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03-09-10 CM Minutes Council/Manager Meeting Minutes March 9, 2010 Present: Mayor Loomis and Council Members Freiberg, Pentel, and Shaffer, City Manager Tom Burt, City Attorney Allen Barnard, Public Works Director Jeannine Clancy, City Engineer Jeff Oliver, Finance Director Sue Virnig, Director of Parks and Recreation Rick Jacobson and Assistant City Manager Jeanne Andre Council Member Scanlon was absent. The meeting began at 6:58 pm in the Council Conference Room. Proposed Ordinance Amendments - Administrative Citations and Penalties of Administrative Citations Tom Burt explained that staff is recommending these ordinances to help with general enforcement of the City Code without going through the court system, similar to the process currently used for housing maintenance. Allen Barnard explained the process he followed to develop these ordinances. He indicated that some areas of the City Code currently have a system of fines and appeals, such as sections on sanitary sewer inflow and infiltration, tobacco sales and residential and multifamily housing maintenance. He systematically looked at adding this provision to all sections of the City Code currently penalized by a misdemeanor or petty misdemeanor. He then developed new code provisions including the purpose section and provisions for enforcement, appeals, and failure to pay that could be applied to all of these sections. With the new provisions the enforcement officer would have the ability to enforce all of these violations as either an administrative citation or petty misdemeanor/misdemeanor. The second ordinance would set the administrative fines that would apply for various types of violations. Tom Burt explained that staff often has difficulty enforcing City Code provisions on signs, parking or hours established in a Conditional Use Permit, because courts do not take these violations seriously and it is expensive to take the violations through the judicial process. Many times the violator takes corrective action, but soon reoffends. The threat of fines might alter this behavior. He explained that staff would be trained to prepare a citation that could be used no matter what penalty is selected, as it may be necessary to proceed to the courts if the administrative citations are not successful. He also noted that some violations would be taken immediately through the judicial process. The Council had a number of questions, including: would there be a flood of appeals, does the City have staff time to issue administrative citations, could neighbors harass other neighbors with continued complaints leading to fines, would the enforcement be equitable if done on a complaint basis and could staff go overboard in issuing citations. After this discussion Tom Burt suggested that staff could review the extensive list of violations in the draft ordinance for application of the proposed new administrative citations and whittle it down, removing some petty offenses that don't warrant a fine and some serious offenses that should be prosecuted as a misdemeanor. He will bring a sleeker version of the ordinances to a future Council/Manager Meeting. Council/Manager Meeting Minutes March 9, 2010 - Page 2 Ordinance Amendment - Withholding Approvals due to Delinquencies or Defaults Allen Barnard recommended that the Council consider an ordinance that explicitly requires the City to withhold approvals when an applicant is delinquent or in default of local ordinances or taxes. Although the City has withheld approval in some instances in the past, he recommends that applicants be placed on notice of this requirement by formally adopting it in the City Code. The Council supported placing this ordinance on an upcoming Council agenda. Hennepin County Youth Sports Program Grant Application Resubmittal Jerry Sandler, Chair of the Open Space and Recreation Commission, provided background on a grant proposal submitted in 2009 to the Hennepin County Youth Sports Program. The application proposed the construction of two additional Little League ball fields just north of the existing Honeywell field. He explained that the Golden Valley proposal was the highest scored application not funded in the 2009 grant cycle, and the Commission recommends that the City resubmit the grant for the next grant cycle, which has an application deadline of March 29. The Commission solicited evaluation comments for the first grant. It ranked well because it was one of the few applications that would construct new fields on underutilized property. It lost points because of concerns about parking. For the new submittal the grant proposal team has secured written permission from School District 281 to park on its property across the street. The team is also seeking written permission to park in the lot of an adjacent business. The Council discussed some of its concerns, including that: the City needs to front the funding for the fields and seek reimbursement from the grant funds; soil conditions are not well known and could cause the cost of the project to go up; accessibility of proposed parking is not great and a new sidewalk may be necessary; the Little League contribution has not yet been collected; more collaborating partners could be solicited; the site could be needed in the future for a water treatment facility; and that the City would be taking on new maintenance costs in difficult financial times. Rick Jacobson explained that staff has reviewed the cost estimates and