CC 2017 04 24
CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
APRIL 24, 2017
Mayor Laufenburger called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. The meeting was opened
with the Pledge to the Flag.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT:
Mayor Laufenburger, Councilman McDonald,
Councilwoman Tjornhom, and Councilwoman Ryan
COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT:
Councilman Campion
STAFF PRESENT:
Todd Gerhardt, Chelsea Petersen, Paul Oehme, Kate Aanenson, Todd
Hoffman, and Jill Sinclair
PUBLIC PRESENT:
Christopher Johnson
Anna Johnson
Mary Ann Johnson
Keith Butcher
Brent Carron
Cole Kelly
Luke Thunberg
Mayor Laufenburger: Well thank you and welcome to this council meeting. For those of you
that are in the chamber as well as those that are watching on either Mediacom cable channel at
home or via livestream from our website. For the record we have all members are present
tonight with exception of Dan Campion who is excused so we do have a quorum for business.
First action is, let’s address the agenda. Council members are there any modifications to the
agenda for this evening? If not we will proceed with the agenda as printed.
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: ARBOR DAY, MAY 6:
INVITATION TO ARBOR DAY CELEBRATION.
Mayor Laufenburger: Our first item on the agenda tonight is public announcements. First of all
I want to invite all Chanhassen residents and surround residents to Arbor Day. In 1876
Minnesota became the fourth state to adopt Arbor Day as an annual celebration and today
Chanhassen celebrates Arbor Day each year in order to set aside a time to consider what trees do
for us and our community. Planting trees adds beauty and character to our neighborhoods. It
reduces energy costs, increases property values, reduces pollution and replaces trees that we’ve
lost in our community. Perhaps Elton Trueblood said it best when he wrote these words, a man
Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
has finally begun to discover the meaning of human life when he plants a tree under which he
knows full well he will never sit. Let us plant today the trees of tomorrow. I invite all area
residents, their families and their friends to Chanhassen’s Arbor Day. This is an event held on
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Saturday, May 6 at North Lotus Lake Park. We’ll gather at 9:00 a.m. at the park shelter for a
welcome from Councilwoman Ryan and city commissioners and then volunteers will plant about
25 trees around North Lotus Lake Park. Refreshments and tree related information. Jill will the
refreshments actually come from the trees? Do we know that?
Jill Sinclair: Not at that time.
Mayor Laufenburger: Not that time, alright. So the refreshments and tree related information
will be available both before and after the plantings and the event will be held rain or shine so be
sure to dress for the weather and the work and I think it’s just going to be a beautifully sunshiny
day. Please bring a shovel if you can to plant 25 trees and I encourage everyone to come to this
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free tree event and help plant a tree for Arbor Day. May 6, 9:00 a.m. at North Lotus Lake Park.
PRESENTATIONS OF ARBOR DAY POSTER CONTEST AWARDS.
Mayor Laufenburger: Now I’m going to step around in front. I have some presentations to
make. We’re going to recognize some Arbor Day Poster Contest winners and I’m going to ask
Bill and Charlotte Chappell and Don Vasatka to come join me up here if you wouldn’t mind.
These are all members of the Environmental Commission. We’re going to make room for some
kids up here too so let’s spread out a little bit. Alright? Okay. As I call your name I think the
Certificates are divided among schools is that right? Okay. So on behalf of the Chanhassen City
Council and the Environmental Commission, represented tonight here by Don and Bill and
Charlotte, I would like to congratulate all of the winners of this year’s Arbor Day Poster Contest.
The City has been sponsoring this contest for 18 years in order to express our commitment to
trees in our community. Every year local fifth graders are invited to submit their drawings based
on an annual theme. The theme for 2017 was, Trees are Terrific for Bees and Butterflies. Now
the City would like to thank all of the students from Bluff Creek Elementary, from Chapel Hill
Academy and St. Hubert’s School for their wonderful drawings. The City would also like to
thank the Garden for their generous donation of a gift card for the grand prize winner and the
framed winning picture will hang in City Hall along with all past winners, and I think it’s right
outside in the hall here isn’t it? So please come forward as your name is called and the runners-
up in this year’s poster contest are, first of all from Chapel Hill Academy and forgive me parents
if I get these wrong. Luca Bredenberg. Luca are you here? Alright. We’re going to stand right
here Luca so everybody can get a good picture. Mom, did you want to get a picture? Luca I’m
going to have you stand right over here. Also from Chapel Hill Academy Graceanne Jones.
Graceanne are you here? Family you’ve got to get in the picture zone up here. Right here
Graceanne. Stand right here by me. Amanda Grein, is that Amanda? I toiled over that one, I
wasn’t sure. You can stand right here. Next from St. Hubert’s School is it Delaney Smith?
Delaney are you here? Emma Anderson. Emma are you here? Julia. Julia, is it Lealos?
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
Julia Lealos: Lealos.
Mayor Laufenburger: Lealos. Julia Lealos, also from St. Hubert. Now from Bluff Creek
Elementary Alise Syverson.
Alise Syverson: Syverson.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you. Thank you for helping me with that. Also from Bluff Creek
Elementary Isaac Marek. Isaac, alright. We’ve got a boy here. Okay. Now I invite the Grand
Prize winner from Bluff Creek Elementary to come forward. Her name is Nora Ganske. Nora.
