HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001/02/20 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Regular CITY OF OFFICIAL MINUTES
ST LOUIS CITY COUNCIL MEETING
PARK ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA
FEBRUARY 20, 2001
1. Call to Order and Roll Call
Mayor Jacobs called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
The following Councilmembers were present at roll call: Jim Bnmeyer, Ron Latz, Chris
Nelson, Susan Sanger, Sue Santa, Robert Young, and Mayor Jeff Jacobs.
Also present were the City Manager(Mr. Meyer); Deputy City Manager (Mr. Pires); City
Attorney (Mr. Scott), Director of Community Development (Mr. Harmening); Zoning
Administrator (Mr. Moore); Police Chief(Mr Luse); Lieutenant (Mr. Dilorenzo); City Clerk
(Ms. Reichert); and Recording Secretary (Ms. Olson).
2. Presentations - None
3. Approval of Minutes
a. City Council Minutes of February 5, 2001
The minutes were approved as presented.
4. Approval of Agenda and Consent Items
NOTE: Consent items are those items of business, which are considered to be routine and/or
which need no discussion. Consent items are acted upon by one motion. If discussion is
desired by either a Councilmember or a member of the audience, that item may be moved to
an appropriate section of the regular agenda for discussion.
a. Agenda
It was moved by Councilmember Nelson, seconded by Councilmember Santa, to
approve the agenda with the following changes. Removal of Item 2 from the Consent
Agenda and move Item 4B 1 from the Consent Agenda to the regular Agenda and
combine Item 7c and Item 6a and add as Item 7d on the Agenda. The motion passed 7-0
b. Approval of Consent Items
It was moved by Councilmember Nelson, seconded by Councilmember Sanger, to
approve the following Consent Items. The motion passed 7-0.
1. Adopt Resolution No. 01-013 authorizing staff to implement the terms of a
reciprocal arrangement with Hopkins on a one-year trial basis for joint use of Skate
Park in Hopkins and the Family Aquatic Park in St. Louis Park.
2. Approve authorization to renew a one-year contract with West Suburban Mediation
Center for mediation, conciliation, information and referral, and public education
services.
Council Meeting Minutes -2- February 20,2001
3. Approve Resolution No. 01-014 final payment to E I M, EVP Signal System for
the amount of$6,963 40—Contract#00-08
4. Accept the following reports for filing
a. Charter Commission Minutes of November 8, 2000
b Planning Commission Minutes of January 2, 2001
c. Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes of January 10, 2001
d Housing Authority Minutes of January 10, 2001
5. Public Hearings
5a. Competitive Cable TV System Franchises Public Hearing
Clint Pires, Deputy City Manager presented a staff report. Staff recommended that
Council continue this public hearing to March 19, 2001, with the hope that by then
Everest and WOW would be able to make enough progress to continue substantive
negotiations with the City of St. Louis Park.
It was moved by Councilmember Nelson, seconded by Councilmember Santa, to
continue the public hearing to March 19, 2001. The motion passed 7-0.
5b. Proposed Amendments to the City Home Rule Charter
Clint Pires, Deputy City Manager presented a staff report and indicated that the City
Attorney had reviewed the proposed amendments. He recommended that Council
approve the proposed amendments and noted that seven affirmative votes were required
for adoption on March 5, 2001.
It was moved by Councilmember Nelson, seconded by Councilmember Bnmeyer, to
waive first reading of the ordinance to amend St. Louis Park Home Rule Charter: Table
of Contents, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and Index and set second reading for March 5,
2001. The motion passed 7-0.
6. Requests and Communications from the Public
a. Petition from Sharon Abelson to cease deer removal efforts—This item combined with
Item 7c to be considered as 7d.
7. Resolutions, Ordinances and Motions
7a. Request by CSM Corporation and Rottlund Companies for a minor amendment to
the approved Planned Unit Development. Case#00-15-PUD Resolution No. 01-015
Scott Moore, Assistant Zoning Administrator, presented a staff report and recommended
approval of the minor amendment to the approved PUD, subject to the conditions in the
resolution and to authorize the execution for the First Amendment to Declaration of
Easements.
