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Admin Section I ADMINISTRATIVE SECTION Memo from Paul Krauss dated April 6, 1992. ' Letter from Roger Knutson dated April 6, 1992. Article from League of Minnesota Cities dated March 10, 1992. 1991 Local Government Salary Study dated March 1992. ' Article from Planning Commissioners Journal dated January /February 1992. Letter from Steven Paddock dated March 18, 1992. Letter from Carver County Administrator dated March 10, 1992. Letter from James Walston dated February 10, 1992. Letter from Elliott Knetsch dated April 1, 1992. Findings of Fact Conclusions of Law and Order from Minnesota Municipal Board dated April 2, 1992. ' Letter from Hennepin County Administrator dated March 25, 1992. Letter from Metropolitan Council dated April 3, 1992. Letter from School District 112 Superintendent dated April 3, 1992. ' Letter from Charles Folch dated April 7, 1992. Letter from Paul Krauss dated April 6, 1992. Note from Vicki Weber, Burnet Realty. Memo from Todd Hoffman dated April 2, 1992. ' Letter from Charles Folch dated April 1, 1992. ' Letter from Dave Hempel dated March 12, 1992. Letter from Scott Harr dated March 27, 1992. 111 Memo from Charles Folch dated March 30, 1992. Letter from Charles Folch dated March 30, 1992. Letter from Charles Folch dated March 30, 1992. ' Memo from Charles Folch dated March 30, 1992. Copies of Utility Bills received March 24, 1992. 1 11 1 Letter from Governor Arne Carlson dated March 11, 1992. Letter from Metropolitan Council dated April 1, 1992. Memo from Betsy Fitzsimons dated March 19, 1992. Letter from Raymond Haik dated February 28, 1992. Letter to Paul Krauss dated March 31, 1992. Letter from Sharmin Al -Jaff dated March 24, 1992. ' Results of Presidential Primary Election, April 7, 1992. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 • CITYOF CHANHASSEN 04:"Sif 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 (612) 937 -1900 • FAX (612) 937 -5739 MEMORANDUM TO: Planning Commission and City Council FROM: Paul Krauss, Planning Director (74-__ DATE: April 6, 1992 1 SUBJ: Moon Valley Litigation 1 Judge Kanning has finally prepared his judgement in the litigation brought against the city by the Moon Valley Gravel Operation. I am pleased to report that the city was upheld on a number of counts. First of all, the Moon Valley operators claimed a right to mine what we have referred to as the northern or Zimmerman parcel, along Pioneer Trail. The judge 1 found in the city's favor that a legal non - conforming use for the gravel pit itself does not extend to this area since this was acquired after the date Chanhassen adopted the Zoning Ordinance. Thus, there is no legal right for them to continue mining in this area. Of course, they could always apply to the city for a new mining permit, but the Planning Commission and City Council would be in a position to exercise sufficient control over this request or simply not approve it. The area is located near residential developments and 1 contains significant stands of trees and areas of bluff line. The city intervened in our attempt to stop mining on this site in 1989. The judge also commented on Moon Valley's interim permit applicant we received � g y p pp can t a recei ed last summer. Staff was extremely frustrated by the actions of the operator and their attorneys when they proposed two completely different grading plans but would not specify which one they were making application for. One plan, which we dubbed the "dig to China plan ", would have dug a 160 foot hole across the entire Minnesota River bluff line. The judge agreed with city staff that this plan was absurd. The judge found that the applicant's alternate land use and grading plan was somewhat more reasonable and should serve as the basis for a new submittal to the city. Even on this point, the judge is requiring that they reduce or eliminate the proposed extensive use of 2:1 slopes which city staff found objectionable. The Moon Valley operators had objected to the Grading Ordinance the City Council 1 adopted two years ago, and even maintained that the city had no right to require them to obtain a permit. The judge has found that the city is within its rights and that 1 � 0 7 PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER 1 Planning Commission and City Council April 6, 1992 • Page 2 fundamentally, the ordinance is reasonable. The applicants have a maximum of 60 days to submit a completed application. The judge confirmed that g ed t at the applicants do have a right to continue mining on the south ' parcel. In point of fact, the city has never said otherwise. We always acknowledged that there was a legal non - conforming use on the south parcel. We simply maintained that the applicants would have to obtain a permit and manage the site in a manner that promoted the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the city. Judge Kanning supported this view stating that "unless related to health or safety issues clearly identified by the city, the city does not have the right to limit the quantity of material mined from the plaintiff's property, prohibit mining on any portion of the property such as slopes or wooded areas, limiting the depth to which the property may be mined so long as final grades are consistent with a designated end use plan, limit time which the mining operation must be completed, ' and preventing the plaintiff in continuing and maintaining ongoing mining operations to the extent and scope to which presently exists." In discussions with the City Attorney, it remains to be seen exactly what limits the city can place on this operation. We are comfortable with ' the judge's ruling and believe that it represents a significant step forward in the ongoing Moon Valley saga. 1 • 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.R Apr 3,92 9:06 No.001 P.01 1 CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A. Attorneys at Law Thom. J Campbell (612) 452.5000 Roger N. Knutson Fax (6l2) 452.5550 Thu„mas hi. Scott O ry 0. Fuchs j A. Knetsc h R. Walston FACSIMILE TRANSMISSION — COVER SHEET Elliott iliotetsc wow .,,, ,. •.•• ^d Michael A. Brahack Rcnae D. Steiner TO: PAUL, KRAUSS 1 CHANIASSEN CTTY HALL • 1 Facsimile Number: _. FROM: TOM SCOTT Campbell, Knutson, Scott & Fuchs, P.A. _ 1 Facsimile Number: 612 452 -5550 April 3, DATE: l? r 1992 TIME: COMMENTS: MOON VALLEY AGGREGATE, INC. V. CITY_OF CHANHASSEN 1 Transmitted herewith are the Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order for Judgment and Notice of Filin.. THIS TRANSMISSION CONTAINS 12 PAGE(S), INCLUDING THIS COVER SHEET. IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE ALL PAGES OR IF THE QUALITY OF THE TRANSMISSION IS POOR, PLEASE TELEPHONE Robby AT (612) 452 -5000. .1 Suite 317 • Eagandale Office Center • 1380 Corporate Center Curve • Eagan, MN 55121 • ' ?7r .v •. , •. -n v •777:; '',""r777 • r: wr .r,nyn77:77,7etR!^,^,.'.'r.7 1 CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A Apr 3,92 9:06 No .001 P.03 -, t ,. •.. .. .. •„:' :•. :.. ~ter � .,:.� .'�� ; -- .. .. .. _ .. .7 :: • lt''�:. �':- ` % v + G• Z 3t.` •:.: .,`.:�..itLf an.. --• 1 STATE OF tgIKML SOS APR 2 19 2 71�TRICT COURT A II COUNTY or CARVER Cr fER Dom' COURTS riRsix JUDICIA:, DISTR:cT =' N CA II Moon Valley A44regate, Inc.. A Minnesota corporation, C piaintiff, FINDIN CP FACT a) COW 1,OSIONS OF LA! and ORDER FOR .7Z:I?GI EWT ry vs. 1 City of Chanhassen, Defendant. File No. 9C -27099 The above - entitled :matter came on for bearing before the II o undersigned on Noven►her 5th and 2Sth, 19 1, past ag uot to tills o . Court's Order .of October 10, 199:.. The natter was sohe&..1ed ter II Po evidentiary hearing following the defendant's o riginal notion an ev ° of July :.b, 199. which sought an Oder directing that the I plaintiff cease the operation of its mining business because of II its failure to rake appropriate application for an Earth Work • Permit. In addition, the Court was to determine the legal status II of any mining activities on the North (Zimmerman) Parcel. 2 co J. F. Brill, Jr. and Anthony J. Gleekel, 100 Washington no 0) MN 55401 appeared for and on a, Square, Suite 1350, Minneapolis, ' behalf of the plaintiff: Thomas N. Scott, 1380 Corporate Center II Curve x'317, Eagan, MK 55121 appeared for and on behalf of the on defendant. 1 Based upon AAA of the tiles, records and proceedings hemean, II the Court now makes the follaw:fg: !INDI! GS OE FACT -° N 1. Plaintiff (Moon valley) is a !Minnesota corporation whit. II 1 . 1 CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A Apr 3,92 9:07 No.001 . P.04 • • _ .. -:. _ . : .. . . : _ ._ _.,. ::'''.. II mining business on an approximately II operates a gravel ni g oximately 40 -acre n, .ti parcel c= property located at loft Flying cloud Drive, in the City ry 1 of Chanhassen, Carver County, Minnesota. ce N II ;. Plaintiff, and 17.9 have owned and . s predeaessorS in title, � c Continuously conducted a mining operation on the lower or �. cP southerly portion of its property known as the Moon Valley parcel II legal described as follows: Ali that part of Gov't Lot 1, Sectior. 36 Township 116, I Mange 23, Carver County, xinnesota, which lies t�ortheriy of C) true c i highway o- 212. rri Wereinatter "South Parcel".) Po II 3. Wallace Griepentrog purchased this 40-acre South Paroe1 2 an which the 3raan valley Gravel Pit is located in 3959. This § 1 ad South Parcel was used as a ski area until the n3,d_196 as and has been used as a rifle ran se since 1961. The Wining operation on II the So.t'h Parcel existed prior to the adoption of ordinances of . the City of Vil.age of Chanhassen which prohibit cr regulate II miring. 1 4. Gricpentro' purchased, on a contract for deed, a 45 -acre G parcel on top of the bluffs from Fred and Elizabeth Zi mer an on CD 1 December I 1973. This parcel is legally described as fellows: co cry All that part of the southeast Quarter ;5E --1 /4) of SECtion � , I 25, 1`owflSh ip 116, flange 23, lying Easterly of the Easterly cn right of way of the Chicago and iiortttwestern Railway (formerly the Minneapolis and St. Louis 6ai1'fa'y) centein ng 45 acres Wore or Less, according to the Gove_1Th eft Survey II thereof, , carver County, Minnesota. (ltereinafter ' Parcel*'.) II On February a, 1972, Lassen adopted Zoning Ordinance No. 47 thereinafter "1972 Zoning Ordinance *) which was effective :° II a 2 w II II II CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A Apr 3,92 9 :07 No.001 P.05 II upon publication on March 9, 1972. Xining was allowed under the b II 972 Zoning ordinance only pursuant to a cordimidnal use pernit. " i N 6. The gravel. nine on the Sou:.b Parcel is a valid 1 N 1 nonconforming use since it was in existence prior to the 1972 op zoning Ordinance. •-�' II C.71 7. There VIPS no substantial or recognisable miming w activity on the Nort_r. Parcel prior to the late summer of. 1973. I 8. On or about February 23, 1973, Griepertrcg applied for conditional use permits (hereinafter "CUP") to operate his rifle m q< range and gravel mine on the south Parcel. MI c7 9. At a planning commission hearing on the coxbined C II app lication on June 12, 1973, Fed zisfmexrin indicated he wanted M to sell his 45 acres (North Parcel) , but had been told that it •--3 II entro was not Saleable because of Gziep ' s rifle range. ii 9 II 10. The Planning Commission subsequently in July of 1973 tab:.ed the CUP Appl icatl.ori at the request of Griepentrag rs II attorney, while Griepsntrog negotiated a purchase of Zimmerman•s x z property. 0 11. That following the pOrchasa of the Zimmerman property N by Criepentrog, the CUP application was never placed barx on 0 i the Planning Commission agenda for farther review or Co CO U consideration. 12. That following his purchase of the Korth Parcel in 197 ., Griepentrog did remove clay from a portion of t.' . Zimmerman II :'his mineral extraction was relatively' linsigniaicant property. 1 and did not involve the removal of any gravel. , ° P II 3 II II CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A Apr 3,92 9 :08 No.001 P.06 • 3. 3e;.ween 1974 and 1986, there was a removal of an i insignificant amount of ttiesn materials from the North Parca.. 14. In 1986, the City of Chanhassen adapted a new eonLng cc fU ordinanoe which required a mineral extraction pormit and an i.nterie use permit for mining, but allowed pre - existing nonconforming uses to continue. 15. In 1986, Griepentrog sold both parcels to Thomas present owner of moon Valley. Until the fall of 1 2wa ears, the p� 1988, there continued to be no substantial mining er mineral extraction fron the Norien parcel. • 16. in the fall. of 1988, when Eiders started ninin3 clay cn 1 e7 the North Parcel, the City cbjected to the activity and Moon • Val:.gy stopped the mining. IP 17. Plaintiff does not have any oncafrOrning mining use s nct a uee of the land ir fights on the North Parcel because it was existing at the tine of adoption of the 1972 zoning ordnance. IL 18. The City is not estoppea :.ron enforcing its zoning oc regulations relating to mining on the North Parnel. 1 19. On '_may 14, 1S90, Chanhassen adapted Ordinance No. 128, effective May 24, 1990. regulating "earthwork" operations, which � . are defined as "excavating, mining, filling or grading" IIE activities. 20. The ordinance, with certain exceptions, requires a person to obtain a permit before engaging in earthwork act±.Vities. Existing operations, such as plaintiff's business, 1 had six aortthe until November 24, 1990, to either obtain a pern.it It: cr 4 CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P. Apr 3,92 9:08 No.001 P.07 II cr cease operations. y I MI 21. The express purpose or the ordinance is to proriorte the 1 health, safety and welfare of the community by establishing 1 I i fV reasonab =e uniform standards and controls for excavating, mining, -- x II filling and grading activities within the City. The ordinance cn requires the applicant to submit various types of in €az:nati 1 .A about its operation, including a site restoration plan. it also sets forth standards for setbacks, fencing, appearance and 1 M> screening, na gods and tines of operations and restoration of the 70 c MI property. PJ 1 . T..Q ordnance permits deviations from these standards for 2 ' 1 existing operations, when it is not feasible to comply because of C XI preexisting conditions, when because of topographic cr other 1 conditions it is not possible Tx comply and when alternates that accomplish the purpose and intent of the standard are agreed upon I 22. In its April 25, 1991 Order, this Court deterained I that Chanhassen has the legal authority to require plaintiff to PC obtain an Barth Work Fern: i t under its Ordinance No. 125 adopted o 1 Hay 24, 2990, The Court further ordered: en iv Plaintiff Hcon Valley shall make an application for a permit I pursuant to ordinance #128, as adopted by the City cf a , Chanhassen, within 30 days of the date of this Order. In a) the event that Plaintiff fails to make such application for I an Ordinance #128 permit within 30 days of the date of this Order, the City of Chanhassen shall have the option to seek CD an order of this court requiring Plaintiff Moon Valley imnediately cease its mining operations. Said permit shall be considered according to the City of Chanhassen's nora t course of permit application. determinationS• 23. On September 19, 1991, pursuant to this Court's earlier II plaintiff filed an application with the City of ;v Order, pl o co II CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A Apr 3,92 9 :09 No.001 P.08 • • • '.:. :. ..:[L^ .7......•• '4 •. : 2'�•.. .il'r...`.t : ;.� •.�.... ... ,_ . .u.._.. • a. ..'.1.,:•.....r.._ ... { : .;L:ti:'.`. ;..J :.y:,4•..�....- r - 11 Chanhassen. This application, prepared by .Tohn Voss, a = professional planner, propcsed two totally different miring plans for the property. The Court specifically finds that Plan A met 1 of the vrd _nance nor did it provide 11 none ot the express purposes the defendant with any reasonable information concerning be ongoing and end use of the parcels. Evidence submitted at the II II time of trial indicated that the plaintiff intended to proceed 1 with Plan 8 es aem forth in the application and the plaintiff offered no credible or reasonable basis for the inclusion of Plan A in the application. Given the apparent lack of diligence on re the part of - the plaintiff in submitting --.his application, 11 following the Court's Crder of April 25, 1991, it 'is not unreasonable to conclude that Plan A was intended to cloud ate. — complicate the issues. ii 24. By letter di=ed October 2, 1991, the defendant's Director of Planning, Paul Krauss, advised the plaintiff I regarding certain deficiencies in the application. While representatives of both parties testified as to their willingness if to address these purported deficiencies, each has been unw_11in5 It to enter into aeaningfel settl•enent discussions Leading to e ea resolu :icn of these issues. ' 1E 25. John Voss, vbo testified on behalf of the plaintiff, co P stated the plaintiff's willingness to supplement its. application 1 with additional information relating tc the following: (i) II the grades of the slopes in ite end use plan, (i.) providing additional water table information, (iii) identifying 1 6 II 1 CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCNS, P.A Apr 3,92 9:09 No.001 P.09 -.f, ,:':aye. -. .. 1 ,.,........L,..-1, . - .r .L:... . ..- i:.r.a'•. ��: .. . ......,,.,e. .� r... r.a ., .�, IV e. c.1 &., the Ioeaticn of certain tree types in wooded areas on the site I 1 and ,iv) designating the type of trucks .a to used in its =:. 'miming I N I operations. ao N In additio=n, the letter of October 1, 1591 by Paul i II Krause to the plaintiff's representative clearly indicates that there are a number of issues within the application which are not II cn disputed. '' 26. That certa_n of the application requirenents are 1 unreasonable and their applications rz interpreted by the defendant is unduly burdensome to the trs he plaintiff consider:ng the 1 duration and extent of the exictanq rzining operation on the Sou:.h cp II o Parcel. CONCLUSIOI S OF 12 1 1. That the plaintiff is entitled to the status of a lawful ' 6 nonconforming use as a raining operation on its South Parcel under I the Chanhassen zoning ordinances as amended. 1 2. Based upon Plan B, plaintiff's application for an �c earthwork permit represents a reasonable response to the II requirements of Ordinance No. 12i;, provided the plaintiff a) supplements its application within the next thirty (30) days with Oa II co the following information: al I (a) a revision of the Xna t'se Grading Plan to soften °' the 2:1 slopes; (b) provide additional information on the grcund water ' table, available from public and private souroc , and also fron several test holes, if suffie_'.ent information is not otherwise availnb1e: 1 ( provide specific information as to the location of tree types within the wooded areas on the Ir 1 CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A Apr 3,92 9 :10 No.001 P.10 • - _ _ - •c ��. .. ;.:�_ ^ ; . "'.0 ?sue "'1 � . . plaintiff's J pze property; and z p (d) identify the types of trucks to be used in plaintiff's mining operation. If test holes are required, plaintiff will have an r CD additional thirty (30) days to supply the information relating to J y ground water tables. 3. As A La',tful nonconforming use on the South Parcel, plaintiff is entitled to continue its wining operation under I b , 80 N.(.2d 863 (Minn- 1957), to mine its property to the limits of its mdnaral. bed. 4. The city is entitled to exercise its police powers to ` �f's u.ining operation, impose regulations on plairt� provided the It o regulations are based upon the health and safety of the community and provided they do not exceed other constitutional =-i.nitatio::s ' t -•s r' cmtb$Ci � police powers. F s� t-ti o saftY 1, clearly 5. Vnlcss z�� -� identified by the City, the City does not have the right to IL deMand addit; onal data from plaintiff to be used for the purpose 1 of: rn t: a f limiting the gl.lantity of material mined by plaintiff: co on any portion of plaintiff's `-- property, (b) prohibiting r-1 uch h as the slope or the Wooded areas; (c' limiting the depth to which the property may be mined, based upon plaintiff's Willingness to trx 3 I its property to the grades (as revised) shown in its proposed End Use Plan, designated Plan B In its application; II (d) 1 ` niting the time within w h ich raining i s =o be completed; and 8 IL 1 1 CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A Apr 3,92 9:10 No.001 P.11 II (e) preventing the piainmif: fr*xz continuing and maintaining its ongoing mining operation to the II extent and scope to which it presently exists. PO N 6. ' Y es$ F'r'y ated o '' tSe 1t o7 s �tS•�eeu.as , clearly c identified by the City, the City does not have the right to issue I +an earth *+fork Pernit relating ug to the South Parcel of the o ry ,.4 plaintiff's property that has the purpose or offect of: C II (a) Limit tr a quantity of naterial sinod from t?"_e c plaintiff's progeny: - o� I (a) prohibiting mining on any portion of the property, such as slopes or wooded areas; 1 (c) limiting the depth to which the property may be mined, so 1ons as plaintiff has indicated. its � Willingness to bring the property to the grades rn I (as revised) shown on an end use plan designated CD Flan B in its application; o I (d) limits tine within which the mining operation gust n be completed; and x (e) preventing the plaintiff from continuing and I maintaining its ongoing mining operation to the extent and scope to which it presently exists 1 7. Because of the nonconforming use status of plaintiff's m operation, i "n the City may not require the plaintiff to apply n� II for and receive an - interim permit as a prerequisite to the RC issuance of an Earth work Permit. c II Based Upon the foregoing 'Findings of Fact and GC v: II Go2 Q usione of Law, ov v IT IS BERM ORDERED !UM: Q 1 1. Plaintiff shall supplement its original application with the additional information listed in the Conclusion of LAW II Ko. 2 above w:.thin the next thirty (30) days or sixty (60) days if test roles are required. I 7 9 C 1 CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A Apr 3,92 9 :11 No.001 P.12 / 'r•' •. 1' ! ! ce ,a r - L • r: '.;I ., o' ^Sw'F - { ^ : '•i ' :. - .. = ' 'A•r r: + •�'y -ra : • :Z I • _ `�' 1 f ; r• �.��.^(F. <yI ':1• • , ti '..- . ,;} u� ,. _.. s: 'Z' . w.Si�i•'� -0►.r. -r 2. Upon submission of the supplemental infor aticm by process plaintiff's aopl.fcet:�ou 11 41 plaintiff, the City shall pr p accordance with the foregoing conclusions of Law. LET JUDGMENT 33 3NTERRED ?ACCORDINGLY. Dated: April 2, 1992 BY THE CT: sal n :�i� Judge. 11 F 2 T. 4. 11 1 • • - 1 1 .is I. CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A Apr 3,92 9:06 No.001 P.02 1 :,. • t r- J.E. Bri. - -, Jr• & RCithcny 3. G1cekel • Attorneys at Law Law STA: E OE MINNIE.c.OT.4 I 100 tiashington Squ re, Suite 1350 PO Minnearolig, I 1 55401 CGUi4Y C'F. C?.a ER NOTICE OF: co r II ThDalaz K. Scott Attar.:ey a t Law ENTRY OF.UOC��C"J i 38C► Corc =ate Centex C;- a k317 y Fagan ni 55121 0 C•OCKVIN3 CF JUD3wMEW rrl IN E.: CCUE1• FIB RO. 9 D - 2 7C 9 9 70 II Maon.N'alley A99=egate, Inc., a PM Corp. vs. City cf ChanE►aeee = 8 C O II C You are hereby notified that • the above ea._tied at=tter that or. 4 -2 12 ��j II 3indd .gs and C rdet Was dU:.y =_1ed.. Order was duly filed. • F4; °c i.r.gs c _ Fact. Coo.c1us_aos of Lew and Order 'aor Judime :t was duly 1 f Judgnent automatically stays 3C days. x O I Judgocot vas duly eacersd. : Ju vz CD Z.gtunt was duly docketed in the acoat of ; II Other cv oa al . .Ca CD • II - hated: 412-:92 . G1;.MeR3 M. ES$, C:urt -_istrator Copiee attached. ey &, 4i�:�.:(e. 1 3 12 . 