has suggested increasing the grant request, as occurred with the initial application. The Council agreed to place the grant proposal on the next Council agenda for consideration. Comprehensive Plan Transportation Element: Roadway Functional Classifications Mike Kotila of SEH and Jeannine Clancy reported on establishing new transportation classifications. Due to earlier misguidance from the Metropolitan Council, staff decided to start over and divide collector streets into major and minor classifications. The table in the agenda packet listed the street classifications before the start of the 2008 Comprehensive Plan review, and the classifications proposed by staff based on previous discussions with the City Council. The Council supported the submission of the proposed changes to the Transportation Advisory Board, which would allow streets classified as Major Collectors to be eligible for grant funding. Changes to the Comprehensive Plan will be made after the Metropolitan Council has approved the 2008 amended plan. Revising the map to remove Minor Collector status from Regent Avenue south of Golden Valley Road was the only change requested by the Council. Council/Manager Meeting Minutes March 9, 2010 - Page 3 Proposed Ordinance Amendment - Curb Cut Restrictions in Single Family Residential Zoning District Jeff Oliver distributed a revised Executive Summary and ordinance language. It included new language that better defined the disability waiver. He noted that changes to the draft ordinance reflect previous discussion with the Council. Jeannine Clancy explained that the language regarding assessing for extra driveway cuts was inadvertently retained in the latest draft, but would be removed as the Council previously requested. The new draft provided for one curb cut for each lot except that up to two curb cuts would be allowed for an existing horseshoe driveway, a second driveway to a garage, or to accommodate a disabled person in a homestead property. The proposed language on establishing a disability is tied to eligibility for disabled parking certificates. Allen Barnard suggested that the specific waiver for horseshoe driveways could be deleted if it only applies to existing homes, as horseshoe drives for these homes would be grandfathered. The Council supported this approach and suggested the ordinance be presented at an upcoming Council Meeting. 2009 General Fund Transfer Sue Virnig reported that the preliminary unaudited 2009 revenues and expenditures indicate that $500,000 is available to transfer to the debt service fund, which will help avoid steep increases to the debt service levy. City staff was frugal and expenditures were lower than estimates. Though revenues were below estimates, the lower expenditures more than compensated and the overall fund balance was up. The Council supported placing a resolution to transfer funds to the debt service fund on the upcoming Council agenda. Formation of Housing Improvement Area Tom Burt reported that staff had a request from the Briarwood Townhomes for City assistance in forming a Housing Improvement Area to help fund common area improvements such as siding and replacing sinking garages. With a housing Improvement Area the City sells bonds for the expenditures, which are repaid by the homeowners through assessments over time. Burt explained that the work of defining and bidding the project falls to the homeowners association and the project could only go forward if a majority of the homeowners agree to the assessments. The Council agreed that staff should investigate establishing a Housing Improvement Area and work with Briarwood homeowners to see if such an improvement area is a viable option for them. Support for Community Access Preservation Act Bob Shaffer reported that the Northwest Suburbs Cable Communication Commission highlighted proposed federal legislation (HR3745) which supports continuation of public, educational and government access channels that benefit cities. A draft resolution supporting the legislation was distributed by the Commission. The Council directed staff to place this resolution on the next agenda. City Council Workshop Follow-up The Council reviewed the list of items identified by the Council at its February 6 Workshop for further consideration. After some discussion, the Council removed a number of items that are likely to be relevant in the distant future, or will be routinely dealt with through normal planning processes, including: Council/Manager Meeting Minutes March 9, 2010 - Page 4 . Look at north and south options for the road serving the MnDOT property (3.9.4 project). · Study options for major transit oriented development (TOO) related to Bottineau LRT through redevelopment of adjacent properties. . Consider options if car dealers downsize. At the suggestion of Tom Burt they agreed to look at employee recognition and from the perspective of employees, letting recommendations filter up from employees. So human resource items were removed. The Council removed the suggestion of a movie night at the park because it is a difficult time to add new programming, though Council Members expressed interest in such ideas filtering up through Bridge Builders. Other items will remain on the list, though some will be reworded based on Council discussion. Staff will develop a list outlining when further discussion of these items will come forward, sometimes with new information from staff. The meeting adjourned at 8:58 pm. Jeanne Andre Assistant City Manager