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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC October 18, 1977 CITY of ANDOVER REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING - OCTOBER 18, 1977 HINUTES The Regular Bi-Monthly Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Jerry Windschitl on October 18, 1977, 7:34 p,m" at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Anoka, Minnesota, Councilpersons present: Lachinski, McClure, Orttel, VanderLaan (arrived at 9 o'clock) Councilpersons absent: None Also present: City Attorney, William G, Hawkins; City Engineer, Rex Stockwell; City Clerk, P, K, Lindquist; and interested residents, There was no comment in the Resident Forum Section of the Agenda. Af.!:enda Approval MOTION by Orttel, Seconded by McClure, to approve the Agenda as written with the following changes: Deletion of Item 5a, Easement Acquisitions; Addition of Item 8cl, Fire Protection Committee; 8c2, Road Improvement Committee; and 8c3, Personnel Committee; and with the addition of Item lOb, HRPA School for Mr, Muscovitz, Motion carried on a 4-0 vote, Cedar Crest Litigation Mayor Windschitl reouested a temporary withdrawal (of two weeks) of the proposed settlement for the Mayo-Bankey Lawsuit to allow time for the Metropolitan Council to review it, He explained that the Metro Council passed a Resolution at our request several years ago which gives their support to municipalities in lawsuits with the intent that they would look at them and would act as a friend of the court, In this case, he felt they could provide legal assistance in the matter and comment on the saturation of the area, He felt there were a significant number of items in the proposed settlement that do not meet with current standards (the development contract and extending the roads to Tulip do not meet the Ordinance requirement in distances apart), He felt the additional input from the Metropoli- tan Council would facilitate in making a decision in this matter, Mayor Windschitl went on to say the Metropolitan Council would be providing additional legal assistance and not taking the place of the City Attorney, Mayor Windschitl had a problem with the decision of such public significance being made behind a closed meeting, He felt the decision should be made at a pUblic meeting, He also felt the testimony of Sylvia Britton was not considered , sUfficiently, aSI he felt it significantly improved the City's case. Mayor Windschitl also felt the entire ~ase was presented negatively and wanted to get an independent view, an unbiased person to look at it, I Discussion was on whether or not the motion passed by the majority at the Special Closed Meeting was binding, Attorney Hawkins explained that the proposed settlement could legally be withdrawn; however, he impressed upon the Council at the Special Closed Meeting that the passage of the motion allowed the Attorney to enter into a good faith negotiation; and should the plaintiffs accept the proposed settlement without deviation, the Council must abide by their decision and accept it, The attorneys were authorized to negotiate in good faith, and they expect the Council to support that proposal and accept it in its final fo~ I Council person Or~tel felt the proposed settlement complies with our Ordinances as they exist today and didn't feel Metropolitan Council testimony would change anything, Attorney Hawkins explained they were aware of Me, Britton's testimony, and in their legal opinion , it is not that significant based on a counter argument, Councilperson Orttel felt if a new moratorium is agreed to tonight, it would not affect the settlement, as the settlement was made prior to the moratorium being enacted. He also stated the County would need to approve the plat; we have no authority to supersede them, Regular City Council Meeting October 18, 1977 - Minutes Page 2 (Cedar Crest Litigation, Continued) In discussing whether or not the County needs to review the plat or whether or not a variance from the City Ordinance would be needed on the proposed extension of the streets onto Tulip, Mr, Stockwell statèd he thought the County required a road every 660 feet on arterial streets and not more than every 330 feet on collector streets, He believed Tulip is considered a collector street by the County and felt that Mr, Ruud, County Highway Commissioner, would have no problem approving the preliminary plat, General consensus was that the entire Council should be present in making this decision, The item was postponed until later in the meeting when possibly Councilperson VanderLaan would return to express her opinion on the matter, University Avenue Extension Cordell Wellman and Kenneth Braastad represented the City of Ham Lake, Discussion was on adding to the Joint Powers Agreement some method of terminating the Agreement, It was agreed to add Item d: Term to extend until September 1, 1978, Mr, Braastad commented that the two municipalities have had an agreement for years that they will maintain University Avenue and Andover maintains 158th as a trade off, Hr, Wellman stated the City of Ham Lake will be signing the Joint Powers Agreement on Thursday night, and they hope to complete the maintenance project this year, Ham Lake's Engineer will determine what ditching needs to be done, sUbject to the approval of the Project Review Committee, The Clerk reported that on the southern