Loading...
11/13/2000 - City Council Special 00014 MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE EAGAN CITY COUNCIL EAGAN, MINNESOTA January 13,2000 A Special City Council meeting was held on Thursday, January 13,2000 at 4:45 p.m. in the City Council Chambers of the Eagan Municipal Center Building. Those present were Mayor Awada and City Councilmembers Bakken, Blomquist, Carlson and Masin. Also present were Assistant City Administrator Verbrugge, Senior Planner Ridley, Police Officer Pike, Public Works Coordinator Struve, Superintendent of Streets and Equipment Erhart, Police Chief Therkelsen, Director of Public Works Colbert, Director of Parks and Recreation Vraa, Director of Finance VanOverbeke, and City Administrator Hedges. AGENDA ADOPTION Councilmember Masin moved to add discussion of a check-off sheet listing annual City Council responsibilities and City Council liaisons to the agenda under Other Business. Mayor A wada seconded the motion and the amended agenda was approved in a 4 to 1 vote with Mayor A wada voting against the motion. City Administrator Hedges noted that staff can help with this effort by providing a list of organizations in which the City is involved and the liaisons to those organizations to the City Council on Tuesday night, January 18th. VISITORS TO BE HEARD Mr. Alan Miller appeared as a visitor to meet the City Council and present his background and qualifications as a candidate for appointment to the Burnsville/Eagan Telecommunications Commission. Mr. Miller had a prior teaching engagement on Tuesday, January 11, 2000 and was not able to interview during that time period. REVIEW 2000 GOALS City Administrator Hedges introduced the document titled "Goals and Action Plan Year 2000" and reviewed the background covering the material on the year 2000 Goals as presented in the packet. He shared the five goal statements and provided an update on how they had been developed. Mr. Hedges referenced the final three pages in the document that list the completed objectives that were removed from the active section per the direction of the City Council at the November 9, 1999 meeting. He also noted that the department heads had met and reviewed the document prior to this presentation to the City Council. City Administrator Hedges reviewed the individual objectives included in goal statement number one. There being no questions, he proceeded to review each individual objective in goal statement number two. Although there were no questions, Mayor Awada moved and Counclimember Blomquist seconded the motion to change the notation on the objective "consider river development space for fireworks/festivals" to "consider river development space." The motion was approved 5 to o. Councilmember Masin moved and Mayor A wada seconded the motion to change the objective "present a millennium celebration event" to "present a millennium celebration" noting that the celebration could be on going and be much more than just one event. 00015 Mayor Awada suggested that it should be up to the community to promote this celebration and that Councilmember Masin should chair the committee. There being no additional discussion on any objectives within goal statement number two, City Administrator Hedges continued by covering the objectives contained in goal statement number three. He pointed out that the City had received communication from two interested citizens on the question of administrative lot splits. He also noted that Assistant City Administrator Duffy and Director of Finance VanOverbeke would be working with the volunteer committee to complete a final report on the Eagan Forever Green objective/tree planting program. Councilmember Masin inquired as to how the objective "participate in the Dakota Partnership for Healthy Communities" objective relates to the healthy communities initiative. Assistant City Administrator Verbrugge responded that the terms have been used interchangeably for the purpose of this document. Councilmember Masin asked about the obj ective of acquiring additional property from Blue Cross/Blue Shield for maintenance facilities. Director of Public Works Colbert responded that preliminary negotiations had taken place about five years ago, however they were not completed primarily to personnel changes at Blue Cross/Blue Shield. He feels that the time is right to resume the process and noted that the objective also impacts an expansion to the North Treatment Plant that is scheduled in the year 2003 in the current CIP. Councilmember Masin also noted how the City of Shakopee holds a Christmas in May during which volunteers assist needy citizens with property maintenance. Councilmember Bakken suggested and there was concurrence that the administrative lot split issue should be brought before the Advisory Planning Commission to include a public hearing before the City Council formally considers the issue. City Administrator Hedges noted that staff is proceeding in that direction on this objective. Moving on to goal statement number four, City Administrator Hedges pointed out the success that the City has had with its web page in that other cities were modeling it and that the web page is heavily used