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MEDINA CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 20, 2001
The City Council of Medina, Minnesota met in regular session on February 20, 2001 at 7:30 p.m. in
the City Hall Chambers. Mayor John Ferris presided.
Members present: Ferris, Zietlow, Workman, Smith. Lane arrived at 9:40 p.m.
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. Changed Cates Plat from Consent Agenda Item to Public Hearing.
B. The TH 55 and Willow Intersection Improvement Item was combined with the Tax Increment
Financing Item under Administration.
C. Update from the Planning & Zoning Administrator.
Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Bruce Workman, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion
passed unanimously.
2. Approval of the Minutes from the February 6, 2001 City Council Meeting
Jim Lane had E-mailed his comments. He would like the third paragraph from the bottom on page 1
deleted. On page 5, fifth paragraph under Business Park - Loading Dock, he would like deleted as
well. On Page 9, the motion under Industrial Park Building Material, those that opposed the motion
were Lane, Zietlow and Smith, not Workman, Zietlow and Smith.
Moved by Bruce Workman, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the February 6, 2001 minutes as
corrected. Motion passed unanimously.
3. Comments from Residents in Attendance on Items Not on the Agenda
There were none.
4. Park Commission Comments
There were none.
5. Planning Commission Comments
There were none.
6. Planning Commission Appointments
Paul Robinson said there were five applicants for the one open seat. He said that one of the five
applicants was Jerry Brost who was requesting to be reappointed to the Planning Commission.
Robinson said that in the City's Ordinance, the Planning Commission's size was still considered to
be nine members. He said recently the Council has been keeping the Commission at seven
members.
Robinson said it would still, however, be possible for the Council to appoint up to three
Commissioners.
There was some discussion by the Council about whether or not to appoint three Commissioners
and bring the Planning Commission back to nine members.
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February 20, 2001
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Some Council Members spoke in favor of this. There were some concerns raised by other Council
Members that the reason that they had been keeping the Planning Commission at seven was
because of problems the Commission had with attaining quorums for certain meetings.
Loren Kohnen felt that when there were nine members there wasn't a significant problem. He said
there were a couple of meetings when applicants items were not able to be considered. However, if
the Council wanted to go back to nine members, they would probably not have many problems.
Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Bruce Workman, to bring the Planning Commission back to
nine members. Motion passed unanimously.
The Council heard from the residents who had applied to be on the Planning Commission and were
in attendance.
Sharon Johnson said she was a homeowner, and had recently renovated an old farm house in the
City of Medina. She felt that she had good background in corporate planning and bookkeeping and
would be a very devoted Planning Commissioner.
Ron Johnson was not in attendance.
Mary Verbick said that she did not have a lot of experience with planning issues. However, she felt
that Medina was a very unique City and would like to preserve and protect its uniqueness and be
more involved in the City. She said if the City Council was trying to keep a geographical
representation of Planning Commissioners on the Commission, then they may want to consider
someone from the area of Medina where she lives which does not, currently, have any
representation.
Jerry Brost was not in attendance, but had submitted a letter, as had Mark Metzger.
The City Council voted on ballots for the Planning Commissioners, and the three chosen were Mary
Verbick, Sharon Johnson and Jerry Brost.
7. Business Park, Industrial Park, and Urban Commercial Ordinances
Bill Thibault said he would go through the draft and see if there were any additional changes to those
made from the previous meeting. Thibault briefly reviewed the changes, and then Council began
their review of the Business Park Ordinance.
Carolyn Smith said she thought that "products produced on site" should be eliminated from the
definition of retail sales. The Council agreed.
The next item, Carolyn Smith said that on Page 8 and Page 10 there were two references to
requirements that would be 600 feet away from residential. She thought that they had agreed 720
feet. The Council agreed to change these references to 720 feet.
The next item discussed was the screening of the loading docks.
There was a significant amount of discussion and a variety of opinions about how to actually
implement the language completely screened. Some Council Members thought that it was
completely screened at the property line. Some felt that it was completely screened from anywhere
in the residential zones. Ultimately it was understood that if the language "completely screened"
were used, many loading docks would need to be covered with a roof in order not to be seen from
residential zones.
