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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-09-2022 City Council Minutes MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday,May 9,2022 6:00 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 Matt Johnson,Aaron Printup,and Victoria Seals. Richard Crosby III was absent.Representing Staff were Attorney Leah Koch, City Administrator/Engineer Adam Edwards,Finance Director Ron Olson, Community Development Director Jeremy Barnhart,and Anna Carlson, City Clerk. Mayor Walsh called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.,followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Mayor Walsh noted the public comment time would be moved after the public hearing time. CONSENT AGENDA Johnson asked to approve items 1-6,remove item 7,move item 8 to be discussed tonight as there is public interest,and approve items 9-10. He also asked to add zoning reports 11-13 to the Consent Agenda. 1. CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF APRIL 25,2022 2. COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES OF APRIL 25,2022 3. CLAIMS/BILLS 4. APPROVAL TO HIRE PART-TIME OFFICER 5. 2022 SANITARY SEWER REHABILITATION AWARD(22-014) 6. APPOINTMENT OF 2022 SEASONAL EMPLOYEES V6 7. REQUEST TO HIRE FULL-TIME PUBLIC WORKS MAINTENANCE WORKER This item was removed from the Consent Agenda. 8. SUMMIT BEACH MASTER PLANNING(PROJECT 22-055) This item was moved to the City Administrator/Engineer Report. 9. APPROVAL OF LAKE ACCESS MARKINGS 10. PUBLIC WORKS FACILITY(21-039)—BIDS A member of the public asked to remove this item from the Consent Agenda. This item was moved to the City Administrator/Engineer Report. 11. LA21-000051—ROBERT LINDEN CONSTRUCTION, 1074 LOMA LINDA AVE., SETBACK VARIANCES 12. LA22-000014—ERIC ZEHNDER,940 NORTH ARM DRIVE,VARIANCE— RESOLUTION NO.7264 Page I.of7 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday,May 9,2022 6:00 o'clock p.m. 13. LA21-000076—YARDSCAPES,INC.,LINCOLN DANFORTH, 1720 I3OHNS POINT ROAD,VARIANCE—RESOLUTION NO.7265 Johnson moved,Seals seconded,to approve the Consent Agenda as adjusted.VOTE: Ayes 4,Nays 0. Mayor Walsh called a three minute recess. ZONING REPORT These items were moved to the Consent Agenda. 11. LA21-000051—ROBERT LINDEN CONSTRUCTION, 1074 LOMA LINDA AVE., SETBACK VARIANCES 12. LA22-000014—ERIC ZEHNDER,940 NORTH ARM DRIVE,VARIANCE— RESOLUTION NO.7264 13. LA21-000076—YARDSCAPES,INC.,LINCOLN DANFORTH, 1720 BOHNS POINT ROAD,VARIANCE—RESOLUTION NO.7265 PUBLIC COMMENTS Brad Erickson,2485 Independence Road,Independence,was at a City Council meeting about a month ago and was cut off and did not get to explain himself.A lot of things have happened in the last month,he sent some emails today,and he does not think it is a secret about the videos that were sent to his family by the Mayor himself.Mr.Erickson is here to ask Mr.Walsh to step down from his post and do the only honorable thing left to do before he is removed. That is what Mr.Erickson meant last time,he would never stoop to a level of suggesting physical violence,and thinks the City Council knows who he is,what he has been through,and where he is going with this.He is respectfully asking the Mayor to step down and would respectfully ask the rest of the City Council to help in that process. Whether that means censuring him with what they know already or if that means voting,he does not know what it looks like. Starting tomorrow as Mr. Erickson promised,he said"it is you or me and you will pay."Mr.Erickson said to make no mistake about it when he tells the Mayor this: you will not be the mayor of this town when this is over so he can do it quickly and quietly or they can do it very publicly and very messy. Mr. Erickson hopes someone is taking very good notes and thanked the City Council for their time. Tiffane Ferrer,980 Heritage Lane, is here as a resident of Orono not Independence, and would like to thank the City Council for all the hard work they do and the things they are doing to make the City better. She appreciates each and every one of the Council Members and is happy they are here. Barbara Schmidt,50 Landmark Drive,noted she has some basic questions about the public works building. Mayor Walsh stated when they discuss the item later in the evening Ms. Schmidt can have three minutes to ask her questions. Page 2 of 7 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday,May 9,2022 6:00 o'clock p.m. Matthew Liebsch,920 Dakota Avenue,would like the City Council to consider changing the driveways section of the City Code, Section 18136.Right now it allows for one curb cut or approach and the street he lives on is pretty narrow with a small cul-de-sac.He is doing a build with Gordon James and they would like two curb cuts so visitors can turn around in the front yard rather than the street or backing up in the driveway as there are many kids in