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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-10-06 WSMinutes City of Lakeville Council Work Session Monday, April 10, 2006 / 4:00 PM In attendance: Mayor Robert Johnson, Council Members David Luick, Mark Bellows, Laurie Rieb, and Wendy Wulff. Also in attendance: City Administrator Steve Mielke; Police Chief Steve Strachan; Parks and Recreation Director Steve Michaud; Finance Director Dennis Feller, Liquor Operations Manager Brenda Visnovec; Parks and Recreation Director Steve Michaud; Assistant to City Administrator Brian Anderson. Item #1. Police Department Building Project Update Police Chief Strachan stated that Wold Architects, Inc. is working on the design concepts and anticipates that drawings will be available by June. Interviews were held last week for a construction management firm and the list is narrowed to two. Representatives from both firms have visited the proposed site and feel it is very conducive. Some negotiations are taking place for a final decision and the planning team intends to have a contract before the Council for consideration by May 1~. • The Police Department is also in need of a shooting range. The option of a 25-yard indoor shooting range might be offered for Council consideration since the construction estimates are a fraction of the initial estimates. Council thanked staff for bringing them up to date on the Po/ice Department building project. Item #2. Project Northland Funding Chief Strachan stated that Project Northland is the successor to DARE. It is amiddle-school, teacher based, drug prevention program, coordinated by Judy Johnson. A lot of the staff's time is spent on grant writing and review, however, the grants are ending. School District 194 staff suggested that a .75 full-time equivalent (FTE) community prevention specialist position be created and funded .5 FTE by the School District and .25 FTE by the City. This position would serve the entire Lakeville community and would assist in filling the overlap created by the ISD 196 and ISD 192 schools within the City boundaries. City Administrator Steve Mielke clarified that the Lakeville Liquor Dept. would fund the City's portion of the program, (approximately $13,000) but only with the understanding that the support would be for all of the school districts within the City of Lakeville. Council Members expressed the importance of the program and asked if a full-time position should be considered. Council directed staff to begin funding for the program with a .75 position on a one-year trial basis. After a year of monitoring, the program will be evaluated to determine success and • possible expansion. . ~ City Council Work Session April l0, 2006 Page Z- • Item #3. King 13allfields -School Use and Improvements Parks and Recreation Director Steve Michaud stated that when the KPAC proposal was being considered, they were asked to redesign a standard varsity ballfield with the idea that the Junior High and varsity would play at King Park because of the poor condition of North High School. Even though that request is no longer on the table, the school has once again asked for the City's help in designing a varsity field over the other fields at King Park. The LBA has also requested additional practice infields be installed somewhere. The School District has committed $5,000 for parking lot and trail construction and would also pay $5,000 for the feasibility study. The plan would add an additional 90' field, at the loss of two 60' fields. The King Park site would be most conducive for lighting a baseball field, if that was ever determined to be needed. Council Member Wulff feels there is already a shortage of 60' fields, and the best place to do this would be North Park. She also feels this would improve the field orientation at that facility. Mr. Michaud stated that the fields at North Park were intended to be temporary, to eventually be replaced by soccer fields, and are actually oriented the same as all other fields. With the addition of new fields at Lakeville South High School he feels the loss of the North Park field would not have a great impact on the programs. Council Member Wulff stated that while at a recent meeting she had discussed with Minnetonka city officials the concept of removable outfield fences that allow baseball fields to be transformed into soccer fields. The proposed baseball field at King Park would be for varsity use during the early hours. when they play and for community use for teams such as Legion ball during the evenings and weekends, when the varsity teams are not using it. Council directed staff to continue to work with the School District to determine the best location for a varsity baseball field and to research the removable ballfield fences like the ones Council Member Wulff had seen in Minnetonka. Item #4. Veterans Memorial Update Parks and Recreation Director Steve Michaud informed the Council that Gary Tushie has volunteered his time to work on a redesign of the Veterans Memorial site. The seating has been moved back from the pedestrian walkway, and the airplane has been turned around, to give it a grand entrance. There is a designated area for the veterans' plaques, an informational kiosk, landscaping, six flagpoles designating the five service branches plus the American flag. Some donations of fencing have also been received. Mr. Mielke suggested Mr. Tushie consider turning the plane at a 90° angle for visual purposes. Groundbreaking is scheduled for Memorial pay, and hopefully the ribbon cutting for Labor Day. Council thanked Mr. Michaud and expressed continued support for the project. Item #5. Valley Lake Improvements Update A meeting was held recently to give Valley Park neighbors an opportunity to view the first • concept of this proposed improvement project. The City has received positive feedback as a City Council Work Session April 10, 2006 Page -3- • result of that meeting. Parks and Recreation Director Steve Michaud updated the Council on the issues and concerns that have been raised. A positive suggestion brought out was to separate the accesses and the uses. Residents were concerned because of the removal and cutting of a large area of the degraded wooded area. Mr. Michaud suggested the area needs to be cleaned up, which will be done by Park staff and Sentence to Serve crews, and then replanted with hardwood species. Residents also encouraged the use of multiple security cameras at the liquor store site. Neighborhood leaders as well as the Parks and Recreation Committee support the concept. Finance Director Dennis Feller also reviewed concept and landscape drawings with the Council. He and Brenda Visnovec have been working with residents to incorporate their ideas