Hopefully the city of Brainerd isn't jinxing things by working on plans for winter snow removal.
The Brainerd City Council Monday night had the first reading of ordinance 1468 to amend city code 1315 pertaining to street cleaning and snow removal.
Ordinance 1468 is similar to ordinance 1462, which the council voted against having a final reading of in March, assistant city engineer Paul Sandy said. The new ordinance re-establishes snow emergency routes in the city and tweaks the existing snow removal system, he said.
The new ordinance puts a parking ban in place for 48 hours on snow emergency routes following the declaration of a snow emergency, Sandy said. The 48 hours gives city staff enough time to plow and scrape streets and spread salt and chemicals on the streets, he said.
"These are our major emergency routes," Sandy said. "Our major commuter routes."
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Snow emergency routes include Laurel Street, College Drive, Willow Street, Wright Street, Buffalo Hills Lane, Oak Street, Jackson Street, H Street, League Avenue and portions of Eighth Street and Fifth Street. Vehicles parked on these streets during the snow emergency will be ticketed and towed after 48 hours, Sandy said.
On the first day of the snow emergency, streets running north and south will be plowed, which will mean parking is only allowed on streets running east and west. On the second day, streets running east and west will be plowed, which means cars will have to be parked on streets running north and south. All streets west of the Mississippi River and south of Willow Street will be plowed on the first day.
"On the second day, you would want to move your vehicle back to the north/south street," Sandy said. "To avoid the 48-hour rule ticket."
The city needs to emphasize educating people on the snow removal parking restrictions, council member Kevin Stunek said.
"The communication piece to educate the general community is huge," Stunek said. "The quicker we can get this in place, I don't see any reason why we can't start educating now."
The color-coded snow removal map Sandy provided is excellent, council member Dave Badeaux said. But it should be made easier to read by being enlarged or broken down into smaller pieces, he said.
"The more crisp and clean we can make it," Badeaux said. "If someone knows they live in south Brainerd, there's a south Brainerd side."
In other business, the council:
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Adopted ordinance 1465 regulating short-term rentals in the city. The ordinance amends portions of city code section 515 to add definitions for short-term rentals and a variety of regulations for them.
The rental period for a short-term rental cannot be more than 28 consecutive days and the owner of a short-term rental needs to secure an interim use permit. If the owner also lives in the short-term rental, it does not require an interim use permit.
The council had a public hearing on the ordinance prior to its adoption, at which no one spoke. Council member Gabe Johnson abstained from discussion and voting on the ordinance.
Thursday, Johnson told the Brainerd Dispatch he abstained from the issue because his wife works for Visit Brainerd, which is funded by a lodging tax on area hotels and motels. Some communities levy this lodging tax against short-term rentals, he said, so he didn't want to appear to be voting for something which would result in more funding for his wife's employer.
Adopted a resolution filing an application with Minnesota Management and Budget office for the 2018 state bond bill request list. The application asks for bonding consideration for the Three Bridges Trail along the Mississippi River.
At the March 20 council meeting, the council identified the Three Bridges Trail and the Cuyuna State Trail as the city's two bonding priorities for 2018. Submitting an application to MMB gets the Three Bridges Trail on the schedule of legislator tours of bonding project requests, city finance director Connie Hillman said.
