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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MINUTES 08261986 Meeting Sheet IIIIII VIII VIII VIII VIII VIII II I III 101723 Box: 21 Folder: CC MINUTES AND AGENDAS 1986 Document: CC MINUTES 08261986 CITY OF ST. ANTHONY COUNCIL MINUTES • August 26, 1986 The meeting was opened at 7:30 P.M. with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Mayor Sundland. Present for roll call : Marks, Ranallo, Sundland, Enrooth, and Makowske. Also present: David Childs, City Manager. Motion by Councilmember Ranallo and seconded by Councilmember Marks to approve the minutes of the Council meeting held August 12, 1986 with the following changes: Page 2, para. 13: Delete "at length" in line 4. Page 3, para. 4: Substitute "picnic" for "dinner" in line 1 . Page 7, para. 7: As a point of clarification to substitute "that the City" for "to" in line 2 and insert "with the other half to be paid by Briggs and Morgan on behalf of the other clients they are representing in similar water contamination suits" following "$5,000.00" in line 4. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Makowske and seconded by Councilmember Marks to approve as submitted the minutes of the Council Executive Session held August 12, 1986. • Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Enrooth to approve multiple housing registrations for Ivy League Associates for 3804 Highcrest Road and for Kridle-Johnson for. 2938-3004 Old Highway 8, and to grant the following licenses as listed in the August 26, 1986 Council agenda packet: Contractors Vinewood Builders, Inc. , Fridley McGough Construction, St. Paul Landscape Creations, Inc. , Eden Prairie Metro Summit Builders, Inc. , Bloomington Fey's Construction, Inc. , Coon Rapids Heating Northeast Sheet Metal Voting on the motion: Aye: Marks, Enrooth, Sundland, and Ranallo. Abstention: Makowske. • Motion carried. -2- The report on the Pizza Hut subsidiaries' newly elected officers was accepted as informational to be considered when' the restaurant applies for its next beer/wine/ • restaurant permits. Motion by Councilmember Ranallo and seconded by Councilmember Enrooth to grant a temporary 3.2 beer in City park permit to Nancy Scovil , 3608 - 33rd Avenue N.E. , for the family picnic to be held in Central Park September 21 , 1986. Voting on the motion: Aye: Ranallo, Enrooth., Sundland, and Makowske. Nay: Marks. Motion carried. The July 31 and August 18 li.stings of liquor accounts payable in the agenda packet were accepted as informational . Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Mayor Sundland to approve payment of $1 ,323.71 to Briggs and Morgan for legal services through July 31 , 1986 related to the City's lawsuit against the U.S. Army, et al for contaminating St. Anthony's water supply. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Makowske and seconded by Councilmember Marks to approve pay- ment of $9,000 to School District #282 for the City"s use of the ParkView facilities from July through.. September, 1986. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Mayor Sundland to approve payment of $17,70.8.93 to BWBR Architects for planning services related to the Stonehouse renova- tion project. Motion carried unanimously. Rosemary Franzese, Planning Commission Chair,' reported the Commission recommendations related to various matters they had considered during their-August 19, 1986 meeting as reflected in th.e Summary of Commission Motions provided in the agenda packet. The Commission Chair reported that by a six to one vote, the Commission members had recommended the Council grant Roger Bona a variance to allow the construction of a two story addition to the north side of his Amoco Service Station eleven feet from the north property line where the City Ordinance requires a 30 foot setback. Mr. Bona presented a colored drawing of- :the site plans for his project, copies of which had been included in the agenda packet, and introduced Jens Beck of Beck Architects, Inc. and Bruce Holten of Metro Investor's, Inc. , project architect and contractor respectively, who answered Council questions about the proposed addition, including the removal of the existing gas tanks from the area where the new addition would be erected and their replacement closer to the most northly gas pumps. The station owner • indicated he perceived to leave those twenty-five or thirty year old tanks on the site would be increasing the potential for a dangerous leakage. 1 1 , -3= Mr. Bona ackowledged that h.is was a "dirty, but necessary, business because society • had become so dependent on the automobile" but he had tried to fit it into the neigh- borhood by changing the appearance of the station as much as possible to match the surrounding residences at the same time "people would still know we're a gas and service station". A third service stall would be installedover the spot where the tanks had been removed, Mr. Bona said, .with the installation covered by a second story so his mechanics who used to work. on cars outside in that area, could now be sheltered from the wind, rain, and snow. The space above the new stall would house an office/lounge/ library, with the latter used by his mechanics to view tapes of instructions on how to repair the automobiles of today, which have become increasingly complicated each year. Mr. Bona told Councilmember Makowske there,.woul:.d- be_ no new activities"carried on in the addition which could be expected to draw more customers into the station, but, rather, "the work could now be done inside". . Motion by. Councilmember Ranallo and seconded by Councilmember Marks to grant the request from Roger Bona for a variance to allow construction of the proposed 14 foot by 50 foot 2 story addition to the north side of the existing Amoco Service Station at 2812 - 27th Avenue N.E. with an 11 foot setback- from the north property line where the City