HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MINUTES 05091989 Meeting Sheet
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Box: 21
Folder. CC MINUTES AND AGENDAS 1989
Document: CC MINUTES 05091989
1 CITY OF ST. ANTHONY
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
3 MAY 9, 1989
4 The meeting was called to order at 7:30 P.M. with the Pledge of
5 Allegiance led by Mayor Sundland.
6 ROLL CALL
7 Present: Marks, Ranallo, Sundland, Enrooth, Makowske.
8 Also present: Sue VanderHeyden, Acting City Manager.
9 APRIL 25, 1989 BOARD OF REVIEW CONTINUATION
10 Motion by Marks, seconded by Enrooth to approve as presented.
11 Motion carried unanimously.
12 APRIL 25, 1989 COUNCIL MINUTES
13 Motion by Makowske, seconded by Marks to approve with the following
changes:
15 Page 1 , line 19: Insert "EXECUTIVE SESSION" before "MINUTES".
16 Page 6, line 28: Substitute "resident data" for "membership form". .
17 Page 13 , line 23: Substitute "an" for "on" before "April 21st".
18 Page 14, line 18: Substitute "Stonehouse" for "SAV I" before "sign".
19 Page 15, line 14: Capitalize "Apache".
20 Motion carried unanimously.
21 LICENSES/PERMITS/PETITIONS
22 Motion, by Marks, seconded by Enrooth to grant the following contractors
23 licenses as listed in the May 9, 1989 agenda packet:
24 •Nordquist Sign Co. , Minneapolis, MN (renewal)
25 •Superior Roofing, Minneapolis, MN
26 •Able Fence, Inc. , St. Paul, MN (renewal)
27 Motion carried unanimously.
28 Motion by Enrooth, seconded by Ranallo to grant a temporary beer permit
29 to Dennis M. Fagerlee, 3407 Croft Drive N.E. , for his family's annual
30 reunion in Central Park on June 4, 1989.
Voting on the motion:
1 Aye: Enrooth, Ranallo, Sundland, Makowske.
2 Nay: Marks.
QMotion carried.
4 CLAIMS
5 Motion by Ranallo, seconded by Sundland to approve payment of $1,435.00
6 to Motorola, Inc. for the City Fire Department.
7 Motion carried .unanimouaiy.
8 Motion by Makowske, seconded by Marks to approve payment of $400.00 to
9 Val-Pro for installation of a window in the St. Anthony Fire Station.
10 Motion carried unanimously,
11 Motion by Marks, seconded by Makowske to approve payment of $3,240.00
12 to Calgon Carbon Corporation for April services on the City's carbon
13 filtration facilities.
14 Motion carried unanimously,
15 Motion by Marks, seconded by Makowske to approve payment of $1,057.00
16 to Short-Elliott-Hendrickson, Inc. for supervisory services on the Foss
17 Road Lift Station Project for the period from February 19 through March
18 18, 1989.
Motion carried unanimously.
20 Motion by Enrooth, seconded by Ranallo to approve payment of $2 ,400.00
21 to the Hance and LeVahn law firm for legal services rendered for the
22 month of May, 1989 relative to St. Anthony prosecutions.
23 Motion carried unanimously.
24 Motion by Makowske, seconded by Marks to approve payment of $1,319.80
25 to the Dorsey & Whitney law firm for legal services rendered to the City
26 during March, 1989.
27 Motion carried unanimously.
28 REPORTS
29 COUNCIL
30 Outside Parking Problems at Kenzington to Receive Council Attention
31 Councilmember Makowske explained that the 15 Kenzington residents were
32 present that evening to seek Council help in making the building owners
33 keep the promises they had made related to the provision of overflow
34 parking for condominium residents with more than one vehicle as well as
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I guests who . visit the building. residents. She said the group's
2 spokesperson, Jean Krajna, had phoned her to report the lack of parking
space outside the building and failure to get any response from either
4 the META Partnership or their building manager to residents' requests
5 for more' parking spaces in accordance with the promises regarding
6 overflow parking reached with the City during the Redevelopers Agreement
7 negotiations.
8 Residents' Testimony
9 its. Krajna reported that:
10 •Most of the residents present that evening had purchased their units
11 before the building was erected but had been assured by the building
12 owners at the time they signed their purchase agreements that even if
13 - they had more than one vehicle and 142 spaces within the building and
14 15 outside were not sufficient to meet their parking needs, parking
15 would never be a problem because META owned the vacant lot next door
16 and planned to construct a medical/professional office building there
17 which would always have parking space available for the Kenzington
18 residents and their guests.
19 •The office building had never materialized and the lot is not paved,
20 making parking there almost impossible.
