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Home My Public Portal About05.15.2015 City Council Special Meeting PacketMEDINA WORK SESSION AGENDA MEDINA CITY COUNCIL Tuesday, May 19, 2015 6:00 P.M. Medina City Hall 2052 County Road 24 I. Call to Order II. Pioneer Sarah Watershed Discussion III. Job Creation Fund Application for InCity Farms IV. Adjourn Posted 5.15.1 S MEMORANDUM TO: Medina City Council FROM: Scott Johnson, City Administrator DATE OF REPORT: May 14, 2015 DATE OF MEETING: May 19, 2015 SUBJECT: May 19, 2015 Work Session — 6:00 PM Work Session 6:00 PM Pioneer Sarah Creek Watershed Management Commissioner Request Discussion — Mike McLaughlin (20 Minutes) Commissioner Mike McLaughlin is asking the Medina City Council to give him, as their commissioner on the PSCWMC, the authority to vote in favor of creating a watershed district. Attached is his e-mail and letter request to the City Council. InCity Farms Discussion — City Planner Dusty Finke (40 Minutes) InCity Farms is interested in purchasing the old Temroc building near Willow/Highway 55 (with the possibility of an 80,000 SF expansion). Their business model is based on aquaculture. They would build large pools in the facility for producing fish and vertical planters for growing vegetables for local restaurants and distributors. According to the information from InCity Farms, they would use 4% of the water used by a 700 acre farm and create a sustainable operation for raising fish/vegetables. Current City regulations would not permit a private well (they currently have water service) and they would be requesting the City amend or waive the requirement. InCity Farms would use City water for other uses besides the tanks. Staff met with representative to discuss their water needs. Although they would need 1.2 million gallons of water to fill all tanks, they claim that ongoing water usage is fairly low for the size building. They have indicated that evaporation in dryer winter months could by 40,000-72,000 gallons of water a month. This would be less than Temroc used when occupying the building. Summer replacement would be even less. Staff has urged the applicant to investigate the availability of water on the site, and inquired if the applicant knew whether it would be just as difficult to treat their own water as it would be to de -chlorinate City water. If the information provided by the applicant is accurate, staff does not have major concerns related to the viability of the City being able to provide the water they would need if on the system. Similarly, staff believes safeguards could be put in place related to a private well, although there are certainly policy implications to granting a waiver. They have indicated an interest in agriculture tax classification for the property. The Hennepin County assessor's office (and Rolf Erickson) talked about a 50-65% reduction of tax capacity under an agriculture classification. Staff also discussed with the City Attorney a payment in -lieu type of agreement for the City portion of the property taxes on the facility. The City is legally able to enter into a payment in -lieu type of agreement to address the classification change. Planning staff conducted additional research related to tax implications of the agricultural classification. Although the tax capacity of the property would decrease, there are two important considerations. First, the fiscal disparities levy would no longer apply to the property. Second, if the applicant would carry forward with their addition, additional tax capacity would be created. Tax assumptions are extraordinarily complicated, but staff conducted a simplistic analysis. Staff believes that, removing the fiscal disparities levy, the City portion of the tax would reduce from $13,425.60 to $10,788.84 on the existing facility. Other taxing jurisdictions, such as Hennepin County and Rockford Schools, would be similarly reduced. The state general levy (which supports per pupil state school funding) and fiscal disparities (which supports metropolitan cities with lower average tax bases) would be eliminated to the tune of over $100,000. If the property owner completed the addition as suggested, the estimated City tax would increase from $13,425 to $14,932 and other jurisdictions would be similarly increased. However, the state general tax and fiscal disparities would continue to be reduced by over $100,000. Council Discussion InCity Farms is asking for a resolution of support from the City of Medina for the Job Creation Fund Program through DEED. Staff is looking for discussion and direction on: 1) supporting the DEED request; 2) future waiver of limitation on private wells. The requested resolution for the DEED grant will be on the