Now unlike the other kids you can’t keep this because we’re going to take it and hang it on the
wall okay? So let’s get a picture. Okay we’re going to do one more picture. I’m going to have 4
of you, I forgot. Sorry Jill. For your effort I’m pleased to present you with a gift card from The
Garden. Please help me show Nora our appreciation for her excellent poster so do that right
now. Now we’ve got to get a group picture so the 4 of you come over on this side and then we
get to be real close. You can stand in front of me here. Okay you’ve got to get close for this
picture okay. Good job. Hold your posters up too. Congratulations. And thank you parents for
supporting this. This is a great program and thank you for encouraging your kids to do those
posters.
PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION TO COMMISSIONERS.
Mayor Laufenburger: At this time I’d like to, I’m going to remain here and I’d like to say thank
you to members of commissions who have served so well this community. So I’m hoping that
Balakrishna Chintaginjala here with us tonight? Bala are you here? Well let me take a moment
to just read about Bala so this is on the record. Balakrishna Chintaginjala, and aren’t you glad
you aren’t mayor tonight? Was appointed to the Environmental Commission in 2016 and served
until the end of his term this year. He offered a creative and knowledgeable voice to the
commission and during his tenure the commission accomplished many tasks including the annual
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Arbor Day celebration and the July 3 trade fair booth and spring forestry talk. He also
volunteered his time as a member of the Parks and Recreation System Plan Advisory Committee
so we will say thank you to Bala for his service to the community. Luke. Luke Thunberg
served as a member of the Park and Recreation Commission from 2013 to 2017. Luke was a
tremendous asset to the commission and served residents with both enthusiasm and also with
pride. He provided insightful comments and recommendations during meetings and was always
eager to hear from residents. When Luke joined the commission the development of Pioneer
Pass Park was underway. Serving as a neighborhood representative and liaison Luke inspired
most of his neighborhood to join the cause and help build the park’s very first playground. His
leadership helped form a lasting bond between the local neighbors and their new park. Luke
volunteered to work at community celebrations and activities and helped launch a community 5K
run to benefit a local child. Luke was always cheerful and enjoyed interacting with the public
and his fellow commissioners and the community of Chanhassen is a better place because of
Luke’s desire to serve and to make a difference. Luke this is your Certificate. I wish you a
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
hearty congratulations and thank you for your service to the community. There’s another
commissioner who served on the Senior Commission. Her name is Jean Mancini. Jean passed
away on February 19, 2017. She was appointed to the Senior Commission in 1999 and served
for 8 years. As an instrumental member of the commission some of the many roles that she
played included commission representative to the Senior Advisory Board, organizing and
chairing the Senior Commission open house for 3 years and after a 6 year retirement Jean
reapplied and was reappointed to the Senior Commission because she had more to offer. She
attended various Senior Center activities. She was always an advocate for seniors and provided a
unique senior perspective. In addition to serving on the Senior Commission Jean was also a
member of the Chanhassen Chan-O-Laires and the Women’s Club. Due to health reasons Jean
resigned from the Senior Commission in January of this year stating that it had been an honor
and a privilege to serve her follow commissioners and Jean passed away on February 19, 2017.
So for Jean we just want to say thank you for serving this community. Would Brent Carron
come forward. Brent. This is a Maple Leaf award presented to Brent Carron. Brent served as a
Park and Recreation Commission member from 2011 to 2017 and he served as the Vice Chair
from 2013 through ’17. Brent was one of those special commissioners who gave freely of his
time and talents in order to make Chanhassen a better place. When volunteers were needed he
always raised his hand. During meetings Brent made guests feel welcome and carefully listened
to the viewpoints of the citizens prior to forming recommendations. Serving as Vice Chair for 5
years Brent sought balanced testimony from all sides and ensured that every voice was
represented and heard. Brent maintained an exemplary attendance record while a commissioner
and during his tenure attended nearly every special meeting and field trip. Community special
events were a favorite for Brent and he logged many volunteer hours helping with Feb Fest,
Easter Egg Candy Hunts, and many other community activities. Brent was a strong advocate for
investing in parks and trails and sought to ensure that the improvements served all citizens. He
was very supportive of new ideas and sought to give constructive feedback whenever asked. The
community of Chanhassen is a much, much better place as a result of Brent’s passion for service
and his enthusiasm to get things done. Brent you were always an example for other people to
follow and on behalf of the City Council and the community I present you with this Maple Leaf
Award. It reads, in the recognition of outstanding service and dedication to the community
signed by the Chanhassen City Council and the Mayor and all the council members.
Congratulations Brent.
Brent Carron: Thank you very much.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay next item on our agenda. Thank you audience for indulging us. It’s
always a pleasure to recognize the service of people, not only adults but also young people in our
community.
CONSENT AGENDA: Councilman McDonald moved, Councilwoman Ryan seconded that
the following consent agenda items be approved pursuant to the City Manager’s
recommendations:
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
1. Approve City Council Minutes dated April 10, 2017
2. Receive Park and Recreation Commission Minutes dated March 28, 2017
3. Receive Planning Commission Work Session Minutes dated April 4, 2017
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Resolution #2017-25:
4. Approve Resolution Proclaiming May 6 as Chanhassen Arbor
Day.
Resolution #2017-26:
5. 2017 Street Rehabilitation Project No. 17-01: Approve
Quote/Award Contract for Construction Inspections.
Resolution #2017-27:
6. Lift Station No. 25 Rehabilitation: Approve Quote.
Resolution #2017-28:
7. Sanitary Sewer Televising for the 2017 Sanitary Sewer I/I Project
No. 2017-04: Approve Quote.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0.
VISITOR PRESENTATIONS.
None.
FIRE DEPARTMENT UPDATE AND RECOGNITION FOR RETIRING
FIREFIGHTERS CAPTAIN JOE ENFIELD AND ASSISTANT CHIEF JEFF GALVIN
FOR 20 YEARS OF SERVICE.
