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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004/09/13 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session CITY OF OFFICIAL MINUTES T. LOUIS CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION PARK September 13, 2004 The meeting was convened at 7 00 p m Council members present: John Basill, Phil Finkelstein, Paul Omodt, Susan Sanger, Sue Santa, Sally Velick and Mayor Jeff Jacobs Staff present: City Manager (Tom Harmening), Community Outreach Coordinator(Martha McDonell), Public Works Director(Mike Rardin), Mark Hanson (Operations Superintendent), Community Development Director(Kevin Locke), Economic Development Coordinator(Greg Hunt), Planning Coordinator(Judie Erickson), Michelle Schnitzker(Housing Supervisor) and Housing Program Coordinator(Kathy Larsen) Guests. Youth and Senior Summit: Linda Trummer, Jim and Marlys Liska and Bob Sate Brookside: Charlie Nestor, Bruce Bahneman and Jim Deanovie 1. 2004 Youth and Senior Summit Council members were provided with a list of questions and issues raised at the Youth and Senior Summits Martha McDonell noted that department heads have also received these notes and would like direction from the city council on follow-up. Jeff Jacobs, on behalf of the entire council, complimented the staff and volunteers who organized the summits. Council members and organizers all agreed that this year's question/answer format offered immediate feedback to seniors and significantly improved the Senior Summit. Sally Velick noted that the Senior Summit takes a lot of staff time and asked whether it should be held every other year rather than annually. Marlys Liska responded that the surveys handed out at the Senior Summit gave attendees the option of checking "next year," and the attendees overwhelmingly said they wanted an annual event. Sue Sanger asked whether anyone had an idea on how well the summit links seniors to one another, noting that community-building is one of St. Louis Park's goals. Martha McDonell responded that she_didn't know, but would add this question to next year's evaluation form. Jeff Jacobs asked what the city should do to follow up on the issues raised at the summit. Sue Sanger noted that many of the issues raised at the Senior Summit were not specific to seniors and would be of interest to people of all ages. She asked that staff communicate information related to these issues via routine communications tools (web site, newsletter, handbook, etc.) and see if information could also be placed in the school district's publication for seniors. After a discussion, it was agreed that these are appropriate steps, but seniors really want face-to-face communication. Council members and volunteers agreed to pursue monthly symposiums or Study Session Minutes -2- September 13, 2004 quarterly senior events that focuses on one issue (i.e., housing at one session, transit at another). Another option would be to piggy-back on existing events such as the monthly men's breakfast. Phil Finkelstein asked that the information gleaned from the Senior Summit also be woven into the process for creating a community housing strategy and renewing the city's visioning process. Jim Liska noted that he followed up on the seniors' concern about cable television rates. (The basic rate is $10 and then jumps to $50 a month. Seniors asked if there couldn't be an intermediate option.) Those present agreed that a Time Warner representative should be invited to next year's summit. They also asked that staff share notes from the Senior Summit with Time Warner and others who might have an interest in the issues raised at the summit. Council members also asked that department heads be asked to review the issues raised at the Senior Summit and come back to the council with recommendations for possible action. Linda Trummer then circulated a list of issues raised at the Youth Summit. Council members expressed concern about some of the worries raised by kids, especially concerns about personal safety, bullying and gangs. Jeff Jacobs asked whether the city ought to fund a school liaison officer at the Junior High School. Sally Velick noted that she was concerned to hear about gangs at Ainsworth Park and wondered whether this problem can be attnbuted to visitors or tenants at Louisiana Courts. Council members also expressed concern about the comments about the skate park, noting that truant kids are at the park during the school day, and kids may be climbing into the Rec Center at night. Phil Finkelstein suggested that the list of concerns raised at the Youth Summit be shared with the school board. Jeff Jacobs then asked the council whether the city should create a Youth Commission to talk about these issues on an on-going basis. Paul Omodt suggested that the city work with the school distnct to reactivate the Youth Development Committee. Sue Santa said she would bring this issue to the next CEAC (Community Education Advisory Council) meeting. If the school district reactivates the Youth Development Committee, council members said they would like the school district to include representatives from private schools. Linda Trummer suggested that this group could also be assigned with the task of organizing the Youth Summit. 2. Financial Assistance Plan for Redeveloping Brookside School Site Community Development staff updated the council on three financing options to ensure that single family homes can be included in the redevelopment project proposed for the Brookside School site. After discussion, two options (tax abatement and creating a TIF district) were deemed not feasible. The third option, using pre-1979 TIF dollars to help purchase the school from the School District, appears to hold promise if issues concerning chain of title, price and environmental abatement can be addressed. In asking staff to pursue this option, council asked that staff negotiate the price with the school district. Council members felt the school district had set an unrealistic sales price by expecting that the zoning designation would be changed. Council members felt the city should not pay an unrealistic price for the building and that the school district must help bridge the gap between the asking price and the price the property is worth to a developer. Sue Sanger did not want the city Study Session Minutes -3- September 13, 2004 to set a precedent with other sellers and developers by paying an unrealistic price for the property simply because it was owned by the school district and the distnct is facing financial hardship. After a discussion, council members agreed that staff should pursue this option 3. Closure of 28`/29`Street Railroad Crossings Mike Rardin and Mark Hanson recapped the reasons for considering the closure of roadways that cross railroad tracks at 281" and 29th Street in the Birchwood neighborhood. They also summarized the process used to obtain citizen input about the proposal. Sue Sanger stated that closing the crossings did not make sense if, at the end of the day, the neighborhood is unhappy and the city spends $9,500 to save $500 a year. Closing the crossings would be a hardship on Birchwood