4d8 - ' ' * 120L putt h Coax.. Matti fiat ..atir. Carver Cout7 CoLrttoae•e I 6:0 = st4th Street Chaska, 1a 55318 • .o A. trta and cctrect ccp_v of this lvo :ice has been served by ma .1 u; on the parties f■ herein at the last know: address of taca, yyrsusat to Minnesota Rules :r Civ4.1 r'_o :ed;.re, Rule 27.04 II CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A. ee p�L K Attorneys at La« ' " Th 1 ( .I1 (612) 4S' -�, Y' Fax (012 45' -555,1 Th .,. \1 L Jam R \\ .;1.., n B t nrt ,h April 6 ' 1992 \h,had A Rr, Rkn.:t 1` incr 1 Mr. Don Ashworth Chanhassen City Hall 690 Coulter Drive, Box 147 Chanhassen, Minnesota 55317 Ms. Germaine Jesberg 1 City of Victoria P.O. Box 36 Victoria, Minnesota 55386 1 RE: Minnewashta Parkway Detachment /Annexation Dear Mr. Ashworth and Ms. Jesberg: 1 Enclosed for your files please find the Minnesota Municipal Board's Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order in 1 connection with the above matter. Very truly yours, 1 CAMP ELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & UCHS • 1 BY: Roger N. Knutson RNK:srn Enclosure 1 1 1 APR071992 I CITY OF CHANHASSEN 1 `untk: 31 • E <,andale Office Center • 1380 Corporate Center Curve • Eagan, MN 55121 D-282 Victoria/ II A -4938 Chanhassen 1 BEFORE THE MUNICIPAL BOARD OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA Kenneth F. Bette Chair Robert J. Ferderer Vice Chair 1 John W. Carey Commissioner 1 IN THE MATTLa OF THE DETACHMENT F FACT OF CERTAIN LAND FROM THE CITY OF ) CONCLUSIONS FNNs O O OF LAW VICTORIA AND ANNEXATION TO THE ) AND ORDER I CITY OF CHAISSEN PURSUANT TO MINNESOTA STA UTHS 414 II On February 26, 1992 the Minnesota Municipal Board received a resolution from the City of Victoria, which requested the detachment of II certain ro erty, and the City of Chanhassen, which requested the II P P annexation of the same territory pursuant to Minnesota Statutes 414.061. After review of the resolutions, the Minnesota Municipal Board hereby 1 makes and files the following Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and II . Order. FINDINGS OF FACT y II 1. That resolutions requesting concurrent detachment and annexation of certain property was received from the Cities of Chanhassen II and Victoria. 2. The resolutions contained all the information required by II statute including a description of the territory proposed for detachment I and annexation, which is as follows: That part of the right-of-way for County State Aid Highway in the I 15, also known as Minnewashta Parkway, embraced Northeast Quarter of the Southeast Quarter of Section 7, Township 116, Range 23, Carver County, Minnesota, and lying northerly of the northerly right -of -way line of State Highway II No. 5. II 3. The area proposed for detachment and annexation is situated 1 -2- within the City of Victoria and abuts the municipal boundary of the City of Chanhassen. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW , 1. The Minnesota Municipal Board duly acquired and now has jurisdiction of the within proceeding. 2. An order should be issued by the Minnesota Municipal Board concurrently detaching and annexing the area described herein. 1 ORDER 1. IT I3 HEREBY ORDERED: That the property described in Findings of Fact 2 be, and the same hereby is, detached from the City of Victoria , and annexed to the City of Chanhassen, the same as if it had originally been made a part thereof. 1 2. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED: That the effective date of this order is April 2, 1992. Dated this 2nd day of April, 1992. ' MINNESOTA MUNICIPAL BOARD 475 McColl Building St. Paul, Minnesota 55101 Patricia D. Lundy Assistant Director .I 44, Se,"-- Ayittia League of Minnesota Cities Cityvlews • • 1 Number4 for Minnesota Legislators b rarchto,1992 WHY CITIES ARE SHOCKED BY THE GOVERNOR'S BUDGET PROPOSAL 1 A. THE PROPOSAL DESTROYS THE INTEGRITY OF THE DEDICATED LOCAL GOVERNMENT TRUST FUND LESS THAN ONE YEAR AFTER IT WAS CREATED. 1 x Raids the local government trust fund by 5 198 million over three years. x Takes money from the 1 /2 -cent local option sales tax adopted in 1991 by Local 1 governments. 1 B. THE PROPOSAL CREATES DRASTIC EFFECTS ON CITY BUDGETS THIS YEAR. x Cuts 8% of city revenue bases for calendar year 1992. x With the budget year partly gone, these cuts would be about 12% for the balance of the year. 1 x These cuts are on top of cuts of 4% of city revenue bases enacted in the 1991 session for the 1992 budget year. ' x These cuts are on top of frozen city levy limits in 1992. x Examples of Governor's proposed cuts: Minneapolis - -$15 million, St. Paul - -$10 million, Duluth - -$2.2 million. C. THE PROPOSAL CREATES EXTREME UNFAIRNESS BETWEEN LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS. x City aid cuts are 29% of the total state budget cuts proposed by the Governor, while city aid is ' only 6.6% of the state budget. x No cuts for counties and townships, which provide many of the same services as cities. x Many cities receive no aid cuts (those getting HACA but no LGA), making the aid cuts to other cities higher. DON'T BUST THE TRUST For more information, contact John Tomlinson at 227 -5600 + -- 1 THE 1991 TAX LAW 1 A. LOCAL GOVERNMENT TRUST FUND 1. Programs paid from trust fund were arranged to match with these aid' cuts: Fiscal year 1992 —$85 million. Fiscal year 1993 —$86 million. These cuts applied even with forecasted sales tax growth. RESULT: Trust fund aids DECLINED from FY91 to FY93, despite 1 sales tax growth. 2. The trust fund approach was widely praised for: 1 Removing local aids from state budget problems. Accountability of local governments. 1 Stability of local budgets. CONCLUSIONS: RAIDING THE TRUST FUND WOULD DESTROY: 1 The benefits of the trust fund. Trust in the state /local partnership. 1 1 1 1 11 THE 1991 TAX LAW B. THE ADVISORY COMMISSION ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS (ACIR) 43 1. FOR FISCAL YEARS 19924: The LMC made a resent raids anon favoring no raids on the trust fund. No suggestions or motions were made re: FY92 -93. 2. FOR FISCAL YEARS 1994 -95: 1 The ACIR adopted (15-4) support for the vetoed language for FY94 -95. (No raid on trust fund, about $80 million for aid growth.) THIS IS THE OFFICIAL AND ONLY RECOMMENDATION OF THE ACIR. Other ro osals were discussed proving lesser aid growth—$29 million P p g g owt $29 miition to $42 million. None passed, but all members voted for some version 1 with at least $29 million aid growth. • ' The Governor's proposal is about $120 million worse in aid growth than the worst proposal supported by all ACIR members. CONCLUSION: THE GOVERNOR'S PROPOSAL IGNORES ALL EFFORTS OF THE ACIR. 1 • 1 1 1 ARGUMENT #1 FOR THE GOVERNOR'S PROPOSAL: 1 "IT'S NOT A REAL CUT, JUST A REMOVAL OF GROWTH." SMILLION 1 CITY TOTAL LGA & EA CITY AID 1 1989 376 511 , 1990 336 495 1991 303 473 1 1992, Current law 299 486 � 1k I 1992, Governor's proposal 228 415 • 1 1 1 1 g ARGUMENT #2 FOR THE GOVERNOR'S PROPOSAL: • °THE CUT IS SMALL, ONLY 2.7% OF THE CITY REVENUES." 1. Percent of total city revenue 1 71.6 = 2.7% 2650 C /curicl nu- , ue-j) 2. Percent of city revenue base for all cities 111 . 71.6 = 6.7% 1071 (Revenue base = approx. General Fund revenue of cities). 3. Percent of city revenue base for the cities subject to full cut 8.02% M,4uW (Method for cut specfied in the bill:) 4. Percent of total cuts in state budget r 71.6 = 30% 236 1 ° Total city aid is 6.6% of state budget. 1 City LGA is 4)f state budget. NOTES: 1. Cities have 9 1/2 months left in budget year, state has 15 1/2 months. ' 2. Previous hits on city 1992 budgets: ets: 9 Aid cuts 4% of revenue base. Frozen levy limits —no population or inflation growth. 1 ARGUMENT #3 FOR THE GOVERNOR'S PROPOSAL: 1 "State agencies are being cut 8.7%, 9 9 far more than the city revenue cuts." u SOME OF THE ITEMS INCLUDED IN "38 MILLION BUDGET CUTS FOR STATE AGENCIES" , $Million 1. Eliminate "Payment in Lieu of Taxes" to counties 2.1 I 2. Move state zoo revenues and expenses from general 1 fund to a new dedicated fund 3.6 3. Cut of Minnesota High Technology Council 7.9 1 4. Improved actuarial estimates on state employee 1 pensions and life insurance 7.4 5. Transfer of OSHA and vocational rehab funding from 1 general fund to Workers' Comp Special Fund (general funds revenues reduced $1.7 million, possible 1 employer assessment $1.2 million, no change in services). 2,9 1 23.9 1 IMPACT OF CUTS ON THIS BIENNIUM 1 AND NEXT BIENNIUM 1 $Million Ratio, next biennium FY92 -93 FY94 -95 to this biennium 1 City aid cut 66 132 2.0 1 State cuts, 38 26.5 0.7 as listed 1 I • ARGUMENT #4 .1 FOR THE GOVERNOR'S O S PROPOSAL• . 1 "CITIES CAN DEAL WITH AID CUTS 1 BY USING UP THEIR LARGE FUND BALANCES." 1 REVENUE BASE CASH FLOW OF A CITY • II 1. For illustration, does not include other revenues and expenditures, such as special assessments and user fees. 2. Sample city. has 2/3 property taxes, 1/3 aid. • 1 • 3. Revenue dates: Property taxes -- late June late November 1 AIDS -- July 20 Dec. 15 1 END MONTH BALANCE I MONTH REVENUES EXPENDITURES WITH ZERO WITH $500 RESERVE RESERVE 1 JAN. $0 $100 - $100 $400 FEB. 0 100 - 200 '300 1 MAR. 0 100 - 300 200 APR. 0 100 - 400 100 MAY 0 100 - 500 0 I JUNE 400 PT 100 - 200 300 JULY 200 AID 100 100 400 AUG. 0 100 - 200 300 SEPT. 0 100 - 300 200 I OCT- 0 100 - 400 100 NOV. 400 PT 100 - 100 400 DEC. 200 AID 100 0 500 II TOTAL 1200 1200 1 BALANCE REQUIRED TO AVOID NEGATIVES: 500 = 42% OF ANNUAL REVENUE BASE. 1 1200 1 si c 1 1. _N 0, c• . - ., ... '.,.- LI E A • .... .S •-•." ..• 1 , s ... a _ o _ ... , 4 A i - -• ... R ... ... .. II el4 r., 0 _ • ... r••4 . . C1 ,,, -• 5 ..... _ .., 8 I C.; A - • a . 5 z _ . < ... -. "7:: - ..7.• . 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' ,. • :::::ie':.::::::4:*:::::::::::;:-i: :: . ;:::: ::?:::: . :*:: ...,:. • .. ••?:. .: Total State & Local - —. - '•••"'•'-•-•-i.: — ;•" • ---- - • • - • --. . ..„:„.....:::.:::::::::. :::::...„.:,....::::::::„..„..„,:: .„.. .... . .:...:•...:::::::.,:::::::::::„.„::::.:•:.• ••:••::....:„...:. . •.• .„ .,::. ., ..:•::•.,....,..:::::,::::::::.....:,,,,:.::::::::::,...,::::..,,,,,...y.:..",......,..,,,,,,,...:::::::,,,,,,,,,. 4.:::::::::,::::::,.... ..:,..,,,,•-:. .::.::, .: :::::. :: •: t 3 ' 089 ::::::::::::::K:Ii:::::::::::::q.::::.:::::::iiiCeii:.i::::::::::::.WWW:::i:::::" ::::...i:i:: '.igi:::::::::,.:.:::::::::::•.:.:::' :i. v : •i : * : A ?' iiMMEnlinie4IVii.„„Kii;?:. ....:•1§iggM44:• :.:. :::••• •.;:K % i:::;}:::::::*:•:•:Ni : !::::: ..•• • . • .:::::::::::?:::;:::::::::::•::.:::KA::ii:''ng..K%*:::•:::M.MK.:.>..0*:•::'•::?0:,K;M:••.•::::::?::4•AKM:*:!:K.:::::*::::K::: i§': :Ki ••:• ... :•::::.i.::•.: '..i.;•:!;.;:.;•K if•'::::::•.q::::1•:•;•::;::; • •:,:•':".•:•:.M::::::::::V.:••*::•.$.:::K::::.•::::::•,:•::4;;::KF:•:::::,,::::::*"::::•,:•"$:KIA:::::::Zy","?•::::::'::::,..% :: 'K.e' ::::•':'•'%•:":::. •::.,'"••:::, ..,, .., .x...• . K •:::•"•:%; '•:'":".::::.: . KtK::.K.:.: . :•?:".... %::::•.'..::::::"•:: .K.::•: ..:K .:. % . ' . • 4T V.. . ..,' 5 ''''.'1.1L' • ....;.):4.X.,.:J....,":',":7",•:',1) , :: (102% of U.S. .;,;!: 8903 ?...?:.. I ) Average . .,,............... ..... ......... . C - :.;::::::.:: .::: ' $888 ,... •V., v... • . ..., • ....,....... • • .. , . . , ....; • .X : ., §.•: ' ff . ::: ... 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 - • $ 0 $ 1 000 $2 $3 $4,000 , $5 LL Minnesota i:i U.S. „ . Source: U.S. Census Bureau -. - 1 1 1 1 .1 I 1991 LOCAL GOVERNMENT SALARY STUDY 1 1 1 Office of the State Auditor Research and Government Information Division 1 March 1992 1 • 1 1 1 1 1 PREFACE This study of salaries and wages paid to employees of Minnesota's local governments g is has been prepared by the Office of the State Auditor as mandated by Laws of Minnesota (1991), Chapter 345, Article I, Section 20, Subdivision 4. In pertinent part, the mandate requires: By February 1, 1992, the state auditor, with the cooperation of the ' commissioner of employee relations, shall report to the kgislature on the salaries of the positions subject to the political subdivision salary limit in Minnesota Statutes, section 43A.17, subdivision 9. This report shall included ' analysis of total salaries, highest salaries, comparisons with other states and public and private sectors, and any other information the state auditor considers appropriate regarding salaries and other potential efficiencies and cost savings in political subdivisions. Political subdivisions shall cooperate with the state auditor in providing the information necessary for this report. ' This Report is the culmination of seven months of extensive data collection, research and analysis of Minnesota's local government salaries. The report was prepared by the Research and Information Division of the Office of the State Auditor. The division is headed by Mr. Jim Gelbmann, Assistant State Auditor for Research and Information. The study, and preparation of the Report to the Legislature, was directed by Ms. Dorothy Bliss, Director of Research. Mr. ' John Jernberg and Mr. Dan Medenblick conducted much of the research for this study and assisted in drafting the report. Assistance was also provided by Mr. Robert Paolina. ' The Office of the State Auditor could not have completed this project without the assistance of Commissioner Linda Barton of the Minnesota Department of Employee Relations and her staff, Ms. Jan Wiessner, Assistant to the Commissioner, Mr. Jim Lee, Director of i Compensation, and Ms. Liz Koncker, Personnel Representative. The Commissioner and her staff assisted our Office in designing the methodology for the study, as well as providing insight 1 on a number of issues related to public employee compensation. The Office of the State Auditor also extends its appreciation to Commissioner R. Jane ' Brown and the staff of the Minnesota Department of Jobs and Training. Commissioner Brown made available data on Minnesota's private sector salaries and wages collected through the 1990 Annual Salary Survey conducted by the Department of Jobs and Training. This data base was 1 a key component of our analyses of local government salaries. The Office of the State Auditor would also like to thank the Association of Minnesota ' Counties, the Minnesota School Boards Association, the League of Minnesota Cities and the dozens of local government officials who provided input for our study. These individuals provided us with technical assistance to facilitate our analysis of the wage and salary data. They 1 tl also responded to our inquiries as we sorted through the many issues related to the wage and salary comparisons. The associations designated individuals to serve on an advisory council established by our Office for this smdy:met Membership of the Advisory Council, in addition to the over 50 individuals who toot the time to provide input into the many issues addressed by' this study, are identified in Appendix A.) Finally, we would like to extend our most sincere appreciation to the hundreds of local' government officials who took the time to complete our surveys and respond to our requests for clarification of the information provided. • This Report is hereby submitted to the V ln�oa uY M _ a Legislature in compLance with Laws of Minnesota (1991), Chapter 145, Article 1, `Section 20, Subdivision 4. 4 stark �B. Dayton State Auditor March 1992 ' • 1 1 • 1 t. :�_� 1 1 1 1 - t 1 1 • • 1 rt EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 h During the 1991 Minnesota legislative session, an article in the St. Paid Pioneer Press on local government salaries caught the Legislature's attention. The article focused on the ' number of St. Paul city employees earning over S50,000 per year. It generated so much concern that the Legislature considered language freezing non - represented local government employee salaries. One proposal froze all salaries over $50, 000; another went even further and froze those salaries above $35, 000. In conference committee the language freezing salaries was omitted. In its stead, the Office of the State Auditor was directed to do a study of local government ' salaries. To do this study, we looked both at groups of employees earning over and those earning ' less than $50,000 per year. For employees earning over $50,000, we conducted a survey of over 650 cities, counties, school districts and special services districts with at least one employee earning more than $50,000. For employees earning less than S50,000, we relied on data from several local government surveys. We compared this local government data to salary data for similar private sector occupations. SUMMARY F O FINDINGS Employees Earning Over $50,000 In our research we found that as of June 30, 1991, over 4,800 local government employees earn more than $50,000 per year. Based on the Census Bureau's 1989 count of 137,071 full-time local government employees statewide, this means that approximately 3.5 ' percent of all full -time Minnesota local government employees earn over $50,000 annually. Five percent of Minnesota state government employees earn over S50,000. For all employees in Minnesota, in both the public and private sectors, six percent earned over $50,000 per year ' in 1990 (CPS data). Almost 70 percent of the local government employees earning over 550,000 are in ' administrative, managerial, or supervisory positions. Other positions paying at that level are highly trained professionals, such as attorneys or engineers. In addition, a significant proportion of city employees (26 percent) paid over $50,000 are police and fire personnel. Insufficient data made it impossible to compare every position earning over S50,000 with similar positions in the private sector. Where comparisons are possible, however, we find that ' most local government professionals make wages comparable to their private sector counterparts. Some occupations, such as social worker or librarian, earn more in local government. Others, such as attorneys, engineers, and accountants, may be able to earn more in the private sector. • One area in which * juttote_pplor opirly pays more than the public sector for I • comparable positions is in senior Inanigement. compared the salaries of a limited number of top metropolitan local government managers (i.e.., county administrators, executive directors, and mayors) to the salaries paid to senior executives in selected Minnesota corporations. (See I Table C-1 on page 65.) These comparisons show that private sector senior executives earn . several times more than comparable tap menthes 11 beat government. • • • We were not able to Mike similar domp�i1 -TeVel managers or for the administrators of medium to smell local jurisdictions. The tospondbllities Of administrators, managers and supervisors in both die **tic and private sectors can vary Widely. More focused II research would be needed to make adequate public-private Comparisons for these jobs. Local Government Executives - National Comparisons The International City Management Association publishes - animal comparisons of the 1 average salaries of local government executives (ei. • "vity managers, County administrators, - . finance directors, police chiefs) for all states. 'Our review Of Vumesota's local government I executive salaries for 1990, relative to other states, (nand that Illnnesont 'ranks from fifteenth III for the average salaries of assistant managers, to seventh for the average salaries of parks and recreation directors. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (1990) reports that Minnesota ranks I fourteenth among the states for average salaries of all public and private sector employees. Minnesota's national rankings for local government mutative salaries, therefore, are • comparable to its national rank for overall salaries. Employees Earning Less Than *S0,000 1 When we looked at local government employees earning less than 550,000, we found that ig the lesser-paid employees of load governments tend to earn more than their private sector 111 counterparts. Our comparison of benchmark occupations indicates that local government salaries for a number of jobs seldom fell behind the private sector average. 'Metropolitan area I jurisdictions, especially, generally out-paced the wages of the private sector. . Significant Disparities in Local Government Salary Struanns • „ , • • , In addition to wages, we examined the salary structures of local government jurisdictions 1 by comparing the percent of full-time employees paid over 550,000 between cities, counties and school districts of similar characteristics. We found that metropolitan area cities have the greatest disparities in their salary structures, ranging from no employees paid over 550,000, to I 10.48 percent of the employees of the City of St. Paul earning over S50,000. Greater Minnesota city salary structures range from no employees earning over 550,000 to 6.1 percent of Rochester's work force earning more than 550,000 per year. iv 1 All metropolitan area counties pay some employees over 550,000. Carver County pays 3.5 percent of its work force over $50,000, while Ramsey County pays 10.53 percent of its employees over $50,000. Greater Minnesota counties appear to have the most uniform salary 1 structures, ranging from no employees earning over 550,000 in 37 counties, to 2.7 percent of Sherburne County employees earning over S50,000. All metropolitan area school districts employ at least one person at S50,000 per year or more. Their salary structures range from one percent in the Norwood school district to eight percent in North St. Paul. At least 187 Greater Minnesota school districts employ one or more individuals at salary levels of S50,000 or greater. Their salary structures range from less than one percent of employees over $50,000 to seven percent of employees earning over S50,000 in z ' the Kenyon school district. The results of this analysis show a general lack of consistency in salary structures for cities and school districts, For example, the results of Table 3 on page 16 show that there is no apparent relationship between city size, expenditures, and the salary paid to the city manager. Table 4 on page 19 reveals that some large cities pay a smaller proportion of their full-time employees more than $50,000 than do other, smaller cities. This discrepancy is also -1 true for school districts, and the salaries paid to school superintendents (see Table C -2 on e 70). Counties, on the other hand, seem to follow a more consistent nab pa ttern: larger counties 1 usually pay higher salaries than smaller counties. ' Public Employee Unions Impact Salaries Part of our survey research involved asking whether a position was represented by a bargaining unit. We found that almost 85 percent of employees earning over $50,000 in the City of St. Paul are represented by a union. Over half of the City of Minneapolis' employees at that level are represented. Nearly a third of Hennepin and Ramsey county employees over $50,000, and over 40 percent of high -paid school district employees are organized. The levels of unionization in the suburban metropolitan area, and in Greater Minnesota, are much less. 1 Levels of unionization are clearly related to salary levels. A study by the National Conference of State Legislatures found that the states with the highest average earnings for state I and local employees also are highly unionized; the states with the lowest average earnings have low unionization. 