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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC - March 18, 2014C I T Y O F ND OVE © 1685 CROSSTOWN BOULEVARD N.W. • ANDOVER, MINNESOTA 55304 (763) 755 -5100 FAX (763) 755 -8923 • WWW.ANDOVERMN.GOV Regular City Council Meeting — Tuesday, March 18, 2014 Call to Order — 7:00 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance Resident Forum Agenda Approval 1. Approval of Minutes (2/25/14 Workshop; 3/4/14 Regular) Consent Items 2. Approve Payment of Claim— Finance 3. Award Bid/14- 3/2014 Crack Sealing - Engineering 4. Award Bid/14- 4/2014 Seal Coating — Engineering 5. Approve Plans & Specs /Order Advertisement for Bids /14 -2 & 14- 2A/2014 Street Reconstruction & 159' Avenue NW Culvert Replacement - Engineering 6. Approve Resolution/14- 6/2014 Local Trails Connection Grant Application/Andover Station North Trail Connection — Engineering 7. Approve Final Plat — Bent Creek Shores - Planning Discussion Items 8: Anoka County Sheriff's Office Monthly Report — Sheriff 9. Sketch Plan Review — Winslow Woods — Paul Emmerich Construction - Planning Staff Items 10. Schedule April EDA— Administration 11. Schedule April Council Workshop — Administration 12. Administrator's Report —Administration Mayor /Council Input Adjournment C r: REGULAR ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL MEETING — MARCH 18, 2014 MINUTES The Regular Bi- Monthly Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Mike Gamache, March 18, 2014, 7:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Councilmembers present: Mike Knight, Sheri Bukkila, Julie Trade and Tony Howard Councilmember absent: None Also present: City Administrator, Jim Dickinson Community Development Director, Dave Carlberg Assistant Public Works Director, Todd Haas City Attorneyn Scott Baumgartner Others PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE RESIDENT FORUM Steven Sachs, 13905 Northwood Drive NW, stated he was before the meeting to request a zoning variance on his lot which would allow him to raise five chickens. He stated he has a half acre with a well. He noted he is willing to pay for a permit or get a letter from his neighbors stating they are in favor of the variance. Mayor Gamache stated the process to actually ask for a variance begins with staff. Mr. Sachs stated he talked to staff and they told him to come before the Council. Mr. Carlberg stated this might be more of a request to amend City Code than a variance request to allow chickens. Mr. Sachs noted other cities in Minnesota that allow chickens and thought the City discussed this several years ago. Councilmember Trade stated they did with the Agricultural and Farm Zoning and felt these were the areas chickens should be allowed. Mr. Carlberg reviewed with the Council previous discussions that he was aware of Councilmember Bukkila stated she has had this issue brought to her in the past and in terms of changes, they do start at the Council level but usually she would ask groups of people how they feel about the idea of having chickens in their neighborhood and repeatedly there is an absolute no from © those she talks to. She stated because of that, she does not have interest in supporting this or moving ahead with this. Councilmember Trade stated they already have so many complaints regarding dogs and cats and the Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes — March 18, 2014 Page 2 City does not want to add to the problem by allowing chickens. Mr. Sachs asked if this could be decided on an individual basis rather than by an ordinance change. Mayor Gamache stated right now the ordinance they have in place is based on where in the City you are located and the type of utilities that resident has. Councilmember Howard stated he would be willing to talk about this item at a worksession meeting. Mr. Dickinson stated this could be brought to a future worksession if the Council would like to discuss this further. Councilmember Bukkila stated she would not be in favor of chickens in an R -4 District which is where Mr. Sachs is located. She thought the proper place to discuss this would be a council workshop. The Council directed staff to place this discussion on a future workshop meeting agenda. AGENDA APPROVAL Staff added supplemental information to the Sheriff's Report. Motion by Bukkila, Seconded by Howard, to approve the Agenda as amended above. Motion carried unanimously. APPROVAL OF MINUTES February 25, 2014, Workshop Meeting: Correct as written. Motion by Knight, Seconded by Bukkila, to approve the minutes as presented. Motion carried unanimously. March 4, 2014, Regular Meeting: Correct as written. Motion by Howard, Seconded by Trude, to approve the minutes as presented. Motion carried unanimously. Item 2 Approve Payment of Claims Item 3 Award Bid/14- 3/2014 Crack Sealing (See Resolution R016 -14) Item 4 Award Bid/14- 4/2014 Seal Coating (See Resolution R017 -14) Item 5 Approve Plans & specs /Order Advertisement for Bids /14 -2 & 14- 2A/2014 Street Reconstruction & 159th Avenue NW Culvert Replacement (See Resolution R018- 14) Item 6 Approve Resolution/14- 6/2014 Local Trails Connection Grant Application/Andover Station North Trail Connection (See