Council Meeting Minutes -3- February 20,2001
It was moved by Councilmember Sanger, seconded by Councilmember Santa, to adopt
Resolution No. 01-015 approving final planned unit development (PUD) under section
14.6-7 relating to zoning for property zoned "o" office and R-4 multiple family
residential located at Northwest quadrant of West 16`h Street & Zarthan Avenue and
final plat—Pointe West Commons one and two granting the minor amendment to the
approved PUD, subject to the conditions in the resolution and authonze the execution
for the First Amendment to Declaration of Easements.
Councilmember Sanger stated that it was unfortunate, but she didn't see any option but
to go ahead and raise the level of these townhouses. She hoped that by including these
administrative fines, the City would have greater compliance and the neighborhood
wouldn't be as disturbed as it has been. She asked if the park would be completed by
July, 2001.
Dan Hulke, 1600 Alabama Avenue South, stated that he was concerned about flooding
and suggested extra drainage to keep the problem down to a minimum and completing
the playground as soon as possible.
Gary Berscheid, 1604 Blackstone Avenue South, stated that he was thankful that many
of the construction traffic problems were over with. He was also concerned about
flooding and believed that if the stormwater sewer size were corrected so that there was
adequate drainage then the floodplain would probably drop considerable. He was in
favor of expediting the completion of the park and would like unnecessary construction
noise minimized.
Mr. Moore stated that the City's storm water piping was only equipped for a 10 year
event, so resizing the pipes is not an issue. He stated that Rottlund and CSM are
responsible for managing their own storm water on the site and additional storm water
run off will not be included in the area of 16th Street, Zarthan and Alabama where it
currently ponds and floods nght now. He stated that the park was basically at a rough
grade currently and there weren't any issues with having this park turned over to the
park for development by the mid-May.
Mr Meyer, City Manager discussed the progress on this park with the Parks and
Recreation Director and it is certainly the intent to complete the park this summer.
Councilmember Latz questioned the enforcement provision and the fine of$750.00.
Mr. Moore stated that the code currently states that anyone found guilty of violating the
code is guilty of a misdemeanor. He was unaware that the maximum fine had gone up
to $1000.
Mr. Harmening, Director of Community Development stated that the goal was to have a
set administrative fee that didn't have a lot of discretion and that it was significant to
cause the party who was imposed the fine to pay attention and believed that $750 more
than accomplished this and didn't have to be tied to the maximum fine for a
misdemeanor. He indicated that the City was in a transition about how to deal with
these situation and learning curve about how to handle this new approach. He stated
Council Meeting Minutes -4- February 20,2001
that staff desired to discuss the incorporation of such an approach for all PUD's and
CUP's that might be issued at a Study Session in March.
Councilmember Latz believed that there may be some situation that comes up where
there would be ample justification for a technical violation of the PUD where no one
would expect a citation to be issued, but you would be bound in some way to do so. He
preferred an enforcement mechanism that left some discretion.
It was moved by Councilmember Latz, seconded by Councilmember Nelson, to amend
the motion to make it discretionary to the staff whether or not a violation shall be noted
and discretionary to staff in the amount of the fine with a right to appeal to the City
Council if the developer challenges it. The motion failed 3-4.
Resolution No. 01-015 approving final planned unit development (PUD) under section
14:6-7 relating to zoning for property zoned "o" office and R-4 multiple family
residential located at Northwest quadrant of West 16th Street & Zarthan Avenue and
final plat—Pointe West Commons one and two granting the minor amendment to the
approved PUD, subject to the conditions in the resolution and authorize the execution
for the First Amendment to Declaration of Easements as moved earlier in the discussion
passed 7-0.
