[0:00] [Music] Hey. [0:15] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Good evening. I'd like to call to order the city council regular meeting for Tuesday, June 17th, 2025. Please rise [1:01] and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [1:21] Uh, good evening. And before we get started, uh we'd like to um take a moment of silence for the uh unfortunate tragedy that occurred over this weekend with the state legislators. Uh just recognizing that u elected officials, including ourselves, uh do this for the benefit of the community. [1:44] And it's unfortunate that some people don't see that and take matters into their hands. that includes uh force and tragedy. So, please play please pray for their families as um as you may do. Uh and we'll just take uh some time here for a moment of silence. [2:44] Thank you. We'll resume the meeting. Are there any additions or corrections to the agenda? Motion. Seeing none, I'll move the agenda. Second. I have a motion and second on the approval of the agenda. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. We have an agenda. [3:09] Move through. The first item is presentations proclamations and acknowledgements. We have our youth commission report. Turn it over to our deputy clerk. If we could have Molly Pittson please come up. She was our uh president this year for 2024 25. She's a graduating senior, so congrats. But she's going to share with us about the year. Thanks, Molly. Welcome, Molly. Thank you, Mr. [3:34] Mayor, and thank you, city council, for having me today. Uh, my name is Molly Pittson, and I am the outgoing chair for the city of Rosemont Youth Commission. I started on this commission as a freshman back in 2022, and for the 23 24 year, I served as second vice chair. Outside of the commission, I'm a recent RHS class of 25 graduate, uh, where I was involved in DECA, Theater, and Model UN. I also taught drug prevention up at Rosemont Middle School this year. Uh, I'm a classmate to some of your kids, a neighbor, and maybe a friend, or to some of you who cannot remember where you've seen my face before. I'm also the Wheel of Fortune girl. Um, but enough about me. This year has been a tremendous year of growth for the youth commission. Truly, I cannot begin to describe how incredible it's been to see the progress made by some of our me by all of our members. So, I will share some highlights from each of our monthly meetings. We kicked off our year in May [4:21] of 2024 with our annual legacy tree planting in Winds Park. Our outgoing youth commissioners joined together with our incoming members to share wisdom, guidance, and advice as we entered a new year. We also planted trees that would be used as hammocking trees when they got big enough. We also elected our new leadership team this month. In June, we heard from Rose Mount investigators as they shared with us some of the work they do around the city. We learned about their job as city protectors and how their work impacts us as citizens. [4:46] Thank you to Rosemont investigators for their time this month. July had no scheduled meeting, but we got to have some of the most city engagement of the year with a ton of events. Our splashpad celebration was a huge success where a bunch of young kids got to celebrate the summer with us as we played games, gave out treats, and had fun. And we also got to meet with citizens during Leprechaun Days at the City of Rose Mount Booth where we got to talk with community members about fun new projects coming to the city. You might have seen us riding around in a police car or a public works truck in August during Night to Unite where we came to local block parties around town and talked with them about what the youth commission does and what its goals are. I personally got to ride in the Bearcat, which is the huge police vehicle with a with a turret, which was nuts. Uh so, thank you to Chief Dstrom for trusting me with that. In September, we met with city clerk Aaron Fbender, who showed us the ropes of parliamentary [5:32] procedure and how it works. Uh, for those that don't know, we use parliamentary procedure at every one of our meetings, and it's a really helpful skill that a lot of us didn't think we'd need until we actually needed it again for another activity. So, thank you to Aaron for her time. In September, in October, we got to meet with City of Rosemount Community Development, who helped us learn what it takes to plan projects within the city and what that actually looks like. We also did an in-depth lesson on what planning looks like looks like in other activities we're involved in, and why it's so important to strategically plan for things. Thank you so much to Adam for his time in October. In November, we got to tour the brand new police department and public works facility with public works director Nick Edgar. This was super interesting, especially to returning members because we actually got to see it furnished. So, thank you to Nick for your time in November. This [6:18] was such a fun tour and so interesting to see. You might have also seen us handing out cookies over at the steeple center during the tree lighting ceremony. In December, we got to hear about the proposal for the RC Steam facility being discussed in Rosemount. It was incredibly interesting to hear