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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-06-26 - Council Minutes - Part 1CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING June 26, 2008 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Call to Order The Corcoran City Council met on June 26, 2008, at City Hall in Corcoran, Roll Call Minnesota. Present were Vice Mayor Jacobs, Councilor Hudok, Councilor Thomas and Councilor Grabowski. Also present were Interim City Administrator Bodem, City Planner Gartner, City Engineer Rhein, Police Chief Gormley, Building Inspector Qualle, Commissioner Casserly, Commissioner Ellinger, Commissioner Hank, and Commissioner Milbrandt. Mayor Guenthner had an excused absence. Vice Mayor Jacobs called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. AGENDA APPROVAL Interim City Administrator Bodem requested to add the Resolution 2008 -26 back from June 12, 2008 council meeting to Agenda Item 6b. Interim City Administrator Bodem requested to replace the draft June 12, 2008 minutes with the amended minutes with an expanded version. Interim City Administrator Bodem asked that under Agenda Item 10 an update from Scott Qualle and himself is available on the liquor licenses and fire violations from the June 12 Council Meeting. Also, Thomas recommended an update with the Deming's case. 4. OPEN FORUM 4a. Rules Outline Vice Mayor Jacobs explained the rules and steps on how to run a smooth and orderly public forum. Vice Mayor introduced the sergeant -at -arms, Chief Sean Gormley. The rules and steps came from a suggestion from a member of the public. The following steps give everyone an equal opportunity to express their ideas on a topic. 1. After the pledge of allegiance, introduce the "acting" sergeant -at -arms. 2. Ask speakers to: a. raise their hand for recognition. b. stand up after being recognized. c. move to a microphone unless they clearly speak to the whole group at first word. d. clearly identify themselves by: I. name and II. whether or not they are a resident a. if a resident, state address b. if not a resident, state their property interest. 3. State that any outburst/catcall from the audience immediately will be treated as a disruption of the meeting and the Chair will insist that the "speaker" stand up and identify themselves. Tell the disrupter that he /she can "follow the rules ", i.e., Item #2, or they will be removed. If they resist, have the sergeant -at -arms remove them. 4. Tell each speaker that they have all the time they need to make their point. 5. Speakers can speak more than once — by going back to Item #2. 6. After a while, ask if anyone has ideas (comments, questions) that have not Agenda Approval Open Forum Page -1- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING June 26, 2008 been heard. When hearing none, end this portion of the meeting. Commissioner Patrick Hank — 9425 Trail Haven Rd. — stated that after talking with Kyle Covin from Met Council that the interceptor at Lyon's Park capacity is not set yet and that they are in negotiations with the land owner. The city does have the possibility of more capacity but would have to let them know. A resolution was issued at the June 12 Council Meeting. Interim City Administrator stated that the resolution was on the agenda, but the council felt it was a bit premature and no action was taken. Commissioner Rosalyn Milbrant stated that if we want more capacity we need to make that request now. This is an issue that needs to be dealt with Met Council as soon as possible because we won't have the option in the future. Councilor Thomas states that the resolution was not clear in what it was asking for and the Planning Commission Members were not present to respond about the resolution. Staff was directed to figure out what is needed to move forward on this resolution. Commissioner Rosalyn Milbrant states this as an opportunity that if we let pass, will be gone. Once the decision is made on the pipe, it's over. We need to know how big we are going and if we want the expansion on the pipe. Councilor Grabowski stated the resolution was tabled due to wanting more information. There needs to be an investigation done and some in -depth analysis done. We don't have any idea what our needs are going to be. Until we get information, we cannot do anything on this resolution. Councilor Thomas requested that a vote by consensus having staff and engineering get information for council for an upcoming meeting. Commissioner Pat Ellinger — 6985 Jubert Lane — stated that she would like to have information from the Met Council on the exact date by which we would have this request turned in. She thought it was pretty clear of the direction of last meeting to send a letter that even if we didn't know exactly what we need for additional capacity that we would request it and they would look into it if they could grant the request. It was like a little insurance for Corcoran, not that it would have to be utilized at the time. City Engineer Rhein stated that we need to consider the discussion with the landowners and how deep the pipe will be when it comes to the property. There is concern about how much of the property will be disturbed by the trenching. The more shallow that the pipe is installed, the less disturbance for the landowner and also limits the capacity of the flow. The deeper you install the pipe the farther you go out and move land area for sewer. If you install it shallower, it cannot reach as far because you will run out of elevation. If you want to continue using this pipe, you need to add more pumping stations at more expense. The City should indicate to Met Council that we want the pipe installed to give us the most flexibility and greatest opportunity for capacity. With that, they would know that Corcoran's position is to install a pipe as deep as possible when it comes through property to give the most opportunity for installation as it comes through the community in the future. _ Vice Mayor Jacobs asked if the City of Corcoran has any input into the payment for this relative depth. City Engineer Rhein replied that the installation of trunk Page -2- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING June 26, 2008 facility is done by MCES, and funded through the Met Council. It is one of there planned program extensions. 5. PLANNING — NORM GARTNER Nothing Presented 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 6a. Comprehensive Plan Update Natural resources /Parks /Trails Planning and transportation Resident Cathy Fransel — 8275 County Road 116 — expressed her support to anyone in favor of keeping and expanding the park and trail system in Corcoran. Commissioner Kevin Casserly stated that since the March meeting he has attended a Builders Association Seminar on green building techniques. They devoted one - fifth of the meeting to site and community impacts. He thought of our conservation easements and what might be included in some of our projects; like shared Geo Thermo Heating systems, systems that don't use much energy from LP, Natural Gas, or Coal Fuels, but rather use earth or large portion of heating and cooling. In addition to other aspects of the conservation easements and for those developments that allow for bonuses perhaps council can consider additional impacts like an in- ground heating cooling source. There has also been talk in the past about shared community septic /wells for isolated projects, and possibly community gardens or agriculture. A Planning Commission Member stated that on the transportation issue one of the developments has an issue on splitting the roads into the downtown area on County Road 10 and County Road 50. Has anyone been in contact with Hennepin County? Also with the heavy traffic coming up in next 10 -30 years, a big concern is noise pollution from the highways. When talking about some of the crossroads like Trail haven and Bechtold getting paved, he takes as a sign of more traffic to come and possibly more danger. Who makes decisions regarding stop lights? Would this be Hennepin County? Is this something we have input on? A resident asked if Corcoran had the Maple Grove Comprehensive Plan. Can staff, when reviewing Maple Grove Plan, make sure it is adequate to the Co. Road 30 access with 610? City Planner Gartner stated that we do have a draft copy of the Maple Grove Comprehensive Plan. There is a connection that comes across to County Road 30. There was another roadway that was splitting off to the north between current development areas. There was also talk of rerouting that to a four lane county road. A resident asked about Agenda Item 6a. Under Transportation/Traffic, Items 1, 2 and 4. Where does the Council stand on the proposal to make this a four lane highway from Andover to Champlin? Councilor Thomas stated that the consensus is clearly not meant to be a thoroughfare. County Rd. 30 is our main east/west thoroughfare and that it is consistent the comment with 610. Councilor Grabowski stated that we formulated a resolution to Hassan in the event that they were thinking about it., that it would be outside of Corcoran. The Planning — Norm Gartner Unfinished Business Page -3- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING June 26, 2008 Resolution also stated that Corcoran did not want this to happen. Councilor Thomas stated that our plan calls for east /west traffic flow to be County Road 30 and just moving it 5 feet up into Hassan and does not accomplish that by making 117 a wide road. In our Comprehensive Plan we want traffic to go on County Road 30. It is how we set up our zoning and to have the businesses along there. To have it be the entrance and pass -way through this area. Commissioner Casserly stated that with talking to a long time resident of Maple Grove and one of the problems that they were having in developing their property is that although they were north on 101S`, Maple Grove was expecting them to pay for the improvement of County Road 30 when developed. He stated that it was interesting concept that offsite property owners are being charged for something so distant and it is not even a city road. Councilor Thomas stated that one of our goals is to realign county road 50 and bring it straight through. If you look at the zoning map, it is all zoned as agricultural rural property. If we are going to try and pay for this we might want to look into how we are going to zone the property and also for capturing the traffic and business potentials, zone the stretch. This should be added to the conversation list. Commissioner Milbrandt addressed that it's important if anyone has any comments that have to do with the parks and trails, that they be very clear with the Council because at the next meeting