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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999/03/08 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session CITY OF iST. Louis PARK OFFICIAL MINUTES CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION March 8, 1999 The meeting convened at 7:20 p.m. Present at the meeting were Councilmembers Sue Sanger, Jim Brimeyer, and Mayor Gail Dorfman. Ron Latz arrived at 7:34 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), and Community Outreach Coordinator(Ms. McDonell). 1. Park Commons Update Ms Jeremiah, Planning Manager gave a brief update of the design session that was held on Monday, March 8th with some of the original charrette design team members, City staff, and the development team She believed the session was a success and noted that there was an opportunity to come to a consensus to modify the plan that better accommodates the City's mission for the area and still be workable from a development perspective. Greg Esterman of Avalon Bay Communities was also present at the session and indicated that he would be going back to the plan and make revisions and adjustments based on the recommendations from the meeting. Councilmember Sanger asked for clarification of additional owner occupied housing. Ms. Jeremiah stated that one alternative that was discussed was to make the owner occupied housing a community of 40 units (town homes), but it was hard to keep density. She stated there were a lot of issues to work out related to how to integrate the owner occupied units with some of the other mixed use elements of the plan. Councilmember Sanger did not believe 40 owner occupied units were enough to have a stable community. Ms. Jeremiah stated that conversions from apartment to condominiums could be examined although this was more sensitive from a market perspective. Councilmember Brimeyer asked if the design team discussed the height of the buildings. Ms. Jeremiah indicated that this was discussed related to the buildings along Town Green and the greater height in the area,the larger open space can be accommodated and there was a need for more architectural variety. Councilmember Brimeyer asked what civic uses were discussed. Ms. Jeremiah stated that a post office facility, kiosk library and school location were discussed, but there was no focus on dedicated civic space such as City Hall or art center. Mayor Dorfman stated that creating a design with a range of housing choices would encourage rental stability. Councilmember Brimeyer believed that the width of the town green was not as critical as the identification of it for people traveling Excelsior Boulevard. He commented on the four angles from which the design will be perceived and assessed by the community. Mayor Dorfman stated that she felt comfortable with the principals that have been discussed and Council would like to see incorporated into the design plan. Council briefly discussed the height issue related to diversity and density, the sustanability of public facilities, parking location, public funding of project as a whole and the need to evaluate the different users of the area Councilmember Latz asked for an update on proposed office use. Ms. Jeremiah noted that office use was an important component for providing the shared parking with the park and civic uses of the Town Green and the amendments to the"M-X" Ordinance will formally be considered by the Planning Commission on March 17th. She noted that the recommendation of Staff that would be going to the Planning Commission was not to allow drive-throughs in the"M-X" District. 2. Southwest Corner of Highway 7 and Louisiana Avenue Medical Office Development Proposal; Review of Project Business Points Mr. Anderson, Economic Development Coordinator presented an overview of a preliminary draft of a set of business points which would serve as the basis for a development agreement with Frauenshuh Companies for the construction of the project. Randy McKay and Mike Denny of Frauenshuh Companies were present. Mr Meyer, City Manager asked if the interest was amortized the same way in the participation agreement as it is in the term loan. Mr. Anderson indicated that this was the case. Council discussed Exhibit B, the summary of the reductions to the public financing plan from February 3, 1999. Mr. Anderson clarified that the reduction of discount rate meant that the developer was picking up the interest rate risk which would finance the gap and the City would provide them an annual abatement payment plus interest. Councilmember Brimeyer asked if another partner would be available. Mr. McKay stated that he didn't think he could get another partner. He also indicated he wasn't very excited about the term loan because there wasn't enough cash flow in the first ten years to pay that money back literally. Mayor Dorfman asked if there was an opportunity of state funding since it wasn't declined because of the nature of the project, but rather the number of applications and how they ranked them. Mr. McKay stated that given the timing he could examine this within the current scenario Councilmember Sanger asked if the City has used this participation approach before. Mr. Anderson stated that the approach has not been used before. Mr. Denny explained a project that he was involved at with LaSalle Plaza in Minneapolis. Councilmember Brimeyer questioned that the amount of the Environmental Insurance Policy that was added was not enough. Mr. Anderson indicated that the developer was assuming this risk. Mr. Anderson summarized the City land situation and concluded that given the economics of the project where rents have to be based on the extraordinary costs the land doesn't have value. Councilmember Sanger stated that she can't assume this land has no value when it is taking a significant amount to purchase billboard, but would rather indicate the land was worth a certain amount and that it is an additional public contribution that is being donated to make this project work. Council recommended that since parking was not in budget,that cost projections be determined before the preliminary development agreement was approved. The Council preferred Option 2: Participation Agreement for the developer financing. 