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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MINUTES 04091985 Meeting Sheet 101825 BOX: 21 Folder: CC MINUTES AND AGENDAS 1985 Document: CC MINUTES 04091985 CITY OF ST. ANTHONY COUNCIL MINUTES April 9, 1985 The meeting opened at 7:30 P.M. with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Mayor Sundland. Present for roll call : Sundland, Enrooth, and Makowske. Absent: Ranallo and Marks, who were attending a Chemical Awareness Committee in a different location. Also present: David Childs, City Manager; William Soth, City Attorney; and Don Hickerson, Police Chief. Motion by Councilman Makowske and seconded by Councilman Enrooth to approve as sub- mitted the minutes of the Council meeting held March 12, 1985. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Enrooth and seconded by Mayor Sundland to approve as submitted the minutes of the Special Council meeting held April 2, 1-985. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Makowske and seconded by Councilman Enrooth to grant the following licenses as listed in the April 9th Council agenda: • Contractors Four Seasons Construction, Inc. , Spring Lake Park Day' s Construction & Remodeling, Arden Hills Northeast Tile Design, Minneapolis Patio Enclosures, Inc. , New Hope M. Bakke, Inc. , Lindstrom Russ & Bob Johnson Construction, Plymouth Horizon Development Company, Roseville Richard Hastings Company, Fridley David Volkmann Construction, Inc. , Circle Pines Kraus-Anderson Construction Company, Minneapolis D&D Home Improvement, Fridley Lawrence Signs, Inc. , St. Paul Bowling Lanes St. Anthony Lanes On Sale 3.2 Beer St. Anthony American Legion Post #513 Gross Golf Course, Minneapolis Park Board St. Anthony Lanes • Pizza Hut Restaurant Vincenzo's Restaurant Scarpelli ' s dba Silver Lake Pasta -2- Bench • U.S. Bench Corporation Service Station Dick's Standard J & S Auto Service, Inc. , dba Apache Mobil Service Murphy's Service Center Amusement Devices St. Anthony Lanes (8). Advance Carter for various locations (27). Apache Plaza, Ltd. (34), Vending St. Anthony Lanes Laundry B-Kleen Laundry, Apache Plaza Cigarette Apache Mobil • Vincenzo's, Inc. B-Kleen Laundry Get It For Less, Inc. , Apache Plaza St. Anthony Lanes Advance Carter for various locations Mr. Hobo Gross Golf Course, Minneapolis Park Board Wine Vincenzo's, Inc. Scarpelli 's dba Silver Lake Pasta Club St. Anthony American Legion Post #513 Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Enrooth and seconded by Councilman Makowske to approve pay- ment of all verified climas listed for March 31st and April 9th in the April 9th Council agenda. Motion carried unanimously. • Motion by Councilman Makowske and seconded by Councilman Enrooth to approve payments of $826.25 to Dorsey & Whitney for legal services during February, 1985, and $1 ,555.65 to Edward J. Hance for St. Anthony prosecutions from February 8 through March 6, 1985, as listed in the April 9th Council agenda. Motion carried unanimously. -3- Councilman Enrooth was assured by the City Manager that 1985 City contribution to the Suburban Cable Commission budget would be reimbursed to all member cities from • either an advance on franchise fees or from the $150,000 indemnification from Group W, if the amendment agreement with Group W would not be signed. The Coucil- man was told the Commission had decided to seek this contribution because the signing of the agreement had been delayed when one of the city members, Mounds View, had encountered a problem with their city charter to adopt the agreement. However, Mr. Soth indicated he understood that problem had been resolved and no further delays in signing the agreement were anticipated. Councilmembers Marks and Ranallo arrived at 7:37 P.M. during this discussion. Motion by Councilman Makowske and seconded by Councilman Enrooth to approve payment of $9,294 as the City's 1985 contribution to the Suburban Cable Commission budget. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Ranallo to approve payment of $9,554.40 to GM Truck & Bus Group for the purchase of the one ton truck, bid through the Hennepin County Purchasing group. Motion carried unanimously. Ron Hansen reported the March 19th Planning Commission minutes and the recommendations to the Council reflected therein. The Commission spokesman reiterated that the intent of the proposed amendment of the • City Ordinance as it related to accessory buildings had been to prohibit eaves from encroaching beyond approved setbacks between houses and garages. Mr. Childs indicated the bay windows which had -aroused . so much controversy last summer would not be effected by the proposed amendment, since it would not address setbacks between principal structures. Councilman Mar..ks recalled that when the Zoning Ordinances had been rewritten in 1976 there had been a great deal of discussion about accessory buildings and portions of those