end of the road, Andover does have 33 feet of dedicated right of way which can be used for ditching, MOTION by Lachinski, Seconded by orttel, to direct the Mayor and Clerk to enter into a Joint Powers Agreement with the City of Ham Lake to perform maintenance on University Avenue Extension from Andover Boulevard to 157th Avenue mv, ADDED TO MOTION: Term to be until September 1, 1978, and in the event of noncompletion, any invoices would be paid equally, Second still stands, Motion carried on a 4-0 vote, Ten-minute recess at 8:45, I Moratorium Ordinance No, 4, (proposed) I Larry Retzlaff explained the proposed Moratorium Ordinance has some unique features over the last moratorium, This recommends that any land outside of the Metropolitan Urban Service area be put under the moratorium, It affects all zoning except R-l, The P & Z wants to see groWth in that area before there is growth in the rural area, This would stop growth in R~2 and R-3 areas with less than 2~ acres, It would allow anyone to come , - in and plat 2~ acre lots outside the Metropolitan Urban Service Area, In discussing the exact area of the City which the Moratorium Ordinance covers, Attorney Hawkins recommended attaching a map or some handout of the affected area to aid people in determining the area involved, (Councilperson VanderLaan arrived) I Walter Bruns, Planning and Zoning Commission member, commented he was very much in favor of the moratorium in the rural district, but felt what the City is doing in the rural , district is not compatible with what is being done in the urban district, He felt the moratorium will create high density development in the urban district without having any 1 improvements in at all, which is the kind of thing we are trying to stay away from, He I felt that if you are going to develop in an urban area, you have to have improvements compatible with the plan -- improvements should come in along with the development, not having high density housing with improvements coming in after it is developed as was done in Red Oaks and Northwoods, Along with this, the assessment policy would have to be looked Regular City Council Heeting October 18, 1977 - Minutes ~p3 (Moratorium Ordinance No, 43, Continued) at -- possibly improvements would have to be on an area-wide assessment in some places, It's something that could be looked at, J4r, Bruns continued, by letting developments in without improvements, the pressures are going to come to put in these improvements, then the individual homeowners end up paying the entire assessment, That's not a logical growth sequence. This Ordinance allows scattered developments to occur without improvements coming in. Councilperson Lachinski felt Mr' Bruns' argument has some merit, but felt it is going to take hard work by the P & Z during the next year to review what we haveL~ the urban area. This could also have a definite modification on the assessment policy relative to how we pay for sewer trunk lines, MOTION by Lachinski, Seconded by Orttel, to adopt Ordinance 43, an Interim Ordinance re- gulating the use and development of land within the City of Andover for the purpose of protecting the planning process and the health, safety and welfare of the City, Hotion carried unanimously, Councilperson VanderLaan: I feel the most effective way of dealing with the particular problem would have been a readoption of the original Interim Ordinance that was in 6!fect in the City, Inasmuch as there was not support for that particular Ordinance, in my opinion we are having to accept a lesser Ordinance, Cedar Crest Litigation, Continued ~myor Windschitl explained what was previously discussed by the Council on the Mayo-Bankey Lawsuit. He explained he has spoken to Ms, Britton who stated she was given the boundaries of the park by the plaintiffs, and she told them the City was going into the park to make improvements, The Metropolitan Council would be helpful from a planning and a legal stand- point that could possibly shed some new light on the matter and possibly change a majorityb opinion, Councilperson VanderLaan commented that when one reviews the handling of the development by the City with respect to what the City has done, there has not been a tremendous effort to control this thing, The fact remains that as of tod~y, Mayo and Bank~ , can still come in and file that plat with one-acre lots, and the only difference between what they can do and what we are asking them to do in our settlement is the deficit of 1/2 acre of park land and, as established by precedent, perhaps a little longer time to get their roads finished, I MOTION by Windschitl, that the Andover City Council direct the City Attorney, !