CC 2003 06 23CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
JUNE 23, 2003
Mayor Furlong called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. The meeting was opened with the
Pledge to the Flag.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Furlong, Councilman Labatt, Councilman Ayotte,
Councilman Lundquist and Councilman Peterson
STAFF PRESENT: Todd Gerhardt, Roger Knutson, Justin Miller, Bob Generous, Sharmeen
A1-Jaff, Teresa Burgess, Todd Hoffman and Bruce DeJong
PUBLIC PRESENT FOR ALL ITEMS:
Janet & Jerry Paulsen
Kurt Papke
7305 Laredo Drive
Planning Commission
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: INVITATION TO FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION.
Mayor Furlong: Good evening and welcome everybody and everybody watching at home. I'd
like to start out this evening with an invitation to everyone to join us in the 4th of July celebration.
I'd like to invite all the residents and their families and friends to join us 4th of July celebration.
This is next Thursday and Friday, the 3ra and 4th. This is the largest in a series of special events
that the city sponsors each year in cooperation with our local businesses. Events on July 3ra take
place at City Center Park, beginning from 4:30 to 11:00 p.m. and include a variety of activities
including Chamber of Commerce Business Fair, Kiddie Parade, food and beverage sales by the
local Rotary, carnival games, street dance. On July 4th the events take place both at Lake Ann
Park and City Center Park all day. There will be a number of activities at each location, and of
course our annual 4th of July parade will be 2:30 that afternoon and they're going to be honoring
local veterans throughout, so that is always a wonderful event to be at.- The day is capped by a
spectacular fireworks display 10:00 p.m. on the 4th so I hope that we'll see everybody there. If
you're looking for more information I would encourage you to check either the city web site.
Also the Chanhassen Villager, both this Thursday's edition and the edition that will come out on
the 3~, or just contact City Hall. So it's going to be fun. We hope we see everybody out there.
CONSENT AGENDA: Councilman Lundquist moved, Councilman Ayotte seconded to
approve the following consent agenda items pursuant to the City Manager's
recommendations:
a. Authorization of Payment of $20,790 to Infratech for Sanitary Sewer Televising, PW 119.
bo
Resolution g2003-55: Approval of Temporary Lifting of No Parking Zone on Audubon
and Coulter Boulevards, General Mills.
Approval of Application for Temporary On-Sale Liquor License to Serve Strong Beer and
Wine; and Resolution//2003-56: Approval of a Temporary Gambling Permit; August 16
& 17, St. Hubert Catholic Community.
Approval of Temporary On-Sale Liquor License to Serve Strong Beer at the Adult
Regional Softball Tournament, August 8-10, Lake Ann Park, Chanhassen Lions Club.
City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Resolution g2003-57: Approval of Resolution Calling for Public Hearing for the Sale of
Revenue Bonds Associated with the Presbyterian Homes Project.
Approval of Minutes:
- Work Session Minutes dated June 9, 2003
- Summary & Verbatim City Council Minutes dated June 9, 2003
Receive Commission Minutes:
- Verbatim Planning Commission Minutes dated June 3, 2003
- Verbatim Park and Recreation Commission Minutes dated May 28, 2003
jo
Approval of Request for a Fireworks Display Permit, July 4, 2003 at Miunewashta
Regional Park, Lake Minnewashta Fireworks Committee.
Termination of Utilization Agreement with Carver County for Public Safety Radio
Communication Equipment.
Approval of Contract with Melrose North Pyrotechnics for Fourth of July Fireworks
Display.
Ail voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
VISITOR PRESENTATIONS. None.
LAW ENFORCEMENT/FIRE DEPARTMENT UPDATE.
Mayor Furlong: We have an update from our law enforcement department, Sergeant Jim Olson is
here this evening.
Sgt. Jim Olson: Good evening and thank you.
Mayor Furlong: Good evening.
Sgt. Jim Olson: If you take a look at the numbers, I'll start out with I've got some items, the
Sheriff' s Office Report, Citation List and then I put in your packets a copy of the different crime
alerts that Beth Hoiseth put out for the month. Our total calls for service were up by 256 for the
month. I attribute that to there was a lot more traffic details in the month of May this year
compared to last year. It' s up from 4 last year to 47 this year. Number of traffic stops were up by
132 so quite a few more traffic stops. Suspicious activity calls were up by 15. Our alarms were
up by 20. Our child abuse and neglect calls were up by 7 for the month and up by 26 for the year,
and I know that Councilman Lundquist has touched on that too and we've talked about that in the
past. Gun permit to acquires were up by 16 for the month. We had 7 permit to carry applications
that went through the County. The accidents to both property damage and injury were down for
the month. That was a good thing. Citations were up by 161 from May of last year to May of
this year. There was 103 I think the number was last year and we had 264 this year so the
deputies were out there doing a very good job for the month so. Any questions on the monthly
numbers at all?
Councilman Lundquist: Sergeant Olson, on those numbers, when I look at the yearly 2002 to
2003 year to date comparison, overall it's a 21 percent increase in number of calls. Is that just
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
that we're out focusing on things more or is there, do you see a trend in increase in activity with
population growth or is there, does anything alarm you as you touched on to and on the child
abuse neglect, that one as I've touched on in the past is up significantly too, so any comments you
have on any trends you're seeing at all.
Sgt. Jim Olson: A lot of it I think is traffic. If you look at traffic, this year it's 1,428. Last year it
was 1,104 so there's over 300 more traffic stops that were done for the year, which is a very large
increase for the year. They've been hitting traffic real hard and I've been emphasizing traffic
quite a bit.
Councilman Lundquist: And if you add special traffic in that I guess that's another 200 so that's
500 of the 800.
Sgt. Jim Olson: Yes. Traffic's been, they've been doing a real good job of traffic. Alarms and
suspicious activities and there's a number of things that have been up this year. Some of that
might be just from citizens that are calling us with extra vigilance I think, with 9-11 and so on
that has occurred, I think we have more citizens calling us reporting things, which is a good thing.
The child abuse, I did talk to Social Services about that the other day, and they have seen an
increase county wide with child abuse and neglect for the year, and again they've attributed that
to a lot of people are laid off. More people are home. More stress. Less kids in daycare so
they're at home so.
Councilman Lundquist: I notice those are non-criminal so those are things, the things like curfew
violations and stuff like that go into that at all or that' s actual, when you get a domestic complaint
for a child abuse?
Sgt. Jim Olson: Child abuse initially goes into social services. They can become a criminal
matter from there. It would vary on each case. Sometimes they're cleared out. You know
unfounded or there's other options that happen before it goes to criminal. It depends on the type
of the child abuse and neglect, so they might slide into criminal at times.
Councilman Lundquist: Fair enough, thank you.
Sgt. Jim Olson: Yeah. Any other questions on the monthly numbers? I've got a couple other
things I want to talk about also.
Councilman Ayotte: I'll wait until you're done with your other things.
Sgt. Jim Olson: Okay. We had some business burglaries earlier in the month where they're
breaking into different businesses in the business districts. That's quieted down a bit. We had an
arrest that was made in another jurisdiction of a party that had the same MO of the burglaries that
we were having. Since he's been caught we have not had any that matched that so I think that's
going to be down quite a bit for the month of June. With the nice weather and school being out
now, we've had an increase in juvenile problems, including vandalism, thefts and general
nuisance calls. I would encourage if citizens see kids out after curfew, to call the sheriff's office,
952-361-1231 and report that, and I just want to talk a little bit about what the curfew ordinance
and rules are in the, not only in just the city but it's a county wide ordinance. Under 12 years old
kids need to be in by 9:00 Sunday through Thursday and by 10:00 Friday and Saturday nights, so
that's under 12 years old by 10:00 on the weekends. For 12 to 14 year olds, they need to be in at
10:00 during the week, Sunday through Thursday and 11:00 Friday and Saturday night. And then
15 to 17 year olds, their curfew's 11:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and then 12:01 a.m.
City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Friday and Saturday night for the weekends. And for kids, or for the parents that have kids in that
age group, please make sure your kids are home before curfew. We need to have parent support,
not only law enforcement but community in general to make sure your kids are not involved in
these type of activities and are home when they need to be. You know for kids to be out, there
aren't a lot of good activities for kids at 2:00 in the morning. Make sure your kids are home. I've
also made up some laminated cards outlining the curfew that we're going to hand out at the
different businesses in the city that are open all night, and also for Lake Ann Park and the skate
park and so on, we'll post these so that the kids know completely what the rules are for the
ordinances. So that's relating to curfews. Our drug task force has also been very busy recently.
