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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-18-22-WSlt -�,xu,Ls Approved: May 23, 2022 CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION APRIL 18, 2022 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, Fran Holmes, Steve Scott and David Radziej Absent: None Also present: City Administrator Dave Perrault, Public Works Director/City Engineer David Swearingen, Assistant Public Works Director Lucas Miller, Finance Director Gayle Bauman, City Planner Jessica Jagoe, Deputy City Clerk Jolene Trauba, Recreation Programmer Joe Vaughan, Launch Properties Senior Vice President of Construction and Development Bruce Carlson, and PTRC Committee Members Marie Hinton, Micah Kiernan, Mark Kelliher, Dan Dietz, Paul Beggin and Kristine Poelzer 1. AGENDA ITEMS A. Food Truck Ordinance Discussion City Administrator Perrault stated that 30 minutes had been set aside for public feedback on the Food Truck Ordinance. The ordinance was originally passed in 2015. The City Council considered changes to the ordinance last year but postponed action until input was received from the public. Mayor Grant said Council would discuss the ordinance within the 30 minute timeframe if possible, or at a later time. Councilmember Holden asked if Council will have an opportunity to share what other residents have told them. Mayor Grant said they are able to comment now or after residents have a chance to speak. Kristine Poelzer, 1870 Indian Place, she had done research on the city website and talked with staff and researched other communities. She felt the annual license fee is higher than other cities ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 18, 2022 2 but appreciated the short-term license. She would like to see where food trucks could be expanded such as at her church in New Brighton that is allowing a food truck in their parking lot and gaining revenue from renting the space to them. She felt Arden Hills should reduce the constraints on food trucks and possibly gain revenue from renting out city park space. She felt food trucks shouldn't be allowed for long lengths of time in residential areas. Urbae Hall, 1991 Edgewater, felt the city had done a good job of making the ordinance strict but there may be some room to open it up. However, she would like to see food trucks allowed in residential areas for only a certain amount of time and a certain number of days. She wondered the process to report violations, and what would the fine be for violators. Also, if they allowed food trucks in parks how would they survey people that lived around the park to see if they were OK with it. Councilmember Holmes said she looks at garage sales as being similar to food trucks, and residents are allowed two garage sales per year. She asked Ms. Hall if that type of restriction made sense to her for food trucks. Ms. Hall responded that yes, that made sense. Kate Olson, 3558 Ridgewood Court, said she is the PTO president at Valentine Hills Elementary and they wanted to have food trucks but one of the food truck owners that was contacted told them she wouldn't come because of Arden Hills' requirements. She was curious as to why our ordinance seems to be so much more difficult than other cities. She noted that the city of Blaine eased their food truck rules in 2021. Councilmember Holden said the ordinance reads like it always did, that there needs to be an event and food trucks could come. What happened is a neighborhood has a food truck every Friday night and there is about 150 people that come. Many people in the neighborhood have been upset with traffic, smells, garbage and strangers wandering through the neighborhood every Friday night. That's why they've started to address the issue. It's a good community thing but not everyone wants it in their neighborhood. But the issue comes from saying there's an event in your front yard every Friday night. Ms. Olson asked how that would be different from a graduation party in the neighborhood every Friday night. Councilmember Holmes responded that grad parties would be by invitation where the food trucks have been open to the public with people coming in from other neighborhoods. Cars are lined up on the street and people are walking in the street which makes it a different environment than graduation parties. Mayor Grant said he wasn't interested in food trucks in church parking lots or city parks just because it might be profitable for the city. Possibly for special events, but not as a standing practice. Councilmember Holmes noted that a church could have a food truck on a regular basis because it would be considered commercial. She felt they should look at restrictions on the food trucks themselves because they are already regulated by the State. There are regulations on food trucks, ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 18, 2022 3 and then the residents. The ordinance is difficult to administrate as written and she would like to see it akin to garage sales. Mayor Grant felt it was the residential neighborhoods they should be concerned with. He has heard similar points from residents as Councilmember Holden. He agreed with the idea of limiting the number similar to garage sales but didn't want to limit invitation