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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-13-07-R Approved: August 27, 2007 CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING AUGUST 13, 2007; 7:00 P.M. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, Mayor Stan Harpstead called to order the regular City Council meeting at 7:02 p.m. Present: Mayor Stan Harpstead, Councilmembers David Grant, Brenda Holden, David McClung, and Fran Holmes. Absent: None. Also present were City Administrator, Michelle Wolfe; Public Works Director, Gregory Hoag; Finance Director, Susan Iverson; Community Development Director, Karen Barton; Civil Engineer, Kris Giga; City Planner, James Lehnhoff; Parks and Recreation Manager, Michelle Olson; and Recording Secretary, Kathleen Altman. 1. PUBLIC INOUlRIES/INFORMATIONAL Richard Gonzalez, 3441 Lake Johanna Boulevard, stated he was available to answer questions regarding his item and requested it be removed from the Consent Agenda. 2. APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA Councilmember Holden requested item 4D be pulled from the Consent Calendar and added as item 5A. MOTION: Councilmember McClung moved and Councilmember Holden seconded a motion to approve the meeting agenda as amended. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - AUGUST 13, 2007 2 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. July 9, 2007 Regular City Council Meeting MOTION: Councilmember Grant moved and Councilmember Holden seconded a motion to approve the July 9, 2007 City Council Meeting Minutes as presented. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). 4. CONSENT CALENDAR a. Claims and Payroll b. Motion to Approve Agreement Between the City of New Brighton and the City of Arden Hills for Cable Services c. Motion to Deny Planning Case 07-017 for a Variance at 3441 Lake Johanna Boulevard based on the Findings of Fact in the August 13, 2007 Planning Case Report d. Motion to l.uthorize the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee and Staff to InGtall a Nine Hole Bocce Golf Course at Linder's Park for a cost of $2,500 e. Motion to Accept the 2007 Second Quarter Financial Reports f. Motion to Accept the 2006 Popular Annual Financial Report as Presented MOTION: Councilmember Grant moved and Councilmember Holden seconded a motion to approve the Consent Calendar and to authorize execution of all necessary documents contained therein. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). 5. PULLED CONSENT ITEMS A. Motion to Authorize the Parks. Trails, and Recreation Committee and Staff to Install a Nine-Hole Bocce Golf Course at Lindev's Park for a cost of $2.500 Ms. Olson stated the Strategies for Parks, Trails, and Commnnity Building were approved by the City Council in April, 2006. The first strategy listed under Parks is the possibility of a Disk Golf course and/or Bocce Golf Course. The PTRC is considering both types of golf courses and has been researching cost and location since that time. Mr. Lanny Baumann, a PTRC member brought forward a proposal for a nine-hole Bocce Golf Course at Lindey's Park. The PTRC is in favor of installing a course at Lindey's Park. At their April 17, 2007 PTRC meeting, the Committee has made a motion to recommend allocating $2,500 to put in a bocce golf course at Lindey's park this year. The motion carried unanimously. In the 2002 Parks, Trails and Open Space Plan, Lindey's Park is listed as unprogrannned open space. By recommending that Bocce Golf be installed for Lindey's Park, the PTRC is now interested in changing that park to a progrannned open space. She indicated maintenance was very minimal and an annual name use fee of $100 is listed to begin after the first year. Staff did voice concerns about this to Mr. Baumann and the PTRC and did check with the City Attorney to get his comments. His only ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - AUGUST 13,2007 3 recommendation was for the City to write up an official agreement between Mr. Baumann and the City and have a clause that states the City can terminate the agreement at any time. She noted staff did not budget for the Bocce Golf Course in 2007. However, a few projects that were slated to come from the Park Fund in 2006 and 2007 have been delayed. Therefore, the PTRC is requesting that the $2,500 come from the Special Revenue, Park Fund in 2007. Councilmember Holden inquired about the $100 fee and if it had been discussed among staff with a possible conflict of interest. Ms. Olson responded the City Attorney would be drafting up an agreement to address any concerns. Councilmember Holden requested nothing be done in the park until the agreement had been signed. MOTION: Councilmember McClung moved and Councilmember Grant seconded a motion to authorize the Parks, Trails, and Recreational Committee and Staff to Install a Nine-Hole Bocce Golf Course at Lindey's Park for a cost of $2,500 contingent upon the signed agreement between Mr. Baumann and the City. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). 