Based on the context provided, the names of the officials, and the internal dialogue, here is the transcribed transcript with speaker names. **Note on Identifications:** * **Bill Burns:** The Chairperson of the Economic Development Commission (EDC). * **Frank Adas:** Long-standing EDC Commissioner and veteran. * **Shannon:** City Staff (filling in for Jamie). * **Gary Severson:** City Council Member / Commissioner. * **Kari Moore:** City Council Member / Council Liaison. * **Bob Stiglich:** EDC Commissioner. * **Stacy:** EDC Commissioner. * **Lucia:** EDC Commissioner (student representative/new member). *** [0:06] Bill Burns: Frank we're waiting for you, we are waiting for you. [0:18] Bill Burns: Welcome to the November 2nd, 2022 Economic Development Commission call to order. And we're going to start right away with Frank doing the Pledge of Allegiance. [0:30] Frank Adas: All right, ready. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [0:50] Bill Burns: Well done as always, thank you, Frank. Uh, roll call. I'm looking, I think we've got—we're missing—I was confused about the chairs, I think. [1:04] Bill Burns: I'm supposed to sit there. No, that's all right. Does it look—I can't see from this side—looks like every name is taken, except for one. Oh, Bob. Bob Stiglich. Bob's right there. Oh, the other Bob. Bob B. Okay, so everyone's here but Bob. That's how we do roll call. Um, approval of minutes. Any comments or questions from last September? I think Jamie did a nice job in all of that. [1:40] Gary Severson: I move to approve the minutes. [1:44] Bob Stiglich: I'll second it. [1:46] Bill Burns: Second? Opposed? [1:50] Bill Burns: I'd say we move approved. All right, let's move on to the Economic Development Commission review: Old Business. The Business Retention, Expansion, and Attraction Partnership program updates. Well, I'm involved with that, but also I'm not the only one going on on that meeting. Is there a list on here of how many where we went? Did Jamie give us that? [2:10] Shannon: Yeah, so you have a memo in front of you that lists out some of the previous visits as well as future visits. It's my understanding that there will be 18 total visits. So a couple of them happen already; quite a few of them will happen throughout the rest of the year. A number of staff and commission members have joined on these visits. I am not one of them, but many of you are. So if you have any—anything you'd like to share with the broader commission about the experience you had on those visits or any other particulars, please go ahead and take the floor. [3:00] Bill Burns: You were at the warrior nutrition, Hampton—the Hampton Inn. [3:05] Gary Severson: I was at the Hampton Inn. [3:06] Bill Burns: Well, how'd that go? [3:08] Gary Severson: That was very interesting. If you guys get an opportunity to participate—if one of the dates line up with your schedules—I'd encourage you to take advantage of it. We went to the Hampton Inn—that's part of the Hilton. The manager that we talked to, one of the things he says he rarely gets an opportunity to talk with people, so he really appreciated that we came over and made the time, made the effort to check in with them, see what his business was about. The things he specifically was concerned about—one of the things we learned is that the Gold Line, he's a little looking forward to having the Gold Line. He sees that as a potential not only for having customers come out, business people that come into town—they have business in St. Paul but they can get out of the city, come out here to Oakdale, stay here—and that's something that they want to do. But then they don't have to rent a car; they can just hop on the Gold Line and head back in and out. He also sees that as a good thing for—he has a lot of large worker contingent that's in St. Paul itself. And so just having an opportunity for the workers to come out and not have to have a car. They come out in all kinds of modes of transportation, but that's another one to his mix. Makes his employment opportunities greater, so he has a, you know, a greater appeal to potential workers. One of the things that he found—we found out that he wanted is—and he didn't think of this until I said—is a list of events. If you think about that, everybody—vacationers come into town, well okay, now I'm in town, what do I want to do? Well, that makes sense, but did we ever think of it until he said so? So we learned a lot of interesting tidbits from the fellow that we talked with. [4:47] Bill Burns: Yeah, that's fantastic. [4:52] Bill Burns: Um, I was lucky enough to be on the Park Tool visit. And the location is great, the facility is fantastic—they keep that up so well. And his employees—I forget the number he has—but he's able to keep a solid number of employees in Oakdale. He's got his own means of figuring out who to hire, and so he hasn't really had a need to go to Washington County or anything like that. Got a good program with his human resources. The product that he makes is so unique that his competition is far and few. And so he makes such a good quality for the bikes that he sets the bar pretty high, and it's tough for anybody else to reach that. And that's with a lot of Oakdale—I'd say as far as a lot of Oakdale people involved right there. So we're lucky to have him. I was also at the Animal Emergency Referral Center up here, and that facility is another amazing facility. For them to be able to take in the volume of cats and dogs and—what other animals are there—is incredible. The fact that they're building the new location—I think that's going to open up here within 30 days, I think they're going to have a grand opening. And the volume of business that they have is such a means as far as how many they have to handle, they needed a second facility. And they've got enough employees there to handle it. And it's one of the few, I think, veterinary clinics that is employee-owned. So it's not owned by "big brother" or anything; it's actually veterinarians who own that, and it's one of the things that I think that makes it unique. Their main concern was the crosswalk right there. Since my office is about a block away, I see the volume of traffic that's on Helmo. And they're very concerned about—they have so many employees crossing right there. I think there can be, maybe a little bit more done—some flashing lights, even more of that. They've supplied some bigger signs themselves so that their employees are safe when they do cross. But otherwise, they're thrilled to be in Oakdale. The location off 10th Street is great. They wanted to make sure that the interchange there—as you exit off 694 and you can enter into the parking lot for Home Furniture there—they want to make sure that that stays light as it is. I think the county is looking to maybe shut that down possibly, so they would be very opposed to that. And I think that makes sense to keep that open. And then in Greg Foot Jewelers—Greg Foot Jewelers, Greg himself started his business literally here in Oakdale and he's expanded since. He's got, I think, now three employees. Service, service, service, service. If you haven't gone there to have maybe your watch taken care of or an appraisal done on a ring, he does take care of you. And we're lucky to have a jeweler of such a high quality, I think, in town. So, he was very thankful for the city stopping by and the Chamber. And he's very involved, I know, in the