The drug task force has had a couple of good arrests that they've made. They received
approximately, or not received but confiscated about 2 ounces of cocaine within the past month in
the city, and that led to another bigger search warrant that led to a marijuana grow operation in a
different jurisdiction with about 100 plants and 2-3 pounds of dried marijuana and some other
items that were recovered. In a separate warrant they also recovered a pound of very high quality
marijuana in the city that was worth about $6,500 and that was very high quality so the task force
has been doing a very good job in the city. And I've been involved with a few other search
warrants they've done but things that we can't really talk a lot about so. I also want to touch on
fireworks. July 4th is coming up. There are some fireworks that are considered legal. Those are
the ones that kind of, they don't shoot very high in the air and they don't go bang. I guess they
kind of puke out. And they shouldn't go bang and they shouldn't go up in the air. The fn'eworks
that are legal, you cannot have them or use them on public property. So tell people don't bring
them to the fireworks display on July 4th at Lake Ann, There's a lot of people in the area. We
don't want to see anybody get burned or get hurt from that. Any questions?
Councilman Labatt: Jim, can you just hit more on curfew. We had discussion in our work
session about this topic, and take us through the process of when your deputies finds a kid out
there, midnight or 12:15 or whatever and whatever the age is, what's the process as far as taking
him, getting him home. The parents come pick him up. How do you handle something like that?
Sgt. Jim Olson: What we commonly do is give them a citation for that and then call parents and
depending on where we pick them up at, it's possible we might bring them down to the sheriff's
office. We might bring them up to City Hall, just to try to facilitate things a little bit and make
that go a little quicker for us. We don't want to tie our squads up too long with this but we do
need to make sure that the parents come out and make sure that they know where their kids are at.
Councilman Labatt: So in the event, let's just say the parents, you're not able to contact the
parent for whatever reason.
Sgt. Jim Olson: We would try to contact at that point a grandparent, an aunt, an uncle, you know
brother or sister of the parents. Somebody to come and pick them up. If we cannot contact
anybody, an older brother or sister that might be an adult, there's a facility called JAF in Jordan
that we can take them to to house them for the evening. And then the parents are responsible for
that cost.
Councilman Ayotte: Is there any place closer than Jordan where we could take them? Is there
any potential for a contract with someone other than a police entity where we could license
someone, like a juvenile care center? Anything that we could do so we can mitigate the risk,
having a deputy off the street taking care of a kid who's broken curfew. And follow on, if we
went aggressively on a curfew, how busy would your deputies be?
City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Sgt. Jim Olson: Potential, the JAF is the closest one that I know of. It doesn't mean there aren't
others or we couldn't investigate the possibility of a different one. But I know that our current
contract is with JAF. I can do some checking on if there's anything closer for that. And the
second part of your question?
Councilman Ayotte: Well you know if we have one or two young people a week, that's an issue.
You pick them up at 2:00 in the morning, that's one thing but if you aggressively went after it, do
you think there would be a larger number of youth that you would pick up? As with your traffic
program. If you had a program to target an issue with curfew to gauge how much of a problem it
is, what's your sense would be the results of that?
Sgt. Jim Olson: That would tie our squads up. Yeah, quite a bit. If we were to really hit that
hard. At one time many years ago we used to be able to take them down to jail and leave them
there. We can no: longer do that. You know and the parent, the jail would somewhat babysit
them until the parents came. We can't do that anymore. Department of Corrections will not
allow us to put a juvenile there for a curfew charge. So we need to have a deputy that stays there
with them. Another option might be trying to get a reserve to come on during the night or to
work during the night, maybe stay with the juveniles until the parents can come and pick them up.
That's something I can look at, and if we're doing this. I talked about the curfew problem at an
operations meeting today and we intend to do this from a county wide standpoint actually, not
just the city wide standpoint, because county wide we're seeing an increase in vandalisms and
juvenile related issues. From a county wide standpoint it might be worth it having a reserve come
in. That's something I'll explore.
Councilman Ayotte: Thank you.
Sgt. Jim Olson: Yeah.
Councilman Ayotte: One other, when you say different jurisdiction, are you talking about other
than Carver or other jurisdiction outside of Chan?
Sgt. Jim Olson: Other than Carver County. Any other questions at all?
Councilman Ayotte: You probably won't be able to answer it this evening but we pushed out the
review of the contract. I know that's, can we kind of get a target date for, I'm not asking it be
done next week or in two weeks, but when the sheriff thinks he may.
Sgt. Jim Olson: I will talk to the sheriff and see if he has an idea. I know he's at the National
Sheriff' s Convention right now. I will touch base with him when he gets back.
Councilman Ayotte: Thank you.
Sgt. Jim Olson: Thank you. Have a nice evening.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Also with us this evening is Assistant Chief Greg Hayes from the
Chanhassen Fire Department. Good evening.
Greg Hayes: Good evening. Thank you. What I'm assuming you probably all figured out what
I'm going to update you about and that was last week's events at the Dinner Theater with our
MCI drill. Some of the highlights that came out of that drill. Overall it was a huge success for
us. We repeated some drills that we've done in years past and improved on areas that we wanted
City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
to improve on. One of the ways that we did that was through some pre-planning and identifying
some steps and certain processes like that decontamination process. Overall we had 94 patients,
which 2 weeks prior we had 14 and I left for a planning class and came back into town and they
called me up and said by the way we have 90 patients so once I regained consciousness I figured
out how to deal with all that. The Dinner Theater had an additional 7 to 10 employees so we have
over 100 participants who weren't part of emergency service, just to role play that drill. It sounds
like from what the crews who were telling us, they did a pretty good job of acting, and challenged
some of our resources and made sure our people handled them carefully and if something wasn't
going right, they made sure to let them know. Overall there was approximately 20 agencies
involved. Some of the agencies you saw out there were, from our agency to Carver County
Hazardous Materials GroUp which is made up of all 11 fire departments in Carver County. Scott
County has a hazardous materials group which is made up of all the fire departments in that
county. National Guard 55~. Hopkins, who represents the State Chemical Assessment Team.
Department of Emergency Management, Minneapolis Fire was there but they had a glitch in their
trailer and they ended up sitting at 78t~ and Laredo for 3 hours until a tow truck could come,
because they had a major failure on a brand new trailer. They actually offered to move all the
patients down a block and clean them there but I said we'll deal with the trailer first. Probably
the biggest highlights is what we accomplished and looking at all the patients, where we had them
spread out through the theater, we evacuated and cleared the theater in 20 minutes with 3, what
we call 3 engine companies which is less than 15 people. So in 20 minutes we evacuated all these
people. People that could walk. People that couldn't walk and put an all clear out that the
building was clear and moved everybody away from the hazard, which was one of our big
primary areas of concern. The second is that we were able within an hour we decontaminated
over 70 patients. When we look at the timeframe of decontaminating patients, it takes about 3
minutes per person. If you take 70 times 3 minutes per person that should be right around 210
minutes. Divide that by 60 minutes, that's about 3 V2 hours. We did it in an hour, and we did it
the same way that it would have taken in 3 V2 hours. How we did that, came to that point I'm not
too sure yet. We're going to discuss here at 8:00 and figure it out how we changed the plan to go
that much faster. Looking at some photos I think I figured out how they did it, which was a great
way to do it. They just doubled up the decontamination system which is a perfectly fine way to
do it. So that was the biggest success in talking with all the outside agencies. They thought it
was probably one of the best drills they've been a part of because every agency worked together
as one big group and there was no jurisdictional borders and everybody from fire to hazmat. Law
enforcement did a phenomenal job of locking down the theater, because I had to leave a couple
times. I couldn't even get back in myself so I ended up having to hop a curb and get back up in
there because they had a pretty good perimeter around it. So very, very positive feedback.
Probably one of the biggest is we certainly appreciate all the county and everybody that came out
to observe. That was a huge impact for us. That was a first for me that I've seen all, that much
support from a city administration and a city council, and it's great that, hopefully we've been
able to relay some information back to you. We had excellent questions. Excellent feedback that
helped us identify a few things so we certainly appreciate that. Other than that, right now our
calls are still going up. We're looking at trending out calls from the year's past and we're ahead
of pace again still. Medicals are driving a lot of our business and we're still trying to find some
ways to keep that under control, but our year to date calls are up. Major incidents so far within
the past could months, luckily we've been fairly minor incidents. Other neighboring
communities that have had some bigger incidents that have happened, but luckily it has not
happened here. We've just went over and assisted, so all and all calls are up and now we're
going to kind of re-focus on fire fighting once again in our training. Is there any questions?
