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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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