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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.06.97 Council Minutes (,),} 1 COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR OCTOBER 6, 1997 1. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Ristow at 7:00 P.M.. Members Present: Ristow, Cordes, Fitch, Gamer, Strachan. Members Absent: None. Also Present: City Administrator Erar, Attorney Grannis. 2. Mayor Ristow led the audience and Council in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. MOTION by Gamer, second by Cordes to approve the agenda with the following changes: a) Remove Item 5j from the agenda. b) Remove the appointment of a new PARAC member from Item 5h - Accept resignation only. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 4. MOTION by Strachan, second by Ristow to adopt two proclamations: proclaim October and National Breast Cancer Month and October 17th as National Mammography Day, and October 13 thru 17 as Manufacturers' Week in Farmington. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 5. Citizen Comments - There were no Citizen Comments. 6. Consent Agenda MOTION by Cordes, second by Fitch to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approve Minutes - 9/10/97 (Special) and 9/15/97 (Regular). b) Adopt RESOLUTION NO. Rl14-97 accepting donation from Farmington Chorale for a clock restoration and purchase of an historical document display case. c) Adopt RESOLUTION NO. Rl15-97 amending the Development Contract for pine Ridge Forest. d) Adopt RESOLUTION NO. R116-97 amending East Farmington TIF Agreement. e) Adopt RESOLUTION NO. Rl17-97 approving submittal of a joint Farmington/Lakeville recreation grant. f) Adopt RESOLUTION NO. Rl18-97 endorsing the Finance Director as the City Investment Officer. g) Approve School/Conference requests - Fire Department. h) Accept resignation of Gene Rendino from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission. i) Approve Council communication policies. j) Approve Flagstaff Avenue maintenance expenditures. k) Approve payment of bills as submitted. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 7. School District Facility Site Issues A lengthy discussion took place regarding the future of 208th Street. The School District is pursuing the purchase of property adjacent to the existing Middle School facility and the existing portion of 208th Street in order to construct a new school facility with a proposed campus design. Because of the campus design and student traffic between the two facilities, the School District has concerns with the current proposed alignment of 208th Street, since it would cut through the center of ~~ ~ the campus. They have proposed either terminating the street at its current point, or realigning it to go around the proposed campus. The City's transportation plan indicates that 208th Street is a future collector street and an important east/west traffic corridor connecting to Trunk Highway 3. The School District's suggested change of alignment, which would include the addition of two right turns and accompanying stop signs, would defeat the purpose of the collector street which is to provide an efficient route for movement of traffic. Discussion focused basically on two issues; 1) the School District's belief that the proposed alignment of 208th Street created a major safety concern for students crossing between the two school facilities; and 2) the City's need to provide an east/west transportation corridor to accommodate the needs of a growing population and industrial community. Councilmembers were sympathetic to the District's concerns for student safety and were in favor of the school campus design. The District understood the need for providing east/west traffic corridors, but felt a different alignment of 208th or a completely different route was necessary. MOTION by Fitch, second by Gamer to authorize the City Engineer to conduct a traffic study of the affect of changes to the alignment of 208th Street and to revisit the topic at the October 20, 1997 regular meeting. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. In a related action, the request bY John Benedict and the Nordseths for City consideration of helping them obtain MUSA land for development to replace the land optioned by the School District for the proposed new middle school facility, was tabled until the October 20th regular meeting. 8. Rezoning of 201 4th Street from R3 to R2 Planning Coordinator Smick reviewed the proposed rezoning of the vacant lot. She noted that under an R3 zoning, the lot was not large enough to be built upon, however, an R2 designation would. Residents of the neighborhood were in attendance and questioned the procedure which brought about the request for rezoning. Several residents stated that they felt the property should have been made available to the general public for purchase at a public auction. Community Development Director Olson and City Administrator Erar explained the background which brought about the HRA request for rezoning the property. The audience was informed that until the property was rezoned, it would remain a vacant, unbuildable lot. It was also explained that the issues surrounding the proposed house moving would be dealt with at the Planning Commission public hearing on October 14th. MOTION by Fitch, second by Gamer to adopt ORDINANCE NO. 097-403 rezoning 201 4th Street from R3 High Density Residential to R2 Medium Density Residential. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by Fitch, second by Cordes to direct staff study the neighborhood surrounding this lot to determine if additional rezoning would benefit those properties. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. The Council agreed to take a short recess at 9:28 P.M. and reconvened at 9:40 P.M.. 9. Main Street I/I Study City Engineer Mann reviewed the results of a study conducted in the Main Street project area to determine the amount of I/I occurring there. The study revealed a potential sewer fee cost saving of $11,600 to $14,5000 per year. Based on the cost of $91,600 to replace the existing sewer, the expenditure would be returned within 8 to 10 years. Mr. Mann also noted that due to the age of the existing sewer, the City would also save on maintenance costs. Councilmember Fitch explained that he had requested this study in order to initiate discussion and development of a polic1 to deal with this type of infrastructure improvement. He stated that these projects were necessary and inevitable, but the assessment costs to property owners was prohibitive. It WaS acknowledged that it would be a difficult policy to write. A workshop will be set in the future following more staff review. " (') " :'-::~I ~_~J ,~-) 10. Code of Ethics Ordinance Update City Administrator Erar noted several changes in the proposed ordinance regarding removal of elected officials from office and financial disclosure requirements. It was the consensus of Council to table scheduling a workshop until after the City had hired a new City auditing firm and reviewed their auditing disclosure statement requirements. The item will be placed on the October 20th Council agenda. 11. Ash Street Storm Sewer Analysis Engineer Mann presented results of a study performed in response to a request following a joint Castle Rock Township/Dakota County Fair Board/City meeting. That meeting was held to determine sharing of costs for the Ash Street storm sewer project. The results of the analysis of storm drainage areas in the affected jurisdictions indicated that reducing the drainage area would have little effect on the Fair Board's total storm water flow into the system and, therefore, would result in insignificant cost savings. A reduction in Castle Rock's drainage area would produce significant savings for the Township, however, the area included in the study did not reflect the actual size of the drainage area. It was the opinion of the Bonestroo engineer who performed the study that the prairie Waterway Phase III should be built as planned. Administrator Erar was directed to set another joint meeting. 12. Snow Ordinance Amendment Parks and Recreation Director Bell stated that the proposed ordinance was designed to deal with snow removal from City trails which ran in front of residents' homes. The ordinance requirements for snow removal on trails were similar to those in the sidewalk snow removal ordinance. MOTION by Gamer, second by Strachan to adopt ORDINANCE NO. 097-404 relating to snow removal on City trails and paths. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 13. Roundtable Train Whistles: Council noted the receipt of correspondence from both the FRA and Congressman Luther regarding City concerns with loud, prolonged train whistles during night time hours. Councilmember Strachan: Complimented staff on the City's web site. Mayor Ristow: Informed Council that Marcus Cable was raising its rates on two cable stations. Noted that he had attended the School opening celebrations. Parks Director Bell: Showed Council a model of the playground equipment to be installed at Hill Dee Park. 15. Council adjourned the regular meeting at 10:30 P.M. before entering into Executive Session to discuss labor negotiation issues. Respectfully submitted, Mary Hanson Clerk/Typist