HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013/08/12 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session J/1 St. Louis Park OFFICIAL MINUTES
MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION
ST. LOUIS PARK,MINNESOTA
AUGUST 12, 2013
The meeting convened at 6:32 p.m.
Councilmembers present: Mayor Pro Tern Susan Sanger, Steve Hallfin, Anne Mavity, Sue
Santa, and Jake Spam.
Councilmembers absent: Mayor Jeff Jacobs and Councilmember Julia Ross.
Staff present: City Manager (Mr. Harmening), City Attorney (Mr. Scott), Director of
Community Development (Mr. Locke), Senior Planner (Mr. Walther), Assistant Zoning
Administrator(Mr. Morrison), and Recording Secretary(Ms. Hughes).
Guests: Xcel Energy Representatives Michelle Swanson, Troy Browen, and Joel Limoges; and
Pat Mascia(Duke Realty).
1. Future Study Session Agenda Planning—August 19 & August 26, 2013
Mr. Harmening presented the proposed special study session agenda for August 19, 2013, and
the proposed study session agenda for August 26, 2013.
Councilmember Santa requested that the August 26th study session agenda item regarding park
shelter restrooms include a discussion regarding recycling bins in the parks.
Councilmember Hallfin indicated he received a call from a resident about the 90-gallon recycling
containers and felt this seemed large for a recycling container.
Councilmember Mavity stated she assumed the recycling containers have been ordered already,
adding there will be an open house on Wednesday evening explaining the program to residents.
Mayor Pro Tern Sanger stated the postcard mailed to residents did not indicate that they could
request a smaller cart. She stated residents have expressed a concern about where they will store
their carts and how the City is going to enforce the ordinance regarding storage of carts, adding
she felt this issue required more communication from the City to residents.
Councilmember Hallfin respectfully disagreed and stated he felt the City's communications have
been done well.
Councilmember Mavity stated the program begins September 30 and suggested that Council
schedule further discussion of the program for later in the year after the program has rolled out.
Councilmember Santa suggested that the City schedule an open house at Lenox to address any
questions or concerns from seniors regarding the recycling program.
2. Discussion with Xcel Energy Representatives
Mr. Harmening presented the staff report and introduced Xcel Energy representatives Ms.
Michelle Swanson, Community Relations Manager; Mr. Troy Browen, Director of Control
Center Operations; and Mr. Joel Limoges, Manager of Distribution Services.
Study Session Minutes -2- August 12, 2013
Mr. Limoges provided information regarding the June 21-23 storm event and indicated this was
an unprecedented storm with widespread impacts and St. Louis Park was the second hardest hit
region. He discussed Xcel's preparation for storm events and systematic restoration efforts
following a storm event and indicated the first wave of the storm on Fnday morning impacted
192,000 customers with power restored to 152,000 customers early Friday morning. He stated
the second wave at 7:00 p.m. on Friday impacted 310,000 customers and the third wave on
Sunday morning impacted an additional 108,000 customers. He indicated that a total of 610,000
customers were impacted with over 24,000 outages reported in St. Louis Park. He stated that
Xcel replaced 1,500 transformers and 467 poles and had over 100 feeder outages as a result of
the storm and noted that Xcel's system is built to withstand winds similar to the winds
experienced during this storm and the major issue was the trees that came down onto the lines.
He also discussed Xcel's storm readiness and indicated that Xcel has begun using NCAR
technology for weather monitoring and alerts that will allow Xcel to better respond to these
storm events in the future. He added that Xcel has made a commitment to improve its
communications efforts with its customers following a storm event.
Mr. Harmening stated the City is a source for residents to call because they are connected to a
live voice or can come to City Hall to speak with someone in person and the only information the
City can share is what it hears on the radio or television, adding it has been suggested that Xcel
provide more direct communication with the cities, including location and number of outages
and estimated timeline for completion of repairs.
Councilmember Spano asked if Xcel provides information to cities after a storm about the
current situation as well as updates to provide constant communication.
Ms. Swanson replied that Xcel does not currently provide this type of information and stated
when a storm of this magnitude comes through, Xcel needs a certain amount of time to assess
any damage; however, Xcel heard from a number of communities that it would be helpful if Xcel
provided a high level communication to city managers with estimated outages and a timeline and
is putting together a plan that will provide cities with frequent updates following a storm event.
Mayor Pro Tem Sanger stated a resident complained that they were on a list that Xcel maintains
of residents who have special medical needs and are dependent on their medical equipment being
operational and the resident indicated their power was not restored for three days and claimed it
caused some medical complications.