21 -This left a 150 unit building with only 142 parking spaces inside and
22 12 rather than the promised 15 spaces in front of the building which
are utilized most of the time by Kenzington employees and the service
04 and sales persons who come to the building.
25 •In any event, the manager the META Partnership had hired, had now
26 informed her that she could not park the extra vehicle she owns
27 outside the building and "it was up to her to find her own parking."
28 •The building owners were so anxious to fill the building up they are
29 renting the 97. unsold units to couples who both work and both have
30 cars, leaving the condominium owners with no place for guests to park
31 because no parking is permitted on the street and with the apartments
32 going up across Kenzie Terrace, parking is no longer available in what
33 was an empty shopping center when the Kenzington residents first moved
34 in.
35 •There have been rumors that the Partnership is going to sell the
36 vacant lot, which would leave the Kenzington residents with no hope
37 at all of having parking available for their extra vehicles or guests
38 without some sort of written agreement from the building owners.
39 lis. Krajna read the portion of the condominium by-laws which made
40 reference to an Overflow Agreement which stipulated "residents might
41 have to pay $10.00 a month extra to use outside parking spaces". She
42 said her attempts to get a copy of that document or any other response
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1 from the Partnership or their attorney, Tyson and Gunderson, had been
2 unsuccessful.
0 George Mitchell, President of the Kenzington Homeowners Association,
4 questioned whether the building owners shouldn't have been legally
5 required to provide adequate parking for the building residents and
6 their guests and asked whether the Council had taken this potential
7 problem into consideration during their negotiations with the META
8 Partnership.
9 The recollection was that the Redevelopers Agreement with META
10 Partnership called for only 142 parking spaces inside but the developers
11 had indicated that if more were needed, there was a possibility that
12 eight more could be obtained by downsizing some of the stalls for
13 compact cars. Mayor Sundland also recalled that when the question was
14 raised about residents having more -than one car, the developers had
15 indicated that would be rare for a project like the Kenzington where
16 most residents would be retired and a good many would have no vehicles
17 at all.
18 The Mayor then read aloud the letter Larry Hamer, the Public Works
19 Director, had written to the META Partnership on May 8th recalling that
20 when the final plans for the Kenzington had been approved, the
21 Partnership had indicated excess parking would be provided in the
22 parking lot of the medical/professional building the developers proposed
23 to erect in the vacant lot the City had helped them purchase for that
24 purpose next to the Kenzington. Mr. Hamer's letter had also advised
4kthe property owners that Section 12 of the City Zoning Ordinance
requires them to asphalt or concrete surface the area if excess parking
27 is to be provided on the lot for Kenzington residents. He had also
28 pointed out other maintenance requirements which must be met if
29 construction of the proposed building is delayed any further. Mr.
30 Hamer referred to the requirement in the final plan for 15 rather than
31 12 parking spaces in front of the building and requested discussions of
32 a solution with the Partnership.
33 Copies of Mr. Hamer's letter had been provided Councilmembers before the
34 meeting and copies were also passed out to all present during the
35 discussions. Evelyn Hedberg, another Kenzington owner, told the
36 Councilmembers she and other residents are unable to invite anyone to
37 visit them because there is no longer any place for visitors to park
38 except in sand or mud in the vacant lot. She said the same was true of
39 residents who have more than one car.
40 Councilmember Makowske commented that the Council had never envisioned
41 those units having to be rented out and had therefore based parking
42 requirements on similar projects they had looked at three or four years
43 ago which had unused parking spaces because of the average age of the
44 residents, many of whom are singles or owned no vehicles at all. She
45 perceived the situation at the Kenzington to be very unusual when
46 compared to similar condominium projects in the surrounding area.
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1 Councilmember Ranallo agreed, saying the Council expected no problem
2 with parking with a building next door owned by the same partnership who
had promised there would be plenty of parking available for Kenzington
residents' use after the offices closed evenings and weekends. He also
5 remembered that the developers had even asked permission to erect a six
6 foot fence along the back of their property against which their staff
7 and people servicing the building could park their vehicles, leaving 15
8 parking spaces in front to be used for resident overflow parking if
9 needed.
10 The Councilmember reminded the residents that negotiations with numerous
11 developers for that project had gone as far back as nineor ten years
12 and involved many modifications of the original plans before the
13 building was finally constructed. He said he perceived it would be
14 necessary to research copies of minutes of meetings which preceded
15 acceptance of the final plans for the building so the Council would be
16 better prepared to discuss the parking problems in the future.
