Based on the context provided and the content of the dialogue, here is the transcribed meeting with speaker identifications. Note: While the prompt provides the City Council and Department Directors, the speakers include members of the **Planning Commission** (Commissioner Canal, Commissioner Huie, and Commissioner Surma), who are residents appointed to that specific body. **Sam Crosby** (City Planner) and **Katie Rodriguez** (City Manager) are identified from your staff list. *** **[00:00] Chair:** I call the Richfield Planning Commission meeting to order. The first thing we have is the approval of the minutes from the last meeting. Is there a motion to approve those? **[00:05] Commissioner Canal:** Yes, Commissioner Canal would like to motion to approve those. **[00:08] Commissioner Huie:** Commissioner Huie seconds. **[00:10] Chair:** All those in favor of approving last month's minutes please say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? All right. The next thing on the schedule is the Open Forum. I'll just take a moment here. If you are wanting to participate remotely, you can call into the Open Forum by dialing 415-655-0000 and use the access code 2634 948 571 and a password of 123. The Open Forum is the opportunity for members of the public to speak before the Planning Commission generally about things not on the agenda. Is there anyone here who wants to speak at the Open Forum? Has anyone emailed or phoned in? **[00:45] Sam Crosby (City Planner):** Chair and Commissioners, they have not. We'll just wait a second more. Chair and Commissioners, I do believe the phone number was incorrect in that it is 415-655-0001. **[00:58] Chair:** Oh, it's cut off on—yeah, my apologies. Why don't we go ahead and approve—we'll move to approve the agenda and if someone should phone in, then we could return back to that. **[01:05] Sam Crosby (City Planner):** Certainly. **[01:07] Chair:** Um, so the next item would be the approval of the agenda. Is there a motion to approve? **[01:10] Commissioner Canal:** Yes, Commissioner Canal would like to approve the agenda. **[01:12] Commissioner Surma:** Second, Commissioner Surma second. **[01:15] Chair:** All in favor please say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? All right. So we have the Capital Improvement Program and consistency report. Staff, do you have a report for us? **[01:25] Sam Crosby (City Planner):** Thank you, Chair and Commissioners. I would like to introduce Kari Verma; she is our Finance Manager/Finance Director, and she will be presenting this evening. **[01:35] Kari Verma (Finance):** Thank you, Sam. Good evening, Commissioners. Today I'm here to present my first capital budget. 2024 Capital Improvement budget is $7.79 million and more than half of it is dedicated to the public facilities, which include projects like rehabilitation of storm water collection system, sanitary sewer mainlining, and upgrading Citywide water meters. Recreation and open space capital budget is at $560,000 and includes demolition, rebuilding, and equipping of Donaldson Park building and playground. Right-of-way budget is 2.9 million and includes $600,000 for the replacement of 77th Street railroad crossing. Other major projects include several multi-year and overlay projects, concrete replacement, crack sealing, and various other roadway improvements. **[02:30] Kari Verma (Finance):** Here is the summary of the projects by funding source. City's projects are funded from a variety of different sources. Revenue from user fees provides 37% funding for the capital projects. City staff works very hard to identify and secure funding from various federal, state, and local county programs. This slide presents the Capital Improvement Plan of $83 million total from 2025 to 2028. A variety of projects will be undertaken during the next four years. Majority of the funds will be spent on public facilities and right-of-way projects. **[03:10] Kari Verma (Finance):** This is how we are going to be funding the $83 million of budgeted projects. It is a constant struggle for us to fund capital needs. Our infrastructure is old and most of it is beyond its useful life. The following couple of slides provide additional details on the major capital projects undertaken by Public Works and Recreation staff. For example, the I-494 project that is going to run through the fall of 2026, and the 69th Street reconstruction. The Recreation Department is budgeting nearly $3.6 million in outdoor pool improvement, and the Wood Lake Nature Center project is estimated at $25 million. Of that 25 million, 12 million is going to come from the state of Minnesota, 3 million from federal grants, and 10 million to be financed from issuing debt, which is going to be repaid over a period of time. That's what I had for today—a listing of other projects budgeted in the Recreation Department. Your feedback is welcome, and I'm happy to follow up on any questions you may have. Thank you. **[04:20] Chair:** Any questions from Commissioners? **[04:22] Commissioner:** Did you—when you just mentioned that a lot of the infrastructure is past the expected useful life, is that something that's happening in our neighboring communities as well, or does Richfield have more or less of a problem with older infrastructure than our neighboring communities? **[04:40] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** I