Loading...
02/22/2021 CITY COUNCIL MEETING February 22, 2021 7:00 PM Fridley Civic Campus, 7071 University Avenue N.E. MINUTES CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. PRESENT Mayor Lund Councilmember Bolkcom Councilmember Eggert Councilmember Ostwald Councilmember Tillberry Scott Hickok, Community Development Director Rita Trapp, Hoisington Koegler Group PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE APPROVAL OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA Motion made by Ostwald. Seconded Eggert. Voting Yea: Lund, Bolkcom, Eggert, Ostwald, Tillberry APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Approve the Minutes from the City Council Meeting of February 8, 2021 NEW BUSINESS 2. Resolution No. 2021-13 Approval of Gifts, Donations and Sponsorships received between January 11, 2021 and February 12, 2021 3. Resolution No. 2021-14 Approving a Local Road Improvement Program Application for the Fridley and Columbia Heights 53rd Avenue Project CLAIMS 4. Claims: 191893 – 192007 City Council Meeting 2/22/2021 Minutes Page 2 ADOPTION OF REGULAR AGENDA Motion Made by Bolkcom, Seconded by Tillberry. Voting Yea: Lund, Bolkcom, Eggert, Ostwald, Tillberry OPEN FORUM, VISITORS: Consideration of Items not on Agenda – 15 minutes. No one from the audience spoke. REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS NEW BUSINESS 5. Resolution No. 2021-11 Approving the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. Scott Hickock, Community Development Director, stated the Comprehensive Plan is a long-range document that looks to 2040. It is broad in scope, it is policy-oriented, it provides a basis for future decisions, and investments by the City. At the highest level, it provides for planning or land use, housing, parks, trails, open spaces, transportation, and infrastructure. Mr. Hickok stated this planning process began in 2016. City staff committees for each of the chapters were created and involved City staff, department managers and other individuals. Because it is such a broad document, has so many policies involved and so many ideas, it does a lot of staff. Mr. Hickok stated in 2016 the internal staff committees were formed. In 2017, Framing Fridley, a community survey, and other engagement activities occurred to get a sense of where the public was at and what they would like to see in the Comprehensive Planning process. In 2018, the Comprehensive Plan was drafted and reviewed by adjacent jurisdictions. The Comprehensive Plan is something the City does by law, every ten years, and it is also something that requires the City go through a certain process. Not only does the City have the draft approved by the City Council but also the documents are sent out to adjacent jurisdictions, so they understand what is happening. Good planning happens across the borders, and regional planning really does help emphasize the fact that the City is not just planning for itself but is making a plan available to other people, so they know what is happening in Fridley. Mr. Hickok stated the Metropolitan Council has reviewed the final drafts and edits. Mr. Hickok stated staff got a lot of good public input at various events—the Home and Garden Show, the City’s town hall meeting, and the Safe Routes to School event. He said that through a website survey, they received 97 responses. Throughout this process, they also received valuable input on streets, parks, and general goals. They were also able to incorporate a vision statement for the City, which has not been in the Comprehensive Plan until now. There are also goals embedded in the document--providing a safe environment for residences and businesses, maintaining Fridley as a vibrant community in the Twin Cities, continuing to be known as Friendly Fridley, and continuing to be a stable environment in which families and businesses can thrive. City Council Meeting 2/22/2021 Minutes Page 3 Mr. Hickok stated the population total has stayed pretty much the same. They have added to the housing stock which has added to the families which will add to the overall population. They are very optimistic the latest consensus will reveal they have a larger population total. As they project out to 2040, they are looking at a population of 32,500. They also forecast a growth not only in population, but in the number of households and employment. Mr. Hickok stated the City Council approved the 2040 Comprehensive Plan in December 2018. Staff submitted it to the Metropolitan Council for their review. In 2019, the Metropolitan Council reviewed the plan and went through it thoroughly. It needed a few modifications in some chapters in technical areas. The overall goals and policies remained the same. In 2020, staff hired Hoisington Koegler Group to help them make those technical changes and help finish the plan. Mr. Hickok said in the land use chapter, a section called “Stages of Development” was added to provide calculations showing that guided land uses for areas of anticipated redevelopment would be able to accommodate the forecasted growth. It is very important to the Metropolitan Council to understand that the City will be able to manage growth in sewer, water and transportation areas. Calculations were included showing the guidance for future residential development as densities and where they were high enough to accommodate some affordable housing. Mr. Hickok stated descriptions of existing and potential tools to address housing needs were added to the Implementation section. Mr. Hickok stated as to the Housing Chapter, data was added regarding existing housing stock in Fridley. Same as the Land Use chapter, calculations were included that showed guidance of future residential development. Again, high enough to accommodate some affordability; and the Land Use chapter, descriptions of existing and potential tools to address housing needs were added to the Implementation Section. Mr. Hickok stated as to other changes made, in the Transportation chapter, clarifying information about the central Bus Transit (BRT) was added. As they might have seen recently, they have gotten some good news. Fridley is No. 1 on a list of BRTs that will come into play in the very near future and thankfully that is the central bus line that will cross at 53rd and come up University Avenue. Mr. Hickok stated in the Parks and Trails chapter there were descriptions that were added about Rice Creek West Regional Trail and then Mississippi River Regional Trail. There were technical changes to the Local Water Management Chapter. The Local Water Management Plan was reviewed by Coon Creek Watershed District, the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization, and the Rice Creek Watershed Organization. It underwent a few revisions as part of that process. Mr. Hickok stated as to the Wastewater Chapter, growth forecasts were broken down by watershed. There was a section about infiltration that was added with estimates on the amount of INI currently within the wastewater system and how the City plans to mitigate INI in the future. Mr. Hickok stated an important and interesting point to note here is that City Engineer/Public Works Director, Jim Kosluchar, worked with the Metropolitan Council as discussions unfolded related to this chapter. He invited them to partner with the City on the INI because Fridley has so many of the large systems that belong to the Metropolitan Council besides its system that runs through the City of City Council Meeting 2/22/2021 Minutes Page 4 Fridley. Staff encouraged them to play a larger part in Fridley as a result of their major systems running through and converging in this location. Mr. Hickok stated as to the Critical Area Chapter, updates throughout the chapter were made to meet the Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area (MRCA) requirements from the DNR and the National Park System. Mr. Hickok stated the Met Council approved the City’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan at their December 23, 2020, meeting. It conforms to the Metropolitan System Plans for transportation, water resources, and parks, and the Mississippi River Corridor Critical Plan has been approved by the DNR. This is all good and is where the City needs to be. Mr. Hickok stated as to Implementation, Staff updated the Zoning Code to be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. They evaluated land use and subdivision requests based on the 2040 Plan. They have incorporated actions identified in each chapter into the departmental work plans. Mr. Hickok stated staff recommends Council adopt the 2040 Comprehensive Plan through Resolution No. 2021-11. Mr. Hickok stated what is so important, not only does the Comprehensive Plan guide the City’s way in the future to the year 2040, it also allows the city to be part of the Livable Communities Act. As part of that Act, they may recall the City was given a $100,000 grant to do master planning on the west side of the railroad tracks that would help developers as they look at that area. Mr. Hickok stated beyond that, being a Livable Communities Act city, they were able to use tax base revitalization. You need to be involved with livable communities in order to use tax base revitalization. They used almost $1 million from the Metropolitan Council for the former Onan now Cummins site. It was contaminated to a point where a fair percentage of their acreage was not taxed because it was too contaminated. Real Estate Recycling were hired by Onan and cleaned up the site. There was about $1 million of contribution through the tax base revitalization program for that project. Dealers Manufacturing on Main Street had some contamination that was addressed through dollars from both Metropolitan Council and other sources for that cleanup. At the former Lamar site at the corner of East River Road and I694, the owner used about $185,000 to take care of some environmental issues before the building could be demolished safely. Mr. Hickok stated, and finally, at Northern Stacks, millions of dollars were used to clean up contamination which brought this site from a value of $13 million to what will be $150 million in the not-too-distant future. This was able to be done in a large part by being part of the Livable Communities Act. The Comprehensive Plan is completed, and Rita Trapp from Hoisington Koegler Group is present to answer any technical questions. Mayor Lund stated they do derive a substantial number of benefits by being a part of a larger community than the borders of Fridley. It is a worthwhile exercise. They need to be a part of the Met Council. City Council Meeting 2/22/2021 Minutes Page 5 Rita Trapp, Hoisington Koegler Group, stated they have worked with the City for a number of years on different grants as well as land use planning and park planning so they have seen some of her colleagues along the way as well. City staff did the majority of the work. Their role is to try and figure out how to use the information the City had already put together in a format that worked for the Met Council so they could understand the City was meeting their requirements. Hoisington Koegler Group did not do anything more than use their knowledge from all of the different Comprehensive Plans they have worked on in the Twin Cities to try and apply it to Fridley’s Plan not only to keep the City’s vision but to also address the Met Council’s concerns. Ms. Trapp stated they worked with a number of communities that did almost everything in-house and at the end, just had them come in and kind of figure out how to present the information. It is just a process they have to go through. Councilmember Eggert stated he was serving on the HRA when the journey started, and he remembered when Met Council filled out affordable housing goals. They did not get a large number because the City had a lot of affordable housing. He is thinking about the Sherman project which just kicked off and is hoping that, although they did not have a large number, are they getting credit for that affordable housing. It just seemed like they got off to a good start in meeting that goal. Ms. Trapp replied, she can elaborate a little bit. Affordable housing is one of those interesting parts of a comprehensive plan. There are different elements the Met Council looks at in every community about affordable housing. In the comprehensive plan itself, they need to acknowledge and provide enough land guided at medium and high densities in order to demonstrate that it could occur. The City had done that, but they had not quite calibrated or shown exactly where that was. The only adjustments Hoisington Koegler Group made were to acknowledge the projects the City already had been planning in the last couple of years. Ms. Trapp stated it will also contribute in a broader perspective as they look at affordable housing and how the City scores when they look at grants and different types of things going forward. That is not specific to the Comprehensive Plan, but they do monitor the amount of affordable housing supply in every community, and they use that as part of, for example, when they went after the Metropolitan Council regional solicitation. She knows they were not successful in the grant that they wrote this time, but they have in the past with Fridley. Ms. Trapp stated they have a regional housing score that looks at affordable housing and those types of elements. The credit is somewhat in the City’s Comprehensive Plan, but they do not evaluate you every ten years and say, you built it or you did not build it. However, Hoisington Koegler Group did use that as part of the reasons to show Fridley had enough land guided, medium and high-density, to account for the affordable housing they wanted to see. Councilmember Eggert stated so they are happy with Fridley in that respect. Ms. Trapp stated she believes Fridley has a really good relationship with Met Council and that is always a positive for affordable housing. Mayor Lund stated there are challenges in that section because not everybody agrees with the required philosophies. We are all in this together as a big region, and we all have to do our fair share. City Council Meeting 2/22/2021 Minutes Page 6 Motion to adopt Resolution No. 2021-11 and approve the 2040 Comprehensive Plan made by Bolkcom. Seconded by Tillberry. Voting Yea: Lund, Bolkcom, Eggert, Ostwald, Tillberry INFORMAL STATUS REPORTS. None. ADJOURN Motion to adjourn made by Ostwald. Seconded Eggert. Voting Yea: Lund, Bolkcom, Eggert, Ostwald, Tillberry The meeting was adjourned at 7:31 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Denise M. Johnson Scott J. Lund Recording Secretary Mayor