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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-27-06 WSra r x' ~ ~ . a.. L .., x M111Lit~S City of Lakeville City Council Work Session Monday, November 27, 2006 5: oo p.m. Water ~crtmettt Faeilitu In attendance: Mayor Robert Johnson, Council Members David Luick, Laurie Rieb, Wendy Wulff, and Mark Bellows. Also in attendance: City Administrator Steve Mielke, Assistant to City Administrator Brian Anderson, Community and Economic Development Director Dave Olson,. Planning Director Daryl Morey, City Engineer Keith Nelson, Interim Police Chief Thomas Vonhof, Finance Director Dennis Feller, and Liquor Operations Manager Brenda Visnovec, Adam Kienberger, Hoisington Koegler Representative Rusty Fifield, Planning Commission & Economic Development Commission members, and the Downtown Task Force Members. Joint Work Session City Council, Planning Commission, Economic Development Commission, and the Downtown Task Force Members 1. Downtown Guide Plan Project Review Mr. Olson gave a brief introduction about the downtown planning project and stated that there will be a public meeting at City Hall on December 5, 2006. Mr. Fifield gave a 30 minute slide show presentation outlining the vision, concept plan for the various parts of the downtown, and the implementation plan. During his presentation, he made it clear to the audience that the recommendations outlined in this document were to serve only as a guide and that some or all of the recommendations may be incorporated into the City's Comprehensive Plan. After the presentation, Dan Schmitt of Schmitty and Sons, inquired about the zoning of his business property. Mr. Schmitt is under the impression that the zoning of his property will be changed through this process. Staff and others informed 'him that is not true and he can continue to operate his business as usual. After a brief discussion, the Mayor stated that staff would further discuss the issues with Mr. Schmitt at a later date. After further discussion, City Council, Planning Commission, and the Economic Development Committee endorsed the Downtown Guide Plan and directed staff to bring it to the public meeting at City Hall on December 5, 2006. City Council Work Session 2. Wendt Property Assessment Deferment -Iberia Extension Mr. Olson addressed the City Council and stated that one of the proposed elements of the Draft Downtown Development Guide Plan is the proposed extension of Iberia Avenue from 205th Street to possibly as far as 210th Street behind the Lakeville Area Arts Center. This proposed extension would not be completed all at once, but rather would likely be done in increments and probably in conjunction with redevelopment in this area of the Downtown. There are two existing buildings located on a single parcel at the north end of this proposed extension that is currently owned by Wendt Investment Co., LLP. The road extension- would go through the larger of the two buildings located on the parcel. The Draft Downtown Guide Plan identifies the Wendt property to be redeveloped as high density residential on the west side of the proposed Iberia extension and medium density on the east side of the proposed extension. Consideration to changing the current land use designation for this property will be discussed during the Comprehensive Plan update in 2007. Further evaluation of the Iberia Avenue extension will be part of the Transportation Plan update that will be completed in conjunction with the Comprehensive Plan update. Earlier this year the City Council removed a deferment of a special assessment on this property for a storm sewer improvement project that was completed in 1997. The current total amount of the assessment is $43,094.91 which includes $16,893.24 of accrued interest. This assessment is currently scheduled to be paid off over a 10 year period beginning in 2007. Mr. Wendt proposed additional industrial development of his property earlier this year in the form of a new office warehouse building. Staff has met with Mr. Wendt several times and has reached a tentative agreement that he will not proceed with further industrial development of his property at this time. Mr. Wendt has also indicated that he will agree with the proposed recommendations of the Downtown Development Guide Plan that identify the future land use for his property as high and medium residential. In exchange for this, Mr. Wendt is requesting an additional three-year deferment of the current pending assessment. on his property and that. no additional interest will accrue during this three year period. City Council agreed with staff's. recommendation for the stated reasons .and directed staff to bring forth an Assessment Deferment Agreement at an upcoming City Council meeting for approval. 