about such a unique proposal and it was such an incredible experience to also weigh in our opinions and give a formal recommendation to city council on what action we think should be taken regarding the steam facility. In January, we did some of my favorite lessons of the year and we really dove into our own leadership strategies and what they mean in a group setting. We did an activity called what shape is your leadership which helped us examine how we viewed leadership and what that meant about us. It was so cool to hear everyone's perspectives and how they all viewed being a leader. In February, we got to tour 360 communities with Lisa [7:04] Lusk and learn how the facility is able to operate in Rosemount. Along with learning about its day-to-day operations, we got to see just what goes into making a nonprofit organization function on the logistics level as well as the impact they've had on our own Rosemont community. Thank you, Lisa, for your time. In March, we met with Simone Hubard to talk about recruiting strategies for the coming year. With us losing a good chunk of our commission, we had to think of ways to get people involved. We made flyers to hand out to kids at our school. We did a story on our school's local news program called Irish Update, and we did some additional social media posts to advertise the commission. In April, we took a hands-on tour of the fire station with Captain Kip Springer. We learned about some of the inner workings within the fire department, got to handle some of the equipment, and even got to try on some of the fireproof stuff. It was so heavy, I thought that I was going to fall over. [7:49] Oh my god. But thank you so much to Kip Springer and the Rosemont Fire Department for all that you do. This was one of the most interesting tours I've ever been on. And that brings us back to May where we planted our next batch of legacy trees and ushered in our next round of youth commission commissioners. With our recruitment efforts, we have 18 new members joining the commission this coming year. Congratulations are also in order for the nine seniors who will be leaving and graduating. They have helped shape this commission whether they were involved for one year or four. I am so grateful for the past three years on this commission. It has helped me understand the work that all of you do so much better. I know the students who join this commission with no idea how government works to now understanding how councils make decisions. It's also influenced my career path. I'll be studying political science next year and I'm very interested in working in local government. I also want to shout out the two other seniors who have been on this commission as long as me, Kira Favre and [8:36] Kylie Gudson. We walked into the community center gym as freshmen with no idea what we were doing and it's really cool that this commission has stuck with us as we graduate. Thank you to city council for giving us this opportunity. Thank you to Sarah Saunders for helping run this commission with so much dedication. And thank you to my fellow youth youth commissioners for being so dedicated and passionate about wanting to make Rosemont better. Thank you. [8:55] Thank you. [9:02] Will you take any questions? [Laughter] You can step back. Council wants to pepper you with questions. I didn't realize there was that part of it. Oh yeah. Nobody prepped me on that part. [9:17] Where where are you going to college? University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Wonderful. Nice. Good. Anything you want to share on your Wheel of Fortune experience? Um I mean I feel like everything's kind of been shared. I don't know. It was fun. [9:33] It was cool. Is that added a little bit to Rosemont? Yeah. So I don't know. It was Yeah. I just say that um Molly's done a a fantastic job of um running the meetings, shephering uh the commissioners to do stuff and uh just really deeply appreciate your your time here um following a long line of uh chairpeople that have uh taken that position. You've done very well for it. [9:59] Oh, thank you. Best of wishes as you move forward in your your career and life. Yep. And you can come back. Oh, hooray. That's wonderful. What else do I have to say? Congratulations. Class of 2025 is amazing. I know Ben and Emma had a great time in DP with you this year. I heard stories all year long about his class and how amazing it was. [10:20] Um, and I'm sorry I didn't get to say hi to you. I saw you across the room at my son's party the other day. No worries. No, I stopped by. It's okay. Thank you for coming to his graduation. Absolutely. It was good to see you, too. Best of luck to you. Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate that. And congratulations to him as well. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you. [10:36] Thank you. All right. Thanks, Molly. Thanks, Molly. There you go. You're all set. So, that completes item 3A, our youth commission report, except um actually we'll take a um action on receiving that report having heard it. [10:51] So, I'll move to receive the youth commission annual report. Is there a second? Second. Roll, please. Climple I. Weisenell, I. Resky I. And that report is received. 