CC 2015 02 09
CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
FEBRUARY 9, 2015
Mayor Laufenburger called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was opened
with the Pledge to the Flag.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT:
Mayor Laufenburger, Councilwoman Tjornhom,
Councilman McDonald, Councilwoman Ryan, and Councilman Campion
STAFF PRESENT:
Todd Gerhardt, Chelsea Peterson, Paul Oehme, Bob Generous, Todd
Hoffman, Roger Knutson, and Sgt. Peter Anderley
PUBLIC PRESENT:
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Dan Nesler 4700 West 77 St, Minneapolis
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Brian LeMon 4700 West 77 St, Minneapolis
Karen Engberg 910 Saddlebrook Curve
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS:
None.
CONSENT AGENDA: Councilwoman Tjornhom moved, Councilman McDonald
seconded to approve the following consent agenda items pursuant to the City Manager’s
recommendations:
1. Approve City Council Minutes dated January 26, 2015
2. Receive Planning Commission Minutes dated January 20, 2015
3. Approval of Two-Year Lifeguard Contract for Lake Ann Beach, Minnetonka Public
Schools.
Resolution #2015-05:
4. 2015 Street Rehabilitation project (Carver Beach Area): Approve
Plans & Specifications; Order Ad for Bids.
Resolution #2015-06:
5. Well No. 15: Accept Bids, Award Contract.
Resolution #2015-07:
6. Approval of 2015 Vehicle and Equipment Purchases.
Resolution #2015-08:
7. Approve Resolution Requesting Advance of State Aid Funding
for Municipal State Aid Routes 194-101-030 and 194-101-040, City Project 15-02,
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Kerber Boulevard from Powers Boulevard to West 78 Street.
8. Approval of 2015 Key Financial Strategies.
Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
9. Approval of Temporary On-Sale Liquor License; Love, Inc. Banquet; October 30; St.
Hubert Catholic Community, 8201 Main Street.
10. Approve Extension of Site Plan for Chanhassen Specialty Grocery Until May 31, 2015,
Villages on the Pond, Outlot B, Venture Pass Partners, LLC.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
VISITOR PRESENTATIONS.
None.
2015 STREET REHABILITATION PROJECT (KERBER BOULEVARD): PUBLIC
HEARING; CONSIDER APPROVAL OF RESOLUTION ORDERING PLANS AND
SPECIFICATIONS.
Paul Oehme: Thank you Mayor, City Council members. Tonight we’d like to have the council
consider allowing staff to finish up plans and specs on the Kerber Boulevard improvement. So
through the agenda tonight we’d like to talk about the background, the need for the project. The
scope of the project. What’s proposed. The cost and financing of the project and the schedule
and then we’d like to open up the project for a public hearing as well. So what is being proposed
under this project is the rehabilitation of approximately 1.4 miles of streets and that’s on Kerber
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Boulevard again from Powers Boulevard all the way down to 78 Street. So the road is 40 feet
wide. It’s 35 years old. The southern half of Kerber Boulevard was originally constructed back
in the 1940’s when this was just a smaller, little town. Been obviously reconstructed since then.
It has been overlaid in ’96 and was also sealcoated. The reason for the project is, it is nearly 20
years old. There are some conditions of the pavement that staff feels should be fixed at this time.
The street cannot be maintained cost effectively with say sealcoats and just regular maintenance
package so we’re looking at a little bit higher level of maintenance at this time. The City does
rate our streets in terms of the quality, of the ride ability and the, how structurally sound it is so
rating our streets basically from 100 for a new street down to 0 for a deteriorated street and
here’s just some examples of some, examples of severities of pavement distresses that we find
and we rate. So with that system that we use for rating our pavements we do rate our streets,
every street once every 3 years. This Kerber Boulevard was re-surveyed back in 2013 was the
last time so based upon that survey the ranges are shown here. Anywhere from 23 as a low point
up to 57 so this is in our range of where we typically would consider a mill and an overlay. Not
a full reconstruction. Not ripping out or removing the whole pavement section but basically just
the wear surface where we see a lot of pothole issues and cracks and ride ability issues. That’s
the thing that we’d like to address under this project. What is being proposed is a 4 inch mill and
overlay for the entire street section so we’d come in there. Hire a contractor to mill out 4 inches.
Fix any distresses that are out there. Patch those areas and there’s some curb and gutter that also
would have to be repaired in conjunction with that and then resurface the road. Also being
proposed is, are the looking at the trails along Kerber Boulevard. They are basically the same
vintage or they were put in at about the same time as the roadway. We also do rate our trails and
they are within the range where we feel they should be removed and replaced at this time. We
are looking at going out with bids for this, for the trail section with alternate bids so we have the
ability to add that into the contract or delete it from the contract if the council desires. So storm
sewer that’s being proposed, improvements. Many of the manholes out here, covers, rings are
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
failing. They’re settling out and they’re in some distress so we’d like to go in there and replace
most of the grates. Re-set them. There are some storm sewer pipes that also are going to be
added to the system and there’s also some manholes too that we’re going to be replacing as well.
We’re looking at replacing a lot of the vane grates or the grates that are out there today with vane
grates are a little bit higher capacity. They don’t clog as easily as some of the other grates that
are out there today. Those are the grates that we consistently use now in our city with new
construction. The City did, staff did evaluate the watermain that’s along Kerber Boulevard and
we feel that it’s in decent shape. We only documented one watermain break at this time along
this corridor so there are no watermain improvements associated with the project that are
proposed. The sanitary sewer, we also televised all the sanitary sewer that runs under Kerber
Boulevard earlier, or late last year. We did find one section of pipe that has a pretty significant
sag in it and there’s minor manhole work that we’d also like to fix for infiltration and I and I
issues that are out there so clear water doesn’t enter our system. Here’s an example of the sag in
the pipe. The section of pipe that we would like to consider replacing is basically just east of
Powers Boulevard to the first, for the first manhole. This is the video just showing that the water
in the pipe just settles out and can cause back-up’s and it has filled, the pipe has filled up and
we’ve had maintenance issues associated with this pipe so at this time we’d like to consider
adding, replacing that pipe into this project. With that the costs are shown here. They’re within
our budget that we have, the City has budgeted for 2015. We do have contingencies also
included. 8 percent contingencies and 5 percent indirects too for engineering. With all street
projects the City does consider assessments based upon benefit to the adjoining property owners.
