[0:52] Mayor Hoyt: We'll call the city council regular meeting to order from Monday, November 17th, 2025. Would everyone please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. [1:12] City Clerk: One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Call the roll, please. Council member Wilson, here. Council member Cordes here. Mayor Hoyt here. Council member Bernatz here. Council member Lien here. [1:28] Mayor Hoyt: Any changes to the agenda? All right. Seeing no changes, I would seek a motion to approve the agenda. Motion. Second. Motion by Jake, second by Holly. All in favor say I. I. All right. Next, we'll move on to citizen comments. There's anyone in attendance wishing to speak, please come up and do so at this time. that citizen comments are a time for anyone to address the city council on matters not on the agenda. Those speaking should state their name and address and limit their comments to five minutes. The council will not engage in discussion on your topic, but those issues requiring response will be responded to by the next city council meeting. Go ahead. [1:57] Nancy Arstead: Thank you. Um Nancy Arstead, Bowmont Avenue. The reason a city has zoning codes is to plan growth intelligently and to protect the residents. Here is how your city code currently reads. The MUCI, mixed use commercial industrial district, provides for the development of larger mixed business areas along major roadways, including services, offices, research laboratories, and light manufacturing uses without any exterior activities. Remember that. As well as compatible commercial uses. Here is a list of your MUCI permitted use businesses. child daycare facility, indoor commercial recreation, health club, hotel, office, research laboratory, class one restaurant, retail sales and service, warehousing facility. And a decade ago, you added a data center. In the last 10 years, with the rapid growth of technology and the use of AI, data centers have exploded in size. What used to be a small or midsize building is now a 350 acre campus of enormous humming buildings and generators. So per your zoning standards, a daycare center and health club are comparable to a hypers scale data center per your zoning standards. Now here are the features that we know about the hypers scale data center. You approved 10 to 12 enormous buildings 50 and 80 feet tall with huge cooling units attached surrounded by several hundred generators each attached to a 6100 galon belly tank full of diesel fuel. Each of these spewing generators are the size of a semi-truck trailer. Security gates, 14t security fence, security lighting and cameras guard building. 708 megawatts of power. more electricity than the Monticello nuclear plant puts out. Huge electrical substation, millions of gallons of water used per day. You have this hypers scale data center I just described in the same zoning category as Anna's Bananas as Kelts Pub without their liquor license and Anytime Fitness. Same zoning category, light industrial zoning. Now, this is a list of conditional uses. These businesses would have to go through several additional steps with the city, including a public hearing in order to be approved for MUCI. These would be these would get a public hearing. These would get more zoning scrutiny than a hypers scale data center. Brew pub, cannabis retail, convenience store with gas, dental laboratory, grocery store, hotel and motel, hemp edible retail, public utility building, class 2 and three restaurant, and a theater. Farmington deems these more impactful peryear zoning requirements than a hypers scale data center. A brew pub has stricter zoning requirements than a hypers scale data center. This is wrong and it fails to protect the residents. Your MUC ordinance also states no exterior activities. And yet this data center will be surrounded by hundreds of semi-trailsiz generators on the exterior with exterior noise, emissions, and vibrations. The exact impacts the MUC rule was meant to prevent. Where did the exterior activity protection in your zoning go for us? Your building height limit in MUC is 45 ft and you gave track 80 ft. When did you protect us? To be clear, the AU putt and plat that you approve for track the tracks data center only regulates how a project is designed or built. They do not determine where such a use is appropriate. None of these tools can substitute for proper zoning or compliance because they operate within whatever zoning the city has already approved. If the underlying zoning is wrong, every step built on it remains wrong. Off the top off the zoning topic just a bit, but I would like to bring you back to the city council meeting on November 4th, 2024. Timestamp 216:30. Steve Wilson asked, "Do you have design standards set up for this type of project?" We really don't have standards established for a technology park of this type. Correct. Tony replied, "That's correct." And then four of you went ahead that night and voted it in anyway. You claim there is nothing you can do be doing at this time. There are plenty of things you could be doing at this time. Please start by fixing your outdated city codes to reflect current reality. Now, hypers scale data centers belong in industrial zoning. This can be fixed now. Thank you. [7:32] Mayor Hoyt: Thank you. [7:32] Jeff Shatler: My name is Jeff Shatler. I live at 22420 Calico Court, Farmington. Thank you for letting me speak again. Um, what Nancy said hits home a lot. Um, we don't understand in Farmington what a data center is compared to hypers scale because you're classing them the same as a daycare. Daycare doesn't belong in the same place as a data center. Um, would you put the data center right next to the daycare? You know, you're doing it in a neighborhood though. Like she said, there are things that can be done. Maybe as city council says that uh it won't change this project, change it for the next one or the one after that, start writing some city code and ordinance and putting protection in for your residents so that if another purchaser comes, you don't have the same thing and you're not drugged down into a lawsuit and dragging your residence down to the lawsuit for over a year. do some of these things so that it can be properly placed and appropriate and