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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012/11/26 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session Jfl St. Louis Park OFFICIAL MINUTES MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA NOVEMBER 26, 2012 The meeting convened at 6:30 p.m. Councilmembers present: Mayor Jeff Jacobs, Steve Hallfin, Anne Mavity, Julia Ross, Susan Sanger, Sue Santa, and Jake Spano. Councilmembers absent: None. Staff present: City Manager (Mr. Harmening), City Attorney (Mr. Scott), Director of Community Development (Mr. Locke), Planning/Zoning Supervisor (Ms. McMonigal), Director of Public Works (Mr. Rardin), Engineering Project Manager (Mr. Olson), and Recording Secretary(Ms. Hughes). Guest: Mr. Dave McKenzie(SEH Consulting). 1. Future Study Session Agenda Planning—December 3 & December 10, 2012 Mr. Harmening presented the proposed special study session agenda for December 3, 2012, and the proposed study session agenda for December 10, 2012. He indicated if Council needs more time to discuss the DEIS, this item could be added to the December 3`d special study session agenda and/or the December 10th study session agenda, followed by formal approval at a special City Council meeting on December 10th 2. Zoning Ordinance Amendment Regulating Outdoor Lighting Ms. McMonigal presented the staff report and advised that the light shields on the fields can be painted or changed out to reduce glare. She stated that a manufacturer has indicated that an advanced glare control package has been developed but requires replacement of the luminaire. She stated the proposed Ordinance requires that lights include a glare control package when replaced and the estimated cost for retrofitting light fixtures with the new luminaire assemblies is approximately$60,000 per athletic field. Councilmember Ross stated her primary concern was the potential cost to the City to retrofit its parks and did not want the City to have to retrofit its lighting if the current lighting is not a problem and neighbors are not complaining. She questioned whether the Ordinance could be wntten in such a way that lighting would not need to be replaced if the current lighting is not an issue for a particular neighborhood. Councilmember Santa stated a lot of people live near parks and live with the glare but felt that just because someone lives near a park was not a reason to be inconsiderate of them and some residents might not complain unless you ask them. She stated she felt the City should swap out all the lights, as they are due for replacement. Councilmember Ross agreed that the lights should be replaced as they come due but not before. Councilmember Sanger felt the City ought to swap out the lighting at all of its parks and that the City should set a schedule for replacing the lights in its CIP and should also require private fields to do the same. She stated that Benilde painted some of their lights but not all, which has helped but has not resolved all of the problems. Study Session Minutes -2- November 26, 2012 Councilmember Mavity stated she was sympathetic to the residents complaining about the lighting at Benilde and understood their frustration, but did not feel it was a good use of City money to spend $60,000 per field to swap out the lighting and could not justify spending approximately $500,000 for this purpose. She stated she was willing to further discuss the Benilde situation but was not sure if there was a way the City could make it more manageable for residents. Councilmember Spano asked if the City could effectively paint the City's light fixtures and how effective that would be in reducing glare. Ms. McMonigal replied she did not know the cost of painting the light shields and advised that the City has been changing out its light fixtures as needed and replacing them with the best glare restrictive package available. She stated three fixtures have the most recent glare control package and there are at least four fixtures with no glare control, including the high school and Benilde. Councilmember Sanger requested confirmation that the replacement of lighting is already in the CIP. Mr. Harmening replied in the affirmative. Councilmember Hallfin felt the City should do its best to eliminate glare at all fields on an as needed basis and per complaints. He stated he felt Benilde wants to be in compliance with the Ordinance and was not sure Benilde could have done anything different in that regard adding that the recent painting seems to help control glare. Councilmember Sanger felt the City should prioritize this retrofitting to the extent there is a problem. She added she felt that Benilde should be required to change out their lights. Councilmember Mavity expressed concern about picking and choosing which lights to replace without some measurable standards by which lights should be replaced. Councilmember Spano stated he would like the Ordinance to include a more robust mention of landscaping to shield views of the field as well as to protect homes from glare. Mayor Jacobs stated he shared Councilmember Mavity's concerns regarding selective enforcement and spending unnecessary money. He indicated he would like to encourage Benilde to paint all their lights black and then measure the result. Mr. Harmening noted that the Ordinance does not speak to requiring replacement within a certain time penod and agreed that the City should not pick and choose which lights are replaced based on complaints