HomeMy WebLinkAbout1973 09-12 Maplewood considers taking action on "Plan" REVIEW considers.Mapl
wood
ing 1,„.ti, , ,9
takac ion on ' Plan '
by Scott Carlson not rigid and inflexible the proposed shift In the first instance a problem of spot
News analysis in boundaries would change the Plan's zoning could occur, Miller said. The
After about one year of inactivity on the
intent. property is surrounded by industrial now
Village Master Guide Plan, the
but is envisioned as a medium housing
Maplewood council appears ready to
"This is a good case to show the people density district in the Plan.
begin preparation for its adoption and that we're not going out and ignoring the
eventual implementation. land use plan,"Miller said. The Planning In the second instance the Commission
Commissioner, however, said it has had discussed the possibility of zoning
The action which is expected to come presented a dilemma to the developer." "down" the boat property, located at the
would solidify the plan's operation, a
document which has been fr uentl northeast corner of Highway 36 and White
e9 y "The guy's stuck," the Commissioner Bear ave., but to do that would cause a
referred to by developers and village said. "He can't build anything on the land non-conforming land use.
officials in the cases of rezoning and land which would conform to current zoning.
uses.
This ponits out we had really better start At this time "down" zoning would
working to change the ordinances and probably be illegal. Various courts have
Councilman Donald Wiegert last Thur- thus implement the Plan." overturned such public actions before.
clay night asked his colleagues to set a
date for review and adjustment of One occurred within the last two weeks.
Com-
the Plan. A tentative discussion is sched- ler agrees.mi "TiPlanning Com
missionWed feels the zoning code as it is now
to begin at nnext regular council doesn't reflect what it wants," Miller But Miller said, "I feel we probably have
meeting. said. "There will probaby be revamping a legitimate and legal right to zone more
of the zoning and subdivision ordinances restrictively when called upon in the plan
Since the comprehensive plan was — those are the tools for Plan im- as long as it is
adopted Sept. 11, 1972 by the Planningnon-discriminatory."
plementation, the things which have to be
Commission, the only council action has developed at this point." Miller states that there is nothingar-
been to forward the Plan to the
bitrary about thwat land uses have been
Metropolitan Council for review and to
The other two cases deal with "down" designated in the Plan. "Everything that
tentatively adopt the land use plan. zoning or zoning to a more restrictive use is in there was put there by the com-
But now Wiegert urges council on a piece of property then its current mission for some reason," he said.
aut aead rtadoptionzone. One involved rezoning from heavy
Y suggested some initial industrial to single family at the north The commission spent nearly three years
changes. One would be to show Woodlyn, side of Maryland ave. between McKnight formulating and finally shaping up its
Beam and Lydia ayes. as connectors to rd. and Lakewood dr. The second dealt final version for the council. It appears
White Bear ave. in the street plan. with possible consideration of used car the village has now approached the
license for a piece of property formerly threshold of implementation and the
That move in and of itself would occupied by
J & W Boats. wheels are beginning to turn.
controversial.Presently,Citizens Against
Residential Exploitation (CARE) has
been fighting the council on a proposal to
put the three streets through. They fear
that traffic from the nearby Maplewood
Mall Shopping Center will filter onto their
roads and ruin the residential at-
mosphere. 4.14.3
And they have pointed to the Plan as
currently designating none of the streets
as connectors to White Bear.
Councilman Donald Olmstead, on the
other, has suggested more general
changes in some of the legal process of
fully implementing the Plan and setting
up various commissions which were
recommended by the Planning Com-
mission and former village planner
Bailey Seida.
None of the other councilmen have made
any public statements.
Now that winds are moving, so is the
village Planning Commission, according
to one of its members. He said the com-
mission has felt a need for Plan im-
plementation because of three test cases
which were recently considered.
One involves a proposed rezone from
Farm Residential (FR) to Limited
Business Commercial (LBC) for the
easterly 230 feet of a subject property
located at the southeast corner of White
Bear and Beam ayes. The property is
owned by Clarence Kiesling and now
under consideration for construction by
developer Neil Fairbanks.
An original rezone for the all but the
easterly 230 feet has been approved by
the council. But another rezone for the
remaining property would be inconsistent
with a designated land use in the Plan.
Manager Mike Miller said the rezone
would in effect cause a shifting of land use
.boundaries and alter the Plan. A special
hearing to change the Plan would have to
be held, he said.
The land use plan has envisioned the
easterly 230 feet of property for medium
density housing.And although the Plan is