1 Benefits Range From Good to Excellent After analyzing local government employee salaries, we opted to review employee benefit packages as well. We found evidence of good, and often excellent fringe benefits. For example, 14 percent of private sector employees receive over 25 days of paid vacation per year, regardless of their length of service. In contrast, almost 28 percent of Greater Minnesota 1 v 1 cities over 2,500 offer more than 25 paid vacation days per year, after 15 to 30 years o service. One bargaining unit in the City of Mountain Iron receives 40 days of paid vacatio (eight weeks) after 25 years of service. Another area where the public sector benefits clearly exceed private sector levels is i i paid holidays. Only 28 percent of the full -time employees in the private sector receive more than ten paid holidays; in contrast, 76 percent of the Minnesota cities and counties in ours sample provide more than 10 paid holidays.' In the area of sick leave and health insurance, local government employees also fare II better than the private sector. Many private sector employees have a limited number of days to use for sick leave each year, while local government employees may carry sick leave accruals over from one year to the next. Virtually all local governments in our study offer some level' of health coverage. For counties and non - metropolitan cities over 2,500, about 78 percent pay the full premium for single coverage. For metropolitan cities over 2,500, 93 percent pay the full premium for single coverage. Many private sector employers offer health insurance, but' only 48 percent of workers have the full cost of coverage paid for by their employers. The combined effects of good pay and great benefits means that local government employees overall fare better than their private sector counterparts. THE NEED FOR COMMON GOALS TO ACHIEVE COST CONTAINMENT Our findings indicate there is sufficient reason for concern about the salaries and benefits being provided for many local government employees. For cities over 2,500, salaries and benefits comprise approximately 54 percent of total city expenditures, For Minnesota counties, salaries and fringe benefits account for approximately 38 percent of total expenditures. (The lower county percentage is a result of the large amounts counties spend on payments to individuals for various public assistance programs.) Efforts to contain local government costs cannot ignore areas of overly generous employee compensation. A number of different groups are involved in, or affected by, the salary, Setting process. To address the friction inherent in efforts to contain local government spending through controls on local government salary levels, and the desire of local governments for autonomy in salary 1 decisions, we considered both the spoken and implied goals of each of these groups. They include: the Legislature; local governments; unions; both public and private sector employees; I private sector employers; and the taxpayers of Minnesota. The principal goals of these groups are: 'Ten paid holidays are mandated by state law (MN Statutes 645.44, Subd. 5). vi ' 1 1 ' 1) maintain or improve service quality; 2) cut the costs of doing business, or keep costs low; 3) keep taxes, individual and corporate, from rising; ' 4) improve working and employment conditions; and 5) control government spending. Many of these goals are shared by more than one of the parties listed above. These goals also reflect the tension between the forces for saving and those for spending. Our most important finding in this exercise, however, is that one important group may not share the goal ' of reducing government costs, particularly if it affects wages. Public employee unions rightfully exist for the purpose of protecting and enhancing workers' rights, wages, and benefits. They 1 share no responsibility for reducing public spending. Because of their size, and therefore influence in the public sector, they are an important counterweight on the drive to control costs. ( Public employee unions representing essential employees (e.g., fire, police) have a unique 1 influence on local government salaries. If a local government and an essential employee bargaining unit are unable to negotiate a contract, the matter goes to arbitration. In arbitration, a neutral third party is chosen to decide the contested issues. The decision of the arbitrator is binding on both employer and union. The effect of the binding arbitration process is to place decisions about salary levels in the hands of individuals with no direct accountability to local 1 taxpayers. Because of their size and influence, unions have another effect on the salary setting ' process. State and local elected officials are reluctant to conflict with employee unions, which wield considerable political clout. For example, the Minnesota Senate last year approved a proposal to freeze local government salaries over S50,000 • -- but only for non - represented 1 employees. Locally elected officials also may have difficulty challenging the salary requests of public employee unions. Public employee unions can be a significant factor in the outcome of local elections because of their ability to turn members out to vote, combined with the relatively low general voter turnouts for local elections. Elected officials need the direct involvement and 1 cooperation of public employee unions if local government salary levels are to be addressed. I It may also be in the best interest of public employee unions to become involved in attempts to balance local government salaries with those in the private sector. Failure to address excessive disparities in local government and private sector salary structures where they exist will breed increasing levels of taxpayer discontent. Minnesota taxpayers may opt to register their discontent at the ballot box. Forcing government cost containment through the election of candidates committed solely to reducing government spending could result in significant public .1 sector employee layoffs and critical reductions in public services. 1 1 vu 1 THE EFFECT OF STATE POLICIES 1 The statute creating this study directs the State Auditor's Office to compare local government salaries with the private sector. The Legislature has directly indicated, however through policies enacted in statute, that there are at least two areas where they clearly do not want public sector salaries to mirror private sector salaries. The first is in traditionally female dominated job classes. Through passage of landmark ui laws in 1983 and 1984, the Legislature made it clear that their goal is to correct n arketbuities in male- dominated and female- dominated jobs of comparable � pay between l expected result is to find an increase in the difference private sector and s ubl�i s' the, pay for the affected occupations. P c senior The second area where public sector salaries differ from the private sector by design is in top -level public sector jobs. The legislatively mandated g 95 percent of the governor's indicates salary �P for public employees of should aspire to earn more than the highest-ranking lo lief t hat no public employee' rule are made for physicians, the Minnesota Legislature has effectively sent the message that employment in the public sector is in large measure service, and that there is a reasonable limit to what public servants can expect to be paid ' 1 SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS Based on the findings of this study, we draw these main conclusions: cIusions: 1) Local eve 1 g rnment employees overall are adequately, and often amply compensated relative to the private sector as a whole. The fact that local government • local with the private sector does not mean, however, that every a comparison of average salaries ' government employee is I overpaid. Nor do we conclude that most local government employees earning 'over $50,000 are overpaid. In fact, we found no reason to focus concern about salary levels only on employees earning over $50,000 per year. If over - compensation of public sector employees is suspected, It should be Investigated on a jurisdiction by jurisdiction, job class by applies to the examination of overgenerous benefits, as well. Y j ob class basis. This • 1 2) The level of unionization among Local government employees earning over $50,000 in the metropolitan area is so high that any blanket approach to controlling salaries, if it focuses only on non - represented employees, will miss the mark. 1 viii 1 1 Despite their concern about local government salaries, the Legislature did not propose 1 a salary freeze for union members. We heard several times from local government officials that a selective freeze on only non - represented employees would only provide the necessary motivation for groups of currently non - represented local government employees to organize (e.g., department heads and professionals). The only group of employees left unorganized in the metropolitan area could eventually be those statutorily prohibited from doing so. :! 3) . The apparent lack of consistency in salary structures for Minnesota cities and ' school districts points to the need for greater understanding of the factors influencing salary levels, and the need for more accountability to the taxpayers in those areas. 1 The findings relative to salary structures for all jurisdictions are preliminary. p urinary. We have made this conclusion based on our comparison of the percent of employees paid over $50,000, local government size, population, and fiscal capacity. We found a fairly consistent salary pattern for counties: larger counties tended to have a larger percentage employees paid over $50,000. When we compared cities of similar size, however, some had many more employees 1 paid over $50,000 than others. The numbers and salaries of full-time and part-time employees also varied quite dramatically for cities of similar size. The percent of employees paid over $50,000 also did not appear to be related to the total number of pupils in a school district. We do not know every reason for this variation in the number and percent of high -paid staff. However, state and local officials, and Minnesota taxpayers, should take note of these 1 differences and determine if the salary structures of individual jurisdictions are appropriate. 1 4) The extent of health and pension coverage offered by local governments is commendable, as it meets the goals of social policies. Local government ' employee paid leave benefits for some jurisdictions, however, are extremely high compared to those offered in the private sector. ' Local government fringe benefits vary somewhat between jurisdictions and bargaining units, but are uniformly generous. Health and pension benefits help to meet the goals of government, by taking care of employees who need assistance in illness or advanced age. I Overly generous paid leave compared to the private sector, however, only contributes to the public impression of inefficiency and wastefulness in government. These disparities need to be addressed and analyzed in relation to other factors in public employee compensation. 5) To be successful in keeping public sector salaries in line with private sector salaries, some means must be found to encourage public employer unions, especially those of essential employees, to share the goal of government cost containment. ix 1 For unions, increasing constraints on spending in the public sector have already created some difficulty. Fringe benefits, such as health insurance, while generous in the public sector, compared to the private sector, have been affected. Unions are feeling the pressure of trying to maintain the status quo. Nonetheless, ublic employee unions ' P may need to adjust their responsibilities toward members. "Good" might no longer be defined as across - the -board annual increases in wages II above the cost of living. Instead, more compensation might be given according to individual performance and productivity. Opportunities for merit pay could be increased, with unions ensuring that the measures of performance are clear, consistent, fair, and equitably applied. All employees should have the opportunity to excel. Unions would have to be willing to allow' members to shoulder the responsibility for turning in a job performance that merits an increase in pay -- and be willing likewise to allow some members not to receive an increase. 1 SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS 1) Affirm the salary cap and pay equity laws. ' Both the statutory salary cap and the pay equity requirements are repeatedly raised as significant issues by representatives of local government, although neither of these two policies , have anywhere near the effect on local government salaries as do public employee unions. The salary cap has been reached by only two local government employees, indicating that 1 at its current level it is not a problem for most local governments. This statute prohibiting public sector employees from earning more than 95 percent of the Governor's salary is one of the few checks the Legislature has successfully placed on the growth of local government • salaries, and should be retained. The Department of Employee Relations reports that the average cost of implementing pay I equity for local governments is about two percent of payroll, although this percentage may vary considerably from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. This policy plays an important role in defining 1 the nature of public employment, and should not only stay in place but be reaffirmed. 2) , Do not impose a blanket freeze on local government salaries at any level. There are many factors to consider when trying to discover if local government 1 employees are overpaid. These include the population served, number of people supervised, size of budget, and other individual responsibilities. When public sector employees are generously compensated compared to their private sector counterparts, there may be rational and justifiable 1 explanations for the differences. The mere existence of differences in public and private sector salaries does not necessarily reflect capricious overcompensation on the part of local x ' 1 governments. The possible factors should be considered, and instances of overcompensation ' investigated on a regional and job class basis. • 3) Require local governments to report periodically on their overall salary structures to the Legislature and to local taxpayers. Though we found that many local government employees, especially highly trained professionals, are paid salaries comparable to those found in the private sector, and that senior 1 executives are sometimes paid less, we could not ignore the fact that some local government employees are overpaid relative to the private sector. Local governmenu should be allowed considerable discretion in establishing salary policies. But it is reasonable to expect that there should be some relationship between salary levels and other factors, such as the quality of 1 services provided. At a minimum, there should be public accountability in local salaries. Local government salary data is public information and is available upon request. Many ' local governments report salary information annually. This information, however, is not always readily available or understandable to the general public. Overall local government salary ' structure information should be periodically provided to the Legislature and to local taxpayers. Comparisons of salary structures between similar units of government will make it possible to identify areas of overcompensation that are not caused by the implementation of state policies. ' Such information will allow local taxpayers to determine if the salaries of their local government employees are comparable to the salaries paid by other local governments with similar characteristics. 1 } � 4) Institute reasonable limits on paid leaves for local government employees. Benefits for local ov g ernment employees are even more generous, compared to the private sector, than salaries. Fringe benefits levels in local governments are almost always above the private sector average. This is especially true in the area of paid leaves: vacation days, holiday, and sick leave. Because these policies essentially pay employees for not working, local governments need to take steps wherever possible to correct excessive leave policies, including accruals. 5) Ensure that all employers offer adequate health and pension benefits. A significant portion of the cost of inadequate health and pension benefits for working Minnesotans is clearly borne by the State. While the provision of generous health and pension benefits is another factor setting local government employment apart from the private sector, 1 these benefit levels may be viewed as fulfilling the Legislature's policy goals. Rather than reduce these benefits to private sector levels, private sector employers should be encouraged, if not required, to offer adequate health and pension benefits to their employees. xi 1 1 6) Develop incentives for public employee unions to participate in cost - containment efforts. The issue of union settlements was pervasive throughout our discussions with local government representatives. Part of the issue of high union salaries is historical: earlier generous settlements continue to carry the whole structure forward at a higher level. Another part of the problem is that the binding arbitration process does not have to take costs into' account. Public employees are organized to a much greater degree than private sector employees, and even more are poised to organize if a salary freeze is imposed. Solutions to high salary costs for local government will not work unless unions participate. Unions need .to' recognize that it is in the long -term interests of their members to share in efforts to contain the costs of government. DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE STUDY 1 The issues of salaries and occupations are immensely complex. We have given an l overview, with specific focus on local government salaries over S50,000. But the possibilities for analysis are endless. This is in part because salaries are a moving target: always changing. It is also because every job is to some degree as unique as the individual that holds it. Future 1 studies of local government salaries could take several directions: comparisons of specific local government jobs to similar private sector occupations; comprehensive data collection on a few benchmark occupations for all local units of government and a private sector sample; or an 1 analysis of the relationship between government organization structures and salary levels. The goals, or purpose of any such research needs to be clearly spelled out, however, before the resources to do a study are expended. 1 1 1 1 1 1 xii 1 1 to r Cwel c � r L . c� A THE EFFECTIVE P COMMISSIONER 1 When They Spear, Do You listen? by Elaine Cogan 1 < know you hear me, but and listen at one time, citizens would trust . citizen has raised. "Yes, Mrs. Jones, 1 can are youlistening? " Nearly shout- you more if you put your pencil aside and understand your concern that widening look up at them when they speak. the street will take out those two old oak ingwith exasperation, a frustrated - Another nonverbal behavior pattern trees. Several of your neighbors have also citizen confronted her commu- that annoys citizens is seeing commission - raised that issue. Let's ask staff to respond. 1 nity's planning commission after a par- ers chat with each other or staff when the I know they've looked into the matter.", titularly heated public meeting on a con- public is speaking. While you may be dis- - Staff may tell you and Mrs. Jones I troversial zone change. cussing the subject at hand, or have an- that after reviewing all the alternatives, The chair of the commission took other legitimate purpose, you appear to be they think the old oaks have to go. But, exception to her question. "Of course we're disinterested in the public comment or after you make it clear that citizen concern listening. What do you think we've been just rude. Still another habit to avoid is is important, they may also be willing to I doing the last four hours ?" They may have drumming your forgers or a pencil on the take another look. Whatever the final de- thought they were listening, but the deci- table as if you are impatient to get this all vision, you have shown by your com- sion made by the planning commissioners over with. ments that you were listening, and are not I soon after the meeting did nothing to con- closed to considering new information. vince a skeptical public. The commission - During the commissioners' discus - ers voted unanimously to endorse their u Wl IENEVER YOU ARE sion after the public comment period is 1 previous stand on the issue without any HOLING A MEETING over, look for ways to give further evi- acknowledgment of the public comments - WI IERE - nIE PUBLIC IS dence you were listening. "According to they had ostensibly been "listening to" the what we've heard today, several citizens previous four hours. INVITED TO GIVE seem to think that it is better to save the I It is possible that no amount of pub- COMMENTS OR trees than widen the street. I would like to lic discussion would have changed the TESTIMONY, IT IS explore this further before we make a opinions — and the votes — of the plan- decision." Or, even if you think the citi- 1 Wing commissioners, and it is entirely IMPORTANT TO BE AWARE zees are off track, you should acknowl- within their rights to reaffirm their origi- OF ANY NONVERBAL edge what you heard, and then go on to nal opinion. But once they opened up the CLUES, BEI IAVIOR OR state why you disagree. discussion to the citizens, they should Most citizens are reasonable, and have showed by their questions and other HABITS TI IAT MAY SEEM understand you cannot always give them responses that they considered the public's TO INDICATE what they want. But they do want — and I input seriously before they took another • INATTENTIVENE_SS y, deserve — to have their points -of- -view vote. "Why did we bother to come? They listened to and acknowledged. Nod affix- • didn't even hear what we were saying," is a - 'natively when citizens talk. Look them in 1 reasonable public evaluation of the pro - the eye when you respond. Refer to them ceedings that occurred. The seeds of an In addition to nonverbal behavior, by name. Show respect. Do these seem - apathetic or militant citizenry are nur- be aware of what you say and how you say ingly small things, and you will have gone lured in such unfertile ground. it. When you answer or respond to a pub- a long way toward becoming an effective i Whenever you are holding a meet- lic comment, do you engage in a dialogue and respected planning commissioner. ing where the public is invited to give or in a monologue? In other words, do you Elaine Cogan is a part I comments or testimony, it is important to have your set speech or point -of -view no ner with the firm of _ _ •`: be aware of any nonverbal clues, behavior matter what the citizens say, or do your Cogan Sharpe Cogan, t or habits that may seem to indicate inat- responses show you were listening? One planning and c omma _ 4 i tentiveness. You send a negative message effective approach is to respond to each nications Consultants, ' I to the public when you slouch in your individual by name. if you are not person- Portland, Oregon. Her chair or lean back so far your eyes appear ally acquainted, give your memory a boost column appears in each . to be closed. likewise, if you take profuse by jotting down their names as they intro- issue of the Planning 1 notes with your nose close to your note- duce themselves. Then, take care to couch Commissioners Jour- ' book. Though you may be able to write your response or comments in terms the nal. 1 PLANNING COMMISSIONERS JOURNAL VOLUME 1 NUMBER 2 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1992 l FEATURES P l •4 N N I N G FROM THE EDITOR COMMISSIONER ' • • H enning for Trees I our na en Arnold Asking for byH ry your HeIp Street trees can help define the hearts of our cities and towns. But too often tree planting _ programs are based on poor planning and C bampla"sn Planning Press faulty assumptions. An introduction to some of P.O. Box 4295 . one of my hopes for the Planning the basics of Planning for trees. on, VI 05406 Comm sinners Journal is that it will Te1 802 - 864 - 9083 1 provide a vehicle — or network, if you ly' Definitions & Shared FIX 802-862-18B2 will — for an exchange of views and i Housing for Older Amerkans J CompuServe: 72570,460 ideas among people who volunteer their 2 t oning code definitions Patricia Pollak 1 time and energy to serve on local planning efinitions of "family" an end ups Editor • commissions. barring an important affordable housing Wayne M. Scnville Yes, the Journal will provide sub- i option for members of the community, N ` especially elder residents. Patricia Pollak Editor I Assistant of useful topics. But that's only pa stannve articles and columns on a range ; discusses shared housing and explains why it • part of i should be permitted. i Kaus th Lerner what the Journal can provide. The rest 13 depends on your interest, and your will -P s 1 ingness; to take a few minutes once or; $ twice a year to send us a note or give us a DEPARTMENTS Owl Left Graphics Burlington, VI call. 1 Share information for the News & The Effective Planning Cover Mustrstion Notes section. Or respond to an article. Commissioner Fatal Hoffman What, for example, does your Commis- Do you listen to what members of the public Southbury, CT I sion do about "customer service" — as say at your planning commission meetings? described by Ray Quay in the first issue? Do people know that you're listening? Elaine - Cogan tells why this may be the most Subsatption Infon Has your Commission had any expert- i part of your job as a commissioner. ences with cable TV or other media, like 3 Published 6 tinirsllrcar. wirh an Pawtucket, Rhode Island (see News & it September boos, Suawiard Rs- QM- . ' Notes in this issue). Do you have any Plan Airs o N n Local won ���•��•�'"'�`' & Notes itiam1 Copier $6 ouch. Small or IF: • reaction to Greg Dale's ethics column — for Well-Planned �op�i01f"de' �s,000) sect+- or are there ethical issues you'ld like to Awards Program ,p ISSN 5,000) re r= i Development Projecu discuss? Commissioners Or ientation Manual Being s '� c : Seed mistress dmg: • - If you can invest a bit of time, you'll tanonissiatdsJossrnd. P.o. Sax 4V be helping to make the Journal a better Prepared U & Community Forestry Program Funds fn - V1115406 publication for all its readers. I promise. Tree Planning and Planting Policy 1 Switching gears, in this issue land- 9 • scape architect Henry Arnold provides We strongly encourage subscribers wst Ethics The Planning Commission and ideas. a s kr • an introduction to the topic of street �a'" W hen should you refuse to discuss a matter arbnissions so die Akws & Notes ac. , trees. Future issues of the Journal will before your planning board? Greg Dale offers lie Astic{etatdooltsasassc discuss other aspects of "urban ecology some cautions about "ex- pane" contacts. - i l, „our maxsoarily reflect the views a — an important field that planning com- 10 Jamul is esPyrtIis prAetted s • missions are increasingly dealing with. Planning taw Planer Platnlat Prat 1991. YSIII a+m 1 ° wistrllwtcwy portion of the Joon& :r- Also in this issue, Patricia Pollak exam- Attorney Susan Connelly explains the basic This l; & alesianor+" _ -:you slaw ines "shared housing" for older residents• nonconforming tales • k of • We'll regularly cover subjects like this, ad arthorititive informationLidu that focus on how zoning and planning effect different matter metres e ,,, the publisher ins that the is not engaged in min* fferent segments of our comnmu- 'Nights a�ceat. .coo�ntl� o< oek► nines. professional Bruce Bender asks why people -- like you -- or meat t mid want to serve on planning commissions. services of a professional i 16 sought Wayne M. Senville 1 PLANNING COMMISSIONERS JOURNAL VOLUME 1 NUMBER 2 ANUARY J FE$EVARY 1992 1111 Prudential Securities ,,, tlnrr i 91992 1 March 18, 1992 ee !