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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MINUTES 12211988C= TY O F E3 T_ ANTHONY C= TY C OUN C S L M= N U T E E3 DEC EMB E R 23- , 1988 1 The meeting was called to order at 7:30 P.M. with the Pledge of 2 Allegiance led by Mayor Sundland. 3 ROLL CALL 4 Present for roll call: Marks, Ranallo, Sundland, Enrooth, Makowske. 5 Also present: David Childs, City Manager. 6 DECEMBER 13. 1988 COUNCIL MINUTES 7 Motion by Marks, seconded by Enrooth to approve with the following 8 changes: 9 Page 2, line 32: Insert "needed" at beginning of line. 10 Page 5, line 35: Capitalize "Charles". 11 Page 6, line 3: Delete "was" between "lettering" and "for" 12 Page 7, line 10: Insert "a" after "summarized". 13 Page 8, line 43: Correct typo "assess". Page 9, line 34: Insert "exempt" before "property". Page 11, line 8: Correct typo "been". 16 Page 12, line 25: Substitute "seminar" for "seminary". 17 Page 12, line 32: Substitute "latter" for "former". 18 Page 13, line 3: Delete "was". 19 Page 13, line 39: Insert "Makowske" after "Councilmember". 20 Page 13, line 45: Correct typo "the" before "bigger". 21 Page 16, line 4: Capitalize "Apache". 22 Page 16, line 11: Correct typo "from" before "Delson". 23 24 Motion carried unanimously. 25 Motion by Ranallo, seconded by Makowske to grant the following licenses 26 as listed in the December 21, 1988 Council agenda packet: 27 Heating 28 Hoffman Corner Oil, White Bear Lake, MN 29 Rubbish Removal 30 Saba's, Ramsey, MN Motion carried unanimously. OA CLAIMS 2 Motion by Marks, seconded by Makowske to approve payment of all the City 3 accounts payable for November 30, 1988 as well as all Liquor Operation 4 accounts payable for December 13, 1988 as listed in the December 21, 5 1988 Council agenda packet. 0 Motion carried unanimously. 7 Motion by Makowske, seconded by Enrooth to approve payment of $1,258.38 8 to the Dorsey & Whitney law firm for legal services rendered through 9 October 21, 1988. 10 Motion carried unanimously. 11 Motion by Marks, seconded by Enrooth to approve payment of $468.75 to 12 C. E. LaSalle & Associates for appraisal services and preliminary 13 analysis in conjunction with the St. Anthony Boulevard reconstruction. 14 Motion carried unanimously. 15 ST. ANTHONY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HOLIDAY LIGHTING CONTEST AWARDS 16 PRESENTED 17 Barb Olsonoski, Chamber Vice President, thanked all the City residents '4 who had decorated this year, perceiving the results had been "very, very J lovely." Ms. Olsonoski presented a check for $200.00 to first place 20 winners, Virgil and Mikki Gottwalt, 2717 St. Anthony Boulevard; $100.00 21 to second place winners, Charles and Vicki Osborne, 3404 Maplewood 22 Drive; and gave the $50.00 third place award to Councilmember Enrooth 23 to deliver to his neighbor Henry Czupryna, 3427 Skycroft Drive. 24 Marjorie Ostebee, 3406 Highcrest Drive and Audrey Wagner, 3317 Edgemere 25 Drive, members of the St. Anthony Village Gardeners who had judged the 26 contest were present to receive the thanks bestowed by Mayor Sundland 27 on their organization as well as the Chamber for the "difficult but 28 wonderful job they had done which had resulted in so many well decorated 29 homes in St. Anthony this holiday season." Councilmember Ranallo 30 indicated he especially wanted to thank Ms. Olsonoski for initiating and 31 putting so much work into the project. Larry Jones, the Bulletin news 32 writer photographed the presentations. 33 REPORTS 34 DECEMBER 20, 1988 PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES - CHAIR GEORGE 35 WAGNER 36 Because the above meeting had been held the previous evening, only a 37 condensed report of Commission motions had been submitted by the 38 Secretary for Council action. 3 1 Chair Wagner opened his presentation by conveying the Planning Commissioners' holiday greetings to the Councilmembers. 3 Revised Signage Plan Approved for R. L. Johnson Building at 3055 Old 4 Highway 8 5 The Commission Chair then reported the following about the above 6 variance to the City Sign Code request which he indicated the sign 7 company representative was present to discuss: 8 *the variance was necessary for the free standing sign proposed to be 9 erected by R. L. Johnson Investment at the vacated Medtronic Building 10 at 3055 Old Highway 8 for which the investment company is seeking up 11 to four more tenants in addition to StrategiCare, Inc., major tenant 12 in the tower section of the building; 13 *the applicants had proposed a much larger sign in a location not 14 clearly identified during the Commission's November 15th public 15 hearing on the variance and had been directed to work with staff 16 on a more acceptable but effective sign for the building and to 17 provide more specifics as to its proposed siting; 18 *the sign and its base had been reduced to a 9 foot X 5 foot, 4 inch 19 with a 3 foot base (96 square foot) size, which the Commissioners were 20 more comfortable with than the originally proposed 118 square foot 21 sign which would have been almost 11 feet tall; ! *the sign would be lighted but the copy would have white letters 23 against a dark background which should not be as brilliant as dark on 24 white might be; 25 *the location had been specifically identified as providing at least 26 80 foot setbacks from the driving surfaces of both Old Highway 8 and 27 Highway 88, where it wouldn't interfere with any traffic flow; 28 *the Commissioners also perceived that although a variance for a sign 29 larger than the Sign Code allowed would be necessary, the proposed 30 sign presented a much more professional appearance to that building 31 and its environs than might have resulted if individual tenants were 32 allowed to put up the conglomeration of wall signage in all different 33 colors, sizes, lighted or unlighted, on all four sides of the 34 building; 35 *all current signage for the building would be eliminated and the 36 sign would be turned off by 10:00 P.M. 37 In his November 14th memorandum, Mr. Childs advised that he considered 38 the trade off of the downsized free standing sign to be a good one in 39 lieu of wall signs on the building, but recommended that point be 40 clearly stated with the Council's motion to avoid any future confusion 41 related to the number of signs on the building. El 1 Concern That Statutory Hardship Might Not Be Possible Under City Sign Code Prompts Councilmember to Suggest Rewriting City Ordinance 3 Councilmember Marks assured the other Councilmembers that he wasn't 4 going to vote against the requested variance because he agreed that the 5 revised signage represented "a very good compromise and a tremendous 6 improvement over what the City would allow for that particular building 7 and location." However, he said, from all he had learned from years of 8 association with the Planning and Zoning Institutes, he didn't believe 9 it had been satisfactorily proven that the requirement that "a 10 particular hardship to the applicant would result if the strict letter 11 of the regulations are adhered to" was applicable to this variance 12 request. 13 Councilmember Ranallo recalled that it might have even been during 14 Councilmember Marks' tenure on the Planning Commission that the City had 15 established the precedent of allowing one larger than allowed sign at 16 the Apache Medical Building rather than to have numerous signs on the 17 building identifying the businesses and offices inside that structure. 18 Councilmember Marks said that was probably true and he still agreed with 19 that decision even though he had since learned that sign had also 20 probably not qualified for a hardship under the state statutes. He told 21 the Mayor that just because an allowed sign could not be easily read 22 from the highway, causing a loss of business for the tenants, was not 23 a hardship at all under the state statute interpretation, which meant 24 that "the nature of the land is such that reasonable use of that -5 property is not possible." The Councilmember added that "reasonable i use" under that interpretation did not mean "exclusively for financial 27 gain." 28 Councilmember Marks indicated he expected legislative action to clear 29 up that interpretation this next session, but thought it might be a good 30 idea for the City to rewrite that portion of the sign code to meet the 31 statutory regulations and still not weaken the ordinance. 32 Mr. Childs pointed out that the Sign Code was not part of the City 33 Zoning Ordinance and asked Councilmember Marks to see if he could find 34 out during the next Planning and Zoning Institute whether St. Anthony 35 had to apply the statutory conditions attached to zoning ordinances to 36 the Sign Code. The Councilmember said he would see what he could find 37 out during the seminar which he and the Assistant to the City Manager 38 were scheduled to attend in January. He said he still thought the City 39 should be looking at its interpretation of "hardship" but made the 40 motion to grant the variance request before the Council that evening. 41 Council Action 42 Motion by Marks, seconded by Ranallo to grant the request from R. L. 43 Investment for a variance from the sign regulations of the City Code 44 which would allow the installation of a free standing sign at 3055 Old 45 Highway 8 in accordance with the specifications for a 9 foot X 5 foot, 4 inch sign with a three foot tall base (overall height of 8 feet, 6 9 1 inches) in the location proposed by the applicant during the continuance of the public hearing on the proposal conducted by the Planning 3 Commission, December 20, 1988. This variance is granted upon the 4 condition that: 5 1. The proposed sign would be in lieu of all other permitted wall signs 6 provided for that building in the City Sign Code. 7 2. All current leasing and identification signs and banners on and next 8 to the building would be removed as soon as the permanent signage is 9 positioned, sometime around March 1, 1989. 