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CC 2012 09 10 CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 10, 2012 Mayor Furlong called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was opened with the Pledge to the Flag. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Furlong, Councilman McDonald, Councilwoman Tjornhom, and Councilman Laufenburger COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: Councilwoman Ernst STAFF PRESENT: Todd Gerhardt, Roger Knutson, Laurie Hokkanen, Kate Aanenson, Paul Oehme, and Greg Sticha PUBLIC PRESENT: nd Ed Schneider 410 West 82 Street Peter Moe 7161 Minnewashta Parkway J.R. Relick 425 Chan View Rollie Neve 7635 Nicholas Way Matt Winterer 2210 Melody Hill Kirk Pettis 2742 Piper Ridge Lane Mayor Furlong: Thank you and welcome to those here in the council chambers as well as those watching at home. We’re glad that you joined us this evening. At this time I’d like to ask members of the council if there are any changes to the agenda. The one request we did receive is item number 3 will be tabled to a future meeting. That request came on the part of the applicant so we’ll not be addressing item number 3. If anybody’s here this evening to discuss any factors there we will not be discussing anything relating to item number 3 this evening but absent any objections or comments from the council we’ll proceed with the agenda as published. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: None. CONSENT AGENDA: Mayor Furlong: If there’s a desire for separate discussion, either by members of the council or members of the public present on items 1(a) through 1(i), I would ask that you let me know at this time. Sir, if you could come to the podium and state your name and address and which item you’re concerned about. Daniel White: Daniel White at 380 Deerfoot Trail and concerned about item (g). Mayor Furlong: Okay. Is Kate here? Okay. We’ll pull that off and bring that up. Is there a particular neighborhood that you’re referring to? Daniel White: Sunny Slope. Mayor Furlong: I’m looking for that one here. Thank you. Okay, why don’t we then, if it’s okay we’ll remove the request related to the amendment for Sunny Slope. We’ll bring that up under, do you have a quick question or is it an extended comments on that sir? Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Daniel White: It shouldn’t be extended. My request would be to continue, for the council to continue consideration of that specific item to allow the neighborhood, the individual residents to have an opportunity to meet and discuss with the Planning Commission. Mayor Furlong: Let me do this, let’s bring it up under new business and we’ll bring it up either after item number 4 so we’ll bring it up under 4(a). Daniel White: Thank you sir. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. That would be related to the request for Sunny Slope only. Without objection we’ll keep the remaining items under item 1(g) on the consent agenda. Is there any other items? If not, is there a motion to adopt items 1(a) through (i) excluding the Sunny Slope PUD portion of item 1(g). Councilwoman Tjornhom: So moved, Mayor Furlong: Is there a second? Councilman Laufenburger: Second. Councilwoman Tjornhom moved, Councilman McDonald seconded that the City Council approve the following consent agenda items pursuant to the City Manager’s recommendations: a. Approval of Minutes: -City Council Work Session Minutes dated August 27, 2012 -City Council Verbatim and Summary Minutes dated August 27, 2012 Receive Commission Minutes: -Planning Commission Verbatim and Summary Minutes dated August 21, 2012 Resolution #2012-44: b. Lyman Boulevard Improvement Project 10-08, Proposed Noise Walls: Approve Resolution. Resolution #2012-45: c. Approve Resolution Authorizing the City to Apply for and Accept a Grant from the Metropolitan Council for Inflow/Infiltration Related Projects. Resolution #2012-46: d. Approve Resolution Appointing Election Judges. e. Approve 2013/14 Joint Assessment Contract with Carver County. f. Approve Fourth Restated Joint Powers Agreement, Southwest Transit. g. Amend Planned Unit Development-Residential (PUD-R) Planning Case 2012-04-5 Hidden Valley and Rezoning from PUD-R to Single Family Residential (RSF), and approve the publication for summary ordinance. Approve ordinances rezoning the following Planned Unit Development-Residential (PUD-R) to Single Family Residential (RSF): Fox Chase, Orchard thnd Hills, Sunrise 4 Addition, Waldrips 2 Addition and Whitetail Ridge and adopt the attached Planning Commission Findings of Fact. h. Authorization to Distribute Comprehensive Plan Amendment (Functional Roadway Classifications) for Jurisdictional Review. 2 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 i. Approval of Temporary On-Sale Liquor Licenses for the German & Cana Dinners, St. Hubert Catholic Community, 8201 Main Street. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS: Matt Winterer: Good evening everybody. My name is Matt Winterer. I’m from 2210 Melody Hill. I should probably clarify that I am also running for City Council right now. My concern is with the city budget. The rise in the city budget has not been commensurate to a rise in services over the years. The taxpayers of Chanhassen have worked in an economy where they have seen wages frozen and hiring frozen. If the people of Chanhassen have to cut back then we should expect our city employees would do the same. Health care costs have gone up 50% over the last 3 years yet there’s no individual contribution required. Individual contributions are expected in the private sector. These days it’s very rare to see a private sector position that doesn’t have some form of mutual contribution. I actually have to pay for 100% of my own insurance. In an era where cities like Scranton, Pennsylvania are cutting city employee salaries to minimum wage to combat catastrophic coffer drainage, I would expect that it would be prudent for us to take the time to examine the budget further to make sure that we are making consideration for the future of Chanhassen and I would ask that instead of approving one of the three proposed budgets we would cut further in order to make sure that we can provide for the successful continuation of Chanhassen as a great city. Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Rollie Neve: Hi, my name is Rollie Neve at 7635 Nicholas Way and I’m here in opposition to the funding increase and I have petitions that have been circulated and I have copies of those petitions here. We’ve been doing this petition drive for about 2-3 days and it’s ongoing. We’ve got about 40 signatures right now and I’d like to read the petition for you. It’s a First Amendment petition to the Chanhassen City Council. By the citizens of the City of Chanhassen to vote no on increases in Chanhassen city spending and the petition reads, Whereas according to the Centure Research Report cited in the Star Tribute on th August 24 that incomes are down since the ’09 recovery and those in the 55 to 64 age group have declined by 9.7%. Whereas the unemployment rate in Carver County is 5.4% and whereas the people in the private sector have experienced salary cuts in this economic climate and frequently had to take lesser paying jobs, and whereas there is little optimism for an improved economy, and whereas it is generally reported that wages and benefits in the private sector are lower than they are in the public sector, and whereas retirement benefits in the public sector far exceed those in the private sector and whereas the 2013 Chanhassen budget as reported in the press calls for a 2% salary increase for city employees, and whereas spending would be lower than previous years without these increases, and whereas the City has granted wage increases to city employees every year for at least the last 6 years, and this could be maybe one year in there that they didn’t but there’s a consistent record of wage increases in the recent past. Whereas the Chanhassen budget calls for a 13% increase in health care benefits to city employees, and whereas it is fiscally irresponsible to authorize the above city employee increases in this economy. Now Therefore, we the undersigned citizens of the city of Chanhassen respectfully urge and direct the City Council of Chanhassen to vote for reduced spending, including a zero increase in wages and a zero increase in health care benefits for city employees in 2013. And I can leave these petitions with you if you want. That’s all I have. Mayor Furlong: Thank you Mr. Neve. 3 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Kirk Pettis: Kirk Pettis, 2742 Piper Ridge Lane. In full disclosure I am also running for City Council. I would like to address the budget. I stand before the council today representing friends, family and a majority of the citizens of Chanhassen that oppose this continuous spending increase. We, I believe we all want to see a prosperous Chanhassen yet I believe there is a difference in philosophy in accomplishing this. My motto for governance is for the people to live liberally we must govern conservatively. Therefore for a prosperous Chanhassen we should have a conservative budget which controls spending, especially when the last 4 years we have been all living in a semi recession and the budget has increased year after year and a lot of expert economists are predicting a financial cliff in the near future and I do not believe this budget addresses any of these things so I urge the council to go back and change this budget to limit our spending increases. Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Anyone else for visitor presentations this evening? Okay. Thank you. We appreciate those comments. This evening we do have a presentation by Dr. Ed Schneider and Mr. Peter Moe, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to explain to the council and to the citizens of Chanhassen and businesses what’s been going on out at the Arboretum and some of the things that they’re looking forward to doing in the near future and coming years so Dr. Schneider, thank you for coming this evening. Welcome. Mr. Moe as well. Thank you. Dr. Ed Schneider: Thank you Mr. Chair, members of the council. It’s our honor to be here tonight and continue our close partnership that we share as neighbors. Our strategic plan for the next 5 years at the Arboretum is to take the current visitation from 330,000 to 500,000 individuals by the end of fiscal year 2015. This will be potentially impactful to the revenue generation of tourism in this local area. I’m pleased to report within the last 2 months the Arboretum Foundation has endorsed our new master plan and has voted to launch a $60 million dollar capital campaign for infrastructure improvements. I’ll quickly add however that we still have another hurdle to pass and that is approval by the Board of Regents which is our governing body of course since we are part of the University of Minnesota and sometimes that’s forgotten in the big scheme of things. So I have several images to show you and I see they’re beautifully illustrated on the screen. What you’re looking at is the cover image of our new master plan and gracing on the cover are Romeo and Juliet, two actual casts of root systems, almost touching each other in the spirit of Romeo and Juliet and the master plan is actually broken into two components. It consists of a circulation improvement plan followed by a development plan which includes several new venues which are the impetus for increasing the visitation and the membership and the philanthropic support of the Arboretum. And I know the images are small but let me try to walk you through these diagrams that you’re looking at. Some of us know that on very busy days the traffic backs up on our entry out onto State Highway 5. Even with the new improvements those improvements won’t be enough to minimize the congestion so what we’re planning to do is expanding from 2 lanes to 3 lanes the entry drive we call Allcire Drive and when we get up to where the gatehouse currently is, the check in point, the bottom image if you can see it, is a multi-lane node if you will and the multi-lanes, one would serve a members lane. A couple for the paid admissions so people hopefully would be passed through more quickly alleviating the congestion on that entry drive. When we move into the main parking spot, which is more or less in the center of the screen, we anticipate adding additional parking. Almost 300 new spaces and in time we would create an alternate entry and possible exit shown in the blue line moving to the left side of the screens there, yes. And in the pink, just below that would be visitor overflow parking for those busy days and we would bus people back and forth to the visitor center, and the numbers that you can barely see up there, 1, 2 and 3 are alternate, potential future sites for visitor overflow parking. That whole area within the western district can accommodate a couple thousand more parking spots so we think we’ll be fine with these circulation improvements. Anything you’d like to say on the circulation Pete? And now let’s see, there we go. This is a list of some of the new features, what we’re calling development opportunities, and you can read them for yourself but we do have in progress and as proposed new features, the Chinese garden, a sculpture garden, a tree canopy walk, a woodlands children’s outdoor performance center, an expansion of the 3 mile drive so that you can get on a road that 4 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 takes you over to the old iconic red barn and at the red barn site we create a farm garden that I’ll talk more about in a moment. Also a bee discovery and pollination center. The existing conservatory would be expanded. The maintenance area has not been touched for about 3 or more decades and that needs improvement, and of course we are a museum, collections of plants and that’s very important and we want to minimize the herbivore by deer populations which are in excess of what they should be to sustain our rare and hard to find plants, including those that we breed so perimeter fencing is also slated. Let me just quickly run through some of the images that support these various venues. A Chinese garden shown in this diagram, there we go, would consist of all those iconic features for which a Chinese garden is known. A central body of water. Kind of a stucco wall with tile roof on top and a round gate. We