This transcript has been formatted with speaker names based on the context of the Apple Valley City Council meeting and the officials provided. *** **[0:00] [Music]** **[0:16] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** I know is meanders he was he's the baby of the group actually may engine maybe do all right good evening everyone. **[1:03] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We'll go ahead and call the meeting to order for the October 24th 2024 Apple Valley city council meeting. I welcome everyone this evening as we get to the items on the agenda. Uh, for those who have signed up to speak when your name is called please come forward uh and address the the council at the podium. With that the first item on our agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance and I would ask everyone to rise and join us in the pledge. I pledge allegiance United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible. **[1:44] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Li all right thank you. The next item on our agenda is to approve the agenda and Tom any changes this evening? **[1:53] Tom Lawell (City Administrator):** Good evening Mr Mayor members of the council. We have no changes to tonight's [agenda]. **[1:58] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you. I will take a motion to approve the agenda. **[2:05] Councilmember Tom Goodwin:** So moved. **[2:06] Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Second. **[2:07] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from Councilmember Goodwin a second from Councilmember Grendahl. All those in favor indicate by saying I. (I) Opposed? Uh, that the agenda is approved. And our next item is the audience participation portion of the meeting. This is for items that are not on the agenda. We have a total of 10 minutes for this item. I don't have anyone signed up to speak but we will offer if anyone would like to speak at this portion of the meeting for items not on the agenda please come forward now. All right seeing none will move on. **[2:30] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** To the consent agenda. These items are considered routine and will be enacted with a single motion unless a council member or a citizen request to pull an item. We'll start with our council members: are there any items you'd like to pull from the consent agenda this evening? And citizens in the audience, any items to pull? All right seeing none, I do have we have a motion for approval for the consent—do we have a second? **[3:10] Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Second. **[3:11] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** So a motion from Councilmember Melander a second from Councilmember Grendahl. All those in favor indicate by saying I. (I) And opposed? To the consent items all pass which moves us to the regular agenda. Our first item is 5A which is bsk Inc DBA Berry Sweet Kitchen 14638 Cedar Avenue and it is a public hearing and resolution approving a liquor license. And Christina? **[3:30] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** Good evening mayor and city council. I'm pleased to be here this evening to bring forward a liquor license application from bsk Inc doing business as Berry Sweet Kitchen located at 14638 Cedar Avenue Suite 150. The public hearing for consideration of this on-sale liquor license and Sunday special license for Sunday liquor sales has been published and an Affidavit of Publication has been received. The police department and fire department have conducted their investigation and inspection and they have determined that there is no reason to deny the license. **[4:03] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** At this time we ask that the city council hold a public hearing and then consider um approval of this on-sale liquor license and special Sunday liquor license. **[4:18] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Wonderful thank you. We will go ahead and start by opening the public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to speak to this item? Anyone who would like to speak to the public hearing? All right, one final opportunity. We'll close the public hearing and I would look for a motion to adopt the resolution approving the issuance of on-sale intoxicating liquor and special license for Sunday liquor sales. **[4:35] Councilmember John Bergman:** So moved. **[4:36] Councilmember Tom Goodwin:** Second. **[4:37] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from Councilmember Bergman and a second from Councilmember Goodwin. All those in favor indicate by saying I. (I) Opposed? Um, I would like to—our applicants are in the audience—I would like to invite them up and just tell us a little bit about the the business that you've got. I know you did a bit of a soft open and you're excited to get this piece going, so come on up introduce yourself and uh and uh welcome to Apple Valley. **[4:50] Applicant (Berry Sweet Kitchen):** Hi guys. Right go here? Go here so the camera will pick you up. Um um um thanks for letting us be here guys and uh we um we're starting a a breakfast and lunch restaurant and people have to have their mimosas. So mimosas and Bloody Marys and that's that's why we need the liquor license. And uh we have another restaurant South Minneapolis and uh we're hoping this one—we've had a lot of success there and we're hoping to have success here. So this is a big First Step so really appreciate you guys uh approving this. **[5:37] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Welcome. You've had good reviews early. Uh location—the address might not mean anything to those who uh I just heard the digits in the address—but you're in the retail center that's the north side of 147th in Cedar, kind of next to where Buffalo Wild Wings is, uh Applebees kind of right in right in that Center. **[6:00] Applicant (Berry Sweet Kitchen):** Yep. **[6:01] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Good location and you're open six days a week I understand, everything but Monday right? And breakfast and lunch. **[6:10] Applicant (Berry Sweet Kitchen):** Yep. **[6:11] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Good deal. Welcome to Apple Valley and we look forward to it. John go ahead. **[6:15] Councilmember John Bergman:** Uh this morning the wife and I had the pleasure of going visiting the restaurant and it's it is interesting and it is very good. Uh we were there around 10:30ish and by 11:00 there was um a lot of people walking in and out of that um facilities. So the food is very good. Um again the concept that you have produced um once this liquor license goes through really will I think is a draw that we don't really have in in this city. So it's interesting and welcome and thank you. **[6:40] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** For those watching waiting to go get a mimosa tomorrow morning, just hit pause on that just a second. They got to get this through the state, get their card right, they got a few things left to do first so don't go knocking on the door tomorrow morning looking for your mimosa. It's going to take them a few days to get there. **[7:00] Applicant (Berry Sweet Kitchen):** I can I can make you a virgin Bloody Mary. **[7:04] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** There you go, with no no vodka, but I'm going to have that tomorrow. All right thank you and welcome. **[7:14] Applicant (Berry Sweet Kitchen):** Thank you. **[7:15] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All right that brings us to 5B which is a slate of items related to our cannabis ordinance amendments and Alex and Christina are going to apparently tag team this one so come on up and we'll get started. **[7:25] Alex (Staff):** Thank you Mayor and Council. Yeah this is uh an item that Christina and I are working on together as there are multiple items to or multiple ordinance amendments to this. So we are