This townhall transcript has been updated with speaker names based on the context of the Apple Valley City Council meeting. [0:01] [Music] [0:55] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All right, good evening. We'll call this meeting to order for the June 12th, 2025 Apple Valley City Council meeting. Welcome everyone. Uh as we get into the agenda for any audience members who would like to speak or have signed up to speak, when your name is called, please come forward to the podium to address the council. And with that, the first item on our agenda is the pledge of allegiance. And I would ask everyone to rise and join us in the pledge. [1:26] **All:** 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. [1:42] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you. The second item on our agenda is to approve the agenda and Charles I know we had a couple changes or Christina whoever wants to walk us through those. [1:51] **City Clerk Christina Scipioni:** Yes, mayor. Thank you. Um we have three changes to the agenda this evening. Um, at the request of the applicant, item 4R, Orchard Place, fifth edition, um, is going to be is we're requesting that be removed from the agenda. Um, additionally, item 4K, authorized helicopter landing and liftoff in Johnny Cake Ridge Park East on July 3rd, 2025, um, was added to the agenda and that was in your Wednesday packets. And then finally, the council calendar was updated and that was in your Wednesday packet as well. [2:23] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Perfect. Thank you. So, just to recap those changes, we are removing 4R. We have added 4K and then uh we have updated calendar. So, do I have a motion to approve the agenda with those changes? [2:33] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** So, moved. [2:34] **Councilmember John Bergman:** Second. [2:35] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from council member Grendahl and a second from council member Bergman. All those in favor indicate by saying I. [2:38] **Councilmembers:** I. [2:39] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Opposed. All right. Agenda carries. The next item is our audience participation portion of the meeting. This is for items not on the agenda. I did not grab the signup sheet. Uh we have anybody sign up? [3:00] **City Clerk Christina Scipioni:** Mayor, I did not see anyone on the sign up. [3:02] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you. If uh anyone would like to come speak for this portion of the meeting, please come forward. All right. Seeing none, we will close the audience participation section and we'll move on to our consent agenda. These items are considered routine and will be enacted with a single motion unless a council member or a citizen request to pull an item. Council members, any items you would like to pull to discuss separately? All right. Uh, citizens, any items to pull? All right. Seeing none, do we have a motion for the consent agenda? [3:31] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** So moved. [3:32] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Second. [3:33] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from council member Melander, a second from council member Grendahl. All those in favor indicate by saying I. [3:36] **Councilmembers:** I. [3:37] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Opposed. Consent items all pass. We'll move on to our regular agenda. Starting with 5A. And I would ask our chief Francis to come forward and present some awards. [3:48] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** It's a big stack of hardware. Yes. Uh good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. I'm happy to stand in front of you and present some uh awards to some community members tonight. Want to give you just a little bit of history on our process in the past is we have a pretty robust department award system for um awards and activities that our employees do. Part of that includes um recognizing members of the public when they do noteworthy things like you'll hear about tonight. as we've had it in the past, we have done them um combined as part of our department meeting. So, we take applications throughout the year and then our awards committee looks at them and then uh determines which awards get issued and then we honor those folks or we have honored those folks in the past during our department meeting along with when our officers receive their awards. and um some of our employees and some of the uh folks on the award committee said it may be more fitting to award these folks at a public setting in front of the council uh where they could come they could bring family members um if there's other folks at home that aren't able to make it they can watch the live stream it can be replayed so that's why I stand before you today and uh we intend to do that as we continue in the future is bring these folks when we have a couple few of them together uh bring them forward and let you and the rest of the public hear about the amazing things that they're they have done to help our community. So, I have a number of them tonight. Um, and some of them, one the the farthest one dates back actually to 2024. Uh, because our process has we have a deadline when uh it goes by calendar year and then there's a deadline when they get submitted. And we usually we do those uh awards, we we issue those in the spring every year. Um, so we're we're catching up and then as we get to the future here, we'll we'll have them kind of more real time um as they get um as they get awarded. So what I will do is I will ask uh as I award these I'll ask uh the individual to come up here and join me. Um I will read this uh give them their award and make them welcome to stand up here because I'd like to get all the awardees in front of you. Uh and just a note to any family members that are here as we're reading these as they're standing up here if anyone wants to come around and and take a picture. Uh but we'll try to get a a group picture at the end as well with everybody. Um so and I believe all four should be here. Um and I would start with Logan Widren. Is Logan here? Must not be. That might be one that's that's missing. But I'm going to read Logan's um and we will get that one to him. I know our awards committee contacted each of them and and um invited them, but Logan sounds like is not able to make it tonight. Uh so this one is the oldest. This dates back to January 4th, 2024. Apple Valley officers were dispatched to LA Fitness for a patient who had collapsed to the ground, was unconscious, and not breathing. Officers arrived and observed LA Fitness employee Logan Widren performing life-saving efforts. Logan had located an AED on site and properly attached the AED, the defibrillator, to the patient. Logan was performing chest compressions until he was relieved by officers and paramedics. Because of these life-saving efforts, the patient regained a pulse and was breathing on his own prior to being transported to the hospital. The Apple Valley Police Department would like to show our appreciation by presenting Logan Widren with a certificate of appreciation. So, that one will go to Logan. [7:15] [Applause] [7:18] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** Uh, the next one up is Jeffrey Finkelstein. Did I pronounce that right or is it Stein? [7:28] **Bert Finkelstein:** Actually go by my middle name which is Bert Finkelstein. Thank you. [7:30] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** Um so this one is for Bert Finkelstein. Um on May 11th, 2024, Apple Valley officers were dispatched to an accident with injuries involving a motorcycle. Officers arrived and observed Finkelstein uh providing life-saving measures and stabilization to a critically injured patient who was riding the motorcycle. Mr. Finkelstein used his experience as a retired physician to maintain a calm scene until first responders could take over. The patient uh he was providing aid to was not expected to survive, but after an extensive hospital stay, the patient continues to make strides in their recovery. Uh the Apple Valley Police Department would like to show our appreciation by presenting Jeffrey with a certificate of recognition. [8:16] [Applause] [8:21] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** Next up, I'll welcome Steven Hillbeck. And you may not recognize Stephen because he's not wearing one of his famous hats that you usually see him around town in, but thank you. Great, great to have you come on up here. Um, Stephen has a great story that he always shares with us about how his connection with law enforcement and uh, a relative who helped him out in a time of need and uh it's really great to be able to honor you and recognize you for your your actions. Um on June 30th, 2024, Steven Hillbeck was driving home when he recognized smoke coming from the roof line of a residence in his neighborhood. He pounded on the door, alerted the homeowners, and assisted them with evacuating the residents. The two homeowners and their pets were safely evacuated and were not aware of the fire prior to Steven pounding on their door and notifying them. The fire was active inside the walls of the pillar next to the front door of the residence next to where Steven was pounding on the door. Steven's quick and decisive actions undoubtedly saved the home from more significant damage as well as potentially preserving the lives of the occupants of the home. The Apple Valley Police Department would like to show our appreciation by presenting Steven with a certificate of recognition. [9:33] [Applause] [9:38] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** Um, and next, um, I invite Dr. Gary Allen up here. So, um, Dr. Allen has received the chief's award of merit. Um, this one is one of our, um, internal awards that goes most primarily to police officers in the department, but it also can go to members of the public who assist the department. Uh and I'll read off what is listed on Dr. Allen's uh, award of merit. The mission of the Apple Valley Police Department is to protect our community and improve quality of life through service, education, and enforcement. As an organization with a culture of continuous improvement, our department sought to provide crisis intervention training or CIT training to all our sworn staff in 2024. training 50 plus employees on any topic is challenging uh and costly in the 24/7 environment that we work in. So the best method to accomplish this training is to develop our own in-house CIT program. Lieutenant Shay Zahar, who's also in the back and received a similar award. Um and Dr. Gary Allen created a customized training specific for the Apple Valley Police Department. The training was approved by the Minnesota Post Board to cover all required objectives for our staff to obtain the required CIT licensure credits. The training included both classroom and hands-on scenario-based training opportunities. Lieutenant Zahar and Dr. Allen partnered with social service employees, community impact unit staff, and paid actors to create realistic scenarios for our staff to immediately put to work the skills they learned in the classroom. As a result of the hard work to develop, schedule, and deliver the class, Lieutenant Zahar and Dr. Allen enhanced public safety, destigmatized mental illness, increased awareness of community resources, and strengthened community partnerships to prevent mental health crisis. Much