the neighborhood.He stated his neighbor has two curb cuts and five children and it works very well for them.He spoke with Jeremy Barnhart who noted some City Staff feel that there could be a change as well.He shared on the street there is not curb and is just asphalt to grass so it is very easy to drop a wheel on the neighbor's front yard which is another reason he would like his guests to be able to park in his front yard.He emailed the City Council Members the previous Friday. Mayor Walsh noted the City Council will talk to Mr. Barnhart about the issue. Seals forwarded the email to Mr.Edwards and definitely thinks they should look into it. Johnson thinks they can refer the issue to the Code Review Committee and let it work its way through the process. Richie Anderson,3205 Crystal Bay Road,reminded the Council Members that he and Chief Farniok talked about having a life jacket in every patrol car so they can assist on the water.He asked the City Council to accept a donation of four more self-inflating survival life jackets.Mr.Anderson shared the new group of Staff here is very helpful including Barnhart,Edwards, and Goman. He has been around a long time and thinks the City is making tremendous progress and being proactive. Johnson moved, Seals seconded,to accept the life jacket donation from Richie Anderson and North Shore Marina.VOTE: Ayes 4,Nays 0. FINANCE DIRECTOR REPORT 14. FIRST QUARTER FINANCIAL REPORT Olson shared the report is unadjusted and they do not go through to find everything paid after March 31 but it should be relatively accurate.Revenues are at 14.37%and it is pretty common to be at these lower numbers as the first tax settlement is not received for five more weeks so there is zero in tax levy which is rather large portion of the budget at 50%. He thinks the City will be at 100%of revenues or even higher at the end of this year. Olson noted expenditures are at 22%of the budget and walked through a few line items and shared top vendors within in the City as well as new investments and interest. Richie Anderson asked what percentage of the expenses is tied up for a period of time. Olson replied most of the money at any given time is invested somewhere. The City Council members discussed Hennepin County taxes. Olson continued the presentation showing building permit revenue through April,noting they are a little behind the previous year at 28%of the budget for the year.He would like to see a big jump in May. He noted the value of the permits is determined by the value of the home. Page 3 of 7 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday,May 9,2022 6:00 o'clock p.m. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT REPORT 15. LA22-000012—STONEWOOD LLC.,2987&3005 CASCO POINT ROAD AND PID 20- 117-23-34-0027, SKETCH PLAN Curtis stated the application is a sketch plan to create an additional lakeshore lot from the existing. The Applicant tis proposing to re-plat all three lots in the Hartzell Addition.The LL1C district dimensional minimums are V2 acre and 100 feet in width. In April the Planning Commission discussed the sketch plan and although no public hearing was held,members of the public did provide comment centering on existing drainage concerns on Casco Point Road and house locations on the properties; submitted comments are included in the packet. Since Planning Commission's review the Applicant's surveyor has reanalyzed the existing property dimensions and has determined that lot 2 is 97 feet wide at the 75 foot setback where 100 feet is required and is currently non-conforming.The Applicant is requesting informal feedback. Initially Staff did not support the proposal as there were no identified practical difficulties supporting the creation of a non-conforming lot where three conforming lots existed.The new information regarding the existing non-conformity of lot 2 changes the analysis.While there are two conforming lots and one non-conforming lots now,at the conclusion of this process there will be two conforming lots and one non-conforming. The non-conforming status is proposed to change from one lot (Lot 2)to another(Lot 3). Sven Gustafson with Stonewood, 153 Lake Street E,included a lengthy breakdown of thoughts on the property and showed aerial photos of the property to explain.Mr.Gustafson noted what they are requesting is very much in character with everything up and down the street.Two of the lots being proposed are wider than 75%of the adjacent thirty homes on screen. He noted 75%of the lots are non- conforming in one way or another and only 8 of the 30 lots are conforming in width and in area.The Applicants are looking for feedback from the City Council. Bonnie Martinson lives across the street and stated her biggest concern is the drainage issue.This will add two more houses draining water into the street and across the road to the neighboring properties.Ms. Martinson would