Agenda - Council - 06/10/1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

i i I I I I I I I I I Approximately two years ago our renter informed us that Ramsey will be.requiring blacktop and curbing on Highway 10. We told our renter that we were grandfathered and didn't need to. We went to see Sylvia Frolik, (another new title, another new name), Zoning Administrator for the City of Ramsey. We asked her about the blacktopping and curbing. Throughout our conversation with Sylvia she informed us: that the city should not have given us our grandfather fights; grandfather rights can not be transferred to future buyers; the city can force us to blacktop and make other improvements; our grandfather rights only pertain to the inside of our buildings. Then we told Sylvia what - the city had told us about our grandfather rights in 1984 when we wanted to buy the property, she said, "you should have gotten it in writing[" People take in good faith what their city government is telling them what is legal or not, otherwise we'll all be walking around with tape recorders. Isn't what was factual in 1984 still factual in 1997? At this time we asked Sylvia who is responsible for blacktopping and making other improvements required by the city, the renters or the land owners? She said she thought the land owners were responsible but she was not certain as no one had ever posed that question to her. She stated she would find out and get back to us as we had tenants and needed to know the information in order to write our leases correctly. Much time had gone by and we phoned her to get this information as our leases needed to be rewritten. After approximately ten more days we had to hire a lawyer for approximately $400.00 to find this information out for us from the City of Ramsey. We're paying your wage to help us operate legally. I told Sylvia that I was caring for my 82 year old mother who is in poor health so I am back and forth from my house to her house. She informed us that someone said we weren't living there. Doug is there every night after work and I am there when I can be. Sylvia told me that if I am not living there then I am not utilizing it as my residence and we could lose our right to live there. This is new! Does this mean that if we sell the property no one has rights to residency there? Do you make this up as you go along or what? Doug is home every night after work and utilities have never been interrupted or disconnected. We have no other house and own no other property. I am just trying to help my mother and that takes much of my time. These Gestapo tactics are getting out of hand[ The bottom line of our explanation for extension is that we feel we are entitled to a unlimited extension which recognizes what we were told by the City of Ramsey's representatives, Penny Curtis and Mark Banwart regarding the explanation of what our automotive grandfather rights encompassed back in 1984 and then again in 1989. 4 of 5