HomeMy Public PortalAbout10/05/99 CCM169
MEDINA CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF OCTOBER 5, 1999
The City Council of Medina, Minnesota met in regular session on October 5, 1999 at 7:30 p.m. in the
City Hall Chambers. Mayor John Ferris presided.
Members present: Ferris, Zietlow, Hamilton, Johnson, and Smith.
Members absent: None.
Also present: Police Chief Ed Belland, Attorney Ron Batty, Public Works Director Jim Dillman, City
Engineer Glenn Cook, Planning & Zoning Administrator Loren Kohnen, and City Clerk -Treasurer
Paul Robinson.
1. Pledge of Allegiance
2. Additions to the Agenda
A. Attendance to the League of Minnesota Cities November 4, 1999 Conference.
B. Request for a change to a location of a sewer line for Tracy Johnson.
Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion
passed unanimously.
3. Approval of the Minutes from September 7, 1999
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the minutes of September 7, 1999 as
presented. Motion passed unanimously.
4. Approval of the Minutes from September 21, 1999
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the minutes of September 21, 1999
as presented. Motion passed unanimously.
5. Consent Agenda
A. Resolution 99-58 Granting Preliminary Plat Approval, 2 Lot Subdivision, Tom
Turnham - 1512 Deerhill Road.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve the consent agenda as amended.
Motion passed unanimously.
6. Comments from Residents in Attendance on Items Not on the Agenda
There were none.
7. Park Commission Comments
There were none.
8. Planning Commission Comments
Loren Kohnen said there will be three items on the next City Council meeting.
Carolyn Smith said that she would be resigning from the Planning Commission.
9. Consideration and Approval of the 2000 —2020 Comprehensive Plan
Paul Robinson reviewed the memo summarizing the City Council's discussion on the
recommendations from the Planning Commission. He said there were a few outstanding issues that
still needed to be discussed. One was the exact line where the Cavanaugh property would be
divided between residential and commercial. Robinson said that Mr. Cavanaugh had been at the
previous meeting and had drawn a line on the map where he wanted the property divided. Robinson
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October 5, 1999
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said that Loren Kohnen, Carolyn Smith, and John Hamilton looked at the property and had some
differing opinions about where the line should be drawn.
Loren Kohnen said he thought the line should go up through the wetlands leaving a larger portion in
the rear of the property commercial.
Carolyn Smith said there was a tree line further west on the property which would leave less area for
commercial, but would come closer to what she had thought Bill Cavanaugh had designated as a
line dividing the property, and would incorporate an existing stand of trees as a buffer.
After some additional discussion, Council Members were in favor of the line recommended by
Carolyn Smith (blue line) that showed less commercial property in the rear of the property and
divided the commercial and residential areas along the tree line.
Robinson said that Jeff Pederson was in attendance and that he may want to reiterate their position
on the provision of sewer service to the properties on Shawnee Woods Road. Robinson said at the
last meeting the City Council was in favor of including this area as a watch area on the sewer map.
This meant that it may potentially need sewer service to replace failing septic systems. As of the last
meeting the City Council was not in favor of guiding this property towards a denser residential
development.
Jeff Pederson said that they were okay with having their property in a watch area, however, they
were requesting that it be guided for a denser residential development.
The consensus of the City Council was to leave it as decided at the previous meeting.
There was a lengthy discussion where Jim Johnson raised several concerns about the
Comprehensive Plan. He was concerned that the City Council was rushing to approve the Plan
before having taken sufficient time to look at some of the details. He was concerned about the mix
of commercial development to residential development. He thought that if we were going to increase
commercial development that we should also consider where the people working in these
businesses are going to live. He wanted to maintain a no growth strategy. He believed that they
were voted in on the idea of maintaining no growth. He thought that included commercial/industrial
growth in addition to residential growth. He said he would restrict any additional commercial
development along Trunk Highway 55 corridor.
Several Council Members said the area that is currently guided towards urban commercial 1 was
guided for industrial development in the previous Comprehensive Plan. They said that the area
previously guided for industrial development was reduced and made into UC1. They said overall
there is less area guided for commercial development in the 2000-2020 Comprehensive Plan than in
the 1990 Comprehensive Plan.
Jim Johnson also was advocating the creation of more zoning districts within each of the guide plan
designations so City Council would have more flexibility when developing the UC1 area.
