thank you good evening and welcome to this uh Prayer Lake City council meeting of Monday January is it the 19th 18th 2023 if you would please join me Stan for the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all well good evening it's wonderful to see a a nice full council chambers this evening the first item on our agenda this evening is the um is the Forum um The Forum is that opportunity for those that are before us to come and speak in front of the city council the only uh items that cannot be included in the Forum are items of a public hearing for which a public hearing has either been scheduled or for which a public hearing has taken place so with that loan exception um this evening we're going to go ahead and limit comment to um uh four minutes what I'll do is at the three minute Mark I'll go ahead and hold up a single finger just indicating you have one minute remaining in your testimony and if you would bring your comments to a close with that we have four people that have signed up to be heard this evening um and the first one is Mr Dean Swanson Mr Swanson um please we look forward to hearing from you and if you would for the record um again restate your name as well as your address there's a button at the base of your microphone it may be red now go ahead and press it and turn the color green Mr Swanson thank you Dean Swanson 14080 Hidden View Road um I'm speaking tonight I haven't spoken on this topic in the past a lot of people in our neighborhood have spoken on the 42 re-entry house that Scott County is uh is trying to um reoccupy and a lot of people in our neighborhood have have made a lot of good comments I didn't really feel I had much to add um but I'm getting a little concerned getting a little frustrated uh doing the math from what we've heard we've heard early early occupation of that house as early as March of 2023 which do the math is only six or seven weeks away six or seven weeks that's really soon um I don't know if we've had any significant reply from Scott County on any chance of possibly Shifting the focus of the occupation of the house it was originally intended to be bulldozed for safety on Highway 42 get rid of that driveway and now all of a sudden they've got Grand plans to put a lot of people and staff and volunteers into that house um so that would be my first my first question is to see if there's been any response from Scott County um there are a lot of permits going on there there's been a lot of work that we've heard about Foundation repairs and things uh I guess my other question would be are there any problems with their permits is there any way we could you know make sure that the permits maybe slow them down at least a little bit while we while we consider I know that there's a letter of moratorium that was being drafted um but the six or seven weeks timeline is really is really kind of getting to me um and I know some of you have already done this but I would invite all of you to take a drive up Hidden View Road come up that right Aaron just see that 42 house up on the hill a good 30 or 40 feet elevation above all the whole neighborhood and just look at the vantage point that they have to look at our entire Street the entire neighborhood all of the residents coming and goings it's on clear display um that's that's really all I need to I wanted to re-emphasize thank you thank you so much Mr Swanson Mr Matt Fulton good evening mayor and Consul thanks for the opportunity uh Matt Fulton 14080 Shady Beach Trails I'm a new resident in town I've had the chance to talk before you a few months ago and because there's a lot of folks here tonight you know there's a lot of interest on this particular topic I first want to just thank the council for submitting the letter to the county I really appreciate you recognizing the input that the residents have been having on this topic and and acting as a body to make sure that you're asking the county to reconsider the use of the property it's unfortunate that the county hasn't responded to the letter because it just leads to increased frustration on the whole decision Point as Dean just pointed out timing is short and the the calendar is rapidly approaching us I will say that our neighborhood and has done just an excellent job in engaging people on the conversation which I always think is positive and even all the Dynamics that go in this and I've been in the business for a long time as a city manager engagement is always a positive thing and it takes time and it takes diligence and it takes patience to get through all the issues what is unique about this property though is what causes so much lack of trust or maybe the loss of trust in some of the decision-making processes it says such an ironic set of circumstances where the county buys a piece of property for transportation purpose and then all of a sudden it twists around for a project that wouldn't be consistent that's number one not anticipated in your zoning codes and it wouldn't have been placed there if you had the appropriate time or the ability to Zone it into an into a location that would make sense from a neighborhood planning standpoint so it's an unfortunate set of circumstances on where we find ourselves today and it is a unique property this is just not for guys joining together at a house to live uh is going to be staffed it's going to be supervised it's going to be operated under a contract administered by the county this is not a typical single family for people living together in a project and that's what makes it such a unique circumstance that I think provides the council an opportunity to think about it a little bit differently because it isn't provided for in your zoning code like so many different kinds of land uses are that's the responsibility that you have as a council to make sure that safe the neighborhoods are maintained in a safe way that land uses are compatible with each other and that the long-term growth and vitality is going to be in the best interest of the community what's also unique about this property particularly is it's not on a bus line it's not near any employment centers and so it's not probably going to be a successful project as it's currently anticipated the end result of that in my mind is going to be an increased level of turnover which is something that the council already addresses in your short-term ordinances to try to manage that turnover and the impact that that has on the surrounding properties and so when I was first here a while ago I suggested that when I was a city manager for 30 years when we went into this kind of situation we would always consider we the council would always consider the implementation of a moratorium which is simply a timeout it provides you the opportunity to think about what the impacts are going to be on on the surrounding Property Owners what are the appropriate regulations that can be put into place and so that you can bring in residents to help consider and be part of the conversation and it will in this particular case allow maybe for some of the tensions and emotions to go down while you consider all of the implications so that you can structure a project that's going to be successful for the community and for the residents that are residing in the in the particular property so thank you for the work that you're doing I know there's been a lot of behind the scenes conversations I really appreciate that I know that all the residents appreciate that and I just look forward to