Chamber also. And he's looking forward to a lot more years here in the city of Oakdale. So these visits are priceless for, I think, a lot of these business owners. [9:20] Frank Adas: Is he the one that's near the Holiday right now, Family Dental there? [9:24] Bill Burns: All right, yep. Okay, yep. So he's in that building there. And for being a jeweler, there's been really no real issues with anything as far as theft. And he praised the Oakdale Police Department for being on the ball all the time when he's up there. So, kudos. I think that's it for the visits. Not sure who's... [9:52] Shannon: Yeah, um, we can move on to the development bus tour recap. [9:55] Bill Burns: Yes, which I was on. So I can say something about it. [10:00] Shannon: You were at the front of the bus. [10:02] Bill Burns: Yes, yes I was. [10:04] Shannon: So the development bus tour happened on October 4th. It was a chance for Commissioners from the EDC, but also from the Environmental Management Commission and the Planning Commission, to join City Council members and take a tour of Oakdale to learn more about the development and redevelopment projects that are happening in our city. As you all know, there's a lot happening in the city, so we started in sort of North Oakdale, saw a couple of proposed sites, moved down south, saw some development opportunities and redevelopment there. There are projects in all stages of construction at this point, so we saw some bare ground, but we also saw fully developed buildings like the Animal Emergency Referral Center and Home Furnishings. And again, it was just a chance to show off what Oakdale is doing. I think that we received a lot of very positive feedback from the experience, and so it's something that we hope to continue again in future years. If you are interested, this packet does include a map that shows some of the different locations that the bus tour stopped at. And I use the word "stop" very generously; most everyone stayed on the bus at all times. [11:00] Bill Burns: Everyone stayed on the bus at all times. [11:02] Shannon: But this is something again that we'd like to do in the future. So I encourage you, if it's of interest to you, to please join us. If anyone did come on the bus tour this past time around and would like to share any of their experiences, I'd be happy to hear them. [11:15] Frank Adas: Frank. I can't believe all the dirt that's being moved in Oakdale. And I think within three to five years, you won't recognize Oakdale for what it was. There's just every place there's dirt being turned over, buildings going up. It's just unbelievable. And it kind of almost happened overnight too, in my opinion, but I'm sure it's well-planned ahead. Yeah, but I thank you for that tour. I thought that was just wonderful. It's so hard to see things, you know, you're riding by and you see a pile of dirt and you don't know what it is and all that, but you told us, you showed us what it was all about. I appreciate that. [11:58] Gary Severson: Yep, floor is yours. So I, you know, took notes of course. Yeah, but no, I was impressed as well. I've heard a lot of the developments that were going on with the city, but to actually get eyes on, and with a narrative along with the actual site visits, is just really impressive. Um, we went down, like you're saying, down at Tanner's Lake, seen that property. I heard a lot about it over the years, and now I get to see it in person, and now you kind of understand better the challenges that we have with that. Going up to the Home Furniture—I was at their grand opening so I got to see it after I got to visit the theater before. Understanding that transformation from the old theater to the Home Furniture, and then seeing the animal hospital there. Then understanding what Home Furniture is thinking of doing beyond that, you know, what was described to us on the tour—that's just exciting right there. I'm going around in Willowbrook, there's a lot of discussion. We spent a lot of time in Willowbrook actually, discussing the progress, what was next, the order of how things are put together, just expectations around there. And then we drove up, like you said, up in the north side, got to see the Priority Courier place and what was planning there and the Glenn Brook small area plan. We just went through there real briefly, but now I got a visual on it. So it's really good to tie those words, those places with the actual images. I appreciate it. Thank you. [13:39] Bob Stiglich: I'd second that or third that, right Frank? Uh, seriously it was a really good—I think you should do it, you know, every year, every other year. I mean, it really opened—I experienced the exact same thing that you just described. I mean, it really, being able to see these things. Because I've heard it, and who's got time? I live in Oakdale obviously, but I'm not going to take time to drive all... you know, and I fly by these places I don't even realize they're there. But to actually have the key people that know what's going on, it was it was a great event. I very much appreciate it. [14:30] Stacy: Yes, yeah. I thought it was a great tour and I think as a commissioner, I think it was one of the first times I really felt like engaged in the city as being kind of invited with all these other City people and everybody's doing it. So yeah, I think it's a really—yeah, I would continue to do that because it really does, it gave me a feeling of being more involved. [14:51] Bill Burns: Well, I think with as much development that's going on in the city of Oakdale, from we look at today versus a year from now, it'll be really interesting to see how the dirt has turned into a seven-story building, how many more houses have been put up there in Willowbrook. So it'll be real interesting. [15:08] Frank Adas: Yeah, I drove by the one up by Crossroads Ford where Crossroads used to be—where Crossroads is, remember we went by that and there was a big hole in the ground? And then I went by there a week later or so and they already started building; there's a structure going in already. I mean it's just—it's just unbelievable. Unbelievable. [15:37] Kari Moore: It's super helpful to be able to educate the community as well. Because I don't know about you, but when I'm going places I hear people all the time: "My road's closed still!" And so when we were able to get the education of "it should be paved and painted by Monday," then you're able to communicate that around to your Holiday gas station attendant or my chiropractor or whomever is frustrated with roads being closed. So I think it's it's really helpful to be able to pass along the information and educate the community there. [16:22] Bill Burns: There we go. I'd say it was a winner. [16:23] Shannon: Good, we'll do it again. [16:24] Bill Burns: There we go. It's on tape. Not tape anymore, it's not tape. Live TV, yeah. Digital. All digital. Yeah, YouTube. Um, shall we go to the 2023 draft EDC? Have you got this one? [16:40] Shannon: Yes, I can absolutely. All right, so we're going to move on to a little bit more of an interactive session for this meeting. You have in front of you a draft plan for the coming year. Now the purpose of this plan is to really guide the activities of the Commission and to provide some sort of a framework for what you're going to accomplish in 2023. The draft plan is founded in our City's Comprehensive Plan. So all of these activities that you see here