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CC 2004 09 27 CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 27, 2004 Mayor Furlong called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. The meeting was opened with the Pledge to the Flag. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Furlong, Councilman Ayotte, Councilman Labatt, Councilman Lundquist and Councilman Peterson STAFF PRESENT: Todd Gerhardt, Justin Miller, Elliott Knetsch, Kate Aanenson, Bob Generous, Todd Hoffman, and Paul Oehme PUBLIC PRESENT FOR ALL ITEMS: Justin Hagen 245 Lutsen Court, Chaska Amber Oahs 8000 Erie Avenue Heather Walbel 421 Lyman Boulevard Deb Lloyd 7302 Laredo Drive Melissa Gilman Chanhassen Villager PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: None. CONSENT AGENDA:Councilman Lundquist moved, Councilman Labatt seconded to approve the following consent agenda items pursuant to the City Manager’s recommendations: a. Approval of Minutes: -City Council Work Session Minutes dated September 9, 2004 -City Council Work Session Minutes dated September 13, 2004 Receive Commission Minutes: -Planning Commission Summary and Verbatim Minutes dated September 7, 2004 Resolution #2004-66: b. Resolution Approving the Use of the Southwest Regional Light Rail Transit Route as a Snowmobile Trail. Resolution#2004-67: d. Authorize Preparation of Feasibility Study; Approve Consultant Work Order for 2005 Street Improvements, Project 05-01. stnd Resolution #2004-68: e. Accept Streets in Arboretum Village 1 and 2 Additions, Project Nos. 01-06 and 02-03. Resolution #2004-69: f. Approval of Plans and Specifications and Authorize Advertisement for Bids for Lift Station No. 2, Project 01-011C. City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 g. Approval of Temporary On-Sale Beer & Wine License, Edina Realty Foundation. nd h. Approval of Certificate of Correction for Walnut Grove 2 Addition, Planning Case No. 04-10. Resolution #2004-70: i. Award of Bid, 2004 Pedestrian Trail Reconstruction/Overlay Project. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS. None. LAW ENFORCEMENT & FIRE DEPARTMENT UPDATE. Sgt. Jim Olson: Thank you. Quite a beautiful evening tonight. I included in my council packet the sheriff’s office area report for the month of August. Copy of crime alerts that were put out by Beth Hoiseth and also the community service office report. For the monthly calls for service, our total calls for service were up by 153 for the month. That’s compared to last year and for the year it’s up by 412. Criminal calls were up by 17 for the month and they’re down by 52 for the year. A couple things that I just wanted to point out, as I talked about at the last council meeting that I was at, that’s jumped up quite a bit for the month of August. They’re up by 20 for the month from 38 to 58. A large majority of those are from vehicles, and that’s compared to last year and they’re up by 21 total for the year. Related theft is down from 6 last year to 2 this year, and then for the year overall they’re down from 37 last year to 13 this year, and theft related, what that has to do is internet theft, fraud, embezzlement, different things like that. Burglaries were down from 10 last year to 4 this year and for the year overall they’re down from 40 last year to 30 this year, which is a good thing. Suspicious activity was up quite a bit from 97 to 166. Miscellaneous non-criminal was up quite a bit also from 78 last year to 109 this year, and then for the month citations, for the month of August citations, we’re at 158. Any questions at all relating to the monthly numbers? I want to talk about traffic and school. School’s back in session again and I want to remind everyone to drive carefully before and after school, around bus stops and in school zones especially, and we’re paying extra close attention to school zones right now. Making sure speeds stay down around those zones and reminding people to watch your speeds around there. Deputies have done 12 special traffic details this month on Pleasant View Road alone, and another 10 on Frontier Trail. So we’ve been hitting those quite a bit. We also had saturation patrols on both streets involving multiple squads and also the laser that we did. With Frontier Trail, I think that’s a perception problem over there more than anything else. The top speed that we had on Frontier Trail was 38 miles an hour. That was one vehicle and that was, we certainly did issue them a citation for that. From there we had one vehicle at 33 and everything else was down under 30 for Frontier Trail. Cars look like they’re going quite a bit faster along there because of the curves and we’re waiting to hear back from the neighborhood for Project Leadfoot. We have contacted some people out there but have not heard back from them as of yet. We’re trying to institute Project Leadfoot on Frontier Trail. Any questions in reference to traffic problems? We did have 2 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 the speed trailer out there for a few days. There was some difficulties with the speed readings that I don’t want to go into on there that we received but the numbers that I got back from there were not accurate so, but I would rather not go into that here as far as why they were not accurate. Homecoming is coming up. Homecoming for Chaska is in a couple of weeks, and for Minnetonka it’s this week, and keep in mind that not everybody enjoys being toilet papered with their residence with homecoming festivities and so on. Frequently toilet papering leads to, seems to escalate to eggs and barbeque sauce and honey and flour bombs and different things, and that can certainly lead to damage so I would caution people to try to refrain from that. Earlier this month we had some business burglaries. We had 3 one weekend. Crime Prevention Specialist Beth Hoiseth sent out a crime alert to the different businesses that are on her e-mail list, and I just wanted to remind people that Beth does do premise surveys and business surveys where she’ll come out to the business, or your residence and take a look at crime prevention needs and what you can do to help make your business more crime proof. And she’s more than happy to do that. Her number is 952-227-1610. Any questions at all for the sheriff’s office? Mayor Furlong: Questions? Councilman Lundquist. Councilman Lundquist: Sergeant Olson, when did you make contact or try to make contact with the neighbors in that Frontier Trail area about getting involved in Project Leadfoot? Sgt. Jim Olson: I talked to them that night and then Beth has tried to make some contact also. That same week and then also the next week. I know she did have conversation with one person, and there wasn’t a lot of follow-up to that. Councilman Lundquist: Okay, thank you. Sgt. Jim Olson: Yep. Mayor Furlong: Other questions? Councilman Ayotte. Councilman Ayotte: Any, when you were out there, when our deputies were out there, we had the issue with vehicles parked along the way and the concern about the vehicles being used for slowing down traffic. What were the observations with regard to parked vehicles along the road there? Sgt. Jim Olson: It was not relayed to me that there were vehicles parked out there at that time so I don’t have a good answer for you on that one councilman. I apologize. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other questions? Sergeant Olson, we talked a little bit about Frontier Trail and you also mentioned Pleasant View where you had some detail traffic. Sgt. Jim Olson: Yes. 3 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 Mayor Furlong: Is that something that you’re doing around the city at areas, both of these areas are places where we’ve heard as a council have traffic issues and so that is something that you have been doing and will continue to do I assume. Sgt. Jim Olson: Absolutely. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Saturation and special details. Sgt. Jim Olson: Yes. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright, good. Any other questions? No. Very good, thank you. Sgt. Jim Olson: Have a nice evening. Mayor Furlong: Chief Geske is here as well. Good evening. Chief Gregg Geske: Good evening. Pretty short tonight. Again I don’t have any fires to discuss, which is good. Fire prevention week is coming up, as that was posted in the rdth council update. Fire prevention week is October 3 through October 9. We do have th our open house on October 10. It will be from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Great opportunity. I welcome everybody out there watching to bring the kids up. It’s great. You’ll have a good time. Especially the fire truck rides. We try to add new stuff to keep them excited all the time, and we’ll probably have close to 1,000 people that will come through for our open house. I’d like to also cover the fire prevention week. I think Mark indicated, our Fire Marshal indicated that we had 27 people sign up. Took off work during that week to be involved in giving classes to the kids that we either have come to our station or go out to the schools, and I think we’re up to actually 32 people signing up so it’s a pretty good percentage out of the 45 people we have total here that sign up to take off a day that week and I think that’s great. I can hope that the early fire ed that we have, we start out with the first graders and we go all the way up into the third and fourth graders, is a direct correlation to the number of fires that we have in town here so I think we can take some credit for that. I think Mark Littfin does a real good job of getting people to sign up for that. We do have 7 probationary members that are on their home stretch. They’ve taken all their classes now and basically their percentage, they keep their percentage up, they will be full time at the end of the year here so, and that’s about all I have. Short and sweet. Mayor Furlong: Very good. Any questions for the Chief? Very good, thank you. Chief Gregg Geske: Thank you. 4 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 PUBLIC HEARING: REQUEST FOR VACATION OF DRAINAGE AND UTILITY EASEMENT IN BURLWOOD ADDITION. Public Present: Name Address Michael Falk 1000 Hilloway Circle, Burnsville Paul Oehme: Thank you Mayor, City Council members. This item before you for your consideration again is the Burlwood Subdivision vacation request by the developer. Project area is shown in red and it’s at the southwest corner of Lake Lucy Road and Powers Boulevard, County Road 17. There’s two areas of vacation that the developer is requesting to have the council review tonight. And that’s shown on this drawing. The first one is shown in the green. Indicated on this drawing here that, which is a 20 foot sewer and water easement that covers an existing sanitary sewer line within the development as part of the Burlwood plat, the developer has dedicated public right-of- way as shown on the drawing over the existing sewer line and as such the easement is no longer necessary for us and it’s more of a housekeeping issue to vacate that easement at this time. The second easement area is shown on this drawing as between Lots 1 and 4, Block 1 and that is due to the conflicts of the proposed houses sizes. The minimal size lots in the development. The developer has elected to eliminate or delete one of the lots at this time and only have 3 lots instead of the 4 that was previously platted. And the developer is requesting to vacate these easements, in these areas where the existing lot lines will be removed and the developer intends to dedicate the new easements over the new property lines when that is platted. And that will probably take place at the time of building permits so, that’s all I have tonight. I stand for questions. I request the public hearing be open at this time. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Questions for staff. Councilman Labatt: Just a question on the letter we got from Mr. Martinka. I don’t know if you saw this at all? Paul Oehme: Yeah. I should have. Councilman Labatt: Can you address that? Paul Oehme: In regards to the storm water issue. Councilman Labatt: Well in response to the whole thing. Mainly it’s item number 3 he wants to talk about. Mayor Furlong: Which is storm water. Paul Oehme: Which is the. 5 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 Councilman Ayotte: Have you seen this? Paul Oehme: Yeah, I have it right in front of me right now. I’m just reviewing it right now so. The drainage and utility easement is still dedicated by his property. It’s just being vacated within the right-of-way so to address his concerns, it was dedicated across his property. It was dedicated in ’76. It’s been there for several, I mean almost 30 years here now so, so I think that addresses his point. Where he had dedicated previously, now we’re just vacating it and he’s getting access through this development now. Councilman Labatt: Okay. How about the entire paragraph that’s underlined that talks about the significant increase of water runoff. Paul Oehme: Yep. That, the staff did look at that and actually the drainage area that’s flowing into his property is decreasing by about .1 cfs at this time. It was a 2 acre area that was draining through his property. Now it’s decreased to about 1, I think 1.5 acres. So the area has gone down. The impervious area has gone up obviously because it’s impervious now so, but overall it balances out and there’s about a .1 cfs less going out onto the existing drainage utility easement through there. There are, I think his concern is there are two pipes coming out into this new drainage utility easement where previously there was only one. There’s two 18 inch pipes that are basically feeding into the drainage ditch there. I think that was his biggest concern. Overall the storm water volume again and quantity is the same. It’s city standard is, our minimum pipe size is 15 inches. I think the outlet pipe is 