CC 2014 09 08
CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
SEPTEMBER 8, 2014
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 Laufenburger, Councilwoman Ernst,
Councilwoman Tjornhom, and Councilman McDonald
STAFF PRESENT:
Todd Gerhardt, Laurie Hokkanen, Paul Oehme, Kate Aanenson, Todd Hoffman,
Greg Sticha, and Roger Knutson
PUBLIC PRESENT:
Gary Disch 1401 Park Road
Sam Chase 6621 Arlington
Steve Johnson 1508 Welland Avenue, Minnetonka
Vernelle Clayton 422 Santa Fe Circle
Mayor Furlong: Thank you and welcome everybody. Those here in the council chambers as well as
those watching at home. We’re glad that you joined us this evening. At this time I’d like to go through a
few changes and modifications to the agenda that was published. First of all at the request of the
applicant, item number 5. E(5) on the consent agenda which is, was to consider the Bluff Creek, Preserve
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at Bluff Creek 6 Addition will be removed so if you’re here for that item, number E(5), we will not be
discussing that this evening. Also the resolution relating to item number E(9) has been modified with a
change in the, Be It Resolved that the City Council hereby requests installation as opposed to approving
the installation. That resolution is in front of the council members. You should have that. We’ll
continue to have that on the consent agenda unless someone would like separate discussion on it. And
then also we will add an item 3 under New Business which relates, or we’ll consider approval of
renewing an agreement with the BCA for data access for our prosecution. So at this point unless there are
objections, we’ll proceed with the agenda as published with the addition of those modifications. With
that let’s go ahead and start then this evening with our consent agenda items.
CONSENT AGENDA: Councilwoman Ernst moved, Councilman Laufenburger seconded that the
City Council approve the following consent agenda items pursuant to the City Manager’s
recommendations:
1. Approval of City Council Minutes dated August 25, 2014.
2. Receive Planning Commission Minutes dated August 19, 2014.
3. Bandimere Park Expansion Project PK&T-114: Approve Demolition Contract and Site Grading
Contract.
4. Approve Payment to Eastern Carver County Schools for 24% of Boiler Replacement Costs; Bluff
Creek Elementary School/Chanhassen Recreation Center.
5. Deleted.
Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
6. MG, LLC, 1380 Park Road: Request for a Conditional Use Permit to Allow Screened Outdoor
Storage on Property Zoned Industrial Office Park (IOP), Northeast Corner of Park Road and Park
Place, Applicant/Owner: MG, LLC.
Resolution #2014-58:
7. Resolution Approving Temporary Lifting of No Parking Restrictions on
Kerber Boulevard and Santa Vera Drive, Centennial Hills Apartment Project.
8. Carver County, Lake Minnewashta Regional Park Improvement Project: Approve Wetland
Alteration Permit #2014-23.
Resolution #2014-59:
9. Approve Resolution as amended for the Request for CenturyLink Utility
Service for Pioneer Pass and The Preserve at Bluff Creek Addition.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
VISITOR PRESENTATIONS.
Sam Chase: Thank you. The name’s Sam Chase, 6621 Arlington Court and I’d like to talk about the road
conditions just real briefly. I’ve lived here most of my life and last year the roads were just abysmal for a
period of time. I saw people sliding through intersections. I had a personal experience where on
Mulberry I spun 360. Almost wound up in the lake. I had 2 cars that I pulled out of ditches or pushed out
of ditches and I ran into a number of telephone, not me but I saw a number of telephone poles that people
had run into. I talked to the gentleman in charge of the roads and he said it’s because they’re not using
sand anymore. And the State had stopped using sand. So I called MnDOT. MnDOT said there are three
reasons they’ve quit using sand. The first was because at 70 miles an hour it didn’t work. We don’t go
70 miles an hour here. The second was they had a lot of high winds blowing on the roads and we don’t
have that. And the third was that he said we clear the roads and the highways within 3 hours right to the
pavement and that’s not a reasonable expectation. The city of Chanhassen there will be times when it’s
days before the roads are cleared so this year I talked to Charlie Burke and asked him if they were going
to start using sand at all because last year was so horrendously bad and he said no. It was his decision
with one other person and they weren’t going to use it. He said they had sand but I couldn’t really get an
answer from him as to whether they’d ever use it and it kind of boils down to either it pollutes. It’s bad
for the environment. Or it’s costly and I looked everywhere I could on the internet. I cannot find
anything that says sand is worst than salt and chemicals. Sand doesn’t mix with anything. Sand doesn’t
corrode anything. Sand doesn’t pollute anything. It just sits and the gentleman last year said they’re
using extra chemicals to try and compensate for this. I’ve talked to multiple teachers and parents where I
volunteer in the school. We’re all eagerly hoping that this will change. I’m not asking that you dump
sand everywhere but I would hope that there would be times when you look at the roads and say this is
just beyond belief. We can’t work with salt. It’s not evaporating or dissolving the ice. We need to use
some sand. It’s just entirely too dangerous. Last year I stopped shopping in Chanhassen because I just
couldn’t move around on these roads safely without being worried that I was going to hit someone or
someone else was going to hit me. I know it costs money but it’s a matter of public safety and the
families and the people who work in Chanhassen really need to be able to move around without having to
worry that they’re going to slide into a ditch or another car or a light pole or who knows what. That’s it.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you.
Sam Chase: Thank you.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you Mr. Chase. Appreciate it. Mr. Gerhardt, Mr. Oehme, any thoughts or
comments on the mixtures that we use for, and our process that we use here in the city streets? And
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
obviously there are a combination of city streets, county roads, and state highways in the city so each
jurisdiction may have a different answer but at least you can respond to what our practice has been in the
past and.
Paul Oehme: Sure. To the resident’s point Mayor, City Council members. Last year was a very
challenging year for snow and ice control. We did have an extremely cold year and when it does get to
become that cold chemicals, especially salt have a tough time to activate and to my recollection we did
use some sand last year just because when it gets down to below 15 degrees we do combine salt and sand
together to treat the roads. Sand, you know it’s not, sand does not melt ice. It does not treat snow so it’s
more of a traction or a traction agent that we can use. The problem with sand is it doesn’t stick very well.
Once cars go over it it tends to dissipate or move off into the curb lines and the gutters so you have to
keep up with the sand. Keep on applying it over time. Days. If the sand or the ice is still there. If it’s a
slippery spot so we’re not alone. A lot of the suburban communities in this area, in the metro area have
migrated away from sand on a normal snow event application. We just, our salt does activate and does
melt and does a fairly good job in most situations for taking care of those icy spots so. To the
gentleman’s point with the intersection, you know those are the type of things that you know we like to be
notified about with intersections and we typically hit hot spots. Areas with salt and different products and
those are the type of things that you know we like to put on our monitoring list more so that we can
address those concerns accordingly.
Mayor Furlong: Alright. And so did I hear you say that you sometimes use a salt/sand mix?
Paul Oehme: Salt/sand mix. Typically we, to my knowledge we haven’t used sand, just pure sand in
quite some time.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, because again that doesn’t melt at all.
Paul Oehme: Yep.
Mayor Furlong: But the sand does provide traction.
Paul Oehme: It does provide traction.
Mayor Furlong: Or at least it sounds like more temporary.
Paul Oehme: Temporary and again with sand you still have to apply it over and over again just to keep it
in the wheel ruts and just so it’s being used by the tires. Inbetween the tires and the ice.
Mayor Furlong: Mr. Laufenburger.
Councilman Laufenburger: Mr. Oehme, can you speak to what the County’s practice is? You know to
the Mayor’s point, we have county, state and city…
Paul Oehme: Yeah, to my knowledge I think you know under, again under most conditions I think the
County has migrated all to, 100 percent to salt as well so I can’t think of any other suburban communities
in the area that really utilize sand to any level anymore. For treating streets on a normal type of basis.
Mayor Furlong: So Mr. Chase’s situation, if there are problems who should he contact or who should
residents contact if they find that there are spotting problems?
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Paul Oehme: You can call the public works, the number at public works. It’s on our website to notify us.
There is, we work with Carver County Sheriff’s department too so if there is a really, really slippery area,
they would notify us about any slippery spots. Maybe be called out in the middle of the night so we do
work with them extensively as well.
Mayor Furlong: I mean last winter was bad.
Sam Chase: I can’t blame the council for the weather.
Mayor Furlong: Yeah. Some may so that’s, thank you for not.
Councilman Laufenburger: The year before that was very good so you can give credit to council for that
one.
Sam Chase: You’re even.
Mayor Furlong: But the, good point. But I think the issue was, and I recall we got some heavy snow.
