[0:02] Mary Fasbender: but if you don't put it in the script I have to remember it all right time being 7 o' I call the Hing city council meeting to order please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I Ali 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 welcome and let the role reflect we do have two absentee uh council members tonight so we will be pulling one thing from the agenda and that was uh under Community Development a resolution for a variance so that would be pulled and put on hopefully the November 6th meeting it does require six of seven votes and that's why it's being pulled so with that uh Christy Baris is with us tonight with the Chamber of Commerce and touris Bureau and she's going to give us a little update and a presentation on what she has been so busy doing along with her staff for the year welcome Christie [0:48] Christy Baris: thank you thank you Madame mayor and members of the council thanks for having me tonight um as mayor Mary said uh I am Christy bars I'm president of the Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce and tourism Bureau and in your packet tonight is a budget for our upcoming year that is specific to the tourism Bureau along with a draft of our marketing plan so um my hope tonight is to give you an overview of some of the tourism trends that we have seen particularly in the last year um and then stand to answer any questions on some of the material that has been put in your packet uh this picture is at RiverTown days just for the record right there looks wonderful right thank you okay so we'll do just a quick overview I like to give an update on exactly how we're funded um and happy to answer any questions on this as well but the tourism Bureau is uh funded through a 3% lodging tax that is put on our um area hotel room so this is a 3% tax that goes on top of the room rental rate um our tourism Bureau receives 95% of that to run the tourism Bureau the funds can be used for marketing and promotional pieces only and I only bring that up because um oftentimes we get questions about tourism assets like uh Capital things like um sports facilities or monuments or something along those lines it is pretty clear in the State statue that the tourism funds are only to be used for marketing and promotion um and then as a separate way of funding we look through t for tourism grants through Explore Minnesota every year um so I'll go over a little bit of the trends that we've been seeing and um I went back to 2017 because I thought it would be helpful to to show what was happening prior to the economic shutdown during coid um and these dates are a little off just to remind you we work up of a fiscal year that starts October 1st and then ends September 30th um so starting back in 2017 um we were seeing a real uptic in tourism travel um and then once Co 19 hit the tourism industry took a a a huge plunge as you can imagine and we went down quite a bit as you can see on that graph but what I wanted to point out here is just in this last year we had a 7% increase in our lodging tax which is the main way that we track tourism to our town like with numbers um and another thing to point out here is prior to the economic shutdown in in 2018 and 2019 to where we're at right now we've seen a 27% increase in our lodging tax which is pretty great to see all right a few other tracking metrics that we use because we can't rely solely on our uh lodging tax revenue being that that is lumped in with um stays for construction workers that are working on road construction projects or um Economic Development um so we don't rely solely on our our lodging Tex numbers we do track the number of visitor guides and publication requests that we get um and we track that through our website we also advertise with AAA which provides us with leads every year and then the DMO those are destination marketing requests so that's the requests we get from some of our huge tourism that's like the Mall of America and our highway information centers so that um graph to your right um shows those three categories um from last year compared to this year and I wanted to point out one thing that was really interesting to us which was our our increase in or what we're calling organic requests so our website requests for the tourism guides went up significantly this year uh last year I believe we had just under 90 and this year we've had over 600 requests through our website for our visitors guides uh we also tack through or track through seasonal targeted online campaigns so the three seasons that we focus on is um spring and we focus on spring because that's historically a low tourism time of the year so we're trying to get an extra boost of marketing to our tourism based businesses um we focus we capitalize on Fall because that's our largest uh tourism uh season of the year and then we also do some winter campaigns as well um so one thing that I wanted to point out this year that we noticed is we've seen um a an increase in two specific Trends so we have um our weekend trip uh visitors which is a lot of younger families um and they're coming typically for the day so they're more of our day Trippers and then we're seeing some more uh midweek traffic and a huge increase in like recently retired couples and couples that are traveling with friends um and they and they want two different experiences so for our most recent fall campaign we did split those markets um and we focused on our recently retired market so 60 plus we had a specific income level in in mind and then we um targeted the Rochester area um and just south of the Rochester area in hopes that that would be just far enough away for them to come and stay overnight and then for our um weekend traveler we really focused on on the um Twin Cities to bring people down from the Twin Cities especially during our apple season um this was the highest view rate that we have ever had on our online uh campaign we had a 22% view rate for our midweek traveler and a 20% view rate for our weekend traveler so that tells us that those targeted markets are really interested in this area um we saw a huge uptick in our Google analytics when these campaigns went out um and then I put Word of Mouth in there because we try and keep a pulse with our tourism based businesses on if they're tracking where their customers are coming from and it was really fun to hear um right after the midweek traveler email went out um a lot of our downtown businesses said that they saw visitors from Rochester which is exactly where we were targeting so that's always good to hear okay so we had the opportunity to Pilot a cool program this year we started to um notice an increase in bus tours interested in coming to our area um and these are volunteer run organizations um and a couple employee outings but they reached out to us to say hey we want to spend the day here here are our visitors um this is what they're interested in can you help us plan an itinerary so Dave youngren who is our um tourism lead at the office really took control of this pilot program it was something that we said you know what we're not going to make this a revenue generator for us this year let's just see how it goes um and what he did is he worked with these uh bus tour groups and he created um itineraries which included recommendations for lunch and then um different stays within the community depending on what their interests were and then at a certain point of their um visit he stepped on the bus this is Dave right there stepping on the bus he would step on the bus and uh provide historic tours um this was really well received so most of our bus uh buses averaged 50 visitors um and they stayed an average of an hour longer than what we had planned he got rave reviews for these um I think it's an opportunity for us I really think that this is a a market that went away driven Co 19 and we're starting to see an increase in it now and I think if we can be ahead of that Trend and um help them plan these Um itineraries this can become a two three day type of Excursion where we could partner with other communities okay um just a quick update we in the last month we have moved our office we are now located down at the Confluence hotel and I'm just going to give