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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020/11/09 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session Official minutes City council study session St. Louis Park, Minnesota Nov. 9, 2020 The meeting convened at 6:30 p.m. Councilmembers present: Mayor Jake Spano, Tim Brausen, Lynette Dumalag, Rachel Harris, Larry Kraft, Nadia Mohamed, and Margaret Rog Councilmembers absent: none Staff present: Director of Operations and Recreation (Ms. Walsh), Engineering Director (Ms. Heiser), CFO (Ms. Lammers), Deputy City Manager/Human Resources Director (Ms. Deno), Director of Community Development (Ms. Barton), Senior Engineering Project Manager (Mr. Sullivan), Communications Manager (Ms. Smith), Senior Management Analyst (Ms. Solano), and Recording Secretary (Ms. Pappas) Guests: Vic Moore, Lobbyist for St. Louis Park Mayor Spano welcomed Councilmember Dumalag to the council. 1. 2021 draft legislative issues and priorities Mr. Moore noted several issues that will be challenging in 2021 in Minnesota. He cited the state legislature, which will again be divided with gridlock and with unlikely bipartisan agreement, budget and projected deficit concerns, and the ongoing pandemic. Mayor Spano asked if the bonding of Perspectives can come off the city’s legislative list. Ms. Barton stated the funds are mostly together now for Perspectives, and they have what they need. Mayor Spano asked if the city’s priorities should focus more on policy versus funding requests in 2021. Mr. Moore stated he would want the city to be in a good position if funding opportunities do come up, but the reality is that policy issues are easier to get passed as they don’t cost anything. Councilmember Harris stated given the news here, this is probably not the best year to pursue the local option sales tax. Mr. Moore agreed, but noted the city council may have to pursue it later if needed. Councilmember Harris pointed out the state does not tax certain items, and possibly that should be looked at by the legislature. She added incentives related to alternative energy might be looked into also, within the climate action plan and eventual shift away from natural gas in homes, and a greater reliance on electric vehicles and bikes. Councilmember Harris stated she would like to see incentives for e-bikes added to the city’s legislative priorities. Mr. Moore stated smaller items, such as e-bikes are typically not as costly, and could be something to look at within another larger bill or as part of a smaller multi-modal or DocuSign Envelope ID: 9F69A768-7571-4A42-8493-2DA0A331703C Study session minutes -2- Nov. 9, 2020 comprehensive bill. He added energy credits will be included in the tax bill, along with the possibility of tax credits. Councilmember Brausen asked if the caucuses leaders and committee leadership are the same. Mr. Moore noted some leadership changes, adding this might be a good time for the house to lower the number of standing committees it has. Councilmember Brausen stated he sent staff a list of outdated legislative items and added the marijuana legalization with tax revenues going to cities for public safety and other areas. He added this is something that should be looked at as solution. Mr. Moore stated there is some support for this from Rep. Winkler. Councilmember Brausen added if marijuana legalization comes up as a serious item, and there is support that revenues, if any, should be shared with cities, as they will deal with enforcement and mental health issues in the communities and he hoped the council would consider this as a form of revenue for the city. He added pushing for the advanced state energy code as part of the climate action plan, for clean energy construction is another priority concept the council needs to identify it supports. Councilmember Rog noted SWLRT and asked if there are any impacts to funding of that or threats to any components of the project. Mayor Spano clarified SWLRT is completed, and noted the state did not put much funding into that at all. Councilmember Rog asked if Hennepin County is set on doing a 0% tax increase this year, and if so, would it affect what the city does, or what the city might be asked to do. Mr. Moore stated he is not aware of this, but added the counties are facing budget problems as well. Councilmember Rog added as county programs are being reduced, it seems DHS and others will need to fill the gaps. Ms. Solano added Commissioner Green will be invited to the meeting with council and legislators early next year, and this can be addressed at that meeting. Councilmember Rog added she appreciates the city council adding BIPOC communities to its priorities. She also noted the legal notices in the city paper is an important revenue source that should be retained. Councilmember Kraft stated for council priorities, it is better to focus on fewer items, and he is interested in narrowing priorities down, as well as combining with the League of MN cities. He added he agrees with Councilmember Brausen’s comments about advanced stated energy code and he would be interested in gaining more support for that across the state, and reaching out to other cities to support this policy. He stated he would prefer to include local affordable housing and transportation funding on the priorities, as well as ranked choice voting state -wide, and addressing the Electoral College. Mayor Spano stated there has been very little interest across the state in ranked choice voting, and that includes by democrats and progressives, and he would be concerned about spending too much time on this issue. DocuSign Envelope ID: 9F69A768-7571-4A42-8493-2DA0A331703C Study session minutes -3- Nov. 9, 2020 Mr. Moore added any changes to election laws need bipartisan support, and this would be very difficult. Councilmember Mohamed noted the