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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 01/22/2008 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY,JANUARY 22, 2008 7:00 PM, CITY CENTER Council Chamber 8080 Mitchell Road CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Phil Young, Council Members Brad Aho, Sherry Butcher, Jon Duckstad and Kathy Nelson CITY STAFF: City Manager Scott Neal, Parks & Recreation Director Jay Lotthammer, Public Works Director Eugene Dietz, City Planner Michael Franzen, Community Development Director Janet Jeremiah, City Attorney Ric Rosow and Council Recorder Jan Curielli I. ROLL CALL/CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER Mayor Young called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. II. COLOR GUARD/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Young thanked Troop 597 from St. Andrews Church for presenting the colors. III. OPEN PODIUM INVITATION Mayor Young noted there has been a change made to the City Council agenda to consolidate Open Podium and Open Forum into one item. IV. PROCLAMATIONS /PRESENTATIONS A. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING,JR. PROCLAMATION Mayor Young read a proclamation proclaiming 2008 as a year to celebrate human rights and diversity in the City of Eden Prairie. Pam Spera, representing the Human Rights & Diversity Commission, presented an overview of the Human Rights Award. She announced the start of the Human Rights award process whereby an individual, a non-profit, a business and a youth who have worked to create a spirit of human rights are recognized. Nominations for the awards will be accepted until February 29, 2008. On April 10 the Commission will select the winner in each of four categories. The winners will be presented to the City Council at a meeting in May. She thanked the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce for working with the Commission to take over the administration of the Youth Scholarship, named for the late Mayor Jean Harris. V. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND OTHER ITEMS OF BUSINESS Neal added four items under XIV.B. REPORT OF CITY MANAGER. MOTION: Aho moved, seconded by Nelson, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion carried 5-0. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 22, 2008 Page 2 VI. MINUTES A. COUNCIL WORKSHOP HELD TUESDAY,JANUARY 8, 2008 MOTION: Butcher moved, seconded by Nelson, to approve the minutes of the Council Workshop held Tuesday, January 8, 2008, as published. Motion carried 5- 0. B. CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD TUESDAY,JANUARY 8, 2008 MOTION: Duckstad moved, seconded by Aho, to approve the minutes of the Council Meeting held Tuesday, January 8, 2008. Motion carried 5-0. VII. REPORTS OF ADVISORY BOARDS & COMMISSIONS VIII. CONSENT CALENDAR A. CLERK'S LICENSE LIST B. ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR Second Reading of Ordinance 2-2008-PUD-2-2008 for Planned Unit Development District Review with waivers on 1.6 acres and Zoning District change from Rural to Community Commercial on 1.6 acres and Resolution 2008-14 for Site Plan Review on 1.6 acres. Location: NW corner of Hwy 5 and Venture Lane. (Ordinance No. 2-2008-PUD-2-2008 for PUD District Review with waivers and Zoning District Change; Resolution No. 2008-14 for Site Plan Review) C. APPROVE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH KLM ENGINEERING FOR WASH-WATER TANK RECONDITIONING PROJECT D. DECLARE OBSOLETE COMPUTER EQUIPMENT AS SURPLUS E. AUTHORIZE SALE OF FIRE ENGINE/PUMPER 22 OR FIRE ENGINE/PUMPER 32 TO THE CITY OF BROWNSVILLE, MINNESOTA F. AUTHORIZE EXECUTTION OF FOURTH AMENDMENT TO PURCHASE AGREEMENT FOR SALE OF LOT 1, BLOCK 1,AND OUTLOT C - COLUMBINE ADDITION G. AUTHORIZE EXECUTION OF THE THIRD AMENDMENT TO DECLARATION OF RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS PERTAINING TO OLYMPIC RIDGE PROJECT H. ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 2008-15 ORDERING PREPARATION OF AN ALTERNATIVE URBAN AREAWIDE REVIEW UPDATE FOR UNITED HEALTHGROUP PROPERTY CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 22, 2008 Page 3 MOTION: Duckstad moved, seconded by Butcher, to approve Items A-H on the Consent Calendar. Motion carried 5-0. IX. PUBLIC HEARINGS /MEETINGS A. PRAIRIEVIEW CENTER FACADE REMODEL Request for: Planned Unit Development Concept Review on 13.63 acres, Planned Unit Development District Review on 13.63 acres, Zoning District Amendment in the Commercial Regional Service District on 13.63 acres and Site Plan Review on 13.63 acres. Location: 930 Prairie Center Drive. (Resolution No. 2008-16 for PUD Concept Review; Ordinance for PUD District Review and Zoning District Amendment) Neal said official notice of this public hearing was published in the January 10, 2008, Eden Prairie Sun Current and sent to 14 property owners. He said the project is two parts: an architectural change in the building elevations which requires a waiver on exterior materials for one of the buildings, and a modification to the concept plan to add 5,000 square feet of new building in the parking lot. The 120-Day Review Period expires March 21, 2008. He noted this is the mall where we have a liquor store. There were no comments from the audience. Aho asked about the substance changes for the waiver on the exterior materials of the buildings. Jeremiah said there are three different buildings on the