DEEPHAVEN CITY COUNCIL
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2006
7:00 P.M.
PAGE 1
1.
CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Anderson called the meeting to order at
7:00 p.m.
ABSENT: Councilmember John Wheaton
STAFF: Police Chief Virgil Gustafson,
Zoning Coordinator Gus Karpas and City Administrator Dana Young
2.
APPROVE CONSENT AGENDA
Motion
by Councilmember Skrede to approve the consent agenda, consisting of the
minutes of July 11th and July 17th, the verified accounts
for the month of August, and approval of a Temporary On-Sale Non-Intoxicating
Malt Liquor License for St. Therese for September 30, 2006. Councilmember Kask seconded. Motion carried 4-0.
3.
MATTERS FROM THE FLOOR
Chris
Vogt, with the Lake Minnetonka Communications Commission, was present to
present two national awards to the City Council for the 2006 Deephaven Days
video that was filmed last year. He
stated that 2006 Deephaven Days video was given the Award of Distinction for
excellence in community broadcasting and the Hometown Video Award by the
Alliance for Community Media. He stated
his appreciation to Councilmember Skrede, Deephaven City Staff and the
residents of Deephaven for their assistance with the video.
Mayor
Anderson thanked Chris Vogt and the LMCC for the award and stated that he was
appreciative of the efforts of the Council and Deephaven residents.
Dick
Kreutter, 18310 Rutledge Road, was present to thank the City for helping to
patch the end of his new driveway. He
stated that he appreciated the City’s cooperation in the matter.
Mayor
Anderson stated that he is deeply saddened by the recent loss of one of our
residents, Julie Webster. He stated that
this sad event has brought home awareness of what a terrible disease alzeimers
is. He stated that he would like to
thank our Police Department for doing such an outstanding job despite the
outcome and extended his sympathy on behalf of the City to the family of Julie
Webster.
4.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
A.
VARIANCE/ACCESSORY STRUCTURE
SIZE PERMIT – Adeline Perl, 20670 Linwood Road (R-2, 40,000). An accessory structure
size/setback permit request to reconstruct an existing non-conforming 36’-6” by
20’-5” accessory structure which would encroach into the required side yard
setback. The proposed structure would
encroach five feet, seven inches into the required twenty-five foot side yard
setback and would exceed the maximum permitted one thousand square foot
combined accessory structure area by three hundred and twelve feet.
Norm
and Adeline Perl presented the request.
Mr. Perl gave a brief history of the property, indicating that the
original structure was built in 1898. He
noted that construction was different back then, in that structure foundations
were placed on top of crushed rock. He
said he and his wife purchased the property in 1978 with the idea of keeping
the barn. He said last year a storm blew
two trees onto the structure damaging it beyond repair. He has discussed the proposal with his
neighbors and shown them the plans. They
are in support of the request. He feels
the structure is unique and warrants reconstruction. He said there would be no water or sewer run
to the structure and its use would be as a studio.
Mrs.
Perl said they don’t intend on changing the look of the area, just repair the
structure as is. They want to enhance it
while keeping the historical character of the building and the city.
Mr.
Perl noted that the adjacent neighbor most affected by the proposal, Mark
Erhard, was not able to attend tonight’s meeting but that he was in support of
the request.
Jim Johnson, 20680 Linwood Road, spoke in favor of the request. He said his wife grew up next door to the subject property and remembers playing in that barn as a young girl. She and her parents reviewed the plans with the Perls and support the request.
Councilmember
Crockett gave the Planning Commission report stating that they unanimously
supported the request. Their decision
was based on the fact that there would be no plumbing and that the second story
would be only a lofted space approximately five and a half feet in height. They also felt the request feel under the
State Statutes in regard to reconstruction of non-conforming structures. They were comfortable with the proposed use.
Mayor
Anderson asked staff about the applicability of the State Statute. Zoning Coordinator Karpas said that the City
Attorney felt the Statute extended to accessory structures. That being the case, the property owner’s
were still required to go through the process of obtaining a special use
permit.
Councilmember
Kask reiterated that the dimensions and location are the same as the existing
structure. He is in support of the
request.
Mayor
Anderson noted that even before the current State Statutes, the city has been
willing to positively view requests such as this where a property owner is
looking to replace existing structures in their current configuration.
Motion by Councilmember Kask to approve the accessory structure size permit to exceed the maximum permitted accessory structure area by three hundred and twelve square feet and the accessory structure setback permit to encroach five feet, seven inches into the required twenty-five foot side yard setback for the, as presented, for the proposed reconstruction of the accessory structure at 20670 Linwood Road. The motion is conditioned that the sign remain unlit. There is a need to repair the structure and the proposal would not exceed the dimensions of the existing structure. Councilmember Crockett seconded. Motion carried 4-0.
B.
ORDINANCE AMENDMENT. Recommendation to the City
Council on an amendment to Sections 1310.10 (1) (e) of the zoning ordinance by
removing language permitting a special use process to exceed the established
ordinance requirements for accessory structures. Subsequently, Section 1310.11 of the
ordinance, outlining the special use provisions would be deleted as part of the
adoption of the ordinance.
Zoning Coordinator Karpas summarized the proposed ordinance amendment saying that would remove the special use provision in the accessory structure ordinance, requiring a variance for future requests to exceed the maximum permitted accessory structure square footage or to encroach into a required side or rear setback.
Councilmember
Crockett gave the Planning Commission report stating that they unanimously
recommend that the Council adopt the proposed ordinance amendment.
The
Council felt the proposed amendment was consistent with their previous
discussions on the issue.
Motion by Councilmember Crockett to adopt Ordinance 13-40, removing the special use process for accessory structures. Councilmember Skrede seconded. Motion carried 4-0.
Councilmember Skrede commented that there would be some issues that will need to be addressed in the future as applicants come before the Council with requests for uses that may not meet the hardship criteria. Mayor Anderson said he has no problem with that, especially since most of those types of requests are not in the best interest of the community.
Councilmember Kask said there would be a need to more clear definition of accessory structures. He said the spirit and intent of the ordinance must be used to determine whether a proposed use meets the criteria of a hardship or whether the provisions of the ordinance must be met.
5.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A.
Approve Street Striping Bid
Motion
by Councilmember Kask to approve the bid submitted by Twin City Striping in the
amount of $11,318.30 for striping City streets, parking lots and
crosswalks. Seconded by Councilmember
Crockett. Motion carried 4-0.
Mayor
Anderson requested that City Staff ensure that the contractor provides
sufficient barricades and traffic control during their striping operations.
B.
Authorize War Memorial
Donation ($500.00)
Mayor
Anderson stated that Ken Koehnen has been working for many years to have an
Excelsior Area War Memorial constructed and it has taken many years to finally
determine the location at the Five Corners in Excelsior.
Councilmember
Crockett stated that she doesn’t say this very often but the memorial is such a
worthy cause that she would like to donate more than the $500.00 request and
would be willing to donate up to $1,000.00
Mayor
Anderson stated that while he also supports the donation, he stated that cities
have a difficulty in contributing to these types of activities if its residents
do not primarily use the activity. He
stated that the City was able to contribute to Bennett Park several years ago
because the ballfields are used to a great extent by Deephaven residents. He stated that this would not be the case
with this donation.
Councilmember
Crockett stated that this is a gray area and that the donation to Deephaven
Elementary School for the playground equipment certainly made the Council feel
uncomfortable even though every kid in Deephaven would use the playground
equipment.
Mayor
Anderson noted that it certainly was the prior Council’s intent to donate
towards the memorial judging from the minutes from the December 6, 1999 Council
meeting.
Councilmember
Skrede suggested that perhaps the Deephaven Historic Society could make a
donation on our behalf after we make a donation to the Historic Society to
underwrite some of their expenses.
The
Council concluded that it would be clearer and more forthright to simply donate
to the Excelsior War Memorial rather than have another organization submit the
donation on our behalf.
Motion
by Mayor Anderson to authorize a donation in the amount of $500.00 to the
Excelsior War Memorial Fund based on historic commitments. Seconded by Councilmember Kask. Motion carried 4-0.
Administrator
Young stated the Right of Entry and Testing Agreement has been reviewed by the
attorney and his overall impression is that the document is fairly protective
in most respects to the City. He stated
that the attorney did offer several recommendations on the agreement including
provisions requiring T-Mobile to provide prior notification before entering the
property, restoration of the property, a payment for the agreement and a time
limit in which to conclude the testing.
Motion
by Councilmember Crockett to approve a Right of Entry and Testing Agreement
subject to amending the agreement to require reasonable notice, restoration of
the site to its existing condition, a $3,000.00 deposit to be refunded upon
satisfactory restoration of the property, and a time limit of 60 days for the
agreement to be in effect. Seconded by
Councilmember Skrede. Motion carried
4-0.
6.
NEW BUSINESS
Motion
by Councilmember Skrede to adopt Resolution No. 15-06, A Resolution Appointing
Election Judges for the September 12th Primary Election. Seconded by Councilmember Kask. Motion carried 4-0.
Councilmember
Skrede thanked the residents in advance for volunteering to serve as election
judges.
Councilmember
Crockett stated that she had received several complaints that in past elections
some judges might have provided too much assistance to the disabled in
instructing them how to vote.
Administrator Young stated that state law is very specific on what type
of assistance can be provided during the voting process and that all election
judges are required to attend training sessions that will deal with this issue
and other training matters.
Motion by Councilmember Skrede to adopt Resolution No. 16-06, A Resolution Approving Bid & Awarding a Contract to Infratech in the amount of $63,117.30 for the 2006 Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project. Seconded by Councilmember Crockett. Motion carried 4-0.
The
item was tabled without objection until August 21, 2006 to await further budget
revisions.
Councilmember Skrede stated that the Excelsior Fire District Board has awarded the bid for 2007 Fiscal Agent Services to the City of Deephaven in the amount of $18,000.00. He stated that the City of Deephaven provides 28% of the $18,000.00 as a member of the Fire District but the balance of the funding would provide a hedge against future increases in the Fire Operations Budget.
Motion
by Councilmember Crockett to authorize a 2007 Fiscal Agent Services Agreement
with the Excelsior Fire District.
Seconded by Councilmember Kask.
Motion carried 4-0.
7.
DEPARTMENT REPORTS
A.
Police Department
Councilmember
Skrede stated that the Fire Board has selected a candidate for Fire Chief and
that the individual will be starting on September 12th. He stated that he would be participating in
the process of establishing goals & objectives for the new Chief and that
the Chief would be provided a progress report after 90 days. He added that performance reviews would be
provided after six months and twelve months of employment.
Councilmember
Crockett stated that she listened to some of the candidates during their
interviews and encouraged the Fire Board to recap many of the excellent ideas
that the candidates brought forth regarding the Fire District. Councilmember Skrede agreed and stated that
the Fire Board intends to put together a written summary of these ideas for
future board discussion.
Administrator
Young presented the schedule of activity for the months of July and August for
Council review. There were no questions.
Administrator
Young provided a brief summary of the Emergency Management meeting attended by
City staff on July 20th and July 25th, filing for
municipal office opens on August 29th and closes on September 12th,
and that the City had received confirmation from the MN Dept. of Employee
Relations that the City is in compliance with pay equity requirements.
Mayor
Anderson provided a brief summary on the progress in examining group health
options.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The
meeting adjourned at 8:52 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Dana
Young
City
Administrator