HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998/09/28 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session CITY OF
ST. LOUIS OFFICIAL MINUTES
PARK CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION
September 28, 1998
The meeting convened at 6:00 p.m.
Present at the meeting were Councilmembers Chris Nelson, Susan Sanger, Ron Latz, Robert
Young, Jim Brimeyer and Mayor Pro Tern Jeff Jacobs.
Staff present: City Manager(Mr. Meyer); Director of Community Development (Mr.
Harmening); Planning Manager(Ms. Jeremiah); Economic Development Coordinator(Mr.
Anderson); Public Works Director(Mr. Rardin); EDA Counsel (Mr. Bubul); Supt. Of
Engineering(Mr. Moore); and City Clerk(Ms. Larsen)
1. Park Commons
Community Development Department staff met with Council to receive feedback regarding
items related to the Park Commons development.
Preliminary Development Agreement- On September 14th, staff had advised the Council/EDA
of its recommendation to retain Avalon Bay Communities as the developer for the first phase of
development in Park Commons. Staff informed Council that negotiations were continuing to
move forward and that Avalon Bay Communities were engaged in discussions with the Beard
Group to determine whether collaboration on the development project was feasible.
Streetscape Between Quentin and Monterey-Ms. Jeremiah said that staff had been in discussion
with Barry Warner of SRF and was recommending SRF to complete the streetscape project.
Staff felt that due to SRF's experience and the comfort level staff and Council felt with the finn,
that no RFQ process was needed. Mr. Harmening said that staff and SRF were currently
designing a scope of work and would bring back that information plus a fee schedule to a later
council meeting.
Councilmember Nelson asked why the developer that had worked on the project earlier was not
being retained. Mr. Harmening said that work done in the past had been acceptable,but the loss
of the Lead Engineer for the project plus other factors led staff to feel much more comfortable
with SRF.
Councilmember Sanger asked if no bidding process was to be undertaken, could a"discount"be
negotiated. Ms. Jeremiah said that staff could investigate the possibility of consolidating
projects such as the Hwy 100 bridge or Park Commons parking ramp design to lower costs.
Park Commons West- Staff recommended to Council that SRF serve as the new consultant for
continuation of the Park Commons West Study. They indicated that the Task Force would be
resuming their meetings in late October.
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Councilmember Nelson asked why we were changing consultants at this time. Ms. Jeremiah
said that staff time was not as available now as it had been in the past and the consultant would
be taking a larger role in working with the Task Force. Mr. Harmening added that the technical
expertise the consultant could offer would be valuable to the Task Force.
Ms. Jeremiah also spoke to problems with the past consultant related to conflict of interest and
timely submission of materials.
Councilmember Nelson also questioned the amount of money that had been expended on the last
consultant and asked how much more we would be spending on the new consultant.
Ms. Jeremiah indicated that some groundwork had been done by the first consultant and said that
SRF would be able to use much of that information. Mr. Harmening said that there would be
some costs associated with continuing the project that had already been paid to the first
consultant.
Mixed Use- In order to accommodate the type of development which the community supports
for the Town Center area, modifications are needed to the Comprehensive Plan map and text and
the Zoning Ordinance. Before applying the MX designation, staff asked Council to consider
several issues.
Councilmember Sanger asked what possible civic uses might be proposed for the area. Ms.
Jeremiah said a number of uses were possible, such as Post Office, Library Arts Center,but not
decisions had been made as to what kind of civic use would eventually be placed there. She also
said that the civic designation could help to maintain a west connection to Wolfe Park.
Councilmember Sanger asked if a change in the ordinance would set the City up for problems in
the future. Ms. Erickson did not feel that changing the ordinance would cause undue hardship
for developers in the future. She also said that it was staff's intent to keep the planning process
easy and they did not wish to cause undue hardship to developers.
Transit- Council received an update on the St. Louis Park Hopkins Minnetonka Transit Study,
reviewed target dates and the Phase II work Program.
Councilmember Sanger asked why the emphasis in the first phase of the study concentrated so
heavily on "downtown". Mr. Harmening responded that the first phase concentrated primarily
on data collection of what has been happening. Subsequent phases of the study will concentrate
more heavily on transit needs and alternatives. He also said that open houses to be held in the
near future will get more information from residents.
Mr. Meyer said that the proposal before Council was agreed on by all three cities involved, and
also pointed out that the MCT has dedicated a large amount of funding which demonstrates their
commitment to the study.
2. Non-Conforming Accessory Structures
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111 In response to a variance appeal considered by Council, Council had directed staff to prepare an
ordinance amendment permitting the reconstruction of damaged or destroyed non-conforming
accessory structures. After discussing various options staff proposed that the ordinance
amendment should remove the non-conforming status from the apartment building and four
smaller apartments in the R-3 district. Due to the proposed change, staff met to discuss the
proposal further before holding a public hearing.
Ms. Jeremiah stated that changing the status of these structures to conforming was more in line
with livable communities principles.
After brief discussion, Council directed staff to proceed with the ordinance amendment and
public hearing.
3. NSP Electric Service
Jim Rhodes and Michael Lamb of NSP met with Council to discuss general reliability of electric
service in St. Louis Park. They gave a brief outline of problems experienced due to the four
severe storms of summer.
Councilmember Nelson asked if undergrounding of electric lines could be required. Mr. Rhodes
responded that undergrounding is very costly to install and extremely costly to repair.
Mayor Pro-Tern Jacobs asked if substations serving St. Louis Park were passing enough power
through. Mr. Rhodes said that the Hwy 7 substation was being approved which will help to
provide power to the western suburbs.
