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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001/05/07 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Regular CITY OF OFFICIAL MEETING ST LOUIS CITY COUNCIL MEETING PARK ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA May 7, 2001 1. Call to Order and Roll Call Mayor Jacobs called the meeting to order at 7:36 p.m. The following Councilmembers were present at roll call. Jim Bnmeyer, Chris Nelson, Susan Sanger, Susan Santa, Robert Young, Ron Latz, and Mayor Jeff Jacobs. Also present were the City Manager (Mr. Meyer); City Attorney (Mr. Scott); Director of community Development (Mr. Harmening), Planning & Zoning Supervisor(Ms. Jeremiah); Inspections Director (Mr. Hoffman); Police Chief(Mr. Luse), City Clerk (Ms. Reichert). 2. Presentations a. 3R" District Nurses Proclamation Mayor Jacobs presented a proclamation declaring May 10th to be 3rd District Nurses Day. Leah Ann Lindeman, a Registered Nurse associated with the 3`d District Nurses was present to accept the award on their behalf. b. Thank you to Police Civil Service Commission Mayor Jacobs presented a proclamation honoring the Police Civil Service commission and its members Certificates of appreciation were also given to Linda Trummer, Bryan Leary and Jim Lanenberg for recent service to the commission 3. Approval of Minutes a. City Council Minutes of April 16, 2001 —Approved with correction to page 7 from Councilmember Nelson as follows: "Councilmember Nelson asked if three bidders was low or high for a taxable issue. Mr. Ehlers responded that he was surprised that there were only three bidders, but did not have an explanation as to why that was. Councilmember Nelson was concerned that there were only two bidders on the tax exempt issue Mr Ehlers did not have an explanation as to why there were only two bidders. Mr. Ehlers did, however, feel that the price received was good." b. Study Session Minutes of April 9, 2001 —Approved as presented c. Study Session Minutes of April 23, 2001 —Approved as presented 4. Approval of Agenda and Consent Items a Council was informed that consent item#7 had been removed from the agenda and would not be considered at this time. Motion to approve the agenda with that change was made by Councilmember Latz and seconded by Councilmember Nelson Motion passed unanimously Council Meeting Minutes -2- May 7, 2001 b. Motion to approve consent items was made by Councilmember Santa and seconded by Councilmember Latz Motion passed unanimously The consent items approved are as follows 1. Accept the following reports for filing: a. Human Rights Commission Minutes of March 21, 2001 b. Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes of February 22, 2001 c. Planning Commission Minutes of Apnl 18, 2001 d. Planning Commission Minutes of April 4, 2001 e Vendor Claims 2 Designate Kevitt Excavating, Inc. the lowest responsible bidder and authonze execution of a contract with the firm in the amount of$345,245.00 for Park Commons demolition/site restoration —City Project No. 01-15 3. Designate Midwest Asphalt Corporation the lowest responsible bidder and authorize execution of a contract with the firm in the amount of$386,057.60 for W. 16th Street/Zarthan Avenue—grading, base, storm sewer, curb and gutter, and bituminous paving—City Project Nos. 00-15, 00-16, & 01-12 4 Designate Allied Blacktop the lowest responsible bidder for the construction of bituminous sealcoating and to authorize execution of a contract with the firm in the amount of$68,260 65. 5 Adopt the Resolution No. 01-036 authorizing installation of permit parking in front of 3624 Rhode Island Avenue South - Traffic Study No. 556 6 Adopt the Resolution No. 01-037 authorizing the restriction of parking along the West side of Louisiana Avenue from a point 360 feet North of W. 28` Street to a point 280 feet South of W. 28th Street -Traffic Study No. 557 7 Approve extension of Frauenshuh's Final PUD and Final Plat consideration until August 31, 2001 —Case No 99-19-PUD 5. Public Hearings 5a. Public Hearing to consider a wine and beer license for Thando, Inc., DBA Thando Restaurant at 3005 Utah Ave S, St. Louis Park City Clerk, Ms Reichert gave a brief staff report stating that the applicants materials were in order and approval of the license was recommended. Mayor Jacobs opened the public hearing. With no one wishing to speak, public hearing closed. Motion to approve the license made by Councilmember Santa, seconded by Councilmember Sanger. Motion passed unanimously. 5b. Public Hearing to Consider Sale of City Property located south of the Jewish Community Center at 4326 Cedar Lake Road Mr Harmening delivered a brief background of the issue and stated that the only change being considered was a change in the purchase price of the property Mayor Jacobs opened the public hearing. With no one wishing to speak, public hearing closed Councilmember Sanger asked if all other provisions of the original ordinance would remain in effect. Mr Harmening stated that that was true Council Meeting Minutes -3- • May 7, 2001 Councilmember Nelson stated that he would not be in support of additional extensions to the agreement. Councilmember Latz stated that he was comfortable with the revised purchase price based on the appraisal and condition of the property. Motion to adopt first reading of an ordinance amending Ordinance No. 2154-00 relating to the sale price of the City's property to the Jewish Community Center made by Councilmember Sanger, seconded by Councilmember Latz. Motion passed unanimously. 