e app so my first there and right away my first for e but you the Tuesday February 4th 2025 meeting of the Eden Prairie City Council is now called to order please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America the stands Nation indivisible jice it's typical at this time of the meeting for me to read an open Podium invitation open Podium is an opportunity for Eden Prairie residents to address the city council on issues related to Eden pre city government these open Podium times occur prior to each council meeting Council meetings typically are the first and third Tuesday of each month open podiums occur from 6:30 to 6:55 right here in in the council chamber if you wish to speak at open Podium please do contact the city manager's office at 952 949 8412 by noon of if you need to get that you no I'm kid I'm teasing by noon of the meeting date with your name your phone number now I'm going to check my phone phone number and subject matter open Podium is not recorded or televised if you have questions about open Podium please do contact the City manager's office Mr Geto do you want to introduce um we have two items with prop this evening if you want to introduce those we do mayor thank you both items are tied to prop um we've done both of these for a number of years this one's more recent but I know it's for the last few years we have uh our Eden Prairie Liquor Stores partner with prop for a dollar drive and I'm going to let our liquor oper op A's manager um Hae arbina come up and describe what we've done in we did in the month of November how much money was raised and then we have a check to give to prop and I know our prop executive director is here as well so there is the city's favorite Kansas City Chiefs fan you're you're in luck this year and last year and the year before yeah yeah so go Chiefs [Laughter] all right so as uh Rick said the liquor operations um partnered with prop um to to hold a dollar Drive in back in November and uh we invited customers to donate to the Food Shelf uh so we just like to take this opportunity to thank the Eden Prairie Liquor customers for the generosity and they helped us raise $1,593 31 uh which was a record high and they also help helped our Prairie uh view store so our liquor store 3 uh win a mmba contest uh which was hosted by Miller Light uh which also gave us an additional $1,000 uh contest winnings which was donated to prop as well for a grand total of $2,593 31 so with the help of the mayor obviously we wanted to uh give the check to uh prop today um for the generosity of of all our customers that came through do you want need to come down and we'll do yeah a photo up I know is yes I was going to say we have um some a few of our liquor store managers here as well so come on up here she comes prob you probably want to stay around as well so I don't know who hangs on to thank [Laughter] [Applause] you so I'll be presenting to Jennifer a plaque in just a moment moment um second item on our agenda relating to prop tonight is um a proclamation talking about the empty bowls uh which is um a fundraiser that prop has had going on for the last 15 years or so it's really a just one of those nice community events um I talk about like the community amenities that we have that pull us together that draw us together uh if you haven't participated in this it's really good soup and it's held at I believe St Andrews again haven't actually read it through is that accurate yes they've been so great to allow it to be hosted so I'd like to read a proclamation city of Eden Prairie henpen County Minnesota empty bowls day whereas prop has provided food support and compassion to the residents of Eden Prairie and Chanhassen for 54 years and whereas prop served 1,46 households totaling 5,1 these are pretty amazing numbers 5,100 64 individuals last year and whereas prop is considered an essential organization by the city of Eden Prairie our local residents the school district the faith community Civic organizations and businesses alike and whereas the annual empty bows event has served as a cherished Community gett together to raise funds for prop since 2010 and whereas the 2025 empty bowls event will support props mission to provide service to our neighbors in need now therefore be it resolved the city council of the city of Eden Perry Minnesota does hereby Proclaim Tuesday February 18th 20125 as empty bows day in the city of Eden Prairie and urges all citizens to support prop Ronald ak's mayor on behalf of our council members Kathy Nelson Mark fryberg PG Ryan and Lisa Tumi I'll come down and present this and maybe another photo op to comments after that welcome to as well thank you thank you very much well thank you Mr Mayor and council members um it's just a thrill this is uh um an event that we have looked forward to for uh every year for a long time I can't believe it's been going on for 15 years um I don't think I've been at all of them going back to the very beginning but a lot of them and um it's just a a Tim honored and treasured event that brings the community together very simple meal so um all the soup is donated by local restaurants we have a wonderful woman who is a Potter who makes bowls and she's going to be doing a pottery demonstration um local children's choirs and the community band and ensembles will be playing so it again it'll be a wonderful time so I just want to take a moment to thank the city for its incredible partnership with prop for you know the the 54 years of our existence we couldn't do what we do without the incredible support that you all provide to us and uh a special thank you to the Eden Prairie Liquor Stores wow what an amazing outpouring