Rain mix snow and then it got very cold.
Sam Chase: With the cold.
Mayor Furlong: And even along Highway 5, Highway 5 near Powers Boulevard I recall was just terrible.
Rutted and stuff. What are the options in those situations? I mean it seemed like it was there for weeks
before anything happened, even on some of the main thoroughfares.
Paul Oehme: Right and that’s the problem is, you know once the ice builds up and gets that cold, you
know the chemicals just do not melt the ice and the snow as they would when it’s above you know 20
degrees. So your options there are to put some more granular material down or just let the salt stay there
and over time it will work it’s way out. You know we have blades that can scrap the ice as much as we
can in specific intersections so we do that manually on occasion as well when warrants need it but you
know that was, once it gets that cold, you know teens and below it’s really difficult to manage some of
those areas but try to do our best and try to keep on top of it is the key.
Mayor Furlong: So it sounds like it’s a variety of actions and alternatives. Sand and salt, it’s a
combination where it makes sense.
Paul Oehme: Absolutely.
Mayor Furlong: But the conditions, changing conditions may change what’s used?
Paul Oehme: Correct. No two storms are the same so we’re you know, depending on what storm, or how
cold it is. How wet the snow is. The chemicals that we use, we’re putting down in different dosages for
each event depending upon the situation.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Well going forward into this winter and we all would hope that it’s not as severe
as last year with some of the problems, especially on the roads but let’s be aware of these concerns and
we’ll watch it and monitor it.
Paul Oehme: Yep, absolutely.
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Sam Chase: The big concern I had is last year I talked to, spoke twice or called twice. They said they
would not use sand. Now maybe I was misinformed but they said clearly, our policy is to no longer use
sand period. Mr. Burke said essentially the same thing earlier this week. He said we are not using sand.
Mayor Furlong: And Mr. Burke is with the State?
Paul Oehme: No he’s the new Street Superintendent.
Mayor Furlong: Oh okay, yep.
Sam Chase: And he said we have it in stock. I said will you use it when you really need it and he
wouldn’t answer a clear, give me a clear answer. I’m not asking that you use it in blanket like the old
days, but when I’ve been told by two people that you will not use it ever. In other words I said when it
really gets serious will you bring it out? No answer. That’s all I’m asking is that, because obviously I
can’t be at every intersection. I don’t know what you’re doing.
Mayor Furlong: No and we’re not expecting that. But Mr. Oehme.
Sam Chase: If you’re saying they’re going to use it, that’s all I’m asking but Charlie Burke said no we’re
not going to use it.
Paul Oehme: And Charlie’s a little new but he, we use it. We have used it and we will continue to use it
when the situation is correct to use it.
Sam Chase: That’s all, and then I’ll bring it to your attention. When I hit down Kerber and slides 8 car
lengths hitting the stop sign. Almost hitting the stop sign it’s like, that’s a high stress area but okay, thank
you very much.
Mayor Furlong: Alright thank you Mr. Chase. Anyone else for visitor presentations this evening? Okay,
thank you.
VILLAGE SHOPPES OF CHANHASSEN, 460 LAKE DRIVE: APPROVAL OF SUBDIVISION
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REQUEST TO REPLAT VILLAGES ON THE PONDS 8 ADDITION; AND SITE PLAN
REVIEW FOR A 13,654 SQUARE FOOT TWO-BUILDING RETAIL CENTER ON 1.45 ACRES
OF PROPERTY ZONED PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT, LOCATED ON LOT 1, BLOCK 1,
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VILLAGES ON THE PONDS 8 ADDITION.
Kate Aanenson: Thank you Mayor, members of the City Council. This item did appear before the
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Planning Commission on August 19 and they did recommend 7-0 to approve it with no significant
issues. The subject site is located on 460 Lake Drive. Right now on that site is the, adjacent to this is the
Community Bank. There are two actions being requested. One is the subdivision or replat of the Ponds
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8 Addition and a site plan review for a one story, 13,654 square foot retail center. The subdivision in
and of itself is pretty straight forward. There are no public improvements with this replatting. The bank
itself as it went in originally had intended underground parking but that has been eliminated. The spot
shown in red on the site is a buffer area that they are reserving in case they want to do an expansion so
there’s an easement so as a part of this there’ll be a lot line adjustment. So they are entering into a site
plan agreement and a resolution approving the plat because there are no public improvements, there won’t
be a development contract. The building itself as I mentioned is a little over 13,000 square feet. It meets
the conditions of the PUD, Villages on the Ponds PUD. It has a parapet wall to screen the rooftop
equipment. The materials on the building are dark brown brick. Decorative concrete masonry. Some
cultured stone columns and then there’s EIFS as an accent material along the top. As I showed this site
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
plan itself there’s actually two buildings that are connected via a roof line so here there’s a slight change
in grade so the buildings will be separated with a pass through corridor as we have those opportunities to
walk between buildings throughout this project so it meets the overall design standard that we had
anticipated with the Villages on a walkable place. The floor plan as existed, it’s a flexible site. Right
now they’re intending to put two restaurants in the building but then there’s also retail space within there
too. So all the parking that was approved with the project includes some on site. Some on Main Street.
Some on Lake Drive and then some on the Pond Promenade and you can see then here, this is the pass
way through the two buildings and it does meet all the standards again. So for the utility plan as I
mentioned, sewer and water are available on site and it is private as are the streets in this area so it does
meet all the conditions and availability of utilities. The landscaping plan is shown. They will have an
outdoor seating area with one of the restaurants and that’s accommodated in the back here so it’s
landscaped well with their parking and then also the streetscape along Lake Drive East and the Pond
Promenade. So with that we are recommending approval for the site plan and the subdivision as stated in
this report and I’d be happy to answer any questions that you have.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any questions for staff? Ms. Aanenson there was a statement in the staff
report, I think it’s on page 4. I’m looking at my, with regard to the amount of construction materials,
especially the EIFS. I think the original plan seemed to have more than what was allowable. Have those
changes been made or?
Kate Aanenson: Yes. There were a couple tweaks that we made yeah because it can only be used as an
accent. Typically we like it in areas that are not high traffic areas so it doesn’t get, has more durable if
it’s traditional stucco so that’s been.
Mayor Furlong: But the modifications requested when the staff, at the time the staff report was written
have been made?
Kate Aanenson: Correct. Yep, and then those changes will be made before we do the site plan
agreement.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Councilwoman Tjornhom, I’m sorry.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Ms. Aanenson in that area there is, I think it’s a private street. It’s not cared
for by the City I don’t believe but there is that round paver section in that area. Can you speak a little bit
about that and what the future is of that?
Kate Aanenson: Sure. Sure. These are all private streets. We did meet with the Director or the Manager
of the HOA, Vernelle Clayton who’s also here tonight just to talk about maintenance of those streets and
getting the final wear course on some of those. I think with the completion of this, we do have another
application on a building that just came in Friday in this same area so to finish out the improvements that
need to be made on those sites. The brick pavers were taken out and I don’t believe they’re going back in
but you may want to ask Vernelle Clayton about those. Their long term goals. Again they’re private
streets and the reason they were put in as private streets was to allow at that time on street parking which
typically isn’t something that the City likes to do for plowing purposes so these streets are all plowed by
the HOA. So again this is a different type of HOA. This is the one we have unique commercial type like
this so they’ve chosen to remove some of those improvements to manage the streets where they’ve
changed over time. Maybe had some wear and tear on them so they’ve improved them by just taking
them out and just paving them over.
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Councilwoman Tjornhom: At the time the development came in and those streets were designed, was
that part of the development contract that they would be there? Was there a reason why they were
constructed that way?
Kate Aanenson: I think that just was kind of the aesthetic. I don’t think that we’ve got it put in that they
maintain the brick pavers. I think that was a look that we tried to have for the Villages concept. I think
one of the concerns that we have, and we talked about this with HOA’s in general to make sure that
they’ve got a healthy HOA that they are managing the streets and the improvements that they have.
Actually the City Engineer and myself met with Vernelle Clayton just to talk about that because, making
sure that they’re managing their sewer and water as the City Engineer does on our own improvement
projects. Just like we do when we do our road improvement projects so we went through that and
included in the packet was kind of the description of how they are intending to managing those and we
believe that they’re on a good course and I believe that Mr. Oehme that you also investigated some of the
hydrants and, or checking on some of those things just to make sure that, do you want?
Paul Oehme: Yeah we just inventoried all the utilities in the development too.
Kate Aanenson: Yeah so we’re just trying to get our arms around that to make sure that, as we move
forward that this project stays healthy as do the people that are making an investment in there to make
sure that it’s, they also have a financial plan put in place to manage their private streets.
