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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-09-2019 Council Minutes MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 9,2019 7:00 o'clock p.m. ROLL CALL The Orono City Council met on the above-mentioned date with the following members present: Mayor Dennis Walsh, City Council Members Richard Crosby,I11,Matt Johnson,and Victoria Seals. Representing Staff were City Administrator Dustin Rief, Finance Director Ron Olson, Development Director Jeremy Barnhart,City Planners Melanie Curtis and Laura Oakden, Public Works Director/City Engineer Adam Edwards, City Attorney Soren Mattick,and Recorder Jackie Young. Mayor Walsh called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m., followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Walsh acknowledged the passing of former Park Commissioner Paul Pesak on September 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA CONSENT AGENDA 1. CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF AUGUST 26,2019 2. CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES OF AUGUST 26,2019 3. CLAIMS/BILLS 4. APPROVAL OF ONE DAY TEMPORARY LIQUOR LICENSE FOR ON-SALE—8 TO A LAMP CHARITY BENEFIT—OTTEN BROTHERS NURSERY 5. APPROVAL OF RENTAL LICENSE 6. APPROVAL TO ACCEPT DONATION This item was removed from the Consent Agenda. 7. APPROVAL TO DISPOSE OF UNCLAIMED PROPERTY 8. BEDERWOOD SPORTS FIELD WELL AWARD This item was removed from the Consent Agenda. 9. LA19-000054—JOHN KRAEMER& SONS ON BEHALF OF OCBR 1,LLC,855 OLD CRYSTAL BAY ROAD SOUTH—INTERIM USE PERMIT—RESOLUTION NO. 7015 10. LA19-000055 HENDEL HOMES,MOLLY ZWETTLER,3345 FOX STREET,AFTER- THE-FACT INTERIM USE PERMIT—RESOLUTION NO.7016 11. LA19-000056—GREGG KATCHMARK, 140 LEAF STREET,VARIANCE— RESOLUTION NO.7017 12. LA19-000057 WAYZATA COUNTRY CLUB,430 OLD LONG LAKE ROAD, CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT AND VARIANCES—RESOLUTION NO. 7018 Page 1 of 10 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 9,2019 7:00 o'clock p.m. 13. LA19-000058 WEST BAY HOMES RICK VOGELSANAG—1080 HERITAGE LANE— RESOLUTION NO. 7019 Crosby moved,Seals seconded,to approve the Consent Agenda as revised,with Items 6 and 8 being removed from the Consent Agenda. VOTE: Ayes 4,Nays 0. PUBLIC COMMENTS None PRESENTATION 14. HEART SAFE COMMUNITY AWARD PRESENTATION Paul Mendoza,North Memorial Hospital,was present. Police Chief Corey Farniok stated for the past two years the Police Department has worked toward the requirements for Orono to be designated as a Heart Safe Community. Criteria include identifying AEDs in the Orono community and training community members in CPR. A number of local community organizations helped the City achieve this certification, including the Long Lake Fire Department,the Mound Fire Department,the Orono School District,various civic groups, businesses and individual residents. With their assistance,the certification was accomplished last week. Mendoza stated he represents the North Memorial Heart Safe Community Initiative,which is a program to designate communities Heart Safe. The program helps individuals recognize and respond appropriately to cardiac arrest and the proper way to initiate CPR. The program has installed more than 48 AEDs in the community. Orono also earned more than enough points from the Department of Health to be presented with a road sign designating Orono a Heart Safe community. Mendoza presented the City with the Heart Safe Community Award. Crosby thanked Mr. Mendoza for the efforts and contributions North Memorial has made to the different communities in the state. 6. APPROVAL TO ACCEPT DONATION Mayor Walsh stated as part of National Night Out,the residents of the Pelican Point neighborhood contributed$1355 to thank the officers for their hard work. Seals moved, Crosby seconded,to accept the$1355 from the residents of Pelican Point. VOTE: Ayes 4,Nays 0. 8. BEDERWOOD SPORTS FIELD WELL AWARD Walsh asked why this bid came in substantially higher than what was anticipated. Edwards stated this is a proposal to accept the quote to drill the well at Bederwood Sports Field. The purpose of the new well is to provide irrigation for the soon-to-be constructed sports field as well as future irrigation of the existing field. When the original cost estimate was put together, Staff used costs Page 2 of 10 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 9,2019 7:00 o'clock p.m. based off of its last park well, which was drilled at Lurton Park. The main difference between the two wells is the well at Lurton Park was 180 feet deep with a four-inch pipe and this well will need to be drilled down approximately 300 feet with a six-inch pipe. Also included in all of the quotes was$23,000 to $25,000 for the actual drilling of the hole. The remaining costs are pretty consistent with the work that has been done in the past. The well at Lurton Park was right around$7,000. Crosby asked how many bids the City received. Edwards stated there were four quotes that were received. There were slight variations in what each well driller recommended and those are outlined in Staff report. Seals asked what VFP versus a pressure tank means. Edwards indicated it is a variable flow pump,which enables the pressure of the water to gradually speed up. Other systems have basically a one-speed pump and then a pressure tank is required. The variable flow pump is similar to what is used at the Golf Course and eliminates the need for a pressure tank. Crosby moved,Seals seconded,to accept the quote from SunRamp Construction for the Bederwood sports field project in the amount of$45,863.00. VOTE: Ayes 4,Nays 0. PUBLIC WORKS/CITY ENGINEER REPORT 15. 