1985 10 21
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REGULAR CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL MEETING
October 21, 1985
Mayor Hamilton called the meeting to order. The meeting was opened with the Pledge
to the Flag.
Members Present
Councilman Horn, Councilwoman Watson,
Councilwoman Swenson and Councilman
Geving
Members Absent
None
Staff Present
Don Ashworth, Barbara Dacy,
and Bill Monk
APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Councilwoman Watson moved to approve the agenda as presented
with the addition of the following: Update on Mr. Przymus, discussion on the city
limit sign and discussion regarding an All-American City. Motion was seconded by
Councilman Geving. The following voted in favor: Mayor Hamilton, Councilwomen
Watson and Swenson, Councilmen Horn and Geving. No negative votes. Motion carried.
The following Consent Agenda item was removed by Councilman Geving for further
discussion: 1. c. Approval of Animal Control Joint Powers Agreement.
CONSENT AGENDA: Mayor Hamilton moved to approve the following consent agenda items
pursuant to the City Manager's recommendation:
l.a. Final Plat Approval, North lotus Lake Subdivision, City of Chanhassen.
b. Final Plat Approval, Leach Addition, 3738 Hickory Drive.
d. Approval of 1985 Audit Contract, Voto, Reardon & Tautges.
Motion was seconded by Councilman Horn. The following voted in favor:
Hamilton, Councilwomen Watson and Swenson, Councilmen Horn and Geving.
votes. Motion carried.
Mayor
No negative
VISITORS PRESENTATIONS:
Brad Johnson: I believe you were all at the HRA meeting. The site that we are
talking about is next to the dry cleaners. One of the things that we were doing when
we were starting to look at the City as a potential planning phase, that was
obviously a housing site. The City hasn't had any rental property for about five
years. As we looked at that particular site, I found somebody who was interested in
building on it. They wanted to include this site plus this site. I don't think that
this is the proper time because that may be the right place for some commercial
building. In the process I was down talking to our bond counsel as to what's going
to happen next on financing. They indicated that most rental housing financing done
today in Minneapolis is done with housing revenue bonds. The reason for that is the
interest differential between what you would have to pay with market rate and the
real rate that people are having to pay. There is going to be a change in rules as
of January 1st as where the minimum income provision would come from 20 percent of
Council Meeting, October 21, 1985
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the set aside. We will go from $26,000 to an individual income level of around
$18,000 from one person and then going back up. We are in the senior housing and
that hurts us there again because most of those people are in the $22,000 - $24,000
bracket. The other thing that may happen is that no funds will be authorized the
first half of next year because of confusion in the tax law. In dealing with the
housing revenue bonds you have to deal with the opinions of Counsels. That is, in
fact, going to be tax deductible to the investor, and it may be, if the law is in the
air, that there will be no opinions made by attorneys for the first six months, which
means there will be no business. So I asked the fellow who I was talking to, "how
are you going to make a living?" He said that there were bonds that simply say that
it is possible to establish a housing revenue bond but not underwrite it with pro-
perty initially but the credit could be a treasury bill for six months. You then
remarket the bond once the project is ready. What this does is it allows people to
reserve this year's tax law for next year. The other thing it allows also is, if a
project looks like it is feasible now, you would be in the bond market in March of
next year. This is a good time to be in. Now if we didn't do these things, I think
the only problem would be, we would probably have to wait until the end of next year
to do anything. When I came to the HRA the other day, I found out that we don't have
a housing revenue bond housing program in this city, which we would have to have
approved, which is not a lot of work. What we think we can do, and I think the pro-
perty is priced reasonably, that if the support of fairly high density because the
territory around us is fairly high, so the price is probably correct, that could fit
nicely into what we are trying to do in front and give an element to the downtown,
which could probably happen next summer. As to how many units and everything, we
would have to work that out. I think the only thing that we would like to request is
that in this process if it looked like it was set, would it be okay to have a public
hearing. It takes 30 days to get one ready. It is about a 60-day turn around to do
this kind to thing. That would put us around December 21 to get it all done. Now we
are not sure, with talking to Barb, that the staff has the time to get all this done
because we are not sure what we have to do here to accomplish that. The request
would be, "would it be okay if the staff could set up the public hearing if they felt
it was a good idea. During the next seven days we would need to publish the fact
that we would have a public hearing on the housing plan for the city, along with one
project. This is maybe something that we just shouldn't do, as I said the other day.
But I am still at the point that it might be worth an effort on our point.
Councilman Geving: You are talking about rental units, is that correct, and do you
have a minimum number that you are talking about?
Brad Johnson: Yes, that site could easily handle 36 and to consider it downtown.
Councilman Gevinq: I am sure the rest of the Council has been contacted by Mr.
