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10-14-2024 City Council Work Session Minutes1 CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES October 14, 2024 Mayor Ryan called the work session to order at 5:30 p.m. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Ryan, Councilmember von Oven, Councilmember Kimber, Councilmember McDonald, and Councilmember Schubert COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: Laurie Hokkanen, City Manager, Charlie Howley, Public Works Director/City Engineer; Matt Unmacht, Assistant City Manager, Jerry Ruegemer, Parks Director; Eric Maass, Planning Director; Kelly Grinnell, Finance Director; Patrick Gavin, Communications Manager; Jenny Potter, City Clerk, Lieutenant Lance Pearce, Adam Beers, Park Maintenance Supervisor, Gary Berg, Park Maintenance Foreman, Andrea McDowell Poehler, Campbell Knutson PUBLIC PRESENT: Paul Robinson, Rachel Development, Mark Rausch, Alliant Engineering, Rick Denman, Charles Cudd Homes, Rodney Provart, Open Hands Foundation Executive Director, Dan Pfarr, 180 Degrees, Michael Moore, Open Hands Foundation Board President Hope House Condition Use Permit (CUP) Project Update Eric Maass, Planning Director, said that the Hope House project Conditional Use Permit (CUP) application had been rescinded. He had the representatives from Hope House introduce themselves: Rodney Provart, Open Hands Foundation Executive Director, Dan Pfarr, 180 Degrees, and Michal Moore, Open Hands Foundation Board President introduced themselves . Mr. Moore said the Hope House would still like to build a house that is better equipped to serve the kids that are living there. Currently, they have room for six residents, but they are two to a bedroom. The new house that they build would be able to accommodate those residents in individual bedrooms. He said that they had heard from residents and were addressing the issues raised about safety of the neighborhood, a matching aesthetic for the building to match the neighborhood, and that there was a lack of communication with the neighbors. Hope House is reducing parking near the building, moving the garbage closer to the house, working with a security service to assess safety, and they are looking to increase landscaping near the building to shield it from the road. They are also looking into moving the driveway access from West 78th street to off of the Westwood parking lot. They will be working with the city to determine if that is a possibility. Mayor Ryan asked what oversight the City Council has in regard to Hope House applying for a building permit to build a new house. Andrea McDowell Poehler, Campbell Knutson, responded that the City Council has no authority in the building permit being approved. That is purely an administrative task that is overseen by the building department and is guided by their building standards. Councilmember McDonald asked where the new driveway would be located and how many incidents like the one that happened in June, happen at Hope House. Dan Pfarr, 180 Degrees, who oversees the Hope House, said that incidents like the one that happened in June are very rare. He stated that in the last 10 years, there have been less than a handful of critical incidents in all the homes he oversees. Mr. Pfarr also stated that Hope House has to follow state guidelines and protocols to be able to be licensed. City Council Work Session Minutes – October 14, 2024 2 Councilmember Kimber asked what the ages of the kids were that are housed at Hope House and how many staff members per kid was required. Mr. Pfarr stated that the kids are from age 14 to 19 that are housed there. He said that they normally have two staff members at the facility at any time, and often there are more, but at night they have one staff member. Councilmember Kimber asked at what point does the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) get triggered to be needed. Ms. Poehler responded that the CUP does not get triggered until they exceed the number of residents allowed in their zoning. Mr. Pfarr said that the state licenses them for six kids, and they would have to apply to the Department of Human Services to exceed that number. Councilmember Kimber reported that he contacted DHS and found that in the past they have withdrawn licenses for facilities that have problems, but he learned that Hope House is in good standing with the DHS. Mayor Ryan said that the existing house has three bedrooms for six kids and that Hope House would like to build a home with eight bedrooms. She asked if the council was comfortable with eight bedrooms that could possibly house 16 kids. She also asked about the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the demolition of the original Hope House once the new facility is built and how that would work and the timeline of the demolition. Mr. Pfarr said that they would build the new Hope House to have eight bedrooms but that since they weren’t licensed to house more than six kids, the other rooms would be use d to prepare for a new resident or be used for office space. He said that they are planning to tear down the old building and that they would sign and MOU to guarantee that happening. Mr. Maass said the MOU would be signed and an escrow would be collected from Hope House. The escrow would be used by the city to pay for demolition if Hope House does not demolish the old home. Mr. Maass said that one to six residents are currently permitted in the Hope House zoning, but seven to 16 residents would have to be approved as a Conditional Use by the city. Currently, the city code states that if the city approves a CUP, the number of residents can be up to 16 individuals. He asked if the council would like to change the code to allow a maximum of eight residents. The council