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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000 [09] Sep 21 Page 3783 September 21, 2000 1 City of St. Joseph City Council Meeting 09121/00, 7:00 PM 1. Call to Order. Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the City Council for the Cily of St. Joseph met on Thursday, September 21, 2000 at 7:00 p.m. in the St. Joseph City Hall. Members Present: Mayor Kenneth Hiemenz, Cory Ehlert, Ken Twit, Mary Niedenfuer, Bob Loso, Clerk-Administrator Cari Schmidt and Deputy Clerk Judy Weyrens. Others Present: Joe Bettendorf and EDA Director Chad Carlson, City Attorney John Scherer, Joe Bechtold, Ann Reischl, Jerome Salzer, AI Rassier, Darlene Bechtold, Herb Bechtold, Harry Scott, John Blommer, Sister Paula Revier, Sister Phyllis Plantenburg, Tim Weisbrich, Bob Felix, Larry Hosch, Noreen Loso, Chief Gary Will and Public Works Director Dick Taufen. 2. Approve Agenda - Schmidt stated that there were a few changes to the agenda. First, item 3b the application for payment for Gopher State should come off as the architect has not had a chance to review it. Second, the Northland lighting request was included in the packet, but was not listed on the front of the agenda. Third, if the bills could be moved to follow the consent agenda, as that is the only item that Judy Weyrens has to address. Finally, the preliminary plat for Northland Plat six should be added to the agenda. Twit asked why it wasn't on the agenda before. Schmidt stated that the City just received the maps on Monday. Twit stated that the developers need to follow the deadlines too. He had his entire packet reviewed before he received the second packet on Monday. Twit made a motion to not place Pondview Six on the agenda, seconded by Niêdenfuer. Loso asked why we should do this as its just postponing it to another meeting. Hiemenz said he agrees with Twit and that he has some concerns as the maps that he saw were wrong. There were some drainage issues left to be resolved. The question was called and the motion passed 3:2 (Hiemenz, Twit and Niedenfuer: Yes, Loso, Ehlert: No) I Ehlert made a motion to approve the agenda, seconqed by Twit., T~~,~io,! pai>s.ed unanimously. . ' . 3. Approve Consent Agenda _ a. TemporaryOutsid~Liquor Permit- La Playette - Octoberfest 10/20- 1CV21 ' b. Final payment application - Northland." $13,055.59 Loso made a motion to approve the consent agenda, seconded by Niedenfuer. The motion passed unanimously. ' 4. Bills Payable - Weyrens reported that the City is purchasing a ballot counter from the County for $500. In the past we have rented the machines for this same amount. Loso made a motion to approve bills 28816 through 28864, seconded by Twit. The motion passed unanimously. 5. 7:00 Noise Violation - Craig Benning - Schmidt stated that this is a bit of an unusual situation. Mr. Benning ooes not have a rental license. The City only determined that he didn't have a license when the noise violation was received. He claims that he did not know he needed one. He wrote the City Council a letter indicating that he has evicted his tenants and will be moving back into the house himself. John Scherer stated that the City's best course of action is to withhold a license from this property for a length of time. A monetary 1 1 Page 3784 September 21, 2000' fine cannot be imposed as that is only the penalty for violation of the terms of the license. Since there is no license to revoke, the Council can't impose a fine. The Council may want to put it on for a limited period and lift it once the property is sold. Twit asked how to keep people from doing this in the future. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Scherer said he doesn't necessarily believe that this was an innocent mistake, but there is no way to prove that it wasn't. I Hiemenz stated that the violation occurred at 323 Wést Minnesota Street. Three people were cited. Mr. Benning waived his right to an evidentiary hearing. Twit asked what the students were cited with. Chief Will stated that a violation of the noise ordinance is a petty misdemeanor and the fine is $78.00. I Niedenfuer made a motion to withhold a rental license until December 31, 2001, and that if there are any further incidents that the City would pursue this matter criminally. Twit seconded the motion and it passed 4:1 (Loso voting no). I I I 6. Department Head Reports - Chief Will addressed the Council. He proposed that the City make some changes to ordinance 71. Ordinance 71.8 Subd.: Inspections states" Every licensee shall allow any peace officer, health officer, or properly designated officer or employee of the City to enter, inspect, and search the premises of the licensee during business hours." Will is proposing to add the language: "and at any time the licensee or an employee, agent or other person authorized by the licensee is in the business, andwithout a warrant and such search shall be for the purpose of checking for compliance with the City's ordinances as they relate to the licensee." Will explained that currently, if an officer sees people through the windoW at the bar with glasses in front ofthem, and it is two hours after closing, the officer cannot go in to inspect to see if they are selling after hours or any other unlawful activity without first getting a warrant. Will also suggested that the Council change the word "refuse" to "fail" in 71.11 SuM. 3. The ordinance should read: "No person shall fail to show proper identification to a licensee, employee of a licensee or police officer when requested to do so when the following circumstances exist:" Will explained that currently, if a person has no identification on them while in the bar, they have not refused to show it. This change would allow the police to enforce the intent of the law. Ehlert said he would have a hard time supporting this. Will stated that it's currently the law now, they are just making it the same for everyone. Twit made a motion to make the changes to 71.8 and 71.11 as suggested by Chief IMII. Loso seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. . I Ehlert asked Will about the new car. Will stated that it has been ordered but that they actually build it from scratch for the City so it will take a few weeks. ' 7. Approve Minutes of September 7, 20000 - Ehlert made a motion to approve the minutes of August 17, 2000, seconded by Loso. The motion passed unanimously. 8. City Hall Project Alternates G3 and G4 - Schmidt stated that at the last meeting the Council voted to approve G-1 and G-2. The two items that are left to be discussed are G3 Page 3785 September 21, 2000 1 and G4. G3 is to provide a 1x8 oak soffrtt, finished to match the existing. The cost ofthis item is $1,815. Schmidt stated that there is a real possibility that they might be able to reuse the existing wood for this item. However, in order to move forward the architect is looking for a decision on this item in case they can'. G-4 is the plastic laminate and wood veneer Council table, for a cost of $5,445. Hiemenz stated that he would like to see a door behind the Council table into the mechanical room as another exit for the Council. Twit asked for more detail on the table and stated that the price seems really high. Twit made a motion to table G4 until the next meeting when they can get more information. The motion was seconded by Ehlert. The motion failed 3:2 (Twit and Ehlert: yes, Loso, Hiemenz and Niedenfuer: No) Hiemenz made a motion to approve alternates G3 and G4, seconded by Loso. The motion passed 3:2 (Hiemenz, Loso and Niedenfuer: yes, Twit and Ehlert: no) Ehlert asked if Schmidt could get them some additional irrformation about the Council dais anyway. Twit stated that he has a real problem paying for something when he doesn't know what he's getting. 9. Northland Lighting Request - Schmidt stated that the CitY had requested that a lighting study be conducled in Northland. Ron Hogland from NSP conducled the study and recommended lights be placed at three locations: 606 Gumtree, 522 Fir Street and 601 5"' Ave NE. Dick Taufen was driving through town yesterday and saw that the lights were already put up. Schmidt stated that she called NSP about it and they mistakenly believed they were already approved. They will move the lights at their expense if the Council does not like the locations. Ehlert asked about the cost options. Schmidt stated Steams Electric gives the CitY an option but that NSP has been a straight monthly charge. Schmidt stated that she would double check. Loso made a motion to approve the light locations, seconded by Ehlert. The motion passed unanimously. I 10. Mayor and City Council Reports - Hiemenz stated that he had reÅ“ived a call from a resident who was urging the Council to make the changes to the zoning ordinance that are on the agenda tonight. Twit stated that he had nothing to report but rather something forthe 'Council to think about. The official paper, the Newsleader no longer has a presence at the City Council meetings. They are also printing things that are not factual. They printed that he was not running for Council without having spoken to him. He isn't necessarily suggestin!g that they switch official papers, he just believes that their commitment has dwindled and perhaps the Council may want to address this. Hiemenz stated that the official paper is only to put officiall1egal announcements in. That is the only significance of the 'official paper" part. The Council agreed to address this item at a future meeting. Ehlert had nothing to report. Loso had nothing to report. Niedenfuer stated that the Healthy CommunitY Partnership met and that they will be hosting a candidate forum somelime before the general election in November. They are also hosting a town meeting on the 11"' of October at Kennedy Gymnasium. The fall festival for the farmers market is also coming up and there will be signs around town announcing it. Schmidt reported on the upcoming meetings for the CitY Council. 11. 8:00 Public Hearing - City CouncillTownship Board - Petition fOIl' Annexation I I Page 3786 Septeuober 21, 2000 Hiemenz opened the public hearing and stated that the Township Board was also present to discuss this item. Hiemenz asked City Engineer Joe Bettendorf to do a brief presentation about the costs of the 121 project. Bettendorf reported that he revised his estimates for County Road 121.. The overaJl cost has dropped 1.1 million dollars. This was due to three factors. First, the proposed annexation now stops at the south property line of the Township hall. In his earlier estimate he assumed that the annexation would include land down to Jade Road. This reduces the amount of County Road within the city limits and therefore City participation in the cost. Second, he eliminated 295th Street and 103'" Avenue from the project. Under the revised project, we will stub out sewer and water at 295th, and that's it. Finally, this project has been reduced to one force main, instead of two. i Bettendorf explained that he also eliminated the deferred assessments that were related to the Meyer farm on the east side ofthe highway. Most ofthe farm's frontage is unbuildable, and therefore have rolled this cost back into the overall street assessment. This is why the street assessment went from $44.00 per foot to $51 per foot. I Bettendorf stated that the grant application will ask for approximately $798,860 to offset City costs and abate assessments. The District State Aid Engineer·has reviewed our City's street layout and wants the City to designate part of 121 as a Municipal State Aid Street. This will allow the LIse o( state aid funds to offset some of the street costs, if we choose to do so. Bettendorf reported that the grant should be successful and has been called an excellent application already. Wrth the funds, the City's cost would drop considerably and the Council could decide to use its MSA funds to offset the other costs. The application has to be in by October 1st and we won't hear until February or so. Bid letting is set for March so we should have plenty of time. Bettendorf also indicated that he is trying to tie that small piece of College Avenue between Minnesota Street and CR 75 into the County project as well. The revised cost splits break out as follows for County Road 121, sanitary sewer, water main and the lift station: $585,000 for the County, $1,055900 assessed, $968,300 for the CitY for a . grand total of $2,609,200. The projected assessment splits without the grant assess $29,120 to the Township, $375,835 to St. Bens, $756,560 for current city cost and $650,945 for City Residents. With the grant, the numbers decrease significantly for the City: $351,000 for current costs and $211,740 for future development costs. Hiemenz stated that the City Council and St. Joseph Township Board have to approve the annexation for the project to move forward. The petition includes 24 properties. I Loso made a motion that the City Council for the City of st. Joseph hereby resolves , i 1) The City finds that the owners of at least 60% of the real estate parcels described in attached Exhibit "An have petitioned the City of st. Joseph for annexation. 2) The City approves the annexation of the real property described in the attached Exhibit A 3) Upon approval of the petition for annexation of the property described in attached Exhibit A by the Town Board of the Town of St. Joseph, the petition and a certified copy of this resolution shall be delivered to the State Planning Offlc~ I 4) This resolution has been approved pursuant to the JointResolution for Orderly Annexation adopted by the City and Town of st. !Joseph on December 18, 1997 and December 29, 1997 respectively. .,,_,,- >~.,...,_k..<·"" Page 3787 SepteDlber21,2000 I Twit seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously, with Council member Ehlert abstaining from the vote. The Township Board stated that they would vote on the annexation after they hear about the grant program. 12. 8:30 Small Cities Development Grant Program - Dick Grabko, SEH, addressed the Council. Grabko stated that the purpose of the Small cities Development grant program is to provide decent housing, a suitable living environment and expanding economic opportunities principally for persons of low and moderate income. He stated that one of the requirements for submission of the SCDP application is for the communitY to hold a public hearing to gather citizen comments. Mayor Hiemenz asked if there was anyone from the public in attendance that would like to speak during the public hearing. No-one came forward. Grabko indicated that the survey that was circulated serves as the basis for establishing eligibility for the grant funding. If any monies are received, this would be a 100% grant with no repayment obligation. Grabko indicated that the SCDP activities would include rehabilitating 3 owner occupied housing units and 32 rental units. It would also include providing grant funding to target area residential portions of sanitary, water and lift station improvements. The proposed program comprehensive budget includes $911,680 of SCDP funds, of which $40,00 is for single family housing rehab, $48,000 is for residential road rehab, $798,680 is for public facilities and $25,000 is for general administration. Applicant funds totaling 41,225,520 would also be used. In addition, other funds totaling $880,400 would be used for a grand total of $3,017,600 for the project. Grabko stated that the Council should have received the resolution forthe program which states: "Be it resolved that the City of St. Joseph act as the legal sponsor for projects contained in the Business and CommunitY Development Application to be submitted on the 1st day of October, 2000 and that the Mayor and the CitY Clerk Administrator are hereby authorized to apply to the Department of Trade and Economic Development for funding of this project on behalf of the City of St. Joseph. Be it further resolved that the CitY of St. Joseph has the legal authority to apply for financial assistance, and the institutional, managerial, and financial capability to ensure adequate construction, clperation, maintenance and replacement of the proposed project for its design life. Be it further resolved that the CitY of St. Joseph has not violated any Federal, State, or local laws pertaining to fraud, bribery, graft, kickbacks, collusion, conflict of interest or other unlawful or corrupt practice. Be it further resolved that upon approval of its application by the state, the CitY of St. Joseph may enter into an agreement with the State of Minnesota for the above referenced project(s) and that the City of St. Joseph certifies that it will comply with all applicable laws and regulations as stated in all contract agreements and described in the Compliance Section of the Business and Community Development Application. Now therefore be it resolved that the Mayor and the Clerk Administrator are hereby authorized to execute such agreements and amendments thereto as are necessary to implement the project(s) on behalf of the applicant." Grabko stated that the grant application is due October 1"'. Loso made a motion to approve the resolution and the grant application. The motion was seconded by NJedenfuer and passed unanimously with Council member Ehlert abstaining from the vote. I The Township Board made a separate motion. Jerome Salzer made a motion to approve the annexation of the previously described area along County Road 121, with Joe Bechtold seconding the motion. The motion passed unanimously I 13. Zoning Ordinance Changes - Chad Carlson addressed the Council. He stated that the I Page SCfptember 21, COuncil should have received John's Scherer's letter with the zoning ordinance changes included. The Planning Commission addressed the letter item by item) The first recommendation from the City Attorney is to 52.12, Subd 9 where he recommends that the section be amended to specify that there is a loss of "grandfather" status if the use is involuntarily discontinued due to a revocation of a permit. Schmidt stated that this would allow the grandfather status to be lost if the Council revokes a rental license. . Ehlert stated that the Council should just lay it out on the table. This is a way for the Council to get rid of the grandfather status. The Council understood that was what they were doing. Cartson stated that the Planning Commission recommended also that the City Council develop a uniform policy and procedure for determining discipline, suspension and revocation within 120 days. They approved the changes to 52.12 Subd. 9, 5:1. Loso made amotion to approve the changes to 52. 12 Subd. 9 specifying that there is a loss of grandfather status when the use is Involuntarily discontinued due to a revocation of a permit. Niedenfuer seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. I The next change was to 52.14 Subd. 3. John Scherer recommended that the fractional units when determining the required number of parking units be rounded to the next highest number in all cases. Carlson added that the Planning Commission approved this 6:0. Scherer also recommended that the parking requirements for rental properties should be those set out tinder Subd. 4(b) for Boarding Houses. "The provisions of Subd. 4(a) for single family or two family residence, should only apply to non-rental dwellings: This may result in a requirement of more parking spaces for a rental home. It was asked whether we could apply this retroactively. Scherer stated that he would have to do some more research. Loso made a motion to table 52.14 Subd. 3 until the Council knows jfthey can apply it retroactively. The motion failed for lack of a second. Twit made a motion to approve the changes to 52.14 Subd. 3 and 4(b), seconded by Niedenfuer. The motion passed unanimously. The third item was a recommendation from the City Attorney to 52.17. Scherer suggested that permitted uses be limited to "single family - owner occupied residential use." Rental would be prohibited. Uses pursuant to a Special use permit could include rental if its "owner occupied." Non-owner occupied rental would be prohibtted. Twit asked how the City can get proof that its actually owner occupied. There was some concern expressed about a situation where the parents buy the house and let the kids live there while they are going to school. Scherer stated that the Council could require the resident owner's name to be on the deed. Loso stated that he has some questions about the legality of this. Scherer stated that the City will always be looking at enforcement issues and that there will never be a 100% fool-proof way to deal with these issues. Twit made a motion to make the changes to 52.17 prohibiting rental except fOr single family-owner occupied residential use with a speCial use permit in R- 1. Niedenfuer seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. . I Scherer atso recommended that Section 52.18 (R-2 Zone) restrict permitted uses to owner occupied rentals. Non-owner occupied rental may be permitted by Special use permit. Loso made a motion to make this change to 52.18 allowing non-owner occupied rental only by special use permit. The motion was seconded by Twit and passed unanimously. Scherer suggested that in 52.19 permitted uses be changed to allow for multiple dwelfings of up to 12 dwellings per structure. He also suggested that the City remove the term "family" as that may suggest that a rental dwe1ling would be IiInited to three unre1ated persons. The Planning Commission unanimously voted to remove the word "family" from 52.19 Subd. 2(a). Ehlert stated that this area shouldn' be restricted in the number of tenants as R-3 is zoned Page 3789 September 21. 2000 for that purpose. Noreen Loso and AI Rassier addressed the Council. They stated that if the Council deletes the word family and allows more than three tenants in R-3 they are going against the recommendations of the Rental Committee. Hiemenz stated that the Rental Committee was never told to keep all the zones to under three people. I There was some discussion regarding Campus Park Villas and whether or not licenses were properly issued based on square footage. Ehlert made a motion to remove the word "family" from 52. 19, Subd.2, seconded by Loso. The motion passed 4:1 with Niedenfuer voting no. Carlson stated that the Planning Commission also recommended a change to Ordinance 52.25 Subd. 7c regarding Building exteriors. The recommended language is this: "Acceptable exterior building materials hall include brick, stone, tip-up concrete panel, decorative concrete block or glass. Wood siding, plastic, and other combustible materials not listed as acceptable shall not be used for building exteriors. Architecturally approved steel is acceptable provided that at a minimum 50% of the square footage on each side of the structure consist of brick, stone, tip up concrete panel andlor decoratili'e block. When calculating the square footage of a side, the total square footage of all windows and doors will be excluded." Twit stated that he would also like to see language that requires the entire building be brought up to code once an addition is made or if you change your structure. Loso stated that he thinks this is ridiculous and is just a reaction to Mike Deutz's pmperty. He thinks the Council is getting entirely too restrictive. Twit stated that anyone could still apply for a variance on this issue. Niedenfuer made a motion to approve the language changes to 52.25 Subd. 7c and to add language requiring the entire building be brought to code when a change is made. Twit seconded the motion and it passed 4:1 with Loso voting no. I Schmidt stated that the final section that needs to be addressed is the definition of family. At the last City Council meeting the Council approved a change to the definition by adding the word "or" to the definition. A family is now a "single housekeeping unit related by blood, marriage or any unrelated person who resides therein as though a member of the family OR any group of three unrelated persons." The addition of the word "or" takes care of the problem of two cousins living together and counting as one person in terms of the ordinance, thus allowing there to be 2 additional people for a total of four. Scherer stated that this would also restrict residents from bringing anyone else into their home in a non rental situation (foreign exchange student for example). The Council decided that this wasn't their intent. Scherer stated that the change that was made previously to Ordinance 55 just referenced the family definition in the zoning ordinance. The Council was going to make the change officially tonight in the zoning ordinance so nothing needs to be undone from the last meeting. However, Scherer would recommend that the Council change the definition of family to include husband and wife, parent and child, sibling, grandparentlgrandchild and or a stepchild. Aunts, uncles, or cousins would be excluded. Schmidt stated that the residents could still bring an unrelated person into the home under the definition of the ordinance if the person "resides therein as though a member of the family." Twit made a motion to change the definition offamily to include only husband and wife, parent and child, sibling, grandparent/grandchild and or a stepchild. Aunts uncles (){" cousins I 1 Page 3790 SepteDlber21,2000 would be excluded. Niedenfuer seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 14. Miscellaneous and Announcement Items - Dick Taufen addressed the Council He stated that he, the Fire Chief, Mayor and Schmidt were at a pre-construction meeting for Sereno Taufen was seeking clarification from the Council as to their plans. They are planning to go overhead with lines where there is existing overhead and underground where there is underground. The Council said that was their understanding. Taufen told the Council that restoration would be his biggest concern. The Council stated that no permits should be issued until all of the paperwork is complete. Schmidt stated that the City attorney is looking at the paperwork and it will be on the next agenda. The Council advised Taufen to proceed with caution. 15. Adjourn - Niedenfuer made a motion to adjourn at 10:20, seconded by Loso The motion passed unanimously. Respectfully Submitted, C:~ Cari Schmidt Clerk/Administrator I I