in danger at this moment and the answer is I have. The doors have been removed and there is na danger at this moment to the safety of anyone who might be tempted to play with the refrigerator that was dumped. However there certainly remains a potential danger with the junk that was dumped and is lying there at this time.) Again a picture of this illegal issue is attached for your reference. Also this is NOT the first time appliances have been dumped in the past year. 1 have paid to have a previous appliance removed and recycled, we took it to appliance smart in Champlin for proper disposal! When the abandoned gas station looks like it's abandoned and when it is not plowed or maintained as an active, occupied property and there is no business there but illicit business it affects my property,