City Council fails to ward off potential strip clubs

Tuttle votes against putting

issue on

agenda

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM--The City Council will have to wait until next meeting to consider invoking a moratorium on sexually-oriented clubs because a motion to place the issue on Tuesday's agenda failed to get the unanimous consent of the five councilors.

Councilor Clark Tuttle voted nay, which resulted in a 4-1 vote. Gaveling the meeting into adjournment, Council President Dan Beranek, with a wane smile on his face, turned to Tuttle, saying, "I hope they set up shop beside your law offices, Clark."

The matter was proposed as an addendum to Tuesday's agenda, barely beating the 24-hour advance notice required of a pending addendum.

It was in response to developments in Nicollet, where a total-nudity strip club had been able to set up shop, circumventing the town's ordinances which were pegged to the sale of liquor. The Mirage sells only bottled pop.

The moratorium was suggested as a way to prevent the same thing happening in New Ulm.

"The moratorium is provided for in state laws governing zoning issues," City Attorney Hugh Nierengarten told The Journal. "To my knowledge, it has not been tested in the courts."

The reaction to the defeat of the motion was just one of three contentious moments during a routine first-meeting-of-the-month agenda.

Two others involved requests by developer Don Jorgenson.

Jorgenson sought a zero-foot setback variance at 626 S. Minnesota St., to build a porch replicating the original porch on the house. The property in question has historical designation since it was built in the 1890s.

Councilor Ruth Ann Webster moved to have the matter referred to the Historic Preservation Commission for further investigation because the picture used to validate Jorgenson's request showed the house with a porch dated to the late 1950s.

"The porch pictured doesn't appear to be the same as the one described in our Historic Preservation document," Webster said.

Councilor Ron Fleischmann agreed, saying "there seems to be markings on the house that indicate a larger porch existed at one time."

Councilor Joel Albrecht objected strongly to referring the matter to the commission because "I'm opposed to a month's delay. The Planning Commission, in approving this, had this picture to go by, and that should be good enough."

However, the council voted 4-1 to refer it to the commission.

The fur also flew when Jorgenson's request for a simple lot division of Lot 2, Block 2, in Oak Bluffs First Addition came up for action. It was the third time that the request had come up before the council.

The first request, as drafted, called for attaching the east half of lot 2 to lot 1 and the remaining half to lot 3. Its first time before the council, a motion to approve failed for lack of a second, with all five councilors present.

The request was resubmitted the following meeting. With Beranek absent, the motion failed on a tie vote.

On advice of the city attorney, the request was revised to read "the east 41 feet" of lot 2 which would be attached to lot 1 and the remainder attached to lot 3.

After a sharp exchange between Tuttle and Albrecht and a 3-minute recess to draft a written resolution, the request was approved 3-2, with the proviso that the lot could not be divided again.

In other action, the council denied the Historic Preservation Commission's request for $1,498 to defray the cost of sending three commission members to a national preservation conference later this month.

The council approved a two-year renewal of its agreement with Minnesota Department of Transportation in which MNDOT will provide two-thirds of the municipal airport's direct costs up to a maximum amount.It also entered into a grant agreement with MNDOT for $36,000 in state funds for the terminal re-roof, crack seal and hangar door replacement work completed at the airport.