CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES March 3, 2014 5:30pm ...
CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES March 3, 2014 5:30pm 1) Call to Order Fischer called the meeting to order at 5:34pm. In attendance: City Council Mayor Cheryl Fischer, Mark Vanderlinde, Anne Hunt, Arlene Donahue and Bob Christians; City Staff and Consultants: City Administrator Mike Funk, Community Development Director David Abel, Finance Director Brian Grimm, Director of Public Safety Paul Falls, Assistant City Administrator Mike Barone, City Clerk Terri Haarstad, Attorney Ron Batty (Kennedy and Graven) and City Engineer Mark Erichson (WSB) 2) 5:30 – 6:00 pm League of Minnesota Cities, Legislative Update (verbal) Funk introduced Ann Finn and Craig Johnson from the League of Minnesota Cities. Finn explained the biennial legislative process and described an upcoming bonding bill. She reminded the Council that, as it is an election year, legislators will desire to be done with their work by the scheduled session end date of May 19th. She noted that the Governor has declared this legislative session to be the ‘unsession’, meaning he has asked legislators to review statues eliminating obsolete sections and streamlining others with a goal of reducing or scaling back statutes by 30%. She distributed copies of The League of MN Cities Session 2014 handout and the League of MN Cities Budget Forecast. She informed the Council that the League has become a member of the latest transportation coalition called MOVE MN; however, they have been told that chances of an additional gas tax being approved this year is not likely. The League is still working on the street improvement district legislation. It is currently parked in the tax committee and the League hopes some form of this initiative will be approved this year. Johnson explained what is going on in water discussions in legislative sessions, State agencies and other organizations. He informed the Council that the League of MN advocates on behalf of local communities regarding issues such as: the quantity and quality of groundwater, reducing high water usage, water issues in the north and east metro area and the drawdown of White Bear Lake, getting cities to switch from groundwater to surface water, developing and enhancing groundwater management areas, the 40 foot water table drop in Marshall, stormwater regulations, water conservation measures, nitrates and anticipated future federal regulations regarding nitrogen use in agriculture.. He indicated that the key players in this discussion are the Met Council and the DNR although the MN Dept of Agriculture, the MN Dept of Health and the MN Pollution Control Agency also have significant roles in the discussion. Other topics of interest include He suggested that when legislators and agency representatives visit the City, the Council should ask them how the new regulations will affect the city and upcoming projects planned. Discussion included: Whether or not the Legislative Water Commission (abolished in 1994) will be revived Whether or not the legislature will pressure the Met Council to return water from their water treatment plants to the aquifers instead of dumping it into the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers
To what degree the issue of water reuse will come into play
3) 6:00 - 6:30 pm Policy Discussion, Water Supply System (water consumption and irrigation usage) Funk presented the staff report found in the City Council Special Meeting Packet dated March 3, 2014. Batty stated that while he is not an expert on water sustainability, he drafted the Medina city ordinance eight years ago. He explained that Medina’s ordinance was approved with the intent to save on City infrastructure costs. He believes it has been effective in saving infrastructure costs; however, he is not certain whether or not it has conserved water. More than half of the properties that fall under this ordinance have not yet been developed. Medina plans to begin to review the effectiveness of the ordinance in terms of water reuse in summer of 2014. Under this ordinance in Medina, all developers have had to dig private wells for irrigation. As such, there are numerous connections to the aquifer unregulated by City water conservation ordinances. Erichson provided the Council with an estimate for potential water savings if the Council passed a water reuse ordinance and explained how it would have applied should such an ordinance been in place when the City processed applications for upcoming developments. Of note: models showing the irrigation of entire developments with stormwater ponding would potentially completely drain the ponds in a week. As such, wells would be needed to supplement irrigation from stormwater ponding during dry and drought conditions. He reminded the Council that the newly approved tiered water rate structure was set up to deter high water usage and indicated that, should the Council wish to pursue water reuse regulation, the watershed districts and the DNR would need to buy into the ordinance. Additionally, stormwater ponds currently are designed to infiltrate. If the intent was to use them for irrigation, they would need to be designed differently and lined with clay. Discussion included: Whether or not new developments could also use water from Lake Minnetonka for irrigation Which agency would issue a permit for