HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-28-19636198 Record of Official Proceedings of the Common Council
of the City of -Rochester, Minn., October 28, 1963 •
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Minutes of an adjourned regular meeting of the Common Council of the City of
Rochester, Minnesota, held in the Council Chambers, in the City Hall, in said City, on October 28,
1963.
President Tingley called the meeting to order at 7:30 o'clock P. M., the following
members being present: President Tingley, Aldermen DeVries, Leonard, McCaleb, Thomas. Absent:
Aldermen Bergstedt and Wilson.__
The Mayor's appointment of the following Patrolmen to the Rochester Police
Department, they to report for duty on November 18, 1963, was read:
Roger Westra 1735 1st Avenue S. E.
William Noser 818 - 16th Avenue N. E.
John Hust 1104 -.5th Avenue N. W.
Gordon L. Fowler 515� - 4th Street N. W.
Clair M. Norman 118 - 8th Street N.-E.
Upon motion by Leonard, second by Thomas, and all present voting in favor thereof, the appointments
were confirmed.
The recommendation of the Finance Committee that the requests of the following
employees for permission to attend the League of Minnesota Municipalities meeting„to be held in
-Minneapolis, Minnesota on Friday, November 1, 1963 be approved and they be allowed to attend at
city expense, was read;
James J. Macken, Jr. - Chief of Police
C. A. Armstrong - City,Engineer
Alfred Nelsen - City Assessor
Vernon Anderson - Deputy City Assessor
R. V. Ehrick - City Attorney
Upon motion by Thomas, second by Leonard, and all present voting in favor thereof, the recommend-
ation -was approved and they were authorized to attend at city expense.
President,Tingley stated that this was the fourth hearing set for the purpose of
considering the proposed Zoning Ordinance and anyone wishing to speak would be heard at this time.
The following letter was read and upon motion by Leonard, second by DeVries, and
all present voting in favor thereof, the same was referred to the Planning & Zoning Commission:
"Rochester Common Council
Rochester, Minnesota
Dear Sirs:
The Rochester league of Women Voters has,been following with interest the
development of the proposed zoning ordinance.
For years we have recognized the need for suth an ordinance and we have
supported each step-in this direction.- Our membership has studied the pro-
visions of the proposal and League representatives have attended each public
hearing on it.
While we commend the Council for it's efforts to consider'every shade of
opinion before taking action, yet we view with alarm the fact that only
critics and opponents of the plan have spoken up.
Some of the complainants obviously do not have the best interests of
Rochester at heart, but teiid.to marshal an amount of.inf luence completely
out of proportion to their numbers in the community,'simply because the
rest of us, who comprise -the mass of Roc'hes'ter"s citiznery, do not have a
particular cause nor a spokesman to promote it.
The League does not presume to pass judgment on the validity of each
concession or modification granted by the Countil; however, we do feel a
responsibility to urge this body to weigh carefully each further
concession, lest it sacrifice the common good to please the few.
Weak zoning invites explitation, and land exploitation, in turn,
shrinks the tax base by devaluing great segments of private property,
and this is a tremendous loss to a community and it's citizens.
There is substantial agreement among our membership to support a
STRONG zoning ordinance, to guide ttie future orderly development of
Rochester.
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Record of Official Proceedings of the Common Council
of the City of Rochester, Minn., October 29, 1963
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We look to the Council for .leadership in preserving the integrity of
the proposed ordinance by opposing the departures from it's intent that
would render it unfit for support by the conscientious -citizen.
Very truly yours,
Mrs. John Bratrud, Local Item Chairman
Rochester League of Women.Voters"
Mr. Robert Dunlap, Attorney representing the Guest Home Association, was present. He
stated that he had sent questionarres to all of the members of the Guest Home Association and
up to the present time had received only about 80% of them back; .he said he had about a day of
unfinished work on them and would like to spend some time with the Planning Director and also
the City Assessor to collaberate the figures; he said he would be ready for the next meeting
and in the meantime he would send some written material to the Planning & Zoning Commission and
to the Council members for their study. He then inquired when the next meeting would be held
and a motion was then made by Thomas, second by DeVries, and all present voting in favor thereof
that the next hearing on the proposed zoning ordinance be set for 7:30 o'clock R. M. on Monday,
November 25, 1963.
