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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCCWS 08-29-2005 " e ~ ~HILLS Approved: September 12, 2005 eITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA eITY COUNeIL WORK SESSION AUGUST 29, 2005, 9:54 P.M. eITY HALL eOUNeIL eHAMBERS, 1245 WEST HIGHWAY 96 CALL TO ORDER Mayor Aplikowski called the meeting to order at 9:54 p.m. Present: Mayor Beverly Aplikowski, Councilmembers Gregg Larson and Brenda Holden. Absent: Councilmembers Lois Rem and David Grant (excused). Staff Present: City Administrator, Michelle Wolfe; Director of Operations & Maintenance, Thomas Moore; Finance Director/Treasurer, Murtuza Siddiqui; and Recording Secretary, Kathleen Altman. . Others Present: David McClung, Planning Commissioner and PTRC Member. Proposed Smokinl! Policv for Arden Hills eitv Parks Mr. Moore stated at the March 22, 2005 Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee (PTRC) meeting, discussion took place regarding the possibility of establishing a Tobacco-Free Parks and Trails policy for the City Parks and Trail system. Committee member David McClung indicated that he would take the lead on this project and would gather any and all relevant information and report back to the PTRC at the April 26, 2005 meeting. At the April 26, 2005 PTRC meeting, Ms. Katie Engman from the Ramsey County Tobacco Coalition made a presentation. In addition, three Mounds View High School Students, Suzanne Florey, Christina Florey, and Nicole Holm also made a presentation. The three students are members of Peers Acting to Challenge Tobacco (PACT). At the May 24, 2005 PTRC mecting, the PTRC discussed the possibility of establishing a Tobacco - Free Parks and Trails Policy. The PTRC passed a motion (5-0) stating that the PTRC recommended to the City Council that they give consideration to adopting a Tobacco-Free Parks and Trails Policy for the City of Arden Hills Parks and Trails System. At the June 20, Council Work session, Council heard a presentation from the PACT students. . Council directed staff to bring a draft policy back to the Council at a later date. He noted this proposed policy only applied to City owned Parks and Trails. This proposed policy would not apply to Ramsey County Parks (Tony Schmidt) or any other future Ramsey Park or 1 IMeu'o- inet.uslardenhillslAdmin ICouncillMinutesl W orksession \2005108-29-05 Approved.doc <. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 29, 2005 2 , trails located within Arden Hills, unless Ramsey COWlty adopted a similar policy. Staff is recommending that one 'Tobacco Free' sign be placed at the entrance of each City Park. Signage could be installed on existing poles, fences, or buildings within a particular park. Thus minimizing 'sign pollution' and saving time and money on locates and the installation of sign posts. Any additional park signage requests would be submitted by staff to the PTRC for review and then forwarded to the City Council for approval. Trail signage would be limited to a trail head or the intersection of two trails. Signage could be installed on existing sign posts. Any additional trail signage requests would be submitted by staff to the PTRC for review and then forwarded to the City COlillcil for approval. Staff is estimating that 22 signs would be required for City parks and 25 for trails, for a combined total of 47 signs. He stated currently there were no designated funding sources for this project in the 2005 CIP Budget or in the General Fund. The 'Tobacco Free' signage would be supplied, free of charge, by the Ramsey Tobacco Coalition and the members of PACT will provide the labor to install the sIgns. City staff will provide the labor for 'locates' of utilities by submitting a work order to Gopher-One and then physically going out on the location site to mark the City's utilities. Estimated staff costs are based on approximately three hours of work at a cost not to exceed $60.50. In addition, the City will supply the posts for the signage. These sign posts are leftover posts from the City of Arden Hills equipment inventory. Some of these posts are too short for . regulatory street signage because they were damaged by a snow plow, a car, or vandalism. While the City made an initial investment to purchase these posts, the present condition ofthe posts does not allow for them to be used for street signage. In addition, 0 & M staff will seek assistance from Ramsey County Public Works in securing their extra non-regulation posts. Ramsey County Public Works indicated that they would supply their 'extra' posts at no cost to the City. Councilmember Holden asked how they would establish when someone was chewing something jf it was gum or tobacco. Ms. Katie Engman, Director of PACT, stated this was an awareness issue only and she was not aware of anyone being asked to spit something out of their mouth to see what it was. Mayor Aplikowski asked what the difference was between parkland and open space. Mr. Moore responded parkland was a designated City owned park and open space would be Ramsey County open space between Tony Schmidt Park and MOLillds View High School. He noted there were informal trails in there and this was the only designated