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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 11/01/2005 - Workshop APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP & OPEN FORUM/OPEN PODIUM TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2005 CITY CENTER 5:00—6:25 PM, HERITAGE ROOM II 6:30—7:00 PM, COUNCIL CHAMBER CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens, Councilmembers Brad Aho, Sherry Butcher, Ron Case, and Philip Young CITY STAFF: City Manager Scott Neal, Police Chief Dan Carlson, Sgt. Chris Wood, Fire Chief George Esbensen, Public Works Director Eugene Dietz, Community Development Director Janet Jeremiah, Communications Manager Pat Brink, Assistant to the City Manager Michael Barone, City Attorney Ric Rosow, and Recorder Lorene McWaters MAC STAFF: Tim Anderson, Gary Schmidt Heritage Room H I. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT A. Management Audit of Final Agreement Between Metropolitan Airports Commission and City of Eden Prairie Senior Planner Scott Kipp said the management audit was initiated by City of Eden Prairie staff to evaluate how MAC and the City are progressing in implementation of the Final Agreement, which was approved by MAC and the City in December 2002. The audit includes responses submitted from both the City and MAC. Kipp summarized the audit findings as follows: Article 2 — Conditions Precedent. Both the City and MAC are in compliance. Article 3—MAC Commitments and Representations. MAC is in compliance; however, continued efforts may be warranted in seeking letters of intent from other airport users who base at the airport. Kipp acknowledged this would not be an easy task, since the airport has many tenants. Article 4—EP Commitments and Representations. The City is in compliance. Kipp noted the City submitted comments relative to environmental concerns on the Final EIS. City Council Workshop November 1, 2005—page 2 Article 5— Third Party Challenges. Kipp said the City is aware of a Northwest Airlines challenge to the FAA regarding revenue diversion by MAC. It is Kipp's understanding that the issue is currently at the FAA, and that FAA has asked MAC to get together with NWA to resolve the issue. Tim Anderson said there are actually two outstanding issues. The first is the NWA lawsuit regarding MAC's "failure to make its reliever airports self-sufficient." Anderson said this issue is on hold pending the outcomes of MAC's Reliever Airports Task Force. Regarding the revenue diversion challenge, Anderson said MAC is confident it got fair value in the land transaction with the City. Anderson said FAA is expected to direct MAC and Northwest Airlines to attempt to reach a negotiated settlement before FAA will agree to make a final determination. Anderson said his reading of the law indicates the type of revenue use in question is allowed. Article 6—Dispute Resolution. No disputes have been filed. Article 7—Remedies. The City and MAC are in compliance. No remedies are needed at this time. Compliance with Memorandum of Understanding. The City and MAC are in compliance, although Kipp said there are some issues on timing related to this item. B. MAC Expansion Plan Update MAC has forwarded the EIS regarding the expansion of the runways and additional hangar area to the Environmental Quality Board, which will make a determination on its adequacy. Following an affirmative determination, the EIS will be forwarded to the FAA for its Record of Decision. Budget concerns continue to affect the development program for MSP and its relievers. The 2006 CIP has only been approved for environmental review at this time. Final CIP approval should take place in December. Runway extensions for FCA are included in the proposed 2007 CIP. Sanitary sewer and water are currently listed for 2006, at the City's request. C. Flyins! Cloud Airport Zoning District Kipp said the Flying Cloud Airport Design Framework Manual was approved by Council in 1996. The manual is a guide for architectural standards, airport signs, site lighting, and other aesthetic issues. The manual is not regulatory and there are no assurances that recommended upgrades will be achieved. Kipp said consistency in application of codes at the airport is lacking and there is a need for updated airport facilities. The City's proposed zoning district would be regulatory. The code will address aesthetic issues and permitted uses on the land City Council Workshop November 1, 2005—page 3 side of the airport only. Kipp noted MAC was given a draft of the proposed zoning district at their August 30 meeting with City staff and we are awaiting MAC's comments. Councilmember Case noted that MAC's legal counsel, Tom Anderson,had expressed concerns with the draft document at the August 30 meeting involving the City's authority to enforce zoning regulations at the airport. Tom Anderson said the Reliever Airports Task Force is addressing some of the same issues as the zoning district. Case said the City's Heritage Preservation Commission is looking at some hangars at the airport that may have historical value. Gary Schmidt said those hangars are along Highway 212, and they will have to be cleared when the runway is extended. Councilmember Aho said it is not clear to him that City has regulatory authority at the airport. Rosow said it is more complex than a simple yes or no. He will provide more detailed information on this to Young and Aho. Young said he had heard of a property owner at the airport who wanted to renovate his facility but was given the impression that the City would not allow it. Schmidt said MAC has zoning authority,but they are not currently set up handle that. He said MAC is not opposed to what they have seen so far in the zoning district proposal. Aho asked how the airport design guidelines compare to other zoning districts. Kipp said they are actually fairly soft compared to other zoning districts. D. Flying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission There has been some discussion on whether or not to bring the Flying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission back. The original Commission functioned as a means of communication between airport businesses, operators,residents and the City. The Commission developed the airport's noise abatement plan, reviewed the EAW and EIS for the 5,000-foot runway, developed MAC's annual noise monitoring summary, and designed the Airport Design Framework Manual. The commission