Okay. Alrighty. Hang on. There we go. Alrighty. We're going to go ahead and call to order the regular meeting of the Oakdale City Council July 8th, 2025. Sarah, will you please take the role? Council member Moore here. Council member Morham here. Council member Severson here. Mayor Zabel here. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All righty. First up, approval of the agenda tonight. Council members, we have a slightly amended version in front of us. Couple items under community development, it looks like. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda as amended? So move. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion a second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And the agenda is adopted. Next up, approval of minutes four sets. Wow, we had a lot in June. Uh, first up, workshop meeting minutes June 10th, 2025. Any changes or corrections? I'll look for a motion. So moved. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion to second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And the workshop uh meeting minutes are adopted. Next up, regular meeting June 10th also 2025. Changes or corrections? I'll look for a motion. So moved. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion to second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And those minutes are adopted as well. Next up, special workshop June 16th, 2025. Any changes or corrections on these? Look for a motion. So move. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion in a second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And they are adopted as well. Last set special meeting uh June 18th, 2025. Any changes here? Nope. I'll look for a motion. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Last set is adopted. All right. Uh we actually have a public hearing tonight. Oh, so exciting. Uh proposed property tax abatements for uh certain public improvements. We have a staff presentation. Christina, are you going to walk us through this? Take it away. Good evening, mayor and council. Uh we're here tonight to hold a public hearing on the proposed property tax abatement um for the for the purpose of issuing abatement bonds for the Willowbrook park and trail improvements that you've been discussing. Uh per the master planned unit development agreement for Willowbrook development. The city is responsible for the construction of multiple parks and amenities. A number of those projects have been completed in prior years. The current projects under this abatement are more of the trail system and the Willowbrook neighborhood west and north parks. the open space project that had been in the CIP for 2026 or for 2025, staff is asking to move back just due to time constraints. Uh just a quick visual reminder here. Um you've got the two uh parks in the Willowbrook neighborhood that was approved. Uh the awards for the contracts were given out at the May 13th council meeting. And then completing the trails in the Willoughbrook development has been a multi-year process. The segments on the right hand side that are circled in red are the ones that will be completed this year. The projects are expected to come in on budget. The Willoughbrook neighborhood parks west and north have a budget of just over 2 million and then the budget for the trails is 200,000. So total project budget is about 2.2 million. Um the bonds are a little bit higher and that's because we include the cost of issuance in there. So they're at about 2.3. Tax abatements are similar to special assessments that the city typically uses to help finance road projects. Um both of them allow the city to issue bonds to finance construction projects. Tax abatement allows a city to identify specific parcels whose property taxes will be used to pay for those bonds. Um I wanted to go over some additional background information just about the abatement process real quickly and then we'll get into the specifics for this project. Um, so the first one you'll notice that a resolution must be adopted at a meeting noticed more than 10 days but less than 30 days before the hearing. So the notice for the public hearing tonight did appear in the Pioneer Press on Friday, June 13th. We're within that time frame. Uh, while the property owner consent is is not necessary, the property was identified in the notice and it's uh one of the new apartment buildings that's in the um development. Uh the resolution must indicate the amount, length, and public benefit of the project. There's no statutory requirement for the butt for test like you might be used to when you talk about tiff. And there's also no um benefit test like you hear about when you talk about special assessments. So while they're similar, there are a couple of differences. Uh prior to using tax abatement, the council should expect that the benefits of the proposed abatement project is at least equal to the cost of the project. And the council must find that doing so is in is in the public interest because it will increase or preserve the tax base. Provide employment opportunities. Provide or help construct public facilities like the park and recreation facilities. Help uh redevelop or renew blighted areas. Help provide access to services for residents or finance or provide public infrastructure. Eligible uses of abatement bonds include improvements to private property or public infrastructure and to acquire, construct, or improve uh public facilities. Again, including the park and wreck type uh projects that we're talking about tonight. Um it's important to note that this is not an actual abatement of the property's taxes. You're just identifying that the taxes that they normally pay are pledged to pay back the bonds. Um in this case, a tax abatement bond can be for 15 or 20 years. There cannot be backto-back abatements on a parcel. There has to be at least eight years in between those abatements. Um and it cannot be applied in a tiff district. Uh now we'll look quickly at the specifics for this year's um project. As I mentioned, the total project cost is uh 2,266,000. You'll notice in the resolution it does say up to 2.5 million. Again, that's to help cover the issuance cost. And while we anticipate the projects are going to come in on budget in case something goes wrong, we put a little bit of cushion in there just in case. So we don't have to go through this whole public hearing process again. So that's why you see those different numbers. Um the taxable value of the parcel that's identified for taxes payable in 2026 is 36.7 million. The bonds will be issued over 15 years and that's similar to what you did with last year's tax abatement bonds. The annual debt service payment is about 220,000 a year. Um and again will be supported