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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWK July 25, 2006 o 1685 CROSSTOWN BOULEVARD N.W. . ANDOVER, MINNESOTA 55304 . (763) 755-5100 FAX (763) 755-8923 . WWW.CI.ANDOVER.MN.US City Council Workshop Tuesday, July 25,2006 Conference Rooms A & B I. Call to Order - 6:00 p.m. 2. Continued Discussion (Tour)- Special Assessment Policy - Engineering o 3. Railroad Quiet Zones/06-1 0 - Engineering 4. Update on Metropolitan Council Discussion (June 13th) - Planning 5. Options for Bunker Lake Boulevard Median Maintenance - Planning 6. Emergency Management Plan Review/Training - Fire 7. Other Business 8. Adjournment o o Llt Illi w.w.--- ~ "6 ~o~ ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP - JULY 25,2006 MINUTES The Special Council Workshop of the Andover City Council was called to order by acting Mayor Ken Orttel, July 25,2006,6:03 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Councilmembers present: Councilmember absent: Also present: Don Jacobson, Mike Knight, Julie Trude Mayor Mike Gamache Community Development Director, Will Neumeister; Civil Engineer, Jason Law; Fire Chief, Dan Winkel; Others o APPROVE AGENDA The Agenda was approved as presented. CONTINUED DISCUSSION (TOUR) - SPECIAL ASSESSMENT POLICY Civil Engineer Jason Law stated a tour was scheduled to review roadway conditions in various locations throughout the City and Council will then discuss the funding options to keep up with the road reconstruction needs. The City Council is requested to review information provided, review site improvement needs and direct staff on the next step toward revising the road reconstruction assessment policy and funding options. The Council proceeded on the tour of North glen 1 st and 3rd Additions, Indian Meadows 3rd Addition and Kelsey Estates, Woodland Ridge, and Lund's Estates at 6:04 p.m. Acting Mayor Orttel reconvened the Council meeting at City Hall at 7:16 p.m. Acting Mayor Orttel stated the Council just conducted a tour of the streets in the City that are in need of reconstruction. He stated Council needs to discuss how they would complete the street plan and how are they going to pay for it. He indicated at the last meeting they had discussed the City paying 70 or 80 percent of the reconstruction costs and assessing the remainder. He noted heavy traffic o might dictate a street be rebuilt sooner. Mr. Law stated in order to get all City streets that need reconstruction over the next seven years, the City would need $930,000 per year. He noted one-half percent tax levy increase this year and one- half percent tax levy increase next year with a 30 percent assessment of the total project cost would o o o Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 25, 2006 Page 2 allow get them to $950,000.00 by 2008. Acting Mayor Orttel asked what would happen if they assess 25 percent instead of 30 percent. Mr. Law responded it would probably extend the projects out a year, but staff would need to run those figures. Councilmember Jacobson noted they have roughly $600,000 to $700,000 they are not spending this year, so that could be added to this figure and therefore drop the assessment to 25 percent instead of 30 percent. Councilmember Knight noted as they move farther along the cycle, they have to keep in mind other neighborhoods would be coming in also. Mr. Law responded this would be a continual cycle and would need to be looked at on an annual basis. Councilmember Trude asked if they always want to go with the order as indicated by staff. Mr. Law responded this is only a guide and could be adjusted as necessary. Councilmember Jacobson indicated right now they need to set a policy and the order of street repair would be addressed after they set a policy. Acting Mayor Orttel stated as part of the policy, they need to review this on an annual basis. Councilmember Knight stated he noticed during their tour there might be one or two streets that are worse than the remaining area. He asked how they would deal with this. Mr. Law replied they would only fix the areas that are bad. Councilmember Jacobson asked if they could make a policy that states when mill and overlay is done they also put in concrete curbs and gutter. He asked if that provision is a part of the policy, would there be a 25 or 30 percent assessment? Councilmember Trude stated the concrete curb and gutter issue they had discussed last fall and she believes they need to do the concrete curb where there is no ditch. She indicated she wants to stay with the policy they adopted last falL Acting Mayor Orttel stated he wants to go with the lowest assessment they can. Councilmember Trude requested staff determine what the numbers and time frame would be if they assessed 25 percent. Councilmember Jacobson did not believe it is right to not use the State Aid funds when the City is reimbursed for these funds. He believes they should use those funds to offset these street reconstruction costs. Councilmember Trude asked if they could lobby the legislature to increase State Aid funds. Q. o o Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 25, 2006 Page 3 Councilmember Jacobson wants to make sure that the money they set