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5.e) Planning Services �, Meeting Date: 1/8/2008 Agenda Item: �, �) City Council Agenda Report City of Scandia 14727 209�'St. North Scandia, MN 55073 (651)433-2274 Action Requested: Discuss planning services. Deadline/Timeline: N/A Background: • Dick Thompson of TKDA recently announced his retirement. While Dick will continue to work part-time(including reviewing the upcoming mining pemuts),TKDA has proposed that Senior Planner Sherri Buss begin serving as Scandia's City Planner. • A letter from TKDA,with Sherri's resume, is attached. The letter includes some suggested `Yeview questions"that you may wish to use to review the status of planning services. • Sherri will be present at the January 8 meeting. Recommendation: I recommend that the Council discuss the planning services provided by TKDA. In addition to the"review questions"provided, you may want to ask additional questions about her background and experience. You may wish to include the Planning Commission in this discussion. Attachments/ • Letter and resume from Sherri Buss,TKDA dated December 31, Materials provided: 2007. Contact(s): Sherri Buss (651 292-4582 Prepared by: Anne Hurlburt,Administrator (planning services TKDA) Page 1 of 1 O1/03/08 , TKDA ENGINEERS•ARCHITECTS•PLANNERS 444 Cedar 5treet,Suite 1500 Sai�Paul,MN 55101-2140 (651)292-4400 (651)292-0083 Fax www.tkda.com December 31,2007 RECEIVED Ms. Anne Hurlbert City Administrator& �AN —;� 200� Scandia City Council Members 14727 209th Street North CITY OF SCANDIA Scandia, Minnesota 55073-8503 Re: City Planner City of Scandia,Minnesota TKDA Project No. 14054.000 Dear Anne and Council Members: Dick Thompson announced his upcoming retirement at your last Council meeting. We will all miss Dick, and are working hard to make sure that we have a smooth transition in providing planning services to the City of Scandia. Dick will be continuing to work with us on a part-time basis, finishing up current projects such as the Aggregate Mining Ordinance and helping us to make the transition. Our planning team is suggesting that I begin serving as the City's Planner in January 2008, with assistance from Berry Farrington. We are hoping that works for you and the Council. While I have worked on some development reviews and issues in Scandia, most of the Council members don't know me or my experience as a planner. I thought I would provide a resume (enclosed) so that everyone has some background on my experience. Most of the experience included is recent, although I also remember that the first Comprehensive Plan I reviewed as an Associate Planner at the Metro Council was the 1981 Scandia Comp Plan! If we need to discuss my experience or your needs for planning services, I will be happy to talk with all of you about that. I will be at your meeting on January 8 to discuss the Tii Gavo revised landscape plan. For the past 10 years, I have usually done an "annual review" of services with my clients at the beginning of each year. This gives you a chance to give myself and TKDA feedback, and help us improve. Given the transition to a new Planner, this might also be a good time for us to do a review of our planning services to Scandia. If you and the Council are willing to do a review, these are the typical questions I would ask: An Employee Owned Company Promoting A�rmative Action and Equa/Opportunity ` Anne Hurlburt, City Administrator Scandia, Minnesota City Planner Services December 31, 2007 Page 2 � What is working well with the services TKDA provides to the City of Scandia? What should we maintain? • Are there areas where we could improve our services to the City? Which areas? • Are there some specific projects or reviews completed during the past year that you want to give us comments on? � Do you have any other comments on how to improve our services or better assist the City during 2008? Let me know if you have time to discuss our Planning services and the annual review questions at the January 8 Council meeting. I am looking forward to working with all of you. If you have questions about the transition or related issues,please call me at(651)292-4582 or email sherri.buss@tkda.com. Sincerely, `,��u��n,� Sherri Buss, R.L.A. Senior Planner SAB:jcs Enclosure SHERRI A. BUSS, R.L.A. `' _ �� PLANNER/LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT � � � � Ms. Buss has recently joined TKDA and has over 25 years experience in planning and � �� landscape architecture. Her planning work focuses on comprehensive plans, natural resource ���-` � and greenway plans,comprehensive park and trail plans,and environmental reviews. Her plans '�'� � � are grounded in maintaining the long-term ecological heaith of the landscape and natural - systems, while helping communities to achieve their visions for future land use, infrastructure _. systems, and community identity. Sherri's landscape design work has focused on altemative stormwater strategies, such as rainwater gardens, park and trail design, campus planning, and natural community restoration. Sherri is a skilled public meeting facilitator,and has facilitated a wide range of public processes and meetings to achieve consensus and develop solutions that fit the needs of communities in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Sherri previously worked for another municipal engineering and planning firm,and as a planner for the Metropolitan Council. RECENT EXPERIENCE Project Manager, Town of St. Joseph 2005 Comprehenslve Plan; Town of St. Joseph, WI. The Town of St.Joseph is located in westem Wisconsin, and is anticipating future growth with the development of a new St. Croix River Bridge. The Town updated its comprehensive plan during 2004-05. Critical issues for the Town and its Board included maintain the Town's rural