02/09/2000 CONF MTG - 4676�
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CITY OF
FRIDLEY
Memo to:
From:
Subject:
Date:
AGENDA ITEM
CITY COUNCIL CONFERENCE MEETING
OF JANUARY 31, 2000
The Mayor and Council
William W. Burns, City Manager
Medtronic Request for Legislative Support
January 27, 2000
The Mayor has asked that I include this item on our conference agenda for Monday evening. The
issue is whether or not we should be working with Medtronic during the year 2000 legislative session
on behalf of further Highway 65 improvements.
This week Medtronic did ask to meet with us on Thursday morning of next week to discuss this issue.
They also will have representatives from their lobbying firm at the meeting to discuss our potential
quest for Highway 65 funding.
There are no other materials or information for this item.
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Memo to: The Mayor and Council �
From: William W. Burns, City Manager /�
Subject: 2000 Lobbying Effort on Behalf of Highway 65
Date: February 1, 2000
Mayor Jorgenson has asked for information on costs that are related to lobbying for funds for
Highway 65 improvements between I-694 and 63`d Avenue. She has also asked for estimates of
staff time that might be spent on this effort. Additionally she has asked about money and staff
time that will be needed if we proceed with the improvements. Here's what I have gathered from
John and Barbara.
The lobbying effort would be primarily my effort. Last year, I coordinated the work of our paid
lobbyist. I also became involved on four or five occasions in visiting the capitol for hearings and
other meetings with legislators. Altogether, I probably spent an average of three hours per
occasion, or about twelve to fifteen hours at the capitol. I also spent a lot of time on the phone
with Medtronic, Jim Casserly, Bonnie Balach (our lobbyist), legislators and others. Between
April and June, I may have spent five to ten hours per week on these efforts. Last year, however,
the issues were much more complex and involved more than Highway 65 improvements.
This year the issue is restricted to getting funding for Highway 65 improvements. Since it is the
year when State bonding decisions are made, it is probably an appropriate time to be involved at
the legislature. I also understand, however, that it is also very appropriate to be working on the
Met Council. In order to protect our interests, we should spend up to $5,000 to employ our
lobbyist again. I would expect that my time would be less this year than last. At this point,
however, it is hard to predict how much of my time may be needed. Since we are not working on
a TIF-related issue, I don't see using any of Jim Casserly's time. In any event, I will know more
after our meeting with Medtronic that was rescheduled for next Thursday morning. I also do not
see Barbara or John or any other staff involved in this effort. They weren't involved in the
lobbying effort last year. '
While we don't know yet when Medtronic will be starting Phase II of their project, we will surely
ask them when we meet with them. We suspect that Medtronic will start Phase II while they are
deployed for construction on Phase I. There are undoubtedly huge costs associated with
disassembling "construction city" and then reassembling it at a later point in time. If this is the
case, we should ideally have the improvements completed by 2003 when they move into Phase
II. Even without Phase II, the recently completed MnDOT corridor study supports the
improvements as a way of relieving current congestion on Highway 65.
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2000 Lobbying Effort on Behalf of Highway 65
February 1, 2000
Page 2
What are the costs for these improvements? We think they will be about $7,500,000 total. They
include $1,700,000 in State construction aid and $700,000 for design. Our lobbying effort would
be aimed at securing outside funding for all of these costs. Since we already have $500,000 for
the design work, we need only find another $200,000 for that component. In the event that
money is not available from State resources, we may be faced with eventually using tax
increment money for this portion of the cost.
The staff time in administering the improvements will include some of Barbara Dacy's time and
some of John Flora's time. Barb would be involved in fulfilling the reporting requirements for
the $500,000 DTED grant that we got last year. John would be involved in consultant selection
and consultant contract administration. We expect MnDOT to handle the bidding for the project,
do inspections, handle payments and do a11 the other tasks needed to get the project built.
No one on staff is predicting that other projects will need to be set aside for either the lobbying
effort or the actual design and construction of Highway 65 improvements.
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CfTY OF
FRIDLEY
AGENDA ITEM
CITY COUNCIL CONFERENCE MEETING OF
JAN UARY 31, 2000
Date: 1 /27/00 �
To: William W. Burns, City Manager,��
From: Barbara Dacy, Community Development Director
RE: Proposed Changes toComprehensive Plan Draft
MATRIX OF PROPOSED CHANGES
A list of proposed changes to the plan draft have been summarized on the attached matrix
as a guide for discussion with the City Council. Where appropriate, copies of certain pages
of the Land Use and Transportation Chapters have been attached so that the Council won't
have to dig through previous packets to find the area of the proposed change. Further,
presentation size maps will be shown on Monday night for the Future Land Use Map and
other maps which will be easier to view than the smaller size maps in their packets. The
description of each issue and a recommendation is stated in the matrix.
WHAT'S NEXT?
After discussion on these issues, I want to make sure that the Council is satisfied for the
next steps of the process. There are three pieces still missing to the plan 1) Local Surface
Water Management (consultant now preparing); 2) Human Resources Chapter (city staff
preparing); 3) Implementation Chapter (consultant preparing). In addition, the consultant is
required in the contract to prepare an Executive Summary of the plan into a cohesive and
coherent blueprint of the City's vision. The Human Resources Chapter is not required by
State Law to be included so the City has flexibility for completing that piece. I would like to
focus on achieving Met Council approval of the statutory required plan, which does require
the surface water management element and most importantly, the implementation chapter.
I see these two pieces coming together in February for Council and Commission review,
possibly into March if required. The proposed process to complete the plan is as follows:
1. Finish remaining chapters and review with Commissions and Council by March
1, 2000.
2. Schedule public hearing on new plan draft March 15, 2000 or April 5, 2000.
Planning Commission recommends approval of new draft.
3. Staff submits revised draft to Met Council. Awaits comments and meets with Met
Council to resolve issues, if any.
4. City Council holds public hearing on plan draft April 10 or 24, 2000 depending on
Planning Commission action.
5. City Council passes resolution approving plan when all comments from Met
Council are reviewed and any additional changes from the public hearings have
been incorporated.
6,
Proposed Changes toComprehensive Plan Draft
1-27-00
Page 2
SUMMARY
Unless otherwise directed, staff will proceed with the schedule outlined above.
Further, staff will follow through with the changes as directed from the attached
matrix.
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POTENTIAL CHANGES TO DRAFT OF THE
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
JANiTARY 31, 2000
PROPO5ED LOCATION IN OPTIONS RECOIVIIVIENDATION
CHANGE PLAN
Land use changes
previously approved by
the Council:
1. Single family lot Future 2020 Land Use Change to commercial Recommend Change
east of American Map
Legion should be
commercial;
rezoned for
expanded pazking
lot.
2. Lots between
Commerce Lane Future 2020 Land Use Change to industrial Recommend Change
and University Ave Map
frontage road
should be changed
to industrial;
rezoned for
Minnco parking lot
expansion.
3. New lot created by
Friendly Chevrolet
should be Future 2020 Land Use Change to commercial Recommend Change
commercial; Map
rezoned for auto
storage.
4. Self Storage lot at Future 2020 Land Use Change to industrial Recommend Change
73`�'/z; rezoned Map
from Commercial
to industrial
Land use change at Future 2020 Land Use Change from Recommend Change;
Northtown Map commercial to Single notify owner as part of plan
Transmission Family Residendal vs. process.
Chan e in the future
Establish Pages 16 -18 of the Establish Recommend Change;
"Redevelopment Area" Land Use Chapter (see "Redevelopment Area" Eliminates the necessity to
land use designation on attached) and Future Land Use similaz to process a Comp Plan
Future 2020 Land Use 2020 Land Use Plan existing plan Amendment when
Plan to match Vs. redevelopment occurs.
discussion in plan Identify land uses as Provides flexibility.
(same type of they are
designadon as in
existin lan)
Include discussion in Pages 16 - 18 of the Include specific Recommend Change;
plan text stating the Land Use Chapter (see language vs. current Identifies goal to redevelop
desire to relocate the attached) language area and establishes basis
Ziebart and Advance to rezone property if
uses on the west side of necessaiy. Notify owners
Central Avenue. as of lan rooess.
John Haluska at the Pages 12 -16 of the Include language Recommend inclusion of
Planning Commission Land Use Chapter (see regarding new text to bolster the
public hearing attached) neighborhood livability "residential" discussion on
suggested the plan issues vs. current pages 14 and 15 and add
include a discussion on language policies where appropriate
"neighborhood (staff is now developing
livabili " ro sed text).
Northstar Corridor Land Use Goals, Include specific Recommend inclusion of a
station area planning Policies, and Strategies language supporting new policy in chapter:
the commuter rail "The City of Fridley
project, the station area supports the establishment
at 61" Avenue, and the of a commuter rail
necessity to plan for station/pazk and ride site in
supporting land uses. Fridley. Appropriate
station area planning
studies should be
undertaken to ensure that
the site is compatible with
surrounding
neighborhoods, but at the
same time, creates land use
opportunities which
compliments and supports
the commuter rail site."
Springbrook Nature Parks and Open Space Include language Recommend inclusion of
Center Entrance Area Chapter describing the goals of new language (consultant is
planning the entrance area preparing draft of new
planning process and language and will be
include appropriate submitted the week of
policies and strategies January 31).
vs. existin lan e
Identify three street Transportation Chapter, Include in text and Recommend inclusion of
segments for bikeways Figure 8 Bikeway Figure 8 vs. existing new language about the
or walkways: Walkway Plan (see language three street segments and
1. 5`� Street between attached map) amend maps to show new
63� Avenue and connectors.
61" Avenue should
have a sidewalk on
west side to serve
senior housing
develo ment and to
connectto nearby
sidewalks
2. 75`� Street between
Central Avenue
and City Limits
should be an on
street bikeway
providing east west
access to Flannery
Park
3. Archur Sveet
between Osbome
and 75�' Avenue
should be an on
strcet bikeway to
provide north south
access to Flannery
Park
Three streets are Transportation Chapter, Change to collector vs. Recommend Change as
recommended by the Pages 29-30, Figure 10, delete recommendation now written in the plan.
consultant to change to Future 2020 Roadway and leave as local
"collector status" from Classifications streets
local street
classification:
1. Matterhorn Drive
2. Innsbruck Drive
3. 53`� Avenue loop
from TH 65 to
Matterhom
Include more language Transportation Chapter, Add proposed Recommend inclusion of
in plan test for Add policy to language vs. leave policy in Transportation
overpasses and investigate appropriate existing language Chapter: "T'he City should
underpasses across TH locations for undertake a study of
65 and TH 47, underpasses and appropriate locations along
overpasses TH 65 and TH47 to
provide pedestrian
underpasses and overpasses
to provide better east west
connectivity and to provide
the safest means for
crossing these high volume
roadwa s."
Include a goal Water Supply Chapter, Add proposed Recommend inclusion of
committing the City to Add policy on bottom language vs. leave new Policy: "The City of
providing high quality of Page 25 existing language Fridley will make every
drinking water. effort within its means to
provide high quality
drinkin water."
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Fridley Comprehensive Plan
Future Land Use
Draft 1. Deeember 29, I999
The overall land use pattern in the short term will remain largely unchanged. In in the (onger
term, however (5 to 10 or more years from now), there are three forces which will greatly affect
the land use pattern in certain areas of the community:
• The potential for commuter rail service with a station area in the City will have an immediate
effect within the ne�ct five years. Longer term, increased bus service and possibly light rail
transit along University Avenue will a(so provide another means of mobility for employees
coming to Frid(ey and residents of Fridley who want to reach other locations in the region.
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The Medtronic World Headquarters development, because of its prestige and employment
base, will create the opportuniry to attract new commercial and industrial development and
new housing construction, both owner occupied and rental. Customary associated uses with
corporate office developments such as a qualiry hotel and restaurant would compliment and
bolster the Fridley commercial base. Providing move up housing may also attract new
households to Fridley as well as meet a need of the existing residents. The prestigious image
created by a second Medtronic facility is also advantageous to the City's goal of improving
its image in the region, and sets the tone for future development and redevelopment in the I-
694 corridor.
Any new growth that will occur in the City will primarily be a result of how proactive the
City will be in encouraging and promoting redevetopment, either through the Housing and
Redevelopment Authority or through private development which is proposed by the
marketplace.
The intent of the future land use plan is to guide future growth in a way that best achieves the
community's collective vision and provides a balanced land use pattern. The following figure
illustrates the various components of Fridley's future land use plan in a very general sense. These
components contain issues unique to Fridley that were identified through the community vision
sessions held in 1998.
Land Use
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Page 4 -12
Fridlev Comprehensive Plan
Figure 3 Land Use Components of the Fridle�- Vision
Infrastructure
• Quality
' Adequacy
' Cost EtTective
Park and Recreation
• Cormections�Linkages
' ActivelPassiveReaeation
• Changing Paric Demands
Housing Industry
• Diversiry • Retrntion
' Affordability � Expansion
' Comations\[.inkages • Tax Base
• Qualiq' • Jobs
Draft I. Deeember l9, 1999
Public�.Semi-public Facilities
• Adaptive Reuse
' Quality Pubiic Savica
' Connectio�ssV.inkaga
Commercial
• Nrighborhood Savices
' Cortvtamity Shopping
• Gathering Places
` Enteftairiment
/jr .ft /° YL\
`-V�.7E :
Traasporfation
• Public Transit
• hlobility Altematives
• Cormections�[.inkaga
' Traffic Cangation ReGef
Understanding the interconnectedness of the various land use planning components can often be
complex and confusing. Many components includin� transportation and how road�vays aze built,
how they function, and what they look like impact certain land use t}•pes. Land use t}�pes and
patterns in turn impact the roadway system depending upon the number of driveway-s onto a
roadway or the volume and type of trips that are generated by the land use type whether it's a
work trip, shopping trip or simply running an errand. Industry and commercial viability depend
on the quantity and quality of housing in the community to provide jobs as well as household
purchase power. Public services enhance the quality of life in the city, which benefits
commercial and industrial uses.