5c. Public Hearing—Sholom Community Alliance Private Activity Revenue Bonds Mr Bubul representing the City's Bond Counsel was present at the meeting. Mayor Jacobs opened the public hearing Mr Bruce Kahn, CEO of Sholom Community Alliance thanked the council for their support and expressed his enthusiasm for the project. Mayor Jacobs closed the public hearing. Councilmember Nelson questioned the revenue source for repayment of the bonds. Mr. Bubul responded that the revenue source would be the rental revenues by the residents of the project along with a mortgage of the bond holder. No revenues of the city are to be pledged or payable on the bonds Mayor Jacobs closed the public hearing 6. Requests, Petitions, and Communications from the Public - None 7. Resolutions, Ordinances, Motions 7a. Request by Project for Pride in Living (PPL) and Perspectives, Inc. for a major amendment to the Final Planned Unit Development for certain Louisiana Court apartments to change the number of units, expand the PUD area to include two additional existing buildings, and modify the site plan. Case No. 01-15-PUD. 2704-2768 Louisiana Court and 2740-2750 Louisiana Avenue. Resolution No. 01-038 Ms Jeremiah gave a staff report stating that the remaining two buildings on the site are now being purchased by Perspectives and the amendment being considered would include those two buildings in the project. Changes are also being made to the number of units in the project. PPL has agreed to make changes to accommodate a transit stop at the corner of 28th and Louisiana. Since the plans are not yet available, staff asked for authorization from the council to approve those plans administratively. Staff and Planning commission are recommending approval of the resolution subject to provisions contained therein Councilmember Sanger questioned the underlying assumption that a bus turnout was needed. Ms Jeremiah responded that with planned changes to Louisiana Avenue South, the parking lane on the west side would be eliminated. The parking lane will instead be the only through lane. Since buses would no longer be able to pull into a parking lane, they would instead have to stop in the only through lane of traffic remaining. This would create a hazard if cars attempted to pull around the bus by entering the left turn only lane. Council Meeting Minutes -4- May 7, 2001 Councilmember Sanger disagreed with the assumption that this would be a safety hazard and did not see the difference between buses stopping on Louisiana vs. buses stopping on Minnetonka Blvd. and Cedar Lake Road. She suggested moving the bus stop further to the north. Mr. Harmening said that other options had been considered, but that traffic engineers, community development staff and PPL had not found other alternatives to be acceptable. He also stated that the Public Works Department had strongly recommended that the bus pull-out be created. Councilmember Latz pointed out that most of Cedar Lake Road has a wide parking lane or shoulder and that buses could use this area for stopping. Councilmember Santa made similar comments regarding Minnetonka Blvd. Councilmember Latz stated cars could pull around buses more safely on Cedar Lake Road due to the existence of this extra space which would not be available on Louisiana. He further stated that the original intent of the changes to traffic lane configuration on Lousiana was to provide for unimpeded southbound traffic He did not feel placing a heavily used bus stop on the only through lane was consistent with that intent. Councilmember Nelson agreed with Councilmember Latz's comments and went on to say that the compromise solution that had been reached on Louisiana Avenue was intended to ease traffic problems that have caused 120 crashes in the last 5 years, 1/3 of which had involved personal injury He asked when those changes would be complete and also asked how much time must elapse before evaluation of the success of those changes would occur. He felt the bus turnout out was necessary to accomplish a safer traffic environment on Louisiana. Mr Meyer stated that the changes were imminent and should be completed very soon. Councilmember Sanger stated that she did not understand why the situation on Louisiana was any different than the situation on Minnetonka Blvd. Councilmember Sanger did not feel that the expenditure of funds to create the pullout was warranted in this situation. Councilmember Santa felt that the bus pullout was the best way to handle the mix of buses stopping, cars going straight and cars turning in the same location. Mayor Jacobs that the plan as presented would allow buses to get out of the way of through traffic and that was necessary to allow for a smooth flow of traffic. Motion to approve Resolution No. 01-038 major amendment to the Final PUD for Louisiana Court apartments, subject to conditions as recommended by staff and the Planning Commission made by Councilmember Latz, seconded by Councilmember Santa Motion passed 6-1 with Councilmember Sanger opposed Councilmember Sanger stated that she voted against the amendment based on her strong feelings about the bus stop, but was in support of other changes proposed. 