This transcript has been formatted with speaker names based on the context of the Rosemount City Council meeting held on January 2nd, 2024. Note: Phonetic spellings in the original transcript (e.g., "Tyson" for Theisen, "Presy" for Freske) have been corrected in the speaker tags but left in the dialogue where they appear to be part of the verbal record. *** **[0:00] [Music]** **[0:58] Unknown Speaker:** yeah okay you're not the only one almost 40-year-old on air if you think turning 40 is hard wait till you hit the next decade dear yeah UA yeah no it's great there's your first UA since January. we good? **[1:35] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** yep all right bring that one down a little bit. I'd like to call the regular city council meeting for Tuesday January 2nd 2024 to order. if you would please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. welcome everyone to the new year for those present on on watching uh first item up uh is our agenda is there any additions or Corrections? **[2:22] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** no sir seeing none I'll move the agenda is there a second? **[2:25] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** second. **[2:27] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** I have a motion and second to approve the agenda all in favor signify by saying I. **[2:28] Councilmembers:** I. **[2:29] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** opposed? the agenda is approved. uh this evening the first item up presentation proclamations and acknowledgements which we have none this evening so we'll move on to item four response to public comments uh we have some responses back from the council from the previous meeting uh we received uh some qu uh some comments but not really any questions uh we received some comments regarding public engagements and those were noted and appreciated for the feedback we received comments regarding interaction from with City's staff that was positive and we thank um the resident for providing that positive comment uh and share that with staff and then on in regards to our uh project review process um again thank you for the comment Council will continue to uh work within the defined State mandate review process um for submissions that uh for businesses that want to locate in our community so with that um are there any other uh comments? I don't believe any other ones were unless— **[3:56] Logan Martin (City Administrator):** well may mayor maybe just wanted to to expand upon there maybe the only question that was received in there was a comment or a question on when uh the city changed its public comment period to three minutes or amount per person to three minutes and just to clarify that that's not a change that's been from Robert's Rules of Order and has been the practice for at least a decade if not longer here at Rosemount so no recent change for the three minute rule was the only clarification to make I guess as a followup to that part of the process. **[4:23] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** um the uh comments taking at the last meeting was um we suspended the rules to allow that normally we would not have those common periods the are taken at the um Planning Commission so um maybe that's what was out of order I don't know certainly we gave uh we we believe we gave plenty of time and opportunity for residents to speak on the issues so with that that completes a response to public comment number four we'll move on to um public comment again this evening anyone wishing to speak to the Council on subjects not part of the meeting agenda may do so typically uh replies to to any concerns expressed will be made via letter or phone call within a week or so following the council meeting or as like I did this evening uh direct response so anyone wishing to come forward may do so state your name and address and your uh question or concern the podium is now open anyone? all right seeing no one stepping forward we'll uh close the public comment and that completes item five. **[5:31] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** this evening next item up is the consent agenda we have items a through G which include Bill listings appointment of the acting mayor designation of the official newspaper the Rich Valley East AUAR order naming of depositories and financial institutions the El uh the annual electronic funds transfer authorization and the approval of a 60-day medical leave of absence for firefighter for specific firefighter is there anything any item any council member would like to pull? **[6:04] Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** d as in dog. d. d. the Rich Valley East AUAR order. **[6:13] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** so with that with item D pulled would uh someone like to move the consent agenda a through G with d removed? **[6:16] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** so moved. **[6:17] Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** I'll second. **[6:18] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** I have a motion by Tyson second by Freske. Roll please. Esler? **[6:22] Paul Essler (Councilmember):** I. **[6:23] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** Wisell? I. Tyson? **[6:24] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** hi. **[6:25] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** Freske? **[6:26] Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** hi. **[6:27] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** that uh passes 4-0. we'll pull up item D Rich Valley East AUAR. Councilmember Freske? **[7:02] Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** I wanted to pull this item um to allow our community development director to kind of give us an overview of what that is and just like where the sits in the process for this piece of property and what one can expect after. **[7:13] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** sure thank you mayor members of the council so we've been hearing this term a lot recently within the community as it's an acronym that we use within the development World um I'll give a little bit of a background then kind of I think council member freske to your point kind of where where is this going from here as well as a timeline um so an AUAR it's kind of the the acronym that we we use quite a bit stands for alternative Urban areawide review um which is a hybrid process um of the environmental assessment worksheet sometimes called an EAW and an environmental impact environmental impact statement or an EIS often used when there's a large area to be developed so we do have a number of these active around the community um we have four active currently to my knowledge: Preswick Place AUAR, the Rosemount industrial AUAR, Rich Valley East AUAR which is the one that's on your agenda this evening as well as the UMore Park AUAR which is the most recent one that Council took action on. um so the the purpose and intent of it is to consider several different development scenarios on a large scale basis so that as development occurs that environmental work and background and site due diligence is is done so that it can measure up with the pace of development um so a little bit on this one this is for the acreage just east of where the FedEx facility is currently constructed along County Road 42 just east of Highway 52 um there are two development scenarios in there that are listed in the staff memo attached by our senior planner Mr. Nemcek. um so the action that is being requested for this evening is for the city to adopt the AUAR order so basically authorizing this to be ordered up or to be worked on or completed um and then the scoping document that was also attached as a part of your your your packet. so from from there um it would get published and then staff would work with our consultant and we do have a representative from our consultant team in the audience this evening if there are any technical questions that the the city council may have um we'll work on reviewing the draft of the AUAR document as that is developed with staff and our consultant and then that will be um reviewed and then a final draft of that will be published along with the state required timelines allow for additional comments um other agency review comments very similar to what you see in that scoping document that's included the packet with a projected this is an estimate now as these timelines start to move out towards late spring early summer for a proposed final adoption of that AUAR so um that answers your your question council member freske I can certainly take any other other questions or we do have um Lila from WSB in the audience tonight. **[10:04] Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** so just to be clear who do we it's not the city ordering this study it is a firm on behalf of a potential user ordering the study is that accurate? **[10:07] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** a a good clarification so it can work both ways so typically in a community like Rosemount where we're seeing this type of development happening um a a land owner or somebody on behalf of the landowner requests that the city order an AUAR and then works with the city to have that that done. um it's kind of think of it as getting your house ready to sell to a certain extent you know you have a lot of pre-work done you may have an inspection done as a seller just on your own to make sure that your house is ready to go for whomever may look to come in and purchase it so it's it's a similar metaphor there um so but the city is the local governmental unit that is responsible for it so this would be the city's document but we do work on behalf of the request from the landowner developer um in this case okay thank you. **[10:54] Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** um quick question for you um the timeline so if this does get approved and and move forward what is the timeline are these usually set for a certain uh number of years five years are they good for can you speak to that? **[11:06] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** yeah so kind of fast forwarding let's let's say we we get through the process the draft solicit all the the public comments and feedback incorporate that into that actual document it gets published and then final acceptance by city council Sometime Late April early May um then that that document is good for five years so it has a five-year shelf life which then it would be um requested to be renewed if it's still being actively developed if the development is complete in that area that was scoped out for the AUAR then you would not need to update it it'd be considered complete okay thank you question go ahead. **[11:40] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** yep so just just to follow up on the earlier con uh the earlier question so it's really the developer who's asking the city to order the AUAR is that the right way to look at it? **[11:48] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** correct. **[11:49] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** and and the reason I I think it's important we clarify that is because residents in in in the last one we reviewed I think there was questions around well when did the city know know about the AUAR and in this case we're actually ordering it so clearly we know about it but we're ordering it on behalf of the developer who's interested in in potentially looking at this property. **[12:11] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** correct and that's a very common common practice. **[12:15] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** yep okay uh and once once the AUAR is completed and we have it what is Our obligation then do we put what's the city's obligation to put it out there for public comment what what what what are the next steps on on that? **[12:28] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** yeah so there's a number of steps in that that process we can certainly get into some of the the granular aspects of it but so for example this this is a a public action that's being taken so you're accepting the scoping document that's included in in the packet which outlines here's what this is going to look like here's the area that's impacted here are the development scenarios that are