10 3. All sign lighting be turned off by 10:00 P.M. 11 In granting the variance, the Council finds, as did the Planning 12 Commission that: 13 a. the new proposal seems to address the concerns of residents who live 14 near the building which had been communicated to Commissioner Hansen 15 prior to the hearing on the proposal; 16 b. all three conditions which are statutorily required to be satisfied 17 have been satisfactorily addressed with the revised signage proposal. EN 9 J Motion carried unanimously. 21 Chair Wagner indicated the discussion of this application for the most 22 part centered on the hours of operation because the Commissioners were 23 wary of having such a facility operating all hours of the night. He 24 said the applicant, Grace Cooney, 12940 Overlook Road, Dayton, MN, had 25 assured them that there was no need to keep her Touch of Life School of 26 Massage open past 10:00 P.M. because the evening classes she conducted 27 would be out by that time. Weekend hours were necessary to accommodate 28 the occasional seminars Ms. Cooney testified she needs to hold in the 29 facility. The Commission Chair indicated the Commissioners had 30 recommended the offices should only be open from noon to 6:00 P.M. on 31 Sundays. 32 Ms. Cooney was present and indicated the Sunday hours would be no 33 problem for her because she didn't like working Sunday mornings either. 34 Chair Wagner drew the Council's attention to the conditions the 35 Commission recommended be imposed on this permit, which had been taken 36 from the permit granted to Rehab Dynamics, another massage facility 37 approved in March, 1988, saying this applicant also belonged to the 38 American Massage Therapy Association, as well as the long list of other 39 professional associations listed in the agenda packet. He also 40 indicated the school's standing in Dayton had been checked out and there 41 was no reason to believe Ms. Cooney's would not be "a fine operation for St. Anthony." R 1 Council Action 2 Motion by Marks, seconded by Makowske to grant the Touch of Life School 3 of Massage, Grace Cooney, Director, the requested conditional use permit 4 for the purpose of providing therapeutic massage as well as instruction 5 in such at 2504 - 39th Avenue N.E. (Apache Squares Building, just west 6 of the main Apache Plaza Mall) which is in a commercial "C" zoning 7 classification. This permit is granted only under the following 8 conditions: 9 1. The hours of operation would be restricted to from 8:00 A.M. to 10:00 10 P.M., Monday through Saturday, and noon to 6:00 P.M. on Sunday. 11 2. The permit would be automatically revoked if there is any violation 12 of applicable City or state statutes related to criminal sexual 13 conduct by any person associated with the operation. 14 3. The massage therapy and training offered in this center must comply 15 with the code of ethics and definition of massage therapy established 16 by the American Massage Therapy Association, a copy of which had been 17 provided by the applicant. 18 In granting this permit, the Council, as did the Planning Commission, 19 finds that: 0 a. there was no opposition to the permit demonstrated either before or i during the Commission's December 20, 1988 hearing on or the Council's 22 December 21, 1988 consideration of the application; and 23 b. all three conditions required to be satisfied before a conditional use 24 permit may be authorized appear to have been met with this 25 application. 26 Motion carried unanimously. 27 Seasonal Greeting From Councilmembers Returned to Commissioners 28 Mayor Sundland thanked the Commission Chair for his report and for his 29 conveyance of the Commission greetings to the Council which were 30 returned by the Council along with their thanks for all the help the 31 Commissioners had provided the past year. 32 COUNCIL REPORTS 33 Christmas Greetings Exchanged 34 Mayor Sundland then extended his own and his wife, Ardelle's, best 35 wishes for a Merry Christmas to everybody on the City Council, staff '16 and everyone else associated with the City's operation as well as all the residents and businesses in St. Anthony. The other Councilmembers echoed his wishes. 