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HomeMy Public PortalAbout04-05-2005, Joint MtgDRAFT MINUTES OF JOINT MEETING — CITY COUNCIL, PLANNING COMMISSION AND PARK COMMISSION — APRIL 12, 2005 7:00 — 9:00 P.M. — HAMEL COMMUNITY BUILDING PRESENT: MAYOR BRUCE WORKMAN, COUNCILORS RANDY BRINKMAN, ELIZABETH WEIR WITH CAROLYN SMITH ARRIVING AT 8:10 P.M.; PLANNING COMMISSIONERS MARILYN FORTIN, DICK PICARD., TOM SUPEL, TOM CROSBY, LENNY LEUER WITH MARY VERBICK ARRIVING AT 7:35 P.M. AND DOUG DICKERSON ARRIVING AT 7:40 P.M; PARK COMMISSIONERS GERRY DYKHOFF, BRAD KVANBEK, ROBIN REID, RANDY HUGHES, JEFF EVANSON, GALEN BRUER AND TOM GREGOR. ALSO PRESENT CITY ADMINISTRATOR CHAD ADAMS, CITY PLANNER ROSE LORSUNG, PLANNING CONSULTANT SARAH SCHIELD, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR JIM DILLMAN AND PLANNING AND ZONING ASSISTANT SANDIE LARSON ABSENT: CITY COUNCILOR JOE CAVANAUGH 1. CALL TO ORDER & GENERAL OVERVIEW OF MEETING Mayor Bruce Workman called the meeting to order at 7:08 p.m. Workman said he would like this will be an annual event and he asked staff to be pro -active with getting information to the council, planning commission and park commission. Chad Adams said that Sandie Larson would be taking minutes for tonight. 2. ROLES, RESPONSIBILITUES AND INTER -BODY COMMUNICATION Chad Adams gave a brief overview of the organization chart for the city. He stated he was the administrative officer for the city, the City Council makes the decisions with the Planning Commission and Park Commission being recommending bodies. Workman said he would like us to have an interactive web site so everyone could have access to information, like an open communication forum. Adams said he would look into it for open meeting rules. There was discussion of council liaison's role. Randy Hughes, Park Commission, said he liked having a council member at their meetings. Galen Bruer, Park Commission, said it has been easier for the park commission since we have been getting more of the new development information for our input. Workman told the Park Commission to be more pro -active. Look at the maps to see where you would like parks in the future. Joint Meeting Minutes City Council, Planning Commission, Park Commission April 12, 2005 DRAFT Elizabeth Weir said participating is relevant with the comprehensive plan coming up again. There was further discussion on how the council liaison's could be helpful to the planning and park commissions. Tom Crosby said that recently the Minnehaha Creek Watershed has been talking to us about conservation easements. He said the liaison for the Minnesota Land Trust, Ann Thies, should be part of the discussions with the watershed and park commission. There was further discussion on this. 7:20 p.m. — Sarah Schield left to attend a meeting at the City of Independence. Robin Reid said that with the park commission meeting once a month there was hardly time to deal with open space. Randy Hughes said it needs a lot of salesmanship Rose Lorsung said that a number of cities are making conservation part of their comprehensive plans. She said the citizens need to be involved. The Park Commission has By -Laws and the Planning Commission does not. It was asked if the Planning Commission felt they needed some. Lenny Leuer said a former planning commissioner had put together a handbook. Chad Adams said that it needs revising. Tom Crosby said he would not be enthusiastic about a formal set of by-laws. He said it should be as free flowing as possible. There was further discussion about the handbook and by-laws. Chad Adams said he encouraged not to directly contact our paid consultants. Staff should be contacted first. Bruce Workman agreed — staff 1st and if they send you to the consultant, o.k. 3. OPEN MEETING LAW Bruce Workman reviewed the memo from the city attorney. Tom Crosby asked about 3 members of the city council doing a site visit together. This must be posted. Lenny Leuer asked about special meetings, minutes, etc. Joint Meeting Minutes City Council, Planning Commission, Park Commission April 12, 2005 DRAFT Chad Adams said there should be a record of the meeting although the minutes can be quite broad. There was discussion of committees meeting, etc. and the open meeting laws. 4. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AND GROWTH ISSUES Bruce Workman said we are working under the existing comprehensive plan and there have been some changes and probably will be more. He said we will start working on our new comprehensive plan in 2006. He said the recommendation has been to review the plan about every three years so that drastic changes do not have to be made. Elizabeth Weir said she questions whether we should have changed it when we did. There was discussion of small changes vs. bigger changes. There was discussion of the Metropolitan Council's role in the City's comprehensive plan. Dick Picard wondered what the criteria was for deviating from the comp. plan. Bruce Workman said we have to try and balance what is good for the residents and the city. There was further discussion on comprehensive plan changes. Tom Supel said these meetings are good. He feels joint meetings are important so we know why we make the decisions we make. He also said he felt that the planning commission and city council should be the same as far as what criteria we use for decisions. He said we need a better understanding of each other. 