Minutes - Planning Commission - 05/04/2006

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Chairperson Nixt inquired about the access, who maintains the access, and the elevation of the site. Mr. Nathe replied the trailers are sitting on grass; there is a road access that turns from asphalt to gravel. The City maintains the access to the site line, and the gravel portion is maintained by he and his brother. The elevation is high and there is never standing water. There are not any propane tanks on the trailers so there is no fire hazard. The gross will be cut as normal. These are brand new vehicles, and approximately 300 feet away Shorewood RV has their trailers parked right on the field. He has never seen anyone come to the site to look at any of the trailers, and there is no one on the site later than 6:00 at night or before 7:00 in the morning from what he has seen since they leased out the property. Mr. Moiner stated the unimproved surface has come up a couple of different times, and it came up at B & A Cylinder when RV World had an interim use permit there. Part of the research he did to find out who owned the bigger pieces was to get the storage out of the eye of the general public driving by. Obviously he has competition that would not wish to see RV World expand; however, this is the most secluded area on grass or dirt on Riverdale Drive. He does not know how many interim use permits have been issued for everyone in that strip to park on dirt; RV World just needs a spot to continue growing their business in order to have the funds to relocate. It is not necessarily just a matter of how much it will cost to find a relocation site. It is also whether RV World wants to be a business that stays in the City of Ramsey, or whether the City would rather have them move so they do not have to go through permit issues. It is not easy to find a property location in which they can be in the public eye and have a sizable piece of property, regardless of the price. A couple of seasons for the permit would be reasonable; one year would be extremely tight. Motion by Chairperson Nixt, seconded by Commissioner Cleveland, to close the public hearing. Motion Carried. Voting Yes: Chairperson Nixt, Commissioners Cleveland, Brauer, Hunt, Levine, and Trites Rolle. Voting No: None. Absent: Commissioner Van Scoy. The public hearing closed at 8:50 p.m. Commission Business Chairperson Nixt called the regular meeting of the Planning Commission back to order at 8:50 p.m. Commissioner Cleveland requested staff to address the paragraph on page 20 of the staff report that states staff has been attempting to work with several of the RV dealerships along Highway 10 to address the issue of surplus merchandise being displayed and/or stored on unimproved surfaces. She asked if staff is finding it difficult for the RV dealerships to comply within their own property, Planning Commission/May 4, 2006 Page 11 of 15