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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-15-18-WS -A�,HILLs Approved: November 13, 2018 CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION OCTOBER 15,2018 5:00 P.M. - ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, Mayor Grant called to order the City Council Work Session at 5:00 p.m. Present: Mayor David Grant; Councilmembers Brenda Holden, Dave McClung and Steve Scott Absent: Councilmember Fran Holmes (Excused) Also present: City Administrator Dave Perrault; Public Works Director/City Engineer Sue Polka; Eric Zweber, WSB; City Planner Jane Kansier; Finance Director Gayle Bauman; Communications Coordinator Dawn Skelly; and City Clerk Julie Hanson Mayor Grant requested Item I be added to the agenda to discuss Arden Hills Notes. 1. AGENDA ITEMS A. Tobacco Vendor Public Comment City Clerk Hanson stated at its work session in August, the Council discussed amending City Code pertaining to increasing the tobacco sales age to 21 and regulating the sale of flavored tobacco in the City. Kristen Ackert from the Association for Non-Smokers MN was present at the August work session and provided a presentation and statistics. The Council directed staff to move forward with a proposed ordinance amendment which will be addressed at a public hearing at the November 13, 2018, regular City Council meeting. City staff reached out to the five local businesses that are licensed to sell tobacco in Arden Hills and invited them to the October 15 work session should they wish to provide public comment. It was noted a Notice of Public Hearing will also be published in the Bulletin ten (10) days prior to the public hearing, as is also required. Mayor Grant asked if there were members of the public that had comment regarding the proposed ordinance amendment. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2018 2 Ted Brausen, Brausen Enterprises/Arden Hills Shell, explained he has been at this location for 50 years and loves Arden Hills. He indicated he has always appreciated the fact that Arden Hills allows him to run his own business. He questioned why the City was getting involved in an issue regarding personal rights. He anticipated that those under 18 would travel to another community to make their purchases which will affect his business regarding the purchase of gasoline,pop and other convenient sale items. He stated he was concerned about the sale of tobacco to minors but recommended the tobacco sale age be regulated by the State and not by individual cities. Councilmember Holden questioned how much of a loss in sales Shoreview stores have had since they changed their tobacco age. Mr. Brausen commented he has a friend in Shoreview and noted the friend's tobacco sales were down 4% to 5%. He believed that the proposed change was not the right move for the City. He explained the flavored tobacco issue was another concern. He commented further on the updates that would occur at his Shell station noting he would be investing $2.5 million in his site. Steve Rush, Holiday Stationstores, stated he has one store in Arden Hills. He thanked Ted for hitting many of his concerns. He explained retailers are not the source of tobacco products for underage individuals. He reported his store does a great job training its employees to ensure sales do not occur to minors, noting all individuals under 40 were carded. He commented the proposed ordinance amendment would be a costly expense to his business due to the computer software changes that would be required. He feared that the proposed age change would cause confusion amongst his employees that work at several different Holidays throughout the metro area, given the fact some stores would continue to have a legal age of 18. He indicated a flavor ban including menthol, would be devastating. He commented further on the trickle-down effect a flavor ban would have on overall sales. Mayor Grant asked how the Holiday store on Highway 96 was doing. Mr. Rush explained he was a lawyer and lobbyist but understood this store did quite well and wanted things to remain as is. Susan Sindt, Simply Vapor, explained she owned an e-liquid cigarette manufacturing company that has been in operation since 2010. She reported her product was sold at a tobacco shop in Arden Hills. She discussed vapor products with the Council and indicated vapor products were a safer alternative to cigarettes. She commented on the appeal of flavored vapor products and described how an age change would impact the vapor market. She encouraged the Council to consider how flavored vapor products help smokers make a life change. She stated flavors keep people away from combustible tobacco. She noted 18 was and has been the age of consent for quite some time. She discussed the State and Federal changes that were occurring in this industry. She suggested the Council allow people to make their own healthy decisions and recommended the Council not change the tobacco purchase age to 21. Mr. Brausen encouraged the Council to consider where it should stop and where personal rights should start. He suggested the City not overstep in the operations of local businesses. Councilmember Holden asked if Mounds View was considering a change. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2018 3 City Clerk Hanson commented they were and noted there were several other cities that should be added to the list. City Administrator Perrault indicated he would have the City Clerk update this list. B. 