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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 01/19/2021 - Workshop APPROVED MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP & OPEN PODIUM TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2021 CITY CENTER 5:00 – 6:25 PM, HERITAGE ROOMS 6:30 – 7:00 PM, COUNCIL CHAMBER CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Ron Case, Council Members Kathy Nelson, Mark Freiberg, PG Narayanan, and Lisa Toomey CITY STAFF: City Manager Rick Getschow, Police Chief Greg Weber, Fire Chief Scott Gerber, Public Works Director Robert Ellis, Community Development Director Janet Jeremiah, Parks and Recreation Director Jay Lotthammer, Administrative Services/HR Director Alecia Rose, Communications Manager Joyce Lorenz, City Attorney Maggie Neuville, and Recorder Katie O’Connor Workshop - Heritage Rooms I and II (5:30) I. COMMISSION WORK PLANS A. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION Getschow stated, similar to last year, the Commission work plans are split into two Council workshops. Due to COVID-19, all Commission Members were invited to attend virtually. Case added he would like to thank everyone who serves on a Commission and lends their expertise to advise the Council. Bob Barker, Flying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission (FCAAC) Chair, stated they advise the Council on matters affecting the operation of the Flying Cloud Airport (FCM). FCAAC monitors changes to laws, rules, and regulations and monitor the final agreement with the Metropolitan Airport Commission (MAC). They also continue to work with the City and MAC to reduce nighttime noise and improve the appearance of the airport. In regards to 2020 accomplishments, MAC performed a physical FCM Sound Study. Microphones were in the community for a week in the summer and they measured the actual noise. Case inquired if the link could be sent to the Council. Getschow responded yes. Barker stated they received updates on apparent violations of Ordinance No. 97 weight limit, and on the MAC efforts to reduce noncompliant operations. They enjoy continuing to engage with constituent groups, although there were limited opportunities to meet in person. Case inquired if data is available on weight violations from 2020. Barker responded the data is not included in the PowerPoint but he can provide it. In general, it is a small number of apparent violations on a quarterly basis. They are not recurring violations from the same operator. Case would like to know if it is the same fixed base operator (FBO). Narayanan inquired if the data can be shared with the City Council Workshop Minutes January 19, 2020 Page 2 community. Barker replied yes. Narayanan inquired if there is data showing a correlation between increase in noise and weight of planes. Barker replied the study does include information on the specific type of aircraft responsible for the noise events. Size is not typically a direct correlation to noise. Barker stated their goals for 2020 included engaging with MAC as they developed the Reliever Airport Visioning Study phase one data collection. They are waiting on Phase two, the recommendations, to be completed. They continue monitoring developments in law changes and regulations regarding Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). This continues to evolve, and there were recent changes even in the last week. There are some applications available providing information to users about where they can operate UAS. They continue to monitor developments in federal noise regulations. Typically they visit the airport, but there were limited opportunities in 2020. They provided comparisons to the Council with annual comparisons. Barkers stated their specific goals for 2021 are to engage with MAC on the Reliever Airport Visioning Study, to continue to monitor developments with UAS, continue to monitor the noise regulations, and to visit the FCM. They will continue to operate as usual. The 2020 operations summary shows airport operations increased by 20 percent to 122,693, FBO fuel flowage decreased by 19 percent. This is due to the various types of aircraft. Jets consume a lot more fuel than pistons. The increase in pistons were driven by the increase in flight training. In 2020 there were a total of 24,071 noise complaints, an increase of 421 percent. A lot of this is regarding daytime traffic, driven by flight training activity during the day. Most of the focus in previous years was to decrease the nighttime noise. There are a few contributing factors, one of them being more people are home during the day. This year there was an increase in households filing complaints. In 2020, there were complaints from 100 locations, 87 of which were in Eden Prairie. Narayanan inquired if the noise overall increased or were there more people now aware of the daytime noise. Barker replied both. There were more operations, therefore the frequency increased. He is unaware if there were any factors to make the noise louder. Freiberg inquired at what point it becomes unworkable if the 2020 numbers become the benchmark. Barker stated he could not state a specific number in which it becomes unworkable. The industry was headed towards a shortage of pilots, then 2020 happened. Some big picture questions are still uncertain. Barker stated there were 63 days in which FCM was busier than the Minneapolis airport (MSP). The map shown indicates where complaints originated from in Eden Prairie. A new area for complaints surfaced this year north