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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006/04/03 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Regular IIY OFFICIAL MINUTES SAOPHFS RK CITY COUNCIL MEETING ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA April 3, 2006 1. Call to Order Mayor Jacobs called the meeting to order at 7:34 pm. Council members present: Mayor Jeff Jacobs, John Basill, Phil Finkelstein, Paul Omodt, Loran Paprocki and Susan Sanger Councilmember C. Paul Carver was absent. Staff present: City Manager (Mr. Harmening), City Assessor (Mr. Stepnik), City Attorney (Mr. Scott), Finance Director (Ms. McGann), Housing Program Coordinator (Ms. Larsen), Planning/Zoning Supervisor (Ms. McMomgal), Public Works Operation Supenntendent (Mr Hanson), Senior Planner (Mr. Walther) and Recording Secretary(Ms. Stegora-Peterson) 2. Presentations 2b. Bruce Stepnik's Recognition Resolution No. 06-070 Mayor Jacobs presented Resolution No. 06-070 recognizing Bruce Stepnik's nearly 28 years of service. Mr. Stepnik appreciated his time working with the City Ms. McGann and Mr. Harmening also thanked Mr. Stepnik. 3. Approval of Minutes 3a. Study Session Minutes of February 13, 2006 Councilmember Finkelstein indicated on page two in the third paragraph from the bottom, it should state"...they believed they could not do it without TIF". Councilmember Sanger believed they said they could probably do it without TIF. Mr. Harmening indicated staff would review the tape to venfy wording. Councilmember Paprocki indicated the following should be inserted on page three after the third paragraph, "Councilmember Paprocki noted there are several faiths being represented and the Council was not endorsing a single religion." The minutes were approved as corrected. 3b. Study Session Minutes of February 27, 2006 The minutes were approved as presented. 3c. City Council Minutes of March 6, 2006 The minutes were approved as presented City Council Minutes -2- April 3, 2006 3d. City Council Minutes of March 20, 2006 Councilmember Sanger indicated on page seven, five lines from the bottom it should read, "MnDOT told them there were no eleven foot lanes on freeways in the Metro area." The minutes were approved as corrected. 4. Approval of Agenda and Items on Consent Calendar NOTE The Consent Calendar lists 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 appropnate section of the regular agenda for discussion 4b. Approve Resolution No. 06-069 establishing a special assessment for the installation of a fire suppression sprinkler system at 5551 West Lake Street, St. Louis Park, MN 55416. 4c. Bid Tabulation: Designate Concrete Idea, Inc. as the lowest responsible bidder and authorize execution of a contract with the firm in the amount of $40,569.00 for Alley Improvement Project — 2900 Block Ottawa/Princeton Avenue, City Project No. 2005-1800. 4d. Bid Tabulation: Designate ELXSI d/b/a CUES as the lowest responsible bidder and authorize the purchase of a Closed Circuit Color Television Inspection System for$118,200.00. Councilmember Paprocki requested item 4a be moved off the consent agenda to 8b. Mr. Harmentng noted both appeals from the Board of Zoning Appeal decision had been withdrawn (item 6b). The Council was not required to take further action, but the item would remain on the agenda. It was moved by Councilmember Omodt, seconded by Councilmember Sanger, to approve the Agenda and items listed on the Consent Calendar as amended The motion passed 6-0 5. Boards and Commissions 5a. Appointment of Citizen Representatives to Boards and Commissions It was moved by Councilmember Sanger, seconded by Councilmember Paprocki, to appoint• Commission Appointed Member Term Expires CEAC - Community Education Advisory Shirley Zimmerman June 30, 2008 Commission HRC - Human Rights Commission-Youth Greg Asche December 31, 2008 HRC - Human Rights Commission Jason Van Burne December 31, 2008 PRAC - Park & Recreation Advisory Julian Brown December 31, 2008 Commission -Youth The motion passed 6-0. City Council Minutes -3- Apnl 3, 2006 6. Public Hearings 6a. Public Hearing on Sungate One Condominium Association Housing Improvement Area Ms. Larsen presented the staff report. Mayor Jacobs opened the public hearing. Jamie Movik, Sungate One Condominiums President, stated support for the Housing Improvement Area and noted they did not want to continue with special assessments and felt this would be more manageable. Don Westerlund, 2551 Alabama, stated he opposed the Housing Improvement Area (HIA) and had concerns about spending money they didn't have to for a new water line when it may not be in needed. Ms. Larsen replied the scope of work had been discussed and they had been informed one water line was nearing the end of its age limit. Replacing it would be the proactive approach. The HIA process was started by the association. Mayor Jacobs closed the public heanng. Councilmember Sanger congratulated the association for getting to this point. This was a good plan to help the association, and to help meet some of the City goals. It was moved by Councilmember Sanger, seconded by Councilmember Finkelstein to adopt first reading of an ordinance to establish the Sungate One Housing Improvement Area and to set Second Reading for April 17, 2006 Councilmember Basill asked why the association had been turned down for traditional financing? Ms. Larsen replied they had no collateral because they didn't own the property and it was difficult for an association to get financing. Councilmember Finkelstein believed this was a good use of City stewardship. The motion passed 6-0. 6b. Public hearing to consider two appeals of the Board of Zoning Appeals decision on three variances for property at 4611 Excelsior Blvd. Location: 4611 Excelsior Boulevard, Applicant: Daniel LeSage, Case No.: 06-10-VAR Ms. McMonigal indicated both appeals had been withdrawn in writing. The parking vanance was denied by the Board of Zoning Appeals and the revised building layout shows parking could be met on the site without a vanance. The applicant withdrew the appeal. The neighbor withdrew the other appeal, based on no coffee roasting at the Dunn Bros. site. Mayor Jacobs asked about the revised plan. Ms. McMonigal said the intenor layout and square footage of the uses determines the amount of parking. The applicant now meets the parking with 16 spaces because Dunn Brother's Coffee square footage was reduced and wouldn't have the roasting on-site. Much of the yoga studio was locker rooms and restrooms, which also reduced the amount of parking needed. City Council Minutes -4- April 3, 2006 Mayor Jacobs opened the public hearing. Patrick McGrann, 4615 Excelsior, stated parking spaces are important. Today they reached an understanding with Mr. LeSage and welcomed him to the neighborhood. Mayor Jacobs closed the public hearing. Ms. McMonigal indicated the applicant could proceed with building and site improvements. 