trying to find a resolution to this thank you so much Mr Fulton Miss Cassie Johnson okay one of these tents I'm really going to bring a stool I'm Cassandra Johnson I live at 14104 Hidden View Road you guys I've been here we've all been here a lot and I'm sure it's a bit frustrating in the sense I reflect back on when you're trying to get your toddler to not do something and you get the same result over and over I think honestly and transparently that's a little bit how I feel and frustrated and saddened and all the emotions and as Matt just said like taking that pause is what we need we've heard your agreement we've seen the letter that you proposed to the county and we're so grateful for that and yet our timeline is ticking in time now is to take action so we can put a pause and a time to evaluate it bring in the collaboration rebuild the trust in order to have a successful opportunity for this house there's a lot of different ways to go about this and we've heard the agreement from you guys that the approach from the county was not in what we wanted and what not what we anticipated and the response of we didn't have to tell you because it's not the law is just bad policy in in my opinion not the way we should function just as humans and so I think the time now we've heard your verbal account to support we've heard you support us through emails and conversations and there's a lot of conversations going on but now we need more action we need help we need your support to help come to the table with the county thank you thank you so much Miss Johnson Mr Kevin base art hi my name is Kevin basart I live on Bayview Circle and I'll keep mine short I know it's about the re-entry home and I do want to thank you guys for everything you've been doing that I feel like you guys are listening so I appreciate that I appreciate your time on this I believe communication is Paramount in any kind of community projects and I feel the county has not initiated any sort of willingness to communicate or work with residents so questions concerns any suggestions so really this is completely shattered my trust with the county and doubt it'll ever be reconciled and I really feel the way this is all started should reflect on how this operation is going to run that's how I see it's going to run it's if it were to be open the consequences of their lack of due diligence would directly fall on me my family my neighbors our neighborhood our community the city has been fantastic in communication and again listening to our neighborhood but I asked the city seriously considers that more moratorium that we've been hearing tonight and really just the halt the progress until we know more until we have more information uh and really to look at what are the long-term effects so you know proposed projects like this actually succeeds versus that failing being a project that ultimately that's turned down and we could have stopped it before it was a failure in the first place so I do thank you for your time thank you Mr base art those are the individuals that we had that had signed up is there anyone else that would like to come before us this evening to speak on any any Topic at all sir and again if you would for the record uh name and address sir hi my name is Mike Pica I live at 14107 Hidden View Road um spoke I think not last time the time before here so I don't know if I'm going to be really bringing anything new um or anything that has been already said kind of this evening but just because I had it written down I want to read it um so we've been here we've all been coming to these meetings we've consistently showed up we all know the reasons why we don't want this to happen but we haven't seen any action like a ton of action really um so how do we get that like how do we get more commitment um to that like all signs and evidence point to this being a very poor location in so many ways no Transportation nearest bus route is I think over a mile or a mile and a half away the county tried to providing false information that the um the buses will stop if you hail them on 42 which I believe Kevin and Taylor looked up and actually called and they said they absolutely do not do that there's no employment opportunities nearby uh really no no data or evidence to support success of the short-term residency the 60 30 60 90 days no data supporting success of like small groups either it's more large groups of facilities with 60 30 or 60 people for like a year's time uh so yeah I would maybe feel differently if there was data to support the program like this but there's really not and again all data kind of supports the opposite um frankly I didn't save up for the last decade to be able to afford a house here and then start raising a family um you know only to be a part of an experiment it's really what this is um so when we I mean we first moved or found out about the re-entry plans back in October I think there was an incident like maybe that exact week with a halfway house in St Paul where one of the residents who was released and was deemed rehabilitated to go into society murdered two people one of them a resident another one a civilian then I think about a month or two ago there was an incident just in Prior Lake actually um where I think it was an ex-convict forgive me if the details are not fully accurate um assaulted a police officer then broke into a residential home nearby held the family at gunpoint eventually released them and then I think there was a standoff with the police and maybe the SWAT team was involved um so really it only takes one mentally unstable person you know with a History of Violence or sexual criminal activity uh for somebody to go south and with 16 to 40 men uh transitioning through this house per year because that's basically what the math breaks out with four people 30 60 90 days um like what is the likelihood that at least one of them potentially could be a bad apple I mean what happens if this house goes through and an incident does occur like sure you can say that person will be kicked out of this house and sent back to prison but what about the victim um you know like now they have to live with whatever trauma or fear anxiety um basically for the rest of their life so I would ask you like how you would feel about something like that if that happened if it was you know it was something that you knew sir if I can go ahead okay thank you um something that you know that you knew you could have done something potentially to stop it um so I just the lack of taking just like a again we appreciate everything that you have been doing in the letter but really I think everyone wants just a very maybe public hard stance against the county um just the reiterating just the amoritarium just because every day that goes by um we're you know Dragon feet is another day of continuous renovations to the house another day closer to completion and we all know once it's renovated and you know a resident moves in there's really no stop sir I'm gonna need to ask you to conclude your comments okay sounds good yeah I think that's about it so again just appreciate your time and um would like if we could fly from that thank you so much um is there anyone else that would like to come before us sir please my name is Todd both 14145 Hidden View Road uh first off I've had a lot of great comments and and I agree with a lot of what's being said there um some of the things I have amongst many things I could go on for a long time as I'm sure anybody out