Agenda - Council - 07/14/1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I should remind City Council at this point that by Statue statute, agricultural odors are only exempt from being declared a public nuisance if the operation has been in existence in its current size for 6 years or more. The City's position is that if there have been pig farm operations on the subject site in previous years, then the operation must have substantially increased in 1991 and therefore the operation is not exempt from being declared a public nuisance. The following items are enclosed for your information: a) b) c) d) e) f) City Council case cover sheet dated March 10, 1992 City Council meeting n~nutes dated March 10, 1992 Letter to concerned residents dated March 27, 1992 Memo to case file from Zoning Administrator dated June 9, 1992 Map depicting parcels on record as complainants or supporters of the hog farm operation Calendars recording days on which complaints regarding odors from the pig farm were received since Council gave the direction to reduce the size of the operation on March 1 () Recommendation: Obviously, we would not expect to see any reduction this season in the frequency of odor complaints as the operation has not progressively been decreasing in size in accordance with Council's direction. An option at this point would be to direct Mr. Barthold to reduce the size of the hog farm operation to a number representative of the number of pigs kept on the property in 1990. However, at this point I can only assume there were no pigs on the property in 1990 because Mr. Barthold is having a difficult time producing paperwork to prove the existence of the hog farm operation that year and because there are no odor complaints on record for 1990. My recommendation is that City Council schedule a public hearing to take public comments regarding the hog farm operation. If after the public hearing, City Council feels there is enough evidence to substantiate the hog farm as being a public nuisance, proceed to abate the nuisance in accordance with Chapter 5.08 (Public Nuisance) of the Ramsey City Code. In summary, this chapter requires the City to serve notice to the property owner that the public nuisance must be abated within 10 days. If the nuisance is not abated, a citation of the violation is issued. The City may then abate the nuisance, with the expense of the abatement plus an additional 25%, recovered from the property owner by civil action or a special tax assessment. Council Action: Motion to: Schedule a public hearing for Tuesday, August 11, 1992 at 7:30 p.m. regarding the hog farm being operated on PIN 14-32-25-43-0001. Review Checklist: City Adminis~ator Zoning Administrator CC: 7/14/92 I I I I I ] I ] I I [ I I I I I I I