legalization of marijuana issue, but also noted her concerns about those incarcerated for marijuana use, and that most are black and brown persons. She added she would be interested in more co nversations around this issue. Councilmember Mohamed also noted the issue of tenant protection being a priority that should be included. Ms. Solano stated she would research to see where this issue ended up in the last legislative session. Councilmember Mohamed added public safety is also another priority for her as well as more protection for private information. Ms. Solano stated this is a priority of the police chief and staff continues working with Mr. Moore on this issue. Councilmember Dumalag stated her main priorities are affordable housing and transit, as well as TIF. She added she is interested in the priorities of other municipalities and thereby leveraging others for help, as well as joint advocacy that could be done on common concerns. Mayor Spano agreed that there should be focus on the list of priorities versus broad categories and items. Councilmember Kraft suggested if the council has a focused list of items, for example advanced energy standards – the council can push this item further with the 3 city legislators when they meet with them. Mr. Moore added the city’s 3 legislators are very well-respected, and one of them might carry a bill like this, and he encouraged the council to discuss focus items with the legislators when meeting. Ms. Deno stated staff will now work on the document and pull out major talking points, and bring it back to council for fine tuning at an upcoming meeting. 2. Connect the Park Mr. Sullivan presented the report. Councilmember Harris asked if the 3 new goals presented replace the initial 11 goals. Mr. Sullivan stated yes. Councilmember Harris asked staff how the city engages the community in projects adding when she looks at the 3 goals, this is not explicitly stated or noted as an operating principle. Ms. Heiser stated staff does work on engagement with the community, adding staff tried to focus the 3 goals on the why of Connect the Park, and what is the end, and how is it measured. She added the how will be discussed with community engagement. Councilmember Harris stated she appreciates the goals, noting they are measurable and help the city speak to successes, while fitting within the objectives. DocuSign Envelope ID: 9F69A768-7571-4A42-8493-2DA0A331703C Study session minutes -4- Nov. 9, 2020 Councilmember Kraft asked staff if they looked at any communities that have similar documents. Mr. Sullivan noted staff did look at adjacent communities as well as Hennepin County and Minneapolis, to make sure they were using a common language related to metrics. Councilmember Kraft stated he is happy to see the direction this is going and over all, this is a good job as it relates to strategic priorities. Councilmember Kraft also stated the first goal refers to (Vehicle Motor Trips) VMT, noting that all VMT are not equal. He stated he likes the direction; however, there should be more about minimizing trips that are polluting, adding that VMT seems too narrow and this should work more on how to reduce pollution from fossil fuel vehicles. Additionally, he stated he would like to see more about cost built into the top -level goals, and cost-effectiveness, which leads to other metrics and thinking about value being provided. Councilmember Rog stated she appreciates the direction staff is going with the goals, but noticed the lack of parallel structure between statements, adding it’s better to have the goals structured similarly. She added it is also important to continue with emails and small workgroups as well. Councilmember Rog added with goal #1, it would be beneficial to look at users as well as vehicles, and increase quantity, type and diversity of users. She agreed that cost-effectiveness is important to include, as well as return on investment. She pointed out also with regard to climate action goals, tree preservation is an important item to add. Councilmember Brausen stated he is fine with the proposed goals. He stated return on investment is part of the budget and should not be a goal of Connect the Park, adding ROI is implied in all work the city does. He added the important part is to make sure Connect the Park continues to build out, and build the network that grids the city. Councilmember Dumalag added a good resource is Move Minneapolis which is for residents and employers as well. She noted they look at how to move people in and out of the community, without vehicles. Councilmember Mohamed stated she is in favor of all the goals listed, and agreed with comments made related to cost-effectiveness. She asked for more detail about the staff conversations around racial equity as it relates to Connect the Park. Mr. Sullivan stated the engineering staff learned they all have blind spots and one of the gaps is racial equity . He stated their staff has been working with Mx. Sojourner about this and looking at how these spaces can be made more comfortable for all users. He added staff wants to normalize this and work to include all in the community. Ms. Heiser added the staff collaborated with Mx. Sojourner on metrics and census data, race make-up in the schools, and also looked at what Minneapolis has done. Mayor Spano added he is glad to see the grid removed from the Connect the Park goals as there are parts of the community where the grid does not apply. He added he has concerns about the overall cost of the project and where it’s at now, but he is fine spending money on projects if they achieve goals in a more equitable way. He noted at some point he wants staff to DocuSign Envelope ID: 9F69A768-7571-4A42-8493-2DA0A331703C Study session minutes -5- Nov. 9, 2020 bring back data collection information and how we are achieving goals in a cost -effective manner. Mayor