like to suggest the Applicants put in a rain garden to collect water so it does not drain across the street. She clarified the tennis court has a berm between it and the road so that water must stay on the west side of the road. The Hartzell driveway is draining down the road.Ms. Martinson noted her backyard is already being flooded from just an inch of rain and they really need to address the water that is swamping them across the street. Johnson understands the argument but the creation of a non-conforming lot in a new process has not been supported in the past. Mayor Walsh wonders what Pandora's box they open by swapping it out and making one lot conforming and the other non-conforming. Printup is not very comfortable with the proposal and stated however this goes in the future a plan layout for drainage is important. Mr. Gustafson clarified the non-conformity is width and it will still be a non-conformity of width as there is no way to make the lots conforming the way they are currently. They are rearranging things but not making it any worse in any way. He asked if it would change the Council's opinion if the non-conformity on Lot 2 remained on that lot.He brought up Wildhurst noting he read through the documents and it went Page 4 of 7 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday,May 9,2022 6:00 o'clock p.m. from two conforming lots to two non-conforming lots and is a much more extreme request than what is being asked for on this proposal. Walsh would feel better if the conforming lots stayed conforming and they could always do lot line adjustments. Johnson stated to make that lake lot,one of the lots next to it would need to be made non-conforming. Administratively this could be done if it was a conforming lot line rearrangement. Walsh thinks they can do that now as they changed that rule. Curtis clarified they are not able to make a new non-conformity or make a non-conformity worse. Walsh noted they changed that administratively as long as they do not make it more non-conforming. Mr. Gustafson thanked the City Council for their feedback. Barnhart gave an update and shared they are exactly even with the number of building permits issued this year,noting new homes are a bit down.Regarding the driveway issue brought up during public comment time Barnhart thinks it worthwhile to look into it.He noted they are trying to get a septic contract finalized. CITY ATTORNEY REPORT Attorney Koch had nothing to report. CITY ADMINISTRATOR/ENGINEER REPORT 8. SUMMIT BEACH MASTER PLANNING(PROJECT 22-055) Engineer Edwards noted this is a Council action requesting authorization to initiate a master plan and community outreach project for Summit Beach Park.The Summit Beach Committee met earlier in the spring and asked Staff to come up with a consulting solution regarding the matter so they solicited a proposal from the engineering and planning consultant Bolton&Menk who shared a proposal. The proposal was heard by the Planning Commission at their last meeting and they voted 5 to 1 to recommend approval of the project. Seals shared the proposal is to create a plan that would guide the park for the future. This would be the living document to let the community know what the park is and would be very similar to what the City did with Big Island. After talking to multiple residents,they found the residents want to see the process, they wanted due notice,and to give public input. Seals has answered many calls today and shared with people that the loudest voice is not the only voice. She spoke with Rick Carter who asked if they can send out a survey to residents to get a baseline and early feedback on some of the options. Walsh invited the public to come up for comments. Robby Fullerton loves the outdoors and nature and wants to thank the City Council for trying to take into consideration the public's thoughts about Summit Park. It means a lot to him to hear they are open to receiving input.He attended a recent Park Commission meeting and an idea was put forth that before doing renderings and drawings the City could reach out to people and see if there is any consensus about Page 5 of 7 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday,May 9,2022 6:00 o'clock p.m. where to go. Mr.Fullerton asked if there is any way to rearrange the project so the survey is done on the front end to get input from people. Seals clarified her recommendation is to put the survey at the front end to get a pulse on the community. Eleanor Winston,765 Spring Hill Road,completely agrees with Mr.Fullerton and stressed that having been Bruce Dayton's neighbor for many years, she saw him buy up properties and eventually give those to the State for Wood Rail,noting Mr.Dayton really loved nature. Jan Page,408 Dexter Drive,Long Lake, said in much of her life she lived in urban areas such as South Minneapolis where she would see bullets in the gutter and she noted she really loved Long Lake.A few days ago she stopped at Summit Beach and there were young people sunbathing and kayaking,and shared that earlier today she was driving back from Elk River and thought how lucky she is to live where there are farms on both sides.Ms.Page's point is that this area is really precious and they can see on the news what is happening because of too much development on the earth and she thinks Orono has an opportunity to be on the right side of history here. She commends the plan and the things Seals was talking about. Seals moved,Johnson seconded,to approve the plan with the addition of a City survey at the beginning.VOTE: Ayes 4,Nays 0. 