This transcript appears to be from a **City of Hastings Council meeting in late 2021** (based on the mention of the CARES Act and 2020 pandemic). While the provided list of officials is a contemporary reference, several Councilmembers mentioned in the dialogue (Vaughn, Folch, Fox) were the active members at the time of this recording. [0:00] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** meeting to order tonight please stand for the pledge of allegiance [0:22] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** welcome everyone let the role reflect we do have a quorum with the absence of council member lund and council member brox tonight we have several historic preservation awards to be presented and community development director john hinsman will introduce them welcome john [0:40] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** well thank you mayor city council members i'm i'm just here to play a very support role to the fine work that our commissioners do here i'm pensioning for justin forney our city planner tonight who is our staff liaison to the heritage preservation commission and we have cindy toppin here tonight on the commission here to present some awards to some fine outstanding folks who've who've created great environments within hastings we all know that hastings is [1:09] **John Hinzman:** is history proud and there are certain individuals that take their extra steps to make sure that the history of this city is preserved for future generations so i will turn this over to cindy and we will go from there [1:18] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** great thanks john welcome cindy [1:21] **Cindy Toppin (Chair, Heritage Preservation Commission):** thank you thank you for having me here tonight i represent the heritage preservation commission i am the current chair of the hpc and i'm particularly excited about this because i get really jazzed about old houses and i'm here to show you some wonderful pictures you're going to be excited about this tonight so we have three preservation award winners tonight and we didn't do this in 2020 so this is the first time we've done it since 2019 [1:55] **Cindy Toppin:** and so not only will these people be getting a plaque to honor their their house but they're also going to be getting a century award beca a century house award because their houses are all over 100 years old and if my vanna white will just hold up one of those century plaques so that you can see what they look like and our goal our goal is to have dozens of these in hastings lake city has it and it really stands out so let's begin with our first house this house is on 623 tyler street is the desell house it's the location of the old city jail the old city jail was moved to this lot about 1882 and it was converted [2:46] **Cindy Toppin:** we don't know what happened but it's still there the current owner worked with the hpc to completely and meticulously restore the building you can see what the inside looked like and you can see what it looks like today they replaced the siding with lp smartside manufactured wood siding they saved or replicated the trim they replaced the windows with the same profile as the existing window [3:19] **Cindy Toppin:** been completely redone which is certainly allowed and then oops i want to show you this if you can see uh the little holes in here that's where the cell bars actually were when it was when it was a jail so they retained that isn't that cool so this is a fine example of historic preservation and the current owner is marcy sadler and i don't believe marcy's here tonight we had thought some of the owners were going to come to be recognized tonight but you know we're in the middle of a pandemic so we will go on to the next one this next house is 705 west third and this you can see is what it looked like before this is known as the albert 2x house and it was built in 1872. [4:06] **Cindy Toppin:** the house was moved from 2nd street the original land was bought from general leduc in 1868 by anthony reed who sold it to albert 2x in 1872. this two-story house has a hipped roof with dental molding at the cornice they're projecting bays at east and west elevations and that's original to the house there was a cupula which was taken off and although [4:44] **Cindy Toppin:** siding they exposed and painted the original wood siding which highlighted the original trim which you can see near the roof this is a great example of restoring original features instead of replacing them lisa and landon do ban own this house yeah your word gin and i don't believe they're here this house is one of my neighbors it's 327th street west it was foreclosed for a very long time this historic home was built in 1885. it belonged to theodore cook he was a trained pharmacist who moved to hastings in 1906. [5:25] **Cindy Toppin:** now listen to this his only profession in hastings was banking i just said he was trained in pharmacy did you get that so he was the president of the hastings national bank from 1938 47 the two-story woodhouse has a french port supported by wooden posts and is framed with wooden [5:49] **Cindy Toppin:** worked with the hpc to complete [6:21] **Cindy Toppin:** about this the neighbors came and begged us to please support this project which [6:50] **Cindy Toppin:** our three preservation award winners and i think you'll adm you'll admit it's just amazing the before and after i think it really helps you to see you know what what can be done so the next award that we have is our stewardship award and the intent of this award is to recognize a homeowner who's maintained a historic house which previously got a preservation award so this house received a preservation award in 2003 and the owners of this house are paul and terry kranz who i'm sure many of you know so it's 307 sibley and as you leave tonight you can drive by it because it's right across from the police station it was built in 1868 it's got two and a half stories it rests [7:36] **Cindy Toppin:** on a limestone foundation and has a clapboard exterior it has a large addition at the rear which has identical trim the house is a great example of italian its style and is among the best conserved examples of the 1860s residences in hastings the original owner was archibald hayes he was a legislator and a senator and he was the postmaster from 1865 to 68. [8:02] **Cindy Toppin:** the hastings telephone company was located in this building paul kran senior bought the house and at various times family members have had a beauty shop a piano studio an insurance office out of the house it currently has four apartments the owners continue to meticulously maintain this fine house they recently built a shed in the backyard which is in itself a little gem staff used this apartment as a good example of historic apartment reuse during a recent ordinance amendment maybe some of you remember that and our last recognition tonight is for 1120 tyler street a few years ago the commission started also recognizing a mid-century modern house this house was built in 1957 by local [8:50] **Cindy Toppin:** lumberman ben sontag i bet some people remember ben sontag he ran the hastings lumber mart for 33 years beginning in 1949. it's an l-shaped four-bedroom brick rambler home the oversized living room and family room have a vaulted cedar ceiling it's important to note that because the original owner and builder was the owner of the lumber yard he spared no expense to be on the leading edge of fashion so the doors are thicker than normal with scrolls there are hidden pocket doors lazy susans that are built in and triple pane windows the current owners are david and sheila hubley so i hope if you run into any of these owners that you will thank them for what [9:35] **Cindy Toppin:** they're doing i think heritage preservation does bring people to town to see our historic homes as well as our historic downtown i'm sorry no one was here tonight so that you could have your picture taken with them but we will get all these