7 Santa on Fire Truck Big Hit with Council 2 Councilmember Makowske indicated she perceived all the other 3 Councilmembers were in agreement with her own conclusion that the "Santa 4 Claus on the City fire truck certainly helped to make St. Anthony an 5 enjoyable place to live." 6 City Resident Proposes Grant Anvlication to Minnesota Pollution Control 7 Agency Regarding a Study of Apache Plaza Parking Lot Runoff Into 8 Silver Lake 9 Councilmember Enrooth reported receiving a phone call from former 10 Planning Commission member, Doug Jones, indicating the lakeshore 11 resident was seeking the type of tangible support from the Council 12 needed before the MPCA would seriously consider his request. The 13 Councilmember indicated, with concurrence from both Councilmember Marks 14 and Mr. Childs, that more research on the ramifications of lending such 15 City support would be necessary before the Council should even consider 16 the options proposed by Mr. Jones for serious discussion. 17 Councilmember Enrooth indicated Mr. Jones told him the lake residents 18 believed the runoff from the shopping center parking lot was causing the 19 cloudy appearance of the lake and interfering with the aeration of the 00 lake itself. Councilmember Enrooth also indicated he would call Mr. Jones and request he consult with City staff and provide the information 'I needed to justify a Council resolution. 23 Councilmember Marks Reports Further on Anoka/Hennepin Light Rail Plans 24 The Councilmember indicated that at its last meeting, the Corridor 25 Advisory Committee on which he serves, took another look at the Central 26 and University Avenue segments of roadway in respect to what's 27 available; actual construction costs; and availability of parking 28 space. He said the Committee had found transit over some segments 29 would be very expensive. The need for transfer areas had been explored 30 and the Committee was now concentrating on a southern connection of 31 the two segments to get to downtown Minneapolis and a switching back and 32 forth between the two avenues to go north to Northtown. 33 Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority to Hold First Meeting January 34 3rd 35 Councilmember Marks reported that day receiving a notice to that effect, 36 which meant that committee was also starting to plan for similar light 37 rail activities in Ramsey County in which he would also be 38 participating. Councilmember Makowske was told John Madden would be 39 unable to serve as the City's technical adviser on that Committee 40 because he would be unable to make day time meetings. The City Al Manager added that he had since found that a staff appointment was really intended and he was filing his own name in on the application with the possibility of assigning some other staff person to serve as D 1 technical adviser. He also pointed out that with the City being in two 2 counties, it might be quite difficult for staff to actively attend all 3 of the meetings of both Ramsey and Hennepin County railroad authorities. 4 Mayor Sundland suggested Councilmember Makowske bring up the issue of 5 daytime meetings at a future meeting of the Ramsey County League of 6 Local Governments. Her response was that she would be glad to do so. 7 DEPARTMENT AND COMMITTEE REPORTS 8 Before the Hance & LeVahn Report on cases the law firm had prosecuted 9 in the Hennepin County District Court up to December 7th was filed, 10 Councilmember Makowske requested clarification of the comments in the 11 report which stated the Judge in several cases had "continued charges 12 for dismissal without City Prosecutor's approval." Mr. Childs told her 13 he suspected this was a disagreement the Prosecutor had with this 14 particular judge's decisions because it is supposed to be up to the 15 Prosecutor and not the judge, to decide or make recommendations of 16 whether or not charges are to be reduced or plea bargained and it would 17 then be up to the judge to affirm or not to affirm that position. The 18 City Manager said he anticipated the City Prosecutor would be submitting 19 a memo to the Council explaining his position and laying out the options 20 for appeal which he may want to pursue. 21 Councilmember Marks reported the perspectives he had recently received 22 on the inequities in sentencing whites and blacks from a person doing 23 research for a State Senator on the sentencing guidelines which seemed -4 to indicate the widening gap was a result of too much discretion on the i part of prosecutors and judges permitted under the current guidelines. 26 The Councilmember indicated the legislator in question was working on 27 rewriting legislation on the sentencing guidelines during the next 28 session. 29 CITY MANAGER REPORTS 30 Mr. Childs returned the holiday best wishes to the Mayor and 31 Councilmembers before proceeding with his own report. 32 33 34 Mr. Childs reported that he had discussed the above informal joint 35 meeting with the Superintendent of Schools, who had suggested the event 36 be held the last Monday evening in January. He said that although the 37 intent had been to have a "non -meeting", which would be purely social 38 in nature, the Open Meeting Law probably required publishing the get 39 together. 