City Council Preview: April 26, 2021

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West St. Paul’s City Council will consider whether to change the sign ordinance to allow murals, plus a union resolution, tweaking the tattoo limitations, a zoning change to allow a liquor store in Doddway Center, and more.

Ongoing Mural Debate

The big item on the agenda is the ongoing mural debate. The city made international headlines after a resident complained on social media about the city enforcing ordinances over a Black Lives Matter fence.

This prompted heated debate at the last Council meeting, where direction was ultimately given to stay the fine until they could hear public comment and have adequate time to discuss it. Then a former mayor put up a Blue Lives Matter fence.

Presumably the Council will have to decide what to do with the impending fines on these fences (though there’s nothing on the agenda about this), but there is a larger conversation about potentially changing the sign and/or fence ordinance. There’s a seven-page memo from the city attorney outlining current code and some of the potential issues. The conversation is narrowly focused on murals, ignoring some of the other issues in the sign ordinance (we outlined a few in our weird sign ordinance article).

Other Items on the Agenda:

• Nancy Raddatz: The Council will approve a proclamation honoring longtime resident Nancy Raddatz who passed away on March 27 (this was skipped when the last meeting was cut short by an emergency declaration).
• Union resolution: Council will again consider a resolution to support union workers at the AT&T store. The resolution didn’t have unanimous support at the last meeting, so it was pushed off due to the emergency declaration.
• Reappointment: After all the committee appointment drama earlier this year, former Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee members Dave Lynch and Robert Gausman will be reappointed.
• Park improvements: The Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee has finished reviewing all city parks and is presenting their recommendations for improvements over the next decade. One interesting item: skate park at the Sports Complex.
• Ice arena: In addition to donating $120,000 to the city for the ice arena, the Sibley Area Youth Hockey Association (SAYHA) will give an update on their plans to upgrade the ice arena during the Open Council Work Session (OCWS).
• Liquor store: Should a liquor store come to the Doddway Center? It would require a zoning change, so Council will discuss it during the OCWS.
• Tattoo tweaks: Current city code severely limits tattoo shops, prohibiting them within 800 feet of schools, churches, daycares, residentially zoned property, and other tattoo shops. That leaves a single, tiny island of space where they can be. Plus, the city only allows two body art licenses at one time, so the city can effectively only have one tattoo shop. We mentioned tattoo shops in our weird ordinances piece, noting that city code mandates they can only operate between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. The Council will discuss potential changes during the OCWS.
• Microblading: There will be a public hearing and a final reading on a proposed ordinance to remove microblading from restrictions for traditional tattoo establishments (also skipped last meeting).

The public can watch the meeting live on Town Square TV or cable TV starting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday (5 p.m. for the OCWS).

If you’re unable to attend in person, you can always use our coloring pages to imagine you’re there.

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