aside for the mill and overlay actually went into the mill and overlay of the streets. He asked if staff could draft an ordinance that all mill and overlay streets should get concrete curb and gutter, unless there is a ditch. He also asked staff to run the numbers for a 25 percent assessment. Councilmember Trude stated they also need to let people know a couple of years ahead about the streets so they can anticipate the assessment. Councilmember Jacobson noted once they mail a letter out to people informing them in advance of the assessment, it could affect them selling their home because this would be a pending assessment. Councilmember Knight stated they need some way of dealing with portions of a subdivision that are bad when the surrounding area is not bad. Mr. Law stated this is something they could look at in the field. An audience member stated what he is hearing tonight is encouraging that they were looking at the lower percentages. He had received some surprising feedback when he sent out a flyer to his neighborhood. He indicated a couple of situations they might want to consider are if they are mixing curb and non-curb in the same project. He noted there was one residence at Lund's where the ditch had been filled in. He asked what would prevent this. He indicated with what they are proposing, that would be making the new curb essentially free to that resident. He noted there would be no reason for a resident to request concrete ribbon curb. He indicated distributing the cost over 60 residents was essentially free to this resident. He noted in 429 it references that the assessments must be based on benefits received, and he was not sure that not receiving gutter or a concrete ribbon would be equivalent to receiving a gutter or concrete ribbon. Councilmember Jacobson responded if they did not have a policy, and if the road needs to be rebuilt and assessed at 100 percent, this would be a big issue. He indicated with the City paying a certain percentage, they had been informed by the City Attorney that this was the benefit to the residents. Acting Mayor Orttel stated adding curb and gutter to an area is to control the water and by controlling the water this benefits all residents. An audience member asked if the Council is in favor of filling in ditches where it makes sense. Mr. Law responded in general the City does not want ditches to be filled in. An audience member stated he had ditch on all three sides and asked where his benefit is. He stated he is taking all of the water run off. He indicated the park should be assessed twice because it is over five acres. He stated he should be exempt from the assessment. Councilmember Jacobson stated after 20 or 25 years things wear out and the City needs to determine how they would pay for the replacement. Councilmember Trude noted many members on the Council are also affected by this policy and would be assessed for road repairs. Q o o Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 25, 2006 Page 4 An audience member stated the initial reason for going with the concrete curb is because it holds up better than a bituminous curb. He now understands that the reason is for drainage controL He asked what the cost is of bituminous curb versus a concrete curb. He believes if they use bituminous curb it would get the projects done faster. Mr. Law responded the cost difference is one dollar per square "foot and a concrete curb lasts substantially longer than a bituminous curb. An audience member stated she is at the end of I 66th and she has a gutter at the front of her house where she would not receive curb, and the road in the back of her house has curb. She did not see any difference between the gutter and the curb. She indicated she has both situations on her property. She asked why they need curbs. She indicated they live in a sand pit and do not have standing water. Mr. Law responded her property was designed to handle water overflow. RAILROAD QUIET ZONES / 06-IO Community Development Director Neumeister stated SEH has prepared a Draft Railroad Quiet Zone Report for Council review. He indicated Dave McKenzie with SEH was present and available to answer questions. He requested the Council review the Draft Railroad Quiet Zone Report and direct staff and SEH on how to proceed. If the report is acceptable, the report will be brought to a regular scheduled City Council meeting for formal approval. Dave McKenzie, SEH, reviewed the details of the draft Railroad Quiet Zone Report for CounciL Acting Mayor Orttel stated the issue is how they are going to fmance this. Councilmember Trude asked if the best option would be a concrete median. Mr. McKenzie responded that is correct. He indicated the concrete curb would need to be 100 feet long. He noted at Bunker and 161 st the street is wide enough and no signals would need to be moved, but in other locations signals would need to be moved, which adds to the expense. Councilmember Jacobson asked how Anoka County felt about the Bunker Lake intersection. Mr. McKenzie responded they were not "thrilled" about it, but would agree to it as long as it met their design standards. Mr. McKenzie stated the problem with Andover Boulevard is that they did not