1984-05-22 Council minutesPage No. 2028
May 22, 1984
CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS
DAKOTA COUNTY
STATE OF MINNESOTA
Minutes of the Special Meeting
Held Tuesday, May 22, 1984
Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the special joint meeting of the City
Council and Planning Commission was held at 7:15 o'clock P.M., at City Hall,
750 South Plaza Drive, Mendota Heights, Minnesota.
Mayor Lockwood called the meeting to order at 7:18 o'clock P.M. The following
members were present: Mayor Lockwood, Councilmembers Hartmann and Blesener.
Councilmembers Mertensotto and Witt were absent. All Planning Commission members
were present.
DISCUSSION OF
HOUSING COMPONENT
OF COMPREHENSIVE
PLAN
Ayes: 3
Nays: 0
City Administrator Frazell introduced Mr. Guy Peterson and Ms.
Anna Stern, of the Metropolitan Council housing staff.
Mr. Peterson began by showing the Council and Planning Commission
the Metropolitan Council's slide presentation "Where Will Our
Children Live." Peterson and Stern then followed up with some
further slides and statistics about the cost and demand for
housing in the Twin Cities area.
Following, the Council and Commission had a lengthy question and
answer period with the representatives of the Council's housing
staff, regarding types of things communities could do to make housing
more affordable, and the "fair share housing allocation" that needs
to be incorporated into Mendota Heights' Comprehensive Plan.
Mayor Lockwood moved to direct that the housing component of the
Comprehensive Plan, as originally prepared in draft form by
Planner Howard Dahlgren, be brought out for review and comment by
the Planning Commission, with the Commission to forward it to the
Council with a recommendation.
Councilman Hartmann seconded the motion.
The group discussed the fact that the draft housing component
was put together by Planner Dahlgren several years ago, and that
there had been many changes in the housing market since that time
that would probably necessitate some fine tuning of the plan by
the staff and the Planning Commission.
Councilwoman Blesener asked what were the implications of the City's
not doing anything, in other words, not complying with the fair
share housing allocation. Planner Dahlgren explained that when
adopted, the Metropolitan Council's "clout" was the A-95 review
process, whereby they commented on and essentially allocated all
federal funds in the metropolitan area. Because of the fact that
Mendota Heights had not adopted an acceptable housing component to
its plan, Planner Dahlgren said that we had been very unsuccessful
in receiving federal funds for such projects as parks development.
ADJOURN
Ayes: 3
Nays: 0
ATTEST:
4
Page No. 20 29
May 22, 1984
City Administrator Kevin Frazell commented that what Planner
Dahlgren was talking about were the tangible specific implications
of not complying. On the other hand, he said he thought there
were some intangibles, that being a good relationship with the
Metropolitan Council. Administrator Frazell pointed out that
Mendota Heights is located next to the Metropolitan Airport, is
hooked into the metropolitan sewer system, has metropolitan busses
going through it every day, and that further, on such specific
issues as the siting of the race track, Mendota Heights expects
to be able to make its position known to the Metropolitan Council
and to have a sensitivity to its concerns. He added that therefore,
he thought it was also in the City's interest to maintain. a
credible and amenable relationship with the metropolitan agencies.
Planner Dahlgren indicated that the City of Roseville had adopted wit
its comprehensive plan the housing component with the fair share
allocations, but essentially nothing had happened, because Roseville,
like Mendota Heights, tends to have very expensive land, making it
very difficult to develop affordable housing.
Planning Commission Chairperson Cameron Kruse said that he was very
much in favor of not only adopting an acceptable housing plan, but
of also putting those policies into practice. However, he said he
was not in favor of waiving density requirements unless it could
be insured that it was going to result in some true cost savings to
the buyer, and would not merely put more money in the pockets of
the developer.
There being no further business to come before the Council,
Councilman Hartmann moved that the meeting be adjourned.
Councilwoman Blesener seconded the motion.
TIME OF ADJOURNMENT: 10:18 o'clock P.M.
Robert G. Lockwood
Maycrr
7
Kevin D. Frazell
City Administrator