Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-22-19 Chair: Tony Peleska Secretary: Gary Gerding Board Members: Aisha Elmquist Linda Hansohn Kathy Johnson Susan Johnson Gail Graff Staff Liaison: Todd Blomstrom Karth Lake Improvement District Board REGULAR MEETING Tuesday October 22, 2019 1245 W. Highway 96 Arden Hills, Minnesota 55112 651.792.7800 www.cityofardenhills.org Agenda Board Meeting Convenes at 6:30 PM CALL TO ORDER 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING 3. PUBLIC INQUIRIES 4. OLD BUSINESS 4.1 Reduce nutrients and debris that flow into storm drains: Illicit Discharge follow-up Report – Gary Gerding 4.2. Next steps towards removing accumulated silt from Karth Lake: Recommendation – Gary Gerding 4.3 Art Larsen Memorial Garden update: Maintenance and/or improvement plans – Gary Gerding 5. NEW BUSINESS 5.1 Karth Lake Pumping Discussion 5.1.1 Report of pumping done in 2019, including starting and ending lake levels on DNR marker – Todd Blomstrom 5.1.2 Funding for replacement of pump, control cabinet, and retaining wall – Todd Blomstrom 5.2 2019 Excess Weed and Debris Removal Project: Results – Gary Gerding 5.3 Update of Karth Lake and Art Larsen Memorial Fund Balances: Report – Gary Gerding 5.4 Begin Strategic Plan: Proposal – Gary Gerding 6. NEXT MEETING ADJOURN Karth Lake Improvement District Board Draft Minutes of Regular Meeting April 9, 2019 Call to Order/Roll Call The meeting convened at: 6:30 PM Present: Board Members: Tony Peleska, Chair; Gary Gerding, Secretary; Aisha Elmquist; Gail Graff; Susan Johnson; Linda Hansohn Staff Liaison: Sue Polka, Public Works Director; David Swearingen, Senior Engineering Technician HR Green: Shawn Tracy, Project Manager RCWD: Kyle Axtell Absent: None Karth Lake Residents: Mary Ann Schmidt, Jim & Mary Zubrzycki, Jason Rahn, Steve Lee 1. Approval of Agenda The agenda was approved as revised: Added Introduction to KLID Board & pumping discussion. 2. Approval of the minutes of the previous meeting: The minutes of the previous meeting on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 were approved as written. 3. Board Elections: Gary Gerding, and Susan Johnson were unanimously reelected board members. Susan Johnson had not intended to run again but because there were only 3 board members present at that time (the others arrived late), Susan offered to serve again so that we would have a quorum to elect officers. Susan Johnson invites a qualified replacement to serve on the board at any time in her term. Reference: Terms below: Tony Peleska (Chair), Term Expiration April 2021 Gary Gerding (Secretary), Term Expiration April 2022 Linda Hansohn, Term Expiration April 2020 Kathy Johnson, Term Expiration April 2020 Susan Johnson, Term Expiration April 2022 Aisha A. Elmquist, Term Expiration April 2021 Gail Graff April 2020 4. Election of Chair and Secretary: Tony Peleska was unanimously reelected Chair. Gary Gerding was unanimously reelected Secretary. 5. Public Inquiries: 5.1 Introduction to Karth Lake Improvement District Board (KLIDB). Gary provided the following overview of Karth Lake and the KLIDB for the K. L. Residents who attended the board meeting for the first time: The KLIDB mission is to monitor Karth Lake water quality, recommend and help implement improvements of Karth Lake Water Quality and the Karth Lake water shed. We meet and work with representatives from the City, the Rice Creek Watershed District, the DNR and others. All these groups have been very helpful. The KLID was founded in 2004 to enable a vote on the assessment of K. L. residents for 50% of the cost of installing a pump and water pipeline through Cummings Park to a storm drain that flows into Valentine Lake. Pumping was required because the watershed’s development added so much impervious surface that the lake was rising over 3 feet above historic levels. The result was trees dying along the shore and falling into lake triggering erosion and threatening some homes and retaining walls. The DNR set a historic average level and recommended pumping water out of the lake whenever it got above that level. (Unlike White Bear Lake we do not have a sandy porous lake bottom so it does not drop with the water table. Instead the clay bottom holds the water.) We continue to monitor lake levels with the city. Pumping is required most years. Karth Lake is classified as a shallow lake because 80% of it is 10 feet deep or less. It does have a 25 ft deep trench. Shallow lakes are great for wildlife: loons, mallards, egrets, herons, eagles, trumpeter swans and (too many) geese. But without improvements the lake will slowly turn eutrophic and become a wetland. We have reversed that trend with several improvement projects. Karth Lake is one of very few lakes in the Twin Cities that has reduced nutrients