referenced in the draft plan, they originate in the Comprehensive Plan; that's where it starts. If you have any specific questions about where that comes from, Jamie can tell you a little bit more, but again I would reference the Comprehensive Plan if you're wondering where these goals start from and why these activities are on the draft plan. So the purpose of tonight's meeting is to get your feedback on what's included in the draft work plan. If you have any changes that you would like to make, if there are any edits to the draft work plan that you would like to see happen, that's what we're going to talk about tonight. The timeline for this is: you all will give your feedback on the plan at this meeting, it will be finalized at the next meeting, or if you feel like it's totally ready to go now, you can also say so. The Commission is invited to pass a motion in support of the work plan itself, and then that will be presented to City Council sometime in the first quarter of the coming year so they have an idea of what you as a commission have agreed on as your priorities for the coming year, and they have a chance to be able to speak into that process as well. So I invite you to take a couple minutes just to look this over, and then if you have any feedback to provide, please go ahead and share. [18:13] Bob Stiglich: This makes for good reading. [18:15] Shannon: I know, I know. And I did just say it was interactive and now it's going to be silent. [18:20] Bob Stiglich: Question right off: what—where do the "best practices" come from? I'll tell you my background on that is I've been presented with what was "best practice," but that really wasn't best practice for that situation. Somebody's saying "well this is best practice" because they just wanted to go somewhere. So my question is, how is this best practice established? Where did it come from? [18:40] Shannon: I do not know that answer, but I will ask Jamie if she could go ahead and forward that document to you. It could be in the Comprehensive Plan itself and that's where she's getting it from, but I will get an answer. [19:00] Bob Stiglich: Okay, so in the meantime, past the EDC best practice, we'll keep moving on through the rest of it. [19:33] Bill Burns: Excuse me. So, shall we start out with the first one? Business Retention and Expansion (the BR&E). As far as the description of it, it's pretty black and white. My view is it's essential, I think, for us to continue to keep doing that. And for as many of the Commissioners to get involved with that also. With that, I will not be as involved this year in going through all them, so everybody should get a chance to go on these. I think that's just the fact that, you know, being on the Chamber on this, I've been able to cross both of them, but they've been so enriching. I would think everybody should get a chance at doing a few of these, would be nice. [20:38] Stacy: Can you get some information on how we can...? [20:41] Bill Burns: That would be fabulous. So the Saint Paul Chamber, Kim O'Brien is the one who sets them up. And so she'll have a list of who they are and when they are, and she wouldn't be able to throw it out to 10 people. So she'll probably go down the list of... okay, you know, she'll drop it to two people: "Can you make it?" because you also have the City being involved and they've got to do their own. But it'll make sense; it'll come through everybody here to get a chance. [21:10] Stacy: Okay. [21:13] Bill Burns: Any other questions on the BR&E? I think we're just... this is where we're supposed to be doing. [21:18] Shannon: Yes, yep, you got it. [21:19] Bill Burns: All right. Move on to: Market Oakdale for economic development purposes. [21:28] Bob Stiglich: Advise the City staff on good music. [21:30] Bill Burns: Not me! "Advise City staff and the City Council on implementing economic development best practices, marketing strategies, continuing the work started in late 2022." I think anytime we get a chance to advise the City Council, we would love to. Anytime they ask, we always have an opinion. [22:04] Bob Stiglich: Great. Any comments on that? That question it says "work started in 2022: Community profiles, Community safety data"—although I don't know exactly what those were or are. Do you know? [22:23] Shannon: I will ask Jamie to provide you with an update just as a refresher. [22:30] Bill Burns: Okay. And don't be surprised—and thank you for showing up here for Jamie—but Jamie is the one who put all this together. And I'm like, wow, that took some work just to put this stuff together. So if there are going to be some questions that, you know, we might not get answers tonight, but we will get them. [22:45] Bill Burns: I think the Community profiles is that guy that came and gave the high-level overview of our segmentation of businesses and categories? [22:56] Stacy: It was a whole meeting that time. [22:58] Bill Burns: That was that piece. [23:01] Bob Stiglich: And I think I missed the safety one. Did somebody else come in and do a safety? [23:05] Bill Burns: I think it was part of that same... yeah, because they had it in that big packet with all the economic data. [23:09] Kari Moore: But didn't we do it also—the exercise with, you know, stoplights and crosswalks and safety? Would that be part of the safety data? [23:24] Shannon: So that's—no, that's different. What you did was helping out with the Bike and Pedestrian Plan update. That's the fifth line. [23:36] Bill Burns: Well, we can skip right down to that one then. I just wanted to know what that second one—the idea of marketing Oakdale. If there is a way that we could do better marketing, or different marketing, or additional marketing to say "this is a great place to bring your business to establish it." The ones that have come in, I don't know really how they've decided to come here, but if we could capture that and expand on that, that could help us as well. [24:08] Bob Stiglich: I think part of that is helping us understand what is the City doing now? Because I really don't know. I mean, I don't know exactly exactly what they're doing. So there's a lot of questions. From our standpoint, it'd really be helpful, I think, to understand what they're doing so we can say, "Oh well, have you thought of that?" I think a lot of the ideas I might have, they're already doing. [24:41] Bill Burns: Yeah, and I also know too that there's limits to what we can do. You know, we can't really go out and say, "Well, I want my Taco John's down in this corner versus I want this other restaurant over here versus this tire shop." You can't do that. You can say "I'd like that" and you can work with that, but you know, they got their own marketing plan as to how they put things in. So what can we do to make our areas more potent? A lot more potential to say "Hey, you know, this is right for putting this kind of a business in," whether it's through a zoning effort or something outside. I don't know what the tools are. [25:15] Lucia: In that respect—I'm just like what you're saying—I know the City has been doing an update on their website. And one of the things I think that kind of has gotten lost on there, when you look on the new one, is that there's not—other than just a direct link to the Chamber website—there's not any information for anybody who's looking at Oakdale for homes or businesses on what's here already. I don't know if that's possible or not, or if there's