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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012/12/10 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session f/fSt. Louis Park OFFICIAL MINUTES MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA DECEMBER 10,2012 The meeting convened at 7:46 p.m. Councilmembers present: Mayor Pro Tem Susan Sanger, Steve Hallfin, Anne Mavity, Julia Ross, Sue Santa, and Jake Spano. Councilmembers absent: Mayor Jeff Jacobs. Staff present: City Manager (Mr. Harmening), Director of Parks and Recreation (Ms. Walsh), Director of Community Development (Mr. Locke), Planning/Zoning Supervisor (Ms. McMonigal), Communications Coordinator (Mr. Zwilling), and Recording Secretary (Ms. Hughes). Guest: Mr. Dave McKenzie (SEH Consulting). 1. Future Study Session Agenda Planning—December 17, 2012, and January 14, 2013 Mr. Harmening presented the proposed special study session agenda for December 17, 2012, and the proposed study session agenda for January 14, 2013. He advised the January 14, 2013, agenda includes the liquor ordinance and the City's 50% requirement of gross food sales and requested input from Council regarding this item. Councilmember Ross stated that she wants to talk about the liquor ordinance and the 50/50 requirement sooner rather than later, as well as whether the City should have limits on the number of on and off sale liquor licenses the City issues. Councilmember Hallfin agreed with Councilmember Ross. Councilmember Mavity stated she was sensitive to Councilmember Ross's desire to discuss this item but noted Council currently has a full agenda and questioned whether this item could be postponed for the time being. Councilmember Santa stated she would prefer to have Council talk about this item before it becomes an issue and to engage in thoughtful planning rather than being reactive. Mayor Pro Tern Sanger felt the City's current system for issuing liquor licenses was working and did not wish to discuss limiting the number of liquor licenses issued by the City. Councilmember Spano stated he would be okay with tabling this item and felt Council should discuss this issue within the next year as well as have some discussion about increased growth in the City, the growth at West End, and what has worked in the City. Councilmember Ross expressed concern that this item has been postponed in the past and stated she would rather talk about it now and move on. Mr. Harmening stated that liquor license terms expire at the end of February and it would not be practical to have anything in place by March 1st to impact the 2013 liquor licenses. Study Session Minutes -2- December 10, 2012 It was the consensus of the City Council to discuss the liquor ordinance in March 2013 after the City has issued its 2013 liquor licenses. 2. Community Recreation Facility Next Steps Ms. Walsh presented the staff report and proposed next steps. Councilmember Santa felt the City needs to further refine the program components which will help guide site selection because without knowing the programming, it will be difficult to envision a building and vice versa. She added it seems logical to talk about partnerships with Community Education, Park and Rec, and/or private enterprises as it relates to programming. Councilmember Ross agreed and stated it will be important to have gathering places as well as smaller meeting spaces that can be transformed into other uses and she was not sure how much space would be needed. She indicated the area around West End has a lot of congestion and Council needs to remain mindful that it will be difficult to get seniors to go to a facility where there is a lot of traffic and congestion. She stated her preferred location would be the southwest quadrant of Highway 100 and 36th Street. She asked if the cost of the consultant was factored into the initial budget for this process. She also asked about the continued role of the task force. Ms. Walsh replied that the work of the task force is done and added several members of the task force have indicated they would be happy to be involved in the public process. She stated the cost for the consultant will come out of the Park and Rec budget and funds have been allocated for the consultant work. Councilmember Hallfin felt the proposed programming made sense. He stated the biggest issue will be locating space for a building and the parking that will be needed and added that all of the sites have pluses and minuses. Ms. Walsh agreed that all the sites have pros and cons and suggested that Council move forward with two or three sites and as they are evaluated, one site may appear better than the others. Councilmember Spano noted the Rec Center outscored all other possible sites and the task force came up with a clear recommendation based on the criteria it evaluated. He stated he would like to see dedicated space in the facility for the display of artwork from people in the community, especially young artists. He asked if the facility would include a person working at the front counter providing basic City services. Ms. Walsh replied in the affirmative. Councilmember Spano felt this facility provides an important opportunity for the City to design a building that is daring in its aesthetic and that will differentiate St. Louis Park from other communities. He added he would also like the building to have LEED certification. Councilmember Ross felt that LEED certification was not necessary due to the cost of obtaining certification and stated the City should design a green building similar to what was done with the new Fire Department building. Councilmember Mavity stated the proposed uses of this facility have caused her to become more skeptical about the project. She indicated the School District has been discussing the turf issue Study Session Minutes -3- December 10, 2012 and felt that the School Distnct will approach the City for support of that issue. She stated it feels disjointed to have that discussion when it is unknown if turf