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5.4. SR 04-22-2002Item 5.4 TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: MEMORANDUM Mayor and City Council Pat Klaers, City Administrator April 22, 2002 City Hall/Public Safety/Utilities Building Project Update I would like to update the City Council on a number of building issues ~elated to the City Hall, Utilities, and Public Safety project. Some of the updates relate to items ~liscussed at the last Council meeting when the CUP was approved. Items to update the CoUncil on include the following: · CUP: Emergency Vehicle Flasher Requirement · CUP: Bid Alternate for the Roof · Construction Schedule · Public Use of Meeting Rooms · Budget Issue: o SAC/WAC Fees o City Hall Roof Replacement o Bid Alternates · 1992 CUP Last week when the CUP was approved, it included the Planning Commission recommendation for an emergency vehicle warning flasher on Orono Parkway. The Public Safety staff believes that signage is sufficient and does not believe this flashing warning signal is necessary or needed but this information wasn't passed on to the Council. Additionally, it is believed that such a flashing warning signal would best function with an Opticon system similar to how the regular street signals function. To activate the Opticon warning flasher, the emergency vehicles would have to have the sirens activated. This obviously is a concern as it relates to the neighborhood around the Public Safety Facility. Please see the attached memo from Assistant Police Chief Jeff Beahen on this issue. When the CUP was approved, no decision was made on the type of material for the roof at City Hall. A metal roof was proposed but the cost was a concern. A Timberline shingle roof is being proposed to be bid out as an alternate so that at a future Council meeting we can evaluate the appearance concerns and the cost issues related to the life of the materials. The cedar shake shingle is not being proposed as a bid alternate due to both its cost and longevity. The mechanical/electrical consultant for the project needs an additional two weeks to complete the design work. This is due to the late decision on the geothermal component of the project. The decision was delayed as additional information on the cost/benefit and maintenance were obtained and analyzed. The additional two weeks will not have a significant impact relative to the good bidding environment we are currently seeing. The additional two weeks will allow us to not disrupt the City Hall site until after the fourth of July and County Fair celebrations. Additionally, we will delay work on Orono Parkway until after the County Fair. The schedule calls for the City to go out for bids for the projects in mid to late May, to receive the bids on June 7, and have them considered by the Council on June 17. Security of the expanded City Hall and Utilities facility has been discussed and there are concerns. Staff and the consultants are looking at gates in order to secure part of the building while still having exit doors available for emergencies. Also staff needs to look at our building maintenance and cleaning program. In this regard, it may make sense to have building cleaning take place in the evening and therefore we would have a person on staff at night in order to lock doors and check to see if the building is secured. Security is an issue regardless if it's a City Council meeting, School Board meeting, or public groups using our large meeting rooms. Currently the Training Room is available for the public's use. The current proposal is to not have any of the meeting rooms available for the public after normal work hours. The public can still use our meeting room space during the workday but we have not worked out all the issues yet in order to feel comfortable about having the public use the meeting rooms with no city staff members also being at City Hall. I have checked the reservation log for the Training Room and there have been very few public uses of our space after the workday. There were 18 such occurrences in 2001. Now we have additional