Mr. Browen stated that residents with special medical needs are provided priority restoration but
there is no guarantee that power will be restored within a few hours.
Councilmember Mavity requested information about the cost of this storm and asked when it
would become more cost effective to underground the power lines given the cost of these storms.
Mr. Browen advised the June storm cost approximately $8 million and the biggest issue with
undergrounding in St. Louis Park is the land nghts and logistics of where underground lines
would be located. He stated Xcel can provide information regarding the cost to underground St.
Louis Park on a broad cost per foot basis but would need a detailed engineering study. He stated
the industry is currently looking at the issue of resiliency and how to build better facilities, which
would mean bigger wire and bigger poles or possibly using some sort of break-free device. He
added that undergrounding would not have totally solved the impact of this storm and stated a
Study Session Minutes -3- August 12, 2013
recent study indicated that undergrounding has its own set of failure mechanisms, including
water and lightning.
Councilmember Mavity indicated it appears there are areas in St. Louis Park that are prone to
frequent power outages and requested information about Xcel's expectations regarding outages.
Mr. Browen stated Xcel uses a System Average Interruption Frequency index (SAIF) and on
average, customers can expect about .8 outages per year system wide in the metro area. He
stated Xcel also uses a System Average Interruption Duration index (SAID) that indicates
customers can expect about 94 minutes per year of interruption. He advised Xcel also utilizes a
program called Reliability Exception Monitonng System (REMS) that requires an engineer to
investigate and perform corrective action when a protected device has gone out more than two
times in two years. He indicated another program used by Xcel is called Customer Experiencing
Multiple Interruptions (CEMI) that produces a report of anyone with more than four outages,
whether storm-related or not, and requires an engineer to do a similar investigation. He advised
that all poles are inspected on a twelve-year cycle and any pole with less than 20% strength is
replaced; in addition, Xcel spends approximately $13 million on cable replacements per year.
He added that while outages are less frequent with undergrounding, the outages are longer in
duration.
Councilmember Mavity requested that Xcel provide information on any hot spots in St. Louis
Park that are experiencing more frequent power outages than the norm She also requested that
Xcel provide information about any differences in the infrastructure between communities.
Mr. Harmening stated that various communities recently met with Xcel representatives and
requested additional metnx specific to communities as to the operations of Xcel in that
community as well as location and frequency of power outages in order to better understand the
condition of the system and the capital plan for addressing these issues.
Councilmember Santa stated that a lot of complaints are received about the way Xcel trims trees
and concerns have been raised about the trees being weakened after Xcel trims them.
Ms. Swanson stated Xcel has a vegetation management staff that tnms trees and they trim the
trees for the health of the tree and do not trim for aesthetics.
Mayor Pro Tem Sanger thanked the Xcel Energy representatives for their report.
Ms. Swanson stated her commitment to get back to the City about how Xcel can accommodate
its requests and to continue working proactively with the City.
Mr. Harmening advised the City has been negotiating a renewal of the Xcel franchise agreement
that expires at the end of the year and there is still some disagreement with Xcel regarding some
performance issues related to construction projects. He added that a two-year extension of the
franchise agreement was recently discussed and stated a two-year extension may be to the City's
advantage given the current negotiations taking place in the City of Minneapolis. He stated that
the franchise agreement has been amended to allow the City to charge a permit fee whenever
Xcel needs to go into the right-of-way to make repairs and Xcel has agreed to that change.
It was the consensus of the City Council to pursue a two-year extension of the franchise
agreement with Xcel Energy.
Study Session Minutes -4- August 12, 2013
3. Major Amendment to West End PUD Regarding Restaurants
Mr. Walther presented the staff report and explained a 2007 parking study indicated there was
82,277 square feet of restaurant space but current and potential leases will likely bring the
development to the 82,377 cap and the developer has requested a site increase of 10% or up to
90,820 square feet of restaurant space. He noted this equates to approximately three or four
more restaurants and some of the restaurants include other uses, e.g., entertainment venues that
include a restaurant such as a comedy club or jazz club. He indicated a 2013 parking study
showed that parking counts would still work with a surplus of parking and a potential shortage of
up to 11 parking stalls, adding the developer has plans in place to manage employee parking if
there is a shortage of parking.
Mr. Pat Mascia, Senior Vice President for Duke Realty, stated the current restaurants are a little
bigger than anticipated, e.g., Cooper and Crave have expanded, and they are currently
negotiating a restaurant that will be bigger than expected so they need an additional allowance
for total restaurant square footage. He pointed out they will not take any space designated as
fashion retail and turn it into restaurant space.