2040 COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT PLAN AMENDMENT Edwards stated the purpose of this item is to get a Council resolution requesting an amendment to the 2040 Community Management Plan with respect to the Trails Section of the Parks and Open Space Chapter. The 2040 Community Management Plan was approved recently by the Metropolitan Council. The Park commission noticed that some of their priorities was not accurately reflected and Paragraph 3 in the staff report outlines how the language currently reads and Paragraph 4 shows the proposed changes. Seals moved,Crosby seconded,to direct Staff to initiate a Community Management Plan Amendment updating the Trails Section of the 2040 Community Management Plan. VOTE: Ayes 4,Nays 0. PLANNING DEPARTMENT REPORT 16. LA19-000053—CITY OF ORONO TEXT AMENDMENT,AVERAGE LAKESHORE SETBACK REGULATIONS Barnhart noted earlier this year the City Council directed Staff to review potential changes to the Average Lakeshore(ALS)setback to avoid situations where the ALS does not protect a true line of sight when the ALS crosses through a neighboring structure. The Council most recently discussed this issue at their workshop on August 12th.Minutes from that meeting are attached as Exhibit D. Other goals discussed included ease of understanding/communication of the regulation. The goals were to preserve lake views, address situations where lake views can cut through neighboring ordinances,and to provide an ordinance that is easy to understand by the residents. Page 3 of 10 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 9,2019 7:00 o'clock p.m. In response, Staff drafted options for Planning Commission review during a public hearing held on August 19th.These options included Option I (line of sight version, Exhibit A-1), Option 2 (true average, Exhibit A-2), and Option 3 (exception). Staff does not support Option 3 because it was not sufficiently clear. At their meeting on August 19th,the Planning Commission discussed the options.After much discussion, the Commission voted to recommend Option 2, a true average,which is easier to understand but may not always protect the view.The Planning Commission minutes from that meeting are attached as Exhibit E. Staff has applied the options to a number of lots in Orono, attached as Exhibit C.The red line represents the ALS based on Option 1. The Planning Commission's recommendation, Option 2, is shown as the blue line, and the dashed black line represents the existing ordinance. The black dashed line is the current average lakeshore setback as it is applied,which uses the closest point to the lake on either adjacent property. In this example,the shaded area cuts through the house so the average lakeshore setback is established by the corner on the other side of the house. This created some concern to the City Council in January as it reviewed an application. In response to that concern, one of the options was Staff's proposal that is depicted as the red line. That takes away the opportunity for the line to cut through the adjacent property. Staff also prepared an option that takes the average. That option is depicted as the blue line. The example lot is 110 feet from the closest point of the house to the lake. The adjoining house is 100. The average of that is 105 feet. Staff then applied that setback from the lakeshore to create the average lakeshore setback. That option was preferred by the Planning Commission. This option is easy to understand but may not always protect the line of sight goals that the Council desires. Barnhart noted either option does not affect the 75-foot lake yard,which would still apply in either case. Another example shows how the line curves a bit to follow the lakeshore. In January the City had a surveyor who was confused about what the average lakeshore setback was even though he had performed survey work in the City for a number of decades. That highlighted the need to come up with something that was easier to understand. Staff recommends the option depicting the red line. Six or seven examples have been provided in Staff's report illustrating the different options. The red line is the most proximate line from corner to corner and the blue line follows the average along the lakeshore. Crosby asked if the red line should go from the other corner. Barnhart indicated Staff went from the closest to the house and the most lakeward point but that was not the closest. Staff is trying to avoid situations where it cuts through an adjacent property. Since the packet went out on Friday, a number of public comments have been received regarding some confusion over what is being proposed. Those comments have been provided to the Council. Walsh noted this arose from an application where the average line of sight went through the neighbor's house. The Council felt that could not be a line of sight since it was already blocked and that the ordinance should perhaps be amended. Whenever the City