Ordinance requires 30 feet, finding, as did the Planning Commission, that: 1 . The petitioner had answered in the affirmative all the questions on the applica- tion which are required to be answered affirmatively; 2. The unique characteristics of this triangular shaped property would create an • undue hardship for the owner to try to expand and improve his property under the City Ordinance; 3. No objections to the variance were received from the neighbors; 4. Mr. Bona controls all the property to the west precluding any objections from adjacent property owners; 5. The property owner has indicated he would be willing to provide overflow parking when required on the north side of the existing meat market building west of the station, which he also owns; and 6. Granting this variance would not create a sight line difficulty for adjacent properties since the station is bounded on two sides by roadways and on the west by the property which is also in a commercial posture. Motion carried unanimously. H. V. Patzke, 7409. Aldrich Avenue South, a consultant to the B. N. Metro Credit Union, presented their request for a conditional use permit and the necessary setback vari- ance which would allow the credit union. to install a drive-in teller facility. at the . Northgate Office Center in conjunction- with Office Unit #110, where they had relocated their business. Chair Franzese reported the Planning Commission had tabled action on the B. N. Credit Union's request for three signs for further staff research of pre- vious signage agreements for that office center. The Mayor commented that he perceived the teller facility would be erected over the spot where the__motel swimming pool had =b.een-located. :Mr'. Pat2ke said that' _vias correct but that was the location which was perceived would be the "least disturbing to parking and traffic flow on the site". The consultant also pointed out, as had -4- been indicated in Mr. Childs' August 20th. memorandum .in the agenda packet, that there would be a 62 foot buffer of grass between the property line and the highway which • should somewhat alleviate the fact .th.at the teller facility would be closer to the property line than the Ordinance allowed. A brief discussion followed on the minimal traffic which a business of this type could be expected to generate even if the Credit .Union were granted a community charter. During the consideration of a motion, Councilmember Enrooth said he wouldn 't want to., see approval of this particular drive-up facility establish a precedent for other types of drive-in installations "growing out. of the asphalt in the adjacent shopping center or elsewhere in the City. " Councilmember Marks said he would like to see -it specifically understood that the next request the City gets for a drive-in facility "would not automatically be granted just because this one was". Mayor S.undland indicated he perceived future requests of this nature would have to be evaluated on their own merits and he also wanted it clearly understood that this conditional use permit would not necessarily be continued for any other use which might succeed this one- as he perceived had initially happened with the beauty shop across from Apache. The Mayor suggested staff should be particularly vigilant that "all .of the sudden that property or the real estate office next door didn't become a video store". When Councilmember Marks suggested that it might be necessary for the Planning Commission to specifically address drive-in facilities in the Ordinance, the Mayor indicated he perceived the City could control the permits by setting specific hours of operation as a condition for granting a permit which would require any change in use to be returned to the Council for approval . By changing the wording of the Commission 's recommendation related to this particular permit, Mayor Sundland said the Council • would be -letting applicants for similar permits know :that since this facility was only an extension of the office center .in which it was located, their own situation would be entirely different from this one. Councilmember Enrooth said he perceived that to be a valid statement since the area involved was not a thoroughfare area but rather an isolated site where Credit Union members would be forced to make a loop in traffic to reach the teller facility. Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Ranallo to grant a conditional use permit to the B. N. Metro Credit Union to allow the installation of a drive-in teller facility as a detached unit of the Northgate Office Center to be operated in conjunction with the office unit #110, 2500 Highway 88, finding, as did the Planning Commission, that granting this permit would allow a use of the property which would be compatible with the other commercial development in the same center. The Council also grants the requested variance. to the City Ordinance setback require- ments which would allow the drive-in facility".to be constructed eight feet from the southeast property line (.Highway 88 right-of-way) where 30 feet are required, agreeing with the Planning Commission that granting the variance: 1 . Would not be detrimental to the rest of the building complex; 2. Would not destroy any sight lines for adjacent properties; and 3. Would provide a business convenience for the Credit Union 's customers. The Council finds further that: • 4. The drive-in facility is allowed by anleasement agreement between B. N. Metro Credit Union and the condominium owners association; and -5- 5. The City's right-of-way which averages 62 feet in that area would not only supple- ment the eight foot setback but would provide sufficient green area between the . facility and Highway '88. Motion carried .unanimously. Councilmember Makowske reported she had gone to an AMM Housing Committee meeting that afternoon where a number of issues which might be of interest to the Councilmembers had been