Mayor Furlong: Questions.
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Councilman Ayotte: I've got some bUt I'll send you an e-mail not to take up.
Mayor Furlong: I guess with regard to the drill last week, I think it was a job very well done and
one that it was nice to observe the professionalism and the way in which it was conducted. It
was, there was a little craziness but that's to be expected but it was handled well so I think from
my perspective personally, as an observer, it was very well done. I think the other comment I'll
share with you is just between the drill last week and the work session that we had on emergency
preparedness the week before, it gives me more comfort in terms of the preparation that we have,
not only locally with our fire department but also throughout the county. With Scott at the county
level. It's something that this council's been discussing and I think we've received some good
clarification that things are well in control and so congratulations. Thank you for all your efforts
and please share that with the other members of the fire department because it's clearly was, it's
been a couple good weeks to learn more about what you guys are doing and how well you're
doing it so thank you. Thanks very much.
Greg Hayes: Thank you.
Mayor Furlong: Any other questions at this point? Very good, thank you.
REQUEST FOR A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT WITHIN THE BLUFF CREEK
OVERLAY FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A HOME ADDITION~ 9201 AUDUBON ROAD~
ERIC THESHIP-ROSALES.
Bob Generous: Thank you Mr. Mayor, council members. The property is located south of
Lyman Boulevard on Audubon. It's the second home on Audubon going south. The Bluff Creek
Overlay District is composed of two zones. The primary zone which doesn't permit any
development, and the secondary zone. This property is located entirely within the secondary
zone. The Bluff Creek Overlay District requires that prior to any development a conditional use
permit be approved. The applicant is requesting the conditional use permit to expand the existing
home on this site. They're actually moving away from the primary zone district. Staff is, the
Planning Commission had a public hearing on this on June 3fa. They recommended approval.
Their only condition, or issue was that we verify that the addition actually requires an expansion
of the capacity of the individual septic treatment system and so that was the condition number
one. The additional language that was proposed. The Planning Commission and staff are
recommending approval of the conditional use permit for the house expansion. With that we'd be
happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Are there any questions for staf~ But for the fact that this is within
the secondary overlay zone, would this be coming to council?
Bob Generous: No.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Because it's within that secondary zone that it comes here.
Bob Generous: Correct.
Mayor Furlong: Otherwise it would be an administrative issue?
Bob Generous: Right. It would just be a building permit review and we'd review it for
compliance with the building code.
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Mayor Furlong: And all that's going to take place anyway is that correct?
BobGenerous: Correct.
Mayor Furlong: Any other questions? Okay. Is the applicant here this evening? Would you like
to address the council on any matters sir?
Eric Theship-Rosales: The condition of the septic was.
Mayor Furlong: I'm sorry, could you just state your name and address for the record please.
Eric Theship-Rosales: Okay. Eric Theship-Rosales, 9201 Audubon Road in Chanhassen.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you.
Eric Theship-Rosales: I have a file which the planning department wasn't aware of and it just
records the updating of the septic. It was redone in 1994 to replace a failing system. And it's
designed for 300 gallons per day, which I understand from the building department is equal to 2
bedrooms which is, right now what we have is, want to look at the map for a second. Yeah.
Right now it's a pretty small house as you can see. It's the smallest house in Chanhassen I
learned from a realtor friend of mine. But this is a breezeway zone between the old and the new.
The old has a bedroom in this comer where the breezeway would enter, and also has a small
bedroom next to it. So we're planning to do away with those 2 bedrooms and just have 2
bedrooms on the second floor of the addition. So if that answers any questions. I'd just as soon
have the condition be removed because the conditions will remain the same. Two bedrooms and
that's what I thought I'd bring up.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Any questions at this time for the applicant? Okay, thank
you. Any additional questions for staff with regard to those comments? What is staff's reaction?
Bob Generous: Well we believe that he complies with the ordinance and the condition is
complied with so it's not an issue. However if he doesn't comply with the ordinance he would
need to make the improvement and so we'd prefer that it remain in there. Because as stated, it's
eliminating the bedroom. I'm not in the position to say that that complies with the building code.
That's for the building official to determine.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright. Bring it back to council. Is there any discussion?
Councilman Labatt: No.
Mayor Furlong: It seems pretty straight forward to me. If there's no discussion, is there a
motion?
Councilman Lundquist: Motion to approve conditional use permit//2001-5 //2 to permit the
construction of the addition subject to conditions 1 through 9 as stated in the packet.
Mayor Furlong: Is there a second?
Councilman Labatt: Second.
City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Mayor Furlong: Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any discussion on the motion?
Seeing none we'll call the question.
Councilman Lundquist moved, Councilman Labatt seconded to approve Conditional Use
Permit g2001-5 g2 to permit the construction of a 1,435 square foot addition, subject to the
following conditions:
The on-site sewage treatment system must be inspected to determine if it is in compliance
with City Code and the size of the system must be increased after inspection if necessary
to accommodate the addition of two bedrooms. The compliance report must be received,
and the permit to increase the size of the system must be issued, before the building
permit for the addition can be issued.
The septic tank must be a minimum of ten (10) feet from the addition. This site as well as
the existing site must be protected from damage during the construction of the building.
3. A building permit must be obtained before beginning construction.
4. The applicant shall enter into a conditional use permit agreement with the city.
The application for building permit shall include a haul route for removal of excavated
material from the site.
Erosion control shall meet the City's Best Management Practices. The applicant shall
submit an erosion control plan with the building permit application.
The existing driveway shall act as the construction entrance. All tracking of dirt or debris
from the site onto the public roadway shall be removed daily or upon verbal notice, the
City shall clear the dirt or debris using a contractor or city forces and equipment and
charge the property owner.
All disturbed areas will be seeded and mulched within 2 weeks of grading work stopping,
except in the case of temporary delays longer than 2 weeks, in which case the applicant
may submit an alternate for temporary stabilization of the site for consideration by the
City Engineer and Water Resource Coordinator.
Construction shall be limited to between the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays
and 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays. No construction shall be allowed on Sundays or
legal holidays.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
CHANHASSEN AMERICAN LEGION POST 580~ 290 LAKE DRIVE EAST:
A. APPEAL DECISION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION FOR DENIAL OF A
FRONT YARD SETBACK VARIANCE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A
Be
DECK.
REQUEST TO AMEND THEIR ON-SALE INTOXICATING LIQUOR LICENSE
TO INCLUDE A OUTDOOR SEATING AREA AS PART OF THE LICENSED
PREMISES.
City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Sharmeen AI-Jaff: Honorable Mayor, members of the City Council. The Legion, which is
located south of Highway 5 and north of Lake Drive East, is requesting a variance to construct a
deck. A site plan was approved for this site approximately a year ago. As part of the site plan
approval the applicant did show a patio to be located along the northeast coruer of the site. Since
then they have requested to build a deck to be located north of the building. The current building
sits approximately 40 feet south of their property line. The ordinance allows a minimum, or
requires a minimum front yard setback of 35 feet. With the proposed deck, this setback will be
reduced to 22 feet. One of the things that we look at when examining a variance is, are there any
unique circumstances with this site. With this application. If you look at the northerly property
line, it jogs down approximately 25 feet. Actually exactly 25 feet. And this is a unique
circumstance that is associated with this site. If you look at the setback from Highway 5, the
roadway of Highway 5. The actual pavement, the setback is approximately 60 feet. We have
made a couple of recommendations. The first one basically approval of this application with
conditions, and one of the conditions basically deals with outdoor speaker systems. Making sure
that there isn't a lot of noise. We've also prepared conditions that deals with denial of this
application. The City Council could find that there is reasonable use of this property. And I'll be
happy to answer any questions.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Questions for staff.
Councilman Ayotte: Was there any discussion or any suggestions on design options to configure
the deck someplace other than where it's positioned right now? I think you alluded to that but I
wasn't completely.
Sharmeen A1-Jaff: In the staff report we said that there are other locations potentially. This is the
location that they wish to build in. We haven't discussed other options.
Councilman Ayotte: Have not discussed other.
Sharmeen A1-Jaff: No.
Councilman Ayotte: So the staff report says there are other options but there hasn't been any
discussion with respect to what those options are.
