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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/30/1990URBAN AFFAIRS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES JANUARY 30, 1990 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. in the City of Apple Valley conference room. Members Present: Jeff Weldon, Pamela Sohlberg, Jeannine Churchill, JoAnne Ellison, and Sharon Schwartz and Council- member Barbara Savanick. Members Absent: Shirley Doering and John McKay. Staff Present: Dennis Miranowski and Scott Hickok. Others Present: See sign-in sheet. 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA The agenda was approved as submitted. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JANUARY 9, 1990. MOTION: A motion was made by Member Churchill, seconded by Member Sohlberg, to approve the minutes as written. The motion carried unanimously. 4. DISCUSS COMMERCIAL VEHICLE BACKING GUIDELINES Scott Hickok explained the process. of investigating alternatives for an ordinance and/or improved enforcement of the commercial vehicle operation within the City of Apple Valley. In this discussion, Hickok explained the process to date. The request by Mr. Dan McGinley of Apple Valley to research an ordinance, including discussions with the Department of Transportation and the Motor Vehicle Licensing Office. At our January 9, 1990 meeting, Chairman McKay asked to have Bruce Erickson, Captain with the Apple Valley Police Department, attend this meeting. Hickok explained, unfortunately, that Bruce Erickson was not able to attend due to a court case in Duluth. For the benefit of those who did not attend the January 9th meeting, Hickok also explained the answers to the three questions asked earlier. The first of these three questions was, What does the State do in terms of requiring special backing procedures? Hickok explained the State of Minnesota follows the Commercial Motor Vehicle Act of 1986, which requires that all motor vehicle operators be licensed in the State of Minnesota and this license includes the successful completion of both a knowledge and Urban Affairs Committee Meeting January 30, 1990 Page 2 skills test. It is in this skills test and knowledge manual that commercial vehicles are required to 1) avoid backing when possible, 2) to use a helper and hand signals., 3) to back turn to the driver's side when possible, 4) use mirrors, 5) back slowly, 6) correct drift of the trailer by turning the top of the steering wheel the direction of the drift, and 7) pull forward to reposition the vehicle as needed. To answer the second question, Hickok went on to say that Code Section 11.6, paragraph 2 states that a refuse hauler shall comply with all State, County and Local laws, but there is no specific backing instructions. To answer the third and final question, Hickok stated that other municipalities have codes very similar to ours and they do not specify backing or have backing ordinances in their text. Instead, they have commercial vehicle parking guidelines in residential areas and that is the limit of the commercial vehicle restrictions in residential areas. Dan McGinley expressed concerns and the need for mirrors for backing. Adding mirrors will provide added visibility on these commercial vehicles, but McGinley went on to state that the Federal Government is not cooperative about the installation of these mirrors, and he feels that it is very difficult to get support for these devices. Sharon Schwartz asked whether it was or was not already a State law that vehicles have special mirrors for backing? Dan McGinley stated that the press. would only be interested in picking up this case if they could exploit the death of his son to add impact. McGinley went on to state that if the garbage was at the curb, the driver would not have to drive into the driveway, rather they could drive by, pick up, and dump the garbage without backing onto the property. Member Weldon stated that there are certain areas where the City has authority and this may clearly be one of those areas where we cannot be more restrictive than the State. Dan McGinley responded that audible devices are not the answer to safe backing. Recently, two gentlemen were killed in downtown Minneapolis by a large construction vehicle that backed over them on a construction site. Jeannine Churchill asked about how specific we were with the refuse ordinance. Hickok reiterated that the reference to State, County and Local laws is the only reference in the refuge section of the ordinance.. Dennis Miranowski stated that we should review this whole issue with our Public Works Staff before taking the issue to the City Council. There may be guidelines that the Public Works Staff has that would be helpful and it may be that this proposed ordinance would make it impossible for our Public Works Staff to plow without certain backing abilities. Urban Affairs Committee Minutes January 30, 1990 Page 3 Barbara Savanick stated she felt the attorney should give us his opinion on this case. Pamela Sohlberg stated that he feels it is important that we look at this. Another good example of putting a program together too late is the fact a youth suicide prevention program had been discussed and had not been formalized when a young boy committed suicide. Immediately after the incident, the program was formalized. MOTION: A motion was made by Member Sohlberg, seconded by Member Ellison, that the Urban Affairs Committee meet with the City Attorney regarding the backing of commercial vehicles in a residential district. A brief, general discussion ensued regarding dead end streets in the community and the City's policy on dead end streets in developments where roads are purposely dead ended adjacent to undeveloped parcels of land. A vote was called and it was approved unanimously. 5. DISCUSS HOUSING MAINTENANCE CODES Scott Hickok explained the housing maintenance procedure that had been outlined on the board prior to the meeting. This outline is as follows: I. Background for housing maintenance study. A. Existing Conditions. 1. Apple Valley's history - a twenty year old community. An explanation of the types and number of complaints. 