CC 2004 05 24CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
MAY 24, 2004
Mayor Furlong called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was opened
with the Pledge to the Flag.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Furlong, Councilman Labatt, Councilman
Ayotte, Councilman Peterson and Councilman Lundquist
STAFF PRESENT: Todd Gerhardt, Justin Miller, Tom Scott, Kate Aanenson, Paul
Oehme, Todd Hoffman and Bruce DeJong
PUBLIC PRESENT FOR ALL ITEMS:
Debbie Lloyd
Janet & Jerry Paulsen
Melissa Gilman
Dan Keefe
7302 Laredo Drive
7305 Laredo Drive
Chanhassen Villager
Planning Commission
Mayor Furlong: Thank you and good evening to everybody that's here this evening and
for those watching at home as well. Appreciate you joining us. Are there any additions
or modifications to the agenda as presented, or distributed with the packet? If not the
agenda will stand as distributed.
CONSENT AGENDA: Councilman Peterson moved, Councilman Lundquist
seconded to approve the following consent agenda items pursuant to the City
Manager's recommendations:
Approval of Minutes:
-City Council Work Session Minutes dated May 10, 2004
-City Council Summary & Verbatim Minutes dated May 10, 2004
Receive Commission Minutes:
-Planning Commission Summary & Verbatim Minutes dated May 5, 2004
-Park and Recreation Commission Summary & Verbatim Minutes dated April 27,
2004
b. Accept $1,000 Donation from the Chan-o-laires Chorus Group for the Senior
Center.
Resolution #2004-33: Award of Bid for Furniture, Lower Level Remodeling
Project.
e. Approval of Change Orders, Lower Level Remodeling Project.
City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Approval of Temporary On-Sale Liquor License, Fourth of July Celebration,
Chanhassen Rotary Club.
g. Approval of Purchase Agreement with Plowshares, Inc.
Approval of Amendment to Development Contract for Burlwood, Project No. 03-
10.
Approval of Comment Letter for TH 41 Over the Minnesota River Scoping
Document/Draft Scoping Decision Document, PW067E2.
Resolution #2004-34: Approval of Land Use Plan Amendment to Re-Guide
Property from Public/Semi-Public and Residential-Medium Density (Net Density
Range 4-8 units/acre) to Residential-Low Density (Net Density Range 1.2-4
units/acre); Located South of Minnewashta Regional Park Between Highway 41
and Lake Minnewashta (Ches Mar Area).
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
Co
APPROVAL OF PLANS, BUDGET AMENDMENT, AND AUTHORIZE
ADVERTISING FOR BIDS, HIGHWAY 41 TRAIL CONNECTION
PROJECT.
Councilman Ayotte: I'd just like to make a point that on occasion we'll see, not this
particular vendor but a consistent number of vendors that come up more than once so
there appears to be that we're moving towards a sole source, smaller vendor base. In
some cases I'm wondering whether or not the control assurance measures are in place for
qualifying vendors so we do not have the tendency for low balling, as an example could
someone from staff address that please.
Paul Oehme: Thank you. We are currently again working with our consultants and the
pool that we currently have here on staff, and again we look at bids, RFP's as they come
in on a project by project basis and try to ensure that we are getting the best dollar, best
bang for our buck more or less. So we have on occasion not awarded contracts to low
consultant bidders based upon maybe their work experience or our comfort level with
maybe them not performing in the past, so we do look at them on a case by case basis so
that's what we're trying to achieve is making sure that we, you know what we're getting
paid for. Getting what we paid for.
Councilman Ayotte: Alright. I would ask and possibly Todd, you and I have talked
about this in the past. If we could consider the establishment of qualifying a vendor base
so that a vendor base, a vendor may know that when they do not adhere to certain
performance requirements, that they may fall off of that vendor base. So we could still
develop the relationships with vendors but that we look at a qualification. Is that a
reasonable thing to ask?
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah. We look at price, experience that we've had with the vendor.
How they performed. There's been several projects that we've not selected a certain
engineer planner because they haven't had the experience that we expected on that
project, so we take that into account with every project that we do. And we'll continue to
do that.
Councilman Ayotte: The reason why ! pulled this particular vendor is because we have
had issues in the past. ! suspect that there's resolution coming soon.
Todd Gerhardt: With this one, the engineer, we had a bad experience working on a storm
water project. We've had excellent experience in most of the trail systems that we've
worked with them on. There was one segment where we did have a problem but Todd,
you can correct me if I'm wrong but it was kind of a joint effort between a planning
professional that we used and the engineering firm and who's role and responsibility it
truly was in meeting the specs for that project. So in the past ! think we've had a good
experience with this engineering firm on trail projects.
Councilman Ayotte: Okay. So it was an anomaly sort of?. Okay, thank you.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Any other discussion or is there a motion to approve?
Councilman Ayotte: So moved.
Mayor Furlong: Is there a second?
Councilman Peterson: Second.
Mayor Furlong: Any discussion on the motion?
Resolution #2004-35: Councilman Ayotte moved, Councilman Peterson seconded to
approve the plans, budget amendment and authorize advertising for bids, Highway
41 trail connection project. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously
with a vote of 5 to 0.
Mayor Furlong: One of the items that we just approved on our consent agenda was the
acceptance, the formal acceptance of a donation of $1,000 from the Chan-o-laires Chorus
Group to the City in particular for the Chanhassen Senior Center. Jackie Kurvers who's a
member of the group is here this evening. I'd like to ask her to come up and I'll come
down and meet you in the center and we'll accept the check.
Jackie Kurvers: Mayor Furlong and fellow council members. My name is Jackie
Kurvers and I'm a member of the Chan-o-laires chorus group and this is our director,
Marion Peck and on behalf of the Chan-o-laires and Marion we'd like to present you with
$1,000 for anything that can be used for the new senior center. Okay, you bet. Thank
you.
City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
VISITOR PRESENTATIONS:
Resident: I'm curious, will I have an opportunity to speak? We're here about the special
assessment hearing. Will we get an opportunity to speak at that time?
Mayor Furlong: Yes sir.
Resident: Okay.
Debbie Lloyd: Good evening. Debbie Lloyd, 7302 Laredo Drive. Tonight you're going
to be addressing two different code ordinance changes, and I'm looking at the letter from
Bob Generous to Todd that was in your packet. ! know one of the reasons stated in here,
in the background is to make the code easier to understand and to use by addressing
problems in the code. And about 2 or 3 years ago some of you were on council then.
Some of you weren't. You addressed something similar for a private street. Private
street. You have identified, have a right-of-way. Have a certain pavement width. Have
standards in terms of how they must be constructed. They must be approved by an
engineer. All these standards you put in place, yet on page 2 of this report, under Section
55 in the last paragraph, in the second to the last sentence it says the attorney also stated
that the 20 foot setback from right-of-way line of town road, public streets or other roads
or streets not classified does not include private streets which are merely driveways
serving more than one home. Private streets are not merely driveways serving more than
one home. There is a e-mail correspondence that Jan will hand out that says the DNR
considered the private street a street not classified. That's really, I'm bringing this up
because it's really important when you're considering the setback issue pertinent to
private streets and the code you're addressing. It's one of the ambiguities still present
and ! don't believe this document really clears it up and ! hope you will ask pertinent
questions relative to the changes that the Paulsen's also have identified in the code. !
thank you for your time.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. And staff, if we can just be sure to address that issue when
we bring that up later in our meeting.
Janet Paulsen: I'm Janet Paulsen. I live at 7305 Laredo Drive and I would like to
address as a council several issues on Chapter 18 and Chapter 20. First of all on Chapter
20, Section 20-43. It has to do with lakeshore notification of any development that's
going on in a lakeshore lot. Currently anyone within 500 feet and just a regular lot has to
be notified and on lakeshore if it's within 500 feet and all people who live on the lake. If
we change this code from that, then the people that live on the lake, they would only be
getting half the notification. It's a 500 foot circumference of a lake lot. Half of that or
more is water. They should be notified all around the lake. It's not onerous to have to do
that. Anyone who is developing on a lakeshore has plenty of money to pay for
notification of people living on the lakeshore. It may be troublesome but it's worthwhile
and it's letting the citizens know what's going on. The second one is Section 481, having
to do with setbacks from private streets. Currently our code states that it has to be 20 feet
from streets not classified. According to the DNR that includes private streets. If we
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
take out the word additional, which is what is proposed, then it will no longer be the
exact DNR wording and I cannot refer to the DNR as stating that it has to be from a
private street. So if you make this change you're reducing standards. I would like you to
consider why it's not necessary to have a setback for a structure 20 feet from the right-of-
way line of a private street. Think about the purpose of this law. It's to provide for
runoff. The closer the homes are together and the more runoff there is, goes into the
street and down into the lake. We want to have more space for the runoff to be absorbed
by the ground. And that's the purpose of the law. So let's not defeat the purpose. Let's
maintain our standards. And then the other issue is on Chapter 18 that you were
discussing previous to this meeting about calculating tree removal area. Well 60 by 60
isn't really meant to be calculating tree removal area. It's a design standard. So if we're
not going to have a 60 by 60 and we're only requiring 15,000 square feet for a lot, what
are the lot building area dimensions that are required? Is it along their lot? What are we
requiring for dimensions? Width and length. It hasn't been addressed and there's no
standard set up now for RSF at all, unless you're on a wetland or a PUD. Thank you.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. And Kate if we can be sure to address those, bring those up
as well. We're still within visitor presentations, if anyone else would like to come
forward and address it to the council on any matters, this would be an opportunity to do
that. If there is no one then I'll close visitor presentations and we'll move on with our
agenda. Sir? Yes sir, this would be your time.
Michael Kohane: Just two issues very quickly.
Mayor Furlong: If you could state your name and address at the mic. Thanks.
Michael Kohane: Michael Kohane, 6870 Yuma Drive, Chanhassen, Minnesota. Just two
quick issues. We appealed a variance on a property at 795 Ponderosa Drive in
Chanhassen which was a small lot and the community and my wife were concerned about
the future. There are a number of small lots in the Carver Beach area so we just want to
draw your attention to two things. What can the City do to sort of help preserve some of
these lots? They're treed lots and they're usually, I suppose less than about 9,000 square
feet. And what can the community do? Can we do something through a housing
association? Can we do something through other issues so we wondered if the City could
look at maybe typing up some zoning laws whereby the old grandfathering idea where
you looked around the neighborhood and saw that this was a small lot and the others were
comparable and it's okay to build, is there something that the city can do legally with that
or the other issue we had was that we can do something through the community, through
the housing association or establish a housing association so that's the two issues. Is it
possible for the city to look at maybe redoing the zoning laws or something that could
preserve the smaller, what we think are non-buildable lots in that area. I don't know
exactly where they all are. We'd have to look into that, but I just bring that up for the
city to look at and then we can look at that from a community point of view through the
housing association. That's the first issue. The second one's a brief one in relation to
today's paper. Changes in ATV use around the state seems to be that they can now use
wetlands with reasonable use concept. We just would like the city to address, if possible,
City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
the Carver Beach area. This last year there was significant use of ATV's along the trails
and even down the hillside just at the Lotus trail area along the Carver Beach, and as a
local resident ! was a bit concerned with that. ! don't know where you stand as a city
with respect to ATV use in city parks. If the park is a city park. So the only other, that's
our second issue. We'd like the city to maybe look at some possibility of restricting use
or maybe education or something like that with respect to the ATV's. This last winter
certainly they would use downhill sides. There's significant rutting on the hillsides and
with the rain that you've seen in the last few days, there's runoff directly into the lake.
And the same with the snowmobiles. It's only a small park that runs Lotus Trail and !
would just like clarification on that in the future. As for the next winter. Okay, thank
you.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. I guess with regard to your first issue, I don't know if Kate
or Todd, either of you want to address that. ! mean ! think zoning and buildable lots are
something that.
Kate Aanenson: Sure, ! can address the first one. As far as lots of records that are
existing lots, there is some obligation to provide, to make them buildable. But ! think the
second component that was addressed as far as preservation. We certainly can identify
some of those lots and if those neighbors want to get together and look at some. Other
communities have done trusts where they've actually tried to buy property and we can
certainly go that direction, but as far as telling somebody, by changing the rules and
making it more restrictive, that has some other legal implications but ! think the other
one, it certainly has some merit and we'd be happy to work with the neighbors and kind
of see what we can do there.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, good. Mr. Hoffman, do you want to address the issue with regard
to motorized vehicles, ATV's in our parks and trails?
Todd Hoffman: Thank you Mayor, members of the City Council. ! believe we had a
phone conversation with you this winter talking about the ATV's and the snowmobiles
within the park. Motorized vehicles are not permitted within the city's park system and
so it comes down to an enforcement issue and we did dispatch deputies on a couple of
occasions and believe either the deputies or some neighbors made contact with the
homeowner and the occupants of that dwelling that were conducting those activities, and
so it was one or two individuals riding their ATV's up and down that park shore and so
it's again a continued enforcement. It's not currently wide spread. Snowmobiles are
harder to deal with because they come onto the lake and off the lake in a variety of the
locations and the damage which occurs is just random and it's difficult to track. As our
community becomes more and more urbanized, these activities tend to soften but again,
or go down, lessen but lake area when you have frozen surface you tend to get that
activity so it comes down to an enforcement issue and we did respond at the time of the
calls.
City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Is there anybody else that wishes to address the
council through visitor presentations this evening? If not we'll close visitor presentations
and move on.
LAW ENFORCEMENT/FIRE DEPARTMENT UPDATES.
Sgt. Jim Olson: Hello. I'd like to introduce Deputy Mike Stultz to the City Council this
evening. Deputy Stultz started with the Carver County Sheriff's office in 2000 and has
worked in Chanhassen for approximately the past 3 lA years. Before coming to Carver
County Mike worked in Clara City for approximately 2 lA years. Mike is a field training
officer. He trains new deputies. He's also involved with the Carver County Sheriff's
Emergency Response Team, and is a training officer with them as well. Mike's also with
the National Guard and has been with the National Guard since 1994 and is a Sergeant
with them. Mike was actually ready to be deployed to go overseas a few months ago and
during one of our sheriff emergency response team training sessions he hurt his knee
pretty bad and ended up not being able to go. But Mike is a very knowledgeable and
consistent officer and does a very good job for us and I'll let Mike say a few words here.
Mike Stultz: Thanks Jim. Mayor Furlong, members of the council, appreciate being here
today. As Sergeant Olson said, I've been working in Chanhassen for 3 lA years, and
that's by choice. I've had other opportunities to work in other areas of the county but !
keep wanting to come back here. This is a very fun place to work. It's enjoyable, both
personally and professionally. ! like the type of law enforcement that is required here.
It's been a very big help with members of the council working through Sergeant Olson
and Beth Hoiseth. I've noticed in the past year a definite improvement in the flow of
information down to the patrol deputies in locating troubled areas, especially in relation
to the traffic issues. This is a growing community. Everybody knows that traffic is
probably the big factor around here and collectively, myself and the other members of the
office are doing what we can to improve that situation. But ! thank the members of the
council and the mayor for this opportunity to stand before you and thank you very much.
Mayor Furlong: Well thank you. We appreciate your efforts and your years of service
and glad that you're here so thank you.
Councilman Ayotte: Thanks for serving in the Guard too.
Mayor Furlong: Yes.
Mike Stultz: Thank you. Thank you.
Sgt. Jim Olson: Thank you very much. I'm happy to say that it's been a relatively quiet
past month and that certainly is a good thing. Deputies have been concentrating as much
as they can on traffic issues in the city and traffic continues to be one of the probably
number one complaint that ! receive throughout the month and year. In my packet I've
got the sheriff' s office area report for the month of April, the area citation list and a copy
of your crime alert that Beth Hoiseth put out. A community service officer report that is
City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
in there, and ! also have a couple of other miscellaneous items for the council. For the
month, total calls for service were up for 82, or up by 82 compared to last year and for
the year they're up by 257 compared to last year. DWI's were up from 12 to 19 for the
month of April, and for the year they're up from 28 to 64 so they've really been doing a
good job with DWI's in the city. Damage to property calls are down, or were down for
the month of April. 28 last year to 18 this year, and for the year they're down from 97 to
75. Thefts were up slightly for the month. ! think they're up by 1 compared to last year
and they're down slightly for the year so that certainly is a good thing. If you take a look
at traffic stops, traffic stops were up from 233 last year to 292 this year, and for the year
they're up from 783 to 892. And then citations for the month of April were 182 and that
compares to 158 last year. And year to date for this year is 744 and that compares to 697
for last year. So they are writing quite a few more citations this year and last year and
was actually up substantially over 2002. Any questions at all on the monthly numbers?
Councilman Ayotte: It didn't specify that there was a garage door opener taken. You
know Edina had a lot of theft of breaking in the cars and taking the garage door openers
and going to the garages and ripping off the garages. Have you had any of that flow over
to us, even though that monthly report didn't say garage door openers, is there any
information associated with car break-in's and taking garage door openers and going into
the houses and so forth. Any of that?
