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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11.01.04 Council Minutes COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR November 1, 2004 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Ristow at 7 :00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Ristow led the audience and Council in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CALL Members Present: Members Absent: Also Present: Audience: Ristow, Cordes, Fitch, Fogarty, Soderberg None Joel Jamnik, City Attorney; David Urbia, City Administrator; Robin Roland, Finance Director; Kevin Carroll, Community Development Director; Dan Siebenaler, Police Chief; Randy Distad, Parks and Recreation Director; Lee Mann, Director of Public Works/City Engineer; Lisa Shadick, Administrative Services Director; Brenda Wendlandt, Human Resources Director; Lee Smick, City Planner; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Mike Zitek, James Munro, Ken Carlson, Mike Odens, Michele Hanson, Kevin Bieguen, David Pritzlaff, John Mowery, Jim Larsen, Jay Riggs, Deb Richter, Mike Heinzerling, Jason Place, Jon Einess, Randy Pedersen, Stan Knutsen, Bob Weigert, David McKnight, Steve Wilson, Jeremy Heetland, Gordon and Twylla Chant, Jim Calverley, Mike Hipps, John Kommann, John Jaschke, Brian Nerbonne, Tony Nelson 4. APPROVE AGENDA Councilmember Soderberg pulled item 7a) 10/18/04 Regular Council Minutes to abstain. Councilmember Fitch pulled item 7a) 10/20/04 Special Council Minutes to abstain. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Cordes to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS a) Introduce New Employee - Parks and Recreation Mr. Jason Place was introduced as the new Facilities Maintenance Worker. b) Introduce Promoted Employee - Liquor Operations Mr. Randy Petrofske was introduced as the new Liquor Operations Manager. c) Introduce Promoted Employee - Finance Ms. Deb Richter was introduced as the new Utility Billing Clerk. Council Minutes (Regular) November 1,2004 Page 2 6. CITIZEN COMMENTS Mr. David Pritzlaff, 20255 Akin Road, encouraged everyone to vote and wished all the candidates good luck. Mr. Fred Conlan, 9 ih Street, brought up the stop sign on Akin Road at the Middle School. He felt the traffic was working fine without the $150,000 stop light that was proposed. He was glad Council voted against it because in his opinion it was not needed. The only time there was a problem was during soccer games. Regarding traffic problems, he wanted the City to look at Hwy 3. He appreciated what the Mayor has done for the City. He would like to see the City slow down and look at the expansion. It is growing too fast. The City should think about the money that will come from the residents to pay for everything. Councilmember Fitch asked if there was a particular intersection on Hwy 3. Mr. Conlan stated Willow Street or anywhere on Hwy 3. Children try to cross at Budget Mart. He would at least like to see crosswalks and the speed limit set at 30 mph. Mr. James Munro, Embers Avenue, thanked the Mayor for his help on Embers Avenue. He stated the Mayor has been at every meeting along with Police Chief Siebenaler and City Engineer Mann. He would like Council to reconsider the intersection at Embers and 195th Street. He would like to see it offset, as he feels there will be more traffic on Embers. 7. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Cordes, second by Fogarty to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: b) Adopted RESOLUTION R88-04 Accepting Donation Rambling River Center- Parks and Recreation c) Approved Contract for Services Dishonored Checks - Police d) Approved School and Conference - Parks and Recreation e) Set November 15, 2004 Public Hearing Licenses and Permits - Administration f) Approved Extension for Filing Middle Creek 2nd Addition Final Plat - Community Development g) Adopted RESOLUTION R89-04 Mattson Farms Preliminary Plat - Community Development h) Approved Draft EQB Letter Regarding Great River Energy Power Line Routing - Community Development (Supplemental) i) Approved Bills APIF, MOTION CARRIED. a) MOTION by Fogarty, second by Cordes approving Council Minutes (10/18/04 Regular). Voting for: Ristow, Cordes, Fitch, Fogarty. Abstain: Soderberg. MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Soderberg approving Council Minutes (10/20/04 Special). Voting for: Ristow, Cordes, Fogarty, Soderberg. Abstain: Fitch. MOTION CARRIED. Council Minutes (Regular) November 1, 2004 Page 3 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS a) Amend Dakota County Estates 3rd Addition PUD Agreement - Community Development The original PUD allowed for a shopping center. The location is English Avenue on the east side, Upper 182nd Street on the north, Upper 183rd Street on the south, and Pilot Knob Road on the