Curry and they are coming back with their proposal and that was 120 units. I have
knowledge of another major apartment complex that is on the horizon. They are
talking about a big complex. The point that I am trying to make is knowing these two
plus what you are talking about tonight, is there a market for several hundred rental
units in Chanhassen.
Brad Johnson: Probably about 80. That is according to our guidlines. We are
thinking like 40. I don't know if any site is readily available in the city today
to do something like this. So I think that anything that would happen would be in
the 1987 inventory, even ours.
Councilman Geving:
other two that I am
in and ready to go.
A thought that I have is that I think you have one u~ on the
aware of because of the location. City sewer and streets are all
You definitely have a big advantage.
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Council Meeting, October 21, 1985
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Brad Johnson: Where I am coming from, and I think the HRA would substantiate,
just interested in having something downtown. I am not saying we will do it.
just asking for the right.
we are
I am
Councilwoman Watson: I still don't understand the financing anymore than I did when
Jim Curry was in. We haven't had an explanation as to what that is.
Brad Johnson:
It is a housing revenue bond, but it is not to the credit of the city.
Councilwoman Watson: Right, but I need to see something on paper that explains what
it is, how it is done, who does it, where we are and what happens if the whole thing
falls on its face. I would like to have all those things down on paper so I can read
them.
Councilwoman Swenson: When you say the income is $26,000, that's the cap.
Brad Johnson: The cap is
housing revenue bonds, at
$18,000 or less. At that
20 percent set aside on the units. When you go with
least 20 percent of the units should be set aside for
point you have to keep them open at that market rate.
Councilwoman Swenson:
It is a round about way of subsidizing an apartment.
Brad Johnson: Yes. It has not been proven, however, in a higher market rent that
you can actually do that.
Councilwoman Swenson: How much is the rent reduced?
Brad Johnson: You have to
would be about $100-$150.
percentage of their gross
but they will save more.
reduce it 50 that they would rent it and qualify. It
A senior can afford that rent because they pay a higher
for rent. A senior house is priced much higher than that,
Councilwoman Swenson: You mentioned a housing plan. How extensive of a housing
plan. Are we talking about city-wide housing plan?
Brad Johnson: To qualify for a housing revenue bond, you have to have a citywide
housing plan.
Mayor Hamilton: We need a motion on this item to set a public hearing.
Councilwoman Watson moved to set a public
look at the housing plan for Chanhassen.
Swenson. The following voted in favor:
Swenson, Councilmen Horn and Geving. No
hearing as established by the city staff to
Motion was seconded by Councilwoman
Mayor Hamilton, Councilwomen Watson and
negative votes. Motion carried.
MINUTES:
Amend City Council minutes dated September 23, 1985, page 12, paragraph 8, sentences
1,2,5 and the last sentence under BAVARIA WATERSHED: Councilwoman Swenson: On the
Bavaria Watershed there are three sections in Chanhassen. The rest is in Chaska.
Chaska petitioned to have one withdrawn from the watershed. One should belong to the
Minnehaha Creek and the other to the lower Minnesota.
Mayor Hamilton moved to approve the City Council minutes dated September 23, 1985
with the noted amendments. Motion was seconded by Councilwoman Swenson. The
Council Meeting, October 21, 1985
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following voted in favor: Mayor Hamilton, Councilwomen Watson and Swenson,
Councilmen Horn and Geving. No negative votes. Motion carried.
Councilwoman Watson moved to approve the City Council minutes dated September 30, I
1985 as presented. Motion was seconded by Councilman Horn. The following voted in
favor: Councilwomen Watson and Swenson, Councilmen Horn and Geving. Mayor Hamilton
abstained. Motion carried.
Councilwoman Watson moved to note the Planning Commission minutes dated September 25,
1985. Motion was seconded by Councilwoman Swenson. The following voted in favor:
Mayor Hamilton, Councilwomen Watson and Swenson, Councilmen Horn and Geving. No
negative votes. Motion carried.
BILLS:
Councilwoman Watson moved to approve the bills as presented: check #022935 through
check #023026 and #23053 through #23057 in the amount of $377,290.21; and check
#025625 through check #025789 in the amount of $248,592.78. Motion was seconded by
Mayor Hamilton. The following voted in favor: Mayor Hamilton, Councilwomen Watson
and Swenson, Councilmen Horn and Geving. No negative votes. Motion carried.
FRONT YARD AND SHORELAND SETBACK VARIANCE REQUEST, 3701 SOUTH CEDAR DRIVE, LARRY
VANDERLINDE: This item was passed at an earlier Board of Adjustments and Appeals
meeting, therefore, no Council action is required.
STABLE PERMIT REQUEST, CYNTHIA MARR, 6764 MINNEWASHTA PARKWAY:
Barb Dacy: The subject lot is at the corner of Minnewashta Parkway and Maple Drive.