30 completes action item 3A. We'll move on to item four, response to com public comment this evening. Do we have any response? None to respond to. We'll move on to item five, public comment. Anyone wishing to come before council at this time may do so to address the council on subjects that are not part of the meeting agenda. Uh please express uh these may be expressed either through letter phone call or we will respond to these um generally through staff letter [11:37] phone call as may be appropriate. Uh when you come forward as we open it please state your name and address and your concern or comment for councel. The floor is open. [11:57] Hello, my name is Sam Adams. I'm at 13704 Atrium Avenue. Um, but my family lives over off Macandre Road. Um, with the exception of college in my 20s, uh, I've been a Rosemont resident for nearly all my life. I grew up here. [12:13] My parents live here. My siblings live here, and so do my small children. My grandparents, Earl and Donna, bought around 25 acres of land in Rosemount off of McAndrews, uh, when it was still a gravel road and ended at Johnny Cake. I remember when they demolished the Doyle farm, uh, with a bulldozer when I was a small child. It's been a long time. [12:33] Since then, the city has changed significantly and we're still here. If we are able to build our home, our two-month old and 2-year-old sons will be the fourth generation to live on our land. My grandmother passed away almost 5 years ago and we are still in the process of subdividing the remaining land to dissolve our grandparents estate. There are a number of things that are being required of us before we are able to redraw the imaginary lines of property boundaries and move on with our lives. The major issue for us is the amount of storm water trunk fees being imposed. For the land that is not lived on, the city would like us to pay roughly $7,000 per acre in fees for which we receive no benefit. This results in roughly $62,000 of storm water fees that need to be paid before any building permits will be [13:19] issued, creating a system where the costs required in arbitrary fees are becoming uh are beginning to create a situ situation where building on our own property is becoming unduly burdensome. Appendix N of the city's comprehensive storm water management plan, the storm water trunk fee justification report states, "This fee will assist in funding future storm water trunk conveyance system improvements. impro uh proposed by the city. It also states property owners within the city will be treated fairly. The implementation of this fee will allow new developments to pay for trunk infrastructure improvements that are needed to accommodate the new development. [13:57] Failure to implement this fee would result in all taxpayers in the city paying for the cost of improvements that are for the most part only benefiting newly developing areas. The implementation of this program will also allow the city to compensate property owners. It goes on about um uh upstream drainage areas, etc., etc. It is clear when taking these two quotations together that yes, storm water trunk fees are used for future improvements. [14:24] However, the second reference is clear that those future improvements are those that are needed to accommodate the new development of which due to our location and size, we require none. The city uses a price per acre to determine the amount of storm water fees for developers. We feel this is unfair in circumstances of low density residential development where near total development of a parcel is not taken as a given. [14:50] This is in comparison to areas out to the east or the large developments we've seen um with around Acron and uh Bonire and such. The necessary the necess the necessity for storm water infrastructure is driven by imperous surface that would be driveways, roofs, roads, patios, etc., etc., not by untouched land. A hypothetical for you to for you to illustrate this point. Currently, if a family with 100 acres wanted to give 50 acres to a child to build one home, one driveway, one home, that is it. They would be required to pay $350,000 in fees prior to bu any building permits being issued. All for the impervious surface created by one home requiring no [15:36] city storm water infrastructure. In a slightly different situation, if they are to subdivide the same 50 acres of their property into 10 5 acre lots, they would pay the exact same amount in storm water trunk fees. Even though there would be 10 houses, 10 driveways, 10 patios, 10 decks, and all the roads, culverts, potentially storm water infrastructure, and everything that comes with it. Reasonable reasonleness dictates that this fee on a per acre basis is unfair when given the reality of low density residential development and should rather be paid on the basis of imperous surface created or as a connection fee in existing infrastructure. [16:21] Excuse me. We understand the city has a need to fund storm water infrastructure and needs systems such as these to fund it. We also understand that it is difficult for the city to grant special waiverss as that creates problems of precedent. We ask that the city use the language already existing in appendix N of the city's comprehensive storm water management plan, the storm water trunk fee justification report to deem the payment of storm water trunk fees