Mayor Laufenburger: Let’s begin with our fire department update. Chief you okay with that?
Chief Don Johnson: I am Mayor.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay.
Chief Don Johnson: Good evening Mayor and council.
Mayor Laufenburger: Good evening.
Chief Don Johnson: I’ll go through my brief report and then keeping with the mood of the
evening we’ll have some presentations. This is the fire department report for the month of
March. Staffing remains at 37 of 45 firefighters. We’ve got one firefighter on medical leave and
as you’ll find out tonight we have Assistant Chief Jeff Galvin has announced his retirement
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effective April 30 after 20 years of service. On April 11 we held an information night for all
the candidates wishing to be part of our hiring class this year and had 9 candidates show up and
those 9 candidates partake in a physical agility and interviews this past Saturday so I’ll be
working with that group over the next week making conditional offers. I’ll have numbers for
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
you hopefully by the next council meeting. They’ll be slated to start in June. Fire department
responded to 63 calls for service. Duty crews responded to 8 of those calls on scheduled shifts.
During the month we responded to 5 structure fires. Two in Chanhassen and 3 at mutual aid
request for Victoria, Excelsior and Eden Prairie. We had 32 EMS calls with 2 motor vehicle
accidents. Our training consisted of our annual CPR refresher and we conducted our emergency
vehicle operation classroom and practical driving so we wore some brakes and tires off the
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trucks this month. Good times. April 9 we had the annual Lion’s Pancake Breakfast held at the
fire station. The Lion’s reported a record year of attendance and it was our pleasure to help with
this event as it usually is annually. For that I can end my report and stand for questions Mayor.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Chief. Any questions of the Chief from council members?
Why don’t you proceed with your next item Chief.
Chief Don Johnson: Tonight we’re here to honor two individuals. For the fire service it’s quite
a feat to spend as many years as these 2 gentlemen have. Chanhassen loses 40 years of service in
one month so tonight we’re here to honor those 2 individuals. Ironically they started together
and chose to end their careers together so I don’t know if they’ve had this planned for a while but
it worked out.
Mayor Laufenburger: Are they neighbors Chief too?
Chief Don Johnson: They’re not neighbors Mayor.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay.
Chief Don Johnson: Assistant Chief Jeff Galvin. If you ask Jeff why he joined the fire service
he will tell you it was in the cards for a long time. Jeff’s dad spent 27 years on the Minneapolis
Fire Department. Jeff’s step dad was a Brooklyn Center firefighter for 25 years. It was safe to
say that Jeff was going to land on the fire department in his lifetime. We’re lucky that it was
here in Chanhassen. Jeff congratulations on carrying on that family tradition and serving over 2
decades in the fire service. I’m sure the family events will be quite talked about with stories.
Jeff talks about his proudest moments including serving on the ladder company as a firefighter.
He served on the ladder company until he was promoted to Lieutenant. Went back to the ladder
company after being promoted to Captain and served on several committees over his career.
Chaired the fire truck committee that built Engine 13, our most recent quick attack apparatus.
Jeff has also requested to serve on the committee to build the replacement for Ladder 11 as a
retiree later this year. I would like to personally thank Jeff for stepping up in the later part of his
career to serve as an Assistant Chief. Jeff was hoping to slow down for the last year and a half
but agreed to answer the call. Jeff’s experience and calm professional leadership was exactly
what this department needs. My only regret is that Jeff, that we couldn’t keep you around for
another couple years. Jeff recently purchased a home in Watertown and is moving west. Jeff
congratulations on your retirement. Thank you for 20 years at the fire department. Say a few
words?
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
Assistant Chief Jeff Galvin: Thank you Mr. Mayor, City Council, City management for your
support with the fire department for all these years. We feel really supported, or I at least feel
real supported. Most I want to thank my fire department family for everything. The
camaraderie. The training. The friendships. Thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Jeff.
Chief Don Johnson: Captain Joe Enfield and his wife Kelly. Their daughter Hailey’s in the
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audience with her finance Thomas. They’re being married May 7 but chose not to come up.
Making Kelly be the family representative.
Mayor Laufenburger: So you’re embarrassing them even though they chose not to.
Chief Don Johnson: Yes, yes.
Mayor Laufenburger: I understand.
Chief Don Johnson: There’s a couple things I get to do.
Mayor Laufenburger: Nice job Chief.
Chief Don Johnson: So many of you may not know that not only serving the fire department Joe
is on the Carver County and works for Environmental Services. Has for 20 plus years. It’s kind
of how he found the fire department. He told me that as part of his responsibilities he trained and
responded to calls as the County Hazmat Team which early on Chanhassen provided for the
County. On a call I believe it was our Fire Marshal Mark Littfin who talked Joe into actually
joining the fire department saying if you’re going to be out here you might as well be on the fire
department too so we can thank, I think Assistant Chief at the time Littfin for doing some
recruiting and getting Joe to our rolls. During his career Joe has served as a firefighter, a
lieutenant and a captain. Joe gave extra time by coordinating the dive team and serving on the
county hazmat team after that shifted to the County as a resource. Joe’s wife Kelly and their
daughter Hailey are here. Kelly and Hailey thank you for sharing Joe with us for the past 20
years. All of us recognize the sacrifices that our spouses and families make allowing us to do
this type of work. Kelly we have a small token of appreciation for sharing Joe with us. Hailey
we wish you the best in luck on your wedding coming up so. So similar to Chief Galvin Joe is
actually looking to step down about a year and a half ago but chose to answer the call when the
captain role was opened he unselfishly agreed to help us out and help lead the organization
through our transition. Had all the confidence in Joe and he did not disappoint. While serving as
a captain Joe assisted with coordinating the department policy team. Joe congratulations on
achieving 20 years and good luck with the next chapter of your life.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
Captain Joe Enfield: Thank you Mayor, council members. I’ll repeat Jeff’s sentiments. We
appreciate all the support you’ve given the fire department. 20 years, it’s been a great run. It’s
been a privilege serving with these great group of firefighters here and I thank them for all their
support and friendships. I’d like to thank, we’ve got our partners in law enforcement and
Ridgeview Medical Center. We’ve got a few mutual aid partners here too. Would like to thank
them for their support. It’s been a lot of fun and I guess not to forget our, a few of our previously
retired firefighters who you know helped train me and mentor me in my time here so thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thanks Joe.