~, Hawkins, , . to withdraw the proposed settlement that was voted on at the October 5, 1977, Spec1al Closed Meeting and that we request the Metropolitan Council to review the lawsuit regarding the Cedar Crest Addition brought by Mayo and Bankey and ask for their comments from a legal and planning stand, Motion dies for lack of a second, I . Discussion continued on the mer1ts of whether or not to withdraw tmproposed settlement, of getting Metrofolitan Council's comments on the case, and how the Moratorium Ordinance affects the case, I MOTION by LachinSki, Seconded by Orttel, to request review and comment from the Metropolitm Council on the Mayo-Bankey Lawsuit, Motion carried unanimously, I Resolution - Curb Cut Permit Fees I Engineer Stockwell explained this problem has been brought to his attention by a future resident, that being no driveway was provided on a vacant lot since the City did not know where the driveway would be put when they installed curb and gutter in the streets, The , Ordinance 8 does have one provision in it which would curb was run across the entire lot, require a permit be taken out to have a curb cut, Mr, Stockwell discussed this with Mr, Thurston and there are two alternatives to the problem, First, and the alternative Mr, Regular City Council Meeting October 18, 1977 - Minutes Page 4 (Resolution - Curb Cut Permit Fees, Continued) Stockwell favors, is to have each homeowner hire his own contractor to remove the existing curb and replace it with the driveway at his own expense, The City would inspect it to be sure it is done to City standards, and the contractors would have to be licensed with the City, The other alternative favored by J1r, Thurston is the City would collect a number of these to be done, hire a contractor at the end of the year, and have that contractor remove all curbs and replace them with a depressed section for a driveway, Mr, Thurston was of the opinion that this would be a City expense rather than paid by the homeowner, Mr, Stockwell went on to say that Forest Lake removes the curb at City expense since they own the equipment needed for this job; however, the homeowner is responsible for putting in the driveway, then the City does the final inspection, They do not have a permit charge. The City of Anoka only requires the work to comply to their adopted standards; they make only: one final inspection; and all work and expense is borne by the homeowner, This item was carried over until the next Regularly Scheduled Council Meeting, Rum River Crossin~ - Anoka County ~~, Retzlaff explained they met twice with a number of individuals from the County and the City of Ramsey and discussed at considerable length the proposed Rum River Crossing, This crossing is very important to the County as well as to the City of Ramsey, After consider" able conversations, the Planning Commission felt justified in recommending that the City Council reaffirm their position of wanting an additional Rum River Crossing, The proposed crossing is just north of Anoka High School, parallel with 41st Avenue, !'.r, Retzlaff stated if they were to construct this crossing, we would be in favor of constructing all access roads at the same time, The County has indicated that they would be providing direct access to the Anoka High School parking lot from the new bridge, Also, the County seems to have done very little in the way of planning beyond getting traffic from Ramsey to Seventh Avenue, 1 I~, Retzlaff stated Commissioner Fields was adamantly opposed to the concept of putting the bridge crossing at County Road 20. 1 Discussion was on the traffic problems this crossing would create in the City of Andover if no further access roads were constructed, as County Road 9 and Bunker Lake Boulevard are already extremely congested, Discussion was also on whether or not the County would construct these access roads at their cost or would City monies be involved in purchasing land, Councilperso n Lachinsk1 felt that the City's approval for the Rum River Crossing should also include access roads to Bunker Lake Boulevard, or possibly to Highway 10 to relieve traffic problems in Andover, I~. Retzlaff added that we shouldn't allow the County to address the problem of access roads at a later time, I HOT ION by VanderLaan, Seconded by McClure, that the City Council direct the City Engineer to provide data to both the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council relating to the imp"-ct of :the Rum River Crossing on Andover, specifically costs, traffic patterns, and other pertine~t data and to specifically investigate other possibilities of the location which may be more beneficial to Andover, Discussion: Councilperson Lachinsk1 wondered if this was a duplication of effort or something va could expect the County to < provide for us and asked what this would cost, Mr, Stockwell felt very little expense would be involved as most of the information is available -- it's a matter of finding and assembling it, I~, Retzlafflstated the County wants the City to reaffirm their position on the Rum River Bridge, They are estimating the bridge will be constructed within the next 1 to 5 years, as soon as I federal funding is available, Councilperson Orttel stated we have given the concept approIal; now he would like to see the County provide us with all the data instead of us hav ng to get the data ourselv€5, Councilperson Lachinski felt the position of the Council is that we do approve the concept and that we know there is going to be a resulting traffic problem -- a study isn't needed to determine that, Mayor Windsch i tl Regular City Council Meeting October 18, 1977 - lünutes Page 5 (Rum River Crossing, Continued) felt he can't support the bridge if it creates significant problems, He felt it is the duty of the County to clear up the problems they create, Councilperson VanderLaan felt that the City Engineer is the person with the expertise necessary to evaluate the problems, specifically dealing with the interests of the City, VOTE ON MOTION: YES-McClure, VanderLaan, Windschitl; NO-Lachinski, Orttel Hotion carried, Plannin~ and