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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWK January 23, 2007 0 1685 CROSSTOWN BOULEVARD N.W. . ANDOVER, MINNESOTA 55304 . (763) 755-5100 FAX (763) 755-8923 . WWW.CI.ANDOVER.MN.US City Council Workshop Tuesday, January 23,2007 Conference Rooms A & B 1. Call to Order - 6:00 p.m. 2. Butternut Street NW, 173rd Avenue NW & Flintwood Street NW Paving DiscussionJ06-33 - Engineering 3. Crooked Lake Lot Split Discussion - Planning 0 4. (a.) Subdivision Code Update - Planning (b.) Buildability Requirements - Planning 5. Farm Winery Discussion - Planning 6. Diseased Tree Enforcement Policy - Engineering 7. Comprehensive Plan Update - Planning 8. Other Business 9. Adjournment 0 t~ cv.v l0littm d...-<O~b'7 0 ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP - JANUARY 23, 2007 MINUTES The Special Council Workshop of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Mike Gamache, January 23,2007,6:01 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Councilmembers present: Don Jacobson, Mike Knight, Ken Orttel, Julie Trude Councilmember absent: None Also present: City Administrator Jim Dickinson; City Engineer Dave Berkowitz; Community Development Director Will Neumeister; Natural Resources Technician Kameron Kytonen; Others BUTTERNUT STREET NW, 17TD A VENUENW & FLINTWOOD STREET NWPAVING DISCUSSIONI06-33 City Engineer Berkowitz stated the Council is requested to discuss Butternut Street NW, 173rd Avenue NW and Flintwood Street NW, which are currently gravel roads that are located north of Crosstown Boulevard NW in the northeast quadrant of the City. Councilmember Trude stated it would be nice to get the gravel roads paved because the annual maintenance costs are so high and take specialized equipment. Councilmember Knight asked if they did Marystone, would the maintenance savings be figured in. City Engineer Berkowitz noted that would be up to the Council. City Engineer Berkowitz stated the assessment would definitely come in under $10,000 and to use State Aid dollars did not make sense in this location, even though it has a State Aid designation. Councilmember Jacobson stated if they want to change the policy, it could not be done in 2007 because it has not been budgeted. He noted there could be a plan in 2008 to get rid of all of the gravel roads. There could be an offer for the City to fund part of the project, but if the residents did not pave their roads at that time, then in the future they would have to pay for the entire 0 project themselves. He stated they would make this a one-time deal. City Engineer Berkowitz noted this would be a large project in which they would be jumping allover the City. Councilmember Orttel asked for a schematic showing where all of the gravel roads in the City are located for discussion at the next Council workshop meeting. 0 Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - January 23, 2007 Page 2 City Engineer Berkowitz stated staff would analyze the maintenance costs per mile as well as where all of the gravel roads are in the City and bring this back to the next Council workshop meeting. DISEASED TREE ENFORCEMENT POLICY Natural Resources Technician Kytonen stated several questions and concerns have been previously raised by the City Council regarding a draft policy and its content. He asked Council if they had any further questions or concerns. Councilmember Trude noted there was a concern about bringing firewood into the parks, but she did not believe that would affect them. Councilmember Jacobson noted there was a previous concern regarding an area that had a large number of trees. He asked how that would be addressed. Mr. Kytonen responded staff would make a decision regarding the number of trees, the size of the trees, and the accessibility. He 0 noted there are some companies that specialize in larger removals and they could come in and do it at a much more reasonable rate. City Engineer Berkowitz noted a large contractor could come in and clear an area of a large amount of trees for $2,000-$3,000, which is more reasonable than previously thought. Councilmember Jacobson noted they should not just concentrate on Dutch Elm. Councilmember Knight stated he has a concern about limitations. He asked what would happen if it was beyond the ability of a resident to pay for the tree removal if they had a large piece of property. Councilmember Trude asked if they could look at some kind of an assessment. Councilmember Orttel asked if they should have an appeal provision. Mr. Kytonen stated he had spoken with Ham Lake and they have not had any issues yet. Councilmember Jacobson asked if they could add under section 4, abatement, "if the cost is too high and the property owner could not afford this, the City would take care of the trees." They should come up with some sort of a hearing process to address this type of issue. City Administrator Dickinson noted the process would be similar to an abatement process. 0 Councilmember Orttel noted by the time they had the first hearing, the disease would probably have gone through and then it would be a matter of a removal process. He indicated the expensive part would be the attempt to stop the disease. 