NORTH MANKATO — North Mankato citizens have increasingly been expressing their opinions at city council meetings, and Monday night there was an opinionated resident for nearly every agenda item.

A proposed six-story 101-unit apartment complex adjacent to a residential neighborhood? Too big, according to a neighbor.

The resurrection of a shuttered Belgrade Avenue convenience store? Sounds great, as long as the car wash isn’t spraying and scrubbing into the wee hours of the morning.

City financial support for street-side sculptures? One citizen against. One in favor — as long as it’s connected to the sewer system.

Barb Church asked the council to rein in the proposed next phase of the Marigold development on Belgrade at the foot of the Veterans Memorial Bridge.

Developer Van Moody, who opened the first phase of his development of the long-vacant property a year ago,  unveiled a new project this month that would bring a $16 million rental housing complex to the site.

“I don’t think this particular project is a good fit for the neighborhood,” Church said.

The longtime Wheeler Avenue resident said she isn’t opposed to development of the site, but it should be of a smaller scale to better fit the older one-story and two-story homes it would abut.

Church also said residents who participated in a city-sponsored meeting about revitalizing  Belgrade Avenue favored development that reflects the traditional atmosphere of the small business district. And they favored a transitional area between high-intensity commercial properties, such as a large apartment complex, and the single-family residential areas north and south of Belgrade.

“The buffer is nonexistent as far as I’m concerned,” she said.

The council plans to discuss the project at a workshop next month.

Another, albeit smaller, development on Belgrade should be open by the second half of April.  The closed Happy Dan’s convenience store is currently being remodeled as an Expressway convenience store by new owners Brent Staples and Ed Roozen.

Neighboring business owner Sharon Schaller welcomed the return of the store but asked the council to restrict the hours that the car wash can operate and to prohibit noisy music at the gas pumps like she hears at Kwik Trip stores.

Roozen promised there would be no music blaring, and the car wash won’t open until later in the summer at the soonest. The council agreed to restrict car wash hours to between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Finally, Phil Henry and Brian Mechler offered thoughts on the city’s participation in the Mankato-North Mankato sculpture walk, which temporarily brings dozens of sculptures to the city centers each year and retains a few of the best.

Henry opposed the $9,000 city donation.

“It seems like an awful lot of money for a sculpture, especially after you raised my taxes 5-6 percent,” he said.

Mechler, who operates a roof contracting business on Belgrade, asked about the expansion of the sculpture walk to two more locations this summer. Upon hearing that one would be outside Spinners bar, which sits next to his business, he suggested the sculpture could have a practical purpose for those bar patrons who use his property as a restroom when leaving the bar.

“Make it a urinal,” Mechler said of the sculpture. “That’s all I’m asking, make it a urinal.”