HomeMy Public PortalAbout09/14/98 CCM193
MEDINA CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 14, 1998
The City Council of Medina, Minnesota met in regular session on September 14, 1998 at 7:30
p.m. in the City Hall Chambers. Mayor John Ferris presided.
Members present: Ferris, Hamilton, and Thies.
Members absent: Zietlow and Johnson.
Also present: Attorney Ron Batty, Zoning Administrator Loren Kohnen, City Engineer Glenn
Cook, and City Clerk -Treasurer Paul Robinson.
1. Additions to the Agenda
A. Public hearing for the proposed outlet structure at Lake Medina was taken off the agenda.
B. Lake Minnetonka Communications Commission's franchise agreement with Triax Cable was
added
Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Ann Thies, to approve the agenda as amended.
Motion passed unanimously.
2. Approval of the Minutes
Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Ann Thies, to table the approval of the September 1,
minutes until the October 6 council meeting. Motion passed unanimously.
3. Consent Agenda
A. Resolution 98-54 Granting Conditional Use Permit to Rolling Green Country Club.
B. Resolution 98-55 Granting Front Yard Setback Variance for Joseph and Darcie
Malchow.
C. Resolution 98-56 Granting Final Plat Approval for Thomas Sawvel.
Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by John Hamilton, 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
There were none.
6. Planning Commission Comments
Loren Kohnen said their last meeting was very good. They spoke with commercial industrial
property owners along Trunk Highway 55, and also with residents of the Uptown Hamel area.
He said the planning commission was able to get a sense of the variety of opinions on the
current draft of the comprehensive plan.
7. Lake Minnetonka Communications Commission Agreement with Triax Cable
Ann Thies said she had the city clerk copy and pass out a summary of the franchise
agreement. She said although the cities don't directly vote for the agreement, the
representatives of each of the cities vote for the agreement, and the commission wanted to
make sure that the cities received copies of the agreement for review. She said Triax will soon
be starting a $10 to $15 million dollar upgrade of its current system.
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
September 14, 1998
194
She said the commission received a lot of complaints this summer about service problems.
Because the service issues were not resolved the commission fined Triax Cable $5,000 and
drew their letter of credit.
In the new franchise agreement they are tightening their language dealing with service and
repair issues. The new agreement requires all repairs to be made within 24 hours or a
residence will be credited for the service lost.
John Hamilton asked if cable would eventually be available at Medina city hall.
Ann Thies said that was part of Exhibit B in the agreement. Eventually Medina would be
provided with cable access. She said it depends on the cost and how close cable is to Medina
city hall. Thies said she wanted to make the city council aware of the Triax agreement and
update them on what is happening at the Lake Minnetonka Communications Commission.
8. Variance Request — 3175 Cedar Avenue — James Eidum
Loren Kohnen said Mr. Eidum was requesting a front yard setback variance to construct an
attached garage. Loren said the original proposal was for a 26' x 22' garage with the 22 foot
dimension being the depth of the garage. Loren Kohnen showed the site plan on an overhead.
He said the planning commission recommended approval with a 7-foot variance from Fern
Street and a minimum width of 30 feet for the garage. Loren Kohnen said the planning
commission's rationale for the 30 foot wide garage was to require the placement of the garage
on the lot line which would prohibit construction on the adjacent lot owned by the same owner.
John Hamilton asked if the applicant was okay with the conditions.
Loren Kohnen said yes, he was.
Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Ann Thies, to direct the city attorney to draft a resolution
approving the variance request with the conditions recommended by the planning commission
and the planning & zoning administrator, with the hardships of a corner lot, the location of the
house, slope on the lot, and existing trees. Motion passed unanimously.
9. Resident Request for Change to Fence Ordinance
Loren Kohnen said Galen Bruer requested the city council consider amending the swimming
pool ordinance to change the three-inch maximum spacing required for safety fencing
protecting the pool to 4". He said Mr. Bruer had done quite a bit research on this topic and that
the research was included in the council packet.
Mr. Kohnen said he visited several pools in the immediate area of Mr. Bruer's residence and
other sites. He said all have complied with the city's ordinance. He said he also contacted
several fence suppliers in the area and was told that there would be no problem providing
fencing that meets the city's current pool ordinance.
Galen Bruer of 2815 Capriole Drive said he had done a lot of research on this issue. He looked
at several national standards for construction, none of them required a three-inch width. He
said he could also not find any information addressing safety problems with four -inch width
fencing. He thought it was reasonable to require a four -inch width and said there were a
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
September 14, 1998
195
number of fences specifically manufactured to meet that width. He said there were no
standards currently in fencing to meet a three-inch width.
Mr. Bruer asked the city council to amend its current ordinance to meet the norm for fencing
from a three inches opening to a four -inch opening.
John Hamilton asked if the planning commission would need to review this ordinance in order
for it to be amended.
