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11-22-04 PC Minutes e - e e e Regular Meeting of the Golden Valley Planning Commission November 22,2004 A regular meeting of the Planning Commission was held at the Golden Valley City Hall, Council Chambers, 7800 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, Minnesota, on Monday, November 22, 2004. Vice Chair Waldhauser called the meeting to order at 7 pm. Those present were Commissioners Eck, Hackett, McAleese, Rasmussen, Schmidgall and Waldhauser. Also present were Director of Planning and Development, Mark Grimes and Administrative Assistant, Lisa Wittman. Chair Keysser was absent. I. Approval of Minutes October 11, 2004 Planning Commission Meeting Eck referred to the first paragraph on page four and said to strike the word "asked". He referred to page five and noted several typographical errors. Waldhauser referred to the third paragraph on page two and clarified her question regarding access to the property being discussed. MOVED by Rasmussen, seconded by Eck and motion carried unanimously to approve the October 11, 2004 minutes with the above noted changes/corrections. October 25, 2004 Planning Commission Meeting Waldhauser stated that Commissioner Hackett was listed as present but was absent. MOVED by ECk, seconded by McAleese and motion carried unanimously to approve the October 25,2004 minutes with the above noted correction. II. Presentation of Capital Improvement Program (CIP) 2005-2009 - Don Taylor, City Finance Director Don Taylor, City Finance Director, explained that the Planning Commission reviews the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) annually to make sure that what is being planned for the future complies with the Comprehensive Plan of the City. He stated that there are seven sections in the CIP and that the last three sections: streets, storm sewers and water & sewer required a special meeting with the City Council to prioritize projects. He explained that approval of the CIP does not mean that all of the individual projects listed in the CIP would be receiving final approval from the Council. Taylor referred to page 22 and discussed the tax rate that the City is levying to pay debt and its relationship to the City's total tax rate. He said as a past request from the Planning Commission, staff now relates the current CIP to the previous CIP and that it is a way to analyze projects from year to year. Waldhauser referred to the tax rates on page 22 and asked if a cost inflation assumption is used or the costs at current dollars are used for the projected costs. Taylor said they use 3% as the yearly inflation factor for operations when they forecast for the future. e e e - e Minutes of the Planning Commission November 22,2004 Page 2 Eck referred to page 22 asked how Golden Valley compares to other first ring suburbs regarding the bonded debt tax rate and the other figures listed. Taylor said he thinks Golden Valley's debt tax rate is relatively high right now compared to other cities primarily because of the Pavement Management Program (PMP). He s,aid that 80% of the PMP is financed with tax levies and 20% is financed with assessments against the benefiting properties. He added that Golden Valley levies over 2 million dollars per year to repay bonds that finance the PMP. He added that the City will be paying debt service on streets until 2029 or 2030. Waldhauser asked if the expectation is that the whole pavement management process won't have to start over again until 2029. Taylor said that the earliest streets in the PMP were reconstructed in the early 1990s so if maintenance is done and the weather cooperates streets could last 40 to 50 years. Grimes added that a lot of times utilities are also redone or replaced at the same time as the streets. Hackett asked if soil is replaced as well. Grimes said yes and stated that the initial installation of streets did not always have an adequate sub-base. Taylor added that that is one reason it is hard to compare cities and that it costs Golden Valley in excess of one million dollars per mile to reconstruct a street. He said that the Pavement Management Program doesn't bother the City's bond rating company (Moody's) because they like to see a long term plan to replace infrastructure. Eck asked if the Highway 55/ Boone Avenue project has been taken out of this CIP. Taylor said yes, and explained that the project was in last year's CIP because construction started in 2004 but will be completed in 2005 so they did not put it in this CIP because it was too hard to divide it up between 2004 and 2005. Grimes asked if the State contributed some money to that project. Taylor said the City will receive approximately $550,000 from the state and that the rest of the project was financed with storm sewer revenue bonds and tax abatement bonds. Waldhauser asked if the cost of ponds in included in the street section. Taylor said those costs are put in the storm sewer section of the CIP. Eck asked about the status of the City's water situation. Taylor stated that all three cities in the Joint Water Commission have agreed to approve a contract with Minneapolis at a rate of approximately $1.75 per 1,000 gallons this year for the wholesale cost of water with a possible increase in 2005. He explained that building a water treatment facility in Golden Valley could still be looked at in the future. Waldhauser said it appeared that a lot of spending was front ended into 2005 and 2006 and tapered off in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and asked if that is just a reflection of what we don't know about those years. Taylor said yes, and that staff gets together and decides which projects can be delayed to future years. Rasmussen asked how many buildings the City owns. Taylor said there are 10 fairly good size buildings and 7 park buildings. Rasmussen asked it there is someone who looks at all of the buildings regarding maintenance needs. Taylor explained that the Environmental Minutes of the Planning Commission November 22, 2004 Page 3 e Coordinator is in charge of the City's buildings. On occasion he will hire consultants to inspect the city's buildings, as he did recently for roofs. Eck asked what a "trunked" radio system means. McAleese explained that it means the radio system assigns radio frequencies and channels automatically. Rasmussen referred to the phone system and voice mail system and asked if they are one in the same. Taylor said they could be the same system in the future, but right now they are separate systems. He stated that the City is looking at different options including leasing a system. The City bought its' current system in 1996. Eck referred to the new public safety command vehicle and asked what thatdoes for the City that the existing one can't do. Taylor explained that because of the new police e computer system and the new radio system they need an updated command vehicle. Waldhauser asked if the cost of equipment that is not used frequently is shared with other cities that also have a limited need for it. Taylor said the City is a member of a number of mutual aid groups for Police, Fire and Public Works. e Waldhauser asked about the renovation of the firearms range. Taylor said that it needs to be renovated because it doesn't meet the air handling requirements. He added that staff has discussed the possibility of leasing our facility out to other cities. McAleese asked if there is still a sidewalk committee. Grimes said there will be people reappointed to the sidewalk committee and that someone from the Planning Commission is always on the sidewalk committee. He added that the Vision Guide really stresses sidewalks and connections and that is something that is important to the Council. - MOVED by Schmidgall, seconded by Eck and motion carried unanimously to recommend approval of the 2005-2009 Capital Improvement Program as it is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. III. Reports on Meetings of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, City Council, Board of Zoning Appeals and other Meetings No reports from other meetings were discussed. IV. Other Business No other business was discussed. V. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm. e