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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWK - February 22, 2011ANLDb Y O F © OVE 16 85 CROSSTOWN BOULEVARD N.W. • ANDOVER, MINNESOTA 55304 • (763) 755 -5100 FAX (763) 755 -8923 • WWW.CLAN DOVER. MN. US City Council Workshop Tuesday, February 22, 2011 Conference Rooms A & B 1. Call to Order— 6:00 p.m. 2. Gravel Road Discussion - Engineering 3. Discuss Resident Air Quality Concerns - Administration 4. 2010 Budget Interim Year -End Progress Report - Administration 5. 2011 Budget Implementation Progress & January 2011 Investment Report -Administration © 6. Discuss 2012 Budget Development Guidelines - Administration 7. 2011 -2012 Council Goal Discussion /Setting — Administration/Council 8. Other Discussion 9. Adjournment H T V ys - - - -- 1— 1685 CROSSTOWN BOULEVARD N.W. � ANDOVER, N4INNESOTA 55304 o (763) 755 -5100 FAX (763) 755 -8923 o WWW.CI.ANDOVER.MN.US ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING —FEBRUARY 22, 2011 MINUTES The Workshop Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Mike Gamache, February 22, 2011, 6:06 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: City Administrator, Jim Dickinson Director of Public Works /City Engineer, Dave Berkowitz DISCUSS RESIDENT AIR QUALITY CONCERNS Mr. Dickinson explained at the direction of the City Council this issue was sent to workshop. He noted there were two handouts that were given to residents with air quality concerns including fireplace and wood burning stoves and the Ringelmann Smoke Chart. Councilmember Jacobson questioned if the stove was permitted and installed correctly, it should be in compliance. Mr. Dickinson indicated he did not know how cold it was the day the photos were taken, which could have led to the appearance of more smoke than there actually was. He indicated most of the City's concerns relates to recreational fires and not indoor fireplace fires. Mayor Gamache suggested looking into the MPCA warnings and if there are anything cities could take and do. Mr. Dickinson stated information could be put on the website, but indicated from his perspective he did not believe much else needed to be done. 2010 BUDGET INTERIM YEAR -END PROGRESS REPORT Mr. Dickinson updated the Council on the 2010 year -end progress report. He explained the differences between the 2009 and 2010 budget. Councilmember Knight asked in a year where there was a lot of snow removal, was there a set way of projecting for that. Mr. Dickinson responded as an average the City budgeted for approximately ten major snow events. He stated anything over and above, staff tapped into the reserve. He indicated buying the product for filling potholes was not very expensive, but rather it was the labor Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — February 22, 2011 Page 2 that incurred the most cost. He indicated the City had budgeted a certain number of areas that would be overlaid if necessary. Mayor Gamache stated the intersection at Station Parkway and Crosstown Boulevard have some bad potholes. Councilmember Bukkila noted 161" Avenue, also has bad potholes. Mr. Dickinson summarized the 2010 budget carry forwards into 2011 in the amount of $89,000.00. He indicated he hoped to have the final audit by the end of April. 2011 B UD GETIMPLEMENTA TIONPROGRESS & JANUAR Y2011 INVESTMENTREPORT Mr. Dickinson summarized the monthly 2011 budget progress. He stated everything is on target. He indicated they were four percent of budget so far. Councilmember Bukkila asked if Mr. Dickinson foresaw any drastic changes in 2011. Mr. Dickinson responded he did not. He noted they are forecasting some commercial permits that would get pulled that would push the funds ahead. He indicated after the Spring Parade of Homes, it would be easier to estimate residential permits. He believed it would be a decent year from a construction perspective. Mr. Dickinson summarized the investment maturities. He noted the City is only investing in AA or better. DISCUSS 2012 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES Mr. Dickinson presented the 2012 budget development guidelines. Councilmember Knight asked how the City would be affected by the lower home valuations. Mr. Dickinson responded he did not think the lower home valuations would affect the City as much as people being under water with their mortgages. The Council discussed fiscal disparities and LGA. 2011 -2012 COUNCIL GOAL SETTING DISCUSSION Mr. Dickinson stated this was review information for Council. He stated staff had been going through everything and trying to find things that made sense to work on. © Councilmember Jacobson believed the process needed to be done before December 31 of each year. He noted if they started working on the goals by March the year was already one -third gone. Mr. Dickinson noted one reason to have discussion in January was it was unknown who would be on the Council. © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — February 22, 2011 Page 3 Councilmember Jacobson recommended reducing the goals down to a few goals and not have pages and pages of goals. He recommended each Councilmember suggest 6 or 8 of the things they want accomplished this year. Councilmember Knight stated when there was a long list it brought things to mind even though it might not be an official goal. Councilmember Trude stated what was missing from this was that the priorities had not been paired down and she believed it was good to have a cohesive list. Councilmember Knight stated one thing that is missing is the new initiative to do cooperative things with other cities and to what degree would the City buy into that. Councilmember Bukkila recommended the City work on its reputation and image with businesses. Mr. Dickinson stated he liked the idea of the Council submitting their goals. He noted if something did not fit into a goal, it could be a guided discussion instead. Councilmember Jacobson stated the Council's job is to develop policies and it is the staff's job to implement the policies. He believed the Council should be focusing more policy and get out of the day -to -day business of the City. Councilmember Bukkila stated she would put business and industrial on top of the goals to bring in more tax dollars into the City. Councilmember Jacobson recommended the Council come up with five or six major goals with action items under the goals and have staff implement the action items. Mayor Gamache stated the Councilmembers should submit at a minimum of five and not more than ten goals to Mr. Dickinson by next Tuesday. GRAVEL ROAD DISCUSSION Mr. Berkowitz explained there are currently 7.5 miles of gravel roads. He indicates some of the roads are more challenging than other roads. He stated the Public Works Committee met to discuss possible options with the gravel roads. He noted one possibility is having different assessment rates of 50150 split between the property owners and the City. He