The complainants, Mr. & Mrs. Brandt, have brought this to the attention of staff in
1981 and 1982 and the matter was acted on by the Council in July of 1984. The I
Brandt's were complaining about the odors, flies and other affects of the stables
located across the street. The zoning line between the R-IA district and the R-l
district is concurrent with the right-of-way of Maple Drive so that the location of
the stable at the subject lot is in conformance with the zoning ordinance. It
appears that the structure there is within the setback, however, it appears that it
may have been there for a number of years. The City staff does not have a permit on
file for it. When the Brandt's submitted their letter last month, we asked Mr.
Headla to go and inspect the premises and his response is included in your packet and
he states that he has found no violations of the horse ordinance. So it appears that
we should pursue the usual stable permit process on an annual basis to make sure that
there are no nuisance affects from the stable.
Mr. Brandt: We do get a lot of odor when the weather is warm and the temperature is
right. We have had that in the past a lot. I have had people come over to my home
who have commented about the barn. That is our main objection to the thing. We were
told some time ago when we objected to this before that they would cut the horses
down and we wouldn't be getting these odors, but we do get them. They are there. I
don't think anybody would care or would like to have the smell of horse manure right
in their front door. That is exactly what we have. When I go out on my deck in the
summer, that is all I get, the smell of manure. I don't think anybody should have a
barn 50 feet from someones deck. That is my only objection. I really hate to be
hard nosed about it, but we have put up with it for seval years.
Horse Owner: They claim they don't object to the horses, but one of the first I
complaints that was made on my horses was that they were starving. It just happened
that the animal control guy that came out and he obviously found out that the horses
were fat. The other thing is I have a petition enclosed in your packet from, I don't
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know what year, stating from some of the neighbors stating that they don't have any
smell at all. I can see once in a while maybe a drift when the wind is going the
right way, but it is not consistent.
Mr. Boylan: I live probably closer to these horses than anybody here. I searched
for about four years before I bought this place. The reason I bought this place is
because of the City of Chanhassen and the township that it is in, it had zoning ordi-
nances that allowed horses, it allowed certain things that they don't allow in the
city. That is the reason I pay taxes to be here. I have had to come to three Council
meetings since the Brandt's have moved in and have always had to fight this thing. I
don't believe that in the past there has been a request to issue a permit on a one
year basis. If you deem it necessary to do so, I think that is probably okay, and I
don't see where anybody is going to object to that sort of thing. I guess what I do
object to is the fact that I looked for this place, and it is a matter of public
record what that was zoned as going in. The Brandt's also had the ability to look at
this piece of property. The horses. were there long before they ever got here and
built their house. I don't know exactly why you chose to come out to this neigh-
borhood, but I do personally object to the fact that we seem to have a great deal of
trouble getting along with this situation that exists in the neighborhood. It isn't
like somebody did this to them over night. I would like to see things continue the
way they are in this city as long as the populous of it is not really genuinely being
affected. I am getting a little bit angry about the fact that this is the same kind
of deal as somebody moving next door to the airport and then suddenly waking up one
morning and saying, "I don't like the noise of the jets." The airport was there when
they bought the house. As far as the horses, I have heard everything from malnutri-
tion, that the horses were mistreated, that there is not enough room for them, and
the place wasn't kept up. None of these things have been proven to be true. SENTENCE
SIX AMENDED NOVEMBER 18, 1985, PAGE 2.
Cynthia Marr: I went and talked with mostly Mrs. Brandt and I wanted to find out
what their complaints were. As far as what they are complaining about, I feel I am
in the process of trying to satisfy. I have a heart for them and I understand what
they don't like. I am using a fly control program. I have looked through all the
things that I am planning on doing, but I can't do it all at once. I am trying to be
a good neighbor and it gets kind of frustrating. I am trying to operate so the
Brandt's can be a little more comfortable, and whether or not they believe me, that
is their problem.
Mayor Hamilton: I guess it is not uncommon, and I do not feel that it is unreason-
able to have an annual review of these type of permits. We have had problems with
animals in the city previously and I think it is a good idea for us to check on them
on an annual basis. That is not an attempt to inconvenience anybody to have to come
to a meeting or to go talk to your neighbors again, but we feel that it is something
that is necessary, it is something that we should do on an annual basis.
Councilman Gevinq: I think the horses have been out there as long as I have been in
Chanhassen, so it has been in a recognized stabling area. I think the area is still
appropriate for the stabling of horses. As long as they continue to try to do a good
job, as Cynthia has indicated, I think that we should let them be there. I am in
favor of this stable permit.
Councilwoman Watson: I was out by that area recently and it looks fine. I didn't
see any problems out there.