lake-fed irrigation (The DNR, not the watershed districts) Whether or not the developers of Red Oak and the Wallace Estate could be required to utilize conservation measures. Whether or not an ordinance of this type would encourage developers to oversize stormwater ponding and prevent drainage issues. Whether or not doing this will actually encourage more water usage from the aquifers since once a well has been drilled, the water is essentially free. Whether or not the City can regulate well water usage by requiring meters on wells or putting shut-off devices on wells once it exceeds a certain usage level Whether or not marketing the new tiered water rate changes would encourage residents to use less water Whether or not watering restrictions can be applied to well owners Whether or not the City can fine high water users if they are using wells Whether or not the water rate tier structure needs to be adjusted again to make high water usage even more financially painful Whether or not this type of regulation will be cost-prohibitive for developers and how it fits with the City Council’s goal of being pro-development Funk informed the City Council that he is working to arrange for water sustainability experts including Ali al-Hasan, Keith Bowman and Jack Gleason to attend the Special City Council meeting scheduled for 5:30pm on April 7, 2014. He stated that, as the City
does not currently have an ordinance in place requiring water sustainability measures in developments, cooperation from current developers is currently voluntary. Staff seeks direction from the Council regarding work on an ordinance requiring water conservation measures in irrigating. Batty stated that it is too late to change terms for any development where the Preliminary Plat has already been approved. He stated that there may be a perceived sense of injustice for developers who have already submitted Preliminary Plat applications as they prepared their application and plans without these regulations in place. He recommended that, should the Council wish to enact such an ordinance, that it apply to all land use applications submitted after the effective date of the ordinance in order to give developers an opportunity to create plans that accommodate these requirements from the beginning. Erichson suggested that the City examine the possibility of using irrigation from stormwater ponding to irrigate City parks. He also informed the City Council that it is City Staff’s intent to send out a letter to all residents on the City Water system to inform them about the impact of the new tiered water rate structure. Funk pointed out that the tiered water rate structure was just changed and that the City would need approximately the remainder of the year to determine whether or not the new rates are effective in reducing water usage. He also raised the question about whether or not shifting to a monthly utility billing model would allow residents to better adjust their water usage in response to higher bills by the new tiered structure. He would also like to have a future discussion related to the process used for utility billing. Motion by Hunt second by Vanderlinde to direct staff to include water sustainability as an initiative in the City’s Strategic Plan under ‘Resources Matched to Service Demands’ and to direct staff to research sustainability and water conservation with the goal of bringing back a draft ordinance for review and discussion. Motion carried 5 – 0. 4) 6:30 - 6:45 pm Lake Minnetonka Scenic Byway Update and Discussion Funk explained that he and Fischer attended a Scenic Byway regional discussion meeting organized by the City of Wayzata. The goal was to gauge the interest of area cities in designating a collective Lake Minnetonka scenic byway, marking it with signage and marketing it to attract visitors to the area. A resolution of support is being drafted by the City of Wayzata regarding whether or not each City Council is interested in continuing the conversation. As there are fourteen cities involved, it will likely be a long process. 5) 6:45 – 6:50 pm Review Work Session Agenda Items for 2014 By unanimous consent the Council continued this to the regular meeting scheduled at 7:00pm. 6) Adjourn
Motion by Donahue Second by Hunt to adjourn at 6:58pm Respectfully Submitted,
Terri Haarstad City Clerk
To what degree the issue of water reuse will come into play
3) 6:00 - 6:30 pm Policy Discussion, Water Supply System (water consumption and irrigation usage) Funk presented the staff report found in the City Council Special Meeting Packet dated March 3, 2014. Batty stated that while he is not an expert on water sustainability, he drafted the Medina city ordinance eight years ago. He explained that Medina’s ordinance was approved with the intent to save on City infrastructure costs. He believes it has been effective in saving infrastructure costs; however, he is not certain whether or not it has conserved water. More than half of the properties that fall under this ordinance have not yet been developed. Medina plans to begin to review the effectiveness of the ordinance in terms of water reuse in summer of 2014. Under this ordinance in Medina, all developers have had to dig private wells for irrigation. As such, there are numerous connections to the aquifer unregulated by City water conservation ordinances. Erichson provided the Council with an estimate