wonderful plaques to them and i thank you for your support are there any questions [9:58] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you cindy councilmember vaughn [10:13] **Councilmember Vaughn:** thank you cindy great storyteller i have a question for you we can put a plaque on these how do we use your voice as an example to tell that story if somebody's coming to jesus and wants to see them see what it was see what it is today how would you recommend or does your commission talk about telling the story can it be done [10:18] **Cindy Toppin:** thank you for the question [10:21] **Cindy Toppin:** yes education is part of our task we had a big plan prior to the pandemic that we were just about to implement and obviously things changed but we have gathered some information from other towns including saint cloud that's done a particularly fine job of doing newsletters of doing stories on you know facebook social media that kind of thing and i think that's still part of our plan but part of what you're talking about would be like a walking tour kind of thing and the council funds the chamber to do that and they have been working on developing a walking tour for the last couple years again there was a glitch in terms of the pandemic but that is in the works and is something that we hope happens in the next couple of years [11:12] **Councilmember Vaughn:** i know going from tyler street to where you there might be a little bit of a long walk um do we see something that could be on our website that is a video so i could i could take my young kids on there and they can pull up their phone and listen to your voice tell the story is that something that you guys are or is that the future [11:27] **Cindy Toppin:** it's something that the chamber is working on in terms of making you know qrc codes and you know i mean i think that's part of it do you want do you want to have like lake city and red wing have a pamphlet so if you go into the chamber you can grab one of those pamphlets and you can go walking around on your own with the map but the wave of the future is to have something on your mobile phone so that you can have your smartphone and as you're driving down the street you know and so i think the chamber was trying to go in that direction um you know i'm a proponent of both i guess [11:57] **Cindy Toppin:** because i'm so old school and i'd rather look at the map and the pictures and walk around that way um so yes we're talking about that and we are talking to the chamber about about what we'd like to see done and i should also give a shout out to the hastings historical society because they're also trying to do things in this manner and they have regular meetings so they have a great facebook page if you haven't seen it where they're promoting before and after and old school pictures all the time on a regular basis actually the hpc got a grant to do a survey probably back in the 80s and so when i did the research for the awards tonight i went to the pioneer room and went through the files and that's where those surveys are [12:42] **Cindy Toppin:** that have been done [12:44] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you thank you cindy any other questions council yeah it's always exciting to drive around and see these old rehabbed homes so thank you uh council members are there any corrections to the minutes from the meeting of november first seeing none they are approved counselor uh for public we will now have uh comments from the audience for public comments we have options for comments to be emailed prior to the meeting as well as interactive feature during the meeting for the emailed comments they have been forwarded to the city council and their receipt is acknowledged please recognize that items [13:29] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** not on the agenda will not be discussed this evening for live comments they have been either through our zoom link in person we ask that the attendees either raise their hand in person on the raised hand feature in zoom and they will be invited to speak one at a time i also would like to remind everyone that the public comments period is not intended for an extended dialogue is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak to the council at this time sure you may come up please state your name and address [14:12] **Clarence Chapman:** clarence chapman 614 east 3rd street my house is actually what was on that map that was on the wall back there at one time uh i'm 58 years old and with the exception of 18 years i've lived in east hastings in the same neighborhood for most of my entire life my property is 530 feet from the walking path and i'll be able to see these four story buildings from my every window in my house on that side of my house and from my yard it's uh disappointing to me to see that the city of hastings is destroying destroying the historic district in that area that includes the downtown hastings with all the new high residency housing i'm thinking four stories really [15:00] **Clarence Chapman:** with the newest construction downtown there has been was a very little attempt to make it merge into the optics of downtown hastings architecture it's a modern looking building in a 19th century historic area and this these are a couple of quotes right from the preservation page at the heart of the city the nearly 50 handsome historic buildings along east hastings uh are along east 2nd street hastings main hastings's main street are being adapted to meet the needs of the 21st century retailers and other tenants and another line from there is original from the original hastings design standards and bullet post bullet point number one preserve and enhance traditional neighborhood design [15:46] **Clarence Chapman:** focusing on this landscape or streetscape rather than the original materials i don't see that building that you guys allowed to be built down there as looking anything like historic i mean i would have thought you know it's right in line with the historic buildings of downtown and yet that and now with this new with this new uh uh proposal for these uh residential buildings uh currently there's there's only one way to get well i'm not gonna go into that in the email i i've i previously previously sent most of you i'm sorry i didn't have all of your emails and to john [16:31] **Clarence Chapman:** i i stated there's you know uh some empty lots around hastings and they're acres and acres of lots and i mentioned several of them one at 4th street west of pleasant and a few others but since that time i noticed many many more areas there would be plenty of room for all these high residential or high occupancy is that correct way to say it john high occupancy residential buildings instead of cramming them into a small space downtown a few of them that i noted is the farm fields right in the middle of town right by the hospital south of the ymca i mean why don't we acquire that and and there's a high residential building high residential i can't say it there's apartment buildings right there they're [17:18] **Clarence Chapman:** all in that same neighborhood why don't we put them there instead of crabbing them into a four a four acre lot down here um why don't we keep the character of the neighborhood sell those lodges private lots single-family homes that's what people would buy those in a heartbeat [Music] there's also my point is there's acres and acres of land in hastings and other parts of town that that could easily support these types of projects i think it's i think it personally it's been this is my opinion that i think is absolutely ridiculous that the city of hastings is jamming these high residential buildings four stories tall in some of the smallest parts of town [18:03] **Clarence Chapman:** sell these areas to single family housing and make make that is that is that is the make up of that neighborhood not high rise buildings and move these big projects to the areas that's how they're already on this look i do not agree