7b. Proposed Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment to add land use definitions for
Liquor Licenses and update the Land Use Table. Case No. 00-62-ZA
Scott Moore, Assistant Zoning Administrator, presented a staff report. Staff and
Planning Commission recommended approval of the Zoning Ordinance text amendment
to add land use definition for liquor licenses and update the Land Use Table as proposed
in the attached ordinance.
It was moved by Councilmember Santa, seconded by Councilmember Young, to
approve ls` reading of staff's proposed text amendment adding land use definitions for
liquor licenses and updating the Land Use table and set second reading for the March 5,
2001 City Council meeting The motion passed 7-0.
7c. Second Reading of an ordinance amending the Zoning Ordinance to change the
zoning requirements for restaurants and other uses with wine and beer licenses
Case No. 00-62-ZA
Councilmember Sanger stated that she had asked that some thought and discussion be
given about how to accommodate a restaurant that chose to stay open for a couple hours
longer to dust serve food, and felt it wasn't adequately addressed in the staff report.
Mr. Moore stated that the way the code was proposed, the establishment having a wine
and or beer license would be required to cease all the operations by 10:00 p.m. on week
days and 11:00 p m. on weekends. Staff believed it would be difficult to enforce the
issue requiring dust the restaurant portion of the business to continue operating without
service for wine or beer after those limited hours. Staff had included provisions
allowing additional hours of operation for the wine and beer in some cases if requested
by an applicant.
Council Meeting Minutes -5- February 20,2001
It was moved by Councilmember Sanger, seconded by Councilmember Young, to make
an amendment to change the hours of operation for establishments that have wine and
beer licenses to be consistent with the hours that restaurants that have intoxicating
liquor licenses have.
Councilmember Bnmeyer believed that changing the ordinance we are throwing them in
with other types of establishments where we want a little stricter requirement. He
believed the item as presented would get better results and was not in favor of the
amendment.
Councilmember Latz was concerned about imposing this type of restnction on a
restaurant.
Councilmember Sanger pointed out that it would not be a solution to say that those
restaurants could go and apply for an intoxicating liquor license because there weren't
that many available and that there was a need for a more uniform approach to dealing
with both type of establishments.
Councilmember Nelson was not in favor of the amendment.
It was moved by Councilmember Brimeyer, seconded by Councilmember Nelson, to
move this item to a future Study Session for discussion. The motion passed 7-0.
7d. Petition from Sharon Abelson to cease deer removal efforts and Consideration of a
citizen petition requesting an Environmental Assessment Worksheet prior to
continuing deer removal in the City. Resolution No. 01-016
Sharon Abelson, 4340 Cedarwood Road, stated that she was speaking on behalf of the
many resident of the Lake Forest and Fern Hill Neighborhoods and was asking the City
Council to cease the implementation of the plans to remove deer in both neighborhoods.
She presented information regarding the implementation of the deer management plan
in the neighborhoods. She also noted that some persons in the neighborhoods felt this
situation was vastly different than the deer issues in 1994 at the Westwood Hills Nature
Center. She believed that the city was basing its plan of action on inaccurate fly over
counts and stated that she felt deer migrating into the neighborhood was a direct result
of illegal residential feedings. She felt better enforcement would correct the situation.
She felt is unfair to base the city's decision to remove deer on what she believed to be
3% of the residents in the area who had called in with damage complaints. She
suggested using alternative non-lethal methods to dealing with the problems being
experienced She also stated that she had several legal concerns with the City's
implementation of the deer management plan.
Dawn Van Tassel, 45 S. 7th Street, Minneapolis, an attorney representing some of the
residents stated her concern that the City had not followed its own procedures in
implementing the deer management plan and was proposing to take illegitimate action.
She did not believe there was sufficient evidence to lead to such an extreme measure as
to kill the deer without examining less obtrusive and less lethal methods, i.e. enforce
feeding plan and use of repellents She reiterated that she felt this situation was vastly
Council Meeting Minutes -6- February 20,2001
different than the deer issues in 1994 at the Westwood Hills Nature Center. She noted
that the adopted provisions to the resolution permit the use of population reduction
method in areas other than the Westwood Hills Nature Center, but were contingent upon
adequate notification procedure and Council approval. She had reviewed minutes from
1994 and her interpretation was that deer issues outside of the nature center needed to be
addressed by a vote of the Council. She also questioned the legality of using the trap
and shoot method. She suggested that further consideration should be given before it
was voted on.
