[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good evening and welcome tonight is Monday June 24 2024 this is a regular meeting of the minaka city Council uh welcome and um I will call this meeting to order and ask you to stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance 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 [Applause] all Miss England would you please call R Co here Foster Bolton here sha Wilburn here calber here R here weon here next item is approval of the agend uh the of the agenda and I see we have an addendum um Mr fun yeah thank you good evening mayor and councel one item for your consideration in tonight's agenda relates to item 12a which is an interim ordinance authorizing a study and imposing a moratorium on Commercial cannabis operations Within the city two items noteworthy in the agenda related to that agenda item is one in the First full paragraph of the second page of the staff report the word not was inadvertently omitted in one in the one sentence so it probably WR a little confusing I appreciate council member uh Wilburn for pointing that out and so that correction is noted and then additionally the term social Equity applicants is referenced in the saf report and what saf has done is provided the legal definition and that's included in your agenda so with that consideration mayor and Council turn it back over to you for consideration thank you thank you Mr fun um council is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended Council M Calbert thank you mayor I move approval of the agenda as amended and a second council member kley second got a motion by council member Calbert and a second by council member kley uh Miss England Please call roll kley yes Foster Bolton yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes R yes weome yes motion carries next item is approval of minutes and we have three sets the first is the April 15 2024 study session minutes the second is the May 1 13th study session minutes and the fourth is the June 3rd regular meeting minutes I think we can do those all in one motion um council member Wilburn um I just wanted to note for the June 3rd 2024 minutes there was a update on my comments that I made during the the concept review on the sustainability um and I move the approval of minutes from April 15th 2024 May 13th 2024 and June 3rd 2024 thank you Council Wilburn is there a second council member Foster Bolton I'll second all right we've got a motion by council member Wilburn and a second by council member Foster Bolton Miss England Please call roll kley yes Foster Bolton yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes weon yes motion carries next item is special matters and we have several of those tonight three proclamations and but our first special matter is about tour to tanka and we have a guest who has been here many times to talk about tour to tanka Mr Lin welcome good evening Mr mayor council members City staff and Community thanks for having me here tonight and what a nice meting you always run truly it's a joy to be at a city council meeting here in motanka so congrats on that right off the top uh here to talk about tour to Tonka it's coming up quicker than we know summer might have started yesterday so we're good to go now so it it did start yesterday it's Saturday August 3rd is our date uh the little gifts if you guys want to do a little flipflop there or or just hog them all to yourselves I'll let you figure that out and get ready for a selfie at the end thank you very much who's running the show here I can yeah well tra there oh there it is I will run the show okay very good thank you uh next slide we got a little trivia there for you so you could increase your winnings already council members so 19 at the top of the wheel represents uh what in your opinion the year the number the number number of a tour to tonas Mr Mayor you win here's a big prize for you right off the to there we go thank you thank you you know good I'll put I'll use that for my my little lumbar support there yes they are um I'll give you some of the easier ones let's see um I'm done now you're done now okay you can only win once uh 51 represents something that might be harder to guess but it would be the number of people who've ridden every year who's going to say that there you go always good catch I say that I could read her mind um 44 44 represents the in the United States the number of we've had writers from She's I oh wow um 294 represents what do you think 294 that is going to be the total miles he's correct kissal miles total miles if you added all the ride the routes end to end this year and we'll go over there to 43,9 3 that's a number of miles it feels like I've ridden when I finished there you go it's the number of riders we had since day one there you go and last but not least Deb this one is for you 103,000 the amount of money we've raised for the I IA Food Shelf that's correct there you go de well done all winners all winners tonight I had the number good thing uh Rebecca's not here because I would have no more data all right next slide run that uh one more though how many riders have registered or did register and ride last year in the 100 mile ride there's one question for you 665 oh yes indeed Dr Wilber correct 665 all right this in front of you is all of tatonka in one little shot so all six rides in one map and we're going out to Winstead for the second year in a row that's the furthest west we've ever been so we're in four counties this year and you can see all the cities and we SP right around minaka and lake minaka and it's a it's a great joy and I hear that every year from countless Riders and volunteers who come in how much they like this area to ride in and to volunteer in and so that's a big shout out to each of you uh here we go uh sponsors they make this thing happen like they make a lot of good things happen and we love them and they come back every year because they like the event so those of you in the crowd that are going to ride this year here you go here's your shirt that you will get when you are a rider this year Riders In The Crowd r in the crow yo there's oh two're up three four five all right we're counting there you go thank you uh here's the volunteer shirt so all of you who might want to volunteer the shirt yes you get a shirt as well so we need volunteers 600 so we're at about 55% of what we need in ridership or excuse me in volunteers right now and that last 40 50% are the harder ones to get so truly anybody wants to volunteer it's a lot of fun uh let me know and we'll find a spot for you uh here's some nice quotes from people who have ridden the event in the past and you can read them on your own but uh you get a flavor you really do from seeing these quotes and people come for all reasons and they don't have to be a racer it's not about racing it's about the experience and whether you've ridden once or ridden a 100 times or ridden not at all uh we've got something for you in this event so that makes it a lot of fun and this is the 44 states that I talked about a little while ago and uh anyway there it is there's ride there's bikes I am sure in Idaho and Wyoming but we have no proof thereof so we're looking for that proof uh same with Minnesota there seems to be no bikes for sale or anybody might own one in the Northwest part of the state but we're looking those are the counties we're looking to fill in uh again if you want to volunteer let me know tourat tonka.com um I submitted my retirement uh notice so I'll be retiring after T Tonka as the executive director staying on one more year in a consultant role uh my position has been posted but not filled so I'll probably be here at least until they fill it and then as I said continue on as a consultant making sure that all the pieces of the puzzle are continuing to stay together um in everything we do not just steart at tanka but this is a big one for sure so thank you uh motanka City Menat tanka mayor we're some you've partnered with us with me at a high level so thank you well Mr liin um congratulations on your retirement we don't we don't really look forward to seeing you leave but uh wish you well and thank you for uh 19 plus years of uh service to the community and to tour to tanaa so it's a great event and uh you're a great champion of it so thank you very much thank you have a great rest of the meeting thanks for all you do we'll do all right next item is a proclamation for mon Monarch and pollinator awareness month and I've asked council member Foster Bolton to read that Proclamation thank you mayor whereas more than 85% of flowering plants on Earth including wild and cultivated species we require the assistance of animal pollinators in order to produce seeds and whereas globally excuse me pollinators are in Decline due to pressures including habitat loss climate change and increased use of chemicals and whereas the monarch butterfly is an iconic North American pollinator whose Eastern population has been reduced by at least 90% since 1996 and whereas the United States Department of Agriculture and the US fish and wildlife service have declared the Monarch to be a priority species for conservation because healthy Monarch habitat benefits a wide variety of other species and whereas individuals and communities can help to save the monarch butterfly and other pollinators by planning native host and nectar plants and taking other steps to provide healthy habitat in yards rights of way and Open Spaces now therefore be it resolved that the city of that minetonka city council hereby proclaims the month of July as Monarch and pollinator Awareness Month in the city of motanka thank you council member Foster Bolton and um and I note that Mr litfin was hoping to get a uh um a a picture or a selfie or something so we'll kind of interrupt our uh our agenda and can you get us all in or do we have to do we have tole around mirr here real quick your hats if you got them show okay well we Beauty all right well we can do that we'll we'll gather around Rebecca Mr FK want to join us Rebecca Rebecca's missing it so she's missing out she is all right here here we'll all stand up so I don't look like that's a good idea I think how you got your head is kind of cool so I'm to do mine here we go okay okay are we all are we all in see you getting situated back there all right thanks all right that's it than good to see you Tim thanks very Mike your hair looks fine all right the next uh Proclamation is uh city of vatanka proclamation for juneth and I um I decided that I would do this one because I think juneth is a really important um new holiday and um and I'm really pleased that we are um remembering the historic day when slavery in the United States ended so I will read this whereas the United States of America is a nation founded on the principles of Liberty and justice for all and the Civil War was fought to ensure that freedom would be shared by all and whereas on January 1 1863 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which gave freedom to the enslaved people in the rebelling States and whereas Freedom became a reality much later for enslaved black people in Texas on June 19 1865 over 2 years after the emancipation Proclamation was signed and whereas June 19th has a special meeting to African-Americans and is called juneth by combining the words June and 19th it has been celebrated by African-American Community for over 150 years and whereas juneth marks our country's second Independence Day celebrating freedom and Justice and emphasizing education achievement and tolerance and whereas the full promise of that day is yet unrealized and therefore juneth also serves as a reminder of the work yet to come that will be necessary in order to ensure a more Equitable world for the future generations and whereas the city of minona recognizes and affirms the value of black lives and the immeasurable contributions of African-Americans to this country and this city now therefore be it resolved that the city council of the city of motanka does hereby I Proclaim June 19 2024 as juneth in the city of minaka and urge all citizens to become more aware of the significance of this celebration in the African-American history and continue to work toward racial equity and realization of the full promise of emancipation so an important Proclamation an important day um and finally um uh council member kley will read the pride month Proclamation council member kley city of baka Proclamation lgbtq plus pride month June 1st through the 30th 2024 whereas the month of June is celebrated as lesbian gay bisexual transgender queer pride month commemorating the historic 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City in the first Pride March in New York in June 1970 and whereas Pride mon brings a awareness to Historic and present day discrimination harassment and violence toward individuals who identify as lgbtq plus and whereas Pride affirms the dignity equal rights and visibility and of individuals who identify as lgbtq plus builds community and celebrates sexual identity diversity and gender variance and whereas lgbtq plus people have made the continue to and continue to make great and Lasting contributions that strengthen the fabric of society and whereas all people deserve to live with dignity and respect free from fear and violence and protected against discrimination regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation and whereas celebrating pride month influences awareness and provides support and advocacy for lgbtq plus community and is an opportunity to take action and engage in dialogue to strengthen alliances build acceptance and Advance equal rights and whereas the city of minetonka includes and celebrates the lgbtq plus Community as part of its commitment to divers diversity equity and inclusion and whereas the city of minetonka calls upon the community to work together to promote equal rights and eliminate Prejudice everywhere it exists June 24th 2024 thank you Council M kley and and I'll just add that um these proclamations are indicative of our commitment to being in an in inclusive and welcoming City and that's our goal and we work hard to make that happen and uh so these proclamations are important so thank you all for participating so next item on the agenda is reports from city manager and council members so I'll start with Mr Funk again thank you mayor good evening Council a couple things for you this evening uh hopefully some fun community events uh as we know in our strategic profile uh minak is wanting to be a welcoming inclusive community so some of my updates are really around those events regarding that Community initiative but first a little bit about Summerfest uh it was this this last Saturday and perhaps some of you uh mayor and Council may speak to it as well I just want to provide a shout out to Kelly OD our Recreation manager and even more importantly uh the assistant Recreation director uh Miss wesy and with Miss Westy's effort a lot of effort as you know goes into planning that event it was uh we weren't sure we were going to be able to pull it off just with the weather forecast but the the rain cleared we got a little delayed on some activities but all in all a really good turnout considering we didn't know if we were going to be having it or not and just really appreciate all of our staff it does take a collective effort many of our departments assist in the in uh making that event successful and so really good thank you to everyone including our mayor and Council for your support on that and also just want to mention that uh council member Foster Bolton council members uh kley and Calbert were participated in handing out medals at the TT Trot so thank you for participating that I think that was a fun event and appreciate your assistance in working uh the Saturday as well working for free perhaps um another thing worth mentioning is natural resources is conducting a online short survey to better understand the community's awareness of various initiatives that improve maintain and protect the city's natural resources and so I just really just want to mention anyone that's listening to go out and participate in the survey that'll be valuable information for uh the city also in the theme of Natural Resources the Minnesota Community forestry Awards uh that was hosted last Thursday evening at the community center which celebrates urban forestry achievement so a fun event last week as well pivoting then to the Willison Center uh Kelly oday and our staff at Williston added a wheelchair tennis program and so Youth and adult adaptive tennis players now have the opportunity to join the Willison Fitness Center's new wheelchair tennis program this summer uh to help get the program off the ground courage Kennedy donated two adaptive Wheelchairs and the city provide or excuse me the city received the Grant from the United States tennis Association to purchase two youth chairs so exciting new program being offered and then many of you I think have Matt Rory who is our newest K9 with the motanka police department uh last week the minetonka crime prevention fund board hosted a fundraiser that was meant to uh raise funds for all of our Kines here or both Kines here at the city it was a silent fund auction uh that took place it was successful last week uh at on mat Brewing so appreciate the police department our crime prevention board for really organizing a fun event and then last farmers market so we are in the swing of farmers market last week we had 700 people attend The Season's First Market most of the 28 vendors were new to the market this year and there's a nice variety of food clothing and crafts and we appreciate again uh the organization of our staff for these wonderful community events that have popped up the beginning part of summer so with that mayor and Council turn it back over to you thank you thank you Mr Funk uh council members anything to report Council M Calbert thank you mayor um yeah I have a couple of things first of all I just want to thank staff for I mean you didn't let the community see you sweat but part of that's cuz you were already soggy from all the rain but um just pulling off this Summerfest and I know that um uh Recreation staff you know had their hands full all week trying to adjust all of the uh sort of weather related reprogramming um for all of the summer programs that just got underway um but it was just amazing the food trucks were better than ever the music was better than ever the activities were better than ever it really was uh you know really well attended and um the tot Trot could not have been cuter so I will try to do that every year from now on because it is super cute and um I also attended the national league of cities has a summer Leadership and board meeting and it includes committee meetings for people that sit on National committees and so I went to my energy environment natural resources committee meeting as well as a first tier suburbs um committee meeting uh where they talked about how to keep neighborhoods vital when um thing economic conditions change and when things happen like when your main industries leave your city um and the the main topic of conversation I would say in my committee was posos forever chemicals and um all of the challenges that cities are facing some of the the um resources that are available to um help remove it from drinking water and some of the initiatives to keep it out of our environment to begin with um cyber security especially as relates to utility infrastructure and it was interesting because there had been a a significant cyber uh attack against the city of Cleveland and there are several people from Cleveland in their City Hall had been closed for several days even while they were there um and uh we learned how specifically in this was in Sacramento County how they're meeting their greenhouse gas reduction goals collaboratively between different units of government um and considering that California has very um aggressive uh greenhouse gas goals uh it was very informative and I actually learned something which I didn't know which is there are many different kinds of hydrogen fuel and that it's produced in many different ways so um I just have to say how valuable it is for um council members to attend conferences like this because you really do need to understand things like how do you produce uh alternative fuels where do they come from how much does it cost how can you implement it and um this was a wonderful chance for me to bring that knowledge back to the city so I just want to thank um the city of minaka for supporting our Council and attending um conferences like that thank you Council M Calbert other um comments from Council Members Council M Wilburn just really briefly it's been so long since we've been together um I was uh fortunate enough to be able to watch the processional for the slay officer Jamal Mitchell um and it was very moving to see so many cities even a few from outside of Minnesota uh participate and minetonka police and fire also participated in um in the professional and also in securing overpasses for people to to view them coming through and so I appreciate the the work of our Our First Responders and uh sad time and hopefully we will not continue to see uh gun violence thank you council member counc member yes I just want to Echo um the farmers market report I was uh at the Farmers Market at his opening last week uh salute to Kelly o day and uh the whole staff who work on that fantastic band called The retreads so even if you don't want local produce which you know obviously we should um and there are some great fenders there the music was fantastic so just encourage everybody to come out and visit the commons there was the splash pad for the kiddos all sorts of great things great music come meet your neighbors meet some great local vendors and get some good local food and here's some great music so hope to see you at uh tomorrow and at subsequent farmers markets this summer thank you couny anyone else um just a quick comment and it's a little bit of a piling on but but I um Summerfest was um was a great event this year and um and I think our patrons had a great time and we had a really good turnout um the the people who made it happen are the ones who suffered the most because you all know that we we started at 4:00 and about 2 o'clock I mean it was it was the rain was torrential in in minona and while our patrons didn't get wet our staff did and uh they and it's it's always interesting as we have um the years we have Challen ing weather for Summerfest because the city does invest quite a few quite a bit of money in that is not recoverable if the event is canceled and we've had to cancel so that's it's painful to waste taxpayer money um we save the fireworks so and we then we do it in October and you don't have to stay up as late uh when we do it in October but um you know it's just such a great event and um I love going I love seeing the enthusiasm of the kids but but adults are excited and um but our staff does such a phenomenal job and you know um as council member Calbert said they didn't let us see them sweat but they had to work really hard to make it happen and I just want to indicate my uh great appreciation for that great event and it's such a great building Community event and we talk a lot about building Community well if you want to see that in action come to Summerfest because that really really is menaka's summer celebration and uh we cover