3. Railroad Study Presentation Dick Koppy, The City's Project Manager for the railroad study and Lee Koppy were present. Dick Koppy presented some of the study's highlights in accordance with the outline provided Lee Koppy reviewed the P.A.I. Analysis. Dick Koppy noted that 80-90%of hot line calls were noise and vibration related Lee Koppy concluded that many of the entities in St. Louis Park shared the same objectives to reduce the impact of train movement through the City and assist in the efficient movement of trains safely through the City. Councilmember Sanger was concerned about the potential outcomes of accomplishing these objectives such as increasing the train time for the residents in one section of St. Louis Park while decreasing the train time for residents in another section of St. Louis Park. Lee Koppy reviewed the existing infrastructure and operations of the railroads in the City. Dick Koppy explained future railroad trackage and potential scenarios in St. Louis Park Councilmember Sanger asked if there were any calculations of what would happen to projected train volumes if none of the options changed. Mr. Koppy indicated that what was considered was if the Kenilworth corridor closure occurred. Dick Koppy stated that freight rail has grown and will continue to grow He identified alternatives and reviewed short and long term options. Councilmember Sanger suggested scheduling another study session when additional Councilmembers were present to discuss policy and how to proceed from here. Mr. Meyer, City Manager suggested that staff develop some recommendations and come back to Council with some ways in which the public could get involved in this and get the information out to them and develop some next steps. Councilmember Brimeyer commented on the need to focus on the long term in order to accomplish objectives in the report. Mayor Dorfman indicated the need to educate the public in terms of the scope of project and the long term scenario and invite their participation in evaluating the options. Councilmember Sanger believed an option to do nothing should be included because possibly some of these other options are very expensive and will not be funded. She suggested determining the feasibility and consequences of doing nothing and perhaps this would force the railroads to underwrite the costs of these improvements themselves. Councilmember Latz stated that it may be useful theoretically as an analysis, but may be useful from a public relations standpoint so that the community can understand what may turn out to be the dire negative consequences of doing nothing and the need to do something. Dick Koppy noted that MNDot's decision to close the Hiawatha corridor and need to fix the problem is leverage for the City Councilmember Sanger asked if the results of Federal Safety Study were available Mr. Meyer indicated that he would follow up with getting a final copy of report. Dick Koppy updated the Council on the report submitted to the City of Minnetonka related to blocking operations. 4. Neighborhood Grant Reimbursements Ms. McDonell, Community Outreach Coordinator explained a request for a change in the grant reimbursement system. After a brief discussion, the Council indicated they had no objections to offering this kind of grant payment option. 5. Comprehensive Plan Update Mr. Harmening, Community Development Director presented a report and provided an update relative to the vacant 11 acre Honeywell property. He stated that if the Council was seriously interested in reguiding this property, the City Attorney would need to take some additional time analyzing how strong the City's position would be in upholding the land use change. Councilmember Latz stated that purchasing the property was an option. Mr. Harmening explained the issues related to purchasing this property which included the willingness of the landowner to participate He also believed that a fairly dense project would need to be developed to create the tax increment necessary He also noted that there was no expiration on the preliminary PUD approval in 1995. Councilmember Sanger recommended having the City Attorney analyze how strong the City's position would be in upholding the land use change. Councilmember Brimeyer was not in favor of incurring expenses for legal advise. Councilmember Latz believed it was worthwhile to attain some legal advise to flush out options and determine estimate of what it would cost if the City ended up in litigation. Councilmember Sanger was concerned about the impact of a big box user on the Blackstone neighborhood and cost to the community of letting that happen. The Council directed staff to pursue an economic and legal analysis of purchasing the land for residential use 6. Development of Capital Financing and Debt Management Policies Ms McBride, Director of Finance gave a graphics presentation at the study session which detailed the financial status of the funds related to the past and current capital financing issues presented in the staff report. It is was staff's recommendation that the City issue general obligation improvement bonds to cover project costs which have been incurred or will be incurred through 1999. It is also staffs recommendation that the bond issue include amounts for projects scheduled for construction for 2000 and 20001. This would provide advance funding for these near future costs and be combined into one bond issue with those costs representing current and recent projects. It is also recommended that the City continue to internally finance that portion of the projects costs which is recouped through special assessments. The Council discussed the issuance of bonds for projects that the City knows that will be completed but don't have the funding for and believed a delay would keep the City doing the same kind of deficit financing Ms. McBride stated that the levy limit now only applies to operations and not bonded debt levees Councilmember Brimeyer suggested issuing bonds to increase Park Improvement Funds Ms. McBride provided copy of Roseville budget for review. Councilmember Sanger asked if there was a downside to waiting and issuing nothing at this time Ms. McBride stated that with a time delay there would be more deficits and some older projects would be missed. Mr. Meyer indicated that the City was not going to do any more projects the way they have been done in the past and explained that staff would come back to Council after taking some funds from some source which will be running down the reserves in order to pay for these projects. The Council agreed to keeping G.O Debt Bond Sale separate and directed staff to bring an initial authorizing resolution to the first City Council meeting in April and take some of the general operating debt surplus and put in into the Park Improvement Fund. 8. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 10:45 p m. • Ci(y Clerk ayo