west side. The current building houses a service station, Domino's Pizza, Cahill Salon, and the municipal liquor store. Staff proposed to amend the PUD Agreement to demolish the current shopping center and construct a new convenience store/gas station for Kwik Trip. The new facility will be 480 sq. ft. The building will be located on the south side of the property with the gas pumps on the north side. There will be accesses off of Upper 183rd Street and English Avenue. They will remove the gas tanks this winter and start construction next spring. Convenience store with gas is a permitted use under the PUD agreement. Following are the conditions for approval: 1. The Pin Oaks needs to be revised to show allowable street trees as per Section 10-6-10 (F). 2. A sidewalk needs to be installed on the west side of English Avenue. 3. Provide similar material (brick) on three sides of the trash enclosure. 4. Allow for a 30-foot deviation from the 50-foot setback requirements for a monument sign along Pilot Knob Road. Mr. Mike Odens, Kwik Trip, stated they have made arrangements for the businesses to relocate. He commented that staff is very proactive. Mr. Hans Zietlow, Kwik Trip, also commented the staffis very professional. They do not have a car wash as the area is too small. MOTION by Fogarty, second by Soderberg to close the public hearing. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by Soderberg, second by Fogarty to approve the Amendment to the Planned Unit Development Agreement of the Dakota County Estates 3rd Addition for the Kwik Trip project with the above contingencies. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 9. AWARD OF CONTRACT 10. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS a) Adopt Resolution Vermillion River Crossing Preliminary Plat - Community Development The site is located south of CSAH 50 and west of Denmark Avenue. The property is zoned Spruce Street commercial and park open space. Wetlands exist along the south and southwestern portions of the property. There are four pipelines crossing the area. This preliminary plat has been updated since the Planning Commission meeting. There were two requirements on the plat. The first was that they showed a smaller lot that did not meet the one acre Council Minutes (Regular) November 1,2004 Page 4 requirement. This has been added to another lot. The second requirement was the Knutson's own the easement to the portion of the property located in the easement for CSAH 50 and Denmark. This is now shown on the plat. The plat shows three accesses to CSAH 50 and an access onto Denmark Avenue connecting with Spruce Street. The area will contain retail, hotel, fast food, convenience store, etc. Comments have been received from environmental agencies. As far as preliminary plats are concerned, we are fixing lines on the ground. Each lot will have to be reviewed for a number ofthings. Preliminary plat sets the lines, final plat gets it ready for recording. Next is the site plan review which is done at the Planning Commission. In the site plan review stage, items such as parking spaces, landscaping, refuse loading areas, lighting, sidewalks, trails, signage, etc. will be reviewed. Contingencies include: 1. Final design of the infiltration basins including the proposed installation of vegetation needs to be reviewed by the MPCA and Dakota County Soil & Water Conservation. 2. The preliminary plat approval is contingent on the approval of the construction plans for grading, storm water and utilities by the Engineering Division. Councilmember Pitch noted Council has already granted a grading plan and asked ifthat has met the second condition. City Planner Smick replied no, City Engineer Mann needs to sign an approved grading plan. Councilmember Fitch then asked if the storm water ponding, - etc. is usually done later in the process. City Planner Smick stated platting of storm water ponds is very important to the plat. The design down to the details oftypes of vegetation will come prior to final plat, at site plan review, or at the grading stage. Councilmember Pitch noted the comments from the agencies were that if this is approved things are set in stone. Staff replied the preliminary plat sets the lines. The developer needs to make sure whatever he develops is within those lines. Councilmember Cordes stated the letters from the agencies are very vocal in not wanting this approved, but items will be worked out. Staff stated the City is the regulatory governmental unit and need to make sure the guidelines are followed. Councilmember Soderberg asked what flexibility is lost by approving the plat. City Attorney Jamnik stated the lines being drawn show the size of the lots and ponds. The City does not have the discretion to change very much from the overall design. Things evaluated are what roads serve the area, how