fixes an ordinance, it goes through the Page 4 of 10 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 9,2019 7:00 o'clock p.m. Planning Commission. From the beginning the City Council has been pretty clear that they do not want to make any major changes. Walsh recommended keeping the existing language but adding the exception that the average lakeshore setback line shall not go through the principal structure of the adjacent lot, and if it does,then the nearest point that does not go through the adjacent lot shall be used as the starting point for the average lakeshore setback line. When it goes through its own house, Staff has to find the next point where it does not go through the house so it has a view that would be protected. Walsh stated whenever the City adopts new codes,they do not always know if there will be issues with certain lots. The Planning Commission recommended a few wholesale changes, but the Council would like to just tweak that particular section. Johnson stated he understood from the work session that they were going to leave it as is and deal with it on a more one-to-one basis and that he was surprised by the changes recommended by the Planning Commission. Johnson indicated he is in favor of keeping the code as is. Because it is a complex issue, for the few times that it comes up, it is good for it to come before the City Council. Walsh stated if they can tweak something that is obvious, it would eliminate the need to bring it before the City Council. Greg Hueler,2715 Pence Lane, stated they were looking at the blue line,which was recommended by the Planning Commission, and a lot of people are confused about Staff's recommendation and the recommendation of the Planning Commission. Kelly Hueler asked if the Planning Commission voted and recommended this. Seals stated they recommended the blue line. Kelly Hueler stated one of the options showed their house,with the Dunkley project and the Vogstrom project being highlighted. If you look at the blue line,their understanding was that it was basically saying that if you do the average calculation between the Dunkley home, which exceeds the 75-foot setback and is 29 feet from the lake,and their home,which is 100 feet of setback from the lake,the middle home could come out closer to the lake. Walsh stated the City Council is voting on their own option and not the recommendation of the Planning Commission. Hueler stated they have not heard these options. Walsh stated he would never tell anyone they could put a house there. Greg stated the way he understood the blue line, he would be able to move his house closer to the lake. Walsh stated one of the reasons why it is discussed at the Planning Commission and work sessions is to have these types of conversations and to look at different options. The City Council is not looking to make wholesale changes to the ordinance,and it does not mean the City Council has to accept the recommendation of the Planning Commission. Page 5 of 10 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 9,2019 7:00 o'clock p.m. Kelly Hueler stated people would look at it and say it is really aggressive and is a major change. If the Planning Commission's view is that the blue line should be adopted, is there going to be continued pressure to make these types of changes to City Code. Seals stated she does not feel pressure from the Planning Commission and that they are having a conversation about some options. Seals stated she would not have considered the blue line as an option. Walsh stated it is the Planning Commission's job to vet these changes and the City Council discusses it as well. Greg Hueler stated he is not sure how many lakeshore owners there are in Orono but that this could potentially impact a significant number of them. Hueler commented he would think the City Council would want everyone to understand it but he just found out about it a day ago. Walsh stated the Council option is to pick the best reasonable option, which is a tweak to what currently exists. Greg Hueler noted the Council's option has not been presented to the public prior to this and that the Council should consider having another public forum for people to comment on it. Kelly Hueler stated if there is a change to the code,the City could perhaps highlight it more. Walsh stated the City puts out public notices and that they are not able to send out individual notices to every resident. The options were discussed at the Planning Commission,the City Council meetings, and work sessions. Walsh commented it is good to have dialogue. Greg Hueler suggested having another forum to allow additional discussion. Johnson noted residents can sign up to receive the agendas. A lot of things go on and a lot of decisions are made, and the City meets their responsibility by posting it. As a citizen, if you care about these things,you have to stay active, and that he would recommend residents sign up to get those emails. Walsh noted the biggest item the City does every year is approve a budget and there have been zero people that have come to talk about it in the six or seven years he has been on the Council. Robin Dobson, 2499 Kelly Avenue, stated her understanding is one of the options is the red line. The question she has is what happens when the middle house is torn down. Is the old foundation