Mayor Furlong: Other questions? Mr. Laufenburger.
Councilman Laufenburger: Thank you. Kate, let’s talk a little bit about parking.
Kate Aanenson: Yes.
Councilman Laufenburger: So based on the size of this two building retail center there’s parking
requirements correct?
Kate Aanenson: That’s correct.
Councilman Laufenburger: And they meet those parking requirements correct?
Kate Aanenson: Yes they do.
Councilman Laufenburger: And do they use part of the street parking to meet those requirements?
Kate Aanenson: Yes they do.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. And they can do that because this is their own private street is that
correct?
Kate Aanenson: That’s correct.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay, thank you.
Kate Aanenson: That’s correct. So we did calculate all those based on the uses they have. The two
restaurant uses and that’s what limits, that’s the limiting factor on that and then there is cross access
agreements between the properties out there.
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Councilman Laufenburger: Specifically the bank?
Kate Aanenson: Yeah. And the surrounding property so as you get towards the Pond Promenade area
there’s quite a bit of parking up in that area. So you have uses that offset each other which was the
intended there. This is kind of our approach to not over parking somebody but providing that opportunity
when uses may be higher at one time for one user. Less at another so.
Councilman Laufenburger: Just related to that, I know that the property immediately to the south of that
is St. Hubert’s and the Foss Swim School so, do we know parking patterns for example on Sunday? Days
of mass. Do St. Hubert people park into the street which would be directly to the west of the new
development? Do you have any idea on that?
Kate Aanenson: I know they maximize their parking lot.
Laurie Hokkanen: Typically not.
Councilman Laufenburger: Typically not. So the parking that they have at St. Hubert’s satisfies that?
Okay.
Kate Aanenson: Yeah and just to be clear too, they do have an opportunity to, there’s another building
that could be built on St. Hubert’s. I’m not sure that’s ever going to go forward but there is another
building that could go on St. Hubert’s which would push some of that parking around.
Mayor Furlong: When you say St. Hubert’s, isn’t it the green area right there below this? To the right.
Kate Aanenson: Yes, correct.
Mayor Furlong: That area right there.
Councilman Laufenburger: Right there.
Kate Aanenson: That green area, yep. So I’m not sure that would ever go forward but because that right
now allows them an additional parking that they wouldn’t have to cross the street because there’s
adequate parking there.
Mayor Furlong: Though I guess it’s been my experience that people attending mass at St. Hubert’s do
park on the street as well.
Kate Aanenson: That’s my observation too.
Mayor Furlong: And some of them will also park, you can see the lot to the east of this blue line behind
the bank there. People will also park in that one as well.
Councilman Laufenburger: Sure, and my guess is once the retail establishments are in place, if they’re
open on Sunday, people may park there and then go directly from mass to one of those eating
establishments probably.
Kate Aanenson: Exactly, yep.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay.
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Mayor Furlong: Any other questions for staff at this time? Representatives from the applicant are here.
Good evening. If you’d like to address the council.
Steve Johnson: Mr. Mayor, council members, good evening. My name is Steve Johnson. I’m with
Solomon Real Estate. I’m a partner with Solomon Real Estate Group. I live at 1508 Welland Avenue in
Minnetonka. I’m here, I’ll address any questions specifically that you have. Staff has done a wonderful
job of preparing the report and addressing all the issues. Have been working with staff on some of the
things that you said and we’ve corrected all of those. In the process of having those drawings done and at
the time of building permit everything will be up to code and agreement so.
Mayor Furlong: Perfect. Okay, great. Thank you. Any questions that we want to ask of the applicant or
Councilwoman Tjornhom, maybe this is beyond the Solomon Group but I know Ms. Clayton is here.
You were asking about the roads too and such like that. But any questions specific on the project here?
Councilwoman Tjornhom: No. You know once again I, it’s really good to see that people are investing
back into our town and you know I think this council takes it very seriously that we take pride in our
downtown and we want to do what we can to cooperate with people coming in because we love our
downtown and so this looks like a great project.
Steve Johnson: We’re excited. It’s taken a long time to get it to this point.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Yeah.
Steve Johnson: But I think we’re finally there.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: I think we’re going to probably all miss those…locations but no, it looks like
a great project.
Steve Johnson: Well thank you.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you Mr. Johnson.
Steve Johnson: Thank you.
Mayor Furlong: Ms. Clayton, anything from your standpoint?
Vernelle Clayton: Well I can just seize the moment. You know another opportunity to talk to you all. I
thought maybe I could clarify a little bit more about the, I’m Vernelle Clayton. I live at 422 Santa Fe
Circle sir and if I may address you all.
Mayor Furlong: Please.
Vernelle Clayton: There were 3 intersections that we were concerned about. One is not technically an
intersection. We call it church circle and that was a source of complaints and concern because it needed a
second lift. It has it now so it looks really nice. Another one was the very north end of Main Street.
That’s the one where we took out the pavers. This is the second time we’ve dealt with it with intermittent
replacement. Something about the soil there or the slope or something that things just deteriorated and
popped out. We’re saving as many as we can because we really want to keep the main intersection of
Lake and Main with pavers if we possibly can so we’re going to continue to try to keep that for the
overall look of the Village. There’s another one though that has pavers and that’s over by AmericInn.
We’re trying to figure out exactly who owns what there and we’ll have that figured out by the time the
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
next project comes through and then that will be shared at 50 percent with Northcott and the other 50
percent probably with the Association and we’ll get that done somehow. We haven’t got a specific plan.
So that’s, those are the four areas so did that help at all?
Mayor Furlong: I think it does.
Vernelle Clayton: Okay.
Mayor Furlong: With regard to the street that runs from the intersection that was just replaced and I’m
sorry I don’t know the names of the streets. It runs along Houlihan’s there.
Vernelle Clayton: That’s Pond Promenade.
Mayor Furlong: Pond Promenade, thank you. Is that going to receive the bituminous course and wear
courses as part of this development or when do you anticipate that would be?
Vernelle Clayton: That would be part of the next development and that is technically not a street yet. It’s
really just a drive aisle. The original owner of that land, when Houlihan’s and the AmericInn were
developed said no, we don’t want to dedicate it to a street yet. We want to keep owning it so we can
control exactly where it will go and once Northcott’s land is developed so when they do that they’re going
to be dedicating, you’re going to be seeing a replat and you’ll be seeing an outlot that will be the street
which is now, which we call a street. Pond Promenade.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Vernelle Clayton: So that will be done at that time.
Mayor Furlong: With the next project that is coming through?
Vernelle Clayton: Yep.
Kate Aanenson: If I may, it’s hard to see on here but it’s right immediately to the west so it’d be this
project. This piece is coming in and this is the area.
Mayor Furlong: That’s the one I’m referring to, yes.
Kate Aanenson: Yeah, there’s a little discrepancy here of where that lot line falls and it should fall on.
Vernelle Clayton: Yeah.
Mayor Furlong: I know there’s gravel parking and stuff and people use it.
Kate Aanenson: Yeah, right.
Vernelle Clayton: It’s bad, right.
Kate Aanenson: Right, and that’s what’s going to solve with the next project.
Vernelle Clayton: Yeah, the next project will be, it will be L shaped and the park actually going east from
the north end is an outlot so that’s already a street outlot.
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Vernelle Clayton: Alright, thank you.
Mayor Furlong: That’s helpful, thank you. Any follow up questions for staff or anything else that people
have questions about? If not there was a public hearing at the Planning Commission and so I don’t know
that we certainly don’t need a public hearing. I don’t see anybody here that might want to comment.
Kate Aanenson: Correct, you do not need it.
Mayor Furlong: We’re always open to comment. With that let’s bring it to council then and thoughts and
comments. Councilwoman Tjornhom, I’ll pick up on your comments before about the quality of the
development. It’s nice to see investment.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: And I think I hear, I heard something that we haven’t heard that we always
want to hear is that two new restaurants are coming to town.
Mayor Furlong: I was going to say, yes.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: You know that always gets the council, or my attention at least because you
know we all want to stay here and take our families out to dinner here so yeah, I think it’s a good addition
so.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Other comments? Thoughts or comments. No, I will just concur. It’s
always nice to see people looking to not only invest in the real property development but also businesses
looking to locate here too and so we’re very happy to see that and I would concur that restaurants are
always wanted on the top of the list as we hear from residents of what they’re looking for so. We look
forward to seeing this project go up and the businesses open and everyone being successful with it. With
that, if there are no more comments, would somebody like to make a motion?