0 Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - January 23, 2007 Page 3 Councilmember Jacobson stated it was a good idea to follow some type of an abatement process, but they would need to come up with a hearing process. Councilmember Trude stated there has to be some point where the cost is so large that it becomes a social charge and would get spread around. City Engineer Berkowitz noted this is a nuisance in the City that affects many parcels and they could not look at this as a benefit to the homeowner. Winslow Holasek stated if there were a widespread disease, it would not be possible for a property owner to afford to have it removed. Councilmember Orttel noted this is a "catch 22", where the property value would be decreasing because they were losing the trees on the lot as well. He noted the alternate solution is to encourage people to plant disease resistant trees. City Engineer Berkowitz stated staff has met with the DNR and they are starting to limit the amount of funds distributed for diseased trees. He stated the DNR wants to make sure the Cities have an enforcement policy for diseased tree removal. 0 Councilmember Knight expressed concern for the requirement of having the stump 2 inches from the ground. Mr. Kytonen responded it is necessary to have it that low to get rid of the beetle. He indicated this was a DNR suggestion. Councilmember Jacobson suggested they add some type of wording stating that if the value of removing the trees exceeds ten percent of the property value excluding building value, then the amount would be added to the property taxes after a hearing. Councilmember Orttel expressed concern about ten percent of the property value. He agreed they need a deferment clause for residents over a certain age. BUILDABILITY REQUIREMENTS Community Development Director Neumeister stated the City Council has discussed the issue ofbuildability a number of times over the past year. Some amendments to the City Code are being proposed as a result of these discussions. He reviewed the amendment to the City Code. Mr. Berkowitz summarized how the Code was written with respect to buffer strips. Councilmember Trude wanted people to protect the wetlands, but still be able to add on a deck without infringing on the wetlands. 0 Mr. Berkowitz stated they need a clarification in the ordinance as to where the buffers are. He stated they wanted to move the buffer back to where the water level would be, and not the 100- year flood line. Councilmember Orttel agreed that the proposed Code A is reasonable. 0 Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - January 23, 2007 Page 4 Councilmember Trude asked if there would be an environmental impact. She believes the major concern is to prevent erosion. Councilmember Jacobson noted putting in a silt fence is not that expensive. Council agreed to go with the language on the top of page 3. Councilmember Trude recommended they note in the City Code that the buffer area is regulated by the Watershed District and they need to look at the Watershed District rules for this information. -- -- Community Development Director Neumeister recommended they round off the 116.5 feet. Councilmember Knight agreed they should drop off the .5 feet. Community Development Director Neumeister noted the developers have asked the City to drop it to 110 feet. 0 Mayor Gamache stated he believes the goal is to not have sliding glass doors leading to nowhere and the home not allowed to have a deck. He is not concerned if someone wants to add on however. Councilmember Jacobson noted the way to address this is to "draw a line" in the sand and only allow the decks to be so large. Mayor Gamache stated the more requirements from the City, the more cost would be added to the home. He questioned if they want to add more buildable space, which would add more cost to the land and homeowners. Councilmember Orttel stated it is not an issue of additional land, it is when people wanted to add on a deck. Councilmember Trude stated she would be willing to take five feet off of the front yard. Councilmember Orttel stated that this is a buyer beware situation. He stated it should be up to the builder to determine that the deck is buildable on good soil and put down good soil for the deck to be built upon. Councilmember Knight said a standard of good soils is needed for a backyard with a deck. 0 Community Development Director Neumeister summarized other city front yard requirements. He recommended they keep the front at 35 feet and remove six feet off of the back yard, which would leave 20 feet in the back yard for a 10-foot deck. Councilmember Trude noted aID-foot deck is small. 0 Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - January 23, 2007 Page 5 Councilmember Knight expressed concern that people would not be able to walk around their decks without getting their feet wet. Councilmember Orttel requested they check with other cities as to what they require for soil conditions. Councilmember Knight asked if other cities monitor the size of the decks. Councilmember Trude recommended they add the 16.5 feet of buffer for wetlands into the Code. Mr. Neumeister noted this is addressed in the watershed rules and it is up to the watershed to enforce the rules. Councilmember Orttel stated he likes the Blaine code where they have flexibility. Mike Quigley noted they ran into a lot of issues with custom-graded lots and it was tough to meet all of the requirements. 