The Spring Valley City Council held a regular council meeting on November 8. All members were present: Mayor Tony Archer, Chris Danielson, John Dols, Luan Ruesink and Greg Brooks. City Administrator/Clerk Deb Zimmer also participated.
Immediately prior to the regular meeting, a brief public hearing was held regarding the assessments on the 2022 Fremont Street Improvements project. Brian Holtz, representing the engineering firm of Bolton & Menk, addressed the council. He stated, “We did have a neighborhood informational meeting last Tuesday that was scheduled, and unfortunately, no one showed up.” No citizens spoke up during the public hearing, so it was promptly closed.
During the regular meeting, the council heard complaints regarding the Volkart property located at 525 Warren Avenue. Zimmer summarized the issue, saying, “We’ve had several complaints about this property. We’ve sent a letter asking them to apply for a Conditional Use Permit, apparently they’re operating a business, possibly in violation of the junk ordinance. They have not really responded. The response is that they drive the vehicles that they have on their property on a regular basis, and they say they’re not operating a business.”
Dave Vickmark, a neighbor to the property, spoke, stating, “He usually starts his activities at between eight and 10 at night, and is in and out of his driveway between 10 and three to four to five in the morning, constantly, hauling cars in and hauling cars out.” Vickmark then noted that Minnesota statue requires that “If you buy more than seven cars in a year, you have to have a license to do so.” He said the EPA requires documentation of appropriate collection of oil, antifreeze, and other motor vehicle fluids. Vickmark summarized, “The long and short of it is, if he was doing it legally, you would have known about it before he ever started.” Vickmark said the operation is basically “an illegal chop shop.” Vickmark and his wife, Mary, told of the noise and frequent fires at the property, which they said creates a nuisance for them, and Dave added, “It needs to cease immediately.”
Another neighbor spoke, agreeing that the Vickmarks had accurately portrayed the situation. The council said since burning is not allowed, citizens are encouraged to call 911 if they witness such fires. The council also chose to refer the situation to the city attorney for further action.
The council returned to another matter that was considered at the previous meeting. The city’s retired ambulance vehicle had been opened up for bids, via a posting in the official newspaper for the city. It was pointed out that the dates listed in the posting had not been corrected since the previous posting. Council members agreed that in order to assure legal compliance, it would be best to correct the dates and post the bidding opportunity in the newspaper one more time.
The council heard a pair of requests from some citizens regarding the Spring Park Townhome Association. Deb Zimmer summarized, “There’s two requests. One is to consider the cul-de-sac area, what is considered now a private drive, to consider taking action on behalf of the city on that. And also, their retention pond.” The other request was that the retention pond on the property becomes filled with water after heavy rains, and children have used it as a temporary swimming hole, which could lead to injuries and liability, so the Association requested that the city take action to mitigate the problem. She then asked Brian Holtz to help explain the situation, since he had been involved when the project was built.
Holtz explained, “The history that I know about this is, at the time, the property developer… wanted to keep these improvements private, so that they could build them how they saw fit.” He explained that since the drive wasn’t built to city standards, if the city now chose to take over and maintain the area, it would entail significant costs, which he estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars.
On behalf of the residents of Spring Park Townhome Association, Mari Blanchard addressed the council, saying, “We pay mega bucks to have that snow removed out of our circle… And we don’t know why. We pay taxes, we have curbs, we do everything that we should do, and we just don’t know why that snow removal can’t be done.”
Blanchard asked what would need to be done to make the street meet city standards. Holtz said the thickness of the pavement is probably only about half of what the city requires, and that the width of the street and cul-de-sac is also less than required to be considered a public street.
Regarding the retention pond, council members suggested the Association put up signs to designate “no trespassing” or something similar. The council voted to deny both requests from the Association. Blanchard said she understood, and thanked Holtz and the council for explaining.
The council voiced appreciation for Val Jorgensen, who is resigning from her role as Deputy Clerk for the city. Mayor Archer pointed out that, as was the case last winter, the council will only hold one regular council meeting per month during the months of November through March. The council’s next regular meeting will be Monday, December 13 at 6 p.m., at city hall. The public is welcome.
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