[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good evening and welcome tonight is Monday January 29th 2024 this is a regular meeting of the minaka city council I ask you to I will call this meeting to order and I ask you to stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Miss England would you please call Ro Shaq here Wilburn here Calbert here here R here kley here Foster Bolton here weome here next item is approval of the agenda it appears we have an addendum Mr Funk yeah thank you good evening mayor and councel I have two items for your consideration this evening uh the first is item 6B which is under special matters uh it is being recommended that this item be tabled until the next city council meeting which would be February 12th 2024 and then the second item for your consideration is item 14a related to Waller Kia at 15700 and 15724 Y Zetta Boulevard there are a number of uh correspondence pieces that came in after the distribution of the packet and those are included for your consideration I just want to just mention item 6B that is not listed on the agenda in front of you but in verbalizing uh that for your consideration so those are the two agenda items for you this evening thank you thank you Mr Funk um is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended cons sha thank you mayor I move approval as amended and a second coun Council M Wilburn a second all right we got a motion by Council M sha and a second by Council mber Wilburn Miss England Please call Ro sha yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes weome yes motion carries next item is approval of the minute of minutes and we have one set the January 8th 2024 regular meeting minutes is are there any comments or a motion councilor Calbert thank you mayor I move approval of the January 8th 2024 regular meeting minutes and is there a second cack thank you I'll second thank you we've got a motion by council member Calver and a second by council member sha Miss England Please call R sha yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes weome yes motion carries next item is special matters and we have one and um item 6A um is a presentation from Emily Wallace Jackson um regarding the Hopkins Education Foundation so welcome thank you nice to be here um I'm Emily Wallace Jackson I'm the relatively new executive director of the Hopkins Education Foundation I started this summer and uh it's a nonprofit that supports a Hopkins school district and so I'm glad to be here with all of you and congratulations to the new uh City Council Members so it's an honor to be here um as you probably know more than half of uh the city of minetonka is in the Hopkins school district and you're lucky to have uh more than one School uh in your District District so just want to give you some background information about what the foundation does and as Community leaders just hope that we can partner and work together and always welcome your ideas about how to support uh the Hopkins schools all right so our mission is to really kick start learning opportunities uh for our students we do that by raising money from um our whole community so that's people within the school district parents um teachers administrators but also just people who live in the community and I really look to all of you as Leaders to uh help support our students we have raised over $3.6 million since 1995 for the school district that's thanks to the generosity of many of you and also Business Leaders um corporations alumni and a broad range of people so these are the amounts that we have granted over that time to each of the schools in the district so when we collect the money that we then have we then figure out how we going to use this to really uh support our our students in creative ways with creative and innovative ideas we have uh grants that our teachers and staff apply to the foundation for and we have a grants committee that then decides um what to fund so that's one big way that we fund educational projects in the schools the other is uh every year at our Royal bash Galla event that I'll tell you more about in a minute um it's going to be March 2nd we collaborate with the superintendent and District leaders to figure out um what's a big project a big K through 12 project that we can fund that'll really make an impact so that happens once a year last year we awarded $175,000 in Grants um to teachers and the thing I really love about this is it's a really direct way to make an impact so a teacher has a creative idea they know really well how to engage their students and they don't have to go through a lot of bureaucracy they just get a grant and they get to implement their their idea um it covers a wide range of things from mental health and arts and stem and um Core Curriculum so our grants really cover the gamut I'm just going to uh Spotlight a couple of interesting ones that we've just funded this fall we had an American Sign Language partnership that a teacher um applied for money to bring her seniors so her most advanced sign language students to Paisley Park to do um they're going to have a tour in March and they're going to interpret for Deaf students who go to a deaf um uh deaf School School for Deaf kids in the Twin Cities and so that'll be an exciting one I'm gonna get to go I love Prince and so it's going to be a fun one uh whoops uh we do we've uh funded a number of coding robots that are really popular with students to learn the basics of computer science and coding um from all ages so this kbo robot was one we recently funded and then this community reads little free libraries that uh some Glenn Lake teachers proposed the they have really creative idea they're going to build 12 free libraries or identifying some um Property Owners around the Glen Lake neighborhood that will host these free libraries they the students were concerned because many of the libraries don't have kids books in them a lot of them have adults so they're going to be supplying these new libraries with kids uh books and then they're also going to write their own short stories record their voice um so they will be anonymous their privacy will be protected but there'll be a QR code on the library and so people can come by and listen to the kids story story so I just loved it it was really creative lots of ideas so look for those around Glen Lake I think this spring um so I invite you to always participate in our key annual events um we have the Rock and Royal every fall uh it's an outdoor block party we usually have about 350 400 people though it was raining hard this fall so it was a smaller attendance uh we have the royal family fund day which is a free um family oriented event um it's going to be May 18th and then the royal bash which I'm here to invite all of you to is at about a month it's Saturday March 2nd Metropolitan Ballroom in the Golden Valley usually have about uh 350 people that come it's almost sold out I think we have 50 tickets left so um please come support your schools it's really a celebration of the Hopkins schools and this year the special project we're funding is a large K through2 computer science coding and AI project to prepare our kids for the the future um to have the tools to succeed in a really um technologically immersed society and to do to learn um how to handle it all in an ethical way so that's what that project's about I invite you to always like give us a call volunteer we have seven board openings starting July 1 we have a board of 24 people and I hope you'll support the foundation so thank you thanks for your time thank you so much thanks for being here tonight thanks for the work that you do thank you so we do not have item Six B correct Mr Funk so we will move on to um reports from city manager and council members and Mr funk you get to go first yeah thank you again good evening mayor and Council a few things for you this evening first uh the staff and our city as you know has been working on a climate action and adaptation plan a draft of that is available for the public and that's uh online and available on menona matters.com and there's a lot more public engagement coming up on that and we do have a upcoming study session where we'll talk about the cap uh caap for short an acronym uh so again making sure that everyone's aware that that draft is in in format and ready for public more public comment um weather I know we've all been enjoying I think a little bit of the warm weather kind of a break from our reprieve but that has had an impact on our outdoor skating ranks uh with the warm weather means our outdoor skating season is short and cut short this year uh we've really been unable to maintain our rinks uh just due to the warm weather everything's been over freezing lately as you know uh so we're planning to keep things as open and functional as long as possible but we are planning to end the season on January 28th and then uh family fund day uh for those um that attended we appreciate uh residents and families coming to our fund day here at the fire department a big thanks to our fire department and our staff for hosting that event we had over 900 uh participants that showed up and had free chili and interg interacted engaged with our fire department and certainly a super event and appreciate our staff taking the time to put that event together another event uh worth noting is then on February 15th is a way to celebrate Black History Month with the sound of Blackness and or Sounds of Blackness and really appreciate Jace Alexander a senior Dei coordinator to uh really coordinate this event with the Grammy award-winning group Sounds of Blackness they will be performing at the minona community center at 6:30 there are tickets available on February 1st at 10:00 a.m. and those are going to be available on our website uh there'll be two tickets per order so I know it's it's going to be in the community center I'm sure there's going to be lots of folks interested in going and uh there's going to be limited seatings so encourage everyone to uh go to our website to get those tickets and then also want want to mention as another uh Community event we do have uh with the recreation department coming up on kidsfest so another family day with kidsfest that's on Sunday February 4th from 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. it'll be located in the minaka community center our staff coordinates lots of fun exercises and activities for kids and adults and again invite everyone that wants to participate to come it is free and available to the public and so with that mayor I'll turn back over to you thank you thank you Mr Funk um are there other reports from Council Members council member kley thank you mayor I just want to kind of reiterate what um city manager Mike stated about the event that's happening on February 15th um with the Sounds of Blackness coming um this is really exciting news um I don't know if minaka have ever had anything like this in the past but it's really exciting for me to be a black woman to see a um group of black um um I guess people who sing songs and celebrate with us and will be celebrating here as well as of um on that day there is going to be a um black food vendor who was a new business owner who's going to be selling food um and it's going to be sold food and so I I just encourage everyone to come out and support this event so we can continue to have events like this and not just celebrating black history month but also selling celebrating other um ethnic groups um I hope um as we continue to do the Dei work we start to look at these type of celebrations I know that other cities have these kind of celebrations throughout their cities throughout um through throughout different months and so I would just encourage people to come out to show that there is a need to celebrate different ethnic ethnicities in our community and to make sure that is well supported so thank you thank you council member kley um other reports or comments council