40 Army Inconsistent in Its Last "Sticking Point" for Settling Water 41 Contamination Litigation with St. Anthony 42 Copies of a letter proposed to be sent on the above had been distributed 'k to the Councilmembers prior to the meeting. Mr. Childs explained that X 1 the letter seeking help on the City's position would be sent to all the 3 City's Congressional Representatives as well as to the President. He 3 said the single issue on which the negotiations between Army and City 4 et al had bogged down had been the Army's failure to give a logical 5 reason why they were opposing the City's future ability to sue them in 6 the event new contaminants attributable to TCAAP are discovered or new 7 federal or state contaminant standards make the City's carbon plant more 8 expensive or unusable. According to the City Manager, the Army had 9 agreed to being sued for the capital cost of a new system to treat any 10 new contaminant which shows up later, but not for the costs of operation 11 of such a system. Mr. Childs pointed out the inconsistencies in the 12 Army's settlement with New Brighton, where they agreed to not only be 13 sued if either eventuality became fact for that City's system, but had 14 also guaranteed payment of all construction and operational expenses as 15 well. The other option proposed to the City by the Army was to reduce 16 the settlement amount in exchange for the desired language. The 17 Manager requested the Councilmembers follow up on the letter with 18 personal phone calls to the Congressmen and any one else who might have 19 some influence on the Army's decision. He also suggested one of the 20 points they make in those contacts would be the fact that the longer 21 the negotiations drag on, the higher the settlement the City would have 22 to have to cover increased legal and administrative costs. 23 Planning Commission Interviews and Work Session With Liquor Manager 24 Rescheduled for January 12th -5 A conflict with the January 11th date was reported by Councilmember .i Marks, Mr. Childs, and the Mayor. The consensus was that the following 27 night would work just as well with the same starting time of 7:00 P.M. 28 and the interviews held prior to the work session with Mr. Nelson. The 29 persons to be interviewed would be notified of the change, Mr. Childs 30 said. 31 Executive Session on Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Assessment 32 Negotiations Scheduled to be Held Later in the Evening 33 Mr. Childs indicated he needed further Council guidance regarding 34 pending litigation with the Park Board in conjunction with the St. 35 Anthony Boulevard Reconstruction assessments for Gross Golf Course and 36 requested a short session be held at the close of official business that 37 same evening. There was concurrence that the best time would be after 38 the short Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting to be held 39 immediately after the Council meeting. 40 NEW BUSINESS 41 Street Vacation for Evergreen Townhouse Project Approved Subject to 42 Execution of Redevelopment Agreement With Evergreen Development 43 Motion by Marks, seconded by Makowske to adopt Resolution 88-048 44 vacating a portion of Foss Road in conjunction with the above townhome 10 1 project on Silver Lane, subject to execution of the REdevelopment 2 Agreement with Evergreen Development. 3 RESOLUTION 88-048 4 A RESOLUTION VACATING A PART OF A ROAD 5 Motion carried unanimously. 6 AGENDA ADDENDUM 7 Chanae In Public Use of Tax Forfeited Land for Everareen Townhouse 8 Project Approved by Resolution 9 Mr. Childs had provided copies of the proposed Resolution 88-052 which 10 would change the public use of the above described property which is 11 scheduled to be transferred from the City of St. Anthony to the St. 12 Anthony Housing and Redevelopment Authority for the development of the 13 townhouse project. This action would remove the problems with the title 14 holding up the execution of the Redevelopment Agreement with Evergreen 15 Development. The City Manager also indicated the City Attorney had 16 requested the "Moundsview" in the property description be changed to 17 "Mounds View" to assure the document is absolutely correct for county 18 and state approval. 19 Council Action i Motion by Marks, seconded by Enrooth to adopt Resolution 88-052. 21 RESOLUTION 88-052 22 A RESOLUTION DETERMINING CHANGE OF PUBLIC USE 23 OF TAX -FORFEITED LAND 24 Motion carried unanimously. 25 26 Motion by Enrooth, seconded by Ranallo to adjourn the meeting at 8:23 27 P.M. for the meeting of the St. Anthony Housing and Redevelopment 28 Authority which followed immediately. 30 Respectfully submitted, 31 Helen Crowe, Secretary 32 33 34 ATTEST'�� City Clerk Motion carried unanimously.