character and protecting priority natural resources, while identifying appropriate areas for growth; identifying appropriate land uses in the village of Houlton; planning for future infrastructure; and identifying the strategies and tools the Town will use to manage growth and implement its Comp Plan. Sherri worked with the Board to identify priority natural resource areas, resource corridors and greenways, and the tools and ordinances the Town will use to protect these areas. This work became the framework for the communityPs land use plan and infrast�ucture plan. Follow-up work with the Town Board included developing tools the communiiy will use to implement the plan. Project Planner, Clty of Corcoran Comprehenslve Plan and Project Manager, Comprehenslve Park and Trall Plan end Ordlnances;Corcoran,MN. The C'ity of Corcoran in northwest Hennepin County received a grant from the Metropolitan Council to complete a Natural Resources Inventory and Management Plan to be used as the framework for fts Comprehensive Plan. Sherri was the Project Manager for the Management Plan and for integration of the plan into the City's comprehensive plan. She worked with a local task force to complete the inventory, identify priorities for protection, and identify natural resource corridors. The NRI and Plan became the framework for land use and infrastructure systems in the Communityr. She was also the project manager for creation of the city's comprehensive park and trail plan, which was integrated into the Comprehensive Plan, and for Educetion creation of environmental ordinances, including the City's Wetland, Shoreland and Floodplain University of Minnesota Ordinances. After completion of the NRI, Comprehensive Plan and Parks Plan, Sherri Masters of Landscape Architecture! continued to serve as staff to the City's Parks and Environmental Commission, as it Maste�s of Science in Ecology implemented the plan and completed development reviews and updated the City's Code. Bachelor of Arts Pro'ect Mana er, Northffeld Area Greenwa s Plan; Northfield, MN. The Ci of Northfield Geography and Biology, 1 9 Y tY Macalester College worked in cooperation with four adjacent townships to complete a comprehensive greenways Registrations plan. The plan was based on the City's Natural Resources Inventory and Transportation Plan. Registered Landscape Architect-MN The plan includes over 60 miles of connected, looped trails and open space areas along the Cannon River,several streams, St.Olaf and Carleton College Campuses, and other significant Certifications natural areas. The plan includes recommendations for updating the City's Comprehensive Plan Professional AHiliations and Code to implement the plan,and specifies land use tools and other strategies that the City Minnesota Public Works Association may use to implement the plan. The plan was adopted by the City Council in early 2007, and Chair,Environmental Committee will become part of its Comprehensive Plan. Sherri led development of the plan and facilitated Minnesota Native Plants Society the 20-member intercommunity task force. TKDA �.�.�,� Project Planner, Comprehenslve Plan, and Project Manager, Stfllwater AUAR;and Project � Manager, Open Space Plan and Parks Master Plans;Stillwater, MN. Worked with City staff � for over 10 years, beginning with development of the City's Comprehensive Plan, which � included annexation of 1800 acres west of the existing City boundary. After adoption of the � plan,she completed a Natural Resources Management Plan; park,trail and open space plans, � and several park master plans for the area. She was also the project manager for the Stillwater �j AUAR, which identified the potential impacts of development of the Annexation Area, and created a Mitigation Plan to avoid, minimize or mitigate for the impacts. The Trout Stream Mitigation Project that implemented the plan received the City Engineers Association of Minnesota(CEAM)Project of the Year Award in 2003. Project Manager, Comprehenslve Natural Resources P/an and Envlronmental Ordlnances; Faribault, MN. Worked with the City of Faribault over several years to complete the City's Natural Resources Management Plan, and several ordinances that will assist the City to implement the plan, including the Ciiy's Shoreland Ordinance. The plan included identification of priority natural resources in the City, and a system of natural resources corridors and greenways to connect and sustain these resources. The plan also identi�ed several priority areas for restoration of corridor connections. Project Manager,Comprehenslve Park and Tra11 Plan;East Bethel,MN Projecf Manager, Trout Brook Greenway Master Plan;Saint Paul,MN Project Manager,Clty Hall Campus Master Plan and Open Space Master Plans;Maplewood, MN Project Manager, Dorothy Mary Park Master Plan, Northwood Park Pralrle and Wetland Restorations,and New Hope Wetland Inventory and Management Plan;New Hope,MN Project Manager,Shoreland,Floodplafn and Tree Protection Ordlnances;Farmington,MN Project Manager,Northwest and Southwest AUAR's;Carver,MN Project Manager,Corcoran Southwest AUAR;Corcoran,MN Project Manager,Seed Genstar and Spruce Street AUAR's;Farmington,MN Experience In Scandla • Planner at Metropolitan Council (1980-1989)--assisted the City in obtaining grant funds for community senior center and in developing the center as a Community Focal Point, and reviewed CityPs Comprehensive Plan(1981). � Master's Thesis(1991-92)--Completed ethnographic interviews of landowners in Washington County with rare species and habitats identified on their properties by the Minnesota County Biological Survey,to determine their interest in and needs for stewardship. Included several landowners in Scandia. S. BUSS, R.L.A. PLANNER/L4AIDSCAPE ARCHRECT PAGE 2 TKDA ENGNEERS•AFCMTECIS•PIANNEHS