Sharmeen A1-Jaff: That's correct.
Councilman Ayotte: Okay.
Councilman Lundquist: Sharmeen as I drove by the Legion today, I saw there's some footings or
something that looks like footings in the ground where this is at now. Is that work in progress for
something else, or is that in, was that something that was begun and then pulled back because
they were made aware of the variance requirement or what's the circumstances on that?
Sharmeen AI-Jaff: We've advised them that footings in this area where the deck, where the
variance is proposed, they really shouldn't work on that. Anything within the patio area, that
would be permitted. That does not require a variance.
Councilman Lundquist: Okay.
Councilman Labatt: So if that property didn't jog in, like it does. On the one drawing here it
looks like somebody's taken a pencil and kind of drawn a line straight across. If they didn't have,
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
if they had that little sliver of property, or even a little postage stamp there to take what they need,
they would not need a variance, correct?
Sharmeen A1-Jaff: No, and we would probably approve this administratively.
Councilman Labatt: Do you have any idea why the property jogs like that?
Sharmeen A1-Jaff: No, and I have tried to research this. I truly don't have an answer. I assume it
has to do with an electric line that runs through the property but I haven't come up with any other
possibilities.
Councilman Labatt: That's my only question.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, other questions.
Councilman Peterson: Was there any discussion, part of what potentially is a concem is your
proximity to Highway 5 and people being distracted by looking at people on the deck and etc, etc.
Was there any discussion about providing some kind of a visual barrier, not a fence but
coniferous trees, shrubs, that kind of thing that would block that, along with making it potentially
more aesthetically pleasing?
Sharmeen AI-Jaff: We can work on something with that. That could be added as a condition of
approval. We have to keep in mind that Xcel Energy doesn't want anything that might grow tall
within their easement, but we can definitely work with them.
Councilman Peterson: What's their wire is up at 3040 feet or whatever probably.
Sharmeen A1-Jaff: Probably.
Councilman Peterson: So, 10 feet or less or something like that.
Sharmeen A1-Jaff: That would be workable.
Mayor Furlong: Wasn't their concern in the letter 20 feet? From Xcel. Xcel mentioned 20 feet.
Councilman Peterson: You could go up to 20...
Mayor Furlong: Is that correct?
Sharmeen A1-Jaff: That's correct.
Mayor Furlong: They didn't want construction equipment or anything above 20 feet.
Sharmeen AI-Jaff: That's correct.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Other questions? Okay. Within the city, other outdoor eating
establishments. Axel's is right along West 78th.
Sharmeen A1-Jaff.' Correct.
Mayor Furlong: Was there a setback issue there?
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Sharmeen A1-Jaff: No, that site is zoned central business district and there are no setbacks in that
district. It was a permit that we approved administratively.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, and this is different zoning, which I think was an issue back last fall when
the site plan was being developed as well.
Sharmeen A1-Jaff: Correct.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright, thank you. Is there a representative from the applicant here this
evening that would like to speak?
Gary Boyle: Well I'm not going to speak very long because I know you guys don't like to stay
here forever.
Mayor Furlong: If you could state your name and address please sir.
Gary Boyle: Gary Boyle, 2214 Frontier Trail. 7214 Frontier Trail. I forgot where I live.
Councilman Labatt: Did you move recently?
Gary Boyle: Just upfront, you guys are doing a heck of a job. You know really good.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you.
Gary Boyle: Two things. Number one, if the land hadn't been taken at some time, some way,
some how, from the American Legion, there wouldn't be a request for a variance tonight. But as
Sharmeen pointed out, nobody knows why that jog is on there. Maybe some architect got a little
nervous and just moved it a little bit. We wouldn't be here tonight if that wasn't the case.
Aesthetically Craig it's going to be similar to the deck that's on Famous Dave's on Highway 7. I
think it will look very nice. I've seen the plans and it's an addition that will be excellent. Now
regarding people driving by and looking over, those who want to look over look over right now to
see how many people are in the bar as they go by anyway. You might have a little bit more but
it's so far off the highway I don't think you're going to have a problem. That's my personal
opinion. Any other questions? I'm not going to carry on with things you've already read.
Councilman Ayotte: Do you think there would, how would the Legion react to Craig's
suggestion of maybe some vegetation along that area that still would be within the constraints of
what Xcel wants? Do you think that would be.
Gary Boyle:' I think that would be feasible if it fit within the budget of doing this. But it would
still look nice the way it is without the vegetation is my point. But yes, that could be done with
no problem.
Mayor Furlong: Was this anticipated at the time the building was designed?
Gary Boyle: No it was not because of budgetary reasons it was not.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Gary Boyle: Had it been obviously this would be a moot point. And there are no other really
good locations for it unless we took the patio out and went to the east side where the patio is now.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Any other questions? How the new little grandchild?
Gary Boyle: Hey, thank you. Fantastic. He's the greatest.
Mayor Furlong: Good. Congratulations.
Gary Boyle: Best little grandkid I've ever seen. Of course it's the only grandkid I've ever seen.
Mayor Furlong: Congratulations. Thank you.
Gary Boyle: Thank you.
Mayor Furlong: With that I'll bring it back to council unless there are any questions for staff as
follow up to the applicant's comments.
Councilman Labatt: Some of the comments from the Planning Commission where some of them
felt this was a self created hardship. I don't agree with that. This is a property line problem and I
would hope that we would support this and approve it.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, other comments?
Councilman Peterson: Yeah I think my perspective, just kind of keying on what I was asking
Sharmeen earlier. You know I think that if we do make a variance, if we could get a condition in
there that provides for a coniferous barrier to block the visual aspect of having the deck there. I
do think it's a bit of a nuisance and I've seen people look over there. I've looked over there and
brought my attention away from the Highway 5 which is obviously a substantial traffic area, but I
think buffering it would smooth out the look of the building. I think you get a visual. It's a
benefit. You get a safety benefit. You get potential noise benefit by putting a buffer in there for
the people on the deck. So I think if we do grant a variance here ! think there's a compelling
reason of saying that we're getting a better product by giving them this variance. And I think
from both from a citizens standpoint, from a visual standpoint and from a safety standpoint so I'd
be open to approving it on the basis of providing a barrier for the deck from Highway 5.
Councilman Ayotte: I don't, I'm not as hard pressed with the barrier, but I'm sensitive to the cost
issue so I wouldn't want to be too specific with it except to ask that we would have staff address
Craig' s point without being too deliberate with respect to approach. Leaving that up to staff and
the Legion. And I agree with Steve wholeheartedly. There's the issue of the property line that I
don't think is strong enough not to approve it, so.
Mayor Furlong: Other comments?
Councilman Lundquist: My comments, I would like to see some kind of barrier put in place for
the reasons that Councilman Peterson described. I guess I'm a little bit torn on this one. The
Legion's a wonderful organization and they do great things in the city, and all of their members
and everything about it is a great organization. I'm a little bit disturbed that this is the second
time that work has proceeded down the path before we got all the proper and necessary things
done and I realize they have some volunteer considerations and things like that but the other thing
I'm concerned about is, we can talk about the property line and a lot of other things about it that
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City Council Meeting- June 23, 2003
make it unique but if I sit back and think if this is, if this was anyone else but the Legion, and the
circumstances that go along with all of the great things that they do, would I approve it or not and
I'm not sure that I would for the reasons that it, I still feel that it's a self created hardship and
there's some things that could have been done upfront if it was planned the right way. Now, if
we had the buffer and the trees and the fence and the things like that to alleviate some of the
safety and other concerns, I think then I'm willing to support it but without that I'm not sure that
I'm ready to give the go ahead.
Mayor Furlong: I think my thoughts actually a lot of them have already been touched on. I won't
repeat a lot of them. I think planning, or lack of planning here clearly brings this issue before us
tonight. Had they, even with budget purposes of not putting it in right away, thinking ahead and
saying you know maybe that would be nice someday when we can afford it. Moving the building
back a few feet last year when it was built would have alleviated the problem. I think from a
property line setback, if there was, it's different I think when you have, in this case where the
setback from the road is the same and there's not another neighbor on the other side. The
property line shouldn't be a hardship I think after the building's been sited but here we're really
dealing with a setback from the road as I view it, which is, seems to be far enough. Of course
from a safety standpoint, aesthetic standpoint, I agree with Councilmember Peterson about the
need for doing that. Budgets are important but I think by working with city staff they've done
some good things and know what looks good and what doesn't, and there should be some fair
accommodation there because I think from a safety standpoint, from an aesthetic standpoint it's
going to soften it a little bit. Outdoor seating is something that we have very few locations within
the city right now. I think it's a benefit to our residents to have that, and the planning, lack of
planning here by this account is no way implying that the staff didn't look forward, but as a
suggestion as we look at other businesses or restaurants coming in, let's ask that question. And if
they say no, we have no intention of doing that, then let's record that in case they change their
mind but as part of a way to maybe alleviate this going forward, it would have been a question
that could have been asked, should have been asked. It wasn't so here we are. I think that overall
it's a benefit to the city and if there's some screening we can deal with the safety, the distraction
issue as well as I think some of the noise issues. I can be comfortable with it so, is there any
further discussion? Is there a motion?
