Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MINUTES 04271976CITY OF ST. ANTHONY COUNCIL MINUTES April 27, 1976 An open house at the new city facilities was held from 6 to 8 P.M. and the meeting was opened with a presentation of the flag by the Dara Yu Camp Fire Girls Group led by Mrs. Ellsworth Larson. The Pledge of Allegiance was follow- ed by a vocal selection by the girls. The meeting was then called to order by Mayor Miedtke at 8:15 P.M. Present for roll call: Stauffer, Miedtke, Haik and Sundland. Absent: Sauer Also present: Jerry Dulgar, City Manager Jim Fornell, Adm. Asst. I.C. Comstock, City Engineer During the discussion of the April 13th minutes, Councilman Haik requested that the funds to award the winners of the Bicentennial speech contest held in the St. Anthony High School be transferred to the high school teacher, Mrs. Westrum, as soon as possible. Motion by Councilman Sundland, seconded by Councilman Stauffer to approve the minutes for the April 13th meeting. Motion carried unanimously. Ms. Joan Campbell, Metropolitan Council representative for the district which includes St. Anthony, explained what her duties entail and encouraged the City officials to contact her with any problem they might have regarding transport- ation, social services and land uses which might come under Metro Council juris- diction. George Marks then commented on action taken by the Planning Board as they were reflected in the minutes of their April 20th meeting. He first discussed the request from the Gay Realty Company to build a 33,000 sq. ft. warehouse -office building on Lots 1 and 2 of Block 3 in the St. Anthony Office Park for which the Board had given their preliminary approval with some reservations. One of these was the Board's concern that the 55 parking spaces provided in the site plans might not be enough if other than the prospective tenants around which the developers and the EDS Construction Company were plan- ning the building, should not become the occupants or might be replaced by tenants who might require more parking. Mr. Jeff Nielsen of the Gay Realty Company and Mr. Ed Sheehy of the EDS Company were present and Mr. Nielsen indicated the plans had been revised to provide 10 or 12 additional parking spaces if they were needed. He said the building was being undertaken on a speculative basis and was designed for a low -industrial type usage and he estimated a minimum number of trucks parked there for any period of time during any given week. The possiblity of an identical U-shaped building being placed face to face with the building was also considered. The Board's concern about the minimum of greeenery planned to the rear of the build- ing was also noted. Paae 2 Motion by Councilman Stauffer, seconded by Mayor Miedtke to approve the site plans for the warehouse -office type building as presented on Lots 1 and 2 of Block 3, St. Anthony Office Park subject to the provision of 5 feet of greenery to the rear and the shifting of the parking on the east side of the building to the west side of the driveway. There must be a screening of the rooftop utilities and the project must meet with all state and local fire and building codes. Motion carried unanimously. There was no action taken regarding signage for the development since no plans were presented but the developers were cautioned to be sure that any prospective tenants were fully aware of the City's restrictive sign ordinance. Mr. Marks told the Council about the inquiry made by Mr. Peugh of siyncrafters Outdoor Display, Inc. regarding the changes in signage expected for the Poppin Fresh restaurant at 3701 Stinson Blvd. but no Council action was re- quired at this time. Motion by Councilman Stauffer, seconded by Councilman Haik to adopt Resolution #76-017. RESOLUTION NO. 76-017 A RESOLUTION TRANSFERRING CETA MONIES RECEIVED TO PAYROLL, PENSIONS AND INSURANCE ACCOUNTS. Motion carried unanimously. Mr. Comstock reported that only that day his office had received official confirmation that the Minnesota Highway Department would not grant MSA funding for the rebuilding of 29th Avenue M.E. unless the three right hand turns with a 30 foot radii were included in the project. The Engineer said he could see no technical justification for the state officials' refusal to eliminate these right hand turns in view of the traffic count figures which he had presented to them which seemed to justify the City's position that the turning lanes were not necessary. He further told the Council that in meeting with the state aid officials he had gotten the impression (though it was never expressed vocally) that they based their refusal to eliminate the right hand turns on lack of provision for sidewalks in the City's proposal taking the position that pedestrian and cyclist safety would not be adequately provided for in the parkway design for the roadway. Councilman Haik expressed her surprise at this, saying she felt this was the first time such a position taken by the state aid office had been expressed to the Council. Mayor Miedtke expressed his concern that the roadway could ever be built during the present construction period with any further delays and stated what he thought the City's options were regarding the project: 1. Table action until further contact can be made with the Commissioner of Highways. 