a way to. But you know, as a new homeowner, I would want to know: what schools are here? What preschools? Where's my local bakery? Where's my church? Like just—and that used to be on our website and that's not anymore. So not just new businesses, but existing businesses. [26:11] Bob Stiglich: I can foresee a marketing night for us just to kind of get a handle on where... [26:14] Stacy: Yeah, and start throwing around some of those ideas if we understand what's going on. [26:19] Bob Stiglich: Feedback, thinking looking in. [26:22] Lucia: I'm surprised it isn't. Yeah, you'd think that'd be 101, the website giving information like that. [26:26] Shannon: I know our Communications team just went through a website refresh, and they're a brand new Communications team as well. So I think that they would be very open to knowing what should be put onto the website and how it can be edited appropriately. [26:45] Bill Burns: Yeah, like something as simple as "You want to see what businesses are in Oakdale." And I think the City has access to that; they can have a large list of doing that. But that's also maybe we have that in conjunction with the Chamber also, where they could be tagged over here if you want to get more information. Because the City shouldn't be promoting one business over another, but here's a link to the Chamber that maybe is stronger. We can discuss that at another time on Marketing Night. Good idea. Any more comment on that section? The City Property and Redevelopment Planning, which is a Comprehensive Plan Land Use Chapter. "Assist the City staff and City Council with marketing efforts—for example, the Tanner's Lake parcel—and advise City staff and the City Council on redevelopment as appropriate." Again, for the Tanner's Lake parcels. So um, yeah, anytime the City Council wants to know, we're open. I don't know—is it something where we would, again as a liaison, how would we let the City Council know that, "Hey, we got some other ideas"? [28:10] Kari Moore: Or if you have questions that you could send me an email. If you want to, I could take notes from a meeting. They watch the meetings most likely, right? There's all kinds of ways we can give it to all of us. [28:15] Bill Burns: Okay. [28:16] Kari Moore: I'm happy to bring the information to them. [28:22] Bill Burns: Right, and I think that's what this section is. It sounds like it's just everything is Tanner's Lake on this one. [28:30] Shannon: I think that's because that's a focus for the next year. [28:33] Bill Burns: Yeah. Now, I know they've got a—well, they're going to go in, you're going to go into it a little bit with the Tanner's Lake redevelopment opportunities the next section. So we can keep moving, I think, on that. "Develop and maintain Partnerships: Collaborate with local organizations, government agencies, and other partners on projects and programs." An example: Washington County Chamber, any other affiliations also. Any comment on this? [29:18] Bill Burns: I think we're all in favor of collaborating with local organizations. It would be against the EDC to not collaborate as much as you can. And I know that the Chamber is looking to—we've got some "fresh blood" in there and we're trying to move forward and promote more businesses here in Oakdale in the area. So I think it's a great time with all the development going on here in Oakdale for this to be happening. So we're looking forward to working with the City. "Provide input through local government engagement and planning processes," which means: "Participate, provide input as appropriate for local and regional initiatives and studies, such as the Bike and Pedestrian Plan updates, Glenbrook small area plan. Provide input as appropriate for local policies and ordinances." [30:26] Bob Stiglich: Are we going to be doing another... we're not going to be doing another one where we're putting paper up on the walls and doing it again? Or if you want more involvement there? [30:40] Shannon: I don't know if you'll be doing a SWOT analysis again, but the point of this section is to say that the Community Development Department is conducting a number of different studies, and we're trying to see about ways to engage the Commissions in providing feedback on those studies. You guys are a very natural audience; you are all residents of Oakdale. So what you have to say about these studies is relevant. And it made sense for the Bike and Ped Plan for you to be part of that conversation. I don't know as much about how the EDC might be involved in the Glenbrook small area study, but there could be opportunities in the future for future engagement. [31:21] Bob Stiglich: I think the importance there is being included in the planning process rather than after-the-fact, "here's what we did." I think that Bike and Pedestrian plan was exactly that. That's the right thing. It's like, it's not already a "done deal." It's like, oh well, let's get their input before we implement something. So I really, I really like that direction. And that goes for a lot of different programs. You know, we gain value if they ask us before the decision is made and if they actually care. So that's where we hope. [31:45] Bill Burns: Any other comments on that? Commissioner Education. Frank, I think we know everything, don't we? [31:55] Frank Adas: I—there's very few things you and I don't know, Bill. [32:04] Bill Burns: All right. Well, for the others: "Participate in City-sponsored educational events or trainings as provided, such as the bus tour." Very enlightening. "Educational topics incorporated into regular meetings." So I think we're all open for anything along those lines. And the more we can learn about the city of Oakdale—what's going on, what's going to be going on, what is possibly going on—we would love to be involved with it that way. I think... comments? [32:44] Bill Burns: Nailed it. [32:45] Shannon: So with that, we have to make a motion to pass, is that correct? So Jamie will review all of the comments that you have provided today. She will put together a finalized plan that's edited based on what you've said so far, and she'll bring that back to the Commission, at which point you can go ahead and make a motion to support it. [33:04] Bill Burns: Okay, well thank you. Yeah, um, let's move to that Tanner's Lake redevelopment opportunity and Expo recap. [33:10] Shannon: Yes, so I will give you a very high-level summary, and then the theme of tonight is if you have any more questions, I will forward them on to Jamie. So what I've been told about Tanner's Lake: the City acquired this property, this parcel, over a decade ago. And since then, a number of different proposals have been received for the parcel, but none of them have gone through to the actual planning phases for a variety of reasons. So, as was mentioned, making sure to market this parcel is a focus for the coming year. And in this memo in front of you, you have been provided with information about where the City is currently marketing the Tanner's Lake property. There are a couple of different sites: we're marketing on our current website, it's also on Washington County's CDA website, and then it has been added to this MnCAR listing. So I was told this is basically the commercial property listing for the state of Minnesota. Individuals who are interested in acquiring commercial property can find Tanner's Lake within this listing. In the memo, there are links to all of those different websites if you would like to go there and see a little bit more information. And then also included in the memo is just a breakdown of what some of those marketing pieces look like that are available on the website. So if you have specific questions about the Tanner's Lake property, I would go ahead and say forward those along to Jamie or even to our Council members. But just know that this is something that the City would really like to make sure and focus on in the coming year. [34:40] Bill Burns: I'd actually like to open it up to the Commissioners. Is anybody getting the ideas on what to put there? [34:47] Frank Adas: I think Bill hasn't. I think everything has been talked about and run by the Council, hasn't it? I mean, haven't you had interested parties talked to the Council about this property? [34:58] Gary Severson: The last one was balcony or rooftop. That was what, a year and a half? But I think maybe even before, and nothing came of it. [35:22] Frank Adas: Could be a nice area for a restaurant. There used to be two restaurants. What was that original, back in the day? And it was Toby's. Yeah, that was a great restaurant. [35:48] Bill Burns: I, of course, have my own ideas. No, it's not a landing strip. But on the north end of that property, it's lower. And then the majority of the property is a little elevated over the top of Tanner's. And we have a bait shop in town by the name of Blue Ribbon Bait. On the north end of that property would be a fantastic place for a Blue Ribbon Bait shop right there. They have big turnaround for boats and things. You have a little boat ramp for private. And Josh would be able to bring in all kinds of sponsors from worldwide to bring into... since he would have access to a lake. And there's not a single bait shop in the metro area that would have access to a little lake to show kids how to fish, to have mom and dad be at the end of the dock and he's showing them all this kind of stuff. But that would involve the fact that the other parts—the majority of the parcel—wouldn't have to be an apartment building; it would have to be something else rather than take that whole property. So it'd have to be in conjunction with another business that would be right there. [36:55] Stacy: You're talking about one on the—on the page right? No? [37:05] Bill Burns: Yeah. Uh, the corner end of "Two." I see, yes. So where the little wedge is up on... so on "Two," you can see where the driveway comes in. It's notched there. Right there, you draw a line, a line straight there, that's all the area that he would need. A majority of the rest of that wedge could be used for any other commercial product right there. But it involved using—finding someone who would be willing to do that. And it would put Oakdale on the map again for another positive way, I think. And you got a young business owner who's willing to do it. Anyway, so that's me thinking outside the box. [37:55] Lucia: Are the privately owned vacant parcels... is that like, not a possibility of being part of this development? [38:13] Bill Burns: I think it is. I do—you've got elevation issues. I walked around it last week, and you've got a retaining wall on the top of "Two" and a little ways down on "Two." So it creates a little bit of a challenge. Those condos or apartments right there have got a great view of the lake, and they're being—I think all their balconies are being repaired right now. But it's a great location. But uh, yeah, so I'm interested to see how where it goes. [38:53] Bob Stiglich: Are these—the real estate marketing is not my area of expertise—but I don't know, a statement: Are these the places where a developer would go to find these? Well, I mean it's lakefront, they'd think there'd be a lot of interest in it, but the awkward shape probably hinders things. [39:05] Bill Burns: Sure. [39:07] Gary Severson: And the grade changes in it. Marketing it and through MnCAR is a great idea—that's where everybody in the, you know, where the realtors operate from. And the City of course always is here to answer questions whenever there's a contact. City's on top of that all the time. And the City's intent would be to sell it to the developer, not to rent. [39:40] Bill Burns: Okay. [39:42] Gary Severson: We want to get out and sell the parcel, right? [39:45] Bob Stiglich: Okay. [39:47] Frank Adas: We've owned it long enough. [39:50] Bob Stiglich: Yeah. Excuse me, that number one and then privately owned beacon... what and then to the right of that is the apartments? Is that correct? [40:11] Gary Severson: Yes, they're condos I think, aren't they? Yeah, I think they're condos. They're condos. Anyway, so this "One" and in the privately owned... is that a part and parcel to number "Two" here? Is that all hooked together? [40:24] Bob Stiglich: I don't think so. [40:26] Gary Severson: No, literally as it says, it's privately owned. That little piece right there, yep. And then number one is what, another separately owned, you think? [40:32] Bill Burns: No, that—we own that. [40:34] Bob Stiglich: Yep. [40:35] Shannon: So what about this privately owned vacant? I mean, maybe if they could hook this whole thing together it might be more salable. I think they've spoken to the privately owned—that party—and they realize, I think, that whatever happens to one or two, they would like to probably be involved with it to see if they could sell it with it maybe. [40:40] Bob Stiglich: Yeah. [40:42] Shannon: But we don't own it. "We" being the City. Yeah, but now that we do have Jamie and Andy on board, we have dedicated staff who are able to shepherd that relationship. So they will maintain conversation with these private owners. [40:50] Frank Adas: Okay. I'm going to bet that all these years that that's been in our domain and nothing much—nothing has come of it. And I'm thinking it might be a... it may ever never be nothing come of it. Right? I mean, it just obviously it's a hard piece of property to sell or develop. [41:13] Bob Stiglich: As Bob said, it's waterfront, so that makes it a true... [41:15] Frank Adas: Well that's right, but still! How many years has it been sitting there and nobody's bit? [41:20] Bob Stiglich: We can only try, right? [41:22] Frank Adas: Oh, I know, I understand. [41:25] Gary Severson: And they've been trying. The City's been trying to sell this for years or get development. With all the apartment buildings that are being built—the high-rise apartments—I would think that that could work there. The City's one challenge right now, though, is obviously as you know, the cost of everything going up. Too, if they were to put an apartment building in there now, with the cost being so high, what would they have to charge to actually make a dollar? [41:55] Bill Burns: That's a good question. [41:58] Frank Adas: Yeah, that will be their challenge. But the Lakeview aspect of a restaurant with a rooftop, a hotel, or you know, condos with lake view—you could get more. I think it really will be developed; it's just a matter of time. You need to really market it by putting it on that site. I mean seriously, the lakefront—that's big. People love to look out their window over the lake. And you got to put a little balcony there, or you put a restaurant on top of a roof with that vantage point. You know, in a restaurant you could put a restaurant down in there, and it's right across from 3M—there's nobody going to 3M anymore but... I'm surprised it hasn't sold in all these years. [42:36] Stacy: I think once back in the economy kind of recovers from COVID and all of the inflation and the FEDs raising the interest rates and all that—I think once we level out, it should go as long as everything is a little bit more price friendly. [43:03] Frank Adas: Well we can only hope. [43:04] Bob Stiglich: Didn't we acquire that like, kind of right before '08? [43:10] Bill Burns: It's been over 10 years, I think, hasn't it? [43:12] Bob Stiglich: Easily. Yeah, I think it's 2008. [43:16] Frank Adas: Yeah, yep. [44:00] Bill Burns: Bob, have you ever considered this property at all? [44:05] Bob Stiglich: No I haven't. It's not the kind of—wouldn't put an office warehouse there. But I mean, I really think that residential—you know, maybe you have a retail or a restaurant below and you could have apartments above or some combination like that seems to be popular. I think those apartments that they're putting in by Target or whatever, they have the retail on the bottom and the top they look so nice. [44:08] Stacy: They're so nice. [44:09] Bob Stiglich: Uh-huh. [44:10] Bill Burns: Okay. Why don't we go to the Council Liaison update? Kari? [44:17] Kari Moore: Sure. It's a rough night last night. Talk about last night or it was brought it up—it was the Candidate Forum. Oh, okay. All right. Stressful. Thankfully it was just that. So we did approve the Roars at Willowbrook Seventh Edition. We did—they had a PUD amendment of variance for highway noise as a matter of fact. Um, the final plat and the site plan. So they should start building there pretty soon. That's a multi-family, like apartment building. [44:54] Bill Burns: So you mentioned—so are they putting up the big wall for the noise abatement or what's going on there? [45:00] Kari Moore: No, no. And we just—they just have a variance right now. And the—what do they call them, berms? Is that what it's called? That's not going to work. And we have to work with MnDOT and the state to get a wall. But the developer is not putting up a wall, is my understanding. But the way they build their buildings, it's more soundproof; they're using better quality materials so that highway noise doesn't come through as much. [45:26] Bill Burns: That's on the western piece of that property, is that correct? [45:30] Kari Moore: Oh boy. Western. Yes, yes. Okay, I had to think north, south. [45:34] Bill Burns: So that'll be north of the big building that's going in right now being built by Ryan? [45:40] Kari Moore: Yep. Yeah, yep. It's gonna be quite the interesting mix up there when it's all done. Grocery store and all kinds of things going in. Oh, and I forgot to welcome Lucia—so welcome! And as you guys know, we're working on the Glenbrook small area plan, and we're just in Phase One right now. For the last few months, the Council has been going chapter by chapter through the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. We've made some wording updates, maybe removed a couple of things, so that'll be coming through as well. That was a lot of work and Andy was really good at getting that all done and keeping us organized and keeping good notes. So that'll be updated soon. And last but not least, I believe we're not having a meeting next month, so I want to wish you all happy holidays if I don't see any of you. And also I appreciate you guys letting me be here every meeting. And if I don't see you next year, I just want to say thank you and good luck with everything if I'm not here. But still good luck if I'm here, but good luck if I'm not here as well. It was a pleasure. [46:58] Bill Burns: Well, thank you so much for being here. [47:00] Kari Moore: Thank you. Do you have any questions for me at all? [47:04] Bill Burns: Frank? You've got a question. [47:10] Frank Adas: Well, this is the time of the place, but up on by Fleet Farm—that big Jensen sign on the corner there. It's... what's a Jensen? [47:18] Bill Burns: Which is the general design, what do you mean? Are we running for governor? [47:20] Frank Adas: Oh okay, all right. And I know—I mean, I made a complaint to the City and several other people have too. Whether it's private property... it's hard to believe with that little square chunk of property, it's not good for anything—you can't build on it, anything—but it just happens to be a private piece of property and they can do what they want with it. I mean, they put that sign up, it's just—in my opinion, it's just inappropriate to have a big freaking sign like that. [47:45] Kari Moore: It'll be down in a couple... [47:46] Gary Severson: Right where it is. [47:48] Kari Moore: Only a week left. [47:49] Gary Severson: We got a week. [47:50] Kari Moore: Just a week. [47:51] Bill Burns: It was my candidate! [47:53] Kari Moore: I kind of like it, right? [47:54] Bill Burns: But there's nothing you can do about it, correct? [47:56] Kari Moore: Not on private—well, if it's a private piece of property, yeah. [48:00] Frank Adas: No, yeah. [48:01] Kari Moore: Thank you. Any other questions? Political or not? [48:05] Bill Burns: Let's try non. Just keep it non. [48:08] Kari Moore: Yeah, who you voting for? All right, thank you very much. [48:10] Bill Burns: Yeah, thank you guys, appreciate it. Um, let's do the—how—well we'll go to Commissioners update and then we'll go we'll have one thing. [48:40] Kari Moore: Yep, so you guys had some really good ideas tonight. I will definitely bring them back to the Council. And I loved that blue ribbon idea, it's so cool. [48:48] Bill Burns: Cool. I'll call Josh tonight and tell him it's done. [48:52] Kari Moore: We used to get Christmas trees there with my dad when we were kids. So yeah, a long time. [48:54] Bill Burns: Um, let's go to the Community Development Department update. Jamie... oh I'm sorry, I'm Shannon. [49:05] Shannon: I don't have any updates that were given to me to share with you all, but if there are updates then Jamie will be sure to email them to you. So expect that if there is one. [49:18] Bill Burns: Okay, yeah. And do you have any questions for the department at all that I can forward along? [49:25] Bob Stiglich: Again, I don't know if it's a question—the Glenbrook small area plan keeps coming up and the City Council is working on it. I think this is a really good opportunity for us to be injected in here someplace again, like in the planning rather than the "oh hey, this is done." [49:40] Shannon: I will make a note of that. [49:42] Bill Burns: All right, we'll then move to Commissioners update. Lucia? So what we do here is we just go around the table and say if you've got anything on your mind. We usually end it with me or Frank because they talk the longest. Um, so if you've got any comments or anything that you've got for us? [50:12] Lucia: I wasn't really able to add much this meeting, but I was like really thankful to hear everything you guys had to say and kind of find out more about what's happening. And I just wanted to say that I also really like that idea about the Blue Ribbon shop, I think that's really cool. And some type of restaurant, like a rooftop restaurant, I think that'd be awesome. Make it all... [50:38] Bill Burns: Yeah. [50:40] Lucia: Thank you for having me. [50:42] Bill Burns: Thank you. Stacy? [50:45] Stacy: I don't have any updates other than a reminder that it is very important for everyone to vote next Tuesday. So just because it's not a presidential election doesn't