Councilman Labatt: I will move that we approve a request for a 13 foot front yard setback
variance g03-9 for construction of a 972 square foot deck based upon the following findings
presented in the staff report 1 through 2. Adding number 3. That the staff and applicant explore
a visual barrier, example of a coniferous plantings not to exceed 20 feet.
Councilman Ayotte: I'll second that.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. There's a second. Is there any discussion on the motion?
Councilman Peterson: Yeah I think that I'd maybe be a little bit more specific on the amendment.
What I wrote down, and I said provide for a coniferous tree or shrub buffer that acts as a
substantially complete visual blockage of the deck. I think what you offered Steve, I don't think
it really gives.
Councilman Labatt: Well I specifically worded mine that I don't want to...
Councilman Peterson: And I'm voicing a different opinion so.
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City Council Meeting- June 23, 2003
Councilman Labatt: Well I made the motion the way I made it and I'm not going to require them.
I mean I think that staff and the applicant can come up with something that is acceptable to both
parties. My motion is what I said.
Mayor Furlong: Is there any other discussion? Can you read your statement again please?
Number 3.
Councilman Labatt: Staff and applicant to explore a visual barrier, an example coniferous
plantings not to exceed 20 feet.
Councilman Ayotte: Green.
Councilman Labatt: Pine trees as an example.
Mayor Furlong: Is there any other discussion?
Councilman Peterson: I think by doing that you're saying that one tree will be enough to meet
that condition. Where are we at with the?
Mayor Furlong: Well the motion's there with the 3 conditions. If there's a desire to propose an
amendment, you could do that. Or further discussion.
Councilman Peterson: I'd offer a friendly amendment to change that condition number 3
provides for coniferous tree or shrub barrier that acts as a substantially complete visual blockage
of the deck.
Mayor Furlong: I guess I'll ask for a second on that amendment. The proposed amendment. Is
that acceptable?
Councilman Labatt: I don't want a complete visual blockage so I guess I'm not going to accept
the friendly amendment for a complete blockage.
Mayor Furlong: Then I'll ask if a there's a second on the amendment.
Councilman Lundquist: Second the amendment.
Mayor Furlong: Been made and seconded. Is there further discussion on that?
Councilman Ayotte: Is there a way where we can come up with compromise where we increase
the population of the trees that would provide the objective of providing safety without making it,
using the term blockage because blockage suggests side by side. Because the intent I believe is
noise abatement and visual, making sure we don't have a Highway 5 issue, correct?
Councilman Peterson: Yep.
Councilman Ayotte: So if that's, staff pay attention. Help me out here. So what can we do to get
to that point? Is there a way that we can, you know I think Craig's talking about side by side.
Steve doesn't want to hit that. I don't want to be stuck in a position where we hit an impasse.
What can we do with respect to meeting the intent of safety, without only having 1 or 2 trees?
How can we get off of that dime? That's my problem. I don't like the idea of a complete
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
blockage either, but I understand your point. You know you don't want to have just 1 or 2. How
do we get off that dime?
Todd Gerhardt: Mayor could I suggest possibly a hedge that could be wrapped around the deck
as a possibility?
Councilman Peterson: It addresses, you know I said tree or shrub so. If the shrub doesn't
necessarily do it, take care of it in the wintertime, that's the issue. Depending on what they are.
Todd Gerhardt: Well, you've got, yeah.
Mayor Furlong: It depends on what they are. The other thing, what little I know about trees is
they tend to grow so what's initially planted will look differently in 3 or 5 or 10 years.
Councilman Ayotte: A shrub would answer that problem because would it be inappropriate to
ask a reaction from the Legion on that point? It's been brought up for a motion and we're trying
to work through this, I don't know if that's appropriate or not.
Mayor Furlong: I guess I'd rather see if we can find. I agree with you Bob, if we can find a
compromise with language that can give direction to staff because in both of these, in the
amendment it's the applicant needs to work with staff to come up with something that's
acceptable and I think we've got the willingness of the applicant to do that which was stated and
staff's ability to do that so what I hear is the complete visual blockage might be the sticking
language at this point.
Councilman Peterson: What...I said was a substantially complete blockage so it's not, if you see
a foot of the deck it's not a matter of you're outside, you know we're into adjectives describing.
Councilman Ayotte: Well can we simplify it by stating, can we wrap the deck with a hedge?
Mayor Furlong: I think then we're coming up with the solution as opposed to having staff and
the applicant come up with the best solution for the intent.
Councilman Ayotte: Well I asked them to help me out here.
Mayor Furlong: I'm sorry?
Councilman Ayotte: No, no.
Mayor Furlong: So, I guess it's from my standpoint, I prefer more coverage than less. Is
substantially complete too far? I guess I don't know but it gives a little more direction from the
council than just working together so, if we can modify that, that's fine but my sense would be to
go with the amendment as opposed to the un-amended condition.
Councilman Peterson: How would staff interpret that condition? Substantially complete. Any
thoughts?
Sharmeen A14aff: I was just discussing this with Bob. One of the things I suggested was 15 foot
on center staggered so you'll probably end up with about 6 or 7 trees. Evergreen.
Councilman Labatt: That'd be fine with the motion maker.
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Councilman Ayotte: Say again.
Councilman Peterson: So would you see the deck from, if you staggered them, you wouldn't see
the deck on that basis then right? Depending upon what angle you are from a distance.
Sharmeen A1-Jaff: That's correct.
Councilman Peterson: Right on front you wouldn't see it from 5.
Councilman Lundquist: Not as you're whizzing by at 60 miles an hour. 55 miles an hour.
Bob Generous: Part of it is what's your concern? Would you like it viewed as you're coming up
to it or as they're directly opposite? Maybe it's more important that we screen it to the west then
it is on the north side. So that as you're driving on the north side, so that as you're driving to it
you don't get distracted. As you're coming by and then you see the, because you'll see the lights
from the building anyway.
Councilman Ayotte: That makes sense.
Sharmeen A1-Jaff: And they have to leave room for growth so, as the years go by there will be
more and more screening.
Councilman Peterson: Yeah it seems reasonable. I think the number seems low but I can't
picture the width of that deck area so it's hard to. So as you just articulated, you see the first tree
starting before the deck starts and ending, or do you see the tree line being the deck line I guess is
the question.
Sharmeen A1-Jaff: The tree line yes starts at the point where the deck begins and then every 15
feet you would basically have one tree and they would be staggered.
Councilman Peterson: Yeah.
Todd Gerhardt: Sharmeen, you've got to stay out of the NSP easement area with that.
Sharmeen AI-Jaff: As long as the trees don't exceed 20 feet in height we should be okay.
Todd Gerhardt: I think what's Craig suggesting though would be an evergreen.
Sharmeen A1-Jaff: If we can, we can find.
Bob Generous: There might be dwarf species that would fit that bill.
Councilman Peterson: Wouldn't arborvitae work?
Bob Generous: That's what I was thinking. I think that might grow too tall but there are some
species that are more bushy.
Mayor Furlong: I think those can be some of the details as well as the topography there. I think
there's a drain down there too so that topography isn't smooth along that run so there's, those
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
would be issues too but again those are details I think that together can be worked out to make
sure that clearly the intent of the condition.
Councilman Ayotte: Why not state then sufficient vegetation to provide the necessary visual
impact to provide safety? Rather than go the other way and use the term blockage. So that staff
has the direction from a westerly direction, would it be?
Councilman Peterson: Both actually.
Councilman Ayotte: Westerly is the direction to take care of that concern.
Councilman Peterson: I'm comfortable with staff interpreting what at least my amendment
would be so.
Mayor Furlong: From what I'm hearing here, you know staggering some trees and that's a pretty
long run across there. It's over 50 feet I think.