Ron Batty said this is not an ordinance that is a zoning ordinance, and would not be reviewed
by the planning commission nor be required to have a public hearing, just a simple majority
vote.
John Hamilton asked if we should wait.
Ann Thies asked Loren Kohnen if there were any statistics on problems with fences with a four -
inch width.
Loren Kohnen said the homes in Mr. Bruer's neighborhood have built fences with a four -inch
opening or width, but only four feet high. He said in the new ordinance the city added a new
height as well as reduced the width of the opening from four inches to three inches.
John Ferris said that height is by far the more important factor.
Galen Bruer said he didn't have a problem with the height.
Loren Kohnen said he has seen pictures of kids going through a four -inch width fence.
Galen Bruer brought an example of a four -inch space.
There was some discussion about the size of a four inch opening and whether or not a child
could get stuck in an opening of that size. There was some discussion that a four -inch fence is
typically slightly less than four inches.
Galen Bruer said the fences he has looked at are around 3 3/4.
Loren Kohnen said they construct them a little smaller on purpose to insure that an entire
section does not have to be remade.
John Ferris asked what the process would be to change this ordinance.
Ron Batty said that for a small amendment they could pass a motion and he could bring back a
resolution for title and summary.
Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Ann Thies, to amend the pool ordinance to increase the
width from three inches to four inches, and to direct the city attorney to place the resolution on
the next city council agenda, allowing publication by title and summary. Motion passed
unanimously.
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
September 14, 1998
196
10. Letter from Hennepin County Regarding Sewer Units on the Elwell Property
John Ferris said the city received a letter from Hennepin County asking for additional 60 sewer
units on the Elwell property. Ferris said it seems to be an issue that would be part of the
comprehensive plan process, and the city should acknowledge the letter and continue with the
planning process.
Loren Kohnen said he would acknowledge receipt of the letter.
11. Walnut Drainage Area
Glenn Cook said at the last meeting, some residents raised concern about the ponding of water
at the Independence Beach Park. He said they put together a proposal installing a 4" to 6"
drain tile to the lake for around $15,000 to $20,000.
Ann Thies asked if this would be a permanent solution.
Glenn Cook said that it still could get plugged and would need to be cleaned from time to time.
He said in big storms water will still sit for up to two days and the rock bed will fill up with sludge
and slime over time and need to be cleaned.
John Hamilton said two residents of the Independence Beach area, Bob Hebzynski and Dave
Pfeffer, were in attendance and would like to add some history to this issue.
Bob Hebzynski said the pond was built in the 30's and it worked for 40 years without any
problem. He said when the aggregate lime(ag lime) base was installed the city started to have
problems with the drainage in this area.
There was some additional discussion about the problems caused by the ag lime.
Bob Hebzynski said he thought the drain in the middle of the park was a hazard and should be
raised. He said by raising and covering it with a grate some of the problems with the ag lime
draining into the tile could be eliminated.
There was some discussion about the existing pipe.
There was some concern raised by Bob Hebzynski that the ag lime was turning into cement
and clogging the drain tile. He suggested that the city dig up the drain tile, replace that, raise
the drain in the middle of the park so that the water can drain without dragging in ag lime into
the drain tile.
Glenn Cook said he believed that Jim Dillman was looking for a longer term solution that would
provide for an easier clean out of the pipe over time, however, he said that he would represent
to Jim what the concerns of the residents were and see if they could come up with a different
plan.
John Hamilton said that Glenn can put these ideas to Jim Dillman and will see what happens.
Bob Hebzynski added that there were two dead elm trees in the park. He said if they were on
his property he would have taken them down long ago.
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
September 14, 1998
197
12. Mohawk Drive
Glenn Cook said property owners along this small section of Mohawk Drive were willing to sign
a petition and waiver agreement. Currently, Jim Dillman has a petition and waiver agreement
signed by one of the residents. He said the public work's director would like to proceed with the
project before obtaining the other petition and waiver. Cook said that Dillman was repaving this
road in conjunction with the city hall parking lot.
John Ferris said it seems to be cheaper this way.
Glenn Cook said that the city would be risking around $500 by doing it this way.
Consensus of the council was to go forward.
13. Gambling Ordinance
Paul Robinson said originally this ordinance was placed on the agenda by Jim Johnson who
had some concerns about gambling issues in the city.
Paul Robinson said the conversation was started by looking at the Long Lake gambling
ordinance and also some of the issues pertaining to gambling laws. Robinson said these
issues were laid out in a memo included in the packet.
He said he gave this ordinance to Ron Batty to put into a city format and update.