Councilwoman Ernst: Mr. Mayor, I’ll make a motion.
Mayor Furlong: Sure, Councilwoman Ernst.
Councilwoman Ernst: I make a motion that City Council approve the resolution approving the
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preliminary and final plat for Villages on the Pond 10 Addition and site plan review for a one story, two
building 13,654 square foot retail center subject to the conditions of the staff report and adoption of the
Findings of Fact.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there a second?
Councilman Laufenburger: Second.
Mayor Furlong: Motion’s been made and seconded. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none we’ll
proceed with the vote.
Resolution #2014-59A: Councilwoman Ernst moved, Councilman Laufenburger seconded that the
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Chanhassen City Council approve the subdivision re-platting Villages on the Ponds 8 Addition;
and Site Plan Review for a one-story, two-building, 13,654 square-foot retail center subject to the
following conditions and adoption of the Findings of Fact and Recommendation:
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Subdivision
1. Before the final plat is recorded the $45 GIS fee must be paid.
Site Plan
Building
1. Building plans must be prepared and signed by design professionals licensed in the State of
Minnesota.
2. The building(s) are required to have automatic fire extinguishing systems. Water supply for the fire
suppression system must comply with NFPA 13 (specifically, see restriction/requirements for pipes
under buildings).
3. Retaining walls over four feet high must be designed by a professional engineer and a permit must be
obtained prior to construction.
4. Structure proximity to property lines and other buildings will have an impact on the code
requirements for the proposed buildings, including but not limited to, allowable size, protected
openings and fire-resistive construction. These requirements will be addressed when complete
building and site plans are submitted.
5. Detailed occupancy-related requirements will be addressed when complete building plans are
submitted.
6. The owner and/or their representative shall meet with the Inspections Division as soon as possible to
discuss building proximity issues as well as plan review and permit procedures
Engineering
1. The applicant must obtain the necessary agreement for the shared access between Lots 1 and 2, Block
1, Villages on the Pond Tenth Addition.
2. Some of the sidewalk adjacent to the site is damaged and shall be replaced with the site
improvements.
3. The proposed 8” ductile iron watermain on the east side of the building shall be privately owned and
maintained.
4. The developer shall work with the small utility companies to ensure that any conflicts are resolved.
5. The grading plan must be revised to include proposed spot elevations on the patio on the northeast
corner of the building on Lot 1 and the green area on the west side of Lot 2.
Fire Marshal
1. “No Parking Fire Lane” signs and yellow painted curb will be required. The builder shall contact the
Chanhassen Fire Marshal for specific areas.
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
2. There are specific codes relating to the installation of underground water mains under buildings. The
builder will need to submit specific plans to the Chanhassen Building Department and Fire
Department for review and approval.
3. A three-foot clear space must be maintained around fire hydrants.
Planning
1. The applicant shall enter into a site plan agreement with the City and provide the necessary security to
guarantee erosion control, site restoration and landscaping.
2. The developer shall provide the city with an acknowledgement from Community Bank waiving their
right to access for their underground garage area.
3. The material for the trash enclosure should reflect the building design and building materials. The
trash enclosure shall be shifted to the north with the gates facing north.
4. The building elevation must be revised to reduce the amount of E.I.F.S. to 15 percent.
5. Sloped roof elements shall be a minimum 70 percent of roof area. Revise the building elevations to
incorporate additional sloped roof features.
6. The developer should verify the placement of the light poles along Main Street to allow pedestrian
passage.
7. Additional benches should be provided as well as a bike rack.
8. The applicant shall revise the landscape plan to show the treed parking lot island with a minimum
inner width of 10 feet.
Water Resources
1.Prior to issuing a building permit, the hydrologic model shall be amended to include
hydrologic soils group B unless adequate evidence can be provided showing that the USDA
soil survey information is incorrect.
2.An operations and maintenance manual, stating anticipated inspections and maintenance and
including the responsible party, the schedule of these activities and the methodology of
reporting to the city, shall be prepared and submitted to the city for review and approval prior
to issuing a building permit.
3.The applicant shall discuss potential opportunities for infiltration or volume reduction and
incorporate where practicable to do so or provide reasons deemed satisfactory to city staff
why these practices are not being proposed.
4.A detail sheet showing all proposed erosion prevention and sediment control best
management practices shall be included with the final plan set.
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
5.Inlet protection on all existing catch basins downstream of the disturbance area and adjacent
to traffic routing. This includes the catch basin which the system is intended to tie into as
well as the four (4) catch basins near the entrance.
6.All turf areas shall have a minimum of 6 inches of topsoil placed prior to seeding or sodding.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
2015 BUDGET: RESOLUTION APPROVING/CERTIFYING THE MAXIMUM PRELIMINARY
LEVY TO CARVER COUNTY AUDITOR.
Greg Sticha: Good evening Mayor.
Mayor Furlong: I noticed the City Engineer quickly moved away from the desk so you’re on your own.
They’re behind you but way behind you.
Greg Sticha: I see that. Good evening Mayor and City Council members. As you said this evening the
City Council is going to be asked to pass a preliminary levy for taxes payable in 2015. This preliminary
levy will be used to send out the Truth in Taxation statements that residents will be receiving in mid-
November from the County. First I’m going to kind of give the residents at home kind of a little
perspective of where we’ve been and where we’re heading here with the rest of the budget calendar the
rest of the year here. This evening we’ll be setting a preliminary levy. Prior to this evening however
residents should be aware the City Council had a number of work session meetings to discuss budget
items including a detailed rundown of general fund budgeted expenditures as well as looking at all the
City’s levies and various financial, long term financial planning documents that the City reviews on an
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annual basis. Those meetings took place in July and August. On October 13 the City Council will be
reviewing the Enterprise and Special Revenue Fund budgets and also looking at the 2015 to 2019 CIP,
along with getting an update on a review of the third quarter 2014 revenue and expense data. In
November we will begin working on discussing with the City Council the utility rate studies and setting
the utility rates for 2015 with Ehlers and Associates. The second meeting in November we will pick up
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any items that remain on the budget, the CIP or utility rate discussion. December 1 is when the City is
slated to have the public budget meeting or formerly known as the Truth in Taxation hearing meeting.
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And on December 8 City Council will set a final 2015 tax levy budget, adopt a 2015 to 2019 CIP and set
the utility rates for 2015 as well as adjust any other fees or fee schedules in our fee ordinance. Second it
takes us where we’ve been and where we’re going. What have the data and the information been
presented so far to council is on this slide. We used a 3 percent wage increase for employees in 2015.
We are currently budgeting for a 15 percent increase in health care costs, however our bids for the health
care contract for next year have not come in and we probably won’t be receiving those until a little later in
September, as Ms. Hokkanen had pointed out in our work session earlier this evening. New construction
in the city of Chanhassen for 2015 estimated by the Carver County Assessor’s Office is 1.76 percent.