a shout out to my previous landlord who's in the obvious right now because it was a tough decision we had a really great location on Highway 61 and um Greg jany was an excellent landlord uh but the the tourism and and chamber board we're interested in this new location because of its proximity to downtown Hastings we felt that it was more um of a of a visitor location and it was a natural partnership with our new Confluence hotel in town so we are just before you walk in to the hotel and to the right this is our office right here okay so looking ahead I apologize that should say 2023 2024 um to our marketing plan frankly we're going to um continue to build on what we've learned this past year so we're really going to focus on the multi-generational and cultural heritage tourism um we we did well with our seasonal online campaigns and we're going to continue to push for those two market segments what we're hoping to do is we're we're hoping to expand outside of Minnesota so we get a lot of interest from people within Minnesota but we're starting to see an uptick in Iowa and Wisconsin and as far as Colorado and Florida so we're going to really start putting our money towards that Iowa Market we feel like that has the biggest potential um and then we're going to focus on Wisconsin too and this is based on just the information that we're getting from um the requests that we get for visitors guides and then also from our local hotels they're telling us where they're their guests are are coming from um we're going to focus again on our print advertising and this because our budget is limited we really are strategic to find print partners that can give us the best bang for our bunk so uh AAA as I mentioned um provides us actual leads so um when we are are advertising with them we get weekly leads where we can send visitors guides um The Bike and Hike magazines that we choose to advertise in have the greatest reach they also are good partners because they're able able to go to some of the tourism conferences that we're we frankly can afford and they provide the Hastings visitors brochure at their table um and then the St Croy Valley is um a really good partner and publication because it's the only publication um that is uh showcased in highway information centers in Minnesota and Wisconsin so typically when you're um paying to um advertise in a highway information center it's by State and somehow this publication was able to get it across Minnesota and Wisconsin so it's a good partnership and it's a really nice spread for a good price um also underneath print advertising just a quick update so uh we print the visitors guides um and I should have brought some but we print the visitors guides we print a specific map or bike map and then this year um we are going to be printing this the street map in um partnership with the Stark Gazette again so we've had a ton of requests for street maps so we're going to be partnering with them to bring that Street mac and then hopefully um we'll be able to bring the community guide back as well um okay two of our big events um we still planning on Rivertown days um and then our Hastings Prescott Bike Tour continues to grow so that's another uh event that we're excited to partner with the Prescott chamber on um our goal is to really launch and organize and monetize these step on tours so that's going to be the big project for us this year and then with the um Confluence hotel opening we we've we're kind of going to sit back and just evaluate the needs and um see where they're seeing a gap in some of our tourism marketing all right that's all I have but I'm happy to answer any questions [12:18] Mary Fasbender: thanks Christie uh council member house [12:18] Angie Haus: thank you your honor chrisy beautiful job um presenting all of this for one um I love to see the new innovative ways of doing like the step on tours to promote our local businesses um I think that's a great new place to start and grow um continue doing that and then you know let us know what we can do on Council to keep volunteering for Rivertown days and all the new events but I had great time at RiverTown days as well you always do a great job so thank you thank you council member [13:04] Mary Fasbender: thank you council member house council member lifel [13:04] Lisa Leifeld: thanks honor hey Christie uh question for you on that 3% on the um the tax hotel tax what all does that does that just H the hotels in town or what's all included in that [13:49] Christy Baris: so um it it is the main stream Hotel however um if a vbo or Airbnb uses a specific platform um like Elevate um charges that lodging tax as well um and so I think there I need to do a little bit more research on that to be honest council member because um I do know that a few of our Airbnb and vrbos are paying the lodging tax but I can't I but not necessarily all of them correct okay yeah I was just kind of curious I know more of those are popping up around the area which is awesome right I just wasn't sure how that taxing works I know I've stayed in many of them in other places and there's a lot of fees on it MH so that that money is going somewhere I just wasn't sure how it came if that affected the tourism [14:35] Lisa Leifeld: let me um actually I'll follow up with City staff too because the way that um it shows on our lodging report it just says Elevate which is a platform so it would be it would be great if we could know the properties because then we could help promote those properties too absolutely right well I appreciate your time in this and yeah I we've said it many times sitting up here on the DS that when we go downtown and everyone's always like why you focus on the downtown well the city owns the streets that go you know Second Street and all those so it really makes sense but boy it's great when we go down there and you don't know anyone that's just the best part have to park over at the ramp because the parking lots are full and we just love it and yeah it's really nice to be able to go downtown and grab a drink or a bite to eat and look around and just go wow where you know you don't know anyone and I just love it all these people coming to town so yeah you're doing a great job [15:21] Christy Baris: well thanks it's a community effort there is there is a vibe there is definitely a Vibe so it's always exciting for me the nerd and me to see the numbers um attached to the vibe so I just ate I just ate a Dove chocolate that says your Vibe attracts your tribe well there you go literally right there so yep you're attracting a great tribe keep it up thanks [15:21] Mary Fasbender: thank you council member liel council member pmo [15:21] Dave Pemble: Christie thanks for what you've do and but I have a question with the Riverbats coming up and down more often and and the one company that's stopping in Redwing and offloading for tours is there any way we can tap into some of that on that one company because they're taking them to wherever out of redwing would they come here and do a day trip to Hastings but how do you coordinate that with the Riverboat company I don't I just a thought [16:07] Christy Baris: well um thank you for bringing that up so we had an opportunity with Vikings Cruise Line to um do a pilot in in Hastings in July um and and it went really well I think the um the the challenge was trying to find something that worked within their budget and was a a benefit for our downtown businesses as well well we um were the downfall was we were their last stop so although guests really enjoyed themselves I think they enjoyed themselves just outside and listening to music as opposed to shopping and and eating in the restaurants that doesn't mean that that opportunity isn't still there and we want to build on it um that is something that we were working with the Confluence Hotel team on and so um I think once things get settled um that will be rekindled so no it's a really big opportunity thank you for bringing it up [16:53] Dave Pemble: yep keep working at it I I think there's a possibility there mhm [16:53] Mary Fasbender: I agree that was a great day it was a great day I was downtown I was working and it was wonderful just to hear the good comments from everybody but I will add to Christy's