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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWK October 28, 2008 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, October 28, 2008 Conference Rooms A & B 1. Call to Order- 6:00 p.m. 2. Open Space Discussion 3. Comprehensive Plan Update Discussion 4. Assessment Policy Discussion (Continued) 5. Snow Removal & Ice Control Policy Discussion 0 6. 2009 Budget Development Progress Report a) General Funds & Overall Summary b) Special Revenue Funds c) Debt Service Funds d) Capital Projects Funds e) Enterprise Funds t) Internal Service Funds 7. Other Business 0 0 1685 CROSSTOWN BOULEVARD N.W. . ANDOVER, MINNESOTA 55304 . (763) 755-5100 FAX (763) 755-8923 . WWW.CI.ANDOVER.MN.US ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP - OCTOBER 28,2008 MINUTES The Andover City Council Workshop was called to order by Mayor Mike Gamache, October 28, 2008,6:05 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: Director of Public Works/City Engineer, Dave Berkowitz City Administrator, Jim Dickinson Community Development Director, Will Neumeister Others OPEN SPACE DISCUSSION 0 Mr. Bednarz introduced the Open Space Commission Chairperson Derik Deuschle who summarized the September open house. It has generated more interest than initially thought. Councilmember Jacobson asked how they are evaluating the land. Chairperson Deuschle explained the criteria they used when evaluating the proposed parcels. Councilmember Jacobson asked out of all of the land, which ones look the best to pursue. Chairperson Deuschle stated they narrowed it down to five parcels which the Commission felt were the best ones to pursue plus some of the original larger parcels they reviewed. Mayor Gamache asked how the land donation would work. Mr. Bednarz eXplained how the donation would be determined for owners of the land in regard to value of the land. Councilmember Jacobson asked what the next step would be. Chairperson Deuschle stated they first need to have a willing seller and would like to pursue a grant to assist with the purchase. Mayor Gamache asked what happens if someone is interested now but wants to wait to donate their property after they retire. Mr. Bednarz stated the City would let the owner know if they are interested and the City could pursue of right of first refusal. Chairperson Deuschle reviewed the five parcels with the most potential for open space purchase. 0 Open Space Commission Member Gretchen Sabel stated Mr. Bednarz is doing a review using the criteria of the all the properties to see which ones meet their requirements. Councilmember Trude asked if someone could fill in wetland to develop land and then mitigate it 0 Andover City Council Workshop Minutes - October 28, 2008 Page 2 elsewhere. Chairperson Deuschle explained the mitigation laws with the Council and what could and could not be done in regard to wetlands, determining what a wetland is and mitigating them elsewhere. Councilmember Jacobson asked what the next step is. Chairperson Deuschle indicated Mr. Bednarz is continuing to keep in contact with the people interested. They need to continue to explore ones that are real possibilities. Councilmember Trude wondered if they could do a lot up in the Kuiken area and still have some money left over to buy upland next to the Kuiken property. Chairperson Deuschle stated that was a possibility. Councilmember Trude thought they may want to get the neighbors together to discuss their goal to see if the neighbors would be amenable to this. Councilmember Knight asked if they could convert the sod fields into something other than sod fields. Chairperson Deuschle stated they could turn the fields back into wetlands but he did not know if the money could be used for restoration or if it could be used only for purchases.. Mr. Dickinson indicated they could only use the money for purchase of land. 0 Councilmember Orttel asked if a conservation easement could be placed on a property. Mr. Bednarz stated it depended on the terms of the agreement. Mr. Dickinson stated State Statute tends to protect what is identified as green acres that will not allow them to assess the properties. He did not know if the Statute had a provision for a conservation easement or not. Mr. Bednarz stated if there are no development rights left on the property there are no benefits. Councilmember Knight asked when they looked at wetlands do they differentiate between the different types of them. Chairperson Deuschle stated they do but in general all of the wetlands are equal under the law. He stated there are some other assessments that can be done but in terms of their criteria they have not differentiated. Mayor Gamache asked what they should do if someone should make a donation of their land with a house on it. He thought the Commission should look into this. Councilmember Knight stated that given the large interest of the residents he thought they should have updates on the website. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE DISCUSSION Mr. Neumeister explained the City has received a response from the Metropolitan Council regarding 0 the processing of the City's Comprehensive Plan update. Some items in the letter specifically address what is considered "incomplete" in the Comprehensive Plan, while other issues are "commentary" on what they will be directing be included in the Comprehensive Plan update. The plan review is suspended pending receipt of the information they want. 0 Andover City Council Workshop Minutes - October 28, 2008 Page 3 Mr. Neumeister reviewed the items listed in the letter with the Council. . Housing - Mr. Neumeister stated they tried to show they have met the requirement of the Met Council with new developments that have come in. They are not changing land use and they are not expanding sewer service in the city beyond the current MUSA boundaries so they should not up the density. He stated they are going to try to substantiate that they have an adequate number based on the build out of Rosella Sonsteby's land, Bruggemans and Grey Oaks developments. The Council discussed with staff the current zoning of Ms. Sonsteby's land. . Land Use - Mr. Bednarz reviewed the density information the Met Council wanted for this item. . Surface Water Management Plan - Mr. Berkowitz explained the comments made on their water resource management plan which are not correct. He reviewed the response to the Met Council with the City Council. 0 . Sewers - Mr. Berkowitz stated their population projections differ from what Met Council has and that ultimately shows the difference so they need to sit down with their sewer people and discuss this. He reviewed with the Council how they are planning on clarifying the wastewater flow projections with the Met Council. Councilmember Orttel wondered about the transportation plan that the Met Council wants them to have. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed with the Council what the Met Council wants for a transportation plan and he indicated they will work through this item with them. . Mr. Neumeister wanted the Council to know staffis going to have some battles with the Met Council over numbers since the Met Council is going to want the city to agree to 3 plus units per acre in the Rural Reserve in order to compensate for the rest of the city. Mr. Neumeister reviewed with the Council the issue of 3 unitsper acre for Andover. He noted that they are going to leave the RuralReserve out ofthe MUSA area. Councilmember Jacobson did not think the Council has changed their mind on any ofthe discussed points. The other Councilmembers agreed. ASSESSMENT POLICY DISCUSSION (CONTINUED) 0 Mr. Berkowitz reviewed with the Council updates of the assessment policy. Councilmember Jacobson stated on page five under the summary of steps and special assessments, number one, in the bold face line it says "Units bordering the proposed improvements", he 0 Andover City Council Workshop Minutes - October 28, 2008 Page 4 , understood what he was getting at but if they go by the units measuring then the one large property owner could block anything from happening in the area. He wondered ifthey wanted to say units of properties or add an and/or in there. Councilmember Orttel wondered if they should keep this at 35 percent and get a petition started to 50 to order the project. Mr. Berkowitz stated they could reduce this back down to 35 percent but he thought to initiate the proceedings, it was a fifty percent can be set by the City on how they want to move forward with that. The Statute actually states the approval, it either has to be a three fifths or a majority if it is below 35 percent. The Council concurred to move the percent back to 35. Councilmember Jacobson stated on page seven, bottom paragraph, what is the total project cost and does that include interest. Mr. Berkowitz stated it includes construction interest. Councilmember Jacobson stated on page ten, number two, unit lot, second line from the bottom on the paragraph, he wondered if the word should be "streets". Mr. Berkowitz stated it is referring to any street based on improvement. Councilmember Orttel stated it speaks about they are going to assess anything that can be subdivided 0 but it does not state they will install however they should install all the service stubs as they go along. Mr. Berkowitz stated their general policy is Engineering works with the Planning Department on this to decide what should be assessed and locate the service stubs. Councilmember Orttel wondered if this should be included in the policy for future use. Mr. Dickinson stated it could be added. Councilmember Trude wondered why they added the area transportation improvements because she knew this was something they talked about for sometime but did not know if they could legally do this. Mr. Berkowitz stated this is really relating to the Rural Reserve more specifically but could be other things. The details for that will come up through a feasibility report. Councilmember Orttel stated on the bottom of page eight, top of page nine, there is information about properties that will not be assessed and what they are saying is that will be delineated by the hundred year flood. He wondered why when they restrict building to two feet above, why don't they use the two feet above since they have unbuildable so should they not assess that. Mr. Berkowitz stated they do assess area water and sewer charges. Councilmember Orttel thought they should not assess for drainage easements. Mr. Berkowitz stated the basis of that is if they go back, at one time, all the area was assessed, the two feet above the hundred year is the safety factor but it is still included in the land that is usable so that is why they include that. 0 Councilmember Trude stated on the top of page eight they decided that people would be assessed over eight years instead of ten and she would like to have a statement that the City Council could approve a longer time period since there could be a potential for a larger project where people would need longer to pay. Councilmember Orttel thought the Council could decide at anytime the amount oftime people could be assessed for a project. He thought they could have something in the policy 0 Andover City Council Workshop Minutes - October 28, 2008 Page 5 for low-income beside just senior citizens. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed the history of this item with the Council. Councilmember Orttel thought this was primarily in here for developers. Councilmember Trude stated on page twelve, towards the bottom ofthe page, there is new language added and she wondered if there is something staff is worried about. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed the issue with the CounciL SNOW REMOVAL & ICE CONTROL POLICY DISCUSSION Councilmember Jacobson stated on the second page, how snow will be plowed, it says snowplow operators have the right to roll through the stop signs and he wondered why they would do this. Mr. Berkowitz stated when operators are plowing snow it is hard to stop while plowing and start up again to move the snow off the road. He stated this is very typical and the League strongly suggested the City put this in the language. He noted the cities operators take special care when plowing snow. He 0 stated they are exempt from a lot of legal issues when it comes to plowing. Councilmember Knight stated he had a couple of questions on how snow will be plowed. What is the practice for plowing around driveways. He noted he had several complaints from senior citizens about the snowplows blocking in their driveways. Mr. Dickinson stated when this was put in place they plow each street as efficiently as possible but it does not necessarily mean someone's driveway will get plowed shut but it could. Mr. Berkowitz stated the goal and objective is to get the snow off the roadways. Councilmember Knight asked if they get emergency people plowed out first such as doctors. Councilmember Trude thought when Frank Stone was at the city they had a list of emergency people they would plow out first. Mr. Berkowitz stated their main goal is they hit the main roads first and then they plow the side streets as efficiently as possible. Mr. Dickinson stated he has not heard about this. Councilmember Knight thought that after each snow plow the drivers started in different areas of the city and he asked how many different rotations they have. Mr. Berkowitz stated they do not have that many rotations, the drivers try to rotate but they get to a point where a driver gets efficient at the way they go about it and they like to use their same route but they will discuss mixing it up. Mayor Gamache asked on property damage while plowing, they raised the dollar amount from $25 to $50, what about the more expensive locked mailboxes that get broken. Mr. Berkowitz stated they 0 need to stick to a dollar amount so that if someone comes in knowing they are going to put up an expensive mailbox, they know what the maximum replacement amount is. Mayor Gamache thought they really needed to consider this further since more people are installing the more expensive locked mailboxes for security and ifthe plows run them over they should pay to replace them. He thought they should pay $50 for a standard mailbox or $75 for a secured mailbox. 0 Andover City Council Workshop Minutes - October 28, 2008 Page 6 Councilmember Knight wondered where they were at the salt usage. Mr. Berkowitz stated the different snowplow drivers use . different amounts of salt and it is a discretionary item. Councilmember Trude wondered why they don't mix it with sand like they used to in order to disperse the salt more evenly. Mr. Berkowitz did not know if that would be efficient since it would be more expensive. Mr. Berkowitz stated under section four, commencement of snow and ice operations, they look at ways to save money and they added letter B. The reason they added this was they had two snowfalls in March and they did a whole snow plow both times and cost them a lot of money so this will help them to make discretionary calls. 2009 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT PROGRESS REPORT A. General Funds & Overall Summary 0 Mr. Dickinson reviewed this item with the Council. Mr. Dickinson discussed with the Council the fire fighter SAFER grant program. The Council did not think they would want to take advantage of this grant if they get it since they did not think two more positions were warranted at this time. The City Council was ok with a 3% salary increase for 2009 for City Staff. B. Special Revenue Funds C. Debt Service Funds D. Capital Projects Funds E. Enterprise Funds F. Internal Service Funds The City Council did not have any questions or issues with Items B through F. Councilmember Trude reviewed the Community School Programs with the other Councilmembers. OTHER BUSINESS Mr. Berkowitz stated he needed some direction on Nordeen's Addition. He wondered if the Council 0 wanted staff to meet with the neighbors to see if there is any interest in sewer in the area. Councilmember Orttel thought it would be worthwhile to ask if the residents wanted sewer but he did not think it would go that far. 0 Andover City Council Workshop Minutes - October 28, 2008 Page 7 Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Orttel, to adjourn. Motion canied unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Osbeck, Recording Secretary 0 0