Make-or-break time approaching on humane society's move

The organization says it may have to leave Burnsville if the city won't approve a zoning variance so it can move into an office and industrial area.

Last update: July 14, 2009 - 9:31 PM

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The Minnesota Valley Humane Society's future in Burnsville may soon come down to a single vote.

After being told at a public hearing on Monday night that the Burnsville Planning Commission does not support the MVHS's request to move to a building in an office park, the nonprofit organization's last hope is finding one more member of the Burnsville City Council to support the move in a vote next Tuesday.

Lynae Gieseke, executive director of the MVHS, was optimistic after Monday's decision that supporters of the move can persuade Council Member Charlie Crichton, Council Member Mary Sherry or Mayor Elizabeth Kautz to join Council Members Dan Kealey and Dan Gustafson in voting for the move. The lobbying that already has taken place will intensify over the next seven days.

"There will be many e-mails and phone calls going out," Gieseke said.

The planning commission voted 4-1 not to allow the move. Its vote is considered to be a recommendation for the City Council. The primary opposition centered on the desire to be true to the city's comprehensive plan. In that plan, the area where the building is located, along County Road 42 at the west end of Burnsville, is zoned for office and industrial use. It is the former home of Maxsun Furniture.

Gieseke called allowing the move a "common sense decision," adding that another losing vote likely will lead the MVHS to leave Burnsville. The MVHS has outgrown its current home along Hwy. 13.

"It would be a shame if we were forced to leave the community we have called home the last 18 years," Gieseke said. "Without this variance I don't see any alternative."

The MVHS has looked at many other sites around the south metro area, Gieseke said, and none come close to the Maxsun building in meeting its needs. The best of the other options, she said, is not located in Burnsville.

DEAN SPIROS

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