Councilman Horn: The property owner of Lot 7, on Maple Drive, was he one of the mem-
bers that signed the petition?
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Cynthia Marr: Yes, that is Court MacFarlane.
Councilman Horn: Obviously there is a prevailing southerly wind in the summer, I
would think that he would receive that.
Councilman Geving moved to approve the stable permit request at 6764 Minnewashta
Parkway conditioned on an annual reviewal to ensure compliance with the ordinance.
Motion was seconded by Councilwoman Watson. The following voted in favor: Mayor
Hamilton, Councilwomen Watson and Swenson, Councilmen Horn and Geving. No negative
votes. Motion carried.
REVIEW PETITION FOR MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENTS lQ THE HULETT PROPERTY, NORTH QI AND
ADJACENT lQ FOX HOLLOW SUBDIVISION:
Bill Monk: The preliminary plat was approved by the City Council and I believe the
Council is fully aware of this particular plat.
RESOLUTION #85-61: Mayor Hamilton moved the adoption of a resolution approving the
petition for Municipal improvements for the Hulett Plat, North of and adjacent to Fox
Hollow Subdivision. Resolution was seconded by Councilman Horn. The following voted
in favor: Mayor Hamilton, Councilwomen Watson and Swenson, Councilmen Horn and
Geving. No negative votes. Motion carried.
REUTER, INC. 8301 AUDUBON ROAD:
a. Preliminary Plat ~ ~ 6.5 Acre Metes and Bounds Parcel:
b. Rezoninq from R-IA, Aqricultural Residence ~ P-4, Planned Industrial
Development District.
~ Stie Plan Review for ~ 50,000 ~ ft. Manufacturinq Facility:
Barb Dacy: The location is on the east side of Audubon Road, south of the railroad
tracks. The first request is for a preliminary platting of the property, which is
merely to eliminate the metes and bounds description and to plat the property as one
lot. However, the site use is to be served by utilities. The nearest source for
water and sewer is to the northeast of the site in the business park. We are recom-
mending approval of the subdivision subject to the utilities being extended as a pri-
vate installation or a municipal extension of those utilities. The rezoning request
is to rezone the parcel from R-IA to P-4, Planned Industrial Development District.
Adjacent zoning to the north, south and east is P-4 and the 1990 land use plan indi-
cates this site as industrial as well. This particular site was not included in the
original business park rezoning and platting request in the 70's. The third request
is for the site plan review. The proposed use is a manufacturing facility by Reuter,
Inc. to assemble the mechanical devises used by trucks to pick up and transport. the
recyclable materials. The site can also be used for the manufacturer of plastic
moldings of the garbage cans. As my memo pointed out, this site could be a site for
a resource recovery facility, but the detailed information on that possibility will
be presented next month. The applicant intends to locate a manufacturing facility on
this site. The projected number of employees for the manufacturing facility is 60.
The applicant has shown parking on site to be accessed by a drive towards the south
side of the parcel on Audubon Road and to the north part of the building. The
loading area will be located at the rear of the building and should not be able to be
seen from the roadway. We do have a drainage concern in that the applicant is now in
the process of possibly obtaining adjacent property to the east and to the south. If
this goes on then the applicant would have the opportunity to consumate the necessary
on site storm water management improvements to handle the runoff~ However, if this
is not done and the property is not obtained, the applicant should revise the plan to
meet the Watershed District and city drainage requirements so that adequate retention
on site is provided. As discussed in the subdivision portion of the report, the site
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Council Meeting, October 21, 1985
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will have to be served by water and sewer mains. These extensions must be completed
before issuance of the building permit. Finally, the landscaping plan as proposed
appears to be adequate, however, we would recommend that silt fences be installed
along the property lines and all disturbed areas be sodded or seeded as soon as
possible after work is completed. Therefore, we are recommending approval of the
site plan review subject to the following eight conditions:
1. Private or municipal extension of sanitary sewer lines and watermain
shall be required prior to issurance of a building permit.
2. City requirements for control of the rate of runoff shall be met by an
on or off site retention/detention drainage system.
3. Adherence to all watershed district conditions.
4. Installation of concrete curb at the edge of all bituminous surfaces.
5. Installation of culverts under street accesses as
for continuous ditch drainage along Audubon Road.
such culverts to be determined by the city at the
documents are submitted.
required to provide
Size and location of
time construction
6. Compliance with the landscaping plan stamped "Received October 2, 1985".
7. All disturbed areas shall be sodded/seeded as soon as possible after
grading.
8. A silt fence shall be installed along the eastern property line for
erosion control.
Councilwoman Swenson: Do you know what the tonage is on Co. Rd. 17.
Barb Oacy: It is a seven ton road.
Councilwoman Swenson: Which would not accommodate trucks for a resource recycling.
