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MEDINA CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF JANUARY 5, 1999
The City Council of Medina, Minnesota met in regular session on January 5, 1999 at 7:30 p.m.
in the City Hall Chambers. Mayor John Ferris presided.
Members present: Ferris, Hamilton, Johnson, Smith, Thies, and Zietlow (Thies through
approval of the December 15, 1998 minutes)
Members absent: None.
Also present: Police Chief Ed Belland, Attorney Ron Batty, Public Works Director Jim Dillman,
City Engineer Glenn Cook, Planning and Zoning Administrator Loren Kohnen, and City Clerk-
Treasurer Paul Robinson.
1. Additions to the Agenda
A. Wessin Property Land Exchange.

Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Ann Thies, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion
passed unanimously.

2. Approval of the Minutes from November 17, 1998 Regular City Council Meeting
Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by John Hamilton to approve the minutes as presented.
Motion passed unanimously.

3. Approval of the Minutes from December 15, 1998
There were three corrections.
1- Change references to Willow Road to Willow Drive
2- Page 4, item 9 it should be northeast instead of northwest
3- Page 5, the motion should state “alternate minimum lot size”.
Moved by Ann Thies, seconded by Jim Johnson, to approve the minutes as presented. Motion
passed unanimously.

4.
Ceremonial Matters
Oath of office was given to council members Carolyn Smith and to Philip Zietlow, as well as to
the mayor, John Ferris.
John Ferris said he enjoyed the job and said it was a privilege to work with all the residents and
staff.
5. Additional Ceremonial Matters – Recognition of Ann Thies
John Ferris said that Ann Thies has been a council member for eight years and that she has
been a great companion on the council and thanked her for her time.
Ann Thies said that she has had a very interesting time on the city council and she has had fun
working with staff and council and thanked everybody for the recognition – the plaque and the
cake.
Carolyn Smith took Ann Thies place at the council dais.
6. Consent Agenda
A.
Designation of Official Depositories.
B.
Resolution 99-01 Designating Institutions for Investment.
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C.
Designation of Official Newspaper.
D.
Approval of Gambling Permit for Minnesota Motorcycle Riders Association.
E.
Approval of 1999 Tobacco Licenses.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve the consent agenda. Motion
passed unanimously.