6. PUBLIC HEARINGS None. 7. NEW BUSINESS A. Motion to Authorize Staff to Obtain Ouotes and Contract with a Consultant to Review the Environmental Assessment for the 1-694 Area Improvements Ms. Giga stated Mn/DOT was planning the reconstruction of a portion of Interstate 694 as a six- lane freeway with auxiliary lanes and reconstructing the interchanges at Interstate 35W, Trunk Highway I O/Snelling Avenue, Victoria Street, and Rice Street. As part of this process, the preparation of an Environmental Assessment (EA) is required. The EA has been completed and is being distributed to all interested parties, including the City of Arden Hills. The 30-day comment period will begin on August 13 and end September 12. Staff estimated the cost for a consultant to review the EA will be approximately $2,500 to $3,500. She recommended Council authorize staff to obtain quotes and contract with a Consultant to review the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the 1-694 Area Improvements. Councilmember Grant asked why where they recommending going to an outside consultant instead of the City reviewing it. Ms. Giga responded at this time the City staff was overloaded with work and needed assistance with this. She also noted there were areas that the staff would teclmical assistance as to what they should be looking for. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - AUGUST 13, 2007 4 Councilmember Holmes asked if they could request an extension of time from Mn/DOT. She asked if they had more time, would that give staff more time to review this and it would not be necessary to hire consultants. Ms. Giga responded she was not certain if Mn/DOT would do that, but she would ask. Ms. Wolfe noted while this was progrannned for the future, it is hoped that if there were additional funds available, this project could move ahead sooner. She did not know if Mn/DOT would be willing to grant an extension of time. She noted if they did not grant the extension, there would be less time for staff and/or a consultant for the review. She indicated that the City had anticipated that the use of consultants would still be needed, even with the Joint Powers Agreement for engineering services with the City of Roseville. This particular project is specialized work and staff believed the City would benefit by having a review done by a consultant. Councilmember Holden asked if the Enviroumental Assessment was going to impact any residents in the City. Ms. Giga responded she had received it, but had not begun to review it yet. She indicated this was a public document and could be reviewed by any of the residents. Mark Lindeberg, MnillOT, Project Manager 694/35E/35W expansion project, stated the environmental document was available for public review with the review period ending on September 12. He stated they would be holding a public open house to review layouts and receive comments. He indicated those public comments would then be addressed. He stated as they proceed with the approval of the EA, they would be shortly coming forward with layouts and consent from the Cities. Councilmember McClung asked if there was a copy of the document available online for review. Mr. Lindeberg responded it was available at the local libraries and staff had a copy of the distribution list. Councilmember McClung recommended this document be put online for review. Mr. Lindeberg responded he would check on this and see ifthey could put it online. Councilmember Grant recommended it be put on the City's website. Ms. Giga responded they could put it on the City's website, or have a link to the State's website. Councilmember Grant stated he would prefer it be on the City's website. Ms. Giga responded the document might be too large to put on the City's website, but staff would check into this. MOTION: Mayor Harpstead moved and Councilmember Holden seconded a motion to authorize staff to obtain quotes and contract with a Consultant to review Mayor Harpstead asked if there could be an extension. Mr. Lindeberg stated he did not have this information, but they did have a 30-day process that they followed. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - AUGUST 13, 2007 5 the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the 1-694 Area Improvements. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). B. Motion to Approveillenv/Table a Request to Transfer Property IS 28-30-23-33-0030 to the City of New Bril!:hton Mr. Lehnhoff stated Mr. David Canniff made a request to the Council to detach a property from the City of Arden Hills so it could be annexed by the City of New Brighton. The property is zoned R-2, however, the property is not being used for residential purposes. There is a garage on the property. The property is a nonconforming lot in the R-2 zone. He indicated the property does not appear to have much use in Arden Hills under its current R-2 Zoning designation. Because of the size and shape of the property, it would likely be difficult, though not necessarily impossible, to construct a reasonably sized conforming dwelling. Due to the low value of the property and low taxes payable, the impact on tax collections for Arden Hills would be negligible. He indicated staff does not have a recommendation. MOTION: Councilmember Grant moved and Councilmember Holden seconded a motion to deny the request to transfer property IS 28-30-23-33-0030 to the City of New Brighton. Mayor Harpstead noted he would have moved to approve. He indicated this was a piece of land stuck between a railroad track and the City boundary and he did not believe it was a usable piece ofland. Councilmember Holmes agreed and did not understand why this was a part of the City in the first place. She stated it did not make any sense why they would not want to transfer it to the City of