HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012/08/27 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session Jfl St. Louis Park OFFICIAL MINUTES
MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION
ST. LOUIS PARK,MINNESOTA
AUGUST 27, 2012
The meeting convened at 6:35 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), Director of Inspections (Mr. Hoffman), Director
of Public Works (Mr. Rardin), Public Works Coordinator (Mr. Merkley), Administrative
Services Intern (Mr. French), Inspection Services Manager (Ms. Boettcher), Communications
Coordinator(Mr. Zwilling), and Recording Secretary(Ms. Hughes).
Guest: Jim Brimeyer (Met Council), Brian Ukena (Eureka Recycling), Paul Kronig (Hennepin
County), and Wayne Gjerde(MPCA).
1. Future Study Session Agenda Planning— September 10,2012
Mr. Harmening presented the proposed study session agenda for September 10, 2012.
Councilmember Sanger stated that a presentation was made at a recent TAB meeting regarding
Thrive MSP 2040 which included a PowerPoint presentation and which asked several high level
questions regarding Met Council's approach to planning over the next thirty years. She indicated
feedback on these questions has been requested and will be discussed at the September 19`h TAB
meeting. She requested feedback from Council on these questions and agreed to distribute the
PowerPoint presentation and questions to Council. She asked if Council would like to further
discuss this at a study session or whether Council preferred to provide feedback via email.
It was the consensus of the City Council to direct the City Manager to forward the PowerPoint
presentation and questions regarding Thrive MSP 2040 to Council and to compile the responses
for distribution to Council.
Councilmember Mavity stated that the Institute on Race and Poverty is interested in a formal
discussion regarding desegregation and its impact on housing. She asked Council to let her
know if it is interested in a more formal discussion regarding this topic
2. Update on Southwest Light Rail Transit (SWLRT)
Mr. Harmening presented the staff report and introduced Mr. Brimeyer.
Mr. Brimeyer explained Met Council's bidding process for the SWLRT Preliminary Engineering
(PE) phase and stated that staff from Mn/DOT, Met Council, and other agencies reviewed the
two proposals received and decided that URS was the most qualified bidder. He discussed the
Sabo bndge report and 35W bridge collapse and indicated Met Council hired special counsel to
further review URS. He stated that without declaring a bidder as a responsible bidder or not
responsible, Met Council made the decision to break up the SWLRT engineering contract and to
also hire a third party engineering firm to oversee the work of the engineering firm hired for the
project. He advised that revised RFPs have been issued and responses to the RFP are due in
October. He noted that the FTA, CTIB, and other agencies involved in SWLRT agreed with Met
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Council's decision regarding the PE process and revised timetable. He added there is still a
question about whether the project will receive any DEED money, noting it does not have
legislative support. He stated Met Council will continue to bond with grant anticipation notes
and there is money committed for PE. He then discussed Thrive MSP 2040 and the regional
forecast prepared by Met Council which forecasts the population will increase from 2.8 million
to 3.7 million between 2010 and 2040; the forecast also states households will increase from 1.1
million to 1.5 million and that employment will increase from 1.5 million jobs to 2.1 million
jobs. He indicated Met Council is mandated by State law to prepare a regional framework by
2014 and Met Council will begin conducting several listening sessions.
Councilmember Ross requested that the City's website include a link to the listening sessions
hosted by Met Council.
Councilmember Mavity stated she sits on the housing committee of Metro Cities and one of the
issues being discussed is Met Council's housing projections/goals and the committee's concern
regarding the formula that tells cities how much affordable housing they are supposed to have.
She indicated the committee feels this should be re-evaluated to take into account existing
housing and the committee feels that cities should maintain an ownership role in determining
their housing goals.
Mayor Jacobs thanked Mr. Brimeyer for the update.
3. Solid Waste Collection Program—Plastics Education
Mr. Merkley presented the staff report and introduced Brian Ukena of Eureka Recycling, Paul
Kroening of Hennepin County, and Wayne Gjerde of MPCA. He stated Mr. Gjerde is MPCA's
recycling market development coordinator and serves as the principal technical expert in markets
for recycling materials. He advised that Mr. Kroening currently manages the waste reduction
and recycling unit for the County. He stated Mr. Ukena is the Director of Business Development
for Eureka focusing on zero waste composting and commodity sales.