7. Comments by Residents in Attendance
There were none.
8. Park Commission Comments
There were none.
9. Planning Commission Comments
Carolyn Smith said she talked to the mayor about continuing on the planning commission until
the comprehensive plan was completed to insure continuity in the planning process. There was
some discussion about this issue.
The council was in favor in having Carolyn Smith continue on the planning commission until the
comprehensive plan was completed.
OLD BUSINESS
10. Lighting at the Holiday Station
Loren Kohnen said he recently spoke with Joe Francis about the lighting at the Holiday Station.
Francis said he was working on a number of options especially on the east side of their building.
Greg Ebert said they ordered some shields to reduce the glare. However, they will not work
with the lights they installed. He had an example of the shielding with him.
Ebert said instead they painted the inside of a fixture black with high temp paint. If the fixtures
does not get too hot, this will be a good alternative. He said that underneath the light currently
painted black the candlepower was reduced to 55.1 from 79.5, a 30% reduction. He said this,
however, would not get them down to the 1.2 candlepower.
Greg Ebert said that the lighting reflection was much worse with the snow on the ground. He
said in order to paint the inside of the boxes black they would need to have some 25-degree
weather. He said that as a future comment to make it easier to lessen the amount of light was
to require vertical lamps versus horizontal lamps. He said that there is a lot less travel of the
light on a vertical lamp.
Phil Zietlow asked what happened with the proposal to turn off a row of lights.
Greg Ebert said that it would be expensive for them to rewire the lighting.
John Ferris said that the current proposal was to paint the interior of the box black.
Carolyn Smith said that she met with Mr. Dorweiler and looked at the lighting from his bedroom.
She said there was a glow that came from the station into the Dorweiler’s home.
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She said that the other problems are with the pop machines on the outside. At night if you are
standing in front of one of these machines, the machine itself gives off around 7 candlepower of
light.
Smith said another issue is the facade lighting. She said the façade lighting could be
considered a sign and as a sign it is far too large. She suggested that only the portion of the
façade that says, “Holiday” be backlit. She also said that she did not want to give Holiday the
opinion that facade lighting is acceptable.
John Ferris said that right now Holiday is trying to reduce the amount of lighting by either
shielding the lights or by painting the backs of the light boxes black which will not be
accomplished until the weather warms up.
Phil Zietlow said that in the meantime, they could be working on reducing the amount of lighting
under the canopy. Zietlow said that at the last meeting Ebert said he was going to rewire the
lighting under the canopy to cut one or two rows of the lights out.
There was some discussion about the cost of rewiring.
John Hamilton suggested that they could simply pull the bulbs out of the lights instead of
rewiring and see what type of results they come up with.
There was some discussion about the status of the revision of the sign ordinance.
John Ferris said that before the next meeting he would meet with Greg Ebert to test the lighting
after the bulbs were taken out.
Carolyn Smith said that she would also like to be there, as did Mr. Dorweiler. They set a time
for Monday night at 7 p.m. to remove bulbs under the canopy to assess the amount of light
given off after bulbs were taken out.
There was some discussion about the amount of bulbs. Ferris said that Ebert should start by
removing half of the bulbs or at least as many bulbs as it would take to bring the lighting to an
acceptable level. At that point they could add as many bulbs back until they had adequate light
under the canopy.
Mr. Dorweiler mentioned some of the results of his light meter testing. He said that under the
Holiday station canopy there was twice as much candlepower as under the Mayer Mobil
canopy.
11. Ordinance 306 to Rezone Property from Rural Residential to Agricultural Preserve
Ron Batty said the city received an application from the Leatherdale's and the Crosby's to
rezone 80 acres of property from rural residential to agricultural preserve. This ordinance and
the next item on the agenda, the resolution adopting the official map, are the two steps
remaining in the process for placing this property into agricultural preserve.
Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Jim Johnson, to approve Ordinance 306 rezoning
property from rural residential to agricultural preserve. Motion passed unanimously.

Moved by Carolyn Smith, seconded by Jim Johnson, to approve the Resolution 98-02
authorizing publication of the ordinance by title and summary . Motion passed unanimously.

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12. Resolution 99-03 Adopting Official Map Designating Property as Eligible for
Agricultural Preserve
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the Resolution 98-03. Motion
passed unanimously.

13. Preliminary Plat Subdivision for 3212 Pioneer Trail – Tom Gubbins
Loren Kohnen said Mr. Gubbins wished to subdivide his property into a plat consisting of 10 lots
with one outlot. He said that the planning commission recommended approval of the
preliminary plat with 19 conditions. He said he and the public works director met with Mr.
Gubbins to discuss issues related to the plat. He said they checked the site and access to Lot 5
and the outlot where it crosses a large swale. He said there should be no problems. Kohnen
said the septic sites are staked and flagged and the only information that is late in coming is the
information regarding the easement required by the power company for the power line crossing
the property. Initially he estimated a 100 feet easement on each side of the power line.
However, from discussions with the electrical company it could be as small as 37.5 feet.
Loren Kohnen read off the 19 conditions. He also passed out a copy of an overlay plat that was
required by the city engineer showing 30,000 square foot lots in case this area would ever be
sewered. Kohnen said he recommended approval of the preliminary plat. He said the final plat
would not be brought back to the council for approval until all the easement issues were cleared
up.
Tom Crosby, attorney representing Tom Gubbins, said he was filling in for John Waters of his
firm. He said that they had some minor issues with a few of the conditions. He said they would
like the option to have either a homeowner’s association or a tenant in common ownership
arrangement for the Outlot A. He said they were not sure what option will the best so they
would like the option to have either/or.
There was some discussion about the driveway for lots 1 and 2. That issue was clarified.
Mr. Gubbins said a park dedication fee was requested in addition to a trail easement. He asked
if it would be possible for the city council to credit the trail easement against a portion of the park
dedication.
Loren Kohnen said that has never been done before in the city. He said other developments,
most notably, the Foxberry Farms development, was required to do both.
Glenn Cook said that the 10-foot utility trail easement would be on top of the 10-foot utility
easement.
There was some discussion about when the trail would be created.
Jim Dillman said that that trail would be developed some time in the future.
Mr. Crosby asked who would be responsible for the liability of the trail.
Ron Batty said that they have never discussed that issue before. He said that issue would need
to be clarified. He assumed the city would be responsible for the trail.
There was some discussion about the condition requiring the demolition of the barn and the
filling of the barn’s foundation before approval of the plat.
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Tom Gubbins asked if it would be possible to require this before a building permit was issued
rather than requiring that it be done now.
The city council was okay with that.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to authorize preparation of the preliminary
plat resolution with the 19 conditions by the planning commission changing condition 14 to read
“the barn shall be torn down before the plat is approved and the foundation filled in before a
building permit is issued” and changing condition 15 to allow the sharing of Outlot A by either a
homeowner’s association or by tenants in common.
Motion passed unanimously.

