This transcript appears to be a City Council meeting for the City of Bayport. Based on the names and roles provided, I have assigned the speakers accordingly. Note: I have corrected several transcription errors where the AI misheard names (e.g., "Chief Eisinger" for Fire Chief Gabe Kinney and "John" or "Doll" for Councilmember Orin Kipp) to align with the official list provided. [5:07] **Mayor Michele Hanson**: I'd like to call to order the city of Bayport city council meeting of May 1st, 2023. [5:24] **Mayor Michele Hanson**: We all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. [All: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.] All right, Matt, you want to call the roll? [5:24] **City Administrator Matt Kline**: Councilmember Bliss? **Councilmember Carl Bliss**: Here. **Matt Kline**: Councilmember Gilmore? **Deputy Mayor Ethan Gilmore**: Here. **Matt Kline**: Councilmember Kipp? **Councilmember Orin Kipp**: Present. **Matt Kline**: Councilmember Hill? **Councilmember Katie Hill**: Here. **Matt Kline**: Mayor Hanson? **Mayor Michele Hanson**: Here. All present. Do we have approval of the agenda for tonight? [6:11] **Councilmember Katie Hill**: I move to approve the agenda as presented. **Councilmember Carl Bliss**: All right, it's Katie, I'll second it. **Mayor Michele Hanson**: All right, thanks Carl. All right, all those in favor, aye. Any opposed? All right. Proclamations, commendations, petitions, and announcements: The April recycling award recipient is James Jablonski on 5th Street North, and he will be rewarded for his recycling efforts from the county. And then we move on to the open forum where we do have a visitor tonight. Want to introduce yourself? [6:58] **Connor (Washington County Senior Planner)**: All right, hello there council members. My name is Connor, Senior Planner of Washington County. Today I'm here to present the Middle St. Croix Valley Regional Trail Master Plan. I'll just mention here that the purpose of today is to review the whole project and the process with you all and for you all to consider a resolution of support. To begin with the agenda for my presentation, I'm going to start with some terms and some introduction for the project. I'll talk about the public engagement that we did for this as well, and then we will also go over some implementation considerations that are important for policy makers such as yourselves. And then we'll talk about the route alternatives that came out of the process and the final recommendation that we're moving forward with, and then I'll end with some next steps. [7:43] **Connor**: So the first term that you'll hear me use, or you've already heard me use, is Regional Trails. That might be a new concept for some folks. They were really trails that serve a regional audience—so think of them like the County highway system plays in the roadway network here. These are bringing people to and from different destinations, not just the local folks, but people across the county—in this case across state lines as well. We like to think of them as the tree trunks for our trail systems that other local systems can kind of branch into and out of. There are design standards that come along with these trails. There's a picture of it, kind of a cross-section and a picture of how it looks like in real life on this slide. That means we were talking about a wide enough trail that makes it accessible for folks, meaning 10 feet wide with clear zones on either side and ideally a significant separation between the trail users and the traffic on the road. A great example in that picture, it also shows there's some wayfinding involved as well, and then you can see that it's wide enough for people to kind of use bi-directional traffic. This is like an upgrade over a city sidewalk. So those are the type of trails the county builds. [9:15] **Councilmember Orin Kipp**: Before we move on from that cross-section, is it appropriate to interrupt with a question? Just because we're here, I noticed it says trail lighting as necessary. Is that something that is typically used... I'm just trying to visualize bike paths I've been on, or is that usually more used in a city limits situation, not in where you'd be out in fields or more of a rural setting? Is that an accurate assessment? [9:15] **Connor**: Mayor and Councilmember, exactly. The term we like to use is that the trails are designed right-sized and right amenity for the community that they're in. So if we're going through an urban part of the county where there's typical street lighting, that would be something we would consider. If we're not, we'd right-size it. I think we're never moving through... perfect, thank you. Good question, Orin. [10:01] **Connor**: All right, next slide here. I'll briefly introduce the concept of Master Plans for folks. These are really vision documents that provide the guidance on where an alignment of a future Regional Trail will go. We also talk about trail improvements, uses, and facilities along the route, and then we also look at opportunities to do corridor resource management. Why are these Master Plans important? Well, first, they allow these trails to be built with state and regional funding. That includes right-of-way and land acquisition if needed, actual construction or development of the trail, and also a small reimbursement for operation and