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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 12/04/2001 - Workshop APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP/FORUM TUESDAY,DECEMBER 4,2001 CITY CENTER 5:00- 6:25 PM,HERITAGE ROOM H 6:30—7:00 PM, COUNCIL CHAMBER CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Jean Harris, Councilmembers Sherry Butcher,Ron Case, Jan Mosman, and Nancy Tyra- Lukens CITY STAFF: City Manager Carl Jullie,Public Safety Director Jim Clark, Public Works Services Director Eugene Dietz, Director of Parks and Recreation Services Bob Lambert, Community Development and Financial Services Director Don Uram, City Attorney Ric Rosow, and Recorder Lorene McWaters I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER—MAYOR JEAN HARRIS Mayor Harris called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. H. APPROVAL OF AGENDA III. CARL NEU WORKSHOP REPORT Mayor Harris suggested going over each section of the Carl Neu Workshop Report, which was received and approved by the Council at the July 10,2001, Council Meeting. Councilmember Case noted that the Council had since discussed and made modifications to the Council Forum beyond those recommended in the report. Parks and Recreation Director Bob Lambert said he had been approached by several Program Board Members with concerns he thought should be addressed. Lambert said the current Boards and Commissions structure has been in place for almost two years, and is in need of review. Under the former system, the Parks,Recreation and Natural Resources Board served as a"sounding board"for a variety of citizen concerns. Under the new system,the Parks and Recreation Citizen Advisory Commission is chartered to advise staff on issues,while the Program Board reports directly to the Council. Lambert said that a review of agenda items for both groups over the past year and a half revealed much redundancy. In September, Chair of the Program Board,Muna Yasiri, asked for a review of how the Program Board was functioning. Lambert said some Program Board members expressed that they felt the Program Board was working more like a"second"Parks Board than anything else. Lambert said that the liaison to the Park and Recreation Citizen Advisory Commission, Tria Mann, and the liaison to the Program Board, Laurie Obiazor, also feel that there is no clear direction on how each group should be functioning. City Council Workshop Minutes December 4, 2001 —Page 2 Lambert said that citizen input has dropped to almost zero under the new Board and Commission structure, and that staff is therefore making more decisions without the benefit community input. He said the deer and goose management programs are examples of this. Lambert recommended that the Council to go back to a system that allows citizens to be more closely involved—"a government of the people." He recommends combining the Program Board and Parks and Recreation Citizen Advisory Commission to form a nine- member Parks,Recreation and Natural Resources Board. He further recommended requiring only development proposals that directly impact parks land use be reviewed by the Parks Board. Councilmember Tyra-Lukens agreed that the current structure is not working well. She is concerned that if the Program Board is eliminated,there will not be an"all- encompassing"board doing what the Program Board was intended to do. Lambert said he considers oversight of the Boards and Commissions to be the Council's job. He also said that once the City's Water Management Taskforce has completed its plan,there is no immediate need for a separate Environmental Commission. He pointed out that the Environmental Education Citizen Advisory Commission has not been active for the past two years due to lack of applicants from the community. Councilmember Butcher said she recalled the Program Board being formed as an "umbrella" organization that could help with dissemination of information to and from all of the boards and commissions. Lambert said the Program Board was not qualified to do this in the first place, and that coordination of communication is more a staff function. He said it has become clear that some of the Program Board members have been not well informed about the issues before them. Butcher said she had heard from some Program Board members that they would have liked more extensive training. Lambert also said he believes the Parks and Recreation Citizen Advisory Commission could oversee arts issues, particularly since the Arts and Culture Commission also has been inactive for the past two years due to lack of applicants. Case said that although he voted for the change in Boards and Commissions structure two years ago,he remembers questioning the idea and was concerned at the time that the changes were"going to gut the life out of some of these groups." He said that when they couldn't fill all the Commissions (Environmental Education and Arts and Culture)two years ago, that should have signaled a problem with the structure. However, Case said that instead of abolishing the Arts and Culture Commission, he would like to open the Commission up to the application process one more time to see if some of the individuals who were active prior to reorganization might be willing to come back. Tyra-Lukens suggested that all Commissions once again report directly to the Council. Case said he too would like to hear directly from the Commissions. Councilmember Mosman agreed that the current Board and Commission structure of"layers on layers"is confusing to the community. She suggested using taskforces to address specific issues that don't fall under the auspices of an existing Commission or Board. City Council Workshop Minutes December 4, 2001 —Page 3 Lambert noted that the application and interview process for appointing new Commission members begins in less than a month, so the Council will need to make some decisions by the next Council Meeting(December 18). Tyra-Lukens said she didn't feel rushed to formalize any changes, and that it is more important to get people who are willing to serve. She also asked if City Attorney Ric Rosow could begin drafting an Ordinance change. Case said he would like to go forward with the proposed changes. V. OTHER TOPICS VI. OPEN FORUM Laura Neuman said she was commenting on the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the City and Metropolitan Airports Commission as an individual and not as a member of any organization. She said she did not understand why the City was willing to enter into this agreement. She said the major prohibition in the agreement—to Stage 2 Jetcraft —would not"really change anything." She said MAC's own surveys show that prohibiting Stage 2 Jetcraft will not make the noise go away and will not address emission issues. She asked why the City was not pressing for an agreement from MAC not to extend the runway again in the future. She also said the agreement does not contain enough provisions on night-time maintenance runups. She said the agreement allows for Eden Prairie to obtain additional information on environmental issues,but prohibits the City from publicly opposing expansion. Neuman said the City should demand additional information from MAC on air emissions. She criticized the way in which MAC provides information on noise, and said it should include single incident and other information. She said the City Council should make Eden Prairie residents aware of the details of the Memorandum of Agreement and allow residents access to all available information. VII. OPEN PODIUM Charlyn Nichols,resident of Hillside Drive in Eden Prairie, said she is being"constantly being plagued by a party house of 20-somethings"in her neighborhood. There are usually five or more cars in the driveway and she has endured verbal abuse from the residents and their guests. She has called police several times this year to report fights, broken beer bottles, and excessive noise. She said three Eden Prairie detectives to whom she has spoken indicated they cannot charge the perpetrators of these incidents since the police have not actually witnessed the violations. Since 1998, there have been 15 incident reports filed for the residence.Nichols asked the City Council to consider attaching monetary fines to the types of incidents reported at the house. She said Ordinances should be changed to limit the number of people in a house to one unmarried adult per bedroom and prohibit drinking alcohol within sight of the street. Councilmember Case offered his sympathies and suggested the possibility of scheduling a workshop on the topic of"party houses." Council also directed Police Chief James Clark to look into the situation and report back with recommendations. Vicki Pellar-Price, Eden Prairie resident and member of Zero Expansion,thanked the Council for the difficult job they have taken on. City Council Workshop Minutes December 4, 2001 —Page 4 Gary Demee, 18-year resident of Eden Prairie and Zero Expansion member, thanked the Council for their work on the Flying Cloud Airport negotiations. He said he was still concerned with the prospect of an increase in commercial leasing resulting in even higher traffic volumes at Flying Cloud Airport than anticipated. VI. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Harris adjourned the meeting at 7:00 p.m.