only parties, it's the week after week party that becomes a problem. He wondered where does your neighbor's right to have a party start to interfere with your right to peace and quiet. Councilmember Scott commented that his primary concern was restaurants currently in the city, many of which cater events. He suggested residents look locally first so as not to undercut businesses here that are paying city taxes and licensing. City Administrator Perrault suggested the Council have further discussion at another work session. Marcia Cheney, 1180 Karth Lake Drive, said there are no sidewalks in her neighborhood so no one is ever lined up on sidewalks. She felt when food trucks come everyone is respectful of the neighbors, garbage isn't left in others' yards, kids don't run wild because they are neighbors. The events were community building and food trucks no longer have interest because they aren't making enough money. Mayor Grant thanked everyone for their input and said the topic would be discussed again at another meeting. B. Launch Properties Concept Plan — 3737 Lexington Avenue City Planner Jagoe introduced the concept review request from Launch Properties for the proposed redevelopment of the properties at 3737 Lexington Avenue and 1133 Grey Fox Road for the construction of a standalone car wash and a multi -tenant building identified for a restaurant, dental office, and bank. Launch Properties is seeking feedback from the Council in advance of a future submission. Based on staff s initial review of their concept plans the following requests would be necessary: • Preliminary Plat and Final Plat for Subdivision of land • Master and Final Planned Unit Development with flexibility to be requested for Building Positioning and Drive-Thru Requirements. Staff has identified minimum parking requirements and wall signage as other considerations for Council discussion. • Site Plan Review • Signage Plan • Conditional Use Permit for Car Wash in the B-3 District City Planner Jagoe said Bruce Carlson from Launch Properties would present the highlights and details of the proposed redevelopment. Launch Properties Senior Vice President of Construction and Development Bruce Carlson stated that he was assigned this project in January to work with the property purchase and design. They have approximately 180 days to close on the property. The current building has become ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 18, 2022 4 obsolete for industrial use. A new site plan would include a Mister Car Wash, with limited service. The multi -tenant building would include Panera Bread, Pacific Dental and Bank of America. The bank would not have a drive thru or ATM. They have made two entrances separating the two uses, but there will be a reciprocal easement and operation agreement with property management, and cross parking will be treated as one lot. The multi -tenant building access lines up with the Cub Foods access point on Grey Fox Road. For interest and to break up the fagade of the building, the multi -tenant building will have step backs, playing to both main roads, so all tenants will have a reveal. The monument sign will sit on the corner of Grey Fox and Lexington. Mr. Carlson explained how they would play to both roads for visibility for all tenants with the positioning of the buildings and step backs. It also hides the drive-thru in the back of the building. They won't be conforming to the building positioning at the front yard setback for Grey Fox Road. They are also within the distance limit from an existing drive-thru. The inner drive-thru would work in the traditional way, but the outer lane would be a rapid pickup from online orders. There will also be 2 parking spots designated as pre -order pickup parking. There is plenty of room for stacking around the building. Councilmember Scott asked if there would be an ATM in the bank lobby. Mr. Carlson said he would look into it. Councilmember Holmes asked for an explanation of how you would proceed through the car wash and what the stacking would look like. Mr. Carlson showed how the traffic flow would work in the car wash. He noted there would be a maximum of five employees working at any given time. Mr. Carlson explained that the car wash hours would be 7 am — 7 pm every day. Panera would be open 6 am — 9 pm. The dentist would be open 10 am — 7 pm Monday and Tuesday, 10 am - 4 pm Wednesday - Thursday, 10 am - 3 pm on Friday, closed on weekends. The bank would be open 9 am — 4 pm Monday - Friday, 9 am — 1 pm on Saturday, closed on Sunday. Councilmember Holmes asked how many cars would be anticipated through the car wash, and if there would be any detailing offered. Mr. Carlson said there would be no detailing, patrons would stay in their car except to vacuum. Generally, people will wave off if there are more than 10 cars in the lanes as they won't want to wait that long. City Planner Jagoe noted a landscaping and lighting plan will be included with the future submission, as well as grading and erosion control. Mr. Carlson said they will probably use five-foot candles in the parking lot. Councilmember Holden asked about materials. Mr. Carlson said they would fully comply with building materials. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 18, 2022 5 Councilmember Holden said she had no problem with the layout or the drive -through. She felt the carwash was a good use of the property. Mr. Carlson said the bank may want to put a sign on each corner of the building. They are planning to lock in the monument sign and require tenants to follow city sign code. Mr. Carlson said they are planning to haul snow off of the property rather than stack it. He will talk to the neighbor to the west regarding snow storage. Councilmember Scott asked if they had thought about providing an electric charging station for vehicles. Mr. Carlson said he could commit to that, with a 3Td party company. Councilmember Holden mentioned they would also need bike racks. Mayor Grant asked to go through the variance requests. City Planner Jagoe stated they would be asking for flexibility on the building positioning as their setbacks would actually be further from Grey Fox Road than is required. Councilmember Holmes felt that was ironic and she had no problem with the setbacks being further as it gives the property room to breathe. City Planner Jagoe explained the next variance request would be the distance from another drive-thru. Flexibility would be necessary for both properties; the restaurant and car wash. Mayor Grant said they know everyone wants a drive-thru since the pandemic and they would be addressing the requirement in the future. Also, this drive-thru would come out onto Grey Fox and a signalized intersection so getting out into traffic wouldn't be an issue. Mr. Carlson noted the menu board would also be too close by four feet, and would project sound toward Arby's. There would be room for landscaping/screening. Mr. Carlson discussed the idea of continuing the sidewalk. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen stated the sidewalk would have to be kept in the right-of-way. City Planner Jagoe said another discussion item was off street parking requirements. Sixty parking spaces are required for the multi -tenant building, they are showing 77, with an anticipated need of 10 for the car wash. There will be a shared parking agreement. Mr. Carlson clarified there would be 67 parking spots plus 10 for vacuuming. He also noted there will be underground storm water storage. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 18, 2022 6 Mayor Grant felt there was enough parking and that this plan is substantially better than the last in terms of type of business, appearance, and ordinance variances. Councilmember Holden asked if they could situate the handicap parking spot in the middle of the building. Mr. Carlson said he thought they would be required to center the spot between all of the tenants. Mayor Grant expressed that he liked the way it lined up with Cub across the street, and the dedicated entrance for the car wash. City Planner Jagoe asked if there were any comments about noise from the 10 vacuum stations being proposed. There were no comments. Mr. Carlson thought if anyone might be upset about any noise it would be Panera customers sitting on the patio. Councilmember Scott suggested some of the bike racks have electric charging available. Mr. Carlson said he would come back in June or July with a full set of plans. C. PTRC Joint Meeting Recreation Programmer Vaughan said that last year the Council requested the PTRC develop a workplan for 2022. PTRC understands that the Council has final determination on plans and priorities. PTRC Chair Hinton explained that they would like to be more of a working committee. There are currently 12 members on the committee with 4 vacant positions. The committee concentrates on parks, trails, recreational services and community outreach. She reviewed the PTRC workplan and anticipated calendar with the Council. Councilmember Holden stated this was the best PTRC workplan she has seen. She felt it helps to have committee members look at parks for any issues. There is a bench plan that could be shared, there are correctional facility people working on buckthorn, and she would like PTRC be open to where trees are placed. She wondered if there was still a master gardener working at Floral Park. Councilmember Radziej asked what the plans were for the dog park entrance. Recreation Programmer Vaughan said they had plans for a concrete pad. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen added they received funding from the Arden Hills Foundation to do that work. There would be an approximately 8' X 10' pad at the Perry Park dog park entrance, but it wouldn't be possible at Hazelnut Park because it is an ice rink. Mayor Grant felt that would be a great improvement to Perry Park. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 18, 2022 7 Councilmember Holden mentioned that a trail costs about $1.5 million per mile. They continue to work on adding more trails. She was thinking father/daughter, mother/son, grandparents/grandkids dances could be held in the community room at City Hall. She suggested the PTRC members look at other city's recreational guides for idea. Mayor Grant said he liked that the committee was getting back to a balance of parks, trails and recreation. He acknowledged Mark Kelliher for the work he's done removing buckthorn in the Chatham neighborhood. Mayor Grant stated he had a recommendation from a resident that the City provide 5-gallon buckets and tongs for seniors to adopt a park and pick up trash. He felt the committee was making good progress thinking of the city as a whole. Committee Member Holden said talking to people in the parks and asking what is needed is always helpful. She mentioned that the Rotary would like ideas for projects they could do at the parks. Mayor Grant said the park tour last year was helpful to find issues, and it's nice to have PTRC be an extra set of eyes. He cited putting lids on the trash cans as an example of things done because of the park tour. Councilmember Holmes indicated community outreach is good because there are people willing to volunteer from businesses, Boy Scouts, Rotary etc. They could also try to engage the colleges and high school. She felt they could have a list of potential volunteers and projects they could do. PTRC Chair Hinton said they would be discussing volunteers at their next meeting. Councilmember Holmes agreed that the workplan is very good. City Administrator Perrault wondered if council would like recommendations to come back to them each month or at the end of the year. PTRC Chair Hinton replied that the intention is for it to be both, depending on urgency. Councilmember Holden asked if staff could update the Council once a month. PTRC Chair Hinton said they are going to try to have the meetings be more structured with motions and votes. She would like the minutes to be more useful as well. She would also like to hear from the Council if there is something they'd like to see PTRC do. Councilmember Holden mentioned there are grants available in many places that they could watch for. PTRC Committee Member Beggin asked if there was a central place that a list is kept as grant opportunites come in so they could look at them. Recreation Programmer Vaughan said he could start a list. ARDEN HELLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 18, 2022 8 PTRC Chair Hinton said they would like to have some idea of the budget, so they could manage their expectations and ideas. Mayor Grant said there is a five year capital improvement plan that includes parks. Councilmember Holden said they are continuing to work with the church on the shared parking lot at Hazelnut Park. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen added that each park's assets are on a replacement and maintenance cycle. He uses spreadsheets to help determine what projects should be put into the CIP. There are projects laid out for the next 10 years. Finance Director Bauman said when new recreation programs are added fees are analyzed and hopefully it's as close to net zero as possible. Mayor Grant suggested the PTRC should work through the staff and Council Liaisons to understand cost structure for program budgets on non -capital items. Councilmember Holden felt the PTRC should also have copy of the parks/trails maintenance plan. Mayor Grant said an informational session could be scheduled with PTRC and staff to further discuss budgets. Councilmember Radziej commented that people might like to know when and where wildlife is appearing in the parks and wondered how that could be featured. PTRC Chair Hinton wondered if residents could submit that information and photos to a facebook page. Councilmember Holden said they could also show garden photos. PTRC Committee Member Poelzer thought it might be interesting to have a garden tour in Arden Hills. PTRC Chair Hinton said people respond well to contests when there is a small prize involved or when they are requested to photograph specific things. Mayor Grant thanked the committee for their time and the work they do. D. ARPA Funding Follow Up Mayor Grant commented that they were looking at $200,000 for sewer and the rest for water meter replacement. Finance Director Bauman said the sewer fund did better last year than she thought it was going to. She was going to wait until after the CIP this year to determine if any should go to sewer. She would like the flexibility to move the money between the two funds. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 18, 2022 9 Councilmember Holden said if the purpose is to pay for the water meters, they could use the money now for water projects and they would still have money for the meters when they decide to replace them. Mayor Grant elaborated that they have water projects now they could use the ARPA funds for which means they won't spend money out of the water fund, so when they do get to water meter replacements the funds will be there. Finance Director Bauman said they have to be entered into contracts by the end of 2024, and costs had to be incurred after March, 2021. There's a possibility it could get used for the Glenpaul project and for both 2022 projects. Councilmember Holmes said she would like to know exactly how they were going to spend the money. City Administrator Perrault said they would lay it out during the budget process. Council had requested staff have an idea of where to spend the money at this meeting, and they had internally talked about using it for water meters as a starting point. The water meter project is coming, whether it gets started this year or next. Councilmember Holmes said she wants to know when the meters have to be replaced. Finance Director