think it depends on which neighboring community. Richfield's got a modest tax base and if you look through some of the project descriptions, you'll see "built in the 1950s," "built in the 1960s." Our former mayor used to say, you know, "built in the 1950s, still original." A lot of it has not been—we've been doing Band-Aids, but we haven't reconstructed a lot of it. I would say the exception has been our roadway. About 10 years ago now, they used Street Reconstruction Bonds—debt—to finance and really reconstruct the roadway, so our roads are in pretty good shape. I don't know if you remember, I was here last year and I presented, and if you look at that CIP, you would have seen that the bulk of the pie was actually for those right-of-way projects—the pipe and the roads. **[05:35] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** This year we're presenting, hopefully to be funded if it's approved by voters with a local sales tax, more recreation. So we're now trying to catch up on a lot of those recreation assets, and some of them are really in critical need. For example, the pool liner—that concrete liner is original 1960s. It could go at any time. Every time we've been filling it up the last few years, we like hold our breath that it holds water. So that's the kind of thing that if we can't get the local sales tax to fund that project, we're going to have to finance that with property taxes. The advantage of the local sales tax is that we estimate about 55% of it will be paid by non-residents, whereas property taxes will be all residents. **[06:20] Commissioner:** And when is that expected to be before the voters, the sales tax? **[06:24] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** November of 2024. **[06:26] Commissioner:** The statewide election? **[06:28] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** Yes, correct. That is exactly right. Thank you. **[06:30] Commissioner Huie:** I just—this sounds like we're always struggling to keep up with these sorts of things. Will this continue to be a perpetual issue for us, kind of given the rising cost of things and our tax base? What does the outlook look like in decades in the future? **[06:50] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** I think that if you asked many cities what is their biggest financial challenge, they'd say infrastructure. Not only is it just trying to keep up with investing in that because it is so expensive, but now you've got the impacts of climate change. So when you are reconstructing it, you have to reconstruct it to a higher standard. There are serious concerns, like you'll see a lot of the projects are about cybersecurity and security in general, like for our water treatment plant. The cities that are growing are still able to fund some of that with that growth in their population, but many of those cities, for example with their recreation assets, as they're starting to build out, they're like, "Wow, we don't have a funding source to continue to invest in it." That's why you're seeing so many cities ask the state for funding. **[07:45] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** We have tried to be really aggressive about that in the last four or five years and we've been successful. That’s great—$15 million for Wood Lake Nature Center, that's more than half of the project. And we'll continue to do that. It's exciting because at the federal and state level, there was more of an investment in infrastructure recently, and we believe that there's more dollars out there for climate change projects. That's why we're funding on the operating side of the budget more money to hire a grant writer to go after those dollars. I think I answered your question—I rambled a bit. **[08:20] Commissioner Huie:** No, that's great. Can you be specific about some of the climate change projects, out of curiosity? **[08:25] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** Well, one of the things that we're doing right now is looking at building efficiency—looking at our buildings specifically and seeing what we can do to make them more efficient. I know that we have a recommendation from a consultant, but I couldn't get into the specifics of it yet. Then we're going to look at our fleet and try and see where it makes sense to electrify the fleet. Education is another big part of it, just letting people know what they can do, because there are no magic bullets with this. It's going to take all of us doing a little bit at a time and just kind of constant improvement. **[09:05] Commissioner:** Thank you. I was going to ask a question about—you mentioned how everything here was built in the 50s and 60s. Does that apply to all of our recreation facilities as well that are currently under consideration? Is everything of the same vintage and coming due for a rehab at the same time? **[09:20] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** Unfortunately, most of them, yes. Director Huemiller has been really good about, and his predecessor was really good about, replacing the playground equipment, and a lot of that is because the residents are so interested in making sure that's invested in. But if you look at our parks, there's a lot of infrastructure there. There’s buildings; there are a lot of tennis courts, for example. To replace one of those