will be covered by a dome in the future. She expressed concern that the facility does not include any type of parent space or observer space. She stated she would like to see some type of theater in the facility. She added she did not currently see a compelling case for this type of facility in the community. Ms Walsh stated that the discussions have not gotten to the level of detail about extra space and that was part of the next phases. Mayor Pro Tern Sanger stated she was fine with the list of programs and agreed that any facility needs space for observers. She expressed concern about the drop-in childcare and requested further information in order to consider all the implications of a drop-in childcare center. She stated she was interested in further discussing Carpenter Park which was the #3 ranked site but which was dropped from further consideration, adding this site is accessible to both bus and light rail, is near other community facilities, sits on existing public land, and is close to a public trail. She stated the biggest issue with this site is Raleigh Avenue but if an additional crossing is implemented between Ottawa and Highway 100, direct access to the Carpenter Park site could be achieved. Councilmember Hallfin stated his opposition to the Carpenter Park site and indicated there will be significant issues with moving Skippy Field. Councilmember Spano stated he would like to see a small theater space included in a facility that could be programmed for a number of different activities. Mayor Pro Tern Sanger noted there is a midsize theater at the JCC and requested further information regarding this theater Mr. Harmening stated the idea of a theater did not nse to the surface during the task force process because the community survey did not indicate this was a strong preference and the task force felt there were other facilities or partners the City could use to fulfill that need. Council discussed the Carpenter Park site and the question of purchasing private blighted land for a community recreation facility. Councilmember Hallfin stated he would like to remove the Carpenter Park site from further consideration. Councilmember Spano stated that most people he has talked to have indicated the City should attach the community recreation facility to the Rec Center and people see the Rec Center as the City's community gathering place. He noted that the Carpenter Park site failed the ranking criteria test more than the others. It was the consensus of the majonty of the City Council to add the Carpenter Park site as a potential location for a community recreation facility. It was also the consensus of the City Council to agree with the program recommendations laid out by the task force. It was also the consensus of the City Council to further discuss theater space. Further sites to be explored include the Rec Center/Melrose site, the SW corner of Hwy 100 and 36`h street, and the Carpenter Park site. Study Session Minutes -4- December 10, 2012 3. SWLRT DEIS Comments Mr. Harmening presented the staff report. Mr. Locke explained the revisions made to the DEIS comments since Council's last discussion and noted the DEIS comments now include a table of contents and page specific references throughout the document. He advised that staff has learned that Goal #6 was added by the FTA because of the addition of freight rail to the DEIS. He stated that the DEIS comments will include a discussion within the document regarding all of the City's attachments. He added that staff has recently received a copy of the draft DEIS comments from the City of Minneapolis. Councilmember Ross asked if the Bottineau Transitway DEIS will impact anything in the City and requested that staff provide further information regarding the Bottineau Transitway DEIS. Councilmember Santa stated that the Park Spanish Immersion School referenced on page 15 should point out that PSI is only one-half of Central and other elements include ESL, early childhood programs, preschool, childcare, and the community clinic. She stated it should be pointed out that this area is being severed from the high school and this will present barriers to low income and disadvantaged persons resulting in social justice and economic justice issues. She stated the environment goal on page 29 needs to specifically identify impacts to wetlands. She stated the DEIS comments talk about parks but does not address the bike trail. She stated the DEIS comments talk about putting up fences as mitigation on both sides of the rail line which raises an issue of limiting access to Roxbury, Keystone and Dakota Parks. Councilmember Ross indicated she met earlier with Mr. Locke and Mr. McKenzie and provided them with her notes. She expressed continued concern about the impacts to Ward 4, including the siding and potentially storing trains, the Iron Triangle, and the impact of trains moving around that area of the City. She requested that the DEIS comments be thoroughly reviewed for consistency and referenced page 15 regarding removal of the wye as a high priority and the reference on page 19 that removal of the switching wye needs to be included. She requested clarification regarding Table 5 on page 36 and the total number of single family and multi-family houses affected. She stated if MN&S is chosen, the number of units affected seems low, particularly multi-family units, and wondered if Sunset Ridge was factored into this table. Mr. Locke explained that if MN&S is chosen, the trains are no longer in the Kenilworth corridor and trains would use the existing track on MN&S. He stated when the City did its analysis on the EAW, maps were drawn showing which parcels would be affected within certain distances of the centerline and the right-of-way is very wide in the area to the north. He agreed to verify the numbers contained in Table 5. Councilmember Hallfin stated it was his understanding the Midtown corridor was reviewed during the LPA process and was not chosen because of the way the numbers were