HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011/12/12 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session Iif St. Louis Park OFFICIAL MINUTES
MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION
ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA
DECEMBER 12,2011
The meeting convened at 7:04 p.m.
Councilmembers present: Mayor Jeff Jacobs, Anne Mavity, Julia Ross, Susan Sanger, and Sue
Santa.
Councilmembers absent: Phil Finkelstein and Paul Omodt.
Staff present: City Manager (Mr. Harmening), Director of Community Development (Mr.
Locke), Economic Development Coordinator(Mr. Hunt), City Engineer (Mr. Brink), Director of
Public Works (Mr. Rardin), Communications Coordinator(Mr. Zwilling), Police Lieutenant (Mr.
Kraayenbrink), and Recording Secretary(Ms. Hughes).
Guests: Amy Gurski , Three Rivers Park District, April Crockett (West Area Engineer,
Mn/DOT).
1. Future Study Session Agenda Planning—January 9, 2012
Mr. Harmening presented the proposed study session agenda for January 9, 2012. He noted that
the December 27th study session meeting has been cancelled.
2. Business Terms for Redevelopment Contract with Ellipse II LLC (Bader
Development) Related to the e2 Project
Mr. Locke presented the staff report and proposed business terms for the Redevelopment
Contract with Bader Development. He indicated that Council will take formal action on the
Redevelopment Contract at its January 17, 2012, meeting.
Councilmember Mavity commended Mr. Bader for his efforts in working with the neighbors to
address their concerns including parking. She asked if the terms of the Redevelopment Contract
are standard terms or whether there is anything unique to this particular contract. She also
requested further information regarding the lease agreement currently in place that provides
parking on the site.
Mr. Hunt advised that the primary financing mechanism includes $700,000 in TIF financing,
predicated on the fact that the City applied for over $800,000 in grants for environmental clean-
up of the site. He indicated if the City does not receive any or all of these grants, Council will
need to discuss how to fill that gap, including additional tax increment.
Mr. Locke stated that the lease agreement will continue to provide parking spaces on the site to
help with the parking needs at Ellipse. He added that there will be an easement on the site to
continue to provide parking spaces on a permanent basis.
Councilmember Santa requested clarification regarding the parking arrangements during
construction.
Study Session Minutes -2- December 12, 2011
Mr. Robb Bader, Ellipse II LLC, appeared before the City Council and advised that they have
begun working with Mr. Walther on options for parking during construction, including utilizing
off-site parking, e.g., the Rec Center.
Councilmember Sanger commended Mr. Bader's efforts with respect to LEED certification and
constructing a green building. She indicated that the application process for LEED certification
is expensive and urged Mr. Bader to consider foregoing LEED certification while still
constructing the building as a green building. She also questioned how the City can assume no
inflation for twenty years when figuring the 20 year calculation on the TIF payback.
Mr. Locke stated that the City makes conservative assumptions with respect to inflation and
indicated if there is inflation, it will mean that the City retires the TIF District earlier.
Councilmember Sanger expressed concern regarding the apparent trend toward projects with a
majority of one-bedroom units and stated she was not comfortable spending TIF money on a
project that provides little or no incentive for families. She felt that there needed to be a better
mix of units in these projects. She added that the City has seen the negative results of focusing
on just condominiums and felt the City needed to think more long term and not just on what is
hot in today's real estate market.
Mayor Jacobs agreed with Councilmember Sanger's concern.
Mr. Locke stated that the development pattern is following the current market and the
demographics indicate that the current market is for one-bedroom units. He indicated this site is
not a strong site for families and will suit empty nesters and younger couples.
Mr. Bader stated that the e2 project, when combined with the entire Ellipse project, will have a
mix of 75/25 and they are comfortable with that mix.
Councilmember Mavity agreed that this issue is important and should be tied to a further
discussion about what Council wants the community to look like in thirty years and how the
City's policies will affect the community in the future.
Councilmember Ross agreed but noted that this site is not the most desirable area for family
housing and was supportive of the project as is. She noted that she has concerns regarding the
Elliot site in terms of family housing and encouraged Council to remain mindful of this issue as
well as what it means to be a family, i.e., single parents or divorced parents with shared custody.
It was the consensus of the City Council to support the business terms proposed for inclusion in a
Redevelopment Contract with Bader Development to facilitate the construction of the e2 project.
Mr. Hunt clarified that the business terms in the Redevelopment Contract suggest that the
redeveloper use LEED as a guideline but do not require that the redeveloper achieve LEED
certification, only that the redeveloper meet the City's green building requirements.