call a moon gate going into the entrance. Decorative windows that you can see in the upper right image. Some of the sacred carst limestone. The eroded limestone that Chinese gardens are famous for. Open air pagodas shown in the middle with zig zag or bended bridges and a teahouse. Maybe some covered bridges. These would all be features that we are proposing in our new Chinese garden and if you’re familiar with the 3 mile drive the proposed site for the Chinese garden is just across from the Nelson Shrub Rose Garden which is our most popular wedding venue by the way at the Arboretum. This is a $3 million dollar undertaking and we already have a lead gift from a member of the Chinese community of $1 million dollars so we’re on our way with this one. Also a new sculpture garden is coming. If you go to the Arboretum today and drive the 3 mile drive the site of the sculpture garden will be at high point and the slopes of high point are currently being dug up to prepare the structural footings for the sculpture which will begin arriving in October, this fall. This is a $5 million dollar gift from a couple in Wayzata. It’s a $5 million dollar donation of museum quality sculptures numbering about 24 in number. The process of putting in the structurally engineered footers are also being paid by that donor and a long term endowment for annual conservatorship of the sculpture garden is also part of the package, so this is fully funded and we’re very excited about this sculpture garden enhancing the arts of Carver County and the visitors who come to the Arboretum. There’s some more images of some of the sculptures so I encourage all of you to come to the Arboretum and be witness to this transformation. We also have a donor who very much wishes to sponsor a tree canopy walk. The donor had a couple very specific requests. One, that this be a suspended canopy within, a suspended canopy walk within the canopy of a forest and that it either be high enough or extend beyond the canopy to take in the view shed such as Lake Minnewashta so we floated the blimp that you see here in the screen with a digital camera below that swishes around and takes wonderful photographs, relatively cheaply thank goodness, and we looked at several sites and we found one site near our Children’s Learning Center and this is just a little footprint indicated in the right side of the image that proposes some of the extensions of the walkways and the viewing platforms. We’ve not yet entered into a concept design but plan to do this very soon so in the near future you’ll learn more. Peter Moe: Peter Moe, Director of Operations. Of course everything the Arboretum does we try to make fully accessible and so we’re taking advantage of the topography we have here in Chanhassen to come off a forested area off the top of the hill so we can come off at an even grade up into the tree canopy as the ground slopes away. Dr. Ed Schneider: And as you can see on the bottom footnote, the construction endowment cost for this, does that say $8 million? I can’t read it from here but I think that’s about right. Peter Moe: Yep. Dr. Ed Schneider: We began with the idea of an amphitheater and we had a lot of concerns about the use of that term from our stakeholders at the Arboretum so it was transformed into a Children’s Outdoor Performance Center. Something on a scale that is not 2,000 plus people but rather 500 and maybe on the open slopes with some blankets a little more capacity. A flat performance center with no bandshell, although an optional bandshell could be added but we’re not proposing that nor are we proposing 5 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 amplified sound at this point. So this would be an outdoor performance center where children’s poetry, children’s skits, theatrical plays, maybe small chamber orchestras, those kinds of things could be undertaken. The bottom image on this screen shows the amphitheater at Swarthmore College and that’s the design concept that we very much want to follow. An earthen tiered amphitheater under the canopy of a forest and this would be looking down at Wood Duck Pond and we believe this will be a very spectacular site. The Children’s Outdoor Performance Center would be closely associated with the canopy walk and both of those features closely associated with our Children’s Learning Center so we think this will be transformational in terms of young families utilizing these features. This image shows you in the red the proposed new roadway that would come off the 3 mile drive shown in yellow, about at the site where the hedges are along that 3 mile drive, and that new road in orange or red would take you out to the red barn and take you to a site just above Spring Peeper Meadow. That would be a two lane road taking people back and forth and we think that will greatly improve access out to the red barn which is now inaccessible. And there is the iconic red barn and it’s silo and hard to read under the key features but we see out at this farm garden near the red barn several features including research plots. One thing that many visitors don’t have an opportunity to understand is how Honeycrisp apples are now Sweet Tango or Zestar’s, how were they actually bred? Who are the parents? The same thing with cold harded grapes. There are wonderful, magnificent stories to be told here that support the economic engine that these products have brought to the State of Minnesota. In addition there’d be production areas for annual plants, perennial plants, kitchen opportunities, preservation opportunities, and we’re changing our horticultural based therapy programs to a nature based therapy program. We’d also have in addition to the farm garden a bee outreach center at the request of Marla Spivak, our infamous bee biologist at the University of Minnesota. I think a lot of people don’t understand the importance of bees in the pollination of agricultural crops. Without bees we wouldn’t be able to sustain the food supplies that we enjoy today. This is an aerial view of the Meyers-Deats Conservatory. Many of you might not even know that we have a conservatory. You have to look for it but the point is that we have enough space around the current conservatory to expand it and with an expansion we would see three different climatic zones represented within the conservatory. A tropical rainforest, a desert and an alpine room. Three very distinct ecosystems which provide for greater display of adaptation of plants and certainly walking from one type of room into another one gets a very clear representation of the climatic conditions that plants have to adjust to. Adapt to in their evolution. Back on the dirt road we call. nd Peter Moe: West 82 Street. nd Dr. Ed Schneider: West 82. I should know that I have to drive on it to get home every night, is our maintenance facility shown in the center diagram and as you heard me say earlier that maintenance area really has been unchanged since 1980. I was shocked when I arrived at the Arboretum 2 years ago and Dale Bachman called me up and he said you know Ed, we’re not going to be able to supply you annual plants anymore. You’re going to have start growing your own. I said no problem. We’ll put them in the greenhouse. We didn’t have a greenhouse that functioned so we made a lot of infrastructural changes and more greenhouses are on their way and more office space, more parking, more winter work area all included in the maintenance facility. And a donor stepped forward in the last few days and said I’d like to put up a perimeter fence. I’d like a 10 foot DNR recommended fence around much of the Arboretum except perhaps where we might want a more ornately designed fence so we’re in the process now of working with that donor to meet his needs and our needs as well so this is very exciting as I said earlier to control our deer population and with the increased sculptures and other activities security of our grounds. Now some of you who have come to the Arboretum have taken the Trumpet Creeper, a tram in which you pay a fee and you take a narrated drive around the 3 mile drive. We have just recently purchased a Circulator which is shown at the top image here. This will be free to visitors and will continually loop the 3 mile drive and will offer step on step off stations. The big problem we face right now is extreme congestion on a road that was built too narrow in size years ago. We now have people in wheelchairs. We have mothers and strollers. We had bicyclists. We have the Trumpet Creeper. We have the 6 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Circulator. We have automobiles and almost daily we get complaints about somebody being bumped or cars or bicycles going too fast so we have to address the long term problem of how to minimize either the hours or the days of operation of some of these classifications of users on our 3 mile drive so look for the st Circulator. Hopefully it will be activated around October 1 and we’re excited about that. And as you would expect, you can see on the bottom here, funded. Donor stepped up and said I’d like to build 3 of those rest stops at about $100,000 each so we’ll be designing over the winter 3 of the rest stops. How many rest stops there will ultimately be I can’t tell you yet. Probably somewhere in the neighborhood of a half a dozen and we’ll need a second Circulator so the wait time for individuals who are utilizing the internal pathway systems to move from one rest stop to the other to catch the Circulator is minimized. And I think that’s the end of it so that gives you an update of what’s coming at the Arboretum. We’re here to answer any questions that you might have. Mayor Furlong: Thank you Dr. Schneider and Mr. Moe. Any questions at this time? Comments. Councilman Laufenburger. Councilman Laufenburger: Yes, thank you. Thank you Dr. Schneider. Mr. Moe, operations. Can you help us in Chanhassen understand, or not understand but enlighten us with what’s happening with respect to the pedestrian underpass at Lake Minnewashta and Highway 5 and how you will be providing intersecting access for those people that come in walking and biking. Can you talk about that a little bit Mr. Moe or Dr. Schneider? Peter Moe: Sure. Right after Ed asked me what I wanted to add something to circulation I thought of that so I’m glad you brought it up. Councilman Laufenburger: Could you speak to that please. Peter Moe: Yes, we’ve been working with Todd Hoffman on how the Arboretum can be part of the Chanhassen trail system for 6 or 8 years and when the idea came up with the underpass, also working with Paul Oehme here, the City Engineer, we thought that’s a great way. The original plan showed a trail going along Highway 5, which we know is not a pleasant experience and so since the Arboretum had existing roads and parking lots we were looking for more people to come to the Arboretum walking or on bikes. We thought let’s work together and use the Arboretum roads and parking lots as part of the Chanhassen trail system. And so the underpass of course is open and it’s being built and it does connect to existing Arboretum roads. You couldn’t see it on that small circulation plan but there is a dotted line that’s on the north of all of our roads and parking lots which is a dedicated trail that would be just north of all of our roads and parking lots. So it would go from the west entrance at Minnewashta Parkway, through the north side of the Arboretum. Not really going to the gardens or anything, just as a part of a trail, a regional trail or city wide trail and going back out past the gatehouse and eventually to a connecting trail that takes you to Highway 41 across the highway from Lifetime Fitness headquarters. That part hasn’t been built but people right now can come through the underpass. Go through our roads and parking lots and go back down past the gatehouse going out and go out to Highway 5 and from there to 41 it’s a wide shoulder so it’s pretty safe there. Councilman Laufenburger: Perfect. Dr. Ed Schneider: And we understand that the City of Victoria has just been funded to connect the trail system on the north side of the new bicycle underpass to go westward to Rolling Hills and then north hooking up to the regional trail system so we look forward to that as well. Councilman Laufenburger: Perfect. Thank you very much. 7 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Mayor Furlong: Any other comments or questions? I’d just like to say thank you to both of you and please if you can extend our thanks to your staff and the many volunteers I know that you have at the Arboretum. You rely on a lot of people to help out. You mentioned some individuals that have stepped up with significant financial donations, which is wonderful to see. The Arboretum is one of the crown jewels here in Chanhassen and we’re very proud that you’re in our city. I know our neighboring cities all claim you as well and there’s a reason for that because everybody wants to be a part of you and you a part of them and I don’t blame them at all. I also want to just, as I look through the, and saw some of the improvements and the new experiences that you’re going to create for visitors is phenomenal when there’s already so many great experiences out there as well and I know the Arboretum has opened it’s doors for Chanhassen Day, Carver County Day for the last many years inviting residents to come out and experience that and I hope that, I know there’s been good attendance. I hope that’s also contributed to your membership as well on that because it’s important that we support financially as we can the great work that you do too so for the education classes you’ve done in the past and was mentioned here, the work together with our staff to get that underpass on Highway 5 from Minnewashta Parkway is just a tremendous extension of our city trail system. The opening of your wonderful facility. Now people can safely get there with bike, or on bike or on foot and as you mentioned Mr. Moe there’s more to come. You know as we continue to do segments so just on behalf of the council and staff and our residents and businesses, thank you for all that you do in making that a great place for all of us to enjoy. Dr. Ed Schneider: Thank you for inviting us. It’s been our pleasure. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Let’s move on now. Is there anyone else for visitor presentations? If not we’ll move onto the other items of business this evening. As I mentioned earlier we’ll not be addressing item 3 was tabled at the request of the applicant so we’ll move now to item 4. CANINE CLUB & SPA EXTENSION (SUPERDOG II): REQUEST FOR SITE PLAN REVIEW FOR A 5,281 SQ. FT. BUILDING EXPANSION TO THE APPROVED 21,020 SQ. FT. BUILDING NDRD AREA; 2910 82 STREET (LOT 1, BLOCK 1, ARBORETUM BUSINESS PARK 3 ADDITION); APPLICANT/OWNER: KAREN JACKSON. Kate Aanenson: Thank you Mayor, members of the City Council. This request before you did appear st before the Planning Commission at their meeting on August 21. They did recommend approval. So the summary of the request is it’s a 5,281 square foot expansion to an existing business of 26,300 square feet. nd The location is 82 Street, just off of Highway 41. As I just said it’s an existing business. Originally they had planned to make it larger and downsize with the initial development but now they’re up and running and want to make that expansion. At the Planning Commission meeting there was some discussion regarding some noise complaints and I’ll spend a little bit of time talking about that in a little bit more detail in a minute. So this is the expansion. The expansion then would be to the, towards the 41 side. It’d be the dog kennel, maybe more veterinary type related and then an existing garage. There is outdoor space in this area here on the site and then also on this area of the site. The existing or proposed addition will match the existing architecture which meets all the city standards. So the grading, there is a slope there if you’re familiar with the site. There’s a water tower there. The businesses just immediately to the north of that are actually sitting at a higher elevation and there’s a water tower there, which comes into play with some of the complaints regarding the noise. Actually some of the complaints regarding reverberation or vibration of the dog barking actually to the, some of the surrounding businesses so that’s one of the issues that the Planning Commission spent some time on. We talked about some additional landscaping in the area. Certainly they’re required to provide additional landscaping to, for the site. What the staff did recommend in their report that additional landscaping may be placed up here. The applicant, it’s their request not to have to do that. It is a condition of the staff report so if, and through their discussion if you wanted that modified you’d have to make that change. 8 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Councilman Laufenburger: Kate just a second. You’re saying the placement of that additional landscaping is part of the Planning Commission approval, is that correct? Kate Aanenson: Correct. Councilman Laufenburger: And if the council chose not to include that. Kate Aanenson: Correct, and I’ll let the applicant speak to that but they, it was their choice not to. Their recommendation would be, they would like to provide, which I included in your staff report, an alternative to provide noise attenuation and that’s an ultrasonic anti-dog barking system which they’re putting in place right now and they believe they can modify the noise based on that. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Kate Aanenson: Some of our concern is because of the height elevation that you know putting the landscaping in we think would help but certainly some of it’s coming because of the change in elevation and going off the water tower. I’m sorry. It went all the way backwards. So this is the noise complaints regarding the barking dogs so we did a study at different times. Three different times we went out and monitored the hours to see how many dogs were out. The time of day. If there was background traffic noise and try to get some further identification of that so while it’s not heard directly at the site, it’s actually kind of again, as I stated, reflecting off the water tower so the staff’s position was maybe by providing that landscaping to the north of the site that might help and try to provide some noise attenuation so we did recommend providing that additional landscaping. The applicant at this time thinks that they can provide it by monitoring the noise and providing this ultrasonic anti-barking. So they provided this plan, which I’ve included in the packet, which uses the ultrasonic and again it would require some monitoring again by the staff’s part and some of the neighbors surrounding, that do have that complaint so we could continue to monitor that too so the applicant’s requested that the additional 15 evergreen trees not be required to be planted. Again we made that a condition so you’d have to modify your conditions of approval if that was your preference not to put them in after listening to the applicant. So with that we are recommending approval with the conditions and the findings that were recommended. It is consistent with the findings, or the site plan standards so we are recommending the motion here that the City Council approve it and subject to the staff reports and the conditions. I’d be happy to answer any questions that you have. Mayor Furlong: Questions? Councilman McDonald. Councilman McDonald: I see within the plan that one of the things that they have agreed to is a 6 month review. As long as that would stay in as part of the recommendations would staff have any objection to maybe delaying the trees for 6 months based upon that 6 month approval or review rather? Kate Aanenson: I think we’d be fine with that but typically when we’ve done it we take escrow or something so we have some mechanism to get the trees in. If they’d be willing to post escrow to provide that if they didn’t want to in a future date we wouldn’t really have any way to make that accomplish so. Councilman McDonald: Okay, thank you. Mayor Furlong: Other questions for staff at this time? Okay. Thank you. We may have some other questions in a few minutes. Is the applicant here or representative? Karen Jackson: Yes. 9 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Mayor Furlong: Good evening. Karen Jackson: Good evening. Good evening City Council and thank you for allowing us to present our newest idea and the expansion of our current facility. It’s going to be. Mayor Furlong: If I can ma’am, could you state your name and address for the record. nd Karen Jackson: Sure, my name is Karen Jackson. Our address is 2982 82 Street in Chanhassen. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Karen Jackson: The new facility is a wellness center that will be taking care of pets with a veterinarian included in the facility. We’re really excited about the concept. This will be one of the first ones where not only do we have a recovery stage where the pets come out of surgery, then we’ll also be taking care of them through their rehabilitation process. Most veterinarians you know will send the pet home. Our facility is now going to allow that procedure to take place, whether you bring your pet back to us and we recover from any type of injury or surgery that the pet may have, or you may decide to have the pet cared for right at our facility coming right out of surgery. We’ve done a lot of research and understand that there’s a lot of need for this kind of you know facility being that most people really don’t have the time to you know rehabilitate their own animals so, and also that we’re going to be taking care of now blind pets, dogs with diabetes and such health conditions as well at a better monitoring state and a wellness center for pets so we’re really excited about the concept. Is there anything else I can add? Oh, for the trees. We are absolutely open to any suggestions that the City you know, of course we’ll be, also accept the escrow funds to delay you know and also ask that the City reconsider the 15 trees being planted. We will put up the escrow amount and go for that approval at that time as well. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Councilman McDonald. Councilman McDonald: Okay I can understand the hardship of the trees and everything and the fact that you’re wanting to put in a bunch of money for the I guess the system to discourage the dogs from barking. Could you explain the system to me. I read through here about this and it sounds as though what you’re sending out, it must be noise activated where it sends out a high pitched signal and the dog hears that and I guess it hurts it’s ears and so it stops but how is that long term going to get a dog to stop barking? Karen Jackson: Sure. It’s an ultrasound and so it creates a high pitched sound where only the pets can hear it. It’s an uncomfortable sound so that the dogs, through studies have found that the dogs stop barking entirely because the sound frequency. Michaela Hatfield is the one that has done the research on that and I’ll introduce you to Michaela. Michaela Hatfield: Michaela Hatfield, the manager of the Canine Club currently. The ultrasonic system, like Karen said, sends out those ultrasonic sounds to create the dog’s, or create a sound that the dog stop barking. It is proven, there have studies been done on it and really what our, what we hope to do is eliminate the barking rather than, with like trees. Trees would just put up a barrier. We’d like to eliminate the barking completely and so that ultrasonic system, which will have hard wired so we won’t have to worry about batteries or anything, will just be hard wired into our building and will create the ultrasonic sound. The dogs quite frankly don’t like it and they will stop barking. I won’t go into the psychological part of what goes on in a dog’s brain when they hear that noise but it is something they do not like, and has been proven as such so. 10 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Councilman McDonald: Okay now you quoted studies and everything but what can you give me that definitive around here where it’s actually been tried out and you know had shown to work or is this just theoretical at this point or what can you point to as far as evidence. Michaela Hatfield: Yep, it’s used residentially mostly. I looked into a system that’s been used at many vet centers. Award winning vet centers and that is, or wellness center and so that has created, they really do not bark. I have a little beagle and he has the same thing in my yard and it has done wonders so I can say from personal experience that it has helped a lot with me and then like I said through research award winning vet centers that have loved it and said it’s helped a lot. I’m unaware of any boarding facilities that have used it but again it’s a wellness center going in and they found great success with that so. Councilman McDonald: Okay now again this becomes a learned behavior. I mean the first couple of times you use it, how do you train the dog to stop barking? Is it just because eventually the dog gets tired of hearing this high pitched sound and will stop or how long do we have to put up with the dog barking? Michaela Hatfield: Yep, it’s immediate. It’s extremely uncomfortable, like I mentioned and it’s, they won’t ever learn to keep barking through it. That high pitched sound is extremely uncomfortable. The dogs also that are in our play yards usually are you know barking at one another. They’re barking for fun. They’re not barking in a protective way. That would be a completely different instance but they’re barking because they’re playing with each other and so they’re going to stop barking if they’re uncomfortable. It’s not something that they’re barking to protect someone in which they may keep barking. It’s a completely different instance where they’re just playing and if they’re uncomfortable they’re going to stop it. Councilman McDonald: Okay. Now I’ve got a question for you then. You had stated you’re okay with having to put up some money for an escrow fund, would that be correct? So whatever the City would feel would be a reasonable amount for an escrow, you’d be willing to do that and then in 6 months, as part of this review, we could relook at all that and in the meantime the City could monitor to see if the system’s working or if we continue to get complaints and at that point we would probably insist upon the trees so you would be okay with that? Karen Jackson: Yes, absolutely. Councilman McDonald: Okay. I have no further questions. Mayor Furlong: Councilwoman Tjornhom, question? Councilwoman Tjornhom: Will this device have any effect on the neighbors or anyone surrounding your facility? Karen Jackson: No, it really doesn’t. It’s going to be right in the you know hard wire to our facility only and it only affects the dogs. It doesn’t affect any human pitches whatsoever. Councilwoman Tjornhom: So it’ll be the dogs inside the building. Or dogs outside too. Karen Jackson: Outside. Councilwoman Tjornhom: So are there other houses, families? Karen Jackson: No there aren’t any other houses within I would say a mile within our facility. 11 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Councilwoman Tjornhom: Okay. Mayor Furlong: It’s businesses. Karen Jackson: Correct. Michaela Hatfield: And you can I’ll just also mention, you can also set the radius so we would set the radius for our play yard and a little bit beyond with the fencing so it really would not, you can affect 200 feet so forth with the system we’ve looked into. You’re allowed to set that so again it’s a state of the art system so. Councilman Laufenburger: Are you aware of anything like this that would work on grandkids? Michaela Hatfield: Not at the moment. We can work on that. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay, thank you. Mayor Furlong: Great minds think alike. Though I don’t have any grandkids. Question on this system, and first of all I want to thank you for the effort you’ve obviously put into to try to address the issues that were raised at the Planning Commission and you know you’ve got a business here that you’re looking to expand and we appreciate that and it’s just making sure that we do it in a way that if there are some issues we can address those for the neighbors, and I appreciate your efforts in trying to be a good neighbor with this. Couple questions with regards to the system. Is it, and I think you answered it a little bit. You can limit the area or the coverage area of the system so is it designed to be or is it your intention that this is going to be in the outdoor play area, not just in the new wellness area? Is that right? It’s going to cover the existing play area or the outside area for your pets? Karen Jackson: No, I’m glad that you had asked that. We’re planning on hard wiring both businesses with the device so the new. Mayor Furlong: Okay, so it’s not just the new. Karen Jackson: The new expansion as well will also carry that. Mayor Furlong: It’s going to be the new and the existing will see this improvement? Karen Jackson: Correct, yes. Mayor Furlong: Okay. And then is there a seasonality at all during the winter months, spring, summer where the dogs are outside more or less? Karen Jackson: Absolutely. During the summertime we try to have the pets out you know in larger numbers. You know the swimming pools are such a huge activity for the dogs and they get so excited and if one sees the other, and this is where, this is going to be honestly the most effective which we have been closely monitoring now since it’s been brought to our attention. The dog that’s creating the sound or the barking noise is easily just brought back into our facility and quieted down. It’s usually like one that wants to get out and play. We have external holding, I don’t want to call them pens but structures I guess you could say and we put them out there because it’s a gorgeous day. We like to have the dogs out as much as possible and therefore we’ve been giving great attention to bringing that individual pet or pets into, back into the facility as the group plays in the swimming pool so once again it is just during the summertime. Wintertime the dogs are brought out you know just long enough that they, they don’t get 12 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 cold and they’re brought right back in and very little barking during the late fall, winter and spring so it’s just during the summertime so we really do a very diligent job in trying to keep that noise down. Kate Aanenson: Mayor if I may, that’s kind of what we observed and that’s the information that we shared. Sometimes the dogs that were in kind of the holding area wanted to get out and that’s, and also that’s the time when the other businesses are maybe that have their doors open and the bays open when they’re doing work on the surrounding properties so that seems to be where there’s the most conflict during the summer months so that’s why they’re working on that part of it and doing both buildings so. Mayor Furlong: Okay. And I guess, I appreciate your willingness to work with the City in terms of the escrows request and stuff like that. With regard to the 6 month timeframe, I’m wondering if we’d want to extend that to make sure we at least capture an entire summer period then because if we go 6 months from today that would be March and then we might not have that so would you be willing to work with the City to extend it for. Karen Jackson: Yes, definitely. Mayor Furlong: Whether it’s a year beyond approval or at least 6 months after the opening of the facility, whichever’s longer or something. Mr. McDonald. Councilman McDonald: Yeah if we could, I’d like to see two 6 month periods. The first 6 months because instead of waiting a full year, you know if it’s not going to work in the first 6 months then at that point we’ve got to do something. If it’s okay then we proceed the next 6 months which would cover the summer. Mayor Furlong: So do a check in in 6 months. Councilman McDonald: Yeah, in 6 months. Mayor Furlong: Okay, and I was just thinking, what’s your timing on this new facility in terms of, assuming you get approval. Karen Jackson: Sure, we’re hoping to start construction right away yet this fall and hoping to be operational in March. Mayor Furlong: In March, okay. So if we did 6 month check in from approval and then 6 months after opening as well that you get us, and at least as long as it covers us through a summer period where you have the most activity. Karen Jackson: Sure. Mayor Furlong: If that makes sense to you. Karen Jackson: Yes, oh yes. We’d be willing to do that. Mayor Furlong: Ms. Aanenson, does that seem to make sense to you? Is that workable? Kate Aanenson: Yes, definitely. Mayor Furlong: Do you have any concerns about that timeframe? 13 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Kate Aanenson: No, I think that’s very fair. Mayor Furlong: Okay, alright. Thank you. Any other questions for the applicant? Councilman Laufenburger: Just a comment. I recall Ms. Jackson when you came before the Planning Commission about this and there was a great excitement about your service, or your building coming in. I would assume from your desire to expand that business seems to be pretty good, is that correct? Karen Jackson: It is correct. We have a great need for our facility. The gals behind me have really driven our business into a great respectable business. We’re part of, members of the Chamber of Commerce. We give back to the community. We’re in a lot of fund raisers and do a lot of supporting events so yes, there is, we have a great need for an expansion. We turn away a lot of clients and we feel that, we hope that we can accommodate even more of a nurturing aspect of our next facility and taking care of the pets that actually need even extra tender care. Councilman Laufenburger: Good. Great. Nice to have you in the community. Thank you Ms. Jackson. Karen Jackson: Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Absolutely. Thank you. Any other questions for the applicant? No? Very good, thank you very much. Karen Jackson: Thank you for having us. Mayor Furlong: Thank you and congratulations on the success of your business. Karen Jackson: Thank you. Mayor Furlong: We did have a public comment, public hearing at the Planning Commission so absent any new issues that have come up, at this point we’ll bring it back to council for discussion. Thoughts. Discussion on this. Councilwoman Tjornhom. Councilwoman Tjornhom: No, I think what I’m noticing as time goes on we’re seeing more and more of these site plan reviews and less and less of bad news and so I think that’s a good thing that people are either wanting to come join our community or expand and I think that says a lot to our community obviously for how they feel about us and how we feel about them so I’m thrilled they’re coming and I certainly hope they can handle T-Bone. Mayor Furlong: Can T-Bone handle the ultrasonic sound would be the question. Councilwoman Tjornhom: Or do they have a pool big enough. Councilman Laufenburger: Yeah I was going to say, you might need a pool expansion for T-Bone. Mayor Furlong: Any other salient comments? Sorry Councilwoman Tjornhom. Thank you but your comment about more site plans, more businesses seeking to expand and to locate here initially or to expand what they have clearly is good news and a good sign. Councilwoman Tjornhom: It’s a trend. Mayor Furlong: Good trend. Any other comments or discussion? Mr. McDonald. 14 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Councilman McDonald: Yeah I guess I can only echo some of that. I’m very glad to see that business is good and that they are expanding so that’s good. It’s always nice to have businesses within the city expand. As part of that though I think that yeah, the council and the city owes it to our businesses to try to work with them as well as them trying to work with us and I would like to help to make this a successful business so I’m glad to hear that they’re willing to work as far as these reviews and also to look at again, if it doesn’t work out then follow through with what staff has recommended and I do want to say Ms. Aanenson, I appreciate you offering up alternatives to them too so I think all of that’s good. I guess when you’re ready I’m prepared to do a motion. I would need some help from Mr. Gerhardt but. Mayor Furlong: Okay if there are other comments? Councilman Laufenburger: Just one question of Ms. Aanenson. Ms. Aanenson, do you have a, do you have an estimate of what you would need to escrow for those trees? Kate Aanenson: No I do not. Certainly the City Forester would and obviously we’re going to make it reasonable based on the quantity of trees. A standard that we would require, which is in our city’s ordinances so that would be just under number 3 under the Environmental Resource conditions, the 15 spruce trees would be escrowed. Councilman Laufenburger: Thank you. Mayor Furlong: And I did, I think Mr. Knutson’s working on some language here that the components that I heard was one, deferring the trees installed but provide an escrow instead. And then also extending the review period. Have a 6 month check in and then, I’m referring to 6 months after the opening of the new facility or a year from approval, whichever is later but Mr. Knutson do you have some recommended language? Roger Knutson: To control noise the applicant must install, maintain and operate the ultrasonic dog barking system. The City will review the system 6 months and 12 months after the expansion is completed. If as a result of the review the City Council determines that barking remains a problem, the applicant must plant, I believe it’s 13 trees. 15 trees at the location indicated. To guarantee compliance the applicant must escrow X dollars with the City. Mayor Furlong: Okay, and the dollars with the City would be determined consistent with our recommendation of our City Forester and consistent with current ordinance. Kate Aanenson: Correct. Mayor Furlong: Councilman Laufenburger. Councilman Laufenburger: Yeah Mr. Mayor I think I heard Mr. Knutson say 6 months and 12 months after completion of the expansion. I believe what you’re proposing is 6 month review beginning today because they will put the ultrasonic sound system in today and then 6 months after the expansion. Is that correct? Councilman McDonald: Right. Mayor Furlong: Yeah, I think it was consistent. It would probably make sense, and Ms. Jackson if you have some comments on this, it’d probably make sense to review it 6 months after they get this ultrasonic 15 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 system in. See if it’s working but also make sure that it extends through a summer period when they have most of their outdoor activity. Councilman McDonald: Well so if you did a 12 month period from today we would get the summer of next year incorporated within that. Kate Aanenson: Correct. Mayor Furlong: Or what I’m saying is 6 months after the opening of the new facility, in case that opens. Councilman McDonald: But if that opens in March, then we’re going a year from. Mayor Furlong: And that would work fine. If for some reason there’s a delay and it doesn’t open until April or May, then we’d have 6 months of the increased activity would be my thought there but I’m open to other ideas. Ms. Jackson is that? Karen Jackson: Yeah, I think that’s fair. I think starting the probation period at March would be… because in the winter time the dogs aren’t going to be outside… Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright. With that then we’ll need, would somebody like to take a stab at a motion. Councilman McDonald: I thought Mr. Knutson was smoothing things over. I’d be glad to take a stab at it but. Mayor Furlong: Why don’t you start and then we can insert or if you want to hear what he has to say before you start, that’s fine too. Councilman McDonald: I would make the following proposed motion. That City Council approve a 5,281 square foot expansion to the approved site plan for a total of 26,301 square feet of building area subject to the conditions in the staff report with the exception of, is it number 3 which is the environmental for the trees? Mayor Furlong: As I would say as amended by or affected by the addition of Mr. Knutson’s note. Councilman McDonald: Okay. Mayor Furlong: It may affect more than one condition so that would. Councilman McDonald: Okay, so we’ll go with what Mr. Knutson is putting together at this point that basically says that what we would do is that we would require an escrow for the requested trees, 15 of them in total, and that that escrow be held until at least one year after the site becomes open for business with the new expansion and that at a 6 month period everything is brought back before the City Council for review. Mayor Furlong: I would say work with staff. Councilman McDonald: Okay, and is brought back before city staff and then staff can report to us if there’s any need to do anything further but that at least city staff would review and monitor any complaints and also monitor the noise during this probationary period at the end of which would be one 16 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 year from the time that the facility is open then the escrow, if nothing happened, could be returned. That’s a lot but. Mayor Furlong: That is a lot. Councilman McDonald: I’m hoping Nann got it. Mayor Furlong: I won’t ask you to repeat it verbatim. Councilman McDonald: Thank you. Mayor Furlong: But I think we want to make sure that, what you’re adding in here, while you had stated the intent you want to make sure that the language is consistent with that. If you could read what you have now, just make sure it’s consistent with what’s being included in our motion. Roger Knutson: To control noise the applicant must install, maintain and operate an ultrasonic noise abatement system. City staff will review the effectiveness of the system 6 months after the system is operational and then 12 months after it’s operational. If city staff concludes there’s an issue with noise they will bring it back to the City Council and the City Council may require the planting of 15 trees to replace the noise abatement system. The applicant shall escrow X dollars as determined by city staff to guarantee that the trees are planted. Mayor Furlong: Okay, and I guess with the timing on that, just to clarify, I think it said 6 months after the opening of the new facility and then again 12 months after the opening. Roger Knutson: Yes. Mayor Furlong: And I think you have of the installation of the system. Roger Knutson: Okay, opening of the system. Mayor Furlong: Opening of the new facility. Is that consistent? Councilman McDonald: That’s it. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Is there a second? Councilwoman Tjornhom: Second. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any discussion on the motion? I just want to say thank you again to Ms. Jackson and her staff and to city staff, Ms. Aanenson and her staff for good cooperation and willingness on the part of the applicant to be a good neighbor and to take some extra steps to do that so we’re grateful on behalf of the neighbors for you doing that. Any other discussion? If not, if there is no discussion we’ll proceed with the vote. Councilman McDonald moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom seconded that the City Council approve a 5,281 square-foot expansion to the approved site plan for a total of 26,301 square feet of building area subject to the following conditions and adoption of the attached Findings of Fact and Recommendation: Building Official Conditions: 17 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 1. The buildings are required to have automatic fire extinguishing systems. 2. Building plans must be prepared and signed by design professionals licensed in the State of Minnesota. 3. Retaining walls over four feet high must be designed by a professional engineer and a permit must be obtained prior to construction. 4. The owner and/or their representative shall meet with the Inspections Division as soon as possible to discuss property line issues as well as plan review and permit procedures. 5. Any work on existing utilities on site will have to be coordinated carefully with the affected utility to insure there is no interruption of customer service. Engineering Conditions: 1. Additional information and calculations must be submitted to determine if the regional pond can accommodate the proposed additional impervious areas. The applicant shall work with staff on revised calculations. 2. If importing or exporting material for development of the site is necessary, the applicant will be required to supply the City with detailed haul routes. 3. The developer will need to work with staff to minimize the height of the retaining wall on the west side of the proposed parking lot. Currently, the finished wall is outside the drainage and utility easement, but the structural support will likely be located within the drainage and utility easement. All structural support for the wall must be located outside of the drainage and utility easement. 4. Building permits are required for all retaining walls four feet tall or higher and must be designed by a Structural Engineer registered in the State of Minnesota. Due to the height of the retaining wall, a fence must be placed on the top for safety at any location that the vertical separation of the ground is greater than four feet. 5. The City of Chaska will be providing sewer and water service to this site. Approvals, permits, and fees for sewer and water will be with the City of Chaska. 6. The sanitary sewer along the west property line, storm sewer along the east property line, and storm sewer along the south property line shall be publicly owned and maintained. All other utilities within the property boundary will be privately owned and maintained. 7. Details must be provided for all proposed storm sewer, sanitary sewer, and watermain crossings. Actual elevations of existing utilities shall be verified for accuracy. A minimum vertical separation of 18 inches is required at all storm, sanitary, and watermain crossings. Contact Gordy Stauff at 952- 227-1166 with the City of Chanhassen Engineering Department 48 hours prior to connecting to the storm. 8. Each new building is subject to sanitary sewer and water hookup charges. Sanitary sewer and water hookup fees are unknown at this time, but will be need to be paid to the City of Chaska. 18 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 9. All of the utility improvements are required to be constructed in accordance with the City's latest edition of Standard Specifications and Detail Plates. The applicant is also required to provide the City with the necessary financial security in the form of a letter of credit or cash escrow in the amount of $9,000.00 to guarantee the installation of the storm sewer, erosion control, and seeding. The applicant must also notify the City after installation of the erosion control and 48 hours prior to the commencement of grading. Permits from the appropriate regulatory agencies will be required, including the MPCA and the Dept. of Health. 10. Encroachment agreements will be needed for the fence in the drainage and utility easements. 11. The applicant shall work with staff to make changes to plans according to staff redlines. Environmental Resource Specialist Conditions: 1. Increase plantings for bufferyard areas in order to meet ordinance requirements. 2. Transplanted trees will not be accepted as quantities to meet minimum landscape requirements. 3. To control noise the applicant must install, maintain and operate an ultrasonic noise abatement system. City staff will review the effectiveness of the system 6 months after the system is operational and then 12 months after it is operational. If city staff concludes there’s an issue with noise they will bring it back to the City Council and the City Council may require the planting of 15 trees to replace the noise abatement system. The applicant shall escrow X dollars as determined by city staff to guarantee that the trees are planted. 4. Fire Marshal Conditions: 1. A three-foot clear space shall be maintained around the circumference of the fire hydrant per MSFC Section 508.5.5. 2. Nothing shall be placed in a manner that would prevent operation of the fire hydrant by firefighters. MSFC Section 508.5.4. Planning Conditions: 1. The applicant shall enter into a site plan agreement with the City and provide the necessary security to guarantee erosion control, site restoration and landscaping. 2. Mechanical equipment shall be screened through the placement on the roof, the use of parapet walls and the use of low-profile equipment. 3. The applicant shall extend the sidewalk on the west side of the building to the south to connect to the sidewalk across the south side of the buildings, and to the north to the sidewalk along the north side of the building. 4. A separate sign permit is required for each sign. 5. The applicant shall prepare and implement an additional noise abatement/mitigation plan. Water Resource Coordinator Conditions: 19 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Surface Water Drainage and Treatment 1.While it does not appear that the site will exceed the maximum 70% hardcover as allowed by §20-505, calculations must be provided. These calculations shall include the artificial turf areas. 2.The submittal shall indicate if there is an underdrain system for the artificial turf areas. If there is, show how this is connected to the public conveyance system. The applicant must also describe how this system prevents animal wastes from entering the storm sewer system. 3.The landscape plan calls out non-woven weed mat. This should be changed to reflect that -1 the fabric must have a minimum permittivity of 0.7 sec as described in ASTMD -4491 and an apparent opening size maximum of 0.25 mm. If this is not acceptable for the landscaping purposes, this area shall be calculated as hardcover for both planning and stormwater modeling purposes. Erosion and Sediment Control 1.The applicant shall provide the NPDES Permit number prior to commencement of earth disturbing activities. 2.The SWPPP shall be amended such that under Project Contacts, the City contact is Terry Jeffery, Water Resources Coordinator 952-227-1168 and Chip Hentges, Carver County SWCD, 952-393-1146 shall be added. 3.That portion of the SWPPP with the heading “Responsibility Requirements” shall be completed in full and submitted to the City and included in the on-site SWPPP prior to the commencement of earth disturbing activities. 4.Per Part III. A. 3 of the NPDES permit, a narrative describing the timing and placement of all erosion prevention and sediment control BMPs must be included in the SWPPP. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0. CONSENT AGENDA: 1(G). REQUEST TO AMEND THE SUNNY SLOPE PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT-RESIDENTIAL (PUD-R) TO INCORPORATE UNIQUE DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS AND REFERENCE THE SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (RSF) DISTRICT. Mayor Furlong: At this time Mr. White, good evening. If you’d like to come forward and maybe ask your questions or request and then Ms. Aanenson maybe you can give us an update on what’s been done and we’ll see where we go so thank you again. Daniel White: Again what I’d request tonight is simply a continuance to allow an opportunity for the residents of Sunny Slope to communicate with the planning staff and to understand what is being proposed. 20 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Mayor Furlong: Okay. And do you have any specific concerns or Ms. Aanenson, maybe you could give us a real short background on how we got here. To this point and what we’re doing. Kate Aanenson: Sure. Did we speak on the phone? I’ve talked to somebody. Daniel White: We’ve communicated. Kate Aanenson: Pardon me? Daniel White: We’ve communicated. Kate Aanenson: Okay. I did this one so I know a little bit more about it. This is on Lake Riley. Sunny Slope is a PUD that actually has 12 lots and they have a common area in the middle, a private street and they also have a beachlot so the underlying PUD, we did have a neighborhood meeting and we did have a public hearing at the Planning Commission. Clearly we haven’t been effective in communicating what’s going on so we’d be happy to meet with the residents. If they want to set up a meeting and then we’ll just put this back on another agenda and make sure we work through the issues and make sure there’s understanding on what we’re doing. I think that’s what we’re missing there, if that makes sense. Mayor Furlong: Yep. Yep. That’s fine. Any concerns about deferring this to a future council meeting? If not, is there a motion to table this item and request that staff meet with the residents. Councilman McDonald: So moved. Mayor Furlong: Motion’s been made. Is there a second? Councilwoman Tjornhom: Second. Mayor Furlong: Motion’s been made and seconded to table this item and allow staff and residents time to meet. Councilman McDonald moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom seconded that the City Council table the request to amend the Sunny Slope Planned Unit Development-Residential (PUD-R) to incorporate unique development standards and reference the Single Family Residential (RSF) District and request staff meet with the residents in this neighborhood. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0. PROPOSED 2013 BUDGET: RESOLUTION APPROVING/CERTIFYING MAXIMUM PROPOSED PRELIMINARY LEVY TO THE CARVER COUNTY AUDITOR. Mayor Furlong: I believe there’s a presentation, is that correct? Greg Sticha: Good evening Mayor, City Council members. Before I go through my power point this evening, which goes into more detail on setting a preliminary levy for 2013 I just want to make a couple notes. Number one, when you set a preliminary levy in the State of Minnesota it means an amount that cannot be exceeded when you set a final levy in December. So the amount that you set this evening will be the high point of which our levy will be for 2013. You can only go down from this number when you set a final levy in December. And then secondly, the number that will be used for the Truth in Taxation statements that will be going out in mid-November will be based on the preliminary levy that you set this evening. First I just want to go over the budget calendar for the remaining portion of the year so people at home kind of know when their opportunities are to gain more information about the budget and budget 21 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 th process. On September 10, this evening we’ll be setting a preliminary levy. Our first meeting in th October on the 8 we’ll be reviewing the enterprise and special revenue budgets as well as reviewing the 2013 through 2017 CIP. Our capital equipment and other capital purchase needs for the next 5 years. nd Our second meeting in October, the 22 we’ll be reviewing Third Quarter revenue and expense data. How the City has performed on a revenue and expense standpoint three quarters of the way through the year. As well as our financial advisors, Ehlers and Associates will be presenting the 2013 rate study that evening. Our first and second meetings in November we will leave time open for remaining issues that need discussion, either on the budget, CIP or utility rate setting issues. Our first meeting in December, rd which actually will be the first Monday in December. December 3 we’ll be holding a public budget rd meeting or Truth in Taxation hearing meeting. At that meeting on December 3 residents will be given the opportunity to address their concerns regarding the budget to City Council. And then on December th 10 we’ll be setting a final levy for 2013 and adopting a 2013 to 2017 CIP as well as setting utility rates for 2013. Some of the budget assumptions that were used in producing the 2013 budget, a 2% wage increase was included for employees in 2013. A 13% increase in health care cost was included for 2013. This amount is a worst case scenario as staff discussed with the City Council earlier this evening. We will be bidding out that contract to see if there can be additional savings recognized so the 13% is a worst case scenario. There was new growth in the city of Chanhassen of 1.82% for taxes payable in 2013 which equates to approximately $185,000 in potential new levy dollars for the City. We used the same building permit revenue as budgeted in 2012 and under scenarios 1 and 2 all city service levels would remain the same. This slide gives you an idea of what our KFS cities are planning for wage increases for 2013. Just one, couple items of note here. The asterisk cities, which would be all of them except for us and Chaska, have a step system base for wages for employees. What this means in the first 1 to approximately 7 years those cities give annual step increases to their employees along the way. The City of Chanhassen does not have a step system. We have a pay for performance system. The only wage increase Chanhassen city employees would get would be the 2% cost of living or wage increase proposed in this budget whereas other cities employees have the potential of getting step increases along the way. As you can see our 2% is fairly consistent with other cities that are in our key financial strategies group. What has changed since our last meeting when we met in August to go over the detailed budget? Staff worked diligently to try to find a way to get to scenario 2 in the budget, which meant we needed to try to identify $75,000 