with the zoning change and i encourage the council to reject and deny the plan to change the zoning in this area thank you for hearing me [18:18] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you clarence for your comments anyone else wishing to speak to the council at this time anyone on zoom and no one at zoom okay council items to be considered uh as you know we had a um [Music] a [18:48] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** closed session for later on this evening we will be moving that closed session tonight to a future meeting um considering that we have a couple council members that are absent council i would accept a motion to accept the consent agenda [19:00] **Councilmember Folch:** your honor i'm going to abstain from voting on the consent agenda okay because i have a conflict of interest possibly on one and so i'm just going to do it okay [19:24] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** okay all those i i still need a mo council member vaughn [19:30] **Councilmember Vaughn:** second [19:32] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** okay a dish any discussion council all those in favor of [19:35] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** accepting the consent agenda state by staying i i opposed to the consent agenda state by saying nay and that motion prevails with council member folch abstaining tonight we have a warding of contracts and public hearings and we have a comprehensive plan amendment 2021-45 for the mixed used high residential and we have with us community development director john hinsman [20:00] **John Hinzman:** thank you madam mayor and city council members i'll put some information on the screen for the item we're considering tonight which is not the historic preservation awards hold on a second here we go all right for us tonight is a a public [20:22] **John Hinzman:** hearing and uh resolution included for your consideration to amend the comprehensive plan to create a mixed-use high residential district there's two actions one is the creation of this district the second is the designation of properties within it the map that i have before you shows our existing comprehensive plan which is shown here it's got a little bit garish to look at but you've got highway 61 mississippi river this is downtown 2nd street 3rd street etcetera the area in purple here is what's termed mixed use and that is a mixture between residential and commercial the traditional downtown area of the city what we're asking for tonight is the creation of a new district which would [21:08] **John Hinzman:** be term mixed-used high residential the mixed use high residential district would be located over here which would be between 2nd street and 4th street between tyler and bailey street the cp railroad being over here this is including the the block 16 downtown parking lot as well as this project here south of 3rd street between 3rd and 4th which is the the stencil development project that hedra has been working on so that would be the designation when we take a look at the mixed use high residential district it would be the same as the current mixed use district the difference would be is the amount of dwelling units per acre would increase up to 85 units and [21:56] **John Hinzman:** so that's uh that would that could occur in the future on these properties when we take a look at uh why we would be taking a look at a change for this when we have smaller properties within the downtown area the density figure has a much greater effect on that smaller the property in a similar building it's going to have a higher density when you take a look at like art space for example that has about 37 units in it but it's on a larger property so it the the density is much smaller because they have the parking area etc when you have a situation like the stencil building that we're looking at that takes up most of the property itself which leads to a higher density now it's going to be a four-story [22:41] **John Hinzman:** building which uh is not terribly unusual for for this area of the downtown or for downtowns of this nature but it does have an adverse effect on that density so we're looking at the creation of that district to incorporate that when we take a look at the block 16 property the red rock corridor commuter parking lot we own that property we have a long-term lease for use as a parking lot i don't see any short-term changes in that one but i thought that would be good to include that in case something might come up in the future on that property so that is the action that we have before you tonight we did have the planning commission review this at the november 8th meeting they did recommend approval on a 7-0 vote we didn't have anyone speak during the public hearing at that [23:27] **John Hinzman:** time so tonight council we ask you to hold a public hearing related to the comprehensive plan amendment and then i have a resolution in your packet for consideration thank you [23:37] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you john at this time i'll open the public hearing if anyone is wishes to speak at this time in the audience you may is there anyone on zoom no one on zoom with a raised hand feature and no one in the audience at this time i will close the public hearing and we will have council discussion council member [24:17] **Councilmember Vaughn:** own that lot it was can we do what we want to it then or do we have a commitment with redrock to say we gave you a partnership and it has to stay in parking lot for so many years [24:19] **John Hinzman:** councilmember the the funding for the parking lot actually came through redrock and and their uh and their partners so they paid for the construction of that parking lot in turn we signed a long-term lease for that parking lot to reserve it for public use that's for 30 years so for us to really even incorporate it here there's not a whole lot we can do with it for another 20 years correct correct you know there may be things that we would look at in the future where we would might look at that property for for redevelopment and have parking [25:02] **John Hinzman:** capacity elsewhere on that uh that's been a very preliminary thought on it but a potential it's a it's a full block and in good position to the rest of downtown [25:12] **Councilmember Vaughn:** follow up to mr chapman's question the property that stencil group was coming to the city with that that copy's for sale at all times if somebody wanted to buy it and make it a residential it could have happened by now somebody could have asked for that i think what we're finding out is density is the is how they're getting to their number to make it to justify the cost they need a lot they want to be around activity they want to be by the transit but they also need that many numbers to justify their construction a [25:48] **Councilmember Vaughn:** single family lot may not pay for itself there true [25:52] **John Hinzman:** yeah you've got tire land values in that area you have a situation too within the downtown where you don't have a lot of surface parking so the effect on density is going to be much stronger when you don't have on-site parking because you don't spread that those numbers of units on a larger piece of property what clarence had brought up the land that he had mentioned before throughout the community we don't own it that that's private private property land and farm fields and so forth that a developer has to go to that kind of way [26:32] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you councilmember vaughn uh councilmember leifeld [26:45] **Lisa Leifeld:** thank you honor john kind of a follow-up to councilmember vaughn's question um but a step further for layman's terms for myself that the height of that apartment building four stories what is that in feet i mean i don't want to put you on the spot i don't know if you came with these kinds of numbers in your head scary if you did but what would that be as compared to say