City Council

ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING – OCTOBER 25, 2016 MINUTES The Workshop Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Julie Trude, October 25, 2016, 6:00 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 City Planner, Stephanie Hanson Public Works Director/City Engineer, David Berkowitz Others COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AMENDMENT DISCUSSION Ms. Hanson explained the City Council is requested to discuss and provide direction to staff on the City Council’s desire to proceed with a Comprehensive Plan Amendment (CPA) and Zoning Code text amendment to address future development within the rural reserve area. Ms. Hanson reviewed the staff report with the Council. Mayor Trude thought the Packer children wanted to build on the grandma’s property but it sounds like they want to subdivide the property within the estate so each child gets a portion of it. Ms. Hanson indicated that is correct. Ms. Hanson stated there are two children that want to have houses and everyone in the family is in agreement that if they can split the property and each get their share then the two children can build homes on their portion. She stated at this time the Comprehensive Plan does not allow a split of the land so the City’s hands are tied and Met Council does not support that kind of subdivision in this area. Ms. Hanson stated she has been working with Met Council on a flexible development policy to see how it all works. She found out that there are 28 communities in the metro area that are similar to Andover where they have a rural reserve area and out of the 28 communities, 22 do allow development in these rural areas. Andover does not at this time. There are a lot examples of ordinances out there that communities are using. She indicated she has not reviewed all of the ordinances in depth. Mayor Trude thought the process would be simpler than it actually is. Councilmember Bukkila Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 25, 2016 Page 2 asked if Ms. Hanson knew which areas the children wanted to split and build on. Ms. Hanson showed on the map where the proposed building would occur. Councilmember Bukkila indicated she did not have a problem supporting it. Councilmember Holthus asked how many acres are the lots to the west of the subject parcel. Ms. Hanson stated they are five acre properties. Ms. Hanson stated in the rural reserve at this time property owners cannot split the land into eight acre parcels as requested by the Packers because that is not provided for in the Comprehensive Plan. The best that they could do is one unit per ten acres and would be a pretty quick comprehensive plan amendment. Mayor Trude stated it would be nice if the family could work something out together. There was discussion between the Councilmembers on how the Rural Reserve will develop over time. Councilmember Bukkila asked if the Rural Reserve as a designation is it locked in as a chunk or can pieces be pulled out of the Rural Reserve and then it meets a different standard. Mr. Dickinson explained the reason why the Met Council wants to keep this area as a Rural Reserve area. He stated the Met Council is trying to be a good steward to the sanitary sewer pipe in the ground and they want to make the sewer operation efficient throughout all the cities served. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed with the City Council the Rural Reserve and all the challenges for development. Mayor Trude stated she is not against this but thought further review needed to be done. Consensus of the Council was for staff to challenge the family for alternatives and if that does not work then to look at flexible zoning for the area in order to meet the family’s needs but not to open up development to everyone at this time. Councilmember Holthus wondered if the Met Council would be open to rezoning just this area and not the entire Rural Reserve. Ms. Hanson stated if this area would be developed it would need to be replaced somewhere else in the community and there really is not any other area where replacement is available. DISCUSS WETLAND RESTORATION PROJECT ACCESS/12-23 Mr. Berkowitz explained the City Council is requested to discuss a possible access location and estimated cost for an access on the south side of the Wetland Restoration project (Old Woodland Creek Golf Course). Mr. Berkowitz reviewed the staff report with the Council. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 25, 2016 Page 3 Councilmember Holthus asked if any other access opportunity along the street were examined. Mr. Berkowitz stated the direction was to start with the piece the City owned and if the decision was not to pursue it because of the cost then letters would be sent out to the residents to see if there was interest. Councilmember Holthus indicated there were a couple of residents that were interested in an additional access point but they did not live on that street. Councilmember Holthus thought it would be nice to have access on the south side of the wetland. Mr. Berkowitz indicated staff was looking for direction from the Council on this item. He stated as far as funding, part of the funding could be from the sale of the land and easement. There may need to be some money that comes from the trail fund. Mr. Dickinson reviewed the process of turning the land from a golf course into a wetland. He indicated they have approximately $50,000 to use towards the project but the cost is around $68,000 plus the additional easement amount. Councilmember Goodrich thought they should bid this out and also see if there is any resident on the south side that would be willing to sell some land for an easement. Mr. Berkowitz stated they could do this and have a pretty detailed plan but would need to put some substantial time into this to put the plan together. Councilmember Goodrich asked if