1968 02 12The Chanhassen Village Council held a Public Hearing on February 12,
1968, at 8:00 P.M. Mayor Coulter called the Hearing to order.
On a motion made by Councilman Hill and seconded by Councilman Bennyhoff
that the continuation of the,February 5th meeting be continued on
Monday, February 19th at 8:00 P.M. The following voted in favor
thereof: Councilmen Klingelhutz, Hill, Bennyhoff, and Pearson. No
negative votes.
The newspaper notice of the Public Hearing was read. Mayor Coulter turned
the Hearing over to Councilman Klingelhutz, acting Mayor. Acting Mayor
Klingelhutz read a letter from Tel- E -Lect requesting the rezoning dated
December 29, 1967. He then explained the purpose for calling the Public
Hearing.
Councilman Hill had requested that after the introductions were made he
would like to make a statement as follows:
"I am Hibbert Hill, a Councilman of Chanhassen Village. We are here
tonight to discuss zoning of some 60 acres of land which was part of
the old Village of Chanhassen, and which lies between Highway #5 and
the railway tracks. This land is in Hennepin County and in the Eden
Prairie School District. It is not presently zoned for industrial use.
The reason that we are discussion this question-now is that the Tel- E -Lect
Co., based in Bloomington, desires to move a part of its operation to
the land in question, and to sell the remainder of the land to other
industries not now named.
We, the Council, propose to accomplish the zoning of this land by adopting
an ordinance which would apply everywhere in the Village,_but,which at
this time would not change present zoning:except:on the 60 acres in
question.
I.have -been consistently in opposition to.the zoning we are considering
tonight.
Adoption of this kind of ordinance is an important move, for it determines
the surroundings in which the people of this Village will have to live.
It.will determine the character of the future Village, and the value of
its residential properties.
I have here a fat green book entitled "A Handbook for Minnesota Villages ".
It is published by the -- League of Minnesota Municipalities. It contains
the wisdom distilled from the experience of many years of good, and bad,
village government in Minnesota.
The records of the League show that zoning, particularly ill conceived
zoning, is a fertile source of trouble, and of many lawsuits. Therefore
this book emphatically - advises that:
1. Zoning is a matter to be approached with care and deliberation.
2. Experts should be employed to assist in the formation -of a zoning
plan, and in the rules for its administration.
3. A Planning Commission should be appointed. It should prepare a
tentative plan, and discuss this plan widely.with the public,
in public hearings and otherwise,- before adoption.
In the present case we have violated every -one of these precepts —
We did not proceed with care and deliberation. At its meeting of January
22, 1968, -'the Council directed its attorney to prepare an ordinance,
satisfactory to the Tel- E -Lect Co. which, without public hearing, it
was intended to adopt on February 5, two weeks later. Fortunately, our
attorney -found that.a public hearing was necessary. A hearing was
hastily for the earliest date possible, February 12.
The minimum possible notice was given, a single uninformative publication
in the Minnetonka Herald.
The Council did not seek expert advice. It did not even send copies
of the.proposed ordinance to its Planning Committee for comment and
recommendation. I found that on January 27, three days after the notice
of hearing had been published, the Chairman of the Planning Committee
knew nothing about the whole affair. He had not been consulted. He.
had not received a copy of the ordinance. He did not know that a hearing
had been called. And, parenthetically, he let me have a blast for my
part, as a member of the Council, in by- passing the Planning Committee
in this and other matters.
This Council did not, as the League recommends, hold public hearings
and discuss its intentions.with the public. In fact, it gave no notice
of any kind that tonight's hearing is on an ordinance of general applicatiol
Then, having disregarded all the advice available, the Council did, as I
have said, instruct its attorney to prepare an ordinance which would zone
the land in question to the satisfaction of Tel- E -Lect Co.
This our attorney proceeded to do in a very literal manner. With the
Edina ordinance relating to Planned Industrial Districts as a base, he
sat down with.Tel- E -Lect Co. and made modifications in the Edina ordinance
until it was satisfactory to Tel- E -Lect. The ordinance so modified is
the ordinance you are asked to comment on tonight. I suppose very few
of you have seen it, and fewer of you understand what is in it.
The Edina ordinance is a document which was written with care and
deliberation. It was written by experts after much public discussion.
Under it, in the course of about 5 years, most of the land in Edina
available for industry has been developed. The ordinance has been
attractive to industry, and the industry which has been attracted is an
asset to the primarily residential community of Edina.
