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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWK - October 28, 2014AN66VV 1685 CROSSTOWN BOULLVAKU N.W.. ANUUVEK, MINNtSUTA 55304 • (763) 755 -5100 FAX (763) 755 -8923 • WWW.ANDOVERMN.GOV City Council Workshop Tuesday, October 28, 2014 Conference Rooms A & B 1. Call to Order— 6:00 p.m. 2. Discuss City Park Infrastructure with regards to the Reconstruction of Bunker Lake Blvd. NW/11 -25 - Engineering 3. Fire Department Update — Chief Streich — Presentation & materials provided at meeting. 4. 2015 Budget/Levy Development Discussion 5. 2014 General Fund Budget Progress Report © 6. September 2014 City Investments Report 7. Other Business 8. Adjournment HJ �. • F oz's ^R.... ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING — OCTOBER 28, 2014 MINUTES The Workshop Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Mike Gamache, October 28, 2014, 6:00 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 Public Works Director /City Engineer, David Berkowitz Others DISCUSS CITY PARK INFRASTRUCTURE WITH REGARDS TO THE RECONSTRUCTION OF BUNKER LAKE BOULEVARD NW /11 -25 Mr. Berkowitz explained Andrew Witter, Assistant County Engineer from Anoka County Highway Department would be presenting information to the City Council regarding the proposed impacts to City park land as part of the proposed Bunker Lake Boulevard Reconstruction project from Crane Street NW to Jefferson Street in Ham Lake. Mr. Witter made a presentation to the Council and then asked for input. Councilmember Trade wondered if there will be a public hearing for the residents in order for them to find out what will happen to the area and make comments. Mr. Witter stated there will be an opportunity for residents to come and make public comment that is a requirement of the federal project process. He reviewed the updated design with the Council. He noted the County shifted the alignment of the road five feet to the south throughout the project. This will affect the County park a little bit but will help the neighborhood and the City park to the north. Councilmember Bukkila wondered if straightening the road will clear up some of the site line issues they currently have. Mr. Witter indicated that it should. Councilmember Trade stated one thing she has talked to the neighborhood about is the trail through the woods along the north section of the road and she wondered if this can be recreated within the project with the available land. She was not sure if they could because there is a DNR protected wetland adjacent to the project. She indicated people did not want the walking path to look like a Main Street so she would like to have the trail meandering through the woods if possible. Mr. Berkowitz stated the County has to minimize the impacts to the area and if they construct a trail going into a wetland that would be a significant environmental impact. © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — October 28, 2014 Page 2 Councilmember Knight wondered how the pedestrian tunnel will be kept dry. Mr. Witter indicated the tunnel will be above the current water table and is set at the 100 year flood mark so there should not be any issues with the tunnel flooding. Mr. Witter indicated with the trail they have to have a clear zone. He explained the trail will not be next to the road but will be between trees and adjacent to a sound wall. There will also be a grade separation from the roadway and the trail so people walking on the trail will not be right next to the cars on the road. This will be accomplished by some retaining walls. Councilmember Knight wondered if there will be a guardrail along the roadway because of the difference in grade from the road to the trail. Mr. Witter stated there will not be a guardrail because there will be curb and gutter installed. He noted the County does not like using guardrails unless absolutely necessary because they are a hazard in themselves. Mr. Witter noted if there is an existing trail in place the County will pay to have it replaced. He stated there might be additional impacts the County will need to review if the City wants to move the trail further into the wetland area. Councilmember Trude did not think that would be a problem because it is only a trail. Mr. Berkowitz stated BWSR will tell them a trail will not need to be placed in a wetland; they are generally fine with transportation impacts for vehicles but not with trails. Mr. Berkowitz stated there will be an eight foot shoulder and then a twelve foot boulevard before the trail so there is twenty feet from the travel lane before the trail wall. Mayor Gamache stated the City will need to know what the additional costs could possibly be for the trails. Mayor Gamache asked when the County will go back to the neighborhoods to take votes on the sound walls. Mr. Witter indicated they can do that at any time and thought this would be happening soon if not already happening. Mayor Gamache thought they needed to discuss changing the fencing rules along County roads. He thought they may need to start allowing higher fencing along County roads for sound and site issues. The Council concurred, Mr. Dickinson indicated he would have Planning start looking at the issue. TRAFFIC STUDYATNIGHTINGALESTREETAND CROSSTOWNBOULEVARD Mr. Berkowitz stated they are working with Bolton and Mink on a traffic study at Crosstown Boulevard and Nightingale Street. He stated there is Highway Safety Improvement Program money the City can apply for. These grant dollars are not impacted by the Livable Community Act Program. He noted the deadline to apply for the money is January 27th © Mr. Berkowitz reviewed a couple of different plans for road improvements at Crosstown and Nightingale. The first was the "Green T Design" and the Second was the "Round -A -Bout Design ". © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — October 28, 2014 Page 3 Councilmember Trude indicated she did not like the Round -A -Bout design because they are really tight and hard for large vehicles to get through and also hard for snow plows to plow them. Councilmember Knight stated he did not like the idea of having pedestrian underpasses. Councilmember Howard thought they needed to make improvements to the Crosstown Boulevard/Nightingale intersection because there are still backups even after the improvements on Crosstown Boulevard and Andover Boulevard. He reviewed what he has seen while driving along the roads. Councilmember Howard noted the buses coming north on Crosstown Boulevard drive into the Sunshine Park parking lot and turn around and then the safety guard on the road stops traffic in order to allow the buses to leave the parking lot and enter Crosstown and head south in order to enter the high school. The Council did not think that was allowed and asked staff to review the agreement with the School District and contact the District to