/ac /� - /e' 1 Don Ashworth, City Manager 1 City of Chanhassen 690 Coulter Drive Chanhassen, MN 55317 Dear Mr. Ashworth: As of this date, I have worked with Tom Chaffee for roughly 1 1 years. We began investing for the City using very conservative strategy typical to most city portfols. As time progressed, Tom pursued alternative strategies based on the needs of the City of Chanhassen. 1 Through Mr. Chaffee's increased knowledge of the market, his insight and utilization of these alternative investments in the government bond arena, Tom was able to obtain substantially 1 higher returns on his investments as interest rates fell during 1991. Sincerely; 1 Steven Paddock First Vice President — Investments cc: Tom Chaffee Mary Jean Meuwissen 1 1 1 1 Prudential Securities Incorporated, Norwest Center, Suite 3500,90 South 7th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402 Tel 612 3404500 Nat'l 800 328 -8048 AX- Office Of y ^_ CARVER COUNTY COURTHOUSE 1 COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR `'11 600 EAST 4TH STREET Richard J Stolz J CHASKA. MINNESOTA 55318 -2186 ( 6121 448 -3435 e ' • COt1 Of CAINEQ EP,R March 10, 1992 1 Donald Ashworth, Adm. Chanhassen City Hall 690 Coulter Drive Chanhassen, MN 55317 1 Dear Mr. Ashworth: During the budget process for 1992 the issue of revenue collection to pay for the cost for our solid waste programs was d{'russed. The majority of the cost of our solid waste programs same from property tax revenue. Within the Environmental Department's proposed budget was approximately $350,000 for certain solid waste programs. This amount was to be placed on the property tax for revenue collection to support the programs. The County Board raised the issue of the method function, the taxpayer pays according to the value of their property. The County Board felt that there was not a direct relationship of solid waste produced to the value of property. Current law allows counties the ability to impose a solid waste fee, like a special assessment, for certain solid waste costs. The method used in this process could be tailored to the needs of the county and gives latitude to its implementation. Based on these facts, the County Administrator analyzed the environmental portion ty y a p n of the county budget and found that approximately $350,000 could be attributed to a solid waste fee. The use of the solid waste fee would be tailored to the citizens more directly than the general property tax levy. Each single family residential structure would pay a fee of $20 regardless of the value of the property. The County Board felt that this was a more equitable method of collection of dollars for solid waste programming. Upon instituting this methodology, the property tax levy was reduced approximately the same amount as was to be collected by the solid waste fee. Therefore, no new dollars are being raised. Instead of levying this money on the property tax, the same amount is now being collected through the solid waste fee, thus reducing the general levy. The following schedule applies: 1 1 1 Affirmative Action /Equol Opportunity Employer 1 Single family residential • $20 Multi family (4 plex and up) per unit $16 1 Apartments -per unit $16 Small commercial ( <$100,000) $40 Large commercial ( >$100,000) $80 1 Small industrial (<$100,000) $60 Large industrial ( >$100,000) $120 1 On each property tax statement, a solid waste fee will be assessed. It will be due and payable with the property tax payment. We anticipate adjustments for errors the first year. There is a procedure for this which will allow us to adjust for first year problems. We feel strongly that this method of collection is a much more equitable method. Improved property that produces solid waste will be billed for the county service. Unimproved property will avoid this type of collection. If you have any questions related to this correspondence please call at your convenience. 1 Sincerely, I 1 Richard J. olz ' Carver County Administrator RJS /dw 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 • CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A. o` -y F. Attorneys at Law TI I anti -,11 (612) 452- 70N R, _ \ K ,:;t Fax (612) 452 -555 T;, \I Garr, 0 Fi,ch lame- F. \ \ .�I EI1�„ B knet.,h February 10, 1992 Mr. Todd Gerhardt Chanhassen City Hall 690 Coulter Drive, Box 147 Chanhassen, Minnesota 55317 RE: Market Square Dear Todd: In connection with the closing of the Market Square project, the title insurance company is requesting evidence of the satisfaction of the contingencies set forth in City Resolution No. 90 -89 which vacated street right -of -way and drainage and utility easements in the Market Square project area. The vacation, however, was contingent upon trail and sidewalk easements provided to the City to accommodate pedestrian traffic along West 78th Street and the receipt of final plat approval and site plan approval for Market Square along with the recordation of the plat. The enclosed resolution needs to be placed on the City Council 1 agenda immediately following closing of the Market Square project. Accordingly, once the closing occurs, please take whatever steps II are necessary to place this on the City Council agenda. I assume it could be placed on the consent portion of the agenda. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please do not II hesitate to call me. Very truly yours, 1 CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCH BY: ' ". Walston 1 JRW:srn Enclosure cc: Don Ashworth RECEfVEE Karen Engelhardt FEB 1 1 199 ( s! 1 r �., �. _ ?) 1 7 • E.i_<u 1,lale Office Center • 138C Corporate Center Curve • Eagan, MN 55121 1 ' CITY OF CHANHASSEN CARVER AND HENNEPIN COUNTIES, MINNESOTA RESOLUTION ' Date: Resolution No. Motion By: Seconded By: RESOLUTION ACKNOWLEDGING SATISFACTION OF CONTINGENCIES NECESSARY FOR THE VACATION OF STREET RIGHT -OF -WAY, UTILITY AND DRAINAGE EASEMENTS LOCATED ON A PORTION OF WEST 78TH STREET, PICHA DRIVE, AND MONTEREY DRIVE IN BURDICK PARK ADDITION, MARKET SQUARE WHEREAS, on July 23, 1990, the City of Chanhassen passed and adopted Resolution No. 90 -89 vacating street right -of -way and drainage and utility easements contingent upon the following: 1. A trail /sidewalk easement shall be provided to the City to accommodate the proposed trail /sidewalk along West 78th Street; 2. The applicant shall receive final plat approval and site plan approval for Market Square and record the plat with Carver County; and WHEREAS, the above listed trail /sidewalk easement has been provided to the City; ' WHEREAS, the final plat of Market Square has been approved and recorded with the Carver County Recorder; and WHEREAS, the site plan for Market Square has been approved by the City. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Chanhassen City I Council that the contingencies set forth in Resolution 90 -89 have been satisfied. ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Chanhassen this ' day of , 1992. ' ATTEST: Don Ashworth, Clerk /Manager Donald J. Chmiel, Mayor or 1 CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A. ee b ea„K / Attorneys at Law �` Thomas J r ` ! 199;i612) 45' -5000 Rt ,er N Knutson Fax (612) 452 -555 Thomas M Scott Gary G Fuchs James R. Walston Elliott B. Knetsch Michael A. Brohack April 1, 1992 �. Renae D. Steiner + += ' Deloitte & Touche 1600 Landmark Tower 345 St. Peter Street Saint Paul, Minnesota 55102 RE: Chanhassen Audit Dear Sir /Madam: 1 Our office is legal counsel for the City of Chanhassen. You have asked for our response on pending or threatened litigation in which we represent the City. Our response is as follows: 1. Lowell Carlson and Janet Carlson v. City of Chanhassen. a) Description of the nature of the matter. Petition 1 for Writ of Mandamus. The plaintiffs seek an order directing the City to initiate condemnation proceedings. The plaintiffs allege that the City's actions in prosecuting Mr. Carlson for ordinance violations amount to inverse condemnation. b) Progress of the matter to date. An order has been issued putting the case on hold until conclusion of the criminal prosecution. The City Council recently approved a storage building and outside storage area. Mr. Carlson is obligated to construct these improvements or to seek relief in district court. c) How the City has responded. The City has interposed an answer denying the claim and is vigorously defending the lawsuit. 1 d) Evaluation of the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome and estimation of amount or range of potential loss. In our opinion the City has a good defense. The potential monetary loss is deemed to be minimal. The primary thrust of the plaintiff's suit is for an order requiring the City to condemn the property. 1 - 1 Suite 317 • Eagandale Office Center • 1380 Corporate Center Curve • Eagan, MN 55121 1 Deloitte & Touche April 1, 1992 Page 2 2. Moon Valley Aggregate, Inc. v. City of Chanhassen. a) Description of the nature of the matter. Plaintiff seeks to have the Chanhassen mining ordinance declared unconstitutional. The City has counterclaimed seeking an ' order that plaintiff must comply with the ordinance. b) Progress of the matter to date. The court has determined that the ordinance is constitutional and that ' plaintiff must submit an application. The extent of any conditions that the City may impose upon plaintiff's mining operation has not been decided by the court. c) How the City has responded. The City interposed an answer, filed a counterclaim, and is vigorously defending the case. ' d) Evaluation of the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome and estimation of amount or range of potential ' loss. Plaintiff is not seeking monetary damages. The court had already determined that the mining ordinance is enforceable. ' 2. Deborah Carpenter Rand v. City of Chanhassen. a) Description of the nature of the matter. Plaintiff is a former employee of the City who has commenced a lawsuit in Carver County District Court claiming sex discrimination. b) Progress of the matter to date. The Summons and Complaint has been served on the City, but to our knowledge has not been filed with the district court. The matter will remain dormant until the plaintiff decides to file the Complaint. _! c) How the City has responded. Prior to the district court suit, the plaintiff filed a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. The City responded ' to the complaint and the Department determined there was no probable cause. Plaintiff then filed the present action in district court and the City has answered the Complaint and denied her allegations. d) Evaluation of the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome and estimation of amount or range of potential ' loss. The City's insurer has accepted indemnification of the claims, with certain reservations. The City has a 1 r Deloitte & Touche April 1, 1992 Page 3 strong liability defense and its exposure to any potential monetary loss is minimal. ' • 4. Assessment Appeals. Four assessment appeals are pending. . 5. Condemnation Proceedings. There are several condemnation proceedings pending in which the City is the plaintiff. 6. Lawsuits or litigation instituted between December 31, , 1990, and the date of our reply. The only lawsuit instituted since December 31, 1990, was Deborah Carpenter Rand v. City of Chanhassen. ' 6. Unasserted Claims or Assessments. We are not aware of any unasserted claims or assessments. In the course of performing legal services for the City with respect to a matter recognized to involve an unasserted possible claim or assessment that may require financial statement disclosure, whenever we have formed a professional opinion that the City should disclose or consider disclosing such possible claim or assessment, as a matter of professional responsibility to the City, we would so advise the City and would consult with the City concerning the question of such disclosure and the applicable requirements of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 5. Very truly yours, CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A. AF (Agt I if BY: t Elliott B. ,;. ►etsch EBK:srn cc: Don Ashworth 1 1 1 ee ff k- ' D-282 Victoria/ 4/ A -4938 Chanhassen BEFORE THE MUNICIPAL BOARD ' OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA Kenneth F. Sette Chair Robert J. Ferderer Vice Chair John W. Carey Commissioner IN THE MATTER OF THE DETACHMENT ) OF CERTAIN LAND FROM THE CITY OF ) FINDINGS OF FACT VICTORIA AND ANNEXATION TO THE ) CONCLUSIONS OF LAW CITY OF SEN PURSUANT TO ) AND ORDER MINNESOTA STATu'ri S 414 On Feb 26, 1992 the Minnesota Municipal Board received a February , P ' resolution from the City of Victoria, which requested the detachment of certain property, and the City of Chanhassen, which requested the annexation of the same territory pursuant to Minnesota Statutes 414.061. After review of the resolutions, the Minnesota Municipal Board hereby makes and files the following Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and II Order. FINDINGS OF FACT ' 1. That resolutions requesting concurrent detachment and annexation of certain property was received from the Cities of Chanhassen and Victoria. 2. The resolutions contained all the information required by statute including a description of the territory proposed for detachment and annexation, which is as follows: l That part of the right-of-way for County State Aid Highway No. 15, also known as Minnewashta Parkway, embraced in the Northeast Quarter of the Southeast Quarter of Section 7, Township 116, Range 23, Carver County, Minnesota, and lying ' northerly of the northerly right -of -way line of State Highway No. 5. ' 3. The area proposed for detachment and annexation is situated -2- within the City of Victoria and abuts the municipal boundary of the City of Chanhassen. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1 1. The Minnesota Municipal Board duly acquired and now has jurisdiction of the within proceeding. 1 2. An order should be issued by the Minnesota Municipal Board concurrently detaching and annexing the area described herein. ORDER , 1. IT I8 HEREBY ORDERED: That the property described in Findings of Fact 2 be, and the same hereby is, detached from the City of Victoria ' and annexed to the City of Chanhassen, the same as if it had originally been made a part thereof. 2. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED: That the effective date of this order ' is April 2, 1992. Dated this 2nd day of April, 1992. ' MINNESOTA MUNICIPAL BOARD 475 McColl Building Bt. Paul, Minnesota 55101 Patricia D. Lundy Assistant Director • • 1 1 1 RECD �.' .. 4t' ' rrt��E et 4 _ • OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR MAR 31 7992 •"" 1 A -2300 Government Center cl� t� rr �, , , ,_ y ;� _ - 4. HENNEPIN Minneapolis, Minnesota 55487 ( ° � 1 March 25, 1992 II Mr. Thomas Feeney, Manager I U.S. Department of HUD Minneapolis -St. Paul Region V 220 South Second Street Minneapolis, MN 55401 -2195 II Dear Mr. Feeney: 1 In an attempt to understand the rationale used by HUD to reduce the Fiscal Year 1992 Allocation to the Urban Hennepin County CDBG program by $52,000, staff from the Hennepin County Office of Planning and Development have II discussed the issue with representatives of both the Area Office and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development. As a result, John Nagoski, Director, Data Systems and Statistics Division, wrote OPD on March 11 stating HUD's position. The rationale and authority 1 for the reduction remains unclear and we feel compelled to question the decision. II At issue is the continued participation of the City of Chanhassen, a split place, in the Urban Hennepin County CDBG program. HUD contends that since the 1990 Census shows no population in the part of Chanhassen in Hennepin II County, that Urban Hennepin County is not entitled to that portion of its . grant attributable to Chanhassen and that Chanhassen should not be part of the Urban Hennepin County program. I Chanhassen was provided the opportunity to continue in the Urban Hennepin County program for Fiscal Years 1991, 1992 and 1993 based on the provisions for split places, just as it had since 1981. A duly executed, HUD approved I Joint Cooperation Agreement retained Chanhassen as a participant for those three years. The 1991 Statement of Objectives and Projected Use of Funds included approved activities for Chanhassen. II HUD's qualification of Urban Hennepin County as a CDBG recipient for Fiscal Years 1991, 1992 and 1993 embraced Chanhassen as a participant and included its population in Urban Hennepin County and in determining the 1991 annual I entitlement. It is contended that this action assures that Chanhassen is an integral part of Urban Hennepin County for the entire three year period of qualification. This is consistent with Section 106 (d) of the Housing II and Community Development Act, which goes further to deny eligibility to any included unit of general local government for a grant as a separate entity. ' Urban Hennepin County was qualified for participation in the CDBG program for Fiscal Years 1991, 1992 and 1993 pursuant to instructions provided by HUD in Notice CPD- 90 -24, issued May 11, 1990. In following those II HENNEPIN COUNTY I an equal opportunity employer . Mr. Thomas Feeney , March 25, 1992 Page Two instructions which led to qualification, Chanhassen was notified under I. B. 4. that its entire area of jurisdiction could be included in Urban Hennepin County for the qualification period upon execution of a cooperation agreement. Such notification was provided because at the time HUD listed Chanhassen as having 8 residents in its area in Hennepin County. The cooperation agreement executed with Chanhassen is irrevocable by either party as required by HUD in accordance with the applicable instructions at I. C. 2. d. The same instructions at I. D. and the Regulations at 570.307 (d) (2) provide that a qualified urban county will be entitled to receive funds as an urban county for the full period of its qualification regardless of changes in its population. And further, that no included unit of general local government may withdraw from the urban county and will remain a part of the urban county through the end of the qualification period. With no indication to the contrary, Urban Hennepin County has relied on the continuing participation of Chanhassen in developing its ' annual program. Since Chanhassen met the test on inclusion in Urban Hennepin County and the cooperation agreement satisfied the standards of acceptability, Chanhassen should remain a participant in the Urban Hennepin County CDBG program and should be figured into the Fiscal Year 1992 and 1993 entitlement. Only in the instructions for qualification as an urban county was it noted that population was a factor in the inclusion of split places. Section 106 • (a) (5) of the Act refers only to area. 1 Hennepin County believes that Chanhassen is an integral part of the Urban Hennepin County CDBG program and should remain so for Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 and beyond if it continues to meet participation requirements. Please review this matter and act to restore full funding for Fiscal Year 1992 and assure the participation of Chanhassen in the Urban Hennepin County CDBG program through Fiscal Year 1993. • • cerely, Dale A. Ackmann 11 County Administrator DAA:dc cc: Don Ashworth, Chanhassen City Manager 11 Senator Durenburger Senator Wellstone 1 Representative Sikorski Anna Kondradus, Assistant Secretary for CPD John Nagoski , 1 ' METROPOLITAN COUNCIL Mears Park Centre, 230 East Fifth Street, Sr Paul, MN 55101 -1634 612 291 -6359 FAX 612 291 -6550 TTY 612 291 -0904 April 3, 1992 APR 0 1(397, Paul Krauss n17, City of Chanhassen 690 Coulter Dr. Chanhassen, MN 55317 Dear Mr . ) c�� Thank C u for agreeing to serve on the local government staff group organized to review the Yo �' g 8 St' P g municipal and the traffic analysis zone (TAZ) processes to allocate regional forecasts. We plan to 1 mail the initial municipal forecast allocations ' to all local government units in the seven -county metropolitan area June 1, 1992, and we would like to conclude the review process of this group by early May in order to get ready for the mailing. The initial meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 15, 1992, at 2:30 p.m. in room 2A at the Council's offices. Several of you were concerned about the number of meetings and the amount of ' time this group review would require. As I indicated in our telephone conversation, this is really up to you, but the Council Staff Forecast Team has anticipated two or perhaps three meetings. The proposed agenda for the first meeting will include: ' • Distribute detailed summaries of the first two planners' forums on regional forecast totals and subregional allocations I • • Review the proposed process and time schedule for the municipal and TAZ allocation process Group discussion of concerns • Future meetings, locations and topics ' Enclosed is a group membership list and a summary of the Council's forecast process originally issued last year. ' Sincerel g ° ' 937' ' Robert C. Davis Senior Planner ' RCD/kp Enclosures 1 1 1. Dwight Picha I City of Woodbury 8301 Valley Creek Road Woodbury, Minn. 55125 739 -5972 1 2. Meg McMonigal City of Apple Valley 14200 Cedar Avenue 1 Apple Valley, Minn. 55124 431 -8800 3. Mike Black I James R. Hill Inc. 2500 W. County Road 42 Suite 120 1 Burnsville, Minn. 55337 890-6044 4. Mark Grimes I City of Golden Valley 7800 Golden Valley Road Golden Valley, Minn. 55427 593 -8097 1 5. Paul Krauss City of Chanhassen 690 Coulter Drive 1 Chanhassen, Minn. 55317 937 -1900 6. Greg Ingraham 1 Planning Division City of Bloomington 2215 West Old Shakopee Road 1 Bloomington, Minn. 55431 887 -9636 7. Perry Thorvig I Minneapolis Planning Dept. 210 City Hall Minneapolis, Minn 55415 673 -2036 or 673 -2597 1 8. Lee Starr Development Services Dept. I City of Coon Rapids 1313 Coon Rapids Blvd. Coon Rapids, Minn. 55433 780 -6460 9. Cindy Porter St. Paul Planning Dept. I 1300 City Hall Annex 25 West 4th Street St. Paul, Minn. 55102 228 -3367 1 • 1 FORECAST PROCESS o expand the local involvement in the forecast process we have scheduled a number of op portunities for user input to the forecast work. In late - summer (1991) the Council sent a litter to all local governments outlining the public input process that will take place to revise the long -range forecasts for the Metropolitan Area. The letter detailed the following four r ases of obtaining local input to producing the forecasts. 