have enough space between the signals. He noted Andover Boulevard only has 38 feet from the signal bases, so the signals would need to be moved. Councilmember Trude asked if the speed limit was lowered would that change the restrictions. Mr. McKenzie responded that would reduce the restrictions. Councilmember Jacobson asked if they put in quiet zones, what would prevent an engineer from blowing the horn. Mr. McKenzie responded there are Federal Regulations that govern this, but ifan engineer saw something on the track, they could blow the horn. He noted the City could use State o o o Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 25, 2006 Page 5 Aid Funds for funding this also. They should keep in mind that all of the signals were installed in the mid-1980's so they are all a little over 20 years old. He indicated they are not just moving the signals, but they are getting an entire new system. He stated there is a Federal program to replace signals that went through the Met Council, which would cover 80 or 90 percent of the signal cost. Mr. McKenzie stated under the definition of a quiet zone it only had to affect one-quarter mile on each side, so the way Andover has their signals, they could space the quiet zone out. He stated there is also the option of a stationary horn and if Council wants, he would obtain more information on this. He stated 161 st Avenue would be a good location for this, but noted it could affect the residential house by the tracks. Acting Mayor Orttel asked if they want to start with Bunker Lake Boulevard who did they need to get permitted by. Mr. McKenzie responded they would need Anoka County and MnDOT State Aid approval, as well as keeping the railroad informed of what they are doing. Councilmember Trude asked if they could use the continuous horn on Andover Boulevard also. Mr. McKenzie believed the existing residents would be affected more by a continuous horn than they already are. Acting Mayor Orttel stated he would like to see the continuous horn in operation before making any decisions. Councilmember Jacobson asked that for people who bought homes next to the railroad, to what degree does the city as a whole owe spending a lot of tax money to solve this problem? Acting Mayor Orttel stated he agreed, but the issue is that as they keep closing railroad routes, it will increase the train traffic through the City. Councilmember Knight stated this could be financed in stages also. Mr. McKenzie stated he would look at the Ward Lake Drive and 181 st intersections as a low priority right now. Community Development Director Neumeister noted if they took out these two intersections, they really only have two major intersections to deal with. Acting Mayor Orttel stated after the City reviews this he understands this would go to the County and MnDOT for their review and guidance. Mr. McKenzie responded that is the process. He indicated they could look at this as a phased zone going south to north. Councilmember Knight asked if there are any of these areas they could do with a stationary horn. Mr. McKenzie responded all of them could have stationary horns, but the issue is the residential homes in the area. Councilmember Knight stated he believes part of the problem with the train horn is the horn being blown manually. Mr. McKenzie stated overall Andover is doing well with reportable accidents. o Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 25, 2006 Page 6 Community Development Director Neumeister asked if they could do this as a referendum question. Acting Mayor Orttel stated 90 percent of the people in town are not affected by this issue and would not want to pay for this. Councilmember Jacobson stated realistically they could not afford to do both intersections at once. Acting Mayor Orttel requested staff do more research and determine if there are funds in the CIP for this. Mr. McKenzie stated the Railroad, MnDOT, and the County have 60 days to comment on the City's plan once it is submitted. He noted this took three or four months for everything to go through the process. He stated he would revise his report to address the staging they are discussing. He noted the nearest stationary hom is in Ames, Iowa. Community Development Director Neumeister stated staffwould bring this back to the Council at the August workshop. o UPDATE ON METROPOLITAN COUNCIL DISCUSSION (JUNE lfh) o Community Development Director Neumeister stated on June 13, 2006 City staffhad a lengthy face- to-face discussion with members of the staff from the Metropolitan Council. The subjects that were covered included: transportation, population projections, comprehensive plan update, and density. He reviewed the items covered with the Metropolitan Council. He noted no action was being requested of Council. Councilmember Jacobson asked staff to find the original letter from the Metropolitan Council. Acting Mayor Orttel noted that letter only pertains to the original Comprehensive Plan and now they are working on a new Comprehensive Plan and the Metropolitan Council would require the City to follow the numbers. OPTIONS FOR BUNKER LAKE BOULEVARD MEDIAN MAINTENANCE Community Development Director Neumeister stated the Bunker Lake Boulevard