member Calbert thank you mayor um just very quickly I really do want to encourage people to support um the Royal bash at Hopkins schools it really does benefit students and teachers and strengthens our schools so um please go to the website and get your tickets and hopefully I'll see you there and um I also just wanted to mention that we said goodbye to our wonderful police chief John Vance a few days ago and we were so very lucky to have him um he was just tremendously Innovative and always focused on really important things like um Emergency Medical Response times response times in general um professionalizing our fire service and um I would just felt very lucky to know him and uh very sad for us but very happy for him in his retirement and finally um I just wanted to me mention that January 27th was Holocaust Remembrance Day and that commemorates the um uh freeing The Liberation of aitz uh and Bergen bson actually um and uh it was designated by the un to just sort of com find a day to commemorate that and with everything that's going on in the world and the suffering that so many people have um I just encourage you next year to pay attention to Holocaust Remembrance Day uh in my day job we uh put on a um we sponsored a performance by six points Theater which used to be the Minnesota Jewish Theater Company of a show called survivors about 10 Holocaust Survivors and um I you know I have family that didn't make it I have family that did make it um out of World War Two so I just wanted to say that um it's an important day and I hope next uh year you'll take a moment to uh just remember thank you council member Calbert um are there any other comments from Council Members um I I'll make a couple of quick ones um I too wanted to um thank um um fire chief John Vance um and uh remember his retirement uh he served our city well and uh he will be missed uh but he left his fire department our fire department in a great position and uh so um while we hate to lead lose a leader like him um he did a great job of putting our fire department in a great position to to continue to succeed without him so I want to thank him for that we also had um attended a couple of legislative breakfasts one here in motanka where the council and staff met with our elected officials our state reps and our state senators and that's always a valuable time before the session gets started to uh talk about um issues and concerns that the city has that uh we need to we want to have presented to the legislature and then we also um attended a similar breakfast which was a larger Regional breakfast put on by the municipal legislative commission and uh that was an interesting and worthwhile um event too so that's all I've got and I'll look around and see if I if I missed anyone otherwise we'll move on okay great so the next item is item eight citizens wishing to discuss matters not on the agenda so this is an open mic opportunity for um uh anybody in the audience to bring forward an item that is not on our agenda um we will items on the agenda there may be opportunity for comment during those items but if there's an item not on the agenda come forward state your name and address um let us know uh what's on your mind we will not take any action tonight but uh you will inform us and then we will follow up with staff um um or turn to them for followup so is there anyone who would like to uh comment any on anything in the city that is not on our agenda tonight is there anyone if you if um if you there is please come forward state your name and address and and tell us what you'd like to chat about uh my name is Craig Nelson uh 12824 Burwell Drive um I just want to give a note of thanks to uh the city for putting in a ARL by Station Pizza um the parking lot that's there right across uh Bridge Street um is incredibly dark and I was always really worried that somebody's going to come around the corner and hit somebody walking from Station Pizza over to their car parked by Burwell uh the little Pavilion thing there and uh you know I submitted that suggestion a while ago maybe two years ago it took a little while to get that in there but it got done and I just thank you very much I I really appreciate that well thank you for your comments sure is there anyone else all right seeing no one we will move on um next item is bids and purchases we have none of those tonight so the next item on the agenda is the consent agenda and the consent agenda is items that are typically routine so rather than take action on each of them individually I will read them into the record then if as that's being done anyone either on the council or in the audience would like to have one of those items uh pulled pulled for further consideration we will vote on the items that do not get P pulled um take care of those and then the item or items that have been pulled we will U we will review those individually and vote on them individually so with that consent agenda item 10A is a resolution for the wetta boulevard improvements project item 10B is the 2024 General Li ability insurance and work workers compensation renewals item 10 C is the preliminary plat of oberg Estates a two lot subdivision at 223 Oakland Road item 10d is a resolution appointing election judges and absentee ballot board for the March 5th presidential nomination primary and item 10e is the 202 24 study session work plan so would anyone like to uh pull any of these items if not um um or councelor Calbert thank you I have a question on 10B okay very good um let's uh we'll uh we'll vote is there a motion on the remaining items counc P Shack thank you mayor I move approval of 10 a 10 C 10 D and 10e and a second council member Calbert a second all right we've got a motion by council member sha and a second by counc M Calbert Miss England Please call R sha yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes weome yes motion carries and then to you uh Council M Calbert for your question thank you um I'll I'll keep it very brief if I can um so uh basically our liability rating changed and there are several things that can contribute to that change and I just thought for the benefit of our new members and perhaps the listening audience that might be helpful um and to me as well uh what what kinds of um issues might affect our uh rates and uh our premium rates and our liability ratings so that we can try to avoid them in the future Mr Funk uh thank you mayor council member um would like to turn it over to assistant city manager Miranda dammen uh Miss dammen has her role with the city does work with all of our directors on our annual renewal process works on all of our insurance claims and really is our lead staff member when it comes to uh all the insurance and the insurance package that was just referenced uh council member kelbert so if I could I'd like turn over to miss damond for an explanation thank you Miss damond uh Miss consc mcvert and the mayor and Council happy to answer the question I anticipated it so I did have a slide ready for you um cuz we did see quite the jump this year um a couple of things so our um it's broken up into two pieces so the in front of you tonight you have the general liability insurance you also have the workers compensation renewal um we do have the league of Minnesota's City's Insurance trust as our provider so breaking down exactly where these increases come from so we have the property premium it's up due to 5% rate increases across the board um applied annual inflation factors multiple locations had manually increased property limits by member and agent we do try and assess all of our locations or buildings and we do um change those as we need to and then we added new locations since last renewal we added the marsh which is quite a large building and we have to ensure that entire building we also added rale Commons and making sure what we can have out there insured we do we are getting an appraisal done on ridill comment so we're going to have really concrete numbers here in the next month but we do have a blanket coverage on that in case something would happen in the in room so that is our increase for the property premiums we have mobile property is up due which is directly tied back to our property premiums those are linked together our Municipal liability is up due to the 5% rate increase our uh Municipal liability mod factor is up 8.87% and then we have increase of liability exposures as well Auto premium again I mention it's 5% increases across the board with the LMC it and we knew that going into the renewal um we also have changes in vehicles um we are getting more we have a few electric vehicles we have different changes in vehicles that require different insurance requirements and so because of that our audio premium does our Auto premium does increase our equipment breakdown premium is up due to property total insurable value has increased there as well so all of those factors lead to an increase and our overall general liability insurance we do take hard looks at trying to reduce our increases um we looked at even leaving the LMC this year because it was such a there could have been some cost savings but the you have to outweigh the risk right and it was a better for the city we felt to continue with the lmcat that's my recommendation tonight in the report is to remain with the LMC they do really great work for us um have really good Partnerships our workers compensation increase um is due to our annual changes in our class code rates we've added some staff we're adding more staff in 2024 um that does increase our full-time employee count which increases our workers comp insurance um in our mod factor from 67 to 69 I will mention anything under 1% is amazing so to be sitting at 69 for our workers Camp is almost unheard of in the metro area so we're doing a really good job there as well so because of all of these reasons it is up a little bit um but it is within our 2024 budget and with that Mary I'll turn back to you all right thank you Miss damond um any other questions from Miss Dam on this um just a comment if I may I know my insurance at home has gone up a lot I mean there is a trend toward increased and increased insurance rates and and I will just say um that I really appreciated Miss Dam's last point about the mod Factor for working workers comp because workers compensation is a big a big cost to cities and um to be below one which is the average um that's that's excellent performance so even though we're up we are still well below the norm um in the state and I think that's great so miss Calbert or council member Calbert if you'd like to make a motion that'd be great thank you mayor I make the motion to approve item 10B is there a second coun sorry ra there we go so we've got a motion by council member Calvert and a second by council member R Miss England Please call R sha yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes where some yes motion carries item 11 is the consent agenda items requiring five votes it's very similar I will read these into the record and if anyone wants to pull them uh we will pull them we'll vote on the remaining items and then go back to the items that have been pulled so item 11a is an urban area security initiative Grant agreement item 11b is a conditional use permit with a variant for an educational use within an existing religious in institution at 127 excelsure Boulevard item 11c is a grant agreement for the 2023 real Leaf Community forestry Grant item 11d is a grant agreement for low salt design cost share Grant and 11e is a grant agreement for the Purgatory Purgatory Park stream Bank restoration project so conack thank you mayor I don't need to pull anything but I just wanted to make a comment about about collectively how great all these grants are and the work that staff's put into um procuring the grants which are direct savings to um our taxpayers and they're doing really good things for the community particularly wanted to comment on the relief Community