This equates to about $181,000 in new tax growth, if you want to call it that for 2015. We left the
building permit revenue the same as the 2014 budget, as we had done for the previous year’s budget
consistent with council’s objective of maintaining that line item at an amount where we’re not caught by a
change in market conditions relating to building like we were in 2008 and 2009. Under this budget
scenario and levy all, under all the scenarios city service levels will remain the same whether it’s scenario
1, 2 or 3. Scenario 1 would be a total levy of $10,556,021. That’s a $220,000 increase as compared to
the final 2014 levy or a 2.15 percent increase. Again there’s no impact to service levels with this
particular scenario. The impact to a resident on their property tax bill would be about a $3 to $4 dollar
increase. Again all of these scenarios, for those listening at home would be based on the average home in
Chanhassen having an increase in their market value by the average which for Chanhassen for 2000, tax
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
payable in 2015 was 10 percent. So if your home was the average valued home of about $330,000 and
increased in value by 10 percent, based on scenario 1 you would see about a $3 to $4 dollar increase in
your property taxes. On your city line of your property tax statement. Under scenario 2, this would be a
total levy of $10,516,021. An increase of 1.76 percent or exactly the new growth the city experienced for
tax payable in 2015. Again under this scenario there would be no impact to service levels. However staff
would need, and council would need to come up with a reduction from scenario 1 by $40,000. Resident
impact would be again based on the average home in Chanhassen with the average valuation increase. No
change to the city portion of their property tax bill under scenario 2. Scenario 3 would be a total levy of
$10,416,021. An increase of 1.36 percent as compared to 2014. Again no impact on service levels
however staff and City Council would have to find $140,000 reduced levy costs as compared to scenario
1. The impact on a residential tax bill based on scenario 3 would be about a $7 to $9 dollar decrease to
their city portion of their property tax bill, again based on the average home in Chanhassen. So some
financial data for consideration when setting the levy. This is one item that we review with the City
Council every year when we set our preliminary levy. How do we compare spending wise to our key
financial strategy cities as well as to a few of our neighboring cities? On budgeted expenditures from
2013 to 14 you can see Chanhassen had a 2.17 percent increase. This data is retrieved from the State
Auditor’s website on budgetary performance. You can see the average increase of all our KFS cities was
4.72 percent. Numbers were kind of all over the board like is pretty normal for our KFS cities. The one
thing that Chanhassen’s expenditures from year to year tend to have happen is, it’s pretty consistent and
constant from year to year. Typically right around the 2 percent mark whereas some other communities
have taken a slightly different approach and kind of an up and down approach in terms of what they’re
budgeting for expenditures each year and you’ll see a few cities that have a decrease in their budget
expenditures and then you’ll see a couple that had double digit increases and previous city councils have
tried to avoid those type of fluctuations when setting levies and budgeted expenditures here in
Chanhassen. Taking a look at the Carver County cities budgeted expenditure comparison, again
Chanhassen at the 2.1 percent and you can see a little bit all over the board everywhere else with an
average of 6.96 percent. So then extrapolating that data into a per capita spending comparison,
Chanhassen at $418 dollars per capita. The average of the KFS cities at $489 with two cities below
Chanhassen and then 8 larger than Chanhassen on a per capita spending basis. Taking a look at the
Carver County cities, how we compare there. Chanhassen at $418. The lowest of the comparable cities
with the average at $470 per capita. This is a look at the Carver County tax rates for 2014. Chanhassen
with a tax rate of 27.238. The second lowest. Chaska just barely beneath us with an average in the
county of 64.846 percent. One item of note on Chaska’s tax rate is they do also have a utility franchise
fee. Thank you. That helps.
Mayor Furlong: What’s that word?
Greg Sticha: Franchise fee that helps supplement their tax rate pretty substantially. It’s about two and a
half million dollars. If there was a similar franchise fee in place in Chanhassen our tax rate would
probably be 2 to 3 points lower than what you see on the screen here. So staff is recommending setting a
preliminary levy using Scenario 1. $10,556,021. The reason behind using that scenario is to allow for the
most flexibility in planning before we set a final levy in December. A couple other items, informational
items, Councilmember Laufenburger had asked for some information on and I wanted to share with the
City Council. He had asked for a history of our tax rate here in the city of Chanhassen this spread sheet
shows our tax rate going back to all the way to 2000. There’s two things to keep in mind when you look
at tax rate numbers. The tax rate is essentially a function of your taxable market value and the levy you
set and the one item of those two that has the most significant impact on your tax rate in most occasions is
your taxable market value. If you see large swings in your taxable market value you will tend to see large
swings in your tax rate. In certain years, and particularly if you take a look at 2009 to 2010, the tax rate
did increase and that was at a time when we were actually keeping the levy either flat or very close to flat.
This was a factor that had almost solely to do with the taxable market value decreases that we were seeing
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
at the time. The percent change in Chanhassen’s tax rate since 2003 was a decrease of 30 percent. One
other item Councilmember Laufenburger asked for some additional information on was a look at the
City’s wage history over the last several years. This spread sheet breaks down what the City wage
increases have been all the way back to 2003. The left column is the wage increase. The middle column
is essentially the Bureau of Labor Statistics Social Security Wage Increase and then the right column is
the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI for state and local government workers wage index. As you take a
look at Chanhassen’s wage increase as compared to either of those indices, we averaged over the past 10
years about 2.73 percent. The social security index was 4.75 and the BLS for state and local government
workers was 2.98 percent so we compared favorably to both of those indices. One other item to keep in
note in terms of the wage increase history, Chanhassen is one of very few communities in the entire state
that has a complete performance based pay system. A number of other communities have what is
essentially a step system in place for employees, as well as a cost of living component to their wage
adjustment each year. Chanhassen’s pay system is a pay for performance. Pure pay for performance
system where your pay adjustment each year is based on your performance from the previous year. So
that is all the information that I’ve been asked to present at this time. I’d take any questions from City
Council.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you Mr. Sticha. Appreciate the report. Questions for staff. Councilwoman
Tjornhom.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: I guess I have one question. As staff always does so well they give us
different scenarios to consider and this year you know the scenario you’re asking council to consider
scenario 1 so it gives you more room to accommodate any changes that might happen in the health care
situation for insurance. Is that correct?
Greg Sticha: Well that would be the most likely candidate of a situation that would be something that we
would need to adjust for. There are other possibilities out there but that would be the one candidate that
would, if we were going to have something that would need some type of adjustment, it would be the
most likely candidate.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Because I think so far is the one kind of moving target you can’t come back to
us and report some firm numbers on necessarily or even probably guesstimate safely? Is that, obviously I
mean that’s what you’ve told us but I’m just getting that out there so people understand that.
Greg Sticha: Yeah we don’t have an official number. The number we did put into the budget, the 15
percent is a solid estimate based on our previous year’s experience. We think it’s probably a fair number
that where it might end up but until we get the bids back we really won’t know the answer.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: And do you feel comfortable elaborating, listing off some more items that you
can’t quite yet come back and report to us safely about numbers when it comes to items?
Greg Sticha: No. Most of the other numbers within the budget are fairly firm. I mean something could
happen to fuel prices and really quickly that would certainly have an impact on the budget. We’re not
anticipating that but you know there are items that can change quickly. You can’t budget for a horrible
storm season but we’ve had a couple hard ones so you know in those instances we try to balance those
from year to year by making sure we’re at least at an amount for taking care of those storms that’s based
on our historical trend but typically we don’t raise the budget or decrease the budget thinking that we’re
going to have a lighter or stronger storm year.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Certainly. Okay, thank you.
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Other questions? Mr. McDonald.
Councilman McDonald: I’ve got one question. In all three scenarios the 3 percent salary increases are in
all three scenarios, is that correct?
Greg Sticha: That is correct.
Councilman McDonald: Okay, thank you.
Todd Gerhardt: Greg can you go to the three scenarios again?
Greg Sticha: Sure.
Todd Gerhardt: As to scenarios 2 and 3, we haven’t recommended how we would balance those
expenditures at this point so to say that the 3 percent is in scenarios 2 and 3, you know it’s not our
recommendation to touch those but we haven’t given you how to balance that budget as of yet. That’s
something we would discuss in December and as we go through our utility rate study and CIP items.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: And I think it’s, sorry. It’s important to note also that with this, setting this
levy tonight it means that we cannot go up. It means we can only go down.
Greg Sticha: That is correct and the history of the City Council the past several years has been exactly
that. I don’t recall the last year where the preliminary has been the same as the final. It’s been some time
since I think that’s been the case. Typically the City Council has adjusted and made adjustments based on
the additional information that we get the rest of the year to accommodate for whatever needs be.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Other questions? Mr. Laufenburger.
Councilman Laufenburger: Thank you Mr. Mayor. Greg, once again your staff has done a wonderful job
in preparing for this but just as a reminder tonight’s action is only to establish a preliminary levy. It’s not
to establish any budget action. What’s in or out of the budget. Anything like that. All we do is establish
a threshold over which we cannot go. Correct?
Greg Sticha: Correct.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. But this preliminary levy that we established tonight is made visible to
taxpayers in Chanhassen in the form of the statement that they get, I think is it November or something
like that? And it compares preliminary or your property taxes, what exactly does that document say? Do
you know?
Greg Sticha: It takes all the taxing jurisdictions.
Councilman Laufenburger: Yeah.
Greg Sticha: It puts your taxable market value property from last year and puts this year’s taxable market
value on there and then it breaks out by taxing jurisdiction, based on the levies that are being requested by
each taxing jurisdiction and based on the market value of your property, the change in the market value of
your property and it gives you a line item or cost for the property tax of each jurisdiction.
Councilman Laufenburger: For example if somebody looks at their tax, that document and in, I’ll just say
in 2000, in last year that number let’s say was $700 dollars. Just that for city only and if we establish a
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
levy scenario 1, likely and if they were an average household okay, then that $700 dollars would likely
be, go to scenario 1. It would likely be 2.15 percent higher, is that correct?
Greg Sticha: That is correct.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Alright. Thank you for that clarification. Now I just, a couple
questions. You mentioned health care.
Mayor Furlong: Yeah I think for clarification.
Councilman Laufenburger: Oh yeah, excuse me. It would not be a percentage. It would say a number
but what they would see is, they would see between 3 and 4.
Mayor Furlong: Dollars.