1. In November, 1991 the Council will hold a planners forum to present, discuss and solicit IL . mments on the overall Regional control forecasts of population, households and ployment for the period 1990 - 2015. At the forum Staff will: •Present the overall forecasts for the Metro area 1 •Discuss the history of forecasts •Describe how the revised forecasts will evolve for the region and for the local I communities 2. In January, 1992 a second Planners Forum will be held to present the subarea (rings, t adrants and policy area) allocations of population, households and employment for the ars 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015. Staff will: •Present the subregional allocations 1 - •Describe the allocation process, and •Discuss the assumptions used ' •Outline the process for local review and comment s. In ,Tune of 1992, the City forecast allocations for the 1990 - 2015 period will be mailed to ch individual local government unit for their review, comment and input. The mailing will Bch •The long -range forecasts for the city 1 •Descriptions of how the numbers were allocated and include again a review of the assumptions used •An indication of the type of data or information the community would need to present I to bring about a change in the allocation •Discuss the 60 day time schedule for submitting local comment on the forecasts I (Council forecast team personnel will reserve substantial time over the 60 day period to work with the individual cities) In August of 1992, the Council will mail to each community the final forecast package taining the 1990 - 2015 forecast for population, households and employment. We will also urovide 1990 data for each traffic analysis zone within each community. li raffic Analysis zones are subareas within individual 1 cities defined by major roadways or • er physical barriers to automobile travel. There are some 1200 traffic analysis zones in seven county metropolitan area. 1 1 1 )1( Office of the Superintendent David L. Clough, Ph.D. 110600 Village Road Chaska, Minnesota 55318 612/368 -3601 School District 112 April 3, 1992 Mr. Paul Krauss, AICP Planning Director City of Chanhassen P.O. Box 147 Chanhassen, MN 55317 Dear Paul: Thank you very much for your comprehensive and thoughtful analysis of the District's recent demographic report completed by Barbara Lukermann. I have read your comments carefully and believe that we must take your observations and concerns seriously. I am immediately forwarding a copy of your letter to Barbara Lukermann for her analysis and response. Also, I will forward copies of the letter to all District 112 School Board members as well as all staff and citizen members of the Long Range Facilities Planning Committee. Thank you, again, for your comments and for all the work that you put into this analysis. I do appreciate the involvement that you have had with the facilities process as well as your assistance to Barbara 1 Lukermann. Please try to attend the next meeting of the planning committee on Tuesday, April 21, 7:00 p.m., at the Chaska Middle School. 1 Sincerely yours, 1. Dav .1 L. Clough, Ph.D. Superintendent 1 DLC:dal ED 1 APP 0 r' 1; 1 CITY_ OF ChM; WA' Serving the communities of eastern Carver County through equal opportunity in employment and education. 1 A,,. C ITY OF ` Aeit Y CHANHASSEN • 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 1 (612) 937 -1900 • FAX (612) 937 -5739 LL 1 March 30, 1992 1 1 Superintendent David Clough Independent School District #112 110600 Village Road 1 Chaska, MN 55318 Dear Dave: First, let me thank ou and your staff for y sta or allowing us to actively participate in the District #112 Long Range Facilities Planning Committee. We have found the process to be both ' professionally run and those involved to be dedicated to fulfilling the educational and growth needs of our communities. This letter represents Chanhassen's response to Barbara 1 Lukerman's Demographic and Enrollment Study. I have had an opportunity to review the document in depth and wish to provide the following comments. Before proceeding with my comments, I want to take a moment to put Chanhassen's growth into some sort of context. Many of us who are involved with planning the future of our community have a strong belief that the 1990s are going to be an extremely exciting, if hectic, decade for the community. Chanhassen is poised to become one of the more significant and hopefully, better planned communities in this part of the metro area. We have a strong sense of community, focused not only around our public facilities and rapidly expanding central business district, but also due to our very significant and growing employment base. Chanhassen is about as far from the image of a suburban bedroom community as can be imagined. In the regional context, we are the focal point for growth 1 that is to occur in the 1990s. Growth in the southwestern area of the Twin Cities is no oriented to longer Minneapolis, but rather the "edge city" that has developed along the I-494 corridor. This edge city has more jobs than downtown St. Paul and will soon surpass downtown Minneapolis employment. Development in this region has traditionally moved to the southwest and with the filling up of Eden Prairie and Minnetonka, and with the construction of Highway 5 and Highway 212, Chanhassen is extremely well situated. 1 We are also a community that has long been concerned with the failure g of regional forecasts undertaken by the Metropolitan Council to accurately portray, not only what has happened 1 is 1 Tit PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER • 1 1 Mr. David Clough March 30, 1992 1 Page 2 in our community to date, but also in projecting what will happen in the future. As recently as two years ago, the Metropolitan Council was insisting that Chanhassen modify its plans to conform to their projection that there would be 10,000 people and 4,500 jobs in the community by the year 2000. Virtually, at the same time those forecasts were being written, Chanhassen's population exceeded 12,000 people and 6,500 jobs. This was later verified by the 1990 census. This significant divergence between development that was actually on the ground and their projections presented significant problems for the city in dealing with the - I Metropolitan Council on issues of regional intportance such as the addition of land to our MUSA line and orderly construction of highways and other facilities. A similar problem has occurred in the City of Chaska, where the Metropolitan Council also inadequately projected growth. The Chaska Sewage Treatment Plant was expanded based solely on the presumptions of the Metropolitan Council rather than actual reality. What had been anticipated as an increase in capacity that was supposed to last for a period of years, was virtually at full capacity the day it was completed. Thus, the history of this area has often been one of communities having to pick up the pieces after well meaning but often inappropriate projections were made. We would do not wish to see a similar fate befall the school district in its planning process. The following comments are not in prioritized order. They relate to the Demographic and 1 Enrollment Study we received and the order in which the issues are raised in that document. • Information presented on Page 3 concerning projections of ultimate population for the City of Chanhassen appear to be reasonable and consistent with data presented in our Comprehensive Plan. • In Table 2, information is presented concerning building permits for the years 1987 through 1991. The information is accurate, except that I would note that non - single family dwelling units are not included. I am not certain that this is an entirely appropriate strategy since many of the non - single family residential units that have built in our community in recent years are townhomes, which are often used to accommodate families. The total increment in students may or may not be significant, but believe it would be appropriate to make note of these units so that they may be included in the calculations. • The statement on Page 4, I believe accurately reflects the fact that Chanhassen had about 300 homes built each year from 1987 to 1989, falling to about 200 per year in 1990 and 1991. The report accurately reflects that this fall off in permits is due, in large part, to the lack of available land within the MUSA system, and further that this has been rectified by the city's new Comprehensive Plan. In point of fact, our single family permits reached a 1 1 1 1 Mr. David Clough March 30, 1992 Page 3 high of 352 in 1988. The MUSA line has since been expanded by 2,800 acres. Coupled with the recent recession, 1990 and 1991 are, on our opinion, 1 aberations and due to not reflect long term trends. • Table -3 on Page 5 contains information regarding a developer survey wherein 1 developers were asked to anticipate what they would be building through 1995. It is implied that builders who were surveyed expected only a "modest 1 increase" in Chanhassen development over the coming years. This analysis is one of the major concerns I have with this study. I believe the methodology may be interesting from an academic standpoint but is unreliable with regards to forecasting what is to occur. Developers are notoriously short- sighted and we are operating in an environment where the status quo changes rapidly. As I have indicated, in several meetings since this survey was taken, the City of Chanhassen has received plat requests or is in the process of working to design them with the developers that would add significant levels of building that were not anticipated at the time the survey was undertaken. Relative to what might be happening in 1993, 1994, or 1995, I think that this is an extremely poor indicator of what is to come since many of the developers who will be actively involved in our community in this time frame do not even know at this point that this will be the case. It only takes 2 -3 months to get a project approved and an additional 2-4 months for lots to become available. • The study points out that the data presented in the table do not include any subdivisions within the new MUSA area in Chanhassen. It goes on to ,point out that according to the best available information at the time the study was 1 undertaken, plans already existed to develop about 200 lots as soon as sewer and water is available. Plans are now on the table to extend sewer and water this summer to a large portion of this area, and at the present time, we have 1 received an application for Hans Hagen Homes to construct 154 units near the intersection of Lyman Boulevard and Galpin Boulevard. We are also working with Rod Grams, the former Channel 9 newscaster, who is bringing in a plat of approxiniately 75 homes on his property on Audubon Road. We have been working with Lundgren Bros. Construction on a plat located on 1 County Road 41, north of Hwy. 5 in the Chaska School District. The concept plan reviewed indicates something on the order of an additional 150 lots for which utilities will be requested this summer. Lastly, we are being contacted by individuals interested in developing a site located at the intersection of Lyman Boulevard and Hwy. 101. This is likely to be able to accommodate another 150 units, although due to utility constraints, it is probably not going to occur until 1993. This not only points out problems with the data and methodology in the study but also how volatile the situation really is. 1 1 r Mr. David Clough March 30, 1992 Page 4 1 On Page 14, there is a summary of lots remaining and developable land on a community basis. Relative to Chanhassen, the numbers accurately reflect ' platted lots remaining and capacity within the old MUSA, and even anticipates reasonably accurately the fact that we expect between 1,500 and 1,900 lots to be platted in the new MUSA area. In addition, we agree with 1 the analysis that at 300 units a year, this would indicate capacity for about 8 to 10 years of growth, since this is exactly the scenario that we layed out to the Metropolitan Council in getting our Comprehensive Plan adopted. What 1 is omitted is, however, the fact that there is an additional 1,538 acres of vacant land located primarily in the southern part of the community that is not currently within the MUSA. Ultimately, the entirety of this property will 1 be brought within the MUSA system, and our Comprehensive Plan already includes provisions providing guidance on how to provide sewer service to these areas. All of this area is in Independent School District #112. Much of this area will be developed for residential use, although it is difficult at this time to forecast exactly when this m4 ^I '4 * ^U ^ ^( I should also state that I am growing increasingly skeptical that our 1990 Comprehensive Plan can accommodate growth for the entire decade and we will probably have to look at this area much sooner than we had anticipated. However, in any case, I think it is important to note that another 2,000 to 2,500 housing units can be accommodated within this area. This information is important and it would be consistent to include it in the same manner that future annexations are listed for Chaska and Victoria. r • My last comment concerns the summary on Page 15 and 16. I agree with most everything that is being stated, but note that there is a statement to the effect that "although it would appear likely therefore, that the potential for considerably more growth in the underlying northern part of District #112 exists out until about the year 2000." I have a strong belief that the district's growth focal point will shift not only north out of Chaska, but also tend to the east into Chanhassen. ' In summary, while we strongly endorse the school district's planning process and much of the data that was collected under the demographic projection, we believe that there is a 1 good potential that growth in the district is being under - forecasted. The best way I can sum this up is to reflect to Table 9 on Page 13 entitled "Projected Housing Starts 1991 - 1995 ". I think this table significantly under - represents what is going to be occurring, and if I am 1 interpreting it correctly, what has already occurred to date. I note that in 1991, the table states that there were 251 housing starts in the district. On Page 3 of the demographic study, on Table 2, there are a total of 420 single family housing starts listed under the same category. Relative to the 350 units per year forecasted as an annual growth for years 1993, 1994, and 1995, if anything, this might represent what is going to happen in Chanhassen 1 r 1 1 Mr. David Clough March 30, 1992 Page 5 alone, but precludes anything happening anywhere else in the district, a scenario which I find highly unlikely. I don't wish to be cast in the role of crying wolf, nor that of being an unthinking community booster, but something honestly is not connecting for me with these forecasts. For the sake of discussion, I am including information on Chanhassen's total residential permits. These include non - single family residences but nearly all are in fact, single family. 1985 265 1988 412 1991 200 1986 262 1989 387 1992 55 (3/27/92) 1987 323 1990 197 The 1992 data indicates 55 single family homes in less than 3 months, and this is before the new subdivisions come on line. Most of the building permits (29) came in March alone. Annualized, this is equal to 220 to 348 housing starts (depending upon use of the three month or March experience) and I believe this will be greatly exceeded if current rates hold up. In any event, using the 220 units for 1992, Chanhassen alone would have averaged 283 starts per year between 1985 and 1992. Is it reasonable to assume that only 67 homes (283 + 67 = 350) will be built annually in Chaska, Victoria, and elsewhere? I think not. 1 In summary, I find I am asking myself the question as to whether or not the study's projections should be revised upwards and if so, will this have a significant impact on school ' enrollment. I honestly do not have the answer and but it does seem likely that the study's most agressive forecasts are actually going to prove to be conservative. At the same time, I would not want to see school district build capacity to accommodate a peak student ' enrollment that will not be sustained. I defer to the wisdom of the committee to determine how the data should be used. Thank you again for the opportunity to comment. I hope you and other members of the work group will find this information to be of interest. Sincerel , Paul Krauss, AICP Planning Director PK:v pc: Don Ashworth, City Manager Mayor Chmiel Councilman Workman 1 1 1 l: CITYOF 1 0 'CHANHASSEN ,,..- 1.. fi.,, . ..r-_, ":.Y_ ,r. `' 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 (612) 937 -1900 • FAX (612) 937 -5739 1 April 7, 1992 1 Re: Notice Of Public Hearing Change - County Road 17 Upgrade II Improvement Project No. 90 -4 Dear Property Owner: II . Notice is hereby given that the previously scheduled public hearig for public input on the County Road 17 upgrade feasibility study updated accepted by the City Council on March 23, 1992 has been changed from Monday, April 13, 1992 to I Monday, April 27, 1992 in order to allow the opportunity to conduct a neighborhood meeting with affected property owners. The public hearing will be held as a part of the regularly scheduled City Council meeting which commences 1 at 7:30 p.m. In the meantime, you are cordially invited to attend an informal neighborhood meeting scheduled from Wednesday, April 15, 1992 at 7:30 a.m. in City Hall. The 1 intent of this meeting is to allow affected property owners the opportunity to review the specific project changes, associated cost schedules and discuss with staff accordingly. We hope you can attend this neighborhood meeting on Wednesday 1 morning and, again, we would like to remind you of the change in date for the public hearing which has been rescheduled to occur at the City Council's regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, April 27, 1992. II Sincerely, CITY OF CHANHASSEN II ,a-gc., AP , 1 Charles D. Folch, P.E. City Engineer CDF:ktm 1 c: Jon Horn, BRW City Council Administrative Packet (4/13/92) II 1 Ow II t Of PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER • CITYOF CHANHASSEN 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 (612) 937 -1900 • FAX (612) 937 -5739 1 April 6, 1992 1 Mr. John Stodola Shore Elliott Hendrickson Inc. 3535 Vadnais Center Drive St. Paul, MN 55110 Dear Mr. Stodola: This letter is being prepared to respond to your request for comments from the April 2, 1 1992, informational meeting on the MWCC Chaska Waste Treatment Plant Project. First, let me state that I think the study is off to a good start. This is the first time I can recall that a group as large as this one was brought together on a matter that is truly of regional 1 importance. Along those lines, however, after reviewing some of the alternatives, I would suggest that you include staff from the City of Prior Lake. I noted that one of your alternatives goes into the currently undeveloped area between Shakopee and Prior Lake. 1 You may wish to contact Horst Graser, who is the City Planner, and bounce this off of him. I believe they will have an interest in exploring this option further. 1 Chanhassen's position relative to the Chaska Plant and its ultimate replacement is a somewhat unique one. If I may take a brief opportunity to repeat some history, I believe you may find it would be appropriate. For many years, Chanhassen was told to rely on ultimately bein g able to gain service from what was being referred to as the "Bluff Creek Interceptor" by MWCC plans. Much of the 1 southern half of the city, including most of the area lying south of Highway 5 and west of Highway 101, was intended to drain into this pipe. " It was to run somewhere along the Minnesota River bluff line through Chanhassen and Eden Prairie, ultimately getting to the I Blue Lake Plant by the in -place siphon. Due to Chanhassen's natural topography, this proposal was reasonable. However, last year when we had our Comprehensive Plan update 1 approved, we found that the Bluff Creek Interceptor has since largely become impractical due to the fact that Eden Prairie was allowed to service its southern area 1 to PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER 1 1 • Mr. John Stodola April 6, 1992 Page 2 1 through a series of lift stations and the existing Red Rock Interceptor. This left Chanhassen with a need to find an appropriate solution. 1 We then began to explore available alternatives. The option of using the Chaska plant was one that was initially discussed with city staff. While they were amenable to considering this ' option, we were faced with two significant obstacles. First was the fact that the plant obviously has capacity limitations and is inadequately sized to deal with the additional loads • that would be imposed by a community growing as rapidly as Chanhassen. Secondly, is the ' fact that although the Chaska Plant is a regional one owned by the MWCC, there are no regional interceptors feeding into it. The only lines feeding the plant are internal municipal ones owned by the City of Chaska, and these typically have not been sized to carry any 1 additional load. Since pursuing this option further would apparently not be fruitful, and since the MWCC's program to upgrade the plant was far enough • in the future that Chanhassen needed an immediate solution to accommodate growth, we switched gears. 1 Working through Bonestroo Engineering, the city's consultant, we gained MWCC approval to service virtually all of Chanhassen through the Lake Ann Interceptor. This involves the requirement to construct a series of major lift stations; however, since we are in essence reversing the natural flow and pumping the waste back up hill. At the present time, the City Council is considering funding the construction of the first of these major lift stations for this year's construction season. Here to, we are faced with several concerns. The first is that at the present time, it appears ' that there may be insufficient capacity in the Lake Ann Interceptor to handle full development of Chanhassen. While the recently approved 2,800 acre MUSA line expansion can be accommodated, capacity could be exceeded when the balance of southern I Chanhassen is brought into the system. The second factor is one of cost. Although constructing a series of lift stations is certainly feasible from an engineering standpoint, it is a significant expense to construct and maintain. For obvious reasons, we would be better 1 off utilizing gravity flow somewhere to the south. This brings us to our concerns with the ongoing Chaska Treatment Plant study. We believe that options for serving southern Chanhassen need to be explored. In fact, you may wish to widen the scope of the study to include service to other areas around the City of Chaska. This analysis should not only include sizing the Chaska Treatment Plant's replacement ' appropriately, but also in developing an appropriate, collection system that could be of use for this area. Whether or not this means the construction of additional metro interceptors or some sort of cooperative agreements involving the taking over of city lines from Chaska, I have no idea but I still believe this needs to be explored further. I hope you find these comments to be of use, and on behalf of city staff, we would certainly 1 be willing to discuss this matter with you in depth at your convenience. Chanhassen's • 1 1. Mr. John Stodola April 6, 1992 1 Page 3 growth, both in population and employment, has been significantly under estimated in the 1 past. While we have been able to accommodate the waste treatment needs of this growth, at least for the near term, we would actively want to resolve the full picture in a reasonable time frame. Sincerel , Paul Krauss, AICP Planning Director PK:v 1 • pc: Don Ashworth, City Manager Charles Folch, City Engineer Bonnie Featherstone Gloria Vierling, Shakopee MWCC Representative City Council 1 Dave Pokorny, City of Chaska Bob Schunicht, Bonestroo Associates 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 MWCC Chaska Questionnaire and Comments 1 1. Name: Paul Krauss. ATCP. Director of Planning 1 Organization: City of Chanhassen Address: 690 Coulter Drive. Chanhassen, fill 55317 Telephone: 937 -1900 ' 2. What issues related to this ro'ect do you currently feel will be of greatest concem to P 1 Y Y 9 your agency (or your program within the agency)? a. Refer to attached letter. ' b. c. ' 3. Do you believe a follow -up meeting with you and/or others from your agency would be beneficial? 