Car dealer needs agreement with neighbor to build store in Hudson

By Randy Hanson

Despite their inability to see eye-to-eye so far, Robert and Laura Popowski and the general manager of a car dealership that wants to locate next door to the Popowskis say they can work things out.

"We have never been opposed to a car dealership and are very willing to work with Mr. Kremer and Rudy Luther," the Popowskis said in a written statement faxed to the Star-Observer last week. "We are trying to work with Mr. Kremer and Rudy Luther to find a solution which best fits the city's overall plans for future development of this area."

The Popowskis own the house just north of a 15-acre site on Carmichael Road that is the proposed location of Hudson-River Falls Chrysler, now located in River Falls. John Kremer is the general manager of the dealership. Twin Cities car dealer Rudy Luther is one of the owners.

The project was at least temporarily delayed Aug. 16 when the Hudson City Council withheld a zoning permit the dealership needs to start construction.

At that meeting, the Popowskis through their lawyer Bill Gilbert objected to the height of the proposed building and said the plans didn't show adequate screening between their house and the car lot.

But, Gilbert said, the Popowskis are willing to forget about the lack of adequate screening if the city will extend Center Drive east from Carmichael Road (on the north side of their property). Gilbert also asked the council to require construction of a frontage road from Hanley Road to Center Drive on the east side of Carmichael Road.

It was the first the council had heard of the proposal and the continuing discord between the Popowskis and the car dealer exasperated Mayor Jack Breault.

The mayor recommended that the council postpone action on The Luther Company's request for a conditional use permit until the company reaches an agreement with the Popowskis.

"I'm embarrassed that it got this far," he said of the request for the permit, which would allow an automobile dealership in a B-2 general business district.

The council went along with Breault's recommendation and the mayor vowed that the issue won't be on a council agenda again until the Popowskis and The Luther Company have settled their differences.

Kremer says he's optimistic that an agreement can be reached.

"I don't think the issue is insurmountable. We're working on it right now," he told the Star-Observer recently.

According to Kremer, the difficulty is that the Popowskis want his company to either buy their property or put a road into it.

"And since we don't want to do either one of those things, they then have raised quite a few other issues about the site," he said. "When we sit down and try to discuss with them how to properly screen our property from their property they never will tell me what's satisfactory and what's not satisfactory for them. They just say they'd like us to put in a road or buy them out."

On Aug. 12, the Hudson Plan Commission, on a 4-to-3 vote, recommended giving the dealership a conditional use permit if it provides an easement for a frontage road ending at its north property line. The Plan Commission didn't feel the city could require a frontage road through the Popowskis' property because it isn't within the city limits.

Other conditions for approval of the dealership recommended by the Plan Commission were:

- Reducing the slope on a berm that would face the Popowskis' house to less than 3:1;

- Planting at least 6-foot evergreen trees every 10 feet, and off-center, on the berm;

- Final approval of the development plan by the Plan Commission and the City Council;

- An engineer's review of the potential of flooding on the Popowskis' property;

- Construction of a frontage road to Hanley Road. (The property owner to the south, HAH Enterprises Inc., also must agree to allow the frontage road across its property);

- The city receiving easements for storm water ponds on the dealership property;

- Seeding the stockpiles of soil on the south half of the property after the grading is completed.

Earlier this summer, the Popowskis objected to the city's rezoning of northern 150 feet of the dealership's property from one-family residential to general business. The residential zoning would have kept the car lot farther away from the Popowskis' property.

Screening the dealership from the Popowskis' view has been an issue since the dealership was first proposed. And it remained an issue at the City Council's Aug. 16 meeting.

Alderman Dean Knudson was unhappy that The Luther Company's latest plans show a building 5-1/2 feet higher than was previously proposed.

Knudson said the car dealers knew the Popowskis were already concerned about the height of the building.

"Now it's gotten worse, which is about as in-your-face as you can be," Knudson said. "My flexibility starts to run out. This isn't OK. I don't think you have mitigated the impact on the residence next door."

Kremer says the dealership was forced to provide a quick estimate of the building height when it went to the city for rezoning in June. Subsequent engineering work showed that the ideal height for the building was 5-1/2 feet higher, he said.

"They asked us for an estimation and we gave it to them. Now it's coming back to haunt us," he said.

Kremer said the height of the building doesn't have anything to do with how much of it the Popowskis will see, anyway.

"We can screen the building very efficiently with pine trees and berm height," he said. "We keep coming back to that and asking them how much of the building they feel is acceptable for them to see."

He doesn't think he should be obligated to screen the entire building since the Popowskis can look out their west windows and see the Fairfield Inn and Holiday Express hotels. "But we certainly could if that's what the City Council says we ought to do," he added.

The Luther Company already has removed a row of parking spaces from its plans in order to provide more screening between the car lot and the Popowskis' house.

John Giudicessi, a lawyer for The Luther Company, told the City Council it is troublesome for the company to have to reach an agreement with the Popowskis in order to develop the car dealership. It allows the Popowskis to dictate the terms of the agreement, he said.

Knudson didn't sympathize with the insinuation that the dealership is being held up by the Popowskis. He said the Popowskis will have to live with the development that goes in next to their house.

In the statement given to the newspaper, the Popowskis said they are concerned about the elevation of the property to the south of them and how that will affect their property.

Excess dirt from the Target store property was hauled to the site of proposed car dealership before The Luther Company bought it.

The Popowskis also said they have concerns about road easements and access to Center Drive.

"These are issues that we feel need to be considered before development begins to the south," they said.

Kremer said The Luther Company would like to do the site preparation and put in the footings for the building before the ground freezes this winter. Work on the building would begin in January or February and be completed in April or May, he said.

"It's not slowing us down this month," he said of the lack of city approval to go ahead with construction. "But if we don't get this resolved in the next couple of months, then it could be a problem."

Kremer, who lives in Hudson, said Hudson-River Falls Chrysler currently employs 23 people. He said he expects employment to double within the first year of the dealership's move to Hudson.