grandfathered in or must they stay behind the new line. Seals stated the rule of the City is they can build in like and kind. If something is demolished,that old location no longer applies. Barnhart noted they can tear it down and rebuild within a certain period of time. That timeline is either a year or six months to obtain a building permit. Dobson asked whether the sightline can ever supersede the 75-foot setback. Walsh indicated it cannot. Page 6 of 10 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 9,2019 7:00 o'clock p.m. Craig Sky, 2795 Pheasant Road, stated he is the house in the middle in one of the options. As the Council can see,there are a number of different options available and that they have stated they basically understand the challenges with the blue line. As you go to the existing line and the red line,the red line actually becomes more restrictive in his example. Walsh noted the Council does not want to make any wholesale changes and that they would just like to make an exception when it goes through someone's house. Sky stated he appreciates that, and if they want to take this one step further,they should show examples of that and have another discussion about it. If the Council took all of these examples and apply their proposed solution to it,everyone could understand it. Walsh directed Staff to bring some examples back to the next City Council meeting highlighting the proposed change by the Council. At that time the Council will just be voting on this one specific tweak to the code. Crosby indicated he is in support of that. Johnson stated he would like to leave it as is and that the Council can review any issues on a case-by-case basis. Crosby stated the proposed language would help clarify it. Walsh stated the goal is to make government as simple as possible and that Staff can bring it back in two weeks with that specific language. 17. CITY LAND SALE PROCEDURE Barnhart noted back in May of this year the City Council received a request from a party regarding the purchase of a city lot off of Willow Road. In addition,Council members have been approached regarding the four city lots on Crystal Bay Road. Those reasons,as well as recent requests to vacate rights-of-way, prompted the Council to consider a policy to respond to these requests. In June,the Council directed Staff to prepare a policy,which was reviewed on August 26. Following discussion,the Council found that a policy was not necessary and directed Staff to prepare a procedure. It requires an interested party to provide a written proposal, a narrative, and, if part of a development, a sketch. Johnson stated they should put language in there saying the sale request should be made in writing and provided to Staff. Johnson noted this is just a process to get it to the City Council and that they could change it from administrator to Staff. He would further recommend the person requesting the purchase provide details of the intended use and the proposed purchase parameters in their written request. Johnson suggested deleting B and replacing it with the language he suggested. Item C would be changed to Staff rather than Administrator. In addition, Item E needs to be revised to read better. Walsh stated E should perhaps say selling or buying. Page 7 of 10 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 9,2019 7:00 o'clock p.m. Barnhart stated the reason for adding the last phrase is he wanted to make sure the City Council had the authority and the freedom to say no later. Walsh suggested the word"and"be added and a comma be inserted so it reads"The Council may direct the preparation of a resolution selling the legally described property, and will be prepared for City Council review. The word administrator would be changed to Staff and Item B would be changed to what was suggested by Council Member Johnson. Rief asked whether they should add language requesting parcel ID and property address. Need the name of the person who wants to purchase or sell it. Johnson stated Staff could create a form. Rief stated if that language is included,they would not require a form. Johnson moved,Crosby seconded,to approve the Procedure Regarding the Sale of City Property, with the language in Item B reading,"sale or purchase of property request must include a written proposal narrative and a sketch of proposed development,if applicable,submitted to Staff,along with the parcel ID and property address. VOTE: Ayes 4,Nays 0. MAYOR/COUNCIL REPORT Crosby noted this coming Wednesday is 9/11. September 11, 2001,was 18 years ago. At 8:45 a.m.that day,terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center. 