This is a little bit unique section of roadway since it is a collector roadway. We did do a front
foot basis for the properties that have direct access onto Kerber Boulevard. There are very few,
basically very few driveways that connect onto Kerber Boulevard so the City’s going to be
picking up a majority of the cost for the project. However based upon our assessment practice
we do assess benefiting property owners for the front footage for basically local streets so just
going through the calculations and there’s just, there’s two properties out here. One multi-family
unit development or higher density unit and then an apartment complex as well so with that,
based upon our assessment practices and how we assessed these properties in the past this is the
calculation that we have used successfully so the Carver County CDA property, based upon this
estimate would be assessed a little over $9,400 and the Villages West Townhome properties,
there’s 64 units in there. Based upon their front footage, dividing it up they’d be proposed to be
assessed $236.23 for each of those units and they’ll be assessed individually so each of these
assessments are being proposed over an 8 year period with 2 percent interest. Or prime plus 2
percent interest for carrying costs which is our practice for other street projects. That’s the
assessments. With that if the project were to move forward we would consider having a bid
opening in March. We’d have the assessment hearing in April. We’d like to start construction
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right after 4 of July, in that time period and then we would hope to have the construction done,
plan to have the construction done by the end of August as well of this year so complete final
close out of the project end of August so with that if there’s any questions that you would have
I’d be more than happy to answer them at this time and also to request that a public hearing be
opened for the project.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. First are there any questions from council to Mr. Oehme?
Councilman McDonald: Mr. Mayor.
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Mayor Laufenburger: Councilman McDonald.
Councilman McDonald: Mr. Oehme, you said that there are some unique things about this,
about this roadway. First thing is, it’s a collector road. Is that a county road?
Paul Oehme: No it’s a collector roadway that’s maintained by the City so we own the Kerber
Boulevard and everything underneath it so. The County has nothing to do with this section of
roadway.
Councilman McDonald: Okay. And then you talked about there are a number of houses up and
down Kerber but only a few of them have actually got driveways onto. Are we going to only
assess those with driveways onto Kerber?
Paul Oehme: That’s correct. There’s a lot of houses that back up to Kerber but they do not have
direct access onto Kerber so if, wherever their, what our assessment practice says if your
driveway accesses a street that frontage, that’s the street. If that street were to come up for
reconstruction or improvements that street you’d be considered for assessments on since you
would have the benefit of driving onto that street.
Councilman McDonald: Okay so just because your house may somehow touch Kerber doesn’t
necessarily mean you’re going to be assessed.
Paul Oehme: Correct.
Councilman McDonald: Okay. No more questions Mr. Mayor, thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright. Anybody else on the council have questions? Yeah Mr.
Campion.
Councilman Campion: Mr. Mayor. Mr. Oehme, do you have a rough breakdown of the costs
driven by the trail repairs versus the street repairs?
Paul Oehme: Sure. Let me try to find that sheet here. So the total cost, I didn’t have it broken
down for the total cost but the, just for the trail cost we’re estimating just a little over $200,000.
$220,000 in that ballpark for the trails. What’s, it would be in the, what we have to do based
upon ADA rules and those, the ramps leading up to trails, we have to replace those with the
project but we are looking at an alternate for repaving the trail section. So just the blacktop
itself. The ramps, the concrete ramps that we have to put in, those would have to be part of the
base bid.
Councilman Campion: Okay.
Todd Gerhardt: So the $200,000 is your estimate for the trail?
Paul Oehme: Yeah, $220,000 is the estimate for just the trails.
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Todd Gerhardt: And that’s a qualified cost under your Municipal State Aid guide?
Paul Oehme: Exactly and that’s a qualified cost for under the State Aid cost. Municipal State
Aid, the City gets some dollars back from the State from gas taxes and the license tab fees.
Those type of things. We do have a fund balance, or some funds available for this project that
we can use toward this project so they wouldn’t come out of taxes. General levy taxes. They
would come out of our gas tax.
Councilman Campion: One follow-up. You said the trails had to be fully removed and replaced.
Is the mill and overlay, is that normally an option for trails or just not in this case?
Paul Oehme: Well I don’t think in this case. I think most of the trails in this area are too far
gone. I mean there’s some wider cracks in this area, on this trail sections. Some deep grooves
and if you were to just overlay that trail it’s not going to be very smooth and those cracks would
come through the new pavement section and we’d have you know cracks shortly after would be
repaved so to rip out the pavement that’s out there it’s about 3 inches. It’s not a big cost driver
for that trail but I think removing the existing blacktop that’s there, it will give you a better trail
long term and it also, when you overlay trails it can effect some of the drainage too. It can set up
some of the water in back of the trails and cause the trails to fail a little bit sooner than later as
well too so we’re recommending to remove the blacktop. Leave the base aggregate that’s there
and just repave the trail in it’s current location. Current width and make the trail consistent.
Councilman Campion: Okay.
Todd Gerhardt: So you’re saying the thickness of the trail is 3 inches?
Paul Oehme: It’s approximately 3 inches.
Todd Gerhardt: And the thickness of your road out there right now?
Paul Oehme: Well the thickness of the road is approximately, it’s 6. A little over 6 inches
average so we’re milling out a majority of the asphalt within the roadway section. Putting two
lifts in there and then, but the trail section we’re looking at right at the 3 inches.
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah it’d be pretty difficult to mill 2 inches on a 3 inch trail.
Paul Oehme: Yeah and there’s really, the equipment that contractors have is really not set up for
milling out trails.
Councilman Campion: Alright.
Mayor Laufenburger: Any other questions of council at this time?
Councilwoman Ryan: Mr. Mayor.
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Mayor Laufenburger: Councilwoman Ryan.
Councilwoman Ryan: Thank you. Mr. Oehme could you again explain the importance of how
it’s used when you classify a road as a Municipal State Aid route.
Paul Oehme: Sure. So yeah Ms. Ryan, the State allows up to 20 percent of your streets to be
classified as collector roadways and we can, we designate those roadways to be used for
Municipal State Aid funds. We can’t use Municipal State Aid funds as per statute for local
roadways. We can only use them for our collector roadway so typically how the City would
classify a collector roadway is the higher volume. More capacity roadways. Roadways that
would take more truck traffic. Those type of things. The heavier section roadways that we need,
that would be classified as your collector roadways.
Councilwoman Ryan: And so then I know we’re requesting the advance for this project and
going to pay it back but have we done this before? Used this municipal aid. Is this something
we do regularly?
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah. Other projects that we’ve used it on is Bluff Creek Boulevard.
Minnewashta Parkway. Lake Lucy Road. Even the assessment practice that we were talking
about earlier, some of the homes on Lake Lucy directly access onto there so that would act as
their residential road equivalent from a typical subdivision when we would go in and reconstruct
a residential subdivision. Everybody would get assessed for the street frontage in that
residential. If you have direct access on Lake Lucy, Lake Lucy would act as your residential
street so treating everybody equally.
