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2025-04-08 Council Work Session MinutesCITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Richfield, Minnesota City Council Work Session April 8, 2025 CALL TO ORDER Mayor Supple called the work session to order at 5:07 p.m. in the Bartholomew Room. Council Present: Mary Supple, Mayor; Sharon Christensen; Walter Burk, Sean Hayford Oleary, Rori A. Coleman-Woods. Staff Present: Katie Rodriguez, City Manager; Melissa Poehlman, Community Development Director; Julie Urban, Assistant Community Development Director; Kristin Asher, Public Works Director; Chris Link, Deputy Public Works Director; Joe Powers, City Engineer; Matt Hardegger, Transportation Engineer; Karl Huemiller, Recreation Services Director; Rachel Lindholm, Sustainability Coordinator; Mike Dobesh, Fire Chief; Michelle Friedrich, City Clerk; and Courtney Miller, Senior Analyst. ITEM #1 LEGISLATIVE UPDATE - MSA STANDARDS BILL DISCUSS THE CITY COUNCIL'S POSITION ON SENATE FILE 2162/HOUSE FILE 2505: STATE-AID ENGINEERING AND DESIGN STANDARDS VARIANCES MODIFICATION. City Manager Rodriguez provided a summary of items on the agenda and introduced City Engineer Powers to present the first item. City Engineer Powers inquired whether the Council would be interested in submitting a statement of support for the bill to the legislature. He provided an overview of the bill’s provisions and requested feedback on a draft letter of support prepared by staff. Council Member Hayford Oleary expressed his support for the bill and stated that he is pleased with the staff’s proposed approach. Council Member Burk asked if this would make it more difficult for a variance request. City Engineer Powers noted that this process makes it less burdensome for variance requests. ITEM #2 CITY COUNCIL POLICY PROPOSALS COUNCIL AND STAFF DISCUSSION ON POLICY PROPOSALS FOR CONSIDERATION AS PART OF ANNUAL WORKPLAN AND BUDGET PLANNING. City Council Work Session Minutes -2- April 8, 2025 City Manager Rodriguez introduced the City Council policy proposals. Mayor Supple noted her rationale for the city policy discussion regarding the 4d tax classification. Mayor Supple explained the 4d tax classification shifts the burden from one taxpayer to another and suggested reviewing and creating criteria for eligible 4d tax classification status inquiries. Community Development Director Poehlman noted staff had also identified 4d tax classification as a priority. Community Development Director Poehlman noted a policy would be beneficial to clarify eligible requests through specific criteria for 4d tax classification status. She added staff have initiated some background work on this topic and noted a timeline of 6-8 months to fully complete and tentatively present a draft policy to Council in early 2026. Council consensus supported the 4d tax classification draft policy with criteria for eligibility and the tentative draft policy timeline. Council Member Burk introduced his policy proposal related to the 14-day eviction notice process landlords must follow by state law in Minnesota. He proposed a city policy discussion that would require landlords to provide a written 30-day pre-eviction notice before initiating evictions due to non-payment of rent to tenants. Council Member Burk provided background information on the issue and challenges of eviction notices to tenants. Community Development Director Poehlman noted staff completed a preliminary background review of the Council Member Burk’s proposal. Community Development Director Poehlman expressed a desire to conduct a more in-depth analysis and engage with both landlords and tenants to better understand the issues involved. Community Development Director Poehlman noted concerns of creating an ordinance that is non-enforceable, and what the enforcement action may look like. She stated that, due to other ongoing priorities, this policy proposal could not be addressed until late 2026, unless it is escalated at the state level. Community Development Director Poehlman staff could advocate for such a policy through legislation at the state level and would less staff-work intensive. Council reviewed the draft policy proposed, impacts to future evictions notices to landlords and tenants, enforcement actions required by the city with such policy, current state legislation, and the overall benefits and challenges of a policy regarding eviction notice timelines for payment of rent. Council consensus supported the 30-day pre-eviction notice for non-payment of rent draft policy, advocate at the legislative level, and the tentative draft policy timeline. Council Member Burk introduced his second policy proposal addressing speeding in residential neighborhoods. He referenced resident concerns about excessive speeding and discussed various traffic calming solutions to mitigate the issue. Council Member Burk noted residents are open to paying for traffic calming solutions within their neighborhoods. Council Member Burk indicated a process is needed for residents to fund and implement traffic calming mitigations within their neighborhoods. City Engineer Powers expressed support for Council Member Burk’s second policy proposal on neighborhood speeding and traffic calming mitigation. He emphasized the importance of having a well-formulated plan and outlined a process that staff would follow to address the issue. City Engineer Powers noted having the Transportation Commission engage in a robust public campaign to review what neighborhoods want, guidelines for traffic calming mitigation, which neighborhoods are priorities, and funding sources. City Engineer Powers noted the Transportation Commission could begin review of a policy draft tentatively in late 2026 to early 2027. City Council Work Session Minutes -3- April 8, 2025 Public Works Director Asher noted additional resources would be necessary in addressing the neighborhood traffic calming mitigation processes. Council and staff discussed various projects statewide related to traffic calming options, hiring additional staff, and data on decreased speed in areas utilizing traffic calming features. Council consensus supports the draft policy on traffic calming mitigation with a tentative timeline working with the Transportation Commission in late 2026 to early 2027. Council Member Christensen expressed concerns about the effectiveness of current traffic control measures, noting that individuals often find ways to bypass them—citing speed bumps as an example. She