forestry Grant we've seen those of us who have been around for a while the pressure that Emerald ashor has put on the tree canopy but also also on individual residents when they have trees that need to be removed I've had people reach out to me to see what options there are and we're going to stand up a program that's really going to help folks make um these these tough expensive problems go away and also to replant so um I really am grateful to staff for I I mean these grants come but it it comes with work too to get them and also then um spend the money in a productive way so that's not lost on us and and thank you thank you councilor rack are there any other comments anyone like to make all right very good so so we didn't have anything pulled um we but um we did have few comments so um would somebody like to move the consent agenda coun for ra I'll move to accept the consent agenda and sorry council member Foster Bolton I'll second all right we've got a motion by council member ra and a second by council member Foster Bolton I have to get used to saying these new names so this is good I haven't messed it up yet I don't think um U Miss England Please call Ro Shaq yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes weome yes motion carries item 12 is introduction of ordinances and we have one item 12a is an ordinance amending sign regulations um which is ordinance 325.00 61b Mr Gordon actually miss wish I took I took some pressure up Mr Gordon tonight than sorry sorry about that I thought you were pointing at him you were rais I was raising my hand thank you may and council members uh this is an introduction of ordinances for the sign ordinance um just a little background for those who weren't here in 2022 we did have a study session that we discussed as the city council and staff of non-commercial signage uh that's allowed in residential district for help on that term non-commercial signage that really is about signs that convey messages that are political religious social ideological public service or informational topics and so we're talking tonight more in the context of political but I want you to be aware that this involves more than political signs that's kind of where the Genesis of the discussion um derived from in terms of the rank Choice voting uh and the number of uh candidates that you could have in local elections so that's really where this conversation started also reminder there is a state statute and we have the language from that state statute that talks about non-commercial signning AG of any size may be posted during a state general election and there's some dates in here when it has to be removed Etc um and how far in advance it can be placed um and then you can see the bottom part of that sentence says that Municipal ordinances May regulate the size and number of non-commercial signs at other times so you kind of have the state law and then you can regulate local elections under your own ordinance our current ordinance allows for a maximum of three signs per property they can't be more than six square ft and you can't have more than 18 square fet per property during our analysis uh in October of 22 we looked at about 10 other communities um some of the uh background was in your report I won't talk about what all those other cities had in terms of regulations but if you're interested the there's a chart that goes along with that information there really wasn't consensus at the time when the council met about it um staff we told you we would come back it's a it's a while and here we are back uh and so we have two options for your consideration the first uh consideration is really to do what the state law allows which is you don't maximize the number of signs or the area we did put a maximum height however um some of the uh feedback we get at least on the aesthetic side has to do with height and the size of of signs so we thought we'd put a maximum height in that first option the second option allows for a maximum of six signs per property and again that would be six square ft per sign making the total aggregate square footage for a property 36 square ft and then we would have a Max height of three again those typical yard signs that you see um are of that uh size so those are the two options for tonight's introduction really you need to provide any questions or information that you would like the Planning Commission to consider they would talk about the new sign proposal at their February 22nd meeting hold a public hearing at that time and then it would come back to you for a final vote the introduction of the ordinance requires four votes mayor I'll turn it back to you for any questions you may have thank you Miss wishnack uh Council questions for staff coun council member um so I have a question about uh non-commercial signs that aren't with a political campaign what's the rule on I don't know if I'm want to put out a I feel happy sign in my yard what are what are the rules on that thank you uh mayor and council member willburn uh that's kind of the point of the second bullet here it doesn't matter what you're saying on the sign we don't regulate the content of signage and so I feel happy sign uh that you described would be conveying a message um maybe that would be considered an informational topic and you could have that on your property in addition you could have some political signs under the current ordinance up to three but is there any time limit for so it could be year round correct okay and that's that's a really good point Council Mar Wilburn um there are no time limits on the local signs because of that very reason because you could have any kind of message it doesn't always have to be political now if you're in the general election obviously there's time limits for that I know very clear isn't it um councilor Calbert thank you mayor and this this your your last comment dovet tales with the question that I asked Mr Funk earlier today which is generally people expect you to pick up political signs even if you're a local elected uh and it's a local election within 10 days which is just good practice anyway if you want to hold on to your lawn signs but um because this is uh non-commercial that is why there is no time limit in the actual ordinance so if people wanted to keep their you know uh Kimberly for uh minona signs up for the entire year they could they could yes mayor and Council M Calbert yes that's true they could keep them up uh almost permanently yes yes thank you other questions coun sha thank you mayor I guess I don't necessarily it's just came to mind but um something perhaps for the planning commission to consider is there anything about duplicate signs I mean have we seen any ordinances in other communities that seemed to be something that I noticed this election cycle that say you know on the position of rank Choice voting some neighbors would have multiple of their preferred sign and um that seemed to be very um present uh mayor and council member Shaq um I would confirm this with the city attorney but again you're a little bit into content with with maybe talking about regulating that sort of thing um I think it's a good question though to ask and then be answered with the the Planning Commission review but I think we'll put that as one of the questions we received tonight and have a a formal answer for you good counc Calbert thank you that made me think of another one which is you know especially during campaign season but just in general you know like with commercial signs also with campaign season sometimes people just stick signs up like in the right of way it's not necessarily anybody's private property per se um and that doesn't seem there's there's not specific language um other than it needs to be at least 5T from the public Street so mayor and Council Calbert the question is yes that's regulated SP feet from uh a public Street if you're talking about putting it on public property for instance public property or just like you know you know random places that aren't necessarily someone's property because you're supposed to ask have the consent of the property owner permission um yeah so that does happen absolutely um and in so I'm just wondering it's not that it's not it's not clear about the ownership of the property and permission I see what you're saying yeah um you know where people can and can't do that yes council member Calbert I'll write that down as something we should put in the Planning Commission packet thank you Council other questions I'm always good for one um and my question has to do with enforcement um you know during this last campaign season I did receive calls from candidates who said so and so is doing this Mr Mayor you got to do something and and I you know said well you know that sign enforcement is not within my purview and uh but you need to call you you need to call staff and um and they will they will take care of it but also understand that staff is not sitting by the phone waiting for your call so they can hop in their car and go enforce the sign ordinance it doesn't work that way but if you could perhaps just comment and I think that's something that you know as we bring forward um as we get advice on this we should maybe put how sign ordinances are how we anticipate enforcing them because enforcement is you know it's easy to make the rules enforcement's much harder and I think setting expectations in whatever ordinance we pass is pro pass is probably not a good idea it's not a bad idea so what are your thoughts on that uh thank you mayor and council members enforcement it's always a difficult issue because signs go up signs get removed signs move um sometimes they're compliant sometimes they're not it just depends on the day of the week and where this person put the sign um I would say the priority though however is during an election to make sure the polling place um statute is followed in terms of where those signs are placed and in proximity so I I would say that has the highest priority as far as enforcement to you know obviously have a fair election second issue is when we get direct complaints and we're told hey there's a lot of um a good example is um right up here uh people like to put in the Boulevard near City Campus um those those are obviously removed immediately um that's considered public property that is not a placement for a sign so those do get removed also around the city we do often sign sweeps um during the political season it's about once a week we don't tell people when we're coming um we just do that enforcement during the week um so that's kind of the way we approach it um I would say it's hard to get to all the complaints because we do get a high number and a high volume of complaints so we do our best and uh try to keep people compliant if they're not compliant we will move them for instance if they're not 5T from the road we we'll go ahead and just move them if that's possible the other thing we do is we leave a message on the person's um uh door hanger if you will to tell them what what the issue was so lots of lots of time spent very good um so tonight we have an introduction is there anything else that the council would like to have considered um for when this comes back because next time it comes back we will we will vote on it and there any other any other things we would like um the Planning Commission to uh to look into on this topic coner Wilburn so I I don't know are we supposed to weigh in on if we have a preference for one of these options or that would help yeah please do okay then I would prefer that we match the state um requirement just for Simplicity so we don't have a different you know OD years it's one rule even years it's another Rule people are confused about it most people think during the odd years that it's supposed to be be following the state rules anyway um and I've had to tell people well no actually it's different um so I think it just for Simplicity sake and then also we don't have to be with well