Councilwoman Ryan: Okay. And then in terms of the townhomes or apartments versus single
family homes, the reason why they’re assessed versus people that may back up to Kerber is
because their driveway is considered the entrance to their complex, correct?
Todd Gerhardt: Correct.
Councilwoman Ryan: And then a couple other questions. In the packet that we received I was
under the impression that we weren’t replacing any of the manholes but then in the presentation
it says that we are going to, the manhole covers.
Paul Oehme: Yeah there’s a few manholes that we’d like to replace.
Councilwoman Ryan: So we’re not going to do all of them because of the cost associated with
that.
Paul Oehme: Exactly, right. I’m sorry.
Councilwoman Ryan: Okay. And then the final one, in terms of the trail, are we going to widen
the trail then as well?
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Paul Oehme: We’re not proposing to widen the trail. We’re just leaving the trail width the same
and we’re not adding any more trail along Kerber Boulevard either. We’re just going to replace
what’s out there.
Councilwoman Ryan: Okay. And then when, just because I know it’s a very highly used trail,
do they re-route people when it’s closed or, I know it’s a lot of people access downtown that way
and so then would they come onto the streets or how are we going to handle?
Paul Oehme: Yeah we don’t want them running, to walk on the streets so you know we would
like to maybe stage it. Do one side of Kerber Boulevard first and have the residents, the walkers,
whatever use the other side of the road and then we’ll come back and do the other side after the
other side is done.
Councilwoman Ryan: Okay.
Todd Gerhardt: But there will be a couple of days where sections of the trail will need to be
closed down and so.
Councilwoman Ryan: Okay, great. Thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Any other questions for Mr. Oehme? Councilman McDonald.
Councilman McDonald: One follow up. The trail then comes from separate funds.
Homeowners are not being assessed for the trail, is that correct?
Paul Oehme: That’s correct. Any of the trail improvements that are being proposed tonight
would come from Municipal State Aid funds so those aren’t tax levy dollars.
Councilman McDonald: Okay, thank you.
Todd Gerhardt: Good point.
Mayor Laufenburger: And the same thing is, well the storm sewer or the sewer dollars, that is
not being assessed is that correct?
Paul Oehme: Correct. Yeah there’s no assessments based upon the sewer, the storm sewer
improvements that are being proposed tonight so. All that’s going to, all the assessments are
based upon is the street frontage in front of their property that will have new pavement on that
they’re benefiting from.
Mayor Laufenburger: And I, any other questions for Mr. Oehme? Just one Mr. Oehme. The
assessment that you had for the CDA property, you’re not assessing that per individual renter.
That goes to CDA and they determine whether or not and how they would assess the residents, is
that correct?
Paul Oehme: That’s correct.
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, and that’s not our responsibility. Okay. This action or this item
calls for a public hearing. Mr. Knutson is it in my power to just open the public hearing?
Roger Knutson: Yes Mayor, it is your power.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. At this time I would open this particular item to public hearing. If
there’s any people in the chambers that would like to speak to this project please step up to the
microphone. State your name and address. Good evening.
Karen Engberg: Hi. Karen Engberg, 910 Saddlebrook Curve.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay.
Karen Engberg: If you’re going to do the trail, are you going to be improving it so it, because
there’s some spots in the trail where the water doesn’t drain properly. It’s not sloped right and
big, huge long puddles.
Paul Oehme: Yep.
Mayor Laufenburger: Mr. Oehme, can you speak to that?
Paul Oehme: Absolutely. So there are areas out there, I didn’t touch on this Mayor but there are
some areas out there that hold water and some of those areas have appeared to settled out over
time so we are, we will be looking at improving those areas that do not drain properly. I should
qualify too, we’re not replacing all the trails along Kerber Boulevard. Only the bituminous
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section of trail. Not the concrete section. The concrete section is farther to 78 Street so it’s the
northern half of the trails that we’re looking at replacing at this time.
Karen Engberg: Yeah because there’s one spot north of Saddlebrook Curve on the west side,
and it’s not very far where it gets this 5 foot puddle all the time.
Paul Oehme: Right. Yep.
Karen Engberg: And it’s been that way every since you put it in.
Paul Oehme: Okay. Alright so, yeah I mean those areas we’ll definitely be looking at to replace
and improving the drainage on so.
Karen Engberg: Okay and the other thing is the last company that you had take off the top layer
on that road did such a poor job, please don’t get that company again.
Paul Oehme: Okay.
Karen Engberg: Even when they came back and fixed it, it was, they didn’t do a good job.
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you for your comments
Paul Oehme: Thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Is there anybody else who would like to make public comment regarding
the Kerber Boulevard project? Okay, there being none then I will close the public hearing and
bring it back to council. Any council questions or comments regarding this project?
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Laufenburger: Councilwoman Tjornhom, yes.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: I don’t really have any questions. Just that it just seems like it’s
obviously time to fix Kerber and so I’m obviously going to, I’m going to go along with the
proposal and hopefully it will be a beautiful street like we did with Laredo and other roads.
Mayor Laufenburger: Good. Any other comments or questions? Councilman McDonald.
Councilman McDonald: Mr. Mayor, I just wanted to make sure that you know we did receive an
email from.
Mayor Laufenburger: A resident.
Councilman McDonald: Yeah. Gina Stump and I just wanted to make acknowledgement that
council did see that.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you. Mr. Oehme do you, did Alyson Fauske look up this particular
address? Is this an address that is impacted by the assessment do you know?
Paul Oehme: I believe it is part of the assessment, yes.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Duly noted there Councilman McDonald. I did have a question
Mr. Oehme. This is a big project in itself and last council meeting we talked about 4.3 miles of
Carver Beach road. How are you personally going to manage both projects?
Paul Oehme: So we do have a full time inspector on staff so the, and we do have summer help
that also will help us out on these type of projects. So we are staging the project out. If Carver
Beach project moves forward we anticipate that project starting earlier than this project and
working on, you know Carver Beach area south to north a little more or less. So that project will
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get going. This project will, we’d like to start after 4 of July sometime so there is some time
inbetween where we’ll only be working on one project. Kerber Boulevard there is less I would
say inspection necessary. They’re going to be replacing manholes in the sanitary sewer that
we’d like to replace. There’s some inspection necessary there. This project won’t be as full time
I don’t think as Kerber Boulevard and since the projects are in fairly close proximity, you know
our inspectors can jump back and forth to each of these projects fairly easily so I think we’ll be
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
covered with the amount of resources that we have at the City to handle the inspections for both
projects.