2,977 people were killed, including 343 fire fighters, 37 police officers,and 6,000 people were injured. A total of 2,606 people were killed at the World Trade Center and 125 at the Pentagon,all in the name of evil. Crosby stated for himself,that day changed him forever, and people should never forget and that he knows he never will. Johnson stated he had nothing to report. Walsh stated he attended the Orono home football game this past Friday and that it was fun to see all the fans. There is now a new concession stand, which is fabulous. Walsh encouraged everyone to go to the homecoming game this Friday. Walsh stated he would also like to give a shout out to Richie Anderson. Walsh stated he recently attended Anderson's 25'x'anniversary of owning Maxwell Bay Marina. Richie had pictures from 25 years ago, which really helped illustrate the great improvements that have been made through the years, in addition to free barbecued pulled pork and beans. Walsh noted this Saturday the Orono annual awards for Distinguished Alumni will be presented. CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT Rief noted a number of emails have been floating around about the LMCD and that he was finally able to get in touch with the LMCD to discuss the$25,000 related to lobbying/outreach. Originally it was a $67,000 proposal and the LMCD was required to pare it down quite a bit to just doing the outreach portion and nothing related to lobbying. As a result,the LMCD will not be hiring a lobbyist. Page 8 of 10 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 9,2019 7:00 o'clock p.m. Seals stated the LMCD has a whole board that could do outreach for free and that they are simply marketing themselves to the residents using their tax dollars. Rief reported he met with James Whisker this morning at the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District and that he has been there about 18 months now. They had a good discussion about what Orono is doing in the watershed and what they are doing. In October the Watershed District will be approaching the various cities looking for input and then doing some revisions to their processes. The Watershed District would like to do it more incrementally rather than drastic changes. Walsh noted Staff deals with them regularly and that he would like to see what Staff's thoughts are on how things can be improved. Rief stated one item that was discussed was a development from preliminary plat to final plat and the amount of time it takes. The Watershed District will be working on trying to streamline the process more. Rief reported he received an email last week Thursday regarding the school and the construction related to the water line. A response has not been sent at this time. The contractor missed a connection on the fire connection for the building to the north. That connection was then rerouted through the school property. The City notified the school of the start date and the contractor started the project. During construction of that project,the contractor cut electrical and fiber lines that were owned by the school. The School District is now asking the contractor pay for that repair work. Staff does not feel the contractor should pay for it. The City has already offered to pay$37,000 for the added water connection. Johnson asked how the City could not be responsible for that. Rief stated the contractor did the One Call and it was not marked. Seals asked if the City did their due diligence that would typically be done to ensure they were aware of where all the lines were. Edwards stated this is a unique situation. The call for locates goes out to all the private and public utilities. Those locates are only done in pubic corridors, such as in rights-of-ways and easements by the utilities that own that infrastructure. If there are private utilities buried in a public or private area,that responsibility lies with that private property owner, and in this case that would be the school. Crosby asked if the school knew they were there. Edwards stated they indicated they did not know the electrical lines were there but that they knew about the fiber optic line. The School District has indicated the City did not specifically ask them to identify it. The question is whether there is a responsibility for the City to say mark your stuff other than showing them the map and giving them the dates. Johnson stated if the contractor had done it right the first time,this would not have been an issue. Edwards stated as it relates to the water main project,the service line was not shown on any of the plans and no one noticed it previously. That service was put in in the early 1990s when the building was converted from a church to a school facility. When that service was put in, it was likely directionally bored under the street. The method that was used in replacing the water main is the existing one was Page 9 of 10 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 9,2019 7:00 o'clock p.m. abandoned and a new water main was installed further to the east. The line was probably deep enough that the workers never came across it as they were digging in the new main. When the school went through their annual fire checks and went to go recharge their sprinkler system,they discovered there was no line connected to it. That was subsequently fixed by the City. Seals stated the school knew where the City was going to dig and when, and that common sense would say that they should verify things. Edwards stated the correspondence went to the school's new facilities manager. Crosby commented the facilities manager should know where things are. Walsh stated since there is fault on both sides,he would suggest splitting the cost. Johnson stated in his view that is the right thing to do. Crosby concurred. CITY ATTORNEY REPORT Mattick had nothing to report. ADJOURNMENT Crosby moved,Seals seconded,to adjourn the Orono City Council meeting at 8:15 p.m. VOTE: Ayes 4,Nays 0. ATTEST: annaarlson, City Clerk Dennis Walsh,Mayor Page 10 of 10