HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999/03/22 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session I4 CITY OF
F,* ST. LOUIS
OFFICIAL MINUTES
PARK CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION
March 22, 1999
The meeting convened at 6.10 p.m.
Present at the meeting were Councilmembers Jeff Jacobs, Chris Nelson, Sue Sanger, Ron Latz,
and Jim Brimeyer.
Mayor Dorfman arrived at 7:10 p.m.
Staff present. City Manager(Mr. Meyer); Director of Community Development (Mr.
Harmening); Economic Development Coordinator(Mr. Anderson);Director of Public Works
(Mr. Rardin); Director of Finance (Ms. McBride); Park and Recreation Director(Ms. Welsh),
Human Resources Manager(Ms. Gohman); and Housing Coordinator(Ms. Brownstein).
1. Park Commons Phase I Master Plan
Greg Estermann of Avalon presented a revised Master Plan as outlined in the staff report. Based
upon any further direction from the Council, the plan will be refined and financial information
will be developed.
Councilmember Nelson desired to see the elevation of ground-level work/shops that have been
added to the base of the parking structures along Excelsior Blvd He questioned the location of
the parking structures.
Ms. Jeremiah indicated that from the developer's perspective, 38th and 39th Street was
considered the main street.
Councilmember Nelson was concerned about integrating the Master Plan with Excelsior
Boulevard.
Councilmember Sanger asked if location of more retail on Excelsior Boulevard would draw
more people into the area and slow traffic.
Mr. Estermann indicated that it would be difficult to attract retail at that location.
Mr. Harmening indicated that the streetscape improvements and Town Green might help calm
traffic.
Ms Jeremiah stated that Avalon has been asked to provide their own market information as part
of the preliminary development agreement and master planning process.
Councilmember Sanger asked how wide the Town Green was Mr. Estermann used a football
field to visualize the Town Green. Council discussed the proposed new width of the Town
Green and believed it achieves what Council desires Councilmember Nelson wanted to stress
that he didn't want to get to far away from the discussion of the width. Ms Jeremiah stated she
will get some preliminary elevation sketches to get a better sense of the Town Green in this
location and in comparisons to some other familiar green spaces in the metropolitan area.
Ms. Jeremiah believed it would be helpful to overlay the Phase I Master Plan on an air photo of
the existing neighborhood to see how design fits together and how close the proposed
north/south roadway is to this area.
Councilmember Brimeyer believed the visibility of open-space from Excelsior Boulevard was
important to drawing attention to Town Center.
Councilmember Jacobs indicated that the actual width of the Town Green was not important but
it had to work internally for pedestrians to walk around it and a maintain a visual interest.
Mr. Estermann explained the challenges of a mixed use design and simplification of sharing uses
to help with cost issue and functionality aspect. He noted the distribution of traffic and
pedestrians with use of roadways to assess public edge to the park.
Councilmember Latz suggested developing a pedestrian promenade along the edge of the park.
Council recommended taking additional park space needed to make design work properly for
vehicles, pedestrians and servicing.
Councilmember Nelson believed making 38th Street pedestrian friendly was a good goal, but
didn't want to lose sight of vehicles because the area would survive economically.
2. Benefits
Nancy Gohman, Human Resources Manager provided background information regarding the
City of St. Louis Park benefits and why there may be some administrative advantages to
equalization.
Councilmember Sanger questioned the reason why the City has a different employer benefit
contribution based on the employment status of non-exempt and exempt employees.
Ms. Gohman stated that historically the contribution for exempt employees has been looked at as
whole part of there compensation package.
Councilmember Nelson believed that the historical record should not be the justification since
the Council was not considering the historical record in making a change in the differentiation in
family and single benefits.
Councilmember Sanger was in favor of equalization of rates, regardless of selection of .
single/family or the exempt/non-exempt classification
Councilmember Latz was in favor of equalization of rates of single/family because he questioned
whether the tax payer should be subsidizing the individual choices of employees.
Mr. Meyer, City Manager noted that the variety in benefit levels has not developed a specific
pattern
Councilmember Jacobs was in favor of equalization of rates of single/family, but believed the
exempt employees should continue to receive a high employer benefit contribution for the
cafeteria plan.
It was the consensus of the Council to stay on the current benefit course.
3. Sidewalks and Trails Master Plan
Barry Warner, SRF and Bob Close, Close Landscape Architecture provided a brief overview of
the draft of the Sidewalks and Trails Master Plan.
Mr. Harmening, Community Development Director presented a staff report and recommended
discussion of the following policy issues:
• Funding mechanisms/approaches for paying for the system
Councilmember Sanger questioned the reason for the differentiation of the City Sidewalk
connections and Neighborhood sidewalk connections from the perspective of funding and
maintenance by residents.
Councilmember Nelson asked for clarification of the use of a sidewalk utility and distribution of
cost.
