CALL TO ORDER

Mayor Brad Foss called to order a regular meeting of the City of St. Croix Falls Common Council on Monday, October 9, 2006 at 6:58 p.m. Roll call: Councilpersons Darrell Anderson, Jon Cermin, Lori Erickson and Arnie Carlson were present. Also present: Administrator Ed Emerson, Clerk Bonita Leggitt, Acting Police Chief Jack Rydeen, Chris Strom of Cedar Corp, the public and the press. All Present joined in the salute to the flag.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Jon Cermin moved to approve the Minutes of the September 25, 2006 Council Meetings, second by Lori Erickson, voice vote, motion passed.

REPORTS OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS

Arnie Carlson: Technology Group is discussing proposing a feasibility study for wireless internet utility.

Mayor Foss: UWMN Athletic Dept will be honoring Meredith Nelson at a Hometown Day Celebration on October 18, 7pm. The first of a series of Community Forums will be held at the Festival Theatre on October 14^th at 10 am.

APPROVAL OF CLAIMS

General $26,963.12, Library $4,324.59, Water $10,780.23, Sewer $9,243.02, Park & Rec $47.82, Debt Service $1,000.00, B-Bonds $ 148.25,

Lori Erickson moved to approve claims, second by Jon Cermin, roll call vote, 4 ayes, motion passed.

OLD BUSINESS

Well # 3 has passed tests for water quality and is now in use, work moving on to well #8 next. Administrator Emerson met in mitigation regarding Weinhardt cases, proposal is for both parties to drop their respective law suits.

NEW BUSINESS

Public Hearing: to Re-codify the General Ordinances of the City of St Croix Falls

Jon Cermin moved to open the Public Hearing, second by Lori Erickson, voice vote, motion passed.

Ed Emerson: main changes are in Chapters 14, 17, and 20. Chapter 20 has new language that: restricts cul-de-sacs, requires sidewalks, trails or paths in new developments, sets aside primary conservation areas and establishes setbacks from same, and defines bluff land preservation zone. Chapter 17 has new language that: allows some home occupations as permitted uses, increases minimum lot size to 15,000 sq ft, establishes Planned Unit Development process, creates Upper Riverway District, creates a Hwy 8 and 35 Scenic corridor, requires billboards be eliminated as condition of annexation, and creates provisions for NR118.

Marian Fox expressed concerns with Hwy 8 & 35 Scenic corridor, a set back of 1000’ from the center line of the hwy makes properties unusable, and why encourage alleys, who is going to maintain them, garage setbacks are too restrictive, more orderly to have all the same setback, why not combine fees for developments instead of having so many different fees, what is 20 x 20 core living area requirement, maximum eave requirement of 2 feet should be eliminated.

Durand Blanding spoke in support of the Historic Preservation Code and requested that the seven member Board be appointed as soon as possible.

Charlene Carlson stated that lots in town are too small, how can we pass codes before reports from the intern and UW River Falls are in?

Harold Rousselow expressed concerns about the 1000’ setback on Hwy 8 and 35, if setback is changed to reflect 40’ setback from bluffline, how does that affect land that is lower than the hwy or level?

Keith Rediske: 45ft height limit is too high for Washington St, should be 30 to 35 ft max, could have different height limits on east and west side of main street. Would also like to see intentional holes along main street to provide open views to the river.

Mark Olmstead: Council should move forward with adoption of Codes as recommended by Plan Commission, once adopted and moratorium lifted I can move forward with my project, I should be held to standards in place when my project was first proposed to City.

Mayor Foss: upon review have decided that 1000’ setback from centerline of Hwy is too restrictive, more appropriate to follow 40’ setback from bluff line as stated in NR118.

Ed Emerson: private roads are maintained by developer and associations, setback of garages has been discussed in past, there are numerous strong opinions on the matter, the Plan Commission did not like garages in front, preferred garages along side or behind home.

Brian Adams, NPS: original NR118 passed in 1976 was not incorporated by City, State updated NR118 in 2006 and the City is now required to incorporate NR118, portion of Osceola and St Croix Falls have been re-designated as River Towns, this is a less restrictive designation than Historic Small Town designation.

Jon Cermin moved to close the Public Hearing, second by Lori Erickson, voice vote, motion passed.

Consider an Ordinance to Re-codify the General Ordinances of the City of St Croix Falls

Arnie Carlson: some codes refer to when enacted but don’t give you an actual date, reference to NR118 is confusing, found reference to entire City boundary as established in 1976 being covered by NR118, not just area south of dam, needs to be clarified, if we don’t impose NR118 on entire area incorporated in 1976 are we in trouble? Why not use same requirements on both sides of dam, consistent language is easier to deal with. Nine page code on Alternative Energy is excessive, can we include language requiring looped water lines? Found numerous grammar errors.

