City Council Meetings and Work Sessions

City of Excelsior City Council Meeting MINUTES Monday, March 19, 2018 5:30 P.M. 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Gaylord opened the meeting at 5:35 pm. 2. ROLL CALL Present: Councilmember Beattie, Carlson, Caron, Miller, and Mayor Gaylord Absent: None Planning Commissioners: Harrison, DiLorenzo, Kirschner, Craig, Holste, And Chairperson Wallace Also Present: City Manager Luger, City Attorney Staunton, Public Works Superintendent Amundsen, Planning Director Smith, Consulting City Planner Richards, City Clerk Orlofsky 3. OATH OF OFFICE (a) Planning Commission – Kate Holste Mayor Gaylord conducted the oath of office for Planning Commissioner Kate Holste. 4. JOINT MEETING WITH THE PLANNING COMMISSION (a) Comprehensive Plan Update Smith provided the background information on the Comprehensive Plan Update. He reported that the Comprehensive Plan is about 90% done. Chairperson Wallace explained that the other 10% that is left of the Comprehensive Plan is the finetuning, formatting, and completing of the charts. Kirshner explained that some of the Planning Commissioners felt that there was not enough time to go through the Comprehensive Plan. They wished they had more time to develop the character of Excelsior within the Comprehensive Plan. (a) Comprehensive Plan Update - Continued Harrison added that she also felt that the Comprehensive Plan was rushed. She explained that the City Council has given the Planning Commission so many different projects to study that they were not able to apply their full attention to the Comprehensive Plan Gaylord asked staff where the 20-year timeframe came from. Smith explained that the Met Council always provides 20 years Projections? Smith added that the Council and Commission can still continue to plan for 10 years or whatever timeframe they decide. Luger explained that the City can request a time extension but that does not mean that the Met Council will grant it. Luger suggested that the City could submit the Comprehensive Plan as is, as most of the plan is complete, and continue to work through the chapters and submit the revisions as they proceed. Smith agreed that the Met Council does allow Cities to notify and submit changes as they go. Richards added that there was a certain amount of changes that the Met Council wanted to see updated in the 10-year plan and staff took it one step further and updated the plan even more. Luger added that the Council made the decision to proceed with a simple update of the Comprehensive Plan without a Steering Committee because the City is fully developed and is not changing much. Caron added that she agrees with the Planning Commission and that she is happy the Commission is having the discussion on where this City should be in the next 10 years. Caron asked the Commissioners to take the time to do a side by side review of the Comprehensive Plan to make sure that key items were not missed. Caron shared that the Chamber has approached the City Council to investigate developing the City parking lots to include some more commercial property. The Commission should start talking about those kind of ideas to help the Council determine what that should look like. (a) Comprehensive Plan Update - Continued Carlson explained that the Comprehensive Plan is a road map to the community. There are not a lot of major changes due to the City being fully developed but there will be minor changes. The City Council relies on the input from the community for those changes. Miller echoed Carlson’s concerns and thanked the Commission for all the hard work they have been doing and that they have been dealing with a lot of stuff. Miller also thanked the Planning Commission for their hard work on the East Side Study. Miller thought the Council received some positive feedback and interaction during that process. Craig explained that the last time the Council went through the Comprehensive Planning process the Planning Commission and Council held meetings with the public, which allowed for more voices. Kirschner added that Craig was right that the Comprehensive Plan was missing the community voice. Harrison explained that she did not feel the Comprehensive Plan had the vision that the community wanted. She thanked staff for updating the Comprehensive Plan, but wished they had more time. Gaylord stated that he believed the City had a solid Comprehensive Plan and that the City should continue to submit the Comprehensive Plan on time, and possibly as an alternative, the City Council and Planning Commission can continue to work on amendments to the plan. DiLorenzo explained that they have a highly functional Planning Commission and the less time they spend contradicting themselves the better. DiLorenzo added that perhaps some key audiences were missed, but the City has a good general Comprehensive Plan. He would like the Commission to submit the plan and continue to develop the character within the Comprehensive Plan. Gaylord asked the Planning Commission to focus on the lake front and the empty property near the Port and the movie theatre. Miller would like the City Council to consider improving City Hall. Changes need to be made and he would like the Council to consider the options. (a) Comprehensive Plan Update - Continued Caron said she would make copies of her notes