Sam Abelson, 4330 Cedarwood Road, stated that this deer issue has been extremely
polarizing within the neighborhoods and the approach that the City has used in deer
management has been counterproductive. He also questioned the City's interpretation
of provisions in the deer management plan. He stated there was a lack of ongoing
comprehensive education which had likely contributed to the presence of the deer in the
Fern Hill Neighborhood. He was concerned that the city had fallen behind in
enforcement of the feeding ban. He believed that this situation in the Fern Hill
Neighborhood was a carbon copy of the situation in 1997 where the use on non-lethal
methods to solve the problem had been successful, not the Westwood Nature Center.
He read from City Council Minutes of February 22, 1994 where deer management plan
was adopted , "Mayor Pro-tem Freedman asked if Councilmembers Young and Jacobs
would be amendable to a friendly amendment to their motion where language in 3b and
3c be modified so that any plan or request for heard population reduction be reviewed
first by City Council before any action is taken. Both Councilmembers agreed to the
language modification, the motion passed 4-1." The minutes also state
"Councilmember Dorfman referenced Section 3, Councilmember Jacobs agreed and felt
that before City staff proceeds with herd management by any means on public property
other than the nature center, he would like that to come back to Council first." He urged
the Council to re-examine the deer management plan and properly implement the plan.
Terry Klepinski, 2124 Parklands Road, stated that the neighborhood have made the
effort to manage the deer, but this year the deer are eating through the plastic netting
around the trees and vegetation even though they have sprayed repellents. She didn't
feel there was anything that could physically be done to protect the trees. She was
frustrated with the amount of manufactured information she was receiving from her
neighbors. She was in favor of limiting the deer herd.
Bob Klepinski, 2124 Parklands Road, stated he was also frustrated with the amount of
manufactured information and felt it was hard to get factual data on this issue. He
believed that the deer were losing their fear of man and the ecology was being thrown
out of balance. He also questioned the validity of the Deer Committee. He stated that
there was a major problem with deer coming into his yard and eating the vegetation
despite all the efforts to protect his yard.
John Mclaughlin, 4213 S. Cedar Lake Road, stated that-he would like to see the deer
herd thinned because there were too many deer in the neighborhood. He was in favor of
the proper implementation of the deer management plan and encouraged the City to
move forward.
Council Meeting Minutes -7- February 20,2001
Carol Nulsen, 4107 Forest Road, stated that she didn't believe the problem was deer,
but rather was a neighborhood tolerance problem. She believed that killing deer was a
politically expedient solution, but did nothing to solve the problem. She applauded the
cooperative process and believed that a more permanent biological solution using input
from all stakeholders was needed.
Lee Renz, 4236 Basswood Road, stated that he felt that the deer population was out of
hand and needed to be controlled by the best measure determined. He felt that the DNR
guidelines were for rural communities and perhaps inappropnate for the community.
Lance Thornswood, 4330 Cedarwood Road, stated that a significant number of citizens
in the community believe that the killing is wrong and strenuously object to the current
plan He suggested that the City not move forward to deer removal. He felt further
discovery of public opinion through a statistically valid survey or perhaps a binding vote
should be held at the next election. He felt harmony to the neighborhoods could be
restored by approaching the matter in a fair and rational manner that gives appropnate
weight to the number of citizen holding each point of view rather than bending to the
will of the most vociferous complainers.
Stan Jurgensen, 2309 Westndge Lane, described the extensive damage to his yard by the
deer herd. He believed there were too many deer and was concerned that if the City did
not do anything, he would still have rock where he once had trees and would not do
anymore landscaping until the deer situation is controlled.