discuss because their understanding was the buses would go north on Hanson Boulevard and then south onto Crosstown Boulevard so there would not be a need for the buses to turn around. Mr. Witter remembered the discussion with the © School District regarding bus entry and thought the County had some documentation regarding this. He suggested Mr. Berkowitz work with the County Traffic Engineer on this issue. There was discussion regarding road backups before and after school release. Councilmember Knight stated he was reluctant to build underpasses because they are creating sites for drinking, drug dealing and potential molestation areas. Mr. Berkowitz asked the Council to think about which option of design they would prefer for the intersection and then if they get funding for this City staff will have an idea of which design should be priced out. Council directed staff to continue to work with the consulting engineer and prepare an application for grant funds. The Council will decide what design should be pursued at the November Workshop meeting. FIRE DEPARTMENT UPDATE — CHIEF STREICH — PRESENTATION & MATERIALS PROVIDED AT MEETING Fire Chief Streich presented an Andover Fire Department update to the Council, a six month review since he was hired. © Chief Streich reviewed department demographics and current operations focus. Chief Streich indicated the average age of the firefighters is 45.8 years and there are a significant number of firefighters with more than 15 years of service © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — October 28, 2014 Page 4 Chief Streich reviewed with the Council the type of calls the firefighters respond to, indicated that medical calls are approaching 60% of the call volume. Chief Streich reviewed that a majority of the calls are daytime calls but the availability of a majority of the firefighters is nighttime. He needs to work on balancing the availability. Chief Streich reviewed changes he is recommending and Administration is in agreement with, which include modifying the response plan, moving toward a proactive department through education, developing an annual recognition program, focus on firefighter needs (personal gear & education), in house training, develop daytime response, and evaluate the type of medical calls the Fire Department will respond to . The Council liked the recommendations and thought the Chief was on the right track. Councilmember Knight asked if the Fire Department does any PR within the High School system. Captain Streich stated they have not but social media has really helped them. Councilmember Trude stated she has had compliments from residents on Chief Streich's work and community involvement. QThe City Council recessed at 8:00 p.m. The City Council reconvened at 8:05 p.m. 2015 BUDGETILEVYDEVELOPMENT DISCUSSION Mr. Dickinson stated City Departments have submitted to Administrative/Finance their proposed 2015 Annual Operating Budgets, also the City Council has had a number of reviews of the 2015 Proposed General Fund Budget that will be supported by the 2015 Tax Levy. Mr. Dickinson reviewed budget changes with the Council, noting that the budget for employee health insurance was significantly reduced do to successful group marketing. Councilmember Trude asked if the group of Council Memberships and Contributions could be split or have a better description because she did not like the title and thought it was misleading. Mr. Dickinson stated the contributions can be put into an unallocated area. Mr. Dickinson stated this would be brought back again for Council review after corrections are made. Mayor Gamache stated he received information for Family Promise in Anoka County and their operational plan for 2015. He reviewed how the program works in the County. © Councilmember Trude asked if the County donates money towards this program. Mayor Gamache indicated they do. © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — October 28, 2014 Page 5 Councilmember Knight stated this is very worthwhile and Anoka County is one of the higher needs communities relative to homelessness. Mr. Dickinson stated Hope for Youth, is a day to day resource and not a shelter. He noted the Family Promise program houses families overnight and is not intended to be a long term solution, it is short-term. Mayor Gamache thought they could contribute $2,500 to Family Promise as a starting point. He did not know if the shortfall includes all of the fundraising they have done or not. Councilmember Bukkila stated she is torn, she sees a need but she would also like to contribute to the Hope for Youth Program because it is also worthwhile, Family Promise is family based and a community based program Hope for Youth serves a younger population. She thought if they were to contribute to Family Promise, they should contribute to Hope for Youth. Mr. Dickinson stated there was a homelessness summit recently at Zion Church in Anoka which was designed to bring the organizations together to work alongside of each other. They need to find the appropriate hand off and each organization needs to figure out when to reach out to other organizations for help. Councilmember Trude stated she would be happy to hear from both groups. QCouncilmember Bukkila indicated she would like to see some participation in both organizations. Councilmember Knight agreed. Mr. Dickinson indicated he will bring information from both groups to the next Council Workshop and a final decision should be made then. Mr. Dickinson continued to review the 2015 budget with the Council. Councilmember Howard and Councilmember Trude stated they would like to contribute some dollars to a staff recognition program. Council agreed. 2014 GENERAL FUND BUDGET PROGRESS REPORT Mr. Dickinson stated there are no significant items to report and he noted they are on target. SEPTEMBER 2014 CITY INVESTMENTS REPORT Mr. Dickinson stated the investments in September are doing well, nothing significant to report. OTHER TOPICS ® Mr. Dickinson stated staff is looking for Council approval to negotiate with each property owner to see if they are interested in acquiring a park parcel along the Coon Creek from the City. He stated the property owners are currently using the property for their private use and City staff evaluated the property and they do not see a need for the property. All costs would be covered Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — October 28, 2014 Page 6 by the homeowners. Mayor Gamache asked what the cost to the property owners would be. Mr. Dickinson stated the cost would be shared and would be between $1,500 to $5,000 total. Councilmember Bukkila thought this was a good idea. The Council agreed. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Knight, Seconded by Howard, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:59 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sue Osbeck, Recording Secretary CJ CI