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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-30-25-SWS Request for Special City Council Work Session A special meeting may be called by the Mayor or by any two Councilmembers. Reason for meeting: 1. Public Inquiries/Informational 2. Response to Public Inquiries 3. Agenda Items A. Flock Cameras Discussion B. SCORE Grant Incentive Funding C. Chickens Discussion D. Zoning Code Updates 4. Council/Staff Comments Adjourn Requested Date: 06/30/2025 Requested time: Immediately following Special City Council meeting Open meeting X Closed meeting Signature of person(s) making request: 06/26/2025 Mayor or Council Member Date / / Council Member Date -This section to be completed by City staff- Date received: 06/26/2025 Date meeting to be held: 06/30/2025 Time of meeting: Immediately following Special City Council meeting Location: City Hall All necessary postings and notices have been completed. 06/26/2025 Signature of City Clerk Date City of Arden Hills ▪1245 West Highway 96 ▪ Arden Hills Minnesota 55112 Phone 651.792.7800 ▪ Fax 651.634.5137 ▪ www.cityofardenhills.org 'It ­-ARZEN HILLS Approved: July 28, 2025 CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION JUNE 30, 2025 5:30 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 meeting at 5:30 p.m. Present: Mayor David Grant; Councilmembers Brenda Holden, Tena Monson, Emily Rousseau and Kurt Weber Absent: None Also present: City Administrator Jessica Jagoe and Deputy Clerk Jen Estling 1. PUBLIC INQUIRIES/INFORMATIONAL None. 2. RESPONSE TO PUBLIC INQUIRIES None. 3. AGENDA ITEMS A. Flock Cameras Discussion City Administrator Jagoe stated at the May 12 and May 27 Work Sessions, the City Council reviewed the 2025 budget amendment proposal from the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office (RCSO) for the installation of 19 Flock license plate reader (LPR) cameras in the contract cities. At the Special Regular Meeting on May 28, Council direction was given to table the LPR discussion with a request to the RCSO to provide additional information. Staff reviewed the information that had been provided to the City by the RCSO. City Administrator Jagoe explained that the Council is being asked to consider the implementation of LPR cameras as a budget amendment for 2025 so that installation could begin mid -summer. All of the other cities within the contract group have approved the budget amendment as requested by RCSO for the Flock LPR cameras. Council direction should be given ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — JUNE 30, 2025 2 if there is any additional information that may be needed from RCSO for consideration of this request and/or direct staff to schedule this agenda item at a future Regular meeting to take the necessary action on the budget amendment request from RCSO for Flock LPR cameras. Councilmember Rousseau asked what would happen if the City of Arden Hills were to oppose this contract and budget amendment. City Administrator Jagoe explained the cameras would still be installed in the other contract cities and she would have to follow up to see what would happen with the three cameras that were proposed for Arden Hills. Councilmember Rousseau commented she appreciated the responsibility the Ramsey County Sheriff's have shown with the body worn camera audits and their general good will in the community. She explained she wanted more awareness regarding the cameras and questioned what the reason was for the 30 day retention. She indicated she was nervous regarding if data breaches could occur and believed there would be a higher risk for such a breach if data were collected from these cameras in Arden Hills. She recommended this item not be on the Consent Agenda if it were brought to the City Council for approval. Councilmember Weber thanked Councilmember Rousseau for her comments. He indicated he reached out to a Ramsey County Boardmember to learn more about the Board's opinion. He explained he raised concerns regarding the financing model noting cities were paying for these cameras and not the counties. He commented he strongly believes this should be a County operation and should be funded by the County. Mayor Grant explained a presentation has been given to all of the other contract cities. He asked where these cities were at in the process. City Administrator Jagoe reported all of the other contract cities have approved a budget amendment for the Flock cameras. Councilmember Monson requested legal review the contract, noting she would like to have additional information regarding data rights and to better understand what an audit may look like. She asked if the City's data would be opting into the federal and State databases. City Administrator Jagoe commented it was her understanding Ramsey County would only allow other Minnesota law enforcement agencies to access their data. Councilmember Holden stated Flock has less than a 0.02% of ever flagging anything and these cameras were being used in very large cities, such as Austin, San Diego and Denver. Councilmember Weber noted the terms of the contract would remain in place and the City would have no control over the contract if it were approved by the Council. City Administrator Jagoe explained the contract had been signed and the Sheriff's Department was looking for the City Council to approve a budget amendment to cover the expense for three cameras. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — JUNE 30, 2025 3 Councilmember Monson stated this was a very interesting topic when it comes to data practices and how this will be addressed in the future. She explained she was working to evaluate the costibenefit of this technology. She reported she spoke with a number of residents regarding this topic and not one supported this technology coming into the community. She stated the residents understood the value, but did not want to be over -surveilled. She commented it was her understanding the cameras had already been approved and the Council was simply being asked to approve a budget amendment. She reported that if the budget amendment were denied, would the cameras still be installed in Arden Hills. City Administrator Jagoe commented she would have to ask this question of the Ramsey County Sheriffs Department. Councilmember Rousseau stated she was disappointed by the fact the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department was making these decisions without receiving any feedback or having conversations regarding the risks with the contract cities. Councilmember Weber explained the cameras were going to be installed by the County and they would be installed in County right-of-way. Mayor Grant reported the cameras were being requested to assist with fighting crime. He indicated the sheriff's department was viewing the cameras as a tool, while the City may see the cameras as a big brother issue. He commented there were concerns with Al and how technology was overstepping. However, in the end, he believed the sheriff's department would not be requesting this tool if it was unsafe to use in fighting crime. Councilmember Monson stated she would like to see a claw back clause within the contract to ensure the City has the right to not use the cameras in the future. She commented she was concerned with the fact the sheriff's department would be requesting more FTE's given the amount of traffic data that would be collected. Councilmember Holden indicated she was not concerned about an increasing number of FTE's because this was not occurring in Denver or Austin. Rather, she was more concerned about lowering crime in other communities in order to reduce the overall cost for policing in Arden Hills. City Administrator Jagoe stated after speaking with Undersheriff Jeff Ramacher, he stressed a case number has to be assigned to the searching capability within the data that was captured from the Flock cameras. Councilmember Holden questioned how the City Council should proceed. Councilmember Rousseau explained she would like to see a no vote going forward in order to see how the County responds. Mayor Grant requested staff speak with the County regarding the questions that have been raised and that these answers be brought back to the Council on July 28. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — JUNE 30, 2025 4 B. SCORE Grant Incentive Funding City Administrator Jagoe stated the City applied for grant money from Ramsey County's recycling SCORE grant program for 2025. The base funds are used to offset the cost of the City's recycling program, including administration, equipment, and collection costs. There is incentive funding, in addition to the base allowance, which can be used for up to two approved incentive initiatives per year. In 2024 Arden Hills received $4,007 in incentive funds. The 2025 incentive amount is $23,815. In the past, the incentive funds have been used for the annual Cleanup Day event where Arden Hills partners with Recycle Technologies in Blaine. We are still planning to move forward with that event on October 4, 2025, and as in previous years, residents will be able to use coupons for two free items. The cost associated with this event is generally approximately $4,000, leaving a potential balance of $19,815 to apply toward additional, eligible recycling initiatives. City Administrator Jagoe explained the proposal for an additional cleanup day was presented to Council at the June 23, 2025, Special Work Session. Staff identified a vendor, Freimuth Enterprises, LLC, that would facilitate the recycling event, which would also include paper shredding. The paper shredding vendor, 1 st Choice Document Destruction, Inc., provides on -site paper shredding services. They shred the documents in a secure environment on -site with their Mobile Unit truck and the customer is encouraged to observe the destruction of documents, to ensure peace of mind. City Administrator Jagoe reported at the June 23 Work Session, Council directed Staff to narrow the collection scope as many items can be disposed of for free at the new nearby Ramsey County Environmental Center. Staff reviewed Freimuth's itemized list and compared those against the items collected at the Recycling Center in order to determine which items could be removed from Freimuth's list. Staff outlined the items that could remain on the list and those that could be removed, should Council wish to narrow the scope of items offered. In addition, the Council also directed Staff to provide a cost estimate if the City were to pay for all items, with no cost to the residents. One of the items on the SCORE Performance Work Plan is to "Use Ramsey County materials and information when and where appropriate to promote increased recycling, reuse and repair..." The City will continue to keep residents informed about where they can dispose of certain items for free, and share Ramsey County materials, through the website and social media. Deputy Clerk Estling reported she reached out to the vendor and they were interested in limiting the scope and could cut out electronics. She commented that the vendor has never charged a city more than $9,500 for an entire event. Mayor Grant was of the opinion there was a demand for this type of event in the community. He noted the incentive program would cover the expense for an event of this type. Councilmember Weber agreed noting he supported the City holding a clean up event. Councilmember Rousseau stated she supported the event as well. Councilmember Holden indicated she took an old lawn mower and A/C unit and she paid $10 to get rid of both items. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — JUNE 30, 2025 5 Councilmember Monson explained she supported the City moving forward with an event as well with the City covering the cost. Councilmember Holden inquired if the SCORE funds could be used in another manner. Mayor Grant reported the funds could be used for rain barrels, rain gardens, or reuseable shopping bags. Councilmember Monson supported the event moving forward and suggested the Council revisit how to spend the remaining SCORE grant funds. Councilmember Holden expressed concern with collecting electronics and recommended these items be taken elsewhere to ensure data was properly wiped cleaned. She indicated she supported adding fluorescent lights back into the cleanup day. City Administrator Jagoe thanked the Council for their feedback and noted the cleanup day event would be held with fluorescent bulbs and without electronics. C. Chickens Discussion City Administrator Jagoe stated at the May 12 work session, the City Council requested that the ordinance for the keeping of chickens as well as the topic of ducks be brought to the special work session scheduled for May 28 for discussion. This agenda topic was subsequently bumped to the June 9th meeting. At the June 9 work session, the Council began the review and discussion on potential amendments to Ordinance 2021-008 for the Keeping of Chickens. The discussion for the Keeping of Chickens was to be continued at the Special Work Session scheduled for June 30th. Staff was directed to prepare a redlined version of the Keeping of Chickens ordinance with the amendments discussed and generally agreed upon by the Council. Other discussion items that staff needs direction on from the June 9 meeting that have not yet been incorporated into the redlined ordinance are as follows: • Setbacks • Number of Accessory Structures including Coop • Fencing/Screening • Cleaning standards • Leg Banding Requirement Councilmember Holden commented she believed it was important to have the chicken coops closer to the principal structure than a neighbor's home. Councilmember Weber suggested residents be allowed to seek permission from a neighbor if a coop location was closer to a neighbor than the principal structure. Councilmember Rousseau asked if it would be difficult to require the neighbors' approval in this process. City Administrator Jagoe stated this could be included in the approval process and forms could be provided to the applicant for the adjacent neighbors. She indicated the neighbors would then have to offer their approval before the request could move forward through the permit process. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — JUNE 30, 2025 6 Councilmember Holden questioned how the City defined adjacent neighbors. City Administrator Jagoe explained this would be the properties abutting the perimeter of a subject property. Councilmember Monson supported the language being cleaned up further when it comes to the required setbacks. City Administrator Jagoe stated she could look into this further. Councilmember Monson explained she received strong support from residents that the City should require chicken coops to be closer to the principal structure than a neighbors' home. She indicated she supported this recommendation as well. She commented she did not support requiring a resident to receive a neighbor's approval in order to do something in their own yard. Councilmember Rousseau indicated she would like to change the structure of this portion of Code to have chickens separate from other farm animals. She explained she liked the fact the exercise yard was being eliminated and she was willing to support having coop closer to a certain portion of the yard than another. Mayor Grant stated if the exercise yard was being eliminated, then the run needs to be slightly bigger. Councilmember Weber suggested the run be 60 square feet in size as a minimum. Mayor Grant supported the run being larger than 60 square feet. Councilmember Monson stated she has never seen a coop and run that large. She feared that these requirements would be cost prohibitive. Councilmember Weber reported eight to ten square feet in the run was the minimum care requirement from the University of Minnesota Care Extension. He did not believe this requirement would be cost prohibitive. Councilmember Monson suggested the requirement be brought down to eight square feet per bird instead of ten. Councilmember Weber supported requiring ten square feet per bird for the run space. Mayor Grant requested the Council now shift their comments to fencing and screening. Councilmember Weber stated he supported the run being fenced entirely. Councilmember Monson agreed the run has to be fenced, but the City should not require any visible screening. She recommended Number 4 be struck entirely. Councilmember Rousseau indicated she would like to see the same fencing used for dog kennels to be used for chickens. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — JUNE 30, 2025 7 Councilmember Weber indicated he supported scratching Number 4. Mayor Grant reported the chickens should not be able to get out if the coop has a roof and the run was entirely fenced. He questioned if it was necessary to band the chickens. The Council did not support requiring residents to band their chickens. Mayor Grant commented on the proposed cleaning standards and reported he would not expect staff to enforce these standards, unless there was an odor complaint. Councilmember Monson stated cleaning standards would be extremely important and she recommended the cleaning standard language remain in the Ordinance. Councilmember Weber supported cleaning language remaining within the Ordinance to ensure no sensible odor was apparent from the property line. Councilmember Rousseau suggested the City provide residents with best practices information when it comes to chicken coop cleaning. City Administrator Jagoe explained she could create a best practices from the information from the University of Minnesota along with changing the language in Item 3.2. Mayor Grant questioned how the Council wanted to address setbacks. Councilmember Weber recommended the coops and runs have at least a 10 foot setback. Councilmember Rousseau supported this recommendation. Councilmember Monson suggested chicken coops and runs not be any closer than 10 feet from the property line and in no instance closer to the neighbors dwelling than the principle structure. Councilmember Weber stated he did not support requiring residents to tear down their chicken coop if it was no longer used for chickens. He indicated this could be a financial hardship, noting the coops could be used for storage. Councilmember Monson agreed chicken coops should be viewed as an accessory structure. Councilmember Rousseau also supported this recommendation. Councilmember Weber asked how the City would know if a coop was no longer being used for chickens. Councilmember Rousseau indicated the City would get a heads up if a property owner did not renew their licensing. Further discussion ensued regarding detached accessory structures. Councilmember Monson discussed how difficult it was to remove structures once built. She was of the opinion a resident should not be allowed to have a chicken coop if they already have two accessory structures. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — JUNE 30, 2025 8 Mayor Grant stated he had concerns about allowing three accessory structures on a residential lot as well. He indicated he supported the trigger point being the non -renewal of a chicken license for the removal of a chicken coop. Councilmember Monson questioned if the City had to license chickens. She indicated she could support removing this requirement. Councilmember Weber suggested chicken licensing be done on a biannual basis. The Council supported this recommendation. Councilmember Weber asked if the City was going to consider duck keeping. He indicated he would need more information regarding this topic. Councilmember Monson stated she would prefer that the City not allow the keeping of ducks. D. Zoning Code Updates City Administrator Jagoe stated at the May 12 and May 28 work sessions, the City Council began the review of the HKGi Summary of Work Session #2 memo and recommendations. Feedback was given on the Lot Standards and Site Standards portion of the memo. During the review of the Permitted and Accessory Use Tables, the City Council tabled the discussion on the remainder of the Land Use Table review and remaining items in the consultant memo to a future work session. Staff reviewed the remaining discussion items and reported staff was looking for direction from the City Council which will then be shared with HKGi. It was noted on July 9, HKGi will have a third Work Session with the Planning Commission focused on use specific standards, the subdivision code, and various procedures for land use applications. Councilmember Rousseau asked if a data center would be allowed. Mayor Grant commented he wanted to ensure data centers would be allowed. City Administrator Jagoe explained she could speak with HKGi to ensure language was drafted surrounding data centers in light industrial. Councilmember Rousseau indicated she would prefer to keep data centers out of the community. She reported data centers use a great deal of energy and resources. City Administrator Jagoe stated she would bring this item back to the Council on July 28 for further discussion when the entire City Council was in attendance. 4. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND STAFF UPDATES Councilmember Monson commented on the speed limit increase along Snelling Avenue. She noted this wasn't nearly as much of a neighborhood supportive approach as what she had necessarily heard. She was under the impression the neighborhood was working together and had one spokesperson, but that was not the case. She requested Council revisit this topic. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — JUNE 30, 2025 9 Councilmember Monson discussed a recent article that was printed in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) magazine where Rice Creek Commons and The Heights were featured for their carbon neutrality efforts. Further discussion ensued regarding the changes that were made by the State regarding cannabis profits. ADJOURN Mayor Grant adjourned the City Council Work Session meeting at 7:27 p.m. VJen stlingJen stling David Grant Deputy Clerk Mayor