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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 01-22-2002 . . . ~ ~~!1ILLS MEETING \fINLTES CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION TUESDAY, JAI\UARY 22, 2002, 4;45 P.M. CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 1245 WEST IIIGHWAY 96 CALI. TO ORDER Mayor Probst called the meeting to ordcr at 4:51 p.m. Councilmembcrs present were Beverly Aplikowski, David Grant, Lois Rem, and Gregg Larson. Staffprcsent included City Administrator, Joe Lynch; Parks & Rccreation and Interim Public Works Director, Tom Moore; City Planner, Aaron Parrish, City Treasurcr, TelTY Post; Building Official, Dave Scherbcl; City Enginccr, Greg Brown; and Recording Secretary, Jackie Gritz. Senator Mady Reiter was present and spoke on the items on her agenda which included grant money for l-35W conidor, Park-N-Ride in Blaine, supporting the pledge of allegiance bi)] for schools at least oncc a week; elimination of sales tax for municipalities; 100% of motor vehicle tax to the road fund, tax bi)] for the state operating expenses, gas tax increase, budget deficit, education spending, wine in thc grocery storcs, eight percent breathalyzer standard, banning ccll phones whilc driving, unicameral legislature, tobacco money, and the stadium issue. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Planninl!/Zoninl! Case #01-32, Guidant Presentation Planner PalTish summarized Guidant's presentation by indicating their plans to go from a I million square foot to a 2 million square feet campus facility. He also indicated they are focused on preserving the green space surrounding thc property and redirecting the traffic t1ow. Panish said the Plat111ing Commission did not have any advcrse reaction to Guidant's plans. Guidant's representatives rcviewed their devclopment conccpt plan as exprcssed in their Written Statement which is included with the packet. Administrator Lynch indicated the water pressure and flow has been an issue that will need to be dcalt with. Panish indicatcd this issue was addressed in the engineering report and wi)] be dealt with in the Master Plan. ARDEN HILLS CITY COLl'\CIL WORKSESSIOl'I MINUTES JANUARY 22, 2002 2 . Councilmember Larson suggcsted Guidant go to the surrounding neighborhood and ask opinions regarding their plans which would include aestetbics and trat1ic control. Parrish indicated the City could help Guidant with this rcsident meeting by identifying those residents sLlnounding thc Guidant campus. Councilmcmber Rem noted she had received a caJ] from a resident to thc north of the Guidant campus who is concerned about the parking ramps and Cummings Park. Rcm suggested it may be helpful to show existing Guidant campus boundaries in relation to thc park. Probst indicated an issue we should deal with is the access road to the park and thc water tower. Parrish indicated a possible solution could bc to create all access off ofWyncrest which also creates some neighborhood issues. Guidant indicated curb cuts would be reduced. Parrish said the fire department has been given an opportunity to provide input on the Guidant plans and they did not havc an issue with the height of any proposed buildings but their issues would be with access to tbe diffcrent buildings. Parrish said at this point Guidant wiJ] takc comments and develop a mastcr plan which he anticipatcs will be a year long approval process. Parrish indicatcd thc 2002 planned buildings may proceed without a finalizcd master PUD plan. Guidant indicatcd the 2002 llew building coustruction may need a variance from setbacks along Fernwood but otherwise should not violate any city codes. I-35W Corridor Coalition Transportation and Redevelopment Priorities Lynch recapped the items the Planncr had identified as priorities and asked if the Council was in agreement with these prioriti es. . Councilmember Grant asked if the City will be able to participate in the decision making process for the 96/1 0 corridor. Parrish said the decision-making process would involve soliciting our comments. Council was in agreement on thc priorities for the Coalition and agreed to put this item on the next Consent Calendar. I-35W Corridor Coalition GIS Coordinator - A separate GIS coordinator has beell hired by the Coalition and the City has beCll approached abOLlt providing an office lor this individnal in our City HaJ] with the understanding the Coalition would provide the technology working with our network server. Probst said he belicves we could bene lit from providing all office for this person in our City Hall. Parrish said having this person at City Hall also allows us to have access to thc cquipment that comes along with a GIS function such as a projector, printer, etc. Lynch indicated we most likely would receive a reduction in our pOliion of the cost for this individual ifwc provide an office for this person on-site. Council agreed to placc this item on the Conscnt Calendar. . Arden Tower Update - Scherbel noted hc had solicited a cost proposal for anotber evaluation of the tower and previous enginecring repOli prepared on thc tower. Larson said he believes the City should not be picking up the cost of this second cvaluation. Scherbcl said according to the building code he can require an evaluation ifhc believes something is unsafe but it would be up Vaughn to choose the company and cost. Scherbcl said a qualified engineer should evaluatc thc report and prepare an indcpcndent ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSlON MINUTES JANUARY 22, 2002 3 . report to make a detelmination on the tower's safeness. lIe indicated American Tower does manage 10,000 towers around the country. The cost estimate could be reduced if the next evaluator can use the existing geotechnical report. The proposed report by American Tower would include ultrasonic testing which has not been done thus far and would give the condition of the existing tower. Scherbel said we have received