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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/18/1996 Council Minutes• • • COUNCIL MEETING SEPTEMBER 18, 1996 CITY OF LINO LAKES MINUTES DATE September 18, 1996 TIME STARTED 5:08 p.m. TIME ENDED 8:10 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Council Members Bergeson, Kuether, Lyden, and Neal and Mayor Landers MEMBERS ABSENT None Staff members present: City Administrator, Randy Schumacher, City Engineer, David Ahrens; Planning Coordinator, Mary Kay Wyland; Finance Director, Mary Vaske; Community Development Director, Brian Wessel; Chief of Police, David Pecchia; Building Official, Peter Kluegel. 1996 BUDGET ADJUSTMENT, CAPITAL EQUIPMENT, SKE During a previous work session, staff presented a proposal e 997 Budget items with 1996 Budget excess revenues. Two (2) of the a pickup truck for Public Works and a mini -van for the Community D nt artment. Mr. DeWolfe has researched the purchase of these v s and has found both vehicles that if purchased now, would save th proximately $4,500.00. Automotive dealers are currently rece' e ' • odel vehicles and wish to reduce their inventory of current year mo Staff was directed to add t ' he - ptember 23rd Council agenda. MAYOR'S CO ERVICE AWARD, FRAN KURK At the previous wo '. ss • n, Council discussed presenting an award to citizens who have volunteered th- time and resources to the City. Council also discussed establishing a committee to prepare guidelines for the selection of candidates for the award. Ms. Kurk explained that she has contacted all the persons recommended by Council and staff and all are willing to participate on the committee. She asked that the committee be appointed by the Council so that the committee can begin drafting criteria for the award. This matter will be added to the agenda Monday evening. SENIOR HOUSING UTILITY RATES, COUNCIL MEMBER NEAL Several residents of the senior housing complex were in the audience and were introduced by Council Member Neal. Council Member Neal gave Council a handout of a survey of utility rates at senior housing complexes in other cities. He proposed that the City charge PAGE 1 COUNCIL MEETING SEPTEMBER 18, 1996 a flat rate of $26.00 per unit at the senior complex. He noted that this proposal could mean the difference between eating or paying utility bills for some residents. Mr. Terry Schmidt, the developer of the Senior Cottages, stated that when preparing his proposal to build the senior cottages, he assumed that utility rates in Lino Lakes were similar to other communities where he has constructed senior cottages. This is not the case and means that the owners of the Senior Cottages will have to increase the rental fees. Mr. Schmidt requested that the Council consider a reduced utility rate for the first year the cottages are available to the renters to avoid a rental rate increase. Council discussed this matter noting that the City has already contributed almost one million dollars to this project and that other seniors in other parts of the City would expect the same consideration. Council Member Lyden felt that this is not just a senior citizen issue because utility rates are excessively high in this City. Mr. Schmidt and the audience were told why the Lino Lakes rates were so high and that the City is currently in the process of preparing a rate study. The st be presented to Council on October 9th. The Council will then determine w t • • ab t the current utility rates. VARIANCE REQUEST, JOHN AND KIM SUL KAY WYLAND The Sullivans wanted to construct a stora_e b ding ' their property and called the Building Department to determine wh b - • ' ould be located. They misinterpreted information as to wr= 'r ing could be constructed. After the building was them that the building requested a varian requirements for a the Council. co e Su ivans received a letter from the City telling cated and encroached on setback The Sullivans ning and Zoning Board felt the situation could not meet the tabled the matter to allow staff to discuss the matter with The Sullivans were in the audience and asked who would pay for the relocation costs if the City determines that the building must be relocated. They feel that it is not their fault that the building was improperly located. Mr. Kluegel explained that he had talked to Mr. Sullivan before the storage building was constructed. The proposed storage building did not require a building permit. Since a permit was not required, an inspection of the property was not done. Unfortunately, the Sullivans property lines are not easily recognizable and their survey was not adequate for this situation. This matter was discussed with staff at the PM2 meeting. Staff concluded that anyone wishing to build anything on their property should come to city hall and present a detailed drawing of their proposal. PAGE 2 • • • COUNCIL MEETING SEPTEMBER 18, 1996 Council discussed whether a variance should be considered. Mr. Sullivan noted that the drainage from his entire block is routed through his backyard to the storm sewer. This situation leaves little space to place a storage building. Since this storage building has a concrete floor, he requested a variance to allow the storage building to remain in its current location. Council directed staff to discuss the relocation of the storage building to determine if there are other suitable areas to place the storage building. If there are none, the variance request should be returned to the Planning and Zoning Board for their review. ZONING ORDINANCE, MARY KAY WYLAND The Council was given a draft of the revision of the Zoning Ordinance at the last work session and was asked to review it and note their questions or comments. At that time, Council asked for additional information regarding mother-in-law apartments. Staff has provided the additional information. Mother-in-law apartments wi ded in the revised ordinance. Staff has also included parking requirement r ial areas. Staff was requested to survey other communities to dete buildings. The Rick LaFond incident was mentione there is anything that can be done to avoid a si Council referred to a residential lot co back of the lot abuts Lake Drive. avoided. Staff was asked to in contains lots where the re handle accessory sked to determine if and a swimming pool where the di these types of situations could be eci is requirements if a proposed subdivision an arterial roadway. Council discussed - or ce provision that requires a homeowner to connect to both sewer and water at e if both utilities are available. Staff was directed to prepare a draft ame a that would not