tennis courts, it's $175,000. So it's a lot. One of the things in the Strategic Plan is to assess where we're at with all of that infrastructure and then look at a needs assessment. Do we need that? Is that formula for every park necessary? I know Director Huemiller is thinking that with those buildings, do we need a building, or would a picnic shelter make more sense? Like the Donaldson Park project—looking at that, instead of having the two buildings, having just the one, and part of it being an open picnic shelter. So moving more towards that and some tough choices. Do we need all those tennis courts? (And I'm a tennis player!) **[10:40] Chair:** Anything else? Sam Crosby? **[10:42] Sam Crosby (City Planner):** So from my understanding, we just need to act on a resolution to find that this is consistent, correct? **[10:48] Chair:** That is correct. Is there—we'll need a motion for that, and then we can have any discussion. **[10:52] Commissioner Canal:** I would like to make a motion, Commissioner Canal here, to recommend approval of the staff action. **[11:00] Commissioner Surma:** Second, Commissioner Surma second. **[11:03] Chair:** Any discussion? **[11:05] Commissioner:** I think this is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. It's just all we're acting on here tonight is to find if it's consistent with the Comp Plan. **[11:15] Chair:** I really appreciated having the experts in because I can read the report that I get in the email, but it's pretty meaningless without the context. So I really appreciate you both coming in. **[11:25] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** Yeah, thank you. **[11:27] Chair:** Any other discussion? All those in favor of the recommended staff action to find the Capital Improvement Program is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan, please say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? All right, motion carries. The next item is staff report 13 regarding 6600 Newton Avenue and 6326 14th. **[11:50] Sam Crosby (City Planner):** Thank you, Chair and Commissioners. The two subject sites are both vacant R1, which is low-density residential zoned properties that are owned by the Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) and have been marketed for development as duplexes. Two applications were received, one for each property. The application and sale of 6600 Newton Avenue for construction of a duplex was approved by the HRA on August 21st, and the application and sale of 6326 14th Avenue South for the construction of a duplex is anticipated to go before the HRA in either September or October of this year. Acquisition and disposition of the properties by the HRA requires a finding of consistency with the Comp Plan. Both properties are guided for low-density residential, which allows for the mixture of single-family detached and attached units such as duplexes, making the proposed development of these lots consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Consequently, staff recommends approval of the resolution finding such. Thank you. **[12:55] Chair:** Any questions from Commissioners? So I'm pretty clear on the 6600 Newton Avenue South property as to why that's a vacant parcel having to do with the 66th Street reconstruction. Could you give a little bit more background on the 6326 14th Avenue South property? I'm a little less familiar with that one. **[13:15] Sam Crosby (City Planner):** I'm sorry, I do not know. I believe that both of these properties were given to us by the county and that they were both substandard and needed to be demolished. But the history behind why or how it became that way, I'm sorry, I don't know. I could research it and let you know as a follow-up. **[13:35] Chair:** I'm wondering—I saw in the report that in 2009 the Commission had a standing approval for single-family if it was in that zoning district. I'm wondering if staff could bring a resolution next month for us to consider just adding duplexes to that? **[13:55] Sam Crosby (City Planner):** Chair, we have thought about that and wanted to touch base with our attorney first. We don't foresee any reason why we couldn't do that, but we just wanted to run it past her before doing so. So I believe next month would be a reasonable time frame. **[14:10] Commissioner Huie:** Just to be clear, if these were privately owned, there would be no requirement for variances or anything for the proposed projects, correct? **[14:18] Sam Crosby (City Planner):** They have no variances proposed for the projects. They are going to be privately owned; they're going to be sold by the HRA. **[14:24] Commissioner Huie:** Will these come before us as PUDs (Planned Unit Developments)? **[14:27] Sam Crosby (City Planner):** No, they are single-lot developments. Remember we changed the PUD lot size recently to single-family residential size, right? **[14:35] Commissioner Huie:** Right, I'm just curious if we anticipate that they would be coming before us as PUDs. **[14:40] Sam Crosby (City Planner):** Chair and Commissioners, no. We have asked that they be built by right in order to meet all the rules and requirements of the code, and that is what the two proposals that we have do. **[14:52] Commissioner:** One follow-up question: are they two separate applicants that are purchasing these or are they the same? **[14:58] Sam