Mayor Laufenburger: I would also encourage that, let’s pay close attention to what the citizens
tell us about access. I mean it’s potential that staging of Kerber Boulevard and staging of
activity in the Carver Beach area, we could make it a little bit of a labyrinth for people to get in
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and out from either Powers or from West 78 Street to get to their home.
Paul Oehme: Yep exactly and that’s why for Kerber Boulevard especially we’d like to work on
Nez Perce area first and get those streets finished before we start on Kerber Boulevard so they’re
not, those you know Kerber Boulevard and Nez Perce area is not being impacted at the same
time. At least they’ll have at least one road to access that in newer shape.
Mayor Laufenburger: But would it be safe to say that if citizens have questions as we move into
this construction season they can call City Hall and then just register their concern and their issue
and we’ll do our best to react to that.
Paul Oehme: Oh absolutely. So you know the communication that we have set up for City Hall,
we’ll have Facebook notifications as well. Anybody that can call in, there’ll be a website that
will be posted for both of these projects. We’ll have notices going out before the project starts
and during the project and kind of letting people know that at least in the immediate area what
will be transpiring that week or in the near future so we try to work with the property owners as
best as we can to try to get the communication out on what’s going to be happening near their
property in the near future.
Mayor Laufenburger: That’s good, okay. Well and let’s.
Councilwoman Ryan: Mr. Mayor may I make one more comment please?
Mayor Laufenburger: Sure, Councilwoman Ryan yeah.
Councilwoman Ryan: After this project is finished and I know it’s usually the people that make
comments about speeding are the ones that get pulled over but people typically go a lot faster
when roads are smooth and with that you know the traffic I just would ask that we have extra
patrol on that road to keep the speeds down. Especially with the school right there, people really
pick up pace going south on that road and you know with the school crossing and the trails, just
to really monitor and patrol that.
Paul Oehme: Okay, duly noted.
Todd Gerhardt: We can get the speed trailer out too just to make people aware of the speed limit
and how fast they’re going.
Mayor Laufenburger: Officer Stand Still, is he still on duty?
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah, I think he’s around.
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, alright. Good comment. Thank you very much Councilwoman
Ryan. If there’s no other questions do I have a motion?
Councilwoman Tjornhom: I’ll make the motion.
Mayor Laufenburger: Councilwoman Tjornhom.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: I make the motion the City Council orders the preparation of plans
and specifications for the 2015 Street Rehabilitation, Kerber Boulevard from Powers Boulevard
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to West 78 Street, project number 15-02.
Mayor Laufenburger: We have a motion. Is there a second?
Councilwoman Ryan: Second.
Mayor Laufenburger: Councilwoman Ryan seconded that, thank you. Any discussion?
Resolution #2015-09: Councilwoman Tjornhom moved, Councilwoman Ryan seconded
that the Chanhassen City Council orders the preparation of plans and specifications for the
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2015 Street Rehabilitation (Kerber Boulevard, Powers Boulevard to West 78 Street)
Project No. 15-02. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5
to 0.
9015 LAKE RILEY BOULEVARD: REQUEST FOR VARIANCE TO EXCEED THE
IMPERVIOUS SURFACE LIMITATION AND THE SHORELAND SETBACK
LIMITATION TO CONSTRUCT A PATIO; APPLICANT/OWNER: ROSEMARY
KELLY.
Bob Generous: Thank you Mr. Mayor, council members. Planning Case 2014-27 is a shoreland
setback and hard surface coverage variance request. This went to the Planning Commission on
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October 2. It was tabled at that time and then it went back for another hearing on January 6 of
this year. Tonight it’s going to City Council because the, as part of the Planning Commission
review they could not come to a super majority decision on one way or the other so that’s why
it’s here tonight. The property is located at 9015 Lake Riley Boulevard. It’s in the northwest
corner of Lake Riley, just south of Lyman Boulevard. This whole street is single family homes
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on some older lots that were platted a long time ago. Again this item appeared on October 7
Planning Commission agenda. It was tabled at that time to allow the applicant and staff to work
out potential alternatives for this patio and also to provide us with additional information on their
original request. Again this is a hard surface coverage variance request. The City Code permits
up to 25 percent hard cover on properties zoned single family residential. In this case the
original proposal was for a 30 percent hard coverage so it would be a 5 percent. The shoreland
setback variance was increased. The original request would increase the setback from, variance
from 32 feet to 36 feet so 39 foot setback from the shoreland. That’s what was there prior to the,
there’s an existing variance on the property. They get a 1 percent hard cover variance so they’re
permitted 26 percent hard cover and there’s a shoreland setback variance that permits a 43 foot
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
shoreland setback. Again this is, the original variance was approved in 2005. It permitted a 5
foot setback from the 30 foot street setback requirement on the west side of this property.
There’s also the 1 percent hard cover variance to permit 26 percent hard cover and a 32 foot
shoreland setback from our 75 foot shoreland setback requirement. The existing building on the
site does meet that setback requirement and they do comply with the variance application for the
existing conditions on the property. Again prior to that variance in 2005 the house was actually
closer to the lake and it had a little bit more hard cover than is existing on the property. In 2005
they received a variance to build a new house on the property. Again it was moving closer to
Lake Riley Boulevard and a little bit farther away from the lake. These are pictures of the
property. There’s an existing patio under the porch that’s on the lake side and then this is
looking from the north. You can see under the deck here there’s mostly green space. There is a
little landing outside the door and then this is the garage door that they’re trying to provide
access to this, use this area. Here’s looking up. This whole site slopes down to the lake. It gets
steeper as you go farther away from the house. The applicant wants to create a more usable
space out here as well as providing handicap access from the garage door to the patio area. The
original application was to expand the patio to include all this hard space. This.
Mayor Laufenburger: Mr. Generous can I just stop you a second. When you use the term
original, you’re talking about the request that was made back, that was presented to the Planning
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Commission on January 6?
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Bob Generous: No, well both on October 7 and then again on January 6 but as part of the
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January 6 review they also, we had worked out an alternative.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay but what you’re showing us right now is a pictorial depiction of
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what the original request made, that was made on October and then January 6.
Bob Generous: Correct.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, thank you for that clarification.
Bob Generous: So this was, it would extend beyond the existing setback line so it would be 7
feet closer to the lake and it was for 551 square foot expansion to the hard cover on the property.
We did look at other variance applications within the area and there were, well 3 if you count the
existing one for this property but 2 other variance applications within 500 feet of this property.