a lot of ground there but it's a it's just a wonderful event and I met a llama and I went and looked at I went and saw kids do I mean when I was a kid they didn't have all this blow up stuff that you know all these and they've really they've really developed I mean there's a time when I thought well these bounce houses they kind of they're kind of silly but now all of these things that kids can do I mean it's a real Adventure out there it's a mini Disneyland um right on city property so it's a very cool event I would encourage anybody with kids or grandkids to be sure to come next year but again I want to thank staff and and and particularly Sarah Westy who really really worked hard um and all our staff works hard but but Sarah this is her baby and she really did a great job and I'm really proud of uh what happened on Saturday so that's really good so I'll leave it at that and um I will next on item eight turn um turn it over to Citizens wishing to discuss matters not on the agenda so if you would like to address the Council on an issue uh please come forward state your name and address um a couple of things one is it has to be an item not on the agenda there will be public comment opportunities on some of these other things at the time they come up on the agenda the other thing is that when you inform the Council of an issue we will not take action tonight we will listen we will turn it over to staff and ask them to follow up for us so if there's anything that you would like to address please come forward to the podium state your name and address and and uh we will we are interested in hearing what you have to say good evening good evening I'm really tall oh gosh I won't touch anything can y'all hear me okay well they can make that they can make that go down a little bit too ever watch this look at that wow see okay thanks so much okay hi there my name is Lupe Diaz I am the communications and narrative campaigner for setul We Are are a worker Center in the Twin Cities and we support uh workers primarily in the downtown sector entertainment sector and construction workers with um any issues that they might have in the workplace or adjacent to the workplace um so the reason why I'm here speaking in front of y'all today is because uh we would like to um comment on the proposal from last session I'm sorry I'm still kind of learning how that worked um but last session for the am Mira Villages senior development from United properties um so if it's all right with you I'm going to share a testimony from one of our workers who has worked um with one of the contractors that has worked with up on those projects and specifically on the phase one of the project The Proposal is now for phase two um so here I go very good um hello good afternoon my name is Soro Cruz uh today I am lifting my voice and sharing my testimony with you to spread awareness about the injustices that I suffered during my time working for PK services this in this company we did cleaning of cabinets bathrooms carpets and windows during an after construction on a site I liked my job very much even though my family was telling me that I was being exploited I endured and tolerated it because I didn't want to lose my job for 2 years for the two years I was employed I worked very long hours I knew what time I was going to start work but I never knew what time I was going to finish there were times where I would start at 5:00 a.m. and not return home until after 10 p.m. I wasn't paid overtime and when I asked for a pay stub my supervisor would get angry and I was told that the payub didn't mean anything all that mattered was that I was doing my job because of this I had no way of proving whether or not I was being paid all the overtime or all the hours I was working I saw many of my co-workers arrive and leave very quickly because of Injustice After Injustice they were either fired for bringing up their issues that they were facing or they quit because they could no longer tolerate this treatment on November 17th it was finally my turn and I was told that there was no more work for me emotionally being fired affected me deeply but thanks to the support of my friends and family I was empowered to look for support which led me to setul since then I've been organizing my co-workers to sh light on our case and put a stop to these injustices we have had an interview with the Minnesota Department of Labor to file a formal wage theft complaint and we also had an interview with MPR to continue spreading awareness about what happened to us PK Services has worked on multiple United properties projects including phase one of the Amir project in minetonka and is currently under investigation by the Minnesota Department of Labor regarding complaints of wage stft they are just one of the other numerous contractors that have been working on projects of United properties that have been accused of wage theft misclassification and worse forms of worker exploitation and abuse we are here today to ask city council to urge United properties to respond to multiple requests from workers to sit down and to have a conversation with those workers who have been affected by labor exploitation on United properties contractors work sites housing and especially senior housing is deeply important for the welfare of all motans but it cannot be built at the cost of the well-being of workers who make this housing possible we are once again inviting uned properties to meet with us and with workers to provide an industrywide change and we have a fact sheet that we' wouldd like to submit to council for information it has different um articles uh regarding the developers that have worked with up and the NPR article that was submitted by Soro and was interviewed very good well thank you for that thank you do I so you can give it to miss wishnack and she will make sure that we get it thank you have a good night is there anyone else um on this item who would like to uh comment the city council on the council on anything all right well then we will move on um next item is bids and purchases and we have none of those tonight that takes us to item 10 which is the consent agenda which is um items requiring a majority vote and these are typically routine items that we will read into the record and I will read them into the record if anyone on the council or in the audience would like to pull one of these items please indicate by raising your hand letting me know um then we will pull the item um pull the item or items that you would like for further consideration then we will vote on the items that have not been pulled and then we'll return to the items that were pulled um for comment by the individual who pulled them so I will begin item 10A is an encroachment and license agreement for 3345 Honeywood Lane and adjacent city-owned property item 10B is a resolution approving Cooperative agreement relating to Highway 7 safe road Zone Grant projects item 10 C is a conditional use permit for a detached accessory dwelling unit at 34 25 the mall and item 10d is a resolution authorizing performance measure reporting measurement reporting program is there anyone who would like to pull an item or is there a motion CER Calbert thank you mayor I will make the motion to approve consent agenda items 10 a 10 B 10 C and 10 d and a second council member Wilber and I will second all right we've got a motion by council member Calbert and a second by council member Wilburn Miss England Please call roll kley yes Foster Bolton yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes weome yes motion carries item 11 is the consent agenda is the consent agenda item excuse me is the consent agenda for items that require five votes and we have two of those and the same rules apply so I'll read them into the record and if anyone like to pull one of the items they may indicate that to to us so item 11a is amend the budget for the Hopkins Crossroad Trail improvements project and 11b is a resolution authorizing the execution of the grant agreement between the Metropolitan Council and the City of minona for the 2024 to 2026 water efficiency grant program so anyone want to pull anything or a motion Council Calbert thank you mayor I'll make the motion to approve uh consent agenda items 10 11a and 11b very good and a second council member kley I'll second all right a motion by council member Calbert and a second by council member kley Miss England Please call roll kley yes Foster Bolton yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes R yes where some yes motion carries item 12 is Introduction of ordinances and we have one item tonight 12a is an interim ordinance um authorizing a study and imposing a moratorium on Commercial cannabis operations within the city and Miss heiney I believe that's you yes mayor and members of the council what you have before you is a um proposed interm ordinance um for introduction um the state legislature when they legalized cannabis or adult use of cannabis last year also authorized local government units to enact um moratoria on cannabis businesses until January 1 2015 and when they put the legislature put that in place it was anticipated that um cities would have until January to conduct studies determine what appropriate um reasonable time place and manner restrictions would go into place um within the constructs of what the state legislature authorized cities to do um at the time our uh we as City staff did not recommend adopting a moratorium because based on uh uh the general plan for how uh cannabis regulation would roll out um the regulations that would authorize licenses weren't going to be in place and we did not expect any licenses to issue until after January 1 and that's as long as we could have a moratorium in place anyway um however during this past legislative session the legislature made a few amendments to the statute one of which was to allow um certain applicants called social Equity applicants to obtain license pre-approval that doesn't mean that they have a license to operate and to sell but a license preapproval once granted by the state would give them the ability to start cultivating um plants and their ability to do that would depend upon what ordinances we have in place right now and our ordinances we have not done the study we have not determined where are appropriate locations within the city um for those types of operations so we are recommending a moratorium at this time which would stay in place until January 1 2015 and would allow the city staff to review the model ordinances that the state has prepared and they actually just did release those model ordinances last Thursday or Friday um so we have that um and to review what other cities are doing and then bring those ordinances forward to the city council yet this year so uh we would uh the requirements um under the state law are the city needs to undertake a study which staff would do uh there needs to be a public hearing before the adoption of of the moratorium and that hearing has been scheduled for uh the council's meeting on July 8th and then the moratorium would be in effect until January 1 of 20 25 that's a typo I apologize no problem 2025 we we think we knew what you meant very good thank you Miss Hy so um Council any questions on this proposed interim ordinance all right then I think we have to open the public hear no that's for next time right no public hearing here so um Council comments or or a motion council member Wilburn I'm sorry I move introduction of the ordin interim ordinance authorizing study and moratorium on Commercial cannabis operations thank you is there a second Council R I'll second all right we've got a motion by council member Wilburn and a second by council member R um any any last comments or Miss England Please call roll kley yes Foster Bolton yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes or yes where some yes motion carries next item is public hearings we've got several of those tonight um the first item 13A is review of offsale intoxicating liquor license conditions for yayan gadal and I hope I pronounce that reasonably close LLC doing business as top 10 Liquors at 1647 Plymouth Road and um M wishnack I believe that's you yes thank you mayor and if you don't mind I will also present on 13B at the same time when I'm done with the presentation I'll give you two different actions for consideration you can do those separately but I think it's easier if we tell the story um together very good that that works for me okay thank you um so the history with top 10 Liquors is in November of 2021 they received an offsale license to operate and in that discussion the city council at the time included a condition that they have to have the off stale establishment operating in conjunction with an adjoining restaurant under a single business name and a formal agreement and the reason for that is uh just as a matter of background and policy the city council has a policy on liquor licenses in the city specific to offill locations the uh there's a certain number that the council feels adequate for the community of motanka and so there are conditions by which you consider other liquor licenses and that's what happened in this situation so there was the condition that was placed on the license the next condition talked about if it ceased to operate for any period exceeding 60 days the offsale intoxicating liquor license would be surrendered the next statement that the council wanted to make sure is that if there was a uh an issue they may approve a time period greater than 60 days if it's satisfied that the closure is temporary and then also another um situation they in anticipated was if it was damaged due to fire or other kind of casualty or uh planned renovation and the last condition was failure to comply with the conditions would be grounds for rication um or at the time nonrenewal on the wine side uh side of the liquor licensing that's considered an onale license and so both top 10 Liquors and the restaurant wine side opened in the fall of 22 about a year later the city was then informed that wine side was closing and the at the time the owner asked for more time to create a new concept and said they would be back before the City by July of this year so during your licensed renewal period which is always in December of that year of license renewals for the 2024 season you did approve top 10 Liquors with the uh with the conditions that they provide a new business concept for that restaurant no later than July 31st of 2024 so the New Concept has come in and it's called forked um it's also the name of the company is actually super yummy tasty Foods LLC that's the underlying company but they do business as forked and this would occupy that space that wine side was in the owner is the owner of bacho um Mr Tinsley and he will partner with a Mr Carter to actually open the restaurant the intent is a fast casual restaurant and it's also intended to open in late this uh this year in 202 fall I'm sorry the fall of 2024 excuse me there are two meetings required for an on sale license like any other liquor license so this would be considered the first part of that hearing process so there are two actions that we're requesting the first deals with item 13A which is a condition upon which the top 10 liquor license was issued and basically striking the language under a s single business name and formal agreement that would just be taken out of the condition um staff believes that you still can have a condition requiring some type of restaurant relationship with the um top 10 liquers and have the same exact uh conditions that you had before just minus that single business name and I think that would satisfy the condition that was originally on top 10 Liquors and allow for the new restaurant to go forward that would require five votes item 13B is dealing with the fork concept you would open the public hearing for the new on sale license for fork and then continue that public hearing till July 29th again that requires five votes with that mayor I'll turn it back to you for any questions on either of the businesses they both have Representatives here tonight if you want to visit with them about their plans very good so Council um any questions on these two items 13A and 13B one is really is 13A is about the liquor license for um top 10 liquers and 13B is about the new um um a liquor license for the new restaurant operation proposed um operated by Fork Council m r yes um is there any formable relationship now between uh this new proposed forked uh establishment and top 10 Liquors mayor and council member R melee if I may the uh relationship is there is a contractual lease Arrangement that is held by top 10 that would have to work in conjunction with fork so there's a current lease with um the owners of top 10 for that winside space so that's still in effect if you want more details about that I'm sure the applicants will be able to help and and uh just one more if I may go ahead absolutely thank you uh if if this uh what will happen in the event that fork um also closes after a year um just just curious how how how this liquor license then would be handled uh mayor and council member R the specific condition uh that would be struck is just that single business name so for instance if Fork then closed 6 months and a year from now whatever time frame um that same condition about within 60 days they would surrender their license or you would have to as a council give them more time to find another New Concept or another new uh relationship with a restaurant thankk you MH Council other other questions um i' I've got one um so as I look as I look at this in my mind I've always felt that the liquor store which I've long felt was unnecessary we didn't need another liquor store in this location but but the condition was we were going to have a restaurant so we were getting something in return for for approving this liquor license for this this liquor store and so so I I supported it um but I also felt that no restaurant essentially there's no liquor store and so but we've been pretty generous with this applicant um before wine side opened the liquor store did open for a period I'm not sure how long it was 30 days 60 days whatever but it was open without the without the restaurant then then wiin side was closing and um and my view was that okay no wine side no liquor store but the liquor store continued and so then when I reviewed this today and was talking to Mr Funk about it I said well you know I'm I'm struggling with um approving a change to liquor license until the restaurant opens and I was under the impression that well we have this meeting in July the liquor license for the new restaurant was going to be um approved then and so we should tie the extension of the liquor license for the liquor store to the approval of the liquor license for the restaurant because without the restaurant there is no liquor store that's my view I don't know if the rest of the council agrees with me so now I'm hearing that the we're to take these actions but the restaurant's not going to open until late 2024 my view is the liquor store should not open be open until the liquor store is open that's my that's my personal view I I don't know if anyone agrees with that but but these have been linked together all along and the liquor store simply would not exist without um without an accompanying restaurant so this has kind of been a in my view a bad con concept because we have not held the liquor store to the standards that I believed were in place when we made this agreement so I'm I'm concerned about that so my question is when is the anticipated opening date of the restaurant mayor uh at this point it is the fall of 24 if you want a specific month I think you're going to have to talk to the applicant all right well we we'll ask the applicant to come forward but but again I'll State up front that I think that the extension of the liquor license which expires on July 31st should coincide with the opening of the restaurant that's my personal view so if the applicants would like to come forward they're welcome to do so actually I'm oh a coun yeah excuse me go ahead mayor has the liquor store been open this whole time the entire time okay so how long is that I mean I math is hard yeah so mayor and uh council member Foster Bolton so this was the the timeline so in November the actual license was issued for top 10 and then the license um top 10 Liquors in the restaurant were in the fall of 22 so it took about a year for them to actually open and the mayor is correct there was about a month leg on the restaurant uh from the time the liquor uh liquor store open there was some uh problems with getting supplies and and and so forth right all right so I would invite um let's see I don't know if the applicants want to come forward together or if um since we're working on the first item regarding um uh the liquor store if you'd like to comment on uh on um what you're seeking and then um and then also the plans for the uh the fast casual restaurant and please state your name and address hi John Helper owner of top 10 Liquors you want uh Bob Tinsley owner vacho and I'm Debbie schwack and I'm representing the marketing plan between the two entities very good thank you so Mr Halper yes first of all thank you and I want to thank the staff because you guys have worked hard to help us navigate what been a very challenging situation so iort your I I appreciate your support and time you've dedicated to it um mayor I I appreciate your position about uh what has happened since we began and the struggles that we've had um I'm a liquor store operator uh since I was here last we've grown from 12 stores to 15 locations across Twin Cities where Minnesota base company um and we open here with the full intention of having a liquor Store working together with wiin side to create a brand new concept and you guys were all amazing at allowing us to go forward and unfortunately um I'm a better liquor store operator than I am a restaurant operator and I realized that and we were unsuccessful and I worked hard to find a really great partner and frankly the partner was sitting in our back door because Bob is one of the top restaurant operators not just in minetonka but really in the Twin Cities he does a fabulous job and it's taking us some time to put all this together and and we appreciate your patience and allowing us to get to this point um and and I appreciate any opportunity to stay open certainly um looking at where we are today as a retailer um it is very challenging to build up business and to pay rent and to make the economics work and as the mayor's pointed out that's my issue it's not the city council's problem that that's been created but we're working hard to build a really good business for the city of minona along with the other locations we have if we are required to close for a period of time until they open it would put a hardship on our business and our ability to survive we still have to pay rent we still have to carry the inventory that we've already purchased everything so I do appreciate the position and I know the tie between the two I would ask you to give us until the end of the year if possible to let us continue operating to give Bob and his team the chance to get plans before the uh City staff to approve them to get his contractor to build the space to get his restaurant open and do it successfully and not rush because he knows the hardship that we're under so that we both can successfully