This transcript has been formatted with speaker names and casing for readability. Please note that several speakers mentioned in the transcript (e.g., Councilmembers Martin and Coulter) appear to be active during this session despite not being on the current provided context list, while others like Councilmember Rivas or Robertson are not addressed by name. [00:00:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** With our first order of business, which is our Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone rise to their status when they show it. All right, so then we'll look to the approval of the agenda. We've got our introductory item today, which is the introduction of new employees. And then we'll have our consent agenda, which Councilmember Martin will be handling, and then we'll move on to our hearings and resolutions. We have roughly six or so hearings and then we've got one study item today. So, I'll go ahead and move the motion as it is written. Do you have a second? [00:00:35] **Councilmember Martin:** Second. [00:00:36] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** I have a motion and a second. I think we've got to do this by roll call, right? All right. So then we will approve this. That's what we're doing now. So I'll have Matt go ahead and call the roll call here. [00:00:48] **City Clerk (Matt):** So Councilmember D'Allesandro? Hello. For a roll call, we're going to—since you are remote, we have to do a roll call vote for each vote. The roll call vote is for approval of the agenda. [00:01:00] **Councilmember D'Allesandro:** Yes, that's fine. I didn't have my video or anything right now, so I didn't know you could hear me. [00:01:05] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** Yes, we can. Loud and clear. Okay. And then—so, "Aye" is the vote for the agenda. Thank you. [00:01:12] **Melissa Manderschied (City Attorney):** The City Attorney advises that you have to have video on for voting on the agenda. [00:01:15] **Councilmember D'Allesandro:** I would love to, except it says that it is disabled, so you have to do something to help me out. [00:01:20] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** We will take a look at that before the next item. [00:01:23] **City Clerk (Matt):** Councilmember Martin? [00:01:25] **Councilmember Martin:** Aye. [00:01:26] **City Clerk (Matt):** Councilmember Nelson? [00:01:27] **Councilmember Nelson:** Aye. [00:01:28] **City Clerk (Matt):** Councilmember Carter? [00:01:29] **Councilmember Carter:** Aye. [00:01:30] **City Clerk (Matt):** Councilmember Coulter? [00:01:31] **Councilmember Coulter:** Aye. [00:01:32] **City Clerk (Matt):** Acting Mayor Lowman? [00:01:33] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** Aye. All right, then we will move forward with our introduction of new employees. I believe that we've got a couple of folks—well, we've got one from Public Health and another one from Communications. I'm not sure if Diane—if you want to make your way down here, then we'll just take that one by one. And I know we've got a third one from Community Development as well. [00:01:55] **Janine Hill (Diane):** Yes. Good evening, Acting Mayor Lowman and City Council. It is my pleasure to introduce several new employees who have joined the City's employment within the last couple of months. I’m going to start with Selma Updegraff. Selma is our new Contracts Coordinator in Public Health. Selma comes to us with a broad background in grants and contracts. She has a Master's of Public Health in Health Policy from the University of Louisville. She worked on contracts and grants at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and at Fairview. Selma was at Minnesota Community Care working on policy and board governance prior to coming to us, and she has hit the ground running because this is a busy time of year for grants and contracts in Public Health. So please welcome Selma Updegraff. Selma, would you like to say a few words? [00:02:40] **Selma Updegraff:** I'd like to thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to formally introduce myself. It's been a great month so far; everyone has been incredibly friendly. I'm looking forward to executing some work on contracts. I'm happy to be here. [00:02:55] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** All right. Thank you, Selma. We're glad to have you here as well, Selma. And what I've heard is that you are a "unicorn" when it comes to grants, so we found a great one. Absolutely. Thank you. [00:03:05] **Janine Hill (Diane):** And then also tonight, I would like to welcome to the City Althea Perfect. Althea comes to the position of Community Specialist for the City of Bloomington in the Communications Division. She's got more than 25 years of experience in communications. These include several years in municipal communications and more than 15 years in public higher education communication and marketing, with the last five years serving as a Creative Director. Althea holds an undergraduate degree in English, a minor in Native American Studies, and a Master's degree in Creative Writing. Welcome, Althea Perfect. Would you like to say a few words? Althea is a resident in the city, by the way. [00:03:45] **Althea Perfect:** Can you hear me? [00:03:46] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** We can now. Go ahead. [00:03:47] **Althea Perfect:** Oh, I want to echo the appreciation to the Council for seeing the importance of the role of communicating to the residents the work of city governance. I did work several years with the City of Golden Valley, and I appreciate the work at this level and that communication. So, thank you. [00:04:05] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** All right. Thank you, Althea. Thank you, Diane. And welcome as well to Selma and Althea. Althea, all the experience you have, that's going to be great to see that work. I kind of say that on behalf of the Council and the Mayor and City Manager that aren't here tonight. Thank you. Thank you. And then I believe we've got somebody here in Community Development. Carla, you want to share? [00:04:25] **Carla Henderson:** Good evening, Acting Mayor Lowman, City Council members. I am pleased to introduce John Stane. He is a Residential Appraiser, and he actually started with the City on September 6th. He was born in Maryland and raised in Duluth with a large family—he's the oldest of eight. He and his partner Mandy have two kids, their son Xander and nephew Legend, and a dog, Sonny. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Superior. He received a Bachelor's degree in Legal Studies along with a paralegal certification. Melissa, now he's happy in assessing! For the last four years, he was previously in assessing with Saint Louis County and the City of Duluth. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, making music, and collaborating with artists. He also does community work and engagement. Three weeks in, he was playing basketball and tore his ACL, so we're recovering from that. But he's such a welcome addition to our assessing team, as we talked about last week. He's relocating here from Duluth, so his family will be here soon. [00:05:35] **John Stane:** Yeah, we're in the process. Thanks for the formal introduction. Again, sorry I missed the first one. You know, it's definitely a lot of ups and downs, but happy to be here. I'm looking forward to actually calling this place home officially in the next month or so. I will be fully moved in. So, yeah, thank you. [00:05:55] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** We're certainly glad to have you here and hope you're back on your feet after the hoop stuff. I had to give that up so—I'm getting close. Glad you made Bloomington your home. We look forward to seeing your work with the assessing piece. Appreciate it. [00:06:10] **John Stane:** Thank you. [00:06:11] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** Oh, what a great night. Nice to meet you all. Thank you. All right, then we will move directly to our consent agenda presented by Councilmember Martin at this time. I have heard about no holds. Does anybody have any last-minute holds for the agenda? Okay, I'm hearing none. [00:06:30] **Councilmember Martin:** I will go ahead and move approval of items 3.1 through 3.10. [00:06:35] **Councilmember Coulter:** Second. [00:06:36] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** We've got a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda items 3.1 through 3.10. We will move to a roll call. I've been advised that when I'm done, I need to announce whether or not we've approved it. So, Matt? [00:06:50] **City Clerk (Matt):** Councilmember Coulter? [Aye] Carter? [Aye] Nelson? [Aye] Martin? [Aye] Councilmember D'Allesandro? [Aye] And Acting Mayor Lowman? [Aye]. [00:07:05] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** And the Ayes have it at 6-0, with the motion passing. Now we will move into our hearings, resolutions, and ordinances. Our first item is 4.1, a public hearing for Acropolis. Let’s see who’s presenting that. Mike Centenario. Here we go. [00:07:25] **Mike Centenario:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council. Thank you. And we are getting there... Okay. Thank you. Good evening. The first hearing tonight is for the Acropolis expansion—a site probably all of us are very familiar with. It's a physical expansion, but that actually entails a number of zoning entitlements. The base zoning district designation for the site would stay the same, but they're seeking to apply the Planned Development overlay to allow you to consider certain flexibility measures. [Detailed presentation of the project including the removal of a vacant gas station and the addition of an outdoor patio]. [00:11:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** Thank you for your presentation and also thank you for clarifying that pickup window, because it looked a lot like a drive-thru. Can you just ever so briefly talk about the difference between a pickup window and a drive-thru? [00:11:15] **Mike Centenario:** Mr. Mayor and Council members, yeah, it does look like a drive-thru. Initially, we called it a drive-thru and said, "Hey, you don't meet the standards." But in this particular case, there would be no menu board. You have to preorder online through an app. You are literally just getting a very brief transaction—no money being exchanged as it's paid in advance. [00:12:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** My other question is around the history of that zone. How did we get to the gas station being zoned as a B-4? [00:12:05] **Mike Centenario:** Mayor, Council members, that was actually a City rezoning. It wasn't proposed by property owners; it was the City wishing to proactively change the zoning designation to lead towards a more urban, pedestrian-friendly nature. [00:13:10] **Councilmember Nelson:** Thank you, Acting Mayor. Just a couple of quick ones. Can you talk to me about the pickup window and what prevents it from being shifted into a drive-thru in the future? [00:13:30] **Mike Centenario:** Council members, because there's no order board or menu board, if they wanted to transition to a traditional drive-thru, they'd want to add one. That would require a sign permit, which would trigger a planning review. [00:14:40] **Councilmember Nelson:** Would we be in a stronger position if we just had a condition requiring that to not be a drive-thru and only a pickup window? [00:14:50] **Mike Centenario:** That's certainly an option for you to add that condition tonight. [00:16:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** All right. Well, we'll move this to a public hearing. Is there anyone that's called in? [00:16:10] **City Clerk (Matt):** No one on the phone for this item. [00:16:12] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** All right. I do see the developer, Dino. If you wanted to come forward. [00:16:20] **Dino (Applicant):** Acting Mayor and other city officials, thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here. It's been a long road. I want to stress that the pickup window is simply related to the fact that it creates a sense of security for a small business when you know there might be a mandate to shut down—it gives us the ability to expedite transactions for families and the elderly. [Dino discusses the demonstration garden and community goals]. My name is Dino Pantazis. [00:18:10] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** All right. With that being said, I’ll look for a motion to close the public hearing. [00:18:15] **Councilmember Coulter:** So moved. [00:18:16] **Councilmember Carter:** Second. [00:18:17] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** Roll call vote... [Passed 6-0]. Councilmember D'Allesandro? [00:18:30] **Councilmember D'Allesandro:** Thank you, Acting Mayor. I just wanted to thank Dino and the folks at Acropolis. As someone who patronizes you regularly, I applaud you for being creative around the pickup window. I'm super excited about this garden idea. If Mrs. Pantazis is still there, we need to make sure we have a party scheduled for when that old gas station is torn down! [00:20:00] **Councilmember Coulter:** Thank you, Mayor. I'm really excited to see this move forward. To see that gas station replaced by something so valuable that contributes to our community... it's hard to think of a clearer example of meeting a public benefit. [00:21:00] **Councilmember Carter:** Thank you, Acting Mayor. I'll just be repetitive and talk about how excited I am as well. I've done a lot of door knocking in Bloomington, and the first question almost everyone asks me is, "When is that gas station going to come down?" [00:22:15] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** [Moves to motions for 4.1 expansion. All motions passed by roll call 6-0]. [00:26:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** All right. Congratulations. When is construction? [00:26:05] **Dino:** We hope to demolish in December and start in early spring. [00:26:10] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** All right. We'll move now to 4.2, which is a new therapeutic massage enterprise license for Sankalpa Therapy and Wellness Center. Doug Junker. [00:26:25] **Doug Junker:** Good evening, Acting Mayor and Council. Yes, Sankalpa Therapy is looking to add some massage therapy to their repertoire. Everything checks out with us. [00:26:45] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** We'll go ahead and open up the public hearing... [No comments. Public hearing closed. License approved 6-0]. [00:28:45] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** 4.3, a new therapeutic massage license for "H Massage." Doug. [00:28:50] **Doug Junker:** A new therapist coming to town opening up her own one-person shop down in South Town. [Discusses the location]. [00:29:45] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** [Public hearing opened and closed. License approved 6-0]. [00:31:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** 4.4, massage license for "Massage Minnesota." [00:31:05] **Doug Junker:** Mr. Herman has been with us for a long time. He's just moving down the hall into a bigger suite. [00:32:45] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** [Public hearing opened and closed. License approved 6-0]. [00:34:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** 4.5, a public hearing on a new small brewery off-sale liquor license for Nine Mile Brewing Company. [00:34:05] **Doug Junker:** This is the new off-sale license the state added for small brewers. Before, they could only sell growlers; now they can sell up to 128 ounces per person in other approved cans and bottles. [00:35:50] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** [Public hearing opened and closed. License approved 6-0]. [00:36:30] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** 4.6, a resolution regarding proposed changes to fees and charges schedules. Lori Economy-Scholler. [00:37:00] **Lori Economy-Scholler:** Good evening, Acting Mayor Lowman. Before you is the opportunity for the 2023 fee schedule. [Discusses changes in Parks and Rec fees and new credit card fees]. [00:38:30] **Councilmember Carter:** I had a question related to charging for outdoor ice rink use for youth groups. Why are we making that change? [00:38:50] **Ann Kattreh (Parks and Rec):** Councilmember Carter, that is for ice rink reservations by the hockey associations. This is a way to collect equitable revenue for associations that rent outdoor ice. [00:40:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** How do we get to these particular fee increases? [00:40:05] **Ann Kattreh:** We compare all fees to neighboring communities to ensure market rate and offer fee assistance for all programs. [00:41:45] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** [Public comment opened and closed. Resolution approved 6-0]. [00:43:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** 4.7, a resolution approving a fourth bond draw for Oxborough Heights. Lori. [00:43:10] **Lori Economy-Scholler:** [Detailed presentation regarding the $15.2M Series 2019C bonds, the 2.31% interest rate, and the need to draw funds to avoid a 1% penalty]. We are placing $2.125M for Oxborough Heights and the remainder will go into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. [00:48:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** [Questions regarding analysis and penalty avoidance]. All right. [Motion approved 6-0]. [00:51:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** 4.8, a public hearing for City Code amendment regarding Final Plan Approval extensions. Mike Centenario. [00:51:25] **Mike Centenario:** This relates to Planned Development expiration dates. Given the pandemic and construction delays, we are proposing to allow one extra year for final development plans. This would allow for two one-year extensions instead of one. Specific examples are the Waterpark at MOA and the Rosa development. [00:56:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** Why four years? Why not leave it to the discretion of the director? [00:57:30] **Councilmember Coulter:** [Questions regarding single-phase vs multi-phase developments]. [01:00:00] **Councilmember D'Allesandro:** Ms. Henderson, as Community Development Director, are you comfortable being put in the position to grant these? [01:00:30] **Carla Henderson:** Yes, I am. I find it’s a group decision. [01:02:00] **Councilmember Nelson:** I am concerned that projects will just get pushed out unnecessarily. Rosa Development has taken decades. I’m concerned if we don't hold their feet to the fire, we’re going to be here again. [01:05:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** [Discussion on "sunset clauses" and reporting requirements]. [01:08:45] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** [Public hearing opened and closed. Ordinance approved with a 1-year report back requirement, 6-0]. [01:12:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** Study Session: Missing Middle Housing Discussion. Nick Johnson. [01:12:15] **Nick Johnson:** Thank you, Acting Mayor. This session covers cottage homes and townhomes. [Presents on "Missing Middle" housing—housing between single-family and multi-family]. The question is: Should we prioritize a Missing Middle Housing study for the 2023 work plan? [01:17:00] **Nick Johnson:** [Discusses cottage homes in other cities like Minneapolis and Richfield, and townhome stocks in Bloomington]. [01:23:45] **Councilmember Martin:** I’m tremendously excited to see this. I lean toward moving it into R-3 and being aggressive about expanding that footprint. [01:25:00] **Councilmember Coulter:** I agree. Folks understand that as a built-out community, we don't have an option other than to become more dense, but they’d like to see something other than 30-40 unit apartment buildings. [01:26:40] **Councilmember Nelson:** I think they should be allowed by right within R-1. We have a large group of seniors who want to downsize but stay in the community. We have young people who want homeownership. I don't see the need for the CUP; let's allow it in R-1. [01:29:15] **Councilmember Carter:** I support putting this on the 2023 work plan. We need to talk to builders, developers, and the community. [01:31:30] **Councilmember D'Allesandro:** I’m all for it. I grew up in an old city where homes were four feet from the neighbor, and I loved it. We can create real beauty here. [01:37:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** [Consensus reached to add the study to the 2023 work plan]. [01:43:00] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** 5.2, City Policy and Issue Update. I’ll start with the listening session report. We heard from two residents. One regarding the report of a rope in a fireman's locker, and another regarding Artistry and class refunds. City Manager? [01:45:00] **City Manager (Zach Walker):** I want to invite Chief Hodges to provide an update. Unfortunately, Bloomington had its first murder of the year. [01:45:15] **Police Chief Booker Hodges:** This was an isolated incident on Wednesday. We have apprehended the suspect. He targeted a specific victim at a restaurant. Our staff did a phenomenal job and traveled through three states to catch this individual. [01:47:00] **City Manager (Zach Walker):** I also want to thank the legal team, specifically Peter Zuniga, for representing the City in the Ranked Choice Voting case at the Minnesota Supreme Court this morning. [01:49:15] **Councilmember Coulter:** I’ll be resigning effective January 2nd in anticipation of being sworn in as a State Representative. [01:51:30] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** All right. Motion to adjourn? [01:51:35] **Councilmember Martin:** So moved. [01:51:40] **Acting Mayor Lowman:** [Roll call vote. Passed 6-0]. We are adjourned.