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2002-10-15 City Council minutesPage No. 1 October 15, 2002 CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS DAKOTA COUNTY STATE OF M[11%4 1ESOTA Minutes of the Regular Meeting Held Tuesday, October 15,2002 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the regular meeting of the City Council, City of Mendota Heights, Minnesota was held at 7:30 o'clock p.m. at City Hall, 1101 Victoria Curve, Mendota Heights, Minnesota. The following members were present: Mayor Mertensotto, Councilmembers Dwyer, Krebsbach, Schneeman and Vitelli. AGENDA ADOPTION Councilmember Dwyer moved adoption of the revised agenda for the meeting. Councilmember Krebsbach seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 APPROVAL OF MINUTES Councilmember Krebsbach moved approval of the amended minutes of the regular meeting held 'on October 1, 2002. Councilmember Schneeman seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 mays: 0 CONSENT CALENDAR Councilmember Vitelli moved approval of the consent calendar for the meeting, along with authorization for execution of any necessary documents contained therein. a. Acknowledgment of the unapproved minutes of the August 14, 2002 NDC4 full commission meeting and the September 11, 2002 Executive Committee meeting and the agenda for the October 9, 2002 Commission meeting. b. Acknowledgment of the Treasurer's monthly report for September. c. Acknowledgment of the Fire Department monthly report for September. d. Acknowledgment of Mr. Robert Bonine's compliance with the conditions of the wetlands permit for 688 Third Avenue and authorization for him to begin filling in accordance with his representations to Council on October 1, 2002. Page No. 2 October 15, 2002 e. Authorization for the issuance of a purchase order to Metro Sales for $20,200 plus tax for the purchase of a Ricoh Aficio 1075 Digital Imaging System for the administration and engineering departments, with the purchase to be financed by the Equipment Reserve Fund. £ Authorization for the issuance of a purchase order to Twin City Telephone in the amount of $9,413.41 for the upgrading of telephone equipment at City Hall. g. Authorization for execution of the Developers Agreement with the Dakota County CDA for construction of the senior facility located in the Town Center project area. h. Authorization for the issuance of a purchase order for $7,819.50 to Contractors and Surveyors Supply for a Zeiss Electronic total station, data collection software package with 48GX calculator, 12 foot prism pole, single tilting prism with target and fiberglass /wood tripod for the engineering department, to be financed by the engineering fund. i. Authorization to schedule the Election Canvassing Board meeting for 5:00 p.m. on November 6, 2002. C. j. Adoption of Resolution No. 02 -57, "A RESOLUTION APPROVING A ONE -FOOT FRONT YARD SETBACK VARIANCE FOR A COVERED STOOP AS PRESENTED TO THE COUNCIL ON OCTOBER 1, 2002 FOR 2506 HAVERTON CIRCLE." k. Adoption of Resolution No. 02 -61, "RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING A LIMITED DEER CONTROL BOW HUNT ON PRIVATE PROPERTY DURING THE 2002 STATE DEER HUNTING SEASON." 1. Approval of the list of contractor licenses dated October 15, 2002. m. Approval of the List of Claims dated October 15, 2002 and totaling $71,296.04. Councilmember Dwyer seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 C Page No. 3 October 15, 2002 PUBLIC COMMENTS Mr. Chuck Elliott, 543 John Street, was present to ask what the city has been doing with respect to his neighbor parking his RV in his driveway and operating a business out of the vehicle. Chief Piotraschke informed Mr. Elliot that he does not have the latitude to make comments regarding the matter. The biggest problem is Mr. Elliott's perception of what can and should be done versus the city staffs' perception from a professional 'and legal standpoint. Councilmember Dwyer stated that Council is looking at a draft of a proposed recreational vehicle ordinance that may or may not address some of the issues Mr. Elliott is raising. HIDDEN CREEK GRADING Council acknowledged a memo from Public Works Director AND DRAINAGE Danielson regarding Hidden Creek storm water drainage. Mr. Mike St. Martin, from Loucks Associates was present to answer questions raised by Council on October 1. Mayor Mertensotto stated that he had received a complaint from the neighbors on Marie Avenue who said that construction equipment has been going through the creek at several places and have destroyed the bed of the creek. At the October 1 meeting, Council asked Mr. Paul McGinley if he was aware of the situation and further asked him to take photos and report back. Mr. St. Martin showed Council and the audience a number of photos that had been taken since the October 1 meeting. He stated that the particular situation he is addressing is where Marie creek crosses two lots. There was a temporary crossing of the creek area to get the earth moving equipment back to the pond. That land bridge has been removed. Also, a