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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetter - Michigan Rentals Incmss c=— MICHIGAN RENTALS, LLC 6c ". C- 6652 Pinnacle Drive•Eden Prairie, MN 553469PHONE 952 - 914- 03579FAX 952 - 947 -4031 Wednesday, March 30, 2011 Mr. Jeff Sargent, Planner City of Columbia Heights 590 401h Ave NE Columbia Heights, MN 55421 -3878 Dear Mr. Sargant I am writing this letter as I will be out of town and unable to attend your meeting on April, 5, 2001 concerning the enclosing of trash containers at multi family properties. I have owned a 12 -unit apartment building located at 647 37th Ave NE since 1998. We have a 4 yard dumpster, located on the back ally. I applaud the city's investigation into finding ways to improve the appearance of the city. I fully support keeping the city and alleyways clean and orderly; however, I do not support the proposed amendment, as I believe that enclosing dumpsters may make the city look worse rather than better. There are two primary issues, snow and lazy residents. The biggest issue is snow. It is impossible to move a 10001b dumpster without a garbage truck. Right now the trash service, after empting the container, places it low on the ground and uses it as a snow plow to make sure that the container is level and that the front of the container is accessible for residents to place their trash into the container. If I am required to build a containment shed, there will be no place to push the snow, as the containment walls will prevent the snow from being pushed off the platform. By the end of the snow season the container will likely be half out of the shed and potentially sitting on an unstable pile of ice. Additionally, your suggestion that a gate /door be added to the containment shed will cause the trash haulers to have to get out of their truck to open and close the gate; I am sure that this will increase the cost of trash collection for the entire city. Another issue is lazy residents. Over the last 14 years, I have sent countless memos to the residents asking for their help in keeping the grounds clean and the trash area clean. Many do help, but many more do not care and find it even a burden to get the trash into the dumpster. The only solution has been for my caretakers and me to actively keep the trash area clean. A containment building will not encourage the residents to be cleaner, and will most likely cause them to just pile up the trash bags in front of the gate rather than expending the energy to open the gate to gain access to the dumpster. I wish I could change human nature, but experience has demonstrated that the harder it is to do something the less likely it is to get done. As I drive around the city alleyways it is obvious that properties other than just multifamily buildings are contributing to the trash problem. The alleys are filled with engine blocks, water heaters, old appliances, old construction waste, etc. that just lays around for years before ever being collected or recycled. It would be nice if, similar to Minneapolis, the over sized stuff was just automatically collected rather than forcing residents to figure out what to do with the unsightly waist. The more restrictions we place on waste collection the bigger the blight will become. Another issue that I have had for years is illegal dumping. My property is located right behind the city garages so you would think that people would be reluctant to illegally dump, yet as recent as yesterday a truck drove up mid day and unloaded a huge pile of furniture and trash right in front of the dumpster and drove away. I know that there are laws that make this illegal, but the challenge is to catch people. A containment building will do nothing to stop these actions. Lastly, my suspicion is that since commercial business like McDonalds have had enclosed trash requirements for some time, someone felt that it would make sense to do the same with multifamily properties. The important difference between these organizations is the relationship to the people depositing trash into the dumpsters. McDonald's has employees I have residents. I have much less ability to influence a resident's behavior. I like Columbia Heights, and the fact that the city has decided to maintain control of waste collection. I would hope that the city would look at ways that make it easier for all residents to have waste collected, and a more aggressive cleanliness policy for all residents of the city. Focusing only on multifamily will not get rid of the engine blocks, old water heaters, or old appliances. ThankVWM7 < Vance Blahnik Manager cc: Gary Peterson Robert Williams Bruce Nawrocki Tammera Diehm Donna Schmitt Walter Fehst