Sgt. Jim Olson: No. Not that ! have read in the reports recently in the past month or
recently at all. That certainly is an issue, and people should take, and it's real easy to
leave your garage door opener on your visor or wherever you've got it but that does allow
access into your home. Many people close their garage door. Leave the door leading
into their house open inside that garage, so if they can access that garage, they can get
into your house and that certainly is an important issue for people to remember with that.
Anything else on the monthly numbers? I've got a couple other things I'd like to go over
though. Okay. ! want to talk about the electric scooters briefly. Some of them are
battery powered, electric, gas powered. They cannot be driven on the streets, the trails or
the sidewalks in the city of Chanhassen. Your driveways, you can certainly drive them
on but in other areas you cannot use them and parents need to be aware of that as well as
the kids and talk to their kids about that. And boy there's a lot of retail establishments
that are selling those but it's an important thing to remember. You cannot drive them on
the streets. Internet fraud. ! want to talk briefly about internet fraud. ! took a report from
a city resident, oh ! think it was last week or the week before. He received an e-mail
from a company that he thought was Ebay and it, ! saw a copy of the e-mail. It looked
legitimate. He responded to the e-mail and in the e-mail it asked him for credit card
information as his account was about to expire. ! don't remember the exact wording on it
but it asked him for his credit card information. He sent it over the internet to this
company that said that they were Ebay and shortly after that he received a call from his
charge card company wondering about some large transactions that were on his charge
card. Needless to say it was not Ebay. He contacted Ebay after he got the call and that
was not a legitimate e-mail that was sent out. You know they come up with what looks
like an official looking web page from Ebay but when you send it, it goes actually
somewhere else and he was a victim of that. ! also saw another one that an employee
City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
from Chanhassen received earlier and this was from Pay Pal, which is associated
somehow or another with Ebay. The employee had some real big questions about this
and ! agreed with them and they contacted Pay Pal and that actually turned out to be a
legitimate, it was from Pay Pal. They didn't ask for a charge card but they asked for a
little bit of information from the charge card. It's important to check, ! mean if you get
anything like that, to make sure that you check with the company through another avenue
besides the e-mail they sent you to find out if that was a legitimate e-mail or not. That's
very important. There has been a rash of that, not only around here but also nation wide.
! know Beth has put some out crime alerts and some different things in the paper as well
about that so ! just want to warn residents to be very careful about sending any personal
information over the internet. Neighborhood Watch. We had a Neighborhood Watch
meeting with Longacres division last week. There are some people there that are in the
process of starting a Neighborhood Watch. If you'd like more information about that,
please contact Beth Hoiseth, Chanhassen's Crime Prevention Officer and her number is
952-227-1610. And that is all from me.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Questions.
Councilman Lundquist: Sergeant Olson. Back to the scooter thing. Clarification.
What's the difference between that and a bicycle?
Sgt. Jim Olson: It is gas, a bicycle is self propelled. A scooter, electric scooter, battery
operated scooter, it is not self propelled.
Councilman Lundquist: So essentially just to clarify your comment, it's basically
driveway only?
Sgt. Jim Olson: Correct. Yes.
Councilman Lundquist: No streets, no sidewalks, no trails.
Sgt. Jim Olson: Yes. And ! had talked to the city attorney about this issue also and he
also does say that that is, it is under current state statute that's classified as a motor
vehicle so it needs to be licensed and have all sorts of other things. You can't drive them
on the streets.
Councilman Lundquist: Okay, thank you.
Mayor Furlong: Sergeant Olson, one other thing and it's something that occurred as !
was preparing for the council meeting. And Ms. Aanenson, something for you too. At
the Planning Commission meeting, or reading through the notes with one of the items
that we're actually going to talk about tonight, one of the residents came up and talked
about traffic problems on a particular street. This happened to be Coulter, which ! think
has been an issue before, but is there a mechanism or can we make a habit of, ! think if
somebody comes forward at a council meeting, it's pretty easy to get that information
back to you. But if it comes forward at a Planning Commission meeting, can we try to
City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
make sure that Sergeant Olson hears about that and whether we get the speed trailer out
there or put it in our list of special assignments, because even though it's not at the
council meetings, if we can try to... let's do that.
Sgt. Jim Olson: Absolutely, and if people do have concerns, they can certainly contact
either myself or Beth Hoiseth. Again her number is 952-227-1610 or my number is 952-
227-1601. They can certainly give us a call direct also or anyone, Kate or Todd in the
park commission or they certainly can contact us.
Mayor Furlong: Very good, thank you sir.
Sgt. Jim Olson: Thank you, have a nice evening.
Mayor Furlong: We also received a report this evening from Chief Geske with the Fire
Department. Good evening Chief.
Chief Gregg Geske: Good evening. I guess first of all I'd like to talk about last month's
council update. I wasn't here of course at last month's council meeting. I was in
Indianapolis at the Fire Department Instructor's Conference. Last month I talked about
an ISO audit that we were doing in the city here and been done on our fire department,
and about a week and a half ago Channel 9 News did a story on the Brooklyn Park Fire
Department Chief being on administrative leave due to possible inappropriate activities
during the ISO audit that they had done 2 years ago so I don't know if any of you had
saw that or any of the residents but I did want to mention that story brought up questions
that could be going on in your own city and it did not go on during our audit. In
Brooklyn Park there were allegations that they had used a truck that they had planned on
getting rid of to get points for the ISO audit. They also had moved, allegations that they
had moved equipment from station to station during the audit so that they could get more
points for equipment that they had, but I want to assure you that when the audit went on
here at our city, we just accounted for the equipment that we had and we didn't borrow
any from any other fire departments for that so I just wanted to cover that. You may have
noticed our marquee sign out in front of our fire department with, it had a welcome home
Gordo posted on it, and that was one of our fire fighters, Gordon Ross had just returned
from 9 months of active duty in Afghanistan so Gordon's a military policeman with the
Army Reserve and we're just happy to have him safe, his safe return back to the fire
department for us so wanted to mention that. Yesterday we co-hosted a pancake
breakfast with the Chanhassen Lions. There was a smaller turn out. Mayor, you were
there and I saw the council members there but it's a nice opportunity I guess for a couple
years ago the Lions came to us for additional help and a place to host it and I guess it's
just a nice opportunity for us to meet the public, along with our open house that we have
in the fall. Most of the time we meet the public's a lot unhappier times that we get a
chance to meet them so it was a good opportunity for a lot of fire fighters to meet with
the public there so. Call numbers are down as I mentioned there. We're at 226 calls for
the year as of May 13th, and that's down 74 from the 300 for the same time, 2003 so
that's good. I think any time we can keep those numbers down. We did have mention
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
that we have been busy responding for mutual aid. Last Saturday night we also had a fire
that we responded to in Eden Prairie off of Dell Road for a house fire so that's about it.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Questions. I'll just say I'm glad you mentioned the
pancake breakfast yesterday. It was a lot of fun ! know and a good value, especially for
large groups so ! would encourage anybody to go, and most importantly it's good to see,
and I'd like to say thank you and please pass this along to the other members of the
department that not only are they giving of their time to be part of the department but
they're giving back and working with the Lions in this case and giving back to the
community so we appreciate that. So thank you.
Chief Gregg Geske: Thank you.
PUBLIC HEARING: SPECIAL ASSESSMENT HEARING FOR 2004 MSA
STREET IMPROVEMENTS, PROJECT 04-02.
Public Present:
Name Address
Jack Atkins
Paul Eidem
Brian Nustad
Gene O'Brien
220 West 78th Street
7727 Frontier Trail
7791 Erie Avenue
Chapel Hill Academy
Mayor Furlong: We'll move on now to the next item. We'll move into public hearings.
We have a hearing tonight, public hearing tonight for special assessment of the 2004
MSA street improvement projects. We'll also be considering award of bids under the
next item so there may be some questions if it's appropriate we can address it at the same
time here if that's okay. But let's move in with item number 3 and if some of the
questions from 4 come in at this point, for clarification purposes, if that's okay with staff.
Paul Oehme: Sure. That's fine, thanks. Thank you Mayor, City Council members.
Again this item is to consider the adoption of assessment roll for the 2004 MSA street
improvement project. At the September 22, 2003 council meeting, just for historical
reference, a public hearing was held and the council adopted the resolution approving the
feasibility report from the area assessment roll and approval of preparation of plans and
specifications for this project. And one other note, on February 24th of this year an open
house was held for the residents to again make comments on this project before the
project was let out for bid. On April 26th of this year bids were received for this project
and the assessments from the preliminary assessment roll were adjusted based upon these
bids. Notifications to all the property owners for the improvements and to be assessed
have been mailed and were notified of tonight's meeting. The project itself is shown on
this sheet here. Again it's a street rehabilitation project. It's more or less a mill and
overlay, what we call. It's shown here in the red and the construction limits are from
along 78th Street from Market Boulevard out to Trunk Highway 101 and 79th Street from
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Market Boulevard to Great Plains Boulevard. And we're also considering Market
Boulevard from 78th Street down to Trunk Highway 5 and Great Plains Boulevard from
78th Street to Trunk Highway 5 as well. So these improvements again are, it's a
resurfacing project and what staff is considering is to mill out the, approximately 2 inches
of the existing asphalt and repave it with new wear surface. Our pavement management
surveys that we've taken care of in the past indicate these streets are in need of
resurfacing at this time and the project as proposed will hopefully lengthen the life
expectancy of these streets between 5 and 10 years. In conjunction with the project we
are also considering spot repairs to the sidewalks, concrete curb and gutter and we are
also looking at improving the storm sewer, catch basins and storm sewer lines on 79th
Street, more or less over by Market Boulevard. Another item that we are considering is
the improvements at the railroad crossings and Market Boulevard and at Great Plains
Boulevard. That was not in the original bid. That will be handled through the railroad
contract. The funding for the project is shown on this sheet and again the assessments
that were proposed are from the bids received and indirect costs associated with the
project. Assessments are estimated, or are at $327,329.07. We are also looking at
tapping into the state fund. Turn back funds for, this used to be 101. Trunk Highway
101 so the state has budgeted $207,000 for that, and we also are looking at our state aid
account. Municipal state aid account and we are looking at an estimated amount of
$284,003.94 for that. From that fund. In total, the total project cost as stated are
$818,324.00. Of that the assessments were again based on benefiting property owners
and were calculated on an area basis. And for commercial properties, we are looking at a
$6,994.23 assessment per acre to the benefiting property owners and then for residential
area, acreage we are at $3,916.17 for the residential properties along this project area.
The length of the assessments, we are proposing an 8 year assessment at 6 percent
interest, and the completion date of the assessment process, if everything would be
approved tonight would be July 26th, 2004. The property owners may choose to pay off
this assessment earlier than that prior to the July 26th date without interest. The county
auditor would certify the assessments on or about the first of November, and the
assessments would be payable in 2005. Property owners here that wish to contest their
assessment should, we should give the city notification on or prior to this public hearing
and to date ! just have received 2 assessment objections for this project. With that said !
stand for questions and ! would recommend that the public hearing be opened at this
time.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any questions for staff?.
Councilman Ayotte: Please. Under the scope of work under additional comments, are all
of those points, the 2 inches of bituminous paving and overlay and so forth, removal and
preparing curb gutter sections and storm sewer improvements along 79th, are all of these
being paid by the assessment and the other sources of funding that you'd identified, or are
there other sources of funding that are being made available to cover them?
Paul Oehme: No, it's all through assessments. Trunk Highway state aid turn back and
our state aid account.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Councilman Ayotte: Okay. And the other point, we had discussed at a point, and ! don't
recollect specifically but we had indicated the impact on cost to wait. Do you recall what
that was by chance? ! mean if we were to, if there was further degradation ! thought that
we had talked about some numbers of how bad it could be. Does anyone?
Todd Gerhardt: Oh, if we waited how much would you see these property owners paying
if it had to go to a total reconstruct versus.
Paul Oehme: Yeah, under the state or our city practice currently, ! mean for typical
reconstruction project we're estimating, ! would estimate at least probably 4 or 5 times as
much as this project. The street reconstruction project that we're considering for this
year, that would, ! think it's coming forward next month is you know between $6,000 and
$7,000 we're estimating right now so, for just street reconstruction so it is a significant
amount of money more than what we are talking about here.
Mayor Furlong: And just for clarification. The 6,000 or 7,000 that you just mentioned,
that's not a per acre cost is it?
Paul Oehme: No, that's a per lot cost. Or per parcel.
Councilman Ayotte: Okay, so let's re-state it so people understand that you have about a
500 to 600 percent increase if degradation would be allowed to occur and we would have
to reconstruct the road.
Paul Oehme: Correct. If property regular maintenance were not implemented and we're
just fixing the potholes and minimal maintenance is involved, yes you would be looking
at a significant amount more of assessment under the city' s practice currently.
Councilman Ayotte: Okay. Thank you. Thank you Mayor.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Any other questions for the staff at this time? Okay.
If not, just for clarification, if somebody wishes to object, they need to file a written
objection or while speaking at the public hearing is certainly input for the council for it's
decision, but they also need to provide a written objection if they're here this evening and
give it to yourself or city manager or someone so they can be on record, is that correct?
Paul Oehme: Thank you, yes it is.
Mayor Furlong: And Mr. Kelly, if you could just.
Tom Scott: Scott.
Mayor Furlong: Oh Mr. Scott, I'm sorry. Name, address, property address. What do
they need for the objection to count?
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Tom Scott: Yeah, to be very simple. Just that they object and identify who they are.
That will suffice at this point.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, very good. If there are no other questions, ! will open up the
public hearing and invite people that wish to comment on this issue to please come
forward. This would be your time.
Jack Atkins: We have our written objections. ! have one for Ryan Gakes there and for
Lyle Buschkowsky and for myself.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, if you could state your name and address too please.
Jack Atkins: Okay, John Atkins. I go by Jack. And with my wife Paula we live at 220
West 78th Street. Since 1987. ! had a couple of questions also that maybe could be
addressed for myself but as ! recall West 78th Street in front of our house, could we have
that map up there. ! need visual aids. Okay, so we live right here on the corner of Erie
and West 78th Street. And my recollection is that 1973 this road was completely replaced
from this intersection to here when they realigned it. When they moved 101. In 1993.
I'm sorry, in 1993. The rest of this was all done back in the mid 80's sometime and !
walked our road and there, ! could not find a single pothole that's ever been filled.
There's a crack in the road every several hundred feet straight across the road that's been
filled with that thick tar stuff but there's no degradation or cracking of the road
whatsoever. In comparison the rest of these roads are in significantly worst condition and
so that's my first objection is that they're repairing a road that's in perfect condition.
Now ! understand that it might cost more to do it later, okay but if you walk the rest of
the roads in Chanhassen. You walk Laredo. You walk Frontier. Santa Vera. All of the
roads are in much worst condition than our road so, excuse me. So I'm wondering why
we're being forced to pay to uphold a street standard that's higher than everybody else's
street standard. And especially since we don't consider it our street. We live on Erie.
Our address is on West 78th Street but we're not a beneficiary of that street. The City is.
It's a major artery way into the city of Chanhassen and there's thousands of cars coming
in on that road weekly. ! could use a drink of water here but. So that's the other point is
we're not the beneficiaries of that road. It's actually a huge impact on our quality of life
along that road and I'm sure all of my neighbors will attest to that as well. We can't pull
out onto these roads. We end up driving back roads because the traffic's so bad between
4:00 and 6:00 and 7:00 and 9:00 in the morning. People that are turning onto Erie when
they're eastbound here, turning onto our street, they'll see cars.
Councilman Ayotte: Could you, cameraman's not, do it again.
Jack Atkins: Yes. When people are eastbound on this road, they'll see traffic coming
here and they're going to turn onto northbound Erie and to beat the traffic they'll cut this
wide and actually come and clip our corner as they turn northbound at 30 miles per hour.
So ! mean the entire road is a detriment to our quality of life. And now we're being
asked to pay apparently so that all these people can, it's really a, we don't consider it a
road. We consider it a landing strip for people who are coming in to do business in
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Chanhassen and that's what the way it's treated, so I guess that's the root of my
objections. And I'd like those addressed if possible. And the other thing was when this
road was completely redone just 10 years ago, the city and the state paid all the costs. So
we thought that there was a precedent there that they were going to maintain that road
because we certainly didn't want it improved. The better it is, the faster the traffic is.
We'd prefer that it was dead ended right here so everybody would take State Highway 5
into town, okay. And let's see. ! think that's most of my points. And who gets these?
Thank you. Any questions for me?
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Questions.
Councilman Ayotte: ! have it for staff. ! just need to restate, whoever can answer the
question. That portion of the road that was redone in '93 is what percentage of the total
project?
Jason Sprague: Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council, my name is Jason Sprague.
I'm a project manager for SEH on this particular project tonight. ! believe the portion of
roadway that the gentleman is referring to is probably about, of the total project length,
my guess is, if you include between Great Plains and Trunk Highway 101, probably 20 to
25 percent.
Councilman Ayotte: Okay.
Mayor Furlong: Excuse me. Of West 78th?
Jason Sprague: Of the total project. 79th, 78th, Great Plains and Market Boulevard.
Mayor Furlong: It's about 25 percent of the total project.
Jason Sprague: Correct.
Mayor Furlong: Sorry.
Councilman Ayotte: Okay. And with regard to typical life line for a road, in terms of life
cycle.