5. PLANNING COMMISSION DISUCSSION POINTS There was discussion of the Planning Commission's role on economic and financial issues. The council stated that this was a council decision, that this area does not fall under the planning commission's role. Jeff Evanson left the meeting at 8:04 p.m. There was further discussion on financial vs. land use issues. Bruce Workman stated there still seems to be confusion on the part of the planning commission. Bruce Workman asked about the update of the code book and Chad said staff is working on it now. There was discussion of conditional use permit enforcement. Staff was directed to be more pro- active on the enforcement. Joint Meeting Minutes City Council, Planning Commission, Park Commission April 12, 2005 DRAFT The city council asked that the planning commission bring violations to them if the problem has not been taken care of with a few letters and then they will take action. 6. PARK COMMISSION There was discussion of amount of money in the park fund, equipment, etc. Bruce Workman said he would like the park commission to think out of the box. Randy Hughes said we do need some kind of guidance. We have put together a trail plan using the old study that said trails were a priority. Bruce Workman said the park commission can come to the city council with request for money for a project without using money from the park fund. Carolyn Smith said the park commission should prioritize repairs that are needed and this money should not come out of the park dedication fee money. There was further discussion of park equipment, the timeline for repair/replacement/staff input. There was also discussion of the park commission being pro -active when a development is happening about parks, trails, etc. 7. OPEN FORUM PARK COMMISSION: Tom Gregor said this is a great idea for all to get together. Galen Bruer said once a year for these joint meetings is not enough — maybe every couple of months. He said there is frustration on the part of the park commission on not being able to do things because of lack of money. Randy Hughes said this is great and is encouraged by the meeting. Robin Reid said they can change their focus. She said they were never encouraged to bring things forward that cost money. She said we can get more done with being told to be pro -active. Brad Kvanbek said he appreciates this community building that was built with donations. Gerry Dykhoff said the park commission is concerned with the parking lot here at the park — getting it blacktopped and enlarged. He said the athletic association agrees if should be enlarged. He said this park has been 95% done by donations. PLANNING COMMISISON: Joint Meeting Minutes City Council, Planning Commission, Park Commission April 12, 2005 DRAFT Doug Dickerson acknowledged Lenny Leuer for being on the planning commission for 18 years and mentioned how helpful staff had been to him. Mary Verbick said joint meetings are a very good idea, 2-3 time per year. Marilyn Fortin agreed the meetings are a good idea. She said she is a little concerned about communication. She asked about televising the meetings on cable. Marilyn said many people do not get the Crow River News and do not know what is going on. There was discussion of having a monthly newsletter and that maybe it could be outsourced. Dick Picard complemented having this meeting. He said he prefers a couple weeks notice for the meetings. (He was not at the last planning commission meeting when this was set up). Tom Supel — no further comments. Tom Crosby said he endorses these meetings, maybe twice per year. He said he also desires periodic review of our land use regulations when there are slow times for the planning commission. Lenny Leuer said there seems to be a loss of direction of where we are going. He said he is concerned we are putting too much density in Uptown Hamel. Lenny said he is also concerned about our Urban Reserve areas and wondered where Corcoran and Loretto are going. There was discussion of RR -Ur, commercial development, etc. Rose Lorsung said she is looking forward to working more closely with the park commission. She said she is working on maps and the City's GIS system, Chad Adams said the GIS system will be very useful for us. Chad said that on Monday night, April 25th, there will be a discussion of city hall remodeling. The meeting will be at city hall. Lenny Leuer suggested that at the next meeting staff/council talk about the discussions with other cities. MOVED BY RANDY BRINKMAN AND SECONDED BY ELIZABETH WEIR TO ADJOURN. MOTION PASSED. Meeting adjourned at 9:10 p.m. Planning and Zoning Assistant Date Joint Meeting Minutes City Council, Planning Commission, Park Commission April 12, 2005 5