temporary 24 inch culvert has been placed under the newly graded entrance road to maintain the creek flow. There is a lot of rip rap and field stone in the creek. As part of the construction, four berms will be created to slow the creek down. Mayor Mertensotto asked Mr. St. Martin what his plan is to stabilize the creek bed. Mr. St. Martin responded that the plan is to have a four foot rip rap bed on top of the pipe in the areas that were disturbed and ditch in areas where there is no disruption. Page No. 4 October 15, 2002 Ms. Susan Maas, 1730 Dodd Road, stated that she is not getting her garbage cans delivered back to her until late in the week. Also, Pine Creek is dammed up. She asked if the creek will get flowing again. Mr. St. Martin responded that the crossing of Pine Creek where a proposed lot is going through is blocked periodically so that they can bring materials in. It will be opened up as rainfall is imminent and before the weekend. 'He stated that the area will be disturbed numerous times as construction is going on. Mayor Mertensotto suggested that Ms. Maas call Loucks and check with them when she notices something. Responding to a question from Mr. Chris Moller, 1730 Dodd Road, Mr. St. Martin reviewed the construction schedule. HIDDEN CREEK — XCEL Council acknowledged a memo from Public Works Director PERMIT Danielson in response to an application from Xcel Energy for a permit to extend gas and electric service to the Hidden Creek project. Mayor Mertensotto stated that Xcel is ready to install underground utilities at Hidden Creek and Town Center. He felt that it would be foolhardy for Council to say it will not give Xcel permission to proceed without having the franchise agreement in place. He recommended granting the permit to put the utilities in for both projects absent a franchise agreement. In the meantime, the city will be negotiating an agreement with Xcel. Councilmember Dwyer moved to grant an exception to Xcel Energy from having to comply with the franchise ordinance for both Hidden Creek and Town center. Counci]member Schneeman seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 TOWN CENTER FINAL Council acknowledged the final plat for Town Center along with PLAT an associated memo from Public Works Director Danielson. Mr. Danielson stated that developer Ross Feffercorn would like Town Center Boulevard changed to Market Street. Mayor Mertensotto stated that Council does not want to get into the same situation it did with the frontage road in Crown Point. If Market Street is run to the end, the off ramp comes into the Page No. 5 October 15, 2002 development and the rest of it could still be frontage road. He had no objection to changing the name of the street to Market Street. Councilmember Krebsbach recommended that it be called Market Place because it has a larger connotation and Mendota Heights does not identify with "street" as much. Mayor Mertensotto commented that all of the other roadways in the plat are named "street." Councilmember Krebsbach stated that Mr. Feffercorn is open to considering "Place" and will take the suggestion to his marketing people. Administrator Lindberg stated that the street names need to be put on the final plat soon so that it can be finalized. Councilmember Dwyer stated that the consensus is that Council does not want it to be named Town Center Boulevard. He suggested that Council defer to Mr. Feffercorn, and if he wants Market Street, that is fine, or if he feels Market Place is equally acceptable, let him make the choice. He must make the decision by 4:00 p.m. on October 16 so that the plat can be finalized. Councihnember Vitelli moved adoption of Resolution No. 02 -62, "RESOLUTION APPROVING FINAL PLAT FOR MENDOTA HEIGHTS TOWN CENTER," and further, that the frontage road adjacent to westbound T.H. 110 be named either Market Street or Market Place at the discretion of the developer, and if he makes no decision by 4:00 p.m. on October 16, the street will be named Market Street. Councilmember Schneeman seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 AIRPORT NOISE REDUCTION Council acknowledged a memo from Administrator Lindberg COMMITTEE regarding letters submitted by the Rogers Lake East Airport Noise Reduction Committee for submission to the MAC. Council also acknowledged a communication from City Attorney Tom Hart regarding the draft letters. Mr. Guy Heide was present on behalf of the committee. Mr. Heide stated that this is a follow up to the September 17 meeting discussion wherein the recommendation was that the committee come up with a draft letter for review by the Airport Relations Page No. 6 October 15, 2002 Commission, which has been done. Revisions were made to the first draft and the new letters are identified as Rough Draft #2. The ARC recommended that one letter be sent to the MAC Chair and one to Mr. Robert Vorpahl regarding the MAC CIP budget. He has received some communication from the MAC and has tried to modify the letter so that it is sensitive to their concerns. He is asking that MAC listen to his committee's presentation. He