by the city share of the taxes paid by that parcel. So with that, I would be happy to answer any questions that you have or your next step would be to open the public hearing. Thank you, Christina. Council members, any questions? All right. At this time, I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. This is an opportunity for anybody in the audience joining us um to step up to the podium and speak on this agenda item only. Um regarding House rules, we ask people keep their comments to three minutes or less and please be respectful. It's also not a uh an opportunity for dialogue. So any questions um asked by people um testifying I guess will be redirected to our staff. So if you would like to speak on this um property tax abatement request specifically please step up and begin with your name and address for the record. Seeing none, I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing, bring it back for council consideration. Uh council members, any other questions? Anything pop up in the last 30 seconds? All right. Can I get a motion, please? Mr. Mayor, I will w move that we wave reading and adopt resolution 2025-68 approving property tax abatements. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion a second. Final comments. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And resolution 2025-68 is adopted. Uh, next up is open forum. This is an opportunity on the agenda for anybody that wants to come up and talk about anything. Please feel free to do so. But before we get to that, I have one city proclamation I'd like to read recognizing Park and Recreation Month as well as Park and Recreation Professionals Day. Whereas recreation programs and events promote physical, emotional, and mental health and wellness through organized and self-directed fitness, play, and activities. And whereas recreation programs and events build healthy, active communities that aid in the prevention of chronic disease, provide therapeutic recreation services for those who are mentally or physically challenged, improve the mental and emotional health of all residents, and are fundamental to the environmental well-being of our community. And whereas recreation programs and events support safe vibrant attractive progressive communities that make life better through positive alternatives offered in their recreational opportunities. And whereas parks and other natural recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of communities and provide a place for all to connect with nature and to recreate outdoors. And whereas the city of Oakdale supports the skilled work of its parks and recreation professionals in strengthening community cohesion and resiliency, connecting people with nature and each other, and providing opportunities for healthful living. And whereas the National Recreation and Park Association, NRPA will celebrate 40 years of park and recreation month this year with the theme build together, play together. And whereas as part of uh as part of park and recreation month, NRPA has proclaimed the third Friday in July as park and recreation professionals day. Therefore, I Kevin Zabel, mayor of Oakdale, Minnesota, do hereby proclaim July as park and recreation month and specifically July 18th, 2025 as Park and Recreation Professionals Day in the city of Oakdale. Uh, on behalf of the city council and our residents, I want to thank our amazing parks and recck teams. um from Julie and her team at the Discovery Center um and all of the recreation programming that they do, full-time staff and seasonal staff that we bring in each summer to help with summer camps. Um and the winter seasonal staff as well, as well as our parks uh parks teams at public works. They do amazing work in all 28 parks in our city. Um, I know our residents deeply appreciate the the hard work that they put in to create and preserve um beautiful green space in our community and have that programming out there enjoying those parks. So, a big thank you to all of them. Uh, we are still under open forum. So, as I mentioned before, this is an opportunity if anybody has anything on their minds, please feel free step up to the podium. Uh, same rules as public forum. Start with your name and address for the record. Try to limit your comments to three minutes or so, but whatever's on your mind, we'd love to hear it. Whoa, slow down. Okay. Uh, let's move into consensus motions. Uh, council members, in front of us, we have A through I tonight. Uh, are there any that council members would like to pull for individual consideration? Hearing none, can I get a motion? Make a motion to approve consensus motions A through I as presented. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And those motions are adopted. Uh next up is our opportunity to check in with the advisory boards and commissions. The only one that met was the tree board uh that met on June 17th. Council member Moore, you are their liaison. What's up with the tree board? Uh the tree board talked about kind of the afteraction conversation from the tree giveaway from um a couple months ago. uh lively conversation and so much um flattery and appreciation for how well the event went. So um that was kind of the the the bulk of the conversation. They did start their consideration for the 2026 tree selection which um is really uh exciting, right? Um but they and they talked about not having such big tall trees. Um which I thought was really interesting because we love tall trees. They do, but some of those they get out of control, right? And then they have other tree issues at the end of their life. And so they are thinking more strategically about about the the trees that they choose. And I thought it was really um really cool. It was wonderful. Wonderful. Uh let's move into award a bid. We got just one in front of us tonight. Uh awarding the bid for city project R2025-02. Mr. Bachmeer, welcome. Would you like to walk us through this? Good evening, mayor and council. Uh pursuant to council authorization, we did advertise and collect bids for the 2025 Milan overlay project for the city of Oakdale. It involves Hadley Avenue from 10th Street to approximately 22nd Hallmark Avenue. It's a little over a mile and a half. Uh we did get two contractors that provided bids for the work. Uh OMG Midwest was uh below the engineers estimate for the project. when we apply the U soft cost to the project and look at the adjustment uh compared to the CIP it is below the CIA estimate for the project. So the funding sources are consistent with what was reflected in the CIP. The recommendation is to award the contract to Midwest Asphalt. It is anticipated most of this work will be done during the month of August and stand for any questions the council may have. Council members, any questions for Brian? All right. Did you have any other presentation or um we're just tackling all three action items? Yes. Perfect. All right, council members, who wants to take the first one? I'll take it. Uh Mr. Mayor, I move we wave reading and adopt resolution 2025-66, awarding the bid for city project R202502, street overlay, authorizing construction related engineering services, and amending the 2025 budget. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second motion in a second. Any conversation. Only comment I will make is awesome that it came in under budget. That doesn't really happen these days. So that is good news. Uh had a little conversation. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And resolution 2025-66 is adopted. How about the next one? I'll take it. Uh Mr. Mayor move we authorize the mayor and city administrator to sign a contract with OMG Midwest Incorporated doing business as Minnesota Paving and Materials for the improvements according to the plans and specifications therefore approved by the city council. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion a second. Final comments. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And that authorization is given. How about the last one? I'm on a roll. Mr. Mayor, I move we authorize the mayor and city administrator to sign an engineering service contract with for construction related engineering services in an amount not to exceed $15,000 without approval from the city council. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion to second. Final comments. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. And that authorization is given as well. Thank you, Brian. All right. Oh, did I do something wrong? I Oh okay. just throw something if I got it wrong. Okay. Uh, next, let's move into staff reports. Community development has a lot. Um, come on, Luke. Walk us through it. Thank you, mayor. So, this one, the first one will be quick for for everyone. So, the the location of the Glen Brook area comp plan amendment request. It's located uh at the following addresses. So it's 5115, 5127 Geneva Avenue, 6048, 6149, and 6211 Upper 51st Street North, and 6138 Highway 36 Boulevard North. And this area is approximately 8 1/2 acres. So the purpose of this request is to reguide the area from commercial to mixed use as a means to better align the city's comp plan guidance with uh local planning efforts and also the current zoning of of how this area currently exists. The mixeduse category enables both commercial and residential uses. Some quick information on the comp plan or comprehensive plan. It's the foundation for all land use decisions that the the city has, including reszonings. But to be clear, the comp plan guidance and the the zoning of properties, those are two very different things. Uh but they should be in alignments with each other. Historically, this Glen Brook neighborhood has consisted of a mixture of uses as you're likely aware. And you may recall that the city adopted the Glen Brook small area plan back in September of 2023. One of the key recommendations of that plan, it was to reguide the area in question from commercial to mixed use. And although it was not included in the Glen Brook plan, uh staff finds that including the JG House site which is 6211 upper 51st Street just makes a lot of sense in ter in terms of ensuring that the neighborhood is cohesive and there's more flexibility for redevelopment in the future. Uh so as mentioned the amendment request would regu this the area from commercial to mixed use in order to better align the existing land uses and the zoning with the comp plan. But it would also accomplish one other thing or in theory um help enable future development for this area. There is a vacant property that's 6138 highway 36 Boulevard North and we uh were aware that there's a developer who is interested in developing that site for live work condos, but there is no active application at this time. Uh but the comp plan amendment would help facilitate future redevelopment. So the com excuse me the planning commission held the required public hearing for this amendment request back on June 5th. There were no public comments made at that meeting but the planning commission did recommend approval and as required by state laws com plan amendments. Um staff has to or this excuse me the city has to contact affected jurisdictions who have uh uh pot who would be potentially impacted by the comp plan amendment. So the city did notify the city of North St. Paul, Ramsey County, Washington County, Minnesota DOT, and the Valley Branch Watershed District and all jurisdictions, they responded. There was no opposition to this request. Uh just to conclude here, staff recommends approval of the request. And in terms of next steps, if the city council approves the comp plan amendment, then city staff would submit the request to the metropolitan council who has the final review and approval authority for this request. With that, happy to answer questions. Thank you. Thank you, Luke. Uh, council members, any questions for Luke? Alrighty, let's get the action. I will make a motion and wave reading to wave reading and adopt resolution 2025-63 approving a comprehensive plan amendment for certain property located within the Glen Brook area and authorizing city staff to submit a comprehensive plan amendment to the metropolitan council. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion a second. Any final comments? I know our city administrator was snickering down there. We've been through so many of these complaint amendments. They're just routine at this point. Oh wow. Uh, all those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And resolution 2025-63 is adopted. Oh, boy. Here we go. All right. Zoning and subdivision ordinance update and zoning map update. Who wants to take it away? I can take that, man. Max, tee it up for us. Yep. Thank you, Mayor and Council, and good evening. This is a big one. Uh we're very, very excited tonight to present the Oakdale zoning code update to you for adoption. This has been a long and comprehensive look at our ordinance over the last 16 months, resulting in a more modernized and easy to use code. Uh before we begin, I just want to thank the city council for the support and direction we've received throughout the project. The input we gained from the council workshops we've been at uh was critical in drafting the code. I also want to thank the residents and businesses that participated in our public engagement opportunities as well as the advisory bodies and other city staff who provided us input and HKGI, our consulting partner on this project. Uh so with that, I want to turn it