Zonin~ Commission I~, Retzlaff stated he had talked with Vie Evans, Interim Fire Chief, about the problem of getting water needed for fighting fires in the City of Andover, Since the P & Z is currently revising Ordinance 10, !1r, Retzlaff wondered if a platting provision in Ordinance 10 could be added requiring a developer to put in a well of significant size designed to facilitate the Fire Department getting vmter or, as an alternative, require the developer to dedicate monies to the City to be set aside to develop wells in strategically located areas within the City, Mr, Retzlaff stated he needs direction from the Council to discuss these possibilities vdth the City Engineer, Attorney Hawkins explained that under State Statute, monies cannot be required of a developer for the purpose of developing wells, He didn't know if they could be made to install a well; he would have to investigate this further, Councilperson Orttel explained the Fire Protection Committee had looked into establishing wells and found it to cost about $15,000 for a well that meets the volume of water in the time required, He didn't think that a well would be needed in every development; that it would be better to have a certain number of strategically placed wells in the City, He continued, there are some sources of water available to the City that have been investigated, and others might be found that are much less expensive, Councilperson Lachinsk1 suggested that some considera- tion might be given to requiring a developer to install a central water system to service the homes, Firel hydrants would be put in at the same time, Vie Evans stated\he intends to develop some type. of plan for getting water resources developed tying it into the needs and the development of the community, I !1r, Retzlaff als9 stated the Planning and Zoning Commission is holding a meeting on October 27 to interview five consultants, telling them what our intentions are and what our requirements \Will be, The Commission will be making their final selection from them, Park and Recreation Commission 1 Discussion waS that the proposed tennis court location is too close to the softball field, , Anòther location needs to be decided; construction must be completed in 1977 or the grant , funds will be lost, and the contractor is very anxious to begin work before the weather , changes, Discussion was also on the concern that this is the responsibility of llidwest Planning and Research as they are being paid to plan the City Hall site, IIDTION by Orttel,\seconded by Lachinski, that the tennis court be located to the immediate north of the hockey rink at the City Hall site, 1 VOTE ON MOTION: YES-Lachinski, Orttel; NO-lkClure, VanderLaan, Windschitl Motion defeated, \ HOTION by Windschitl, Seconded by VanderLaan, that the City Council meet on Thursday at 7:30 and request the attendance of the Planner from Midwest Planning be here to meet with the Council and be in a position to offer his recommendation for the location of the tennis court. Discussion: I~yor Windschitl requested the planner inform the Council what he has done so far, The Clerk informed the Council that the Park/Recreation Commission has a Regular City Council Meeting October 18, 1977 - !linutes Page 6 (Park/Recreation Commission, Tennis Court Location, Continued) meeting Thursday with the Planner, so they will be here, VOTE ON MOTIO!1: YES-HcClure, VanderLaan, \V1ndschitl; !10-Lachinski, Orttel !1otion carried, Fire Protection Committee Vie Evans, Interim Fire Chief, reported that the organizational meeting for the Volunteer Fire Department was held last Wednesday evening and Saturday morning, Ten people who had turned in response cards were at neither meeting; however, Mr, Evans contacted them and all reported they would be at the next meeting, Of the people attending the organizational meetings, 27 members are now signed up, one being an honorary member, 6 are available for day coverage, 22 for night coverage, 26 for weekend coverage, 3 are experienced in structure fire fighting, 8 in brush fire fighting, 4 in related fire fighting, 13 members have some medical training, 2 with CPR training, 1 with emergency medical training, 2 professional nurses, and the members have a full range of the different professions. that we perceive a need of in the Fire Department, !~. Evans also reported the next two meetings are planned for October 26 and 29 and media coverage is planned for the 29th meeting, Also, Hr, Evan's reported his request for a 6-month leave from his company has been approved, ~~, Evans requested $1,300 for iteMS needed for training purposes in the Fire Department, such as books, periodicals, training films, transparency project, 60MM sound projector, opaque projector, membership ID cards, and automobile stickers, Not included in this cost is the consideration of a 16~n1 sound project which can be rented from the library at ~5 for 25 hours, Discussion was on whether it would be more economical in the long run to purchase the 116!m sound projector also, !