Resolution R019 -14) Item 7 Approve Final Plat — Bent Creek Shores (See Resolution R020 -14) Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes — March 18, 2014 Page 3 Motion by Bukkila, Seconded by Howard, approval of the Consent Agenda as read. Motion carried unanimously. ANOKA COUNTYSHERIFFS OFFICE MONTHLY REPORT Commander Kevin Halweg presented the February Andover Monthly Sheriff's Report to the City Council. SKETCH PLAN RE VIE W- WINSL 0 W WOODS — PAUL EMMERICH CONSTR UCTION Mr. Carlberg explained the City Council is asked to review a residential sketch plan for a single family urban residential development including all of the outlined properties on the drawing in the packet as proposed by Paul Emmerich Construction. Mr. Carlberg reviewed the staff report with the Council. Councilmember Bukkila asked if the property all the way to the south is the same property owner. Mr. Carlberg indicated the developer before the Council has a purchase agreement to purchase what is depicted in black lines around the property on the map. The ghost plat areas are being retained by the property owner at this point. Councilmember Bukkila wondered what planning was done to extend Xeon Street down farther through the ghost plat. Mr. Carlberg reviewed the street plan with the Council. Councilmember Knight thought a Wintergreen Street connection would look funny. Mr. Carlberg stated it is up to the Council to direct the developer as to what connections they would like to see with the roads. City Staff reviewed the Wintergreen Street connection with the Council. Mayor Gamache noted the majority of the traffic will need to be directed down Xeon Street. He stated one of the three issues brought up is the road connection of Wintergreen Street. Councilmember Trude indicated she did not want Wintergreen Street connected because it will become a shortcut. Mayor Gamache indicated he would prefer they have some connection, but it did not need to be directly connected there could be a jog in the road to slow traffic down. Councilmember Bukkila stated she would prefer Wintergreen Street to go through on a more direct angle and to provide another access to get north. Councilmember Bukkila stated the ultimate routes for this neighborhood are not going to be made or © broken on the little connection of Wintergreen Street. Mr. Carlberg stated there is currently a sign on the cul -de -sac indicating it is temporary. Councilmember Bukkila stated the people to the right of the cul -de -sac are going to use Xeon Street to go out and the people to the west of the cul -de -sac are going to use Yellow Pine Street. If they are meeting resistance, they may go down that street but she © Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes —March 18, 2014 Page 4 did not think they were going to get a flood of residents doing that because the majority of the traffic does not head north in the City, the natural pull is to head in the direction of their destination which is generally going to be south. Councilmember Trade felt that once the County received the Federal Grant for reconstruction of Hanson Boulevard, there will be medians and the County will eliminate left hand turns onto Hanson Boulevard. Mayor Gamache thought some would be eliminated but there will still be some available such as 148`l' Lane. He stated on the drawing they do not have Xeon Street going down to 150`" Lane. Mr. Carlberg stated staff's comments regarding that, were to try to make that Xeon Street connection to 150a` Lane. However, the developer is only purchasing what is within the black lines. Mayor Gamache suggested the developer go back to the owner to try to purchase the land just past 150`h Lane in order to construct the road. Mayor Gamache stated the stretch where they have double frontage lots, he would prefer the sketch with three cul -de -sacs instead. He would like to not put any driveway access onto Xeon Street, and to keep that open. Councilmember Trade agreed. Mr. Carlberg stated the three cul -de -sac sketch is one of the original sketches submitted by the developer and staff's effort generally is to eliminate cul -de -sacs or try to avoid them. Councilmember Trade stated on the east side of the plan are two sets of railroad tracks and one set becomes a parking lot for Burlington Northern trains so any home on the end of the cul -de -sac will be up against the tracks, but the cul -de -sac lots seem to be a little deeper and give more buffer. On the other plan, there was the potential for an entire wall of fences in back yards so people are going to live in a narrow area with either the railroad tracks behind them or the busy street behind them with a wall offences so driving in the neighborhood would not look attractive. She stated they need to look at what kind of neighborhoods they are building. Councilmember Bukkila thought that was a good point. The development needs a buffer from the railroad tracks. She stated they have no buffer at all along the railroad tracks and she is looking at deeper lot depth by the railroad tracks. Councilmember Knight stated in the next ten years the train traffic is going to increase steadily especially if they start bringing oil in from the north, so