Title
Memorializing a City Council decision denying an appeal by the Association for Non-Smokers-Minnesota from a decision of the Board of Zoning Appeals granting a variance from the distance requirements for a proposed tobacco products shop at 1724 University Avenue West.
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WHEREAS, on August 6, 2018, Mussie Embaye, d/b/a the “Little Grocery” (hereinafter “Applicant”), duly applied to the Board of Zoning Appeals (hereinafter “BZA”) under BZA File No. 18-092702 for a variance from the strict application of the zoning code’s separation requirements for tobacco products shops in order to open a tobacco product shop at property commonly known at 1724 University Avenue West (PIN No. 332923420005) and legally described as Howard Park, Lots 10 thru Lot 13 in the City of Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota; and
WHEREAS, the applicant’s proposed tobacco product shop would be located 2,600 feet from an existing tobacco product shop. The zoning code requires 2,640 feet of separation between tobacco product shops. Based upon the distance between the existing shop and the applicant’s proposed shop, the applicant requested a variance of 40 feet the separation standard; and
WHEREAS, on August 27, 2018, the BZA, pursuant to Legislative Code § 61.601, duly conducted a public hearing on the Applicant’s variance request where, following a presentation by BZA’s staff which recommended approval of the variance application but before any testimony was taken from the Applicant or any other persons favoring or opposed to the variance application, a discussion ensued between the BZA’s commissioners and BZA staff regarding how the distance between the proposed use and the existing use was measured and, following that discussion, the BZA moved lay over the public hearing for two weeks so that BZA staff and the city attorney’s office could discuss the BZA staff’s interpretation of distance measurements between tobacco product shops; and
WHEREAS, on September 10, 2018, the BZA a...
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