buildings encroaching property lines, but the City Manager at that time had indicated he perceived the problem had been effectively addressed in the final ordinance draft. Councilman Makowske's proposal for a third finding in addition to the Commission's for Ordinance 1985-002 was accepted, along with the following changes in the ordinance itself proposed by the City Attorney to assure the Council 's intentions related- to the encroachments had been clearly specified: ORDINANCE 1985-002 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 1 , ITEMS 2 AND 4 OF SUBDIVISION 2 OF APPENDIX I OF THE 1973 CODE OF ORDINANCES The City Council of the City of St. Anthony hereby ordains: Section 1 , Items 2 and 4 of the Subdivision 2 of Appendix I of the 1973 Code of Ordinances are hereby amended to read as follows: • Subdivision 2. Accessory Buildings. 2. No accessory building, or eave, or any other portion of accessory building shall be located within three feet of any property line. -4- 4. Unless attached to and made a part of the principal structure, any portion, or eave, or any other portion of an accessory building, shall • not be closer than five feet from any portion of a principal structure. . . . Motion by Councilman Makowske and seconded by Councilman Marks to approve the first reading of Ordinance 1985-002, with changes in wording recommended by the City Attorney. ORDINANCE 1985-002 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 1., ITEMS 2 AND 4 OF SUBDIVISION 2 OF APPENDIX I OF THE 1973 CODE OF ORDINANCES In approving the ordinance amendment, the Council finds, as did the Planning Commission that: 1 . A public hearing on the amendment had been conducted by the Planning Commission, March 19, 1985; 2. There was no opposition to the amendment demonstrated at that meeting or during the April 9, 1985 Council consideration; and 3. Clarification and changes in the ordinance were perceived to be necessary due to multiple interpretations of the ordinance. Motion carried unanimously. • Councilman Ranallo indicated he concurred that there might be a need for temporary signage to identify the Egekvist Bake Shops thrift store during the period in which 37th Avenue N.E. is under construction, but he wanted to be certain the sign proponents had clearly understood there would be no more signage permitted for the store after the roadway was reconstructed. The Councilman recalled the City had limited the amount of signage for other businesses in that same area and said he did not want any further relaxation of the Sign Ordinance which he perceived could result in a "sign happy City". The Manager indicated he would closely monitor the bakery signage so the proposed portable sign would not be put out before the work on the roadway is commenced or kept up after construction is completed. Mr.' Hansen told -the Council he believed the Egekvist representative had been made aware that the City intended to retain its stringent sign ordinance with no exceptions. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Ranallo to grant Egekvist Bake Shops the necessary variance to the City Sign Ordinance which would allow them to erect a temporary, substantially constructed, portable sign, not to exceed 30 square feet on a side, to identify the thrift bakery at 3005-37th Avenue N.E. , only during the construction phases of 37th Avenue N.E. , with the sign approved, and actual dates when it could be up, determined by the City staff. Motion carried unanimously. The- Commission 's interpretation related to the Genuine Parts store signage was noted • but not addressed by the Council . -5- The Council accepted the Commission's unanimous .recommendation- related to the con- struction of 29 units of townhouses on the Walbon property by Brighton Development • Corporation. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Makowske to grant the following variances to the City Zoning Ordinance which would permit the development of the property at 3242 Old Highway 8 for the Old Highway 8 Redevelopment Project, as pro- posed by the Brighton Development Corporation during the March 19, 1985 Planning Commission hearing on the proposal : 1 . A 20 foot. setback from 33rd Avenue N.E. for one unit (_30 feet required); 2. A 24 foot setback from the west property line adjacent to 3612-33rd Avenue N.E. (30 feet required); 3. -A 25 foot --setback from the west property line for 8 units located adjacent to 3209, 3213, 3217, 3221 Croft Drive N.E. (_30 feet required); and 4. A 1.0 foot setback from Old Highway 8 to the east of two units (30 feet required) ; 5. A density variance .to allow 29 units, where 27.5 are allowed by Ordinance. The Council grants these variances, as recommended by the Planning Commission, on the condition that there be noise abatement construction, including 2 X 6 walls; triple glazed windows; and significant insultation for the two units facing Old Highway 8, where only 10 foot setbacks would