Chief Don Johnson: We’re going to have cake and refreshments at the station so if council ends
early you’re all invited. If you could bear with me just one last second here. If I can get Steve
Smith, Chad Olson, and Troon Dowds up with me please. With our leadership change we’ve
lost an assistant chief and we’ve lost a captain so recent promotions, these gentlemen will start
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May 1. Steve Smith will be taking over as the Assistant Chief of Operations. Chad Olson will
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be Captain of Team 6 and Troon Dowds will be Captain of Team 5 so they’ll all start May 1 so
introduce them as well to council.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you. Would you just hold for a second. Well let me say
congratulations Steve and Chad and Troon, that you would step into these roles. When there’s a
vacancy in leadership, leaders step in so thank you very much for doing that but before I dismiss
you I just want to say this. To Jeff and to Joe you are a soft pillow and what I mean by that is,
when a community, well Kelly I’m not talking about what you. When a community believes in
and trusts it’s public safety personnel they sleep better so I say this to two of you for your 20 plus
years in serving this community but I also say it to the rest of you that that which you provide
and choose to provide at your own risk, you help this community sleep very well so thanks to all
of you. Chanhassen sleeps very well. Chief thank you for your leadership with these folks and I
wish you the best of luck with your new candidates and I hope you can pull all 9 of them into
you alright. Thank you very much Chief and congratulations and I hope we can join you for
cake and refreshments alright.
Chief Don Johnson: Thank you Mayor.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you. Just going to give a minute for the throng of firefighters to
leave the room. They’re still there Bethany. Next we’re going to have our monthly sheriff’s
update. Lieutenant Kittelson you want to come forward? Chief can you pull that door behind
you? Thank you. Lieutenant Kittelson welcome.
Lt. Eric Kittelson: Thank you. Good evening Mr. Mayor, council members. I have the monthly
law enforcement update for you this evening. The monthly calls for service summary for the
month of March. We had 48 Group A crimes as compared to 50 last month. The previous
month. 13 Group B crimes. 449 miscellaneous non-criminal. We had 642 total traffic stops and
we had 73 administrative tasks for a total of 1,225 calls for service as compared to 977 the
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
previous month. Arrest citations, verbal warning summary. We had 34 incidents resulting in 39
individuals being arrested and charged with 67 crimes compared to 10 incidents resulting in 21
arrests and 38 criminal charges in January and 39 incidents and 42 arrests with 67 crimes
charged out in February. We had 129 citations and 368 warnings and so I mention the numbers
from January and February as we continue to accept the challenge of migrating from NIBRS, or
to NIBRS from Minnesota CJRS. I’m seeing similar trends in January and February and March.
As it warms up so does the activity level. We’re seeing that consistently and although we have
different labels now I’m picking out similar trends and still able to interpret the information and
so, and looking at, and just diving down a little deeper into some of that. Saw the 48 Group A
crimes, 10 were drug crimes. 28 were theft crimes so 38 of the 48 were very similar to what we
would call our Part I and Part II crimes in that the majority of our criminal activity that we’re
seeing is theft and drug related and out of the Group B 13 of those crimes, 7 were DUI and again
those are similar. Just different titles. Different terminology but starting to get more familiar
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with this as we move forward. We had Towards Zero Deaths distracted driving from April 10
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through 23. Those stats just ended at midnight last night so I’ll have a summary for you of
those for next month. Community relations update. I presented the 2 hour drug abuse awareness
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presentation at the Chanhassen High School taking 180 program on April 11 and he had just
left and I was going to say this whether he was in the room or not but the Sergeants and
Lieutenants of the sheriff’s office attended ICS 300 which is basically FEMA’s incident
command system and it provides training and resources for personnel who require advance
knowledge and application of the Nations Incident Command Structure and that was, our
instructor was Mr. Haze who the council’s familiar with. The Chief and Fire Chief and Public
Safety Director for the Mdewakanton Sioux Community.
Mayor Laufenburger: Former. Wasn’t he formerly with Chanhassen?
Lt. Eric Kittelson: And formerly with the City of Chanhassen fire department yes. It was
excellent training and it really is, you know it brings together. It’s a framework used nationally
by inner disciplinary you know public works. Public health professionals. Fire professionals.
Law enforcement professionals. We go to this advance training so we’re all working from the
same template and using the same terminology during emergency incidents and disasters and so
our entire sheriff’s office was trained at the 300 level which is, there’s a series of trainings that
you work up to so we’re just under that emergency management director level so I think we have
a really great base county wide to work with all of our contract communities to respond in the
event of emergencies. And for department training for license personnel everyone attended
handcuffing training, weapon retention training, PPCT which is our pressure point and control
tactic training. We had a firing range and we also refreshed ourselves on permit to carry laws
and that concludes my report. I’ll stand for any questions. Oh I do have one more thing. I did
provide some raw data for the motor vehicle versus property damage accidents involving deers.