work went into developing and hosting this in-house training program. For their hard work, Lieutenant Zahar and Dr. Gary Allen are awarded the Chief's Award of Merit for Education. [11:46] [Applause] [12:19] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thanks, Chief. Thanks. All right, we'll move on and thank you all. We'll move on to 5B, which is to accept the Apple Valley Freedom Days Celebration and Community Festival schedule of events. And uh Eric and Pat, were you guys—Pat, you want to come on up? Eric, did you want to come up as well? Sure. Come on up. It's a party. I don't know how we couldn't have you up here honestly. [13:10] **Parks and Rec Director Eric Carlson:** Mr. Mayor, members of the council and the community, Fourth of July is right around the corner and so Pat's here to give everyone an update on what's being planned for this year's festivities. So, I'm going to turn it over to Pat. [13:28] **Pat Day (Freedom Days Chair):** Okay. Well, before I get into that, my sidekick is here, too, and I'm going to have him hand out these invitations to you guys. Um, come on up. So, um, good evening, Mr. Mayor, thank you much. City Council, city administrators, um, our Fourth of July celebration is 59 years old this year. And trust me, I never thought I'd still be here in front of you doing this. So, I was just telling Ruth that I feel like I'm 25, but my body is telling me differently. So anyway, so get on Pat is gonna um talk to you about uh the car show. So do you want to give us some information? [14:31] **Assistant Pat:** Yep. Uh car show is ready to go. It's going to be the 27th, Friday. Uh that kicks off Apple Valley Freedom Days. Um we're set to sign cars in at 4 in the afternoon and we're done at 9. So yeah. [14:48] **Pat Day:** And we'd like to thank the Apple Valley American Legion for um allowing us to um to have the car show on their grounds and and to support us with with that. So, uh we appreciate them. Um they do so much for the community and we really do appreciate them. Um, the other thing that I'd uh like to mention is that uh they're also um going to have um a chicken half chicken meal. Uh and new this year is a third rack of fire roasted ribs and then um the regular picnic food drinks. Um, so they're going to do that on the 4th. Um, and everything will be ready, they say, about 11 o'clock. Is that what—okay. So, yes, we're um we're excited. We we love their support and we're thankful that they let us use those use the grounds. Um, do you want to tell them about the senior center? [15:53] **Assistant Pat:** The what? The root beer floats. Oh, yeah. We got the Apple Valley Senior Center is going to do root beer floats again this year. I think we got some slides. We'll have her go and advance them so we can get the list up. Go one more and I think you'll have the list of events. There we go. Yep. Yep. So, yep. Yeah. They're going to do that Saturday the 28th. And uh we're working on a K9 demonstration, uh face painting for the kids, and I believe the Lions Club has got a couple of games they're going to be doing um for people at the—that come to the root beer float. [16:25] **Pat Day:** Yep. And then yeah and and so we're um again we're excited that the seniors are involved in the program. Um also uh casting with the cops, great program, the police department here have they've done a great job. Um and I believe it's Pam that's the organizer of this and she's just done an awesome job. Uh, okay. So, and then, uh, July 3rd is family fun night. That's out at Johnny Cake Park. And it'll be a little bit different this year. Um, our carnival people had to back out. Um, they gave us a late notice, but, uh, they can't come this year. They had some—they've had some troublesome, I would say, financial issues. And so we hope that they'll return next year. But we've worked hard and we've uh got some new items coming. We've got a knocker boxers. Um it's an inflatable, but it's a soccer field and we're going to be on soccer field a over at the complex over there. And um also we're going to have a magician, normal magician. And then our normal petting zoo and pony rides and food trucks. And we're adding—we're tipping our toes into chalk art this year. So we don't have a big display. We have one artist and we'll see what happens. But I we know it's popular and—chalk some stuff. John, no? [18:14] **Councilmember John Bergman:** But I certainly like it. [18:16] **Pat Day:** Well, we have a certain portion for John to get involved in. So give me a little... Anyway, um yes. And then the Fourth of July fun run. Parks runs the fun run and uh this year because the city has some construction going on um it's going to be over in the Johnny—in the Johnny Cake Park area. So it'll be so flatter. Is that what I'm hearing? Flatter there. Yeah. [18:38] **Pat Day:** So anyway, is there anything you want to add to that? You're doing a great job. Okay. So, that's um new and uh I know that Bill Bird and the staff have been working to iron that all out. And then the parade, God help us. Uh how many years do we go? Right. No rain. No rain. So, you know, every—this is my baby. And so for every year that I've been doing this, we've had sprinkles, we've had a little shower, you know, we've had to go back out and mark streets. But on July 3rd, I didn't get any sleep because all I kept seeing was this green screen of rain and and uh so when I woke up at 5:30, it hadn't changed. So, I called an emergency committee meeting and we sat and talked and talked, but anyway, we had to cancel it and it was probably for the best cuz I know it poured rain down here. At 1:10, we had lightning and rain, so you made the right call. Yeah. So, anyway, the parade starts at 1. Um, it'll go from 153rd in Pennock. It'll go north down Pennock and take a left turn on 145th Street and end up at the Apple Valley High School. We have we've limited it to 100 units um like we always have and I think right now we're pretty pretty close. People are all of a sudden waking up and oh, supposed to have my application in. Well, we're taking them because they have been with us for a long time. Um, so, um, and then the fireworks at night. So, the pre-fireworks party is also at Johnny Cake. Our food trucks will open at 3:00 in the afternoon and they will close at 9. And this is a biggie. We have a new start time for the fireworks. The fireworks will start at 9:30. So, keep that in mind. And the rain will be July 5th at 9:30, but we're not going to need that. We're just we're going to have good weather. Um I also want to remind that um there'll be no parking signs posted, right? Okay. There'll be no parking signs posted. And I don't know, I forget how the ordinance—9:00 the day before, I believe. Okay. Yeah. Because I know it's changed. So anyway, everyone with their blankets and chairs and bricks and—take your bricks when you're done. Take your bricks home. So, I think um I've covered everything. Um I just want to—and I want to thank you, the council, and the city and all the staff members and departments and and the some of the—all the sponsors that support us. And I'd like to make mention you have a new business in town here. It's called Urban Air. And let me tell you, they are the nicest people. And they contacted me and they went full bore with the support for this event. And God bless them. I mean, they um they're a great addition and they've they've done—I was—they took me by surprise. So, I'm happy about that. So, um, and I want to mention Dick's—I can't go without Dick's service. Um, I don't know what we do without them either. They're awesome. And we are going to honor—our grand marshal this year will be Grandpa Dick, the originator of Dick's service center. And I'm going to date myself, but I I can remember when he had that little gas station over on Garden View in 42 and um I worked at the—worked at the arena and I would walk in there and I'd see half the hockey team cuz he had half the hockey team working there. So anyway, we're going to honor Grandpa Dick and we're so happy he's he's going to be here with us and and feeling well. [22:58] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Former Apple Valley Fire Chief as well, right? [23:01] **Pat Day:** So Yep. Yeah, he was an Apple Valley Fire Chief. Yes. Yep. You're right. [23:09] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** So, thank you, Pat. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. And thanks for all your—thank you for your support. Too many years to count, right, of doing this, but we appreciate it. We appreciate that. Yep. Thanks. So, we have an action ahead of us, which is to accept the Apple Valley Freedom Days celebration and community festival schedule of events and authorize the placement of signage. [23:28] **Councilmember John Bergman:** So moved. [23:29] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Second. [23:30] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We'll try to sort that out. We have a motion from council member Bergman and a second from council member Grendahl, I think. And we can—you can argue with me if you think it's different. So we have motion and a second. All in favor indicate by saying I. [23:44] **Councilmembers:** I. [23:45] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** And opposed. Thank you. Thanks Pat. [24:14] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** This package is too full. It's taking me too long to get back to the right thing on the agenda here. All right, we are on to 5C, which is Spice Village LLC. Um, this is a public hearing and a resolution approving an on-sale wine and malt liquor license. And Christina, go ahead. [24:32] **City Clerk Christina Scipioni:** Yes, mayor and city council. Excuse me. Um we are here before you tonight for consideration of an on-sale wine and 3.2 malt liquor license um for Spice Village LLC. Spice Village is a new restaurant that will be going into um the old TCF space um at 7520 149th Street West. Um we have properly noticed this public hearing and um the police and fire departments have completed the necessary background investigations and site investigations and found no reason to deny the license. So we would ask that you hold the public hearing this evening. Um and then um uh if if you have any questions about the uh license or the restaurant, we have um owner and applicant Dilly Kotendi here to um to speak to you as well. [25:20] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Wonderful. So, let's take the um let's take the public hearing first. We'll go ahead and open the public hearing for this item. Anyone who wishes to speak to the public hearing for item 5C? Anyone who would like to speak to the public hearing? One last opportunity. We will close the public hearing and we will look for a motion to adopt the resolution approving the issuance of the on-sale wine and 3.2% malt liquor license. [25:46] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** So moved. [25:47] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** Second. [25:48] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from council member Grendahl, a second from council member Melander. All those in favor indicate by saying I. [25:52] **Councilmembers:** I. [25:53] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Opposed. That's passed. Would you like to come up and tell us a little bit about the the business and uh what you got going on? Now that we got the business out of the way. [26:05] **Dilly