so that you're not asking these developers to give you safe space for your residents. You say this is what we have available. This is what it is. This is what we what we require in Farmington to come into our town. Um do something so that this isn't going to be continued in every neighborhood. Um, you've, in the eyes of a lot of people, spot zoned this property. You've now put the comp plan amendment on hold. You're rezoning property just for one project, for one developer. It's not for MUCI. It's for one business, a data center, but a hyper scale technology park, which is far different than a data center. Um the lawsuits they combined um that's interesting. It's not positive. It's not a win for anybody, but it's interesting because there's a lot more work now in everybody's end to do. Nothing's quick about this. Um work could have been done. It it could have been done before the lawsuits were ever presented. We all asked for things to happen. Castlerock even asked for things to happen. None of those things were done. They were all ignored and so it ended up in this lawsuit. This lawsuit is getting everybody's attention. You guys are on data center Dynamics today on LinkedIn. They're the world's information hub about data centers. They reported a day after the findings came out on this court case. They're following us so closely. Everybody's watching what's happening. Do something so it doesn't continue to happen again. I put in an application to be on planning commission. I'd love to get a serious interview a and some serious consideration for it. I'm a voice that obviously differs from what everybody else does. And isn't that the point of a planning commission and a council to represent the entire town to to have people that have different views but collectively can make something work together. I'm the one resident that stood here before the lawsuit started that said if you don't do something better, you're going to have a lawsuit. You have a lawsuit. Resident that said you don't have do something better. I'm going to run for planning commission. I'm running for planning commission or I applied. I'll run for council when I can against either one of you or any open seat that there is. Um I do want to make a difference here. I intend to continue living in Farmington. I've been here a long time. My daughter lives here. She's going to continue to live here till she graduates and moves out of this town. Do the best that I can to make it better for residents if you guys refuse to. You have an opportunity to make a difference. Thank you. [11:29] Mayor Hoyt: Thank you. [11:29] Nate Ryan: Good evening, Mayor and Council staff. Uh my name is Nate Ryan. I'm resident here in Farmington. I think it's interesting that we are um that we're kind of back to, you know, where where we started with some of these things and and the things that have come up back then still just kind of keep coming up today. So, I printed off my initial comments uh back over a year ago to the planning commission and I'm going to read a few of them because I think it's important to recognize that the things that we brought up uh over a year ago are still things that are driving lawsuits are things that you're just not seeing. So, one of the one of the things that um we talked about was the change in zoning and the comp plan uh has some direct quotes in it. And why is this plan important? It guides the location, the type, the pace and the future growth of new development and the redevelopment of an orderly and efficient manner. defines types of land uses and um and protects property owners investments by ensuring consistency and compatibility of land uses and development. Changing the zoning of this comp plan doesn't really accomplish that, especially the last stated reason of protecting property and compatibility. It's not compatible. Right? Your zoning, your zoning issue is not compatible. Like they pointed out, are you really going to put a data center next to a daycare? Right? I mean, is that is that really what you would do? Is that what your planning commission would suggest for you to do? Is that what you sitting in that chair would say, "Yes, let's do that." What your current zoning in mixed use commercial industrial allows that to happen without a public hearing without any of the additional stipulations. So, just kind of think I I just really hope that you understand and really get the gravity of that because that's going to be something moving forward. And whether this case or another case, you never updated those things. And as I said the previous two meetings, the developer recognizes that and they took full advantage of you. How you cannot be up there just steaming pissed that a developer took advantage of you is beyond me. Uh other things here kind of the comp plan uh help to coordinate and public and private sector decision-m investments leads a a greater degree of predictability to the future community changes. When we bought back there, that predictability was going to be that was going to be residential. Someday we're not going to hear the swings of golf clubs and golf balls and, you know, people saying the f-word, not because they're doing it to another community, but because they're doing it to, you know, where they're ball shagged, right? So, we knew that those would stop and likely because we were predicting what your comp plan had said is that that was going to be residential property. And now we're upset because not because of a data center. I'm not upset because it's a data center. I'm upset because you're putting in mixed use commercial industrial and you're allowing something that is just not compatible and that we couldn't count on. So, and just keep in mind that that key sentence compatibility and then also predictability to the future. Those are going to be major points moving forward. Predictability to the future. You had laid out a plan for over 10 years that property had been zoned residential because that's what the Olson's asked for back in the early 2000s. That was predictability. It's almost 20 years that that was predictability. That was going to be there. And then all of a sudden you just decide to change it. And and I I know that you say it wasn't us, it was the Olson's, right? The