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CCM 11/13/2018 BOARD OF CANVASS MEETING AND CITY COUNCIL MEETING CITY OF FRIDLEY NOVEMBER 13, 2018 The City Council meeting for the City of Fridley was called to order by Mayor Lund at 7:04 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Lund Councilmember Barnette Councilmember Varichak Councilmember Bolkcom MEMBERS ABSENT: Commissioner Saefke OTHERS PRESENT: Wally Wysopal, City Manager Scott Hickok, Community Development Director James Kosluchar, Public Works Director Dan Tienter, Finance Director Deb Skogen, City Clerk BOARD OF CANVASS MEETING Deb Skogen, City Clerk, presented the results of the November 6, 2018, General Election. MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to receive and certify the results of the November 6, 2018, General Election. Seconded by Councilmember Bolkcom. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. CITY COUNCIL MEETING PRESENTATION: Heart Safe Community Designation APPROVAL OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA: APPROVAL OF MINUTES: 1. City Council Meeting of October 22, 2018. APPROVED. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF NOVEMBER 13, 2018 PAGE 2 OLD BUSINESS: 2. Second Reading of an Ordinance to Amend the City Code of the City of Fridley, Minnesota, by Making a Change in Zoning Districts (Rezoning Request, ZOA #18-04, by Sherman Associates Development, LLC) (Ward 3). THIS ITEM WAS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA AND PLACED ON THE REGULAR AGENDA. 3. Second Reading of an Ordinance to Amend Chapter 205 of the Fridley Zoning Code Pertaining to exterior Storage (Text Amendment Request, TA #18-02, by the City of Fridley) (Ward 3). WAIVED THE READING OF THE ORDINANCE AND ADOPTED ORDINANCE NO. 1362 ON SECOND READING AND ORDERED PUBLICATION. NEW BUSINESS: 4. Receive the Minutes from the Planning Commission Meeting of October 17, 2018. RECEIVED. 5. Preliminary Plat Request, PS #18-04, by Sherman Associates Development, LLC, to Create Separate Lots for Each Portion of the Proposed Development, Generally Located at 6050 Main Street NW (Ward 3). APPROVED. 6. Approve Capital Project Grant Agreement Between the City of Fridley and the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization for Smart Salting Best Management Practices. THIS ITEM WAS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA AND PLACED ON THE REGULAR AGENDA. 7. Approve Memorandum of Understanding Agreement for Federal Equitable Sharing for the Anoka-Hennepin Narcotics and Violent Crimes Task Force. APPROVED. 8. Receive the Twin Cities Gateway Fiscal year 2019 Annual Budget. APPROVED. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF NOVEMBER 13, 2018 PAGE 3 9. Claims (182785 - 183028). APPROVED. 10. Business Licenses THIS ITEM WAS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA AND PLACED ON THE REGULAR AGENDA. ADOPTION OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to adopt the proposed consent agenda with the removal of Item Nos. 2, 6 and 10, Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. OPEN FORUM, VISITORS: No one from the audience spoke. ADOPTION OF AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to adopt the agenda with the addition of Item Nos. 2, 6 and 10. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. NEW BUSINESSES: 11. First Reading of an Ordinance Amending the City Code of the City of Fridley, Minnesota, by Repealing Chapter 3 Entitled “Personnel” in its Entirety and Adopting a New Chapter 3 Entitled “Personnel”. Deb Dahl, Director of Community Services & Employee Resources, stated Fridley City Code, Chapter 3, involves personnel matters. Staff is requesting Council waive the reading and adopt the first reading of the ordinance to amend Fridley City Code, Chapter 3. The entire chapter will be replaced. City personnel policies are encompassed in the ordinance, which can be cumbersome to change, replace or make amendments. It is difficult to keep pace with the market and laws that change and update the ordinance with union negotiations that come up throughout the years. Once the ordinance is adopted, staff will propose amendments. One of the amendments is to add a holiday to non-union staff to take affect the first of 2018. Non-union staff currently have 11 days, and the union staff have 12 days. Going forward a floating holiday will be converted for use at staff’s own discretion. Another change is to increase the annual leave from 240 hours to 320 hours. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF NOVEMBER 13, 2018 PAGE 4 Councilmember Barnette asked if non-union paid fair share or union dues. Ms. Dahl replied no. Councilmember Barnette asked if they get the same benefits. Ms. Dahl said the union does not get benefits without paying union dues. On the non-union side, they are not paying any dues, but their benefits are different for these two items. Staff is asking to line up the non-union benefits with union benefits. Councilmember Barnette recalled when he worked for the schools there were people who benefited from union negotiations but did not pay dues to receive the benefits. Fair share pays a portion of dues to receive the same benefits. Ms. Dahl noted that not all benefits will be aligned. Health, dental and vacation are aligned but other benefits remain separate for the union like overtime, comp. time, court time rules, etc. Councilmember Bolkcom thought it made sense to align the holidays. Mayor Lund said he understood the concern of staff paying union dues and non-union staff getting the same thing. Wally Wysopal, City Manager, said they are not trying to compare union vs non-union, but these things are being aligned based on market rate comparison. There are many different terms and conditions in the union contract that are not available to non-union positions. MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to waive the reading of the ordinance and adopt the ordinance on first reading and ordered publication. Seconded by Councilmember Barnette. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. OLD BUSINESS: 2. Second Reading of an Ordinance to Amend the City Code of the City of Fridley, Minnesota, by Making a Change in Zoning Districts (Rezoning Request, ZOA #18-04, by Sherman Associates Development, LLC) (Ward 3). Councilmember Bolkcom said she was surprised with this change and is leery, as another project with underground parking has resulted in people who live there parking on the street. She asked the representative to talk with the audience so residents can understand how this changed since the last meeting. Carole Mette, Sherman and Associates, stated that when they looked at the site plan this spring, the plan was to build a three-story senior project. More detail pricing was received a few weeks ago and the pricing for the senior project was significantly higher than the market rate project. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF NOVEMBER 13, 2018 PAGE 5 After discussion, it was decided to change this project to 4-stories to decrease the cost of the foundation. Underground parking is a large piece of the budget. They have two other senior projects recently opened in Maplewood and Milwaukee, similar to this project. The overall parking ratio has not changed. Parking stalls will be made up by adding stalls to the surface parking versus underground parking. The first site plan was laid out two years ago as a three- story building. The cost of construction changed from 2016 to 2018 and they worked with a general contractor to come up with a solution to reach construction at the same price. The four- story building is the answer with no reduction in parking, just relocation. Councilmember Bolkcom asked if each unit would get one parking spot or if it was based on what type of unit, and if there was a charge for an underground parking spot. Ms. Mette replied that there will be a charge for underground parking based on the market rate study and supply and demand. There will be plenty of parking for people to be on-site. Underground parking will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. They may have to restrict a unit from renting more than one space if they reach a certain level of occupancy. Councilmember Bolkcom asked with 30 additional surface spots if the green space would increase or stay the same as the proposed plan. Ms. Mette said she did not have the calculation with the increased parking and decreased building footprint. Mayor Lund asked what the rate would be for underground parking. Ms. Mette replied between $50 and $75 a month. Mayor Lund said there is an issue in Fridley with another project that has underground parking. People do not want to pay the extra fee, so they are parking on the street and the City is getting complaints. He said he is concerned there is not enough parking planned for guests that come for holidays, birthdays, etc. He asked where they would park. This project is now reengineered to make units less expensive and build a smaller footprint and take away underground parking and add surface parking. Ms. Mette said they are not changing the footprint to make units less expensive but to make the project financially feasible. This project will have high-end finishes for Fridley and the surrounding areas. People will want to live here because of the amenities--not because it is the cheapest place to live. They lean on the management group for parking ratios and a lot of data was provided to come up with the numbers needed for this type of building. The 1.5 parking spaces per unit does account for visitors. With the transit lot availability, a parking sharing agreement may be feasible, but it is too soon to talk about that. Mayor Lund said he was concerned about using someone else’s property for parking. It may be difficult for the parties to come to an agreement and it may not work. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF NOVEMBER 13, 2018 PAGE 6 Ms. Mette replied that it is not their preference to enter into a shared parking agreement now, but maybe in the future. Councilmember Bolkcom said she did not think project should go forward if they need to ask for a parking agreement. More people may take the train and the parking may not be available. She also thought that underground parking is an amenity that Minnesota residents would like to have. Mayor Lund said he realized this request is for the bank and understood that underground parking could be expensive. Ms. Mette said she agreed with the comments about the parking. They designed the site, the number of units with proper parking in mind and did not plan to depend on metro transit parking areas. She said they are not concerned about the amount of parking, and 1.5 stalls per unit was plenty. MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to waive the reading of the ordinance and adopt Ordinance No. 1361 on second reading and ordered publication. Seconded by Councilmember Barnette. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 6. Approve Capital Project Grant Agreement Between the City of Fridley and the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization for Smart Salting Best Management Practices. Councilmember Bolkcom asked for more information on this incredible project. Rachel Workin, Environmental Planner, said the City of Fridley is responsible for maintaining city roads for safe winter driving through a combination of plowing and chloride (salt) application. The City currently utilizes seven plow trucks equipped with manually-controlled spreaders which release dry salt onto the road. The manually-controlled system results in an excess amount of salt release, because the driver is not able to set a specific concentration of salt per lane mile or easily adjust the amount of salt released based on speed. There are further disadvantages to applying dry salt as opposed to salt “pre-wetted” by brine as dry salt requires a much higher chloride concentration to be effective, takes longer to activate, and frequently “bounces” outside of the intended application zone. Ms. Workin stated there are long-lasting ecological impacts of this excess salt application. Chloride is a known aquatic contaminant that is nearly impossible to remove from a waterbody. Excess aquatic chloride levels can negatively impact aquatic life and drinking water quality, among other issues. In recognition of the water quality impacts of chlorides, the City of Fridley installed a brine-making system in the new Public Works facility. However, the City was financially limited in the amount and quality of brine-application systems the City would be able to purchase for its plows during the 2018/2019 season. As the Mississippi Watershed FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF NOVEMBER 13, 2018 PAGE 7 Management Organization (MWMO) has recognized chloride reduction as a priority, the City requested grant funding from the MWMO to facilitate the purchase of Smart Salting Best Management Practices for winter maintenance. Ms. Workin said the MWMO capital grant of $80,557 will be used to purchase advanced brine application systems for four of the City’s plows. These systems will allow the driver to “pre-wet” the salt with brine before road application, automatically set the concentration of brine and salt based on weather conditions, and adjust the salt application rate based on speed. This equipment also includes monitoring/GPS technology that will allow the City to track the amount of salt used in different locations in order to improve route and salting efficiency. The grant funding will also be used to purchase an anti-icing trailer system. This trailer system will attach to a City truck and can be used to pro-actively apply a low concentration of brine to roads in advance of a winter weather event. This low concentration of brine delays and prevents the bond of ice and snow to the roadway and prevents the compaction of snow. As a result, less chloride is needed overall to remove the snow and ice. Ms. Workin said the purchase of this equipment is expected to reduce the amount of salt used by each upgraded plow between 30-40% while also improving road safety. In addition to the ecological benefits, the City expects to see an economic benefit due to the decreased amount of salt needed. During the 2017/2018 season, the City spent City roughly $51,970.46 on salt. This amount would have been expected to increase this upcoming winter season (dependent on weather), since the contracted price on salt increased 19% per ton this year. As a result, the new equipment is expected to save the City an estimated $10,600 during the 2018/2019 winter season. Ms. Workin said this grant does not require an additional cash match, although the City will need to purchase a $200/per truck data fee to access GPS and weather data. The City will also commit to tracking the amount of salt used and sharing this information with the MWMO. The City will also partner with the MWMO to educate its residents and businesses on the importance of and strategies to decrease salt use on their properties. Staff recommends the City Council move to approve the attached Mississippi Watershed Management Organization Grant Agreement #2021824 for the purchase of Smart Salting Best Management Practices. Councilmember Bolkcom said this is a great project and asked if brine salt was more effective at different temperatures. Jim Kosluchar, Public Works Director, replied that brine reduces the melting point temperature of road salt and is more effective at lower temperatures—5 to 10 degrees. MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to approve the Capital Project Grant Agreement between the City of Fridley and the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization for Smart Salting Best Management Practices. Seconded by Councilmember Barnette. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF NOVEMBER 13, 2018 PAGE 8 NEW BUSINESS: 10. Business Licenses. Councilmember Bolkcom noted that Duir Massage had no massage therapist listed and she did not think the business should be approved with no therapist listed. Wally Wysopal, City Manager, replied that Duir Massage with Cynthia Miller was a word processing error and she should be listed as the massage therapist. MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to approve the Business Licenses with the addition of Cynthia Miller listed as a therapist under Duir Massage. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 12. Resolution Approving a Transit Oriented Development Master Plan, TOD #18-01 by Sherman Associates Development, LLC, on Behalf of the Property Owner, the City of Fridley Housing and Redevelopment Authority, to Allow the Development of the Properties Generally Located at 6050 Main Street N.E. (Ward 3) Scott Hickok, Community Development Director, said there are three land use items that are being requested to allow for the development of the property located at 6050 Main Street and the Northstar Commuter Rail East Fridley Station site: Rezoning request to S-2, plat request to create new lots for each portion of the development including a lot for the Metro Transit parking lot, and the TOD Master Plan. The land use items will allow the construction of a 270-unit mixed income, transit-oriented, multi-family residential development within three buildings. The phased project will allow for the construction of a 95-unit market rate building, a 103-unit independent senior market rate building, and a 72-unit affordable multi-family building. Mr. Hickok said when reviewing the construction estimates, petitioner learned that the cost per unit to build the senior building was significantly higher than the other two buildings. This was due to the fact that it has a much larger footprint, which means an increase in concrete foundation and footings. The number of total parking stalls will remain the same at 162. There is a reduction of 36 underground parking stalls but those stalls have been added to the surface parking lot, keeping the total at 162 stalls. Mr. Hickok said staff received the traffic study on November 6, 2018, and it indicated the roadways and intersections will be acceptable with the expected traffic resulting from the proposed development. The recommendations that were given relate to making sure bicycle parking is accessible and available, that drop-off circles at each building are sufficiently signed and striped, and encouraging on-site loading/unloading to occur outside of peak periods. TOD overlay allows for flexibility when designing a development project that encourages dense, mixed use, and pedestrian-friendly developments. It was also created to provide life cycle housing for people of different income levels and housing space needs within one half mile of the train station. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF NOVEMBER 13, 2018 PAGE 9 Mr. Hickok stated in the packet is a list of all the performance standards the petitioner is required to meet as part of a TOD project. Some of those standards are related to lot coverage, setback, height, façade articulation, building face, parking, landscaping, sidewalks and lighting. The petitioner has designed the project that meets the TOD standards and will achieve what the City and HRA was hoping to see with development of this land. The Planning Commission reviewed TOD #18-01 in conjunction with the other land use requests for this project at their September 19 meeting. The Planning Commission recommended approval of the TOD master plan with the added stipulation requiring a fence be installed between the project and Parson’s Electric to the south. City staff recommend concurrence with the Planning Commission and that Council approve the resolution with the addition of Exhibit C which Council received tonight. Bryant Ficek, Spack Consulting, said he has been working with Mr. Hickok studying the parking for this development. They have taken counts out at the site and feel good with what is going on and about the future parking with adding the new development. There are currently 40 people parking there and projections are 80. Looking into the future with projecting traffic, they estimate at peak hours 70 vehicles in the morning and 100 in the afternoon which is an additional five vehicles every three minutes. With the added traffic counts and running them through models per standard operations, the current operations are acceptable. The city code is being met and so is the traffic study. They also see plenty of parking in the plan and came up with some minor recommendations; to make sure there was good bicycle parking and signing and striping for the drop-off area. MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to adopt Resolution No. 2018-56. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 13. Resolution Authorizing Execution of Mutual Aid Agreement with Ramsey County Fire Chief’s Association to Provide for the Automatic Dispatch of the Closest Emergency Response Unit Regardless of Jurisdictional Boundaries. Brian Weierke, Public Safety Director, stated the Fridley Public Safety Department and New Brighton Public Safety Department have agreed to join into an agreement to provide automatic aid, or “closest unit”, for portions of New Brighton and Fridley. Automatic aid allows the 911 dispatcher to “automatically” send prearranged emergency equipment to the city in need. In this case, Ramsey County dispatch would request a fire engine from Fridley for any “confirmed” structure fire in the area designated in New Brighton. In return, Fridley would receive automatic aid from New Brighton of a fire engine for any “confirmed” structure fire in the designated area in Fridley. Chief Weierke noted that the agreement is with the Ramsey County Fire Chief’s Association but allows the Cities of Fridley and New Brighton to determine the extent of the assistance required. Any party may act by resolution to opt out of its participation with at least 60-days written notice of termination to the President, the applicable County Emergency Communications Center, and each of the other Parties. The Fridley Fire Department currently operates under an automatic aid FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF NOVEMBER 13, 2018 PAGE 10 policy with the SBM, Columbia Heights and St. Anthony Fire Departments. St. Anthony currently has to travel through New Brighton to reach fires in Fridley and Fridley will discontinue our auto aid with St. Anthony at the end of 2018. We will continue to work with St. Anthony Fire within our mutual aid requests. Chief Weierke said that automatic aid is critical to a quick response and providing enough firefighters in the event of a structure fire. The City of Fridley relies on automatic aid to meet the standards for response to a structure fire. This new auto aid with New Brighton will not change our staffing levels and will provide better coverage for our Fridley community. We are not anticipating a large effect on the number of fire calls either Fridley or New Brighton will respond to in the future. This auto-aid agreement with New Brighton will go into effect on January 1, 2019. Staff recommends Council’s approval. MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to adopt Resolution No. 2018-57. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 14. Approve Traffic Control Signal Agreement Between the State of Minnesota Department of Transportation and the City of Fridley and Anoka for the East River Road Traffic Control Signal Replacement (Ward 3). Jim Kosluchar, Public Works Director, stated that MnDOT has programmed replacement of the signal at the 694 Exit Ramp for East River Road for 2019. The existing signal is nearing 42 years old (reconstructed in 1977) and is due for replacement before it becomes unreliable or maintenance costs become prohibitive. The proposed project includes several upgrades to the traffic signal system. MnDOT has requested the City of Fridley approve the signal agreement. Maintenance responsibilities for the signals would remain the same as in the existing signal agreement. MnDOT is responsible for operation and major maintenance and the City is responsible for minor signal maintenance and luminaire maintenance, along with power costs. Mr. Kosluchar said the standard cost share agreement for reconstruction of these signals is 50% local and 50% MnDOT. The local share of the project would be split between the City of Fridley and Anoka County. In our historic cost-share agreement with Anoka County, the City and County would share equally in the local cost of this reconstruction (each paying just over $125,000). However, staff has been working with the Anoka County Highway Department to revise and balance this agreement. The result will be that the City of Fridley will share in providing the cost of the Emergency Vehicle Pre-emption (EVP) system serving our first responders, and half of any pedestrian-related improvements. This will mean that the City will provide $18,805.50, while Anoka County will provide $232,321.50 for this project. MnDOT will provide a matching amount of $251,127.00 for the project. Mr. Kosluchar said staff has been notified that its Municipal State Aid System (MSAS) fund advance request has been approved. This will allow the City to use its 2019 MSAS funds to complete its portion of the project. Staff recommends the City Council adopt the attached FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF NOVEMBER 13, 2018 PAGE 11 resolutions. If adopted, staff will notify MnDOT and Anoka County of the approval, and MnDOT will set a bid letting date for the project. Councilmember Bolkcom noted that this is excellent work and a huge savings. She commended staff for their work. Wally Wysopal, City Manager, said that this is a way staff saved $107,000 that otherwise would have been passed through and now this can be spent in other ways. MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to adopt Resolution No. 2018-58 Resolution Approving Agreement with the State of Minnesota Department of Transportation for Replacement of the Existing Traffic Control Signal at Interstate 694 and East River Road and to adopt Resolution No. 2018-59 Resolution Requesting Municipal State Aid System Construction Funds for Construction of a Traffic Control Signal System at Interstate 694 and East River Road. Seconded by Councilmember Barnette. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 15. Informal Status Reports. Mayor Lund encouraged people to come to the new Civic Campus open house and dedication on Saturday, November 17 at 10 am. Councilmember Bolkcom thanked all the citizens for this new beautiful building. Council and staff are proud of this facility and look forward to the continued development in the surrounding area. 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 8:40 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Krista Peterson Scott J. Lund Recording Secretary Mayor