Spano stated he does not want to lose sight of the goals related t o closing gaps in the sidewalk system as this is an important piece of the program, with prioritizing pedestrians as #1 and bikes as #2. He added how staff and the council engage with the community will be looked at closely and noted he wants to change the dynamic and be community builders and not dividers. Mayor Spano also noted the interested but concerned biker, and does want to see how that aspect can be reflected in the goals as well. Councilmember Harris noted VMT is one of the 7 priorities from the climate action plan. She agreed goal #1 should be re-written to focus on fossil fuel reduction. She asked staff if there will be focus groups to discuss the 3 goals. Ms. Heiser stated staff had not discussed focus groups adding that council had asked staff to come back and share updated goals now. Councilmember Rog stated she supports VMT specificity and also wants to look at users as a priority with outcomes, while increasing quantity type and diversity of users. She added it would be beneficial if the council could also consider options at different price points in order to continue to fund Connect the Park and other projects going forward. Ms. Deno stated staff will look further at the VMT statement and look at context of inclusion and stay at the largest level of the “why”, while moving into the “how” as this progresses . She added staff will bring this back to council before anything is finalized. Councilmember Dumalag also agreed with Councilmembers Kraft and Rog on VMT as a unit of measure adding that perhaps other metrics can quantify. She stated the conversation around ROI and users and any other assets is also important here and points to work done in Minneapolis also as a guide. Councilmember Harris encouraged staff to work with the neighborhoods, and shift the focus to write goals for the people in our community who we are trying to influence or impact. She stated we need to focus on people first vs. policy making. 3. Future study session agenda planning and prioritization Councilmembers Kraft and Harris noted they would like a study session on creating a transportation commission in St. Louis Park, as well as a discussion on the city’s approach to commissions in general. They stated this discussion is timely with Connect the Park upd ates, and the purpose for a transportation commission should directly link to outcomes in Connect the Park revisions. Councilmember Harris added commissions in general need to be discussed and it feels like they are all quite removed from the council, except for perhaps the planning commission. She stated a discussion on how we maximize our relationships with commissions and link that back to the DocuSign Envelope ID: 9F69A768-7571-4A42-8493-2DA0A331703C Study session minutes -6- Nov. 9, 2020 strategic plan is important, as well as how to connect and influence the council’s policy discussions. It was the consensus of the council to discuss the formation of a transportation commission first, and then discuss commissions in general at a later date. Communications/meeting check-in (verbal) Councilmember Harris noted an upcoming discussion on Nov. 19, 2020 at a neighborhood meeting regarding proposed apartment buildings and a vacant lot at Texas and Minnetonka Avenues. She added the community can reach out to Jennifer Monson in city planning for more information. Councilmember Kraft asked if the council will have a retreat in Jan. and that it is time to put this on calendars. Ms. Solano stated staff is going to discuss this further, especially with COVID case numbers on the rise, and concerns about meeting in person. She stated staff is looking into other options and will get back to council on this. Councilmember Rog noted the housing zoning regulations written report adding there was strong council consensus to study this. She noted council direction to staff when the issue was discussed last year, was to do outreach in the community. She asked if staff is planning to do outreach. Ms. Barton stated the report was to update council on the research that staff is conducting and getting feedback on what will go back to the planning commission. She stated this will be a long process and staff will periodically bring this back to council for feedback. She also noted public feedback will be discussed with the planning commission as well, to decide if surveys or othe r means will be used to gain feedback from the public. Councilmember Kraft stated he is interested in the affordability side and how it relates to ADUs and two-family dwelling units in single-family zoning areas. Councilmember Harris added that ADUs and affordability are a concern. She stated in Minneapolis, triplexes and quads are being built in single-family neighborhoods, and have created more affordable living areas. She stated this is a more practical approach for St. Louis Park and will yield more affordability versus ADUs which are very expensive to build. Councilmember Kraft noted the 4d affordable housing report, stating he is supportive of going down to 5 years from 10 years. He stated he is also interested in how to tie this in more with the climate action goals, as well as ways to use the affordable housing trust fund to ensure affordability and reduce costs on utilities. Ms. Deno stated city offices are closed Wed., Nov. 11, 2020 in honor of Veterans Day. The meeting adjourned at 9:27 p.m. DocuSign Envelope ID: 9F69A768-7571-4A42-8493-2DA0A331703C Study session minutes -7- Nov. 9, 2020 Written Reports provided and documented for recording purposes only: 4 Update to the council on housing zoning regulations 5. St. Louis Park 4d Affordable Housing Incentive Program update ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Melissa Kennedy, city clerk Jake Spano, mayor DocuSign Envelope ID: 9F69A768-7571-4A42-8493-2DA0A331703C