and increased water transparency to such a degree that we went from a grade D, partially impaired, to a grade B, exceeds standards. Some of the projects: Participated in the SW Urban Lakes Study completed in 2009 by the RCWD (Rice Creek Watershed District) that identified several BMPs (Best Management Practices) for Karth Lake. We then implemented several of those BMPs including: Reducing watershed nutrient inflow by: Installing rain gardens on Nursery Hill Lane, funded by the City and RCWD; Removing buckthorn from the watershed – volunteers working with city employees; Advising residents of best practices to reduce nutrient inflow from storm drains, e.g., keep nutrients such as grass clippings, leaves, fertilizer and car wash soap out of gutters. Reducing internal nutrient levels by annually removing excess weeds and debris from K. L., funded by resident donations. Reducing algae levels by stocking KL with 1000 predator fish (large mouth bass fingerlings) in cooperation with DNR funded by KL resident donations. 6. Old Business 6.1. Illicit Discharge follow-up: Action: Sue Polka will try to find some appropriate stencils/marking systems for the storm drains. Sue reported that she is working with a Girl Scout who is proposing to use the Karth Lake watershed as a demonstration project that will: stencil storm drains; recruit residents to “Adopt a Drain” to keep free of debris; raise awareness of the need to keep nutrients our of gutters and storm drains through flyers and yard signs. 6.2. Removal of Silt around storm drain exits - Discussion/Planning (Gary Gerding, Sue Polka) Reference: Minutes of last meeting, October 9, 2019. We agreed that the lake should first be protected from additional silt by grit chambers before trying to remove existing silt. 6.2.1. Next steps towards removing accumulated silt from Karth Lake: Action Requested: (Sue Polka, Shawn Tracy): Using the diagram below presented by Shawn in our last meeting (see next page), and considering the watershed area drawn in by Gary for Karth Lake, identify: 1. Which inlets are connected to which outflows and draw in connections; 2. Where additional grit chambers should be installed before we consider removing silt from the lake. Are there any plans to add these grit chambers? What events/road conditions/etc. would trigger the installation of these grit chambers? Response: That information is not available/determined at this time. RCWD and Ramsey County do have funding for rain gardens to reduce nutrient inflow and are recruiting a Master Water Steward. 6.3. Art Larsen Memorial Garden update - (Discussion/Plan) Maintenance and/or improvement plans? Action Requested: Kathy: sources of labor for mulching and edging. Sue: What is the length of the garden perimeter? Does the city have brick supplies for edging? How much? Reponse: Sue will follow up. 7. New Business 7.1 Results of 2018 CAMP (Citizen Assisted Monitoring Program) monitoring of Karth Lake Water Quality (Gary Gerding) – Our thanks to Andrew Elmquist and Gail Graff for gathering the water samples and observation data every two weeks from April through October! And our thanks to the Metro. Council Labs for the analysis of the water samples. See figures below for 1. Average Chlorophyll-A (Chl-A) & Total Phosphorus (TP) 2. Avg. Secchi Depth 3. Scatter Plot of Chl-A and TP measurements. 7.1.1 Chl-a average improved by dropping to about 9 ug/L which is: Lower than the previous year of 15; Less than half the 20 ug/L maximum for non-impaired lakes; Less than one-third the level of 40 ug/L we averaged in 2010. 7.1.2 TP average improved slightly to about 33 ug/L which is About half the 60 ug/L maximum for non-impaired lakes; And about half the 60 ug/L level we averaged in 2009. 7.1.3 Secchi depth average decrease slightly to 2.3 meters which is: More than twice as good as the 1.0 meter minimum standard for non-impaired lakes; About 3 times better than the 0.8 meter level we measured in 2009. 7.1.4 The scatter plot shows that each year the individual measurement of nutrient levels are getting far more consistent, i.e., fewer large excursions due to weather events. This suggests that nutrient inflows are being controlled better overall and that weather events have less impact. This is meaningful because weather events – high rainfall amounts, high heat, etc. -- have increased with global warming. 