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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6.b. Minutes of the February 13, 2008 City Council Work Session Proceedings 11 I.J. ROSEMOUNT CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION PROCEEDINGS FEBRUARY 13, 2008 CALL TO ORDER Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a regular work session of the Rosemount City Council was duly held on Wednesday, February 13, 2008, at 6:31 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 2875 145 Street West. Mayor Droste called the meeting to order with Council Members DeBettignies, Shoe Corrigan, Baxter and Sterner attending. Staff members present included City Administrator Verbrugge, Assistant City Administrator Foster, Finance Director May, City Engineer Brotzler Director of Parks and Recreation Schultz, Community Development Director Lindquist, Senior Planner Zweber, Planner Lindahl and City Clerk Domeier. DISCUSSION 2.A. Joint Meeting with Planning Commission Planning Commissioners Schwartz, Howell and Messner were in attendance. Mayor Droste stated that discussion items would include Downtown Redevelopment, City Council goals, the Comp Plan update and UMore Park. Mayor Droste provided the Commissioners with the background on the Downtown Redevelopment project. Community Development Lindquist explained the many components of the site plan. Commissioner Howell questioned if the project would be handicap accessible. Ms. Lindquist explained the accessibility to the area. Commissioner Messner questioned if the project would be a PUD. Ms. Lindquist stated it would be and asked the Commissioners to reference the design guidelines for the Downtown as well as the ordinance criteria. Council Member Baxter stated it was a highly public project. He wanted the project to be as good as it could possibly be since it would be the center stone for redeveloping other areas of the Downtown. Ms. Lindquist explained the rental housing aspects of the project and provided the housing data and demographics in Dakota County. Council Member Shoe Corrigan added that the block could support high density housing. She noted that housing has always been planned for the Core Block East redevelopment project. Mayor Droste also highlighted other goals of the City Council including quiet zones, amenities, economic development, jobs and tax base. The City Council, Planning Commission and staff discussed land use and zoning issues. Ms. Lindquist also provided an update on the UMore process. 2.B. Legislative Issues City Administrator Verbrugge provided background on the legislative issues. Mayor Droste provided information on the transportation legislation. Council Member Baxter did not support the league's funding options in the proposed resolution. City Engineer Brotzler questioned if the resolution for support could be modified. He voiced concerns about the amount of local dollars that were spent on county and state projects. Mr. Verbrugge stated that the resolution could be modified and Mayor Droste thought it would be helpful to include the data Mr. Brotzler provided. Council Member DeBettignies suggested drafting a separate resolution and sending it to local representatives and the ROSEMOUNT CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION PROCEEDINGS FEBRUARY 13, 2008 governor's office. Mr. Brotzler stated he would modify the resolution and include it on the February 19 regular meeting agenda. The City Council discussed the issues they wanted to address when meeting with Congressman Kline of February 22. Issues included UMore, the 42/52 interchange, CDBG funds, rail crossings, immigration and housing. Discussion also ensued regarding the County's bonding request. Council Member Sterner wanted to send support letters for the County's bonding request. The City Council talked about moving the legislative initiatives discussion up to November or December of 2008 instead of early 2009. Mr. Verbrugge explained the LGA issues and the problem with cities being unsure how to budget for LGA. Council Member Baxter stated that for realistic property tax decreases the Fridley formula was the answer. He added that the City should take a stand on LGA. Council Member Shoe Corrigan stated that the funds are needed to support the City's services. The City Council directed staff to draft a letter for consideration and authorize Mayor Droste to sign it at the March 5 regular meeting. 2.C. ORC Discussion Director of Parks and Recreation Schultz handed out the draft resolution calling for a special election. He explained the wording of the question on the ballot Council Member Sterner wanted to make sure there was enough time to get the information out to the residents. Mr. Schultz stated that staff had started to assemble the information to give out to the public. Staff used information similar to what other cities have done in the past. Mr. Schultz stated the goal was to make sure residents were not confused about the question at the voting booth. The City Council and staff discussed the wording of the question. Finance Director May explained the reason the word "acquisition" was included within the question. Concern was also raised about the words "cultural" and "multi- purpose The City Council favored having only one question on the ballot. Mr. Schultz talked about the site plan including the County's access requirement. He stated that staff favored using Alternate C. Council Member Shoe Corrigan questioned if the road could be added at a later date. City Engineer Brotzler responded that he did ask but the County did not support the idea. He provided more information on the placement of the access and the amount of fields that would work on the amount of acreage. Mr. Schultz also explained the easement location and topography issues. He noted that they were maximizing the amount of the fields that could fit on the site. Mayor Droste stated the need to be bare bones putting in fields given the economy. He stated that the tolerance of the voters would be seven million and staff should figure out how to build