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PLM 01/17/2018 PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING January 17, 2018 Chairperson Kondrick called the Planning Commission Meeting to order at 7:01p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Leroy Oquist,David Ostwald, Mike Heintz, David Kondrick, and Rachel Schwankl, MEMBERS ABSENT: Brad Sielaffand Mark Hansen OTHERS PRESENT: Julie Jones, Planning Manager James Kosluchar, Public Works Director Amy Dritz, 210 Longfellow Street Approval of Minutes: December 20,2017 MOTION by Commissioner Oquistto approve the minutes.Seconded byCommissioner Heintz. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 1.PUBLIC HEARING: Consideration of a public hearing for reviewing Fridley’s draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan. MOTION by CommissionerOquist to open the public hearing. Seconded by Commissioner Heintz. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICKDECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS OPENED AT 7:02 P.M. Julie Jones , Planning Manager, stated this is a continuance of the public hearing the Planning Commission had at its December 20 meeting. A coupleof chapters of the draft Comprehensive Plan staff were not yet done including the Wastewater Planwhichthe Commission was just handed a few moments ago. Ms. Jones stated she wanted to start with following up on some questions the Commission had last time. She noted that Mr. Kosluchar was presentto answer questions about water if needed. Ms. Jones stated one of the questions was,can the City provide incentives for increased storm water treatment? She and Mr. Kosluchar talked about this and it is something that is being considered. They also can consider establishing a storm water utility fee system if the City wants that is based upon the amount of impervious surface that properties have. There are some options that are already being considered in that regard. Chairperson Kondrick asked whether there was any feedback from Met Council as to whether there are other communities interested in that idea. James Kosluchar, Public Works Director, replied he does not know that is necessarily a Met Council driven objective. He thinks the sustainability of the utility is the important thing. Met Council likesto Planning Commission Meeting January 17, 2018 Page 2of 10 stay out ofhow the City charges for that. There are not many cities that provide an incentive-based program. He has checked into it, andMinneapolis hasa slight incentive where as a residential property owner you can get a small deduction on your bill if your impervious area is a low percentage. Chairperson Kondrick asked, how does the individual homeowner do that? Mr. Kosluchar replied, it is a contact to the city in the case of Minneapolis. He is certain the City of Minneapolis hasit on their website, and that is where he learned about it. They do not necessarilygo on an outreach and do not necessarily go out and classify all the properties. He thinks it is new. The one thing the City has to be sensitive to is they cannot inundate the billing staff with so many complications that they cannot bill the storm water charge. Ms. Jones stated another question brought up was, if Met Council is encouraging cities to convert to surface water for its drinking water supply because of lowering aquifer levels, why is the City continuing its reliance on groundwater for its water source? The basicresponse is, it is cheaper for the City to do that. It would actually cost 40 percent more if the City were to convert to getting the water from the City of Minneapolis,which comes from the Mississippi River. Ms. Jones stated Fridley is using half the water it did 30 years ago, and its aquifers are in stable condition and are on the rebound. The City doesnot have concerns in that regard. Ms. Jones stated staff did make the correction to the Active Transportation map that was brought up by Fridley resident, Amy Dritz. Itis an existing map in the action steps for the City to update very soon. This map needing to be updated is just one of the components in that plan. Ms. Jones stated she had misspoke when she talked about the Girl Scout Camp at the last meeting being purely guided for single-family development. When Stacy Strombergwas going through all of the redevelopment areasback in November, she pointed out that thearea was being guided primarily for single-family development in the Comprehensive Plan if it becomes redeveloped in the future. The City is also looking at part of the eastern portion of the site to be suitable for multi-family development in the areabetween East River Road and the wetland on the site. Ms. Jones stated some things that have come up since the last draft the Commission saw. One is a map from Anoka County’s drafttransportation plan thatprovides bike and walkingaccident data. Since it showed a lot of accidentsin the Fridley area, itis something staffmight add ornote in the City’s plan. Chairperson Kondrick asked Ms. Jones if she knows a reason why that is happening? Ms. Jones replied, she and Mr. Kosluchar had talked about that and are looking atthe City’s crash data and comparing it to the level of traffic on those roadways,because higher crash data could be just a result of highertraffic levels compared to other cities in the county. That is a more accurate way of looking at it. Chairperson Kondrick stated the City has four major arteries going through here. Ms. Jones stated and the City has more people biking and walking, too, because it has a higher concentration of population. Planning Commission Meeting January 17, 2018 Page 3of 10 Ms. Jones stated there are also some new maps to be added.Staff isthinking of adding into the Economic Competitiveness Chapter is a comparison of current and projected business growth. In the Fridley area, the County’s data showssome definite changes there in business growth which, again, affects traffic and transit, etc. in the plans. This issome additional data that Anoka County has provided in their draft plan that supports some of the action steps in the City’s plan. Ms. Jones stated that,since the last meeting,staff did make some additions to the Transportation Chapter. They created three new actions steps because of some things that were mentioned in other chapters that really related to transportation. Action Steps Nos. 1 and 2 were in the Local Water Plan Chapter and relate to transportation. One mentioned establishing a complete streets policy in the City. They added that action step to the transportation plan and also added incorporating adopting pedestrian and auto- oriented design guidelines in the University Avenue study. The City is proposing doing a corridor study for University Avenue and wanted to make sure they also included the previously adoptedauto-oriented landscape design guidelinesinto that process. Ms. Jones stated staffalso wanted to clarify that the CentralBRT (Bus Rapid Transit) Linewill also be rd going on 53Avenue–not just University Avenue. Staff thoughtthey should mention that in the rd Transportation Chapter as well, because staff needs tolook at the design for 53Avenue to incorporate plans for BRT. Staff thoughtthey should mention that because Mr. Kosluchar has been working with the City of Columbia Heights on an agreeabledesign for theroadway. Ms. Jones stated there arethree new chapters they are seeingtonight,but the Wastewater Plan is still being worked on. The Commission hadthe latest draft given to themat the beginning of the meeting. The other two chapters to be discussed are the Public Facilities Chapter and the Implementation Plan, which were in the meeting packet. Ms. Jones presentedthe Wastewateraction steps, the first one being to install new water meters with updated automatic reading capabilities in commercial/industrial properties. This is so the City can charge more accurate sewer rates based upon usage because sewer rates are based on water usage in the City. That has been done for residential properties, but the City wants to do that for commercial/industrial as well. Ms. Jones stated another action step is that the City should conduct a sewer and water rate study every five years. In doing so itwould be reviewing rate structures, sustainable capital planning and promotion of conservation. Commissioner Heintz asked the City does not look at what the rates are every year compared to what it is sending? Mr. Kosluchar replied, yes, the City does review, adjust rates, and look at projections internally. The action step refers to a third-party analysis. The Cityjust completed one this year and the prior one was aboutseven yearsago.Staff istrying to keep on a five-year schedule, however.They did have some staff changesin the Finance Department that delayedcompleting it in that five-year window. The study will lookat some larger things such as what is the structure of the rate. Commissionersmay have noticed that recentbills havechanged. The structure isnow a minimum charge for various property uses, based on tiers. Basically,the City hasan inclining block rate thatthe City went to after the last rate study in 2010. In the interim,annually,the City has used that structure if it is working and basically updatedbased on the protections. Planning Commission Meeting January 17, 2018 Page 4of 10 Ms. Jones stated anotheraction step is the City shall replace or rehabilitate 50 percent of the sanitary sewer line system by the year 2050. Ms. Jones stated another wastewater action step is to investigate the feasibility of point of sale inspections on private sewer connections,including providing financing options in case a property owner cannot afford to make the necessary improvements that are needed. Commissioner Oquist asked that the last action stepbe explained. Mr. Kosluchar repliedthatinflowand infiltration is the City’s biggest hurdle. The City’s system is built out. Flows are not expected to increase even with population increases, because conservation is going to offset that. Rather than planning forbig changes, the Cityis planning to be sustainable and planning for the maintenance. One of the over-arching objectivesis to limit the City’s flows, because every gallon that gets metered by Met Council out of the community is paid for by the community. If theCityhas leaky pipes, that ispaid for and the City establishes the costs within the rates. There is a certain percentage of I and I from an engineering standpoint that is allowable, permissible, and normal. The City generally has fallen into that range; however, you have to do continuousmaintenance in order tokeep that up. The City does have some higher flows in some areas that it cannot account for within the main system. They know there areservice laterals that are leaky or there are sump pump or drain tile systems that are still connected or re-connected. Mr. Kosluchar stated one of the ideas for the point of sale inspections is looking at the feasibility of what can the City do now. For example, Golden Valley has had a real problem with I and I. One of the things they implemented ispoint of sale inspections, wherethey actually go in the house, they televise the service lateral, and they require the seller to make repairs at the point of sale ifthere is leaking pipe. Fridley’s analysis of the problem to date lends staffto believe that at least half of the problem is in private residential/commercial services. Trying to promote repair of that is one thing that the point of sale would do. It is an idea right now. Really the action is to look at the feasibilityof it. Obviously that is a sensitive issue any time you are looking at somebody’s private maintenance. Ms. Jones stated anotheraction step in the Wastewater Chapter is one that the City would review and meet its reserve funding policy annually using the best cost projections available. Another is that the City should maintain and regularly update its inflow and infiltration mitigation program to mitigate excess system flows and reduce long-term costs to rate payers. Lastly, there is an action step stating the City should partner with Met Council to ensure the interceptors and trunk lines are capable of handling peak flows to avoid bypass events. Commissioner Schwankl asked as to the action step where the City shall replace or rehab 50 percent of the sanitary sewer system by the year 2050, even though it is projected to be fine until 2040. She asked whether part of meeting that reserve funding policy is rolled in? Are they considering all of this orhow to do that? Mr. Kosluchar replied that is a goal staff has talked about with Council in capital investment planning, and they established some years ago. It sounds fairly limited. The sewersystem will be 100 years old at that point,which is the expected life. Staff does rehabilitation, lining of those pipes which puts a thinner pipe inside those pipes or they reconstruct. The City’sgoal is to touch or rehabilitate half the system by Planning Commission Meeting January 17, 2018 Page 5of 10 the time it is 100 years old. That requiresa pretty high investment in capital. That is the medium ground staff has worked out with Council as far as a goal goes. Commissioner Schwankl askedifit will be part of the rates now? Mr. Kosluchar replied, right. They have started on that programprobably over the last six or seven years they have been incorporating that and ramping itup. It is not without potential for rate increases in the future. Commissioner Schwankl asked or special assessments and things? Mr. Kosluchar replied, yes, that is possible. The City normally does not assess for its utilities, but for new extensions it does. However, for repair,it does not. Chairperson Kondrick stated but Met Council does for special assessments. Mr. Kosluchar replied what they basically take all the flow they are getting in a year and then set a rate. They are reverse metering,and Fridley is a customer in that case. Met Council bills Fridley the amount based on the prior years’ flows. That makes up about 75percent of the City’s sewer rate, whichis actually Met Council’s transmission and treatment. Ms. Jones then addressedthe action steps in the Public Facilities Chapter. Noting that the City is building a new civic campusadjacent to the Rice Creek Regional bike trail, staff wants to study the feasibility of possibly putting a bridge over University Avenue so that the regional trail can be going over University rather than people having to wait at the stop light. Thisis common forregional bike trails. Ms. Jones stated another action step is evaluating the possibility of a band shell at the new civic campus. Someone wantsto donate funds for a band shell, but staff is concerned it could limit park views, so they plan to studythe feasibility ofI if designed to allow view across theponds through the center of the campus. Ms. Jones stated another actionstepis when the offices are moved, the current emergency access onto University Avenue will have to be closed off and they are also looking at redesigning the frontage road and discontinuing the connection from the intersection of Mississippi and University Avenue. That really poses some safety issues for pedestrians. The City also has a trail that runs north of Mississippi Streeton the east side of University Avenue. The plan isto extendthat trail southso it can connect to the frontage road south of the current civic hall campus here. Ms. Jones statedthere are also plansto continue, despitethe move of Fire Station No. 1to the new Civic Campus,to continueto evaluate the feasibility of maintaining Fire Station Nos. 2 and 3. Looking at if that still makes sense as far as response times. Ms. Jones stated also something that they will want to continue to look at is studying the potential for possibly a third liquor store or changing the location of one of the liquor stores. Regular marketing analysis is always being done to see if that makes sense where the stores are located. Also, part of that is educating the public of the benefit of the municipal store liquor system the City hasestablished,and what it does to reduce everyone’s taxes in the community. Planning Commission Meeting January 17, 2018 Page 6of 10 Ms. Jones stated anotheraction stepisevaluating the shared use of the Fridley Community Center with the Fridley School District. Again, with the move of the civic campus that may change how that site is used in the future. That is something that will be evaluated on a regular basis as well. Ms. Jones stated also something the City Manager seems to be particularly interested in is looking at some of the right-of-ways the City owns and looking at the potential of selling them to private properties rd and getting them back on the tax roll. Recently they had a street right-of-way on 53Avenue vacated that was never going to be used as a street right-of-way. There was an interested