Both of them dealt with setback requirements from the lake. These properties are a little shorter
than we would require under new subdivision regulations so they’re existing conditions. We did
look at hard surface issues for existing hard surface within the neighborhood. They range from
25.8 to 29.3 percent hard cover. These are, or 16 percent hard cover to 29.3 percent hard cover
and then the newest building on the corner has a slightly bigger lot and that’s only at 9 ½ percent
hard cover. This property on the north had some issues because there’s a creek running through
the property from the northwest and so there were additional setback requirements and
preservation issues and that so that reduced the amount of hard cover. Additionally this area has
significant lakeshore setback. There’s at least 3 of them that have 43 foot setbacks from the lake
and that’s what the existing home is proposing as part of their alternative to preserve. Under new
subdivision requirements the lots would have to be 20,000 square feet. This property is
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
approximately 12,900 square feet so it’s a sub-standard in that. Had this property even been at
our 15,000 square foot minimum for single family lots there would be no variance request.
Mayor Laufenburger: No variance for hard surface, correct?
Bob Generous: Correct.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay.
Bob Generous: So, and that goes to the fact that this is a unique circumstances on the property.
As part of the original Planning Commission staff report they talk about a water oriented
structure and there was some confusion as part of the original public hearing and so we want to
bring it up that even though the city permits water oriented structures closer to the lake than the
75 foot setback or in this case the 43 foot setback, they would still have to meet the hard cover
requirements so even if they were to put a shed down by the waterfront that would be counted
against the site’s hard cover. Our issue with hard cover is it increases storm water runoff into the
lake. Between the October meeting and the January meeting staff met with the applicant to come
up with a possible alternative.
Mayor Laufenburger: Can I stop you just for a second?
Bob Generous: Yes.
Mayor Laufenburger: So this original request which you just reviewed, this was, it was
discussed with staff and it was ready to go to the Planning Commission, is that correct?
Bob Generous: Yes it actually went to.
Mayor Laufenburger: It went to the Planning Commission and then that was tabled.
Bob Generous: Correct.
nd
Mayor Laufenburger: On October 2.
Bob Generous: Yes.
Mayor Laufenburger: There about’s. Okay. Now keep going.
Bob Generous: So and then as part of that discussion we clarified. We got better data on the
actual square footages of expansion that they were proposing from a revised plan that you did
and we also were able to discuss the issues that the city staff had with any further encroachment
into the lake as well as increases in hard cover on the property. And based on those discussion
this area in green was removed from being proposed for patio and instead we looked at providing
a 5 foot wide connection to the garage door to allow handicap access to the rest of the patio
expansion that they were looking at. With this area here being that area that was under, is under
the existing deck that’s on the main floor of the house. And this would extend over to, in front of
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
there’s some window here and then the garage door. This alternative proposes, was proposal
reduces the amount of hard cover being proposed for this site by approximately 200 square feet
so it’s a 354 square foot expansion of hard cover on their site. It reduces the variance request to
increase it by 2 ½ percent or to 28 ½ percent total hard cover from the existing 26 percent hard
cover. And additionally it would preserve the existing setback from the lake for any of the
expansion area. We believe this proposal is reasonable and is supported by staff. The applicant
has discussed with staff the possibility of including landscaping improvements in conjunction
with the patio expansion that would help mitigate any stormwater increases that would be due to
the hard cover on the property. Some of these landscaping things could be either providing
shrub beds that would be, the soils would be removed and new soils put in to help water
percolate into the soil. The planting of trees adjacent to the hard surface coverage because they
absorb a lot of rain water as it comes down and it would not even get to the ground. Or they
could provide native planting adjacent to the lakeshore or portions of the lakeshore to help slow
down surface water runoff into the lake. So there are all different alternatives that the property
owner could do to help mitigate the increased stormwater runoff on the property and it’s
something that as part of their application for a zoning permit for this expansion that they would
provide us with those plans at that time. The Planning Commission, again they voted 2 for and 3
against a motion to recommend approval of the variance so conversely that would be 3-2 to deny
it. However they need a super majority to make a final decision and so their proposal basically
was to deny the variance application and so that’s why we have a recommended motion for
denial of the original request for the total expansion that they were proposing as well as closer
setback to the lake. However we are supporting an alternative plan that would approve a 3 ½
percent hard surface coverage variance to permit 28 ½ percent hard cover on their property and
denial of any additional lakeshore setback variance and adoption of the Findings of Fact for
approval contained in the staff report. With that I’d be happy to answer any questions.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Mr. Generous. Before we hear from the applicant, are there
any questions from council for Mr. Generous? Councilman Campion.
Councilman Campion: Mr. Mayor, sorry. Mr. Generous I got turned around on that last part.
So the recommended motion for approval is the new plan that takes away the green area.
Bob Generous: That’s correct.
Councilman Campion: Okay.
Mayor Laufenburger: Any other questions? Councilman McDonald.
Councilman McDonald: You had mentioned something, I remember a couple years ago about a
house in this area and that was a tear down. Is this the same residence? We ran into hard surface
issues at that time or is this a different residence?
Bob Generous: This is one of them. There are several in the neighborhood that have hard
surface issue. They have setback issues. They were built prior to the City adopting the
shoreland protection ordinances.
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Councilman McDonald: No the house I’m thinking of it was a tear down.
Bob Generous: Yes.
Councilman McDonald: And they had hard surface issues at that point. Is this the same house
or is this a different house because I remember it was either 2 or 3 houses in from the road.
Bob Generous: Well this was one of them and yes, this was a tear down that they came in. We
actually had them reduce the amount of hard cover on the property by four-tenths a percent.
They were asking for a 7 percent variance at the time and we were able to work with them to
reduce that request. And then also we pushed it farther away from the lake by providing a front
yard setback variance to help move the house up the hill.
Councilman McDonald: Okay. And at this point with the patio expansion, the area in gray, are
we looking to reduce the hard cover by any amount or are we satisfied at this stage that this
would be acceptable with an increase of 2.7 percent over the 25 or actually they’re at 26 right?
Bob Generous: Right. They’re at.
Councilman McDonald: So there’s no need to look at other ways to carve out some of the square
footage on the patio expansion?
Bob Generous: That’s correct. We looked at this as a final solution for what the applicant
wanted and something that the staff could support.
Councilman McDonald: Okay, no further questions Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you council. At this time if the applicant is present and would like
to speak to the council we would welcome that. Is the applicant present? Would you just state
your name and address for the record please.
Rosemary Kelly: I’m Rosemary Kelly, 9015 Lake Riley Boulevard in Chanhassen.