Kotendi:** Uh good evening council members. Um my name is Dilly Kotendi. So I'm a software developer and we are like bunch of friends. we came together and we got idea to start a Indian restaurant and grocery store um in Apple Valley area. So there is one restaurant—Indian restaurant—and we want to serve the community with authentic taste. So we came up with this idea and this uh Indian restaurant it's like Asian Indian restaurant it serves like uh Asian Indian food and it has like something like vegan options like gluten-free options and also we cater to large caterings and also we do uh community functions as well and also we uh carry a variety of menu starting from like paneer tikka like biryanis and naans. Um so we cater like Indian um population and as well as like American population with mild like Indian is like very spicy. So we want to cater like different people with different options and we also have the grocery section which has like Asian Indian groceries and also we have a butcher shop and we we also have a tortilla maker where we prepare fresh tortillas. Um so these all the things we have in our grocery store and we want to serve the community and um make the business successful. So we are like five partners coming together and start the business and it's a family-owned business and women are the uh owners and we we are supporting them. So my wife and my friend's wife they they started this business and we are supporting them. So today we are here to request for the liquor license. Um and uh yeah, so we would like to uh continue supporting and do good in our business. [28:10] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Perfect. Thank you. I said—I wanted to I just want to give you a chance to come and talk tell us about what you had going on. I think that's the—we got the the easy stuff was the liquor license, right? I just wanted you to know that. Um as you get ready to open, if you haven't already, I just encourage you to to reach out to the Chamber of Commerce locally and they will help coordinate a ribbon cutting, right? so that we can everybody can get there and get you a little publicity and get you covered in the newsletter and try to just pull a few people in who might not otherwise— [28:35] **Dilly Kotendi:** Yeah, sure. Yeah. Sure. And also we are in contact with city people. Alex, he helped us with all the um like permits and everything from the city. So we got a lot of support from city. So we'd like to—most probably we are looking like first week of July as the opening date. So for sure we'll come and stop by to invite all you guys. [28:54] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Yep. Oh, we wish you much much success and thanks for choosing Apple Valley. [28:55] **Dilly Kotendi:** Sure. Yeah. Thanks. [28:56] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** You're welcome. Thank you. All right, we'll move on to 5D, which is our general obligation bond series 2025A. And Ron, come on forward. [29:05] **Finance Director Ron Hedberg:** Evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Um, as uh the mayor mentioned, this evening is the action is to set a date for the 2025 bond issue. Um what it uh is comprised of this coming year is uh actually before I start I just want to mention that we have Tammy Uhall with Northland Securities here. If we have any uh complicated questions that uh can answer can help us with that. Um included in this one is approximately $3 million that would be part of the facilities capital improvement plan financing. This would be uh used for kind of the the uh uh finishing of the police station, police operations and garage facility as well as the planning for the next phase which would be the central maintenance facility. Um the planning for that is starting now. In addition to uh to that, 29.45 million for park bonds that was again authorized in the referendum uh back in 2023. The issuance calendar this evening of course is the action would be to set the date of the sale and then June 30th the week of the 30th of June or the week of July 7th would be the rating calls with Moody's and Standard & Poor's. The 16th would be when we would anticipate getting the rating reports with for action on July 24th, which would be city council action awarding the sale on that date. And then the proceeds would be available approximately a month later in August of 2025. Um I mentioned the park referendum bonds. This includes the investments in Kelly Park, the redevelopment of Redwood Park, replacement of the community pool, uh, Splash Valley improvements that we saw this afternoon, community center improvements, senior center improvements, Hayes youth baseball and softball complex, the parks and trails throughout the community and the Hayes Arena was included in the referendum, but that project is um completed and fully paid for by now. Um so these funds would be uh as part of the bond issue would be used for all of these projects as the uh the expenditures are made. Uh the again the referendum authorized 73.25 million which included 6.5 million just for the redwood pool alternate and in 2024 we did issue 16.3 million of that 73 million. This issue will be 29.45 million of that 73 million and the remainder would be issued over the next two possibly three years as the projects progress. The facilities capital improvement bonds, the total authority—we had two uh facilities capital improvement plans. There was a one issue back in 2023 uh of the 2021 through 2025 facilities capital improvement—we issued just under 14 million under that authority. We then came back in 2023 with a 2023 to 2028 uh CIP capital facilities capital improvement plan authority for an additional 41 million. So a total bonding authority of 54.9 million uh under the facilities capital improvement plan and those are restricted on what the the amounts can be used for. So of the most recent facilities capital improvement plan 41 million, approximately 9.9 million was identified to come out of the uh go towards the police operations garage facility. We had some improvements at Johnny Cake East, central maintenance facility is the biggest piece of the remaining authority. Uh the fire stations and then bond issuance costs making up the 41 million. The 2025 proceeds would be used to finish the remaining portion of the police operations garage facility and then begin the redesign and portions of the central maintenance facility which had come out of uh the next phase in the project. Uh again we issued uh uh 10.1 million issued in 2024 under the 2023 to 27 CIP authority and then at this issue we'll issue just over 3 million which will leave 27.7 million of authority to be issued in 2026 or 2027 depending on how uh how the expenditures are occurring, projects are progressing. We do want to point out that the authority will expire approximately November of 2027. So any bonding under that CIP authority would have to occur by that and then this is all in addition to that previously issued 14 million. Um again I mentioned the uh remaining debt issuances. So we got for the park bonds in 2026 we're looking at 27.5 million that would uh account for the full authority authorized and then the capital improvement bonds 3 million this year, 14 approximately next year and just under 14 for the 2027 which would use all of the authority under those issues as well. And again those will be all based on the expected projects and the progression of the projects. Again the issuance calendar this evening—action is to set the sale date, do the rating calls, uh get the rating reports and then come back city council acting the sale on July 24th. So the action this evening is seeking a resolution providing for the competitive negotiated sale of 32.445 million general obligation bonds series 2025A and then a second uh motion approving municipal advisory service agreement with Northland Securities. So with that uh I'm available for any questions and Tammy Doll is also here if we have any questions. [35:25] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you Ron. Are there questions for Ron? If there are not, we would look for a motion to adopt the resolution providing for the competitive negotiated sale of the $32,445,000 of general obligation bonds. [35:44] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** So moved. [35:45] **Councilmember John Bergman:** Second. [35:46] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from council member Melander, a second from council member Bergman. All those in favor indicate by saying I. [35:53] **Councilmembers:** I. [35:54] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Opposed. Uh second item D2 is to approve the municipal advisory service agreement with Northland Securities. [36:02] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** So moved. [36:03] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from council member Melander. Do we have a second? [36:06] **Councilmember Lisa Hiebert:** Second. [36:07] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All those in favor indicate by saying I. [36:08] **Councilmembers:** I. [36:09] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Opposed. Thank you. Sydney, you ready for the next one? We have—we're at 5E, which is the cannabis micro business text amendments. And uh we know this has been through planning commission already and many of us have probably watched that hearing. So Sydney, you want to bring us up to speed? [36:31] **Sydney (City Planner):** Thank you, mayor and council members. Tonight I will be presenting to you the uh request for text amendments related to cannabis micro businesses. Specifically are asked to consider the following. One, an ordinance to amend plan development number 409 to allow for cannabis micro businesses. and two, an ordinance amendment to section 155.320, which are generally speaking our zoning regulations related to cannabis businesses um to allow cannabis micro businesses within planned developments. The site that the applicant would like to operate a cannabis micro business is located at 6950 146th Street West um at the intersection of Galaxy and 146th Street, highlighted in yellow here. This site is within PD 409 which is shown in the hatched yellow area. So the PD is split. Um there's a portion to the south and then a portion here to the north. So any amendments to this PD would be um would apply to all the parcels that are highlighted here in yellow. Uh again, this just shows uh the subject parcel that the applicant would like to operate a cannabis micro business um within the PD 409. The applicant came forward to request uh like I mentioned to allow the cannabis micro business within this PD. Um so in response to that request, staff drafted um a draft ordinance to prepare for the planning commission to review. That draft ordinance uh is as shown on the slide. So essentially cannabis micro business businesses would be allowed as a conditional use within the PD as regulated in section 155.320 as well as the following conditions. All cannabis micro business activities would need to take place indoors. No retail sales of cannabis or cannabis products uh would be permitted except in conjunction with a micro business in operation on the site and with a retail operations endorsement through the state. An odor mitigation plan would need to be submitted. Off-street loading areas uh in conjunction with the micro business would be subject to our standard off-street loading requirements. Um and then lastly, on-site