and alleviate their concerns. Another neighborhood meeting will be planned when that phase is complete. Additional discussion was held regarding the trails in the park. Council Member Rieb asked about the cost of construction. The architect's estimate is $2 million. Mr. Feller stated that it cannot be a block building but needs to have some architectural features that will blend in with the rest of the commercial area. City staff has received many positive comments from neighborhood residents who have expressed a desire for an attractive, upscale building. It is anticipated that this will be a two-year project. Council thanked Brenda ~isnovec, Steve Michaud and Dennis Fel%r for their efforts on the project. Staff will schedule another neighborhood meeting in the near future and continue to work with the community. Item #6. Ice Arena Project Update. City Administrator Steve Mielke reviewed ice arena site alternatives that are being discussed with the School District. The School District would like to consider a 17-acre site near South High School which they already own, however the topography of that site would be difFcult to work with. Finance Director Dennis Feller spoke about several sites, the preferred which is the site near McGuire Middle School. Challenges at this site would include access and driveway locations, and relocating several soccer fields. However, City staff feels it would be the most cost effective. Mayor ]ohnson also felt it would be much more economical if additional land does not need to be purchased. Mr. Mielke also stressed the importance of working with any groups which might be affected by various options. Council feels that further details need to be gathered and directed staff to continue working with the School District to determine the best ice arena site. Item #7. Life Time Fitness Project Update. City Administrator Steve Mielke reported that a signed copy of the Purchase Agreement had been received today. The Purchase Agreement addresses the issues previously discussed and is consistent with the Letter of Intent. The actual amount of land is 19.5 acres. • Groundbreaking is tentatively scheduled for the week of June 12th, with an approximately 4 t City Council Work Session April 10, 2006 Page -4- one-year build out for the project. It was the City's responsibility to bring sanitary sewer to the property line; Life Time will do all water and sewer infrastructure. In exchange for the City allowing Life Time Fitness to build a larger storm sewer water detention pond on the Fire Station property, Life Time Fitness will absorb the water and sewer infrastructure cost. The City is responsible for building the access road from Dodd Blvd. Life Time Fitness is considered a business subsidy because it does not need to be repaid for four/seven years. Community and Economic Development Director Dave Olson will give a presentation on the business subsidy and Dennis Feller will present the Life Time Agreement prior to the public hearing at Monday night's Council meeting. A neighborhood meeting is scheduled for April 25tH Council directed staff to place the proposed public hearing and agreement with Life Time Fitness on the Council agenda for April 17, 2006 for consideration. Item #8. Four-year Term for Mayor StafF provided the Mayor and Council Members with a copy of the State Statutes relative to setting terms. Discussions on this topic have been held recently in Washington County and the City of Plymouth has also just recently changed to a four-year Mayoral term. There are benefits and drawbacks for either choice. Mr. Mielke recommended that the community be solicited for feedback, making. them part of the decision-making process. Changes need to be made 90-days prior to the election. Mayor Johnson expressed how expensive and difficult the process is for raising funds and running for election every two years. He feels two-year terms would encourage more consistency with some projects that are just getting going after two years. Council directed staff to research other communities and request input from residents to determine if the residents would endorse or support changing to a four-year Mayoral term. Item #9. Fireworks Ordinance Update A fireworks vendor is asking that the City revisit the issue of fireworks. The City Attorney has no knowledge of any other city handling their ordinance quite like Lakeville, of banning transient merchants with a few exceptions. Issues that exist include access and parking limitations on certain lots, storage containers, zoning, fire safety, etc. It's important that the ordinance treats everyone equally. Council was not willing to risk sacrificing the farmers market or Christmas tree sales by the Scouts. An option might be to add fireworks sales as an additional exception. Council directed staff to do more research with the City Attorney to revise the verbiage of the transient merchant ordinance Item #10. Volunteer Program Brian Anderson, Assistant to City Administrator, stated that several City departments manage volunteers -especially the Parks and Recreation and Engineering Departments. It's R ., City Council Work Session April 10, 2006 Page -5- • becoming difficult to recruit volunteers from the schools for various reasons and the programs are growing, making it difFcult to manage the volunteers. There is no central list that has been compiled for volunteer opportunities. StafF felt there was a great potential for additional volunteers and looked at how other cities handle this aspect. Staff is proposing a new Volunteer Coordinator position that would be in charge of administering all volunteers including interviewing and providing any necessary materials they might need to complete their tasks. Information on the program could be made available on the City's web site. Council directed staff to continue working on the program and to propose it for consideration in the 2007 budget. Item #11. Staff Introductions at City Council Meetings Discussions were held at a recent staff meeting about which new employees should be brought to Council meetings for introductions. Staff felt that for a city the size of Lakeville, it is becoming a bit cumbersome to bring every full time employee forward to be introduced. Staff is suggesting introductions be made for the following positions: department directors, all police and fire personnel, and any personnel who will typically make presentations to the City Council. Council directed staff to add these guidelines to the policy manual and place it on a future agenda for Council consideration. Item #12. Other business. There was no other business. Item #13. Adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 6:45 PM. Respectfully submitted, udi h R. Hawkins, eputy Clerk