Land Use Page 4 -13
Fridley Comprehensive Plan
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Future Residential Land Use
Draft 1. December 29, 1999
People are drawn to housing in good locations. Fridley has a good location but lacks new
housing. A significant majority of the City's housing stock has reached its full life cycle,
and thus the City has recentiy focused on maintenance and rehabilitation progtams,
primarily for single family residentia( housing. While this is necessary and worthwhile,
the challenge for the future witt be to provide new housing which satisfies the unmet
housing needs of the future when there is little vacant land to develop.
The future residential land use pattern will not change significantiy from present day land
use e�ccept where redevelopment is designated. Opportunities for future single jami[y
detac%ed housing development wili primarily exist in the form of infill development on
individual scattered single family lots and redevelopment projects in already built up
residential neighborhoods. Financial constraints and the small size of typical
redevelopment projects will make single family housing difficult unless it is combined
with other higher density housing developments. Some opportunity may exist, however,
for move up housing on lands adjacent to the Mississippi River that are current(y utilized
as a campsite by the Girl Scouts of America. While this land is currently being utilized as
a public space, nothing prohibits the organization from selling the site. Given the strong
desire in the community for move up housing, this site presents possibly one of the last
opportunities for this type of housing. Move up housing can also be accomplished by
encouraging househo(ds to add on, or even add a second story.
Multi Jamily housing on the other hand is more likely to occur through
redevelopment.Other than the existing supply of developed multiple family zoned land,
there simply is no substantial vacant acreage to develop. Multiple family projects of all
styles, owner occupied and rental, townhome and apartment, should be investigated. Itis
also worthwhile to provide higher density housing in conjunction with other job intensive
or commercia( redevelopment projects. Multi-story buildings with retail on the first
floor, and residential units on upper floors should be investigated.
Where possible, future redevelopment projects should look to incorporate a miz oJ
housing styles at a mix of income levels. This avoids creating concentrations of poverty
and provides for opportunities to create visual relief from one constant form " of
development (i.e. row upon row of ramblers or split-levels for example). In addition to a
mix of housing, redevelopment sites should plan for connections to surrounding
neighborhoods through trail and open space elements. Close proximity to neighborhood
commercial services, transit stops, and recreational services are also key features of
future redevelopment sites involving residential development.
Future redevelopment should plan for densities that match surrounding development
patterns. For example, redevelopment near the Medtronic corporate campus should be of
a higher density, ranging from 12 units per acre upwards to 30 units per acre for larger
scale, high-end apartments. Developments of this nature should be focused around a
central element such as open space or a gathering space that gives the development
character and identity. Surface parking should be minimized and structured parking
should be utilized when possible to provide for shared parking arrangements. This form
of development is compatible with higher density office uses such as the Medtronic
Land Use Page 4 -14
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Fridley Comprehensive Plan
Draft l. Deeenrber 29, 1999
development and takes advantage of being ctose to the regional roadway system and
transit services. Creating a higher density development pattern within close proximity to
employment centers promotes the (ivable community theme, creating opportunities to
live within walking distance to places to work and shop and transit opportunities.
Redevetopment near potential rail or bus station stops should also be of a higher density.
These developments must be sensitive and compatible with adjacent neighborhood
developments and should be well planned with a process that involves the public in order
to educate the opponents of higher density, multi-family housing and affordable housing.
Future Commercial Land Use
Many of the existing commercia! s/ropping centers in the City were also developed
during the 1960s and 1970s to take advantage of prime highway frontage. As such, these
centers were designed for automobiles first and turn their back on pedestrians,
neighborhoods and to an extent, the whole Ciry. Many of these centers are aging and are
in need of significant improvements. Existing commerciat strip malls should be targeted
for aesthetic improvements, land use e�ciency improvements (determining if the site
contains an efficient building mass or if there is too much parking) and circulation
improvements (both pedestrian and vehicuiar but more so for pedestrian movements). By
rethinking the pedestrian orientation of some commerciai strip centers, the City and
neighborhoods, may be able to connect these shopping centers with residential
neighborhoods increasing the viabiliry of the commercial center and reinvesting that
economic benefit into the appearance and function of the center. Further, existing
commercial areas should be analyzed to determine if underutilized land azeas could be
used for new• development or expansion of existing commercial uses.
In addition, the nature and mix of commercial uses should be diversified. Vision meeting
and public input revealed a desire to have additional retail stores, specialty uses, and
additional entertainment uses, aside from the traditional commercial service uses. The
frontage road parcels along major thoroughfares in the City provide a significant amount
of automotive related uses. To a certain extent, the existing commercial market in
Fridley may be too well served by the Northtown and Brookdale shopping centers. The
Medtronic campus, however, may create a market opportunity to seize.
Future Industrial Land Use
Industrial land use in the community will continue to comprise a significant portion of
land area, contributing heavily to the City's strong tax base. Future industrial
development will consist of mostly infill development within existing industrial parks
and business parks. Redevelopment of the salvage yards in the northwest part of the City
cancreate additional opportunities for mid-size industries. In addition, there scattered
locations in the City where industrial uses are within a neighborhood as opposed to on
"the edge" or across a public right of way. Appropriate land use and zoning analyses
should be conducted to determine if property should be rezoned or redeveloped.
Attention should be given to ensuring quality architectural controls and compatibi(ity
with adjacent developments. In addition, consideration should be given to ensuring
adequate expansion opportunities of industrial uses without encroaching into non-
industrial uses. Storage of outside materials, if permitted at all, should be carefu(ly
Land Use Poge 4- 1 S
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Fridley Comprehensn�e Plan Draft !. December ?9, 1999
screened to minimize visibility from major transportation corridors, the Mississippi River
and residential land uses, to maintain a good image of the City. Redevetopment should
be considered for otder outdated industrial facilities that can be more efficiently utilized
as modern industrial uses and will result in a more environmentally friendly, aesthetically
pleasing development pattern. Industrial development is an important component to the
economic success of the community and future expansion and development opportunities
should be kept open.
Redevelopment
Redevelopment is a form of community revitalization that transforms undesirable
elements into desirable elements that reflect the community's collective vision.
Redeve(opment also provides opportunities to identify environmenta( concerns and then
take corrective action on them.
The areas identified as redevelopment should be priority azeas, where the greatest impact
can be made in improving the issues that threaten the community's ability to be a quality
place to live, play, work, or shop. They also represent areas where forces (that may be
outside the public realm) are influencing large scale change. Through redevelopment
planning, the City has the opportunity to shape that change to best reflect the needs of the
greater community. The City has (imited resources, and as such needs to focus its efforts
on projects that best meet the city's needs.
Some areas of the communiry have been identified as possibte redevelopment azeas.
Many of the parcels are located with the "redevelopment project area" as defined by State
Statute. These areas were identified based on previous planning studies and reports,
through current development projects such as the Medtronic office project on the
northwest quadrant of I-694 and TH 65 or through input from the community vision
sessions. Figure 4 generally identifies these areas; however, the boundaries are not to be
construed as exact boundaries for redevelopment projects. These areas need further
analysis for more specific actions or projects. Exact boundaries should be refined
through more detailed analysis. It is not intended that the parcels within these azeas are to
be rezoned as a result of the plan. It is intended that these areas are carefully analyzed
when development applications are proposed or the City decides to initiate a
redevelopment project. Each site is further described below.
Redevelopment Area 1
Redevelopment Area 1 is located on the northern city border between Old
Central Avenue and TH 65. This area was identified based on windshield surveys
and community input at the community vision sessions and through community
surveys. Generally, this area consists of several miscellaneous industrial uses,
automobile repair and salvage uses and other commercial service oriented uses.
The area contains two major corporate campuses, Onan and Medtronic. A mobile
home park and a small enclave of multiple family housing along Norton Avenue
also exist in this area. This area represents a gateway into the community from
the north and as such provides a first impression to the community.
Land Use Page 4 -16
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Fridley Comprehensive Plan Draft I. December 29, 1999
� The salvage yard uses should be replaced with new lijht industrial development,
and any environmental issues should be addressed durina the redevelopment
process. Aggressive code enforcement �vill also assist in eliminating any
negative images resulting from illegal outdoor storage.
The mobile home park provides a source for affordable housing and shou(d be
maintained and enhanced where possible. Existing multiple family properties in
the area may be eligible for available rental rehabilitation programs.
Redevelopment Area 2
Redevelopment Area 2 includes primarily the intersection of Mississippi Street
and Old Central Avenue and would �be extend� souther(y along Old Central
Avenue to Rice Creek Road. It also includes the commercial area which is
located at the intersection of East Moore Lake Drive and TH 65. It also includes
the commercial area on the west side of TH 65. This area �vas identified through
previous redevelopment studies and field surveys.
There is a mixture of automotive and neighborhood service uses on Central
Avenue interspersed by vacant land. A cohesive land use pattern should be
developed for Central Avenue from Rice Creek Road north and include all four
corners of the Mississippi Street intersection. Central Avenue will be a major
connecto�etween the Medtronic campuses. Additional housing developments in
� this area would compliment and bolster the existing shoppina centers nearby.
Ttris area also benefits by the esistence of the Northwest Athletic Club, which
attracts existing residents and employees as well as others not from Fridley.
There may be the opportunity for redevelopment around the TH 65 and Moore
Lake Drive intersection for new commercial opportunities. Moore Lake itself
also provides another amenity for this area.
Redevelopment Area 3
Redevelopment Area 3 iacludes the area surrounding the intersection of I-694
and TH 65 and estends west to the River to include the potential commuter rail
station site and then south encompassing the University Avenue Corridor. This
area presents a major gateway to the community and is currently changing due to
the development of Medtronic's corporate campus.There are a number of
separate but potentially interrelated issues that are now and may be occurring in
this area :
• Medtronic corporate campus will provide 1,000,000 square feet of o�ce
space and will create 3,000 employees.
• Private market interest seeking hotel and restaurant space is occurring
already.
Northstar Corridor Development Authority is conducting station area
p(anning activities for station area.
Land Use Page 4 -17
Fridley Comprehensive Plan Draft 1. December 30, 1999
Land Use
� Owner occupied townhome development planned at the northeast corner of
57`� Avenue and University Avenue.
• Hyde Park area has been a"focus" area by the Housing and Redevelopment
Authority for specialized rehab and scattered site acquisition programs.
• 57'� Avenue west of University Avenue has recently been reconstructed to
accomadate additional commercial deve(opment in the area.
• Potential reuse of the land owned by the U.S. Navy along East River Road.
• Underutilized parking lots in major commercial nodes.
This area wiil be key in addressing a number of the issues important to the
community's vision. The area deserves a more detailed analysis to determine
how these forces are interrelated, and how they can be maximized to achieve the
community's vision. Collaboration with the City of Columbia Heights is also
warranted.
Relationship to Regional Growth projections
For the sake of comparing with regional projections, a rough estimation of potential new
development is made for each redevelopment azea. This should not be interpreted as the
City's final plan, but merely an estimation for population and traffic estimation purposes.
Additional planning in this area will better define the impacts. As can be seen from the
T'able below, there are no major impacts projected beyond that which has already been
predicted.
Table 5 Area Impacts from Redevelopment
Redevelopment I Time I�et Growth I Net Growth I Net Growth
Area Frame Residential Commercial Industrial
Redevelo ment Site 1 2000-2005 0
Redeveto ment Site 2 2000-2010 70
Redevelopment Site 3 2000-2010 75
3
5
0
Page 4 - 18
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Fridley Comprehensive Plan
1 g. Work with the Northstar Corria lroad Autho tnestotevaluate h poss b 1 ry of
Hennepin County Regional R
rail transit services and station locations within the City of Fndley.
Roadway Design
19. Follow Municipal Statet se (entsAn the1Ciry.�ndards when developing or
redeveloping ma�or stree gm
20. Explore and evaluate aiternative street designs o�nis� ez ts htoe P o vde
traffic pro b lems are p r esent and where opp tY
character and identity to a neighborhood.
Bikeways and Walkways
21, periodically evaluate the on Ca�, and Regional parks and tra ls,eschtools,
connections aze present am g tY
neighborhoods and major commercial nodes.
22. Require future development or c d��n�Oa d walk ng as a means of t a e� and
si de w a l k p l a n s t h a t e n c o u r a g e b y S
23. Consider bikeway/walkway trails on both sides of major streets (greater than
2 lanes) where there is a strong presence of pedestrian traffic oriented
destinations such as parks, schools, gather places, commercial nodes or
public services.
Implementation Strategies
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Changes to the Future Roadways Functional Class
Additions to the existing functional �e Te�ional oadway system The fotowing chan�ges
connections of residential areas to th g
are suggested to the functional class system.
. North Innsbruck Drive be adde Lake Ro dLand anOeRvenual connecti n o�rl C694nat
through New Brighton to Silver
Silver Lake Road.
. Matterhorn Dtive be added as a COI,LECTOR from Gardena Avenue to 53'd Avenue
NE as it provides an alternative route crossing 1-694.
. The loop consisting of 53`� Ave h� NC�e e��e NEseven ually connectinDg�to TH 65
F�llmore Street NE and then nort
should be added as COLLECTOR's�To t rass ng thr ugh the inte�cha getarea. The
694 getting to and from 1"H 65 P
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Transportation
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Fridley Comprehensive Plan Draft 1: 10 December, 1999
Matterhorn, 53rd Ave, Fillmore Street and frontage road provide a logical collector to
serve portions of southeast Fridley and western New Brighton.