There was some question about how to proceed this evening.
Ron Batty said that there had been a number of issues raised. He said adoption of the
Comprehensive Plan requires four votes from the City Council. He explained that there are two
models for how comprehensive plans work. One is where you have broad land use definitions and
multiple zoning districts within those designations; the other is where you have multiple guiding
districts and zoning districts that relate to that. Currently, the model that City has chosen is a one to
one guide plan to zoning model.
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Batty said comprehensive plans provide a broad expression of the types of controls the city would
like to implement. However, the actual implementation of those controls is done through the official
controls of the city, the zoning ordinance, septic ordinance, and others. He said the City has yet to
look through its controls and modify or create the controls needed to implemented this
Comprehensive Plan.
There was some discussion about other types of controls and the timeline for completion of those
controls.
Ron Batty said it will probably take six to nine months to get the official controls in place. The normal
process is to adopt the general guidelines then work on the controls of the City.
John Ferris said it seemed appropriate to adopt the Plan and then start work on the ordinances
which are the meat on the bones of this plan.
Phil Zietlow said some of the concerns that Jim Johnson addressed about different zoning districts
might be included as a part of the UC1 zoning district. He said there could be different rules
incorporated into the UC1 ordinance depending on the proximity of development to the border
between residential and commercial areas.
Jim Johnson said he was for no growth. He mentioned some concerns about the sewer staging and
that currently the City will not have enough capacity to fully develop the area that was guided for
sewer development in 1990. He was concerned about opening up a larger area for sewered
development.
Carolyn Smith said that in the sewer section of the Comprehensive Plan, there are guidelines for
capacity issues. When the City reaches a certain capacity, new developments would only be
approved based on certain criteria.
John Ferris said there are already concerns about capacity issues. There have been times when we
have reached peak capacity. Some of that is being rectified with inflow and infiltration corrections,
however, the City does not have a significant amount of additional capacity.
Carolyn Smith said the Planning Commission tried to address some of Jim Johnson's concern's. The
area guided urban commercial 1 was to become more rural industrial/commercial development
versus the current type of development that would be allowed there if it remained rural
industrial/rural commercial. She said they were trying to accommodate some commercial/industrial
development along Trunk Highway 55, but a higher quality and a more rural type of development.
John Ferris said the Plan does not include any sewered areas outside of the ultimate sewered area
shown in the 1990 Comprehensive Plan. He said they have not changed any of the rural residential
area on which they were elected to preserve. This means that a majority of the City will not be
touched by urban development nor be allowed to develop at a higher density.
After some additional discussion there was a motion.
Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve the 2000 — 2020 Comprehensive
Plan with the modifications made this evening and at the previous meeting. Those in favor:
Carolyn Smith, John Ferris, John Hamilton, and Phil Zietlow. Those opposed: Jim Johnson.
Motion passed.
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10. Setting up a Committee for Implementing the Comprehensive Plan
Paul Robinson referred to the memo in the packet. He said at the last meeting Staff was directed to
come back with recommendations for creating a committee for implementing the Comprehensive
Plan. He said, up front, they needed to know if the Council was interested in actually creating this
committee, and if so, what the membership would consist of.
Ron Batty said that, typically, the task of creating ordinances is put into the Planning Commission's
hands. He said if the City Council creates a committee, they are choosing an option outside of what
is normally done. This is okay, however, no matter who creates the ordinances, the Planning
Commission will need to adopt them. Since that is the case, he believed the Planning Commission
needed to play a central role in this committee and recommended the committee consist of a
majority of Planning Commission Members.
The consensus of the Council was to develop a committee to implement these ordinances.
This committee would consist of three City Council Members and four Planning Commission
Members appointed to the committee. They wanted to appoint the Chair of the Planning
Commission as the chair of this committee.
Lenny Leuer, Chair of the Planning Commission, was asked if he would be okay with that.
He reluctantly agreed to begin the process as chair of the committee.
Loren Kohnen and Paul Robinson were the Staff Members designated to assist the committee.
Additional Staff Members would be invited as needed.
The City Council appointed Carolyn Smith, John Ferris, and Jim Johnson to the committee from the
City Council. They directed Staff to ask the Planning Commission to appoint three additional
Planning Commissioners to the committee.
Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Carolyn Smith, establish a Comprehensive Plan Implementation
Committee consisting of three Council Members, Jim Johnson, Carolyn Smith, and John Ferris, and
four Planning Commissioners with the Chair of the Planning Commission acting as chair of the
committee, and to direct the Planning Commission to appoint three additional members. Motion
passed. Jim Johnson was not present for this motion.
11. Request from Staff to Put Together Guidelines and Preliminary Time Line for this
Committee
Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to direct Staff to create these guidelines for
discussion and possible approval at the next meeting. Motion passed. Jim Johnson was not
present.
12. Issue of Hiring a Planning Consultant
Paul Robinson said at the last meeting the City Council directed staff to either create an RFP or
have Bill Thibault present a proposal outlining the costs for creating the new ordinances required to
implement the Comprehensive Plan. Robinson said that Mr. Thibault was not able to make it this
evening but he did put together some costs or a proposal for implementing these ordinances.
Robinson said he would draft the needed ordinances for around $23,000.
Robinson said it was hard for Thibault and for Staff to come up with an exact estimate of the time
required to complete these ordinances. He said it is difficult to know what level of detail the City
Council would like to have if the City would like illustrative plans, etc. All of this options increase the
cost. Robinson said Thibault included some of those elements in his current bid.
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Robinson said he thought it would be better if the City Council were to invite Bill Thibault to the next
meeting and have a dialog with him about this proposal so that both parties have a better idea about
what is being requested or being provided.
There was some discussion about the bid. Since the cost to develop the Uptown Hamel ordinance
was the same cost as the UC1 ordinance, there was some concern that either the Uptown Hamel
was overbid, or the UC1 area was underbid, and would not be done with the same thoroughness.
Robinson said these are the kind of concerns the Council would need to discuss with Bill Thibault at
the next meeting.
John Ferris said the quality of this process will depend greatly upon the ability of the committee to
work effectively.
In addition to having Bill Thibault come to the next meeting, the City Council also requested a list of
references and some examples of his work.
11. Interim Ordinance Placing a Moratorium on Development
Ron Batty said during the previous Comprehensive Plan discussions, the Council mentioned they
would like to consider placing a moratorium on areas in the Comprehensive Plan where new
ordinances would be needed in order to implement the Plan.
Batty said since the previous Council meeting, he had been contacted by Council Members
interested in setting up a meeting with the developer of the Rolling Green Business Park. In addition
to Council Members, this meeting was to include residents of the Foxberry Farms Development.
The purpose of this meeting was to see if there might be a possibility of striking a compromise on
their development proposal that would be acceptable to the residents and the Council before
proceeding with a moratorium.
Phil Zietlow explained that he had been contacted by the developer to see if there was interest on
the Council to meet with him and residents of Foxberry Farms to discuss a compromise proposal.
Zietlow said that he spoke with some Council Members and residents of the Foxberry Farms
development. He said there was interest in having a meeting. Zietlow said some of the people
involved could not meet before tonight's Council Meeting so the meeting was set up for Wednesday.
He asked the City Council to postpone action on the moratorium until the next meeting so that they
could discuss this proposal with the developer.
Carolyn Smith said she heard that there aren't any significant changes to the building, only some
additional screening. She said that would not change her opinion about whether or not to proceed
with a moratorium. Therefore, it may not be worthwhile waiting until the next meeting to proceed
with the moratorium. She said she would have preferred it if Woodhouse would have come the
meeting this evening and make a presentation to the City Council.
Jim Johnson said the City Council just passed the Comprehensive Plan calling for UC1 zoning and
not urban commercial zoning on this property, therefore, he was wondering how the City Council
could proceed at all on this issue.
Ron Batty said that he believed the moratorium made sense, however, he said the City Council
should table this item, as well as the items concerning Rolling Green, until the next meeting. He said
he had represented to their attorney that the City Council would postpone action on these items.
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Kristin Johnson asked how the City Council could approve an application for an urban commercial
zone that has been guided UC1.
There was some discussion about how the Wednesday meeting was set up. Residents of Foxberry
Farms said that they did not realize they had an option on whether or not to meet. They thought that
this meeting was being set up and that they needed to attend.
Johnson said that Foxberry Farms residents would not be willing to change their opinions based
upon additional screening or a small change here or there. If the basic building stayed the same,
that would not be acceptable to them.
Ron Batty said that it would be appropriate to consider what he had said to Linda Fisher. He said
that although this is not a significant issue, it could create the appearance of not acting in good faith.