Deer. And I can tell you we had one of the naturalists here earlier. As far as I could not make
rhyme or reason of any patterns or trends other than they are along major roadways,
thoroughfares and corridors. However I referenced the naturalist because the year before they
were in a completely different area of the city.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
Mayor Laufenburger: So they’re migrating.
Lt. Eric Kittelson: Well either it has to do with habitat or food or weather I really don’t know
but I think what we can take away from it is that we have consistently as I reported previously
had about anywhere from 45 to 60, you know average of about 55 per month.
Mayor Laufenburger: Per year.
Lt. Eric Kittelson: Per year sorry. Per year and I think that was higher than we all had thought
so anyhow so I provided that data as well and unfortunately the system that was able to query
and pull that information has a brand new mapping feature with a brand new print feature and the
Assistant City Manager and I tried to put that in a map for you but it was not user friendly, at
least not from my end so I did give you raw data there but I can always provide that at another
meeting and pull it up on our incident dashboard to show you but it pretty consistently follows
the major thoroughfare corridors.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright thanks Eric. Any questions from council? Eric I just thought I’d
ask this. We’ve just concluded a pretty significant presence of visitors in our community last
week in accordance with Celebration 2017. Did you have any anecdotal information as to
whether or not there was any significant problems or any problems at all with the presence of
visitors?
Lt. Eric Kittelson: No there really wasn’t and the few minor issues that came up we were aware
of ahead of time and responded accordingly and so I think it’s always hard because you know
when the initial incident happened we had no idea and we were learning as we were going and
now, although we had the ability to pre-plan we still really didn’t know just how big of an event
that would be and if most of the people coming to the area would have the foresight to purchase
tickets in advance or what not.
Mayor Laufenburger: Sure.
Lt. Eric Kittelson: And so crowds were fairly minimal. Fairly consistent and really I had a
report every 12 hours from my sergeants that were working and every one of them said we had
this small issue which was the city planning had advised us of a few and most of those folks had
notified the City and wanted to be in accordance with the ordinances and had notified us in
advance and our system worked and planning notified me and I notified the on duty personnel
and certain groups and entities did show up and they were respectful and we had really no major
incidents to speak of over 4 days so it was good.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright very good. Thank you very much Lieutenant. Appreciate your
report.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
Lt. Eric Kittelson: Thank you.
Mayor Laufenburger: Mr. Gerhardt.
Todd Gerhardt: Mayor, council members, I was going to save this for administrative
presentations but I want to thank Eric, Lieutenant Kittelson, Kate Aanenson and her department.
Jerry Moen. Don Johnson was very involved in the planning logistics behind the scene. Paul
Oehme working with MnDOT on the barricades out along Highway 5. The staging group for the
media on McGlynn. Contacting the daycare. You know it just was a well oiled machine and
everybody worked together and nothing makes me more proud than when I see all the
department heads working together to make this community safe and have a successful event like
the celebration was this last week and thank you to everybody that was involved, even Chelsea
and the Mayor put on a non-organized event that turned out great and so thank you to everybody.
Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Lieutenant.
Lt. Eric Kittelson: Thank you.
UPDATE ON COMPREHENSIVE PLAN PROCESS.
Mayor Laufenburger: I bet we have a staff report don’t we Kate.
Kate Aanenson: Yes we do.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright Ms. Aanenson.
Kate Aanenson: This presentation I’m going to give you is a condensed version that went to the
Planning Commission. The one at the Planning Commission was 2 ½ hours and I know there’s
cake so I’m going to make this brief. So I wanted you to understand kind of the process that
we’re going through with the Planning Commission so the planning staff’s goal with the
commission is to make sure they’re embedded and understanding the different chapters and what
those policies mean so when we have the public hearings they have a good understanding and
then they can take those comments and have a frame of reference. So what I’m going to go
through is just briefly each chapter. What the points are that we’re looking at so I know Mr.
Oehme can add some additional comments if there’s questions on the chapters that fall under his
jurisdiction and then Mr. Hoffman too under his. But as you recall we brought back to you a few
years ago actually we have to adopt what the Met Council looks at as our projections so this is
kind of the genesis of the Comprehensive Plan. They call us an emerging suburb which means
that we look at densities of 3 to 5 units an acre and then they give us population and employment
so this is going towards 2040 so those, and we’ve accepted those as our numbers as we move
forward so that’s what’s the base for the whole thing. So also if you notice in the report that we
gave you tonight from the Planning Commission as of April 1, 2017 we’re at 25,000. We
cracked the 25,000 mark so we were stagnant there a little bit but now with the different housing
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
types we plugging along. So for land use we have to be consistent with the Metropolitan’s
forecast. The population. Those numbers I just showed you and then provide a current map of
land use which we already have with density ranges and then forecasting new development.
Maximum and minimum for each range and then show increment development plans for 10
years. So this is just shown illustratively in this way. Bob Generous has done a lot of this work
so we look at 2030, 2040. We got a couple questions on where some of the numbers may vary.
Each time we do a subdivision we get better data so we know what’s a wetland. What’s a slope.
What’s unbuildable so each project we can kind of fine tune those numbers. That’s the beauty of
the GIS of what’s undevelopment so this again is consistent. We did the 61 corridor study so we
revisited those land uses so that’s where the significant changes are between 2030 and 2040 and
that was done a couple years ago so a lot of the heavy lifting on land uses has already been done.