Barb Oacy: That is one of the issues that we have to address if this site is pursued
as a resource recovery facility. As proposed now, this is strictly a manufacturing
proposal.
Councilwoman Swenson: I recognize that you have underscored the fact that this
resource recovery facility will not be discussed at this meeting. I am sorry that we
won't discuss it.
Mayor Hamilton: We are not going to discuss it.
Councilwoman Swenson: I don't see how you can do the one without including the other
when it was very obvious when Mr. Brauer made the presentation.
Mayor Hamilton: It is not here to be discussed. This is a manufacturing proposal.
Councilwoman Swenson: You cannot do this without having any information.
Mayor Hamilton: Yes you can.
Council Meeting, October 21, 1985
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Councilwoman Swenson: Well, I will
because I think this is deceptive.
quite obvious that these people are
recovery facility.
abstain from any further discussion about this
I don't think it is that clear. I think it is
intending to bring this back as a resource
Mayor Hamilton: That is a possibility and you are aware of that so
deception there at all. That will be discussed at another meeting.
it, it will be separate from what we have discussed tonight.
there is no
When we discuss
Barb Oacy: The only way the resource recovery facility would be able to be located
there is if you would amend the zoning ordinance to allow that specific use. That is
the issue that we would bring back. If you don't amend the zoning ordinance the site
cannot be used for the resource facilities.
Councilwoman Swenson: I think it is quite clear that they have this in mind and I
think that it is extremely important that whatever we do tonight we are careful not
to get boxed in. We have got to make a decision that any condition of anything that
is done tonight specifically does not include any resource recovery facility what-
soever of any kind.
Mayor Hamilton: It doesn't by ordinance.
Councilwoman Swenson: It could be by implication. I want to make it clear that wha-
tever we do tonight that we are in no way encouraging the applicant to think that
this is an open door to that type of thing.
Councilman Horn: There is something indicated on the site plan that I assume that
this is going to be where plastic garbage cans are manufactured, there will be
plastic molding machines or injection molding machines.
Barb Oacy: Correct, they will manufacture mechanical devises or equipment to be used
on the trucks.
Councilman Horn: Typically what you find around plastic molding facilities, many
times there is outside storage of large containers. That won't be true on this site,
will it?
Barb Oacy: There is none indicated on the site plan so none would be approved by
your action tonight.
Councilman Horn: Okay, because usually the fiberglass and plastic places have a lot
of things that sit outside and look very bad. Also, is there any odor associated
with this type of plastic facility?
Barb Oacy: Not to my knowledge. Maybe the applicant could speak on that.
Oon Brauer: We are the planners and agents for Reuter Manufacturing. I have toured
their plant and this is not the high temperature molding that is going on for the
very dense materials. This is low temperature molding and as far as I can tell in
checking with the City of Hopkins, they have never had any complaints about odor.
Councilman Gevinq: How about noise?
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Council Meeting, October 21, 1985
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well. I t is all done
But we are not asking
high density, high tem-
They use a lot of
Don Brauer: They have not had any complaints about noise as
inside. They do have, on that plant site, outside storage.
that here. There are two kinds of moldings. There is the
perature molding and high speed and this is the opposite.
reclaimed plastic material in this process.
Councilman Horn: So they have grinders and things to reclaim it?
Don Brauer: They do have to mix it and grind it, but it is not pressure or high den-
sity stuff.
Councilman Horn: So there is no noise pollution or odor pollution.
Don Brauer: There is none from their present facility.
Councilwoman Swenson: Mr. Brauer, in the process of this manufacturing, is there a
great deal of water used?
Don Brauer: No.
Councilwoman Swenson: So there is no contaminated water runoff.
Don Brauer: The water that is used in the process for cooling is recylced and they
have a pollution discharge permit now, which they have not had any violations on.
Councilwoman Swenson: Does that water drain into Lake Susan? I know we had a
watershed district condition here which is satisfactory in the recommendation by the
Planning Commission.
Don Brauer: We are on the agenda for the next meeting of the
That water is put in the sanitary sewer from the processing.
recycled at some point in time, I don't know how long or what
they do have a permit for discharge.
Watershed District.
When it has been
the conditions are but
Councilman Gevinq: Do you intend to have a retention pond that you would store that
heated water as it cools off and then bring it back in and recycle it. Is that how
the operation works?
Don Brauer: It is a closed system. It is strictly inside. We will have a storage
pond for runoff on the site as is required.
Councilman Geving: Where is the closest sewer and water to this site? If the city
were involved in this project, and we could be, where would we have to bring the
water from?
Bill Monk: The sanitary sewer would have to come off the existing trunk that cuts
through Outlot D at the present time. The owner would have to negotiate running that
sewer over to the site. Water exists way up here and that would have to be run down
to the business park. The applicant is fUlly aware of this matter.
