Sun Post Editions Brooklyn Center/Brooklyn Park | Seite 12

Page 12 • Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019
Brooklyn Park / Brooklyn Center
post.mnsun.com
Sale of fi rearms restricted in Golden Valley
Sales and repairs moved to
industrial areas, buffers created
around vulnerable, residential areas
By ALAINA ROOKER
[e-mail]
Golden Valley has
changed where fi rearms
can be sold or repaired
within city limits, after
an ordinance was passed
at the city council meet-
ing Feb. 19. Previously,
fi rearms retailers could
be in any commercial
zone, but can now only
operate in industrial
zones.
“The motivation be-
hind that was to move
that point of sale fur-
ther away from con-
centrations of people,”
Planning Director Jason
Zimmerman said of the
zoning change at the
meeting. “More people
coming and going, es-
pecially members of the
public from commercial
zoning districts than
there are in light indus-
trial-industrial zoning
districts.”
He said activity in in-
dustrial areas is mainly
from employees and
trucks sending and re-
ceiving shipments.
Other restrictions in-
clude buffer areas around
parks and schools.
Zimmerman said the
regulations were chosen
based on existing poli-
cies in neighboring cities.
Regulating fi rearms
sales is diffi cult, as mu-
nicipalities are prohib-
ited from regulating
more than what state
law already dictates. Cit-
ies have the power to
shift the areas that sales
are allowed, but changes
must be “reasonable,
nondiscriminatory, and
non-arbitrary” in nature.
Zimmerman said state
law does not specifi cally
defi ne what those terms
mean.
“It’s up to you as a
council to decide if what
you’re proposing meets
those standards,” he
said.
Zimmerman said, per
his discussion with City
Attorney Maria Cisner-
os, fi rearms could never
face a full ban.
Buffers
The ordinance also
requires a certain dis-
tance between a fi rearm
retailer and vulnerable
areas (750 feet), residen-
tial properties (375 feet),
and other fi rearms shops
(1,000 feet).
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A nniversaries • C ongratulations • G raduation • E ngagements • W eddings
BIRTHDAY
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Cake and refreshments will be served.
BIRTH
Walters
Jim and Judy Walters of Anoka announce the birth
of their son, Jack John Walters, on Jan. 15, 2018. He
weighed 8 pounds, 5 ounces and was 21 inches long.
Big sister Bella Mae welcomed him home.
ANNIVERSARY
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The family of Tim and Betty Barthel of Edina invite
you to celebrate their 50th anniversary at DiVanni’s
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Vulnerable areas were
defi ned by the city’s
planning
commission
as “those uses where
vulnerable populations
would most likely gath-
er— namely schools,
parks, libraries, religious
facilities, and communi-
ty centers.” These areas
fall into the “institution-
al” land designation, and
so the buffer is in place
for any area where insti-
tutional use is allowed.
A second, smaller buf-
fer will be in place for ar-
eas with a “residential”
land designation. Buf-
fers will also be in place
for areas that allow for
multiple uses, so long as
it is stipulated that the
use could be institution-
al or residential.
The buffers will be
in place regardless of
whether the institution
or residence is within
city boundaries.
Two other buffer sizes were considered
for vulnerable and resi-
dential areas, one op-
tion at 500 and 250 feet,
and the other option at
1,000 and 500 feet, re-
spectively. A poll of the
planning commissioners
had found that the ma-
jority would prefer the
1,000/500-foot buffers.
However, the commis-
sioners did not know
if the maximum buf-
fer size would be rea-
sonable as required by
state law since it would
be extremely limiting
on where fi rearm sales
could be conducted.
The council members
agreed that the 750/375
foot buffer was the most
ideal. This leaves ap-
proximately 11 proper-
ties that could host fi re-
arm sales.
Mayor Shep Harris
asked Zimmerman how
changing land uses in the
future would affect the map, using the example
of new residential hous-
ing in the Zane Avenue
area. Zimmerman said
the buffers would shift to
refl ect the 375 feet need-
ed for the new homes.
However, he noted that
if a fi rearms retailer had
set up shop in the area
before the zone change
was made, the retailer
would be allowed to con-
tinue.
Likewise, rezoning an
area industrial or light
industrial would create
more opportunities for
fi rearm sales.
Walz state covers an even great-
er share of public school
costs, reducing the need
for school boards to keep
going back to their voters.
Rural districts have a poor
track record in those ref-
erendums because of their
lower household incomes
and property values.
—Restoring local gov-
ernment aid for cities and
program aid for counties
to 2002 levels. Rural cities
and counties use the aid
to hold down property
taxes. “Local government
aid is not that big a piece
of the state budget but it
has a huge impact in terms
of helping communities
across the state thrive,”
Peterson said.
—Launching a $70
million “moonshot” to
ensure that all rural Min-
nesota households have
high-speed internet access
by 2021.
—Increasing access to
affordable child care for rural families to remedy a
shortage that forces many
to drive long distances to
get it and makes it harder
for rural employers to hire
the workers they need.
—Compensating farm-
ers with a $50 per-acre
property tax credit for
land taken out of produc-
tion to meet the state’s re-
quirement that they plant
buffer strips between their
fi elds and watercourses to
fi lter out pollution.
Groups that lobby for
Minnesota’s cities, coun-
ties and schools are opti-
mistic that the two sides
will resolve their differ-
ences.
“Senator Gazelka talks
about the value of educa-
tion, as do other senators,”
said Fred Nolan, executive
director of the Minnesota
Rural Education Asso-
ciation. “So I think they’ll
fi gure out a way to be able
to make sure that greater
Minnesota thrives.”
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11
over $2 billion from the
current budget, which
runs through June 30. It
includes nearly $1.27 bil-
lion in tax increases for the
general fund. That doesn’t
include the gas tax in-
crease, which would pump
$1.9 billion annually into
a separate highway fund
when it’s fully phased in.
He also proposes to pre-
serve a tax on health care
providers that’s due to ex-
pire at the end of the year.
His budget doesn’t count
that as a tax increase, but
Republican leaders argue
that it is.
Some highlights for
greater Minnesota in-
clude:
—Boosting the state’s
basic per-pupil aid formu-
la by 5 percent so that the
Supt.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9
Auburn, Washington, and school psy-
chologist experience in the state of Wash-
Additional restrictions
Other
restrictions
were included in the or-
dinance. Firearms and
ammunition may not be
displayed in the windows
of a shop and windows
must be transparent so
See Guns , Page 24
ington and in Blue Earth to the super-
intendent role and duties at Osseo Area
Schools. McIntyre earned his superinten-
dent license from the University of Min-
nesota, and he holds a master’s degree in
education and a specialist certifi cate in
school psychology and a bachelor’s de-
gree in psychology and biology.
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april 27, 2019 • 11:00am-2:30pm
southdale YMCA, edina