being considered and then um from that that was published and then it received those comments that are attached at the very back of the packet it's right at the end of that that that scoping document so you'll see comments from agencies such as Metropolitan Council Dakota County PCA DNR that type of a thing saying when you draft this document please make sure that you include or don't forget about or make sure and it's under the purview of each of those Regulatory Agencies um so now the Consultants upon ordering of it the official action tonight will then take and work to complete a draft based on that scope along with those comments that were provided by those review agencies and then we'll bring forth that that draft that'll get published for additional comments on that draft moving towards finalization. **[13:54] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** okay and the reason it's the the reason the standard practice is that the city in our case the city is responsible for ordering the AUAR is because we have the most vested interest in making sure that what what is done on the property meets the requirements of our zoning that in in conformance with our our City's comprehensive plan. **[14:02] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** yep. **[14:03] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** y yep okay all right thank you and then um the parcel there's six different owned Parcels there's six different so so how many different owners is there of the of the collective parcel within this scoped AUAR? **[14:26] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** a single a single owner it's all one owner correct that that currently owns it correct. **[14:31] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** okay so it's all under one owner and there's potentially one buyer? **[14:36] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** um well we don't have anything on any potential buyer per se so there's a firm that's working on behalf of at least I would guess maybe multiple interested parties okay um that's working in conjunction to make sure that they have that in place. **[14:49] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** develop and we currently don't know who the potential owner or owners are. **[14:52] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** no which is again that's very common yeah it's okay pre pre-work done on a a large scale development yep. **[14:58] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** okay and then one one last question is um there there's conversation here about discussion about it's a requirement that when you order an AUAR you have to have two development scenarios that's a requirement so is that is that right? **[15:15] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** I'll I'll go by what's what's in the the staff memo so if there's if if if it's required to have two— **[15:19] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** we don't even know of option A or B which one the potential users would be leaning towards whether it's one big data center or multiple sites we we have no idea we— **[15:28] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** right yeah we try not to get into hypotheticals there for you know it's it's It ultimately it'll be a private to private Market transaction so we we don't predict or you know Place odds on on those but typically I would say it's in a developer or a landowner's best interest to entertain multiple development scenarios because um much like anything in real estate things can change things shift projects come projects go they want to make sure that they have a valid document that is still studying um the the pertinent impacts that would be need to be considered under this type of an environmental review. **[16:21] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** okay and and one one thing I might I might just suggest you know from the learning on the last um project that we approved um project Bigfoot will we keep you know keep will we get um um updates we will we get regular updates on how this is the AUAR is progressing or what when when would we expect to hear next in terms of what what what are the next steps in the process? **[16:47] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** as far as like the public and city council is concerned it would be working to adopt the draft of the AUAR okay so it'll take a few months work through the draft have a final draft so our next action would be reviewing the AUAR yes yep and at that point looking schedule on that so yes and at that point we would likely know what option A and option b are from a user from a user—not a user perspective but a land use what what what the what the what the impact what the impacts would be the property yes so within that scoping document it it entertains those two different scenarios one um calls for a data center type of use and the other for um a slightly more industrial mixed type of of use in conformance with our land use plan on there so it it doesn't get into the specifics of a a user per se but more of a a classification based on that so you'll see in previous AUARs: distribution, warehousing, industrial, Light industrial, data center. there won't necessarily be a land or um a design of of what what's on there it's just land use correct that that's that's all there that's all they're looking at from an AUAR type type of use scale on that that property and then measuring the types of impacts that would likely have. **[17:55] Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** okay so between now and when we have a draft AUAR there's really no action that are are going to be coming before Council or Planning Commission? **[18:03] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** not that we anticipate no. **[18:05] Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** okay all right thank you my question was answered so one single land owner you said right? **[18:09] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** yeah for the SE are correct thank you. **[18:13] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** just for some historical context uh we had