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2009-03-24MOUND CITY COUNCIL MINUTES MARCH 24, 2009 The City Council of the City of Mound, Minnesota, met in regular session on Tuesday, March 24, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. in the council chambers of city hall. Members present: Mayor Mark Hanus; Councilmembers David Osmek, Ray Salazar, Heidi Gesch and Greg Skinner Others present: City Attorney John Dean, City Manager Kandis Hanson, City Clerk Bonnie Ritter, Fire Chief Greg Pederson, Police Chief Jim Kurtz, City Planner Rita Trapp, Phil Jensen, James Dustrude, Mark Tyler, Josh Evans, Dennis Berlin, Evelyn DeSmet, Amy Lyon, Dan Timberg. 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 Hanus called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Approve agenda Hanson noted that an amendment was handed out for the OLL Temporary sign permit, and Ritter requested that Item 41, approval of a public dance permit for OLL be added to the consent agenda. MOTION by Osmek, seconded by Salazar to approve the agenda as amended. All voted in favor. Motion carried. 4. Consent agenda MOTION by Osmek, seconded by Salazar to approve the consent agenda. Upon roll call vote, all voted in favor. Motion carried. A. Approve payment of claims in the amount of $256,256.78 B. Approve Temporary Sign Permit for Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church for special event banners for the "Blast Block Party" as amended C. Approve Permit for One -Day Temporary On -Sale Liquor License for Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church for the "Blast Block Party" D. Approve Garbage and Refuse Collection Licenses for Blackowiak Disposal, Allied Waste Services, Randy's Sanitation, Waste Management, Waste Technologies, and Vintage Waste Systems, contingent upon receipt of all applications, fees and certificates of insurance E. Approve out -of -state travel and related expenses and reimbursement for City officials' trip to Washington, DC, associated with federal funding request, as presented F. RESOLUTION NO. 09 -23: RESOLUTION APPROVING THIRD SUPPLEMENT TO MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH MOUND HARBOR RENAISSANCE DEVELOPMENT Mound City Council Minutes — March 24, 2009 G. Approve Agreement for Disposal Between Resource Recovery Technologies, LLC and the City of Mound H. Approve appointment recommendation for vacancies on the Parksand Open Space Advisory Commission 1. Jack Evans 2. Josh Dunwoody I. Approve public dance /live music permit for Our Lady of the Lake Church for "Blast" to be held May 2, 2009. S. Comments and suggestions from citizens present on any item not on the agenda. None were offered. 6. Evelyn DeSmet, representative from RideNet Evelyn DeSmet made a presentation on RideNet that gave an overview of their services. 7. Phil Jensen, County Assessor, with 2008 Assessment Report Phil Jensen reported on valuations from the period October 2007 through September 2008. He stated that his guideline is to value the property at 95% of the sale price. The complete report is on file in the City Clerk's office for public inspection. Hennepin County will hold their open book meeting at Mound City Hall on April 29, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. 8. Jim Kurtz, Police Chief, with COPS hiring grant request Chief Kurtz informed the Council that the office of Community Policing Services (COPS) has announced a competitive grant for hiring and rehiring of career law enforcement officers under the President's COPS Hiring Recovery Program. There is no local match requirement. Grantees must retain all sworn officer positions awarded under the CHRP grant for a period of one year following conclusion of the three years covered by the grant. He informed the Council that there is no provision for paying this back if the City cannot finance the additional year after the three -year grant period. MOTION by Osmek, seconded by Salazar to adopt the following resolution. All voted in favor. Motion carried. RESOLUTION NO. 09 -24: RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MOUND POLICE DEPARTMENT TO APPLY FOR A COPS HIRING RECOVERY PROGRAM GRANT 9. Greg Pederson, Fire Chief, with Insurance Services Office (ISO) Report Chief Pederson reviewed the results of the latest ISO Audit Report and the Council commended him for the ratings received by the Mound Fire Department coverage area. MOTION by Osmek, seconded by Salazar to reconsider approval of the agenda. All voted in favor. Motion carried. MOTION by Osmek, seconded by Salazar to add Item 9A to the agenda, Reimbursement for expenses to firefighters going to aid Fargo /Moorhead flood area, and to add the words "and Parks and Open Space Commission" to Item 11. All voted in favor. Motion carried. Mound City Council Minutes — March 24, 2009 9A. Reimburse Mound firefighters for Fargo /Moorhead area flood relief MOTION by Osmek, seconded by Skinner to dedicate an amount not to exceed $500 to reimburse Mound firefighters for their expenses for traveling to the Fargo /Moorhead area to aid in the flood relief. All voted in favor. Motion carried. 