As an expert transcriptionist, I have analyzed the context and officials provided to accurately attribute the speakers in the transcript. [0:25] [Music] [1:09] **Unknown Speaker:** Heat. Heat. [1:21] [Music] [1:34] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Good evening and welcome to the April 7th city council meeting. If you join me for a moment of silence in the pledge of allegiance. [1:56] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible and justice for all. All right, Ms. Orlofsky. Roll call, please. [2:13] **City Clerk Ann Orlofsky:** Michelle Volk? (**Councilmember Michelle Volk:** Here.) John Bermel? (**Councilmember John Bermel:** Here.) Dan Wolter? (**Councilmember Dan Wolter:** Here.) Joshua Lee? (**Councilmember Joshua Lee:** Here.) [2:13] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Okay. Moving on to item three, citizens comments. This is an opportunity for anybody uh citizens or business owners to comment up for three minutes about any issue that's not on the agenda. You want to come up? Just uh state your name and address. [2:40] **John Borup:** Never done this before. Am I doing problem? All right. My name is John Borup and I live at 20735 Hollands Avenue West. Go ahead. Thank you. Um uh as you may know, uh we received notice of a level three sex offender in the community and obviously this person has a right to move on um from their crimes they've committed. Um but kind of processing this with neighbors um and community members, business owners, etc. business um people. And apparently this person's actually been living in Lakeville uh for probably at least a couple of years. And this is in violation of um the sex predator registry in the state. Um uh he's been living apparently uh within a local business downtown um unreported. And like I said, we just got the report that it's happening now in April. Um, but apparently, like I said, uh there's very good evidence that he's been living here all along, which uh as a parent is uh wildly concerning. Uh apparently where he's living is uh right across from where like the Pan Prague festivities are happening, the rides, it's by Lakeville Brewing in the playground, it's by uh Dairy Delight in the playground, it's by the bike trail. Um uh and so it appears that this person seems to be uh uh breaking the law uh in staying here. And I don't know what powers you have in terms of zoning, whether this guy's allowed to live in this business. Apparently, he might be living out of a car. Um uh like I said, uh I guess that's what we're kind of looking for is is this being explored? as parents of kids that walk to school, use a bike path, are in downtown Lakefall, how are we supposed to feel safe um sending them to uh having them walk to school, walk the downtown? Um like I said, we know that this guy has a right to serve his time and move on with his life, but apparently he's in violation. So, um just looking for help, support, um not looking for answers right now. [4:49] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Uh yeah, thanks for coming. If you want to write down your name and contact information, give it to our clerk. We'll have our police department follow up with you. All right. Thank you. You bet. Absolutely. Any other citizens comments? Okay. Moving on to item number four. Any additional agenda information, Mr. Miller? [5:06] **City Administrator Justin Miller:** Uh, mayor and council, at your desk is a a revised contract for item 6N. 6N is a professional services agreement with CNH Architects. The only change here was that um we changed the location of the project. Um, it had a different project location in there. We updated it to reflect the new location. [5:28] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Okay. Okay. Moving on to presentations, introductions. Um, I'll turn it over to our parks and recreation director, Mr. Masiarchin, to give a presentation about a donation. [5:45] **Parks & Recreation Director Joe Masiarchin:** Uh, good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. Um I'm excited to be here this evening to welcome uh Cricket Hub Sports Academy. They're a new organization here in Lakeville and um are making a generous donation today towards the parks and recreation youth scholarship fund which helps to provide access to programs. Uh but we'll invite them up here to um tell you a little bit more about their organization. Great. Welcome. [6:11] **Surya (Cricket Hub Representative):** Thank you, mayor, and thank you city council. Thank you for this opportunity. Um so as we discussed a lot of times like we have started the cricket cricket hub sports academy in the lake and um we are closely working with the lake area schools with elementary middle school and the high schools to bringing the cricket tournament and giving the cricket coaching to the lake area schools and I just want to give the opportunity to Pra to give more. [6:40] **Pra (Cricket Hub Representative):** Good evening everyone. Um so as Surya said we are starting this new cricket coaching academy. Uh it's basically for the kids the boys and girls of all the ages. That's what we are targeting for. Um just to share a little bit of history of cricket. Uh cricket is really growing very fast in states. Actually I don't know if you guys are aware but last year there was a cricket world cup. T20 there are different formats in the cricket. T20 World Cup was hosted in the United States along with Caribbean island and USA team USA cricket team they did beat couple of good international cricket teams so that was a proud moment for us so it's really growing very fast and that's what uh we want to start this in the heart of Lakeville we want to empower the future of cricket here. [7:05] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Very good well thank you both for coming here do we want to take a quick picture Joe okay Yeah, we'll do. Yeah. You want to just Yeah, just stay up. We'll stand up right here. [8:06] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Thank you. Thank you very much. [8:21] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Well, thank you both for coming and from the support from your organization for the city. We appreciate it. As most people know, we're excited to be able to cut the ribbon next summer on our cricket pitch right here in town on Cedar 185th. So, thank you both for coming today. Um, okay, moving on to our 2025 Arbor Day proclamation and I'll turn over to our city forester to give um a little history I believe on Arbor Day. Good evening. Welcome. [8:21] **City Forester Zachary Jorgensen:** Hello. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. Uh yeah, just uh wanted to introduce the Arbor Day proclamation for 2025 uh with just a few notes uh on this year's celebration as well as some of the things we've been working on uh in the background to support that effort. So uh a couple things just to to start off with. Uh this is the 32nd year that Lakeville was recognized as a Tree City USA. Uh we just received our packet of information on that. So it's all official. Uh we also received a growth award this year. So, we went above and beyond just those standard requirements uh by doing a few extra things to to demonstrate our commitment to forestry uh in the community forest. A couple of those were just you switching over our inventory system so we can all work together in the city across departments as well as continuing to support the Americorps program by hosting a member here in town uh with some job development. So, couple big things there that we're doing. Um as far as Arbor Day celebration itself and Tree City USA, there's two things that we're looking at uh to do uh to receive that. One is hosting an Arbor Day celebration which promotes you know tree planting and care across the city as well as then approving an Arbor Day proclamation that we can then submit to Arbor Day Foundation for that award. Uh this year's events include our annual tree sale which uh wrapped up really quickly again this year. Uh so we had about 200 well we had 200 trees for sale uh 13 different species and they sold out with within uh two weeks. So people are definitely looking for some tree cover around the city. So nice to see that. Uh maybe look at expanding that a bit next year to to get some more people uh in on that. Uh pickup event is going to be with our Earth celebration uh April 26th. So folks are able to come in and grab those trees and and get them planted. Uh the second thing that we're doing this year is again another volunteer planting event. Uh this year will be at Chadwick Park. Uh where we're going to put 30 trees in the ground. Uh that's going to be on Wednesday, May 7th. Uh we're hoping to build on last year's numbers. We had about 25 people show up last year at Independence Park for that event. A lot of neighbors came out uh mid grilling to join us. So, that was kind of fun to see. So, hopefully we'll get a good turnout on that as well. Uh and lastly, I'll just point out we uh expanded our website to include an Arbor Day page just so we've got a place to share information on Arbor Day, upcoming events, uh past events, so people can look and see, you know, hey, I was at that event. Here's what I planted. Uh as well as uh information on our tree sale for upcoming years. So, it'll be kind of a one-stop shop. Uh we're also hosting uh two tree tracks on that website. Um basically a self-guided walk around two of our parks where folks can look uh you know online and match map images and information about the trees they're seeing. So, way to get people involved uh on their own time as well. Uh so, with that, I thank you for your consideration of of this year's Arbor Day proclamation. [11:25] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Very good. I'll turn over Council Member Lee to read the proclamation. [11:25] **Councilmember Joshua Lee:** Very good. City of Lakeville proclamation for Arbor Day. Whereas established in 1872, Arbor Day provides an opportunity to celebrate the importance of trees and forests to our economy, culture, history, and future of the community. And whereas for the 32nd year, the National Arbor Day Foundation has recognized Lakeville as a Tree City USA for promoting community forestry programs. And whereas trees provide many benefits including clean air and water, shade, energy savings, wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, wood products and jobs, and increased property values while capturing and storing carbon from the atmosphere to offset greenhouse gas emissions. And whereas thoughtfully selecting, planting, and caring for a diverse mix of trees supports a resilient community into the future by minimizing the impacts of forest pests and diseases and other stressors such as climate change while providing long-term community and environmental benefits. And whereas the city of Lakeville will observe Arbor Day on Saturday, April 26th at the Arbor Day tree sale pickup event and will continue to celebrate Arbor Month with a volunteer planting project at Chadwick Park on Wednesday, May 7th. Now, therefore, the Lakeville City Council does hereby proclaim that Saturday, April 26, 2025 shall be observed as Arbor Day in the city of Lakeville, proclaimed the 7th day of April, 2025 by Mayor Luke Hellier. [13:07] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Great. Thank you, Joshua. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, moving on to our public works quarterly report, and I'll turn over to our public works director, Mr. Oehme. Good evening. [13:07] **Public Works Director Paul Oehme:** Good evening, mayor and city council members. This is the first quarter report for 2025 for public works. So, I'll kick it kick this off by just talking about some upcoming street projects um and other projects that are coming up for this year. Um queued up to have another busy construction season this year. The 185th Street project is now underway. Uh that's the reconstruction um and widening of 185th Street from Kenwood Trail to IPA Avenue. Uh we're urbanizing the the roadway, putting in curb and gutter, uh constructing it four lanes, putting in pedestrian trails on both sides of the road, turn lanes, and then a bunch of storm sewer improvements as well. Um the full construction is going to kick off in a couple weeks here in April uh 15th. Uh there's going to be some major water main uh relocations that will take place first and uh we're going to shut uh shut the road down here uh during that time period as well. Um, but we're hoping to have the the project uh completed and open to traffic by the end of August. Moving on to County Road 50 and Hamburg roundabout. This is a county-led um project. Uh that project is more or less designed now. We're just uh um going to be bidding that project out here uh in late spring and hope to have that started construction this summer as well. Um just a couple little highlights little projects that are going around uh in town uh just but are really important. Uh 170 street uh pedestrian crossing will be put in um this summer. That's connecting the the Greenway Trail, the North Creek Greenway Trail uh corridor. Uh we're going to be putting in those rapid flashing um beacons at that intersection and and narrowing the road way down uh just for for better um safety as pedestrians use that trail more often. Now um the Market Street Plaza parking lot is going to be reconstructed this summer. Um there is some bunch of tripping hazards that are out there that we want to fix and then also improve the pervious pavement uh effectiveness of that um pervious pavers that are out there as well too. So that'll that project will take place late summer. Moving on to the streets uh section. Uh the streets is busy right now with street sweeping. We're working six days a week including Saturdays and try to wrap that uh program of operation up as quickly as we can. We are done with Boulevard tree trimming and then we're still going um ongoing uh pothole patching as well. Um currently we're up to 22 snow events um that we were called out on for this year. Hopefully this is we're done with uh this chart for this year, but uh it's we're tracking pretty close to our operation and call outs were in 2023 and 2024 winter years. Um so, but we are way down from our historical average of about 50 inches of snow uh in this area. Um Berkshire Drive um park the lift station there that new lift station is is um being constructed is underway now. Uh the pit for the lift station is now dug and the intersection at Jamaica and 161st Street intersection is now closed. We're putting in the force main at that intersection and um north to the um sanitary sewer um system that we're we're connecting to over the next couple weeks. Um we're hoping to have this project completed um early June. Uh we are rehabbing one water well uh in the community this year. It's a well number 17 in Sema Park. Uh we removed the pump and the motor and now checking all that equipment and make sure it's uh in good operational shape. Our sanitary lining project is well underway right now. We're about 50% done with that project. We are lining about 2.7 miles of clay pipe within the community. This is to help eliminate the groundwater infiltration getting into the sewer system via cracks and separated pipes. And this also helps reduce the risk of sewer backups. Our lead and copper rules project is uh is going well. Uh we are really busy with uh still meeting with residents and talking to them and getting information on their uh services within their house. We are still needing to talk to about 900 residents um and look at their services near their meter. Um and then we are down to about 2,000 unknown material um service lines within the community. So, we're hoping to have all that wrapped up by the end of summer. And then moving on from there, we'll we'll start replacing some of the uh lead and galvanized lines that we have found within our community. And um the state of Minnesota did indicate that there will be some grant funds available to help support the replacement of those service lines. Um the utility division is uh currently flushing all the hydrants within the community and we just started that um today. Actually, the hydrants uh that we do flush um we need to do that annually just to ensure that they're functioning properly and remove any sediments and uh stagnant water with unlooped mains that are in our community. Moving on to the environmental services division. Um last year the city did receive over $650,000 to support environmental uh stewardship and different projects within our communities. They range from prairie restoration to invasive species mitigation like carp removal, aquatic inspection of boats and uh other lake devices, and then storm water improvements like storm water ponds and infiltration basins. Um just in the in the spring uh we are working on several projects already. Uh the channel and berm at Crossroads Basin is being redone putting riprap in just to armor it and make sure it doesn't erode anymore. North Creek channel maintenance: we are removing sediment and armoring that channel as well. And then Crystal Lake Golf Course storm sewer catch basin and pond: we are removing sediment from that pond and making sure that the water quality features of that pond are being met. In Ritter Park we have completed some prescribed burns this spring. Um and we're looking at removing some stumps and replanting those areas here in the spring as well. Summers Creek restoration project took place this spring and is currently underway. The developer conducted prescribed burns late in March here. And the developer is ready to plant and restore that area with natural vegetation here in the spring as well. And they are going to be working on some creek channel stabilization and restoration projects as well this summer as part of their development project. Environmental services has also been busy with outreach projects. In January, we did participate in some step into future career exploration with eighth graders here in the Lakeville area to expose them to different environmental services and careers that are available. And then in February, our staff did participate in Lakeville North environmental science presentation and talk about what environmental service stewardship means to them and in our community as well. We did host a biochar demonstration at Ritter Park in February and then in March, a Lakeville North student did shadow environmental staff here at city hall and they showed interest in becoming more involved with environmental stewardship. And then in April, staff did present to the Rotary Club about all the environmental projects that are taking place within our community. Moving on to forestry division. 