thinks that when a letter is written to the commission, it goes to staff and the letter is considered by the general counsel who reports to the Executive Director and obviously wants to defend the interest of the Executive Director. He stated that his committee is asking for the commissioners to hear the presentation themselves and form their own decisions. He stated that he brought along a copy of the letter from MAC, and Council may wish to table the matter until it has an opportunity to review the letter. It may be best to table the matter out of fairness to Council. Mayor Mertensotto read Attorney Hart's comments for the audience. Mr. Hart cautioned Council not to get into a situation where Council is a trier of fact. Mayor Mertensotto stated that he does not think the letters are telling MAC anything new. All of the MAC commissioners are aware of what is going on, and writing to each of the individual commissioners would make it look like the city is C trying to work through them individually. Attorney Hart recommended that Council sent a letter encouraging MAC to work with the Rogers Lake residents to come up with a procedure and forum in which the dispute can be fairly resolved. He agreed with Attorney Hart's recommendation. Mr. Heide stated that he is in total agreement. Mayor Mertensotto suggested that Council table the matter and instruct the City Administrator to work with Attorney Hart in drafting a letter. Councilmember Dwyer stated that in the event that MAC is not responsive to the letter, Council should consider what the next step would be. Councilmember Schneeman asked Mr. Heide if he wants to present the same program to MAC that he presented to Council. Mr. Heide responded that it would be the same presentation and that the commissioners have not seen the presentation. C Page No. 7 October 15, 2002 Councilmember Krebsbach recommended that Mr. Heide prepare a sheet of information where he would cite sources and what he sees as the net offset on Bloomington and Mendota Heights based on the information he has received. Mr. Mike Kosel stated that ARC Commissioner Petschell was concerned that the cities around the airport were requested to send a letter to MAC regarding budgetary concerns. Mayor Mertensotto stated that he thinks the budget has pretty well been set in terms of the home insulation program. At any time they can set aside money to do things they want to do. He did not think MAC would hold up the budgetprocess just because Mendota Heights wants something. He felt that Attorney Hart made the appropriate recommendation. Council referred the matter to the City Administrator and City Attorney for preparation of a letter. RV ORDINANCE Council acknowledged a memo from Assistant Hollister regarding Planning Commission comments with respect to a proposed draft amendment to the Zoning Ordinance regarding recreational vehicles. Administrator Lindberg stated that this item has been before Council a few times. At the recent goal setting session, Council directed staff to prepare a draft ordinance. The Planning Commission reviewed the draft at their last meeting, and staff is bringing it to Council this evening for Council's initial review. The draft has not yet been reviewed by the City Attorney. Mayor Mertensotto stated that the Planning Commission recommended that the eight foot height limit be increased to ten feet and the 22 foot length be changed to 23 feet. The problem the city has always had is the exceptionally high garage doors that are needed to accommodate the taller RV's. Those structures have a tendency to become used for commercial operations. Council must be careful when developing an RV ordinance. He stated that he noticed in the Hiawatha Avenue area there are three homes that have RV's parked on blacktopped pads, and those people have obviously had the pads for their RV's for quite a while. It is also the case on Wagon Wheel Trail, where Council required storage on a blacktopped area behind the house. Council must be very careful to address the concerns over use of RV's for businesses and must be very careful not to expand the RV ordinance. Page No. 8 October 15, 2002 Councilmember Schneeman stated that the Planning Commission was talking about the size of the RV's and not the size of garages. Administrator Lindberg stated that the commission recommendations were about the height and length of the vehicles. Mayor Mertensotto responded that the commission is discussing storage of the RV's. Councilmember Dwyer stated that if an RV is taller than 10 feet and longer than 23 feet, it would not be allowed. Administrator Lindberg responded that the vehicle could not be stored in a driveway. The ordinance would not prohibit individuals from parking larger RV's in their side or rear yards. Councilmember Schneeman stated that the draft ordinance applies only to outside storage or parking. Administrator Lindberg stated that the existing ordinance language does not define parking or storage, and that is the problem the city is trying to resolve. The way the new language was drafted, it