Mr. Gjerde discussed the efforts made by the State since the early 1990's to increase recycling
and stated there are over 200 companies in the State that use recycled materials. He indicated the
State has 15,000 manufacturing jobs tied to recycling resulting in approximately $72 million in
state and local taxes being collected. He also discussed some of the companies using and selling
recycled materials, noting that recycled materials were used in the rebar that went into building
the 35W bridge. He encouraged everyone to go to the Eco Experience Building at the State Fair
to see the wall of 15,000 bottles intended to highlight the fact that only 25% of beverage
containers are recycled while the rest are thrown away. He stated there are many companies
operating under capacity in the U.S. because they cannot get enough post-consumer plastics.
Mr. Kroening distributed a recycling guide developed by the County and stated that recycling in
the County has been stagnant for the last decade. He indicated the State recently set new goals to
increase recycling from 38% to 45% by 2015 and eventually to increase recycling up to 60% by
2030. He explained there are four recycling centers (MRFs) that serve the metro area and they
all collect the same materials. He indicated that new materials have been added to the recycling
list and the County requires all cities to collect #1-5 plastics. He showed several samples of
plastics and discussed PVC, which is typically found in shampoo bottles and blister packaging,
noting there are currently no domestic markets for PVC consumer packaging. He indicated the
MRFs have difficulty marketing #3, #6, or #7 plastics, but #3 PVC, #6 and #7 represent a small
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amount of the entire plastic stream. He stated that nationally, the vast majority of communities
are moving to single sort recycling primarily because of ease and convenience and this has
resulted in people recycling more materials. He stated if St. Louis Park adopted a single sort
system, the bins would be replaced with a 60 or 90-gallon cart, which provides more recycling
capacity. He added that Minneapolis saw a 30-50% increase in recycling when it began its
single sort recycling pilot projects. He acknowledged that single sort recycling results in higher
contamination rates of 5-9% versus Eureka's dual sort contamination rate of 1.4%.
Mr. Ukena agreed that increasing the recycling container size is a motivating factor for people to
recycle. He indicated there are 60,000 plastics recyclers in China and it is difficult to know
where recycled materials are going once the materials are sent overseas. He stated Eureka is
interested in having a conversation with the public about the reality of PVC plastic and how the
public can influence retailers to phase out the use of PVC.
Councilmember Ross stated that educating residents is a key factor and felt that residents are
conscientious and trying to do the right thing when it comes to recycling. She indicated the City
has an aging population and it will be important for the City to make recycling easy for all
residents. She agreed the City should do what makes the most sense for the community as a
whole but urged the City to remain cognizant of its elderly population and people with
disabilities to make it easy to recycle. She asked if the City's website could include a list of
products that cannot be recycled.
Mr. Gjerde stated that Minnesota has been active in pursuing legislation related to product
stewardship and felt it was likely that some producer responsibility legislation will be passed in
the next session that puts the onus on the manufacturer to produce materials that are recyclable.
Councilmember Sanger requested further information about the contamination rates of dual sort
and single sort recycling methods. She stated she was interested in data on the differential rates
between how much recycled material is thrown in the landfill versus how much gets recycled.
Mr. Gjerde stated that approximately 8% of recycled material goes into the landfill from single
sort MRF's. He indicated that of the entire amount generated in solid waste in Minnesota,
people throw away another million tons that could have been recycled.
Mr. Kroening stated the dual sort residual rate is 1% and Allied and Waste Management's
contamination rates for its single sort recycling are around 8%.
Councilmember Sanger indicated she has asked residents what keeps them from recycling more
and residents have consistently stated they do not know what to recycle in terms of plastic and
residents have also stated convenience is a factor. She stated none of the residents she spoke
with objected to a dual sort system but did object to two carts because of limited storage space.
Mr. Merkley indicated the City needs to conform to the new County requirement to collect all
plastic containers and lids #1-5 by January 1, 2013, and the City hopes to do this by October 15t.
He stated Eureka will pick up all materials and will not be leaving tags like before.
Mr. Rardin noted that Eureka will not take Styrofoam.
Councilmember Mavity asked if plastic bags will be added to the list of matenals.
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Mr. Kroening indicated there is a strong market for recycling plastics bags but most communities
do not collect plastic bags curbside because they get intertwined with the hauler's equipment. He
stated there are a number of outlets that accept plastic bags for recycling.
Councilmember Santa stated that residents have told her they appreciated the open houses and
conversations with Eureka regarding recycling and she received a lot of positive comments
regarding a single sort system. She added the City needs to continue its educational outreach.
Councilmember Spano stated he heard positive responses regarding single sort and felt it made
sense for the City to move in that direction.
Councilmember Sanger requested that Council continue its discussion regarding expanding
recycling for multi-family housing, schools, and institutions.