be allowed. • In granting these variances, the Council finds, as did the Planning Commission, that: 1 . All three questions on the application form, which are required to be answered affirmatively, have been done so with this proposal ; 2. The physical attributes of this property make it unique in regard to shape and topography; 3. The project would eliminate a legal , non-conforming use of long duration; 4. Expression of opposition to the higher density necessary to make the project work was minimal during the various hearings held by the City on the project; and 5. No opposition to the variances requested for the project was expressed during the March 19th Commission hearing or the April 9th Council determination related to the proposal . Motion carried unanimously. The Council had also taken into consideration the Commission's recommendation related to the allocation of Year XI CDBG funds when they had designated the uses of those funds at their April 2nd meeting. The February Financial Report was ordered filed. • At 8:00 P.M. , the Mayor opened the public hearing on the proposal that the City issue a maximum aggregate principal amount of $950,000 in Industrial Development Revenue Bonds to finance the costs of acquisition, renovation and equipment of an approximately -6- 21 ,000 square foot building at 2837 Anthony Lane South which would be owned by • R. Neil Hamlin and leased to Garment Graphics, Inc. for use as an office and imprinted sportswear manufacturing facility. The notice of the hearing had- been published in the March 20th Bulletin but only the proponents, Mr. Hamlin and Walter C. Parkins, 3005 - 39th Avenue Nom. , Vice President of Dougherty, Dawkins, Strand & Yost, investment bankers, were present to discuss the issuance.-of these bonds. Mr. Parkins told the Council that, although the majority of the state's available IDB funds had already been allocated, Mr. Hamlin was anxious to get his name included with other fund applicants who would be con- sidered if some of those allocations are not used. The investment banker said the Chandler Drive building had not been large enough' to support Mr. Hamlin's expansion plans, which Mr. Parker expects would provide a substantial increase in both the company's operation and payroll with a matching increase in tax revenues paid to the City. The Keebler Company have indicated they would be vacating the office park bui-lding some time between May 1st and June lst, he said. _. Mr. Hamlin said he was glad to be able to stay in St. Anthony because the community had always been good for his business. He said he was in the process. of-purchasing a marketing company with which Mr. Hamlin hopes to double his yearly volume of business. Because the current location had no room...expansion, the Garment Graphics owner said he had been within three days of applying for IDB's in the City of New Brighton and had signed a purchase. agreement within a half a day after learning that the Keebler building would be available. He, plans to rearrange the interior of that building and Mr. Hamlin said he would convert the existing double dock area, which he would not need, into offices and employee rest areas. Mr. Hamlin told the Council his current number of employees is in the low 20's but he hopes to increase • that number to 50 people within the next four years. The Mayor noted the City would be incurring no obligation by issuing these bonds and told Mr. Hamlin he was very pleased the opportunity had arisen for Garment Graphics to remain in St. Anthony. The hearing was closed at 8:05 P.M. Motion by Councilman Ranallo and seconded by Councilman Enrooth to adopt Resolution 85-021 . RESOLUTION 85-021 A RESOLUTION GIVING PRELININARY APPROVAL TO A PROJECT AND ITS FINANCING UNDER THE MUNICIPAL INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ACT (.R. NEIL HAMLIN PROJECT) (.GARMENT GRAPHICS, INC. , LESSEE); REFERRING THE PROPOSAL TO 'THE MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOR APPROVAL; AND AUTHORIZING PREPARATION OF NECESSARY DOCUMENTS Motion carried unanimously. Mayor Sundland reported receiving a memo from Craig Belisle of Video Update indicat- ing the store manager desired to participate in the "Strong Kids, Safe Kids" program, April 20th, whereby his store, on that day, would take video tapes for identification purposes of any child brought in by a parent. Mr. Belisle had also suggested the ® City Police.