Jason Sprague: Right. Again, streets wear out and the life cycle cost again of a street
such as this, you're looking at between 10 and 15 years before you want to do an overlay
again. This section of the street, yeah it may not have as many potholes and is not maybe
as many alligatored areas but from a cost efficiency standpoint, where we have a large
project going on just adjacent to this, it makes sense to get in there and do the work at this
time, and also again we have funds available to us to help us out with Great Plains
Boulevard and West 78th Street from the state in terms of their turn back funds so we
wanted to utilize those before we give them up.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Councilman Ayotte: What was the, for the 75 percent delta, what's the age of the 75
percent delta. How old was it before it was.
Jason Sprague: Those segments vary. I guess you're looking at anywhere from 10 to 20
years depending on whether the 79, Market or Great Plains. There's different sections
built in different times. I recall seeing the as built drawings. Mid 80's, late 80's on most
of them.
Councilman Ayotte: Okay, so it's safe to say at this particular 20-25 percent segment is
probably 5 to 8 years newer than the balance of the.
Jason Sprague: Yes. If memory serves I think it was done when MnDot turned that
portion back and that's typically a MnDot process that they will upgrade the facility prior
to turn them back to a county or municipality so that was probably done by MnDot and
paid for by MnDot.
Councilman Ayotte: Is any portion of the storm sewer activity in the area that this
gentleman lives?
Jason Sprague: There is a small storm sewer improvements right near 101. There we go.
There's an additional catch basin we'll be putting in. Still get some drainage at the
intersection of 101 so we don't have water running across the intersection but other than
that, not on 78th, no.
Councilman Ayotte: Okay, thank you.
Jack Atkins: Would somebody address why it's being approved when other roads are
much older and in worst condition than it. ! mean if it makes sense to do it now, why
don't we do Frontier is in dreadful condition and Laredo are. Those people are not being
assessed right now and ! am for a perfectly good road that ! don't want. I'd rather it
ended so would somebody address why that inequity exists and why that's being
proposed of myself and my neighbors.
Paul Oehme: Again Laredo is not in the project area. Huron. Some of those other streets
up in that area too are in significantly degraded state at this time. Obviously we don't,
these streets are not MSA segments and as ! showed you in the cost assessment. Cost
breakdown for this project. We have funds available for these projects. It makes sense to
do the project at this time just due to the fact what again the life cycle cost of the street.
We want to keep them up in as good a shape as we can because that improves or
lengthens the longevity of the streets. Laredo, some of those other streets in that area,
they are not MSA street segments. We do not have funds available, or at this time for
those streets. We are looking at streets in the future. Laredo is one of them to...but in
terms of funding, they have not been identified at this time.
Jack Atkins: Could you explain to me how...
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Mayor Furlong: Sir? We'll try to keep, we got your comments. ! think we'll ask some
questions if we can. I'm sorry, go ahead.
Councilman Ayotte: I don't know if I understood you Paul. So are you saying there are
not funds available for other projects at this point from outside agents. There are funds
available at this point for this project and that's the reason why we're looking at this
project even though degradation on some of the other roads may be greater.
Paul Oehme: That's correct. ! mean we're looking at a total reconstruction for those
streets that the gentleman had just identified. It would have to be totally 100 percent city
funded plus assessments as well.
Councilman Ayotte: So it's safe to say that the roads that need to be reconstructed will
be at a 500 to 600 percent greater assessment than this road?
Paul Oehme: Correct. ! mean we're looking at again a total reconstruction. Our typical
city practice has been to assess a large portion of that 40 percent to the benefiting
property owners on those reconstruction areas, and the other portion would be at city
cost. City debt basically would pay for the rest of those, the portion of this project.
Councilman Ayotte: Thank you.
Mayor Furlong: Other questions right now. I guess I have one, if I may with regard to,
and just so ! understand correctly what you're saying. You're saying that there's a
potential that we could lose some funding if we don't do it now. Could you clarify that
so ! understand it please.
Paul Oehme: Yeah, sure. For state turn back funds, they are, they come available, they
have programmed over a 20 year cycle. We, the state has identified this money to be
spent right now so if we don't use it now, we could end up losing it in the future. It's not
to say we can't postpone the project but there are other projects behind us that would love
to take our money and use it for other projects so the state's funds as you all know, is
very tight at this time and there are a lot of street projects that other communities would
like to do.
Mayor Furlong: And are those funds specific to this section of the project or would they
be applicable to the remaining 75 percent of the project?
Paul Oehme: No, they're only applicable to, well West 78th Street and ! believe Great
Plains Boulevard. Those two. Same as the streets are, can be used for state aid turn back
funds.
Mayor Furlong: And at the time that it was turned back, and if ! understood correctly
they probably didn't overlay at that point. That's what Mr. Atkins was referring to with
regard to '93. ! guess it surprises me that the work that they would do for a turn back
would only last 10 years. You said 10 to 15.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Paul Oehme: It's again, we're looking at a rehabilitation project. It's not a total
reconstruction.
Mayor Furlong: Understand.
Paul Oehme: We're just bringing the pavement condition back up to a better level than it
currently is.
Mayor Furlong: And you're saying the work that they do at the time of the turn back,
which is a similar type of project to what we're describing here, correct? A mill and
overlay or do we know what they did?
Paul Oehme: ! believe that portion of 78th Street was a reconstruction.
Mayor Furlong: Back in '93?
Paul Oehme: Back in '93 so.
Councilman Ayotte: It was full upgrade construction is what ! heard.
Paul Oehme: Right, ! believe it was fully reconstructed at that time, so and again we're,
you know 10 to 15 years for typical street sections. You want to identify an overlay
project for those type of street projects, just to make sure that your wear course is, just for
the life cycle costs of the street section. You want to try to keep that wear surface as
good a condition as you can so you don't have the oxidation of the pavement surface and
water impeding into the sub-base. That's where their costs will come in when you get the
water and the asphalt actually starting to oxidize.
Mayor Furlong: Absent the loss of the state funding dollars, would this section of road
meet the criteria for a mill and overlay?
Paul Oehme: It's right on the cusp. ! mean it's at the lower tier of meeting mill and
overlay project but it's, ! think it's warranted at this time. There are potholes again, few
and far between but just for the continuity of the pavement section, it makes sense from
the staff' s perspective to get in there and do it all at once, as long as we have the funds
available.
Mayor Furlong: Councilman Ayotte.
Councilman Ayotte: Not to put the contractor on the spot, aw what the hell. So are there
other things that could be done in terms of a scope of work that would equalize the life of
how the road network for that 25 percent? You understand the question?
Jason Sprague: No sir I don't.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Councilman Ayotte: Okay. If you take the 25 percent that we're talking towards.
Jason Sprague: Yes sir.
Councilman Ayotte: And if we were to address that portion with a lesser scope of work
than the 75 percent...on the existing scope of work. Then if you were to have a line item
for the balance of the 25 percent to make the life somewhat equal to offset the fact that it
was reconstructed in 1993, what would that scope of work be? No coaching Paul.
Jason Sprague: If ! understand the question correctly, you're referring to what is the
actual construction cost on that segment, is that?
Councilman Ayotte: No, what I'm saying is, if you had the ability to affect the scope of
work and to do something differently for that 25 percent, which would not be as
aggressive as the 75 percent, what would that scope of work be?
Jason Sprague: Actually the scope of work is exactly similar to the balance of the 75
percent. There is a small reconstruction area, as we've talked about before. A complete
reconstruction area on 79th Street. However the 2 inch mill and overlay is about as a
minimum.
Councilman Ayotte: As nominal as you can get.
Jason Sprague: Yes.
Councilman Ayotte: Except for filling potholes.
Jason Sprague: Correct. Correct. And it's based on demographic volumes on municipal
state aid streets, 10 years might be on the lower end but if the traffic is, as this gentleman
has discussed, rather heavy, which it sounds like it is, especially in the peak hours. The
evening rushes, the morning rushes, it's not surprising that we would see the minor
wheel...that we're seen out there and the transverse packing at 100-150 foot dimensions.
That's what we saw when we walked the road. It does make sense to do it at this time.
Councilman Ayotte: Has anyone besides the residents, and this is not for you but for the
staff. Has anyone besides the residents seen the traffic pattern as being a concern in that
area over time and has anything been done about it?
Paul Oehme: Yeah. West 78th Street is a high volume collector roadway.
Councilman Ayotte: I'm talking about the turn off's and...
Paul Oehme: At those intersections I'm not aware of any traffic issues. I haven't been
aware of any residential concerns.
Councilman Ayotte: So we haven't been getting a lot of complaints from that area?
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Paul Oehme: Not that I'm aware of.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. There may be some additional questions but this is a public
hearing. Please come forward. If you could state your name and address.
Paul Eidem: Paul Eidem, 7727 Frontier Trail. Just a question on the turn back from the
state. It's about $200,000 roughly. And that's to pay for the West 78th Street portion a
little bit more. Than doesn't that cover the 25 percent of that cost?
Paul Oehme: Again, it covers well, the 25 percent that he's referring to is just West 78th
Street. We also have Great Plains Boulevard that we have to add in there so ! would, it
appears to me that it's maybe a portion of 45 percent mark of the total project cost so,
again it's turn back funds. If we want to theorize, you know the assessments in that area
plus the state aid turn back would fund probably 100 percent of that portion of the
project. Again it's state aid municipal, state aid funds would cover more or less the 79th
Street and the Market Boulevard and 78th Street west of Great Plains so, you know it
depends how you want to look at it but the assessments are needed to pay for that portion
of the roadway.
Councilman Lundquist: Paul, let me ask a clarifying question to make sure. ! think what
the gentleman was asking is, is looking at the total project cost of $800,000 and the state
turn back is $200,000. 25 percent of that total. We're saying that 25 percent of the
roadway just got re-built recently, and that's the part that's eligible for state turn back so
when we put this project cost together, are you taking total project cost minus MSA and
state turn back and then dividing by the number of properties and that's how you get your
assessment rolls or are you doing it specific to pieces of roadway?
Paul Oehme: No, ! believe it was done in aggregate. Over the entire project cost so it
was all one lumped together.
Councilman Lundquist: Okay. So they're in effect, they're paying for storm sewer and
improvements on West 79th Street as well?
Paul Oehme: Well no. ! mean they're, and ! don't know how that breaks down but that
$200,000 mark that also pays for the engineering and some of the other indirect costs
associated with the project too so ! would, ! would have to ask our consultant here but !
don't believe that $200,000 would cover all the improvements on 78th Street west of
Great Plains plus Great Plains. That's what is eligible ! believe for the state aid turn back
funds.
Mayor Furlong: Is the 207 the maximum amount that's available for state aid?
Paul Oehme: That's the maximum that we were indicated to us by the state.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Councilman Lundquist: Back to the storm sewer improvements on 79th Street then, those
are also lumped in an aggregate and going against the total project cost as well then,
correct?
Paul Oehme: That's correct. And again those storm sewer costs are state eligible.
Councilman Ayotte: Say it again Paul?
Paul Oehme: Are state aid eligible.
Councilman Lundquist: Oh they are, okay.
Paul Oehme: Yes, so those are included in the MSA and the.., costs as well.
Councilman Lundquist: Okay.
Councilman Peterson: ! guess now ! have a question based upon Brian's comment now.
Are the residents being assessed the partial cost of West 79th Street or not?
Paul Oehme: No. Again, ! think the assessments again are based upon the benefit to the
property owners but the $200,000 that we have identified as state aid turn back funds will
not cover the costs for the improvements on Great Plains Boulevard and West 78th Street
east of 78th Street, so ! don't have those numbers in front of me to break it out but.
Councilman Lundquist: Let's use a numerical example. Because I'm not sure that ! quite
understand either. You've got, let's say the project costs $100 and you've got 10
properties. 3 of the properties are getting storm sewer, 7 of them aren't. Do you take the
$100, divide it by 10 properties, everybody pays 10 bucks? Or do you get, as your
portion of the assessment, are those 3 people that are getting the storm sewer paying more
than the other 7 or does everybody pay 10 bucks and away you go?
Paul Oehme: Well everybody pay, again the city practice has been to assess 40 percent
of the cost of the project to the benefiting property owners. The storm sewer costs are
somewhat separate because those are state aid eligible. We haven't assessed for storm
sewer ! think on other projects so ! think those were taken out of the project costs, but in
terms of the curb and gutter, the sidewalk improvements, the mill and overlay, those are
included in the assessment amount.
Councilman Lundquist: So the storm sewer in this project is not included in that
assessment amount?
Paul Oehme: ! don't believe it is.
Councilman Lundquist: Okay.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Mayor Furlong: Maybe a question to help me understand. The proposed assessment rate
is different between the commercial and residential properties. Can you explain how you
calculated that or came up with that relationship?
Paul Oehme: It's, it was based on I believe a previous project that we have also worked
upon. It's similar to other city projects that I've worked on in the past and it's typically
based upon your traffic volumes for commercial vehicles are typically about double what
you would anticipate for a residential. For a square unit basis so those were based upon !
think historical precedence that the city has also put in place and it's also kind of a
practice that other cities have put in place too and ! think the, it's about 56 percent, the
commercial rate is about 56 percent above the residential rate.
Councilman Ayotte: In terms of the traffic that goes to this area, is it safe to say that the
preponderance of traffic activity as stated by the residents in what you've alluded to,
could it conceivably be heavier for the commercial benefit, even though you have this
number which you say is historical. It seems to me, and ! have no traffic data to support
it or studies to support it but could it be even more benefiting the commercial side rather
than this value that we have depicted here?
Paul Oehme: It definitely could be, right. And again it was based upon historical
assessment amounts. There was no traffic study done. There was no limited appraisal
done for this project. It was a typical assessment practice that has been in place in this
community and other communities that ! have...
Councilman Ayotte: Is it doable to somehow assess the traffic flow in this area and to
come up with some sort of empirical data to indicate whether or not that 6994 should be
7,000 or 7,500 or maybe 6,000. Is there any way to determine that?
Paul Oehme: It would take a lot of computation to figure out exactly where the traffic's
coming and going and who benefits from that traffic amount. Obviously it's a collector
street. There's a lot of traffic that's not just utilizing these streets for the commercial
properties in this area. They're going through. They're going over to Powers or
wherever. Or residential areas north of here so it's very hard to quantify how that
would...
Councilman Ayotte: But if we took a population count of the residents and if we took a
total count of the vehicles, we could make a supposition that in all probability that that
delta would be probably commercial.
Paul Oehme: Yeah, probably.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. We're still in a public hearing here, if anybody else
would like to come forward, please do so. Could you state your name and address sir.
Gene O'Brien: Good evening, my name is Gene O'Brien and I'm a board member at
Chapel Hill Academy and ! want to thank you guys for your service here at this board,
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
and ! really have just one question to you gentlemen, which is you know Chapel Hill
Academy, we know, we recognize we're a big user in the area and ! hope our people are
driving safely and respectfully among people. My concern really is into that picture of
here's a new road, or 10 or 11 years old. No contractor would have stood up here in his
right mind and said to you guys, 11 years from now I'm going to propose a project that
resurfaces this brand new state road. ! think as I'm hearing the discussion, it was an add
on because it gave weight to the project and allowed some state funds to roll back in.
Funds that you and ! all pay. And are those funds best spent on a road that's already in
okay shape? Better than okay according to one resident. No potholes at all. So ! would
ask the question, what portion, if in fact the West 78th portion out to 101 were excluded
from the project, what specific portion of state turn back funds or MSA street funds
would come out of the project? And then how would that project look then after that
section was removed. Thank you.
Jason Sprague: Well speaking to numbers directly, we talk about 25 percent and I don't
know immediately based off the assessment practice but if we just talk in ballpark
numbers, we'd probably, I would say maybe 50 percent of the MSA money. Without
looking at specifics and breaking it down right now I'm just trying to give a ballpark
answer.
Mayor Furlong: And I'm sorry, what was that 15 or 50?
Jason Sprague: 50. I'd say 50 if we're referring to Great Plains and 78th here, is that
correct? That's where we have the turn back funds, okay. And like ! say, that's just a
rough estimate to try to throw a number out there.
Mayor Furlong: Would those funds still be available in the same amount if this section
wasn't included in the project?
Jason Sprague: Which section, I'm sorry.
Mayor Furlong: Well ! think the section that's been brought up here at the public hearing
is the section that was reconstructed back in '93.
Paul Oehme: You know the $207,000, it would not be available in that amount. ! think
Great Plains, there would still be some funds available for that. That's in that other
segment of that street so there would be some. ! don't know how much though.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. This is still a public hearing if anybody else would like to
come forward. Speak at this time. Again ! would, sir.
Paul Eidem: One more comment. The notice that got sent out it says properties to be
assessed are those deriving direct benefits from this project. Specifically it's those
properties abutting or accessing from the following street sections. Why are we deriving
direct benefits just because my house is next to it?
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Paul Oehme: Benefits are related to, and typically assessments of benefits are related to
cost evaluation of your property. You would reconstruct or in this case the street in front
of your house would see a benefit to your property value based upon those improvements
and the way the assessments are structured, it's staff's belief that the benefits to the
property owners would be realized if that property owner would turn around and sell his
property, say right after the project and receive those benefits for the assessment
amounts.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. If you could come to the microphone please Paul.