May 19th City Council agenda for possible action. Jodi Gallup From: Mike McLaughlin <mclaughlin110@yahoo.com> Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2015 11:48 AM To: Scott Johnson Subject: Request Regarding PSCWMC Attachments: Letter to Medina City Council for April 7th Meeting.pdf Scott, I'm asking the Medina City Council to give me, as their commissioner on the PSCWMC, the authority to vote in favor of creating a watershed district. The Independence City Council has already given their commissioner, Joe Baker, the authority to do so. Also, it is my understanding that the Minnetrista City Council has voted to pull out of the PSCWMC Watershed Management Organization if it is not converted to a watershed district. The Loretto City Council has also been discussing the issue. Converting to a watershed district would involve me, and others, formulating a petition to be sent to the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources. The petition would recommend to BWSR the disbanding of the joint powers agreement (JPA) amongst the member cities under which the Pioneer Sarah Creek Watershed Management Organization currently operates. The petition would ask that a Watershed District be formed in place of the existing PSCWMC. believe that if we don't act proactively, actions might take place that would eliminate the possibility of some local control of any replacement watershed management organization. I don't think it is Medina's best interest to just kick the can down the road and hope for the best. If the Council wishes, I'd be willing to come in for a work session, to specifically discuss this subject. Attached is my 3-28-15 letter which was already sent to the Council. Thanks, Mike Mike McLaughlin 763-479-1604 cell: 612-819-1655 2887 Lakeshore Avenue Maple Plain, MN 55359 email: mclaughlin110@yahoo.com 1 March 28, 2015 Mayor and Medina City Council, I believe water quality should not be a political football, and I think all Minnesotans want good water quality, but I have grave concerns regarding the present Pioneer Sarah Creek Watershed Management Organization, on which I serve as your commissioner. In a letter dated May 9, 2014, Jim Haertle, Metro District Manager for The Board of Soil and Water Resources (BWSR) wrote: "The PSCWMC has been in existence for 30 years with little success in water management." And "Either step up to manage the water resources or step down to allow another organization to do the job." Recently there has been many discussions regarding the effectiveness of the Pioneer Sarah Creek Watershed Management Commission and it's ability to fund water quality improvement projects. BWSR recently approved Pioneer Sarah Creek's Third Generation Watershed Management Plan for only six years, not the ten years, as requested. The agency has said it lacked confidence in the willingness of member cities to properly fund the Commission so that it could achieve its water quality improvement goals. In discussions, BWSR has reasoned that they see no viable means by which the CIP (capital improvements projects) could be funded under the current structure. I believe it's high time for a change in the water management organization. The current Pioneer Sarah Creek Watershed Management Commission has representatives from six member cities, including Medina, Independence, Greenfield, Minnetrista, Maple Plain and Loretto. Member cities share administration costs, but the current plan calls for most water quality improvement projects to be initiated by, and largely funded by, the city in which the project would be located. This format requires city councils to directly budget for and vote to spend funds for these projects. The projects can be quite expensive and also politically unpopular. Conversion to a Watershed District would remove this issue. The cities can retain local control by asking to be represented on this new District. The District would be run by a Board of Managers. The cities can include a list of potential candidates in their petition. The watershed district would have taxing power, thus spreading project costs over the entire watershed, without any political boundaries. Another problem with the current WMO is the size of its annual budget. Member cities pay dues to fund the budget, which is projected to be $128,000 for 2015. Fixed administration costs are a high percentage of the budget only because of the basic underfunding of the organization. This leaves little money for actual projects. These are some of the reasons I'm asking the City Council to give it's commissioner the authority to vote in favor of creating a petition to be sent to the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources. The petition would recommend