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CCM 02/09/2015 CITY COUNCIL MEETING CITY OF FRIDLEY FEBRUARY 9, 2015 The City Council meeting for the City of Fridley was called to order by Mayor Lund at 7:03 p.m. ROLL CALL: MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Lund Councilmember Barnette Councilmember Saefke Councilmember Varichak Councilmember Bolkcom OTHERS PRESENT: Wally Wysopal, City Manager Darcy Erickson, City Attorney Scott Hickok, Community Development Director Julie Jones, Planning Manager Mark Geoffrey, 5290 Third Street NE Mark Trupe, 5101 Horizon Drive NE Terry McClellan, 7671 Brigadoon Place Ellen Strelow, 5373 Horizon Drive NE Don Howard, 5325 Horizon Drive NE Richard Palmateer, 5347 Altura Road NE, SERVICE REPORT: Citizens' Academy: Continued to another date. APPROVAL OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA: OLD BUSINESS: Approve the Minutes of the City Council Meeting of January 26, 2015 Councilmember Saefke referred to page 10, second line, the word "airs" should be "errs". APPROVED AS CORRECTED. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Receive the Minutes from the Planning Commission Meeting of January 21, 2015. RECEIVED. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2015 PAGE 2 2. Special Use Permit Request, SP #15-01, by RJ Ryan Construction, Inc., to Allow a Building Addition that will increase the Lot Coverage Requirement to 45.1%, Generally Located at 8050 Ranchers Road; and Resolution Approving Special Use Permit, SP #15-01, for RJ Ryan Construction, Inc., on Behalf of the Property Owner, Ranchers Road LLC, for the Property Located at 8050 Ranchers Road N.E. (Ward 2). APPROVED SPECIAL USE PERMIT, SP#15-01, BY RJ RYAN CONSTRUCTION; AND ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 2015-08. 3. Special Use Permit Request, SP #15-02, by Samer Alamy, to Allow a Daycare Use in an R-3, Multi-Family Zoning District, Generally Located at 6875 Highway 65 N.E.; and Resolution Approving Special Use Permit, SP #15-02, for Samer Alamy, on Behalf of the Property Owner, Two PC Partnership, for the Islamic University of Minnesota, Generally Located at 6875 Highway 65 N.E. (Ward 2). APPROVED SPECIAL USE PERMIT, SP #15-02, BY SAMER ALAMY; AND ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 2015-09. 4. Final Plat Request, PS #14-05, by DET 7220 LLC, to Replat Two Properties to Make an Adjustment to the Property Line, Generally Located at 7220 Central Avenue and 1241 - 72nd Avenue N.E. and Resolution Approving Final Plat, P.S. 14-05, by DET 7220 LLC, the Property Owner of 7220 Central Avenue N.E., to Modify the Property Line Between 7220 Central Avenue N.E. and 1241 - 72nd Avenue N.E. (Ward 2). APPROVED FINAL PLAT, PS #14-05, BY DET 7220 LLC; AND ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 2015-10. 5. Resolution Extending the Date for Compliance Outlined in City Council Resolution 2014-99 from February 23, 2015, to June 30, 2015, Related to Retaining Wall Requirements at 1627 and 1631 Rice Creek Road N.E. (Ward 2). ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 2015-11. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2015 PAGE 3 6. Resolution Approving Application to Enter into a Funding Agreement with the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) for Grant Assistance for the 4800 East River Road Redevelopment. ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 2015-12. 7. Resolution Ordering Final Plans, Specifications and Calling for Bids: 2015 Street Rehabilitation Project No. ST2015-01. Wally Wysopal, City Manager, stated this is in the Summit Manor neighborhood and is consistent with the proposal of January 22. This is not ordering the final project but only asking for the bids on the project. Final approval of this project would be considered by Council in late March. THIS MATTER WAS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA AND PLACED ON THE REGULAR AGENDA. 8. Approve 6th Amendment to Joint Powers Agreement for the North Metro Regional Street Maintenance Consortium for Street Maintenance. Mr. Wysopal stated a number of different cities that co-op together to buy services for street maintenance at a discounted rate. It allows the shortening of the opt-out period after the bids are received from 60 to 30 days. APPROVED. 9. Receive Bids and Award Well Redevelopment Project No. 448. Mr. Wysopal stated this project will be awarded to Keys Well Drilling in the amount of $211,141.00. The funding for that project is from this year's budget. RECEIVED BIDS AND AWARDED WELL REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT NO. 448 TO KEYS WELL DRILLING COMPANY. 10. Approve 2015 Anoka County SCORE Municipal Funding Request for Fridley's Residential Recycling Program; and Approve Agreement for Residential Recycling Program. Mr. Wysopal stated this is a request of $90,472 from Anoka County from the 2015 SCORE Program. This is for Fridley's residential recycling program. Corresponding with that would be an agreement with Anoka County to assure Fridley will deliver those recycling services consistent with that SCORE funding. APPROVED. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2015 PAGE 4 11. Claims (167065 - 167237) APPROVED. 12. Licenses APPROVED THE LICENSES AS SUBMITTED AND AS ON FILE. 13. Estimates Municipal Builders, Inc. 17125 Roanoke Street N.W. Andover, MN 55304 WTP #3 Filter Drain Pump Project No. 459 Estimate No. 1 ....................................................................................... $12,937.67 Ron Kassa Construction th 6005 East 250 Street Elko, MN 55020 2014 Miscellaneous Concrete Repair Project No. 453 Estimate No. 3 ....................................................................................... $13,808.45 APPROVED. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA: Councilmember Bolkcom stated she sees a fair amount of people from the public hearing on the street project are at the meeting. She asked that Item No. 7 be removed from the consent agenda and added to the regular agenda. Mayor Lund stated they are going to be changing the format in the future. They will not allow the public to remove items on the Consent agenda. They have allowed this in the past and will do it tonight, but will be changing in light of suggestions made by the City's legal counsel. He asked the public if there was anything they wish to remove from the Consent Agenda. No one from the audience responded. MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to approve the proposed consent agenda with the removal of Item No. 7. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. Mayor Lund stated with respect to Item No. 5, he stated they are approving that by motion as it stands now. If they approve the Consent Agenda, it will grant Mr. Kiewel an extension of time from February 23 to June 30. All items in the resolution previously passed by Council would stand. This will give Mr. Kiewel time to work on his compliance issue. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2015 PAGE 5 ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to approve the agenda with the addition of Item 7. Seconded by Councilmember Saefke. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. OPEN FORUM: nd Tom Determan, 1241 – 72 Avenue, stated regarding Item No. 4, when he discovered what he had to do to change his property line and that he would have to go through the City, he dreaded it. He has to say it was as pleasant of an experience as it could have been, starting with Mr. Hickok who was over there within hours to walk him through the process. Everybody he worked with at the City, the staff, Julie Jones, Julie Beberg--everybody, have been just great. He really appreciated all the help. It was a "can do" attitude and everybody helped. Mark Geoffrey , 5290 Third Street NE, stated he was at the last Council meeting a couple of weeks ago. The traffic problems on Third Street came up several times. Those problems have not been addressed. It has actually gotten worse in the last two weeks. He brought his maintenance man who lives right at Third Street and Horizon Drive who witnesses the stop sign violations constantly, and it is becoming a serious problem. More serious than it was two weeks ago. It is something that really needs to be addressed. Very much. People will have garbage on the back of their car and take off from the stop sign and the garbage will just fly off. This problem is at the 5100 block of Third Street and Horizon. Councilmember Bolkcom asked whether his other issue was related to people dumping garbage in their dumpsters. Mr. Geoffrey replied, correct. Along with the speeding on Third Street. That is taking place all along Third Street. Mayor Lund asked Mr. Geoffrey if his maintenance staff has something to add to the comments. Mark Trupe , 5101 Horizon Drive NE, stated he lives at Third Street and Horizon Drive. He wakes up at 4:30 a.m. People are driving right through traveling at 40 to 50 mph and going through the stop sign. He has talked to the cops and they sit there for a little bit and that is it. They have school kids coming in and out of that area, and it is just going to be a hazard if they do not get it taken care of. Mayor Lund stated they will have a discussion with the Police Department. They might be contacted by the City's resource officer, or others to see if they can work out a solution. Mr. Trupe stated when he looks out his window, he can watch them go through the stop sign on a non-stop basis. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2015 PAGE 6 Mayor Lund asked him if he ever gets a license plate number. Mr. Trupe replied he has license plate numbers. Mayor Lund asked him to turn them in. He will have an officer or someone contact him. Terry McClellan , 7671 Brigadoon Place, stated he lives in the Flanery neighborhood off of Brigadoon. There was a robbery as he understands it three weeks ago and there were firearms taken, etc. Someone was trying to steal the job trailer from his neighbor at his rental property, and the perpetrators did not know someone was home. They came out and the perpetrators left the trailer right in the middle of the street. He helped them get it off of the street. He said 37 percent of the City budget is for police, and he cannot tell them the last time he saw a patrol car come through his neighborhood. Granted he is still working and they may be coming through the day, but these are happening in broad daylight. If they are at a 25-year low for crime, he does not feel that. Mayor Lund asked if he wants to see more police presence in his neighborhood. Mr. McClellan replied, he is open for suggestions. What do they do? They are an observant neighborhood. They all know one another. He knows every car that goes down that street, and he knows every strange car that goes down that street. He does not know if it is coincidence, they happen to be the farthest away from the police station than any other part of the footprint of Fridley. Mayor Lund replied, it does not matter, because the City's patrol officers are rarely in City Hall. Even after hours there is nobody in the Police Department. They are all out in squad cars on patrol. Mr. McClellan replied, he suspects University and Central attract a lot of their time and energy, and he understands that, but they have 25 to 30 neighborhoods and there are a lot of things going on that should not be. He would argue that they do not know his neighborhood because they are not in his neighborhood and so they would not notice a car or a truck that did not belong. He does not know what the solution is, but some percentage of that time he would like to see dedicated to the neighborhoods and not just for the obvious. Mayor Lund replied, he would forward his comments to the Police Department. 7. Resolution Ordering Final Plans, Specifications and Calling for Bids: 2015 Street Rehabilitation Project No. ST2015-01. Councilmember Bolkcom asked to see the map of affected properties. This is kind of a breakdown of the people who were at the public hearing and the comments that were reported related to people who felt they wanted the project, those who were in between, and those who felt their street did not need to be improved. Mr. Kosluchar is not here but she understands the City Manager can talk about the streets, the degradation of the streets, and what the impact would be by not doing that street now. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2015 PAGE 7 Mr. Wysopal stated the map shows the contacts they have received. The green color indicates those who have said they support the project, yellow indicates it was unclear whether they were for or against it, and red indicates opposition voiced at the public hearing. The approach the City takes on street reconstruction projects is not necessarily a survey of asking people whether they are supporting it. The City has a 20-year program where they look at the overall City and have made assessments of the road conditions within those areas, roped them up into management project sizes so that the City can get the best prices for these types of projects, and then phased them out for a 20-year period. This is the area that would be under consideration for this year. Since this map was put together, the City has received two additional contacts at City Hall. Both of them were in favor of the project. He believed they were on Third Street and then Hughes Avenue. Mr. Wysopal stated staff also provided Council with some information on how the decision is made in terms of selecting the project area. The street sealcoating comes out of the City's operations and maintenance budget which is funded by general property taxes. The street reconstruction programs are funded through municipal state aid funds and bonding the City does for that. The next time the City would be doing the sealcoating would be 2018. That is because there are other streets in the City; and they analyze them all together and then figure out when they need to be done. If the City were to pull a segment out of any program, it would not be reconstructed, it would be re-sealcoated in 2018. It would be more difficult and expensive to come back and do the one small segment of street at a time. Mr. Wysopal stated this particular street segment would be up for resealing in 2018. The City Engineer did provide a memo in that regard indicating if the City had to wait that long, that segment would be in serious need of reconstruction to the point it would be very similar to a lot of the other segments in this area. Therefore, it makes sense for this phase of the project to order bids. The feasibility was done. There are some cost estimates that are put to that, and now they need to firm those costs, go out for bids, get the bids back, and find out what the price would be. No project would happen until the City Council orders that project. There is always a possibility that the bids come back at a price that is not competitive for the City and is beyond its budget. The bids could come in much lower than the City's anticipated cost which would be favorable. Mr. Wysopal said this is the analysis of the information that was provided to the Council. They never come up with a project that everyone is in favor of. There is always some disagreement on whether your particular street frontage is requiring that type of work. Unfortunately, the City cannot do the projects in segments. Councilmember Bolkcom stated she has not heard from one person other than the ones who were at the public hearing. However, ifthey did hear something earth-shaking from that neighborhood and did decide to remove it, it probably would not change the bids outrageously when that came before them. It would obviously be a long time before they got back to it. How many more years do they have to go out with all the others streets that need to be resurfaced? Mr. Wysopal replied he does not have a specific answer on that. At the last meeting, they did have the map that indicated the various areas. It is his recollection it was at least ten years. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2015 PAGE 8 Mayor Lund stated he is reading from the memo discussing the analysis done by the Public Works Director, wherein he indicates most likely that this street would not be reconsidered for paving until 15 years or more and at a much higher cost. Councilmember Bolkcom asked if anyone in the audience had anything new to present. She asked Mayor Lund if they would allow them to speak and ask questions. Mayor Lund replied he has always tried to err on the side of allowing conversation. The time for the public hearing on that matter has come and gone. There are a number of people here because of the street project. Ellen Strelow , 5373 Horizon Drive NE, stated she spoke briefly at the last meeting and said the jury was still out as far as whether she was for or against it. She wanted to go on the record as being against it. She does not think they need it now, and she does not think they can afford it. Don Howard , 5325 Horizon Drive NE, stated he was at the last meeting. As he understands it, half of the cost of this project is sewer and water infrastructure. There is some work being done under the street. Mayor Lund replied that is correct. Now is the time to do those things. It was probably half the project total cost. However, it comes out of the utility funds. Mr. Howard stated, roughly half of the cost of this project. Somebody was pretty careful talking about the costs between the City's main lines and into the house. He believed it was called "laterals". Mayor Lund replied individual sewer lines. Mr. Howard stated and the homeowners are totally responsible. That is on their property. Mayor Lund stated the homeowners are responsible from the main line out in the street, wherever that is, all the way to their house. The main line is the responsibility of the City because everybody benefits from that. Mr. Howard stated that is what has generated his question is that the City's sewer line and water line that is going to be replaced or repaired or whatever, is that not paid for out of the City's general tax fund? It seems to him they are being charged twice for that. Mayor Lund replied no. Mr. Howard asked who pays for the City sewer and the street. Mayor Lund replied the City's taxpayers pay for all of it at some point; but the City reserves the money. Mr. Howard asked out of the general fund. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2015 PAGE 9 Mayor Lund replied no, out of the utilities fund. All of the money the residents pay for sewer and water is not just for the delivery of water or taking of the sewage. There is always a set amount in there that is for ongoing maintenance. Nothing lasts forever, whether it is the main sewer line, painting the water tower, repairing or replacing a sewage pump in the lift stations, so that is all ongoing maintenance. Mr. Howard asked, but not the pipe. Mayor Lund replied the pipe is part of the maintenance too. Not as an assessment. Mr. Howard replied it seems like they are. Councilmember Bolkcom stated to Mr. Howard, his assessment when this is done is for his part of the asphalt basically. Not for the sewer. That comes out of the taxpayer's money. Mr. Howard stated he misunderstood then. Councilmember Bolkcom stated part of the whole thing about the public hearing they had was to spell out what all the different costs are and where the money comes from. If it was not clear, it is coming out of the water and sewer utility fund. Mayor Lund stated the residents are being assessed for the street work which is only about half of the total. Mr. Howard asked, so half of the $2,300 is paying for the asphalt in the street. Councilmember Barnette replied, correct. Mayor Lund stated there is also work that could be done by the gas and electric companies. They typically come in and may replace valves and other things like that. But they do that at their expense. Richard Palmateer, 5347 Altura Road NE, said two weeks ago he brought up the fact that, in seeking bids, he would like it at least discussed that if they privately wanted an improvement in their driveway, say 15-20 feet from the road, they would be able to contract with the people doing the asphalt to do that. They as private individuals would pay for that of course. He would like that to be put out as a discussion item in seeking of bids, etc. for doing the asphalt. Mayor Lund replied, they tried that years back and it failed miserably. That is not to say that when Council agrees to select a bidder, residents cannot contact the contractor about doing work on their property, but that would be on their own. The City had tried to do that as an added benefit to the individual property owners in the past, and it just did not work. There were a number of reasons. He found out after the fact they use a different type of chemical agent, there are different types of asphalt, and what they used on the streets they bid that into the driveways and it proved to be miserable. People complained because they did not get as nice and smooth a surface as you would otherwise expect. The City had a lot of complaints and, therefore, decided not to continue to do it. It does not mean residents cannot go directly to the contractor. The FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2015 PAGE 10 contractors that build streets are usually larger contractors with larger equipment. That is what their forte is, not necessarily for the refined smaller driveways. It does not mean they do not do it. Mr. Palmateer stated he moved to the area five years ago from Mounds View. About eight years ago they went through the same thing in Mounds View that Fridley is going through now., including putting in sidewalks, curbing, and everything else. However, the contractor was willing to do the first 15 feet entranceway into the driveways and at that point it was not charged because it was considered part of the boulevard which was part of the City's responsibility. As such, that is what they came up with. He does not know what contractor they used or whatever but that is how they were assessed, $1,500 assessment on top of it. What he was told is they were not told about the different grades of asphalt or anything like that. He does not know if somebody has checked it. There very well could be. He is not in the asphalt business himself. This is something Mounds View went through and is something that Mounds View was able to facilitate. It really proved as a good selling point for the project as a whole in that if the individual person wanted to have something done to his driveway, they would pay the fee. In getting a bigger contractor like this, the individual property owner is going to realize a much lower bill than if he were to hire somebody privately to do the driveway. Mayor Lund stated he is not suggesting Mr. Palmateer should not do that. It probably makes good economic sense for individuals to do that. He thinks it was even brought up at the public hearing. City staff, particularly the Public Works Director, is more than willing to assist people to come to some amicable solution. There have been cases where the road grade had to be changed to hopefully help fix some drainage issues where it used to puddle in front of people's driveways. They changed the roadway if it could feasibly be done. In their case they might have had a very steep driveway and, in changing the grade, it affected the grade of the driveway. There may have been a few cases where the contractor reached in and beyond. Mr. Kosluchar said usually it is 2 to 3 feet. That is it and then beyond that it is up to the homeowner. It does not mean something cannot be negotiated. Why have this and then you have to get somebody else right after the fact to finish your driveway. The contractor would hopefully work with the homeowner and say, yes, and staff can actually help facilitate that. Mr. Palmateer stated he would rather spend his money with the people in Fridley instead of having someone come from St. Paul or Minneapolis and fill their pockets privately. Councilmember Bolkcom stated the big issue is sometimes there is a difference between doing streets and driveways. Having been on the Council for a while it was a big nightmare both between concrete and asphalt. She believed she heard the Public Works Director say that once they know who the bidder is and award the bid, they will let them know who it is and the homeowners can contact the contractor. Mr. Palmateer replied, he wanted to throw it out as something for discussion with the potential bidders. Councilmember Bolkcom stated they have numerous meetings. They have a pre-construction meeting so that would be brought up there that people might want it. It depends on who the asphalt company is. Sometimes they have so many other projects going on they cannot do it. It FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2015 PAGE 11 could be one of the busiest road improvement seasons. The City wants to get out there and put out the bid so they can get a good price. Mr. Palmateer stated a lot of times they will say as long as they have the equipment out here, if you want, we can do this for you and we give you an estimate. That is what they came up to them in Mounds View with. Mark Geoffrey stated regarding this project, as to the chart with the green and pink blocks, there are a whole more of green blocks they can fill in after he talked to the owner of their business. Pretty much from Horizon on north besides a few homes are all of their apartment buildings. They can color all those in green. She is all for it. However, she asked him to come and request some help from the City Planning Department or whoever does this. Mr. Geoffrey stated they also want to improve their property along with this project. Their place was built starting in the 1950s and since then there has not been any more parking added to their properties, and they need some assistance to add to their parking. They certainly would like to get some help with that before this project proceeds which they do hope it does. In case there is extra drainage, anything they need to have done, to comply with what is going on out on the street so they do not have to pay for that at a later date since the street is already being done. They are looking at probably $50,000-$75,000 just in superficial improvements on their property this year along with the City's project also. Mayor Lund stated, yes, they can have their Public Works get a hold of him. Scott Hickok , Community Development Director, stated he has business card. He would be glad to help with that. It would probably be an Engineering, and maybe some Planning effort; but they would be glad to help them out. MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to adopt Resolution No. 2015-13. Seconded by Commissioner Saefke. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. APPEAL HEARING: 14. Consider Appeal Request from Steve Saba, 7345 Central Avenue N.E. (Ward 2). Mayor Lund stated in reviewing this matter with the City Attorney and in checking the City Code and City Charter, the Code does not grant Council the power to conduct another hearing and/or accept new evidence. In essence, the record was closed at the conclusion of the Appeals Commission hearing. They will not be taking any new testimony from Mr. Saba or his attorney. and they are not going to be asking questions of the Council or the staff. The Council has hopefully had an opportunity to review all the paperwork and watched the DVDs. He understands that their mission here this evening is to either reaffirm the decision of the Appeals Commission, modify, or deny. That is what he would like to stay focused on. With that consideration does Council have any questions they want to entertain among themselves? He FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2015 PAGE 12 asked Attorney Erickson whether that was about the essence of what they should be doing here to make sure they are doing things correctly. Darcy Erickson, City Attorney, replied, yes, that is an accurate statement of the City Code section related to the abatement and any appeal of it. It sets forth the process. There is a provision for appeal to the City Council in terms of having the City Council review the Findings of Fact and decision. The record has been closed as of the close of the Appeals Commission meeting of January 28, technically January 29, as the meeting lasted until the next calendar day. The record is closed. It essentially is the duty of the Council to review those Findings of Fact and the decision based upon the evidence that was submitted. Mayor Lund asked if there was anything Council would like to share about their review. Councilmember Varichak stated she feels bad this has taken so long for both parties to deal with this from the inception in 1954 until now. It has been just a lengthy time commitment. She sees both sides of the issue. In the end, there were some things that were not done to the property that need to be done to the property. There were some things that were not communicated by the staff to acknowledge some gaps in between and maps missing. In the end, she read at some length and watched at some length the DVDs and the whole Appeals Commission meeting. Her vote is to go forward with the Appeals Commission's decision. Councilmember Bolkcom stated she, too, read the material and watched the five hours of presentation. She does not think a map is necessary. There is a legal description which is one thing she would vary from what Councilmember Varichak had said. There was a lot of information. Councilmember Saefke stated the only thing he has to say is that there were probably misunderstandings on both parties. From what he can gather from the information, Mr. Saba has already gone to district court, and the judge in that case said that the administrative remedies needed to be taken care of before he could render any judgment. He said he is going to affirm the Appeals Commission’s decision. Mayor Lund stated he has struggled with this issue. He felt that in listening to the testimony and reviewing all the documentation, staff brought forth some very valid arguments. Attorney Marty also made some very valid comments. This is an issue obviously that has been going on a long, long time. He has had conversations with Mr. Saba, not recently, but many years ago. For him, he is not an attorney and he is not a judge, but he is appalled by the condition of that property. It is an embarrassment to our community. Mr. Saba should be thoroughly embarrassed about the condition of that property, whether it is the items stored inside that fence or outside. Mayor Lund stated he would like to see some conclusion to this matter. The legalities will prevail on this use. He does not know if it will end here. It will go to court again. He certainly hopes at some point that staff and Mr. Saba can come to grips with this issue. He cannot fathom how the City can sit there and send code violation letters to somebody that has their garbage cart sitting out in the front driveway. This is a violation of the City Code, and yet how does the City enforce even the simplest Code violations. People tend to point fingers all the time. He hears it all the time, and certainly he can see where people would point fingers this direction and say, FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2015 PAGE 13 how can you bother me and find me in violation of doing some minor Code violation. It does not really matter if it is minor or major. Mayor Lund stated this case is a clear, flagrant, violation of everything this community stands for. This is beneath the standards of our community. He cannot in good conscience modify or overturn the findings of the Appeals Commission. He hopes that someday they can get to some resolution, Mr. Saba has peace, and City staff can move onto other items. He does not think staff is over zealous. The current staff has had to work with what has been there a long time. There have been some faults and some gaps and some voids from both sides, but he does not know if a resolution is ever going to come. Mr. Saba is not going to change his ways and it is an unsightly, unsightly piece of property. You can see where his vote is. Councilmember Barnette stated he would affirm the Appeals Commission decision as well. Attorney Erickson stated she would like to poll each of the Councilmembers and ask if they have had adequate time to review the materials provided which came from both Mr. Saba, his counsel, their witnesses and City staff. Attorney Erickson asked Mayor Lund, has he had sufficient time to review the materials provided by both parties and the proceedings conducted at the Appeals Commission meeting. Mayor Lund replied, yes. Attorney Erickson asked Councilmember Varichak if she had sufficient time to review the materials provided by both parties and the proceedings conducted at the Appeals Commission meeting. Councilmember Varichak replied, yes. Attorney Erickson asked Councilmember Barnette, if he had sufficient time to review the materials provided by both parties and the proceedings conducted at the Appeals Commission meeting. Councilmember Barnette replied, yes. Attorney Erickson asked Councilmember Saefke if he had sufficient time to review the materials provided by both parties and the proceedings conducted at the Appeals Commission meeting. Councilmember Saefke replied, yes. Attorney Erickson asked Councilmember Bolkcom, has she had sufficient time to review the materials provided by both parties and the proceedings conducted at the Appeals Commission meeting. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2015 PAGE 14 Councilmember Bolkcom replied, yes, they all had the opportunity to review this two weeks ahead of time. It did give them plenty of time to go over all the written materials along with all of the DVDs. Mr. Wysopal stated the City Attorney wants to comment about the action Council needs to take. They will notice in their packet there was not a resolution provided by City staff. That was intentional on their part. They did not want to steer Council in any particular direction with the resolution. If they were to find something and provide multiple resolutions, they would not have that information. If Council prefers to have staff put together that resolution they could do that in a matter of ten minutes and it would be basically the same resolution that the Appeals Commission had. Attorney Erickson stated she recommends staff put together a short resolution affirming the Appeals Commission resolution based on the record submitted before the Appeals Commission. MOTION by Councilmember Varichak to take a ten-minute recess. Seconded by Councilmember Barnette. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. (Council Meeting reconvened at 8:35 p.m.) Mayor Lund called the meeting back to order. He said they have a resolution. They will take a few moments for Council to review it before they make any motion. Attorney Erickson stated City staff has prepared a resolution and then attached the Appeals Commission resolution as an exhibit. That is why it is fairly lengthy. Councilmember Bolkcom said Exhibit A has not changed from the one contained in the agenda. The first two pages are new. Attorney Erickson replied, that is correct. The City Council's resolution is represented by the first two pages, and Exhibit A is a copy of the executed resolution made by the Appeals Commission. MOTION by Councilmember Varichak to adopt Resolution No. 2015-14, Resolution Affirming the Decision of the Fridley Appeals Commission to Affirm the Code Enforcement Officer’s Order Related to 7345 Central Avenue with Attachment of the Resolution from the Appeals Commission as Exhibit A. Seconded by Councilmember Barnette. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2015 PAGE 15 15. Informal Status Reports: None. ADJOURN: MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to adjourn. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:43 P.M . Respectfully submitted by, Denise M. Johnson Scott J. Lund Recording Secretary Mayor