of support and thank you for being a partner with us um they do so many things the happy hour for hunger in November right around give to the max day um this uh particular drive has been a great source of support So for this continued partnership and for the thousands of people that we serve um and more and more every day we are very grateful so thank you and we hope to see everyone February 18th at St Andrew Lutheran church thank you Jennifer thank you um and G give our um gratitude also to your staff and to your massive list of volunteers I always say to people that edenburry has just really a phenomenal list of nonprofit charity organizations that do work that government really can't do and so you're a part of an Outreach U beyond what we can do with our tax dollars and we really appreciate what you do for people in this community who are um food insecure um and I know you do other things as well but um in need and um along with prop and Prop Shop and Meals on Wheels and crime prevention fun I always have to mention that um and of course our Eden Prairie Community Foundation and our foundation for Eden PR schools I'm sure I'm leaving some up but we just have amazing nonprofits but profits just right up there at the top so thank you so much for all you do you thank you all right um moving on so approval of the agenda let me ask Council Members First um are there any um um items or anything you'd like to add or maybe under council member reports and if not is there someone that would make a motion to approve the agenda I'll move to approve the agenda there second second any further discussion all those in favor say I I I opposed all right moving on to minuts uh any council member have any concerns about anything that was in either minut at the workshop or the meeting held back on January 21st any edits any concerns if not there a motion that we to approve both of them move to approve the following city council minutes the city count city council Workshop held Tuesday January 21st 2025 city council meeting held Tuesday January 21st 2025 is there second second further discussion all those in favor say I I I opposed all right one of the shortest consent calendars I think I've seen in a while again for anyone listening in at home or in the audience consent calendar just clumps together items that they're important but they may not need further conversation or discussion that being said council members any uh concerns with any of these four items that you wish to pull from the list or learn more about if not is there a motion to approve the items on the consent calendar a to d move to approve items a to d on the consent calendar sir second second further discussion all those in favor say I I I opposed all right we have one public hearing this evening Mr I'll turn it back to you mayor correction we have two um but the first one second one's a code Amendment that's I did see that nope you're right so the the first one is a development project Nexus Innovation Center by Endeavor you may remember you saw this project or something very close to it just last summer last July um because at that time the applicant was requesting to build an industrial building on the 14 acre American Family Insurance campus property um south or uh north of 62 on Blue Circle Drive um they are back because there were some changes uh to their plans and their approval and they're coming back to the process because they're building two not one um separate industrial building so as I mentioned last July there was approval for one building about 185,000 close to 186,000 square ft the new proposal that you're going to hear about is is uh two different buildings one just over 92,000 Square ft and the other one just over 82,000 uh square feet the uh Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of this project at their January meeting and the applicant is here to provide an overview of the project and staff and the applicant could answer any questions that the council or the public uh may have about this project please come forward name address company that you work for sure Mr mayor council members my name is Joe Bergman my address is 885 lywood Avenue in St Paul and my company's Endeavor development and as Mr Geo noted I'm here to present on the Nexus project which is the Redevelopment of the former American Family Insurance campus and as Mr G noted we have updated the project to uh go from a single 185,000 foot building to two smaller building buildings to facilitate a build the suit project for hm Craig a locally based provider of backup Power Solutions they will occupy in full the larger building than you could just move the mic a little bit CL thank you sorry n but as I know they will occupy in full the larger of the two buildings so the second building would be speculative meaning we're still seeking tenants but we have we a number of conversations but nothing to announce at this point there's the location as again Mr G noted on the north side of 62 right where it merges with 212 and as he noted we we came through and had it rezoned to I2 U we're demolishing the obsolete three-building office campus and then motanka is actually providing the utilities well sanitarian water and then Road as well and they've provided comments to staff that we have addressed if you can leave that up just a second I have a question Rick while this is up Mr Geto um so in general does the City this is more curiosity but also for our residents because a lot of people don't realize they they would think anything on the north side of 62 belongs to menka so in general since menak or the 62 takes a dip there if if you see the trees on the left side and