across the street from it is mississippi terrace [27:08] **John Hinzman:** yeah with mississippi terrace it's a two-story i think two or three story building has a very large hip roof on it so when you look at the peak of the roof it's not going to be a lot of difference between that it did take a look at that end of it but it you know there's not as many [27:17] **John Hinzman:** units in that one and it's a lot more rough than building on that site okay [27:21] **Lisa Leifeld:** that yeah that answers my question and then regarding the um lumber yard the lumber building the ubc the lumber building how tall are those buildings say that again any idea how tall those buildings were that are sitting down there the witch buildings that were the ubc the lumber yard [27:40] **John Hinzman:** oh the ubc buildings i i would guess i'm really guessing that this might be 25 feet maybe okay i was thinking that maybe on that one that that'd be a guess from my standpoint okay [27:52] **Lisa Leifeld:** thanks john appreciate it [27:56] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you councilmember lightfelt any other questions counsel councilmember folch [28:03] **Councilmember Folch:** thank you your honor john i was wondering um to the east then of the um the lot that we're selling to the developer obviously there's the railroad but just on the other side of that what are those parcels of land there i don't believe that there's actual homes are there due east [28:22] **John Hinzman:** yeah i think there's a couple of clients this this might be your house right here actually kind of right on the corner of that's bess's house okay yeah so there is some houses you can see lake isabel the corner of it right here so there is there's the church property which this is third street here the church and i think there's a parking lot across from it and then residential properties down here across from the cpu railroad [28:49] **Councilmember Folch:** and i'm sorry could you please point which of these um which parcel actually belongs to mr i am just off the map to the east kind of kind of where this is clarence you're on third okay up here though okay almost disappeared there it goes [29:17] **Councilmember Folch:** thank you [29:23] **Councilmember Folch:** so and then just in follow-up then john so the two houses or the two two or three parcels that are just due um to the west of um the new development where they're going to be put in those are large historic homes are they not like with their very tall homes [29:43] **John Hinzman:** yeah these are these are historic homes down here uh i think some are owner occupied i think some may be rental down here but between third and fourth street towards tyler i thought yeah [29:56] **Councilmember Folch:** perhaps that they were rentals i wasn't sure if they were single family homes or if they were [29:59] **John Hinzman:** yeah the rental on that there may be multiple units within at least one or two of them that's what i thought okay [30:05] **Councilmember Folch:** thank you oh and just one follow-up question so [30:08] **Councilmember Folch:** for sure the new development that's going in there it's going to be four stories i guess i somehow missed that along the way because to remember um the parcel that's being um or i'm sorry the new development that is going in right behind the depot the second street depot um or we sold the parking lot and we're making it one personal now you restricted the height on that building i remember he wanted to do something like i'm making it up it was like 35 units and you restricted it down to 30 and you wouldn't allow and so it me to the so that it wasn't so many stories if i remember correctly i remember there was some limitation on the size that you had placed [30:44] **John Hinzman:** yeah on that property this is for the luke seaward property which is in the vicinity down there that i think that's 36 units is what we approved it is a [30:54] **John Hinzman:** three-story building over a first floor uh parking on that one so uh the the height limit on height on that i think was just over 40 feet altogether [31:05] **Councilmember Folch:** okay so it was just the number of units that you reduced it wasn't the actual height of that [31:09] **John Hinzman:** no yeah i don't think we had a lot of discussion on height i think a lot of it dealt with the number of units and parking ratio on that one and we did some further research on that and uh came to came to a conclusion as to what would be acceptable and everything before we approved on that okay [31:27] **Councilmember Folch:** and so i can't think of any four-story buildings in hastings and so so this new unit that they're wanting to put in the new development they are saying that they want it they want to make it four full stories of [31:41] **Councilmember Folch:** it would housing with not like one being like the base floor being parking correct [31:45] **John Hinzman:** yeah the the proposal as it sits and i'll preface this by saying we haven't we we've seen concepts of the proposal at this point we anticipate the application to come in later on this week so there'll be another stage of this where we're going to take a look at the the architecture and the site plan in more detail that that we haven't done at this point i didn't think so that's why i was wondering what did you miss but uh but on that one yet would be four stories of residential apartments over a uh over parking and that parking would be would be somewhat exposed from the ground floor so you'd have it would be somewhat raised above the ground [32:22] **Councilmember Folch:** okay so for right now we're just dealing [32:26] **Councilmember Folch:** obviously with the the planning the zoning and then we'll at the next council meeting we'll see more of the specifics of them [32:32] **John Hinzman:** yeah better upcoming probably a december meeting is when it would come to council december january but what we're doing now is we we understand the parameters of what the applicant is seeking to to do with this property and we're looking at our codes and our comprehensive plan and how it fits in if so to take a look at potential amendments to that if the amendments are ultimately adopted by council the project would come forward in that fashion and then we take a look at that project in more detail [33:09] **Councilmember Folch:** okay thank you john [33:13] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you councilmember fulch additional discussion council okay at this time then i would accept a motion to adopt a resolution of the city council of city of hastings amending the city of hastings 2040 comp plan council member fox [33:28] **Councilmember Fox:** so moved [33:29] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** and council member leifelt second additional discussion council council member vaughn [33:45] **Councilmember Vaughn:** i think when that uh that development comes in front of us that's where the architectural standards come in right that some of the neighbors are talking about i think it's our job to make sure i think we did it with the luke zebra he just can't put up siding in an historic area i think there's going to be some standards and it's up to us to make sure those standards are held to where they need to be so i think that was a very good point that come from folks brought up to say [34:00] **Councilmember Vaughn:** we haven't seen it yet we're just in the concept plan with the land right now right [34:10] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you councilmember juan and there is a motion with a second on the floor all those in favor of the motion state by saying aye aye opposed to the motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails we also tonight have a public hearing to amend the city code the dc zoning district and john you may continue [34:26] **John Hinzman:** okay thank you mayor a similar similar area this dealing with the zoning code itself request tonight is to hold a public