Loading...
Agenda -Final HOPKINS CITY COUNGIL FINAL AGENDA Monday, February 4, 2008 � 7:30 pm THIS F1NAL AGENDA IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE UNTIL THE START OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING Schedule: 7:25 pm - HRA 7:30 pm - City Councii Meeting Work session after close of regular City Council meeting i. CALL TO ORDER II_ OPEN AGENDA - PUBLIC COMMENTS/CONCERNS (Public must fill out a Speaker Request Form. Three minute limit for each person) III. REPORT 1. Excelsior Crossing Update, Elverum IV. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Minutes of January 15, 2008 City Council Meeting 2. Minutes of January 15, 2008 Work Session Meeting following the City Council Meeting � 3. Minutes of January 22, 2008 Work Session Meeting 4. Second Reading of Rental License Ordinance, Kearney (CR2008-010) 5. Ratify Checks Issued in January, 2008, Harkess Vote: Youakim Brausen Rowan Hafverson Maxwell V. PUBLIC HEARING 1. Public Hearing for 2008 CDBG Program, Beard (CR2008 - 012) Vote: Youakim Brausen Rowan Halverson Maxwell 2. Public Hearing for 2008 Street & Utility Improvements, Bradford (CR20Q8 - 014) Vote: Youakim Brausen Rowan Halverson Maxwell V. NEW BUSINESS 1. Adopt Resolutions Supparting Southwest Transitway Project (CR2008 - 013) Vote: Youakim Brausen Rowan Halverson Maxwell 2. Approve Ordinance 2008-995, Amending Section 1185 of City Code, Massage, Obermaier (CR2008-011) Vote: Youakim Brausen Rowan Halverson Maxwell �; VL ADJOURNMENT QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? CALL THE RAZZLE LINE —(952) 939-1421 (The Raule Line is the City of Hopkins voice message system) A regular meeting of the Hopkins City Council was held on January 15, 2008, in • the Council Chambers of the Hopkins City Hall. Present were Mayor Maxwell and Council Members Brausen, Youakim, Rowan, and Halverson. Also, present were staff inembers Getschow, Genellie, Stadler, Elverum, Kearney, and City Attorney Jerry Steiner. I. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Maxwetl called the meeting to order at 7:31 p.m. II. OPEN AGENDA - PUBLIC COMMENTS AND CONCERNS There were none. III. REPORTS - COMMITTEES/COMMISSIONS 1 . Quarterly Depot Report Ted Duepner and Vlad Gruin gave a report on the Depot Coffeehouse. . IV. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Minutes of January 2, 2008 City Council Meeting 2. Minutes of January 2, 2008 City Council Work Session 3. Minutes of January 8, 2008 City Council Work Session Council Member Rowan moved and Council Member Halverson seconded a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. A poll of the vote was as follows: Council Member Youakim, aye; Council Member Brausen, aye; Council Member Rowan, aye; Council Member Halverson, aye; Mayor Maxwell, aye. The motion carried unanimously. V. NEW BUSINESS 1. Ordinance Amending Section 407 of the Hopkins City Code (CR2008- 010) History has shown that regular inspections and thorough tenant screening improves the quality of housing, improves property values, attracts quality tenants and eventually may decrease the incidence of criminal behavior. Proposed changes of the code would increase inspections of one and two family rental dwellings; place responsibility on property owners to use crime free/drug free lease addendums or . equivalent language in their leases; use criminal background checks on prospective January 15, 2008 City Council Meeting Minutes � Page 1 i tenants; establish and inspection point system to determine severity ofi deficiency, �°�� substandard dwellings, and inspection frequency; establish licensing fees, � �, inspection fees, and re-inspection fees. Chris Kearney reviewed the impact of the fee schedule, the point system, and why the City felt a need for the ordinance. Anne Marie Buck explained the Drug Free/Crime Free Lease Addendum and the process for using it. ; Elizabeth Page explained the Domestic violence clause. Points will not be accrued for calls that involve violence between family members. Charles Gibson, 7343 Ann Ct, Eden Prairie, a Hopkins rental property owner, Virgil Aarness, 16 Ashley Rd, John Ward, Hopkins rental property owner, Buzz Vickerman, Hopkins rental property owner, Carl McKinley, Hopkins rental property owner, and Molly Grove, Minnesota Multi-Housing Association came forward to make comments and ask questions. Mr. Ward brought up the inspection schedule, stating that a condo owner with several units would pay more for inspections that an apartment owner with a like number of units. Council asked staff to review that part of the ordinance before ,�"'�� , the second reading. '�' ` � Council Member Youakim moved and Council Member Brausen seconded a motion to approve Ordinance 2008-994 for first reading and directed staff to review the fees for condo owners before the second reading. A poll of the vote was as follows: Council Member Youakim, aye; Council Member Brausen, aye; Council Member Rowan, aye; Council Member Halverson, aye; Mayor Maxwell, aye. The motion carried unanimously. � 2. Approval of Bid Authorizing the Purchase of a Fire Department Ladder Truck (CR2008-009) i The Hopkins Fire Department advertised in the Hopkins Sun Sailor and Star Tribune for bids for a ladder truck. Eight manufactures requested a bid