require the hookup to both utilities at once but would require the ho eowner to connect the second utility within a specified number of years. Council also directed the Finance Department to determine if this proposal would have a financial impact on the City. Council will continue their review of the draft Zoning Ordinance at the next work session agenda. CENTERVILLE WATER UTILITY DRAFT JOINT POWERS AGREEMENT, DAVID AHRENS The City of Centerville has requested an agreement be prepared to interconnect with the Lino Lakes water system for emergency purposes only. A draft Agreement modeled after the Agreement between the City of Lino Lakes and the City of Circle Pines has been prepared and approved by the City Attorney. PAGE 3 COUNCIL MEETING SEPTEMBER 18,1996 Staff explained that the City of Centerville has adequate wells to supply water to their residents but has a need for water storage. Council expressed concern about this proposal impacting the ability of the City to supply enough water to Lino Lakes residents. Staff explained that the City has capacity to supply water to Centerville. The proposed Agreement contains a stipulation that when usage reaches a certain maximum, the City of Lino Lakes would re-evaluate the Agreement. Council requested that a mechanism be included in the Agreement that would not allow Centerville residents to sprinkle their lawns while a sprinkling ban was in effect in Lino Lakes. Staff explained that the Agreement would require the construction of a metering pit. The metering pit would be located in the City of Lino Lakes and the City of Centerville would be unable to access it. The draft Agreement as amended will be sent to the City of Cente letter. a cover UPDATE TH 49 (HODGSON ROAD) BRUSH REM AHRENS Staff has written to MnDOT and requested tha area approaching Birch Street from the north, be obstructed. MnDOT has responded determined that there was no sigh 49, particularly in the so that the sight lines would not ked at this situation last fall and Council discussed this ma r 'ermi ` ed that there is a safety issue with the sight lines and directed staff .� t OT again and at least get permission for the City Public Works De en clear the area. PAWNSHOP O' ►s E, DAVID PECCHIA Staff is in the process of drafting a Pawn Shop Ordinance for the Council to consider. The existing ordinance is being used as a starting point but examples of ordinances from other cities will also be used in the preparation of the draft. The purpose of revising the current ordinance is to insure that Lino Lakes has an ordinance as restrictive as all other metropolitan area cities. A more restrictive ordinance will deter pawnshop owners from looking at Lino Lakes as an easy target for their operation. Staff is considering tying pawnshop licenses to specific zoning areas. Staff is also considering a sizable license fee to discourage disreputable operations. The ordinance will require the owner to present a list of items that come in every day of operation. The ordinance will also contain sizable investigation fees. PAGE 4 • COUNCIL MEETING SEPTEMBER 18, 1996 Staff was directed to complete the draft ordinance, present it to the City Attorney for his comments and bring it to the next work session for further discussion. COMMUNITY NOTIFICATION PROGRAM, DAVID PECCHIA The State Legislature has enacted legislation requiring that communities be notified whenever a sex offender is released into their community. The law does not define the term "community". The sex offender must tell prison authorities where they will be residing and then be transported to that destination. The purpose of the legislation is to educate the citizens and make them aware that such persons will be living in their vicinity. Law enforcement officials have had training on this issue and have also been working with prison officials to make sure all requirements of the legislation are met. The Lino Lakes Police Department feels that this is a significant issue for Lino Lakes. Several community meetings will be conducted to inform the resid- t this law means. Basically, the Lino Lakes Police Department will be no e• er a sex offender is released to the juvenile or work release program • ► , these facilities are located on Lilac Street. It is expected that 2 to • e will be released in 1997 and 1998. Approximately 60% of them will o t • nepin or Ramsey Counties however some will be sent to Lino inform Council when the community meetings will take place. Council expressed concern about pact on the Police Department. They directed staff of keep the Cou t • n t is matter. EMERGENCY EXE D PECCHIA The Lino Lakes Po • . ent, the Centennial Fire District and the Correctional Facility will be con m _ a "table top" exercise to determine the ability of these three (3) agencies to respo • to a major critical incident such as a prison riot, weather related incident or state or national incident. This will be a significant exercise. Council was asked what type of publicity should be given to this exercise. It was the consensus of the Council to notify the Quad Press only. This exercise will occur on tornado awareness day. Many other activities will also be conducted on that day. There will be another class on incident command in February, 1997. Chief Pecchia is in the process of writing a grant to cover costs for this exercise. • Staff noted that when the City was marketing the Apollo Business Park, only one business did not want to locate in that area because of the prison. Now every prospect is PAGE 5 COUNCIL MEETING SEPTEMBER 18, 1996 concerned about the prison. Staff wants to be able to demonstrate to the public that the Lino Lakes Police Department can handle any incident at the prison. SALE OF COMMERCIAL TRASH HAULER Mayor Landers has been informed that one of the currently licensed haulers is considering selling his business and transferring the license to the new owner. The current Solid Waste Ordinance does not prohibit this transaction. Mayor Landers suggested that the City Attorney review the current Ordinance and he be authorized to prepare an amendment to that Ordinance prohibiting the transfer of any waste haulers licenses. REGULAR AGENDA Item No. 7A, Consideration of a Minor Subdivision, Terry Miller, 6958 Lake Drive - This request was reviewed with Council. They stated that they would not consider a variance to allow the subdivision. The request must meet all Zoning Ordinance requirements. These minutes were considered, corrected and approved at g of the City Council on November 22, 1999. Maiiilyn G. Anderson, Clerk -Treasure 11/9/99 (2:45 p.m.) PAGE 6 livan, Mayor