18 inches and that typically, that outlet pipe is typically increased just to slow down the velocity of the water coming out so that’s, I think that’s getting to his point. Why the pipes are bigger. It’s our standard to put 15 inch pipes in. We don’t go any smaller than that just due to the fact that for maintenance and flushing purposes. Kate Aanenson: Steve, if I could just comment on. Paul did meet with Mr. Martinka. He had some concerns, as he did meet with Sharmeen Al-Jaff on our planning staff who did work on this, and just to clarify, the copy of the letter was given to you because he wanted it as part of the record. I believe Paul has addressed his concerns. They have spoken and so he just wanted to make sure that there was written documentation that they have spoken and that you had a copy of that. So I believe we’ve resolved his issues to date. He was concerned about the pipe. The pipe is going in now. He sees the pipe is out there going in and I think he just had some concerns and just wanted you to have that as part of the record but I believe, it appears that we’ve addressed his issues. Councilman Ayotte: Why didn’t you say that? Kate Aanenson: That’s why I was trying to help him there. Councilman Labatt: Okay, thank you Kate. 6 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Any other questions? At this point. Just a point of clarification. The survey that was up there that shows the 6 lots, there was actually going to be 5 lots there, is that right? Or is this, did you show the one reduced lot or is this? Does this show what was approved or what he’s going to? Kate Aanenson: There were homes that were approved off of a private drive. Do you have a copy of that, we can show that real quick. And when those homes were approved as part of a private drive, it does require a variance. Specific home placement plans were submitted with that. As the builder came in to put the homes on the lot, they were significantly larger and they were over the impervious surface requirement. The developer had asked the staff for a variance and we said we wouldn’t support it because we wouldn’t have given the private drive for that so it’s, yeah. It’s these lots, this drive coming through here. And part of his issue was, this private drive right here’s a little bit harder to see. This private drive right here. Because there’s a private drive, plus a driveway, it increases the impervious surface but he was given relief to do that, and that should have been taken into consideration. We did look at home placement plans that could have fit. He did end up making the homes bigger so instead of, because we were going to recommend no on the variance. We wouldn’t support that. He decided that he did kind of maybe overshoot the home sizes, he’s going to drop a lot which we think makes more sense. So it’s just these lots are coming off this private drive that we’re talking about. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Any other questions for staff at this time? If not we’ll open the public hearing and invite interested parties to come forward and speak to the council on this matter. Please come forward to the podium. State your name and address. Address the council. If nobody’s interested in speaking, then I will close the public hearing and bring it back to the council for their comments and discussion. Any thoughts, comments? Councilman Lundquist: Looks pretty mundane to me. Mayor Furlong: Thanks. To the extent that Mr. Martinka’s issues have been addressed, which we understand that they are, it seems fairly straight forward as well. Councilman Labatt: Agreed. Mayor Furlong: If there is no discussion, then is there a motion. I think the motion that’s being requested is on page 2. If somebody would be willing to make that motion, with condition number 1. A so moved would be appropriate at this time. Councilman Peterson: So moved. Mayor Furlong: Is there a second? Councilman Lundquist: Second. 7 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 Mayor Furlong: Any discussion on that motion? Resolution #2004-71:Councilman Peterson moved, Councilman Lundquist seconded to approve a resolution vacating the existing public easements as defined on the attached vacation descriptions, subject to the following condition: 1. Minimum 5 foot wide public drainage and utility easements must be dedicated along each side of the new lot lines. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. REQUEST FOR AMENDMENT TO THE ARBORETUM BUSINESS PARK PUD DESIGN STANDARDS TO PERMIT RETAIL USES ON BLOCK 1, TH ARBORETUM BUSINESS PARK 4 ADDITION; LOCATED SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 5, WEST OF CENTURY BOULEVARD, AND NORTH OF CORPORATE PLACE; HELSENE PARTNERS, LLC. Bob Generous: Thank you Mr. Mayor, council members. The request is to amend the Arboretum Business Park PUD. Arboretum Business Park is located at the southeast corner of Highways 5 and 41. Specifically we’re looking at the southwest corner of Century Boulevard and Highway 5. This is a little commercial area within the project. However as part of the PUD the intent was for a light industrial with some support commercial uses. It was amended for Mr. Helsene to permit some personal services which in the past we have interpreted office services as being the equivalent. Right now he has a flower shop that would like to go into one of his units. We said the only way he could do that is by amending the PUD. As you see the Arboretum Business Park, the intent really was for more office and industrial uses. There were two areas that we were looking at support commercial uses at the entrance coming in off of Highway 5 where we have currently there’s a bank, Mr. Helsene’s building and then the daycare. And then on nd the other side the Holiday Inn Express recently opened, and down on the corner of 82 Street and Highway 41 where the only commercial convenience that was approved for this site is located, which is the gas station Citgo. There are other places in the community that are guided for commercial uses. There are other properties that are appropriately zoned for commercial uses. Just to the north of Highway 5 there is a commercial center that’s under construction. There is space available for retail type uses. We believe that amending the PUD would change the character of the Arboretum Business Park and we’re recommending that the amendment be denied. With that I’d be happy to answer any questions. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Questions for staff. Councilman Ayotte: On the fact, just for clarification. Item C. Is there a word missing there? The proposed use would not conform or should be the proposed use would conform. That’s a little confusing to me. What’s that supposed to be? Bob Generous: Well the use would not conform. 8 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 Councilman Ayotte: So we’ve got a word missing, okay. Bob Generous: Yes. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other questions? At this point. If not, is the applicant here this evening? Helsene’s. If you’d like to come forward and address the council. We did receive a copy of the Planning Commission minutes so, but certainly interested in your thoughts. Chris Helsene: Sure. Chris Helsene from Helsene Partners, Century Boulevard Park. Gene Helsene: Gene Helsene, his dad. Brenda Helsene: I’m the wife, Brenda Helsene. Two partners. Chris Helsene: The reason we’re going for this is, of course we’ve had an interest with the flower shop. We also feel that the city has indicated they’ve set areas aside for retail and a different design for the Arboretum Business Park. The way things have changed out there, I’ve heard many times that that area has been tweaked over and over to incorporate other things, and we’re asking for that small portion of the southwest corner. We feel that it gives us a slight disadvantage that just over the, across the road literally they can incorporate retail onto that side of the highway and just the way the corner being set up, our building’s set up as kind of a mall situation. We don’t feel that any retail that would go in there would ever be high impact of any kind. We just feel like we’ve been put at a little bit of a disadvantage when right across the street they’re able to do what we can’t. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright, thank you. Any questions? For the applicant. No? Okay, thank you. Appreciate it. Any additional, I’ll bring it back to council. Any additional questions for staff or any thoughts in terms of reply to their comments Kate? Kate Aanenson: I guess certainly we can understand their feelings. The staff from the beginning, as Bob’s met with them. We have vacant commercial in the city. When we put this industrial park together we said there should be some support commercial in the size of the scale of that building went in with vacant space. You know we could argue the other way that there’s people that have retail space that are in a different price point and different rates trying to market their property just as well so the argument can be made the flip flop for the advantage. Who has an advantage and who doesn’t have advantage. I guess our biggest concern is the delusion of what we created with that district and the implication that we’ve got other industrial parks that we want to maintain predominantly in the industrial use and keep that, you know the core commercial in those areas that we’ve been selective as trying to, along the corridor, to create that synergy. That energy. We’ve got Market Street Station going in too so we do have quite a bit of commercial that’s coming on line. We certainly empathize with the owner of the 9 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 building, that they want to put another tenant in there but again that was our feelings that there is plenty of retail space available in the city. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Bring it back to the council for discussion. Councilman Peterson: And the interim use that was discussed at the Planning Commission, this really isn’t a logical alternative? Kate Aanenson: Legally I don’t know how, if you could have dropped it. Once you get something in there. And just, that’s a good point to kind of segway into another, you know once you put a retail use in there, unless you specifically say…flower shop in the back, if that flower shop went away. You know once you put retail in there, it’s going to be harder to get it out I think. We kind of learned that with, over time. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Other discussion points. Thoughts. I guess my, you know just very quickly. I can appreciate and empathize with the Helsene Partners, looking across there. At the same time I’m not hearing, and even through the Planning Commission seeing a compelling reason to change the zoning here for this specific use as much as your I guess thinking about what staff said in terms of the advantages, disadvantages. You know the idea is to make sure that we look at zoning across the city, not just on a particular property as much as anything else so again I look at, I was looking through here, where’s the compelling reason. How can we do this? Where’s the justification and I couldn’t see it. I don’t know if any of the fellow council members could but you know I think the argument of, if there’s been slippage and I don’t know if that was the word that’s been used in the past, if that justifies continued slippage or not, I don’t think so. I think I’d rather say you know when there’s, let’s try to avoid those and we can’t go back and correct the past but let’s take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves here so those are my thoughts. I guess. Councilman Peterson: Well yeah, I agree. I think to your point Mayor, there may have been slippage in the past but you have to assume that there’s slippage for a compelling reason. Nor do I see it here tonight unfortunately. I’d like to say yes from a pro business standpoint but I really can’t. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Any other discussion? Thoughts? Okay. If not, if there’s no other discussion, is there a motion? Page 6. Councilman Lundquist: I would move that the City Council deny the amendment to the PUD 92-6, development design standards to permit retail uses based on the findings of fact and recommendation attached to the report. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Is there a second? Councilman Labatt: Second. 10 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 Mayor Furlong: It’s been made and seconded. Any discussion? Just one point of clarification, that the findings of fact would be modified… Councilman Lundquist: The amended findings of fact as requested, yeah. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. With that, if there’s no further discussion. Councilman Lundquist moved, Councilman Labatt seconded that the City Council denies the amendment to the Planned Unit Development (PUD #92-6) development design standards to permit retail uses based on the amended findings of fact and recommendation attached to this report. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. REQUEST FOR AN INTERIM USE PERMIT FOR GRADING AND RESTORATION OF THE MOON VALLEY GAVEL MINE, BEATRICE ZWIERS. Bob Generous: Thank you Mr. Mayor, council members. This is a request for an interim use permit for a grading permit for the restoration of the Moon Valley mining operation out on 212 and south of the regional trail system. This mining has been going on for many years and now we’re looking at reclaiming the site and preparing it for future development. This area doesn’t come into the urban service area until 2015 under the current comprehensive plan. However there are major erosion issues going on on the site and the developer, with the development of the top part of this property, the Settlers West development, is looking at reclaiming this area. It’s a little hard to see but the…there are steep, almost vertical cliffs that are in there that were created through the mining operation. When it rains everything washes down to the bottom. The site was also used for a gun range over many years. At one time it was even a ski resort but now they’re coming in with a grading plan that would create a 2 ½ to 1 slope on both sides and create a bowl within the middle. Previously there was a settlement agreement between the city and the property owner to regrade the site. Reclaim it after the mining operation was completed. However that operation or that plan allowed them to go into the northwest corner of the site. Between the Planning Commission and now we did have the DNR Forester come out and look at the quality of the woods on that. He was very impressed with the woods actually north, in the northwest corner and on the property to the north of this in this bowl area, which is in some land that the city is receiving as a dedication through the Settlers West development. However as you move south he said that the type of trees in there, there’s a bigger variety of trees so they had small ones and big ones so it wasn’t as high a quality of development and so he felt that yes, the trees have some value but it’s not as valuable as the portions that are saving. The other issue that came up as part of the Planning Commission was flooding on 212. We did look at the low point on that and that is actually east of this site so if flooding did become an issue, it’s closer to Dell Road that would flood so they’d still be able to exit the site and go to the west. Staff is recommending approval of the grading plan for this site and then they have a small area to the west. We are recommending that they revise the westerly portion of this and pull the grading area back to the 756 contour, which means that when they grade 11 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 everything east of that, that’s graded would drain to the east into the ponding area that we have and everything on the west would just go naturally. There won’t be any current impacts in that area, so we believe this is a slightly better plan. It also creates a more natural area within the middle. When this area comes in in the future for development review, then they don’t lose that area as part of calculating their overall developable area, but it will be in a more pristine state. As part of the restoration of this, not only are we giving seeding and blanket to eliminate or control erosion, but we’re having them replant the slopes with the root stock, small trees in a 7 foot area so they can stagger it up the hill and this will provide additional footing for the dirt so that erosion issues don’t become a problem on that. The quantities involved are higher because this is a south facing slope. It’s a hotter and drier environment and so the trees that we’re proposing do have a tendency to survive in that type of environment. As we say, we are recommending approval. I did provide you with a copy of a revision to condition 4. As part of this the applicant is to provide us with a security for the grading of this site. What this condition does is modify it. It’s only for that stage of the grading that’s taking place that we will require the security so whatever phase, if they’re only going to grade a quarter of the site at one time, then that, we take 110 percent of that amount to make sure that that grading and restoration takes place. This is, we’re recommending approval for a 5 year period. We believe that this can be restored within that timeframe. With that I’d be happy to answer any questions. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Questions for staff. Question on this proposed change for item 4. I guess my question is, since this is a multi year project, and we haven’t heard from Mr. Herbst yet but knowing his experience that if he says he’s going to do something, he’s going to do it. At the same time situations change and I guess my question is, if we’re just taking the escrow and this is a question of the project itself, for that year, if something doesn’t happen, or if they can’t continue and they’re part way through the 5 year project, don’t we need to make sure that the whole project gets done from an erosion and from a storm water standpoint? Kate Aanenson: That’s a good question. Let me just kind of reframe a little bit to how we got to this point. Settlers West came in, we spent a lot of time discussing whether or not we would let that top area be serviced. One of the benefits that we saw allowing the top be serviced is to clean up the bottom. There was a settlement agreement with Mr. Zwiers who owned a portion of the site and this grading plan goes well beyond that. Part of that settlement agreement did not include landscaping and restoration of slope. Just re- grading. Over time the operation of the gravel pit, that pretty much ceased and significant erosion has taken place including the ponding that should be in place, so because the applicant has the top piece, there’s a lot of incentive which goes back to your question. We get the bottom part cleaned up. They’re tied together with the underlying property owner, Mr. Zwiers, so Mr. Herbst, the Pemtom development has the incentive in order to sell those lots and requirements to make that happen. There’s certain performance measures that have to come in place right away which would be the ponding and the initial landscaping but because it is a 5 year interim use, we believe that the cash in place should be, it can only be exposing so much at a certain point that that would be accomplished. If you look at the volume of trees as Bob indicated, you know we’re 12 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 looking at 20,000 trees and I think at first the applicant was almost fell over, there’s 20,000 trees but we actually worked pretty hard to find some of these root bound through the DNR to get those prices down so actually it’s trying to work really hard to make this cost effective for everybody because it is, there’s lead down there. There’s some other hazardous things that we’re working to get rid so it’s a win on everybody’s part again because he’s a developer on the top side, the incentive is such. But I believe that the way that we’ve got the interim use set up for the 5 years, and the money that we’re taking up front and those performance measures, that should all be accomplished… Mayor Furlong: And I guess, right. And yeah, one of the benefits of going forward with the development up on the bluff, up on top was the, this right here. You know coming back with the grading plan so I guess I’m just you know financially with taking 100 percent, 110 percent of the year’s work, obviously there’s cash implications and, to the developer but are we covered to make sure that all 5 years get done, and maybe that’s. Okay. Kate Aanenson: …but that part that’s already exposed and kind of eroding, I mean that’s the part that will get the vegetation on sooner. Kind of first phase. The other parts are really going to be the rolling parts that you’re going to be removing some vegetation so the worst part is kind of what we’re addressing first, and within that there’s also environmental issues that we’re going to be working with them to help and you’ll be seeing a resolution regarding that. The clean-up of some of the lead. That there’s going to be some time spent on just even that portion before we can move forward so only good things are going to happen because of this interim use and getting it right as Bob mentioned, to come in for future development. To get the property in such a format. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. One other question with regard to the plan here, and this is, it does expand the developable area relative to the prior plan which was just basic plan without trying to do anything but what erosion, as I understand it. In terms of maximizing development area at the expense of the natural resources, very specifically trees or maximizing the natural resources at the expense of development or somewhere in the middle. Where does this grading plan fall? Kate Aanenson: Yeah, that’s a great question. You know when we originally looked at this, I think the applicant was hoping that as part of the site plan we could just approve kind of the modification of the grading plan and our interest of always full disclosure to the neighbors on what’s going in and we felt like we need to go back and go beyond what the original court order was, the settlement agreement and say you know we wanted full disclosure on the entire property that the Zwiers family owns. In order to balance that to make it work, we walked outside. We spent a lot of time reviewing it. We actually took the Planning Commission out there to understand the scale of the slopes, so really in looking at having not only our forester out there but the DNR forester go out to really examine the quality of the trees and what can be, I think we struck a really good balance of preserving what is significant. Whether it’s slopes or trees as Bob indicated. We’ve asked them to pull back on the creek. There’s a beautiful creek that runs through there. 13 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 To move away from that a little bit and then providing enough impetus that those costs of grading and re-establishing of that slope provides a developable plan in the future. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Any other questions for staff? Councilman Labatt: Yep. Bob, can you just on that map, just point out where’s the green building. The main, the old mining operation building. Bob Generous: They’re right as you come into the entrance. Councilman Labatt: Okay, and then the red range house where the shots are fired from. Bob Generous: That’s in this area also. Right in here. Councilman Labatt: Okay. And then can you just outline the rim, kind of expose the northwest rim of the current pit right now as it exists. You know you had that one edge there’s about a 80 foot, 90 foot drop. Bob Generous: Yeah, it drops all the way down here. This is the area right here. Councilman Labatt: Okay. Todd Gerhardt: But isn’t the dark gray Bob, the area where they’ve already graded? Or pulled material out. Bob Generous: No, this will be where they re, well they have, all this is rough. Todd Gerhardt: Right. Bob Generous: …This is the top of the slope. That will come up to the property lines so what they need to do is try to make that 2 to 1 slope. Todd Gerhardt: Right. The material has been taken out of that top portion. Bob Generous: Up into here and over… Councilman Labatt: Okay. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other questions for staff? If not, would Mr. Herbst, the applicant, would you like to address the council on anything? Dan Herbst: Honorable Mayor, members of the City Council, professional staff, Dan Herbst at 7640 Crimson Bay in Chanhassen and Justin Larson also with me from Sathre- Berquist. First of all I want to thank all the effort that’s gone into this. It was out of your MUSA and your staff has done just a fantastic job. I think every one of your members of your staff have been on the site on a couple occasions from trees to environmental to 14 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 planning to engineering and everybody’s really worked hard on this. We also had a great meeting with the Planning Commission out at the site. The good news is, for the city, is that we’re going to get this erosion stopped. We’re going to shut down the range. We’ve got the antenna tower down and also the good news up on the upper bluff, we hope to be building you some beautiful homes out there generating some park fees, building fees and some real estate revenues for you real soon out there next year so. Back down to the lower part, we are pushing the envelope here a little bit based on, as you pointed out, as far as wanting to create more of the site for usable land than was in your restoration plan that you have with the settlement with the owner, but I think you really took the first step with this, when you did your comprehensive plan and you guided that area for high density housing with some mixed use of office and industrial further on the piece to the west. And I’ve asked the planning staff when they’re out there, and I asked you in the letter that I addressed to you that eventually we’d like to come back to you and, without impacting any additional trees that we’re talking about protecting tonight, but push the envelope a little bit further so that there would be enough building area there so that you could really have something very creative for the city. I think traffic can be handled on 212 in that location. I think we can handle the drainage very well, but I think if we could, this permit allows about 18 acres of usable land but I think in the future we’d like to come back to you, if you’re open to it. The Planning Commission was, to maybe look at even 25 acres of the land so that we could get 2 or 3 different housing products down on that site with some creativity to it. With some mixed use. With some buffering, and really do something, and I compared it to, in a small scale to what the City of Edina did with the old Hedberg gravel pit, and everything was going on at that operation also from cement to restoration to mining, but the City said you know we’re not going to look at all the trees and the bluff and all this kind of stuff on this site. We’re going to do something extremely creative here and they create a lot of incentives to do the different type of housing that the city needed at that time which was people working at the hospital. For people working at the shopping center that couldn’t afford to live any other place in Edina and I think if we could get some density that you have on your comprehensive