Councilmember Sanger asked shy some lines keep getting damaged in storms. Mr. Lamb
replied that in most cases, large, mature trees caused recurring problems, especially in older
neighborhoods.
Mr. Lamb had met with residents in the Westwood Hills area where they had experienced
significant problems. There had been repairs made to the underground systems serving the
neighborhood just in time for 3 major storms - all of which resulted in power loss to residents.
He assured Council that the original problem had been addressed,but also indicated that when
storms occur, there will always be the possibility of power outages due to the forested nature of
the neighborhood.
Mayor Pro-Tem Jacobs asked what priority NSP followed in determining when repairs were
made. Mr. Rhodes responded that NSP began repairs closest to the source of the power.
Councilmember Nelson asked Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Lamb if they could determine why
brownouts had occurred in the Browndale and Brookside neighborhoods and get that
information to him.
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Councilmember Nelson also asked the status of NSP's Y2K preparations. Mr. Rhodes said that
their internal mechanisms were under study and that there were 200 staff members working on
preventing problems.
4. Introduction of Martha McDonnell, Community Outreach Coordinator
Mr. Meyer introduced Martha McDonnell, Community Outreach Coordinator to the Council.
Martha gave a brief account of her past work history and mission. Councilmember Nelson asked
if she would be working more closely with Community Education. Martha identified that as a
priority and stated that she was already working closely with the Volunteer Office.
Discussion took place regarding options for new resident outreach. Ms. McDonnell indicated
that she would be making future reports to the Council as her work progressed.
5. Towing Contract
Chief Luse met with Council to discuss a situation related to the City's Towing contract,where
due to confusion about storage fees for vehicles held for forfeiture significant cost to the city has
been incurred. He indicated that consideration of the seizure and forfeiture issue has resulted in
evaluation of the towing contract from a broader perspective.
Council discussed the contract itself, forfeiture procedures,prosecution time, negotiation of a
new contract and competition between towing companies.
Councilmember Nelson asked if staying with vehicles until a tow truck arrived was the best use
of officer time. Chief Luse reported that due to chain of possession, it was important for the
Police to stay with the vehicle. In most cases CSO's are assigned to that duty.
A re-negotiated contract will be coming back to Council in the near future.
6. Suburban Plumbing/Apex Realty; 1993 Redevelopment Contract; section relating to
billboards
Mr. Anderson, Mr. Harmening and Steve Bubul, EDA Attorney, met to advise the City Council/
EDA on matters concerning the 1993 redevelopment contract with Suburban Plumbing(SPS)
that dealt with the issue of two existing billboards on the subject property and to seek the
Council's desired direction on this issue.
Mr. Anderson indicated that there was confusion on the part of the City and SPS regarding a
clause in the lease for removal of billboards on the property.
Councilmember Sanger asked if due to the potential for litigation, an executive session was
needed. Mr. Bubul encouraged Council to go to executive session.
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111 Motion to move to executive session was made by Councilmember Nelson and seconded by
Councilmember Sanger. Motion passed 5-1 with Councilmember Brimeyer opposed.
Mayor Pro-Tern Jacobs agreed to allow representative of SPS to express their concerns prior to
moving to the executive session.
Eric Galatz, Attorney for SPS stated that the problem was caused by a misstatement in the lease
and was not intended to be a misrepresentation on the part of SPS. He also stated the terms of
the redevelopment contract had been fully met. He also discussed SPS's relationship with the
company leasing the billboard space and indicated that it would be a hardship for SPS to
dissolve the agreement with that company.
Council moved to executive session at 8:40 p.m. In attendance were Councilmembers Jacobs,
Nelson, Latz, Sanger,Brimeyer and Young. Also in attendance were Tom Harmening, EDA
Attorney Steve Bubul, Dave Anderson, Charlie Meyer and Cindy Larsen. Motion to close the
executive session made at 9:10 by Councilmember Nelson and seconded by Councilmember
Young.
Upon returning to the Council Chambers Mayor Pro-Tem Jacobs told those in attendance that no
decisions had been made and directed staff to continue working with SPS toward resolution of
the issue.
111
7. Flooding Problem Study
Public Works staff along with Pete Willenbring of WSB &Associates presented to Council the
final results of a study conducted to identify areas most affected by storm water flooding. Mr.
Willenbring went over a spreadsheet outlining problem areas, ranking options and identifying
scenarios for revenue generation to cover the cost of implementation.
Councilmember Latz asked if some of the items on the list should be the responsibility of the
homeowner and not the City. Mr. Rardin responded that where the City is clearly responsible is
when public infrastructure caused the problem.
Mr. Willenbring suggested that Council may wish to adopt a grant program similar to that used
to clean up lead contamination in the Elmwood neighborhood. Residents could take advantage
of cost savings by using City contracted supplies and services.
Councilmember Nelson said that he felt a stormwater utility was need in any case. Council
discussed options for funding the utility including sale of bonds,potential impact of levy limits
and the City's ability to fund the utility through fees or taxes. Councilmember Sanger
suggested that staff do a financial analysis to present to Council at a later study session.
Mr. Rardin emphasized that the suggestions presented deal with damage to structures only.
Landscaping was not being addressed at this time.
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Several Councilmembers expressed their appreciation and commented on the useful format in
which the material was presented.
8. Department Project List(CIP) '
Mr. Rardin presented a brief overview of Public Works Capital Improvement Projects. He said
that an inventory was currently being conducted and that staff would be back later in the fall to
report on the condition of streets.
The meeting adjourned at 10:07 p.m. /
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C. Clerk M. of pi o