somebody that came to this site um I'm imagining there was an AUAR when the original owner bought the property for its use they now have decided not to build that and now they wish to sell that property so anticipating a different use and they have two scenarios here that's what this AUAR is for. **[18:41] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** correct um I guess I don't know if there was previously an AUAR done by a former owner on this this property the land is currently owned by Great River Energy the utility company um they have made a decision to sell that property which y any private land owner can certainly exercise the right to do so um and because they're positioning it for development in alignment with our comprehensive plan that's why they're working with this entity to choose to do the AUAR and then also um even though uh we're ordering this all the expenses as it relates to this other than a future review on our part that's paid by the current land owner correct? **[19:15] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** like a um pretty much the entirety of our development process it is paid for either by the applicant or the developer itself um the taxpayers of the community um development pays for itself is is the the Mantra kind of the theme that we we often adopt yes. **[19:24] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** okay thanks go ahead. **[19:26] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** yeah one followup uh so Great River Energy is the current owner and my understanding at least at least it was brought to our attention by the resident that they orig they they had at one point had a development plan for this property which did not move forward and they which they have full right to not complete development right? I mean even if somebody gets gets an approval to do something on the property that that that the city isn't putting an obligation on them to make them do what they got approval to do am I am I— **[20:13] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** yes yes I mean the easy way to think about it is the city can't make anybody develop yeah I mean it's it's it's up to a private entity to choose to move forward with their plans. **[20:17] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** Y and like what we often see in development is those plans change and sometimes people choose not to move forward and now the fact that they've decided to market the property and whoever is going to buy the property is going to do what they want to do on the property subject to correct approval. **[20:38] Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** okay thank you. **[20:59] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** all right um anybody uh since you made the trip out here anything that you'd like to add to uh the commentary on on this AUAR? okay all righty uh um if there's no other additional yep information go ahead and move the recommended action. **[21:13] Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** I'll make a motion to adopt a resolution ordering the preparation of an AUAR for Rich Valley East. **[21:17] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** I second. **[21:19] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** have a motion by Freske second by Theisen. Roll please. Wisell? I. Tyson? **[21:24] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** i. **[21:25] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** Freske? **[21:26] Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** i. **[21:27] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** Esler? **[21:28] Paul Essler (Councilmember):** i. **[21:29] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** motion passes 4-0 and that complete 6D and items uh section six of the consent agenda completed this evening there are no public hearings no unfinished business and no new business we move to 10 under announcements uh first item up is Staff City staff updates Mr Martin. **[21:46] Logan Martin (City Administrator):** thank you mayor members of the council uh one item looking forward here uh as we look out in January one of the more important kind of policy and strategic planning things that we do um as a city staff and a city council is we've got our goal setting sessions coming up and I just wanted to make the community aware of that so Council will meet with City staff the leadership team um twice here in January and and really look back at the successes and the challenges um of 2023 um take some assessment of of where we're at and where we're going and then meet again um in the subsequent week and kind of chart a new uh kind of five-year trajectory for the city and so we operate kind of in fiveyear strategic plans the the one that we had done in 2017 is is wrapping up here um and so we're ready for a new one and so we're looking for that process and um just encourage residents to to reach out if you got anything that they wanted to share on that but uh really excited to get going on a goal setting uh process here with the city council so beyond that um just looking forward to a great start to 2024 so thanks mayor. **[22:32] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** great thank you uh anything from any of the council members any announcements? seeing none we'll move to uh 10B the upcoming community calendar the uh Environmental Sustainability Commission meeting uh is January 9th 5:30 to 6:30 here at City Hall on January 15th the city hall will be closed in honor of the Martin Luther King Junior Day observance the Port Authority will meet on January 16th from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. here at City Hall followed by the city council meeting for January 16th from 7 to 8 and with that if there is no other business to come before Council uh I'll move to adjourn is there a second? **[23:44] Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** I'll second. **[23:45] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** all in favor signify by saying I. **[23:46] Councilmembers:** I. **[23:47] Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** opposed? we are adjourned. thank you. **[23:50] [Music]**