of FCM. This is indicative of an increase in those specific flight patterns. Barker thanked the airport manager, community relations coordinator, and staff. Case thanked those who dedicate their time to serving the City on a Commission. B. HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION Sana Elassar, Human Rights and Diversity Commission (HRDC) member, stated her pronouns are she/her/hers. She wanted to start off the meeting stating we are gathered City Council Workshop Minutes January 19, 2020 Page 3 on the ancestral, traditional and contemporary homelands of the Dakóta. In recent years there was an increase in Commission Members and Student Commission Members. Some of the 2020 HRDC accomplishments include the Eden Prairie Land Acknowledgement Statement. They worked with Christal Moose on drafting a Land Acknowledgement Statement Guide. The Native Pride Dancer pictured is Larry Yazzie, performing at PeopleFest! The annual Human Rights Awards acknowledges people, nonprofits, and businesses nominated for doing incredible work in the community. There was an implementation of free feminine hygiene products in all City facilities. After researching this effort, it seems as though Eden Prairie may be the first City in Minnesota to offer this. 2020 was also the first year hosting a virtual PeopleFest! Celebration. They hosted a trivia game and the Land Acknowledgement Statement was read at the kickoff event at Staring Lake Amphitheater. Gregory Leeper stated HRDC has typically tried to invite a guest or leader from the community to listen to at their monthly meetings. Pre-COVID-19 they visited People Reaching Out to People (PROP) and PROP Shop. They had a mid-point update from the Housing Task Force from City Staff as well as a final report from the chair. As HRDC crafted their 2021 work plan, they continued to consider their legacy commitments, and they made sure to allocate enough time to work on the Race Equity Initiative. Over the past few months they sought and vetted some consultants. DeYoung Consulting Services was selected and has begun working with the Commission. They crafted a Project Statement to frame their work. The project is about connecting with people in the community and making the City a place to thrive and grow for all community members. They spent the month of December creating a project definition and designing the engagement process. In January there is an internal focus on document review and interviews. In February they will focus on learning from other communities and review literature on best practices. There will also be deep listening to communities. The goal is to bring the findings and recommendations to the Council in July 2021. Leeper stated there will be six areas of inquiry: Emergency Response; Facilities or Program Accessibility and Culture; Recruiting, Hiring and Retention; Connection to Community; Community Experience; and Developing Future Leaders. The HRDC goals are fairly constant year to year: promoting inclusivity, increasing listening avenues, and working towards action and cooperation with other organization in the community. They will continue with community initiatives such as Stop the Trafficking 5K, PeopleFest!, and police community relations events as COVID-19 allows. They will continue to look for opportunities to promote the Land Acknowledgement Statement. They will continue their work in subcommittees and work with the police department if there are any reports of bias crimes or review alleged American with Disabilities Act (ADA) violations. Case stated his thanks for all the work HRDC does. Narayanan stated he is very impressed with the work HRDC is doing. The work is timely, and he feels we are working to be a leader on addressing systemic racism. He looks forward to viewing the final report. Nelson added if there are items the Council could address prior to the final report she would be interested in those updates. Toomey added her thanks for HRDC’s work. City Council Workshop Minutes January 19, 2020 Page 4 C. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION Larry Link, Chair of the Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission (PRNRC), stated one of the goals of the Commission is to provide recreation opportunities for everyone in the community. The recreation programs, specifically the parks and trails, have been a very valuable asset to the community over the last year. A large part of the year was focused on COVID-19 impacts. This year there were many students on the Commission who have contributed as well. The parks have been overflowing this year with a lot of usage. The Community Center, on the other hand, was down in memberships by 50 percent. They continued to meet throughout last year despite COVID-19 impacts. They continued to receive updates from Staff about Community Center ice rinks, fitness, aquatics, and tree management and the Green Corps internship. They paused their master plan last year to discuss in 2021. They analyzed and recommended play structures at Franlo Park and Crestwood Park. In 2019 they began discussions on the program brochure redesign with efforts to direct people to the website for more information. This was a good transition for this year as many of the most recent updates on programming and facilities were available on the website. They reviewed and recommended the Feldmann Sign at the Richard T. Anderson Conservation Area. PRNRC held a joint meeting with the Historical Society Group and Museum. Link stated they also had discussions about capital improvement