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update Eric Zweber, WSB & Associates, provided the Council with an update on the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. He reviewed several questions staff had regarding the Comprehensive Plan and discussed the recommendations from the Met Council. It was noted staff has not received any comments from surrounding communities on the Comprehensive Plan. He discussed the modifications that were made to the land use map. He described the additional costs that would be incurred if the Council required him to attend future meetings. Councilmember Holden requested the Comprehensive Plan include language that notes the City continues to apply for I&I grants. She recommended the Red Fox/Gray Fox area be changed to 2040. In addition, she recommended Hill neighborhood within TCAAP be changed to 2030 and the thumb be changed to 2040. Mayor Grant believed this was a more realistic goal for the TCAAP site. Councilmember Holden recommended the Medium Density within the Town Center not be raised to 25% as this was too high. She believed this should be 5% to 10% as his represents what percentage of the Town Center is medium density according to the TRC. Mayor Grant recommended the office percentage within TCAAP be 25%based on the TRC. The Council did not support high density residential on the old City Hall site. Councilmember Holden supported the Pot O'Gold site being redeveloped as an apartment complex versus as a light industrial site. Further discussion ensued regarding how this area could redevelop in the future. Councilmember McClung commented on the City's white paper policy. Mayor Grant described how requests would be addressed by the JDA instead of the Planning Commission for TCAAP developments. Councilmember Holden recommended the language remain as is and if the document is returned to the City the Council could further address the language. Mayor Grant asked who was applying the pressure regarding mobile home parks. Mr. Zweber stated the proposed language was taken from the 2030 Comprehensive Plan. He commented further on the actions that occurred in St. Anthony. Mayor Grant suggested a period be inserted after Highway 10 and that the words: facing pressure from adjacent highways and land uses be removed. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2018 4 Mr. Zweber summarized the feedback he received from the Council and thanked them for their time. C. Annual Permanent Sign Renewals City Clerk Hanson stated the adopted Fee Schedule includes a $25.00 fee per sign for the annual renewal of permanent signage. An average of 150 businesses are licensed/registered with the City each year, but compliance regarding this particular fee has been low. For the past six years, the following number of businesses have been in compliance regarding payment of the permanent sign renewal fee: 32 in 2018; 32 in 2017; 41 in 2016; 36 in 2015; 32 in 2014; and 42 in 2013. City Clerk Hanson stated the low compliance rate had been discussed with the City Planner, who had indicated that City Code states "The Sign Code requires that the Council set fees annually but not that the City has to charge an annual renewal fee". In other words, City Code does not include language that specifically relates to the requirement of an annual permanent sign renewal (as it does for pet licensing, City contractor licensing, business licensing, etc.). Based on current code language ambiguity and historical low compliance rates, City staff is requesting Council feedback and direction. Mayor Grant summarized if the annual program were to go away this would cost the City up to $5,000 in revenue. Councilmember McClung suggested the language within the renewal letter in bolded type to highlight the needs of the City. He stated he would like to see the City try and bring businesses into compliance in this manner versus hiring additional staff. He anticipated this was a case where the letter was being over looked by local business owners. Councilmember Holden recalled the renewals were required to address sign maintenance issues. She stated she did not want to see the program go away. She suggested a summer intern could possibly be considered to assist with compliance and enforcement issues. Councilmember Scott commented the main problem with this program was the City's enforcement or lack thereof. Councilmember Holden stated she did not want to see staff spending a lot of time on this issue, but agreed with Councilmember McClung's recommendation to make changes to the renewal letter. Mayor Grant agreed with this recommendation. City Clerk Hanson suggested the Council amend City Ordinance if the sign renewal fee was required in order to provide staff with further backing on this program. The Council supported amending City Ordinance. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2018 5 D. Communications Survey Results Communications Coordinator Skelly stated a survey was sent to all residents with their utility bills. Additionally a link to the survey was included on Facebook and in the City's newsletter and News Alerts. The response rate was good at 12 percent. Staff reviewed the results of the survey, noting observations and recommendations to the Council. She noted the results of the survey show the vast majority of residents would like to continue to receive newsletters via mail, with many also wanting email news updates. Councilmember Holden commented on the value of the Council column page within the City newsletter. She asked what the target length of the newsletter was for each publication. Communications Coordinator Skelly explained the newsletter was budgeted to have six pages, but noted it sometimes ran with four pages. Mayor Grant discussed how the City's new website would assist mobile phone and tablet users. Councilmember Holden thanked staff for addressing this at the State of the City meeting. She questioned if the City should rethink its utility billing envelopes. Further discussion ensued regarding e-newsletter options and email options for the City. Public Works Director/City Engineer Polka commented on the WAZE app and how this may assist the City with communicating street maintenance issues with the public. Councilmember Holden recommended emails only be sent out for road construction and emergency situations. She anticipated that more frequent mailings would have to be considered for the City when TCAAP started to develop. Mayor Grant commented he did not support the City becoming involved with Next Door. He described how Next Door had people from other communities involved and was not properly structured. He added that if Communications Coordinator Skelly could find out more about how Next Door could be structured,the Council could consider supporting this feature. F. TCAAP Public Forum Planning Discussion City Administrator Perrault stated the City Council gave direction to staff to plan a TCAAP Public Forum to provide residents with an update on TCAAP, and allow residents to provide feedback to the City Council. Council directed staff to work with current consultants to compile the necessary materials, and presentations would be made by staff and/or their respective consultants. In collaboration with our communications consultant, staff is recommending the forum begin with a thirty minute long presentation on the areas of interest, and then have different stations set up for the different topics and allow attendees to ask questions based on their area of interest. Staff is planning on requesting written feedback from attendees on the topics to provide to Council. The topics to be discussed are: ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2018 6 A brief TCAAP history Infrastructure overview Met Council SAC overview City planning cost recovery Special Taxing District vs. Association TCAAP parks overview Civic Space overview Mayor Grant requested the Council be allowed to review staff s slides for the presentation prior to the Public Forum meeting. He recommended trunk utilities and the water tower be the only focus for the cost recovery. He encouraged staff to keep the report on these items simple and straight forward. Councilmember Holden commented on the Civic Space and discussed how the County and Alatus were proceeding with this property. She expressed concern with the fact Alatus wanted the City to give this property up. City Administrator Perrault reported HGA would be presenting this item to the public with the information that has been provided by the Task Force. He explained no information regarding the County and Alatus would be offered regarding the Civic Site. E. Hazelnut Park Future Plans Discussion Public Works Director/City Engineer Polka provided the Council with an update on the future plans for Hazelnut Park. She reported staff has received quotes to demolition of the warming house. She noted the low bid for the demolition was $1,700. She indicated a temporary pod had been ordered for the 2018-2019 skating season. She explained three contractors have been contacted to request bids to rebuild the same type of warming house for insurance purposes. She stated she had spoken to Bolton & Menk regarding the parking lot and proper visibility of the warming house. She stated it would be her goal to make the parking lot and entrance to the park more attractive through this project. Mayor Grant questioned how much of the church parking lot the church was willing to sell. Public Works Director/City Engineer Polka explained they were willing to work with the City on this issue so long as a shared parking agreement was in place. G. TCAAP Negotiator Discussion City Administrator Perrault stated at the Special City Council Work Session on October 8, 2018 the City Council gave direction to begin vetting candidates to assist the City with the TCAAP negotiations. Staff noted he talked with Janna King and Brett Weiss prior to this meeting and would be speaking with John Herman. He noted Louis Jambois would be stepping down as the County's lead negotiator as of December 31, 2018 and Kari Collins has been hired as the County's new Community and Economic Development Director. He recommended the Council allow staff to continue with negotiations on behalf of the City. However, if the Council wanted to consider bringing in an outside source, he would recommend Brett Weiss with WSB be brought in. He noted Mr. Weiss has an hourly rate of $183 per hour and estimated 75 hours would be needed through the end of 2018. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2018 7 City Administrator Perrault read a statement in full for the record from Councilmember Holmes noting she opposed the hiring of a negotiator. He explained Councilmember Holmes believes City staff has the ability to negotiate on behalf of the City of Arden Hills. Councilmember Holden questioned what the purpose of the Wednesday, October 24 meeting was. Councilmember McClung stated this meeting was being held to address the Council's direction to staff regarding moving forward with TCAAP. Councilmember Holden asked why the City was still discussing a Civic Site. Councilmember McClung commented he believed it was Alatus' position to have the City involved in the development of a Civic Site and that Alatus wanted the County to transfer this property to the City. Councilmember Holden inquired if the City had heard from Ramsey County regarding the Civic Site. Mayor Grant indicated the City had not heard from the County. He suggested once Alatus owns the Civic Site property that conversations between the City and the developer could begin. Councilmember Scott asked how staff wanted to proceed and if they felt like they needed a negotiator. City Administrator Perrault commented that after speaking with staff and its consultants that staff was capable of handling this in-house. He stated he believed the meeting on October 24 would be a session for the Council to provide staff with direction on how to proceed with negotiations. Mayor Grant questioned if staff would be prepared to work with the County after the gloves came off and the negotiations were complete. Councilmember Holden inquired who would be taking the lead on the negotiations. She stated she feared at this time that staff was not working together as a cohesive team. City Administrator Perrault indicated he was not aware of the fact that staff was having missteps or was lacking in communication. Councilmember Holden expressed frustration with the fact staff had not provided her with information on the proposed Town Center maintenance expenses. Councilmember Scott stated he supported staff continuing to act as the negotiator. Mayor Grant commented he was concerned with the fact the Cooperative Agreement was not moving forward at the same time with the County as the sale agreement. He feared that if this was the last agreement that was reached with the County, it would not be under favorable terms. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2018 8 Councilmember McClung recommended the Council hold a comprehensive meeting, which will be done on October 24, where direction and decisions can be made on how to proceed regarding TCAAP and the three areas of concern (public safety, etc.). He stated at this time he has heard that it does not make sense to bring a negotiator in and noted staff has acted based on Council's direction to date. Councilmember Holden stated she believed there were more than three issues that needed to be dealt with. She commented the MDA has a larger number of concerns and she feared how the City was addressing these concerns. Further discussion ensued regarding the financial information that had been provided by Stacie Kvilvang from Ehlers. Mayor Grant asked if Finance Director Bauman could complete TIF runs for the Council. Finance Director Bauman explained this work was completed by Ms. Kvilvang and was then forwarded to City staff. She recommended that Ms. Kvilvang continue to represent the City at the City/County negotiation meetings. Mayor Grant questioned if staff would be able to make progress on the Cooperative Agreement in the next 30 days. City Administrator Perrault stated with Council direction staff could make progress on this document. Councilmember Holden commented she would also like to see staff make progress on the SAC credits. She indicated she would like to see the Council discuss all issues the City had with the County and not just the top three. She encouraged each Councilmember to make a list of their concerns in order to have these items addressed on October 24. Mayor Grant commented he was tired of addressing the Civic Site given the fact the City had no rights to this property. He explained he wanted the County to be held accountable for their actions and not have the City's needs considered last in the negotiation process. Council consensus was to not hire a negotiator. H. Council Request Tracker City Administrator Perrault reviewed the Council Request Tracker with the City Council. Mayor Grant requested an update from staff for the property on Amble at the next Council work session. Councilmember Holden requested an update from staff regarding Thom Drive and also on the citations that were given along County Road E. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2018 9 City Administrator Perrault explained citations were issued and noted this item was currently in the court system. I. Arden Hills Notes Mayor Grant requested Arden Hills Notes be mailed to local businesses. Council consensus was to direct staff to create a separate mailing list for local businesses and that all future Arden Hills Notes be mailed to these businesses. 2. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND STAFF UPDATES Councilmember Holden commented on the plans for the Army site and requested Dave Scherbel have the build-out plans from the Army Corp of Engineers. She recommended a Red Bull party should be planned for when this group moves to the City of Arden Hills. Mayor Grant suggested City staff speak with the City of Rosemount to see what type of relationship the Red Bulls had with this community. City Administrator Perrault reported an EDA meeting would be held prior to the City Council meeting on Monday, October 22. ADJOURN Mayor Grant adjourned the City Council Work Session at 8:31 p.m. (_�J 04- iaj! Juli anson David Grant Cit Jerk Mayor