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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWK - February 24, 2009 C I T Y O F © NDOVE 1685 CROSSTOWN BOULEVARD N.W. • ANDOVER, MINNESOTA 55304 • (763) 755 -5100 FAX (763) 755 -8923 • WWW.CI.ANDOVER.MN.US City Council Workshop Tuesday, February 24, 2009 Conference Rooms A & B 1. Call to Order — 6:00 p.m. 2. Northern Natural Gas Presentation - Northern Lights (Elk River Loop) Project - Engineering 3. Discussion with County Assessor — Scheduled - Administration 4. Discuss Additional Hockey Rinks & Hawkridge Park — Public Works 5. Discuss State Aid Designations & Revocations - Public Works 6. Discuss Nonconforming Structures Code Language - Planning 7. Discuss Status of Crosstown Boulevard/Crosstown Drive Intersection - Public Works 8. Comprehensive Plan Update Discussion — Planning/Administration 9. Continued Discussion Sustainable Landscape — Hanson Boulevard — Planning /Engineering 10. Discuss Single Family Residential Market Value Preservation - Planning /Administration 11.2008 -2009 & 2007 -2008 Council Goals Progress Report - Administration 12. Adjournment C I T Y O F NDOVE ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP — FEBRUARY24, 2009 MINUTES The Andover City Council Workshop was called to order by Mayor Mike Gamache, February 24, 2009, 6:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Councilmembers present: Sheri Bukkila, Don Jacobson, Mike Knight, 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 APPROVAL OFAGENDA 10 Motion by Jacobson, seconded by Trude, to approve the agenda moving item six before item one. Motion carried unanimously. DISCUSS NONCONFORMING STRUCTURES CODE LANGUAGE The City Council reviewed the issue related to a nonconforming triplex at the February 3, 2009 City Council meeting. The Council is asked to review and discuss the State Statute requirements related to nonconforming uses and amortization and direct staff to begin making the necessary changes to City Code Sections 12 -10 -1 B and 12- 104B. Motion by Jacobson, seconded by Knight, to direct staff change the City Code to conform to State Statute and to direct staff write a letter as requested to the loan company indicating that the owner could rebuild if the home were destroyed provided a building permit is applied for in a timely fashion. (Motion carried unanimously) Councilmember Knight asked when the 180 days kick in. Mr. Neumeister indicated it would kick in when a house is destroyed. It was noted this item will be on the March 17, 2009 Council meeting for a public hearing. 1 0 DISCUSSION WITH COUNTYASSESSOR Mr. Mike Sutherland, Anoka County Assessor and Jason Dagastino the Assessor assigned to Andover, were at the meeting to snake a presentation to the Council regarding the 2009 market © Andover City Council Workshop Minutes — February 24, 2009 Page 2 value assessment process for pay 2010 property taxes. Councilmember Jacobson stated they will have to make some decision when people ask why their house is valued higher than a similar house by theirs. Mr. Sutherland stated typically the question they get is someone buys a property through foreclosure and they want to have the County put the foreclosure price on the property tax statement and the County cannot do that because they need to look at the value.of the property, not the price they paid for the property. As appraisers, they are forced to have to think in those terms. Mr. Dagastino stated there should not be a variance in value. Everyone he has talked to, he indicates to them they have set a value at January 2, 2009. They have to follow the market but will lag a little bit behind. Councilmember Jacobson asked what they do if there is a bank appraisal that shows the value of the home lower than the statement shows. Mr. Dagastino stated they would need to see the appraisal since they put values down once a year and there will be a new valuation in March and the numbers may change. Mr. Sutherland stated overall it is not just the value going down, they are decreasing the size of the tax base and the City, County and School District will still likely levy what is needed. Mr. Dickinson stated the measure of tax rate will not be a good basis to use for next year. Councilmember Knight asked how boundaries are set. Mr. Dagastino stated Andover has thirteen land zones and everything in a certain land zone will adjust to other homes in that same zone. They break the zones out and ratio them at their own land zones and need to look at the homes in the zones together. Mr. Berkowitz stated every time they have a neighborhood informational meeting people wonder how it will affect their home value and he wondered how a new roadway reconstruction affects the value of a home. Mr. Dagastino stated because they do mass appraisal, they do not change anything. If