-Department might want to take fingerprints of the children as well . When Councilman Makowske indicated her reluctance to promote what some might consider to be a "police state" activity, Chief Hickerson told her the tapes and prints would -7- be given to the parent to be used to identify the child in the event he or she disappeared as so many children have in the past. The Chief then indicated that • he. personally believed photos were clearer than videos for. identification purposes but said he would be happy to cooperate in any program which encouraged parents to get involved in the provision of safety for their own children. The Council consensus was that the Mayor should proclaim April 20, 1985, as "Strong Kid, Safe Kid Day" in St. Anthony if, after a discussion with Mr. Belisle, Chief Hickerson perceives this would be a beneficial activity for the youngsters of St. Anthony. The meeting of: the Ramsey County League of Local Governments Board, which had been scheduled for Good Friday had been cancelled, Councilman Makowske reported, and she would be unable to attend the April 17th meeting -because of her involvement in the. Council 's Volunteer Recognition program that same evening. Councilman Enrooth' s assessment of the National Conference of' Cities in Washington, D.C. , which he, the Mayor, Councilman Ranallo and Mr. Childs had attended the last week of March, was that the seminars had been very educational but there had been a "day and night" difference between this conference and those in the past because there had been so little participation by the White House. Mayor Sundland commented that this conference had broken all records for attendance with between 4,500 and 4,700 League of Cities members present. Mayor Sundland was congratulated on his election to the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Association of Metropolitan Municipalities. In conjunction with the Washington D.C. conference, Councilman Ranallo suggested that, because there is every possibility that the City might not receive the $37,000 which had been expected in Revenue Sharing funds, and perceiving the lack of such revenues would have a direct impact on the services the City could provide, all Department Heads should begin right away to take a sharp look at their budgets to see what services could be decreased or eliminated altogether, if federal funding of municipalites is cut off this year. That way the City would have a realistic picture of what has to be done at budget time, he .said. The Councilman then reported receiving a call from a resident repeating allegations that I.D. 's are not being checked carefully enough at the City liquor stores and specifically referring to a recent Focus article quoting an underage youth who said he had purchased various kinds of liquor in two St. Anthony liquor stores. Council- man Ranallo said the caller had been adamant that he report these allegations directly to the Council and then report back to her just what steps the City was going to take to correct the .problem. Chief Hickerson said he had contacted Ray Nelson, the Liquor Manager, right after the incident had been reported and Mr. Nelson had already talked to the parents of the seventeen year old youth who was involved, who were satisfied with the Liquor Manager's handling of the matter. Mr. Nelson had told Chief Hickerson the father had indicated his son looked much older than seventeen and the Chief said the paper had only been partially correct in their article because only the Apache store had been involved. Mr. Childs said Mr. Nelson had told him there had been no excuse for the sale and • that the employee who . had made it had been reprimanded for not following procedures which had been set up for checking I.D. 's. Nevertheless, the- Manager indicated he . perceived there could be an advantage to having the Liquor Manager meet with the • -8- Council to reiterate for the Council 's benefit the training liquor store employees are given to prevent the sale of liquor to minors, a goal Mr. Childs acknowledged • could never be foolproof to the extent some enterprising -youth could not beat the system. Councilman Enrooth supported this suggestion, saying it could be helpful to have those procedures in written form so the Council could. refer to them when discussions arose with residents about this problem. Mayor Sundland agreed it would be helpful to have the-Liquor Manager reinforce the identification procedures and he indicated he appreciated the fact that the Police Chief had gotten involved in the incident as soon as he learned about it. Councilman Marks and Ranallo gave short reports on the Chemical Abuse Information Committee they had attended at 7:00 P.M. that evening. Councilman Ranallo said from the number of persons in attendance he had gotten the impression this was a very active group. Councilman Marks reported the major concern of the group that evening had been that they perceived there was a lack of nonalcoholic places available for the City youth to hang out in over the weekends. The Councilman then presented the brochure for the Government Training Service seminar on "Entrepreneurship in the Private Sector" which would be held at Macalaster College, April 11th. The speaker, who was familiar to City officials, would be Ronnie Brooks of Dayton-Hudson Company and, Councilman Marks said, the attendance fee would be $80. Chief Hickerson explained that the Council had