six signs is fine but Seven Signs is too many or you know just getting into that my show just having the rule that's already in place all the time thank you Council Wilburn any other comments Council M kley I would agree with um what council member um Kimberly just said um I feel like the same I feel the same I mean um just watching how some yards when I was campaigning had more than three signs and I don't see how we can regulate and enforce the rule especially when we have elections where you now as we talked about we have an increased number of folks running um now that we have rank Choice voting and um I just don't feel like it would be good for us to try to regulate how many signs when people clearly want to support um multiple people and sometimes um I've I've even had this conversation today um where sometimes you may want to like in the special ele election that's coming up for um county commissioner you might want to support three out of the five candidates and then you might be supporting something else and that's going to easily put you over the number real quick so I think um I like the idea of going with the state um rules thank you any other comments um I I'll add I I agree with what I agree that Simplicity is better and keeping having the rules be the same every year is better CU it's complex enough the way it is and so you know whatever we do let's have it be consistent and then I I gave a little pause to what um coun BR Shack said about about well what about multiple signs for the same candidate on the same property and to me that sounds a little bit like we're regulating content and I don't feel comfortable with that I mean if if a candidate can get up six sign I mean if our limit's six or whatever the limit is and they can talk somebody into putting six of their signs in their yard you know it's kind of like more power to them I mean it's it's like because I think I think when we I mean we we're starting to border on um content and I I don't know you know free speech and elections and all that good stuff we want to support that so if if I I have a little trouble with kind of trying to say well you can have this kind of sign up but not this kind of sign so I think I think Simplicity and consistency on content are are things that I would want to stand for anything else council member kley I just want to say one more thing and it's kind of off topic but is on topic I know there's a um yard in my neighborhood like on excelia I think they have probably about five or six signs and they've been there for years and I love the sign so I mean I knew I like huh I always question like uh in there ordinance for like three signs in the yard but I mean they're such good signs they're so positive like who would want to like call in on them and they've been there for years so I don't want to know where it is okay just too much information council member all right before we move on anything else um we do need a motion to introduce this this item and then um and the motion would be to um yeah well well this is an introduction so um May if I could clarify so when you introduce you could pick one of the options that make it clear for the Planning Commission as to what one you were leaning towards we'll tell them about the other option as well but you could introduce it with one that would be great coun Wilburn uh oops um I move introduction of the ordinance which which one is it I think option one is where you were leaning option one um under agenda item 12a and is there a second Council M Calbert thanks mayor Al second all right we've got a motion by council member Wilburn and a second by council member Calbert Miss England Please call Ro Shaq yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes R yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes weome yes motion carries item 13 is public hearings and we have one tonight um 13A is an on sale intoxicating and Sunday on sale intoxicating liquor license for Crossroads delicate Tess Incorporated at 2795 Hedberg drive and Miss wishnack that's your report thank you mayor and council members uh again this is kind of like an intro but uh on the liquor licensing side as you may or may not be aware Crossroads Deli is in the process of selling uh not only the property but the business and so that is what brings us to tonight if um you weren't aware Crossroads has been there since 1996 and um I know a lot of people really enjoy that restaurant as well as myself so um uh not looking forward to not having that but it does seem to be continuing with the new owners um and the owner would be William Alex Gomez and he would be the sole proprietor and then there are other family members that are involved in purchasing of the actual property where the building sits um so the idea would be that um they would continue the current food to liquor ratio which is 97% to 3% 97% food and then they have their hours of operation listed in the packet um most notably 10 to 230 on Mondays and Tuesdays through Friday 10 to 2:30 and 4:30 to 8 um and then Saturdays and Sundays as well um what happens at this point is we start to begin our background check uh we complete that we come back to you at another council meeting and report back as far as what that background check entailed um so you would continue the public hearing until February 26 and then you would make a final determination at that time thank you mayor if you have any questions great uh thank you Miss wishnack um Council any questions on this item for staff anyone okay I'm not seeing any questions so I'm going to open the public hearing and if anyone would like to comment on this item whether it's the applicant or anyone in the audience um this is the opportunity to do that however we are not going to close a public hearing tonight it will come back on February 26 so the public hearing is open it stays open until then so there will be another opportunity to comment on this item um at a at a later meeting so but if if you'd like to comment please come forward state your name and address and uh we'll listen to what you have to say and if you don't want to comment we'll uh we'll just move forward is there anyone who like to comment all right seeing no one then I will bring it back to the council for a motion or or any comments you have Council M sha thank you mayor I will just say this was great news for me because the rumor mill really was swirling about Crossroads so this is positive um I will move that we continue the public hearing to February 26 for final consideration thank you counc sha is there a second counc Calbert thank you mayor I'll second and also just say there has to be somewhere in town for a good corn beef sandwich I'm just saying well there is it's called Crossroads Deli and uh and uh and I know that there's a lot of people that are breathing a sigh of relief that it looks like Crossroads Deli will continue to be with us for some time so we've got a motion a second um uh Miss England Please call R sha yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes we some yes motion carries item 14 is other business and we have uh several items 14a is items concerning walls or kia at 15700 and 15724 why is that a Boulevard and Mr Gordon you have that report I do thank you mayor we're just going to do a slide deck change uh quickly here and start rolling hold [Music] on okay abrica Abri I'll do it you keep I'll do it that was a was that that was an Adobe keystroke error that was my fault okay mayor and Council thank you this is the wer Kia uh request this is back to you from December and the requests that uh we've received from waler Automotive Group are the same they include five things there's the plats the master development plan is required by the 394 District conditional use permit uh for the use the site and building plan review which is customary for a commercial project like this that includes expansion permits and variances that all detail and then there's a flood plane alteration permit as well so those are the five components those are contained in the resolutions and the ordinance that was prepared for this evening uh if you're um uh to a point later where you want to vote on this uh again we need five votes because of the variance to uh firmly pass uh the requests from waler okay little bit of background I covered most of this here again it was December that we saw this last and the vote at that time was 4 to3 that was a an approval uh recommendation again because we needed five the vote failed um waler re uh asked the council if it would reconsider um the request and so what happened was uh on the 18th of December uh that was considered uh and you at that time said we'll accept a resubmittal of your plan plans under the current applications the current submitt that's on file uh sometime in the future and we kind of projected that would be a a month or so out likely and uh you voted unanimously to uh allow that resubmittal to indeed be reviewed so here we are this evening uh with uh the revised request uh very simply put um the request is a reduction of one level of the parking garage so it goes from four levels to three and that's kind of two upper levels on a deck and then a at grade kind of into the below grade um type structure that's still on that North null uh there are no changes to other parts of the south side of the site where the sails and servicing occur uh the layout around that that's all the same the access Drive is the the same and uh anything with the civil engineering required to accomplish all of the improvements Remains the Same as well so really no no substantial changes in in the plans other than that parking deck um as we noted in the Planning Commission report apart from the setback and Wetland buffer variances and the flood plane variance setback all the other aspect of the project meet those local and State uh Wetland regulations okay I'm going to step back for a moment and just give uh those of you that are new in the council and maybe some in the audience just a a background and where we've come with this project just to ground everybody I'll talk about a few other things that are kind of related to it and then we'll jump back in and get into the details of the revised application so U bear with me for a a little bit as we work through kind of where we've been so it was in October of 22 um where we started the concept review process uh for waler and that concept review looked different than the plan that we were looking at tonight and the plan that we've reviewed over this uh past fall that was a surface uh lot plan and the comments at that time were um both from the uh came out of neighborhood input uh Planning Commission review and city council review so in later that year into the next year in June uh we received the applications for the um formal plan for a surface parking lot for uh walls or kia that plan um needed quite a few variances um there were variances to dimensional standards for the parking lot there were variances to the ratio of parking uh stalls per square foot of building uh there were a number of things that were uh being requested that did not meet the code the Planning Commission reviewed that at um that June meeting they recommended denial because of all of those variances that later came to you in June and you suggested similar that there were too many variances to approve that request waler at that time uh requested that you not take action on that surface lot plan so they could go back and retool their design and uh come up with a different approach so a little later a few months later in September uh we had a new plan before the Planning Commission we'll call this the the first parking ramp plan and this was um again a a reconfiguration of that Northern null uh where those parking um stalls are and change of that from a surface parking ramp surface parking lot to a parking ramp uh the Planning Commission was a little thin on membership that night uh attending there was only four and