discussed. Sh.e -indicated she would be passing around the three pieces of information she had obtained at the meeting which each Councilmember could read and pass on. The Councilmember said the August 20th RCLLG picnic had been well attended considering the threat of rain before the tour of the Ramsey County regional parks commenced. Councilmember Makowske said she had personally found the .tour "well worth the trip" and had been especially interested to learn the Park Board's plans for developing the Long Lake Regional Park, which is the closest to St. Anthony. Her family had found the train project in which he is involved very interesting, Council - member Makowske told Councilmember Marks. The discussion of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's hearing earlier that day was initiated by Councilmember Makowske who commented that, although she wasn't certain the Council 's presence had directly affected the MPCA Board's six to two vote to accept the RFRA which required response action by the Department of the Army, Federal Cartridge CFederal Hoffman) and Honeywell regarding source contamination on the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (_TCAAP) and contamination of water supplies -in New Brighton and St. Anthony, she perceived it had been good for the Councilmembers ✓to witness-an agency of the U.S. Governmental as well as two large corporation failing to accept responsibility for their own actions which had caused major problems for • others. Councilmember Ranallo agreed that those actions had affected more than 50,000 lives, a fact that seemed to have been missed by many because no actual fatalities had resulted, as had happened:.when the pipeline burst in Mounds View. The Councilmember indicated he had found it "very disillusioning to witness out and out lying about their responsibility by representatives of the U.S. Army". Mr.' Childs said the reason he had urged all the .Councilmembers to attend the hearing had been because the .attorneys handling the City' s case had been thoroughly convinced that the Board's action would to a great extent be based on the number of municipal officials who showed up at the hearing and the number of calls the Board received from other persons .of some importance on the. issue. Councilmember Makowske indicated that as a follow up to the meeting she would like .to see a letter sent from the Council to the Board members who had voted in favor of St. Anthony's position to let them know the City appreciated the time they Out into their jobs and the concern they had exhibited for the welfare of the residents of St. Anthony. There was 'a brief discussion of the two votes which had been cast against the RFRA as well as the attempts which had been made to cloud the issue for the decision makers. Mayor Sundland said he had been alerted by the Board Chairman to,the fact that the intent of the Army and the two corporations had been to widen the existing rift between the MPCA Board and staff and that the first vote against the RFRA had actually represented more of a "slap for the MPCA staff -than a vote against St. Anthony". The Mayor indicated he had perceived that the hearing had "really degenerated" when the • attorney for Federal Cartridge (Hoffman) had accused the Board members of breaking the Open Meeting Law by discussing the matters between themselves between hearings because he had .perceived no different testimony had been offered between the two votes and one of the two Board members who had voted against the RFRA had responded that he personally knew all the Board members had been provided with all sorts of additional information between hearings. -6- Councilmember Ranallo stated he believed the City's attorney, Jack Van DeNorth had • done "an excellent job in his presentation. " However, the Councilmember said he would like to see another executive session scheduled with Briggs and Morgan in a week or ten days to look at alternatives to continuing the law suit. Mayor Sundland said he expected that, as more and more proof is found that the Army and its sub- contractors had, in fact, caused the contamination outside the arsenal , the Army would become more reluctant to have such evidence presented in court. Councilmember Ranallo said that might be true but he would hate to see this case drag on for ten years or more like the Rocky Mountain Arsenal case where the litigants have already spent millions of dollars for research and investigation and Denver's problems remain unsolved. Councilmember Marks indicated he perceived a precedent for the government making restitution for an Army action might have already been established when the ranchers whose sheep. were killed as a result of atomic bomb testing had been reimbursed for their losses. The Councilmember then reported he had sat with Congressman Sabo's representative at the same table at lunch during the tour of TCAAP as the man in charge of all such clean up efforts for the Pentagon (Mr. Walker), who had inquired about the City's interest in settling as they walked out of the building. Council- member Marks said he had told Mr. Walker that he perceived that would be possible 'just as soon as the City could determine just how much it would cost to clean up the contamination and get the water supply back to where it was before it was contaminated. The Councilmember said he was convinced the "Army would be willing to' settle eventually, if the pressure to do so is kept up". Mayor Sundland reported "General " Walker's inquiry had also been indirectly conveyed • to him and Dave McDonald, who had indicated he- perceived once the City is able to know for sure just what it would cost to carbon filter the wells (the EPA had estimated $165,000 a year),, St. Anthony would be in a position to talk settlement with the Army. Mr. Childs interjected that he guessed the Army. would want to wait to settle until the City had gotten every cent