Sharmeen A1-Jaff.' 54 feet.
Mayor Furlong: Is that deck so.
Councilman Peterson: More is better I think is what...
Mayor Furlong: Other discussion on the amendment? If there's none we'll call the question.
Councilman Peterson moved, Councilman Lundquist seconded to amend condition number
3 to read as follows:
e
Staff will work with the applicant to install a coniferous tree or shrub barrier that
acts as a substantially complete visual blockage of the deck from Highway 5.
All voted in favor, except Councilman Labatt who opposed, and the motion carries with a
vote of 4 to 1.
Councilman Labatt moved, Councilman Ayotte seconded to approve the request for a 13
foot front yard setback variance (VAR 03-9) for the construction of a 972 square foot deck
based upon the findings presented in the staff report with the following conditions:
The applicant should be aware that the proposed deck crosses over an existing private
storm sewer line. Care should be taken during construction to avoid damaging the storm
sewer.
2. No exterior audio system shall be permitted.
Staff will work with the applicant to install a coniferous tree or shrub barrier that acts as a
substantially complete visual blockage of the deck from Highway 5.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Mayor Furlong: Item number 4(b) is a request to amend the on-sale intoxicating liquor license to
include outdoor seating area as part of the license premises. The applicant again is the American
Legion. Is there a staff report here? Mr. Gerhardt.
Todd Gerhardt: Mayor, Council members. This is the second item that needs your attention. As
a part of the Legion's liquor license we're going to have to expand it to include the deck and patio
area. Staff is recommending approval.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there any questions for staff?. Thank you. Does the applicant
wish to speak on this at all? Thank you. Any discussion from council? If there's none is there a
motion?
Councilman Peterson: Motion to approve.
Councilman Ayotte: Second.
Mayor Furlong: Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion on the motion?
Councilman Peterson moved, Councilman Ayotte seconded to approve the request to
amend the "licensed premises" of the Chanhassen American Legion Post 580 liquor license
to include all outdoor seating areas. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously
with a vote of 5 to 0.
DISCUSSION OF CITY HALL LOWER LEVEL REMODELING.
Bruce DeJong: Mayor Furlong, council members. The reason that we're here tonight, to talk
about the lower level remodeling is we'll have some space that's available once the library moves
out. Last year when we were preparing the capital improvement program we anticipated using
bonding proceeds for this. At that point staff did not realize that we really don't have statutory
authority to use equipment certificates for that type of project. It needs to be more of a rolling
stock, you know outdoor use type of equipment to qualify under the statute. So when we began
talking about our equipment certificates with our bond counsel, it was pointed out that we would
not be able to finance the project this way. So what we're here tonight to discuss is some possible
alternatives and get some council direction on how to proceed with trying to finance this project,
if indeed you want to...this year. When I looked at the available funds, there's really two places
that seem to make the most sense to look for this. Either from the general fund, which is
specifically set up as a general fund, meaning that it's for anything that's not specifically
identified by state law or by donor restrictions on the use of money. In the general fund we have
a substantial fund balance, roughly 5 million dollars and that fund balance is used for cash flow
purposes and for emergency reserve. We can certainly change the budget at any time during the
course of the year to allow use of that fund balance for any specific purpose that the council
decides. The other place that seems to make the most sense would be out of our capital
replacement fund, which is Fund 400. The problem that we have right there is that while it has a
fairly substantial fund balance, there are two issues that remain. One is that it still has about
$700,000 worth of bills outstanding for the library remodeling. So once you subtract that off the
roughly 1.6 million dollars, you're down below a million dollars and a lot of the remainder of
that money is locked up in a capital asset, which is the bowling alley. The funds from the capital
replacement fund were used to purchase the bowling alley when we took it over 2 years ago and
I'm hesitant to spend money, that cash out of that fund when there really isn't enough cash there.
There's about $80,000 after we subtract off the expenditures remaining on the library. While we
certainly can make, you transfer money from many other funds that are out them that do have
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
fund balances, we've really allocated most of that money through the, at least in some intentional
sense that they'll be safe. We're going to try and designate those funds balances in places like the
historic preservation fund, two, using that for our tax increment finance district deficits and so
I'm hesitant to start taking money out of there if we don't have to. So that's really I guess my
basic discussion of that. My sense is that the general fund is really the best place and that's what
I would hope that you would agree to and amend the budget for $100,000 to remodel the space.
That would be about $11,000 for the architect and about $89,000 for actual construction and
equipment.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Questions for staff.
Councilman Ayotte: Could you tell me again, the l lK for the architect, 89,000 for the
construction and the equipment. That seems awfully neat, $100,000. What was the basis for,
what's the $89,000 purchase? Do we have a scope and a spec to that already? Is that how we
came up with the 100K?
Bruce DeJong: I don't know those details. I think that Mr. Hoffman has more detail on what was
involved in that.
Councilman Ayotte: And I'm kind of curious on how we came to the $100,000. What the
$89,000 comes to and the.
Todd Gerhardt: Well staff came up with an estimate for construction this past fall. Todd
Hoffman our Park and Rec Director had preliminary discussions with architectural firm that I
believe that we could do the project for $89,000 plus consulting fees of approximately $10,000
where they would assist us in putting together plans and specs and you would act as the general
contractor and solicit a sheet rocker, electrician and somebody to install the carpet.
Councilman Ayotte: So it's not turnkey? We would be buying then trade labor and someone
within staff would function as a general contractor to coordinate that. Who might that be?
Todd Gerhardt: I'd assign that project over to Todd Hoffman, Park and Rec Director.
Councilman Ayotte: If we were to have turnkey so all liabilities with a GC, how much would it
cost us to do it that way?
Todd Gerhardt: My guess is 15 to 20 percent more.
Councilman Ayotte: And as a result of Hoffman being a general contractor, what would be the
impact on parks and rec for him to function over what period of time?
Todd Gerhardt: I don't see any loss in service in Todd doing that role.
Councilman Ayotte: Could we have him do the GC of some other projects in addition?
Todd Gerhardt: His plate's pretty full between the park and that one. And roundhouse.
Councilman Peterson: On the surface I think that where you are finding the money from is
reasonable. If you're asking for approval to go ahead and change the budget tonight, I guess
before I would say yes to it, I'd like to see a little bit more scope as to what we are, and I haven't
had a philosophical discussion about what we're going to do with that space for quite some time.
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
I guess I'd like to have that, whether that's tonight or not but if it's something that clearly we're
going to use and have value there immediately, then I'm not adverse to changing the budget this
year but I can't remember what we're going to do with that and what we're going to have in there
so hence I'm not really saying alright, let's spend $100,000 and then not use it til 2005. So that's
kind of where I'm at.
Todd Gerhardt: Well we were anticipating that the library would move out by the end of August.
Allow a 2 to 3 month construction period of sheet rocking, carpet, probably new lights in the area
and basically they were going to be multi purpose meeting rooms. I thought we had a work
session where we talked about some different layouts in that area, but you're absolutely right, it
wasn't in detail. That for the multi-purpose rooms to be effective in there we needed to create a
hallway.
Councilman Peterson: That was really my question. Is it one or two multi-purpose rooms or is it
a half dozen? I just can't remember quite frankly.
Todd Gerhardt: It was two. We talked about turning what is the bay window section into kind of
an executive conference room, training room and then having a second set of rooms to the east of
there where the main library is with a hallway and a gathering point out front. And that those
could potentially be broken into smaller rooms with moveable partition walls where you can
break it down either 2 or 3 meeting rooms.
Councilman Peterson: And we have an issue of whether we're going to have a lobby in there.
What kind of a lobby it was.
Todd Gerhardt: Right, and moving Kara' s desk over there so she could be kind of the greeter as
seniors come in, or whoever might come in to utilize that space.
Councilman Peterson: Do we see that as a main senior entrance on a go forward basis or not?
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah, in the past the senior parking was all on street. If you remember when
Coulter kind of went through, all the senior parking was associated with Coulter. As a part of the
design for the library we would like to encourage the seniors to come into the east side of the
building instead of the west side so we're not competing for those convenient parking spaces for
the library. So we're really changing the senior center's front door to the east side of the building
and utilizing more convenient parking, both for the library and the seniors. But we can schedule
this for a work session if you want to see some detailed drawings on it.
Mayor Furlong: I was going to ask, how far along, have we started the process in terms of
working with the engineers or the architects to lay out and start specking out the materials that
have been discussed?