Changes to the Future Roadways Jurisdiction
Changes to the existing roadway jurisdiction are recommended to better enable local
management of roadways and to better enable MnDOT and Anoka County to focus
improvements on the regional system. MnDOT and Anoka Counry have proposed
jurisdictional realignment for the following stretches of roadway in Fridley:
Remove TH 47 and TH 65 south of I-694, from State jurisdiction and transfer to
County jurisdiction.
• Turn Back County 35 (Central Avenue) from the Rice Creek Road intersection to TH
65 from County jurisdiction to City jurisdiction.
The City of Fridley is concerned with these jurisdiction changes as the County and the
City may not be positioned to handle the maintenance and upgrades that these roadways
wouid require. The City will not support such changes until adequate funding is made
available for turnbacks and maintenance� and the roadways are improved to current
standards.
Corridor Improvement Strategies
TH 6S Corridor
Pursue the improvement of providing an additional northbound and southbound
though lane along TH 65 from the Central/Lake Pointe Drive intersection to the
Moore Lake Drive intersection. lfiis improvement shouid be an immediate
priority corridor management improvement.
Continue to preserve and manage the capacity of the TH 65 corridor by providing
the additional north and south through lanes along the TH 65 corridor in Fridley.
These improvements have been deemed to be necessary to serve future volume
needs along this major north-south corridor. The City of Fridley will continue to
advocate for adding additional lanes to increase capacity and to continue to work
on operational improvements.
TH 47 Corridor
Continue to support and help implement development of commuter rail along the
Northstar Corridor and continue to support and help to implement the provision
of a light rail transit line along TH 47. Both of these alternatives are long term
solutions, light rail longer term than commuter rail however. Further
encouragement of transit ridership and alternative travel modes should help
relieve traffic congestion on TH 47. Additional strategies should be applied to
streetscape improvements and aesthetics along the corridor to help improve the
City's image along ?H 47.
Transportation " 30 "
II - ' : _ -
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I Layout Name: TRAIL CONNECTORS (A)_A Project Location: D:\GISDATA\PARKS&REC\PROIECTS\TRAILS_AND_PATHS.APR Date Printed: Ol/28/2000 - 12:28:46 PM
: AGENDA ITEM
CONFERENCE MEETING OF JANUARY 31, 2000
cmr oF
FRIDLEY
Memo to: The Mayor and Council �
From: William W. Burns, City Manager �
Subject: Budget Recommendations
Date 1-26-00
At our December 20, Council meeting, the budget was reduced by $738,000. All of this came from
the 2000 capital improvements plan and included the following items:
A. Playground Equipment Upgrades $186,000
B. ADA Park Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. $15,000
C. Painting of traffic signals and poles .................$300,000
D. Public Works/Fire Office/Class room building $159,500
E. Voting Tabulation Equipment $ 65,000
F. Upgrade Municipal Center Security System $ 12,000
G. Reconstruct Municipal Center Reception Area $ 500
I would like to recommend that the parks items be restored and that we add $77,000 for voting
equipment and for upgrading of the software that drives our building security system. At the same
time we should eliminate the $40,000 that for some reason is still listed as an expenditure for the
Sand Dunes area improvements. These moves would leave us with a net addition of $223,000 and
reduce the amount cut at our December 20`h meeting to $515,000. Since, however, we would not be
escrowing the $80,000 that was budgeted and not spent in 1999 for garage improvements, we would,
in effect, still have a savings of $595,000. That amount is only $SS,OOO less than what we budgeted
as a return from the franchise fee.
The restoration of the playground equipment upgrades would allow us to complete the sixth year of a
six year upgrade program. Once the remaining parks are addressed, we may choose to eliminate this
expenditure that has amounted to almost $200,000 per year. As for the voting equipment, I think we
committed to spending $65,000 for this purpose in 1999. And, the security system upgrades will give
us a lot more flexibility to adjust the locking and unlocking of doors to the Municipal Center.
My second recommendation is that we not engage in further line-item cutting at this time. For the
most part, all that does is delay purchases of things. If we are to effectively cut the budget, I think that
we need to be thinking of programs. Things like "Project Safety Net," the operation of the
Springbrook Nature Center, winter ice maintenance and the operation of warming houses for skaters,
the rental inspection program, the Fire Department's medical assistance program, University Avenue
corridor maintenance and the Police Department's Problem Response Team are all examples of
programs that we might consider cutting if�we want to save significant amounts of money. Anything
less than careful elimination of programs is cosmetic surgery and not real budget cutting. Doing the
same or more with less is not a realistic option.
� --�
If we value these programs and don't want to cut them, then we should probably think about raising
property taxes. This could be done in two phases that would probably cost the average value home
owner about the same amount as the franchise fee would have or about $36 per year. The first
increase of about 8-9% would occur in 20001 and would probably cost the average value homeowner
about $18. The second increase of about the same amount would be implemented in 2002.
There are also some mitigating factors that you should consider before making further cuts. The first
thing to consider is that we still have relatively healthy fund balances. Table #3 from my budget
message shows only a small reduction in General Fund balances between 1998 and 1999. This is due
to positive variances between budgeted revenues and expenditures for 1999 and actual revenues and
expenditures for 1999. While we saw overall reduction of discretionary fund balances that amounted
to more than $2,000,000, much of this may be attributed to the Riverview Heights street
improvement project. Since this was a one-time event, I do not think that we will continue to see fund
balance erosion of this magnitude.
Another mitigating factor is the $2.1 million in police pension money that we will receive from the
State as soon as we have identified designated uses and held a public hearing. If we want, a portion of
this money could be used to defray the cost of positions that were previously grant funded. This
would be true of police officer positions as well as other positions in the "Project Safety Net "
program.
A third mitigating factor is more speculative than actual at this point. We do, however, believe that
the new liquor store will over the longer term produce substantially higher net profits that could be
transferred to support General Fund and/or capital improvement fund programs.
In saying all of this, I am not suggesting that we relax our vigilance or start spending wildly for all of
the new programs that were mentioned in the CounciUCommission Survey that you received this
week. I believe, however, that we are in a position to take the time to evaluate old and new programs
and to make well thought out choices about what programs we want to keep and what new programs
we want to add. I would also seriously evaluate adding new property taxes to the extent that we can
do this while remaining competitive with our neighboring communities.
Thanks for considering my thoughts. I will look forward to discussing this with you Monday evening.
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT �UND
EXPENDITURE SUMMARY
BEFORE / AFTER COMPARISON
Chan e
1999 Budget 2000 Budget Amount �o `
General $479,500 $256,500 ($223,000) (46.51 %)
Streets $2,210,000 $980,000 ($1,230,000) (55.66%)
Parks $300,500 $304,700 $4,200 1.40%
TO�I $2,990,000 $1,541,200 ($1,448,800) (48.45%)
General
1. Public Works/Fire Office and Classroom Facility
2. Voting Tabulation Equipment
3. Upgrade Municipal Center Security System
4. Reconstruct Municipal Center's Reception Area
TOTAL:
Streets
1. Year 2000 Sealcoat Program
2. Melody Manor Street Reconstruction
3. Signal Light Painting Project
TOTAL:
Parks
1. Playground Equipment Upgrades
2. ADA Park Improvements
3. Asphalt Court Repair, Overtays and Resurfacing
4. Park Furnishings
5. Sand Dunes Boardwalk Replacement
6. Moore Lake Aerator Replacement
TOTAL:
BEFORE AFTER Difference
$a59�8A $0
6a; A88 0
�;sAA 0
�B,�AA 19,500
$256,500 $19,500 ($237,000)
$180,000
500,000
�88: AA8
$980,000
�; AAA
a�AAA
28,500
5,200
40,000
30.000
$304,700
$180,000
500,000
0
$680,000
0
0
28, 500
5,200
40,000
30,000
103,700
($300,000)
($201,000)
TOTAL CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS: 12 03 � o0
1999
Beginning Bal
Revenues
Expenditures
Ending Bal
2000
Beginning Bal
Revenues
Expenditures
Ending Bal
5 YEAR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN
BUDGET 2000
GENERAL STREETS PARKS TOTAL
$ 1,738,152 $ 4,768,098 $ 1,715,500
86,908 738,405 195,775
430.500 2.160,000 300.500
$ 1,394,560 $ 3,346,503 $ 1,610,775 $ 6,351,838
$ 1,394,560 $ 3,346,503 $ 1,610,775
69,728 267,325 190,539
19.500 680.000 103,700
$ 1,444,788 $ 2,933,828 $ 1,697,614 $ 6,076,230
2001
Beginning Bal $ 1,444,788 $ 2,933,828 $1,697,614
Revenues 72,239 246,691 194,881
Expenditures 10.000 780.000 316.900
Ending Bal $ 1,507,027 $ 2,400,519 $ 1,575,595 $ 5,483,141
2002
Beginning Bal
Revenues
Expenditures
Ending Bal
2003
Beginning Bal
Revenues
Expenditures
Ending Bal
2004
Beginning Bal
Revenues
Expenditures
Ending Bal
$ 1,507,027 $ 2,400,519 $ 1,575,595
75, 351 220, 026 188, 780
88.000 690.000 227.800
$ 1,494,378 $ 1,930,545 $ 1,536,575 $ 4,961,498
$ 1,494,378 $ 1,930,545 $ 1,536,575
74, 719 196, 527 186, 829
60.000 690.000 167.100
$ 1,509,097 $ 1,437,072 $ 1,556,304 $ 4,502,473
$ 1,509,097 $ 1,437,072 $ 1,556,304
75,455 171,854 187,815
60.000 690.000 147.800
$ 1,524,552 $ 918,926 $ 1,596,319 $ 4,039,797
TABLE 3
Fund Balances
1995-2000
Unreserved Unreserved
Discretionary Discretionary Fund Balances & Retained
Year General Fund Fund Balances Earnings - All Funds
1995 6,566,390 23,303,588 37,372,126
1996 6,955,626 24,316,159 38,643,141
1997 7,042,469 21,924,924 39,498,218
1998 7,513,410 21,091,541 38,188,719
1999 7,292,473 * 19,080,861 * 38,665,260
2000 6 856 264 * Not Available Not Available
*Projected Estimate
Reconciliation of General Fund Balance from Table 3 to Fund Balance Summary
12/31/98 Fund Balance
Less: Reserved for encumbrances
Reserved for inventory
Reserved for L-T receivables
Rounding
12/31/98 Discretionary Fund Balance
7,513,410
-220,937
7,292,473
-436,209
6, 856, 264
7,682,831
20,314
46,803
102, 304
0
7,513,410
1999 Projected Use of Fund Balance
Projected Fund Balance 12/31/99
2000 Projected Use of Fund Balance
Projecfed Fund Balance 92/31/00
OOCETable3.xls 00 TABLE3
Memo to : The Mayor and Council ��
From: William W. Burns, City Manager �'�
Subject: 2000 CounciVCommission Survey
Date: 1-26-00
Here is the 2000 Council/Commission Survey! I have worked with each department manager and
several staff members within each department to develop the survey questions. In doing so, I
asked each of these staff members to think about policy issues that they saw on their
departmental horizons for the ne� 18 to 24 months. In most cases we had meetings to discuss the
issues. Then I would revise their questions to reflect our discussions and to get them in a format
that I thoujht was user friendly. In most cases the drafts went back and forth at least two or three
times before we got the result that we wanted.
The survey is the first step in our annual planning and budgeting process. It is my attempt as City
Manajer to make sure that staff members are planning ahead and to get their plans to you for
your consideration. It makes little sense for you or me to try to plan without the input of the
people that are providing the services for Fridley residents. At the same time, I think we also
need to consider the citizen survey and our own sense of needs for Fridley.
I would like to have you consider the survey and the survey process at the conference meeting on
Monday evening. My suggestion is that the surveys go out to you and to the commission
members on Friday, February 4, 2000 and that they be returned by Monday, February 14, 2000.
Then, on February 28, at our conference session, I would propose that we discuss the survey
results. I would also propose to have the department managers there for that meeting.
Once you have had a chance to review the results with staff, I am suggesting that you meet with
the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Fridley HRA and the Planning Commission to discuss
results that are specific to their areas of responsibility. The first of these meetings would be a
dinner meeting with the HRA on March 2, 2000. I will need to get you the other two meeting
dates on Nlonday night after I've had a chance to get input from Barb and Jack.
Once the survey results are completed, the departments will begin the goals and objectives
setting process for 2001. I expect this to occur between March 1 and March 17 and to have
Council's review of 2001 goals and objectives at your April 17'" conference meeting.
The 2001 budgeting process is expected to begin on March 15. The departments will put their
budgets together between mid-March and mid-April. I will meet with the department managers
the week of April 17 to 24. If we stick to this schedule, we should have the draft budget
completed by June 5 for distribution to Council. Your budget work sessions are scheduled for
June 19 and 20.
And that's the story. I will look forward to discussing the survey and the 2000 planning process
with you on Monday evening.
.y
I ��
2���
CITY COUNCIL/COMMISSIONS SURVEY
Police Department:
1. As information systems technology evolves, citizens are demanding greater access to
public data. In view of this, we would like to explore the possibility of providing access
to crime data by neighborhood via the internet. Initially, we would provide quarterly
reports covering the incidence of different types of crime (burglaries, robberies, etc). As
the system evolves, we would make it possible for residents to enter their own research
parameters. They could, for example, be given the ability to define their own time and
geographic area for specific types of crimes. The cost for entering a preformatted report
on our City web page would be nominal. The costs for enabling our residents to prepare
individual reports would undoubtedly be greater.
What do you think? Which of the following alternatives best reflects your point of view?
A. I do not believe that the City should be providing crime data over the internet.
B. I would support placing prepared information on the web site, but only if the cost in
staff time is minimal
C. We should make internet access to Police Department records a high priority, as long
as the local cost does not exceed $5,000.
D. Other (please explain).
2. The Fridley Police Department participated in the establishment of a countywide record
keeping system in 1999. While the system will improve access to information by our
police officers, it does not permit our officers to retrieve this information directly from
their vehicles. The cost to Fridley to provide this access would be about $40,000. Our
plan is to use our recently acquired block grant money to fund about $22,000 of this cost.
The remainder of the money could come from "forfeiture" funds. What do you think? Is
this a good plan? Please check the statement below which best reflects your point of
view.
A. Yes, based on what I know, this seems like a good plan.
B. No, the voters have told us they want basic bare-bones government. If we buy this
system we will be locked into annual operating costs as well as future replacement
costs. We should not allow the availability of grant money to drag us into
increasingly expensive programs.
C �
3. The Police Department has been conducting alcohol and tobacco compliance checks for a
number of years. Since beginning these checks, the State has changed the law to mandate
tobacco checks. While the intent of these checks is to discourage merchants from
marketing and selling alcohol and tobacco products to minors, our merchants generally
view these checks as holding them criminally responsible for the criminal activity of
youth. In their opinion our emphasis should be on arresting youth who break the law and
not on merchants. What do you think? Should the Fridley Police Department de-
emphasize tobacco and alcohol compliance checks in favor of enforcement efforts aimed
at youth? Yes No
4. We are continuing our efforts to expand the role of our Neighborhood Resource Officers.
In 1999 we assigned an officer the responsibility of working with rental housing owners,
managers and residents. We are also using our office assistants to update our Block
Captains list and, in general, to provide badly needed support for our Crime Prevention
Program. Additionally, our police reserves are being used to assist in recruiting new
Block Captains. Our Neighborhood Resource Officers (NROs) have been meeting with
Block Captains to provide them with information and explain the Neighborhood Block
Watch Program. We have also provided updated lists of Block Captains to the NROs and
have required them to make informal contacts each month with a different Block Captain
in their area.
Our police administration has also been meeting bimonthly with our NROs to discuss
their contacts as well as any problems that may be occurring within their areas. We are
also funneling complaints that police administration receives to the NROs for resolution.
The goal is that the NRO will continue to develop relationships with the citizens in
hislher respective azea and will continue to identify and solve problems together.
We have also been upgrading our law enforcement technology. This year we expect to
purchase and begin using a telephone messaging system called "City Watch" that will be
used to alert neighborhoods or portions of neighborhoods by automated telephone
message to crime-related problems in the area or to other emergency situations.
Additionally, we are using Geographic Information System technology to map patterns of
crime and to develop information about crime trends that can be communicated to people
in our various neighborhoods.
Another important aspect of our community policing effort is the Problem Response
Team. This team of two police officers will be used to spot patterns and trends in Fridley
crime and to provide specific measures to combat these trends. While we were not able to
make use of this program in 1999 due to retirements and employee turnover, we expect
that we will have this program back up and running this year.
As we have stated before, community-oriented policing takes time to develop. We
believe, however, that' we are heading in the right direction and are making progress
toward achieving our goals.
�
,s I
�
What do you think? Is the NRO program meeting your expectations for Community
Oriented Policing? Yes No
What else would you like to see us doing in this area?
5. The Fridley Police Department has over the last few years become increasingly involved
in providing a wide variety of youth services and programs. We have reached the point
where the total City cost of these programs is over $140,000 a year. Please note the
descriptions of these services as well as a breakdown of personnel costs contained in
Appendix A to this survey.
In addition to City fur�ded programs, we have been spending $14,500 through a Joint
Juvenile Accountability Block Grant to fund a truancy program. Under this program, our
employee makes contact with the parents of school-age children and youth who are
repeatedly truant from school. In these contacts we try to figure out what is needed to get
these kids back to school, and to work with these kids and families to assist them in
returning to school. We are confident that these efforts result in better attendance and
better grades. Intuitively we also believe that these youth learn better life skills and are
more employable as a result of our efforts. We also know that kids who break the law are
statistically those that never graduated from high school.
Unfortunately, our grant funding runs out in June of this year. We expect that it would
cost us about $35,000 per year to make this a permanent, full-time position. The amount
of work in this area could easily justify this move. While the cost is significant, we
believe the payoff would be well worth it. What do you think? Which of the following
statements best reflects your point of view.
A. I would like to see us add this program, even if it means funding it through additional
property taxes.
B. I would add this program; but I would do so only by cutting costs in other areas or by
cutting out other programs.
C. As attractive as it is, I do not believe we can continue to add cost to our City youth
programming. I would continue what we have, but I would not add anything new.
D. Not only would I not add this program, I would look for ways to cut back on our
existing expenditures for police youth services. These programs have grown
considerably beyond the original Project Safety Net concept.
E. Other (please explain).
3
Fire Department•
,
6. The Fire Department responds to about 1,500 medical emergencies each year. As our
population grows older and new developments such as the Medtronic development adds
daytime jobs to the Fridley economy, we can expect that number to increase.
Our firefighters provide basic life support services including the administration of oxygen
and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Their vehicles are equipped with trauma kits, spine
immobilization boards, burn kits, oxygen delivery systems, emergency child birth kits,
defibrillators, an airway suction machine and other specialized devices that are designed
to deal with nearly every type of inedical emergency.
Our life support services generally arrive on the scene of a medical emergency within 4
minutes of a call for help. It may take paramedics up to 10 minutes to arrive and in some
cases, longer. Our citizens have been overwhelmingly supportive of these services as
evidenced in our 1999 citizen survey and in the customer service cards that are
distributed to users of our service. The value of our service is also evidenced by the fact
that one-half of the patients who were in full arrest after suffering a heart attack in 1999
experienced restoration of pulse after use of our defibrillator.
Currently we have two rescue units that can be used to respond to calls for medical
assistance. Only one of these units, however, is fully staffed 24 hours a day. In order to
make the second unit available 24 hours per day, we would need to spend an estimated
$12,500 for the services of paid on call firefighters to staff the vehicles. What do you
think? Should the City budget an additional $12,500 to fully activate a second rescue unit
that can respond on occasions when the first unit is already on call?
Yes No Don't Know
7. Currently, the City has a Fire Department inspector who divides his time among
inspections, plan reviews, emergency calls, department administration and training. By
working an average of 70 hours per week, he is able to conduct 800 fire code inspections
annually. Those inspections, however, are limited to schools, nursing homes, Unity
Hospital, and businesses requiring an annual operating permit. Over half of the City's
800 businesses are not regularly inspected. Since there is a high turnover of businesses in
Fridley, there have been many instances of remodeling without a permit, improper
storage of hazardous materials and other violations of our fire code.
The Fire Chief's suggestion is that we add a full-time fire inspector to the staff of the Fire
Department. This person would administer a newly established annual certificate of
occupancy program for all Fridley businesses at a cost estimated at $50,000 per year.
How do you feel about this proposal? Which of the following options best reflects your
point of view?
A. While this service might be needed, I believe that it would be wrong to expand any
service in the City of Fridley at this time. Our voters generally told us they did not
want new services when they voted down the franchise fee.
4
B. I would support these proposals as long as the $50,000 in cost is offset by $50,000 in
revenues from occupancy permit fees that would be charged to businesses.
C. I would support these proposals if they were funded from a combination of permit
fees and new property taxes. Since all of our residents benefit from safe businesses, I
think that property taxes should be used to support half the cost of these proposals.
D. Rather than hire an additional full-time City employee, I would convert an existing
firefighter to this position. I would then fill in behind the firefighter with additional
paid-on-call personnel at an estimated cost of about $44,000 per yeaz. This new cost
would need to be covered by new permit fees or some combination of permit fees and
new property t�es.
E. Other (please explain).
Modern light weight truss home construction with plastic and foam furnishings produce
fires that spread more quickly and buildings that collapse sooner than homes built in the
1960s. High-density housing developments without sprinkler systems present an even
greater risk.
Our current fire code requires sprinkler systems in residential structures that are three
stories or higher or contain more than 8,500 square feet. We currently require sprinklers
in commercial/industrial structures that are in excess of 25,000 square feet. The State
Building Code, however, contains provisions, which Fridley has not adopted, that reduce
this number to 5,000 square feet.
While the construction industry is generally opposed to more stringent sprinkler
requirements on the grounds that they add 2% to the cost of residential construction and
$1 per square foot to the cost of commercial/industrial construction, they do help to
protect life and property and they help us maintain a positive insurance rating.
In view of the advantages of sprinkler systems, our Fire Department proposes to require
them in all new residential structures that house three or more families. They also
propose to adopt the State's requirement for sprinklering of commercial/industrial
buildings. Under the State Building code, sprinklers would be required in all newly
constructed buildings that are in excess of 5,000 square feet. More importantly, they
would be required in existing commercial/industrial buildings where there is a change of
use.
Our research indicates that of the nine communities that surround Fridley, all but
Columbia Heights and Minneapolis have adopted the more stririgent standards that we are
proposing.
What do you think? Should the City adopt these more stringent sprinkler requirements?
Yes No Don't Know
9. Previous Fire Department goals have included involvement in a variety of community
outreach programs, such as National Night Out, neighborhood picnics, Safety Camp, fire
prevention training and cable television productions. Our Fire Explorers Program, which
is designed to involve young people in the Fire Department now includes nine
participants and has surpassed our expectations in terms of both participation and
accomplishments.
While the Fire Department's outreach programs have positive benefits in terms of
community involvement, they do occur at a cost to other activities. They take time away
from fire code inspections, station maintenance, rental inspections and re-inspections and
administrative tasks, such as the preparation of fire reports.
What do you think? As we plan for the future of the Fridley Fire Department, which of
the following options best reflects your point of view?
A. We should continue to invest time and resources in outreach activities.
B. We should limit our involvement to programs like the Explorer Program where there
is a direct benefit to the Fire Department.
C. We should discontinue community outreach activities and concentrate on the business
of fighting fires and responding to medical emergencies.
10. As traffic congestion worsens on Fridley's major transportation arteries, we will be faced
with the need to provide 24-hour per day staffing of our three fire stations within the next
ten years and perhaps sooner. In order to do this, however, and keep OSHA happy, we
will need to enlarge our fire bays to meet OSHA requirements. This means building
higher doors and adding space on to bays sufficient to allow 30 inches of space around
each piece of fire equipment that is housed in each station. While we have not gathered
estimates for this work, it is easy to imagine that it may cost $500,000 or more. In all
likelihood, we would also need the equivalent of another 5 or 6 full-time firefighters to
meet our staffing needs for the two satellite fire stations. How do you think we should
respond to these perceived needs? Please choose the option that best reflects your point of
view.
A. I would phase in the station improvements over the next ten years in anticipation of
higher traffic congestion. I would also phase in our staffing of the two satellite
stations in three 8-hour phases until we have 24 hour staffing during this same time
frame.
B. I would withhold making any changes to our fire stations or to our fire station
staffing. While I believe that our roads will become more congested, I am not
convinced that the benefit of these changes will be worth the huge cost.
6
C. I have no problem adding more paid-on-call firefighters who would provide 24-hour
staffing for the two satellite stations. I do not believe, however, that we should
enlarge the stations. We should use the equipment that we have stored there now to
provide the best response possible and assume our risks with OSHA.
D. Other (please explain).
11. In 1999 we budgeted $237,000 for the construction of a new building on the property that
currently is the City's yazd waste site. As planned, the Fire and Public Works
Departments would have used the facility. The Fire Department would have used it
principally as a fire training classroom. The Public Works Department would have
housed their maintenance offices, shower rooms and locker facilities there. They would
also have used it for classroom and lunchroom purposes. After taking estimates, we soon
learned that the project, if built to public building standards, would cost $750,000. Given
our current financial situation, this option now appears to be cost-prohibitive. We still
have needs, however, for a fire training classroom.
Without a classroom at the fire training center, classes must be held at the Municipal
Center. Under this arrangement classroom training is separated geographically from
"hands-on" training. While this can work for Fridley, it means that other departments
training with us must take their fire equipment to two sites. It also weakens opportunities
for Fridley to become a regional training center for other fire departments and for private
sector entities who have need of fire training facilities. While we do not have a business
pro forma, we feel that under one or more of these regional scenarios, a regional fire
training center could make money or, at worst, break even. Regardless of those prospects,
however, we believe that a training center classroom to replace the water damaged trailer
that was removed from the site last year is needed to satisfy the training needs of our joint
powers organization fire departments. What do you think? Which of the following
options best reflects your point of view?
A. I honestly do not see a need for a separate classroom at the fire training site. I would
continue to host our training at the Municipal Center or the Fridley Community
Center.
B. I can see the need, but before we become locked into the expense of a new building, I
would like to see us rent a portable building at the rate of about $700 per month. If
experience shows that we can pay for the building by charging fees, I would be
willing to build a more permanent facility.
C. If we can build a classroom facility for under $150,000, and the cost can be shared
with our two joint power partners, I would construct a new facility in 2001 or earlier
if possible.
D. I would build the facility for under $150,000 with Fridley resources if it can be
demonstrated that we can recover our costs through potential user fees.
E. Other (please explain).
12. The condition of residential rental properties has improved significantly since our
inspection program began in 1995. That success reflects a focused City effort that has
involved a cooperative�partnership between our Fire Department's rental inspection staff
and Fridley's apartment owners and managers. While the road to success has not always
been smooth, we have generally accomplished our objectives of inspecting about 1,000
units of rental housing each year without serious quarrels or lawsuits.
Under the current fee schedule, we charge $25 for the first rental unit and $5 for each
additional unit for inspections. There are no additional charges for re-inspections. This
arrangement results, however, in an annual subsidy of about $52,000 or about 55% of
program costs. As we look toward the future, we may want to consider raising fees and
reducing the subsidy. What do you think? Which of the following options best reflects
your point of view?
A. I would more than double the fees to cover 100% of our cost of administering the
rental housing inspection program.
B. I would raise the fees in 15% increments until the fees cover the program costs.
C. 1 would raise the fees annually to cover the cost of inflation only. The program does
indirectly benefit all Fridley properiy owners. Dramatic increases in fees will also
damage the goodwill that we have been able to create with property owners and
managers.
D. I would raise the fees in equal amounts over two years to cover 75% of the program
costs.
E. Other (please explain).
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Public Works Department:
13. We spend over $1,000 per year to periodically clean the corrosion from the larg� columns
in our water fountain that sits to the south of the Municipal Center. On windy days, we
must turn the water to these columns off to keep the water from blowing on passersby. As
a result of this situation, it is suggested that we remove the columns at a cost estimated
under $5,000 and replace the columns with surface level fountain heads that will spray
water at a lower elevation and be much more maintenance free than the existing fountain.
While this is obviously not a big issue, we are, nevertheless, interested in what Council
and commission members think about this potential move. Should we make the suggested
modifications? Yes No Don't Know
14. The image of the University Avenue fence is still a point of contention in the City. While
merchants on University Avenue and the Southern Anoka County Chamber of Commerce
want the fence removed, 56% of our 1999 survey respondents oppose taking the fence
down. What do you feel that the City should do?
A. Remove the portion of the fence that lies in front of commercial/industrial properties.
(53�d to 66`h east side, I-694 to 57th Place west side, Mississippi Street to 66`h west
side)
B. Remove the portion of the fence in front of commercial/industrial properties and work
with all property owners to install a decorative replacement fence similar to the one at
Christenson Crossing on a 50/50 cost sharing basis. (I-694 to 69`h)
C. Remove the fence in front of the commercial/industrial properties and install a
decorative replacement fence similar to the one at Christenson Crossing by using
HRA resources. �
D. Do nothing.
E. Other (please explain).
15. In last year's Council/Commission survey, a majority of Council members favored
upgrading our street lighting standard in a manner that requires a mid-block street light
for streets longer than 1,000 feet. A large majority of the commission members felt that
we should maintain our existing standard whereby mid-block lights are installed on
blocks longer than 1,300 feet. While some citizens want better street lighting, our 1995
and 1997 surveys generally told us that our citizens did not want to pay any more for
street lighting.
What do you think? Should we implement a mid-block lighting standard for blocks
longer than 1,000 feet by investing $2,500,000 or, alternatively, by working with NSP to
incorporate the cost of installing mid-block lighting within their monthly street lighting
charge? Which of the following options would you prefer?
A. Maintain our existing policy.
B. Convert all City streets to a 1,000-foot, mid-block street lighting standard at one time.
C. Convert City streets to a 1,000 foot, mid-block street lighting standard one precinct at
a time over a twelve-year period.
D. Convert City streets to a 1,000 foot, mid-block street lighting standazd as we conduct
our annual neighborhood street reconstruction programs.
E. Other (please explain).
16. In the past, we have discussed the concept of automated water meter reading. Currently,
we rely on residents to mail in their own readings through what amounts to be an honor
system. Commercial and industrial meters are read by our employees. An automated
system would involve modifying the existing water meters for each of our customers at a
cost of $200 per meter. It would also involve using a vehicle and a driver to drive down
City streets to do the automated readings. Where these systems have been used, water and
sewer revenues have increased by 14%. What da you think? Do you support converting
to an automated meter reading system? Yes No Don't Know
As an option, NSP is developing a process to automatically read water meters and
incorporate this billing with their monthly electric bills. At this point, we have no idea
what this service will cost or any details on cost savings that we might realize. If it turns
out to cost less than reading the meters ourselves and doing our own billing, would you
be interested in contracting with NSP for this service? _Yes _ No _ Don't Know
17. There is a service available whereby geographic positions can be determined for every
object on every City street. This is done by driving City streets with geo positioning
equipment and a video camera. The camera records the objects on the streets (houses,
driveways, trees, signs, etc.) and their geo position is established. The information is then
converted to a computer database which can be included in the information available in
the city's geographic information system (GIS System). As a result, the database would
now include a great deal of new information that is not cunently available on our GIS
system. We could also use the geo data or videotape in public meetings to view exact
situations for things like setbacks and consideration of capital improvement projects. The
1999 cost for the system was approximately $21,000. What do you think? Should we be
including this kind of expenditure in our 2001 budget? Yes No _Don't Know
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18. The City has 12.3 miles of bike paths; the County has another 8.2 miles of bike paths. We
are receiving an increasing number of calls by those who want us to maintain all of these
bike paths during winter months. Our Public Works Department believes that we will
need an additional part-time person and another "trackless snow blower" to plow and/or
snow blow these paths. The equipment costs about $55,000. The part-time employee
would cost another $14,000. What do you think? Which of the following alternatives
most appeals to you?
A. I would spend the money to maintain the City's bike paths during winter months.
B. I would spend the money to plow/snow blow both the City and County bike paths
during winter months.
C. I would be willing to pick up the cost for plowing/snow blowing bike paths if we
would discontinue half of our winter ice maintenance and the cost of operating all of
our warming houses.
D. I would not provide this additional service and incur this additional cost at this time.
E. Other (please explain).
19. The City code specifies that property owners are responsible for the maintenance of the
portion of their sewer laterals that have been installed on their property. Other cities
require that the property owner be responsible for the entire sewer lateral, including the
portion of the lateral that is in the public right-of-way. Our Public Works employees
currently remove roots from the City portion of sewer laterals as well as clean them and
perform other maintenance. This costs us about $65,000 per year and 300 man-hours. The
manpower could readily be used to provide more frequent maintenance on our sewer
mains. What do you think? Should the City continue to offer this service?
Yes No Don't Know
20. Blockage of catch basins due to grass and litter is a major cause of flooding on City
streets. There is equipment that is available that could be driven year round to vacuum
catch basins, particularly during inclement weather. The cost of this equipment is about
$60,000. Would you be willing to purchase this equipment?
Yes No Don't Know
Would you be interested in shaxing the cost of this equipment and its use with Columbia
Heights? Yes No Don't Know
21. In 1999, the City Council approved the concept of constructing a joint Public Works/Fire
training facility. As it turns out we greatly underestimated the cost. Rather than the
$250,000 that we originally forecast, we now expect the cost to be closer to $750,000.
Much of the increase is associated with the need for an elevator and other code-related
li
improvements needed for a building that is accessible by the public. This amount could
be reduced by about $150,000 if we were to eliminate the basement from the plans. What
do you think? Which of the following options most appeals to you?
A. Budget the capital improvement funds necessary to construct this facility.
B. Budget the $600,000 for building a scaled down facility without a basement.
C. Budget the funds to upgrade the Public Works garage to provide necessary locker,
lunch, and training rooms.
D. Do nothing.
E. Other (please explain).
Recreation and Natural Resources Department:
22. In recent years, the City has been responding to the needs of families and youth in Fridley
by expanding our youth recreation programs. We have, for example, created "The Zone
Underground" as an after school congregating point for middle school age youth. We also
have established after school programs at the elementary schools for elementary age
youth. And, we have "The Zone" available for high school age youth on Fridays and
Saturday evenings. This past summer, we initiated the "Summer Rocks" program. This is
an all-day playground program that provides a variety of on site and off site activities for
elementary age youth: Our budget for youth recreation programs has grown from
$101,049 in 1994 to $183,222 in 2000.
While City staff is not planning a major expansion of this programming, there are some
changes that could improve our ability to reach low-income youth as well as those youth
from more culturally diverse backgrounds. We could, for example use more part-time
help that would help us in our youth outreach efforts with youth of all ages. We would
also benefit by providing bus transportation for youth that attend our elementary after
school programs. In order to make these changes, we would apply for federal grants and
implement the changes only if grant money is available. The catch, however, is that the
grants eventually run out. After that, we are faced with funding the program changes with
local funding.
The payoff in all of this is that we reach children who otherwise return from school to
empty homes. Instead, they gain access to supervised, structured programs that teach
skills as well as values that contribute to a healthy community.
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What do you think? Should the City seek to improve participation in its youth
programming, particularly as that programming relates to our elementary after school
programs? Which of the following options best reflects your point of view?
A. The message of Fridley voters who voted against the franchise fee is that the City
should not take responsibility for the youth of our community. In view of this, we
should be getting or�t of after school youth progranuning rather than expanding it.
B. While I am not in favor of dismantling what we have, I do not believe that we should
expand what we have until we have provided the local funds or cut equivalent
funding in other program areas.
C. I believe that in the long term, our attention to youth, particularly elementary age,
pays big dividends for our community. While our programs do not guarantee that
these youth will become responsible, productive citizens, they certainly help. I would
rather pay the price for these programs now than the price for ignoring our youth
later.
D. Other (please explain).
23. As our senior population expands, we are hearing an increasing number of service
requests. This has been particularly true of requests for information and referral services
as well as for advocacy services. Recently, for example, a senior called for help in
dealing with an electrical contractor. And there are needs in other areas as well. In the
past 2 years, for example we have set up a Parkinson's support group and a care givers
support group for people who are caring for older adults. Currently, we are starting an
Alzheimer's support group for younger seniors who are taking care of their parents. And
there is a need to expand our Chore Services (HandyWorks) and senior companion
programs. Our Senior Coordinator tells me, however, that we do not have the ability to
provide any additional programming unless we can upgrade the part-time position that is
currently responsible for the HandyWorks program to a full-time position. What do you
think? Which of the following responses to this situation best reflects your point of view?
A. How can you even think about additional services for seniors after the defeat of the
franchise fee! The message from our citizens, including many senior citizens, was
that they did not want City government taking care of seniors or youth.
B. While we are not in a good position to take on new costs, I believe that we at least
need to study and carefully evaluate the need for additional senior programming.
C. If we are to truly be a healthy community, we need to provide recreational
programming that adequately addresses the needs of all of our population groups. I
would first try to find grant funding for expanded senior prograinming. If that is not
available, I would use City resources to address these needs.
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D. Other (please explain).
24. In 1996, the senior bus program was eliminated and the transportation program was taken
over by the Anoka County Traveler. To keep costs down for the Fridley seniors using the
Traveler, the City budgeted dollars to help offset the costs of the tickets. This subsidy
program continues today with about 20 seniors benefiting from this assistance. Under our
program, the senior pays $10 toward the purchase of a$25 punch card that is good for 8.5
round trip rides. The City picks up the $15 balance for the punch card. Altogether we
budget $5,200 for this purpose. What do you think about this arrangement? Which of the
following responses best reflects your point of view?
A. I would continue this program at its current level.
B. I would raise the amount to be paid by the rider and lower the amount to be paid by
the City.
C. I would plan to phase out the subsidy within the next year or two.
D. Other (please explain).
25. As you are no doubt aware, the City has been operating a drop-in activity center for youth
at the Fridley Community Center. The "Zone Underground" as it is called is open after
school for middle school students (Grades 5-8) from 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday
through Friday. The facility is open for high school students from 8:00 p.m. until
midnight on Friday and Saturday evenings. The "Zone" is also open additional hours on
school-out days as well as during school vacation days. During regular hours, we
normally attract between 40 and 60 middle school youth during the afternoon hours and
between 50 and 70 high school age youth on Friday and Saturday nights. The cost for
keeping the "Zone" open, not including the operating costs, is about $75,000 a year.
While there is not a strong need for additional structured activities, such as intramural
sports or activity clubs, our Youth Advisory Council has recently told us that there is a
need for more Friday and Saturday night special events, particularly dances. At this point
we have not assembled cost data; however, it may be safe to assume that we might be
talking about an additional expenditure of $5,000 to $7,000 per year. What do you think?
Please select the response that best reflects your point of view.
A. I believe that we should listen to our Youth Advisory Council and find the money to
hold more Friday and Saturday night special events.
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B. I think we should carefully evaluate the Youth Advisory Council request; however, I
would insist that we find a way to either make the program pay for itself or to find the
additional money from other program cuts.
C. There you go again! You are suggesting that we expand when we should be
contracting services. While I do not deny that there may be a need for youth dances, I
do not think that we should be considering any program expansions in view of the
franchise referendum results. I would rather be thinking about cutting back "Zone"
costs rather than adding to them.
D. Other (please explain).
26. As in past surveys, I would like to introduce this section on parks capital improvements
by asking you a general question about where you would spend your parks capital
improvements dollars (about $250,000 to $300,000 per year). With this in mind, please
imagine that you have $1,000,000 to spend in the following areas. How would you
distribute the money among the areas?
A. Upgrading existing facilities in our park system.
B. Purchasing additional land to expand our parks as well as to provide new parks for
under-served areas.
C. Building new facilities in our parks to accommodate special interest needs, such as
those expressed by youth for skateboarding facilities and by others who are interested
in building a horseshoe shelter.
D. Building a new double gymnasium at the Fridley Community Center site.
E. Improvement of our nature areas like the Sand Dunes, the Springbrook Nature Center,
the Innsbruck Nature area and perhaps even the Farr Lake area.
27. The Community Park athletic complex was developed in 1982 through some creative use
of community resources. The grading of the ball fields and berms in the park were done
by a local contractor at no cost to the City. The contractor was allowed to remove sand
from the site. He was also authorized to bring in fill, largely clay, from a local highway
construction project. Over the years, unfortunately, the clay has created drainage
problems during inclement weather.
In spite of many hours of work on the fields after a rain event, games are regularly
postponed or played on poor field conditions. These playing conditions, as you might
expect, have raised some concerns over the safety of participants. In addition to the extra
hours spent by our employees maintaining the wet fields, we have also been spending
considerable money for turf drying material and repairs to damaged turf.
is
The solution to these problems is to install a field drainage system at Community Park at
a cost estimated at $85,000. What do you think? Should our 5-year capital improvement
plan be modified to include this as a new project? Yes No _ Don't Know
28. Two years ago, the City of Fridley and Independent School District #14 worked together
to construct and imprave facilities at what has become the Fridley Community Center.
Since that time, we have discussed the possibility of adding a double gymnasium to the
Fridley Community Center. The double gymnasium would provide badly needed indoor
activity space for our youth sports teams, adult athletic and fitness programs, after school
teen and elementary student activities and community special events.
While our citizens seem to support the concept, their support is based on not raising taxes
to pay for the construction of a double gymnasium. We also know that defeat of our
franchise fee limits our ability to build this facility without raising taxes. In view of these
circumstances, what do you think we should do? Please check the response that best
reflects your point of view.
A. I think we can afford to draw down fund balances by the $2,000,000 to $3,000,000
that would be necessary to build the gymnasium. Then I would raise property taxes to
pay for the operating costs.
B. I would defer spending on further parks and building improvements until we had
saved enough to build a double gymnasium. I would also consider using a portion of
our liquor profits for this purpose. If we had accumulated enough savings after about
three years, I would negotiate the terms of the use of school property with School
District #14 and build the project the following year.
C. I would not build a double gymnasium at the expense of other capital improvements
or at the expense of running down fund balances. This project should be put on hold
until an independent funding source can be found.
D. Other (please explain).
29. Many communities in Minnesota and around the country are providing in-line skating
rinks and/or skateboard parks as a new type of recreational activity. There have been
requests for these types of facilities in Fridley. An in-line skating rink with hockey boards
and a concrete skating surface would cost around $50,000. A skateboard park, complete
with ramps and jumps, could easily cost an equal amount of money. Should the City
consider providing these facilities? Please check the response that best matches your
point of view.
A. I would develop preliminary plans and cost estimates for these facilities and consider
them as part of our five-year capital improvements review process.
16
B. I would seriously consider including these items as part of our 2001 parks capital
improvements. This could be financed from money that would ordinarily have been
used for playground equipment upgrades.
C. I realize that some youth and others have requested these projects; however, I would
rather see the City spending its scarce capital improvements money on projects that
will have wider use and appeal. After all, how many of us use a skateboard or inline
skates?
D. Other (please explain).
30. The Springbrook Nature Center Foundation and the Nature Center staff have been
working to plan changes and improvements. In this planning process, they have explored
a wide range of ideas and suggestions as well as perceived problems. Notwithstanding
their many discussions, the group has not yet developed a specific plan, cost estimates or
funding sources.
They would, however, like to know the importance that Council and Commission
members would place on specific types of improvements. Please rate each of the
following suggested improvements using a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being assigned to items
that you consider to be very important and 1 being assigned to items that you believe
have little importance.
A. Safety and security improvements like better lighting in the Nature Center entrance
and parking areas.
B. Building additional indoor and outdoor programming spaces/facilities.
C. Constructing a bike trail connection to the Nature Center on 85`h Avenue that will
connect to existing trails on University Avenue and East River Road.
D. Making visual improvements to the 85`�' Avenue entrance area.
E. Creating new or remodeled exhibit spaces that would accommodate temporary
exhibits with revenue raising potential.
F. Other (please explain).
31. The Innsbruck Natural History Area is a 25-acre park that has a unique natural
environment. It is heavily wooded and supports diverse wildlife. It is also an attractive
site for hikers and bird watchers. Currently, however, its trail system is not being
17
maintained and the wooded areas are being overgrown by non-native invasive species
like European Buckthorn. Moreover, the open pond is covered with a thick mat of
floating shrub vegetation. Although the area is in poor condition, it has the potential for
becoming a focal point for nature trail users in this part of Fridley. At a minimum, any
plan for rehabilitating this area should include providing new asphalt walking trails,
dredging the filled in areas of the pond, removing the Buckthorn and improving the
entrance area with better signage and parking. Our order of magnitude estimate for this
work is $60,000 to $80,000.
What do you think? Should we revitalize and restore the Innsbruck Natural History Area?
Please check the alternative that most appeals to your sense of priorities.
A. I would develop a plan and cost estimates for this work and consider it as part of our
five-year capital improvements review process.
B. I would seriously consider including this item as part of our 2001 capital
improvements. This could be financed from money that would ordinarily have been
used for playground equipment upgrades.
C. While I realize that the surrounding neighborhood would appreciate this project, I
believe that we should use our scarce resources to fund projects that have more
community-wide benefit. I would, however, use our Public Works crews to cut back
growth from the paths and to remove the Buckthorn.
D. Other (please explain).
32. The Fridley Horseshoe Club, a group of about 100 horseshoe pitching enthusiasts, has
expressed a renewed interest in having a shelter built over the horseshoe courts at Locke
Park. We estimate that a shelter large enough to cover 12 to 16 horseshoe courts would
cost a minimum of $100,000. While the Club has raised about $10,000 for the project, the
remainder of the money would probably need to come from the City's capital
improvement funds. What do you think? Should the City fund this project? Please check
the statement below that best reflects your point of view on this issue.
A. I would develop a plan and cost estimates for the work and consider this project as we
review our 5-year capital improvements plan.
B. I would seriously consider funding this project in the year 2001 as part of our parks
capital improvement program. It could be financed from money that ordinarily would
have been spent on playground equipment upgrades.
C. While I realize that the horseshoe enthusiasts would benefit from this project, I would
rather see the City spending its scarce capital improvements money on projects that
will have wider use and appeal.
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D. Other (please explain).
33. The Parks Capital Improvements Plan is updated each year. For the past 6 years, a major
component of this plan has been the systematic upgrading of playground equipment in
each of our parks. Since the 2000 Parks Capital Improvements Plan incorporates the last
phase of the playground equipment upgrades, we are interested in developing a better
understanding of the City's parks capital improvement priorities beyond 2000. In order to
help us do that, we would like you to consider each of the following potential projects
and use a scale of 1 to 5 to evaluate them. If you think the project is a very high priority,
rate it a 5. If it is an extremely low priority, give it a 1. Please do not use zeroes.
A. Replacement of tennis court and basketball court surfaces.
B. Construction of an in-line skating facility.
C. Build a permanent warming house/activity building at Madsen Park.
D. Construct a double gymnasium addition to the Fridley Community Center.
E. Construct a bikeway along 85�' Avenue that will connect the Springbrook Nature
Center with bikeways on University Avenue and East River Road.
F. Rehabilitate the Innsbruck Natural History Area.
G. Replacement of fence and board walk at the Dunes natural area.
H. Construction of a permanent warming house at Stevenson Elementary School.
I. Construction of a horseshoe shelter at Locke Park.
J. Repave the worn-out trail at Farr Lake Park.
K. Construction of a skateboarding facility.
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Community Development Department:
34. The November, 1999 Electronics Drop-Off Day that the City held at our yard waste site
was very successful. Our residents brought us 11 tons of electronics and 15 tons of other
materials. The cost, about $10,000, was totally reimbursed by SCORE funds (recycling
funds made available by the State through the counties). While we have once again
budgeted $10,000 for approximately eight problem material drop-off days, we have not
budgeted for another electronics drop off day. If we were to add this event, however, the
additional $10,000 would again be reimbursable from SCORE funds. There is no
guarantee, however, that the funds would be there in subsequent years and there is very
vocal opposition from some environmentalists who believe that manufacturers and
customers should have responsibility for the cost of recycling these materials rather than
the general public. What do you think? Which of the following options best reflects your
point of view?
A. As long as SCORE funding is available, the City should sponsor free electronic
products drop-off days. It does provide a service that has widespread benefits.
Moreover, charging for the service does nothing to promote manufacturer
responsibility for safe disposal of their product.
B. I believe that the residents should assume half the cost of the electronic products
drop-off days even though the costs would be eligible for SCORE funding. It is a
good idea as a matter of principle to encourage people to factor in the cost of disposal
into their purchasing decisions. Also, there are no guarantees that the SCORE
funding will be there. If the City does not make its recycling quotas, SCORE funds
may not be available.
C. I would sponsor the electronic products drop-off day and require participants to cover
the entire cost. I should not be required as a citizen of Fridley, Anoka County or the
State of Minnesota to help my neighbor get rid of his/her TV set or computer. They
probably should have saved the money that they spent for these items for their kid's
college expenses.
35. The City has processed a number of variance requests for homeowners to create small
additions to the front of their homes. Our "Remodeling Handbook" generally encourages
small front yard additions as well as front porches. These amenities generally make it
possible for families to expand in Fridley. They also help raise property values and, in the
case of the front porches, create opportunities for people to interact in the neighborhood.
Our current residential. zoning ordinance, however, tends to discourage these amenities
by requiring a 35-foot front yard setback for the house and garage. It does permit a small
vestibule within the front yard setback as long as it does not exceed 50 square feet in
area. It also allows an unenclosed porch or canopy to extend up to 10 feet into the front or
rear yard. What do you think? Should the City liberalize its front yard setback policy as a
means of encouraging room additions and front porches? Which of the following options
most appeals to you?
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A. I do not oppose front porches or room additions per se, however, I would like to
evaluate them on a case by case basis as zoning variances to our existing 35-foot
setback requirement.
B. I would support changing the front yard setback from 35 feet to 30 feet in general and
allowing enclosed as well as unenclosed porches and decks to be built up to 20 feet
from the front lot line.
C. I would change the front yard setback from 35 feet to 25 feet in general and allow
enclosed and unenclosed porches and decks to extend up to 15 feet from the lot line.
D. I would reduce the current setback requirement from 35 feet to 25 feet but would
have this new limit apply to porches and decks as well as to the house and garage.
E. Other (please explain).
36. In the early 1990, the City evaluated an ordinance change that would have allowed
"mother-in-law" apartments in single family dwellings if the homes were owner-
occupied, and the new unit within the home complied with several restrictions. The
amendment failed on a 3-2 vote by Council. While revamping the City's Comprehensive
Plan, this idea came up as a way to enable elderly residents to have in-home care. It
would also provide a more acceptable means for Fridley residents to enable other family
members to live with them. What do you think? Should the City amend the zoning code
to allow mother-in-law apartments? Yes _. No Don't Know
37. Our R-1, One Family District, regulations require that single family residential lots that
were platted prior to December 29, 1955, be a minimum of 50 feet wide and have an area
of 7,500 square feet. Lots platted after that date must be at least 75 feet wide and have a
minimum area of 9,000 square feet.
Many lots within Fridley, particularly those in Riverview Heights, Hyde Park and the
Plymouth addition, are non-conforming due to substandard width or lot area. This
nonconforming status prevents rebuilding when fire or other disasters destroy more than
50% of the home. This status also discourages investment in the property and the creation
of new housing in Fridley. Other first ring suburbs like Richfield and St. Louis Park do
allow construction of new homes on 40 foot and 50 foot wide lots with great success..
In light of these consequences, and in light of the special zoning district that the City
created for industrial properties in the Onaway Addition, do you think that the City
should create new special zoning districts for areas of the City where there aze high
concentrations of non-conforming lots? Please select the option below which most
adequately reflects your point of view.
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A. We should pass new legislation that aligns lot width and area requirements with
existing circumstances.
B. We should allow lots that are 40 feet wide and no less than 4,000 square feet in these
areas.
C. We should allow lots that are 50 feet wide and no less than 5,000 square feet in these
areas.
D. We should allow lots that are 50 feet wide and no less than 5,000 square feet subject
to design criteria that would dictate standards for house size and appearance.
E. We should leave our zoning requirements for these nonconforming lots as they aze.
38. Currently Fridley uses a court-based misdemeanor citation to enforce code compliance in
cases that are not resolved with a first or second notice. Some cities have changed to an
administrative fine process as a way to keep code issues out of court. The idea is to cut
down on time spent issuing citations and in court, and to capture the entire fine for the
City, rather than the small percentage the City receives from a court fine. An
administrative process would involve a series of increasingly stringent fines for repeat
offenses. Some cities have a series of three fines. A hearing examiner would have to be
appointed to hear any challenges to these fines. A misdemeanor citation would still be a
final option if the administrative remedies did not work. Presently only a small
percentage of code cases are unresolved after a final notification letter.
Do you think that we should incorporate administrative remedies into the code enforce-
ment process?
A. No, do not change the process. Continue to issue misdemeanor citations.
B. Let's at least do further research and evaluate it this year.
C. Yes, incorporate administrative fines and continue using misdemeanor citations as a
final resort.
D. Yes, change the process and use administrative fines for all citations. If the fines are
not paid, assess th�em to the property owner much like we do with unpaid weed
mowing charges.
E. Other (please explain).
22
39. The 1999 citizen survey results indicated that while 54% of our residents preferred to
maintain our existing ordinance that prohibits the parking of non-motorized trailers,
campers and boats in the driveway or front yard, about the same majority, 53%, felt that
we should not prohibit motorized campers, etc., from being parked in the driveway or
front yard. While these results seem to be conflicting, they might be interpreted as telling
the City that our residents don't want change. Since we did tell a number of these
residents that we would revisit this issue in 2000, it seems appropriate to raise the issue
again as a survey question. Given the survey results, what do you think we should do?
Which of the following options most reflects your point of view?
A. I would not do anything. I would wait until we hear the next zoning appeal case on
this subject and explain to the property owner that we are following the will of the
people.
B. I would like to see us change the ordinance in a manner that allows non-motorized
trailers, campers and boats to be placed in the front yarcl as long as they are on a
paved surface.
C. I would not change the law, but I believe that Council should allow these non-
motorized campers, etc., to be stored in the front yard where the resident does not
have access to his side or back yard and where there are no complaints from adjoining
neighbors. I would therefore like to see the Council grant permission for this storage
in zoning vaxiance cases.
D. I would maintain the existing law on the storage of non-motorized trailers, campers,
etc. I would also pass a new ordinance that would prohibit the storage of motorized
trailers/campers in the front yard. I would, however, favorably consider vaxiance
requests where there is a hardship and where adjoining neighbors do not object.
40. In the year 2000, the Housing and Redevelopment Authority and Council will be
focusing on the "Gateway East Project," a 24-unit townhome project at the intersection of
University Avenue anc� 57th Avenue. While our resources are limited, it is important to
have a clear sense of direction about future priorities. To help us identify priorities
beyond Gateway East, please use a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating your highest rating,
to rate the following redevelopment projects.
A. Apartment rehabilitation.
B. Elimination of junkyards.
C. Gateway West. This would involve redevelopment of the Hyde Park area between
57`�' Avenue and 61St Avenue as it fronts on University Avenue.
D. Redevelopment of the area on the east side of University Avenue between �7tn
Avenue and the Interstate, just west of the Medtronic campus.
23
E. Redevelopment of an area for a hotel and restaurant site.
F. Redevelopment around a commuter rail station at 61 S` Avenue (commuter and
neighborhood oriented commercial uses).
G. Other (please explain).
41. Another way of looking at redevelopment is to think in terms of general redevelopment
strategies. Please use a scale of 1 to 5 again, with 5 indicating your strongest preference
to evaluate the following redevelopment strategies.
A. I would complete the Gateway East project and continue funding scattered site
housing acquisition and our housing rehabilitation programs at current levels; but, I
would not start any new projects until we have a better sense of what we need to do to
accommodate the Medtronic expansion and the North Star Commuter Rail project.
B. I would continue funding housing rehabilitation and scattered site housing acquisition
at current levels; but, I would also move ahead to complete the redevelopment of our
University Avenue corridor. This would not only include the Gateway East project
but would also include Gateway West where Frank's Used Cars is located. It would
also mean that any project along University Avenue would be prioritized over other
projects in the City.
C. I would refocus by converting our housing rehabilitation money (about $500,000 per
year) and other project money to apartment rehabilitation and to the creation of new
mixed income housing developments that not only provide some affordable housing,
but are part of a larger development which appeals to other income brackets and
meets other housing needs. This option means prioritizing apartment rehab and
construction over other projects.
D. I would use "brown fields money" to acquire and clean up Fridley's junkyard sites. I
would also use the HRA's money to bear the cost of relocation associated with
moving junkyards. This would be done with the understanding that the junkyard sites
could be redeveloped as sites for affordable housing. As we do this, I would continue
to fund our housing rehabilitation and scattered site acquisition programs at current
levels. I would not be setting aside money for a commuter rail station or for
Medtronic-related expansion.
E. While I would be setting aside money that could be used to redevelop a site that will
serve as a commuter rail station, I would also attempt to rehabilitate Hyde Park
between 57`" Avenue and 61S` Avenue along University Avenue. If need be, I would
scale back our contribution to scattered site housing replacement and to single family
housing rehabilitation to accomplish these two priorities.
24
F. Hotels are knocking on our door. The City should prioritize its redevelopment efforts
to accommodate a hotel and restaurant site for Medtronic before they decide to build
in New Brighton. At the same time, the City should continue to be aggressive in its
single family rehab programs and continue with Gateway East project. Other projects
that come up will have to be weighed against available resources in their respective
TIF districts.
G. Other (please explain).
42. The HRA has focused most of its resources on rehabilitation of single family housing
stock. We have done very little to address the need for rehabilitation of our aging
apartment stock in Fridley. When we have tried, it has been very difficult to get rental
property owners to improve their properties. Our existing programs provide low interest
loans rather than grants to owners. Should the City do more? Please check the option that
most agrees with your point of view.
A. The City should continue to offer low interest loans to apartment owners for specific
types of improvements to their properties. If necessary, lower interest rates and/or add
other sweetners that will stimulate the owner's investment in his/her property.
B. Rather than loan money to apartment owners, the HRA should provide incentives to
private developers to acquire and rehabilitate apartment buildings that appear to be in
the worst condition.
C. The HRA should directly acquire and rehabilitate apartment buildings through the use
of public bond programs.
D. Considering the huge cost of apartment rehabilitation, the City should not expand its
current programs unless it can be funded with outside resources.
E. Other (please explain).
43. As the City undertakes �more redevelopment projects, it is more than likely that affordable
housing units will be impacted. How aggressive should the City be in replacing
affordable housing? Please choose the statement that best reflects your point of view.
A. The City should be very aggressive in trying to stimulate the construction of
affordable housing, including rental housing. While it will not preclude future legal
challenges to our redevelopment efforts, it will serve a community need and put us in
a more legally defensible position.
25
B. The City should assume that we have our share of affordable housing. Whether we
participate in construction of new affordable housing or not, we will have major legal
challenges any time we seek to remove apartment buildings or other affordable
housing to make way for new development. I think we should cross that bridge when
we get there.
C. I would support (including financial support for) affordable housing if it can be
provided regionally. It is way too expensive for Fridley to construct affordable
housing. We simply do not have the land for it.
D. I would be willing to encourage affordable housing through rezoning of property,
including the granting of rezoning for multi-family units, but I would not subsidize
affordable housing.
E. Other (please explain).
44. Last year, the housing market was very strong. In the Fridley market, new records were
set for average sales price. This inflationary trend has affected housing costs all along the
price spectrum, including substandard and dilapidated housing. As a result, the HRA's
average acquisition price for blighted properties has increased from the mid-$50,000
range to over $70,000. Given this trend, what strategy should the HRA pursue?
A. The HRA should continue its program to acquire substandard housing in spite of
higher prices. It eliminates neighborhood eyesores and creates opportunities for new
housing.
B. The HRA should spend its resources on vacant or tax forfeit homes only.
C. The HRA should discontinue its scattered site acquisition program and allow market
forces to address the issue of substandard housing.
45. The Fridley HRA's home improvement loan program currently allows exterior type of
improvements such as three and four season porches, unenclosed decks and other
permanent improvements. This policy has been modeled after the Minnesota Housing
Finance Agency's loan program. Some have questioned the appropriateness of using
public funds for this purpose, believing that the funds should be targeted for basic code-
related repairs only. yVhat do you think? Which of the following statements most
accurately reflects your view?
A. The program should be used exclusively for basic, code-related repairs and
improvements.
26
B. The program should include basic, code-related repairs and general home
improvements (e.g., basement finishing, kitchen remodeling, siding and roofing), but
not decks, room additions, porches or landscaping.
C. The program should include all types of permanent home improvements, both interior
and exteriar, including three and four season porches, unenclosed decks, front
porches and landscaping.
Miscellaneous:
46. The preceding survey questions reveal a lot of needs as expressed by City staff. While
there is a good case for meeting most of these needs, scarce resources will no doubt mean
that we will be able to fund only the highest priority needs. I have listed the new services
and projects that appear in these questions with the thought that it would be very useful to
understand your sense of priorities. Please use a scale of 1 to 5 to rate each of the
following items. If the item is a high priority, give it a 5. If it is a low priority or not a
priority at all, give it a 1. Please do not use zeroes. Also try to rate each item. Ignoring the
item tends to unfairly reduce the score for the item in question.
A. Staffing of a second Fire Department rescue unit.
B. Installation of a drainage system at Community Park.
C. Purchase of catch basin cleaning equipment.
D. Construction of a permanent warming house/activity building at Madsen Park.
E. Funding of an additional full time employee in the Police Department to administer
the truancy program.
F. Construction of a 1,500 square foot fire training classroom at the fire training site.
G. More weekend events for middle school and high school students at the Zone.
H. The addition of a full-time fire inspector.
I. Purchase of software for police squads that will enable police officers to have direct
access to county-wide records.
J. Staffing of satellite fire stations 24 hours a day.
K Construction of a double gymnasium at the Fridley Community Center
L. Construction of a skateboarding facility.
M. Upgrading part-time senior center staff person to full-time.
27
N. Renovation of the Innsbruck Natural History Area.
O. Provision of more part-time help and bus transportation for elementary after school
programs.
P. Construction of an in-line skating facility.
Q. Construction of a shelter over the horseshoe courts at Locke Park.
R. Installation of decorative fencing in front of commercial properties along University
Avenue.
S. Installation of new mid-block street lighting for blocks longer than 1,000 feet.
T. A geo positioning video survey of all City streets.
U. Winter maintenance of bicycle paths.
47. We have recently been dealt a financial setback with the defeat of the franchise fee
referendum. While we still have healthy fund balances, we have been drawing them
down as we seek to 'balance our General Fund budgets. Moreover, as this survey
indicates, there are many new priorities competing for City funding. In view of this
situation, what would you do? Please choose the answer that best reflects your opinion.
A. I would cut City programs and services in a manner that provides for a balanced
budget with no tax increases.
B. I would bring down fund balances to the point where they are about 25% of our
annual budget over a period of 5 years. I would use program and service cutbacks to
supplement the use of fund balance.
C. I would raise property taYes over a two to three year period to cover the cost of
balancing our General Fund budget. Where necessary, I would use fund balances to
cover any budgetary gaps. I would not, however, let the budget grow much beyond
2000 levels as adjusted for inflation.
D. I would raise property taxes for 2001 by the amount necessary to cover the current
General Fund budget. I would not, however, let the budget grow much beyond 2000
levels as adjusted for inflation.
E. I would raise property taxes for 2001 by an amount necessary to meet General Fund
needs, whatever they might be.
F. Other (please explain).
28
48. We have had numerous discussions about the Springbrook Nature Center. At least one
Council Member has suggested that we seek to make the Nature Center self supporting
by charging an admission fee for non-Fridley residents. How do you feel about this
suggestion? Should we build a gated entrance, hire part-time employees to attend the gate
and charge a$2 admission fee to non-Fridley residents?
Yes No Don't Know
Thank you for taking the time to respond to this survey!
29
APPENDIX A
The following is a description of the youth-related programs that are conducted through the
Police Department. The total cost for the effort is about $140,000 minus the two school resource
officers. The school resource officers cost about $64,000 (each) per year including benefits.
ELEMENTARY YOUTH SPECIALIST - Provides classroom educational programs on
personal safety, self care preparation, anger management, harassment awareness, bus safety,
bicycle safety, shoplifting prevention and other topics as identified. The Youth Specialist also
works closely with schools and families in identifying truants, child abuse/neglect and other
problems that require follow up that the schools aren't able to provide. Referrals are frequently
made to families for services needed.
This is a full-time, authorized position. This position is divided among four elementary
schools, each with increasing demands.
DARE - Sworn officers are �specially trained to teach youth at the 5`�' and 8`h grade levels
regarding drug awareness and resistance as well as gang awareness and anger management skills.
Three officers are trained in DARE. Each spends one full day in the school for a period of 18
weeks.
SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS - Two sworn officers are assigned to work directly in the
Fridley Middle School and Fridley Senior High to address incidents of theft, assault, vandalism,
and other problems. The SRO positions build a trust relationship between teachers, students, and
law enforcement. One of these positions is substantially funded by grant revenues until the year
2002.
These positions are currently filled by sworn officers who are also DARE officers. Much of this
time is spent teaching DARE and following up on criminal cases involving juveniles. One
position is grant funded for three years and must be retained a minimum of one year following
the grant.
DROP OFF CENTER - Located in the lower level of City Hall, civilian staff provides a place
where youth in violation of curfew and other status-type offenses can be dropped off by Police
Officers enabling them to quickly return to patrol duties. Upon drop off, the youth workers
interview the youth, contact his/her parents, make necessary referrals for support, and release the
youth to parents. If parents or a suitable adult is not available, arrangements are made for a safe
place for the youth to stay.
Staffing varies throughout the year but all positions are part-time regular, funded by contracts
with other communities. Some shifts are covered by the two full-time Outreach positions
(Kevin, Myra). Kevin's position is a full-time authorized position and Myra's is a full-time,
contracted position.
30
OUTREACH - Youth workers are in contact with youth in several ways:
--Informally in community locations where youth gather.
--Harambee - Culturally relevant services for African-American youth.
--Contacts with youth during and after school hours provide support to youth, their
families, school staff and other agencies.
These services are included in Kevin and Myra's positions.
FOLLOW UP SERVICES - Follow up contact is made with youth who are brought in to the
Drop Off Center as long as services are needed as a means of
providing positive adult contacts for youth. Follow up services also provide linkages between
community, county agencies, school and the business community for youth in need of advocacy.
These services are included in Kevin and Myra's positions.
DIVERSION HEARINGS - In cooperation with the juvenile justice system of Anoka County,
diversion hearings are conducted by youth workers in order to facilitate the increased caseloads
resulting from the Drop Off Center.
Approximately 150 hearings lasting about 1%z hours each are done by the Youth Workers who
are part-time, grant funded. These funds support approximately half of the salary for a
temporary full-time position (Carrie Yaeger). The remaining portion of her salary comes from a
Juvenile Accountability grant. Funds from this source will be expended by June, 2000. The
time funded by this grant covers truancy follow-up at Fridley Middle School.
GRAFFITTI CLEAN UP - During the past three summers, this activity has been funded by
grants. Those funds are no longer available. The services will be continued by the position
Myra holds.
The Police Department has a number of services which are specifically targeted at youth. The
largest amount of crimes committed in our society are committed by youth. Many of these
services are (or have been historically funded by grants). The grants have/or will expire(d). The
cost of the youth services total about $140,000 per year (Project Safety Net and the Elementary
School Program) plus two School Resource Officers (they actually deal with a number of
juvenile issues all over the City but during the school year their primary function is one in the
High School and one in the �Middle School) at a cost of about $64,000 per year including
benefits. These services have been very successful, as we have seen decreases in vandalism,
burglary, and theft from vehicles (which are largely juvenile crimes).