17 Council Warned About Potential Collapse of Garage Floor
18 Ms. Krajna and Mr. Mitchell then reported leakage between the first and
19 second floors of the garage which they believed had resulted from
20 deficient installation of seal coating on the floor surfaces. They said
21 they had copies of letters from the contractor in which Kraus Anderson
22, had admitted the defects and referred to litigation between the ' META
23 Partnership and the contractors over those defects. The Kenzington
24 residents indicated they would be furnishing the City with copies of all
apertinent correspondence they had in their possession. They also
indicated they thought the City should be made aware that there was a
27 potential collapse of the second floor garage floor similar to those
28 which had occurred at several parking ramps in downtown Minneapolis.
29 Mr. Mitchell added that in view of other problems with defective windows
30 and heating in the garage area and inadequate plumbing on the first and
31 second condominium floors which had resulted in leakage problems between
32 floors, he didn't believe the inspection of the building had been
33 adequate.
34 Mayor Sundland told him the City usually has state inspection on
35 projects like the Kenzington. He also said he agreed that it was very
36 important for the Council to know just exactly what the developers had
37 agreed to related to the provision of parking for Kenzington .residents
38 on the vacant lot just in case the owners decide to sell the property
39 to another developer who would have no responsibility for providing
40 parking arrangements for Kenzington residents. The Mayor indicated the
41 purpose of Mr. Hamer's letter had been to get the vacant lot owners to
42 at least blacktop a portion of the lot for Kenzington resident parking
43 with the assumption that such a surface would be the easiest to remove
44 when the lot is developed.
45 Ms. Hedberg insisted the Kenzington residents needed 24 hour parking
46 availability because part time parking would never solve the condominium
• 5
1 owners problems now that more vehicles than had been originally
2 anticipated had resulted from the building owners renting unsold units
0 to people with more than one vehicle "who, in all probability, would
never exercise their options to purchase those units". The condominium
5 owners said management'had even rented three garage stalls to one of the
6 renters who had three cars which, with all the other renters who have
7 more than one vehicle, had resulted in fewer garage stalls for 150
8 units. She questioned whether the Council had ever seen a condominium
9 project like the Kenzington which had no outside parking available to
10 its residents. However, she also had to concede that when the owners
11 had first bought their units, they had decided to include only one
12 parking stall in the purchase because, they also believed the
13 developer's assurances that adequate parking would always be made
14 available outside the building.
15 Ms. Hedberg asked the Council to consider how frustrating it must be for
16 Kenzington owners like herself and her husband "who had spent so much
17 money to purchase a home in .which they intend to spend the rest of their
18 days only to find out they can't even entertain or have people drop in
19 after church because there's no place for their guests to park." The
20 resident concluded by saying that the Kenzington owners perceived the
21 need to have a parking agreement in writing "based on what has gone on
22 since we purchased our homes, none of the owners have any faith in
23 either the META Partnership's or their manager's promises."
24 Ms. Krajna confirmed that the developers had verbally promised her that
5 there would be overflow parking space available for her or her guests'
4F use.
27 Councilmember Ranallo said hopefully, the minutes would report that the
28 same promises had been made to the Council.
29 Mr. Mitchell agreed to furnish staff with copies of his correspondence
30 with META in which he had been told "it was up to the condominium
31 owners to find their own parking." Ms. Krajna said she would do the
32 same with the letters she had written to META and their attorneys. She
33 added that in spite of problems with garage heating, windows and
34 leaking between floors, in addition to plumbing problems in the
35 building, she continued to think "the Kenzington was a nice building and
36 liked the area very much." Ms. Krajna said she thought it was very
37 unfortunate that META Partnership was refusing to honestly discuss its
38 problems with the residents and perceived the Council was the residents'
39 last hope for solving their parking problems.
40 Mr. Mitchell thanked the Councilmembers for their courteous response to
41 the Kenzington residents' concerns. Councilmember Marks told him it
42 was a real disappointment for him personally to learn that a project
43 which the Council had worked so hard on fox years was now causing so
44 many problems for its occupants.
45 Stat€ to book Into Shared Ride Program With Columbia Uigts and
46 Rosevi „le's Busmobile
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1 Ms. Krajna indicated the Kenzington residents had asked that she also
discuss with the Council the possibility of St. Anthony participating
3 in a yellow cab shared ride program with Columbia Heights under which
4 children under 12 ride for 50 cents and seniors over 65 are able to ride
5 anywhere within the participating cities for $1.00. She reported users
6 purchase tickets for shared rides in Columbia Heights at the City Hall.