retail operations in conjunction with micro businesses are subject to the standards within the PD um related to retail and office uses. So within the PD, it does limit um retail and office uses to a certain floor area maximum. So staff would review that uh with a conditional use permit. Additionally, section 155.320 would also need to be amended because currently cannabis micro businesses are only allowed within the industrial zoning district. So BP I1 and I2. Um so the chart would need to be amended to um show two asterisks. Um and with that the uh requirement that cannabis micro businesses would be allowed within a PD district or zones within that PD once specifically allowed as a permitted or conditional use under the zoning regulations of a specific plan development district and then again subject to the provisions within our standard cannabis zoning regulations. So what this would mean is that um a specific PD would need to be requested to allow a cannabis micro business whether permitted or conditional. So that would allow the planning commission and city council to individually review a PD if it were to be requested for and that would ensure that the PD um the intent of the PD aligns with the operations of a cannabis micro business. So this wouldn't be allowing it in every PD staff uh suggested that the planning commission uh consider the following as listed on this slide in the review. And a brief overview of those considerations are the purpose of the PD is to provide for a mix of limited industrial general business retail business and limited business uses. So, does a cannabis micro business align with the intended purpose of PD 409? The PD currently allows the following uses that are similar to the operations of a micro business, which are light fabrication, manufacturing and assembly, um research or testing, and then retail sales and services as subject to the floor area maximum within that PD. And then lastly, do the drafted conditions mitigate any potential adverse impacts of the use within that PD? Um, the public hearing for the item was held on April 2nd. There were no comments from the public, but the planning commission did have a couple of questions. So, those questions are answered in these slides. I'm not going to go over them unless specifically asked, and I'd be happy to go over any question, but generally, uh, there was a question about the history of the PD, uh, the existing uses and tenants within the multi-tenant building located at 6950 146th Street West. And then lastly, um there was a question if the applicant had considered other locations where micro businesses are currently allowed in Apple Valley in those industrial districts. Those were all answered on May 7th. I did just want to show the cannabis buffer map. Um so this is a zoomed-in snapshot of the parcels that are guided for industrial. So that would be the zoning districts of BP, I1, I2, and then any PDs uh any parcels within PDs that are guided for industrial. So the subject site that the applicant would like to operate at is highlighted here in red. Um there are about 14 parcels uh that are not within a buffer that are adequately zoned for a cannabis micro business. Um the X's on the buffer map show the locations that the applicant has indicated um they researched and there you know—they were available for lease or for sale um but they did not work because they are within buffer zones as you can see on the map. The planning commission reviewed this item on May 7th and I do just want to note there was a public comment taken at the May 7th meeting. The minutes from that public comment were included in the staff report. Um the planning commission recommended a denial of the requested amendments and a summary of their findings and rationale um is as follows. So the existing zoning districts that allow cannabis micro businesses are industrial and there are adequate opportunities to find a location that is already properly zoned. The industrial zoning districts are best suited for the operations of a cannabis micro business. PD 409 is adjacent to existing residential properties and the amendment would allow for cannabis micro businesses to operate in close proximity to those properties. Allowing a micro business in PD 409 could cause disturbances in the area and nearby neighborhoods. So with that, staff is providing the following um motions that could be made tonight. So, if the city council concurs with the planning commission's recommendation of denial, then the action would be essentially to direct staff to prepare a resolution to deny um the request to amend the PD as well as the request to amend section 155.320. If the city council does choose to affirm that recommendation of denial, uh staff would recommend to list your reasonings and findings as to why you are um denying that requests. If the city council prefers to reverse or or not take that recommendation made by the planning commission and accept further review of the amendments or consider passing the requested ordinance amendments, then the action could be as follows. That would be to accept the first reading of both um the ordinance to PD 409 and the first reading to the ordinance amending section 155.320. And then lastly, um the timeline for this review would need to be made by the July 10th city council meeting. So whether that is to adopt a resolution of denial or to um approve the second reading of the ordinances, that would need to be made by July 10th. With that, I can stand for any questions and we also have the applicant here tonight as well. [44:38] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Yeah, let's let's let's take council questions first. Uh happy to hear from the applicant as well and then maybe we can get into the action items after that. Councilmember Bergman, would you like to start us off? [44:48] **Councilmember John Bergman:** Sydney, um welcome. Uh first comment I'll make or ask for is—or I'll say I'll say this first. Um this is the first time that we've had to have a topic of conversation with the cannabis. Um it's our first run at—uh in my opinion it's the most significant because we have to get it right the first time. Um, I did speak with staff yesterday for about 25 minutes after I read the what was going on. Sydney, the first question, I guess the first question I have for you is um, can you—is there a map showing where the 14 areas are? So, we have some idea looking at it where AI or the applicant can put stuff in our in our community. and then I'll make a comment in regards to what I said to staff um on the current property that's being looked at. [45:55] **Sydney:** Mayor Hooppaw, Councilmember Bergman, uh I don't have a specific map of those 14 parcels um just because uh I didn't review if parcels were available for lease, for sale, whatever it is. I did review parcels that are not touching a buffer that are guided for industrial. So that would be—it's washed out on the screen for everyone else. Hopefully you guys can see it a bit better, but that would be the gray parcels. So, um parcels in this area, the parcels right here, which again, this is a PD. Um these parcels—oh, this looks like it's touching. Um so, this parcel here, this parcel over here, and then um a parcel here. So, as you can see, a a fair amount of the industrial parcels that are guided, like I said, for industrial um do are impacted by buffers. Um, so the way that our uh policy is for when a buffer um impacts the parcel would be if it even if it just touches the parcel line. So you can see this top corner of this parcel, it does have a buffer. Uh but the rest of the parcel, you know, is further away. Um that said, um I do want to state that I'm not aware of if all of these parcels are for lease, for sale, or suitable for development. [47:11] **Councilmember John Bergman:** Yeah. So if I may continue... go ahead with your question. So, I made the call to find out about this property um in the past and I came from planning and right away I asked the staff member. I says, "Well, this is industrial." Yes, it is, John. And I go, "Okay, what's what's it about?" And I looked at some notes that we have here, and I think Sydney, you talked about it. This code was adopted in 1988 and I don't know when this building was built. Um I had done business or gone to businesses in this area and I questioned you know why this couldn't be. So, it's not allowed. And one of the factors that where I find interesting because you got to consider everybody else in this building besides—if it's me wanting to put a business in here is I got to be cognizant of my neighbors and growing um this product in there and the smell and everything and the type of um systems for HVAC and heating and all that. Um, that's not my responsibility, but it is my responsibility or our responsibility when it comes to if I decide to do this in this building and all of a sudden there's all the smell and everything else, then the city, we're all going to get a wrap on it and we got to make sure it stays within um that premise. My understanding is the uh petitioner wants a limited space and all the other ones that are out there are more than what that practitioner wants. And I understand it. My comments and my thoughts after all of this is this type of business growing—the growing the plant—basically has to be a standalone and it shouldn't be—not should not be attached to other buildings or businesses that may down the road come in with the uh the smell of whatever is being done there. So, um, as of right now, I'm listening to—I'll I'll listen to all the comments, but right now I'm just cognizant of the fact that this is our first one and I want to make sure that we have it right. So, we'll go from there. Thanks. [49:40] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Other questions for Sydney? Could you bring back up the map of PD 409? I just want to—I know we're talking about there's a weird division in 409 there. That's the one I'm looking for. So, um, we're on the southern—the northern part of the southern section of that map, if that makes sense to anybody there. Right. But then we also have this other section of 409 that's north of there. And is that directly adjacent to residential on the other side? [50:18] **Sydney:** Mayor Hooppaw, that's correct. There's residential just north and east of those parcels. [50:23] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** And if we change the—if we change the ordinance does that mean then that the rest of 409 adjacent to residential also would be capable of having a similar micro business there? [50:35] **Sydney:** Mayor Hooppaw, that is correct. Um just one item of note that there is a 1,000-foot buffer between cannabis micro businesses themselves. uh you know approving this ordinance wouldn't mean that this candidate would uh you know automatically be coming forward to the site. They still have other state processes to go through. Um but if this candidate were to be able to operate in the site there would be a thousand-foot buffer around that um again that's between the businesses. [50:58] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Correct. But we—but we—we changed the ordinance and so we still make that northern site possible if—if this applicant decides to not occupy the space anymore. We've now made that— [51:04] **Sydney:** Correct. [51:05] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** To me, that makes this a little more challenging if this was just