looking for three different actions this evening. The Council may hold off waving the second reading if they'd like; however if there are any concerns I'm going to go through this very very quickly because the Council has seen most of these dates before. Uh I can linger on them if you have any questions but I'm going to try to move through it very promptly. **[8:00] Alex (Staff):** Uh in 2023 the state legislature adopted a statute that allowed for the legalization and possession, use, manufacturing, and sale of cannabis. That's what's kind of kicked this off. The city then put in through ordinance a moratorium uh restricting the retail sale of cannabis products until January 1, 2025 which has been our timeline for developing our local ordinance on this one. Uh the key aspect here is that we have met with city council previously in a work session to go through three primary policy directions related to the zoning ordinance that would that helped guide the ordinance for both Planning Commission and staff. I'll linger a little bit longer on this one because Council has not seen some of these dates yet other than in their packet. **[8:45] Alex (Staff):** Uh September 19th 2024 the public hearing at the Planning Commission was held for the zoning portion of the ordinance amendments. We then tabled the item and brought it back to the next meeting on October 2nd and the Planning Commission unanimously recommended that draft ordinance. Tonight again we are looking for three ordinance amendment updates. You can wave the second reading but just so that you're aware we do have back updates in case you do have questions so the Council is in no way obligated to act on that for now. I'll hand off briefly to Christina. **[9:32] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** Mayor and Council, um we thought it would be helpful at this juncture to kind of walk through the overall licensing process for cannabis businesses um because there there are different pieces of city regulations that fall into different parts of this licensing process. So the first step for a cannabis business is applying for a license pre-approval with the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). Um so that includes the background checks and other other pieces that the Office of Cannabis Management does to make sure that that business entity or person is eligible for a license. Once that business has that license pre-approval they have 16 months to apply for a final license. So then at that point they go out and start selecting a location and applying for local approvals. So that's where our zoning regulations come into play, right? **[10:18] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** If a cannabis business had a pre-approval and came to the city of Apple Valley, they would work with the Planning and Community Development Department to make sure that um our zoning codes and receive any planning entitlements that they need. We expect at that point likely the business is signing a lease also getting building permits making sure that they have their approvals from the city. Um at that point then they go back to the Office of Cannabis Management and apply for their final license. So then that is actually licensing that specific business location. The OCM at that point contacts the city to confirm conformance with zoning, building, and fire code, and the city has 30 days to say yes they did what they're supposed to do, they have all of their entitlements and their building and fire code permits. Um and if if they don't then we say no they haven't met those requirements and the the licensing needs to come back to us. **[11:04] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** Um and then once the OCM issues the final license then the Cannabis business registers with the city. And so that's where the city clerk's office becomes involved because the city clerk's office will be accepting in those registrations and making sure that they meet our um registration requirements and basically our kind of business regulations and that's in our business section of the code. It's a lot of back and forth and there's a couple different departments at the city level that are involved um whenever we would have a cannabis business come into town and I should note that that registration is only applicable to a retail cannabis business um and it also applies to the low potency hemp edibles as well. **[11:50] Alex (Staff):** Thank you for that. So again council did see these policy recommendations so I'm going to move through them relatively quickly so feel free to interrupt me if you do have any questions on something specific. We brought this forward to city council previously. The policy direction is should we limit the number of retail cannabis locations? With the Community State Statute allows us to do so, one for 12,500 residents. Council directed yes, Planning Commission affirmed that decision that is included in the draft ordinance, they unanimously uh agreed with that assessment. The second one was should this city implement buffers from sensitive uses as outlined the state statute. City council recommended to to staff and the Planning Commission that we place on the maximum buffers allowed by statute. Planning Commission studied this, affirmed that action. City council then went on further to ask the Planning Commission to study whether we should have an additional buffer between retail sale locations or dispensaries of 500 or 1,000 ft or any number potentially in between. **[12:37] Alex (Staff):** This took a little bit more study from the Planning Commission. You'll see a map next uh where we were able to affirm that you could still meet that five minimum locations. The Planning Commission recommended the thousand foot buffer to mimic the thousand feet from schools. We did check uh that we can still fit the minimum of five locations, in fact we can fit around 13 so we're still in good shape. We will never be out of conformance with State Statute. If you do have questions on the map we can go to it in greater detail. There's a little bit it gets washed out on the screen a little bit so you'll see it a little bit better on the council packet or online but we were able to create a map. The one explanation that I want to provide to this map because it has changed a little bit since when Council first saw it is that only the relevant buffers are shown on the map right now. **[13:23] Alex (Staff):** So in areas where a park is located but no retail is located you don't see a buffer and that's done purposely just to make the map a little bit more legible for Council and the public. We will be utilizing this and putting it online. We are working with JS to see whether we are going to have the demand of actually creating a dynamic map so that users could check a location on their own. That being said we only have five locations and limited staff resources so we do want to be respectful of that—may stay more static. The final item is which zoning districts should uh cannabis retail sales and other cannabis uses be permitted within? The basic rule of thumb here is that if it's an agriculture operation it can occur in an agricultural zone, if it's a production and manufacturing industrial similar to any of those others, retail to retail. And so that's what we've gone with as we've treated uh cannabis essentially like any other retail sale minus those buffers and other restrictions. We do have the table next if you do have any of the questions on it, it's a lot of information for a slide so I'm not going to linger on it for too long. Yeah it's not as pretty I'm sorry. **[14:54] Alex (Staff):** With that, um we did hold a public hearing and I wanted to summarize because we had one more or one comment from outside. That comment was concerned about a definition and the City attorney uh went back and amended that definition. We sent it on to that person that expressed concern on the definition