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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998/01/12 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session CITY OF Minutes ST. LOUIS City Council Study Session PARK January 12, 1998 7:00 p.m. The meeting convened at 7 10 p m Present at the meeting were Councilmembers Chris Nelson, Ron Latz, Robert Young, Sue Sanger, Jeff Jacobs and Mayor Gail Dorfman Staff present City Manager(Mr Meyer), Director of Community Development (Mr Harmening), City Attorney (Mr Scott), Planning Coordinator(Ms Jeremiah); Economic Development Coordinator(Mr Anderson), Housing Coordinator(Ms Brownstein); Director of Inspections(Mr. Petersen), Personnel Office (Mr Wysopal) and City Clerk (Ms Larsen) 1. NRC Grant Program Council met with staff to review recommendations from the Neighborhood Revitalization Commission for increasing the effectiveness of the NRC Grant Program Ms. Brownstein gave a brief history of the program and shared the following NRC recommendations • the program be adninisteredin one annual cycle • Council consider rolling unused funds over to the next calendar year • grant awards be divided into three categories, operating support, neighborhood activities and capital improvements • detailed applications be submitted by the neighborhoods • a letter of feasibility from affected City departments be filed along with the application • proof of support within the neighborhoods be provided with the application Councilmember Nelson asked if the City would still print newsletters or if neighborhoods would have to include this cost in their proposals Mr Harmening replied that this would still be a cost absorbed by the City. Mayor Dorfman suggested that a mechanism be put in place to review proposals as they are developed so that neighborhoods will know they are on the right track Ms. Brownstein said that pre-application meetings would be organized She agreed this was an important step in proposal development and that it would benefit staff to review proposals as they are developed Councilmember Sanger asked if a March 1st target date was too soon Ms Brownstein said that if projects are to be done this year the neighborhoods would need to get going right away Councilmember Jacobs endorsed the process Tom Harmening indicated that staff would be distributing the guidelines as soon as possible 2. Golden Site County/City Agreement and Task Force Recommendations Council met with staff and members of the Railroad Task Force to discuss matters associated with entering into an agreement with Hennepin County relating to rail improvements to facilitate a northerly connection at the Golden site and the redevelopment of the Golden property. The two primary considerations identified for City Council to consider were. (1)whether the City Council finds it appropriate to move forward with the proposed preliminary redevelopment agreement and proceed with the various activities outlined within it and (2) if the City Council was comfortable with the neighborhood process which had been undertaken to date to ascertain the neighborhood concerns, desires and identification of improvements that would be needed to proceed with the proposal. Tom Harmening gave a short presentation regarding the history of this issue and the 1997 Legislation regarding the Environmental Response Fund meant to assist in facilitation the rail improvements and redevelopment of the Golden Auto/National Lead site Dave Anderson pointed out the draft preliminary agreement attempted to accomplish two primary purposes (1) to acknowledge and incorporate the requirements set forth in the legislation so that the City and County could draw upon Environmental Response Funds for site acquisition contaminated clean up costs and rail improvements identified in the Statute, and (2) to lay forth the role and tasks of the parties to the Agreement Councilmember Nelson asked if the funds could be used to facilitate the interconnect and asked that the City Attorney address this issue The Task Force representative presented to Council a list identifying the main concerns and priorities that had been compiles by the affected neighborhoods Councilmember Nelson asked that it become a stipulation of the agreement that MN/Dot and the Railroad would need to be a party to the agreement as well. Mr Meyer pointed out that this was a preliminary agreement and still subject to refinements Councilmember Sanger stated that she felt the agreement is too loose and felt Council needed clarification about who will own the Golden property after remediation took place Council reviewed the list presented by the Task Force and discussed the importance of each item to the agreement Councilmember Latz suggested that the sound proofing be removed to save a significant amount of money Mayor Dorfman asked Council to come together in providing direction for staff Mr Meyer said that three options for dealing with the issue existed: 1. Drop the issue entirely 2 Move ahead with the agreement 3 Do more investigation Following further discussion Council directed staff to move forward with development of the preliminary agreement 3. Highway 7/Louisiana Ave S Community Development staff met with Council to update them on activities relating to the Highway 7/Louisiana Ave S development process and to discuss policy direction The City's consultant for this project, Greg Ingraham of Ingraham and Voss, was also present to answer Council's questions Janet Jeremiah brought Council up to date about the recent open house and stated that people in attendance at the open house had indicated a desire to designate more park land in the area than had already been designated She also said that a typical development often is less dense than its designation. Mr. Harmening said that funds spent on environmental clean-up and remediation at Oak Park Village have been huge over the years He said that the open house had done a great deal to educate those in attendance about other issues on the site Councilmember Sanger asked if developers had expressed interest in building housing at Oak Park Village Ms Jeremiah said that the City had been approached on several occasions about the site Councilmember Nelson asked to have residents of the Elmwood neighborhood notified of meetings in the future. He said that he had seen the economic profile and was concerned about the deficit that existed. Mr Meyer said that EDA counsel was currently reviewing the consent decree and remedial action plan to look at cost reduction options or funding from other sources Councilmember Nelson asked if development would only cause the City to incur more costs Council and staff discussed the use of TIF funds and options for funding remediation activities in the future Mr. Harmening reiterated that neighborhood sentiment is that as much as possible open space should be dedicated as park land Mayor Dorfman asked if we could help residents to understand that high density is a good thing. Ms. Jeremiah said that the opposition is not to density but rather to density and low-income development. Mr Meyer said that staff has taken the position of educating about the need for additional development on the site Councilmember Latz asked if the development of housing in the Park Commons area had been included in the comprehensive plan figures presented in the report Ms Jeremiah said that it had not, but that would be taken into account in future figures to be developed. She said that the Task Force was still gathering information 4. City Health Insurance Contribution Staff had prepared for Council a report to present issues for discussion relative to equalizing the amount of City contribution between single and family health insurance. Councilmember Sanger expressed concern that the plan provided for unequal benefits for different employees. She felt the benefits offered should be the same for all employees. Councilmember Jacobs stated that since the employees did not see this as an issue that allocation of benefits should remain as presented Councilmember Nelson agreed with Councilmember Jacobs. Mr. Meyer informed Council that the City Attorney had reviewed the situation and saw no legal implications. Councilmember Young agreed that this is not an issue that Council should be addressing at this time. He also suggested that one option would be for the City to make the disparity less by making adjustments over a period of time 5. Communications Councilmembers pointed out minor issues in detail in the report regarding Charter amendments. Council also briefly discussed the written report regarding Aquatic Park Fees. Tom Harmening informed Council that the City's Lobbyist, Gene Ranieri, had been appointed to a position with AMM. Mr Harmening recommended that a new Lobbyist be appointed and informed Council that the costs for a new Lobbyist would be higher than Council had previously experienced He also indicated that the value to the City in dealing with legislative issues was definitely worth the cost of the service. The meeting adjourned at 1016 p m /0„), 7 Gail Dorfman, Mayor Re ording Secretary