flushed out; however, the FTA has now changed the way it looks at those numbers. He suggested the City include a comment that because the LPA process was not done using the correct formula, Met Council should reopen the LPA. Ms. McMonigal stated the Midtown alternative was not chosen because it would take longer to get downtown, ridership would be lower, and the uptown area is best served with bus service. Study Session Minutes -5- December 10, 2012 Mayor Pro Tem Sanger felt the DEIS comments should contain a conclusion section which includes the suggestion made by Councilmember Hallfin regarding the LPA process. She stated Kenilworth was chosen because it projected higher ridership but it was more expensive to construct and because of that, the Midtown corndor did not meet the Cost Effective Index (CEI) that the FTA required at the time. She stated it was her opinion the process that led to that conclusion was skewed and the CEI calculated the cost of construction compared to ndership but excluded anyone who lived between Lake Street and downtown on the theory that those people would prefer to take the bus. Mr. Locke stated there would need to be a compelling reason why neither the 3A option nor the 3A-1 option could be done before reopening the LPA. Council continued its discussion regarding the LPA process and CEI. Councilmember Spano noted that Council's resolution is implicit in its discussion that Council will not accept the reroute unless certain conditions are met. He agreed that the DEIS comments should contain a conclusion and should point out that Council passed two resolutions and the DEIS does not address any of the City's conditions. Councilmember Mavity requested clarification regarding the definition of community cohesion Ms. McMomgal stated the term describes a methodology and recited the definition from the DEIS. Mr. McKenzie stated the DEIS pointed out that if freight rail were co-located it would cause a breakup of community cohesion in Minneapolis; the DEIS indicates there would not be a breakup of community cohesion in St. Louis Park. Councilmember Mavity stated there is an existing rail bed at the wye and questioned whether that could be used to redirect light rail so as to bring the light rail station closer to Methodist and reorient that whole area She indicated this could also be used as the connection for the freight rail if there was a reroute She explained she wants to get rid of trains stopping in St. Louis Park because the heaviest impact is when the trains are switching, stopping, and blocking. She requested that the DEIS comments include a reference to the pedestrian studies and all the places where that could impact the City. Mayor Pro Tem Sanger stated that the first full paragraph on page 10 should indicate that the land in the Kenilworth Parkway where the freight rail tracks are located is not actively used as parkland today. She indicated that elimination of the tracks east of Wooddale and the wye are addressed on page 14 as it relates to alternative 3A and stated she thought it was agreed that elimination of the tracks as well as elimination of the wye was important no matter which route was selected. She stated her objection to a sentence on page 14 that states it is "absolutely unacceptable to St. Louis Park to be saddled with the burden of freight trains to the MN&S without at least the benefit of completing eliminating freight trains from the Wooddale and Beltline Station areas" and explained her concern is that the City has never decided on a'policy statement that this is the City's highest priority and the statement implies that the City is willing to do a tradeoff. Mr. Locke stated if trains are going to be on MN&S, this statement is intended to state that the City will not allow trains to be stored in the Beltline and Wooddale station areas. Study Session Minutes -6- December 10, 2012 Mr. Harmening added that Council adopted a policy that if alternative 3A is chosen, then those tracks have to be removed. After further discussion, it was the consensus of the majority of the City Council to not change this statement in the DEIS comments. Mayor Pro Tern Sanger stated that the Beltline grade separation referenced on page 18 should ask for grade separation for both alternatives and not just co-location. She felt the City should ask for one bridge over all of the tracks located in this area and over the bike trail. Councilmember Mavity noted there are design issues with keeping the Beltline station at grade with the road in terms of how people access the station and the idea of pedestrians having a grade separation remains a high priority regardless. Councilmember Sanger stated the comparison of freight routing alternatives on page 26 needs to add that one of the other reasons in support of reopening the LPA was that during the LPA process and before the final route was chosen the SWLRT Policy Committee was prohibited from discussing freight rail implications. She stated the environment goal on page 29 should add that the DEIS does not contain information on how construction of the Iron Triangle could impact the environment. Councilmember Ross left the study session at 10:43 p.m. Council discussed the possibility of reopening the LPA. Councilmembers Mavity, Spano, and Santa did not agree with requesting that the LPA be reopened. 4. 2013 Annual Legislative Update Preview Mr. Harmening requested that Council provide any comments to him via email regarding the 2013 legislative topics. Councilmember Mavity requested that the legislative agenda include a discussion regarding TOD related development. Mayor Pro Tern Sanger requested that the legislative agenda include a discussion about lifting the moratorium on Dan Patch planning. Communications/Meeting Check-In (Verbal) None. The meeting adjourned at 10:50 p.m. Written Reports provided and documented for recording purposes only: 5. Liquor Ordinance Amendment—Culinary Classes On-Sale License leo Nancy Strot , City Clerk Susan Sanger, ayor Pro Tem