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February 20, 2001
43
The Council felt that completely may be too onerous or too strict and decided to replace it with a
requirement for screening to the fullest extent possible between 300 and 720 feet from residential
zones.
The next item concerned the wetland setback.
Phil Zietlow said the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District was proposing a new rule regulating
setbacks from wetlands.
Ron Batty clarified that this was actually not a setback from the wetland, but a buffer area and that
the watershed did allow encroachments into that area for decks and other items.
There was some discussion by the City Council.
Phil Zietlow said that the watershed's rule require a buffer or setback of 25 feet to any wetland one
acre or less in size, and a 50 foot setback to any wetland over an acre.
After some discussion, the Council agreed to incorporate the 25 to 50 foot setback language into the
wetland setback.
Bill Thibault said there were some other small grammatical errors that would be taken care of and
Figure 1 would be updated to accommodate the changes in the wetland setback.
The next item discussed was the building appearance when adjacent to residential section. There
was a significant amount of discussion about whether or not this accomplished the ultimate goal. In
the end it was decided to add to the title "building appearance when adjacent to residential districts"
and to strike the two words at the end of the last sentence "and dwellings".
Thibault said an appeal section was added to the ordinance. There were no concerns about this
addition.
The last modification was in Subdivision 2 under the review and approval process dealing with major
changes.
Ron Batty said that staff was currently bringing forward to the Planning Commission a new site plan
review process to be included in the zoning ordinance. He recommended language that would
reference this proposed section of the zoning ordinance and delete all of the items currently under
subdivision 2.
Moved by Bruce Workman, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve Ordinance # 325 Business Park
District as amended. Motion passed unanimously.
8. Industrial Park Ordinance
It was agreed that retail sales of products be modified the same way as the Business Park,
eliminating "produced on site from the definition.
They also agreed to include the same wetland setback provision as in the Business Park, 25 feet to
one acre of wetland or less, and 50 feet to wetland over an acre.
The loading dock section was also to be modified the same way as the Business Park as were the
600 foot references on Page 8 and Page 10, to be changed to 720 feet.
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February 20, 2001
44
There was some discussion about modifying the building addition section to clarify the language. In
the last sentence, "to a building that does meet the architectural standards" was to be deleted, and in
the last sentence "Architectural" was added to before "Standards".
Bill Thibault said the performance standards for warehouses as an accessory use on Page 23 were
deleted since warehouses were added to the conditional use section.
The same changes as made in the Business Park Section under review and approval process
section would be made in this ordinance as well.
Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve Ordinance # 326 Industrial Park
District. Motion passed unanimously.
Lane arrived at 9:40 p.m.
9. Urban Commercial Ordinance
Bill Thibault said in addition to the changes at the previous meeting, staff has highlighted some
additional modifications for the Council to consider.
Loren Kohnen said that at one time the Planning Commission discussed reducing the side yard
setback in the Urban Commercial district to better accommodate development on the existing
smaller lots and limit the number of variances requested. He said a 10 foot side yard setback would
better accommodate these existing situations.
Kohnen said that this would not reduce the setback for larger buildings since buildings over 20,000
square feet (ask Loren) are required to have a 20-foot fire lane around the building.
The consensus of the Council was to go ahead and reduce the side yard setback to 10 feet.
Bill Thibault said the Council would also have to change the reference on Page 6 requiring 12 feet of
landscaping. He recommended reducing that to 10 feet. The Council agreed to make that change
as well.
Carolyn Smith questioned why the Urban Commercial area allowed heavier vehicles to be stored
outside than in the Business Park District.
Paul Robinson said that he believed that was because trucks are allowed to be parked at loading
docks in the Business Park, if screened. Therefore, there will not be as much of a need for
additional vehicles to be parked or stored outside in the BP District. However, in the Urban
Commercial District, many of the loading docks are already in existence and cannot be screened
allowing, in many cases, only one vehicle, or one vehicle for every 5000 square feet of building.
This change accommodates just one larger truck on the property.
There were some concerns raised about this.
Carolyn Smith was concerned that vehicles not just be stored.
Thibault said that the definition required these vehicles to be actively used in the business and
moved on a daily basis, not just stored on the site. Thibault suggested language modifications to
clarify the intent of this section. The Council approved.