Paul Eidem: It says direct benefits. Now all the commercial properties such as Target,
Byerly's are not included in this but ! can guarantee you that people use that road to go to
those stores. Why that is a direct benefit to them, why are they not included?
Jason Sprague: Quite frankly it's unfortunate it comes down to geography. Who is
adjacent to the project? You talk about trying to figure out, the individuals using the
roadways and where they're going. Without doing a rather detailed origination
destination study, which would cost a number of dollars as well, it's really difficult to
tell. So basically in nature of fairness it's who the property owners are adjacent to the
project, and picking up the tab. As ! look at the assessment rates ! can tell you working
with other cities and other City Council's, these are not high and they're not low.
They're somewhere in the middle. That comes from experience working with the City of
Minnetonka, City of Eden Prairie, City of Long Lake. I've certainly seen higher ones. !
have seen some lower ones. These are on the lower end because it's a maintenance
project in this perspective. We mentioned before complete reconstruct. ! think we
proposed a project where we came in about $600,000 on this project. If a complete
reconstruct project occurs, in this segment we're looking at about, over 2 million.
Probably 2.2, maybe 2.4 million dollars. As you can see with some of the assessments
would be significantly higher with respect to that, but to answer the gentleman's
question, it's unfortunately it's geography.
Paul Oehme: I'd just like to add to that too. And again the city, we're not picking up, the
residents aren't picking up the whole tab on this project. Again it's the city practices of
40 percent of the project cost to be put on assessments to these benefiting property
owners. And for this residential area too, ! think the assessments range between about
700 and 800 dollars per property so just giving you an idea of how much we're talking
about here.
Mayor Furlong: 700 to 800 for the residential properties?
Paul Oehme: That's correct. And again it's based upon square...acreage.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Still public hearing. Please come forward.
Brian Nustad: Hi. My name is Brian Nustad. I live at 7791 Erie Avenue. My question
is regarding to the geography as we're discussing here. Are all property owners
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residential being charged in that span? And that shot I saw Paul had earlier, I saw a
property line that was not highlighted so they're not being charged for anything.
Mayor Furlong: Could you identify the map?
Brian Nustad: The highlighted map...
Paul Oehme: Oh, okay.
Brian Nustad: And are there any other property owners first of all that are not being
charged? ! live on Erie Avenue. ! live right here. There's my neighbor. There's a
property owner right here. He has about 80 feet, 90 feet of property along the road.
Right here. ! live here. This is the next neighbor here. This is the next neighbor here.
He has about 85 feet of property going along West 78th Street. And he's not being
assessed anything so is there anyone else here being assessed that they should be or
should not be?
Jason Sprague: That would be the...
Brian Nustad: Are we missing anybody is what I'm asking. Or why are we not selecting
people?
Paul Oehme: Again, the assessment area was based upon the project limits and they were
set in September of 2000, or September 22, 2003. ! don't know, in that particular case if
that said that property accesses onto 78th Street or not. I'm not aware of why that
property would not be in this project area. ! definitely will take a look at that. Research
that some more.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Brian Nustad: ! do not have a driveway on West 78th Street. This property does. He has
a full driveway accessing West 78th SO.
Todd Gerhardt: Paul, are you taking into account corner lots then that may access on a
different road but have frontage on West 78th?
Paul Oehme: I believe that's the way the assessment roll was put together.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. This is still a public hearing. Anybody else would like to come
forward.
Jerry Paulsen: Jerry Paulsen, 7305 Laredo Drive. First comment, and it kind of concerns
me to see a decision made on the basis that the money is available rather than on the need
to do the work. If that's the gist of some of this that ! understand. Secondly I'm walking
on tip toes. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop as ! mention Laredo Drive. We have
an obstacle course coming up to the city from our area and we're anticipating some kind
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
of repair in the future at a cost obviously. The cause of that was construction to a certain
extent last summer in our area and Laredo was the primary route for those trucks.
Cement trucks, etc, etc. Lastly, if there's a traffic problem, people diverting down the
city streets where they shouldn't be going, consider making them one way perhaps to
avert that. Thank you.
Mayor Furlong: If there's anybody else.
Jack Atkins: Yeah, Jack Atkins at 220 West 78th. I appreciate how problematic it is
going through this assessment process and trying to assign assessments to property
owners and coming up with formulas that are reasonable and everything's changing all
the time and ! appreciate your listening to our comments tonight. And ! appreciate how
difficult a problem it is for you. ! just hope you understand how inherently unfair it
seems to us as property owners to being assessed. ! mean it doesn't make sense to us and
he can say that well we're, our property value goes up but we all know and the truth of
the matter is that if that road was complete potholes and chasms, that our property value
would soar because we would not have that tremendous traffic load there so, you can't,
he can say that, ! mean ! understand that he says well it's unfortunate and he's saying that
well, you're, our property value went up when you did this project. Well anyway, thanks
for putting up with us tonight.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there anybody else that would like to speak to the council
through the public hearing. If not ! guess ! want to make sure that everybody that's
spoken this evening realizes they need to have their objections in in written form if they
want to preserve the rights, is that correct sir? And so if you haven't done that, please do
so right now. Is there anybody that still needs to do that that was here this evening?
Councilman Ayotte: Geno, did you hear that?
Mayor Furlong: So we got everybody, everybody that spoke this evening has gotten their
objections in in written form Paul? Okay. Alright, very good. Is there anybody else that
would like to come forward to speak at the public hearing? If not, then ! will go ahead
and close the public hearing and bring it back to council for either additional questions or
comments.
Councilman Ayotte: Well I'll start if no one else will. On this council I've been known
as the life cycle Nazi, but ! do have with, as we've gone through this and I've felt very,
very positive towards the beginning. ! feel less positive now because of the factor of
possibly re-doing a road that may not need to get done, and one of the discussion points
we've had previously is the need for core samples and so forth to really validate
predictably what a road's life can be. Number two, and for my brethren in arms that I've
served with in the past, the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps turns back money every
year out of it's budget and it's the only service that does it and it doesn't give a darn as to
what the other services do so in their budget they'll turn it back. Number three, there's
some ambiguity with how much money would have, would we not acquire should we
reduce the project. For the contractor's benefit, ! don't know what that contractor's
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
economy of scale is with regard to being healthy with the project and not having a scope
reduction or alteration. So right now I've got to say, and even though the project may not
be considered low or high, with what I've heard here, knowing that staff is doing due
diligence. Knowing that staff wants to do the right thing, I'm concerned that we may not
be as fair as we need to be representing our residents right now. I'm a little worried
about that and the demographics and the layout of where our target is, ! still have a, not a
very good comfort level as to whether or not the assessment for commercial vis a vis the
assessment for residential is correct. ! just, ! am no longer comfortable. Therefore I'm
not as in favor of this project as ! was in the beginning because of the life cycle issue and
because of the reconstruction of road. Thank you Mayor.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Do you want to comment or do you have a question?
Comment?
Councilman Lundquist: Comment. ! can wait.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, can I ask a question first for clarification? I think something I'm
thinking of as Councilman Ayotte was giving his comments. We have the allocation
between the per acre rate of commercial and residential. Do you have a break out of the
total assessment portion? How much of that is being assessed to commercial and how
much is being assessed to the residential properties? Is that on this sheet somewhere?
Paul Oehme: It's not broken out. ! do have the assessment.
Mayor Furlong: You have a per property but does it break it out between resident and
commercial?
Paul Oehme: There's about 60, sorry. There's 66 properties that are being proposed for
assessment, and of those let's see. It appears to me there are only 6 residential properties
that are being assessed.
Mayor Furlong: 6 out of 667
Paul Oehme: Yep. So all the other ones are at the commercial rate and the residential,
yeah of the, so that's about $3,800 of the total project cost will be assessed to them. To
the residential property owners.
Mayor Furlong: That's my question. Now you can go on with your comments.
Councilman Lundquist: Similar feelings to Councilman Ayotte as far as I think there's a
few questions that ! struggle with is that the road was reconstructed in '93. We know
from our things that we've done with different consultants on our pavement management
thing as we're going through, we should expect every 10 to 15 years to do mills and
overlays to extend the life of the road to keep that going longer. The issue's going to be
if we don't do the whole project now for continuity, in 4 years we're going to be coming
back here saying we're going to do a quarter mile stretch of the road and not the rest of it,
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
so I think in the grand scheme of things this is a good way to get it all at the same speed,
at the same time and it will all have been done together and when it comes back again,
we can look at the whole section as one. These are always difficult things because it's
always kind of a touch and go on the property value and it's obviously opinion based
and... ! think given the information that ! have right now, I'm ready to go forward.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Other comments?
Councilman Labatt: Quick question?
Mayor Furlong: Certainly.
Councilman Labatt: Paul ! realize you weren't here in 1993.
Mayor Furlong: He wasn't here in September, but go ahead.
Councilman Labatt: Were you guys assessed in '93?
Residents: No.
Councilman Labatt: No. Zero. Okay.
Councilman Peterson: That was the turn back from the state was the issue there.
Councilman Lundquist: The State built the road.
Councilman Labatt: Okay. Okay. And I'm still confused on the answer. The question
that was asked is these 6 residential properties, are they, in their assessment of anywhere
from 700 to 1,400 it looks like, is any of their money going to pay for the curb and gutter
or anything that backs down on West 79th? We talked about those improvements on the
curb and gutter.
Paul Oehme: Well the way these assessments were set up, again is looked in aggregate.
And it wasn't done on a per block basis. It's looked at as an assessment of the total
project cost, excluding a few miscellaneous items. So ! guess in actuality, maybe you can
look at it that way but in terms of a segment by segment basis, cost analysis for the
project, it was looked at in aggregate.
Councilman Labatt: Okay. ! guess my only.
Paul Oehme: I'm sorry, and again I'm sorry go ahead.
Councilman Lundquist: But that's different than, when ! thought the way ! understood it
before it was that the curb and gutter was removed from that assessment piece first and
then ! think what ! just heard you say was that it's an aggregate divided by the parcels.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Paul Oehme: Again, I'm sorry. The improvements to the curb and gutter and the
sidewalk and the mill and overlay, that's pretty much standard throughout the project
again. Those are the improvements that we're looking at for assessing.
Councilman Lundquist: Yeah, the storm sewer is the one I think on 79th Street that Steve
and I had a question.
Paul Oehme: Yeah, and I believe that was taken out.
Councilman Lundquist: Taken out, okay.
Councilman Labatt: Okay.
Mayor Furlong: Go ahead. Well I have a clarifying question and maybe this speaks to it.
The issue is part of the assessment dollar's going to be used elsewhere than on the street
in front of the resident's homes and the question ! would ask is to the turn back dollars,
which would be applied to the street. Do they cover the entire cost of the mill and
overlay associated with the turn back roads?
Paul Oehme: I guess I need to ask Jason Sprague that question because I don't know the
exact dollar amounts.
Jason Sprague: If we use the 25 percent number we talked about earlier, saying that that
portion of 78th Street is 25 percent of the total project, right or wrong let's use the 25
percent.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Jason Sprague: If we use the 25 percent of the turn back money, the 25 percent of the
available state aid funds, ! would have to believe based on construction costs, if we were
to just leave that one segment and leave the 6 property owners to pay for that segment of
roadway, their assessments would go significantly higher. So when you say are they
paying for an improvement on 79th? Yes, but ! think the folks on 79th are going to be
paying a lot larger segment for their part in front of their home.
Todd Gerhardt: And you've got to look at it the other way around too. That the
commercial property is also paying for the blacktop that's going along West 78th Street
that goes by these individual's homes. That's a larger percentage so it works both ways.
! mean you put it all in one big pot but the commercial properties are paying almost 70
percent of the cost of the entire project, so they're paying for 70 percent of the blacktop
that goes by the residential homes too.
Jason Sprague: That's correct.
Mayor Furlong: Well if for clarification, if the 6 residential properties are paying under
10,000 and we're saying maybe 3 to 5. Out of the total assessments being proposed to all
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
property owners, all 66 of 327,000, is that right? So on a percent of the total project it's
much smaller. Still real money to the residents.
Todd Gerhardt: But then you've got to look at it by a per acre basis is how the
assessment roll was based, and these are very small lots so their percentage is even
decreased dramatically based on a per acre basis. You know typically a home will have
15,000 square feet. These lots have to be somewhere around 10 to 8. So it's 8,000 to
7,000.
Mayor Furlong: And ! want to hold my comments to this point but ! guess part of my
concern is the benefiting properties on collector roads. ! think the issue here that we're
struggling with is it's a collector road. It's not a neighborhood street where you have all
residents there benefiting from wherever the storm water catch basin happens to be.
Everybody's storm water runs to it so they all get it. Here the issue is it's a collector road
and so are the residential property owners benefiting to the level of the proposed
assessment versus a commercial property owner? So ! guess that's what ! see as really
the question in front of us.
Todd Gerhardt: But they still are generating storm water runoff. And they benefit from
the overall drainage area of the downtown. So they've got a 7,000 square foot lot, a
driveway. That water needs to be pre-treated. It's got to go somewhere. So they do
benefit from the storm water. And then it goes back to our assessment roll that we talked
about. If you've got a typical residential neighborhood, you know you've got a street so
they may be coming onto a collector road but they still have to pay their pro-rated amount
if they would have had a regular street.
Councilman Labatt: Those are just my questions, thanks. ! kind of agree with Mr.
Lundquist and his position so that's where ! sit on the side of the fence here.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Councilman Peterson, thoughts?
Councilman Peterson: ! started with three issues and ! think ! finally after this last
discussion got the assessment issue in my mind. ! think it's appropriate that we're not,
that it is appropriate and we're not putting onus on one resident over picking up West 79th
Street and that whole scenario so I'll let that go. My only concern, substantial concern is
we've got a road that is 11 years old, 10 years old and it has 5 to 6 years of life that a mill
and overlay would still be all that's required. We're doing it 5 or 6 years early. Because
money's available and ! find that a little disturbing because that's doing it potentially 50
percent faster than we need to, and historically we're always pushing the envelope the
other way. So now all of a sudden you know we're going the other way and ! don't like
to do that. ! like consistency and approach the residents and provide the residents
consistency and we're not doing that here. And ! don't know why, and ! haven't got a
good answer for that yet. So what I'd like to see is, if we wait 5 years and let's say that
we all agree that 5 years we'll still be able to do a mill and overlay and not a
reconstruction. ! don't care of the road looks different. ! don't give a squat about
continuity. ! give a squat about spending money and spending it wisely. And I'd like to
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
see an analysis of if we wait 5 years, and I understand if it costs more because it was a
quarter mile, you've got to bring the equipment in, but ! don't know why we couldn't
coordinate it and bid that out with another project that we'd be doing that year in the city,
so that concerns me greatly. And again continuity is not something ! really care about.
And then lastly ! want to be sure that all the landowners that if we go ahead with this, !
want to be sure that all the landowners are assessed appropriately. That we haven't
forgotten somebody so let's certainly verify that so. I'm not ready to approve this tonight
based upon those comments.
Mayor Furlong: Yeah, ! would concur with you Councilman Peterson. The one that
stuck in my craw in the need for work and even before ! was elected to the council ! was
at that podium when my neighborhood was being assessed for work and ! along with all
my neighbors came up and said it doesn't need to be done yet. Well they went forward.
I've got a problem when that's the case. We're being inefficient here in that these should
have been questions that were raised when the feasibility study was done instead of now.
But ! don't think that that suggests that we should go forward now because we didn't
raise the questions back then when we had that public hearing. Doing work that's not
necessary to be done doesn't make sense to me. And if that means we lose some state
dollars, ! don't want to go about losing money that's available to us but ! don't want to be
spending money, whether it's state money, city money or our residents money that
doesn't need to be spent, and so I'm concurring with you on that. If that means we have
to, because we want to still try to get the rest of the project done, ! didn't hear anything
tonight that suggests that other parts of West 78th, West 79th, Great Plains or Market don't
need to be done. ! think they need to be done. ! think we need to try to get them in for
this year so it may need a quick turn around here as to what is going to be, what part of
the road that was done in '93, you know does that really need to be done? And if it
doesn't need to be done, just because we're going to lose money, then ! would say let's
not do it. And if we get criticized for being inefficient 4 years from now because we're
doing something and you just did it 4-5 years ago, I'll take that criticism because we're
spending the money better. So ! guess ! would challenge staff and the gentleman from
SEH, if indeed either be able to support why that section of the road needs to be done
now for something besides the availability of money. Because the merits of the road
require it at this point. Or will require it soon, and by soon ! mean in a year or two. !
think generally we tend to stretch these out longer than 4-5 years within the 15 years and
so that says we might be even looking at a 7 or 8 if we're consistent so, and ! would hope
that staff can do that relatively quickly. Obviously not in front of us this evening but,
unless you.
Jason Sprague: IfI might just respond. I know we did talk about the money is available.
Yes, that is part of the equation and you talk about the feasibility study that was
completed last fall. And that is between SEH and staff, we did analyze the suggestion
about...pavement management program and concurred with some of the outcomes.
