Legislative Hearings

15 West Kellogg Blvd. City of Saint Paul Saint Paul, MN 55102 Minutes - Final Legislative Hearings Marcia Moermond, Legislative Hearing Officer Mai Vang, Hearing Coordinator Jean Birkholz, Hearing Secretary legislativehearings@ci.stpaul.mn.us 651-266-8585 Monday, April 2, 2018 9:00 AM Room 330 City Hall & Court House 9:00 a.m. Hearings Summary Abatement Orders 1 RLH SAO 18-17 Appeal of Linda Huber to a Summary Abatement Order at 1133 BLAIR AVENUE. Sponsors: Henningson Appeal withdrawn by DSI staff as the property was in compliance upon re-inspection. Withdrawn 2 RLH SAO Appeal of Bobby Joe & Catherine King to a Summary Abatement Order 18-19 at 386 AURORA AVENUE. Sponsors: Thao Bobby Jo & Catherine D. King, owners, appeared. (Summary Abatement Order) Supervisor Lisa Martin: we had a complaint of scattered debris on the whole block; other neighbors on the block also received a letter to clean-up the scattered debris & trash along the blvd -Summary Abatement Order was issued on Mar 27, 2018; compliance Apr 3, 2018; inspector: Sean Westenhofer, call if you have questions -an appeal was filed; an inspector went out there this morning & he said that the blvds are cleaned-up; it's abated Ms. King: we have no control of the littering; people just throw things out of their car; Park & Rec had put a barrel on the corner for trash but people still throw things around; we've had 37 years of this; we have no control over it; then, someone brought everything out of the house & put it by the barrel; Parks came & took all the stuff; they also took the barrel away; having the barrel there did help some -we are picking up all the time; we clean our yard; we have 2 dogs; we know we have haters; & Don Walker left the same note on our mailbox last summer; had the same thing in it: "I'm Donald Walker; I own the cul-de-sac;" & we said, "Who cares;"............... I've been a pastor since 1994; I live right; I do what is right; my husband retired from the city; he knows the rules; so, whoever is our hater, we don't know what to say; leave us alone City of Saint Paul Page 1 Legislative Hearings Minutes - Final April 2, 2018 -talked about the dumping that gets thrown onto the blvd in front of their house; they call the city & they come & get it Ms. Moermond: this Order is gone; things are cleaned up; I'm going to grant your appeal - DONE -we checked the computer to see if there's something coming up & there's nothing else Ms. Martin: whenever we get a complaint, we need to check it out; if the whole block has debris, scattered litter, everyone on that block will get a letter telling them to pick it up by a certain date; did you try calling the inspector? Ms. King: yes, but he didn't answer; he doesn't want to talk to us Ms. Moermond: ____ Grant the appeal as the nuisance has been abated. Referred to the City Council due back on 4/18/2018 3 RLH SAO Appeal of Ardis Hafdahl, Halverson and Blaiser Group, to Graffiti 18-18 Abatement Orders at 2103 WABASH AVENUE and 2120 MYRTLE AVENUE. Sponsors: Henningson Ardis Hafdahl & Allissa Gray, Superior LLC, owner, appeared. Supervisor Lisa Martin: -with have a issue with graffiti throughout the City of Saint Paul, specifically, off of University Avenue; all sides of the buildings at 2103 Wabash & 2120 Myrtle are covered & it continues to get worse, not only on the main level but also farther up as taggers crawl up the building (photos on phone) Ms. Gray: we purchased the property last fall; we've submitted for the National Park Service to get on an historic registry, so it won't go through to the HPC until that's approved, probably May 15 or Jun 15, 2018 (seeking national designation); we've submitted our part 2 already; all the plans for the buildings are done, about a $16M redevelopment for the site; the upper floors will have 100% tuckpointing & cleaning & specific types of materials that we can use we've already submitted with our part 2 Park Service application; we plan to be in the ground Jun 1, 2018, which will be more abatement & demo (phase 1); then, we plan on having a 12-month construction period; in the meantime, we have guys there full time, re-securing the interior (artists are going thru constantly); today at 12:30, I'm taking SPPD through to see if they will do training there, probably canine & in turn, they will camp out - make themselves visible -our historic consultant couldn't be here today but may write a letter; we can't paint over the brick; it's not safe to be up there & we can't figure out how the taggers are getting up there; it surely isn't in a safe manner Ms. Hafdahl: those buildings that we can get to we take care of immediately Ms. Gray: we do take care of all of our properties; we don't want to touch this one right now because of the historical side & we'll be doing full tuckpointing, cleaning, re-occupying a