So with that as I stated we have to do incremental ranges and then how we will, how we see the
city developing. So this is the density range which low, medium and then looking at the
commercial, public, semi-public and breaking those down into increments. So what this does is
we tie those into some traffic analysis and I’ll go through that in a minute but I do want you to
know that we have received some requests for land use amendments so we’ve received some
from Mr. Erhart who wants to change from low density to office and then from Don Halla
requesting higher density residential and then from Mark Halla and Gary and Maryanne Halama
who also are requesting higher density so these are really right along that 101 corridor south of
Pioneer Trail. We haven’t commented on those. We’re going to do more detail on that in the
analysis when we look at what density we have. Are we missing something? Do we need more
high density? So we’ll be doing a deeper dive on that but I just want you to know that’s out
there and they’ve made those petitions.
Mayor Laufenburger: Can I just stop you a moment?
Kate Aanenson: Absolutely.
Mayor Laufenburger: So when you say this is a request for land use amendment that means it’s
an amendment from the way their land appeared in the 2030 Comprehensive Plan.
Kate Aanenson: That’s correct.
Mayor Laufenburger: Is that correct?
Kate Aanenson: Correct.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. So they’re simply saying we think that our land perhaps should be
considered for different use than you have identified.
Kate Aanenson: Exactly stated.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
Mayor Laufenburger: What’s the process that the Planning Commission and City Council
follows to consider that?
Kate Aanenson: So we would do the same thing we would do if, so if it did come in at this time
anybody can ask for a land use amendment at any time so what we’d go back and look at, what
are our overall densities. What’s our projections? Are we short in a certain area? Is this the
right spot to have it? What are the traffic impacts? Do we have sewer and water so we’ll be
looking at all those things so the fact that they’re doing it now saves them having to go in the
future additional fees. Additional time so it’s in place for future development. Right now both
of these, or all three of these requests are not in areas that have sewer and water to them yet.
Mayor Laufenburger: So these are all south of 5 so it’s south of Lyman, south of Pioneer Trail.
Kate Aanenson: Except for Mr. Erhart.
Mayor Laufenburger: Mr. Erhart is between Pioneer Trail and 212 is that right?
Kate Aanenson: Yep, there’s no lift station there so there’s no sewer and water available yet so
those are some of the factors that come into play and what do we have down the road so we’ll do
a deeper analysis of those. There might be a couple of other minor ones. 61 corridor. We’re
looking at changing that as it goes through Chaska. There might be some alignments there we
might dual guide and then there’s another piece that the City owns that we want to take out of
development and just put it on green acres. The City owns it and we get a lot of inquiries. It’s
on a very steep slope so kind of a clean up. So the housing section we have to look at, as I stated
we’re an emerging suburb. We’re looking at densities of 3 to 5 units an acre and then do we
have enough so based on our high density, which mostly is the place where we get affordable
housing. Where we either do townhouses at a higher density or apartments. We do have the
higher density so this would tie into meeting the goals so we say whether it comes forward or not
we’ve provided the opportunity under our current zoning applications so we could if the
opportunity afforded itself, if that makes sense. The other thing under housing is Maxfield did a
study in 2014. The Carver County CDA is updating that current study we’ll take some of their
data. Actually they do quite a bit of the work that we would, all the cities in the county enjoy so
they would look again, what are the housing prices? What are the market trends? So we’ll use
that information also to look at those housing requests especially for the high density. They’ll
look at where that is. If you recall the Maxfield study we looked at a couple of those looking at
sites to say do we need, if you recall we had a couple requests for service enriched senior
housing and we said how much is reasonable for the city to accept? I mean right now we’d have
probably most of the requests on the eastern side of the county. Not as much on the western
side. For example Waconia, Chaska, a lot on that side so what is our, for our healthy community
what’s the right balance so those are all the factors that we’d take into consideration when
looking at what would be the right mix for residential so the County has stated that they should
be having that report done. I’ll be going to the county commission here at the end of April, first
part of May so we’ll use that again to do some of that analysis.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
Mayor Laufenburger: Sure, Councilmember Ryan.
Councilwoman Ryan: Thank you. So is, when you’re doing this analysis is it all location as well
as numbers or?
Kate Aanenson: No it just gives us numbers.
Councilwoman Ryan: Just numbers.
Kate Aanenson: Numbers yeah. So we kind of use some of our own, that would be whether it’s
on a collector or access, depending on the type of housing. Whether there’s sewer and water
available.
Councilwoman Ryan: Okay.
Kate Aanenson: Does it need a lot of grading? Some of those sort of factors.
Councilwoman Ryan: Okay.
