e e [Music] good evening everyone and welcome I will call this Bloomington city council meeting to order tonight is Monday February 24th 2025 thank you for everyone joining us this evening we will start our meeting as we always do if you are able please 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 liy and justice for all once again thanks to everybody here in the chambers and thanks to everybody watching online and on cable access tonight appreciate your joining us tonight uh also want to welcome back council member Ras who back with us after an extended time off for some health issues but we're very glad to have you back thanks for thanks for coming back we're very glad to see you Victor thanks for being here good Council our first order of business tonight will be to uh uh approve tonight's agenda and the agenda uh we have three introductory items under item 2.2 we have the introduction of new employees we'll be hearing from a couple of different folks uh welcoming them to our city staff we're going to hear two work plans and annual reports uh item 2.2 is uh the work plan and annual report for the Bloomington Human Rights Commission and 2.3 is the 2025 Parks arts and Recreation Commission work plan under item three our consent business council member lman has our consent agenda tonight 12 items on the consent business under item four our hearings resolutions and ordinances we actually have three public hearings this evening item 4.1 will be a public hearing regarding the heights tax increment financing District item 4.2 a public hearing on a city code Amendment for rs1 and r1a District ordinance and item 4.3 is a public hearing regarding the vacation of public drainage and utility easements uh related to the Hyundai Edition and uh item five our organizational business item 5.1 we'll get an update on the Community Health and Wellness Center from our Park and Recreation director an catry and I think a cast The Thousands will be chipping in on that as well so looking forward to hearing that and we will wrap up our meeting as we always do item 5.2 will be our city council policy and issue update Council any corrections additions or anything to comment on with the tonight's agenda as presented hearing none I would move approval of the agenda as presented motion and a second by council member dandro to accept tonight's agenda as presented no further Council discussion on this all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed motion carries 70 with the agenda in hand we will move through it now item two our introductory items item 2.1 is the introduction of new employees we've got a couple of folks coming up uh why don't we start with our Parks folks Alison War if you could come forward and introduce our newest employee in Parks good even evening and welcome good evening mayor and council members thank you for having us here tonight I am here to introduce Jessica Larson and she is our newest Parks and Recreation coordinator and she is going to be overseeing our senior and adaptive programming and also continuing to add new programming for active older adults and expand those offerings and I'll let Jessica tell a little bit more about herself here tonight yeah hello good evening mayor and council members like Alison said I'm Jessica Larson and I'm excited to be in the Parks and wreck department um and a little about me I have my master's degree in recreational therapy from the University of Wisconsin lacrosse um and I've had a variety of roles within Recreation and Social Services over the last 15 years I currently live over in Ko neighborhood of St Paul and I'm getting married in September and I've been here for about a month and it's going great so far I'm thoroughly enjoying working with the team and getting to know the community members that have been a part of our programs so thanks for having me well thank you for being here tonight and welcome aboard we're very glad to have you and uh you got a big important job with uh uh the recreation as it relates to Creek Side now but the upcoming Community Health and Wellness Center as well absolutely lots of exciting things coming very good very good thanks so much for being here thank you thank you and Amy Cheney good evening good evening good evening mayor council members tonight is my pleasure to introduce Lauren Reynolds Lauren joined the city on February 10th as our chief equity and inclusion officer she will lead the work of equity inclusion and belonging which includes developing and ensuring the success of key strategies related to having an equitable Equitable and inclusive organization Lauren and her team who are here tonight we got aella and Aran um are focused on key initiatives identified in the Bloomington tomorrow together strategic plan that was developed with Community Council and staff while contributing to a number of initiatives the team will be closely involved with continuing to build a connected and welcoming Community Lauren most recently held the position of associate director of external partnership in the global diversity equity and inclusion office of United Health Group and led the diversity equity and inclusion strategy for the Minnesota Department of Human Services Lauren is a native of Indiana and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Indiana University Bloomington and an MBA in Human Resources management from Indiana wesleyian University she is certified as a diversity professional by The Institute of diversity certification and holds an executive diversity coaching CER certification from Howard University she's an Engaged Community member and leader and was recognized as a 2020 Honore in in in by the Minneapolis St Paul Business Journal for women in business welcome Lauren and would you like to say a few words yes good evening mayor and council members again my name is Lauren Reynolds and I am so thrilled to hold this position um it's an important and impactful role and I'm excited to come in and use my experience to continue to elevate the work um and excited to work with you all as well so thank you so much and I look forward to partnering with you all well thank you thank you for being with us this evening uh thank you for taking that step up in Bloomington I appreciate that um and and appreciate you being here because yes this is very important work at a very important time and we're we're very thankful to have you on board here welcome thank you so much and I will say to both Jessica and Lauren uh very happy to have you on board and I as I say to new employees every time we introduce them uh welcome aboard and in a lot of ways you're the face of Bloomington they uh the residents of Bloomington they they may know us they may watch us every now and again but you're the folks that they're going to interact with on a daily basis and you represent Bloomington for us to them and that's a big responsibility but we got complete confidence in the work that you're going to be doing and looking forward to the impact that you're going to make on our city of Bloomington so welcome glad to have you here [Applause] tonight Council next on our agenda is uh the annual report and work plan for the Bloomington Human Rights Commission so in our city Charter we have uh we've got a number of boards and commissions identified throughout the city of Bloomington and in our city Charter is the requirement that these boards and commissions each year report to the city council to give an update on what was accomplished last year and to present their work plan for the coming year and we are plowing our way through we had a couple at our last meeting we've got a couple of this meeting well we will continue to do so just to make sure that the city council is up to speed and in uh in close contact in conjunction with our boards and commissions very happy to have Anita Smithson uh the chair of our Human Rights Commission with us this evening to present the work plan and the uh annual report for the Human Rights Commission good evening and welcome yes thank you so much mayor and councel um I'm assuming that the presentation will come up on the screen here I'll give it a moment maybe I have to we all make big assumptions sometimes I get it but it's a I shouldn't have said that but if you just stand by we always have the first one of the evening is always a technical there we go wonderful oh we're uh not at the beginning though we're not at the beginning do I have control all right so I don't know uh we'll get there here we go here we go all right um well hello good evening mayor city council um and city manager um thank you thank you so much for having me tonight to present the Human Rights Commission 2024 year in review and our work plan for 2025 on this first slide here I just want to thank and recognize all of the community members who have served on the HRC in 2024 and for the new members who will be joining us um in 2025 the Commissioners have really brought great perspectives to our meetings and it's been a pleasure to work with them as well as our city staff um Eric and Kayla all right um so when the Human Rights Commission reflected on 2024 during the development of our work plan for this year um what really bubble to the top is that we're most proud of the moments that we are able to connect deeply with Community highlights were the nine proclamations that we brought forward um and the input and the learning that we gained from the communities that are reflected within those on this slide um there is pictures at the top um of our international human rights day and our Hispanic Heritage Month acceptors and in the bottom uh right uh the pride Proclamation acceptors um being able to uplift and share stories um from the community makes these Ceremonies for proclamations really meaningful um we enjoy this and we hope that you do as well we also had a really successful event in partnersh ship with Normandale Community College the just deeds and Beyond um Legacy and future of housing accessibility for all um we were glad to bring community members forward um we had about 60 participants come uh share a meal and learn about racially restrictive covenants and the impacts that they've had on Bloomington as well as the rest of Minnesota and the ways that we can move forward as a community to write the wrongs of the past it will eventually click forward I think that direction okay it's like an old TV remote um okay so another um highlight from 2024 was the opportunities to connect with other boards commissions City staff and Community Partners um we were able to provide input on the resolution that aligned housing um with the BTT strategic plan uh we engaged in planning for the 9mile creek Corridor as it relates to Ada and we have continued to advocate for youth Transportation Solutions Citywide we've also tabled at several City events including the farmers market and Bloomington Pride which are great um opportunities for us um on this slide you can see a highlight from the local suncurrent newspaper that recognizes the annual Omar Bondo award from 2024 which we actually held the ceremony earlier this year I also want to call out and uplift the work um and the partnership from the city and our staff here to continue um advancing the city of Bloomington is a place where lgbtqia plus community members want to be and can safely work and live the Human Rights Campaign which is the largest lgbtqia plus civil rights organization in the United States has scored Bloomington every year since 2019 on issues of equality and we've achieved an all-time high score of 96 on the 2024 Municipal equality index which is really impactful so moving into 2025 we want to continue to do work that is connected to the city's strategies has impact on current policies is visible and makes a positive impact on people's lives and comes with some measure of success we will continue initiatives that are visible and connected to community including the proclamations listed here the annual Omar bonderud award as well as seek opportunities to collaborate with other boards and commissions we will also continue to work with the city's lgbtqia plus liaison to provide input for the municipal equality index um while the city has made significant progress for lgbtqia plus people there are still some opportunities that the city has to increase their impacts regarding Municipal Services which are incredibly important and increasingly so given the current national political climate our Focus for 2025 is to Leverage What resonated in 2024 making authentic connections with the community seeking to show up and deepen those relationships and ensure that we're truly understanding our community and what human rights issues are impacting them today we know Bloomington is a great City filled with Incredible and diverse people and we also know there are many more opportunities to learn about our neighbors and the human rights issues impacting them so we look forward to continuing to show up listen and learn uh one of the efforts we would like to do this year is to create resources so that when our commission is out at a farmers market or some other community event we would like a blueprint for what that looks like how we will um engage with the community what information we can gather from them and um what the community gets from their interactions with us we hope that through this work we can gain insights that will allow us to take that connection a step further with the intention of holding one to two workshops or cultural events in the community and then of course we would like to continue to seek ways to collaborate with others and are open to any special opportunities that may come to us in 2025 from you directly from other boards commissions or staff so thank you so much for your time this evening I'm available for questions if you have any otherwise I just I'm grateful for the opportunity thank you chair Smithson appreciate it and appreciate the work that your commission does council any questions for chair Smithson council member dallesandro thank you Mr Mayor good evening commissioner um quick question about uh and this may be premature just because we have a new uh Chief equity and inclusion officer here but I'm curious if we're going to see uh a a more um collaborative approach of the human rights commission's work with office of racial Equity inclusion and belonging and I don't know if you all have had the chance to address that but I didn't see it in the work plan so I'm hoping that um maybe that's on deck for you for folks to consider yeah we um we have on the agenda for an upcoming meeting to have them in as speakers um we are absolutely really wanting to be able to connect collaborate work together wherever possible um but nothing is like formally documented we don't have a specific project necessarily but we're absolutely open to that and and wanting that Council additional questions well seeing none thanks much for being here tonight and uh pass our thanks and appreciation on to the rest of the commission for the work that you folks do it it is greatly appreciated and uh I'll let you know it does not go unnoticed in our city of Bloomington so thank you so very much yeah thank you all so much thanks next up on our agenda council is a oh do we have to we have to accept this don't we I'm sorry here I go jump in the gun again Council I would look for a motion to approve the human rights commission's 2025 work plan as presented second motion by council member lman second by council member Carter to approve the human rights commission's 2025 work plan as presented no further Council discussion on those all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed motion carries 70 thank you very much for catching me on that one I appreciate that now we will move on to item 2.3 the work plan uh for the 2025 Parks art and Recreation Commission work we have uh our chair here Jonathan minks the chair of the park this year good evening and welcome to both of you thank you thank you good evening um mayor city manager and City Council Members um I am Leah Hughes the deputy director of Parks and Recreation and I'm here with Jonathan minks as uh mayor busy just uh said that he is a new chair newly elected chair of the park arts and Recreation Commission