members agreed that they would like to change the maximum of residents to eight in the city code. There was further discussion about where the new driveway would be located and if it would be adequate for emergency vehicles to get to the home quickly. Hope House will work with the city to ensure that emergency vehicles can get to the home. Mayor Ryan asked that Hope House continue their efforts to keep local residents aware of what is happening since that was a large concern for the neighbors. Madison AI Demonstration Laurie Hokkanen, City Manager, gave an overview of how Madison AI works and how staff could use the software to help find city information. Mayor Ryan recessed the work session at 6:55 pm City Council Work Session Minutes – October 14, 2024 3 Mayor Ryan reconvened the work session at 7:19 Haley Schbert absent for the second half of the WS General Fund Budget Update Laurie Hokkanen discussed potentially adding a Parks Maintenance position. Jerry Ruegemer, Parks Director introduced Adam Beers, Park Maintenance Supervisor, who does the daily administration for the department, and Gary Berg, Park Maintenance Foreman, who does the daily supervision of staff in the Parks department. Mr. Beers said that if a staff member was added more proactive work could be done. There are high expectations of having ball fields ready for players. The trails could be cleared sooner for safety. A specialized person can help with knowledge of turf maintenance. Ms. Hokkanen said that are looking for someone to do the higher-level tasks with more expertise with things like fixing and maintaining irrigation systems. Mr. Berg stated that the full-time staff are setting up for the seasonal employees to do the tasks. Mayor Ryan thanked the park staff for all their hard work and acknowledged all the great work they do. She said that the council appreciated hearing their needs and would consider the request. Kelly Grinnell, Finance Director, gave an overview of the updated budget. She said that guidance was needed from the City Council to determine if lifeguards at Lake Ann should be left in the budget. The Park Maintenance employee needed to be decided, and the general contingency of $25,000 needed to be addressed. She said that the budget will be more detailed in the coming weeks. The City Council decided to wait to make any decisions on those items. Review Conceptual Development for 6535 Peaceful Lane (Pleasant View Pointe) Mr. Maass introduced Paul Robinson, Rachel Development, Mark Rausch, Alliant Engineering, and Rick Denman, Charles Cudd Homes. They have a proposed development application that should be submitted in November or December of 2024 for 6535 Peaceful Lane to build 19 homes on a 13.25- acre property. The development has two street concepts, and the developers are asking the city to assist in which plan they should use for their application. Mr. Maass said that the first concept has no connection options for Nez Perce and Pleasant View Road. This plan would need the developer to have a variance due to the length of the cul -de sac. The second concept plan would be to connect Nez Perce and Pleasant View Road as has been planned since the original development in the 1990s. The second option would not require a variance for the developer to build. Mr. Maass said that the city did a feasibility study and condemned the right -of- way to make a future connection to the road. There were escrows paid to the city for $17,000. Charlie Howley, Public Works Director/City Engineer, gave reasons for why the road should be connected. Emergency vehicles have better accessibility to the area with the road connection. The existing traffic volumes on Lake Lucy Road would decrease. The connection allows for a utility corridor. The schools don’t like to send busses down cul-de-sacs. Garbage and delivery trucks also City Council Work Session Minutes – October 14, 2024 4 have a more difficult time with the long cul-de-sac. Overall connectivity of the neighborhood is what was planned. There is also an access road to the water tower that has a steep grade that could be addressed in the future with the connection. Paul Robinson, Rachel Development, said that they had a neighborhood meeting and the top issues from residents were that they did not want Nez Perce to be connected, and traffic concerns if the connection was made. Councilmember von Oven asked how long the sign on the dead end that reads future connection of the road had been in place. Mr. Maass responded that the sign has been in place since the original development in the 1990s. Councilmember McDonald said that he felt that the road should be connected. Councilmember von Oven was in favor of the development and said he would lean to the road being connected. Councilmember Schubert said before her departure that she would not be in favor of the road being connected. Mayor Ryan and Councilmember Kimber were not in favor of the road connection. Discuss Citywide Speed Limit Reduction Proposal Charlie Howley, Public Works Director/City Engineer discussed the potential of lowering the city- wide speed limit. A FlashVote survey was done, and the results came back with a majority of people not wanting to lower the speed limits to 25 miles per hour. There was slightly higher interest in lowering speed limits to 25 miles per hour since the last FlashVote survey. Mr. Howley said that several other cities in the area had lowered the speed limit and that in the future the State of Minnesota may decide to do a lowering of speed limits throughout the state. The City Council discussed and decided they would not make a change to the city -wide speed limit at this time. Mayor Ryan adjourned the meeting at 9:11 p.m. Submitted by Laurie Hokkanen City Manager Prepared by Jenny Potter City Clerk