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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC December 2, 2008 9\"~ . . NDbVE~' REGULAR ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL MEETING - DECEMBER 2, 2008 MINUTES The Regular Bi-Monthly Meeting ofthe Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Mike Gamache, December 2, 2008, 7 :00 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 Attorney Scott Baumgartner Director of Public Works/City Engineer, Dave Berkowitz City Administrator, Jim Dickinson Community Development Director, Will Neumeister Others PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE PRESENTATION - STATE REPRESENTATIVE ELECT - JERRY NEWTON Newly elected State Representative Jerry Newton made a presentation to the Council sharing his vision for the State of Minnesota with the Council. RESIDENT FORUM No one wished to address the City Council. AGENDA APPROVAL ~ There were no changes. Motion by Knight, Seconded by Jacobson, to approve the Agenda as amended above. Motion carried unanimously. APPROVAL OF MINUTES November 18, 2008, Regular Meeting: Tabled. ---- - Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - December 2, 2008 Page 2 Councilmember Trude stated under the Outdoor Parties/Events discussion there was not any indication that Council changed the way they were going to handle these. She thought it sounded like they are just rubber stamping the previous process when in reality they have a new program in place. She indicated there will be an application process, some input on how the stage is setup and the location to try to control noise and she would like to send this back for more information. Mr. Dickinson stated the tent would need to be inspected. On page six on line 42 it is noted that a permit would be required for all events whether there is liquor or not which would refer to what was in the staff report. He stated the minutes did not indicate that there will be schematics of the event required but what the permit is basically a change of what they do in the residential area, adding some specifics on for business and tailoring it for outdoor parties. Councilmember Jacobson thought Councilmember Trude was requesting to list what is going to go into the permit. Councilmember Trude stated she would like this sent back for more verbatim information. She thought her comments on line 36 were inaccurate because she talked about if it was going to make sense to control the event set up rather than simply limit the amount of concerts. Councilmember Trude thought all of their comments are going to impact the way they look at this next September. Councilmember Jacobson stated they did not take any action on any ofthis, it was just suggestions for Mr. Dickinson to incorporate all those ideas into the new form and he thought they said they trusted Mr. Dickinson to make those revisions and handle that based upon their discussions. Motion by Trude, Seconded by Knight, to table the minutes. Motion carried 3 ayes, 2 nays (Jacobson, Orttel). November 18, 2008, Closed Session Meeting: Correct as written. Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Trude, approval of Minutes as indicated above. Motion carried unanimously. CONSENT ITEMS Item 2 Approval of Claims Item 3 Approve 2008 City Administrator Review Summary Item 4 Approve Liquor and Tobacco Licenses Item 5 Appoint City of Andover Representative to Youth First Board Item 6 Approve 2009 Anoka County Sheriff Contract Item 7 Approve Donations for 2009 Senior Class All Night Parties Item 8 Approve Time ExtensionlPreliminary Plat of "Parks ide at Andover Station" (See Resolution R088-08) ---------- ------- Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - December 2, 2008 Page 3 Item 9 Order Feasibility Report/09-02/2009 Street Reconstruction (See Resolution R089- 08) Motion by Trude, Seconded by Jacobson, approval of the Consent Agenda as read. Motion carried unanimously. PUBLIC HEARING: AMEND ZONING CODE/ADD SUBORDINATE CLASSROOM STRUCTURES The Council approved a time extension for Andover Christian Church's portable classrooms on August 19,2008. Staffwas directed to study the issue of how the code allows these and if the code needed to be changed to make it clearer on how they are treated. That information was reviewed and discussed at the September 16, 2008 Council meeting. No conclusion was reached that evenirig and the following week staff met with the City Attorney to put together a new recommendation on what needed changing. Motion by Knight, Seconded by Trude, to open the public hearing. Motion carried unanimously. No one wished to address the Council. Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Trude, to close the public hearing. Motion carried unanimously. Councilmember Jacobson stated one of the things they talked about was the inspection of the subordinate classrooms and he was told by staff that fire inspections are held on a regular basis. He asked about building inspections and was told they were not inspected unless something wrong is detected by the Fire Department. He wondered if in the changes they wanted to make sure inspections are done on a regular basis because they are public buildings and school children do use them. Councilmember Orttel indicated that they do not inspect schools so he did not know what the difference was. Councilmember Jacobson stated schools are made better than the subordinate classrooms. Councilmember Trude supported going to the longer term on their use. She thought they should allow a ten year term but have a walk through with the Fire Marshal since they are public assembly places. She noted these buildings are supposed to be thirty year life span and a lot of them are secondary market products. Councilmember Knight thought they are getting into school territory and they are assuming they have jurisdiction over school buildings. Councilmember Jacobson stated the Building Department would be if they found a defect in the school building. Councilmember Orttel stated they are allowed to protect the health, welfare and safety of the City. He did not know if everything would need to be inspected or just the class but where does it end. He stated this is not the Building Department's job. Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - December 2, 2008 Page 4 They are there to inspect buildings as they are being constructed. Councilmember Trude stated they do inspections of rental units. Councilmember Orttel stated these do not come under the same building code as other buildings, these are not the types of structures the Building Department typically inspects. City Attorney Baumgartner stated they have previously discussed this and he knows Mr. Dickinson received a large packet of information from the School District regarding the inspections they do themselves and the Council had the discussion as to whether or not they needed to do additional inspections on top of what the School District inspected. In going through the packet with Mr. Dickinson he knew it was quite extensive what the School District itself does when inspecting their buildings. They have a right to inspect the buildings for the health, safety and welfare of their citizens but felt it would be duplicating the process that is already being done by the School District. He thought the list the School District provided as far as what they inspect going into these structures is probably more significant than what the building inspector would do. Councilmember Orttel felt they are back to where they started with Conditional Use Permits and how churches are treated. He thought they were trying to change the time limit for reviewing these subordinate structures. The Council discussed the ordinance changes and what type of entity would require a Conditional Use Permits versus permitted use buildings in the City. Councilmember Orttel asked when it says on a licensed K -12 does that mean an entity needs to be licensed for all grades or if there was just an elementary school would that be included. Councilmember Trude thought on the license it could state "primary and/or secondary school property" . Councilmember J aco bson stated he would drop the questions of inspections because he did not know if it was going anywhere. Councilmember Trude stated she would support it but she did not think the support was there. Councilmember Jacobson stated ifthey do not have support for inspections then the amendment as stands is the right one. Councilmember Trude stated with the one amendment to delete K-12 and replace it with "primary and/or secondary school property". Councilmember Jacobson thought it should be changed to "K-8 or K-12". Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Orttel, to adopt the proposed language into the Zonirig Code with the following change in the second paragraph, second underlined paragraph on the line that starts out "on a licensed K-12", should read "On a licensed ~ Primary and/or Secondary". Motion carried unanimously. (ORD.374) CONSIDER CONDITIONAL USE PERMITIINSTITUTIONAL SIGN/RIVERDALE ASSEMBLY OF GOD/3210 BUNKER LAKE BLVD -..--.-.----...-.---- ....----.--.------- Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - December 2, 2008 Page 5 Riverdale Assembly of God Church is requesting a Conditional Use Permit to allow institutional signage in a residential district with an aggregate square footage exceeding thirty-two (32) square feet. Councilmember Trude asked if the entire sign illuminated. Mr. Neumeister stated it is all LED. The applicant is choosing to show a black background with colored background, which would represent the name of the church and events going on. Mr. Dickinson stated the distance from the ground to top is ten feet. Mr. Dickinson gave additional dimensions to the Council. Mr. Neumeister reviewed other signs in the area for comparison to this proposed sign. The sign designer indicated the upper portion is a fluorescent sign and the bottom half will be the LED portion of the sign. Councilmember Trude asked if the entire sign will glow. The designer indicated it will all light up. Councilmember Knight asked if it will be trailers going all the time. The designer stated the technology is there to do that but the church is proposing to have static slides. Councilmember Trude asked how many lines would be readable at a time on the sign. The designer stated the current sign they have now is 40 square feet and they also have a second sign that is 32 square feet. This sign would combine both signs. He stated the premise would be to have larger words so people passing by can read it quickly and easily. Councilmember Knight asked ifthis will be further south from the service road than the present one. The designer indicated it would be further east. Councilmember Jacobson stated there is some testimony that the LED is dimmable and he wondered if the dimmable process is something that needed to be done manually or could it be done with,. software on an automatic basis based on time. The designer stated the factory settings have the sign at its highest illumination in the daytime and then automatically dims down as the night progresses. That schedule can be changed to function automatically at a different time schedule if desired. Councilmember Trude thought the sign seemed like a lot of color and light. Mayor Gamache thought it looked good. Councilmember Orttel stated the graphic he was looking at for the proposed sign placement had a different driveway and landscaping arrangement than what is there today and he wondered if there is a proposal to have this redone with a lighted entry to the church. The designer indicated there has been an approved lot split for this property and he was not certain where the City is in regard to approving a new driveway. Mr. Neumeister stated the applicant would have to go through a CUP process to relocate the driveway and thought they were showing this conceptually where the sign is going and could come back to the Council and ask for the driveway to be relocated. Councilmember Trude asked ifthere is a sign that is twenty-thirty percent smaller they could offer Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - December 2, 2008 Page 6 since this by far is the largest sign any church in the City has proposed or looked at and she does not have any trouble reading any ofthe other signs. The designer stated the reason they proposed this one is because of the setback they have