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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-05-04 Special CC Meeting Minutes - Approved Approved CITY OF CENTERVILLE CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MAY 4, 2021 5:30 p.m. Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the City of Centerville held their scheduled Special City Council Meeting on May 4, 2021 via Zoom Videoconferencing at: https://zoom.us/j/478824301, Meeting ID: 478 824 301 with audio only available at: 312-626-6799. The meeting was also live streamed by North Metro TV. COUNCIL MEETING I. CALL TO ORDER Mayor D. Love called the meeting to order at 5:31 p.m. ROLL CALL* PRESENT: Mayor D. Love Council Member Steve King Council Member Russ Koski Council Member Michelle Lakso Council Member Darrin Mosher ABSENT: None. STAFF: City Administrator Mark Statz City Attorney Kurt Glaser *Note that “present” is construed to mean that the noted individuals were visibly and audibly present on the videoconference call. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Mayor Love noted that he would like to divide Agenda Item #1 into Sections: A, B, and C in order to signify each of the three issues in front of the Council. Motion by Council Member Lakso, seconded by Council Member King, to Approve the Agenda as Amended. A roll-call vote was taken. Mayor Love and Council Members King, Koski, Lakso & Mosher voted in favor. Motion carried. IV. APPOINTMENTS/PRESENTATIONS 1. None. V. PUBLIC HEARINGS 1. None. City of Centerville Council Meeting Minutes May 4, 2021 VI. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES 1. None. VII. CONSENT AGENDA 1. None. VIII. OLD BUSINESS 1. Rehbein Commercial and Associated Developments – Consideration of Additional Public Hearings Mayor Love stated that the first thing for the Council to consider is whether they would like to schedule additional public hearings for the Kwik Trip. Administrator Statz asked City Attorney Glaser to address the process for this project. He stated that since the public hearing at the Planning Commission on April 26, 2021 and the City Council meeting on April 28, 2021, there has been a lot of public comment. He stated that there were a few Council Members who were looking for ways to further that conversation. Attorney Glaser explained there is a formality once the City opens the public hearing process. He stated that once the process is opened, they have to follow through with the process. He clarified that once the public hearing process has begun, you cannot just informally, as a body, start taking new public comment. If the Council wants to take public comment, the Council can notice its own public hearing and take public comment that way. He explained that he wanted to ensure that this public input was not taken in a manner that was illegal. The only way for the Council to take new, formal, public comment would be to notice a public hearing. He stated that staff is looking for direction from the Council as to what they want and they will help them accomplish that legally. Administrator Statz asked him to touch on the balance between 1st Amendment rights and the ability for the public to speak to the Council and vice versa. Attorney Glaser stated that there is a big difference between when they sit as a ‘body’ and when they are an individual office holder. The 1st Amendment is really clear, when you are an office holder, people get to talk to you. When you sit as a ‘body’ is when some of the more formal procedures are required, so if the Council wanted to call another meeting and have the public start talking about how they feel about a land use application, and it is not a noticed public hearing, that is actually illegal. He stated that when they are at home or at their office and get an e-mail from st constituents, the Council can answer those back because that is their individual right of 1 Amendment free speech and freedom of association. Mayor Love asked about the public comment portion of the agenda and whether it would be viewed as a public hearing if they contacted staff and told them they would like to comment. Attorney Glaser stated that when the Council is sitting as a quasi-judicial body over some land use application, the Council is supposed to make their decision based on the appropriate public Page 2 of 6 City of Centerville Council Meeting Minutes May 4, 2021 hearing. There is also something called Open Forum where the Council does not have a lot of control over what people say as long as it is not an item on the agenda. He stated that if it was done on a systematic basis in order to get around having a public hearing it would not be correct. Council Member Koski stated that the Council got many e-mails on this topic and noted that his understanding of what Attorney Glaser just stated was that it is okay for them to reply to those one on one, but not engage in the public comment portion of it. Attorney Glaser stated that when the Council Members are one on one, they can say whatever they want. He stated that what staff was concerned about was that there was a plan at the next Council meeting to invite members of the public to come in and freely talk on the topic. He reiterated that the Council is supposed to make their decisions on a land use application based on what came through the public hearing process. Council Member Koski stated that much of what was stated was a repeat of what was stated in the public hearing. He stated that he was very cautious about replying to them so this information is very helpful. Council Member King asked questions about the information received in e-mails and how it can become part of the official record. Attorney Glaser explained that the system the City uses, does not allow for individual e-mails to be brought into the public hearing record. He stated that the City has, at times, taken comments in advance of the public hearing and then included them in the record. He stated that if the Council decided tonight that they wanted to have a new public hearing or take more public comment in the form of e-mails, they can do that, as long as they put that notice out to the public. He clarified that the e-mails that have come to the Council Members thus far, cannot be part of the public record. Council Member King asked if people could send those e-mails to City Hall and then have them recorded as part of the public record for the Council to use in their decision making process. Attorney Glaser stated that they could not do that at this time because the public hearing is closed, but the Council could decide, as a body, to reopen the public hearing and then accept any written communication that comes to the City. He stated there would also have to be notice given to the public by publishing it in the paper and posting it and clarified that, right now, the public record is closed. Council Member King stated that he thinks it may be a good idea to re-open the public hearing in order to get those comments included as part of the record. Mayor Love asked if Attorney Glaser was saying that all of the e-mails that the Council has told people to send to the info@centervillemn.org e-mail to become part of the public record, is not accurate because the Council has not re-opened the public hearing and properly noticed it. Attorney Glaser stated that he was not aware that people were being told that those e-mails would become part of the record, but stated that only e-mails that were taken during the public hearing Page 3 of 6 City of Centerville Council Meeting Minutes May 4, 2021 comment process will be made part