[0:52] Mayor Luke Hellier: Good evening. Welcome to the March 2nd city council meeting. If you join me for a moment of silence in the pledge of allegiance. [1:27] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay, Mr. Snider, roll call, please. [1:27] Clerk Snider: Vult. [1:27] Council Member Vult: Here. [1:27] Clerk Snider: Helier. [1:27] Mayor Luke Hellier: Here. [1:27] Clerk Snider: Burmal. [1:27] Council Member Burmal: Here. [1:27] Clerk Snider: Walter. [1:27] Council Member Walter: Here. [1:27] Clerk Snider: Lee. [1:27] Council Member Joshua Lee: Here. [1:27] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay, we'll move to item three, citizens comments. Opportunity for those to address the council for up to three minutes. Seeing none, moving on to additional agenda information. Mr. Miller, [1:43] City Administrator Miller: Nothing tonight, mayor. [1:43] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay, we will now go into our first presentation from our parks and rec director, Joe Macy Archin, for a quarterly report. We remarking, we thought you just gave that last week, but that was a different presentation. [2:03] Joe Macy Archin: I'll make this one a little different for you tonight. So, uh, good evening, mayor and council. Uh, this is the quarterly report for the parks and recreation department. So, our December through February and starting off with some updates on administration. And we'll start with a real quick update on our five-year strategic plan. And again, this is the strategic plan that we adopted last year for recreation and heritage. Um it's been a busy year for us. Actually quite a few accomplishments and we'll hit some for heritage here coming up in later in the presentation. But uh staff over the last few months uh visited several other communities. We like to do that to visit facilities to look at the way that they operate uh kind of borrow ideas and and share information. So really good time uh kind of looking at those facilities in Plymouth uh Maple Grove and Adina. And we also uh completed our first full year's worth of uh surveys for the recreation programs. And that included all recreation programs as well as instructors for those programs. Some really good feedback on that in general. I would say some very high remarks. Um but also some really great comments and suggestions. That's one of the other things we always look for in those surveys. Um so a really useful process for us. Uh we did talk about park system master plan. So, I will not spend a lot of time on this uh at the last meeting. The thing I wanted to mention is that our first open house is coming up on March 4th. That's this Wednesday. That'll be here in the council chambers with staff and our consultant uh running from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. And this is uh another opportunity for the public to come and uh participate in the process, learn more about uh where we are in the planning process and and to provide additional feedback. Um so March 4th here in the council chambers uh Lake Mary Greenway Trail continues to move forward. Uh in fact the site preparation work has now been completed over at Ritter Farm Park and uh down through downtown. Uh the swipe map is available now on our website. The reason I bring up the swipe map for residents that are curious about uh the project itself, maybe individual portions of the trail throughout the route. Uh it's a great way to be able to zoom in on individual segments of the trail and you can swipe between the project as it stands today and what the proposals or the plans are. Um so make sure to check out our website parksandreciation.com lakevilleparksandreciation.com for more information on that. Um but that'll be going out to bid here in the next few weeks and we anticipate construction for that project will be starting after July 1st. That's when our grant funding kicks in. And East Community Park. This is the last major project tied to the 2021 park bond referendum uh that is also moving forward in the planning process that will also be going out to bid here in the next few weeks. And uh that project um includes new parking lots, a new dog park, um quite a few new improvements and access points to East Lake uh as well as a new uh yearround restroom facility and shelter. Um and our first community garden. I almost forgot that. Uh so we're quite excited about that. That's included in the project, but that'll be constructed here this summer. We would anticipate that that portion of the park will fully open in 2027. Moving on to park maintenance. Um quite a few winter duties that they've uh that they take care of for us over the winter, including uh rink flooding, snow removal on streets, trails, parking lots, tree trimming, and then always, as time allows, building repairs, painting, and and quite a few other projects. But uh they've had quite a busy winter uh this year. And outdoor rinks. Uh we had quite a successful season uh this year. Again, that uh that starts for us with a 24-hour a day flooding process with seven staff members uh doing overnight work. Um the operation of those 10 facilities though are handed to 52 seasonal staff members that uh parks and recreation overseas. And again, 10 rink sites, 20 rinks in total. Um, but we had uh, like I said, quite a successful season. Uh, I would say one of the best that we've had in recent years. The facilities were really open uh, December 20th through February 16th with one short uh, portion in the season where we closed because it was too cold. And as far as like staffing updates for parks maintenance goes, uh, we have a a seasonal position or an annual position. and it's our assistant to the lead position uh that we use for um additional leadership and training opportunities for the maintenance staff. And uh Jason Rochelle just completed his one-year tenure in that. And uh we just brought on uh Brent uh Kumer uh who was promoted to that position February 1st. So we want to thank Jason for his uh his time and efforts over the last year and and welcome Brent into the new role. We also just completed interviews on the new position uh which is the park maintenance 2 position that was added this year. Um and that's been now out and offered and um that potential employees working through the onboarding process. So more announcements on that to come soon and moving into recreation. Uh recreation hels holds quite a few uh special events over the winter. Uh that includes the Santa Secret Store which is held at the Heritage Center. And at that event, uh, kids come and work with a volunteer to shop for family members. This year we had 150 participants at that event. Uh, we also held the illumination walk with, uh, 365 participants that did the nighttime walk at Ritter Farm Park, as well as the, uh, youth ice fishing contest, uh, with over a 100 participants this year. And we did want to spotlight some new programming coming up specifically tied to uh ebikes um or bike bicycle killing in Lakeville. Uh and a new partnership that we have with downtown bicycles. Uh our first program with that was held here in February with 14 participants who did an ebike class. Uh but we've got a new one that's coming up here. It's uh an ebike safety and etiquette workshop as well as uh a bike maintenance clinic. Um we're excited about those. There's actually quite a few new classes that are coming this summer through parks and recreation, but we specifically wanted to highlight this one with um with Downtown Bicycles and appreciate their partnership with us. And for rentals, uh so we opened up rentals for uh Lakeville residents uh to rent facilities within the park system, including um our uh indoor facilities and the shelters that opened up on January 1st at sorry, January 2nd at midnight. And between midnight and 8 a.m. we had 51 reservations. a lot of overnight reservations to get those high priority days. Uh, as we sit right now, we're sitting at around 170 reservations, 57 reservations for the John Hennon Pavilion. And if you're looking for JHP for a Saturday or Sunday in June, you have already missed the boat. Um, there are a lot of great facilities though available within the system. A lot of great shelters still available. So, make sure uh to touch base with the recreation staff. They can help direct you direct you to a location that could still fit your needs. And for summer recreation programming, uh that opened up on February 12th. Um we currently have uh 305 uh registrations. That's about 196 unique individuals who reserved or registered for classes. Uh top picks for those classes though for recreation include uh pickle ball, golf, rev sports, and the new STEM STEM class camps. And for upcoming events, uh, we've got the Easter egg scramble coming up on March 21st, the Golden Egg Hunt on March 28th, and the Puppin Wagon series, which is on, uh, June 15th. Uh, we just received another year's worth of uh, sponsorships through Lakeville Lions for that. So, we do want to thank the Lions. They pay for that series for us that runs all summer long. And, uh, want to thank them. And moving on to heritage. So, the Heritage Center uh also held quite a few events over the winter. Two notable ones that I do want to mention would be the uh holiday craft and bake sale, which is held during Santa Secret Store. All of the proceeds from that go to support the active adult programming uh as well as uh the holiday social uh this year that had 160 participants at it and that includes a lunchon and and live entertainment. and based on some of the priorities that were set out of the strategic plan. Um the Heritage Center has been working on updated marketing, uh new logo, um new newsletters. So, some of that is now starting to roll out. Um you can see the new logo top corner of the um heritage happenings there for the center. Um but uh some exciting new things that are being uh implemented there. We also want to reference the new uh ADA compliant newsletter. um our letter newsletter had been really similar for 10 15 years. So this was kind of a major change for them. Uh this was the first version that went out. There's obviously going to be some tweaks based on feedback, but overall we're quite pleased with the way that that uh that publication has come together. And for memberships, uh we're sitting currently at uh 1,680 total members. A little over a thousand of those are female, a little over 600 are male, and we're at a little over 800 resident households and a little over 245 or exactly 245 non-resident households. And uh upcoming events for the Heritage Center include the St. Patrick's Day lunchon March uh 17th, the Puzzle Palooa March 27th, their open house is coming up on April 28th, and then uh the Sounds of Spring Showcase on May 12th. More information for all of those are also available on the heritage center website. And finally, uh doing an update on the art center. Um so we uh recently received the new gas kiln um that uh is being installed