it could from the EPA, which the Manager said he anticipated would probably not be until next spring. - The MPCA would be considering an alternative water system for St. Anthony at its September meeting, Mr. Childs reported, and he said he would expect the system they would recommend would be the carbon filtration of all three wells with a raw water line installed from Well #5 to the plant, which would be slightly less expensive than digging another deep .well . The Manager indicated he would get any information he received on that meeting to the Councilmembers as soonas he received it so the decision as to whether that was the way the Council wanted to go could be made in advance of the meeting. He then indicated that, since all the engineering on the new system would be done by the EPA,. it would "almost be out of our hands at that point". Councilmember Ranallo commented that he didn't believe "the City could go through another summer with Roseville water" because of resident complaints about its quality. Mr. Childs told the Councilmember he couldn't guarantee that:.could be avoided because he perceived that the 30 day delay while the MPCA reconsidered the RFRA decision had caused the MPCA staff to get farther behind in their work on the alternate water system for St. Anthony. Councilmember Ranallo said he perceived that, in spite of City assurances to the contrary, some residents were becoming "very wary" about the extent of the water contamination and were having filtration systems installed on their home water supplies. Going back to the MPCA Board meeting that afternoon, the Councilmember said he had been, very impressed with the support the City had gotten from testimony given by the State Attorney General 's representative, Councilmember Marks indicated he had been very impressed with the "deferential treatment" the Army had given to Congressman -7- Vento. The Councilmember said the fact that there was an Assistant Secretary of the Army who was a political appointee sitting at the same table with him at the TCAAP • lunch had caused him to conclude that "with the Army operating at a pretty high level on this issue and the extent to which Congressional pressure is being applied, somehow the matter is going to be resolved Councilmember Marks indicated he had learned that not only was Congressman Sabo on the House or Joint Appropriations Committee, but he also served on the Military Appropriations subcommittee where he had been able to insert language into the appropriate legislation which "directed the Army to reimburse the two cities for their groundwater problems. " Councilmember Marks said he perceived "General " Walker's assurances that there would be no more pollution from the army base once the system which is planned is put in place, would be very .little consolation for the City because it had taken 30 years for the contamination to reach St. Anthony and it would be at least that long before the St. Anthony water would be free of contaminants. Mayor Sundland reported Congressman Vento had questioned whether the contamination wouldn't just be "recycled" with the proposal to pump 2.5 million gallons of water a day from the aquifer for air stripping through a system of staggered wells and then to direct the treated water into Rice Creek and a sand pit north of the arsenal and returned for use on the base. Councilmember Marks said he had heard Dr. Dahlberg say later on that "the scientific communityis concerned that what would be going into the atmosphere with the airstripping which might just be contri- buting further to the "greenhouse effect" on the planet feared by some experts". Mayor Sundland said he had posed a similar question to Dr. Dahlberg on another occasion when he had expressed his own concerns about "airstripping TCE's" out over the high school next to Well #3 and he told the Mayor that he also couldn't "buy" the assertion • . that airstripping wouldn't cause problems. Councilmember Enrooth said one of the things about the tour of TCAAP which had alarmed him the most had been the large building "which probably cost the Army hundreds of thousands of dollars to build which was used to store contaminated dirt, dug up so it wouldn't leach into 'the groundwater anymore which the Army doesn't know what to do with, and the sight -of the yellow triple lined suits worn as pro- tection by the workers who dug up that dirt, lying on top of the dirt piles" which, from Councilmember Enrooth's .perspective, "certainly dispelled any questions related to the toxicity of the materials .which were dug up" and supported the Assistant Attorney General 's statement that "They 're guilty as hell '. Mayor Sundland said his own concerns hadn 't been diminished a bit when someone at TCAAP told him the airstripped water running out of pipe on the ground was "probably the safest water to drink on the base". The Mayor and the Councilmember both reported being followed closely by a cameraman who took pictures of them everywhere they went on the tour. Councilmember Enrooth reported on his and Councilmember Marks' August meeting with representatives of District #282 School Board related to a new lease for the City's use of the Park View facilities, at which only a few minutes was devoted to discussion of.thelease and at least 45 minutes to other subjects, including areas of cooperation between the City and School District. The Councilmember reported the School District would be presenting proposed lease costs for a one or two year extension of the City's lease at another joint meeting scheduled for October 8th, but indicated he had no idea of what that lease would cost the City. However, he was certain their proposal would be returned to the Council for either approval or further -negotiations if its terms were unacceptable. Councilmember Marks said he would expect a "very useful " • meeting of the School/City negotiating team would follow where the