Todd Hoffman: We haven't started the formal, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. We haven't
started the formal process yet because we didn't have the funding set aside, but initial
conversations with them, one of the first things we would do is meet with certain groups of staff.
Groups of two representing the council and other committees, manager's office, the senior center
and then just be some general folks who would utilize that space. Do some design work and then
bring that back to the City Council for your initial thoughts and then more forward. It's a fairly
simple process. KKE is the architects that we're talking to. This is not, this is kind of a design
build process. It's not a bid process so we would be working with general contractors and Mr.
Gerhardt explained it very simply. It's just creating a couple of rooms out of some space.
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City Council Meeting -June 23, 2003
Changing the senior center entry because we need to get them to this side of the building, and
more or less doing a good deal of brainstorming on how is that space going to function after it's
remodeled, because you have the senior activities all on that side of the building, but this is going
to be their new entrance. So that' s a good deal of distance between this parking lot, that entrance
and the existing senior space so what moves over from their side onto this side.
Councilman Peterson: Mr. Mayor, based that and just the brief conversation I had that Todd has
chaired, I'm comfortable moving ahead with the gathering phase and working with the
architecture to work with different entities and then bring it back for approval at a later date so I
don't want, I don't want to slow down the process by a work session necessarily. At least I don't.
Let's move it along.
Mayor Furlong: If I understand you you're saying go forward with the design that's been
estimated at $11,000 but withhold authorization for the construction until.
Councilman Peterson: I don't think we're talking about $11,000 total to just to get the design.
Todd Gerhardt: No, that's to prepare plans and specification, take bids.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. So it would only be part of that. So I guess.
Councilman Peterson: So I'm comfortable with proceeding with the next step which is
information gathering. We could get a preliminary drawing done to ascertain value to the city.
Mayor Furlong: And you're going to make that in the form of a motion of authorizing the use of
general funds for that?
Councilman Peterson: Or adjusting the budget accordingly. We have to make a motion to adjust
the budget, well. How d you want to handle that? I don't want to do $100,000, at least I don't.
Councilman Lundquist: Could we have a couple more questions?
Mayor Furlong: Certainly.
Councilman Lundquist: At the beginning of the year we made some budget amendments to
reduce the budget due to state aid cuts that we anticipated and things like that, but didn't we also
have, don't we also have a large chunk of the general fund under the street maintenance that we
were planning on doing that now we're either not anticipating doing or bonding for?
Bruce DeJong: That's correct Councilmember Lundquist.
Councilman Lundquist: So we would have more than, is it fair to say that we have more than
$100,000 in that piece that we plan on not spending?
Bruce DeJong: That is correct.
Councilman Lundquist: Okay. And if we were to amend for $100,000 and the bids and the rest
of the stuff comes in at $102,000, do we have to come back and ask for more again or should we
amend it for an amount that would protect us for unforeseen things, whatever things that might
happen?
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Councilman Peterson: Bad soil.
Todd Gerhardt: No footings with this.
Councilman Lundquist: I don't want to come back in 3 months and ask for $10,000 on the
budget amendment.
Mayor Furlong: And I think, if I understood Councilman Peterson's suggestion, let's go forward
with the design and layout and stuff like that. We're going to get bids on the construction. We'll
see what. Quotes? Quotes. I said quotes.
Councilman Peterson: How do you spell that?
Mayor Furlong: B-I-D-S. I guess we'll get that information so we don't have to make a
decision tonight with limited information. We can get the specific information and make an
informed decision in part perhaps about the timing. Whether we want it in this year or next year
or other issues with the budget.
Todd Gerhardt: And as we bring the quotes back you can amend the budget based on each one of
those items. As we bring back, we'll probably bring back the whole package, wouldn't you think
Todd? So we can give you a good estimate at that time. You don't need to do it tonight, as long
as you free up the $11,000 that we need to get plans and specs to get quotes for. And work with
the design community.
Councilman Lundquist: Then the only other comment I would have would be, I would also like
to see us consider, or take a look at the addition of a general contractor in the process, even
though that adds an amount of money. It's not a loss in confidence or anything in Mr. Hoffman's
abilities but when we're talking about making changes inside the building, although they may
seem simple, it's not necessarily always that way and it's always nice to have the ability to come
back on a general contractor for things, and there's going to be some fairly substantial changes in
lighting and possibly plumbing and who knows what else goes on in them, so albeit an additional
expense for a general contractor, it may be worth our while if this is a long term project. So that's
something that we can explore down the road as well.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright, is there a motion then or, we never got a second for what you
were saying before so, do you want to repeat that in the form of a motion?
Councilman Peterson: I make a motion that we amend the 2003 budget to include approximately
$11,000 for specs for the City Hall lower level remodeling.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there'a second?
Councilman Lundquist: Second.
Councilman Ayotte: Do we want to catch a friendly amendment? To include a line item for a
general contractor function.
Councilman Peterson: I think it's two different things. One is money and one is not so. We're
just doing plans and specs so we're not allocating...
Councilman Ayotte: Got it, okay. And then we go after that.
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Any other discussion? No? If there's none we'll call the question.
Councilman Peterson moved, Councilman Lundquist seconded to amend the 2003 budget to
include approximately $11,000 for specs for the City Hall lower level remodeling. All voted
in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
DISCUSSION OF CITY CODE AMENDMENT TO ALLOW WINE IN CITY PARKS.
Todd Gerhardt: Mayor, council members. At our last meeting there was some discussion
regarding the Rotary selling wine at our 4th of July festival. At this point I guess the Rotary is not
interested in selling wine and they did apply for a temporary on-sale intoxicating license so they
could have sold wine, but our ordinance does not allow the sale of wine in the parks. So the
question before you is, do you want to allow the sale of wine in your parks and possibly in a glass
container, which most wines do come in. And staff is recommending that this item be sent back
to the Park and Rec Commission to evaluate and make a recommendation to consider such an
item.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Question for staff.
Councilman Peterson: Right now we don't know what other cities have done historically. Just
say no. I think I answered my own question so.
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah, there's not a lot of communities that do allow the wine from what our
Park and Rec Director has told me. This is an issue that the Park and Rec field has taken up time
and time again to review and I think it's just a good practice to go out there and see what really
does exist.
Mayor Furlong: Other discussion?
Councilman Lundquist: I would say out of fairness to our, is it enophytes?
Councilman Ayotte: Enophiles.
Councilman Lundquist: Enophiles that we should have the park and rec consider allowing the
sale. It doesn't mean that anybody's ever going to do it, and it would be my hope that they would
come back and continue to have the no glass receptacle. That may in itself eliminate the wine
from ever being sold, if he can't be in glass but then so be it. But it seems like it makes sense if
the intoxicating liquor license allows them to sell beer and wine, and then we have a conflicting
in the ordinance that says we can't sell wine so I'm comfortable with letting the park and rec do
some research and run with it and come back with a recommendation.
Mayor Furlong: Other discussion?
Councilman Peterson: I would probably, I'm having a bit of problem with glass wine bottles.
We don't say they can't bring their glass tuna fish bowls in. I think we have other ordinances that
would, if there's abuses we can use other ordinances, whether it's littering or inappropriate
behavior that we can address those issues. I mean if you don't allow a glass in, realistically that
is going to preclude anybody bringing in a bottle of wine. Whether it's for sale or not isn't the
only issue. Whether a couple or family wants to bring in and have some wine, right now they
can't do that because it's glass.
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Mayor Furlong: Yeah I think it's not just a sale issue, it's the use as well so it'd be just residents
enjoying the park. Right now they can bring in beer. They can bring in wine coolers if they're
not in glass, because I think those are malted. Or so I'm told, so I mean I agree. Let's see what
other cities are doing and see, I guess I'd suggest if possible see how we can do it with regard to
the safety and continued enjoyment and use of the parks from a use standpoint. So but, I think
the proper place for the discussion and citizens input and other issues is in the park and rec
commission so I would think that's a, I would support staff's recommendation on that with the
addition of my other comments. Other discussion at all?
Councilman Labatt: Send it back to them and curious to see what they come back with.
Mayor Furlong: Sure.
Councilman Lundquist: Do we need a motion for that or can that just be.
Mayor Furlong: Do you want a motion?
Todd Gerhardt: No.
Mayor Furlong: Alright, is there any more discussion? Then our discussion is done.
COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS:
Nikki Edwards: ...and I arrived during the law enforcement presentation and I was hoping to
make a very short visitor presentation.