unnecessary for people developing property of which there will be no need for new storm water infrastructure. We would be happy to pay a connection charge is outlined in the city schedule of fees in order to pay our fair share. [17:00] I understand time is limited and I can't I can't elucidate our entire argument at this point. Um we will send an email to the to the council members further explaining our position. Thank you for your time. Thank you. We'll refer that to staff for uh followup. [17:21] Anyone else? Anyone? All right. We'll close the public comment. That completes item number five. We'll move on to the consent agenda. Items A through K. This evening we have bill listings, minutes of the June 3rd regular and work sessions of council, declaration of surplus property, professional service contract for a fire service evaluation for our fire department, fire relief fund benefit proposal, the amending city code cannabis and hemp business regulations, the leprechaun day service agreement, Rosemont Woods acceptance for their addition, the Dakota East AU, and a [18:08] request by Flint Hills Resources for an interim use permit to construct a warehouse tent. Does anyone wish to pull any of these items for further comment or discussion? Like to pull item J. Item J. Are there any others? J. All right. [18:24] Would someone like to move the consent agenda items A through K with J removed for further discussion? So moved. I'll second. I have a motion by Climple, second by Freski. Roll, please. Weisensel. I Climple I. [18:44] That approves items A through K. We'll move to 6J for additional discussion. I'll turn it over to Council Member Climpmple. Hi. Um, obviously, uh, AURs have been a hot topic in town for a few years and so, um, typically when we see these on the consent agenda, like to pull these out for transparency and visibility purposes to our residents as, um, they often represent substantial potent potential changes. So, on to you, Adam. [19:15] Great. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the city council. Um, I'm going to spend a few minutes talking a little bit about what is an AUR and then the applicability of the action that is requested before you this evening. So, this is the Dakota East area AUR. So, what is an AUR which stands for alternative urban areawide review? So, this is a process. It's an environmental review document. Um, it's essentially a hybrid of an environmental assessment worksheet or an EAW and an environmental impact statement or an EIS. Um, this is often used when you're looking at planning or pre uh pre-planning or developing uh large areas within a community. So, for example, we we note Preswick Place in there. I'll show a map um coming up here that has all of the [20:01] existing and active AURs within within Rosemount. So, a lot of acronyms. I'll try to say them out uh the first couple of times and then we'll we'll go with the uh the abbreviations from there. So once an AUR process is completed, future projects within that boundary do not require individual EAWS and EIS documents. Um and then we'll also talk a little bit more again at the end of this, but that also does not grant um development rights or other entitlements and strictly an environmental and mitigation strategy for a large area of potentially developing developing land. [20:39] So also within an AUR when they are scoped out um a developer um via the city may consider several development scenarios and then um analyze and assess and address mitigation um strategies for the impact of each of those scenarios. [20:54] It is a document that must be updated every 5 years to incorporate those uh developments that are have already occurred. So think about um actively developing areas of Rosemount, specifically um or Preswig Place kind of in central Rosemount um within that AUR and then any changes to state and federal laws. So there's frequent changes to whether it's like DNR regulations, PCA, other regulatory bodies which pass through regulations to the city um as the local unit of government. [21:23] So, AURs that are active and approved within the city of Rosemount, we have the Presick Place uh AUR, Rosemount Industrial AU, Rich Valley East AU, and the Emore Park AUR. Um, and then tonight for consideration of adoption is the Dakota East area AUR. [21:41] um kind of showing and illustrating on this map is that Rosemount is very accustomed to using this as a planning and environmental review um tool um to help guide the future development of of Rosemount. So within the Dakota East AU, three scenarios were reviewed. Um scenario one which includes a mix of residential and commercial in conformance with the city's comprehensive land use plan. [22:06] scenario two which is a mixed business campus technology park for proposed um potential data center development and then scenario three which takes a look at a mixed business campus or light industrial. Um so scenario one I said is consistent with the city's adopted land use plan which is a requirement of an AUR and then scenarios two and three would require an amendment to the city's land use plan. [22:30] Um and you can get really deep in some of this stuff. It's a very lengthy document. So, this is a good opportunity to kind of hit on some of those highlights and help um everybody understand the the purpose and kind of the type of information that's included in an AUR. So, just quick highlighting scenarios two and three for potential development scenario. Um talks about it would require an amendment to the city's land use plan. That is the addressed mitigation strategy in there to develop to that potential proposed scenario. it would require a separate um land use uh approval timelines. So, city council ordered the AU AUR on February 2nd of this year. It was submitted for the required 30-day comment period back in March to the [23:15] review agencies and then made available to the public. Comments were due on April 17th and were received from Dakota County and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Responses to those comments were addressed and then the AUR was revised based on those comments. The final AUR was then submitted on May 13th for the required 10-day comment period. [23:35] Um there were no uh objections received from any of the applicable review agencies and then the city can move on to the final step of adopting the AUR which brings us to this evening. So next steps and a couple of caveats or additional clarifications that AURs do not confer any development rights to the proposer. This is simply a tool and an environmental um analysis that talks about mitigation strategies for proposed um development scenarios. If scenarios two or three are to be pursued, an amendment to the city's comprehensive plan must be adopted by the city council and the AUR must be updated every 5 years to remain in effect until the entire study area is developed. [24:17] The recommendation before the city council this evening is a motion to adopt a resolution authorizing the adoption of the Rosemount Dakota East area final alternative urban areawide review. With that, I can stand for any questions and I do know that the um the author and consultant from Kimley Horn is present if there are any technical questions on the document itself. [24:39] Thank you. Go ahead and open up the floor to questions to counsel. Okay. And just to be clear, um, if we back up, the, you know, approval of the AUAR does not confer any development rights, let's say. Um, approval of the AUR doesn't necessarily mean that we accept or, um, endorse all of the development scenarios in the AUR, or does it? It does not. It does. It's simply an analysis tool that says if this were to happen or this were to be proposed, here's how that could be developed in conformance with any and all regulations. So the information in the AUA we could use to influence our evaluation of different development proposals that could come forward us to us at a future date. Correct. Yeah. [25:24] Excellent. Thank you. No questions. Questions? All righty. Thank you very much. So with that, uh, would anyone like to move the recommended action to adopt the resolution authorizing the adoption of the Rosemont Dakota East area final alternative urban area review? [25:50] I'll enter the motion. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion by Wise and Cell and a second by Freski. Roll, please. Weisensel. Hi, Ruski. I Climple I. [26:07] Motion passes 30. And that completes item 6 A through K in complete in its entirety. This evening, we have no public hearings on item seven, no unfinished business item eight, no new business item nine, and we are up to announcements item 10. [26:27] That's city staff updates. Mr. Martin. Thank you, Mayor, members of the council. Nothing too significant tonight. I know you've got some some events that you'll call out in your community calendar. So, I'll I'll leave that to you. Just wanted to look back a week and and give a shout out to our partners at the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon organization for the Patriots in the Park event, which went really really well. And um just a huge display of their support for service men and women and their families in our community and was just really cool to see. So, shout out to them. I think it's going to become an annual event and uh so many of our teams were there to support park and wreck, public works, police, fire. It takes it takes the whole village to pull that off. And um a specific shout out to our park and wreck team hearing from the beyond the yellow ribbon folks about how simple it was to work with them. You [27:14] know, you know, just limited rules and regulations like make the event as good as you can. And so Dan and his team just run a wonderful operation with keeping our parks simple to use for events like that. So, uh, cool to see the park used that way and we appreciate all that Beyond the O ribbon does. But that's all I had. Mayor, I can throw it back to you. Great. I'll open up to council before I go into mine. Anything that you'd like to call out uh this evening? [27:38] And also um speaking of Beyond the Yellow Ribbon was at an event with them um on Friday with uh sponsored by Dakota County Veteran Services and the Dakota County Libraries holding um a second annual Flag Day celebration at our own Robert Trail Library here. So, it was a meaningful celebration recognizing our flag and um supporting the veterans in attendance as well. So, um that was really special and um I believe that those groups plan to hold a third annual one next year at another one of our Dakota County libraries. So, be great. [28:10] Me from you. All right. Then we'll move on to the community calendar. Uh the city will be closed this Thursday on June 19th for Junth celebration. The utility commission meets on Monday, June 23rd at the PDPW campus from 5:30 to 700 p.m. Park and Natural Sciences Commission will meet on June 23rd at 7 to 8 here at city hall. The CL planning commission will meet Tuesday and June 24th from 6:30 to 7:30. Our youth commission will meet June 25th on Wednesday 3:45 to 4:45 at the steeple center ne uh next Thursday. [28:59] That right June 26th public safety in the park be held from 5 to 7:30. It'll be held at the Rosemont High School, not here at uh Central Park. So Rosemont High School and call that out. [29:15] The next city work session will be on July 1st from 5 to 6:30 here at city hall followed by the council meeting from 7 to 8. City Hall looking just slightly beyond that will be closed on July 4th. And looking out a little further, you heard Splash Pad is an event for our youth commissioners this year. It'll be on July 17th at 11:00 at Central Park Splash Pad. And a little farther out, we got Leprechaun Days coming up. Uh starting on the 19th, one of the first events will be our pancake uh fire department pancake um I'm sorry, waffle waffle breakfast. [29:55] And at that same time, we will be having the uh next iteration of our ribfest. So right now, uh Dan, would you want to come forward and say anything about that? We've got I know I'm going to pull you up here just to say something. So, I saw you, but I understand July 14th is the last day to get your applications in. Yeah, correct, Mayor, council members. Uh, last year we had, I think, 15 or 16 teams enter the event. This year, we're hoping to get closer to 20 or 25 teams. This year, a little bit different. They're doing baby back rib cooking versus last year it was larger, you know, beef ribs. I think a couple of you guys were were judges. Hopefully, they'll be back again this year. Um, but the event starts at about six o'clock in [30:40] the morning when all the people show up to to do the the grilling or the smoking, whatever they're going to do. Um, it really picks up at about noon. Uh, we have sampling of the ribs. You can buy tickets to sample, you know, certain amounts of ribs and whatnot from the from the vendors. U, we'll have uh, I think we're going to get a food truck this year. We'll have a DJ on on site. [31:03] We'll have Omni Brewing will be there uh serving and uh just a fun event. Um we're we're talking with Omni about hopefully having them having like their hot dog cart and their pretzels, stuff like that to kind of offset the the ribs. But um super fun event. Last year was our first year that we partnered with uh Pelici Hardware. Uh another vendor that's going to be a partner this year is Von Hansen's in Rosemount uh over uh near Cub. And so, uh, they're helping sponsor by providing these ribs at cost and and making making an effort to to be part of this. And so, looking for a lot of teams. You don't have to be a professional uh, smoker to to be in this event. Um, some of the some of the [31:50] rigs and the the smokers and things look professional, but there's also people who just have the Green Egg and just couple of those and they they do really well. So, uh, I think those of you that were around for it last year, we did have some pretty fun prizes. Obviously, there's a cash prize for for winning and whatnot, but there's also a people uh people's choice uh award is like a a wrestling belt that that the the the people who participate really like. Then we had some pretty goodiz trophies and whatnot, but there's also, like I said, cash prizes. And so, looking for about 20 to 25 teams if possible. Last year we kept all the teams on the paved uh pleasure rink area. This year we're looking to maybe expand up into the parking lot. We we'll have to if we get [32:37] more than teams than we had last year. Um so yeah, we're looking for people to be registered by middle of the month uh July and then uh we'll go from there. Uh keep an eye out uh on Facebook. Um we'll have posters up around town. They'll have one up at uh uh you know, Pelichi's Ace Hardware has has a poster up here in town. They have one down in Farmington, too. Uh we'll probably have posters up around maybe one in city hall. We'll have one over at Von Hansen's. And so big Facebook presence, but again, it's part of Leprechaun Day, so it'll also be listed in their activities and events also. Great kickoff event uh for us. Uh just a reminder again, this is uh what we call the the neighborhood backyard [33:22] grillers. Uh this isn't professional, but there is money and trophies and as you say, the people's choice. Yep. So, thank you. Those uh st filling those judge positions. Do you need me again? Do you need me to judge again? Yes, I Yep. You're invited. You're invited back. You did a good job last year. So, twist your arm. There you go. All right. [33:44] So with that, that completes the uh community calendar. And if there's no other business to come before council, I'll move to adjourn. Is there a second? Second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed? We are adjourned. [34:01] Thank you and good night. [Music] [Music]