several reports since 1997 indicating the tower is not up to code but no report as to what to do to fix it. Probst said he suggests wc make it clear to Vaughn that we expect reimbursel1lent. Schcrbcl said his main concem is the towcr and public safety and that Vaughn has compounded the problem by adding additional antennas. Pan-ish noted Vauglm currcntly haS 25 antemlas but his SUP allows only 15 antennas. Aplikowsi said we should spend the money up front and have an cvaluation and find out if it is safe as is. If it's safe as is then we arc done with the issue. [fit is unsafe we find out what he needs to do to make it safc and make it happen. We should requcst him to pay for the report which would include cvaluation of the previous report and evaluation 0 f the tower. After the second report is comp1ctcd we will continue to movc forward to close this issue. . Finance Department 2002 Budget - Recrcation Programming - Three options were presented to amend the adopted 2002 Rccrcation budget. Option ^ would involve a 10% price increasc and 75/25 Charitable Gambling Fund split. Option B would utilize a portion oflhe Gcneral Fund surplus and involvc creating the newslettcr in-house. Option C would involvc all increase in price by 5% and 65/35 Charitable Gambling Fund split and a newsletter reduction frolll three issues to two issues. Council agreed a 70/30 Charitable Gambling split, a 5% price increase, and a reduction in the number of newslettcr issues. This item was moved to the Consent Calendar for fOlTllal action. 2002 Fee Schedule Review - The 2002 Fee Schedule had been adopted without Larson's changes. Grant asked another eolumn be addcd to reflect the previous year's changes and eUlTent year's so it is easily visible what price has changed. Item was moved to the Consent Calendar with Larson's changes noted. Public Works Department 'Vater Restriction and Water Usage Ordinance The previously rcquested changcs havc becn made. Probst suggested two more changes (language change from "City Council may override" rather than" City Council has a right to") (5)20.00 a day fine for residents versus $25.00) and then item wi)] be moved to Consent Calendar. . Administration Department City IIall Use Policy and Fees - LY~lch noted he has adjusted thc fees as Council has requested. Grant noted hc is surprised we are going ahead with renting the rooms aftcr the other cities have advised us against doing so. Lynch noted most the other cities used a Community Center and not their City Hall. Rcm indicated we can try it for a year and ifit doesn't work we can stop it. Probst noted hc does not want to waivc damage deposit . . . ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES JANUARY 22, 2002 4 fees in any room for day or night and asked we be vcry rigorous about pursuing damage costs from any group. Damagc deposit fees should apply to all rooms and not just the Council Chambers. Probst arglled wc would not aHow anyone on the 2nd floor conference because of the access to the staff offices. Aplikowski said we should bc selective about who uses the 2nd floor con fercnce room. Probst suggested we try using it and see what isslles surface with the room. Item was moved to the Consent Calendar for formal action. STAFF COMMENTS Lynch noted the Council's prescnce is requested for January 26th and Febmary 1 st staffretreats. Brown noted there are 3 scenarios being worked on for the PMP and he would like to receive Council's thoughts. Brown recommended sccnario 1 or 2. Conscnsus was received to go with thc Hunters Park neighborhood in mid to late summer. Post asked thc Council to take action on the assessment policy. COUNCIL COMMENTS Grant not cd hc talked with Mr. Mark KeHiher lrom the Operations and Finatlce Committee and Mr. KeHiher had noted the Operations and Finance (O&F) Committee wanted to know to what extent they would be involved in planning for the proposed new Maintenance facility. Probst noted he would like their ideas and Council will listen to them. Probst also indicatcd he would like to see a Task Force developed with a Planning member included in the group, as well as one or two mcmbers of the staff which may includc Tom Moore or Jim Pcrron. Probst said the next step would be the appointment of a Task Force. Rem noted the January/Febmary newsletter will be going out shortly. It was rccommended to her the next issue be on the new City Hall. Larson noted the Ramscy County letter in the packct was well done. Hc also noted Ramsey County Parks has identified as a number one priority the Tony Schmidt Park trail railroad underpass. Larson noted the immcdiate issue is for us to send a letter indicating our support and consideration of financial participation. Council agreed. Probst suggested a rcsolution be drafted to give our support and to start looking at how we can help with the project in regard to funding support. Item was moved to thc Consent Calendar for formal action. Probst noted he is fine with the letter written by the owner of the property adjacent to Perry Park with the exception of the lot split point. Probst indicated wc would want to communicate to him that acquisition of his property may be a long term goal of the park system. In any event, Probst believes the letter requires a written response back to the landowner expressing the City's position of a lot split at this property. . . . ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES JANUARY 22, 2002 5 Probst noted he received numerous phone cal1s from Pioneer Press reporter Cindy Boyd regarding the Govemor's endorsement to the ArnlY National Guard's request for liccnse to an additional 541 TCAAP acres which would leave roughly 520 acres left for potential land dcvclopment. Probst noted it is important we take fonnal actions from now on to indicatc the City's position. Lynch noted GSA is lighting the acquisition and is preparing an RFP. ADJOURN Mayor Probst moved and all Councilmcmbers agreed to adjourn the meeting at 9:46 p.m.