2025 our ash tree removals are shown here: 125 trees that were removed in parks and in our right-of-ways and ongoing removals within our natural areas will take place um this spring as well. And the city is still programmed to inject ash trees that we want to save. We're anticipating injecting about 815 trees this summer which is a reduction of 12% from our last cycle. And the city still offers private treatments partnerships with residents within our community at a reduced rate with Rainbow Tree Care if they wanted to treat their ash trees on their property as well. So they can contact the city if they're interested in that program. And then our shade tree private ash survey was completed this year as well and we've had 604 properties that were identified with infested ash trees on them. We did have good participation with the property owners and lots of inspections that took place and almost half of the trees that were identified as being infected have been removed now. So that program has been going well. Um and just an update on the DNR tree replacement program, the EAB grant. This is the second year of that program. We are anticipating removing about 55 trees from our parks and replacing with about 110 trees in those parks as well. And then also we're planting about 60 trees in Aronson Park as well associated with this program. And then looking forward, upcoming public engagement events: as forestry had indicated, we are planning on our Earth Day celebration program on April 26th at the central maintenance facility. There will be a puppet show available and many vendors and different exhibits showing environmental stewardship, and you can still sign up online for the watershed cleanup day. Um that takes place between April 26th and May 3rd. So there's still opportunities to help clean up the city of Lakeville. And then also the Quail Valley Recycling will be present at this event. Um they will be offering tool swaps. If you're interested, bring your old rakes and you can exchange it for a new rake. And then also some other public engagements: there is an opportunity for a landscaping course introduction to landscaping. It's online provided by the Dakota County on May 6th and also an in-person course available in Farmington Library on June 2nd. And if you go to those courses there is an opportunity to apply for grants for your landscaping work. And then there's also a master's course we call it here in Lakeville that will take place on May 19th and the 21st if you're interested in that course as well and learn a little bit more about landscaping. And then if you missed our March paper shredding event here in Lakeville, there are still three paper shredding events held in Dakota County in Eagan, Apple Valley and Burnsville in April, May and June as well. So, still a lot of opportunities there to get rid of your old paper. And with that, I stand for any questions. [26:16] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Okay. Very good. Any questions? Councilmember Lee. [26:16] **Councilmember Joshua Lee:** Thank you, Mayor. Um Mr. Oehme, just a question about—I was listening to a presentation from your environmental resources team recently and regarding the grant removing invasive carp and goldfish from East Lake. I'm wondering if folks are fishing that lake and catch one of those. I'm guessing we don't want that back in the lake. So, is there a process or a tub? I used to live in another city that had a place to put them. So, what is our process if we're not looking to have those fish in East Lake? [26:16] **Public Works Director Paul Oehme:** Well, we have to follow the DNR rules. So, if you're a licensed fisher person, if you're not going to harvest that fish for use in any way, you're technically required to put that fish back in, even if it's a rough fish or a carp. So, unfortunately, that's the process that we have to follow. Now, if you use it for some other purpose, you know, the spoils of the fish, you can still recycle those or put that in your compost or garden or something like that, too. So, that's basically the process we have to follow. [28:04] **Councilmember Joshua Lee:** So, we don't want any carp just on the shoreline of East Lake. Yeah. Because I have seen some of those there, too. Okay. [28:04] **Public Works Director Paul Oehme:** Yeah. I mean, if they're a nuisance, we can have somebody pick them up, but we don't encourage property owners to remove the fish and leave them on the shoreline. All right. [28:04] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Thank you. Any other questions? So, one quick question about Hamburg. Was there plans for any elevation change or they're just going to do the roundabout at 50? [28:04] **Public Works Director Paul Oehme:** Good question, Mayor. Um so there is no elevation change that is currently in the plan. We don't want to lower that section anymore just due to the fact that there's water main in the way and then if we lower it anymore it's really big impacts on the residents at that intersection. [28:38] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Okay, good to know. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, with that we'll turn to item six, our consent agenda. These are some routine items for the council. Mr. Miller, anything you want to highlight? [28:38] **City Administrator Justin Miller:** Thank you. Two items tonight, Mayor. 