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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 10/09/1990 APPROVED MINUTES SPECIAL EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1990 5 :00 PH, CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS 7600 Executive Drive COUNCIL:MEHBERS: Mayor Gary Peterson, Richard. Anderson, Jean Harris , Patricia Pidcock and Douglas Tenpas CITY COUNCIL STAFF: City Manager Carl J . Jullie, Assistant to the City Manager Craig Dawson, Director of Public Works Gene Dietz , City Engineer Al Gray, and Recording Secretary Jan Nelson I . CALL TO ORDER Mayor Peterson called the meeting to order at 5 :03 PM. Councilmember Tenpas arrived at 5 : 25 PH. II . APPROVAL OF AGENDA ANQ OTHER BUSINESS Assistant City Attorney Rick Rosow requested a closed session. with the Council to discuss matters in litigation. Councilmeniber Pidcock requested that discussion take place on a letter from Mayor Peterson to the councilmembers . MOTION : Pidcock moved, seconded by Harris , to approve the Agenda as published and amended. Motion carried unanimously. 1 . Discussion of Letter from Mayor Peterson Pidcock said she objected to the letter from the Mayor which questioned the propriety of her actions and questioned the subjects discussed during a closed session of the Council . She asked Rosow to state his opinion on certain of the items . Rosow said he felt the discussion in closed session with respect to the contested case was appropriate . He said he had forwarded to the Council previously a memo that was part of the strategy the City was employing . He said the discussion itself was appropriate as it was taking place until the Mayor made a statement regarding the propriety of the discussion. Pidcock said the second item in the attorney-privileged document packet suggests that certain councilmembers were out of order or had a closed meeting to strategize. She said she denies that any such strategy meeting took place City Council Meeting 2 October 9, 1990 nor was she a party to any such strategizing . Furthermore, she said she would like an apology for the letter . Harris said she would like to corroborate certain points and to note that she was somewhat appalled to receive the letter . She said she thought it offered certain conclusions that were in error amd that it would have been preferable to individually address councilmembers to ascertain the circumstances rather than to write a letter. She said this sort of thing does not enhance the concept of team building. Anderson said he had called and discussed this personally with the Mayor and would not say any more on the subject . III . DISCUSSION OF OPTIONS FOR CITY HALL/MUNICIPAL BUILDING LAND ACQUISITION City Manager Jul 1 ie said the Council packet included a report from Bud Andrus which is an update on their efforts to work on the site selection process and procedures regarding our City Hall site. He said Mr. Andrus ' report included both a summary of the Resident 's Advisory Committee study and their recommendations and Mr. Andrus ' report of Junes 20th which reported on over 20 sites identified with potential . Peterson said he appreciated the variety of options available and noted that some of the sites were those reviewed by the Blue �. Ribbon Committee in addition to other sites . He said he would like some discussion on the question of whether land adjacent to a public works and fire station is advisable, as that would determine the amount of land required. Anderson said he thought a better judgment could be made if we knew how much land will be lost at the water plant location. Peterson said a preliminary report about the alignment of Hwy. 212 and its impact shows that the fire station will be gone. Jullie said they are hopimW that the current site will work for the water plant expansion if the balance of the public works land remaining after the Hwy. 212 right-of-way is completed can be used . He said it appears the need will be to have a public works-type facility on 15 &cres or more. He noted that the Edenvale location would be good because of the screening and other factors . COVNCILMEMBER TENPAS ARRIVEM AT 5 : 25 PM. At this point Mayor. Peterson add,igurned the meeting so that the council could hold an execut; o►+ to consider matt2rg in litigation. Mayor Peterson reconvened the meeting at 5 : 55 PM. x s City Council Meeting 3 October 9, 1990 MOTION: Pidcock moved, seconded by Anderson, to accept the amended agreement to approve the settlement between the City , the Homeward Hills Homeowners Association and Woodlake Sanitary Service , Inc . Motion carried unanimously. Harris said she wanted to thank all the people who participated in this event . Anderson said it was good to see it over after eight years of battle. Jullie noted the receipt of a check in the amount of $500, 000 from B.F . I . Discussion then returned to City Hall land acauisit1on_ Harris said that City Hall provides a different kind of service than the municipal building. She liked the