Agenda - Council - 01/27/1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Goodrich sta:ed that the fourth issue is clarifying that Charters and Charter Amendments are "official con~ols" as defined by Statute and, as such, must be in compliance with the City's comprehensive plan. You have to bring the zoning ordinance into compliance with the comprehen.qi~e plan. This would cause the Charter Amendment to be deemed an official control. Zoning cannot be amended by a referendum vote. This would say that a Charter Amendment cannot do that. State Statutes does not define a Charter Amendment as an official control - only zoning. So i~s unclear what effect the Charter amendment does have on this. There is no case law either. Councilmember Zimmerman asked if the fourth issue would eliminate the Charter amendment that states theipeople of Ramsey have to vote for a MUSA expansion. Mr. GoodriCh:responded no, it would not, it would instead have an impact on the latest Charter amendment. He continued that what is being presented to the Council, if Council agrees, should be taken to th legislators If it gets to bill status, then it would have hearings where persons for or against would have the opportumty to testify. Mayor GameO stated that the key is to get more people involved and that it is important to get information out to our residents. He was certain there would be a problem with complying with our comprehensive plan with regard to the latest Charter amendment. Councilmember Zimmerman felt that this would shift more control to the State and take away from the local!government and the voice of the people. Mayor Gamec felt that it puts more accountability on the City Council. Councilmember Zimmerman suggested that if you put too many "hoops" in front of someone who wants to Submit a petition, they may just want to forget it. He thought that maybe the third issue of presenting it to the Charter prior to getting signatures may be okay. Councilmember Haas Steffen felt that the only "hoop" a petitioner is asked for is to bring the language to ,the Charter Commission prior to getting signatures and that's the one Councilmembcr Zimmerman is agreeing is okay. The real change is that elections cannot be forced to happen in 90 days, so there should be a better turnout at the polls. The Mayor's proposal is just asking that a greater number of people get involved in the law. Decisions should not be made by less than 25% of the residents. Councilmemb0r Zimmerman stated he has no problem leaving things they way they are. Terry Hendriksen, 15631 Ramsey Boulevard NW, Ramsey, felt that changing the state law to delay an election until a general election could delay it for two years. He stated that issues sponsored by citizens are important and delaying an election on an issue is unreasonable. He added that he ~had no problem with Natalie Haas Steffen, Bernie Steffen, and Ken Peterson campaigninga~ainst the Charter amendment, no problem with individual positions, but he does have a problem with tax payers money being spent for this type of thing. If you present information on one side of an issue, that's being biased and that should not be allowed to be City Council/January 13, 1998 Page 11 of 15 $?