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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWK February 26, 2003 ~ G..f.I../ ~ 3-l'£-6,j CITY OF ANDOVER 1685 CROSSTOWN BOULEVARD N.W.. ANDOVER, MINNESOTA 55304. (763) 755-5100 FAX (763) 755-8923. WWW.CI.ANDOVER.MN.US Special City Council Workshop Miscellaneous City Issues Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - 6:00 p.m. Council Chambers 1. Call to Order 2. Adopt Agenda 3. Private versus Public - Engineering 4. Creation of Storm Water Utility - Update - Engineering 5. Capital Campaign for Community Center - Verbal Update - Administration 6. Rental Housing Ordinance - Draft Ordinance - PlanninglBldg./Fire 7. Land Acquisition - Louden Property Purchase Agreement - Engineering 8. 2002-03 Council Goal/Water Utility Radio Read - Staff Update - Public Works 9. Other Business 10. Adjournrnent CITY of ANDOVER . SPECIAL ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL MEETING - FEBRUARY 26, 2003 MINUTES The Special Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Mike Gamache, February 26,2003,6:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, MinnesotL Councilmembers present: Don Jacobson. Mike Knight, Ken Orttel, Julie Trude Councilmember absent: None Also present: City Engineer, Dave Berkowitz City Finance Director, Jim Dickinson Community Development Director, Will Neumeister City Administrator, John Erar Others AGENDA APPROVAL Add School Board Meeting item under Other Business. Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Orttel, to approve the Agenda as amended above. Motion carried unanimously. PRIVATE VERSUS PUBLIC One of the Council's 2002 goals is to review the present City of Andover policy of requiring all public facility improvements in new urban developments be contracted for and installed under City contract. The City Council members have had requests ITom developers to be allowed to design, contract for, and install public facilities including utilities and streets. City staffhas been requested to provide a discussion of the pros and cons of changing the present policy. City Engineer Berkowitz stated he wanted to apologize because he told some of the people involved that the meeting was at 7:00 p.m. but they did receive an agenda which showed 6:00 p.m. Mr. Berkowitz asked if they could move this item down. Council agreed. CREATION OF STORM WATER UTILITY· UPDATE City Engineer Berkowitz explained that the Council has authorized proceeding toward creation of a Storm Water Utility for funding the unfunded federal mandate requirements (NPDES Phase IT) for Special Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - February 26, 2003 Page 2 storm sewer maintenance, education and pollution control measures for the City's storm water system. Mr. Berkowitz stated he would like to table this item because he would like to wait until Mr. Ottensmarm is back in town because it was difficult to follow the methodology. Mr. Dickinson explained the utility is not tied to the NPDES. He stated the utility creation can lag. Councilmember Jacobson asked if they will still be able to maintain the schedule. Mr. Dickinson stated they do not need much lead time. Mayor Gamache asked when Mr. Ottensmarm would be back. Mr. Berkowitz stated he believed it would be mid- April. Council decided to table this item until Mr. Ottensmarm returns in April. CAPITAL CAMPAIGN FOR COMMUNITY CENTER - VERBAL UPDATE City Finance Director Dickinson stated the Capital Campaign has solidified all the campaign chairs. He stated the leadership task force is being lead by Mr. Dick Lang, the prospect committee is being lead by Mr. Roger Okerman and Mr. Mike Quigley, the communications task force will be led by Ms. Val Holthus, the case study chair will be Mr. Dave Blackstad, co-chairing with Mr. Steve Frietag, but he was not sure. He stated these were people initially interested in the Capital Campaign. The interim chair of the Capital Campaign is Mr. Scott LeDoux and they are meeting every week at this time. They will be working along with the Capital Campaign as support along with Ms. Pat Janssen to provide secretarial services. Councilmember Jacobson remembers talking with the City Attorney on how careful they need to be with the committees and the City Attorney stated the City could not fund the committees in any way. He was wondering if the City Secretary would be appropriate because she would be paid overtime with City funds and he thought they may need to check with the City Attorney. Mr. Erar stated he was not aware of this but would check with the City Attorney. CounciImember Trude asked how they appointed the members of the committees. Mr. Dickinson stated the majority of the people were selected by a group of people including some staff. He stated they worked through the process to see who would fit the roles. They approached them as a lead volunteer. Councilmember Trude stated she is concerned that they get people who will work with all the different groups in the community and she has some real concerns about whether the hockey people have a part in this or not. She believes they feel like they have been excluded &om everything. Mr. Dickinson stated he thinks part of this is being addressed by the leadership cabinet. Councilmember Trude stated this community is much different than most because they do not have organized activities so they have a lot of different groups and it is important that all the groups try to work together. Mr. Dickinson stated this was where they follow the advice of Saterbak. Councilmember Trude asked if there was any concern with Mr. Blackstad and Ms. Holthus being against the Community Center. Mr. Dickinson stated he believed they are supportive of the Special Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - February 26, 2003 Page 3 