document. Three returned bids, which were opened by Chief Specken on December 20, 2007. Pierce Manufacturing submitted the low bid ofi $859,565.00. Other submitted bids were from Sutphen Corporation for $905,654,00 and E-1 for $964,995.00. Fire Chief Dale Specken explained the process that the department went through to arrive at the decision to purchase a new ladder truck. � �,,,�,' January 15, 2008 City Council Meeting Minutes Page 2 - - - --- - __ --- - - - - - - - � - - - - r - ;r . :,: :,.,�, „� ..:: .: .. . . . .: :. I i= I _ - � Council Member Halverson moved and Counci( Member Rowan seconded a motion to adopt Resolution 2008-007, accepting bid for the purchase of a Fire Department ladder truck. A poll of the vote was as follows: Council Member Youakim, aye; Council Member Brausen, aye; Council Member Rowan, aye; Counci( Member Halverson, aye; Mayor Maxwell, aye. The motion carried unanimously. VIII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Council Member Halverson moved and Council Member Brausen seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned by unanimous consent at 9:08 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Terry Obermaier, City Clerk COUNCIL MEMBERS � ATTEST: Eugene J. Maxwell, Mayor � January 15, 2008 City Council Meeting Minutes Page 3 January 15th, 2008 Page 1 MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION AT CONCLUSION OF THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING • Tuesday, January 15"', 2008 Mayor Maxwell called the meeting to order at 9:15 pm. Present were Mayor Maxwell and Council members Halverson, Brausen, Rowan and Youakim. City personnel present were City Manager Rick Getschow and City Planning and Economic Development Director Kersten Elverum, City Development Coordinator Tara Beard, Sid Inman and Rebecca Kurtz of Ehlers and Associates, and Brad Dieke of Bradley and Dieke. Block 64 Redevelopment: City staff and consultants discussed the Block 64 redevelopment project with the City Council. Trade School Zonin� Request: A program in Hennepin County has approached the City to gauge its willingness to allow them to occupy an industrial building in Hopkins under the trade school designation. City staff stated that there have been other charter schools or programs that have been asking the city about occupying industrial or certain commercial space in Hopkins. Due to the city's limited size and the conflict between industrial/commercial uses and school uses; the city has been resistant to zoning amendments or changes to allow many of these schools in industrial or certain commercial areas. Overall, staff wanted to inform the council that there have been a few requests for this type of use and that there may be more in the future. � There being no further business, a motion was made by Brausen, seconded by Rowan to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 10:40 pm. Rick Getschow, Secretary CITY COUNCIL ATTEST: Eugene J. Maxwell, Mayor � . January 22, 2008 Page 1 • MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — January 22, 2008 A work session of the Hopkins City Council was called to order by Mayor Gene Maxwell at 6:35 p.m. on January 22, 2008, at the Hopkins City Hall. Council members Rick Brausen, Kristi Halverson, Bruce Rowan and Cheryl Youakim were present. City personnel present were City Manager Rick Getschow, Community Development Coordinator Tara Beard, Director of Planning Kersten Elverum, Police Chief Craig Reid, and Investigator James Niemackl. Also present were Sue Haigh, Karl Batalden and Chad Dipman of the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity (TCHH). Habitat for Humanity Presentation Ms. Beard said the Harrison lots were acquired during the work on Excelsior Blvd. The city signed a contract with Schatz Group to sell them. She has met with Karl Batalden, and a Right of Entry Agreement was signed with TCHH. TCHH has had soil testing done and has had the property assessed. Ms. Haigh described the work done by TCHH and answered Council members' questions. Their goal is to eliminate poverty housing. They build homes and sell them to families that meet the guidelines. The 0% interest mortgage is arranged so that the first mortgage will be no more than 30% of the family income. Payments do not increase if income increases as they want the families to move up financially. A second mortgage covers the remainder of the house's cost and is forgiven at the end of the first mortgage (30 years) if the family is still living there. A maintenance escrow is included in the mortgage so that the house can be kept up. TCHH keeps right of first refusal so they can . buy back homes if the family decides to sell; a shared equity agreement assures TCHH will be able to afford the property. To date only 3-5 have been repurchased, but most houses have been built in the past ten years. They build 50-60 per yeax, and have built about 680 homes in 41 cities in the metro area. The foreclosure rate is less than 2%. Buyers must attend a series of classes so they have the skills to maintain and keep the house. They must also put in 500-600 hours of work on their home or other homes. Most houses have three or four bedrooms; the families are often multigenerational. They will seek financial assistance from HUD through Hennepin County and from Habitat International to potentially purchase the Harrison lots. Mr. Batalden said TCHH will apply for that help in February; September would be the earliest they could actually purchase the lots. A down payment could be made before that. Later he added that the federal grant money must be repaid by TCHH, even if the house is foreclosed, which is why there is an equity agreement. Answering Mayor Maxwell, Ms. Haigh said actual building, other than the foundations, would probably not start until next spring; both houses would be built at the same time. TCHH would be happy to interview Hopkins' residents as possible purchasers, although she could not promise they would get the homes. Four follow-up visits are made to each family after the purchase; TCHH is considering expanding that program. Answering Mr. Brausen, she said TCHH would be happy to hold an open house in the neighborhood. Ms. Youakim asked about cash and in-kind donations; Ms. Haigh said she would get current figures for the Council. She noted $82,000 per lot would be one of the highest prices TCHH will have paid. Mr. Batalden said TCHH would need a Memorandum of Understanding or a . Purchase Agreement by February 21. They would also need a resolution passed by the January 22, 2008 � Page 2 � Council or a letter from the Mayor. Mayor Maxwell said he would want a neighborhood ����� meeting held before then so the Council would have resident feedback. Ms. Beard noted � a resolution could be passed at the February 19 Council meeting. General Consensus was to use Feb. 19 as a deadline for the neighborhood meeting and a decision on the purchase price. ! I Graffiti Plan � Chief Reid said graffiti was one of the biggest crime concerns in the city survey. Staff has been working on a plan to make responses more consistent and of more service to residents. There are 250-400 incidents known to police each year, but many do not get reported. Ray often cleans up signs, etc. as he sees them and does not report those. St. Louis Park thought they had about 100 incidents; once they started their graffiti program they found they had about 700. He also feels the city could do better with the victims. Hopkins will be working with other cities as taggers often work in more than one city. Another city might know the tagger's moniker, making apprehension possible. The biggest change Hopkins will make is to have the morning PSO spend a couple hours several times a week looking specifically for graffiti. Digital camera photos will be taken, and the graffiti will be cleaned immediately if possible. All incidents will be entered in police records. Liz Page will be responsible for follow up. Many incidents involve city property or public utilities, He would like to institute a letter signed hy Mayor Maxwell to be sent to public utilities and government entities that do not get graffiti cleaned off their property in a reasonable length of time; this would be only a few ; times a year, but would show the city is seriously concerned about graffiti. Public ��. � Works' goal is to remove graffiti from city property within 24 hours. Seven days would � � be the deadline for residents. Mayor Maxwell expressed concern if Liz could handle the extra load; City Manager, Getschow assured him that had been considered. The only noticeable work load increase will be handled by the PSO. Answering Mayor Maxwell, Chief Reid said most taggers are not gang members; if they seem to be, the gang force will be notified. Mr. Brausen said the coupon for savings on graffiti cleaning supplies � was a really good thing. Chief Reid said he has told the Hance Hardware owner the police department would pay back the $5 coupons redeemed, but he said he wanted to do this for the community. He added Hance Hardware is the only business that sells the graffiti removal products in Hopkins. Mr. Getschow said this was a plan with increased efforts toward graffiti abatement. There are not any current plans to bring forth any city code or ordinance revisions. Chief Reid said he wanted the Council to be aware the issue is being addressed. Other Ms. Youakim asked• how influential neighborhood disapproval would be in the TCHH project. Mayor Maxwell said there would need to be good points, not just "I don't I like it." Mr. Brausen added that "fair market value" might be brought up, but that is what the city plans to charge. Ms. Youakim added she feels the fact the new residents would be independent owners needs to be stressed. City Manager Getschow reminded the Council that planning for State of the City would start soon. There was a general discussion. A new format is a prime concern. t „„ � � _ _- _ - _-- _ -� _� - -, - -- - - - . ,,...,: , „ ..... . . . . i - � � r January 22, 2008 Fage 3 � Mr. Getschow noted the next Council meeting would be on Monday, Feb. 4, due to caucuses on Tuesday. The work session Feb. 12 will include the legislative platform. Citizens' Academy will start Feb. 28; graduation will be April 1. Ms. Youakim said she would do one of the first two sessions. On motion by Ms. Halverson and second by Mr. Brausen, the meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m. on a �ote of 5-0. Kasey Kester, Secretary COUNCIL MEMBERS: ATTEST: Eugene J. Maxwell, Mayor � �