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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 01/21/1997 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1997 7:30 PM, CITY CENTER Council Chamber 8080 Mitchell Road CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Jean Harris, Sherry Butcher- Younghans, Ronald Case, Ross Thorfumson,Jr., and Nancy Tyra-Lukens CITY COUNCIL STAFF: City Manager Carl J.Ju11ie, Assistant City Manager Chris Enger, Director of Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources Bob Lambert, Director of Public Works Eugene Dietz, City Attorney Ric Rosow, and Council Recorder Jan Nelson PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ROLL CALL Councilmember Thorfinnson was absent. I. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND OTHER ITEMS OF BUSINESS Case added item M.A.1. Report on NSP Franchise Fee Issue. MOTION: Tyra-Lukens moved, seconded by Case, to approve the Agenda as published and amended. Motion carried unanimously. H. OPEN PODIUM M. MINUTES A. JOINT CITY COUNCIL/PARKS, RECREATION & NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MEETING HELD TUESDAY, JANUARY 7. im MOTION: Case moved, seconded by Tyra-Lukens, to approve as published the Minutes of the Joint City Council/Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources Commission Meeting held Tuesday, January 7, 1997. Motion carried unanimously. B. CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1997 MOTION: Tyra-Lukens moved, seconded by Case, to approve as published the Minutes of the City Council Meeting held Tuesday, January 7, 1997. Motion carried unanimously. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 21, 1997 Page 2 IV. CONSENT CALENDAR A. CLERK'S LICENSE LIST B. APPROVE CHANGE ORDER FOR KDIBERLY LANE SANITARY SEWER, I.C. 5373 C. APPROVE RESOLUTION 97-18 PROTIMTI'IN(' ON-STREET PARKING ON CSAH 4 D. SET SPECIAL MEETING FOR CITY COUNCIL TO MEET WITH LFGISLATIVE DELEGATION ON TUODAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1997, 6:30 PM, IN HERITAGE ROOM IV IN THE CITY CENTER E. RESOIAMON 97-19 PROCLADM G FEBRIJARY 1997 A "WE LOVE OUR KIDS" MONTH F. RESOIAMON 97-20 RELATING TO JOINT AND COOP ERA AGREEMENT F010MG THE SUBURBAN TRANSrr ASSOCI TION G. APPROVAL. OF A T F AUM WITH THE METROPO TTAN RADIO BOARD, STATE OF MINNE.SOTA, AND THE CITY OF ED N PR A REGARDING SHARED USE OF RADIO CHANNEL NO. 391 MOTION: Case moved, seconded by Tyra-Lukens, to approve items A-G on the Consent Calendar. Motion carried unanimously. V. PUBLIC HEARINGS/MEETINGS A. CHAPTER 11, SECTION 11.45, ANUMMEMEM TO FIXIOD PAIN CODE TO PROVIDE REVIEW PROCESS FOR AGRICULTURAL BUILDINGS IN FLOOD PLAIN Jullie said these Zoning Code Amendments will provide a review process to address a recent request to place agricultural-type buildings within a flood plain area. The resulting permitting process would include a review by both the Watershed District and the Division of Natural Resources. Jean Johnson of the Community Development Staff, said there was a review process in a previous ordinance, but it was inadvertently omitted when the code was updated. The review process will be similar to that specified in the criteria used by the Watershed District and the DNR. She said Staff does not want to see approval of agricultural buildings in the flood plain if there is adequate land outside the flood plain, and a hold-harmless instrument would be very useful for the City. She reviewed the proposed changes, noting that they have been sent to the Watershed and the DNR. The Planning and Parks Commissions reviewed the changes and recommended approval. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 21, 1997 Page 3 Case asked what would be the potential number of requests for this type of building. Johnson replied there are six or seven sites in Eden Prairie where there are existing buildings in the flood plain, and we might have three or four more requests in the future. Case asked if a request would go through the Board of Appeals process. Johnson said it would be sent to the DNR and the Watershed District for their comments and then would be scheduled before the Parks and Plannings Commission. The request would then be reviewed by the Council. There were no comments from the audience. MOTION: Tyra-Lukens moved, seconded by Butcher-Younghans, to close the Public Hearing. Motion carried unanimously. Butcher-Younghans asked if would be prudent for the ordinance to include a process for inspection of such structures in the flood plain area in order to check for hazardous materials. Case asked what we would do if we did find certain things and also if we would maintain a list of things that would be inappropriate to store in case of flooding. Rosow said the ordinance currently has provision that no use shall result in detriment to the ground water, and permit conditions could be imposed by the Council. He said it would already be a violation to store hazardous materials because they may cause pollution. Harris asked for clarification if the language of the ordinance as it stands is adequate or if we need to provide the parameters of a process. Rosow said there could be a new provision in the ordinance that would state the Council may impose conditions to enforce, one of which may be periodic inspections. The consensus was that Rosow should draft the additional language to include in the amendments. MOTION: Case moved, seconded by Butcher-Younghans, to approve lst Reading of the Ordinance amending City Code Chapter 11, Section 11.45, entitled "Flood Plains Regulation, with the addition of City Attorney Rosow's rewording to address concerns about inspection for hazardous waste storage. Motion carried unanimously. VI. PAYMENT OF CLAIMS Tyra-Lukens questioned Item 48994 on page 3. Enger thought that is the amount Chanhassen contributes to the Southwest Metro Coalition. MOTION: Case moved, seconded by Tyra-Lukens, to approve the Payment of Claims as submitted. Motion carried on a roll call vote, with Butcher-Younghans, Case, Tyra-Lukens and Harris voting "aye." CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 21, 1997 Page 4 VH. ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS VM. PETITIONS, RE UFSTS AND COMML7N_TCATIONS A. EDEN PRAIRIE BASEBALL CLUB RF_MIIEST Lambert said the Eden Prairie Baseball Club has requested approval to reserve one ballfield usage per week for the length of their 1997 season. This club has withdrawn from the Eden Prairie Baseball Association which otherwise would accommodate the needs of this single team. Lambert said the Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources Commission originally referred the request to a joint meeting of the two clubs, but the issue was not resolved. The Commission then reviewed the request at their January 6, 1997, meeting, and recommended on a 4-2 vote that the Eden Prairie Baseball Club be given one summer season of one field use per week. Tyra-Lukens was concerned whether we limit our discussion to this one issue because she thought this gets into a larger issue of sports clubs branching off. Harris thought we need to develop criteria for use of fields during the year. Lambert said they had a meeting last week with 38 representatives of the various athletic associations. Staff is proposing a policy that would be more specific in delineating usage of fields. They would set some standards on how many uses each week each team should have. He said they may arrive at a recommended policy in the next couple of months so that before another year we can have some standards in place to use. That will make it clearer to Staff, the Commission and the Council as to who should get usage of the fields. Harris thought these comments reflect the discussion the Council had at the joint meeting with the Parks Commission. We need to establish the parameters for participation on City-owned property. Case had problems with malting a decision on this request tonight. He would like a chance to sit down with Staff and get a sense of the ramifications if we do approve the request, even though it is only for one year, so that we don't make a decision tonight that we may regret later. He had concerns about allowing use by another group after we have "ordained" a group like the Baseball Association that is open to all Eden Prairie kids and whose leadership has been democratically elected. Lambert said those concerns were shared by Staff and the Parks Commission. These are private clubs and we can't dictate how they are run; however, one of the Parks Commission members said they didn't think Staff had been paying attention ` enough or we wouldn't be in this situation. He said parents always come back with the comment that these are public fields that are maintained by public funds, and CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 21, 1997 Page 5 we let some group come in and have exclusive use of the public facilities. They have discussed the issue that if groups are given exclusive use of public facilities, we would want affirmation that the organization is operating in the same way we would expect a public organization to operate by having a democratic election and providing a procedure for parents to file a grievance. The coaches for the group should get minimal training about values, safety and the basic rules of the game. Lambert said all of the representatives at the meeting had the same feelings and believe we are going through a very good process. When they reach a general consensus they will bring it to the Parks Commission and then back to the Council. He did not think we are setting a precedent by granting this one request. If we set a general policy, any request like this would have to go through the procedure established. Tyra-Lukens thought a lot of comments had to do with the appropriateness of having a large number of associations to deal with and the confusion of parents who would have to determine which group would be the best to get involved in. She thought the training suggested is very appropriate. Harris thought it is important to send the message that the City is in the process of making a policy so we don't get a lot of similar requests. Butcher-Younghans thought this is a great way to go about setting policies and standards, and she suggested we might want to include those who aren't affiliated with a particular association in order to get their feedback. Tyra-Lukens said her only hesitation in dealing with this group is that there will be a limited number of kids who can play on the team, and we have no information on the tryout procedure for kids on this team. Brad Hewitt, representing the Baseball Club, said the Baseball Association had some problems and did not have a free and open election of officers. He said they want to get back on track and have only one association, but the key is open elections. Harris said the Council is concerned that there be one overall, umbrella organization. Her concern is that no matter how wonderful the organization, there is a framework to be made for the allocation of time. Case said this makes him even more perplexed. He wants to make sure all the clubs are open to all children and there is a democratic leadership program in place. He thought rather than approving this request, we should go back and get a skeletal framework in the next two or three days and then create a task force to study it further. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 21, 1997 Page 6 Lambert said the Baseball Association has already agreed to have a democratic election. The Baseball Association and the Baseball Club are in the process of working things out. The Association is concerned that a group could come in and wipe out in a matter of two or three years the organization they have built over 20 years. Lambert said they will try to keep the policy as simple as possible, but want to be able to think it through and give everyone an opportunity to have input. Harris was comfortable with granting the request for one year since the group has heard the concerns of the Council this evening. She thought we should give the process time to work out to everyone's satisfaction. MOTION: Butcher-Younghans moved, seconded by Tyra-Lukens, to approve the request to allow the Eden Prairie Baseball Club one summer season of one field per use per week for the 1997 season provided that they cannot host a free tournament in Eden Prairie during that time. Motion carried 3-1 with Case opposed. IX. REPORTS OF ADVISORY BOARDS & CO3DMSIONS X. XI. REPORTS OF OFFICERS A. REPORTS OF COUNCELAUMMS 1. Report on N P Franchise Fee Issue Case said he and John Frane attended a meeting of the Suburban Rate Authority last Wednesday evening. Fridley is involved in negotiations with NSP regarding public right-of-way fees and they would like to have other cities sit down at the table with them. He thought we should have Staff call Fridley or the staff at the Suburban Rate Authority to research the issue. They also had a workshop that dealt with Personal Communication Systems. He thought it sounds like we are fairly adequately prepared to deal with these on a case by case basis; however, we might want to consider a three or six-month moratorium before we get inundated with requests. B. REPORT OF CITY MANAGER C. REPORT OF DIRECTOR OF PARKS, RECREATION & NATURAL RESOURCES D. REPORT OF DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 21, 1997 Page 7 E. REPORT OF DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS F. REPORT OF CITY ATTORNEY XH. OTHER BUSINESS XM. ADIOURNMENT MOTION: Tyra-Lukens moved, seconded by Case, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried unanimously. Mayor Hams adjourned the meeting at 8:15 p.m.