operate so I I do appreciate your position and I know how you feel and I I understand that we've really worked hard uh to bring a concept back to the city council that is close to the spirit of what we originally had approved could be honored and but for the fact that I don't own both pieces um frankly I don't belong owning the restaurant part of it but I have a partner and a marketing plan to allow us to operate together so I would request that the city council consider allowing us to be open until the end of the year um we've been a first class citizen in minona uh the feedback from the customers that shop us and the experience has been really great I am locally owned I'm not a national chain I'm not uh a major corporation like Target I'm just an individual citizen that happens to own liquor stores so um I would appeal to you to please allow us to to open through that period of time but I respect your position no matter what the outcome thank you Mr helper um and Mr Tinsley would you like to go forward or do you want um any questions from councel go ahead how you're nickel go go ahead maybe take questions if it relates direct to that part first and then all right any questions for for Mr Halper and if you have none it's okay just might need to wait until I think this is more like a holistic discussion all right very good okay Mr Tinsley welcome well thank you um it's kind of funny uh I was given a call today because some somebody found out that we were thinking about doing this and I it occurred to me I've actually been doing restaurant business and R running restaurants in minona for 34 34 plus years I opened the Champs there back in what is that 889 and um I've uh you know opened boo back in 2002 you know it's 22 years uh running and going great I was excited when John called me and said would you be interested in doing another Concept in the wine side space you know since then we've come up with the concept of forked uh which is actually kind of casual meets fast casual a lot of too business very exciting atmosphere I think it's exactly what we need there um when uh we talked to um Julie and she talked about um what what we needed and how do we tie it all together I'm like we've actually been looking for a kind of a partner for a liquor store not only um for bacho um but also for the um the New Concept and that was when I gave Debbie our marketing person a call I'm like how do you how can we pull this all together because she knows the needs we've had uh Debbie started with us in 2019 and she helped us get through covid and got through in a great way so she's the first person I turn to and if you want to just kind of run what you're talking about sure Mr mayor council members community members did you I'm sorry no go ahead welcome thank you thank you so much I'm Debbie schwack it's a pleasure to meet you all I um come from the position that we all know bachio has a tremendously loyal clientele and that's strictly because of the service the exceptional Hospitality the exceptional quality that they have enjoyed as as customers over the years over the past 20 years actually Bob says 22 it was our first priority as we looked at this concept and and note that I'm representing the marketing plan between the two so how would this look as we look forward into both entities are open it was important to us from this collaborative perspective to consider the customer and when you remove the competition from the equation the customer gets to be your focal point which is really important to us bachio has elevated the experience in that part of the um community and that was our goal to continue that same elevated experience that same experience for the customers and the community members at the New Concept restaurant Fork so as we put together a marketing plan we really prioritize the experience for the ultimate customer uh events between the two features from both the restaurant and the liquor store probably as you expected from the very first concept review that you saw we would continue that at a bachio level now under the um name of fork we would do collaborative promotions and specials and there would be an emphasis on loyalty and I really think we really think that it would drive more traffic um to an area in space that really feels elevated and approachable so thank you for your consideration thank you thank you for that so so all right now Council any questions for for these folks here regarding this this concept councilor Calbert so you know I think about I think about retaining staff even more than you uh figuring out what to do with inventory um and I also you know we want we want our businesses to succeed and I'm looking at the menu and everything everything looks delicious but I also uh I just I do start wondering um because wine side really I mean I maybe the whole idea is changing I see tap beers and other beers so kind of more of an emphasis on beer which seems to go with the menu a little bit better because having a glass of wine with a Smash Burger um you know just some of the items on the menu I mean it's a it's it's a real shift so thinking about a store that was called wine side and trying to pair it with things like a Hawaiian chicken sandwich it just seems sort of like a like a mismatch and so I'm just wondering you know really what are we going for here um so that I have confidence that that that the business model uh really does mesh well between the liquor side and the food side sure so um we were actually looking at that we looked at as like a a three concept deal okay so top 10 is it is the liquor store bacho already runs wine dinners beer dinners things like that and we've always looked for a partner that we'd be able to you go up there and say Tran is the one you happen to be featuring and where can we buy Tran well we could the top 10 they can have traan available at a special price and we can send people down there now the other piece how the other thing markets you know one our Fork will have wines also by the glass you know beer and everything else that as far as beverages but it's also going to have a large to go component so you can come there and get your order of whatever to go and you can go pick up a bottle of wine a six-pack or whatever at top 10 Liquors I think they kind of mix match or Mash together pretty well it was never our goal to be competitive to have a restaurant that would be competitive with bacho more of a a Counterpoint to boto so that we have you know people that we have dining with us a couple times a week maybe we get three or four times a week between the two restaurants Council other questions and and just by way because we do have a public hearing here that we need to do don't worry Julie we we'll get it in um so um but you know I want to make sure that you have a chance to ask the questions that you've got and then we will open a public hearing and um and just get this all figured out and done so um but Council any any further questions all right well well thank you I I understand the you know think the fast casual versus you know fine dining sitdown is a is a different ball game and and I really like the idea of we had a concept some time ago in minetonka called pairings which was over on Shady Oak Road and and until that owner I mean we we we it wasn't successful not because the business didn't work but because the owner ran into other problems and and lost their license we don't like taking licenses away so um we you know we want our business to succeed so I I I think your concept of um time I think that's it's a sound concept so we'll leave it at that we'll we'll hear from the public and then we'll have a conversation about it so thank you so much nice to meet you all so with that um Council I am going to um open the public hearing and I will ask anyone who would like to comment on this item actually these items 13A and 13B um please pleas come forward and State uh what you want us to know we will uh um take all the comments that people want to make and then we'll close a public hearing and the council will make some decisions is there anyone who would like to comment anyone all right I think I've done that three times so I'm going to close a public hearing and bring it back to the council and the decisions the actions before us on 13A are to amend the liquor license for top 10 Liquors and then um secondly um uh consider the new liquor license for fork and this was the this is the first first reading so we would continue the action would be to continue the public hearing until July 29th when it will be ultimately determined so Council Council M wurn so just my thoughts um I I appreciate the mayor's uh point about how the original agreement was supposed to be restaurant and liquor store operating at the same time um however and and I realize it is not the city's responsibility to make sure a business is successful however as as stated the original concept didn't work so this is sort of a a a re a revamp and it's more likely to succeed if the liquor store is able to stay open while the restaurant is getting up and running um and you know I remember seeing the Champs building sit empty for two years and we we don't want that we want successful businesses so I'm inclined to uh be in favor of of both of these very good council member council member R thank you mayor uh I agree with council member Wilburn on this we do want our businesses to succeed as somebody who owned uh several small businesses myself I have a lot of empathy and I commend Mr halin for uh you know trying something new realizing that wasn't in you know his his strongest suit and uh pivoting and and finding a partner who is more uh fitted for that role and and and taking that on having said that this will be round two and um so hopefully this will work I would uh certainly at this point support both items um if for some reason there is further delay on the opening of fork or if that shouldn't succeed I would really want to take a very hard look at any continual uh continuances or renewals thereafter but I wish you well I really hope it it works out I've been a fan of boto for years and look forward to uh seeing something in in the winside space that will be just as successful council member Foster Bolton thank you mayor um I too I really I don't know much about business or wine or whatever but I know what I like and bacho has been um a place that we've gone as a family for years and when I heard it was Mr Tinsley involved in this project I was like well it's a kind of a no-brainer um that that he knows he knows in to tanka and he knows the clientele and um when I saw it I was like oh this is it's a it's a it's a compliment to bacho cuz it's cheaper and quick so I I support it other comments coner kley I just want to say um I kind of um agree with um what everything else that's been said from um paty and um Paula um and Kimberly far as um you know keeping the liquor store open I support keeping the liquor store open because I know what it takes to um continue on and and to be creative and to think outside the box and it seems that you've done a great job with pivoting and um making sure that you can continue on maybe a little different but um you're still um keeping going with the um liquor store and the restaurant as well so um I'm I'm okay with it so thank youber Calbert thank you mayor yeah um you know my basic feelings are having a store that's occupied is creates more Vitality than a store that's empty and so although I share some of the mayor's um concerns about uh how things are have rolled out um I also think about the people that work there and the fact that you know if we ask them to close the liquor store and then they had to reopen and they've you know let staff go and um you know try it again in a few months I mean I really kind of think about what happens to the staff and so for for now I think we I I would sort of lean towards continuity in letting this giving this a try but I would say that um if if this doesn't really work out well then I think I think the idea the concept probably has sort of run its course so of course I hope it's succeeds and I wish you best of luck and I agree you know I eat I eat a bachio and I do think that the price points here are something that uh minaka needs uh restaurants that aren't that are in this price point so um you know you can go and have a nice meal and uh not break the bank and or you can have something you can just have a a pizza it's great so um for now um I'm kind of inclined to um support um 13A and 13B for now all right any other comments Council um you know I um I appreciate the comments and I and I'm not I don't disagree with what's been said the we we need um businesses to succeed in minaka and um you know and I think bachio has um you know has a long term long time uh demonstrated that it's a a great restaurant and it's great operation in minona and we're very glad that it's here um you know I think that um we've we've had several um situations where we haven't needed another liquor store because mitaka hasn't been underserved but we um we agreed to liquor stores in places where we were getting something that was consistent with our desires for the city and uh the first one where we did that was um when the wine shop opened and um spaso opened um at um Highway 101 and minaka Boulevard and that proved to be successful um then we had the pairings experience over off of shady o Road and that was successful but the owner had some problems that um made it impossible for the owner to continue with the liquor license and so that was a loss to the community because that was that was a successful pairing if you will of of food and um a liquor store that worked well so um you know and I've there have been numerous companies that have contacted me about the Champs space um some well-known National companies that wanted to put a liquor store there and said you know we don't really need more liquor stores in um in that part of the city or in minaka we're adequately served I mean if somebody needs wants to get a drink in minaka or buy a a case of beer or a bottle of um alcohol we we weren't suffering for places to do that we're not over served but we're not underserved I think we're adequately served so so it was challenging when I fir had the first conversations with Mr Halper I said you know we really feel that for More Liquor Stores to open in minona there has to be an offering of something that is going to benefit the community broadly and clearly people want more restaurants want more quality restaurants so as I look at this I mean I I am not in love with the fact that the dates aren't lining up as well as I would like but we have a much bigger vested interest in having businesses succeed in our community and having our community be vital and frankly businesses that have gotten through the through the the pandemic it has not been an easy time to do business it is not an easy time to hire people um the business environment is challenging so I don't want the city to be an extra impediment to the success of our businesses so even though I mean I would going forward I would like to encourage that you know I'd kind of like to I'm a marketing guy I'm a planner I I like to have a calendar with going to happen and when and I'd kind of like to see that going forward but my approval of this or my support of this tonight is not going to be conditioned upon that but but please know I would like that that if okay let's lay it on a calendar let's know what our Target date is let's un let's know what's going to happen and uh because we want you both to succeed we don't want one to succeed and one to not succeed I think that the Ridgedale area has changed so fundamentally over the last five to to 10 years with housing and um all of the mixed use capabilities that we've got in that area that having a fast casual restaurant both for dining in and taking out is is a great concept so I think I think we're on to something here I wanted to succeed I will support both of these tonight so um I think I think you're probably going to get the votes that you need tonight so um if uh council member would like to make a motion we can move forward council member Calbert um I'd like to make the motion to uh amend the condition on liquor license for top 10 Liquors and we're doing this together correct yeah we can do it we can do it together correct yeah okay and to open the public hearing for a new on sale liquor license for forked and continue the public hearing until July 29th we just need to continue because we already opened it oh oh to continue it right um Council m R I'll second all right we've got a motion by Council M Calbert and a second by Council m ROM Miss England Please call roll kley yes Foster Bolton yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes R yes weome yes motion carries mayor yes if I may um just a followup we'll bring you back a more definitive timeline for fork at the July 29th meeting great okay very good that works thank you all right good luck to you all we're not done yet but good luck um so that brings us to item 13 C which is um u a bit unusual but um item 13c reads suspend the on sale wine and on sale 3.2% maltt beverage liquor license for Amrine Inc doing business as People's Organic Coffee and Wine Cafe at 12934 minona bu and Miss wishnack I believe you have that report thank you mayor and council members uh this requires some history as well so I want to just kind of walk you through some of the things that have been happening with the restaurant and then uh get back to you on our recommendation on how to proceed so there were food license renewals uh that were uh communicated in November of 2023 and it's always that end of the year for the following cycle and today to dat there's been no food license um that has been obtained this is not something a council deals with but it's something you should be aware of it is an administrative function of the city and it's specifically 8:15 of the city code whatever enforcement that you're doing on the liquor license the food license will follow uh that enforcement process in April of this year the city was informed by the insurance agent for the business that their liquor liability insurance had been cancelled on April 22nd the city has no record of the policy either being renewed or any new policy being issued to the business not having this liquer liability insurance is a requirement of the city code it's 60055 if you need to have a quick reference also there are stipulations in the code that talk about the council suspending or roking the license for the issues such as liquor license or liability insurance we also can impose a fine up to $2,000 for each violation the owner may also request a hearing at this point the city has not received a request in writing from the owner the deadline for receiving that information was [Applause] yesterday other issues for the business the business is listed on the Minnesota Department of Revenue for unpaid and wine sales taxes the business cannot purchase liquor at this time based on that city code 600.020 indicates no licenses may be granted for operation on premises where taxes are owed uh just note that it's been listed on that license or not paying taxes since January of 2024 numerous attempts have been made to speak with the owner uh to the date we have not been a able to have communication with the owner about what the situation is with the business or what is happening um I would say in in staff's experience this does happen occasionally where there are glitches and payment or what have you and we usually are able to resolve them in less than a week or two um and so it does happen but uh usually there's a very quick solution and uh remedy for whatever is going on on there is a requirement for the notice to be hand delivered to the business and it was done so on June 14th last Friday um two Fridays ago I should say the letter explained that the city council would be asked to suspend the wine and malt liquor license for a period of 60 days and then the owner was required uh asked if they wanted to have a hearing um and that would be before an independent hearing Examiner and the way this works and probably the mayor remembers this and maybe some other council members uh when a hearing is taking place in front of it um another hearing examiner you hear the end recommendation from the hearing examiner that's the next time you would see um the issue um the letter also explained uh that um that they would not be able to sell any liquor at this time so under 600.0 55 a person must not operate any business or conduct any activities requiring a liquor license without having effect and evidence in the city and financial responsibility required by the section which requires the liquor liability and again that is considered a violation of the city ordinance which is a misdemeanor offense so you have two action options tonight you can suspend the liquor license for People's Organic and Wine Cafe for 60 days that does require five votes uh I do know the owner has signed up to speak if the owner requests the hearing the council should refer the matter to an independent hearing officer for a recommendation and then the city council would then hear the findings at a later meeting however all of this being said regardless of the council vote the owner may not sell alcohol at this time with that mayor I'll turn it back to you for any questions thank you m wishnack um Council any questions on this matter I wait okay all right um I do have a question because um miss wishnack you you referred to um um the food license and um um the you know a food license has not been obtained so that is a separate separate issue separate action but you indicated that um taking action on that matter would follow whatever is done tonight and you know and I mean obviously when I read the staff report today I wondered well okay are they are they shutting down is this it for People's Organic what's happening so I don't expect you to answer all those questions but but to me um it is helpful to know that if the op if People's Organic cannot sell liquor as of today or um and um there's followup action on the food license what what what do you anticipate happening there you know regardless of what we do tonight um whether we go for a fe hearing officer or um vote to suspend what what is the follow up and timing again my favorite thing tonight timing on the um um you know action on the food license uh mayor and council members uh I think that again it depends on your action so if you go ahead and suspend the license tonight uh we would go ahead and suspend the food license as of this week um if you allow for a hearing to happen we would go ahead and allow that hearing to take place and then follow suit with whatever the council action is at that time so it basically runs concurrently with your action on the license the license that is very good and Council before we move on are there any any other questions council member Calbert I'm just I'm so confus I mean this is kind of my my weekly hangout I have my constituent coffee there every week and so I mean they're not here they they have signed up to be um to call in so we probably will hear from them in the public hearing um and so I you know again it's not our job to make businesses solvent um but it's my neighborhood coffee shop and um I don't know that I have a a specific question but I thought your question is a good one I think the timing you know I I'm kind of a process person