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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Ely Area Food Shelf to move

Keith Vandervort
Posted 9/18/14

ELY – The Ely Area Food Shelf should be in their new home next month. The Ely City Council agreed this week with a recent Board of Adjustment vote on granting a conditional use permit for the …

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Ely Area Food Shelf to move

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ELY – The Ely Area Food Shelf should be in their new home next month. The Ely City Council agreed this week with a recent Board of Adjustment vote on granting a conditional use permit for the former Border Country Signs building at 15 W. Conan St.

“They hope to be in there by October,” said Kara Polyner. “The congestion they were causing (at the Frandsen Bank Building) will be done. They are excited to be moving to a much easier location.”

Earlier this month, Food Shelf Coordinator Betty Firth told the Board of Adjustment that she has spent nearly 10 years looking for a suitable place on one level which would meet the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.

The Food Shelf has been using a portion of the basement in the bank building located at the corner of Sheridan Street and First Avenue East. Firth said up to 13,000 pounds of food is moved down steps into the facility each month for distribution. Clients must climb stairs to shop since no elevator is available.

Firth said the Food Shelf maintains thoughtful, conscientious policies regarding clients, volunteers and the surrounding neighborhood, but that hasn’t help alleviate the “not in my backyard” attitude toward the group. Parking, congestion and loitering problems have been a constant complaint from business owners at the food shelf’s current location. Police routinely enforce parking rules on shopping day.

That attitude will be unlikely to change in their new location. Michelle Zollar, who lives next door to the proposed Food Shelf site, expressed her concerns in a letter to the city.

“I would rather not have the Food Shelf next door to my home,” Zollar wrote.

“When this property was originally changed from residential to residential-transition, myself, and all the neighbors (who) objected at that time, were given a list of the types of businesses that would be allowed and what would not,” Zollar wrote. “I think the city of Ely needs to honor what the homeowners were told at the time. We were all concerned about lots of traffic, cars parked all over, noise and property damage. I happen to clean the Frandsen Bank building so I see first hand the mess that’s left once a month.”

Council member Warren Nikkola had issues with the conditional use permit. “That goes with the property,” he said. “If the food shelf ever folds up, that (property) can still be a retail grocery store with unlimited dollars.”

An interim use permit would only be good for 90 days. Nikkola was looking for some way for the conditional use permit to go with the owner and not the property. “This does bother me because it goes on forever,” he said.

City Attorney Kelly Klun said the council can impose other conditions on the permit, such as use only by a non-profit organization. “Technically, (the conditional use permit) will follow the property irrespective of the owner,” she said.

“The alternative is to narrow the conditions enough where essentially it is really for this type of organization or service,” Klun said.

The Board of Adjustment had put the following conditions on the permit: parking ordinances must be followed, no blocking of alleyways, no loitering and the food shelf can only be open to public shoppers up to four days per month.

She said the Planning and Zoning Committee can amend the conditional use permit as they see fit.

Council member Gordon Sheddy questioned the legality of the Board of Adjustments vote where only three members voted while three members abstained. Klun said there was a quorum to hold the meeting and members have the right to abstain from voting if they choose.

Board of Adjustment members Paul Kess and Ryan Callen, who live or own property near the proposed facility in question, abstained from voting, along with Polyner.

Klun will provide more information on adding the non-profit condition to the use permit to the council for their next meeting.

Community Center

Klun and the city’s negotiating committee have had two meetings with the Ely Community Center Foundation. “We have talked at length about ownership and management,” she said. The city’s position is that whoever takes over management of the building, also takes over ownership. “The foundation seems amenable to the fact that they will manage it as well as own it.

They are pushing for a Jan. 1, 2015, target date for transferring ownership of the CC to the foundation.

“We have also talked about a potential grant,” Klun said. Through the recent bonding for the new library and city hall renovation, the city has agreed to maintain the heat in the CC for three more years, at a cost of about $60,000 per year. “If the foundation can look at another heating source they may be able to save the building,” she said. “We are looking at front-loading those fees in order to perhaps give the foundation a match for a heating system.

“I really like the front-loading,” said Mayor Ross Petersen. “I think it gives the building a much better chance.”

No one voiced opposition to the idea.

There were no new proposals brought forth by the deadline this week for other uses for the building.

Other business

In other business, the council:

•Approved a new library security system bid for $10,236 with Brodart Library Supplies and Furnishings;

•Authorized the payment of $17,558 to the Ely Area Ambulance Service for 2014;

•Appointed Mike Weinzierl to serve on the Airport Commission; and

• Approved two new members to the Parks and Recreation Board, Kelly Chick and Kristi Marshall.