Olson's guided by who decided to change those things. uh preserve and enhance the community's uh hometown character. Create neighborhoods that are connected and provide a sense of community. Work with neighboring communities and regional entities to effectively provide services and a plan for the best areas of growth. No doubt uh birds Oh, oh, I'm sorry that that's my personal note. um uh bring the bring bring the character together through local and regional systems and pedestrian walkways, bikes, trails, uh public transit opportunities. So again, these are just some more, you know, guiding, you know, guiding principles that come along with that. Um Jeff Jeff talked about this, but spot zoning. His definition of spot zoning is the process of singling out a small parcel of land used for classification totally different from that of the surrounding area for the benefit of the owner of such property and to the detriment of the other owners. So I totally get like the the mayor is going to be like, well there is industrial property that's already there, right? There are industrial properties that are north of our neighborhood, right? it it is not the entire length of the golf course. You know, we're talking maybe 2,000 feet, maybe less than that. So, I understand that there are some industrial properties that are there. Uh but that is and and if you look at the map, they're actually not in Farmington. Most of them are in Castle Rock, which I find funny. Um but but that's the truth is that those industrial most of the industrial ones are in are in actual Castle Rock. There's lots of little tiny, you know, parcels there. They're actual Castle Rock. like Castle Rock Bank sits on the corner of a of a intersection in Farmington, but it's actually in Castle Rock. The same is true with the Bolt Shop. The same is true with other strips along Highway 3 there. So, when you decided to do this, you decided to uh to make this, that is definitely, I think, by definition of spot zoning. And I got that from a legal, it's not just a made up or Googled, it's actually from um it's actually from a legal dictionary. So, um, something else that I pointed out back then over a year ago, I said we we also believe the city will face litigation should the planning commission move forward at the rezoning of this property. Litigation could take uh um could tie up the sale and the rezoning continuing cost millions in tax revenue, which could erase any perceived benefit from the new tax revenue the site could bring uh to the city and more potentially city would have to ask us taxpayers for more money. So, h how far are you from, you know, from that? I'm just kind of curious like where are you at? You got about $4 million, maybe maybe $6 million in coverage. At what point are you going to eat up that legal fund, especially now that the lawsuits are combined? They're definitely moving forward. You're going to start to churn through that legal fund. You're going to turn to the general fund. Are you going to put out a referendum? You're going to put out bonds so you can continue to fight your own citizens. How is that saving any tax revenue? How is that how is that doing anything? So, in in fact, what I find interesting as I kind of continue to read through this is is that um well, it is 4 million. So, the the the Farmington is 4 million, but as you read through the orderly annexation agreement and it talks about perceived t tax benefits, um I just wanted to point out that I think this is it's going to take us six years takes six years to for Farmington off of the school district property to fully get all of the tax benefits that are out of that, right? six total years. It's it's and that that doesn't even start until they break ground. It doesn't even start it's not it's not today, right? Just because you reszone the property, you're still rezoning it, but you're not you don't have any improvements. The taxes really haven't gone up on that property. So, you're still not getting anything out of it even though that it's been rezoned. Um and the the developer doesn't even own it yet. So, but just to kind of keep that, you know, just that thought. Um so, it takes six years And that's true of any c uh any any possible thing. So, one of the few things that um that I'd written down just around that annexation, which we're obviously fighting over now, is that the city is that the city um had the opportunity or should have had the opportunity to tell Castle Rock, which I never got an answer on this, but so Tony was there in the room and I was talking to the planning commission and I asked him specifically, Tony, what did you tell? could you actually send me the application that you sent to Castle Rock. I got a hold of it and what's really interesting on there, he never says it never on that application, it never says that it was for a data center. It just says it was for a technology park and it says in the annexation agreement that if you know what is going to be developed there, you would not withhold it from your partner, right? from your regional partner, aka Castle Rock Township. Did you withhold that? Like did you did you not tell Castle Rock Township that this was going to be a data center? Did you withhold that information from them? So I I think that's kind of interesting. And regardless if if they got the uh you know they got the announcement uh whenever they got it or you know any of those things, but did you withhold information out of the application that you sent to Castle Rock? Did Tony knowingly do that? And you also zoned it at the exact same time. So when you annexed it, you zoned it. And it's clear as day in this orderly annexation agreement that you would annex first, zone last. And you didn't do that. That's that's of concern mostly for Castle Rock. Some of the other u perceived benefits as we're talking about here is this thing, you know, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. We heard it. We heard it. We heard it. We heard so many jobs. Yes, there are going to be construction jobs. um within the last six months Josh was up there saying I would open a restaurant and I came up to this podium and said there's no way that I would open a restaurant. You're gonna have job. You're gonna have