large the drainage ponds are, where the infrastructure will be installed in general terms in order to serve the area with municipal services. You would not want to do a major road re-design without sending it back to the Planning Commission. We could not create a non-conforming lot. Major changes that change lot lines can result in the loss of buildable lots and significant problems. If they are substantial, the protocol is to return it to the Planning Commission. Minor changes are accommodated in the process. Councilmember Soderberg confirmed Council Minutes (Regular) November 1,2004 Page 5 the issues raised by the agencies will be addressed prior to final plat. City Attorney Jamnik replied yes, some will go after final plat as contingencies to the landscaping plan or with the site plan review stage. Everything might not be done at final plat. Councilmember Fogarty noted ifthe MPCA comes back, and says they need bigger ponds, this will change the entire plat and they will have to start all over and go back to the Planning Commission. City Attorney Jamnik replied if it was significant enough to adjust all the outlots and make many changes, that is correct. We would reject the final plat and start over. She was concerned they would be obligated to this plat ifthe MPCA says it will not work. City Attorney Jamnik stated the City would not be obligated if they changed it. The plat was not brought earlier because it was not far enough along and staff was not reasonably certain that the size of the infiltration basins and outlots would accommodate the necessary infrastructure. Weare to the point now, where staff feels that will not occur. Staff is reasonably certain the project will work and the details will be worked out at final plat. Council does have the flexibility to deny the final plat. Mr. Brian Urban, DNR, stated the Vermillion River is a trout stream and one of the top 10% for trophy trout streams in the entire state. The reason they are concerned is that they are concerned about the life cycle of the fish. Having a larger development adjacent to a trout stream will result in warming of the water. The pond area may contribute warm water instead of cold water. They have not seen any final results from their meetings as to what the changes will be to the site plan. He wanted to make sure their concerns will be met. Staff noted if there are concerns with the size of the ponding, they would be addressed before final plat. Mr. Jay Riggs, Dakota County Soil and Water, stated regarding the timing for preliminary plat approval and whether Council is locked in to legally requiring this layout, has to do with the design ofthe site and the impacts of the amount of impervious area on the site and the receiving water (the trout stream). Innovative approaches need to be done to mitigate the impact. They do not know the depth to ground water, there needs to be a separation of 3 feet from the bottom of the infiltration pond to the upper levels of the ground water table. There should be practices distributed throughout the site, not just on one side of the site. He was concerned if the plat is approved showing where the outlots will be the City will be locked in to where the treatment will be. They want to have flexibility to do more innovative design to protect the receiving water. The next issue is the PCA permitting process. The PCA requires the preparation of a storm water pollution prevention plan before giving the grading permit. The plan would have to addresssthe temperature impact issues. He encouraged the developer to do this work up front and get it approved by the PCA, and then go for preliminary plat. They do need this permit before they can start grading. The agencies are not monitoring the water temperature at this point. Council Minutes (Regular) November 1,2004 Page 6 Councilmember Soderberg noted staff will be monitoring these concerns and will make sure they are addressed. If the temperature cannot be adjusted or the plat has to undergo major designs, the final plat would be rejected. The ponding and infiltration would have to be redesigned to meet the concerns. Councilmember Soderberg stated he wants this development, but he is not willing to sell the City out to get it. Based on the threats made last time, he wanted to make sure that is not being done. Staff and the City Attorney have assured him that is not the case. He wanted to make sure the issues are addressed. Mr. Kevin Biegler, Trout Unlimited, congratulated Farmington for taking a serious approach to this matter. Development of this area needs to be done in a smart and progressive way. There is an economic benefit to the developers for doing this correctly. He wanted to stress that this area has what is the last metropolitan trout stream that represents a recreational resource. Trout Unlimited is willing