Councilmember Spano asked if the impact to the residential property across the street was
factored in, stating there may be people who park their car in the lot and leave it there when
going over to the residential property. He also asked about Councilmember Ross's input
following the recent meeting with City staff and Duke Realty.
Mr. Mascia indicated there is always a nsk that someone parks where they are not supposed to
park and stated they have had to manage parking more intensively, e.g., the Rainbow parking lot,
but overall they have not heard a lot of complaints. He stated they are adding some directional
signage to let people know they can use the 1600 Tower parking ramp after hours.
Mr. Locke advised that Councilmember Ross indicated she was generally in support of the PUD
amendment and the biggest issue raised by Councilmember Ross had to with continuing to
monitor traffic and making sure traffic continues to flow especially as the office buildings come
on line.
Mayor Pro Tem Sanger requested that any approval of additional restaurant square footage
include a condition that no further requests for additional restaurant space will be considered.
Mr. Mascia stated he was not opposed to limiting the amount of restaurant square footage but
they would like some flexibility to have a mixed entertainment venue with a food component,
e.g., a 9,000 square foot jazz club or comedy club with a 1,500 square foot restaurant.
Councilmember Spano felt that the City's primary responsibility was to ensure that TIF notes
were paid off and that it was not the City's responsibility to engineer a specific mix of
restaurants in the development.
It was the consensus of the City Council to support the request to increase the maximum gross
building area of restaurants by 8,543 square feet to a total of up to 90,820 square feet.
4. Knollwood Development Proposal Update
Study Session Minutes -5- August 12, 2013
Mr. Morrison presented the staff report and site plan depicting the proposed improvement area
and explained the developer has requested that the proposed storm water improvements be
completed in two phases with a dry pond installed in the first phase on the northwest corner near
the Kohl's lot followed by phase 2 where the pond would be replaced with underground tanks
that accommodate the entire site. He stated the City is open to some phasing of these
improvements but direction from Council in 2004 was that storm water is a priority and must be
addressed. He advised that the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) has presented an
opportunity to expand the proposed storm water system that accommodates the Knollwood site
as well as 100 acres to the north and east and is proposing to pay for the portion of the cost not
covered by the Knollwood obligation on the site. He noted that this matter is scheduled for a
public hearing before the Planning Commission on August 21st and one of the conditions will
include a requirement to provide financial guarantees for the entire 37-acre solution. He added
the developer has indicated it would be difficult to pay for these improvements up front and there
has been some discussion about MCWD financing the developer's portion of the improvements.
Councilmember Santa stated that storm water management on this site has been repeatedly
deferred and felt that the developer's proposal was yet another deferral and expressed concern
about the amount of untreated storm water going into the neighborhood and the creek. She
stated she liked the planned renovations to the mall but was struggling with defemng the storm
water improvements again, particularly given the condition in the PUD requiring the developer
to meet storm water requirements at the time of any building expansions.
Councilmember Hallfin used the analogy of requiring buildings to become handicapped
accessible whenever a major renovation occurs and felt this was a similar situation where the
owner is doing a major renovation to the building and they need to meet the storm water
requirements as part of that renovation. He added this mall has been renovated a number of
times and felt it was time to require the site to meet the storm water requirements.
Councilmember Spano requested further information about the developer's rationale for their
argument that this project does not rise to the level of a major project.
Mr. Locke stated the developer is focused on trying to solve only the storm water issues on the
portion of the site that they are changing.
Councilmember Santa requested confirmation that MCWD is willing to finance the developer for
their portion of the improvements.
Mr. Locke replied in the affirmative.
Mr. James Fisker, Director of Planning, Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, stated they have
met with the owners and their attorney to discuss the substantial cost of retrofitting the storm
water management system, which is more challenging than a typical site. He indicated the ratio
of money to provide the requisite level of treatment is estimated at approximately $3.5 million
with approximately $2 million being the responsibility of Rouse for the 37-acre site. He stated
MCWD's primary interest is in solving the storm water issues in a way that maximizes the
greater public benefit and they have identified opportunities to deal with the storm water offsite
that would benefit Rouse to some extent.
Mayor Pro Tem Sanger agreed that the storm water improvements on this site have been deferred
too many times and thought that Council made it clear in 2004 that the next project needed to fix
Study Session Minutes -6- August 12, 2013
the entire storm water system and she was not willing to approve a 40% solution. She stated that
Council needs to either mandate that all storm water be managed as part of this project; if that
cannot happen, then there should be a requirement that a significant amount of storm water
improvements are done now with a promise to do the rest within a certain amount of time
together with financial guarantees by Rouse.