Co=unity Center and that was why they were picked for the committees. Mayor Gamache stated what they came up with at the meeting was a list of names &om Mr. Dave Assmus that represented different aspects of the co=unity. CounciImember Trude stated she thought it was good to have the Park Commission behind this and involved. CounciImember Orttel stated he is a little concerned if there are people trying to start their own field house in the next few weeks. He asked if they were contrary to the City's goals and should they be included or is it a declaration of nonsupport. Mayor Gamache stated moving forward, it will be up to the different committees' chairs to decide if they want remain on the committee. Councilmember Trude stated she thought it was important to get the Park Commission involved in the Community Center. Mayor Gamache stated Mr. BIackstad has been in support of the Co=unity Center for quite a few months along with the majority of the Park Commission. RENTAL HOUSING ORDINANCE -DRAFT ORDINANCE Co=unity Development Director Neumeister noted the last time this issue was discussed was October 1, 2002. Council asked staff to provide additional research on potential changes to the Rental Housing Ordinance. Councilmember Knight asked how they will track the tenants throughout the City. Mr. Herb BIo=el, city building inspector and rental housing inspector, stated it is something they would need to set up with the owners of the rental units. CounciImember Trude stated she knew the woman who set up this program in New Brighton and the first step they did was met with landlords and recommended landlords adopt a credit and background check on all the tenants and they shared a mutual database, so the tenants get on a list and rental properties become more stable. Mr. Neumeister stated in Brooklyn Park, a manager's co-op was formed. If the landlords see what is coming, they will want to establish a better tenant base and higher levels of screening upfront. Dave Almgren, building official, stated there is a State Statue that has a list of what is required so the landlord can follow this. Councilmember Orttel asked how many rental units Andover has. Mr. Herb BIommel stated there are fifty-one rental buildings and thirty-six are doubles, there are a total of 131 rental units in Andover. He stated the fee is $75.00 per unit for two years. CounciImember Orttel asked if the violation of this Ordinance is grounds for an eviction under Minnesota law. Mr. Dave Almgren stated under the State Statute, they can evict and this form is only backup for that. Discussion ensued in regard to the process for eviction. Special Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - February 26, 2003 Page 4 Captain Dave Jenkins explained from the law enforcement's perspective, this is the vehicle that helps to address some of the problem areas in the community. He stated it is a very important tool to deploy and the City would be heading in the right direction by adopting the Ordinance. He stated it would not be a problem collecting the data for this. Councilmember Jacobson asked if the licenses expire on July 1 or expire on the anniversary date of issuance. Mr. Neumeister stated licenses expire on July 1. Councilmember Jacobson stated in the Ordinance, it talks about a penalty for not applying in time and it equates to 100 percent of the license fee. He thought the fees should equate to some sort of a standard. Mr. Neumeister stated he took this ITom the New Brighton Ordinance. Mr. Dickinson stated when they are charging fees for service, this is true. When putting in place a fee for a penalty they have flexibility in charging penalties and they want to charge a penalty sufficient enough to get their attention. Councilmember Jacobson asked if 100 percent is an acceptable amount. Councilmember Knight asked if the fee was based on cost. Mr. Erar stated the fee Ordinance already addressed this. He stated the fees will not change. Councilmember Knight asked how subjective the landscaping conditions are and, ifis there criteria. Councilmember Orttel thought this referred to those existing under Special Use Permits. Mr. Neumeister stated this was true. Councilmember Jacobson asked if this applied to The Farmstead. Mr. Neumeister stated it did. Councilmember Jacobson asked if this place should be exempted because they do get a lot of emergency calls. Discussion continued in regard to eviction and disorderly conduct. Councilmember Orttel stated he believed the Ordinance would help the landlords instead of hinder them. The Council discussed with staff the wording of the Ordinance. Councilmember Jacobson stated on page nine of the Ordinance under evidence of disorderly manner, the second line of the paragraph should have "nor" instead of "not" and on the top of page eight, section twelve, which talks about the provisional license where they can get it at the time of the next renewal. He asked if they need to wait until the next renewal or could they get this right away. Mr. Neumeister stated in the New Brighton Ordinance, this was not listed. He read from New Brighton's Ordinance. He stated it was added in their Ordinance because if they go to the third strike, they will lose the license. Councilmember Jacobson asked what would happen if they would get three strikes into the first six months of the license period. Mr. Neumeister stated they would lose it. Mayor Gamache stated he understood it to mean that if they have two strikes, then they can only get a provisional license after the third strike. Councilmember Jacobson stated he would like to have staff review this further along with the Planning and Zoning Commission. Special Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - February 26, 2003 Page 5 Councilmember Jacobson stated on page eight, it talks about all