restaurant for five years. And the rank and file employees who work their butts off every single day, they're not going to be out at your restaurant, a fancy restaurant, a 14, 15, $20 burger, you know, joint. They're they're not going to be there. They're going to be eating out their lunchbox. And so you're you're giving people advice, business advice to go and open a restaurant that likely in five years, six years at the most, it's going to be gone because the workers will be gone. And then you're left with what 20 folks who work at the data center, maybe 25, maybe 30. I'll give you 30. And that restaurant's going to survive off 30 people. So jobs, that was another perceived benefit, right? This is the other thing too is like we got to wrap it up. I let you run 10 minutes. as we've talked about this and as we continue to talk about this is that um I was going back and and relisting to something and that was the meeting with uh the residents in in Castle Rock and the Castle Rock um I can't I can't forget her name. Kristen Kristen Dean had said to the residents, we were questioning or talking about water and somebody was saying, "Well, what about the water and am I going to have to drill a new well and who's going to have to pay for that?" And Kristen's dean's response was amazing. And she said, "We will not take any water out of the well. We will only take it from the municipal water source." No one's laughing. Why aren't you laughing? That's funny. You know why it's funny? Because the only spot that you get water is from a well. Farmington doesn't have a waterfall and his water comes out of it. We all get it from an aquifer. We all get it from a well. Ask your city guy. Where where you at? That guy right there. He probably he probably knows right where the well is in Farmington, right? Is it right underneath? Do they do they drill out and blast out a whole area and have that water come up and you know stick a big pump down there? It's absolutely what they do. And sure, it's called a pump. It may not be called a well, but that's those are the kind of things that y'all just don't see. I ended this letter. I ended this comment with this with this thing. And this is where I I'll finish for you. Don't blight on us. You're bringing blight. And if you're unsure what that means, grab a phone, talk to your attorney. Please stop blighting on us. You're bringing blight. Thank you for your time. [23:35] Mayor Hoyt: Thank you. Anybody else wishing to speak? [23:54] Bob Richardson: Uh, I'll keep it short. Bob Richardson, 35 Elm Street. Uh, about two years ago, I was at the meetings for the charter school. Uh my neighbor Dave Marsh will be sending most of you emails tomorrow. We had a neighborhood meeting. Uh the charter school is going against their conditional use permit. Uh the police chief, county sheriff's Mike Slavic's been addressed. We cannot even get out of our yard driveways. They're entering the left turn lane. This was addressed with Phil Lyn or Phil Winchel during the planning. They're entering the left turn lane on the eastbound lanes of 50 coming over the the river bridge and nobody's in front of them. Uh Dave is landlocked back there. Uh I I've been working miso the last three summers. I leave about 8 o'clock. uh kind of been out on the road all day. The about 10 times out of the last three weeks, my yard is beautiful. I got a runway. You can see the tire tracks. I have to drive through the alley out to First Street. Then uh uh the counseling center also there was slammed in there. Before it was a dentist office. They had the use of the where the playground was. That was part of the Econo Foods parking lot. That park, that street is used. It's public parking, but they're abusing that, too. They have four probably five official parking stalls. And the city planner and the engineer, they that property for the counseling center. They own property right up to the wall of the charts school. So next spring they should be demanded to build off street parking for like 10 12 cars to free up because that's adding to the charter school problem. And uh they're tying up the left turn lane. The stop sign at first in Elm is a county legal stop sign like everyone along county 50 means absolutely nothing. uh in front of 115 Elm which is a charter school main exit coming out of the like a the retail and the charter school. The stop sign was missing when the store was empty. Uh like anybody can do a Dakota County maintenance request for anything in the county. They put a stop sign between the curb and the city sidewalk which is city side city property because they said they couldn't go on the back side of the sidewalk property side which every other stop sign you supposed to Minnesota law legal stop or yield for pedestrian at implied or marked crosswalk and that would be a crosswalk. So, we addressed the county again. Now, they put one on the center island coming out of the charter school. So, you got a stop sign on the back side of the sidewalk. Now, you got one almost by the curb line and they don't even use that one. If you want to set a your officer's been sitting at a churros under request of us and uh they're just running stop signs left and right. and we can't even get out of our neighborhood. We can't even walk across Highway 50 even during regular hours. Nobody yields to us. But that that cluster there they're going against their agreement, the conditional use permit. Mr. McGlenn and his reps said they were going to be on site. There's one one man uh teacher directing traffic. He's in front of Dave March March's house, but it's just a cluster from 8:00 or 7:30 to 9:00, from 2 to 3:30. And it I mean, property taxes are going up. The county assessors are going to come through all of our houses and and re-evaluate them. If you got a postcard in the mail, city of Farmington, they're picking or I think they're doing the whole town, but we can't enjoy life anymore. And we got like their project is bigger, but we got this slammed into a retail and luckily we spoke up and you you stopped the expansion or we would have had 900 students. And then uh Great Oaks opened their new campus up at Egan and they're at least to 2030 and they'll be moving up there eventually and then we'll have empty building