median is again going to cost both property owners associations at Andover Station a significant amount of money. He indicated the Associations have asked for them to look at new ways to get these costs under controL He stated a month ago staff suggested putting concrete in the entire median, but that was met with objection. Staffhad consulted with Mickman Brothers and believe they have an idea of what to do to gain control of the weeds and still have landscaping in the median. They feel that they will need to limit the amount of organic area to only about 10% and selectively place salt tolerant, very hardy o Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 25, 2006 Page 7 plants in a proper fashion in smaller spaces. The situation right now is out of control and will not ever be completely under control unless there is a major change. He suggested material in the median that looks nice, and is able to keep weeds from growing up and is more cost effective to install. The material would be a grey colored crushed (unwashed sand) granite quarry rock that is placed and compacted very well, then a material called "poly pavement" would be sprayed on it to hold it in place and bind the material together. The finished product would look like exposed aggregate (stronger than bituminous). The idea would be to have the plants out compete the weeds. The total for this project would be $44,400.00. Acting Mayor Orttel stated he thought the idea was to have some vegetation in the median. He asked why they could not use dyed stamped concrete. Community Development Director Neumeister responded that cost would be substantial. He noted with staff s proposal, this would allow for landscaping plants and trees, which would be approved by the County. He noted with the original median, there had been no weed barrier put down, which allowed for the weeds to germinate. He noted they should also look at the street lights and possibly taking some of them down because of the cost of electricity for the lighting. o Councilmember Knight asked if these expenses are running higher than similar places. Community Development Director Neumeister responded it is running higher. He noted the problem is that there is not enough retail in the area. Acting Mayor Orttel stated he did not have a problem with them cutting down the vegetation, but they need to put a weed barrier down. Community Development Director Neumeister responded staff would research the options further and come back to Council at their next workshop. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLAN REVIEW/TRAINING Fire Chief Dan Winkel asked Council to review the Emergency Operations Plan and become familiar with the chain of command during an emergency. Councilmember Jacobson stated this is a large document and he wants to bring this home to review it. Fire Chief Winkel stated this plan has not been made available to the public and this is a private, confidential document and not available for mass distribution. He stated there are at least three more sections to be added to this plan. o Councilmember Jacobson stated he did not see anything as to what the City Councilmembers' responsibilities are. Fire Chief Winkel replied the Mayor would be more involved than the Councilmembers, but the Councilmembers would maintain the policy-making status. He noted in the plan there are functions for each individual to perform. Councilmember Jacobson asked if there is a deadline for Council to review the plan. Mr. Winkel responded within the next year the Government would be checking the Emergency Operations Plan, o o o Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - July 25, 2006 Page 8 but there is no immediate deadline. Councilmember Knight stated he would like this document to have a colored cover page. Councilmember Trude stated she would also like this document to be bound. Councilmember Trude asked if the City knew who the ham radio operators are in town in the event telephone and mobile lines are down. Fire Chief Winkel responded they did know who the ham operators are and they would work with the City in the event of an emergency. OTHER BUSINESS A. Clean Up After Last Storm Acting Mayor Orttel asked if it would make sense to put some money away each year for storm related damage. He was going to talk to the League of Minnesota Cities about obtaining some type of insurance for this. Part of the problem is that these types of storms are large in scope. B. Pov's Permit Councilmember Jacobson stated the City had issued a permit for Pov' s recently and there were issues with noise. He asked ifPov's should be informed now that the permit would not be issued next year because there would be more housing around there so they could plan accordingly and that they need to follow the noise ordinance. Fire Chief Dan Winkel stated there could also be an issue with softball games going on after 10:00 p.m. with the townhomes going in. Councilmember Jacobson requested this be put on the next Council meeting agenda. Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Trude, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:26 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kathy Altman, Recording Secretary