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02-11-14 CM Minutes Council/Manager Meeting Minutes February 11, 2014 Present: Mayor Harris and Council Members, Clausen, Fonnest, Schmidgall and Snope City Manager Tom Burt, Finance Director Sue Virnig, Community Development Director Mark Grimes, Director of Parks and Recreation Rick Birno, Volunteer Coordinator Sandy Werts, Public Works Director Jeannine Clancy, City Engineer Jeff Oliver, Public Works Maintenance Manager Bert Tracy, Street Maintenance Supervisor Mark Ray, Park • Maintenance Supervisor AI Lundstrom, Engineer Eric Seaburg, Fire Relief Association President Ryan Magnuson, Fire Relief Association Trustee Chris Gemlo, Fire Relief Association Treasurer Paul Steinman and Administrative Assistant Lisa Wittman. The meeting began at 6:30 pm in the Council Conference Room. Schuller's Tavern Request for Outdoor Patio Mark Grimes explained the process Schuller's would need to go through in order to construct an outdoor patio. The steps include: completing a building code analysis, re- designating the Comprehensive Plan from residential to commercial, rezoning the property from residential to commercial, obtaining a Conditional Use Permit and obtaining variances. He stated that there are concerns about an increase in noise from the neighboring property owners and added that Schuller's is currently considered to be a non-conforming use and non-conforming uses cannot be expanded. The Council discussed the process, the definition of"expansion," and the possibility of a covenant being put in place to help address the neighbor's concerns and to define what types of uses could occur in the future if the property was no longer owned by Schuller's. After discussion, the Council consensus was that they would be supportive in allowing Schuller's move forward in the planning process. Lilac Planting Tom Burt discussed the cost of maintenance and staff time involved in the Lilac Planting program and stated that he would like direction from the Council to determine if the program is something they would like to continue. He added that there will be money in the 2015 proposed budget for the ongoing maintenance of the existing plants and if Council gives direction to continue the program additional dollars witl be budgeted. The Council discussed the history of the program, the expense of the program, staff time and the ongoing maintenance and replacement costs. They also discussed focusing resources on the maintenance of the plants already in place and the possibility of grants or other outside funding opportunities such as sponsorship to help raise money for the program. After discussion the consensus of the Council was that this is a community building event and they would like to keep the program in place for one more year in order to allow the committee time to talk to businesses about maintenance partnerships and possible fundraising opportunities. Council/Manager Meeting Minutes February 11, 2014— Page 2 Fire Department Relief Association By-Law Amendment Regarding Pension Increase Chris Gemlo, Paul Steinman and Ryan Magnuson discussed the mission and budget of the Golden Valley Fire Relief Association. They also discussed the historic municipal contributions and retirement benefit levels. They asked the Council to consider increasing the benefit level from $7,000 to $7,300. The Council was supportive of the by-law change and directed staff to put the item on a future Council meeting agenda. Snow Plowing Policy Mark Ray gave a presentation regarding the City's snow plowing policy. He reviewed the responsibilities of the Public Works Department including, staffing, route maps for streets and sidewalks, the policy regarding damage to mailboxes and how the decision to plow is made. The Council suggested that the snow plowing policy be put on the City's website and be put in the CityNews newsletter every fall. Douglas Drive Reconstruction Project Update Brett Weiss and Andy Plowman from WSB, Inc. were in attendance to provide an update on the Douglas Drive Reconstruction Project. They gave a presentation and discussed the history of the project, the current status of the project, the preliminary design layout components such as typical sections, alignments, medians, underground utilities and roundabouts. They explained the next steps in the process which includes the final design of the project, working on right-of-way acquisition, project bidding/awarding, public involvement and construction starting in 2016/2017. The Council discussed the maintenance responsibility of the bike trails, the possibility of a creek overlook, noise mitigation, water quality issues, landscaping, lighting, roundabout education and public participation. 2014 Legislative Priorities The Council continued their discussion from their November Council/Manager meeting regarding potential 2014 Legislative Policies. The Council consensus was to combine the bonding bill regarding the Douglas Drive/Highway 55 Intersection and the bonding bill regarding Highway 169 into one transportation bill. Staff will work on the suggested revisions and bring the policies to the February 18 regular Council meeting for consideration. Council/Manager Meeting Topics and Council Goal Setting Workshop Minutes The Council reviewed the minutes from the Council Goal Setting Workshop. It was noted that the item regarding future neighborhood meetings or listening session should be changed to state that the sessions will be quarterly on established dates and that they could be held during the fourth week of the month. The Council also discussed Council cohesion and talking to the media. The Council discussed several of the future Council/Manager meeting topics that were included in the agenda packet and added and removed some from the list. The items added included: greenways and connections across Highway 55. The items removed Council/Manager Meeting Minutes February 11, 2014— Page 3 included: snowplowing policy, code of ethics for the Council, Golden Valley Business Council, Schuller's, Douglas Drive update, Golden Valley Foundation/Golden Valley Community Fund, neighborhood organization, Comprehensive Plan, and bidding process. The Council also discussed council cohesion and speaking with the media. Mayors Against Illegal Guns Mayor Harris stated that the organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns would like him to represent the City of Golden Valley. There was not consensus from the Council to have the City represent this organization. Minimum Wage Tom Burt stated that cities are being asked to support a resotution regarding raising the minimum wage. The Council discussed the financial implications to the City and the consensus was to not bring the "Raise the Wage" resolution a Council meeting for consideration. Move Minnesota The Council discussed the Move MN campaign which is a state-wide comprehensive transportation funding package. The Council discussed other organizations and cities that are supportive of the campaign and the consensus was to bring the resolution to the next regular City Council meeting for consideration. Update and Discussion of LifeSpan Conditional Use Permit Gouncil Member Snope asked that this item be added to the agenda. Tom Burt provided an update on the recent consideration by Council regarding a Conditional Use Permit for LifeSpan. He explained that the action taken by the Council on February 5 was to deny the Conditional Use Permit and to have staff prepare the Council's findings for that denial. In the meantime, staff has administratively given the applicant a 60-day deadline extension in order to al�ow time for the Council to adopt the findings in order to complete the process. He stated that if the Council wishes to have the issue brought back to them for further consideration, there would need to be a motion to rescind the original vote on the next Council meeting agenda which would require a 3-2 vote by the Council. If the Council chooses to add the item to the agenda at the Council meeting on February 18 it would then require a 4/5 vote by the Council to approve the request. The Council discussed whether they would like to table the issue in order to obtain additional information and to provide time for dialogue to occur. The Council also discussed the public hearing notice process and the possibility of rezoning and re-guiding other potentiatfy challenging properties. After discussion there was not consensus to move forward with rescinding the original vote on the issue. The resolution for findings regarding the denial will be on the next regular Council agenda. The meeting adjourned at 12:25 am. Lisa Wittman Administrative Assistant