0 Mr. Neumeister noted the opinion of the developers who state with the down market, it is not good to be changing things at this time. Councilmember Orttel believes it is more important to have buildable soil in the back rather than in the front. He asked for a provision be made for a deck, or have the developer put in the footings. He wants to make sure the deck would be able to be built when the time comes. Councilmember Knight stated he would agree to 115 feet, with leaving the front setback of 3 5 feet the same. Mayor Gamache stated they would eliminate a lot of this problem by reducing the front to 30 feet. Councilmember Jacobson stated he does not want to change the front yard setback. Councilmember Orttel stated typically the only thing that is permanent in the back of the homes is a deck or storage shed and he believes they are putting too much emphasis on having the entire backyard with buildable soils. Councilmember Orttel stated he would be satisfied with 110' leaving the front setback at 35 feet. Mayor Gamache agreed. Mr. Berkowitz responded if they want the 110' , it would address the previous issues of the City. Mr. Neumeister summarized Council wants the 35 feet of front yard setback to remain; 90 feet 0 from the front property line; and a 110 foot total. Mr. Berkowitz asked if Council wants to limit the home to 90 feet from the front property line to the end of the home and that the plan must show where the deck would go at the time of issuing the building permit. 0 Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - January 23, 2007 Page 6 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE Community Development Director Neumeister and City Engineer Berkowitz indicated since last updating the Council in September, staff has began working on preparing a "draft" of the Comprehensive Plan Update. They explained where staff is in the process. Councilmember Jacobson noted Council would not agree to more density than was originally agreed upon. The rest of the Council agreed and indicated they would support staff in their discussions with Met Council. Mayor Gamache recessed the workshop at 8: 12 p.m. and reconvened the workshop at 8: 17 p.m. FARM WINERY DISCUSSION 0 Community Development Director Neumeister stated the Council previously discussed options that could be explored related to Mark Hedin's farm winery on his property. He presented detailed information on what could potentially be done to modify the City Code to enable some form of a farm winery to be operated by Mr. Hedin on his 2 Yz acre home site. Councilmember Orttel asked why we do not have a separate description in the ordinance for a farm winery with reference to the State statute. Councilmember Jacobson asked how much wine would be produced on a yearly basis. Mr. Hedin responded he does not want to estimate this because he would be limited by physical capacity, but he does not know how much physical capacity he has. He stated what he has is what he has. Councilmember Jacobson asked what would be a reasonable amount. Mr. Hedin responded he did not have that information, but government controls limit him to 50,000 gallons and that there is no way he could produce that much wine. He stated whatever the Council limits him to is what he could comply with. He is limited by his space and he would not try and push it. Councilmember Orttel stated they first need to figure out how they could allow it and he would prefer to have a separate ordinance for a farm winery that complies with State law. 0 Councilmember Trude asked if they need to follow the City's liquor code. Mr. Neumeister stated that is why the City could be more restrictive than the State code. Mr. Hedin stated he would sell his product by internet, word of mouth, and telephone. He indicated this is not going to be a retail operation. He would not have signs or a store. He noted 0 Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - January 23, 2007 Page 7 though that he might sell a single bottle in the hopes that the person would come back for a case. He indicated the amount of visitors would be less than six a day. Councilmember Knight asked ifhe became very successful, how he would handle the growth. Mr. Hedin responded he would move. Councilmember Jacobson stated he would be voting on this because of the liquor issue and this being in a residential area. He requested the P&Z have the wordage written by staff and reviewed by the City Attorney. Councilmember Knight requested Mr. Hedin determine the amount of wine he believes he could produce and store prior to the P&Z meeting. Mr. Hedin asked if the gallonage could be put in the CUP and not in the ordinance. He stated if it is possible to change the gallonage in the future through the CUP at this time he did not have any problem with being limited to 1,000 per year. 0 Councilmember Jacobson requested Mr. Hedin talk to his neighbors about his proposal and have them sign a statement prior to the P&Z meeting. A majority of theCouncil agreed to a separate description in the