Mayor Laufenburger: Welcome. Nice to see you again.
Rosemary Kelly: I want to first thank the staff for working with us on this current proposal.
There was confusion I think at the very beginning when we submitted the variance because we
were trying to get it done last summer and so I went to work with the staff due to availability.
Was not able to work with them before putting in the variance and not understanding the
intricacies of making those adjustments and not being a professional I believe working with staff
later resulted in a much more appropriate plan for our property and the size and the requirements
so I appreciate their input. The other component of all this is, and I just want to make clear why
this is an exception for this property and why it’s important to us personally is that the home is
designed to be handicap accessible and it’s that way internally and was a very important
consideration for us as my mom is 90. Independent but wheelchair dependent, or walker
dependent. The only place she’s not accessible is to get to the outside the home and when the
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
home was built none of it was to the ADA or the American with Disabilities Act requirements.
There’s like a 2 ½ inch drop out of every door and they’re not, it’s not easy to get a walker
through so we’ve lived there for 5 years. We were not the original builders of the home but as
we’ve kind of come to make this more usable for us this was an important part of expansion, or
of the accessibility. So that’s when this variance became more important to us as homeowners
and I just wanted to make that point for why we put the variance in at this time. And if there are
any other questions I’d be happy to answer them.
Mayor Laufenburger: Any questions of the applicant? Thank you Ms. Kelly. Appreciate you
appearing before us tonight. Now this is, this is a little bit newer information, more information
than was discussed at the Planning Commission, is that correct Mr. Generous?
Bob Generous: Well the first public hearing.
Mayor Laufenburger: At the first public hearing, right. As a result of that if there’s anybody
that, anybody present in the chambers that would like to speak to this, either for or against you’re
certainly welcome to do so at this time so I will open up a public comment time, if anybody
would like to speak to this. Alright, there being none let’s bring this back to council. Anybody
have any further questions of Mr. Generous at this time? Councilwoman Tjornhom.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Mr. Generous, I want to kind of address this whole neighborhood
because obviously the lots are much smaller than what we would accept now and also surface
coverage percentages are way different than what we would accept now and so I’m sure a
majority of the property owners are facing these dilemmas a lot. Would you say that’s correct?
Bob Generous: Yes. It’s generally correct in this neighborhood under the undersized lots
they’re having issues with hard cover, setback requirements, yes.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: And tell me what, Lake Riley, what issues does Lake Riley have
when it comes to water runoff or impurities running into the lake?
Bob Generous: I believe the biggest issue they have is turbidity but it’s also part of the chain of
lakes that start up at Lake Ann and go down through Lake Susan and Rice Marsh Lake and then
into here and then down into the Minnesota River valley.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Okay.
Bob Generous: So erosion issues, drainage issues, just a lot of volumes of water going into it.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Okay. And you gave us a kind of a spreadsheet I guess. I think it’s 4
variances but this is all there is for variance requests for this neighborhood or just for the area?
Bob Generous: Jut within 500 feet.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Within 500 feet, okay.
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Bob Generous: Because there’s some all the way on the other end of the lake down, as you go
down Lake Riley Boulevard.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: And so we don’t see obviously a lot of those variances coming to us,
requests so have they already been submitted and approved and done or have they just been
denied and they haven’t ever come to us or where are the rest of these variances?
Bob Generous: The ones that we have records on are, have been approved.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Okay.
Bob Generous: Some of the information we found are properties that were built prior to our
ordinances and so they have non-conforming status.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Okay.
Bob Generous: And so they can maintain what they have even if they don’t comply with
ordinance. It’s just in the expansion, if they come in would have to come in through a separate
variance process.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: And Lake Riley I actually don’t know because I’ve never been on it
so I don’t know but it is pretty typical to have these lot sizes or is it just this one area?
Bob Generous: It’s a lot like Carver Beach. They’re old subdivisions. This area developed
around the lakes and so those were some of the first lots that were platted in the 50’s and 30’s
and 20’s so you have undersized properties and then over time people have tried to assemble
them and build on them but they don’t meet the 20,000 square foot requirements that we have
now for new subdivisions.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Okay, thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Any other questions for staff from the council? Okay. Councilman
McDonald, yes.
Councilman McDonald: I’m sorry. I’m asking a lot of questions.
Mayor Laufenburger: That’s okay. It helps all of us.
Councilman McDonald: You know we changed the approach for looking at variances a couple
years ago. I’m just wondering if Roger can refresh our memories because it used to be it was
one standard. Now it’s a totally different standard. What discretion do we have as far as
variances?
Roger Knutson: I won’t give you the whole litany of why things got changed but the current
standard is basically, is the proposed use a reasonable use of the property.
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Councilman McDonald: Okay.
Roger Knutson: Rather than undue hardship which is no longer a part of it.
Councilman McDonald: Which is no longer a part of it.
Roger Knutson: Yes. So is it a reasonable use of the property.
Councilman McDonald: Okay.
Roger Knutson: There are other requirements but that’s the biggest one.
Councilman McDonald: No, that’s the major one. That was the big change. I guess are you
looking for comments at this point or?
Mayor Laufenburger: I had a couple other questions I want to make.
Councilman McDonald: Okay, I’ll wait.
Mayor Laufenburger: Procedural questions so let’s hold off on your comments for just a second.
Mr. Generous I do have a question for you. Did you use the term reasonable use or reasonable
plan or reasonable?
Bob Generous: Yes. Mr. Mayor we did believe this was a reasonable proposal for the property
to build a patio.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, alright. Thank you. Now I have a procedural question Mr.
Knutson. I want to make sure we do this right. I’m looking at one motion that came out of the
Planning Commission, which was, or it was the original proposal and that’s being offered as one
that we should potentially deny. That’s the additional setback and the 30 percent hard coverage.
But then I’m also seeing a second motion or a second motion for approval so what action do you
interpret that the council has to take at this time? Do we have to do two actions, a denial and
approval or can we just make one action? Do you understand my question?
Roger Knutson: Yes. You can just take one action. To approve or deny.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, so one action is all that’s necessary.
Roger Knutson: Yes.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay.
Roger Knutson: Yes, on staff’s current proposal. You have the proposed motion by staff in
front of you. That’s all you need to do.
18
Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Mayor Laufenburger: Yeah, let’s clarify. I think Councilman McDonald brought up this point
that currently there is a 26 percent, or there’s a 1 percent variance over the 25 percent allowed so
they are currently operating with a 26 percent and that was clarified based on some
recalculations of hard cover, is that correct Mr. Generous?