they are voting on these. At some point and time they will be making a decision that is important to the community. Some important questions to ask are: Do we want to preserve and maintain the athletic areas for our kids? Do we want a park system that will grow with the community? Do we want transportation that is evaluated? If we don't plan a future for this, we won't have a future as the population grows. A resident stated that his wife saw a map a while back with a trail going through their property. Is this still the case? Commissioner Milbrandt stated that they were initially on the plan that it is not "cut in stone." The whole point you need to look at on the Plan is we need to get the trail maps updated and out to the public which has not been able to be done because of budgets and technology. Trails are being formed as we develop. They don't go into established properties. Only when properties are sold and developments are done. It is a point of trying to develop from point -to -point dotted lines and trying to make some sense of trails so that people who are using the trails will actually get from point "a" to point "b ", connect to a big trail, and to our community trails that are close to us. Vice Mayor Jacobs stated that if you just happen to live where the trail ends because your neighbor developed, he thinks that it is a good question to ask what happens next. This is what the public is interested in and the parks and trails will want to look into this. Parks and Recreation Coordinator Kevin Dale commented about a message on the comment sheet hanging on the wall about the elimination of the budget funds for parks and trails would be a huge mistake. We have a decent park that nee help. He would like to see the Council work hard at keeping the park we have right now. It's a piece of' Corcoran. It needs additional land. If you stop collecting funds you might as well say goodbye to families, we would be a retirement camp. We will not be able to give kids something to do in Corcoran. Also would like the Council Page -4- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING June 26, 2008 to think about designing "round- about" and this kind of traffic /speed control instead of stop signs or signals. They save energy and are better looking. A resident commented that she grew up in Corcoran and would like to see the parks and trails stay. She would like to be able to raise her family in Corcoran and have a place to go to have a good time instead of going into another city. A resident commented that she saw a map with trails going through backyards of homeowners. Councilor Grabowski stated that maps showing a trail through a property, none of the trails easements will be recorded until the property is developed. As the property is developed, the Parks and Trails Commission and the Planning Commission will review, recommend and ultimately approve trail locations as property is developed. Resident stated that the Highway 19 trail is a 9 mile trail that does not have restrooms is parking. This was brought up five years ago and nothing has been done. This is a nuisance to business owners. Commissioner Milbrandt stated that there was a committee to look at a trail head but have not gotten permission to move forward with a park rest area. There are prime spots on Highway 19 that would take pressure off of business owners and give an advantage to trail riders. We do need to move forward and Hennepin County would help us with this. The money in parks and trails fund cannot be spent without the permission from the council. This issue will continue to grow and will not go away. 5 MINUTE RECESS 6b. Unequal Enforcement Memos Vice Mayor Jacobs stated that at the last meeting we learned that Waldron and Associates was doing inspections that the City did not do in the past. The issue arose because of an approval at the meeting in May for liquor license renewals and as part of the approving resolution's in the past, a statement showing need for fire safety inspections was not followed by existing staff. In the fine print was language in the effect of granting inspections of facilities. In the case of the Stansion Bar, a major fire hazard problem with inadequate access or exit was noted. It is being taken care of and will not be rented. This also brought up the issue of Waldron vs Metrowest costs. We need to look beyond what the firm bids for the cost to provide public service. We also have to look at the quality of service they provide. Not all residences in the city were being enforced against equally. The council should think about this as we move toward budgets. Councilor Thomas stated that the conclusion that he gets from the memo is to move toward being more aggressively on inspections. If we are going to enforce this, we need to discuss what this means. The Policy was to do the inspections by complaints. If we are going to equally enforce we need to have discussion and training to what this means. The issue was brought up because of the concern of affordability of the additional service we are getting given our budget. If it is out of a desire to be more aggressive, we need to have a comprehensive discussion. Councilor Grabowski stated that the enforcement of the code is the responsibility of the inspector and police department regarding complaints. If the city code and ordinances are not enforced then