residents, many of whom would be forced to make a left turn onto Minnetonka Boulevard when trying to leave the neighborhood. Mike Rardin replied that the issue is not money but whether the city would get an upgraded crossing on the city's timetable or the railroad's timetable. If and when the railroad decides to upgrade the crossing, the city would have to pay to raise the roadways. Council members stated that these were not strong enough arguments to merit a closing. They felt it would be better to leave the crossings in rough shape, but keep them open. John Basill noted that the Railroad Task Force working in the Brookside neighborhood came to the understanding that the crossings can be left open for the time being, but could be closed if it's possible to make changes to allow trains to go straight through the community without blowing whistles. A better argument for closing a crossing could be made if there was a city-wide effort to close crossings in exchange for whistle-free train transit. Sue Santa said it's appropriate to do nothing now, but the city should be proactive with the railroad so the city doesn't end up with a bill for two crossings. She would like the city to work to ensure that we save $10,000 by closing one crossing and upgrading another crossing. Council directed staff to send a letter to the Bronx Park and Birchwood neighborhoods notifying them of the decision to leave the crossings open without upgrading. 4. Disposition of City-owned Land for Larger Single Family Homes Tom Harmening asked the council what process it should follow as it addresses the issue of unneeded city-owned parcels. Sue Sanger suggested that staff propose a set of criteria for property sales rather than assign this job to a task force. Sanger said giving this decision to a task force would be abdicating council responsibility. Jeff Jacobs argued that, by setting the criteria, the city will communicate that it has already decided to sell these parcels. He felt that the city should approach the process by framing the problem (excess property) versus proposing a solution (selling land for home- building). Sanger felt that the council has already heard the problem(lack of move-up housing) in surveys, Vision St. Louis Park discussion and housing summit meetings. She felt it is now the council's responsibility to take action to address that problem. Study Session Minutes -4- September 13, 2004 Phil Finkelstein suggested that the council ask residents what is the best use of these parcels He felt this approach would not presuppose an answer. He suggested that the city set up a task force that would be asked to draft specific critena. The task force could then hear public comments, do research and make recommendations on each individual parcel. He also urged the task force to ask the larger question of what's the best use of these parcels and not limit the answer to move-up housing or open space but also consider using the land for a dog park or other uses Several council members did not like the parcel-by-parcel approach and preferred to deal with the parcels "as a group." Sue Sanger expressed concern that each neighborhood would recommend that the city "do nothing" leaving the city no further ahead than it is now. Sanger argued that this issue requires a broad policy approach aimed at creating additional move-up housing. Jeff Jacobs said that, while the housing summit and vision process concluded that we need move-up housing, the council would have to be prepared to live with the answer that neighborhoods just want these parcels left as open space. Jacobs said there's a problem if we can't get people to agree that there's a problem. He felt a task force is an appropriate approach because, at least, people can't complain about the process even if they don't like the result. Phil Finkelstein said he did not want a process that becomes a "tyranny" of the vocal opposition He asked council members whether they had the political will to address this controversial issue and the courage to take action that is likely to be unpopular with adjacent property owners. Tom Harmening pointed out that there are some parcels (small lots next to parking and remnant lots) that could be taken out of this process. Paul Omodt suggested that staff be directed to sell remnant property that has no future use as either housing or open space. He also urged that staff propose a process that is actionable within a oiie year time span. Tom Harmenmg suggested that staff draft a proposal for a process. The draft proposal could include broad criteria for selling parcels that serve no legitimate public use, stakeholders who should be included in the process, options for tounng sites and open houses or neighborhood meetings. Council members agreed to this proposal. Staff then highlighted other community development efforts aimed at encouraging remodeling and expansion of existing homes pointing out that most move-up housing is created by remodeling, not new construction. Council members liked the "transformation loan" option which encourages remodeling of existing homes. A number of council members also liked the Aquila Regeneration proposal They felt the limited geographical area would ensure a manageable marketing effort that ties into nearby redevelopment plans and ensures that seniors can remain in their neighborhood. Sue Sanger opposed this proposal because she felt it was too limited and gives undue assistance to a developer. Other council members felt the idea of starting in a small area, working out the bugs and ensuring a successful housing transition was worth trying. A number felt they were honoring Vision St. Louis Park's goal of making St. Louis Park a "lifelong community" which meant helping seniors remain in the community. Study Session Minutes -5- September 13, 2004 5. Parking Alternatives–Excelsior Boulevard and Monterey Staff and council members outlined the complaints they've heard from Salon One and its customers concerning reduced parking due to the Excelsior and Grand. Sue Santa pointed out that these concerns are similar to those expressed by business owners along Minnetonka Boulevard when on-street parking was removed due to safety and traffic concerns. She felt the city needs to take a larger view of the issue. Sue Sanger added that this issue is the landlord's to solve. Staff noted that the landlord had been approached by the city to find a way to alleviate the problem but the landlord was not willing to do anything. Given that, council members felt it was inappropnate to spend city funds to pave a pnvate parking lot. 6. Communications Tom Harmening asked if the council would like to hear a presentation about the school referendum. Council members supported this suggestion and Harmening will schedule a 30 minute presentation for the next council meeting. John Basill clarified that the Brookside neighborhood meeting set for September 28 is to discuss the specifics of a noise wall and its design—not whether there will be a noise wall along this segment of Highway 100. However, parking concerns are still an issue. 8. Adjournment With no further business, the meeting was adjourned a 7:00 p.m. ;Clerk Ma, or,