Agenda - Council - 01/27/2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Assistant City Engineer Himmer responded that he is aware of Andover's code — he reviewed the codes of Andover, Blaine and St. Francis. He read Andover's code and noted that it is almost the same as what is being proposed here. He talked about how there will be a formula for quantifying the organic amount. He asked if it makes more sense to be more stringent at the introduction of an ordinance. He asked why not make it as good as we can and save the water if that is the goal. Mr. Himmer asked about enforcement of this. Councilmember McGlone sated he would like to take it a step further than that. H would like to see it in concrete. If everyone knows the rules, everyone plays by the rules. He would like to see this get taken back to the Public Works Committee and to give Mr. Enstrom a chance to talk about it. Mr. Himmer responded that Mr. Enstrom will say 20% clay and 60 to 80% organic — lay it on the top of what is out there and roto -till it in. Councilmember McGlone stated that building codes are the minimum allowable by law meaning if something is built to code — the standards are minimum. His thought was to "do it right or leave it alone ". Mayor Ramsey referred to page 285 of the agenda where it talks about irrigation and inquired if that means everyone will be required to put in an irrigation system. Mr. Himmer replied that would be for the R -3 District — multi - family — and we currently require that to be done. Councilmember Dehen stated that he is not in favor of bringing this back to the Public Works Committee. He noted that developer John Peterson was in the audience and asked him to talk about soils. John Peterson, 16735 Nowthen Boulevard NW, stated he was at home watching the meeting where John Enstrom was present and heard his speech relating to the organic mix. The development /construction business has been so devastated it almost does not matter anymore. He stated he has an old degree in biological science and that John Enstrom knows more about soil than he does. He knows that the overall cost in housing is a big deal and the use of water is a big deal. If you go to a specific that is almost impossible to find that would be very, very expensive. Ramsey is almost as stringent as anywhere we work right now. The same specifics as Andover are workable — such a stringent specific would make it too costly. I feel you can go too far and it would be too difficult for builders and developers to meet the specs. Councilmember Dehen stated that when people buy this, do they generally specify what percentage they want and do places even have it. City Council /January 13, 2009 Page 25 of 32