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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998/04/27 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session CITY OF OFFICIAL MINUTES ST. LOUIS CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION PARK ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA April 27, 1998 The meeting convened at 7.04 p m. Present at the meeting were Councilmembers Jeff Jacobs, Chris Nelson, Sue Sanger, Jim Brimeyer and Ron Latz, and Mayor Gail Dorfman. Staff present. City Manager(Mr Meyer), City Attorney(Mr. Scott); Director of Community Development (Mr. Harmening), Economic Development Coordinator(Mr. Anderson); Housing Coordinator(Ms. Brownstein); Planning Coordinator(Ms. Erickson), Director of Public Works (Mr. Rardin) and EDA Attorney(Mr. Bubul) 1. Meisner- New Urbanist Downtown Councilmember Young recently visited Boca Raton, Florida which had redeveloped a failed shopping center into a new urban downtown called Meisner Park. He presented pictures of the area for Council to review and provide some ideas for the development of Park Commons. 2. Review of Site Plan for Bass Lake: Tennis Courts and Housing Cris Gears, Parks and Recreation Director asked for direction from Council regarding the feasibility of constructing the six courts at this location; a schedule for construction; and a preferred funding option Michael Lamb of Town Planning Collaborative presented information about the two alternative site plans outlined in the staff report. He noted that if, at a future time, the City desired to remove the tennis courts from the site, a potential of three pods of housing could be developed. Councilmember Nelson raised a concern about no access to the site off Monterey Drive. Tom Harmening, Director of Community Development stated that traffic would not be a big problem with the number of units proposed, but the separation between the curb cut, Monterey, and Beltline would need to be examined. Council discussed potential traffic congestion, pedestrian traffic, amount of parking, allocation of space for housing units, tournament use, and bus traffic Mr. Gears stated that adequate parking was planned at site and that the current roadway system could handle any problems that developed Councilmembers Nelson and Jacobs preferred Alternative One concept design. Mr. Gears explained that Benilde/St Margaret's desired to complete construction of tennis courts by Fall, 1998 Jim Hamburge of Benilde/St. Margaret's was present and stated that the school's finance committee was in full support of the project and would work with the Parks and Recreation Department to finalize the design and layout lease and contract outlining liabilities. In response to a question raised by Mayor Dorfman, Mr Gears indicated that the St. Louis Park High School students had ample tennis court space available for regular schedule practices. Mr. Gears stated that the plan was investigated to allow Benilde/St. Margaret's to build the tennis courts so that they can meet the construction schedule and legally this was permitted Councilmember Sanger questioned if the placement of tennis courts at Oak Hill Park had been evaluated. Councilmember Latz supported this idea, but was concerned about damage to trees. In response to questions raised by Councilmember Latz, Mr. Harmening stated that the two alternative site plans were for illustrative purposes only and didn't commit to the pod style housing. Mr. Gears indicated that placement of tennis courts in the southeastern part of the community. was needed more. He stated that the current proposed site was dedicated as park land and an amendment to the comprehensive plan was required Councilmember Latz questioned a need for a safeguard in the agreement if the actual cost of the development was higher than the estimated cost and asked if private development would be less expensive Mr. Gears stated that private development would actually cost less. He said the driving force for development was housing on part of the site and steps would need to be taken so that housing development would not be prohibited on the same site as tennis courts Councilmember Sanger asked that construction related housing needs be addressed to look at impact on wetland and habitat. Mr Lamb stated that he saw minimal impact on trees and habitat and that run off would be addressed as plans were finalized. Mr Harmening stated that staff had not addressed the full impact of housing development. Councilmember Nelson questioned terms of the lease with Benilde/St Margaret's. Mr. Gears stated that the finalized lease would come back to Council Mr. Gears stated that existing soccer field could be maintained if housing was not developed. The Council accepted alternative one of the site plan and directed staff to prepare a two way agreement that included a lease to develop the site and an agreement to repay Benilde/St. ' Margaret's over a period of time for the City's share of the cost. Agreement would be available future Council review. 