Greg Sticha: Dollars.
Mayor Furlong: Because of that 2.15 percent, if I’m mistaken Mr. Sticha, some of that increase would be
covered by new growth in the tax base. New construction in the tax base that we’ve talked about.
Greg Sticha: Yep.
Mayor Furlong: So it wouldn’t be a 2 percent increase on the city taxes because 1.8 percent of the
increase would be covered by real growth.
Councilman Laufenburger: Oh sure, that’s correct.
Mayor Furlong: So it’d be even less than 2 percent.
Councilman Laufenburger: Yeah, 2.15 percent of $700 dollars would be like $15 or $16 dollars so
obviously.
Mayor Furlong: Right, significantly less.
Councilman Laufenburger: Significantly less than that.
Mayor Furlong: Yep.
Councilman Laufenburger: Very good. That’s a good point Mr. Mayor. You talked about health care
and we anticipate that there will be costs associated with that, correct? Are there any other things that we
know right off the top, you know based on your research up to this point, are there any other things that
we know will cost the City more money next year than the past? Not including wages.
Greg Sticha: We did make some adjustments for utility cost increases that we are aware of.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay.
Greg Sticha: Aside from those items, we had a few numbers we adjusted within our line items but for the
most part each of the department’s budgets for all those line items remained the same. Now we did shift
some numbers between line items within a department but there were no substantial increases by any of
the departments other than what we had discussed with council previously this summer so.
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Councilman Laufenburger: What about law enforcement?
Greg Sticha: Law enforcement contract went up.
Councilman Laufenburger: We don’t know that for sure?
Todd Gerhardt: No we have that.
Councilman Laufenburger: We do.
Todd Gerhardt: And that’s taken into account into these numbers.
Councilman Laufenburger: Oh that’s into the numbers as well.
Todd Gerhardt: Yep.
Greg Sticha: Yep. The percentage on that was I believe.
Councilman Laufenburger: But as compared to last year’s final levy, or final budget, how many dollars
are we talking about there?
Greg Sticha: In total for the general fund?
Councilman Laufenburger: Yeah. No just for the law enforcement.
Todd Gerhardt: 75.
Greg Sticha: 75.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Alright. So 75,000 and health care maybe.
Todd Gerhardt: 62.
Councilman Laufenburger: 62. So 75. So about, we know that there will be likely in the neighborhood
of $130,000 dollars more that we will spend on the same things that we had last year. Okay.
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah. Some of that could either, I’m going to say health insurance could even go up.
Councilman Laufenburger: Yep.
Todd Gerhardt: But I hope that we hit the ceiling with our 15 percent but the contract is locked in but
health insurance still could go up or down. Hopefully down but those are definitely going to be some
type of increase. There’s going to be an increase in health over last year.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay. Okay. Thank you Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other questions for staff? Mr. Sticha on one of your slides, and I didn’t
write down the number but it was the percent change in expenses from 14 to 13. On your presentation.
It’s that one right there. 2.17 percent. Is that, does that 2.1, does that include inflation? Of any
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
inflationary costs that were naturally captured in this year’s expenses over last year’s expenses. It would
wouldn’t it? I mean that’s total spending.
Greg Sticha: This is total budgeted spending from 14 versus 13.
Mayor Furlong: On a budget basis?
Greg Sticha: On a budget basis.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Okay.
Greg Sticha: And this would include all budgeted funds within each city, which in our case would also
include our special revenue funds. Our special revenue funds are not significant. The bulk of that 10.1
million is the general fund.
Mayor Furlong: Right, but when I look at that 2.17 percent, that’s year to year budget and typically, well
not typically. As far as I can recall, the actual spending is, has not been over that so the actual spending
usually is less than that but we’re budgeting or budgeted for 2014 for this year 2.17 percent increase
including inflation.
Todd Gerhardt: Well the expenditures were almost right on.
Mayor Furlong: Last year. Not from an actual to, I’m just saying that if inflation runs at 2 percent
anyway we’re basically budgeting for inflation here.
Todd Gerhardt: Yes.
Mayor Furlong: And continuing to provide the level of services without necessarily including significant
real increases in the expense base at the same time.
Todd Gerhardt: Yep.
Mayor Furlong: Because of efficiencies that we’re pulling in with some of the investments we’ve made
and other things, those budgeted expenditures are, are tracking fairly close to inflation from year to year
over this period of time. The other question I had was budget schedule. We’ve been talking about the
budget since I think, one of the July work sessions.
Todd Gerhardt: Started in June.
Mayor Furlong: It was June even?
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah.
Greg Sticha: We have a preliminary discussion in June, yep.
Mayor Furlong: Okay and so, so this is the ongoing calendar here? We’re going to have more discussion
here throughout the remaining months of this year leading up to the Truth in Taxation hearing on the first
of December and then the final, our only council meeting that’s in December scheduled at this point and
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for years that’s the only one we’ve had. On December 8 when we’ll approve the final.
Greg Sticha: That’s correct.
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Mayor Furlong: So we’ll be talking about this budget on and off for over a 6 month period essentially.
Greg Sticha: That is, yep. That is correct.
Mayor Furlong: That’s why we’re having so much fun.
Greg Sticha: Yep.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you.
Councilwoman Ernst: Mr. Mayor, I do have a question.
Mayor Furlong: Councilwoman Ernst.
Councilwoman Ernst: Greg, just to confirm from the last meeting that we had during work session. The
budget, the levy from 2014 to 2015 for the operational capital levy, I don’t believe that you showed that
slide but the dollar change is like $617,000 right?
Greg Sticha: Yep.
Councilwoman Ernst: And nothing has changed from that, from that dollar amount?
Greg Sticha: No.
Councilwoman Ernst: Okay.
Greg Sticha: No information. That is correct. And that schedule is in your packet.
Councilwoman Ernst: Yep.
Greg Sticha: The levy impact schedule but yeah the operational increase is $617,000. That’s correct.
Councilwoman Ernst: Thank you.
Mayor Furlong: What’s the significant change, I mean Councilwoman Ernst raises a question about that.
What’s the significant change from last year to this year associated with that?
Greg Sticha: The one significant change is, one of the City’s debt levies is coming off the books in 2015
or substantially coming off the books for Audubon.
Mayor Furlong: That was the Audubon reconstruction project?
Greg Sticha: That is correct. There’s about $395,000 in debt levies that will no longer be needed for
Audubon. That amount, based on our previous year’s discussions has at least temporarily been put in a
place holder spot for revolving improvement construction fund consistent with all of our long term
financial documents that we’ve discussed year after year. So that’s where at least temporarily that item is
sitting.
Mayor Furlong: And those funds were being collected, you said debt levy and it was a debt levy but it
was debt related to our EDA, correct?
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Greg Sticha: Yes.
Mayor Furlong: That was, it was a self funded.
Todd Gerhardt: Internal loan.
Mayor Furlong: Internal loan from the City to the EDA back to the City to pay, basically pay cash for the
Audubon reconstruction project rather than going out and borrowing the money from a third party.
Greg Sticha: Yeah. We did it for two reasons. We did it to not borrow. Save borrowing costs and then
secondly, at the time we did it levy limits were in place and we wanted to at least maintain our flexibility
with levy limits in place if we ever had the need to increase our levy, this allowed us to give us a little
more flexibility on the new levy limit caps so those were the two reasons we financed Audubon the way
we did.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you.
Councilwoman Ernst: So Mr. Mayor?
Mayor Furlong: Councilwoman Ernst.
Councilwoman Ernst: So just to clarify then, do we just move the dollars then from the debt levy to the
operational? Is that kind of what we did here? For the Audubon project.
Greg Sticha: Yes. What we’ve done is, if you recall our bond tax levy spread sheet, and I can bring it up
here real quickly for you. And we’ve reviewed this document a number of times with City Council but if
you look right here.
Mayor Furlong: Can you make the screen, do bigger down in the lower right? Make the yeah, or
somehow.
Greg Sticha: Does that help a little better?
Mayor Furlong: It helped. Do some more.
Greg Sticha: Okay.
Mayor Furlong: I can barely see it and I’m here in the council chambers. I don’t know if somebody
watching at home.
Todd Gerhardt: Of the screen, there you go.
Mayor Furlong: That’s better.
Greg Sticha: Okay. If you look right here, this is the levy that we had issued for Audubon right through
here. This year 2014’s levy was $444,410. We have one small payment remaining for 2015. The
difference between these two levies is the $395,192. What we had discussed at previous council meetings
with council is, when this levy became available, potentially using it for our street reconstruction
program. We have another long term financial planning document where you will see.
