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03/21/1995 - City Council Special AGENDA SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING Tuesday March 21, 1995 5:00 p.m. Eagan Municipal Center Building L ROLL CALL & ADOPTION OF AGENDA IL CAPONI ART PARK III. PARK ACQUISITIONBORCHERT INGERSOLL TAX FORFEITURE IV. KOLLOFSKI'S ADDITION - SOUND INSULATION V. CEDARVALE UPDATE VL DEVELOPMENT UPDATE VII. OTHER BUSINESS M' MEMO mot . city of eagan TO: HONORABLE MAYOR & CITY COUNCILMEMBERS FROM: CITY ADMINISTRATOR HEDGES DATE: MARCH 17, 1995 _ - SUBJECT: SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING/TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 1995 A Special City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 21, 1995, at 5:00 p.m. to discuss several items beginning with a presentation by Tony and Cheryl Capons relative to the Caponi Art Park. Other items scheduled for the workshop include an update on the status of the Borchert Ingersoll tax forfeiture property, the status of sound insulation improvements for Kollofski's Addition, input on a sign proposed for the Cedarvale area and a general development update. CAPON! ART PARK At a Committee meeting that was held by City Councilmembers Awada and Masin with the Caponi's on Monday, February 27, there was concurrence that the Caponi's appear at a special City Council workshop for the purpose of clarifying issues that the Caponi's and the Committee have raised concerning the ongoing development of the Caponi Art Park. City Councilmember Awada was informed by the Caponi's this week that Mr. & Mrs. Caponi are planning to provide a memo with discussion topics in advance of Tuesday's workshop. As soon as the document is received, it will be forwarded with either the regular City Council packet or the Administrative Agenda on Monday. Also enclosed without page number is a memo from Assistant to the City Administrator Duffy the includes minutes and additional information requested by City Councilmember Masin for review by the City Council. It should be noted that the Committee has informed the Caponi's that this item Is scheduled for no longer than forty-five (45) minutes. The Committee is planning to meet with the Caponi's at 4:30 p.m. in advance of the special workshop session on Tuesday. PARK ACQUISITION/BORCHERT INGERSOLL TAX FORFEITURE The plan for proceeding with acquisition of the Borchert Ingersoll tax forfeiture property has been presented to both the Advisory Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission and the City Council. Gopher Smelting, who Is an adjacent property owner to the south of the Borchert parcel, has expressed interest in a portion of the property for their future expansion plans. The Director of Parks & Recreation and City Administrator have held several meetings with the owner and plant manager of Gopher Smelting to review plans by both entities and determine if a land swap could be agreed to that would enhance the development proposals for both the City and Gopher Smelting. In order to claim the tax forfeiture and create a land swap, which involves a condemnation of the small land locked parcel, would require special legislation. Senator Weiner has placed the special legislation on a Committee docket for the last week in March. The revisions that have been worked out by staff and ownership of Gopher Smelting will be presented to the APRNRC on Monday, March 20. The recommendation of the Park Commission will be presented by the Director of Parks& Recreation for consideration by the Council at the workshop meeting. Staff will concentrate on:the changes and the overall benefit of the land transfer for both the City and Gopher Smelting. For additional information on this item, refer to a the APRNRC packet of information regarding this item for their meeting on Monday, March 20, 1995. This information is attached without page number. This item is scheduled for final ratification at the regular meeting as a part of Old Business. KOLLOFSKI'S ADDITION - SOUND INSULATION Assistant to the City Administrator Hohenstein and the Director of Community Development have been collaborating on the Part 150 sound insulation improvements that are proposed for homes in Kollofski's Addition, located near the former Airliner Motel on Highway 55. The MAC is preparing to move forward with sound insulation improvements for those homes; however, the City has determined that these homes are non-conforming uses in an area zoned PD-Commercial. Staff is proposing that jhe Council review arguments presented in the attached memo, enclosed on pages [f through , ,prepared by Assistant to the City Administrator Hohenstein,that considers various options, including modifying the use of Part 150 funds in residential areas in the corridor. If an option is selected that is different from proceeding with the insulation, the residents of Kollofski's Addition should be invited to a public information meeting. Those residents have been counting on some insulation improvements beginning this year. Special Note: It is hopeful that the first three agenda items will be completed prior to the need to begin the regular City Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. It is suggested that the special work session be suspended at this time and resumed after the regular meeting to consider both the Cedarvale and development updates. CEDARVALE UPDATE As a part of the overall redevelopment plans for the Cedarvale area, an 80 