and they express support of the amended change so that has alleviated all public comment the city has received to date on the ordinance. There was one additional question that both the Planning Commission and city council had which was: let's say you are one of those licensed businesses you moved in you've done everything with us and then a daycare moves in across the street and what happens with that? Uh both City Council made note of it in your work session and Planning Commission really kind of struggled with that one. So we included a provision that specifically states that if you [are] a licensed location you're in that location and then a sensitive use moves in next door you get to stay. It was already probably inherently that way but now it's explicitly stated in our ordinance. Now it's Christina's turn to kind of finish things off. **[15:40] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** Yes, so now we move over into the retail registration portion of the city code and that's the second ordinance amendment that's before you for consideration this evening. So as I mentioned earlier the Office of Cannabis Management issues licenses to retail cannabis businesses and retail lower potency hemp edible businesses. After the license issuance, those retail businesses are required to register with the city. So this ordinance notes what our registration requirements are and says that if they are met then the city clerk shall issue the registration. If a registered business violates city codes or poses an imminent threat to public health or safety, the city is allowed under State Statute and our ordinance to suspend that registration for up to 30 days and work with the Office of Cannabis Management if additional um followup is required. And under the law OCM must have an expedited complaint process and review process for any complaints that come in from cities and so we are allowed to say for 30 days we're going to pause this registration you may not sell and then work with the Office of Cannabis Management should we have non-compliant businesses within our city. **[17:13] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** The registration regulations themselves—these are some of the highlights. Um we also echo in the registration regulations that there are no more than five um retail registrations for cannabis retail businesses. That only applies to the cannabis businesses, not to the lower potency hemp edible businesses. We require compliance with zoning code. We require an initial inspection before registration is issued. Uh we require that lower potency hemp edible retail businesses keep their products, except for beverages, displayed behind a checkout counter or in a locked case. So if you're in a gas station something like that you can't just self-serve those um lower potency hemp edible products. We have requirements that retail cannabis businesses can be open from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. um that's as restrictive as we can be per State Statute. **[17:59] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** Um we require that consumption or use of cannabis on the property of the business or that on a temporary cannabis event—we prohibit those. Um so there isn't any sampling, there isn't any um any other use that's happening within an a cannabis retail business. Um and then we require that we conduct annual age verification compliance checks just as the same as we do with um liquor and tobacco and those again are being done on an annual basis. We will also be in our 2025 proposed fee schedule bringing forth registration fees. It made sense to discuss those at tonight's meeting um but because we have a moratorium on retail sales um of cannabis products we don't need to put these registration fees into place right now. So you don't have an ordinance or excuse me a resolution in front of you right now to adopt these fees but we did want Council to have the opportunity to think about them and provide feedback um and then you will see these incorporated into the proposed 2025 fee schedule that'll come um later in December. **[18:46] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** Um these are the maximum fees that we are allowed to charge under State Statute. The initial license fee includes the business's first renewal um so we expect to see um some revenues in 2025 especially since we know we already have lower potency hemp edible businesses um that would pay that 125 initial license fee um and then those businesses they renew with us annually but they don't need to pay another renewal fee or license fee until their second renewal. The third ordinance that the council has in front of them this evening is really more of a housekeeping ordinance. Um it doesn't directly relate to the retail sales or to the zoning ordinance um but it does clarify that in the city's drug paraphernalia ordinance um that those prohibitions that are in that ordinance do not apply to cannabis equipment that is allowed under Minnesota statutes. So we wanted to—while we were here talking cannabis—make sure we were cleaning up all of our ordinances um and complying with um chapter 342. With that we have the three actions for you this evening and if Council so wishes they may wave the second reading for each one of these. **[20:21] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you both. That was a lot but also very well done for the amount of information. So we'll start with the council questions before we take the action items if there are any. We've been through this uh going on a year so if we all look like we have uh eyes glazed over—no pun intended—um that uh it's because we've seen this information multiple times. Uh lots of work from staff uh to get here, lots of work from Planning Commission and others to kind of get us to this point and uh um I'll just say that this was driven by changes in state law not something that we undertook as an initiative but something we need to do to react to changes in state law. Councilmember Goodwin? **[21:06] Councilmember Tom Goodwin:** And some of the things we should realize are state mandates. For example I've had citizens say to me: "you have to have five marijuana stores, you only got three liquor stores." I said well that's a mandate the state says we must. So so I hope people recognize that and understand that literally everything in here is a state mandate. **[21:30] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** So yes everything's the state mandate but that's one that when I when I mention a friends of mine they say "you can have five marijuana stores you only got three liquor stores"—well that's a mandate. Thanks Tom. Councilmember Bergman? **[21:45] Councilmember John Bergman:** Thanks mayor. Uh to staff any comments from the general public um during the Planning Commission or oh to you at all? **[21:55] Alex (Staff):** Just one written comment that we received on that definition. There were no other public comments. **[22:04] Councilmember John Bergman:** Interesting. **[22:05] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All right there's no other comments or questions, let's move on with the items. Um first one is to pass the ordinance amending chapter 155 of city code to add section 155.32 regulating cannabis businesses hemp businesses and cannabis events and this includes waving the second reading. **[22:25] Councilmember Tom Goodwin:** So move. **[22:26] Councilmember John Bergman:** Second. **[22:27] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** A motion from Councilmember Goodwin a second from Councilmember Bergman. Uh any further discussion? [None]. All those in favor indicate by saying I. (I) And opposed? That one passes. Second is an ordinance amending city code entitled business regulations adding chapter 121 regarding cannabis and hemp retail businesses and this also includes waving the second reading. Do I have a motion? **[22:58] Councilmember