Crosby (City Planner):** Actually, no. One applicant is working with two separate families, but it is the same contractor looking to build duplexes on both of them. **[15:10] Chair:** Okay, thanks. Because it's the sale from the HRA, we do need to find that this would be consistent with the plan. Can I get a motion to approve the recommended staff action? **[15:20] Commissioner Canal:** Yes, Chair, Commissioner Canal here. I would like to make a motion that we approve a resolution finding that these actions are consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. **[15:30] Commissioner Huie:** Seconds. **[15:32] Chair:** Any further discussion? **[15:34] Commissioner Huie:** I'll just say I'm excited to see some higher-density residential kind of built into some of these neighborhoods and kind of see how that develops. And also, with our last conversation, more population for our tax base will be really great. **[15:50] Chair:** Indeed. I think this is the first time we've seen at least one that needs to come before us for duplexes to be built in such areas since the zoning ordinance was amended earlier this year. I believe this is the first time I've seen that happen, and I just have to say I'm glad to see it happening and I'd like to see it move forward. **[16:10] Commissioner:** Agreed. It's exciting to see some of our work in action, right? City staff and City Council worked on this, and I'm glad to see it. **[16:18] Chair:** All right. All in favor of the recommended staff action please say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? All right. Liaison reports—Community Services Advisory? **[16:28] Commissioner:** No report this month. **[16:30] Chair:** All right. City Council? **[16:32] Commissioner:** Yes, Chair, one moment here. The City Council's been busy. At the July 25th work session, City Council discussed upcoming road construction projects on Nicollet Avenue for inclusion in a 2024 bonding bill and discussed possible regulations regarding the use of cannabis in public places. Their general agreement was to treat it like tobacco. At the regular meeting on the same date of July 25th, the City Council voted to repeal the moratorium on retail sales of cannabis edibles in Richfield and then passed a moratorium disallowing cannabis businesses in Richfield until January 2025 unless the state board grants licenses before then. Same meeting, the City Council voted to cap tobacco licenses and eliminate flavored tobacco sales in Richfield. And as we heard tonight, there is discussion to approve state legislation for a local sales tax option as well. On August 2nd work session, they previewed the preliminary 2024 budget and provided long-term financial planning updates. And finally, on August 8th, another work session, the City Council discussed proposals to develop the Velodrome that we've heard about near 77th and 494. That's all I've got for right now. Thank you. **[17:50] Chair:** Thank you. All right, HRA? **[17:52] Sam Crosby (City Planner):** That was staff, right? **[17:54] Chair:** Right. So, School Board? **[17:56] Commissioner:** On the 7th, in addition to their routine business, they went into closed session to do labor negotiations for bargaining units for their unionized employees. But at the most recent meeting on the 21st, they discussed the—they officially called the general election for the open director seats on the board, and then to renew the operating levy—well, to increase the operating levy—and then also to approve a Capital Improvement Levy, and that will come before the voters at the election in November as well. **[18:35] Chair:** Transportation? **[18:37] Commissioner:** I have nothing to report on there. **[18:39] Chair:** Chamber of Commerce? **[18:41] Commissioner:** Nothing too big to report. We chatted about the Taste of Richfield from a couple months back—the numbers came in and they got really close to the goal, within $25, so they're excited about that. Mostly just kind of chatted about some of the updates from City Council and Commission and other departments. **[19:00] Chair:** Right. And Matt is Sustainability? Okay. The City Planner report—Mr. Crosby. **[19:08] Sam Crosby (City Planner):** Thank you, Chair and Commissioners. The City Council at their August 8th meeting approved the Tierra Encantada conditional use permit amendment to increase the capacity of the daycare at Hope Church on Portland Avenue. They also approved a moratorium on the operation of cannabis businesses within the city to allow staff time to study the issue of how they should be regulated. I mention this because it is anticipated that some of the regulation may occur within the zoning code, which would require the Commission's consideration of a text amendment. A new state agency currently being established will create a model ordinance for cities to consider, and we expect to be diving into the issue later this year or very early next year once that model ordinance is available. Thanks. **[20:00] Chair:** All right. The next meeting would be on September 25th. I would entertain a motion to adjourn. **[20:06] Commissioner Huie:** I motion we adjourn. **[20:08] Commissioner Canal:** Seconds, Commissioner Canal seconds. **[20:10] Chair:** All those in favor of adjourning please say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? We stand adjourned.