foot sign is being proposed adjacent and visible from the Cedar freeway. The Director of Community c2 Development has asked for time to review the sign proposal and receive input by the City Council before the proposal proceeds ahead. Staff will provide drawings at the workshop on Tuesday that provide a visual of the sign height in relation to Cedar Avenue and the Cedarvale area. DEVELOPMENT UPDATE The Community Development Director will provide a brief update on pending developments that may be of interest to the City Council. OTHER BUSINESS There are no items to be considered for Other Business at this time. IS/ Thomas L. Hedges City Administrator 3 MEMO _city of eagan TO: TOM HEDGES, CITY ADMINISTRATOR FROM: JON HOHENSTEIN, ASSISTANT TO THE CITY ADMINISTRATOR DATE: MARCH 16, 1995 SUBJECT: KOLLOFSKI'S ADDITION - SOUND INSULATION IMPROVEMENTS Staff has identified a situation, of which the City Council should be aware, involving the Part 150 sound insulation improvements for homes in Kollofski's Addition located near the former Airliner Motel on Highway 55. As the MAC is preparing to move forward with the sound insulation improvements, we have determined that the homes in the area are non- conforming uses in an area zoned PD-Commercial. As a consequence, the area causes City policies to compete since the City has determined that noise impacted residences should be sound insulated and that non-conforming uses should not be improved so as to increase the property's value for that use. The Council will recall that it conducted a review with the Airport Relations Commission approximately a year ago regarding each area potentially eligible for the Part 150 program. Both bodies discussed the potential to buy, insulate or simply not treat the homes in the corridor area. The study areas were Kollofski's Addition, Blue Gentian Road,the west side of Lexington Avenue and the McKee Addition. All of these areas are guided to become commercial-industrial uses in the City's Comprehensive Plan. Of these, only Kollofski's Addition is zoned to a commercial use which brings it under the non- conforming use ordinance. As a part of its deliberation last year, the Council was asked to consider future potential redevelopment as one of the factors for each of the areas. The issue.of improvements to non-conforming uses was not specifically raised partially because the new ordinance prohibiting such improvements was not considered or adopted until last November. By that time the City Council had made a decision to sound insulate all potentially eligible areas and applications had been distributed and were beginning to be returned. When the MAC distributed its noise-based block prioritization list for use with 1995 allocations, Blue Gentian, Kollofski's Addition and the west side of Lexington Avenue were among the higher impacted areas and were prioritized ahead of the McKee Addition. As such, the addresses were submitted to the MAC and the residents were informed of the program selections for the year. In directing this action, the Council indicated that regardless of future redevelopment potentials, peoples' indoor living environments should be improved until redevelopment actually occurs. Prohibiting improvements to non-conforming uses has also been a priority for the City for many years. This priority was clarified and formalized with the adoption of the non- conforming use ordinance. The concept is simply that non-conforming uses prevent the redevelopment of a property to its ultimate intended use and that the presence of incompatible uses in proximity will create nuisances for one or both. Rather than encourage these uses to continue indefinitely, the City's ordinance only permits non- conforming uses to be maintained, but not expanded or improved in a way which will increase its financial value. It is possible to differentiate between the types of improvements proposed under the Part 150 Program to make a current home more liveable and those which would expand the home or enhance its quality beyond dealing with the noise nuisance. Staff would suggest however that if the Council concurs with this differentiation and requests no changes in the Part 150 eligibility list as submitted, it would be important for the City to make such a finding formally indicating that the Part 150 activities are for sound attenuation purposes only, making clear the Council's original intent, and that the non-conforming use ordinance applies in all other respects to such properties. Then, neither the subject homes nor other non-conforming uses could expand or improve their property on the basis of this decision. If the Council wishes to consider other options including modifying the use of Part 150 funds in the Kollofski's Addition or other residential areas in the corridor, an effort should be made to involve the affected residents in the discussion. This is because of the high level of public participation in the original decision and because of the expectations which have been created for these homeowners over the past year. Unless directed to do otherwise by the City Council, staff is prepared to make a determination that Part 150 sound insulation activities do not constitute an improvement of the property under the non-conforming use ordinance and that the ordinance prohibits any other improvements beyond those in the Part 150 program. If you have any questions, please let us know. cc: Peggy Reichert, Community Development Director •