is not necessary to define parking and storage. Councilmember Dwyer recommended that the draft go to a public hearing with the Planning Commission's recommendations as the body of the draft and see what the public has to say. Mayor Mertensotto stated that he is sure Council will hear from people from the north end. Council has been given a draft ordinance and it should go to public hearing before the Planning Commission. Council cannot make up their minds before the commission holds a hearing and makes a recommendation. Councilmember Schneeman stated that Commissioner Betlej suggested that in subdivisions around ponds, rear yard storage should be prohibited. She agreed with the recommendation. Councilmember Dwyer stated that he has not made up his mind about the proposed draft. All Council is doing is sending it to the commission for hearing. Councilmember Vitelli stated that Council should hear from the public on the matter. He stated that it will be a contentions issue, and questioned whether there is a serious RV problem in the city. Page No. 9 October 15, 2002 Administrator Lindberg responded that staff does receive complaints. The issue came up when a Councilmember received a complaint. Councilmember Dwyer pointed out that Mr. Elliott has constantly complained about parking of an RV. Administrator Lindberg stated that staff will work with the city attorney to prepare a draft for the Planning Commission public hearing and will post information on the city's web site. The hearing could be at either the November of January commission meeting. Councilmember Vitelli stated that on one hand this does not seem t be worthh all the time and effort, but on the other hand he has had calls and complaints. In spite of the fact that he does not relish going through this, he thinks Council should invite the people in and hear what they have to say. In the end, Council can choose not to adopt an amendment. Councilmember Dwyer moved to direct the Planning Commission to conduct a public hearing on the proposed ordinance and either make their recommendation at that time or table action. Councilmember Schneeman seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 METROPOLITAN Council Council acknowledged a memo from Administrator Lindberg REDISTRICTING regarding three redistricting proposals put forth by the PROPOSAL Metropolitan Council Redistricting Advisory Group. Mayor Mertensotto stated that he does not like Mendota Heights being included in the same district as St. Paul. That would be taking the city out of the context of the Dakota County communities. He stated that he is adamantly opposed to Mendota Heights being included with any other communities outside of Dakota County. Administrator Lindberg stated that the Advisory Group is taking comments, and she will communicate the city's position to them tomorrow. This is just an advisory, and the group will make a recommendation to the legislature at the start of the 2003 session. Mayor Mertensotto stated that Dakota County is also very concerned, because Burnsville is proposed to go with Scott County. 1. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 Page No. 10 October 15, 2002 Councilmember Vitelli moved to adamantly oppose the city being included in any representative district that would take the city outside the Dakota County communities, that the Metropolitan Council should not be redistricted independent of county boundaries, and further that the advisory commission be asked that if they make a recommendation contrary in any manner to what Council is adamantly opposed to, that they notify Council well in advance of the final decision so that Council can determine what action to take. Councilmember Dwyer seconded the motion. Staff was directed to inform District Representative Tom Eagan of Council's concerns. Councilmember Krebsbach moved to conduct a budget workshop on Tuesday, November 12 at 7:00 p.m. Councilmember Dwyer seconded the motion. COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Schneeman informed Council that two park benches (donated through the park bench donation program) have been installed and are beautiful. She expressed appreciation to the Public Works crew for getting them installed. Councilmember Krebsbach thanked Councilmember Schneeman for her work on the program. She stated that residents really enjoy the bench at Lexington and Marie. LEGISLATIVE POLICIES Mayor Mertensotto asked if staff has any recommendations about the AMM legislative policies. Councilmember Krebsbach stated that staff should be watchful of any legislation regarding local government's right to zone and should also watch metro governance. Administrator Lindberg asked Council to get their comments to her and she will give feedback to the AMM. ADJOURN There being no further business to come before Council, Councilmember Dwyer moved that the meeting be adjourned. Page No. 11 October 15, 2002 Councilmember Schneeman seconded the motion. Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 Kat&en M. Swanson City Clerk ATTEST: Charles E. Mertensotto Mayor