he agreed there needed to be a buffer. Mr. Carlberg stated there will be a trail on Xeon Street on the west side and eventually there will be a connection onto the tracks to the south. Mr. Haas wondered if the rest of the Council is interested in a trail going east, and then under the railroad tracks. Councilmember Trade indicated she would be interested. Mr. Haas stated they will need to work with the developer on where the best place for a crossing would be based on the soil conditions. Councilmember Trade stated the issue with a Wintergreen Street connection is that it brings very little value to the project and she thought it decreased the quality of the neighborhood. She would like staff to look at getting a right turn lane on Crosstown Boulevard for Yellow Pine Street as a part of this because most of the cars will be turning there to come into the development. She thought the © Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes — March 18, 2014 Page 5 neighborhood would be split up by extending Wintergreen Street. She thought the neighborhood was nice with a street that curves and access to the park with the trail. She stated any time a street is put in between a row of homes, it separates those people as far as sense of community. She stated by extending the street they will lose a couple of nice lots and she wondered if the benefit of adding the pavement and slicing up the neighborhood was worth it when they do have more connections now than they did in the past. She stated this is connecting into Winslow Hills so it is very well connected into the community and they are providing more egress for Sophie's South than they have in the past. She thought the connection would devalue the neighborhood and the lots it would cut through would be devalued. She did not think the connection would add much. Mayor Gamache reviewed the possible Wintergreen Street connection. He did not think that a road would be that much of a disturbance. Councilmember Trude disagreed and indicated it would split the community up in that development. She stated they already have the railroad tracks and a busy street and the only choice lots in the development are on Street A. Councilmember Knight wondered about going straight west with Wintergreen Street. Mr. Carlberg indicated they would not be able to connect Wintergreen Street to Crosstown Boulevard. Councilmember Bukkila stated in order to have a reasonable access to the park for the kids, if © someone is anywhere west of this neighborhood they will not go to this park. If they keep the cut in the street everyone to the west would have to go down to Bluebird Street to the park to the south. The only other route would be to get onto 150' Lane and go east to the park. When talking about value there is a huge value if there is a safe mobile passage on the residential streets for families to get to the nearest park. If they have to go the other way to get to the other park you are devaluing everyone to the west. There was further discussion regarding the park with staff and the Council. Councilmember Howard stated he is okay with connecting Wintergreen Street because it is another avenue for public safety and he did not think it hurt the plan and it was always intended to go through. Councilmember Knight stated he could live with Wintergreen Street going through. City Staff reviewed with the City Council street configurations and connections. Councilmember Bukkila stated her concern is not to have blind angles or speed on the curve where there is park access. Mr. Carlberg stated it is important to review this and determine if a connection between the developments is something they want to see. There is currently only one connection point between Sophie's South and this development, which is Xeon Street. Otherwise everyone in Sophie's South has to go north to Crosstown Boulevard by Xeon Street so there is no connectivity © between the neighborhoods. Councilmember Bukkila indicated her preference is for the connection but she would like to see how Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes — March 18, 2014 Page 6 it lays out. Mr. Dickinson stated that will be a requirement before the developer comes back for a preliminary plat. Councilmember Trude stated she would like to see more energy put into making sure the land is connected then a street, because in the long run the land will be more valuable to the community. Mayor Gamache asked if everyone would prefer the three cul -de -sacs over the road shown on the proposed sketch. Councilmember Howard wondered if the water utility will be okay for the three cul -de -sacs. Mr. Dickinson stated that would be a question for the developer's engineer and he thought the water utility should be looped in that area. Councilmember Bukkila stated the cul -de -sacs are not her first choice but she would concede if they are going to get deeper lots with more buffering along the railroad tracks. Mr. Carlberg stated the minimum depth is 130 feet and he thought the lots shown are around 140 -150 feet deep. Mr. Larry Olson, representing the developer, stated they are looking at the three cul -de -sacs along the tracks to minimize the number of lots that back up