City Council

REGULAR ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL MEETING – NOVEMBER 17, 2015 MINUTES The Regular Bi-Monthly Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Julie Trude, November 17, 2015, 7:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Councilmembers present: Mike Knight, Sheri Bukkila, Valerie Holthus and James Goodrich Councilmember absent: None Also present: City Administrator, Jim Dickinson Community Development Director, Dave Carlberg Director of Public Works/City Engineer, David Berkowitz City Attorney, Scott Baumgartner Others PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE RESIDENT FORUM QCTV Executive Director Karen George stated this past year they were recognized with an Award of Excellence. She presented the plaque to the City of Andover for being a member and thanked the City for their leadership, vision, and support. Mayor Trude stated she enjoyed serving on the QCTV Board. Councilmember Holthus congratulated Ms. George on the award. AGENDA APPROVAL Staff submitted Anoka County Sheriff’s Report supplemental information. Motion by Holthus, Seconded by Goodrich, to approve the Agenda as amended above. Motion carried unanimously. APPROVAL OF MINUTES October 27, 2015, Workshop Meeting: Correct as written. November 2, 2015, Regular Meeting: Correct as written. November 2, 2015, Closed Meeting: Correct as written. Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes – November 17, 2015 Page 2 Motion by Bukkila, Seconded by Knight, to approve the minutes as presented. Motion carried unanimously. CONSENT ITEMS Item 2 Approve Payment of Claims Item 3 Receive Assessment Roll/Waive Public Hearing/Adopt Assessment Roll/16- 17/13625 Round Lake Blvd NW/WM (See Resolution R094-15) Item 4 Accept Feasibility Report/Order Public Hearing/16-11/173rd Lane NW Reconstruction (See Resolution R095-15) Item 5 Approve Additional Services Fee Request/15-22/City Campus Expansion Master Plan Item 6 Approve 2016 Kennel Licenses Item 7 Approve Application for Exempt Permit/Andover Girls Hockey Booster Club Item 8 Approve 2016 Animal Control Contract Motion by Bukkila, Seconded by Goodrich, approval of the Consent Agenda as read. Motion carried unanimously. ANOKA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE MONTHLY REPORT Sergeant Anne Bluml presented the October 2015 Anoka County Sheriff’s Office Monthly Report. Mayor Trude wondered how people can keep track of registered offenders in the area. Sergeant Bluml stated the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is registered and the registered offenders are identified on their website. PUBLIC HEARING – VACATION OF EASEMENTS – HICKEY MEADOWS – MARK SMITH Mr. Carlberg explained Mr. Mark Smith is seeking to vacate roadway, drainage and utility easements over, under, and across portions of Hickory Meadows and Outlot A, Hickory Meadows as depicted on the easement vacation exhibits. Mr. Carlberg reviewed the staff report with the Council. Motion by Knight, Seconded by Holthus, to open the public hearing at 7:23 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. No one wished to address the City Council. Motion by Holthus, Seconded by Goodrich, to close the public hearing at 7:24 p.m. Motion Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes – November 17, 2015 Page 3 carried unanimously. Motion by Bukkila, Seconded by Knight, to approve the proposed vacation of easements. Motion carried unanimously. (See Resolution R097-15) APPROVE FINAL PLAT – HICKORY MEADOWS 2ND ADDITION – MARK SMITH Mr. Carlberg stated the City Council is asked to approve the final plat for Hickory Meadows 2nd Addition. Mr. Carlberg reviewed the staff report with the Council. Mayor Trude stated on the resolution they are going to create an easement across the south 100 feet of Lots 1-5 of Block 2 and Lot 7 is the long rectangular piece that goes farther back. She wondered if they needed to create an easement on that as well. Mr. Carlberg stated Lot 7 should be added as well. Motion by Bukkila, Seconded by Goodrich, to approve Resolution R098-15, approving the final plat with conditions and adding Block 2, Lot 7 to condition 4. Motion carried unanimously. CONSIDER REZONING – R-1, SINGLE FAMILY RURAL TO R-4, SINGLE FAMILY URBAN – COUNTRY OAKS NORTH 2ND ADDITION – SW LAND, LLC Mr. Carlberg stated the City Council is asked to review and approve the request to rezone a portion of properties known as Country Oaks North Second Addition from R-1 Single Family Rural to R-4 Single Family Urban as requested by SW Land, LLC. Mr. Carlberg reviewed the staff report with the Council. Mayor Trude asked Mr. Carlberg to review the history of this area and why it was rezoned a couple of years ago. Mr. Carlberg reviewed the history with the Council and residents at the meeting. Mayor Trude thought the zoning is the place that captures the change that has happened in the rural area of their community. Mr. Carlberg stated if the Council is not comfortable with or willing to approve the rezoning change that is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan, then the project before them does not really work. Councilmember Bukkila asked if they could move ahead to the preliminary plat consideration before considering action on this item to make sure they are in agreement with everything. Mayor Trude thought that would be appropriate. The Council deferred voting on this item until the next item on the Preliminary Plat and Development of the Planned Unit Development of Country Oaks North 2nd Addition is discussed. Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes – November 17, 2015 Page 4 CONSIDER PRELIMINARY PLAT AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN OF THE PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTRY OAKS NORTH 2ND ADDITION – SW LAND, LLC Mr. Carlberg stated the City Council is asked to review the preliminary plat/PUD for Country Oaks North Second Addition. The plat contains 85 Urban lots, 14 Rural one-acre lots, and Outlots A and B. Mr. Carlberg reviewed the staff report with the Council. Mayor Trude asked City Attorney Baumgartner to make sure there is a condition for the 167th Avenue completion for construction of the 2nd Addition of Country Oaks North. Mr. Carlberg reviewed the areas that will have city water and sewer within the development along with the home styles. Mayor Trude thought the home styles would be similar to what is in Exhibit C so the Council did not have to approve or reject each one individually. Mr. Carlberg indicated that is correct. Mr. Carlberg continued reviewing the Country Oaks North 2nd Addition Preliminary Plat/PUD with the Council. Councilmember Bukkila referenced the resolution and asked, in terms of what they have tried to accomplish with all of the residents meetings, will the development go west before it goes north. Mr. Carlberg thought the phasing could be addressed by the developer along with pricing of the homes. Councilmember Bukkila stated there is no mention of construction traffic anywhere in the resolution so she would like to see it rerouted off Wintergreen Street once they have 167th Avenue built to Hanson Boulevard, which would then be the route for construction traffic. Mr. Carlberg stated encouraging that would be a good condition to add. Mayor Trude stated the City segregated the purchase from the Selmer/Blanchette into different funding sources to allow for the road to meander around protected species of trees and other protected DNR plantings. Mr. Carlberg expanded on the reason for using different funding sources for the purchase of the property and stated the City is not making a lot of money by selling this property to the developer, but are basically covering the City’s costs. Mayor Trude stated she noticed a lot of the maple trees are located in the area that is platted and wanted a condition added to have a conservation easement to protect the stands of maples. She stated her goal is to preserve the maple trees so she would like to have this examined and sorted out by staff without doing a hard and fast condition put on it today. Mr. Carlberg stated this could be evaluated but they want to make sure the developer will still be able to build on the property. Councilmembers Holthus and Knight supported this. Councilmember Holthus asked what the line would be across each of the lot backs and wondered if they would all have to be the Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes – November 17, 2015 Page 5 same depth. Mr. Carlberg thought they would want a straight line rather than following a tree line. Councilmember Bukkila stated she had some hesitation with it because these homes are already backing up to forty acres of trees so why would they limit the future landowner from doing what they want with their property. Mayor Trude stated she went on a walk of the land and the developer knows the hardwood is concentrated on the land to the south. Councilmember Bukkila stated she would need to see this better demonstrated in documents. She wanted to know how many feet they would go into the lot before she agreed to anything. Councilmember Goodrich stated he is not in support of it because the lots back up to a fully wooded area and when the owners purchase the land, he felt they should be able to do what they want with their land. He did not think an easement was necessary in his opinion. Mayor Trude stated she had two Councilmembers supporting this, one maybe and one no; she thought they should investigate the easement further. Mr. Carlberg stated staff can sit down with the developer and look at this further. Mr. Scott Wold, SW Land, LLC, 3408 167th Lane NW, Andover, made a presentation to the City Council. He stated the price of homes will range from $300,000 to over $500,000 with the average home price being $425,000. Ms. Elizabeth Foerg, 16527 Sycamore Street NW, asked why they cannot adhere to the current zoning because when they moved in to the area, it was all zoned for 2.5 acre lots. She objected to the rezoning of it. She stated 2.5-acre lots allow for reasonable growth and houses, it satisfies the Metropolitan Council and MUSA rules, and does not circumvent the approved Comprehensive Plan. She did not think the Comprehensive Plan, that some residents actually read and understood before they purchased their properties should be turned over so fast. She understood the Comprehensive Plan was turned over in July but the residents living in the area were not told a rezoning was happening. If this area is left at 2.5-acre lots, they are not leaving any of the involved parties out of the loop. Ms. Ford stated a lot of the residents are upset that since they do not live within 500 feet, their opinion does not count while everyone living north of 161st Avenue is impacted by this. She believed the greenspace identified on the plat is going to be useless. Ms. Foerg stated unfettered fast growth without thought, without pruning, and without care actually causes weak plants. She felt some cities like Blaine, Fridley, and Richfield were dying from the inside because they were not thought out. She would prefer this to slow down and get the entire City’s input before they start changing huge sections without anybody knowing about it. Ms. Foerg stated there is a reason for the Comprehensive Plan, yet it is being turned over pretty often. She stated this is short sighted and all parties involved have not been