in expenditures that would either need to be cut or find alternative revenue sources. Staff felt it was important to focus on trying to find expenditures to cut in the amount of $75,000 so we’ve identified the following bullet points as cuts or changes since our last meeting to get to the scenario 2 levy that we’ll be discussing here in a little bit. Those include the elimination of the market adjustments of $20,000 for salary market adjustments for city employees. Adjusting the budgeted fire relief contribution down $20,000. On this particular item the budget line item is currently, was currently at $90,000. Staff is recommending it be reduced to $70,000. It is my estimation that our required contribution in about a couple weeks here for 2012 is going to be about $75,000. If that trend holds true for next year we could potentially have a required contribution of around the $70,000 dollar mark so staff felt confident enough to lower that budget line item down $20,000. We have a change in the policing services contract that we discussed at our last meeting and that amount, if you recall, was $15,000 in reduced costs from the police contract. We made an adjustment for the new communication specialist wage that was just hired based on the market and the hiring of that employee we were able to hire that position $8,000 lower than what we had budgeted for a month ago. And we’ve also adjusted the fire department training line item by $7,000. We spoke to the Fire Chief and he’s comfortable with the adjustment in that line item. And we’ve also th reduced the 4 of July fireworks contract $5,000 lower back down to a level that’s consistent with the 2012 fireworks. Under scenario 1, which we had previously discussed but staff is not recommending this evening, the total levy would $10,413,690. A 2.56% increase from the 2012 levy. There would be no impact on service levels. Under scenario 1 the residential impact would be, assuming the homeowner saw approximately a 3% reduction in their value on the average home in Chanhassen, scenario 1 would result in somewhere between a $6 and $8 dollar property tax increase on the city portion of their property tax bill. Under scenario 2, which is going to be staff’s recommendation at the end of the power point, a total 22 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 levy of $10,338,390. An increase of $185,000 or 1.82%, which is the amount of new growth for the city in 2013. The impact, potential budget impact is this scenario would allow to keep all service levels the same as previous years. The residential impact, again assuming the home dropped in value by the 3% average that city homes dropped in for budget year 2013, the impact on that average home would be zero for the city portion of the property tax bill. Under scenario 3 it would be a total levy of $10,253,690 or an increase from the previous year’s levy of $100,000. The impact of that levy would need to be reduced by $85,000. We would have to reduce from scenario 2 $85,000 from the budget. An $85,000 reduction in the levy would most likely result in some form of impact on service levels. The residential impact under scenario 3 would be a, again assuming the home dropped in value by 3%, the property tax bill for that home would decrease somewhere between $7 and $9 dollars on the city portion of the property tax bill. We wanted to give some additional information we give every year as part of the preliminary discussion and we do again as part of setting our final levy in December. This graph shows our KFS cities that we compare ourselves to again and it shows spending from 2011 to 2012 and what the changes were by each comparable city. Chanhassen’s change from 11 to 12 was .11%. The average was 1.64%. A couple of cities that I want to comment on here, in particular Andover, Lino Lakes, and Farmington, the one thing I noticed in terms of the trend in their budget expenditures from 2010 to 2011 was that, although they’re showing decreases in 11 to 12 for Andover and Lino Lakes, both of those cities actually had budgeted increases in the previous year that were fairly significant. And the same was true for Farmington. Even though they’re showing a 5% increase in the previous year they actually had shown a significant decrease in their spending. I guess what that information kind of I guess tends to trend towards is, in general the City of Chanhassen has been pretty consistent with setting it’s spending levels at or near or slightly above the previous year. Some other cities have kind of had a little bit of a rollercoaster ride where the increases and decreases kind of fluctuate from year to year in some instances and it’s kind of been staff’s goal to keep those expenditures as close to that zero amount as possible from year to year. This is a look at the Carver County cities budgeted expenditure comparison. Again Chanhassen at the .11% with the average in Carver County being about 1.6% and Victoria’s decrease, again that one was superseded, or preceded by a increase in the previous year in their budgeted expenditures. And taking a look at a per capita spending comparison. These are our KFS cities and taking a look at how much each of the cities spend per person in each of their respective cities. The list, if you remember last year looks pretty consistent to this year’s list on where they ranked. The one I guess note is that we’ve leapfrogged Chaska and now we’re second among our comparable cities having the second best per capita spending. Previously Chaska was in second place and now we’ve leapfrogged them into second place. From a Carver County standpoint per capita spending, again the change between us and Chaska and the average being 456. Our per capita spending is the least of all of those communities. Taking a look at Carver County tax rates. This graph again is very consistent with previous years. I think there might have been one change between somewhere I believe Carver has climbed a little higher and Watertown or Mayor has slipped a little bit but it’s pretty consistent with the previous year’s numbers in terms of tax rate. The gap between Chanhassen and Chaska is over the last 4 to 5 years has slowly been decreasing. At one point a number of years ago the percent difference the two, if you look is right currently now at 2 or just over 2 percent. At one point it was as high as 10 percent or more. Over the years the tax rates have been slowly getting closer to each other. The other important item to note on that is if the City of Chaska as a franchise fee influx into their general fund of $2.5 million. If the City of Chanhassen a similar franchise fee, our tax rate would either be the same or lower than Chaska’s. Just some important factors to consider when setting the budget every year. One of the things that’s important is our bond rating agencies certainly keep a careful watch on our financial policies. One of the things that they always comment on is that we have well embedded financial practices that are sustainable is their comment. This is in reference to our long term financial plans that we have for our streets, for our debt levies. Every time that they see those documents they absolutely love to see those documents. We’re planning for the future in all those cases and we have conservative management practices in place and that have resulted in the strong financial reserves that we do have. Staff’s recommendation this evening is setting a preliminary levy using scenario 2 of $10,338,690. This would allow for the most flexibility in planning before we set a final 23 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 levy in December. Councilwoman Tjornhom had asked to see a couple slides from our previous presentation in August. If you take a look at staff’s report in the memo, in order to have a significant reduction in the levy below scenario 2, staff recommended these ideas as possible cuts to the budget that would have some type of impact on services. Any additional significant reduction in the levy would be difficult to try to achieve without impacting service levels of some sort so these two slides were a list of the items that staff had suggested at our previous meeting in August. That’s the end of my presentation. I’d certainly take some questions from council. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Questions for Mr. Sticha. Councilman McDonald. Councilman McDonald: Yeah I’d like to talk to you a little bit about this 2% raise and everything. I think it was mentioned earlier tonight, I’m not sure from where but that for the past 6 years we have been giving out a raise. My recollection of that is that that may not be correct. I know that 6 years ago the economy was going great and raises were a matter of fact. I seem to recall 3 years ago, right after things got bad, didn’t we zero out raises for that year? Greg Sticha: We did. Councilman McDonald: So we have not been giving out raises. I mean we have been very I think consistent in looking at where the economy is and I think even at that, in the past couple of years one of the things that we’ve done, I think 2% is kind of the high. Last year and again the year before that was zero. We have been incrementally trying to again keep everybody at least on a level playing field with their peers and that is something that we’ve look at each year as I recall correctly. Greg Sticha: The previous years, aside from the zero were 1 and 1 and a half. Councilman McDonald: Right. And then as far as the health care, and you can correct me if I’m wrong but I seem to recall that if you have a family you end up paying a portion of your health care. Greg Sticha: That is correct. Councilman McDonald: Okay, so we’re not giving out free heath care to anybody by any means so, and I think in the past couple years we have I think mandated each year that you go out and you relook at health care and each year I think that you have come back with something significantly lower than what we had proposed at the September Truth in Taxation meeting. Greg Sticha: Typically we would go out every 2 years and in the current environment that we’ve been facing, we’ve done it annually. Councilman McDonald: Okay, so again that was I think more or less at the direction of council to again look at all of these costs and to try to get a good deal for the residents. That’s really the only question that I had concerning that. I have some other comments later but that’s the only questions I have for Mr. Sticha at this time. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Other questions at this time? Councilman Laufenburger. Councilman Laufenburger: Thank you Mr. Mayor. Mr. Sticha, would you just refresh my memory here a little bit. In 2011 I believe the budget was $9,727,800. I’ll give you a chance to look at your reference documents. I’m taking this from budgeted expenditure comparison. So in 2011 $9,727,800 and an actual of $9,302,107. So in other words actual spending in 2011 was 95.6% of budget. Does that make sense to you? 24 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Greg Sticha: Yep, that’d be correct. Councilman Laufenburger: In 2012 budget was $9,738,200 and I’m identifying that as general fund expenditure budget, correct. And what do you estimate, I realize this is still September but in your best expert opinion, what will the budget expenditures finish up in 2012? Greg Sticha: If I had to make an estimate for the rest of the year I would say somewhere between 95 and 98 percent of budget. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay, so similarly to 2011. Greg Sticha: Yep. Councilman Laufenburger: Alright. Do you recall what it was in 2010? Was it similar? Mr. Gerhardt is nodding. Greg Sticha: Approximately. Typically we are right around 97-98 percent of budget. Councilman Laufenburger: So it sounds like your practices, whatever the budget is set over the last few years, you’re managing expenses conservatively. Greg Sticha: In my 6 years here we’ve never over spent our general fund expenditure line items in total for the general fund. Councilman Laufenburger: Good point Mr. Sticha, okay. Would you go to, go the slide where you talked about the fire relief. I want to have a better understanding of the fire relief. Greg Sticha: Sure. Now I’ve got to find it here. Just give me a second. Councilman Laufenburger: Yeah, take whatever time you need. Greg Sticha: Okay. Councilman Laufenburger: Changes since last, there we go. That one. So, you said adjusting the budget from 90,000 to 70,000, is that correct Mr. Sticha? Greg Sticha: That’s correct. Councilman Laufenburger: This fire relief is not something that we really have control over is it? Can you talk a little bit about what this is? Greg Sticha: This is the pension for our volunteer fire fighting department. The required contribution that the City needs to make to the fire relief is based on an actuarial report that’s done by an actuary. Typically we have it done every other year. We’ll be having it done again at the end of 2012. That actuary report will give you 2 years worth of projected required contributions for the city. That required contribution is reduced by the amount of state aid that is received called 2 percent money which the City receives for this purpose. For the purpose of funding fire relief associations. Several years ago the 2 percent money was in the range of about $160,000 to $170,000 per year. When the market started to go south it impacted the state aid that we received because of that, not because of the state making adjustments in the state budget, but just because of the amount that insurances would be paying for 25 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 properties and then impacting this 2 percent money. Right now we receive about $105,000 now a year so depending on what we receive, which we will get here in about 3 weeks, that impacts the amount of required contribution. It reduces the required contribution giving the City an amount that they are then required to contribute. I’m estimating, based on what we received last year in state aid money, that our required contribution for 12, 2012 is going to be somewhere between $70,000 and $80,000. Councilman Laufenburger: And how much did we budget in 2012 for fire relief? Greg Sticha: We budgeted $90,000. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay, so we budgeted 90 and you’re, based on what you know right now you think it’s going to come in the requirements between 70 and 80, is that what you said? Greg Sticha: Somewhere in there would be my estimate. Councilman Laufenburger: So we’ll be under budget in that? Greg Sticha: Yep. Councilman Laufenburger: So this adjustment that you make here, though it’s not precise like you know we don’t know that it’s exactly going to be that amount, it’s just your best estimate on what you believe we will have to pay next year in order to combine with that 2% money from the state to achieve the target that we have to do with fire relief. Greg Sticha: That would be correct. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. So it’s possible that that number could be, it could be 75. It could be 80. It could be 60 but it’s a number that we don’t know for sure. We just plan for it. Greg Sticha: Yep. We won’t know the number until. Councilman Laufenburger: July of. Greg Sticha: It’ll be, well we’ll have the actuarial done sometime after the end of the year in 2012 so I would say sometime either late first quarter, early second quarter would be the first time that we’ll really know the number. Councilman Laufenburger: The number to be paid in 2013. Greg Sticha: Correct. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Alright. Thank you very much. That was my question Mr. Mayor. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other questions? I’ve got a few questions if I could. Mr. Sticha, tonight the action before the council is to set the preliminary levy. The preliminary amount of property taxes that the City will collect and I think as you said, the final levy can be no more than that and can be less than that, and I think in recent years it has been less than the preliminary levy varying from year to year but I think it has been less a few times. With regards to the expense side of the preliminary budget though, the council isn’t taking any position in affirming any of the expenditures at this point in time. Is that correct? 26 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Greg Sticha: That is correct. Mayor Furlong: So really all we’re saying is this is the amount of money we’re going to collect for property taxes but with regard to the expenditures those are finalized in our December meeting when we pass our final levy and final budget, is that correct? Greg Sticha: That is correct. Mayor Furlong: Okay. And then you had mentioned new growth, real growth in one of your slides. Obviously many homes have seen a reduction in value, a deflation in value but this new growth or real growth, help people understand what would represent that new growth. That 1.8% in the tax base. Greg Sticha: The new growth would be a combination of a few things but any new construction that was constructed for taxes payable in 2013. So these would be new homes. Additions to homes. Additions to businesses. So it’s anything that is, was not in the. Mayor Furlong: New construction. Greg Sticha: New construction. Mayor Furlong: Improvements to property that wasn’t done before. Greg Sticha: Correct. Mayor Furlong: So I think when we get to the preliminary levy, whatever is adopted here this evening that goes out on Truth in Taxation notices, if somebody built a home new or if their home came onto the tax rolls new, if they improved their property, they may see a different change in their taxes than someone who didn’t improve their property but just had either a decline, either significant or near the average or less or an inflationary increase, there their taxes might go up or down on the city portion but that’s really just an inflationary or deflationary affect. It’s really the new growth that is being identified here and captured here, is that correct? Greg Sticha: That’s what we’re identifying with that number there, yes. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. And then on the issue of salary increases, if we can go back to that slide. The salary increase comparison. You have it up there. This step increase again. 2 to 5 percent down on the bottom in the footnote. If somebody’s looking at that, what that suggests is, you know if we pick a city, Prior Lake for example. They’re showing 2% and 2% but somebody receiving that step increase would receive a 2% plus the 2 to 5 of that step increase. Am I looking at that correctly? Greg Sticha: Yep. Depending on their step program, some have accelerated step programs that are maybe, they implement them over the first 5 years of employment. Others have extended step programs that have the increases over 7 or maybe even 8 years or more. Typically it’s in the 5 to 7 year range that they will implement those step increases for employees that are in those first 5 to 7 years. Once they cap out at beyond 7 years or 8 years or whatever the City has implemented, at that point then they would most likely only get cost of living increases. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Cost of living. If the Prior Lake City Council approved the 2% increase it would be that type of increase that they would receive. Greg Sticha: Correct. 27 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Mayor Furlong: And with our pay for performance system, and I think Mr. Gerhardt we put that in place I want to say 2005-2006 timeframe or. Todd Gerhardt: Correct. Mayor Furlong: Does that sound right? Todd Gerhardt: Yep. Mayor Furlong: In the few years where we had more than the minimal increases that we’ve had in the last few years. I think we said one year it was zero and last few years it was 1, 1 and a half, something like that. That’s not an across board increase to everybody. That’s the available dollars that are, or dollars that are available for you and your managers to compensate employees, correct? Todd Gerhardt: That’s correct. Say it’s 2% and based on that individual’s performance they could get as high as 3. As a manager you know the lower performers would probably see 1, 1 and a half and in some cases maybe zero. Mayor Furlong: Okay. And I know, or I recall at the time that there probably weren’t many cities having this pay for performance system in place when we adopted it. Has it worked? Are you pleased with it? Is it functioning well in terms of, in your views as a city manager? Todd Gerhardt: Well, it gets difficult to divide up 1 and a half, 1 percent, even zero. Mayor Furlong: I understand. Todd Gerhardt: But in the past I think it was well received. Carver County is adopting their pay for performance system. I know several other cities in Carver County are looking at doing also so. Mayor Furlong: Alright, thank you. I appreciate those questions. Or those answers to the questions. Any other questions at this time? Councilman Laufenburger: I did have, I have one Mr. Mayor. Mayor Furlong: Mr. Laufenburger. Councilman Laufenburger: Mr. Sticha, do you have any indication of what potential levy increases, just a second here. Has anybody in Carver County identified what levy increases will be in 2013? Greg Sticha: There have been a few communities that did and I did not bring that with you this evening. With me this evening. I can email that to you. Councilman Laufenburger: I’d appreciate that. Greg Sticha: You know certainly first thing tomorrow. Mr. Gerhardt maybe can. Todd Gerhardt: …survey but I didn’t see the results yet. Councilman Laufenburger: I think I saw something in the Villager that the County was anticipating a levy increase. 28 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Todd Gerhardt: Yeah, I think they did their preliminary levy at their last meeting. Councilman Laufenburger: Don’t take me at word on that. Greg Sticha: Typically, as you can see in this slide, some cities are reluctant to share that information especially before setting a preliminary levy so finance directors are pretty tight lipped about. Councilman Laufenburger: Well perhaps you can use some of your persuasive powers with some of those other finance directors and get some G2. Thank you Mr. Sticha. Todd Gerhardt: Well it is based on council decision and some of them will probably be doing it this week so, not always does a council follow the staff’s recommendation. Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Thank you Mr. Sticha. Mayor Furlong: Okay. If there are no other questions, or at least at this time, thoughts and comments. Councilman Laufenburger. Thoughts and comments. Councilman Laufenburger: Yeah, I think it’s important for us to recognize that as you so clearly pointed out, that we are not establishing a budget tonight. What we are doing is we’re establishing an upper limit against which we as a council must apply conservative scrutiny to an anticipated budget for next year. I do support the notion that we somehow capture the growth that’s occurring in our community. I see, I had it here just a second ago. Just a moment. I think the number is, here we go. New construction in Chanhassen in, that applies to this 2013 payable taxes. New construction in the area of about $56 million dollars, if I read that correct so that means there is more people moving into Chanhassen. We have to keep that in mind when we provide service level and so I support that we recognize and acknowledge the value of those new citizens, whether they be commercial or residential, and understand that it takes dollars to fund services for them so I am in support of the recommendation from staff that at this point we establish a preliminary levy of the $10,338,690 and then we work diligently with staff to find out ways that we can be more efficient with those levy dollars over the next 2 months. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Other comments, Councilwoman Tjornhom. Councilwoman Tjornhom: Yeah, my daughter’s home alone tonight and so I invited her to come with to listen to our budget discussion and to find out what’s going on and it was not a well, maybe I’ll think about it or I’ll watch it on TV, it was just a flat out no and I think that’s because you know we’re talking about building roads and we’re talking about providing police service and we’re talking about INS and we’re talking about all these interesting things that 14 year olds don’t realize they need to make the world go around and so fortunately I think as adults we do. That you know our job tonight is to set a preliminary levy and that’s what it’s always been. I’d like to call it worst case scenario and it can only get better from here. You know I have worked now recently with, actually been on a different couple council meetings, especially Minneapolis, and you know I mean they’re building swimming pools and you know acquiring parkland, and we’re not doing that in Chanhassen. We’re sticking to what is really important and that is providing those services that we all need to get up and go to work and raise our families every day and so I look forward to working with staff in the future to find out what the good news is going to be. How we’re going to end up at the place where we need to be to make sure that we are both fiscally responsible and still doing what we need to do as a council to provide those services. So I too will support staff’s recommendation. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Councilman McDonald. 29 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Councilman McDonald: Thank you Mr. Mayor. You know I really love this time of the year. I look forward to doing all of this but I guess one of the things I would look at, I mean a lot of numbers get thrown around and a lot of numbers were brought up to the podium today. No one ever talks about the unemployment within Chanhassen itself. As you know I do a lot of work within the court system, especially down at Carver County foreclosing on properties and I have to tell you that Chanhassen has very few foreclosures. I had a talk today with another gentleman, works on the recreation. Soccer. They want to go ahead and go forward with plans for again additional new fields. You know things for their kids. I think as Ms. Tjornhom brought up, yeah people want to come to this community and they want to have a good place to live but they also want to have a good place to play and one of the things I’ve learned in my many years of being on the council is that quality of life is very important to the residents of this city and again we were brought up that there’s a petition with 40 names on it that wanted to level taxes and to decrease them. I can bring you 40 people that will say either keep them the same or raise them as long as I get value for my money so I think that what is the majority of residents within this community and that’s been shown time and time again, especially about the quality of life. I mean I would take you back to my favorite subject, Walmart where we had residents come in, and that was the big issue with that. It was about quality of life. What kind of an impact is that going to have upon the residents of our city. It was not about money because we turned away a lot of money on that, but residents felt it would impact their quality of life and so that became very important to them. Also quality of life again with ballfields and services and those things, people have indicated to me time and time again that they are willing to pay for that. No one wants to wait 10 to 15 minutes longer for a snowplow to come through your neighborhood and dig you out so you can go to work. They want that plow there before they get up and have their morning coffee and all they do is drive out of the driveway. That has been told to me time and time again. These services cost money. They are not free. I brought up the issue about salaries and those type of things, and I think the Mayor went into great detail about the fact that we are a pay for performance city which is different than most other cities. What that does it gives us an advantage and that advantage is shown in the fact that the staff of this city does an excellent job. They work very, very hard for the residents of this city and that is shown in the fact that we have a AAA bond rating. That is shown that year in and year out we rank highly as a place most desirable to live. It is also shown in the fact that Chanhassen is actually building new homes. That’s not the trend throughout the Twin Cities. What it is is people want to come here and they want to come here because again we have parks. We have trails. We have facilities for their kids to play soccer, lacrosse, hockey, baseball, you name it and it’s here and they want that and they’re willing to pay for it because they understand those services