7.2 Street Cleaning Concerns: Susan Johnson will report observations and recommendations. The following is excerpted from Susan’s email “I have a concern that should be shared with Sue Polka and perhaps the entire city council. Last week I noticed that the street sweepers were operating on Karth Lake. On the day that they went by our home, it was an exercise in futility. On the north side of the street, the snow banks were gone, but it was below 32 degrees and ice trapped all the debris and leaves in the gutter. As the street sweeper passed, any debris or leaves close to the curb were left in place. On the south side of the street, it was even worse because the snow banks still extended several feet into the street. The street cleaner was not cleaning the gutters - there was no access to the gutters. I believe we raised this objection to the street cleaning program years ago. I presume the calendar for sweeping the streets is set by the city maintenance department in advance of considerations such as the weather - which makes street sweeping an expensive proposition because although manpower and equipment are deployed, and there are no positive results for keeping our surface water clean. The city can do much better by changing the street sweeping schedule. This is a schedule that needs to be set year to year and day to day. Without such flexibility, the city is wasting time, resources and needlessly harming our waterways.” Sue Polka thanked Susan for the feedback and said she realized that the street cleaners could not get up everything that day but wanted to sweep up as many leaves as possible that day to keep them out of the storm drain. Sue said the cleaner came back a few days later when the snow had melted to get the rest. 7.3 Removal of Excess Weeds and Debris from Karth Lake in 2019. (Discussion/Planning led by Gary) Gary said he will arrange for weed removal, etc. again this year if there are neighbors who want it done and invites suggestions regarding the process. There was no further discussion. 7.4 Explore: Use of Fountains/Aerator to improve lake water quality. Gary invites comments and information on the installation of these devices to improve Karth Lake water quality. They will cool and oxygenate the water and burn off some nutrients. Does Sue or Shawn have any information on their benefits, or installation and maintenance costs? Is a permit required? Do we need approvals from all/some of the residents on the lake? Kyle and Shawn said the benefits are minimal compared to the cost. Maintenance is difficult and costly. 7.5 Information: Gary reported that seven Metro area cities filed separate lawsuits last month in U.S. District Court against a group of seven companies that refine coal-tar sealants. They're asking for help to pay for cleaning up and removing contaminated material from their storm water ponds. Gary said this information may apply to us if and when we remove silt from Karth Lake and find contaminates in the process. Related link: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/01/08/driveway-sealants-polluted-minnesota- ponds-who-should-pay 7.6. When will pump be turned on? Sue will let us know. Respectfully submitted, Gary Gerding, Secretary Page 1 of 2 AGENDA ITEM – 5.1 MEMORANDUM DATE: October 22, 2019 TO: Karth Lake Improvement District Board FROM: Todd Blomstrom, Interim Public Works Director SUBJECT: Karth Lake Pump Expenditures Background In 2003, the City Council approved the formation of the Karth Lake Improvement District . The first duty of the district is to act as an advisory board to the City Council on the construction and maintenance of a lake elevation control structure, other duties are also defined in the district’s bylaws (see Attachment A). The first project the district undertook was the installation of a pump to aid in controlling lake levels. This project cost approximately $99,000, and was split fifty percent by the City’s stormwater fund and fifty percent by the district via a levy specific to the Karth Lake Improvement District. Although the initial funding mechanism was established for this project, it is not clear how future projects are to be funded and what, if any, City or improvement district participation is expected. The City Attorney was asked to weigh in and he noted that the previous funding mechanism does not dictate future projects, but any projects on the lake are primarily a benefit to the properties abutting the lake. Public Works has identified upcoming capital projects for Karth Lake, which will likely fall under the purview of the improvement district, as an advisory body to the Council, to include the replacement of a pump (approximately $12,000), reconstruction of the retaining wall (budgeted $100,000), and the replacement of control panels (estimated $30,000). The most immediate need is the replacement of the pump. The current pump is no longer operational and the pump will need to be replaced to stabilize lake levels. Page 2 of 2 Requested Board Action City staff is requesting the Karth Lake Improvement District Board discuss alternatives for long- term funding to replace the pump, control cabinet and retaining wall during the upcoming meeting on October 22. This