Ramsey bar's plans to hold events raise a ruckus

Gary Gruber, owner of Diamonds Sports Bar and Grill, said he didn't expect to cause so much controversy when he asked the Ramsey City Council to give him permission to hold motocross races, demolition derbies and rodeos a few times a year.

But the controversy surrounding the proposal has made the council's decision anything but easy. Two groups of residents are becoming increasingly vocal about their positions, and two government agencies have raised concerns about the environmental impact of the project.

"I've gotten more lobbying on this than any other issue," said Council Member Matt Look.

At last week's council meeting, the chambers were packed on one side with a crowd wearing Diamonds jackets and cheering on Gruber. On the other side, neighbors of the bar filed in together and talked quietly among themselves.

Council members voted to hire a consultant at a cost of $1,900 to help them determine whether an environmental study is needed before they make a decision on Gruber's proposal. Even though an environmental study was not required by state law for a project of this size, council members decided to seek professional help in response to a petition filed by neighbors with the state's Environmental Quality Board.

The city had also received letters from Anoka County Parks and Recreation Director John VonDeLinde and the U.S. Department of the Interior, which expressed concern because Diamonds is next to a 273-acre park along the federally and state-protected Mississippi River.

Gruber and city staff members are hoping to have a decision about the events by the end of the year, which would require the council to take up the issue at next week's meeting or hold a special meeting.

At the meeting, Gruber presented a second revision to his plan, which included moving the events farther away from neighboring homes and adding more walls of dirt to hold in sound.

"If I can make sacrifices enough to make it workable but appease the general public, that's what I'll try to do," Gruber said.

He will continue to work on plans in case the proposal is approved by the council this year. If the decision is pushed back to the beginning of 2008, Gruber said, it would be difficult for him to meet the deadlines of promoters, who schedule events months in advance and want to know whether they can include Diamonds in their plans.

The council members debated the proposal before they decided to go ahead with considering an environmental study.

Look said he saw the issue as one of balancing interests between different groups of residents. He said he knows there are many people in the city who would enjoy the activities Gruber would provide.

"We have a wide variety of interests and those should not trump each other," he said.

Council Member David Jeffrey also questioned what would happen to the land if the Diamonds proposal was turned down and Gruber went out of business.

"If this doesn't work, you might be looking at something else much worse," he said.

Council Members Sarah Strommen and Mary Jo Olson said their concerns weren't about the activities but the location.

"I've really agonized over this one," Olson said. "I think there are good arguments on both sides."

Lora Pabst • 612-673-4628