from the neighbors and the Ordinance needs to have a level playing field that applies to everyone in the City. Councilmember Sanger stated the Ordinance should include a date certain for replacing lights and agreed compliance should not be based on complaints. She suggested the City set a threshold measurement such that if the glare is more than "x" at residential property lines then the lights need to be replaced within a certain time period; otherwise, the lights need to be replaced by a certain date. Study Session Minutes -3- November 26, 2012 Mayor Jacobs stated he was comfortable requiring that lights be replaced as they wear out over the course of time. Councilmember Ross stated she would be comfortable with a combination of requiring lights to be replaced as they wear out as well as requiring lights to be replaced that are a problem in a neighborhood. She added some residents might have to wait a long time for the lights in their neighborhood to wear out and be replaced. Councilmember Spano stated he would be comfortable with no timelines if it is determined that painting the shrouds black reduces glare and makes a noticeable improvement and to replace the lights as needed. Councilmember Hallfin acknowledged Councilmember Sanger's concerns but was concerned about the arbitrary period of time and did not want a time frame written into the Ordinance. Councilmember Santa stated she did not like the arbitrary periods of time and felt that replacing the lights as they wear out was sufficient. She noted that the City has already replaced lighting at five of ten fields and this seems to be a workable plan. It was the consensus of the majority of the City Council to not include specific time parameters in the Ordinance and to include only performance standards for new lighting in the Ordinance. 3. Southwest Transitway Draft Environmental Impact Statement(DEIS) Mr. Harmening presented the staff report and proposed comments to the SWLRT DEIS. Mr. Locke distributed a memo from HDR Engineering containing a notice of correction regarding a typographical error in Table 8.1-1 of the DEIS. He explained that the Professional Services line item for the LRT 3A-1 co-location alternative was incorrectly stated as $99,357 (in thousands) and should be $199,357 (in thousands) which changes the total cost estimate for co- location to $1,171,770,000. He added that all the analysis done and all comments assumed the correct number so the conclusions drawn in the DEIS have not been altered by this change. He indicated that Mr. McKenzie was not previously asked to estimate the total cost of the light rail project, and the City has asked for more detailed information behind the numbers in the DEIS so that it is easier to compare DEIS freight rail cost estimates with the work done by Mr. McKenzie and Kimley Horn during the MN&S process. He also presented the freight rail alternatives cost comparison table and MN&S mitigation measures that the City produced earlier this year. Councilmember Spano stated that he felt the tone of the City's comments on the DEIS were too pejorative and that the City's comments could be better spent focusing stnctly on the facts. He felt that staff did a great job of laying out all the concerns regarding relocation of freight rail but did not spend enough time talking about the issues generated with co-location. Councilmember Mavity agreed with Councilmember Spano and stated that the DEIS comments have to be evidence based. She stated that the DEIS comments refer to trains being rerouted from Minneapolis to St. Louis Park, and she represents a ward where trains are idling, switching, and parking for several hours. She was concerned that the DEIS represents an unfair portrayal of what is actually going on in the community. Study Session Minutes -4- November 26, 2012 Mr. Harmening stated that the City's introductory comments indicate that the DEIS does not compare both routes equitably, and the DEIS suggests no disruption with MN&S alternative but there is with Kenilworth, and the facts would demonstrate that that statement is not accurate. Councilmember Mavity stated that Council previously reviewed Mr. McKenzie's modeling done at Beltline and the delays at the light rail stations should the trains be co-located would cause significant traffic back-ups. She indicated that does not happen on the MN&S route according to Mr. McKenzie's modeling and urged the City to make sure its comments are based on these studies. She felt the that City needs to be more specific about what mitigation is needed if the trains are co-located and what mitigation is needed if the trains are rerouted. She stated that the DEIS comments should reference the 2001 position adopted by Council and should state that the City welcomes light rail but that it has issues with both co-location and rerouting. Councilmember Sanger agreed and indicated that the DEIS comments need to highlight that the co-location option is still cheaper than the reroute option and the DEIS numbers do not include the cost of mitigation in St. Louis Park which were estimated at $50 million. She stated the DEIS does not do much in the way of analyzing co-location even though they were told to do so by the FTA and the DEIS states that co-location will not work because of the use of park land. She stated the statutes referenced in the DEIS related to use of park land for transportation purposes indicate that in order to say park land cannot be used for transportation