Staff believed that the more the City relies on the property owner to be responsible for these
items, the least likely the success of the building the system.
Councilmember Sanger suggested that the sidewalk and trail plan be discussed separately and
since the plan will impact residents differently questioned if this was something Council desired
to impose on the neighborhoods.
Mayor Dorfman believed that it was important to developing a process for informing the
community of the plan and the approach for implementation show the community wide benefit.
Council discussed having the City pay for the construction of all City Sidewalk Connections and
possibly neighborhood Sidewalk Connections with options outlined by staff.
• Long term repair and replacement responsibilities
Council agreed that current policy regarding repair and replacement would not change.
• Snow removal responsibilities
The Council discussed and Staff agreed to identify what the costs would be if the City removed
snow from all sidewalks and also it the alternative what kind of a scheme and what kind of costs
would be in affect if the City was to develop some kind of enforcement scheme to enforce the
requirement that residents remove the snow from their sidewalks.
Council discussed the snow removal alternatives and agreed that having the City remove snow
from all sidewalks within the City of St. Louis Park would be easy to sell.
Mayor Dorfman believed that requiring property owners to remove the snow from sidewalks
which front their property builds neighborhood responsibility and community pride.
Council discussed enforcement feasibility of requiring all property owners to be responsible for
the removal of snow from sidewalks adjacent to their property.
Councilmember Sanger believed that the City needs to be consistent and should either do all of
the snow removal or none at all.
• Phasing/timing of construction
Council recommended moving forward with the first priority City sidewalks and trails and
crossings without the neighborhood sidewalks and do a utility bond issue and proceed from
there.
Mr. Harmening asked why would you do only part of the first priority. Mayor Dorfman stated
that politically it would be a easier sell to the community.
Councilmember Sanger recommended doing all of the City sidewalks and trails and crossings.
Council directed staff to put together a revised first priority proposal with some financing
scenarios.
4. Follow-up Discussion on Capital Financing and Debt Issuance
Ms. McBride, Director of Finance provided some additional information with regards to the
proposed G.O. improvement bond issue planned for this spring or the financing of other projects,
such as trails and sidewalks.
Bob Ehlers of Ehlers and Associates, the City's financial consulting firm was present.
5. Comprehensive Plan Update
Ms. Erickson, Planning Coordinator indicated that the Comprehensive Plan document was now
complete and gave a brief update about the distribution schedule of the Comprehensive Plan
draft and the method of notification
Councilmember Latz believed it was fundamental to inform the neighborhood organization
leaders of the Ward meetings.
Councilmember Sanger asked about the Comprehensive Plan relative to the Honeywell site.
Mr. Harmening stated that the Honeywell site in the Comprehensive Plan is guided as entirely as
Commercial which is different that was talked about in the past about guiding part of the
property Residential. After a short discussion about the interest in actually purchasing the
property and conducting of an economic analysis, the Council decided not to complete a
thorough economic analysis at this time
6. Reconstruction of Excelsior Boulevard west of Trunk Highway 100
Mr. Rardin, Director of Public Works reviewed the proposed reconstruction of Excelsior
Boulevard west of Trunk Highway 100 and to obtain Council input regarding the need, design
concepts, funding, and the community participation process associated with this work.
Councilmember Nelson stated that the neighborhood was very interested in continuing the
streetscape improvements to the west of Highway 100 for pedestrian/vehicle safety issues.
Council directed staff to determine if the area businesses would be in support of a final
infrastructure and develop a mini "Streetscape" design with anticipated costs beyond the curbs
and median enhancements
7. Railroad Discussion
Mr. Meyer, City Manager gave a brief update of the options regarding short term action steps
and the recommendations for future actions as outlined in the report and reviewed the issue
related to the City of Hopkins.
Richard Koppy, Railroad Study Project Manager and Lee Koppy were present
The Council briefly discussed the history of the railroad operation problems with the City of
Hopkins and the City of Minnetonka.
Dick Koppy recommended that the noise study component of the environmental study be
completed as a first phase item. The main reason for putting this item first would be that this is
the one area that holds promise for action in the near future that could alleviate an existing
problem and gain negotiation leverage with other communities, railroads and the federal
government.
Councilmember Sanger recommended developing the best long range solution for a number of
the railroad issues so that other neighborhoods can see the overall benefit for the community.
111 Dick Koppy stated that the short term plan surfaced quickly and has the momentum to get
something done right away.
Mr. Meyer stated that since there was no objection by Council, staff would start to develop a
neighborhood process for the railroad study report and refine the next steps for some consulting
work.
8. Subdivision of Residential Lots
Councilmember Sanger indicated there was a need to examine the definitions of zoning districts.
Mr. Meyer stated that there were some things that can be done to address this issue and staff
would prepare some suggestions for Council to review in the future.
9. Waste Management Performance Report-Written Report for Council Review
10.Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 10.40 p m
Ci Clerk •yor