3. Hwy 7/LAS Medical Office Bldg- Preliminary Development Agreement Mr. Anderson, Economic Development Coordinator asked the City Council to review the proposal and consider the following questions. Conceptually, does the project have merit from a land use perspective? Presuming the"but for" test and the City's other TIF policies could clearly be met, was the Council willing to consider providing Tax Increment assistance to the project? Was the development of this site a priority for the City? Councilmember Latz raised concerns about density and the non-office related use at the site and the impact on Knollwood Mall. He stated he would like to see a mixed medical/office use Randy McKay of Frauenshuh Companies and Dr. Soliterman were present to answer Council questions Councilmember Latz asked if surface level only or a parking deck was proposed for the site Mr. McKay stated that only surface level parking was proposed at this time due to economic feasibility He stated that a first level restaurant was not originally intended and that he may have miscommunicated intentions to the Council. He said that a first level restaurant could not be appropriately marketed and the intent was to put only a small restaurant use on the first level on all medical/dental use facilities and would help appeal to lending market. He didn't perceive the distance from the proposed restaurant to the medical building to be a problem and stated that his objective was to create a center where people wanted to come back to. Councilmember Latz stated TIF financing would help with lending, therefore lending market not supporting this project didn't make sense. Councilmember Nelson asked about the impact of the billboard on the sale and estimated price of the site. Mr Harmening stated that acquiring the site which would require acquiring the billboard and the value of billboard was approximately $600,000 and gave a brief financiat/economic overview. Councilmember Nelson addressed the fiscal issue noting that the increment wouldn't come close to covering the City's share and suggested reducing project costs or increasing increment. Mayor Dorfman stated that the owner was reluctant to the sale and/or removal of the billboard, but the City could initiate condemnation of the property. Councilmember Sanger questioned highway type style uses and open ended nature of not knowing remediation cost and asked when a clear idea of remediation needs would be available. She preferred stacked parking and limited retail use. Mr Harmening stated that a Phase II environmental study would take place if Council moved forward with drafting a preliminary agreement. Dr Soliterman stated that there had been a tremendous response by the medical/dental community to use space and said that a large space building was developed this could block out small businesses. Mr. McKay stated it was possible to relocate people from Town Center and more planning would be done regarding retail space use at future time. Council directed staff to draft a preliminary agreement to be entered into between the EDA and developer with more intensification and design issues to asses the needs and impacts of the project from a financial perspective Staff commented that involvement in this agreement from a resource perspective would be viewed as a priority and had plans to make prioritizing more deliberate than in the past Councilmember Sanger asked when the City would have access to new forms of funding that have been made available Mr. Noory Shokry was interested in funding a medical/dental type building and was marketing to the same tenants that indicated an interest to Dr Soliterman. No tenant commitments had been finalized Councilmember Brimeyer recommended that if the City was going to attempt to purchase billboard property that the development be divided into Phase I and Phase II to show how medical building would work without that the billboard property and negotiate relocation of billboard or condemn it. Mr. McKay stated that he was not interested in developing the site if the billboard had to stay. Councilmember Brimeyer stated waiting for billboard settlement would delay August deadline and would be expensive and result in a long pay back Council directed staff to prepare preliminary agreement for Council review 4. Waste Management Service Issues Mike Rardin, Public Works Director presented a staff report. Staff was concerned about the sudden increase in the number of free handicapped walk-up service requests and asked Council to decide on a standard to use in evaluating need. The goal was to get number of free walk-up service down to a reasonable level. He explained a separate but related issue, that there has been number of service-related questions involving the performance contractor that have come up lately Councilmember Jacobs believed that the free walk-up service has been abused. Mayor Dorfman stated that residents who used BFI service, were used to receiving free service and desired to continue to receive free service Councilmember Sanger explained complaints she had received with service Mr Rardin concurred with an increased level of customer complaints that have been received and stated they may be related to internal issues such as quality of employees, management and inadequate internal communications. Mr. Rardin informed Council