purposes an analysis must be done in which a prudent and feasible alternative is assessed including cost and whether there are still impacts to the community after mitigation; no mitigation has been offered in the DEIS. She stated the City needs to indicate what it needs for mitigation, the approximate cost, and why it is important. She stated the issues with the wye are serious and the City needs to highlight the need for a southern interconnect to replace the wye as well as the issues for the northern neighborhoods if the northern connection is used to provide access to the south on the MN&S, adding that the railroads have said they will not do that. She stated the DEIS comments also need to highlight the fact that there is nothing in the DEIS about whether the railroads have agreed to the interconnects, maintenance on the interconnects, or whether the County has reached agreement with the railroads; without that information, the City cannot fairly assess the cost. She stated that Goal 6 is new and there was no public process to get that into the DEIS and they have not involved Golden Valley, Robbinsdale, and other communities that may be affected by rail traffic going through their communities. She indicated if the DEIS is saying train traffic is disruptive to neighborhoods in the Kenilworth area then train traffic is equally disruptive to neighborhoods in St. Louis Park and there appears to be a lack of objectivity in the DEIS for either route. She agreed with Councilmember Mavity's comment regarding the issues with the wye and agreed the wye needs to be removed regardless of which alternative is chosen. She stated that the City previously provided a copy of Mr. McKenzie's study regarding co-location that showed how it could be done and the City has never received any feedback that says this works. She stated the County has never looked at whether co-location can work if the bike trail is moved and felt it was moving a bike trail that made the Kenilworth alternative workable and that could resolve the park land issue. She stated that costs of mitigation were not included in the DEIS cost analysis and the DEIS does not acknowledge that homes need to be taken in the City. She stated the noise issue has not been adequately addressed and the DEIS asserts that whistle quiet zones will solve the problem but the DEIS does not acknowledge that the railroads have said they would not honor the request to not blow their horns by the high school because of the blind curves in this area. She indicated the DEIS has not done a traffic analysis in St. Louis Park and the DEIS does not adequately address the quality of life impact of light rail. She added it appears the DEIS seems to ascribe all of the quality of life problems to freight rail in Kenilworth without acknowledging issues of traffic or noise in St. Louis Park; in addition, the Study Session Minutes -5- November 26, 2012 DEIS makes some comment about the economic impact in Minneapolis if trains are co-located but there is no equivalent analysis for the impact to businesses in St. Louis Park. She suggested the DEIS comments clearly state the need for eliminating the wye and what is required to make that work. She stated there is nothing in the DEIS comments about mitigation for the neighborhoods along the tracks north of Cedar Lake Road if the trains go north into Golden Valley and the resulting impacts north of the BN tracks. She stated the DEIS needs to provide its rationale for why co-location is a problem in Kenilworth but co-location is okay for suburbs to the west on the proposed SWLRT plans. Councilmember Santa agreed with Councilmembers Mavity and Sanger regarding eliminating the wye. She indicated the 4f considerations are inadequate and the City needs to tell them what is inadequate. She stated there needs to be more information regarding construction impacts given the DEIS statement that construction impacts are "medium." She expressed concern regarding community cohesion and stated she did not know what was meant by the "preserve and protect the quality of life" goal or the "protect the environment" goal and felt they were meaningless goals if they are not defined. She added she would like to see more comment about the wetlands and floodplain impact in St. Louis Park. Councilmember Ross agreed with the earlier comments and stated she would like to see more persuasive and decisive DEIS comments particularly related to mitigation. She indicated she wanted further information regarding how her ward will be impacted by trains going through the area. She added the DEIS comments need to point out that the reroute is fiscally irresponsible. Councilmember Hallfin commended staff for its work on the draft DEIS comments. Councilmember Mavity stated the City's comments to the DEIS should state persuasively and decisively what the City wants and suggested the introductory comments state that the City welcomes light rail and it will bring many positive benefits and challenges to St. Louis Park and that the City will need mitigation to accommodate light rail. She felt the DEIS comments should then detail the mitigation needed if trains are rerouted or co-located. She asked how many homes would be taken on the reroute within the 100'right of way. Mr. Locke replied that approximately 40 homes would be taken. Councilmember Mavity requested the record reflect that she was not in support of taking this many affordable single family homes from the community. She indicated she disagreed