hearing to consider an amendment to the city code related to what's termed the downtown corozone district the downtown core zoning district is this area in purple on the map it includes the [34:46] **John Hinzman:** confluence the art space property here block two this is the parking lot for the red rock corridor and this is the luke seaward project that was recently rezoned downtown core earlier this year what we're asking for is to amend the terminology of that district relating to bulk standards and in particular height what we're asking for consideration is to draw a line like i've shown here on third street in which properties in the future that are zoned downtown core that are south of this line which would include the proposed stencil building here would have a different height limit and a little taller height limit than the [35:32] **John Hinzman:** properties to the north now the properties to the north that are zoned downtown core are limited by a 47 foot height limit which is tied to the finch building the finch building on 2nd street is the tallest building downtown when we went to our downtown master plan 20 years ago we wanted to wanted to set a rule that no buildings would be taller than the finch building within the downtown and in particular when we take a look at the massive buildings along 2nd street along the riverfront in my mind those were the ones that were the most important because they have a direct correlation on how the buildings relate to one another when you take a look at properties that are a little bit off the beaten track on here where this is a block or two off of downtown that 47-foot limit [36:19] **John Hinzman:** has less of a correlation to the finch building similar to the building we're standing in right now where we have a cupola limit a cupola here that's that's much taller than the finch building but it's not out of character with the rest of downtown so the amendment we're asking for specifically is to establish a height limit south of 3rd street within the downtown court district this only applies to properties that would be zoned downtown core of 57 feet which would be 10 feet taller essentially another story taller than what is allowed within the areas north of 3rd street we did have the planning commission review this at their october 25th meeting they voted 7-0 to adopt the proposed limited discussion so that is what we have before you tonight for consideration [37:05] **John Hinzman:** this is a public hearing you may open it at this time or i can stand for any questions thank you [37:10] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you john this time i'll open the public hearing is there anyone in in the audience that would like to speak during the public hearing at this time anyone on zoom no one on zoom again anyone in the audience that would like to speak to the public hearing at this time [37:37] **Clarence Chapman:** sorry mr chapman i just want to reiterate that the height of that building let me put a pic a picture for you every night i wash my dishes what what do i get to see [37:52] **Clarence Chapman:** for the last 20 years i've lived well i lived here i've owned a home for 20 years my parents owned it before me i've been able to look out my kitchen window and see the beautiful top of this building you put 60 feet it it's four four stories plus parking that's five stories high 12 feet of figure 12 feet each you're going to be up 60 some feet which is far near size this building i'm not going to be able to see the phone no more that's all i got labeled [38:33] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you clarence anyone else like to speak at the public hearing seeing none uh the public hearing is closed oh we have a zoom okay [38:45] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** oh maybe i need to is anything coming across there i just want to make sure i got the volume up [38:59] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** um welcome yes welcome state your name please and address [39:20] **Nate Stencil (Stencil Group):** Nate Stencil, 5700 south dakota um we are the uh potential developer of the site and i just wanted to mention that we're very excited about the opportunity for the potential development in these things we feel there's great need for this type of housing [Music] we the building itself will be about no more than 45 feet high and it is four stories due to the size of the site and the density needed to really justify a project of [39:45] **Nate Stencil:** this nature we are proposing a very high-end building that will be pretty much 100 hard surface and be a very modern um not modern in the sense of modern style but it will be a very classy building with a lot of grip some very nice metal touches but it'll be pretty much 100 hard surface um a very high quality building very similar to one that we just built in northfield in the downtown zone that was received extremely well we feel like i said there's a great need for this and the location of it i i think that it's [40:32] **Nate Stencil:** i guess i feel strongly it's the type of development that i would think most cities would enjoy seeing their downtown zone [40:48] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you mr stensel council any any questions council member folch [41:00] **Councilmember Folch:** thank you so for clarification purposes so that building the new building will only be four stories high and there won't be a first floor that will be designated for parking it'll be it'll be like lot parking like ground parking [41:15] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** oh sorry go ahead mr stencil [41:17] **Nate Stencil:** i'm sorry i didn't know who was supposed to answer that um no it does have underground parking in it so the main level will [41:18] **Nate Stencil:** have it but one of the characteristics of the site is is we're blessed to have a pretty much little site covered with uh with bedrock so it does affect our ability to go into the ground as much as we would as we would prefer to so about half of what the parking floor would be typically would all be underground but in this case about half of it will be underground so that will all be underground parking climate control and then there will be an additional about 35 to 40 service parking stalls also that are on the east side of the property along the railroad tracks [42:07] **Councilmember Folch:** okay thank you your honor you know i i personally i think that with the the art space building being where it is on the other side of um the the depot lot that's what it's called um and then with the new uh seaward building that's going to be you know coming in i i think that it honestly makes sense that these buildings all be of you know similar height and then eventually once the wastewater treatment facility has been vacated in 2028 and that parcel is made available that's another potential lot that could be um you know developed into higher density and you know and i think it it makes sense i know that young people [42:53] **Councilmember Folch:** millennials want to be in areas that are more like our downtown where there's lots of options for food and coffee and entertainment and you know it's just a little bit different kind of lifestyle and hastings that the downtown could be offering for more vibrancy and so i i understand completely mr chapman's uh you know concerns about the historic district but i think as long as these new buildings all have the same look and feel and they're blending in to the rest of the the downtown area which they have been thus far i think the art space building looks very nice um where it is [43:39] **Councilmember Folch:** i think that uh there there is a you know a cohesiveness to the area and uh and and we have had a lot of you know challenges with um some of those those homes that are um down there you know in the fourth fifth sixth street area being um some of them are very large and they're being broken up into um so they're no longer