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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014/09/02 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Regular Ifl St. Louis Park OFFICIAL MINUTES MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL MEETING ST. LOUIS PARK,MINNESOTA SEPTEMBER 2, 2014 1. Call to Order Mayor Jacobs called the meeting to order at 7:32 p.m. Councilmembers present: Mayor Jeff Jacobs, Tim Brausen, Steve Hallfin, Susan Sanger, and Jake Spano. Councilmembers absent: Gregg Lindberg and Anne Mavity. Staff present: City Manager (Mr. Harmening), City Attorney (Mr. Scott), Planning/Zomng Supervisor (Ms. McMonigal), City Clerk (Ms. Stroth), Assistant Zoning Administrator (Mr. Morrison), and Recording Secretary(Ms. Hughes). la. Pledge of Allegiance lb. Roll Call 2. Presentations 2a. Recognition of Donation Mayor Jacobs expressed the City Council's thanks to Steve May and citizens of 30 and 40th Street for the donation to be used for the purchase of trees in Minikanda Vista Park. 3. Approval of Minutes 3a. Special Study Session Minutes August 18, 2014 The minutes were approved as presented. 3b. City Council Meeting Minutes August 18, 2014 The minutes were approved as presented. 4. Approval of Agenda and Items on Consent Calendar NOTE: The Consent Calendar lists those items of business which are considered to be routine and/or which need no discussion. Consent items are acted upon by one motion. If discussion is desired by either a Councilmember or a member of the audience, that item may be moved to an appropriate section of the regular agenda for discussion. 4a. Accept for filing City Disbursement Claims for the period of July 26 through August 22, 2014. 4b. Approve a Temporary On-Sale Intoxicating Liquor License for the Frank Lundberg American Legion Post 282, 5605 36th St. W. in St. Louis Park, for their Annual Anniversary Celebration to be held September 6-7, 2014, in the parking lot at the American Legion. City Council Meeting -2- September 2, 2014 4c. Approve Second Reading and Adopt Ordinance No. 2454-14 Relating to Property Maintenance Inspections, Building License Applications, Tobacco Product and Massage Therapy Licensing Provisions, Amending Chapters 6 and 8 of the St. Louis Park Code of Ordinances effective September 26, 2014, and approve summary ordinance for publication on September 11, 2014. 4d. Adopt Resolution No. 14-098 ordering the abatement of the hazardous buildings located at 3925 Zarthan Avenue South. 4e. Designate Standard Sidewalk, Inc. the lowest responsible bidder and authorize execution of a contract with the firm in the amount of $232,507.00 for the 2014 Random Concrete Repair Project—Project No. 4014-0003. 4f. Approve a Consultant contract with Bolton & Menk, Inc. for preliminary and final design of the 2015 Connect the Park! sidewalk, trail and bikeway segments in the amount of$371,430. 4g. Adopt Resolution No. 14-099 approving acceptance of a monetary donation from Steve May and citizens of 39th and 40th Street in the amount of$250 for the purchase and planting of trees in Minikanda Vista Park. 4h. Adopt Resolution No. 14-100 electing not to waive the statutory tort limits for liability insurance. It was moved by Councilmember Spano, seconded by Councilmember Brausen, to approve the Agenda and items listed on the Consent Calendar; and to waive reading of all resolutions and ordinances. The motion passed 5-0 (Councilmembers Lindberg and Mavity absent). 5. Boards and Commissions—None 6. Public Hearings 6a. Asian Super Buffet On-Sale Wine and 3.2% Malt Liquor License Ms. Stroth presented the staff report and stated that Asian Super Buffet, LLC, doing business as Ichiban Asian Buffet, has requested an on-sale wine and 3.2% malt liquor license for its restaurant at 8912 Highway 7 and noted the restaurant has been operating since last year. She stated the main principals are Ru Lan Chen and Qing Long Pan. Mayor Jacobs opened the public hearing. No speakers were present. Mayor Jacobs closed the public hearing. It was moved by Councilmember Hallfin, seconded by Councilmember Brausen, to approve application from Asian Super Buffet, LLC, doing business as Ichiban Asian Buffet, for an On-Sale Wine and 3.2% Malt Liquor License to be located at 8912 Highway 7 for a license term through March 1, 2015. The motion passed 5-0 (Councilmembers Lindberg and Mavity absent). 