agenda item may require additional meetings to develop a funding recommendation to the City Council. Attachment Attachment A: Karth Lake Improvement Bylaws 1,0 . . s}o· KA'iffTH LAKE IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT BYLAWS Estabiis�m:ertt ofBoarcl ofDirecttirs; The Karth Lake lmprovemehtDistrid was established pursuant to Order of the City Council dated the 29th day of September, 2003 . . Contp'e>;sitiOn, (>f Board .of Directors. The Karth Lake lmprdvement. DistrictEfoatd df . Directors shall consist of five, members initially appointed by th·e Araen HiHs City Col.mdl . at1tl thertiafter elected by qualifietJ voters and owners of propettywithin the Karth Lake ···lni13fove'rrtent,D'i!:i-trict-Boa·rtJMemoers shalFreside withih-the-Gifyc of-ArdenHills, A-·······majority bf the' board meml5ets shall own property wifhih the Karth Lake ImprovementDistrict Tetrt:fs O{Offi:ce, Board members shalrbe elected for a term of th'reeyears. The firstappointed Boafd ofDiredors shall be composed of two members whose terms expire ohu,e-31 stdayo(Decembe�,2004; two memberswhoseterms expire on the 31 st dayof be-cember,:20'05 ;_a-nd•one.member Wh6se term expires On the 31 st day of December, 20b6. Board ·members shallbe ·elected at the annual meeting by-a majority of the votes ca·st\!otirJg shall be by secret ballot ·Absente·e·ballotsshall be received aftheoffices of · · '.the Arde'r'1 Hills City Admihistrator; .1245 west Highway 96, Arden Hills, MN, no later than3:oo p.m.)i:Jn·the date oftne annual meeting or such ballots shall be void; ·,va�i-?·cie�; f 8l��\:a'se ?f •a yacancY dUridg the terrh.of ·a .• Bcfa'tcl' rhemb�r, .a majority.of '• . theremairiing Bbard memoersshall declare. a. vacancy ana �3' ppbirifa hew: memoer Who•. · shall �erv� U'nfil' the next annual meeting of the Karth Lalse lhiprbVethent District. A vacancy �hall exisfif ahy office followi·ng events occur: b�kth··df a'i3oa'rti member; . . lri�bilityto·#eri6rm ftieduties df a·soard member;· l=aiidr� of a· sciard member to attend at least eight (80% y percent of the meetirigs: d'r; ·Lbss 'cit City, r�sidehcy by a Board member or sale of q\i�'lifyihg property withinth�:Karth·L,ake Improvement District."· , .. . . · .. �. . Otgatdl�tib'n;'ThJ\·sbard (jf[)irettors Shall annually efebt b�e· member to serve as . chaitp'etst:>h. flie chairperson is respohsible tor the agenda oftne·me·etiiigs, presiding at­•·· m�'etings,rnfn·utes-Of'rii'eetings, ahd_ tep'brts ahdtecom.rn'ena�fidns'fo the City.Couhdl. TheArden Hills o·perations and Maintenancebe11artmenf shall 'maintain all records of .. the Board'. ... :;'·•,•' . . Meeung�abd.Repdrts. The. Boafdof Directors shall hold atlea'st one annual meetihg.·The first aiihual meeting of the elected Board shall be held during the month of April ahd in eac:h_April thereafter unless changed by vote at an anhual meeting. The Board shall adopt Rules of Procedure for business and shall keep a public record 6f all motions, resolutions , findings, minutes and reports which shall b e in writing and a copy f orWarded fo tHe City Couhcil. i\ ___ . 7.0 Duties and Functions. The Karth Lake Improvement District Board of Directors shall serve in an advisory capacity to the Arden Hills City Council and shall make recommendations to the City Council regarding the following: A.The construction and operation of water control structures as approved by theCommissioner of Natural Resources. B.The construction of projects to change the course, current or cross-section of thewaters of Karth Lake. -.......... ----. ···-----C.The acquisition of property, equipment or other facilities as necessary to improvethe navigation of the waters of Karth Lake. D.The implementation ofresearch projects to determine the condition anddevelopment of the waters of Karth Lake and the waters which enter Karth Lake. E The development ahd implementation of a comprehensive plan to eliminatepollution of the waters of Karth Lake. F.The development and implementation of a comprehensive program to improveand conserve the waters of Karth Lake. G, The sources of funding for various projects proposed by the Board of Directors. H.An annual budget for the operation of the Karth Lake lrnprdvernent District. I.The maintenance of public beaches, docks, and other public facilities for accessto the waters of Karth Lake. J.The adoption of water surface use regulations for Karth Lake. K.The amendment of Bylaws for the Karth Lake Improvement District. 8.0 Amendments. Amendments to the Bylaws for the Karth Lake Improvement District shall be approved by a majority of the City Council. CITY OF ARDEN HILLS �- By: -,-;a""'�'e .... r-.1:=t-· �"'-'�"""k"""_ ""9s.._k....,i� .... -....,.a---y---o_,r ..... _ -=--=_---·=· -_'---""'-'--__ · ...... ------ Dated the 29th day of September, 2003. ATTEST: