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2021-11-09 CC Meeting MinutesMOUND CITY COUNCIL MINUTES November 9, 2021 The City Council of the City of Mound, Hennepin County, Minnesota, met in regular session on Tuesday, November 9, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers in the Centennial Building. Members present: Mayor Ray Salazar; Council members Phil Velsor, Paula Larson, Sherrie Pugh, and Jason Holt Members absent: None Others present: City Manager Eric Hoversten, City Clerk Kevin Kelly, City Planner Rita Trapp, Orono Police Sergeant Tim Sonnek Consent agenda: All items listed under the Consent Agenda are considered to be routine in nature by the Council. There will be no separate discussion on these items unless a Councilmember or citizen so requests, in which event it will be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered in normal sequence. 1. Open meeting Mayor Salazar called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2 Pledge of Allegiance 3. Approve agenda MOTION by Velsor, seconded by Larson, to approve the agenda. All voted in favor. Motion 4. Consent agenda MOTION by Larson, seconded by Pugh, to approve the consent agenda. Upon roll call vote, all voted in favor. Motion carried. A. Approve payment of claims in the amount of $363,469.50. B. Approve minutes: 10-19-21 Special Meeting Workshop 10-26-21 Regular Meeting C. RESOLUTION 21:110 RESOLUTION APPROVING PUBLIC GATHERING PERMIT AND MUSICAL CONCERT PERMIT FOR 2021 TREE LIGHTING EVENT WITH WAIVED FEES D. Approve Pay Request #2 in the amount of $20,755.14 to R & R Excavating for the 2021 Lift Station Improvement Project, PW 21-03 E. Approve Pay Request #1 in the amount of $49,951.00 to Floorcoat Midwest, LLC for the 2021 Manhole Rehabilitation Project PW 21-04 F. Approve final closeout pay request in the amount of $17,077.85 to Allied Blacktop Company for the 2021 Seal Coat Project PW 21-07 Mound City Council Minutes — November 9, 2021 5. Comments and suggestions from citizens present on any item not on the agenda. None were offered. 6. Orono Police Sergeant Tim Sonnek presenting the October Activity Report Sonnek reported on the Orono Police Department (OPD) activity in October which included 314 total incidents compared to in 307 in 2020. Sonnek listed seven crashes, seven alarms, 10 animal complaints, two assaults, 74 medical calls, eight fire assists, zero burglaries, 10 disturbances, one DUI, five domestic calls, eight mental health issues, five thefts, seven parking complaints, 15 welfare checks and 27 traffic stops. Sonnek said the increase of medical calls were due to one individual. Sonnek stated there should be reduction of those calls in November. Sonnek reminded residents of the start of parking restrictions beginning on November 15tn Sonnek said the OPD will begin enforcement during snow events with a warning and then begin ticketing on subsequent snowfall events. Sonnek added there was a theft of a motor vehicle on the eastside of Orono and individuals have been casing areas to look for vehicles. Sonnek reminded residents to lock their vehicles, to not leave possessions in their vehicle and to lock your garage and house. Sonnek said two new officers have been added to the force. Sonnek said the officers are Tim Wessel who has experience with Washington County Water Patrol and as an EMT in Woodbury. Sonnek said the second officer is Colin Hennessy who was with the Carver County SWAT team for five years. Pugh asked about the status of embedded Hennepin County Social Worker program with the OPD. Sonnek stated the program will begin in January of 2022. 7. Planning Case No. 21-07 and Planning Case No. 21-12 Public Hearing - Consideration/action on proposed amendments to City Code Chapter 129 (Zoning Ordinance) related to parking, residential fences and food trucks Trapp presented the three ordinance amendments to be addressed as part of the City zoning update project. Trapp said the zoning update project has been a 2021 zoning update project of the Planning Commission to address inconsistencies between the 2040 Comprehensive Plan and with the City zoning code and zoning map, to add flexibility for property owners in mixed use areas, to address inconsistencies in the zoning code and to update the code to reflect modern standards. Trapp said the areas addressed at this meeting relate to parking regulations, fences and food trucks. Trapp said the parking standards are consolidated from multiple parts of the code in order to reorganize the code, to reflect the new zoning districts as appropriate and make modifications to the minimum parking use table so it is easier to use. Trapp said the amendments include adding missing standards and updating existing standards. Trapp said another change is to multifamily apartments as there is the current of 2 or 2.5 cars per unit standards which don't reflect current realities and the recommendation is to and move to a per bedroom model. Trapp said a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment needs more parking than a studio apartment and the amendment reflects this situation. Trapp said parking standards for what off-street parking can and cannot be used for open storage of goods or vehicles that are inoperable or for sale or rent. Mound City Council Minutes — November 9, 2021 Trapp said one area which the Planning Commission studied was enclosed or underground parking provisions which were determined infeasible by the project's engineers due to technical or engineering constraints. Trapp said the changes the number of underground parking spaces without requiring a specific number if the site has engineering or technical needs caused by lot grade, poor soils or the location of the water table. Trapp said the amendments regarding fences was a technical change made to reflect current practices and make it easier and straight forward. Trapp said that one change was at