7. Requests, Petitions, and Communications from the Public—None City Council Meeting -3- September 2, 2014 8. Resolutions, Ordinances,Motions and Discussion Items 8a. Conditional Use Permit—4101 318` Street Apartments. Resolution No. 14-101. Mr. Morrison presented the staff report and explained the applicant proposes to construct a three-story apartment building on the property consisting five one-bedroom units, four two-bedroom units, and four one-bedroom + den units along with structured parking. He advised that the building meets all setback requirements, 17 parking spaces are required and the applicant has provided 15 structured parking spaces and two outside parking spaces with no on-street parking, and the applicant has proposed to plant 10 trees and 126 shrubs and will provide a tree replacement fee to be paid into the City's tree fund for the remaining trees. He stated that screening includes a 6' privacy fence along the west side and some arborvitae for additional screening. He stated the applicant has provided 3,000 square feet of DORA on the west and south sides of the property and includes a patio area and landscaped green areas. He stated that a rain garden has been provided on the southwestern portion of the property and the City and Minnehaha Creek Watershed District have approved the storm water plans. He advised that the Planning Commission recommended approval of the CUP but recommended denial of the three setback variance requests, adding that since the time of the Planning Commission meeting, the applicant has revised their plan to eliminate the variance requests. He then introduced William Wells, architect, and Josh Brandsted,property owner. Mr. Brandsted stated they met with the neighborhood and feel they have taken steps to address the neighborhood concerns, particularly related to screening between the residential property to the west and the proposed building, as well as removing two parking stalls and adding the privacy fence and arborvitae screening. He stated they also moved the parking garage entrance to the south, the revised site plan preserves an area of lilacs, and they split up the DORA into two usable spaces that they feel will fit nicely within the project. He indicated the neighborhood was concerned about the size of the building and they did a further analysis of what has been built in the area and compared it to the size of their proposed building relative to lot size and found that the proposed building will be one of the smallest buildings in the neighborhood with approximately 33% of lot coverage, while other buildings have 35-42% lot coverage. Ms. Diane Garetz, 4009 West 318t Street, stated she has enjoyed lots of green space, mature trees, friendly neighbors, and safe streets, and now the character of the block is changing. She stated if the apartment building is built, it will cause a rise in property taxes for all the other units on the block that will trigger a dramatic rise in rentals or else the owners will be forced to sell to a developer who will no doubt raze the buildings and build large complexes on the valuable land. She stated she lives on a fixed income and if rents rise, she and many of her neighbors would be forced to move out of the City. Mr. Cass Weil, 4317 Woodstock Avenue, Golden Valley, stated he and his wife own the property at 4105 30 Street, and because of the way in which the neighborhood was developed, the house sits close to the property line. He stated the neighborhood is concerned about the size of the building and a petition has been presented to the City with 49 signatures of people who are concerned about the impact this development will have on their quality of life. He stated the privacy fence and screening between the proposed development and the property to the west will all but block light and air from the living City Council Meeting -4- September 2, 2014 room of the dwelling next door. He asked Council to deny the CUP and require the developers to rethink the size of the building and its impact on the neighborhood. Gary Shibrowski, 3125 Inglewood, representing himself and six other owners of their building, requested that Council consider the DORA space from a security perspective, indicating that people will have more access through their property and using it as a shortcut and they would like to see a wooden fence added that connects on the southwest side of the property. He also asked to have the telephone line buried and if not, he asked if the telephone line could come at a 45 degree angle and connect at the back of the property instead of coming south parallel to the building. Mr. William Wells presented an aerial photo of existing conditions and stated that their site is 20,800 square feet with lot coverage of 33% and while the zoning code allows 14 units, they have scaled down the proposed building to provide more green space and they feel that adding more DORA and larger rain garden makes them good neighbors and makes the area more livable. He stated that they tried to be sensitive to the scaling issue and to fit the building in within the context of the neighborhood. Councilmember Sanger stated the CUP does not contain language limiting the hours of construction