3. Highway 7/Wooddale Interchange Traffic and Trail Improvement Options
Mr. Harmening presented the staff report and indicated that Police Lieutenant Kraayenbrink was
in attendance this evening, as well as representatives from SRF Consultants, Mn/DOT, and Three
Study Session Minutes -3- December 12, 2011
Rivers Park District. He noted that SRF Consultants did a full operational analysis of the
Beltline and Wooddale locations.
Mr. Brink presented the recommendations to address the safety concerns at the trail crossings at
Wooddale Avenue and Beltline Boulevard as well as the recommendations with respect to the
sightline concerns.
Councilmember Sanger felt that the problem with the Wooddale crossing is that people cannot
see cars until they are on top of you and she preferred to see some type of warning for drivers
indicating that a trail is approaching, particularly coming from the north. She expressed concern
regarding the proposed trail chicanes on Wooddale and Beltline and felt these would be a safety
hazard, especially for people riding tandem bikes or using a baby buggy. She urged the City to
put the crosswalk striping back in place which represents a low cost way to warn drivers that trail
users are in the area. She also expressed concern that the median is not wide enough in this area
and if more than one bicycle is in the median, they are sticking out into the roadway. She felt the
City has not given residents enough education and information regarding trail crossings that is
consistent with other communities which has caused confusion among drivers about whether
they need to stop at a trail crossing.
Councilmember Mavity agreed that the lack of consistency on the trail crossings needs to be
resolved with assistance from Three Rivers Park District. She indicated that one of the
challenges at the Wooddale crossing is that traffic never eases up providing little opportunity to
cross the intersection. She felt that options for improving the crossing in this area include no
right turn on red at 366 Street,better advice to trail users, and widening the median.
Councilmember Santa stated that she has received complaints from residents about the difficulty
of getting off the ramp on Highway 7 onto Wooddale Avenue. She felt that bicyclists posed
more of a danger to pedestrians than vehicles in this area because the bicyclists are not always
paying attention to pedestrians and requested that Council discuss this issue further.
Mr. Brink indicated the consultants have suggested that Wooddale Avenue be restriped to one
lane in each direction. He stated that Mn/DOT reviewed the potential restriping and did not have
a problem with it.
Councilmember Sanger asked if this would provide enough stacking room for cars when light
rail or freight rail is blocking the intersection.
Mr. Brink replied in the affirmative and added that this will need to be re-evaluated once the
light rail stations are designed.
It was the consensus of the City Council to pursue restriping of Wooddale Avenue to a two-lane
roadway. It was also the consensus of the City Council that construction of trail chicanes not be
pursued.
Mr. Brink stated that the only recommended change for the Beltline trail crossing is the
construction of a trail chicane. He advised that the use of a speed hump to give the trail more
visibility would be difficult at this location and that option was discouraged.
Councilmember Sanger indicated that at one time there was money available for a trail grade
separated crossing in this area and asked if this was still a viable option.
Study Session Minutes -4- December 12, 2011
Ms. Amy Gurski, Three Rivers Park District, appeared before the City Council and stated that
the money for Beltline was returned because of the pending light rail project and she could not
speculate on the likelihood of a grade separated crossing. She added that Three Rivers Park
District hopes at some point to have a grade separated crossing at both Wooddale and Beltline,
which would be tied into the light rail project.
Councilmember Ross stated she did not want to make major changes to the trail crossings or
invest a lot of money in these projects at this time and to wait and see what happens with light
rail and freight rail. She added she felt the inconsistencies in the trail crossings needs to be
addressed before spending significant money.
Ms. Amy Gurski advised that Three Rivers Park District formed a coalition of member cities,
Mn/DOT, the Department of Natural Resources, bicycle advocacy groups, and public safety
officials to put together a professional document that contains a best practices guide for trail
crossings with the goal of achieving consistency throughout the area.
Councilmember Mavity stated there have been a lot of close calls at this intersection and was not
comfortable with waiting until light rail is completed. She felt the City needs to take action to
change this now, including striping, raising the crosswalk so it acts as a speed bump and visual
guide, and/or HAWK signaling.
Councilmember Ross agreed that these are appropriate changes, but reiterated she did not want
to spend significant money on this until the implications of the light rail project are determined.
Councilmember Sanger urged the City to look at existing trail crossings in neighboring
communities and use that as the City's guideline. She stated that the City needs a
communication plan to educate drivers that they are required to yield to trail users in the
crosswalk.
It was the consensus of the City Council to pursue improvements at the Beltline crossing that
include(1) making crossing rules at this location consistent with those at the Wooddale crossing,
(2) creating or painting a pedestrian crosswalk at this location, and (3) exploring the feasibility of
additional safety features at this location including a raised crosswalk and HAWK signaling.
