Title
Pursuant to City Charter 6.06, an emergency ordinance for the specific purpose of curing any potential procedural issues with the original enactment of Emergency Ordinance No. 20-36 on November 18, 2020, to facilitate the establishment of a day-use service facility to provide services to the City’s unsheltered population during the Covid-19 pandemic emergency at the site of former Fire Station 51 at 296 West Seventh Street commonly known as “Freedom House.”
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Statement of legislative intent, purpose and findings of the City Council.
WHEREAS, the specific purpose of this Emergency Ordinance is to cure any potential procedural issues with the original enactment of Emergency Ordinance No. 20-36 on November 18, 2020; and
WHEREAS, on November 18, 2020, Emergency Ordinance 20-36 was enacted to facilitate the establishment of a day-use service facility to provide services to the City’s unsheltered population during the Covid-19 pandemic emergency on the premises of former fire Station 51 at 296 West Seventh Street, the said pandemic emergency having previously been declared a state-wide emergency by Governor Walz in Executive Order 20-10 dated March 13, 2020 and a city-wide emergency by Mayor Carter’s emergency declaration dated March 15, 2020; and
WHEREAS, Emergency Ordinance 20-36 contained statements of the City Council’s legislative intent to support its enactment of the Emergency Order, based upon the Council’s findings therein that, essentially, the City’s unsheltered population lacked reasonable access to facilities in which basic services could be provided and in which the unsheltered population could find safety from winter weather conditions during the day when some overnight shelters were not accessible or available during the Covid-19 pandemic emergency; and, that former Fire Station 51, a facility under City ownership could be used to provide services during the day to the City’s unsheltered population during the Covid-19 pandemic emergency but for the City’s T2 zoning regulations which, at that time, did not allow a day-use service and weather shelter facility for the unsheltered either as a permitted or conditional use in a T2 district; and
WHEREAS, for the purposes of this Emergency Ordinance, which is to cure any potential procedural issues with Emergency Ordinance 20-36, the Council’s statements of legislative intent and findings set forth in Emergency Ordinance 20-36, are hereby adopted and incorporated by reference into this curative Emergency Ordinance and are also attached hereto as Exhibit No. 1 for ease of reference; and
WHEREAS, Mayor Carter’s March 15, 2020, Emergency Declaration directed City departments to review ordinance and regulatory requirements that can and should be adjusted or suspended, or to enact emergency regulations to support the City’s residents during the COVID-19 pandemic; and
WHEREAS, in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Council had received recommendations from the Zoning and Planning Administrators and the Directors of the departments of safety and inspections and planning and economic development to take steps to allow former Fire Station 51 to be operated as a day-use civic facility in which services and weather safety can be provided to the City’s unsheltered population during the winter months; and
WHEREAS, the Council was also informed by the Zoning and Planning Administrators that the procedural process necessary to rezone former Fire Station 51 to either a zone classification that would permit a day-use service and weather shelter facility for the unsheltered, or amend the T2 zoning regulations to permit a day-use service and weather shelter facility for the unsheltered, could not be accomplished before the onset of the 2020-2021 winter weather season; and
WHEREAS, the Council also found that the Covid-19 emergency could extend beyond the winter weather season, and, under such circumstances, a day-use service facility was a reasonably foreseeable need for the provision of services for the unsheltered in the event the Covid-19 emergency continued beyond the 2020-2021 winter weather season; and
WHEREAS, the Council further found that it was reasonably foreseeable that the impact of the Covid-19 emergency on the City’s unsheltered population may extend beyond the time of the emergency condition prompting Governor Walz’s Executive Order and Mayor Carter’s Emergency Declaration; and