City's concerns about long :range issues could be expressed. . -s- T he Councilmember then reported further on his-own participation in planning for a ten • year celebration of the Youth Service Bureau where the seminars would attempt to carry out another mission of the Bureau which is to "communicate to the community just what is going on with young people. in terms of abuse, suicides, etc. " Council - member Marks said he perceived anyone who attended these seminars would come away with some useful information about "just what is happening to our society today". He and Dave Childs had attended a planning session of the Chemical Abuse Information Committee that noon, Councilmember .Marks reported, where final arrangements were made for the meeting in September where al-1 students who are involved in any type of extra curricular activity in the school and their parents would be in about the rules pertaining to the use of chemicals which would be enforced for participation in these activities. The Committee was planning to hold another meeting some time late in October or early in November where parents would be taught to identify the controlled substances their children might be using, in which both the New Brighton and St. Anthony Police Departments would be participating, the Councilmember reported,. The August Fire Department and July Financial Reports were ordered filed as informa- tiorial as were the August 19th staff notes following a short discussion of the County Road D reconstruction- project for which,. Mr. Childs said, as he had anticipated, the contractors are seeking a time extension to complete. The August 8th letter froulJohn Graff of the National Weather Service Forecast Office prompted the following action: Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Enrooth to authorize the Mayor and City Manager to execute the document which amends the City's agreement with the Weather Service to delay the provision of a report, evaluation, and recommendation for either accepting or rejecting the .Triton Doppler Radar until December 1 , 1986, subject to the amendment being also accepted by Kavouris, Inc. Motion carried unanimously. The agenda packet included copies of two items of legislative interest with respect to the City's lawsuit against the U.S. Army et al related to the- contamination of St. Anthony's water supply, which had been provided by Briggs and Morgan. The first reported Senator Durenberger's amendment of the Superfund legislation under which the Superfund conferees had agreed to reimburse the City for alternative water supply costs from the Superfund and the second article had to do with the approval of 385 million dollars for military base clean ups, which the Briggs and Morgan attorney had indicated .in his coves letter might or might not apply to the City's water supply clean up. In reference to the ongoing Park View lease negotiations, Mr. Childs indicated he perceived the School District might be reticent to sign a- lease for more than a year or two because they have committees working on a long range picture which is true of the City as well . However, the Manager said, he could see where it might be beneficial for both parties to schedule a joint meeting of School and City representatives some- time in January where a system could be set up under. which both parties would be making .positive "pro-active" plans rather than "reacting" to each other's long range plans for the future. • Mr. Childs reported the Kenzington managers had informed him that they would be having a Grand Opening from 1 :00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. , September 21st in which all Councilmembers would be invited to participate. -9- The Manager then reported his own 1 ,700 mile trip to South Dakota with his sons the past week before seeking Council direction for scheduling the budget work sessions. There was general Council concurrence that, since there weren't many major changes in the proposed budget, only one work session, starting at 6:30 P.M._, September 10th, would be necessary as long as the Council is provided-",cop-ies of-the budget "with significant changes highlighted" well in advance of the meeting. Mr. Childs said he perceived the Department Heads' realization that the City was working under very stringent economic restraints had caused them to come in with very few requests for increases for next year. One of the-exceptions, of course, would be the need for the .Police Chief to give his recommendations for replacing an officer who is retiring in February, and the Manager said, the Public Works Director would . have to be present to report his department needs a motorgrader, as discussed last winter. Mr. Childs said he would suggest the other Department Heads wait to meet with the Council until the time later this year when they would be invited to participate in a "community strategic. planning" session. Councilmember Makowske asked if the Planning Commission. had provided any input on the proposed ordinance changes which would provide restrictions on parking in resi- dential areas; number of unrelated persons residing in a single .family residence;_ and businesses conducted from residences. Mr. Childs told her the time restraints of the August 19th Commission meeting had resulted in the matter being laid over to the September Commission meeting. Both Councilmembers Ranallo and Makowske suggested the Commission consideration should establish some sort of grass height limit for established lawns and set a time limit on the installation of lawns and driveways after a residence construction i.s completed. • Motion by Councilmember Marks and seconded by Councilmember Enrooth to adjourn the meeting at 9:02 P.M. for the Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting which followed immediately. Motion carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, ele Crowe, Secretary Ma or ATTEST: City erk