6R is a temporary on-sale license to the Dakota Curling Club. They're having their Cinco de Mayo bonspiel downtown and so that's always a fun event. Then item 6T is a resolution appointing Christy Harms to the Lakeville Area Arts Center Advisory Board. Her name was inadvertently left off the resolution when you approved that the last time. [29:08] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Okay, very good. Thank you. Council, any items you'd like to remove for further discussion? If not, I will take a motion. [29:08] **Councilmember Dan Wolter:** I'll move approval of the consent agenda. [29:08] **Councilmember John Bermel:** Second. [29:25] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Further discussion. Say I. (**Council:** I.) Opposed. Consent Agenda passes. We'll now move on to 7A. Public hearing and award of contract for the 2025 street reconstruction rehab improvement project 25-02. And are we having Mr. Oehme again or...? [29:46] **Public Works Director Paul Oehme:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll kick this off and then I'll hand it over to the consultant for additional information as well. So this is the annual street reconstruction project and assessment hearing, project number 25-02. So this year's project includes about 1.3 miles of streets that we are looking at reconstructing. They include Hayes Avenue, Harbor Court, and then 170th Street. This shows the project background schedule that we've had. We've had three neighborhood meetings. The latest one was on March 27th. Um we did have a public hearing as you may recall back on November 18th as well. And tonight we'd like to hold the assessment hearing and consider award of a contract for this project. So just a brief background on the project. This is a street reconstruction project. So as typical per our reconstruction methodology, we are planning to reclaim the pavement, grind it up, and reuse that for the base aggregate, dig out any soft spots within the street that we come across, replacing some of the curb and gutter—not all of it, just the damaged curb—and then around catch basins and some other utilities as well. We are looking at putting in some enhanced storm sewer improvements in the project area as well. We did hear from some of the residents that they have had some storm sewer concerns and some backups. Uh so we want to try to address some of those issues. And then there's some spot sanitary infiltration barriers on some of the structures that we will also put on in this project here as well to help with the infiltration. Um one of the concerns that we heard from the residents was traffic along 170th Street and Hayes. We did complete a traffic study within this corridor. There's two stop conditions along the roadway. Um and we did take traffic counts and then also were out there observing the traffic and we did some crash data look back at some of our records as well. So based upon the information that we saw, we did find there are minimum crashes along this corridor. Um there were two accidents at the intersections on Hayes and 172nd Street. Um the speeds are typical of what we see for residential streets on collector roads. So 71% of the cars on Hayes are going at or below 30 miles an hour. So with the data that we gathered based upon our traffic study, we are looking at making some improvements out on this corridor. We are looking at painting the wider shoulder lines or the fog lines, the white lines on each side of the roadway, a little wider than they are today. We're looking at painting about six inches wide and then having stop bars at each of the intersections. We hope that the stop bars would encourage better adherence to those stopping conditions. And then the painted wider edge striping would help with identifying where the roadway is and then narrowing down the drive lanes from say 12 to 13 feet down to 11 feet. That would encourage more calming of the traffic along this corridor. So, but in the future with those improvements, we'll still be monitoring this corridor and we have some enhanced signage that would go up or some temporary radar traffic signage to help calm the traffic as well. Water main: we do have an extensive water main improvement plan for this area. The water main on 170th street, we're looking at lining that water main. It's a 12-inch water main trunk line that we have had numerous water main breaks. Instead of replacing it and digging the whole road up, we are looking at lining it which is less intrusive to the residents and it gives a same quality of water main. And then along Hayes Avenue we're looking at replacing a lot of the bolts at the gate valves and hydrants just to make sure that those are in good condition. And then also one of the bid alternates in the project was to replace the water main in Foxboro Park for looping to the development to the north. So that's included in the project cost as well. And with that, maybe I'll just turn it over at this time to Rachel Shai with the WSB to go over the results from our bids. [35:16] **Rachel Shai (WSB Project Engineer):** Great. I'm a little shorter than Paul. Thank you Mr. Mayor and council members and Paul for introducing me. My name is Rachel Shai and I am a project engineer at WSB and I was part of the design team for this project. Um so getting into the bid summary, we held the bid opening on March 4th at 10:30 a.m. We had five contractors bid on this with our lowest bidder being McNamara Contracting. Um here we have a cost comparison of the total project cost. This does include both the indirects and contingency on top of the construction totals. Um and that's comparing from feasibility to what we received as our bid results. Um and our cost went down by a little over 4%. And here's kind of a breakdown of the funding split. Um all of our areas went down from feasibility through design except the storm sewer infrastructure fund. Um that went up by almost 50%. Um that was just due to kind of an enhanced analysis through design that involved adding additional structures or replacing existing structures than we had anticipated during feasibility. Here are proposed special assessments. Um, again, from feasibility to bidding, these went down by almost 5%. And we do have both single family units and duplex units on the project. The special assessment policy follows the Minnesota state statute, chapter 429 for public improvements. Um, with the street reconstruction, the city of Lakeville assesses 40% of the parcels in the project area for street and storm sewer improvements. Properties benefiting from the improvements will be assessed and any water main and sanitary sewer improvements are not assessed to residents. All parcels are assessed on a per-unit basis for single family use. The duplex and town homes are at a half single family unit rate. Any commercial exempt or public use properties are