The ordinance we are considering is in large part the Edina ordinance
verbatim But in our ordinance a number of key paragraphs have been
rewritten.
The Edina ordinance is written so that its parts are compatible within
the .ordinance, and so that they are compatible with related village
ordinances such as the Edina building code. When such a document is
hastily rewritten, booby traps develop. For example, the Edina ordinance
prohibits noise exceeding certain levels as measured with specified
instruments. The modified ordinance, as proposed for Chanhassen, wipes
all this out, and simply prohibits "objectionable" noise.
The apparent.effect of this.is to substitute the aging ear of a Councilman
for a scientific instrument, which does not seem to me to be much of an
improvement.
But what is not so apparent is that the effect goes further than this.
An industry knows how much noise it makes. In the present case it would
not have been necessary to change the Edina ordinance if the Tel- E -Lect
Co. felt that it, and other industries it hopes to establish on the site
in question, could, or wanted to, meet the Edina requirements. The
Edina ordinance clearly warns an industry to stay away if its operations
require more noise than the specified allowable. The rewritten ordinance
invites it to come in, and then to squabble about the question. What
is "objectionable" noise is endlessly debatable; an instrumental
measurement of so many decibles is not.
A great deal has been made of the tax return that.Tel- E- Lect's proposal,
will bring to the Village. The bald facts are that we do not have the
information required to estimate this figure, and that the figures
which have been bandied about give no consideration to the possibility
that the increased cost of Village services and the deterioration of
surrounding property values may exceed the return. And, of course, we
will not in any case receive the school taxes.
Public Hearing February 12, 1968, Page 3
Tel- E -Lect has been extremely reticent about supplying us information,
especially financial information. They have not supplied us firm plans.
What little information they have supplied us in writing has been very
carefully guarded.
Tel- E -Lect has a substantial manufacturing plant in Bloomington. They
have verbally told us that it is not intended to move this plant to
Chanhassen now, and that there are no definite plans for so doing in the
future. In fact, they have carefully warned us that they may not move
this plant here, but may sell the land reserved for it to others.
Tel- E -Lect has a subsidiary operation in Minnetonka Village where cranes
and earth boring machines manufactured in Bloomington are mounted on
trucks and tractors brought to the site by their owners. We have been
told that there may be.200 such machines on the site awaiting installation
of equipment. The Minnetonka operation looks very much like a contractor's
storage yard, trucks and tractors parked where there is room for them,
cranes and boring rigs projecting above the partial screen of galvanized
iron, unmounted equipment lying about, badly stacked lumber projecting
below the screen, buildings shabby. Tel- E -Lect has told us that this
operation will be moved to Chanhassen.. How much the investment in the
new plant will be they have not told us, but on the face of it the
investment will not be large.
At its meeting of February 6, the Planning Committee did at last receive
information on this project, from Tel- E -Lect, and from others. On the
basis of this information the Planning Committee (1) disapproved the
Tel- E -Lect plans._ Their action is purely advisory to the Council. The
Council may disregard them if it desires to,do -so.
Now finally, perhaps you are thinking that what I have said may have
been exaggerated for effect. It is not.. All.that I have said about the
actions of the Council.is'plainly set forth in the Minutes and.the .
correspondence is the Council's file. Some of the statements I have
ascribed.to Tel- E -Lect are also in the Minutes or the files of the Council,
some of them were verbal statements made to the Council in open session,
but not recorded."
Attorney Larson stated that he would like to.comment on Mr. Hill's
statement. -I went to Edina and-.picked up their ordinance. I then
compared the two ordinances - Edina's and the.one prepared by the committee
The ordinance was copied verbatim three changes which related
to: #1 height, #2 outside storage #3- noise. I met with Mr. Toensing
on January 30 and reviewed the ordinance with him. At no time was his
building project. discussed. Mr..Toensing did say the ordinance was tough.
Councilman Pearson quoted and compared different..-noise decibel.:segments.
Bob Reichert, Chairman of Planning Commission,-stated that the Planning
Commission did have a request from.Tel- E -Lect that the land be zoned
Industrial. At that time they appointed Ed Hjermstad to follow up on
the project. In reference to poor communications, I feel this is our
fault as much as the Council, we-had a member from the Planning Commission
present at all the meetings regarding Tel= E -Lect. I feel that the
ordinance is an excellent one, if a community has.spent two years in
preparing this ordinance, I feel it should be_good.enough for this
community.