3. Song Property -MUSA Extension Mr. Nelson informed the City Council that Lennar representatives have contacted the City about developing the 90 acre Aimee Song property located south of Dodd Boulevard between Hayes Avenue and 175th Street and west of the Central Maintenance Facility (CMF). The MUSA Expansion Area A Serviceability Study identifies the Song property for development in 2010 due to the need for trunk sanitary sewer to be extended from the Crossroads development on the east side of Cedar Avenue south and west across Cedar Avenue and following the drainage divide in the area of the DNR creek located south of the CMF. The developer would like to develop the Song property in 2007 and is proposing to construct a lift station to serve the Song property and phase out the existing lift station serving the Pine Gove development on the north side of Dodd Boulevard. • In exchange for moving up the timing of the MUSA for the Song property from 2010 to 2007, the developer would be willing to realign Dodd Boulevard from just east of Hayes Avenue to 179th Street at Cedar Avenue. Lennar would dedicate the required 150 feet of right-of-way within the Song property following an alignment approved by the City and Dakota County. Lennar would build the south half of the future 4-lane roadway with the development of the Song property at no cost to the City or Dakota County. Lennar would also extend 175th Street south of Dodd Boulevard to intersect with 179th Street along the west line of the CMF property. The portion of existing Dodd Boulevard .between Hayes Avenue and 175th Street could then be vacated. It is hoped that this realignment of Dodd Boulevard to 179th Street will allow the City and Dakota County to move forward with the installation of traffic signals at both the Cedar Avenue/179th Street and Cedar Avenue/Glacier Way intersections, which both meet warrants for traffic signalization. The existing traffic signal at the Cedar Avenue/Dodd Boulevard intersection would have to be removed and medians installed fora 3/ intersection design. The half mile spacing between the 179th Street and Glacier Way traffic signals on Cedar Avenue would meet the County's spacing guidelines. The spacing guidelines would not be met if the existing traffic signal at the Dodd Boulevard/Cedar Avenue intersection remains in place. City Council inquired to ensure. this. practice wouldn't set a president for other property owners to pursue similar requests from the City. Mr. Nelson justified this recommendation by stating the community- would receive many public benefits from this development, which doesn't occur with an average property. City Council directed staff to proceed in negotiations with the developer regarding the project and stated requirements. 4. Galaxie Liquor Store Update Ms. Visnovec informed the City Council that the Liquor Store Committee recently reviewed the Galaxie store plans, proposed finishes and construction budget for the new store. The Committee directed staff and architect to provide alternatives to reduce project costs. As such the architect proposed, and the staff concurred, with elimination of the clerestory. The revised plan reduces the project costs by $185,000. In addition, it is less intrusive on the neighborhood and creates less of a promenade down the main entrance aisle, inviting customer traffic flow into the wine area, which is the most profitable area of the store. The estimated construction budget for the store (not including land, landscaping or fixtures) is comparable to other recently constructed liquor stores. The estimated includes a 10% contingency. As such the estimated costs may be high. when taking into consideration that the construction bidding climate is currently very favorable. It's being proposed that plans and specifications for the project will be submitted to the City Council on December 18. The project would be bid in January with an anticipated completion date in the fall of 2007. The project will be financed with Liquor Revenue Bonds and the overall debt financing requirements are outlined in the memo. City Council agreed with the proposed changes and directed staff to submit the plans and specifications for Liquor Store Galaxie to the City Council at the December 18 meeting. 5. Avian Flu and COOP Planning Mr. Vonhof informed the City Council that the Lakeville police and administration department have been working on amending the Emergency Operations Plan along with creating an Avian Flu and Influenza Pandemic Plan and Continuity of Operations Plan. These plans are part of the City's effort in being proactive against any emergency situation that Lakeville should encounter in the future. Mr. . Vonhof then briefly outlined the proposed changes and plans as outlined in the memo. In addition, he explained staff's recommendation to purchase approximately $89,000 worth of health and safety equipment for the Pandemic Plan. City Council agreed with the proposals and directed staff to bring the plans forward for approval at an upcoming City Council meeting. 