2. Go ahead with the plans including the right hand turns. 3• Go back to the original proposal for a 40 foot road with the 30 ft. radial at the intersections. 4. Construct the parkway designed road without MSA funding with the full cost assessed to the property owners on a front foot basis. Page 3 All the Council agreed that the property owners must be involved in any decision that had to be made and the Mayor wanted each of them notified that such a decision was to be made at the next Council meeting. Mr. Mirocha felt that T.A.P. Committee should be allowed to make the initial briefing of the residents regarding the decisions which must be made. Motion by Councilman Haik, seconded by Councilman Stauffer to authorize the Manager to try to set up an immediate meeting of MSA officials with himself, Councilman Haik and the three property owners who would be affected by the proposed right hand turns, in an attempt to disuade the highway department officials from their ruling on the turning lanes. Motion carried unanimously. The City Engineer will attend the meeting and provide all supporting traffic count information. Motion by Councilman Stauffer,seconded by Mayor Mledtke to invite all affected property owners on 29th Avenue N.E. to attend the May 11, 1976 Council meeting in order that they might make themselves heard on the decisions which must be made regarding the reconstruction of 29th. Motion carried unanimously. Harry Hoff, Principal of Wilshire Park Elementary School, discussed the information and recommendations contained in the April 27th memo from the school's PTSA regarding safety considerations for 37th Avenue N.E. between Foss Road and Highcrest Road in front of the school. The memo contained recommendations made by the Ramsey County Highway Department officials who attended the April 20th meeting at the school and included temporary provisions for the safety of pedestrians until the completion of the 37th Avenue widening project, safety measures to be included in the rebuilding of 37th and the recommendations of the PTSA for Council action. The Manager said he felt the temporary walkway should be set back far enough from the roadway so that it would not be covered by snow plowed off 37th Avenue and felt the fence should be provided by the school on the north side of the school property so that it would direct to the designated crosswalk not only the children who were crossing the road to school classes but also those who use the school playground when school is not in session. Motion by Councilman Stauffer, seconded by Councilman Sundiand to request Ramsey County to take the necessary steps to provide a temporary solution to the safety problem on 37th Avenue near Wilshire Park School as per their April 20, 1976 presentation including the utilization of amber flashers on signs indicating speed limit (which the Council requests to be lowered to 20 MPH); elimination of all parking on 37th between Foss Road and Highcrest Road as well as striping of the roadway to provide for safe crossing in front of the school, with all these actions to be taken prior to the beginning of the 1976-77 school year. Motion carried unanimously. Mr. John Ferdelman of 4028 Macalaster and Ms. Helen LivFn95:tcn appeared to request that Mr. Ferdelman be allowed to combine his five lots into two, instead of replatting the lots. Page 4 Mayor Miedtke said it had officially been the policy of the Council for the past eight years to require replatting of such property before allowing such a split and made the following motion: Motion by Mayor Miedtke, seconded by Councilman Stauffer to deny the Ferdelman request for a variance to the normal platting procedure for the re - division of his property on Macalaster Drive. Before voting on the motion the Manager researched the requirements for granting preliminary approval to the plans for splitting the lots and wishing to aid the applicant because of his stated hardship, the Mayor withdrew his motion and the following was substituted. Motion by Councilman Sundland, seconded by Mayor Miedtke to indicate pre- liminary approval for the platting plans for splitting Mr. Ferdelman's property subject to the concurrence of the City Attorney and with the stipulation that the final replatting be submitted for approval as soon as possible. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting was recessed from 10:15 to 10:31 P.M. Mr. Dulgar reported that he had discussed the $4.00 per month raise recently granted by the Council with approximately 75% of the Maintenance Department employees and they had expressed dissatisfaction with the raise. He said they felt they were not covered by any other than their Maintenance Dept. compensation for sick time which might result from injury or illness caused by fire fighting activities. They also did not believe they received adequate compensation for the hazards posed. They were also concerned that the age of some of the men made their firefighting especially hazardous. Loren McClanahan of the Maintenance Department said his group were one hundred percent behind not serving as a backup force for the Fire Dept. after July 1st if no further consideration was granted them. He said a basis for the men's antagonism was the comparison of the amount of raise the Fire Department had received with that awarded the Maintenance Department and pointed out that the minimal raise they had received for the backup service had been the first they had gotten in the last seven years. Mr. McClanahan said the Maintenance Dept. men felt the Council's decision had been premature and not well researched. This point was disputed by the Mayor and Councilman Haik who told Mr. McClanahan that his group had provided the Council with no background information or justification for any other decision. Mr. Dulgar mentioned the possibility of giving the men an annual physical examination, setting up a special insurance provision to provide for anyone who might suffer a heart attack as a result of firefighting activities as well as setting up a sick leave fund to cover any fire related loss of work. He was requested to research the matter further and report back his recommendations. Mr. Dulgar then asked for approval and guidelines for renting out the un- used office space in the old city hall. Councilman Sundland said he felt the need for additional space by the City itself would probably surface and was philosophically opposed to the City competing with the private sector in Page 5 the rental business since he felt there was probably an abundance of unrented office space available in the area. Motion by Mayor Miedtke, seconded by Councilman Stauffer to authorize the Manager to seek an office -type lessee for the unused office space in the old city hall. Voting on the motion: Aye: Stauffer, Miedtke, Haik May: Sundland Motion carried. Mr. Dulgar, who is vice president of the Interim User Board and serves on the computer subcommittee of the Interim User Board, commented on the status report from the Board and said he anticipated there would be a drastic raise in the users' costs for the county wide public safety communications system. Following a discussion of the letter from Hennepin County regarding the Community Health Service Act, Councilman Haik invited the Council members to make the tour of the services offered by Ramsey County General Hospital which is scheduled for April 30th. Motion by Councilman Haik, seconded by Councilman Stauffer to accept the low bids and award the contract for aggregate to Anderson Aggregate; blacktop to Midwest Asphalt and oil to Koch Refining. Motion carried unanimously. The letter of thanks from Phyllis and Orville Thompson for the opportunity afforded the St. Anthony High School Marching Band members to earn $2,500.00 to help defray the costs of their trip to Hawaii was noted. The April 8th letter from the Association of Metropolitan Municipalities re- garding committee vacancies was filed after the Mayor announced that the annual meeting of the association will be held May 19th. The Fire and Police Reports for March, 1976 were filed. Mr. Fornell commented on his memo which pointed out the need for modification of the Metro Council's policies which specify that the 1976 Community Development Block Grant funds be allocated at the ratio of 6o% for family housing and the rest for housing for the elderly if the City is to get such funds. He cited the project for the elderly which had already been planned for the property across from Apache and the fact that the City lacks the number of undeveloped lots and suitable sites for high density housing for family housing, as the reasons the City is unable to meet the standards set for allocation of the funds. After considering the options he felt the City had and the deadline for making the application for the grant funds, the Council made the following motion: Motion by Councilman Sundland, seconded by Mayor Miedtke to request Mr. Fornell to submit the application for 1976 Community Development Block funds as it is presently written and to adopt a resolution urging the Metro Council to adopt a more flexible policy on family -elderly subsidized housing ratios. Page 6 RESOLUTION NO. 76-018 A RESOLUTION REGARDING COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT APPLICATION Motion carried unanimously. The Mayor reminded the Council of the public meetings set to discuss the new zoning ordinance during the Council meetings on May 11 and May 25. Motion by Mayor Miedtke, seconded by Councilman Sundland to approve payment of the funds necessary to compensate Councilman Haik for the expenses for participation in the Management for Public Sector Seminar. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Sundland, seconded by Councilman Stauffer to approve payment of $1,462.10 to the Dorsey Firm for legal services for February,1976. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Council Stauffer, seconded by Mayor Miedtke to approve payment of all verified claims listed in the April 27, 1976 agenda. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Sundland, seconded by Mayor Miedtke to adjourn the meeting at 11:55 P.M. Motion carried unanimously. ATTEST:ip;Y�1 Clerk J'C� �4� Mayor 1