of the record. He stated that none of the e-mails that people were told to send to the info e-mail address will actually be part of the record. Administrator Statz noted that for proper noticing to be met, the earliest date for the public hearing would be May 25, 2021. Council Member King asked if the City could, make a decision to accept e-mails into the public record and just post-date the e-mails that have already been received so they can be entered into the record. Attorney Glaser stated that if the City notices this as a new public hearing to occur on May 25, 2021 and determines that anything received within the City’s records up until that date, he believes could be done and included in the record. Administrator Statz clarified that they would not be able to make it part of the public record though until May 25, 2021. A. Kwik Trip Mayor Love suggested the Council decide whether they would like to re-open the public hearing process. Council Member Koski stated that he thinks he heard all the public input last week and the majority of the e-mails he received were things that were already shared at the public hearing. He stated that he is comfortable with the amount of public input they have gotten on all of these items. He stated that he had questions about the process and feels there needs to be an educational aspect of this because he thinks there has been a lot of miscommunication because people did not understand the process. He stated that if people were educated about the actual process he does not think there would have been such emotional responses as there was in this situation. He stated that this property is zoned for a gas station and if people did not like that or want that, they should have spoken up previously when the City created the B-2 Zoning District. He stated that people need to understand that legally, the City cannot do a whole lot about it because it is allowed. Council Member King stated that he would like to get public input in order for the e-mails to be included as the public record. He stated that he agrees with Council Member Koski that there needs to be more discussion and education about how these things are done. Council Member Lakso stated that she would like to re-open the public hearing option as a way to bring the written comments into the public record. She stated that she would like to add to the educational piece information about the Ordinance because that is a key piece in this situation for what can be permitted and is the backbone of the whole thing. Council Member Mosher stated that he thinks the Council has enough information on the Kwik Trip issue. He stated that one of the things that has been confusing is that Council is considering issuing a Conditional Use Permit for the Kwik Trip’s proposed car wash rather than whether or not Kwik Trip/Retail Fuel Sales is an allowable use for the zoned parcel. Page 4 of 6 City of Centerville Council Meeting Minutes May 4, 2021 Administrator Statz stated that is an important distinction and noted that there was not a public hearing on the Kwik Trip site and explained that the hearing was on the CUP for the car wash. He asked Attorney Glaser if that information muddied the water. Attorney Glaser noted that there is not a land use decision to be made on whether or not to allow a gas station. It exists in that zone and therefore the landowner has the automatic right to do it and the City cannot stop it. The question over the CUP for the car wash is separate and is subject to a public hearing process, so if the Council wanted to take in more information on that specific question, about the car wash, they would have to notice a public hearing. Council Member Mosher stated that he feels the Council has sufficient input on the car wash issue for Kwik Trip. Mayor Love stated that the City does not have power to vote down the Kwik Trip because they fit in the zoning district of the parcel and the only thing the Council will be voting on is if the City wants to update/correct a previous error in the code which allows car washes that may be attached to a gas station. Motion by Council Member Lakso, seconded by Council Member Koski, to re-open the public hearings to accept public comment (verbal or written comment) regarding an Amendment to the City Code Regarding Car Wash and Conditional Use Permit for Kwik Trip. A roll-call vote was taken. Council Members King, Koski, Lakso & Mosher voted in favor. Mayor Love voted against. Motion carried 4-1. B. Senior Living – NorBella Senior Living Memory Care Mayor Love asked if the Council would like to re-open the public hearing for this item. Council Member Koski stated that if the public hearing needs to be re-opened in order to get the written comments included in the record, then he would support re-opening the public hearing. Motion by Council Member Lakso, seconded by Council Member King, to re-open the public hearings on the Re-Zoning and the Conditional Use Permit for the NorBella Senior Living Memory Care and accept public comment in written form. A roll- call vote was taken. Council Members King, Koski, Lakso & Mosher voted in favor. Mayor Love voted against. Motion carried 4-1. C. Apartments – Apollo Development Mayor Love asked if the Council would like to re-open the public hearing on the apartment complex. The Council reiterated their opinions on re-opening the public hearing. Motion by Council Member King, seconded by Council Member Lakso, to re-open the public hearing on the apartment building with the date to be determined. A roll-call vote was Page 5 of 6 City of Centerville Council Meeting Minutes May 4, 2021 taken. Mayor Love and Council Members King, Koski, Lakso & Mosher voted in favor. Motion carried. 2. Consideration of Agenda Items for May 12, 2021 City Council Meeting Mayor Love stated that he believes this has been determined based on the discussion and actions just taken by the Council. Administrator Statz suggested having a motion to hold a public hearing on May 26, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. prior to the regular City Council meeting. He stated that he will need to know if the Council would like those items on the agenda at the regular meeting that same night. He stated that time is of the essence for both the developer and the City’s 120 day limit. Mayor Love suggested that they be included on the agenda that night because the Council can always table them until the first meeting in June, if necessary. Motion by Council Member Lakso, seconded by Council Member Koski, to set the public hearings for 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 for all pending zoning applications related to Rehbein Commercial and Ordinance amendment. A roll-call vote was taken. Mayor Love and Council Members King, Koski, Lakso & Mosher voted in favor. Motion carried. Council Member Koski stated that if it is at all possible he would prefer to hold the public hearing in person rather than through Zoom. Administrator Statz discussed possible options for holding the public hearings in person. There was consensus to hold the public hearings via Zoom. IX. NEW BUSINESS 1. None X. COUNCIL/ADMINISTRATOR ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. Administrator/Engineer Report Administrator Statz noted that the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting was set to begin, so he will give his report at a future time. XI. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Love adjourned the Special Meeting of City Council at 6:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted by City Clerk, Teresa Bender. Page 6 of 6