to work with the developer and agencies to make sure any environmental restrictions will be followed. Councilmember Fogarty thanked the agencies for their information. She struggled with this decision because of the developer's behavior two weeks ago. She was disappointed with what the developer did and she does not like being threatened. This staff has worked very hard and does not believe there is anyone working against this project. When she talked with staff about this project, as there are pages of issues with this, staff was the developer's biggest cheerleader. Staff stood behind the developer. Councilmember Fogarty does not think this Council should have to tolerate being threatened. Council was already on their side. She also did not think a couple Councilmembers should have adjourned this meeting and had an extra conversation with the developer. That needed to be in public. She was disappointed in her behavior for taking it. She will vote to approve the plat, but it is not because of threatening Council, it is in spite of it. Council is working with the developer and that type of behavior is not necessary. MOTION by Cordes, second by Fitch adopting RESOLUTION R90-04 approving the Vermillion River Crossing Preliminary Plat including the two contingencies. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a) Adopt Resolution - Approve Thoroughfare Plan - Community Development (Supplemental) The City has a 2020 Comprehensive Plan which includes the Thoroughfare Plan. This amendment is for the area south of 195th Street and east of Akin Road. Changes from the first draft of the Thoroughfare Plan include eliminating the 198th Street connection at Akin Road and the addition of a north-south route from the bridge on Akin Road to Diamond Path in Rosemount. One concern was whether to leave in the 198th Street connection or not. The City chose to take the intersection out because of safety, topography, wetlands, high cost, cost allocation, limited usage/necessity, there are other connections for emergency Council Minutes (Regular) November 1,2004 Page 7 vehicle access, the road does not function as a collector, in the future there is a local road option. In the preliminary plat for Parkview Ponds, Manley Land Development has stubbed out a lot showing a potential road for 198th Street. At the workshop there were concerns from residents along Embers Avenue that this would increase traffic. They were concerned with the intersection of the collector road and 195th Street directly across from Embers Avenue. Staff feels traffic going south would go to 195th Street and then take the north-south road, Akin Road, or Pilot Knob Road. The north-south road will be flat and straight and have the fewest number of stop signs possible. This is to try and attract traffic from Embers Avenue and Akin Road. If the road had a higher speed limit, it would prompt more traffic to use it. There will be no driveway access along the north- south road. Councilmember Cordes stated they removed 198th Street as a collector road. Staff has indicated 198th Street may not be necessary but the developer is stubbing out the street. The Traffic Engineer stated at the workshop that even a local road may act as a collector and may have up to 1,000 cars/day. If 198th Street is not necessary, why have it stubbed out. Staff replied they wanted to preserve the option for Council. Staff does not believe that road will ever be needed, and if Council agrees, the developer will be allowed to build a house on that lot. Councilmember Fitch noted this is adjacent to parkland and asked what the access will be to the park if there is no road to the property. Parks and Recreation Director Distad replied a trail will go along the west side of the development. As this is a wetland, there would be soft trails through the area. The area will be left as open space. The park would be in the southeast corner of the development, next to the Giles property. Councilmember Soderberg stated at the workshop he wanted 198th Street envisioning it would be straight across to Diamond Path. The way 198th Street is laid out, it would not do anything to alleviate traffic. Traffic Engineer Johnson stated the City does not need 198th Street to serve the area as an access to Akin Road. There will be connections at 203rd Street, Devonport and 195th Street. This will serve the entire area. Lakeville is proposing a development south of 160th Street and north of 170th Street. They will be platting enough right-of-way for eventually a four-lane road going north and south. This would be the connection to the north-south road through Farmington. Staff felt there would be a need for another north-south road further to the east to connect with 208th Street. There are two options. Staff prefers option 1 which connects with 20Sth Street across from the Middle