here could as far as the against this property being turned into this is we've been told it's going to be funded by another number of government programs set for a certain amount of time what happens after that time who's paying for that first off those programs are paid for by us all of you all of you and then after that there's they're saying what like five years to generalize and then who's paying for it all of us and it's basically a rental property the county is in to a rental property should question us why are they into the bet that sort of a business and then what we're going to pay into it for per into perpetuity and then another question that should be asked is that we should all be asking ourselves as an investment would any of the rest of us go and put hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars into a property that was bought as it was said under the guise of to be torn down for road work would we go and do that and then say we're going to put hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars into something we're going to tear down I don't but by guilt of Association all of us now have become landlords into a property that most of us would probably say no we won't put that money into that we should go and find a better use for it we should slow everything down look at what a better investment is into the into things and use that money in a better wiser way and that's not what is happening here it is just not clear minds are just not being used here that I think everybody here would be doing differently and another thing is that's not necessarily germane to what I'm talking about is a driveway being put in onto Hidden View for not a single family dwelling unit with a couple of cars that are coming and going it's essentially going to be the equivalent of traffic to a small convenience store down at the end of the road now I guarantee you all the rest of you County or City people would not want all of a sudden you buy on a quiet street and then we're going to put a convenience store down at the end of the road that we're going to have all kinds of traffic that is not germane to the neighborhood coming and going they don't care how fast they're going they're just and and they're coming at all different times and it just really needs to be slowed down and thought out and we're all it's all of our money it's not the government's money it's all of ours money that's being put into this because the government doesn't have any money it's us that's who's paying for this thank you sir is there anyone else that would like to come before the council this evening and speak on any item at all sing none I'll go ahead and close the Forum if I could um again I want to thank the residents for their testimony and it does sound like certainly the knowledge of our letter our letter the city council's letter indeed Scott County owns this house there are statutes what I'm going to do is I'm going to call on manager Waddell and also for the record we have not yet received a response to that letter um I know we heard someone testify that that is uh obviously disappointing and we've had conversations and we do anticipate a written response uh shortly so with that uh manager Waddell and also to the extent with which uh City attorney might comment on other subsequent action uh by the council please thank you mayor and counselors and members of the audience so yeah the question on kind of the timing on where we're at with a response from Scott County I did contact Scott County Administrator Leslie Vermillion earlier this week asking that very question on what the timing and status was of a response uh she let me know that they anticipated getting us a response by the end of this week so our intent was to wait and see what that response is and then we will bring that back to the city council and then we can talk about next steps based on what is included in their response discussions of a moratorium could be on the table we've we've approached that topic with the the council already and with our City attorney there are pros and cons with the moratorium if a moratorium could potentially apply because the facility is not licensed right the county is not if they chose to be State licensed there are State statutes that protect those uses in which case we could not have a moratorium against a state licensed facility so we don't want to do something that inadvertently takes away our ability to negotiate and have conversations that are meaningful with the county on on how this house might get used so there's there's a lot of work that still needs to happen on this and just know that we're going to be having those conversations with the council um right away next week as soon as we get the response here at the end of this week and we'll talk about um where do we go based on on what the counties comes back to us with so that's really where we're at thank you manager Waddell um and indeed um certainly being here not having concreteness right the clock is ticking the days are going by I also trust indeed that you've been in close communication as you are with us with the Scott County Board um in with Commissioners because certainly there have been multiple conversations I've had multiple conversations with Administration with commissioners and um indeed I can't say we have been hurt Council I don't know if there's any additional comment you might like to make because I know that each of you has been also involved in those conversations not only with the county but also with the neighbors and certainly provide you with the opportunity should you desire to make comment um if not I would move along to item three on our agenda okay uh real quick mayor um I I would I would like to direct staff this evening to draft a moratorium um but I I don't believe that uh that that would be supported at this time by the rest of the council and my apologies for that you continue to come here and expect action and you're you're not receiving it um I don't see the harm in directing staff to Simply draft what a moratorium might look like for us to discuss internally here and have ready to vote on at our next meeting it certainly helps the clock it is a shot across the bow with the county and it is okay for us to disagree with the county on policy I'm not afraid to do that the Commissioners are all Close Associates of mine good friends and people that I can continue to work with on other issues we just don't agree on this particular public policy that I believe is flawed but I don't believe that their support to direct staff at this time to draft a moratorium a statement of what that would look like is that correct Mr Burkhart if you'd like to advance such a thing I'd encourage you to make a motion I'll make a motion directing the staff to draft a uh what a moratorium might look like for us to pursue uh as a council to look at at our at our next meeting regarding the treatment of re-entry homes in our community is there a second uh I would not seeing a second the motion dies for lack of a second I would like to comment um intake issue with Mr Burkhart um in all things government all things human kind there are relationships the relationships where you look to advance things so the thought that a I would I would not want to go too on on this conversation because what a quote unquote shot across the bow if that's the intent shot across the bow that does not bring about the change that this council's asked for in our letter we've asked for a reconsideration a shot across the bow posturing saber rattling is not the way you advance change so uh that would be my comment should the motion have found a second to speak in opposition with that I would like to move along to a motion on the approval of the agenda so move Burkhart second we have a motion by councilman Burkhardt a second by council member Churchill on approval agenda's in favor say aye aye aye motion carries that brings us to the meeting minutes and that is meeting minutes for the January 4th 2023 city council meeting minutes uh counselor are there any modifications additions edits you'd recommend for those if not I entertained a motion to approve as the minute [Music] fourth Burkhart seconds motion by councilman Churchill second by councilman Burke cardall is in favor say aye aye aye aye that motion carries that brings us to the consent agenda I'd like to hand this off to city manager Odell to lead us through consent agenda as well as those items to be forced this evening thank you mayor members of the council and members of the audience our consent agendas for those items that are considered routine or non-controversial they're placed all together on the consent agenda so unless the mayor or counselor asks for an item to be removed for separate consideration they're all approved together under a single motion a second and a vote if an item were to be removed from tonight's consent agenda it would be placed under item 10 on the agenda tonight we have the following items on consent approval of the claims listing approval of the December 2022 building permit summary report approval of the December 2022 animal control services report resolution approving a temporary liquor license for the VFW wine tasting February 2nd 2023 resolution improving a temporary liquor license for the Prior Lake Association February 4th 2023 event a resolution approving a temporary liquor license for the dawg Nation hockey Foundation February 17th through the 19th of this year event resolution approving state aid Advance request resolution approving a purchase of supplemental rifle armor for the police department resolution of authorizing the advertisement for bids and authorizing the pre-ordering of equipment for the wild Quaker lift station rehabil Rehabilitation project city project 2022-24 thank you manager Waddell counselor are there any items enforced on the consent agenda that you'd ask be removed to be undertaken item 10 this evening seeing none I would entertain a motion for the approval of this consent agenda as submitted somu Burke second uh we have a motion by council member Burkhart to approve the consent agenda second by councilmember Lake all those in favor say aye aye aye aye motion carries that brings us to item six which are our police and fire updates and we have Chief Fire Chief steinhaus uh addressing us first Chief steinhaus we look forward to your report there it is oh there it is good evening mayor members of the council thanks for having me this evening to go over our numbers from the fourth quarter of 2022 September 1st to December 31st uh so not much has changed here we are staying pretty status quo with our uh paid on call Firefighters that number hasn't changed much thankfully so uh speak to the full-time uh transition a little bit before we go into the numbers from the last quarter there um this is just a quick little visual of our timeline um so last week January 11th we did have an open house for our uh for our internal candidates the paid on call Firefighters that are already employed with us so we had a good turnout probably 15 or so of that number um several of them are qualified to and some were there just for the information part of things so it was good to see a it was good to see a a good group of people there a good number of people there so as we go to the end of the month here the job description and recruitment flyer and video will be posted as we move through February we'll have another open house on the 11th for external candidates that's still kind of in the um in the planning stages because we we're not exactly sure how many people are going to show up we hope many but uh so we'll have to see where that goes so uh then February through March we'll be reviewing the applications doing the conditional offers agility testing moves us into May in June for the uh in employment physicals and other testing and then uh July 2nd um starting employment and that sounds like it's 100 years away but it feels like it's going to happen all tomorrow at once so it's uh it's moving along uh pretty quickly uh so September 1st through December 31st is all the fourth quarter of 2022. we stayed pretty current or pretty uh in line with um 2021 nothing major our are February or excuse me our December I'll get to that our December um numbers climbed up a little bit but uh stayed pretty pretty uh uh constant through the through both years um again our Medicals they just keep climbing that's uh um that's just kind of a given and I think that's going to continue as uh as you've heard me say many times it's uh we're assisting the police and the police departments and the sheriff's department as well as a line of more and more every day with how busy they are with with their with their duties as well so uh so our total calls for service over the um uh this court that quarter again stayed pretty pretty uh consistent um no big jumps there so total calls uh for the year 2022 uh 676 so we were up um quite a bit from from the previous year uh I did look at our non-emergency calls for service so what this included we did uh just about 1200 calls for service for the year and that includes the emergency numbers but then non-emergency uh when you go into burn permits and and um uh alarm inspections and and and investigation and insurance inquiries and such so uh it was a busy it was a busy year for us so with that I'll open up to any questions thank you Chief all right thanks have a great night Mr Mayor members of the council and members of the audience I appreciate an opportunity here to give you our update not only quarterly but over the year here first of all to start off with Staffing wise we were able to transition through the retirement of Chief Frazier and my own movement up into that police chief role and so I'm appreciative of the chance to to serve in that regard as we continue to talk most of our most importantly about our staffing moves we'd had the intent to add a full-time position of our property and evidence custodian in 2022 and as I'll talk in just a minute in our hiring for police officer as hiring goes in any domain it becomes continuously challenging to try and finalize those processes but we are right now in the final process for that evidence custodian and we're looking forward to adding that position which will increase the Effectiveness and efficiency of the agency as far as our sworn staff we through the end of 22 authorized to 33 sworn staff as we sit today we have three openings and a fourth anticipated with a retirement coming up we're in the Final backgrounding Phase for one candidate and I offer that only as an indication again of the difficulty in finding truly excellent and candidates for police officer and then vetting those out as really all agencies across the state are are fighting over a same small pool of excellent candidates so we continue to work diligently to fulfill the needs not only of the citizens for calls for service but the support of council