It is better to error on the side of meeting with the developer and postponing the moratorium, rather
than proceeding with the moratorium and giving the developer another option for raising the case
that the City operated in bad faith.
Kristin Johnson registered significant opposition to the idea of postponing the moratorium. She said
Foxberry Farms residents have shown up to meeting after meeting as this item has been postponed
and delayed. She said, at this point, they would rather the Council take action tonight rather than
postpone it once again.
John Hamilton said he was made aware of this meeting a few minutes before the meeting.
However, he thought it would be better to postpone this issue since the developer was told not to
come to this meeting. He said he thought postponing the moratorium would be a show of good faith.
He said Ron Batty has provided good legal advice to the City for a number of years and has not led
them astray. He believed that it would be wise to take his advice and postpone this item.
After some additional discussion, the City Council asked if it would be possible to approve the
moratorium, however, to set a meeting for a future time before the next meeting where the City
Council could meet to rescind the moratorium if there were any significant developments that were to
occur at this meeting on Wednesday.
Ron Batty said that it would be possible to set an additional meeting to consider the moratorium.
The consensus of the City Council was to set a date for a special meeting of the City Council to
reconsider the moratorium. If the Council Members that attend the Wednesday meeting believe
there is a possibility to reach a compromise, the moratorium can be rescinded at the special
meeting, if not, the meeting can be cancelled.
John Ferris and Phil Zietlow were designated to represent the Council at the Wednesday night
meeting. The Council said that they would leave it up to those two Council Members on whether or
not the special meeting would occur or be cancelled.
John Hamilton said that based upon the meeting set up to reconsider the moratorium, he would be in
favor of moving forward with approving the moratorium this evening.
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Jim Johnson, to approve the interim ordinance 311 and
enacting a moratorium on development in the City.
There was some additional discussion.
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Paul Robinson asked which of the moratorium options they wanted to pick on the map that was
included in the Council packet.
The consensus of the Council was to pick Option 2 that included all of the property guided urban
commercial, urban commercial 1, uptown hamel, and Residential PUD 1 &2 with a 1,000-foot buffer
around the urban commercial and urban commercial 1 zones where they abut residential property.
Those in favor of enacting the interim ordinance: Carolyn Smith, Jim Johnson, John
Hamilton, and John Ferris.
Opposed: Phil Zietlow.
Motion passed.
12. Approval to Publish the Interim Ordinance 311 by Title and Summary
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Jim Johnson, to approve Resolution 99-57 the publication of
the interim ordinance by title and summary. Motion passed unanimously.
13. Setup a Special Meeting for Tuesday, October 12, 1999 to Reconsider the Moratorium
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Jim Johnson, to set up a special meeting to reconsider the
moratorium for 7:00 p.m. October 12, 1999 at City Hall. Motion passed unanimously.
14. Table Items 6, 7 and 8 on the Agenda — All Dealing with the Rolling Green Business Park
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by John Hamilton, to table item 6,7, and 8 to October 19.
Motion passed unanimously.
15. Approve the Plans and Specifications and Set a Bid Date for Independence Beach
Forcemain
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Jim Johnson, to approve the plans and specifications and to
set a bid date opening date for November 4, 1999. Motion passed unanimously.
16. Sanitary Sewer Line from Tracy Johnson
There was a significant amount of discussion about moving the sewer forcemain on their property.
Initially it was to run through their property and go towards the south, but Glenn Cook said that
realizing that at some point they may need to provide sewer to the residents along Shawnee Woods
Trail, it makes more sense, at this time, to run the sewer line out to 116, more directly to pick up
those residents and other properties north of there.
Doing this however would inhibit Tracy Johnson's ability to build a three -car garage as they had
planned. There was a significant amount of discussion about where the sewer line would go and
how to accommodate this. At this time there was no resolution. The City Engineer was directed to
work with the property owner to come up with a solution. There was some question about whether
or not this would increase the amount of money needed out of the trunk fund.
Glenn Cook said that $20,000 would be needed out of the trunk fund. He said he would need a
motion authorizing that additional amount.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by John Hamilton, to approve $20,000 to be spent out of the trunk
fund for a new alignment for the sewer main to serve Tracy Johnson's property. Motion passed
unanimously.