Tom Goodwin:** So move. **[23:01] Councilmember John Bergman:** Second. **[23:02] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from Councilmember Goodwin a second from Councilmember Bergman. Uh any additional discussion on item two? All right all those in favor indicate by saying I. (I) Opposed? That item carries as well. And the third is to pass an ordinance amending chapter 13.06 of city code entitled drug paraphernalia amending the drug paraphernalia prohibitions and this also it would include waving the second reading. We have a motion? **[23:36] Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Motion. **[23:38] Councilmember Tom Goodwin:** Second. **[23:39] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from Councilmember Grendahl a second from Councilmember Goodwin. Uh uh any further discussion on this item? If not uh all those in favor indicate by saying I. (I) And that item carries as well so thank you uh again everyone for the work to get us here. **[23:56] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Tonight well I try to recover my voice here we will go on to item 5C and that is an ordinance amending chapter 155.35 of the city code regarding storm water management. All yours Matt. **[24:10] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** Thank you Mr Mayor and Council. Well I do have three ordinances tonight but I don't think they'll take too much time. So um as as the mayor said the first one is chapter 155.35. Get into it here. Um wanted to start out by what's prompting these revisions. They are uh changes that are required to bring us in or to be in accordance, I should say, with our MS4 or Municipal Separate Storm Sewer permit with the state through the MPCA. So that's why these changes are coming forward. And specifically what we're looking at again is chapter 155.35 drainage requirements in the city code. Now that section has two parts to it: one being storm water runoff design criteria and the second being impervious surface coverage uh basically hard surface uh coverage requirements. Tonight the the revisions are only um dealing with the storm water runoff design criteria. **[25:30] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** So uh those modifications are um we're proposing to remove outdated storm water runoff design criteria and move the remainder of those into chapter 152 which I'm going to talk about right after this. Um those design criteria that will remain um will be replaced with a reference that um sites should follow the drainage requirements as listed in our surface water management plan and also chapter 152 which again is going to come before you in a moment. Again the impervious surface coverage is not being changed tonight. That's really it for this one so I'd stand for any questions. **[26:10] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Are there any questions for for Matt on this one? If not, do we want to just take these as you want to go through the rest or should we just take these as they're in order on the agenda and get them passed? **[26:15] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** I'll just take them one at a time. **[26:16] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All right so let's go with uh—are you ready for us to take this item then? So we'll uh look for a motion to pass ordinance amending chapter 155.35 of the city code regulating storm water management and that includes waving the second reading. **[26:30] Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** So moved. **[26:32] Councilmember Tom Melander:** Second. **[26:33] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from Councilmember Grendahl a second from Councilmember Melander. All those in favor indicate by saying I. (I) All right that one passes and we will move on to 5D then. **[26:45] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** I'll just wait for it to come up. Yes thank you again Mr Mayor and Council. This is uh looking at chapter 152 and what's prompting these revisions similar to the last one is so we stay in accordance with our MS4 or Municipal Separate Storm Sewer permit from the MPCA. Before I get into the specific changes I just wanted to mention that because of the sheer amount of changes that are proposed in this to to meet the requirements of that state permit, along with the uh drainage uh design criteria that I just mentioned was being moved into this from the previous chapter 155, and also some outdated language that we want to change um on the recommendation of the City attorney uh it's recommended that we replace in the in its entirety the old I'll call it now chapter 152 and the new proposal um is before you so it's a completely um new language. **[27:47] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** Um and probably the most unique uh revision to this ordinance—something that's being added—is um requirements over the storage of road salt on sites. So um if you think of maybe larger commercial sites in town that may want to um store salt over the winter to spread out their parking lot, there's now going to be some requirements for that obviously because of the relation to storm water. Um and so any site um specifically any site that would look to store five tons or more of road salt or 1,000 gallons or more of liquid like salt brine or something of that nature um would now have to um come into compliance with with the new ordinance. And the way we're proposing to do it is through our existing NRMP or Natural Resources Management Permit. There will be temporary seasonal storage um permits allowed. We'll also for sites that um maybe plan to do this every year—so they don't have to come back and fill out a permit every year—we'll be having a multi-year permit available. **[28:40] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** Oh and I did want to go over just a couple examples real quick. Um the one in the lower left um is something we wouldn't like to see and it's basically a tarp covering a pile of salt with some sandbags on it. That's something we wouldn't like to see. So the new requirements would be um to be completely covered like the example on the right—um walls basically all all the way around it um like I said a roof covering it on a hard surface so it can't soak into the ground um and then we'd also look for containment hence the doors so it wouldn't run off in into the um storm sewer system. So this example is probably more a permanent structure but temporary ones would be allowed too as long as they meet those requirements. **[29:20] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** Oh a few of the other revisions—um additional clarity on what exactly an illicit discharge to the storm sewer system would be and some examples of that are garbage yard waste, paints, antifreeze, and and salt. Um so they're defined now as illicit discharges. We also are simplifying the erosion and sediment control requirements as part of our already existing NRMP or Natural Resources Management Permit. We're revising some of the NRMP language to comply with the MPCA construction storm water permit standards. We're also eliminating outdated terms that are no longer relevant and one example of that is our current or old ordinance has erosion sediment control component that's now updated to be storm water pollution prevention plan, again current language that the state's using. **[30:20] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** Another part of chapter 152 is it covers our forestry requirements. And so a few of those changes are: we're modifying the tree replacement requirements to encourage increased diversity and also eliminate outdated language. We're including vegetation establishment as a criteria for closeout process in our NRMP permit. So basically we want to be seeing the grass and and vegetation coming up before we're going to close out an NRMP permit. And then we're revising the hazard tree code to