WHEREAS, the Council therefore found it reasonable and necessary to enact temporary legislation in the form of Emergency Ordinance No. 20-36 to facilitate the establishment of a day-use service facility in former Fire Station 51 in which services for the City’s unsheltered population during the Covid-19 pandemic emergency and, potentially if deemed necessary, for a period of time beyond the end of the Covid-19 pandemic emergency, would be provided in order to protect the health, welfare, and safety of the City’s unsheltered population; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Emergency Ordinance 20-36, the City, on November 24, 2020, entered into a lease agreement with Listening House of St. Paul, Inc. to operate former Fire Station 51, now commonly known as “Freedom House,” as a facility to serve the unsheltered population and began occupying that space to provide such services in January of 2021; and
WHEREAS, on November 5, 2021, a lawsuit captioned West Seventh Street Partners, LLC et al. v. City of St. Paul, et. al., Ramsey County District Court, Case File No. 62-CV-21-5891, was filed which named the City and Listening House of St. Paul, Inc. (“Listening House”) as defendants arising out of the passage of Emergency Ordinance 20-36 and the operation of Freedom House by Listening House; and
WHEREAS, on November 9, 2021, the Plaintiffs in West Seventh Street Partners, LLC et al. v. City of St. Paul, et al. also filed a Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order in which Plaintiffs sought to enjoin enforcement of Emergency Ordinance 20-36 and the closure of Freedom House; and
WHEREAS, the City and Listening House opposed Plaintiffs’ Motion; and
WHEREAS, on December 21, 2022, arguments on Plaintiffs’ Motion for Temporary Restraining Order were heard by the Honorable Patrick C. Diamond, Ramsey County District Court, and taken under advisement; and
WHEREAS, on March 23, 2022, Judge Diamond issued an Order Granting the Temporary Restraining Order but specifically stayed imposition of the Temporary Restraining Order for the purpose of allowing the City time to remedy any potential procedural issues at the time Emergency Ordinance 20-36 was adopted by providing written notice of-and conducting a public hearing on-the adoption of Emergency Order 20-36 in accordance with the requirements of Minnesota Statute § 462.357 subdivision 3; and
WHEREAS, in accordance with Judge Diamond’s March 23, 2022 Order, the Council now seeks to remedy any potential procedural issues with the adoption of Emergency Ordnance 20-36 by ensuring full compliance with the procedural requirements of Minnesota Statute § 462.357 subdivision 3 and thereby cure any perceived issues with Emergency Ordinance 20-36 retroactively to November 18, 2020 in order to temporarily suspend T2 Zoning at 296 West Seventh Street and allow Listening House to use the site to provide services to the City’s unsheltered population due to the COVID-19 pandemic until May 24, 2022, per the original terms of the lease between the City and Listening House; and
WHEREAS, in compliance with of Minnesota Statutes § 462.357 subdivision 3, the City published notice of the public hearing for a curative Emergency Ordinance No. 22-19 in the City’s official newspaper on April 21, 2022, which is at least ten-days prior to the public hearing; and
WHEREAS in compliance with of Minnesota Statutes § 462.357 subdivision 3, written notice of the said public hearing was duly mailed to property owners within 350 feet of 296 West Seventh Street on April 21, 2022, which is at least ten days prior to the hearing, a copy of the said notice and a list of the owners and addresses to which the notice was sent was attested to by, Samantha Langer, and is hereby made a part of the record of these curative proceedings as Exhibit 2; NOW, THEREFORE
THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAINT PAUL DOES ORDAIN
A Curative Emergency Ordinance, reading as follows for the purpose of remedying any potential procedural issues with the November 18, 2020, adoption of Emergency Ordinance 20-36, is hereby enacted for the specific purpose of curing any potential procedural issues when Emergency Ordinance 20-36 was first adopted, as invited by the Court in its Order dated March 23, 2022.
Section 1.
Declaration and Redeclaration of an existing emergency. For the reasons set forth in the foregoing statement of legislative intent and findings of the City Council, which shall also include as well the statement of legislative intent and findings first adopted by the City Council in Emergency Ordinance 20-36 and incorporated by reference into this curative Emergency Ordinance as Exhibit No. 1 and as required by City Charter § 6.06, the Council of the City of Saint Paul hereby declares that the emergency, created by and a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, having previously been declared a state-wide emergency in Executive Order 20-10 by Governor Walz dated March 13, 2020, and city-wide emergency by Mayor Carter’s emergency declaration dated March 15, 2020, and, for the purposes of enacting Emergency Ordinance 20-36 and this curative Emergency Ordinance, existed and continued to exist for the City’s unsheltered population who lack access to facilities in which services and weather safety can be provided during the day and that City officials identified a city-owned facility at 296 West Seventh Street in which services and weather safety for the unsheltered can be provided but were prevented from doing so due to the zoning regulations and the zoning classification applicable to the facility at the time Emergency Ordinance 20-36 was first enacted on November 18, 2020.
Section 2.
Temporary suspension of T2 zoning for 296 West Seventh Street. For the purpose of establishing a day-use service and weather-shelter facility for the unsheltered at 296 West Seventh Street (hereinafter, “Freedom House”) in light of the Covid-19 pandemic emergency and for that purpose exclusively, the T2 zoning classification for Freedom House, as depicted on the Zoning Map of Saint Paul under Legislative Code § 60.303, is hereby suspended the effect of which shall be applied retroactively to November 18, 2020, and to continue as provided under Section 3 of this curative Emergency Ordinance.
Section 3.
Authorized City officials arranged for the use of Freedom House as a temporary day-use service facility and winter-weather sheltering facility for the unsheltered. The appropriate City officials were and are hereby authorized and directed to take steps necessary to continue enforcement of a lease or license agreement which to facilitate the timely operation of Freedom House as a day-use civic facility in which daytime services and weather safety can be provided to the City’s unsheltered population during the current Covid-19 pandemic and beyond if deemed necessary, upon such terms that are deemed prudent or as necessary by law; provided, in no event shall the effective term of such lease or license be greater than eighteen months from the date the original lease-agreement was executed, whose term concludes on May 24, 2022. The execution date of the real-estate agreement shall take place within thirty days of the effective date of Emergency Ordinance 20-36.
Section 4.
Overnight shelter, limited use permitted, no additional authorization required, certain zoning regulations and licensing fees waived. As provided under this section, if in the opinion of the Director of the department of emergency management there is an identified shortage of beds in the City’s overnight shelters for women, their children, or children in their care and custody, Freedom House may be used during the Covid-19 pandemic emergency as an overnight shelter for women, their children, or children in their care and custody.
Under such circumstances, use of Freedom House as an overnight shelter is exempt from the separation requirements for overnight shelters under Legislative Code § 65.157 and, as a civic facility, is exempt from paying any City license fee imposed upon overnight shelters under Legislative Code § 310.09(b). The operator of Freedom House shall otherwise obtain and abide by all licenses required to operate an overnight shelter. For the purpose of this section, the term “emergency shelter” shall have the meaning defined under Legislative Code §65.157.
Section 5.
Responsibility. The Director of the department of safety and inspections shall be responsible for ensuring that the operation and programming provided at Freedom House, pursuant to the real-estate lease or license authorized under section 3 of this Emergency Ordinance, is consistent with the terms of such lease or license. The Director shall keep the Mayor and the City Council apprised of the operations and programming provided at Freedom House on a regular basis or as requested by the Mayor or the City Council.
Section 6.
Effective date. Emergency Ordinance 20-36 was initially intended to be effective as of November 18, 2020, and, with the enactment of this curative Emergency Ordinance, which is intended for the specific purpose of curing any potential procedural issues identified by the Court in the matter of West Seventh Street Partners, LLC et al. v. City of St. Paul, et al., Ramsey County District Court, Case File No. 62-CV-21-5891, and as invited by the Court in its Order dated March 23, 2022, this curative Emergency Order, intended to validate Emergency Ordinance 20-36, shall take immediate effect after its passage and approval as provided under City Charter § 6.11 and shall be applied retroactively to November 18, 2020.