Minutes - Council - 04/24/2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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can be shared. They consist of a food store, drug store, and a sports group. He cannot share the identity of the food store, but the name would be known. He stated it is difficult to get small shops until you have the anchor that will draw the people to the destination. This development will not take any businesses from the area unless they have been relocated due to the expansion of the street. There is a restaurant group that is very interested that is a regular family casual dining restaurant. Mr. Bruce Lindberg, 6996 139th Lane NW, stated he has been in contact with the developer since the Planning Commission meeting about his concerns. His big concern was the loading dock. He talked to Councilmember Look who was concerned about the fact that the streets are not designed to handle heavy traffic. Mr. Lindberg stated his tax dollars should not be responsible for rebuilding these streets. The other issue is safety. He has a five year old and his neighbor has a four year old, and there are other children in the neighborhood. He did a door to door petition and an electronic on-line petition. He received several comments back, the harshest being "I will never set foot on that property" to "The developer and someone at the City told us a little old lady owns this property and she is going to make a park out of it." Mr. Lindberg stated there is limited parking and questioned where people will park. He stated they should not be allowed to park in a residential neighborhood; there should be signs put up that only residential parking is allowed and others will be towed. He lived in Uptown Minneapolis and there are several neighborhoods there that have gone to residential only parking because of the over congestion it brings. Mr. Lindberg stated the last concern that was brought was regarding the trees. Pine trees that are level to the ground gather all sorts of debris. His suggestion to the developer was to raise the trees up two to three feet and that they be more fully grown trees along the line of the building. That will artificially lower the level of the roof and prevent debris from gathering under the trees for the owners of the establishment to have to come in and clean up on a regular basis. There is enough dirt there that they will have to move around anyways. Mr. Lindberg stated these are his concerns. He hopes the Council makes a good decision; no one wants this in their front yard. He questioned why the senior center did not go here. He stated according to the City's plan, the grandiose Main Street will have all of the commercial retail. The neighbors knew there would be a drug store going in and the possibility of a small restaurant, but did not know of this monstrosity going in. He does not know why the City chose to allow this to go in. They would have liked to have seen something friendlier to a residential neighborhood going in. Acting Mayor Elvig asked if Mr. Lindberg sees any benefit to having any of these services, such as a family restaurant, available to his neighborhood. Mr. Lindberg replied his biggest issue is the traffic coming in. A family restaurant is one thing, but if it is a restaurant with a sports bar type of thing there will be drunks driving through his neighborhood. People will snake through the residential streets to avoid the police. Acting Mayor Elvig stated that is a fairly hypothetical point. He eXplained the zoning here is commercial and there is not a lot of control on what goes on this site as long as it is zoned appropriately. That decision has been made on the Comprehensive Plan. He does not know what was said to the neighbors as they purchased their homes; it is always a concern and is a buyer beware situation. The Council cannot be responsible for that. He has empathy for what City Council / April 24, 2007 Page 8 of 38