contained to the southern site. Unfortunately, you have this weird kind of little bump out on 409 up here. So interesting. Other questions? Anyway, I know I know we have the applicant here and I do want to—he's been through the whole process. I do want to give him a chance to come up and uh and answer any questions or talk about his business, that kind of thing as well. Do you—you want to come forward? You're more than welcome to. If you don't mind just stating your name for the record and make it easy on uh our clerk, that would be appreciated. Thank you. [51:48] **Carol Moss:** My name is Carol Moss, M O S S, and I'm an attorney at Hellmuth & Johnson and I'm here uh with Jason to kind of describe and talk about this area. So, I practice cannabis law and this is pretty much all I do and so I really want to take the time to thank city staff in tackling this. This stuff is not easy and I think that they have done an excellent job and I wanted to talk a little bit um back up a little bit regarding micro businesses because I think that it could clear up some uncertainty. So when we talk about micro business um a person that is applying for a micro business can get endorsements: uh a manufacturing endorsement, a cultivation endorsement—to allow the small grow—and a retail endorsement. A store under a micro business with a retail endorsement is no different than a store with a retail license. And I just want to bring that up because the zoning does allow retail cannabis retail in this area already. And so there's no difference as to why his store under micro business should be treated any different than a retail store under a retail license. [53:09] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Can I pause you for just a second? Again, thank you for this because like John said, this is all new and we're all trying to just get our heads around all of this at the same time. And I think we're all in the same boat no matter how much we followed and watched, right? All the stuff um in the micro business. So, you're getting one of the three endorsements or all three? [53:26] **Carol Moss:** He is applying for all three. [53:28] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** As we change this ordinance though—and I'm jumping between who might have the right expertise, so jump in wherever, whoever—as we look to change this ordinance, sounds like you're talking about he would have a retail endorsement only and that would be the same thing, but could the applicant not go back and then get another endorsement later and open this up to a different use in there? Would—would that be possible, I guess, is my question. [53:52] **Carol Moss:** That's a very good question. Our preference would be that my client be able to do all three endorsements at the same location. Um he in the alternative he would like to have a store there, his retail store there, and maybe have the other two endorsements take place at a different location. They are not required under state law to be all combined in one location. [54:19] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** He has a retail—he can't get a retail license for this site without losing the ability to have the endorsements at other sites? Would that be the case if if this was truly only retail? And as you said, if this was already zoned retail, why would you get the micro business license and just the retail endorsement versus just going for the retail? [54:39] **Carol Moss:** Yeah. So, he did go for all three. Um, but what I'm saying is that the preference would be able to do all three endorsed activities in one location. Alternatively, if that wasn't doable, he would like to have his store there and he can do the other two activities on a different location. Um, and so that's why we're here. So his—a store just like the one that he wants to open is allowed to open there, is allowed to be within the next to the residential area. And when we talk about manufacturing, um, a lot of this is very complicated. I talk about this stuff all the time and it's still complicated for me. But when we talk about manufacturing, one end of the spectrum is making pre-rolls, which is grinding up raw flower and putting them into cigarette form. On the other end is extraction. Very similar to when you squeeze sugar cane to get the juice out and then you use it to make other products. So when we talk about manufacturing, I just want to make sure that we're clear that we're not having a wrong impression about what that would entail. And then in regards to the concerns about the smell, that is always a concern. Um this is a highly regulated industry by OCM. There are regulations regarding odor and that it has to be contained within the area. And one of the things in the conditional use uh permit uh requirements was an odor mitigation plan. I just completed a similar plan for a different client in a different city. So there are mechanisms, there are air filters, there are HVAC filters. It's very common and that the industry has to deal with odor. So, I wanted to make sure that the council knew that that is high priority for my client. Um, I just like to take a couple minutes to discuss the concerns from the city planner. As I mentioned, this area is already uh uh zoned in a manner that would be consistent with what a micro business would do: uh the light manufacturing, the squeezing and extraction, making the pre-rolls, the retail—it doesn't matter if it's a retail under endorsement or retail license, they're the same things. So what the city foresees in using this property or using this in the zone is very consistent with what um Mr. Suall would like to do um in that area. The other concern um that has been brought up and—and thank you Councilman uh Bergman for bringing up—is the viability of other locations and there are difficult hurdles for cannabis businesses that are unique to this industry. One is land—some landlords just don't want to lease to cannabis businesses and that's their prerogative. They just don't want to do it. Another thing is that we have to find buildings that don't have SBA loans on them or we have to have buildings that don't have a mortgage on it with a lender that would prohibit it. Um then we have to find a property that has the right power, the right water access. So to say that there are 14 empty spots isn't a reflection of reality. um for a cannabis business and it is very difficult. As someone who has thankfully had many clients in this space, I tell you real estate is is tight out there. It is hard. And so when Mr. Suall finds a location, a landlord that will work with him in a space that has what he needs, it is a very high commodity and worth a lot to him. And then I just would like to, you know, reiterate, we again talk about the residential areas. A retail store is already allowed to be in that spot. Um, it could be a retail store with a med business combo or a retail license. So, it would be no different if it was a store under a micro business license. And as you said, Mayor, this is all very complicated. I do this all the time. So, if there was any kind of question or clarification I could provide you, we would certainly like to do that. But we're here just to ask that you do amend uh 409 and 155.3 um so that Mr. Suall may have his business in the city where he lives, where he votes, where he resides, where where he shops and does business. Thank you. [59:36] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** I know we have a couple other questions that have popped up. Councilmember Bergman, you were up first and then Councilmember Grendahl. [59:46] **Councilmember John Bergman:** Thanks. I guess Sharon, I'll ask you this comment and they—they're more than be more than happy for them to also respond. This is—the applicant has stated it's a retail business. Explain to me retail business when they want to grow and manufacture the product. And then—that was one question. And the other one is um the applicant has talked about mitigation of the smell and how do we—if this was to go forward, how would one make sure that wherever the applicant picks a spot, and let's say it's this spot, that the mitigation is probably not our business but their business to make sure it doesn't go into the space next door or whatever. So, those are um—I find retail is retail and when you go to manufacture um a product, that's not so much retail anymore because that's just another avenue of their way of producing the product here to sell it somewhere else or in their business. So, I'm looking for some direction on that, please. [1:01:14] **City Attorney Sharon Hills:** Yes, Mr. Mayor and Council Member Bergman. To the statement that retail is allowed in this PD is not correct. A standalone retail is not allowed in this PD. It's allowed with limited square footage and it's when it's combined with limited business use. [1:01:34] **Councilmember John Bergman:** Repeat that again please on the last part—is a standalone? [1:01:40] **City Attorney Sharon Hills:** It's a—standalone retail is not allowed and it's it's actually under the permitted uses um A 16-2 and it says "retail sales and service that are permitted following—to the subject—let me start over. Subject to the following restrictions" and it is only when it is in connection with a limited business use and it also has limited um square footage that a the retail operation can be and that is consistent with standard industrial zones that we have or properties. It's very limited retail that's in conjunction with what is being manufactured, fabricated, produced at that site. Um a good example would be a Dallas. They are a manufacturer of candies and they have a very limited retail space to sell their to sell their products. So standalone is not permitted. Um mitigation—that is a state regulation that's part of licensing. City would not enforce that. That's something separate. [1:03:01] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Thank you Mr. Mayor. You said that um landlords find it difficult sometimes to um lease to this type of a business. How many people have turned you down? Where else did you look in the city that's properly zoned already? [1:03:16] **Jason (Applicant):** Uh within the city I have not been turned down within surrounding municipalities I have been turned down. [1:03:22] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** So you've never been turned down by a landlord in Apple Valley in in areas that are already properly zoned. [1:03:27] **Jason:** If I may, there's nothing available to speak to a landlord to even—yeah, there's nothing available. I I guess I'm not understanding how I could approach a land owner when the building isn't available for sale or for lease. Why would I approach them and ask them? [1:03:47] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** I know your attorney just said that it's sometimes difficult with landlords when you gave the obstacles and the first one was landlords. So I just asked who's turned you down. [1:03:57] **Jason:** Oh, sure. No, it it is very difficult for the reasons that she mentioned for, you know, for their own uh their own choice if they want to choose to be involved with the cannabis touching business or not. If they can be involved with the cannabis touching business or not, and if their lenders, insurance companies, and uh the small business loans are able to even—they're not able to even support cannabis touching business. So, no, there—there was no—there was no uh contact made aside from the uh existing building in PD 409 in the city of Apple Valley because there's no other sites available that would allow for cannabis to operate. [1:04:40] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** So there's only been one—one contact made. If you had one contact made, how do you know other ones that aren't available or wouldn't accept you? How do you know that? [1:04:51] **Jason:** Because I've done that throughout the southern metro area. In the city of Apple Valley, there—there's not a building for lease that's available. There was a map that was up there um at three locations along 146th Street that were and are available for lease. [1:05:14] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** She's going to try to get back to that for you real quick if it helps. However, those three buildings that are available that are identified there with the red X's, they are within a buffer zone, right? So, those are the ones that are available. [1:05:27] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** You don't even know those that you have landlords that are agreeable—they're zoned correctly. [1:05:32] **Jason:** Oh, they may want me there, but there's no reason for me to even contact them because it tells—this map here tells me no, I can't do that. So, I wouldn't—I have to abide by what the map says rather than contacting the building owner. [1:05:44] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Yes. Thank you. [1:05:46] **Carol Moss:** And if I may address Miss Hills' comment, um, you know, looking at the table for 155.32, it does allow retail and it would be Mr. Suall would use it in a limited use manner because he as a micro business, he will be able to manufacture and cultivate. Now, that might be at a different location and he would definitely be using that lo—that property—with the square footage requirements, but um it—it wouldn't be any different than anything else. [1:06:25] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** The um—I hear and understand everything you're saying about the challenges to the buildings. I've spent 30 years working in regulated financial institutions. I've helped two organizations now rewrite their cannabis policies trying to be more friendly and when—and you keep running at every wall possible, right? If you do SBA loans on the property, you still have this fuzzy, right? You're still a federally insured organization. If there's any debt on the property, the weird words they even choose to talk about like "cannabis touching," which just sounds like a really strange way to describe anything, but that's the language that is now finding its way in. So, I'm not unsympathetic to that, but those are unique challenges to properties as is power. That's not a zoning consideration. So, while I understand it's a challenge, that's a challenge for the property itself and the owner of the property. It's not—that's not a zone. We don't make zoning decisions and ordinance decisions based on unique challenges to the property. [1:07:22] **Carol Moss:** Absolutely, Mr. Mayor. Those are very valid points. But we—when we're asked about the different locations, you know, it's only natural that we would explain the context of those locations so that the city knows um the difficulty of of the situation. [1:07:42] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Right. Right. We have we have uh this mismatch between federal and state and other things that is creating difficulty in all industries. And yes, I will tell you I personally know folks who work in these businesses who have not been able to finance homes because that's their source of income. So if that tells you how bad the mismatch is, it's real and I don't doubt those at all. So um we have council members. Any other questions while we have the applicant up? [1:08:08] **Councilmember Lisa Hiebert:** Um I'm just kind of curious. Um again, this is a business where it has neighbors and it's in the building. Have you had conversations with them? Um, I know that uh the planning commission had uh a—a person who had talked to a lot of the businesses and and uh had said some didn't mind, some were for it, and some were very strongly against it, but but they weren't able to—they weren't willing to share their names and come forward and things like that. So, you know, I I'm just wondering if you've had conversations and um what are—what were their comments to you? [1:08:52] **Jason:** I—I have not personally reached out. Um, I was informed by the city that they sent letters to all the building owners and I—I'd kind of taken the step that the building owners would receive the feedback from the tenants there and if there were any tenants that kind of had any disagreements at that point I would step forward and introduce myself and kind of let them know what the business is all about and and hear what their concerns were but nobody came forward. [1:09:11] **Councilmember Lisa Hiebert:** Okay. And and you haven't just kind of reached out and said, "Hey, I'm thinking about this." Done that yet? [1:09:18] **Jason:** No. [1:09:19] **Councilmember Lisa Hiebert:** Okay. Thanks. Thank you. [1:09:27] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** There's no other questions. I think we—we'll bring staff back up and talk about the motions or the actions in front of us. Thank you very much. Thank you. I do have one—just Sharon, one other question. Typically, as we see land use change applications come through, we see the property owner come through with them. Is there a reason this came through from the perspective tenant? Is that typical normal? It doesn't matter for this action. I'm more just curious why we don't have the land owner involved in this one. [1:09:50] **City Attorney Sharon Hills:** The land owner did sign. [1:09:51] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Did they sign off? Okay, that's—that was my only question. So, thank you. Thank you. Sydney, you want to come back up? And so, we have we have—one sec, John, let me finish this thought because I'm going to lose it otherwise. We—we have really two directions we can go, right? We either—we have a planning commission recommendation of denial. We can affirm that, talk about the reasons, right? Make that recommendation. Um or we can choose to reverse that recommendation, do the first reading of the ordinance. We are on a clock um here and I think the—what's the date that we would need to take action by? [1:10:30] **Sydney:** Mayor Hooppaw, the city council meeting would be by July... the July 10th city council meeting. [1:10:35] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Okay. So, gotcha. Thank you. Go ahead, John. I cut you off. [1:10:41] **Councilmember John Bergman:** No, you didn't cut me off. I cut you off. But Sharon, you just said the land own person that owns that whole property signed—has signed off on this that parcel. [1:10:55] **City Attorney Sharon Hills:** Yes, that—that parcel has signed off and had no problem with what the applicant was doing in that building. [1:10:59] **Councilmember John Bergman:** Correct. [1:11:00] **City Attorney Sharon Hills:** I don't have information whether he had a problem, but he signed off on—signed off on it. [1:11:01] **Councilmember John Bergman:** He doesn't have a problem. [1:11:03] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** The reason I asked that question—I assume that was the case, but right, if we don't have the land... I assume everybody's done their homework, but just wanted to make sure. Yeah, that it makes it even diff—more difficult. I'm sorry. Go ahead. [1:11:15] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Mr. Mr. Mayor, I'm ready to make a motion um along with the planning commission's recommendation of denial for number one: to affirm the planning commission's recommendation of denial made at the May 7th, 2025 planning commission meeting and direct staff to prepare a resolution in denial for the request to amend article 16 plan development number 409 of the city code to allow cannabis micro business. [1:11:39] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** They're two different motions though. Those are—there's an "and"— [1:11:42] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Can I do both or just the first one? [1:11:45] **City Attorney Sharon Hills:** Mayor and council, those are two separate motions because there were two different requests. [1:11:51] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We'll take them separately just for clarity later if we need it. Um and and I believe we—we need to list some reasons for denial if we're going to do this and it might just be unless you have them. Do we have the slide with the planning commission recommendations for denial just so people have that information? [1:12:08] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** And I would just like to reiterate that we have the summary of them. Number one, existing zoning districts that allow cannabis micro businesses are industrial districts and there are adequate opportunities to find a location that's properly zoned. Um, number two, the industrial zoning districts are best suited for the operations of a cannabis micro business. Number three, PD 409 is adequate to existing residential—um adjacent to existing residential properties and the amendment would allow for a cannabis micro business to operate in close proximity to those residential properties and allowing cannabis micro business in PD 409 would cause disturbances in the area and nearby neighborhoods. [1:12:47] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Perfect. So, do we have your motion and the reasons? Do we have a second to that motion? [1:12:54] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** Second. [1:12:55] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All right, let's call that question. Any further discussion as long as the motion is second? [1:13:03] **Councilmember John Bergman:** Yeah, I I'll the discussion and I will have on this is first of all, I came from the planning commission. There's another member of this council that's sat on the planning commission and I always have felt that due diligence is done by the—that committee. Due diligence has always been done by staff and they've given us the best of the best information. As you heard from me earlier, I've also also stated that this is the first time this has come before us. Do I think all things have been worked out? Yes and no. Not necessarily about the property, but this is our first go at—at this. So, as of right now, I would second this or whatever, but I would go in support of going along with what the planning commission and what council member Grendahl has made a motion for for this particular item as of right now. [1:13:53] **Councilmember Lisa Hiebert:** Thank you, Mayor. Um, I I I struggle with this for a lot of reasons. Um, and the one thing that I would like to have a discussion about is um, number four: "allowing cannabis micro businesses in PD 409 could cause distur—disturbances in the area and nearby neighborhoods." I would uh like to strike that if we can. Um, I feel like that's kind of a "if then" kind of statement and it's a "could cause." I I think that that's quite honestly being very generalizing on something that may or may not happen. So that—that's—I am not comfortable with that language. [1:14:39] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Grendahl, are you okay removing the