by citizens. Councilmember Bakken noted the importance of individuals being able to download flyers and other informational material as a use of the web page. City Administrator Hedges than began his review of the objectives included in goal statement number five. Mayor Awada asked about Cedarvale redevelopment not being included in the goal objectives. It was noted that the objective "participate in Cedarvale Task Force/Redevelopment study" had been moved to the completed section of the document. Councilmember Blomquist suggested and others concurred that the Cedarvale redevelopment activities needed to be written up and identified as an objective and that the Task Force for the Central Park should also be written up more clearly as an objective. In response to Mayor Awada's question about where the Cedarvale Task Force report is at, City Administrator Hedges responded that it is being reviewed by the Commissions during January and the next generation issue of where we go from here will be brought before the City Council. He also noted that staff had met with City Manager Steve Mielke of Hopkins and City Manager Bill Joynes of Golden Valley as representatives of cities that have had extensive experience with redevelopment. Mr. Hedges noted their advice to develop and adhere to guiding principles for redevelopment and that staff would be bringing that issue before the City Council for discussion and consideration. It was noted that access and road issues remain central to implementation of any redevelopment plan. Mayor Awada stated that access and financial viability are the most crucial issues as this moves forward. Assistant City Administrator Verbrugge reminded the City Council that the Task Force has advised that more detailed access and traffic studies as well as a review of traffic impacts from residents living in the area are necessary. He also noted the Task Force conclusion that traffic analyses should be driven by development. Mayor Awada inquired as to whether or 00016 not Engineering agreed with that conclusion. Mayor Awada noted that the moratorium is about to expire and inquired if anything can be built. Assistant City Administrator Verbrugge noted that the expectation has been that rezoning would accompany redevelopment. Senior Planner Ridley stated that nothing has been implemented on different zoning for the area and that the existing zoning and comp guide designations would control development applications. It was agreed that a legal opinion should be sought from the City Attorney to clarify the situation as the moratorium expires. Mayor Awada inquired how the Central Area Street Light Plan impacts additional development and suggested that it should be reviewed. Councilmember Carlson recalled how the comprehensive streetscape plan had been prepared but not implemented because of funding concerns. She also suggested that it might need to be better defined as one of the objectives. Staff was directed to research what the City has on record on this issue. Councilmember Blomquist moved and Councilmember Bakken seconded a motion to approve the document titled "Goals and Action Plan Year 2000" with the slight modifications as noted. The motion was approved with a 5 to 0 vote. City Administrator Hedges explained that staff will be providing semi-monthly updates on the status of the objectives and thanked Planner Kirmis for his involvement in the preparation of the final product. REVIEW USE OF FY 2000 CDBG FUNDS City Administrator Hedges introduced the purpose of this item to provide direction to the staff for inclusion on the regular City Council agenda for January 18,2000. Dakota County is requesting action by the City prior to the end of January. Senior Planner Ridley explained the requirements placed by Dakota County on outside agencies requesting funds. The Resource Center For Fathers & Families had responded to the request for additional information and appears to meet all requirements of the program. Senior Planner Ridley noted that the Community Action Council had withdrawn its request for funding since they were not proposing a program expansion and consequently would not meet all program requirements. The CAC responded that it would not be prudent to under take an expansion of its programs when it does not know that funding can be sustained. Mayor A wada inquired about whether or not the City could continue to allocate money to the Home Swap to help provide for future housing needs. The question was answered in the affirmative. Councilmember Bakken proposed an allocation of the fiscal 2000 funds based on the 1999 allocation. Mayor A wada questioned what the request for funding by the Police Department for Wescott Square involved and whether the recent grant application was for two officers. Police Chief Therkelsen responded that the current police officer presence is provided by presently authorized positions. The City is in the process of hiring three new Clinton Cops and the Weed and Feed Grant application was not funded. Chief Therkelsen added that a budget for an expanded police presence at Wescott Square has not been fully developed, however it would include primarily substation overhead. Director