the old road had a negative effect on the property they would change it but otherwise they don't change it right away, it would change over time with home sales. Councilmember Trude wondered what they are hearing on commercial property. Mr. Sutherland stated he has not heard a lot but he felt this is the next thing to drop. They have made adjustments County wide on all of their commercial properties except flex industrial. The Council thanked Mr. Sutherland and Mr. Dagastino for discussing the market value assessment process with them. © NORTHERNNATURALGASPRESENTATION— NORTHERNLIGHTS(ELKRIVERLOOP) PROJECT Mr. Berkowitz stated Northern Natural Gas was at the meeting to provide an update to the City Council on the Northern Lights (Elk River Loop) project and to answer questions. © Andover City Council Workshop Minutes — February 2=1, 2009 Page 3 Mr. Berkowitz reviewed the information with the Council. He noted Elizabeth Babcock and Avery Shock were at the meeting. Councilmember Jacobson stated they did not have any control over the project since it is federally controlled. He stated the hub continues to be larger each time and he wondered if there is going to be anything coming up in the next ten years that they would need to put in more pipe or larger ones. Ms. Babcock stated they have looked at the needs up to 2026 and she thought they were done after 2010 unless needs change. The representatives from Northern Natural Gas discussed with the Council what they are planning on doing at Prairie Knoll Park. Councilmember Jacobson stated by going down the road rather than the easement closer to the homes in the area he thought they solved a lot of the potential problems. Mayor Gamache wondered how long this will take. Mr. Shock stated the contractor chosen is Minnesota Limited and they are estimating the total time is approximately 85 days for the project, but the majority of it is in Ham Lake. DISCUSS ADDITIONAL HOCKEY RINKS & IIAWKRIDGEPARK Mr. Berkowitz stated this item is in regard to the status of the potential construction of hockey rinks as part of the City Campus site and an update regarding Hawkridge Park. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed the relocation of the Hawkridge hockey rink with the Council and noted Mr. Tony Howard was at the meeting to answer questions. Councilmember Jacobson asked if staff talked to all the associations about the changes that will need to be made at Hawkridge. Mr. Berkowitz stated they have talked to the Soccer Association and they are very happy. There are plans to make it a soccer and lacrosse field. Councilmember Jacobson asked in redoing it are they figuring the costs of staff. Mr. Berkowitz stated it depends on what the Soccer Association comes back with. It was noted that the Baseball Association was willing to have the field moved from Hawkridge to Timber Trails Park. Councilmember Knight asked how many kids are using the rink now at Hawkridge. Mr. Howard indicated he did not bring that information but he thought the Hockey Association used it around two days out of the week. Councilmember Knight asked what will happen with the kids in the St. Francis District who use the hockey rink now. Mr. Howard stated he is not sure. Mr. Berkowitz did not think the St. Francis hockey teams used the rink at Hawkridge, but there may be use for free skate. © Andover City Council Workshop Minutes — February 24, 2009 Page 4 Mayor Gainache stated in the letter the City received from the Hockey Association they wanted Andover to be responsible for the hook ups for electric, gas and water and he wondered if staff is agreeable to this. Mr. Berkowitz stated it will cost anywhere from seven to fourteen thousand dollars to get electric there depending on the needs and the question is where will they get the money for it. He noted that sewer and water will have to cross Crosstown Boulevard, which is a $40,000 plus cost. Mr. Howard stated they are thinking about putting water in there because they would like to buy a zamboni for the rink but it would need water. Councilmember Trude wondered if it made sense to send this to the Parks Commission because it seems like the Parks.Commission should be supporting all of the sports. Mr. Howard thought that was part of their long term plan. Councilmember Trude stated this is a park improvement and the Commission is holding about $80,000 for the skate park. Mr. Dickinson stated they did not have any cash at the end of last year since the park dedication money did not come in; they have just enough dollars in the account to make a debt service payment for Andover Station North. Councilmember Jacobson asked what the enclosure would be. Mr. Howard stated Mr. Frank Kellogg works for a company that has a Sprung structure with a canvas top and if used here, would allow them to have ice a lot longer, if it is acceptable to the Council. He stated this makes it usable and they would be able to get about 1,000 hours of ice. Councilmember Jacobson asked if the association is going to be charged for ice use, who would get the money since it is public property. Mr. Dickinson stated that depends on how a contract is made Up. Councilmember Knight asked if the structure would cover both rinks. Mr. Howard stated they are going to try to cover one rink at this time. Councilmember Bukkila asked how many rinks would there be because it looks like three. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed the plans and explained there will be two hockey rinks and one free skate rink. Mayor Gamache asked about the ten to fifteen year as a temporary location and if they are tying the hands of future councils by saying they will build this within a year. Mr. Dickinson stated they need to consider this as part of the Capital Improvement Plan. Councilmember Knight asked if the intent of the price for ice time is to meet expenses or to exceed it. Mr. Howard stated it is to meet it. Councilmember Jacobson asked if there will be noise from the compressors that would disturb the ® neighbors. Mr. Howard stated he will check into that. Mr. Dickinson stated the Sprung structure would need to have a variance to the code. Mr. Berkowitz suggested the first year they would likely have a warming house, one rink and free © Andover City Council Workshop Minutes — February 24, 2009 Page 5 skate without lights. Mr. Howard stated they need the lights. Mr. Berkowitz stated they do have some temporary lights at Public Works which may be able to work until other lights could be installed. Mayor Gamache stated he could see going ahead with the grading since they may have the class 5 and then would like to have Mr. Howard come back with more information. Mr. Berkowitz stated they would like to see one rink so they could take the Hawkridge rink out. This will save them operational expenses. Mr. Howard wondered if the Hockey Association could have storage in the warming house. The Council was fine with that. DISCUSS STATE AID DESIGNATIONS AND REVOCATIONS Mr. Berkowitz stated the Council is requested to consider Municipal State Aid Street (MSAS) designations for 2009. He explained he met with Dick and Nancy Lane and Frank and Vivian Daly and they discussed State Aid designations and what it means. The owners had a good understanding of that, Mr. Charlie Lane had a concern about the road going through his home and he told the owner that it is just a designation and does not mean it will be built as currently depicted. He stated the owners are ok with the designation of the road. Staff discussed the project with the Council. The Council agreed Ventre Street is a good State Aid Designation and to submit the designations requests. DISCUSS STATUS OF CROSSTO WNBOULEVARDICROSSTO WNDRIVEINTERSECTION Mr. Berkowitz stated staff continues to pursue a City Council initiative to improve the intersection of Crosstown Boulevard and Crosstown Drive. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed a drawing with the Council. Councilmember Jacobson stated the best thing for this intersection would be a roundabout. Mr. Berkowitz stated they considered this but the County felt because of the curve in the road this would not be a good location. Councilmember Trude wondered if they could put a sign up for local traffic only on Crosstown Drive. Mr. Berkowitz stated this is a State Aid designated road and did not know if they should do that or if it was appropriate since there are commercial properties on Crosstown Drive. © Andover City Council Workshop Minutes —February 24, 2009 Page 6 Councilmember Jacobson stated they need to have a second access on Crosstown Drive to ease traffic. Mr. Berkowitz stated they are looking for future access to tie the roads into another State Aid Road. Staff discussed with the Council possible road projects that could be used for the Federal stimulus package. Mayor Gamache stated he liked the actual layout and thought it was the best way to take care of a dangerous situation. He thought they had another issue if they are thinking about blocking the straight east to west connection on the road because then they have traffic going out onto Quinn Street which is already a bad road and not made for a lot of traffic. The Council thought the project should be drawn up with a roundabout as an alternate and presented to the County since they felt that would probably work the best. Mr. Berkowitz stated the County is not receptive to roundabouts and he did not know if they wanted to spend the time and money for a drawing that will very likely just be turned down. Councilmember Jacobson was concerned about the home where they will have an issue with their driveway. Mr. Dickinson thought they would need a variance for the driveway or explore having that driveway come out on Crosstown Drive and not Crosstown Boulevard. Mr. Berkowitz stated they will prepare a plan and look at the design in late summer or fall, the Council could then move it forward at that time. CONTINUED DISCUSSION SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPE — IJANSON BOULEVARD Mr. Neumeister stated this item has been a Council goal and the staff wants to discuss ideas with them and determine whether there is support from the Council to continue to pursue this as a goal. He reviewed the Hanson Boulevard Sustainable Landscape Project with the Council and the concept of a trial project. Councilmember Trude indicated there was a scout in the audience, Isaac, who is willing to work with staff on this project to earn his eagle badge. Mayor Gamache stated there is a stretch along Hanson Boulevard that has their backyards onto Hanson that do not have a fence, only trees. He thought they could shorten up or even get to a point where if they decide they want to do a test maybe the best place would be between 147 fl, and 148 which would be cheaper and see if it will actually work. Councilmember Knight suggested putting evergreens along the fences and as they grow and fill in they would mask the fences and be a wind break to the landowner. They could also put some colored bushes between those and the road and they would not need to put so much in with grass. Mr. Neumeister stated his concern is with the power lines. He would need to check with the utility companies to see what they would say. Andover City Council Workshop Minutes — February 24, 2009 Page 7 Councilmember Jacobson asked where they are going to get the money. Mr. Dickinson stated at this time they do not have a line item number for this and if the Council would like to move forward on this they would need to find the funds. Councilmember Trude understood when they do their tree sales they get a lot of bare root tree and she wondered if they could get some extra ones for the City to use. Mr. Neumeister stated they could do that for next spring but it would not work for this spring. Councilmember Knight asked how long a test period would last since it will take more than one year to find out how it will look and if it will work. Councilmember Jacobson thought they should hold off on this until 2010 to give them time to discuss this with the neighbors and save money for plantings. Councilmember Trude thought they could do one block this year and see how it works. Mr. Neumeister thought it would cost around $400 -$500 dollars to do a block this year. © The Council was agreeable to do a test area of one block after discussing with the property owners. DISCUSS SINGLE FA MIL Y RESIDENTL4L MARKET VAL UE PRESER VA TION Mr. Neumeister stated over the past few years, the City Council has discussed issues surrounding single family market value preservation, with most discussion centered on single family rentals and the housing maintenance code. Mr. Neumeister reviewed the report with the Council. Councilmember Jacobson asked how the City knew if a house was being rented or not. Mr. Dickinson indicated they did not know it is dependent on staff dealing with issues at a residence. Councilmember Jacobson asked how they could impose a rental license on a home. Mayor Gamache read what Blaine does in regard to this. Mr. Dickinson explained how some cities check on who has rental homes in the city. He stated the number one best way to get your list on residential rental housing is to get them from neighbors. Councilmember Jacobson asked what they are supposed to do if a house is rented out but there is no rental license on it, do they go to court to make them get a license. Mr. Dickinson stated they have not reviewed this that in depth and at this point they would just be doing an inventory and are © looking for direction on where to go. Maybe they need to do some half step measures since single family market preservation is important to everyone. Mr. Neumeister asked what level of enforcement did the Council want them to go to. © Andover City Council Workshop Minutes — February 24, 2009 Page 8 Councilmember Jacobson asked if they are really concerned if there are rental units or not or just that the outside of the home is not kept up. Councilmember Bukkila stated every concern she has heard from neighbors is also related to the behavior of the renters. Mr. Dickinson stated they could help the landlord to enforce the eviction if they had officer call records on rental properties which may help the owner to get rid of the nuisance renter. Councilmember Jacobson asked how many rental units they currently have. Mr. Herb Blommel stated it is approximately 150 units with fifty actual properties. Councilmember Jacobson asked if staff can handle this. Mr. Dickinson thought they could. Mr. Dickinson stated they could set it up with a trial period and provide a report card back to the Council. He stated they will have base data for homestead and non - homestead properties from the County within the month. Councilmember Knight asked if the court system backs a landlord trying to evict a troublesome tenant. Councilmember Bukkila stated it is a longer process and that documentation from the City would help the owner. Resident Kay Fischer stated in their neighborhood they thought it would be important to have contact with the owners since some owners do not even live in the country. Councilmember Knight thought they should instruct Mr. Dickinson to start the process of putting together a program for the Council to review. Mayor Gamache stated they want to see something that is effective and helps. Mr. Dickinson stated they would not do this as a true licensing, just an inventory. He asked if they are looking for cost recovery for doing this or nominal fee. Councilmember Bukkila thought owners would be willing to pay a fee for the City to keep track of their property and notify them of any problems. The Council thought this program should be done with only a nominal fee and not on a cost recovery basis. Councilmember Trude thought the City could give a generic lease and checklist for owners of rental units to use and encourage them to do background checks on their renters. Councilmember Bukkila also thought they could have a sheet showing new rental owners what they need to do and how they could check on potential renters. Mr. Dickinson stated they previously talked about their code enforcement policies and he wondered if there is interest in a spring time clean sweep of code issues. Councilmember Jacobson stated he has always gone under the impression that if while driving through the City they see a code violation they should report it. Mayor Gamache thought they should put a friendly reminder in the newsletter about spring clean up. The Council wants staff to abide by the current code enforcement policies. The Council recessed at 8:55 p.m. Andover City Council Workshop Minutes — February 24, 2009 Page 9 The Council reconvened at 9:00 p.m. DISCUSS SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTLAL MARKET VALUE PRESERVATION (CONTINUED) Mr. Neumeister explained they have been in contact with the County about the neighborhood stabilization program and the County is getting a block of money from the State which is coming through HUD to allow organizations to go out and buy homes that are vacant and foreclosed and fix them up. They are looking for homes that were built in the sixties to fix up. He stated they are looking for Council consensus to use last year's CDBG allocation which they had no applicants for, to allow Two Rivers to use that through the County reallocation of funds to acquire two homes through Two Rivers Community Land Trust in Andover. The Council thought it is a good idea and authorized staff to write a letter requesting the County to use the designated funds to purchase two homes through the Twin Rivers Community Land Trust in Andover. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE DISCUSSION Mr. Neumeister stated the City received a response from the Metropolitan Council (dated January 2, 2009) related to their review comments on the City's Comprehensive Plan update. Staff met with the Met Council on February 4, 2009 and reviewed with them the additional details they had requested. The consensus of the Metropolitan Council staff is that with some slight adjustments the plan is looking good and should be able to move forward to the Community Development Committee for a public hearing in April. 2008 -2009 & 2007 -2008 COUNCIL GOALS PROGRESS REPORT Mr. Dickinson stated at the September 16, 2008 Council meeting the Council adopted the 2008 -2009 Council Goals. No priority scoring was done, as it was assumed that staff would work diligently on all the goals. Also at the meeting the Council accepted the progress report on the 2007 -2008 Council Goals. Mr. Dickinson updated the Council on the progress report on the adopted goals. Councilmember Knight asked if the various funds the state typically distributes out will still be © forthcoming. Mr. Dickinson stated they will still receive funds but not to the extent of what they were previously, market value homestead credit and LGA are gone but we will see other funds. Mayor Gamache stated one of the goals he would like to see this year is not to lay off or further reduce staff. Mr. Dickinson stated they will start to plan in early March for the 2010 budget. © Andover City Council Workshop Minutes — February 24, 2009 Page 10 Motion by Knight, Seconded by Jacobson, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Osbeck, Recording Secretary