7. Requests, Petitions, and Communications from the Public—None 8. Resolutions, Ordinances, Motions 8a. Request by Ted Bigos for a Conditional Use Permit to allow for the export/import of over 400 cubic yards of soil for property at 1351 and 1361 Hampshire Ave. Case No. 06-13-CUP Resolution No. 06-068 Mr. Walther presented the staff report. Councilmember Sanger asked if the building at 1351 Hampshire was being demolished? Mr. Walther replied no. Councilmember Sanger asked about the potential for contaminated soil under that building. Mr. Walther replied there may be polluted soil under that building. It was only a concern if the soil was going to be disturbed. In areas with impervious surface, the impervious surface prevents groundwater filtration through the soil. It was moved by Councilmember Finkelstein, seconded by Councilmember Sanger to adopt Resolution No.06-068 approving a Conditional Use Permit to allow for the excavation/fill of more than 400 cubic yards of soil at 1351 and 1361 Hampshire Avenue, with conditions. The motion passed 5-0 (Councilmember Omodt stepped out of the room). 8b. Sidewalk Snow Removal Enforcement Policy Resolution No. 06-071 Councilmember Paprocki stated concerns about hinng two seasonal employees who could become full time, including benefits. He was trying to be cost sensitive because this could vary widely. He also had concerns about what tnggered the inspection, when people needed to shovel and about rental properties with enforcement. Mayor Jacobs stated the Council had debated this and asked if there were other suggestions, because there was not an easy answer to this. Councilmember Paprocki didn't want to spend $20-40,000 on a "good guess". He saw problems with how this would play out. Councilmember Sanger agreed this was not a perfect solution, but they had tned many approaches, which hadn't worked. She was willing to try this and see how much it would cost and if they had to make changes later, they could. Snow removal is the property owner's obligation, not the renters. She suggested language be inserted in the resolution that, "the cost of snow removal be assessed back to the property owner." City Council Minutes -5- Apnl 3, 2006 Councilmember Omodt didn't believe any city in Minnesota had come up with a perfect solution. They needed to have faith in the people that ran the City and Public Works to do the best they could. They can keep trying to get to a better solution and this was a step in the right direction. It was right to keep looking at this, but there are a lot of unknowns when dealing with the weather. Councilmember Finkelstein agreed, that they had dealt with this for a long time. Two years ago they changed their snow removal policy to require the removal from two inches to three inches, which saved the City approximately $250,000. They were talking about spending some money now. They have had complaints that some people were not shoveling their walks and they need to have an inspection system. He didn't want to make it too costly. A 100% inspection system wouldn't work and they should try the 25% system and have it in place by the next winter season and make changes if necesary. Mayor Jacobs noted it may be enforced only 25% of the time, but people should know inspections would be done. He was sensitive to the cost as well and hoped they got what they were paying for. They had been trying to find a better way of getting sidewalks cleared. Mr. Harmening clanfied they were expecting the new cost to be up to $20,000, that included inspections and staff time to abate the nuisance. Mr. Hanson added if they were to abate the snow, the cost would be assessed to the resident. The $20,000 would be staff costs for doing inspections. Removal would be done by contract and assessed. Mr. Hannening noted staff would have to do a lot of education this summer and dunng the winter on expectations of people to keep their sidewalks cleared. Councilmember Basill indicated we received many calls about this issue, but we shouldn't minimize the cost or expenditure to the tax payer. He requested the Council consider this be brought back after a year to be studied and to look at an analysis of the costs. Mayor Jacobs agreed and also wanted to know if sidewalks were being shoveled better. Councilmember Paprocki stated what bothered him was that it was open-ended. They still had the possibility of having full-time positions created and there could be staff concerns with enforcement and if it would be effective. Mayor Jacobs had the same concerns and clanfied what they were approving was not turning this into full-time positions. Councilmember Finkelstein noted they couldn't evaluate it until they tned it. It was moved by Councilmember Basill, seconded by Councilmember Sanger to adopt Resolution No. 06-071 approving the Sidewalk Snow Removal Enforcement Policy with the understanding that after one year this be brought back to Council with staff analysts. Councilmember Sanger made a friendly amendment that the following be inserted at the end of the sixth bullet point, "with the cost to be assessed to the property owner " Councilmember Basill accepted the friendly amendment The motion passed 5-1, with Counctlmember Paprocki opposed City Council Minutes -6- April 3, 2006 9. Communications Mr. Harmening stated the Lions Club Pancake breakfast would be held Sunday at the Junior High School, 8 AM— 1 PM. Mayor Jacobs reported the 6th Annual Youth Summit was held last Thursday and was very successful. He thanked the event organizers. 10. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 8.28 p m. * 2(1- 1-41f9--il- 1 ,,,,.,, q 4 City Clerk Mayo