13. Conditional Use Permit Amendment for the Building Addition and Addition to Parking
Area for Holy Name Church
Loren Kohnen said that Holy Name Church is requesting an amendment to its existing
conditional use permit(CUP) to construct a 26,800 sq. ft. addition.
Kohnen said the addition was for an enlarged worship area, new chapel, some office space,
new entry and narthex, as well as additional meeting rooms, fellowship room, and new
maintenance room.
Loren Kohnen went through the additional conditions. He said that condition number 2
regarding the entrances to County Road 24 was discussed at the December planning meeting.
Staff was instructed to meet with representatives of the church and Hennepin County Public
Works to discuss the intersection of Brockton Lane and County Road 24 as well as the
entrances from the west side of the parking lot to County Road 24.
He said that it was decided that for safety reasons the intersection of County Road 24 and
Brockton Lane would remain unchanged. After the meeting he said that he met with Father
Arnold and Mr. Cooley regarding berming and planting on the north and east side of the church
property.
Mr. Kohnen referenced a letter to Mr. Cooley from Vern Genslinger regarding the entrance and
that they would not support any change or additional access onto the County Road.
Mr. Cooley said that they had retained a landscape architect to work with the three residents on
Brockton Lane to create berming and landscaping that would keep the bright lights from people
entering and exiting the church parking lot from shining into their homes. He said that since
these residents are not at the meeting they must have been satisfied with this solution.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to direct the city attorney to draft a
resolution approving the conditional use permit amendment, changing the second condition to
reflect the outcome of the meeting between the church, the county and the city of Plymouth.
Motion passed unanimously.

14. Medina Variance for Height and Sign Area, 500 State Trunk Highway 55, Medina
Entertainment Center Entertainment Center
Loren Kohnen said the Medina Entertainment Center was requesting a height and area variance
to replace its existing sign. He said originally they were requesting a 400 square foot sign. The
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Planning Commission, after reviewing it, approved an area variance allowing 192 square feet
sign and a height variance of 11 feet. He said the hardship for the height variance was the
elevation of the road which was significantly above the elevation of the Medina Entertainment
Center.
There was some discussion about the sign variance. The city council members did not have an
issue with the height variance, but since there was no hardship for the area variance, they had
difficulty in coming up with a reason for allowing a variance of that size especially since recent
sign area variances were denied.
Dennis Mellon of Sign Crafters said this sign was unique and so was the business. He said
there are seven businesses within this one property and 100 square feet of signage is not
sufficient in order to advertise for all of these businesses.
There was some discussion about the amount of light that the sign would give off.
Mellon said that it would be a brighter sign than the current sign.
Since there was no allowance in the current sign ordinance for businesses that had larger
frontages or businesses that were incorporating other businesses, except for shopping centers
where the ordinance allows two 100-foot square foot area signs, the council believed that it may
be reasonable to adjust the city’s ordinance to allow for larger signs on larger properties.
Ron Batty said they had been working on the sign ordinance and he said there are not a lot of
issues left to be resolved in order to complete the revision of the ordinance.
John Ferris said that we should put the sign ordinance on the next council agenda.
There was some discussion about dealing with glare issues.
Ron Batty said he also has a draft of a glare ordinance that could help resolve some of these
issues.
It was decided to postpone approving the area variance until revisions to the city‘s current sign
ordinance were completed.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve the height variance for the sign.
The area variance and the ordinance would be dealt with at the next city council meeting.
Motion passed unanimously.

15. Hiring Update
Ed Belland said he tentatively extended a job offer to Mr. James Nystrom. He said Nystrom
was their top candidate. He has 10 years of experience with Hennepin County Parks, he is a
firearms instructor, and a very qualified officer. Belland said that because would come to the
department with significant experience, Nystrom requested starting at the step 3 salary and
asked to remain at that step for the next three years. Belland said that he recommended hiring
him at step 2 and allowing him to proceed to step 3 and step 4 naturally.
There was some discussion. The city council was in favor of allowing him to begin at step 3 and
staying there for three years.
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Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by John Hamilton, to approve hiring James Nystrom, pending
the physical and psychological exams and to allow Nystrom to start at step 3 and stay at step 3
for the next three years. Motion passed unanimously.

16. False Alarm Ordinance
Ed Belland said that included in the packet was a draft of the false alarm ordinance. He said
that he was not sure about allowing an exception for an acts of God. Belland said that this
seemed too broad. He said if a bird flew into the window and triggered a security alarm that
could be considered an act of God, however, it probably means that the sensitivity of the motion
detector for the alarm is set too high.
There was some discussion about the act of God exception.
Ron Batty said that he and the police chief could come up with some alternate language that
would work.
There was some discussion about the amount of fines and the exceptions.
Ed Belland said they would give one free security alarm per year per property and zero fire false
alarms.
John Hamilton said that he would be more comfortable giving two false security alarms. He said
one seemed too restrictive.
There was some additional discussion about this. The consensus of the council was to allow for
two false security alarms and one false fire alarm before the city would begin to charge.
Ed Belland said that there was also an appeal process where the initial appeal would be to the
police chief and if the property owner was not satisfied with the appeal to the police chief they
could then appeal to the city council.
Ron Batty said that he and the police chief could work out the remaining issues and bring a draft
back to the city council for approval at the next meeting.
17. Engineering Fee Increase
Glenn Cook said that he was requesting less than a 3% increase for most of the categories for
engineering for next year.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the 1999 Engineering Fees.
Motion passed unanimously.

18. Land Swap for the Wessin Property
Glenn Cook said earlier today he and other city staff members met with Dave Wessin. He said
that the city council authorized him to negotiate with them regarding the exchange of land for
wetland credits. He said they were in agreement with the costs involved and the assessed
value of the property. He said that the only issue was the amount of soft costs. He said these
will approximately be $10,000. He said basically they would like to split those costs with the city
for around $5,000 a piece. If the city council was okay with this, then the next step would be to
have the city attorney to draft an agreement for the land exchange and for the wetland banking
credits.

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Moved by John Hamilton, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to authorize the city attorney to draft an
agreement for the land exchange for the wetland banking credits. Motion passed
unanimously.

19. Park Commission Appointments
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to approve the park commission
appointments. Motion passed unanimously.

20. Appointment to Offices and Commissions for 1999
John Ferris said that all but one appointment was accounted for in the recommendations. He
said the only remaining seat would be for a second representative to the Lake Minnetonka
Communications Commission. Carolyn Smith was nominated to be an alternate for John
Hamilton.
Office or Committee
1998 Appointee(s)
1999 Proposed
1.
Acting Mayor
Ann Thies
Phil Zietlow
2.
Public Safety Commissioner
Phil Zietlow
Jim Johnson
3.
Public Works Commissioner
John Hamilton
Carolyn Smith
4.
Planning & Zoning Commissioner
Ann Thies
John Hamilton
5.
Parks Commissioner
Jim Johnson
Phil Zietlow
6.
Commissioner of Administration
John Ferris
John Ferris
7.
Finance Committee
John Ferris
John Ferris

