One of the residents who has mounted a yard-sign protest against a new medical-clinic building and parking lot appeared before the Fridley City Council Monday during its open-forum period.

Bruce Nelson read a statement to the council in which he presented six grievances concerning the Fridley Medical Center, part of the Unity Hospital campus which stands across Fifth Street NE from his Osborne Road home.

Nelson's complaints centered on the traffic coming and going from the center's parking lot, as well as snow-removal noise, clinic employees gathering to smoke near his house, and light reflecting from the center's windows.

"These problems arose after a special use permit was granted to Multicare Assocates to build their megaplex in the residential zone that they currently reside in," Nelson said in his statement (see PDF). "We firmly believe that this special use permit was issued [by the city council] with total disregard for the neighborhood affected."

Before Nelson's speech, Mayor Scott Lund stated that the council's open forum is "not a time for people to be uncivil," to appear for political gain, or to simply "get on the air" via cablecasts of the meeting. Afterward, Lund asked for a copy of the statement, telling Nelson, "You've been straightforward, succinct and prepared. You have a level head."

But the mayor also said that "there are a lot of tradeoffs in a fully developed community" and that "some of the things can be mitigated but not to the extremes that you may have in your mind."

Unity Hospital is an asset to Fridley, Lund said. "Someday you may be a customer," he told Nelson. 

"I already have," Nelson said.

Lund cited his own experience living across a park from early-morning noise generated by the city's public works department and promised Nelson, "We'll try to do something for you."