School. Option 2 is further to the west and would connect with Dallas Avenue. There are some unresolved issues with the 208th Street connection as far as sight lines. That issue will be addressed and resolved as part of the 208th Street feasibility report. This north- south route would connect with 189th Street to the north. Council Minutes (Regular) November 1, 2004 Page 8 Mr. Gordon Chant, 20630 Dallas Avenue, stated the connection by the school is not a straight intersection. Traffic pulls into the stub street to let children off for ball games and then they back out onto the street. Mr. Jim Calverley, 4195 206th Street, was concerned with the traffic when ball games are on and soccer. With the size of 208th Street, he felt parking lots are needed. There is a lot of parking on all the streets. Mr. Chant asked if parking would be allowed on 208th Street if the street goes through to Hwy 3. Staffwill have to discuss the parking issue at that point. Mr. Jeremy Heetland, 20635 Dallas Avenue, was concerned with the width of Dallas Avenue. It would not be able to handle the volume of traffic. Mr. John Kommann, 18886 Eaglewood Trail, stated he would pay right now to not do option 2. The residents on Eaglewood Trail where the plan has changed, did not plan on having a through street going south. He bought his house with the expectation of there being four lots and a dead end. All traffic will come down 189th Street for the connection to the north-south route. Residents do not have any idea this connection is coming. He felt all new development should be on the map so everyone knows what to expect. He does not agree with connecting neighborhoods. Staff stated the Thoroughfare Plan is intended to be an indication of where staff feels roads should be. There will be challenges with the wetland west of the north-south road in Riverbend. Since 2000 staffhas proposed to connect 189th Street with 195th Street and also have Embers Avenue connect with 195th Street. Mr. Dave Pritzlaff, 20255 Akin Road, agreed 198th Street is not needed. Traffic will take Akin Road or go north to get to Pilot Knob Road. He noticed staff is proposing the speed limit on the north-south road to be lower than Akin Road. With it being straighter, he felt the north-south road should be 50 mph. He spoke to residents on the east side of Embers and north of 195th Street. To extend 195th Street to the north, several trees would have to be removed. Residents would like 195th curved to the south to save the trees and reduce speeding. He asked if signs could be posted on Embers reading Children Playing and have the police write tickets to alleviate the speed. Police Chief Siebenaler stated each officer will make their own decision as far as speed based on what will go through court. Low level speed tickets will not be sustained in court and in return the City could lose legitimate claims. There was an increase in speed on Embers Avenue with the 30 mph speed limit signs. We have to be careful how we design roads. The north-south road becomes another Pilot Knob Road. It will not eliminate the need for streets such as Embers Avenue that make connections to main roads. By designing the roads properly, traffic is directed to the roads where we want the traffic to go. The City does not determine speed limits. Speed limits are determined by MnDOT. Council Minutes (Regular) November 1,2004 Page 9 Councilmember Soderberg asked if enough right-of-way is being reserved for a four-lane road. Staff replied east of Diamond Path is Giles Corp., west is the Manley Development. The plan shows 120 ft. right-of-way which is enough room for an undivided 4-lane road with trails on both sides. Traffic Engineer Johnson stated what will create the need for more than what the road needs, for a divided road there should be a 16 ft. median with two lanes on either side which comes to 72 ft. You need to decide how much room you want outside of that for trails, snow storage, etc. Pilot Knob Road is 150 ft. Councilmember Soderberg would like to see trails on both sides of the north-south road. If this plan is approved, these proposed roads will be placed on the Thoroughfare Plan that is included in the Comprehensive Plan and sent to the Met Council. As far as notifying residents of potential roads, signs are placed noting possible through street. Staff will continue to work with developers on notifying potential home owners of through streets. Mr. James Munro, 18863 Embers Avenue, sees more traffic on Embers and speeding. He has been coming to Council for three or four years trying to stop the speeding. Mayor Ristow explained the City has enforced the speed limit, put up the radar sign, posted speed limit signs, etc. Mr. Munro stated he moved to a neighborhood, not a street. He expects people that go past his house to respect that he has children