it was their last stop they were kind of tired they' had been away for 14 days and they just kind of wanted to sit and rest and um we had activities for them and some took in them took them in took in on them and you know she's working and I think everyone else is trying to work to get those back in also but thank you council member pumble I do have a question QR codes are so big now Christie I know we have them on our big bellies downtown are is the chamber using that them as well for like tourism and where in can you can you take that data I mean can you get that data mhm [17:40] Christy Baris: so we have them on the um permanent kiosks so so the permanent chios that we created in partnership with the city that focuses on shopping dining golf activities like that um I should have those numbers with me and I don't but I will follow up I can follow up on those so that's that's the only place that we're utilizing them right now but it's certainly opportunity to to grow great thank you [18:27] Mary Fasbender: well once again I mean we're always excited to hear the update because we know you stay busy over there and we appreciate it and our Partnerships work well together I think and we want to continue that um again I always try to stress how can we emphasize that to go west and south as well and I know we're working on it our emphasis is our downtown because of you know the Commerce that is all in two areas right there but you know how can we spread our wings and and get you know our visitors to go out to the west and go to the South so yeah [18:27] Christy Baris: and I will I think on that comment if it's okay um mayor I the the emails and the T targeted online campaigns link to uh itinerary page on our website and that has a mix of tourism activities throughout town so we highlight our golf courses we highlight Alexis Bailey we highlight live music on Wednesday at duells you know so those so um so although some of the most beautiful photos come from our Historic downtown um the itineraries are really a mix of of all over the community yeah and Dave has a great chat with h photography and yeah it's great yeah thank you thank you see you around town I'm sure thank you [19:13] Mary Fasbender: council members are there any corrections to the minutes from the let's see workshop and October first meeting okay uh comments from the audience at this time I will hear comments from the audience if you'd wish to speak to the council could step to the podium state your name and your address [20:03] Gabrielle Wigner: all right um hello my name is Gabrielle wigner and I live on South Oaks Drive um 734 and um I have concerns regarding the building that is um planned to take place um within the space behind our house and in that area um I know that we've been at previous meetings and have brought up our concerns um um and you've probably been able to maybe take a chance to read those yourself but I think it's helpful to see somebody in the flesh um who might be experiencing those things um as well as to hear it um from a voice so um one of the concerns that's pretty obvious is just the sheer number of houses that's being proposed to be back there um as it's mentioned it's grown in numbers um but this plot has not grown in size so something to really consider there is if you haven't had a chance to take a look at that space or the plot um visual for that um it does uh it did get approved through the planning committee um based off of minimum requirements and I think it's important to understand the word minimum in this context as well um also the sheer number of houses back there brings that number of drivers up um as well as because the green space is going to be limited kids are going to be playing in the streets because they don't have a yard to play in um so the safety of kids in general um we already know that there's not going to be sidewalks there and therefore the streets are the option um and that includes not only with um like I said the number of traffic um involved with that but also to the snow removal the garbage pickup and busing that will be going through that space as well um I also want to address quality over quantity um I don't know if any of you reside in a home that was built by Greg J Holmes um but I would like to kind of list off some things that we've experienced while living in our home um upon uh moving in we had an inspection in which they found that the duct work was not complete as well as um electrical lines needed to be replaced or moved differently because they did not meet code at that time um as well as electrical shorts um an outlet that has been burned um bugs in which we've done research on and had exterminators come out that weren't able to be treated with extermination due to the fact of how they reside um in which the U ofm conducted studies that we found aligned with this specific bug that stated that they grow in homes that are new homes based on water logged um wood that had been sealed up prior to drying out so we had um these foreign grein beetles is what they're they're called and those were the ones that we had to um we have to treat but they can't be treated like I said through an exterminator because of how they um grow and how they reproduce um in addition to that when we built Our Deck um siding is removed in order to place the plate um on there there was um wood that had been water logged and starting to mold and I know Nick you had come out to help us with replacing the taping job that needed to be done in order to complete that um so that was another thing that we found um as well as when we were doing landscape um during Co because that's what you do during Co was um update your home um we found uh debris from um the house and I'm not just talking about like nails or screws or things like that um up to 2 feet of siding was found and up to 4T of metal um stripping was also found so just looking at quality over quantity um really considering all of the components and I know that we're just one house that was built but with that list maybe we're a lemon house I don't know but it seems like there might be some other things involved with that um if you haven't again I what I would like to drive home with you is if you haven't had a chance to look at the space yourselves drive by and just imagine what 35 homes in there would look like because when I look out the back window I can't imagine that number of homes being back there so if you have a chance to go out and to see it for yourself I think it would really make a difference in determining if this is a quality issue or if it's a quantity issue um and with that um I don't have anything else but again the number of houses seems unrealistic for the space and really consider the safety of kids with the increased houses and the amount of traffic coming in and out of that space thank you [25:26] Mary Fasbender: thank you for your comments [25:38] Renee: mayor council members my name is Renee and I'm speaking on behalf of one of our neighbors also residing on South Oaks Drive he's not able to be here today due to a sickness so I just want to address some concerns of the narrow roads as well as the too many houses quantity over quality is mentioned here and the am amount of houses that are built up there went up every time there was a plot refuted um as well as the the fact that that there are no Trails or Parks being out or any sidewalks and I know there is a fee being paid to the city however that was addressed here um I'll um somebody from the when they discussed it in the planning committee there was something I mentioned that normally within a development like this the city gets something like a park or some sidewalks or trails and it looks like the city is getting nothing here and that's a quote right there um just a bunch of houses in the area in addition they mentioned that they moved to Hastings for the trails and everything that it feels like we are and everything that is going to happen is we are just shoving way too many houses and rushing to get this done um also there a storm water issue you know taking away putting too much you know houses or um streets out there the narrow lot sizes I you should look at the thing at the at the plat and see about the 5,000 ft