Now, can ! predict the future? No. If ! was, ! probably wouldn't be in this business but
it'd be very difficult for me to come to you in 2 or 3 years, after seeing like ! say, some of
the transverse cracking. Some of those, the rutting, the wheel paths. Those type of
things. Having known that now to come back in 2 to 3 years when we do have a
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
deterioration situation which warrants full reconstruction, I know that I would have a
difficult time coming before you to present that. And that's what we are seeing. That's
what we did present in the feasibility study. That we do believe it warrants that. Is there
money available? Yes, but that is kind of on the back side of the equation. That does
make it a little easier if you will. ! know when you're looking at an assessment, nothing
is easy. ! agree with that. But it does make the bottom line easier when there are those
turn back funds available, but ! just want to make clear on behalf of staff that that was not
the impetus of this project. The money was available so let's do it .... project was the
project needed to be done based on the condition of the road and we concur with what
we've seen. ! walked every inch of that project with one of my engineers, and like ! say
can ! tell you in 3 years it's going to be rubble? ! can't tell you that. ! can tell you what
I've seen in other cities with similar problems. ! can tell you that I've seen it happen
within 3 years. ! can also tell you I've seen it not happen. It's just like ! say, from our
perspective, from staff's perspective to come back to you in 3 years and not have the
funding mechanism available and have to approach the same residents, when you're
talking about unit cost. We will more than likely be able to lump it into another project.
! don't think that other than standard inflation costs that we'd have to incur. ! don't think
we're going to see a significant rise. So that's not the issue. It's just coming back and
saying okay, staff doesn't have the funds available from turn back dollars. We're looking
at something that, as we look at the $207,000 and 25 percent of that, that 50,000 isn't
available. Then we're going to have to look at it in other places such as the assessments.
And ! know that's not going to make folks real happy.
Mayor Furlong: Then I guess the follow-up question I would have, and this gets back to
Councilman Peterson's comments ! think. 10 years ago it was reconstructed.
Jason Sprague: Correct.
Mayor Furlong: And if we're looking at a 10 or 15 year life, are you telling us now that
if we don't do the mill and overlay now that this road will not be able, will degradate to
the point where it will require a full reconstruction in a matter of a few years?
Jason Sprague: ...future if! knew that.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Jason Sprague: Based on the symptoms that we see out there, like I say. Engineering
101, you will have rutting. You see transverse cracks. Paul alluded to the fact that you
get water into the sub-grade, it degrades the sub-grade which then further accelerates the
deterioration of the pavement structure. Can ! draw a direct correlation? No. No, !
cannot. Does this, are these preliminary signs of further deterioration and what is that
time frame? Yes it is, and typically we're looking at anywhere from 2 to 5 years.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Councilman Ayotte: Mayor, may ! have a follow on question to Paul?
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Mayor Furlong: Certainly.
Councilman Ayotte: Paul, was there any core samples done?
Paul Oehme: No, there was not any core samples done.
Councilman Ayotte: Thank you. Legal counsel. Is there a way, if we were to
demonstrate that so much percentage of the downtown outside of geographic boundaries
gained from this, that they could be included in the assessment? Could we, if we were to
determine it. ! know that he doesn't have a crystal ball but ! know how bright Paul is, if
we could demonstrate that a large number of the road traffic goes to Target, is there a
way that we could extend our assessment base? Sorry.
Tom Scott: No, that's quite okay. It would be very difficult.
Councilman Ayotte: But would it be legal if we could do it?
Tom Scott: Well, you have to, as has been alluded to. The question is whether or not
there's a special benefit to a particular property. Now the traditional way of doing road
projects has been to assess the abutting properties. There are situations where you can in
the right circumstances, you can expand that beyond the abutting property. That's again
the most typical way of doing it is the abutting property owners. To do that you'd have
to be able to identify a special benefit. Not just a general benefit that properties generally
get from public improvement projects. So when you're talking about Target's or stores
like that that are kind of generally in the community you get to a real issue over whether
or not they're receiving some sort of a special benefit that's not more of a general
community benefit. You also get into then of how do you draw the boundaries because
you'd have to include properties that are receiving the special benefit and not excluding
others that are also so it becomes really problematic when you try to include non abutting
property owners, from that standpoint. Secondly, from the standpoint of this particular
project where last fall you set the assessment area and then to, you really almost have to
go back and almost start over to expand the assessment area because if folks weren't
notified last September, they didn't have the opportunity to come in and object to the
project as some one who might potentially be assessed. Now there is a procedure where
there's one property that may have been overlooked. There is a way if it's an omitted
property where you may be able to go back and include it, but as far as expanding the
general assessment area after you've had your feasibility study and ordered the project,
that's...
Councilman Ayotte: But if we can...that feasibility study possibly to be fall short and we
may have determined that this evening.
Tom Scott: So then basically again you'd be terminating, you'd basically go back and
start the project over.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Mayor Furlong: Is there a, next item on our agenda is going to be consider awarding a
contract for this project. Is there a time specific issue there versus a couple weeks from
now, if we approve that?
Jason Sprague: Yeah, typically 60 days from the bid opening.
Mayor Furlong: And when was that?
Jason Sprague: April 23rd.
Mayor Furlong: April 23rd SO that gives us til June 23rd that the bids are valid. I'm sitting
here, and maybe my preference would be to review that feasibility study. It wasn't
included in our packet here and take a look at that, because ! think Councilman Peterson
is going to help us answer the question, does this need to be done? In this section of the
road.
Councilman Peterson: ! think one of the things I'll be looking at staff from is if we don't
do this section now and do it in 3 years, what will the cost be, assuming we don't get
matching funds so ! can go to the residents and say alright, if we do it now it's going to
be $700. If we wait 3 years when it absolutely needs to be done, it will be $1,800. So
that's one of the things I'll be looking for from staff.
Councilman Ayotte: One of the problems I've got here, and I'm a little miffed because
I've asked more than once on other projects. I've asked this question, have we done bore
samples. Bore samples is a destructive test that can in fact substantiate whether or not we
have an issue, and if we built a road in 1993 and someone didn't have the fore thought to
go ahead and do some bore samples to see if we in fact can anticipate further degradation,
then ! don't think we've done a good job of assessing the need. I'm not talking about
assessing in terms of assessment but really validating particularly that road that was
reconstructed in 1993. And although I'm old and feeble, ! recall very specifically asking
the question of bore samples over and over again.
Mayor Furlong: And is that something Councilman Ayotte you'd expect at a feasibility
study level or when would you?
Councilman Ayotte: Well ! would think that if we were to go forward, either the
contractor, if we knew that a road was built in 1993 and to substantiate based on the
feasibility study the need to do what we're proposing right now, and it's not out of
normal procedure to do that. ! mean you know, you do that. Same thing like when you
do, on a roof. Same kind of problem you have on a roof. You x-ray the roof. You do
things like that before you spend the money.
Todd Gerhardt: Mayor?
Mayor Furlong: Yes.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Todd Gerhardt: I would suggest that we table this item. Give staff the opportunity to sit
down with the neighborhood. Talk with them. Take a look at the inventory of the street
section again and bring this back in 3 weeks. ! think we meet June 14th. We're still
within the time frames. We've got to be prepared to sign a contract if we're going to go
ahead with this probably that next week so we should start working on making sure
we've got a contract that is executable that we, allow staff an opportunity to sit down
with maybe a couple of the neighborhood individuals and talk about this.
Mayor Furlong: ! think that's a good idea because ! think it would, there have been some
questions raised here that ! think would give all of us, both those of us up here and those
in the audience a little more comfort, if that's acceptable. Is there a.
Councilman Lundquist: One comment?
Mayor Furlong: Absolutely. Or direction to staff, if other people have comments.
Councilman Lundquist: No, ! think it's probably just a comment to council here is that, !
guess I'm a little bit, well I'm a lot disappointed at the discussions we've had tonight on
the feasibility of this project because on September of last year, which all 5 of us were on
the council then. We accepted the feasibility study which basically said it's okay to do
this project. It needs to be done and let's go ahead and find out how much it's going to
cost and do the assessment piece. Now we're saying well, maybe not. But so ! guess
we've raised some valid questions. My disappointment is we should have done it in
September because we've lost a lot of time and just disappointed in the way that the 5 of
us have handled that process.
Councilman Peterson: ! think the process worked. ! mean we've gotten new
information. More information. We evaluate it and ! don't disagree with you in theory
but ! think this discussion is good because it's based upon more information than we had
before. Specifically the residents.
Mayor Furlong: And ultimately I want to do what's right and I think as all of us do up
here. ! think that's what our fiduciary responsibility is and if it takes a few more weeks
to get it right, then ! think we should do that so ! understand your thoughts and comments
but again, confirm with Councilman Peterson, you know let's get it right rather than
moving forward if there are concerns so. Do we need a motion to table? Is that
appropriate?
Councilman Labatt: Move to table.
Mayor Furlong: Is there a second?
Councilman Ayotte: Second.
Todd Gerhardt: Do you need a motion to close the public hearing?
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Mayor Furlong: I said it, we close the public hearing. Is that sufficient?
Tom Scott: That's fine.
Mayor Furlong: Alright. So the public hearing has been closed earlier before our
comments. There's a motion to table. It's been seconded.
Councilman Labatt moved, Councilman Ayotte seconded to table the special
assessment hearing for 2004 MSA street improvements, Project 04-02. All voted in
favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
AWARD OF BIDS FOR 2004 MSA STREET IMPROVEMENTS, PROJECT 04-
02.
Mayor Furlong: Is there a motion to table?
Councilman Labatt: Move to table.
Mayor Furlong: Is there a second?
Councilman Ayotte: Second.
Councilman Labatt moved, Councilman Ayotte seconded to table the award of bids
for 2004 MSA street improvements, Project 04-02. All voted in favor and the
motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you everyone. Appreciate your comments.
REOUEST TO REPLAT eUTLeT B, BLUFF CREEK CORPORATE CENTER
INTO 26 LOTS AND 2 eUTLeTS AND SITE PLAN APPROVAL FOR THE
CONSTRUCTION OF FIVE 3-UNIT AND TWO 5-UNIT OFFICE BUILDINGS
ON 13.43 ACRES; STONE CREEK TOWN OFFICES, EDEN TRACE
CORPORATION.
Kate Aanenson: Thank you Mayor. As you indicated there's two action items before
you tonight. One is the replat of a subdivision, and the other is a site plan review. The
site is located just south of Highway 5, north of Coulter as part of the Bluff Creek
Corporate Center. Family of Christ Church sits kitty corner, and then you have Bluff
Creek Elementary. This site right here went to the Planning Commission as Advance
Fitness and you will be seeing that site shortly. It's bounded on either side by a creek.
Again the applicant is requesting the replat of 13 acres into 26 lots and 2 outlots and
they'll be subdivided into 25, if you can back out of that just a pinch. 25 corporate office
buildings. Individual buildings. This original PUD was put together with design
standards and a shared parking requirement that I'll discuss in a minute in 1998. It does
require, as we reviewed the Highway 5 standards have now been woven into the overall
design standards for the city and also the PUD standards for the site, which it does meet.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Material proposed for the project is fiber cement siding with simulated stone wainscoting
on the lower level of the buildings. On the lower portions here. Pitched roofs. Again the
staff believes with the visibility, which it has high visibility from Highway 5, that it's
very well conceived and works well. There's also no loading docks with this based on
the fact that it's really more kind of incubator, small businesses. Again it works really
well with high visibility from Highway 5. They are slab on grade buildings and they'll
be two stories high. Again it fits well within that corridor. One of the issues that came
up with this PUD was the fact that there was some shared parking. When we put the
PUD together for the church. Similar to what we did on Villages on the Pond. When you
have a higher use on certain times and the offices are lower peak. The applicant, Mr.
Undestad has worked with the church to provide some shared parking on those peak
hours and that's shown on this site plan here. One of the issues that the Planning
Commission had as this project moved forward was the trails shown on this purple side is
the perimeter trails. The Planning Commission asked for additional trail along this side.
There is an existing cul-de-sac. That cul-de-sac will be moved further to the north. The
planning staff originally felt that access could be achieved going along this sidewalk and
just walking down. The Planning Commission felt that this would probably be a good
addition. The applicant has agreed to do that. The other concern was the view from
Highway 5 and berming. Again the staff' s position was that the landscaping will provide
adequate berming. A parking lot, which is what we tried to screen is the parking lot, not
necessarily buildings. Certainly there's visibility and there will be signage along those
fronts of the buildings so ! didn't bring those to you. The applicant is prepared to come
back at final, which you would see in a few weeks. Those plans have been made, making
the parking, or the landscaping area along here approximately 7 feet. Now it's closer to
15 feet. Quite a bit additional landscaping so again that would provide the screening for
the cars, which was the intent of the design standards. Not necessarily buildings, and that
was a concern that the Planning Commission had so we believe that that's been
adequately addressed. In your staff report there are the conditions of approval. Again the
Planning Commission did hold a public hearing on May 4th and did recommend approval
of this application. There was a couple of, there's two motions again the preliminary plat
and the site plan. The Planning Commission originally thought that there may have been
some conditions missed, so I'd like to, if you want to turn to page 15 on the conditions of
approval. We did note that some of the conditions had been duplicated. So 13 and 14, so
if you want to re-number your conditions, there's actually only 15 conditions. The trash
containers have been moved already on the revised site plan. Again that was a concern of
where they're relocated, so with that, staff and the Planning Commission did recommend
approval and we believe it's a well conceived plan. I'd be happy to answer any questions
that you may have.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you and just for clarification. Staff is saying to, from page 15 to
remove conditions 13 and 14.
Kate Aanenson: That's correct.
Mayor Furlong: And renumber 15, 16 and 17. 13 through 15 appropriately.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Kate Aanenson: That's correct.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Questions for staff. Kate, sidewalks was an issue brought
up by the Planning Commission. Can you help clarify what the issue was.
Kate Aanenson: Yeah, that was the one on this one. On this plan right here. Staff had
felt that in order to get over to the street, if you were at maybe parking, shared parking
with the church. A way to make that work and Mr. Undestad's already made that change.
Moving this handicap parking access so actually it provides a better walk through
between this parking, and going along this existing sidewalk and coming down onto the
cul-de-sac, if you were going to do the shared parking. The Planning Commission felt
it'd be better just to continue and have an additional trail along here. Both work. We're
always concerned about over duplicating. Just in the fact that it's a nice landscape area
too to create some of that buffer...
Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you.
Councilman Labatt: Has that been maintained in the winter time by the property owner?
Kate Aanenson: ! believe it's called a trail but it's actually a side.
Councilman Labatt: Pardon?
Kate Aanenson: It's going to be a sidewalk.
Councilman Labatt: So that will be maintained by the property?
Kate Aanenson: Correct. It wouldn't be a city trail.
Councilman Labatt: It will not be a city trail?
Kate Aanenson: No.
Councilman Labatt: Okay.
Kate Aanenson: There is a trail that goes up. This is this trail right here that goes, ties
into the Bluff Creek Elementary School site and goes underneath Highway 5. There
would be access that way.
Councilman Labatt: Okay.
Councilman Peterson: Kate ! missed, did you say that there was going to be a berm?
Kate Aanenson: No, the Planning Commission was concerned about the way they left it
was to work with the staff and MnDot. You're close to the MnDot right-of-way to
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
provide screening. The way our ordinance reads is that the screening should be for
parking lot. It wasn't our intent to screen the building. It's a very nice building.
Councilman Peterson: Yeah, that was my point. Let's not cover up good architecture.
Kate Aanenson: Right, and staff concurs with that. What's been done, Mr. Undestad's
already made the changes to that and there's additional planting area that's wider and
additional trees. Quite a significant amount of trees and you'll see that when it comes
back for final plat. We just got those changes today so we believe that meets the intent
which is to screen the parked cars.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Any other questions for staff at this time? ! see Mr. Undestad is
here, the applicant. Would you like to address the council or? Here's your opportunity.
It's not a requirement but.
Councilman Peterson: He had a board. Bring your board with.
Mayor Furlong: You've got a nice board.
Mark Undestad: The board's kind of the same picture... Just a bigger picture .... been
fun working on it and putting it together. It's getting a lot of interest from local
businesses. Who are ready to kind of move out of their basements and homes... 25 units
on there. ! think by the time we get through our final plat it will probably be close to 50
percent full.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Any questions? No? Thank you. I'll bring it back to council for
comments. Discussion.
Councilman Labatt: This is one of these developers who always brings in a quality
project and ! can remember last year or two years ago when ! asked the same question
tonight is why this just isn't on the consent agenda. This is going to be a great addition to
Chan. Thanks Mark.
Councilman Peterson: Yeah ! agree with Steve. ! think the interesting thing, and ! try
not to compliment Mark more than ! should perhaps but ! just like the idea that you guys
put together a plan that's unique to the city and unique to the area, and ! think that as, do
more stuff out of the box because ! think regardless of how nice a project looks, it's a
nice project but it's a unique project that's going to bring potential different kinds of
businesses to the city so that ! think is worthy of bringing it off the consent agenda to
make that comment.
Councilman Lundquist: You would have pulled it off anyway, is that what you're
saying?
Councilman Peterson: No ! wouldn't.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Councilman Lundquist: I would have.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Councilman Lundquist: I would concur with the ones before too. As I was reading
through the packet I think it peaked my interest. Interesting and it fits really well with
what's going on there as well, especially right next to the church and everything too so
it' s, I will be, I am excited to see it on here and it will be fun to see it come to life.
Mayor Furlong: So thank you. Councilman Ayotte.
Councilman Ayotte: Can't add to those comments. Thank you very much for all your
hard work. Appreciate it.
Mayor Furlong: Yep. As well. It's a neat product. It's going to benefit the city and we
appreciate that and all your work throughout the city and prior development. I concur
with other statements.
Councilman Ayotte: I wonder if this will pass.
Mayor Furlong: I don't know. We only need a simple majority, right. With that, the
motions begin on page 10. Since you know the page, go ahead.
Councilman Lundquist: I would move that the City Council approve preliminary plat for
Planning Case 04-15 for Stone Creek Town Offices shown on the plans received April
13, '04 subject to conditions 1 through 19.
Mayor Furlong: Why don't you do the second one at the same time.
Councilman Lundquist: And that the City Council approve Site Plan Case 04-15 for
Stone Creek Town Offices shown on the plans received April 13, '04 subject to
conditions 1 through 15 as modified by staff.
Councilman Labatt: Second.
Mayor Furlong: Made and seconded. Is there any discussion?
Councilman Lundquist moved, Councilman Labatt seconded that the City Council
approve preliminary plat for Planning Case #04-15 for Stone Creek Town Offices as
shown on the plans received April 13, 2004, subject to the following conditions:
The total SWMP fee, due payable to the City at the time of final plat recording, is
$64,268.
2. A park fee of $94,010 shall be paid for the 13.43 acres at the time of the replat.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
10.
11.
Submit a private cross-access and cross-parking easement against all lots at time
of final plat recording. Cross-access easements for the shared driveway accesses
must be obtained and recorded against all lots.
Add the following City of Chanhassen Detail Plate Nos. 1004,1005, 1006, 2001,
2101, 2103, 2201, 2204, 3101, 3102, 5201, 5203, 5207, 5214, 5215, 5216, 5300
and 5302.
Prior to final plat approval, a professional civil engineer registered in the State of
Minnesota must sign all plans.
Prior to final plating, storm sewer design data will need to be submitted for staff
review. The storm sewer will have to be designed for a 10 year, 24 hour storm
event.
Staff recommends that Type II silt fence be used adjacent to the storm pond and
creek.
Any off site grading will require easements from the appropriate property owner.
Installation of the private utilities for the site will require permits and inspections
through the City' s Building Department.
The site has previously been assessed for utility and street improvements. The
remaining assessment due payable to the City is $103,521.12. This assessment
may be re-spread against the newly platted lots on a per area basis or paid at the
time of final platting. Sanitary sewer and water hookup charges will also be
applicable for the new lots. The 2004 trunk hookup charge is $1,458 per unit for
sanitary sewer and $2,814 per unit for watermain. The hookup charges are based
on the number of SAC units assigned by the Met Council for the new lots.
Sanitary sewer and watermain hookup fees may be specially assessed against the
parcel at the time of building permit issuance.
All of the public utility improvements are required to be constructed in
accordance with the City's latest edition of Standard Specifications and Detail
Plates. Upon completion of the utility improvements, the public utilities will be
turned over to the City for maintenance and ownership. The applicant is required
to enter into a development contract with the City and supply the necessary
financial security in the form of a letter of credit or cash escrow to guarantee
installation of the improvements and the conditions of final plat approval. The
applicant must be aware that public utility improvements will require a pre-
construction meeting before building permit issuance. Installation of the private
utilities for the site will require permits and inspections through the City's
Building Department. Permits from the appropriate regulatory agencies must be
obtained, including but not limited to the MPCA, Department of Health, and the
Watershed District.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
On the utility plan:
a. Show the existing and proposed utility easements.
b. Add a storm sewer schedule.
c. Revise the Sewer Note No. 1 to be, "All sanitary services shall be 6"PVC
SDR26.
d. Add a note "Any connection to existing structures must be core drilled."
e. Remove the existing 24 inch storm stub to the north and bulkhead the invert at
the manhole.
f. Delete the sanitary sewer connection at the southwest corner of the site and
utilize the existing sanitary stub in the cul-de-sac.
g. Revise the proposed storm sewer within the cul-de-sac from a 12 inch to a 15
inch pipe.
On the grading plan:
a. Show all existing and proposed easements.
b. Show the benchmark used for the site survey.
c. Show a minimum 75 foot rock construction entrance.
d. Revise the side slope to 3:1 maximum along the northeast side of the parking
lot and at the southeasterly corner of Lot 25.
The 8 inch water and sewer mains will be considered public utility lines since
they serve multiple lots. As such, minimum 30 foot wide public easements will
be required over the portion of the public utility lines that are outside of the right-
of-way.
The Stone Creek Drive cul-de-sac must be built with a 48 foot radius and B-618
concrete curb and gutter.
The private street must be built to a 9 ton design, paved to a 26 foot width, and
contained within a 40 foot private easement. The developer will be required to
submit certification reports from a soil testing company which show that the
private street was built to these standards.
Lot 26 may be used for parking purposes only.
The applicant shall execute a cross parking agreement with the Family of Christ
Lutheran Church which shall encompass the 60 parking spaces shown in
Attachment 7.
The applicant shall execute a cross parking agreement with the Family of Christ
Lutheran Church which shall encompass the 60 parking spaces shown in
Attachment 6.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
Councilman Lundquist moved, Councilman Labatt seconded that the City Council
approve Site Plan Case #04-15 for Stone Creek Town Offices as shown on the plans
received April 13, 2004, subject to the following conditions:
1. Environmental Resources Specialist conditions:
a. Applicant shall increase landscape plantings in buffer yards to meet minimum
requirements. A revised landscape plan shall be submitted before final
approval.
b. Applicant shall plant a minimum of 36 overstory trees in the parking lot to
meet minimum requirements.
c. Norway maple shall be replaced by a more suitable tree selection.
2. Building Official conditions:
a. Buildings (units) over 2,000 square feet in gross floor area are required to be
protected with automatic fire sprinklers.
b. The plans must be prepared and signed by design professionals licensed in the
State of Minnesota.
c. An accessible route must be provided from the accessible parking spaces to
the entrances of all units. The maximum slope of the accessible route is 1/20.
d. Separate water, sewer and fire protection services must be provided for each
piece of property.
e. Exterior walls less than ten (10) feet from property lines must be of fire
resistive rated construction in accordance with IBC Chapter 6 and terminate in
accordance with IBC Chapter 7.
f. Separate male and female restrooms must be provided in each unit with an
occupant load greater than 15, as determined by IBC Table 1003.2.2.2.
g. Detailed construction and occupancy related requirements cannot be reviewed
until complete plans are submitted.
h. The owner and/or their representative shall meet with the Inspections Division
as soon as possible to begin the preliminary plan review process to discuss
permit procedures.
3. On the site plan:
a. Revise the scale from 1"=20' to 1"=40'.
b. Show the existing and proposed trail/sidewalk adjacent to the site.
c. Show all dimensions for the improvements, i.e. drive aisle width, cul-de-sac
radius, curb return radii, stall lengths and widths, etc.
4. No direct access to Highway 5 is allowed.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
10.
11.
All exposed soil areas shall have temporary erosion protection or permanent cover
for the exposed soil areas year round, according to the following table of slopes
and time flames:
Type of Slope Time
Steeper than 3:1 7 days
10:1 to 3:1 14 days
Flatter than 10:1 21 days
(Maximum time an area can
Remain open when the area
is not actively being
worked.)
These areas include constructed storm water management pond side slopes, and
any exposed soil areas with a positive slope to a storm water conveyance system,
such as a curb and gutter system, storm sewer inlet, temporary or permanent
drainage ditch, or other natural or man made systems that discharge to a surface
water.
Street cleaning of soil tracked onto public streets shall include daily street
scraping and street sweeping as needed.
The applicant shall apply for and obtain permits from the appropriate regulatory
agencies e.g. Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District, Minnesota
Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (for
dewatering), and comply with their conditions of approval.
Each site shall provide areas for bicycle parking and storage.
The applicant shall provide a second trash enclosure area south of Lot 5 and
relocate the proposed trash enclosure to the south of Lot 18.
Fire Marshal conditions:
A 10 foot clear space must be maintained around fire hydrants, i.e. street
lamps, trees, shrubs, bushes, Xcel Energy, Qwest, cable TV, and transformer
boxes. This is to insure fire hydrants can be quickly located and safely
operated by firefighters. Pursuant to Chanhassen City Ordinance #9-1.
Three additional fire hydrants will be required. Install one southwest of Lot
11 in the parking island. Install one southeast of Lot 6 in the parking island.
Install one in the island between Lots 20 and 21 on the south side of the
building. If necessary, please contact the Chanhassen Fire Marshal for the
exact location. Fire Lane signs and yellow curbing will be required. Contact
the Fire Marshal for exact location of signs and curbs to be painted.
Extend the sidewalks and relocate accessible parking access aisle as shown in
Attachment 1.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
12.
The applicant to work with staff to provide a walk on the south end skirting the
parking lot and over to the cul-de-sac, then loop around the cul-de-sac to the north
to connect up with the existing trail system.
13.
If entrances are granted on both sides of the southern buildings, there should be a
walk on the north side of the building
14.
The applicant will work with staff and MnDot to provide additional screening and
berming along Highway 5.
15. Turning radiuses on the site shall accommodate fire fighting vehicles.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
CONSIDER APPROVAL OF CITY CODE AMENDMENTS; INCLUDING
SUMMARY ORDINANCES FOR PUBLICATION PURPOSES: CHAPTER 20,
ZONING.
Kate Aanenson: Again, as pointed out in your cover letter, the purpose of these code
amendments is to make it more user friendly. We provided in your report a summary of
the changes. The major changes. Again this is Chapter 20. The other one, minor one
that you'll be seeing 18. The Planning Commission did spend a lot of time going through
these changes. Asking us, challenging us. Looking at other cities. And how it works.
The problems and concerns. ! can go through by section each of those but ! guess I'll
leave it up to you and ! think I'd like to start with maybe addressing some of the
questions that came up from the visitor presentation. The first one ! believe was the
public hearing notification for lakeshore development. Again our ordinance supercedes
the state law requiring, you know the state law is 350 feet. We use 500 feet. When
you're on a lakeshore we certainly think it's important that we notify someone if there's a
conditional use or changes to the lakeshore. But we have applicants that are doing minor
modifications that have no impact to the lakeshore that have to notify 300-400 people on
a lake and we believe that's onerous when they're being charged per label. So we talked
to the Planning Commission about this. Certainly the people that spoke at visitor
presentation made this same appeal to the Planning Commission. And again, these aren't
developers. Certainly a development we would certainly would say would have an
impact on the change of character of the lake if they're adding additional homes. That
would be of significant impact and we would notify people but this is someone who's
doing an addition that may not increase the setback to the lake. May not increase the
impervious surface, so it's kind of a discernment decision to say you know really it's not
that big of an impact. You certainly, everyone within 500 feet would still get notified but
the Planning Commission concurred that they felt that notifying within 500 feet was
sufficient for those typically who, but something that would have an impact to the lake,
then we would notify everybody on the lake. Any questions on that?
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Mayor Furlong: Questions on that one? I guess a question I have, is there, and I'm
trying to find the exact wording here. Do you know which page that's on in the proposed
ordinance?
Councilman Lundquist: Somewhere in the highlights in the first pages. First couple
pages.
Mayor Furlong: Oh okay, yep.
Councilman Lundquist: ! remember reading it. Talking about the planning director.
Mayor Furlong: As these proposed amendments are right now it would be the discretion
of the Community Development Director?
Kate Aanenson: Correct. Certainly, ! believe any subdivision would be an impact and a
change to the character of the lake because you're adding additional lots. Therefore
you're changing the character of the lake because there's going to be an additional dock.
That's a significant change. So if you're not changing the character of the lake by doing
an addition that doesn't increase the impervious surface, all you're doing is adding
significant expense to.
Mayor Furlong: Would a variance on impervious surface then also be considered?
Kate Aanenson: Right, right. Right.
Mayor Furlong: ! guess maybe the question is, what's the standard, since you're in that
current position. What are the types of things that would require.
Kate Aanenson: Because right now if you're a lakeshore lot and you're doing an addition
to the front of the house which wouldn't increase the impervious or get additional
setback, then you're not changing the character.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, so it's a change in character.
Kate Aanenson: Additional impact or impact to the lake. Correct. If it's already legal
on, if it's non-conforming but you're going up. You're not increasing the impervious but
because you're going up, which that happens a lot. People put a second story on. The
way it reads now, you're required to notify everybody on the lake and we're saying well
you're not increasing the impervious so.
Mayor Furlong: So it may change the sight lines, or views.
Kate Aanenson: Right, and people on either side would be notified of that, right.
Mayor Furlong: Within the city standard of 500 feet.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Kate Aanenson: Correct.
Mayor Furlong: Versus the state standard of 350.
Kate Aanenson: Right. Now, having said that, I've been here a number of years and we
notify everybody on the lake. Rarely, the people that most are likely to come when it's
just a minor variance are the people on either side most impacted. Not if it's an
additional beachlot, something like that. Certainly then there might be some other people
on the lake so. It just seems again trying to make it for the person that's doing the
application, not so onerous. It's not an intent to impede anybody's right to appeal or to
come speak at a hearing. They certainly still could.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Councilman Lundquist: It's still published in the paper.
Kate Aanenson: Correct. Correct. Then the second one was the shoreland setback.
Included in your packet that went out to you tonight with a summary, there is a letter
from the DNR. And that letter is dated May 12th. That's got your last sheet on your
packet. Again the staff's interpretation or concern we had about additional structure
setback. Additional means added to. There seems to be some ambiguity on that. We
worked through the attorney's office on that. Felt it wasn't appropriate to take out the
word additional. The DNR in that letter concurred that that was acceptable to them. So
again that issue was also raised at the Planning Commission and we did confer with the
city attorney on that one. And I believe the city attorney also addressed in that same
letter the setback and how you interpret a private street. That issue's been addressed
numerous times in opinions from the city attorney on going back over the last few years.
The building setback, if we took out the 60 by 60 pad. The way the lots are configured
right now, or how you find a buildable lot is there are already standards for height, bulk,
that sort of thing, and then it's for in the RSF or whatever district there are minimum
lengths and widths of lots. For example on the RSF, 125 by 90 is a minimum lot size.
Within that they're required setbacks. Within that there's a minimum house size. All
that drives the buildable area, so actually by using the 60 by 60, that was where the rug
came in with the tree ordinance because actually it was too small because what we find is
our typical is actually probably closer to 40 by 80. House size. A lot of people are going
to the 3 car garage. So if you actually use the buildable area, for what we're talking
about kind of leading into the tree ordinance, including all that front area, is actually
probably a better standard so this, there is requirements of place for lot sizes and that's
with every zoning district. And then the final buildable areas you have within that, you
have a certain square footage requirement of two story, a split or a rambler, and those are
all identified in the city code.
Mayor Furlong: So if a subdivision is proposed and it meets the dimension requirements
of the lot size, and you have, and proposed building meets the requirements for code in
terms of the size of the building, and it's within the setbacks, you can put it anywhere
within the setbacks.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Kate Aanenson: Correct. And that's, exactly. Let me just, for clarification. Assuming
this is your lot, okay. That's your RSF lot. Within that you'd have 30 foot front yard, 30
foot rear yard. 10 on the sides. So that becomes technically, that's your buildable area.
Now what we've done, if you look at most of the subdivision plats that come in, the
builder or some are plunked in there a 60 by 60 pad. But that can slide around so... Now
is every lot that comes in square? No. There's all different iterations of how that works
and that's our job is when we're reviewing that to look to make sure a reasonable house
pad, and that somehow how the 60 by 60 came to be. Now within the PUD ordinance
there was also a requirement to show, and that would be on the lot size where we've gone
down to small as 11,000 square feet in traditional PUD. If you remember we had that
discussion that as a staff, when you go to 11,000 square foot and try to put a 3 car garage
on there, we haven't applied that PUD with that application in the last number of years
because what we're finding is you end up with a smaller lot but people want to do a
traditional type home on there. It doesn't work. So again, we believe the standards they
have for each zoning district, with the buildable area and the house size meets that
requirement. And moving with the new tree requirements, there really isn't any reason.
The Planning Commission struggled with that, the 60 by 60 too. There seems to be some
comfort and attachment to that but what we're saying is nobody stays within that box so
if gives people comfort to still leave it in there, it's not a subdivision requirement. It's a
tree calculation requirement. So it's not in the right place but if people are, have an
affinity towards it, you know again Section 905 has the minimum lot size and the
building square footage size so.
Mayor Furlong: And is that 60 by 60 elsewhere within the code? You mentioned PUD.
Kate Aanenson: The PUD has a 40 by 60, yes.
Mayor Furlong: And why do we include a 40 by 60 in PUD versus.
Kate Aanenson: At one time it was felt again to, for the, to add a deck on and then you'd
have a certain square footage.
