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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-09-94 CCMMINUTES APPROVED: 9-6-94 LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL MINUTES AUGUST 9, 1994 TIME OF THE MEETING WAS CHANGED BECAUSE OF THE #622 SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENDUM ELECTION Mayor John called the special meeting to order at 8:06 p.m. in the city council chambers. PRESENT: Mottaz, John, Johnson, Johnston, City Planner Schwanke, Finance Director Banister, and Administrator Kueffner. ABSENT: Conlin 1. AGENDA M/S/P John/Johnson - to approve the August 9, 1994 Special Meeting agenda as presented. (Motion passed 4-0). 2. Discussion of Sanitary Sewer Options for 1-94 Mayor John commended Administrator Kueffner on her persistence with identifying the presence of this available 380,000 gallons a day capacity in the face of Metropolitan Council's denial. Administrator Kueffner reported there is approximately 380,000 gallons a day capacity ( that could be made available in the Wone interceptor south of 1.94 at a cost estimated to be $285,000. Anything short of a 1,000 acres MUSA extension would have to be paid by the person who petitions or who gets the capacity. Administrator Kueffner and Planner Schwanke met with the Met Co. on Wednesday where they verified that the capacity is there, that our original application was reviewed in a way that no other application has been reviewed before. They used the supply and demand issue that was the basis for which they turned us down and did not use this method prior to our application or since. Based on what the city knows now, Administrator Kueffner suggested resubmitting our application for the 440 acres. One of the arguments is going to be that Oakdale needs additional capacity, they're 90% developed and Lake Elmo is not. Lake Elmo may not get all the capacity, but it is very important we get our application in before Oakdale does. Steve Schwanke explained there are three principal issues that have to be addressed: 1. Sanitary Sewer Capacity issue. The improvements can be made and address the financing of the improvements 2. Justify the addition of the expansion of the MUSA area. The council does that by taking a look at the supply which we currently have in the urban service area and calculate demand for the next 10-15 years for land to be placed in the urban service area. This will be difficult justification for Lake Elmo because they have very little land LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL MINUTES AUGUST 9, 1994 in the urban service area and where that justification comes from primarily is past experience. Schwanke estimates 20-40 hours to make the application acceptable. Bohrer will have to update some cost figures, because he already did his work for the previous council on the premise that the improvement downstream was going to be made by someone. According to Bohrer's report we need the 380,000 gal. per day to service the entire 440 acres that we originally planned. 3. Met Council contended that Lake Elmo had not provided diversity of housing. Approx. 30% off our city is in affordable housing. 56% of the people in the Old Village qualify for LMI (Low Medium Income) Estimated cost $3,500-$4,000 to prepare our resubmittal. Mottaz asked if we had this money in our planning budget. Finance Director responded its not defined as such in the budget, but we have money to cover under council contingency reserves, Schwanke explained there are a couple ways of looking at it. Short term: Capacity constraint if you are able to develop an interim system that addresses that constraint it opens up about 380,000 gallons a day of capacity. Doubts Lake Elmo would get access to all of that. During the planning amendment review, the Met Council and Waste Control Commission would probably call in the cities of Oakdale and Lake Elmo and say we do have capacity here, Lake Elmo is requesting a lot of it, we know Oakdale has capacity problems and would probably give some of that capacity to Oakdale. Long term: City would have to take a look at the entire 1-94 corridor looking at approx. 1,000 acres to be added and justifying the extension of Cottage Grove Ravine interceptor through Cottage Grove through Woodbury and to the southern border of Lake Elmo. Now the plans call for the interceptor not to go through the city of Woodbury. If it doesn't go through the city of Woodbury, Lake Elmo will not have access to it. We have sent a letter, spoken publicly on record, but as of yet the centralization/decentralization plans have not changed. Mottaz asked how much of the $285,000 can we assess to this 440 acres that would benefit: Schwanke responded it could all be assessed, as well as engineering, legal, and financing the plan. Kueffner pointed out that Clarence Enright owes approx. $156,000 (Wone Interceptor) in Green Acres which is a large portion of