Councilmember Santa stated she was okay with a phased approach but would like to see a larger
solution for this region that results in something that will be an asset to this neighborhood and
the community.
Councilmember Mavity stated she was okay with a phased approach if the timeline was short
enough and with financial guarantees provided by Rouse.
Mr. Peter Coyle, attorney for Rouse Companies, stated they have been working cooperatively
with the City and understand and share the City's desire to see the site's drainage issues fixed.
He explained that Rouse has taken over thirty centers nationally and the challenge is to make
sure it can justify this investment and the other things the City is requiring and to find a way to
pay for it and rationalize it within the pro forma. He stated they have a legal difference of
opinion on this matter, adding they are not unmindful of the City's policy objective and
understand what the law requires and will do their best to find a solution and pledge that they
will do what they can to work their way through this.
5. Southwest LRT (Verbal Report)
Mr. Locke advised the Corridor Management Committee will meet on Wednesday and again on
August 28`h. He stated the SPO has presented its base plans for the light rail stations and all the
communities have asked for things that would be improvements on that plan that are being
referred to as betterments. He stated the SPO is also talking about deducts and one of the key
things being discussed is the cost of the entire SWLRT project and the need to find ways to bring
that cost down. He distributed talking points on the station plans prepared by staff and stated this
document includes key things the City felt needed to be added to improve the overall project. He
indicated the City is going to have to think about its priorities because it is likely that everything
the City has asked for will not be included in the project.
Councilmember Mavity felt the Louisiana Avenue station should be at the top of the list and felt
that moving the station was the only way to remove the switching wye and will require Met
Council to remove the last customer on the switching wye. She added the proposed station
location is unfriendly for pedestrians and future development.
Mayor Pro Tem Sanger stated she received an email last week from a resident cnticizing the
statement that the Louisiana Avenue station should be moved and requested that Councilmember
Mavity provide her thoughts in response to this email and whether there is validity to some of
those concerns. She agreed with getting rid of the wye and questioned whether Met Council
could be required to remove the switching wye if they refuse to move the station.
Mr. Locke indicated the Met Council has no authority to move the business at the end of the
switching wye. He stated if the station is moved to the south there is a lot of property that would
have to be acquired but they do not need all that land for running the light rail tracks and
platform, which means there is residual land. He stated the watershed district has indicated they
are willing to cover the cost of a 60' buffer in this area. He added Methodist has indicated they
Study Session Minutes -7- August 12, 2013
are very much in favor of a south location for the station and they want the switching wye
removed, adding the City might want to be involved in some of these residual properties as well.
He stated that another key issue for the City has to do with grade separation at Beltline
Boulevard that should happen when the project is built.
Mayor Pro Tern Sanger agreed that grade separation at Beltline should be a high priority. She
expressed concern about traffic and parking at the Wooddale station, noting this is supposed to
be a pedestrian oriented station not requiring a park and ride but at the same time there has been
discussion about how much traffic this area will generate and requested clarity around this issue.
Mr. Locke stated that the Wooddale station items in general are the lesser priority or include
things that can be worked out during future design work.
Councilmember Mavity stated that one item not on this list includes grade separation at
Xenwood, adding that taking grade separation at Wooddale off the list and putting in a grade
separation at Xenwood makes more sense.
Council discussed the municipal consent process and Councilmember Spano stated that St. Paul
provided a conditional consent to the municipal consent process and negotiated their way
through the central corridor process. He indicated a shallow tunnel keeps relocation from
happening in St. Louis Park and there have been some discussions about the austerity that this
would generate on the rest of the line and the potential impact to grade separation at Beltline and
relocating the Louisiana Avenue station.
Councilmember Mavity stated the Beltline discussion needs to include dealing with the Nordic
Ware truck issue and making sure the City has a clear vision for the traffic issues for Beltline
regardless of what happens with light rail.
After further discussion, it was the consensus of the City Council that the Louisiana Avenue
station and grade separation at Beltline Boulevard represent top priorities for the City.
Mr. Harmening stated that staff will amend the talking points based on Council's discussion and
refine the document from a priority perspective for further discussion with Council.
Communications/Meeting Check-In (Verbal)
Mr. Harmening advised that Council does not have a quorum for the canvassing vote currently
scheduled for Thursday and Hennepin County has agreed to allow the canvassing vote to take
place on Monday, August 19, 2013.
The meeting adjourned at 9:49 p.m.
Written Reports provided and documented for recording purposes only:
6. Project Update - Sanitary Sewer Project (MCES opkins Interceptor
Rehabilitation) 1
Nancy Stroth,eity Clerk Susan Sanger, Mayor Pro Tern