Ron Batty said this ordinance simplifies the existing ordinance. It has some provisions from the
Long Lake Ordinance. He said one of the key issues was the trade area. He said the most
restrictive definition of trade area allowed by state statute includes all contiguous cities. That
would include such cities as Orono, Plymouth, Corcoran and the other six or seven cities
surrounding Medina. He said this affects the section of the ordinance requiring 50% of the
proceeds to be spent within the trade area.
Ron Batty said he made some revisions since giving it to the city council. He said he believed
the council was more interested in addressing the big gambling operations subject to state
gambling, but not the one time gambling events sponsored by charitable organizations in the
city. He said he changed the fee for one day gambling license from $100 to $25. He said he
found out from Mr. Robinson that the city has not been charging anything since he has been in
the city clerk position. Batty talked about some of the other changes.
Ron Batty said if the city council was ready to adopt this ordinance tonight, he had prepared a
resolution for publication by title and summary.
There was some discussion about statute citations and about the publication of the ordinance.
Since two of the city council members were absent, especially one who was particularly
interested in this issue the council decided to table this issue until the next meeting.
Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by John Hamilton, to table this ordinance to the next city
council meeting . Motion passed unanimously.
There was some discussion after the motion.
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
September 14, 1998
198
Ron Batty said if an organization requested a gambling license, the city could have 60 days to
act on the approval of that request. He said that should give the city plenty of time to enact an
ordinance if it needs to.
14. Resolution 98-57 Certifying the 1998 Preliminary Budget & Levy and Establishing
Truth in Taxation Hearing Times and Dates
There was some discussion about the budget.
Paul Robinson said the levy amount has not changed from the previous meeting. He said it still
includes a 3.97% increase over last year's levy, or around $42,000 increase.
There was some discussion about the dates for the truth in taxation hearing. The council
choose the first and second Mondays in December since those were the dates set aside by the
state legislature for cities truth in taxation hearings.
Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by John Hamilton, to approve Resolution 98-57 certifying the
preliminary budget and levy and establishing the truth in taxation times and dates. Motion
passed unanimously.
15. Resolution 98-58 Declaring Adequate Cash Reserves to Cover Bonded Indebtedness
Paul Robinson said over the past several years the city council has decided to pay for this
particular bond issue out of the city's general fund balance instead of levying additional taxes to
cover the bonds.
Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by John Hamilton, to approve Resolution 98-58 declaring
adequate cash reserves to cover bonded indebtedness. Motion passed unanimously.
16. Approval of the 1998-99 Assessor's Contract
Paul Robinson said every year approval of the assessors contract had been delayed and
added to the coming year's budget process. This has meant that the city's has constantly
delayed paying the assessor the new contract amount until well past the contract date.
Robinson said last year he, at the council's request talked to the assessor about changing the
term of the contract. Robinson said because of the assessor's work flow a contract ending in
December would not allow a new assessor to complete the assessments by February 1, the
date required by the county. Robinson said the ending date of the current contract, which
expires at the end of September, is needed in order to protect both the assessor and the city.
There was some discussion about the contract amount. The new contract amount, for the
1998-1999, was $34,578.
Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Ann Thies to approve the assessor's contract for the
1998-1999 budget season. Motion passed unanimously.
17. Comprehensive Plan Update
John Ferris said he put this on the agenda because of issues revolving around the Elm Creek
interceptor. He said the Metropolitan Council has the responsibility to provide the city of
Medina with sewer service. There has been a lot of talk about the current sewer capacity,
which is 280,000 gallons per day. He said the city is currently using the city of Plymouth's
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
September 14, 1998
199
sewer mains. The Met Council has a year to year lease with the city of Plymouth for 280,000
gallons per day. This limits the amount of development in Medina.
He said currently there's a strong belief that the city of Plymouth wants the Elm Creek
Interceptor and that they will need to use the capacity in their system that the city of Medina is
currently using. Because of this the city of Medina needs to consider what its position is. He
believes that the city should consider proceeding in a different way than what has been
discussed to date. He said the city should be more conservative and not zone areas ahead of
time for development that they would not like to occur. He said the city should require any
additions to the urban area to come as comprehensive plan amendments or zoning changes
and not as a part of the comprehensive plan update. Basically Ferris said if the Elm Creek
Interceptor was to come to the city of Medina, the city of Medina needs to be prepared to
decide how much of that capacity it is willing to use.
Ann Thies asked how much it would cost to have the Elm Creek Interceptor. She said that Tom
Caswell seemed ambiguous about this.
Loren Kohnen said it would not cost Medina anything.
There was some discussion about the current capacity. The capacity that the city currently has
was less than what was being discussed during recent capacity discussions.
Ann Thies said the city needs to be careful. She said that much like Vicksburg Lane in
Plymouth, it was a big nice four lane road with nothing around it. Now, of a sudden, it's solid
with homes and other development.
There was some additional discussion.
John Hamilton said we need to be able to clearly tell the people in Medina what exactly we are
doing with the comprehensive plan and the planning of the city.