idea of a City Hall close to where people are coming into a commercial area , and she was attracted to some of the sites around the major center area. Pidcock said she hoped City Hall could have a museum-type room to store the city archives . She said it would be nice to have it near the Purgatory Creek recreation area and the downtown area . Peterson said he would be inclined to separate the two functions so that we would look at a site of 5-8 acres for City Hall and, as a second step, look for a site for a municipal facility . Tenpas asked how many acres are owned by ADC across the street from the water plant . A discussion followed regarding land owned by ADC and MTS in that area and the possibility of swapping land. Anderson said he didn' t think the people want us to take expensive land in the major center area . Bud Andrus said the site across from the center was $4 .00 per square foot . Tenpas asked about the timing on Hwy. 212 . Jullie replied that it is scheduled to start in 1994 with the interchange at Prairie Center Drive. He said that funding is still a big question mark . Tenpas said we want to get the cheapest 'land we can that makes sense , and he was not ready to put a building in the downtown area. Peterson asked him to define the downtown area . Tenpas said he meant the major center area where land is a premium. Harris noted that all land was approximately $4.00/square-foot. Peterson said he thought we have to decide whether to proceed to identify and purchase a site, leaving the question open as to when to build a City Hall and other facilities . He said we have allocated some moneys and land is not depreciating in value . He suggested working towards authorizing Mr. Andrus to negotiate on behalf of the City with a ceiling on the amount to be spent for eight acres of land. Anderson said he would like to acquire more land in the G floodplain if possible. He said he would like to get an exact price on the Carmody property . S x City Council Meeting 4 October 9 , 1990 Harris said inaction will severely limit our choices in the future . She asked if we are looking at $3 . 50-$4 . 00 per square foot . Andrus said that a lot of the Carmody property is floodplain so that may be more like 80 cents; however , the price they quoted this spring was very high and he was not sure they knew what they were talking about . Harris said we are trying to prepare for a future in which there is going to be a need for a City Hall . She said buying the land is like putting it in the bank. She said she was not uncomfortable with purchasing eight acres for a reasonable site for City Hall . Pidcock noted that we would then be in a position to trade if that would be necessary . Anderson said he was opposed to changing the whole major center area plan. He said he would like to look at all the options and see how they fit with the floodplain area and the major center area. Tenpas asked if there was any logic to having the Council go with Mr . Andrus to talk to the property owners . Discussion followed about how to set a maximum price without driving the property prices up to that level . Anderson asked what it would take to get an appraisal of the Carmody property . Tenpas said he thought we could use staff to do that. Pidcock said she thought it was important to know how much is buildable in each of the proposed sites . Anderson said we have to take a look at what is buildable for structures and what else is usable for the City . He said the Carmody property enhances the public property in that area, but he would have to see the price . Peterson said we need to know the approximate value of the Carmody property . He suggested that the Council wait for two weeks to get that information and then set a number . IV . DISCCISSION OF GOALS FOR CITY MANAGER FOR, 199Q AND 1991 Referring to the memorandum of October Sth from City Manager Jullie, Harris said she thought each of the four goals listed was worthwhile. She said she would like to see the third item on customer service put into place and then do a re-evaluation at the end of the year. Council discussed the items and selected three for the City Manager to pursue . Tenpas said he would like Mr . Jullie and the staff to work on the basic premise that you look at processes that create problems and find a better way to do what they are doing in those areas . City Council Meeting 5 October 9, 1990 Pidcock said she didn't know if the survey of residents was an accurate reflection of how things are when compared to the phone calls she receives from residents . Anderson said he thought we have enough tools now and we should start bringing all the information together and see if there should be some changes in direction. He said we should take the information gathered together with the goals and get into planning the next five years . Tenpas said that because the councilmembers are parttime , it is essential for Jullie to initiate some of these things and bring them back to us . Peterson said there should be