there's a road there if you cut that across is that all Eden Prairie yes yes it is May so it would be that property and then they're actually is another property um possibly for development too that would be to the east East but that's correct it would be kind of running a line there through that project location what would be north of that all the way across would be um Eden Prairie not a lot of people know that including the pond all the way on the east side that would be inside Eden Prairie correct it's interesting I don't it is again I don't know that a lot of people realize that's Eden Prairie up there and I might be going out on a limb here but there was a time I think about six or seven years ago because we were um talking about this quite a bit where I think minetonka actually gave Eden Prairie some of their property so I'd like to tell people that we went into minetonka and annexed um a portion of their city and I it might be some of that location but the the American Family Insurance campus had been in Eden Prairie for quite some time let's not share that too much I don't want them to reciprocate or suddenly begin if if I was planning to take the bottom eight counties of Minnesota I kind of don't want this to start up among all of our sisters cities but they offered all right it wasn't thank you I appreciate you letting me cut in there it was a great map and I just um again it's an area that a lot of people don't realize that's seeden Prairie so sure take it away thank you so here's the updated site plan as you can see the larger building 92,000 ft on the left and then that would be the HM Craig facility and we've listed here a number of the sustainable strategies we'll be employing as part of our project specifically we're recy cing a lot of the materials that will be demolished from the buildings themselves the existing buildings there'll be infrastructure for Ev vehicles and solar panels on the SPEC Building and there will actually be a number of chargers on the build to suit building and then we'll be using low vocc materials and energy star appliances in the tenant build outs and then we'll be participating in excel's Eda program as well couple other not there and then these are the elevations for the buildings and this these elevations are going to look very similar to what you approved this summer so we've got a painted architectural pre-cast panels with a stone veneer uh running on accenting most of the entrances as well as a few of the uh breaks along the east west and south facades and we've also got metal canopies and sun shades at the primary entrances and then if you are looking at the third one down or the fourth one down there you'll see a sort of a long skinny Brown Line on either end and that's the secured parking area that the tenant has requested they've had some vandalism issues at their existing facility and they're fairly sensitive to being able to lock that off so we've also added a slide here with detail on the fencing proposed so it's specifically a product created by a company called TX it's a composite made from recycled wood and recycled Plastics and we have chosen the saddle color that you can see at the top there highlighted with the yellow box that we We Believe will it will age a little bit and uh the color will fade a little bit over time but we think even as it fades it should fade closer to being like the rest of the building and then this is these are the elevations for the second building very similar in design very similar in materials a slightly smaller building so there's only two entrances here rather than sort of three primary entrances there there's a a rendering of the building itself and then this this project actually actually utilizes some of the same design features we used on other projects in Maple Grove so I've got some images from the existing buildings we've built over the last three years in Maple Grove then there just a few images of kind of interior space and and with that we're we're humbly requesting site plan and preliminary plat approval and we're looking to again uh Revitalize an obsolete office campus and turn it into something a little more productive and and be very a very nice representation of what is in fact an Eden Prairie and be a nice Gateway into the city so with that said i' I'd happily answer any questions that uh Council has kind of a Gateway into metaton but I kind of get your point sure sure fair enough um no thank you uh Council um any questions at this point we can always have a public hearing and you can ask questions after if you have one now please go ahead no I don't have a question I just have a comment go ahead thank you I mean when I read through the proposal you know we we keep on pushing EV you know um all the right thing you guys put it in there and thank you I really appreciate it well thank you okay let's have the public hearing and we can again continue our conversation as a council afterwards thank you um so this is a public hearing is there anyone in the audience wishing to address the city council on this issue this evening all right see none um Council you can either just close the public hearing portion we can have more discussion you can go ahead and make the entire motion if you feel this is pretty perfunctory and then we can still have all kinds of discussion what's your pleasure you want to make the entire motion sure go ahead um somebody think go ahead Mark okay I'm moving to close the public hearing and adopt a resolution approving a preliminary plat dividing one lot into two lots on 14.35 acres and direct staff to prepare a development agreement incorporating staff and commission recommendations