was disbanded in 2001 when the memorandum of agreement between the MAC and the City was being negotiated. Kipp said a reinstituted Commission could provide oversight on implementation of the Final Agreement and airport expansion; act as a conduit for aircraft noise and noise abatement concerns; and resurrect the annual noise monitoring summary, in addition to other functions. Case said reinstating the commission is "l 10 percent what has to be done to assure continued adherence to the Final Agreement and Memo of Understanding." He said there is a need to educate new residents on the existence of the airport rules and regulations and the City's agreement with MAC. Anderson said MAC is fully in favor of reinstituting the commission. Mayor Tyra-Lukens asked who would represent MAC on the Commission. Anderson said Joe Harris, Flying Cloud Airport manager, would be a logical choice. Councilmember Aho stated he does not personally see the need for a commission. He asked whether or not MAC could keep the City informed through Kipp. City Council Workshop November], 2005—page 4 Janet Jeremiah noted that staffing of another commission is not in the work plans or budgets that have already been drafted for the next few years. Jeremiah said in the past it took 10 weeks of staff time annually to run the commission. She said there are some valid issues an airport work group could address, but she is concerned about budget and staff time. Jeremiah also noted that a lower dollar amount has been budgeted for the upcoming plan update than last time. She has planned to have Kipp working intensively on the Comprehensive Plan update over the next few years. Aho said it seems like some are looking for reasons to put a commission together rather than there being compelling issues driving formation of a commission. Young said it seems that some of the issues discussed merit dialogue,but how it happens is less important. He said if the City does form a new commission, we need to pay particular care to how it is constituted. He said it needs to be a balanced commission. He is worried that if the commission is reestablished, only anti-airport advocates will volunteer. Young would like to have some outreach to make sure there is balanced representation. Case said his 11 years of experience on the Council have convinced him that the commission is critically needed now. He said if expansion occurs, impacts will be stunning to certain parts of the city and the City needs to have a mechanism to address these impacts. Case said he gets e-mails every month on airport impacts. Case agrees that it needs to be a balanced commission. It was done well before, and it can be done well again. Case said in regard to budget concerns, everything we do costs money. Case said there are non-compliant issues from residents' point of view, which a commission could address, and people need to know how to contact MAC to have violations addressed. Butcher said so much time was spent dealing with conflicts with the airport in the past that it would be wise to have a commission in place to mitigate any future conflicts that are sure to arise with the advent of expansion. Mayor Tyra-Lukens agreed, saying the Council will be criticized if there is no mechanism in place to deal with resident concerns when expansion takes place. Anderson suggested the commission meetings be scheduled quarterly unless there are pressing issues to be addressed. He said it might be a good idea to sit down once in a while to ward off rumors. Butcher asked if there is a way to share the costs for staffing and running the commission. Anderson said a commission does not need to be overly burdensome, and costs can be shared. Neal said staff will prepare an action for the November 15 Council meeting to reestablish a commission, and council can take formal action at that time. Rosow noted the City already has a body that is knowledgeable about planning, City Council Workshop November 1, 2005—page 5 and a new commission would take a long time to educate on these matters. He suggested funneling airport design and planning issues to the Planning Commission. E. Airport Security Chief Dan Carlson introduced Sgt. Chris Wood, one of the primary Police liaisons at the airport. Carlson said airport operations, like all operations in the community, are relationship-based. He said the police have always have had a positive relationship with MAC. Designated police personnel regularly patrol the airport area and the relationship with MAC police and fire is excellent. Carlson said his philosophy toward airport security is to be preventative. Carlson noted the topic of physical security at the airport has come up in the news recently. The airport houses public businesses that must have some degree of access, so Carlson's goal is to have officers out there to ensure the department has good information on which to base recommendations. Carlson said he feels very good about security at the airport. Councilmember Aho asked how many and what kind of incidents the police respond to at the airport. Sgt. Woods said they have received 51 calls this year, mostly on suspicious persons or vehicles, with a couple of thefts and some medicals. Mayor Tyra-Lukens said she attended a regional airport security meeting a couple of years ago, and she was stunned that there seemed to be some question of who actually has authority for enforcement on MAC property. Chief Carlson said those types of issues arise when there are not good relations between the two parties. He has never seen a jurisdictional issue at Flying Cloud. Tim Anderson said there were some questions from tenants challenging City authority to come out to the airport for inspections and enforcement;however MAC does not have any problems with the City police and fire being out at the airport. Mayor Tyra-Lukens asked whether a similar compliance audit will be conducted annually. Neal said is it can be repeated if Council wishes. Neal said the audit was conducted because he feels it is important to be able to answer questions from the public on the status of the City's agreement with MAC. Council Chamber II. OPEN FORUM A. 2006 Budget Tom Briant addressed Council regarding additional concerns he has with the draft 2006 budget. City Council Workshop November 1, 2005—page 6 B. Parks Referendum Richard Proops and Basil Wissner presented their respective opinions on the upcoming referendum. III. OPEN PODIUM IV. ADJOURNMENT