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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWK June 26, 2018E H 1685 CROSSTOWN C I T Y O F A NDOVER� BOULEVARD N.W. • ANDOVER, MINNESOTA 55304 FAX (763) 755-8923 • WWW.ANDOVERMN.GOV City Council Workshop Tuesday, June 26, 2018 Conference Rooms A & B Call to Order — 6:00 p.m. Discuss Potential Community Center Expansion - Administration 3. May 2018 Budget Progress Reports - Administration 4. May 2018 City Investments Review —Administration Other Business 6. Adjournment (76 3) 755-5100 H ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING —JUNE 26, 2018 MINUTES The Workshop Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Julie Trude, June 26, 2018, 6:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Councilmembers present: Mike Knight, Sheri Bukkila, Valerie Holthus and James Goodrich Councilmember absent: None Also present: City Administrator, Jim Dickinson Community Development Director, Joe Janish Public Works Director/City Engineer, David Berkowitz Recreational Facilities Manager, Erick Sutherland Others © DISCUSS POTENTLAL COMMUNITY CENTER EXPANSION Mr. Dickinson explained the City Council is requested to receive an update from 292 Design Group relative to exploring the expansion of the Andover YMCA Community Center. The Council will be asked to provide direction on what components of an expansion should progress to a detailed design. Mr. Dickinson stated on December 5, 2017, the City Council approved the 292 Design Group (292) as the architectural firm to provide architectural services to explore expansion of the Andover Community Center/YMCA. The programming, schematic design and project development phase is working toward a decision point date in June 2018 as to what components of an expansion may progress to construction documents. Mr. Dickinson stated on February 1st, City Staff and 292 held a stakeholder meeting with many of the local sports associations, school officials, Fun Fest representatives and Andover YMCA. On February 12th the City Council and Community Center Advisory Commission was updated on the stakeholder input and the Council & Community Center Advisory Commission provided their goals for the project. Mr. Dickinson stated since February, City staff has worked with 292 & RJM to assemble conceptual designs that will address the requests of the stakeholder groups and engage the YMCA © on their potential participation in an expansion. Mr. Mark Wentzell, 292 Design Group, made a presentation to the Council regarding the Community Center Expansion, showing updated design plans and budget numbers. ® Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes—June 26, 2018 Page 2 Mayor Trude asked if Mr. Wentzell could go through the types of materials that will be used. Mr. Wentzell reviewed the exterior building panels and materials that would be used in the project. He noted it will be similar to what is already in the current building. Councilmember Knight asked if Mr. Wentzell was familiar with the St. Michael/Albertville facility because they have a nice walking track above the gym and it is so useful. Mr. Wentzell stated the discussion comes about putting a track around a gym or arena. The gymnasium they have drawn up is too small for a track without impinging upon the basketball courts. They would have to make the gym larger but they do not have an elevator over there and a suspended track has to have an elevator. It is easier and more cost effective for them to put a track around the multipurpose arena. It does mean that it could be sixty degrees in there in the winter and warmer in the summer months. Councilmember Holthus did not think there needed to be elevated comers on the track because there are other tracks in other communities that do not have elevated corners. She stated there was discussion about an elevated track when she was on the original Community Center Planning Committee when they were planning the current Community Center but that was one of the items they cut. Mr. Sutherland indicated currently people will walk around the current field house when it is not © being used. For the users to have a dedicated walking space would be a benefit. He thought it would be a benefit to have a dedicated senior space and walking area as part of the expansion and they would go hand in hand. Mayor Trude stated beyond walking could Mr. Sutherland see this being used by people who come for a workout or for kids after school or while hockey events went on. Mr. Sutherland indicated it would be used by many different groups and there is certainly room for growth. Councilmember Knight stated whatever they do has to meet the demands of high school kids and senior citizens as well. He noted pickleball has exploded and they need to have courts for that. Mr. Wentzell showed the design for the multi -use space and noted there will be room for pickleball and other court sports in the expanded gym area. Mr. Sutherland stated they will need to identify the specific groups and uses and allocate the space accordingly in order to accommodate everyone. Mayor Trude stated there is a shortage of ice and the hockey association has come to them to see if they could get an additional sheet of ice but with this being a multi -use facility will it help them out because she could see it being used for soccer and baseball in the spring and summer as well as other sports when needed. Mr. Dickinson stated they would probably cross over to turf use in February for soccer. Once hockey tournaments start, the space will migrate over to turf Mr. Sutherland stated there was also thought about picking up summer users but in April or May the © turf will come out and there will be a concrete floor and can then be used for Community Center programming. © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes —June 26, 2018 Page 3 Mr. Dickinson stated in the summer