again. But as a group something has to be uh resolved because in fact somebody's going to get run over innocent person walking or biking or accidents. That's how I want to speak. Thank you. Sorry, I'm not a good speaker. [29:20] Mayor Hoyt: You're good. Thanks. Anyone else wishing to speak? Seeing none, we'll move on to the consent agenda and seek a motion to approve the consent agenda. [29:40] Council Member Nick: Motion to approve. [29:40] Council Member Holly: Second. [29:40] Mayor Hoyt: Motion by Nick, second by Holly. All in favor say I. I. I. All right. Next item on our agenda is 81. This is a public hearing for resolution 2025 tax 078 vacating a drainage and utility easement within the park ponds plat or park view ponds plat like to go and open the public hearing at this time. And Tony, thank you [30:30] City Administrator Tony: mayor, council members. Uh yes. Uh before you this evening is a request to vacate a drainage utilities meant from outlot H within the Parkview ponds. uh subdivision. The property is located at the intersection of Embers Avenue and 198th Street West. Uh the city is in process of replatting this parcel um of land legally described as outlot age Parkview Ponds into a single buildable residential lot. Uh the intent upon replatting is to have the property appraised and uh potentially sell the property. Uh the outlot is currently encumbered with a blanket drainage and utility easement. Uh so it covers the entirety of the lot. Uh with the conversion of the outlot to a buildable lot, that easement then needs to be vacated and new drain and utility easements would be uh dedicated with the Park View Pond second edition plat which we'll actually be uh reviewing after this uh particular item. Per state statute, the council must conduct a public hearing regarding the proposed vacation after published notice. Uh, this map is also included in your packet, but it shows the lot in question outlined in red and the entire thing denotes the easement that exists over that existing outlot to date. The action that is requested this evening. After any public comment is taken, close the public hearing regarding the vacation of the drain and utility easement and adopt resolution 2025 TAC 078 vacating existing drain and utility easement uh in Park View Ponds. Thank you, sir. [31:56] Council Member Wilson: Steve, any questions? Um Tony Mike Tony this is only the utility easement and not the plat itself correct [31:56] City Administrator Tony: only the easement correct [31:56] Council Member Wilson: right thank you no questions [31:56] Council Member Alex: no questions just a similar question to Steve nothing about the trail falls into this at all right I mean that's not in the easement I don't think [31:56] City Administrator Tony: okay I have no questions questions. [31:56] Mayor Hoyt: Uh it is a public hearing, so if there's anybody wishing to speak, feel free to come up at this time. All right, I will go ahead and close the public hearing at this time. Any additional comments, questions? Right. Seeing none, then I would seek a motion to adopt resolution 2025 tax 078, vacating existing drainage and utility easement on Park View Ponds. [32:36] Council Member Nick: Motion. [32:36] Council Member Jake: Second by Nick, second by Jake. [32:36] City Clerk: Call the role, please. Council member Cordes, yes. Mayor Hoy, yes. Council member Bernett, yes. Council member Lein, yes. Council member Wilson, no. [33:11] Mayor Hoyt: All right. Next item on the agenda is 101 resolution 2025 tag 081 approving and authorizing the signing of final plat Parkview ponds second edition. Tony, thank you. [33:11] City Administrator Tony: Uh we are requesting the review and uh approval of Parkview Pond second edition final plat. Again, this is for the same property that we just reviewed the vacation of easement for. Uh again, this plaque consists of the conversion of an outlot into a single buildable residential lot. Property was originally platted in 2005 as at outlot H. Uh the intent of outlot H was to preserve a potential roadway corridor from Embers Avenue over to Akin Road. At the time of platting back in 2005, uh the city council did indicate that upon buildout of the Park View Ponds development, uh that outlot H could be converted to a standard lot if the extension of 198 Street West to Akin Road is determined not to be warranted. Uh with the buildout of Park View Ponds uh being complete, uh staff has determined that that connection right now is not warranted based on current traffic patterns and needs. Uh as far as the final plat itself, uh what is shown on the the screen is the proposed final plat itself. The lot would be uh legally legally described as lot one block one of Park View Pond Second Edition would have a lot width of 11,783 square ft and a lot width of 85 ft. The property is zoned R1 which requires a minimum lot size of 10,000 square feet and a minimum lot width of 75 ft. Uh standard drainage utility easements will be provided uh with the plat. So there would be 10 foot on the front and the rear of the property and 5ft easements on either side lot line. Again, the intent of this is to uh replat the property, have it appraised, and potentially sell it sometime in the future. Uh do want to note that buyer for the property has not been identified. Uh again uh council did just vacate the easements and again new easements will be uh dedicated with the plat. There is existing 10 foot wide batumis trail uh located on the parcel. It extends from Embers Avenue west uh into the Farmington Preserve Park. The trail will remain on the lot uh and a separate trail easement would be required uh to cover that trail section. Uh the trail easement would have to be executed and recorded at time of closing for the sale of the lot. Uh the plane commission did review the final plat at its regular meeting last week and voted 40 to recommend approval of the Parkview Pond second edition final plat. The action that is requested this evening is to adopt resolution 2025 tax 081 approving and authorizing the signing of the final plat view pond second edition contingent upon the following. Number one, the vacation of the blanket drainage and utility easement on the property legally described as outlot H Park