Councilman Gevinq: Is there sufficient distance from the ingress of this site and
the railroad right-of-way to the north?
Barb Dacy: There is approximately 150 feet.
Councilman Geving: Does that meet state requirements?
Council Meeting, October 21, 1985
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~ Monk: There is no requirement. It is a city street.
Councilman Gevinq: The other question I had has to do with berming along the roadway
on Audubon. I would recommend berming be done on the Audubon Road portion. I get
the impression that we are going to see quite a bit of building because a lot of that
now is very bare. As far as the site plan is concerned, I don't have a lot of
problem with that. I feel that the rezoning issue is not an issue because eventually
it is, to me, an extension of the industrial park. As the Mayor indicated earlier,
we still have records to what may happen to this particular site and its manufac-
turing facility, but just stick to the issue and I think the issues are very clear.
The rezoning shouldn't be an issue and I certainly don't see a problem with the site
plan review for a 50,000 square foot manufacturing facility. I am in favor of this
project.
Councilwoman Watson: This company operates in a fairly dense part of Hopkins without
any problems. I don't have any problem with this as a manufacturing facility. I
believe th~y realize that if they build this as a manufacturing facility, it may end
up being nothing but a manufacturing facility. That is their choice. Are there any
chemicals or anything of that nature involved in their process?
Don Brauer: No. Only the hazardous chemicals that would be in a household, such as
cleaners, etc.
Mayor Hamilton: I thought it was a good plan and I don't have any problems with any
of the issues.
I
Mayor Hamilton moved to approve the Preliminary Plat of a 6.5 acre metes and bounds
parcel; the rezoning from R-IA, Agricultural Residence to P-4, Planned Industrial I
Development District; the site plan review for a 50,000 square foot manufacturing
facility for Reuter, Inc. 8301 Audubon Road with the following conditions:
1. Private or municipal extension of sanitary sewer lines and watermain
shall be required prior to issuance of a building permit.
2. City requirements for control of the rate of runoff shall be met by
an on or off site retention/detention drainage system.
3. Adherence to all watershed district conditions.
4. Installation of concrete curb at the edge of all bituminous surfaces.
5. Installation of culverts under street accesses as required to provide
for continuous ditch drainage along Audubon Road. Size and location
of such culverts to be determined by the city at the time construction
documents are submitted.
6. Compliance with the landscaping plan stamped "Received October 2, 1985".
7. All disturbed areas shall be sodded/seeded as soon as possible after
grading.
8. A silt fence shall be installed along the eastern property line for
erosion control.
Motion was seconded by Councilman Geving.
Hamilton, Councilwoman Watson, Councilmen
abstained. Motion carried.
The following voted in favor: Mayor
Horn and Geving. Councilwoman Swenson
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Council Meeting, October 21, 1985
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SOUTH SHORE WEEKLY NEWS ~ DISCUSSION:
Don Ashworth: Tonight you will have the opportunity to meet Michael Krause from the
South Shore News. You have a copy of his letter of July 24. I anticipated that we
would have an opportunity to discuss this as a part of our budgetary process. We
really didn't get into that. What we were discussing is having a fixed section in
the newspaper that will continuously maintain the logo; the name, address, the coun-
cil, the city offices as a header which would appear in each edition of the
newspaper. Under that would be any type of meeting agenda notices or any type of
public hearing notices, etc. for two editions per month. In that, in the one monthly
edition, it would be an expanded section so it would literally become a newsletter.
Four of our editions would cover park and recreation. So we would be taking over two
to three pages of that newspaper during those time frames. At least two of the edi-
tions would cover other newsletter write-ups. On a monthly basis, the newsletter
would be an expanded portion of the newspaper. It is a concept that I have seen in
othe places. The South Shore News is a free newspaper. It is a pick-up type of
newspaper. The question this evening is, does the Council believe that is sufficient
or would you like to see the newspaper mailed to people's homes on a monthly basis
when we were coming out with the newsletter ourself.