and requested that this language be added to the CUP if approved. She acknowledged that the developer has made some improvements to the plan but did not think the changes went far enough as it relates to scale, adding that while the proposal meets the technical requirements of the zoning ordinance, she did not think it met the spirit of the ordinance and felt the building needed to be scaled back. She indicated it appears the neighborhood meeting was scheduled on 24 hours notice and there was not an opportunity for many people to know about or attend and participate in the meeting. She stated the Planning Commission public hearing notices were sent as required to the property owners but the tenants living in the area did not receive the notice, which is an issue the City needs to address so that appropriate notices are delivered to renters. Councilmember Spano asked if the developer considered asking for a variance to increase the height of the building in the middle and stepping down the ends of the building as a way to provide more easterly light. He also asked if Council had any legal standing to deny the CUP based on the proposal in front of Council and given the fact that the developer has not requested any variances. Mr. Morrison replied that stepping back the building was not discussed in detail, adding that the building is 39' from the side property line, which is a considerable setback. Mr. Scott stated the property is zoned R-4 and requires a CUP to allow the proposed apartment building and the staff report contains four specific standards for this type of CUP and the proposal meets all of the standards for this type of development in this zoning district; in addition, the developer is not requesting a variance. He stated there are general standards that are somewhat more subjective, e.g., whether the proposal adversely impacts the neighborhood, which Council could look to if it wanted to deny the CUP application, but the developer has met all the standards listed in the staff report. Councilmember Brausen stated that the City has established rules, zoning districts, and criteria and if a developer cannot rely on the fact that the City is going to abide by these rules when a plan meets all the criteria, then the City is going to have a difficult time City Council Meeting -5- September 2, 2014 getting anyone to build in the City. He added it was up to the developer whether he wanted to withdraw his CUP request; otherwise, he would vote in favor of the CUP. Councilmember Sanger asked if the developer was willing to table this matter for a month in order to hold a neighborhood meeting and tweak the plan. Mr. Brandsted replied that he was not willing to table the City Council vote and stated that a mass email was sent indicating he was interested in having a dialogue with the neighbors and he also hand delivered letters to a lot of residents. He stated a proposal was approved on this site in 2008 for a project that had .7 FAR and their project is .68 FAR, the 2008 project also included two off-site parking spaces and they are keeping all parking on site, the pnor project was approved for 21 bedrooms and their proposal is for 17 bedrooms, and their building is 2.5' shorter than the 2008 building. He pointed out they also followed the Planning Commission's recommendation and tweaked the plan to eliminate the need for any variances, while the 2008 project had two variances approved. It was moved by Councilmember Brausen, seconded by Councilmember Hallfin, to adopt Resolution No. 14-101 Granting Conditional Use Permit Under Section 36-166(d)(1) of the St. Louis Park Ordinance Code Relating to Zoning to Permit a Multiple-Family Dwelling for Property Zoned R-4 Multiple-Family District Located at 4101 31s' Street West. The motion passed 4-1 (Councilmember Sanger opposed; Councilmembers Lindberg and Mavity absent). 9. Communications Mayor Jacobs urged residents to remain watchful of kids waiting for school buses, particularly as the morning hours remain darker. He reminded residents about the STEP fundraising event on Friday, September 5th, from 4:00-7:00 p.m. He also reminded residents about the St. Louis Park Public Schools Foundation fundraising event on Monday, September 15th, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Park Tavern. Councilmember Spano reminded residents that they can go to the Mn/DOT website and sign up to receive electronic alerts to receive timely updates regarding road construction, lane closures, etc. He added the City's website has further information and a link to the Mn/DOT website. Councilmember Brausen stated that residents can also receive construction updates by using the My SLP mobile app. 10. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m. Nancy Stroth, ity Clerk Jeff Ja /. , M., or