Jonathan is here to present our 2025 work plan for the park commission which will include a brief recap of key 2024 work plan accomplishments our annual work plan projects that happened every year and then he will dive into the 2025 commission initiatives for this year um there is a requested action from staff at the end of this presentation um that is a motion to adopt the 2025 work plan for the park arts and Recreation Commission and with that I will give it over to Jonathan good evening chairing welcome thank you city council mayor and city leaders thank you thank you for the opportunity to present our uh commission 2025 work plan in recap uh Park projects under construction we have the Bryant Park Tre BAU Park Three Rivers Park District partnership the Bloomington forward projects including the Bloomington Ice Garden modernization the Community Health and Wellness Center and the 9mile creek Corridor renewal Park maintenance and operational plan completion and naming rights and sponsorship policy the Parks and Recreation Department continue to advance the priorities and initiatives identified by the community council and park the key accomplishments in 2025 work plan initiatives align with the park system master plan Bloomington Parks users experiences and program offers continue to see Improvement ments the park appreciates the support of the city council in this effort two existing examples are the area updated policies regarding Partnerships and efficiency Three Rivers Park District partnership The Three Rivers Park District agreement builds Upon A long-standing partnership to improve efficiencies for both agencies and provide a seamless and highquality public service while while providing the city enhanced focus on city parks in 2025 the master agreement with Bloomington Public Schools will provide a similar benefit on to some of the park projects the commission has received monthly progress updates on the Bryant and treau park projects hearing responding to resident feedback along the way we are pleased at how the designs are responsive to what we've heard from the community the grant opening the grand opening of Smith Park was in Spring 2024 the commission considered Community feedback reviewed recommended the Smith Park playground design and we are excited to be adding our first of its kind ninja style challenge course in Bloomington I personally love that because I have kids and that is a great way for them to get out so I love that we're doing that Bloomington Ford Projects Park will continue to support staff through the planning design and construction phases of these projects the park maintenance and operational plan the commission is pleased to see another recommendation from the psmp in progress we will be reviewing and recommending adoption in 2024 this is exciting work that will help establish common expectations for maintenance of our parks and resources is required to meet those expectations we'll set levels of service and maintenance for all the parks and park amenities and assign needed Financial staff resources to match the level of service required next we have a naming rights and sponsorship Park members participated in the creation of the naming and spon sponsorship policy that outlines the process for engaging strategic Partnerships where businesses in individuals and organizations provide financial support to the Parks and Recreation entity such as Enterprise facility Trail Field park in exchange for brand recognition annual Park work plan projects we have joint projects with the sustainability commission cultural art support grant funding review and recommendations budget fees and CIP review and park planning and park projects the park arts and Recreation Commission completes these projects and initiatives annually other accomplishments annual tasks we reviewed the proposed fees and Capital Improvements plans a 10-year CIP plan we reviewed the cultural art support Grant programs we have one to two Park Commissioners participate in the this application review process annually and review the annual P&R budgets and program fees the 2025 commission initiatives we have urban forestry master plan the Art Center business analysis study the sidewalk plowing reduction Master agreement with Bloomington Public School in the naming rights and sponsorships consultant under contract urban forestry master plan and urban forestry plan will begin in 2025 the plan will include a city-wide canopy assessment public and private property Boulevard tree inventory operational assessments and a written plan the final plan combines stakeholder public input with the inventory and canopy data collected to shape bloomington's Urban forest for the next 20 years Park he monthly updates and will have opportunities to support the planning process during Community engagement events and provide input on plan recommendations the Art Center business analysis Park will support staff as the art center undergos a facility operations an analysts over 2025 to Iden identify strengths weaknesses and opportunities and challenges the goal is to discover strategic recommendations for a fully updated business model Bloomington Ford projects serve as a key stakeholder by participating in community engagement reviewing and recommend Concepts and plan for pricing strategies under these there's the sidewalk plowing reduction project Park will support staff as requested Community engagement and review project plans as they are developed make recommendation for the level of service for sidewalk plowing for 2024 and 2025 winter season next we'll have the master agreement with Bloomington Public Schools a conversation will continue for a master agreement between the city and Bloomington Public Schools Park will review the staff plan make recommendations to council we will go over fees facility use maintenance and scheduling of facilities payment for services funding of programs and Facilities lastly the naming and sponsorship cons consultant under contract Park will support staff as we establish a systematic and consistent approach for official naming and renaming of public spaces including significant financial spons sponsorships and corporate naming opportunities Park will participate in proposal reviews and make recommendations for potential naming and sponsorship opportunities Park will ensure the given names are consistent with the values and character of the area served and key criteria for determining commemorative name names are met and then lastly under the parks and arts uh we would like to give a special thank you to our commissioners uh Chris Fleck was our previous chair um he was fantastic Nicole Abraham was the vice chair she did a great job as well Daryl eager is no longer with us he did a wonderful job providing input of course myself Toby uh is it perer perer peger and JC which couldn't she couldn't be here tonight she is the new uh Vice chair and hanen um and with that uh we are happy to take any questions or comments from uh city council and mayor thank you Mr chair thanks for the update Council any questions for chair Mings I actually do have one I I appreciate you had one of your both points joint projects with the sustainability commission and I know uh chair Smithson brought it up as well that we're trying to get our boards and commissions to work more together and to make sure that their work is aligned in a lot of different ways uh this year really the big roll out over in the Port Authority will be the creative placemaking moving Citywide within through the port authority and and throughout the city and uh just wondering if you've had discussions with the creative placemaking folks because obviously I think the the most obvious landing spot for a lot of our our pieces through creative placemaking would be within our city parks wondering where those conversations are if there there's planned work together with the uh the Creative placemaking Group as well mayor busy thank you for the question we actually had a meeting with the creative placem staff just last week um to discuss some of those things so they're already partnering with us for some Park projects um one example is the pond house um project that is happening um in tonight's Community Health and Wellness Center um you'll hear about how working with the sustainability commission has crossed over with the Community Health and Wellness Center and then between the park projects coming up where there will be public art um the Community Health and Wellness Center is our next big topic so once we get through the schematic design um set hopefully this week um we are going to be have another another meeting with the creative Place making folks about mid-march to discuss some of the ins and outs of what that partnership would look like but they're looking to put art on the inside and the outside of the community center building in addition to several other Parks actually good thank you glad to hear that yeah goodar thank you for the question Council additional questions all right uh chair M if you could pass on to your Council uh your your Park group our thanks and appreciation for the work that they do uh I know they've got a very visible role and a lot going on right now so appreciate the work that you folks do and if you could share that with them and keep up the good work we'd greatly appreciate it thank you much thank you thank you Mr Mayor I can make the motion if you'd like council member dallesandro I will move to adopt the part to approve sorry the uh Parks arcs and Recreation Commission Park 2025 work plan second motion by council member dandro second by council member mua to approve the parks arts and Recreation Commission 2025 work plan no forther council discussion on this all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed motion carries 70 thanks very much thank you thank you next in our agenda council is item three our consent business council member lman has our consent items tonight council member lman El May I'll make my first and final uh uh look to see if anybody wants to hold anything other than 3.1 seeing none I'll I'll move to um um pass through 3.2 through 3.12 second motion by council member lman second by council member Carter to accept tonight's consent business as stated item 3.2 through 3.12 no further Council discussion on this all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed motion carries 70 Council May mman item 3.1 resolution to accept donations thank you mayor we have received a number of different uh donations uh both large and small uh uh so we've got a few $100 checks um from various uh folks out in the community uh and then we also have uh uh different donations in terms uh to our coed division um uh for outreach and engagement which is uh very important um and then we also have uh donations going to our Police Department uh in in the amounts of, 20 500 110 bucks from just various uh um organizations such as Larin Hoffman uh Rosemary Town head uh David and Teresa Karan and just a number of other folks who have uh contributed uh to our city too numerous uh to uh name but I do know that our staff will send a thank you note uh of appreciation for their donations that they've given uh from the community members uh to our our uh our city and we thank you uh for for that and with that then mayor I'd move to adopt a resolution to accept those donations that are listed here um through exhibit G motion by council member lomman second by council member Ras to accept item 3.1 the resolution to accept donations as listed in tonight's consent business no further Council discussion on this all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed motion carries 70 thank you council member lman appreciate your work there moving on to item four for our hearings resolutions and ordinances as I mentioned at our start uh we have three public hearings this evening we will kick off with item 4.1 this is a public hearing regarding the heights tax increment financing District Kenny NE from our HRA is here good evening Mr NE good evening mayor council members we'll get us the slides here so yes this item is the heights tax increment financing District uh so refresher the project is a major renovation of the Heights parking structure which has had its certificate of occupancy revoked by the city in response to acute deterioration of that structure the project also includes replacement of balconies that are not code compliant and it also brings um those the components of the parking structure into compliance in terms of building accessibility the restoration of that parking structure will ensure that the condominium is compliant with our zoning requirements for minimum uh parking minimums as well the project doesn't result in any zoning or land use changes so I've listed here the actions associated with the current application for um The Heights hi and that leaves off about seven years of other uh history which includes the two previous applications for ha financing those you'll recall were not recommended for approval by staff because the the financial burden resulting from the ha was thought to be too um burdensome financially burdensome for the heights owners so um in terms of this current application um it's their third application and the city council voted um at its public hearing to first move that item for final consideration to December 2nd and then it voted to approve that hiia request at that meeting and that U request was for a recommended Finance package so that Finance package includes multiple components which allowed for affordability um for the heights owners and the the components include bonds and interfund Loans from uh interfund loan from the HRA both the bond and in fund loans uh loan will be repaid with interest by The Heights owners over the 20-year financing term the package also includes the establishment of a tax increment financing District which allows for further a further decrease of the eventual assessment amount and it also increases the security of repayment of the bond uh finally the the council and the HRA um approved 250,000 of local affordable housing aid laa funds in the form of direct income-based assistance and that funding we uh after that approval staff have gone um and solicited applications from the heights owners there were six households that qualified five of those are um occupant owner occupied who they qualified through their income and then the remaining household is a a unit that's being rented and will'll have a affordable rent level set as a result of this assistance and so that brings us to tonight's item which is uh consideration of the approval of the Tiff District which is a Redevelopment Tiff District so we're going to go through briefly the statutory findings that have to be made to establish a Redevelopment Tiff District so the first one listed here is that um there has to be an assessment that the structure is structurally substandard and we we had our the city building official um conduct that assessment and made that finding that the building is structurally substandard um the next stat story finding is the but for test that the project would not proceed but for the use of tax increment financing and so in this case because Tiff allows for the level of affordability um that's part of that Financial package that package and this project are only possible with Tiff without Tiff the fin package wouldn't work as approved and would have to be completely restructured which means the project wouldn't be able to proceed as currently approved the next finding is that the Tiff plan affords maximum opportunity for the project to proceed again this gets to the Tiff allowing for affordability to the heights owners as well it also achieves security for repayment of the bonds and the interfund loan and then the final finding is that the Tiff plan conformed with General development plans for the city as a whole and so uh with recent Tiff districts the Planning Commission uh looks at this finding and the Planning Commission considered making this finding at their January 30th meeting but ultimately did not make that finding due to concerns about the usage of Tiff for this particular project and um due to that the council tonight um in in the