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Mayor Furlong: Got to make this one bigger too.
Greg Sticha: Yep.
Todd Gerhardt: Go to 100.
Greg Sticha: You will see the repayment from the previous schedule. What the, this document
essentially does is it takes the additional levy that had become available in 2015 and used for the purpose
of the revolving assessment construction fund. Our annual street reconstruction program to help fund the
City’s portion of those street recon projects. The other funding source of those street constructions are
assessments to the related property owners. So over time the financial plan was to use that levy when it
became available to help fund the City’s portion of street reconstruction over the next several years. So
staff has at least temporarily put it into that place holder spot consistent with the discussions we’ve had in
the past. City Council can do whatever they wish with that levy, and I’ll pull up the levy impact that
Vicki had brought up but here you see the $395,192. Previously it had been within this number down
here.
Mayor Furlong: It was the one right to the left of that, the $444,000 wasn’t it?
Greg Sticha: Yes, it was right here. So with this number now decreasing from $444,000 to $55,000 the
$395,000 has been put into the revolving improvements to street reconstruction levy above, again
consistent with what our plans have been in the past discussions with council so.
Mayor Furlong: So what this sheet shows, and I think Councilwoman Ernst was referring to now it says
7.16 percent on the total operating capital levy percent change. Really it’s also corresponding with the 22
percent, 23 percent decrease on the debt side.
Greg Sticha: Correct.
Mayor Furlong: Because you move money from one group to the other.
Greg Sticha: Correct. And in total you have a 2 percent increase.
Mayor Furlong: And that’s, okay. So that’s the net effect.
Greg Sticha: Among all the levies.
Mayor Furlong: Yep.
Todd Gerhardt: And go back to the road fund again Greg and you’ve highlighted the $431,000. If you go
up to the City share, that’s the dollars that the City would be responsible for to make a hundred $1.5
million dollars worth of improvement for the street projects in 2016. So without those dollars you
wouldn’t be able to make those type of improvements.
Mayor Furlong: And in fact hasn’t the dollars coming back through the, through the Audubon repayment
have been coming back into this fund.
Greg Sticha: That is correct.
Mayor Furlong: To fund street projects in each of the years.
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Greg Sticha: What we had done is, there was a sum of money already in the revolving assessment
construction fund so when we refinanced Audubon we borrowed the money to the EDA. The EDA built
the project and now the levy’s going to repay essentially the revolving assessment construction fund
where we got the money from in the first place so, it’s being repaid.
Councilman Laufenburger: At a pretty low interest rate, right?
Greg Sticha: Well, yeah.
Mayor Furlong: Well and we’re the recipient of it. We’re not paying somebody else. I mean as I, and I
don’t recall the specific numbers but it was financially beneficial to use our own money through this
vehicle. Still keep the flexibility on the levy issues because there were debt levy limitations. Concerns.
Not that we’ve ever gotten up near the debt levy that I recall but.
Greg Sticha: No.
Mayor Furlong: Which you keep reminding us of.
Greg Sticha: Yeah.
Mayor Furlong: But at, it was just financially prudent. You know don’t borrow money from someone
else if you can fund it yourself.
Greg Sticha: Yep.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other questions?
Councilman Laufenburger: Just one Mr. Mayor. Greg, last year I recall were there levy limitations
placed on us by the State of Minnesota?
Greg Sticha: Last year I believe yes.
Councilman Laufenburger: Are there any of those similar levy limitations?
Greg Sticha: No.
Councilman Laufenburger: Okay.
Greg Sticha: Not this year.
Todd Gerhardt: I think they were really high if they were.
Greg Sticha: We didn’t get anywhere near that.
Mayor Furlong: I don’t think scenario 1 is getting close…
Greg Sticha: But we were never at any point…
Todd Gerhardt: Maybe we should have a scenario like that. That’s crazy talk.
Mayor Furlong: Any other questions? If not, thoughts and discussion. Like to go first? Mr. McDonald.
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Councilman McDonald: Thank you Mr. Mayor. Also I want to thank staff. You guys do a wonderful job
each year of breaking all these numbers down and kind of explaining where everything comes from and
where it’s going and what it is you’re thinking about. I’ve you know given this some thought and I look
at what we’ve done in the past couple of years and looking at the deltas between the various scenarios, to
go down to scenario 2 council’s got to find $40,000. Whether some of that comes from maybe we benefit
from health care not as bad as what it was or we find something within the budget to you know find
$40,000. You go down to the next one and I think the delta there is $181,000 as I recall. Have I got that
right Mr. Sticha?
Greg Sticha: Yes. Going from scenario to scenario 1 to scenario 3 would be the $40,000 plus another
$100,000 so $140,000.
Councilman McDonald: Another $140,000. I look at that and I think that if we go down to that point,
from all of our discussions I’m not sure where the money comes from. I know you’ve given us a number
of scenarios where we can pull it from and that services would not be impacted but the source of that
money seems to be, what you suggested is the street fund and I guess I have a lot of concern about that
because while in the near term that may not really hurt us, in the far term it will because we’re going to
run out of money to do streets and the far term’s only 2 or 3 years off. So I think we’re creating a
scenario at that point where we ride the roller coaster the way other cities have and the way Chanhassen
did earlier in it’s history. That’s not good for the residents. I think everyone appreciates a consistent
approach each year. Therefore I guess Mr. Mayor you know based upon all of that, again I would like to
see us stay within the growth envelope that we have in year’s past and I think it’s a very possible scenario
to do without really putting the City at risk based upon where we’re at with health insurance. Not
knowing those numbers and I think it gives us some time to make sure that those numbers don’t surprise
us and there are no catastrophic events that would happen so I would feel very safe about that and also
very confident within the council’s ability to find $40,000. I don’t think that would be a big problem for
us so I’m tonight I’m going to support scenario 2 because I think again it’s consistent with what we’ve
done in the past. I believe that it provides us the lowest risk scenario going forward for right now today at
this moment. That’s not to say in the future that it couldn’t change and go lower but I would like to make
sure that we do have some wiggle room and that’s why I’m not really supporting scenario 3 tonight
because I think there’s too much risk that we do not have a good handle on and it’s not our fault. It’s not
staff’s fault. It’s market driven and it’s market impact so I think we need to let some of these things play
out so I’m in favor of scenario 2 tonight.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Other thoughts and comments. Councilwoman Tjornhom.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: I too thank staff you know starting back in June I guess. The council started
in June but I think staff does this all year long so I think they need to be thanked for that. That this is not
just a process that starts in late June, early July. This is a continual process. I think these numbers are
always changing and moving and so thank you again for making this clear to us what we’re looking at for
again another year and I asked about scenario 1 just so people understand that we do have to have some
flexibility. I’m just reflecting tonight about what we talked about as a council. We talked about public
safety in our fire department and how we could still make sure that we are meeting the needs of our
community while still making sure that we are using those dollars in the wisest way possible to make sure
that we’re able to cover all our bases in town and do it in a wise way and also think about new ways to be
doing it with collaborating with other departments around the area. Tonight we had a gentleman come
and talk to us about snow plowing already and the fact that he was concerned that we didn’t use sand. On
every other council meetings where budget hearings we’ve talked about snow plowing and we’ve talked
about sand and salt and costs and overtime and man power and equipment and you know it all costs
money to snow plow. It’s not just as easy as saying there goes the plow and I think this council has
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
always been very prudent when it comes to how we spend our money and the way we look at how we
spend our money and why we do what we do and I too am going to support scenario 2 because it does, as
Councilman McDonald said, it does have the lowest risk. I’m sorry, yep. It was the lowest risk yet it
gives us the most flexibility. Health care is always a moving target. It always has been and we have to
make sure that our employees, while they are here every day. They’re working on our budgets. They’re
plowing our streets. They need to still be able to take care of themselves and their families also and so I
too will be supporting scenario 2 and I also feel that in the months to come or the weeks to come the
council and staff will get together, as we always do and figure out where those dollars need to be spent
and how they need to be spent and we will once again have a budget that we can be proud of in the end.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Other thoughts. Councilwoman Ernst?
Councilwoman Ernst: Yeah. Well and I think I’ve, every year it happens this way. I think we need a
scenario 4. You know things that I think we really need to consider and I realize that you know we need
some flexibility but I think we also need to hold ourselves to a standard where we start in a place that is in
my opinion acceptable and then where do we go from there and in all of these scenarios I think that, well
number one I think we need to look at staff’s recommendations. I think that that’s something, it doesn’t
impact our services. That’s $140,000 right there and we look at wage increases as well as our surplus and
I think that those are things that we could have considered and made a scenario number 4. So I will not
be supporting any of these scenarios.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Okay, thank you. Mr. Laufenburger, thoughts?
