City Council

ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING – APRIL 24, 2018 MINUTES The Workshop Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Julie Trude, April 24, 2018, 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 Community Development Director, Joe Janish Public Works Director/City Engineer, David Berkowitz Natural Resources Technician, Kameron Kytonen Chief Building Official, Fred Patch Others HONEY BEE ORDINANCE DISCUSSION Mr. Kytonen explained the City Council is requested to continue to discuss the components of the Honey Bee Ordinance (City Code 5-1D) to consider amending it to allow beekeeping on lots smaller than 2 acres. Mr. Kytonen gave a presentation to the City Council and reviewed prior discussion that occurred at the February workshop. Mr. Jim Meyers was present at the meeting. Mr. Meyers is an avid bee keeper. Mayor Trude thought the important thing is to have some oversight when raising honey bees. She liked some of the regulations in the City of Shoreview and thought the City of Ramsey might be something to follow. She noted the Department of Agriculture talked about this and the most important thing is to care for the bees. Councilmember Knight asked what the negative is for this. Mayor Trude thought it was the fear of the unknown. Mr. Kytonen stated there needs to be a reasonable distance from homes and setbacks from property lines. Mr. Meyers stated he has been a bee keeper and recently he has had a problem with other bees robbing his hives. Honey bees are only aggressive when someone is bothering their own hives. He noted the hives are twenty feet from his neighbors’ property. The bees do not leave their area Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – April 24, 2018 Page 2 unless there are flowering plants on another property. Mr. Meyers stated a swarm is the least aggressive thing to have, it just means they have outgrown their hive and are moving to a new home. Mayor Trude stated she would be supportive of moving forward. Councilmember Holthus stated she would be in favor of a permitting process on lot sizes smaller than 2 acres. Hives are important, and they should try to do things to help. Councilmember Bukkila stated she did not know what to tell people who are allergic to bee stings. Mr. Meyers stated native bees are a lot more aggressive then honey bees. Mayor Trude asked if they should start with 2 acres or larger to see what kind of interest there is. Councilmember Goodrich stated he would like to scale it like Shoreview. Mayor Trude thought Mr. Kytonen could combine Ramsey and Shoreview regulations and then review this again in a year to see how it is going. Mr. Kytonen noted their current ordinance allows bee keeping on properties 2 acres or larger. Mayor Trude thought they might want to look at one acre or larger. Mr. Berkowitz reviewed some examples of setbacks within the City and where bees could be located. Mr. Berkowitz proposed to set up a pilot project, where the City could evaluate bee keeping over that time. Mayor Trude liked the idea of 125 feet from other structures. Mr. Meyer stated he would be open to doing a two-day class for potential bee keepers to help them understand how to set up and maintain a hive. Mr. Meyer explained the process of bee keeping with the Council. Mr. Patch stated the flight path is usually a wedge and right in front of the hive is the protected area. Mr. Kytonen noted currently they have a fence requirement where a fence needs to be located around any bee hive in the City. This encourages the bees to fly up rather than straight out of the hive. The Council concurred this will be reviewed in the fall after a pilot program. ROUND LAKE ASSOCIATION PRESENTATION Mr. Berkowitz explained the Round Lake Association has requested to present some history on the lake and an option to aerate the lake to possibly enhance the quality. Mr. Lee Warneka and Mr. Jeff Mills, Round Lake Association, made a presentation to the City Council regarding removal of cattails and aeration of the lake. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – April 24, 2018 Page 3 Mayor Trude stated her concern would be with thin ice around the aeration in the winter. She noted Fridley has an aerator and, in the winter, puts an orange fence around it for safety. It was noted the Association would like the City to have Mr. Kytonen write up a grant to the State for funds for aeration. Mayor Trude thanked the Association for the presentation and staff will discuss the possibility of writing a grant for next year. Councilmember Holthus asked if a lake management plan is in place. Mr. Warneka stated they are working with the DNR on a lake management plan, but it is not done. Councilmember Bukkila stated she would be hard pressed on relying on the residents to help fund an aeration plan because there are not a lot of residents on Round Lake compared to other lakes. Mayor Trude thought if they could get a grant that may solve the problem and then the $200 a month maintenance would be something to work with the Park and Recreation Commission on. Councilmember Knight asked what would increase the odds to get a grant. Mr. Kytonen stated they need to get support and collaboration with other entities. Mr. Mike Abernathy, 3510 152nd Lane wondered if they could get City businesses to contribute to an aeration system. Councilmember Bukkila asked staff to provide a cost estimate for the aeration project. Councilmember Goodrich stated he is in favor of this and thought if they could do a fundraiser for this they might be able to get it done. Ms. Jennifer Coughlin, 14536 Round Lake Boulevard thought if the association knew there was support of the City it might help. Mr. Jim Meyers stated it is a different lake but a wonderful environment for canoeing, kayaking and quiet water sports. This is a unique lake for wildlife. Ms. McCarty stated in the winter they walk the lake all of the time and enjoy it. There is a lot of cattails on the lake. People are continually walking through their property to get to the lake because they do not know how to get on the lake. Mr. Abernathy thought to get the grant match, money could come from the residents. Mayor Trude was not sure what needs to be done