adjoining property owner, and the City ended up disposing of that property. Ms. Jones stated another action step wasupdating the emergency preparedness plan. That is something the City needs to do every so many years to satisfy FEMA requirements. Also special attention to that in regards to climate change and the prediction that climate change is going to cause us to have more severe, frequent storms. Ms. Jones stated they also added an action step of considering the environmental impact of new City fleet vehicles and if the Cityshould be looking at hybridorelectric vehicles in certain cases. Ms. Jones stated the Implementation Plan is simply a summary of all the chapters. There is a very long table that repeats theaction steps of all the chapters withtimelines attachedto them, projectingwhen the City is anticipating these tasks willbe done. A lot of these action steps are anticipated to be completed in the next ten years. Also, the existing zoning map gets put in the Implementation Plan. Ms. Jones stated beyond the discussion of this tonight, they are planning on bringing all of the draft chapters, after they change them with any comments staff or the public brings up in the meantime, to discuss it with theCity Council at their February 26 meeting, they may take more than one meeting to talk about it as there is a lot of material to go through. Once revisions are made,then the draft plan will be sent to the surrounding jurisdictions. There are about 13 of them staff has to send the plan to. Besides surrounding communities, these are entities like MnDOT andAnoka County, and they get six months to review the planbefore it is sent to the Metropolitan Council at the end of the year. Chairperson Kondrick stated he was very pleased with what he saw and the effort the staff put into the planning of the Comprehensive Plan. Commissioner Schwankl stated she was excited to see staff is looking at possibly organizing the garbage haulersagain. She came from Columbia Heights and her garbage rate there for the same size container was less, and she also had the opportunity to throw an appliance or mattress in once a year. Certainly the impact on the streets, etc. was less as well. That is a really good call andshe looks forward to hearing more on that one. Ms. Jones replied, yes, that was feedback the City got from the public in its on-line survey. No questions were asked about it,but people commented that was a service theywanted the City to add. Amy Dritz , 210 Longfellow Street, stated shesawnowhere in the plan anything about electric vehicles (EV). She has a few questions regarding those. She is an ownerof an EVherself,so she keeps relevant on what is going on out there. One concern she had washow the City isaddressing EV charging at multi- unit homes and apartments? Arethere going to be any kind of incentives for landlords to install EV Planning Commission Meeting January 17, 2018 Page 7of 10 charging options? Is there any thought ofmaking it mandatory for new developments? Will any kind of incentivesbe offered? Ms. Jones replied she knows there are plans for a charging station for the public in thefront parking area of the new Civic Campus. Also she thinks they have been considering a charging station forthe employee parking area. In thedraft Comp Plan, there is anaction stepor tworelated to EV charging stations. One was analyzing the Zoning Code regardingrequirements for gas stations. Itmight be possible they want to convert their gas pumps to charging stationsin the future, sohow would the City deal with that in the Zoning Code? That was mentioned in the Land Use Chapter as well as looking at a requirement that new specific commercial developments and possibly industrial developments over a certain size could be required to installEV charging stations. The point aboutthe need inmulti-family housing developmentsis a very good one. The staff missed that and did not talk about that. It could easily be added into that action step. That is a good point-thatmulti-family developments above a certain number of unitscould be required to have a charging station. Chairperson Kondrick stated there was an article in the morning newspaper about Ford Motor Company and how they are changing their attitude about electric vehicles. Other manufacturersarealsotalking about electricity being the way to power cars in the future;and we are going to have to find a way to charge those cars. Ms. Dritz stated and from an equity standpoint, the prices are coming down for electric vehicles and are definitely cheaper in the long runto maintain. If you are not providing any kind of opportunities for lower income apartment units then they don’thave theopportunity to buy those vehicles. Chairperson Kondrick agreed there should besome incentive. Ms. Dritz questioned iflandlords would voluntarilyoffer that option. Ms. Dritz asked, also is the Citywaslooking at adopting a fleet policy? She believes Ms. Jones said something about that. Ms. Jones replied, yes, that they want to evaluate that. Ms. Dritz asked if there is anything in the business zoning code that would make it a problem for businesses to add charging to their own business to make it public? Chairperson Kondrick stated that is something they have to change. They have to get together and start insisting that companies, businesses, whatever, have facilities,so people can charge their cars. That is a good idea. Ms. Jones stated they definitely want to make sure that how the City has it worded in the Code is that they are not prohibiting it. There is no mention of electric charging in the Zoning Code at allcurrently. Commissioner Heintz