View Ponds. Thank you, sir. [36:22] Council Member Wilson: Steve, any questions? Yeah, Tony, let me let me walk through a few. I want to clarify this lot size here because I approved this development back in 200567 time period. Um, okay. So, we've got this 10-ft trail. So if we approve this and then it becomes well let's just say after the approval the property with the trail um is essentially part of the property correct so [36:22] City Administrator Tony: correct [36:22] Council Member Wilson: how how would we describe that today as it relates to the trail portion I guess where I'm going with it is if is the enduser it Like let's say I wanted to buy this property. Uh let's say I reach out to you tomorrow and say, "Hey, I I saw that this property is now open. I love this neighborhood. I want to build here." Based on a potential approval, wouldn't that property owner actually own the trail? [36:22] City Administrator Tony: They would, but as a condition of the sale of the property, we would require that easement be placed over that trail. So they would technically they would own what the underlying land but there would be an easement over the trail. How do we handle that time? Yeah. So let's take Danbury Avenue where there's kind of a similar deal. That's one I can think of where Danbury has that nice trail that goes down trying to think if it's around 190th 191st you know where that goes down there. So does the property owner to the south own that trail? Is that part of his property? Certain if it's on private property or if it's on an outlot. Um our typical practice now is to take trail corridors and outlots. Um in this instance, you would be literally chopping up the lot in order to do that. Um in that particular instance, I don't know if that's in an outlot or if it's on a separate easement. In the past, we've done some in easements. Um, but for the most part from moving forward, we've been taking those as outlaws. [36:22] Council Member Wilson: Yeah. So, I mean, I don't want to be overly challenging here, but the fact that a that we as a council would approve a parcel, which includes a city trail, essentially means that anybody on their any kids on their bikes, any moms and dads, you know, joggers, bikers, you pick it because I've used that trail for biking, running, that would theoretically be trespassing even though it's an easement. That would be trespassing on someone's property. No, wouldn't it? Easement's for the e That's what the easement's for is to allow that. So, what would the width what would the width of the property be? The width is still 85 ft. there would only be probably 62 feet of it would be from, you know, if you take a foot or two off of the trail for easement, you're looking at probably 61 to 62 feet of So then the rem So then really the buildable area is an R2 buildable area in an R1 neighborhood. So and and I kind of mentioned that before the meeting, right? I mean that's kind of my concern. I really really don't like for me I might be the only one but I really don't like in a beautiful neighborhood all you know I think you know we have many beautiful neighborhoods in the city but I really don't like the idea of the possibility of a very inconsistent house being built in a true R1 neighborhood which this is this I don't believe was a PUD correct me if I'm wrong it's not Um and I I really unless we have a lot of evidence where we've outlotted um trails, but essentially the overlay of the actual parcel uh the registered parcel is a property owner. Um this I don't like this idea at all. anything to add there or no? Okay, Jake. [41:13] Council Member Jake: Um, thank you, Tony. My question is purely speculative, but I know you mentioned that traffic studies currently don't necessitate that road punching through. Is there anything that could change in the future that might necessitate continuing that road or is [41:13] City Administrator Tony: I don't know that we see that road going through. Number one, it would be a challenging road to put through. There's a pretty steep elevation change there and plus it would by be bisecting a park. Sure. In addition, um I don't foresee any future need for that road, but I would defer to John on that as well. [42:04] Council Member Alex: Okay. Thank you, Alex. Um I don't necessarily have a question. Just as a property owner that has a trail easement, I haven't found any problem with that. Um, our property extends, I think, 2 feet beyond the trail that runs behind ours and it's basically just my backdoor neighbor mows 2 ft of my yard and that's great. Um, and it it hasn't been an issue. I guess the question that I was going to ask was, had consideration been given at to actually close that section of the trail? Was there any um work that was done to see what amount of use it has? Is it a required connecting location? I appreciate it. I It's not that I don't have an appreciation for it. I I actually use it all the time as well, but there is trail that extends behind and goes all the way up to Embers and at 195th and there is something that cuts across. But as we're evaluating the maintenance aspect of our trails and the amount of mileage that we can cover annually, what's consideration given to that? [42:04] City Administrator Tony: Um, I would probably defer to Kelly on the maintenance question. We talked about it at a staff level, but knowing it was an important connection to get back to the preserve and we knew people used it, we we just decided it was in the best interest to keep that trail. [42:04] Council Member Alex: Appreciate that. So, I I also appreciate Steve's comment. Um, I looked at a few other properties that had narrower footprints, and we have several of them that are actually on the flip side. Um, and they don't stand out as being awkward or odd in their in their footprint. They would fit in here well. So, while I agree it's a narrow lot, I I don't share the same concern that it's going to create a awkward building in there. It's just a more narrow footprint um of home. and I've got six that I looked at on the other side that I was comfortable with. So, I'm okay. Thank you, Nick. [44:09] Council Member Nick: I I think I just really appreciate the two points here. Those are actually really kind of helpful at driving my thought process. I think from my perspective, I was almost relieved to remove the ability to put a road through there. uh anyone who's been back there, that gets kind of a a very, you know, cool and interesting park back there with a lot of I'll call them custom trails and uh you know, travel at your own risk kind of thing, which is always fun. But so the ability to basically not close that off kind of keeps that uh as kind of a nice preserve that I that I really appreciate. So that's all. [44:53] Mayor Hoyt: Yeah, I don't have any questions. I I appreciate Steve's point. Um, I mean, I look at two houses to the south of me. It's a city trail that's divided amongst two private parcels, privately owned. Um, there's an easement there and the city maintains it. Um, all of the legal measures are put in place for um protection of both entities, right? So, don't end up if you're going to have an easement and you're going to have an agreement, you need to make sure that it's it's thorough. And to date, we haven't had any of those issues. Um, I mean, obvious things come to mind like, you know, if you get into the overall size of the lot with the 10-ft trail, could the trail be reduced in width to better accommodate um the building site? What does that investment incur? Um, but at the same time, anyone who is at whatever point, if we determine to put this up for sale, um, they're going to know that there's a path there, you're buying a property that has a path on it. It's all part of the title and abstract that they have to go through at closing. Um, so hopefully we don't run into any issues down the road with it um, subject to it passing tonight. Um, but otherwise, thorough explanation. I appreciate that. Uh, with that I would seek a I'd seek a motion to approve the resolution as presented. [46:03] Council Member Jake: Motion to approve. [46:03] Council Member Holly: Second. [46:03] City Clerk: Call the role, please. Council member Bernetts. Yes. Council member Lean. Yes. Council member Wilson. No. Council member Gordis. Yes. Mayor Hoy. Yes. Thank you, sir. [46:21] City Attorney Amy: Round table. Amy, evening, mayor, members of the council. Um, as has kind of become the habit, I'll pick a few points to to um call out from some of the public comments that were made earlier just for clarification. Um, one of the speakers said with the list of all of the um, permitted uses and conditional uses in the MUCI district, um, it's I think it's an overstatement to say that by including all of those different uses that the council who adopted the ordinance, it was saying that those are comparable uses. A daycare is not the same as a data center, is not the same as a restaurant. all of the I mean it it simply is a list of all of the things that could go there and um and so when the when the um when the code was adopted and a data center was added um it was simply the choice of the council in at that time that that was an appropriate choice to make. Um, and then there were a couple of comments about spot zoning. Um, and this is an issue that has already been addressed by my colleague who worked with Farmington um, when all of this process was was going through. Um, if the council wants more information about why this is not spot zoning and all of that legal analysis, I'm happy to follow up with that um, and provide that again to the council. Um, and then there were a couple of other po there was a point about paying legal fees and having to issue bonds and increase taxes. Um, I the the city has insurance through the League of Minnesota's ins of Minnesota City's insurance trust that after the city's deductible does cover the legal costs um as part of the insurance that the city pays for. So, um, I've I have no expectation that there'd be any reason why there'd be bonds issued to pay for legal fees. Um, and then there were a couple of other comments about um, don't blight on us. Um, this does not meet the legal definition of blight. Um, and I'm happy to provide more information about that if the council is um, interested in knowing the legal definition of blight in terms of how HUD defines it and other different um, uses of that phrase or of that word um, or concept. Um, but unless you have questions, that's my report for the night. Thank you. [49:05] Council Member: I don't have a comment today. [49:05] Mayor Hoyt: Good. [49:05] Council Member Holly: Uh, I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the Farmington um concert choir for a magnificent performance at ACDA. Uh, which for those that don't know what that is, uh, we joke that it is kind of like the equivalent of going to state. Um, and so, uh, the Farmington Choir program under the direction of Jacqueline Schmeichel and Megan Dimmitch, uh, was selected last year to perform this year. And we had fantastic representation um from the fire department and from the police department um to acknowledge um what this means to those students. And uh whether or not you can tell on the faces of 17 and 18 year olds how excited they were, they were crazy excited and had a magnificent performance. Probably in my opinion um one of the best coral experiences that I've actually ever been witnessed to. um put on by kids from our district. So, congratulations to them. Um also on the note of all things um performing arts related, Peter and the Starcatcher uh opens this weekend, November 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. It is a great family experience um for those that are interested in um exposing their kids to the arts. It's at Bachman Auditorium, also put on by FHS Theater. and um a fantastic way again to uh support your students in the arts in Farmington. Thank you, Jake. [50:44] Council Member Jake: Um, since this is the last meeting before Thanksgiving, I just want to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving and I hope everyone enjoys their time with their family over the next couple weeks. Thank you, Steve. [51:12] Council Member Wilson: Boy, Jake, you're reminding me of something. So, I want to thank the fire department for an awesome turkey bingo. Um, I think for the first time ever, I actually won a turkey, which I'm going to use on Thanksgiving. So, I'm very excited about that. Um, on our consent agenda, and actually really congratulations to you, Kelly, that we have, I think, probably high school age, uh, 10 returning, um, warming house attendants, and we hope the weather gets cold quickly and stays cold. we have a lot of good quality ice time even though many of us don't enjoy cold weather but it's really awesome to see the rehires. So that's that's pretty cool. Um and then I wanted to congratulate too the high school girls cross country team who for I don't know how many years in a row has made it to state. Couple of uh young men also made it to state. So congratulations to them also. [52:24] Council Member: Thank you. I wanted to mention that the city has been very busy on some big projects and one of the projects that we are working on is we're continuing to work on the 26 budget and we're going to have the public hearing on December 1st which will be the next uh city council meeting and also we are transitioning to a new finance and payroll system. So, we are working on that right now. And the city hall will be closed on November 27th and 28th in observance of Thanksgiving. So, that's all I have. Thank you. [53:10] Mayor Hoyt: Thank you. No, no report for me tonight. Just happy to be back. Thank you. Happy to have you back. Uh, nothing this evening, Diana. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Tonight the EDA met and we had special guests with us to talk about Expo 2031. I just wanted to thank everyone for participating in that conversation and I'm excited to see where the next conversation will lead us. So, thank you for that. More to come. Thank you, John. [53:10] Public Works Director John: Thank you, Mayor and Council. Uh, hydrant flushing is all complete. So, we're trying to get some more sweeping done before weather really turns cold. And thanks to your support of our construction specification update in the rightway management section of the city code, we are uh implementing winter season requirements at the end of this week. So um for safety reasons, no more work in the right of way once winter season goes into effect aside from emergency work. Thank you, Kelly. [53:36] Parks and Recreation Director Kelly: Good evening. Uh today is the last day to register your house for the lighted holiday tour. Um, so if you still want to register, uh, farmingtonmn.gov, um, you can still sign up. And then, as you're aware, the city received a grant from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for the construction of a skate park. Uh, our first design workshop is Monday, December 8th, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Rambling River Center. Um, the information is on the homepage of the city's website. There is also a design survey on there. Um, please take the survey. Please come to the open house and spread the word. Um we're looking for skateboarders, people who ride bikes, um rollerbladers, scooters. So, um come and uh visit with Spawn Ranch on on your ideas for the Farmington skate park. [53:36] Mayor Hoyt: Have we communicated with the district at all about putting that out in their weekly memos? [53:36] Parks and Recreation Director Kelly: I will get a message to them just to try encourage more input. Yep. Thank you, ma'am. Yep. [54:53] Police Chief: Chief, I got nothing this evening. Um, as as council member Wilson said, on November 8th, we held our 74th annual turkey bingo. Uh, it was packed for quite a while. It was a great evening. Um, thanks for coming out and supporting uh the department. Thank you, Chief. Um, I wasn't here two weeks ago for the uh meeting, but I I heard that there were a lot of very nice things that were commented on about Officer Pete J Zjack after uh his death by suicide. And I wanted to thank you all for those kind words and then also recognize um how impactful all of you are support for us over the last three weeks, three weeks tomorrow. Um it is a a terrible thing that that we all are going through. Uh but the support from everyone in this room has made it just the tiniest bit easier for us. And I also want to mention the incredible support that received we received from this entire community. um the people that came out and showed uh their love for uh Pete and shared stories about his impact on them personally from contacts in the community or at the school um are things that our officers and staff are going to carry with them the rest of their lives and I couldn't thank you enough for that. Um and then transition uh toys for town is well underway. Uh we have our our donation sites uh equipped with bags and we ask that everybody give as much as they can. It's a a big need again this year. So um please visit those sites and also um you know patronage those stores as well. uh make sure you're spending money where you're donating the toys as well because we really appreciate those businesses that are hosting those sites for us. Uh also on personnel front, we have three officers in field training right now. Two of them are anticipated to graduate next week and will be on solo patrol. So that's exciting for us. Two new officers on the road. That's it. Thank you. [56:54] Mayor Hoyt: Thank you, sir. I have nothing to add. a lot of great points and um bringing attention to a lot of great things that are happening in the community. So with that, I would seek a motion to adjourn. [56:54] Council Member Nick: Sorry, can I steal my time back for one second or am I too far in the process? Absolutely. So I I gapped out because I was thinking of what you had said. So uh I'm not looking for a pity party or anything like that, but I do have surgery this Friday. Um they're trying to basically work on my uh airway a little bit. And so I just wanted to say like in the unlikely event that I get a butcher for a surgeon, I just wanted my last words up here to say I appreciate all of you. Thanks. [57:42] Mayor Hoyt: Well, you done close it on a morbid note, Nick. I am a gallows humor person. I'm sorry I get through it. All right. All right. I don't know how to follow that. Drop your motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. If you run into a butcher and surgeon, I'll let you serve the last motion. Motion to adjourn. Second. A motion by Nick, second by Holly. All in favor say I. I. We're adjourned at 7:57.