City Council Highlights – November 14, 2023
This regular City Council meeting began with a Proclamation to declare Saturday, November 25, 2023, as Small Business Saturday.
There were 20 items on the Consent Agenda; all items passed unanimously.
Council Business consisted of three cases.
The first case was to Introduce Ordinance #23-17: 2024 Schedule of Rates, Fees and Charges. The City annually adopts a schedule of rates, fees and charges, which outlines the fees that the City charges for building construction, business licenses, utility rates, and Planning and Zoning. The main changes to the schedule include updating the International Code Council (ICC) Building Valuation from the 2017 table to the 2021 table. Utility rates are proposed to be increased by 5 percent for quarterly water and stormwater utility billings. Water increases are needed to assist in funding the water treatment plant and stormwater projects. Lastly, sewer quarterly utility charges are proposed to increase by 10 percent to offset the 10.65 percent rate increase the Met Council put in place for 2024. To view the proposed 2024 schedule, visit https://agendas.cityoframsey.com:8085/agenda_publish.cfm. The ordinance was introduced and will return for a Public Hearing on November 28, 2023.
Next was a case to Adopt Ordinance #23-14 - Zoning Code Update. The current Zoning Code has been updated for various issues and topics over the years but has not had a significant overhaul in decades. Over the past year, staff, as well as the Planning Commission and Council, have been discussing various aspects of the existing Code and what should be kept, deleted, modified, or rearranged in the proposed Code. Several parts were modified, consolidated, or condensed. Also included in this work is a new zoning map. Council adopted the ordinance, which will be effective on December 18, 2023.
The final case was to Introduce Ordinance #23-20, Amendment to Chapter 26, Licenses, Permits, and Miscellaneous Business Regulations, Article XVI. Tobacco, Division 2, Section 26-787(6). The current City code does not specifically address the number of tobacco licenses allowed for each property. The City recently received two applications for one location. After consulting with the City attorney, it was recommended that our code be updated only to allow one license to be issued for any given address. The ordinance was introduced and will return for a second reading on November 28, 2023.
To see the entire agenda of this meeting
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