Michael Krause: I am one of the persons who purchased the newspaper in August of
1982. That was the Wayzata Weekly News. We operated as a partnership. The
Wayzata Weekly News had been in existence for about 10 years at that point. We
bought it in 1982 and made some format changes, including the cover design and
operated that until July of 1984 when we responded to a change in our market, a
change in our competition and started the South Shore Weekly News with an editorial
office in Wayzata. We now have our office in Frank Kelly's office on Second Street
in Excelsior. So the South Shore Weekly News has been in existence for 1 year and 4
months. In that time its reception has been very good. We were designated as the
official newspaper for the City of Minnetonka, City of Excelsior, City of Shorewood,
City of Tonka Bay, also for the Minnetonka School District, for the City of Wayzata,
City of Plymouth and also for the Wayzata School District as well as for the Lake
Minnetonka Conservation District. I think our circulation has been growing
everywhere. I think it is really a question of getting people used to the idea. If
you work downtown, or if you know anybody that works downtown the people are in the
habit of picking up the free newspapers. There are dozens of them. At any public or
private place that there is any amount of pedestrian traffic at all, you have your
choice of five to ten different publications that you can choose from. In this area,
it is the same pattern in that once people are used to the idea, they find it. We
have 250 spots where you can get the paper. I think the three issues that the City
Manager has raised are 1) news coverage, quality, quantity; 2) Distrbution; 3)
coverage of the county board and school district. If I start with the news coverage,
I would be willing to place the quality and quantity of our news coverage up against
anyones publication in this area or in the metropolitan area. In terms of the county
board and school district, the county board situation is no problem whatsoever. The
school district is somewhat more difficult. Right now we cover three school
districts - Wayzata, Orono and Minnetonka. In order of priorities I think I would
have to expand the school board coverage into Hopkins first, since we are the offi-
cial newspaper for the City of Minnetonka and half of the City of Minnetonka is in
the Hopkins School District. Conceivably at some point in the future with continued
growth and paper, we would want to add coverage of the Chaska School District. I
don't see it happening in the near future. Although, we would be perfectly willing
and have been in the past to print any information that the school board would want
to send us in terms of special programs in the school or anything the public has to
have some notice on. With the distibution system, I think it is just a question of
your philosophy. The realistic approach to this is that not every citizen in
Chanhassen is going to care what the HRA is doing or, in fact, what the City Council
Council Meeting, October 21, 1985
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is doing. There are people who are out there who don't know who you are or don't
know who I am and really don't care. I think having a newspaper around and having
more of a continuous weekly dialogue will increase the awareness, make more people
more knowledgeable about their local government, and make them less intimidated by
it. While we can't have evey single person in the community be an active par-
ticipant, we can increase the level of that. We could improve the distribution in
Chanhassen and I would be happy to do that. I was down here about two weeks ago and
went into a few places where I thought the newspaper should be and asked them if I
could put it there. The answers were, "sure" as long as it didn't disrupt their
business. I think by continually doing that it will get to the point where everyone
in Chanhassen who wants a copy of the newspaper will get one. I think if we are
talking about including a lot of the functions in the City's newsletter, that can
easily be done by mailing the newspaper out at certain points rather than doing it
every week. Right now your newsletter is mailed out three times. I think we could
do it every month for less money. You are going to get a far better product and you
are going to have a real, live newspaper in here and I think your citizens will
notice a difference. At the end of next year, if we can come to some kind of an
agreement, that would be the time to analyze it and that would really be the time to
sit down and see how many citizens that wanted a copy of the newspaper were able to
get one.
Councilwoman Swenson: The paper comes out on Thursday?
Michael Krause: Yes.
Councilwoman Swenson: What is the subscription rate?
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Michael Krause: $12.00 per year. We are currently now a third class paper. We are I
switching to second class and that will improve the delivery of the paper.
Councilman Geving: I think the people in Chanhassen are thristing for information of
all kinds. I don't really feel that we are getting it with the Carver County Herald.
We go week after week and the only article we ever read is Bonnie's article once in
awhile. Otherwise we read 16 pages of Chaska news. There is nothing on Chanhassen.
People want to see something about their home town.
Michael Krause: That is my point. It is what is in the paper that will lure the
people to read it, not whether you put it in front of their face.
Councilman Geving: Do you have any idea of expanding the government portion to
things like what is happening in the Chaska school system, like homecoming events,
football events, etc. Those are the things that I think our people here are looking
for.
Micheal Krause: This is one of these most difficult areas to cover. You have close
to 20 different cities that lie somewhere within 4 or 5 miles of Lake Minnetonka.
You have several school districts. None of the boundaries match. You have two coun-
ties in this case. It would literally take a legion of reporters to come out and
cover all those assignments. I will use as much information as the school district
is willing to supply. For me to have another reporter assigned to Chaska is going to
be lower down on the list and will take a while to get to. Chanhassen, like all
these cities around here are not islands and they are affected by the things that go
on in the other city. You are affected by many of the cities around you.
Councilwoman Watson: I understand that you can't have a reporter running to all the
sporting events, but if information is submitted to you by someone, you will make
every effort to get it in the paper?
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Council Meeting, October 21, 1985
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Michael Krause: I have been hiring a couple more part time people and I would like
to assign someone to Chanhassen.
Councilwoman Watson: But even if it is something to do with the school district or
something like that, someone could submit news to you in any form that makes sense.
Michael Krause: I have found that in cases of school districts when they find out
that there are newspapers reaching citizens in their district, they are very good
about contacting us.
