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HomeMy Public PortalAbout01/16/01 CCM9 MEDINA CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF JANUARY 16, 2001 The City Council of Medina, Minnesota met in regular session on January 16, 2001 at 7:30 p.m. in the City Hall Chambers. Mayor John Ferris presided. Members present: Ferris, Lane, Smith, Workman, and Zietlow. Members absent: None. Also present: Police Chief Ed Belland, Attorney Ron Batty, Public Works Director Jim Dillman, City Engineer Tom Kellogg, Planning & Zoning Administrator Loren Kohnen, and Administrator Clerk -Treasurer Paul Robinson. 1. Additions to the Agenda A. Introduction of New Fire Fighters for the Long Lake Fire Department. B. Update on the Hays Drywall Conditional Use Permit C. Approval of the Cates Plat. Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion passed unanimously. 2. Long Lake Fire Department Steve Persian, Chief of the Long Lake Fire Department, introduced the new officers for the fire department. He introduced Steve Schmidt as the Assistant Chief, Tony Roe as the Safety Officer. 3. Consent Agenda A. Reschedule Wald Easement Vacation Hearing. B. Approve Golden Gloves Boxing Events. C. Approve Turn in Poachers Organization Gambling License for Raffle Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve the consent agenda as presented. Motion passed unanimously. 4. Comments from Residents in Attendance on Items Not on the Agenda There were none. 5. Park Commission Comments Jim Dillman said this Saturday Uptown Hamel is having their annual winter party. 6. Planning Commission Comments Loren Kohnen said the next Implementation Committee meeting will be at the American Legion in Uptown Hamel. 7. Feasibility Report on the Trunk Highway 55 and Willow Intersection Improvements Tom Kellogg said he would go over the highlights of the proposal. He said a combination of improvements are being proposed. Basically, the intersection is being realigned so that it is closer to a square intersection. With this improvement, there will be a 90% sight distance increase. He said this project will widen Highway 55 so that there will be a right and a left turn lane. There will also be a right and left turn lane on Willow. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2001 10 He said Willow to the south of the railroad tracks will be widened and there will be an extension and realignment of the frontage road going into Rockier and Temroc. Additionally, Chippewa will be realigned further north. They will also be closing a number of accesses, with QX being the most notable. Access to M & P, Lingens and other will be closed as well. DMJ will end up with a right in right out. He said the goal of this improvement is to increase the safety of this intersection and limit direct access to Trunk Highway 55. He said that there are several other accesses, two small parcels owned by Polaris, they will need to gain access, the deeds to the access to those as well as the remainder of the properties from there to the west. Kellogg said since Midland Nursery is landlocked, they are not able to change Midland Nursery's current access so they will be able to retain full access. He said that the cost estimate for the total project at this point is $1,578,000. He said a table of those improvements was included on page 13. He said that a signal justification request has been submitted to MnDOT as of today. We have had no formal approval of that signal justification report. He said that we should get some word on that within the next four to six weeks. He said if they do approve the signal there is no guarantee for funding. He said that they prioritize signals on an annual basis and he is not sure how high this would rank on the priorities. He said that so far MnDOT will provide the City around $594,500. The remaining $983,500 will be the City's share. He said closing of the QX access would get the City an additional $100,000 which is sort of an all or nothing deal, and would equal the cost of the frontage road. He said currently they are proposing assessing the project based on those who are in a primary area that have greater access to the signal and greater usage potential, and those in a secondary area that may still access and use the intersection, but are not the primary users. He said currently this would cost around $2,280 per acre for those in the primary area and about $1,140 per acre for those in the secondary. Kellogg said is may be possible to use tax increment financing dollars to reduce the cost of the total assessment. He said a schedule of how this project could proceed is included on page 15. He said the first step is to have the Council schedule a public hearing for the improvement and authorize the preliminary design. He said they need to get going with the soil borings and some other design issues in order to have the assessment hearing. He said this is a very aggressive schedule, but he thinks that it is doable. There were some questions from the Council regarding whether or not money for the intersection improvement was tied to the signal. Tom Kellogg said that the $500,000 for the intersection improvement is not tied in any way to the cost of the signal. There were some questions about whether or not the City should go forward with the intersection improvements if the signal is not approved. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2001 11 There was some concern that without approval for the signal, that the intersection improvements may not be as warranted at this time and it might limit the City's leverage for a signal in the future. There was some concern about the signal justification report. Tom Kellogg said that hopefully they will have an answer between now and the public hearing for the improvement, however, before the public hearing they would like to get some survey work done, and some of the initial soil borings and site analysis. Bruce Workman said that it does not look like this light issue will go away. He was concerned about moving ahead with this public improvement before the signal justification report is approved. Carolyn Smith said she thought the intersection improvements would need to be done whether or not there was a signal in place. She does not want to see the City lose $500,000 in funding from MnDOT because we did not move fast enough. Tom Kellogg said if we are going to proceed on schedule, the Council would need to hold a public hearing on the improvement at the second meeting in February and the preliminary design work would have to be looked at by the Council at the first meeting in February. There was some discussion about the tax increment financing. Phil Zietlow said that it seems like the City may need to use tax increment financing to bring down the total cost of the assessments. Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the feasibility study. Motion passed unanimously. Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Bruce Workman, to authorize an assessment and improvement hearing for the March 6, 2001 Council meeting, contingent upon the City receiving approval on the signal justification report, if approval was not reached by the first meeting in February, then staff was to address that with the Council to set an alternate date for the hearing. Motion passed unanimously. 8. Variance Request for Wetland Setback for a Septic System Loren Kohnen said this issues is being brought back to the Council. He said the request is for a 25-foot variance to the 75-foot setback in the City's septic ordinance. He said he tried to address some of the questions of the Council in his memo. There was some discussion about the variance request. The consensus of the Council was that their questions were answered. Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Bruce Workman, to direct the City Attorney to draft a resolution approving the variance as requested. Motion passed unanimously. 9. Vacation of the Easement for Cates Ron Batty said we need to set a public hearing for the first meeting in February to vacate the easements for the Cates plat for the realignment of Chippewa Road. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2001 12 Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to set a public hearing to vacate the easements on the Cates plat for the first meeting in February. Motion passed unanimously. 9. Update on the Conditional Use Permit Violations at Hays Drywall Ron Batty said they sent a letter to the property owner regarding the revocation of the Conditional Use Permit. It has been 30 days. Loren Kohnen said he did receive a letter today from him saying that he was out of town and he would get to this right way when he get back. Ron Batty said that we could wait and bring this back to the Council to kick it over for a meeting, or the Council could set a public hearing for a future meeting to address the revocation of the conditional use permit. Loren Kohnen said that if we set it for five weeks from now or so, that would give them enough time to continue to work on the situation with Hays Drywall. Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Bruce Workman, to set a public hearing for the revocation of the Conditional Use Permit for Hays Drywall, for five weeks from today, February 20, 2001. Motion passed unanimously. The hearing would not be set if the Conditional Use Permit violations were removed. 11. Business Park Ordinance Paul Robinson said at the last Council meeting the Council discussed the idea of splitting the two districts. He said staff spends a significant amount of time as a committee looking at this issue and at a number of the remaining issues that were left open from the last meeting. Phil Zietlow said he thought that splitting the districts was a good solution. Carolyn Smith thought so as well, as did John Ferris. Phil thought it was a fair and practical way of addressing some of the issues with non- conforming uses, especially with the existing businesses. Bruce Workman was okay with it in the Business Park. He was not so sure that the Urban Commercial area needed to be split. Jim Lane also believed that splitting the Business Park district seemed to make sense, however, the split in the Urban Commercial, he was not as ready to address that issue. Carolyn Smith said that in the Urban Commercial area, she was okay with not splitting that district and leaving those that are type C non -conforming uses as type C non -conforming uses. Carolyn Smith said that she had an issue under the uses with allowing a foundry as an allowed use in the district. She thought it was a fairly intensive use, that they would not want to see duplicated. Phil Zietlow thought he was okay with the use as long as it was 1,000 feet away from residential. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2001 13 Bruce Workman said that for the long-term interest of the City, it needs to be paramount. We have a limited commercial area and would like to have the highest value uses possible in that area. That would be kind of a reduction in the amount of warehouse space and an increase in the amount of office space. In order to think ahead, it may not be what is most in demand today, but over the long run, may be a better use for the City. Carolyn Smith said they were looking towards more corporate headquarters type buildings rather than foundries. There was some discussion, about the conditional use permit chart attached, as well as the use chart. After some additional discussion the consensus of the Council was to split the Business Park. Bill Thibault said that staff would work on amending the ordinance to split the Business Park. He said that some wording may be different. He said that there may be some light industrial uses that would be eliminated from the Business Park and some industrial uses eliminated from the Business Park, and that staff may revisit the purpose clause for the new district. He clarified that at this time they will not be trying to split the Urban Commercial district. There was some discussion about whether or not TC Monorail and some of the other uses in the Urban Commercial should be put into the new district. Staff was to consider that. The next issue was height. Bruce Workman said that he was okay with 30-35 foot height. That would allow for a two to three story office building rather than a one-story office/warehouse. There was a significant amount of discussion. At the end, Bill Thibault clarified that the height would remain 30 feet, 35 feet if sprinkled, yet height considerations would be reviewed as a site plan approval process. Phil Zietlow said that it seemed to be fair to allow businesses to be as high as homes are on neighboring residential properties. There was some discussion about whether or not warehouse buildings or commercial buildings could be camouflaged, or architecturally controlled in some ways, to look residential when facing residential districts. There was some discussion on whether or not religious uses should be restricted from the Business Park district. In the end it was decided to exclude churches and other religious institutions from the Business Park. Currently, loading docks were to be oriented away from residential and completely screened. There was some discussion about what completely screened meant. Mike Leuer said that along Chippewa Road that if loading docks needed to be completely screened, it would eliminate a lot of the uses they are considering for their property. Bruce Workman said that this is a huge issue regarding loading docks. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2001 14 Bruce Workman said if you cannot see the loading docks from residential, then it may not matter how close they are. If they are visible from the residential district, then they need to be at least 600. If it is not visible, then they could be closer. Marc Anderson of Lundgren Brothers said that they provided some sample language for the screening of loading docks. They thought that loading docks should be completely screened and that if there are areas where, because of the wetlands and other grade issues they could not be screened, that then they should be at least 1,320 feet between the loading docks and the residential areas. Terry Schneider said that there was some discussion about site plan approval process and he thought that as part of the site plan approval that staff could work out with the developer the buffers and screening required in order to adequately screen the loading docks and that an additional distance would not need to be applied. He thought that would be a better place to take into the consideration the uniqueness of the other property and the building. There was a concern raised by a number of property owners that complete screening of the loading docks would be difficult, if not impossible. Especially since many portions of properties can be seen from certain angles from the residential districts. Carolyn Smith said that loading docks could be screened in a way that they do not look like a big back of the building. There could be trees and berms and ways to minimize the impact of the doors and loading area. The overall consensus of the Council was that in some way, loading dock areas should be screened. Carolyn Smith said that those businesses that want to have loading docks just need to orient their businesses away from the residential districts. Bruce Workman thought that loading docks could be within 300 feet if they were oriented away from the residential district. Marc Anderson clarified that what he believed the Council was discussing was that they be completely screened, which means you cannot see the loading dock. There was some discussion about whether or not the 10% was an okay number for the number of feet of the perimeter that could be taken up by loading docks. They were okay with that. The next issue was the courtyard for allowing for an entrance and an exit. They were okay with allowing entrances and exits. The Council then discussed the definition of warehouse space. The consensus agreed with the revised definition of warehouse space. The next issue was the issue of outside storage, whether or not to modify to allow rolling stock or a certain number of vehicles. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2001 15 Jim Lane thought the Business Park concept included minimizing all outside storage. After some discussion, the Council was okay with modifying the outside storage definition in the district that was going to be set up for the existing businesses, but to leave the outside storage definition as is for the Business Park District. There was some discussion about the vehicle portion of the outside storage. Based on some conversations with businesses, it seemed worthwhile to look towards allowing a certain minimum number of vehicles to be stored outside. A provision was to be worked on by staff and brought back to the Council. The next issue preserving the grade. The three possibilities were proposed. The Council chose the second one in the memo as proposed by the City's planning consultant. Then the Council discussed the hardcover provision. There was no change in the amount of hardcover. The wetland set -back remained at the 30 feet if such areas remained as natural vegetation, if they are not, they need to be 50 feet back. There was some discussion about whether or not the City should do traffic impact analysis on the development of the Business Park. There was a significant amount of concern from Council members about the traffic that will be caused by the area. They thought that some analysis of this should be addressed in the future, and maybe the cost of this could be shared amongst the property owners in the area. Robinson said that there had been some concern raised about modulation. Kohnen said he had some problems with modulation because of the looseness of the definition. He asked the Council if staff could take another look at this issue to see if we could come up with more of a definitive definition. The Council was okay with the staff working on another change to the modulation definition. Staff was to work on these changes and bring back the ordinance at the next Council meeting. 12. Goal Setting Session Jim Dillman said there was some talk about looking at goals for the community. He thought that it might be interesting for the Council to look at goals that had been set in 1989-1990, and which had been and which hadn't been accomplished. 13. Garbage Collection Jim Dillman said that as a part of the survey they had been planning on asking about garbage collection. We will have to see how people respond. Carolyn Smith said if the whole City goes together you can get a better rate, but over time, you foster less competition and rates go back up. However, with the consolidation in the garbage industry, you may end up with only one hauler no matter what. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2001 16 There was a question about who were the current haulers. Superior and Randy's Sanitation were the two current haulers in the City. Jim Dillman said there used to be three areas, however, Randy bought out BFI's stops in the City. Ron Batty said the consolidation is not something new in the garbage business. Jim Dillman said they will continue to work on this issue and get back to the Council before the agreements expire on January 1, 2001 — he said that this won't be a problem since the haulers will continue service until we complete the survey and answer questions about garbage service for the long run. 14. Cherry Hill Drainage Jim Dillman said a while back the City Council discussed creating a park and cleaning up the drainage storage pond for Cherry Hill. The Park Commission held a public information meeting and the Cherry Hill residents were almost unanimously opposed to the plan for the park, but were in favor of cleaning up the pond. He said that over the years this pond has filled with sediment, and he proposes to haul this sediment and material to the Hamel Legion Park where the additional fill is needed. He said the cost for doing this is around $15,000 to $20,000 which could be taken out of the general fund for road projects. Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to authorize staff to spend between $15,000-$20,000 for cleaning out the Cherry Hill pond. Motion passed unanimously, 15. Authorization to Seek Bids for Materials and Equipment There was some discussion about the bid list and about contractors that were bidding on projects that are located in the City and are in violation of their conditional use permits. Jim Lane said that he would like to limit those that we provide the information to automatically, to those that are not in violation of their conditional use permits. Moved by Jim Lane, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to authorize staff to seek road material and equipment bids with the stipulation that those businesses included on the bid list not include contractors that are in violation of their conditional use permit. Motion passed unanimously. 