Mike Stolte, 4320 Cedarwood Road, stated that he had irrefutable evidence of deer
eating trees in his backyard, but believed that the plan had no statistical relevance to
solving the problem because there was no guarantee that if six deer were taken the
problem would be solved. He agreed that these people have unique problems, but urged
the City not to take away a resource away from hundreds of people in the community in
a futile attempt to solve that problem.
Dorthea Moga, 2925 Monterey Avenue, suggested that because of the small number of
deer to be removed and the magnitude of the conflict that had ansen around the issue,
that a provisional moratonum on the removal of the deer would allow the active
participants to collectively address the deer population issues. She suggested contacting
the West Suburban Mediation Center for assistance.
Sam Ackerberg, 4200 Forest Road, stated that he didn't believe that shooting the deer
was the nght thing to do. He stated that this might not solve the problem and would
send the wrong message to people about how to deal with problems. .
Bert Gross, 2151 Glenhurst Road, stated that the deer situation was the worst that he has
ever seen and something needed to be done. He did believe that fewer deer would
mean less damage. He was concerned about the potential for an accident to occur with
the amount of deer. He was in favor of the City to proceed on all fronts to eliminate
some of the deer, increase the educational activities and enforce the feeding plan.
David Berdsle, 4822 W. 42 i Street, stated that reducing the deer population would not
solve the problem and suggested that fences may be part of the solution.
Council Meeting Minutes -8- February 20,2001
Anita Kolman, 2855 Ottawa Avenue South, stated that she has had a deer problem in
her yard for several years, but haven't really complained in the past. She believed the
deer were overpopulated and were going to go in areas that were not suitable to them.
She supported the efforts of the City to manage the deer.
Paul C. Olfelt, 2206 Parklands Lane, stated that he was concerned that the deer
population has gone wild in the area and has become tamer. He supported the effort of
the City to control the deer so that we don't see greater problems next year. He stated
that he was amazed at the amount of time and energy on this issue and suggested that if
participants on all sides of the issue could apply that same time and energy to other
societal problems, the world would be a better place.
Mayor Jacobs stated that he was proud of the community that they could have a fair and
rational discussion over this issue despite the strong feelings expressed on both sides.
He stated that although this issue was one that people disagree about, it ought not to be
an issue that divides neighborhoods.
Councilmember Sanger stated that City Council Meeting Minutes of February 3, 1997
indicated that the City Council did delegate the authority to City Manager to authorize
staff to use approved methods for deer reduction. She also indicated that there had been
deer/vehicle crashes reported in the area of France Avenue and this was another reason
for a deer reduction program in order to try to minimize the risks of any additional
occurrences She believed that many of the statistics presented by the petitioner were
incorrect and there has actually been in increase in the number of deer. She stated that
there was an environmental protection issue because there were a large number of
people who were concerned about their vegetation in their yards as well as others who
were equally concerned about the number of deer and subsequent damage to their
natural environment. She believed that these are both valuable components to the
environment that exists in the city and there needed to be a balance. She stated that she
felt that it was ironic that a petition was filed to try to consider it as environmentally
harmful to limit the deer when in fact saving trees and promoting the development of
native plants and vegetation is generally considered to be a great enhancement to our
environment. She believed that residents have followed advice to deter deer from
damaging vegetation, but did not believe that using these methods alone the city could
solve the problem of an overpopulated habitat. She felt that it was important for the
quality of life in this community to take action to try to protect our vegetation, but that
was not to say that we would ever totally solve the problem. She believed that the
program is about minimizing the risk and balancing the issues. She stated that there had
been a growth of the herd and that the size of the browsing range was growing. She
believed that it was important to work with neighboring communities to solve the
problem. She felt the problem had been misrepresented to the residents. She doesn't
believe the City could please everybody, but the City's plan does stnke a reasonable
balance to have some control over the deer herd and some reduction of the risk to the
damage to vegetation and vehicle accidents. She believed that the amount of energy,
passion, time, resources and efforts that has gone into this issue on both sides has been
astonishing. She stated that it was her hope that the neighborhood would heal in time.