to apply for a grant. Ms. Barb Ronning, 3711 145th Avenue stated she is contemplating being the executive director for the Association 501C3 application. Mayor Trude thought that was great. Ms. Ronning stated Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – April 24, 2018 Page 4 she is currently the secretary for the Association and they do have a good resident list. Mayor Trude stated they still have time to review this for adding into their budget for next year. RECESS AND RECONVENE The Council recessed at 7:08 p.m. and reconvened at 7:15 p.m. CITY CODE AMENDMENT DISCUSSION Mr. Janish explained after two variances were recently granted by the Council, staff was provided direction to look at increasing the square footage of allowable accessory structures. Mr. Janish reviewed the staff report with the City Council. Mr. Patch noted there are currently three conditions that need to be met in order to construct a pole structure on a property. Mayor Trude wondered if it should only be allowed in certain zoning districts. Councilmember Goodrich thought there was also discussion about architectural design of the building. Mr. Patch reviewed the new wording with the Council. He stated there is some concern with who reviews the plans and the subjectivity of the design. Mayor Trude stated they currently have that issue. Mr. Patch stated that is correct and staff needed to determine a standard. The Council reviewed the amendment wording with staff. Councilmember Bukkila agreed to lowering the restrictions to 2.5 acres from 3 acres because she did not think it would have an impact on the neighborhood. Councilmember Goodrich agreed. Council agreed the new design standards proposed should go through the approval process. Mr. Patch noted height was also brought up and Council never wanted to change the height and the new wording changes it, so he will clean that up and go back to the original wording. Mayor Trude stated they never discussed the shipping and storage container in the driveway and wondered if this should be shortened from thirty days to two weeks. Councilmember Bukkila had mixed feelings about this because some large projects may take longer than two weeks. How would they accommodate a resident through a remodel without residents abusing it. Councilmember Goodrich thought two weeks might be a little short. Councilmember Bukkila thought the temporary storage code proposed reads better than the old wording. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – April 24, 2018 Page 5 RURAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (PUD) DISCUSSION Mr. Janish explained the City Council recently reviewed two rural PUD requests. Both developments received mixed comments from the Council. A third rural PUD has been submitted for a sketch plan review and staff is looking for guidance on what the Council desires to see as it relates to rural PUD requests. Mr. Janish reviewed the City Code (13-3-11) and staff report with the City Council. Mayor Trude asked if soil disturbances were the same as grading. Mr. Janish indicated that is correct. Mayor Trude stated she liked this better than clearing all the trees in the entire development. Mr. Berkowitz stated this concept follows the lay of the land instead of changing the look of the land. The Council supported the change. Councilmember Goodrich stated he liked the PUD concept because he thought there were good tradeoffs, but how far do they want to deviate from standard. How small of a lot do they want to go to. As far as lots, if they are coming to the same number of houses and averaging 2.5 acres, if they could stick closer to the 2 acres he did not think that was going to disturb an existing development. What also might vary the bar is if they are not impacting the neighbors at all. Councilmember Holthus agreed with Councilmember Goodrich. She would suggest that the goal is for a higher quality development but in the R-1 District she would feel better if the majority of the lots were closer to 2.5 acres and saved all the amenities and other qualities of the lots she would be fine with that. In Section A, she thought the current PUD standards matched these well. She indicated she did not have an issue with any of the items in sections A or B. The Council reviewed to the changes in section A of City Code 13-3-11. Mr. Janish reviewed section B. Councilmember Bukkila thought there needed to be a focus to some degree to the parking. She stated there needs to be public safety added to this section. They need to look at this from all aspects, not just as a user aspect but also as a service delivery. She stated delivery trucks need to have full access turn around ability without pulling into someone’s driveway. Mayor Trude stated some of these items fit better when looking at the townhome model where everything is shrunk which then it gets tight to maneuver. The Council reviewed section B and would like to consider the public safety aspect in City Code 13-3-11. Councilmember Bukkila stated if there is going to be closer setbacks, without on-street parking there will be problems and she did not want to make concessions for a party. If there is not going to be street parking, then there needs to be enough on private property parking for rural projects. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – April 24, 2018 Page 6 Mr. Dickinson noted they should add that streets need to allow for public safety and parking if there are shorter setbacks for housing. Mr. Berkowitz asked if they should have parking on at least one side or both. Councilmember Bukkila stated she is trying to be flexible but there needs to be some sort of on-street parking. Mr. Janish reviewed sections C and D of City Code 13-3-11. Mayor Trude stated the issue in some of the PUD’s the Council looked at was there was not an adequate buffer. Councilmember Holthus stated this section assumes there will be a homeowner’s association (HOA). Mr. Dickinson stated that was not necessarily true. The question was if homeowner associations were acceptable as part of the reason for approval. It is not saying it is not an automatic. Mayor Trude did not think Homeowners Associations should be a bullet point under this section. She thought it fit