that improvement. As soon as that land changes hands, this money is due. LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL MINUTES AUGUST 9, 1994 Council member Johnson voiced his understanding that the City Administrator and Steve Schwanke had a meeting with Met. Council and have determined that there is capacity to serve the 440 acres if there is an improvement downstream that we have talked about. This is independent of any sewer capacity that exists in the WONE now. You have discussed with Bohrer that the 380,000 per day is sufficient for full development for the 440 acres. Kueffner explained this is based on our business park development plan.Johnson asked, "Do you think that this request would be granted this time around?" Kueffner stated, "our original application was unfairly turned down. They used criteria in review of our application that was never used before or since. In this meeting, they are admitting to this. They are suggesting that we submit our application." Schwanke stated there are a number of reasons for filing a timely application: Woodbury is contemplating submitting an expansion. Oakdale has currently an application for expanding the urban service area at the Met Council, but has been placed on hold at the moment. If Oakdale's and Woodbury's amendment does goes through, it would be easy for the Met Council to say, "we added all those areas to the urban service area, you are part of the metropolitan area, sorry Lake Elmo, there's no justification for us to add any more". The council's policy document that regulates this whole area is going to change soon. The criteria in the new document is more restrictive than the criteria in the old document. No one has yet to commit when that new document is going to be placed into affect. (Guess is a couple of months). M/S/P John/Mottaz - to direct the staff to prepare an application for resubmission of this request for extension of MUSA for 440 acres at a cost not to exceed $5,000 with the submission of application brought back to the city council before the public hearing is called. (Motion passed 4-0). 3. Discussion of Finance options for 1-94 Sanitary Sewer M/S/P John/Johnston - to schedule a council workshop with Kathy Aho, Springsted Financial, on Monday, August 15, 7 p.m. to discuss finance options for the 1-94 Sanitary Sewer. (Motion passed 4-0). Mayor John closed the special meeting at 9:05 p.m LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL MINUTES AUGUST 9, 1994 Mayor John called the Budget meeting to order at 9:08 p.m. PRESENT: Mottaz, John, Johnston, Johnson, Finance Director Banister, Administrator Kueffner and representatives from the Lake Elmo Fire Dept. 1. Discussion with Fire Department on 1995 Budget The Council discussed each line item in the Fire Department's 1995 Budget. The following items were changed: Firemen's Compensation (4% increase on calls & officer's pay) Equipment Parts & Repair $6,000 Office Supplies 1,000 Uniform Supplies 2,500 Education & Training 8,500 Dues & Subscriptions 700 Physicals 2,500 Fire Prevention 2 500 Haz Mat Major Supplies 3,000 12,000 Fire Department CIP: There was discussion on capital additions. Personnel Carrier-$25,000 in 1995. Fire Chief Sachs explained the main purpose of the personnel carrier is for transportation to chief's meetings, fire schools, capital cities, parts & supply running --a people mover. This vehicle would eliminate the need to take a rescue truck out of service and eliminate the use of personal vehicles for fire department business. Fire Dept. & Land Acquisition for 3rd Station-$100,000. Banister explained that this would have to be a bond issue.: Administrator Kueffner felt a needs assessment should be done for station #3 and look into the possibility of combining services with other communities. Possibly serve areas of Baytown better and provide service faster. There was discussion on if the amount of equipment is really needed; such as the ladder truck, responding to accident calls. The city has received complaints on the number of equipment responding to an accident that are not medicals. It was suggested that an article be placed into the newsletter explaining to the public which Fire Department equipment responds to what accidents. Councilman Johnson indicated he would like to see the $94,784 that was spent on the equipment certificate be put into reserves in 1995. He also suggested that Mike Bouthilet, Parks Supervisor, put together a CIP for the Parks Dept.. The Council made it clear that at this time they were not formalizing this budget, but had to take the budget to public hearing. LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL MINUTES AUGUST 9, 1994 The Council set the next Budget Workshop for the Maintenance and Parks Department on Tuesday, August 16, 1994 at 6 p.m before the council meeting. M/S/P Mottaz/Johnston -to adjourn the budget workshop at 10:10 p.m. (Motion passed 4-0).