resolution for your consideration tonight is a clause that would make that finding so um that would fulfill the four statory findings that are needed to establish a Redevelopment Tiff District so the map here shows the District boundary areas which are co-terminus with the heights parcel and that includes all 30 of the condominium units as well as their um owned parking garage units so that's the squares and the circles um we've highlighted here the goals from the compreh the forward 2040 comprehensive plan that align with the ACC the uh projected accomplishments of this Tiff plan and then I'll go briefly through next steps so with tonight's public hearing um if this item is approved then tomorrow evening the H board will consider final approval of the Tiff District um if those if these items are all approved then the HRA would enter into a development agreement with the heights Condominium Association and at that point funding could be made available for construction start to begin construction start uh could potentially begin then in May and the project would be completed by the end of 2025 and then there are also items uh there's one additional item that the city council would consider which is a resolution to accept the negotiated Bond sale um and that would come sometime in Spring depending on the construction timeline and when those funds are needed um so the resolution is to accept the proposal that is selected through an RFP process um which would be the RFP process is conducted by the city's Municipal adviser Baker Tilly and uh once those actions are completed we'll know the final interest rate for the the bond and the rest of the financing package at which point we can recalculate What the hi fees are not to exceed what was approved in that ha ordinance as I mentioned um and then at that point those assessments would be sent to the county and so with that there's a recommended motion and I will stand for questions thank you Mr NE I appreciate it I just had a question regarding the the the timing of this um so the council making this decision tonight in the HRA making final approval tomorrow night is that how it would typically work in this type of thing or are we out of order a bit mayor council members from my review of previous Tiff uh Tiff consideration of establishing a tiff district there isn't a uh necessarily consistency with the order of those things um because this project was is U being substantially subsidized by the H IT staff recommended that the HRA would be the establisher of the Tiff District um and again it there's there hasn't been a consistent ordering um but because it's an H District the thought was that the HRA would have the final say and final approval very good thank you I appreciate that and just one more clarification so the um the Planning Commission rejected this based on the fact of the the public purpose finding is that correct and could you explain that a little bit more for the for the council May and Council the Planning Commission did not make a finding that the Tiff plan uh aligns with the city's General plans for development as a whole and I would characterize the discussion as honing in on the use of Tiff for this particular project and whether that it was a suitable use for Tiff so there there was discussion on what components of the comp plan align as well as um some discussion on if the plans for redevelopment as a whole um the the outlined goals for redevelopment as a whole in the comp plan align with the specific use for Tiff uh and I'll also mention that it was a split vote so three vote to two vote to not make that finding U and I'll leave it at that thank you appreciate that clarification Council questions of Mr NE before we open the public hearing all right thank you Mr NE don't go far with that as I said this is a public hearing on item 4.1 and I'm going to open the public hearing here in just a moment uh for our public hearings what we do here in the city of Bloomington a couple of things first of all we will allow anyone who wants to speak to come up and speak we ask that you state your name and ultimately sign in so we know who's who's talking uh we do put a fem minute limit on anyone speaking and we've got our shot clock right up on the wall and I will hold you to the to the 5 minutes not because I'm a mean guy but because I want to make sure that everybody has the same amount of time and we don't give differential treatment to anyone no one has more than five minutes to speak on any Topic at any public hearing that we do here in the city of Bloomington if you ask specific questions we're not going to try and answer them on the Fly that never seems to work very well so what we'll do is collect all the questions and then answer them after the public hearing is closed staff will help us out and we'll answer all the questions uh for the questions that you might have and I don't I think that's everything did I forget anything I did not so uh with that I will open the public hearing at MM 4.1 this evening so if you would like to speak please step on forward and you're certainly welcome good evening welcome good evening uh my name is name is Doug strandness I am a thirdparty consultant I've been working with the Heights on this project um for eight years and um very grateful that we are now to this point um the parking garage structure um if this does not go forward um is on the verge of collapse and um if that happens then the building is probably going to become uninhabitable so thank you for considering this greatly appreciate it thank you Mr stus if you could sign in you can you can actually take it with you and sit down with it if you like you don't have to stand right there or you certainly can whatever you'd like to do anyone else like to speak here in the chambers oh sorry sorry good evening welcome I'm name mum and I spoke before um about the heights I acquired the property a year ago um for my daughter um she has a lot of anxiety problems and depression issues and other things and this is certainly added to that um really had no idea that any of this was really in the books or going on it never was very clear to begin with why it wasn't approved the price would just only go up and up and up um I'm not exactly sure why it was allowed to get in such a bad state of disrepair without um being addressed and quite honestly I thought that all of this had been approved and that everything was going to be okay I didn't know it was back on the chopping block again so I'm just wondering exactly what has happened because I already feel like we've all been on a roller coaster and I'm feeling rather upset about it so if anyone could explain to me what's gone down I'd appreciate it I I appreciate your you're coming forward and asking it is I think what you're seeing is the sausage of city government and it's the sausage making of city government uh the city council addressed this in approved this through the uh the hiia and I think through a 60 and a 70 vote vote moved forward with this this is just the next step in the process is uh officially approving the the Tiff District to make this all happen all right others who wish to speak Kaitlin do we have anyone online wishing to speak uh no mayor there's no one online last call for anyone in the council chambers who wishes to speak on item 4.1 Council no one coming forward to speak and we've got no one online wishing to speak I would look for a motion to close the public hearing on item 4.1 so moved motion by council member lman second by council member Dallas Andro to close the public hearing no further Council discussion on this all those in favor please signify by saying I opposed motion carries 70 all right I I I violated my rule of not answering the question but I thought we could answer that question just kind of quick and easy um Mr NE is there anything that I missed in terms of the process and and the steps here uh that that might um explain things a bit better for Miss McCollum May council members I think you characterized it well that this Tiff District approval and then tomorrow night's Tiff District approval are the main components remaining to implement what was part of that Financial package and then there would be the item for uh accepting a bond proposal but that's more of accepting a proposal that already is existing versus approving or dening a component of the financing very good thank you for that so Council uh we as I said we we discussed this we approved the hia uh and we I think we're we were in strong favor of trying to make this work out trying to figure out a way to make this work I think it was a creative funding package that was put together I think a lot of pieces had to come together and um and frankly it sounds like just in the nick of time and I think that um we've got a good we have a good plan in front of us and I think a good solution to move forward for the residents who would clearly and obviously be impacted if a if the parking structure would fail completely so um that's where we are council member Dallas Sandro additional comments questions I have a quick question and then a comment if I may Mr Mayor um quick question for you Mr Nar do you know um what the um Insurance obligation for the heights is as a result of this work and what they're I'm thinking about the worst case scenario that you know in the next year or something like that something outside of control happens what what is the kind of insurance program that they have around the structure will that change as part of what we're doing here will that improve potentially as a result do you know anything about the that piece thanks Maric members thanks for the question one component I can share is that part of the development agreement that the H will enter into with the association includes an annual reporting requirement and that will include uh Financial reports as well as annual uh phys physical condition inspections of the improvements once they're made so from that perspective the city will have direct Insight of how those uh improvements are performing and then from an insurance standpoint I don't have a I don't think I have a a full answer to your question but I will say part of the request um that came to the city was that they were being rejected for certain Insurance um products and so the thought would be that restoring the building um would allow them to be eligible for those products once again right okay um thank you that's helpful um I might make that a part of the development agreement that you get that certificate on file once they have it if they can um yeah so my comment is just that I'm really grateful that we're we're here for the residents that live in that uh that Association um you know I think often times that we default to using Tiff districts for economic development for businesses um but we don't think about the fact that our residents can benefit from this kind of Redevelopment work and so hats off to the HRA and I mean I know this is their third strike at this particular challenge uh and to finally have something that gets over the line is a a really important thing so um I I'm just grateful that we are are here now and that we don't wait any longer to help these people thanks thank you Council others seeing no hands go up Council I would look for action on itm 4.1 this evening council member dallesandro or I'm sorry council member mua happy to do that mayor um I would move to adopt a resolution approving the heights Redevelopment project area approving the Redevelopment plan therefore establishing the heights tax increment financing Redevelopment district and approving a tax increment financing plan therefore motion by Council member mu second by council member dallesandro to approve the resolution approving the heights Redevelopment project area no further Council discussion on this all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed motion carries 70 so next steps tomorrow night for the HRA and then as the as Mr n Meer uh laid out uh hopefully we can get this moving and by the end of this year we can have this resolved and have you parking inside again so let's all hope so all right thank you thanks all for being here tonight thank you Kenny appreciate it we'll move on to item 4.2 on our agenda this is our second public hearing uh this is regarding city code amendments for rs1 and r1a districts ordinance Mr Nick Johnson our planning manager is with us again this evening good evening Mr Johnson welcome good evening mayor members happy to present this to you one additional time uh um yeah we'll just jump right into it I didn't mean that as a perjorative uh just a quick agenda slide what I plan to talk about here uh more briefly um just to point of background about this project so the rs1 zoning uh District ordinance um uh followed the single and two family uh updates that were approved in May of 20123 the council directed The Planning Commission and planning staff to look at that zoning District uh in a similar fashion so was added to the work plan uh and is currently on the 2025 work plan uh We've held multiple study sessions to date on this topic first with the Planning Commission uh the First Council study session took place in February of 24 there was a pause while some legislation was being considered at the State uh related to uh zoning applicable to low density residential areas so effectively there was a pause uh and then we came back in uh two subsequent study sessions to um develop the consensus that's reflected in the ordinance before you this evening uh the Planning Commission did hold a public hearing on January 30th on this ordinance they did recommend approval unanimously there was uh relatively brief uh meeting or little discussion um just two points of context uh in the background of this project uh a 2024 uh work plan project the environmental standards review that looked at our uh tree preservation steep slope uh standards in our zoning code applicable to low density residential areas and then as I mentioned before um just the element of that the state legislator is again looking at similar uh type legislation um applicable to low density residential areas so that's something that's outside the control of the city just an overview of where these lots are located and just uh some general information about them so again rs1 is the large lot residential zoning District it's 116 Lots they're effectively located in three neighborhoods uh on the west side of Normandale Boulevard there is two other Parcels at the bottom of in Normandale that were a result of privately initiated rezoning action um and so they're for the most part larger Lots located in heavily wooded areas uh often times with more grade or steeper slopes kind of on the uh backside of Highland Park there so just getting into the intent statement hopefully this helps guide uh some of the actions we're making tonight but um just a note about the intent statement of these two districts so it kind of matches that description that I just uh provided you in terms of what these neighborhoods are um their single uh family residential development in areas of steep slopes vegetation Wetlands uh and developed as large Lots um the second element of that intent statement talks about protecting natural resources and having compatible Redevelopment getting on to the r1a zoning District this isn't a zoning District we talk about a lot um because there's only seven of these properties in the city um it's very similar in standards to the rs1 zoning District except uh there lots that are served by septic uh so they're not effectively served by sanitary sewer service the grade just doesn't work out for these sites and so that is why there's some separate standards applicable to these Lots because they're um The Remnant properties in Bloomington that are not hooked up to the city sewer system very similar uh standards and uh intent to the rs1 uh except for this issue of uh served by sanitary sewer service so that's noted directly in the intent so just as a reminder refresher kind of kind of uh uh where the Planning Commission and Council landed on some of its feedback ultimately on some of these standards uh we we wrote it down as consensus to proceed the way that we can interpret that is just that there was a majority of members who uh were favorable towards including that element of the uh ordinance in the final version before the public hearing uh I would note that uh neither body um uh Advanced or reached a majority on uh wanting to amend the minimum lot side in the rs1 district so would just note that then there was some uh difference uh initially from the Planning Commission uh perspective on median site width and prevailing setback um uh they did support it in the final ordinance that they just reviewed in January but just a note about that I think I don't want to read too closely between the lines in terms of what was motivating their perspective on that at that time but um the way I interpreted as that it was just kind of leave well enough alone um kind of approach um but yeah just to provide you an idea of how we got to where we're at and if you recall in the last city council study session we went through a series of options of ordinances the option before you that is Advanced is option 1A it had to do with the items that had the most consensus as reflected in this table so what are the elements of the ordinance I'm going to run through these quick I know we've spoken about these at length so I don't mean to uh be repetitive um we certainly can return back to these if there are uh questions so first just the rs1 district intent statement this is some changes in formatting and uh just noting who who and what sections of the code are the authority of what establishes uh what some of these elements are so steep slopes for example that's something defined in our code uh the city Forester add adding in that element uh to determine some just some bringing some expertise to it uh Wetlands that's a defined thing in Minnesota rules um so just adding in some of these references that make it a little bit less uh unclear who makes that determination uh and then another change related to this intent statement was adding a minimum of two of those characteristics uh getting to the use changes proposed within the ordinance um there's really two categories of them one is just adding two family dwellings to rs1 again with r1a being on septic didn't feel that was appropriate for that District um but uh uh just adding it into rs1 because the city's comprehensive plan guides these areas low density residential two family dwellings are in appropriate use and ldr in our comp plan and then getting to the accessory institutional uses there currently are no institutional uses or non-residential uses in either rs1 or r1a uh we think that these may have been added just across the board in all of our residential districts without um uh much foresight in terms of the allowances for some of the institutional uses I should note government facilities are't allowed uh use in uh all of our zoning districts um uh but suffice to say we just don't foresee uh the use of that District being uh the main mechanism by which you'd want to support institutional uses um so just removing some accessory uses that um uh support institutional uses in those two districts if that makes sense and the third item so median site width this was a standard adapted um in the uh late 2000s um in order to address some concerns around subdivisions within uh um residential neighborhoods uh in Bloomington and so what this standard do is effectively requires that Lots meet the uh site width of 80% of the median of lots within uh 500 ft of a site uh staff's position on this in general is just that it adds complexity uh that the minimum lot areas of these two districts are so large to the degree the fact that it effectively uh maintains neighborhood character um so happy to talk more about that if needed on the impervia surface piece so on r1a uh there actually isn't a uh percentage cap on impervious service in the r1a and the reason being is that there's a separate impervious standard for very large lots that kick in um there is one uh lot in the r1a district that is not a very large lot and effectively would have allowances for impervious service far above 35% as a result of that it's kind of a regulatory loophole for uh that property and uh just adding in this 35% um mechanism there and then finally prevailing setback uh so we've talked about this one at length through the uh R1 District changes um and other moments uh what this standard does is again it's another neighborhood continuity uh um standard but effectively if you're doing an addition or building a new structure next to uh long established properties you have to meet the average of the setback of the two properties next to you um so this tends to again increase complexity it adds some surveying costs um to these processes uh and what staff has found is in some cases actually has some unintended environmental consequences um often times some of the best building pad area are actually located closer to the street uh in these areas so what can happen uh in addition to having a longer driveway increased cost associated with that more storm water runoff can sometimes result in additional uh grading or tree removal that otherwise would not have been necessary so recommending to remove that and I would note with this one uh and median site with these are two standards that were removed from the R1 District in May of 2023 so just trying to build more alignment between our residential districts so with that happy to present a recommendation happy to stand for questions and uh thank you for the opportunity thank you Mr Johnson Council questions for Mr Johnson council member Nelson yeah thank you mayor just for a quick clarification um RS one and r1a you're recommending that essentially all of the standards be identical to R1 they would allow two family the institutional uses as the table showed would be the same you eliminated median site width and setback an impervious surface I think the only difference that I saw and maybe I'm wrong about this is r1a because of its sewer connections would not necessarily allow the two family houses and am I misunderstanding that uh mayor council Nelson um uh the majority of what you said is correct uh the one the one uh wrinkle I will add to that though is that actually the use list of things allowed in R1 is fairly expansive um because of the fact that the city of Bloomington does not have a dedicated uh institutional use or public facilities use uh zoning District uh the R1 District effectively serves that purpose so R1 allows a wide variety of non-residential uses subject to standards um the city's fire stations for example are zoned R1 places of assembly um so the use list is quite a bit different many of the performance standards you mentioned there is some similarities there but yes I would agree that in terms of the bulk standards the lot Siz is the primary uh difference between some of those things council member L just a quick question I want to thank you for your uh commentary when you responded to my questions earlier today I appreciate that was helpful um the only real question that I have is in terms of this particular Zone um and in terms of now we've made these you know if we were to pass this this evening um the impact of of this you know does staff see this possibility of this moving to any other part of the city where folks might want to apply to to utilize this and what do you think about that um that reality yeah mayor council member lman it's really going to depend on the nature of the request so um if you recall at some of our study sessions we talked about criteria for rezoning uh the first and foremost criteria we look at when uh when someone's interested in rezoning is what is the intent statement of that District so if I can go back to that for rs1 this in effect serves as kind of the road map or criteria that we look to in terms of whether the the area that is being requested to be reson really meets those uh intent statements um so this is the this is what we would look to first the second thing then is the bulk or performance standards so what are the size of the Lots you know a large lot really is a subjective thing uh you'll find in many different cities the standards do not uh align or all consistent between all cities and in terms of what they consider large Lots in some cities that's an acre uh in some cities it's half an acre in Bloomington and rs1 it's three4 of an acre so it it really varies across the board um and uh in consistent with the other actions that the city has made in terms of some of the rezonings that have happened in rs1 not every single one of those lots meets the minimum uh lot size um that doesn't mean that the action was inappropriate or um uh uh not permissive uh or not permitted but um generally speaking what we would like to see just in terms of a staff and trying to execute best practices is that the majority of an area if you're rezoning the site it meets the the bulk standards um of that District that's so you gets into situations of non-conformity or other things that can exist um so I don't anticipate a large number of uh rezoning requests um uh you know I think it would depend on the precise area of what was coming forward to be request to be rezoned and I think that this uh question um was a major driving force or an element within the discussion of whether or not to change the minimum lot size if you're lowering the minimum lot size then certainly uh that opens up more Avenues uh if the city is following its kind of traditional or past practice in terms of application of the district um those neighborhoods were at least uh I think in MO almost well uh most cases at least 50% of those neighborhoods met the that larger lot size of 33,000 so that's kind of another bar thank you I just kind of the question I asked myself you know if we were to pass this tonight mayor um you know does that open up more opportunities more opportunities to have this discussion again uh with more neighborhoods and I just uh I just want to be sure that I'm asking the question now as opposed to later on thank you council member other questions of Mr Johnson before we open the public hearing all right don't go far Mr Johnson I will not this is a public hearing on item 4.2 uh regarding the city code amendments rs1 and r1a District's ordinance uh if you were here just as we had our last public hearing the uh process is the same if you'd like to speak come forward we'll uh we'd ask you to identify yourself everybody gets five minutes and we will answer the questions at the end of uh at the end of the public hearing so I will officially open item 4.2 the public hearing anyone in the council chambers is wishing to come forward to speak on item 4.2 uh hello mayor uh city council uh my name is Robert Coleman I'm a resident of Bloomington since 207 or eight I can never remember um I uh am here briefly to uh endorse what sha Nelson said at the I believe the last work session that um uh having a a Zone in Bloomington where uh to have single family residential uh that has large lot sizes for the purpose of large lot sizes you know to its own end is not particularly uh worth preserving um I think that uh if you look at a lot of these uh Lots it doesn't really a lot of them don't really do a whole lot to preserve the uh what is there like I mean uh sod we all know that like sod grass uh isn't a very uh diverse ecosystem and a lot of the areas that aren't actually rs1 like on the bluff areas see like actually preserve what is there a lot better than what rs1 really does and it that's because rs1 doesn't do a whole lot to actually preserve what is there other than having a large lot um and when you have large Lots um it has a lot of pressure uh regionally where um if you have you know because there are fewer houses in in Bloomington as compared to you know uh per acre compared to Richfield or Minneapolis you have more of a pressure on the outward most uh communities to take Parkland take farmland and to convert it to uh really low density residential um and I think that having a uh having rs1 maybe rs1 doesn't necessarily need to exist um or uh to reduce the minimum lot size so that it has no advantage over R1 um because a lot of the the reason why it a lot of these communities have large lot sizes is not necessarily to protect the environment it is so that they can say oh you can't really live in our neighborhood if you can't afford 3/4 of an acre if you can't afford to have you know one car for every adult that's often times that is the driving force it's not necessarily uh protecting the environment so I I I would say that um finding a way to make it more consistent with R1 so that rs1 doesn't have like a significant advantage in terms of the the lot size and therefore the cost of these properties because oftentimes that excludes people so thank you thank you Mr colan others in the Chambers wishing to speak Caitlyn do we have anyone on the phone who wishes to speak mayor there's no one on the phone last call for anybody in the chambers Council seeing no one coming forward no one's on the phone wishing to speak I would look for a motion to close the public hearing on item 4.2 so moved second motion by council member lman second by council member mua to close the public hearing on item 4.2 no further Council discussion on this all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed motion carries at 70 so Council we've uh I think it was interesting though our first Council study session on this was literally one year ago so we've uh We've chewed this one up we've talked about this quite a bit uh I think our last public or our last um study session where we were able to go through item by item and perhaps not come to anonymity but came to consensus uh or excuse me unanimity unanimity not anonymity unanimity but consensus uh I think we we were able to move forward on this and I I appreciate what the staff and the Planning Commission have uh have brought forward and have uh approved to this point any additional thoughts or questions Council council member lman Mar just some comments here you know we've really come a long ways um on this and I you know I when I look at the you know the R1 district and you know I think about what we've done with that um you know and some may disagree uh you know in terms of what we did there but you know I think we we've kind of taken a step uh in in a direction and I think what what this this particular uh item does is you know we we we had the history of this particular um uh zoning uh in our in our city and you know we look at the you know the you know we we had this this historic district here for various reasons and you know I have to concede it's hard when I look at the the definition that's there um you know the the idea of exclusivity I think it's it may be there you know but I think the question I ask myself as a policy maker mayor is are we moving in the direction of moving that District towards that R1 that we've already done and when I look at these you know the the steps and the things that we we've kind of Taken um I think it does that I think it moves this in that particular direction you know I I certainly know that need for more uh housing uh variety that's out there um you know now certainly there's uh concerns around the regulatory um uh issues that that are there that that's going to create some problems um but it does maintain that you know that that that neighborhood consistency and aesthetic uh piece for how it is uh today we recognize um you know in terms of of those folks that their property rights um and what they have there this this helps to kind of again you know do that that portion and maybe there is some environmental sustainability I haven't again on the sustainability piece really really seeing where this really kind of gets it done but I think overall what this does is this just moves the moves this forward and for those those reasons and many other that I've stated in the past I don't need to re you know rehash those things I think I can I can be okay with where this is today so I do think that there are those folks who have purchased their homes and this is the idea that they've kind of come into this this moves it down the road and I think that you know maybe another Council uh you know four to 10 years from now might say hey