fourth bullet from your motion? That gets you to the same point? [1:14:48] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** I think there'll be issues with the neighborhoods. I really do. [1:14:59] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We can vote on it as is as well. Like I say, I think if this is approved, we'll be getting phone calls, a number of them. [1:15:10] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** But I—my—my only comment both on this comment and just in general is I could get behind this if we didn't have that small slice of 409 that was immediately abutting the—the residential. I think this feels very different if you had it kind of contained in that area. [1:15:26] **Councilmember Lisa Hiebert:** The only thing with that is that if this micro business went in in the location that they're saying, then another business couldn't be there and it would be—not be able to be next to the residential. [1:15:43] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** So, but we do leave it open for a future business. If this business relocates out of that space, we still made it permissible area and that's really—find it and somebody could go there. [1:16:03] **Councilmember John Bergman:** Right. Correct. Yeah. Right. It's in the buffer once there's one, but the buffer goes away when the other one goes away. [1:16:06] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** As—as is I think somebody said they're kind of a moving target. So, all right. So, I'm—I'm going to—unless we have an objection, I'm going to call the question on this one. We'll get to the other one. Just as a reminder, we have a motion from Council Member Grendahl and a second from Council Member Melander. We do have all four of those reasons still in the motion. Um, correct? Yeah. Well, it's your motion, so I don't want to... so, if you're—if you want to leave them, we'll leave them in there. That's fine. So we can take action on this. [1:16:25] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** I agree that that it affects another area up there that's closer to residential. So I think it they go hand in hand. I'm good with it. [1:16:35] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** I just want to—I just want to make sure that uh we're all clear on what the motion and the reasons are. Um so motion from council member Grendahl, second from council member Melander. All those in favor indicate by saying I. [1:17:01] **Councilmembers:** I. [1:17:02] **Councilmember Lisa Hiebert:** Nay. [1:17:03] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** And opposed—I—thank you. That one carries 4-1. Let's go to the second action item then, which is um to affirm the planning commission's recommendation. And council member Grendahl, did you want to take this one as well? [1:17:15] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Yes, I will move um affirm the planning commission's recommendation of denial made at the May 7th, 2025 planning commission meeting and direct staff to prepare a resolution of denial for the request to amend section 155.32c of the city code to allow cannabis micro business and plan developments. [1:17:35] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** And the same four reasons as before? [1:17:37] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Yes. [1:17:38] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** If we need the reasons for denial, can we pop those back on the screen just to make it easy for—just to—I just want clarity in these when we get all said and done. So those reasons are um as stated on the screen: the existing zoning districts that allow cannabis micro businesses um are industrial and there are adequate opportunities. The industrial zoning districts are best suited for the operation of a micro business. PD 409 is existing exist—adjacent—see, I can't speak either—to existing residential properties. And the amendment would allow for cannabis micro business to operate in close proximity to those. And the fourth of "allowing cannabis micro businesses in PD 409 could—could cause disturbances in the area and nearby neighborhoods." So those are the four reasons of denial included with your motion. Okay. Similar comment. [1:18:23] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** Second. [1:18:24] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Yeah, I—if we again like number three I think is addressing the adjacent uh residential properties and leaving that in. It's—it's number four that I—I'm struggling with. We didn't—practically we get to the same point but I understand your—the conversation. So we'll go ahead. We'll—we have a motion from council member Grendahl. I did not ask for a second. I should probably do that. Do we have a second from council member Melander? Um all those in favor indicate by saying I. [1:18:50] **Councilmembers:** I. [1:18:51] **Councilmember Lisa Hiebert:** Nay. [1:18:52] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** And opposed—Nay. All right. So, those both carry on a 4-1 vote. Uh city attorney since we have a denial and those are fairly rare, have we covered what we need to cover? [1:19:07] **City Attorney Sharon Hills:** Yes. Excuse me, Mr. Chair. Um staff will prepare a resolution for your review and can always make additions, deletions at that time as well. [1:19:15] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Perfect. And I do—I do wish you the best of luck in finding the right location that works. We have a state ordinance that allows this now, right? And we want people to be successful in it. This—this location is not going to work for this group. So, thank you. And Sydney, thank you. Thank you. I'm going to move us on to the next item on the agenda, which is 5F, and that is Snap Fitness at 15115 Dove Trail. [1:19:35] **Sydney:** Thank you, mayor, again, and council members. Um so the next request tonight will be um a request for a health and fitness facility um to be of approved use within PD 629 zone 4. Specifically you're asked to approve the use of a health and fitness facility as uh essentially a permitted use in PD 629 zone 4. The existing site is located at 15115 Dove Trail, which is at the uh northwest intersection of Dodd Boulevard and Dove Trail. Uh highlighted here in the red—the red outlined parcel. Currently, this is an—it previously was a CVS pharmacy. The CVS pharmacy is now closed. Um so we did receive a building permit for a SNAP fitness at this location. Um and that currently is not a specifically approved use within this PD um 629. So zone 4, the parcels highlighted in red and then there are a couple of adjacent parcels that are also uh zone 4 within PD 629. Um and again within this PD uh there are commercial uh related parcels to the west and then um sorry to the east and then to the west would be residential parcels within PD 629. Permitted uses within zone 4—so that commercial use generally uh speaking are grocery—grocery stores and convenience stores, neighborhood restaurants, offices, um daycare centers, banks and financial institutions, retail operations as specifically listed within the PD. So that includes things like barber shops, beauty parlors, photo stores, um some other may I say relatively outdated um type of retail stores. Um but uh other uses can be specifically reviewed and approved by the city council. And then lastly, drive-throughs would be allowed with conditions. So in the consideration of this request uh would be to look at the purpose of the PD, which is to provide for an integrated mix of low and moderate density residential uses as well as neighborhood convenience retail. So, like I said, there's some existing uh single family as well as attached and detached town homes. And then to the east side of the PD would be the existing uh convenience retail, which currently is a bank, a QuickTrip um and then this uh vacant CVS pharmacy. PD 629 zone 4 would include those commercial uses. And then lastly, is a health and fitness facility similar in type, purpose, intensity, and service as those previously—previously listed uses. So, the city council does have the discretion to review uses that are not explicitly approved or denied um within a—in any permitted use um list within the city code. And then additionally, we had that provision that retail operations can be further reviewed by city council for the PD specifically. So, the—with the building permit, SNAP fitness uh plans were provided by the applicant. So it would include uh demoing the existing CVS—CVS pharmacy interior and um for a variety of exercise spaces, office, shower, locker room, um sauna, and any uh and associated health and fitness related operations within the building um on the exterior. So, this is just a close-up of the aerial, but uh at this time it appears that there are no plans to change the exterior of the building um besides most likely just signage. Um so the CVS building would still kind of have that same characteristic. Um there's no demoing of the building itself um and no plan changes that I'm aware of to the exterior. The current parking on the facility is about 131 stalls and for this use they would need about 80 stalls. So, this parcel adjacent to CVS is vacant um and only has parking on it and has served as um a shared parking for CVS and would continue to serve as that. If a future use were to ever be um put on this parcel to the west, uh the the SAS on CVS site/the proposed snap—SNAP fitness would still um provide the adequate amount that would be needed for the SNAP fitness. And I I do not believe there are any um intentions to develop the parcel to the west at this time that I'm aware of. Um for tonight, the recommended actions would be uh as follows. So there's two possibilities. So one would be to adopt a resolution approving the health and fitness facility as a permitted use if you do find that is it is consistent with the intent and standards of the PD. So it um it does—does it provide that neighborhood convenience/neighborhood retail uh to the surrounding area? And then alternative—alternatively, if the city council determines that the proposed use is inconsistent with the intent of PD 629 um and would not necessarily serve the adjacent area, then the following motion would be recommended, which would be to direct staff to prepare a resolution of denial with appropriate findings. And we would need you again to list those findings. I can stand for any questions. And we also have um the planned operators of the SNAP fitness here tonight. [1:24:43] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Great. Thank you. Council members, questions for Sydney. I only have one. There was some discussion of hours in here and some limited hours. Is that addressed in this motion if they need to come back at another time? [1:25:01] **Sydney:** Thanks, mayor. Um that—so the applicant has prepared to apply for the CUP to extend the hours. So currently within this PD um hours for the commercial and retail operations are limited from 1:00 a.m. to 6 a.m. Um and within that PD a person or a commercial business could apply for a conditional use permit to operate hours um that are prohibited. So in this inst—instance they would like to operate a 24-hour service which is consistent with most SNAP fitness um how they operate. So they would come forward in the future with that COP approval, but at this time it is—they're just requesting that you review the use. [1:25:38] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** That's