meeting room space at the Lion's Park Center so hopefully this space would be available for these meetings. Utilities General Manager Bryan Adams and I have discussed our building budgets and the possibility of not charging each other SAC and WAC fees for the construction projects. From the project funding point of view this makes sense. Also, the SAC and WAC fees go to help finance sewer/water infrastructure and not operating expenses. Our existing flat roof was not designed correctly, it does not function correctly and the material is deteriorating and is no longer under warranty. It is everyone's recommendation at the committee level that this roof needs to be fixed and replaced. The cost is not in the original budget estimate for the City Hall remodeling/expansion project although the budget for this building has always been more flexible than the Public Safety Facility budget. The estimate for a new roof is $135,000 and this will maybe require the project to exceed the amount of monies available in the reserves until shortly after the project is completed. If this happens, the City will have to find funds internally until the reserves are built up again later in 2004. As noted in the previous paragraph, the City is much more concerned about the budget for the public safety facility than we are for about the budget for the City hall project. This is because of the bond that is being issued for the public safety facility has an $8 million dollar cap. Two things have happened since the $8 million dollar amount has been established Oust under $7 million dollars for actual construction). These two things include an expansion of the EOC facility to better meet our needs, and the subsequent increase in the fire station to match the EOC and basement footprint. This amounted to about 2,000 additional square feet of building. Secondly, the FF&E estimate was low in the original proposal and it was low specifically in the cabling and security areas. The estimate was "our best guess" at the time. In response to these additional expenses, the City has already decided to replace the stone exterior with a rock face block material that matches our existing City hall facility; to replace some of the proposed glass block with etched or frosted glass; to replace the impound wall with an impound fence; and to forego the idea of a canopy over part of the impound lot. Additional bid alternates need to be evaluated in order to bring the budget down and the one main item being considered relates to eliminating the second level. This is a relatively expensive component of the project, as are the additional garages and the gun range equipment, and all three of these issues can be balanced out against each other if the bids are favorable. Under ideal conditions, all three of these alternates would be approved in the final project, but at this point we're looking for flexibility in evaluating the proposals. A statement made at the last City Council meeting to evaluate the 1992 City Hall/Police Station CUP is being done. At this time it appears that all the 1992 conditions have been met, but I should have more complete information by Monday evening. Attached for your review is the February 24, 1992, City Council minutes regarding the motion approving the City Hall/Police Station CUP. Recommendation Staff would like to visit with the City Council about taking formal action on a couple of the items listed above, including the elimination of the emergency warning flashers from the CUP, the inclusion of a new flat roof with the building project, and the "forgiving" of SAC fees for this project. RJver Police Department MEMORANDUM TO: FROM: DATE: Mayor and City Council Assistant Chief Jeffrey A. Beahen 4-18-02 SUBJECT: Boulevard Warning Lights for New Facility The building committee has received input from the Planning Commission and the Council regarding the possible installation of emergency vehicles exiting warning lights. These lights would be installed on the boulevard east and west of the fire/police driveways exiting out onto Orono Parkway. This is a very reasonable