Councilman Laufenburger: Yeah I do. I think the, one thing that I try to put into my thought process on
this is, what are the, what are the real costs that we’re incurring and I’m just using last year’s levy as kind
of a base point. Now I realize that from a performance standpoint over the last several years we
frequently bring spending in below budget. Is that correct Mr. Sticha? So and that, generally in the
neighborhood of I think I did an average over the last several years and it was like, between $200,000 and
$300,000 a year where we, spending comes in below budget. Now that’s just an average number. Would
you support that Mr. Sticha?
Greg Sticha: Probably close to $200,000. 2013 was right on budget and over time we’ve come closer to
the boogie.
Councilman Laufenburger: My point is that the staff works very hard to not view the budget that’s
established using the property tax levy, they don’t use that as a purchase order. They use that as a
guideline and they spend based on what’s necessary in order to keep the service level in the community.
But I do recognize that there are some costs, whether it be inflation or very specific costs such as we
know law enforcement and health care, that may bring in $130,000 more so, and I also know that based
on work session meetings that we’ve had over the last several months, as Mr. Sticha has alluded to, there
are opportunities for us to find ways to either increase revenue projections or reduce expenses and I’m
confident, as Councilwoman Tjornhom has said, that we will find those ways and we will work diligently
to find those ways so I’m not in total agreement with Councilwoman Ernst that we need to keep things
you know at a flat level. I would allow and I calculate to be $130,000 so I would calculate a lift from last
year’s levy to $10,464,000 which represents a 1.2 percent number and that’s a number that we would not
go higher than and I’m confident that we can be lower than so I do not support scenario 2. I think it’s
more like scenario 2.5.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. I’ll start too by my thoughts thanking Mr. Sticha, your staff. Mr.
Gerhardt and everybody involved. I know that everybody at City Hall, the departments get involved with
the budgeting process and looking at how can they achieve the goals and provide the services that our
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
residents and businesses want and we want to provide in a cost effective and prudent manner and I also
want to say thank you to my fellow council members. We have been talking about this since June and
there have been some good discussions and they continue to raise questions which I know we will over
the course of the coming weeks and months as we seek to find a final solution. In terms of tonight’s
action, the action is, I think Councilwoman Tjornhom mentioned was to set a preliminary levy that’s a no
more than number. It was also brought up that we’re not here approving any expenditures for next year.
We’re not approving any amounts. Any changes. As we know those numbers from past experience can
change and do change over the course of the discussions that take place again over, from 4 to 5 month
period. 6 month period and the numbers move around on the expenditure side. By the time we get to
December we’ll have final numbers for all the categories. Some will be more. Some may be less but in
the end it’s going to represent where we want from a priority standpoint services to be provided and tax
dollars to be spent. That being said I think tonight with our goal being to establish the preliminary levy, I
agree with Councilman McDonald, Councilwoman Tjornhom on scenario 2 which limits the change in
the levy to no more than the real growth in the tax base. It’s the new construction that occurred. Clearly
there are uncertainties which have been mentioned. Health insurance time and again. Other things can
happen as Mr. Stich mentioned between now and the end of the year which we saw in 2008 when the
housing market was going through a very turbulent time and expectations for building permits changed
significantly between the months during which we were discussing the budget and that resulted in some
changes even after the year but that being said I think this scenario on whole will provide us with the
necessary funding to provide the same level of services and to modify services in some case. Provide for
additional services as necessary. And also provide sufficient flexibility as we work through the rest of our
budget and some of the uncertain aspects are determined, given not only the amounts that we’re looking
at but the assumptions that have been included in the preliminary budget so far. The result is, of course
that property taxes will not change for the average property value with an average change. Realize there
are averages. In the past as Mr. Sticha has said this council in recent years has ended up with a final
budget below the preliminary budget and that’s out of the additional work that’s going to take place after
tonight but for scenario 2 I think tonight is, provides a result that is reasonable and prudent for tax
planning purposes and is consistent with our past practices that have contributed to our City’s financial
and overall success so I do agree and I will support this evening for preliminary budget purposes the
scenario 2 preliminary levy.
Councilman McDonald: Mayor?
Mayor Furlong: Mr. McDonald.
Councilman McDonald: I’d like to make a motion before the council then.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you.
Councilman McDonald: And what I would like to recommend is that we set a preliminary levy using
scenario 2. That’s for $10,516,021 that allows for flexibility and planning before we set the final levy in
December.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Mr. Sticha just to confirm, is that the correct amount for the resolution
under scenario 2?
Greg Sticha: I believe it is.
Mayor Furlong: That’s what I have written down but do you concur?
Greg Sticha: That is correct.
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Thank you Mr. McDonald. Is there a second?
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Second.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Motion’s been made and seconded. Is there any discussion on the motion?
Hearing none we’ll proceed with the vote.
Resolution #2014-60: Councilman McDonald moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom seconded that the
City Council approve the resolution setting the 2015 preliminary levy at $10,516,021. All voted in
favor, except Councilwoman Ernst and Councilman Laufenburger who opposed, and the motion
carried with a vote of 3 to 2.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you everybody. Conversations will continue. With that we’ll move on to the
next item number new business which was included, not included in the published agenda but included
earlier tonight when we started the meeting. The agenda was discussed and that is to consider an
agreement with, or continuation of existing agreement. I guess new agreement with the BCA regarding
data access.
AGREEMENTS WITH BCA FOR DATA ACCESS.
Mayor Furlong: Let’s just start with a staff report there. Ms. Hokkanen, are you the one?
Laurie Hokkanen: Thank you. Yeah, thank you Mayor and council. The BCA contacted us late last
week to alert us to the fact that our current agreement, both for our court amendment and accessing BCA
th
records would expire on September 29. The agreement is authorized by the City Council. It designates
the City Manager as the authorized representative and then how it’s worked in the past is that Todd would
then authorize our city attorney’s office to access the information that they need to through the BCA and
court services to carry out the functions that we have delegated to them. The BCA doesn’t allow the
agreement to be directly with the attorney because, while we’ve had the services of Campbell-Knutson for
a long time, there is always that chance that within the 5 year period you might change law firms whereas
you’re always likely to have a city manager so the agreement stays within the city and then can be
nd
delegated out. You don’t have to approve this tonight. You could approve it on September 22 but it’s
an important enough function that as soon as we were alerted to it’s expiration we wanted to get moving
on it so that there would be no lapses in service or delays for people who are involved with prosecution
with the City.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you and I guess any initial questions for staff on the agreement. Mr.
Laufenburger.
Councilman Laufenburger: Thank you Mr. Mayor. Ms. Hokkanen, are there any material differences
between the agreement we sign now and the one that was signed 5 years ago?
Laurie Hokkanen: I do not believe so. I’m going to glance over to Roger to make sure.
Roger Knutson: I don’t believe. It’s basically the same document.
Councilman Laufenburger: Thank you.
Mayor Furlong: Any other questions? Okay, thank you. Thoughts, comments? I’d just like to thank Ms.
Hokkanen, Mr. Gerhardt, everyone for acting on this so quickly. We never like to have last minute items
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Chanhassen City Council – September 8, 2014
come to agendas. I know you don’t either but time was of the essence here. If there are any issues and to
make sure the documents get signed, processed and approved through all of the appropriate levels, doing
it tonight rather than waiting til our next meeting where we only had a couple days before the expiration.
I just want to thank you for jumping on it and getting it done. We appreciate that. Would somebody like
to make a motion to approve?
Councilman Laufenburger: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Furlong: Please, Mr. Laufenburger.
Councilman Laufenburger: I move the City Council adopts a resolution approving State of Minnesota
Joint Powers Agreement on behalf of it’s City Attorney and authorizes entering into the Master Joint
Powers Agreement and Court Services Subscriber Amendment with the Department of Public Safety
Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Councilman McDonald: Second.
Mayor Furlong: Motion’s been made and seconded. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none we’ll
proceed with the vote.
Resolution #2014-61: Councilman Laufenburger moved, Councilman McDonald seconded that the
City Council adopts a resolution approving State of Minnesota Joint Powers Agreement on behalf
of it’s City Attorney and authorizes entering into the Master Joint Powers Agreement and Court
Services Subscriber Amendment with the Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal
Apprehension. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS.
None.
ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS.
None.
CORRESPONDENCE DISCUSSION.
None.
Councilwoman Ernst moved, Councilman McDonald seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in
favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. The City Council meeting was
adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Submitted by Todd Gerhardt
City Manager
Prepared by Nann Opheim
29