to BWSR the disbanding of the joint powers agreement (JPA) amongst the member cities under which the Pioneer Sarah Creek Watershed Management Organization currently operates. The petition would ask that a Watershed District be formed in place of the existing PSCWMC. March 28, 2015 Some of the nuts and bolts of creating a new watershed district follow. These are referenced in Mn Statute 103D.205. Medina could proactively take part in this petition to create a watershed district. We would just need a simple majority of other PSCWMC city members to join us. This watershed district would be run by a group of "Managers". As part of the petition, we would need to put together a list of candidates to fill the manager positions. BWSR would like to see an odd number of managers, so this would probably mean either 5 or 7 managers. I would suggest we propose that there be 5 managers. Therefore, according to the petition statute, we would need to have a list of double that, or 10 candidates to fill the 5 positions. I believe the existing JPA Commission has a very hard working, competent staff and group of technical advisors. I would propose that we keep the existing administrative services of Judie Anderson. She has tried very hard to steer us in the right direction, and she has an good understanding of watershed management organization requirements. We currently contract with Hennepin County Environmental Services' Jim Kujawa for our technical services, and I can't imagine anyone doing a better or more cost efficient job. Three Rivers Parks District, with Rich Brasch, has really stepped in to compliment on technical advice and viable water quality projects. Becky Wosney has done an excellent job as Medina's technical advisor, as well. The people in our current administrative and technical services positions represent a wealth of knowledge and are a good value, so I see no reason to replace them. The only change we need is to convert from a politically charged group of commissioners to a group of managers whose concerns would only be with water management. As I see it, the real increase in cost would come from actually getting some water quality projects completed, which will be demanded by BWSR. I will be out of town from April 4 to April 8, but available to answer any questions from the Council. Thank you for your time in considering this petition process. Regards, Mike McLaughlin Turning urban challenges into investor grade business Glenn Ford Praxis Foods gfordPpraxismarketplace.com 612.812.4717 Grocery Stores Aquaponics Brands Business Facts • Business is a start-up • Company is technically supported by Pentair. Minnesota $12 Billion dollar company • Company is setting up program with University of Minnesota • Business will employ 160 • Building 2 other facilities in this phase 1 in other locations FISH STATUS (of world fish supply) OUR OCEANS ARE IN CRISIS R5 OF OUR OCEANS ARE AT THEIR LIMITS 3 2 /0 overexploited 85 at their limits FISH AR a The need for more fish is great FISK CAN BE PRODUCED USN VS1111 OF THE AMOUNT - OF FEED COMPARED TO . 8.7 KG FEED FOR 1 KG BEEF WHERE CITIES VISITED St. Louis East Saint Louis Kansas City, Kansas Chicago St. Paul, MN Brooklyn Park, MN Fort Collins, CO Atlanta New Orleans Gary Kansas City, MO Birmingham Baltimore Detroit Pittsburgh Racine WI Providence Rhode Island Milwaukee Minneapolis Memphis Vision Turning urban challenges into businesses 200 Stores 30 Aquaponics PODS (3 grow buildings each) Community revitalization 55°./0 Neighborhood sourced nCity Farms Praxis Foods Holding Company Assortment planning Information Technology Real Estate Brands Services Marketplace Praxis National Infrastructure Kansas City East St. Louis Store Minneapolis Store Store Store Building we will purchase in Medina pending Council actions IFTAVirII'C 1"— kiL' In ground 15,000 gallon tanks 111111111111111titii 1 1. 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SYSTEM 6 L to 1t 12 13 19 t5 From one Anchor facility Organic product produced in a year Product Unit of Measure Amount Basil Plants 3,840,000 Lettuce Heads 8,880,000 Fish Emulsion Gallons 2 70, 000 Micro -Greens Pounds 2,736,000 Fish Fingerlings Each 4,000,000 Fish Pounds 1,000,000 Operational Needs • Desire to be classified as agricultural venture • Will increase building size by 80,000 square feet • We need a well for a non -chlorinated source of water • We will only draw from Aquifer to fill tanks at inception and then to cover evaporation, or the need for emergency tank filling. • City water for all non -production activities • Limited use of sewer system (may be trace amounts of nitrates) • Design system with Pentair and City is aware of all plans • We use 4% the water of a 700 acre farm