John Ferris said that yes, we need to let them know what is going to be coming.
There was some discussion about why the city did not know sooner that it had used up a
significant amount of its current capacity. The council wanted to know what caused the city to
find this out now.
Paul Robinson said as a part of the Polaris Comprehensive Plan amendment, the city was
required to look at its remaining sewer capacity.
Carolyn Smith said she was wondering what additional conditions and requirements the city
could add to its ordinances to encourage the type of commercial/industrial development it would
like to see along Highway 55 without being arbitrary.
Ron Batty said he city could add development standards and other conditions such as the
current limitation on the amount of water usage per acre.
There was some discussion about the upcoming comprehensive plan amendment. The overall
consensus was to remain more conservative with the zoning which would put the city in a better
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
September 14, 1998
200
negotiating position when and how the Elm Creek Interceptor would be used when it gets to
Medina.
18. Pay the Bills
Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by John Hamilton, to approve the bills, order check numbers
18832-18875 for $29, 704.52 and payroll check numbers 15785-15798 for $13, 604.63. Motion
passed unanimously.
19. Adjournment
Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by John Hamilton, to adjourn the meeting at 8:55 p.m. Motion
passed unanimously.
./-74-1,./
John B. Ferris, Mayor
Attes
Paul Robinson, City Clerk -Treasurer
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
September 14, 1998
201
ORDER CHECKS - SEPTEMBER 14, 1998
18832 AIR TOUCH CELLULAR $ 159.70
18833 AMERICAN EXPRESS 217.27
18834 AMERICAN LIBERTY CONST. IN 9,106.12
18835 AMERICAN LINEN SUPPLY 46.66
18836 BATTERIES PLUS 95.27
18837 BRYAN ROCK PRODUCTS 1,708.20
18838 BUDGET PRINTING 218.27
18839 BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILRO 1,200.00
18840 CHIEF SUPPLY CORPORATION 80.70
18841 DES LAURIERS & SONS 50.00
18842 ESS BROS. & SONS, INC. 98.51
18843 FORTIN HARDWARE 29.13
18844 GARY'S DIESEL SERVICE 372.75
18845 GLENWOOD INGLEWOOD 49.05
18846 GOODIN CO. 92.43
18847 GREAT WEST LIFE ASSURANCE 901.00
18848 HAMEL BUILDING CENTER 149.83
18849 HAMEL DAIRY QUEEN 69.00
18850 HAWKINS WATER TREATAMENT G 40.00
18851 HENNEPIN COUNTY SUPPORT 595.00
18852 LAKESHORE WEEKLY NEWS 78.75
18853 LARSON, SANDRA 38.35
18854 LAW ENFORCEMENT LABOR SERV 165.00
18855 LONG LAKE TRACTOR & EQUIPM 276.90
18856 MAYER DISTRIBUTING 170.19
18857 MAYER MOBIL 3.26
18858 METROPOLITAN COUNCIL WASTE 2,970.00 �"
18859 MIDWEST AUTOMOTIVE 203.08
18860 MINN COMM 30.69
18861 MINNESOTA MUTUAL 375.00
18862 MINNESOTA STATE RETIREMENT 205.00
18863 NORTH AMERICAN FOODS 40.00
18864 NORTHERN STATES POWER 968.55
18865 OFFICE OF THE STATE AUDITOR 50.00
18866 P.E.R.A 3,057.40
1
18867 PROTOCOL COMMUNICATIONS, I 75.00
18868 TALLEN & BAERTSCHI 2,070.57
18869 TWIN CITY WATER CLINIC 20.00
18870 U.S. FILTERM/ATERPRO 1,380.33 i
18871 U.S. WEST COMMUNICATIONS 555.89 I ',
18872 ILLAGE STORE 5.51 +:
18873 WESTSIDE WHOLESALE TIRE 340.33
18874 WRIGHT-HENNEPIN ELECTRIC 1,269.69
18875 WRIGHT-HENNEPIN SECURITY 76.14
$ 29,704.52
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
September 14, 1998
202
PAYROLL CHECKS — SEPTEMBER 14, 1998
15785 Paul A. Robinson 925.76
15786 Steven T. Scherer 1,021.29
15787 Christopher R. McGill 1,150.17
15788 Michael J. Rouillard 1,282.98
15789 Scott W. Kroeger 1,085.37
15790 James D. Dillman 1,182.62
15791 Robert P. Dressel 894.71
15792 Edgar J. Be!land 1,454.79
15793 Martha C. Lundell 246.69
15794 Cecilia M. Vieau 709.17
15795 Laura L. Su!ander 930.97
15796 Sandra L. Larson 741.30
15797 Jon D. Priem 1,072.02
15798 Jeremy L. Christenson 906.79
$13, 604.63
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
September 14, 1998