7b. Zoning Ordinance amendment of Section 14: 4-11 Restrictions for Tree Removal and Standards for Replacement and Section 14: 3-1 Definitions Case number: 01-16-ZA Council Meeting Minutes -5- • May 7, 2001 Ms Jeremiah introduced the proposed'ordinance amendment. Adjustments are being proposed to provide incentives to leave existing,trees.on property being developed, to codify the cash-in- lieu provision, to alter replacement ratios in the tree replacement formula and other minor modifications to the ordinance. Councilmember Sanger stated that she was in support of some of the provisions, but not in support of the proposed change to the formula used to determine tree replacement. She believed that developers should do more careful planning to retain existing trees on sites to be developed rather than replace trees after the older, original trees had been removed. Mr. Harmening responded that staff had attempted to follow the intent of council direction following the study session where this ordinance had been discussed. He stated that staff would be willing to further modify the ordinance if council directed them to do so. Mayor Jacobs recalled that the council direction from the study session had been to loosen the requirements for tree replacement somewhat, but agreed that the direction given to staff had been somewhat general He saw the proposed modifications to the ordinance as an incentive to developers to retain more trees. Ms. Jeremiah stated that the proposed revisions would give developers a break if they retained .f 20% of the existing trees on the site. If, however, a developer were to remove 100% of the trees, ;, they would have to replace those trees at 120% When the proposed changes were looked at as a whole, the cumulative effect is to replace trees or provide for cash-in-lieu at a higher ratio than the previous ordinance. Councilmember Brimeyer stated that he also felt the new ordinance provided strong incentives for retaining existing trees. Councilmember Santa asked for clarification about caliper inches vs. number of trees replaced. Councilmember Latz expressed concern that the full effect of tree replacement would not be seen until many years in the future as the trees grow. He did, however feel that the ordinance presented a measured approach and brought St Louis Park into line with other communities in our region He stated, based on information presented at earlier meetings by the City's Foresty Department, that the overwhelming source of depletion of trees in St Louis Park was not a result of commercial development, but rather, a result of loss of trees on residential lots. He felt that incentives should be provided to resident homeowners to allow mature trees to remain on their property Councilmember Nelson asked if the tree replacement affected trees lost by damage to their roots or subsequent to planting Ms Jeremiah stated that the ordinance requires tree replacement after completion of construction or the city would exercise a letter of credit to do the replacement. Motion to approve First Reading of proposed zoning ordinance amendments and set Second Reading for May 21, 2001 made by Councilmember Brimeyer, seconded by Councilmember Young. Councilmember Sanger asked that a friendly motion to remove the provisions dealing with modifications to the tree replacement formula be considered. Councilmember Bnmeyer felt that the ordinance as presented was well-balanced and provided for a satisfactory end result. He therefore did not accept the friendly motion Original motion passed unanimously. Council Meeting Minutes -6- May 7, 2001 Motion directing staff to prepare a resolution for consideration on May 21, 2001 establishing a fee of$90 per caliper inch for cash-in-lieu of trees made by Councilmember Bnmeyer, seconded by Councilmember Young Motion passed unanimously 7c. Request by Ugorets Properties LLC. for Final Plat for Ugorets Addition. Case No. 01-05-S. 2230 State Hwy 100 South. Resolution No. 01-039 Ms. Jeremiah gave a brief presentation and informed Council that with the proposed changes a variance was no longer needed. She also stated that staff and the Planning Commission recommended approval of the plan. Motion to adopt Resolution No. 01-039 approving final plat, subject to conditions in the resolution as recommended by the Planning Commission and staff made by Councilmember Sanger, seconded by Councilmember Bnmeyer. Motion passed unanimously. 7d. First Reading of an Ordinance Amending City Code Chapter 16: Establishing a Food Vending Machine License and Various Temporary Use Permits Mr. Hoffman gave a brief overview of proposed revisions to the licensing ordinance. Motion to adopt first reading of an ordinance that establishes a Food Vending Machine License and various Temporary Use Permits and set second reading for May 21, 2001 made by Councilmember Latz, seconded by Councilmember Bnmeyer. Motion passed unanimously. 8. Boards and Committees—No appointments 9. Communications From the Mayor: Mayor Jacobs asked Council for their availability on Tuesday, May 2911h A decision will be made at a later date as to whether the meeting will be held that evening. From the Manager: Mr Meyer commented on the success of the recently held Youth Summit 10. Adjournment Meeting adjourned 7:52 p.m • ity Clerk ay,• •