minimum and how many houses are less than that minimum because for whatever reason but that's that's a fact and also street parking and and um and storm drains is an issue they mentioned um thank you [27:12] Mary Fasbender: thank you for your comments anyone else was to speak to the council at this time anyone on Zoom no one on Zoom okay thank you uh Council are there any items to be considered counc I would accept a motion to approve the consent agenda council member leld council member pemble okay any discussion Council all those in favor of the Motion state by saying I I oppos to that Motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails tonight under parks and wreck we have a an approval for a budget adjustment for the lake Isabel Park um contamination evacuation and bville and we have a update tonight and an introduction by our city administrator danin welcome Dan [28:26] Dan Wietecha: one second please here we go hey look at that um thanks uh we contracted with Minnesota Dirt Works uh actually last year uh in order to do uh a complete renovation of Lake Isabel Park um this is partly funded with uh Department of Financial Resources outdoor recreation grant for $240,000 there's also a $25,000 donation from the neighboring homeowners association uh they wanted to contribute to this neighborhood asset um uh overall the project the the balance being uh City funds overall the the project is currently just over $660,000 uh that includes uh some expenses uh that the city would be uh uh the parks and rec crew would be performing in order to save some dollars but still adds up uh but the problem we ran into most recently this summer uh was some contaminated materials and really it's a matter of there was some uh bad fill so low spot maybe a ravine uh it appears that uh uh sometime in the past a building uh was likely buried there uh in order to get rid of it so we found asbestos uh containing materials as well as some lead uh materials um because it's a park facility and uh would be used by the public uh one we have to clean it up uh but we also have to clean it up within standards that are set by the Minnesota Pollution Control agency and uh their requirement is that we have four feet of Separation uh between uh the materials and uh the usable spaces so essentially dig down four feet removing uh the bad fill truck that off as hazardous waste uh and then bring in clean fill to to fill it back uh and you can see here um uh essentially the area uh this is on top of the existing Park layout but you can see here the uh extent of the uh contaminated materials that would need to be removed sort of the if there's an arrow here this square area here is the current uh playground area uh this rectangular area is the current um uh basketball courts and you can see coming through the center here's the the current Trail through there the the new layout uh essentially that trail would go straight North through there uh the playground is roughly the same new playground and roughly the same area uh in the new picnic shelter roughly where the the basketball courts are currently so it's a key area uh the other piece that's notable to it is uh because of the elevation change in the park uh and the the the trail through there uh accessibility requirements um we we talked about could we Dig Down 2 ft and bring in 4 feet and and just sort of Mound it up and that doesn't work if we're trying to have an accessible Trail getting from a high High section of the park to a low section of the park so um we're looking at $350,000 cost to remove those materials I think it's about 3,800 cubic yards uh and bring in clean fill uh adding on a 10% contingency because it's been needed all throughout this project um we had looked at a couple of grant opportunities uh we've been successful at uh uh acquiring some County and met Council grants in the past for site cleanup but typically or they're uh geared towards Economic Development projects you know remove the contaminations from this site in order to prep it for uh Art Space to go up or uh panach cidery uh proposal a couple of years ago not an existing Park we could apply uh but if we did we're not doing any more work this fall uh we're waiting till spring on something that quite frankly is unlikely uh there also some question in terms of would we need to do some additional environmental study to even be eligible for one of those grants um staff's recommendation is get this back on course uh let let's just suck it up and have to have the budget amendment realize this is an expensive project for the park and um uh the contractor would be able to get in this fall instead of waiting till spring get in this fall complete all the site remediation removing the Excavating out the contaminated soils uh bring in clean fill uh level it off and then in the spring be able to come in and put in playgrounds and trails and uh the other amenities and get this done I Believe by June next year um uh so the recommendation really is a $385,000 budget amendment uh that would come come from uh the city's uh Park dedication fees means they go to this park instead of some other Park in town um but certainly an eligible use for it and uh tough when you're already in the middle of a project to have this kind of added cost to it but $385,000 that includes a 10% contingency on top of the the quote we have for the soil removals with that I can take any questions thank you [33:54] Lisa Leifeld: thank you Dan common borrow import $23.50 a cubic yard is that just a clean fill for underneath the top soil [33:54] Dan Wietecha: yeah and and and most of that's Trucking most of that's what I'm sorry the truck to haul it in not the the material itself [34:41] Lisa Leifeld: super random I know our staff is really smart but did we look into the um Mississippi sand sitting across the river there that they're drudging out and giving away I cannot speak to that specific I don't know if something being given away but I do know I do know that that this came up at the park committee meeting a couple of weeks ago and and I believe that Chris looked into it I I just I can't I I would just want to make sure that somebody's been in contact with them as far as what is over there I mean I don't know what 300 3,819 cubic yards looks like but I'm sure it's a lot I mean I know what it took to get four cubic yards into my backyard so I can imagine but that might I mean always looking for ways to Sure Save A Buck and nothing better than saying you've got that Mississippi sand in your in your project so worth checking into [35:29] Dan Wietecha: we we can certainly check and confirm awesome thanks you [35:29] Mary Fasbender: council member lifeo any other discussion Council okay with that that I have a motion to approve the 2023 budget amendment for Lake Isabel contamination and evacuation and backfill council member pambo so move council member Lawrence newer discussion Council all those in favor of the Motion state by saying I I oppose to that Motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails thanks Dan uh South Oaks of Hasting fourth edition um tonight we will hear an introduction by community development director John Hinman welcome John [36:45] John Hinzman: thank you mayor City Council Members I'm just going to put presentation up here just a moment all right mayor and Council we have before us tonight's South Oaks of Hastings fourth edition and I understand that for many of you you've uh seen this subdivision in various forms over the years we're pleased to have something come forward tonight that we believe is the finality of it which is a subdivision of the property into 35 single family lots within your request tonight there are four separate actions that we're asking for tonight one of them is a resolution to De vacate the existing easement I'm going to put that up here for a second previous phase of South Oaks Edition we established easements within the red area those easements need to be erased so that we could put new easements on the property does not affect any any uh existing utilities that are there nor does it affect anyone adjacent to the property we did hold a public hearing on this in September 18th and did not have any comment on that then we have the preliminary