just now been provided with the police reports for November, December, January, and February because the department had been so long without a secretary and higher priority duties had kept her busy once she had started work. The Council noted several instances of excellent police work during that period and asked the Chief to relay their congratulations to the officers involved. When Councilman Makowske asked the Chief if he knew why there was a rise in crime between 1983 and 1984, he told her he didn't have a good explanation for the increase except his own observation that incidents of burglary seemed to rise and fall according to which criminals are out of prison at any time. Mayor Sundland reported hearing a conversation between youths on the same bus which he was riding which indicated they believed St. Anthony was the last place they should try anything because the City police were "really tough" and "wouldn't let you get away with anything". Councilman Ranallo commented that he perceived articles on crime like the one in a recent issue of the Bulletin were very helpful . The Chief was tolds_his presence that evening had given the Councilmembers a much better insight into several agenda items. The 1984 annual report from the Northwest Suburban Youth Services had been submitted by Chris Clauson, past Executive Director of the Bureau had since taken another position in Rock Island, according to Councilman Marks, who serves as the Council 's representative on the Youth Service Board of Directors. Several items in the March Fire Department report were discussed briefly, including the continued monitoring by the state of the gas leak which originated with the Mico station. There were several conjectures as to what had actually caused the leak. Councilman Ranallo thought it would be great to .show off the new fire truck at the Biennial Ball that Saturday. He also indicated he supported the efforts being made to increase sales for the Apache off-sale operation, after seeing the • March liquor sales summary. Referring to the comments in the April 3rd staff notes related.to the probability that the wine..in. grocery stores legislation would pass, Councilman Ranallo indicated that, although he recognized the Mayor's statement that it would be very difficult -9- to refuse a license to a local merchant, once all the surrounding communities have issued licenses, to be valid. He would never personally vote to grant such licenses • in St. Anthony. Mr. Childs had included in the agenda packet copies of the minutes of the March 14th meeting of the Walker Senior Housing Corporation related to the Walker on Kenzie 202 senior housing project in St. Anthony and .the Manager said' he agreed with the Corporation's timetable which indicated a construction start in August. He also felt that if there are delays, they would probably be caused by H.U.D. 's reluctance to give a firm approval to the project in the face of uncertainties surrounding the future funding of this type of program by government. Since the Comparable Worth legislation seemed to be running into snags during this session, Councilman Ranallo stated that there may not be a great hurry for the City to implement their own study. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Ranallo to approve the 1985 Supplemental Engineering Services Agreement with Columbia Heights, as recommended by the City Manager. Motion carried unanimously. There was an expression of disappointment that the City would be unable to let the four City firemen purchase the 1956 fire pumper for $1 ,000 for sentimental reasons, but the percept ion was that the Council had no choice but to follow�.,the City Attorney's advice that, once the bid had been taken for that equipment, the higher bid had to be accepted. Both the Manager and the Fire Chief had concurred with that decision. Motion by Mayor Sundland and seconded by- Councilman Makowske to sell the City's 1956 fire pumper to the City of Ogema for $2,946. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilman Marks and seconded by Councilman Makowske to follow the recommendations of the Public Works Director to accept the low bids and award the contracts for road materials as follows: Blacktop Midwest Asphalt for Items A & B and split the awards for C & D under the conditions set by Mr, Hamer. Aggregate Barton Sand &Gravel Concrete Wyatt Bros. Ready Mix Oil Koch Asphalt Company Motion carried unanimously. At 9:00 P.M. the meeting was recessed for a closed executive meeting with the City Attorney related to the work his firm is doing for the City in relation to the water contamination litigation. The Council meeting was reconvened at 9:12 P.M. for the following motion adjourn: Motion by Councilman Makowske and seconded by Councilman Marks to adjourn the meet- ing at 9:13 P.M. -10- Motion carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Helen Crowe, Secretary GG�f� Mayor ATTEST: City C T er