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01-02-2018 CCMMeeting of the Elk River City Council Held at the Elk River City Hall Tuesday, January 2, 2018 Members Present: Mayor Dietz, Councilmembers Olsen, Ovall, Westgaard, and Wagner Members Absent: None Staff Present: City Administrator Calvin Portner, Street Superintendent Mark Thompson, Community Development Director Suzanne Fischer, and City Clerk Tina Allard 1. Call Meeting to Order Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the meeting of the Elk River City Council was called to order at 6:33 p.m. by Mayor Dietz. 2. Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 3. Consider January 2, 2018, Agenda Item 4.7 was removed from the agenda and Item 4.3 was pulled from the consent agenda. Moved by Councilmember Ovall and seconded by Councilmember Westgaard to approve the January 2, 2018, agenda as amended. Motion carried 5-0. 4. Consider Consent Agenda Moved by Councilmember Westgaard and seconded by Councilmember Olsen to approve the following consent agenda: 4.1 December 18, 2017, minutes. 4.2 Check register, check numbers 9922-9924 and 104382-104551 as outlined in the staff report. 4.4 Designate the Star News at the city's official newspaper. 4.5 Appoint Mayor John Dietz and Finance Director Lori Johnson to the Fire Relief Association Board with a term expiration of January 7, 2019. 4.6 Appoint the environmental administrator position indefinitely as the assistant weed inspector. 4.8 Locate Technician position description. Motion carried 5-0. 4.3 Designate Depositories for City Funds City Council Minutes January 2, 2018 Page 2 Moved by Councihnember Wagner and seconded by Councilmember Olsen to adopt Resolution 18-01 designating depositories of city funds. Motion carried 4-0. Councilmember Ovall abstained due to his affiliation with The Bank of Elk River. S. Open Forum No one appeared for Open Forum. 6.1 Retirement Recognitions • Mark Thompson Doe Pipenhagen Staff and Council recognized Mark (36 years) and Joe (22 years) for their years of service to the city. 7. Public Hearings "there were no public hearings. 8.1 Qppount Acting Mayor Moved by Councilmember Olsen and seconded by Councilmember Westgaard to appoint Councilmember Oval] as the acting mayor for 2018. Motion carried 5-0. 8.2 Discuss Council Work Session Items Mr. Pormer presented the staff report. He noted ice facility updates will be discussed each month. He stated there will be a fee discussion on athletic facilities and field rental. Councilmember Westgaard also stated there will be an item to determine interest for commercial retail space in the arena. 9. Council Liaison Updates Council provided updated on the activities of the various boards and commissions. Energy City ■ Fall clean up report ■ Climate smartPBS special, February 11 Heritage Preservation • Next meeting January 18 ►O1EREI RI NATURE City Council Minutes January 2, 2018 Library New hours are in effect Parks & Recreation ■ Hillside City Park award and construction update ■ Park dedication from Miske Meadows Planning ■ Miske Meadows plat public hearing concerns Elk River Utilities Governance policy update New billing cycle Page 3 Mayor Dietz asked Council if they would like to sponsor an employee lunch. Council concurred and set the date for February 5. Council recessed at 6:58 p.m. in order to go into work session. Council reconvened at 7:03 p.m. 10.1 Food Truck Ordinance Ms. Allard presented the staff report. Fred McCoy, downtown restaurant owner — Expressed concerns with the angular parking spots being used by food trucks. He stated the parking spots are narrow and difficult to fit a normal size car. Dave Gess, food truck owner — Stated his goal is not to impede on the local restaurants. He stated he along with other vendors have been asked to come downtown for events including during concert nights as the local restaurants are full. Steve Hickman, 20562 Victoria Drive and affiliated with Daddy -O's Cafe — Questioned the revenue/ tax a food truck would generate to the city because they don't support local community programs or pay property taxes like restaurants. Mr. Gess stated he is local and he buys all his fuel and propane locally from Ralphie's Minoco in Elk River. He stated he hopes to eventually own a brick and mortar business someday. Mayor Dietz suggested not allowing food trucks downtown and to designate a food truck location from Cretex Companies up to the Handke Center noting they are parallel spots versus angular. He stated he originally thought the city would allow them to park in the city -owned parking lots. P01E1E1 01 NATURE City Council Minutes Page 4 January 2, 2018 ----------------------------- Councilmember Wagner expressed concerns with residential owners having issues with the Cretex/Handke location. Ms. Allard noted there would be safety concerns with the city lots due to visibility and pedestrian stacking at a truck. Mayor Dietz stated the number of trucks allowed in the downtown area should be limited. Councilmember Westgaard questioned how staff could regulate which trucks can be located downtown if a limit is set on them. Councilmember Wagner questioned if the city would have two different regulations, one citywide and one specifically for the downtown area. Mr. McCoy stated he is not overly concerned with food trucks downtown because they most likely are not going to get a parking space due to how busy it can get versus getting two spots together. Jeremy Jones, Aegir Brewing Company — Asked if they could be allowed to use the city parking lot behind their business for special events. He stated their taproom will not serve food and will encourage local businesses to have menus at their business. He further stated he would like to bring in food trucks to bring in more people to visit the city. He stated they would like to have a truck at least two nights a week, most likely on Friday and Saturday nights. Mayor Dietz expressed concerns that if the city allowed this business to have a special event permit for food trucks, others will