a regular annual schedule of strategic planning sessions . Harris said Jullie should give us his plan for item three with a built-in evaluation. She said a projection of the requirements for item two regarding the implementing of a human resource planning process would provide a point from which to measure . Tenpas said he would like to have some goal for self-improvement for Mr . Jullie. Pidcock noted that was part of Jullie' s routine evaluation. V. JOINT ETING WITH R I LEY-PURGATORY BOARD OF MANAS&RS Conrad Fiskness of the Watershed District Board introduced Bob Obermeyer of Barr Engineering Co . Mr. Obermeyer presented an overview of the flooding in 1987 . He said that the Fairway Woods residents asked if there could be some modifications at the Mitchell Road outlet to allow an emergency overflow. He said the structures in that area were built in accordance with the requirements, and any modifications would involve policy change. He said by providing overflow in that area the level of protection will be changed, as the structures were designed to retain and hold excess water . Harris noted that moving water downstream would change the level of protection in other areas and other communities . Obermeyer said the Watershed District and the City currently require development to be two feet above the 100-year flood elevation, and changing the overflow in that area would be providing a level of protection greater than the 100-year frequency . He said there are two major flood storage areas in the City -- Purgatory Creek Recreation Area and the Edenvale Golf Course. Tenpas asked if any other areas experienced similar flood damage. Director of Public Works Dietz said there was flooding in a wide- spread area all over the city but they didn't hear a lot from F some of those who experienced damage . City Council Meeting 6 October 9 , 1990 Anderson said there was a considerable amount of flooding within hours of the rain; however , there was a delayed build up of water after the rain as certain areas didn' t move the water along fast enough. James Cardinal said he thought the policy issue was critical in this discussion. He said the standard was defined by the legislature which requires a level of protection equivalent to the 100-year event . He said a change in the level of protection will , in effect , be a change in the policy . Harris said, while she would like to provide relief to people, if we change the standard for one section , we open ourselves to question because of not providing such protection to all . Pidcock asked if there was any way to reduce the chances of flooding in the area without affecting the standards all the way down. Dietz said we could not change the structures in that area without changing the protection in other areas . Cardinal said some communities are looking for ways to transfer the impact to public lands in non-structural areas . Tenpas asked if this could be an alternative for Fairway Woods . Dietz said again it would be providing a higher level of protection in that area and thus would be a policy change . City Engineer Gray said that , as an alternate solution to additional city-provided protection, residents and homeowners associations might consider such private options as additional flood proofing, flood barriers or flood insurance. Pidcock asked if residents would be able to purchase insurance after they had experienced flood damage. Grey said they would be able to purchase the insurance. COUNCILMEMBER TENPAS LEFT THE MEETING AT 8 : 15 PM. Mr . Haik said consideration would have to be given to dealing with new developments and a determination would have to be made as to how much of the community would be affected by additional levels of protection. Harris asked if we have options tc transfer the overflow to public lands like Bloomington did. Gray replied that we have no obvious options in that regard. Anderson asked if the Edenvale floodplain area would hold more water if part of the area were diked off in the back. Dietz said this is again the issue of providing a different level of protection for one area. Anderson said there was an angry group of residents who presented a petition for action on the issue, and the Council wants to have some answers and possible solutions ready for the special meeting to be held later this month. Mr . Haik said he thought the basic issues will be what are the design criteria for protection and who will pay for it . City Council Meeting 7 October 9 , 1990 VI . OTHER BUSINESS In addition to the items of other business discussed by the Council earlier and included in Item II of the minutes , Anderson asked Mr. Obermeyer which Watershed District had jurisdiction over Birch Island Lake . Mr . Obermeyer said it was in the Nine Mile Creek district . Anderson then asked Obermeyer to report back to the Council on the condition of Birch Island Lake. V I I . ,ADJQURNIJENT MOTION: PaZderson moved, seconded by Harris , to adjourn the meeting at 8 : 30 PM. Motion carried unanimously . 'l