bldg that's been vacant for 30 years; so, that's our dilemma City of Saint Paul Page 2 Legislative Hearings Minutes - Final April 2, 2018 Ms. Moermond: come up & tell me which parts of the bldg I'm looking at in the photos; I'm going to describe this just so it shows up in the minutes: -I'm looking at a sort of cream colored wall on ground level; there's dead weeds in front of it & it looks like just graffiti lettering; this side is facing Wabash, more of the 2103 side - Ms. Gray: I think that's been there from before we bought it- it's not new Ms. Moermond: it looks like cinderblock - looks like paint on paint on cinderblock; would it be OK to clean that part off? Ms. Gray: I think they tried to clean some of that off; it wouldn't be a problem to clean that Ms. Moermond: is this a part that's going to be knocked off eventually? Ms. Gray: probably not; green is 30% tuckpointing; red is 100% cleaning & tuckpointing; a lot of the damage is on the upper part; blue is replacement; will email it to you; right now, you're looking at.......... a railroad track Ms. Moermond: so that little section--- there's nothing in the plan that would be affected by correcting that piece of it (?) Ms. Gray: they can paint over that; the brick is the harder part Ms. Moermond: so, the cinderblock section can be abated -next photo - facing Wabash & someone is getting up there unsafely; the word WET tagging, KANE2 & something in red Ms. Gray: that's done overnight; there's no easy way to get up there; maybe climbing gutters; some of these roofs are not all that sound - they've been empty for 30 years Ms. Moermond: where I'm going with this is camera installation across the street -this part that I'm looking at is facing towards the interior - the very top facing Myrtle; a corner component; tagged: the word TREE; spray painting on the door; black lettering with white outline (old); difficult to get to -wherever you see WET, that's brand new -Ms. Gray showed where they were getting in, climbing up & getting out up on top -this one BEKER BUMR-black outline around gray Ms. Gray: I don't know where that one is; we have 11 different bldgs Ms. Martin: a lot of these you can see driving down University looking over at the bldg; we've taken photos of all the bldgs up & down University of all the different graffiti; we've sent copies to the police dept, hoping that at some point, they can figure out who the taggers are Ms. Moermond: I think your best plan is a camera; talk to your neighbor across the street -we can address that one area - the cinderblock; I'm happy to wait with the rest Ms. Hafdahl: we have engineers in there, probably on a daily basis; we occupy the bldg from 8-5 every day; we have tenants in parts of the bldg; the graffiti has increased during the last 40 days City of Saint Paul Page 3 Legislative Hearings Minutes - Final April 2, 2018 Ms. Moermond: what do your tuckpointers say in terms of their ability to deal with this & the timing Ms. Gray: starting Jun 1 with demo & abatement; I can get an answer after our meeting on Thu Ms. Moermond: suggested the possibility of installing impenetrable doors/windows during the course of the $16M renovation -I would want to see all that graffiti abated sooner rather than later in your plan for tuckpointing; remove the graffiti first, then tuckpoint; as long as the graffiti continues to be there, it will only get worse Ms. Martin: noted that some of the companies who've done renovations in the city have hired security to be around during the night Ms. Gray: noted that's why they are bringing in the SPPD; they'll set up their mobile unit & talked about putting a camera & a light out there; & we have our staff there, some are there at 5 am; I'm meeting with SPPD today to understand what they can do for me Ms. Moermond: security is not a bad idea -let's paint the cinderblock wall by May 1, 2018 deadline Ms. Hafdahl: we'll have our staff take care of that Ms. Moermond: the graffiti that's visible now, I'll put an Aug 1, 2018 deadline on that ____ Grant an extension to May 1, 2018 to comply with the graffiti abatement on the cinderblock section of the wall and grant to August 1, 2018 to comply with the rest of the graffiti abatement. Referred to the City Council due back on 4/18/2018 11:30 a.m. Hearings Vacant Building Registrations 4 RLH VBR 18-17 Appeal of Michael Parkey to a Vacant Building Registration Renewal Notice at 969 RICE STREET. Sponsors: Brendmoen Matt Dornfeld spoke with PO/Mr. Parkey and Fire Inspections Supervisor Perucca, Mr. Parkey has agreed to go through the team inspection process and claims he will be code compliant in 60 days or less. He agreed to waive VB fee for 90 days and also advised Mr. Parkey that he cannot be occupying the dwelling w/out first obtaining a CofO and he agreed. Appeal withdrawn. Withdrawn City of Saint Paul Page 4