area adjacent to unimproved streets and alleys to allow for a six-foot fence in those areas. Trapp said those areas must be of 15 feet width of the adjacent unimproved alleys, fire lanes, and street frontages. Trapp said other amendments were the height of fences being allowed in certain areas for four -foot maximum height and the areas were six foot maximum fences were allowed. Trapp the third area addressed are food truck regulations as staff were directed to address food trucks in the zoning code to address what is happening on private property in Mound. Trapp presented the definition for Food Truck and is being proposed as an accessory use with standards in the zoning code and only on private property as part of a private event. Trapp said staff are trying to provide framework where food truck are allowed and are corresponding to a private event and all on private land. Trapp said the Planning Commission has reviewed the three areas of zoning amendments on October 5th food and parking and/or September 7tn Trapp added a Public Hearing is required for each zoning amendments with summary publishing resolutions corresponding to the zoning amendments. Trapp reminded the Council that there is a statute which requires four votes of the Council to approve the summary publishing of the code amendment. Velsor said there was a case when he was on Planning Commission with a family on Interlachen whose property faced the lake and the street was on other side and the family wanted a six-foot fence on the street side. Velsor said the six-foot fence was approved for the front of house because the lake side was considered the front of the house. Velsor said wondered why this wasn't addressed by the planning commission with code language. Trapp said these specific cases will need to looked at on a case by case basis as opposed to making a blanket ordinance which may not work for every situation. Hoversten said a specific ordinance would divide the community between the Lakeshore owners who could have a six-foot front yard fence and everybody else who could only get a four -foot fence. Hoversten said the alternative would be that a six-foot front yard fence would be allowed to every front yard property in Mound. Hoversten said the road in the specific case Velsor mentioned was a county road and that factored into the decision because there is a different traffic burden at that location. Discussion ensued regarding the specific case which also had a shallow lot. Mound City Council Minutes — November 9, 2021 Salazar said the specific case was from 2018 and the property owner was given a variance because the location had the lake on both sides with fishermen and others walking and hanging out in his yard and the fence was considered a security feature. Velsor said the food truck amendments make sure the City is not making it super difficult for the trucks to come into town because there are benefits to residents. Velsor presented an example of Community Education that wanted to get a permit and do concerts in the park and talked about doing it at the Harbor district. Velsor said he didn't want the City to be a huge hurdle to this happening. Trapp said if an event is being held at the Farmer's Market that event is on public property and treated as part of public gathering permit. Trapp said this ordinance amendment is regarding food truck use on private property. Salazar said the City is allowing an event to have food trucks. Hoversten said a planner can incorporate food trucks at their event if there is pre -planning and this planning is included in their public gathering permit. Salazar said he is concerned that if food trucks are allowed by permit it is conceivable that the permit could be asked for on a weekly basis. Hoversten said there can be consecutive nights of the event such as Music in the Park once a week during the run of those events. Salazar said the food truck should come from a restaurant in the city. Salazar wants the food truck to come from the 10-12 eating establishments in the city. Salazar said the Music in the Park goers will spend their money at out of town food trucks instead of supporting the brick and mortar restaurants in Mound. Salazar said the out of towners are skimming from local restaurants and concert goers won't patronize city restaurants. Salazar has difficulty with this aspect of food truck use. Velsor said if Scotty B would want to be a caterer that would be okay. Velsor said he has gone to food truck festivals out of town due to the variety and quality of the food. Velsor said he goes to Back Channel once or twice a week dependent on which food truck is there because a specific food truck has offerings which can't be found in Mound. Holt said this proposal isn't changing the code but is allowing the new Daruma to put a food truck in their parking lot on private property. Holt said this isn't a conversation about yes or no to food trucks; Holt added he likes food trucks and all the restaurants in town can have a food truck. Pugh said she hosts a family reunion and would want to rent out Surfside and rent out a food truck and asked if the depot rental includes a food truck. Trapp said you can have catering for your event only not for the general public. Trapp said this situation is different because what Pugh proposed is on public land. Hoversten said a food truck couldn't be exclusive for the family reunion as the food truck is in a public area. Velsor said the Daruma situation is a positive for Mound as the Daruma food truck was at Back Channel and the owners wanted to put down roots in Mound and not Spring Park. Salazar agreed he is happy that Daruma is going to be in town and with a food truck. Salazar repeated that he didn't want out of town food trucks to come into the city and said he is a business owner of a restaurant business and the equipment is very expensive. Salazar said he thinks out of town food