7 The Kenzington spokesperson said she perceived there should be good
8 market for the program in St. Anthony among the seniors who would be
9 going into the Autumnwood Apartments across Kenzie and the rest of the
10 senior population living elsewhere in the City who appear to be on the
11 increase. Ms. Krajna presented the brochures she had on both programs
12 to the Mayor commenting that she thought having such services for
13 seniors might attract more residents to St. Anthony.
14 Ms. VanderHeyden was requested to contact the person in charge of .the
15 program in Columbia Heights for further information regarding how much
16 the program costs. Mayor Sundland reported he understood the former
17 City Manager had researched grant possibilities for the busmobile and
18 found none available at this time.
19 Kenzington Problems with Recycling
20 The Association President initiated the above discussion by asking what
21 suggestions the Council had for disposing of all the paper the
04 2 Kenzington residents had diligently collected for recycling now that it
had become obvious that the market for such materials had disappeared.
Councilmember Enrooth, who serves as Council liaison with the City's
25 Recycling Task Force, told him it was only because recycling had been
26 so successful that the problems with disposing of newsprint had arisen.
27 He said there are still markets for glass and aluminum recyclables but
28 there has to be further research done on how paper products can be
29 recycled. The Councilmember reported the proposed recycling ordinance
30 for St. Anthony was scheduled for hearings before the Council in June
31 after which a recycling program would hopefully be underway this fall.
32 Councilmember Marks observed the irony of having the federal government
33 spend $5,000,000.00 in subsidies for cutting down trees for paper
34 products which are now a glut on the market.
35 Councilmember Ranallo commented that the Council had been criticized by
36 some residents for not getting the recycling program started sooner, but
37 he now perceived those delays had probably saved the City from the
38 problem of getting rid of the paper.
39 Rick Lundeen, a City Fire Reserve and member of the VillageFest
40 Committee who was present to discuss lighting for this event, joined the
41 discussion by reporting the printing firm he works with is in danger
42 of going out of business because of its inability to get rid of the
43 paper it generates. He said his firm currently has five box cars of
44 shredded paper on the tracks with no way of disposing of the contents
is 7
1 except to burn it. He confirmed that the printers like the newspaper
2 plants had no use for recycled paper.
03 Mayor Sundland commented that he had always been concerned about the
4 "rush to judgment" about recycling at the same time he recognized how
5 unpopular a landfill anywhere near St. Anthony would be. He indicated
6 he had expressed the concern that "there better be an assurance of a
7 market for recyclables before that type of program is initiated" when
8 he served on the task force with several Hennepin County Commissioners.
9 Search for Other St. Anthony Cities .Reaches Councilmember Makowske
10 The Councilmember reported getting a phone call from Marjory Jeffries
11 an employee of .St. Anthony, Indiana, a community of 350 residents who
12 will be celebrating its centennial in September and is looking for
13 other cities with the same name. Copies of Councilmember. Makowske's
14 letter to Ms. Jeffries had been furnished to the other Councilmembers
15 and she indicated that as a member of the St. Anthony Historical
16 Committee she would be looking for more historical information and
17 materials to transmit to the Indiana city.
18 Shopping Center Representatives Explain Exclusive Use of Texas Sigh
19 Installers
20 Councilmember Makowske reported meeting Joe DiSanto, the New York
21 representative of the St. Anthony Shopping Center owners who was in town
2 to supervise the installation of new signage on the center buildings.
She said this gave her the opportunity to get an answer to questions
4 some residents had raised with her regarding why local crews weren't
25 used for the project. The Councilmember said Mr. DiSanto had explained
26 that the special grooving system on the signs is patented by a Texas
27 firm who allows installation only by their own crews. Councilmember
28 Makowske reported telling Mr. DiSanto she thought the new signage was *
29 really improving the appearance of the shopping center. She said the
30 center owner representative had indicated there would be a "Grand
31 Opening Celebration" at the center sometime in June to commemorate the
32 "new look" .
33 Council Concurs With Feasibility Study of Drainage Into Silver Lake
34 Councilmember Enrooth indicated that he perceived that questions about
35 whether drainage through Apache storm sewers was the primary cause of
36 excess vegetation on Silver Lake weren't going to go away without some
37 concrete answers from the City. He said the Public Works Director was
38 recommending a feasibility study be done which would give the City some
39 idea of the City's influence on the problem and propose some
40 diversionary possibilities if its proved that storm runoff and not
41 excess nutrients from residential lawn care methods is a major factor
42 in the problem. There was Council agreement that Mr. Hamer should find
43 out if any of the studies of the lake done by the Rice Creek Watershed
44 District covered any of the data the City would be looking for and then
45 take bids to gather at least the preliminary figures related to the
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I potential costs of taking corrective measures with the understanding
2 that those costs should be shared by all affected parties including
04 Columbia Heights, New Brighton, the Salvation Army and the residents who
live on the lake.