~, Evans estimated this to be an additional $620, Discussion was where this equipment could be purchased, d'Arcy; Bosell suggested that 3M cJmpany:sells used, refurgished equipment at nominal costs that could be considered, The Clerk commented the funds would be specifically allocated under the Fire Department, which come from Ithe surplus funds, !10TION by Orttel, Seconded by HcClure, that the Council direct the Clerk to review the list of purchases as presented by Vie Evans for the Fire Department and solicite quotes , ~ on the three major items, 'with' a report back to the Council for the first meeting in November. ·Iotion carried unanimously, I ~~, Evans reques~e~ on behalf of Tom Cherney, that the Fire Protection Committee be terminated and that the Fire Department take over in its place, MOTIO!! by orttell Seconded by McClure, that the City Council officially terminate the Fire Protection Committee for the reasons as stated in Subdivision 2, Section 7 of Ordinance 25, !1otion carried unanimously, !~, Evans then rlqUested the Fire Department be given a standard place on the Council Agenda for reports, requests, updates, etc, It was determined that it will remain under Special/Standing Committees; and if .~, Evans needs to report at the Meeting, he will inform the Clerk of such a week prior to the meeting, !~, Evans then informed the Council the Fire Department is planning on having their meeting and drills on each Wednesday night and each Saturday morning, He requested the Council designate this time to the Fire Department, Regular City Council Meeting October 18, 1977 - llinutes Page 7 (Fire Protection Committee, Continued) J.!OTIOII by Orttel, Seconded by HcClure, that the Council desiguate Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings as official training and drill periods for the Andover Fire Department and reserve space at the City Hall, Hotion carried unanimously, HOTION by Orttel, Seconded by McClure, to extend the meeting time to cover Items 8c2 and 8c3 briefly, Item 9a, Item lOb, and Item 12, approval Of 1977-1 Project Claims, Motion carried unanimously. Road Improvement Committee and Personnel Committee Councilperson Lachinski reported the Road Improvement Committee would like to meet with the Council at a special meeting, possibly along with the park/Recreation Commission, to discuss current road conditions, maintenance, short and long-term programs, public works, and a tree-removal program, Councilperson Lachinski also clarified the memo sent to the Council from the Personnel Committee, The Personnel Committee would also like to meet with the Council, and Council- person Lachinski recommended the Council review the following information for that meeting for background information: 1) Review the repealed Ordinance 31 and Ordinance 3lA and the current job description for the City Clerk/Treasurer; 2) Review February 15, 1977, TKDA memo relating to 1975-76 general engineering contract and proposed 1978 engineering budget; 3) and Review memo dated February 7 from TKDA on engineering costs for telephone conversa- tions for the month of February; and 4) Review the duties and responsibilities of the Zoning Administrator, I MOTIO!T by VanderLaan, Seconded by Orttel, that at the meeting of October 27, 1977, the Personnel Committee report be discussed, Motion carried unanimously, Discussion continued on meeting with the Road Improvement Committee, Council person Vander- Laan suggested that this be postponed until we have our personnel situation established so that we can allow maximum output from our people with respect to their job alifnment, etc, At this time, she viewed the situation as simply a discussion restricted to their committee, Councilperson Lachinski requested that the tree removal program be placed on the November 11 Agenda, SYGtems statement Hearing Postponement I Mayor Windschit~ explained that Bob J1~zanec~ lfutropolitan Council Planner, has requested the Reconciliation Hearing be postponed for one month to allow us time to resolve the , . questions, as he feels we are very close to resolvlng the problems, They want to bring , out their demographer and review the matter of the sewered population, There is a difference of 3,000 people, and they want to look at how or where this is going to take place, Mayor Windschitl also stated the Airport Guide Chapter is out and it is recommendi~ the search site in Andover be thr017n out, HOTImT by Orttell, Seconded by McClure, that the Council comply with the request of Robert !'azanec, Policy planner from the Metropolitan Council, for the one-month continuation of the Reconciliation Hearing on the Systems Statement, Motion carried unanimously, I HRPA School for !!r, J.Iuscovitz , HOTIOII by Vanderlaan, Seconded by Lachins~~, that the City Council authorize Bob Muscovitz to attend the !mPA Conference being held on November 8, 9, and 10 at the st, Paul RaŒisson Hotel, and that the City Council authorize the expenditure of the cost of the Conference at $39 to include one park tour and no meal compensation. Hotion carried unanimously, Regular City Council Meeting October 18, 1977 - Hinutes Page 8 . Approval of Claims lIOTIO!! by !!cClure, Seconded by Orttel, that the Council approve Check Numbers 175 and 177, ~~AH Fund for the total of $58,296,51; Check Numbers 176 through 182 for a total of " $346,055,42 for the 1977-1 Project Fund; and Check Numbers 183 through 189 for a total of $13,824,20 for the 1977-1 Easement Purchases, Motion carried unanimously, ~IOTION by McClure, Seconded by Orttel, to adjourn, Motion carried unanimously, !!eet1ng adjourned at 11 :32 p,m, Pespectfully submitted, '\~~-Z=~~ Hare la A, Peach Recording Secretary ! vl" v >1 í.\ ',\v <- - \" \ r.,. \.1 ¡ \ ~y\ '\ 1 j ~,,, . \ ! . \ ./