suggestion but there are several concerns associated with this installation that we wish both groups to be informed about. First, this is a very costly installation and at this point in time it does not appear to have the traffic counts to merit those costs. The vehicle count on Orono Parkway is very low and it is not anticipated to reach h/gh levels at any time in the near or distant future. Second, the lights would have to be yellow caution lights - no red/stop lights are allowed by law. Although this would alert drivers to approaching vehicles, it is no guarantee of safety and in fact - might create a false sense of security for emergency vehicle operators leaving the facility. Third and most important, the signals have to be activated in some manner to indicate that a vehicle(s) is leaving the lot and also that this vehicle is being operated in an emergency mode. We would not activate the lights for normal non-emergency traffic exiting the facility. This would require either a radio controlled switch or signaling device in every vehicle as well as receiving and switching device on the signals themselves to activate the warning lights. These installations are very expensive and difficult to maintain. We do though have a device on our vehicles that was meant for this exact purpose. That is our 3M Opticon emitter that is normally utilized to change semaphores to green for emergency vehicle travel. This same device could be used to signal the warning lights to activate when a vehicle is leaving in an emergency mode. The receiving equipment would need to be purchased and that cost is around $10,000. The acute downside to that though is that our emergency vehicles are set-up such that the Opticon does not come on until all the vehicle emergency lighting and siren are all operating. That would mean that any vehicle leaving the facility would have the siren in full operation. Our belief is that we have made a promise to the community to limit the use of the siren when operating in the immediate neighborhood. We prefer not to utilize the Opticons in a mode absent the siren as this creates the potential for an intersection crash where the officer depended on just 2/3rds of the vehicle's safety equipment and an accident resulted from sarne. In addition, unless the emergency is just to the east of the facility, our responders have been directed or will be directed, to exit the facility and drive west to Joplin and then out to Hwy. 10. This means that over 95% of the responding emergency vehicles will be making a right turn out of the facility and going west. This affords not only the emergency vehicle operator and the approaching vehicle driver the most visible lines of site but also affords better levels of safety than making a left turn and going east. We believe that if all emergency responders operate their vehicles with due regard to traffic when exiting the facility, that the warning lights will not be needed. If you believe that these precautions should be taken, than we would opt for the emitter activation - but only under the understanding that the neighborhood will now hear sirens whenever a vehicle leaves the station. Chief Zerwas will be at the council meeting Monday night to answer any questions you may have concerning this matter. JAB City Council Minutes February 24, 1992 Page 8 COUNCIl,MEMBER KROPUENSKE MOVED TO APPROVE THE CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT TO CONSTRUCT A NEW CITY HALL/POLICE STATION ALONG THE SOUTH SHORELINE OF LAKE ORONO WITH THE FOLLOWING STIPULATIONS: THAT THE LANDSCAPING BE INSTALLED AS INDICATED ON THE PLAN PROVIDED, WITH APPROPRIATE MEASURES TAKEN TO GUARD AGAINST SOIL EROSION. 2. THAT LIGHTING ON TIlE SITE BE DIRECTED AWAY FROM THE RIGHT-OF-WAY, RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES, AND THE LAKE AS SHOWN ON THE PLAN PROVIDED. 3. THAT THE HANDICAP STALLS BE ENLARGED TO A MINIMUM Of 12 FEET EACH WITH APPROPRIATE SLOPES OBTAINED FORTHE RAMPS. 