Kate Aanenson: Good question. So transportation. So the City takes all of the households, the
population and then the employment section they break it down into traffic analysis zones and
this is a lot of work. Bob probably spent a couple months on this and then we actually we work
with the County’s consultant, SRF to look at those numbers so this number helps us look at what
we need for sewer, water. Are there any deficiencies in the system? So there’ll be a map and
this is really illustrative in a map to show where the deficiencies are and then functional
classification so the Planning Commission, Alyson Fauske was at the last Planning Commission
where we presented this to the Planning Commission and again we spent quite a bit of time on
this and looking at, because each chapter has to have a capital improvements plan so looking at
how does the City, how does the Planning Commission to understand what you already know
how do you decide what streets to do and how does that affect future development and
deficiencies so they had some interesting questions so if you upgrade Galpin and you get to
Shorewood and Shorewood doesn’t upgrade their’s, what does that mean so some inner
connectedness so some good discussions on that to help them understand when they’re making
those improvements so again while the traffic analysis zone is a lot of numbers on a map, I think
when you see the deficiencies that really clarifies it. The sewer chapter, again these numbers are
forecasted by the Metropolitan Council. As you know I and I is a big issue. That’s something,
you see that on the engineering budget. Managing how much sewer and unsewered. We have
300-400 unsewered lots in the city and we have some areas that we’ve said they will be
unsewered. As we went on the 61 corridor we looked at those opportunities that if systems failed
that we can provide some potential sewer to those sites but again these match the projections that
we do and most of the sewer again was updated with the Comprehensive Plan. Do we have the
lift stations in the right spot? Do we have enough capacity so a lot of that was also done with the
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
61 corridor so this is really kind of a just updating what we have in the current Comprehensive
Plan. Most of that lifting is already done on this one too. Did you have any other comments on
that one Paul? Okay. So for water, the water plan is in to the DNR for review so you know
water use the big issue there is consumption so I’ll let you add something if I miss something
here on this Paul but you know the City has the tiered water rates. We have odd/even water
restriction. We use Water Wise. We’re also working with some of our neighboring cities to
look at a regional water usage monitoring and then also identify the future wells along with the
61 corridor. So I think that’s the main part of what we’ll be updating in the Comprehensive Plan.
Paul Oehme: The big component of the Comprehensive Plan the DNR and the Met Council
wanted to see you know conservation as being a higher priority in the plan.
Mayor Laufenburger: Kate regarding water, are you seeing any trends in capturing storm water
of any sort?
Kate Aanenson: I would say in most of the commercial projects we’re doing now we’re seeing a
lot more of trying to capture that and re-use. I’m not sure so much in the larger apartment
commercial projects but I would say definitely some of the commercial industrial are looking at
that.
Todd Gerhardt: Probably the biggest project is the high school this past year and the re-use for
the irrigation. Working with the watershed district.
Paul Oehme: Mr. Mayor Avienda, in fact that’s come in for plan review right now and a big
component of their storm water management plan is the re-use.
Mayor Laufenburger: Re-use.
Kate Aanenson: Yeah. So it’s an educational curve and I think it’s being pushed that way so
you’ll see some more of that. I would think in some of these apartment projects too that may be
moving forward you’ll see some of that.
Mayor Laufenburger: Is there, we don’t have, do we have anything in the way of ordinance that
stipulates re-use or capture and re-use of water at the present?
Kate Aanenson: I think just trying to get through some of the watershed district rules might.
Paul Oehme: Yeah and there’s some little gray area I want to say with the plumbing code and
how different people look at how that fits into your system so there’s a little bit of work that
needs to be done I think at the State level to make it a little bit more efficient. Let people know
how you know these systems really should be put into the State’s direction and liking.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Alright. Sorry Kate.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
Kate Aanenson: Yeah no worries. Surface water. So on this section you’re looking at mapping
which updated in 2015. Mapped all the storm water systems and looking at the deficiencies
under the Clean Water. Some of the Impaired Waters. Looking at Lake Lucy, Lake Ann
attainability assessment and then looking at the watershed district’s updating their 100 year flood
elevations and then looking at some of the code sections so one of the things with the
Comprehensive Plan, once you get it done, if there’s things you need to implement ordinances
then you have to show on a timeline of when you’re going to do that so this would be part of that
section too. Anything that we would need to be updating. Shoreland protection was one thing
too. Shoreland ordinances and just our stormwater as a whole. Parks and trails. You met with,
the City Council met with the parks and rec commission so obviously their recreation system
plan is much more robust than what we need for the Comprehensive Plan. We’ve got their
schedule. Trying to push them along to get what we need for the Comprehensive Plan. The big
component that we would need, just like with the rest of the comp plan is the capital
improvements plan but really it’s just an analysis of park policy planning. Where those systems
would go and then you know trail deficiencies and the like would be the biggest part of that.
Anything you want to add to that Mr. Hoffman? Natural resources, urban forestry. As the
Environmental Commission talked to you about we’ll be meeting, I’ll be meeting with them and
they are working on putting together their plan as they did last, 10 years ago. Looking at those
conservation areas. Setting up soil. This is one of the things I left off the list for water
conservation. Now we do require topsoil to help reduce so we’re not watering sand or poor soils
so looking at setting up goals for you know trying to not compact sites so that it makes it more
difficult to water and pollinate and friendly biodiversity. Setting up green corridors and just
continuing to public education which is what the Environmental Commission does.
