02-22-00 WSMINUTES
CITY C®UNCII. WORK SESSION -FEBRUARY 22, 2000
A work session of the Hopkins City Council was held at 6:30 p.m. on February 23, 2000,
at the City Hall. Council members present were Mayor Maxwell and Council members Hesch,
Jensen, and Johnson. City personnel present were City Manager Mielke, City Planner Anderson,
and City Attorney Steiner. Present were Zoning and Planning Commission members Dorothy
Boen, Maura Swanson, Roger Gross, Ross Bartz, Eric Rudolph and John Szuba. Also present
were Mark Koegler of Hoisington Koegler and Tom Allen.
Joint Council/Z&P Commission discussion of single family housing
Nancy Anderson briefly outlined the history of the ordinance revision. In answer to Gene
Maxwell, City Attorney Steiner said he would recommend changes affect only Rl areas because
the goal is to make institutional expansion more difficult in Rl than in R2 through R6 areas, not to
keep schools and churches out of Hopkins. He would not recommend using only rezoning as it is
the CUP (conditional use permit) provisions that setup criteria for institutional expansion. There
was general discussion of the purpose of the ordinance, with all agreeing it was the preservation of
single family homes, not to make things difficult for institutions. Karen Jensen noted the timing of
the issue had been unfortunate and led to some misunderstandings.
In answer to Maura Swanson, Steve Mielke said Hopkins is trying to preserve the integrity
of single-family home neighborhoods and removal of single-family homes by the city has been
largely in commercial and medium-density areas. Nancy Anderson noted the moratorium lasts
until August. If a public hearing is held in March, the ordinance changes would be before the
Council in April. She added drawing institutional boundaries seemed to be problematic only for
Zion Lutheran. Fran Hesch felt that might not be too difficult as the Zion pastor was happy to
hear the parsonage would probably be included within Zion's boundary. Roger Gross and John
Szuba said they felt with only CUP, institutions could ignore neighborhood desires and make
changes at will. Mr. Koegler noted Hopkins is one of the first cities to consider arezoning/CUP
combination; he and Mr. Steiner would appreciate any Council input as to processes to be used.
Mr. Mielke added Hopkins has broken new ground before, as when they downsized several
properties; they were not sued because the reasons were valid and people could see why it was
being done. The issue is not "how hard will this be?" but "is this the goal?" .
General Consensus: Roger Gross, John Szuba, Ross Bartz, Fran Hesch, Diane Johnson
and Karen Jensen indicated they were in favor of using both rezoning and CUP. Dorothy Boen
and Maura Swanson said they are undecided. Eric Rudolph said he favors CUP alone. Council
members Hesch- and Johnson said they hoped the Z&P Commission would expand their efforts
into helping the Council lean as well as zone Hopkins. Karen Jensen said she felt it would be
good to have a Commission member at any work sessions involving zoning in the future. Including
parsonages in church boundaries was favored.
Focus Group Report, Tom Allen
Mr. Mielke said the purpose of the report was twofold: to bring the results to the Council
and to present a proposal for moving forward with the process.
There was general discussion about the results. Mr. Allen said Council members
should not over-react to negative comments included as the overwhelming majority of
feedback was very positive; he included negative comments when made by two or more
people simply as indicators of issues that the Council might want to look at. Karen Jensen
noted diversity seemed to brought up a lot, although not as a major issue. Diane Johnson
said she noticed two issues mentioned: diversity and multi-family dwellings. She said the
feedback from this process and the United Way report did not seem to talk about the same
city. All the Council members were upset by the United Way report. Fran Hesch noted
senior citizens all agreed they feel safe in Hopkins.
Mr. Allen then moved on to future work, designated as Track 1, working with the
community to develop a vision and mission for Hopkins, and Track 2, working to improve
communication between city staff and the Council.
Discussion on Track 1 centered on continuing the involvement of the focus group
members. All felt it was important to have representatives of each focus group on the design
team of 20-50 members, who would develop the proposed vision, mission and goals. Mr.
Allen plans their proposal would then go before a community gathering of 100-200 people in
small groups to get community feedback and brainstorming of more ways to implement the
vision. Fran Hesch noted Hopkins has comp plan, strategic plan, etc. ; the need is to
integrate and synthesize it all, to see how everything fits together in a cohesive plan.
Discussion on Track 2 centered on how to get honest feedback from staff so the
process would work. Mr. Allen said there is always tension between any city staff and the
council, and discomfort in approaching "those who write the paycheck. " Mr. Mielke noted
that the tension starts at the lowest levels of city staff, and many find it difficult to approach
even him.
Mr. Allen noted the time frame is probably 6-9 months; both tracks would happen at
the same time. The design team for Track 1 would commit to 6 evenings. Mr. Allen liked
Ms. Hesch's suggestion of having "sub-facilitators" at the large community meeting.
General Consensus: Mr. Mielke or Mr. Allen will go over the material with Rick
Brausen before Tuesday. There will be a special work session for this project Feb. 29 at
6:00, with Mr. Allen to join the Council at 7:00.
Mr. Mielke is to find out the sources of the United Way report.
Emphasis needs to be on recruitment for the design group at this point. Steve Mielke
will-make sure the Council gets a list of all the people invited to participate in the focus
groups so the Council can do some personal approaches. They liked the idea of a "kick-off
celebration" for all who have participated so far.
Other
Council Photo
Mr. Mielke said a Council photo for the web site is needed. It was decided this will
be taken March 6 at 6:30 p.m., with the Council in denim shirts
Buyouts on County Road 3
Fran Hesch brought this up. This needs further discussion at a later session.
Diane Johnson asked Mr. Mielke to look into "for sale vehicles" on the Admiral Reality
property. Gene Maxwell asked him to check out why so many parking tickets were
suddenly given out on Seventh, Eighth and Ninth.
Fran Hesch moved adjournment; Karen Jensen seconded. Meeting adjourned at
9:50 p.m.
Kasey Kester, recording secretary
ATTEST:
Eugene .Max ell