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2024 10 01 CC MinutesCITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS DAKOTA COUNTY STATE OF MINNESOTA Minutes of the Regular Meeting Held Tuesday, October 1, 2024 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the regular meeting of the City Council, City of Mendota Heights, Minnesota was held at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall, 1101 Victoria Curve, Mendota Heights, Minnesota, CALL TO ORDER Mayor Levine called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Councilors Lorberbaum, Paper, and Mazzitello, were also present. Councilor Miller was absent. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Council, the audience, and staff recited the Pledge of Allegiance. AGENDA ADOPTION Mayor Levine presented the agenda for adoption. Councilor Mazzitello moved adoption of the agenda. Councilor Paper seconded the motion. Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 PUBLIC COMMENTS No one from the public wished to be heard. CONSENT AGENDA Mayor Levine presented the consent agenda and explained the procedure for discussion and approval. Councilor Lorberbaum moved approval of the consent calendar as presented. a. Approval of September 17, 2024, City Council Minutes b. Approval of September 17, 2024, City Council Work Session Minutes a Acknowledge Minutes from the August 27, 2024, Planning Commission Meeting d. Acknowledge Minutes from the May 15, 2024, Airport Relations Commission Meeting e. Approve Fire Department Out of Metro Travel Request f. Approve Additional City Council Meeting Dates g. Approve Amendment to the Professional Services Contract for the Friendly Hills Neighborhood Improvements h. Approve Resolution 2024-55 Ordering Preparation of Feasibility Report for the Hampshire Estates Street Improvements i. Approve Trail Easement for 1441 Clement Street j. Acknowledge the July Par 3 Financial Report k. Approve August 2024 Treasurer's Report 1. Approval of Claims List Councilor Mazzitello seconded the motion. Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 PRESENTATIONS No items scheduled. No items scheduled. NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS A) MEMORAUNDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH NDC4 MODIFYING THE ALLOCATION OF CABLE FRANCHISE FEE REVENUES City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson explained that the Council was being asked to approve a Memorandum of Understanding with the Northern Dakota County Cable Communications Commission (NDC4) to modify the established allocation of cable franchise fee revenue. Brian Grogan, NDC4 legal counsel, provided a brief history of NDC4 and the coverage that it provides to its seven -member cities. He provided information on the Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) and revenue generated by franchise fees. He explained that the franchise fee revenue is decreasing as more people turn away from traditional cable to streaming services, while the operating expenses for the organization remain the same. He stated that typically 25 percent of the franchise fee revenue is returned to the member cities, but the proposal would be to return 12.5 percent in 2024 and 6.25 percent in 2025. He stated that this would allow them to bridge the gap during the transition from cable to streaming services. He commented that there is legislation being considered that would change the way companies pay to use the right-of-way. He stated that this two-year agreement would allow NDC4 to keep providing quality service during that period. He provided additional details on the audit that was completed and revenue that was identified to be paid, noting that this agreement would allow NDC4 to keep that in 2024, Councilor Paper recognized that the franchise fees have been decreasing for some time and asked if this is then dependent on the action of the legislature. Mr. Grogan commented that Comcast is still using the right -of --way and accessing homes in the same way, but instead of just selling cable television, Comcast also sells broadband. He stated that this agreement will provide time for the state legislature and Federal government to try to assess this situation and determine if these companies can continue to use the right -of --way without fee payment, or whether there would be a fee to municipalities for that use of the right-of-way. October 1, 2024 Mendota Heights City Council Page 2 aJ10 Councilor Paper recalled that Comcast works slowly, as it is not in their best interest to work quickly on these matters. He asked what would happen if the government cannot get out of its own way, revenue continues to decrease over the next two years and NDC4 cannot be funded. Mr. Grogan stated that if nothing changes in the next two years and subscribers continue to drop there will be hard decisions to be made and the City will be involved in those decisions. Councilor Paper commented that NDC4 is a great organization but is already very can and would hate to see it reduced any further. Mr. Grogan stated that thistwo-year agreement would allow NDC4 to continue its current level of service, noting that the organization is not trying to grow. Councilor Mazzitello asked how the City uses the revenue from the franchise fees. Finance Director Kristen Schabacker stated that the fees go into the cable fund, which is included under the general fund. She stated that it is not something the city budgets for but uses the funds for technology upgrades and updates to the Council Chambers, Councilor Lorberbaum moved to approve MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH THE NORTHERN DAKOTA COUNTY CABLE COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (NDC4) TO MODIFY THE ESTABLISHED ALLOCATION OF CABLE FRANCHISE FEE REVENUE, Councilor Mazzitello seconded the motion. Further discussion: Councilor Paper commented that this service is very important to the community as without this service the Council meetings are not televised. Councilor Mazzitello echoed those comments and thanked Councilor Lorberbaum for representing the City on the Commission. Councilor Lorberbaum agreed that there is no substitute for the service provided by the talented staff at NDC4. City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson stated that the League of Minnesota Cities has a legislative policy regarding broadband fees for the next state legislative session. Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 B) MENDOTA HEIGHTS POLICE DEPARTMENT 2020 PROJECT Police Chief Kelly McCarthy provided a brief background on this item. The Council was being asked to approve reimbursement for the purchase of a home gun safe for each Mendota Heights Police Officer. Councilor Lorberbaum commented that this is a wonderful idea. She asked why the patch would be available to wear in June. October 1, 2024 Mendota Heights Ciry Council Page 3 oj10 Police Chief Kelly McCarthy stated that June is gun violence awareness month. She provided additional details on the proposed patch. Councilor Paper asked if the gun safe would then become mandatory for Officers. Police Chief Kelly McCarthy stated that the safe would not be mandatory but there is a policy that the gun must be stored safely, which means that no one else can access it. Councilor Paper asked if $200 is sufficient to cover the cost of a gun safe. Police Chief Kelly McCarthy stated that many handgun safes are available for under $20Q, and she will also reach out for potential details on savings for a public/private partnership. Councilor Paper asked if the department still uses long guns and whether those are taken home. Police Chief Kelly McCarthy confirmed that the department does have long guns but those are not taken home. She stated that when vehicles are taken home there is a policy that addresses how those guns must be stored. She confirmed that this would come from the department budget and therefore no formal action is needed to support the purchase, but the Council could take action to support the program. Councilor Mazzitello moved to approve MENDOTA HEIGHTS POLICE DEPARTMENT PROJECT 2020. Councilor Lorberbaum seconded the motion. Further discussion: Councilor Mazzitello stated that the City has the best Police Chief, and that this is an awesome program. Police Chief Kelly McCarthy thanked Councilor Paper who reached out after a tragedy and asked what could be done. Councilor Lorberbaum clarified that the action also approves the reimbursement for the gun safes as discussedI Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 C) PLANNING CASE 2024-17 —CONSIDER RESOLUTION 2024-56 APPROVING A MRCCA PERMIT AND AMENDED CUP FOR XCEL ENERGY AT 800 SIBLEY MEMORIAL HIGHWAY Community Development Manager Sarah Madden provided a brief background on this item. The Council was being asked to consider adoption of Resolution 2024-56 approving a Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area (MRCCA) Permit and amended Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for Xcel Energy at the Sibley Propane Tank Facility located at 800 Sibley Memorial Highway. Mayor Levine acknowledged the great work of the Planning Commission on this case, noting the questions asked by neighbors were also answered at that meeting as well. October 1, 2024 Mendota Heights Cary Council Page 4 of IO Councilor Lorberbaum asked when the work would take place if approved. Brian Sullivan, Xcel Energy, replied that the goal is to start the work this fall on the mounding of the soil. He stated that they are currently working on maintenance of the tanks and once the approval is gained, they would bring the soil in to do the mounding. He stated that they would also plan to complete the retaining wall this fall. He stated that they would also hope to complete the waterline from Farmdale, which was included in a previous approval. Councilor Lorberbaum asked if the project would be completed this fall. Mr. Sullivan replied that it would be anticipated to be completed in December 2025. Councilor Lorberbaum thanked Xcel for hearing the comments of the residents and their desire to minimize the impact on the trees. She also thanked the Planning Commission for its thorough discussion. Councilor Paper asked and received confirmation that the plan is still to directionally bore the waterline. He asked if the safety shelter would be for a tornado. Mr. Sullivan replied that the shelter would be for inclement weather protection. He commented that it is just a small bunker and did not believe it would have power. Councilor Paper asked for more information on the retaining wall. Grant Pinska, Xcel Energy identified the location for the retaining wall as well as its purpose. He confirmed that it would be within the fenced area. Councilor Paper commented that it would be difficult for anyone to even notice anything being done from Sibley Memorial Highway. Councilor Mazzitello moved to approve RESOLUTION 2024-56 APPROVING A MISSISSIPPI RIVER CORRIDOR CRITICAL AREA (MRCCA) PERMIT AND AMENDED CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT (CUP) TO XCEL ENERGY FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 800 SIBLEY MEMORIAL HIGHWAY, PLANNING CASE 2024-17, Councilor Paper seconded the motion. Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 D) TABLED —CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE NO. 591: SHORT TERM RENTALS AND ORDINANCE NO. 594: FEE SCHEDULE AMENDMENT Councilor Paper moved to REMOVE ORDINANCE NO.591 AND ORDINANCE NO. 594 FROM THE TABLE FOR DISCUSSION AND CONSIDERATION. Councilor Lorberbaum seconded the motion. Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 October 1, 2024 Mendota Heights City Council Page 5 of 70 Community Development Manager Sarah Madden provided a brief background on this item. The Council was being asked to consider adoption of Ordinance No. 591, amending Title 3: Business and License regulations to add a new Chapter 5A: Short Term Rentals; authorize publication of summary ordinance; and adopt Ordinance No. 594 amending the City's Fee Schedule by establishing a Short Term Rental License Fee, Councilor Paper asked about the purpose of the guest registry. Community Development Manager Sarah Madden commented that the standard was moved over from the rental housing ordinance and is seen in ordinances by other cities as well. She agreed that it may seem dated to require. Councilor Paper asked if that is shown at the time of license renewal. Community Development Manager Sarah Madden replied that it is not shown at the time of licensing or renewal but would need to be available upon request by the City. Councilor Lorberbaum asked if the guest registry would be a public document. City Attorney Amy Schmidt replied that as long as the guest registry is not in possession of the City it is not considered government data. She stated that it should be available for inspection upon request. Councilor Lorberbaum asked if the City does, or should, give a list of the data that should be included in the guest registry such as the name of the person and contact information. She asked if there should be a note that the person renting is over the age of 25, City Attorney Amy Schmidt commented that the City can dictate the information to be included in the guest registry. She stated that the age requirement would be enforceable whether or not that information is in the registry. She noted that this information would be included in the online service used to rent the property. She stated that the intention would not be for the City to retain that information but for the owner to retain that information and provide to the City upon request. Community Development Manager Sarah Madden stated that the City requests that listing of the property be provided to the City as well, which would ensure that the requirements are included in that listing. Councilor Lorberbaum moved to adopt ORDINANCE NO, 591, AMENDING TILE 3 BUSINESS AND LICENSE REGULATIONS TO ADOPT A NEW CHAPTER OF THE CITY CODE TO INCORPORATE CHAPTER 5A: SHORT TERM RENTALS, ESTABLUSHING A SHORT TERM LICENSE AND REGULATORY STANDARDS, AND AUTHORIZE PUBLICATION OF A SUMMARY ORDINANCE; AND ADOPT ORDINANCE NO. 594, AMENDING THE CITY'S FEE SCHEDULE TO ADD A SHORT TERM RENTAL LICENSE FEE, AND INCLUCED WITH THAT WOULD BE THE GEUST REGISTRY AND THAT WOULD INCLUDE THE AGE OF THE RENTER OR A CHECK MARK THAT THE RENTER IS 25 OR OLDER, Councilor Paper seconded the motion. Ocmber !, 2024 Mendota Heights City Council Pnge 6 of 10 Further discussion: Councilor Mazzitello stated that there is a story behind every caution label. He asked what Council was trying to accomplish with this ordinance and how this started. He stated that there are a couple dozen short term rentals in Mendota Heights and complaints were received about only one property. He stated that they are creating an ordinance for one bad operator. He stated that he has an issue with the homestead requirement and asked if they should be treating an out of city person different than a city person. He believed that they could get to where they want to go without that requirement. He stated that another metro city went down the path of wanting to have the homestead requirement and instead chose to limit the number of short term rental properties an out of city person could operate to one. He asked if the Council would support that change as it would accomplish the same goal without tap dancing on a thin constitutional line. Councilor Lorberbaum asked if they removed the homestead requirement, could they require that the owner be a resident of the city. City Attorney Amy Schmidt commented that would be more reshictive than the situation that Councilor Mazzitello already sees as an issue. She stated that the option suggested by Councilor Lorberbaum would be vague and difficult to enforce. She stated that Mendota Heights has the authority to regulate commerce from inside and outside the city and therefore was not concerned with the issues raised by Councilor Mazzitello. She stated that whether there is a homestead requirement or limit of one short term rental operated by someone outside of the city there would not be an issue as long as the requirements are applied equally across the board. Mayor Levine commented that the larger goal is that the City does not want people buying up properties to rent them out. She stated that the homestead requirement was included because people care about their homes and would therefore care about who they rent to. She recognized that some people will be upset because they cannot purchase homes solely for the purpose of renting them out, but noted that other people will be happy because that issue will be prevented. She stated that the Council wants people to be able to stay in their homes and potentially rent them out when they are out of town. She recognized that the catalyst in this was one problem home. Councilor Lorberbaum commented that her suggestion would not require the person to homestead the property. She explained that a resident could purchase additional homes to rent out for short term rental. Mayor Levine commented that topic has not been discussed by the Council. Councilor Mazzitello commented that they do not really know the number of short term rental properties in Mendota Heights, as they are only aware of the properties listed on the rental sites they have checked. He asked if they would be punishing people that are acting appropriately in order to punish someone behaving badly. He stated that they are crafting an ordinance to address one property and that will be applied city-wide. He stated that maybe there are rules in place that the licensing program would fix that property and there would not need to be a city-wide requirement that could potentially hurt a property acting appropriately. Mayor