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CCM 08/11/2014 CITY COUNCIL MEETING CITY OF FRIDLEY AUGUST 11, 2014 The City Council meeting for the City of Fridley was called to order by Mayor Lund at 7:04 p.m. ROLL CALL: MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Lund Councilmember Barnette Councilmember Varichak Councilmember Saefke Councilmember Bolkcom OTHERS PRESENT: Wally Wysopal, City Manager Darcy Erickson, City Attorney Scott Hickok, Community Development Director Don Abbott, Director of Public Safety James Kosluchar, Director of Public Works Alec DeBar, Engineering Intern Johnathan Olson, Engineering Intern SERVICE REPORTS: Night to Unite - August 5, 2014. Don Abbott, Director of Public Safety, stated this was the 31st Night to Unite we have celebrated in Fridley. The City had more than 94 block parties in the City. That does not account for a grand total of all the neighborhoods represented, because every year typically two or three block captains will hold one party. Twenty-seven 27 police officers and reserve officers participated in the tour that night along with several Fridley firefighters visiting parties with their trucks. He thanked Mayor Lund and the Councilmembers for attending. Also attending was Fridley's City Manager, Wally Wysopal, along with Fridley royalty and representatives of Target, which was one of the sponsors. SERVICE REPORT: Engineering Interns Alec DeBar stated when he first came on he spent a lot of time watching the water main be worked on, helping with inspections, measuring curbs, things like that on the 2014 job sites. Johnathan Olson stated he also helped out with watching the water main installation and the curbing. They worked together judging how much depth to be added onto manholes, to raise them up with the pavement level. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF AUGUST 11, 2011 PAGE 2 Mr. DeBar stated he was also working on a long-term project with GIS. He took plans they had scanned previously and placed them into a GIS viewer also known as ArcMap. It is a quick and easy way to view plans with the utilities on them, sanitary lines, water lines, storm lines etc. It saves a lot of time. It can be viewed on any smart phone, iPad, or computer. Public Works and Engineering utilize it a lot. He showed what the application looks like on a mobile device or a computer. Mr. DeBar stated another project they were doing with GIS was pond mapping. They went throughout the City recording on the GIS all inlets, outlets, spillways and similar structures. They entered where they were in the City, what kind of condition the area was in, etc. Mr. Olson stated they currently have three-fourths of the City completed. There were a lot of obstacles they encountered. A lot of it was landscaping because usually the ponds were encompassed by trees and brush, etc. Mr. DeBar presented a slide showing a screen shot of an aerial view of a pond in the City. He explained all the lines coming in and out are either pipes coming into or flowing out of the pond helping it maintain its level. Essentially they take the GPS unit, go to one of the points on there, shoot that point with the GPS unit, and record the condition it is in, including the size of the pipe or the spillway or structure. If it is polluted or needs repairs, they take a picture of what it looks like. Mr. Olson said he worked on a project related to the bus shelters. Mr. Kosluchar provided him with a Star and Tribune article regarding the bus stop shelters within the Minneapolis area. He contacted Metro Transit and discovered there were seven stops which qualified with the 25 minimal bus passengers per day. They went from a low to a low-medium priority which means they were not high priority in order for Metro Transit to upgrade to a shelter. There were two possibilities he looked at when he researched: University and 53rd which has handicap accessibility and there are parks around it so it is nice for people to go to those things. Also on University and Mississippi Avenue there is the municipal building nearby and there is the blood donation building, dry cleaning, and several other stores. Moving forward, they would have to create a document and report asking that it be upgraded to the next level of priority to get a shelter. The main reason is for public access. Mr. Olson said he also worked on a road rating project. There are currently three or four garbage and recycling trucks going on almost every road which damages the road and reduces the lifetime of the road. He researched a lot of information on how the City currently rates its road vs. the PCI (Pavement Condition Index). Fridley's road rating was developed roughly in 1983 and the PCI was developed by the military in 1976. The City was just behind that kind of development of assessing the roads. He had to determine how to convert the road ratings the City does to the PCI which had a lot of difficult challenges because the City's is a more general assessment of the roads. It is not very specific, it is very subjective. The PCI is very to the point, and you have to wheel out the specific cracks and distresses to get a number which you extrapolate and get a more accurate result of the road condition. The end goal of the whole project is to save money, as roads are being damaged severely because of too many trucks driving on them. If they can figure out which roads are being damaged the most, they can FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF AUGUST 11, 2011 PAGE 3 separate each garbage truck disposal into a section of the City, coordinating with the neighborhoods, and save money. Mayor Lund asked if they were checking the ponding and streams on public and private property. Mr. DeBar replied they are doing it on both. More of it is on public property. Mayor Lund asked for the locations of the two possible sites that met the criteria for bus shelters. Mr. Olson replied University Avenue and 53rd and University Avenue and Mississippi. Mayor Lund stated it must be the northbound at Mississippi as there is one already on the southbound side. Councilmember Saefke asked if in their opinion, the City’s contractors were pretty good this year. Mr. DeBar replied, yes, for the most part they were pretty good. The excavating team was really good. Astech did alright, too. There were some minor issues with patching, but other than that for the most part they did a good job. Councilmember Saefke asked if they would have the survey done before they went back to school. Mr. Olson replied they will get it done. APPROVAL OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA: APPROVAL OF MINUTES: City Council Meeting of July 28, 2014. APPROVED. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Claims (164848-165000). APPROVED. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF AUGUST 11, 2011 PAGE 4 2. Licenses. Councilmember Barnette said they have discussed the single-hauler garbage matter. The City does have a single hauler for recycling, correct? James Kosluchar, Director of Public Works, replied, correct. Councilmember Barnette asked if they had a contract with the City. Councilmember Bolkcom replied, yes, Councilmember Barnette asked if he has a problem with his recycling, does he call the hauler or the City. Wally Wysopal, City Manager, replied he believed the City takes the calls. Scott Hickok, Community Development Director, replied, that is correct. Councilmember Barnette asked if a family does not recycle, they are charged anyway. Mr. Hickok replied that is correct. Mayor Lund replied, as he recalls, the City has a three-year contract with the recycling hauler. Mr. Hickok replied the City got an especially good deal this last time around for an extended term for five or seven years. Mr. Kosluchar replied, if anyone has a question regarding recycling, they should contact Kay Qualley at 763-572-3594. Mr. Hickok replied the State mandates the City to have a recycling service that is available. They want to encourage people to recycle as much as possible. They can start small with a couple of plastic bottles, some tin cans. People should take advantage of the recycling to help the City by adding to its tonnage because that means overall the SCORE funds come back to the City. The better the City does in terms of tonnage, the better value it is for the City. APPROVED THE LICENSES AS SUBMITTED AND AS ON FILE. 3. Estimates. Ron Kassa Construction 6005 East 250th Street Elko, MN 55020-9447 2014 Miscellaneous Concrete Repair Project No. 453 Estimate No. 2.........................................................$ 21,382.12 FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF AUGUST 11, 2011 PAGE 5 Astech Corporation, Inc. P.O. Box 1025 St. Cloud, MN 56302 2014 Street Rehabilitation Project No. ST2014-01 Estimate No. 4.........................................................$334,868.73 APPROVED. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to approve the proposed consent agenda. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. OPEN FORUM: No one from the audience spoke. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to approve the agenda. Seconded by Councilmember Saefke. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. NEW BUSINESS: 4. Resolution Determining that a Certain Parcel is Occupied by Structurally Substandard Buildings and is to be Included in a Tax Increment Financing District (Ward 1). Scott Hickok Community Development Director, stated the first item is to make a structurally substandard buildings determination that needs to be made and the second is an interfund loan for the purchase of the Columbia Arena at 7011 University Avenue NE. Mr. Hickok stated the HRA has a purchase agreement and has a tentative date for closing on August 29. That is pending Phase II results. There is a Phase II environmental analysis being done right now on that site. We are not expecting any enormous surprises with the analysis, and anticipate the closing will likely happen on that date. Mr. Hickok stated a Phase I analysis was conducted in July. It did raise some concerns about Freon. Braun test bored on the site and a report was provided for Phase I. A Phase II report will be back to the City on August 22, 2014. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF AUGUST 11, 2011 PAGE 6 Mr. Hickok stated the Columbia Arena substandard building analysis needs to be done in order to have a district created; and it is very important to determine whether it is blighted. That will have a real impact on whether a tax increment district could ever be created around this site. In doing this, the building must also be declared substandard. The cost to meet Code standard must exceed 15 percent. If you were to build this building again and bring it to Code standard, it must exceed 15 percent of the value of the building. The City has a report from LHB who did an analysis back in 2009. Council may recall this analysis was done when there was another development consideration happening on this site--a clinic and residential combination. Although the building on the site was deemed blighted in 2009, it has not gotten better over time. At that time, it was 24.3 percent. Lot coverage must also exceed 15 percent of the land area. This site has over 60 percent lot coverage. It passes both the substandard building standard, and it also passes the lot coverage. Mr. Hickok stated based on their findings, the building and parcel far exceed the minimum requirements and inclusion in a potential TIF district. Staff recommends Council approve the resolution determining the parcel is occupied by a structurally substandard building, and