are not free. So I think what this budget reflects is again, it is not extravagant. As Ms. Tjornhom points out, you go to the City of Minneapolis and you look at what they’re spending their money on and I would say some of that is probably very extravagant but we spend on what the residents want to maintain their quality of life. Until I get enough residents that would come up to me and tell me I don’t care about the quality of life. Cut my taxes. I’ll listen but I’ve been doing this now for 4 years and every 4 years with this, which is why I love the budget so much, I go out and I ask the question. Okay, I’ll back cutting your taxes but what are you willing to give up? Nothing. They want the snowplowing. They want the roads. They want the parks and facilities so that’s the way this community wants to look at things and our job as City Council is to make sure that they get the best bang for their buck. That we do not waste money and there is nothing in this budget that anyone could point to where you could tell me we are wasting money, or we are being frivolous with the way we are spending this money. We have been very conscience over the past 5 years that I’ve been on the council to try to live within our means and living within our means means we capture the growth that we had from the previous year and we make sure that that gets passed on so that new residents are paying their fair share, which is as big thing that a lot of people want to bring up now that everybody should be paying their fair share. Well in this city people do pay their fair share and people are willing to do that. We have not raised taxes in the 5 years I’ve been here. Yes, the rate goes up but that rate goes up because we capture growth and growth means services and growth means somebody has to plow those extra miles of street and take care of those extra miles of 30 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 trail and also maintain those new parks that we end up building. So based upon that, again I feel very comfortable supporting scenario 2 and as it’s been pointed out, all that is is a maximum number and each year the thing we do from now through December is we will go through that with a fine tooth comb and we will find additional things that we can take out or we can move from one column to the next before we come up with next year’s budget. I mean that’s the way it’s been so I think this is a number that we can easily live with and easily create a budget that again meets all the requirements of the residents of this community which is keep my quality of life the way it is and I want to have a place for my kids to play and I want you to take care of my roads and streets. This budget accomplishes that. To go back to what it was 2 years ago or 1 year ago means you have to be willing to give up on some of those services and I am not being told that by the residents so I’m perfectly fine in voting for scenario 2. Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. My comments, you know there’s a lot of detail that goes into preparing the budgets and the preliminary levy proposal up until this evening. City staff, with Mr. Gerhardt and Mr. Sticha have been working with the departmental managers and the staff for months. It seems like there are fewer months in the year when we aren’t working on budget than when we are, and I appreciate all their effort that they put forward. The council has been working with staff over the last several weeks to get to this point and as part of the schedule, which Mr. Sticha showed earlier, there’s a lot more to do. This is just a portion of the budget and the discussion for the council and there’s also additional activities that we’ll be doing coming forward but you know some of the information that’s in the packet, there’s a lot of detail in there. Some of the components that I don’t know that we talked about earlier tonight but the levy, the amount of property taxes that the City collects and levies upon the residents and businesses, some of that is used to fund operation. Some of that is used to pay back debt. One of the things that the City has done over the years as a matter, the council and staff working together as a matter of practice and policy, is to keep that, the portion of dollars to repay our debt flat and constant each year. This preliminary budget does the same thing. In fact in prior years we’ve actually used some additional dollars available to reduce that amount so it’s very similar to someone’s mortgage where they pay the same amount every year. Cities, that’s not always the case and you can often get significant volatility in the amount of money that needs to be repaid each year in terms of debt. We’ve worked to keep that flat so that we can take that volatility pressure off of the tax levy. The other thing that I noticed in looking at the preliminary budget, with the assumptions that were raised, and some of those assumptions were raised earlier this evening regarding a 2% wage increase and a 13% health care increase, yet the total proposed budget, preliminary budget, and again we’re not adopting it tonight but it’s the recommended level of spending that staff is suggesting will maintain services, as we’ve had them yet allow us to increase the levy only to capture the real growth but the total budget amount is less than 1 1/2 percent. About 1.3-1.4 percent if I’m correct Mr. Sticha, so that tells me if we have salaries assumed at 2%, no adoption tonight but that’s what’s assumed, and we have health care going up assumed at 13%. Again that’s the worst case. We’re going to bid that out as we’ve done every year and that may come in lower but that’s the worst case. That means that we have a lot of other expense items that are going up or down. Up by less than 2% and many of them down, and I think that’s the process that we go through and sometimes you know nobody questions why the police contract is flat or down or less than what’s happening but we know that, that the work that the Carver County sheriff’s office has done with us has found a way to reduce our costs overall, net on a contract year to contract year basis yet actually increase the level of service and level of coverage. I mean those are the things that are embedded in this overall budget that I think really also need to be given their due and from a congratulation standpoint. That the sheriff’s office is doing that. That’s a significant portion of where we spend money as a city is on public safety and our relationship with the sheriff’s office is tremendous and the work that they’ve been doing over the last few years and over the years is really providing great value to our citizens and our businesses and so I want to mention that and appreciate that. Overall I think you know the proposal here tonight to increase the levy by only the amount that captures the real growth in the tax base, by doing that for any changes in someone’s city property tax is either going to then relate to whether or not, for the most part it’s going to be whether they improve their property or whether their home or their business property inflated or 31 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 deflated at a rate different than what the average did across, and if that’s the case that’s something that the City has no control over but it’s simply just how property taxes are calculated, so I commend the staff for identifying expenses only that gets us down to the proposed recommendation rather than looking at revenues. I think that is, that’s the right way to go. Going forward I expect that this council and staff are going to continue to hone in on the numbers on the spending side and on the revenue side and make sure that we’ve got a budget that isn’t a budget, and we never have that I’ve been here, tries to see how much can we spend but it’s what the minimum amount we need to spend and that’s what we’ve always done and I commend staff, Mr. Gerhardt, Mr. Sticha, all the department heads that really take that to heart and that’s not something that we have to necessarily encourage. That’s just the way they approach their jobs and they’re professionals and we appreciate all the work that they do so I also support staff’s recommendation on this preliminary levy and the resolutions contained in the packet and I look forward to working with everybody. Residents, businesses, council members, staff over the next couple months as we hone in on a final levy and budget come December. So again, thank you everybody for all your work to date and there’s a lot more to do but I think we have a very good start on the process. With that, if there are no more comments I would certainly entertain a motion. Councilman Laufenburger: Mr. Mayor. Mayor Furlong: Councilman Laufenburger. Councilman Laufenburger: Mr. Mayor, I move that the Chanhassen City Council adopt the preliminary 2013 general fund budget of $9,747,400 and establish a total preliminary levy of $10,338,690 for 2013. Mayor Furlong: And adopt the resolution. Councilman Laufenburger: And adopt the resolution, correct. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there a second? Councilman McDonald: Second. Mayor Furlong: Motion’s been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Or any discussion on the motion? Further discussion on the issue. Hearing none we’ll proceed with the vote. Resolution #2012-47: Councilman Laufenburger moved, Councilman McDonald seconded that the Chanhassen City Council adopt the resolution establishing the preliminary 2013 General Fund Budget of $9,747,400 and establish a total preliminary levy of $10,338,690 for 2013. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0. Mayor Furlong: Thank youeverybody. Appreciate everybody’s comments and participation. That completes our items of new business this evening. COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS. Mayor Furlong: Any council presentations? Councilman Laufenburger: I have one Mr. Mayor. Mayor Furlong: Councilman Laufenburger. 32 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 Councilman Laufenburger: I think that last weekend concluded the State Amateur Baseball Association season in Minnesota and I think it’s appropriate for us to congratulate and recognize the Victoria Vics for capturing the Class B State Championship last weekend. They exhibited incredible resilience in coming back and beating the Cold Spring Springers for 2 games as they needed to, and actually I think appropriate credit be given to you to Mr. Mayor since that one council meeting you were asked and you th agreed to wear the Victoria Vics hat and let it be known that Victoria Vics had to get past us on July 7 in order to capture the State tournament. Us meaning the Chanhassen Red Birds so congratulations to Victoria and the Victoria Vics. Mike Poppitz, his entire team and of course Mayor Hershberger-Thun who won that bet with you Mr. Mayor. Mayor Furlong: Yes, yes she did. Councilman McDonald: How come you’re not wearing the hat tonight Mr. Mayor? Mayor Furlong: The Victoria Vics hat? Councilman McDonald: Right. Mayor Furlong: You know, there was no bet that I had to wear it tonight. The wager was on that individual game, not a state tournament championship so. You know I too congratulate the Vics but also, since you bring it up Mr. McDonald, the City of Victoria. One of the activities that I had the chance to participate in about a week or so ago was the re-opening of Highway 5 and it was great to see, not only that that road re-opened but the amount of work and effort that was done in Victoria by the businesses, the Community Development Director, all the people really came together and the way our cities worked together. The County, cities along the corridor, Waconia, Victoria, Chanhassen, members of our staff, it is great to have great relationships. It’s fun to have great relationships with our neighboring cities so if it takes to wear a hat again I’ll wear a hat, if that’s what it takes to keep that going but wasn’t asked to and didn’t offer. Councilman McDonald: Next year they’re going to be wearing our hat. Mayor Furlong: There is, and you know Mayor Hershberger-Thun, I think they’re having a meeting tonight. She is not running for re-election. Obviously she is worried about the Vics chances against the Red Birds next year. Councilman Laufenburger: She should be worried. Mayor Furlong: And doesn’t want to take that chance so other council presentations. This evening. Great, thank you. ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS. Mayor Furlong: Mr. Gerhardt, administrative presentations. Todd Gerhardt: Nothing this evening. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Any questions for Mr. Gerhardt or his staff? How are we progressing on, Mr. Oehme on the neighborhood road project up on the north side of Minnewashta? Paul Oehme: Mayor, City Council members. We’re progressing nicely. We’re down to our last road. Dogwood Road for sub-cutting. All the, I’d say 95% of utilities are in so we’re going to be curbing and 33 Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2012 guttering hopefully into this week and next week and paving so we’re getting pretty close to wrapping up the project. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. And since you’re there, the water tower at Minnetonka Middle School West, who’s that progressing? Paul Oehme: That’s progressing. They’re about a week behind right now. They have the last fabrication of the steel before they erect the tower probably going in this week and then next week subsequently they’re going to paint the tower on the ground and lift it hopefully by the end of the month here so, it’s progressing. Mayor Furlong: Okay, and the most common question I get asked about that is how are they going to get the crane out of the middle when they get the tower up and I just answer I assume they know how. Paul Oehme: They know how. Mayor Furlong: They’re not going to leave it there. Paul Oehme: They will not leave it there, we’ll make sure of that. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright, very good. Todd Gerhardt: Swizzle stick. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other questions for Mr. Gerhardt or his staff? CORRESPONDENCE DISCUSSION. None. Councilwoman Tjornhom moved, Councilman McDonald seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0. The City Council meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m. Submitted by Todd Gerhardt City Manager Prepared by Nann Opheim 34