1 Yes El No ❑ 4. Are there any areas which you believe will require an Environmental impact State- ment? • ' I am not certain as to whatPr a manriatnry FTS will hP trippPrl by any of the proposed alternatives. However, those alternatives that would impact Chanhassen or new river crossing should obviously be 1 sufficiently explored and redesigned as necessary to minimize or 5. Additional comments? avoid impacts. 1 1 Contact/Follow -up: ' John Stodola (SEH) 490 -2100 Fax 490 -2150 Allen Dye (MWCC) 229 -2169 1 i Please return questionnaire by Apri1 6,1992, to; John`$todola Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc. 3535Vadnais Center Drive t. :raw, Minnesota: 55110 1 1 1' • Informational Meeting MWCC Chaska 1 April 2, 1992 Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc. 9:00 - 12:00 1 We welcome and appreciate your attendance at this informational meeting to discuss the 1 Chaska Wastewater Treatment project. Agenda ' 1. Welcome /Opening Remarks - John Stodola, EH Project g , S oject Manager ' - Allen Dye, MWCC Project Manager • Introduction of Project Team ' Len Newquist - Forcemain /Interceptor Randy Thoreson - Environmental Mark Lobermeier - Environmental Lynne Bly - Environmental Barbara Lukermann - Population Projections Analyst Bob Stark - WWTP 11. Project Elements and Environmental Analysis Process ' • Description of Treatment Plant Alternatives - Bob Stark Existing Wastewater Treatment Plant Site Constraints ' - New Treatment Plant Sites • Alternatives Transporting Wastewater to Blue Lake - Len Newquist - North Corridor (north of Minnesota River) - Central Corridor (through Shakopee) - South Corridor (along T.H. 101 Bypass) • Environmental Analysis - Randy Thoreson 1 15 Minute Break 1 111. Open Discussion/Comments IV. Closing Remarks - John Stodola, Allen Dye ' As the study moves forward, your continued interest and comments regarding this project are appreciated. 1 1 i• MI • MI MI NM r II MI OM - MO MI MI WIN MI NM MO ,x A : ��fr 61, it Vicki Crtfirl • Weber BURNET Associate Manager REALTOR° GRI, ESA R E A j. Y Eden Prairie Office arcte.„,/ri r1/4." , 16395 Wagner Way Eden Prairie, MN 55344 n 934 -5400 ,4 � lt) 4/ 949 -4743 Direct /mss' /� /i(Vi,(/J 934 -0287 Fax ,f CY III ft.4--g (AA-2-€C , PAI aottilti . ■-w - goo r il . eiR-A4f Ae,o_e_,4 .L k7 j -- , - - A-4- 4-4 - 4 ---- • O dc.-1.e'l-- CITYOF Ed4e4A.N °c - M t CHANHASSEN 690 COULTER DRIVE • • P.O. BOX 147 • • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 1 (612) 937 -1900 •FAX (612) 937 -5739 ' MEMORANDUM TO: Dawn Lemme, Program Specialist ..Jv (� 1 FROM: Todd Hoffman, Park and Recreation Coordinator /� I DATE: April 2, 1992 SUBJ: Welcome and Overview of Position Duties 1 '. Dawn, welcome to the City of Chanhassen Park and Recreation Department! We are I very excited about your arrival and look forward to working with you. Your official starting date is April 13, 1992. As discussed previously, you will typically work a 40 hour week with office hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Some evening and weekend hours will be necessary to carry out your position. You are not expected to work in excess of 40 hours per week; however, if working 'nights or weekends, you shall take the 1 corresponding amount of hours off during the week. You are also free to work less than 40 hours per week, reducing your hours by a maximum of one working day per week. Your current position with the city will cease after 680 hours have been accumulated. If 1 you have additional questions in regard to your employment with the city, please feel free to ask. I The information below serves as an initial overview of the majority of job functions you will be carrying out as Program Specialist. This list is not inclusive, but allows you to orient yourself to the types of activities you will be carrying out. - 1 Duties which you will be solely responsible for include: I - Summer Discovery Playground: Hire seasonal employees, i.e. Playground Director, Playground Leaders (3); coordinate program for eight sites; 1 - Tennis Lesson Program, adult and youth, hire Tennis Specialist; - The U.S.T.A. Tennis Team Program; I - Golf Lessons, youth and adult; I ft r %le PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER 1 1 Ms. Dawn Lemme April 2, 1992 1 Page 2 Two summer Teen Night Out programs; 1 - Tennis Partner Pool; ' - Other recreational and leisure programs as desired. Duties which will be jointly coordinated by Park and Recreation staff: 1 - Fourth of July Celebration; ' - Easter Egg Hunt; Arbor Day Celebration; 1 - Spring City -Wide Cleanup; 1 - Brochure and promotional items; Softball Leagues; 1 - Defining program registration procedures. 1 Again, welcome to the City of Chanhassen. pc: Don Ashworth, City Manager tY g Jerry Ruegemer, Recreation Supervisor 1 Jean Meuwissen, Treasurer 1 1 1 1 1 1 474, sel, 1 CITYOF e e /Z4 - ,,,„. CHANHASSEN ..,,.,....,,.„...:,:., 1 , , t....„,„. „.. .,,,_,„_..„.* 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 (612) 937 -1900 • FAX (612) 937 -5739 1 April 1, 1992 1 Mr. Joe Miller 1 Joe Miller Homes Argus Development, Inc. 18133 Cedar Avenue South Farmington, MN 55024 I Re: Building Permits in Lake Susan Hills West 7th Addition Project No. 91 -9 1 Dear Joe: II Pursuant to your request for building permits in the Lake Susan Hills West 7th Addition, staff (Dave Hempel, Mark Littfin and myself) met with you out on the site on Tuesday, March 31, 1992 to discuss this matter further. In viewing the site, it was apparent I that the weather conditions as of late have been favorable and significant drying is occurring on the soil surface. However, as you know, with the clay soils in Chanhassen a significant spring II rain can change the site conditions drastically. You explained that it was your intention to prepare the road I subgrade and place a Class V aggregate surface down the centerline to allow access for construction vehicles. You also stated that when it rains or when soil conditions worsen from time to time that the building construction would be shut down completely. 1 As I am sure you are aware, the City's primary concern with home building construction along an unimproved or unpaved road surface II involves adequate access for emergency rescue and fire personnel should the need arise. Given that you may have been able to complete the road base paving last fall had it not been for the II early blizzard and considering that all of the homes to be built will be under your direct supervision, the City is willing to cooperate with your request under the following conditions with the understanding that medical and safety response are of utmost II importance: 1. The road subgrade shall be prepared and a Class V driving 1 surface shall be placed capable of supporting a fire truck. . II %I, PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER Mr. Joe Miller April 1, 1992 Page 2 11 When completed, the City will inspect the road for load I carrying capacity prior to issuance of any building permits. • 2. Building permits will be issued on a phased approach whereby, upon acceptable completion of the road access, only foundation ' permits will be authorized for the lots you have requested. The site will be evaluated on a week -to -week basis to evaluate soil conditions and adequate maintenance of the road access. The City may at any time, upon viewing unsuitable road access conditions, shut down the site and place stop work orders on all the structures under construction. ' 3. If the road access is maintained in acceptable condition, further permits will be granted. I - I am confident that you empathize with the City's concerns and continue to cooperate on resolving this matter. If these conditions are acceptable to you, please acknowledge by signing ' below. I have enclosed two copies, one for your file and the other to be returned to my attention. Sincerely, CITY OF CHANHASSEN Charles D. Folch, P.E. City Engineer CDF:ktm c: Don Ashworth, City Manager Scott Harr, Public Safety Director Mark Littfin, Fire Marshal Steve Kirchman, Building Official Dave Hempel, Sr. Engineering Technician Brian Olsen, Argus Development, Inc. City Council Administrative Packet (4/13/92) Signature Date 1 C� Qe PLC CITY OF CHANHASSEN •-`- 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 1 (612) 937 -1900 • FAX(612)937-5739 ' March 12, 1992 Mr. Daniel J. Herbst, President Pemtom Company I Westwood Professional Building 14180 Highway 5 Eden Prairie, Mn 55344 • RE: Surface Water Utility Bills for Outlots A & B, Crimson Bay Account Nos. 3- 905920 and 3- 905910 PW207B ' Dear Mr. Herbst: ' Thank you for your letter dated March 10, 1992 requesting the City delete the surface water utility fees currently being charged to Outlots A and B, Crimson Bay Addition. The City's Surface Water ' Management utility is a service charge based on a property's contribution of water to a drainage system, i.e. drainage ditches, retention ponds and storm sewers. The utility is based on the premise "users pay ". The user fee is like sanitary sewer and water utilities operated by the City. The user fee is structured on land use. For example, commercial property generates more runoff; therefore, these properties are charged a higher rate accordingly. 11 The fees charged in association with this program are not related to whether or not a property drains into a storm sewer. The fees generated from this program are used to support a three -part 1 program. The first part is related to the City's wetland protection efforts. We are looking to modernize our wetland protection efforts to preserve these important environmental features. Second, the City is trying to develop a comprehensive ' storm sewer management plan. The third part is a water quality improvement program for the City's lakes and streams. ' According to the City's aerial topography maps and the plat map of Crimson Bay, it appears Outlot A is a wetland and therefore is not buildable. City of Chanhassen Ordinance No. 132 exempts lakes and road right -of -ways from surface management fees. The City has classified Outlot A as a portion of Lake Minnewashta wetlands; therefore, the City will delete the surface water utility fee charged against this parcel. • 1 1 Mr. Daniel J. Herbst March 12, 1992 Page 2 1 The second parcel, Outlot B, contains a major drainageway with the remaining contributing portion being relatively small in size. Due to Outlot B's configuration, it could also be considered as road right -of -way. Therefore, the City will also exempt this parcel from the surface water utility fee. I will inform the City's utility billing department to adjust their records accordingly. They should also refund any previous payment on these two accounts. - 1 It is unfortunate a second letter was necessary to resolve this situation. However, the City has no record of ever receiving your first letter regarding this matter. If I may be of further 1 assistance, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, 1 CITY OF CHANHASSEN 1 David C. Hempel Sr. Engineering Technician DCH:jms c: Charles Folch, City Engineer ' Paul Krauss, Planning Director Tom Chaffee, Data Processing Coordinator Kari O'Konek, Account Clerk 1 1 1 1 1 • 1 1 1 } C ITYOF C&J z �f CHANHASSEN i , 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 1 (612) 937 -1900 • FAX (612) 937 -5739 1 March 27, 1992 Sheriff Al Wallin Carver County Sheriff's Dept. 600 East 4th Street ' Chaska, MN 55318 Dear Sheriff•Wallin: 1 I would like to personally thank you for the efforts being put forth by Deputy Chris Capaul and Deputy Ralph Widmer for their work in Chanhassen providing truck weight enforcement. Our City Council has a strong commitment to maintaining the quality of our streets for, among other reasons, limiting expenditures in unnecessary repairs of the streets. The energy put forth by your deputies is certainly assisting us in this effort. On behalf of the City of Chanhassen, thank you for having your deputies work this particular area for us. Sin ely, Scott Harr ' Public Safety Director SH:cd 1 cc: Don Ashworth, City Manager 1 1 1 1 1 t PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER I CITYOF i ..„. , 4 1 CHANHASSEN 1 . . ..4ft„'-', 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 (612) 937 -1900 • FAX (612) 937 -5739 1 MEMORANDUM TO: City Staff 1 FROM: Charles Folch, City Engineer 1 DATE: March 30, 1992 SUBJ: Public Works Superintendent Position PW202B II As I am sure many of you are aware, Jerry Schlenk has been 1 considering retirement this year. Well, it is now official that Jerry's last day of active duty will be Friday, May 15, 1992 with vacation and comp time accumulation yielding a scheduled retirement I date of September 1, 1992. Over the last month the City Manager and I have had a number of occasions to discuss the Street Superintendent position and the appropriate action to take in filling the upcoming vacancy. These discussions have also included I the department heads within Public Works. The resulting conclusion was that Mike Wegler's experience and working ability demonstrated over the years in the Street Department would make him the most I appropriate candidate for the position. I am pleased to announce that as of May 18, 1992, Mike Wegler will I assume the role and responsibilities of the Street Superintendent's position. In addition, Jim Theis will be promoted into the vacated Heavy Equipment Operator /Leadman position as the first line supervisor within the Street Department. I am confident that the 1 entire City staff will continue to encourage and support both Mike and Jim in their new roles. I ktm c: City Council Administrative Packet (4/13/92) 1 1 II Twig PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER 1 CITYOF CHANHASSEN 1 k' 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 (612) 937 -1900 • FAX (612) 937 -5739 1 March 30, 1992 Ms. Sara Birkland ' 803 Weeks Avenue SE Minneapolis, MN 55414 Re: Terms of Employment File No. PW -114 Dear Sara: ' Congratulations! I am pleased that you will be joining our staff this summer as the Engineering Intern for the City of Chanhassen. I am sure you will find this experience rewarding and challenging and our City staff very ' enjoyable to work with. • As we have discussed previously, this position is a temporary appointment to last approximately three months and, as such, benefits will be limited to paid legal holidays, social security and worker's compensation. Your salary wage has been established at $9.00 per hour. Should there be an occasion requiring overtime, you will be paid at time and one -half or can accumulate compensatory time. Daily work hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with a one -hour lunch break. I You have indicated a start date of Monday, June 15, 1992. In the meantime, I have enclosed the necessary employment documents for you to complete and return in the envelope provided. If you should have any ' questions, please feel free to contact me at 937 -1900. Good luck with your spring quarter course work. We look forward to seeing you in June. ' Sincerely, CITY OF CHANHASSEN Charles D. Folch, P.E. City Engineer CDF:ktm 1 Encs. c: Don Ashworth, City Manager Jean Meuwissen, Treasurer Todd Gerhardt, Asst. City Manager Dave Hempel, Sr. Engineering Technician 1 •s t4, PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER • 1 1 CITYOF i ,, ,i: 1 N. ' CHANHASSEN 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 I Altio (612) 937 -1900 • FAX (612) 937 -5739 1 March 30, 1992 II Mr. Robert Vasek MnDOT Metro District I Oakdale Office 3485 Hadley Avenue North ' Oakdale, MN 55109 II Re: TH 101 North Leg Project City of Chanhassen Project 88 -22B 1 Dear Mr. Vasek: Please find enclosed three draft copies of a Signal Justification I Report (SJR) for the new TH 101 and West 78th Street intersection to be constructed as a part of the above- referenced project. The SJR is submitted for your review and comment. The TH 101 North Leg Project is the last phase of a staged plan to relocate TH 101 from downtown Chanhassen. The project includes the I reconstruction and realignment of both TH 101 and West 78th Street in accordance with MnDOT staff - approved preliminary layouts. Bill Crawford and Elmer Morris are aware of some of the history of this project if you need any further information. 1 Based on the results of the SJR, we feel that a signal is warranted at the TH 101 and West 78th Street intersection. The close I proximity of the TH 101 and TH 5 intersection and the two railroad crossings are additional concerns which must be considered in determining the need for the signal system. 1 It is currently anticipated that the roadway construction will be financed entirely with City of Chanhassen funds. Similarly, City Y funds will be used to finance the installation of the signal 1 system. It is our understanding that MnDOT would provide the necessary cabinets and controllers. The City is also pursuing the opportunity of acquiring appropriate ISTEA funds for this project. II Our engineering consultant, BRW, Inc., is currently completing the plans and specifications for the TH 101 North Leg Project for an anticipated construction start date in late July of 1992. Is %4 PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER I • 1 Mr. Robert Vasek March 30, 1992 Page 2 1 Considering the project schedule, we would appreciate a response to the SJR as soon as possible to enable the design of the signal system to proceed if it is found to be warranted. Your response by April 3, 1992 would be appreciated. ' Please call if you have any questions . or need any additional , information. Sincerely, CITY OF CHANHASSEN E Charles D. Folch, P.E. 1 City Engineer CDF:ktm Encs. c: Bill Crawford, MnDOT 'Elmer Morris, MnDOT Jon Horn, BRW, Inc. City Council Administrative Packet (4/13/92) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i C ITYOF t CHANHASSEN 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 (612) 937 -1900 • FAX (612) 937 -5739 ' MEMORANDUM TO: City Staff FROM: Charles Folch, City Engineer DATE: March 30, 1992 SUBJ: Public Works Superintendent Position PW202B ' As I am sure many of you are aware, Jerry Schlenk has been considering retirement this year. Well, it is now official that Jerry's last day of active duty will be Friday, May 15, 1992 with vacation and comp time accumulation yielding a scheduled retirement ' date of September 1, 1992. Over the last month the City Manager and I have had a number of occasions to discuss the Street Superintendent position and the appropriate action to take in ' filling the upcoming vacancy. These discussions have also included the department heads within Public Works. The resulting conclusion was that Mike Wegler's experience and working ability demonstrated ' over the years in the Street Department would make him the most appropriate candidate for the position. I am pleased to announce that as of May 18, 1992, Mike Wegler will assume the role and responsibilities of the Street Superintendent's position. In addition, Jim Theis will be promoted into the vacated Heavy Equipment Operator /Leadman position as the first line supervisor within the Street Department. I am confident that the entire City staff will continue to encourage and support both Mike and Jim in their new roles. ' ktm c: City Council Administrative Packet (4/13/92) V 1 ' Tea PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER k. f , UTILITY BILL ( 690 COULTER DRIVE o P 0 BOX 147 .- ` ACCOUNT NUMBER ( -: TOTAL DUE CHANHASSEN MINNESOTA 55317 3- 904860 10.99 . I 9�$ el* 03-24-9Z IF PA41D AFTER . =" . 1 'PLEASE-PAY C3 -24 -92 12.09' * ** NOT ICE * ** SEWER RATE INCREASE EFFECTIVE ' w1TN " - THIs bILLIt4G. SEE ENCLOSED INSERT FOl< DETAILS. — r c i c o 17 1 ' 1 ( 112 ( : S. ('' 11/4 RICHARD E JANE NIEM 4. 0 c Q 10321 111 CHASKANtIii1 if+NEMN JS-5'' ,`99 r �, 1 6--a/ I 1 J Pe'::- Sa F,/, RETURN THIS PART WITH YOUR'REM1TTANCE UTILIT1' BI 690 COULTER DRIVE • P 0 BOX 147 ACCOUNT NUMBER' v itt. CHANHAESEN V.;',.!NESOT: 55317 T OTALOUE -_ -'- 1 9br.Lt::: 3- 904820 10.99 . 1F PAID AFTER : A PLEASE PAY -; T� O T1C£ * ** 03 -24 -92 12.09 * I S / RACE 1r�CREASE EFFECTIVE �- -liIT'H TtiiS BiLti!'vG. SEE EttiCLu5c;i INSERT FOR DETAILS. / l', j- C/C/77 //c/ 5 r t. iKt.,; ,,_,..;.+tfiitSdK.'rtu+.`*,„:, : i, I CHkRO E JAN N1 1 �� > � iO4bO B LUFF CIRCLE) . � '.� _ FQ % HASK A MN /4p . Ci‹tit Sb _ 1 tier URN 18 ► erWi ' YOUR R ileTT 4NCE_ ; 'RICHARD:-D.. 4lEM1_-__ -- ___�__._________= --__ = _ -- _= = =11c 4 o� X38 -i 36=s0a --.- -- , - __ 2 93= GF4AS AAN -35998 ___4cy _ 599 PAY TO THE i /� 4h-�� 19 � ^ . — - ORDER OF ' ` $ 21 d , f 111 i - (24.1 DOLLARS El 1 • � --� moa / I a . - t3- 1 1 - 4:91:14 - 44 1 1 - 17. 34-ur am - 1 1 v9? Q S TATE OF MINNESOTA C c �'cr4 -�,_> _-':= OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR 1 ,' y 130 STATE CAPITOL -- SAINT PAUL 55155 1 ARNE H. CARLSON GOVERNOR II March 11, 1992 II Donald Chmiel, Mayor City of Chanhassen 690 Coulter Drive II Chanhassen, MN 55317 Dear Donald, II Thank you for taking the time to respond to my request for budget balancing solutions. II On March 5, I delivered a three -part budget proposal to the members of the Minnesota Legislature. This proposal calls for a property tax accounting change, revised revenue collection I procedures that will enable us to use $140 million of the state's cash flow account without short -term borrowing, and $230 million in budget reductions. None of these measures will adversely I impact the taxpayer. Even in difficult times, budgets should reflect priorities. Our top priority is to preserve opportunities for families and II children. The spending reductions we propose are distributed broadly and fairly across state agencies, higher education, human development and local governments. The net effect of our II proposal on local governments is a decrease of approximately 1.1 percent when all sources of revenue are considered. I Reducing spending is never easy. I understand the challenges you face. But by working together, I believe we can get Minnesota back on solid financial ground without asking the Minnesota taxpayer for more. II Again, thank you for'you ideas. I Warmest regards, 1\tyw,A,C1 II ARNE H. CARLSON Governor II AHC /dh II AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER 1 0 PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER S`"`=' 75 , It METROPOLITAN COUNCIL Mears Park Centre, 230 East Fifth Street, Sr Paul, MN 55101 -1634 612 291 -6359 FAX 612 291 -6550 TTY 612 291 -0904 April 1, 1992 ' Donald J. Chmiel Mayor City of Chanhassen 690 Coulter Dr. Chanhassen, MN 55317 ' Dear iel: I am in receipt of your March 12, 1992 correspondence regarding the Council's proposed interim strategy to reduce nonpoint source pollution to the Minnesota River. Council staff has started the process of responding to the comments received during the public comment period. Chanhassen's comments will be fully addressed in the public comment document. A copy of this document will be forwarded to the city once it is completed. If you have any questions about the public comment document or the Council's schedule for 1 considering the proposed implementation strategy please contact Steven Schwanke at 291 -6594 or Jack Frost at 291 -6519. Sincerely, ary E. Berson Chair 1 Bonnie Featherstone, Metropolitan Council District 14 Don Ashworth, Chanhassen City Manager Paul Krauss, Chanhassen Planning Director 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 CITYOF CHANIIASSEN ' 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 (612) 937 -1900 • FAX (612) 937 -5739 1 March 12, 1992 1 Ms. Mary E. Anderson, Chair 1 Metropolitan Council Mears Park Centre 230 East 5th Street St. Paul, MN 55101 Dear Ms. Anderson: As you are aware, the City of Chanhassen has established itself on the cutting edge of metro area communities responding to water quality issues. We are one of only two communities 1 cited by your staff as being in compliance with the Metropolitan Council's recently published "Water Quality Implementation Strategy Surface Water Management Non -point Source 1 Pollution to the Minnesota River ". As such, we are generally very supportive of the Metropolitan Council's goals and positions contained within this document. However, I wish to raise several concerns regarding the February 3rd draft. 