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February 20, 2001
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There was some interest in incorporating the same wetland setback in this district as in the Business
Park and Industrial Park Districts. However, there were some concems that existing businesses and
lots, already allowed in this area under the no setback requirement, may be significantly impacted.
Some Council Members were okay with leaving it with 10 feet. There was some discussion that
there would be additional regulations from the wetlands based on the wetland ordinance and on the
watershed districts regulations and those may be stricter. It was understood that the stricter of the
two regulations would apply and would not be less than 10 feet. In the end, it was decided to leave
the wetland setback at 10 feet.
Bob Pepin, owner of one of the businesses in the urban commercial district, said his business would
be negatively impacted by this ordinance. He said he has a light manufacturing facility that is within
200 feet of residential and he was concerned about the resale value of his building.
Ron Batty said Mr. Pepin has a Type C non -conforming use. He said if another business took over
his building that had the same use, they could probably operate under the same CUP as the current
business. However, if a different manufacturing use took over the building, they would have to apply
for a variance to allow for a lesser setback than what was required in the ordinance.
Ron Batty said the City may want to formally clarify their policy on how to administer to type C non-
conforming uses.
Mr. Pepin believed that satisfied his question. He said it sounds like he would be able to sell his
property, however, the new person may need to have a variance or may need to have some
additional conditions added to his conditional use permit.
Bill Thibault said that the review and approval process would be changed the same as in the other
two ordinances.
Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Bruce Workman, to approve Urban Commercial Ordinance #
327. Motion passed unanimously.
Ron Batty said he prepared title and summary resolutions, however, they had not yet been provided
to you. He asked that this item be postponed to later in the evening when the Clerk could get them
for their review.
10. Public Hearing Regarding the Cates Plat
Ron Batty said over the past year the City has been working on a settlement agreement with
Wallace Cates regarding the realignment of Chippewa Road, a portion of which will go through his
property. At the last meeting there was a hearing vacating the existing easements along that road.
He said now, as a part of the settlement agreement with Mr. Cates, the City was to proceed with
replatting his property accommodating a slightly changed alignment of the road.
Tom Kellogg said that MnDOT asked for some minor adjustments that they can make before filing
the plat.
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Jim Lane, to open up the public hearing. Motion passed
unanimously.
There were no comments.
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to close the public hearing. Motion passed
unanimously.
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February 20, 2001
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Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve Resolution 01-12 Approving the
Final Plat Cates Ranch Second Addition with the minor changes requested from MnDOT. Motion
passed unanimously.
11. Roadside Mowing
Jim Dillman said he would like approval of a roadside mowing bid from Ken's Lawn Service for $50
an hour. He said they mow two times a year and it takes around 40 hours each time.
Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve the roadside mowing bid.
Motion passed unanimously.
12. Road Material and Equipment Bids
Jim Dillman said the bids are very comparable to last years.
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded Phil Zietlow, to approve the bids as presented. Motion passed
unanimously.
13. Long Lake Fire Station
Paul Robinson said over the past year he has been representing the City on a committee working on
the Long Lake Fire Station. He said he has tried to keep the Council up to date and recently told
them about the committee's decision on a location for the station. He said at the last meeting the
committee approved a preliminary size of the fire station of 23,000 sq. ft. and is now requesting
feedback from each of the Councils. If possible, the committee would like approval to move forward
with the design.
Robinson said Shannon Sweeney, the former administrator, now contract employee for Long Lake,
was here tonight representing Long Lake. Steve Persian, the Fire Chief, could not make it.
Phil Zietlow said he had a problem with the size and the cost of the building. He said it seemed
extreme. He said the Long Lake Fire Department has always been creative at saving money yet this
building, an A+ building in the top five -percent for cost and size, seems very excessive. He said he
believed the $3.5 million from the State ought to be enough to build a fine station.
Shannon Sweeney said they looked at a number of issues including size and cost per square foot.
He said that the $145 per square foot cost is not necessarily the actual cost, but the cost used in
determining MnDOT's contribution. He said there was no doubt that this would be a high quality
building. He said this is a big station, one that the committee modeled after other stations in the
area, such as Plymouth's and Chaska's. He said it is not comparable to Watertown's Station or
other out -state stations. He said the Council needs to do more comparisons with the metro area
stations. He said that in comparison to the other metro area stations, this would probably not be the
top five percent.
Sweeney said volunteer firemen don't get paid a significant amount of money, they get around $20
per call. He said it's hard to find people who want to be volunteers. He said having pride in a
building is part of maintaining a quality volunteer fire department over the long term.
He said when they looked into providing service with a full-time fire department, the cost of service
increased dramatically, far more than the additional cost of a nicer building for a volunteer fire
department.
There were some concems raised by several Council Members as to the size and the cost of the
building and that it did not seem warranted. Council Members felt there were a lot of spaces that
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
February 20, 2001
47
seem larger than they needed to be and felt that by re-evaluating the building's space, some
meaningful reduction in the size of the building could be achieved.
Shannon Sweeney described some of the reasons for different spaces within the fire department.
These included the lounge area to accommodate children that need to be dropped off during fire
calls, an additional bay to accommodate future equipment such as, jet skis, an additional boat, the
larger kitchen for accommodating community events, and others.
Phil Zietlow said that those are good options to include, however, the community events do not
necessarily provide a direct benefit to the City of Medina.
Shannon Sweeney said that Long Lake City Council has given its full support to this option.
Other Council Members expressed concem about voting on a recommendation right now. They
would like to hear what the City of Orono has to say about this since they are paying over 70% of the
City's cost of this building.
After some additional discussion, it was agreed that the City set a special City Council meeting for
Monday, March 5th at the Long Lake City Hall at 4 p.m., to coincide with the next fire station
committee meeting.
Moved by Jim Lane, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to set up this special meeting. Motion passed
unanimously.
14. Tax Increment Financing Update
Ron Batty said we have talked about available Tax Increment a couple of times over the past year.
He said that Paul Robinson has now determined that around $436,000 was available in Tax
Increment Financing to be used for an authorized Tax Increment expenditure. He said that there is
not as clear an authorization as he would like, however, there was authorization in several of the
past budgets for intersection improvements, road improvements, as well as a reference to a signal
improvement.
Ron Batty said that the Council has a number of options. He said the City could return this money to
the County and school district, they could use it for the intersection improvements at 55 and Willow,
or spend it on another allowable use.
After some additional discussion, the Council thought that it was a good idea to move forward with
using this money for the signal and intersection improvements.
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to authorize using the $436,000 of Tax
Increment Financing money for the signal. Motion passed unanimously.
Paul Robinson said there were another couple of additional issues. He said there is another
$487,000 that was in the TIF funds that can be used for non-TIF related purposes. He said a
majority of this money came from interest that was not considered TIF until 1997. Robinson went
through some of the potential uses of that money.
In the end the consensus of the Council was to set aside these funds as designated for a future
purpose in the general fund, fund balance.
Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Bruce Workman, to transfer $487,884 to the general fund and
designate it for a future purpose. Motion passed unanimously.
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February 20, 2001
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Robinson said that the last issue was a transfer of $122,475.00 from the debt service fund 303 to the
TIF capital improvement fund. He said that the money remaining in the debt service fund is only
there to pay off the debt and that other monies are available for use in the capital improvement fund
for the signal.
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve transferring $122,475 from fund 303
to fund 405. Motion passed unanimously.
15. Updates from Loren Kohnen
Loren Kohnen said today was the last day for Hays Drywall to comply with their conditional use
permit. He said that they have done a significant amount of clean up on their property and only have
two vehicles outside. Loren wanted to consider this good enough for now since it will be difficult for
them to fully comply at this time of year.
Update on the Metropolitan Council — Kohnen said that the Metropolitan Council was looking for the
legislature to set up committees on affordable housing. He said they will be looking for members to
take part in these committees and he has asked to be included. Kohnen believes that the
Metropolitan Council is ultimately looking for more control over local jurisdiction's zoning. He thought
the Council will need to keep a close watch on this legislation and on the potential committee
process.
16. Pay the Bills
Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Jim Lane, to approve the bills, order check numbers 22067-
22116 for $89,974.23, and payroll check numbers 16958-16974 for $18,820.17. Motion passed
unanimously.
17. Adoption of Resolution 01-13, 01-14.01-15 Authorizing Publication of the Business Park,
Industrial Park and Urban Commercial by Title and Summary
Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve those resolutions. Motion passed
unanimously.
18. Adjournment
Moved by John Ferris, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to adjourn the meeting at 11:15 p.m. Motion
passed unanimously.
Ferris, Mayor
Paul '' o •• inson, Administrator -Clerk -Treasurer
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
February 20, 2001
49
ORDER CHECKS - FEBRUARY 20, 2001
22067 ORCHARD TRUST CO. AS $880.00
22068 P.E.R.A. $3,411.35
22069 A.T.& T $50.43
22070 AMERICAN EXPRESS $280.29
22071 ASPEN ENVIRONMENTAL $118.66
22072 BOELTER, MATT $30.00
22073 BRYAN ROCK PRODUCTS $1,071.29
22074 BUDGET PRINTING $674.29
22075 CASE CREDIT CORPORATION $13.48
22076 CENTRAL STORES $149.00
22077 CULLIGAN $75.72
22078 CY'S UNIFORMS $93.63
22079 ERICKSON, ROLF ENT., INC. $3,629.65
22080 FIRSTAR BANK $51,375.00
22081 FORTIN HARDWARE $84.83
22082 GARY'S DIESEL SERVICE $8.84
22083 GENUINE PARTS $83.08
22084 GLENWOOD INGLEWOOD $68.20
22085 GOPHER STATE ONE CALL $56.00
22086 HAMEL BUILDING CENTER $12.77
22087 HAWKINS WATER TREATMENT GROUP $534.32
22088 HENNEPIN CO.DEPT.OF GEN.SVC $394.61
22089 HENNEPIN COUNTY TREASURER $203.00
22090 HENNEPIN COUNTY TREASURER $5,801.14
22091 HOLIDAY $42.19
22092 KRAEMER, EDWARD & SONS, INC $850.14
22093 LAKE BUSINESS SUPPLY $484.75
22094 LAKESHORE WEEKLY NEWS $156.25
22095 MEDICA $248.00
22096 METRO.COUNCIL ENVIRO. SERVICES $8,118.40
22097 MIDWEST AUTOMOTIVE $428.66
22098 MINN COMM $30.69
22099 MINN COUNTIES INS.TRUST $50.00
22100 MINNESOTA DEPT. OF HEALTH $653.00
22101 NEXTEL WEST CORP $551.25
22102 NORTH AMERICAN FOODS $42.49
22103 NORTHSTAR REPRO PRODUCTS,INC. $316.96
22104 PERRY'S TRUCK REPAIR $26.63
22105 PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE CO. OF AM $43.55
22106 QWEST $104.00
22107 REYNOLDS WELDING $26.41
22108 STREICHER'S $47.77
22109 TALLEN & BAERTSCHI $4,814.32
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
February 20, 2001
50
ORDER CHECKS - FEBRUARY 20, 2001
22110 THIBAULT ASSOCIATES $2,158.00
22111 TRI STATE PUMP $243.15
22112 TWIN CITY WATER CLINIC $20.00
22113 U.S. FILTER/WATERPRO $74.55
22114-15 VERIZON WIRELESS $265.27
22116 XCEL ENERGY $1,078.22
Total Checks $89,974.23
PAYROLL CHECKS - FEBRUARY 12, 2001
016955-57 Void Checks
016958 ROBINSON, PAUL A. $1,306.05
016959 SCHERER, STEVEN T. $1,191.62
016960 MCGILL, CHRISTOPHER R. $1,338.55
016961 ROUILLARD, MICHAEL J $1,298.97
016962 DILLMAN, JAMES D. $1,535.09
016963 DRESSEL, ROBERT P. $1,143.74
016964 BELLAND, EDGAR J. $1,977.51
016965 VIEAU, CECILIA M. $1,036.35
016966 DINGMANN, IVAN W $156.99
016967 SULANDER, LAURA L $1,075.51
016968 LARSON, SANDRA L. $1,062.70
016969 BOECKER, KEVIN D. $355.38
016970 PRIEM, JON D. $1,182.11
016971 CHRISTENSON, JEREMY L. $1,239.65
016972 NYSTROM, JAMES $1,196.88
016973 NELSON, JASON $1,107.22
016974 LARSON, TODD A $615.85
$18,820.17
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
February 20, 2001