indicated the only thing that would change is that instead of the City picking up 100 percent of the gravel road; the City would pick up fifty percent. He noted the assessment policy would still be followed. Councilmember Bukkila asked if the assessment could be extended past ten years. Mr. Berkowitz © noted the issue was that many people sold their homes within ten years and he did not know if an extension of an assessment would make any difference. © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — February 22, 2011 Page 4 Councilmember Bukkila asked how much did blacktop roads cost versus gravel roads. Mr. Berkowitz stated with a gravel road, it cost approximately $5,000 per mile. He would need to breakdown and amortize the costs for maintenance for blacktop roads as he did not have that information. Mr. Dickinson noted certain segments of gravel roads made sense to pave while other gravel roads do not make sense to pave. Councilmember Bukkila stated she is not sure she wanted a 50/50 percent policy for gravel roads and wondered if paving the gravel road is worthwhile for the City as a whole. Councilmember Jacobson stated if paving a gravel road is not worthwhile for the City it could be rejected at the Council level. Mr. Berkowitz suggested to include a policy on gravel roads and update the assessment policy for approval by the Council. Councilmember Bukkila stated she wanted some more numbers on maintenance. Mayor Gamache stated the policy should be approved before any letters go out by Mr. Berkowitz. © OTHER DISCUSSION.• 148 th Lane NW Mr. Berkowitz stated he wanted to discuss no parking on 148th Lane. He stated the City had received a petition from people who did not live directly on the road signed, but lived in a neighborhood that wanted to reinstate parking on the south side of 148` Lane to allow picking up and dropping off of their children from Andover Elementary School. Mayor Gamache asked if there is a pick -up area on the school property. Mr. Berkowitz responded there is a pick -up area, but it is crowded and that was a concern. Councilmember Bukkila asked if he had heard from the original petitioners. Mr. Berkowitz responded he has heard that they needed more reinforcement of the no parking as this is still an issue. Councilmember Jacobson stated they could change the parking restriction to state the cars could be parked there between certain times as long as they are in the car. Mr. Berkowitz responded the cars are asked to move out of the area by the Sheriff. Mr. Berkowitz stated he had never had a petition from someone not directly affected by the no Q parking. He asked if this should be brought to Council with both sides notified. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — February 22, 2011 Page 5 Mayor Gamache stated he wants further information from the school as to what they are requesting of the parents picking up their children and how the information is sent out to the parents. Councilmember Knight believed it is a flow and time issue. He stated the school should have some input into this as it is part of their problem. It was the Council's consensus to obtain more information from the school and bring this back to Council. Crosstown Drive Mr. Berkowitz stated the Crosstown Drive meeting went well. He stated one business owner is concerned about closing the intersection for a couple of months. He stated a few residents had concerns about the volume and the speed of traffic and the ability to turn into their driveways. Mr. Berkowitz stated that by eliminating the left movement from Crosstown Drive going north on Crosstown Boulevard would be a possible solution, but this would cause much inconvenience © for the neighborhood to the northwest. They would have to go to Bunker Lake Boulevard and then u -turn at Crooked Lake Boulevard then back to the signal at Bunker Lake Boulevard and Crosstown Boulevard to go north. Councilmember Bukkila believed this would cause more problems and she did not believe it is a good solution. She stated one way streets are outside of the normal driving pattern in a rural setting. She stated this would cause a lot of confusion and would cause accidents. Councilmember Knight stated this would be confusing for people. Mayor Gamache stated the road would have to be closed during construction so people would be used to not taking the short cut. Mr. Berkowitz stated he had spoken with Jane Rose from Anoka County Highway, specifically about this segment of roadway. He stated Ms. Rose indicated the purpose of the road was to have a neighborhood setting and have the through traffic in the other area. He stated that had not occurred though. Mr. Dickinson noted the businesses would obviously not like the proposal. Mayor Gamache recommended a four -way stop be put in on Crosstown Drive, even if it was not warranted. He noted the road was designed for a neighborhood road, which would remove © traffic. Mr. Berkowitz stated he could not recommend that as the traffic volumes are not high enough. He stated a four -way stop would not work for this area and there is a liability issue. © Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes — February 22, 2011 Page 6 Councilmember Jacobson asked what the County would say about this. Mr. Berkowitz responded he believed the County would have a problem with it as this road is not supposed to be used as a thoroughfare. Councilmember Jacobson stated no matter what the City did, it would be an inconvenience for someone until they got used to it. Mr. Berkowitz stated this road needed to get state aid approval also. Mayor Gamache recommended not putting in such a straight road, but more of a curve to slow down the traffic. Mr. Berkowitz stated this might reduce the speed, but not the volume. He indicated the only way to enforce the speed limit is to heavily patrol the road. Councilmember Jacobson stated he liked staying with the original plan. Councilmember Trude agreed. Mr. Berkowitz stated this would be an interim solution, but he is not sure how long the solution would be. Councilmember Bukkila stated she wanted to make it simple. Mr. Berkowitz stated the Crosstown Boulevard/Drive intersection did not need to be a part of the initial project and instead take public input on the intersection. He indicated a roundabout would work, but he was not sure the cost could be justified. He stated he needed some direction as to how they go forward. Councilmember Knight stated his concern with the original plan is it would increase speeding and if they put a bend in the road it would slow traffic down. Mr. Berkowitz stated a bend would not meet design standards. It was Council's consensus to move forward with the original layout with a lot of signage and patrol enforcement. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Jacobson, Seconded by Bukkila, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:43 p.m. Respectfully submitted, © Kathleen Altman, Recording Secretary