the events and it mentions fire alarms. He asked if false alarms would count against the landlord. Councilmember Trude stated she thought this was excessive. Councilmember Knight asked if a place had legitimate fire alarms, would they be penalized. Mr. Almgren stated this would come to the Council for a decision. Councilmember Orttel stated section eighteen says they cannot evict for all the iterns if it is legitimate law enforcement activities. Councilmember Trude stated she thought they should pull the fire alarm item. Discussion ensued in regards to the penalty fee. Councilmember Knight stated he would like to have staff strike the fire alarm item because they already have a penalty process for it Councilmember Trude agreed. Motion by Orttel, Seconded by Trude, to have staff recognize the changes to the Ordinance and direct the Housing Rental Ordinance to the Planning Commission for a Public Hearing (with special invitation to the landlords/owners of rental units) and adding loss oflicense does not eliminate a tenants duty to pay rent. Motion carried unanimously. PRIVATE VERSUS PUBLIC (CONTINUED) Mr. Berkowitz discussed the staff report with the Council. He stated either system can work. The majority of other Municipalities would prefer the Public improvement process. With the City contractor, the City's interests come first. In the end the City will own and have to maintain the improvements. The best way to insure quality construction and engineering is to control the purse strings and that is through City hired Engineers and City contractors. The City staff, including Public Works, recommends no change in present policy. The staff, based on past experience, feel the present policy is the best way to insure quality construction for the City. In any case, ful1 time City inspection should continue by using staff or a consultant hired by the City. City payment to developer-hired contractors, through an escrow arrangement, will also help the City to retain control over the contractor's work. If the Council decides to change City policy, staff feels the change should not take place until 2004, as a number of changes in procedures, assessment policy and securities will be necessary. Councilmember Knight asked for an explanation of the present proposal in the legislature that affects this. Mr. Dickinson stated the calculation currently includes all revenues related to the general special revenue and capital project funds. What is included in the general is what they put the levy on every year. The Special Revenue funds are funds such as the forestry funds, drainage and mapping funds, and equipment funds. Capital Projects funds involve each year if they issue bonds. Those dollars reside in the fund and they spend the dollars out of there to do the improvement He stated the way they are currently structured, they use a fund they calI the Permanent Improvement Revolving fund where all the construction projects are coming out of right now. The assessments go back to the fund and they utilize the assessments to then cash flow improvements through the next few years but yet have to make debt payments. He stated the assessments that are coming in can be Special Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - February 26, 2003 Page 6 through developers or road projects they are doing. This is being put into the calculation for the revenue for the City. He stated the same thing is happening with the trunk charges which are also being retained in the fund. CounciImember Knight asked for an explanation of both options in terms of the proposed law. Mr. Dickinson stated in going forward, anything they have done to date still needs the assessments to be completed over an eight to ten year time &arne, for the most part. With new improvements they are being paid off in three to five years. He stated he does not see it changing in the near future. The Council discussed with staff the proposed cuts in funding from the State. CounciImember Trude asked how much they are going to bond this year for new construction. Mr. Dickinson stated what they would bond for this year; they would not anticipate getting payments for about two years. Councilmember Jacobson asked if they issued bonds for the Community Center, would this increase the problem under the current proposal. Mr. Dickinson stated if it is lease revenue, they would take the payments right into a debt service fund on a lease payment, so he did not think so. Mr. Erar stated in his previous city, they worked the over sizing and extra depth of pipe with private developers and they have never had an issue with 429. He suggested they confer with other cities who have private development and test the options. Councilmember Orttel asked if the issue has more to do with what will result in an area charge later on. Mr. Erar stated typically most of the over sizing and extra depth will be for future developments in the area. Councilmember Orttel stated the things the developers were interested in was time, some of the savings, and cost of the actual improvements. Mr. Quigley stated this would be a fair assessment. He stated they feel there are duplications being made by them and the City which could be eliminated by private development. There is also the issue of time because they feel they could do things faster. Mayor Gamache asked what other cities they build in. Mr. Quigley stated they build in Ham Lake, Blaine and Lino Lakes. Mr. Berkowitz stated he talked with the City Engineer for Cambridge, who is now using private developers. They had a project four years ago that went well, but since then they have had four projects that have had nothing but problems. There is a comfort level with certain developers who will do the job properly but once they open it up to one, they open it up to all developers. Mr. Quigley stated he understands the concern for the City but he believes the private developers can get ajob done quicker. Councilmember Knight stated the key seems to be how well supervision and oversight is. Mayor Gamache stated they would not change any of this even if they went to private; the City would still be involved all the way through in inspecting the project. Mr. Quigley stated he preferred the City -- - " 0-- .