of the Comprehensive Plan for the Planning Commissioners to review. Beattie explained that the process for amending the Comprehensive Plan involves a super majority vote of the Council. So, the notion of amending the Comprehensive Plan could be problematic if four of the five Councilmembers must be satisfied. Kirschner talked about the concerns with density and asked the City Council that if the majority was leaning towards more density, they should let the Planning Commission know. Miller explained that density is an area of concern for him because Excelsior has more affordable housing then any city around us. Miller feels that Excelsior’s density has been fulfilled. Kirschner asked if the City Council landed on a definition for low, medium, and high density. Staff explained that high density is 18 units per acre. The plan should reflect the definition and to not push high density. DiLorenzo added that the Council and Commission disagree about density. Beattie asked if the City Council requested an extension for the Comprehensive Plan would the Met Council grant it. Richards believed the Met Council would grant an extension for a year. Staunton added that the Met Council’s website states that Communities can request an extension on the Comprehensive Plan for up to 12 months, but it needs to be submitted by May. Richards reminded the Commission that the Met Council is looking at the big picture and he thought the large items in the Comprehensive Plan should be submitted now because those will not change.  (a) Comprehensive Plan Update - Continued Staunton further explained that the Met Council’s focus is to plan for sewage treatment, transportation, and the big picture items. They do not get wrapped up in the character/visionary plan of the City. Wallace added that he personally feels as though this document is a good document going forward, so he does not find as much value in looking back at what they wanted 10 years ago compared to what the vision of the current body of the Planning Commission and Council wants. Luger suggested to add it to the Planning Commission and Council’s yearly goals to continue to refine the Comprehensive Plan. That way the City Council can approve it and continue to tweak it, which would allow everyone the time to study and focus on the vision. Caron agreed that if it is a goal, that it gets started right away. Caron added that the Council needs to commit and support the Planning Commission. DiLorenzo agreed that the Planning Commission should continue forward and deliver what they committed to the City Council and then come back and meet to review the vision. The Planning Commission will commit to more meetings to get through the extra items. Beattie moved, Carlson seconded, to adjourn the Joint Meeting with the Planning Commission and continue with the Regular City Council Meeting. Motion carried 5/0. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (a) Regular City Council Meeting of March 5, 2018 Beattie moved, Carlson seconded, to approve the Regular City Council Meeting Minutes as amended. Motion carried 5/0. 6. OPEN FORUM 7. CITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATION, QUESTION, and REPORTS (a) Dock Extension Update Amundsen reported that the dock extension is complete. 8. AGENDA APPROVAL (a) Meeting Agenda Beattie moved, Carlson seconded, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 5/0. (b) Consent Agenda Beattie moved, Carlson seconded, to move item 15(a) Variance from Building Moratorium – 428 Williams Street to Item 9(b) and to add Item 15(a) HPC Appointment to the regular agenda. Motion carried 5/0. 9. (a) SINGLE – FAMILY SCALE STANDARDS City Council directed staff to continue to research. (b) VARIANCE FROM BUILDING MORATORIUM – 428 WILLIAMS STREET Mark Stanga, 428 William Street, addressed the City Council. Beattie moved, Miller second, to approve the request for variance from the building moratorium for the proposed plans dated January 8, 2018. Motion carried 3/2, with Caron and Carlson opposed. 10. PUBLIC HEARING (a) Second Reading of Small Cell Wireless Technology (PC No. 17-15) Mayor Gaylord opened the public hearing at 8:23 p.m. Hearing no comments, the Public Hearing was closed at 8:24 p.m. Carlson moved, Beattie seconded, to waive the second reading of the Small Cell Wireless Technology. Motion carried 5/0. 11. PETITIONS, REQUEST and COMMUNICATIONS (a) Fourth Quarter Review of Place of Last Drink Information Police Chief Meehan, addressed the City Council. Brian Farrell, Property Owner of Haskell’s, addressed the City Council. Katie Miceli, Manager of Haskell’s, addressed the City Council. 12. ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS (a) First Reading of the Construction Hours Ordinance Beattie moved, Carlson seconded, to waive the first reading of Ordinance No. 577, Construction Hours and schedule the second reading for the April 2, 2018 City Council Meeting. Motion Carried 4/1, with Caron opposed. 13. REPORTS OF OFFICERS, BOARDS, and COMMITTEES (a) None 14. UNFINISHED BUSINESS (a) None 15. NEW BUSINESS (a) HPC Appointments to Advisory Commissions Carlson moved, Caron seconded, to approve Wynne Reece for appointment to the Heritage Preservation Commission. Motion carried 5/0. 16. ADJOURNMENT Beattie Moved, Miller seconded, to adjourn the meeting at 8:57 pm. Motion carried 5/0.