10. PUBLIC WORKS FACILITY(21-039)—BIDS Edwards stated this item is a Council action to reject all the bids received on this project and provide direction on the way forward.Low bids on the project came in at just over$18,000,000 and the budgeted bond is for$13,000,000.Much of the cost is due to the current construction environment and the design committee met and came up with a proposed way forward which is to break the project into components of site work,building, and the commodities area. Then they would look at bidding those in sequence with an eye on construction pricing to time the bids during a better market in the future. Barbara Schmidt,50 Landmark Drive,has a lot of confusion about how this is going. She asked what the next step is and why bids came in so high. Mayor Walsh stated the City went through months of design work with the public works department, architects,Edwards,and put it all together knowing the current location is surrounded by swamp so there is not room to build.They have all the details ready and the reason the bids are so high is because of the supply chain issues and what is going on in the economy right now. He shared an example of some wind damage on one of his buildings and needed siding replaced.In October the estimate was$25,000 and in March the estimate is$85,000.He noted the City is not in any hurry so they can wait to get the right price. Ms. Schmidt asked why they need to do it at all in Orono and what the deficit is in the current building. Walsh clarified the public works building is next door,it is about 25,000 feet and today the City needs about 40,000 to house everything in that facility and do all the things they need to do in that space. With the growing population and because Orono does a lot of things for other cities,they need to get things in place for the next 50 years and this is the one spot in all of Orono and the City happens to own it. Page 6 of 7 MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday,May 9,2022 6:00 o'clock p.m. Ms. Schmidt asked what other cities does Orono do work for? Walsh replied they do public works for Spring Park and are backup for a number of smaller cities such as Minnetonka Beach, clarifying if those cities are short they call Orono to come and help. Ms. Schmidt said if she were building a house and the estimate went up, she would have to go back and shrink the plans or change some things. She stated$6,000,000 is a lot and how is it going to change? Mayor Walsh clarified when interest rates go up projects stop because people can't afford to do them, as well as when prices double for lumber people stop building projects. Ms. Schmidt clarified they think things will cost less in the future. Mayor Walsh replied in the affirmative. Ms. Schmidt wonders how the architectural firm was over$100,000 to date and asked if the City will stop for a while or redesign it. Mayor Walsh replied they are going to pause right now and wait awhile to let things cool down. Worst case they may have to redesign a bit.He noted the City has spent 8 months with four engineers and architects working on the project. Printup moved,Seals seconded,to reject the bids for the Public Works Facility(21-039)and direct Staff and consultants to prepare the bid packages for re-bid.VOTE: Ayes 4,Nays 0. MAYOR/COUNCIL REPORT Johnson had nothing to report. Printup noted a lot of talk this evening about inflation,interest rates,supply chain issues,keeping open spaces,and he stated they are just keeping Orono great. Seals said a resident thought there is a program in Hennepin County aimed at buckthorn removal. She asked if Staff and Parks Department could look into that. Edwards replied they can look at options and noted the City works with Hennepin County's Sentenced to Serve program and the primary thing they are used for is buckthorn removal on public lands and parks. For residents who do their own buckthorn,the City has buckthorn pullers at City Hall available to be signed out. Walsh hopes all the mothers had a fabulous Mother's Day. ADJOURNMENT Seals moved,Printup seconded,to adjourn the meeting at 7:20 p.m.VOTE: Ayes 4,Nays 0. • TEST: OF \))1112a:0) ////i%_ ./ Anna Carlson, City Clerk Dennis Walsh,Mayor Page 7 of 7