__ - Special Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - February 26, 2003 Page 7 inspectors over their own inspectors. Mr. Erar stated in support of the staff report, where it talks about if the Council were to 100k at a change in the present system, there is some middle ground in terms of still allowing the City to design and prepare the plans and specifications, yet allow the developer to hire the contractors and avoid the bidding requirements. He stated that they do not build quality in on the inspection; they build quality in the design of the plans. He stated when they use City consultants, they are familiar with City standards. Councilmember Orttel stated when they increased their security to 105 percent, they pretty much eliminated small developers fÌ"Om being able to come in and do a project. There was discussion as to what the City should handle if they allowed private development and if they needed to keep City Engineers, inspections, preparing plans. Mayor Gamache stated for the City's protection, could they not have the City engineers look at and sign off on the plans. Mr. Erar stated there may be more than one project going on at one time so there is not as thorough a review and more field time may be spent by the inspectors. Mr. Quigley stated he did not understand the double standard when a private developer is used. CounciImember Orttel stated the reports from the other cities state the problems are in the design and inspection because the developer's interest only lasts as long as the warranty period and, therefore, they are cutting back. If these are removed and the City is doing the design and inspection, the only thing left is the construction, which avoids the 429 and saves time on the project. Discussion ensued in regard to whether more work needed to be done if they had private development versus public development. Councilmember Trude stated she would like to have a separate system where they have people who have never developed in the City, or do not have the experience, or do not meet certain cash requirements, so they can do the 429 with those. Mr. Berkowitz stated this is something they would have to check with the City Attorney to see if they could treat one developer differently from others. Discussion ensued in regard to the issues with dealing differently with different developers. Councilmember Jacobson asked if the proposed change would be any advantage to the City and ifit would allow them to do the work that has to be done better. He asked who benefited from the change. He stated he would be willing to have staff sit down with the developers and look at the Ordinance to see if some things could be collapsed down better and address the time issue. But, beyond that, he does not see any advantage or benefit to the City. Mr. Berkowitz stated if there is a savings, it would trickJe down to the purchaser of the lot. Mr. Quigley stated he believed it does because just one thousand dollars eliminates a lot of the buying power. Discussion continued in regard to who this would benefit and if the City would get anything out of -_ 0-- ~__ Special Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - February 26, 2003 Page 8 this. Councilmember Knight stated he would be in favor of some type of a hybrid. Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Trude to maintain the present policy of the City, direct staff to meet with developers and discuss ways to shorten the time &arne, review the Ordinance, and come back to the Council with potential changes to the Ordinance. CounciImember Orttel stated the problem with this is every year they have the deadline date which affects what they are discussing. The biggest change is the 105 percent change which prompted the developers to ask for this. Councilmember Jacobson stated maybe they should change the percentage. He would like staff to discuss this with the developers to see if there is a way to save time and money. Mr. Quigley stated he would encourage the Council to pursue establishing a set of standards that the private developers can adhere to. Mr. Dickinson stated there are some things in the surety area that he would entertain exploring which would potentially save some money. He stated if the escrow disbursement arrangement could be put in place, they could find a hybrid between public and private and he would like to try. Mayor Gamache stated he agreed with CounciImember Orttel because he thought when they talked about this originally they would possibly go with a private developer down the line for installation of the utilities. He stated he liked the idea of doing this for a test period. Motion failed 2 ayes (Trude, Jacobson), 3 nays (Knight, Orttel, Gamache). Motion by Orttel, Seconded by Knight to allow private development to have a test period for three years with a two year evaluation and the test would involve any developer that would submit a proposal along with their development plans beginning in the year 2004 and staffwould bring back a full detailed plan in mid-summer for the fall. Motion carried 3 ayes (Orttel, Gamache, Knight), 2 nays (Jacobson, Trude). LAND ACQUISITION - LOUDEN PROPERTY PURCHASE AGREEMENT City Engineer Berkowitz explained City staff has presented an offer to Mr. Steven Louden to purchase his property at 1831 Crosstown Blvd. NW. The property is located west of the water treatment plant