when they have the flexible programming open there was thoughts of using this facility but this is not proposed to be an air-conditioned facility so it will probably be warm in the building. Mr. Sutherland stated there is a potential in the summer months to draw more users into the existing ice arena by having camps, tournaments and other events where they could set up dryland training and other activities on the concrete floor. This could also draw in some junior hockey teams from across the country. Councilmember Bukkila asked if any down time was factored in to this. Mr. Sutherland stated he figured there will be few hours, less than ten hours a week where the facility will not be used. Mr. Dickinson noted the proformas are put together to be conservative. They are able to program out all of that space. There was discussion regarding the multi -use facility and how much the hockey association would need to use it. Councilmember Holthus asked if anyone has talked to the Herb Brooks Training Facility about what their schedule looks like in the summer. Mr. Sutherland stated the dryland portion will be used a lot. He stated he has not talked to them but his son is in a program there this summer five 10 days a week and it was his understanding they are programmed from the time they are open until they close, five days a week. Mr. Tony Peterson representing the Andover Hockey Association, reviewed the programming at the Super Rink in the summer months with the Council. He understood the hockey program will not have the facility all year long and would like to have dryland training in the City for their high school and youth hockey players. He explained what the hockey association is looking for as far as use of the facility. Discussion continued regarding the hockey association and use of the proposed multi -use facility. Mayor Trude stated they should discuss the meeting rooms and find out if there are any questions because she has received some questions from seniors asking if they could have a sink and a refrigerator in the senior meeting area for when they have pot lucks. She wondered if the 2,000 - foot meeting room off the food court area has a specific use. Mr. Sutherland stated they have talked about having some flexibility with dividing walls to accommodate some smaller groups there. Mr. Wentzell stated he thought they needed to work on this a little more in order to get the perfect size for that room and what events it will be used for. He would like to plan the space to accommodate a lot of different uses. This space might be finished a little nicer than just a classroom space. The amenities the Mayor mentioned such as sinks and refrigerators can be easily incorporated into the plan. © There was discussion regarding the current and proposed meeting rooms and corridors. It was noted there will be no change to the existing food court. © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes —June 26, 2018 Page 4 Mayor Trude stated she hoped we will also look at using rooms at the schools as well. She thought they needed to have a conversation with the schools again regarding providing after school programs through Community Education in the school, rather than adding more rooms onto our building for these programs. Mr. Dickinson updated the Council on his discussion with the YMCA. He stated they are looking at items but do not have any hard costs to share at this point. They are currently not able to discuss their plans openly with the City. He stated they will continue to work with the local YMCA but the Twin Cities YMCA is the entity that makes the major decisions about expansions. He noted Alison Boes was at the meeting. He stated they will continue to work together to bring efficient services to the public within the building. Mr. Dickinson stated the YMCA did identify their top needs as fitness space, court space and the need to refresh and keep current the existing facility. If it gets outdated and beat up they start losing their users and their revenue stream goes down and that impacts their ability to remain successful. Mr. Dickinson stated another topic that has been discussed and has come into play is the National 10 Sports Center arena that they have available for use. He noted the City put a $250,000 deposit down and the term for when that ends is the first day of January 2026. They need to give them a twenty-four month notice in advance for when they want to stop that agreement with the National Sports Center for that quarter sheet of ice. What they get is a guaranteed 335 prime time hours for the Andover Hockey Association. If the hockey association did not do the minimum they would have to guarantee payment for 215 hours. This has never been an issue and he did not believe it would be an issue going forward. Mayor Trude asked if the hockey association would need more ice if they were to get the additional facility built. Mr. Peterson discussed their programming and kids, the more kids that come into the program, the more ice time they will need. He stated they are busting at the seams right now. Councilmember Knight asked if they had any social center for seniors or for preschool. Mr. Dickinson stated a part of the mix is they are focusing on seniors and teens with the YMCA and to some extent to the west of the facility, something could also be done there. They are looking for their partnership to continue and expand with the YMCA. Mr. Dickinson reviewed the financial information, including the operational costs with the Council. Mr. Dickinson stated the more components the better the bottom line is for operations, but it does increase the debt service load to the residents. Mayor Trude stated in the past they have collected Capital Contributions so she thought they could publish in their newsletter that contributions are welcome for this addition to the Community