New Brighton. Councilmember Grant stated he understood the owner of the R-2 Zone also owned the industrial zone in New Brighton, which property needed cleaning up. Mr. Lehnhoff noted the property that needed cleaning was not owned by the applicant. He indicated he had spoken with New Brighton about the property that needed cleaning. He noted any development of Mr. Canniffs property would have to meet New Brighton's current standards, which would not include any outdoor storage. Mr. David Canniff, 2840 27th Avenue South, Minneapolis, stated currently there was a shed and some steel beams on the property. He stated they were ahnost finished clearing it and soon they would have those beams cleaned up also. Councilmember Holden stated her issue was that the City gave up all rights to how this looked and this was a concern for her. She noted this was the same plan that was proposed the last time and she did not want to give up the City's rights. She stated she would rather give a variance. Mr. Canniff stated he had been unable to obtain architectural drawings, but they were proposing a single sloped building facing south with windows at the top of the building. He noted this ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - AUGUST 13, 2007 6 would be a showroom for high-end machinery. He stated they wanted this to be a high-class showroom machinery for their high-end machinery. Councilmember Grant asked what type of machinery was this a showroom for. Mr. Canniff responded it was high-end machine tools. Councilmember Holden asked if there would be any noise. Mr. Canniff responded there would be no repair ofthe machines on this property. Councilmember Grant asked if Arden Hills could change the zoning to match the New Brighton zoning. Mr. Lehnhoff responded he was not sure if this could be done and he would need to look into it further. He believed it would require an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan to rezone. He was unsure if the City had an existing zone that would be compatible with the New Brighton zone. Councilmember Grant withdrew his motion. Councilmember Holden withdrew her second. MOTION: Councilmember Holmes moved and Mayor Harpstead seconded a motion to approve the request to transfer property IS 28-30-23-33-0030 to the City of New Brighton. MOTION: Councilmember Grant moved and Councilmember McClung seconded a motion to table the request to transfer property IS 28-30-23-33-0030 to the City of New Brighton until such time as the applicant can bring back his architectural drawings and more information upon which Council can base its decision. Councilmember Grant stated he wanted to ensure that the Council had a firm grasp of what is gomg on. Councilmember Holden requested staff get back to the Council as to what it would entail to get this rezoned. The motion to table carried 3-2. (Councilmember Holmes and Mayor Harpstead opposed). Mr. Canniff noted he had a timetable and would appreciate a quick decision. 8. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. AUAR Update Ms. Barton updated the Council on the AUAR. B. TCAAP ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - AUGUST 13, 2007 7 Ms. Wolfe and Ms. Barton updated on the Council on recent TCAAP developments. Councilmember Grant stated he wanted information on the following: There seems to be a 100 acre difference and he wanted to know how the acreage decreased by 100 acres from 2005-2007. He noted a number of residents had expressed an interested in affordable housing and a concern that the City has not been meeting their goals. He asked how many homes in the City were affordable. He stated he had also requested the financial capacity ofthis proj ect. He stated he had to have an answer in order to go forward with this project. In terms of fmancials, did they have flexibility in the project in order to make changes, or did they need the density in order to make it work? He noted the citizens did not want density - they wanted open space. Councilmember McClung stated he also had the same concerns as Councilmember Grant. He noted at some point they needed these answers or they would not be able to move forward. He stated he also wanted to see the Communications Plan. Ms. Wolfe stated most ofthe concerns were discussed last Thursday and as she communicated to Council on Friday, they were in the process of communicating with the team that worked on the original TCAAP framework with respect to the 100 acres. She stated the developer had been directed to work on the fmancial analysis, but Council had requested they stop the work until there was a meeting scheduled between the developer and CounciL She believed there was a misunderstanding in terms of the Commnnications Plan request. She stated they were addressing this with the project manager and they did have a commnnications plan for the master plan, but it involved the process of public meetings, etc. She noted this was a micro way to communicate the process to the public. 9. COUNCIL REOUESTS A. Councilmember Holden stated National Night Out was last week with 14 neighborhood parties registered. B. Councilmember McClung stated the Fire Department Board of Directors was meeting this Thursday n' Regular City Council Meeting at 8:15 p.m. ~ .)lliO?fr Michelle Wolfe City Administrator NOTICE OF MEETINGS The next Council Meeting will be held Monday, August 27,2007 at 7:00 p.m. at the Arden Hills Council Chambers.