single-family homes they're more being re-structured within them you know to have more tenants within them and such and and we've been changing um some of the ordinances to you know allowed up for some that higher volume um within those homes just so that again so that they're financially viable so that you know the owners who have them can actually have enough income to make them you know [44:25] **Councilmember Folch:** somewhat profitable and that they're putting the money back into the homes to maintain them so that they don't um fall into disrepair because those houses are very old and they do need a considerable amount of upkeep many of them so um you know so personally i greatly appreciate um you know the concerns about you know maintaining the historic nature of our downtown um but yet you know i still feel that you know we have to you know continue to look forward as to how is it that we um continue to see our our downtown become more vibrant and you know attractive for new residents you know to come you know into the area or you know existing you know folks who who would like to have that different flavor of town being [45:11] **Councilmember Folch:** able to you know park and be walkable and and enjoy the downtown as it is and so um so i i am in favor of you know the the new development going in i think that it's a positive um an aspect you know that we can be looking forward to within our community and so i'm going to be voting in favor of this thanks [45:11] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you councilmember fulch additional discussion council in council i'd look for a motion to adopt an ordinance of the city of hastings city code section 155 zoning code downtown downtown core zoning district councilmember fulch [45:40] **Councilmember Folch:** so moved [45:41] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** the second council member fox [45:43] **Councilmember Fox:** second [45:44] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** additional discussion council all those in favor of this motion state by saying aye i opposed to the motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails thank you very much john yep uh under community develop we've already addressed the comprehensive plan and the second reading tonight we also have a resolution for the variance of the uh 2021-38 is side yard setback matthew hyman 502 6 street east john [46:25] **John Hinzman:** thank you mayor city council members tonight as the mayor pointed out we the council is acting as what we term the board of adjustments and appeals and taking a look at a variance from our city code of variance is an exception to the rules and so what's being requested here is at 502 east 6th street which is located in the yellow there is a requirement under our zoning code that that detached garages need to be at least 10 feet from the the side yard when they're budding a street and mr hyman is requesting a variance to that rule to allow it to be five feet from the property line so that is what is being requested tonight from a tactical standpoint when we look at the granting of a variance under our city code it requires six of seven council members to take action to approve a [47:27] **John Hinzman:** variance tonight as you're aware we have five members present so we are not able to the council is not able to consider granting the variance if they desire to do so however if the council looks at the variance and acts to deny the variance request a simple majority is necessary so to deny the variance request you would be able to make that motion tonight in taking a look at what has been the recommendation by staff and the recommendation of the planning commission both bodies have recommended to deny the variance as requested when we take a look at granting a variance there's a number of specific rules and things that need to be present in order for us to consider a variance [48:14] **John Hinzman:** and one of the kind of most important items on it is really taking a look at the the the qualities of the property and the ability for them to meet the ordinance requirement without a lot of difficulties with sometimes term practical difficulties in this circumstance in reviewing the property we feel and the planning commission occurred that relocation of that garage or moving of the new garage to meet the setback another five feet would not impact tremendously the ability to use that garage on the property specifically here's what we're looking at a little closer view of 502 this is the present view of the property you can see there's a this garage here which i think now is attached it looks detached now [49:01] **John Hinzman:** and then the new garage which will be going down here you got bailey street over in this direction railroad spur here a little closer look here's the setbacks that are applicable 10 yard setback on the side here the garage would be going down here as proposed by the applicant a little closer view here where it would be garage coming down the driveway kind of an older shot of the of the garage from the street and then this is a view of what the garage would look like bear in mind there's a attached garage over here detached garage would go here the applicant is contending that in order to to get into this door over here [49:47] **John Hinzman:** it's uh it's a more difficult driving movement to to get around here so he is asking for it to be located a little bit further closer to the property line which would be closer than the 10 foot setback that's required again we're taking a look at our requirements for granting variances there needs to be something truly unique and difficult about the situation that we would consider in granting the variance and in this circumstance both both staff and the planning commission have concurred that we don't think that practical difficulty is present so before you is a is a resolution for denial of the variance so again if the council chooses to act on the denial resolution they may do so tonight [50:33] **John Hinzman:** if the council is inclined to consider approval of the variants they would not be able to do so tonight and in doing so we would have to bring that back at a later meeting so not sure if attorney land has anything further to add to that one but i can stand for any questions i don't believe the applicant is here tonight [50:52] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you john council any discussion council member vaughn [51:00] **Councilmember Vaughn:** thank you john does anyone have any say in a setback by putting it that close they have minimum requirements [51:11] **John Hinzman:** council members as far as how close they can be it would meet their requirements i think it's about i think it's 12 or 14 feet from the center of the the rail [51:20] **John Hinzman:** itself yeah i mean we they uh they were they were given notice as a uh adjoining property owner but you know sometimes it's difficult to to notify a large entity and get to the right person so we haven't had any real conversations with them on this no [51:41] **Councilmember Vaughn:** can you just confirm the pictures i see on top are the same at the bottom but they have trees in them [51:47] **John Hinzman:** yeah it's interesting they are the same i believe one of these shows you can see that the difference between this pavement line here a little bit this is closer this is this is at the 5 foot that is being requested by the applicant where down here it's a little further away this would be [52:06] **John Hinzman:** at the setback in its effect yeah the tree is as curious i don't know why one has trees and one doesn't maybe they were maybe they were taken out just to give a better view of the driveway i believe so yeah [52:25] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** councilmember vaughn thank you additional discussion council councilmember folch [52:45] **Councilmember Folch:** your honor i have to agree with council member vaughn that just um getting that much