Phil Zietlow
Phil Zietlow

Paul Robinson
Paul Robinson
8.
City Attorney
Ron Batty
Ron Batty
9.
Prosecuting Attorney
Steve Tallen
Steve Tallen
10.
City Engineer
Glenn Cook
Glenn Cook
11.
Building Inspector
Loren Kohnen
Loren Kohnen
12.
WHRC Representative
Paul Robinson
Paul Robinson
13.
Lake Minnetonka Cable
John Hamilton
John Hamilton
Commissioners (2)
Ann Thies
Carolyn Smith
14.
NWS Chamber of Commerce
John Ferris
John Ferris
Representatives
Jim Johnson
Jim Johnson
15.
Fire Marshal
Loren Kohnen
Loren Kohnen
16.
Weed and Tree Inspector
Phil Zietlow
Phil Zietlow
17.
Elm Creek Watershed Rep.
Patrick Klise
Patrick Klise
and alternate
Bill Waytas
Bill Waytas
18.
Pioneer Creek Watershed Rep.
Donald Johnston
Donald Johnston
and alternate
Mary Ann Huseth
Mary Ann Huseth
19.
Minnehaha Creek Watershed Rep.
Phil Zietlow
Phil Zietlow

and alternate
John Ferris
John Ferris
20.
NW League of Municipalities
John Ferris
John Ferris
21.
Communities in Collaboration Council
Jim Johnson
Jim Johnson
Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by Jim Johnson, to approve the appointments as presented.
Motion passed unanimously.

21. Recognition of $500 Donation from Loren Kohnen
The city council thanked Loren Kohnen for the $500.

Loren Kohnen thanked the city council for keeping his firm for building inspection and zoning
administration. He said he really appreciates working here.
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22. Set a Date for Local Board of Review
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded John Hamilton, to approve the local board of review date for
April 14, 1999 at 7:00 p.m. Motion passed unanimously.

23. Approval of Long Lake Fire Contract
Paul Robinson said the cost of the fire contract was approved as a part of the budget, however,
the city council had not formally approved the actual contract.
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve the fire contract. Motion passed
unanimously.

24. Tax Increment Financing
Paul Robinson said he had been working on the tax increment financing reports for quite some
time. He said he could continue to appease the state auditor and waylay them for a couple
more years with the additional information. However, this year, if the reports are not filled out to
the satisfaction of the state auditor, the state auditor can withhold HACA from the city which is
around $220,000 per year.
Robinson said he would like to hire Ehlers & Associates to assist him in completing the tax
increment financing reports. Robinson said they have a great deal of experience filling out the
tax increment financing reports. Also they helped set up a number of the city’s original districts
and still have that information. Currently, the city has around $1,000,000 in fund balance in the
tax increment financing funds and the payoff for the TIF bond is around $700,000. He said
without determining what all of that revenues were meant for, it would be difficult to know if we
have excess TIF. He said at least $200,000 of the current fund balance needs to be transferred
back into the general fund.
There was some discussion. The city council was in favor of allowing up to $5,000 for Ehler’s
and Associates to complete the tax increment financing reports.
Moved by John Ferris, seconded by Phil Zietlow, to approve up to $5,000. Motion passed
unanimously.

25. Pay the Bills
Phil Zietlow asked if the Hamel sewer pipe repair was bid out.
Jim Dillman said that it was not bid out but that they did receive quotes for the job.
Moved by Phil Zietlow, seconded by John Hamilton to approve the bills, order check numbers
19192-19250 for $129,549.06 and payroll check numbers 15916-15930 for $13,336.04 and
15931-15951 for $15,511.00. Motion passed unanimously.

26. Adjournment
Moved by Jim Johnson, seconded by Carolyn Smith, to adjourn the meeting at 10:00 p.m.
Motion passed unanimously.

___________________________
John B. Ferris, Mayor
Attest:
_____________________________
Paul Robinson, City Clerk-Treasurer
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