and final plat approval that is the subdivision of the property here into 35 single family lots the roads and the outlots that you see before us here and I'll go through a little bit of that review as we move forward through the presentation along with that we have a couple of agreements that we do upon the approval of a plant one of them is the development agreement which memorializes the condition of the plant approval and the the standards for site development so engineering best standards uh payments of fees those types of things and then the other one is the storm water management agreement there will be a storm water management pond on the property located in the northeast corner on Outlaw a the storm water management agreement establishes the construction and maintenance obligations for that pond and I'll get into that in a little moment I do want to point out that there was a change to the amend to the report that was sent out this morning staff did learn on Friday that there would be a comprehensive plan Amendment necessary to our land use map to accommodate this subdivision right now on our comprehensive plan map we have this designated for what's term medium density which has a a density range of eight units or more per acre uh a previous version of that plan plan that I was referencing showed a lower density on it uh this one's on me folks I I apologize for having this late addition to It ultimately what we're going to need to do is to bring forward a comprehensive plan Amendment this will involve ROV by the Planning Commission on November 13th and then review by the Council on November 20th what we are doing tonight is I'm recommending moving forward on the actions as presented the only change on that would be the condition of preliminary and Final PL approval conditioned on this comprehensive plan Amendment uh the comprehensive plan Amendment does nothing to affect what is being proposed tonight for the subdivision itself it changes the land use map to match the density that this project will be so just bring that forward for your uh information looking at the project itself there there's been some quite some history on this as you guys may know we've been looking at the subdivision now for over 20 years in various forms the original portion of South Oaks came forward in about 2001 as what's termed a planed residential development it was a combination between single family and town home type development there was some tradeoffs made at that time for having more density in one area L less density in another area uh led to some public amenities such as the uh Trail along between Bulan drive and the Vermillion river which was constructed in an earlier part of this phase this portion here that's being proposed to South Oaks fourth edition has been uh been the subject of a couple of different applications over the years originally when we looked at this property this was going to be Town Homes it was going to be 47 Town Homes Al together the street layout and the lot layout for that was for that 47 what we're seeing today is 35 single family homes one of the things that we did at that time as well is we when we set up the street Network for the town homes it's pretty similar to what we have here for the street Network today there was a decision made by previous Council to allow for a 50-ft rideway and 28 ft uh Road section within this uh this is a little bit smaller than a typical Road section the rationale was that this would work better within the subdivision here and that there's not any real through streets uh if you look at the at the boundaries of this plat here it's really the last section of development roads within the subdivision will connect to other roads and do not connect to any other subdivision so essentially the traffic that's coming within the subdivision is is really localized and focused upon the people that will be moving in there uh one of the changes that we do have over previous additions of this plant is Storm waterer ponding on site uh Outlaw D which is located in the northeast corner will be an outlaw for stormw waterer ponding a developer has agreed to dedicate that Outlaw to the city the city would contract out the maintenance to the individual owners within the subdivision the individual owners would be responsible for those maintenance obligations that would be built back to them so that is the agreement that we've come upon here uh seems workable and we're moving forward with that one of the things that's a little bit unusual about this subdivision here is in that Outlaw d uh it exceeds our normal depth to maintain vegetation so we did put a longer period of time a three-year period on the um on the warranty for landscaping of to make sure that everything takes uh because it's a little bit unusual on that standpoint Planning Commission did review this on a couple of different occasions under the subdivision looked at it on September 25th did recommend approval of it per the conditions within your staff report we had a couple of residents that came forward at that meeting had some concerns about lot sizes density of homes number of lots safety of kids on street tree preservation and park dedication so do do note that the specific comments in that are within the record within your report as well there was also a continuation of this uh at the August 28th meeting where there was also comment taken at that time so looking at the subdivision itself just to highlight a couple of items these would be single family zoned R3 which is similar to the other property surrounding it it is under a planned residential development the planned residential development scenario allows us to provide some flexibility on the side of lot provided that a a a density established is maintained throughout the development so what you'll see here is properties that vary in size from anything from 4500 to 7100 Square ft the average size is about 5,300 squ ft within the R3 District we do have a minimum 5,000 ft lot size under traditional developments but because of the planned residential development scenario we can allow for these types of flexibilities within it this will be paying into our Park dedication fund the Park and Recreation Commission looked at this uh a few years ago did recommend the payment of of uh cash in Lou of land citing the uh location of parks within the area so those will be repaid into the plan itself and we've spent some had some extensive review of the storm water plan our uh engineer has signed off on that so we're happy to bring that forward so before you tonight we do have the four actions for you uh for the items pertaining to South Oaks fourth edition uh those can be taken individually they can be taken all at one if you so choose to do so uh the developer Greg jablonsky is available tonight too if you have any questions for him and I could take any questions as well thank you thank you [44:23] Mary Fasbender: John Council discussion council member leld [45:08] Lisa Leifeld: thanks your honor John so you made a comment a bit ago about the through streets so there's an entrance from 31st and an entrance from South Oaks and then further on South Oaks that little over on the right there won't be anything coming out there [45:08] John Hinzman: council member you can kind of see the outline here so there will be Street will go down here to connecting to these stubs and another Street will come here to South Oak so two entrances from South Oaks one from 31st so it'll kind of horseshoe yeah kind of have a wishbone in there yeah Wishbone okay all right and then looking around it looks as though the houses to the east that's Town Homes of some sort correct that has sidewalks but it looks like the houses to the direct North the South and the West those neighborhoods don't have sidewalks [45:55] John Hinzman: yeah council member I'm looking at the area photo here for sidewalks at on 31st Street there's a sidewalk here going on 31st uh it's a collector road so sidewalk policy states that on collector roads will put a sidewalk indoor Trail or if there's a connection to a school or a park so those are what we use to make determinations for sidewalks here so we do have the sidewalk on 31st we do have a trail further up uh that this connects to here there's not one on Century or South Oaks uh and I don't believe there's one on on Century I said Olsen Olsson and Century excuse me so just the one on 31st so [46:41] Lisa Leifeld: Planning Commission when they met did they have any comments about um parking within the neighborhood based I've read reading through about the lot sizes less space between driveways whoops let me go back to here what was the recommendation regarding that [46:41] John Hinzman: recommendation by Planning Commission is was to move forward with the design as shown here there was some comment pertaining to when you have a smaller lot with that you have less availability to par park within the streets because your your gaps between driveways are less on that from a parking standpoint our parking ordinance requires two parking spaces per unit with on these units here they'll have a two-stall garage that accounts for two of them and then the driveway itself which accounts for another so they're they're uh providing at least four spaces per unit which is twice what we require uh if you got situations for overflow where you know people have multiple people over that could put a strain within the street system system there but it's beyond what we can require in the uh subdivision code [47:27] Lisa Leifeld: thanks John additional question to that then if the um our information we have that states a zoning District establishes a minimum lot size of 5,000 square ft and approximately half of these lots are less than that 5,000 so what we're looking at here is a variance to allow for that smaller lot size is that what what is one of the asks of us right now [47:27] John Hinzman: uh council member not an ask for a variance itself okay uh we have something termed a planed residential development which is this de development was uh zoned as R3 PRD what that allows is for the lot sizes and setbacks to vary provided that they meet an average the average that was established at that time was you needed to be at least the average for the Lots be at least the minimum lot size of the district which is 5,000 so that's where when you take a look at the average they're at about 5,300 Square ft so it does meet the terms of that planed residential development [48:14] Lisa Leifeld: okay I'm going to keep going I have questions sure and then another question I saw measurements of so am I seeing setbacks of 20 ft from Curb I'm guessing to the front of the house [48:14] John Hinzman: uh 20 ft from the RightWay itself so right so you're going to have a little bit more probably another 12 ft or so till you get to the curb on this got it okay and then side 7 ft so we could be talking from your garage to the neighbor kitchen or bedroom 7 ft uh that'd be 7 feet from the property Lin you double that so be 14 Perfect all right thanks John appreciate you answering my questions [49:01] Mary Fasbender: thank you council member Lil any other Council discussion okay if you are comfortable Council um we would do all all four motions at the same time once again that is one a resolution of vacation certain easement location within the city um two a resolution of the city council the city of Hastings granting preliminary and final plat approval of South Oaks three development agreement for the plat of South Oaks of Hastings fourth edition by and between the city of Hastings and Greg J hmes and Susan M jablonsky and Greg J Holmes Hastings storm water and did I hit them all yep I did the storm water uh development agreement for the plat of South Oak right all four any questions council member lifeo [50:34] Lisa Leifeld: you know what I'm on a roll so and since the Builder's here um do we have an idea are we being told at all what the price Point's going to be on these houses yes uh does Mr javoski have anything to to share on that [50:34] Greg Jablonsky: yeah base price will be 3349 for our heritage plan I did have a updated the plan of we just actually received that so I think I emailed one Nick there's any way to pass thatone yeah is it a paper copy it's on his phone yeah [51:20] John Hinzman: John has a followup to that then I could I'll email that over to council and then [51:20] Greg Jablonsky: as a follow up to that these are full basements not on slab they are slab on but with a basement option so our BAS price these are very similar to what we built on some drive very similar to what we built on 31st Street and uh so this is kind of a continuation the only thing we've done is made some updates if you would elevations okay and so I think they're much more attractive because we've added some G and current styling if you would to the home thanks thanks Greg I think that what this does is give 35 families ability to buy a home and that what could be lowest 300 that's going to be higher and higher but for sure under 350 and p& payments to my lend is 1500 P for these mortgages so that's a very affordable alternative for folks that maybe don't want to right now I think it's it's needed option we'll get 35 News in this community provide homes for families schools things like that I think very [52:08] Mary Fasbender: I will just add that there is an additional Trail right to the West too um I believe dve mm so oh yeah lot of detail Parts plan on this and I think it's a great system so and I I do believe that the sidewalks and Trail are work necessary people thank you Greg council member pimble [52:55] Dave Pemble: you know listening to this discussion and I'll say John you know you know I like lots that have space and it's but I'm hearing from my kids that you know they want to buy homes that they can afford to buy the times have changed and it is difficult to find a house in what's called price point for young families and my concern is and I I believe this development has to go through but the point I want to say is what's changing what Hastings is changing is you know we want young families it's good for the community but it's also good for the school district we need to have something in this kind of price point yes if the the size of the lot is smaller and there's but pretty quick we're going to be looking at homes that are you know in this five to 7 $1,000 because the cost of everything is just going to keep going up and if you can get 35 homes built that are solid good homes hopefully that will bring in these folks from other parts of the community are away from Hastings coming to Hastings to want to live here and raise their families here yes there are things that are difficult to about this size and this development but as we move forward as as a community we need to think about those things to try and bring in something that's at a lower price point to entice these folks to come to our community and live here and grow here thank you thank you council member pambo [54:30] Mary Fasbender: council member leel [54:30] Lisa Leifeld: one side note to um Greg's comment a $350,000 home is is never going to cost you $1,500 a month I know you're that's just principal interest yeah I I'm familiar but for those for those listening and hold up those listening and all excited about my God I could afford a $1,500 house payment I can assure you a $350,000 home is not going to cost you $1,500 a month even on your principal and interest so on that if you want to speak I'd ask that you go to the microphone [55:33] Greg Jablonsky: so what Craig and I were talking about Craig is with Axia and we were talking about a $320,000 home with a probably a substantial down payment maybe 20 or 25,000 and it does seem like a lot of people today young couples seem to have that kind of down payment when I grew up wasn't the case nobody had down payments that was the era of contract for Deeds thousand do down move in and hope you make the payments so that has changed and I think one of the biggest things that's changed on this project is the scope of it when we went to detach single family homes this gives people a chance to get a payment that they can't afford it may not be 1,500 but we're trying to approach that we can also do closing costs we can do different things to make this affordable I was faced with this I had the ability to do 48 town homes in this same land I've looked at lar projects there was one in Ham Lake and I've got pictures of it and I'll try and send it to you guys this was my choice I think it will be a very nice neighborhood it will be a little tighter than South Oaks but much the same as South Oaks Drive this is really nothing new we're staying with the same and I guess to differentiate between between 48 town homes and what that would look like talk about close driveways nowhere for snow uh this is just so much better by going with single family the sidey yard setbacks aren't really any different than on South Oaks The Yards may be tighter we had to do something to kind of treat try and keep a little bit of an affordability factor to these hes you know with lots and what it costs to put in the infrastructure today you just have to cut it somewhere to make it it's way better than Town Homes if I did 48 towns town homes in here it it just doesn't look as nice this will look nice agree thank you [57:04] Mary Fasbender: Greg thank you uh council member house [57:51] Angie Haus: thank you your honor um quick question for you John actually I think council member leld asked and got answered most of mine but uh with this being a little bit smaller development with or a smaller area for development is snow removal going to be a little bit trickier than this way um is there any concerns about that I know it was brought up on planning committee a couple times [57:51] John Hinzman: sure council member for snow removal itself these would be public roads so we would be taking this care of the snow removal uh the roadway width would be a little bit smaller than our typical 32t section so there'd be less snow to plow in there uh the boulevard areas that we would have uh would would be a little smaller but when you take a look at the percentage on the street with not any real smaller there I don't anticipate at issues with snow storage within the development itself we've we've got adequate RightWay within there for snow storage thank you [58:38] Mary Fasbender: John thank you council member house well I'm just excited and I think council is too to see this type of housing come for our community I mean we've been asking for it for a long time and I agree with Greg I mean town houses I don't think would be Sal that salable to young families they want a home home they want a single family house so um I I'm support I would love to support this development and I'm sure that Greg is going to take into consideration the com comments that he' heard tonight and at the planning meeting so Council um there is a motion out there I mean there's it's been stated but we don't have a first or a second yet I'll motion to move forward with that council member Lawrence uh first just a clarification mayor and council member Lawrence is this a motion for all four of the items or for one okay thank you four and council member pimble is the second new or additional discussion Council all those in state in favor of ABC and D for South Oaks of Hastings fourth edition all those the motion say I I and all those opposed to the Motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails thank you John thank you Greg for answering your questions answering the questions okay conso under Administration we have a pre-authorized purchase of a ladder truck with uh McQueen equipment Dan could you give us a little information and a little update [1:00:09] Mary Fasbender: thank you mayor um this item is different than what we were talking about just a month ago when we were doing the preliminary 2024 budget uh although we planned on uh saving towards a new ladder truck uh and recognized that their years lead time uh that uh uh really we be saving for a future truck um uh a couple of things here one um the price is better than what we had estimated we had thought it'd be about 1.9 million and we're looking at uh somewhere in the range of 1 16 to 17 um uh the other piece to it is uh although we had uh an envisioned uh saving $900,000 towards it and over the next couple of years coming up with the remainder uh staff's recommendation is uh dig deep I'll explain that in a second but uh Pur the entire thing up front here now uh which gets us about $142,000 discount uh versus uh paying for it on on delivery um uh delivery is 31 to 34 months out so we're looking at August of 2026 um but uh it is something that we're um anticipating um needing uh uh improvements to to the uh the fleet we have an existing ladder truck that uh still has um uh tradein value so to speak that we would like to capitalize on rather than driving it till it's done uh the replacement lad truck is a little bit smaller uh and has the ability to function as an engine so it's more functionally usable uh it also being smaller and sort of less computer on it uh is more user friendly uh as well as significantly Less on uh maintenance aspects to it it seems there's always some sensor going out on the the complicated existing truck um pricing we have is through the Houston Galveston Consortium so essentially um uh um pre-qualified bid so we know these are prices are good um uh recommend at minimum um authorizing it now because the cost goes up $177,000 at the end of the month um but uh the the figures we're looking at uh if we purchase it out right now uh 1, 580,000 in change uh if we wanted to authorize it now but wait 2 and A2 years 3 years for delivery uh the cost there would be uh 1,722 th000 in change so about $142,000 savings um talking with the finance department we would uh draw those additional sources uh from two locations or two uh U two two areas of our our reserves one being the budget stabilization fund which is um uh monies that we uh set aside for a future Capital expense so a couple of years ago we were or several years ago we were into anticipating needing to uh purchase A4 million dollars of new radios for the police department so we were saving money for a couple of years in anticipation of that uh then when we bought those we didn't use the the budget stabilization fund we used some other cash uh so there's some money in that stabilization fund that can be uh utilized the other piece is uh our uh debt Redemption fund our fund 500 which um if we bonded for a project a neighborhood Project A Street project for example is what we typically would do um uh let's say it's a um hypothetically a $4 million bond issue uh but project goes well uh we don't need contingency funds the excess monies that we bonded for we put into this debt Redemption fund it does have uh legal restrictions on how those monies can be used uh so they can be used for something that um uh either buying down an a future bond issue or uh uh towards something that might otherwise be borrowed for such as a $1.6 million truck um uh so there there's some funding there that's available to help make up that that difference so we were planning on 900,000 uh if we can come up with uh another $680,000 and buy it now which staff uh believes we can and recommends that we do uh it does save us $140 some th000 uh going forward with that I can certainly take questions on behalf of the fire department thank you [1:05:34] Mary Fasbender: thank you Dan council member pimble [1:05:34] Dave Pemble: yeah Dan when the old fire truck the old ladder truck is how old and give us some sense of how many times it's out of service because of of computer glitches it it just got back in service cuz I saw it was gone for two or three days it's it's like it it has a lot of comp it's it's just a complex piece of equipment has a lot of sensors and computers on it um uh it's nice but the there's I don't want to say always but there's frequently something uh going out and needs to be fixed in order to safely maintain it in service uh we've spent to date $23,000 on maintenance this year um I don't have a a number of times that it's out but it's often um [1:06:19] Dan Wietecha: that's that's my concern is this reliability of something that's here to protect the community and yes we have a ladder truck but if the lad truck is only in service 70 80% of the time uh where are we at and we need to replace that but my second part of that question is a newer version a modified ladder truck hopefully technology has improved so we don't have so many computers and sensors to run something and make it work and it's more sustainable I guess is the right way to look at it and say okay we're spending x amount of dollars but we want something that's going to be in service 99.9% of the time and not be sitting at somebody else's shop trying to be fixed because who God only knows when you're going to need it and you don't have one and then we're looking for Mutual Aid to try and get somebody here with a ladder truck uh that could be a problem thank you thank you [1:07:52] Mary Fasbender: council member pmo council member Lawrence [1:07:52] Tim Lawrence: thank you honor I'd like to make a motion to pre-approve the purchase of the ladder truck and authorize signature of contract with McQueen emergency um that's it second [1:08:38] Mary Fasbender: thank you and a second by council member house any new discussion Council all those in favor of the Motion state by saying I I oppose that Motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails thanks Dan uh tonight also Dan will give us a little introduction for the national class Au action settlement for the PS uh [1:08:38] Dan Wietecha: thank you mayor um this item is just informational uh no action is requested this evening uh but uh do expect to have a recommendation at a November meeting but felt this is important enough to uh at least introduce it earlier for you um recently there has been a uh multi-district litigation against 3M and Dupont um regarding posos it is being or has been overseen by the US District Court in South Carolina uh these National settlements are um roughly 10 1 12 to 12 12 billion with a B on 3m's uh case and about 1.2 billion in DuPont's case uh those amounts uh would be reduced by legal costs administrative fees Etc uh which have not been determined at this point uh my understanding is the settlements would also be paid over a 9-year period um uh Hastings uh having a public water supply with uh posos is eligible to participate in the settlement uh using their calculator uh the estimate is we would receive $1.5 million uh which um you although we we're talking large numbers when you spread it across the entire country one and a half million um for Hastings uh is uh uh far less than the estimated $69 million construction we're looking at uh plus the operation and maintenance of $800,000 to a million per year um do have the option at at uh remaining in the class action uh but I expect that my recommendation next month would be that we opt out uh we do need to uh if so desired we would need to affirmatively opt out uh otherwise you're automatically rolled into it uh and the deadlines are in early December so we've got a couple meetings in between there if people have some questions or something they want researched or answered uh um did talk with our environmental attorney on this but if there were other questions people had uh we can certainly consider those before acting what in the next month any thoughts or questions tonight uh otherwise it really is just for your information at this point thanks [1:10:58] Mary Fasbender: Dan any questions tonight Council okay then we will move on to a resolution for a wrin votes for the local election in this item we have an introduction from our assistant City administrator Kelly mtal welcome Kelly [1:11:44] Kelly Murtaugh: thank you mayor council members uh as you know our state legislature was very busy uh this past year and they passed new legislation in a number of different areas including elections of course so what's before you this evening is a decision on how we'll handle write-ins for local elections currently we are required to tally all rins for local elections for office this is inefficient and probably unnecessary practice and we I looked back at the last uh general election we had approximately 400 right in votes um and some of them may not have represented a uh resident in the city so they were a variety of WR in votes so one of the challenges to the tally process for WR in votes that we've been required to uh tally rins even if the oval was not filled in on a ballot so I wanted to show you that in the instructions folks are required to fill in the oval um but we were instructed in tallying things that even if they didn't fill in the oval but wrote in a write in candidate name we still had to tally it uh so we have a we have the tabulators that can read the ballots and do the tallying for us um but we still had to hand go through each of them just to see if there was a writing candidate um just in case uh and so the neat one of the neat moves that they made this year was that we don't have to count them if they don't fill in the oval so that was a big win right there no matter what the ballot looks like uh so that leads to the next piece um which are our options and so there are two options before you for cities uh to write um tally the right in votes and so there the first option is to require candidates who might be writing candidates to file a written request uh no later than the 7eventh day before the election and that so if someone did that then we would have to go through and check to see if they got any votes because we would have to tally them uh if they indicated that they were interested in having us do that so that's one option the other option is to require that they are only individually recorded if the total number of right-in votes for that office is equal to or greater than the fewest number of non-ri in votes for a ballot candidate which is a mouthful of course but essentially what that means is if the total number of wrin votes is less than all the other candidates we don't have to touch it we just know the number but we don't have to tally any individual pieces this is the option that uh staff are recommending that we go with um again our we had just under 400 write in um votes for the last election in many thousands of Voters who come in and do the voting uh so that's what we're recommending it's a relatively simple thing but we do we are required to do resolution to make a choice otherwise we are still doing it the same way we've been doing it for the last number of decades so I can take any questions that you might have at this point thank you Kelly [1:14:54] Mary Fasbender: any questions Council council member house [1:14:54] Angie Haus: thank you Kelly uh seems like a much more effective system uh to do the total number of right and votes for office is equal or greater than makes tons of sense I'd like to move that motion forward okay one second thank you council member house and [1:15:41] Mary Fasbender: council member LEL seconds any other discussion Council all those in favor of the Motion state by saying I I oppose that Motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails any announcements Council I have a couple uh the Hastings Community Halloween party is Friday October 27th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the high school recommended for families kids under uh 12 and under it's a free event plus please bring ing a non-p perishable food item for the Hastings family service or a cash or check donation for the Youth impact Council in uh for their scholarships Organics Recycling and composing composting has been uh become increasingly trendy topics in the past years and what really what what are they really learn more about how comp composting works how it benefits the community and how you can easily do your part in that crash course it is on Tuesday October 24th here at City Hall in the community room some from 7 to 8: I'd like to recognize the coming up October 28th is National First Responders day and thank all of our First Responders and their service from for our community meetings Tuesday October 17th the Heritage preservation commission has been cancelled Wednesday October 18th 6: pm. Parks and Recreation Commission meeting Monday October 23rd the planning committee of council has been cancelled Planning Commission meeting is at 700 p.m. Wednesday October 25th is a 700 p.m. Public Safety Committee meeting and Monday November 6 is a 7 p.m. council meeting I would accept a motion for adjournment council member pemble and council member Lawrence has a second no discussion all those in favor of the Motion state by saying I I I oppos to that motion stay by saying nay and that motion PR we are adjourned