Levine stated that the typical short term rental in Mendota Heights is a home someone lives in, and they rent them out. She stated that this has been discussed for the past year and she would be surprised if there are people in the community doing this and not coming forward with their concerns about the October 1, 2024 Mendota Heights Cz[y Council Page 7 oj10 potential ordinance. She stated that she would not be in favor of the suggestion of Councilor Lorberbaum which would allow a resident to purchase multiple properties for the intention of short term rental. Councilor Paper commented that people who are buying real estate for the purpose of rental property generally use an LLC, which is easy to form and therefore could simply create a new LLC for the additional purchase. He stated that the problem exists with rentals of two to three days. He referenced the Fee Schedule which has resident and non-resident fees. He stated that a liquor license can cost $10,000. He suggested that perhaps the non-resident rental license fee beset high, using the example of $305000, Councilor Lorberbaum asked if they would need to table this again and bring it back to a work session. Mayor Levine acknowledged that they are also missing a member of the Council tonight. City Attorney Amy Schmidt stated that parks and recreation uses a resident and non-resident fee, which is standard as there would be a benefit for residents paying taxes to have a lower fee. She stated that any fee attached to a license has to be reasonable and related to the activity being regulated and therefore cannot be exorbitant. She stated that the short term rental fee would need to be reasonably related to the cost of inspecting and operating the program. Councilor Paper commented that there is a cost for complaints, which are handled by City staff. He stated that they are trying to help residents, and this is costing an upside-down amount to regulate this. He commented that this property is in a residential community and has buses pulling up on weekends. He stated that if they want to eliminate the homestead portion of this, something else would need to be done in order to support the residents. He stated that Mendota Heights is not a vacation community, although residents do want the option to rent their houses out and that has worked fine with the exception of this one property. He stated that if they pull the license the property could continue to operate without a license, or a new LLC could own the property. City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson commented that related to Councilor Paper's statement, the issue would become an issue of code enforcement, and they could continue to work to implement administrative citations in addition to licensing. Councilor Lorberbaum commented that she was not specifically giving up on the homestead requirement. Councilor Paper stated that if the homestead component were removed, perhaps they would want to recapture the minimum length of stay. Councilor Mazzitello commented that he did not mean to throw a wrench in the gears, but there was a constitutional claim at the last meeting against what they were proposing. He stated that he would support tabling this to have another work session as that could allow Councilor Miller to participate as well. He stated that a number of emails and contacts were provided from people who wanted the City to ban short term rentals, noting that the City does not have the authority to ban short term rentals and therefore chose to go down the path of regulating. Councilor Lorberbaum withdrew her motion. October 1, 2024 Mendota Heights Ciry Council Page 8 of IO Councilor Lorberbaum moved to TABLE THIS DISCUSSION TO A FUTURE WORK SESSION. Councilor Mazzitello seconded the motion. Further discussion: Councilor Mazzitello acknowledged that the October work session is already full and asked when this would be considered. City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson confirmed that the October work session agenda is full, but this could be on the November 19" work session agenda. She also noted that the council had added a meeting and work session on November 12th The Council discussed options and decided to add this to the November 12th work session agenda, which will begin at 5 p.m. Councilor Paper commented that it will be unlikely that the Council will reach full consensus on this issue, and it will be the same in the community. He stated that the Council needs to start talking about cannabis because that is around the corner. Councilor Paper reconfirmed a second to the motion to TABLE THIS DISCUSSION TO A FUTURE WORK SESSION Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson announced upcoming community events and activities. COUNCIL COMMENTS Coumcilor Paper wished everyone L'Shana Tova - a happy new year for those who celebrate and recognized it's been a difficult year. Councilor Lorberbaum also wished everyone who celebrates and everyone who doesn't celebrate the same good wishes of a happy, joyful, healthy, and peaceful year. Councilor Mazzitello stated that October is domestic violence awareness month, which is recognized with the color purple. He stated that domestic violence and abuse take a number of forms, physical, emotional and psychological in the one place people should feel safe, in their home. He asked people to check in with their neighbors, family members and friends. He stated that domestic violence can happen anywhere, to any economic class, or gender. Mayor Levine commented that absentee voting is available at City Hall now. ADJOURN October 1, 2024 Mendota Heights Ci[y Council page 9 ofl0 Councilor Mazzitello moved to adjourn. Councilor Paper seconded the motion. Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 Mayor Levine adjourned the meeting at 8:32 p.m. Step anie . Levine Mayor ATTEST: cy Bauer City Clerk October /, 2024 Mendota Heights City Council Page 10 oj10