maintenance. I think maybe the most important reason at all is that final point, which is doing these Master Plans allows us to engage with communities and the cities and the stakeholders about what the county plans on doing in the future. I like to call this Step Zero in a long process. It gets the conversations going for future implementation down the line, and engagement is a key part of that. [10:47] **Councilmember Orin Kipp**: So Connor, how solid is the master plan? Is it something that can be changed down the road or is this a final version? [10:47] **Connor**: It's really the best we can do right now and the best we can project in the future. There are amendments that you can make to these Master Plans, but really it sets the expectations and directions for the county's future investments. So yes, they do change and have evolved. We also can deviate from—you know, you might see a straight line in these maps, but if there are small deviations from that, those are totally fine too. It's kind of a 10,000-foot view. It allows us to be flexible for implementation. [11:33] **Connor**: All right, let's talk about the specific corridor that we focused on over the past year. It's called the Middle Saint Croix Valley and it's 14 miles. It starts in the north at the boom site, which is in Stillwater Township, and the south terminus is in downtown Afton. In between that area, we're talking 11 different Saint Croix Valley towns and cities. Once developed, the idea is that all these communities are connected with the Regional Trail. I think it's really important to shout out some of the important destinations within this corridor: obviously the boom site, the downtowns including Stillwater, Bayport, and Afton, and a lot of the natural areas and river destinations as well. A timeline for these Master Plans includes starting in the spring with vision site analysis, significant engagement during the summer months, and in the fall and winter, we went into a route development stage. Now we're moving through these final phases of the approval process and we're drafting the final document. All these projects start with project goals: safety, accessibility, and comfort; connectivity; natural resources; equity; and implementation. I'll call back to these as we move forward and talk about the route evaluation. [13:51] **Connor**: I want to review a little bit about some of the public engagement that we did. You can see kind of a—this isn't really a comprehensive list, but these are some of the highlights. I know that there was representation from the city at the elected officials work session last fall, and then we did attend the Bayport Farmers Market as well here in downtown Bayport, which was a great experience. Throughout the project, we've been meeting with City staff and different project stakeholders. I do want to call out a public engagement survey that received over a thousand responses. We used a "Continuum exercise" to show the trade-offs involved. For example, would you prefer a destination/indirect trail (meandering) or a connector/direct trail (getting from A to B)? Aggregated across the communities, there was a preference for that destination indirect trail. We also asked about a new trail corridor versus using existing trails—people were right in the middle on that. There was a slight preference for river views over upland rural views, and a preference for natural areas over downtown connections. [16:54] **Connor**: We received thousands of comments, and we boiled it down to this list: highlighting local parks and destinations; making connections between the communities (e.g., Bayport to Afton); exploring loop opportunities; providing views of the river where feasible; fostering stewardship of area natural resources; and designing a trail wide enough to accommodate a range of users. Something that cut across all users was the feeling of safety—the wider the trail is, the safer they feel. Finally, the importance of clear wayfinding and high-quality amenities. [18:26] **Connor**: Next, I'll highlight some implementation considerations and policies. First is that there's a cost-share policy where the county will contribute 50% to the initial implementation. Once built, the county will assume 100% responsibility for future replacement and repaving. For operations and maintenance, it's a joint effort: the county takes responsibility for waste/recycling pickups, trailheads, kiosks, and graffiti on County land, and does seasonal mowing. We work with local agencies if they prefer to do winter plowing or more frequent mowing via a Joint Powers Agreement. We understand that while feedback is positive, policy makers worry about costs. Once the master plan is approved, we work with agencies to identify funding sources like federal and state grants, land donation opportunities, and development agreements. The master plan is the key to unlocking those other funding sources. It also gives us a chance to plan this into our Capital Improvement Plan or work with your local capital projects for economies of scale. [22:21] **Connor**: Regarding the route alternatives—it’s difficult to plan a 14-mile corridor. We started by throwing "spaghetti at the wall" and then eliminated "low-hanging fruit" that wasn't possible due to engineering problems or city goals. In phase two, we mapped and graded the routes based on our five goals. As you can see in the graph, we didn't just take the top-scoring segments; we added "boots on the ground" knowledge to ensure the routes actually made sense. [24:40] **Councilmember Orin Kipp**: So Connor, did the five goals have priorities? I would think it would get hard when you... [24:40] **Connor**: Yeah, we said all goals were equally weighted. The implementation goal was just as important as safety, accessibility, and comfort, for example. [25:26] **Connor**: I want to review how this played out here in Bayport. Bayport was probably one of the places we had the most lines on the map. The blue route (Osgood Avenue) didn't meet the corridor goals for connecting communities closer to the river. The green route (Valley View Park through Barker’s Alps and the Saint Croix Savannah SNA) was exciting, but working with stakeholders like the DNR, the Regional Trail concept isn't a priority for SNA areas. We also looked at the Union Pacific Rail Line, but reached out to them and Andersen Windows, and they expect to be in business for many years and even increase business, so that was crossed off. Routes near the Minnesota Corrections Facility were also eliminated as they weren't interested. Phase two left us with the 95 Route and the Stagecoach route. [27:48] **Connor**: This map shows what we discussed at the council workshop in January. Regarding County Road 21 (Stagecoach route), you identified benefits like being in the county right-of-way with fewer driveways and conflicts. However, you noted it was far from downtown. For the Highway 95 route, you mentioned the difficulties of adding a significant trail within that corridor, including impacts to property and business owners and safety issues with crossing 95. We then looked at an option off of 95 using Second Street (the dashed line). After working with the City Administrator, Second Street seemed like a better option than Main Street due to available right-of-way. We also highlighted potential connections via Pickett Avenue, Fifth Avenue, and Second Avenue. [30:10] **Connor**: Out of that process, we came with three routes. Route A followed Highway 95 but used the Second Street option. Something exciting there was working with the Watershed District on renaturalizing Perro Creek, which could address flooding and water quality while creating a nice trail and road environment. However, once you try to connect back to 95 south of downtown Bayport, it becomes very challenging due to the grade change and the rail line. The room just doesn't work for a 10-foot trail with separation. You'd have to move the whole road over, which makes this option very difficult to recommend. [33:13] **Connor**: Route B is the Stagecoach option. It brings us up to Stagecoach north of 36, follows it all the way down to 94, and then has an exciting opportunity working with Belwin Conservancy to wind through their properties down to Afton through beautiful prairie with bison. Route C uses existing trails, like the route south of 94 through Lakeland to Afton, and the connection from the Saint Croix Crossing loop trail up onto Stagecoach. [34:47] **Connor**: Our final recommendation is to designate a long-term Regional route (Stagecoach) while using some of those existing interim connections in the meantime. This allows us to pursue funding for the long-range route while people can still use what exists today. For Bayport, we recommend the Stagecoach route as the long-term route, with "points of interest" for wayfinding to draw people into downtown. We’ve identified Pickett, Fifth, and Second Avenue as the key red-line connectors into downtown Bayport. [37:50] **Mayor Michele Hanson**: Can you help me understand then what the red dotted arrows actually mean in this map? [37:50] **Connor**: Those are highlighting connector routes. [37:50] **Mayor Michele Hanson**: So those are like, not your responsibility—someone else's responsibility if we want to connect them, right essentially? [37:50] **Connor**: Yeah, these are routes that would be good opportunities to connect into downtown Bayport, but ultimately are local roads with local responsibilities. And the Beach Road at the very top—it would be a new connection wrapping around the other side of 95 to cross at Beach Avenue instead of underneath the bridge. [38:35] **Connor**: As we move south, we also want to highlight loop opportunities like the Corey/22nd Street loop and the connection into the Wisconsin trail system. So, the next steps are for the city to consider a resolution of support. We're looking for final approval from our County Board in June and the Metropolitan Council in July. [40:27] **Mayor Michele Hanson**: I think you guys have done your due diligence. That being said, quite frankly, Bayport gets skipped over. It’s not super attractive to us. I guess what I would be looking for from you guys is a way that we could have some continuity—for example, for those red dots—so if we wanted to pursue something, the signage is going to match up so it's a seen part of the trail rather than a Bayport afterthought. I understand all the challenges—it's a bugger. For most of us to jump on that trail with our bikes, it's not right there for the slower Bayport folks. But thank you for the presentation. [42:00] **Councilmember Katie Hill**: Yeah, like if you could make a loop and Bayport would be the best option. But I do see that it's hard because you can't really get back up with what we have there. Also, I think Fifth Avenue is hard too because even if it's that sidewalk, there's not a sidewalk all the way there. The sidewalk ends before we get to Barkers by two blocks. [42:00] **City Administrator Matt Kline**: Can I comment on this? Yes. So we've had conversations with the county about potentially adding sidewalk along Fifth Avenue because there's a disconnect there. They would be willing to allow us to do that in the short term or work with us in the long term whenever that road gets reconstructed. I think that any connection on Fifth Avenue could be done at that time. We're looking at a 20 or 30-year plan here versus a 5 to 10-year plan. I do think the Second Avenue connection—if we would promote that more as a City route that could get biked to—could definitely do a lot better job of just promoting the trails in our own city. [43:32] **Councilmember Katie Hill**: Right. So not technically a trail, Second Avenue? [43:32] **Matt Kline**: Correct, right. You'd obviously have to use the road, but having a trailhead at the end of Second Avenue would promote an easy option for downtown people on the west side of 95. [44:19] **Councilmember Katie Hill**: Yeah, that's the logical connection point. But it really doesn't get you... we're still missing a nice direct route to Stillwater and Brown's Creek Trail because you're still going west and then coming back east. My husband, who's a big biker, I don't see him using that connection to get there. He's still going to go on 95. [44:31] **Mayor Michele Hanson**: As you indicated, this is probably more of a recreational trail, right? Rather than a "hey, I'm gonna go bike 30 miles" trail. [44:31] **Connor**: Yeah, exactly. [44:31] **Mayor Michele Hanson**: Which I get it, there was a lot of things to weigh and you definitely did a good job of looking at every option. [45:18] **Connor**: Mayor, I appreciate the comment on Fifth Avenue. I just want to echo what Administrator Kline mentioned. Fifth Avenue is on the county's bike and pedestrian plan for future improvements. [45:18] **Mayor Michele Hanson**: Great. Okay, does anyone else have comments or questions for Connor? No? Okay. I know we did come to you and say if you can do the trail through our downtown and make it safe, that would be the best—so we gave you a little challenge! We appreciate it. I think it's going to make... mission is part of Bayport and those people are going to have a nice access. Do you know what side of Stagecoach you would envision this trail going on based on your "boots on the ground" look? [46:03] **Connor**: The great thing with Master Plans is either one right now. We looked at both sides. This plan won't identify specifically one side or the other; it'll just call out some of the advantages. [46:18] **Councilmember Carl Bliss**: Because then I'm just thinking—one side is Baytown, one side is us. Because then I assume we're in on the 50% if it's on the east side, but if it's on the west side, it's not our responsibility then? [46:18] **Connor**: We'll work with jurisdictions when we're right on the border like that to figure something out that works for all parties. [46:51] **Councilmember Carl Bliss**: Think about the west side! [46:51] **Mayor Michele Hanson**: All right, okay, so I guess we can let Connor go then. Thank you very much for coming. I think that was really good. We all had a lot of background from other meetings, so nice to get it out in front of the residents who watch this. All right, so is there anyone else... I see there's more people in the audience from when we started. Is anyone else out there that wants to speak to us during the open forum? Is that what you're here for, hon? Come on up. Tell us who you are and where you live. [47:37] **Resident (771 N 5th Street)**: I'm at 771 North 5th Street. I didn't hear in your research that there is an existing snowmobile trail on County Road 21. That wasn't mentioned. So how would that be handled? [48:23] **Connor**: Mayor, Councilmembers, to address that question: the snowmobile trail system in Washington County was one of the layers we identified in this analysis. We would look to not impact that corridor. You’d have segments where you may have a paved trail, but another path for snowmobiles. We will address that in the preliminary design stage, whenever we get there—which could be 5 years or 25 years. [49:08] **Resident**: Thank you. [49:08] **Mayor Michele Hanson**: Okay, great. Make sure that's in writing right now! All right, so on to the consent agenda. We're going to consider the resolution adopting items one through nine: the April 3rd workshop and regular meeting minutes; April payables and permits; a $500 donation for the Memorial Day Parade; a raffle application for United Way; pay application number four for the booster station; special event application for the Legion flag ceremony; and the resolution of support for the Middle Saint Croix Valley Regional Trail master plan. Do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda? [49:55] **Councilmember Katie Hill**: I'll make a motion approving the consent agenda. **Councilmember Orin Kipp**: Second. **Mayor Michele Hanson**: All right, thank you, Orin. Matt, we need a roll call. [50:41] **Matt Kline**: Councilmember Bliss? (Aye), Gilmore? (Aye), Kipp? (Aye), Hill? (Aye), Mayor Hanson? (Aye). **Mayor Michele Hanson**: All eyes, thanks. No public hearings, no unfinished business, no new business. We're on to city council liaison reports. Should we start with Katie this time? [50:41] **Councilmember Katie Hill**: I did miss the DECAL meeting because of traffic on 694. But they are working now that the Easter Egg Hunt is done. They are working on the bar crawl, which will be on May 13th. The ice cream social will be June 7th at Lakeside Park. Farmers market starts in June. And if you want to be on the map for the garage sale, get signed up early. Derby Days are September 15th and 16th. [52:37] **Mayor Michele Hanson**: Orin? **Councilmember Orin Kipp**: Nothing tonight. **Mayor Michele Hanson**: I did attend the Middle St. Croix Watershed Management on April 13th. Not a lot about Bayport, though they mentioned additional street sweeping and some grants. I also attended the Bayport fire department relief association board meeting on April 10th. Their funds are doing really well. April 13th, I went to the open house for the trail master plan. April 17th and 24th, I went to the facilities planning meetings for the school district. I missed one library reopening event but went to two—wonderful job by the staff. And a bunch of us went on a prison tour on the 26th, which was amazing. Thank you to the prison staff for taking the time to do that. Ethan? [55:42] **Deputy Mayor Ethan Gilmore**: The library board met on the 18th and the grand opening events were wonderful. We even made the Channel 4 news! Jill was very happy with "Night at the Library," about 50 to 60 people attended. Storytime attendance is up. The summer reading program is gearing up. And Michele, she told me you attended the play "The Fortune Cookie" yesterday—she said the discussion afterwards was really good. People are really enjoying the new library. [57:14] **Mayor Michele Hanson**: Yes, it's been great publicity. And thank you to Jill for all her hard work—that’s definitely not her background, but she did the renovation very well. All right, so now staff and City administrator reports. [57:14] **Fire Chief Gabe Kinney**: Good evening, Madam Mayor, Councilmembers. The month of April call volume was 102 compared to 96 in 2022. Year to date is 377. Monthly drills were Manitou tests, SCBA, and EMR mods. Fire inspections are ongoing. Anniversaries this month: Dustin Vinson (8 years), Brandon Johnson (17 years), Jake Vindal (19 years), myself (22 years), and Jason Severson (28 years). I attended the FDIC conference last week. One concern: diesel engines for fire trucks are going up $100,000 in 2026 due to emissions changes. Electric trucks are available but cost over $2 million a piece, plus the electrical supply infrastructure. Regarding storm damage, we had 32 calls that day. There’s a county-wide brush pile at Belwin that was free for residents, but that might be ending soon. [1:01:50] **Police Chief Jay Jackson**: Good evening again Council. Past events: we had a cold weather night qualification shoot. We had life-saving recipients: Officer Lipowski and Officer Slinger. On the 26th, we trained on pepperball and Narcan. Upcoming: Memorial Day parade on May 29th—Public Works will be pounding in no-parking signs. We will assist Anderson Elementary with "Bike to School" on Wednesday, May 3rd. Our incidents to date are 2,252 compared to roughly 2,000 last year. [1:03:22] **Mayor Michele Hanson**: They canceled the Lift Bridge Race? **Chief Jay Jackson**: Madam Mayor, technically they didn't cancel the race; they moved it to Stillwater where the lift bridge actually exists. [1:04:32] **Asst. City Administrator Sara Taylor**: The floodplain ordinance is scheduled to be considered by the Planning Commission on May 22nd. The application deadline for the Public Works Director position is May 10th, with interviews the week of May 15th. We also have an opening for a part-time library clerk. Curbside collection of waste/recyclables is the week of June 12th. And today is the official kickoff for "No Mow May"—residents can register at City Hall and pick up a yard sign. [1:06:04] **City Administrator Matt Kline**: I just have a couple of things. Credit to the Public Works and administrative staff—the April snowstorm and river flooding really inundated staff. About 50 to 60% of questions we get could be answered just by going to the city website. For storm debris, St. Croix Savory Tree is picking up as they have time. Our city lot is closed for new debris; that pile is massive and will eventually be chipped. Regarding river flooding: current levels are 686.5 feet. We peaked at 689.5, which is unofficially the seventh highest crest on record. We filled 5,600 sandbags and delivered 4,300. Residents can call for pickup procedures. It came within one foot of putting water across Point Road and Fifth Avenue South. We’ll be looking at temporary building up of those roads in the future. I'm also meeting with the Oak Park Heights administrator tomorrow regarding the fire contract study RFP. [1:15:18] **Mayor Michele Hanson**: All right. Anyone want to make a motion to adjourn? **Councilmember Katie Hill**: Make a motion to adjourn. **Councilmember Orin Kipp**: Second. **Mayor Michele Hanson**: All those in favor, aye. All right, we are adjourned. Thank you.