16. Request from Maple Plain to Consider Providing Them with Police Service Ed Belland said that Chief McCoy was directed to seek bids from some neighboring cities for police service. There are some issues in the City of Maple Plain, and they are potentially looking for some leverage in their contract negotiations. There was some discussion. Bruce Workman said that he did not see any upside. The consensus of the Council was that they did not have any interest in providing service at this point. Moved by Bruce Workman, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to decline providing Maple Plain with a bid for police service at this time. Motion passed unanimously. Medina City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2001 17 17. Fee Schedule Paul Robinson said that they have done a significant amount of research on the fees and are providing the Council with an updated fee schedule for comments. There was some discussion. Staff was directed to provide some additional information on senior rates for sewer and bring that back to the Council. 18. Pay the Bills Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve the bills, order check numbers 21925-21991 for $142,110.70,and payroll check numbers 16911-16931 for $21, 885.91. Motion passed unanimously. 19. Adjournment Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by John Ferris, to adjourn the meeting at 11:45 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. B. Ferris, Mayor Attest Paul Robinson, Administrator Clerk -Treasurer Medina City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2001 18 (THIS PAGE LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY) Medina City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2001 19 ORDER CHECKS - JANUARY 16, 2001 21925 A.T.& T $40.25 21926 AMERICAN EXPRESS $990.64 21927 AMERIPRIDE LINEN & APPAREL SVC $57.95 21928 ASPEN ENVIRONMENTAL $121.78 21929 AWWA $55.00 21930 BARTON SAND & GRAVEL $173.15 21931 BATTERIES PLUS $20.41 21932 BONESTROO, ROSENE, ANDERLIK $15,299.09 21933 BUDGET PRINTING $950.12 21934 CHRISTENSON, JEREMY $1,000.00 21935 CIPHER LABORATORIES $911.00 21936 CORPRO COMPANIES, INC $465.00 21937 CY'S UNIFORMS $779.96 21938 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY $270.00 21939 E-Z-RECYCLING $2,552.22 21940 ERICKSON, ROLF ENT., INC. $3,576.79 21941 ESS BROS. & SONS, INC. $169.34 21942 FORTIN HARDWARE $32.01 21943 G. L. CONTRACTING $1,562.85 21944 GARY'S DIESEL SERVICE $52.56 21945 GENUINE PARTS $112.99 21946 GLENWOOD INGLEWOOD $73.25 21947 HAMEL BUILDING CENTER $224.62 21948 HAMEL FIRE DEPARTMENT $33,250.00 21949 HENN.CO. CHIEFS OF POLICE $40.00 21950 HENNEPIN COUNTY SHERIFF $372.09 21951 HIGHWAY 55 RENTAL $241.32 21952 HOENE & KRAUSE, P.A. $2,254.35 21953 HOLIDAY $11.90 21954 HOME DEPOT/GECF $144.22 21955 LAKE BUSINESS SUPPLY $134.06 21956 LMCIT $15,179.00 21957 M.R.W.A $200.00 21958 MASYS CORPORATION $1,996.88 21959 MCGILL, CHRISTOPHER $134.19 21960 METRO.000NCIL ENVIRO. SERVICES $8,118.40 21961 MIDWEST AUTOMOTIVE $380.89 21962 MINN COMM $30.69 21963 MINNESOTA COUNTY ATTORNEYS $24.05 21964 MINNESOTA STATE TREASURER $2,058.15 21965 MUNICIPALS $20.00 21966 NEXTEL WEST CORP $551.25 21967 ORCHARD TRUST CO $880.00 Medina City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2001 20 ORDER CHECKS — JANUARY 16, 2001 (CONT'D) 21968 PERRY'S TRUCK REPAIR $53.25 21969 PIONEER-SARAH CREEK $2,205.28 21970 PRIEM, JON $589.19 21971 PROTOCOL COMMUNICATIONS, INC. $25.00 21972 PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE CO. OF AM $140.30 21973 QWEST $104.00 21974 REYNOLDS WELDING $26.41 21975 SAFETY TECHNOLOGY GROUP, INC $110.84 21976 STREICHER'S $92.99 21977 TALLEN & BAERTSCHI $1,917.34 21978 THORPE DISTRIBUTING $32,069.21 21979 TWIN CITY GARAGE DOOR $311.33 21980 TWIN CITY WATER CLINIC $20.00 21981 U.S. FILTER/WATERPRO $3,652.64 21982 VALVOLINE FLEET SERVICES $79.71 21983-84 VERIZON WIRELESS $195.86 21985 WESTONKA COMPUTING $118.75 21986 WESTSIDE WHOLESALE TIRE $120.00 21987 WRIGHT-HENNEPIN ELECTRIC $74.69 21988 XCEL ENERGY $984.15 21989 XEROX CORPORATION $145.04 21990 ZEP MANUFACTURING $209.43 21991 P.E.R.A. $3,352.87 Total Checks $142,110.70 Medina City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2001 21 PAYROLL CHECKS - JANUARY 16, 2001 16911 SCHERER, STEVEN T. $1,487.30 ` i , 16912 DRESSEL, ROBERT P. $1,381.21 16913 ROUILLARD, MICHAEL J $1,335.69 16914 ROBINSON, PAUL A. $1,306.05 16915 SCHERER, STEVEN T. $1,063.39 16916 MCGILL, CHRISTOPHER R. $1,132.90 16917 ROUILLARD, MICHAEL J $625.52 16918 DILLMAN, JAMES D. $1,535.09 16919 DRESSEL, ROBERT P. $1,048.74 16920 BELLAND, EDGAR J. $1,977.51 16921 VIEAU, CECILIA M. $1,036.35 16922 DINGMANN, IVAN W $55.41 16923 SULANDER, LAURA L $1,075.51 16924 LARSON, SANDRA L. $970.14 16925 BOECKER, KEVIN D. $183.95 16926 PRIEM, JON D 1,419.77 16927 CHRISTENSON, JEREMY L. $1,221.79 16928 NYSTROM, JAMES $1,406.17 16929 KASTER, BONNIE $82.44 16930 NELSON, JASON $1,011.53 16931 LARSON, TODD A $529.45 Total Checks $21,885.91 Medina City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2001 22 (THIS PAGE LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY) Medina City Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2001