plan. Not exceed that, because you’re looking at high density as you’re guided, and we can push the envelope a little bit to areas such as this area here. The tree quality is very poor and it would require coming back to you with a plan and go through your staff and Planning Commission but I just wanted to plant that seed because I think there is a chance here to, the views down there. I mean if you turn to the north, I mean you want to regurgitate because the site’s been graded for 70 years. The shooting. The mining. Everything’s been going on there. The erosion is bad but if you turn and get yourself up on some of those plateaus and start looking out to the south and a little bit to the east and west, it’s a fantastic site. And if we can create the right plateaus down there, get a mix use of housing. Maybe even have something down there to serve their needs as far as shopping, dairy store or something down there. I think down the road when you’re looking at your 2008 comp plan amendment, we’d like to come back to you with some schematics to really do something nice down there. Not just plop in 200 housing units on 18 acres so. To answer your question Mr. Mayor on the financial incentive, I think every year the incentive for the widow here is she’s hoping, it’s going to be very costly for her to restore this site. The lead is substantial as far as not that it’s a big environmental issue but it’s spread out pretty good there. They had a pistol range, they had a rifle range and 15 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 they had a skeet and a trap range so the area that got, the area that got these little pellets all over it is pretty substantial so it’s going to cost her a lot of money to do that. The incentive for her is to sell off some of this fill in the future and the permit is for 1.8 million cubic yards coming out so I think you have the carrot in front of her that every year if she’s not compliant, this is not being done properly, the erosion’s not being taken care of, you shut that permit down and she’s lost her right to sell off an awful lot of material. And during the first 3 years, the reason we ask for a 5 year deal, I think she’s going to have a very difficult time the next 2 years. When 312 goes in, they’re talking about up to 2 million cubic yards of excess material as they carve 312 below you know Dell Road, below 101. There’s an awful lot of material going to be on the marketplace next year so if you’ve got any big holes you want to fill next 2 years would be the time to do it so I think she’s going to have a hard time, we can start the erosion deal. We can start doing the planting here but I think as far as her marketability of this material, it’s going to be tough for the next year or 2 but then she’s got it right, but I think you’ll have the, you’ll have a real hammer here if she’s, if we’re not doing the right thing here, to shut that permit down so she will not be able to sell that material off and that’s going to be a great financial disincentive for her and give you the carrot you need to get the job done so, are there any questions? Mayor Furlong: No? Thank you. Dan Herbst: Again our whole process was something you didn’t have to deal with and I really thank you for doing this. The staff time involved, planning and your staff, but I think the end result’s going to be great but I really appreciate all the time. Thank you very much. Mayor Furlong: Thank you and we appreciate your vision and what can be done in an area that’s, we’ve struggled with for many years as a city so we thank you as well. Very good, I’ll bring it back to council for discussion. Comments. Councilman Peterson: Make it so. Mayor Furlong: Good deal. Everybody’s winning. Councilman Peterson: I approve as staff is recommending. Councilman Ayotte: Second. Mayor Furlong: Made and seconded. Is there any discussion on the motion? Councilman Peterson moved, Councilman Ayotte seconded that the City Council approves Interim Use Permit Case #04-27 to permit grading, excavation and slope restoration as proposed on the plans prepared by Sathre-Berquist, Inc., dated 7/16/04, subject to the following conditions: 16 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 1. The interim use permit shall be approved for a period of five (5) years from the date of City Council approval. Annually the grading permit must be renewed. The applicant will need to request a formal extension 60 days prior to the expiration date of the permit. 2. The existing buildings and outbuildings and any septic system or wells on site shall be abandoned in accordance with City and/or State codes. 3. The applicant shall perform a Phase I Environmental Audit of the property to determine if the gun range or other site operations have environmentally impacted the property. 4. The applicant must provide the City with a cash escrow or letter of credit in the amount of 100% of the construction costs for the appropriate phase of the grading operations to guarantee erosion control measures, site restoration and compliance with the interim use permit. 5. Permits from the appropriate regulatory agency must be obtained; including but not limited to the MPCA and MnDot. 6. Details for the proposed pond outlets shall be submitted for review by the City. 7. On-site ponding shall be adjusted, if necessary, at the time of site development to meet the City’s requirements for proposed build-out conditions. 8. If erosion control measures installed in conjunction with this interim use permit are deemed by the City to be effective, the City shall inform the applicant in writing of any deficiencies. The applicant shall work with the City to remedy the deficiencies in a timely manner. 9. Stabilization of the toe (first 150 feet of the slope) shall be completed immediately upon final grade. Stabilization shall be done in phases. Large portions of the site shall not be left exposed over weekends or during forecasted heavy rains. 10. The slopes shall be tracked with a dozer at all times. The dozer shall be run perpendicular to the slope to track the slope. 11. The northeast “corner” of the slope (north of soil boring 18, south of soil boring 14 and inbetween soil borings 10 and 15) shall be stabilized so as to promote long term stability. This may include a terrace, turf reinforcement mat and slope drain. 12. All blankets installed on site shall be properly applied. The blankets shall make 100% contact with the soil, stapled according to manufacturer’s specifications and head trenched. 17 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 13. Geotextile and riprap or geogrids or other approved stabilization shall be used to provide toe protection. 14. The seed mix specified (MN DOT 500) shall be changed to MN DOT Native Mix 340 (Sandy Mid Height, dry conditions- i.e. south facing slope). An application rate of 16 pounds per acre is recommended (20 pounds per acre for hydoseeding or broadcasting). 