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The Northwest Quadrant consists of 100 acres and is zoned for mixed uses--commercial, retail, and residential. Apartments could be an element in that redevelopment area. The area of the Tom Thumb hill is also zoned multi-family. Kraus thanked the Planning Commission for its time on this project and for the City of New Brighton. New Brighton is a good city and Kraus said he would like to see it stay that way. Kraus said he had talked with residents and the Council concerning the future in New Brighton. The future does not look really good at this point because the schools are being filled and we are seeing low-income housing coming into the City. Some of that housing that was decent is deteriorating. Undesirable people are coming in. Over one-third of New Brighton’s housing is apartment and rental properties. When the senior citizens’ complex by New Market is complete, and if these other projects are built, one-half of New Brighton could be multi-family. Kraus said that would be a problem for New Brighton. The best apartment building begins to deteriorate after fifteen years. Soon, New Brighton will be like Columbia Heights or Northeast Minneapolis. The City must be very careful with the type of apartments and that the existing apartments will be regulated to protect the citizens of New Brighton. There is a serious problem here, such as police calls and problems at the Family Service Center. The taxpayers should be safe at the Family Service Center. We have more than 1,200 signers to the petition regarding apartments. Kraus asked the Planning Commission to take a very serious look at the type of housing allowed in New Brighton. Kraus stated New Brighton is over its quota of low-income and subsidized housing. New Brighton should not build any more apartments and keep the existing ones regulated. The people in New Brighton do not want any more apartments and are very concerned about what is happening in our schools. Livingston said he would like to respond to Kraus’ comments. Kraus mentioned affordable housing. New Brighton has met the requirement set forth by the Metropolitan Council. New Brighton is lacking high-end housing and is high in affordable housing. The problem is that the Comprehensive Plan sets the zoning. If a proposal comes to the City and the property is zoned for such a project, the Planning Commission must vote for approval or the applicant can sue the City, which it would likely lose. The Comprehensive Plan has recently been reviewed, rewritten, and adopted by the City and has been submitted to the Met Council. To comply with Kraus’ request, the Comprehensive Plan would have to be changed. To change the Comprehensive Plan, Kraus should contact the Council. The Council would have to recommend that the Planning Commission review the Comp Plan. Kraus responded he has let the Council know about his group’s opposition to apartment buildings. Townhouses are not as big a problem. The residents on the south side of New Brighton are feeling insecure about apartments. Schopf stated that property owners have rights. If a person owns a piece of property and it is zoned appropriate to a proposal, is it not unfair to such owners if there is a groundswell against it? Kraus responded that residents have not paid enough attention to zoning in the past. If a property is zoned mult-family, not much can be done to block development. However, the property at Tom Thumb or in the Old Highway 8 Corridor has been rezoned. That rezoning is pending. Things have gotten carried away in Columbia Heights. The taxpayers have been paying three ways. First, they pay to develop the properties and to support programs to take care of the people in those multi-family developments. Third, the taxpayers of Columbia Heights have been paying to tear them down. Kraus said he did not want to see that situation here in New Brighton. Schiferl stated that he wanted the record to show his answers to some of Kraus’ issues. Kraus made statements about multi-family housing, “low” housing, and subsidized housing. Kraus also made statements about undesirable people. Schiferl said he disputed statements about rental housing. Schiferl’s parents will be going into rental property in the area. There are many situations where rental housing is very desirable. Having an entire community that is only owner-occupied homes does not make sense. Picking on rental housing in general is not fair. Kraus also made a correlation between rental housing and “undesirable” people. I:\COMMISSIONS\PLANNING\MINUTES\2000\03-21-00.WPD 2