emphasized that speeding and failure to observe stop signs continue despite implemented measures. She recommended conducting further studies and collecting additional data to better identify and prioritize the most significant issues for traffic calming efforts. Council Member Hayford Oleary introduced a policy proposal to expand sidewalk coverage in neighborhoods and noted statistics of 100 miles of streets with 45 miles of sidewalks, Bloomington has 342 miles of streets with 300 miles of sidewalks, St. Louis Park has 30% larger land area and has 200% more sidewalk coverage. In addition, we have policies that make sidewalks more expensive and noted wider sidewalks for plowing. Council Member Hayford Oleary noted the city is behind in sidewalk coverage and does not have funding to incorporate future residential sidewalks. Council Member Hayford Oleary noted 4 different policy drafts to provide framework and support in identifying priority streets where sidewalks should be installed. Council Member Burk expressed support of the policy proposal. Council Member Coleman-Woods noted support of the sidewalk policy proposal. Council Member Christensen noted when she moved to Richfield that the lack of sidewalks was noticeable but also expressed concern about building additional sidewalks and that the responsibility for sidewalk maintenance falls on residents. She also noted the policy proposal could reduce the size of residents' yards. Mayor Supple noted the cities cited with more sidewalk areas also have a larger tax base than Richfield. Mayor Supple suggested discussing a long-term plan and including within the future Comprehensive Plan, and review with residents to gain feedback and support. Mayor Supple added the sidewalk integration and maintenance will be a long-term challenge. Staff and Council discussed updating the Comprehensive Plan, with specific attention to the transportation section and including sidewalks as a permitted feature within policy. Staff noted that the Sidewalk Master Plan would be addressed following completion of the Comprehensive Plan update. The discussion highlighted current challenges in new developments, including walkways being replaced by parking, reduced pedestrian space, and issues related to tree placement on boulevards. Staff noted utilizing a community survey regarding sidewalks. Public Works Director Asher noted the 2018 Pedestrian Master Plan identified sidewalk locations and was based on identified needs for the Safe Routes to School grant. She commented on tree planting and noted if a sidewalk is identified in the plan, trees will not be planted if a sidewalk is planned. Public Works Director Asher noted the last 5-10 years trees have been planted off the property line, and away from curb and utilities. Deputy Public Works Director Link added staff can review where identified sidewalks are located and not plant trees in those locations, and keep trees planted 4 feet off curb, understanding that underground utilities at times may not allow for 4 feet from the curb. City Council Work Session Minutes -4-April 8, 2025 Council Hayford Oleary provided an example of lack of funding and issue of correct policy, and noted Russell Avenue is not a collector road or arterial road. The city had a land use change occur due to an apartment complex development located in the block of Russell Avenue and 66th, and of special note, a school is located on 65th. With a sidewalk placed along Russell Avenue between 66th and 67th Street, a sidewalk gap is now created between 66th and 65th along Russell Avenue, and there is no funding to accommodate the sidewalk gap between 66th and 65th where a school is located. Council Member Hayford Oleary noted the sidewalk location on Russell Avenue is inconsistent with our current policy and noted intention of the draft policy is to provide long-term consideration and clarity regarding land use, density, and street re-construction and sidewalk location. Council Member Hayford Oleary presented a graph to coincide with the draft sidewalk policy, that includes sidewalk width, plowing guidelines and responsibilities, and land use considerations regarding sidewalk options. Staff and Council discussed options to incorporate a draft policy aligning with land use. City Engineer Powers shared the numbers spent on sidewalk maintenance over the last few years can be between $25,000-$50,000 a year. City Engineer Powers noted funding specifically for ADA deficiencies in sidewalk paths in the future. Mayor Supple noted review of the overall budget would be necessary before discussing the funding for sidewalks. Council and staff discussed possible sidewalk maintenance processes for the draft policy. Council and staff reviewed the tree planting policy and how residents are notified. Council Member Hayford Oleary reviewed funding for sidewalks, funding amounts, and future timelines. City Manager Rodriguez summarized the discussion and asked for some clarification and included timing on updating comp plan with longer-term actions, updating the pedestrian plan, and partial funding of infill gaps for existing sidewalks, existing policy clean up, and a community survey. Sidewalk maintenance policy via an ordinance update indicating after first pass clearing sidewalks by public works, with communication to residents to be good neighbors and clear sidewalks once first pass is made. Council Member Burk introduced the policy proposal relating to sustainable “Green-to-Go” packaging for to-go food. Council member Burk thanked staff for their assistance and information and the complications of the policy proposal. He noted Hennepin County is looking into implementing similar processes Countywide. Council Member Burk noted the policy proposal could be placed as a lower priority item. Staff noted other sustainability priorities like residential recycling, composting, and multi-family recycling that need to be in place before “Green-to-Go” is sustainable. Mayor Supple noted communicating with the public on what the city is focusing on for sustainability. City Engineer Powers added balancing policy proposals with current city needs is necessary, however staff supports “Green-to-Go”. Council noted placing the “Green-to-Go” policy proposal as a lower priority item. ADJOURNMENT City Council Work Session Minutes -5-April 8, 2025 Mayor Supple adjourned the work session at 6:41 pm. Date Approved: April 22, 2025 Mary B. Supple Mayor Michelle Friedrich Katie Rodriguez City Clerk City Manager