want them too. Councilmember Wagner asked if Aegir has talked with the church or bank about utilizing their private property so it takes the city out of the matter, noting those business are most likely not being used during the weekend timeframes noted. Jeremy Jones expressed concerns with distance people would have to walk to a food truck. Tim Jones, Aegir Brewing, expressed concerns with people walking across the parking lot and of the church wanting to be affiliated with a liquor business. Councilmember Wagner noted the downtown concerts only occur about 8 days a year. She stated if she is choosing to go downtown to eat at McCoy's, and she happens to see a food truck, she is not going to change her mind and eat at the food truck. She noted her intention would be to sit down at McCoy's to have a beer and a conversation. However, she stated she would most likely stop at a food truck versus a fast food establishment. earfaII at I ATT City Council Minutes January 2, 2018 Page 5 Councilmember Wagner further stated she hears a lot about trucks creating a parking issue by taking up spots but noted it is the downtown business employees who are parking in front of their own businesses. She stated she believes this is a larger issue. Councilmember Wagner noted Aegir is a downtown business who pays taxes. She noted there are other types of transient business and home-based businesses that are allowed to operate and also don't pay local taxes. Councilmember Wagner noted food trucks would be a great opportunity for cash- strapped fundraising organizations, youth sports, and tournaments to raise money. Mayor Dietz noted youth sports puts constraints on parents with expectations to work concessions, but an organization could bring in a food truck and collect a portion of the profits for their group. Dawn Hickman, 20562 Victoria Drive and affiliated with Daddy -O's — Stated they have 22 total employees and on a Friday and Saturday night they have 9 working. She stated they try to park in back of their establishment and they have young employees who work for them. She stated she is not sure where they are supposed to park. Council noted where the designated employee parking lot is downtown. Ms. Hickman stated no one from their business has ever parked in the employee lot and is too far for a young kid to walk. Mr. Hickman stated he has talked to several of the businesses and no business is instructing their employees to park in the lots and in front of their business. He stated he has done some calculations and determined that one parking spot is worth $40 per hour to a restaurant. He determined there would be $32,000 of loss in a year to a business with a food truck taking up one spot 4 nights each week. Council concurred they have no issues with food trucks in the city with the exception of downtown locations. Council concurred food trucks shouldn't be allowed in angular parking spots. Councilmember Westgaard stated he thought the point of hosting the concerts and farmer's market downtown was to promote the community to patronize the downtown businesses and not to bring in a carnival and more congestion. Councilmember Olsen stated he sees no issues with allowing the parallel parking spots on the north side of Main Street. Councilmember Wagner asked Council how they felt about food trucks on concert nights. She further noted Aegir, a downtown taxpaying business, would like to have food trucks. She questioned if a customer is going to want to walk to a food truck located 4 blocks away. /R11RI1 RI NATURE City Council Minutes January 2, 2018 Page 6 Mr. McCoy stated he understands Aegir needs to have a food truck. He stated he is not opposed to allowing trucks to park in the parallel spots on the north side of Main Street but expressed safety concerns with customers crossing the street. Mr. McCoy noted the city is not going to see a rush of food trucks coming to town. He stated he sees no issues with allowing food trucks on King Avenue south of Main Street or in downtown on the north side of Main Street. It was questioned as to how many trucks would fit on King Avenue and concern was expressed for the sight being on a hill. Councilmember Westgaard stated he would like to find a way to accommodate Aegis and their desire to have events with a food truck by utilizing the special event permitting process and allowing them use the city -owned lower parking lot and requiring a fee. He noted if they then make a request for a food truck on a Thursday night it could be denied because the parking lot would be needed for a concert. Staff stated this should be evaluated and noted Aegir would want a special event permit for every weekend. Mayor Dietz stated staff should review setting limits for the number of food trucks allowed in the downtown district. He questioned how many times a food truck can be downtown, how it would be regulated if three are allowed but six apply. He questioned how they could be rotated in order to be fair to each of them. He suggested setting a deadline date in which they have to apply by before selecting the trucks that can locate downtown. He felt no more than 3-4 trucks should be allowed downtown. Councilmember Olsen suggested having it be self-limiting. Councilmember Wagner expressed concerns with how tight the upper lot is in the back of Aegir. Mayor Dietz stated if Aegir applied for a special event permit, staff wouldn't have to approve all of them. Staff noted they would approve the permit if the applicant met the requirements outlined in the special event ordinance. Jeremy Jones stated city ordinance could set a size limit for a food truck and he stated they have a back patio that would allow for queuing of patrons. Mr. Gess stated he would like searing to be allowed in the industrial parks. Council was amendable to this change. ,9�WEAf1 B1 City Council Minutes January 2, 2018 II. Adjournment There being no further business, Mayor Dietz adjourned the meeting of the Elk River City Council at 8:04 p.m. Dietz; Tina Allard, City Clerk Page 7 I 16SAIJIFZ� IR10 1