4. Project Update—Highway 100 Reconstruction Project
Mr. Rardin presented the staff report and discussed the preferred layout of the proposed Highway
100 project, Concept C. As he described city requested enhancements to Concept C, it was
noted that Mn/DOT did not agree with the two-way frontage road or the 31St Street connection
that Council previously asked for. He then reviewed the new layout proposed by Mn/DOT,
stating that the proposal contains changes which address city concerns expressed earlier this
year. He stated that Mn/DOT listened to our concerns, performed a value engineering study,
conducted a road safety audit, performed preliminary modeling and an operational analysis and
then made changes to Concept C. He then introduced April Crockett, Mn/DOT West Area
Engineer.
Mayor Jacobs expressed concern about the significant amount of traffic created by people getting
off the highway to go on Minnetonka Boulevard.
Study Session Minutes -5- December 12, 2011
Mr. Rardin stated there will be five lanes on the west side of Highway 100 between Minnetonka
Boulevard and Highway 7, with three through lanes, one auxiliary lane, and an entrance/exit
merge lane which creates more room than currently exists. He indicated there will be four lanes
on the east side of Highway 100 from Highway 7 to West 26th Street, three through lanes and
one auxiliary lane.
Councilmember Sanger asked if there is sufficient room to install a berm or noise wall in the
green space remaining on the west side of Highway 100.
Ms. Crockett advised that a noise wall will fit in this area and added that the Federal noise wall
policy states that affected property owners will vote on whether to install a noise wall. She noted
that if the residents vote down the noise wall, Mn/DOT would be able to berm this area from the
edge of Mn/DOT's auxiliary lane to its right-of-way.
Mayor Jacobs asked if Mn/DOT will need to take the houses on Toledo.
John Griffith, Mn/DOT West Area Manager, replied that the concept as presented this evening
will not require Mn/DOT to take the houses on Toledo Avenue north of Minnetonka Blvd. He
added that until the process gets through the municipal consent phase, Mn/DOT cannot officially
state it does not need to take these homes.
A resident appeared before the City Council and requested further information regarding the
pedestrian bridge across Highway 100 north of 27`h and maintaining safe access.
Mr. Rardin replied that nothing will change with the bridge.
Councilmember Mavity stated Council previously talked about the importance of having north-
south connections in the City. She indicated that when the light rail stations are built, the only
connection getting from Highway 7 north is Ottawa, which is insufficient and the idea of a
frontage road that provided an additional north-south access between Minnetonka Boulevard and
Highway 7 has some value.
Mr. Rardin explained that City staff is currently discussing north-south connections in this area,
and the issue will come back to Council for further discussion as it relates to light rail station
area planning. He added that the City is not losing this opportunity as it relates to the overall
Highway 100 project.
Councilmember Mavity urged the City to remain mindful of what happens with the exit ramps
on Highway 100 as it relates to traffic at Nordic Ware.
Mr. Rardin agreed that the proposed layout still needs detailed analysis by both the City and the
County.
Mr. Rardin reviewed next steps and stated that Mn/DOT will be working on drainage analysis
and final layout. He stated that Mn/DOT will also be talking with Hennepin County regarding
the Minnetonka Boulevard interchange and will be preparing final details to start the municipal
consent process in April or May.
Councilmember Sanger requested detailed information from Mn/DOT regarding the process of
voting on noise barriers or berms.
.
Study Session Minutes -6- December 12, 2011
It was the consensus of the City Council to support the new layout presented by Mn/DOT and
proposed next steps.
5. Communications/Meeting Check-In (Verbal)
Mr. Harmening requested guidance from Council regarding the proposed property tax levy of
4.7% in preparation for final adoption by Council on December 19`h.
Councilmember Sanger requested further information regarding staff's rationale for changing the
property tax levy increase to 4.7%.
Mr. Harmening explained that a 4.7% property tax levy increase represents a decrease of
approximately $30,000-$40,000. He stated that these funds were previously targeted for the
employee benefits fund and staff recommends that a portion of any year-end excess revenues be
put into the employee benefits fund.
It was the consensus of the City Council to direct staff to proceed with a 4.7% property tax levy
increase for the 2012 budget.
The meeting adjourned at 9:32 p.m.
Written Reports provided and documented for recording purposes only:
6. Project Update—Hwy 7/Louisiana Avenue Interchange Project
7. Recreational Fire Permits
8. Community Recreation Facility Task Force
9. Fire Stations Project Update
Nancy Stroth, ty Clerk Je.' J. ,o p., ►%ayor