you know what let's have another look at this let's open this up we may be in a different uh different uh place to kind of get this even closer to an R1 so that's where I stand today uh with this and I I I can support what this is today um I am a little bit nervous um about other folks taking this and expanding that that's exactly what I don't want to have happen but um I can I can live with this today thank you council member council member delandro um I may have the opposite opinion Mr Mayor and that I don't know why we would have a district on the blocks that we couldn't let people petition into so I think that people should come and petition if they want to we can reject it if we don't like it um but that's what it's there for so I'll be of that opinion and I would encourage people to do that because once again my biggest challenge and I I know that I'm going to get told that this is not the case but I do think it's the case that we don't have a good environmental plan today that preserves space outside of our own Parks districts or our own parks and I care about that deeply that won't be a surprise to anybody and so you know I don't think zoning is the right use for that but that's what we have today um absent an environmental overlay absent those other practices and I know the sustainability commission has something on their plan for work 2025 that's great but absent that this is what we have and so I'm not going to be super interested ever in M making uh continuing to contract um development land land for development until we have those other levs in place and so that's why you're going to see me resisting that every day around here because I think that those things are Paramount and in fact should apply to the city regardless of its zoning District um so um if that all happens and at the end of 2025 we are at a point where we have something that can be applied equally across the city and make those environmental determinations then I might be open to getting rid of rs1 altogether um but I'm not there now and I want people to use it to preserve the land if that's the one mechanism they have at their disposal to do that today um but uh I think and so that's the reason I think that we got to where we were with the consensus and given that the five things that are on here are the things that are on the con on the request today and we didn't we're not getting pushed into something that I can't Oppo you know that I would oppose I feel like what we've got in front of us is pretty good for today so U thank you thank you council member others council member Nelson thanks mayor and my apologies I'm just going to repeat everything I've said before if we want to move in the direction of R1 zoning we should just go there uh with regards to property rights I believe in the property rights of the people that own that property um zoning isn't our only option as a matter of fact this ordinance specifically notes our steep slope ordinance we already have in place it uh uh notes the Wetland Minnesota rules We have tree preservation rules we can do this Citywide we actually are doing it Citywide and we can do it more Citywide if we want to instead what we're doing is providing an opportunity for people to protect large Lots pure and simple that's what this is about um with all due respect to the folks that first brought this up the reason it got brought up was someone was going to build another house and yet they can cut down all those trees as we've discussed before to put in a sport court or a pool or they get diseased or whatever reason they want they can cut down those trees the one reason they can't cut down those trees is to subdivide that lot and build another house that's what this ordinance does and it and to expand that Beyond where it is today is absolutely the wrong direction in my mind I think council member Lan was correct if this goes more towards R1 I think that's good I think we should just go there and we should just go to R1 and and everyone lived by the same rules in the city for residential housing now I do recognize that there are reasons to have a larger lot uh where my office is just to the south of it drive by Orchard Lake and there are large Lots there they have horses they have Farms these are Hobby Farms there's a completely different use than a single family house as a matter of fact in Burnsville there used to be a horse right across from City Hall so grandfa in for a while I don't believe that horse is uh any longer there but I think frankly we should not pass this or in the alternative we should take the one thing that is different substantially different between rs1 and R1 is the lot size and make that the same just make the lot size the same if that's not the issue then just make it the same I'll vote for that um but I think we can do all of the things that that are important to us with regards to protecting steep slopes protecting our natural environment all through ordinances and I I think that because we already are thank you council member council member Revis just made two sense I can't talk for very long but I I I probably oppose everybody here I I think that people have the right to to own their this size that they you know if I bought an acre 20 years ago and I want to remain owning that property that size I think I have the right to to do that I mean I don't own that big of a lot but I mean but I I I you know I think uh for whatever reason if somebody owns more than an acre an acre in the city uh whether they have a steep slopes or not whether it's in the middle of all the houses that I have or one third the size I think they have the right to do that so I'm you know I think from what I remember discussing this last year we had come to a consensus that we we're not all happy with it but I think it's a very good decision that we have made but I also believe that every body has the right to own whatever size slot they own and be happy with it uh so rs1 I'm not opposed to it but at the same time we did discuss all this last year uh and we came to as close as possible as we all agree to and it's a good it's a good compromise so I I I'll I'll support it 100% even though I do have my contradiction within it right thank you thank you council member ccil member Mo up thank you mayor I guess I'll take my shot at this right um I don't have much to say all to say is everyone's seen how the sausage is made now and uh compromise is compromise none of us are really happy with either direction this is leaning um but I think Pro the the risk is not moving forward I think this is a step forward instead of just sitting and standing still like we have um previously with other issues so um I'll support this for the fact that we're taking a step forward we're making progress and we're not just going to sit and let it be thank you council member I think everybody has had an opportunity here Council hearing no others I would look for motion on uh I would look for action on item 4.2 noting that on your motion sheet we actually the summary publication motion kind of Blended together with the the recommended appr approval so that that we can't do it with so there are two motions in that large paragraph that you see on your motion sheet so council member alesandro um okay so the first one is a motion to adopt an ordinance updating several standards applicable to the large lot single family residential rs1 and restricted large lot single family residential R-1 a zoning districts thereby amending chapter 21 of the city code second motion by council member Dallas Andro second by council member Carter to approve the ordinance updating several standards applicable to large lot single family residences rs1 and restricted large lot single family residences r1a zoning districts no further Council discussion on this all those in favor please signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries 61 with council member Nelson in opposition now the second half of that block uh summary publication council member dallesandro sure um I am uh a motion to adopt a resolution directing summary publication of an ordinance updating several standards applicable to the rs1 and R-1 a zoning districts thereby amending chapter 21 of the city code second motion by council member dallesandro second by council member Carter for summary publication on item 4.2 this evening no further Council discussion on this all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed motion carries 70 thank you very much Mr Johnson thanks for your years long work on this and and the good work that went into it thanks for the Neighbors who uh have had uh led us with a good discussion on this I mean this has been a good conversation and uh and as I think was brought up it's uh it's the perfect compromise nobody's happy so it's uh that's how it always works so we will move on to item 4.3 which is our final public hearing of the evening this is a vacation of public drainage and utility easements for the Hyundai Edition the panak hookin hus Edition and the infinity Saturn Edition and I think it's safe to say those three companies have not been mentioned before in a motion or in a public Hearing in the city of Bloomington but um I'm guessing they just haven't juliia long our city engineer is here with us tonight miss long um Mr Mayor I'd also like to clarify for the public that none of those companies are coming back to this location um they're the names of the historic plats so they got named in 1984 and because this parcel that is owned by Luther is not going through replatting it's going through a tax parcel combination we're naming all four Parcels by their historic names which has caused some confusion and some disappointment with the public thank you for the clarification um so we're here tonight to have the public hearing for vacation of the existing easements of the four Lots so those lot um easements run through the middle of the parcel and Council has previously in September of 20 24 approved the Redevelopment for Luther Kia and as you can imagine existing easements running through the um future building is problematic for them so they're looking to vacate the easements tonight um as I mentioned we are not going through replatting we're doing a tax parcel combination um and with the city's um future North Central sanitary sewer project we needed to replace that sanitary sewer easement so that is also one of the Motions that you see before you and they will happen sort of simultaneous like the plats do um it has to be recorded with henpen County and so that's when the vacation would become in effect and then the new easement would go in place um we also heard from a couple private utility companies um Centerpoint who had some concerns with some easements and so those will also be um redone on this part but Council doesn't have to um act on those because those are private entity with private entity easements so there are three motions before you um one for the new sanitary sewer um easement one for the vacations of all the existing easements and then a summary publication Council any questions of Miss Long on this one no questions all right we will open this public hearing this is item 4.3 on our agenda this is a public hearing regarding the vacation of public drainage and utility easements for the Hyundai Edition the panako canus Edition and the infinity saturan Edition henpen County and a resolution accepting permanent sanitary sewer easement anyone in the council chamber is wishing to speak on item 4.3 this evening kitlin do we have anyone on the line mayor there's no one online last call for anybody in council chambers Council no one on the phone see no one stepping forward to speak in the council chambers I would look for a motion to close the public hearing item 4.3 so moved second motion by council member lman second by council member mua to close the public Hearing in item 4.3 no further Council discussion on this all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed motion carries 70 so councelor are we clear on this other than confusion about the names that aren't really there anymore and we're actually just doing this as a little different than what we typically do with the planting and with with replanting this is just this is this will work um any other questions on this if not I would look for a motion uh Council M lman mayor I want to do this because I F want to say panicing at a council meeting so mayor I'll move to adopt a 2025 resolution accepting a permanent sanitary sewer easement over and under and across the vacation of a public draining and utility easement over and under and across a lot block one block uh lot one block one hondai edition and lot one and three block one Infinity Saturn Edition hen kman so second motion by council member Lum lman second by council member mua to adopt the resolution as stated the first motion for item 4.3 any further Council discussion on this hearing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed motion carries 70 counil may lman may I'll move to adopt an ordinance approving the vacation of a public drainage and utility easement over and under and across Lots one two block one Hyundai Edition Lots one two block one panakuken house and Edition and lots one and three block one Infinity standard edition Henman County Minnesota second motion by council member lman second by council member mua to adopt the ordinance uh as stated for our second motion for item 4.3 he no further Council discussion on this all those in favor sign if by saying I I opposed motion carries 70 Council mayor mman summary publication please may I'll move to adopt a resolution authorizing summary publication of the ordinance vacation said public easement second motion by council member lman second by council member Mo to authorize summary publication related item 4.3 this evening no further Council discussion all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed motion carries 70 thank you Miss Long appreciate it and we move on Council the item five are organizational business and item 5.1 is a Community Health and Wellness Center update our Park and Recreation director an catri is here to lead us off but as I said earlier I think there's a cast of thousands behind here as well so we'll be hearing from a lot of people but miss catri good evening and welcome thank you very much mayor members of the council we're really excited uh to be here this evening to give you an update on the Community Health and Wellness Center project um I do have a number of people behind me but we'll introduce them um as it's time just want to give you a a quick update as to what we've been working on for the last several months uh from September until now we've been working really hard to align the community center facility size and amenities with the site and the construction budget you'll see an update on the facility diagram tonight and I just wanted to highlight a few key points um because I know that we discussed uh the facility design extensively during the feasibility study uh the facility amenities have not changed from the feasibility studies with the exception of the removal of one gym that shouldn't be a surprise we discussed that um extensively during the proforma uh the outdoor Splash Pad the outdoor playground and the indoor track is a little bit smaller uh but with all of that and some significant efficiencies we have cut 30,000 square ft from the overall facility design we were at 136,000 ft and we're now down to 106 so typically our next step would be reporting to you at 100% uh of schematic design completion and we're reporting to you a little bit earlier this evening first of all because we told the community that we were going to report back in January and February and we've done just that um but secondly we want to get in alignment on our sustainability goal for the project with the city council initially we hope to achieve B3 which stands for buildings Benchmark and Beyond it's a state of Minnesota certification goal with goals for Sight water energy indoor environment materials and waste quite honestly after spending several months aligning our budget with the design and the site it's been determined that we cannot meet a B3 standard and we'd like to switch to a