over to Jeff and Beth of HKGI for a brief presentation. Thank you, Max. Welcome. Great. Thanks, Mayor. council members. We'll try to keep this short, go through the slides rather quickly because we've only been doing this a year. You've seen you've seen many of them before. So, just to kind of help the public understand what this is all about. Um, so we're going to give a really quick overview of the code project and then a summary of the major changes in the code and then the quick next steps. So, as we've talked about before, the objectives for this project were to update, modernize the code, improve its user friendliness, align it with the comp plan and other plans that have been adopted by the council, facilitate achievement of the city's new development and redevelopment goals in the comprehensive plan, which are primarily in the land use chapter. consolidate and streamline sections of the code and then ensure consistency with state statutes, federal laws and judicial rulings. The project includes uh four chapters. Zoning is the big one followed by subdivisions and then two small ones which are planning and development chapter 16 and uh the trees chapter which is mostly just being folded into zoning. Um and then last year's uh amendments to the zoning map. It's a four-phase project. You can see the schedule there that uh Max referred to as took about 16 months in the end. Uh there was community engagement uh primarily at the beginning of the project and that involved stakeholder groups with uh developers, realtors, builders architects businesses and city advisory bodies. uh the online engagement the survey that was out for about two months I think there was about 200 responses to that okay so the summary of the major changes um the updated structure of the code as you can see on this slide is there's now 11 articles and in today's code there's 26 articles so it's a big more than a 50% uh reduction in the size of it uh and and the intent is to make the zoning requirements easier to find. So hopefully those articles are pretty uh explanatory when people go to the zoning code. That also involved consolidating zoning districts from 14 to 10 districts. As you can see, uh R2R3 were consolidated. Um C1C2 were consolidated and then the limited business gateway districts were consolidated. There's one new district, the mixeduse district, which I don't believe is applied on the map yet, but maybe it would be in Glenbrook. It sounds like since you just did a comp plan amendment, so to be seen. Uh zoning district changes. The highlights are um all the district purpose statements were pretty much updated. The uses and dimensional standards were updated. Um, of significance, we're expanding the range of housing types in the R2, R3, and R4 districts, reducing minimum lot sizes in two of the residential districts, uh, and then increasing maximum building height in the highdensity residential district or R4 um, up to 60 ft, although that's done through a conditional use permit. And then a new standard in the districts is impervious surface coverage. And then lastly, the definitions are updated mostly around ex the expanded housing types that are now defined and identified in the code. Uh the tables were created for the district's uses. So as you can see down on the example, um all the districts are on one table for the uses. This the uses go down the um or the rows and the districts are the columns. makes it easier to find district requirements in the table format um and to see what the differences are across districts. Principal uses are in a separate table from accessory uses. And then lot size, uh setbacks, building height, those sorts of requirements are also in tables. And then as far as the specifics of the residential districts, the allowed uses, you can see no change to the uses allowed in R1. Uh anyone in the R2 district today uh would have uh would have the change would be adding two-unit dwellings, town houses, and courtyard cottages. If you're in the R3 district today and you're consolidated into the R2 district, the only change would be that town houses and courtyard cottages would be new in that district, allowed in that district. R4 just has one new use allowed. And then R5, uh, the only change is to remove um any future development of one and two unit dwellings since that's a high density um district. And then the other outside of the districts, we'll go through these quickly. Building materials, we talked with the council a lot about this this section of the code. The changes are um you know at the high level are to increase flexibility of the allowed materials which uh comes through by increasing the number of acceptable class one materials. Um being clear about which materials are prohibited. uh using an average of averaging of percentages across all the building facades, not on each building facade. Um so that's a much more flexible way to approach it to meet that minimum percentage. And then lastly, uh the building material standards today do not apply to multi-unit residential buildings, but they will uh apply going forward. And with that, I'll hand it over to Beth. Uh so the next piece that we wanted to touch on was parking standards. Uh the biggest goal here was to really rightsize those requirements um based on best practices that we're seeing with developments uh today. And so all of the parking space requirements uh the quantities for the actual number of spaces required are in a table. Um and we did our best to really simplify those calculations, make them easier to understand, um and then reduce them where possible. Uh we also work to provide a little bit of additional flexibility for projects that might want to go even lower than those standards. Um so parking requirements can now be further reduced uh with approval of a conditional use permit. Uh we also kind of opened up the idea of joint parking a little bit. That was previously just only for institutional uses and now it's for any compatible uses that make sense to work together um to share that parking. Uh next topic is landscaping and tree preservation. Uh as Jeff mentioned, we took language from multiple different uh areas of the code uh and consolidated it all in one section. Um one of those areas was the chapter 22, the trees chapter. Um so a good portion of that chapter now lives within uh the zoning code. Uh biggest changes here were to update the requirement for the minimum number of trees. Um, so this used to be uh one tree per 800 square feet of landscaped green area. Uh, and now what's proposed is one tree per thousand square feet of the site that's not occupied by buildings. Uh, and one overstory tree along the boulevard for every 50 linear feet of frontage. Uh, the