PAISLEY PARK MUSEUM: NOT SO FAST
http://www.swnewsmedia.com/chanhass...cle_9a230761-d80b-555d-8e2d-81e38788e126.html
Paisley Park museum plans were put on hold Oct. 3 when the Chanhassen City Council voted to table a plan to rezone Prince's property on Audubon Road.
After debating the topic for more than 3-½ hours the council voted 3-2 to table the plan.
Councilors Dan Campion, Elise Ryan and Bethany Tjornhom voted to table the motion. Mayor Denny Laufenburger and Councilor Jerry McDonald voted against.
While the council expressed support for Paisley Park becoming a museum, councilors had reservations about the process and sought more details about how the museum would affect nearby residents and traffic in the vicinity of Highway 5 and Audubon Road.
The vote derails plans for opening Paisley Park to public tours later this week.
Tours of Paisley Park were scheduled to begin Oct. 6.
“I think we have one chance to get this right,” said Councilor Bethany Tjornhom, who said the city hasn't had adequate time to assess the impact to the community.
The city has until Dec. 23 to act on the rezoning request, according to the city's legal counsel. If no action is taken by then the rezoning request would be approved.
About a half dozen residents addressed the council Monday, most expressing support for the museum plan but also concerns with the rush for approval.
Several residents said opening the museum within six months of Prince's death seemed too soon.
"It's really going to impact people's lives," said Chanhassen resident Latisa Dyer. "Take time to understand how something this big is going to impact the community."
A Bremer Trust representative said that there are not current plans to install an opaque fence around Paisley Park to deter pedestrian traffic.
Mayor Denny Laufenburger questioned whether tabling the matter would accomplish anything. He said Bremer Trust and the operator of the museum have been responsive to city concerns.
Councilor McDonald said he was concerned that some details may not be able to be worked out even by the December deadline for taking action.
Joel Weinshanker,
the managing partner of Graceland Holdings LLC, the group that will manage Paisley Park, said work has been ongoing to prepare Paisley Park to open. An interior drive has been completed to help keep traffic moving through the site and not backing up traffic on Audubon Road. Many employees were hired after 600 people showed up to a job fair last month in Chanhassen.
Weinshanker said that the operator is discouraging flowers and posters on the fence outsideof Paisley Park and that has caused pedestrian traffic to drop dramatically in recent days.
However, during the public comment period several people expressed a desire for there to be a place to allow fans to place tributes to pay respects to Prince.
After the vote councilors said they would like to see more comprehensive details for traffic and pedestrian safety before reconsidering the museum proposal.
So is LA, though-think about all of the things to do there-I got to go twice-and it was wonderful. They could do a whole Michael Jackson tour and shuttle people around to important spots in his life-and then spend the last day going by bus to Disneyland, maybe Universal.