Bob Generous: That’s correct.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay so what, what they’re asking for is an additional 2.5 percent on top
of the existing 26 percent.
Bob Generous: That’s correct.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Alright. So council understands that. And the other action is that
they currently, this property is currently operating with a 43 foot setback, which is a variance
from the normally 75, correct?
Bob Generous: That’s correct.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. And this, this motion that’s in front of us right now, or the
recommended motion does not change that setback, is that correct?
Bob Generous: That’s correct. They would maintain the 43 foot setback from the OHW.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Alright. And one last question I had and then I’ll turn this to
council for comment. You spoke about some landscaping things that could be done and I think
there were some trees or something to help decrease the turbidity or the runoff. The council is
doing, would have no action over that landscaping, is that correct?
Bob Generous: That’s correct.
Mayor Laufenburger: That would be a discussion between the applicant and staff and they could
follow or not follow those recommendations, is that correct?
Bob Generous: As part of their application they would need to submit a landscaping plan. What
they are proposing to do on the property and it would, staff would review it and say if that was
acceptable or not.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay.
Roger Knutson: Just to be clear, you could impose as a condition of granting the variance that
they plant some trees. You could impose that as a condition because it’s related to the hard
surface.
Mayor Laufenburger: I see.
Roger Knutson: Shed off to the hard surface if you chose to.
19
Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Alright. Something for consideration.
Todd Gerhardt: Or shrubs.
Roger Knutson: Oh yes. I’m not telling you want to plant.
Bob Generous: Or native vegetation.
Mayor Laufenburger: Or flowering hostas or whatever.
Roger Knutson: Rain garden.
Mayor Laufenburger: We’ve had discussions about rain gardens. Alright. Thank you Mr.
Generous. Any comment or motion at this time? Councilman McDonald.
Councilman McDonald: I have a point of clarification. When we talk about shrubs and trees,
wasn’t that part of your Findings? That some of that be done so if we adopt your Findings,
haven’t we adopted that?
Bob Generous: Yes because the condition of approval for this is that they provide a landscaping
mitigation plan.
Councilman McDonald: Okay, so all of that would really, it’s already in there. We wouldn’t
need to do anything extra.
Bob Generous: That’s correct.
Councilman McDonald: Okay, thank you. If you want Mr. Mayor I can start off with
comments.
Mayor Laufenburger: Please, Councilman McDonald.
Councilman McDonald: Yeah I, I’m not sure if this is the same house. I think it is and from
what the applicant is saying they weren’t the original builders of this house but I do remember,
and again I don’t know if it was this one or the one next door but it was only 2 or 3 houses in
from the main street and it was a complete tear down and we went through a lot to go back and
forth about the setback from the lake so I’m glad that you haven’t tried to encroach upon that
because that was a major issue at that point and we did look at a number of homes along that
street and that’s where the numbers kind of came from. That was a compromise. Under the
reasonable use standard, I think it is a reasonable use to put a patio in and also to do the
extensions if what you’re trying to do is to again allow access for your mother through the
garage to get to a patio. That would seem reasonable to me so at this point based upon what
we’ve talked about I would be in favor of voting for this and adopting the Findings as part of that
to cover the landscaping.
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Mayor Laufenburger: Anybody else like to make a comment or a motion?
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Certainly.
Mayor Laufenburger: Councilwoman Tjornhom.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Yeah I want to thank the applicant for you know doing their due
diligence and I guess working with staff and the Planning Commission and now coming back to
council. I think you’ve gotten to know everyone pretty well by this point and hope you can
everyone over for a barbeque maybe on your patio. Mr. Knutson did I think you know once
again explain to council that it really, it used to be you know if it was a hardship or not. If we
could find you had some reason why there’s no way you could access your property, you know
that type of thing but now it’s changed where the definition is reasonable use of your property
and you know after looking at the pictures of what your, what you have now, while it’s beautiful.
You just have a little slab and I cannot see why a patio would not be a reasonable use and so I
will also be in favor of it and good luck with your patio and I hope it all works out.
Mayor Laufenburger: Any other comment or motion?
Councilwoman Ryan: I’ll make a motion.
Mayor Laufenburger: Councilwoman Ryan.
Councilwoman Ryan: The Chanhassen City Council approves a 3 ½ percent hard surface
coverage variance to permit 28.5 percent hard cover to permit the expansion of an existing patio
on the property and denies the additional shoreland setback variance subject to the conditions of
the staff and adopts the Findings of Fact and Decision.
Councilman McDonald: I’ll second.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion?
Councilwoman Ryan moved, Councilman McDonald seconded that the Chanhassen City
Council approves a 3.5 percent hard surface coverage variance to permit 28.5 percent hard
cover to permit the expansion of an existing patio on the property and denies the additional
shoreland setback variance subject to the following conditions and adopts the Findings of
Fact and Decision:
1. The applicant must apply for and receive the appropriate permit required from the City.
This permit will include a revised survey that displays the location of the patio addition, a
completed hard surface coverage calculation worksheet and any other plan required for
the permit.
2. Landscape materials must be installed to absorb additional runoff on the property. A
landscape plan shall be submitted in conjunction with the permit application.
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS.
Mayor Laufenburger: Any council member wishing to make a comment or presentation.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Laufenburger: Councilwoman Tjornhom.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: I just want to say that the Saturday fishing ice contest probably was
the nicest Saturday I’ve ever been there. I don’t think I even had a coat on. It was amazing. The
weather was perfect. I don’t think the fish were biting very well though. I’m not sure what was
going on. It looks like you’d better work on that. You’ve got the weather right Mayor but now
you’ve got to get those fish to bite so I don’t know what your strategy is for next year but the fish
were pretty small but it was really fun to see all the families out there. Especially all the young
kids running around, fishing and having a great time so I just want to thank Rotary and staff and
everybody who had a hand in making Feb Fest fabulous.
Mayor Laufenburger: Yeah, it was fabulous Feb Fest and I would say Rotary and Culver’s and
Boy Scout Troop 330 was there selling bait. Actually some of the bait that they sold could have
been fishing entries for the contest quite frankly but, and then all of the sponsors. I just think
nd
about all of the people in the community, this is the, I believe this was 22 Feb Fest, is that right
Mr. Hoffman? And Rotary goes out in the morning and drills over 1,000 holes for people to
have an assortment of locations from which to fish. I do have a strategy for next year and I think
what we should do is chum the water you know early in the morning and get the fish to come in
and maybe that will help so something to be thinking about Mr. Hoffman for future but it really
was a, it was a wonderful event and of course we gave away lots of prizes and I think it’s a
wonderful kickoff to the cavalcade of festivals that Chanhassen has so.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: And our new city manager has a nickname.