calculated as a front foot assessment rate, which I do want to note that we do not have any on this project area. Any corner lots within the project area are assessed at one unit for either the side or front. This is determined based off the driveway location, house orientation, or past assessments. So, assessments will be considered at the public hearing this evening. Assessments can be paid based off the following. They can be partially paid to the city without interest by November 15th. They can be paid in full to the city by December 15th with the daily interest accrued and paid in full to the county by the end of December with daily interest accrued. Um then they will be put on property taxes um with 10-year and 15-year assessment periods and the assessment interest rate is 3.88%. For senior citizens, disabled persons and active military duty, there is a deferral option. This deferment ends upon death, sale of the property, transfer or subdivision of property, loss of homestead status on the property, determination by the council that no hardship would occur if payment were required, and failure to file a renewal application on time. This uh these deferral applications must be submitted by July 7th of 2025, just 90 days after the adoption of assessment. And then assessments will be certified to the county in December of 2025. And if any residents would like to appeal the assessment, they need a written intent to be presented either prior or at the hearing. And our kind of look ahead project schedule, the assessment hearing is tonight. The applications for deferment will be due 90 days from now on July 7th. and completion of the construction project will be in November and prepayment deadline to the city for the assessments is November 15th and then certifying of the assessments in December. So, next steps will be to conduct the public hearing and consider a resolution for adopting the assessments for the 2025 street reconstruction project, city project number 25-02. And we will now open the floor to questions should there be any. [40:07] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Council, any questions? Okay. Thank you. This is a public hearing. So if there's anybody that has comment on this project either in the room or online. Okay. Seeing none, I'll take a motion to close the public hearing. [40:38] **Councilmember John Bermel:** I move to close the public hearing. [40:38] **Councilmember Michelle Volk:** Second. [40:38] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Any further discussion? Okay. Roll call, please. [40:38] **City Clerk Ann Orlofsky:** Bermel? (**Bermel:** Aye.) Wolter? (**Wolter:** Aye.) Lee? (**Lee:** Aye.) Volk? (**Volk:** Aye.) Hellier? (**Hellier:** Aye.) [40:54] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Any further discussion about street recon? If not, I'll take a motion. There's four of them actually. [40:54] **Councilmember Joshua Lee:** Move to approve one, a contract with McNamara Contracting Incorporated for the 2025 street reconstruction rehabilitation project, city project 25-02. And two, resolution adopting assessments for city improvement project 25-02. And three, resolution authorizing funding and 2025 budget amendments and fund transfers. And four, proposal with Braun Intertec for professional services. [41:25] **Councilmember Dan Wolter:** Second. [41:25] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Any further discussion? Please. [41:25] **City Clerk Ann Orlofsky:** Lee? (**Lee:** Aye.) Volk? (**Volk:** Aye.) Hellier? (**Hellier:** Aye.) Bermel? (**Bermel:** Aye.) Wolter? (**Wolter:** Aye.) [41:25] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you both. Move on to item B. Public hearing for vacation of drainage and utility easements in Spirit of Bran-and-Farm 25th edition preliminary plat and PUD amendment and I don't know if Mr. Rossi is presenting. [41:25] **Pat Rossi (Tradition Development):** Good evening, council members. Pat Rossi with Tradition Development of Lakeville, Minnesota. Happy to be here tonight to uh introduce what will be the final phase of Spirit of Bran-and-Farm. Um 25th phase and we're proposing to build seven of our revival type homes in this section of the development. These are essentially the same product that we built in the 21st and 23rd edition northern section of the development. And I believe one of those—maybe the 23rd—may have been previously assumed to be the last edition, but uh we're changing up things a little bit with our plans for the Farmstead Preservation Area and our office location. And um rather than, you know, we don't build commercial or retail developments. We're a single family home builder. And we thought that rather than selling off this last portion of the project area to a third-party developer, we would be better served in the community, better served by us developing a kind of a transitional home product type between the adjacent single family areas and our office complex within the farmstead preservation area. So, excited to hear the staff presentation and we'll stick around for questions. [43:21] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Very good. Thank you. Tina Goodroad. [43:21] **Community Development Director Tina Goodroad:** Good evening, mayor, members of the council. Um, as he mentioned, Tradition Development is requesting approval of Spirit of Bran-and-Farm 25th edition preliminary plat. Um, the property is just north of 170th Street and east of Draft Horse Boulevard. Um, and this is the master plan that he referred to and it's the area down here in brown that has been under that farmstead preservation area kind of guided. You could see a little bit more on the open space here and then I've got an aerial up here where you can see a little bit better. Um, there's the farm building where they hold events, the office. Um, the homes will be located in this open area as well as in the community garden area. So under that original PUD, the farmstead preservation area did have some specific uses that were allowed in the master PUD. So a PUD amendment is required to allow the detached town homes. So that is the reason for that portion of the request. And then the preliminary plat will lay out