other big change here uh, was relative to tree replacement. Uh there used to be a relatively confusing table in there about um how do you how do you know how many trees you're supposed to replace when you remove them. Um and so now there's a flat requirement that if you're removing 25% of significant trees on your site or more, uh you need to do tree replacement. Um signage. Uh the main highlights here were to uh look at the regulations and take out anything that's contentbased. Um this is in order to comply with the federal court rulings that have happened in the last 10 20 years. Um we also made some uh smaller changes to the billboard language um temporary signage and the permitted sign types u mostly following just what the city's current practices have been and really making sure that those are codified. Uh zoning development procedures. There were a few changes here. Um we did clarify what a minor amendment uh procedure is for site plans and plan unit developments. Um so those would be administrative. Uh we also confirmed that any use that's identified in the code as an allowed use somewhere in the city um can be an interim use. That's something someone could apply for. Uh and then we also removed the submittal requirements uh for applications. Um and those will be on the the application portal and no longer in the code itself. uh subdivisions. We did make a few changes here. Um again, a lot of it was in procedures. Um so we were updating timeline requirements to uh to come in line with state statute requirements. Um we also updated the minor subdivisions procedure uh to clarify that surveys are required. Um and that that's something that would be administratively reviewed rather than coming through a a more public process. Um we also clarified and explicitly stated that the PL the planning commission is the body that would hold the public hearing for preliminary plat applications. Uh there are some additional standards that we uh that we updated relative to the design for blocks and sidewalks. Um we explicitly now state that there are no building permits that will be issued for any outlots. Um again that's it's already city practice but now it's explicitly stated in the code. Uh requiring water and sewer connections for every new buildable lot. Um, we did some adjustments to the financial guarantee requirements just to make sure that uh what's already there uh in the platting procedures and what's there in the site plan procedures uh are consistent with one another. And then we updated the park dedication language as well to specify when that's required um and to make sure that it's complying with the state statute requirements. Uh so tonight is the formal adoption uh of the ordinance changes and the zoning map uh for the city council. So, we're happy to answer any questions and then take action. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Um, council members, questions. Been through this one a while. Um, since there's so many numerous action items here, I'm thinking maybe we'll just roll all comments we want to make about this process up to the top. Do it now. and then we can just tick off all of the individual action items so we don't have to figure out where our comments fit in each one. Uh, does anybody want to make any comments? If not, I'll go. I got a bunch. Um, first and foremost, I want to say thank you. Um, this was a herculean lift and it's an important lift. Um, I think a lot of the times people think of the zoning code and think it's just a lot of words on a page, but for us in this building, for our staff, for developers, it's really the blueprint for how we want our city to grow and to function. Um, I think, you know, before I got on council, I was on the planning commission. So, I've got to interact with this chapter a lot uh in my time, and I think we've all known for a long time it was way out of date. um a lot has changed in development, in consumer habits, in um even just resident habits in terms of what they want on their properties. And so updating this process, updating this framework um not only provides developers and prospective new residents a lot of flexibility, but also a lot of clarity for our existing residents on things like the the tree ordinance, um even subdivision. It just clarifies a lot of our outdated language to be more responsive to the world around us. Um, I want to say a very special thank you to our community development staff. Uh, you kept us on task. We appreciate that. We know a lot of these conversations we had to come back two three times to have because as we think about how it's applied in in our neighborhoods, in our communities, um, we thought of different angles and so we had very important conversations. Um, but you kept us on task. kept us focused to make sure we're putting together a body of city law that our residents can follow, businesses can follow. Um, and that makes sense for where our community is going in the in the future. Um, we covered a lot of the stakehold a lot of the stakeholders who covered in the presentation. Thank you for that. I wanted to say thank you to our commissions, to the public that reached out, our private stakeholders, developers, realtors, those that are living in this work every single day, helping shape um our processes, making sure that our our regulatory rules aren't overly burdensome and that they're actually serving in the best interests of our community. Um, a lot of that feedback can't come from elected officials or even staff. So those that do the the real world practice of development um left a very big impression here. Um I'm done. Yeah, this is a long journey, a year long. Um, and and you know, I will say a lot of the public feedback we received was incredibly helpful because it not only came from uh newer residents, but those that have lived here 30 35 years and they they remember old Oakdale and they understand that our community is changing and wanted to figure out ways to maintain where we've been, but also support where we're going as a city. So, we really appreciate public feedback throughout this entire process. And if you have any questions or complaints, call Max. Uh, council members, any other comments? No, I'm just really impressed. I wasn't here for all of the painful parts. Um, so I'm just really impressed with the work that everybody put into this to make it a usable um document when as I read it um I read it as a thankful new um city council member um and didn't read it as somebody wanting to criticize and offer significant feedback. It's just what a lift. It's incredible. Gary, Andy, any thoughts? Nope. I agree. Thankfully, I was here for the easy parts of this whole process, right? Well, these four chapters plus chapter six, which was on consent. It's what over 15% of the city code we just amended tonight. Yep. Wow. Wow. Real quick. Yeah. Everybody go read it. Yeah. Reading. The one last comment I want to make is housing is a big topic in public policy at federal, state, local level. huge topic right now. Oakdale is an example of how cities can and should be doing it. We can look at outdated rules. We can make changes that don't immediately tear down the system, but it can also recognize that as stewards of land, sometimes we have to be more flexible and let people do what they want to do with their properties. Sometimes we have to sometimes it's okay to make smaller or bigger homes on smaller lots. A lot has changed in what consumers are demanding. And cities shouldn't always just immediately say no. There's a lot of different ways we can come at big complex problems in ways that don't just rip everything up and start from scratch. And Oakdale should be the gold standard and a prime example of how that work can be done. Takes a year, but it can be done. All right, we have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight actions tonight. Who wants to roll through these? I'm in the chair. I can take them. The spirit of Jake is just Jake. Jake will be proud. All right. Number one, I'd like to make a motion to wave reading and adopt ordinance number 946 repealing replacing the code of ordinances for the city of Oakdale, chapter 16, planning and development. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion a second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Ordinance 946 is adopted. Like to also make a motion to wave reading and adopt resolution 2025-70 authorizing publication of ordinance number 946 by title and summary. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion a second. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Resolution 2025-70 was adopted. Make a motion to wave reading and adopt ordinance number 947 repealing replacing the code of ordinances for the city of Oakdale chapter 21 subdivisions. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion a second. All those in favor say I. I. Oppose. Ordinance 947 is adopted. Make a motion to wave reading and adopt resolution 2025-71 authorizing publication of ordinance number 947 by title and summary. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Resolution in 2025-71 is adopted. Make a motion to wave reading and adopt ordinance number 948 repealing and replacing the code of ordinances for the city of Oakdale chapter 25 zoning and amending the code of ordinances for the city of Oakdale chapter 22 trees. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion a second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Ordinance number 948 is adopted. Make a motion to wave reading and adopt resolution 2025-72 authorizing publication of ordinance number 948 by title and summary. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion a second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Resolution 2025-72 is adopted. Make a motion to wave reading and adopt ordinance number 949 repealing the current zoning map and replacing it with a new zoning zoning map. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Ordinance 949 is adopted. We'll make a motion wave reading and adopt resolution 2025-73 authorizing publication of ordinance number 949 by title and summary. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion a second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And resolution 2025-73 is adopted. Good job, Jake. I mean, thank you. Thank you. Uh, engineering's up. Uh, Willoughbrook Trails. Brian's back. Welcome, Brian. Thank you. Take it away. I'm looking for council approval of the plans and specifications for the Willoughbrook open space trails. It's for about a third of a mile of trail paving within the Willoughbrook 8th, 9th, and 10th editions. This project was included in the capital improvement program and earlier discussed by the finance director as part of the Willowbrook uh tax abatement for park improvements. Um, the recommendation is to approve the plans, inspects, and authorize the collection of quotes. This project is estimated at honor $175,000. So, we can solicit for quotes directly from contractors. We have sent out invitation to five contractors to bid on this contract and it is our uh expectation that we'll be bringing this back for a recommendation on award at the next council meeting in July. With that, I'd stand for any questions the council may have. Thank you, Brian. Council members, any questions? All right, who has to make the motion? I move we wave reading and adopt resolution 2025-64 approving the plans and specifications for city project P 2023-05 Willowbrook Trail Improvements phase 2 and authorizing the collection of quotes. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion a second. Final comments. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And resolution 2025-64 is adopted. Thank you, Brian. Uh, recreation. Julie. No, Jake is coming. Jake is Mr. Foster. Would you walk us through this donation? Good evening, mayor and council. I am in fact stepping in for Julie. Um, pursuant to state statute 465.03. Um, council must accept donations via resolution. We have received a donation in the amount of $1,500 from Larry and Vicky Everhard uh with the Everhard Group with Keller Williams to sponsor the Oakdale uh Nature Preserve 5K, which just happened a few weeks ago here. Um one note I would like to make is that there was some discussion this morning in regards to when these donations are brought before you and the intent is moving forward to bring them prior to events actually taking place. So, um, with that, I'd be happy to answer any question, but the the otherwise the resolution's in the packet. Thank you, Jake. Uh, council members, any questions? I'll look for a motion. Oh, actually, can I just make a comment? I just want to say thank you to Larry and Vicki. Um, the 5K Summerfest Staple, they've sponsored it for I don't even know how many years. Um, tremendous supporters of our city, of this particular event. A big thank you to them. Uh, it was a great event. A couple council members ran it. one of us watched. Uh um a big thank you to all of the runners. Uh I thought I had heard like 75 80 people ran it this year, one of the largest we've had, which is fantastic. Um so a big thank you uh to the Eberhards and everybody who participated in making this event a big success. Uh do we have a motion to second? No. No. All right, let's do that again. We'll concur. Thank you to the Everhearts for that donation. And I'll move wave reading and do resolution 2025-60 accepting a donation from Larry and Vicky Everheard of the Everhard Group with Color Williams in a total amount of $1,500 for sponsorship the Oakdale Nature Preserve 5K. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And resolution 2025-60 is adopted. City attorney Mr. Thompson, what do you got for us? You've been pretty busy, Mr. may come. I'll I'll leave you alone. Happy to answer any questions. Always a good night when the lawyer doesn't have anything for us. Uh any questions for Jim? No. All right. Uh administrator's report. Miss Vulkers, what do we got? Hi, Mayor Council. Um what is before you is um we're asking for contact approval with Greystone Construction Company for a new salt storage um facility at the new public works site. If you recall when we awarded all the other bids for the construction, that bid was extremely high and we rejected it. We then waited for an appropriate time to go out to market. We did the we received this new bid from from um Greystone and it is significantly cheaper and less expensive. So that is wonderful and they're good company and we're glad to work with them. So the recommendation before you is to authorize the mayor and I to sign and execute the contract with Greystone. Council members, any questions for Chris? All righty. Can I get a motion? I move we authorize the mayor and city administrator to sign and execute the contract with Greystone Construction Company for the construction of the public works salt storage facility in the amount of $34,425. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And that authorization is given. Chris, anything else for us tonight? No. I'll stand for any questions if you have any. Any questions for Chris? All righty. Council presentations. I'm looking this way. So, Councilman Moore anything? Uh, well, I just I concur. All good things about the 5K at the Nature Preserve. Wonderful day. Beautifully executed by the team who plans it. Wonderful. But all of Summerfest, and you're probably going to bring that up, so I will keep my comments short. Um, it was fantastic. Absolutely incredible job by every volunteer that pours into that event. um and all the people who uh come out despite the forecast and then has beautiful weather and executes um brilliantly. So just yeah, well done to everybody. Thank you, Andy or Gary. Anything? I've got nothing to add to what Council Member Moore said about Summerfest. Fantastic. Thank you. Yeah, that's all I had to say. I mean, the the medallion hunt is those clues, man. I don't know. I was thinking all over town. And for the record, we as council people have no clue where the medallion's hidden. So, stop asking, but it's fun to track it down. They do a great job. They do. They do. Uh I I'll start my presentations by uh echoing the same things. Thank you. Uh thank you to the Oakdale Summerfest Community Organization and all of their uh volunteers for putting together a tremendous event. Um outdoor festivals are tough. You know what? That's just the way it is. You don't know if you're going to get sun or rain or heat or cold. Um, but they put together a tremendous slate of of events every single year. It keeps getting bigger and better, which is great. Um, they they work seven, eight, nine months of the year on this event. Um, and they do it because they love Oakdale. So, to to Paul and Pam and Mark and Angie and the Eberhards. Um, thank you for all of the time and love you put into this event for people in our community and outside of our community to enjoy. We really truly appreciate it. Um, thank you to all of the residents that came out, all of the visitors. Um, Summerfest will forever be known as the biggest Mudpit party of the summer, which is fantastic. You know, it doesn't matter if it rains. Go have fun. Um, a big thank you to all of the vendors, the food trucks. Uh, we hope you made a ton of money. Um, ate way too much that weekend. There were so many good choices. I think 24 25 different food vendors. Um, yum. It was great. Uh, and thank you to our staff, public safety, public works. um do an absolutely outstanding job keeping the entire area safe and clean. It that doesn't even cover all of the prep work that goes into the event. Chris, the admin team does so much work, communications, everybody um has such a big role in making this community celebration a big success. Works flawlessly with OSCO throughout the year. Um could couldn't be done without you all. So, we truly do appreciate everything you do for this event. Um, and then there's the plug. There's the ask. If you want to help with Summerfest, if you want to grow this event, if you want to see something different, you have to get involved with Osco. Um, reach out to Osco on Facebook. Uh, you can email them at infoel summerfest.com. We need people to step up to usher in the next generation of Summerfest. That's just how these events work. So, um, please please do please uh reach out to any of us council members. We can connect you with the folks at Osco. Reach out to our city staff, reach out to Osco directly. They're on Facebook. Uh like I mentioned, um lots of different opportunities, but they do need help if we want this event uh event to continue and to grow. So, please uh we need people to step up. Uh other than Summerfest, we have a lot of events going on this week. Kind of an exciting week for Oakdale. Oakdale Farmers Market is tomorrow, Wednesday, 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the City Hall parking lot. Uh it's that time of the summer where we're seeing a lot of that good produce start coming about. Got to get out there. You got to get out there kind of early if you can because it gets picked over. So uh we hope you can join us out 2 to 6 p.m. City Hall parking lot tomorrow. We also have the Oakdale Summer Concert Series continuing tomorrow. Uh Wednesday, July 9th at 7:00 p.m. at the Walton Park Band Shell. Uh bring your lawn chairs to enjoy folk music from the Mac and Cheese Band. I checked. They are not serving mac and cheese. So have something to eat before. Um, we're I think there's probably a food truck at the farmers market. So, grab a snack there. Um, but don't be expecting Craft to be out there sponsoring. So, uh, we also have the O, the Oakdale Police and Fire Departments will be hosting their third annual ladders and squads event this Thursday, July 10th, 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Fire Station 1. That's the North Fire Station, 5000 Hadley Avenue North. Um, a really cool event that uh, our crew started a couple years ago. um bring out the young kids, families, climb all over our our emergency vehicles, our public safety vehicles, interact with our firefighters and our police officers. Um lots of fun stuff going on. Um definitely please check that out. Hopefully the weather looks good on Thursday. Um but that's Thursday 5 to 7:30 p.m. Uh and then we have a another pop-up splash pad on Saturday, July 12th, 1 to 2:30 p.m. This one's going to be over at East Side, uh 1744 Helmo Avenue. Uh fire department hosted one at Summerfest. It was packed because it was a beautiful day. We're doing another one. Uh you can run through the fire hose spray. Uh toss water balloons, play water games. Um hang out with our firefighters in our recck department. So that's always a good time as well. That'll be on Saturday 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Eastside Park. Finally, this one hurts a little bit. Night toite is only four weeks away, which means August is almost here. Um it's a great opportunity uh if you want to host a gathering in your neighborhood. Um, we always encourage that. You can, uh, sign up on the city's website to have Oakdale Police, Oakdale Fire, city council members pop on out, say hi. Um, we don't get to bring any of the fun vehicles, but police and fire do. So, they'll show up with all the lights flashing. If you have a neighbor, maybe the police will throw them in handcuffs. Um, no, they will not. Sorry, I should not have said that. Please don't sign up just for that reason. Um, but please register on the city's website if you are hosting a neighborhood gathering uh by Friday, July 25th. Also, we're doing something new this year. Uh, we've heard a lot over the years that not every neighborhood does a 19ite party, which is okay. Um, but it would be nice if we could offer something for those residents um who don't have a neighborhood gathering going on. So, we're throwing a party at Walton Park. Um, also on Tuesday, August 5th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. So, we'll be hosting a gathering out here in the park. Um, we are also excited the Oakdale Area Chamber of Commerce will be cooking dinner. Always great when somebody else is cooking. Um, so their community picnic, they're moving to this night to unite party this year. Um, so come on out. Free hot dog uh cookout provided by the chamber. A big thank you to those folks um for doing that. Um, we're going to have a lot of fun out there. So, um, who knows, maybe we'll get a dunk tank or something. You know, we'll just have a party. Andy volunteered. Um, so all of this information is on the city website, on the event calendar. If you scroll to the bottom, lots of stuff going on this week and in early August. We hope you can join us for all of that. We got a lot of bills to pay. That's what happens when we take one council meeting off. Uh, two claims rosters in front of us tonight. Um, I would say we could combine them together if anybody wants to do quick math on that, but nope. Okay, let's just take them separate. Who wants to make a motion on the claims rosters? I'll take it. I I move we approve claims for the period June 11th, 2025 to June 24th, 2025 in the amount of 2,91,74543. [Music] There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Those bills are paid. How about the next one? Gary, you want to take that? Here, I move uh move that we approve claims for the period June 25th, 2025 to July 8th, 2025 in the amount of 3,147,2248. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion a second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And those bills are paid as well. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? So moved. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion to second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. We are going to adjourn the regular meeting of the Oakdale City Council and roll right into a meeting of the Oakdale Economic Development Authority. So, I'm going to go ahead and call to order the regular meeting of the Oakdale EDA July 8th, 2025. Sarah, will you please take the role? Commissioner Moore here. Commissioner Morham here. Commissioner Severson here. President Zabel here. Uh, can I get a motion to approve the agenda as presented? So moved. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And the agenda is adopted. Uh approval of minutes, one set in front of us, June 10th, 2025. Uh commissioners, any changes or corrections? I'll look for a motion. So move. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion to second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. And those minutes are adopted. Uh one business matter in front of us tonight is tweaking uh a resolution for a tiff district. Mr. Glov, welcome. Good evening. Thank you, Mr. President. Commissioners, uh, item before you is approval resolution supplementing and restating EDA resolution 2024-02 approving use of tax increment financing district number 2-6 Bergen Plaza for cost of the Tanner Lake redevelopment. Uh, as you may recall, in December 10th, 2024, the EDA adopted uh said resolution, which among other things included the use of $1.3 million of tax increment on hand in the Bergen TIF account to prepay the city of Oakdale for the portion of an inner fund loan um which has a current balance of roughly $5,380,000, which is for the uh purchase of the former Blackie site. um after that meeting um determined that um there will be some additional land sales proceeds from the developer. At first uh they were only going to do partial upfront and over time with TIFF. Uh since now they'll be paying the whole balance up front that $1.3 million transfer um is no longer needed. So, in order to provide clear documentation of the interfund repayment schedule, city legal council recommends supplanting uh supplementing and restating resolution 2024-2 to update the current interfund loan balance, resend sections 1.02 and 1.05 and um the purchase promisary note which is no longer needed. Uh no other provisions related to uh use of tax increment for Bergen tiff have changed as part of that. And with that uh Mr. President um EDA commissioners would be happy to answer any questions. Commissioners, any questions? Everybody follow all that. We're just tweaking some numbers to accommodate the developer and their plan, which is fine. Uh no questions. I'll look for a motion. I move we wave reading and adopt EDA resolution 2025-01 supplementing and restating EDA resolution 2024-02 approving use of t of tax increment financing district redevelopment district number 2-6 Bergen Plaza for costs of Tanner Lake redevelopment project there's a motion is there a second second motion a second final comments all those in favor say I opposed and EDA resolution 2025-01 restated, adopted. We'll go with that. Yeah. Uh, can I get a motion to adjurnn? So moved. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion in a second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. We are adjourned. Thank you and good night.