Council Meeting Minutes -9- February 20,2001
Mr Meyer, City Manager clarified that more recent meetings with the DNR had
indicated that the carrying capacity for deer per acre was still a general range that they
use for the state and metro area, but they do not advise cities on what range they use for
their own policies for deer herd management.
He also indicated that in 1994 the onginal resolution called for a city wide deer
management policy That resolution was adopted with one reading which is the legal
requirement for resolutions. At that time Councilmember Friedman had asked that the
policy be amended to state that those provisions which apply to deer removal from areas
outside the Westwood Hills Nature center be placed on a moratonum until such time as
it was found necessary to address them again in the future. He also requested that
changes to that moratonum be made only upon council approval. In 1997 Council was
asked to give approval for deer removal in the neighborhood, acted to lift that
moratorium and directed the City Manager to implement the provisions of the deer
management program. Mayor Jacobs concurred with the City Manager's statements as
he had also been part of that action.
The City Attorney agreed with the City Manager's statements regarding procedural
issues. He advised that to eliminate any potential questions about authority to move
forward, Council could consider a motion to ratify the city Manager's action, approve
implementation of the plan with specific authority for the staff to move ahead with
implementation of the details.
It was moved by Councilmember Sanger, seconded by Coucilmember Santa, to ratify
the deer management plan and the City Manager's decision to implement the plan in the
Lake Forest and Fern Hill neighborhoods as set forth in the letter that had been mailed
out to the neighborhoods on February 14, 2000. Motion passed 6-0. (Councilmember
Nelson absent)
Councilmember Latz inquired about the factual information regarding survey statistics
and process and number of deer/car collisions in the City. Mr. Abelson and
Councilmember Sanger responded to Councilmember Latz's questions regarding the
survey. Mr. Meyer was not able to provide specific numbers for deer car collisions in
the neighborhood as all data collected is reported in city-wide numbers and does not
break down by neighborhood. He believed the number was 11 with at least one
occurring on France avenue, near if not in the neighborhood.
Regarding the request for an environmental assessment worksheet, Mr. Meyer stated
that a similar request had been made in 1994 and that staff had prepared findings based
on information from that time as well as updates that had been received in subsequent
years. He explained that provisions of the EAW are generally applied to construction
projects and other similar projects.
The petition had specifically requested that impacts to the wetland vegetation from foot
traffic and setting of traps be considered. The City's response is that all wetland
vegetation in question is under a thick blanket of snow and ice and there was no
likelihood of damage from any traffic and that overbrowsing by deer was more likely to
have an environmental impact. Similarly, damage to trees and shrubs was more like to
occur from overbrowsing by deer.
Council Meeting Minutes -10- February 20,2001
Mr. Abelson questioned whether the City had performed an adequate assessment of the
issues raised in the petition. He did not believe that damage to the recently restored
wetlands had been considered.
Mr. Meyer responded that the staff had consulted Eric Evanson of the Minnehaha Creek
Watershed Distnct who had coordinated the project. The Watershed district's opinion
was that the wetland was protected by ice and snow and that overbrowsing by deer was
a greater threat to the restored plantings.
To prepare the response to the petition, staff had consulted with the Watershed District,
the DNR and various professional staff from the City including the Westwood Hills
Nature Center Manager and the Manager of Grounds and Natural Resources.
He believed that the analysis adequately addressed issues set forth in petition and
recommended that the council move forward on the recommended action.
It was moved by Councilmember Sanger, seconded by Councilmember Young, to adopt
Resolution No. 01-016 determining not to order the preparation of an Environment
Assessment Worksheet (EAW) for the proposed implementation of the deer
management plan in the Lake Forest and Fern Hill neighborhoods. The motion passed
6-0 (Councilmember Nelson absent).
8. Board and Committees - None
9. Communications
From the City Manager—None
From the Mayor—None
10. Adjournment
Mayor Jacobs adjourned the meeting at 10:04 p.
/
ity Clerk Mayo