it is to be included in the tax increment district. Adoption allows opportunity to recover costs, and also allows demolition to move forward. Mr. Hickok stated as to funding, purchase and demolition, potentially they could be creating a Columbia Arena TIF district fund. In doing so, there would be an interfund loan from the HRA and loan from the City. The City's share of the closed bond fund would be $1.5 million; and the HRA share would come from its general fund. Loans would be paid through future land sales and tax increment financing. Mr. Hickok stated staff recommends Council’s approval of the resolutions. Councilmember Saefke stated, to make things clear, the HRA is intending to purchase the Columbia Arena site. That does not mean the City will maintain ownership of it. There is a possibility but not necessarily. That property can be sold. Correct? Mr. Hickok replied, that is correct. The City typically is not in a position to own property. It has its HRA, and the HRA typically is a landowning holding entity. It is a separate corporate entity. One of its founding principles is that it is able to acquire property for redevelopment. The HRA will hold the property until they determine what its future use would be. Councilmember Saefke stated many people, including himself until a few years ago, had difficulty separating the HRA from the City of Fridley. They are two separate entities. Mr. Hickok said it is important to make that distinction here. The HRA is a five-member board, appointed by the City Council, and does serve as its own corporate entity. Councilmember Bolkcom stated normally, in the past, they have actually seen some kind of report related to the over 15 percent. Does that report need to be part of this record? FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF AUGUST 11, 2011 PAGE 7 MOTION by Councilmember Saefke to receive the report from LHB dated September 3, 2009. Seconded by Councilmember Bolkcom. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Councilmember Bolkcom asked Mr. Wysopal when he anticipated there would be another discussion between the HRA and the City Council regarding this property, and what he might foresee happening? Wally Wysopal , City Manager, replied, staff will be taking a look at all of the various options for utilization of the property, including any municipal use and any private development. They will be looking at that within the next 30 days, and hopefully have something back to Council and the HRA in November. Councilmember Bolkcom asked Mr. Hickok when he anticipated the building would be demolished. Mr. Hickok replied it is Paul Bolin's intent to have bids taken and the building demolished before the end of the year--ideally before it is covered in snow. Mayor Lund stated once the blight is removed this fall, the clock starts ticking. What is the timeframe? Mr. Hickok replied there is a timeframe that spans about seven years. There is a three-year timeframe for creating the district. There is a four-year timeframe in which the City can start the project. They can delay the four-year timeframe for one year in collecting the City's tax increment. Technically, they could take it out about eight years before the decision has to be made or before they have to start collecting on tax increment financing. Councilmember Bolkcom asked Mr. Hickok when he thought the Phase II report would come back. She asked if there was a possibility they would pull back and not purchase this property? Mr. Hickok replied based on the Phase I report it is not anticipated. If they did find something, they would discuss it Council before venturing forward. If the report does not come back before the August 29 closing, they simply would not close until they know for sure. Councilmember Bolkcom said the resolution states the City would loan the money on or before September 1. Mr. Hickok replied correct. That would protect the closing that could happen then on august 29. They will know by September 1. Just because they authorize spending the money, does not necessarily mean the money needs to be spent. Mr. Wysopal stated they alluded to some of the reasons for the City and the HRA to be getting involved in this parcel which has a tremendous history to it. It is also very large and has failed FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF AUGUST 11, 2011 PAGE 8 multiple times in the private market to redevelop itself, and it ended up with kind of a black mark on it from a developer's standpoint. In other words, when the City contacted developers to try and spur this new development to happen in the private market, the developers were very tentative about wanting to even approach it. For those reasons, including the complexity of clean-up and demolition and re-use of the property, it makes sense for the City and HRA to be involved in it. MOTION by Councilmember Saefke to adopt Resolution No. 2014-53. Seconded by Councilmember Bolkcom. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 5. Resolution Approving a $1,500,000 Loan to the Housing and Redevelopment Authority in and for the City of Fridley, Minnesota (Ward 1). MOTION by Councilmember Saefke to adopt Resolution No. 2014-54. Seconded by Councilmember Bolkcom. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 6. Informal Status Report. Mr. Hickok stated regarding Mr. Melle's inquiry at the last Council meeting about a property on Briardale, he wanted Council to know that abatement did take place. The furniture is now gone. The bank has been notified about the pool and the open windows. He thinks they are in good shape with that site. ADJOURN: MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to adjourn. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:49 P.M. Respectfully submitted by, Denise M. Johnson Scott J. Lund Recording Secretary Mayor