projects. These projects continue to evolve each year. One of the more challenging tasks was the input on community center membership pricing concepts. Over the last year there were outdoor classes and virtual classes. Membership is down over 50 percent at this point. They continue to determine what can be done to provide affordable recreation. There were discussions with PRNRC on a new concept at Miller Park for indoor courts. There were some discussions on the Eden Prairie Cemetery Board offer, but the offer was rescinded and is now on hold. The PRNRC also reviewed the deer management program to continue to maintain a healthy deer population. Link stated over 2020 there was a large impact to programs and facilities. The Community Center developed a large outdoor program and implemented a virtual program. The Community Center was modified to maintain public health safety. PRNRC assisted with hosting Arts in the Park. Some of the recreation programs hosted virtual classes and handed out take home totes. They hosted drive thru events and found ways to keep the beaches open. The trails are continuing to be used year round and parks Staff does a lot of work to keep parks and trails maintained. He thanked staff for their work this last year on continuing to come up with creative ideas during a challenging situation. Lotthammer stated this previous year they utilized a lot of input from the Commission on the continuous changes to programs. The students especially provided a lot of input. Freiberg inquired what the current numbers are for Community Center memberships. Lotthammer stated for a few months there were no charges to memberships. With recent orders, they are now charging. There are about 1,500 current memberships and continuing to enroll new members. At the peak they were in City Council Workshop Minutes January 19, 2020 Page 5 the 5,000 range for memberships. Toomey thanked the Commission Members for all the time they spend serving the City. Case noted there is an open podium scheduled this evening. Typically the Council does not get involved in association politics, because they are usually an elected body the Council does not have standing with. He suggests helping to facilitate or offer to connect them to resources. Open Podium - Council Chamber (6:30) II. OPEN PODIUM A. CARLA GESTACH – HENNEPIN VILLAGE HOA Carla Gestach, 15553 Lilac Drive, stated there are many homeowners in the audience with her today. Their home owners association reported hail damage to their roofs from August they were unaware of. November 1 they received a bill in the mail detailing the costs of a new roof. They spoke with their management association and board of directors inquiring about more information. They have not provided information about inspections, multiple bids from companies to do the work. The management association asked for them to submit a payment plan. They never responded but sent out a letter stating what the payment plan would be and requiring a signature from residents agreeing to a legal document. They are asking for any assistance the Council can provide or advice moving forward. They are planning a meeting to discuss replacing the board of directors in hopes of replacing the management association. The management company’s contract is up in March. The current management company receives 10 percent of the project opportunity, and therefore has no incentive to go with a lower bid. Case inquired if there are six associations total. Felix Aleyuykov, 15580 Crabapple Lane, stated there are six total. The other four have their own insurance. Mandas Dadhe, 15618 Lilac Drive, clarified some of the other groups are not impacted. Toomey inquired if residents are paying about $80 monthly to a roofing fund. Gestach replied yes the balance is a little over $1 million. Those funds were allocated to a roofing reserve fund and they were scheduled to have their roofs replaced in 2022. They have asked to use the funds towards these roofing costs and they receive no answers. They are paying $500 towards each person’s deductible when they’ve completed their payment plan. Case stated as residents they are concerned. As Council they are limited in what they are able to do with associations. What can be done is connecting residents to resources or connections for legal help. Getschow replied the City has sometimes helped mediate and has also connected residents to available resources in these types of situations. Case inquired if this is an issue the City Attorney could assist with. Getschow responded he would not recommend the City Attorney’s use in a City Council Workshop Minutes January 19, 2020 Page 6 private matter. Housing and Community Services Staff could assist with finding the best contacts possible. Case noted Staff will be in communication tomorrow. Narayanan stated there may be a nonprofit or organization to assist. Neuville stated Jonathan would be a good resource for connecting to those resources. She could also recommend attorneys who have done this type of work as well, although it is unlikely it would be free. Paari Munisamy, 9900 Pincherry Lane, stated if they are unable to elect a new board they are looking for guidance on other steps they can take. Case stated the City will try to be of any assistance possible through providing connections to resources. Munisamy stated another issue they face is no proof of the initial damage requiring the roof to be replaced. Case responded it may also be beneficial to have a building inspector visit the site. III. ADJOURNMENT