Councilwoman Watson: And if they do, then you make every effort to make that infor-
mation available?
Michael Krause: Correct. I always have fixed amounts of space, which is editorial.
Our newspaper is roughly 50/50. The Minneapolis Star & Tribune is 70 percent adver-
tising and 30 percent news. The local government reporting is really what we want to
do and what we feel is the nitch that we can provide.
Mayor Hamilton: last week Don and I met with Carol Erickson and Bob Ostlund from the
school district and one of the issues we talked about was getting information from
the school district into the newspaper. They felt they would be able to supply us
with information to include in the South Shore Newspaper. They said they would
supply us with that so that wouldn't necessarily mean that you would always have to
have your reporter there for some of the events.
Michael Krause: If we continue to improve that is an area that I would try to pay
some attention to and we will try our best to try and improve that.
Mayor Hamilton: I think this looks like a very good proposal. We have a couple of
items to decide if we want to have any of them mailed or what issues we would mail.
Michael Krause: Anything you want your citizens to have notice of could be collected
together once a month or once every 6 weeks or however often it might be. That would
then be the issue that would be mailed out to everyone. I think you will find in
time that people will realize that this is where they have to look to get information
about the city.
Councilwoman Watson: When would this begin?
Don Ashworth: You make a designation of an official newspaper in the first meeting
in January. I would see that the first editions we might send into homes to make
them aware that the transition has occurred and that if they wanted to see it con-
tinued to be mailed to their home, they would be advised to obtain a subscription.
Otherwise, it would be a monthly mail letter, or a bi-monthly newsletter, etc.
Councilwoman Watson: And we would notifiy all the areas around here that it could be
picked up if they chose to do so.
Don Ashworth: I think we would do a large article at the beginning saying why people
are getting this into their home and what they can except to receive in the future,
etc., and maybe even ask for their comments.
Councilwoman Swenson: Are notices of meetings and that sort of thing going to always
be in this newspaper?
Council Meeting, October 21, 1985
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Don Ashworth: It would be in this newspaper and it would not require distribution to
homes. Again, as Michael noted, they are the official newspaper for a number of
cities, and in those cities it remains as a pick-up type newspaper. I concur with I
Michael's statement that if we have a major issue that we do want to make sure they
know about, we will try and take and save that one for that quarterly issue that may
go into the home.
Michael Krause: I still have to resolve whether or not the fact that Chanhassen lies
in another county would prohibit us having our editorial office in a different
county, whether or not that would prohibit us from serving as the city's legal
newspaper. I don't believe it does.
PRZYMUS PROPERTY:
The City Engineer commented that Mr. Przymus was not complying with the Council's
guidelines to clean up the proposed golfing range area. He stated that since there
has been no compliance, the City has no choice but to revoke Mr. Przymus' permit this
fall.
The Council discussed and felt that since Mr. Przymus was given through the month of
August to complete this project and has not complied to that, that the permit then be
revoked immediately.
All-AMERICAN CITY:
Councilman Geving brought up the idea to consider having Chanhassen as an
All-American City. He requested that if the rest of the Council concurred, that the
staff review the requirements and see what needs to be done to pursue this task.
Councilman Geving stated that he would like to see this happen and if the city does
have some of the amenities that we would have a good chance at it.
CITY lIMIT SIGNS:
Councilwoman Swenson questioned the city limit signs and was wondering if they were
going to be moved back to the city limits.
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The City Engineer stated that he was working on it and it would get done.
CONSENT AGENDA ITEM ~ APPROVAL Qf ANIMAL CONTROL JOINT POWERS AGREEMENT:
Councilman Geving: I pulled this off only because I felt that the costs of this are
highly in favor of the City of Chaska. I want to make sure that during the course of
the life of this joint powers agreement that we track our costs, especially for the
van, any equipment, supplies, or anything else that happens to us during the course
of this. I would like to make sure that the City sets up a special account to track
these costs on this so that a year from now at budget time we can sit back and deter-
mine whether or not we got ourselves into a good deal or not. That is all I am
asking that we do that. Other than that, I had no problems with the agreement.
Councilman Geving moved to approve consent agenda item 1.C.; Approval of Animal
Control Joint Powers Agreement. Motion was seconded by Councilwoman Watson. The
following voted in favor: Mayor Hamilton, Councilwomen Watson and Swenson,
Councilmen Horn and Geving. No negative votes. Motion carried.
Councilwoman Watson moved to adjourn the meeting. Motion was seconded by
Councilwoman Swenson. The following voted in favor: Mayor Hamilton, Councilwomen
Watson and Swenson, Councilmen Horn and Geving. No negative votes. Motion carried.
Don Ashworth, City Manager
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Prepared by Kathy Sundquist