Implementation. So I did mention that there’s a 20 year capital improvement plan that’s a part of
this so each section will have their own and sewer and water pretty much has their’s already and
that’s just kind of fine tuning that. Park and rec is working on their’s and then we’ll put together
one with the streets. That’s the other one that would need to be put in place. So just at the end to
kind of wrap it up and give you an overall update. So the Planning Commission on their April
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4 work session, we gave them an overview. We gave them a binder so this white binder with
more detail in each of the chapters of what were the main components they need to be looking
for and hold us accountable. Make sure we’ve giving that information and so we ask them to
bring their binders every meeting so if anybody that’s tracking these, all this information goes
out in the Planning Commission packets so if anybody wants to track an item they can go online
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and read that specific topic. So on the 18 I mentioned we did go through the transportation
element in detail. We’re just waiting for some traffic volume projections from SRF and that one
will be done. So once we get all, through the work session all those then we’ll be holding the
public hearings but prior to the public hearings we do want to have some open houses and those
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would be at the 4 of July. National Night Out. Those are good opportunities to go to the
neighborhoods and get information. Feedback from the neighborhoods. So right now we’re
trying to schedule as much as we can but when we have a large project on, such as Avienda, it’s
difficult after a 3 hour meeting to try to go through a comp plan issue so we’re doing our best in
scheduling so I included in here the schedule and right now we’re looking at wrapping it up by
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
the end of February. We have a 6 month comment period from other jurisdictions so that’s the
biggest timeline so Chaska, Carver County, they can all comment on it. That’s what the biggest
thing holding it up would be so we’re hoping that the Planning Commission public hearings after
we’ve put it out for review so you can see we want to get it out for review in June. But then we
would still be taking comments and holding the public hearings but that gives other cities to
comment on it before we do that so that’s our goal. So anybody that wants to follow these items
the appropriate time, you know anybody’s welcome. They’re open meetings to come to the
Planning Commission but really is trying to educate them but the public hearings is where we’ll
take those comments on those different sections because we know there are people following
certain timelines so just we’re keeping this out on the website but if anybody wants to know
when are we going to talk about this, we’re updating it because if we have a big project on the
Planning Commission doesn’t want to have it at 10:00, nor does a resident want to wait til 10:00
to a night of.
Mayor Laufenburger: So did I understand correctly you are actually posting on the website kind
of the progress in each of these sections?
Kate Aanenson: Yep.
Mayor Laufenburger: Is that correct?
Kate Aanenson: Yes, that’s correct.
Mayor Laufenburger: So citizens can go on and look up Comprehensive Plan 2040 or search it
that way and what they’ll find over a period of time is the document is in process, is that correct?
Kate Aanenson: Yeah and you just gave me an idea. It might be helpful too, we could hyperlink
where they can find the document itself so if they want to go right to it.
Mayor Laufenburger: Right to it.
Kate Aanenson: Right to it so that’s probably a good idea to add to this document so it’s not flat.
So people can find the information that they’re looking for.
Mayor Laufenburger: Okay.
Kate Aanenson: So again it’s an important document so I just wanted you to understand what
the Planning Commission is going through and then we’ll certainly keep you apprised if there’s
any hot topics that come up of interest or any other requests from residents so.
Mayor Laufenburger: Alright.
Kate Aanenson: That’s all I had.
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Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
Mayor Laufenburger: Any questions for Kate regarding the Comprehensive Plan process? Mr.
Gerhardt did you want to make a comment?
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah Mayor, council. Kate has just done a fantastic job again with the comp
plan process. This is probably at least her second if not her third comp plan that she’s worked on
in Chanhassen and she takes the leadership role in this and over 80 percent of our comp plan is
done in-house. The other 20 percent done outside is data collected from either Carver County on
housing and transportation, traffic counts and most communities sub this out. They’ll hire a
consultant to take this and I think it has more meaning when we do it in-house. We take
ownership of it. Paul, Todd are whipped into shape by Kate to get their data in. She whips them
nicely though. And just gives out reminders to stay on track and to get the plan done on time and
get that feedback so thank you to Kate, Paul, Todd, Don, all the departments for their input in
this year’s 2040 comp plan process. It’s done mostly in-house so the people that have to
implement know what’s going on.
Mayor Laufenburger: Very well. Alright that concludes our, our main portion of the agenda for
this evening.
COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS.
None.
ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS.
Mayor Laufenburger: Did you want to touch on anything else Mr. Gerhardt?
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah I’ve got another thank you. I’m just full of thank you’s to my staff. Again
when people pull together you know I get very proud and it was tornado awareness week this
past Thursday and as a part of that we have sirens throughout the community and Don asked for
volunteers to stand by those sirens when they went off at 1:45 to make sure that they rotate and
that they’re operating effectively. We do have a back up service that inspects them. There’s a
battery back up at each one of them but everybody raised their hand. Most of them department
heads. Other staff went out and monitored their sirens and everyone was operational so you can
feel safe that the sirens are working.
Mayor Laufenburger: Wonderful. Anything else Mr. Gerhardt?
Todd Gerhardt: That’s it.
Mayor Laufenburger: Well before I ask for adjournment I just would like to say one more thing.
thth
On May 8, that is the next City Council meeting, on Monday, May 8 the City of Chanhassen
thth
will be celebrating it’s 50 birthday. That is the 50 anniversary of the City of Chanhassen
forming by bringing together the village of Chanhassen and portions of the township of
Chanhassen. On that evening at 5:30 we will have a celebration. There’ll be a brief program and
18
Chanhassen City Council – April 24, 2017
we invite all citizens of Chanhassen, even past citizens of Chanhassen. If you want to come out
and just have an excuse to get together to celebrate the Jubilee of the City of Chanhassen, that’s
th
Monday, May 8 starting at 5:30 and the City Council will not have a work session that evening.
That entire program and get together and I don’t know, Chelsea will there be any refreshments?
Chelsea Petersen: There will indeed. There’ll be sandwiches, cake, chips, lemonade, water. All
sorts of fun stuff.
Mayor Laufenburger: What else could they want if all of those things are available right?
Chelsea Petersen: Good weather is I think the only thing we can’t control.
Mayor Laufenburger: And I want to thank Mr. Hoffman and his team of people that put this
th
together. This will be a great event. We only get to celebrate our 50 birthday just once. Just
once on May 8, 1967 it began and May 8, 2017 we’re going to celebrate 50 years so please you
all come alright. With that I think do we have a motion to adjourn?
Councilwoman Ryan moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom seconded to adjourn the meeting.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0. The City
Council meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m.
Submitted by Todd Gerhardt
City Manager
Prepared by Nann Opheim
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