Mayor Furlong: Certainly.
Nikki Edwards: Okay. I stood before you in February.
Mayor Furlong: I'm sorry, could you.
Nikki Edwards: Oh, Nikki Edwards, 8905 Quinn Road in Chanhassen. I stood before you in
February and requested a variance on my septic system. At that time you had decided that a
variance couldn't be granted for that. And the research was went ahead and done to look at city
services to be brought to our home. Our portion only of that bid came in at over $50,000 so that
was not affordable to our family, so we are proceeding to meet the city requirements to have the
septic system in. That should all happen next week to meet the deadline provided the rain holds
off. My request though to City Council is, this has ended up costing me now $13,749 so my
request to you is now, if the city should bring city sewer services through in the future, systems,
my understanding these systems, if they're pumped every 3 years have the potential to last
forever, but a minimum of 20-25 years. So I'm just asking the council to state as a matter of
record that I would be exempt of being forced into city services in the next few years provided
that I've already had this expense.
Mayor Furlong: I guess I'll defer to the City Manager here. We have, I think we authorized the
study for the sewer services. We haven't received a report back on that so this is, I think this is
the first we've heard of that so.
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Nikki Edwards: They called me with potential numbers, what they went to a certain point in the
study and then they called me with the numbers, and that was partly what my petition to the city
to have it was to be able to say, okay can I afford this or do I have to go the other direction? So I
think rather than wasting a lot of the city's time and money when they could initially see what the
potential cost for that project was going to be, to add it for those 4 homes was going to cost over
$442,000, and that's divided between 4 homeowners basically. So because of that I think they
knew what my reaction would be, that I wouldn't be able to afford it. So that's, I did withdraw
my petition and depending on how your meetings are arranged possibly that hasn't been
presented to you, and I apologize if I jumped the gun on that side of it.
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah, Mayor what I can do is get this scheduled on our next meeting which is
July 14th and provide you an update on where we're at in that process and include Nikki Edwards'
comments as a part of that for you.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Nikki Edwards: Okay, thank you.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. We'll move back to the agenda with council presentations. Are
there any presentations from council?
Councilman Ayotte: Mayor, I attended a Neighborhood Watch meeting last Saturday. I provided
you with a copy of the letter that I've received today as a matter of fact, dated June 17th. It's
addressed to Bob Ayotte and other council members. I just want to make note that all of you
were an afterthought. The good news is that we have a new Neighborhood Watch group. They
did bring up an issue regarding the lights where we shut off city lights as a cost cutting measure
along Powers, and I think with respect to what this particular resident has asked and due to the
fact that the return we had anticipated wasn't as great as we had hoped, and I was wondering if
we could possibly discuss the point about bringing back to staff another look see as to whether or
not we should reconsider turning some of those lights back on should public safety think it'd be a
wise thing. Just to do a little bit of investigation.
Mayor Furlong: You suggest more of a follow-up?
Councilman Ayotte: Yes sir.
Mayor Furlong: Because if my understanding serves I think when we took the action, we gave
them the authority and for safety reasons to turn them back on. I mean it was their choice from a
balancing but not sacrificing safety. I mean certainly Mr. Gerhardt if you have any comments.
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah, this is the first time I heard about this one. Got an e-mail, another
individual on Powers would like a light turned back on too and so I'll sit down with Teresa this
week and re-look at these two issues and see if there's a safety concern.
Councilman Ayotte: At that particular meeting they had voiced a concern about some actual
damage that they experienced on the, at their home and they believe that it's attributed to the fact
that the street light was not, there was some vandalism on at least two other homes. So possibly
if public safety could be reigned in on it and follow up with Mrs. Swanson, I think it would be
appreciated by some of our residents.
Todd Gerhardt: We'll do that.
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Other council presentations. Highway 41 river crossing. No?
Okay.
ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS. FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION
ACTIVITIES~ PARK & RECREATION DEPARTMENT.
Mayor Furlong: Mr. Gerhardt, do you want to start or do we have.
Todd Gerhardt: Is Jerry going to present? We have Jerry Ruegemer, from our Park and Rec
Department to update you on the 4th of July activities.
Mayor Furlong: Great. Whichever you prefer.
Jerry Ruegemer: Okay.
Councilman Lundquist: Just don't knock the microphone off.
Jerry Ruegemer: I'll try not to. Well thank you Mayor and council for having me here tonight to
inform you on the 4th of July celebration coming up. It's coming up next week so it's rapidly
approaching us. I think you all had a chance to look at the schedule of events. We're going to be,
it' s going to be next Thursday, July 3ra and Friday, July 4th. We have a lot of fun filled activities
planned for both days. Really the activities up here are going to be going about 4:30 on the 3rd
and that starts off with the Business Expo. That' s a new name this year from the Trade Fair in the
past. They kind of are looking for more of an update or kind of a new fresh take on the Trade
Fair. So the Business Fair is going to start and we'll have different activities going on for the
kids. The kiddie parade is always a lot of fun. We normally have oh gosh, it's coming up on
probably 700-1,000 people probably participating in that, and that started a long, long time ago.
It just grows in popularity every year. So we have the fire department involved in that and Carver
County to provide a safe path and route for the kids. We have a lot of different activities going
on up here. One of the new things for the third up here is I'm not sure if anybody has seen those
big inflatable Titanic kind of rides and that sort of thing or jumpy inflatable. They'll be up here.
There's going to be the Titanic, the Iceberg and another surprise inflatable so that should, it
should be a lot of fun. And we're not paying anything for that. We're taking a percentage of
their take so that will be a good note for the council. Water Wars is always very popular up here.
That's kind of the balloon game that's on the back side of the program. It's where you get a
bucket of balloons and grab two of your closest friends and go at it so it's a great thing if it's
warm. That will be up here at the park and also at Lake Ann Park the next day down by the
beach area. The inflatables will also be out at Lake Ann Park on the 4th on Ballfield #3. That
should be good visibility as people come in and out of the park throughout the day on the 4th.
Really a lot of different things going on the third and really the evening is capped off by the
performances by Casablanca Orchestra or CBO. They're a great band that we've had for about 4
or 5 years now and they really pack the tent. They have a great following and they really bring
people in so that should be a fun filled evening. The 4th has a lot of different activities going on
again out at Lake Ann Park starting with the adult fishing contest in the morning. There's kids
fishing festivals. There's different games going on down at the beach. The parade, as you all
know is going to be going on at 2:30 up here at City Hall, or not at City Hall but downtown
starting at Chapel Hill and then working their way past Byerly's, up Kerber Boulevard, up on the
northwest and then kind of back to Chan view here for the finale here so a fun filled event. One
event that is new this year is the kind of the street dance after the parade this year. It's a Joe
Scott, a local resident and local musician has put together kind of a benefit to benefit the CAP
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City Council Meeting - June 23, 2003
Agency or kind of a food drive so people are encouraged to come up and donate food. The
Rotary will be selling food and beer at that event, so that's something new that we're trying to
captivate people that are already doWntown. If we can keep them downtown and we can really
get, stay here and have some fun. Then they'll wrap up that by 8:00 in time for the fireworks at
Lake Ann Park so a lot of different things kind of going on and hopefully to have a good time.
With that I hope to see you all there.
Mayor Furlong: Great, thank you. Any questions? Very good, thanks. We'll see you next week.
Thank you. Any other administrative presentations?
Todd Gerhardt: Mayor I have one item. If you could move to the correspondence packet. Under
review of claims paid. On our next agenda on July 14th staff will be bringing back a modification
to the pumhase agreement to exclude council approval on the Minnegasco, Xcel and Met Council
bills. Typically our policy says right now that anything over $15,000 we need to bring back to
council. Most of these items are usually over the $15,000 mark and staff believes that the council
doesn't need to consider these things. These are a utility that we have to pay and would like to
make them exempt from your approval.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, any other questions on that right now? Or any other, we'll see that next
time.
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah, we'll have that on the consent agenda. I just wanted to make sure there
were no issues regarding that and make you aware.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. And then very good, is that it? Okay, thank you. Any discussions on the
correspondence? If there is none, if there are no other items to come before the council is there a
motion to adjourn?
Councilman Ayotte moved, Councilman Lundquist seconded to adjourn the meeting. All
voted in favor and the motion carried. The City Council meeting was adjourned at 8:40
p.m.
Submitted by Todd Gerhardt
City Manager
Prepared by Nann Opheim
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