Mayor Furlong: But was it again for tree calculation or is it?
Kate Aanenson: At that time under the PUD was to guarantee you get a certain square
footage of houses, but if you look at how we've applied the PUD, those are all approved
with the site plan. Now traditionally again, if you think of that type of product, that
would be similar to Longacres where you have some lots that are as small as 11 and go
up to 30 some square feet. They're all close to different sizes, and that's where we've
had more of the rubbers where they're some of the bigger homes try to fit on the smaller
lots. Then they max out impervious and we tried not to move that way because it causes
problems. But if you look at the other application, which is a better use of the PUD
where you've got houses that are less flexible in design, because when you get a
traditional house, those are the most fluid because people's lifestyle change. They want
to add a pool. They want to add on another bedroom. Another garage. But if you look at
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different type of product in a PUD zone, which is a better use of the PUD zone, those
tend to be people that have a product that are, or a lifestyle that's, they may not add on.
Maybe they've enclosed a screen porch but if it's a small lot, like Walnut Grove, a small
lot. A 3,000-4,000 square foot lot with those individual small, those typically don't get
added on in the same way traditional single family does. So we don't even apply that
same standard on those types of lots so we're saying you approve a site plan. You
approve those setbacks on that building envelope with each PUD you have that contract
zoning. So again we're not certain that it's necessary. ! think that was the questions that
! had written down. There may be two more.
Councilman Ayotte: Can I ask a question?
Mayor Furlong: Certainly Councilman Ayotte.
Councilman Ayotte: The Paulsen e-mail that we received late this afternoon, were any of
the points that they brought up in that e-mail, because ! didn't have a chance to go over it,
addressing anything in 7A?
Kate Aanenson: Addressing?
Councilman Lundquist: Section 20.
Kate Aanenson: Yeah. ! think all of them are.
Councilman Ayotte: So all of the points made in.
Kate Aanenson: Except for, if you're talking about there was one that was brought up by,
! didn't hear about it tonight again, that was regarding retaining walls within a 10 foot
easement. Again our easement treats retaining walls like fences. If it's over 4 feet.
Certainly a fence, if a fence was to go into an active easement, whether it's a drainage or
an active storm water pond, they'd have to get an encroachment agreement. So if it's a
drainage swale, engineering typically reviews those and decides whether or not they want
to allow to alter it to affect drainage patterns so just like any other fence permit, they get
routed around. Someone investigates that so we don't believe that on a retaining wall
issue. We believe the way it's written works and that's the way we treat them now.
Councilman Ayotte: Okay so under Chapter 20, would everything except retaining wall
point, everything was addressed, everything was applicable to Chapter 20?
Kate Aanenson: Yeah. Even the retaining wall's in Chapter 20.
Councilman Ayotte: Okay. So that entire e-mail addressed Chapter 20. Nothing on
Chapter 18?
Kate Aanenson: No. The last one, definitions. That's in their e-mail addressed that, we
moved all the definitions to Chapter 1 so that doesn't apply to Chapter 20. Again we
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moved them all to that. What we found, and again this is in reviewing, in working with
the city attorney that we just thought that were was, each chapter had their own set of
definitions. Sometimes they conflicted. By putting them all at one spot, to make sure
that whether it reflected nuisance or building code or engineering definitions. How they
interpret, they're all in one spot and there is uniform definitions. And again, that's to
make sure there's no conflict. That was a goal to reduce conflict within certain chapters,
which we found there was a lot of, and that was part of the reason why that was done. So
on the last one does refer to Chapter 1. On their comments. Otherwise ! believe I've
addressed all those. With that maybe just take a minute to you know, ! don't know if you
want to just talk about some of the main points but ! believe actually the Planning
Commission, while they spent a lot of time and reviewed those, they held a public
hearing. Opened twice. We had numerous work sessions. ! think they felt very
comfortable and we did have those same work sessions with the City Council, kind of in
those areas that we felt were kind of, maybe the biggest change are areas that we felt
there were some rubs that we wanted to get concurrence on. So ! guess I'll leave it up to
you as to what direction you'd like the staff to present that.
Mayor Furlong: Questions or comments. If you want to deal with specific questions on
the issues? Since it's so voluminous in this chapter. If there are any specific questions.
Kate, one if you could point me to the right place. One of the bullet points talks about
prohibiting lighting directed to the skyward except on American flags. One of the
projects that came through, Market Street Station had some up lighting but we required it
to be shielded.
Kate Aanenson: Correct, and that was a variance that was specifically noted as a
variance and that was shielded, correct.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, so by doing this, we would, we could still consider it as a
variance as opposed to putting it in the code because it's allowed with the property.
Kate Aanenson: Correct. And the industry trend now is that it not be directed clearly up,
or directly into the sky. Industry trend right now is to kind of shine up and down.
Certainly ! know Jack was here earlier, was a big proponent on the night sky and so were
some of the previous City Council persons so if it's bouncing off of an eave or something
like that, just so it's not spilling into the sky so that's the intent.
Mayor Furlong: So ! guess my question is then, as this ordinance is written, and maybe
we can look at that. They'd have to apply for a variance?
Kate Aanenson: If they were to do it similar to what the theater was doing, correct.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. And so the architecture desire meet the standard for hardship
under a variance?
Kate Aanenson: ! think going back to the rationale why you granted the variance, that's
kind of the, your justification or your findings on that was the fact that this was kind of
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the central market place. It was a cinema. It was a show place, based on the marquee
and the presence and for that reason you felt that your finding was that it justified that,
and ! guess we look at each situation as such. That that was kind of a gathering place
with Southwest Metro and it deserved that kind of a treatment so.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Councilman Labatt: So Kate, if we take the church over by, ! can't remember the name.
Councilman Lundquist: Family of Christ.
Councilman Labatt: Family of Christ. Brian's church, yeah. They're up pointing on the
cross. That is something we're trying to.
Kate Aanenson: That got fixed.
Councilman Labatt: It got fixed but that wouldn't flow with this ordinance.
Kate Aanenson: It didn't with the past ordinance either. Right. They came back for a
variance, yep.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Kate Aanenson: You know ! don't know if you want me to read some of these just for
the record but ! think you know we have talked about all those again. Trying to
additional buffering for the wetlands. Gosh, ! think it could take a long time to go
through them all specifically. ! guess my preference would be if there's some specific
questions.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Any other questions or desire, if there's no specific questions,
don't know that we need to take the time to read through what was distributed in the
packet. Public record. If not, I'll bring it back to council for any comments. Are we
generally comfortable with these?
Councilman Lundquist: Of any chapter, this is the one that's had the most effort, work.
Time. ! mean it's the most complicated probably you could argue too, so that's good but
we've had several work sessions. The Planning Commission's had several meetings.
Several work sessions. So many of them, ! think this probably is the tightest one of any
that we've seen of the 20. Or 20 however many other.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. And ! think you know, to the extent that comments have been
raised by residents. ! think while they are valid comments and I'm glad that they came
forward, ! think ! can concur with staff on the one issue, you know in terms of
notification of lakeshore. There's going to have to be a standard, a discretion ! guess on
staff' s part to apply that standard consistently and at an appropriate level. And ! think as
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a council if we don't think it's the right standard, we can let you know or through the city
manager as well.
Kate Aanenson: Sure, we can put a policy together and make sure you're comfortable
with that.
Mayor Furlong: Yeah, that might be helpful. To get some guidelines so that we're not
guessing each time and at least there's some basis for which that. ! think too it would be
helpful for the applicants when they come in to see how they meet it so. If there's any
additional discussion. If not, is there a motion to approve the.
Councilman Ayotte: Just one other comment. The only thing that ! was uncomfortable
about originally is ! got late information from residents and ! wasn't certain at that point
whether or not all of those points were addressed, and since that time Kate you've told
me but in the future ! hope that when we do have a late flag, that we somehow be assured
that those points are addressed so that we can...
Kate Aanenson: The flag, yeah I wasn't, it wasn't sent to me. I appreciate the fact that it
was forwarded to me but these were addressed at the Planning Commission. Certainly
they're still following through and.
Councilman Ayotte: And the Planning Commission was.
Kate Aanenson: Did address all those. Yes, they have been addressed and rightly so
they're addressing them again to you.
Councilman Ayotte: Thank you Mayor.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other comments? Discussion. If not, is there a motion
to approve the proposed amendments to Chapter 20.
Councilman Lundquist: Motion to approve.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there a second?
Councilman Labatt: Second.
Mayor Furlong: Any discussion on the motion? Is this also a motion to adopt the
approval of the summary ordinance for publication purposes?
Councilman Lundquist: Yes sir.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. And the second as well.
Councilman Labatt: Yes sir.
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Mayor Furlong: Thank you.
Councilman Lundquist moved, Councilman Labatt seconded to adopt Chapter 20,
Chanhassen City Code, Zoning, and approve the summary ordinance for
publication purposes. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a
vote of 5 to 0.
CONSIDER APPROVAL OF CITY CODE AMENDMENTS; INCLUDING
SUMMARY ORDINANCES FOR PUBLICATION PURPOSES: CHAPTER 18,
TREE PRESERVATION.
Mayor Furlong: Move on to consideration to amendments to Chapter 18. Staff report
please.
Kate Aanenson: Thank you. In your work session earlier this evening the City Forester,
Jill Sinclair went through kind of the iteration that we're moving to with the tree
ordinance. Again we did invite the Planning Commission to kind of see how that would
apply by looking at an existing subdivision. And again as we talked about, we took out
calling all the species. We're leaving it up to the applicants to put together the species.
Certainly we're seeing a few more evergreens in front yards. We have a few concerns
about that. As they grow bigger and they start blocking things out. So we're working on
that but again the goal here was, to get an ordinance that works for the developer,
residents. The owners once they get in the property, because it' s not just the developers
themselves. It's once you get the owners on the property and managing that, and then
also that's manageable for our staff review. Working with, there's so many different
levels. ! mean you would walk it the first time. Put up construction fence and make sure
everything's treed off and then as development occurs, constantly managing it so we
believe that this is the best way, you know after we've worked on this for a number of
years. Different iterations. Probably fifth or sixth iteration of the tree ordinance. Getting
smarter. Again Jill attached in here some of the documentation that the Planning
Commission again, they spent a lot of time on this. Looking at what other cities do and
we were pretty surprised that how onerous and restrictive our tree ordinance is. Actually
! think Eden Prairie was surprised and they were concerned about the tree loss, that
actually we're holding up more trees on Settlers West than the original development, so
we do have a good tree ordinance and the intent is not to dilute but to make it workable
for everybody so we're not raising false expectations. So we hope this works. We
believe it's going to work better but again we'll come back and confirm that as we work
through some projects and kind of go back and evaluate. But with that we are
recommending approval with the modifications on Chapter 18.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Discussion. Questions? ! guess questions for staff at this
point. Clarification on this 105. Maybe this is a comment as well. Really what we're
doing is changing the way we calculate tree replacement in a subdivision and as we
talked about, while we're saying that for ease of calculation and based upon our past
experience as a city, the first 105 feet approximately, all the trees go anyway. Or the
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
majority. If the developer can save trees up there, that just adds incremental value to the
lot likely, but it wouldn't be counted as part of the tree replacement calculations.
Kate Aanenson: That's correct.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright. And that 105 foot isn't necessarily everything behind
that isn't necessarily preserved.
Kate Aanenson: No. That's a project by project basis. That's just for calculating the
loss.
Mayor Furlong: Calculating loss so that we have a standard.
Kate Aanenson: Correct.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any other questions or discussion on this item? Again
we've discussed this a few times and ! think we're gaining some comfort with where it's
going, is my sense. If there is no discussion, is there a motion to approve the proposed
amendments as well as to approve the summary ordinance for publication purposes.
Councilman Lundquist: Motion to approve the amendments to the ordinance and
summary ordinance for publication purposes.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there a second?
Councilman Labatt: Second.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any discussion on the motion?
Councilman Lundquist moved, Councilman Labatt seconded to adopt Chapter 18,
Chanhassen City Code, Subdivision, and approval of summary ordinance for
publication purposes. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a
vote of 5 to 0.
Councilman Labatt: Thanks Kate.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you Kate. Lots of work with this and a lot of time.
Kate Aanenson: Bob spent a lot of time working on this so.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. And good discussion and it was worthwhile taking the time
to get those right so thank you.
COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS: None.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS:
FINANCE DIRECTOR.
UPDATE ON 2004 BOND SALE,
Bruce DeJong: Good evening council members. Got a memo in front of you that ! wrote
up and as you can tell some of this is a moving target still as we're discussion what
exactly we should bond for in 2004, but I'd like to talk a little bit about where we started
out from. Some important considerations and some timing issues and then we can
discuss as much or as little as you'd like about particular projects and dollar amounts
associated with them. We started out preparing the capital improvement plan really last
August-September-October kind of a time frame, and put that together before we had
final numbers on ! guess a number of issues. We hadn't at that point completed our
utility rate study. We certainly didn't have any preliminary information on the ultimate
treatment plant type of sizing or locational issues so we tried to make a stab at what we
would need in total for bonding and came up with about 7 million dollars worth of
projects. That includes about $800,000 for street related projects. Someplace in the
neighborhood of a million dollars for equipment and city hall related projects, and the
remainder of it, about $5.4 million was for the utility portion. Which includes the
treatment plant and a well. Now when we were putting this together there are some
things that we have to consider. There's a couple of major thresholds on bond issues that
finance directors and bonding consultants like to look at. One of those is whether we
have to pay arbitrage or pay attention to arbitrage requirements, and that is cities are
restricted from issuing debt merely to take advantage of low interest rates on the debt to
being able to invest it at higher interest rates. Certainly under current conditions that's
not a possibility but if you issue less than $5 million dollars worth of bonds in an
individual year you are not required to follow those arbitrage rules. If you issue under
$10 million dollars in debt in a given year, then you can issue the bank, bonds under
what's called bank qualification. And bank qualification means that when banks buy
municipal bonds, they don't have to pay tax on the interest earnings from those bonds,
which really expands the market of people who are interested in buying our bonds and it
tends to drive down the cost to the city. Someplace between 5 to 10, maybe even up to
15 basis points depending on the market. So what we've got is for 2004 we are probably
over the $5 million dollars which is the arbitrage threshold, but preliminarily we look like
we're under the 10 million for the bank qualification. Now we've gone through and just
received some information from SEH based on their pilot water plant study that we may
be more effectively served by a different type of treatment plant rather than being a
pressure plant, which is a smaller that we may be more effectively served by a larger
gravity plant, and ! included those costs in here just for comparison sake. We have not
completely run that through the analysis that we did for our rate study, which was
completed back in January for utility rates for both water and sewer but it does look like
on a preliminary basis, if we were to increase that from the $4.5 million dollars that we
had included, up to the approximately $10.5 million which is included in this analysis, we
would have to increase rates about 12 percent again next year on the water side, and we
continue to see increases on the hook-up charges for water above and beyond what was
included in that original rate study. We'll be prepared to provide you with thorough
information on that a little bit later. The next step in how we have to go about issuing
these is that generally we can issue debt on a fairly rapid basis, but we are remodeling
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
city hall and we're planning on issuing bonds for that. Approximately $230,000 worth of
construction costs and when we made the additional last minute of about $50,000 worth
of furniture. What has to happen with that portion of it is, it's under some special state
regulations which require us to publish a notice of a public hearing and then have a 30
day period after the public hearing where the residents can put together a petition which
would be a reverse referendum requiring a vote on that project. So in order to issue
bonds under that statute, we really need to have a public hearing and then let that 30 day
time period lapse before we would actually issue the bonds. What that means is we've
kind of backed into that process so we are publishing a notice of that hearing and !
believe that Mr. Gerhardt had a little conversation today with you regarding that. That
we would need to have that on a fairly quick basis, probably putting together a special
meeting on June l0th for the public hearing. Or maybe we didn't.
Councilman Peterson: That was going to be the next point in administrative discussions.
Todd Gerhardt: Haven't gotten to my items yet. If I can just interrupt. We're going to
need at least 3 people to attend that June 10th meeting to formally hold the public hearing,
as Bruce is stating. We're trying to meet the guidelines of this new statute and you have
to give anywhere from 14 to 28 days for a public hearing and then up to 30 days after that
for a reverse referendum, and that will take us into July before we can have that bond
sale, so we're trying to move this along as quickly as possible and to do that we need a
special council meeting on June l0th, and if ! could have 3 representatives for that
meeting, ! would really appreciate it.
Councilman Peterson: What's the day?
Councilman Lundquist: Thursday.
Todd Gerhardt: And we can do it early in the morning. We can do it middle of the
afternoon. We could do it at lunch, but it would have to be here at city hall.
Mayor Furlong: And this would just be for that.
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah, ! would expect 10 minutes at the most.
Mayor Furlong: Plus any public input on the issue, yes.
Todd Gerhardt: Any public input, yes.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Todd Gerhardt: Sorry to interrupt Bruce.
Mayor Furlong: No, that's fine. Why don't you keep going Bruce and we'll.
Bruce DeJong: Sorry to surprise you with that one.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Todd Gerhardt: No, it was a good segway I think.