that the only penalty provision in the contract was for missed pick- ups and penalties had been implemented to contractor for missed pick-ups Mr. Meyer, City Manager stated that the initial staff expectation was that the level of service be equivalent to the level of service provided by the previous contractor and indicated that the contractor must determine problems and deal with them without the City having to tell them what to do. He indicated that the City was vulnerable in regards to the number of free walk-ups and reopening the contract needed to be avoided. After a brief discussion, Council agreed that residents were past the initial period of transition of a new contractor and that the resident complaints of contractors inadequate level of service needed to be addressed Council asked staff to prepare a letter to Waste Management, Inc. that communicated the dissatisfaction with the level of service and this issue and encouraged self- management of the problem • Staff indicated that the City couldn't argue to get out of contract because of the fact that the City misrepresented to the contractor that there were only 20 walkups. That number is now 526 and requires more time which affects service. Council discussed options to control the increase in the number of free walk-up service requests and agreed to discontinue free walk-up service and not allow any additional free walk-up customers Council directed staff to make a recommendation as to what to do with residents who wouldn't comply with the use of bio-bag program. 5. 1998 Habitat for Humanity Partnership Project Joanna Brownstein, Housing Coordinator stated that staff was suggesting the reallocation of $40,000 in 1997 Community Development Block Grant funds for this project. If the Council was comfortable using CDBG funds for this project, a public hearing for the reallocation of CDBG funds would be scheduled for May 18, 1998. At that time, the Council would need to approve a 111 resolution allocating these funds to the project Joanna Brownstein answered questions of Council related to past Habitat for Humanity projects, current proposed homes for rehabilitation, and factors that determine type and location of housing purchase for renovation project. 6. Commercial/Recreational Vehicle Screening Judie Erickson, Planning Coordinator presented slides and drawings that informed Council about existing Ordinance limitations for fences, and identified plant materials available for screening both small and tall vehicles. Council discussed screening issues and alternatives where larger RV's are parked in a rear yard, where small RV' are parked on the non-driveway side of the house, and where small RV's or commercial vehicles are parked in the front yard. It was determined that there are plant species available which could screen larger vehicles within small areas Councilmember Sanger stated that the goal of screening should be to minimize the view from other homes or yards, because eliminating the views completely and from the street could not be achieved. Ms. Erickson believed that although exceptions existed, reasonable screening and enforcement could be achieved in the side yard and possibly rear yard. Council discussed issues related to amount of screening possible in different locations, feasibility, and enforcement of final requirements in all locations Councilmembers Sanger and Young were in favor of rear yard screening although 100% screening may not be achieved Councilmember Young believed that the rear yard screening requirement may discourage residents from parking their RV in the rear yard. Ms Erickson stated that placement of a lot determines exceptions (where corner lot or backyard abuts the street) and a variance to the ordinance could be requested by residents. Council agreed that side yard screening was achievable and enforceable and directed staff to draft screening principles for the side yard 7. Proposed Growth Projections (Housing and Employment) Judie Erickson, Planning Coordinator stated staff's desire to revisit with the City Council the growth projections which have been made for St. Louis Park(housing and employment) in the context of using the projections to update the Comprehensive Plan which showed future land uses for St Louis Park Those future land uses would be based on certain growth assumptions. If a fairly aggressive growth assumption was made, the City would need to show properties in the Comp Plan that were designated for redevelopment and reviewed the distribution of the growth into areas defined by Minnesota Department of Transportation as Travel Assignment Zones (TAZ). Council focused discussions on the projected new units of housing forecasts and reviewed the designated sites. Councilmember Sanger believed that many judgments went into selecting what parcels were candidates for potential redevelopment sites and how this was decided. Council decided to ask Ward Council representatives to study the future land use growth projections for housing and provide information to Ms. Erickson to make appropriate changes. The meeting adjourned at 10:55 p.m. /1 7(! ,-- 5-DX/i_x______---- Ci/a dai Dorfman, Mayor . 4,_....„.4_,..-- 111 C Clerk