5 Councilmember,Marks commented that he had recently talked to a person
6 who had an early history of involvement with the lake and believed there
7 might possibly be many undocumented hook-ups to the lake, citing as an
8 example, the drain tiles which Columbia Heights used to drain swampy
9 land near the lake for which initially there had been no drawings made.
10 Recycling Discussions Continued
11 Councilmember Ranallo reported having received a notice from his garbage
12 hauler, Woodlake Sanitary, that they were raising their rates to $34.00
13 every two months and would be giving discounts to customers who use only
14 the one barrel the firm would now be providing its customers. He said
15 the letter also urged recycling all possible materials, warning that
16 because of increased costs for haulers to put garbage in landfills or
17 to have it incinerated, future rate increases were imminent.
18 Councilmember Enrooth commented that he now had some reservations about
19 proceeding with the proposed "Garbage Ordinance" for St. Anthony unless
20 there is some immediate resolution of the newsprint disposal problem
21 and glass disposal, which is rapidly becoming another problem.
22 Councilmember Marks said he perceived industries like dairies could
probably go back to using returnable containers which had worked very
X14 well in the past and he indicated he continued to believe that bringing
25 pressure on the retail market was the best way of getting more
26 acceptable packaging. He said he also remained convinced that by
27 passing ordinances against plastics, small communities like St. Anthony
28 could influence the state and federal government to give more serious
29 attention to eliminating nonrecyclable or nonreturnable plastics or
30 requiring further research into reusable packaging.
31 Mayor Sundland reiterated his concerns that the Council might only be
32 forcing its three supermarkets out of business with the proposed food
33 packaging ordinance. He said the retail merchants association had
34. indicated to him that they were already looking into the legal aspects
35 of those regulations.
36 DEPARTMENTS AND COMMITTEES
37 Brief discussions related to the Police Department reports preceded the
38 orders to file the following reports in the agenda packet:
39 -April 20th report from the Hance & LeVahn law firm on cases the City
40 prosecutors have handled in Hennepin County District Court up to and
41 including April 19, 1989.
9
1 -March Police Department report.
•March Police Reserves report.
3 ACTING CITY MANAGER
4 May 2, 1989 Staff Meeting Notes
5 There were no questions from the Council on the above.
6 New Lighting Approved for VillageFest Dance Area
7 Copies of Larry Hamer's memorandum advising how the above could be ,
8 accomplished had been distributed and led to the discussion between the
9 Council and Ms. VanderHeyden and Mr. Lundeen. The Acting City Manager
10 reported- the VillageFest Committee -had decided that the best location
11 for the food and beverage booths and the street dance would be behind
12 the Christen home facing the softball fields. She added that extra
13 electrical power would probably have been necessary no matter where the
14 booths were located or the dance held. The assumption that the added
15 electrical power could be used for other future activities like music
16 concerts led to the following motion:
17 Motion by Ranallo, 'seconded by Enrooth to approve an expenditure of
18 $1,180.00 for the added electrical power for the VillageFest as proposed
19 by City staff.
Motion carried unanimously.
21 NEW BUSINESS
22 Signatures Approved for City Financial Transactions
23 Motion by Ranallo, seconded by Enrooth to adopt the resolution which
24 specifies persons authorized to sign financial documents for the City.
25 RESOLUTION 89-010
26 A RESOLUTION SPECIFYING PERSONS AUTHORIZED
27 TO MAKE CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS REGARDING
28 CITY FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS
29 Motion carried unanimously.
30 Acting City Manager's Compensation Approved
31 Motion by Marks, seconded by Ranallo to adopt the resolution providing
32 additional compensation to Sue VanderHeyden during the time she serves
33 as the St. Anthony Acting City Manager.
34
• 10
1 RESOLU'T'ION 89-011
A RESOLUTION APPROVING COMPENSATION FOR
3 THE ACTING CITY MANAGER
4 Motion _Qarried unanimously.
5 Scout Observer Welcomed
6 Mayor Sundland noted the presence of Matt Smigleski, 3208 Silver Lake
7 Road, and his father. Matt reported he was fulfilling a badge
8 requirement -of Troop 711 by observing the Council's meeting that
9 evening.
10 ADJOURN
11 Motion by Ranallo, seconded by Marks to adjourn the Council meeting at
12 8:45 P.M.
13 Notion carried unanimougly.
14 Respectfully submitted,
15 Helen Crowe, Secretary
06 -0"(0/7 01A A A A A &A A .0 ftr,ffifiz
17 Mayor
18 ATTEST:
19 City Clerk
20 :cjk
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