The City Attorney has drafted a purchase agreement for this property. Councilmember Jacobson asked if this comes out of the Tax Increment Fund, does this concern the City Council or the EDA. Mr. Dickinson stated the increment is one of the items suggested in some of the EDA presentations. He stated there are dollars residing in the Tax Increment Project Funds that are not technically classified as increment but are in there for cash flow purposes. He stated the -- - Special Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - February 26, 2003 Page 9 definition of those funds says that it is at the discretion of the City Council and a Resolution by the City Council would be in order to take that out. CounciImember Jacobson asked how much money is in there. Mr. Dickinson stated they proposed $775,000 but it would be a little more than that. Councilmember Knight asked what the demolition cost is. Mr. Berkowitz stated it would be around ten thousand dollars. He stated the owner would like to move up the closing date to April 1 ,2003 so he can buy other property. Councilmember Jacobson asked why he would want to take windows and other things out of the house. Mr. Erar stated it was a matter of working out the agreement and lowering the price of the property. Mr. Erar stated they are looking at this property for storm water ponding for the water treatment plant. Councilmember Jacobson asked why in the agreement he is allowed back on the property after the sale. Mr. Erar stated it was a provision of the sale. Motion by Orttel, Seconded by Trude to approve the purchase of property at 1831 Crosstown Blvd. NW with the amendment and move the closing date to April 1 and move the time &ame to acquire anything up to June 1. Councilmember Trude asked if they should have the City Attorney draft a hold harmless clause because the City will be owner of the property after April 1 and if something would happen to him after the sale, they would not want him to come back and sue the City. Mr. Dickinson stated he did not think that was necessary in the motion because they will have him sign a right of entry with a hold harmless separate after the sale of the property. Motion carried 1In~nimously. MR. KEN SLYZUK PROPERTY UPDATE Mr. Erar updated the Council on the negotiations with Mr. SIyzuk:. He stated the negotiations have reached an impasse. They had an appraisal done on the property and the value came in at $37,500 an acre but Mr. SIyzuk: will not accept that. He is looking at $60,000 an acre for the land and nothing less than $50,000. Mr. Erar stated this is much more than he ever offered Mr. SIyzuk:. He stated he talked with the Public Works Committee and Councilmembers Knight and Orttel and they indicated $41,000-$42,000 would be the most they would want to go and if they would pursue condemnation and legal costs, they would be looking at premium. The Council would need to decide if they want to pursue a higher value for the land, condemnation or sit back and recognize the opportunity for the City to acquire this for the expansion of the public works facility may be compromised. Council authorized staff to bring forward to Mr. SIyzuk: a proposal to negotiate the price of the land with the threat of condemnation if a compromise cannot be made. Special Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - February 26, 2003 Page 10 2002 - 2003 COUNCIL GOAVWATER UTILITY RADIO READ - STAFF UPDATE Public Works Utilities Supervisor Kraabel stated in order to expedite the process of reading water meters staffhas looked at a Radio Reading System. This type of system would also allow staff to collect information on anyone particular meter at any time of day for the purpose of evaluating water consumption. To start off staff would concentrate only on the commercial customers but have the capability of expanding into the residential area. Mr. Dickinson discussed the source of funding. Motion by Orttel, seconded by Knight, to authorize the Water/Utility Department to start the electronic monitoring system with the water system for water usage. Councilmember Jacobson suggested they check to make sure the frequency that they are using will still be available in the future because the FCC is making changes. Motion carried unanimously. OTHER BUSINESS . School Board Meeting Councilmember Jacobson stated when they talked about the School Board meeting he thought they could discuss with them the possibility of the School Board looking at reserving land for another school in Andover and talk about the Community Education program. Councilmember Trude stated the School Board is seeking special levy authority for the transportation of students in hazardous areas. She stated there is still Community Education. funding and they should talk to the School Board about Community Education. Councilmember Trude stated a lot of people have asked her what they can get &om the Oakview swimming pool and she believes there is some rot or corrosion going on. She wondered if there are some health safety issues. Councilmember Trude stated they should talk about the Football Concession building, why it was never finished, and where all the dedicated money went . Woodland Development Litigation Mr. Erar stated he would like to set up a meeting for an update of the Woodland Development Litigation on March 4, 2003 at 5:45 p.m. Councilmember Trude stated she would like the lawyer to come and advise them what to tell the people in the community Special Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - February 26, 2003 Page 11 because people are starting rumors. Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Orttel, to adjourn. Motion carried 1In~nimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:06 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Osbeck, Recording Secretary