something on the south side would be less expensive for an easement. Mr. Berkowitz stated it would be less expensive from the standpoint of construction but the easement would be more expensive. Councilmember Holthus stated she would like to see access on the south side. Mayor Trude did not think any of the residents would be willing to sell their land for easement access because these are nice, executive homes. Councilmember Holthus did not think it would hurt to send out a letter to the residents. Consensus was to send out letters to the residents and to firm up the access costs on the City owned access. DISCUSS MEMORIAL PROPOSAL Mr. Berkowitz explained friends of the late Mr. Tony Emmerich have been discussing with staff a memorial for him and have proposed the location in Shadowbrook West Park in which Mr. Emmerich was the developer. The location proposed is at the trail intersection of the Shadowbrook West Park trail and the trail along Bunker Lake Boulevard. The memorial improvements would not be installed until after the Bunker Lake Boulevard reconstruction project is complete. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed the information with the Council. Mayor Trude thought Mr. Emmerich was proud of this aspect of this area in the park. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 25, 2016 Page 4 Councilmember Goodrich asked what the budget impact will be on this. Mr. Berkowitz stated it would only be long term maintenance. Consensus of the Council was to allow the memorial to be developed along the trail in Shadowbrook West Park. 2017 PROPOSED ROAD RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT SCOPING DISCUSSION 17-2 & 17-11 Mr. Berkowitz explained the City Council is requested to review and discuss the project scoping for the proposed 2017 Street Reconstruction project and the proposed reconstruction of 168th Lane. Mr. Bob Whitney a resident in the project area was at the meeting. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed 168th Lane with the Council. Mr. Berkowitz stated the corner house fronts Round Lake Boulevard and the policy states that fronting will be assessed. He stated the driveway to the house has never been on Round Lake Boulevard, all of its access is on 168th Lane. Councilmember Goodrich asked if the County does anything on Round Lake Boulevard would they assess the resident. Mr. Berkowitz stated County roads are not assessed. He felt this home should be included in the assessment because the only access to the property is from 168th Lane even though the house fronts Round Lake Boulevard. Councilmember Goodrich felt if the assessment is consistent and what they have been doing and it will not get assessed if Round Lake Boulevard is reconstructed. Councilmember Holthus thought because this is their only access they should be assessed. Councilmember Knight agreed. Mr. Berkowitz stated on another segment they are proposing to continue the 33 feet through the entire segment and to stripe the shoulders. He wondered if they should continue with the 33 feet segment because they are going to have concrete curb and gutter or do they go with a 26.67-foot- wide section. He noted the City would be paying for the widening of the road in this segment if the Council would like a wider roadway. Mayor Trude stated she is concerned the City will be using a lot of money for something the residents along there do not want. Mr. Berkowitz stated they need Council direction on the road width before the neighborhood meeting. Mayor Trude wondered if it is difficult to maintain a road with two different widths. Mr. Berkowitz stated it is not. If the direction is to go 33 feet, then the entire section would be that width and if the direction is to narrow it the entire section would be 26.67 feet wide. Mayor Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 25, 2016 Page 5 Trude felt they needed the extra shoulder. Mr. Berkowitz noted they would use State Aid money for the additional road width. Mayor Trude and the Council felt they needed the wider road for safety. Council consensus was to widen the section of road to 33 feet. Student and pedestrian safety would be the reason for the wider road width. Mr. Berkowitz stated the green segment is a rural section. He reviewed the area with the Council. 16518 Crocus Street is an exception because there is no ditch. They are proposing on this property to bring the curb and gutter around to the end of this property. The difference is, and states in the policy if there is no defined ditch system then concrete curb and gutter is part of the improvement. He stated there will be a significant difference in assessment for this home of a couple thousand dollars. Councilmember Bukkila asked Mr. Berkowitz if it was looked at how the residents land drains. Mr. Berkowitz stated they have and the land is high with no ditches so the water works its way around the grass to the corner and shoots some of the water out of the property. Councilmember Bukkila asked if there is a way to put ditches back in or offer that in lieu of curb and gutter to keep the assessment cost down. Mr. Berkowitz did not think the owner would be happy with ditches and thought it would cost more to put the ditches in than curb and gutter. Mayor Trude asked if they curb this property and channel the water, where will the water go. Mr. Berkowitz indicated it will go where the water is now flowing to. He stated the grass berm is acting like a curb right now and when they go in and reconstruct the road the grass will be disturbed and wash away and it will become a continuous battle to try to maintain the area like it is now. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed the blue area and stated this area is straight forward. He noted they could consider the green and red areas as one development area because they are very similar and could be assessed the same rate or if separated the red area would be a significantly higher cost. Mayor Trude stated the red and green areas will pay for the 26.67-foot street width with concrete curb and gutter and the City will pay for the widening of the road to 33 feet. She thought the two areas were comparable. Councilmember Bukkila did not think it was right to assess the same amounts to both the red and the green areas. Councilmember Bukkila asked besides road and curb are there any issues with water drainage that will be addressed. Mr. Berkowitz stated there is not, the only difference would be the removal of the concrete curb and gutter and lot size. If they were to remove the concrete curb Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 25, 2016 Page 6 and gutter from the assessment the City would need to raise their assessment percentage from 25% to something higher. Mayor Trude thought they needed to treat this as one project area where there is one assessment rate for the people without ditches and one assessment rate for the people with ditches. Councilmember Bukkila asked if all the area has curb that will be replaced. Mr. Berkowitz indicated in the green area the bituminous curb will be ground up and replaced with concrete curb and gutter. Councilmember Goodrich stated he is leaning towards paying for what you get and the area you live in. He did not think the green area should pay the same as the red area. Mr. Whitney stated when this issue was brought up before, the road was ok and was just starting to alligator crack but now he agreed that it was time for the road to be replaced. He stated the reason he was at the meeting is he is in the blue area with no curbs and pretty deep ditches and he does not want to pay for someone else’s curb that he cannot even see. He thought what the Council was doing was spot on and allocating based on benefit. Mr. Whitney wondered if it would make sense to increase the tax rate and put it all into the City budget so the residents don’t pay anything which would get the residents a nominal 20 percent discount on this deal because the Federal Government subsidizes State and local taxes. Councilmember Goodrich thought that would be moving toward a communal type of assessment. Mayor Trude wondered how that would work. Mr. Dickinson stated Mr. Whitney is suggesting raising property taxes to cover the cost. Councilmember Bukkila asked if it was required to go with the full curb versus the ribbon curb. Mr. Berkowitz stated the way the surrounding area is it is set up for the full curb and if they go away from that there are added expenses. He stated they will look at the curb and put in the best feasible. Consensus of the Council was to split up the assessment between the three distinct areas (red, green and blue) because of the cost variance issues. DISCUSS STREET LIGHTS ON CROSSTOWN BLVD. NW BY THE WDE SITE Mr. Berkowitz stated the City Council is requested to discuss and direct staff on how to proceed with a request to add street lighting on the east side of Crosstown Boulevard from Andover Boulevard to Partridge Court. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed the information with the Council. Mayor Trude thought this would be a good item to get done. Mr. Berkowitz stated they could Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 25, 2016 Page 7 take the funds out of the Road and Bridge Fund. Mayor Trude wondered if staff could also look at the crossing further up by Sunshine Park to see if lighting is needed. She indicated she has had residents comment about how dark it is. Consensus of the Council was to have both areas evaluated for lighting. 2017 SPECIAL REVENUE, DEBT SERVICE, CAPITAL PROJECTS, ENTERPRISE & INTERNAL SERVICE FUNDS BUDGET DISCUSSION Mr. Dickinson explained the Council has had several reviews of the 2017 Proposed General Fund Budget that will be supported by the 2017 Tax Levy. The Council did adopt at the September 6th regular Council meeting a Preliminary 2017 General Fund Levy & Budget. The Preliminary 2017 Levy & Budget proposes a total property tax levy of $11,938,555. Mr. Dickinson briefly reviewed all of the funds with the Council. 2016 BUDGET PROGRESS REPORT Mr. Dickinson explained the City of Andover 2016 General Fund Budget contains total revenues of $10,390,411 and total expenditures of $11,003,788, a decrease in fund balance is planned. Mr. Dickinson reviewed the information with the Council. 2016 INVESTMENTS REVIEW Mr. Dickinson explained summary reporting of the City Investments Portfolio to the Governing body is a recommended financial practice and often viewed positively by rating agencies. Furthermore, the City of Andover Investment Policy recommends the Finance Director presents to the City Council at least quarterly the type of investments held by the City. Mr. Dickinson reviewed the information with the Council. OTHER TOPICS Mr. Dickinson updated the Council on the interviews for the Community Development Director Position. He stated he plans on making a recommendation on Thursday after talking to each finalist’s current supervisor. Mr. Berkowitz stated there are a bunch of Cedar trees in Fox Meadows Park where they are going to construct a soccer field and the Anoka Conservation District uses the Cedar trees for erosion bank stabilization and would like to take the trees. Mayor Trude asked if the City is going to remove the trees in order to put in the field. Mr. Berkowitz stated they would. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – October 25, 2016 Page 8 Council consensus was to allow the Anoka Conservation District to come in and remove the trees. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Bukkila, Seconded by Goodrich, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:23 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Sue Osbeck, Recording Secretary TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc.