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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017 [04] Apr 17 April 17, 2017 Page 7 of 3 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the City Council for the City of St. Joseph met in regular session on Monday, April 17, 2017 at 6:00 PM at the St. Joseph City Hall, opening with the pledge of allegiance. Members Present: Mayor Rick Schultz, Councilors Dale Wick, Bob Loso, Troy Goracke, Matt Killam. Administrator Judy Weyrens. Others Present: Mary Schaffer Citv Reqresentatives Present: City Engineer Randy Sabart, Police Chief Joel Klein, Finance Director Lori Bartlett, Public Works Director Terry Thene, Community Development Director Therese Haffner. Public Comments Mary Schaffer, 100 MN St E: Schaffer stated she would like to explain further her intentions of speaking at the last meeting. Schaffer would like those residents who are most impacted by events happening downtown to be part of the discussions had when planning these events. Schaffer stated the parade brings a large number of people downtown and people consistently walk on her property. Schaffer suggested having someone monitoring the areas reminding people to keep the sidewalks clear for people to walk on. Schaffer added she is not sure how to initiate those conversations with the organizers but thought that coming to the Council meeting would help. Approve Apenda: Loso made a motion to approve the agenda with the addition of 5d, 7th Avenue Trail.The motion was seconded by Killam and passed unanimously. Consent Aaenda: Wick made a motion to approve the consent agenda as follows; seconded by Schultz and passed unanimously by those present. a. Minutes-Approved the minutes of April 3,2017. b. Bills Payable-Approved check numbers 051968-052013, Payroll EFT#001337-001342 and Accounts Payables EFT#001777-001780. c. Development Agreement Amendment-Authorized execution of the Amendment to the Development Agreement between the City of St. Joseph and Bayou Alley Flats, LLC,extending the termination date to February 1, 2036. d. Treasurer's Report-Accepted the 1 S'Quarter 2017 and March 2017 financial reports as presented. e. Performance Measurement-Approved conducting a survey of the City's performance benchmarks with the assistance of LMC establishing the questions. f. Donations-Accepted the donations and their purposes as presented. City Engineer Reports Storm Water Pollution Prevent Proqram-City Engineer Randy Sabart stated that annually the City has to allow for public input regarding the City's storm water management as the City is a MS4 City requiring an annual permit from the MPCA. Sabart stated that the Public Works department monitors and tracks pertinent storm water activity. Public Works Director Terry Thene discussed the annual maintenance completed by his department to include cleaning of the storm ponds and monitoring construction activity. Recently the MPCA conducted a MS4 Audit in St. Joseph and the final reported indicated that need to increase the record keeping of activity. Schultz asked if people are allowed to put their composting in the ponding areas. Thene stated that it is not allowed.When the ponds are burned, it takes care of any extra materials dumped into the ponds. Schultz opened the public input session. No one present wished to speak. 2017 MN St W Trail Extension-Sabart presented the Council with images illustrating the MN Street trail extension. The extension will extend from the MN Street to County Road 51. As a safety measure, April 17, 2017 Page 2 of 3 pedestrian aware signage will be installed along County Road 2 alerting traffic of pedestrians. The pedestrian crossing is projected to take place near the park and ride. The trail connection will be made to the existing trail running north of MN Street. Wick questioned why the trail runs on the eastern side of Minnesota Street W/CSAH 2 as it was his understanding it would be on the opposite side of the street. Sabart responded that the grant documents submitted contemplated two options. The final design was determined based on comments from Stearns County. The first plan drafted included a crossing at CR 2 and Minnesota Street and the trail would then cross CR 2 and continue on the west side to CR 51. However, due to the number of turning movements at CR 2 and MN Street W along with the number of accidents, Stearns County was not receptive to the plan. Sabart stated that this option also had more impacts to wetlands than the second alternative. Since the County rejected the first alternative the second plan has designed. The plan includes continuing the sidewalk from the existing sidewalk unitl it passes the home owned by the Monastery of St. Benedict at which time it will be converted to a trail. By extending sidewalk for the first section of the project, the City would reduce negative impacts to the two rows of evergreens and provide additional spacing between the trail on the home owned by the Monastery. The project will include enhanced pedestrian signage where needed. Schultz questioned if the additional crossing by the park and ride is needed if the trail is going to connect a couple of blocks east. Sabart stated the intent was to have a crossing sooner rather than having people cross closer to town. Wick expressed concern regarding safety of pedestrians crossing CR 2 near the interstate. Loso questioned the timeline for construction to which Sabart stated late 2017. The project is in the final design stage and an appraiser has been hired to assist with the purchase of needed easements. MnDot will have to review the final plans before the City can solicit bids for construction. Proiect Updates—CBD Allev Improvement: Sabart presented the Council with a map illustrating the proposed improvements for the 2017 CBD Alley Improvement Project. At the last Council meeting staff was questioned on the location of the sewer service lines for the impacted property. Therefore he along with the Public Works Director review the area and identified the majority of the service lines; however, some are still undetected at this point. With regard to the status of the project, the final proposed assessment roll in being prepared and it is anticipated that the Council with authorize the public hearing to assess the project on May 1 with the hearing being conducted on May 15, 2017. 7th Avenue SE Trail Extension: —Sabart stated a question has arisen as to the location of the sidewalk extension as it relates to Fortitude Housing. The Development Agreement executed by the City and Fortitude Housing include an illustration that includes extending the sidewalk/trail adjunct to 7�h Ave SE connecting to the Graceview Estates Trail. After speaking with longtime residents it was their understanding that the trail would connect to the existing trail using the already established curb cuts creating a diagonal crossing of 7th Avenue from the SE corner the of property owned by Fortitude Housing. Sabart stated that in reviewing the trail location as it is stated in the Development Agreement, the trail can be placed on the west side of 7th Ave as planned without disturbing the tree roots of the pine tree of the property owner who has expressed concern. If anything, only one branch would need to be removed and his fence would not be impacted either. Sabart confirmed that while there are curb cuts in the field already, it is not ideal to create diagonal crossing, especially if the road curves. Wick stated that having the diagonal crosswalk, changing the developer's agreement would make everyone involved happy. Proiect Uqdates: Regarding the Field Street Construction, Sabart stated pipework and excavation operations are beginning today for storm sewer installation. The anticipated completion date is June 2gtn In regards to other projects, MnDot will be completing their traffic count study in May and Stearns County will begin milling and overlaying MN Street East in May as well. April 17, 2017 Page 3 of 3 Committee Updates—Planninq Commission: Goracke reported a public hearing was held on a Conditional Use Permit submitted by Kwik Trip. The main area of concern is traffic concerns at 20�h Ave and County Road 75. Staff had requested Kwik Trip agree to add turning improvements to 20`h Ave in the event the traffic from the store create issues. Weyrens clarified that since Stearns County is the road authority as MN Street is a County Road, it has become apparent that the City will not be able to include a provision with the Conditional Use Permit(CUP). The CUP will be on the agenda for the May 1 City Council meeting. Committee Updates—Joint Plannina Board: Loso reported the Joint Planning Board considered two variances at the April 11 meeting. The first variance requested was submitted by Knife River and requesting a variance on the height of a silo to allow for the storage of cement powder. The second variance was submitted by Randon and Tracy Eiynck to allow the construction of an accessory building closer to the street than the main structure. Both variances were approved as requested. Studv Updates—Comprehensive Plan: Weyrens stated the consultant hired to update the Comprehensive Plan is nearing completion of the first section of public input and they will be updating the Advisory meeting in the coming week. Administrator Reports—Budqet 2018: Weyrens stated that while early, she would like the Council to start considering goals and projects for the upcoming 2018 budget. As of this time staff is unaware of any large projects. Known impacts for the budget in 2018 include the inclusion of the 9�h Patrol Officer. The 2017 budget included the hiring of an additional officer starting in July. Therefore the budget for 2018 will include additional wages for the additional six months of wages/benefits. In addition, both union contracts expire in 2017. Weyrens stated that in the past years the Council has discussed the need to replace or fix the landscaping on Minnesota Street. Some of the tree roots have raised the paving stones or cement creating a hazard. Schultz concurred that this matter has been discussed previously. He would like to see how the project could be segmented to ease the financial burden. He further requested the Council discuss budget goals at a separate workshop meeting. Mavor Reports: Schultz reported that he has been invited to participate in the annual ISD 742 CORE meeting which is scheduled for April 25 at the College of St. Benedict. New Business: Loso stated the sound in the Council Chamber is bad, specifically the echo by the Council dais and he would like to see if it could be fixed. It was determined that the echo is in the dias area only. Adiourn: Goracke made a motion to adjourn at 7:05 PM; seconded by Killam and passed unanimously. � � �-u'� d We ens dm nistrator