closer to the railroad just seems highly dangerous i've had a project that i was working on professionally and we were just trying to get within swing space um of a railroad track and we could get the we couldn't get the railroad to approve it and so i would i would be just dumbfounded if they would approve a house being set literally i mean what is that i mean that's got that has got to be like five feet from the side of the track [53:25] **John Hinzman:** i think it's ten [53:27] **Councilmember Folch:** it's ten it's still oh my goodness it seems like it would be very dangerous safety [53:30] **John Hinzman:** yeah there's a a state statute requirement minimum setback i believe eight and a half feet from the center line of the tracks which is not very far this would be i'm trying to think of if the applicator put down what that setback distance would be greater than eight and a half feet but yeah it's uh it's close to that railroad granted it's the spur railroad it's not the mainline railroad but it's still a railroad [54:03] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** council member layfeld [54:15] **Lisa Leifeld:** thank you honor so you know can looking at the prior picture of the actual the one from above you know the fact is they've got the room for this to put it where it needs to be with the proper setback i mean looking at that into my consideration always wanting to work with the homeowner on the space that they have allotted to them you know things can be things can be tight storage is a hard thing to come by and i understand that but looking at the photos there there is clearly space there for it i would have to not be in favor of the variants due to the fact that the space is there um [54:49] **Lisa Leifeld:** don't really find based on what john what you've indicated in the planning commission has said as well is that the inconvenience of turning into that spot to me doesn't allow for the variance i myself have been in some situations like that where my driveway came in this way and my garage was over here and yes it did turn out to be a nuisance but i wouldn't be in favor of the variance based on the amount of space that they have to position the garage where needed thank you john [55:23] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you council member councilmember folch [55:28] **Councilmember Folch:** well i'm sorry so we're looking for a motion then to either deny or approve this variance and i would qualify that by being either a motion to deny the variance [55:36] **Councilmember Folch:** or a motion to table this correct [55:39] **John Hinzman:** correct because if you're going if you're inclined to approve it you wouldn't be able to do so this evening so it would need to be tabled to a future meeting where you had at least six council members that's just for the approval end of it [56:11] **Councilmember Folch:** oh i see okay thank you for clarifying on this and so but this wasn't recommended by the planning commission for acceptance correct [56:15] **John Hinzman:** yeah staff recommendation and planning was to deny [56:18] **Councilmember Folch:** okay i'll make a motion to deny this variance request then her staff recommendations [56:22] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** okay and that means that we'll move it to the next meeting for six of the seven vote nope uh mayor we can we can uh entertain a second and take a vote on the denial tonight okay and a second council member leiffeld [56:32] **Lisa Leifeld:** second [56:33] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** additional discussion council okay all those in favor of the motion state by saying i i opposed to the motion state by saying nay okay that denial prevails uh today we have a resolution to authorize placement of septic system in the musa for the daniel bauer northwest corner of pleasant and county road 46. [56:55] **John Hinzman:** thank you mayor city council members a little bit unusual requests we don't deal with too much and that is septic systems within the city as you know most of the city is served by municipal services city and water there are some areas that aren't and within our city code there is a [57:09] **John Hinzman:** requirement that to consider any septic system or what's termed an on-site sewer system that it requires council approval to do so and so we do have a request tonight from the bowers who own this 10 and a half acre property located at the northwest corner of pleasant drive and county road 46 160th street they're proposing is to sell this property to an individ to a future entity that would build a single family house kind of hobby farm on this the property itself is zoned ag within our zoning district or zoning map itself the ag district has a 10 acre minimum requirement which this property meets and taking a look at our future plans for sewer extension [57:55] **John Hinzman:** it's in what's called the the musa which is the the municipal urban service area that's just a fancy way of saying that's where sewer service goes within our comprehensive plan we have areas within the museum that are served at present and areas in future growth that would be areas of extension so you know with the annexations we consider general stephen drive those those we had to extend them use a boundary our urban service boundary to serve it in this situation it's in the path of future development at least per our plans uh from a practical consideration uh the the the borrowers who own property down here are not interested in the near term in extending or selling their land for development so you've got a situation [58:40] **John Hinzman:** here in which you've got almost uh a half mile between the existing sewer service which is over here by easter village trail to the corner of this property here the the practicality of extending that service for a single family home is not practical so we are recommending approval of this there's a couple of conditions that we do have one is is per the ordinance regulations that is when this develop property develops at some point and services are extended closer to this property once the services are extended to the property the property owner at that time has one year to hook up and that one year hooking up might be just for the hobby farm or it may lead to further intensification of the property [59:26] **John Hinzman:** as well when you do have a 10 acre property it's of us of a size in in which you could you could consider uh future urbanization of it as opposed to smaller pieces in which that's difficult when you take a look at the practicalities of having a primary secondary drain field in the property and the size of the property it has adequate size for that as well so we are recommending approval of this and i can stand for any questions thanks [59:58] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you john yeah council member lightfield [1:00:12] **Lisa Leifeld:** thank you honor john the house is just to the west of that location that are there's a tiny little cul-de-sac back there dead end and a few houses right on 160th how are they being [1:00:13] **John Hinzman:** they are they're not served actually this area there's my mouse again is within integer township there's about six homes here that aren't within the city of hasting they're all one on private wall and septic systems [1:00:30] **Lisa Leifeld:** that answers that question thanks john okay [1:00:43] **Councilmember Vaughn:** councilmember vaughn is there any other residents in the city of hastings that have a well private [1:00:50] **John Hinzman:** council member not many i the last one i recall was way off in east 4th street near the lakes property there's a new house built there maybe 5-10 years ago 10-acre site that we approved a well and septic for that was the last one i remember we've had a few over the years that that we've hooked in but it's a pretty unusual circumstance [1:00:57] **John Hinzman:** other than the only other area i can really think of is glendale