with Councilmember Sanger's comment regarding train traffic going north and stated the issue here is that TC&W trains need to get into Minneapolis and did not feel that notifying Golden Valley or Robbinsdale should be the City's concern. Mr. Locke stated this relates to the 6`h goal regarding trains going north on the BNSF tracks as providing an alternate route and TC&W has indicated it does not want to do that; the DEIS appears to claim this is one of the reasons why the City should approve the MN&S route but the DEIS includes no evaluation and provides no mitigation. Mr. McKenzie indicated this issue was added two months ago without any public process. Council continued its discussion regarding removal of the wye. Study Session Minutes -6- November 26, 2012 Councilmember Sanger felt the DEIS comments should be expanded regarding the question of mitigation for the MN&S route and indicated the comments regarding the wye should state that the wye is a problem in either scenario and in order to facilitate the goal of smooth freight rail traffic, the wye has to be removed. Councilmember Santa stated the purpose of the wye is not for the smooth flow of rail traffic but for stacking, storing, and blocking of rail cars which has no place near light rail and agreed that the wye needs to be removed. Councilmember Ross agreed. Mayor Jacobs agreed with the earlier comments and stated the City cannot predict what will happen and it will be critical to have a robust mitigation plan for both contingencies clearly spelled out in the DEIS comments. Mr. Harmening stated this item will be added to the special study session agenda on December 3rd with a goal of reviewing and adopting it on December 10t. 4. Project Update—Highway 7/Louisiana Avenue Interchange Project Mr. Olson presented the staff report and advised that offers have been made to all affected property owners in the right of way acquisition. He stated that Sam's Club has presented a counteroffer which seems reasonable. The property across the street on the west side has made a counteroffer which is not reasonable. The City will meet with them in early December. The City has not received a response from the Louisiana Oaks Apartments. The Newport on 7 Apartments' offer is being finalized, and the Oak Hill Office Complex is in the process of obtaining their own appraisal. He advised the City met with Clear Channel representatives and provided them with preliminary billboard locations near their existing signs, and Clear Channel has indicated it wants to do further analysis. Staff will provide more information regarding this at a later date. Councilmember Sanger asked if the billboards will be the same height as the current billboards. Mr. Olson replied that the billboards will be near the same height, and depending on the elevation of the road, there may be some height difference at the southwest site to make sure visibility is maintained. He noted that the City has height restrictions, and Clear Channel will not be allowed to go over the current height standards. He advised that the City held business area outreach meetings to discuss staging plans, and the City provided information on resources available during construction to help with marketing, including signage and dealing with traffic issues. Mn/DOT also provided examples of signage to minimize construction impacts. He stated that several comments were received regarding the City providing compensation for reduced access during construction. He advised that Mn/DOT has prepared significant changes to the staging plans that will open up traffic on Highway 7 to four lanes in the first full year and will restore left turn lanes at the intersection with Louisiana Avenue, which will eliminate detours during the first year. In addition, the revised staging plans will have two lanes open on Louisiana Avenue in the second year, with detours required. He presented a revised staging plan document prepared after Mn/DOT's review of the construction plans. Councilmember Ross requested a schedule listing all of the City's ongoing projects so that Council can anticipate the schedule of road closures and traffic impacts. She asked if there was Study Session Minutes -7- November 26, 2012 any way to negotiate leaving the "nght off' open on westbound Highway 7 at Lake Street and expressed concern about the impact to the businesses in that area. Mr. Rardin stated that the City has discussed this with Mn/DOT in the past and agreed to make the request again to Mn/DOT. He noted that the STP funds were premised on the closing of this access. Councilmember Sanger requested that the City further research the issue of providing compensation for reduced access during construction to get some idea how this is done in other communities. It was the consensus of the City Council to direct staff to schedule the approval and authorization of this project at the December 3, 2012, City Council meeting. Communications/Meeting Check-In (Verbal) Councilmember Santa requested additional historical information in the monthly financial statements related to seasonal differences. Councilmember Hallfin reminded Council to contact Commissioner Dorfman this week regarding the additional $125,000 for the bike lane on the Minnetonka Boulevard bridge. Th: me. ing adjourned at 9:07 p.m. Written Reorts provided and documented for recording purposes only: 5. 0;to e i 2012 Monthly Financial Report 6. ' is i,r al-A-Ride Program 11\ j Nancy Stro 4 ' , Jeff Jac .s�4 ay.