15. Silt fence shall be installed at least 25 feet away from the toe of the slope to provide storage and allow the silt fence to function properly. As stated on the plan, the temporary sediment basins shall be installed prior to grading activities. Berms may be needed to divert runoff into the basins along TH 212. 16. The applicant must provide a proposed haul route for review and approval. 17. If the excess material is hauled to another site in Chanhassen, a separate grading permit will be required for the other property. 18. All disturbed areas as a result of construction are required to be reseeded and mulched within two weeks of site grading. 19. The applicant must pay the City an administration fee of $7,124 prior to the City signing the permit. 20. Add the benchmark to the plan that was used for the site survey. 21. End the grading on the eastern side of the creek at the proposed high-point elevation in the usable area of 756. 22. In the future, when a development proposal is submitted, drainage and utility easements over the ponds and creek will be required. 23. Add Type I silt fence in the southeast corner of the site around the grading limits and around the proposed pond outlet. 24. Permitted hours of operation will be 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday with no work permitted on Sunday or legal holidays. 25. Appropriate signage for hauling along TH 212 is required. 26. Tree preservation fencing must be installed at the edge of grading limits. 27. MN DOT Native Mix 340 be used for the seeding. 18 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 28. All restored slope shall be planted with trees. The trees shall be bare-root, native species, one-half to one inch in diameter, five to ten foot spacing in a random pattern from the top to the toe of the slope. The approximate number of trees needed is 20,000 (7’ x 7’ spacing). Spacing (feet) Trees per acre 5 x 5 1,742 6 x 6 1,210 7 x 7 889 8 x 8 681 10 x 10 436 29. A driveway access to 230 & 240 Erie Avenue must be maintained at all times during construction. 30. Submit a plan showing a permanent driveway access alignment for 230 & 240 Erie Avenue. 31. The harvesting of timber shall be limited to the area within the grading limits. 32. The applicant’s engineer must work with city staff to revise the drainage calculations per city standards and NURP requirements. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS: Councilman Ayotte: On a light note, I’d like to ask if Mr. Justin Miller could sit someplace else besides right where he is underneath that light with an orange tie on from now on. Councilman Lundquist: I was going to ask him where he got that… Councilman Ayotte: Oh good. But on a more serious note, I’d like to make a request of fellow council and legal counsel to investigate the pros and cons of considering the mayoral term after 2006 to be changed from 2 years to 4. And to research that as an option. I personally believe, now that I’m ending my 4 year term, that the stability to this council could be enhanced if the leadership role would be 4 rather than 2 because it would (a), add stability in my view, and (b), be less disruptive to the operation of the council so I just make that request to see if it could be researched and what timing wise when it would make sense, if it does make sense. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Todd Gerhardt: If that’s the wishes of the entire council, staff can work with the city attorney and draft up a report and bring it back to a work session. 19 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 Mayor Furlong: Okay. Councilman Labatt: Certainly worth looking into. Councilman Ayotte: You can’t nod on that. Mayor Furlong: I’m just doing this. If we do it, it shouldn’t be about the person sitting in this chair at the time. So that’s clear. Councilman Ayotte: That’s why I say 2006. Mayor Furlong: Well that’s the legal aspect, yep. Okay. Anything else? Any other discussions? I’ve got one thing just to a heads up with the Southwest Corridor Transportation Coalition is a coalition that the city’s been a member of for a number of years working on 212 and other projects. We’ve had a number of meetings in recent months with regard to advocating upgrades to Highway 5 west of 41 out through Victoria, Waconia, to Norwood Young America, and the group’s very active on it. Trying to work with Carver County and MnDot to look for ways to improve that for not only our benefit but obviously for those cities as well so there may be something coming forward over the next few months here. Weeks or months looking for support from us as part of, as one of the cities along that Highway 5 and I know staff has been working diligently on that but I just raise that issue up. I think it would be, even though we’re a small section of that, of the mileage of roads from 41 west to Norwood Young America, I think it would clearly benefit us so that’s just kind of a heads up that we’re looking at that as a way to improve our transportation and infrastructure here within the city. Other discussion, issues? If not, administrative presentations. ADMIINSTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS. Todd Gerhardt: The only item I have is we had a wonderful dedication for the senior center. Probably had 160 plus participants in that. I’d like to thank Todd Hoffman, Susan Bill for all their efforts in making that dedication come off with no problems with the exception of the air conditioner kicking on and off a couple of times. Got a little warm in there, but I think it was well received and we’ve been watching them play cards in there and sing and you know they’ve got a lot of room now to do their thing and it’s been fun watching them. And I think their participation, looking at the cars in the parking lot are any indication, it’s increased and so that’s exciting to see. So Tom did a great job in presenting the plaque dedicating the senior center so we have historical significance on the walls so when we have that 10 year anniversary we’ll know when it was. So I think they’re enjoying it and it was a great program. Good food. And other than that, got back from Atlanta and things are good. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Gerhardt? Nothing. Very good. If there’s nothing else to come before the council this evening. Oh, correspondence discussion. Any discussion or comments on the correspondence packet? 20 City Council Meeting – September 27, 2004 CORRESPONDENCE PACKET. None. Mayor Furlong: The council will be, after we adjourn, we will be meeting as the EDA immediately following in the council chambers which was posted. With that, if there’s nothing else to come before the council this evening, is there a motion to adjourn? Councilman Peterson moved, Councilman Ayotte seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried. The City Council meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m. Submitted by Todd Gerhardt City Manager Prepared by Nann Opheim 21