road uh down by country road 54 we don't have services down there so we have a few large lots that are on their own systems [1:01:28] **Councilmember Vaughn:** the reason i asked that is that i'm questioning what the requirement of you have one year to hook up what if they don't want to hook up is it in that one year is it the city's cost to hook up or do they have to pay the fee to hook up if so could it be if it's third cost could we say you got one year to do it otherwise it's gonna be your cost to hook up to our city sewer service [1:01:38] **John Hinzman:** sure i don't see what the responsibility is why we have to put that in [1:01:43] **John Hinzman:** sure it's under our ordinance requirements right now so it uh the purpose behind that is is we want to be able to have folks on city services when they're available and so when the services come to the property line we put the cost and the responsibility on the property owner to hook up at that time we don't know that cost [1:02:18] **Councilmember Vaughn:** so no our ordinance is putting a cost on this resident potential resident that someday you're going to have a cost and it's going to be your costs we don't know what it's going to be correct because we want them on our system or is it required [1:02:29] **John Hinzman:** it's required it's required to be alerted is that is that our city stuff or is that a net council thing [1:02:29] **Councilmember Vaughn:** because i'm kind of hung up on maybe we need to look at that ordinance why are we requiring someone i get at the services they're most likely they're going to want to hook up why wouldn't you but i just get a little hung up on requiring this part but we don't even know what that cost will be potentially 10 years down the road [1:03:00] **John Hinzman:** sure sure that's one of the concern that's our order thank you [1:03:02] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you councilmember vaughn any additional discussion council then i would accept a motion to approve a resolution of the city council of the city of hastings allowing construction of an on-site sewer within the metropolitan urban service area councilmember fulchin [1:03:10] **Councilmember Folch:** so moved [1:03:11] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** second by council member vaughn [1:03:13] **Councilmember Vaughn:** second [1:03:14] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** additional discussion all those in favor of the motion state by saying aye [1:03:15] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** opposed to the motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails thank you john so much you had a lot on your agenda tonight tonight under administration we have amendment of the finals final care act report and um dan you'll be speaking to that [1:03:50] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** thank you mayor um first trust me this is not as complicated as it might sound uh really what we are trying to do here is maximize our eligibility for grant dollars as you certainly recall last year we received about 1.4 million dollars [1:04:02] **Dan Wietecha:** under the cares act to be used for a fairly broad list of eligible uses in response to the covid pandemic uh and actually with how broad the definitions of eligible uses are we we have expenses primarily in public safety wages that go beyond that 1.4 million so it did not cover everything that might have been eligible we did not apply for fema's public assistance pa program in part because of just the paperwork involved in it [1:04:47] **Dan Wietecha:** but also largely because of the the existence of the cares funds and that the pa program normally has a local matching dollar requirement to it so what we're proposing today is subsequent to the the cares act which had to be done last last year subsequent to that fema changed its local local match requirements so that now those dollars and that program can be used 100 percent towards eligible expenses but a much much smaller list of potential projects than the cares act [1:05:34] **Dan Wietecha:** so what we're proposing here is council's approval to amend our reporting our list of expenditures made under the cares act take some items out of that so we can apply for the fema pa program those items would be the transport respirator the kyvect disinfectant machine various ppe personal protective equipment masks goggles tyvek suits for for the emts possibly plexiglass possibly [1:06:20] **Dan Wietecha:** port-a-potties that we added to the downtown but in total probably 30 to 37 thousand dollars of additional revenues that could come in so that's really what we're seeking is amending our our report from before taking out items that we did submit so we can apply for this other grant program and obviously since public safety wages were higher than what was you know the total grant amount uh we would backfill the cares report with those other eligible expenses in the end we're trying to maximize grant dollars and anticipate this would be 30 to 37 000 of additional revenue [1:07:06] **Dan Wietecha:** with that i can stand for any questions [1:07:15] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you dan council any questions no questions if not then i would accept a motion to approve an authorization for the finance department to amend the city's final cares act report submitted to the state of minnesota council member lightfeldt [1:07:35] **Lisa Leifeld:** so moved [1:07:36] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** and councilmember vaughn [1:07:38] **Councilmember Vaughn:** second [1:07:40] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** additional discussion council all those in favor of the motion state by saying aye goes to the motion state by saying me and that motion prevails thank you um council do you have any announcements okay i have a few [1:07:53] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** now the cities has upcoming commission openings for 2021 on hedra heritage preservation and planning commission and the arts task force please come complete application interest forms online city offices will be closed on thursday and friday november 25th and 26th in observance of thanksgiving show us how you shine if you are decorating your home or business with outdoor lights this holiday season please consider sharing a picture for all to see photos will be shared on the city website social media and placed on a map for a self-guided drive-by tour this is not a contest just a chance to [1:08:39] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** have fun gobblegate is thursday november 25th you can register all the way up until the race day proceeds benefit hastings family service and just to add to that is online registration only except for the date the night before wednesday and thursday morning and the prices go up each day so we encourage you to register online small business saturday in the holiday hoopla our saturday november 27th enjoy music crafts s'mores horse and wagon rides tree lighting and retail and restaurant deals you can see all the above activities on the downtown [1:09:26] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** business association facebook page meetings coming up are tuesday december um sorry november 16th 7 p.m the heritage preservation commission monday november 22nd 7 p.m planning commission wednesday november 10th 6 p.m hedra and monday december 6th we have a 5 30 city council workshop and a 7 p.m council meeting there are no other announcements council um i would accept a motion to adjourn councilmember cult [1:10:01] **Councilmember Folch:** so moved [1:10:02] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** member fox [1:10:04] **Councilmember Fox:** second [1:10:06] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** no discussion always in favor of adjourning state by saying aye aye opposed [1:10:11] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** we are adjourned thank you everyone