they had a split votes that was a two to two uh recommendation uh to you which is essentially no recommendation at that point it's not a denial it's not an approval that's no recommendation two and two so you review that later in September um the applicant uh saw some of the comments that you had about um the the size um other other aspects of that and asked that you table it so you tabled it they tweaked their plans more um it was scheduled to come the next month they asked for another postponement um finally um we were able to I think have enough awareness of the projects probably a good way to talk about it we had had very little public involvement at all up until that point and we started getting public involvement so what we did was um had a virtual office hours meeting and we had uh four people come to that meeting and um provided some input that started to create some more awareness I think is probably a good way to talk about you know the project got some legs at that point in terms of you know what was happening in the immediate area and um so that was a good informational point in addition to other um information we had created we had a a project back sheet that we had put on the website uh to talk about um aspects of the project kind of pulling from the staff report and just making it kind of a simple um um FAQ of sorts um and then uh so then coming out of that uh the applicant uh revised uh plans again uh into the second ramp um proposal this is the one that was received in November again reviewed in in December um and that was the uh 43 um application we'll call it so that's a little bit about the public process that's happened um uh to date so then we'll call this the Third ramp plan uh being reviewed This was um the plan that was received on January 17th um we post did the plan on the project website the following Monday on the 22nd uh we used our Communications to um send out 339 um project alerts uh updates to the subscribers uh to this project uh 150 of those were open so that's a pretty good open rate pretty good hit rate and then um we also received public comments um for this packet U prior prior to the packet going out and as Mr Funk indicated there's um packet uh change memorandum uh comments as well so that's where we've been uh up until tonight uh with the public process and again this is just a a summary of those plans on the right is the current um revised ramp proposal and then preceding that are the next two ramp proposals uh the surface lot plan and the concept plan so um this is the fifth plan that we've seen okay let's um let's ground everybody a little bit in the area um we spent some time on this last time I think just with the number of um uh questions we've had coming to City Hall that you've probably received as well we'll just spend a little bit of time on uh the area here so again the 394 area uh Cor Corridor is zoned uh for a variety of uses and those uses are anything from residential to office and Commercial um it's certainly one of the higher profile corridors in the city in terms of investment and expectations for development there's a very high development standard no other zoning district has a higher development standard than the 394 District so the investment expectations um are are meant to match that this slide just shows the site plan on the property and you'll note here in red there's uh the property boundary there's actually two Parcels that comprise the property and then the site plan is overlaid on top of that so it sits um like a lot of other uh sites along 394 where it's it's more narrow on the on the Frontage and it's and it's really deep um these sites go back into the middle of the Wetland uh and in in this part of the area you'll note the other properties in the in the area are similarly um platted uh they're they're deep uh that includes the Residential Properties to the north so um residential commercial properties sharing the Wetland um and backing up to each other in a lot of cases um just a little bit of detail about this Wetland this is a a a large drainage basin in um our North West part of the city it's part of the mini hot Creek Watershed District um it's a multi-purpose uh drainage basin in that it's it's both flood plane it's Wetland it uh accepts drainage into it it also drains out in areas so there's there's a lot of exchange of water um we certainly know that there's there's a a wide variety of plant Community um animals in here we would expect we don't have a detail of all those animals but but there's probably quite a few in here um you know the Basin is 67 acres in size so again all those yards that that um ABD each other um that's a fairly large Wetland complex in minaka um there's about 16,000 feet of perimeter so you know you're at you're at three miles of perimeter uh around the exterior of of that and there's about 48 properties that uh have ownership in that Wetland area okay um going to kind of come down into the project now so we'll start talking about some project details um I mentioned that the the the thing that has changed about this application was the parking ramp um the access driveway which was discussed at length last time Still Remains as it was designed last time so uh it it straddles this thin area between the southern null and the northern null that um area is and it's about 30 ft wide really where the road is the and the road is going to be about 24t wide of of surface what shows in the red here is the area that's needed for the variance and so the variances um kind of overlap so there's there's a wetland setback variants that's requested from the edge of the Wetland which is right along the edges uh of that darker black line here so the road is designed to fit within the area that is not Wetland so there's no Wetland impact due to the road due to any other part of the project uh there's buffers on top of the Wetland Edge setback so there's um another um variance needed for the buffers and then there's also a flood plane area there as well that needs a setback variance again not not in into um any other part of of the site just this access road just for some context we did some stats on um this driveway it's 140 ft long um the site um the walls are site all of the Wetland Edge on the property there's about 3,000 ft of wetland Edge so those those Upland noes have 3,000 ft of of perimeter on them I mentioned the larger Wetland complex is about 16,000 uh feet of of wetland Edge so again lots of wetland here um in our previous staff report we had identified um areas where we projects where we had approved variances similar or for Wetlands um the slide that's on the screen now shows the one that's probably most similar to the waler one and this was was for a project just down the street at the Carlson Towers uh where the island property um had the traml crow company build an apartment complex on that almost 10 years ago now and so to access that Island a bridge was constructed and the bridge required Wetland setbacks and Wetland buffer setbacks so very similar the bridge is almost the same length as this driveway it's about 150 ft long and this is about 140 ft long so it's very very similar um in terms of um what was needed to connect those two buildable areas all right diving down into the plans a little more this is just a comparison of the December plan to the January 24 plan again four levels down to three um the height of the structure is also less as you would expect so the highest point on the previous plan was 40 7 that comes down 12 ft to 35 and then most of this new structure at the three LEL structure is about 28 ft so if you imagine a single family home that's that's about as tall as a as a typical single two story single family home there is an exposed side um where the Elevator Shaft is um that rises to 47 ft on uh the new plan the footprint um on on these are are similar um square footage is down a little bit again it's that a lot excuse me um with that fourth story being gone and then the parking stalls go from 515 down to 385 so that gives you some detail on on those plans these are the elevations that were provided in the packet again just showing um the reductions in height uh the top screen shows the north elevation again generally 12 ft lower all the way around elevator and and the primary part of it the other thing you'll note that was identified is that that wall um on the North side is completely opaque there are no openings in it so there's no transfer of of light sound it's it's completely solid that's unchanged from the December to the January plan and then the bottom slide of the slide shows again just the elevation of the ramp from a west elevation East Elevation would be similar as well but again very uh uh very similar designs just shorter um this shows one of the depictions that were in the packet of what the project would look like um this is a this is a closeup so this is on site but it's showing the detail of what the Landscaping package would be around the north side so in addition to ground coverage shrubs and trees that would be planted um the applicant is proposing a Divine system to grow up along that opaque wall system just to give it uh some more um buffering and softening uh through uh through the growing season so that's on the North side I kind of identified the 394 was a very um prescriptive District um it has high expect expectations um and maybe just the mayor lived through the 2008 update uh of the ordinance but we had interest um from a neighboring property at that time to do a new parking uh and Auto Sales and display business that's the BMW and the ordinance wouldn't allow what they wanted to do so at that time the council said okay if we are going to allow another dealership in the community we do need to update our ordinance so we went through uh many months of updating uh the ordinance basically putting some more modern standards I'll call them into how sales uh display of cars uh was to happen on these Lots changing it from sort of a surface model to a structured model meaning um you can still Park cars outside but they need to have a higher level of screening and then there's a ratio so you can't overpark your site with cars for sale and have a small building for service sales you know those types of administrative functions so the ordinance offer two two approaches you can still do that outside storage but your ratio is got to be much lower and if you want to have more opportunity to park cars then they need to be in a structure essentially so those are the the real changes that have come from that 2008 update we have not had a uh dealership since BMW that again just followed that ordinance build to this standard so Walser Kia is is only the second um after that BMW to build under the new standard we've also had some questions so kind of backing out again from the project a little bit um in the last uh month we've had questions about environmental assessment worksheets that's a state process for environmental review and eaw is is essentially a review of projects that are are large in size and scope um the state sets minimums for a number of categories for different types of uses on where where you might be getting into that large and large scope type project and if you're if you meet the minimum uh threshold they call it then you need to go through an environmental assessment worksheet process to determine not if you approve or deny the project but what are some of the mitigating things that need to happen with the project if it is to go forward so just some some background about an eaw it's it's it's an informational process it's identifying potential impacts and ways to reduce those impacts it's not a process um that we use to approve or deny a project we are the rgu the responsible governmental unit which means we take authority for the eaw process and we own it but that's not a substitute for what we're doing tonight okay um for this project if it was going to meet a mandatory category it would have to be over 300,000 Square F feet and we're we're a little more than half of that project size tonight so it doesn't meet the minimum threshold required to trigger an a mandatory eaw um the thing that it also doesn't do is um answer specific project details and we've heard some of that about Wetland impacts um the ew would not answer those specific questions um as if we were to entertain an eaw process so it's going to provide some information but it won't answer the questions that are on the table tonight a lot of things that the eaw would review are are things that we review with our development applications um except for the wildlife components uh greenhouse gas emissions um most of the other ones we we touch in some way shape or form through our own development review process with the people that we have on staff uh to review aspects of the code um we touch many of these things already okay so I'm going to kind of conclude here with just some summary comments um in terms of how we view this staff uh we looked at the project if it were uh an appropriate use of the property uh we feel that this new application the thre level parking ramp project is still a uh good use of the property it meets all of the standards uh for the 394 it's it's consistent with the expectations of the 394 district and it's um in a in a reasonable place to have these occur is the design reasonable yes the building we think is thoughtfully designed it's attractive it's consistent with the standards in the in the PID district and it let it again reflects that high level of investment that we expect in the 394 District um the parking ramp question again that's a that's one of those two choices for an automobile you Mobile use um uh having uh these uh enclosed parking uh stalls in a structure meets that standard um and it's consistent with the ordinance so our recommendation uh to the council is uh to adopt those three resolutions uh and ordinance of those requests that were previously identified and shown on the screen here if you're of the uh flavor to take this on and vote tonight this is a five vote item as as noted and we need five affirmative votes because of the variance to approve it uh we do uh wish that you do put your reasons for uh approval or denial uh on the record and um and if there are ordinance standards for those that you want to reference please do that as well so that is um our recommendation to you um an alternative action if you were wishing to deny this request this evening uh then what we want you to do again put your reasons on the record for what standards aren't met um we'll take those from tonight's meeting we would request that you table action tonight and then we'll bring this back on the 12th of February uh with a resolution that contains all those uh findings uh for your action again so again that's a that's a denial path again shouldn't take action on that tonight could take action on the 12th of February and again that's only a four vote item if if you need that mayor I think that's the rest of the comments that I've got I've got a ton of detail if you have questions but I'll turn it back to you and the council thank you thank you uh thank you Mr Gordon I think you reviewed the history and did a nice job of kind of um setting up the context so um what we'll do first is turn to council and ask if you have any questions of staff that uh you would like to ask at this point Council M Wilburn so I have two questions um one about the project directly and one um to do with uh notifications so I I had some Comm Communications with a resident who was um concerned that not all of the neighbors got the postcard that were sent out and then was also well at least one got him um was also concerned okay let's okay let's we're not going to do that now um okay um and that even uh you know that not everyone has access to email so that um even when they receive the postcards it's not a lot of time to prepare to make it to the meeting um so I was wondering if you could just clarify the the notification timing for how that all works for when you send out notifications yeah Mr Gordon mayor and Council council member Wilburn our uh typical process is that we we always want to notify people through various means and so that's our our postcard which is a tried andrue method for decades now um the email s is is also a really newer component that when we get project um subscribers we're able to then you know push updates out for changes that have happened on the website and the website is always there as well so you know this was a quicker U turnaround for sure than um what we what we normally would have on the front end of the process like this project had where we were sending things out a couple of weeks before the Planning Commission meeting you know having a date for Council on their as well so people could see the path going forward but um I think with the engagement that we've had you know I don't know that you know we probably missed you know anybody's attention um certainly the timing was a little more compressed though than we typically have right so um just to be clear though so you can't until the proposal comes before before you and is put on the calendar then nothing can be sent out and so because these timelines were closer together there wasn't as you weren't able to send things out as early as you might have yeah mayor council member Wilber and I think this this was um you know an effort to do everything we could to to identify you know everybody that we' come in contact with um you know of note too we're we're still you know thinking that we have a a a new clock of sorts for our statutory limitations on review of 60 days so we do have to keep this moving um without um extensions from the development the developer that um we don't have at the moment we don't believe okay so my second question is about the um environmental review um so I want to be clear that I understood what you're saying that even if there had been an environmental review it wouldn't address the concerns um that some residents have about the effect on the wildlife that this project might have yeah mayor and Council M Wilburn I think there's a few things um that the environmental review process would pick up for uh inventorying um things that uh we don't review at a staff level like I mentioned the wildlife as an example um that that would pick up those types of wildlife that would be generally present in this area without a specific and highly detailed Wildlife survey uh which are kind of difficult and exhaustive so um that's probably the one thing that maybe um I've seen in comments anyway about wildlife in in the area that you know we we certainly don't do but again our our our or are set up to look at development impacts um in a in a way that is friendly to the environment um not not trying to identify real specifics on specific Wildlife um but a a general you know concern for not having impacts to Wildlife and people okay one final question I'll let someone else have a chance may I add I'm sorry before you uh mayor and CC council member Wilburn um I do want to recognize that we have staff that are trained and understand Wildlife so I I don't want you to think that we don't have any expertise in that area but it's just I think I would concur with Lauren's comments but we do have staff that are and along that line so um the in December when we were looking at the project I believe um staff indicated the the land bridge that was proposed um that there would be no permanent impact to the wet lands and so can you go through I mean what sort of review did the staff do to come to that conclusion yeah mayor and council member Wilburn council members the the slide here that shows the landbridge um driveway is completely out of any Wetland area so there is zero Wetland impact with this propos proposal um like a lot of projects that have a wetland on the site um our natural resources staff will go out and evaluate the whole site uh they'll take also a more detailed look at Wetlands uh larger larger Wetlands like this usually um require a little bit more attention and in that case um a technical evaluation panel a te is usually convene for those types of projects and what that means is it's a it's a panel that includes uh staff from the board of Soil and Water Resources uh hanpen County Conservation District Min Creek Watershed District in this case with this Watershed district and then City staff and so they what they will do is they will evaluate uh the Wetland and use the Wetland delineation and Wetland report that was provided by the developer by a professional Wetland scientist and and evaluate that report and determine if it's if it's correct or incorrect if there's any changes that are needed to it so they'll establish where the Wetland boundary edges are and any other particulars about the Wetland of note so um there's been multiple reviews of the Wetland by various different parties and they've all concurred that there is no Wetland impact for the proposal thank you Mr Gordon are there other questions council member Foster Bolton thank you mayor um I I heard you know you mentioned that BMW is the last um development that went in after these ordinances and from some of the residents they said that BMW did an environmental assessment do you know anything about that or the results Mr Gordon mayor and uh council member Foster Bolton I was I was here during that review um they did not require an environmental assessment worksheet so there was no EA eaw perform for that project it was also below the threshold required to trigger the minimum um category review uh so there were other aspects of that project environmental things like this one that would reviewed a staff a little more specifically for various um things about Wetland and impact um but there was not a not a formal process yeah go ahead sorry um and then when you say um however you vote be specific in in why you're voting for that and um I just want to be clear about like so in terms of the variance for the land bridge that's what needs or two of them that that the five the five votes and so um when when you say be specific about your comments can you say a little bit more about that Mr Gordon oh sorry sorry me ask no no you're good you're good I'm gonna turn it to Mrs heiney thank you uh mayor and members of the council what the courts generally require when they review decisions is they want to understand what the basis of the council's decision was and uh the council does need to make written findings a fact so um with respect to the approval there's very detailed written findings of fact in the in the staff report in the resolutions those those are all very detailed so if the council was going to vote in favor of those resolutions you wouldn't necessarily have to add anything but it is good for the public to understand why you are supporting the project if you wanted to um we're not inclined to support the project then the staff recommendation is to um table this matter and bring it back and the staff needs to understand why the council doesn't support it and the more specific that you can be in identifying this is the the issue that I have or the concern that I have um that would help the staff in preparing those written findings of fact because ultimately the decision of the council has to be supported by findings a fact thank you Council other questions council member Shaq thank you mayor one of the things when we H when this was before us in December that we talked a little bit about or that you presented on and I could use a refresher for is um in many ways related to the Wetland buffer and the flood plane the conditions on the site and some of the storm water um Management on the site is improved with this project can you just give me a little refresher on that mayor and council member sha did I hear you correctly say isn't proved improved improved the things the things that are improved correct that there