so I'd like to follow whatever process would normally happen but um and I guess I'll just wait to hear what they have to say to ask any further questions but it's the whole thing's very confusing for me all right um well then so we've got our questions asked um should I help me with this um should I ask the applicant if they want to speak or should I open the public hearing and then um do the okay so I see Mr Swafford is um on the line and if if we make the technology work if he would like to address the council um he may do so and we always pause here and kind of wait Mr Mayor I have Mr Michael sord online he can't unmute himself at this point he cannot mute him he cannot say that again Ben I'm sorry no so is is he is he able to speak or is he having problems yes Mr Mr shawford can speak at this point okay very good Mr schwaffer uh welcome we we are interested in hearing what you have to say uh can you hear me yeah we can hear you now we couldn't hear you before go ahead oh my gosh okay well I get a do over that it's that darn mute button go ahead okay so um let's just start at the very beginning so um I I I tried to do an expansion and open store in Plymouth Minnesota that failed miserably and it put a major strain on the minona store um with that being said uh we had to close the Plymouth store and um because we we saw the balance sheet in and the the minota store would have just um gone down with the other ship so we put a pause on it we we closed the other store um mid December of 202 3 and with that strain um that that was terrible um we were hit with two different major natural disasters not natural disasters but um we had two pipes break within the within the same month um one was at 4:00 A.M in the morning and was gushing water um which flooded our basement um and caused nearly $110,000 of damage um during that time the insurance would only pick up a certain amount um so Diane Alexander and I that's my mother um I have bought her out but she still is on the lease so she was involved to a certain extent um we had let go our insurance company and hired State Farm which that's to answer your question about the insurance we do have insurance I I don't know if I heard that correctly before but um yes we do have insurance um so with everything being equal and having to pay rent and having to keep the store open and fix all the damages and make it so that people can dine in there and it be safe comfortable and healthy um and meet all code um that took nearly all of the the remainder capital and profit that em train People's Organic Minon hat at this day we are literally trying to just get payroll done get rent done and be successful as we can and be profitable and pay all our bills and our vendors um as far as the taxes are concerned um that is my number one priority right now as we've made agreements and negotiations well of our vendors to be able to um give us some space in time to be able to operate and have product and now we can start really digging into the taxes the back taxes um my understanding with the back taxes is that once we have that paid we would get our buyer's card back but from what I'm hearing right now um I'm I'm like my hands are shaking um so without that buyer's card we can't get a food license is what I'm understanding in which means we don't have a store I hope that's not the case and we'd like to have a hearing um to try to keep us in the neighborhood and my life so I hope we can make this work and aliandra my kitchen manager it's her life too and she's buying into the company and she's my partner right now um it's our life we want it to be open we want to be awesome for the community so that's all I have to say right now but yes we want a hearing very good we we'll thank you for that um let's see so um I I appreciate your comments and we will we will weigh those and talk them over as a council I do have the opportunity for a public hearing and I going to open the public hearing but then we'll we'll come back and um discuss this and we'll also solicit some some staff input uh input because one it sounds like you've had a very you've had a pretty rough of it here and and I'm sorry to hear that because as you heard from various council members um People's Organic is is a real Community um asset in our commun in in our city and and we hate to see it go away and so I think you've got people that are pulling for you but we also have um we have a job to do as well um but I would also just challenge you because when I spoke to staff today I said well you know as as a staff report indicated that it's been tough to reach you and when I talked to Miss wishnack today she said well you know we do have City resources we want our business to succeed you know that's not to say the city can bail you out but we do have ways to help you through some of these things and that's really important and the fact you have an Ask doesn't help your situation so again you don't need a lecture from me I know you're dealing with a ton but you know we I I I think I can speak fairly honestly from my fellow council members that we want you to succeed and so if there's a path forward we hope we can find it so you've got a sympathetic ear I would say but we also have to do what we have to do so with that unless um Miss wishnack if you want to add anything I will open the public hearing and ask if there's anyone in the chambers tonight who would like to address this item regarding um People's Organic is there anyone one more time I have to do it three times all right so I will close the public hearing and um I will bring it back to council um the um the um owner um has requested a hearing so um comments or motion um Council m calary i do I do have a question now and that is so just knowing the little bit I know about sort of business models for restaurants uh liquor is an important component of that they're losing you know that they're in danger of uh having a suspended liquor license but I don't know that much about you know if they get their act together things are starting to you know uh kind of chug along um can they get it back what's the process for that that part I don't know M wishnik thank you mayor and council members um number one I have not received received any insurance information after numerous requests so that's number one um if he has a liquor license policy that's been issued it should have been provided to the city the first time we asked for it um the second issue is he hasn't paid his taxes at the state so he can't have a buyer's C which means uh again he's violating one of the ordinances so none again no liquor can be served regardless of Your Action without those two things being resolved uh the food license itself is needing to be paid there needs to be an inspection just like every other facility in the city um again I'm not proy to why that hasn't been done I mean I kind of understand that there's lots of bills coming his way um I understand that but that has not been communicated to the city either so thank you Miss wishnack um councilor Wilber yeah so sort of following what the mayor said and and what council member Cal said I'm wondering if if um if the owner were you receiving the the the communications from the city and did you try to contact the city to um let them know where you're standing and then for staff I since since we now are in communication with them and I know there's all these things that should have been communicated previously is it possible to work with them now or do we have to go to a hearing Miss Miss wishnack uh again mayor and council member Wilburn um regardless of Your Action they they don't have a buyer card so they that's within two days that's updated so if they pay the taxes two days it comes off the list and we have access to that you saw the link to that so that's a very quick turnaround uh again insurance as long as they show us the proof of insurance that's all we ask and it has to be issued in the proper manner that the city requires Etc um what was the next question sorry is it is it Poss oh go ahead I oh mayor and members of the council if I may my recommendation is that the council take um official action move to refer this to an independent hearing examiner so that we don't lose any additional time um if the um owner of the business does have the liquor liability insurance and I do want to make sure we're clear we're talking about liquor liability insurance we're not talking about property insurance or any other type of insurance it is your dram shop insurance that you are required to have so um if he does have that then he can make an appointment with u Miss wishnack bring that in and when he has provided proof that the insurance is in in effect that basis for suspending the um the license would be removed we can always cancel the hearing um but I I think some conversations need to be taking place thank you that for that Miss Hy um council member R yes I just want to clarify that you know assuming that we go to a hearing and and move to that since the owner has requested that that we move forward you know regardless what happens that's what we need to do tonight if I'm understanding correctly um the second point is that if I'm understanding correctly the food license also has not been renewed so you know there's two things that are at work here one we're not considering um but I would encourage the owner to get in communication with staff respond as a responsible business owner that's what we do and take care of these items so that we can keep this as a Community Asset but at this point my understanding is is that we are obliged to Grant the hearing the owner is at Liberty to to provide the information the liability information required to get his license reinstated so right now our only course forward is to move forward with the hearing cor I don't think we are obliged because the deadline for requesting a hearing was yesterday mhm that's true we we are not however however it it's recommended staff would recommend that yeah right um I thought that was on the options tonight if if okay got it right I think I think it's hard to get lost if I may may in in some of the details uh the you know there's the state taxes there's the food license at minaka and then there's the liquor liability insurance so all of those things have to work together to make this all compliant very good are there any other comments from Council Members or or questions councilor calber I just I just want to emphasize I'm hoping that Mr Swafford has heard what we have said which is the city has resources for businesses specifically because things come up and we have voted to approve funding for emergency um you know loans um Etc and um other resources and our staff works really hard to provide all kinds of resources for you and um and they've reached out to you numerous times and it that's I think where my confusion comes in because I know we have a very professional staff um part of their job is to to maintain economic Vitality which means supporting businesses like People's Organic and I just you know when they reach out to you I really encourage you to respond and so that's sort of the last word there great um any anything else council members you know I'll add a little bit because I usually do but I you know I think the I mean I think I feel for this owner I think um a lot has gone wrong and that happen s in business and I think the the hill he is trying to climb is steep and there's no guarantee that he's going to get there but I think the key point is and you know I mean as the only male on the council I can say this I mean men have a hard time asking for directions and um you know I think it's the type of thing where you think you want to work it out yourself BEC You know I mean your ego you want it to work but but it's hard to ask for help and I don't want to I don't want to oversell the help that City can provide we can't solve all these problems for this applicant but there are resources and and I do believe that as a council um we view People's Organic as an asset to the community so why we can't wave a magical wand and we have to do the job that we have we we are legally obligated to do what we have to do um we want to be supportive in whatever way we can to the extent we can because this is an important asset to our community so just kind of want to provide that context but the the best thing I think this owner can do is have a conversation with our staff tomorrow morning and say what can we do what can we do to make this as good this bad situation is good as possible are there resources that the city can apply to this situation we're not going to solve all the problems but we really need an owner who is going to come clean kind of with the city in terms of getting these problems resolved and and put together plan so that you know that something good can come out of this but I it I think it's a very steep it's a steep hill to climb and we have to acknowledge that but but um let's say I guess we need motions uh for mayor before you do that I just want to make sure that the owner acknowledges on the record that he understands that there can be no alcohol service at his restaurant so if you would ask the applicant to do that that would be great and Mr Swafford you've you've heard our conversations and um is it clear to you that um you are you are not in position to sell any um alcohol at People's Organic in minaka at this time yeah can you hear me yes we can okay great um yes we have not been selling alcohol we um the remaining alcohol that we had at the Plymouth store that was already bought and licensed we sold at the minaton store once that was out we were done um because we can't buy alcohol anyway um okay so no we have not been selling alcohol um I want I want we have the insurance certificate I did not know that I was being reached out to about that I will 8: am tomorrow morning or whatever time you guys want to meet I'm so I I'll be with you whenever you'd like to and I'll bring the insurance certificate of the liquor liability license we have that secondly or thirdly whatever um thank you so much for whoever the the mail was that said that about asking for help that is a problem I have but also I did go to henpen County I went to all the different we I did I never thought to go to the city of minona you guys I I went everywhere to look for relief help with FBA with I I mean I can show you the history of my of my applications and searches for this like I this is real like and I didn't know the city of minona I'm like practically crying right now I didn't know you guys had any support and help for that it's like um well anyways um enough of that yes we have a liquor liability license we know we're not supposed to sell alcohol right now we do not um we'll do anything that we can to stay open and make this work um and I can show you our our business plan for the next six months and how we're going about paying our back taxes that helps you guys are the spreadsheet that um I've made um now these numbers are based on Sals that haven't happened obviously I had to go into history and and do averages but you know um and take the alcohol out of it as well no that's I think Mr schfer I think that's I think that's good I I think just having a a a a simple conversation with um our city staff likely M wishnack she can she can direct you on where the city might have resources that could be helpful to you I don't want to oversell that we're not we're not going to make your challenges go away but there might be some resources the city has and and I think that we we want to help you work through this if it if it's if at all possible but we do have to take the action we need to uh take and we're going to do that and uh it looks like we will vote in favor of a um of a hearing um within um in a very near very short period of time so I'll leave it at that thank you Mr SCH Swafford you Prov of the information that we needed so council is there a motion on this item council member Wilburn I move that the city council refers this matter to an independent hearing officer for a recommendation and that the city council will then hear findings at a later meeting very good and is there a second Council M Calbert I'll second all right we've got a motion by Council M Wilburn and a second by council member calber Miss England Please call roll kley yes Foster Bolton yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes weome yes motion carries so I've got 82 does would would anyone like a five minute break I think we're going to take a five minute break we've got we've got quite a bit to go yet and uh so we may need the break but we'll take a quick five minute break and then reconvene thank you for for for e e for [Music] so for e e all right I think we can get started um so we are now at item other business um 14a so item 14a is to accept the 2023 annual comprehensive financial report and related audit reports with the city's audit firm Bergen kdv and uh Mr funk I think you and um and Darren are going to cover that yeah uh thank you mayor council good evening it's my pleasure to welcome Mr Nelson welcome everyone to this important presentation of the 2023 audit uh tonight we'll have the privilege of hearing from our City's auditor here in a second who will provide us with a comprehensive overview of our financial health and the work done to maintain it uh before we begin I just want to take a moment to express uh my sincerest gratitude to Mr Darren Nelson our finance director our finance team are also here uh with us this evening and our entire staff their tireless efforts and meticulous work to ensure our City's finances remain strong and transparent as city leaders myself and our directors take our role as stewards of the public monies with the utmost due diligence and we are committed to maintaining the confidence and trust that you've placed in Us by ensuring financial responsibility and integrity in all of our operations I am pleased with the outcomes that you'll receiving tonight I know Council you got a big packet item with all the pages in the audit uh we'll we'll have a high Lev presentation here for this evening uh but when you look at those results nothing was a surprise to us on staff just due to the work done by again our finance team and our directors who spend um our time really making sure we stay within our budgets and that our financial management plan come out to fruition so with that I'd like to pres uh introduce Aaron dah who is our CPA audit manager with Bergen kdv and then after his presentation Council we have a chance to ask questions and then Mr Nelson and I will be available for those and I believe Mr Nelson may have a um any added comments also at the end so with that I'd like to turn over to our audit manager Aaron doll thank you Mr Funk thank you mayor members of council as Mike mentioned I'm aend doll I'm an audit manager with Bergen kdv so thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Auditors again for the 2023 year we'll walk through the presentation here and starting with the audit so um we as Auditors issue an opinion on the city's basic financial statements and Happ to report we did Issue an unmodified opinion on the basic financial statements which comprise the governmental activities business type activities each major fund and the aggregate remaining funds so with that unmodified opinion that is the best opinion we can give as Auditors so a great job um as Mike mentioned by the finance team and the city staff um putting in all that time and effort to make uh the audit successful again this year with that opinion we're providing reasonable assurance that the basic financial statements 2% fairly in all material respects uh we issue a few reports uh the first one is the report in accordance with government auditing standards uh we did Note One internal control finding this year uh related to some activity in the affordable housing trust fund so we had one audit adjustment that was a bit over scope um in our audit so we noted that um here in the report um it is a complex fund um that has a lot of new activities so um nothing of concern on our end but it is something we do note uh we also issure a report on Minnesota legal compliance so that's where we look at things like collateral conflicts of interest uh Contracting and bidding things of that nature um and happy to report no findings uh with that Minnesota legal compliance report the last report REM is the communications letter and that's where I'll Focus the uh majority of my attention here tonight kind of looking at the trends and Analysis of the city's financial situation and starting here with the general funds so we have the revenues expenditures and then the assigned and unassigned fund balance for the past 5 years presented um at the end of December 31st 20123 uh that unassigned ass assigned fund balance was at about 25.9 million which was a slight decrease of 6.3% um or 1.7 million compared to the 2022 fund balance um as you can see uh with the 5-year Trend the fund balance has increased by about 17.4% while revenues have increased by about 38.9% and expenditures have increased by about 42.7% over that 5-year Trend and we will examine the revenues and expenditures in a little more detail on the upcoming slides here we have the unassigned and assigned general fund balance compared to annual expenditures and this takes a look at the next year's annual expenditures um the 2024 budget expenditures are used for the 2023 since we obviously don't know uh the 2024 expenditure amount uh currently uh the past four years have been in that 60 to 64% range as far as comparing the expenditures to the fund balance um for 2023 it does set at about 50.6% uh based on those 2024 budgeted expenditure so a bit of a drop there um with relation to that decrease in fund balance taking a look at the general fund revenues for the past 5 years we have that up in graphical form here um um overall revenues did increase by about 1.7 million or 3.8% compared to the prior year uh the property tax revenue increased by about 2.8 million with an increase in the tax levy allocation for the general fund um property taxes are the main source of revenue for the general fund uh and with fluctuations and other sources uh These funds are more heavily relied upon taking a look at some of the other categories that other Revenue category at the top there increased by about 2.8 million for the year um and that relates primarily to investment income doing better uh with the market conditions improving in 2023 compared to 2022 licenses and permits decreased uh by about 2 million for the year as a result of less building permits uh so that activity decreased a little bit compared to the prior year and then intergovernmental Revenue decreased by about uh 2 2 million as well um with uh Less Federal funding from that American Rescue plan uh which was more um prominent in 2022 on the expenditure side so similarly we have the previous five years presented there uh those did increase by a little over 5 million for 2023 or 12.3% um taking look at the different departments uh Public Safety had the largest increase of about 2.6 million or 14.8% um as a result of having a full year of new 24-hour full-time fire positions as well as some salary increase um and adding a data analysis position in the current year Public Works increased by about 825,000 uh due in part to purchasing more salt and other Street Maintenance supplies during the year along with some higher utility costs that kind