there is a problem. RECESS Page -5- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING June 26, 2008 Councilor Hudok agrees that inspections have to be across the board. If something were to happen in one of the facilities and it was not inspected, there will be claim adjusters and attorney's going through the files asking why we did not do the inspection to make sure they are up to code. If the language is in the resolutions, then we need to follow through with inspections to make sure we have done everything to prevent loss of life and property. Vice Mayor Jacobs stated that Public Safety should be the first concern. Staff should look at future resolutions to see if something needs to be changed or done differently regarding ordinances. Councilor Thomas stated that is we are going to have a policy stating equal enforcement policy, we need to have a comprehensive discussion and give the code enforcement direction. City Inspector Qualle stated the agreement between his firm and the City approved by the Council included fire inspections for businesses. All annual liquor licenses would be at no cost to the city. Suggested a workshop to discuss a rollout plan. 6c. Flexible Res. Development Ordinance Guidelines Interim City Administrator Bodem attended a meeting at the League of Minnesota Cities held by Metro Cities. The Metropolitan Council has reviewed existing Flexible development ordinances in Diversified Rural Area Communities and has determined that many of these ordinances may be inconsistent with the Met Council's adopted policy plans. The Met Council intends to issue guidance to cities detailing Flexible Residential ordinance guidelines, and they also intend to amend the Local Planning Handbook to include guidelines and to explain the Met Council's role on the topic of Flexible development. Bodem requests that the City Council and Planning Commission direct Staff to work with the Met Council following their model and review the possibility of implementing diversified rural ordinances for the City of Corcoran. Councilor Thomas stated concern that this is not consistent with the existing Comprehensive Plan. This would change the long term goals for Corcoran. Interim City Administrator Bodem suggested that we wait to see what the model ordinance looks like and see how it fits in. Because of clustering, it will bring in more green space for people to enjoy. Councilor Hudok stated that the green space is only temporary. What are we ultimately bound to and what do we have to do or not do? Vice Mayor Jacobs suggests that staff keep a watch on the topic. 6d. Authorization of the execution of a joint cooperation agreement between the city and Hennepin County for participation in the urban Hennepin County Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) in FY 2009 -2011 Resolution 2008 -26 was tabled at the June 12, 2008 City Council meeting due to lack of understanding. In order to benefit from the resolution it needs to be approved by June 30t. The agreement is necessary for Corcoran to participate in the CDBG program and for its residents to access home rehabilitation loans. If Corcoran participates, our population etc. contributes to the overall funding coming to Hennepin county and the Consolidated Pool. The funding available to them increases with every participating city. Page -6- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING June 26, 2008 A Joint Cooperation Agreement is a contract between Hennepin County and each city participating in a HUD defined urban County community development Block Grant entitlement program. Cities in the ConPool have access to 85% of the funding total for "brick and mortar" projects consistent with the CDBG eligibility requirements. There is no cost to the City. MOTION made by Grabowski, seconded by Thomas to approve Resolution 2008- 26. Voting Aye: Grabowski, Thomas, Hudok, and Jacobs. (Motion Carried 4:0) 7. NEW BUSINESS Nothing Presented Approval of Claims 8. CLAIMS AS PRESENTED 8a. Escrow Claims (Fund 500) MOTION made by Thomas, seconded by Grabowski to approve the Escrow Claims (Fund 500). Voting Aye: Thomas, Grabowski, Hudok, and Jacobs (Motion carried 4:0) 8b. Building Inspection Claims MOTION made by Thomas, seconded by Grabowski to approve the Building Inspection Claims. Voting Aye: Thomas, Grabowski, Hudok, and Jacobs. (Motions carried 4:0). 8c. All Other Claims as Presented MOTION made by Hudok, seconded by Grabowski to approve all other claims as presented. Voting Aye: Thomas, Grabowski, Hudok, and Jacobs. (Motion carried Consent Agenda 4:0) 9. CONSENT AGENDA 9a. June 12, 2008 Draft Council Meeting Minutes New copy of June 12 Council Minutes distributed with additions. Minutes tabled until July 10 Council meeting. MOTION made by Thomas, seconded by Grabowski to table the June 12 minutes. Voting Aye: Thomas, Grabowski, Hudok, and Jacobs. (Motion carried 4:0). 10. COUNCIL AND STAFF REPORTS The City Council directed Staff to bring back recommendations on animal ordinances and unit count. 11. UNSCHEDULED ITEMS Nothing presented 12. ADJOURNMENT MOTION made by Grabowski, seconded by Hudok, to adjourn at 9:15 p.m. Voting Aye: Jacobs, Hudok, Thomas, and Grabowski (Motion carried 4:0) Council and Staff Reports Unscheduled items Adjourn Page -7- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING June 26, 2008 Kim Bachmeier, City Clerk Treasurer