only review trees for hazardous conditions if they would harm public property or users on public property. So what that results in is we would no longer be reviewing private tree disputes between neighbors. I think the Council's heard this discussion before um recommendation of our attorney's office to help limit liability. You have a couple pictures there. The one on the lower right um isn't from our city, found on the internet, but it's just an extreme example of one neighbor not liking the tree and the other neighbor liking it so we're going to stay out of those sort of disputes. **[31:35] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** No Christmas cards exchanged there. No. So happy to take any questions Mr. Mayor. **[31:40] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thanks Matt. Any questions on 152? I think we we talk about the uh the runoff right and the storm water piece in here and and I look at the guy pouring whatever it is down the storm drain and just you might say why is this a big deal. You—all of this goes right to our ponds and our lakes. It doesn't get treated right? You might think it goes in the sewer and it gets treated—it doesn't. It ends up right in our waterways and ultimately in our ground so pretty important that we uh we manage what's in those places. We can't ever get it back out once it's in there so definitely. If there are no questions we would take a motion to pass the ordinance amending chapter 152 and wave the second reading. **[32:20] Councilmember Tom Melander:** So moved. **[32:21] Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Second. **[32:22] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We have a motion from Councilmember Melander and a second from Councilmember Grendahl. All those in favor indicate by saying I. (I) Opposed? That item carries. And we will go on to 5E which is an ordinance amending chapter 51 and all you again Matt. **[32:40] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** Thank you. Um yes as you said Mr Mayor chapter 51 ordinance revision. So what's prompting this one—little different—still a state requirement to bring us uh in accordance with State statutes. This one's also coming from the DNR. Oh and I should say it's um during a critical water deficiency is what these requirements pertain to. So specifically these changes are limited to chapter 51.05 G water use restrictions. Basically what the revision says is upon the governor's Declaration of a critical water deficiency—so say a severe drought or maybe a natural disaster—um there would be expanded mandatory watering restrictions that would go into effect. And examples of these are outdoor yard irrigation misters or play apparatus similar to the picture on the right there, um spraying off of sidewalks or driveways that would be prohibited, filling of swimming pools fountains or other exterior features, washing of vehicles or trucks unless um it's at a car wash where there's a recirculating water system. Then the final one is restaurants would be prohibited from serving water unless requested by customer. So no longer could water be automatically on the table during a severe uh drought or water restriction like this but you could still order it by request. **[33:57] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** So I'm going to pause you there because Councilmember Melander just hit his light I want to see if he's got a question on this slide. **[34:00] Councilmember Tom Melander:** Question on the first dot with outdoor yard irrigation. Yes, um would that include—I think there's an exemption now for handheld—if you're out there with a hose and spraying things down without thinking of gardens and and flower beds and you know we'd hate to see those die. **[34:15] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** Yes um that's—you can't do it. That's a good question. I know our existing code for our normal watering restrictions each year from May through the end of September does allow that. I guess I'm not sure if I'm—thinking that folks would still be able to do that during this—this is an extreme event where the Governor's saying basically no one in the state can do outdoor yard irrigation. **[34:38] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** These are mandated by the these are the DNR regs in front. **[34:40] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** DNR and State Statute. **[34:41] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** These are not items we have a lot of discretion on. So we kind of have to follow what the state is telling us in this—is that correct? **[34:46] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** Correct. **[34:47] Councilmember John Bergman:** To follow up, when I first read this I looked at this and went "oh wow I'm probably illegal on a few of these already" until I went back—and you just mentioned it—the Governor's declaration. I think that needs to be highlighted because just looking at it you're going to get the impression, Councilmember Melander brings up the outdoor watering which we can do by hand all day long um but correct again. I think that needs to be in there some shape or form but I think it needs to be highlighted that this is a declaration because first impression was "what in the world John?" So I came back and read it. **[35:30] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** Correct Mr Mayor Councilmember Bergman, yes this is again when the Governor declares a critical water deficiency Statewide or I guess if it's only in the metro area. But it's going to be only during like like I said severe drought maybe a natural disaster where there's um something affecting the water system. So the idea is we want to retain our water for obviously drinking and and life and not have it be done for things like car washing and and uh filling of swimming pools and that sort of thing. **[36:18] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Matt how—I don't recall a declaration of this nature in the last quite some time do you? **[36:20] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** I don't ever remember. **[36:21] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** I just think—to put it in context right—we've had a couple very dry years we've had a very dry fall. We've not seen this declaration. So this is an extreme almost an emergency type situation right? Maybe we have—maybe it's extended drought—maybe like you said there's a—exactly who knows what right—that impacts the water supply. And I would imagine we would be communicating this declaration in order across all of our social media website right, water notification, get the word out to people. And what you're hoping for is voluntary compliance for the greater good not writing around issuing a bunch of citations right? **[37:00] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** Mr Mayor I can add—if the Council wanted we were proposing waving second reading—if you had some more concerns I could check into that question from Councilmember Melander um and if you want to hold this up for that. Otherwise I could still check into it and and let you know following approval of it. **[37:25] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Councilmember Goodwin's question then we'll come back to the second reading question. **[37:28] Councilmember Tom Goodwin:** Thank you Mayor. I think we have to remember this is just for really severe situations correct? Yeah, who knows climate change maybe we'll hit him but uh I don't see something like this coming up very often. **[37:35] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** I think our City Attorney has some uh sage advice for us as well. **[37:45] Sharon Hills (City Attorney):** Yes Mr Mayor to um Councilmember Melander's question. So the ordinance itself specifically defines the term irrigation and it would—and again this is for purposes of the new provision going in the emergency per the