Mrs Richard Lanigan stated that he owned the property at 428 - 4th Avenue S. W.; 520
3rd Avenue S. W.. and 526 - 3rd Avenue S., W. which he had purchased as commercial and now in
the proposed zoning ordinance it was zoned as residential. He said he had this property for
long range plans for his motel and requested that it be left as commercial.
Mae Jacobs of 1004 - 2nd Street S. W. was present and again requested that she be
granted a lieaRing space in front of her property; she said she had a.rooming house and lost all
kinds -of business because they did not have a place to park. She was told that this was a
problem that was being considered by the Public Safety Committee.
Mrs. Leona Fischer of 1122 - 1st Street S. W. was present and stated that she had
a rooming house, could house 16 people, but was having trouble renting her rooms because there
was no place on the street for them to park while they came in and rented her.rooms; she said
that employees At St. Mary's Hospital park their cars on the street all day long; she said she
had parking space in the back of her house for the people to park in if they rented her rooms
but they had no chance to get to the house# and requested that she be granted one space in
front of her house. This matter was referred to the Public Safety Committee.
Mrs. Richard Blondell was present and stated that they had a lot west of St. Marys,
and if these is zoned as R-3 as shown in the new ordinance instead of commercial as it now is
they would not have enough roan for their business; she said they paid a lot of money for this
property and hoped that it could be left as commercial.'
Dr. A. B. Hagedorn, President,of the Planning & Zoning Commission, stated that they
had been meeting weekly on these recommendations and requests and hoped to have a report back
to the Council before too long; he said many of the things mentioned had already been
discussed by the Planning & Zoning Commission.
There was no one else wishing to be heard, so President Tingley declared the hearing
officially closed.
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I '6 0 Record of Official Proceedings of the Common Council
of the City of Rochester, Minn., October 28, 1963 •
The meeting was recessed at 8:30 P. M. The meeting was called to order again at
8.45 P. M. with all members being present -except Aldermen Bergstedt,and Wilson.
The matter of filing plats with the Register of Deeds after the same have been
approved was discussed; the present ordinance requires that the City Clerk file the approved plat
with the Register of Deeds but the Register of Deeds will not file ,same unless the,_taxes have been
paid so consequently there were a number of plats that had been approved by the Council but not
filed by the Lister of Deeds. Upon motion by Leonard, .second by McCaleb, .and all present voting
in favor thereof, the City Attorney was instructed to amend.the present ordinance or whatever
appropriate action is necessary to require that a certificate.showing that the taxes.have been
paid be filed with the application for plat approval,or with the title opinion..
A notice of the program for -the Upper Missippippi Polution Control Conference
to be held at Wabasha, Minnesota on Saturday, November 2, ,1963 was read and the same was ordered
placed on tile. ,
Alderman DeVries notifed the Council of the dedication of the Armory Floor to be
held.on Friday Night, November 1, 1963 and that the Council was invited to attend%
R. V. Ehrick, City Attorney, stated.that he had been -asked to redesign Article
61 of the new proposed zoning ordinance whereby the Common Council would be established as the
Board of Zoning Appeals and he had a few questions. He said the ordinance provides that the
Planning Director shall be the secretary of the.Board of appeals• -but in view of the fact that
you will be handling the zoning appeals right here he thought it might be more appropriate
to have the City Clerk as the secretary; he was told to have it left just as it is. Mr.
Ehrick then said that the ordinance provides that the petitioner deposit a check sufficient to
cover the administrative costs, etc. and he wondered if,it would not be better tp set a certain
amount. This was referred to the Planning & Zoning Commission, the Planning Director and the
City Attorney to arrive at some figure.
Alderman Bergstedt arrived at 9:07 P. M.
Upon motion'by Bergstedt, second by Thomas, and all voting in favor thereof, the
meeting was adjourned.
City Clerk
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