informed. She also suggested asking hunters what they thought of this plan. Ms. Foerg felt lots in this development Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes – November 17, 2015 Page 6 with sewer or water will have no trees because the developer will bulldoze them all down. She is not fond of one-acre lots with septic and her lot has a well which uses the ground water. Ms. Foerg stated one-acre is too tight for septic and there needs to be enough land for a septic system to work and allowing too many houses on the water table is not a good plan. She purchased her property in compliance with the Comprehensive Plan and now they are changing it to match the PUD request. Ms. Foerg stated tree preservation has been mentioned with every development but it does not happen and all the trees get bulldozed. She stated this item went through the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting with a three/two vote and two members absent. The public did not know that meeting was going to happen unless they lived on a couple of lots that back up to this site. Ms. Foerg noted the Planning and Zoning Commission is definitely divided about this and asked the City Council to think about it further. Ms. Foerg stated she would like to see a full spreadsheet on how many of the homes along the railroad tracks sold at the price the developer has stated. She felt her property was worth a lot right now but if they sold the lots at 2.5 acres they would get their monies worth and still have Andover. Mr. Carlberg stated for a point of clarification, it was two years ago when this area was included in a Comprehensive Plan amendment, 80 acres was brought in at that time. The person that is testifying was notified of these meetings. Mayor Trude asked how far out the residents were noticed. Mr. Carlberg stated the City notified residents 700 feet around the property. Ms. Karen Murri, 16527 Sycamore Street NW, thought the precedent here is a very serious occasion. She indicated she was in on the discussions two years ago and one of the things she heard in that discussion was that part of the Comprehensive Plan is about fitting in with the character of a given area. One of the things she noted in her testimony for that Comprehensive Plan amendment was when you look at the overall map of Andover, you see what looks like a finger sticking up into all of the rural area and it is as though City staff, prior Council, and prior Planning and Zoning Commissioners kind of gave them the finger in that area. Mayor Trude indicated that comment was not a respectful comment and she did not care for the negative comments toward staff because when an application comes in, they must legally respond to the application and work with whoever brings the application in. That is their legal responsibility and they do not take a position except if the Council asks them to help them with an issue. Ms. Murri apologized for the comment but felt resident’s comments have been ignored consistently through this whole process, which has been very disturbing to her as a resident. She believed that all of the area south of this north of 161st Avenue have been extremely impacted by these changes and not informing residents of these changes has been a poor experience for all. Ms. Murri stated one of her biggest concerns in hearing the developer talk and hearing the discussions that in order to do this, they have to clear cut trees. The whole reason she moved into that area was the wooded lots and connection to nature in the area. She thought it was doing a disservice to Andover to approve tiny lots where there once were woods. Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes – November 17, 2015 Page 7 Councilmember Holthus stated there are expansions to the MUSA District, not just to the north but all over the City. The MUSA District can never really expand in a uniform way. It has to expand in various avenues because that is just the nature of how the MUSA District operates. She stated Andover has gone through a lot of growing pains and this is another one. Mayor Trude stated progress has been made on this plat over the last year and it does go back two years. Two years ago, a decision was made in a democratic way by elected officials in the community to move ahead with what is happening and being followed up with this plan. It is important to work in a respectful and legal fashion with the people who have the right to develop property and people who made the decisions. Mayor Trude stated the City is at this point today where the Metropolitan Council has provided sewer capacity to serve more families. She stated she will be sad this area will be clear cut but it has happened throughout the City before. Maybe an area where the City could have done a better job is to ask for additional trees in some of the areas where trees are coming down but the City does already require two trees per lot so the PUD will not be eliminating existing requirements. CONSIDER REZONING – R-1, SINGLE FAMILY RURAL TO R-4, SINGLE FAMILY URBAN – COUNTRY OAKS NORTH 2ND ADDITION – SW LAND, LLC – (cont.) Motion by Bukkila, Seconded by Goodrich, approving the rezoning request based on the fact that the property is located within the MUSA, water and sewer are available to the property, and the request is in harmony with the Andover Comprehensive Plan and adopting Ordinance 453 amending City Code Title 12-3-4, Zoning District Map of the City of Andover. Motion carried unanimously. CONSIDER PRELIMINARY PLAT AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN OF THE PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTRY OAKS NORTH 2ND ADDITION – SW LAND, LLC – (cont.) Motion by Trude, Seconded by Bukkila, to approve Resolution R099-15, approving the preliminary plat subject to the conditions of the resolution with the amendment to include consideration of a conservation easement to potentially be located across no more than the 30 feet of the backyards of the first three lots west of the City Park with further evaluation to occur with the City Natural Resource Technician and that space or less to be determined between now and time of final plat consideration, and adding a condition that construction traffic will be encouraged to use 167th Avenue rather than Wintergreen Street to access the development area prior to commencement of any residential home construction development. Motion carried unanimously. ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT City Staff updated the Council on the administration and city department activities, legislative Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes – November 17, 2015 Page 8 updates, updates on development/CIP projects, and meeting reminders/community events. MAYOR/COUNCIL INPUT (Commission Appointments) Mayor Trude stated Councilmembers should be thinking about appointments for next year and talk to her if they want to try something new. The City will continue taking applications for all the Commissions in the City. (Round Barn) Mayor Trude stated the Round Barn is open again with gifts and some antiques, crafts and food. It is open 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. They have a website page as well. RECESS Mayor Trude recessed the regular City Council meeting at 9:10 p.m. to a closed session of the City Council to discuss Union Negotiations Update. RECONVENE The City Council reconvened at 9:19 p.m. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Bukkila, Seconded by Goodrich, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:20 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Sue Osbeck, Recording Secretary TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. REGULAR ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES – NOVEMBER 17, 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE..........................................................................................................1 Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes – November 17, 2015 Page 9 RESIDENT FORUM.................................................................................................................. 1 AGENDA APPROVAL.................................................................................................................. 1 APPROVAL OF MINUTES........................................................................................................... 1 CONSENT ITEMS..........................................................................................................................2 Approve Payment of Claims........................................................................................................2 Receive Assessment Roll/Waive Public Hearing/Adopt Assessment Roll/16-17/13625 Round Lake Blvd NW/WM (R094-15)...........................................................................................2 Accept Feasibility Report/Order Public Hearing/16-11/173rd Lane NW Reconstruction (R095- 15) ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Approve Additional Services Fee Request/15-22/City Campus Expansion Master Plan........... 2 Approve 2016 Kennel Licenses...................................................................................................2 Approve Application for Exempt Permit/Andover Girls Hockey Booster Club......................... 2 Approve 2016 Animal Control Contract..................................................................................... 2 ANOKA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE MONTHLY REPORT.................................................2 PUBLIC HEARING – VACATION OF EASEMENTS – HICKEY MEADOWS – MARK SMITH (R097-15).......................................................................................................................2 APPROVE FINAL PLAT – HICKORY MEADOWS 2ND ADDITION – MARK SMITH (R098- 15)................................................................................................................................................3 CONSIDER REZONING – R-1, SINGLE FAMILY RURAL TO R-4, SINGLE FAMILY URBAN – COUNTRY OAKS NORTH 2ND ADDITION – SW LAND, LLC (Ord. 453)........3 CONSIDER PRELIMINARY PLAT AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN OF THE PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTRY OAKS NORTH 2ND ADDITION – SW LAND, LLC (R099-15)............................................................................................................................4 ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT.................................................................................................... 8 MAYOR/COUNCIL INPUT...........................................................................................................8 Commission Appointments............................................................................................................. 8 Round Barn......................................................................................................................................8 RECESS Union Negotiations Update..............................................................................................8 RECONVENE................................................................................................................................. 8 ADJOURNMENT........................................................................................................................... 8