trucks are skimming and he wants residents to go to local restaurateurs. Salazar said the amendment is duplicative as catering of private events are allowed already. Trapp said the food trucks amendment Is for the catering on restaurant and non -restaurant property and on private land accompanying private events only. Mound City Council Minutes — November 9, 2021 Trapp said there is a permit process for public property use and the zoning amendment is for private property use of food trucks. Larson said she started a business in Mound from scratch and understands Salazar's point and she makes a point to buy from local businesses and encourages the restaurants in Mound to cater events at the new Harbor District. Larson said she knows residents of Mound who go to Back Channel for the food trucks. Larson clarified this amendment to the code is for private property and Trapp agreed that it is for private property and there are public food truck regulations already in the code. Pugh said there are 400,000 trips on the Dakota Trail and food trucks are for special occasions only and the Trail has attracted users to local residents and she said there can be path finding sign on the Trail to local restaurants. Hoversten said this discussion and action is specific to the private use of catered private events on how someone in town can cater their private event. Hoversten said Chapter 50 of the city code is primarily for event planners who would like to incorporate a food truck in a public event. Hoversten said a food truck is not much different than a non-profit group providing food for people at a public event. Hoversten this is not a question of amending Chapter 50 of the code and the question before the Council is about private events within Chapter 129 which is the zoning code. Requested Actions Salazar called a public hearing at 7:50 addressing concurrently the off-street parking standards, residential fences and food trucks. Public hearing closed at 7:51. MOTION by Holt, seconded by Larson, to approve the following ordinance. All voted in favor. Motion carried. 1. ORDINANCE NO. 10-2021 AMENDING CHAPTER 129 (ZONING ORDINANCE) PERTAINING TO OFF-STREET PARKING STANDARDS MOTION by Holt, seconded by Larson, to approve the following resolution. All voted in favor. Motion carried. 1a. RESOLUTION NO. 21-111: RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING PUBLICATION OF AN ORDINANCE BY TITLE AND SUMMARY, AS IT RELATES TO OFF STREET PARKING STANDARDS MOTION by Velsor, seconded by Larson, to approve the following ordinance. All voted in favor. Motion carried. 2. ORDINANCE NO. 11-2021 AMENDING CHAPTER 129 (ZONING ORDINANCE) PERTAINING TO FENCES ON RESIDENTIAL LOTS MOTION by Holt, seconded by Pugh, to approve the following resolution. All voted in favor. Motion carried. Mound City Council Minutes — November 9, 2021 2a. RESOLUTION NO. 21-112: RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING PUBLICATION OF AN ORDINANCE BY TITLE AND SUMMARY, AS IT RELATES TO FENCES ON RESIDENTIAL LOTS MOTION by Holt, seconded by Velsor, to approve the following ordinance. All voted in favor. Motion carried. 3. ORDINANCE NO. 12-2021 AMENDING CHAPTER 129 (ZONING ORDINANCE) PERTAINING TO FOOD TRUCKS AS AN ACCESSORY USE MOTION by Larson, seconded by Pugh, to approve the following resolution. All voted in favor. Motion carried. 3a. RESOLUTION NO. 21-113: RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING PUBLICATION OF AN ORDINANCE BY TITLE AND SUMMARY, AS IT RELATES TO FOOD TRUCKS AS AN ACCESSORY USE 8. Information/Miscellaneous A. Comments/reports from Council members/City Manager: Larson and Velsor had questions regarding the City Monumentation on Shoreline Drive. Velsor said the construction is correct except for the cap and said he and Larson walked the site and are recommending changes to the placement of the trees and the electrical to illuminate the front of the monument. Hoversten said the monument is hollow and the lights will be bored out and put in place. Velsor said he doesn't like trees and Hoversten said Brian Simmons from Bolton & Menk will provide price and tree options for the site. Hoversten said there are some limitations at the site due to underground utilities in the area. Hoversten said the trees that are present fall short of expectations and that the current six foot trees behind a six-foot monument does not work and would like to add taller trees. Hoversten said a different vendor would need to come in with options of larger trees. Velsor said we need to do this right and how much of an increase is there for the new trees. Hoversten said the City needs to move quickly to get the tree in the ground and hopefully Simmons can offer options this Friday to make a decision on 11 or 12 foot trees. MOTION by Salazar, seconded by Pugh, to direct staff to procure appropriate trees for City. All voted in favor. Motion carried. Discussion ensued about the evergreen tree growth which Hoversten said there will need to be ongoing pruning as they grow. Holt asked about the monumentation cap and Velsor said this will be changed. Salazar asked Larson about the cost of six foot trees and Larson said it depends on the warranty and type of tree. Hoversten highlighted the following dates: Winter Parking starts on November 15th December 41h - Tree lighting event at Veterans Circle with a Santa parade train which will go through the larger community November 11 City Hall Closed — Veteran's Day November 25 & 26 City Hall Closed Thanksgiving Mound City Council Minutes — November 9, 2021 December 14th tentative date for the City Council photo December 14th is the City Council budget meeting. B. Reports: Liquor —October 2021 C. Minutes: D. Correspondence: LMCD Board Term Expiration Notice 10. Adjourn MOTION by Velsor, seconded by Holt, to adjourn at 8:10 p.m. All voted in favor. Motion carried. Mayor Raymond J. Salazar Attest: kevin Kelly, C erk