and councel conditions and authorize the issuance of an early land alteration permit for Nexus Innovation Center 2 at the request of the developer subject to the conditions outlined in the permit second all right um any discussion or questions I have just two small points to make U let go ahead why don't you start just one small point I do appreciate that you've got the solar going on to the one that's going to be tenanted right away and that you have the availability basics for it in on the other building that's what we're hoping to see in all of the new build buildings and Eden prairies it seems to work very well so thank you for that so my two um points I guess to make one is just I was curious about the security Park and you um explained um that well um and I'm anticipating we might be seeing more of that as more and more buildings are built just with the um lay of the land today um in our environment um secondly I um just always a little bit curious when projects get built in cities contiguous to us including this happened Eden Prairie once where sewer and water gets supplied by the neighbor and so we had a case where Settlers Ridge West I believe uh was in Chanhassen and then um Eden Prairie they could not get sewer and water to it and we supplied it um we actually got a fee in that casee because I think it costs us maybe extra to be able to supply it in this case everything's right in the ground right so it's just a question of attaching hooking up minitonas please I suppose because they get Revenue um so is this Robert is this um from what you're experienced other cities fairly normal when projects get built like this yeah um mayor uh case Council there are a number of joint power agreements or cooperative agreements we have with neighboring cities to provide Sewer Service either we're providing it for somebody in their Community because it's makes more sense or it's easier for us to do it or they're doing that for us so in this case Minon is providing water and sewer and they always have for this parcel and that goes back to a 1977 agreement that we entered into with minetonka to allow them we provided some funding for the initial Capital costs we then assessed the owner at that time for those costs so we could recoup our city um minetonka doeses all the billing and they do the maintenance on those water and swerwer Mains and that's all spelled out in agreement dated 1977 so that's very common quite frankly in the metro area that's actually helpful thank you for the clarification uh Council anything else uh before we actually take a vote okay with that then we've had a motion in a second all those in favor say I I I oppose passes unanimous welcome um wish you the best I hope you uh leasee quickly that second building I'm sure you will it's a nice looking building it's a great location near Eden Prairie in Eden Prairie but also near batonka and kind of in motanka all right sounds good Mr Geto um we have a second public hearing but it's on a code Amendment go ahead thank you mayor and council members um yes this is a code amendment that is not part of a development application before you it's an amendment to our our zoning code chapter 11 and it's to uh first reading of an ordinance that would allow uh office and medical use in the public zoning District um with specific criteria and um the reason is uh with the purchase of the UniFi campus on Valley viiew Road by the school district of which you approved uh last year and there was a resoning process um to a public use um from a previous uh a different use at that time we do know that we've heard this and you know this because they've talked about it that the school is occupying a a good portion the majority of the building you've been there we've had a couple different events there but there is maybe portions of the building that they they would want to lease um for office use or business use to a non-public user and their hope is is they've said that it it may be good Synergy with the school curriculum that's there or the school but still may be a a a a business private use at some point in time so up until this point we would not allow for those uh business uses office uses in those public districts but we're saying with this code amendment that we would do that in the case of when the primary use in the public zoning District is a school building so my point there being that there are other publicly um zoned Parcels but we don't want to necessarily open the door up to all of those buildings being office use we'd really like to try to apply this to the circumstance that exists on Valley View and to do that we would it would be a code Amendment and this is a code amendment that was being proposed this was and it should this should have as you know it was an office building previously so allowing some office use should have absolutely no impact on the neighborhood the surrounding area the traffic that's what it was previously um so the Planning Commission uh heard this at their January meeting and unanimously recommended approval as well uh we do need to hold a public hearing because it's a chapter 11 amendment to a zoning ordinance and staff could certainly answer any more questions that you may have how is this different than the city leasing part of this very building we're sitting in to CH Robinson and then UNFI over the years sure and I'll let Julie weigh in but I think the main piece is that this this building is not Zone public mayor members of the council that's exactly correct this property is zoned I2 um and it was zoned I2 prior to the city purchasing and occupying uh this building and as part of the original PUD a waiver was granted