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17. Approval to Attend League of Minnesota Cities Seminar
John Hamilton asked for approval to attend a League of Minnesota Cities seminar on human
resources. He said he would need approval for a $75.00 expenditure.
Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve the LMC seminar for John Hamilton.
Motion passed unanimously.
18. Changing of the Starting Time for the November 2, 1999 Meeting
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to move the November 2, 1999 meeting to 8:00
p.m. Motion passed unanimously.
19. Proclamation to Commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
(VFW)
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve the proclamation. Motion passed
unanimously.
20. Pay the Bills
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve the bills, order check numbers
20188-20232 for $60,448.28 and payroll check numbers 16275-16293 for $16,116.59. Motion
passed unanimously.
21. Close the Regular Meeting and Go into Executive Session to Discuss Labor Negotiations
with the Police Union.
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Jim Johnson, to close the regular meeting and go into
executive session to discuss labor negotiations with the police union. Motion passed
unanimously.
22. Close Executive Session and Go into Regular Session
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to close the executive session and go into
regular session. Motion passed unanimously.
23. Adjournment
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by John Ferris, to adjourn the meeting at 11:42 p.m. Motion
passed unanimously.
John B. Ferris, Mayor
Attest:
Paul Robinson, City Clerk -Treasurer
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
October 5, 1999
177
ORDER CHECKS — OCTOBER 5, 1999
20188 Orchard Trust $ 1,312.00
20189 P.E.R.A. 3,126.52
20190 AAA Striping 5,634.00
20191 American Planning 60.00
20192 American Supply Group 22.95
20193 Banyon Data Systems 225.00
20194 Barton Sand & Gravel 1,509.77
20195 BCA/Training & 180.00
20196 Bryan Rock Products. 16,499.13
20197 Classic Cleaning 26.63
20198 Delta Dental 805.65
20199 Dillman, James. 75.00
20200 Dressel, Robert 75.00
20201 E-Z-Recycling 2,473.02
20202 Eagle Painting, Inc. 4,046.00
20203 ESS Bros. & Sons, Inc. 535.77
20204 Firstar Bank 218.38
20205 Fortin Hardware 36.52
20206 Grainger 228.04
20207 Hawkins Water Treatment 1,601.68
20208 Hennepin 562.50
20209 J-Craft, Inc 237.16
20210 L & R Grading 920.16
20211 Lake Business Supply 197.92
20212 League Of MN Cities, Fin. 2,541.00
20213 Long Lake, City Of 2,178.62
20214 Medica Choice 960.62
20215 Metrocall 58.05
20216 Midwest Asphalt 116.10
20217 Minneapolis Community 390.00
20218 Minnegasco 36.14
20219 Northern States Power 3,182.80
20220 Northwest Surburban 95.00
20221 Orono Ind.Sch.Dist. 278 928.74
20222 Postmaster 500.00
20223 Randy's Sanitation 81.27
20224 Sam's Club 30.00
20225 Scherer, Steven 75.00
20226 Streicher's 293.23
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
October 5, 1999
ORDER CHECKS — OCTOBER 5, 1999 (CONT'D)
20227 Twin City Water Clinic 55.00
20228 U.S. Filter/Waterpro 6,031.13
20229 U.S. West 475.82
20230 Westside Wholesale Tire 12.00
20231 Wright -Hennepin Electric 1,520.11
20232 Xerox Corporation 278.85
$60,448.28
PAYROLL CHECKS — SEPTEMBER 27, 1999
16275 Hamilton, John A $138.52
16276 Smith, Carolyn A. 138.52
16277 Ferris, John B 207.79
16278 Zietlow, Philip K. 138.52
16279 Johnson, James R 138.52
16280 Robinson, Paul A. 940.03
16281 Scherer, Steven T 1,026.64
16282 McGill, Christopher R. 1,116.34
16283 Rouillard, Michael J 800.26
16284 Kroeger, Scott W. 1,362.23
16285 Dillman, James D 1,281.86
16286 Dressel, Robert P 1,023.34
16287 Belland, Edgar J 1,702.26
16288 Vieau, Cecilia M 839.48
16289 Sulander, Laura L. 987.03
16290 Larson, Sandra L. 792.18
16291 Priem, Jon D. 1,210.11
16292 Christenson, Jeremy L. 1,115.43
16293 Nystrom, James 1,157,53
$16,116.59
Medina City Council Meeting Minutes
October 5, 1999