and go the speed limit. He felt there was three times the amount of traffic on Embers than on Akin. He does not understand having busy roads past schools. He was asking Council to not put more traffic on Embers. The traffic cannot be controlled now. He would think the Engineers could come up with one more plan that does not line up with Embers. Mr. Munro stated the City does not have anything in writing from Lakeville that the road will be going through. We only have a developer that will be building houses. Embers is a minor collector and he does not see anything special about safety on his street. The City must not have seen people living there, just a house. Weare neighborhoods. Any vehicle that comes through their neighborhood should be considered a guest. Mayor Ristow replied he understood, but it is a 44 ft. wide street. Mr. Munro stated he was asking to make Embers safer. No one in the neighborhoods is aware this is happening. Mayor Ristow stated we have to continue to work on these problems. We have made progress and we allowed overtime for our officers to patrol all areas with speeding. Mr. Munro stated they do not need more traffic and asked Council again to ~ another design. Traffic Engineer Johnson stated residents living south of 19St Street and wanting to go north will use Embers whether the connection is opposite Embers or offset. There will be additional traffic on Embers because ofthe new development and Embers is a minor collector. If people want to use Embers, they will use it. The north- south road will take some traffic off of Embers south of 189th Street. Staff noted the road between 19Sth Street and the north-south road will be serpentine and 32 feet wide to promote traffic calming. Council Minutes (Regular) November 1, 2004 Page 10 Mayor Ristow agreed with option A for the Thoroughfare Plan. He would like to leave the lot open in Parkview Ponds for the 198th Street connection until it is fully developed. Re-visit this in 2-3 years and ifthere is not a problem with not having the 198th Street connection to Akin, then use the lot for a house. He would like to see the 195th Street and Embers intersection offset, but that will not accomplish anything. Councilmember Soderberg also liked option A. The suggestion has been to plat the 198th Street connection as an outlot and it would be the size of a residential lot. If the connection is not needed, it would revert back to the developer. He asked staff to work on getting Option 1 to work at 208th Street. The plat indicates some traffic calming for Embers so he felt the intersection of Embers and 195th needs to remain aligned. Councilmember Fogarty agreed with Option A and wanted to leave the lot stubbed out for the 198th Street connection to Akin until they see how traffic is flowing. Councilmember Fitch also agreed. Councilmember Cordes agreed with option A and felt it was necessary to leave the 19Sth Street connection stubbed out. MOTION by Soderberg, second by Cordes to approve option A of the Thoroughfare Plan Amendment. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Mayor Ristow urged future Councils and staff to show these connections on plats so potential home owners are informed prior to purchasing their lot. 12. NEW BUSINESS 13. COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE Councilmember Fogarty: Encouraged residents to vote. Councilmember Soderberg: Reminded citizens winter parking restrictions went into effect November 1,2004. He asked if there will be warnings issued first. Police Chief Siebenaler stated it has been standard practice to issue warnings for the first two weeks. It is the responsibility of residents to inform visitors that two weeks from now there will not be warnings, but tickets will be issued. The police have been receiving some calls regarding the nearly completed Main Street project. They will not be penalizing people if they cannot get to their driveways. They will be getting warnings. Permits are available for guest over-night parking on the street if there is no snowfall. Councilmember Soderberg suggested this be posted on the notices section of the website. Police Chief Siebenaler: There has been a request by the school to add another school resource officer. It is not a done deal. Staffwill be meeting with the school tomorrow to finalize an agreement to be presented to Council and the School Board. Council Minutes (Regular) November 1,2004 Page 11 Mayor Ristow: There will be a Council/Planning Commission Workshop on November 3 at 5:30 and a Special Council Meeting at 4:30 to canvass election results. He wished the candidates good luck and reminded everyone to vote. 14. ADJOURN MOTION by Cordes, second by Soderberg to adjourn at 10:06 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, ~~ ?Y?uff6~ (/ Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant