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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWK October 25, 2005 / ~NDbVE~ 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 25, 2005 7:00 p.m. Conference Rooms A & B 1. Call to Order - 7 :00 p.m. 2. Continue Rural Reserve Planning - Planning j 3. Metropolitan Council Systems Statement - Planning 4. 2006-2010 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Discussion, Continued - Finance 5. Review Proposed 2006 City Budget Tax Levy Discussion - Finance 6. Other Business 7. Adjournment } C-.b~\...;~G C.L-;).../ L~GLili..n l \ - ( -0.::) SPECIAL ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP - OCTOBER 25, 2005 MINUTES The Special Council Workshop of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Mike Gamache, October 25, 2005, 7 :00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Councilmembers present: Councilmember absent: Also present: Don Jacobson, Mike Knight, Ken Orttel, Julie Trude None City Administrator Jim Dickinson Community Development Director, Will Neumeister City Engineer, David Berkowitz Others CONTINUE RURAL RESERVE PLANNING Community Development Director Neumeister stated this is the Council's chance to talk about the concepts they saw when they viewed the new development in Blaine last week. He asked what Council wants the staff to work towards in this area. Councilmember Trude stated they need to talk about an overlying goal and philosophy for that area. She indicated she wants to see this integrated into the rest of the community for a seamless blend. She wants to take the best from The Lakes development in Blaine and see what issues they had to address. She stated transportation corridors were a big drawback, but that was why people wanted to live here. She noted people would not have an easy way in and out of the development. They need to preserve the character of the community. Councilmember Jacobson stated the experience they had with townhomes doing their own maintenance has not been a good one. He stated parkways were nice, but he did not want them to get too fancy or too expensive so it would fall back on the City for maintenance. They should look at a nice, but with minimal landscaping. Councilmember Trude noted this could be an advantage or disadvantage depending on how it was set up. Councilmember Orttel stated the same issue applies to the entrance signs. Councilmember Jacobson stated the signs should be nice, but not tremendously expensive. Mayor Gamache stated a lot of the area to the east of the development is woodland and he believes / Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - October 25, 2005 Page 2 they would want to keep that area in the same format. The area that might lend itselfto a townhomes development would be somewhere around Round Lake Boulevard. He wants to protect the area around Round Lake Boulevard however because of the homes on the east side. They need to make sure they have a buffer between the larger acreage and the new development. He indicated they should look at having single-family homes along this area and look at townhomes only if they need to. He stated however things could change if some ofthose existing homes were bought out and torn down. Councilmember Orttel stated a better location for multiple housing is around the school. Councilmember Knight stated he personally did not want to see a lot of multiple housing. He also did not want to see a lot of small ponds, but rather a lineal piece of water going north and south that would be used for recreational purposes. He did not want to see this area become so expensive it became a defacto gated community. He would like to see a mix of uses in this area. Councilmember Jacobson stated they need to look at the buffering and landscaping so they do not have a lot of wood fences along Round Lake Boulevard. He wants to see other kinds of buffering, rather than wood fences. / Mayor Gamache stated it would be nice to keep the wooded areas if they are along side of the road. Councilmember Trude stated she had heard from the community and they do not want Andover to be like the City of Rarnsey. Councilmember Jacobson stated there was also the request from the school board for a piece ofland for a future school. He stated if the school district is interested in a piece ofland, they should go to the property owners and buy it and not depend on the City reserving it for them. Councilmember Trude believes the City needs to be able to plan for additional schools. Councilmember Jacobson stated if the school board is really interested in putting in a new school, they should approach the property owners for the land directly. Councilmember Trude stated if the City could accommodate the school district with planning and work together, would Councilmember Jacobson have a concern. Councilmember Jacobson responded ifthe school district wants to put an option on the land, he would not have any problem with this, but he did not want the City to zone or reserve the land for this purpose. \ , Councilmember Orttel stated this would be an issue with commercial land also. Councilmember Jacobson noted the commercial land would be located around the busier roads. Council member Trude stated if they could put in a rental apartment building somewhere in this location, she would not be opposed to this. She does not want a multi-complex apartment building however. City Administrator Dickinson noted most apartment buildings need to be three stories in . / Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - October 25, 2005 Page 3 order to make them [mancially feasible. Councilmember Trude stated she did not want to see a lot of rental apartment buildings. Councilmember Jacobson stated he would like to see some linear walkways and trails that were not right along roads. Councilmember Trude suggested keeping some of the wooded areas and putting trails through them. Mayor Gamache stated he believes the commercial sites would be relatively small and clustered around the main roads. Mr. Dickinson noted trails are allowed near wetlands and this could potentially be done. Councilmember Trude did not like to see parks backed up to wetlands. She believes it is easier to sell homes backed up to a wetland area. Councilmember Jacobson stated rather than each developer giving park dedication, he would like to see all of the developers get together and have one larger park with trails and water. He would like to get away from smaller parks but noted that would require coordination among the developers. Councilmember Orttel noted this would also need to be coordinated with the City. Councilmember Knight stated he favors a linear water park, so it is easier for the public to access it. Councilmember Orttel asked if other cities get credit for the ponds. Mr. Neumeister responded if they were privately maintained, they would not get a credit. Councilmember Knight stated he was concerned about having large homes around the ponds, which did not make it easily public accessible. Councilmember Trude noted there are issues with water quality they would need to look at. Mayor Gamache stated they had always talked about this development having lakes. He asked how big of a lake(s) were they thinking about. Community Development Director Neumeister responded he was estimating 159 acres would be lakes and approximately 700 acres would not be lakes. A member of the audience stated the lakes would be difficult to construct because the development is rectangular shaped and surrounded by existing development. He indicated it would more than likely be a linear lake. He noted there is also a lot of peat that would need to be removed. '. / Community Development Director Neumeister stated a lot ofthis discussion regarding lakes is just estimations. He noted it might be beneficial to make the flood plain area into a lake because this area is not buildable. Councilmember Knight noted the DNR would get involved with this ifthey went into the flood plain / Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - October 25, 2005 Page 4 area. Community Development Director Neumeister stated the DNR could not prevent them from digging in this area. He noted the Corp of Engineers and the Watershed would also be involved. He indicated some of this would depend on what the engineers and developers came up with when they did their design. Councilmember Knight asked if developers could get together without a lot controversy. He does not want to see a lot of spot planning. Councilmember Orttel stated this would require coordination on the City's part also. He asked if the development would start on the north end and go south. Community Development Director Neumeister responded he did not believe this has been decided by the developers yet. Councilmember Orttel inquired about the roads in the development. Community Development Director Neumeister responded the roads are on the transportation plan and if they want to remove some of the roads, they would need to redo the traffic analysis. Mayor Gamache stated Veterans Memorial Boulevard is not a connector street. He asked how this would be made a less desirable route east. Councilmember Knight stated they need to consider that County Road 9 would be inundated with this development. Councilmember Trude stated she believes they have done an analysis on this and the road was constructed to handle the traffic. City Engineer Berkowitz stated they would need to redo their traffic analysis if roads are not going to be built. Councilmember Trude stated it would be nice to have three accesses out to Round Lake Boulevard. Mayor Gamache stated they might want to consider another road to the west also. Councilmember Orttel asked at what point the City started obtaining easements all of the way up to the north. Community Development Director Neumeister replied they need to look at the density number first and then bring this to Met Council for a Comprehensive Plan amendment. TIlls would entail a major plan amendment, which would probably take a year for the Met Council to make a decision on. City Engineer Berkowitz noted once the Met Council approve this, the City needs at least a year to get all of the easements in place, but realistically it could take two years or more to get the pipes in the area. / Council member Trude stated ifthey put the sewer through the flood plain, this would not be an easy process. Councilmember Jacobson stated if the sewer ran through the flood plain, how could they put a lake / Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - October 25, 2005 Page 5 there. Mayor Gamache summarized what they had discussed so far, including more minimal landscaping around the townhomes due to maintenance costs, which could come back to the City. Councilmember Trude noted the market would decide some of the landscaping, but she