Bauman said the meters are working, but some of them are up to 30 years old. Councilmember Holmes asked staff to let them know when the meters project would need to start and meters be replaced so they could start making decisions. Councilmember Radziej noted the efficiency of the contract would be to do all the meters at once, not just ones that fail. Finance Director Bauman said they would need to hire someone to analyze all the products out there to determine what the best product is for us. There is a lot of prep work to decide which meters and which program, and a firm would get hired to do the installations. Councilmember Holden stated they had talked about doing work at the dog parks, was that money coming from the City budget for fences, a shelter, trees etc. Councilmember Holmes said the Spring Lake Park Lions donation would be used for that. Mayor Grant asked if staff recalled what the PMP Edgewater neighborhood (2021 PMP) costs were. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen thought sewer and water combined was probably close to $1 million. The total project was close to $3 million. There is a decent amount of lining that could be done on upcoming projects, and he could come up with others fairly quickly. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 18, 2022 10 Mayor Grant asked staff to put a list together of what they could do against the $1.1 million with a preference toward water and put it in the Admin update. E. New Resident Guide City Administrator Perrault stated that at a previous meeting Council discussed a new resident resources page on the website and marketed to residents. The website was updated and the Resources page was sent to Council for review. If they are comfortable with the page as drafted they can talk about next steps. It will be changed to Resident Resources and a link put prominently on the main page of the website. Mayor Grant asked if they could take off the election totals for Councilmember McClung. Councilmember Holden wanted to stress no overnight parking. Councilmember Radziej felt the link should added to water bills, possibly on the outside of the envelopes and as part of the email for auto pay customers. Councilmember Holden asked if they could add fences under the permits section. Mayor Grant asked if they could make Eye on Water more prominent in the body of the page. Councilmember Radziej asked if they would only send postcards etc. to all residents or just new residents. City Administrator Perrault said the previous discussion involved some sort of new resident packet which could be sent as utility bills change. Postcards could be printed internally and mailed to new residents for an approximate cost of $200 a year. Councilmember Holmes liked the idea of a postcard telling them about the website and bullet points of the top 20 things new residents should know. Mayor Grant said they could put the link in the Arden Hills notes and on utility bills. City Administrator Perrault said staff would put the link on the main page of the website. F. Discussion on PC Joint Meeting City Planner Jagoe stated the last time there was a joint meeting with the Planning Commission was in 2016 with review of the Planning Commission work plan, there was also a joint meeting in 2017 for the 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update. Possible topics were included in the memo; ordinance amendments listed were a carryover of topics previously identified or from a review of code language by staff. Refinement of the list would be necessary for staff to do research and develop ordinance language. Staff would also like feedback on what night of the week a joint meeting might be held. City Planner Jagoe explained that as part of onboarding, new Commissioners went through Planning Commission 101 training; process and ordinance information and their review process. Some commissioners also went through League of Minnesota Cities Land Use training. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 18, 2022 11 Councilmember Holmes said the point of a joint meeting would be to talk about possible ordinance amendments because the Planning Commission has to consider them first, so they should discuss which ordinances the Council might want to see changed. They could also discuss how variances work, which would be more of a formal training. City Planner Jagoe said the Planning Commission and Council could work on ordinance amendments together. Councilmember Holmes said could be an option for when the work sessions have light agendas. Councilmember Holden thought Council could go to a Planning Commission meeting. Councilmember Holmes noted that staff knows about six weeks in advance what will be on a Planning Commission meeting, so they couldn't plan a joint meeting too far in advance. City Administrator Perrault added they are starting to get busier for the summer and we currently have only one person on the Planning staff. Councilmember Holden felt they might want to put this on hold for a while until things slow down, possibly over the winter. They could have a meeting on the night that would be a Planning Commission meeting. City Planner Jagoe said it seemed like there was more of a preference to talk about ordinance amendments. Fence regulations