[Music] [Music] [Music] Goodwin >> here. >> Harding hug >> here. >> Melton is absent. Row >> here. >> Fester. >> Mr. President, >> please stand for the pledge allegiance. Standing for opening remarks by Council Member Don. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. You may have a seat. I'd like to share a poem written in 1719 by Isaac Watts. While it's not originally written as a Christmas carol, it certainly has morphed into that over the years. It goes like this. Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing. Joy to the earth the Savior reigns. Let men their songs employ while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy. He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love. Just wanted to say merry Christmas. And one other thing, while driving this Christmas season, slow down the speed, stop at red lights, and watch for pedestrians. My hope is that everyone has a joyous holiday this year. >> An affidavit of publication is on file and a current copy of the Open Meeting Act is posted in a white binder on the east wall of legislative chambers. >> Good afternoon. Welcome to the meeting of the Omaha City Council. As a courtesy to those in attendance and to facilitate the conduct of our business, we ask that you please silence or turn off all electronic devices. A reminder that you will have three minutes to speak on an agenda item. Please stay on topic. If you would like your comments entered into the public record, you can email the city clerk's office at city clerk@c cityofmaha.org. Council members receive these emails and we read them. Finally, council members may ask members of the audience back up for clarifying questions, but not for extra time to speak. I would like to remind council members to speak clearly into their microphones so audience members and those in attendance at home can hear. And also for people that come up to speak at the podium, make sure those microphones are right in front of you so we can hear you as well. Item six, to consider a class liquor license for Golden Turtle located at 3910 Harney Street. >> Public hearing is now open on item number six. Good afternoon. >> Good afternoon. My name is Duke Tran. Address is 9910, North 48 Street, Street Sweet 103B, Omaha, Nebraska 68152. I'm appearing on behalf of the applicant and the manager applicant. I'll be happy to answer any question you may have. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Are there any proponents of item number six? Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. I got question for you, please. >> Yes, sir. >> Um, just what are the hours going to be? >> Uh, the hour will be from 11 to 10 on a regular day and Friday and Saturday will be uh closed at 2:00 a.m. on the next day. >> And what kind of what kind of business are you going to have? >> This is a restaurant with a bar. is uh serving the Vietnamese food in the Omaha area and we want to uh serve some alcohol with the food. >> Okay. Well, it's I can't make a motion to support this, but I'll be glad to be supportive today and I wish you well in Blackstone. Welcome to Blackstone. >> Thank you, sir. >> Second. >> Got a motion in a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Yes. >> Hardin. >> Yes. >> Hug. Yes. >> Row. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President, >> I. Motion pass six to zero. Item seven to consider a class D liquor license for Benson Grocery located at 5420 Northwest Radio Highway. A's communication and opposition. >> Public hearing is now open on item number seven. Do we have the applicant on Zoom? >> Okay. >> Good afternoon, Mr. >> Mr. Hton. Good afternoon, >> members of the council. My name is David Hton here on behalf of the applicant. Uh my address 284 South 87th Avenue. Uh the applicant is Benson Grocery LLC. Doing business as Benson Grocery be located at 5420 Northwest Radial Highway. Uh the applicant's name is Rahel Amsidu and her husband's name is Worku uh Makawen. Um he's a physician in town. They're looking to expand um and start a business for their family. when this opportunity became available. The hours of operation will be 8 am to 10 pm. They will operate as a groceryer. Uh they'll have a variety of fresh fruit and some vegetables, canned foods and vegetables, uh dairy, um all of your ger and convenience items. The council has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. >> Thank you. Are there any proponents here on item number seven? Seeing none, are there any opponents? Uh Brandon Royal uh 5243 Northwest Radial Highway. Uh I live right across the street from this. Um I oppose this because there are too many uh shops on this block selling alcohol and smoke products already. Uh the community doesn't want anymore. Thank you. >> Thank you. Are there any other opponents here? My name is Norian Benin. I live at 5239 Northwest Radial Highway and I've lived there for 20 years. Um I oppose the liquor license um because we have plenty of liquor opportunities in um the Benson area. Also because it is close to uh both Benson High School and the junior high that next door. And I think it just creates another opportunity for school children to find a little trouble. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Are there any other opponents here today? Item number seven. >> Seeing none, public hearing is closed. Council member Feserson, you're recognized. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, this application is at about 54th Northwest Radial, which is in my district. Uh, so I appreciate those that are here to express their concern about a few things. And I did speak with um another constituent that has a property there that also had a concern. U Mr. Hton, if you want to come back up just for a minute. Of >> course. >> I appreciated our conversation about this this morning as well. Um and I think he did a good job of explaining what he intends to do there, the applicant. Um so it will will in fact be additional grocery items and things of that nature, not just a liquor store, right? >> That's correct. >> Yep. >> What types of things again? Um I if you'll I have an exhaustive list if you want to hear it but I doubt you do. I can short circuit it for you. Let's see. My apologies for the delay. Sure. Uh, I'll have f fresh vegetables including asparagus, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, corn, cucumbers, greens, lettuce, mushrooms, onions, peppers, potatoes, spinach, sprouts, squash, tomatoes, and zucchini. Uh, canned foods, applesauce, baked beans, carrots, corn, beans, mixed fruits, mixed veggies, olives, pasta, sauce, pickles, reffried beans, tuna soups, tomatoes. uh various grocery uh items such as gravy, honey, jelly, preserves, ketchup, mayonnaise, pancake if I can go on. >> Okay. Convenience store but with fresh offerings as well. >> That That's right. Um >> it is not a gas station. It's just a >> It's purely a grosser. Yeah. >> And I I did have occasion to speak today. I just wanted to be upfront with the council. Um the gentleman that submitted the written opposition. Um, we understand their concerns. Uh, I think they're concerned about liquor in general in the community. Um, if they had specific concerns, my client would be happy to address any of those if it was litter uh or any problematic behavior in the >> currently a vacant building. Um, and this would be one bay in that renovated building, right? >> That's correct. Y >> and the other two bays, what were the thoughts there? They'd be rented or leased. Yeah, I think the idea is to to find tenants for for those bays. >> Okay. And I'm sure your client, if they haven't already, would take um liquor training license, liquor training courses uh to make sure they aren't having any problems with kids or minors. >> Yes. Willing to do um whatever the law requires and then some. >> Okay. And then the other person I talked to was mostly concerned about litter, but it's litter that's already happening there. So, it's coming from a different location, which I will deal with. Um, so it's not your your client's um issue at the moment, but realizing that's a thing of sensitivity. Um, a commitment from you and your client to not have litter uh issues on this property once they're a tenant. >> Yes, I spoke with them before I came here. They apologize they couldn't be here. They were working today, but um that's correct. He they'll make every effort to make sure that um there's not litter on around or adjacent to their property. Okay. >> They certainly don't want to be a burden to their neighbors. >> Okay. With those commitments, I would uh motion to approve. >> Second. >> Got a motion and a second. Got other lights. Council member Hug, you're recognized, >> sir. >> Yes. >> Um do you have an approximate percentage of the floor space that would be occupied for >> um I can find that. I have to look through the application if you give me a moment. >> Excuse me. Now the dimensions are going to be uh 20 by 15. Um they do not have any blueprints. I think the building length is approximately 60 ft by 50 ft. >> Okay. So the area to dis to sell alcohol will be how big? >> Um I don't have a floor space percentage on what will be dedicated to alcohol sales. >> All right. So we we don't know. >> I'm not sure >> the percentage of the floor space that will be used for selling alcohol. >> Yeah, I don't have that in the application. >> All right. Thank you. >> You're welcome. No further lights. We had a motion and a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Hardy. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Row. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President. >> I. >> Motion pass six to zero. >> Thank you. >> Item eight to consider a change of location application for Don and Millies to be located at 18110 Right Plaza. >> Public hearing is now open on item number eight. Applicant here. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Name's uh Kevin Ames. Address is 14344 Y Street. It's Omaha 68137. I'm a representative of the company and yes, we're looking to we submitted an application to change our liquor license from 4430 Farnum Street to 18110 Reich Plaza. So, >> thank you. Are there any proponents here today? Item number eight. Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. >> Got a motion and a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Hardin. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Row. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President. >> I. >> Motion pass six to zero. Item nine to consider a liquor license addition application for Little Palonia located at 3804 Q Street to add an outdoor area. I will now open the public hearing on item number nine. The applicant by Zoom, I believe, Miss Gana, can you hear us? Don't get doing 4819 Glasow Avenue Nebraska 5425021771. >> Thank you. If we have any questions, we'll come back to you. Thank you. Are there any proponents here today? Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. Council member Hug, you're recognized. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. President. Uh, Karen, can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, you understand that your bar will still be subject to abiding by the uh noise ordinances that the city has in place? >> Yes. >> Okay. All right. Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Sorry. I'll do it in a second. Roll call. Goodwin, >> yes. >> Hardin, >> yes. >> Hug, Row, Fester, >> Mr. President, >> I. >> Motion pass six to zero. >> Item 10 to consider a liquor license edition application for Flicks Lounge located at 1019 South 10th Street to add the building basement. >> The public hearing is now open on item number 10. Is the applicant here? Good afternoon. >> Good afternoon. Good afternoon, sir. Uh Joey Kumston, 2915 Bankraftoft Street. Um, it's for flex lounge and additional seating and stuff. Just seating in the back and yeah, you're doing great. >> If we have any question, we'll come back to you. >> Yes, sir. >> Thanks. Are there any proponents here on item number 10? Seeing none, are there any opponents? Uh, good afternoon city council, Donny R. Johnson, the Johnson Equestion Foundation and North Hall Concerned Citizen Foundation, 4928 North 52nd Street. I have nothing against this gentleman, but we we was asking that they asked me to ask Mr. Harding to I told him I was going to be voting for Mr. Hardy. Would he debate Mr. Kavanagh about medical marijuana? >> Donnie, you're off topic. Thank you, sir. >> But I vote for you, Mr. Hardy. Are there any other opponents here on item number 10? Public hearing is closed. This is in my district. I will be supporting it if we can get a motion. >> Got a motion in a second. Thank you. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Hardin. >> Yes. >> Hug. Yes. >> Row. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President. >> I. >> Motion pass six to zero. >> Items 11 through 15 can be considered together for Peace Ridge One located northeast of 204th and Harney Streets. Planning Board and Planning Department recommend approval. Items 11 and 12 are ordinances to reszone this property from R4 district and R seven district to R4 district and R seven district. Item 13, an ordinance to approve a major amendment to a PUD overlay district. Item 14, a resolution to approve a major amendment to the special use permit to allow general office in the R seven district. Item 15, a resolution to approve the final plat. >> The public hearing is now open for items 11 through 15. Good afternoon. >> Good afternoon. Ben Drews, 10836 Old Mill Road with TD2 Engineering here on behalf of the applicant to answer any questions you may have. >> Thank you. Are there any proponents here on items 11 through 15? Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. >> Have to approve. >> We got a motion in a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Yes. >> Hardin. >> Yes. >> Hug. Row. Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President >> I. >> Motion pass 6 to zero. >> Thank you. >> Item 16, an ordinance to reszone property located at 1947 South 13th Street from GI District 10BD district. Planning board and planning department recommend approval. >> Public hearing is now open on item number 16. Is the applicant here today? Are there any proponents on item number 16? >> Where do we get the list for the item numbers? I don't know which >> are there. You can talk to the clerk. Are there any proponents here? Item 16. Are there any opponents? >> Public hearing is closed. >> Got a motion to second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Hardin. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Row. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President. >> I. >> Motion pass six to zero. Item 17. An ordinance to reszone property located at 2602 North 24th Street from R5 district to NBD district. Planning board and planning department recommend approval. >> Public hearing is open on item number 17. Applicant. Good afternoon. >> Good afternoon. Joe Dliff's 10836 Old Mill Road. >> T Michael Williams 2602 North 24th Street. >> Thank you. Are there any proponents here? Item 17. Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. Council member Goodwin, you're recognized. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, so I just have a few questions about this project. Can you tell us um a little bit about it? >> Uh, we are really excited to be able to have a uh community center in North Omaha on 24th Street. We call it the Mariah Intergenerational Center. And the idea is to provide both um uh meeting space for activities, concerts, uh small uh banquetss, those kinds of things, as well as uh a space for uh incubators for uh entrepreneurs. So, we're really excited about what this can bring to uh North Omaha. >> Thank you. And we see that this is really one of the first phases in planning uh to reszone the area. Um what what phase are you in with the project overall? >> We're we're we're in the uh planning phase. We are wanting to start the uh uh project with this parking uh here in uh the spring. And uh we are looking forward to uh starting the um main building uh the Mariah Center once we uh complete the parking lot. >> Okay, great. And so that is adjacent to the current parking lot at Mount Mariah. >> That's correct. >> Okay. And how many stalls will it have? >> About 109. >> Yeah. As that area is beginning to fill in, we get a lot of I think complaints about parking. So, I think it'll be a well welcomed addition to the area. What's the timeline for the overall completion? >> We because of the uh funds that we received from the state, the uh goal is to be completed by December of 2027. >> 2027. Okay. Total cost of the project >> about 6.5 million. >> Wow. So that's investment back >> to the heart of North Omaha which is always exciting. >> That's right. >> Thank you so much for your work. Uh I motion to approve. >> Second. >> Got a motion and a second. Roll call. >> Good one. Harding. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Row. Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President. >> I. >> Motion pass six to zero. >> Thank you all. >> Item 18. An ordinance to reszone property located at 3026 South 18th Street from R4 district to R5 District. Planning board and planning department recommend approval. >> I'll open the public hearing on item number 18. Are there any is the applicant here? Please come up. Hello. Uh, my name is Nancy Sanchez. I live in a 1035 West 10th Street, Fremont, Nebraska. I am the owner in the property applicant to request uh to R5 now. And um I read um uh good afternoon. It's a privilege for me to be with you at this meeting today. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to pl to explain why we are here. My only wish is that the resolution be approved because all we want all we really want is to rebuild a house that is already there but which suffer damage. So our only desire is to be able to rebuild it and live in it. As told you last time, it's so I can give it to my daughter and improve the neighborhood with a house that is currently vacant and could otherwise be occupied by people who instead of helping and improving things only cause harm, make things worse and vandalize unoccupied houses. Our decided is just to rebuild the house existing now. We bought the pro h the property include two houses. One is good now and the other one suffer five damage when we bought it and include two lot lands now but we just want to rebuild the house is it's our desire but when I came to the city and request that what I want uh the city says is R4 need to be R5 and I contract the architect his name is to son Mara Pope it's difficult to me pronounce his name and he came with planning department explain everything what we need to do but we follow every step now what the city needed and I'm available a available to do that that's is my explain today thank you >> thank you are there any proponents here on item 18 seeing none are there any opponents Public hearing is closed. Council member Hug, you're recognized. >> Thank you, Mr. President. This is a question for uh M Mr. Fansaw. Dave, would there have been notifications sent out to neighbors on this presenting? >> Uh yeah, Dave Fansaw City Planning. There should have been. Yes. >> Okay. And the city would have done that? >> Yes. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Got a motion and a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Yes. >> Harding. >> Yes. >> Pug. >> Yes. >> Row. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mr. President, >> I >> motion pass 6 to zero. >> Item 19, an ordinance to reszone property located at 6990 Dodge Street from GC District to TOD2 MX District. Planning board and planning department recommend approval. >> Public hearing is now open on item number 19 applicants. Good afternoon. >> Good afternoon. McKinley Wilson 10250 Regency Circle, Oman, Nebraska. um attorney here today on behalf of the developer and also I have Colin here with me today who is a representative from the development team and we're happy to answer any questions that you guys may have about this project. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Are there any proponents item 19? Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. Council member Feserson, you're recognized. >> Thanks, Mr. President. Uh if you would just for a moment, a few questions for you. Um this is a property that's um currently a long-term stay hotel property, right? >> Correct. Yes. >> It's being converted into about 80 units of um multif family apartments. >> That's correct. Yes. >> And I believe it's a mixture between studios and and loft apartments. >> Correct. >> Yes, that's correct. >> But no changes to access or egress, ingress, nothing like that? >> No. This basically the reasonzoning is just to accommodate for the new use of the property essentially and the new parking requirements as well. >> Okay. And I thought I read that the rental range is between maybe 850 and 1250 or so. >> Yes. >> So nice nice uh range of offerings there. I think for folks uh that want to live in that area and it's I think it's an interesting example of what um we might start seeing more of uh conversion essentially of a hotel into housing units that are sorely needed. Y >> right behind uh Omaha Community Playhouse. Uh but no changes to their access either. Right. >> That's correct as well. And we did reach out to the surrounding uh property owners and to the um Fairacres Neighborhood Association a few months ago and uh one of the developer representatives did host a meeting so inviting people to come and answer and ask any questions that there might be and so um there seemed to be no big concern at those meetings that were brought to our attention. >> Yep. I think you're right and I appreciate you doing that. Uh, I'll be supportive and I'll motion to approve. >> Got a motion and a second. Council member Goodwin, you're recognized. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I had a question for our planning director, Mr. Fansaw. Um, this is a transit oriented development project. Uh, in the agenda earlier, we saw planned unit development overlay. What are the differences? And I think I ask you this every time, but I'm going to ask you again. >> Dave Fans of City Planning, your question is what's the difference between TOD and PUD? >> Yep. >> Um quite a bit. >> Well, we can talk online, but there obviously two different zoning tools. one um a plan, a PUB allows us to require and and and require site divine design regulations, building elevations. Um it really locks down the plan to to what you see is what you get. >> With TOD, it's a base zoning district in our zoning code and it's um it it it surrounds it it wants to surround itself by around transit. So, um, the orbit bus line is why we put that to zoning in place in the zoning code. In the master plan, we made a change to the future land use plan and this area qualifies for to as well. >> Thank you. >> You bet. >> No further lights. Roll call. >> Good one. >> Yes. >> Hardin, >> yes. >> Hug. >> Row. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President, >> I. >> Motion pass six to zero. Item 20, an ordinance to amend the boundaries of the MCC district to incorporate into that district the property located at 8516 Blondo Street. Planning Board and Planning Department recommend approval. >> Public hearing is now open on item number 20. Applicant here today. Good afternoon. >> Hi, I am Anna Johnson. I own 8530 Blondo Street, which is a garden center and landscaping company. And I have purchased 8516 Blondo Street, which is just a couple lots over. Um, I don't know how much or how little I'm seeking approval for today. Um, but I don't really understand the MCC overlay stuff, but if I'm here to answer all of the plans if you guys have questions about what we're trying to do. >> Thank you. Are there any proponents here on item number 20? Seeing none, are there any opponents? Excuse me ma'am. >> Good afternoon city council. Donnie R Johnson the Johnson Equestion Foundation North Hall concerned citizen foundation. I just have >> Donnie we need your address as well. >> 4928 North 52nd Street. As I was saying Mr. Harding going to Washington DC I'm going to change that. In the meantime back to this question here the boundaries are the boundaries and the county lines the same. county lines the same cuz I asked the Washington County Commissioner to sell me some land but they say it couldn't change the boundaries or the county lines. >> Donnie, you're you're off topic. >> No. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Are there any other opponents here on item number 20? Public hearing is closed. Council member Feserson, you're recognized. >> Thanks, Mr. President. This one's also in my district. Ann, if you don't mind, just a question or two for you. >> So, what's the current use of this property? It is a vacant lot which the seller still has some um trailer tractor trailer storage on that he's supposed to be getting moved pretty soon. >> Okay, that'd be good. And then uh your property just to the west there, what how long has that been a landscaping operation? >> We This is our 26th year >> as a garden center. >> And then right in there has been a recycling facility at some point, right? Uh right behind us there was a can pack and then actually the lot I think it was part of this one. It has been since split and there's a I think it's a car storage or something now that was all um the metal recycling and those ladies have moved over to Maple. >> Okay. Yeah, it seems like that lot has been substantially cleaned up, right? >> Uh it's the the city made the seller tear some stuff down and and clean. They're still we're still working on getting the rest of it. We've done a lot of cleaning, but we're we're actually trying to get water there now and things so that we can make it pretty. >> Good. Well, as a landscaping company, I think that's probably in your interest, right? >> That is. Yes. >> Mr. Fanzol, you want to take just one second to make sure she understands what the major commercial corridor overlay does for the property. >> Sure. Yeah. Dave Fanla. So, the MCC overlay, it's a zoning overlay, a major commercial corridor. It's one of our urban design overlays. And what it it does it it then once that overlay is put on a piece of property reszoned with that overlay. Uh any future development will have to comply with that part of our zoning code which deals with signage, landscaping, building elevations, stuff like that. So okay, any changes you make will have to meet that code >> and that's all we're asking for today is just getting that. Okay, >> that's it. >> Okay. >> And that'll I think ensure that you can continue to operate your business as you intend to and make the site look nice as well. So, um, appreciate that. A motion to approve. >> Second. >> Got a motion and a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Harding. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Yes. >> Row. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President, >> I. >> Motion pass six to zero. >> Item 21, an ordinance to amend the boundaries of the ACI 3PL overlay district to incorporate into that district the property located at 120 Regency Parkway. Planning board and planning department recommend approval. >> Public hearing is now open on item number 21. applicant. Good afternoon. >> Hi, Blake Wely with Olsson 2111 South 67th Street. Here on behalf of the applicant here to answer any questions you may have. >> Thank you. Are there any proponents here? Item number 21. Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. >> Got a motion and a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Hardin. >> Yes. >> Hug. Row. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President >> I. >> Motion pass 6 to zero. Items 22 and 23 can be considered together for property located at 521 South 38th Avenue. Planning board and planning department recommend approval. Item 22, an ordinance to reszone this property from R435 district to to MUR district. Item 23, an ordinance to resend the ACI overlay district for this property. >> I'll open the public hearing for items number 22 and 23. Is the applicant here today? Good afternoon. Good afternoon. I'm Mark Sanford, architect, uh, 12509 Reed Street. I'm the architect for the project and here to answer any questions you may have. >> Thank you. Are there any proponents? Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. Mr. I'll second it. Now, Mr. Samford, a couple questions for you. Good afternoon. >> Good afternoon. How are you? >> Good chatting with you in person now. >> Thanks, Dan. Um, so I don't have my cheat sheet with me, but when we talked, if I recollect correctly, it's 10 offices right now. Correct. >> That is correct. It was for the uh medical offices. >> Okay. And you're going to make four apartments out of this? >> Yes, we were going to uh design and change some of those units into uh apartments. >> Okay. And how about the parking issues? Is there any parking issues here? >> There are no issues. There's an existing garage on that site that we're going to keep. And uh that will hold two cars and the driveway is large enough to uh accommodate two more cars which uh satisfies the parking requirements >> with 10 offices there before four apartments. Now it'll probably be less traffic. >> Definitely less traffic and not so transient as well. >> Okay. And I know when you and I chatted you spoke with people in the neighborhood, the neighborhood association as well. >> Yes, we talked with Mark Mer did give me a call. He's the president of the uh HOA in that area and uh he was concerned if the building was going to be torn down like many projects seem to be and then uh designing a new modern look which would not fit into the neighborhood fabric. Uh the house is going to remain uh just the way it looks today uh with a little embellishment uh some new paint. We'll definitely upgrade it somewhat and add a dormer on the upper level uh to accommodate one more apartment unit which makes for the four apartments. >> Great. Thanks. Thanks for being here today. Uh council member Hug, you're recognized. [Music] >> I apologize. I should have looked closer to this address, but uh just for discussion purposes, that is really close from the house. Dorothy Magcguire grew up in the the the actress and uh I believe at the time the med center acquired that property, they had made a promise to build some kind of monument memorializing that site in her in her memory. But um that's not this address. >> That is not this address. >> Okay. It's close though. >> It might be close. We can investigate that a little further. might be on that block, but okay. Thank you. >> No further lights. We had a motion in a second. Roll call. >> Good one. >> Yes. >> Harding. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Yes. >> Row. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President, >> I motion pass six to zero. >> Items 24 and 25 can be considered together for property located at 10909 M Street. Planning board and planning department recommend approval. Item 24, an ordinance to reszone this property from GI district to CC district. Item 25, an ordinance to amend the boundaries of the MCC Overlay district to incorporate this property into that district. >> Public hearing is now open for items 24 and 25. Is the applicant here today? Are there any proponents? Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. >> Motion in a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Hardin. >> Yes. Hug Row Fester. >> Yes, >> Mr. President. >> I >> Motion passed six to zero. >> Item 26, a resolution to approve a major amendment to the special use permit to allow scrap and salvage services in the HI district located at 3701 Dolman Avenue. Planning board and planning department recommend approval. >> Public hearing on item number 26 is now open. Mr. Deathless. Good afternoon. >> Good afternoon. Joe Dliff's 10836 Old Mill Road here representing the applicant available to answer any questions. >> Thank you. Are there any proponents here? Item number 26. Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. >> Got a motion second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Hardin. >> Yes. >> Hug. Yes. >> Row. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President, I thank you. >> Motion pass six to zero. Item 27, a resolution to approve the El Toro Plaza tax increment financing redevelopment project plan located at 2405 Z Street in an amount up to $867,358. >> Public hearing is now open on item number 27. Mr. Seaton, good afternoon. >> Uh yes, good afternoon. Don Seaton, Omaha City Planning Department. Uh this is a mixeduse industrial office development located at South 25th and Z Streets. It's on a vacant lot of about five acres. It's been a long vacant lot that uh had been neglected for quite a while. Current owners have cleaned it up and they're proposing to construct a new onestory office warehouse warehousing light industrial building of about 32,800 square ft. Uh this will be uh really a good support facility for small and emerging businesses that uh are construction related in particular will make use of this type of project or this type of facility. The developer is El Toro Plaza LLC. They're investing about $10.3 million into the neighborhood in in South Omaha here. The TIF support for the project is $867,358. Uh project meets the required criteria of our TIF program. It's an appropriate land use for the area. Really puts an underutilized uh vacant lot to a much better use and we ask for your approval. >> Thank you. Are there any proponents here on item 27? >> Thank you, Don. My name is Jack Sudter with McGrath North Law Firm. address is 1601 Dodge Street here on behalf of the developer. We'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> Thank you. Any other proponents here? Seeing none, are there any opponents? >> Uh good afternoon, Omaha City Council. Uh Dard Johnson, the Johnson Equestion Foundation and North North Hall Concerned Citizen Foundation, 4928 North 52nd Street. I think a lot of folks would like to say something, but you keep cutting us off. >> Is there any other opponents here today? Public hearing is closed. Council member Hug, you're recognized. >> Mr. President, those of you who are not familiar with my district and this specific location will not be able to appreciate how much of an overall improvement this is, not only to that site, but that whole area in South Omaha. You know, that vacant packing plant sat there vacant for at least 20 years, if not 30, and had attracted those negative elements that we see in any other vacant property, um illegal activities, allegedly, um homeless, um illegal dumping. And um since the developer has acquired that, that building's been demolished. It's been the sight's been cleaned up and this will absolutely be a crown and a jewel in South Omaha and I I'm I'm quite pleased and proud to have the developer put that kind of financial commitment in my district. Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Got a motion and a second. No further lights. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Yes. >> Harding. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Yes. >> Row. >> Yes. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President, >> I. >> Motion pass six to zero. >> Item 28. A resolution to approve the Rose at Field Club tax increment financing redevelopment project plan located at 3863 Marcy Street and 3863 Mason Street in an amount up to1,661,799. >> Public hearing is now open on item number 28, Mr. Seatin. >> Oh yeah. Don Satin, Omaha City Planning Department. This project is the Rose at Field Club tax increment financing project. This is a town home project located right along the field F field club trail just south of Marcy Street. There'll be a total of 31 new market rate rental units constructed. They'll be configured in eight Rojo rowhouse style structures. Uh these will be built on two vacant lots that are owned by the board of regions. The developer is Sullivan Development Company managed by Charlie Sullivan. Um the investment the project is investing about $1.1 million in the neighborhood. The tiff support for the project is $1,661,799. Again, this project meets the required criteria of our tiff program. Uh it complies with the city's master plan. It's an appropriate land use for the area and we ask for your approval. >> Thank you. Are there any other uh any proponents here today? Item 28. >> Thank you, Mr. President, Council Members, Bob Griffith, 11440 West Center Road here on behalf of the applicant. Uh, here today as well as Charlie Sullivan, um, the applicant himself. So, here to answer any questions you might have. Um, tight little infill spot that I think this project fits, uh, fits nicely there. Um, kind of the same type of deal that, uh, that TIF really makes possible. Um, so that happy answer questions. >> Thank you. Are there any proponents here? Seeing none, any opponents. Uh, good afternoon, I'm city council, Donnie R. Johnson, the Johnson Equestion Foundation, and Northam Hall Concerned Citizen Foundation. I asked myself, >> Donnie, we need your address as well. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Sorry. Thank you. >> You're welcome. 49 28 North 52nd for now tomorrow with Mr. Harding Washington DC. In the meantime, uh we're looking at all these Fortune 500 country companies leaving Nebraska and Omar. Do we need all these apartments? >> Thank you. Is there any other opponents here? Item 28. Larry Store, 5015 Lafayette Avenue, Omaha 68132. Well, I went by that area today and I I'm confused again. I don't see that the place the area is even blighted. But what I do object to is uh using this project to help pay the cost of the street car project. And it's referred to as part of field club. Field club to me is more this way. And why the street car isn't anywhere near that? So why in hell are we paying to help pay the street car at that address? >> Thank you. Is there any other opponents? Item 28. Public hearing is closed. Council member Goodwin, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Seaton, so this is a TIFF project. Uh, can you explain to us in general uh how TIFF works? >> How TIFF works? >> Yes. >> Is there is there >> Okay, go ahead. >> Okay. The TIFF dollars that go into this project are new tax dollars. They're generated by the project itself. Um there are new tax dollars that are paid by the developer on the increased property valuation that the project creates and then those taxes are rebated to the developer. So there's no city money, no bonds, no money coming from the neighbors. It's basically tax dollar, new tax dollars paid by the developer. >> So rebated to them. So essentially the project generates the tax the project actually generates the tax incremental financing. >> The tiff money that goes into the project generated by the project. >> Thank you so much. I had a secondary question for the developer please. Thank you Mr. Satan. >> Good afternoon. Charlie Sullivan 2304 South 89th Court Nebraska. I'm the developer Sullivan Development Company. >> Good afternoon. Um, it's always good to see housing being developed in our city. This happens to be uh market rate. Um, we need all types of housing in the city. What will be the rental range? >> Um, of the 31 units, the the rents range from about $1,500 a month to $2,800 a month depending on the size. There's one bedrooms, two bedrooms, and three bedrooms. >> Okay. Thank you. And what will be the timeline where we'll see this this project come to fruition? >> Uh we should uh we should open the first building summer of next year. >> Oh wow. That's great. I mean when we're talking about a 30,000 um unit deficit and housing in our city. We need every single unit. So it's always good to see these projects um move forward. Thank you. No further questions. >> Thank you, Mr. Sullivan. Don't go too far. I just Good to see you again. And I I know um you did a lot of outreach with people in the neighborhood when this project first started and hopefully OPD got you up to speed where you needed to be when you contacted me. >> Thank you for your help. >> Yeah. No, I appreciate your your efforts. As council member Goodwin talked about the housing, why this isn't affordable, but do you know who you're going to market this to? um generally to the UNMC campus community with with the new bridge across Levvenworth. It like drops off right at the front door of the project. So you could live in my project and literally walk to UNMC. So it'll be largely UNMC community. >> Take your bike as well. >> You could take your bike as well, >> right? I don't Professor would, but I wouldn't. But >> no, appreciate you being here. Thanks, Charlie. >> Uh we had a motion in a second, I believe. Right. >> Okay. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. Thank you. No further lights. Roll call. >> Good one. >> Harding. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Yes. >> Row. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President, >> I. >> Motion pass six to zero. Consent agenda. Any member of the city council may cause any item placed on the consent agenda to be removed. Items removed from the consent agenda shall be taken up by the city council immediately following the consent agenda in the order in which they were removed unless otherwise provided by the city council. Rules of order. The public hearing on agenda items 29 through 45 were held on November 25th, 2025. Any council discussion? >> Got a motion and a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Harding. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Row. >> Pester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President. >> I. >> Motion pass six to zero. >> The public hearing is an agenda items 46 through 76 are today. If you wish to address the city council regarding these items, please come to the microphone. Indicate the agenda item number you wish to address. Identify yourself by your name, your address, who you represent, and if you're a proponent or opponent. I will open the public hearing on items 46 through 76. Any proponents? Uh, good afternoon city council, Donnie R. Johnson, the Johnson Equestion Foundation and Northern Hall Concerned Citizen Foundation. Uh, 4928 North 52nd Street temporarily to Washington DC from there. In the meantime, my dad was with Duckdale Construction. And >> Donnie, what number are you addressing? Uh, >> number 46 Hawin Construction. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, Mr. Lipple, who helped develop Benson, he was teaching us about the three little pigs. Two people made a house. They blew down right away. The third one took his time and built the house you can't blow down. So, we're concerned about these cracker houses that's not going to last for 5 minutes. >> Thank you. Are there any other proponents? Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. >> Move to approve 46 through 76. >> Got a motion in a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Yes. >> Harding. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Row. Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President. >> I. >> Motion pass 6 to zero. >> Item 77. An ordinance loving a special tax assessment for a litter removal group 2026-01 is amendment of the whole requested by the parks department. Council discussion. >> Got a motion. We have a second. >> Second. >> No lights. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Harding. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Row. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President. >> I. >> Motion pass six to zero. Item 78. An ordinance loving a special tax assessment for cutting and clearing weeds group 2026-02. A is amendment of the whole requested by the parks department. >> Council discussion. Got a motion and a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Harding. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Yes. >> Row. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President. >> I. >> Motion pass. Six to zero. >> Let's get this with >> Do I need to make a motion to do that? >> U. Council member Melton is in court, but my understanding is she is intending on coming. If the council's okay with skipping past 79 and we can come back to it at the end, does that work? >> Thank you. Item 80, an ordinance to approve the redevelopment project revenue bonds in the amount of $40 million for affordable housing urban core. A is communications and support. B is communications and opposition. C is an amendment of the whole request by the law department. >> Council discussion. >> Amendment of the hole. >> Got a motion and a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Harding. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Yes. >> Row. Yes. >> Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President. >> I. >> Motion pass six to zero. >> Item 81. An ordinance to transfer $4,000 in the 2026 budget from community service programs to parks, communic community recreation. >> Council discussion. >> Motion approved. >> Got a motion and a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> Harding. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Yes. >> Row. Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President. >> I. >> Motion pass six to zero. Item 82, an ordinance to amend various sections of chapter 6 of the Omaha Municipal Code regarding wildlife, chickens, and other fowl. A is communications and opposition. B is communication from the Douglas County Health Department. C is amendment of the hole requested by the law department. >> Council discussion. We got lights on. Council member Goodwin, you're recognized. have the Douglas County Health Department come believe I'm Eric Bradley, Douglas County Health Department, 11-11 South 44th Street, Omaha. >> Good afternoon. >> Um, just wanted to clarify. So, we laid this over uh with a goal of outreach to some concerned groups that are, you know, focused on um urban agriculture. Um can you explain um that process and how it went? >> Yeah, we um started out with the local food um collaborative. I can't remember their full name. Um but the Monday before Thanksgiving, we actually had a virtual phone call with them that they hosted. Um Russ Hayden and I who's the sanitation supervisor for this program um spent about an hour hour and a half answering their questions um did address a couple things they had um they wanted a little more clarify more in the ordinance. So we reached out to the city attorney um who kind of rewarded some stuff and changed some things mostly regarding um the language for community chickens. Um, we also reached out to the planning department to include some of the things they wanted that are in the urban ad code. Um, to not add new stuff, but just to reference it in in this code. Um, so it's a little easier to connect with. Um, and then there was um, a few, I believe, from you, Miss Goodwin, and um, from Mr. Begley and I think from Mr. Festerson who forwarded some emails from um, concerned citizens. We reached out to them um, and kind of did some back and forth discussion with them also. >> Yeah. So would you say that there's really as you make these changes continual dialogue and education so that everyone's on the same page about these changes? >> Correct. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Got a motion and a second. Council member Feserson, you're recognized. >> Thanks, Mr. President. Eric, if you don't mind, uh, couple more questions. I think there's a motion, a second to approve this, and I'll um also approve this amendment of the whole. Uh, I also want to thank you for taking some extra time to reach out to um the community on this and also um city planning. I think that was important too to make sure we had their input and I think this does include that. And I think we're not trying to discourage urban agriculture at all. Uh we're just trying to put some reasonable structure around it and help you uh county uh department of public health who is in charge of responding to complaints uh when people do have complaints about operations in residential properties. And so I think this puts some reasonable um guidelines for you to follow too in that respect. Um but you can't plan for every uh type of scenario. I can think of one in my district for example that um has never had a complaint um is essentially an urban agricultural operation. Still wouldn't really fit into the parameters we're describing here in terms of the number of of um chickens they have and acreage they have. But in an instance like that, we're still building into this amendment of the whole a potential uh waiver. Uh so someone in a situation like that could approach you u and explain their situation and have that be considered. Right. >> Right. There is a procedure in there now for a variance request. Um and there's also if we were to deny a revoke a permit, there is a process to go through the appeals board um file to file an appeal on that. >> Great. >> So there's a couple of different options. >> Thanks. Appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. President. You bet. Can we clarify that that motion was for the amendment of the whole? >> Yes. >> Motion amendment. >> Thank you. And second, I'll second that. Council member Row, you're recognized. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I did want to ask Eric just a question. And I think uh Mr. Fester might have touched on it about the enforcement. What's what's the plan for enforcement? Is that going to work through your department or how does what's your intention on >> We do the initial inspections? um and do the kind of reach out to the owners of the property. Um but when it comes to enforcement, we go through the Humane Society um which I know we've been um struggling with some of the stuff um that we're putting in this code now. So hopefully that'll um allow the Humane Society to actually do some more enforcement. Um but that's kind of where we are with that. They're the ones that have the site the is the ability to issue citations and things. We do not. >> Okay. I think that's the one of the things that came up in my district was just how's how's the accountability going to work to make sure that things don't get out of hand on on some of these. >> We will continue to follow up, but we'll then also have to include the Humane Society and reach out to them to see where where they are in the process. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. No further lights. We had a motion in a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin? Yes. >> Harding? >> Yes. >> Hug. >> Melton. Yes. >> Row. Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President >> I. >> Motion pass 7 to zero. Item 79, an ordinance to amend section 44-151 of the Omaha Municipal Code regarding the 2023 National Electrical Code. A is amendment of the whole requested by council member Row. B is communication. >> Council discussion. We have lights. Council member Harding. >> Second. We have a motion and a second. Roll call. >> Good one. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Okay, hang on. Lights there. It reset. So, reenter if you want to speak. Sorry. >> Okay. >> I just want to thank you for your professionalism and laying this over and I apologize for my >> being late today. I appreciate it, Mr. President. >> Glad you're here. You're welcome. Council member Row, you're recognized. >> President, I just wanted to explain a little bit about um my thinking on the amendment of the whole. This really is just it's a rehash of the uh discussion we had last November concerning the 2023 National Electrical Code. Um, the state passed the code with five amendments carved out and and it's incumbent on the city to to at least be in alignment with the state code. And we've been out of alignment uh since the mayor mayor Stother vetoed that um action last fall. And so now it's coming back to us um again. And I put the amendment in there so that we would align with the state state code. when you we talked to other jurisdictions in the area, um even as far as Lincoln, I believe, and and south of Lincoln, but throughout the state, they determined that there were these five items that could be amended out of the 2023 code and still um allow for safe housing. I mean, that's our goal is to have safe housing, right? We don't want to have housing that's not safe for people to live in. And they determined at the state legislature that these five items were really a kind of, you know, want to have but not necessarily have to have. It was items about, you know, GFCI GFCI outlets in the basement. It's about outlets for your range and dryer. It was about surge protection for your whole house. It was about an emergency disconnect for your uh panel. and they determined that these five things really um were not were were things that a a buyer a new home buyer if they wanted to put them in their house they can certainly contract with their contractor to to to use them in their house but to have them mandated seem to go against our hope for affordable housing. We we've talked about affordable housing a lot up here and we're um we're actually scrapping and clawing looking for every $500 that we can find to try to make uh the housing cost more affordable because they continue to to rise with inflation and and now with regulations. And so I put in this amendment of the whole to sync us up with the state code. And that's my hope. I hope that we can pass that um this afternoon. Thank you, Council Member Harding. You're recognized. I'll try not to repeat a lot of what was said um at the last meeting about this, but to pick up um uh off of what council member Row was talking about too on the affordability component of it. Um, last November the statistics were that for every $1,000 of additional cost uh to the house, which these items would add additional cost to new construction, it would take out at at the time it was, I think, 435 potential buyers. Um, and now a year later, uh, the updated numbers are that that's now over 500 potential buyers would be taken out, uh, of the market with an additional $1,000 added to the cost of the house. I know we we kind of bantered about last week about what the amount was or wasn't. I think that's really irrelevant because I think we all agreed that it would add additional costs to the house and therefore taking out potential buyers for those homes that we are trying to do everything we can to make affordable. Over somewhere between 23 and 32% of the cost of new construction today in Omaha um is is in uh attributed to regulations. And I'm not saying that we need to abolish all regulations because we need to make sure that it is safe housing, but there are certain ownorous regulations that do need to be reviewed. I view this as one of those that is a want to have, not a need to have. Uh, and therefore, I appreciate um this conversation that we had last week that we had last November. we should be consistent with the state um and other local uh jurisdictions. So I will be supporting uh council members uh Rose amendment the whole >> Thank you council member Fesserson you're recognized. >> Thanks Mr. President and Mr. Rose absolutely right. The reason why this is back is because we have to adopt something uh that is a requirement under state law. It's just a matter of are we including five exceptions um or not in how we do that. And there's different opinions. There has been different opinions on the council as as to how we go about doing that and different opinions in our uh testimony uh in the recent weeks as well. Um you know estimates of additional cost between 400 $400 maybe $2,000. I I think the planning department somewhere in between there. So, um, also differences on potential impacts to safety, uh, from testimony we heard. And nobody up here is an expert in this field, not even Mr. O or Mr. Begley. Um, but it's my opinion, um, and it hasn't changed since our original vote on this that I'm not supportive of amendments of the whole A, but I may be more supportive of an amendment that we're calling C today, which has been a floor amendment introduced by Mr. vaguely that I think he can um explain should this first vote not uh be approved that can pro hopefully provide a little more common ground than maybe we had the last few weeks and as it applies to affordable housing. Um I think there's lots of common ground amongst everyone on this council and with the testifiers we heard from there was reference to a welcome home study about um the cost of regulation in housing. I'm interested in that. I've asked for that study for over a year now, but haven't seen it. But if in fact there's 25% to 30% of costs that are attributable to pull to regulation. Let's take a look at that. I bet you we'll have a lot of agreement on how to go about reducing those costs. Same thing with the affordable action housing plan. Um there's dozens of recommendations in that document that we have yet to implement. There were some council members that didn't vote for that document. It was not unanimous, but I'm confident we're going to find a lot of common ground in that document, too. And I'm I I understand from Mr. Row that the first meeting of that task force went well. He's optimistic about it. So, let's get about that work, and I think we'll find a lot of things we can do together. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Ferson. I I'll make a couple comments um in respect to Council Member Row's amendment of the whole um I appreciate the conversation I've had with Council Member Row, my colleagues, the planning department. They provided good information that I appreciated. I spoke to firefighters Local 385 President Trevor Tawi, U subject matter expert from IBW Local 22. Um, this to me was always about safe and affordable housing. And I think Council Member Feserson did a good job of the the range of the price of what this is. Maybe it's 4 or 500 bucks. Maybe it's 2,000. And I I really did try the best I could um to try to come to some common ground on things that we we can agree on. And sometimes that doesn't happen. Uh just looking through what was in the adoption. Um the 30 amp GFI breaker at a dryer, a 40 amp GFI ground fault interrupter at a range, the exterior 30 amp on the air conditioner, exterior disconnect for the meter main. One of the things listed was a 50 amp for a carport at the price of $600. That is not included. that was never included outlets for the basement to require GFI. And in the conversation I had in listening to my colleagues, um, I came up with a floor amendment of the whole sea that would remove the whole house surge protector from this to try to provide a little bit of common ground that maybe we can pass that in the event Councilman Row, who's put a lot of time and heart and effort into his amendment of the whole. I I think it's important that I'd like to read I won't read the whole letter, but it was submitted by local 385 firefighters president Trevor Tawi. And I'll read a couple paragraphs because we talk about regulations. What does that mean in the second paragraph of his letter and you can see this at the city clerk's online site of our agenda. attached in support and it reads, "Amongst the updates in the National Electric Code, we are especially supportive of the requirement for an exterior electrical disconnect on residential structures. This single addition provides a meaningful and practical layer of protection for firefighters operating inside a burning home. As firefighters, we continually look for ways to make it inherently an inherently dangerous profession just a little bit safer. The ability to neutralize electricity before entering a fire provides a level of certainty and peace of mind that we currently do not have. Allowing firefighters to safely and immediately disconnect power at the exterior of the home eliminates this risk and ensures no firefighter has to worry about coming into contact with energized wiring while performing search, rescue, or fire suppression duties. This is a simple, cost-effective change that directly improves firefighter safety while protecting the residents we serve. I think in in regulations is there some cost to them? There is. But again, we try to minimize the cost on this, but not sacrificing safe, affordable housing when we work on this through this process today. Um it looks like we got another light on for council member Row. You're recognized. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, I'm I'm glad that um we had this discussion. And I I do appreciate the spirit of the discussion. I mean, we've had robust discussion from, you know, amongst us and and as Mr. Fester noted, we had a a task force meeting last week to talk about affordable housing and how can we enact some of the the things coming out of the HAP plan and and you mentioned the 50 amp outlet in the garage and that was a mistake that was brought by a home builder last last week. But we're going to have to have courage going forward because that 50 amp outlet is going to be proposed in the 2026 energy code. And I think that's where the the confusion came was the builders that, you know, have an interest in the cost of housing. and they want to make it affordable are looking at the 2026 energy code that I'm not sure when it's going to come um for adoption, but it will come and and our the council is going to have to have courage to say, you know what, OPD doesn't have the power necessary to put a 50 amp outlet in every garage. You know, it would blow up their system today. they may have it in the future, but those are the kind of things that we're going to have to take a look at and and really um take a hard look at and then make courageous decisions on it. So again, I appreciate the spirit of the of the discussion. It's been good. It's been robust and um and again, I ask for your vote for amendment of the whole letter A um going forward. >> Thank you. No further lights. So we got a motion and a second for amendment of the whole A. >> Correct. >> Roll call. >> Goodwin. >> No. >> Hardin. >> Yes. >> Hug. >> No. >> Melton. >> Row. >> Fester. >> No. >> Mr. President. >> No. >> Motion failed. Three to four. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Good one. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Council member Harding, you're recognized. Um, now that this is on the floor and um, thank you for letting me read that the letter from from whoever. Can you explain to me what then just explain for the public and me what what the amendment of your amendment of the whole um, eliminates andor puts back in >> my amendment of the whole it removes the section if I got my code right. I'll tell you exactly what number it was. >> Is it 230678? >> I'm 99% sure, but let me check. 230.67A. You're correct. >> And what is 23 for the for all of us? 230.67A. that deals with the whole house surge protector that I am removing that from what's proposed today. >> So that would not be required in what we adopt. >> That is being removed from what we adopt today. Correct. >> Okay. So help me out here. I'm a little confused. The letter that you just read from the firefighters said that that was important to them to keep in. Is that right? >> You're talking about >> moving it. You're talking about the exterior disconnect for the meter main. >> Yeah, >> that's correct. >> What I'm removing is the whole house. >> Not the whole house. Okay. All right. Oh, the whole house search. Okay. Thank you for that. That's what I needed. I needed that clarification. >> Okay. >> Good. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, we had a motion in a second to move um floor amendment of the whole 79C. Correct. >> Correct. >> Uh Council Member Goodwin, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, and thank you for bringing about this uh additional amendment. I had a question about so the whole house protection would now be removed from the adoption of the city code. Um, how does that factor in with affordability? that would remove according to the mobile estimate the surge the whole house surge protector is $250. The the other price provided was 110. So again the ranges are 110 to $250. So that would eliminate that part of the ordinance or the code. >> And so essentially back to the ranges we had various ranges as we discussed as to the original amendment and now we're here. Um but the goal is really to to try to meet somewhere in the middle and I can appreciate um this attempt. So I I do plan to support it. Thank you. >> Thank you. No further like uh >> I'm sorry I do like >> council member Harding. >> Yeah. just I I'd like to understand the I guess the thinking and since I I look this is a floor amendment so normally we would have maybe another opportunity to to speak to it. I don't mind the floor amendment, but I just want to make sure I understand that the thinking councilwoman um Goodwin just brought up the point of that, you know, this is somewhat of a it's a minor adjustment or minor reduction of the overall cost. Even using the ranges I think we've all been using, it still is at least 750 to two thou to $1,000 that is adding to the cost of the house with those that remain in. So it I mean it's the the resulting number reduction is negligible in consideration of what it does to the the affordability or what it takes out of the marketplace for somewhere between 450 and 500 families. So why why was this one taken out as opposed to any of the others? I guess I I'd like to understand the thinking behind that. Great question and my answer is wherever you got those numbers of the 400 or whatever the range of houses I don't that is what you say it is. The reason this one was taken out because at the end of the day and council member Melton I think mentioned it in our public hearing that is this is this life safety is surge protection life safety and she always does makes good points that I guess you could say that isn't that's more of an issue of protecting if you have a surge you got motherboards in your range your your all your appliances that are as we go shopping are with tariffs and all the things that are going on, they're higher price than ever. So that surge would have protected your property with an investment of if it's 250 bucks or $100, it would have been an insurance policy to protect you on that. It's not lifesaving. The other items that are staying in there are life- saving items. >> Okay. Well, and I guess we'll respectfully disagree on on whether or not they are lifesaving items. I mean, we we've had the discussion with with the builders, with electricians, um, who have said that they aren't necessarily life-saving. They're they're like to have, but not need to have for I mean, look, my house doesn't have those, and I I feel perfectly safe in my house. but would assume that maybe all of us are in the same situation. So I I guess I'm at a little lost as to understand how um this one was pic this item was picked out to to um amend out of of your amendment of the the floor amendment um as opposed to any of the other items. So, I don't see why we're doing one and not all of them when the state has adopted uh the code with the five amendments. And again, I feel perfectly um safe in listening to uh professionals to say that those are not safety necessarily safety issues um and that they are want to have, not need to have. So, I again I'm just trying to get past the understanding of why this is eliminated and the others aren't. And >> but I think you you answered your >> Okay. And one other point I'll make fair fair conversation is I read in the firefighters letter they testified in Lincoln that the fire uh marshall testified in support of what was not carved out that we have here today. I think again the life safety issues, there's documentation. I mean with the GFI breakers, the meter disconnect outside the firefighters. It's in the letter. It's a safety thing. And and I I'll read it again just a part where it says the risk to ensure no firefighter has to worry about coming into contact with energized wiring while performing search, rescue, or fire suppression. This is a simple, cost-effective change that directly improves firefighter safety while also protecting the residents we serve. And as they also said in here, it's a single addition that provides a meaningful and practical layer of protection for firefighters going into a burning home. We deal with the firefighters and police and I'd like to say I speak for this entire council that we support well protected, well-paid professionals to protect and serve our community. And I think that's certainly what the electric disconnect main does for firefighters. >> So I think my light's still on, but I appreciate >> No, no, no, no. I asked you the question. So let me ask you this then since it's a four amendment. Would you consider um the four amendments and keep only in the whole house? I mean the the um >> the three what's the number on it? The 236. >> No, I'm sorry. Sorry. >> Keeping Yeah. Keeping Yeah. What what about um eliminate or we we keep in the four amended or we keep out if either way you want to look at it the four amended items that the state adopted and only were to keep the exterior u electrical disconnect. >> Would you consider that in your floor amendment? >> I'm comfortable moving forward with the amendment of the whole 79C as it's written. >> So the answer is no. >> Politely yes. That is correct. Good try. I I I caught on to that quickly. Okay. Thanks. I appreciate the conversation. >> Thank you. Me, too. >> Council member Goodwin, you're recognized. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to be clear that um as I talked with the v various affordable housing organizations and even some small developers when you look at the range of $400 to even $1,700 that that's really not going to impact the aspect of affordability. So, my question was not that I thought $250 was really going to make a difference. I simply appreciated that there's some level of willingness to try to come in the middle and and find common ground with the the or uh with this amendment. And so, um again, we have to pass an ordinance. And so, I'm comfortable with supporting this one here. Thank you. >> Thank you. No further lights. We have a motion, a second for 79 C floor amendment of the whole roll call. >> Goodwin, >> yes. >> Hardin, >> no. >> Hug, >> yes. >> Melton, >> no. >> Row, >> Fester, >> yes. >> Mr. President, >> yes. >> Motion pass four to three. >> Item 83, an ordinance to approve the contract with Alexander Lawn and Landscape, Inc. for ground maintenance at six city of Omaha maintenance facilities. >> Public hearing is open on item number 83. Are there any proponents? Item 83. >> Any opponents? Public hearing is closed. >> Item 84, an ordinance to approve a major amendment to the Elk Creek Pines Mixeduse District Development Agreement. Planning board and planning department recommend approval. >> Public hearing is now open on item 84. Any proponents? Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. >> One public hearing can be held for items 85 and 86. Ordinances to approve amendments to agreements for actuarial services with Milman, Inc. >> Public hearing is now open on items 85 and 86. Are there proponents? Are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. Item 87, an ordinance to approve additional fuel storage at an existing class B flammable combustible liquid storage district number B-157. >> Public hearing is open on item number 87. Are there any proponents? Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. Item 88, an ordinance to approve a purchase agreement with Union Pacific Railroad Company for the transfer and sale of city-owned property located at 1441 Capitol Avenue in in the amount of $7,310,000. >> Public hearing is now open on item number 88. Miss Taylor, good afternoon. >> Good afternoon. Uh President Begley, members of City Council, Jennifer Taylor, City Law Department. Uh I'm just here to abs here to answer any questions you might have today about this purchase agreement. Um, as we've discussed, it is the purchase and sale and conveyance of the old Union Pacific headquarters site to Union Pacific. So, they're going to reacquire their old site and um or I think we're looking forward to what may come in the future, what they may plan to develop there. But the present moment in time, the purchase price is fair market to price value. Um, and it's otherwise a pretty straightforward agreement. >> Thank you. Are there any proponents? Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. Council member Feserson, you're recognized. >> Thanks, Mr. President. Just want to indicate my support for this item. Thanks for that summary. Uh, Miss Taylor, I'll support this next week. I've had a long time involvement with this property, even back to when I worked for the mayor, um, 20 years ago, 25 years ago. And uh to have this property still not be developed of course is discouraging. We had several stops and starts there but I think the wise the city wisely kept that property uh under its ownership and had a clawback provision there. Um this property as you know will be purchased um for appraised value which I think is good uh and also to the benefit of a longtime um steward of our community Union Pacific. In fact here prior to the city even being here. Uh so in my mind this is a a good move for the city and good move for Union Pacific and if it helps in their discussions around their um merger and potential to bring additional investment, additional jobs to Omaha, that's a win for everybody. So thank you. I look forward to supporting this next week. >> Thank you. Council member Harding, you're recognized. I'll >> just uh pick up a little bit on what Miss Taylor and Mr. Festererson said as well, too. So, um, because my question was for the records that have it stated how the price was arrived at and it was it is a fair market appraisal that was done and looking at the downtown comps on uh for other sales, I would say this is very much in line with that with that number. So, I'm very comfortable with the number that that was arrived at for the the value of the dirt. >> You have any comments? Um I will just reinforce that the appraisal was done actually in February March of this year. So which is when we started discussing the purchase. So it's an appropriate appraised value. It is also um a higher appraised value than what this property appraised for in 2022 when when the city took ownership of it from Lana. So it has increased in value and the taxpayers are seeing the benefit of that increase in value. >> Thank you. One public hearing can be held for items 89 and 90. Item 89 is an ordinance to approve a purchase and sale agreement with Union Pacific Railroad Company for the transfer and sale of property located at 1101 Isizard Street in the amount of $18,698,130. Item 90, an ordinance authorizing and providing for the issuance of stadium revenue bonds in the amount of $25 million. A communication and support >> together. Right. Together 89. Okay, I'll open the public hearing on items 89 and 90. Are there any proponents? Uh, good afternoon. Marco Ferani, mayor's office council. Want to thank you for the consideration of these items. I'm here sharing support from the mayor's office for the acquisition of 1101 Isard. Uh, this public acquisition makes it possible to assemble this property. uh coordinate infrastructure, remediate environmental issues, and really set the stage for a successful public private partnership. Uh this is a a necessary first step towards transforming a dormant site and urban core uh for a district that will serve this residents of Omaha and better our future and our economy. Thank you. >> Thank you. Are there any other proponents? Seeing none, are there Danny? Are you a proponent or opponent? our proponent, Mr. uh Begley, sir. Uh Donnie R. Johnson, the Johnson A question Foundation. And I'm glad you asked that question because >> this is the things that >> Donnie, can we get your address? >> Which one? One in Washington DC or one here in the mall. >> Your current address here, >> 4928 North 52nd Street. >> Thank you. >> Uh yes, sir. So, we're supporting this for several different reasons. And there's a good chance that Union Pacific may be doing that work in India. I've been out of the country several times and they also sent a delegation to Egypt and we have to tell the young folks if you're going to get these jobs be willing to live on the streets because undeveloped countries you have to do that from time to time. >> Thank you. Are there any other proponents here today? >> Mr. Levy, good afternoon. >> Mr. President, members of the council, good afternoon. David Levy, Barrett Home Law Firm, 1700 Farnum Street. I've got with me Alexis Bulos, who is general manager of Union Omaha. I'm going to give them your address. >> Sure. 2402 South 102nd Street, Omaha. >> Want to thank Mr. Floriani and the mayor's office for their comments and their support. Um, thank you all for your time a couple of weeks ago and today. I know we had a a great discussion, I think, on this exciting opportunity a couple weeks ago. I don't want to belver that, but I will just put up a couple of slides briefly. We've got some other folks uh proponents who would like to address you as well. Um again, I know you've already had a long meeting and we will be brief, but um if this will come up. There we go. I will zoom out. This just gives uh a sense of the potential future use of this property. uh soccer stadium on about 10 acres. There to the north, mixeduse development on about 6 and a half acres. The kind of pink area there is uh about 3 acres that the city would use for part of its combined sewer overflow uh project. Those acreages might be a little bit smaller than than what you've heard previously. That's because that's the actual developable area. Takes out streets and and things like that. You can also see the blue area there which is an area that Union Pacific has res reserved to keep their uh railroad track there and part of that it'll pull back to the to the north and the east. Um and then there's a setback from that but I thought that might might be helpful. Um I know you've also seen this but I think it's an exciting and wonderful image. So I will put that up again. That's looking from the north. But what I also just really briefly wanted to emphasize is, you know, the stadium part of this project kind of gets the headlines, but this is a district. This is a 20 acre mixeduse district potentially. Um, council and and many others willing. We have a lot of work to do uh going forward. But you can see looking from the south, looking from downtown, the yellow buildings there in the foreground are mixeduse buildings. Those are residential buildings with groundf flooror retail and entertainment. There's potentially office. There's parking underneath those buildings that would be accessed from the back. And then you can see the stadium there in the north. So I just I wanted to emphasize for you all that this really is a is a district. This is a new neighborhood in our in our community there north of including this great public private partnership that allows uh that would allow for the construction of the stadium. Um the mixeduse development is private. Uh my client would purchase that land from the city or ground lease that land from the city. Uh that's part of the land that that is, you know, that we're having the hearing about today for the city to potentially purchase from UP. Just a couple of other pictures to give you some idea of that district and and really the excitement here. So the big yellow line is is what we're calling right now the prominade. That would be a new street that would go diagonally from 11th Street as it crosses over from 10th Street across coming diagonally. So you'd be coming right to the end of the stadium where you saw the big owl. You can see this is a representative image of course from another project. But that's the idea is to have a district like that a prominade where uh before games and and other events, right? We talked about men's professional soccer, women's professional soccer, other events, youth events, and and again, a new neighborhood. You're going to have thousand hundreds of new housing units and and thousands of new people or people living here um who will use this uh year round. Um here's here's another example of that. You can see Oh, boy. There we go. Uh you can see the stadium uh and the owl there. um you know at the end of the prominade and then just one more kind of showing u some of the connections uh through the district and and really through the neighborhood even more broadly. So I just wanted to to emphasize that as as you're considering um the city purchasing this property. It's not just the stadium, um, but it really is a new neighborhood, um, there in this area that that is truly a mixeduse neighborhood anchored by the stadium, but hundreds of new residential units, um, thousands of square feet of retail, entertainment, restaurant, um, all of those kind of things that really make all of this work financially and and help create a new a new neighborhood for Omaha there downtown and the urban core and and north of coming. So, with that, uh, we are got again a couple more people who I think would like to address the council briefly, and we're certainly here and and happy to answer any questions you might have. >> Thank you. >> Uh, Aaron Fox, 5511 Harney Street. Um, I just want to briefly thank you all for your support of this project previously and hopefully going forward. I think the public private partnership between the city of Omaha and Union Omaha is a great one. I'm a soccer fan. I'm a Union Omaha fan. I'm an Omaha resident, a small business owner, and I could not be more excited for the stadium to be built mostly because it will enable us to have a women's team. And so for me personally, um I think Omaha is also a women's sports town. Um we've got volleyball, we've got set the bar. So I think I really want to thank all of you for supporting Omaha in moving forward with this great partnership and hopefully we can continue to grow Omaha's sporting community and bring in revenue and more entertainment. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good afternoon. Hunter Fangmire, 2719 North 65th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68104. Good to see everyone here. Um I am the president of Omaha Parliament. We are registered 5013C with the state and um the largest independent supporters group for Union Omaha. I'm here for you to speak about what the project would mean, not just to the city as a whole, but to our membership and the people that are going to inhabit this mis mixeduse district. Founded in 2019, Parliament's membership role consists of 550 members in a 40 representing 48 different area codes. Not only does this include people like myself that were born, raised, and educated here in Omaha, Nebraska, but also represents people that are transplants from both the east and west coasts, the south. Um veterans who have settled here after serving their country and many more. We have families that travel in from Fremont, Lincoln, Council Bluffs, Blair, and other communities near the Omaha Metro to come to the games, to attend our events, and to support um our current men's team and in the future the women's team as well. What this project does is place that community right in the heart of Omaha. We've worked tirelessly to build a culture around Yamaha that represents Nebraskan values and personifies the good life. Our f fans care about the neighbors and donate their time and money to the community. That spirit would be translated directly to downtown Omaha and the urban core, and I truly believe it'll blossom there as it has in other parts of the city. The core of the city would expand with new housing, jobs, and businesses flocking downtown and with opportunities for community events and youth engagement. so the area can become a lively destination that connects truly everyone in our larger community. As you consider this, I ask you not to think of the place, but the people that come together to give that district its soul. Think of the father from Fremont taking his kid to attend their first matches just as his father took him to his very first soccer matches. Think of the people that um have just transplanted here from south coming to get a new job here in the Omaha metro and find their first community in Omaha with the soccer community that we've built here. Um the fan who can get away from hardship for a little bit and fans that find a community that will support them through difficult times. Every person who visits or inhabits this district will have a story just like those. Um that's what being what's being created. You may see the place but please see the people as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. Jennifer Taylor, City Law Department. Uh we'll just go back really quick to again if you have any questions about the specific agreement. Um there we go. Uh this is just a reminder quickly uh about things we have kind of discovered in some council briefings. Uh this is the actual parcel of property that's being acquired. Um, this is an easement area that will continue to be used by Union Pacific until the city is ready to move forward with the connector project and the CSO project. This is generally the easement that'll be reserved by EUP for their rail line, their uh current event space will be shifted back. There will be access to that and the rest of this will be acquired for the city for future development. We will have time over the next 90 days to do due diligence not only with um some preparation on the mixeduse site and the soccer site but also we will have this entire site surveyed and specifically identify exactly where those easement areas will be so that uh upon closing that is all recorded and precise. The purchase price for the property is $17 a square foot. Uh that does take into consideration that the city will be um looking to possibly having to do some environmental remediation in here. Um and then that square footage and uh final purchase price will be determined by the survey that we'll have done in the next 90 days. Happy to answer any questions you might have. >> Thank you. Are there any other proponents? Seeing none, are there any opponents? Public hearing is closed. I'm sorry. Luis Humanis 2709 D Avenue. Um, I'm an opponent because the city does not have the capacity to assess uh a fee for this development to not have uh affordable housing. So if uh we're talking about mixed use residential uh a residential component might be something to consider. So because the city does not assess uh commercial areas uh for not for lacking affordable housing. That's why I oppose it. Think you guys need to get to it. Chop chop. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there any other opponents? Public hearing is closed. Council member Goodwin, you're recognized. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Well, I am very excited that this is a District 2 project and it's really an expansion of an existing neighborhood. Um, we have those Hello Apartments and the Millwork Commons area really in a shared uh vicinity. Um, also that this is building upon soccer and the various projects we have throughout the city, including Levi Carter Park, which is probably not two miles north of here, um, expanding then to Tranquility, which I know is in um, Council Member uh, Mountain's District. And so this is a great a great opportunity for developing an underutilized site. um for spurring economic development through tourism and housing. Um I believe 900 units, but I don't want to go off to off the top of my head. So I am going to call Jen uh Taylor please up to clarify and I believe it does have aspects of uh really mixed income here within the proposed project overall. >> Uh Jennifer Taylor, City Law Department. Uh the precise number of housing units is both contingent upon how this develops out and how some neighboring uh areas develop out. I know that there is to the west uh additional opportunities for housing. How the owners of those properties develop that I can't necessarily speak to today, but the opportunity for that number of housing units does exist here. And I believe um not only uh I believe there is some intent to try incorporate affordable housing into some of the neighboring developments. Those plans hopefully can be announced in the next few months uh to write to to this point in time. Right now I'm not don't think I can say definitively how many units we are going to have. >> Thank you for that clarification. And so we've got two proposed uh ordinances here. one is the purchase of uh the property, but the other is that stadium revenue bond. Um so that's really a decision that then has to be proposed or approved at the state uh with the goal of generating additional tax revenue. Correct. >> Correct. So, um, two weeks ago, the city council approved the city and downtown soccer stadium, Inc.'s application to the state turnback tax committee for, uh, up to $25 million of sales tax turnback revenue that will be generated in this district. Uh, it's my understanding that application will be forwarded to the state shortly. Uh and then as the mixeduse area develops and the stadium is constructed and uh uh goes into operation, obviously the sales tax that's generated from those areas would be turned back to help the city pay for the current bond issuance that's in front of you today. >> What is the proposed amount of tax revenue that we believe the site will generate? >> Uh it's $25 million over 20 >> over 20 years. So it' be approximately 1.25 25 million dollars a year. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Math is not my strong point. Um but we uh and that's actually set statutoily. So that would be what we'd be eligible for. Is very possible the area could generate more than that. But that is that is how we are capped at that amount of money. But this bond uh this revenue bond would then be uh paid back with those revenues. >> In addition to the tax revenue, there's also lease revenue that would be generated as well. Correct. >> Correct. Part of the funding uh mechanism that we're looking at that we'll continue to kind of finalize over the next couple of months and then bring to this council as part of an agreement with the Downtown Soccer Stadium, Inc. is that they would lease the stadium from the city uh for a certain amount of money every year and that would be part of the revenue that we would generate to pay larger bond issuance to construct the stadium. So we see a redeveloped site. We see um tax revenue generation, lease revenue, uh potential housing, u mixeduse development of shopping and retail. So this is growing our city. It's also a regional attraction. Uh can you talk a little bit about the difference in this project from I know we went over this uh it's been sounds like feels like longer than a week or two ago that this size stadium is a different size stadium than let's say Kraton or even some of the other fields that we're looking to develop. >> Correct. Uh it is a differentiz stadium than the Kraton stadium. Um, it will serve a a unique and specific purpose in downtown that is not, I believe, overlapping with other areas. And to your point, Councilman Goodwin, the area that we're looking to acquire here is currently generally unused property. So, it's owned by Union Pacific. Uh, it's rather industrial in nature. There is a significant amount of vegetation. So, it's a great opportunity to develop 25 acres of downtown property into 400 million, 500 million, 600 million uh dollars worth of new development downtown that will generate new property taxes and new sales taxes. >> Yeah. I always like to emphasize that this is in district 2 because I think people often think of district 2 in a specific space and when this is goes before council for a vote, I'll be supporting it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Feserson. You're recognized. >> Thanks, Mr. President. I'll support these items next week as well. I'm excited about this vision. Um, it's a great time for soccer in this country. We have the World Cup coming this summer. Uh, closest games will be in Kansas City in June and July, but also uh we have a great grouping uh that we're excited about for Team USA and how that might um proceed this summer. And then of course here in Omaha, the excitement is around the Tranquility Project and this project we're talking about and what that could mean for our community, not just soccer fans, but the entire community. Um, and as Miss Goodwin notes, what we're talking about here today is a land purchase, uh, as we see it on the map here, and then, uh, an initial approval for $25 million worth of bonds for site work and, uh, initial construction. So, just a couple questions for you along those lines. Um, you mentioned the land purchase is for less than appraised value. Um, that's good. You also mentioned we have some due diligence to do, including environmental. Um, when do you think we'll have that back? >> Uh, we will start the survey process and some initial environmental review as soon as the purchase agreement is is approved by this council, assuming it is. So, we'll get that work started immediately. Okay. and we should have um some good results at least from a survey perspective and some initial understanding of what the site looks like uh within the next four to six weeks I would imagine. >> Okay. And at that point we might know if there's additional obligations because that would be the obligation of the city at that point. Right. >> To to the extent that we can determine what that site looks like. Yes. To uh what information we have we will take. We do have some experience with remediating um old Union Pacific sites. If you look at um the Arena Convention Center site and what we have learned from lot B, you know, I think we can uh have a good feeling of what this will likely look like. We also will get some additional information from Union Pacific and have those conversations along the way to try and get as good of a handle as possible on what our exposure will be as far as uh remediation and environmental cleanup. Uh and I do believe uh Downtown Soccer Stadium, Inc. and their development partners will be partners with us in those efforts. Thanks. Look forward to reviewing that as well. And I think this will engage and enliven a property that's been very difficult to engage for a long period of time as it applies to the the bonds. Um we will also see a lot more detail on the project itself in coming months. I think we're talking January, February for a redevelopment agreement that'll spell out financing in much more greater much greater detail than we have here today. Uh but suffice it to say, even though some of the revenue streams we're anticipating and hoping um will come to fruition with our state partners and others, uh you feel the 25 million, you're confident the 25 million can be covered. It's not undue risk on behalf of the city for this approval today. Um, I I think if your question is if we are not entirely sure whether or not we'll get the $25 million of state sales tax turnback, do we move forward with this purchase agreement? And I think we'll have to, you know, I'm not sure that this project can necessarily move forward without that $25 million. So, we will need to have some input from the state. Um, so we're going to have to see how that that materializes over the next few months. Again, that's why we have a 90-day due diligence period. Mhm. But this approval next week, um, we're anticipating those revenues and we need those revenues, but you're still advocating for this approval at this juncture, right? >> Uh, we are advocating for this approval at this juncture so we can move forward with that application and we can make application to the state for those revenues. Um and obviously there's a there's a number of things that still have to be done in assessing the site from the survey perspective and from some um other due diligence perspective to understand what our obligations will be and how that financing will materialize and be put together. Uh but that's why we have an due diligence period and we have a good partner with Union Pacific that I know will work with us on that. >> Yeah. And then the redevelopment agreement itself. I mean, we'll talk a lot more about not only the city's revenue sources, but the developers commitment and the team's commitment u to a long-term lease and how those things will be um determined and committed to. Other things we've talked about so far are affordable housing and adjacent properties and transit, too. Uh transit will be very important to the ultimate success of this happening. So, I know we'll have additional conversations about that as well. And then lastly, I'll just say um I appreciate the Parliament fans being here. That's a big part of this, too. Uh you have a really enthusiastic group there. When you go to a game and see them, um it'll be a big deal uh for them. Uh as it is for the whole community, and we appreciate having you in Vincent. Thanks. >> Thank you, Council Member Melton. You're recognized. >> Uh thank you. Councilman Festererson I think asked a lot of my questions but I just want to be really really clear because we talk a lot and we we sometimes all of us understand this because we have had hours of briefings right um and I've had the opportunity to ask you and Mr. levy, all kinds of questions, but I it narrows down to what kind of the people see and the people hear. And I think what people hear is my tax dollars are paying for 20 are giving $25 million to Union Soccer for land for the stadium. Okay, that's that's what people hear. Can you please clarify that these are revenue bonds? They're not being issued tomorrow. We're just voting authorizing the issuance. A lot it will be done including agreements before we actually do it. But this is a step that's required kind of in the process is that the council has to at least approve that we're we support it. We will support the 25 million in bonds um to be issued based upon other things. But this 25 million is not coming out of the general fund that could otherwise be used for public works, for parks, for libraries. Correct. >> Correct. Uh this is a $25 million revenue bond. It's non-reourse to the city. It is secured and would ultimately when issued would be repaid strictly with the sales tax turnback revenues that are generated by the new development on the site. So currently today there is no sales tax revenue that comes from this area. Uh what would hopefully be approved by the state would be the authorization to take that sales tax turnback and reinvest it into the project repay these bonds those the proceeds of which we would use to build the stadium and uh the associated infrastructure. So again we were creating new sales tax revenue which then the state would allow us to use to repay these bonds that will go towards the construction. And I know people will say, "Okay, what if there is no tax," which we know is not going to be true. Um, but no prop our property taxes, people's property taxes that go to the general fund for our general fund budget um >> are not obligated under these. >> They're not obligated under these. And that's what I just I want to make that very very clear. I mean, we'll still hear it. People will still say, "Fix my potholes with that money." Um, I'm hoping that public works can will still fix our potholes. We we had a great presentation this morning, but they this money isn't being taken away from it, you know, our general fund or any of the other necessities that people expect out of the city. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. No further lights. Item 91, an ordinance to amend sections 23-177,23-494, and 23-502 of the Omaha Municipal Code to reflect changes for employees in the administrative and executive classifications for the years 2026 through 2029. >> Public hearing is now open on item number 91, proponents. >> Good afternoon. Um, Annie Matthews, labor relations director for the city. Um, I'm just here to answer any questions on this item. Um, historically or what you'll see here in this ordinance, it sets out the wages in terms of employment for our administrative and executive employees here at the city. Um, if you remember, is not a bargaining unit. Um, you'll see this runs 2026 through 2029. That mirrors the four-year term of the um, contract negotiated with our SIM employees that was before you today for final reading. Um, with that you'll see the same benefit, terms of employment revisions from the SIMC ordinance and this ordinance. Um, so I won't go through them all. Just a brief summary on the wages that were um, determined for this group. Um, in 2026, there'll be a 4% overall increase. Um and then there were certain positions within this group that were reviewed just to make sure that they were still in line with our comparable cities and um those ranges that were determined to have to be adjusted. Um employees in those positions will be placed at the step that ensures at least a 4% increase for them in 2026. So for the remaining years 27, 28, and 29, there'll be a 3% increase each year. So, um, along with the other changes that are set out in this ordinance, happy happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Is there any other proponents on item number 91? >> Uh, good afternoon city council, Donnie Yard. Johnson and Johnson Equestion Foundation and Northmal Concerned Citizen Foundation. And I'm glad this subject came up. >> Donnie, we need your address. I'm sorry to interrupt you for that. >> One in Washington DC or one here? >> Omaha. >> Okay. 4928 North 52nd Street. So I'm glad they brought this up because in the 70s I employed I had 15 employees and these changes that we're going through now under President Carter and Andrew Young were preparing to send a lot of young gentlemans into that African continent. And I told him, you may have to live up in your car or live on the street for a while while you're over in this pro program, the Peace Corp. So, I'm showing you how to do it, but in the meantime, these things, these jobs that they'll come back with may not be reflective on this program, but they will generate a new type of job. >> Thank you. Is there any opponents? Item number 91. Seeing none, public hearing is closed. Non-action items. Items 92 through 129 do not require public hearing or city council consideration at this meeting, but will be placed on a future agenda for public hearing and vote. Reason for non-action is noted after the item on the agenda, as well as the date the item is expected to appear on an agenda for consideration. >> Got a motion and a second. Roll call. >> Goodwin. Harding. >> Yes. >> Hug. Meltton. >> Row. Fester. >> Yes. >> Mr. President, >> I. >> Motion passed seven to zero. meeting is adjourned at 3:56. >> Thank you. [Music]