Governor—and irrigation does include gardens, lawns, or any other outdoor vegetation. So it doesn't have that exception like our standard—you know our summer restrictions. But again this is only that's only applicable in terms of an a water emergency. **[38:30] Councilmember John Bergman:** Sharon the uh what Melander was talking about was standing out there and let's say watering his tomato plants by for for for her—well she [does] have a lot of them—um but for that purpose... **[38:50] Councilmember Tom Melander:** Marijuana plants huh? **[38:55] Councilmember John Bergman:** But he's—correct me if I'm wrong—you he brought up hand watering. I I can understand the outdoor yard irrigation sprinkler systems. I totally get that but [the definition includes] me turning on a faucet—is that irrigation? According to the definition yes it is. Oh boy that stretches it. **[39:20] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Matt do you have any other slides on this? **[39:22] Matt Saam (Public Works Director):** No sir this is my last. **[39:24] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** So here's my so here's my question John. Here's my question for the group: right we can there is no urgency to do this this evening. We're not going—right we're coming into winter—we're not going to have to apply this in the next two weeks. We could bring this back for a second reading um in two weeks and give people time to mull it over ask other questions get all those clarifications if you all would prefer. I don't think it's going to change our answer but we certainly can do that so I'll leave it up to this group to decide if we are if we want to bring it back for a second reading. Yeah. **[40:10] Councilmember Tom Melander:** This this is not just me selfishly with my uh tomato tomatoes and I love tomatoes. But you know there's folks that invest a lot of money in gardens and they have—it takes some years to nurture plants to the point that they get them to the point that they want them. And it would be uh a hardship to to essentially kill those Gardens that folks have worked hard on. **[40:35] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Well just there's no harm in that. If we want more time to make sure we understand what we're passing um we can certainly do that. Wink wink nod nod um who's going to know if I go out there with a bucket of water you know? It's impossible to enforce you know for things like that so so I just I guess I I wouldn't nitpick on this. It happens so rarely anyhow but it just seems a little extreme. Are we comfortable moving forward with it now or do we want a second reading? Just consensus? **[41:10] Councilmember John Bergman:** I'm comfortable. **[41:12] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Are we okay? I said there's no there's no harm in delaying this one either so if we want to get it out there but sounds like there's we understand what it is. We might have some issues in an extreme severe drought that uh we have some concerns with right but um kind of understand what we have in front of us. And Mr Mayor like I said I can still check on that even tonight just and provide that information to council. **[41:35] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Sounds good thank you. Um so with that we have a matter—if you're ready we have a we have a motion to pass an ordinance submitting chapter 51 of the city code regulating water use restrictions and this would include waving the second reading. Do we have a motion to approve? **[41:45] Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Motion. **[41:46] Councilmember Tom Goodwin:** Second. **[41:47] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We have a motion from Councilmember Grendahl and a second from Councilmember Goodwin. All those in favor indicate by saying I. (I) And opposed? That item carries thank you. Uh that moves us past the action items and Matt thanks for that that was a lot in one evening and a lot to get there. Uh we also have a a little election coming up uh in the relatively near future and our City Clerk uh would like to provide uh some information for our for our citizens and residents. **[42:25] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** Good evening mayor and Council I'm like a bad penny tonight—one more time. Um I'm going to be giving a a brief overview of the general election we have coming up in about a week and a half or so, less than two weeks away, and I appreciate the time shared. Um the first thing I thought I'd do is share some voting options that um residents have here in Apple Valley. So if you're out in the community or folks are watching from home they know all their different options for voting in the November 5th election. **[43:00] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** So we have in-person early voting which actually began back on September 20th um it's here at the Apple Valley Municipal Center. We are open 8:00 to 4:30 Monday through Friday and then we have a lot of additional hours that are required under state law. So this Saturday will be open from 9:00 to 3:00. Next Tuesday we're going to be staying open until 7:00 and then the Saturday and Sunday before the election we are also open 9:00 to 3:00. And then the Monday before the election we are open until 5:00. So we are here for our voters and we are happy to serve them during any of those those times if they would like to come in and vote early. Um we are at the point in the early voting where voters can take their ballot and put it directly into a ballot counting machine—um that started last Friday on October 18th. **[44:00] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** We also are still in a period where voters can request a mail absentee ballot. Um those mailed absentee ballot applications are processed by Dakota County but to complete an application voters can go to MNvotes.gov and submit an online application for a mail ballot. They can also contact Dakota County directly either via phone or email and request an application form and submit an application form via email as well. All of the mailed absentee ballots can either be returned by mailing it back in a postage paid envelope or by dropping it off at Apple Valley Municipal Center or at one of the County's three service centers. Uh mailed absentee ballots must be received back by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day. So I've heard some people say well I have I just needs to be postmarked—it has to be in our hands by 8:00 pm on Election Day. So if you are someone who has a mail ballot and you haven't sent it back yet you want to start doing that soon to make sure that it is received by the county on by election day. **[44:50] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** And then of course voters have options to vote on Election Day. Um Tuesday November 5th is the big day. Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. here in Apple Valley we have 16 different polling locations. Um and I will note that's different than early voting right? We get a lot of people here on Election Day who say well my neighbors voted here on Sunday—well that's correct for early voting, everything happens at City Hall on Election Day itself. We have 16 different locations where voters go to cast their ballots. Voters can again visit MNvotes.gov to find their polling location. Um they all they're also welcome to call City Hall and I will note that same day registration is available for those who are not currently registered. Uh those voters do need to provide a proof of residence which are also listed in MNvotes.gov. **[45:45] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** If folks have questions about providing proof of residence and registering an election day, voters have a lot of different resources. Um the Minnesota Secretary of State's office MNvotes.gov has options to check your registration status, to view your sample ballot, find your polling place, you can track your absentee ballot, request an absentee ballot. Dakota County Elections handles military and overseas voters um and they manage the absentee voting process that happens through the mail. And then of course here at the city of Apple Valley we manage in-person early voting, we help voters with special circumstances—maybe they've been recently hospitalized, they're homebound—we can work with them on their options for receiving a ballot um and then we manage the election day voting here in the city. **[46:30] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** So what what have we been doing up to this point to get ready for this election? Um we've been staffing up. Um at a previous council meeting the council appointed about 350 election judges to staff our 16 polling locations. Those election judges are all required to have a 2-hour election judge training course and then a one and a half hour pole pad lab where they get hands-on experience with the equipment we use to check in and to register voters on Election Day. In addition we have about 35 head election judges and because we've had so many elections this year our head election judges will have had more than seven hours of training this year before we get to the general election. They're a dedicated group and we really really appreciate them. **[47:15] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** Um we get assistance in the city clerk's office from a variety of different city departments: streets, planning, Parks and Recreation. Um we have a lot of different city staff that assist with our early voting from a variety of different um departments and it's really a team effort and we very much appreciate it. And I'll say as running my first election here in Apple Valley I've just been so excited by the the team environment we have here and the enthusiasm we have for um making sure our voters receive an excellent service. **[48:00] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** And then of course we have collaboration with Dakota County itself. Um we have a new JPA that um Dakota County has taken over and centralized those absentee voting services and that is going very well. Um we have every day we have um party balanced election judges from the county that courier ballots in a secure fashion. Um we work very closely and have had very very good um discussions with the county on election night operations and during the day and they've been very responsive in getting back to all of our questions. So it's been a lovely collaboration this election season with Dakota County um and I think it'll lead to great results on election night. **[48:45] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** We've also been preparing our equipment right? We have our people we have our equipment. Um we conducted preliminary testing—uh that happened three or four weeks ago—and in our preliminary testing um my staff and I have counted over 3,700 test ballots in our equipment that go out to our 16 precincts. Um we've tested all of the assisted voting devices that go along with those ballot tabulators and we've counted the—um we've tested our early voting tabulators that we're using for early voting. In addition to all of those all of that testing that we did we also then held a public accuracy test which is a publicly noticed meeting. Ours was held on October 15th. Um members of the public were welcomed in to observe testing three machines. So we had um election judges um that were party balanced come in and we pulled those machines out and we went through the entire testing process just as we would during our preliminary testing and the public could see for themselves and confirm that the ballots that were fed through the machine were counted correctly and appropriately by that machine. **[49:40] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** After the election Dakota County will conduct a post-election review um at their canvassing board following the election. Uh they will select precincts at random for hand counting and that post election review is also open to the public. The date of the post election review is set when Dakota County meets to canvas their results after the election. And then just a note on election night results—right the reason we're all doing this—MNvotes.gov is your best resource for election night results. Um as soon as they are ready to go that is where they are pushed out and that's where I myself go to see what our election night results are. **[50:20] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** And a reminder for everybody: right election night results include results from a variety of different voting methods. We have results from the ballots that are cast via the mail, the ballots that are cast via early voting both here at the city and at the County locations, and then we have ballots that are cast in polling places on Election Day. So all of those results from all of those different methods of voting need to be merged together before the county is legally allowed to push those to the Secretary of State's office and have those be reported out. So those results will be reported out after all of our mail and absentee ballots have been processed and after all voters in line at 8:00 pm have voted. I remember the very first election that I ran my husband texted me at 8:05 and said "who won?" and I said oh everybody hasn't even voted yet! Right? If you get into your polling place by 8:00 p.m. and you're in line you're allowed to vote so sometimes we can't even close that polling machine and do our closing work until you know 8:25 8:30 if we have a longer line in a polling place. **[51:10] Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** Okay so everybody wants to know what's our current turnout? Where are we right now? I just ran these numbers before our meeting tonight. Um we have 36,606 registered voters here in Apple Valley and as of the end of the day today 7,840 of them have already cast their ballots. So that is currently a 21.4% turnout. That's good. Of those ballots that have already been cast about 30% of those voters are coming in to cast them in person here at City Hall, about 33% of them are being cast by mail and then another 37% are being cast in person at County service centers. With that I'm available for any questions but I just want to say thank you to the city council and to our wonderful community for all the support of elections that we have here. **[52:05] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you thank you Christina. Nice job. Any questions? You might not have left any questions at all with all that good information. So thank you very much. Thank you thank you. All right uh we will move on to our staff and Council uh communication items and Tom I know you got a couple teed up and ready. **[52:25] Tom Lawell (City Administrator):** Yes Mr Mayor we have two to offer up tonight and uh we'll start with an event that occurred here earlier today. Slides up. So uh Dakota County uh has been working with various cities in the preparation for the North Creek Greenway and uh this is a long-term multi-year project and when it is done it will be 14 Mile Trail that will go from Eagan through Apple Valley through Lakeville and Farmington. And so as uh various pieces of this 14-mile trail have been put together they have been holding certain ribbon cuttings and today was actually one in Apple Valley. So this is the neighborhood that we have. Go ahead to the next slide. **[53:05] Tom Lawell (City Administrator):** So this is down in Quarry Point Park so Pilot Knob and 160th Street. Uh this particular trail uh comes up from the city of Lakeville, crosses underneath County Road 46, uh gets into the Cobblestone Lake neighborhood, goes around the lake, goes under another tunnel that is already in place on Pilot Knob Road and then makes its way into Quarry Point Park. And from there north eventually all the way to County Road 42 where there'll be another tunnel put in. So this is a multi-year project it's one that's very exciting. Most of these trails are separate from the roadways so it it does give a certain uh experience that's not like just riding a trail along a busy roadway. **[53:50] Tom Lawell (City Administrator):** Today uh Dakota County uh and the Chamber of Commerce and the city of Apple Valley and others came together to celebrate the opening of uh this particular segment of of the trail and uh we just want to celebrate with them thank the county for for their work. Uh the chamber—this trail will connect various businesses in our community, certainly all of the commercial in the Cobblestone Lake Area, all of the commercial in the Orchard Path neighborhood. Uh as it proceeds north it goes past Abdallah Chocolate, uh eventually it'll go past the Splash Valley Water Park uh in um in our park system and of course already there's a trail that goes up to the Minnesota Zoo. So it's it's an aggressive plan but it's one that uh is certainly going to be an amenity for our community for many many years to come. **[54:40] Tom Lawell (City Administrator):** Uh want to uh thank uh this particular land that was the site of this ribbon cutting today uh is the Rockport property owned by the Fisher family. Certainly they have been a key partner in all of this as well and making certain that the regional storm water holding ponds are put into place and those are used as an amenity as the trail works its way through. So uh right now as dry as it has been there is no water in the ponds that are there but as development occurs and as we get more rain certainly that will fill up and that will become a great uh attraction for those that wish to use this particular Trail. **[55:25] Tom Lawell (City Administrator):** Next slide please. So just a couple of uh of images from today. There there is a a tunnel already in place as well that uh gets you—again you don't have to cross a busy roadway uh to come through this area. And um North Creek Greenway signage is is up. There will be more signage um wayfinding signage so you know which where where you're going. There's even a bicycle maintenance repair station that has been built into there so if you're on your bike and you need to make some minor improvements as well there's a a station here that's part of this particular project. So we thank uh everyone who played a part. Certainly our staff, Community Development, Engineering, Public Works—a lot goes into putting together an amenity like this and happy to celebrate it here today uh with the group that was out there. **[56:05] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you Tom and thanks for everybody who showed up out there today. It turned out well. A lot of planning and a lot of time to get here as well. So the second one we have we'd like to invite up our police chief Nick Francis uh to give us a couple of timely reminders of things that are occurring here for this next week. **[56:17] Nick Francis (Police Chief):** Good evening Mr Mayor members of the Council. We have um as we finalized the month of October it's been a great month for our department. Um and on the 26th we have our annual Trunk or Treat. This is one of our largest uh community outreach events where we can connect with so many community members. The weather looks pretty good around 60, no rain, maybe a little sun maybe a little uh clouds but definitely a a good fall day especially for those kids that have uh those outdoor costumes on. Um so it's going to be at Splash Valley um Water Park on Johnny Cake Ridge Road from 11:00 to 1:00, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. **[57:00] Nick Francis (Police Chief):** There's a little construction down there, it may look a little bit different uh and we encourage people to park um kind of maybe down toward the teen center or the pickleball courts uh because it will be a little bit congested up on the the top end by the water park where we have to kind of shift a little bit farther out on the parking lot. But uh come prepared to have a good time, see a lot of um Public Safety and community partners there and just go trunk to trunk and have a good time. I think there's a couple other events throughout the community on that day—I believe there's one at maybe Valley Middle School—so check your local social media Facebook sites but please be sure to stop by our event um on Saturday from 11:00 to 1:00. **[57:40] Nick Francis (Police Chief):** And as we round out um the month of October it again is uh Breast Cancer Awareness Month and our department's um supported the Pink Patch Project. We are selling these pink patches um at the police department for $10 and uh all of those proceeds go to Hope Chest which is a local nonprofit that supports um supports breast cancer survivors their families and so on. Our staff you'll see us around for the rest of this month with um with our pink patches. I've gotten—I've been in the schools a lot the last couple weeks and got a lot of comments from school age kids—they they notice pink and and they notice our uniform and how it's different. So we are having a good time um just out in the community. It's been a great opportunity just to to connect with folks and and they notice something different kind of explain a little bit and uh make a connection there. So we will do that for the rest of the month of October then back to our regular um uniform shirts and and off we go for the rest of the year. So appreciate the public support and the Council support on that. We'll continue to find unique ways to uh to promote these throughout our community. Thank you Chief thanks. **[58:35] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you. All right I think uh Council any items from from you? [None]. No? And Tom I think that was the last of them? **[58:45] Tom Lawell (City Administrator):** Yes thank you. **[58:46] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** So uh the next item on our agenda is the calendar of upcoming events and our next informal city council meeting is Tuesday November 12th at 5:30 and our next regular city council meeting is Tuesday November 12th at 7:00. Ruth did you have something on the calendar to add? **[59:05] Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Thank you um Mr Mayor um I have um National League of Cities—you all know I chair the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. We started meetings on Tuesday and we're having a joint meeting also with uh FEMA on accelerating community recovery after disaster so I will not be at the next Council meeting. **[59:15] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Got it thank you. All right we have a motion to approve the calendar of upcoming events? **[59:25] Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Moved. **[59:26] Councilmember Tom Goodwin:** Second. **[59:27] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from Grendahl a second from Councilmember Goodwin. Uh all those in favor indicate by saying I. (I) Opposed? The Council pass. I will remind everyone that city offices are closed on Monday November 11th 2024 in observance of Veterans Day. Our next item is to convene to closed session under the exception to the open meeting law to discuss potential sale and negotiation of city-owned property the Central Village West site uh which is 7153 152nd Street and 7169 153rd Street. Uh do we have a motion to go into closed session? **[1:00:10] Councilmember Tom Goodwin:** Motion. **[1:00:11] Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Second. **[1:00:12] Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from Councilmember Goodwin a second from Councilmember Grendahl. All those in favor indicate by saying I. (I) That item carries. We'll reconvene across the hall in just a few minutes for closed session and we'll adjourn from in there so thank you everyone. **[1:00:25] [Music]**