the location of the seven detached town homes. Um it'll be accessible from a private drive from the private east west Bran-and-Farm Drive to the north, again 170th to the south. Um so these are rear-loaded town homes. So the front door will face Draft Horse Boulevard and they'll have a two-car driveway space rear-loaded garage. Um and then again the private street with on-street parking to accommodate any guest parking. In addition to that, this open field space that is used for parking and for events will be paved and will be striped, so it'll be used far more efficiently. About 50 spaces will be created here with an additional 26 available for the future. And then other events that take place within this building—there's parking up in this corner and then you can see this available public parking as well. So we believe ample parking will still remain with this change. Um there is an easement vacation. Um there's some easements over the property. Let me show you that slide in a second. Forgot we had the landscaping. Um but they are adding ample landscaping both along the two streets that are abutting it as well as along the private drive. Um and then landscaping at the front of the homes and the rear of the homes. And this is a picture of what some of the styles might look like depending on the buyer's choices. And then there are public drainage and utility easements over this property that needs to be vacated through a public hearing this evening. These will all be replaced with the final plat and we anticipate submittal of that final plat soon. The planning commission did hold their public hearing on the PUD and the preliminary plat on March 20th. There was no public comment and the planning commission unanimously recommended approval and I would stand for any questions. [46:17] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Okay, very good. Council any questions? Councilmember Lee. [46:17] **Councilmember Joshua Lee:** I do have a question for the developer uh regarding parking. Um, and it's more so for special events. I mean, it it is a to me a little odd that folks are accessing their driveway through two parking lots. Um, but I think I can get beyond that. more of it's about in times that I've been here for either retirement parties or a food truck festival, these spots are pretty full. And so is there an idea of how you might manage that in the future with what looks like fewer overall parking spots? [46:17] **Pat Rossi (Tradition Development):** Well, Council Member Lee, I would say as Tina pointed out that we're going to better define these parking spots. Now, we have a portion of our employees that use that rear undeveloped gravel parking lot. And it works out pretty well for a few weeks after our main corporate event with the Hope Kids there when we stripe that parking lot and people are able to park very precisely. Um, but after a few weeks it washes off the paint and you've got a big open field there. So, we're going to define 50 spots there. We're going to encourage our employees to use that back parking lot rather than the on-street parking lot and the HOA parking lot of which we are a member to the north. So, we think it'll be improved over what's there right now and hopefully shouldn't be any problems. But we also did include a ghost plan, if you will, on that green space area directly south of our two existing buildings where we could develop another I think 26 or 28 spots there if it becomes a problem. [48:26] **Councilmember Joshua Lee:** Sure. Thank you. [48:26] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Um with that, this is a public hearing. Does anybody who's in here or online have any public comment about this project? Okay, seeing none, I will take a motion to close the public hearing. [48:44] **Councilmember Dan Wolter:** I'll make a motion to close the public hearing. [48:44] **Councilmember Michelle Volk:** Second. [48:44] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Any further discussion? Uh, roll call, please. [48:59] **City Clerk Ann Orlofsky:** Volk? (**Volk:** Aye.) Hellier? (**Hellier:** Aye.) Bermel? (**Bermel:** Aye.) Wolter? (**Wolter:** Aye.) Lee? (**Lee:** Aye.) [48:59] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Okay. Any further discussion about the project? If not, I will take a motion. [48:59] **Councilmember John Bermel:** I move to approve a resolution approving the Spirit of Bran-and-Farm 25th edition preliminary plat and PUD development stage plan, an amendment to the Spirit of Bran-and-Farm planned unit development and adopt the findings of fact and a resolution vacating public drainage and utility easements. [49:29] **Councilmember Dan Wolter:** Second. [49:29] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Okay. Um, roll call, please. [49:29] **City Clerk Ann Orlofsky:** Lee? (**Lee:** Aye.) Volk? (**Volk:** Aye.) Hellier? (**Hellier:** Aye.) Bermel? (**Bermel:** Aye.) Wolter? (**Wolter:** Aye.) [49:49] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Okay. Very good. Looking forward to it. Um, now we'll move on to item C, public hearing and resolution adopting assessment for unpaid special charges. And I'll turn it over to our finance director, Ms. Stahl. Good evening. [49:49] **Finance Director Julie Stahl:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Members of the council, we are doing our spring certification this evening. Um, the public hearing for these. This is a means that the city can minimize our losses that are maybe due to bankruptcies that could be happening. Um these are for nuisance properties, false alarm charges, unpaid utility bills, and tree removal charges. The utility bills are just the final utility bills, the inactive accounts, so it's been sold. Um so it's a much smaller certification list for the utilities than we would be doing in the fall. Um public notice of the hearing was mailed to all the customers and posted on the city website and published in the newspaper. In as far as our numbers this year, we have 45 delinquent utility bills totaling $9,057; four nuisance abatements for $1,056; seven false alarms that totaled $967 and one tree removal for $1,550. So the total assessments in this packet is $12,630. Um