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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, July 22, 2013 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 10 of 20 (9. BRUSH DISPOSAL SITE UPDATE, Continued) Struve noted there are residents who have said they also use the site for access to the Luce Line Trail. Accommodating both disposal and parking at this site is not really a feasible option since people will need to access the site for parking, and if the site is unsecured and unmonitored, people will dump their debris in the parking area. Struve indicated he has contact surrounding cities for tree disposal but those cities have indicated they do not have available space for Orono residents. The various cities are also re-evaluating how they operate and whether they will continue to provide services to other communities. In addition, Struve indicated he did ask Hennepin County to see whether they had a drop-off site for its residents but at this time they do not offer that service. Hennepin County does have locations for residents to drop that type of material off for a fee. The closest site to Orono is located in Minnetrista at the Mulch Store and it is where the City of Mound directs their residents to as well and they are charged a fee. Struve stated Orono residents do have the option to contact their waste haulers since many of them offer that service for a fee. The trees need to be cut up to a certain length, which poses some issues. Struve requested the City Council discuss this issue and whether they would like to continue to explore offering this service to the residents. Levang indicated she drives by the area every day and that she has been monitoring the situation to see whether more trees and debris are being hauled in. Levang noted she has not observed many people parking back there except for a semi-trailer parked in there overnight from time to time. Levang stated she is in favor of Orono having a permanent drop-off site since not everyone has a big lot to put their downed trees and branches. Levang indicated she would not be opposed to gating it since there are other access points to the Luce Line, such as Bederwood, which has a large parking area. Levang stated in her view it would not be a huge inconvenience to secure this site but that she would like to hold a public hearing given the fact that there are residents in close proximity to the site. In addition, the site is relatively easy to get to. Struve stated the other thing to consider would be the cost to remove that material on a yearly basis and would result in the City having to rent a larger chipper. At this time the Public Works Department is anticipating it will cost between $4,000-5,000 to dispose of the material currently at the site. Struve indicated he has had some preliminary discussions with some vendors about possibly removing the material at no cost to the City but that would result in wood chips not being available to the residents. If this becomes a permanent site, there would be an additional cost of approximately $5,000 to remove the debris on a yearly basis and around $1,000 to install a gate. Levang stated she can understand the trade-off with the mulch and asked how much mulch would be generated from the pile currently at the site. Struve indicated it would be a fairly large pile but that he cannot provide an educated guess on how large it would be. Item #03 - CC Agenda - 08/12/2013 Approval of Council Minutes 07/22/2013 [Page 10 of 20]