yes Theo particularly like the storm water management and I think some of the the variances if this develop if what's there was built today would require more substantial variances than what this project is requiring and just to clarify not an not an improvement over the previous surface lot plan but just what improvements does this project bring to surface water in general correct the conditions on the site versus the conditions on the site today so this project versus the conditions on the site today I thank you I appreciate that so uh today the the current um building which is in the same location generally as the sales and service building uh has no surface water management on site so what happens with drainage off of the parking lot and the roof uh it just drains wherever it's draining into uncontrolled essentially um and it will make its way into the Wetland so what that means is um you know pollutants um you know sand salt you know carb oils typical things like that don't have any treatment before they reach the Wetland any development minat Tonka requires of of of a Redevelopment that's this size will require surface water management or or storm water practices be in place and those those practices essentially ensure that the water that is leaving the site meaning draining into the Wetland eventually uh is clean and that so it will clean clean the pollutants uh capture those into a lot of engineered Chambers um those chambers have to be cleaned and maintained regularly um we also have practices for um salting um sanding that developments have to abide by um so there's a number of things that improve not only the water um uh quality leaving the site but um also improve just the the management of the site which is probably the most important thing just keeping the site you know generally clean and keeping those pollutants from entering the environment stream so um that's a real quick summary of surface water thank you other questions council member R yes thank you mayor um I'll I'll ask your patience I do have a number of questions I'm new at this and especially given the fact that we didn't have a specific recommendation from the CL Planning Commission at it's kind of uh meant that I've done a deep dive into this to try to to you know understand all the nuances and there are many uh in this project so again can you confirm to me that there will be no wetland in Phil as part of this project is that a yes or no yes there is no Wetland impact no Wetland fill all right um and then secondly I just to reiterate or to confirm my understanding from your previous answer just now um that essentially the water quality um the runoff and the storm water management situation will actually be improved um relative to the current condition at this point um and where will that impact I guess this is a two-parter um because this is kind of a tale of two Wetlands it seems like um regarding this project and I don't think you have anything here that indicates that but if you can uh put up that slide again that shows yeah the Wetland um and indicate where the main Wetland that's facing the neighbors is is uh if you can indicate that with the cursor I don't know if you can um that's yeah up there and that the uh neighbors houses the neighborhood houses are up there you have this buildable site this 3.9 uh Upland acre building site where the ramp would be is that correct correct and then you have the access road um if you can indicate where that is and the variances that are being required are for that access road that connects those two buildable pieces of property that do not affect the wetlands is that correct that is correct thank you um so furthermore then am I understanding correctly then that the variances are only for the access road they do not concern the ramp and they do not concern the main dealership building um that the access ramp and again I'm just trying to clarify doesn't actually fall within Wetlands it is still in buildable area but what's the issue is is that it needs a reduced buffer area just to allow for that access road is that correct that is correct okay so next I would ask if you could speak to the hydrology of the site um what is the current drainage P pattern for this property is it generally north to south so is water draining is Downstream stream from that main wetlands area again if you'll indicate that which is a directly south of the resident's neighborhood and that big main Wetland area is that direct then is the hydrology uh pattern generally Downstream from that um I would say that there's a couple of different drainage patterns here so there is some drainage that happens to the west from the site into this lower area Wetland and flood plane area along the edge um that is isn't exactly connected to the east side ditch we'll call it and that's that ditch is where most of the water flows out of this Wetland under 394 and then South eventually into Mina Creek so and into another Wetland is that correct yeah there'd be many of them before they hit the well there's another Wetland on the other side of 394 is that correct I just I walked the site a number of times now yep okay um and so my understand can you just confirm my understanding then with this improved storm water management system um which is going to you know not only contain runoff to make sure that no there's no FP plane variation um in this plan that that clean and filtered water then would be coming off both of these buildings would be held in basins uh basically to contain and filter the water so that you don't have flooding situations because of the decre inre or increased surface area it will then that cleaner water will then flow underneath Into the Storm sewer system um and also underneath 394 to another Wetland and eventually into minihaha Creek is that am I understanding that correctly yes okay um let's see so um are we allowed to Mr Mayor uh make questions or comments as well at this point we are in the questioning phase not the comment phase because um we will create the have the opportunity for public comment as well so we don't want to comment before we've heard got all the all the information okay one last question then uh I was uh looking at an aerial view of myself and and trying to compare the height of um surrounding buildings um such as BMW the neighboring apartment buildings and other commercial buildings along this strip which also uh are adjacent to the wetlands could you do you have information on those or a slide that depicts those or anything like that mayor and councel I do have a slide and it is not in my slide deck tonight I apologize um I can give you some general numbers though um on surround surrounding surrounding sites I actually done my own research on this so I'm happy to help um I have the BMW is 60 ft um high or at least according to the building permit I believe I've seen 59 ft uh the neighboring office building is 50 ft Nissan is 40t Lexus is 30 ft I do not have Chevrolet if you have that or the neighboring apartment building on directly on the other side but I my understanding is is that directly next door the BMW is at almost 60 ft is that correct that is correct and then the apartment building on the other side of this property I don't think I have that but I from a a basic uh look see when I was out on site I would say it's three stories through so at least 30 ft I would say that's that's probably between 30 and 40t and then again can you remind me what uh this proposed building is going to be uh the proposed parking R structure the parking ramp structure the tallest point uh is 35 ft the majority of it is about 28 ft in height and again what's the maximum height for a single story uh family home single family home um 35 ft is code regulated for a single family home okay all right that's all I have for now thanks thank you uh council member are there other other questions for staff anyone uh Council M Wilburn um so could we we received an email that's in the in the addendum uh from former council member sheppy um discussing what he believes is a conflict between the uh Landscaping ordinance and the parking requirements and so can you address that yeah mayor and council member Wilburn um so there are a couple of different things that are happening in the ordinance in terms of trying to provide buffering uh for these types of uses and when I need to pull up the Cod here just one moment yeah when when you're to a point where you're um away from surface parking which would have a higher standard for buffering and screening and into a ramp condition like we are with this project then the expectation for buffering isn't quite as high as you would have it with a surface uh condition so in essence the structure is serving as the the buffering for a surface car situation so the ramp itself provides the necessary um screening of the cars um and the the ramp isn't necessarily needing as much screening or it not there so the ramp the ramp not being the problem we're trying to screen the use which is car storage not screen buildings so there's a little bit of a distinction in the ordinance about the intent and you have to look at it kind of as a whole um in that again we're not going to try and Screen every building at every height and that's that's not realistic what we are trying to do is is screen buffer uses that would have an adverse impact negative impact on surrounding properties so the the structured condition does does that the the additional Landscaping just helps soften it I would say council member I'm sorry that just uh triggered a few other questions I apologize um I also had a number of con consent or resident emails uh regarding this and especially regarding um a indication of a desire to go back to uh the first plan the surface slot um which can I just confirm since I wasn't here that was before my time uh that the number of variances the 11 and and and related environmental concerns was a key reason that staff uh recommended and then Planning Commission concurred uh decided not to recommend that uh plan and then city council then concurred as well is that correct that is correct um and am I correct in my understanding from staff report again my apologies I ask your patience that staff is recommending approval of the current as well as the previous rant plan because it conforms to the PID it does not fill in any wetlands and um that the main building and ramp are both in Upland buildable areas and do not require any variance and then I understand from the applicant which is also related a previous meeting again before my time um that less salting and plowing will be required with a ramp as opposed to a surface lot which will further reduce potential environmental harm or all of am I understanding am I getting that that you you got that that is that is true okay thank you thank you for confirming my understanding um and then some other issues that um had been brought to my attention were concerned um about uh fire uh access and is my understanding correct that a building like this has to have either a sprinkler or an Access Road in order to receive construction permits is that correct yeah uh council member ra at the time of building permit if the project gets to that point that's a condition of of the land use approvals so the building permits would have to include a fire suppression system there would be reviewed by by staff uh to ensure it meets fire code okay sorry a couple more I apologize um so I understand from your uh discussion and your report this evening that the city does not have any zon zoning ordinance or other ordinance specifically related to Wildlife however my understanding is is that we do have to abide by certain federal statutes and state statutes which would include the migratory bird act um I looked into this because this was a concern that had been brought up at previous meetings and maybe you can confirm or deny my own research on this my understanding is that the migratory bird act relates uh regulates