directly to the tracks. He stated they are also looking at additional buffering along the tracks. © Councilmember Howard wondered if the lots in the cul -de -sacs are standard depth lots. Mr. Olson indicated they are deeper. Councilmember Trude asked what Mr. Olson and his design team have seen as issues. Mr. Olson thought the Council had hit on most of the issues. His team has concluded on the Wintergreen Street connection that it is more street to maintain and chops up the area because of the odd angles. It isolates the lots to the west if Wintergreen Street connects. He explained what type of lots people like to live on and if the cul -de -sacs were to be removed it would take away those lots. Another thing is that by making the Wintergreen Street connection, it will mean another street the kids will need to cross to get to the park. Mayor Gamache asked if the developer is fine with the trail along Street A that runs to the park. Mr. Olson stated they are fine with it. Mayor Gamache asked if there were no driveway accesses to Xeon Street would the developer push out the boundaries for those lots. Mr. Olson stated if the Park Commission wanted it for park, it would be fine with them but it really does not make sense because it is all wetland. If the lots are extended through, people would need to go out to Xeon Street to get to their back yard and some people would not be able to get to their back yard because they would have to cross someone else's yard. In Sophie's South there are already ten driveways with access to Xeon Street, he would prefer a buildable lot with access to Xeon Street. Councilmember Bukkila stated she would not have any interest in buying the wetland area because it would not be any use to them. The Council reviewed with the developer the areas within the development that are considered wetlands. © Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes —March 18, 2014 Page 7 Mayor Gamache stated the Council would like to see the next plan to show access to Wintergreen, Street one plan with access and one without. Mayor Gamache wondered if there was unanimous agreement to not have driveway access onto Xeon Street. Councilmember Trade thought it depended on what the Park Commission thought because they are going to look at this again. Councilmember Howard stated he is okay with one lot on there but wondered if it would be possible to look at acquiring some more or putting a trail through there. Mayor Gamache stated the reason he thought there should not be anymore driveway accesses onto Xeon Street is that eventually Xeon Street will go all the way to Andover Boulevard and with the layout of Hanson Boulevard in the future, Xeon Street will probably get more busier. Mayor Gamache stated another item the Council would like to see happen is Xeon Street going all the way to 1500` Lane. It would benefit the development because 1500' Lane will not end and wait until the next development comes in. Councilmember Knight stated they want the three cul -de -sacs sketch. Councilmember Trade stated this will enable fewer double frontage lots and fewer lots against a fence. © Mr. Carlberg asked if the applicant is willing to do a revised sketch and bring it back for further discussion. Mayor Gamache thought that might be the main issue on the plan. Mr. Carlberg thought the applicant was leaning towards revising the sketch and bringing it back for further review. Mr. Carlberg reviewed what has happened with the sketch plan after it went to the Planning Commission. Mr. Jim Traver, 1134 152d Lane, stated he is close to the park in Sophie's South and one of the original signers of the proposal for additional park land presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Their concern is with the park and the community. He stated the park already gets a lot of use and is a nice park with 3 -4 lots unsold in Sophie's South. The park is going to get even more use with 102 lots being developed to the south. He stated they looked at the plans and thought if lot 59 was eliminated, it could be used as an extension of the park in some way. They could also make their own natural trails. He thought if the cul -de -sac on Street E could be shortened with park land at the end, it would allow access to Xeon Street and the City could have their tunnel underneath the railroad tracks. Mr. Traver stated being in Sophie's South, he would prefer Wintergreen Street not be extended because it will not benefit either development. He thought it would cut up the neighborhoods. Mayor Gamache indicated the next step will be the Park Commission's consideration of this plan and then it will come back to the Council for further review. Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes —March 18, 2014 Page 8 SCHEDULE APRIL EDA Mr. Dickinson requested the Council schedule an April EDA Meeting to discuss topics as detailed in the staff report. Motion by Trade, Seconded by Bukkila, to schedule an April EDA Meeting on April 15, 2014, at 6:00 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. SCHEDULE APRIL COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING Mr. Dickinson requested the Council schedule a Workshop Meeting to discuss topics as detailed in the staff report. Motion by Trade, Seconded by Howard, to schedule a Workshop Meeting on April 22, 2014, at 6:00 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT City Staff updated the Council on the administration and city department activities, legislative updates, updates on development /CIP projects, and meeting reminders /community events. MAYOR/COUNCIL INPUT (Home Show) Mayor Gamache stated he will be at the Home Show at the Community Center this weekend. (Mayor's Prayer Breakfast) Mayor Gamache stated Friday, March 21, 2014 at 7:00 a.m. is the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast for Youth First. Mr. Dickinson stated the breakfast sales are going well and they are only one table short of their goal for the year. Youth First uses this event as a fundraiser. (Tree Order) Councilmember Trade stated on the front page of the newsletter is the order form for the trees. This is a very economical way to order them. (Utility Billing Online) Mayor Gamache asked if Opus21, the company that took over the City billing for Connexus, has any plans for online payments in the future. Mr. Dickinson stated the City can work with Opus21 on this but it has not yet been put on the website because of online credit card security. Councilmember Trade thought the current process is cumbersome and that it could be seamlessly done if they partnered with a large bank. 1401 Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes —March 18, 2014 Page 9 (Andover Girls Hockey Team) Mayor Gamache stated the Andover Girls Hockey Team went to State this year and became consolation champs. He congratulated the girls and everyone involved with the Andover Girls Hockey Team. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Howard, Seconded by Bukkila, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:57 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sue Osbeck, Recording Secretary H Cie Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes —March 18, 2014 Page 10 REGULAR ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES — MARCH 18, 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS PLEDGEOF ALLEGIANCE .......................................................................... ............................... 1 RESIDENT FORUM .................................................::....:...................:............ ............................... 1 AGENDAAPPROVAL .......................... : ............... ........................................................................ 2 APPROVAL OF MINUTES ............................................................................ ............................... 2 CONSENTITEMS ..................................:_...............::....::............................... ............................... 2 Approve Payment of Claims ........................................................................ ............................... 2 Award Bid/14- 3/2014 Crack Sealing ( See Resolution 8016 -14) ..:::........... ............................... 2 Award Bid/14- 4/2014 Seal Coating (See Resolution R017- 14) .................. ............................... 2 Approve Plans & specs /Order Advertisement for Bids /14 -2 & 14- 2A/2014 Street Reconstruction & 159t" Avenue NW Culvert Replacement (See Resolution R018- 14)..... 2 Approve Resolution/14- 6/2014 Local Trails Connection Grant Application/Andover Station North Trail Connection (See Resolution R019 -14) ............................. ............................... 2 Approve Final Plat — Bent Creek Shores (See Resolution R020 -14) .......... ............................... 2 ANOKA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE MONTHLY REPORT ................. ............................... 3 SKETCH PLAN REVIEW - WINSLOW WOODS — PAUL EMMERICH CONSTRUCTION .... 3 SCHEDULE APRIL EDA ............................................................................... ............................... 8 SCHEDULE APRIL COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING ........................... ............................... 8 ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT ..................................................................... ............................... 8 MAYOR/COUNCIL INPUT ........................................................................... ............................... 8 HomeShow .................................................................................................. ............................... 8 Mayor's Prayer Breakfast ............................................................................. ............................... 8 TreeOrder .................................................................................................... ............................... 8 UtilityBilling Online ................................................................................... ............................... 8 Andover Girls Hockey Team ....................................................................... ............................... 9 ADJOURNMENT............................................................................................ ............................... 9 LAW]