owners of these assessment charges have 30 days from tonight to pay these without incurring the interest charges, but they would be responsible for the $50 administration fee that the city charges. So, with that, I'll open it up for any questions from council and then ask for the public hearing to be open. [51:26] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Questions? I see none. This is a public hearing. There's any comment about assessments. Okay. Now, I'll take a motion to close the public hearing. [51:26] **Councilmember John Bermel:** So moved. [51:26] **Councilmember Michelle Volk:** Second. [51:42] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Okay. Uh, roll call, please. [51:42] **City Clerk Ann Orlofsky:** Bermel? (**Bermel:** Aye.) Wolter? (**Wolter:** Aye.) Lee? (**Lee:** Aye.) Volk? (**Volk:** Aye.) Hellier? (**Hellier:** Aye.) [51:42] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** And I believe do we have a motion? Let's see here. Yes. Unless there's any further discussion, I'll take a motion on the assessments. [51:42] **Councilmember Dan Wolter:** I move to approve a resolution adopting assessments for the unpaid special charges. [52:14] **Councilmember Michelle Volk:** Second. [52:14] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Okay. Any further discussion? Okay. Uh, roll call, please. [52:14] **City Clerk Ann Orlofsky:** Wolter? (**Wolter:** Aye.) Lee? (**Lee:** Aye.) Volk? (**Volk:** Aye.) Hellier? (**Hellier:** Aye.) Bermel? (**Bermel:** Aye.) [52:14] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Very good. We'll now move on to item D. Lord of Life town home preliminary plat variance and easement vacation. And I'll turn over to our community development director Ms. Goodroad. Welcome back. [52:40] **Matt Frisbee (Frisbee Companies):** Yep. Thank you, Mayor and Council, for having us here tonight. And I'm Matt Frisbee based out of River Falls, Wisconsin, representing Frisbee Companies and Frisbee Properties that's doing the project. We've been working on this now for a couple years. Pastor Jamie Thompson's here too with Lord of Life. We worked with them back in 2004 and five on the initial church and this is kind of another phase we've talked over the years and the church is not financially involved in the project. We've acquired the land from them and we're moving ahead hopefully through the process here and this is one more step. So I'll follow up with any questions. [53:03] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Very good. Thank you. Welcome. [53:03] **Community Development Director Tina Goodroad:** All right, mayor, members of the council. Um the property, as you know, is the Lord of Life Church property or the open area to the south, which is south of Dodd Boulevard, um just along Dodd Road or Dodd Lane to the east. Um you approved a comprehensive plan amendment back in September 2024 for a reguiding to low-medium density residential and the zoning is RST-2. And so the preliminary plat action and variance and vacation of easements are requested of you tonight. The vacation hearing was conducted at the planning commission meeting. Um, as you can see from the site plan, they are proposing 24 twin home lots. Total acreage is 5.74 acres. Um, not a whole lot to share. It's pretty similar to what you've seen when we went through the comprehensive plan amendment. Um, the top picture does show the landscaping. Um, they are providing a lot of additional landscaping along the north side of those properties. So, the rear of those homes when they're abutting the church parking lot to provide a nice buffer. They do have some amenities for the neighborhood. The variance is in related to the length of the cul-de-sac. The subdivision ordinance requires or has a limit of 600 feet. Um because of just the layout and the existing land and lot area, they are requesting a small variance to that up to 638 ft. And this is an example of some of the homes that will be proposed. Um they have submitted plans for final plat. Um so they are very eager to get going on this project. The planning commission did hold a public hearing at their March 20th meeting and there was no public comment and the planning commission unanimously recommended approval and I would stand for any questions. [54:49] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Okay, council, any questions, comments. Okay, I'll take a motion then. [55:15] **Councilmember Joshua Lee:** Um, this is not a public hearing though, correct? [55:15] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** It is not. Great. It's the first one. [55:15] **Councilmember Joshua Lee:** I was going to say I was starting to get into the repetition here. I'll move to approve one, a resolution approving the preliminary plat of Lord of Life Town Homes, two, a variance for cul-de-sac length and adoption of the findings of fact and three, resolution vacating drainage and utility easements. [55:41] **Councilmember Dan Wolter:** Second. [55:41] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Okay. Any further discussion? I'll just say um I I know when this was first proposed there was a lot of concern and questions by the neighbors. So I just want to thank both the church and the developer for taking your time and meeting with neighbors and going through and answering a lot of that. So I appreciate it because clearly with no one here tonight you did a very good job at that. So um thank you. And with that roll call, please. [56:15] **City Clerk Ann Orlofsky:** Lee? (**Lee:** Aye.) Volk? (**Volk:** Aye.) Hellier? (**Hellier:** Aye.) Bermel? (**Bermel:** Aye.) Wolter? (**Wolter:** Aye.) [56:15] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** Very good. Congratulations. Thank you. Um, okay. Moving on to items 8 and nine, unfinished and new business. Okay, seeing none, our next council meeting is Monday, April 21st, and our next work session is Monday, April 28th. And with that, I'll take a motion to adjourn. [56:34] **Councilmember Joshua Lee:** So moved. [56:34] **Councilmember John Bermel:** Second. [56:34] **Mayor Luke Hellier:** All in favor say I. (**Council:** I.) Opposed. We're adjourned. Good to meet you. Yeah. Get in there. [57:02] [Music]