of Parks and Recreation Vraa explained his perception of the Wescott Square needs and the challenges that the City is facing in that area. Mayor A wada questioned more specifically what dollars are being requested for Wescott Square services. City Administrator Hedges clarified that the staff is trying to determine what the City Council's interest might be in providing more resources to the problem at that location prior to recommending a specific budget. Councilmember Bakken asked whether the police request could be financed from elsewhere in the budget and City Administrator Hedges answered that it could also be handled in that manner with a budget adjustment. Councilmember Blomquist noted that the City Council decided four years ago not to expand more into the area of human services and that the money should be doing something. She further questioned what information is available as to the crime statistics at Wescott Square compared to other locations. Chief Therkelsen responded that he only had raw numbers however; Wescott Square has 2% of the multi-family population and is responsible for 14% of the calls for 00017 service from multi-family locations. He further noted that the rate of total crime is approximately five times the total for the City; approximately three to four times higher than the next highest multi-family housing area and approximately seven times the average calls for service for multi- family housing. Director of Parks and Recreation Vraa stated that the successes that the City has been able to achieve have been primarily with the youth. Mayor A wada stated that the City has known for years that there is a significant problem in this area and that drastic steps such as new ownership, etc might be necessary to achieve lasting improvement. Councilmember Carlson stated that she did not have adequate information to address the allocation of the year 2000 funds. City Administrator Hedges again explained the memo and the information that was provided and apologized for the confusion. Councilmember Bakken withdrew his earlier suggestion regarding an allocation and inquired about the cumulative status of accounts that had previously been funded. Senior Planner Ridley explained how the information was presented and noted cumulative balances. Mayor Awada moved and City Councilmember Blomquist seconded a motion to allocate the fiscal year 2000 funds as follows: Resource Center For Fathers & Families Wescott Youth Homeownership Assistance Police Services-Wescott Square Home Swap (Senior Housing) Housing Rehabilitation Loans Cedarvale Blight Total Fiscal Year 2000 Allocation $ 1,000 9,632 10,000 20,000 100,000 60,000 40,000 $240,632 The motion was approve 4 to 0 with Councilmember Carlson abstaining, stating that she did not have enough information. CONSIDERATION OF RIGHT-OF-WAY MANAGEMENT POLICY/ORDINANCE REVISIONS Director of Public Works Colbert noted that the purpose of this being on the agenda was to introduce the City Council to the work that has been done regarding the management of the City's rights-of-way prior to soliciting input from the utility companies. Public Works Coordinator Struve quickly provided an executive summary on the proposed process of bringing this before the City Council, discussing it with the utility companies, and finally proposing a new right-of-way ordinance for City Council consideration. Councilmember Bakken moved and Councilmember Blomquist seconded the motion providing direction to move forward with the proposed process and to take the information to the utility companies. The City council asked for an overview of the responses from the utility companies including copies of letters from attorneys. Councilmember Masin requested that utility companies be asked to inform residents when they will be working in people's yards. The motion was approved 5 to O. OTHER BUSINESS Councilmember Masin explained that her earlier motion regarding City Council responsibilities actually consisted of the proposed check offlist and clarification ofliaison assignments. Councilmember Bakken inquired why a check off list was required and 00018 Councilmember Masin said that it was because certain items were falling between the cracks. Councilmember Bakken agreed that that could be the case and even compilation of a list would not ensure that everything would necessarily be accomplished. Councilmember Blomquist noted that only certain items should be placed on this type oflist and made a motion that Councilmember Masin work with staff to bring something back to the next work session. The motion was seconded by Mayor Awada and approved on a 5 to 0 vote. Councilmember Blomquist moved that Councilmember Masin and City Administrator Hedges bring a list of the known liaison assignments back to the City Council at the next workshop. Councilmember Bakken seconded the motion and noted that perhaps this should be added to the goals. Councilmember Blomquist suggested that it doesn't fit there and the motion was approved 5 to O. Councilmember Masin suggested that this is a City Council job list. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned to an executive session at 6:47 p.m. January 13. 2000 Date