Center. ® Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes—June 26, 2018 Page 5 There was discussion regarding what the tax base was and how the expansion would increase property taxes and by how much per household, approximately. Mayor Trude stated another source of funding could be park dedication money. She stated she asked Mr. Dickinson previously to figure out if there was anything feasible in the park dedication area for indoor recreation. She stated she would entertain a discussion with the Park and Recreation Commission and the Council at a future workshop meeting for a potential park dedication funding source for the multi -use facility. Mayor Trude stated they had a lot of snow this past spring where the kids were inside a lot for practices using artificial turf and she thought a multi-purpose facility would be useful for when they cannot practice outdoors. Councilmember Bukkila stated one of the things that came out of a previous task force was recognition that artificial turf wasn't necessary because they had the ability to add outdoor fields to their roster and since the Park and Recreation Commission has had conversations with turf experts to find out what the proper location was for fields and based on the long term they came up with the need for a number of soccer fields or football and lacrosse fields to accommodate the activities. The Council determined that as long as there was the ability to put in additional outdoor fields that was cheaper for them and what the associations felt was prudent. Park and Recreation Commissioner Ted Butler stated his recollection from that task force is they were looking at the time at the long-term damage to the grass turf they already have on the fields. They were having difficulty accommodating all of the associations at the time. One of the thoughts was to look at artificial turf. He stated they did also at the time say they needed to keep looking at this issue. There was discussion regarding Park and Recreation Commission discussion regarding fields and adding more fields to accommodate the associations that need them. Mr. Dickinson reviewed current Community Center updates and repairs needed. He stated the total when added up is approximately $2.5 million. Necessary repairs to the existing facility are approximately $1.5 million. Councilmember Bukkila asked if those repair amounts are included in the proposed expansion. Mr. Dickinson stated the repairs would be added to the project and included with the debt. Mr. Dickinson stated the Council could be looking at a $20 million bond. If the option was looking at the multi-purpose and additional meeting rooms and defer everything else, they would be looking at approximately a $15 million bond. If they were looking to add just the meeting rooms and field house they would be looking at approximately a $10 million bond. If they were just looking at the meeting rooms and deferred maintenance the approximate amount would be a $5 million bond. Councilmember Bukkila asked for clarification on what is included in each package. Mr. © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes —June 26, 2018 Page 6 Dickinson reviewed the costs for each package with the Council indicating each component has a range of costs and need further refining. Mayor Trude asked the Andover YMCA Executive Director, Allison Bees if she could give the Council some input on what involvement the YMCA would like to have with the expansion. Mayor Trude said the YMCA reassurance would help the Council's decision. Mr. Dickinson stated he talked with the YMCA Corporate today and they have indicated they would like to partner with the City on new joint space. Their focus is to get fitness, court space and making sure they are updating and that their facility is meeting the needs of their users. Mayor Trude stated that does not answer any of the Council's questions. Mr. Dickinson stated if the YMCA will be adding space there will be parking allocation. He stated at this point in time the YMCA cannot commit to what their expansion will be. They have to go through their Board to discuss and to get a decision before they can go public. Mayor Trude stated they were at all of the meetings in the talks about space during the original building planning. She did not think the numbers were hard numbers if they are potential players. Mr. Dickinson stated he knew they were going to be players but what they could commit to at this time is not known. Councilmember Knight requested they take a break. Mayor Trude stated they would recess for ten to fifteen minutes. RECESS The City Council recessed at 7:53 p.m. RECONVENE The City Council reconvened at 8:05 p.m. DISCUSS POTENTL4L COMMUNITY CENTER EXPANSION— continued Mr. Dickinson stated he did not want the Council to get hung up on specific costs, he really wanted them to focus on the three components and which components they would want to do. He was not sure without refining the design how the component amounts will shake out, the amounts presented at this time are in a range. The amounts could change and if they can get an actual number they will tell the Council what the specific tax impact is. Right now, this is high level estimating to help try to facilitate a decision. He thought what they needed to focus on when looking at the components is the ranges. He would like the Council to determine what components are really needed and what components could be cut out of the expansion discussion, if anything. He stated staff is looking for more direction. Mayor Trude stated RJM has been working with staff on this and she wondered why the costs were ® so high. Mr. Brad Barickman, RJM Construction, stated the ranges are based on a number of different layouts and not just the layouts the Council is seeing this evening. There were versions that were condensed on square footage and the one before the Council is the ultimate layout