open space in the City. Mayor Aplikowski stated she believed open space was too vague and extreme and asked where enforcement would stop. Councilmember Larson stated he took this to mean open space would stop at the border of City owned property and private property. He believed the language was self limiting. . David McClung stated the issue was if they did have City owned open space this would apply. He did not believe at the present time the City did have any City owned open space. He noted ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 29, 2005 3 e open space would apply to City owned non- designated park and the intention of this would be for land under the control of the City only. Mayor Aplikowski asked how this would be enforced and how much staff time would it take to make this work. She stated she understood this would be on a voluntary effort and therefore they were "watering this down" and she could not support it as proposed. Councilmember Larson stated he believed this would point out that the City did not condone smoking or tobacco use on City property and while he did not expect 100 percent compliance, it would make people aware of the City's policy. He indicated he did not have any problem with the language and while this is not the perfect policy, he believed it is a good policy. Mayor Aplikowski stated she would not vote in favor of telling an adult they could not smoke on City property. She stated she was not for barming things, but she was not opposed to edueating people. She stated she was not in support of signs being posted and she had a real concern with enforcement. Councilmember Holden noted a lot of policies the City had were not necessarily followed, such as the dog and cat ordinance. . Council member Larson noted this was a voluntary policy and they were not saying they were going to go out and enforce it. He indicated staff was only gathering information to report baek to Council and not to enforce the policy. However, he stated he would not be opposed to the enforcement language being removed. Mayor Aplikowski stated she did not know how they could enforce this with adults. Councilmember Holden stated they required athletic associations abide by an alcohol poliey and she did not see a difference between an alcohol poliey and a smoking poliey. Mayor Aplikowski stated she had a problem with having this policy being so broad and not limiting it to speeifie times when children's games were being played. Ms. Wolfe stated this would be placed on a future agenda. Mayor Aplikowski thanked the PACT representatives for their time and effort they have put into this. She suggested they publish this in the City's newsletter. Extension of Roval Oaks Purchase Al!:reement - Verbal Update . Ms. Wolfe stated they had met with the developer two weeks ago after the last meting and it was his intention to submit in the near future two different options of what Council would consider with different levels of density and she anticipated there would be another work session item in < ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 29, 2005 4 , the future. She stated it might make sense to request an update to the appraisal. She asked if COW1cil wanted her to proceed with talking to the appraisal to see what options they had. Councilmember Larson asked if it was her expectation that the sale price would be different. Ms. Wolfe responded she believed there was a good likelihood of that and as long as the issue of land value as a concern, she believed it should be clarified. Councilmember Larson stated he believed they should go ahead and update the appraisal. He asked what the City's standard for density was and what were they suppose to use as the right density for the property. He stated he was eoncerned that the City would realize less on the sale of the property, W1less there was strong indication that the value of the property was more than being offered. Councilmember Holden asked if the property was valued more or less with one or two accesses. She stated she wanted more information on square footage value. She stated she wanted to see what this land was compared to. She stated she would like to see the appraisal updated. Ms. Wolfe stated she also needed clarification with respect to the square footage. . Councilmember Larson noted the value of the property was only as high as the offer. He stated he did not believe they needed to go out and make more of an effort to market this. Ms. Wolfe stated she did not know if an update to the appraisal was possible, or if a new appraisal would need to be done and the high end of a new appraisal was $2,500.00. She indicated she would obtain further infornlation regarding this. Councilmember Larson stated it might be a good idea to have another appraiser look at the original appraisal for their opinion. He stated he would prefer to do this rather than go back to the same appraiser. Councilmember Larson stated he wanted a future work session discussion/presentation on the Ramsey County Sheriff pursuit policy. Councilmember Holden stated she wanted a discussion on animal control at a future work sesSIOn. The meeting adjourned at 10:43 p.m. \!\l~ jU)~ . Michelle A. Wolfe ~ City Administrator