2. First ring suburbs - the history of programs in Robbinsdale, St.Louis Park, Richfield and White Bear Lake. B. Anticipating the future problems in Apple Valley. II. Defining the problem in Apple Yalley. A. The age of the structures are all the same. B. There are declining property values in older homes. C. There are a large number of single family on 11,000 sq. ft. lots or smaller. Urban Affairs Committee Minutes January 30, 1990 Page 4 D. There are a number of one parent or single occupant households. E. The quality of materials is not always superior. F. There is an uneven quality of maintenance. G. The contractors in the community are not all educated to the same level regarding installations and quality of materials. H. There are a number of projects which illustrate incomplete construction. I. There are units with substandard electrical services. J. Some homes built in the early 1970's have electrical wiring. K. There are a number of homes which have been converted from ~ single homes to duplexes. L. There are over 500 mobile homes in the community, varying in age from the 1950's to most modern 1990 units. M. Safety within the single family and multi-family structures is not inspected. N. Landscaping surrounding the structures is not maintained properly. 0. In some structures there is a lack of storage space or not decent quality storage space. P. Many of the older structures lack energy conservation materials such as enough insulation, energy efficient furnaces and water heaters, energy conserving windows and doors. Q. There is a conversion of some of the older homes from owner- occupied units to rental property. R. Many of the rental units have absentee landlords which also create rental problems. S. There are problems with sanitary living conditions in single family homes as well as rental units. T. Townhouse, condominiums, and some rental units are run by management groups and/or homeowners associations which are absent from the site. Urban Affairs Meeting Minutes January 30, 1990 Page 5 U. There is a growing number of elderly citizens in the community which are possibly single households. V. There is a lack of financial assistance programs. W. There is a reduced availability of rental units because of the 1986 tax laws. X. Some of t he scattered site HRA homes lack exterior maintenance. III. Outline of the Urban Affairs Committee Task. A. Charge to the Urban Affairs Committee. 1. Determine if the City of Apple Valley has a housing maintenance problem, now or if the problem will occur in the near future. 2. Determine what role the City of Apple Valley should play. Should it be reactive or pro-active, or should the City do nothing. 3. Identify and evaluate some of the possible tools for housing maintenance, including: a. Housing policy which should amend the Comprehensive Plan. b. Housing maintenance code which may include: Rental Program Single Family Program Point of Sale Program Systematic Inspection Program Service Request System Reduced or Enlarged Role for Existing Staff c. Establish a housing education program for: Owners Renters School Age Children d. Establish a contracted housing maintenance service for the City, and a funding pool necessary to finance this service. e. Provide fire safety inspection only. Urban Affairs Committee Minutes January 30, 1990 Page 6 f. Other issues as suggested by the Urban Affairs Committee. B. On January 30, 1990 the Urban Affairs Committee adopted the following work program. 02/14/90 - Guest housing inspector to describe housing programs in other cities. Define 5 problem areas that the City of Apple Valley Urban Affairs Committee should study in detail regarding housing maintenance issues. 02/28/90 - Drafts possible solutions for Problem #1. Study water quality issues. 03/14/90 - Suggests solutions for Problem #2. 03/28/90 - Suggests solutions for Problem #3. Hear a water quality presentation. 04/11/90 - Discuss Problem #4 and suggestions for solutions. 04/25/90 - Review Problem #5 and suggest solutions. Hear a water quality presentation. 05/09/90 - Prepares recommendations based upon solutions to Problems #1 - #5 for the Planning Commission and City Council. 05/23/90 - Hold a joint meeting with the Planning Commission and City Council, perhaps before a City Council meeting or at a work session that week. Presents its recommendation to the Planning Commission and City Council. Consult with the AMM and the Board of Review. The deadline for completing this housing maintenance study is the week of May 20, 1990, or sooner if possible. Hickok briefly explained the background for the housing maintenance study stating that Apple Valley has a relatively new housing stock, being the community is 20 years old. He then explained about the first suburbs in the metro area, such as Robbinsdale, St. Louis Park, Richfield and Urban Affairs Committee Minutes January 30, 1990 Page 7 White Bear Lake. These suburbs are maintenance situations that we could of what happens in older communities. older communities that have housing refer to that would give us an idea Hickok also stated that at the February 14th meeting, a representative of the St. Louis Park Housing Maintenance Code Staff will be attending the meeting to discuss the housing maintenance program, the positive and negative attributes, and give suggestions to our Committee on effective housing maintenance policies. Hickok then continued with the outline discussing the problems. A brief outline of problems had been placed on the board. These problems include structures aging at the same time, declining property values, single occupant households or one parent households, the quality of material is not superior, incomplete projects, or permits were pulled and never completed, substandard electrical, etc. After discussing the outline of problems and asking the Committee to suggest other problems, a list was made. See items A through X under "Defining the problem in Apple Valley." The final area that Hickok discussed was the outline of the Urban Affairs Committee task. This was a brief discussion explaining that the charge of the Committee should be to 1) determine whether the City of Apple Valley has a housing maintenance problem, 2) determine what the role of the City should be in mitigating. this maintenance problem, and 3) identify and evaluate some of the possible tools for housing maintenance, including a) policy, b) housing maintenance code, c) housing education program, d) establish a contracted housing maintenance service, e) provide fire safety, and f) other issues suggested by the Committee. 6. DISCUSS MEETING CHANGE - DAY/TIME The~Urban Affairs Committee will hold their regular meetings on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month beginning at 7:00 p.m. All Committee Members present agreed on meeting day change. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: A motion was made by Member Schwartz, seconded by Member Sohlberg, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. kg