Brian Adams, NPS: lower riverway area included in NR118 runs from the dam south to Prescott and was established by State, the upper riverway area was established by Congress.

Jon Cermin: NR118 makes development along river difficult, to maintain a vibrant downtown want area north of dam to be less restrictive.

Mark Olmstead: we have a grading permit from the DNR for my site, DNR reviewed application under strictest criteria before issuance.

Ed Emerson: Codes are a living document, can continue to update and make changes after adoption. Water loops can be included in developers agreements, Fire Chief and Water Dept will be given opportunity to review future plats. The development moratorium is set to lift Oct 30^th.

Jon Cermin moved to adopt Ord#06-07 to Re-codify the General Ordinances of the City of St Croix Falls with changing the 1000’ setback in the Hwy 8 and 35 Scenic Corridor to match the 40’ setback from bluffline as in NR118, second by Lori Erickson, roll call vote, 3 ayes, Arnie Carlson voted nay, motion passed.

Consider Power Point Presentation, St Croix Falls Community Visioning, Al Kruger, Intern

Al Kruger has been working on a visioning project for the City, what he discovered is that there is a lot going on in the City but very few people know what is going on. To address that issue he has prepared a power point presentation identifying various people and their dreams and goals for the City. This presentation will be shown at the upcoming Community Forum and at other times around the City to give people a better idea of what is going on. This was the first viewing of that presentation.

Consider Louisiana St Design Plans, Cedar Corp

Chris Strom presented 3 options for parking along the athletic field on Louisiana St, the School is interested in having parking there. Option one is for parallel parking along street, option two is for a surmountable curb where the vehicles would be able to park on the grass, and option three is for diagonal parking. The parallel parking option limits the number of vehicles that can part there, diagonal parking takes a wider area and would result in removal of trees along the field. The surmountable curb is the least expense of the options. It was the consensus of the Council to go with option 2 for surmountable curb. It was also noted that construction planning is at a stand still until we get details from Xcel Energy for their duct work that will be placed under the street.

Jon Cermin moved to take Agenda Item 7i for Poetry in the Park next, second by Lori Erickson, voice vote, motion passed.

Consider Poetry in the Park Project, Amy Klein, Park & Rec

Amy Klein: idea is for a path through Tower Park that would include verses and images along the path. We will work with the NPS, kids and seniors on the design. The project will utilize Park & Rec Funds and we are applying for a matching grant.

Consider an Amount Not to Exceed $400 for Community Forum on October 14 and UW-River Falls Chancellor Visit on October 25, Both Events at Festival theatre

It is proposed to serve refreshments, beverages, cheese and crackers at the Community forum on Oct 14^th and at the public visit of the UW River Falls Chancellor on Oct 25^th, combined cost for both events is expected to be less than $400.

Lori Erickson moved to authorize $400 to cover cost of refreshments for the Oct 10^th and Oct 25^th meetings, second by Jon Cermin, roll call vote, 4 ayes, motion passed.

Consider Memorandum of Agreement for State Trunk Highway 8 for Reconstruction and Signalization of 208^th Intersection, DOT and Menards

The DOT will be working with Menards to install traffic lights at the intersection of Hwy 8 and 208^th St, As the project will affect neighboring properties temporary traffic lights will be installed first while the DOT works out how to handle the affected properties. Menards will make a payment for installation of the traffic signals to the City and the City will enter an agreement with the DOT for cost sharing in the amount received from Menards. It was noted that the agreement said that the temporary traffic signals would be installed by fall of 2007, and questioned if that should be fall 2006.

Lori Erickson moved to approve the Memorandum of Agreement Reconstruction and Signalization of the Intersection of Hwy 8 and 208^th Street with temporary traffic lights to be installed in the fall of 2006 or as soon as possible, second by Darrell Anderson, voice vote, motion passed.

Consider Pay Request, MaCabe Construction for Wilberg Blvd/Washington St Improvements and Choose Paint Color for Washington St Crosswalks

The Council reviewed the color choices available and selected a terracotta color for the crosswalks.

Darrell Anderson moved to approve Pay Request #8 for $171,615.84 for McCabe Construction, second by Jon Cermin, roll call vote, 4 ayes, motion passed.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Jon Cermin: antennas have been installed on the Methodist Church but the panels to conceal them have not been put up.

ADJOURNMENT

Jon Cermin moved to adjourn, second by Arnie Carlson, voice vote, motion passed. 10:20 pm.

Brad Foss, Mayor Bonita Leggitt, City Clerk