over at the art center. We've talked about this in some of our previous updates, but that has now uh been delivered. uh and that is being utilized to expand uh the curriculum for our pottery programs um and also to help handle the growth in the programming over at that facility that was delivered in January. But we want to thank again Minnesota Energy Resources for their $10,000 grant and the friends of the Lakeville Area Arts Center for a $22,000 donation as well. Uh without them, we would not have been able to purchase that uh that piece of equipment. Expressions Community Theater uh holds an annual uh holiday production. This year it was a Hunting Shack Christmas. Um and this one was notable because it was their second highest grossing production. Uh so really well attended. Um ticket sales were were great. Um but it we added uh performances to accommodate requests and that show is written by a Minnesota playright. So it was nice to be able to work with somebody local on that show. And for summer programs at the art center, uh summer registrations really have started out strong. Uh we're sitting at around 146 new spots or new available spots that were added to this year's uh available sessions. Um and no surprise again, the theater camps are are doing quite well, sitting at 50% capacity already with 181 uh registrants. And there's some new programs. One uh we wanted to call out uh which is K-Pop Demon Hunters. That's one that's being held this year. If you have kids, you probably know it. Uh but sitting at 75% capacity already. And the art center did recently over the last few months roll out a new membership program. Uh they did that in uh in conjunction with the friends of the art center. And uh that program um now is sitting at around 70 members. Uh it's an annual membership and through that you receive early access to register for classes and programs. uh and then also access to exhibits as well as a 15% discount on ticket sales. We anticipated when the summer brochure rolled out that uh we were going to see a little bit of a boost in the membership sales and and we did uh because members again get early access to registrations and for some of those classes especially uh pottery camps where maybe you only have 10 participants per session. We know that people want access to those early um and this was kind of a nice way for people to be able to do that. And uh upcoming events at the art center include the youth art month exhibit uh which runs February 27th through March 20th. That exhibit opening is actually tonight running through 7 o'clock p.m. So if you're here, you've got 45 minutes to get there. Otherwise, uh the pub night is coming up here with Rob Mey on March 4th and we've got the art crawl coming up on March I'm sorry, May 9th. And with that, I'll stand for any questions. [14:42] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay. Thank you. Council questions, comments. [14:42] Council Member Joshua Lee: Yeah, Joshua. Thank you, Mr. Massie Archin. Always a pleasure to hear the update. Um, I had a question in the consent agenda item. We or agenda, we have uh portaotties being uh contracted out for the summer with a couple new additions. It's very exciting. Ritter Farm, I think, is getting a new one. But I had a question about in terms of uh making sure those are clean throughout the summer. I know this is not part of the update, but it's somewhat related. Uh how frequently do those uh get refreshed and if there are problems, where do they uh where do folks [15:28] Joe Macy Archin: Yeah, so those are contracted out. Um and some of those have been in the system for years. Some of those are out year round. Uh so we do work with our contractor as we receive comments back on those and we do receive comments. Um but the cleaning schedule is to some extent based on the location. Some of them are used far more frequently than others. Uh so we try to base that cleaning schedule off of uh high priority use. Uh so when we know that there's events or programs or leagues that are using them. Um but also as the residents have comments, we do appreciate getting those. there are points where maybe a new uh portable has been added and sometimes those do get missed in the cleaning schedule and we do rely on residents to help us keep track of that as well. So by all means call us call uh central maintenance so we can get those taken care of. So [16:14] Council Member Joshua Lee: very good. Thank you sir. Appreciate the update. [16:14] Mayor Luke Hellier: Thank you. Okay, moving on to item six, our consent agenda. These are more routine items for the council. Anything you want to highlight, Mr. Miller? [16:14] City Administrator Miller: Thank you, mayor and council. Just a couple 6 C is a resolution granting contract authority and pledging funding for freight rail car storage facility. Just wanted to call this out as another step that we're getting closer to the rail agreement for the rail storage um issue. And thank you to our state legislators for um getting this money funded several years ago now. Item 6G is a contract with our sergeants group. That's a a new two-year agreement uh for the collective bargaining group. And then item 6L is a resolution accepting donations to the parks and recreation department. Mr. Many Archin mentioned the 22,000 from the friends of the arts center. And then but the in total the donations this quarter were $40,000. [17:05] Mayor Luke Hellier: Fantastic. Council, anything you like to discuss further? If not, I'll take a motion to approve the consent agenda. [17:05] Council Member Walter: I did want to make just one more comment. I know we've probably stated this before, but item 6H uh is approving the agreement for the new playground at Lakeville Art Area Arts Center. And I think it's worth mentioning again that that is in part due to a $90,000 uh contribution from QA1. So I just want to thank them again for being able to contribute that for that playground. [17:38] Mayor Luke Hellier: Thanks for highlighting that. [17:38] Council Member Joshua Lee: I move to approve the consent agenda. [17:38] Mayor Luke Hellier: Is there a second? [17:38] Council Member Vult: Second. [17:38] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Consent agenda passes. We'll move on to item seven, a hearing for high cost tree abatement. And we'll turn over to our community development director Good Road for the presentation. [18:05] Tina Good Road: Thank you, mayor, members of the council. Um, city staff is um pursuing removal of a nuisance cottonwood tree. It's on private property at 6729 175th Street. The tree is dead, leaning over the sidewalk um and street. Our staff has been um working with the property owner about this removal. Um there's a couple sections within the city code that allow us to abate when we have a public nuisance such as this. Um those are cited in the staff report. Um, in particular, section 4-1-8 requires a hearing for abatements that exceed over $3,000. So, staff has received a cost estimate for the tree removal, which is over $3,000. And so, we have to go through a process with council approval of a resolution in order to go through that abatement. The property owner has received notices. They have worked um with staff um are in agreement with this action and will willingly sign a right of entry. the removal cost will be certified to the owner's taxes for a period of five years. And so the action we're looking for tonight is approval of the resolution after a hearing. It's not a public hearing, but just an opportunity if the property owner is present or anybody representing the property and would like to speak. Um otherwise um approval of the resolution would be the next step. [19:25] Mayor Luke Hellier: Thank you. Thank you. And just to confirm, I think that was a ordinance change when we did the tree nuisance tree ordinance a couple years ago. So this is kind of a newer process for us. Okay. So is there somebody representing the property that want to speak? If not, that's totally fine. Okay. Not seeing anyone. Is there a motion? [19:41] Council Member Burmal: Um I have a question. Um so my question is everything keeps getting more and more expensive. Do you is this something that we have to look at the ordinance to see if it's we need to raise it up or I mean I am just really curious is this what the cost of tree removal is coming out to be. [20:03] Tina Good Road: Um it's a good question. Um Commissioner Vulkar, are you questioning the abatement that raising that 3,000 threshold? [20:03] Council Member Burmal: Yes. [20:23] Tina Good Road: Oh um we could consider it. You know sometimes you put those um dollar amounts in an ordinance it becomes a little bit arbitrary. Um, but we could take a look at that when we do our annual zoning updates. [20:23] Council Member Burmal: Yeah. I I I just my thought is is that if we're already over the threshold for one tree, are how are often are we going to keep at this? So, [20:38] Mayor Luke Hellier: okay. Certainly. Is there a motion? [20:38] Council Member Joshua Lee: Uh, I move to approve a resolution authorizing an abatement for nuisance tree removal at 6729 175th Street. [20:38] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay. Is there a second? [20:38] Council Member Walter: Second. [20:53] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay. Any further discussion? Okay. Uh, roll call, please. [20:53] Clerk Snider: Lee. [20:53] Council Member Joshua Lee: Hi. [20:53] Clerk Snider: Walter. [20:53] Council Member Walter: Hi. [20:53] Clerk Snider: Burma. [20:53] Council Member Burmal: Hi. [20:53] Clerk Snider: Helier. [20:53] Mayor Luke Hellier: Hi. [20:53] Clerk Snider: Vult. [20:53] Council Member Vult: Hi. [20:53] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay. Backwards. Move on to any unfinished business. I don't believe we have any. And then now into our new business. And for those joining here and on YouTube and other places, this new business has kind of been a test replacement for our work sessions, which were typically held on the fourth Monday of the month. We're trying to see if we can be more efficient with everybody's time by doing them after a meeting. So, the first item we'll take up is our 2026 bond issuance, street reconstruction, utility, CIP projects, and our I believe our finance director is going to tee this up. [21:38] Finance Director Julie: Thank you, Mr. Mr. Mayor or members of the council, um we are getting ready for our April bond sale. Uh the largest portion, the total bond issuance is roughly 39 million. The largest portion is the CIP portion which is for the fire station 2. Um and that's roughly 29 million PAR. Then we've got a street reconstruction portion of roughly 5 million and then a utility portion of 5.3 million. So um we've structured these. We've um gone over estimated project costs. Some of the bids have been received on some of the projects, but there's not bid openings like on the fire station till May. And