better with architectural design and how the homes all look and fit together. Councilmember Bukkila stated she did not generally like HOA’s and she did not want to have developers feel compelled to put in an HOA. She thought it was fine when there was some type of a joint or community property that it would support but she did not want it to be mandatory. She stated she wants to find a way to find some flexibility and not have an HOA where people can still maintain these with less than 2.5 acres. There was discussion between the Council and staff regarding Homeowner’s Associations. Mayor Trude thought the buffering was very important. Mr. Janish reviewed sections E and F of City Code 13-3-11. Councilmember Holthus thought there should be wording to mitigate for other trees that are lost. Staff reviewed examples of significant usable space on individual lots. Council indicated they would consider preservation of significant usable space on individual lots. Councilmember Knight indicated he is concerned with smaller lots and septic systems. Mr. Janish stated .31 acres are required for a septic system so there would be adequate area. The developer needs to verify that there are two locations at 5,000 square feet to accommodate a septic system. The Council reviewed section F, and discussed the merit of preserving significant usable space. Mr. Janish reviewed section G of City Code 13-3-11. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – April 24, 2018 Page 7 The Council had no concerns with this section. Mr. Janish reviewed section H of City Code 13-3-11. Councilmember Bukkila asked what the minimum standard for a new development is for rural. Staff indicated there is no minimum standard. Councilmembers Bukkila and Holthus indicated they are open on architectural design. Councilmember Bukkila indicated she did not like cookie cutter style homes. Mr. Janish reviewed section I of City Code 13-3-11. Mayor Trude asked if anyone in the audience would like to speak regarding this item. Mr. Darren Lazan, Landform Professional Services, appreciated the time the Council has spent on this. He thought the PUD process in Andover closely relates to what is being done in other areas of the twin cities and especially in urban areas in form base code. There are prescriptive code and form base code. He reviewed each with the Council and explained the differences. Mr. Lazan stated when they approached the PUD project, Preserve at Oakview and how they approach their current project. They determine how the development fits with the land and what is the best way to make it fit the form and not fit the rules. Mayor Trude thought the adjacent neighbors would need to weigh in on a PUD and they would want to look at that as well. They need to look at the buffer to the adjacent property to make sure it fits and blends in well. Mr. Lazan stated he has seen another community in the south metro that amended their code similar to this and it has worked well. Mr. Josh Bergeron stated they have other PUD’s in Andover with 1.5 acres so in his development they did not have one lot that was 1.5 acres, they were all larger and met every one of the requirements, so he was wondering how that PUD got shot down based on what he presented. He noted with the proposed PUD they were benefiting the adjacent kennel as well and this was all high usable land. Mayor Trude stated she did not want to debate a certain development at the workshop. This is for review of the City Code. Mr. Dickinson stated it all goes back to the purpose and the Council has the ability to reject a PUD if they decide that a higher quality development has not been achieved through a PUD proposal. Mayor Trude stated nothing like this has been approved in the City yet so a precedent has not been set. Staff is only indicated there is a possibility. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – April 24, 2018 Page 8 Mr. Bergeron stated as a developer, one of the things they look at is the cost. They talk about everything and it costs so much money in doing the initial construction for the developer and in order to do that they need to make sure they can develop the land without going bankrupt, so they need to have a set number of lots to make a development work to everyone’s benefit. He stated when looking at the PUD plans the Council needs to take into consideration the developers initial costs when reviewing a PUD. Mr. Dave Wills, Centra Homes, stated the feedback is helpful. He indicated he liked the flexibility of the City Code and it gives them the ability to do something nice with a development. He stated he was supportive of the City having some flexibility of a development. CITY CAMPUS MASTER PLAN UPDATE DISCUSSION Mr. Berkowitz updated the Council on the City Campus Master Plan. Majority of the Council supported the addition of Kelwall on the Public Works Building. Mayor Trude suggested this be brought forward to the open house for public input to see what the residents like. Mr. Dickinson reviewed the Community Center/YMCA updated plans with the Council. 2019 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT DISCUSSION Mr. Dickinson explained City Administration is starting to focus on the 2019 Annual Operating Budget Development process and is looking for City Council direction as the preparation of the 2019 Annual Operating Budget proceeds. Mr. Dickinson reviewed the 2019 budget development with the Council. 2018 BUDGET PROGRESS REPORTS Mr. Dickinson explained The City of Andover 2018 General Fund Budget contains total revenues of $11,085,238 and total expenditures of $11,319,815; a decrease in fund balance is planned. Mr. Dickinson reviewed the 2018 budget progress reports with the Council. 2018 CITY INVESTMENT REVIEW Mr. Dickinson reviewed the 2018 City Investments with the City Council. Andover City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes – April 24, 2018 Page 9 OTHER TOPICS There were no other topics. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Bukkila, Seconded by Goodrich, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:43 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Sue Osbeck, Recording Secretary TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc.