Based on the context provided in the transcript and public records for the City of Lakeville, here is the formatted transcript with speaker names. **[1:05] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Good evening and welcome to the April 20th City Council meeting. If you join me for a moment of silence in the Pledge of Allegiance. **[1:27] Mayor Doug Anderson:** To the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And all right, Mr. Snyder, roll call please. **[1:47] Mr. Snyder (City Clerk):** I'm sorry. [Reads names]. **Councilmembers:** Here, Here here. Here. Walter. Here. Lee, here. **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Okay. Very good. Item number three. Citizens comments. The opportunity for those to address council for up to three minutes about issues. If you're here for something that's on the agenda. Typically we don't have public hearings, but we'll open it up for public comment. **[2:06] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Uh, for an agenda item. Okay. Oh. Are you here about an issue on the agenda, or do you have something separate to talk about? **[2:21] Justin Miller (City Administrator):** Okay okay. No problem. Uh, item for additional agenda information, Mr. Miller. Mayor and council, if it's okay with you, I'd like to propose that you switch item seven A and seven B. Seven B is the awarding of the bond sale. That should be a relatively quick discussion. And then we would go into seven A, which is the residential interim ordinance. **[2:40] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Okay. That's fine. Um, moving on to item five. The first is the proclamation recognizing national therapy Animal Day. And I'm going to have Councilmember Walter read it. **Councilmember Walter:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor. National proclamation, National therapy, animal day. Whereas Pet Partners has designated April 30th as National Therapy Animal Day. And Whereas scientific research shows that interacting with therapy animals can reduce stress, relieve depression, show slow heart rate, lower blood pressure, and strengthen the immune system. And whereas therapy animal teams in Lakeville can play an essential role in improving human health and well-being through the human animal bond. And Whereas therapy animal teams interact with a variety of people in our community, including veterans, seniors patients students **[3:26] Councilmember Walter:** and those approaching end of life. And whereas those exceptional, these exceptional therapy animals who partner with their human companions bring comfort and healing to those in need. And whereas we encourage more pet owners to consider becoming pet partners, volunteers to help our community by creating greater access to meaningful therapy, animal visits. Now, therefore, the Lakeville City Council does hereby proclaim April 30th, 2026 as National Therapy Animal Day in the city of Lakeville proclaimed this 20th day of April 2026. **[3:56] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Very good. Mary's here with Duke. Right? Yeah. Did you want to say anything at all? You don't have to. **Mary (Duke's Owner):** Duke. Uh, Duke silver is six year old. Um, I got him when he was a puppy, and we had to do about two years worth of training to get to animal therapy. So, uh, he loves going and visiting people and just being around town and. **[4:19] Mary (Duke's Owner):** Uh, memory care facility. Uh. He really loves the older, older crowd. **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Very good. You want to take a quick picture? Okay. Yeah. **[4:39] Mary (Duke's Owner):** He does have more followers on Instagram than I do. So. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. **[4:54] Mayor Doug Anderson:** You can stick around. It looks like a selfie meeting. We might need. Hey. I'll know. Um. Thank you, by the way. We'll move on to item B. Uh, proclamation for National Day of Prayer. I think Miss Deb Anderson is here to give a little update and background on our state prayer. **[5:18] Deb Anderson:** Well thank you. I represent the task force in Lakeville, which is made up of four people. And this is an exciting year for the National Day of Prayer because our country is celebrating its 250th year. And as you look back on history, you can see that prayer was a part of our history. So anyway, just a little bit of background. Some of it's you heard before, but I have some new information this year. **[5:41] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Good. **Deb Anderson:** So yeah, listen up to see if you can see what's new. So the National Day of Prayer Task Force has been organizing prayer events throughout the country. And the mission is to mobilize unified public prayer for America. The National Day of Prayer is a time for us to recall how our Founding fathers sought the wisdom of God when faced with critical decisions. **[6:07] Deb Anderson:** It stands as a call for us to humbly come before God, seeking his guidance for our leaders and his grace upon us as a people, just as our Founding Fathers did in the past. Every year, local, state, and federal observances are held throughout the country. So a little bit of history July 20th of 1775. The First Continental Congress called for a national Day of Prayer and fasting. And then in 19 1863, President Abraham Lincoln called for a national Day of Prayer. April 17th of 1952 president Harry Truman declared a National Day of Prayer and actually signed into law, saying, in times of **[6:53] Deb Anderson:** national crisis, when we are striving to strengthen the foundations of peace, we stand in special need of divine support. And that law was passed unanimously, unanimously. Excuse me. So just in the past that we needed. **[7:08] Mayor Doug Anderson:** That is true. **Deb Anderson:** Yet today, in 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the designation of the first Thursday in May as the annual observance. And then in 1998, President Clinton signed into law, saying each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer. So here is the new part a bunch of fun facts. There have been 143 national calls of prayer, humiliation and fasting and thanksgiving by the president, going from 1789 all the way through 2014. I don't know why they quit counting after that, but, um, and then there have been 66 presidential **[7:53] Deb Anderson:** proclamations for a day of prayer. Every president since 1952 has signed a National Day of Prayer proclamation. And tomorrow, our president, President Trump, will be part of an eight day biblical scripture reading, along with 500 people at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. And since we just had the exciting news of the Artemis two mission, this brings us back to the last mission April of 1970. **[8:27] Deb Anderson:** President Richard Nixon had the nation observe a day of prayer for the Apollo 13 astronauts. And I don't know if any of you had seen any of the astronauts discussion afterward, but many of them were very moved watching the Earth from outer space and realizing that we do have a creator out there that takes care of us. And then, um, September 11th, 2001 is a date ingrained in many of our history. Um, President George W Bush declared declared a day of prayer and also declared a day of prayer after Hurricane Katrina. And again, getting back to our president on February 5th. You know, just a short while ago, President Trump spoke at the 75th Annual **[9:13] Deb Anderson:** National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., calling for a national jubilee, a prayer praise Thanksgiving on the National Mall. And that takes place just shortly after the National Day of Prayer on May 17th. So as America faces challenges in the economy from terrorism and natural disasters, one can gain inspiring faith from the leaders of our past, and our nation has always been strengthened by the faith of our people, and we are fortunate to live in a country where our Constitution protects our exercise of our religion. **[9:49] Deb Anderson:** So the theme this year is Glorify God among the nations seeking him in all generations. So thank you for declaring. May 7th, 2026 as National Day of Prayer for the City of Lakeville and you all and you all are invited to join us in front of City Hall at noon. **[10:08] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Thank you. For being here. Councilman Volk, you read the proclamation. **Councilman Volk:** I can. The National Day of Prayer, 2026. Whereas National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation. And whereas, the National Day of Prayer Task Force, a non-sectarian group with no political affiliation, encourages citizens to pray for our leadership in America, especially in the areas of government military media business, education, church and family. Therefore, the city of the City Council of the City of Lakeville does hereby proclaim. **[10:52] Councilman Volk:** Thursday, May 7th, 2026 shall be observed as the National Day of Prayer. Proclaim this day, the 20th day of April, 2026. **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Thank you, thank you. Thanks for being here. **[11:13] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Okay, now move on to item C, a presentation from our liquor store director Wold. **Brenda Wold (Liquor Store Director):** Council, thank you for the opportunity to share the results of our liquor Operations March fundraiser. So during the month of March, our liquor stores collected donations from our incredibly generous customers totaling $29,835.60. These funds will directly support two invaluable organizations in our community 360 communities and the Open Door Pantry. Joining us tonight are representatives from both of these organizations. Jason Viana is here representing The Open Door, and Hannah Lani Otto is representing 360 communities. **[12:16] Hannah Lani Otto (360 Communities):** So if either would you like? Hi. Good evening. I just want to say thank you so much for your support of all the nonprofits in Dakota County and in Lakeville. It's so important that we have a network for people who are seeking services. So thank you. **[12:33] Jason Viana (The Open Door):** Thank you so much for continuing to feature our organizations during this campaign. As you know, between the two of us, we're building something that just isn't present in Lakeville, which is infrastructure for families that need help. And this support not only helps us put food into the hands of folks that need it. Um, on any given month, you're helping us help over 23,000 people around Dakota County. Around 5000 of those in Lakeville. You're helping us have mobile food access points in five different places in Lakeville. And as many of you know, during the summer, we work with the school district to deliver meals to five neighborhoods in Lakeville. Last summer, that was over 12,000 meals. Students wouldn't have had access to otherwise. So we are grateful for featuring this, for acknowledging this, and for making Lakeville a place that **[13:19] Jason Viana:** everyone can thrive. **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Council. Any comments? **Councilmember Lee:** Joshua Council. Well, thank you both for being here and for what you do in the community. Um, and thanks to the patrons of the liquor store, I'm not sure if this was a round up campaign or a separate jar or something like that, but regardless of the strategy, I also want to thank the staff for being diligent and and asking that question at every transaction, because that takes an extra second to do that. But looking at that total, that's an impactful number. So thanks to everybody involved in that. Appreciate it. **[13:58] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Yes. Anybody else? Well, I'll just again echo Councilmember Lee, thank you to the customers and the liquor store. But to both of you that represent your organizations, we continue to be grateful for your partnership. So thank you very much. Thank you. Mayor, real quick, um, I don't know if anybody from Just Serve is here tonight, but, um, as got some publicity last month, we are named as just serve city and it was a £40,000 donation. A semi truck full of food was donated to the open door. And they are going to be sharing some of that with 360 communities. **[14:30] Mayor Doug Anderson:** And we purposely ask that that be timed in the month of March to coincide with our, our food shelf or our donations, and from the liquor stores. And see, Jennifer, thank you for being here. Thank you. Okay. We'll move on to item six. Our consent agenda items you'd like to highlight, Mr. Miller. **[14:50] Justin Miller:** Thank you mayor. Two items tonight. Item six F is a professional services agreement with Cooper Engineering. This will help design our freight rail storage facility that we've been working on. And so it's just another step forward on going to that. That is being paid for through federal funds. **[15:05] Justin Miller:** And so we appreciate our federal delegation for fighting for those funds. A couple of years ago. And then item six, L is accepting the bid and awarding construction contract for East Community Park. Phase two. This will be the final project that was approved as part of the Park bond referendum in 2021, and construction on that will begin this spring. **[15:22] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Okay. Very good. Council, any items that you'd like to further discuss? If not, I'll take a motion to approve consent agenda. **Councilmember Walter:** Move approval of the consent agenda. **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Is there a second? **Councilmember:** Second. **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. **[15:38] Councilmembers:** Aye aye. **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Opposed? Okay. Consent agenda passes. Will now move on to item seven B resolution authorizing issuance. Awarding sale of 2026 Go. Bonds of 38.365 million. Finance director is here to tee this up for us. Good evening. **[15:57] Julie Edlund (Finance Director):** Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Members of the council. Um, we did have very favorable bond results this morning at the sale. And, um, we're able to recognize roughly $2 million of premium. So we using that to reduce the amount of the bonds. And we have Jessica Greene, who's a managing director at Northland. **[16:15] Julie Edlund:** Our fiscal our financial advisor, to give us the details of the results this morning. **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Okay. Very good. Ms. Greene, good to see you again. **Jessica Greene (Northland Securities):** Good evening. As Julie just went over, we had a great sale this morning. Very impressive. 13 bids were received on the on the city's bonds this morning. So we do have a sale. Summary. That cover looks like this. I believe it was distributed this afternoon after the final numbers were compiled for the bond sale. Um, the council, of course, is familiar with the projects that we are financing here today. Those being the street and collector rehab projects for 2026. We also have improvements to fire station number two and then also some utility improvements as well. **[16:58] Jessica Greene:** The finance plan here. So we've got a couple of different structures 20 years on the CIP portion, which is related to fire station number two. And then both the street and the utility portions are structured over ten years. Security for the bonds being that these are general obligation bonds, the city will pledge net revenues of both the water and the sewer utility funds, and then ad valorem taxes. One note, though, related to Fire station number two, the city does intend to cancel any levies related to that CIP portion and pay for that debt service with franchise fees. We did seek a reading for the issuance. The city's rating of triple A was affirmed, so congratulations to Council on maintaining that very, very strong rating. Um, of course, you continue to score very well against Moody's rating methodology. Of course, they commented on the very **[17:44] Jessica Greene:** strong financial position of the city, um, local economy is strong and growing. And then your very strong liquidity and reserve position. So again, congratulations on that rating method of sale here today was competitive. Again 13 bids received with the low bid being Huntington Securities out of Chicago, Illinois. We have a final maturity here. February 1st of 2047. And then an optional call date beginning February 1st of 2034. So at that point, you can call the bonds in for savings or refunding. And you can do that in whole or in part. So once you hit that call date, you can call the bonds in at any date thereafter. And then on the bottom here we've just got a quick comparison. So we did review the finance plan with the council back at the beginning of March. And we had a size of roughly 39,505,000. **[18:31] Jessica Greene:** We were able to reduce that amount by about $1 million just with the bids related to the street and collector rehab projects. And then from there, we were also able to reduce the bond amount. As Julie mentioned, about $2 million in premium received today. So we were able to bump that Paramount down to 36,145,000. **[18:50] Jessica Greene:** True interest costs very, very similar to what we had estimated in the finance plan. So 3.67 was what we were anticipating. 3.65 is where we ended up today. So not a huge difference, but an overall debt service. Assuming that the bonds are outstanding for the life of the bonds. So full term it's a savings of about $32,000. So we'll take it where we can get it. And then on the next page you'll see the bid tab. So again those 13 bids coming in all really tight together. So 3.628 for Huntington going down to fidelity at the very bottom at 3.69. But all in that 3.6 range. So very strong again. **[19:28] Jessica Greene:** And then you do have some sources and uses along with the debt service schedules of course, we'll prepare a final excuse me, prepare a final transcript after the closing of the bonds. And that is scheduled to occur on May 14th. With that, I would be happy to take any questions that the council may have. **[19:45] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Okay. Very good. Council. Any questions or comments? I'm thrilled about the Triple-A rating. Again. We've I think has it been five years now long? I don't even know about that. That's pretty good. Um, with that council I'll take a motion. **Councilmember Walter:** Uh. I move to approve a resolution. Authorizing issuance, awarding sale prescribing. A form and details, and providing for the payment of, uh, would that be the correct amount of 38,000? Or would it be that 36,000. **[20:03] Jessica Greene:** 36,000 or excuse me, 36,145,000. **Councilmember Walter:** $36,145,000 of general obligation bonds series 2026. A **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Is there a second? **Councilmember:** Second? Any further discussion? Seeing none. Roll call please. **[20:37] Mr. Snyder (Roll Call):** [Roll call responses]. **Councilmembers:** Hi, Walter, I. Lee I. I Hellyer, I. **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Thank you very much to all of you for all of your work on that. Thank you very much. Okay. Well, now jump back to item a residential interim ordinance and I'll turn it over to Miss Goodrow to kind of tee this up for us based on our work session conversation we had at our last meeting. **[21:00] Tina Goodrow (Community Development Director):** Good evening. Thank you. Mayor. Members of the council, um, city council did discuss the draft interim. ordinance April 9th work session. The intent of the ordinance is to. Provide a pause. In the acceptance of new applications to allow the city time to study the impacts of potential legislation. As well as the Metropolitan Council's Imagine 2050 regional planning document and its impact on the current 2040 comp plan. So while it would prevent new applications from being submitted for residential development, including preliminary plats, subdivisions, comp plan amendments or rezoning for a period of up to a year could always be pulled closer or ended sooner than that. Um, it does exempt a few things. **[21:44] Tina Goodrow:** Number one. Preliminary plat approval subdivision applications for preliminary plat and, um, subsequent approvals that have been deemed complete and that are currently going through the process, and then properties that are currently undergoing the alternative urban area wide review process. That's following the same logic as the bullet point above. Regarding subdivisions. There's a lot of investment that goes not only into preliminary plat subdivision, but a lot of investment made by a developer going into and through the process. So of that we do have several projects that are going through. So you can see the different color codes. Green. Um, those are some small project areas that we are currently reviewing. So you will still see in your upcoming agendas a few more preliminary plats, because those projects have been deemed complete. **[22:36] Tina Goodrow:** And they're going through our normal process. You can see the area under our review, and then lots that have pulmonary plat awaiting final plat. In addition to that, we have many, many other final plats that have already been approved and pulmonary plots that have been approved, totaling 675 single family lots and 644 townhome lots. For a total of 1319 lots still waiting to be constructed. So while this is a pause on accepting a new applications, it is not a stop in the development. Building permits will still be issued. You do not to understand that we're not putting the brakes on development. We're still going to see a lot of home construction happen this year, and next year. **[23:20] Tina Goodrow:** We will continue to work. With developers on sketch plans. Those are not exempt from the ordinance, and we want to do that as we are working through our land use plan and figuring out what the 2050 land use plan looks like, considering all of the new rules by the Met Council will continue to work with property owners and those developers as they wait through this process and get sketch plans ready so that they're ready to go when the moratorium is lifted. And that's all I've got. I can answer any questions you might have. **[23:40] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Council. Any questions at this point? Okay. Yeah, we had a pretty robust conversation. So this is not a public hearing, but I'll kind of treat it as a public comment. So if you have anything you'd like to share about um, what's proposed. You have up to three minutes. State your name and address for the record as well. Please. **[24:18] Resident (Public Comment):** Mayor and City Council members, thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm here tonight as a Lakeville resident who cares deeply about the long term planning, fairness and livability of our community. I understand and support the city's desire to pause and reassess our growth, zoning, and infrastructure in light of continued rapid population growth, infrastructure expansion needs, uncertainty around potential state zoning changes. However, if the city adopts a housing moratorium, I strongly believe it should apply equally to all housing projects without exclusions, allowing projects that are already submitted but not yet approved to move forward undermines the purpose of a moratorium. Exemptions create unequal treatment between developers. A rush to submit mentality, perceptions of favoritism or insider advantage. From a residents perspective, it feels unfair that projects filed just ahead of this proposal could bypass a pause that everyone else must observe. If the goal of the moratorium is to take a meaningful step back in A and reassess comprehensive planning and zoning, then all projects should pause so the city can evaluate density, location, infrastructure impacts, compatibility with neighboring uses, allowing exempt projects to continue means decisions are still being made under the same planning rules, the city is saying need review. A moratorium **[25:49] Resident:** with exclusions, risks eroding public trust and makes it harder for residents to believe the process is truly about good planning. The mayor highlighted the impressive growth since 2002. Nearly 30,000 new residents, major expansions to roads, parks, public safety and city services as a resident, I ask if infrastructure is already under strain. Why should any new projects continue unchecked simply because of timing? How can the city fully assess capacity, capacity and service impacts if development continues during the pause? The city has cited possible zoning changes at the capital as a reason for the moratorium. If the state law may significantly change local zoning authority, then it seems especially important that no projects lock in outdated rules before those changes are understood. The moratorium with exemptions risks leaving residents with long term lasting, long lasting developments approved under standards the city may soon want or need to revise. **[26:56] Resident:** Residents live with a long term impacts of development, traffic, school capacity, infrastructure costs not just during construction but for decades. A comprehensive moratorium ensures equal treatment, a level playing field, decisions that prioritize community outcomes or project timelines. From a residents standpoint, fairness matters as much as speed. If the city believes a pause is necessary, then it should be clear uniform time, limited, outcome driven. I would support a moratorium that pauses all projects and commits to transport transparent work plans. Regular public updates, defined goals for zoning and comprehensive plan revisions. **[27:40] Resident:** In closing, I asked the council to either apply the moratorium evenly to all housing projects or reconsider whether exemptions undermined its its intent. A fair, comprehensive pause will better serve residents, strengthen public trust and give the city the clarity it needs to plan responsibly for Lakeville future. Thank you for your time and consideration. **[28:05] Mayor Doug Anderson:** We write down your address for Mr. Snyder on your way out. Just for reference, that was almost five minutes. Just so if anybody's, like, thinking about. That's all right. You're thinking about how long it is a little bit shorter than that. Thanks. **[28:24] Sonny Bowman:** Thank you. Would you like me to start? Yeah. Go ahead. Okay. All right. Hi. Mayor. Council members. My name is Sonny Bowman. I am the owner of Dakota County Lumber Company. We're based out of Farmington, Minnesota, and I have had the pleasure. And my family has had the pleasure for the last 40 years to sell building materials to the people who have built this very community. I'm here tonight speaking on behalf of my builders and also on behalf of young families that are moving to Lakeville. As many of you know, homeownership is an important part of the American dream, right? It's the first step in building wealth and the property ladder. Already, homes being built in Lakeville are out of reach for first time homebuyers, and any pause to building and to the whole process, no matter what we tell ourselves about whether it's going to delay and if we're going to stop things or not stop things, any pause to the process will cause a rise in **[29:26] Sonny Bowman:** the cost of homes, and will push homeownership further out of reach for young families. I'm on the board of my Kids Christian school, Christian Heritage Academy in Lakeville. We have a lot of young families that live outside of Lakeville that want to move into Lakeville, to be closer to our community, closer to the school. It's a testament to what we've built here, and they're unable to do so because it's already too expensive. **[29:47] Sonny Bowman:** Pressing pause on building, pressing pause on a new approvals has ramifications. This isn't really a decision about growth. It's a decision about who gets to live here and who has the opportunity to be part of our community. Additionally, talking to my builders, many of whom are small family owned, it's not the the Pulte and the owners of the world. It's peach builders, it's Hubert Homes, it's Modano. I don't want to speak for them, but what they have told me is that, you know, there's money involved in having contracts on land. They're holding costs, they're carrying costs. So there are actual real economic ramifications to having things delayed. Uh, it may be an irreparable blow to these small businesses that have their names on the boards, at the hockey rink and on the fences at the baseball fields that have been community members here for a long time and that have built the homes around us. **[30:42] Sonny Bowman:** I don't think that this council wants your political legacy to be one of driving up the cost of homeownership. I know that you're trying to do what's best for the community. I would just urge you that there is a way to do the planning that you are tasked with doing and have been supposed to be doing this whole time without pressing pause in a way that's damaging to your citizens, and that drives up the cost of homeownership. Um, Lakeville doesn't need to stop to stay strong. You can do this. You can make a plan. You can make sure that we have infrastructure, that we have roads, that we have schools that are able to support the growth of our community without pressing pause. If you vote no, you'll keep the door open for **[31:28] Sonny Bowman:** new families to move into this community that will become a vibrant and thriving part of our community. Thank you. **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Thank you, Ms. Bowman. Any other comments? **[31:49] Miss Louden (Public Comment):** Good evening, Mayor. And City Council people. Thank you for this opportunity and for making the exception. Um, the proposal of a moratorium is moving in the right direction. However, realistically, it's just a Band-Aid for the city, the county and the school district to realistically be able to put the appropriate plans in place. It's a 3 to 5 years just to catch up to where we're at today. Stick with your 2040 comprehensive plan. Use 2050 plan to do your strategic roadmap. Traditional development the large big purple in the back left hand corner there that that needs to be included in the moratorium. **[32:28] Miss Louden:** Otherwise you're making an already situation that lacks infrastructure and school capacity. Worse, before we have an opportunity to even catch up approving traditional development is misleading to the community and all of the comments that have been made. A one year moratorium feels like a political strategy. With elections coming up in November, Lakeville does not need to be the only answer to the 100,000 homes shortages in Minnesota. Lakeville the community isn't interested in being recognized for the fastest growing city in the state, or the most permits handed out, or the director of development, recognition, but rather a well thought out community growth that embraces **[33:13] Miss Louden:** our parks, our green space, our trees, our habitats, public safety and roads to help support the growth we've already encountered. The city really should concentrate on the industrial growth that will help our property taxes. Thank you for the opportunity. **[33:29] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Okay, thank you, Miss Louden. Any other comment? **Becky Rakshit:** Evening, Mr. mayor, members of the council. Uh, my name is Becky Rakshit. I serve as the government affairs director for the Saint Paul Area Association of Realtors, also known as Spa. Spa represents more than 7500 realtors across the East Metro, including, of course, Lakeville. Um, Minnesota is obviously facing a housing affordability and inventory crisis. I know I'm preaching to the choir with that. Um, but addressing it will require thoughtful, innovative solutions. And while local problems require local solutions, the proposed moratorium, we fear, will not help the city and its intended goals. Spa encourages the city of Lakeville to consider alternatives to a proposed moratorium on new construction, and urges the city to continue to allow responsible development while it evaluates Metropolitan Council policies and potential zoning changes. **[34:39] Becky Rakshit:** These efforts are not mutually exclusive, and maintaining housing growth is essential in supporting a healthy and accessible community. Overly restrictive regulations and added fees ultimately drive up housing costs and limit housing opportunity. Policies like the proposed moratorium constrain supply, worsen inventory shortages, and potentially make homes less attainable for residents at all price points. And this runs counter to the goal of increasing affordability and accessibility. A development moratorium would make it more expensive to both become a Lakeville resident and more expensive to remain one by limiting new housing, the city risks increasing property tax pressure on existing homeowners. When the cost of homeownership and living is already so high, homeownership remains one of the most effective ways and pathways to building generational wealth. **[35:37] Becky Rakshit:** Actions that restrict housing opportunity make that pathway difficult for many families. We at Spas are committed to being your partners as we work together to providing more opportunities for homeownership, and we also remain a leader in housing and development data. So please reach out if we can provide any of that information. Thank you for your consideration and your time. **[36:05] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Thank you. Any other comments? **Tony Barta:** Thank you. Mayor and council members. My name is Tony Barta. My address is 7515 74th Street South, Cottage Grove, Minnesota. I'm not a resident, but I've got many friends and clients who are proud to call Lakeville their home. It was an aspiration for some of them to be here. You guys are. Your school district is ranked eighth out of 362 districts in the state. Demand is not going to stop because housing permits stop. As a former city councilman and chair of planning commission for Cottage Grove, I've had to also meet these challenges. And I know how difficult this is for you. And I know that you guys take pride in your town. Um, I know we advocate for the long term health and prosperity of our communities. Development goes where development is welcome. That's a direct quote that we received from, uh, a corporate developer who brought over 2000 jobs to Cottage Grove. **[37:20] Tony Barta:** And getting them there was maybe a ten year, a ten year process, planning and execution. And that that hearkens true for residential, real estate and residential development as well. Moratorium on development now isn't going to affect what gets built next year. We've already heard that from other people, but what it does do is it stops people from planning to come here next year and the year after and the year after. So the long term impact of this is not going to be felt next year. It will be felt two or 3 or 4 years from now, and it's going to be hard to unwind the long term effect of that. And I'm afraid that this moratorium may have a chilling effect on housing development for years to come and may cause irreparable harm. It may stifle housing. The lack of development may exacerbate housing affordability. It's going to restrict supply without addressing demand. **[38:12] Tony Barta:** Again, you guys have built a wonderful place that people want to come to. People want to be here. People want to raise their kids here. And that's not going to stop. If you pass this interim ordinance, it's only going to hurt people who are already here, who are already struggling with affordability. I know that there are other, more nuanced and administrative and zoning tools in your toolkit. You don't have to put a full stop on development. You can pump the brakes without signaling to developers and homeowners and everybody else who has worked so hard to invest in your community that you don't want them to be here. And I think that takes some hard choices and hard consideration. Thank you. **[39:05] Nick Erickson:** Thanks for being. Here. Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Members of the council. My name is Nick Erickson. I'm senior director of housing policy for Housing First Minnesota. Our members mission is homeownership opportunities for all Minnesotans. And it's that mission that brings me here today. I'm here to speak on behalf of our members and prospective homebuyers who will be impacted by this moratorium. A one year halt in development when it is the state's top growth city, will have impacts beyond simply Lakeville. Beyond that, it's it is irresponsible and unproductive in the midst of a housing crisis to pause development when you are such a top home building community for our state. Now, this is being framed as a breather. But we all know the elephant in the room is that this is directly because of pending legislation. **[39:47] Nick Erickson:** Legislation that expressly prohibits enactment of of a moratorium related to the passage of the bill. A loophole is to pass a moratorium before the legislature takes action. And it's ironic, because the policies that are enacted by the city are often cited by lawmakers as a reason for adoption of fiscal zoning in the 1990s to aesthetic mandates. The city's garage requirements. These are what lawmakers are trying to prevent, and this is why they're seeking to to enact some type of state level action on housing. This is a problem that has grown beyond the reach of our 855 communities in the state to handle. It is a even beyond a Minnesota crisis. It's part of a national conversation across the country when it comes to housing policy growth helps stabilize the tax base. It spreads the cost of infrastructure and services across all of your residents. When you pause growth that demands that need that money, that doesn't go away, it's just spread across your existing residents. The appropriate thing to be to continue building as you are. And we respectfully request that you reject the moratorium and join us at the legislature with solutions that help all Minnesotans. Thank you. **[40:57] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Okay. Thank you. Other comments. **Rick Ring:** Thank you. Mayor and council members. My name is Rick Ring. I live at 20085 Italy Avenue and I'm a lifelong resident. I served on the Envision Lakeville Task Force to concluded in August of 23 that the city Council adopted on December 18th, 2023. As a member of that task force, there was a large, diverse group. We did look at zoning. We looked at it very carefully. Why? Because we each looked at our neighborhoods and we looked at where the growth was going to take place and those impacts. I'm here tonight to talk about our growth, development and zoning. You know, I remember very well Daryl Morey and his service to our community for 35 years. And I had a question. And the question in my mind was, how many times did Daryl depart from the comprehensive plan? So I did an AI search. AI is good, but it's not that good. But what it did tell me is that Daryl Morey did not have a record of allowing frequent or systematic departures from the comprehensive zoning plan. I'd be interested to know how many times he did. I'd also be very interested to know how many times that has happened since Daryl has left, because it **[42:15] Rick Ring:** feels different now. It feels as if Daryl worked for us as a city and the citizens, and sometimes it feels like we're encouraging development that doesn't fit our zoning plan. And in some cases, many redraws of plans that don't fit the zoning plan. The zoning plan was developed for a reason because of a vision that we had for our community and where we wanted it to go. I'm asking that you continue to follow the zoning for the city. You know, while that does feel different, we are experiencing prolific growth. That was just noted in the April 14th Minneapolis Star Tribune. They says we're now at 78,000, which means we're a handful of years away from 90,000 at the current rate. That's an undue stress on our infrastructure, our schools and our community. And I'm glad I'm on this side of the table and not on that side with you folks because of what's happening. But there's an old saying, build it and they will come. And that's exactly what happened. And that is stressing us. And it's stressing you. The moratorium is a tool. All right. You have people speaking for it and against it. What I want you to know is that there will be pent up demand and there will be unintended consequences, some of which have been shared with you tonight. If the city does go in to this moratorium, the time has to be used wisely to prepare for what's going to happen when we come out the other side. Now, the advantage is, is that you're going to be revisiting the comprehensive plan, and you're going to be **[43:48] Rick Ring:** able to get on the back side of that. But with what's happened in our community, I'm very concerned about how we're going to come out of the back side of that revision. Are we going to wholesale change the plans and our comp plan that we've looked at that was supposed to take us out to 2040? I hope not. I hope we look at the limited areas that we have left to develop on our city, because it's not about how fast we can fill it up, it's the quality in which we fill it up to do those things. And it's hard with the revision. We need to be proactive. We need to stick to the plan. We need to stay on top of things, and we need to tell developers that build to suit the zone don't come in here with plans that don't fit. People here tonight are not against growth. In fact, we all move to Lakeville because of the city. We are in, the city we're becoming. It's great to not have to cross the river. When I was in high school, we had to cross the river to go to McDonald's. There wasn't a date in town to be had other than a walk in the park. All right. That was that made it tough. But what we are in favor of building a community that we can all continue to be proud of. Thank you for your time. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. I know I'm a frequent flyer, and I'm going to tell you that I appreciate your service more than you'll ever know. Thank you. **[45:09] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Thank you. Any other comment? **Bob Erickson:** Good evening. I'm Bob Erickson, 19081N Dale drive. Mayor Hellyer, Council members, city administrator Justin Miller, thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm here tonight as a Lakeville resident who cares deeply about the long term planning, fairness and livability of our community. I want you to know, I understand and support the City Council's desire to pause and reassess our growth, zoning and infrastructure. I know recently infrastructure has been part of your agenda and it has challenged you and you're meeting the challenge. In my opinion, and it speaks volumes **[46:15] Bob Erickson:** to your ability to manage strategic growth. This evening, very quickly, I just want to give make some observations about the proposed interim moratorium ordinance. Having experienced that in the 1990s and having the responsibility to implement the byproduct benefits, underlying benefits of the moratorium. I just have some detailed concerns about the ordinance as it currently exists. I apologize if my statement is inconsistent with maybe a new a more recent revision of the or more recent ordinance document, which is not able, which none of us have been able to obtain via the website. I don't think it's crashed. It's just not been able to give us the information that we were hoping for. That information is as follows. We are hopeful that the City Council would provide a detailed list in the form of exhibits for section three, and each category one, two, three and four. Four is I'll give four. As an example. Um, it provides an exemption for a **[47:48] Bob Erickson:** residential development undergoing an author of which, to my knowledge, is only one. That's the 390 acre tradition development. There's also a reference in 3.2 for applications that have been deemed complete, or section three, unless a sketch plan has been submitted, we would expect in our hopeful that the City Council would give serious consideration to have exhibits as an attachment to the proposed interim moratorium ordinance, so that in realistic terms, um, it is enforceable. It's important to have a meaningful interim ordinance, of which most of us have reviewed, but it lacks specific specificity that is needed to ensure that the community, the builders, the residents and the school district know exactly how many units are foreseen in the exemptions going forward. **[49:01] Bob Erickson:** It's my understanding it's in excess of 1400 units, which, based on recent data, is a 3 or 4 year supply of single family homes. Um, again, absent that information, I am concerned based on my knowledge with the interim moratorium state statute, would might be unenforceable. And I think enforceability is important. I just want to say thank you for your courageous step forward. And considering this interim moratorium ordinance, which I think is timely and necessary. And I compliment each one of you for your comments. At the recent work session on this subject. Thank you so much. **[49:51] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Thank you. Any further comments? **Stefan (Resident):** Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Stefan. I live at 10310 204th Street West. Um, was here during the, uh, Duane Zon administration. And part of the reason, I think the entire reason that we're here complimenting each other on what a great town we have is because Duane is on and the city council back then had the courage to stand up and say, time out, we're growing too fast. And I think a lot of people in here don't realize that, that he had the courage to stop the whole thing from getting out of control. And I think that's where we are now. So my compliments to you guys. If you voted in. okay. **[50:50] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Any further comment? Okay, a couple things I'll just address. I think there are some questions and let me know. Miss Goodrow, if you think I miss anything, you feel free to weigh in. So, um, Miss Goodrow did say there's 675 single family lots, 644 townhome lots. This map, Mr. Ericson, but also Lakeville business comm is a very specific place to find approved and proposed residential projects. I believe everything that we're talking about should be found in there. Um, in GIS kind of style. So I think that's probably the best resource to make sure that we're following what we're kind of putting out there. Mr. Miller. **[51:24] Justin Miller:** Yeah, just one other clarification and we apologize. There was a website issue today, but the ordinance as proposed is up there. Now, you can see that language, the ordinance that was on earlier was, um, did have one error. The proposed ordinance does not include any sketch plans. So a sketch plan is what we refer to as something that's not an official submission. It's basically just an idea that the developer would submit or a landowner, uh, to get staff input. Um, if we do have some of those, those are not considered a complete application. So if anybody has submitted a sketch plan that has not received, um, preliminary plat approval or has not been deemed a complete application, which is a pretty, um, detailed step, um, a sketch plan would not be exempt from any development. All right. But like the mayor said, the highlighted um sections on this map you see here are what would be exempt under the current ordinance. Did you have one? Okay. **[52:26] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Council, any comments? Questions? Um, I just have one question. **Councilmember Volk:** Yes ma'am. So the green areas, um, Tina, the the complete preliminary plat application, um, and the pink to none of those any. Nothing's changed in the two weeks that we had this topics discussion. So nobody tried to sneak in because they thought they were hearing the discussion and thought, I've got to get in there. **[52:59] Tina Goodrow:** Don't know. Sneaking in. These are projects that we've been working on for a long time. Preliminary plat. Um, often is tied to different approvals. It takes about 120 days to get through the process, so it's only fair to allow those projects that have submitted and have been deemed complete to be allowed to continue. Thank you. **[53:14] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Okay. Any other. Comments? Okay. Well I'll just I'll add a few things. Um, because there's been a lot of conversation about this and the city's reaction to certain things. And I'll get my $0.02. You know, I think the first, um, you know, why I support kind of the pause now, I think I'll give a really quick example. If you think about, um, when the last time we did the comp plan, Cedar Avenue was going to have a transit line for, for instance, and now it's not. So there's pretty significant zoning choices we made, uh, ahead of the 2040 plan that I would not make today because of that as an example. And I think there's probably half a dozen other areas of the city, I would think about that. We if projects came in, we wouldn't be able to deny because they would fit current zoning. And maybe they don't make sense based on some of those things that have happened. The other is obviously there's conversation about what's happening in the legislature. I've said that in meetings and work sessions, um, you know, for the to understand by way of background, after last legislative session, I met with 18 builders here at City Hall for almost two hours, and we got, I don't know, probably 4 or 5 different, um, suggestions on how Lakeville can improve our ordinances in our code to make things a little bit more affordable and in their eyes, and what we can do to try to be better at fixing the housing crisis, as it's called it, the legislature. I think we adopted four of the five recommendations that have to double check for sure. Um, and so we've done quite a bit working with builders, and I'm proud of that and continue to be proud of that as part of all this discussion as well. This last week, I spent a half hour on the phone with Representative Spencer Igo. He's an author of one of the bills, and we had a very fruitful conversation. I gave him our perspective as a city and what we felt were some reasonable compromises in his bill. There's four sections that I think make probably total sense, especially because we adopted them already a year ago. Um, and I've talked to other mayors in the Twin Cities about that as well. So hopefully there'll be some sort of compromise that comes out of that. But there's been some positive, um, response from the legislature. So I appreciate that. Other comments. If not, I'll take a motion on the ordinance. **[55:33] Councilmember Lee:** I do want to just continue with a few additional comments here. I, I think it is important to note that there are some conversations that are coming up that are are going to even further be productive in figuring out what what comes next for us. Um, we're in the midst of planning our joint kickoff session with the Economic Development Committee, Finance Committee, and ourselves. Next week, we have a joint session with our school district, uh, and all of those discussions are are built on and founded on on growth. And what what are our next steps as a city? Um, personally, I don't know that it will take a year moratorium to to figure that out, but we're giving ourselves a runway to do that to date with our growth, which at the end of the day, we are talking about our neighbors, the folks that have come into this community over the last decade with this growth have benefited us tremendously. We've got a lot of very, uh, great businesses, new parks, systems because of that growth. But at the same time, I had a spirited conversation just this weekend with a resident who was talking about our taxes and our traffic and some of the concerns that come with growth. Um, I there are still rising taxes in our city because of the support the housing costs have not gone down because of the additional housing. So there does need to be a conversation that continues out of this. And I appreciate that. We have good connections with folks at the state, because we can make some progress there. Um, there are not going to be a lot of completely happy people walking out of this room, because there are folks that want this to be applied to everything and stop right now. And there's folks that don't want this to stop at all. But I think the most fair pathway forward is to thread the needle a little bit with the applications that we've committed to so far. And, and give ourselves some breathing space to figure out what happens next. So. Um. That's what I'll add. **[57:49] Councilmember Walter:** Well, I appreciate everybody that's come and spoken on this tonight. Um, I a lot is made of the legislative issues that are happening surrounding the housing issue, and I just want to reiterate for me that that's not the driving force here. I last two years ago when I was campaigning, that most common thing I heard from residents was concern about the pace of growth here. Um, we are having any discussions about the school districts, the concern about the rapid pace of growth, um, comes out. And so I think this is just good policy separate from the the discussions, the legislature. And I'm happy to go on, go and ramble about those as well, because I hear a lot of discussion. The advocates pushing for bills in the legislature often cite Lakeville as the problem. Yet Lakeville is the has led the the region. I think the state since 2013. I believe we've been in the top first or second spot and the number of permits, at least in the suburbs. So no community has contributed more to the housing supply problem, to solving that problem than the city of Lakeville. With the units that we have added. And in many ways, I'd like those people at the state level talking about state solutions to this, to be recognizing that, acknowledging that, thanking the fact, the fact, thanking our residents that we are growing in this way, but instead we're demonized. And I appreciate that. What the mayor did last year, we made some substantive changes to our ordinances in terms of of building materials requirements and other, I think, very thoughtful changes that I, that I think are appropriate. Um, so I'm supportive of this and I think it's interesting, I was noticing in the Star Tribune this last week, we had one article about how, you know, the pace of growth was horrible. We had one article about how we were going to, you know, set the world on fire by stopping stopping this. And I think some of the discussion here tonight has, has shown there's, there's, there's two sides to this argument. And we are trying to reach a happy medium. I think that is good for the community of Lakeville. **[59:58] Councilmember Walter:** And I think this is again, I you know, I don't want to minimize what we're doing tonight. But the reality is when you've got enough projects for three years worth of housing construction already approved, this really is a minor administrative, uh, change. Um, while we're regrouping and contemplating some some changes, I appreciate what the mayor mentioned about the I-35. Excuse me about the Cedar Avenue rapid transit bus thing. That's no longer happening. So there's a lot that's happened there that has necessitated some of this, and I think the timing is appropriate for it. So I'll be voting yes. **[1:00:32] Councilmember Burnham:** Yeah. I, um, it's interesting because just thank you for the comments tonight. As always, a full chambers with people coming up and speaking is it's good. This is local local governance at its best. And your comments are all very good. But but this has been said already. It's like it's either too much or it's not enough. And there's just a spectrum here. And I agree, I mean, just with the number for me, the number of permits that we have in in the hopper that won't be affected are what make me comfortable, um, supporting this, uh, because I think it is an opportunity to take a breather. Um, I don't know if there's any single one of us that hasn't heard comments from the community about pace of growth, and it's a constant theme, and it's always in the back of my mind. And I think this is a responsible way to take a breather and figure and plan that growth. Uh, there's all kinds of factors. Uh, the council's planning, our planning. What's happening at the legislature, all of that. The way I phrase it is, there's just lots of moving parts. And when there's lots of moving parts to me, it take it pays to just take a breath and and take a look at how things are going to shake out. And I think the timing is good. I think we have enough, uh, pending projects that I don't see the whole bottom falling out on, on our housing market and our housing prices. Um, I think it's a it's a good way to just see what the landscape looks like. And, uh, to address the pace of growth that we keep hearing about as a community, because the growth is healthy, it's good. Uh, it helps our tax base. Um, but when it starts to stress the infrastructure that we have as **[1:02:30] Councilmember Burnham:** a city, I think it's good to to pay attention to that and notice that so that those are some thoughts on my support for this, uh, this pause. Um, I don't think that, uh, that this is something we haven't done this in a vacuum either. And so I think there's some good basis for it, and I support it. **[1:02:53] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Any other. Comments? Mayor? Make a motion. **Councilmember Walter:** I move to approve an ordinance temporarily prohibiting approval of certain residential development. **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Okay. Is there a second? **Councilmember:** Second. Uh, any further discussion? Okay. Roll call, please. **[1:03:10] Mr. Snyder (Roll Call):** [Roll call responses]. **Councilmembers:** Lee, hi, Walter. Hi. I. Heller I. I. **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Okay. Very good. We'll move on to items eight and nine. Unfinished a new business. New business is replaces what was traditionally work sessions. So we're just going to take a quick five minute break. And then we will get into those items. You're all free to join us or not, depending on if you want concern about lodging tax ordinances and CDA housing. **[1:08:54] Julie Edlund (Finance Director):** And also taking examples from other cities and and what's all included. So some of the key points that we did is actually referencing which state statute the lodging tax is based off of. So added that into our ordinance. Um, did add the language for the short term residential, uh, short term residential rentals. Um, so that's also included in the lodging taxes. Um, we also did put in we specified that for our existing hotels. They all know this, but if they were to ever have a month of no sales, they still need to file a lodging tax return. So just beefing up our language and making sure that we're covering all of our bases, um, there were also we didn't have any exceptions or exemptions noted in our ordinance, but by statute, there are properties or certain things that are exempted from the rentals that we that the lodging, um, hotels submit. So we updated our form to be more comprehensive, more clear. And actually it's, uh, uh, formula driven. So they can just put in their sales, they can put in there, um, the exempt sales, the federal people that are staying or whatever at the hotels, and it calculates for them what their lodging tax is. So it gives the 3%. Um, we also put language into that specified, you know, what is the purpose of our lodging tax and why is it even a thing? Um, also stating to **[1:10:26] Julie Edlund:** that the, the 3% lodging tax, 95% of that tax goes to our Lakeville Convention and Visitors Bureau. The city gets to keep 5% for administrative of tracking this. So all of that is also laid in laid out in the ordinance. So, um, more of a housekeeping thing. So I guess if there's any questions about what this why? **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Okay. Yeah. **Councilmember Volk:** Just a quick question. As I was reading through it. Um, and it doesn't affect how I see the ordinance or anything, but just especially for people that are going to be doing this short term rental, what what's the typical process for? I'm a I'm gonna do a short term rental on my house, and now I have to pay city taxes. How does that look? What what's the process like? **[1:11:43] Julie Edlund:** Technically, they should be registering with the state because there's also Minnesota sales tax that they should be paying in on those rentals as well. Um, so it's all part of it feeds off of that. So with the the permitting that's required for the short term rentals, they agree in that permitting. Yes, we're going to do our due diligence and submit sales tax to the state, lodging taxes and other thing. So it's all these boxes to check that. Oh, I didn't realize that I had to do that. Um, and some of the issues and I noted in the staff report for a lot of city or some cities that are finding they're getting they're having so many Airbnbs or whatnot. Um, the Airbnbs and the, um, verbose will not remit lodging taxes to a city. The city has to sign up with the state. The state acts as the, um, conduit. **[1:12:53] Julie Edlund:** So when a Airbnb fills out their sales tax, they filling out the sales tax that the state gets to keep. There's a lodging tax line right there, and all the money just goes up to the state. Then the state takes a little tiny percent and gives the cities back. Here's your what's remaining. And then we take that and give 95% to the Convention and Visitors Bureau. So yeah. **Councilmember Volk:** it's so for somebody that's just getting into this, you know, I mean a hotel is understandable. Their business, they, they do this as a matter of routine. But for somebody who is just going, yeah, I think it'd be really nice to rent all my house and I'm in Florida. How do they become aware of this? How do they learn about that? **[1:13:43] Julie Edlund:** That's a good question because, um, I mean, technically it's a it's a business, you know, so they should be getting a Minnesota a state ID to do this business. Um, okay. So it is a process. Yeah. Yeah, I guess are we are we going to notify those who are registered for the license. To do that? And that's how we'll any of them that register do the permitting for the short term rentals. That's that's our ticket or our, our, our key to like inform them. Okay. This is the lodging tax piece. That's also part of it. Um, it will get tricky if we have a lot of Airbnbs, you know, then the city will have to look at okay, now we should we be looking at having the state be the the conduit for these payments. And it's all done through the sales tax permitting or e-file. So okay. I appreciate that because it might not be really apparent for everybody that's going to get into the short term rentals. And we realize that we're trying to make it as easy as possible. Um, and putting our form up on the city website, typically, it's been a form that we just gave to the hotels, and they knew to to submit it every month. So, um, it's a it's a process and it's, it's an educational thing to. **[1:14:10] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Any other. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. We'll move on to item B, Dakota County City, a proposal for housing with Dot Commons. And what's the scientific name for the new fire station location? **[1:14:27] Tina Goodrow:** Thank you. Mayor. Members of the council. Um, so, yes. so.com plat was established very recently for one lot to create the new fire station. And then there's about 6.6 acre out lot. The properties outlined in red. Um for future development. And staff has been in discussions with Dakota County CDA about the potential housing development on the site. So all portion of it, based on what's being proposed. So again, this is just a concept plan. And for transparency, they are fully aware of the moratorium. We called them when this popped up as something that council was seriously considering. They completely understand that we are looking tonight for some feedback about this plan. If it's something that you like, and then we can go back and work with the CDA on a long term purchase agreement. This is not in their schedule for any kind of construction within this next year. So just want to be fully transparent on that. **[1:15:20] Tina Goodrow:** But the proposal does include two concepts on the South, a senior housing rental apartment buildings, four stories, 120 units on the southern portion. On the northern portion, they're proposing what could be family style townhomes or 27 units. Both would be rental. Both developments would be income restricted. Um, the property is currently guided for commercial um. However, it's a very tough site for commercial um, it's access with all of the changes. Made. Boulevard make this a really tricky site for getting people in and out easily for commercial use. And so that is why we encouraged the CDA to look at this parcel. Um, we know specifically we have a need and a long wait list for senior rental housing. Um, I suspect there's probably an equally long wait list for families looking for affordable rental in the townhomes style. **[1:16:14] Tina Goodrow:** Um, but without further ado, I will introduce Kari Gill, the executive Deputy Executive director of the CDA. She can make some additional comments. And then we're just looking for your feedback. **Mayor Doug Anderson:** Just sorry. One quick question for you. So on either of these kind of parcels, I know because at one point we had talked about commercial and, uh, some mixed use. Is there because we control the site. Is there I mean, obviously senior stuff we've been talking about for a long time, I really am interested in that is their ability to try to put out an RFP, potentially to say, hey, we're interested in maybe some mixed use commercial and residential together is that it's certainly something to kind of talk about because we have some time. So anyway. Okay. Welcome. **[1:17:10] Kari Gill (CDA):** Good evening, Mr. Mayor. And members of the City council, I apologize. My name is Carrie Gill at the city, and I apologize. I'm just getting over laryngitis. I thought my voice would be better this week than last week, but hopefully you can hear me. Let me know if you can't. Um, as Miss Goodrow said, you know, the CDA staff has been talking with city staff since maybe late in 2025 about this parcel and the land that will be left after the fire station is platted. And so we looked at it primarily as a senior housing site. Initially, and staff was interested in seeing that more in the middle portion of the site. So that's what's in the sketch plan that we've provided. The staff has **[1:17:43] Kari Gill:** also indicated that a new access road will go through, kind of splitting that parcel in half. And so then there was discussions. If the CDA did buy the whole parcel, what would we put on the northern piece? It's a fairly small piece. Um, for really, you know, many kinds of housing. But we would do if we were to acquire, we would probably do, um, 20 around 25 to 27 townhome family townhomes there. Um, so the purpose in coming here tonight, we've not had a chance to talk about the family site with our board yet. We're actually having this discussion tomorrow night with the CDA board. Um, they we have talked previously about the senior housing. So that was kind of the initial part was the senior housing. And then there would potentially be the room to do the family housing. Um, so, you know, we're interested in finding out if there's an interest, um, from the council or if you'd prefer to do an RFP first before committing to something, or if you'd prefer to just have us look at the senior housing now, and then we will discuss this further with our board tomorrow night. Um, if there was an interest in working together, the CDA does pay appraised value for property. So if we were going to go next steps, we would get an appraisal and make **[1:19:05] Kari Gill:** an offer. The city board would have to approve the acquisition, and the city council would have to approve the sale. So it still wouldn't be a done deal even at that point, until both sides approved that. So, um, it was mostly just kind of finding out if there's interest in having the CDA here. If you'd prefer to go out and do an RFP before committing to something. So that's kind of where we are. **[1:19:27] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Okay. And so, Commissioner Hobart, not only is Dakota County Commissioner, but she also gets us to have a seat on the CDA because they double up just like us. So I don't know if you want to weigh in at all. **Commissioner Mary Liz Holberg:** Thank you, mayor and council members. I'd just like to clarify, the board is just beginning a process to evaluate where we want to go with family townhomes in the county. As you're aware, there's large dollars. Things have changed in the last couple of years. Um, how do we are evaluating our current portfolio for its sustainability, for upkeep? Some of our, uh, uh, developments are 20, 25 years old and are requiring major investments for upkeep. So we have some discussion at the county board as far as where we, uh, are going to go next, both in the program and in communities. Uh, what I would say is that we always like to be partners. Um, we don't, you know, come into a community and propose something that the council, uh, doesn't want or hasn't expressed interest in your, uh, moratorium tonight is probably perfect timing for giving us a little bit of time, uh, to sort out our program. My **[1:20:53] Commissioner Mary Liz Holberg:** understanding is this property is a little smaller than we generally use for these type of developments. And, um, so I think the timing is good is to get some initial feedback. And what, uh, you're most interested or if you need additional time as you go through this moratorium process to decide what you think a good use for this property may or may not be as you move forward, I think we can, you know, take that time as well. So whatever direction you're prepared for tonight is great. But we're we're not in a position to move quickly. And so if you need to take some time we're good with that as well. **[1:21:38] Mayor Doug Anderson:** I have a question. And it's not necessarily for Miss Holberg, but, um, the, um. Is the senior, um, the proposed plan with the senior housing. Is it contingent on the townhouses or can we consider it separate? **Councilmember Volk:** No. It will be two separate parcels. And so, um, our original interest in the site was for senior housing. So we could absolutely just look at the senior housing site. I think the road will sort of dictate where the parcel line ends up. We'd have to work with staff a little bit more on fine tuning that road alignment in the parcel, but we could just look at the senior site now to and leave the other one. Um, and if nothing happens down the road, we could look at it at a future date as well. And **[1:22:02] Kari Gill:** um, as Commissioner Holberg said, we would be doing this for land banking for like future development. We have a couple of other we have the ability to do about one project a year. We work throughout Dakota County. We have a couple of other cities we're already working with. It's definitely for future acquisition. We like to find good sites and have them available when the time is ready. Um, but yeah, it's more for future development, but we could definitely look at just the senior parcel if that's preferred. **[1:23:02] Mayor Doug Anderson:** I don't have enough information on, um. Clientele and, um. Being close to commercial, um, and the location itself. So to have it be, I don't know what the right word is. Subsidized housing in that location, I don't the senior center, uh, are the senior apartments, etc.. I don't have any issues. I need those in Lakeville. I'm just. I would like to slow up a little bit on the townhouses. And do whatever. Mayor. **Commissioner Mary Liz Holberg:** And council member Volk I. We would be happy to provide the city council with a list of the current properties, what our waiting lists are. Um, on the Lakeville. Uh, properties versus other areas. They're going to be getting all that information for us as a CDA board and to share that with you. So you'd have a clearer picture of what our needs are and are not being met in the type of product that we like to collaborate with our cities to build in Dakota County, if that will help in the process. **[1:24:23] Councilmember Lee:** Joshua. Councilmember Lee. Uh, well, first of all, just just to be clear, both would be subsidized housing. Um, regardless of if they're senior or family. That's right. Okay. But there's an age difference. The clientele. Sure. And a mobility difference. I, think even just with the conversation we had earlier today, we we know that the demand for affordable housing is, is high. And so our strategy has been to have kind of the scatter approach to where CDA housing is in multiple places around the city. So, you know, from a kind of a sketch plan here, I think this could certainly be a viable use of this property. Um, so I'd be in favor of looking at it. Um, I do though, know of at least one, uh, group that was looking at this for a destination. Um, entertainment facility. And so I don't know if that is still viable or if they moved somewhere else. But on the northern parcel. On the northern part of that. So I to the point about RFPs and just seeing what interest is there, I would be, uh, interested in kind of seeing what's out there to maintain the commercial, if at all possible, even though we know this is a pretty restrictive site when it comes to traditional retail. **[1:25:59] Councilmember Burnham:** Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Councilmember. Um, you know, and looking at the plan, it's to me, I looked at it and going, okay, this fits housing needs that we have. And uh, so, I mean, I'm supportive of the concept here. Um, I too, though, would love to see some kind of at least examination of mixed use for that northern part. Um, see what could what could possibly happen, um, in terms of mixed use. But I think the housing and the fact that it is housing that's going to meet a need that we have in our community and in the county in general, I think I'm supportive of that. Um, and I understand that this is just a concept right now, but the the senior housing is definitely needed. And the the lower income housing is something that, you know, we just we've done I think the strategy that we've had, uh, Council Member Lee talked about it as we've never like put this all in one place. We've kind of had it throughout the city. And this this makes sense to me. But I too would be interested in seeing what the full range of possibilities are for that northern part. **[1:27:08] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Yeah, I would, I would say, I mean, my take on the senior is I have this theory based on past conversations with the CDA that building a senior apartment is the best way to promote, promote Noa, which is naturally occurring affordable housing. Because if you are, in theory, a senior that can qualify for an apartment, you probably live in another place that somebody can buy at an affordable rate and promote homeownership. In my theory, if we can do that and help promote a place for somebody to downsize into that, because the last I sure it's different. But the last presentation I went to the CDA, there are a thousand seniors in Dakota County on waiting list for apartments, and I'm sure it's grown since then. I don't know if you know, off the top of your head. **Kari Gill:** Yeah. Every time we open. A new building, it seems like we get a longer waiting list as opposed to making it people become aware of it. So yeah, we do have very long waiting lists throughout the county. and in particular, um, for both our senior and workforce. Um, but the senior housing I know we have the senior building that's at um, Crossroads Commons just on the other side of Cedar. And that's been a very popular building, long waiting lists. Um, and this is not that far away from there. So we think it's an ideal location for senior housing. **[1:28:26] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Thank you. And I think I would just say I'm interested to hear what the county does on their study on, you know, the future of their townhome product. I do know, just for reference, the county has purchased some or excuse me, it was a habitat owned some houses or vice versa. There's been a few properties in the in the city that have kind of changed ownership, but have kind of been turned over. And, you know, they were kind of in shape. So we've seen that, which is good. Um, but, you know, I think in our conversation of our moratorium, one of the things I want to look at is to make sure that, you know, when we're converting commercial land, we're not also increasing burden on the schools. The thing that I continue to hear is say, you know, commercial. There's no one in the commercial building that's going to school, right? So they're paying property tax to schools, but they're not going to the school. So that's I have that concern when we convert commercial property to residential. So um, the senior stuff makes total sense. And then we'll just work through the, the northern parcel. **[1:29:36] Councilmember Walter:** Councilmember Walter. I don't have a lot, lot new to say as as you all know, I'm kind of loath to, um, taking commercial property, uh, commercially zoned land off the, the rolls, but I do, um, for exactly what you said, that pipeline, the the naturally occurring affordable housing concept, and, you know, CDA does some good products too. So I love the senior housing piece of it. And I think I'm echoing what you've all said on the The Northern piece that I think we need to explore the commercial options there first. So **[1:30:07] Councilmember Lee:** and Commissioner just sent you here, I just want to make sure with whatever goes in there, there are businesses east of this property that are worried about their access. Once this parcel gets developed. And so ensuring that whatever's coming off of Dot is a full access for those businesses that may have their access cut off on Cedar. So, um, I know that that's part of the forethought of development here to change that access point. Office theater temporary. That's a temporary access off of Cedar. And so I just want to make sure that we're thinking about the access off of DoD, then to make sure that it's not divided or there's no right in right, you know, full access. So just personal privilege since you were here, appreciate. **[1:30:55] Commissioner Mary Liz Holberg:** Um, Mister mayor and Council member Lee, I started on the planning commission in the city in 1989. I'm well aware of accesses, uh, redevelopment needs, as always, the CDA will work with the city on any project to make sure that everybody's good with the plans and that it's going to work with our neighbors as well. We're good neighbors. Thank you. Your partners, to. **[1:31:18] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Okay, I think this is a good start. We'll kind of work through with you. I think it's a wonderful synergy between the fire station and the senior population. We we envision the fire fighters maybe getting some fresh baked cookies at the holidays or. Well. I think that there could be some really nice synergy there. So. Well really shorten up the fall call time. So we get to drive down the chief's numbers on the. Distance. Thank you guys for being here. I appreciate it, miss. Goodrow, do you have anything to. We're good okay. Thank you guys. Um, moving on to council or committee updates. Does anybody want to share? Okay. Uh, lastly, announcements are we are meeting actually next Monday night here at City Hall for a special city council meeting with with the ISD 184 school board. And then our next city council meeting is May 4th back here at City Hall. And with that, I'll take a motion to adjourn. So is there a second? **[1:32:25] Mayor Doug Anderson:** Second? All those in favor say aye. Aye aye aye. Opposed? Okay. We're adjourned. Thank you.