um so, but we've got time here too because this isn't won't be the last bond issuance for our fire station improvements that are going to be happening. So, um just saying that to let you know. um we're structuring this as best we can and it's it's not a um it's not the last harrah of the ball game with the the fire the CIP portions. So with that um I've laid out just the estimated debt service levies in the council memo and um just giving you a for foreground with that and showing also the park referendum bonds and how those levies um are shaped up for the the rest of those years on the bond referendum. And so just with that, I'm gonna open it up to Jess Green, who's a managing director at Northland, our municipal adviserss. So Jess would come to [23:09] Mayor Luke Hellier: Nice to see you again, Miss Green. Welcome. [23:09] Jess Green: Members of the council. Good evening. Um not a whole lot to add from what Julie just went over, but I will go through um the executive summary that's included in your finance plan that is in your packet this evening. Um and this is f found on page two of your finance plan. So, as Julie just went over, um we have a par amount of $39,55,000 in proposed general obligation bonds. This would be considered series 2026A for the city. And financing, a number of different activities here. So, we've got the street reconstruction and collector rehab. We also have some utility improvements associated with 215th Street. And then, of course, the CIP portion uh for fire station number two. The bonds will be considered general obligations of the city. Um and the city will pledge the net revenues from the water and the sewer utility funds as well as adalorum taxes. Um the advalorum taxes portion will be reduced by any amounts that are specially assessed to those benefiting properties associated with the street reconstruction uh portion of the bonds. And then also for the CIP portion, it's worth noting of course that the city, while that general obligation pledge will exist for the bonds, that the city does anticipate eliminating that levy with the franchise fee revenue that is available to the city. Uh repayment term here, um the bonds will mature annually each February 1st in the years 2027 through 2047. uh the street reconstruction and collector rehab as well as the utility improvements for the bonds. Those are structured over 10 years. And it's that fire station number two, the CIP portion that is structured over a 20-year term. True interest cost here, 3.67% is estimated currently based on a AAA rating. Uh we do have a a cushion in here about 25 basis points just for planning purposes. And then you do have a prepayment option beginning February 1 of 2034. You can call those bonds in in whole or in part. We will be of course seeking a rating for the bonds. As mentioned, uh the scale of the bonds currently is estimated based off of those um AAA rates. So we'll again go through that rating process with Moody's. And then the bonds will be considered taxexempt non-bankqualified obligations being that the city is issuing in excess of $10 million during the calendar year. Risk factors associated with the debt are listed in your finance plan. You can find those in attachment five. And then the type of bond sale here being a public sale. So we are proposing that the bonds would be issued on April 20th at 10 a.m. So we would take bids that morning on behalf of city and then we'd come back before you that evening with the results of the sale. Um so mayor, as you went over, not looking for any specific approval this evening, really just any sort of direction that the council may have as we proceed with planning for the issuance of bonds. But other than that, you'll have a resolution that comes before you um at your next meeting on the 16th and that'll officially set the sale for the bonds and then as mentioned, we'll proceed with the sale date on April 20th. [26:08] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay, very good. Council, any questions? Joshua, [26:08] Council Member Joshua Lee: um a couple of comments and then a couple clarifying questions. Um just pointing out uh just to say out loud that the estimated interest cost for this is 3.67, 67, which seems to be it's it's no longer the 1% uh interest rates we once enjoyed, but still a very good rate there. Um, and thank you for calling out the fact that uh the franchise fees, which essentially are being prepaid already, um are only going towards the fire station uh bonds, not towards anything else. Correct. And just to make sure that that's a clarifying point that folks don't think they're paying for one thing and it's getting applied in other places. Um, so I saw that in there. Um, I know we have a a debt policy for having 50% paid off in 10 years if it's a 20-year bond. Is that uh policy true for a 10-year bond as well? In five years, it's 50% also. [27:33] Jess Green: So the way that your um debt policy reads as you mentioned is that 50% of the debt would be repaid within the term of the bond. So in these individual portions making sure that um those are retired as planned. [27:33] Council Member Joshua Lee: Great. And then the last one just a definition of not bank qualified. Uh could you explain that a little bit more? [27:33] Jess Green: Sure. Yep. So this really applies um more so to smaller issuers. So Lakeville typically is issuing more than $10 million in a calendar year. So bank qualified is a term that applies to bonds that are issued um less than 10 million in a year. And what that means is that banks are given or that the interest rate is slightly less. Now I will say that for bonds that are less than 10 years in term, it's really not much of a difference at all. And in fact inside of eight years, there's really no change um from a bank qualified to a non-bankqualified issuance. But it's really more of an incentive for banks to be involved in the municipal market. Um, but again, it's it's more impactful for smaller issuers. [28:20] Council Member Joshua Lee: Great. Thank you. [28:20] Mayor Luke Hellier: Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. We look forward to the sale. All right. We'll now move on to item B, Expo 2031. And I don't know if Mr. Miller, you were going to tee this up for us and then we'll have a presentation. [28:42] City Administrator Miller: I will tee it up as much as to introduce Wendy Meley. Wendy's is here from Expo 2031. [28:42] Wendy Medley: Thank you. All right. I wasn't sure if you were going to put the slide up. So, excellent. So, good evening, Mayor, city council members, and city staff. I want to introduce myself and my team to you. I'm Wendy Medley. I'm the CEO of Expo 2031 Minnesota USA. My team is here. Shauna Woodbury. our uh public affairs and global horiculture council director, vice president SRF consulting group, who is our engineering firm, also vice president of their urban practice at SRF consulting group. I brought them here tonight. So, we'll have some Q&A afterwards and I want my experts in the room understanding that this is an introduction today. Oh. Oh, I click. Right. There we go. There they are. So, tonight uh we'll provide an introduction to Expo 2031 and our interest in Lakeville becoming the host community. To be clear, this is a privately and public and funded development looking to collaborate with a host city staging expo 2031 and a prosperous future living district. Our agenda includes our approved and licensed status, our expo site vision, a a highle overview of benefits for Lakeville, our proposed expo site, and um why we're enthusiastic about pursuing this opportunity with Lakeville specifically. Then of course we'll answer some initial questions. So this is federally approved and officially licensed. Why is that important? Uh it's important because these two approvals are the only approvals we need to be shovel ready to do a project in the United States on behalf of the United States. To get here, we took two years and worked with a whole collection of these supporting agencies and entities through vetting and uh application approved processes from federal, state, regional, county and uh uh industry. So you can see on the left American Hort. They uh are the industry association for horiculture who said that the AIP, the governing body, the international governing body could have us be uh the candidate on behalf of the United States. We went to US commerce and at the US Commerce Department, we submitted an application. that application has been approved by this administration in partnership with the US state department who had to also write a report and make sure that the state department would partner with us in the future. The USDA was part of that process as well as as the US Botanic Garden and then the state of Minnesota assigned Tom Peterson, the Department of Agriculture um commissioner as our person. And then now that we've been approved, we are also partnering with both DED and Explore Minnesota. Dakota County Commissioners uh traveled the entire path with us, including uh the secretariat delegation and met with our international participants and then uh Tony Schlerler at Dakota County CDA has approved being our fiscal agent for any state and federal funding which makes us an officially licensed expo. The first federally approved l uh international horicultural expo in US history. It will go from May to October, six months, hosted in Dakota County. That's what it's licensed to do. Uh four million plus projected visitors. We will cap the tickets at that. So, we know that no one wants to be flooded with a bunch of folks. Uh so, we'll uh we want it to be a really successful regional tourism and business opportunity. And then we see the outcome being a future living district um for the expo host city. and um looking at long-term growth. The United States has now put us from the uh I got to look the international trade association to the National Travel and Tourism Organization. So, they've taken us from approved application into operization. And you see across the bottom, we now are aligned with FIFA, the Olympics, the World Cup, and then US. And so now we represent the United States on that stage, and they're now queuing our national promotion of that. So you're wondering about our expo site and our visitor experiences. Let's look at the site. Um, this is our currently planned site vision. It has two components to it. It has an overall site for the expo entity. It's the expo moment itself, the six months, and it also has legacy options in it. We will customize this and build it to suit for the city that and community that we um host with. And so, just want to walk through the site for a minute with you. In the upper left, think about it being 10:00. You would walk into the site and the first thing you would see would be the USA Pavilion. Um once you've seen the USA Pavilion, that's on the tip of the Pollinator Lake. You can either take a uh counterclockwise walk around the expo or a clockwise walkound. I'm going to take you counterclockwise. And I'm going to take you through the different zones. Um each zone has a climate. It has a biodome. When you go to the north side, you see our UPNO for up north forest overlook. I've got to slow down a minute here. Um we've got hospitality and retail put through the whole thing. And we've got a technology spine um overlay so that when people come to the site they actually are using their phone to customize and create their um expo experience. And then of course we have back of house operations. What you see on the west side of the site, pardon me, is an expo hall on the left, an amphitheater, a hotel, a secret garden, wedding venue, hospitality and retail locations, and then on the right hand side, we would replace that side of the expo with a residential development, mixed use, um, depending on what the site was, what uh, made sense for the community. the technology spine would live on and the legacy would be operated with an HOA. That gives you a quick uh view of the site. Now, what will people experience during the expo? As I said, there are climate zones. So, imagine that the United States has all has uh 13 USDA zones and we've taken those zones and making them five experiential zones. Arid tropical temperate continental and northstar. When you go in each of these zones, imagine you would go to Disney and you'd go into Harry Potter World. Instead, you'd be going to the Arid Zone and you'd walk into where you have here. You can see this is a biodome experience. So, theme park without the rise, but biodomes where you're transported to go to um the desert and have that experience. Within each of the zones, you have different um these would be actual country pavilions. You have country gardens and you have these circular these right here are all specialty pavilions that would be themed around horiculture, agriculture, Minnesota, energy. Um, and then you can see that you would have international gardens in between, right? And of course there would be programming competitions that gives you a feel of the general visitor experience at least at a first glance. What are the benefits to Lakeville? Well, we've aligned this with Lakeville's 2040 plan. Um, and you can see that you're looking to have this high quality development infrastructure efficiency. This does have that. Um, it advances your plan growth with a signature employment and innovation node that converts into a long-term future living district. And we would support regional growth with the job trajectory that uh Lakeville has published and is looking for. So jobs um jobs would look like construction, operations, um hospitality and uh the various suppliers. There are 32 supplier categories that actually operate an expo of this nature. And then there's tax base of course there's property value growth um through the hotels, the mixeduse and commercial and industrial. There's tourism spending of course um with regional visitor flow um local dining retail amenities and um stren strengthening downtown activity and of course we would have to have um some kind of a circulator or a shuttle or a electronic bus that would take people from the expo through the city and to the different um economic areas that Lakeville would uh deem to be important. So, what site? We're looking at the site. We'd like to pursue the site that is just directly southwest of 190th Street and Cedar. To acquire the site, we know we would need to be able to um get the city's agreement to study and talk to the land owners. And we do have a shovel ready project ready for that. We've got full federal approval. We are the official license holder. We the legal entity that can actually assign the land for parcel for expo 2031. We're ready to secure the property for ne necessary environmental process and pro and purchase. And uh we have um spoken with Minnesota developers that are known and experienced um that have an interest in uh developing the site with us. Um we would incur the cost for public utility extensions. We do know that there is no water and sewer currently on the site. So we would incur that and we have that accounted for in our financial plan. And then we've got an environmental study and construction timeline high level. We of course have a very detailed one as well, but um for this um initial look, this gives you an idea that this year we would really um need to land on our site and do our environmental and we do have our master planning in place um of course with our engineering firm and we of course would need to get our entitlements in place. Then in 2027 and 28 we'd look to do the engineering and infrastructure construction. And then peak construction would be 29 and 30. And then uh and also during that time would also be all the planting. Of course, US growers are a really important um component of this. And then finally of course uh we would after a winter uh open and hopefully it's not too chilly for folks but we'd have financial preparation and opening afterwards. uh we would have a year of initial transformation um to take the uh disassemble the part of the site that would not be moving forward and then we would transfer the uh site into a HOA and an actual legacy operating entity. So here's just a high level so that you understand what we're looking at for numbers. We're looking at a $971 million project. We have itemized 31 million for the land purchase and for the utility expansion as an earmark. We have earmarked 668 million for the site and construction and operating expenses at 120 million. So after our total dispersements, we have an ending cash balance of just under $152 million in our plan. Where the funding comes from five, you see five 55% of that. We've got sponsorships, partners, investors, licensing, and other uh participation. And then 45% comes from operating sales. Why Lakeville? Well, I I don't have to sell you guys on Lakeville, but I just want to let you know that we actually know that um you've got these really lovely large contiguous development areas. We've identified one, but we have um other ideas in Lakeville because we think that you would be an amazing place to host Expo and we believe that your regional infrastructure access aligns and your sewer service expansion through Met Council and your approvals you have there also aligns and that you have a growth ready planning framework already in place. And so, and as we've written here, few metro communities combine these conditions and I know you know that it's why you're popular and it's why you're um a leading uh city in your county. So, um you have the readiness and land capacity for a project uh of this scale and we really would love to be here in Lakeville um and really build this future living district. So, it's not about building the expo. the expo is is a trigger and an amazing opportunity for Minnesota. But you can imagine that there is this future living district opportunity to imagine how people want to live in the future and uh for residents here. It's not only a civic asset, but um it's long-term employment. It's uh trigger for a mixeduse district. And um it's got of course all those things we've just itemized. long-term taskbased growth, employment expansion, commercial development, and infrastructure utilizations. I think it's uh you gain a legacy district and a permanent employment opportunity for um Lakeville and a national expo cities are known, you know, Seattle, you know, Knoxville, you know, San Antonio. Um and so that's our initial overview. I know it's bit of a water hose, but uh questions that you have at least for us today and for our team. [43:05] Mayor Luke Hellier: Yeah. Thanks. Comments, questions. I've got a bunch. Who wants to start? Uh so I have a couple. First one's related to the site. So 195th does not currently get all the way to Cedar. So that's part of the infrastructure plan. But currently 195th is a It's a stub, I believe. Right. It doesn't go all the Cedar Avenue. So, we'd have—isn't it—how long How much of how much of 195th Street are we talking about? The dirt road, isn't it? [43:59] Wendy Medley: I think with uh some of the things like that, we'll need to sit down, talk with your engineering department, and figure out what some of those entitlements are and what the what the vision is. So, I think we we want to come in at this with an open mind and really understand what the long-term thought process is for for that area and how that can work with Expo and and understand how that future. I think we absolutely want to plan and build out uh the parts that are that are envisioned, you know, for the city in the long term use. [44:28] Mayor Luke Hellier: And I maybe you know this just um you know this has always kind of been of a struggle of a development area for us because of sewer and water. I mean I I'm worried this is going to be a very expensive piece of property that you're picking I guess is my point because the infrastructure costs are pretty high. Is that—there's not sewer water that stubs here? [44:28] Wendy Medley: No. Um we've um they the planners know that it's not to the site yet. It it will take expense to get it to that site. [44:54] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay. Okay. Um, and then do we know remember what the proposed timing is for 35 and 50? Because I think about Okay, so 35 is the main thorough fair to get to Lakeville. Obviously, you can get her to Cedar, but that's a I wouldn't recommend it to anybody. Um, and so I'm concerned that if we've got pretty significant construction on 35, it's just going to be hard to get to Lakeville. So, I don't know if we've if you guys have had that conversation with them. [45:14] Wendy Medley: Yeah. Um, it's going to be a two-year project and the latest estimate I heard is going to be a 2930 construction project. [45:14] SRF Representative Jim: I think your colleague had something to say about that. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council, Staff. Uh, we've been in contact with MDOT Metro District. Uh, the district— [45:32] Mayor Luke Hellier: Let me just say we're not going to be really happy if this delays our construction for 35 and 50. [45:32] SRF Representative Jim: I hear you I hear you loud and clear. Um but yeah, in in conversations with both the district engineer um the the area manager as well as uh other staff at Metro and they're willing to be flexible with us. They actually just reached out last week about project status and so they're they're well aware that Expo is is going to be coming to Minnesota and how do they work with us? [46:09] Mayor Luke Hellier: So—okay. So and this question is probably for you. Has we have the United States have we hosted an expo? Like is there something to look back to and see how things went somewhere else? [46:09] Wendy Medley: There are actually so specialized market city. Okay. Botanic Gardens are Span. And so— [47:49] Mayor Luke Hellier: um when you think about the added amenities you mentioned it was how does the decision tree go for that because I think there was amphitheater hotel how does that you know yeah how does that work you know is it all because of fundraiser or private investment it's like it's a wish—could you get to the mic? [48:31] Wendy Medley: oh yeah sorry for—thank thank you just um so how we see that is we actually have all those thing all those different expo legacy components have been modeled individually. So they won't be built if they're not funded individually and if they're not of desire to the host city. One of the things we thought of here is there already hotels. So is a hotel isn't something that's absolutely necessary or required and if that isn't something that fits in uh what our partner city would want that's something that could go away. There are a couple things that we absolutely need to do and why they got put in the mix. The secret wedding venue was put in because it's a really affordable and amazing way. People like to get married at expose, but it actually is a long-term asset that doesn't exist in this region. The amphitheater at 2500 seats, um there is actually a hole in the market for the economic development of that. There are higher and lower. And so um we modeled it out and in the Dakota County region only 32 events would need to be at that and there's more than that from an inventory standpoint. So each of those has their own model per se. What we absolutely have to have to be able to run the expo is we absolutely need to have the expo hall because we have to host a beginning and ending event and we have to have 60 country leaders to be able to be not be chilly and sitting in a blanket under a chair outside in May and September. Right? So the other components that are on that side um none of those are required. So we can um adapt and adjust those based on the city, but they do have long-term great value for the expo. So it isn't a um they're all everything's modular. The different um specialty pavilions, if for example, we were lighter on our rays, we can take one or two of those out and that doesn't that doesn't change the experience. So we have we've built in contingency throughout um the development uh that wouldn't change either not only the model of what people would experience or the risk. [50:31] Mayor Luke Hellier: What um so one of the numbers you said is four million visitors over months. What what were some of the numbers that the other had? [51:00] SRF Representative Jim: Uh so we're on par to that. Jim, do you remember those off the top of your head? Because he did all the modeling and I top of my head the numbers are a little fuzzy but uh um we do have some you know we're not expecting the same attendance that you know Chicago got when they did the World's Fair um back in the the 1920s um but we are you know um visitor attendance that would rival you know and and Seattle as 10,000 people a day is a lot. [51:24] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay. Because you're not open. I was just doing 180 days. Do I? [51:42] SRF Representative Jim: Uh we we expect four million unique visitors, but they attend more than one day eight trips uh per visitor. Well, just like you know the size of the household. Okay, other questions. [52:30] Council Member Joshua Lee: Um, I I mean I first have to say that it's it's a very interesting concept where I I I feel honored to be in this conversation. Um, and yet there's a lot of questions in my head about um the what's left, what it does it take to get there. Um, so I guess the first question for me is for this team, are are you full-time on this board? What what's your background in leading an expo like this? How does this get started? If this hadn't happened before, who came up to with the idea to create this international or national expo? [53:18] Wendy Medley: Um, so it's an interesting question. Um, we didn't come up with the idea. the the we've been I've been on the previous expo efforts that were trying to come to Minnesota. So, I believe that the e that expo is supposed to be here because of all that Minnesota has to offer. It's a model for the United States. Um expose create bring together the greatest minds of the time. And I know that's a bit of a bunny trail, but uh but in this moment in Minnesota, Minnesota needs a stage to say something new, say something about who we are and not what's we're experiencing. So while expo didn't come the expo effort here didn't come about because of the moment we're in the moment we're in is actually what big corporate investors and folks are talking about now because Expo uniquely puts us in a moment where we can stand on a stage and show all the great things that the companies in Minnesota have done in the past, present and future for the globe. So why Minnesota? That's why Minnesota and why an expo. Um what I would say is um I'm the leader of this. I brought together 24 original funders along with my own. We now have we've now just been approved in November and now we are moving into our official partner timeline. We have a full we have four folks uh developing funds right now and we have our initial three official partners and other founding partners who have now leveled up to official partner status. So, what I would tell you is um it's a it's almost like this thing that you're you're thinking, "Wow, it's so big, but it's really not that big if you think about it in pieces." And we didn't intend to build out an entire team in this moment. My vision was to say, let's take the biggest businesses in the region who already do this work and instead of building out a team, let's bring those people in as investors and put their whole team to work. So SRF came in as an investor a year ago and we have the entire SRF team. So Andy is their SVP and is on their board and represents their entire team. Jim rep it represents their whole urban practice. So at any given time, that's actually our office. So if I if I'm you and you're thinking, how does this woman build this out? No, I I don't build it out. I bring in best in breed uh players. So we've already brought in a company called TPN Events out of Seattle. You've heard of CES, the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. They do a big portion of that. So that's actually our event experts. Okay? So we've got transportation and infrastructure. We've got events. Then BRC Imagination Arts, we're going to announce next week is the lead of our USA pavilion, which we're starting with. We We know expo is a big thing for people to think about. So, we're starting with our USA pavilion. Everybody understands what that is. And so, we're starting with that with a team. We've got Shauna in as our executive director of that. And we've got BRC Imagination Arts that came out of Disney and Pixar and they have designed an amazing, gorgeous USA pavilion expo for us. And then Travandi is our operating partner. Best and breathe. Both of them did the Osaka Expo um and are blessed by our country as well. And so I've brought in instead of bringing in suppliers, I've brought in those companies as investors to lift it off. And we're doing the USA Pavilion as our starter, we actually go globally with it on a week from tonight in Sydney, Australia. And we believe that momentum beyond the 20th of May with the international airport who is going to host World Bday with us because of course our mascot is going to be a B you know wouldn't be surprising. Um we believe those two moments publicly will help people understand and capture their imagination alongside with our country standing up and putting us alongside FIFA and the Olympics etc. And that just happened last week when we met with the National Travel and Tourism um office. So we're what might seem really big is going warp speed. Think about it. From November to—we're just out of February. So um I I realize it seems really big but if you but you know step the path— [57:37] Council Member Joshua Lee: well and having that background helps me understand the legitimacy of the group that's coming together to try to put this together. Um I think the next part is for me is trying to understand what is actually being built. And when you say bioddome I'm thinking Henry Henry Dorley Zoo desert aid dome. Um, I think of Paulie Shore. [58:26] Wendy Medley: Think about—the biodome for you to be able to. So you move these buildings these they're constructed and then moved to other because investors want to keep their building or got it. Okay. they would be moved. [59:00] Council Member Joshua Lee: And then how does future housing work into this uh vision? Because I don't know what that looks like. Are we talking about round buildings out of I mean pods? I mean that's what I was thinking of when you said futuristic. [59:00] Wendy Medley: Nothing like that. We will probably have some 3D printed buildings because we are talking to 3D printers of buildings, but it's not like that. We'd be working with um typical residential developers here. And there would be amenities in the neighborhood that would be amenities people want, community gardens, different kinds of traffic lights, etc. And we intend to run that like an HOA. So, I don't know if you're familiar what Ardan Hills has done relating to an HOA. There's a model that exists in some smart people who put that together already. And so, that ends up making are maintained and all of those kinds of things. [1:00:23] Council Member Joshua Lee: Gotcha. Well, and so that probably answers my question about why here bec not Lakeville, but this particular parcel because when I saw the plan of uh an expo center, a hotel, I'm thinking closer to 35 sounds like it should be where this is located. Both from a tra traffic impact on our residents, but also from the hub of activity, but the residential piece doesn't really fit in that equation. [1:01:00] Wendy Medley: So all of our so we said we'd cap the tickets, right? But we're also doing a shuttle service and so think about shuttle locations all over. So there isn't going to be an influx of traffic um impacting the residents. It will be it's a queued shuttle um scenario and and Jim can walk you through that, but we can't imagine having everybody around town not be able to get to work on time and everything. we would have an that's not something that would fly here, right? So, we have to curate it. Um, and then our vision would be in Dakota County to have the various cities have maybe a morning, a lunchtime, a supper time, an end of day direct shuttle in the county as a in a friendly way to work that way. [1:01:00] Council Member Joshua Lee: So, then the what if in my opinion is what if we don't get those ticket sales that you're anticipating? [1:01:46] Wendy Medley: Ticket sales aren't we everything is uh not inclusive of ticket sales. Ticket sales are upside. retail and licensing. So imagine Hello Kitty, Hort Barbie, Crayola, Crayons, all that. It is a it's a huge market and even the conservative version of it, we start selling years out and even the conservative version of it is um accomplishes our number. when when we model out the financials for licensing partnerships and all the those kinds of things, there's four times the amount of sponsor assets than we have listed there for our top line. [1:01:46] Council Member Joshua Lee: Okay. I have one more question, council. Um, this was presented to Rosemount. [1:02:05] Wendy Medley: It was. Um, I can't speak on behalf of Rosemont. I can tell you that um we appreciate that. So Rosemont got involved early on. We initially had put out an RFI and they uh their uh if you remember Al Singer. Al Singer was their retail or their uh um real estate guy. He was who responded and I'm specifying that because there was something out in the paper and Dakota County has asked me to be very clear of how that all went. So um he responded and that's how we chose that piece of land. that piece of land if you know what the piece of land is is not in the core of where Rosemont was looking to develop. So in my opinion based on the feedback we were given the piece of land and the act they we actually had initially candidly a 240 acre site with a big development. They felt that was too big. We came back with a smaller version, this right-sized 160 acre option and um they liked the pieces. They felt the land wasn't a fit. There could be other reasons. That's just not I I can't speak on their behalf. But but what was con communicated in our last meeting before we mutually parted and it was very amicable and all of that was that there were assets that they wanted but they thought they maybe should be placed differently for example a hotel. [1:03:26] Council Member Joshua Lee: So—so who comes to something like this? Is it families or all kinds of things? [1:04:14] Wendy Medley: There's two components to it. There's the consumer portion. So that's the expo experience and then you saw the expo hall. So businesses actually put a pavilion up and then they have their annual meeting there or whatever. So there's the whole B2B that funds the back side of it and B TOC is the front consumer experience. And so everything from um elderly people, couples, all that kind of thing. We've got six different personas of folks who travel who are interested. people who go for culinary, people who go for green or you know— [1:04:14] Mayor Luke Hellier: is it would so would it mostly be domestic people or from all obviously all—how does staffing work? I mean, I'm thinking about this like if you think about the Dakota County Fair and its size. Yes, it's different. I mean, that takes a lot of people and I think about all the volunteers it took just for the Super Bowl and that was in the core of the city and— [1:05:06] Wendy Medley: Super Bowl is a little cooler maybe. No offense, maybe to the right crowd I guess. I don't know. Are they here? No. Um, so I was the co-chair of the cuisine committee for the Super Bowl. So there is a volunteer component to it. We actually, um, so there's a couple different parts of how you staff this. So there's a whole set of Hort people you need. So all the people who know how to do all the grounds. So we've partnered with two organizations for that. The American Public Garden Association that they do all the big botanic gardens all over the country. And so the people from the top botanic garden comp uh gardens want to come here and be part of it. And then the Minnesota State Horiculture Society has 8,000 members. 8,000. And they become a huge force for the grounds themselves because people will expect Disney level pristine grounds throughout Expo. Beyond that, during the legacy, we do have and particularly without naming them publicly here, there are two major um uh grower players that are in this county alone that would be likely candidates that would be ongoing um upkeepers and and folks that would uh keep up the you know the grounds, etc. But um yeah that's [1:06:17] Council Member: So I've had the opportunity to see two of these sites which— [1:06:17] Wendy Medley: Knoxville and San Antonio. [1:06:17] Council Member: Okay. And the impression I get is there's always something left behind. Yes, there is—a little bit about that because we talk about the future housing and and replacing some stuff with other but but there's some pretty serious infrastructure that gets left behind. [1:07:03] Wendy Medley: well, so before Charlie Zeli left the Met Council, he's he like, you know, you got to have your little kitchen cabinet, right? So I called him and I said, "Oh my goodness, what are we going to do about the state fair because how am I going to people to and from and all of that kind of thing?" And he said, "Oh, don't just worry about the state fair. You have to worry about the two weeks after because the guys make so much money during the fair, they go to their cabin." And I'm like, "Oh dear." So we thinking through that and I had met with Pete Storyly and walked the fairgrounds and done all of that. Those are things that um believe it or not there are groups that uh Charlie defined for me that actually travel the country and fill in the blanks um and you know for transportation and other kinds of things. And so from a staffing perspective, there are five really big firms in the world that already staff for expose and we're in a conversation with two of them that they would come and you actually the one of the firms we brought Travandi already on for the USA Pavilion. They're one of them that does that and they've come on as a investor partner and they're the reason we brought them on is they see it as not bringing in a bunch of staff from somewhere else. they have a model to train people regionally and that was really compelling because I think there's a lot of folks who wouldn't mind having a job you know during the time leading up to it and then we've also got um an agreement with the building and trades as well. So, um, it's not something we're we don't have to be experts at everything. We've got to pull experts from a whole lot of different things, but we will the last two years will scale up to um about 19,000 people. So, it's a big it's a very big number. The bigger number is we've got to bust them in from where they live and all that good stuff. So there it is a it's not a small undertaking and we'll bring all the experts together that we need to to make sure it happens. [1:08:54] Council Member: So I've had the opportunity to see two of these sites which Knoxville and San Antonio. And the impression I get is there's always something left behind. Yes, there is a little bit about that because we talk about the future housing and and replacing some stuff with other but but there's some pretty serious infrastructure that gets left behind. [1:09:18] Wendy Medley: Depends on what the s Yep, there is. And that's why we would need a HOA. So, we've actually had a conversation with two different foundations here in Minnesota because we know we need to um leave money behind and transition to a legacy operating entity and that wouldn't be what we would be doing. We would it's not something we're we're traveling a path with folks but we have them in place to be a foundation trusted here in Minnesota that continues the funding and then we see the entire future living district which is the new piece being an HOA— [1:10:05] Council Member: and it's it's interesting because like what's left behind is an attraction because you want you know like we go visit this place and it's like oh yeah let's go see that. So, what is it about this? Oh, yeah. We got to go see that. [1:10:38] Wendy Medley: The USA Pavilion. So, um instead of It wouldn't make sense, um or at least it's our opinion. It wouldn't make sense to do a big needle or that kind of thing. It doesn't seem like it would fit. And so, what we've imagined with our BRC imagination arts team is a USA pavilion like never done before. Um we've seen the park. Do you want to explain it, Shauna, or do you want me to do it? Keep going. Okay. So, um you you're aware that Minnesota is the home of the very first indoor mall right? Okay. Excellent. So, um instead of having something that looks just like a pavilion that could be dated, etc. We imagine that our uh the inspiration for our USA pavilion is land, air, and water. Those are the three things that are actually take things to grow. And so we have a platform and then we have three unique buildings that live on a platform. In the platform is offices and that and the rest is somewhat I mean here's where we get to the Jetsons. So not the houses but you know more uh beautiful um glass. And our thought is that we have a fourseason indoor park that has different facilities in it, not a shopping mall, but I thought at least that gives you a feeling of it not being so much a museum or a building or whatever. It becomes not only a destination by nature of the fact that it was at the World's Fair, but really more of a destination for residents and regional people to convene and and use all year long. So that's what we imagine is our legacy leave behind. [1:12:00] Council Member: And what would happen with the overlook tower you had on the map? [1:12:17] Wendy Medley: Well, I think that stays. I just depends on how fancy that gets, right? Does it look like Smokey the Bear or does it I I don't know. You know, I that's—what do you think? you want it to be cool there. Let me just tell you there was a thing there. You want—of course. Okay. So the coolest thing I saw that I you know they always tell me stop when you can't have that. I wanted redwood trees. They're like you know what it would take they don't live outside. You got to put glass around them. And so they're like no you can't have redwood trees but there is it Dubai's Dubai had a needle. Not huge but it was big enough. I bet you it's all the way around the needle. So you could go upion up and come down. That would be cool if we—get you pine trees. Sure. [1:13:08] Council Member: Um which leads me to my third question and I'm just looking at the map because the sites that I'm familiar with I've seen from the past. Uh aren't directly in residential. There's some residential that's really close here. Mhm. And we're talking tens of thousands of people a day for 6 months, plus people coming to visit this site for years after. And um and what does that feel like and look like? What does that feel like? What do we tell these folks that that live adjacent to this that your lives are significantly disrupted? [1:13:53] SRF Representative Jim: Enter Jim. Yeah. And so, um I'm going to try to go back to one of these slides here. Um, you can see in this this concept that we we are showing a a fairly significant buffer kind of around the site to create that separation from the adjacent property owners to where the core activity is. And obviously this is the the the what it shows for the expo event. And once that starts to transform into that legacy use, there's even things that we can do from buffering depending on the context of what we're looking for for that for that long-term long-term use. [1:13:53] Wendy Medley: And none of none of this is like etched in stone right now. So, it's all negotiable in terms of where things would go. [1:14:29] Council Member Joshua Lee: All right. Thanks. So, similar to uh our friends in Farmington have had some very colorful discussions about land use lately. And this gets pretty close to that. Have you had conversations farmington and what has that been? [1:14:48] Wendy Medley: Um we have we actually met with um their city council and that um we went we and their development. Um so that we had very positive conversations with them. One of the things we talked to them was for a farm field site. So um it's public that, you know, it's out there. So we had talked to them about having a pro uh expose can have official programs and so the conversation we didn't have a conversation about them hosting expo in its entirety. It's not sized for where their streets are and that kind of thing but we did talk to them about having a 20 acre farmfield demonstration site and that was interesting. And so that is something that is um sitting out there. We now that we've looked at this site candidly, we would probably just partner that up and put that with this at this point in time. But we did have very favorable meetings there. [1:15:51] Council Member Joshua Lee: And um what is like the marketing for get people to it? It's it's actually really interesting your question, Luke. Do you think people will be googling in 2031? Who knows? [1:16:45] Wendy Medley: That's the point, right? So, we don't know if they're going to be chat GP TPN events out of Seattle. We're studying that very thing. How do you really get What we do know is um we do know people will be custom experiences and we travel and trade organization and national platform behind and a whole budget for us. Um and we do have a a marketing plan of our gateway strategy. So our gateway strategy takes um shopping malls all over the country and has events there. And so I think it's going to feel more like event driven real in real life. Um school programs are huge. Um, so I think it's going to feel very in real life and real localized um in targeted markets of people that want to travel and do the different kinds of persona um activities we want to do, but we'll have we have a really elaborate um we're really studying the whole tech piece. [1:18:43] Council Member Joshua Lee: And does that marketing continue after this is done and we have this site that we want people to come and visit and you guys are if somebody lands somewhere in the north metro. Well, so okay. So is this is this out online? Okay. Is it recorded forever? Okay. Well so one of So we've had a conversation with a with um an entity to imagine a really unique gateway and have a very first pavilion that would live somewhere that would be in a really big gateway place that a lot of people would come into. So, um I think there's a number of different ways we can have ongoing and then also just I know it seems really basic but it becomes a Wikipedia page and you become part of US history. I mean the Seattle needle they don't market and that and that makes billions of dollars and by the way the needle the the operating entity the US didn't decide to do it so an outside developer did it and made all the money. So and and so we might build what happens on the land but other developers and all that many people will benefit many other businesses will benefit as well but yeah there there becomes a whole cottage industry around it for Justin and Tina not to put you on the spot what's the what's the comp plan and land user the other side of Cedar and you know because I'm I'm just wondering like how does this play into what we—obviously our zone single family right now or rural a or something. [1:19:35] Tina Good Road: Yeah, it's all residential. It's not currently in the Musa. It's in the expansion area. Not sure if it's in A or B. It's probably in B because sewer's on the other side of Cedar. So, we'd have to do some amendments. I think the um first off is just are they able to secure the property? um are they able to secure the easements to get the sewer and water um across Cedar Avenue to this property because it would have to go in a little bit different configuration than our current staging plans um and our master plans for sewer and water. Those would probably be I think the biggest initial hurdles because without that there's no site. Um I think there's a lot of other things that come to mind after that. Um I think my biggest question is the permanency. um what that housing area is and how that meets our future comp plans knowing we're going into our 2050 update. Um how that um gets included, that kind of consideration. Um any other permanent buildings and what future use um they could be um and benefit to the community. Um and then I don't know, I'm sure these guys have a lot more other ideas. [1:21:38] Speaker 1: I don't know about ideas, but um from a public safety standpoint, sure, questions. Um concerns, uh traffic, which you addressed a little bit. Uh certainly shuttling. Um you know, looking at 40 plus thousand people a day. I I don't see how that couldn't disrupt our normal traffic flow, but uh I'm sure there's certainly opportunities there for uh for discussion. and then then just securing the uh the property um for that long of time frame. You know, we have certainly our citywide celebration each summer, which is probably short of 100,000 people over three big days. Um just the scale and scope of that would be beyond the Lakeville Police Department. You know, we'd certainly need help with that. Um but just looking at those um challenges that will come with staffing something like that from a from a public safety standpoint. [1:23:10] Wendy Medley: Sure. So um so as part of the federal government approval, we do receive homeland security and extra security. So we that would get framed out um and partnered and and then of course expo uh we do have in our planning that we would need to support additional um resources of course. [1:23:10] Joe Macy Archin: I'll just add I think from a parks perspective I think it's a a question of what what does carry over what would become—it's going to be yours just by default. Sound like Paul's gonna, right? So, well, we're going through our planning process now. You know, we talked about it at the at the last meeting for for the next uh 10-year parks plan, but I think it's ultimately what what does or could this be um that is different than what we have that adds a long-term, you know, improvement for Lakeville's residents? Because I think at the end of the day, that's that's the big concern for us. And then on top of that, this is a large site. So what does maintenance ongoing maintenance look like? What are those longer term expenses that we would have to try to figure out how to absorb? [1:23:56] Wendy Medley: So it would be if we do the HOA model, it would be absorbed in the it's a contained site. It it'd be run like an HOA. So that's not that's not a piece that there's probably adjacent, but that's not a uh I'm sure there's a governance component there for sure, but um from a but I think it'd be great if you guys would define elements that you would want in it. Um you guys already have the start of pollinator here and you have all your amenities. if there were things that you wanted built in it. Um, that would be amazing. [1:24:37] Mayor Luke Hellier: I mean, I I don't know if anybody else has the way. I mean, my perspective is I'm interested. I'm intrigued. There are a million questions to be answered and discussed. I just I don't want you guys to get down a path of—know going through site all that kind of stuff and then you come back to us and your vision and ours is completely different. That's a great question. I don't know what the answer to that is. [1:25:31] Wendy Medley: Okay. Yeah. No. So, and I'm and I'm being candid with you. We're open to aligning with what Lakeville would want for a vision. So, if there's an opportunity to um even imagine that what that would be, that would be I don't know what that path would look like, but we're open to that. Technically, we need to control the land in our timeline by Q1 of next year. So, and and to to stay on track with inviting the countries and everything. That's that's the real timeline. So, it's not I mean that feels like there's enough room there to at least have a decent discussion and and travel a reasonable path. And whether it's this piece of land, there are other pieces of land in Lakeville that are interesting to us if it's, you know, um this isn't— [1:26:18] Mayor Luke Hellier: Yeah. What's the total acreage? [1:26:27] SRF Representative Jim: Uh our 160 US the expo grounds itself have to be at least 150 acres. Um but there's, you know, the shoulder and back of house maintenance facility. So really we're looking at about a 180 um site. The what we're looking at uh what we highlighted earlier tonight was about 240. So uh doesn't have to be quite that big, but uh does still want to be a fairly large uh track plan. [1:26:52] Mayor Luke Hellier: Yeah. I mean I just think something along the 35 corridor if you can make it work makes a lot more sense for a lot of reasons. getting people in and out. It's where the hotels are. A lot of restaurants. Cedar's tough. It's a reason why Met Council pull the plug on their buses, for instance, because just makes things really difficult there. Um, I'm not a No. I mean, I think we need to have more conversation. I don't know if it makes sense to have Mr. Miller follow up with you guys maybe the next couple days and we can kind of I don't know if that makes sense from a council perspective. Yeah. I mean—I mean if you guys can't secure the land then I mean spending too much time thinking about it. But if you can then we can have more conversation. Like I stated at the beginning to me this uh particular site is odd. It's not quite close enough to our commercial hubs in my mind to make a lot of sense. And it's um in terms of assets that I think we want as a council, a community center is certainly something that we are looking for. That is an asset that if it was a part of this project is intriguing. It's just a matter of does that actually make sense there long term. Um and so in terms of the tourism and the impact to Lakeville, I I'm a little of two minds on what that true impact will be. I think it's exciting to get Lakeville on the map. Um, but, you know, is that that worth the other um considerations in terms of potential traffic and and whatnot? So, I don't know. I there's only really one element that I I'm really excited about and that's a potential community center. Uh, long term. I I don't know. It's it's tough for me to if you're not open to other locations in the city, I don't know that it's uh necessarily something that's viable— [1:29:32] SRF Representative Jim: those for us, but are interested in looking at other locations as well. Just the size that we're looking for for that continuous uh piece is is a little bit—if I could I think one of the uh one of the considerations is this really has a lot of opportunities to kind of build the suit. What we showed in terms of a concept is very flexible and and to the point of a future community center I think that's something that the exhibit hall exhibition hall could transition into. Um, I think one of the requests really is is to engage with staff a little bit more to kind of flush some of those things out and whether it's this site, a future site, or additional sites that you may know of. We just kind of came to this one as we were surveying the map and looking at what's out there. It's it's a single land owner, which was appealing, of course, rather than multiple land owners. But, um, but we're open to that. Uh, I think with the comp plan planning process coming in the next year or so with the city, it does give it an opportune time to kind of plan around this as well. and and really to bring the city in as a partner to say what do you want it to be both during the the expo itself and then what does that future legacy look like about half that site twothirds of that site would be redeveloped to whatever you chose it to be so there's a lot of open opportunities there and as Wendy mentioned you know infrastructure costs would be you know initially bore by by the expo so just thought I'd offer that for your consideration [1:30:58] Mayor Luke Hellier: yeah well let's do that let's have you guys and staff kind of talk over the next couple weeks and then we and try to regroup and figure out what's next. I appreciate you guys coming in. Any last questions from council? Thank you guys for making the trip down. Yep. I appreciate it. Um, do you guys want to take a five-minute break before we do board appointments? Yeah, that'd be great. Let's do that. [1:38:08] Council Member Walter: Which we've we've always been recording. Wants to make sure we're still on camera, right? We are. Yeah. No, that's fine. Not a micromanager. Before we move on to the next piece, just a lot of times in a typical work session, we'd be able to have a little bit of kind of internal discussion. I mean, yeah, about the last issue. Sure. I mean, I didn't really get a read on folks. Are people interested in moving this forward? [1:38:53] Council Member Burmal: I'm not, but that's why I kept my mouth shut. I let you guys decide what you're going to do. [1:38:36] Mayor Luke Hellier: Yeah. I I think it's a ridiculous—Yeah, I just I mean for me it's it's I think the site's challenging. Um I think uh I I guess part of it is just wrapping my head around it. the numbers and the impact on our community because there is part that remains and Ryan people I think the benefit would be and you said it Joshua is oh you end up with a cool kind of community center thing that would be really neat um in the question then becomes is what you would go through worth—around there. I plan it well to have it all that kind of stuff. I mean, how many times people say—That would be cool. Yeah. This is just a really challenging. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I just struggle to get my I mean, I asked that question about who's um who attends this because a billion dollars is a lot. I'm struggling to piece. Did you raise you had you had a word that that at some point I thought made made sense to me and I So I struggle to get a lot less than trillion. So I mean you know I mean in World's Fair that's like where they invented the ice cream cone and in 1902 or whatever but you just don't so I'm I'm I'm struggling with some of that too and I mean also this is the type of thing that would need a lot of socialization within the community just because—people are already perturbed about the— [1:41:49] Council Member Joshua Lee: pace of growth thing 40,000 people a day. Yeah. That's why I think the freeway is a lot better in the fact that you don't have them traveling right through the middle of town. I mean, if it would accelerate some of our highway projects or or I mean there there is some other things there having it as a as a state significant national project. But I also just from a brand perspective I don't know that I I don't other than Bachman's I guess I'm not sure what I see as Lakeville's connection to horiculture. [1:41:49] Council Member Walter: Yeah. I'm just going to say I'm in the same boat. If it's this this current parcel, I don't think we should be moving forward at all with environmental studies here. I don't think it's this this spot. Um I'd be interested if there's something south and west that makes more sense uh for us and them, but I just don't know if that works on their timeline. And—all of those annexations are in Dakota County, right? the ones that we were talking about with Eureka. [1:42:21] Tina Good Road: Yes. Why did I think I had Scott County in my head for some reason? Well, because you're getting closer and closer to the line, I think. [1:43:07] Mayor Luke Hellier: All right. Well, we're back to your other question. I'm fine with it if you want to do that. Do what? Uh, if you want me to—I had thought about that. Oh, sorry, Jim. as a course for this cycle or for all future. Well, see how it goes, I guess. I mean, already it's a different process. So, we've just evaluate the whole process than before next year if that's what he wants to do. I I will say, you know, part of it for this is the reason I thought of this. We have a ton of people for planning, right? Always as I go through, there's probably a couple alternates and others on other committees that I can't really find anybody good for based on what they applied. [1:43:56] Council Member Joshua Lee: There are some people I think who apply for planning may be interested in sliding into some of these other areas where I can have a conversation and say, "Look, we're kind of putting a master list together here. I think you'd be a good asset to, you know, give opinions about the city for instance, but, you know, might not fit in planning because I think we got what, two, three full people, two alternates, and what do we have like 10 applications or something? [1:44:22] Mayor Luke Hellier: Yeah. So, so like with your your proposal, um, I think there's two ways to approach that. One way is uh the mayor creates a slate and we either approve or disapprove it or the mayor creates a slate and we discuss that slate because I I don't know if we're too far off on on much of anything. So I mean as a point of starting it might be a good uh a good way to do that. Um when do we have to have this done by the end of the month? [1:44:22] City Administrator Miller: Next we got to have a repeat. The terms start on April 1st. So you would need to approve this at your next meeting. [1:45:13] Mayor Luke Hellier: Yeah. Yeah. We're running out of time. Yeah. We have basically—that's why I I just thought one year. Let if the mayor thinks this is a way to try it. We're already trying something different. Keep going through the process and see what it does. What happens does have a higher salary. So it seems like—I mean I I trust your your judgment. I do think I would be remiss if I didn't at least have an opportunity to say a couple things about observations from— [1:45:32] Council Member Joshua Lee: you did and you wrote them in here. I I did um for all the ones that submitted videos um I did when I was going through there were uh a couple folks that did not submit a video. I personally felt that those that didn't um submit one uh shouldn't be considered for uh reappointment or appointment because uh I it seemed like a fairly clear process. Everyone had that opportunity with the exception of one. I think one came in after the video deadline and so I don't think should be evaluated in the same way. But to your point, there were some folks that uh applied in the planning commission um that I think might be great for parks and wreck. Um and else otherwise I will say I I put my scores and comments into the video process and so as long as those are considerations as in appointments, I'm happy to to go out about it that way. [1:47:01] Council Member Walter: Yeah. And and for me it's like I mean like you say it isn't going to be too much different. I do think there are some people that would and um what I like about the video thing is you have the opportunity video and and see other people's comments and thoughts and in so I I'm willing to give it a try. [1:47:19] City Administrator Miller: We're going to do we have vote. We just get to decide. All right. No. So, sorry. Go ahead. Yeah, I can come up with a slate in the next day or so. Okay. And then you guys want feedback on—that? slate before the next meeting. So, just procedurally, um, if you want to send that to me. Yep. Then I can send it out to all of you and you have comments, funnel those back through me. Okay. And you look at the comments that are on the uh I have access. [1:47:38] Mayor Luke Hellier: Yeah. Yeah. I didn't write anything on there. I thought Joshua just covered it. So, what was I supposed to do? Ditto. No. [1:47:55] Council Member Joshua Lee: The only other thing I'll say too is that I mean I always appreciate everyone that um applies regardless. Oh, absolutely. These are important commissions. So I I don't want anyone to feel slighted by not uh having fullout discussion. Um and at the same time there are a couple things that I I value too and that's new perspectives on certain commissions that may not have um may have had multiple years of the same folks on it. Yeah. Um, and I also think that there were some really good points in the applications made about um going into the next comp plan and having experience on on those—exactly—commissions as well. So it in some cases I think it's helpful to have the new perspectives and in other cases I think it's helpful to have the experience uh continue on on those boards. So, um, yeah, I think I look forward to looking at the initial status. [1:48:44] Council Member Walter: And I I do want to say I I p I liked the video. That was a great way to just be relaxed, listen, really hear people and hear their answers. I think there was some negative feedback from some of the candidates. Um, but I I had one tell me, he goes, "I didn't think I was going to do this Wednesday with ashes on my—Yeah. Yeah. [1:49:25] Mayor Luke Hellier: I will I will say part of the reason why I was comfortable proposing this is because the five of us have done this together a couple of times. Feel like we're all kind of we end up 97% of the time we all end up in the same—same spot. Yeah. I I guess that's why I thought it we we usually agree. Okay. Well, let's do that with that then. I'll take—I move to adjurnn. Is there a second? [1:49:40] Council Member Joshua Lee: Second. [1:49:40] Mayor Luke Hellier: All those in favor say I. I. Post. We're adjourned. Oh, our next meeting is March 16th. Sorry.