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CCM 05/08/2017 CITY COUNCIL MEETING CITY OF FRIDLEY MAY 8, 2017 The City Council meeting for the City of Fridley was called to order by Mayor Lund at 7:02 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 Shelly Peterson, Finance Director Don Anderson, Fridley Resident Brad Dunham, Round Lake Commons II, LLC PRESENTATION: Minnesota Recreation and Parks Association Al-Amal School APPROVAL OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA: APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Board of Appeal and Equalization Meeting of April 24, 2017. APPROVED. City Council Meeting of April 24, 2017. APPROVED. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Receive the Minutes from the Planning Commission Meeting of April 19, 2017. RECEIVED. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF MAY 8, 2017 PAGE 2 2. Claims (ACH PCard 1704; 176461 - 176640) APPROVED. ADOPTION OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to adopt the proposed consent agenda. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. OPEN FORUM, VISITORS: Don Anderson, Fridley resident, statedthe other day his mom went out to check on people shooting off fireworks behind where they live. They sounded probably louder than a transformer going off. Mayor Lund asked if they reported this to the Police Department. He asked when it happened. Mr. Anderson replied a couple of days ago. The people shooting off the fireworks told his mom to mind her own business. Mayor Lund asked Mr. Anderson if his mom confronted the people. Mr. Anderson replied she did and she was scared. Mayor Lund said that is probably not the safest thing to do, because they are going to probably tell her to mind her own business. Mr. Anderson stated his mom called the cops and was told they have more important things to take care of. They keep shooting off fireworks every week or every day. Mayor Lund asked if it was in the park and on what street. Mr. Anderson replied yes, on West Circle. Mayor Lund asked what day it happened. Mr. Anderson replied Saturday. Mayor Lund asked if anyone had talked with the park manager. Mr. Anderson, replied no, but he does not think the manager wants to hear about what is going on every day. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF MAY 8, 2017 PAGE 3 Mayor Lund replied, it is his job to manage the park, but he will talk to the manager and have a brief discussion with the City’s police officers. He finds that hard to believe they would say they are too busy on more priority calls. If they have priority call(s), they have to triage them and take them in the order of importance. Mr. Anderson replied he does not want to see anybody get hurt with the fireworks. Mayor Lund asked Mr. Anderson whether his mother called 911 or the Police Department line. Mr. Anderson replied 911. She felt scared. Mayor Lund asked Mr. Anderson to share his mother’s name and phone number with staff so he may contact her. ADOPTION OF AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to approve the agenda. Seconded by Councilmember Saefke. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. PUBLIC HEARING: 3. Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the City Code of the City of Fridley, Minnesota, by Making a Change in Zoning Districts (Rezoning Request, ZOA #17-01, by Brad Dunham with Round Lake Commons II, LLC, for 7699 Highway 65 N.E.) (Ward 2). MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to open the public hearing. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS OPENED AT 7:30 P.M. Scott Hickok, Community Development Director, stated Mr. Dunham is requesting to rezone the property at 7699 Highway 65 from C-3, General Shopping, to C-2, General Business. This rezoning will allow for the redevelopment of this site with a new express car wash use. Mr. Hickok stated a C-2, General Business zoning district requires motor vehicle wash establishments to obtain a special use permit. The petitioner is requesting a special use permit, but it will be brought before Council on June 12, 2017, at the same time of the second reading of this rezoning ordinance. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF MAY 8, 2017 PAGE 4 Mr. Hickok stated the current zoning is C-3, General Shopping. It imposes several requirements that make the redevelopment of this site very difficult, not the least of which is an 80-foot setback on all sides if there is a street, which in this case is on every side of the site. The property is a turn-back parcel within the City and has a roadway on all sides of it. Mr. Hickok stated over the course of the last several years, staff has been working with property owners of these turn back parcels to have them rezoned to C-2, General Business District, which would allow them to be redeveloped. Oftentimes what happened is these were C-3 because the frontage road initially was right up next to the highway itself. Over time, it was drawn back and the parcel on the corner became severed from the larger C-3 piece. It no longer makes sense as a C-3 parcel, especially with the 80-foot setback from every street side. Mr. Hickok said examples of this include SuperAmerica along Highway 65, Trav’s Outfitter, st and the old Citgo station on University Avenue and 61 Avenue. Mr. Hickok said a public hearing was held for this rezoning at the April 19 Planning Commission meeting. The Planning Commission had a lengthy conversation related to entering and exiting the site. The Commission felt the access point off of Osborne Road should either be eliminated or used as an entrance only. Mr. Dunham was agreeable to the entrance only concept; and the Commission added a stipulation to the special use permit request stating that access off Osborne Road shall be entrance only. Mr. Hickok presented the site plan and said there is an entrance and exit point to the frontage road which is the primary entrance to the site. To the north would be just an entrance. The car wash is shaded in green. The spaces south of the queuing loop or stacking loop are vacuum bays. Every one of the dark shaded lines over the top of what looks to be a parking line is a vacuum cleaner. This is a self-vacuum and quite an efficient wash system. Councilmember Bolkcom asked Mr. Hickok to point those things out on the plan. Mr. Hickok stated if you were entering this site, you could either get in the wash queue or park in one of the vacuum parking spots, and use a free vacuum. One finished you would enter into the queue. You could also go through the wash first and then vacuum after. There is a two-way drive in the center and a one-way loop into the car wash and then back out. Mayor Lund asked what the gate on the west side was used for. Mr. Hickok replied, it was to keep people from entering the queue at that point. Mr. Hickok stated the Planning Commission recommended approval after discussion on that access point and a special use permit with an added stipulation also was discussed. That motion carried unanimously. Planning staff recommends concurrence with the Planning Commission and that Council hold a public hearing for the request this evening. The first reading would be scheduled on May 22 and second reading held on June 12 along with approval of the special use permit. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF MAY 8, 2017 PAGE 5 Councilmember Varichak asked what happens with the soapy water from the car wash. Does it go into the sanitary sewer? She asked about the residue from all the dirt. Mr. Hickok replied the car wash is quite a complex thing, and the petitioner could tell them they pay quite a few SACs, or sewer availability charges, to help facilitate the eventual processing of the water. Mayor Lund asked Mr. Dunham if they plan to recycle the water. Brad Dunham , Round Lake Commons II, LLC, replied, they use some recycling. There are at least two large tanks this runs through. They have to pump those tanks out every so often. Mayor Lund stated he assumes the tanks are for sediment—dirt and sand. Mr. Dunham replied yes. The septic companies come out and pump them depending on usage, etc. Mr. Dunham stated the exit gate is in case the wrong car gets into the queue, needs to get out, or somebody has an issue with the wash (they do not fit, etc.). They have done a couple of these car washes. They have one in Anoka now, and this will be better planned than that one. The free vacuums are what really drives the public. It is a popular item. They wash cars from $6 to $18 and it has unlimited vacuums. It has worked well for them before, and he thinks this is going to be a really good site. Mayor Lund asked if the current plan was different from the earlier one he saw. Mr. Dunham replied, yes. It was correctly drawn to his attention that it was not safe. When you came out of the car wash, you had to look out of the back where the curvature of the road was. It did not work well and would have been a little dangerous. Mayor Lund stated so the “in only” on Osborne is in lieu of the second driveway. Mr. Dunham replied they always had that one in the beginning to manage traffic better. Mayor Lund asked if there is any concern about the queue going beyond the entrance only from Osborne. How would they get into the queue? Mr. Dunham replied they have had a little discussion about that; but he thinks they will have to manually close that off in the event that would happen. They can run the cars through pretty fast. The pay stations they can do a car every minute. At the car wash they have now, the best they have done is 85 cars in an hour. They have a lot of them at 60. Councilmember Bolkcom said with respect to the car wash on East River Road and Mississippi, sometimes they come out and they are pretty wet. She knows there have been some ice issues there. She asked if that would be alleviated at this car wash. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF MAY 8, 2017 PAGE 6 Mr. Dunham replied they have included drainage and also have de-icing equipment and material because they do not want it to be slippery either. Councilmember Bolkcom asked if most of the water would stay on the property. Mr. Dunham replied, he thinks they are required to do that. The car wash location they have now is heated. They also are extending that quite a bit further. They actually curved that a little bit more so it is easier to make the corner instead of being tight. Councilmember Varichak asked if they have heard anything from any of the neighbors. She asked what the hours were and how noisy it would be. Mr. Hickok replied, as to the neighbors, there were some people in the audience at the Planning Commission meeting, but no one said anything. In terms of call, the only call was an information-seeking call asking what the mailed announcement was. Mr. Dunham stated they are currently open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. It will be similar. It may be longer especially at this time of the year. Mayor Lund stated as to the concern about noise he cannot see there being that much as the operation happens indoors. Mr. Dunham stated their Anoka car wash is off of Round Lake Road and they are next to residential so they did some noise readings. Their wash was not as loud as Round Lake Road is which has just a few less cars than the Fridley location would. Councilmember Barnette stated this is at the old Frost Top and Dr. Dahl chiropractic site. He noticed just recently that the Wendy’s has closed. He said that additional property is not a part of this site. Mr. Hickok replied correct. He said they have not heard from anyone related to the use of that site. MOTION by Councilmember Varichak to close the public hearing. Seconded by Councilmember Barnette. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS CLOSED AT 7:44 P.M. NEW BUSINESS: 4. Resolution Declaring the Structures Located at the New Civic Campus Site as Surplus and Authorizing their Demolition. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF MAY 8, 2017 PAGE 7 Shelly Peterson , Finance Director, stated she is requesting Council to move forward with staff’s request on the surplus buildings at the new civic campus. Construction is scheduled at the end of May. There are several structures on that site that will need to be removed prior to construction, including the Fire training facilities, the Police forfeiture building, and the Public Works buildings. Ms. Peterson stated with the Fire training facility and tower was built in 1997. They also have a donated garage on that site. The training agreement was dissolved, and the City had no interest from surrounding communities on dismantling and using that facility somewhere else. Staff went to great lengths to see if there was a repurpose for that building. Ms. Peterson stated with the Police forfeiture building, it was a pole barn building that was erected in 2014 and paid for entirely with drug and alcohol forfeiture funds. The Police Chief went to great lengths to see if the City could sell that property and dismantle and rebuild it elsewhere. With pole buildings, it is generally cheaper to build new rather than try to pull the sheet metal down and use it again. That is another facility the City will be dismantling and recycling. Ms. Peterson stated and finally, with respect to the Public Works structures, there are multiple buildings here with the first building built in 1967. The last expansion was in 2003. Demolition on this building will occur in phases so they do not interrupt services for Public Works. They went through several efforts of trying to sell some of the buildings. They looked at donating the buildings, and they looked at possibly recycling some of the buildings on this site. It was determined these buildings needed to be demolished. They included them in the bid documents that recently went out. The contractors knew what materials they could salvage, and what would need to be demolished, and they bid accordingly. Ms. Peterson stated some of the structures have not fully depreciated, so staff was anticipating having to write a loss off on those buildings. In talking further with the City’s auditor, he does not feel that would be necessary based on the useful life remaining on some of those facilities. Ms. Peterson stated staff is recommending Council declare these structures at the new civic campus site as surplus, and authorize their demolition. Councilmember Barnette asked if there was an electronics tower on that site that needs to be moved. Mr. Hickok replied, yes, there is a telecommunication tower that will be moved to a location on the new campus. We have been negotiating with the telecom owner, and it looks like there is going to be a conclusion on that and it can be moved in a timely manner. There may need to be a cell tower on wheels providing service in a temporary location until the new tower gets constructed. Councilmember Barnette asked who would pay for that. Mr. Hickok replied the City. That is one of the consequences of the City doing this building. They really needed to get it out of the way rather than design around it. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF MAY 8, 2017 PAGE 8 Mayor Lund stated he thought staff has worked diligently in trying to repurpose those buildings. He is just a little dismayed to find that the pole barn building is not reusable and that the salt shed is not even resalable. Wally Wysopal , City Manager, stated with respect to the salt storage shed, it is problematic because it has collapsed on several occasions, and the manufacturer is no longer making it. Therefore, someone taking it and using it could pose the City some problems. Also, there is the time involved in dismantling the pole barn where anybody who wants it always factors in the cost to take it apart. Their time and energy to do that exceeds the value of the structure itself. So it is usually somebody who wants to take it for nothing. Mayor Lund stated he is glad to see the City got a better bid with its primary contractor. The amount of $6,000 is a lot better to pay for that demolition than the $32,000 that was originally bid. MOTION by Councilmember Saefke to adopt Resolution No. 2017-16. Seconded by Councilmember Bolkcom. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 5. Informal Status Report: No reports. ADJOURN: MOTION by Councilmember Barnette, seconded by Councilmember Varichak, to adjourn. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:55 P.M. Respectfully submitted by, Denise M. Johnson Scott J. Lund Recording Secretary Mayor