Bruce DeJong: The reason that we want to push this along is because, as you may have
noticed, interest rates are rising at this point and when they start to go up, they can
sometimes go up rather rapidly. I think we've seen an increase of someplace around 30
to 40, maybe even 50 basis points depending on specific maturities in just the last 6
weeks. So that drives up the interest cost on all of these projects and we'd like to move
as fast as we can as a staff to get these bonds locked in at the low interest rates before the
federal reserve starts raising their interest rates and the market starts responding
aggressively to that. I guess having said that then we start looking at specific projects
and costs that would be related to that and you know beyond what was included in the
CIP, I've kind of printed that out here for you. I apologize I did not adjust the grand total
appropriately for the change in the water treatment plant, but when you look at the page
that's labeled capital improvement program projects by funding source, you can see one
of those identifies that we put in there. The only changes are the water treatment plant
under revenue bonds. The treatment plant land acquisition, which staff has thought about
advancing to try and pick a site someplace in that high zone area for treatment plant
before the available land is gone, since we do need a significant amount of space there.
Estimates around, someplace around the 7 to 10 acres I believe is the estimate for.
Todd Gerhardt: 3 to 5.
Bruce DeJong: 4 to 5, okay. But that's still a significant dollar amount. And then we do
have one part of the water trunk main that could be extended this year to serve
Klingelhutz property down around the 212 corridor and Mr. Oehme has indicated that it
makes sense to do that before we begin some of the 212 related construction in that area.
So I've included those. And then under the Certificates of Indebtedness I have advanced
one project that I think we can still get in under the dollar figure that we had proposed in
total to be bonding for this year, but that's the City Council data tablates that would allow
you to have internet access for council agenda packets and stuff like that so those are
really the projects and I'm ready to take any questions that you may have.
Todd Gerhardt: Bruce, did you talk about the two TIF notes.
Bruce DeJong: Oh, I did not.
Todd Gerhardt: This wasn't enough so we thought we needed to add more.
Bruce DeJong: In our entertainment district we have two separate tax increment notes
that are coming along at 9 percent interest. Those notes are, one is the Frontier note and
one is for Chanhassen Properties. The total principle that's outstanding on those looks to
be someplace in the neighborhood of about $1.1 million dollars and we've had Ehlers run
a preliminary estimate that shows we'd be issuing notes in the amount, principle of
$1,145,000 which would include payment of the notes immediately and refinancing them
at the current interest rates. If we were to go do that over the life of the notes, we would
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
end up saving approximately half a million dollars worth of interest payments on those
two notes. They run out for not quite another 20 years. They run through 2022 would be
the final payment on those notes, but it would make sense to refinance those and be able
to save that money. Perhaps retiring that entertainment district and putting it back on the
tax rolls faster.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. So the refinance bonds are the bonds used for refinancing might
be paid off sooner than the current TIF district notes would be paid off. To bring it back
on faster. Wouldn't those notes have to be paid off?.
Councilman Lundquist: You could take the interest savings and put them against the
principle is what you're talking about Bruce?
Bruce DeJong: Yeah. Running out bonds over a 20 year life. ! would anticipate that
we'd put in some type of a call provision. You know there is a slight penalty for having a
call provision in there but to be able to pay those off on an earlier basis would be well
worth it in this case.
Mayor Furlong: Sure.
Todd Gerhardt: And the revenue source Mayor, council members, if ! can add to that,
would be from that TIF district from the cinema. What was that, Southwest Station
development would go towards paying off these bonds. The increment derived from
those developments and we anticipate when Southwest Station gets built, that increment
should double in there, if not even more than that but you know we could see a pay off
within probably 10 years or less based on that development.
Mayor Furlong: Southwest or Market Street?
Todd Gerhardt: Market Street Station, sorry. Got the two mixed up.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Okay. A lot of numbers. Questions?
Councilman Peterson: The only one that ! had was, walk me through again, and you
probably talked about it before but the Klingelhutz property and $150,000 for watermain
service.
Bruce DeJong: I'd defer to Mr. Oehme on that.
Paul Oehme: Thank you Councilmember Peterson. What that project entails is currently
there's a 16 inch watermain that runs along Lyman Boulevard and services the property
south. South of Lyman Boulevard and east of 101. And also all of North Bay, residential
property units out there. Okay, that's the only feeder main that currently services those
properties. Under normal engineering practices you want to try to loop that watermain if
at all possible because if that one trunk line breaks, basically over 200 units of
households would be out of water. What this project entails, and it's in the comp plan, is
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
to extend water from 86th Street down and across 212 and then connect into North Bay.
And in conjunction with the 212 project MnDot would be putting in a segment of that
portion, but if from a staff's perspective we'd like to get that portion that's south of 212
and then over to North Bay put in prior to the 212 construction project so what we'd like
to have to do to put that leg ofwatermain in before they even start with their bridge work
or their other portion of the work because there' s a lot of other construction that' s going
to be taking place in that area and along 212 or 101 and we would like to try to get that to
use just to protect that neighborhood, and back feed it in case that 16 inch watermain is
disrupted at some point.
Councilman Peterson: Got it, thank you.
Mayor Furlong: Councilman Lundquist or Councilman Ayotte.
Councilman Ayotte: I'm the shorter of the two.
Mayor Furlong: But better looking.
Councilman Ayotte: Okay. Is the water treatment project 04-08, has your scheduled
been updated and is that schedule in sync with the bond sale requirements? Want to do
that again? Okay. Things have changed a bit in our water treatment approach based on
the testing you've done. Therefore your schedule of need will probably change.
Paul Oehme: That's correct.
Councilman Ayotte: Is what Bruce is presenting, is his schedule of bond sale in tandem,
in concert, synchronized with your requirements?
Paul Oehme: Yes. Based upon our conversations and documentation that SEH has
provided for us, they have also been involved with the pilot plant at the Lotus Lake well
field. Those are the recommendations from our consultant to move forward on the.
Councilman Ayotte: So the $10 million dollars is addressed and the schedule of the need
for that $10 million is addressed.
Paul Oehme: That's correct, and we'll discuss that on our next thing.
Councilman Ayotte: And 12 percent for utility that you talked towards Bruce, an
increase. To a typical household what can that mean?
Bruce DeJong: To a typical residential household it'd probably mean, let me page
through here. Probably, not seeing the dollar figure exactly here in the preliminary
information I've gotten back from Ehlers, but ! would guess someplace in the 10 to 15
dollar per quarter range.
Todd Gerhardt: Wasn't it like a $120 a quarter?
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Bruce DeJong: It was a little over a $100 a quarter. So this is on the water side. It
wouldn't have the impact on the sewer side, so I'm guessing someplace in that.
Councilman Ayotte: And we won't anticipate any other spikes like that for a while?
Bruce DeJong: Well there would continue to be a need for increasing the connection
charges on the water, which we've already identified.
Councilman Ayotte: But we're not talking about, I know the change. It's what we've
stated before.
Bruce DeJong: Yeah.
Mayor Furlong: I guess to follow up on that. When we did the rate study, did we
include, what ! understand here in reading the memo is that we're basically saying rather
than doing one now, based on what we need, and then expanding that in the future based
upon adding wells, we're going to do all of it now. Right? The concept here that we're
looking at. And if that's the case, wasn't that addition in the future, wasn't that going to
be funded through development fees? Through hook-up's and such like that. So ! guess
I'm concerned why, and maybe we'll deal with this, we might have to review the rate
study but if we're just accelerating something, ! guess I'll be interested in understanding
how that affects current residents rates rather than just maybe funding that acceleration
with cash balances available now to be paid off with hook-up charges later. But that's
something not germane to this necessarily but how we're going to pay that back. If all
we're doing is accelerating. If we're expanding, that might be a different story.
Expanding need.
Councilman Lundquist: We're not, we're changing the way you're proposing to do water
treatment, right. It's not combining, originally you had phase ! that's going to be now
and then phase I! that's going to be 5 or 6 years down the road. You're not talking about
doing them all together are you? You're talking about a difference?
Mayor Furlong: Yeah, Just reading in the memo here, it's talking about originally issuing
4.5 for the water treatment following SEH recommendations of the type of plant. It can
handle ultimate build out for this section. It's not the entire city. It's just the low
pressure zone. So that's why I'm raising the question because ! think we tried to allocate
fairly the usage rates with the hook-up charges so that the current residents pay for what,
for our benefit and future residents pay for their demand on the bigger system. So ! guess
that's something that we can address at that point, that we can look at in terms of
repaying these.
Todd Gerhardt: Well ifI remember, a portion of the second plant still was going to treat
some of the existing households, so that's where you saw the portion of the rate increase.
Mayor Furlong: In the low zone?
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Todd Gerhardt: In the high zone.
Mayor Furlong: The high zone, that's the, that's the second plant. But what ! understand
is that the low zone plant would be expanded to handle ultimate build out and the low
zone is, then the high zone would be a second plant. That's what we're looking at.
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah, I'd have to go back and check those numbers.
Mayor Furlong: We've got to check it and just make sure that we're looking at the
numbers correctly and fairly allocating the cost.
Todd Gerhardt: All we did was pull out the sheets. Brian asked what if we did the
ultimate build out so we used those percentages from that sheet.
Mayor Furlong: Just for estimates at this point?
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah. Because we figured that question may come up.
Mayor Furlong: And you're not as good looking as Councilman Ayotte. Okay, that's my
thought. You know, we'll be talking about the need here. The question ! have is if we go
forward, what you're looking for tonight is direction. Does this make sense to go
forward knowing that we're going to fill in some blanks. The issues we tabled tonight
directly impact the actual dollar amounts. As we issue bonds or go forward with the
bonds, if we end up not using as much money, how does that, do we draw against these
essentially if we get the money now and is there a time period in which we need to use
them.
Bruce DeJong: Well there are significantly fewer restrictions on utility revenue bonds
than there are on bonds that will be paid back through property tax. So you know you
could essentially issue bonds in this case without having identified specific projects that
are necessary to bond.
Mayor Furlong: You're saying the revenue bonds.
Bruce DeJong: On the revenue side so you know if you don't use them, you could just
use that to pay back that service. The only requirement is that you don't go out and try to
make money on the debt that you issue that you don't need. If there's any excess interest
earnings on that above and beyond the debt service payments, we have to repay that to
the IRS.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. And that's, it's the revenue bonds that are the bulk of this, and
specifically the water treatment.
Bruce DeJong: Correct.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Mayor Furlong: Thank you.
Councilman Lundquist: Bruce your list, I don't see the $800,000 for the SCADA on the
revenue bonds. That well 9, the water treatment plant and the Klingelhutz trunk main,
but ! don't see the 800K for SCADA on the list.
Bruce DeJong: No, you're right in the sense that ! have to apologize because ! put this
together and then came up in talking with Todd about this, that oops the water treatment
has changed. So in my memo I've addressed the fact that Well 9 was supposed to be paid
for with cash out of the utility system based on the rate study, and that when we'd be
putting the SCADA system in, bonding for that. So essentially there's a wash there
between that Well 9 item for $900,000 and the SCADA system for $800,000.
Councilman Lundquist: So if we just cross that Well 9 under revenue bonds and put
SCADA under there, it would be essentially the same.
Bruce DeJong: That would drop to $500,000. That's, yeah.
Councilman Lundquist: And then how does this $9 million dollars in 2005 MUSA stuff
factor in?
Bruce DeJong: Beats me other than providing you with an update on what may
potentially be out there to be bonded.
Councilman Lundquist: But those are assessments that we would go back, is that what
that's saying?
Bruce DeJong: It's possible that those would be assessments, if the city were to issue the
debt and then assess developers back for them. We've also discussed having the
developers up front the money with repayment agreements for other properties inbetween
such as if you had a parcel on the south end of that 2005 MUSA that wanted to developer
faster than a property that's closer to the existing utility systems, then you'd have to have
the developer up front that and get paid back when the other property inbetween
develops.
Councilman Lundquist: Okay. So overall, bottom line how does this impact our, the CIP
that we passed back in December is obviously substantially different than this, so what's
the bottom line impact dollar wise, what does this do to us in repayments or other.
Bruce DeJong: Actually ! think that the amount of money supported by the tax levy is
going to be lower than what ! gave you in the 2004 budget estimate.
Councilman Lundquist: Shifting some of it to revenue. The bulk of it's revenue instead?
Bruce DeJong: Yeah. The vast majority of the changes are in the utility which is really
affected by the utility rates and the connection charges for hooking up.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Councilman Lundquist: For enterprise funds of one way, shape or form or another.
Bruce DeJong: Correct.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Any other questions? Of staff. Comments. Is there any reason
they shouldn't go forward with this and pursue it, including the TIF refinancing, which I
think makes a lot of sense.
Councilman Lundquist: I think as long as we're careful with Ehlers, which I'm sure we
will be, and make sure we don't get ourselves over that magic ratio of total indebtedness
that we want to watch out for .... I'm sure that Bruce is number one.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright, anything else on this? Are you comfortable?
Bruce DeJong: Thank you for the direction.
Todd Gerhardt: The only thing I need a commitment from somebody on June l0th. We
may need EDA action that day also if we're going to refinance those TIF notes.
Councilman Ayotte: What time are we targeting?
Todd Gerhardt: I'm flexible. Whatever works. You want to do it morning. Afternoon.
Mayor Furlong: 5:30? You can do that now.
Councilman Labatt: Well I can do it at 3:00 now.
Mayor Furlong: Okay, so a 5:30 start be sufficient for everybody? We could also do an
EDA.
Councilman Labatt: 5:007
Councilman Peterson: I haven't got my calendar with so.
Councilman Lundquist: The later the better.
Mayor Furlong: Alright. Let's do this. Can we, without violating any open meeting
laws, because I don't want to propose that. Can we get our calendars to Mr. Gerhardt and
he can pick a time when most can attend and then let everybody know what that time
would be. Okay? Does that work for people.
Bruce DeJong: The caveat Mayor Furlong is that I have to have that notice into the paper
by 9:00 tomorrow morning.
Mayor Furlong: By 9:00 tomorrow morning?
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Bruce DeJong: Correct.
Mayor Furlong: Alright.
Councilman Labatt: I'm good for any time. I'll make it work.
Mayor Furlong: Okay.
Councilman Peterson: I'd prefer lunch or around noon. ! don't care about eating but.
Mayor Furlong: Does that work, that doesn't work for you?
Councilman Lundquist: No. That's no good for me.
Todd Gerhardt: ! only need 3 right. For 10 minutes.
Bruce DeJong: We need 3/5 vote of the council.
Councilman Labatt: What about you?
Councilman Ayotte: ! can do it later in the day but not noon.
Councilman Labatt: Okay, but are you okay for 5:30?
Councilman Ayotte: Yeah.
Councilman Peterson: Then I'll do 5:30.
Mayor Furlong: Does that work for you Mr. Lundquist?
Councilman Labatt: Craig, you're okay with 5:307
Councilman Lundquist: You don't need me if it doesn't so it doesn't matter.
Councilman Labatt: Tom, you're okay with 5:30. I'm okay, so that makes 4. Let's go.
Mayor Furlong: We'll do 5:30.
Councilman Ayotte: How about 6:00?
Councilman Labatt: No.
Mayor Furlong: What, you're not okay with 6:00?
Councilman Labatt: I'm okay.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Mayor Furlong: You prefer 5:30.
Councilman Labatt: You know it doesn't matter. I'm so flexible right now.
Mayor Furlong: You are. I've always said that about you. Alright, let's say 5:30 on the
l0th'
Councilman Peterson: Somebody send an e-mail, would you?
Todd Gerhardt: Yep. You'll get a packet too.
Mayor Furlong: Alright, and that will be here in the council chambers.
Todd Gerhardt: Correct.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. With an EDA meeting to follow most likely do you think?
Todd Gerhardt: ! think we're going to need EDA action on those TIF notes.
Mayor Furlong: So we do either that then or on the 14th.
Bruce DeJong: ! don't think that there's the same requirement that you have a public
hearing on refinancing those TIF notes for the EDA so I'll check into that.
Mayor Furlong: Or we could just do the EDA on the night of the 14th, which would be
our next regular meeting.
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah. We could do that.
Mayor Furlong: Okay. Alright, anything else for administrative presentations?
Todd Gerhardt: Just that ! am working on a public safety study, meeting with Mr. Setter.
Previous Police Chief from Minnetonka. And see if he can help us out. Jim Proeser from
Ehlers is also going to be involved in that. He's worked on a couple of these and so
we're going to meet next Thursday at 2:00 and then on June 14th we have the 2005 Land
Use update coming to you. And then EDA meeting also that evening to consider
purchase agreement for old Village Hall addition, Pony/Pauly/Pryzmus site. So that's all
! have. Over by old St. Hubert's. The daycare and coffee shop.
Mayor Furlong: Alright. Good, any other questions of the city manager? If not, any
discussion on the correspondence packet? Hearing none, if there's nothing else to come
before the council this evening, is there a motion to adjourn?
CORRESPONDENCE PACKET. None.
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City Council Meeting - May 24, 2004
Councilman Lundquist moved, Councilman Ayotte seconded to adjourn the
meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried. The City Council meeting was
adjourned at 10:05 p.m.
Submitted by Todd Gerhardt
City Manager
Prepared by Nann Opheim
66