lead certification we're seeking your approval for that this evening our consultant team will walk through um uh with this with with you this evening and we have City staff available for questions and Emma stross is available online as well uh we're extremely grateful for the partnership of Emma and the sustainability um on this project and in this decision both Park and the sustainability commission supported this change at a joint meeting on February 12th staff and the entire Consulting team feel that it's a little too early to S to select a specific lead certification at this point we're just going to be achieving 100% SD uh by the end of this month and then we're going to do another pricing exercise and we'll know more by the time we report back to you again in early April uh so with that I would like to turn the presentation over to Aon and Leah from hga and we have Maggie online as well Ain good evening welcome hello everybody mayor councel uh thank you so much for having us um I'm Ain Mullins I'm a design principal at hga and an architect hi I'm Leo wgo I'm a sustainability specialist with hga and then we have uh mie Maggie pipic online as well who's also a lead specialist with hga did I get the right one go should not be tricky try the side buttons I'm usually good with this stuff probably oh oh something happened there think okay there we go we'll start here okay well thank you so much for having us um I'm going to walk through the first uh four items on the agenda tonight um walk through where we're at in the design process and kind of what we've been doing since September which is when we completed uh the programming in pre-design Phase um we'll walk through the land landcape plan the floor plans and then we have some uh renderings to kind of give you an idea of where the project is heading and kind of what the experience of the project will be all right it worked that time okay so uh from a process standpoint um as Ann said we're just completing schematic design and I think a lot of you have seen this diagram before so in schematic design we're taking information from the planning and programming phase we're starting to look closer at uh the program adjacencies how the building starts to mass up up what it starts to look like on the site and working really hard to make sure all of the parts and pieces fit along with that we're working really hard with Jay Dunn the CM at risk on the project as well as Tegra who's the owner's representative and the city of Bloomington so uh more specifically since September in schematic design we've been working on kind of three things really hard um engagement uh we've had a lot of focus groups we've had five sessions with different groups in the community um with uh led by hga and co-ed um together um from a design process standpoint we've been refining the program adjacencies uh incorporating The Guiding principles that we established with the team early on in the design process um and I think one of the things that's really uh good to note is that we've also been looking really closely at long-term operational efficiency making sure that the project um considers maintenance when we're designing it um sustainability and the sustainability story of the project project as well as the user experience and programming how the building is going to function and support the needs of the community uh from a cost estimation standpoint um we've been working really closely like I said with J Dunn Tegra and the Community Health and Wellness Center team to align the cost estimates that we've got so far with the Design Concepts and budget and that's kind of an ongoing uh process we've talked a lot about the sausage making process tonight so we're in the middle of that um so uh just to jump into the design here site plan do design um one of the things if you recall that we' worked really hard on um in pre-design and now in schematic design are fitting the elements onto the site that we have namely parking storm water management and the footprint of the building um and looking at this site plan here we were looking at um different ways to navigate um the requirements of the planning requirements of the parking um uh some other things to note on here is we have 14,000 square feet of um uh Watershed uh District requirements that we are trying to do at at grade so we can make some um meaningful design moves with those and also not um uh get greater costs by burying that and treating it in different ways and then the landscape itself we're looking really closely at using native plantings um throughout the whole site to really highlight um kind of just the location that we're at and doing that in a natural way that doesn't require irrigation chemicals things like that so that's part of the sustainability plan as well um this kind of closer Insight plan looks at a couple of things namely The Experience around the site and so we're looking at um uh adhering to the planning requirements for uh trees um and tree islands and parking lots and also storm water management within the parking lots um the entry Plaza of the facility and using native plantings really to um create a landscape there the public moves through and can enjoy um looking at the storm water and infiltration basins and basins again as kind of a test project pilot project on the site to Showcase that um and then the fitness Trail Loop so you'll see the dark gray um that we have going around the site um links up the sidewalks on pen 98 and Newton with the um entry of the project so as we continue into the floor plan as Ann said we've cut a lot of square footage out of the project um we've also simplified the form and worked really closely with J Dunn to um look for uh form and plan organization that is efficient but also has a lot of um opportunity to make a really great project um so uh on the upper bar so then on plan North here we have our Aquatics um gymnasium on the East so the East Side that's the corner 998th in Newton um on the southern side of the plan we have public health uh and wick on the west and then the darker red um that's around the main entrance those are all programming spaces so those are spaces that would um hold classes for the community and other such things uh and then we have indoor play and party rooms off to the west east sorry um moving up to the second floor the second floor is devoted to Fitness and so a lot of the second floor is Fitness Studios as well as a combination of cardio and an indoor track and so you'll get views from the cardio area into an auditorium and into the gymnasium so really trying to promote visibility in the project so as we move forward uh into um the kind of what we're calling the experience at the project um we went back to looking at the guiding principles of the project and look at how do we take these guiding principles that we developed as a team and start to make architecture with them and so we're really looking for a building that's welcoming barrier-free that represents the community um that supports uh and Embraces health and wellness and that really is about Bloomington so is a is a really local project and so the pallet that we're looking at again with a nod towards efficiency and simplicity but also uh refined pallette kind of an elemental palette we're looking at a project that um uses textured pre-cast wood glass and really light texture in landscape so pretty simple moves but something that's kind of a Timeless and elegant solution so you've seen some of these renderings and some of the other uh presentations tonight I saw but um this is a a view of the main entrance and so we have a canopy space at the main entrance that kind of acts as a pavilion and prevent provides um outdoor seating opportunities um you noticed maybe but I forgot to mention it in the plans that there is a cafe space um that is shelled out currently and so this um outdoor for court would support that c Cafe and other public um um uh opportunities uh as we move into the building past that for court this is the lobby and check-in desk space from here off to the left is the cafe parks and wreck offices in um and check in in the center and then you get a view through um moving into the Fitness in the gymnasium kind of a view straight through from the lobby into the gym so we continue moving forward this is now from in the gymnasium looking back out through that glass wall into the lobby space and all the way out to that front for code so it's a really visible and open um uh transparent building and that's all on the design update so we're going to turn it over to Leah thanks hi again I'm Leah so we've been designing with sustainability in mind um the entire timeline as Aaron has mentioned so we have been using B3 as that North Star um B3 is local to Minnesota so it makes a lot of sense it's rigorous um however when those costs came back we saw that it was over budget we wanted to explore other options that aligned that gave that same level of rigor and third-party review that also um externally showed all of the good work that's been done around PV and geothermal native plantings so in this big world of certifications there's a lot of options um with code you know was kind of like the the worst you could possibly build um all the way up to high standards and so we saw that lead really Rose to the top um as a comparable option to B3 and so one of the reasons for that is because B3 was holistic so again we wanted to make sure that anything that would be pivoted to would also capture um design around performance and sight um energy indoor Environmental Quality as well as materials and waste um and as as you'll see in a couple slides lead has a really comparable um standard as well so why else uh is lead a good option so again it's holistic it offers that thirdparty review so it's not just us saying that it's sustainable it's actually verified by a third party um it's internationally known so I love B3 but it tends to be more regionally focused so regionally known um lead is known around the country and well beyond it um there's also a mixture of prerequisites as well as optional credits B3 is if it's a guideline it's required there's not a lot of flexibility around getting out of it versus lead has some baseline requirements but a suite of choices that um allows you to choose the the sustainability credits that best align with the project goals um and because of that credit flexibility it does allow for cost considerations so when we think about the extremely high costs associated with storm water management for B3 that is where we would have more flexibility with how we choose to meet that um while still meeting the the lead goals and still aligning with the watersheds District District's requir IR Ms um also if you're wanting a plaque lead provides that you you have to purchase it but you do get that B3 you can brag about it all you want create your own marketing materials they don't really have an official plaque maybe one day um but right not right now um and then Post acacy tracking it's a different U path but that is an option um but I know that Emma had talked about um some internal tracking that's already happening that could be used um instead of that so that's kind of why lead and then what we did was we mapped out all of the design that has been done our cost estimat so sort of like At first blush where do we land um and so it's a lot on this slide but on in the chart you'll see the total points in the category we went through all the categories you can see a lot of these align with the B3 categories so around Sight and energy and water in um indoor Environmental Quality and then we said okay what would we get with the design right now for lead um and so in that circle chart you'll see that right now we're hitting about 53 points that puts us very safely in the silver category so certified is the lowest Platinum is the highest um silver next to certified so definitely silver um and then after SD once we can dive a little bit more into it if lead is approved to proceed um we could explore those maybe options um where we would just want to confirm is it in or is it out play around with those Suite of choices and potentially um get into gold so that's where where we are now but I wanted to leave it open for any questions as well that's it Council for our presentation very good thank you thank you for the update and the information counil questions on this observations council member lman thank you mayor and I imagine that you know that the the discussion that we're having uh this evening is around just the um the sustainability uh components of this um just want to confirm that mayor uh yes I think that's I I think the the general layout is is we we heard about that as well but I think the sustainability ratings I think are what we' like to focus on okay and so uh with that being said you know we've got really these these three different choices and certainly I I support what uh parks and and arts and the uh sustainability is put put forward um but really what my my my my question lies is you know if we were to you know you know certainly we got the B3 the the lead and then uh the just do it but then you know I know there's been a long tradition of doing that here in the city but then not get the credit from that and I know it's it's difficult to to answer the question but what what is the impact of of doing it with doing the sustainability but without the certifications I know we're in in tight budget time and so I'm just curious you know if you don't you don't have to answer tonight if if you don't feel comfortable doing that um CU I can understand get something out in the public and look good we're gonna have Leah give that a shot um yeah I have had experience with a lot of projects that designed to meet B3 or lead what you fall short of is that third party review you can't really say whether your building is lead or B3 so it strips you of the ability to Market it as a lead building or a B3 building um you could say it's Sustainable Building and still tell that wonderful story um but it doesn't have that that stamp of approval um and because of that it's okay um and because of that you can't um necessarily guarantee that you are going to get those Energy Efficiency um goals met um that can impact operations and how facilities might manage the building as well so um if you're looking to save costs in the long run too doing those early analyses around embodied carbon material sele ction energy and using the tools and then verifying that um is a way to set yourself up for long-term savings as well so I would say that yeah it's it's hard to know for sure if you're not measuring it so that's one of the best ways you can do that is by getting a certification thank you I appreciate that I think that's a nice short uh which could be a very long long answer to that and I appreciate that and I think that the public wants to know that when we're we're in a budget budget crunch they have questions around that and I think that's a great short way to answer so then just two really other quick questions I have here um um I know we're kind of going through the these things here you mentioned something about the gym about reducing that um there's still the opportunity at some other point when the Project's done that we'd still be able to add a gym if we had to right mayor uh council member lman members of the council yes we uh we do uh have the facility designed so that we would be able to add a third gym and we would be able to expand Aquatics as we uh did our um conversations and our studies looking at these types of facilities not only locally but Nationwide uh Fitness Gyms and Aquatics are typically the things that community centers are looking to design and uh HJ has done just a fabulous job of citing the building on the property with the ability to be able to expand in those directions and the reason why I asked that question because we were talking about sustainability here would that impact our any of the sustainability pieces of if we were to do that would that bring our rating down or would that be done with that in mind I can I can try that one um the any addition that we would add to the building in the future would follow the I I don't know about