4. THAT THE TRASH RECEPTACLE BE SCREENED AS WELL AS ANY MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT. 5. THAT SIGNAGE FOR THE SITE BE AS PER CITY CODE, WITH APPROPRIATE DIRECTIONAL SIGNS BEING USED. 6. THAT THE PARKING LOT BE HARDSURFACED WITH CONCRETE CURB AND GUTTER AS INDICATED ON TIlE SITE PLAN. 7. THAT A STOP SIGN BE PLACED AT TIlE INTERSECTION OF 183RD AVENUE AND THE WESTERN ACCESS TO CITY HALL. THAT ANY ALTERATIONS ALONG THE SHORELINE, ESPECfALLY WITHIN THE SHORE IMPACT ZONE, COMPLY WITH THE EROSION CONTROL STANDARDS AS OUTLINED IN THE SHORELAND ORDINANCE. THAT THE CITY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PLANTING THREE ROWS OF SPRUCE TREES ALONG THE SOUTHERN BOUNDARY OF THE PLAT AND CONTINUING NORTH ALONG THE EASTERN PLAT BOUNDARY TO BUFFER THE RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES FROM THE NEWLY CONSTRUCTED ORONO PARKWAY. FURTHER THAT THESE TREES BE PLANTED TO ENSURE 80% OPACITY. 10. NEITHER FRESNO STREET NOR DENVER STREET SHALL BE PERMANENTLY CONNECTED TO ORONO PARKWAY UNLESS THIS CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT IS AMENDED PURSUANT TO THE PROCEDURES SET FORTH FOR SUCH AN AMENDMENT IN THE ELK RIVER CODE OF ORDINANCES, PLUS THE FOLLOWING ADDITIONAL PROCEDURES: A PUBLIC HEARING SttALL BE HELD BEFORE THE CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT IS AMENDED TO CONNECT EITHER FRESNO STREET OR DENVER STREET TO THE ORONO PARKWAY. NOTICE OF THIS PUBLIC HEARING SHALL BE GIVEN AS REQUIRED BY THE CITY CODE, AND WRITTEN NOTICE OF THE HEARING SHALL BE MAILED TO ALL PROPERTY OWNERS IN ORONO LAKE TItIRD ADDITION. THE CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT SHALL NOT BE AMENDED TO PERMIT CONNECTION OF EITHER FRESNO STREET OR DENVER STREET TO THE ORONO PARKWAY, EXCEPT BY THE AFFIRMATIVE VOTE OF FOUR MEMBERS OF THE CITY' COUNCIL. IF THE CONNECTION IS PETITIONED FOR BY FIFTY PERCENT (50%} OR MORE OF THE PROPERTY OWNERS WITHIN City Council Minutes February 24, 1992 Page 9 ORONO LAKE THIRD ADDITION, A MAJORITY VOTE OF THE CITY COUNCIL SHALL BE SUFFICIENT TO SO AMEND THE CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT. 11. THAT THE LIFT STATION BE PLACED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE PARKWAY EAST OF TIlE TEMPORARY STREET. ALSO THAT THIS LIFT STATION IS ARCHITECTURALLY HARMONIOUS TO THE CITY HALL BUILDING AND THAT APPROPRIATE LANDSCAPING BE INCORPORATED AROUND THE STRUCTURE SO AS TO MAKE IT AESTHETICALLY PI,EASING~ 12. THAT THE PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION MAIL NOTICES TO ALL RESIDENTS WITHIN 350 FEET FROM THE AFFECTED PROPERTY, TO ALL RESIDENTS OF ORONO LAKE THIRD ADDITION, AND TO ALL RESIDENTS WHO SPOKE AT THE PUBLIC HEARINGS FOR THIS ITEM, OF THEIR FIRST AND FINAL MEETINGS WHERE THEY WILL BE DISCUSSING LANDSCAPING AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS TO Tile SITE SO AS TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR PUBLIC INPUT ON PRESERVATION OF THE ORIGINAL ENVIRONMENTAL HABITAT. 13. THAT CAREFUL STUDY BE GIVEN TO THE EXIT PATTERNS OF EMERGENCY VEHICLES INCLUDING THE EXPLORATION OF ALTERNATIVE ROUTES. ALSO, THAT THE CITY ENCOURAGE THE WESTERN EXTENSION OF 183RD AVE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO ALLOW FOR AN ALTERNATIVE ROUTE TO HIGHWAY 10 FOR EMERGENCY VEHICLE USE. 14. THAT LIGHTING WITHIN THE PARKWAY IS SAFE AND SUBDUED SO AS NOT TO INFRINGE ON THE PRIVACY OF THE RESIDENTS IN THE AREA. 15. THAT THE REALIGNMENT OF THE INTERSECTION OF COUNTY ROAD 30, MAIN STREET AND ORONO ROAD TS ACCOMPLISHED SO AS TO KEEP COUNTY ROAD 30 AS A THROUGH STREET WITH A STOP SIGN ON ORONO ROAD. 1.6. THAT THE BUILDING BE MOVED APPROXIMATELY 25 FEET FURTHER FROM THE LAKES}lORE. COUNCILMEMBER SCHULDT SECONDED THE MOTION. Mayor Tralle suggested adding some wording to the motion under Item #12 indicating that a display ad will be taken out in the Elk River Star News regarding any discussion to the City Hall/Police facility site. COUNCILMEMBER KROPUENSKE MOVED TO AMEND THE MOTION BY ADDING THE FOLLOWING WORDING TO ITEM #12 THAT A DISPLAY AD BE TAKEN OUT FOR THE FIRST DISCUSSION AND PRIOR TO THE PUBLIC HEARING ON THE PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS. COUNCILMEMBER SC}{ULDT SECONDED THE AMENDMENT. THE AMENDMENT CARRIED 5-0. THE MOTION, AS AMENDED, CARRIED 5-0. COUNCILMEMBER KROPUENSKE MOVED TO ADOPT RESOLUTION 92-08, A RESOLUTION FOR VACATING THE STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY OF A PORTION OF ORONO ROAD. COUNCILMEMBER SCHULDT SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION CARRIED 5-0. City Council Minutes February 24, 1992 Page 10 COUNCILMEMBER SCHULDT MOVED TO APPROVE THE FINAL PLAT OF REPLAT #1 GOSPODOR'S ORONO LAKE ADDITION WITH TItE FOLLOWING STIPULATIONS: THAT OUTLOT A BE DEDICATED SPECIFICALLY FOR PARK PURPOSES IN LIEU OF PARK DEDICATION FEES. THAT THE CITY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR iNSTALLING STREET SIGNS AND STREET LIGHTS IN THIS PLAT. THAT APPROVAL OF THIS PLAT IS CONTINGENT UPON THE ADOPTION OF THE PHASE I IMPROVEMENTS ~ESTERN AREA FEASIBILITY STUDY BY THE CITY COUNCIL. THAT THE LIGHTING BE SAFE AND SUBDUED SO AS NOT TO AFFECT THE PRIVACY OF THE RESIDENTS IN THE AREA. THAT THERE BE APPROPRIATE SCREENING, BY WAY OF VEGETATION, OF SUCH A NATURE THAT THE QUALITY OF THE VEGETATION WILL SCREEN AND ABSORB THE NOISE OF POLICE VEHICLES FROM RESIDENTS CLOSE TO THE ROAD. COUNCILMEMBER HOLMGREN SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION CARRIED 5-0. The Council recessed at 9:52 and reconvened at ]0:00 p.m. 3.5. Ordinance Amendment Sexua].]~y Oriented [,and Uses/Public Hearing Steve Rob moratorium J adult related land uses was passed on ~il 30, 1990. He stated that Planning Commis: n and staff have studied th, present the City with a recommendati regulations for of use. Steve R( ordinance amendment mpters 9 and 7 o regarding defining, regu ~ng, and ~ing adult and sexually oriented establishments and uses. Rohlf stated that the City is much better off ha, regulating the subject rather than having no ordinar eing unprotected. Building and Zoning Administrator, i that a the City limits that time, the ~ssue in order to on appropriate reviewed the proposed Elk River City Code Planning Commission Representativ ta Johnson, thanked the citizens of Elk River for their input on iect. She indicated her negative vote was because of h~ concern ~garding the issue. Mary Eberley, Planning Commission ~resentat was present and stated she was the other descenting rot on the Planni g~mmission level. She stated she did not fee] tha~ this type of activ].~ is conducive to the heal. th, safety, and welfar/of the community. % Mayor Tralle indicated that the City Council.m~_,~_b~_~_'~ of the Constitution and further stated that the CJtv also wants an ordinance that would be defendable in Court. Mayor Tralle opened the public hearing. Rosie Elizondo, 18235 ]88th Avenue NW, questioned the Council about the Ramsey Adult Book Store. TRAINING ROOM 1999 ISD #728: 1/12, 1/25, 3/4, 3/10, 3/15-16, 3/24, 5/19 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: 2/16.2/25, 6/16, 9/17, 10/8, 11/12, 12/10 SHERBURNE COUNTY: 4/7-8 A-1 BATTERY: 4/27 TOASTMASTERS: 4/28, 5/5, 5/12, 5/19, 5/26, 6/2, 6/9, 6/16, 6/23, 6/30 T&L CO (Tom Hargreaves): 3/6, 5/18, 7/21,10/27 Jan Fesenmeier: 5/20, 10/27 FELLOWSHIP GROUP Nancy Arnold: 8/14, 9/4, 12/4,12/11 CREATIVE MEMORIES (Jody Kreuser): 9/13, 11/18 MN SPORTS FEDERATION: 8/12 CREATIVE MEMORIES (Susan Nelson): 6/15, 9/2I, 11/16, GUARDIAN ANGELS: 11/9 BCA: 2/5-12 TRAINING ROOM 2000 ISD #728: 2/8, 5/9, 9/28, 10/26, 11/30 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: 1/14, 2/11, 2/25, 3/10, 10/13, 11/17, 12/8 FELLOWSHIP GROUP Nancy Arnold: 4/1, 4/8, 4/15, 4/18, 5/13, 7/8, 7/22, 8/13, 8/19, 9/16 CREATIVE MEMORIES (Jody Kreuser): 3/23 MN SPORTS FEDERATION: 8/10 CREATIVE MEMORIES (Susan Nelson): 1/18, 3/21, 4/14, 5/12, 5/23, 7/27, 8/22 DAYCARE PROVIDERS Maryann Anderson: 7/13, 9/23 MOTHERS OF MULTIPLES: 9/19 ISD #728: 1/25, 2/22,~4/26, 5/24, 6/28, 8/23, 10/25, 11/29 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE~~ OPERATION FORSIGHT~~ DNR: 1/16 AMICAS:~ MNDOT/RIVER CITY SNOWRIDERS: 3/29 MNDOT:~ SKYWARN Henry Griner~ BCA:~ COUNTRY CROSSING: 7/11 NRG Arbitration: ~ PRAYER MEETING: 12/6, 12/13, 12/20, 12/27 CENTURY 21 :~