31
PROJECT SAFETYNET
Drop Off Center:
220 Shifts of operation 6 Hours per shift
130 days x 6 hours a shift @$11.00 x 2 staff
90 days x 6 hours a shift @$11.00 x 3 staff
Benefits @ .15%
Staff Meetings: 12 staff x 12 meetings x 2 hrs x$11.00
Benefits @ 15%
Youth Outreach Coordinator $19.17 an hour
Benefits @ 30%
Lead Youth Worker $15.50 an hour
Benefits @ 30%
$17,160
17,820
5,247
3,168
475
$43,870
$39,873
11,962
$51,835
$32,240
9,672
$41,912
Revenues from Blaine, Coon Rapids, Columbia Heights and Spring Lake Park total $38,000.
Elementary Specialist Position $17.36 an hour
" Benefits @ 30%
$36,108
10,832
$46,940
Total for youth all youth programming (without school resource officers) is $146,557 per year.
This includes the reduction or revenues from other cities.
*I have used the figure of $140,000 for the question because some of the Drop Off Center shifts
are covered by the Youth Outreach Coordinator and the Lead Youth Worker positions.
32
�
�
ClTY OF
FRIDLEY
AGENDA ITEM
CONFERENCE MEETING OF JANUARY 31, 2000
TO: WILLIAM W. BURNS, CITYMANAGER ��
FROM.• RICHARD D. PRIBYL, FINANCE DIRECTOR
DAVESALLMAN, PUBLICSAFETYDIRECTOR
SUBJECT: POLICYRELATED TO THE USE OF THE EXCESS CONSOLIDATED
FRIDLEYPOLICE PENSION FUNDS
DATE: January 27, 2000
After reviewing a number of options for the use of the residual assets left by the consolidation of the
Fridley Police Pension Association with PERA, we are providing you with the following two options:
The money would be used to assist the Police Deparhnent in the proper funding of the Police
Division of the General Fund by covering the costs associated with large capital outlay and
information technology items. We would transfer funds annually into the General Fund equal to
the amount of funds used for squad cars and the annual allocation from the IS Fund. The IS Fund
is an Internal Service Fund that provides services in the form of hardware and soflware to all of
the operating funds for the City of Fridley.
2. The money would be used to fund three police officers that were originally funded through
federal grants that were short term in nature. These three police officers do provide a visible
presence on the street and also in the school. One of these officer's primary position is that of a
liaison officer in the Fridley High School. The other two officers' primary responsibility is
associated with increasing the police presence in neighborhoods.
Staffs recommending option 2. The residual funds should be used to fund the three police officers
that would have ordinarily been teiminated at the end of the Federal Grant. The attached schedule
shows the approximate duration for which we could keep the three positions. It appears that with this
opportunity, we will be able to maintain three additional officers for a period of 14 to 15 years
depending on the prevailing interest rates.
RDP/me
Attachment(s)
Use of Exess Consolidated PERA Funds
Top Patrol
Using Grant Merseth as an example
Wages
Dental
Life Ins
Medica Dep
Medicare
PERA
W/C
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2000
$ 51,778.12
$ 181.07
$ 42.00
$ 5,145.26
$ 681.76
$ 5,902.83
$ 967.25
$ 64,698.29
1.03
1.03
1.03
1.03
1.03
1.03
1.03
1.03
1.03
1.03
1.03
1.03
1.03
1.03
1.03
Interest
0.055
$118,355.16
$124,864.69
$131,732.25
$127,982.05
$123,695.72
$118,833.89
$113,354.70
$107,213.71
$100,363.69
$ 92,754.52
$ 84,332.97
$ 75,042.55
$ 64,823.29
$ 53,611.57
$ 41,339.89
$ 27,936.67
$ 13,325.96
Per Officier
$ 66,639.24
$ 68,638.42
$ 70,697.57
$ 72,818.50
$ 75,003.06
$ 77,253.15
$ 79,570.74
$ 81,957.86
$ 84,416.60
$ 86,949.10
$ 89,557.57
$ 92,244.30
$ 95,011.63
$ 97,861.98
$100,797.84
Transfered
$199,917.72
$205,915.26
$212,092.71
$218,455.50
$225,009.18
$231,759.45
$238,712.22
$245,873.58
$253,249.80
$260,847.30
$268,672.71
$276,732.90
$285,034.89
$293,585.94
$302,393.52
Three Officiers
at Top Patrol
$ 199,917.72
$ 205,915.26
$ 212,092.71
$ 218,455.50
$ 225,009.18
$ 231,759.45
$ 238,712.22
$ 245,873.58
$ 253,249.80
$ 260,847.30
$ 268,672.71
$ 276,732.90
$ 285,034.89
$ 293,585.94
$ 302,393.52
Balance
$ 2,151,912.00
$ 2,270,267.16
$ 2,395,131.85
$ 2,326,946.39
$ 2,249,013.18
$ 2,160,616.19
$ 2,060,994.58
$ 1,949,340.10
$ 1,824,T94.36
$ 1,686,445.83
$ 1,533,326.77
5 1,364,409.94
$ 1,178,605.19
$ 974,755.77
$ 751,634.43
$ 507,939.44
$ 242,290.16
$ (46,777.40)
�
�
Cill( OF
FRIDLEY
AGENDA ITEM
CITY COUNCIL CONFERENCE MEETING
OF JANUARY 31, 2000
To: William W. Burns Cit M �
, y anager�
From: Jack Kirk, Director of Recreation and Natural Resources
Date: January 27, 2000
Re: CDBG Youth Scholarship Funds
Bill, the CDBG youth scholarship dollars have allowed many low income young people from
our community to participate in Recreation Department sponsored activities and events that
they would otherwise be left out of due to inability to pay the registration fee. The CDBG
funds are used to pay the fee associated with programs and events that require the
purchase of an admission ticket. Most of the scholarships are awarded for participation in
our trips program. It should be noted that the on-going Fee Adjustment program offered by
the City of Fridley for participation in Recreation and Natural Resource Department activities
does not apply to trips or programs that require payment to an outside organization or
business. The CDBG funds allow the lower income youth an opportunity to join their friends
in some of these popular outings. In the recent past, we have had adventure trips for rock
climbing, canoeing, camping, biking, high ropes courses and even some white water rafting.
There have been cultural trips to the Children's Theater, the Planetarium, and the Science
Museum. In addition to going bowling, skiing, snow tubing, some of the other trips have
been to the Shoreview Community Center, Wild Mountain Water Park, Valleyfair, Camp
Snoopy, Cinema Cafe, and Grand Slam. As you can see, there have been a variety of
exciting opportunities in the youth trips area.
When the Recreation and Natural Resource Department originally was awarded CDGB
funding for the youth scholarships it was in the amount of $5000. This was somewhere
around eight years ago. We consistently utilized the entire amount of the funding and could
have provided more scholarship assistance if additional funds had been available. A couple
of years ago, this funding was reduced to the $4000 level and this year's proposed amount
is $3742. While this is not an enormous amount of money, it does help make a positive
impact on the lives of some needy youth in our community.
Listed below are some statistics on the people benefiting from the CDBG youth scholarship
dollars during the past year.
CDBG Youth Scholarship Funds
January 27, 2000
Page 2
• The total number of youth receiving scholarships....79
• The total number of households served by this program...39
• The number of households considered v�low income that received
scholarship assistance...36 (or over 92%)
• 36% of the households served were minorities
• 69% were with a female head of household
• 3 of the households had a disabled person
• The average scholarship amount per person was $42.50
• The average amount for scholarships per household was $86.20
The scholarship program does rely on an "honor system" of reporting income levels. Staff of
the Recreation and Natural Resource Department does not ask for documentation or
"proof' of any income or assistance levels. Participants are given an option of having some
or all of the fee waived for any given activity. Although the majority of the people who
participate in this program waive the entire registration fee, we do have people who pay a
portion of the fee and occasionally, we have those who opt to pay the fee on an installment
payment plan.
I am pleased with how the staff of my Department has handled the "customers" who have
need of the scholarship aid. The staff is sensitive to the uncomfortable situation these
people are in when they come in to ask for assistance. We assure participants that the
information provided with the fee adjustment program is kept confidential. I know that the
participants are grateful for the existence of the fee adjustment and scholarship programs.
I am open to suggestions for improving this service and would truly like to have the
opportunity to continue to serve the low income youth with this scholarship program. Please
let me know if I can provide any further information to assist with City Council's decision on
allocation of CDBG funds.
_. ,
Memo to: The Mayor and Council �`
From: William W. Burns, City Manager �
Subject: Replacement of Deputy Fire Chief
Date: February 2, 2000
As most of you know, Dick Larson will be retiring from his Deputy Fire Chief position in June
of this year. It is appropriate for us to begin the selection process for his replacement.
You may also be aware that Dick Larson worked a very long work week as incident commander
at fire scenes, conducting fire code inspections, doing plan reviews for new construction,
conducting training and a wide variety of other duties. Our belief is that it would be unrealistic to
expect another person to handle all of the tasks that Dick was performing and to devote the
number of hours that he was devoting.
Having reached this conclusion, we are recommending that Dick be replaced with two positions,
an Assistant Chief for Operations and a Fire Marshal. Both positions would be paid at a rate of
pay comparable to a Fire Captain and would perform duties described in the attached job
profiles. The annual cost of the two positions (without benefits) would begin at $95,514 and
grow to $108,824 at Step 4 of Pay Range 7. This compares with the current cost of $106,000 for
Dick's position and one full-time firefighter position.
With Council's approval of this arrangement, we are prepared to begin a recruitment and
selection process that will be open to a11 full-time firefighters and to all current paid-on-ca11
firefighters (including two female paid-on-call firefighters). In the event that two full-time fire
fighters advance to the two new positions, we will be faced with deciding whether to replace the
two full-time fire fighters. If we fill both positions, we will have added one new employee. If two
paid-on-call firefighters advance to the new positions, we would also have created an additional
fire department position. If one full-time and one paid-on-call firefighter advance to the two
positions, we could maintain existing staffing levels The issue would then be whether or not we
fill the vacated full-time iirefighter position.
Question No. 7 in your Council/Commission survey addresses this issue. The Fire Chief is
recommending that we initiate an annual certificate of occupancy program for all Fridley
businesses and that we pay for the cost of the inspector through occupancy permit fees. The
options in the survey question range from acceptance of this proposal to complete rejection.
My recommendation to you is that you grant the permission to create and fill the two new
positions that are defined in the attached job profiles. Then, we can take additional time to decide
whether to add a new full-time position to our Fire Department staff as part of our year 2000
planning and budgeting process. I think it is very important, however, that we move quickly to
replace Dick Larson.
Thank you for considering this request.
Attachment
. ��
CITY OF FRIDLE�'
FIRE DEPARTMENT
POSITION TITLE:
REPORTS TO:
POSITION OBJECTIVES
ESSENTIAL JOB F�JNCTIONS:
1. Incident Command
Assistant Chief for Operations
Fire Chief
Provide command at emergency incidents, and
administer department training program.
a. Respond to and command staff at emergency incidents per direction of the Fire Chief.
b. Schedule 24 hour per day staff supervision using shift and department officers.
c. Monitor compliance with, and update as necessary, department command system to
assure the department's compliance with OSHA "supervisory rule" requirements.
d. Write and implement response procedures consistent with staffing resources available
from our department and mutual aid departments.
e. Continuously evaluate field performance of shift supervisors, support their personal
development, and recommend appointments and staff deletions, as necessary.
2. Training
a. Design and schedule department staff training, including weekly drills, special
training exercises, attendance at seminars and specialized technical schools.
b. Assure department compliance with OSHA training requirements.
c. Monitor individual firefighter's training progress, facilitate supplemental training
as needed, and maintain Firefighter Performance record keeping system.
d. Evaluate proposed new technical services such as confined space rescue, to identify
required training, equipment and staff resources.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
1. Firefighter 2 and Fire Officer 1 certification by the Minnesota State Board of Fire Service
Examiners.
2. Hazardous materials Technician or Specialist as defined by NFPA Standard 472.
3. Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), or First Responder who will be EMT certified
within one year from appointment.
4. Minimum five years Incident Command experience as an Incident Commander and as a
major Sector Officer.
5. Superior report writing skills.
6. Strong leadership and communication skills.
. �
CI T �' OF FRIDLE �
FIRE DEPARTMENT
POSITION TITLE: Fire Marshal
REPORTS TO: Fire Chief
POSITION OBJECTIVE: Inspect facilities for conformance
to the City's fire code ordinance.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
1. Conduct inspection of new construction, remodeled structures, and existing structures to
assure conformance with the City's fire prevention code.
2. Conduct inspections per contracts with City of Hilltop and the State Fire Marshal's office.
3. Schedule staff inspections.
4. Conduct in house training for staff paid on call and full time firefighters conducting
scheduled inspections.
5. Coordinate with Community Development Department in plan reviews of proposed
construction.
6. Conduct fire cause and origin investigations.
7. Assist in department administration as directed by Chief.
8. Function as staff officer at emergency incidents, per direction of the Chief.
9. Prepare records of activity level.
10. Write reports as required by inspection and\or investigation activities.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
1. Certificate of competency from a recognized State authority such as the State Fire Marshal's
office, or MNSCU, attesting to an understanding of the State Fire Code and applicable
National Fire Protection Association Standards.
2. Six month's successful field experience evaluated by a department recognized authority such
as the City's current Fire Marshal.
3. Firefighter 2 certification by the State Board of Fire Service Examiners.
4. Good report writing and verbal communication skills.