the rating system and how in addition to it would plug into that but it would I think that it would tend to follow the same rigorous requirements that the base building followed relative to the mechanical system we would need to talk with the engineers to see how we would plug into that to uh and this is so speculative I don't want to put you in that position but thank you that gives me good idea finally mayor last question is uh you know certainly uh We've brought this project down from 136,000 square feet down to the the 106 and um I know one of the questions that you know I think of as a taxpayer is you know by doing that have we kind of in a sense you know we're still trying to achieve the sustainability goals that we've we've laid out as a community in terms of what we're you know what we believe in as our core values but then also on the other end you know there's this this this fear of of you know what's this going to cost me as a taxpayer is this going to still kind of fit within the the plan that we have I know there's going to be you know we always knew there may be some things that may overlap and fall over that but what does that look like in terms of where we're at now and I know that can change you with a number of things so I want to be careful about asking that question absolutely mayor councilman member lman members of the council that's a really great question and and um that's why I mentioned at the beginning the items that have been cut in the facility um and I I really want to make a fine point that we have not cut any of the main components in any way uh that would affect the operations of the facility the perform of the facility or the amenities that the community said that they wanted uh throughout the last 10 years so um it was really a a solid exercise in efficiency um but all of the amenities that impacted the proforma that you all reviewed uh last fall are still there thank you and you've got my other questions I'll give those later council member revas and council member delandro council member revas two quick questions um in spite of all the changes that you have been going through are we still on scheduled to finalize the project like it has been planned originally mayor council member R Us members of the council yes we are still on schedule awesome second question is quick also um I I just have a question in regards to the square footage the building or the shell the outside shell Still Remains the Same Size right since you're going to be able to expand Aquatics and Athletics uh if you needed to in the future that means the building size hasn't changed it just whatever am minut is you have uh you have cut back in the AM minutes with inside the building but not the outside right and I getting that correct or or or the building has actually reduced in size from 136,000 feet to square feet to6 um yeah that's a really good question the building has reduced in size um and we did that by some of the things that an had mentioned like um at one point we were exploring three gymnasiums which is one of the things that increased the square footage and now we have two gymnasiums and I think our track is a bit smaller and then just holistically making the project more efficient so looking really closely at Corridor sizes at restroom sizes at all of those amenities and just kind of tightening everything up so you will be able to expand it in the future if you need it to correct yeah so as as Ann mentioned on the site we have some areas set aside where the building could grow into um should we need to add a gymnasium or expand Aquatics thanks you're welcome council member dandro thank you Mr Mayor uh I'm glad you left this particular slide up because he one of my questions were focused so thank you for that um so can you uh you you mentioned the assumptions below um indicating uh 10 points assumed for optimized energy performance and two points for renewable energy I don't see where the asterisk is in the credit category can you just tell me what credit category those numbers fit into yeah so when we talk about what where you know like a suite of options and especially with you know B3 you have to do it this is where we can play around and say okay well maybe it makes more sense to get more credits from energy or for materials so the um that was specifically related to um the energy performance so energy and atmosphere so you can see that there's 33 possible points so right now we have 15 assumed there's a possibility that we'll have a lot more um that would fall within the the maybe um section right now so that's what that risk was was that you know there's further exploration that needs to happen to see if where're if we can even move points around understood okay so that 15 points doesn't include those 12 right now but it could include those 12 in the future if we get it right yeah and that's exactly yeah exactly we have just today I was talking to our energy modeler and they're starting to more details around it that's helpful thank you um so uh two things related related to that F first question I have is you know you you all mentioned that um and I don't know if this is what's impacting kind of the water efficiency piece but you you mention in the challenges of B3 certification the storm water problem um was there any was there any review done of of um graywater management so that we wouldn't have as much storm water runoff for example in the first place to manage it in a different way than worrying about the collectors and things of that nature um I'm asking just simply because um you know there's opportunities for filtration and and reuse in all of the restrooms and other places like that when you have gray water options just curious if that was a consideration that you all made as you thought about how to potentially solve those two problems that's a good question so I know um with the B3 storm water requirements it has a lot more to do with the site itself and infiltration when a storm happens how are you managing that and that's what makes it so costly um I have Maggie pipek our lead specialist is online she's the one who actually put this Square card together so Maggie I don't know if you can hear us but if you have thoughts on the water uh gray water reuse and how lead would capture that I don't believe that's what's captured here um my experience on other projects has been that gray water can be from an operational perspective um somewhat burdensome it doesn't mean that we can't explore it though I don't know Aon if you've um talked with anyone in plumbing about it but it is something that we could still even at this point consider yeah we we have not explored it to this point um but I think that um one of the benefits of lead as Leah said is it's Flex ability and their ability to look at a number of different things and as we move this forward post schematic design I think that's our charge is to look for opportunities and that could be something I am sorry look for opportunities um to to look at system such as that and then I think Maggie are you on or off mute I am and I think you guys answered it it well I would say that we're still in an exploration stage and it would be something that we can consider okay that's fine thank you I appreciate the insights there um lastly um what um what is the what is the uh how do I say this um I'm not a huge I'm curious about why our location and transportation number is so slow or so low and um I don't know if it has to do with the fact that the bus stop is clear on the other side of the entrance to the building and things of that nature I mean what what have we been thinking about in terms of of making better choices there uh not that we have to necessarily but it it would impact our ability to get better lead certification potentially but also just make for a better experience even if we even if we had a some other way for people who are coming in and off of Transportation off of 98 Street to get into the building um or even under shelter fairly quickly you know that would be a met like better for all the people we expect to take public to this thing as we're trying to work on our our public transportation work with the Folks at met at met you know met Council and things of that nature M yeah so I'll let Maggie pipe in as well but I so for location and transportation that actually has a lot to do with where your site already is located okay more than what you're putting on the site and so you're kind of given the points that you can that is about what we can get for this based on where it's located and walkability and um yeah items of that nature but baggy is there anything else you'll add I would just you know add you you are right on track with regards to the alternative transportation like bus routes being part of that component and it is a credit um unfortunately like the way the credit is written it's pretty prescriptive and it's targeted to trying to hit a certain number of of rides um or trips and so um it's more about like the volume and access to the site and how that site is connected back to other resources in that category so I mean we could we can look and talk about things that you know where the um kind of like misses are um but I also know that we probably don't want to go into a very detailed discussion at this time no that that's fine it this I just wanted to understand I appreciate the insights there uh my comment for um for the for staff might be Mr mayor that we we consider if there's something that we can do um either with with met counsil um you know or somehow to help mitigate that by I don't know if it's moving the the you know bus stop closer to a corner where it could be more easily accessed to the back of the building or something else but maybe we have to take that on ourselves to make better use of that thanks um as it says uh in case you're curious ious I think any certification is better than no certification so lead lead of any size looks good to me yeah thanks mayor council member D dandro members of the council if I could just add one thing too I wanted to pull this slide up um and I wanted to talk a little bit about Safety and Security in the building and our access points um I want you to know we are working very closely with Emma we're working very closely with Julian Kirk in engineering as well to try to make the build as accessible as we possibly can and certainly are considering our bus um and our bike and all of our different forms of access to the facility just wanted to point out one thing that we haven't talked about a lot but if you see the green areas where there's the park and wreck office and then there's the check-in desk and then there are the crosses that's the um that's the point uh what we are referring to as the pay wall so we've been focusing on just having one main public public access to the facility so that we can control it from a Safety and Security standpoint and then also knowing that we can't have an entrance on the other side of the building because then people would be entering on the wrong side of the pay wall so it has been a very deliberate um conversation but um we are working to achieve uh the best access for all users of the facility as possible thank you appreciate that and uh when you when I saw the slide I it made sense but I'm glad you you you uh laid that out as you did um I mean from my perspective back to the the whole certification I would I would agree with council member dallesandro anything is better than nothing and I and actually I prefer lead certification because I think people understand it more I think B3 is a bit wonky in Industry specific but people understand lead certification uh my question is is is this lead certification specific to uh community centers health and wellness centers or is this more of a general certification that we're talking about here yeah so there are a few different options with lead and This falls under bdnc so building design and construction so it's new construction um so it's yeah that and under new construction is a lot of different types including Community spaces so it's not specific to this building type so but okay so it's it's new construction but it isn't specific this could be a bus stop also or this could be a you know I they have I think they have to be occupied but uh and and the reason I ask I mean it because I I would think the work that we put into this if it was specific to I I think the apples to Apple's comparison is much better than an apples to Chevrolet's comparison so if if it can be compared to other community centers in terms of the certification in terms of the efficiency and the sustainability aspect it makes a lot more sense to me if it's compared to you know a clean room over in one of our uh you know chips manufacturing companies it's an entirely different animal so this it it would make more sense to compare it or to judge it based on what it's like compared to other I could jump in really quick yeah go ahead you don't mind um with regards to the the track of certification what Leah stated is right like they don't subdivide it out into that small of distinctions um there is a separate schools category because under the new construction because that is a very you know K to2 schools are pretty unique um category however I would say like when you're talking about certain things like energy like that Baseline that you're going to be have be having compared to is comparing it to buildings that are similar in scope so you're not going to be comparing a um Community Center to a um lab space or something like that so that is so I would say like on a um particular strategy or category level there is the ability to compare you know for it to be looked at against its you know pure buildings okay I appreciate that and and frankly and I've mentioned this to to an the reason I bring it up I working on TCF Bank Stadium there was no lead certification for a stadium so the University of Minnesota worked with lead to create one and to create one very specific about what we're trying to accomplish and what a stadium could and should be and I mean if they wanted to do something as a test pilot program I think this would be a great opportunity for lead to take this and run with it a little bit Council M Nelson thank you mayor um this may come as a shock but I may not agree with everything um I don't see the value of lead certification I think making this perform as best as possible and being sustainable makes sense spending the extra money in my mind does not um I don't say that to be flippant I don't say that uh um uh out of disrespect I actually have helped uh create and launch and write part of uh local or Statewide and a national Green Building program for the residential industry so I understand these programs my concern about them is they're often times way too prescriptive and not focused on performance and the only thing in my mind that matters at the end of the day is how the building performs so the fact that you do a bunch of things that you get points for that cost a bunch of money that don't really make it more sustainable is irrelevant in my mind and I think that taking the approach of making this building perform from an energy standpoint from an air quality standpoint from a water standpoint from um all of those different you had like five different things um focus on that in my opinion and forget about lead forget about B3 other than to the extent that they can be helpful and informative in terms of the design and us your expertise to create the best building we can so that's probably just one Council person's opinion um the other question I have in terms of this is we've um am I correct in understanding that the the outdoor amenity is a walking Track around the building sure uh council member Nelson mayor members of the council um I would say that mostly yes it's an outdoor walking area but then I would also highlight in the northeast corner there is one area that is going to be green space that we haven't yet determined exactly how that's going to function but it could be an outdoor uh classroom type space out in our fitness space um and outdoor activity space potentially okay thank you for that uh because that's one of my big concerns the task force the um that originally looked at this you know 700 years ago um they three of their five recommendations specifically noted having outdoor amenities and having a site that had outdoor amenities um and so that is very important to me to honor what they were looking to do there and I also think it's very important for the project I know we also have some concerns that we've discussed we don't need to get into them tonight with regards to parking um possible lots across the street to expand that parking and things of that nature uh um so in regards to that have we looked at other options including in particular the office space and finding a different location for office space not a central features of this but just the office portions of it for some of the admin as well as Parks um so that we could have out more outdoor amenities we could maybe avoid a parking ramp we might get that third gym in there those types of things I would rather focus on the amenities than the administration in this project um and so that just my feedback on the design as it is today so probably again just one Council member's opinion thank you council member anything else Council any other thoughts council member Carter I just have a clarifying question so for the the lead certification fee of $112,000 is that a onetime fee or an annual fee believe it's it's one time is that right Maggie it it is one time it's the registration but that is the registration fee and there are review fees in addition to that and are those annual reviews are they every five years every 10 years it is a one-time um review fee unless you were to decide to opt into an operations and maintenance um rating system on top of that and then that would be an ongoing fee um to to do that but it's part of a you know tracking and measurement and verification okay portfolio so yeah so once you have lead you have lead okay yeah once you have lead you have lead once we have the seal on the building we're not going back all right okay and so that's 12,000 plus a registration fee or that is the registration fee and then there's another fee the 12,000 Maggie that's the registration fee and then there's the review fee well um the registration fee I'm sorry I should say is like 1375 like 1,300 and 75 okay then there are review fees that are a price per square foot number right okay in the packet it says for this size of building it'd be like $12,000 so that's probably an estimate of all of it okay all of the fees together at this point in time okay so um this the costs really are then in actually making the building sustainable it's not in the fees to become lead certified that is correct okay thank you for clarifying that for me council member MOA thanks mayor I'll have my piece at it um and I'll keep it short because everyone said mostly everything so I really just want to Second um the piece from council member delandro about the public transportation and ease of drop off and pickup that was one of the first things I brought up when we had these conversations last summer um particularly where we have our current bus stops right now so um the more we can improve that to just make it easier not only for seniors to get in and out of the building but with the intent of young families being able to now use this space as well that's particularly important to me on that um and then also the piece from council member Nelson about I really care more about the function efficiency and effectiveness of this and if lead just happens to fit then that's great but if we're doing extra things just to do them and they don't really add any value um to the building i' prefer not to um so and I think that approach for me and life just works if I'm just doing things because I know it's the right thing to do and then someone can happen to say hey good job and give me a plaque that's great but that's not my intent to go after thanks last call councel all right well thank you so much thank you for the update Council the one thing we do need to do on this I'm looking for a motion to approve the move from B3 certification requirements to lead certification for the Community Health and Wellness Center project so moved second motion by council member Carter second by council member dandro to approve the move from B3 certification to lead certifications for the Health and Wellness Center no further Council discussion on that all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed I motion carries at 61 with council member Nelson in opposition Council we are now to our final item of the even evening item 5. to our city council policy and issue update I will kick off with a uh review of our Council listening session earlier this evening uh we heard from a variety of folks we heard from uh John heit maker uh John was at our truth and Taxation hearing back in December and asked a number of questions and wanted to come back and ask them again and get some specific qu uh some specific answers so had a conversation about things like um the the disposition of the uh Thunderbird Hotel Site or whether or not we were going to uh continue our um earn second saf leag program at the city level or our smoking cessation work at the city level and so had a good conversation got some good opinions back from uh from John and a good conversation and it was a good opportunity to to answer some of those questions that he did bring up back in December at the truth and Taxation hearing Sheila Barry appeared again before our listening session uh Miss Barry has had an ongoing uh dispute with the Bloomington Police Department around tactics around uh different uh things that she believes is uh being things that are being directed specifically at her and the city's followup and inability to address some of those concerns um we'll continue the conversation I'm sure with uh with Miss Barry but I don't know that we're going to get to a a comfortable resolution because there is ongo there's there's an ongoing investigation that uh encompasses her orbit and I'm afraid that it's it's uh it's just the reality of the situation right now and unless and until that becomes um is uh resolved I think that there's going to be some questions and and some uh uncomfortableness for for Miss Barry about uh the different work that goes on through the city of Bloomington uh Pam pmer was with us this evening she started talking in support of the animal shelter uh in support of an animal shelter Improvement program within the city of Bloomington and then also had some comments about the the um the Health and Wellness Center that we were just discussing discussing and we figured with uh Rob we finished with Rob witak who brought up some specific parking issues and an apartment complex within his neighborhood uh specifically that um the the parking from the apartment complex was spilling into the neighborhood on street parking many times uh undocumented um vehicles that that wouldn't belong at the apartment complex and certainly didn't belong in the neighborhood uh directed Mr witak and our city engineer Julie long to look at some alternativ in terms of the parking restrictions in and around the neighborhood to try and see if we can't resolve this because I agree that's U that's an uncomfortable situation for a neighborhood with when the apartment complex comes spilling out into the neighborhood that was our listening session and um unless I missed anything Council I don't think I did but that that was our listening session this evening I have nothing else to add so I turn to miss Tolman our interim city manager to see what we've got going on in the city manager's office thank you Mr Mayor um I just have two dates um one just want to give a shout out to our utilities division our Public Works team to date counting this morning we've had 17 water main breaks so far in 2025 in January and February alone just to give you an idea of the impact of that our highest number of breaks um is was in 2022 of 35 and we're already at 17 um and our average breaks per year is 22 um and so this year started out fast and it's hard to say where we might end up as there a number of factors that contribute to a water main breaking um but our staff has been um just working around the clock um to fix it I think obviously has a lot to do with the weather the cold and the hot weather back and forth um but just want to give a shout out to our team for doing that um just to give you some data um 256 Services were impacted by these water brakes most of them residential over commercial and the average time that water um was out during this time was 4 hours from start to end so kudos to our Public Works team for um attending to that then the other update I have is just wanted to share for the community we do have um FAQs up on our website on immigration I know there's lots of questions around our community on um what police do and if they uh work with federal agencies on enforcing immigration there's a video by um our police chief hajes that talks about that it's also interpreted in Spanish um and there's a list of FAQs about the role we play um in Immigration enforcement also part of that website is a link to Community Resources um more wraparound services so people have questions around legal um advice um not advice but referrals to where they can go for legal advice um housing Public Health um Community Resources anything to support um our community that can also be found um online and we'll update that page as we get more developments as we go as well that's all I have for tonight Mr Mayor thank you much question from Miss dolman on any of this very good Council anything to add this evening in our policy and issue update council member lman thank you mayor uh just uh three really really quick things here just wanted to um uh uh let folks know uh that the uh School Board um and the school uh is going to be having a state of the uh schools on April 15th um uh our superintendent had mentioned that during the U during our uh our Rotary meeting today and I wanted to just be sure that people are reminded of that and I know it's been a a little bit of time since we have had the chance to kind of meet with the school board and I don't know if they'll have that opportunity to do that sometime this year but I just as one council member would love to see us do that again I know there's a number of things that are happening at the federal level and just in our our state that might make some sense to to to do that to touch base with those folks and then uh finally mayor I just wanted to thank you um you know there really is a focus around this this year around the the budget and your Bloomington uh briefing you uh had discussed that talked about that haven't had a chance yet to have a look at your uh the minutes the council minute uh around that but I do recommend that uh you know residents have a look at that um and uh also your your Council minute as we kind of look to try to pave our way uh forward in the future here again want to thank you for that thank you council member appreciate it others council member Nelson let me guess a couple of quick things just one and it'll probably be very quick um I would like to make a suggestion that we consider a moratorium on expanding rs1 zoning based on the action that we took earlier and the suggestion by some that we don't necessarily want to see that expand that we want to make these rules for the existing places well we can get our arms around that because I'm worried that we may have opened up um a situation where we're going to get a number of things and take up a tremendous amount of staff time to re review these um and I I don't necessarily think that was the consensus of the direction that we wanted to go is to expand that further throughout the city and so that would just be my suggestion if there is interest in that um I appreciate the suggestion council member I think a moratorium we'd have to set a time limit on it and then uh did did give notice and everything but then I I I would hope we would have some sort of outcome at the end of that um any sorry mayor if I might please um I think it would be to uh largely address council member delis Sandro's concerns that if we were in a place where we had um the ordinances that people felt comfortable with that we didn't need that zoning District that would be the outcome that I would look for or we would have parameters um a little bit more tight on how and when we would consider expanding that because um I'm still concerned that it's simply going to be used to just lock in large law thoughts without reference to actually sustainability or protection of the environment right thank you appreciate that so one of those two directions uh nodding heads or thumbs up thumbs down on this thought um because the bottom line is I will I will ask staff if we can even do that or because I know there are specific things you got to put you know parameters you got to set set around a moratorium and if we're able to do that or not but um other thoughts on that Council council member dallesandro so I I think I probably had just the opposite opinion of it at the moment and you know council member Nelson and I have gone back and forth on this literally since we started talking about this I actually want people to bring it up because I want us to prioritize getting these environmental things done and so I actually want people to come and and petition for them um I do and not because I not willy-nilly not because it's to preserve lot size not because of anything but because there is a substantial and valid reason if you've got those two requirements out of four in there including steep slope n n you know our our I know we say our city Forester does the the work but our city Forester has been overwhelmed over the last two years I can't imagine that that's actually been no no offense to the city Forester but I can't imagine that's been uh the kind of review that I would want to see us doing from a native natural landscaping and and Forest preservation perspective so I'm I'm up I'm not opposed to the long-term play that you're I think we're actually I think we're aligned in the long-term view we're we're not aligned on how we get there in the short term uh the only other thing I'll say is if we're going to do a moratorium we do a moratorium on all of it till we get that stuff done because if the environmental stuff is going to apply to everywhere then it should we should wait to do anything until we get it for everywhere so that's my counterargument to that and I can't imagine we were going to put a moratorium on on zoning changes in the city so I'm I'm hesitant to to be okay with it I appreciate that and the other thing to consider I mean we have approved the planning commission's work plan and our planning staff we've already seen is already plenty busy for the coming coming year and this would make that would would add significantly to whatever they were doing so uh again council member lman just briefly I already have an email um asking about that in my district about looking into that that zone so just just for context I also have one person asking the same thing in my district one um I I mean I'll if I'm looking at thumbs up what I'll what I will do I'll I'll put a thumbs up as well so we can have staff kind of take a look at it we can have this conversation rather than having it at 9:00 on on Monday night put it put it and and put it in front of all of us and we can have the discussion back and forth whether or not it's a good idea whether or not the opposite idea is a better idea but I think that's that's a legitimate thought so we're good with that all right very good Council anything else to bring forward this evening all right if not we are done with our agenda council at 8:50 this evening I will look for a motion to adjourn so motion by council member mu second by council member Ras to adjourn this evening no further Council discussion all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed motion carries 70 thanks so much Council for the work this evening thank you to staff for uh your work as well the good meeting and thanks to the members of the public who participated always appreciate you showing up and sticking with us thanks much everybody have a good Tuesday [Music]