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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 02/05/2019 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2019 7:00 PM, CITY CENTER Council Chamber 8080 Mitchell Road CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Ron Case, Council Members Brad Aho, Mark Freiberg, P G Narayanan, and Kathy Nelson CITY STAFF: City Manager Rick Getschow, Public Works Director Robert Ellis, Community Development Director Janet Jeremiah, Parks and Recreation Director Jay Lotthammer, City Attorney Ric Rosow, and Council Recorder Jan Curielli I. CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER Mayor Case called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. All Council Members were present. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE III. OPEN PODIUM INVITATION IV. PROCLAMATIONS/PRESENTATIONS (taken out of sequence after Item VI.) V. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND OTHER ITEMS OF BUSINESS MOTION: Freiberg moved, seconded by Aho, to approve the agenda as published. Motion carried 5-0. VI. MINUTES A. COUNCIL WORKSHOP HELD TUESDAY,JANUARY 22, 2019 B. CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD TUESDAY,JANUARY 22, 2019 MOTION: Aho moved, seconded by Narayanan, to approve the minutes of the City Council workshop held Tuesday, January 22, 2019, and the minutes of the City Council meetings held Tuesday, January 22, 2019. Motion carried 5-0. V. PROCLAMATIONS/PRESENTATIONS (taken out of sequence) A. EDEN PRAIRIE BUSINESS SURVEY RESULTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 5, 2019 Page 2 Case noted the Council Members received this presentation last week. He asked Mr. Leatherman to present it again at tonight's Council meeting in order to share the results with the community. Getschow said every three years the City does a business survey. Last Thursday the Council and the Chamber of Commerce received a joint presentation of the survey results for 2018. Morris Leatherman, The Morris Leatherman Company, gave a PowerPoint presentation reviewing the results of the survey which was taken in November and December of 2018. The survey included 14 questions about the business climate in Eden Prairie. He reviewed the responses to the survey which included questions such as important reasons for locating in Eden Prairie, grade of the City business climate, most serious issues, focus for the City's Economic Development Division, and workforce issues. Council Member Narayanan asked if the City increased the commercial property taxes more than average which might have caused the high percentage of the respondents listing property taxes as the most serious issue facing businesses. Getschow replied the increases have been lower than our peers and also have been at or below the inflation rate. State-wide fiscal disparities are part of the business tax, and Eden Prairie is the third largest contributor to that pool. Almost 20% of business property taxes are tied to the City levy and budget with the rest tied to other governmental units. City taxes increased on average about 1% on commercial property this year. We have not seen any spikes or large increases for our commercial property taxes. Freiberg commented it is exciting to see a lot of things are happening. In three years we shifted from 29% to 50% of the responses giving the City a grade of A for the business climate, and that is a significant jump. He asked if we know what caused that jump. Mr. Leatherman replied it is not just the City itself,but business owners are responding more globally. Across the state,people's enthusiasm was less during the recession. Nelson believed the increase in happiness about the business climate is partially connected to people's being happy with how they are doing here in Eden Prairie. She does not get as many complaints as she did six to seven years ago. While businesses do need more highly skilled employees, she felt the employees do like living here and that score has gone up over time. Mr. Leatherman noted 52% of the owners and managers live in the City, so that connection would affect their responses. In other areas, typically only 33-40% of owners and managers live in the community where they work. Case commented any given year will be susceptible to the whims occurring in that year. The ten-year trend has been distinctly up, so we are on the right path overall. The business community continues to be happy here. He thanked Mr. Leatherman for coming out in the snowstorm and noted we appreciate the work his company does. VII. REPORTS OF ADVISORY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 5, 2019 Page 3 VIII. CONSENT CALENDAR A. CLERK'S LICENSE LIST B. AWARD CONTRACT TO MINNESOTA ROADWAYS CO. FOR PARKING LOT, TRAIL,AND HARD COURT REHABILITATION PROJECT AT CREEKWOOD PARK C. APPROVE QUOTE TO AUTHORIZE LOGIS TO REPLACE PRIMARY DATA CENTER EQUIPMENT AT CITY CENTER MOTION: Narayanan moved, seconded by Aho, to approve Items A-C on the Consent Calendar. Motion carried 5-0. IX. PUBLIC HEARINGS/MEETINGS X. PAYMENT OF CLAIMS Aho asked about the large payment to Southwest Light Rail (SWLRT). Ellis replied the light rail project included locally-requested capital improvement projects, such as decorative railings, the expansion of the Eden Road right-of-way, additional landscaping and several other items. The City entered into an agreement with the project office several months ago that we would pay for those improvement projects. The item on tonight's Payment of Claims is for the first installment for those locally-requested improvements. A second payment will be made for the remainder of the amount in about 275 days from now. Aho asked if we will be reimbursed for any portion of the amount from grants or other sources. Ellis replied we would not be reimbursed by any grants. We do have an outstanding grant of$6,140,000 for the Town Center Station. Nelson noted the City Council has seen the cost and plans for the SWLRT improvements over the last year, so we have reviewed those. Ellis replied these are things that have been shared with the Council and the public in workshops and public meetings over the past several years as the design went through the process. MOTION: Nelson moved, seconded by Freiberg, to approve the payment of claims as submitted. Motion was approved on a roll call vote, with Aho, Freiberg, Narayanan, Nelson, and Case voting "aye." XI. ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS XII. PETITIONS, REQUESTS,AND COMMUNICATIONS XIII. APPOINTMENTS XIV. REPORTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 5, 2019 Page 4 A. REPORTS OF COUNCIL MEMBERS B. REPORT OF CITY MANAGER C. REPORT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR D. REPORT OF PARKS AND RECREATION DIRECTOR E. REPORT OF PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR 1. Report on Mobile and Permanent Speed Display Sims Ellis explained this item is a follow-up from discussion at a Council meeting in early January regarding dynamic speed display signs. The Police Department currently has a mobile sign display unit mounted on a small trailer that is deployed for targeted education or in response to speed complaints in a certain area. The mobile sign does not collect data, and it is reaching the end of its useful life. We have a second type of sign that is more permanent and is mounted in the ground. Those four permanent units are solar units with posted speeds and a radar unit and do not collect data. The permanent units are somewhat effective to use to help with speed control, and are currently located on Dell Road, Anderson Lakes Parkway, Riverview Road and Homeward Hills Road. Staff had some discussions with the Police Department and the Engineering Division and recommends we replace the mobile speed display unit. The cost would be $10-13,000, depending on the features selected. The new unit should collect data we could use to share with citizens and to plan for road improvements. Ellis reported staff would also like to formulate a policy for a permanent placement of dynamic speed signs. We do like the signs and have received positive feedback on them. The permanent signs are about$3,000 apiece. The policy would determine where we would prioritize these signs, based on roadway classification, traffic volumes, schools nearby, and other criteria. Staff would come back with a draft policy for Council discussion and approval at a future meeting. Aho asked if the mobile unit will just collect vehicle counts and traffic speeds, but not license plate data. Ellis replied that was correct. The signs would just collect speed data with no personal information collected. Case asked if it records the time the speed occurs. Ellis replied it would break down the data by time of day. Case noted that piece is very powerful. If the speed occurs at a certain time of the day, we could use the data to enforce the traffic speeds at that time and location. He asked if the policy would include data collection by the temporary unit. Ellis replied the mobile unit would be used to collect existing data, and that data would be used to prioritize the CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 5, 2019 Page 5 locations for permanent speed sign installations. He noted the permanent signs would not collect data. Case commented this would enable us to go back to a neighborhood that had concerns and share the data collected. In the course of the recent campaign he came across three neighborhoods that had traffic speed concerns, so he was wondering if we might need two of the mobile units. Ellis replied staff has talked about that and do not feel there would be a need for two right now. If there are more complaints and concerns over time, it is easy to purchase another unit and we could budget for that one quite easily. Aho asked what the cost and the expected life of the permanent units would be. Ellis responded the cost is about$2-3,000, depending on the model selected. We have had the four existing units for about three years. He thought the solar panel on the unit might be the first thing to go out. We have found that during the darker winter months with less sunlight or if located in shaded areas the units do go dark. Overall,he thought the life would be about 10-15 years. Nelson was very interested in getting the kind of sign that does the counts and times. She thought there are always issues that are related to the time of the speeding. She would like to get more of the units,preferably solar units. It is a good idea and would make it a little safer in some areas. Narayanan noted the display signs are quite large and was concerned about getting the true speed because they can see the sign and begin to decrease their speed. He asked if the signs would be measuring traffic in only one direction, and whether the data would be automatically uploaded for analysis of the data. Ellis replied most of the units he has seen measure one direction only. They would capture the drive speed after the drive has seen the sign. To capture the actual speed, we use road tubes that collect data or unmarked cars with radar units to collect data. Each model of the sign has a different method to upload the data. Freiberg commented he was pretty enthusiastic about the concept. He wondered if there is an option to include more than just a solar panel, such as a battery backup system. He would rather see something that would not go dark and would collect data all the time. Case noted the Traffic Logix unit he saw came with battery power, a solar panel and wiring. He would guess most of the units have a battery backup. 2. Establishment of School Zone Speed Limit Along Scenic Heights Road Adiacent to Central Middle School (Resolution No. 2019-26) Ellis reported the City and the School District are seeking to collaborate to establish a new 25 mph speed zone on Scenic Heights Road near the Central Middle School entrance. State statute does enable cities to establish speed CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 5, 2019 Page 6 constraints in school zones, and also provides direction to determine the appropriate speed limit. Staff has completed the analysis and are recommending a new school speed zone for 25 mph be established on Scenic Heights Road from View Lane to an area west of Village Woods Drive. The 25 mph suggestion was established based on real time speeds observed over a period of days and would be consistent with our other roadways. In order to establish the school speed zone, the Council would need to pass a resolution. MOTION: Nelson moved, seconded by Aho, to approve Resolution No. 2019-26 establishing a school zone speed limit along Scenic Heights Road adjacent to Central Middle School. Motion carried 5-0. F. REPORT OF POLICE CHIEF G. REPORT OF FIRE CHIEF H. REPORT OF CITY ATTORNEY XV. OTHER BUSINESS XVI. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Freiberg moved, seconded by Aho, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 5-0. Mayor Case adjourned the meeting at 7:49 p.m.