10. Planning Commission Recommendations A. Planning Case No. 08 -17: Variance for detached garage at 6001 Ridgewood Road Rita Trapp reviewed the request for a variance to replace the existing 23.4' x 26.2' garage with a new one 28'x 31'. The Planning Commission and staff unanimously recommended denial of this request because it was felt that the garage could be moved or made smaller to eliminate the need for a variance. Osmek stated that topography has been used in the past as rationale for granting variances and that is definitely a factor in this case. He also feels that there is a hardship in that the driveway would have to be steeper if the garage was moved further back from the roadway. Hanus agreed that topography has been a finding used in the past. He further stated that even if the driveway steepness is not a factor, the steepness on the house side of the garage would be an issue. Osmek stated that the oversized garage will accommodate storage that is not available anywhere else on the property due to the topography. Hanus called for a recess from 9:28 p.m. to 9:32 p.m. MOTION by Osmek, seconded by Salazar to direct staff to draft a resolution approving this variance. Findings of fact are to include: (1) The repositioning of the property influences the grade of the driveway, making the driveway less usable and less friendly to our environment due to ice issues and not be as optimal; (2) the storage on this property for an ancillary structure such as a shed or storage facility, is not hospitable to that type of structure and with all the grading problems the increased size of the garage is warranted; (3) removal of a structure that is incurring into the city's right -of -way is always seen as a positive benefit towards the city and he is moving it from a 1.6' obstruction into the right -of -way, but 4' back away from the right -of- way; (4) the practical setback for this structure is at least 8' because there is either a 5 or 6' boulevard or green space between the actual property and the actual curb cut. The following voted in favor: Osmek, Salazar, Hanus and Gesch. The following voted against: Skinner. Motion carried. Hanus confirmed the understanding that staff will verify that there is at least 4' boulevard between the property line and curb cut, which creates the practical setback of at least 8', otherwise the (4) finding noted in the motion is invalid. B. Plannina Case No. 09 -01 - Variance for deck additi project at 4955 Donald Drive Trapp reviewed the variance to allow construction of a deck on the north and west sides of the house located at 4955 Donald Drive. Staff did not support the variance request as there are alternatives to construct a conforming, or more conforming deck and still accomplish the intended task. The Planning Commission voted 6 -2 to recommend denial. Hanus noted that the portion of the deck that the variance is being requested for is 3' x 12.2' or 18 sq. ft. and there was a 16.5' variance granted in 2003 for the house, and this variance is .5' less. He asked if there was discussion a few years ago to change the code to allow a non- conformity to be extended provided it does not encroach further on the already recognized non- Mound City Council Minutes — March 24, 2009 conformity. John Dean stated that the original variance was for the original structure and this is for the deck so that doesn't get us there, but that the proposed deck does not encroach any farther than the previous variance. Hanus feels that if this deck were on the drawing when the first variance was granted, this would have been approved also. MOTION by Salazar, seconded by Osmek to have staff prepare a resolution of approval based on the following findings: (1) Reducing the front positioning of the deck from 6' to 3' makes an unusable, impractical section of deck; (2) The proposed positioning of the staircase is exactly in line with the remaining staircases that go up and moving this in any other position is not practical; (3) The existing setback that currently exists on the property for a variances of 165 is not being increased in any way; (4) Repositioning of the staircase is impractical due to creating an obstruction to the entry point underneath the deck. The following voted in favor: Osmek, Salazar, Hanus and Gesch. The following voted against: Skinner. Motion carried. C. Discussion /action on Henricks v. Mound decision 11062414 John Dean stated that this is a follow up in a recent court case regarding a variance and there are post judgement items to discuss and he recommends, because the importance of confidentiality in this matter, the council adjourn into closed session. The Council went into closed session at 10:03 p.m. and returned at 10:08 p.m. 11. Action approving a resolution appointing a Council liaison to the Docks and Commons Commission and Parks and Open Space Commission MOTION by Osmek, seconded by Salazar to adopt the following resolution. All voted in favor. ' Motion carried. RESOLUTION NO. 09 -25: RESOLUTION APPOINTING DAVE OSMEK AND HEIDI GESCH AS REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CITY COUNCIL 12. Approve minutes MOTION by Osmek, seconded by Salazar to approve the City Council minutes of March 10, 2009. The following voted in favor: Osmek, Salazar, Hanus, and Gesch. The following voted against: None. Skinner abstained from voting because he was absent from that meeting. 13. Miscellaneous /Correspondence A. Comments /reports from Council Members B. Reports: Staff Memo: CBD Parking Program research update Staff Memo: Northwest Tonka Lions C. Minutes: Planning Comm — Mar 9, 2009 Parks and Open Space Comm — Mar 12, 2009 D. Correspondence: Mound Visions federal funding request update Mound Visions federal funding "Leave- Behind" pamphlet Congressman Paulson federal funding request appropriation form, submitted Mar 19, 2009 Article: Oberstar Champion for Minnesota Projects Email: Watershed District on Anthony's Floral property Gillespie Center Gazette Mound Fire Commission Meeting agenda 4 1 1 n Mound City Council Minutes — March 24, 2009 Letter: 4.0 School Services & Westonka Bus Service 14. Adjourn MOTION by Osmek, seconded by Salazar to adjourn at 10:12 p.m. All voted in favor. Motion carried. Atk Mayor Mark Hanus Attest: Bonnie Ritter, City Clerk