Mr. Kroening stated the County is currently working on a campaign for multi-family housing
and will be working with cities on that campaign.
4. Beekeeping in St. Louis Park
Mr. Hoffman presented the staff report and introduced Mr. French, Administrative Services
Intern, who conducted the research for this discussion with Council.
Councilmember Santa stated there is a beekeeper a couple of blocks from her house and she has
not heard any complaints or received any negative feedback from neighbors in the area. She
stated she did not think there was anything that needed to be fixed from a policy standpoint and
added if there is a problem, she would like to know about it, but she did not see anything to
indicate there was a problem with beekeepers.
Councilmember Ross stated she heard from one resident that there was a problem, but for the
most part, she has never heard of a problem with beekeeping. She stated if there is a problem,
she would like to know about it and if Council decides to take action, she would like to see a
combination of regulations and permits/licenses.
Councilmember Spano stated he was not comfortable with instituting regulatory change based on
one complaint. He indicated he would entertain a policy to address the issue if there was a
systemic problem that was evident, but was concerned about one complaint among neighbors
resulting in regulations being enacted in the entire City.
Councilmember Mavity stated that unless there was a clear and present issue or danger, she did
not see a compelling need to regulate beekeeping because she has not seen that it is a problem
and her preference was to do nothing as it relates to beekeeping. She added if it is the will of
Council to enact regulations, her preference would be to use an installation permit rather than an
annual permit.
Councilmember Hallfin stated that St Louis Park is committed to being a leader in
environmental stewardship and this issue goes to environmental stewardship. He indicated he
did not see beekeeping as an issue and did not think one neighbor complaint should result in the
City enacting regulations. He added he felt the City should do nothing and leave things the way
they are, but if it is the will of Council to take action, sensible guidelines should be adopted.
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Councilmember Sanger acknowledged the environmental benefits of honeybees but urged
Council to consider the environment in which these beehives are located. She stated she would
prefer to ban beekeeping altogether because of the serious public health issues for people who
are allergic to beestings. She indicated the statement that having a fence or trees will prevent
bees from going into a neighbor's yard is absurd. She stated the Minnesota Hobby Beekeepers
Association website talks about the importance of getting pets and kids inside when bees are
swarming and she did not understand why the City would authorize some behavior that would
impinge upon neighbors enjoying their yards. She agreed with those communities that have
indicated beekeeping is for rural, agricultural areas and the City is much too dense for
beekeeping.
Mayor Jacobs agreed with Councilmember Sanger and noted that most cities ban beekeeping.
He stated at a minimum, he would be okay with regulating it and added he has not heard any
complaints but was concerned about beestings He stated he would not want to have beehives
kept in front yards and was concerned about having them located next to parks, schools, and
areas where there are a lot of children. He requested that staff research appropriate regulations
and come back to Council for further discussion.
Councilmember Santa requested that any regulations include a provision prohibiting placement
of beehives under or along utility easements.
It was the consensus of the City Council to direct staff to prepare a draft ordinance regulating
residential beekeeping within the City.
5. Communications/Meeting Check-In (Verbal)
Councilmember Spano stated he recently forwarded an email to Mr. Harmening regarding an
approximate $800,000 that the State earmarked in the 2006 appropriations bill for projects in St.
Louis Park. He urged the City to ask the State to spend this money in St. Louis Park.
Mr. Harmening indicated he contacted Mn/DOT and learned these funds will be used on
Highway 100 as originally intended.
Mr. Harmening updated Council regarding his earlier email about the young boy who was bit by
a coyote and reported the City will be meeting with a contractor on Thursday to discuss the
approach to be used to call in the animal and shoot it. He indicated the contractor will be asked
to look at the location where the incident occurred as well as other incident areas in the City to
see if removal of the coyotes can be done in those areas. He agreed to keep Council apprised.
Councilmember Mavity indicated that while this approach will be effective it is not a solution to
the problem. She asked if the City has contacted Three Rivers Park District, the City of
Minneapolis, and/or other communities.
Mayor Jacobs indicated he talked to Mayor Jim Hovland in Edina about the issue; in addition,
the consortium of Mayors is looking at the coyote population issue.
The meeting adjourned at 8:44 p.m.
Written Reports provided and documented for recording purposes only:
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6. Public Safety Software Update
7. Breck School—Private Activity Revenue Note, Series 2012A
8. 2012 Semi-Annual Housing Programs Report
9. Business Park Rezoning Process Update
10. Prism Dial-A-Ride Program Update
11. July 2012 Monthly Financial Report
Nancy Stroth, Cit Clerk Jeff Jacob Mayer