for potential water savings if the Council passed a water reuse ordinance and explained how it would have applied should such an ordinance been in place when the City processed applications for upcoming developments. Of note: models showing the irrigation of entire developments with stormwater ponding would potentially completely drain the ponds in a week. As such, wells would be needed to supplement irrigation from stormwater ponding during dry and drought conditions. He reminded the Council that the newly approved tiered water rate structure was set up to deter high water usage and indicated that, should the Council wish to pursue water reuse regulation, the watershed districts and the DNR would need to buy into the ordinance. Additionally, stormwater ponds currently are designed to infiltrate. If the intent was to use them for irrigation, they would need to be designed differently and lined with clay. Discussion included: Whether or not new developments could also use water from Lake Minnetonka for irrigation Which agency would issue a permit for lake-fed irrigation (The DNR, not the watershed districts) Whether or not the developers of Red Oak and the Wallace Estate could be required to utilize conservation measures. Whether or not an ordinance of this type would encourage developers to oversize stormwater ponding and prevent drainage issues. Whether or not doing this will actually encourage more water usage from the aquifers since once a well has been drilled, the water is essentially free. Whether or not the City can regulate well water usage by requiring meters on wells or putting shut-off devices on wells once it exceeds a certain usage level Whether or not marketing the new tiered water rate changes would encourage residents to use less water Whether or not watering restrictions can be applied to well owners Whether or not the City can fine high water users if they are using wells Whether or not the water rate tier structure needs to be adjusted again to make high water usage even more financially painful Whether or not this type of regulation will be cost-prohibitive for developers and how it fits with the City Council’s goal of being pro-development Funk informed the City Council that he is working to arrange for water sustainability experts including Ali al-Hasan, Keith Bowman and Jack Gleason to attend the Special City Council meeting scheduled for 5:30pm on April 7, 2014. He stated that, as the City
does not currently have an ordinance in place requiring water sustainability measures in developments, cooperation from current developers is currently voluntary. Staff seeks direction from the Council regarding work on an ordinance requiring water conservation measures in irrigating. Batty stated that it is too late to change terms for any development where the Preliminary Plat has already been approved. He stated that there may be a perceived sense of injustice for developers who have already submitted Preliminary Plat applications as they prepared their application and plans without these regulations in place. He recommended that, should the Council wish to enact such an ordinance, that it apply to all land use applications submitted after the effective date of the ordinance in order to give developers an opportunity to create plans that accommodate these requirements from the beginning. Erichson suggested that the City examine the possibility of using irrigation from stormwater ponding to irrigate City parks. He also informed the City Council that it is City Staff’s intent to send out a letter to all residents on the City Water system to inform them about the impact of the new tiered water rate structure. Funk pointed out that the tiered water rate structure was just changed and that the City would need approximately the remainder of the year to determine whether or not the new rates are effective in reducing water usage. He also raised the question about whether or not shifting to a monthly utility billing model would allow residents to better adjust their water usage in response to higher bills by the new tiered structure. He would also like to have a future discussion related to the process used for utility billing. Motion by Hunt second by Vanderlinde to direct staff to include water sustainability as an initiative in the City’s Strategic Plan under ‘Resources Matched to Service Demands’ and to direct staff to research sustainability and water conservation with the goal of bringing back a draft ordinance for review and discussion. Motion carried 5 – 0. 4) 6:30 - 6:45 pm Lake Minnetonka Scenic Byway Update and Discussion Funk explained that he and Fischer attended a Scenic Byway regional discussion meeting organized by the City of Wayzata. The goal was to gauge the interest of area cities in designating a collective Lake Minnetonka scenic byway, marking it with signage and marketing it to attract visitors to the area. A resolution of support is being drafted by the City of Wayzata regarding whether or not each City Council is interested in continuing the conversation. As there are fourteen cities involved, it will likely be a long process. 5) 6:45 – 6:50 pm Review Work Session Agenda Items for 2014 By unanimous consent the Council continued this to the regular meeting scheduled at 7:00pm. 6) Adjourn
Motion by Donahue Second by Hunt to adjourn at 6:58pm Respectfully Submitted,
Terri Haarstad City Clerk