and city in terms of being at the best Staffing levels we can and we'll we'll continue in those efforts as we look at some of the statistics September through December we've broken apart some of those that are of most interest generally to Citizens City and Council and so I won't go directly into each one of them as I like to see especially in the person's crimes areas of assaults domestic assaults have you seen as you've seen in that quarter just a slight downward move which is excellent again as their person's crimes as we look at these numbers for instance in the motor vehicle accidents you see a small jump up certainly anytime there is an increase in those stats we're always looking to see if we can identify any reasons whether that be roadway specifics driving specifics any sort of other metric or reason we could maybe move to then address and as we look at these numbers any that have increased we have not seen or identified anything specific that would tell us either as a city or the police department this is an area that we need to focus in but as always we'll we'll keep an eye on those things again as you look through again person's crime with regard to a criminal sexual conduct again in the quarter a down a downward decrease which is also excellent we do have a good place to uh to speak just for a second on context you'll notice just specifically um in robbery we see a single uptick in robbery and I would just caution anyone when you see numbers even if they just jump by one or a couple when it comes to police services there's always context behind why a number might be a certain way a citizen may call in a call for service and it's called as one thing the dispatcher will code it as that and generally because of state and National rules on record keeping it may remain that way even if we find the case turned into something different and so while you might see a burglary increase or a robbery increase it'd be really important to have more discussions on why those things might have been titled that way so and then we look at the statistics year over year again we look at some of those downward movements which is excellent and those persons crimes and I would draw attention in one area that we can probably look for a real good opportunity to partner not only with our residents but continue in the police services if you look at the burglary numbers jumping from 23 to 38 over the year it's an interesting dive if you look at the context many of those cases called are titled burglaries were items taken from garages oftentimes garages that weren't necessarily fully secured or as secured as they could be sometimes we'll call them crimes of opportunity where a garage door might be inadvertently left open or unsecured it's a great area for us to help educate our citizens just doing some of those simple things like keeping garages more secure where you can we can certainly offer more advice and thoughts and ideas on how to secure them even better and it's a great opportunity for the police department to increase their neighborhood awareness by getting out having a presence and if for nothing else perhaps someone being in an area that they shouldn't be might move them along to a different area area so just one area I wanted to point out that gives us a great chance to potentially impact some of those numbers so with regard to any of those I certainly welcome any conversation or questions from the mayor members of the council or if for that matter members of our public would like to dive deeper we're always happy to have those conversations also thank you Chief Dugan Council any questions for the chief welcome the opportunity and thank you so much for your report this evening with that item Let's uh concluding move along to new business resolution authorizing city manager to establish a slow no wake zone on Lower Prior Lake on Saturday September 9th 2023 manager Waddell thank you mayor and counselors and members of the audience uh this is a unique Council agenda item that we don't get very often um so as the mayor mentioned this is a request for a no wake zone for a specific date in September and this is at the request of the Midwest show skiers and we have a representative with us here in the audience this evening if you have questions after I'm done with my presentation but the basis really for the proposed no wake zone on that specific date from 6 30 a.m to 3 P.M is to make an attempt at the world record for the largest water ski pyramid um the current record is 93 water skiers so they're proposing to break that record and uh what a fun thing for it to happen on Prior Lake so to facilitate that type of an attempt they of course need to have a large area of the lake confined to no wake uh there's going to be coordination with the DIA Nar and the sheriff's department both of which have been contacted already in anticipation of tonight's Council agenda um we also had conversations with the Prior Lake Association and I see we have Woody spitzmiller from the Lake Association of the audience here tonight too uh all parties that we've talked to have been in support of the event there are still details and things we need to work through as we we get closer to that date which we would ultimately bring back but what we're asking council tonight for is the the authority to granted me as the city manager to declare the no wake for that specific day which per our city code we do have that authority to to make that commitment for an awake in this situation so with that I would open it up for any questions that the the council might have or if you have any questions from our applicant thank you so much manager Waddell counsel any questions would the lake be closed then for public between those hours so the portion of lower Prior Lake from Reeds Island to the north would be basically kind of yeah that would not be available to others to be boating around in they would need that space to make that attempt and unless you have further you want to come up mister so we have Mike uh Tebow from that's the applicant and um he can maybe provide additional context so just clarification it would be a no wake in that part of the lake it would still be accessible to the public so we'd just be looking to keep the boat traffic down we will have uh buoys marking the course and we'll be asking both to stay out of that so we do welcome uh residents as well as just anybody that's on the lake to come and anchor up and watch the event it's a pretty amazing feat to try to uh to witness and uh it's a pretty fun day so just just um it will be still accessible so people can still you know anybody that lives on the lake uh could still drive their boats around that that area Council any additional questions uh go ahead council member comment it's just going to make a motion but please uh I I would proudly make a motion myself being a former show skier on our team and someone that hopes to be a part of this pyramid I'll make a motion to approve the request for a slow no wake zone on a sectional lower Prior Lake for September 9th 2023. I'll second that we have motion by Council mayor Burkhart um and a second by councilor Lake all those in favor say aye aye aye that motion carries and uh best of luck to you Mike looking forward to it and thank you uh that brings us to item 9B which is Lakefront Park master plan adoption and I can see we have Public Works director Andy brownsler and also Parks director Hart look forward to your presentation thank you mayor council it is uh with distinct pleasure to be here before you tonight with the final draft uh Lakefront Park master plan um for your consideration for adoption it's been a lot of hard work by a number of folks over the past year and several months starting back in I believe it was in August of 2021 we kicked off this process with Council to develop a master plan for the vision Future Vision of Lakefront Park first I'd like to just start out with a little bit of uh history about Lakefront Park and the timeline this timeline's been shared through several communication efforts with the with the community um interesting enough you look up back in 1980 is really the first step in developing Lakefront Park with the city's acquisition of property the real last planning and major improvements that we see within Lakefront Park today occurred in the 1990s one of the things in just looking at the history of the park that I found interesting is as we moved through this process was the estimated population in the mid 90s for Prior Lake was at just under 12 000. when you jump jump forward to today where we're at in a population pushing 28 000 that's more than double the use and and demand within Lakefront Park uh looking through the more detailed steps for the planning process that we went through we kicked this off in the fall of 2021 with a number of pop-up meetings to really just introduce the concept of the of the master plan process to the community that was followed up with the online community engagement process later that fall to start to gain some initial input from the community about their Vision wants needs and desires for for the future of Lake Run Park throughout the majority of 2022 then was the real work to develop the concept plans with a second round of community engagement occurring last spring in the spring of 2022 where several Concepts had been vetted by the council in a preferred one was then disseminated to the public with a lot of additional great feedback provided from the community through that online engagement process to then arrive at the updated concept plan that we then presented at a public open house last summer concluding that with a real really a final presentation to council at a work session last fall which we then gathered some further Direction and feedback from the council to really guide us to where we are at tonight and so I think really a big part of the process and focus in working on this master plan was the need for Community engagement and I think we achieved a high level of community engagement I would like to thank the members of the community who really helped guide the the direction of this plan and provided a lot of great input and feedback for the development of this plan this is really a first step in the process to develop this plan and a vision for Lakefront Park that's one of the questions in in talking with members of the public throughout the process was well what's next uh when are we starting a project um we don't know yet today there's still a lot of work to do but this is the first step in the process and our anticipation is is that through the rest of 2023 we're going to start taking that second step to identify a strategy for funding future improvements and a potential timeline for the implementation of those improvements from just an overall master plan standpoint uh one of the things that we had talked about that led to the initiation of the master plan process was the fact that without a clear Direction and vision for Lakefront Park our the city's hands were kind of tied to really make any substantial investments into the park so that was really the first step was to develop the framework and guidance for the Future Vision of the park so that as funding becomes available or we have a number of outside organizations that have expressed interest in monetary donations or material or equipment donations we now have at least a vision to and a concept to refer back to to be able to incorporate those Improvement potential improvements into a longer term plan for the park obviously Community consensus and input is a significant portion being the the city's largest community park it's been referred to as the Crown Jewel of the city's 54 Park system uh it receives a lot of activity a lot of traffic a lot of use for a wide variety of purposes and activities I think when we first tabulated the number of different recreational opportunities that exist today in Lakefront Park I believe it was 38 different recreational opportunities that exist there so it really serves a wide variety of experiences and opportunities for the community and and Beyond and so really Gathering and incorporating that Community Vision for for the future of Lakefront Park was important the phased implementation strategy is is an additional component that is included within the parks map or in the Lakefront Park master plan as to what potential phasing could be for future improvements as well as then estimated future costs associated with those improvements just a high level uh overview of what the concept plan looks like and then we'll break into some of the more specific areas within the park but you can see there on the right hand side the the number of different uh opportunities and recreational experiences that are within the park as Andy said you can see the the preferred concept here this preferred plan emphasizes the value that Lakefront Park is a park for families opportunities for events recreational programming Beach improvements potential skating ribbon picnicking new inclusive and accessible playground a potential Parade route are all geared towards that that value that it's a place for families in our city one of the main improvements includes the addition of the the new East-West Road in the park and that circulation which connects Ridgemont Avenue to the heart of the park the roadway gives emergency vehicles and an additional point to enter and exit the park in the case that one of the entries is blocked for example for a large event Like Music Fest which happens here the new road will not only enhance circulation but also provide additional parallel parking along the road near the skate park in the Open Fields and then continuing that that road to the uh to the West uh is uh it ends in a drop-off with handicapped parking proposed near Watson's Beach that is meant to increase Ada accessibility to that part of the park to the beach currently beachgoers have a long walk from any of the existing parking down to the beach amenities this can be especially cumbersome when hauling items to and from the beach with the family in addition the addition of the drop-off would allow guests to unload their belongings much closer to the destination and also provide handicapped parking to those who are unable to make the the long walk from the existing parking in the park so the enhancements of the park circulation helped make the park safer more inclusive space for the visitors thank you Steve um just moving into a couple of the specific areas of the park the Prior Lake Shoreline one of the updates that has been made to the plan following the council's last review of the concept plan was uh scaling back some of the previously proposed improvements along the Prior Lake Shoreline to Watson's Bay to really just utilize the existing trail system that is there today with an enhancement shown there by by number one on the map there to create a sort of a view shed or or a Overlook of the lake area in that in that space Steve referenced the proposed enhanced Road driveway down to Watson's Beach culminating in a turnaround there with some handicap parking to really try to improve the accessibility to Watson's Beach his Council may recall from previous discussions due to some of the topography terrain conditions that exist there trying to go any further than this we're just really cost prohibitive and unfeasible due to the Steep uphill on the on the back side and then obviously the the lake on the downside Watson's Beach itself was was one area of the park that that did receive a lot of comments and feedbacks from the community about uh proposed enhancements to Watson's Beach you can see there the the maintenance of of the city docks that we currently have there today both on the Lakeside of Watson's Beach the publicly accessible Day Access docks and then on the back side of the beach the city's uh private rental slips that we we rent on an annual basis each year for up to 16 watercraft another thing that came through and is shown here and highlighted is enhanced amenities of specifically a restroom structure of some sort I know there was a structure that was there previously that was removed in 2020 due to their failure of the retaining wall a lot of that had to do one with the failure of the retaining wall the cost to remedy that situation as well as the fact that the existing or the previous building that was there was out of code and would have required extensive updates to it moving up the hill there then to number seven another thing that came through and if you've been out in this area you can see there's actually a foot track going down the hillside for some of the more adventurous Park users to gain access down to the trail system in Watson's Beach itself from that upper parking lot but an item that came through the process was the proposed edition of a stair system at in some manner to provide a bigger and better connection from the Upper Park parking lot down to Watson's Beach itself um and then again adding some form of an Overlook there off of the parking lot to you know try to provide additional connection to the uh the lake in the upper right hand corner of the exhibit there you can see a proposed tennis court and additional pickleball courts that are proposed that is something that did come through strongly from Community input was the desire to maintain tennis courts as well as opportunities to add more pickleball courts in other areas of the community beyond the courts that are located in Spring Lake Park moving uh East into the park into the north play area some of the highlights here at number nine is a would be a new playground and as we've talked about in Imagine throughout the concept plan is really an expanded playground from what exists today utilizing the topography maybe a little bit more than than the current playground does but also looking to expand this into an inclusive and adaptive playground so that it is providing recreational opportunities for all all users of the park as well as then anticipating maybe some age-appropriate themed areas of the park in or of the playground in various uh segments within the playground then moving over to uh number 11 is the splash pad proposal and again that is something that I think an additional time through the community engagement process came through very strongly as a highly desired amenity within the community and then working through the concept plan it it it seems that incorporating that into Lakefront Park is is probably the prime prime location for for that amenity within the city's overall Park system and then being able to utilize the existing Pavilion with some possible bathroom expansion um opportunities within the Pavilion there continuing into the the South play area what we've kind of come to call the the summer recreational area within Lake Run Park then would be maintaining the basketball courts within Lakefront Park but then also adding number 15 there which would be a concrete poured in place skate park that is something that the council has heard from from several member youth members of the community previously about their desire for enhancements to a skate park this hopefully will go a long ways and at least identifying the potential opportunity for developing a more interesting and exciting skate park experience for for the Youth within the community Steve mentioned then the the new proposed road with the parallel street parking so that is something that throughout the concept planned we did look at and took opportunities where where appropriate to expand and increase parking opportunities provide parking opportunities within closer proximity to certain amenities but then also just recognizing that for the current use within Lakefront Park today that is one of the challenges we see and hear about is at certain times challenges in parking continuing the East End of the park is the what we are calling the winter use area this area would be where the existing tennis courts are today for for any members of the public here tonight or watching on TV the winter use area would include the development of a new parking lot we do show here in number 19. the ability to relocate the two existing hockey rinks to this location however another item that came through that could be an option would be the development of a skating ribbon in that location again from past conversations wanting to be very clear that the not to put words in the council's mouth but you're previously expressed intent is that the city will have hockey rinks and our our intent from staff standpoint is we will have hockey rinks if not here in Lakefront Park elsewhere within the city's Park system recognizing the the need and value of hockey rinks within the community uh along with that then number 18 would be a warming house Pavilion a second warming house or Pavilion within Lake Run Park as well as other amenities for a patio an outdoor space there to provide recreational opportunities associated with the sledding hill and either the hockey rink or a skating ribbon at some point in time in the future one of the concepts that or the concept that's been discussed throughout this process is currently today Lakefront Pavilion is only available through rentals it's not available to the public on a for on a open basis with this concept and development of an additional Pavilion within the park our vision would be that um in the off season of the summer the winter use Pavilion would be available for private rentals while the Summer Lake the current Lakefront Pavilion would be open and usable for the public and for restrooms and then in the winter time the winter Pavilion would be open for the public for a warming house and recreational space there associated with the skating opportunities as well as the sliding Hill and the current Lakefront Pavilion would be the winter time private rental space that we would Envision within the park there moving a little bit South and West in the park to some of the more natural areas of the park looking at opportunities to expand some Park in there you can see number 22 would expand parking parallel to the road that would provide some parking opportunities for the fishing pier that is not shown here on the map it is just down below the the map on little prior that today really has limited access to it other than if folks are willing to walk a long ways from from a parking lot within the park there I should also note number 21 that highlights a second or excuse me a third and fourth row of proposed additional parking to the existing parking there today so again opportunities to improve and increase the parking to to meet the current and anticipated future demands within the park number 23 while there's really nothing specific that's envisioned but is noted as as a future concept within the natural area of the park is the opportunity to consider developing a disc golf course and that is something that we've over the years have received inquiries about that opportunity within within the city's Park system and it is something that from experience in in other communities that I think there is a opportunity to incorporate it into a natural area without a significant impact to the Natural Area itself actually the the topography and and the Natural Area can add to the experience of of the disc golf course so that seems to be a good location for consideration of that in the future and then number 20 there we noted as a possible Band Shell location for larger events uh that is uh something that would be an opportunity either for uh City events or obviously for lakefront Music Fest that is located within Lake Front Park each July there could be an opportunity for that not to be the stage itself but as we've talked through the process and talked with representatives from the rotary who really lead the lakefront Music Fest effort it could be the building blocks for then the performance stage that is is utilized for lakefront Music Fest and then lastly just highlighting the different potential phased areas that we may consider for improvements and I think that that'll be something that we'll have to delve into a little bit deeper as we start to identify future funding strategies for what the scope and scale of a first phase project may look like some of that may be dependent on where potential outside funding sources come from related to improvements within the park there I won't go through each of those in detail I know the council has seen that before and this plan or this this exhibit is also a part of the concept plan that once adopted by Council will be posted on the city's web excuse me the city's web page so it will be accessible for the community to go um to the that page and review the entire final document for for Lakefront Park so with that I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge also the advisory committee that was formed consisting of 12 members of the community ranging from several youth members who are also members of the CEC but several CEC members organization and Association members and then several resident members that uh met and worked on this process on three occasions and provided a lot of great guidance feedback and sounding boards for really trying to identify what a plan would look like that would be in alignment with what the community's goals and values were for Lakefront Park so with that I will move to the last slide to I went through the process there but then the the recommended or requested action for the council would be a motion to accept and adopt the Lakefront Park master plan and with that we'll stand for questions excellent thank you so much director brotzler and director Hart Council any questions for either um Mr brotzler and or Mr Hart councilman Burkhart I I think we we just need to make it clear to the public that uh tonight we're looking at the master plan um but we are not looking EX at spending 20 million dollars this evening that is a a conversation in the in the future for another another day uh but I I did want to compliment the staff and our community for the process that we've gone through here we have a tremendous asset in the heart of our community it is dated it does need a a reboot it's in need of a facelift and I look forward to seeing how we can make some if not all of this are a reality in the future and we're committed to the same thoughtful process with our community around funding for this and how we we go about it so just know that uh my feeling is that we're going to take our time on this and be quite exploratory about it as as we go forward so but but kudos to the staff and the community for the for the process thus thus far I think we've landed on a very good potential product thank you additional comment or question um I I really can't add much more to what councilmember Burkhart said relative to the I mean this has been um well I want to say this goes back in your timeline was there all of two good two years so in regards to both um good input from the community and frequent opportunities for engagement across multiple Platforms in person virtual um pop-ups Farmers Market there was plenty of opportunity for all to implement or put their fingerprints on this plan so with that Council I would entertain a motion I would make a motion to accept and adopt the lakefront master plan I'll second it we have a motion by councilmember Church Harold and a second my council member Burkhart all those in favor say aye aye aye and that motion carries excellent counsel that brings us to our council member liaison Updates this evening and with that I would like to start off with Mr light counselor Lake right under the scale general meeting on January 13th thank you Mr Lake uh councilmember Churchill thank you mayor I had my lle housing Co -chair meeting on the fifth I attended Chief Frazier's retirement party on the 6th and on the ninth I uh I had the Planning Commission meeting on the 11th the Chamber of Commerce board meeting and on the 13th the scale general meeting and my agenda review outstanding thank you so much councilor Churchill councilmember Burkhart mayor members of the Council on January 6th I attended Chief Frazier's retirement reception over at the police Hall on the 9th at a Minnesota Valley Transit Association Management committee meeting also on the night the orderly annexation committee meeting also on the ninth the Suburban Transit Association board meeting on the 11th the Highway 169 quarter Coalition planning meeting and on the 13th I had my agenda review thank you excellent on January 6th I had scale exec as well as attended um former Chief Frazier's uh well attended send-offs uh January 9th attended the Regional Council of mayor's meeting on January 11th spent the day in Saint Paul calling on our elected in in Scott County quite quite a busy day treacherous drive on those uh icy roads um on the 13th I had the scale general meeting and then on the 16th the Martin Luther King event here at the high school that concludes my liaison updates manager woodels or anything you'd like to add sure thank you mayor and counselors um if you may have noticed in the Prior Lake American this past weekend in the obituaries Steve ponti's obituary was there as we were reviewing the Lakefront Park master plan he was the gentleman that came multiple times advocating for tennis courts he also served on the Prior Lake Spring Lake Watershed District board so I just wanted to let his family know that they're in our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time thank you so much for that manager Waddell um with that Council of that final motion this evening I would make a motion to adjourn second we have a motion by council member Churchill the second by councilor Lake to adjourn all those in favor say aye I I that motion passes the meeting stands adjourn at 8 12 P.M you won't be with your kids when it happens well they know what to do ready.gov