property, and one of them is currently a little deficient with regard to exterior materials; however, the average for the three buildings is in excess of our standards. She noted the Planning Commission liked the look of the new fagade and felt this is a reasonable amount of flexibility to give to the property owner. She said, as part of their 2008 Work Plan, the Planning Commission plans to review the architectural standards with regard to new materials and whether or not we should be opening the door to some of these materials. MOTION: Aho moved, seconded by Nelson, to close the Public Hearing; to adopt Resolution No. 2008-16 for Planned Unit Development Concept Review on 13.63 acres; to approve 1 st Reading of the Ordinance for Planned Unit Development District Review with waivers, and Zoning District Amendment within the Commercial Regional Service District on 13.63 acres; and to direct Staff to prepare a Development Agreement incorporating Staff and Commission recommendations and Council conditions. Motion carried 5-0. B. VACATION OF DRAINAGE AND UTILITY EASEMENTS OVER LOT 1, BLOCK 1, BEST BUY ADDITION, VACATION 07-11 (Resolution No. 2008- 17) Neal said official notice of this public hearing was published in the January 3, 2008, Eden Prairie Sun Current and sent to five property owners. The property owners have requested the vacation of all the drainage and utility easements to facilitate replatting of the lot to Liberty Plaza. The drainage and utility easements were originally dedicated with the Best Buy Addition plat. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 22, 2008 Page 4 New drainage and utility easements have been dedicated with the Liberty Plaza project. There were no comments from the audience. MOTION: Butcher moved, seconded by Duckstad, to close the public hearing; and to adopt Resolution No. 2008-17 vacating all of the drainage and utility easements lying over, under and across Lot 1, Block 1, Best Buy Addition, according to the recorded plat thereof, Hennepin County, Minnesota. Motion carried 5-0. X. PAYMENT OF CLAIMS MOTION: Duckstad moved, seconded by Aho, to approve the Payment of Claims as submitted. The motion was approved on a roll call vote, with Aho, Butcher, Duckstad, Nelson and Young voting "aye." XI. ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS XII. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS XIII. REPORTS OF ADVISORY BOARDS & COMMISSIONS XIV. APPOINTMENTS XV. REPORTS A. REPORTS OF COUNCILMEMBERS B. REPORT OF CITY MANAGER 1. Update on Annual National League of Cities Conference Neal said the annual Congressional Cities Conference sponsored by the National League of Cities will be held on March 8-12. He asked Council Members to let staff know if they are interested in attending. Staff will prepare a briefing book similar to the one prepared last year and will bring it to the City Council for approval on February 12. 2. Commission Interview Dates Neal said we have added new commissions in the past two years and this has increased the number of people we interview as well as the number of slots. Last year we had some input from Council Members about dividing it up into two nights. He suggested Monday, February 25 and Tuesday, February 26, and asked Council Members to give those dates some thought to see how that will work. He said we need to set the dates fairly soon because staff will need to start giving out sign up times. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 22, 2008 Page 5 3. Update on the Rogers Property Neal said this property is part of the estate of former Mayor Don Rogers. City Attorney Rosow said Mr. Rogers executed a trust agreement in 1995. The trust was amended in 2003 so that at a particular point of time after his son no longer used Mr. Rogers' personal residence as his residence, it gave the City of Eden Prairie a reasonable right of first refusal to any bona fide sale. The agreement also said, in the event following his son's death, if the City had not previously purchased the property, the property was to be given to the City of Eden Prairie on the condition that the City use it as a park that would include a horse riding trail. If the City had already purchased the property at that time, the City should be reimbursed out of the trust for the amount the City paid for the property if funds were available from the trust. Rosow said the trustee has recently filed a petition with the court seeking permission to either mortgage or sell the property and to be able to sell the property free of the granting of right of first refusal. He said we would have no basis to object to the mortgage of the property. We only have the right to purchase if there is a bona fide offer made to the trustee. The motion filed by the trustee would seek to erase the right of the City to the property. He said the property is located on 175"' Street and Duck Lake Trail. He said he has no idea whether the City would now or at a later time be interested in purchasing the property,but the right of first refusal is an important right and could be valuable. He recommended that we oppose the motion of the trustee with respect to wiping out the right of first refusal. Aho asked how big the property is. Neal said it is 9.74 acres, directly adjacent to Prairie View Park. Young asked what the estimated cost of opposing the motion would be. Rosow said it would involve a court appearance and some preparation time, so it would be less than $1,000. Duckstad asked how soon action would need to be taken. Rosow said the date of the hearing is February 6. Butcher said she thought we should keep our options open because this is an important piece of land considering where it is located. Neal said this item was brought to the Council tonight because we received notice of it late last week and the hearing is scheduled prior to the next Council meeting. Duckstad asked what staff recommends. Neal said he thought we should pursue the option outlined by Mr. Rosow to give us time to look at this and see if we are interested in it. He said Mr. Lotthammer and he talked about it. It is not in an area where we have a great need for additional open space, CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 22, 2008 Page 6 but we haven't had much time to think about it so he thought we should keep the option and preserve the City's ability to have the potential of acquiring the land without cost. Rosow said we would not be opposing the trustee's right to solicit offers on the property. The petition identifies a value for the property, but we have no idea of the market value of the property in this market. Young asked how long we have known about the right of first refusal and the other provisions of the trust agreement. Rosow said the original trust was made in 1995 and the amendment that provides the right of first refusal was in 2003. He did not recall being involved in any review of the trust agreement. When the matter arose he looked to see if we had a file on the trust,but he did not find one. It would not be unusual that such a private trust agreement would not become known to us until the right was exercisable. Young thought it was important that we determine if we have an interest in the property sooner rather than later so we don't hold up the other beneficiaries. He agreed with the recommendation to protect the right of first refusal. Nelson said she believed we should go ahead and do that especially since it is adjacent to a park. We should keep the options open for this, and the amount of money required would be well spent to keep the option open. Aho said he could see no detriment to the current owner if we keep the option open. Rosow said there is no detriment in terms mortgaging it,but he thought a right of first refusal has some detriment to a possible buyer and it places a little more encumbrance on the property because of that. Nelson thought we should also look at the intent from a former Mayor that the City should have options on the property. She thought we should make some decision on how interested we are so we can proceed to say we aren't interested or proceed to purchase it. Rosow requested a motion from the Council because we will have to appear before the court. MOTION: Nelson moved, seconded by Duckstad, to oppose the petition in so far as the request the property may be sold without being subject to the right of first refusal. Motion carried 5-0. 4. Arts Center Neal reviewed the potential Eden Prairie Art Center, noting we have seen the building and have begun talking about its potential use as a public arts center. He said there has been some interest in the Council and staff in CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 22, 2008 Page 7 acknowledging the very generous offer but also of taking a little time to look into the operations side. This is a major gift,but it also has an operations burden to the City. He thought the prudent move would be to look at the potential operations. Staff has already started to take a look at cities that have art centers and how they operate those. He asked the Council to consider accepting a recommendation to charge our Arts & Culture Commission with spending some time on this as a body that is involved in the arts and knowledgeable about the local arts community. We would direct the Commission to bring back in the next 60-90 days a couple of scenarios and a recommendation about how the facility might be operated before we give an answer to the Samson family. He said Council Member Duckstad and he toured the building with Mr. Samson and talked to him about this issue. Mr. Samson said his father would be very much in favor of the City taking a look at the operations side. Nelson said she would like to see it done within 60 days, and she would also like the Commission to have approval to meet more than once a month in order to take care of this. She would like to move ahead with this as quickly as possible, and she was very excited about having an art center in the community. Neal said the Arts & Culture Commission is excited about this. He didn't think it will be an issue for them to have extra meetings on this. We would give public notice of the meetings and would provide the Commission with some extra staff support and consulting help. He will start taking the proposal in that direction and will talk to the Arts Commission and get them on board. C. REPORT OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR D. REPORT OF PARKS AND RECREATION DIRECTOR E. REPORT OF PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR F. REPORT OF POLICE CHIEF G. REPORT OF FIRE CHIEF H. REPORT OF CITY ATTORNEY XVI. OTHER BUSINESS XVII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Duckstad moved, seconded by Aho, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 5-0. Mayor Young adjourned the meeting at 7:35 PM.