plan. © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes—June 26, 2018 Page 7 That price range reflects all of the different layouts. Councilmember Knight stated they have to be able to tell the taxpayer what it is going to cost them, not a range. Mr. Dickinson stated that is correct but until he knows what component the Council wants to build he cannot give that answer as there are variables if one component goes versus another. Mr. Barickman stated the lower cost version of the plan eliminated square footage from the one they are currently seeing. The smaller the square footage the lower the cost. Mr. Jim Stiller, realtor, stated he wanted to look at the small return on investment from the realtor side. He stated he went back three years from today and looked at the community boundaries. He reviewed the new construction home sales and existing home sales. He is going off of school district boundary sales. He stated in Andover they have sold 1,171 homes in the last three years in the Andover High School district. The average homes sales have been $307,000 per sale. He reviewed the Andover average sales compared to surrounding communities. He stated they are seeing a lot of people moving into the community solely based on the amenities they have here. All these facets put together make the community what it is. He stated the residents in the Andover community are getting a lot for their investment compared to other communities because of what Andover has for amenities. He stated in his opinion if they keep investing in amenities the community will benefit. If taxes go up anywhere from $118 to $252, in retrospect the resale value and home values will keep increasing to more than compensate for the taxes going up. Commissioner Butler stated he hears from people all over the metro area what great amenities Andover has, especially the Community Center. He stated the communities where people want to live and thrive in are communities that have invested in themselves. He thought they had the opportunity here that they had fifteen years ago and took advantage of and now they have the opportunity to take that next step and say to the new families over the next five to ten years that Andover still cares about the residents by making sure it has a passive service to all of the residents from youth to senior. Park and Recreation Commissioner Ted Butler stated he is a hockey parent and sometimes he has to go outside of the City for hockey practice. Andover Hockey Association is spending about half of its time outside of the City. As a baseball coach this year his team alone spent $1,800 for indoor space because they did not have any turf available. He stated if they can keep the sports in Andover it will benefit the restaurants in the City and the shopping in the City. He thought this was an opportunity for the City that should be taken. Commissioner Butler stated with the expansion they could offer daytime youth camps and offer indoor space for weather events or a combination of outdoor space and indoor space for different sports. ® Mr. Peterson stated he echoed Commissioner Butler's comments. The very reason his family came to Andover was the Community Center, the schools and the open space. The culmination of all three of them were what brought him to Andover. The Community Center is spectacular. There ® Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — June 26, 2018 Page 8 seems to be a flood of young families coming to Andover and looking at what they have and he thought they had an opportunity here to almost double down on that. He encouraged the Council to go for the opportunity this presents. As far as the Super Rink there is a good chance they will solicit other communities, other associations and other programs to sell more ice. They are getting to the point where they could have to turn youth away because they do not have the capacity to keep all of the kids because there is not enough ice in the community. He stated the sport of hockey is growing and they are trying to accommodate all of the kids. They have practices with two to three teams on the same ice at the same time. Mr. Tony Howard stated he has lived in Andover for a long time. He stated they have high quality homes and a good quality school system. He stated this is taking the next step in being proactive and they are going to see huge growth. He thought they were investing in the future of their community and keeping their housing stock high. Ms. Boes stated they are excited to be partners with Andover. She stated as the City moves forward, their goal is to continue to serve the community of Andover. She stated she cannot talk about specific YMCA building components at this time. Councilmember Goodrich stated he wanted to stick to the purpose of the question on the table. He stated there is one non -user group that is largely under represented and that is the resident who will not be using the facility but will still be paying for it. This is not only going to be paid for by the users, it will be paid for by everyone in the City. He wanted to make sure that was a big part of his decision. He explained how he came around with his decision and his philosophy of being a Councilmember. He thought this project was very expensive and did not benefit everyone in the community. He stated they will be asking the entire community to pay for this expansion even if they will not use it. He wanted to make sure the citizens of Andover understood that they are currently on the hook for the current Community Center debt until 2031. They will be paying for that in addition to what could potentially be coming down the road. He indicated he was having a difficult time being societies engineer where he is going to take resources and give them to one set of activities for children or adults at the expense of other children's and adults activities. He noted he had a hard time doing that. He thought all of the arguments have been made. He would like to put this item to a referendum note. They will be having a mid-term election in November which will give them time to get the information out to the community and they can then let the residents vote to determine what should be done. He would be in favor of that. Councilmember Holthus stated she was on the task force for the original Community Center and also on the fundraising committee to get funds pledged to build the Community Center and she remembered originally when Mr. Howard and herself were on those committees and they worked long and hard to get the Community Center off the ground. She stated the Community Center has been such a plus for their City. She stated she is interested in spending money to design the plans and then decide what options they should move forward with. She stated on the west side with the ® meeting rooms if that lobby could be a little smaller they could save some money on square footage and the meeting room could also be a little smaller as well to save money. The other component she thought was important was on the east side to have a teen center. She thought a teen center Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — June 26, 2018 Page 9 was very important because being next to a school, when it lets out for the day the kids do not have anywhere to go and will end up going somewhere and doing something. Kids have always been her number one priority. She is dedicated to having things available for teens. They could share the common area with the seniors. Councilmember Knight thought Andover was very unique in a lot of ways and their Community Center combined with a YMCA is being looked at all over the country because it is working very well. He stated what they are seeing in Andover today is two issues, the senior citizens are a large number and they have their needs and wants and the teenagers which are another factor. They need to try to provide something for both of those groups. He would be strongly in favor of a teen center and senior center. Councilmember Bukkila stated they were looking at amenities for residents of the City. They were looking at what was currently out there and what needed to be added. She stated one thing they noticed is there is nothing for the preteen group and she was looking at a teen center. She thought that would fill the gap. It would also be a place for the non -athlete to hang out and do their activity. They have parks, trails and fields for the athletes but not really anything for the non -athlete. She was looking at this to fill a need. She stated she is not comfortable with this in its entirety. She is © not comfortable with the field house. She is ok with the teen and senior centers because they fill gaps. Councilmember Knight stated one of the other things that has grown in the last couple of years is girls' athletics and girls' hockey. Mayor Trude stated one of their highest priority goals is to ensure City Services, to keep pace with the City's growing and changing population and she thought they have done a great job with extending their services in the parks. They have added thousands of people and at least a couple thousand homes and girls' hockey has just barely started and they already have a gold medalist girls hockey player and she feels people will be happy to hear that they will provide local ice so the girls can have time on the ice in the City. She stated their City does not have two sheets of ice like other cities and only a quarter ice at the Super Rink. She stated she supported the extra sheet with the multi-purpose space and loved the opportunities and options it provides for spring sports. The only part of this she is not comfortable moving forward with is the gym. She would like to see the drawings move forward but pare down the gymnasium. She would like them to discuss with the School District programs that could be provided to the youth. She would like to see plans with one or two open spaces and for the budget to come in close to $12 million. She would also like to see the Park and Recreation Commission review the park dedication and see if there could be some money dedicated for this project. She thought the Community Center is a strong community amenity. She thought keeping kids active and out of trouble is important. They do not provide a recreation program, they are very low taxed and have a very efficient staff. She thought they were ready to move ahead with some more drawings and pricing. ® The Council further discussed how staff should move forward in getting the Council information. ® Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes —June 26, 2018 Page 10 Councilmember Goodrich stated he supported designing the whole expansion but the decision to finally pull the trigger needs to be decided by everybody because it is going to be paid for by so many people that are not going to use this. Councilmember Bukkila noted that there are still residents upset with having to pay for the initial build of the Community Center because they do not use it. Mayor Trude indicated she would not support a referendum. There was further discussion on what the Council would like to see with the expansion plan. Mayor Trude stated she wanted to stick with $12 million maximum. The Council agreed to move forward with design/development plans for review. MAY 2018 BUDGET PROGRESS REPORT Mr. Dickinson indicated this item is informational only and if the Council has questions to contact him. MAY 2018 CITY INVESTMENTS REVIEW Mr. Dickinson indicated this item is informational only and if the Council has questions to contact him. OTHER TOPICS None. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Knight, Seconded by Bukkila, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Sue Osbeck, Recording Secretary TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. u