of increased with inflation as well Parks and Recreation increased by about 79,000 um as a result of more activity uh related to an increase in salaries there and general government increased by about 552 th000 uh with the filling of multiple filled positions um from the priors that were fully staffed in 2023 and then lastly development services increased by about 335,000 um as a result of an increase in salaries and filling some housing positions along with increased professional fees next we have the budget to actual results for the general fund so comparing how um the budget adopted by the council did compared to the actual results uh for the year they there was a budget for expenditures transfers out um to exceed revenues and transfers by about 3 million so kind of that uh bottom line at the far left there the council did adopt that budget to have deficit spending for the year uh the actual results had actual expenditures and transfers out exceeding revenues and transfers by about 1.7 million so that's the middle line there so a variance of about 1.3 million um on the positive side um comparing the actual results to the budget taking a look at the revenues they were over budget by about 800 ,000 or 1.7% uh again that miscellane and investment income uh Revenue exceeded budget by about 420,000 uh with that investment income exceeding expectations for the year uh licenses and permit Revenue was over budget by about 350,000 um so again even though the actual activity was down compared to the prior year uh it still exceeded the budgeted amount and then taxes and assessments were under budget by about 329,000 uh due to the timing of some Del payments on the expenditure side overall expenditures were about 513,000 or 1.1% under budget uh General government expenditures were 623,000 under budget uh due to some vacant positions during the year uh Public Safety expenditures exceeded the budget by about 527,000 with some salary increases um and increases in cost of benefits and then Public Works expenditures were under budget by about 372,000 uh with some conservative budget related to some Fleet Services being the main driver there next we'll jump into the Enterprise funds so these are a little different um kind of by Nature uh they account for activities that provide services to the citizens for a fee um the intent is that they operate like a business and that it's self self- sustaining so hopefully the fees and charges associated with those Enterprise funds um can help support the fund's Financial Health so starting with the water and sewer utility operations we have uh the revenues expenses and operating income uh both with and without depreciation shown here um as you can see the revenues went up by about 4.4% while the operating expenses went up by about 29.9% uh based on utility costs and service contracts there uh the end result was operating income of about 300,000 um at the end of 2023 which was lower than the previous four years but again some of those utility cost uh can definitely fluctuate based on projects uh throughout the year taking a look at the environmental fund operations uh so here we had an increase in revenues of 7.2% for the year uh operating expenses decrease by 3.4% and the end result was operating income of 105,000 uh for 2023 which was the highest of the five years presented here uh for the environmental fund the willston center operations so here we had an increase of Revenue of about 20.3% and that looked like it was mainly based on greater membership and activity there for the Williston Center and then the expenses decreased by about 11.3% with less Personnel costs it looked like some of that moved a little bit towards the marsh with that new fund and then along with less utility and maintenance cost Associated there so um as you can see with the bottom line on this this one that was positive at about 191,000 for the year um after having an operating loss the previous four years so good to see those um positive operations for the Williston Center fund next we have the gry Bay Marina operations um that one was a little more consistent compared to the others uh the revenues increased by 3.3% expenses increased by 6.3% uh the end result was operating income there of about 31,000 uh which was similar to the previous 2 years as well and we have storm fund operate or storm water excuse me uh revenues were up 3.1% there and expenses were down 10.6% uh the end result was operating income of a little over 1.2 million for the storm water and then finally with the Enterprise funds we have operating ratios here so the expenses shown as percentage of revenues for the Enterprise funds uh for each of the past 5 years uh just touching a little bit on each uh the Utility Fund had its highest there so 72.8% so um meeting that expenses as part of revenues was the highest um the result uh for the next two the environmental and willston fitness center had the lowest so um those both had revenues that increased while expenses decreased so you saw the ex um the percentage drop there craze Bay Marina as I kind of mentioned was pretty consistent uh stayed at that 78 8.4% and then storm water had a decrease um from 29 to 25% with the revenues increasing there and expenses going down for the year all right next we have the unrestricted net position for each of the five funds um again the lowest point for the Utility Fund and the environmental fund um the Williston fitness center so even with those positive operations during the year they did have um a deficit of about 57,000 so um that's one we want to keep an eye on to make sure the positive operations continue um or there might have to be a reclassification of that fund based on um if it can't be self sustain self- sustaining uh to consider it to be a special Revenue fund where it has um support from other um areas of Revenue uh grey Bay Marina was at the highest level so 88300 in there for the unrestricted net position um and then the storm water fund has fluctuated throughout the 5 years and ended at about 4.2 million so um just to kind of clarify the unrestricted net position takes out uh the non- Capal portion so takes out any Capital asset related activity for those funds and then the last chart here we have is related to tax capacity tax rate and tax levy for each of the past five years um the TA taxable taxx Capac capacity of the city has experienced a steady increase over the last 5 years so that's your Top Line there in green uh the city has increased the levy during this period um but since it has increased at a lower rate uh then the marketable tax uh capacity that tax capacity rate has decreased by about 68% um over the 5 years due to that larger increase in the tax capacity than the levy so um just kind of a figure there to keep an eye on um it's kind of nice to see how those kind of fluctuate hand in hand together so with that I'll open it up to any questions or comments the council may have very good thank you Mr do um Council any questions or comments questions anyone well I I'll I'll lead off if nobody else um you know on your first chart there um you are comparing um revenues and expenditures and in each of the pro four years there was a pretty significant gap between revenues and expenditures in the last year that was much narrower and you know so I just wanted to and and you made comments during the rest of the presentation but just curious is what are what are the key drivers there I mean as I've been on the council for quite a while I've always I don't like it I don't like too much under spending because if we're going to tax people I'd like to use the money and not essentially not over tax tax so I was I was encouraged to see that but I think some of that had to do with with what government transfers and some of the support that we got during the pandemic but those are my those are my gut feeli views what um kind of explain it from your perspective why we we saw that meaningfully Nar meaningful narrowing on that first chart yep yeah I would say that had a lot to do with it um especially with some of those arpa funding that was a lot more prevalent during the years immediately following covid um and it's kind of slowed down now right um it also relates to kind of the building activity as well so licenses and permits I know um 2022 was definitely a big year as far as building activity things of that nature so um and then with the expenditure side of things you'll definitely see inflationary raises um within the last year so um definitely kind of a common theme uh throughout the cities that we audit where you see those increases in expenditures with the revenue kind of slightly dipping down here in 2023 after kind of receiving some of those booms in the years so not expecting you to have a crystal ball but do you anticipate that that growth um in the gap between revenues and expenditures to grow in coming years or will it be more similar to what we saw this past year in your in your guest yeah it might be a better question for Darren but yeah I would say it would probably tend to even out a little more so you'll see a little more stability as far as that Gap being consistent from one year to the next without kind of the craziness that the world experienced thanks that's helpful I appreciate it Council questions anything Mr all I think we're go ahead Council M cover yeah I mean see if I can find it um I mean you touched on it and so um the you know there was one finding uh it didn't seem to be exceedingly uh serious but I was just wondering it you know you were explaining that it's a very complex fund Etc um and I was just wondering if you wanted to flush that out at all a little bit Yeah so it relates to kind of the loan receivable and then there's a deferred inflow of resources related to that loan receivable for that fund so um the way it works is the governmental funds are on a modified acral basis so it's based on current activity so sometimes you have to recognize revenue and related expenditures a little bit differently when there's those long-term loans so um there was just a adjustment that we needed to make related to that loan receivable and then the corresponding deferred inflow of resources so it's not like there was any money missing or anything like that it was just kind of a buy the books um adjustment to make that match up kind of with the loan schedules thank you c m yeah uh thank you mayor just following up on that so are you talking like a simple Journal issue yep yep it offsetting journal entry between those two funds minor okay great thank you in in my conversation with Mr Funk today he pointed out that the rules changed and if the rules would have stayed the same there wouldn't have been a finding but the rules changed and there was a finding so is that a fair a fair summary yeah yep that's good way to put it yeah we haven't noticed anything in priors either so it's definitely not a concern on our end where it's something that we expect to see we have confidence our finance department we got we've got a good team absolutely you know I had one other question too um your comments on the Enterprise funds specific to the Willison Center um and um yeah it's it's trending down a little bit but I think I think that's going to turn my gut is that it's going to turn around but whenever I see us running short on our Enterprise funds I say gee do we need to raise our rates and staff knows I asked that question with some frequency but um you know just wondering if uh you know what your perspective on that because we it clearly needs to be an Enterprise fund we don't want to reclassify it but I want to make sure that that we are covering our expenditures so uh um any any comments or thoughts on that yeah I think it definitely took a turn in the right direction this year um and obviously some of those funds were the ones that were hit hardest by Co so they nearly had to shut down or have severe limitations on their activities so um as you can see it was negative for the past four years it bounced back by I think it was like 500,000 or something on the plus side this year so um I would hope that it would Contin continue to grow um as you see the memberships grow I think that's a definitely a good sign that those charges for services are trending in the right way that's the main driver in the revenue side um and like you said it wouldn't be ideal to have it turn into a special Revenue fund where you need tax assistance or um assistant from other intergovernmental type sources so I think something to continue to monitor but it's trending in the right direction good and I think I mean I I think our membership numbers really reflect that we're in a pretty strong spot um so that's encouraging thank you for that KY and also can I just clarify that um the grace Bay Marina was the most profitable of the you utilities is that I mean is that am I was I reading that right yeah based on kind of that unrestricted net position it was the highest of the five years so it had the best results um but the overall operating income I think it probably lag behind especially Williston fitness center because that was on the plus side by about 500,000 I think so oh okay thanks all right very good well um Mr doll thank you very much and I would invite Mr Nelson if you have some closing comments you'd like to make or or anything I mean sounds good thank you Mr D thank you very much uh good evening mayor council members I don't really have a whole lot to to add to that but I would like to thank Mr do for um and his staff and and for the partnership that we have with Bergen kdv um there's been lots of new gby pronouncements government Accounting Standards boards that um seems to find lots to do on a on a regular basis so we have new pronouncements almost every year it seems like on that end of it and we really lean on on our Auditors to help us guide us through those as well too so i' like to thank him and his staff um also Mr Punk mentioned it but with um our assistant Finance director Joel Mary and and um Zack hexel our senior accountant those two um really put this whole project together and every year on that end of it and it really goes out as well to the rest of the staff it's it's not all of it's just not us three that um do these transactions throughout the whole year the rest of the staff code bills um you know every department does every department has a hand in um creating a solid unal unmodified opinion each and every year so um really appreciate their input and and they abiding by our internal controls as well too so thank you for your support and that's about all I have and all let you move on all right well thank you Mr Nelson and congrats to your entire team um that um this is not a small operation and uh uh we've got a a great finance department you all work hard and do a great job and so I want to make sure we thank you all appropriately and Joel and Zach thanks very much all right do we have to take action on that or is that an information item yeah mayor recommendation to approve the or accept the report all right is there a motion councilor Calbert thank you mayor I make the motion to accept the 2023 AC for report related to audit reports very good is there a second council member Wilburn I'll second all right we've got a motion by Council calber and a second by council member Wilburn Miss England Please call rooll kley yes Foster Bolton yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes weome yes motion carries so item 14 under other business is items concerning Wells Fargo Redevelopment at 1809 Plymouth Road and uh so um I will turn it over to staff and uh um Miss Thomas thank you so much and uh um our audience has waited here a long time so uh thank you for you heard all sorts of interesting things tonight but uh thanks for being here tonight miss Thomas uh thank you mayor and members of the council uh the Wells Fargo site is the middle lot of what was a three lot Financial Center complex that was master planned by the Dayton Hudson Corporation back in 1974 as part of the larger uh rdale mall or rale shopping center area the three sites are arranged to share just one driveway access onto a public Street that's Plymouth Road on the west and then three two excuse me driveway access points onto the um ring Road uh to the east by 1982 um the threeory Wells Fargo bank and office building had been constructed on that middle lot uh TCF had already been constructed to the North and then US Bank uh to the South the site and the building at Wells Fargo have essentially remained unchanged uh since 1982 what's before you this evening is a proposal by 1809 uh py Inc on behalf of Wells Fargo uh to redevelop the site into two in two phases the first phase uh would be construction of a one-story roughly 7,300 squ foot building on the south side of the site um Wells Fargo would actually occupy the larger of those ten space on the West Side um it would include a driveth through ATM Lane on the south side and then a retail space or kind of a flex space uh further to the east once that building is completed Wells Fargo would move into the building and the existing three-story building would then be demolished phase two then would be construction of that Northerly building about uh 7800 Square ft two fast casual restaurants and then a retail or kind of flex space again uh on the east side both of the buildings uh facades would be comprised mainly of glass brick uh Stone and metal panels parking would be provided uh Central to both of those buildings and then on the West Side along uh Plymouth Drive each of the restaurant spaces would have uh private outdoor patio areas associated with the restaurants there would also be a uh public outdoor patio area Green Space kind of a focal point I would call it on the east side of the site pedestrian connections throughout the site but a real important pedestrian connection um from this uh public outdoor space um Eastward ultimately uh connecting to existing sidewalks and then to Ridgedale Commons park The Proposal does require a series of approvals a master development plan final site and building plans with uh a few variances conditional use permit for the restaurants and the drive up ATM and then a sign plan as staff was reviewing the proposal we focused really on three primary questions and I'm going to go through each of those in our findings here briefly tonight and the first is whether or not the land uses that are proposed on the site are appropriate and we do find that they are um the comprehensive guide plan really encourages uh enhanced Vitality in this I 394 Corridor by increasing the mix of land uses providing more Gathering spaces promoting connectivity and this proposal does uh support many of those the second question then is whether the site and building design is reasonable in staff's opinion the buildings uh have been attractively designed they would complement kind of the existing Redevelopment that has occurred in the Ridgedale area uh the site design itself which staff generally suggests Ed provides for a functional but a distinctive layout it would create a small commercial node within this larger uh larger commercial center then third staff looked at the requested variances and we find that they're reasonable and that they meet the variance standard as it's outlined in State Statute and code uh this proposal does require some setback variances for parking setback and for building setback particularly along the the north property line um this property as I stated uh previously was developed in 1974 long before our current uh setback requirements and when we apply those setback requirements to the site today they conflict with sub sight and building plan standards that we have and namely I'm going to read this because I'll get my words befuddled if I don't says h a standard that requires an internal sense of order for the buildings and uses on the site providing a desirable environment for occupants visitors and the general community and we find that our setback standards conflicts with this because the parking and buildings could be rearranged to meet the specific measurement but that rearrangement would result in a far less intuitive and a much less desirable site design um so the proposed setbacks are more consistent with the overall character that we envision um for this area for these satellite properties and they would quite frankly be similar to the setbacks that are are occurring in the area in terms of uh the tree removal variants if you've been to the site you've probably noticed that the trees here are not part either of a Remnant forest or an ecosystem um they are things that were planted as part of the 1974 approval or more likely things that were replanted after those original plantings um uh died the proposed landscape plant would actually double the number of trees that are currently on the site and then staff looked at the sign plan and we found that it's uh really a fair plan it is an appropriate combination of our sign ordinance standards and uh sign approvals that were given to the property immediately to the north uh I still call it the TCF property but I think it's the Huntington Bank uh property immediately to the north before I conclude I I do want to mention the 2012 Ridgedale Village Center study because some questions have come up about this specific plan's consistency with that General um study some of you uh may recall that during the concept plan review for this current Wells Fargo study we staff did refer to this larger Village Center study and some of you may recall the Village Center study in fact from uh 2012 like other uh Village Center studies that we did around that time um the Ridgedale study was a a public engagement process focused on envisioning what ridel could be what the city would like it to become focused on re uh invigor reinvigorating is that I want to say um the Ridgedale area ultimately some strategies that came out of that process and that were outlined in the study included enhancing streets sidewalks Trails Public spaces increasing and connecting existing green spaces and increasing development intensity in certain areas again essentially it was about um public and private investment to really Revitalize uh the area um the vision for this specific parcel or I should say the three um Parcels in the financial center complex included restaurants a hotel a conference center office and Retail it's important to note as you look at this General um plan that achieving that vision would require not only kind of Market forces but the collaboration of three separate property owners um kind of some competing Financial um institutions since 2012 there has been much public investment in the Ridgedale area and significant private investment the conversion of Ridgedale Drive into a Parkway the completion of three uh multi-unit residential buildings two city parks and Miss snack has some always have stats I always have stats thank you Miss Thomas um as Miss Thomas was describing I mean it was like $36 million of public improvements and I think a lot of us focus on the riginal exact site you know the mall area but if you think about the West Mountain ramp um that gets you on to uh 394 if you think about the eastbound ramp um you think about cartway the improvements that have been done in and around the mall and outside of the mall proper it's really been quite amazing $36 million sounds like a big number but what that's parlayed into is a huge amount of investment in housing units so we have over 900 