Mayor Laufenburger: Yes.
Councilwoman Tjornhom: Not our new city manager, our city manager.
Mayor Laufenburger: Our city manager has a new nickname, that’s correct.
Todd Gerhardt: No.
Mayor Laufenburger: And for a certain sum he can rid himself of that nickname.
Todd Gerhardt: I want to extend my appreciation to Councilmember Tjornhom for pulling my
name out of the hat because I couldn’t catch a fish. The Sunshine Committee, I donated the prize
to our Sunshine Committee so it will be one of our prizes for one of our upcoming events.
22
Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Mayor Laufenburger: Good, wonderful. Thank you Mr. Gerhardt. Anything else
Councilwoman Tjornhom?
Councilwoman Tjornhom: That’s it.
Mayor Laufenburger: Any other council presentations? I just want to make a comment. On
Saturday night I was fortunate to be part of the District 112, School District, Eastern Carver
st
County Schools jazz festival. I emceed the 21 Annual Showcase of Jazz Ensembles from each
high school and each middle school in the district and it was really quite an amazing thing. The
exciting thing is that you know jazz is America’s music. You know many people think that it
originated in New Orleans for the United States and it made it’s way all the way up the
Mississippi River, all the way to Chanhassen and there was a guest conductor that not only
conducted a couple of original scores that he had, but he also had 2 days of clinics for the
students in the school district and it was just wonderful to see both the kids as well as their
parents there at the festival. At the final concert on Saturday night and we have, Chanhassen is
part or residents of Chanhassen are part of a Valley Jazz Big Band and it’s quite amazing so if
you ever have an opportunity to hear that jazz big band, it’s quite an assortment of talented
people, young and old alike so that was fun.
Todd Gerhardt: Fun.
Mayor Laufenburger: Also just a reminder that Friday night, I believe it’s Friday night is the
Daddy Daughter Dance at the Rec Center and you can get information about that on the City’s
website. I know that’s a lot of fun for dads and their daughters and unlike the previous occupant
of this seat I don’t have any daughters in that age group so I will not be attending but my heart
will be out there dancing.
Councilman Campion: I will be there for the third year in a row.
Mayor Laufenburger: Wonderful Councilman Campion. Great. And I know that will be a fun
time had by all. And also just to briefly, the Mayor will be in this Saturday. Saturday morning
from 9:00 to 11:30. I will occupy a seat in the conference room right adjacent to the reception
area so if anybody would like to come to City Hall and have an unscheduled appointment with
the mayor. Have a cup of coffee, I’d be ready to talk with you about any subject you’d like so I
look forward to that.
ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS.
Todd Gerhardt: I have a couple. I’d like to brag up a couple of my department heads. Paul
Oehme was recently appointed Vice President of the Technical Advisory Commission for Met
Council. I’m always proud when our department heads reach out and use their skills and share
them throughout the Twin Cities area and Paul’s been on this committee for a couple of years
and volunteered to be the Vice Chair so appreciate Paul’s efforts there. And then our
Community Development Director Kate Aanenson is going to be President of the Sensible Land
Use Commission. Or Sensible Land Use?
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Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Paul Oehme: Coalition.
Todd Gerhardt: Coalition, yeah. And she’s worked her way up the ranks there and been on the
board for several years and Roger I think serves on the board.
Roger Knutson: Yep.
Todd Gerhardt: With her so it’s kind of a public/private commission and they talk about
community development and issues that might be affecting the Twin Cities area and Kate’s been
a great leader on that so.
Councilwoman Ryan: So the greater Twin Cities area or?
Todd Gerhardt: Yep.
Councilwoman Ryan: Okay.
Todd Gerhardt: And it’s attorneys. It’s developers. It’s planners and private developers so it’s a
great partnership. I think they meet every other month. Something to that effect.
Roger Knutson: 11 months a year.
Todd Gerhardt: Okay.
Roger Knutson: We take December off.
Todd Gerhardt: Okay. And then they schedule speakers during a luncheon and I know Kate sits
through several brainstorming sessions and retreats for topics for the year so thank her and Roger
for being a part of that.
Mayor Laufenburger: Good. Anything else Mr. Gerhardt?
Todd Gerhardt: That’s all I have.
CORRESPONDENCE DISCUSSION.
Mayor Laufenburger: The only one I would make is that Councilman McDonald, you serve as
Chairman of the Southwest Transit Commission, the board, is that correct?
Councilman McDonald: That’s correct Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Laufenburger: And all of those goals that were in there for the CEO, are those goals that
you will personally sign up for is that correct Mr. McDonald?
Councilman McDonald: Well funny story about all of that.
24
Chanhassen City Council – February 9, 2015
Todd Gerhardt: Funny story on goals.
Mayor Laufenburger: We’ll determine whether or not it’s funny but please share the story.
Councilman McDonald: Well the board’s in the process of trying to do our strategic planning
and I guess Mr. Simich has talked to our city manager because I recommended that he, he has a
very good way of going through these strategic plans and stuff so what we’re scheduled for the
end of this month is to go through that and one of the things we’re going to look at is, there may
be some revisions at that point to the CEO’s goals and objectives for the year so it is a work in
progress and that’s just kind of the first step is the things you’re seeing now so.
Todd Gerhardt: I should have put draft on those then. I’m sorry.
Councilman McDonald: At one time everybody thought it was, especially Len thought it was
going to be permanent and that was the end of it but yeah the Board had other suggestions so
now we’re pursuing those.
Todd Gerhardt: Okay.
Mayor Laufenburger: Well thank you Councilman McDonald. I would say that we’re very
fortunate to have the strength of leadership and the execution that Len and Dave provide to
Southwest Transit and that you continue to make customer satisfaction a high priority for
Southwest Transit. That’s exactly where it should be so I know there are likely some changes on
the horizon and how it might affect Southwest Transit but I think the leadership made up of
members from the joint power cities as well as Mr. Simich, I think that that leadership is going in
the right direction and whatever help that the city manager might be able to provide in that
planning process that’s all good news.
Councilman McDonald: Well thank you Mr. Mayor and I’ll make sure I pass that along at our
next meeting that the City of Chanhassen is in support of our overall goals and objectives to
Southwest Transit a better and more user friendly arm of the city governments.
Mayor Laufenburger: Very well. Any other comments or questions? There being none I’ll
entertain a motion to adjourn.
Councilman Campion moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom 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 8:10 p.m.
Submitted by Todd Gerhardt
City Manager
Prepared by Nann Opheim
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