of the property ofthe building but they could make a smaller sIgn. The Council discussed other signs in the area and how the proposed sign will compare to the existing ones. Councilmember Orttel wondered if the proposed sign is always one color or does it flash different colors. The designer stated there is no flashing but has the ability to have multiple colors at the same time and is a static slide with text. Councilmember Jacobson stated he did not see the sign as a problem because there are a lot of them around. There may be a question about the size. The designer showed different photos of signs that are used. Mayor Gamache asked if the church is going to have the sign on 24 hours a day. The designer indicated they are proposing to the church that they have the sign turned off around bedtime because the traffic will be significantly lower at that time than other times. He noted the sign will be over two hundred feet from any ofthe neighbors and he thought the churches current sign produces more light than what the proposed sign will produce. Councilmember Trude stated there is a lot of concern by the neighbors regarding the sign and the City received a petition from most ofthe residents of the townhomes along the north side of Bunker Lake Boulevard and they received a letter from someone on the south side of Bunker Lake Boulevard on 13 9th Lane that objected. Another letter was received from the townhomes indicatirig they did not have a problem with this. Pastor Hale stated at the last meeting of the Planning Commission he met with the neighbors. He stated they do have difficulty with identification at Riverdale and thought it started with placing the church as far back on the property as they could. He reviewed some ofthe history with the problems they have had with their location and people not being able to see or find the church. Pastor Hale stated there is a desire on their part to identify and communicate and they want to do that in as fine a manner as they can. They are not looking for a fancy sign. They are looking for a way to communicate to people and let people know they are there. Councilmember Knight suggested changing the interval between messages might help with complaints. Councilmember Trude asked them to look at something a little smaller before ordering such a large sign. Councilmember Trude stated she will not support this request because she felt it is excessive and scaling it down a little will appeal to her and she is concerned this would be the first of many signs at - Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - December 2, 2008 Page 7 that size. Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Orttel, to approve the proposed Conditional Use Permit with the following change in the Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved section, item three: The sign shall have adjustable illumination controls which will be dimmed during evening hours. Lighting adjustments shall may be made if complaints are received about the brightness of the sign impacting the neighboring property owners or motorists and ifthe City Council agrees with those complaints and orders a change in the illumination. Councilmember Orttel asked if the motion could include a fifteen second minimum rotation cycle or anything like that. Councilmember Jacobson stated he would not and did not think they needed anything like that. Councilmember Orttel stated he agreed with most of this but liked the idea about the minimum rotation cycle. City Attorney Baumgartner stated in the motion the only potential problem with changing the wording from shall to may is at whose discretion. He suggested leaving the word shall in and rewording it to read "lighting adjustments shall be made at the discretion of the City Council." Councilmember Jacobson agreed and indicated "shall" should remain in this. Councilmember Trude stated her concern is the size in a residential neighborhood. Motion carried 4 ayes, 1 nay (Trude). (Res. 090-08) CONSIDER CODE AMENDMENT/CORRECT LOW FLOOR ELEVATION REQUIREMENTS/CITY CODE 9-3-3 When the Subdivision Ordinance was updated in 2007, the lowest floor separation from the 100- year flood elevation for new lots was raised from one foot to two feet. The requirement in the Building Regulations section for existing lots was not changed at that time. This amendment will make the requirements the same across the City. Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Orttel, to approve the proposed code amendment. Motion carried unanimously. (ORD. 375) CONSIDER CODE AMENDMENT/STATE STATUTE 347/DANGEROUS DOGS & CATS/CITY CODE 5-1A-ll The City Attorney sent staffthe attached information and it was briefly discussed with the City Council at the workshop on September 23,2008. Direction was given to bring this forward to a public hearing to discuss new language adopted by the State Statute Chapter 347 (changes related --- ..------ ~~ Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - December 2, 2008 Page 8 to Dangerous Dogs) to bring the code up to date to conform with the statute. Councilmember Trude asked if this is being adopted by other cities and if Andover is being consistent. City Attorney Baumgartner stated it is. Motion by Orttel, Seconded by Knight, to adopt the proposed Code change. Councilmember Jacobson stated he is going to vote no on this because he thought it was ridiculous. Motion carried 4 ayes, 1 nay (Jacobson). Motion by Trude, seconded by Knight, to adopt the Summary Ordinance with an annual fee for registering a dangerous dog/cat of $50.00. Motion carried unanimously. (ORD.376) APPROVE BILLING SERVICES CONTRACTICONNEXUS ENERGY Councilmember Jacobson indicated he had a conflict of interest and was going to step down. The current utility billing services contract for water, sewer, storm sewer and street lights is about to expire with Connexus Energy. Connexus Energy provides both monthly and quarterly billing services depending on the preference of the customer. This contract has been in effect since December 2000 and the fee for service has not changed since then. Councilmember Trude asked what they were paying currently. Mr. Dickinson indicated it is $59,964.00. Councilmember Trude asked if Mr. Dickinson has looked at the City adding staff to read the meters and do the billing. Mr. Dickinson stated he would need to add at least two full time staff people just to do the billing along with adding additional hardware and software cost. He indicated he did a quick calculation and estimated the cost near $160,000 a year to do this in house. He stated with this they get the Connexus Energy state of the art system, utilize credit card payments, along with the benefit of experienced bill collectors. The Council discussed with staff the monthly costs of this service. Motion by Orttel, Seconded by Trude, to approve the attached Connexus Energy Contract. Motion carried 4 ayes. SCHEDULE EDA MEETING The Council is requested to schedule an EDA meeting at 6:00p.m. before the December 16,2008 -- ._-_._-~- ~...H___.__ Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - December 2, 2008 Page 9 City Council meeting. Motion by Trude, Seconded by Knight, schedule an EDA meeting on December 16, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. ADMINISTRATOR REPORT City Administrator Dickinson updated the Council on the administration and city department activities, meeting reminders, Local Board of Appeal and Equalization Training reminder, Hanson Boulevard NW Project update and miscellaneous projects. City Engineer Berkowitz updated the Council on road improvements projects in the City. Community Development Director Neumeister updated the Council on development activity in the City. MAYOR/COUNCIL INPUT (Council Chamber Changes and Improvements) - Councilmember Jacobson stated the Council Chambers have new plasma consoles on their walls. Councilmember Trude thought there are still a lot of problems with the feedback of the microphones and she thought it would be helpful for the QCTV people to pay more attention to the fine tuning of the equipment. (Bar Closing Times) - Mayor Gamache noticed in the paper that Anoka was going to be lookirig at the 2:00 a.m. closing time of their bars and he thought they should keep an eye out on that. He did not know if it is going to be an effect on other cities as well. Mr. Dickinson stated he thought Anoka would be raising the fee significantly to cover the costs of law enforcement first. (Public Awareness to Stay off Ponds) - Mayor Gamache indicated the City will be flooding their ice rinks in the near future and he advised people to stay off the ponds until it is frozen. Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Knight, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Osbeck, Recording Secretary Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - December 2, 2008 Page 10 REGULAR ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES - DECEMBER 2, 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ... ...... ........................ .... ......... ........................................................... 1 PRESENTATION - STATE REPRESENTATIVE ELECT - JERRY NEWTON ....................... 1 RESIDENT FORUM...................................................................................................................... 1 AGENDA APPROV AL.................................................................................................................. 1 APPROV AL OF MINUTES ........................... ,..................... ............ ..... ................. ........................ 1 CONSENT ITEMS................................................................................................... ...................... 2 Approval of Claims..................................................................................................................... 2 Approve 2008 City Administrator Review Summary................................................................. 2 Approve Liquor and Tobacco Licenses .............. ............. ............... ............................................ 2 Appoint City of Andover Representative to Youth First Board ................................................. 2 Approve 2009 Anoka County Sheriff Contract .......................................................................... 2 Approve Donations for 2009 Senior Class All Night Parties ..................................................... 2 Resolution R088-08 approving Time ExtensionlPreliminary Plat of "Parkside at Andover Station" .................................................................................................................................. 2 Resolution R089-08 ordering Feasibility Report/09-02/2009 Street Reconstruction................. 3 PUBLIC HEARING: AMEND ZONING CODE/ADD SUBORDINATE CLASSROOM STRUCTURES ORDINANCE 374 ......................................................................................... 3 CONSIDER CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT/INSTITUTIONAL SIGN/RlVERDALE ASSEMBL Y OF GOD/32I 0 BUNKER LAKE BLVD R090-08 ............................................. 4 CONSIDER CODE AMENDMENT/CORRECT LOW FLOOR ELEVATION REQUIREMENTS/CITY CODE 9-3-3 ORDINANCE 375.................................................... 7 CONSIDER CODE AMENDMENT/STATE STATUTE 347/DANGEROUS DOGS & CATS/CITY CODE 5-1A-11 ORDINANCE 376.................................................................... 7 APPROVE BILLING SERVICES CONTRACT/CONNEXUS ENERGy................................... 8 SCHEDULE EDA MEETING................................................................................;....................... 8 ADMINISTRATOR REPORT............................................................................................... ........ 9 MA YOR/COUNCIL INPUT.......................................................................................................... 9 Council Chamber Changes and Improvements...........................................................................9 Bar Closing Times...................................................................................................................... 9 Public Awareness to Stay off Ponds. ....... ...................... .....................................................~....... 9 ADJOURMENT .................................................................................................................. ........... 9