6. DARTS Services 2006 Review Mr. Anderson informed the City Council that in January of 2006, the City of Lakeville entered into a one-year agreement with DARTS to provide the residents of Lakeville extended service hours, reduce the age requirement, and to allow ridership for all metro mobility certified residents regardless of their age. .The cost to provide these extra services for Lakeville residents was approximately $39,000, which was paid for through Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. The City's primary objective with the increased funding to DARTS was to increase the number of riders by offering extended service hours for Lakeville seniors. However, as depicted by the 2006 and 2005 statistics, staff feels that those needs are being met to the best of DARTS ability, as they have been in the pasta Staff recommends discontinuing funding in 2007 for the DARTS pilot project and allocating those CDBG funds to other low to moderate income eligible activities. In talking with DARTS about this potential change, staff has been assured that Lakeville residents will continue to receive the same quality service as they've been accustomed to prior to this pilot project and that the organized group trips will continue from each of the senior complexes. City Council agreed with staff's recommendation and directed staff to discontinue funding the DARTS pilot project in 2007 and allocate the CDBG funds towards other projects. 7. Volunteer Program Update Mr. Anderson addressed the City Council and stated that staff has been working on a volunteer program that would promote Lakeville's volunteer opportunities to local residents and civic groups. Initially, staff considered proposing apart-time volunteer coordinator position in 2007 to assist with the daily questions from residents,. promoting and coordinating programs, and record keeping of the volunteer program. However, due to budget constraints, staff will not be asking for the volunteer coordinator in 2007 but is proposing to establish a volunteer web page along with an internal volunteer program policy. The proposed volunteer web page is simply designed to promote all of Lakeville's volunteer opportunities in a user friendly format that is currently linked from the City's home web page. Once a resident has found a .program that meets their needs, they are encouraged to call the appropriate staff member as cited on the web page. Nothing regarding interviewing, coordinating, and training the volunteers will change for City staff at this time. In addition to the web page, staff would like to propose a new volunteer program policy that outlines basic policy issues for City staff.. Being most of our volunteer programs are supervised, the intent of the policy is to assist and direct City staff with volunteers. The policy is not intended to be read by volunteers as it has been determined by staff and City attorney that it isn't realistic to expect volunteers to read the policy prior to volunteering. This policy has been recommended by the League of MN Cities for insurance purposes and has been reviewed and recommended by the City. attorney. City Council agreed with the program and directed staff to implement the program changes and to bring forth and policy for approval at an upcoming City Council meeting. 8. Civic Organization Dues Mr. Mielke informed the City Council that at the August 28t" Council work session, the policy of issue of whether the City should pay the due to civic organizations for department heads. The City Council requested staff to provide information on what other neighboring cities have regarding this policy question. Mr. Mielke then outlined other cities practices, as outlined in the memo, which show many of them funding employee membership fees. He also stated that according to the State Auditor ..."Cities are .authorized to appropriate funds to provide city membership in county, regional, state and national associations of a civic, educational, or governmental nature which have as their purpose the betterment .and improvement of municipal governmental operations. However, the Attorney General has determined that a city is not authorized to be a member or pay membership dues of a local chamber of commerce. After reviewing the proposed policy outlining the approval of funding such memberships, the City Council directed staff to bring forth the proposed policy for approval at an upcoming City Council meeting. 9. Other Mr. Mielke distributed .agendas to each of the Council members to read during the Board and Commission Appreciation dinner on November 29~''. Mr. Mielke and the City Council .then discussed and agreed to advertise the advisory board vacancies in December and early January in order to set up interview times in mid January with selected candidates. Adjourn The meeting adjourned at 7:28 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Brian .Anderson Assistant to City Administrator •