questionedhow fast will we seebusinesses ramping up,because they could put in one or two charging stations now, but is theCity going to require acertain percentage of parking stalls to have them orhow does the Cityget them to ramp up to the third, fourth, or fifth charging station? That is something to think about, too, because down the road if auto manufacturers areputting more electric Planning Commission Meeting January 17, 2018 Page 8of 10 vehicles out there, how do they make sure Fridley and its businesses have those available in their parking lots. Chairperson Kondrick asked what if an employer says to anew employee, do you have an electric car? The employee responds,yes. The employer says they do not have provisions for that and do not intend to have any for a while. Does that affect the hiring of people that have electric cars? Maybe for a short time. Ms. Dritz stated she thinks that will be rare. The market will come around. And if the employees are demanding it, the employers will put it in. As to her charging, 80 percent of it is done at home. And if you are driving cars 70-100 miles that is enough for most people to do their regular commute around town and back, and will not have to charge in the public. Right now,at-home charging is going to be where most of it happens,which is why she brought it up aboutapartments. Commissioner Oquist stated what theyare talking about here is something that needs to be addressed on the zoning codes as opposed to the comprehensive plan because it is something the City needs to do now and not out in the future. They have to really look into that because of the additional costs for the employers to not only providethe station but also to pay for the electricity. Ms. Jones stated maybe they should clarify, just having a charging station does not mean that it has to be free. The charging station could be one that someone pays by credit card. Some of them they are seeing out in the public now are free as they are enticements to get you to come and park and shop there. Most situationswould involvepaying for the chargeby credit card. Ms. Jones stated a related topic in the Comprehensive Plan,looking long range,is what the impact of autonomous vehicles is going to haveon zoning. This whole discussion they are having about EV charging might completely change in a short period of time if autonomous vehicles take off,because people will not necessarily be parking their EVat home. They may have a service that comes and picks them up when they are ready to go to work, shopping, etc. and they do not keep that vehicle at their home. This maypart of a service peoplecontract for. That is aprediction of what isgoing to be the big transportation shiftin the future. That completely changes zoning requirements and all kinds of things. Staff’splan is to watch the trends, watch what is happening, and plan for that. The prediction out there is that vehicle use isgoing to be rapidly changing,although no oneknowsexactly how yet. Mr. Kosluchar stated staff had some pretty lengthy discussion related to electric vehicles. As to charging at home,one of the things you would potentially see there is you would not have as many personal vehicles fueled at service stations. Over the long term you may not have as much demand for service stations. That may be something where 20-30 years down the road it impacts parcels where you have fueling stations no longer beingused for fueling. MOTION by Commissioner Oquistto closethe public hearing. Seconded by Commissioner Schwankl. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS CLOSED AT 7:43 P.M. Chairperson Kondrick asked Ms. Jones what action would she like the Commission to take? Would she like for them to wait for a while until they can digest the last part of this deal she presented this evening? Planning Commission Meeting January 17, 2018 Page 9of 10 Ms. Jones replied, if they would like to. Chairperson Kondrick asked what kind of time constraints are there. Ms. Jones replied, they would like to proceed with bringing this to City Council on February 26. They have time until the Commission’s next meeting if they want to wait to make amotion until then. Chairperson Kondrick stated he is very happy with what they have read and learned so far. He asked if anyone had any cautions about what they have been delivered? The thought staff has put into this is extraordinary. All the issuesin the Comprehensive Plan are complicated, heread the thing twice, and yet thestaff has gone over them very, very thoroughly. MOTION by Commissioner Oquist they forward the Fridley’s draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan to the City Council. Seconded by Heintz. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Ms. Jones stated they are still working on the Wastewater Chapter. Everything is on the website if anybody wants to lookat it. People can providecommentsvia the link on the web site anytime. RECEIVE MINUTES FROM OTHER COMMISSIONS: 1.Receive the minutes of the November 2, 2017, Housing and Redevelopment Authority Commission Meeting MOTION by CommissionerHeintzto receive the minutes.Seconded by Commissioner Oquist. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICKDECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. OTHER BUSINESS: None. ADJOURN: MOTION by Commissioner Oquistto adjourn.Seconded by Commissioner Schwankl. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICKDECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:47 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Denise M. Johnson RecordingSecretary Planning Commission Meeting January 17, 2018 Page 10of 10