was an item that staff identified; temporary versus permanent. Mayor Grant suggested that Council start tackling infill and signs and then hand them off to the Planning Commission. Councilmember Holden said another topic is CUPs on home occupations in regard to deliveries. After further discussion it was decided fences, commercial districts and home occupation deliveries would be worked on by staff. Signage and infill items would be talked about at a joint meeting. G. State of the City Discussion City Administrator Perrault said this would be a very preliminary discussion. Pre-COVID they were trying move State of the City toward the beginning of the year, but the past 2 years it has been toward the end of the year and video recorded. Would Council like to have State of the City earlier in the year, potentially in June, or later? If sooner they could suggest site selection, discuss the idea of two separate events in morning and evening, and topics. Councilmember Holden felt they should have it in person, while snowbirds are in town, and after more information is available regarding TCAAP. She felt June was too early. Councilmember Holmes thought they should stick to fall for now unless they did it in early June before school is out. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 18, 2022 12 Mayor Grant noted that historically they've had it after school starts in the fall. Councilmember Holmes felt they shouldn't have a live evening event, but a video would be good. City Administrator Perrault said both Boston Scientific and Land O'Lakes were willing to host the meeting, both have some site accessibility issues or security concerns. If they are shooting for the more traditional date this item can be brought back again in July. Mayor Grant said the events at the Tavern have been well attended. He wondered if the choice of location impacts attendance. Councilmember Holden commented that if COVID restrictions are put back in place then we shouldn't have a State of the City. Mayor Grant recapped to try Boston Scientific or Land O'Lakes, if they both fall through the Tavern could be the backup. They could do the standard topics, and hold it after school is back in session. Councilmember Holden requested the water treatment facility, water meters and the fire department building be added to the discussion topics. Point of Order was called at 8:07. Vote was taken to extend the meeting until 8:30 p.m. H. Council Tracker City Administrator Perrault provided the Council with an update on the Council Tracker. After discussion the Planning Commission Checklist/Onboarding Policy item was removed from the tracker. 2. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND STAFF UPDATES Mayor Grant stated the cities of Edina and New Brighton are participating in No -Mow May. The theory is that you would help pollinators by not mowing. Residents taking part get signage for their yard. He suggested we get feedback from those cities to see how it goes. Councilmember Scott reported there were approximately 200 kids at the Spring Egg Hunt. City Administrator Perrault said there was another complaint about trailers parking on Red Fox Road, beyond the water tower on both sides of the street. He felt they should step up enforcement with International Paper. Councilmember Holden said they're a good business and she doesn't want them to leave the city, so how could they help. Mayor Grant suggested they invite them to a work session to discuss. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 18, 2022 13 Councilmember Holden said maybe they could be allowed to park on their side of the street up to a certain point. City Administrator Perrault said when they park beyond the water tower access the public works employees can't see around them when they are plowing. However, they have been good about taking care of the snow on that road by the trailers. Councilmember Holmes wasn't sure they should be sanctioning a business to break the rules. Maybe they should talk about changing the rules for that area. City Administrator Perrault said Cath-X is moving in across the street and have already expressed concern with parking on their side of the street. Councilmember Holmes commented that it appears if the city enforces the law they would have to leave. City Administrator Perrault suggested that he meet them on site, and someone else from the Council could join him. Councilmember Holden felt they need to have them stop parking on the north side immediately. It was agreed that an on -site informal meeting should be held with the City Administrator, Mayor Grant and Councilmember Radziej. City Administrator Perrault mentioned that he spoke with the Ramsey County Sheriff and the city attorney about the incident at Big 10. The city attorney felt the should wait to deal with the liquor license until after there is a conviction and in conjunction with the annual liquor license renewal. They could deny or condition the license. City Administrator Perrault said there would be clarification coming regarding meetings being virtual or in person, including committees, as they are all public bodies and need to be accessible. ADJOURN Mayor Grant adjourned the City Council Work Session at 8:43 p.m. f y' iotivU ene Tuba David Grant eputyClerk Mayor