agreed the maintenance costs should not come back to the City. Mayor Gamache noted they also discussed the landscaping along 16151 and Round Lake Boulevard and not having fences along that area. He indicated they preferred to have more natural landscaping or ornamental iron fencing. Councilmember Trude was not sure she was comfortable limiting this to iron fencing because people want privacy fences. Mayor Gamache stated they did not want this area to look any different than the rest of the City. Councilmember Jacobson stated they should look at updated lighting though. Mayor Gamache stated whatever theme they decide on, it should be the same theme throughout the entire development. Mayor Gamache stated he did not have an issue with the major entrance signs, as long as there was a good association where they were maintained. Mayor Gamache asked if they want to see sidewalks on one side of the street and trails on the other side of the street such as The Lakes development in Blaine has. He stated this makes sense to him. Councilmember Jacobson stated he would like uniformity to the trails. He asked what the difference is between sidewalks and trails. City Engineer Berkowitz responded sidewalks are for pedestrians and trails are wider and are for bikers and rollerblades. Councilmember Trude stated having trails/sidewalks on both sides of the streets on the major thoroughfares made sense so children are not crossing the street to get to the trails. She stated they should look at a sidewalk on both sides along Veterans Memorial Boulevard also. Mayor Gamache stated they liked the idea ofthe sidewalk/trails on opposite sides along the main thoroughfares. Councilmember Jacobson stated he wants to see a uniform look though. Mayor Gamache stated they liked the benches and gazebos. Councilmember Orttel stated they do not want to dictate what they want and it would depend on what the market demanded. He indicated he also did not want to set this area apart either. He noted they would need to depend on the developers' expertise. Mayor Gamache stated townhome developments and rental apartments and/or senior housing are agreeable in certain areas. Councilmember Trude stated they did not want to see a lot of the same repetitive style of housing either. J Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - October 25, 2005 Page 6 Mayor Gamache stated they agreed three trees per lot was a good requirement. They had discussed an area for possible commercial developments. Councilmember Orttel asked where they would put a possible future school. Community Development Director Neumeister responded staff would come back with a couple of different options for Council to look at. Councilmember Orttel asked how large of a commercial site they are looking at. Community Development Director Neumeister responded he believed it would be around 20 acres. Mayor Gamache stated they had discussed the parks and having linear parks. They also discussed a buffer between the existing homes and this development. He stated they would save the discussion about the townhomes to a future meeting. They had talked about preserving the character of the area and redoing the transportation plan. He indicated they should start that transportation plan now. Mayor Gamache asked if there were questions from the audience members. A member of the Planning Commission stated they need to consider how they would keep the boulevard side of the sidewalk/trails looking nice and well maintained. METROPOLITAN COUNCIL SYSTEMS STATEMENT Community Development Director Neumeister noted the geographic planning area map is incorrect and they need to get this straightened out. They want to make sure on the east side of Andover they could only do 2.45 units per acre due to the existing trunk sewer system. With respect to the Transportation Policy Plan, they did not address the County transportation system, only the State transportation system. Mayor Gamache asked how they would reach the density if it was already built out. Community Development Director Neumeister noted if they increased the pipe areas next to the Winslow Holasek land, they could increase density Winslow Holasek's land. City Engineer Berkowitz stated with respect to the sewer capacity, they need to do an overall sewer study before they could tell the Met Council their plans. Councilmember Knight asked ifthey had any figures that would substantiate their traffic problems. City Engineer Berkowitz responded the County has taken the transportation modeling to the next step and this would be a great tool for the communities to use. Community Development Director Neumeister stated they are also going to respond that the Cluster Wastewater Treatment System is not something the City is interested in. The Inflow/Infiltration Task Force report identifies the City's III as not meaningful and/or little discernible response to rainfall so the City anticipates with the current Best Management Practices (BMP's) they have in place, the III will not be of concern. He stated they also need to inform them that they are too high on their 2010 household number. Staff needs the Council's consensus that they could respond in Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - October 25, 2005 Page 7 writing. Councilmember Orttel stated they need to stress the point that they are meeting the population figures. Councilmember Knight noted if they have more kids per household, it skews the Met Council's numbers. Councilmember Trude stated they shouldjust leave the household numbers at 12,100. Community Development Director Neumeister noted they could address this in the Comprehensive Plan and leave the table alone. He will bring this back to the Council on November 1 for their review. 