1972-4758rRESOLU'T'ION NOa 4758
RESOLI7TIO1\T DEN~I,ING APPLICATION
FOR A SPECIAL `tTSE PERMIT f'OR TAE
LOCATIOI\T OF A RESTAURANT AT 2208
WEST 88T~I STREET
1~E IT RESOL~~ED by the City Council of the City of Richfieldo Minnesotan
as followvs~
1 o The council herewith. finds and determines o
A o Section 3.3 3 ,: Subdivision ~ , off the ordinance code of the city
permits restaurants and cafes to be located in the general commercial districts
of the city o but only upon obtaining a special use permit as provided in the
ordinance .
L . Section 3.33 a Subdivision 4, establishes standards for the granting
of special use permits for restaurants and cafes in general commercial districts o
C e Section 3 014 ® Subdivision 8 o provides additional standards for the
issuance of special use permits ~nrithin any district of the city.
Do An application has been made fora special use permit to permit
the establishment of a somcalled 'aTaco Eell Restaurant'° at 2208 West 86th
Street. The property involved is in one of the industrial districts of the city.
In the past the property has been occupied by an A & W drivemin restaurant.
That business has been abandoned since 1985 and the structure has fallen
into disrepairo
E o The application calls for the construction of a new' restaurant build®
ing on the subject propertyo A sketch plan showing the location of the proposed
restaurant has been presented to the city and has been reviewed by the planning
commission and city council .
F' o A neva restaurant would be permitted on property within an industrial.
zone only if the same requirements were met as are applicable to the general
commercial district, Consequently the application must be reviewed by the
same standards as are applicable to restaurants in a general commercial district,
with further consideration given to the fact that the proposed restaurant would
be located on industrial. property o
G o The restaurant building being proposed would have an area of
approximately 12 0 088 square feet and would provide seating for about 40
peoples The city uses a standard for off street parking space for restaurants
of one parking space for each 3 seats within the restaur~anto The applicant
proposes to provide 15 off street parking spaces o the~dPeby meeting the ci.ty's
standard off°street parking requirement for patrons with one additi®nal parking
spaced
G 1 ~.
lia The proposed restau~~ant would be located in an area of the city
'which has been commonly recognized as one of the city's problem areas in
terms of economic turnover of businesses ,, business failures o visual cluttero
substandard development an abnormally large number of small restaurants
and traffic congestiono
Io The planning commission of the city has considered the application
for this special use permi..t and has recommended its der~.al
Ja 06th Street on which the proposed restaurant would be located
is one of the most heavily traveled streets in 'the city with a traffic volume
~f ~Oo000 veizicles per days Frequentlyo westbound traffic on that str2eto
which is stopped for the semaphore at 66th Street and Penn Avenue ~ backs
up for more than a block to the east from Penn Avenue, This renders ingress
and egress to and from the subject property very difficult and dangerous during
the peri®d of peak traff~ica The proposal calls for only one driveway leading
into and out of the prop®sed restauranto There would be nothing t® prohibit
traffic movements across the westbound lanes onto and from the eastbound
lanes in an effort t® enter or leave the subject propertyo Past experienced
during the time that the A & W drive~in restaurant was ®perated on the subject
propertyo. has indicated that the traffic generated by a restaurant on the subject
pro-petty has created traffic hazards and traffic congestion in this vicinity of
the subject propertyo The use now proposed w®uld create undue traffic hazards
and traffic congesti®n on 60th Street adjacent to the subject pr®pertya
Ka Adequate off°street parking space is available on the subject
property f®r the patrons ~ but insufficient off street parking space is available
for patrons and employees combined o
Le The planning commission of the city has prepared and presented
to the council a comprehensive municipal plane Such comprehensive plan
indicated that the subject property sh®uld be developed as a mixed land use
area of medium density c®ntaining the following principal types of useso
single family residentialo limited retail small offices and townhouses, The
proposed use is not of the type recommended under such comprehensive muni-
cipal plane
M a The area in which the proposed restaurant would be located has
developed an undue concentration of service stations and restaurants o many
of which are of the 1e Cast®food variety o 'E
1~To The city is faced with mounting problems of guiding future develop°
ment o:~ land so as to insure a safer more pleasant and m®re econ®mical en°°
vironment for residentialo commercial industrial and public activitiese to
promote the public health, safetyo morals and general welfare and t® secure
and achieve a better and more secure tax bases The city has a very limited
amount of undeveloped land still remaining to be developed or redevelopedo
l;t is vital to the city to provide for the development or redevelopment of 1ai~d
~~~
in such a way as to meet these problems . The city is currently engaged in an
attempt to upgrade the development and use of propert~r,in the vicinity of the
subject property and is seeking to avoid and correct prior mistakes. The
granting of a special use permit in this case would have the effect of aggravator
ing the unbalanced character of development in the area here involved and
would tend to compound rather than to correct past mistakes in the development
of this area of the city .
O. The subject property is in one of the industrial districts of the city.
The city has a very limited amount of industrial property which is still subject
to development or redevelopment. In an effort to protect the industrial property
of the city for industrial development and in order to achieve a better balance
in the nature of development in the city, the council has heretofore denied other
applications for the location of restaurants on industrial property in the general
vicinity of the subject property. To grant this application for a special use per
mit would be inconsistent with such prior action and would be contrary to the
general purpose and intent of the zoning code of the city and the comprehensive
plan which has been proposed for the city..
P. The preempting of this property for another small specialty restaurant
would accentuate the already existing imbalance of development within the
city and would be contrary to the health, safety, morals and general welfare
of the community .
2. The application for the special use permit is therefore denied.
Passed by the City Council of the City of Richfield this 24th day of
April , 19 7 2 .
ATTEST:
_~
Thomas J. Mora;tio City Clerk
mg~