The motion recommending to the Council approval of Tel -E- Lect's plan
which failed.to pass failed only because the-Commission did not have
time to study-the-project. There was no- motion made in reference to
the.Industrial Ordinance.Reichert stated that there were several.
members present and that if the Council wished they could poll--each
member.
Ed Hjermstad Hjermstad.stated that he has followed the Tel- E -Lect project
from.the beginning. He stated that Edina found out they had to have
industry; - I have walked over-the 60-.acre tract; the proposed building
would:be 45 -feet in height; Industrial Park is-tremendous;-.fail to.:
realize -the objections to outside-storage; Tel -E -Lett will.not move out
here unless they have outside..storage;_Been through all the operations
of.NW.Tel- E -Lect; Been at every meeting and have never heard.Tel- E -Lect
say.that.they. would move only NW .Tel- E - Lect to Chanhassen on site in
discussion and then.- sell.off remaining.property,.they always implied
they:.would use the entire 60 acres.
Mr. Toensing .- Tel- E -Lect Comments _on a few things;
#1 - Ordinance was drawn by.Russ.Larson,.I:never saw the ordinance until
it was presented tome.
#2 - Our intent if the ordinance passes_we.will build the facilities for
the NW Tel- E- Lect_plant in Chanhassen-in-1968-and we will-guarantee that
if.the.business continues to improve we will move-the main.Tel -E -Lett
plant no other.place but to Chanhassen. Toensing stated that-the.total
investment of the entire project would be.$5;000,000. The investment
of the first phase,.bui.lding only would-be $400,000.
Property owners within 200 feet - Dimler No objection._ Stating
that Eden Prairie fought industry until they..realized they had to.have
it.
Ray-.Kerber Property abutting the proposed site: No objections._
There is so.much.noise.generated from Highway #5 the noise factor will
not be any problem. I have no objections as long as they stay off my
property.
Wally Kerber No objections— Stating that as far as.height.he could see
no problem.further.stating that he has.one silo 55 feet in height and
four.silo's.at 50 feet.
Herb.Bloomberg Owns property west of Highway #101._ His main objection
was to the height and.set back of the building. But stated he does not
object to Tel- E -Lect coming into the Village.
Bill Huskins Concerned with the noise factor. Works.for NW Airlines
and s'tating� the problems they have with noise when jets take off and land.
Attorney L. J. Moriarty Attorney for Ken Biersdorf and Vern Gagne
owners of tract of land. Stating that this Council should decide two
things: l) Is_this tract suitable.for heavy - industrial. 2) If it is
suitable then zone it as such. Discuss nothing further until decision
has been made.
Dean Montgomery Stating that -the Village should set up.an ordinance
with teeth and we should not get carried.away with the tax base.
Martin Ward - Attorney Questioned:how.this ordinance will effect other
property in the Village. Questioned the acreage required. . _ .
Tom Hodgson Thought the Village should take their time in making their
decision. Industry must come, but we should be ready for.them with a
good sound ordinance.
Public Hearing February 12, 1968, Page 5
1
1
Frank Moulton Stated that zoning Public Hearings concern all citizens
not only those within 200 feet. He stated that this Village should be
very careful as to how they zone certain pieces of property taking into
consideration noise and smell and should not make the mistakes that
a neighboring community has made.
Adolph Tessness Cited what this would bring into the Village in taxes.
Further stating that this property is in the Eden Prairie School District,
it will always be in the Eden Prairie School District regardless of what
goes � there.
Dean Scheff Stated that everyone seems so concerned about height, isn't
it much better to have neight than complete sprawl.
Martin Ward Stated that there are many buildings in the Village right
now that are 60 feet and over and further stating that the peak of his
house is 33 feet high.
Acting Mayor Klingelhutz Stated he had been invited to attend a meeting
of the Chamber of Commerce regarding Tel- E -Lect but was unable to attend
because of another meeting and he asked what the outcome was. Councilman
Pearson stated he attended the meeting and it was a unanimous vote
endorsing Tel- E -Lect to bring their business to the Village of Chanhassen.
The four points that were changed in the Planned Industrial Ordinance
were discussed. The only point of discussion was the outside storage.
Tom Hodgson Stated that he talked to Eden Prairie and they indicated
that they might change the zoning on the property just east of the
property in concern to S -1 Light Industrial, it is presently zoned
Heavy Industrial.
Acting Mayor Klingelhutz Thanked all those who came and stated that
there will be no decision tonight.
TIME: 10:30 P.M.
in lhut
Village Clerk
L