2006-2010 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN (CIP) DISCUSSION, CONTINUED City Administrator Dickinson stated he wants to bring back two items: One, the Andover Station North Park and second whether or not they want to consider a permanent backup generator located at City Hall. He has reviewed a number of financing options for the ball field and he believes they could get new ball fields in and ready by 2007. He summarized the financing options for the Council. Councilmember Knight noted there would also be a request for lighting of the ball fields. City Administrator Dickinson noted they need to have a continuous revenue stream in order to get the bonding. Councilmember Jacobson asked if they are spending too much for this. City Administrator Dickinson stated the park improvements being proposed are still going to be done. Councilmember Orttel stated they need to have an agreement that they would build the field if they would put in the lights. Councilmember Knight asked if they would want lights for football also. City Administrator Dickinson responded that was a possibility. He asked if they want the park to be done by 2007. He noted however if the Cardinal Ridge, Woodland Crossing, and Shaw's Glen plats do not go forward as a public improvement project, this proposal could not be done and they would need to find other financing for this. Mayor Gamache stated if they want lights, they should also be asked to build the building and playground. \ I City Administrator Dickinson stated with respect to the City Hall generator, he suggested they put this in the 2006 CIP and if it comes in earlier, they could come back to Council for approval. Councilmember Orttel requested stafflook at connecting to the generator at the treatment plant also. Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - October 25, 2005 Page 8 City Administrator Dickinson replied he did not think it would work, but staff would look at this possibility. Mr. Dickinson asked if Council wants staff to move forward with this. Council authorized staff to move forward. 2006 BUDGET DISCUSSION City Administrator Dickinson stated City Departments are continuing to work on a proposed 2006 Annual Operating Budget pursuant to guidelines established by the City Council on April 12, 2005 and direction provided at Council workshops. Relative to the Community Center Special Revenue Fund Budget, that budget is still in the preparation and analysis stages and is by no means complete. He asked if they want to consider a contribution to Alexandra House. He asked if they want to fund a new position for the Public Utilities Department. He noted funding for the position will require an increase in the Storm Water Utility fee of$0.50 to $0.70 per residential equivalent unit per quar1er. The other question he had was that the proposed budget is forecasting a 10% health insurance benefit increase and a 10% dental insurance benefit increase. The insurance benefit increases, as in the past, will be shared between the City and the employees based on past contribution policy. He stated he would like to look into a HSA (Health Savings Account). He asked if Council was okay with him talking to the employees about this. / Council directed staff to look into the HSA. City Administrator Dickinson asked what they want to do about the Alexandra House request. Counci1member Orttel stated this is a worthwhile organization. The Council agreed to a $10,000 contribution. OTHER BUSINESS ITEMS Councilmember Trude inquired about the future rental of the field house. City Administrator Dickinson noted they are renting it out to a craft show in the near future and they want to market this to the day camps and clinics also. City Engineer Berkowitz updated the Council on the Hanson Boulevard reconstruction project. He noted the project would most likely start in September or October, 2006, not April, 2006 as they had originally thought. He noted this put the final completion at October, 2007, which impacts the marketing of Andover Station North. City Administrator Dickinson asked if this was acceptable to the Councilor should staff push the County to get this project started. Council directed staff to push the County to get this project started. City Engineer Berkowitz updated the Council on the Crosstown Boulevard turnback. Special Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - October 25, 2005 Page 9 Councilmember Jacobson stated there is a large meeting planned this coming Saturday and noted due to the number of people that were planning to attend, he suggested Council authorize for two hours 9-11 a.m. that parking is allowed on one side of the street for parking. City Engineer Berkowitz stated he did not believe this would be an issue. City Administrator Dickinson stated there should be some form of traffic control also. Councilmember Jacobson stated they would have someone manage the traffic. Council agreed. Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Trude, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:37 p.m. Respectfully submitted, J Kathy Altman, Recording Secretary " '\