City Council Workshop

Blaine City Hall City of Blaine 10801 Town Sq Dr NE Blaine, MN 55449 Anoka County, Minnesota Minutes - Final City Council Workshop Thursday, September 21, 2017 6:30 PM Cloverleaf Farm Room A NOTICE OF WORKSHOP MEETING 1 Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Mayor Ryan at 6:30 p.m. 2 Roll Call Quorum Present. ALSO PRESENT: City Manager Clark Arneson; Planning and Community Development Director Bryan Schafer; Interim Police Chief/Safety Services Manager Dan Szykulski; Finance Director Joe Huss; Public Services Manager/Assistant City Manager Bob Therres; Budget/Fiscal Analyst Ward Brown; City Attorney Patrick Sweeney; Communications Technician Roark Haver; Senior Engineering Technician Jason Sundeen; and City Clerk Catherine Sorensen. Present: 5 - Councilmember Clark, Councilmember King, Councilmember Jeppson, Mayor Ryan, and Councilmember Swanson Absent: 2 - Councilmember Hovland, and Councilmember Garvais 3 New Business 3-1 WS 17-54 DISCUSSION ON ABLE STREET DRIVEWAY GRADE Public Services Manager/Assistant City Manager Therres stated at the last City Council meeting, Councilmember Hovland asked staff to get a cost estimate to adjust the driveway grade for 8621 Able Street to its pre-reconstruction grade. The grade has been changed by 2% and the resident has complained that his trailer hitch now bottoms out when he enters and leaves his driveway. It was noted the driveway grade was well within the grade tolerance levels. Staff estimated the cost to return the grade to the pre-reconstruction grade is $10,000. This cost includes the removal and relocation of sidewalk as well as requiring the removal of a large tree on the neighbor’s property to get the grade to exactly where it was prior to reconstruction. He requested direction from the Council on how to proceed. After discussion, Council consensus was to not adjust the driveway grade as requested by the resident. City of Blaine Page 1 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final September 21, 2017 3-2 WS 17-51 OFF-SALE LIQUOR LICENSE REVIEW - CONTINUED City Clerk Sorensen presented the Council with information on off-sale liquor licenses in surrounding communities as requested at the last workshop and asked for feedback from the Council on whether they would consider amending the ordinance to allow an off-sale license at 9850 Polk Street as requested by the property owner or any other amendments surrounding off-sale licenses. Councilmember Clark said he anticipated a change was coming and explained he did not want to turn away a high-end grocer if they requested a liquor license. He proposed the City create a second-tier liquor license for grocers and recommended current liquor license holders and the Chamber of Commerce be involved in this discussion. Councilmember Swanson agreed with this suggestion. He stated he could see reducing the one-mile radius for liquor licenses so long as the City kept control of the number of licenses within Blaine. Councilmember King questioned what the request was from staff at this time. City Clerk Sorensen explained the City recently had a liquor license request for a site that fell inside the one-mile radius and that staff anticipated grocers and other big box retailers would be making requests for liquor licenses in the near future so staff wanted to review with Council on how to address these requests. Councilmember King said he did not believe there was a reason to make a change to City Code at this time. Mayor Ryan indicated the Council would need to hold a discussion with liquor license holders on how to address this matter, adding the current liquor code was adopted in 1986. Councilmember Clark explained if the Council were to open up liquor licenses to grocers this would impede on the one-mile radius. He supported the Council postponing further discussion until after the first of the year. Council consensus was to not amend the Code at this time and to review the matter again if and when a request was received by the City from a grocery vendor. 3-3 WS 17-55 2018 PROPOSED SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS BUDGET DISCUSSION Councilmember Jeppson recused herself from the discussion at 6:55 p.m. Finance Director Huss discussed the Charitable Gambling Special Revenue Funds with the Council. He provided further comment on the organizations contributing to the Charitable Gambling Fund and reviewed the funding requests with the Council. Staff requested feedback from the Council on the proposed Special Revenue Fund City of Blaine Page 2 City Council Workshop Minutes - Final September 21, 2017 budgets. Councilmember Swanson supported the City continuing to fund the Alexandra House. Council consensus was to bring forward the charitable gambling special revenue funds budget as proposed for 2018 without including Civil Air Patrol, Beyond the Yellow Ribbon, and any new requests. Councilmember Jeppson returned to the meeting at 7:08 p.m. Finance Director Huss discussed the proposed cable television and high definition equipment upgrades for City Hall. Other Business None. ADJOURN The Workshop was adjourned at 7:19 p.m. Adjourned City of Blaine Page 3