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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 02/12/2008 - Workshop APPROVED MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP & OPEN PODIUM TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2008 CITY CENTER 5:00—6:25 PM, HERITAGE ROOM II 6:30—7:00 PM, COUNCIL CHAMBER CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Phil Young, Council Members Brad Aho, Sherry Butcher, Jon Duckstad and Kathy Nelson CITY STAFF: City Manager Scott Neal, Police Chief Rob Reynolds, Fire Chief George Esbensen, Public Works Director Eugene Dietz, Community Development Director Janet Jeremiah, Parks and Recreation Director Jay Lotthammer, Communications Manager Joyce Lorenz, Assistant to the City Manager Michael Barone, City Attorney Ric Rosow, and Recorder Jan Curielli I. GUIDE PLAN Mayor Young called the workshop to order at 5:40 PM. City Manager Neal said Monique MacKenzie, SRF Consulting Group, and City Planner Mike Franzen will present an overview of the proposed update to the Guide Plan. At tonight's Council meeting the Council will be asked to authorize sending out the Guide Plan for comments. Franzen said the Planning Commission and City Council cannot hold public hearings on the updated Guide Plan until after the School District, Watershed District and Hennepin County go through the six-month review process. The Metropolitan Council will review the Guide Plan after the Public Hearings have taken place. Ms MacKenzie gave a PowerPoint presentation on the Guide Plan and reviewed the proposed schedule for approving it. She noted the Guide Plan calls for more growth in Eden Prairie than in most communities in the third tier suburbs. Butcher asked if the forecasted growth is tied with the affordable housing. MacKenzie said the Metropolitan Council's concept of Livable Communities is separate from the Comprehensive Plan process, and they want to see how the housing policy allows for affordable housing to be built. Franzen said we indicate the potential for medium and high density residential housing in the areas of growth. Butcher asked if it is tied to our goals for affordable housing. MacKenzie said the Comprehensive Plan is not required to commit to specific numbers of housing. Aho asked how the projected growth rates will be achieved. MacKenzie replied they can extrapolate based on development in the Major Center Area (MCA) at this rate of density. Nelson said, when she read through the housing piece, it didn't seem like we talked much about owner-occupied versus rental property. She thought it is important to keep a balance between the two types of housing. MacKenzie said the Housing Task Force did not immerse themselves in that. Franzen said we might have to look at it the same way as rental housing CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES February 12, 2008 Page 2 using TIF financing. He thought it was important to see where we want it and how much of it there should be. MacKenzie said a chapter on Active Community Planning was added to help increase the walkability and green planting quotients. There will be a Site Planning Guidebook to help site plan design achieve walkability goals. Butcher asked if Active Community Planning is a new term. MacKenzie said it is recognized as an emerging planning term. MacKenzie reviewed the changes to the Guide Plan since the 2000 plan was approved. She said the demographic forecasts predict an increase in population in the City of 13,884 between 2004 and 2030. She said Mr. Franzen, Ms Jeremiah and she met with the Metropolitan Council representative to make sure they will be okay with the numbers in the plan. Aho asked how much the future growth of outlying suburbs was taken into account because he saw them as growing substantially in the future. MacKenzie said we worked with the best information we have about what is going on in Eden Prairie and then interfaced with the regional models. She said the growth pattern does account for fourth-tier growth. Butcher asked what kind of buildings we are talking about and what will be their impact on the traffic in the areas of growth in the Golden Triangle and the MCA. MacKenzie said it varies, and the MCA plan called for some development of high density residential, so there were a certain number of trips assigned to each site in the Golden Triangle and the MCA areas. Nelson said it has been a while since the Senior Task Force came in with their report and asked if that has been reflected in the overall plan. Franzen said there are 800-900 senior housing units in the area and there will be 350 more in the Presbyterian Homes project. He said they did not make any particular forecast regarding how many units need to be affordable or senior housing because the market will tell us that. Butcher asked how we attain our goal of a high ratio of green space in the major growth areas based on the plan that every household will have a place to recreate within a one-half mile radius. Franzen said the Comprehensive Plan shows large buildings and a neighborhood park, but we don't have a parcel to provide green space in some areas. Lotthammer said that plan is true for most areas of the city, either there is a park or one is planned. Reviewing Chapter 6 regarding Utilities, MacKenzie noted there will be additional wells required over a 20-year time frame, and we also assumed that a reduction in water use will allow us to achieve the projected demand of 28,000,000 gallons per day. Aho asked if that was true even with the projected growth rate. MacKenzie said there are important moves that must be made to conserve water. Dietz said usage in the Water Tower area of the City is considerably less than other areas. Aho asked if there are concerns about the aquifers and if there are any studies that show we may be in trouble with those. Dietz replied the Prairie du Chien and Jordan aquifers are dropping, and we have to fight hard with the DNR to get a new well. He said we won't get CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES February 12, 2008 Page 3 five additional wells without this Comprehensive Guide Plan data. We have kept a cap on our water usage with conservation measures but it is a struggle. II. OPEN PODIUM A. Pam Bandy— City Policy on Realtor Sims Pam Bandy, Edina Realty, said she asked Brian Duoos, the manager of the local Edina Realty office, to assist her in discussing the effect of enforcement of the City's sign policy on temporary open house signs posted for the Tuesday broker open houses. Mr. Duoos said the Tuesday open houses are held for 2-3 hours from about 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM so that realtors and the public can come to see new listings. The signs are picked up after the open houses and are used as directional signs to help the public get to the properties. Both buyers and sellers benefit from the signs and the open house signs are only out for 3-4 hours at most. Some signs were confiscated recently, and there was no opportunity to have them returned. The group at the meeting tonight wanted to bring their concerns to the attention of the Council. Mr. Duoos distributed a handout showing the signs used and other information about the local real estate market. Young said the sign ordinance permits open house signs from Friday night to Monday morning. The Tuesday broker open houses are a traditional way to preview houses, and he thought it is an important part of selling homes. He understood the sign ordinance, as currently drafted, is on a complaint basis only and never allows signs to be placed in the right-of-way. The City does not patrol looking for signs. He thought it was important to have sign ordinances, but it is also important that the ordinances don't go further than they have to. He thought the Tuesday broker open houses are valuable to the residents, and he would like to amend the ordinance to carve out a couple of hours on Tuesday to allow the signs. Butcher thought that was a reasonable solution. She asked if the realtors ask permission when a sign is placed on someone's lawn. Mr. Duoos said they do. Butcher thought someone must have complained if the signs were removed, and perhaps this was an occasion where someone wasn't asked. Aho agreed with Mayor Young, noting he thought this is an important aspect of our community. He asked if the ordinance is limited to the real estate community only. Young said there is a specific ordinance that allows open house signs on the weekend, so we could just amend that ordinance. The other Council Members concurred with that. Dietz said the road right-of-way extends for the first 10-15 feet from the road. A discussion followed about ascertaining the location of the right-of-way. Neal said he talked to our code enforcement officer, and we do hold the signs for a period of time and will also call the sign owners if there is a phone number on the CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES February 12, 2008 Page 4 sign. He said he will have staff prepare the amendment and noted an amendment to the sign ordinance is required to come before the Planning Commission before coming to the Council. Mr. Duoos asked what will happen for next Tuesday's open house. Young said at that point the sign ordinance will not have been changed. Neal suggested they make sure the signs are on private property. III. ADJOURNMENT