mean your vote doesn't count. So this is probably, in my opinion, the most important election. [50:58] Bob Stiglich: So I don't have an update but an apology—I really misread the timing on that. I thought we were having dinner at 5:45. It was pushed back, and you know, wiggle time on dinner... I'm from New York, I eat quick. So I figured I could be a few minutes late and I look at Paul like, um, what's going on? He said "you're like a half hour late." I misread it that way. I you know, I just... yeah, so apologies. So not only did I miss dinner, but I showed up late for the meeting. [51:38] Bill Burns: That's why Frank got seconds! [51:40] Bob Stiglich: So I got caught on that same deal for the last meeting we had. We had dinner at Discovery and the same thing happened to me. I read it at six, be there at 6:15. So I was a day late and a dollar short. [51:46] Gary Severson: Some people slow down. [51:47] Bob Stiglich: Imagine you're on the Great Race, okay? Read it! [51:50] Bill Burns: Gary, you've got to have something for me. [51:55] Gary Severson: Oh yeah, okay. You know what? Yeah, he's got—he's got three pages of notes. I got notes here. Oh, um, we covered already a lot of what my notes were, but the Walk with the Mayor events that we had just recently. I was at both of them: the one at the Public Works and the one here at the police station. Public Works—at both events we had a couple people from the community show up besides the Council and the Mayor that were there. It is very interesting to see what was going on behind the scenes there. Here at the police station, you don't realize until you go on the walk and you start talking with the officers and that there is really no privacy in the setup we have right now. If somebody comes in—you think about it, you know, yeah, they got a place they can hang their hat. "Why are they running their cars outside all the time?" That's not it. No, when you talk about the reasons why, you learn about this: so they can be responsive. We have a great Police Department here, we've got great public works. If somebody comes into the Police Department and tries to report on a sensitive issue—like maybe an abuse situation or maybe a salt situation or a child neglect situation—there's no privacy. They make the report and everybody around hears that. It just deters from people coming in. It's situations like that over and over and over again that they talked about. Keeping the cars ready so that you get a call and they don't have to spend 20 minutes scraping off a piece of the ice off the windshield so they can all respond to the call. Um, things like that you never think about until you actually go through and walk with these people and see, oh, this is the issues they're facing right now. And it's just going to continue. In the Public Works, I think the big two biggest things they saw in the Public Works building were the storage of the equipment they've got. The shelves are overflowing and there's just—they're putting things on the floor, they're putting things in buckets because they have no other place to put things right now. Anything from a tool to something really sensitive. Computers are sitting in real dusty situations; being an I.T. guy, I tell you that doesn't bode well for something to last a while. And then the other big thing is the equipment that sits outside because they have no inside storage. Now you've got weather issues adding to the cost, adding to our costs as a community. These things are—the hoses are deteriorating, the seals are breaking. It's not how you get out there plowing in the winter with one of these things, then all of a sudden they break down in the middle of a plow route. So that's even more delay and more expense to prepare that on the road. So that's what I saw with the Walk with the Mayor. Very informative, I really appreciated that that came through that was happening. So I guess City Council, you had a hand in making that happen? I appreciate that. And the tax that's going to be on—it's going to be on the ballot, called a "something area tax"... [55:18] Kari Moore: Looks right. [55:19] Bob Stiglich: And the interesting thing that I've been talking about this, that I think is noteworthy... um, I think I toured it about a year ago. In fact, we did a tour earlier... right, we actually were invited. Maybe that's when I was on the Planning Commission, I'd take that back. But so I toured both the City, the Police Department, and the other... yeah, Public Works. And saw that and I agree with you, we're definitely bursting at the seams. But by doing this, half the—half the tax collected is not going to be from Oakdale residents. So it really spreads it out. I mean because so it's—it's a tax that people buy at Cub and when they come to purchase here. So for Oakdale residents, I think it's a sweet deal. So I'm just going to put my plug in. It just raised that issue then. It's a good way to spread it around; it's not—doesn't fall... the other way to do it is your property taxes or whatever. So it's a smart plan. [56:10] Gary Severson: It is. My understanding is that if it does not pass, then we bear—we bear the brunt of the whole thing ourselves. Everything. We're saving about half the cost if we can get this tax through. [56:15] Stacy: Does anybody know what it's going to read as on the ballot? Because I know there's a lot of confusion, I hear it from many people when they go to the polls. Is it "yes" or "no," what does that mean? Because sometimes it's conflicting. [56:30] Gary Severson: So I think that it's unfortunately it's an opposite deal. I voted so I already know. And it does say "Do you want it—shall Oakdale Implement a half cent or half percent sales tax increase for..." There's two questions: one for the Police and one for the Public Works. There's no mention of what happens if it's voted down. But if you vote "Yes," that—that means yes, you're supporting. [56:58] Stacy: You're supporting the tax. [57:00] Gary Severson: You're supporting the tax. Yes. [57:02] Stacy: Okay, yes. I've seen questions written differently where it's confusing, and so I think it's a great clarification. [57:10] Shannon: I understand that the wording on the ballot is dictated by State rules, so we didn't have much leeway in how that first was put together. It's a very lengthened... that the City can put out social media or anything as the actual question or is... I it maybe it's already been done, I don't know. [57:38] Bill Burns: You're going to remember um, Councilor Zabel did like a little quick half-an-hour presentation on social media. And I don't know if he had the fellow questions. [57:48] Gary Severson: I know we can get down. [57:50] Bill Burns: That's a great idea, we should check with Gloria tomorrow, see if we can get it out there on social media. [57:54] Shannon: Yeah, I know that they have made a number of posts just about the sales tax on social media. I'm not sure if any of them include the actual ballot wording, but they do include quite a few links to information on the website which could potentially include the ballot. But we'll get clarification on that. [58:01] Gary Severson: I'll add just the social media discussion that my neighbors don't do social media. I have a whole street full of people that are elderly. They're—or they're young. Our boy is—he says "Dad, you know, Facebook is like old, we don't—nobody uses it." So thinking of a way that reaches other