fields and make it work. He was also concerned about the amount of consultant fees. Mr. Verbrugge stated he wanted the City Council to tell staff the amount of ROSEMOUNT CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION PROCEEDINGS FEBRUARY 13, 2008 the referendum. He added that the only change in the two months were the access fees and the loss of one field. Council Member Sterner wanted staff to go back to the County about the access issues. Mr. Verbrugge stated that staff had met with the County several times and that the County needed rationale to vary from their standards. Council Member Shoe Corrigan favored moving the access to Bonaire Path. Mr. Schultz stated that staff looked at every access option and moving the fields around. He also explained that the field being removed was also going to serve for storm water. Mayor Droste spoke of the economic climate and concern about running up the costs. He also talked about the cost difference from bonding for $7.9 million instead of $8.25 million. Mr. Verbrugge explained that a bigger cut would need to be made to show a difference to the taxpayers. Mayor Droste questioned the SKB revenues. Finance Director May explained where the expenditures were listed within the Council budget. He also explained the encumbrances. Council Member Shoe Corrigan questioned if the designers considered dividing the parking lot into two areas. Mr. Schultz stated that concept was researched but did not work due to the grading of the site. Council Member Shoe Corrigan stated that voters would not understand that the road would cost more than the field. Discussion ensued regarding the tolerance level of the residents. Mayor Droste expressed his concerns about lighting the fields. He also explained the age levels that use the fields. Council Member Shoe Corrigan wanted the public to be informed about the age groups that will be using the fields. Council Member Sterner stated he favored lighting fields. He also wanted to push the access issues with the Dakota County elected officials. He did not want to lose the fourth field because of access issues. Council Member Shoe Corrigan stated that lights would increase the use of the fields but was concerned about the cost. Council Member Shoe Corrigan also wanted to meet with the county officials to discuss the access issues. Council Member Baxter suggested bonding for eight million dollars. He was concerned about the amount spent on lighting. He thought that partners were going to step up and help pay for some of the lighting. Mr. Schultz stated that partnerships were still an option and that staff has been working on obtaining grants. Council Member Shoe Corrigan stated partnerships will need to contribute donations for concession stands and other amenities at the site. The City Council consensus was to bond for eight million dollars. Mr. Schultz questioned the timing of the construction specs and when to move forward. The City Council direction was to hold off on the plans until after the referendum. Council Members also requested a list of RAAA members they could contact to start advocating the project. Mr. Schultz provided more information on the communications portion of the special election. ROSEMOUNT CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION PROCEEDINGS FEBRUARY 13, 2008 UPDATES 3.A. Downtown Redevelopment/Infrastructure City Engineer Brotzler summarized the staff report and explained the Downtown Redevelopment Storm Water Management Plan. Community Development Director Lindquist explained the purpose of the technical memorandum. She stated that the infrastructure would be a benefit to the site and would help with other redevelopment projects. She noted that grants could be used towards the cost. Council Member Shoe Corrigan expressed concerns about the wetland. Mr. Brotzler stated that the wetland would be improved as the water would be treated first. Staff anticipated that the Met Council would support the project. Council Member Baxter stated he was happy with the information provided. DISCUSSION 2.D. Sesquicentennial Events Assistant City Administrator Foster summarized the staff report and clarified that the Leprechaun Committee was only asking for the City to fund the fireworks display. She provided a rough outline of events for the 150 celebration. City Administrator Verbrugge stated that money could be used from the Council contingency fund to support events. Council Member Sterner stated the celebration was a special time for the City. He wanted to use the celebration to get Rosemount on the map. He wanted nice events planned because it would attract more residents and businesses. Council Member DeBettignies figured $5,000 would be plenty to pay for the plaque, blue grass music and a square dance caller. Council Member Shoe Corrigan thought the historical society could pay for the plaque. Mr. Verbrugge noted that Community Charities of Minnesota was looking to donate $1,500 from pull-tab revenue. It was decided that money could be used towards the purchase of the plaque. The City Council also favored the idea of pursuing horse and carriage rides. Council Member Sterner provided information he obtained to compile a historical book. UPDATES 3.B. SKB City Administrator Verbrugge provided the City Council with a memo on the SKB update. He asked the Council Members to contact him with any questions. ADDITIONAL UPDATES Community Development Director Lindquist and the City Council discussed the letter about signs they received from Dean Johnson. Ms. Lindquist explained the portion of the sign ordinance that states where signs can and cannot be placed for the Parade of Homes. Director of Parks and Recreation Schultz stated that the Relay for Life would be held at Central Park this year. ROSEMOUNT CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION PROCEEDINGS FEBRUARY 13, 2008 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the City Council, Mayor Droste moved a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:24 p.m. Second by Sterner. Respectfully submitted, Amy Domeier, City Clerk