to allow office use on the majority of the building so the way the I2 Zone reads our use as a city function would be permitted here interesting I would have thought this was publicly zoned zoned it's a great question I mean it's the first thing that came up in terms of well here you are in city center and we leased um to private businesses but we're not Zone public interesting okay uh Council any other questions before we open this up as a public hearing and again you can ask your questions later as well okay this is a public hearing on this amendment to a chapter 11 ordinance uh allowing office and medical uses within a publicly zoned building uh anyone in the audience wishing to address the city council on this issue this evening if not this feels fairly housekeeping um if I'm wrong cut right in but if not go ahead and make a mo motion to close the public hearing and then go ahead and make the rest of the motion if you wish okay I'll move to close the public hearing and approve the first reading of an ordinance to amend chapter 11 for office and medical use medical office uses in the public zoning District in certain situations second is there any further discussion questions I do have one question sure are we expecting it to be a defined area between between the school and the leasable area so that you don't have a public Building open to the public where school children can go into and escape the school mayor members of the council in conversations with the school district they've indicated that they would be likely leasing uh floor area on the third floor that that raises a good question though are there limits in our understanding to what percentage of the building can then become basically tax producing a um a private entity the way the code amendment is drafted is that the private office use or medical office use would have to be accessory to the school use so it's not defined in terms of either square footage or percentage but I think a reasonable application would be at least the majority of the square footage of the building would be used for school purposes do you see any potential abuse if we did not specify or have greater specificity within the ordinance that we could have a situation arise where it's 99 I don't know what advantage or disadvantage that would be because it was before when it was UNFI it was you know a corporate building but would there be a problem if it was suddenly 75% 80% mayor members of the council I wouldn't anticipate a problem from a functional standpoint from a policy standpoint if they came forward with a proposal that staff didn't feel met the intent of the amendment or the ordinance in place at the time we would engage in further conversations and it might trigger an additional process maybe that's a PUD waiver maybe that's a code Amendment but we would work towards a solution on that and Maggie as our attorney does this conversation we're having right here at the moment constitute a legal um Trail a thread that would show if there was ever any discrepancy or misunderstanding we could go back to our minutes and see that no this was our intent yeah I think it certainly would if this if this ever came up I mean this would be evidence of the council's intent or of staff's intent in proposing this ordinance um just like any other document that the city might produce or something like that so okay yeah thank you y mayor I'll just add to and who knows what happens in 10 15 20 years they could school could sell school could say tassel program no longer needs to be here now we want to lease out 2/3 we want to loose out at least 80% those things could all happen but I think they would need to they would need and I'm hearing from the attorney and Julie they would need to come back through the city council and you may be open to that right but and we could be because again it used to be an office right and um we may be okay with that but they would have to come back through but that could very well happen yeah I don't have enough understanding really tonight of the potential ramifications good or bad of any of this but I just want to keep our um power and control you know in in the mix um and and as you um hint at um there might be other public buildings the county owns buildings in our city I mean there's might be precedent that we with this ordinance want to make sure that we have a kind of an understanding and a handle on what what the implications are Council anything else before um let's see we have a motion first in a second right okay so anything else before we take the vote all those in favor of this ordinance Amendment signified by saying I I I oppose this motion passes unanimous as well next on the agenda is the payment of claims uh of council it's the list of uh basically checks that have been cut since the last meeting anyone have any questions or uh items you want want to find out more about on the long long pages long list of expenditures if not is there a motion to approve the payment of claims as submitted Mo to approve the payment of claim as submitted sir second second any discussion R yeah thank you I was no no I'm glad you're you're you're keeping up with I had it I just wanted to ask if you had any discussion no you're good any discussion okay roll call council member fryberg hi council member n I council member Nelson I council member Tumi I mayor case I all right um Council Mr Geto is there anything else to come before the council this evening there is not all right I will entertain a motion to adjourn I'll move to adjin the city council meeting tonight it's our second second all those in favor say I I I oppose unanimous this meeting is adjourned e