people becomes really imperative. Just say, "you know, how do I get to my neighbor, how do I get to the people down the street that you know, they don't utilize those mediums." Word of mouth becomes probably the only tool that we have in our arsenal right now. [58:36] Bob Stiglich: Basically a mailer that went out to all of them. [58:40] Gary Severson: Yep, I got that. [58:42] Bob Stiglich: And that one sort of like the ballot question was pretty focused on "here, we're going to want to increase a tax on you." It didn't really give me the sense that, yeah, if you vote "no," it's going to do this—you're going to have even a bigger tax on you. [58:55] Gary Severson: I think there are some limitations of how—how much they can promote. [58:58] Bob Stiglich: Right, right. [59:00] Gary Severson: Their job is to really inform. [59:02] Bob Stiglich: Yeah, I think that might—that might, you know, handcuff them a bit. [59:10] Gary Severson: Yeah, and that's what that's what I ran... I think it's being run into is that you have that limitation. So the key there is, in my opinion, vote Yes. [59:20] Bill Burns: Stacy, no update. Okay. Bob? [59:35] Bob Stiglich: For me? Central Bark, the doggy daycare down by Menards, is now open. Yeah. Um, and I guess my question is, I'm not sure as a matter of course, does someone from the City like, visit a new business when they open? I mean, some you see some have a ribbon cutting, some have a thing. Um, I'm not sure if it goes in there... [1:00:02] Stacy: She... yes, we're going to have a ribbon cutting there. [1:00:05] Bob Stiglich: Oh! [1:00:06] Stacy: So through the Chamber and the City. Um, I think she was at the Chamber like six months ago. And uh, yeah, they're gonna do really well there, I think. [1:00:15] Bob Stiglich: So we're looking forward to... we'll get the dates out for when the ribbon cutting is. [1:00:20] Stacy: We met those two people and they're very outgoing, gregarious people. They're very, very nice people. [1:00:22] Bill Burns: Yeah, they're going to do—and they like... they're going to do well. They've done a lot of social media. I have gotten numerous ads on the weather app, and then I even got a private text to my private cell from them informing me that they've opened just the other day. I couldn't believe it. Yeah, they're on top of their social media, they know what they're doing, these folks. [1:00:45] Bob Stiglich: Yes. [1:00:46] Bill Burns: But I forgot. Um, last weekend, Saturday and Sunday, on my buildings on Helmo, the Animal Emergency Hospital—our referral center—had a group that they work with. It's a volunteer program or an organization. They had about 80—80 or a large number of vehicles in my parking lot and about maybe a hundred dogs, if not more, that were training. Um, they were doing an exercise where they would go into the building and there'd be containers there that they—dogs would sniff and find what they were looking for. They're training dogs or—or rating them on their skills. [1:01:40] Frank Adas: Wow. [1:01:42] Bill Burns: Yeah, I saw that on Saturday and Sundays. As I drove by I thought, "What is this?" It didn't look like you could even drive in the parking lot it was so far... it was packed. [1:01:48] Frank Adas: Oh, that's great visibility for the City of Oakdale for again, another reason that we love having them there. [1:01:52] Bill Burns: Yeah. Anymore? [1:01:54] Frank Adas: Yeah. Um, excuse me. You passed me. [1:01:57] Bill Burns: Did I pass me up like a dirty shirt? [1:01:58] Frank Adas: You tried! I'm not done. Yes, so I took that Police tour on that Saturday morning. I could only be there for about an hour or so, but uh, it's really, really tough for those people. I mean, it's just—it's awful. And the thing that always—the biggest thing in my mind that the biggest concern is when they have to go out in the wintertime and clean those cars off before they can answer a call, and then scrape the windows and brush the snow off. That's just so primitive, I can hardly believe it. The other thing is, um, on November 10th at the Prom Center, there is a Veterans Appreciation Breakfast. Now it's at all 7:00 in the morning, which is horribly early. But anyway, it's veterans go for free. If anybody here is veterans... Bob as I know, and I am. But uh, the veterans go for free and it's being paid for by Slumberland. They're paying for all our tickets. And I'm bringing five—five veterans. So I mean, that's 50 times five. So they're—they've got a great expenditure out there. The other thing was, uh, on November 11th for you veterans—and you don't even have to be a veteran but you can go—American Legion in North St. Paul is having a traditional military breakfast, S.O.S. because... you remember that, Bob? You remember S.O.S.? It's a breakfast that served in the military by the ton. Anyway, it's wonderful. I love the food. But anyway, they're doing it for free for any—any veterans is free. It's for anybody—anybody that wants to go. That's the American Legion in North Saint Paul, 11:00 to 2 o'clock I think. So it's—it's fun. It's a good get together. [1:03:30] Bob Stiglich: The November 10th meeting, the prayer breakfast, yes? Are you being honored for anything that day? [1:03:38] Frank Adas: I—I think I'm being honored for Volunteer of the Year. I think I am. [1:03:40] Bill Burns: Oh! [1:03:41] Bob Stiglich: I guess I am! [1:03:42] Bill Burns: I'm pretty sure. Have you got a speech prepared or anything? [1:03:45] Frank Adas: I'm not. Uh, last time you got it, they said, "We heard the Volunteer of the Year, Bill Burns." He went up and got an award and he was done. He was done. [1:04:00] Bill Burns: He did? They've obviously heard me speech going on and on. You know, there's so much going on, I think they—they don't want to take time out to hear blowhard like him talk about... [1:04:14] Stacy: Congratulations, Frank. [1:04:15] Kari Moore: Congratulations. Thank you, thank you. It's hard to follow that, it is. It's really boring compared to that. Um, I had a city inspector out to inspect my new furnace last Friday, so I took the opportunity to talk to her about all new development and mentioned how busy she's going to be with all the development going on in Oakdale. She said, "Oh, we're busy! 2137 roofs so far!" [1:04:50] Frank Adas: Wow. [1:04:52] Kari Moore: Including my own. But wow. So she didn't really want to talk about the future and what how busy they were going to be; she talked about how busy they are now. So kudos—kudos to them for all the work that they're doing and all the work they're going to have. [1:05:08] Bill Burns: Well, great. Um, I just have a few things. Tomorrow is the Chamber meeting for the Oakdale Chamber, and it's over at the Holiday Inn Machine Shed, which is just across the border in Lake Elmo. 11:15. So I'll invite anybody here who wants to go. Again, vote next week, please. Yes on the taxes. Sure, go ahead, I'll take it. And it's deer opener on Saturday, so drive safely. They're out there running around; as Frank would say, they're in rut, so be careful. Um, with that, make a motion to finish this for tonight. [1:05:58] Gary Severson: Motion to adjourn. [1:06:00] Bob Stiglich: Second. [1:06:01] Bill Burns: Opposed? Wait a minute. There we go. Thank you, thank... February? [1:06:04] Shannon: I think that's right. [1:06:05] Kari Moore: Because we missed January and December has been canceled. Happy holidays, yeah! [1:06:23] Shannon: Yes.