ordinance as a special use permit in urban agricultural for a 2.5 acre farm winery in compliance with the State winery law and to send this to the Planning Commission. The gallonage per year of production will be set by the Council. CROOKED LAKE LOT SPLIT DISCUSSION Mr. Neumeister stated Dennis Steinlicht has applied to split his property along Crooked Lake Boulevard into two urban residential lots. The existing house, built in 1946, would be removed and two new houses built on the lots. On October 17fu, the Council expressed interest in discussing two options that needed further research. The review period has been extended to February 19,2007 to allow the Council the opportunity to discuss options available. The two options that needed research were: 1. Review with the City Attorney if there was a hardship that could be used as a finding to grant the variance. 2. Determine if there is an ordinance that could be modified to enable this lot to be approved without a variance. 0 The staff and City Attorney could not identify a potential hardship. On November 21 st, the Council directed staff to research whether other cities have codes that allow lot splits to be done using old development standards in older, built out areas. Councilmember Jacobson stated he does not like the idea of setting up a new A-I Zoning 0 Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - January 23, 2007 Page 8 District. Councilmember Orttel suggested they come up with a PUD for redevelopment. Mr. Neumeister noted this would be an Overlay Zoning District. Councilmember Orttel stated he does not want this to be for someone who just wants to build a bigger home. He wants an ability to apply for a PUD for a redevelopment area in residential area with certain criteria (i.e. value of home, age of home, condition of home, etc.). Mr. Dickinson recommended they come up with a definition of Redevelopment PUD. SUBDIVISION CODE UPDATE Community Development Director Neumeister summarized what staff has identified as the biggest issues relating to a Subdivision Ordinance update. Much of the current text of the Code still dates from the 1972 draft of the City Code. The Subdivision Ordinance in staff's view is in 0 need of updating to reflect current policies, definitions, and requirements. Before a great deal of time is spent preparing changes, staff wanted the City Council to see where the biggest changes may be proposed. Councilmember Jacobson asked staff to address the issues of developments on double frontage developments. Council agreed to the changes. OTHER BUSINESS ITEMS A. Councilmember Jacobson stated he had received a letter from a resident asking if the City could have residential rental property inspection and licensing requirements. Councilmember Orttel stated he did not believe the City has ever had any issues like this in the past. He noted the person who sent the letter has an issue with the living arrangements of a rental property, but the City could not regulate peoples' living arrangements. Councilmember Jacobson requested stafflook at this and come back with a report to Council if this is worth looking at. 0 B. Mr. Neumeister indicated there has been a discussion about widening the public notice area from 350 feet. He noted the 350 feet is from State Statute. He asked if they want this to go to the Planning Commission for a change or to leave it alone. Councilmember Jacobson stated he has no problem with 350 feet in an R-4 area, but in the rural 0 Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - January 23, 2007 Page 9 area that does not work. Councilmember Orttel suggested a minimum 700-foot radius in the rural area, but to leave it at 350 feet in the urban area. C. Mr. Neumeister noted there is a seminar on Cluster Conservation Developments. He said that if any Councilmember want to attend, let him know. D. Mr. Dickinson stated the Hanson Boulevard lighting for 21 lights is $114,000. Councilmember Jacobson noted he would not be participating in this discussion. Councilmember Trude stated she believes they should only put lights at the intersections. Mr. Dickinson responded it makes sense to light this area as it is urban. Mayor Gamache recommended they do not go up to 139th and end it at the SuperAmerica. Mr. Dickinson stated the maintenance cost for each fixture is $9.75 per light per month, C approximately $2,500 per year for all of the lights. Councilmember Orttel recommended they cut down somewhat on the lighting. Councilmember Trude agreed. Mr. Dickinson stated he would get the lighting to a minimum level. E. Mr. Dickinson stated the Andover Cinema is for sale for 5.7 million dollars. He was not sure this would remain a theater. F. Mr. Dickinson asked if Council had any questions regarding the Meadowlark Heights area. He noted the Sheriff s Department is spending a lot of time in this area and he had further confidential information for Council if they want it. Councilmember Trude asked staff to inform Council when there is something big happening in the community. Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Orttel, to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 9:56 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kathy Altman, Recording Secretary 0