units that have been built in the ridgel area since the plan was developed um that to me is a a pretty big number um if you want to compare that to Citywide it's about a third of our new construction over the last 10 years um also we have the numbers on how much actual capital from private invest that parlayed into $500 million of private investment and just think about all the things that have happened in the ridgell area um Nordstroms uh Macy's uh Dick Sporting Goods re finishing the Sears plays uh we'll have kski soon on the South Side avidor the Lux the Burke to the Northeast Marsh run is under construction Highland Bank um who knew we had uh needed I fly um I think a lot of us Wanted the movie theater uh thing to work out but you know we have other Recreation ideas like iFly that came in so I think there were a lot of things in the original study that were anticipated to be springboards if you will for redevelopment and there's really been this rhythm of reinvestment since we've done the plan and in fact what's interesting is the people who helped us design the plans around Ridell uh we still stay in contact they always want to know what's happening how did their plan work out or how didn't it um the park for instance that wasn't the place where we had the park in the original drawings like Susan was showing the park was actually kind of east of there um toward the Sears area but the opportunity you know kind of presented itself on the South Side so some of the plan elements didn't get exactly and that's not really what the plan's about the the plan's about trying to inspire and Oke investment and that's absolutely what that plan has done over the years so miss Thomas if you want to finish your report thanks for letting me chime in absolutely so I think um thank you for indulging us in a very long way of saying while staff would have certainly liked to see this east side of Plymouth Road um develop perhaps in a in a more intense way we would have liked to seen that when the TCF property redeveloped several years ago um we've come to understand that that was just not in the cards for these three um financial institutions um we also believe that this individual project is a good project and it is a a it continues that reinvestment momentum in uh the Ridgedale Regional area and so do we do recommend approval with um the series of conditions that are outlined in the ordinance and resolution that have been provided to you and with that I would turn it back to the mayor oh miss Thomas thank you very much and miss wishnack for your report and I think the historic context is is very helpful so I'm very pleased to have that there but I'll turn it over to council to see if there are questions of Staff um for this um important project and then I'll ask the the applicants if they would like to make some comments but um Council any questions for staff all right everyone's looking at the clock and saying okay let's move this thing along so um um I would um invite the applicant to come forward and and tell us a little bit about your plans and U kind of make it come alive for us so we can make a good decision here tonight welcome thank you uh good evening mayor and council members thank you for considering this plan um I want to thank staff they did a great job in uh not just uh providing us information but also guiding us through the design process and working with us uh for well we worked on it for probably over a year great and and and for the record please provide your name and address I'm sorry my name's yes Hector Venus I'm the manager of the developer and we're I'm based in South Florida very good okay well welcome yeah so I was saying that uh you know we work with staff through multiple site plans and uh I think that this design is as much our creation as it is theirs and uh we're very happy with the with the look of it and uh we also uh you know it's a partnership with Wells Fargo Wells Fargo is the owner of the property we are acquiring the property from them but before we were are before we acquired it from before we reached an agreement they knew they wanted to know exactly what we were going to do what kind of development there was certain things that were not uh going to work for them uh and they had various other developers that they were interviewing at that time and um you know I'm not sure what the other guys were proposing but they decided to choose our plan they thought it would be most conducive for their business and also for the overall look and concept so uh I mean you looked at the project I think it's really a good-look project uh we're here to answer any questions uh of U John Deer he's in charge of our construction and coordination and he's also an engineer too so he can answer questions you may have on the project all right well well thank you so much for that so um well Mr D do you want do you have anything to add or do you want to um you know I'll turn it over to the council and ask and see if they have any questions uh specific to your to your plan and your proposal anyone council member ra do you want to go yes thank you mayor really quickly um it is seems to be an attractive uh development and uh kind of a small node as staff noted um and I understand that the rale um village study uh happened and it was a kind of a a a plan for a plan it was a road mapap for a plan uh nonetheless that particular know 2 Acre Site was was you know kind of hoped for we would have more density there is there any particular reason that we're going from you know kind of a three-story building um you know presumably more built space uh as well as forrow you know why why you know kind of the downscaling from it rather than you know going with density having residential on top of some of these or doing some other things that would you know kind of help us achieve more the vision that we're looking for there right I think that you know it's a very good question um the the building itself you know it's it's a fairly large building that's on there now it's over 30,000 square F feet correct uh in today's world uh or according to the code today we would not be able to park that building on that site there there isn't enough parking spaces for that building uh so there's you know once we try to meet all the code requirements it would be very difficult unless we acquired more property to to do that and we did reach out to US bank which was the the the Highland bank property was already developed so we that was that was done so we reached out to US bank and uh asked them if they were interested in redeveloping their site they initially said yes we consider something we discussed different things but again like uh one of the main things as Miss Thomas pointed out that uh the banks are very concerned uh and by regulations they can't close their operations so uh the US Bank site is smaller uh they uh wanted to they said okay well can we relocate our our Branch onto the Wells Fargo site and of course Wells Fargo was not too happy with another bank on their site so uh there was a some back and forth that we went through and uh in the end they decided that they would not revelop their site so essentially they can play well in the same sandbox they couldn't yeah I would agree with that yes okay and and so as usual with commercial developments it's the parking dog wagging the tail wagging the dog here with parking so that's what you're saying is the main impediment um to doing kind of a larger space the reason for down scaling this particular development right also I mean Wells Fargo uh did did not want U you know they wanted to say on the site but also you know Apartments would not is not something that they felt was a was a co- business or a co-tenant that would do well for them so they did not you know that's something they didn't want to do so well all right thank you okay you're welome thank you other other other questions anyone I think um councilor ra covered it and I appreciate your your honesty I mean I think you know I mean I think about this we've got potentially four Banks um this may be the financial center of motanka um but all the four banks are doing it with with less real estate because the banking models have changed and the business banking business has changed correct so um I understand I understand the limitations and where they're coming from and you know we when we do concepts we you know it's a strategic effort not a tactical effort but but sometimes we get pretty firm ideas on some of the things that we'd like to see but but I I I think I think we've done a pretty good job here in terms of strategically in the whole Ridgedale area achieving the things that we we worked on 10 years ago yes so I think that's that's positive so is there uh let's see um we don't have a public hearing we've got uh any any further questions for the applicant all right well let you sit down thank and we'll discuss as a council and make a decision so council members council member Calbert thank you mayor I mean you know uh former council member uh Tony Wagner wrote some questions which have been addressed uh from up here more or less and you know some of the questions had to do with you know we there was a vision um this is not it exactly but um again you know I think that it's really important to have Vitality I think we've had some rare success in um retail in in our mall and in the surrounding area and I think this gets to the vitality and I think that the you know reasons why you know we can't just build a residential building have a lot to do with who the property owner is and what they want to do and so on and so forth so uh we can't dictate uh you know their property owners rights and um but I think this does help us achieve Vitality I am happy that we actually are going to get more native plants I thought that was a good selling point uh hopefully we can get trees I you know looking at some of the images uh from the sky down to Ridgedale we've done a good job taking up some of the black top but um there's a long way to go just to manage the urban heat island there so um I'm hoping that this will help us achieve that which I which I actually think it will but I'm hoping that there are trees there um and in general um I think the design took into account a lot of the suggestions that Planning Commission and City Council made earlier in terms of where access and egress from the site and the uh sidewalks and so on and so forth so in general I'm in favor very good council member Foster Bolton thanks mayor I just wanted I was over there this weekend and I just was thrilled with all the pedestrian connections and sidewalks and um I often run over there too and I was really encouraged by that so I appreciate it thanks so I would be in favor this as well great other comments anyone Council M ra one more thank you mayor um just noted during the Planning Commission meeting there was uh discussion of a special condition that we're going to be uh deciding on tonight that uh would allow the applicant is supposed to uh help do some offsite improvements including That Sidewalk connection I am assuming that's uh to the commons via Amira and it's conditional upon uh the easement being granted by I believe it's Amira um and and so uh but we're not going to uh insist upon that if Amira does not Grant the easement am I correct in that M wishnik yes mayor and council member R uh we just heard from the owners of that property and they do want to talk about it so it sounded really positive that they would um um help us figure that out to to connect to that site uh through property they own so excellent good yes thank you very good anyone else all right a couple of quick comments from the mayor um you know I I I talked to uh staff today and I talked to uh counc former council member Wagner who I consider a friend we don't talk that often but um first I want to thank um Miss Thomas and and Miss wishnack because I think providing that historical context was exactly what what uh Tony was looking for and um you know he and I have talked about this over the last several months um you know and I've said you know I think I think you have to look at it strategically broadly um because this you know I think he you know his recollection from when we did that in 2012 so what's that 12 13 years ago um was that these sites would be combined and we could do something really pretty nifty and in Innovative well when you have three separate when you have three separate properties and three competitive businesses in the same business that collaboration is a great concept but it's really pretty hard it's really pretty hard to pull off and so I think we have to we have to live with reality and and I'm very proud of I mean when I talk to other Mayors and talk to other people around the country I brag about what's happening in the ridge Dale area what we've done I mean there are so many shopping malls that have disappeared and there are so many places and we've been very intentional as a city about investing here to maintain and enhance the Vitality of this important this is the commercial hub of our city I'd love to say we've got a great downtown we have a great commercial hub in in in our shopping mall but we do not have a downtown and this is it for us and uh as uh staff shares with me we we have 2.3 million visitors to this part of our city every month this is an extremely successful part of our city but there are many cities um even in the Twin Cities region where these types of facilities and areas have died and ours is thriving so as I look at this I think we have a success we have we have a lot of housing we have affordable housing uh we have things that we talk about what we've delivered in the Ridgedale area and I think this plan enhances what we've got there and what we're doing and you know if if if we were going to do this everywhere at Ridgedale and we didn't have the housing that we've bu built you know well shame on us we talked about we said one thing and did another but that is not the case here um I think we really have to look at it strategically and broadly and I think we have been very successful and we have delivered against the the goals that we had for this part of our city and we've retained its vitality and that's that's a big win and I I give a lot of credit to our planning staff they've done an outstanding job but also to the to the creativity and and you know and we don't we're the city is not a developer we don't go buy land and say okay well let's build let's go build what we want we have to wait for developers to come and propose to us and then we have to say does that fit is that consistent will you consider this we don't troll we influence and um and so I think this is a really um this is a good project I'm excited to have a Shake Shack and minaka um I think uh I think you know I think this will add to the Vitality of the area and I think it will be very much appreciated by many of the residents that live in the Ridgedale area as well as throughout the community so I'm supportive and I think it's a great project so Council M kley mayor I'm sorry I know that you usually get the final say but just want to ask a quick question that was asked um um and and and to say also um I think this is going to be a great project here I know the um bank that currently sits um on this slide Wells Fargo and the space that it has and um I think it'll be um a good fit um for this space and it fits in really well of course you know I'm always thinking about housing so housing is always important but um I think I think this make more sense than housing in this space but I also want to ask a quick question um about the glass and um are we thinking about um the amount of glass that's on these buildings um as it relates to Birds um as um being reflective on the um buildings so uh do have do you have do you have some thoughts go ahead well yeah so I think that um some the upper level of the glass is probably uh I think it's spandrel so that is because probably the interior ceiling will be below that um you know as we discussed the design with staff we wanted to have you know uh a certain look that would have you know that would match the the highl Bank building site so that it would be cohesive with the rest of it so um I to be honest with you I don't know the how reflective it is or not usually spandrel glass is not that reflective so okay so but that's something we could look into yeah I think it I think if you could look into it to see if that um if it would have any impact on the amount of birds that could possibly fly into the building or the glass um I think it would be important to um um take take that into consideration so okay we'll look into it thank you great thank you Council M kley um anything else does someone would someone like to make a motion Council remember R I will make the motion to go ahead to help to we'll go back to one moment just one moment where's our recomendation we'll get to the whole list there we are there we go to adopt the ordinance and resolutions approving the Redevelopment thank you for stepping up without without that so I'll second all right we've got a motion by Council membery and a second by council member Calbert any any last comments from Council otherwise Miss England Please call Ro kley yes Foster Bolton yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes R yes weome yes motion carries thank you welcome to vatanka and good luck again I'm sorry just my name is John de I would just like to compliment the city of minetonka your development process we were here over a year ago through your sketch plan got comments um from the Planning Commission and the supervisor so have good direction early in the project and the experience um of your planning staff um is very knowledgeable of the system and and what you want in your vision of minona so it's made this whole process a lot easier going through the Planning Commission was fairly easy they were recommended approval and then you again so I'd just like to compliment your process and your staff being very experienced and well knowledgeable of the vision of men great and I'll just uh reiterate um uh council member Foster Bolton's um I mean you really uh comments that you really did take to heart some of our conversation about connection and that's really important because this whole housing thing has really been a big deal and so if we didn't have connection between our commercial uh amenities that are going to benefit the people who live in this area we would be failing them so the fact that we worked on this collaboratively and we made some suggestions and you took them to heart and staff I'm sure leaned on you uh we got those done I think we're going to have a project that really works for manataka so thank you so much great thank you thank you have a good night good night all right we're getting near the end um the final item um on under other business is the Purgatory Park master plan um and uh uh we will um I believe Matt kumka is going to provide the staff report on that Matt good to see you here thanks for being here tonight and thanks for hanging in with us uh till uh 9:22 absolutely thank you mayor thank you councel I'm excited to be back and finish what I started I I'll do my best to make this uh presentation a little less dramatic than the last time I was here I got so excited about this work I needed to take a little nap in the middle but excited to be here and really um wanted to give a a brief thanks to everybody for all the well wishes I've received on my my journey with cancer has been quite a lot but I've received a lot of kind words from everybody so thank you so much thank you well we wish you the best and thanks for being here tonight really appreciate it um so Purgatory Park master plan uh a little bit of a of a background the park master plan um was identif if IED through the parks open space and trails Pro process um this post plan lays out a 15 to 20 year road map of planning and implementing Park improvements the plans are to help the park board city council and City staff prioritize Park improvements and ensure that changes and Investments to the parks continue to serve the needs of the entire Community the Purgatory Park uh was identified as the priority park for this planning process and that process started in 2023 uh we hired Consultants from Bolton and man uh the this is a series of of Professional Engineers Landscape Architects and Community engagement folks to help us undertake this effort um we look to collect feedback from Park users and and City residents the Outreach and engagement included in-person openhouse events pop-up events in the park a minaka matters website page a survey and a comment page and guest book so there's a variety of considerations that are coming out of this master plan um I'm going to briefly go through them tonight the plan was in your packet the master plan sections that focus on uh General Park use analysis and areas of potential Improvement include an introduction and sort of a background of what how we went through this process how what we considered during the inventorying and a bit of a a comment regarding the analysis and the general Community engagement that we went through in this process an overarching sense of place what we've uh determined that Purgatory Park means to the community in general um a bit about park access meaning Trails how folks how folks get to the park and where they Park generally speaking uh is is up for um consideration uh we have a unique Red Barn site associated with Purgatory Park on excelsor Boulevard a pretty interesting feature um there's some thoughts and considerations for that Red Barn becoming part of the park um we have generalized design standards these are involved in trail maintenance for instance and other sort of practical Logistics of operating the park and finally dogs in the park dogs being a a key key uh reason why people go to Purgatory Park overall so we have some data feedback data and recommendations regarding dogs in the park so a little bit of an inventory analysis background um we went on site to document current Park conditions we visited um various times we met with staff internally folks that maintain the park try to get an understanding of what they do to make sure the park uh is operating and as beautiful as it is uh we reviewed reference documents including that post plan and the natural resources master plan an important document that sort of lays out the groundwork for our restoration approaches and how we identify Target plant communities and other sort of Natural Resources Focus goals and then finally we identified priority areas of focus um to sort of uh take a closer look so Community engagement was quite a big process we've had 624 survey responses we had six in-person engagement events throughout the city we've gotten over a thousand uh written comments uh we so hosted this minaka matters page for many months we had 10 plus signs in the park with QR codes to try to elicit feedback back from Park users um and we've had over a thousand in-person write in comments to that particular website the draft plan was made available for public comment it went up for 30 days um on minaka matters we are able to record comments in a variety of ways including a guest book um and responses to survey questions that we posited to the to the public uh we had 76 residents provide draft plan survey question responses and over 1,300 unique page views for this particular project we also had 39 mapping tool