nothing we can take care of. And one we need to come back. They would come back. Okay. Um it doesn't feel like this use to me is significantly different, maybe even less impactful to the neighborhood than a—right—at a pharmacy convenience retail like CVS is. So, uh, do we have any—are—if there are no other questions, we could look for a motion to adopt the resolution approving a health fitness facility as a permitted use in PD 629. [1:26:01] **Councilmember Lisa Hiebert:** So, moved. [1:26:02] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** Second. [1:26:03] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from council member Hiebert, a second from council member Melander. Any further discussion on this one? If not, all in favor indicate by saying I. [1:26:11] **Councilmembers:** I. [1:26:12] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Opposed. And that item passes. Um, for our applicants, anything you'd like to come up and—you've sat through this whole meeting—like anything you want to come up uh and say, uh, we we'll give you that opportunity. As you make your way forward, I'm just excited to see this large vacant building. I wasn't sure what was going to ever fill that space, especially kind of the gateway coming into town. So, happy to see it finding a good use. [1:26:44] **Snap Fitness Applicant:** It's uh, it's been a long night for you all. So, I just want to say thank you for approving this with with minimal effort, and I will get out of here so you all can go home, enjoy your families. Great. [1:26:55] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you. Thank you. All right, that gets us through the rest of the agenda. Brings us to staff and council communication. I know at our informal earlier we had a little conversation on some traffic we're seeing as we have more people out on the roads and maybe just more out for summer. But Councilmember Grendahl, did you want to start? I don't know if Chief you want to come up and address any of this, but uh we had a conversation. [1:27:16] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** First of all, um kudos to our police officers. I mean, they're doing the best they can out there issuing tickets, but we have a lot of construction. Um, and living on Pennock, we have the digital sign up. I see people at 30, right? They just fly by at 41. They can see they're doing 41 in a 30 right there. We have a park right there. Um, there's children all day long on both sides of the sidewalk. Uh, my neighbor was uh t-boned up on 140th and Pennock. Um story I hear is somebody just ran a red light. Um so anyway, I think we just need people to start adhering to safety and um and to our speed zones um in the city and maybe leave your homes a little bit earlier to get places because every metro area is under construction. But like I say, always kudos to our police department. They cannot be everywhere for everybody who's speeding. So we need people who will take responsibility for their own actions because once you hit somebody—t-boned them—if you killed them—I mean this individual has eight fractures in three ribs um probably going to take six months. So how do you feel if you're the person who hit him and ran the red light? So um just—I know you're right, everything is under construction. Absolutely right. [1:28:24] **Councilmember John Bergman:** Mr. Francis, uh, nowadays, uh, technology and people's toys, um, are run under battery power. Um, what is the ordinance or what is state statute when you have individuals that are in the age group between 8 and 13 riding up and down at very high speeds on what looks like really modern-day motorcycles? And they do look like they're having fun, but it's like, oh boy. Um... [1:28:50] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** Sure, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Um, as you probably know, technology usually moves quicker than state law or city ordinance. Um, so there really isn't um a ton in state law regarding um the new battery-powered vehicles that are high-speed and now reasonably cost where they—they were pretty expensive not that many years ago. Um, so we don't have anything in the city ordinance that that sets a speed limit for um bicycles or a a weight limit or um a a power limit of the battery power going into that um into that machine. We rely on state law which also does not really specify uh a lot of—you know—has not caught up with what the new vehicles exist of. I do know that the—there's a task force working on the uh bike and pedestrian plan for the city, a master plan. Um and part of that is to evaluate city ordinance on um potential regulation for those bicycles. Some cities have moved down that road. I believe Hastings now is preventing or prohibiting—um they are they are proposing to prohibit some of those bikes from being on sidewalks. you know, if you want to ride them, ride them on the road where you're traveling closer to vehicle speed than pedestrian speed. Um there's that's kind of a new emerging um trend that we're seeing as some cities adopting ordinances. So, I think that's probably the road that this task force is going to recommend the city goes down is is um now that the these bikes and mobiles are a little bit more uh common to try to address that through local ordinance. [1:30:45] **Councilmember John Bergman:** So, if I'm a 12-year-old, 10-year-old kid driving a really nice—and they're cool-looking—motorcycle going down the road on a street, in other words, you can't touch it? [1:31:01] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** They are regulated, but to be honest, our—that and dune buggies and go-karts are the... so, if—if let's say a big um 4x4 Polaris were driving down the road, we we could consider that a motor vehicle. Um but we're not quite as familiar with what um consists of a motorcycle. So, if something doesn't have any pedal power, then it would be considered an electric motorcycle. Most of them have pedals that are a pedal assist. So that gets a little bit of gray for us to to go out and determine. [1:31:40] **Councilmember John Bergman:** It looks dangerous for some of these because, you know, they're looking around going, "Oh, is anybody seeing us?" [1:31:47] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** And yeah, and the last thing we are want to do is be the bicycle, right? The bicycle police trying to determine someone's legal—a 10-year-old, "Hey, the bike that your grandparents got you is illegal. You got to put it away or you're going to get a ticket." So, a lot of it's going to come down to, you know, some type of city ordinance, but then also um an educational outreach to say, "Here's—here's kind of how we can share the road and share the sidewalks together." [1:32:15] **Councilmember John Bergman:** Hope they have fun, but I just don't want to see somebody get that motorcycle, which really looks cool on a 10-year-old. [1:32:21] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** And—and it's when they cross at an intersection and a crosswalk that scares me, right? Because you're not looking for a 20 mph vehicle coming at you from a crosswalk and they're not looking for cars. That's the dangerous one. Councilmember Grendahl, did you have something else there? [1:32:36] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** I just want to tag on to that. You know, I probably see—I'm going to guess—30 of these little scooters go by in a day and they're having fun. I don't want to take anybody, but but I'm concerned about safety. I would almost rather—and I haven't thought this through—I'd rather see them on the sidewalk. They don't have driver's licenses, whatever. They're flying, but so now they're in the middle of cars that I see speeding down Pennock. Um anyway, I I almost think I'd rather have them on the sidewalk. [1:33:04] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** Anyway... and to address your um earlier um questions just about enforcement and the support, we certainly appreciate that support. We have um last year we wrote I believe it's about 40% more citations, moving citations, than we did previous years. Um but taking it one step further, our staff made it a goal in 2025 to focus our enforcement efforts on the violations that cause crashes. Um, so we're really encouraging our folks to to work on those moving violations: speeding, semaphore, stop sign, inattentive driving. Sure, the, you know, if there's window tint or there's um expired registration, we we enforce those as we come across them, but our—our focus is to try to enforce the laws that are crashing, damaging property, injuring, and killing people. Um, and so that's something—kudos to our staff that they came up with an idea of what they want to enforce this summer and and we'll deliver that message back that there is—is support to go out there and everyone says as fast as you could write these tickets, you could station someone there and write them as fast as you can. [1:34:25] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Exactly. [1:34:26] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** And I I live here and I see it just as much too. [1:34:30] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Well, thank you. Thank you, Chief. Pass that along to everybody, please. [1:34:33] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** Yes. [1:34:34] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** And before you go, um, different topic still related police department. On our consent agenda tonight, we took a license action directly as a result of a really good investigation uh you all did and just thanks for jumping on that one for being responsive when the when the call came in and that kind of thing. So uh we appreciate those efforts as well. [1:34:55] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** Yep. Great. Thank you. Thank you. [1:35:00] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Uh any other council member items? Staff—any staff items for us this evening? There are none. There are none. We'll take that. Next is our calendar of upcoming events. Our next informal city council meeting is Thursday, July 10th, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. And our next regular—it's just a date. It shouldn't be that hard. Our next regular city council meeting is Thursday, July 10th, 2025 at 7 p.m. And a reminder that our city offices are closed on Thursday, June 19th in observance of the Juneteenth holiday and on Friday, July 4th in observance of Independence Day. Do we have a motion to approve the calendar? [1:35:45] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** So moved. [1:35:46] **Councilmember John Bergman:** Second. [1:35:47] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from council member Grendahl, a second from council member Bergman. All those in favor indicate by saying I. [1:35:55] **Councilmembers:** I. [1:35:56] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Do we have a motion to adjourn? [1:35:57] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** So move. [1:35:58] **Councilmember Lisa Hiebert:** Second. [1:35:59] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from council member Grendahl. Second from council member Hiebert. All those in favor indicate by saying I. [1:36:04] **Councilmembers:** I. [1:36:05] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We're adjourned. Thank you. Thank you, Sydney. [1:36:11] Heat. Heat. [1:36:24] [Music]