1 The first concern is related to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and MPCA's strategy of attaining compliance by 1996. The draft states that if the goal is not reached, the EPA and PCA may require a moratorium on land development within the Minnesota River basin, improvements to Blue Lake and Seneca Waste Treatment Plants, payment of fines by the Metropolitan Council and MWCC, or a combination of the three options. 1 While I understand the position on this, I believe the way in which we are responding to it has a serious flaw. My primary concern is that the three punitive actions that are listed, and indeed the Metropolitan Council's response outlined in this draft, are limited to the seven 1 county metro area. While I believe that metro area communities will be willing to do their fair share, we must keep ensuring ourselves and others that this is being done in an equitable manner. Information presented to the Technical Advisory Task Force for the 1 Minnesota River on which I serve, appears to indicate that substantial pollutant loads are already contained within the river before it ever reaches the seven county area. Thus, I am deeply concerned that all the punitive actions affect what may actually be a contributing part ' of the larger problem. Failure to deal with the upstream contribution will not resolve the problem and does not seem particularly equitable. 1 1 � 4, PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER 1 1 Ms. Mary E. Anderson March 12, 1992 1 Page 2 This issue of equity has been one of the primary points of discussion at Technical Advisory 1 Task Force group meetings. I am aware of the MPCA's MRAP program that is designed to get compliance outside of the metro area, but frankly, remain somewhat skeptical of their • ability to gain good compliance. On behalf of my community, I note that we are already 1 expending a significant amount of resident paid fees under our Surface Water Utility program to deal with water quality issues. It would be unfortunate that even after having done so, we may be subject to further punitive action. I The draft report correctly distributes the blame for non -point source pollution over both urban development and agricultural practices. However, when the report talks about 1 urbanization and the ability to mitigate impacts through the use of design retention basins it states rather bleakly that it is impossible to mitigate the non -point source pollution impacts from urbanization. I am not sure that this bleak scenario is born out of by available 1 data. Evidence that we have seen indicates that, through careful use of NURP ponds, a comprehensive system of upland retention, and through careful preservation and reintroduction of wetlands, many of these impacts can be eliminated. This in fact is the 1 goal that the City of Chanhassen has established for itself with our water quality protection plan. At the very least, we would expect that the results of these improvements would be a development pattern that is much more sensitive to reducing non -point source pollution ' than our traditional urban patterns or what would be experienced in areas under intensive agricultural use utilizing current practices. My final two comments concern the proposed interim strategy provided at the end of the draft report. While we generally support all of the nine strategies that are mentioned, 1 strategies #3 and #9 raise some concerns. Strategy #3 states that all local governments in the Minnesota River Basin must adopt the DNR Shoreland Regulations. The implication in this policy is that we are being asked to adopt these shoreland regulations verbatim as 1 drafted by the DNR. It has been my experience in the past that DNR regulations designed to deal with situations across the entire state of Minnesota, are often somewhat ill conceived when applied in the metro area. Chanhassen is currently in the process of preparing a new 1 set of shoreland regulations that may deviate from the DNR model in some respects. We fully expect to demonstrate to the DNR that these standards are reasonable and consistent with their goals, but the fact remains that they may well deviate from their model. I would 1 ask that Policy #3 be redrafted to read, "Local governments in the Minnesota River Basin be required to adopt shoreland management practices that are consistent with the goals and guidelines of the DNR's statewide standards for management of shoreland areas ", but direct 1 adoption of the DNR standards verbatim not be required. My last comment is in reference to Policy #9, wherein the Metropolitan Council and AMM 1 monitor the effectiveness of this program to see if sufficient progress is made by 1994. If sufficient progress is not made by 1994, it is stated that the Council and the AMM will jointly sponsor and support state legislation designed to meet the EPA /MPCA goal of 40% 1 1 1 Ms. Mary E. Anderson March 12, 1992 1 Page 3 reduction by 1996. The implication here is that a more restrictive and probably punitive state law would result if progress is not made by this date. I think this needs further clarification as to what exactly constitutes progress, since it is improbable that water quality in the river will noticeably be improved in the next two years even if all metro area governments in the Minnesota River Basin adopt the practices outlined in your report. I would argue that if the communities in question make progress towards controlling non- point source pollution and establish water quality protection programs in that time frame, that this would constitute sufficient progress towards meeting the goal. Also, again, this policy goes back to the equity issue since it seems to imply that the punitive actions outlined by the 1996 goal would fall on communities in the seven county area. There is no direct 1 mention of statewide legislation that would get at the majority of non -point source contribution that is being put into the river upstream of the Twin Cities. 1 In closing, I wish to reiterate Chanhassen's support for the overall goals and programs outlined in your draft report. We have every intention of continuing to pursue our water quality protection program and expect that many other communities will do likewise over the next few years. The basic goal of this letter is simply to ensure that this problem continues to be dealt with in an equitable an effective manner. Thank you for this opportunity to respond. Sincerely, / 0-41111P' ore onald J. C el Mayor Don Ashworth 1 City Manag r Paul Knauss, AICP Planning Director ' DJC:DA:PK:v pc: SWMP Task Force Planning Commission City Council UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ( `'` Twin Cities Campus Design Center for American Urban Landscape 320 Wulling Hall 1 College of Architecture & Landscape Architecture 86 Pleasant Street S.E. Minneapolis, MN 55455 -0221 612- 626 -0333 1 19 March 1992 1 N3V10 TO: Paul Krauss FR: Betsy Fitzsimons 1 RE: Enclosed Article Attached is an article that BiII thought you might find interesting., Accidental Cites: The Deadly Grip of Outmoded Zoning., from Architectural Record, February, 1992. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ..:3 1 MAR 2 0 1 '2:.2 CITY OF CH^,NHAS: 1 1 . . • , ...- . _ .i= �ZY'�. •--•• , 7 ::: - .,-,:::-..�, = r . . - ter 1 Accidental Cities: „, _ .._ -_ . _ _- :. , —_ , ... - � - 1-1 4 1- - „ . ..gt .. .....5i - -• The Deadly Grip of ^ - - ; ._ � 9 . ` T°�e r r ___ Outmoded Zoning: .. .::. : • � ~ ` r- • �.: • ,nom t ,- ate• ®,! ,p�� - • „,--4...4,...,...,..,•..„-„,,,, _....„....„......„ .....:„.,. „..... ,,,.. .,...,‘„,, ..., .,...„..,....”. , t i er 1 B Jonathan Barnett ▪ `"�' ^m ,�•c itt :. `'1 �;-r s By • • Edge Cities, Urban Villages, Technoburbs, or just plain urban sprawl 0- .� - ,,o f , have changed U. S. cities and suburbs into something much more . sr�s ,,± '-4.a ,.- ,, �. ^_ te .. „..,_ ....,..„..........•„„,„::......, ll diffi to unde use, or plan. Activities that once took place 't r:� ` ' ,.u:; ; downtown have been distributed over the countryside in patterns so *„ f - � i .1:_-''''''' ,, s , widespread, and by now so familiar, that they are creating a new > w O y M� �}'�} i way of life. *,. , _ �„,�� _ „.. , �� „-.. ‘.,„ Joel • Gar r eau's recently published E dge City: Life on the Neu Fron- • '�'- �.,• -ryi , .' ' ” ---„, « •„w t_ tier is one of the best descriptions of these significant economic and *y`' ' ce I social changes, but what puzzles Garreau, and the people he inter- " t ~ ' r It- views, is the new urbanization is so fragmented it seems accidental. •j.; . ,�4r' It : • w �r - . .i4 t .st : The drawings at right, prepared for the Regional Plan Association � 4`' ',vol.. - ` 4. I of New Fork, show the way rbanization frequently takes lace in '� - • t ' .,. ' J ^' ti suburbs or rural areas, and what might be done to improve it. In the 1• , .' ,_ - •-?.. '' �0 first sequence, the land around a newly completed highway inter- °F . " 's *i t 4" R _ e ir change was made a commercial zone (1). a move intended to ' . + - #, - -% _ {� G.. � ,'�' , ' ,.c I accommodate gas stations, fast -food restaurants, and other busi �. nesses that serve travelers. Instead (2), the ingredients of a small - = _. -=- y .. " �'`" --� city center gradually appeared: a hotel, a shopping mall, offices, and =- -• -"° .: - _ -F _ " - -+" ` ' I industry. Each required some modification of the zoning and a sepa- ,;-c • - ' ` >w: 4... * • �.,,, - :;: rate approval process, but no one saw w hat was happening until it a y;'' � : -. ;� was too late. If the investors and the community had understood '°" that they were shaping several million square feet of urban develop- .� .. - � ' y"' - I ment, they might well have preferred to concentrate new buildings t� ,,,;$ in a single quadrant of the interchange (3), nearest to an existing 10 - ' - ,: it ' ; '� ' ` 1 - ='' r railway line and town, tying new investment to transportation and ;a• -4. " : ••- ±� • , ' oth communities. There would still have been direct access from ' f ""k` " - •' -i t ! --■ ` � = " "" • �- I the highway, but t road would lead to a district, with office build- � , , " -r— i . _ ings, a hotel, and a shopping mall. sharing a series of landscaped �m ;' -•�• -.•, j , ;__ , parking courts. � • . a •. i - - 'r'' - -a� :- � � e = - " - : , I � ; • ` �. , :. m y .. , .- 1;. The second sequence of drawings shows a typical commercial stri � - • ...._ . � , � " ` ,. ' -� �� � , !: � . (4). The idea that commerce belongs in narrow strips along high *- { . ways made sense when small city and suburban zoning ordinances = = '" ,4 5 I were first being drawn up in the United States during the 1920s. Zoning confirmed existing Main Street shopping patterns, and many .:1 , , " A, - y �.. • _`- k -- ;r; ' �.q ;a r t . a i major streets had streetcars on them. The streetcar produces a lin- y 4 s��a s� � i'' - �iRy1_ � + ear form of commercial development, as passengers can get on and • ` r'` t . � ,. • . . - � ' , F - I • _ off at almost every block, and both visibility and accessibility —and : � t thus commercial value -drop off sharply a block or two from the a \ '�' • ' till*. k street -car line. By continuing to extend commercial strip , - . - , . - ; ,4 y- p y- ,,,„� P zonin 'r; I . zoning '- ;� / ' .. along highways, communities have created a development pattern ' / fi . " ' l e at " ' �5 . a } Jonathan Barnett is professor of architecture and director of th. 1 i ; Graduate Program in Urban Design at the City College of New 3 : = _ �� r s • " p, York. He is also a consultant to the cities of Pittsburgh, '- - ' -. . Cleve- � 3 ��'� /�� -.� ./- , � %� =,�- - land, Norfolk, Charleston, South Carolina, and Sioux City, 1ou•a. .,..t • _ • - Z" =°, J &' :v. •' ` 1 94 Architectural Record February 1992 -.1V:!a'.•"?' •••,..----* """-- ' - •-• -. --„•,... -.'-,-. ;irk- -- s" --__--„ .._......- 1, ----• '-- -- --.......•%-.".----- __,-" "c ---....,--`-' •. ..... " .....- i . "" . ": - '" ;..... -, Fr., .. t I- --.4•.---..„...,•:.:.,..-7,-,,i-2......,-zi.--,. _ •,.....,-_,..,---. .. ... . ..... ........... - _ - .....-.:- . _.... - ,w--- , ...7:. -••••,-": - -.CP' ''''',-,.. '--- - " 0, ... 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' •Ae - ...te 46rei da.• , . ..• --•1 r • 6 1 Architectural Record February 1992 95 I . - would , Overleaf Ad hoc zoning deci- ing alternative (6) wou d ma What has directed the new I sions at a typical highway more intense commercial zones interchange (1) permit the in selected locations. urbanization up to now is not so equivalent of a small city Drawings prepared for the downtown to be scattered Regional Plan Association: much the invisible hand of the 1 around the intersection (2). Richard Anderson, marketplace as the deadly grip of Local powers of zoning could president, Robert D. Yaro, shape the same development senior vice president; Dodson outmoded zoning ordinances. into a compact cluster (3). Associates, consultants: Harry I Typical strip commercial Dodson, Peter Flinker, Kevin development (4) is mandated Wilson; Jonathan Barnett, by local zoning. Growth means consultant; Robert Geddes, I extending the strip (5). A zon- advisor. that no longer makes any sense, wastes valuable land, and produces Elsewhere in suburbia, a morning's errands might start with a•trip irreconcilable traffic conflicts. In most suburbs the available busi- from a residential neighborhood out to the strip to leave clothes -at ness locations are all within these zoning strips, which continue to the dry cleaners, followed by driving a mile along the strip to the I grow (5). The alternative (6) is to zone a few places along the strip hardware store, and then two miles in the other direction to the su- for more concentrated development, supported by public parking ga- permarket. In the meantime, other drivers are using the same rages and other investment incentives long understood in city highway to go from one town to another. Moving on and off the centers but not yet much used in the suburbs. The drawing shows highway to reach local businesses inevitably conflicts with through that zoning has been changed to match the surrounding area along traffic, particularly when cars make mid -block left turns from "sui- segments of the highway where strip development has not yet taken cide lanes" in the middle of the roadway. place. Where commercial uses are to be phased out, the commercial 111 zoning has been changed to multifamily. Locations for townhouses In a traditional suburban downtown the same errands could be ac- and garden apartments are often scarce in the suburbs, and can complished from a single parking space; in a traditional urban have a comparable value to low- density commercial districts. The neighborhood (where some of us still live) all the errands could be apartments and townhouses are shown facing the adjacent neigh done on foot. I borhoods rather than the highway, which is landscaped to create a visual and acoustic buffer. Many highway corridors are now experiencing all -day traffic jams, with a short respite in mid - morning before people go out to their I These alternatives are possible. What has directed the new urbaniza- lunch -time appointment, and another brief interval in the afternoon tion up to now is not so much the invisible hand of the marketplace before everyone starts heading home. This suburban gridlock is just as the deadly grip of outmoded zoning ordinances. Many suburban the most obvious symptom of what is wrong with these new develop - localities did not adopt zoning until the 1950s or '60s, but zoning ad- ment patterns. The high ratio of parking lots to buildings, the ' vocates were so anxious to create some kind of land -use control that unwalkable distances across highways and service roads, make it they did not stop to ask whether the established zoning concepts impossible to design any kind of architectural ensemble, as well as they were adopting might belong to the street -car age and not to the wasting land and raising infrastructure costs. Having to drive to ev- present. Cities and towns gave up on the streetcar much too easily, ery destination and appointment precludes the variety of incidents I but are now locked into development patterns made possible only by and the potential for casual contact that traditionally have made the automobile; and the dispersal of downtown activities into subur- downtown districts good business locations: the ability to set up a ban and rural areas was not anticipated by most zoning ordinances. meeting on short notice, the chance to run into someone you know at It is depressing to contemplate how much bad development has been lunch, the opportunity to shop on the way to and from work. I caused by faulty public policies, but communities are beginning to - realize that they can revise their codes and reassert control over Most important, dispersed development patterns cannot be served their own future, and designers are finding ways to make sense out by public transportation, and additional development must then be- of dispersed urban elements. come even more dispersed to accommodate parking. making traffic problems even worse. The public policy implications of compact ur- Why compact regional centers are important ban centers in the suburbs were illustrated in the Vision 2020 project Lewis Mumford called the highway cloverleaf American's national sponsored by the Puget Sound Council of Governments. A news- !' flower, but even Mumford at his most pessimistic and sarcastic did paper supplement was published in May 1990, outlining the develop - not imagine broad bands of highway pavement or grasslands owned ment alternatives summarized in the aerial perspectives at right. by the state transportation department becoming the permanent The top perspective (7) shows the Seattle- Tacoma region as it exists I centerpiece for so much new development. Someone with business at today. It was contrasted with four alternative growth scenarios. The a suburban office park might stay overnight at a hotel in one quad - first (8) assumes that local governments continue with their current rant of the cloverleaf, and face an intricate drive in the morning to plans, resulting in the urbanization of 750 additional square miles by reach the office park diagonally across the intersection. At lunch a 2020. The second alternative postulates a tight urban growth bound- I cavalcade of cars takes everyone to the restaurant in yet another ary, with development co- ordinated to keep most new construction quadrant. The distances might be walkable, but no one should cross within six major centers in the region, which reduces the estimated so many lanes of swiftly moving traffic, and the highway depart- urbanization of undeveloped land to 450 square miles. A third alter - ment usually puts up fences, removing any temptation to be a native, with a larger number of urban--centers distributed over the pedestrian. region, reduces the new land required to 400 square miles. The I 96 Architectural Record February 1992 I Compact communities have an development around a system e on regional growth. The of compact centers with strong Puget Sound Council of Gov- growth boundaries. The com - ernments' Vision 2020 project pact centers support rapid I illustrated the regional design transit and save move than 300 consequences of di ferent square miles from unnecessary transportation policies. The urbanization. perspective (7) of current devel- Drawings by Hewitt Isley, with I opment in the Seattle metropolitan region is con- assistance by Jack Sidener and Barbara Seymour. trasted with 30 years of future growth based on current plans I (8). and (9) the same amount of fourth scenario extrapolates the current trend toward decentralized _ I development without any contravening public policies, resulting in -T- �_ -:.. _ - .-:•,•_._, � =' ... , ; `. growth over 950 square miles of currently rural land. �'�' = •`- • - ' - V j` ` i ` . ' -" G' ^A The last image (9) shows the agreed -upon regional plan, adopted in -= b '"' "- - , I October 1990. It combines the second and third alternatives to create -, -.-__;7---.. - , ,�, - f ' ._ - f T- \ Kn -r a hierarchy of compact centers from Seattle down through five met _ . � ' *. =v` . "" ropolitan cities ( Bremerton, Everett, Renton, and Tacoma). ----. F ,.•:.. ' t - to sub - regional centers, small towns, and suburban developments vs:. - . -. _ 4e.''' yyrss _ .,: ry I planned as towns. This public policy will be implemented through - .� the design and funding of rapid transit and highway improvements. ; '. Z <- " " w although selection of the smaller centers has yet to be completed. mi�;, - : - - ,, -401-,•"' . . a-rr l' til t.; .. - - `L These illustrations demonstrate that compact development is an is ' 1 > sue that goes beyond the design and experience of individual centers - Y => to affect the way that everyone metropolitan re one in a metro olitan ion will live in - 'y' g I the next few decades. Achieving this kind of regional design might -- _ - _ require new kinds of special zoning districts, and possibly land as ..- r = ;s :� - semblage by a public authority to promote compact centers. Skeptics • . - — _ `- - -'� .,;' -- may wonder whether such a public effort can be justified even if L __ �' :.�- , ' • ' -- ' I ompact new urban centers are served by rapid transit and provide _ -r`� — ' c w t -_ -" _ y; • _ • }- .' ~'M~~ _ an en where people can walk from place to place. How ;r-, r - 'as " ever, there are potentially decisive economic advantages from '�` +�+ . .°7- ..4g'` ' sharing parking spaces and thus reducing land and construction = " "= I costs, plus important public policy dividends for environmental con- _ 2 ,,,,,,,,c -• • : . - t' nervation and improved infrastructure efficiency. ~ :�i,"''r' : ' ' .r�I I Shared parking: the key to suburban design Because each conventional suburban shopping center or office _ - � _ _ �` ffice build . s y _ `�" < in is se arate, each must satisfy its own arkin re uirement on its 7�. �t '� .` - - '" ' ' `---. S `" ' : g P P g q x t own property. A shopping center parking lot is rarely filled. It can ` .. -l`' - ".sr I happen, but usually only on a few peak weekend days between ! s= Thanksgiving and Christmas. In zoning terms, at grade parking for R a shopping center of five cars per thousand square feet produces ; - - _-,...,--_ _ --7-4-7---. 4 T �.� _ ;; Y ,� ; floor area ratios of about 0.33, compared totypical downtown densi :: f --- .�- ._� - -, •J ---- '• - V• 'y - . ..ss� a N-: •� . Y - ties of 8, 10 or 15. Most of the time most of this parking is not used � . - 74..-4',.::: .: ;. -_ , ; te y » . '.. :' Over at the office park, at -grade parking for an eight -story building ., :*,c _ t" .....� _ -r ' ,,� I with a 25,000 square foot floor -plate requires roughly ten times the ;; ri -o , : y - `r' y ,,,� '', ' _ _._,•- . land area devoted to the building. On evenings and weekends, when "' "'" r -- u the parking lot at the shopping center is filling up, the parking lots ... ' - : -., :,, s for the offices are almost deserted. The parking lot at a hotel is not D' ,, �� F ; , heavily used during the day, and could be used by both office work ` '� w* -.v .-44r---A • i. rn rz - . -. ! -- - - ere and shoppers, if it were anywhere near either one. Le Corbusier � s ' ' ' ' ' ` foresaw the city of the future as towers in a park; he did not imagine r ,, - 4 •� , that the new reality would be towers in a parking lot. •• ='+:Y x r ` - A r. k .- a . x v s ` If it were possible to park in one place and walk from hotel to office a, , ,' ...., , 3 ;, \, -% -. • ;.., 4j . •- ,•,•rJ• v.• 9 - 1 Architectural Record February 1992 97 I Maps by students at the Uni- The perspective drawing by versity of South Florida show Duany and Plater - Zyberk (12), how too much high- density zon- developed for the planned com- ing leads to low- density munity of Avalon Park, near suburban sprawl. Current zon- Orlando, Florida, illustrates ing in the 1 -75 corridor east of how a compact commercial Tampa, Florida (10) yields 2.5 center could be developed next times all the office space on to a highway interchange. Manhattan Island. The alter- Drawing by Duany and Plater - native map (11) shows the most Zyberk Architects: Andres ' optimistic market projections Duany, Elizabeth Plater - concentrated in fire compact Zyberk. Charles Barrett, centers. Manuel Fernandez - Noval. building, and from office building to the mall, the amount of spaces provided could be reduced, as spaces used by office workers du-ing ° i,. the day could be used by shoppers and hotel guests ateight and on / _ weekends. It might even be possible to save enough money on land .. and access roads to justify some structured parking, which could f % 1,° / make the whole development still more compact and efficient. Over - �^ • ,- - i f- flow parking for peak days could be provided in peripheral areas, t i which in some climates may not even need to be paved. Because • ___ development is concentrated in a compact location, it could be served 4 - efficiently by a bus line, or even a rail rapid- transit system, making ( . r ! i . i it possible to have even fewer car spaces. I \ r~ �, ', ` Too much commercial zoning: but not enough in one place f A ' ` l � , . Current zoning patterns of strips along highways and nodes around 1� `"w � �; cloverleafs provide both too much land and too little space to encour- I 111111 �—� �i t age a compact alternative form of development. Too much land is _' zoned commercial to make it worthwhile for investors to investigate M joint development with other entrepreneurs. At the same time, the I ---7 extent of commercial zoning is sharply restricted to the vicinity of � highways, so that sufficient commercially zoned space is rarely ` , - available at any one highway location to put offices, shops and a ho- / r -----_ r• �5 — tel together the way they might be found in an older city center. = A map (10), at left, prepared for a study at the University of South 4_,_^ Florida, shows the existing zoning mapped along the I -75 highway _ corridor as it bypasses Tampa, Florida — regulations that in theory ,�_ ° could permit something like 800 million square feet of development ii 1" (more than twice the office space in all of Manhattan). A very op- t `��-= -e timistic estimate of actual development potential might be 80 million square feet over a 25 -year period. As so much land has been allo- '*# t sated for high - density development, there is no incentive to use it �� well. A proposed shopping center, for example, uses about one -tenth the permitted density. If the zoning is not changed, it will produce - -, - i 1 I _ - ; . t ' the familiar fragmented pattern: an office park in one place, a shop- ' f % ' gam, , ; ,,,., - ping mall five miles away, and so on—all completely dependent on ' "' ,. ,,,� .: ' - �'` g the automobile and each surrounded by vast parking fields. w.� _ «r _ .- The University of South Florida students, not having to deal with vo- �; , cal landowners demanding high - density zoning, could produce an ::;::%'::: ' alternative zoning map, (11), that accommodates optimistic growth - � . - �''''= T , '� - projections in five compact locations, real urban areas that could be -- r . _ _-- ' r,,,- % R , ' served by mass transit. k -� r- ++++ - `_ - The design of now compact centers ' _ = • `=. v. - .:: .�;: Compact development does not mean replicating early twentieth cen- r ,. . t , , :u . ; �� . .; tury downtowns. The enclosed shopping mall, for example, can be lik.„_ `; , ,4 Itt L^i I 12 incorporated within a compact center. A design by Andres Duany -" ' and Elizabeth_Plater -Zyberk for Avalon Park (12), a large planned 98 Architectural Record February 199: ' Suburbs ca n revise their codes A study by University of South Florida students compares the and reassert control over their current proposal for a shop- ping center at one interchange ' own future, and designers along the 1 -75 corridor (18) with can make sense out of dispersed a plan that makes the shopping center a nucleus of a future 'urban elements. compact community (14). Plan by Je Conner and J. Texada; studio critics: James Moore and Jonathan Barnett. 1 community east of Orlando, Florida, takes a regional shopping mall with three department stores and assimilates it into the street pat- - • tern of the surrounding community. Two of the three anchor stores ■ -� ■l are placed at the end of major streets, the third store faces a high- Kill way as in a conventional shopping center. An office tower is located to become a marker for the whole complex, which is ringed with • ■ RESIDEN I L I smaller scale multiuse buildings. Parking is shown as three car ' • 11 spaces per 1,000 square feet; overflow at peak times can be accom- INDUSTRY/ k modated at curbside on the streets, or at remote locations. Diagrams ' (18) and (14), prepared by students at the University of South Flor- , ...' — WATER/ - " Y 60 \ ida as part of the 1-75 corridor study, use these Avalon principles to RETENTION PROPOSED P P P PONDS PROPOSED show how a proposed shopping mall could be transformed into the , ,� - RETAIL STRIP ' nucleus of a city center, with the drainage basins required by Flor , f; � ida environmental law combined into an ornamental lake. Initially, �ssTOwN , � CREEK the street pattern would be just divisions in a conventional parking j s % MALL di \ lot. Later office buildings could be added, sharing the parking, and , 1 lip (PROPO 1f I then —as land values increase — parking garages would permit even � more intense development along what would become city streets. r+ <,6 LUMSDEN " ' -- Only then would the area begin to approach the kind of urban densi- 'ili� I RESIDENTIAL ' ties that have already been mapped for the highway corridor. L asuu I �� � s t There are already some real-estate developments that can see as models of compact suburban centers•One of the most interesting is Reston Town Center in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D. C., EXISTING AND PROPOSED (15). Reston was actually planned on Ebenezer Howard's model of a 13 self - sufficient community surrounded by rural areas, and a down- it town district was part of the original plan by Conklin and Rossant, 1. • _ prepared in the early 1960s. see 1 • • 1 By the time RTKL began designing the center, however, Reston had 4 .. �I • E `--- become an island of relative coherence in a sprawling urban corridor • _ ' 4 c:a5 '-=*, I leading from Washington to Dulles Airport. In a regional context, �Q the Reston Town Center is just another development; ; but the first 'N WAREHOUSE A SE pi l o phase of the center combines 550,000 square feet of offices, 200,000 r 1 � I square feet of retail, 11 film theaters and a 500 -room hotel, all orga - • ���� nized in blocks, much like a traditional downtown. The retail is at r, . .� street level with circulation along Market Street and Fountain , 1 �, ` O ° � '��' Square, I rr uare q ( not along �� ;1� "� N L I g an internal mall (although the re are mid -block con- CROSS ' � tt ' fk. : %' courses with shop frontages). Right now, the Reston Center only ` ` .... � looks like a city if you walk or drive up Market Street; around the pe- " � riphery of the four completed blocks you are still looking at VP CV# �O I buildings surrounded by parking. Ultimately, however, these park- 476 LuMSDEN ing spaces become blocks housing another 10,000 square feet of ii: X33 retail, close to two million additional square feet of office, another 700 hotel rooms, plus 600 to 800 apartments —which would be con- 3 . Iv, I firmation that there is a marketable alternative to accidental `� ii suburban development around highway interchanges, with real city blocks, storefronts and a traditional mix of uses. PROPOSE – u I Architectural Record February 1995 99 ' The Reston Town Center (15) is tral cross roads in the an alternative to conventional community (16) has been iden- I shopping malls and office tified as the nucleus (17) of a parks that uses street front re- proposed new compact center. tail and garage parking. Multifamily residential will re- The four blocks with the brown place some commercial strip ' tone and blue towers have al- zoning (18). ready been constructed. Plans prepared by Ha nson, Urban design plan by RTKL; Neiswender, Taylor: David I principals: George Pillorge, Taylor, Randall David Hudson, Bernard Wulff. Hollingsworth: Jonathan In Pinellas Park, Florida, a Barnett, Benjamin ]Withers, strip shopping center at a cen- consultants. 1 I d ";' 1 ; Transforming the strip % : * , 4 . t,, The commercial strip can be transformed, if communities are willing to adopt new zoning policies. A strategy similar to that described in 4.?../...f,,/ -, { . �, _ , LLh: a ■ the Regional Plan Association diagrams is being implemented by the I r, � - city of Pinellas Park, Florida. Instead of continuous commercial zon- v � 1 .. may::• - ". ' . _ 7 ing, the plan by Hanson, Neiswender, Taylor and Jonathan Barnett .,,---;-g* y p keeps commercial zoning at important locations, and the rest of the y `� .. .. / strip has been rezoned to a special mixed use district that permits ` -- r garden apartments or townhouses with possible ground -floor office � or commercial space (18). An existing strip shopping center has been A' ` �~ - ; I ;'? li, identified as the nucleus of a new, much more concentrated civic and 4 6 " .` ,• _ r � commercial center. The figure - ground plans. (16) and (17), show how : %•: ... the existing we] spaced and scattered buildings can be • r •h� g id Y bulled to- P g P "�ti:.' .- ,.,,,-_4,..".!., ,1. • 4 , f ' gether into a more coherent street and block pattern. S • 41i $ - w s - ^ . • A generalized description of suburban zoning principles for compact . ° = - _ - communities is contained in the Transit Oriented Development De- WI _ _ � � I -' _. ' �- _ sign Guideline's prepared by Calthorpe Associates as part of the - • f Sacramento County general plan. The preferred, radial residential M ./I block pattern leading to a cluster of shops along the arterial road, 15 (20), is contrasted with cul-de -sac streets branching off the arterial ' i ! »• -- and unrelated shopping strip, (21). j j '�� The drawing at right (19) describes a neighborhood commercial dis- I 11 trict at Avalon Park, Florida, the planned community mentioned ■ II . _� = earlier designed by Duany and Plater - Zyberk, which could be the ■ e •• -- kind of center indicated in the Sacramento diagram. It has a grocer 1 1 ., . :� ' � and a drug store, each of 50,000 square feet. plus other related II = € shops, and offices or apartments on the upper floors. The Avalon 1 • ' � • • i plan also includes local convenience shopping and smaller neighbor- • ■ 117 hood centers. The parking ratio at each of these centers is three car: • fl - »• -.....--.7t per 1,000 square feet of shops, a reduction from the more usual five + 1 ... • r- . : . - - ::....».. car standard made possible by dose integration with the 2 41 surrounding areas. All lots are designed to permit trees to be placec 16 17 between each parking bay. I . \ ; What about existing occidential cities? =4 Joel Garreau lists 123 Edge Cities in North America (four are in the Toronto metropolitan area, the rest in the U. S.). An Edge City in J ` =_ 7 Garreau's definition has five million leasable square feet of office \\ \ space or more (and thus is clearly a work center and not a suburb), t — _ -- _ has at least 600,000 square feet of retail of a type that makes the �, area a destination, and is located in a place that 30 years ago was ; ' ;\ : overwhelmingly residential or rural in character. According to - '� Garreau there are another 78 incipient Edge Cities (five near To- ronto). Most of the places Garreau calls Edge Cities have the accidental character described in the - Regional Plan Association I drawing of typical development around an intersection (2)._ • 18 100 Architectural Record February 1992 I A neighborhood center (19), de- County's proposed Transit Ori- signed by Andres Duany and ented Development Design Elizabeth Plater - Zyberk for Av- Guidelines. The commercial alon Park in Florida, is on an center is also a transit stop; I arterial street, but connected centers occur at intervals, as back into the community so it focus of a radial street pattern. is accessible to pedestrians as This preferred organization is I well as cars. A more general contrasted with typical subur- statement of this principle can ban development (21), where be seen in the diagram (20) pre- access to residential pared by Calthorpe Associates neighborhods is mainly from I in association with Mintier & an irregular pattern of cui -de- A ssociates for r S acramento 3-:�y sac and collector streets. --: ' :,t =' 4 > -' ' ter";_;.< . K f s Now to improve these places - '" . , us.. " .. " . 41, "" :. r F , ,} , Local governments already have the power to make incipient or fu :.••-•_,-- s ., ` ' ' .k, 04 , ... ture edge cities into something much more like the Avalon or Reston ..a r,•;� _ '' b'- . \ ; .• town centers through zoning and development incentives. What has ��"� ' , � - s • -- ^#,; lc - ' Ir ' -= •' '� been missing until recently has been an understanding of develop f --� -�' j # - "� t om ' _ ent forces, plus the political will to take charge of the community's . -- ` ; � li fu ture. I ntervention in existing areas of fragmented " ' ->' ' - 7 - £ ` � g g mented g Ede -Ci t : ; . � - '`� ; development is much more difficult, requiring either'reconstruction, :. _ _ F �'. which needs an economic justification for tearing down • t n relatively new fi - �` ="' Wit: _' ;.� i , ._ , buildings, or replacement of parking lots with garages, which frees - t 1 infill sites for development, but may raise densities beyond the capac- • - • • • -- -1-= - _ '; "�• "1_ . itv of the transportation system. _ - - ^=�' x .% �.. -..• •'' :_ ; I Tyson's Corner, Virginia, the Irvine business center in California, and � .. ' �_ _ the Parkway Center district in suburban north Dallas are all acciden- •• 4 ` "�- • tal cities that have recently been the subject of studies seeking as - ." -- -'- a Y to transform them into more workable and livable places. (Tyson's =- i - ., s- Corner study is by EDA\V Inc.; ADD, Inc.; Leggatt McCall Advisors L . and The Partners for Livable Places. Irvine study is by HOK and Yl I Sasaki Associates. Parkway Center study is by Barton-Aschman As- - K • - - - : E_:- . sociates, Sasaki Associates, Hammer, Siler, George Associates.) t8 Tyson's Corner is perhaps the most famous of all Edge Cities and one of the most accidental. It has more than 15,000,000 square feet of of- — • fives, two massive regional shopping centers, plus 3,000 hotel rooms rl %� %��� — 71 � 'and 2,500 apartments. The proposals for Tyson s Corner included an f� ___J ' ' � ��� internal transportation link, a public open -space system, and small -. I areas of infill. —_ _ J'L�_ 1;_ = r Building patterns similar to a city center were proposed at Irvine, re- - r - � ` !' • gP P P �! quiring both reconstruction and infill, but the plan proved too 41= � • '� - - controversial, and has been withdrawn for further study. % _ _ L - _ 11 The proposals in Dallas are directed toward making property owners .y realize that they are part of a district that can be identified, linked by ' transportation and open space, and added to coherently. 20 • These studies are small steps towards ex -post facto design of acciden- _ . t 11 •. __ _ • ..�, - tal cities; more comprehensive methods should emerge as designers - ; _I..: " , look at these places, evaluate them, and invent ways to improve them. . J . • -�� if =_ . I Accidental cities happened because conditions changed faster than ei- .: Jtv�- ji� `` r. ther investors or government officials could figure out what was / ( ' ;'. going on. But now that these places exist, there is no excuse not to do ���� ° I Ic.. something about them. Revising zoning codes to hea o new city- : 7 ri � development accidents should be at the top of every local government ' ;•.� : �/ '. ` l I ' agenda. Remaking existing accidental development should be built into every master plan. It will take a generation or more to correct the mistakes of recent decades, but it can be done. ■ 21 -- 1 Architectural Record February 1992 101 POPHAM HAIK ' 2400 ONE TABOR CENTER SCHNOB RICH & KAUFMAN, LTD. 3300 PIPERJAFFRAV TOWER 1200 SEVENTEENTH STREET 222 SOUTH NINTH STREET DENVER, COLORADO 80202 MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA 55402 ' TELEPHONE 303-893-1200 TELEPHONE 333 -4900 TELECOPIER 303 -893 -2194 MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA TELECOPIER 612- 334 -2713 ' 4100 CENTRUST FINANCIAL CENTER 13001 STREET, N.W. 100 S . SECOND STREET SUITE 500 EAST MIAMI, FLORIDA 33131 WASHINGTON. D.C. 20005 TELEPHONE 305- 530 -0050 Raymond A. Haik, Esq. TELEPHONE 202-962.8700 TELECOPIER 305-530-0055 Direct Dial (612) 334 -2609 TELECOPIER 202- 962.8799 February 28, 1992 ' Paul Kraus Director of Planning City of Chanhassen 690 Coulter Drive Chanhassen, MN 55317 Re: LCMR Grant Application Dear Paul: I will be on vacation and will miss the next meeting of the Board of Managers of Riley- Purgatory -Bluff Creek Watershed District. I wanted to confirm our discussions concerning what has ' been done in connection with the application to secure a grant from the Legislative Commission on Minnesota's Resources. This matter was brought to the attention of the Managers less than 48 hours before th time to submit an application to meet the cut -off ' date of the LCMR. I attempted to reach you on several occasions and finally left a message with members of your staff. We subsequently had an extended discussion where I sensed you had concerns as to what the Watershed District was attempting to do and whether obligations would be imposed upon the City of Chanhassen. As I stated, nothing could have been further from the 1 truth. What the Managers directed was to not lose any opportunity to secure a source of funding to assist in the protection of the Bluff Creek valley. We were specifically charged to insure that ' the grant application state the intent to cooperate and coordinate with the City of Chanhassen. ' At the time of the meeting, County Commissioner Klinglehutz happened to be present on another matter. He can verify the discussion and concern of the Managers that the Bluff Creek protection program would be carried out cooperatively and in ' coordination with the City of Chanhassen. This was of particular concern to the Managers in light of the prior experience with the City on the EPA grant. RECEIVED MAR 0 2 1992 ' CITY OF CHANHASSEN ' Paul Kraus February 28, 1992 Page 2 r Another issue which you raised dealt with what the Watershed District was doing in this regard. I stated that al' we were doing was attempting to secure a grant. Hopefully )if not r successful on this occasion, the Managers will stablish credibility to secure a future grant from the LCMR. As to the ongoing planning process that is underway by the City, I believe _ we had excellent discussions and were pleased with that effort by r the City of Chanhassen. The goal is to insure that the City's plan for Bluff Creek are coordinated with and folded into the water management plan of the District. As mentioned, it is in the City's interest to do that because basic water management projects initiated by the petition of the City of Chanhassen can be the subject of a general levy by r the District and 100% of the basic water management costs are paid by the District. Both the engineer for the District and I are awaiting information from the City and its consulting engineer. We have been specifically directed by / the Managers to respond and ' provide assistance. Funds of the District, as I stated to you, are such that the staff cannot attend the rfiany citizens committee meetings to gain citizen support. I can assure you that the goal r is to cooperate to protect the Bluff,Creek— Watershed and its valley. As we have discussed on other- odcasions, the goal is to acquire and protect the sensitive 'bluff- lands And bther areas without the necessity of condemnation;o'r the expenditure of public ' funds. Therefore, if a grant is received and we continue with a corridor study and development simtier That the Managers were able to do cooperatively with the City of Eden Prairie, we should, r whatever the grant amount, have, - - additional funds to carry out preservation, land enhancement, recreation.or other programs. The corridor between Lake Minnewashta and the Minnesota River r is unique and the goal is to protect it. There is no work being • conducted by the District which conflicts with the planning by Chanhassen. There is such a shortage of funds for these purposes, ' why should anyone inhibit or prevent expenditures by any governmental agency when there is a common goal. The grant can only help the City and District. The Managers have no pride of r authorship and as you will note from reading the grant application, it anticipates and will involve the City in the event we are successful. l opli o ul l y)yo7s, r Ra - o • A. Haik Attorney for Riley- Purgatory -Bluff Creek Watershed District cc: Board of Managers Barr Engineering ' 134RAH/170 s 3s_s i F 2 1992 ; Chanhassen, Minn. ' March 31, 1992 Mr. Paul Krauss ' Planning Director, City Hall Chanhassen, Minnesota Dear Mr. Krauss: ' Some of us older residemts are wondering when Chanhassen is going to get a Retirement Home. We hope that it will be in the near future and that it is something you are thinking 1 about and planning for. ' What we have in mind is a Center with one and two bedroom apartments, not too elegant or expensive, but containing the ' basics, air - conditioning, etc, with plenty closet space, and a balcony for each or most of the apartments. Also dining facilities f or optional dining. We hope that you are working on this. There must be some companies or corporations looking for some place to make an investment such as this. 1 Sincerely, Some older residents ' P.S. There should also be a chapel for non - denoninational worship. 1 1 r 1 CITYOF • 1 1 CHANHASSEN 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 (612) 937 -1900 • FAX (612) 937 -5739 1 - it• 1 • 1 March 24, 1992 1 Mr. Richard Warren, Director United Mailing, Inc. 1 1001 Park Road Chanhassen, MN 55317 Dear Mr. Warren: I am writing as a follow up to our meeting which took place on March 16, 1992, at the 1 United Mailing, Inc. site. Our goal is to achieve acceptable screening by using landscaping materials along the most northerly boundary of the parking lot located south of Park Road. This parking lot is to be used for parking 36 tractor trailers during the time period of 1 approximately December 1, to January 31 of each year. The following was agreed upon during our meeting: 1. Landscaping materials consistent with the landscaping plan dated February, 1992, with changes as noted below: ' 20 Spruce, Colorado (Blue Green) (Increased from 11 trees) 3 Maple, Amur Clump _ 1 3 Crab, Red Splendor 2 Ash, Summit 2. Tractor trailers shall be parked to the rear of the north parking lot, along the southern edge of the lot. Should the rear area be full, trailers may be parked along 1 the west and center of the parking lot. 3. The easterly parking lot located along County Road 17 shall be used for employee parking only. The only exception will be trailers parked at the docks. tot PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER • Mr. Richard Warren March 24, 1992 Page 2 • ' The landscaping materials are to be installed during the time period between September 1 -15, 1992. No parking of tractor trailers shall take place until the landscaping has been completed. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. ' Sincerely, Sharmin Al -Jaff 1 Planner I c: Paul Krauss, Planning Director 1 1 • 1 �1M ...Zoe ee PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY ELECTION I APRIL 7, 1992 A/ e--, REGISTERED PRECINCT # VOTERS VOTED DFL Brown Clinton Tsongas IR Bush Buchanan II #1 2608 302 129 41 33 42 173 103 45 New registrations 25 II #2 1381 200 85 39 24 11 115 58 28 New registrations 7 I *3 1767 149 65 24 14 14 84 54 r 17 registrations 17 I #4 2193 183 74 26 13 27 109 73 16 New registrations 6 II Total 8,004 834 353 130 84 94 481 288 106 II % voted 10.41% 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 illt I METROPOLITAN COUNCIL Mears Park Centre, 230 East Fifth Street, St. Paul, MN 55101 -1634 612 291 -6359 FAX 612 291 -6550 TTY 612 291 -0904 1 April 2, 1992 I Mr. Don Chmiel 7100 Tecumseh Lane 1 Chanhassen, MN 55317 Dear Don: I At its meeting on Thursday, March 26, 1992, the Metropolitan Council confirmed your appointment as Chair of the Waste Management Advisory Committee. 1 I hope that your work in this new capacity be as rewarding for you as it has been beneficial to us having you as a member of the committee. I Sincerely, I // I Mary . Anderson Chair 1 1 1