submissions which are dots that you can add to a map to apply a comment to a specific area of Purgatory Park so generally very strong feedback um so a little bit about Community engagement folks uh are regular users of purgatory Parks so 67% of our uh feedback respondents go at least once a week um so primarily local residents use the park quite often we do get quite a bit of sort of word of mouth and draw to the park from folks outside of the City of Minnetonka um Regular Park users tend to be fairly close by so 54% are within 2 to5 miles most users still drive and park at the main parking lot off of exceler Boulevard although we do get some folks 29% walking in and 7% bik bicycling in from the Trails South to Eden Prairie and north from the the library area so a little bit more about Community engagement most people identified that they go there to walk the trails Purgatory Park is is quite naturally beautiful um there's a series of maintained and informal Trails throughout the park uh most folks said that they went there to walk those Trails um we do get quite a bit of leashed and offleash dog usage in the park um generally folks thought that Park maintenance was adequate for the most part although we did set get some comments about additional trash receptacles especially for dog pickup um we did get generally good feedback about Park amenities being in good condition um but potentially needing a refresh in some areas specifically memorial benches uh interpretive signage in the park is a little outdated at this point um the wayf finding in the park is non-existent or not looking so great these days and just some clarity around Park rules um so a little bit of us on site engaging with the public we hosted a wonderful event at unmap Brewing we had an event in the community center here uh we were had a popup at the farmers market that was well attended so generally good engagement for a for a project of this type um so sense of place uh we really wanted to uh reinforce purgatories Park's strong sense of place it's a unique character istic related to the Natural Resources there we wanted to highlight the park as an opportunity to experience that Solitude of walking in the woods of the Prairie and experiencing that connection with nature that some of us are lacking these days um we wanted the document to um describe how we would support the use of the park for exercising a lot of folks commenting they go there to walk and Jog and and bike ride on those formal Trails um we also recognize that the park is a gathering space space for a variety of Park users uh the dog walkers especially birders and natural resources volunteers this is their City Square to some degree they meet their friends there it gives them an opportunity to get outdoors and there's a real sense of community in purgatory Park and um the sense of place really again directly related to protecting and reinforcing the quality of the natural resources in this in this park so recommendations related to the sense of place um we're looking to adopt design standards related to park materials so the the actual characteristic of the trails for instance and the construction detailing the width and the maintenance required requirements of those particular features um we're looking to develop appropriate interpretive signage um and a general strategy related to appropriate placement and messaging when we're trying to interpret something on site specifically the natural resources restoration efforts and um we're looking to identify protect and enhance uh quote unquote special places there's some very Scenic uh overlooks in the park that um currently don't have benches that could be an opportunity to sort of uh highlight and get folks to overlook the quite quite dramatic Vistas that exist in purgatory Park um park access trails and parking recommendations um we're looking to reinforce the trail system including those primary and informal Trails the primary trails are the ones that we actively maintain we plow those during the winter um the informal trails are the ones that sort of popped up over the Decades of folks going to the park and walking through the woods it's really quite beautiful um but those informal trails are quite numerous at times they're a bit redundant at times they cause erosion if they go Dow gradient where they really shouldn't um so part of the master plan would be to develop a Trails mapping strategy and review and potentially remove redundant or erosion erosion causing informal trails and as I mentioned standardize those Trail maintenance practices including the refurbishment of the surfacing and issues like uh mowing the side of the trail and in restoration areas um in favor of supporting those those natural ecologies and finally developing a clear and consistent Trails mapping and wayfinding system there's a lot of trails in the park some are very you know circular and and easy to interpret but others if we're trying to promote people to get into the woods a little bit a little bit of tasteful wayfinding would go a long way um another recommendation within the master plan is to study the stola road culdesac we understand that there's quite a bit of parking occurring currently at this uh culdesac so we would look to study it for safe and accessible vehicular parking and consider eliminating parking in favor of all those cars going to the north lot off of excelsia any future considerations of that sort would include a full public process and a council approval I do understand that the plan does include a concept of some parking stalls associate with stola um but I want to reemphasize that all options would be on the table coming out of this particular study we would need to get a better bead on how many cars park there during the day and what the particulars of of that issue is we do understand it's a residential area and not potentially ideal for uh you know a number of cars coming into that side of the park so it would require further study and with that we would consider the enhancement of the main parking lot off of excelsia and additional Trail access from that parking lot in into the park there's quite a bit of erosion um sort of these desire lines where people leave their cars and walk directly into the park where we don't have formal sidewalks at this point um also the consideration of green infrastructure associated with parking lots um capturing that impervious surface runoff um the creek is right there at times it's quite eroded and you know in these times of high water uh it's worth considering green infrastructure improvements um parking Concepts in the plan would uh they would need to be facilitated through additional planning and design efforts Beyond this master plan document uh the Red Barn really fascinating I actually just met with a DNR bat specialist not too long ago we do have a colony of big brown bats that we would look to uh potentially rehouse if something happened to the Red Barn in the future um but this isn't officially part of purgatory yet um part of this master plan would identify it as becoming part of the proper Purgatory Park boundaries it does have structural concerns if you've been in there the it it doesn't look too good these days I'm weed a big snow and some wind wouldn't would knock that thing over um but to add this 1.23 acres to the park and study a Redevelopment to accommodate some sort of a public facility such as a Nature Center um we received quite a bit of feedback from the public in interest of a climate and nature center of some sort some sort of shared use public facility there was quite a bit of interest in that so we did showcase a conceptual lay out of this uh public use development Concept in the master plan and of course the planning and preliminary design would um review the potential uses what would the demand be what are we trying to do with some site like this so it' be a future study um so as you can see here quite a quite a bit of interest 61% in some sort of public facility especially a environmental climate or Nature Center um we also look to develop some design standards specifically around the trails since they're one of the most used uh features of the park so create a trail development process based on uh you know an ongoing Park assessment users and these maintenance requirements um these standards would be ideally rolled out to other Parks as we develop sort of the best practices when it comes to maintaining our Trails resurfacing them um this Purgatory Park master plan would potentially Le lead into detailing for our other Parks um we want to consider longevity General accessibility and those maintenance needs um some of the bridges in the park are a little outdated at this point not looking too good um so looking to uh schedule replacement of those bridges and incorporate steps where necessary to enhance access uh all while reducing those General natural resources impact from the foot traffic that we see out there um also the development of design standards around Memorial features we have quite a few benches in the park these are wonderful features I've met with these people in other Parks when they're getting their memorial benches um they're quite wonderful locations for these folks um but this master plan lays out a process to place them in appropriate spacings uh sort of determine in advance where they would fit on site um and locate some new opportunities where they can provide rest and and um sort of take these Overlook locations appropriately without cluttering the park than being too frequent for instance and requiring additional maintenance um and then finally coordinate Memorial tree plantings we do get quite a bit of interest from the public I want to plant a tree in honor of my grandfather for instance um and we just would want to make sure that those tree planting guides uh would would meet with the natural resources Master plans we're planting the appropriate species and the appropriate location um design standards related to signage um we would like to coordinate wayfinding and interpretive signage with this updated City Graphics standards that we recently accomplished um we would like to place Park usage rules and Trail mapping at sort of key locations without cluttering the site uh I have big opinions about too many signs that clutter up the landscape at times so we'd want to be thoughtful and tasteful with those locations and the nature of the signs themselves and finally dogs in the park so um we got survey responses that show many people go to Purgatory Park to walk their dog both on leash and off leash so 55% in our survey uh go to the park for dog walking um and quite a mixed feedback regarding um folks Comfort level related to off leash dogs in the park a lot of folks saying it's a big part of my life in the city and something I value um quite a bit and some folks concerned that offleash dogs pose a risk to safety and their General Comfort level in the park um so our the master plan document lays out um in quite detail the responses we've got um regarding these questions um related to dogs in the park we do have a short-term and longterm recommendations in this master plan the short-term recommendation the the topmost one would be to review the current offleash ordinance language um and this would be to more clearly Define the current rules in the park with clear and concise signage to better ensure compliance and reduce unwanted interactions on the primary chair trails adjacent properties and in the parking areas um adding additional waste stations was something we heard from the public um we'd also like to continue to review the natural resources impacts including soil disturbance and erosion for future maintenance and reestablishment of native plant communities in this area all while minimizing General Park use disturbance um and finally mitigating these conflict areas there's some spots where the the primary uh Gathering spots for folks with off leash is very close by some of these formal Trails um so mitigating these conflict areas with landscaping or other uh limit sight lines or install temporary fencing we would sort of determine the best ways on site to mitigate some of those key tension areas and long-term recommendations would be to consider a Citywide dog park strategy including the consideration of fenced in offleash areas at purgatory and Beyond I know that's a step Beyond this master plan process but Purgatory being sort of the key spot in our city uh at this point for offleash dogs um the planning and design of this dog park strategy would be a significant undertaking obviously and would involve quite a bit of public input and future Capital Improvement plans would be involved in that process but this master plan would sort of kick that off potentially [Applause] so with that I would like to make myself available for questions Mr kka thank you very much um Council questions um on the Purgatory Park master plan cber kley I don't have a question but I do have um comment well how about let's do questions first because we're going to also get public comment here too a little bit but okay so let's um let let if anybody has any questions fine if they don't then we'll we'll just move things along but questions anyone council member Foster Bolton thank you I just have one when you're talking long-term what is that really I mean how longterm are we talking in years 10 20 I believe our our master plan for the long-term recommendations related to the offleash dogs is that what you were mentioning I I do believe we have a 3 to 5 year time frame in that but that's nebulous and frankly up to you folks very good any other questions councelor Kay okay I do have a question um so in the plan it talked about the the born and I had this question a while back like a year or so ago um there were some students at um minaka High School who talked about um re um vitalizing the BN and I know that at the time and then even in the study it says that um you know there has to be um a study done on the barn but don't recommend to um Revitalize the barn but when I think about putting possibly creating a new building there what would be the the cost like I mean I know you don't know because you haven't did the study but to me if you're gonna even think about doing a new building there I'm trying to see why couldn't the barn be redone so I just want to like a price comparison if we're going to be thinking about it can we look at a price comparison what would it take CU I think the barn is pretty cool the barn is spectacular the character the sighting of the barn and just how visible it is from XL Boulevard that is very important um from what I understand a structural analysis was done that laid out this was 10 12 years ago at this point that had some very high level costs in it but it was I believe in the nature of several hundred, doll to make the building safe for storage of Park equipment so uh to build something from Whole cloth would would be frankly um more expensive obviously but salvaging and the this particular building with the structural Integrity that it has being so weak at this point it would be quite expensive um so hard to say millions of dollars frankly I mean a new city facility to this end um you know determine the demands but Millions for a new building and whether or not we could retrofit this realistically and structurally improve it for safety to be determined all right thank you any other questions all right then um um we are considering this plan and I know that there are people in the audience who may have some comments so I'd invite people to come forward and make your comments I of course ask you to be be brief but um you know share your name come forward share your name and address and uh let us know what you are thinking my name is Rose Klein I live on stola road uh 17101 stola Road and I am against this parking lot um my neighbors have all emailed you council members about um our concerns about a parking lot in our small neighborhood we have one Road in and out we feel that a parking lot is going to increase traffic we have so many small children they ride their bikes we have people coming in with wagons and strollers and bikes and the cross country Runners from the high school used toola Road and a parking lot these people already fly down the road to go to the park excuse me I'm going to just tell you that the plan talks about studying options we want the study removed yeah and and and that that will be part of our discussion but nobody this plan is not recommending a parking lot it's not it's rep it's recommending considering different options including doing nothing so nothing's off the table so as you comment we're not going to talk about a parking lot tonight because we're not considering a parking lot we're considering this plan and this plan lays out what we're going to consider going forward so just be clear about that okay we want to remove the opt of we want to remove the study we don't you you finish okay and and and you are Marina merman 17117 Star Road very good thank you and uh I we're here pretty much to represent our neighborhood and uh surrounding neighborhoods because it's being used heavily so cuz we are all in agreement and this is uh what I'm going to read it's again it's an agreement with everybody all the residents so that you don't have to listen to everybody here I'm just going to read this okay very good soad in regards to stola Road parking and it says uh more than 50 residents signed a petition the petition was SED in a day or two so by now it would have have been a lot more signatures and we can get as many signatures as necessary pretty much so more than 50 residents signed a petition to remove the parking lot on stola road from the master plan we've heard from City staff that this is just a study and the stola parking lot depicted in the plan is not likely to happen therefore we would like to respectfully request a minor adjustment to the master plan to make it match with City staff is saying we propose that the city council make approval of the master plan contingent on removing the diagram on page 52 depicting a potential parking lot on stola road along with a paragraph on page 51 that references it by removing the paragraph beginning with the words one concept along with the diagram the parking study could still be performed without slanting it toward formalizing a parking lot in residential neighborhood since the council will be voting on the actual plan and not the verbal assurances we think this adjustment is needed to align the plan with what city staff says it's is their intent thank you thank you okay have a good night is there anyone else who' like to comment on this plan again state your name and address good evening Mr mayor council members uh Kevin tan I'm at 17008 stola Road um my neighbors stated well concerns in the neighborhood um I'll maybe just add uh a perspective that based on the data in the survey um I feel like the Parking Challenge is uh not that big of a challenge um two-thirds of the respondents to the survey said that uh parking for Purgatory was adequate um and I don't have the actual data to be able to say um how some of the other statistics are correlated but 40% of people live within a mile of the park um 35% people say they access the park by walking or biking there I know just from looking outside my window there's a lot of people from the surrounding neighborhoods accessing through um the entrance at the end of our street I'm in purgatory regularly myself um and the safety concerns certainly are real just seeing people speeding around uh down there so um definitely supportive of adjusting the plan to reduce the uh likelihood or the possibility that there is um greater parking structures uh or formality there at the end of uh our call the secac great thank you Mr Tan is there anyone else good evening good evening hi um my name is Angela morera I live at 5554 net place um I just would like to say thank you for taking the time and interest in creating this Purgatory Park master plan I'm very hopeful that the plan's purpose is to reestablish the vision and sense of place of The Preserve as it states in the in the plan um this plan has the potential to formalize Trails guide public use of the space I think it's a good um road map to focus on the community as a whole and avoid being um mired into catering to a single use Recreation um implementation of this plan will take careful leadership to retain this Vision but I'm optimistic that the park will remain an interesting and exciting Natural Area within our city that showcases multiple habitats including Prairie Oak Savannah and Oak Woodland into the future I am looking forward to implementation of the um conditional fencing and barrier on the east side of the park for Public Safety I'm looking forward to more clear signage um that has better uh concise and clear language on on its signs and I'm interested in learning more about the implementation timeline as you are thank you thank you very much is there anyone else good evening welcome welcome thank you uh Heather Home 15327 Lake Shore Avenue just want to Echo the last person's comments and want to say thank you to staff for all the time that they've put into working on this plan and also the consultant uh as a regular Park Visitor I'm there several times a week and also frequently volunteering in the park uh I'm I'm really excited to see how this plan is implemented Purgatory is our largest park that we have in the city it's our biggest Community preserve it has outstanding natural features and it has so much to offer our community um I EMA mailed uh you all on this issue several times and I really would like you all to keep in mind the importance of the this master plan planning process in that we need to make our public open spaces our Parks uh welcoming and safe so I urge you to uh hopefully you do that short-term recommendation of uh looking at the ordinances and making sure that that everyone in our community feels safe and welcome and can visit and enjoy our beautiful Parks so thank you thank you very much anyone else one more time I I get to ask several times all right well then I'll bring it back to council um thank you for uh showing up and sitting around for S waiting through a long meeting but um thank you so much so uh Council council member Wilburn um I'll try to be brief um so I wanted before I get to specifics in the in the plan to just um talk a little bit about visuals and this I noticed this actually when uh counil toured Purgatory Park that more than a year ago it was before our new council members were with us um and some of the materials that were handed out and it's it's on me for not saying anything then but I I wasn't sure I didn't know that it would be included so um under the design standard section on signage starting on page 73 um if you look at all of the depictions of the people there are no brown people and um you know when we're talking about equity and being welcoming people looking at this and not seeing themselves represented that's not welcoming so that's just the comment on that um and then for uh for both the well I guess we'll we'll do it separately so for the um the residents on sto Road uh yet we have seen your petition and we have read all your emails um we understand that you do not want um you don't want the study done I will say so the picture that I'm seeing on page 52 that's and staff can correct me if I'm wrong that's not a picture of a parking lot that's a picture of the actual parking as it exists today so it's not it's not a proposed parking lot it's just a picture of what it the how people are parking there now is that correct no that's not correct no that's a a concept proposing like formal parking stalls currently it's just a bulb of a culde saac and cars sort of freeform themselves in there and this concept shows formal parking stalls so no it's not the current conditions all right um I guess I wouldn't feel strongly about removing that picture one you know one way or the other that if if that will make residents happier to not have that picture in there I I don't think that's a a a huge thing to do um but I I think as staff tried to make clear that um when we're looking at at the master plan like two areas that are have been brought forth as potential problems are parking and then um the dog dogs offleash on leash rules and so it's the proposal is to look at both of those things this plan does not again make any any recommendations and and no prediction about what will happen um so I mean I think I think we need to have the study we need to know um before we can make a decision um so that's where I am on that thank you other other comments council members thank you council member Wilber other comments council member Calbert thank you um yeah I agree with uh council member Wilburn on her uh comments and um you know I I think this is the story of conflicting interests and that and how we are going to resolve them so I appreciate all of the parts of the packet um the addendum was a helpful addendum um I just want to reassure residents just because we study something does not mean that we're going to put something there that you don't want it might actually reinforce why we might not put something there that you don't want we don't know what it's going to show all right now it is a de facto parking area people Park in your culdesac and um I know that there are some people that just want us to put up signs there for no parking and I know from you know I live on Baker Road right on Baker Road and there are a lot of things that I wish people wouldn't do including like it would be great if not so many people drove down Baker Road but a lot of people do and people there's human behavior just because we put a No Parking sign doesn't mean that they're not going to park there also so you know this has to do this plan has to do with enforcement it has to do with human behavior and how we can Corral that human behavior in the least harmful way possible it also has to do with dog behavior and corralling that in the least harmful way possible so um uh my main focuses are you know Finding where on the Continuum these competing priorities are between for instance preserved designation and public use particularly for dog park or dog walking versus the many other uses the conflict between restoration efforts and the impact of humans and dogs on the areas that we're restoring um and maybe not throwing in the towel on um some of the areas that really are degraded that would take a long time you know trying to do our best um to for the greatest and best use which very well may be dogs I I have two dogs at my house at any time sometimes three sometimes four because they're not my dogs and I'm not violing any violating any ordinances cuz they're they're just at my house but I I take dogs to parks and I understand the conflicts so um you know I have one dog that I I can put off leash cuz he just literally sticks to us like glue and doesn't even go off the trail um and we have a pitbull that we never let off leash because even though she's a harmless sweet girl she scares people and I don't want to put her in the position of getting in trouble through no fault of her own um so the other conflict is between offleash dogs and people who are afraid or have had adverse experiences with charging and aggression picking up a poop there are no Magic Poop fairies just pick up your poop take it with you and throw it away when you get to a garbage can um one of my concerns is there have been a few residents that wanted that want us to build fences to protect their property from dogs and you know I I'm a person that just doesn't like fences as a as a general rule I don't like them in my neighborhood it it starts closing things off this is a preserve so the more walls and fences and barriers we put to habitat the less I like it um and I feel that if homeowners really want a fence that they you know it should probably be a homeowner responsibility to put up a fence they you know bought a house next to a park and you know creatures including dogs are going to um come by I I get wandering dogs in my yard uh quite a bit actually and and I live on Baker Road so um and I really really appreciate U Mr kka um comments about tasteful placement of signs and kind of clustering the messages so that you have the wayf finding the rules kind of packaged in tasteful locations because you know as we Implement some of the new rules possibly the dog offleash dog areas um wave finding and other kinds of you know usage signs um I just think a forest of signs just becomes an eyesore and detracts from the natural uh environment and the enjoyment of the views so um I'm really happy about that and I just want to reassure everyone that especially as a dog lover I want to remove the conflict and so um we also have a lot on our plate and I know that the that the uh leash ordinance I think is on our study sessions for September and I don't know that we can get to it any faster we have a lot on our plates so um but I do think that we should study it and and be uh considerate about it and I think the the biggest um implementation rub is going to be how dogs and dog lovers fit into the overall implementation of the master plan but in general I think it's I think it's a great plan I think we took into consideration the many viewpoints I think there were some people that wrote saying that um they didn't feel like it was a representative sampling and I think it was an overwhelming sampling I think we got hundreds and hundreds and if you've been on S you know if you've been involved in the city at all with any of the projects um to get this much feedback is is rare so I think we got a good sampling of things that people like and don't like are satisfied with want to change and don't want to change and I just want to thank everyone involved in this um for a really beautiful job on the master plan Council M kley thank you so I've been um really thinking about like this whole master plan and reading through it having conversations with folks on soda um talking to friends from um minaka parks and just going to that Park visiting myself and just having my own thought process about um you know the use of um the park and the trails and um the trails that was walked down areas that's walked down in the park uh where it's where you create a trail because you're not on the actual Trail and you just um create additional trails and um just the the comments and the um master plan about how to address these Trails if we're going to create more Trails if we're going to look at um you know fixing the space um where the where the grass I guess is walked down and so I just been thinking about all of it because I mean yes um you know that needs to happen where you're addressing the walk down spaces or I guess I want to say Trails like from a folks walking down the paths that's not really a trail and I think that needs to be addressed um it's so many and so I'm like how do you regulate that and even if it is fixed how do you regulate like we're not going to police people and so I'm thinking about like even if it's repaired and maintained how do we get our residents to start doing something different you know because just because some residents values are so high about the park doesn't mean everyone share the same value you know and we would like to say that our residents will play fair or play nice or be kind or care about the environment but we know we're human and some people care about their animals and want their animals to run freely as we already know this and we know that animals also impact the environment as well and so I know that we're talking about it but even with that putting up the signage I'm concerned that you know we still will have this problem even with investing you know our taxpayers money into the parks we're still going to have some of this and if we're not policing and I don't think we're going to police in the park how do we you know how do we guess guarantee that this is not going to happen we can't I mean like I don't think we can I know it's important to address it and and to start to repair these areas and these spaces and we've been doing a great job and I give the city um and volunteers you know the credit I mean like we've been doing amazing work in this part but I still do have concerns about like the the ideal that okay we're going to create these new signage new rules um and it's going to solve it um I just I mean I'm not trying to be like pessimistic but you know I'm feeling a little like okay is this are we really going to make enough changes where people start to care about the park the way they need to or is this just something that we're going to be doing and then we're still wasting taxpayer dollars I think about that um because it's a expense that's we're going to have to pay for as taxpayers and also um another thing with sto Ro um I don't know if this is a good time but I am going to address it and ask for um make a recommendation um because I have been on stoto road and I did see cars parking in the Kovac and I've seen it over and over um a few times where I can see why um residents don't want parking to be considered there and I know it's a consideration but to me if it's a consideration um can we go back and look at um why the Kovac was created in the first place versus is saying let's move straight to um a parking lot there I would prefer that um as staff to look into the history um of the um Kovac versus um the parking and in addition to that to me this is just my own personal belief um if we're going to be talking about um creating a new space um for the barn and maybe a building I think that would be like to me like a ideal space over in that space um it's parking um also you know I know there's comments about extending the area off of excel here where the parking lot is maybe extending that space Excel here is a really busy street um it gets busy and um I just don't see that as a solution um and that off excels here expanding the space over there um so um far as the um the dog situation been thinking about that too um there was I'm kind of torned with the darkg situation because there was some comments about the um signage and again spaces where the dogs should be located at versus um the fenced area and I kind of like the idea of um just kind of looking studying that more and just being more clear about the areas of where the dogs can be yet um because when I think about again are people really going to follow the rules like how do you police that I mean I just don't see even if like even if everything's put in place the fence is put it in place you got to sign um area where do dogs can be at I just don't I just can't see it so um and I know it's not my job to like see the future but um I would rather for us to study it more to say okay rather or not this is a good time to put up fence Space versus um maybe using the signage to say okay dogs can be in this space because if we cannot police that police the fact that people may not follow the rules whether it's fenced or not fenced I think it still would be a problem so that's kind of my thought process around that so that's kind of where I'm at all right thank you council member cookley other comments from Council Members no no no um you had your time we're done sorry um council member Foster Bolton um thank you mayor I think that the this it is so big that but the plan is kind of a road map and a path to to to to figure out all this all these other other things and it's huge I mean there's there's a lot of stuff going on and so I think that this is just a path and it will help us it's like the Ridgedale um M master plan we were just talking about the village study that it doesn't necessarily mean all these things are going to happen and what what we see today may not look the same in 10 years even um and things but what I do know is that we need to figure this out for future Generations I mean the biggest thing is like the Prairie one of the most um endangered ecosystems is Prairie and I see Purgatory Park as a huge step toward preserving Prairie and this is about my grandchildren and all of our great grandchildren I mean we need to be able to they need to see this and we're lucky that this is around and it's our job to be stewards of this park and to figure this out and to take our time and to keep this Vision in our head at all times and I really feel like Mr you did a spectacular job of talking about this and based on the people that I have spoken with in the neighborhood about the parks um who have actually worked with you really um are impressed with your work so but and I appreciate it and um so anyway thanks that's thank you council member F Bolton council member R thank you mayor um I'm G to try to be brief for a once uh I will say uh echoing uh paty um council member Foster Bolton first of all this is a really helpful necessary roadmap for planning Purgatory Park and it really sets out the General Vision um and the potential options to achieve it it doesn't mean that every option will be pursued and it doesn't mean that others won't come up as in the you know rdale Village study and other studies that we have um at the end of the day though I have to say you know I really respect and empathize with uh the folks on stola road I you know kind of empathize and understand the points of view of those who are concerned about you know dogs either being on leash or off leash but at the end of the day I don't want to get into all the specifics of that here but this is you know our 30,000 foot view are we going to approve this road map to go forward and study these issues um what I will say though at the end of the day in my view is none of us gets a guarantee that the things in and around our neighborhood won't change um bigger houses go up across the street uh wides get round W roads get widened right outside your house public boat launches go in in your neighborhood increasing traffic tremendously and you know maybe your consideration of of Lake health um so that's part of the deal you know and when you when we move into a place we don't own our view shed as we talked a lot about in different things we don't get a guarantee that our neighborhood doesn't change um you know people are speeding on our roads now that's a big issue in another separate conversation um but you know as is said at the beginning of each planning uh commission meeting our job up here is and as the mayor often says is to manage the change that's going to happen and do it in a way that you know balances Community IND individual well-being and interests and so that's what we're going doing do here in terms of you know rules and worrying about that it's always you know if if you don't have rules you don't have laws in society so you know we have to have rules we have to have you know kind of codes of conduct and behavior and so that's why we you know set apart these set forth these plans and go forward uh with a a more detailed planning process from here um with that vision in mind of preserving and kind of making sure that this community um asset and Gem um and and you know kind of uh example of you know something that really is worth preserving enhancing and protecting that we do so in a responsible manner that benefits you know our generation our children's generation and generations down the line so um with that said U like I said trying to be brief here but I think uh you know we need to look at this uh approve this go forward and then look at all the other constituent parts of this plan carefully and responsibly um in terms of you know dogs and other ordinances as quickly as possible as we responsibly can in the meantime specifically regarding dogs I would like to make sure that we have clear language definition that goes into effect as soon as possible if not immediately I would love to see that and then I would love to see a trial period go forward in terms of we measure and monitor how that goes in terms of on and off leash dogs um given uh quality Clarity in our signage and and then move from there so with that I will be supporting uh this motion very good thank you anyone else has everyone everyone spoken except me counc m cley okay so I I I want to be clear I like to make a motion and I don't know this is going to be a new motion so I'm just going to say it and then well I'll tell you what I'm going to say what I'm going to tell you what I think first then we'll get into motions okay okay so um you know I think the plan is well done um I liked um council member Foster Bolton's term uh road map because that what that's what it is um it it doesn't tell us what the destination is it tells us the different places that we have the opportunity to go and you know so I really like the plan because it identifies the areas for further study and further consideration without painting us into a corner on any of them and I think that's really important there will be opportunity for further input on all of these critical topics maybe not on every topic um but you know the the things that I took away um in terms of I I just want to comment briefly on you know the dogs Red Bar the red barn and a little bit on stola road I think those are four or three critical issues as far as dogs go there's more work to be done but I think one of the things that I would like to see happen as we consider things is let's identify the key areas of conflict where where are where in the park are the most conflicts taken are occurring so that we can perhaps develop corrective plans and corrective actions to minimize those I think when we start talking about a plan like this we tooo often look for the perfect and the perfect becomes the enemy of what's really good and what's really workable and I think we have to focus on what's workable are we going to eliminate any dog uh human uh conflicts or dog to dog conflicts and eliminate them perfectly not going to happen I can guarante that's one thing I know is not going to happen but I think if we can identify the key areas of conflict we can make improvements that will benefit everybody but we also have to set expectations you know on the Red Barn you know we all love the red barn but guess what the Red Barn is going to fall down one of these days now some of the thoughts that I have um you know theoretically we could build a new Red Barn um a new Red Barn would not cost as much as you know some you know some fancy build I mean there are options out there but or or we could take materials from the red barn and incorporate them into a future design of a building that is you know up to our 20 21st century standards but you know we're not problem solving tonight but I I think there are options there that you know there might be an opportunity for a facility that that you know takes advantage of the heritage of the Red Barn without being the Red Barn because it's unsafe and and it's it's ridiculous to to um to try and renovate a substandard building so you know I think there's Solutions there you know again regarding sta Rowan I totally respect the the residents perspectives on that and they will be considered but I do not support taking considerations of Alternatives um off of the off of the um plan because you know what we we have we will have opportunities for public comment on on that issue and we will study it and whether anything changes or it stays the same or maybe we need greater enforcement to to minimize things or maybe there's even a opportunity to say you know maybe we should just close that um you know close that entrance because the the impacts are um are too significant my view is now is not the right time to take anything off the table we should keep our options open we should listen we should engage with our residents and and make good decisions for the cities the city but we we need to look at some of these issues specifically I think I think more parking attached to the park is appropriate the question is where is it okay those are all things that we need to study and that's why I like about this plan is it opens the door for cons for considering and studying specific issues and it doesn't paint us into a corner on any one of those the only other thing I want to add is I agree um I you know py if you have any suggestions how I could get some grandchildren I'd really like that but um here here but I don't I don't have any but I still care I still care about my my uh my grand children in future generations and I think that you know I think that um you know preserving the spectacular land that this is for you know frankly multiple uses but we also have to be careful and and mindful of the gem that we have and you know Prairie is very scarce and very rare and um and you know and and and some of the restoration work that's been done in the park has has been just been trampled and you know we we you know and again we we're not going to it's it's not going to be perfect but I think that we have a lot of competing interest that we're going to have to collect um public input on and then make the best decision we can but it's never going to be perfect I mean not everybody's going to like what we do it's not going to be perfect but let's do what we can to preserve this Spectacular Park that is really a neighborhood park but but for some people it's it's really a regional park because it's such a draw and it's so distinctive that we we really need to to focus on that so I am supportive of the plan I think it tees things up very well um Mr kumka you've done a great job it's it's great to have you here reporting on it and I'm I'm supportive so those are my comments would anybody like to make a motion and and council member K you I believe you have a motion that you'd like to make yes I do um I'm going to make a motion to see where is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that I like to make a motion to approve the progator park master plan but re but remove the reference to stoto Road um parking and a motion to make the progator park master plan and direct staff to bring black back information regarding the history of the Seda Road parking all right is there a second all right I'm not hearing a second so would somebody like to make an alternative motion Council M Calbert thank you mayor I'd like to make the motion to adopt the Purgatory Master Park master plan as uh presented is is there a second councilor R I'll second so we've got a motion by Council M Calbert and a second by Council m r Miss England Please call roll kley yes Foster Bolton yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes R yes weome yes motion carries item 15 is appointments and reappointments and we have none of those and item 16 is adjournment thanks I move adjournment uh thank you council member Wilburn is there a second council member Calbert a second all right we've got a motion by Council M Wilber and a second by Council M calt all in say all in favor say I I we are adjourned thank you all [Music] [Music] for