the hunting and destruction of birds not the development related items and so since this really isn't applicable here because we're not hunting birds here and there's no infill of the Wetland so you know this isn't destroying habitat is that correct M wishnack mayor and council member Rome I'll answer that one um I think that it's important to point out that yes The Endangered Species Act city has to comply with that at all times um I'll give an example we had a a house under construction uh where there was an endangered bat uh found on the property and they had to stop Construction for a period of time during um what was the kind of no construction time period uh that was designated by the federal government so that does happen um we have experience in that uh we have staff members who understand the compliance issues with the Endangered Species Act if that were to happen we would have an expert come in and and advise us on uh anything that we didn't know internally and um obviously make that um project comply with any of those acts but again the First Act the migratory bird act that is not um about development itself so I think it's important to point that out um that that's about the destruction of of birds or nests or habitat thank you um and just a follow up to that do we know of any endangered species at this point that are within the wetlands of which again which I understand we're not in in filling but in the area we have not um identified any anything um there's lots of um Wildlife mentioned in the letters um I don't know that there are any that are actually endangered so a lot of people mentioned the trumpeteer swan um there was another I think it was Sand Hill crane Etc they're not endangered on The Endangered Species Act okay thank you for that um yeah I think I think that's all I have for right now thank you for answering those questions thank you council member um Council are there other questions from you I don't want to cut anybody off anyone all right you know me I'm always good for a few questions and and my questions really pertain to the variance because um let's be honest if there weren't a variance on this we would not be talking about this tonight because it would have already passed four to three by a previous Council but there was a there is a variance and that is that is the reason we're here talking about it tonight and so I want to focus specifically on the variants and and you know I think we get so close to this sometimes that we we um kind of assume everybody knows but I would just like staff to provide um so I'll make this a question we're on Jeopardy so we have to make it a question you know um could you please explain what the difference between a setback is and an incursion is because we're talking about potential you know we're talking about that that's a relevant topic and I we want to be very clear what a setback is yeah mayor uh specifically for um what we're talking about this evening the Wetland uh setbacks are the distance uh required by the code uh for improvements um from that Wetland Edge and the the Wetland setback also has a buffer kind of within it as well so there's almost like two layers of of protection against the Wetland where we expect development to be back and then we expect the buffer to have native plant materials in it to help you know soften that edge create some habitat and an ecosystem for plants and animals to to live along that Wetland uh Edge so the the setback is is in place for environmental reasons um uh we we don't generally touch wetlands in minaka it's very very rare that a wetland is touched uh we have instances where there are setback variances as in this case uh to get to developable parts of the property um but again the the setback variance uh standard is is a part of our environmental ordinances for for those reasons okay and then I'm going to follow up that question is you know why do we have setbacks I mean if if you're not if you're not overlapping a property or opening overlapping why do we have setbacks yeah setbacks are mayor there in Council for um all kinds of reasons in minak we have many many setbacks um and they're for various purposes buildings for you know light and air around you know homes and buildings um setback variances for environmental conditions Wetlands flood plane uh those are meant to again create a natural Edge create uh opportunities for wildlife and habitat to grow um and not uh pinching on each other so that's that's the general purpose of those so that we just don't have Urban Development you know wall to wall to wall very good very good and then and then just to get to the nature of variances um I know that in our consent agenda tonight on a totally different topic I believe we passed a variance we voted as a council to pass a variance tonight it wasn't a big deal it was a relatively small variance and it was not uh but we we passed that as part of the ENT agenda but perhaps you could just talk um a little bit about how unusual or usual um variances are in a community like minaka that is has unique topography does not have a grid Road system um there are a lot of things that make our community unique and so how common is it for the council to be asked to uh pass a variance mayor we get a lot of variances in minona because of uh a number of things that are usually pre-existing conditions and so um for example older neighborhoods that were built in the 50s precede our current zoning ordinance and the standards by which they built are sometimes different than our current code so to allow people to continue to use their homes or other improvements uh we need variances from time to time to allow those structures to to adapt to um people's uh living conditions and and Pleasures uh this uh involves more of a environmental variants um those are common as well where we have land features that uh aren't always uh in in step with where we may need to do other improvements so uh this is this is one of those examples where you can have buildable land uh that's separated by something that doesn't meet all of the standards as you may want to have the land designed you know so you're not going to impact the resource but you are going to need uh a a variance and alleviation from the standard from the code in order to access you know what's what exists on on the site so those are those are not uncommon um and again we're we're about putting um those particular situations in in a spot where you can still protect the environment um you can give a good um uh justification uh for the variants and we think that this is a a reason to do that for this project tonight very good so I've got two more questions um one is takes the opposite T um you know okay well we pass a lot of variances so does that mean Minon has no standards and if you have a variance just ask for anything because you'll get it from this Council or from this uh from the city you know help me be more Discerning on variances right yeah these are these are the variance question mayor and counsel is always about the Practical difficulty of the situation uh that is in front of you and um you know that that's it it's um it's scrutinous um not only does our code back it but state law also uh provides the basis for granting the very and if you can't meet uh the the tests for that the Practical difficulties test um then you shouldn't issue a variance that that's that's the law that's the reality um they're not willy-nilly um given out and um they have to go through a process that's that's vetted publicly uh to do that we can't we can't give variances as a staff they has to come through a public body there has to be public input in order to do that and the and the and the either the Planning Commission or the council depending on the project and what's involved with applications has to make that make that finding great well thank you that's that's the extent of my questions I was going to go back one more time but but I I appreciate you bearing with me on that because I think it's important as we consider this and Council Council woman council member ra council person whatever ra um um you have another question so go ahead yeah I'm I apologize so a couple more apologies this is good um thank you mayor I understand that the applicant I just remembered this has offered to perform a post construction survey um of the Wetland areas of the site uh is that correct I mean and was I reading that correctly and can you elaborate on what this would entail and you know kind of what information would be generated have you received any additional information from the applicant on this Miss wishnack mayor and council member R um that has been something that has been discussed by the applicant I think that's a question you should have for the applicant to ensure that they're willing to do that um I think the terminology is a little bit different than what I um understood and that was a post construction analysis okay not not a survey so to me that that says two different things um so just to be clear over the record I'll hold that question for the applicant then thankk you and very good and I and I appreciate that last any further questions counciler sha thank you mayor um mayor's line of questioning mayor's questioning led me to one um kind of thought that Upland area um let's say what was going to be you know something everybody loves like the best ice cream shop in the world or something um that's my bias um is there any way to that Upland area is buildable and accessible without some kind of variance for the access Drive mayor and council member Shaq I think if you had an ice cream shop with a cart and not a constructed building and you wanted to walk through a a wood chip path to get there that's probably the only way that that happens in a in a built condition where you're building infrastructure and buildings um I don't know if there are any alternatives to what's being proposed tonight any other questions Council and then I was jumping ahead we will hear from the public but I think I should allow the applicant to come forward and make any comments that they would like to make so we have all the information on the table before we hear from um residents on their thoughts on this proposal so um as usual come state your name and address and uh welcome and thank you for being here tonight and I'm sorry I almost uh skipped over you it's not it would not be the first mistake the mayor's made in running a meeting uh my name is David Phillips I'm the architect for Waller Automotive with me I have David bade of Westwood engineering the civil engineering and we've also brought Mark chog uh Mark is a uh Wetland scientist and expert and he will address many comments here I have a very short um uh PowerPoint I'll need I need training every time you're not alone you know there's a echo here um you've all seen the picture of the existing property uh the billboard is down uh we're proposing a new dealership this dealership will have 40 to 50 high-paying jobs meaning over $60,000 doll a year uh and I want to point out this is a new business not a relocation we aren't taking any jobs from Bloomington and bringing them to minaka these are newly created jobs um as uh discussed when we started this project we proposed an ongr parking lot we proposed prvious pavement Solutions um and several items knowing that a parking ramp was required but thinking there'd be a tradeoff uh it was made clear to us that we were not going to get approval on an on grade lot so we abandoned that and brought um the ramp uh a lot of talk about variances tonight and during this process we resolved all the variances except the ones that are there and that included we had to adjust the footprint of the building on the south portion so we meet all the setbacks other than uh some existing uh uh on the very south property line from the highway um our revised design in December 4th had a number of uh items we pulled back the size of the ramp in terms of the footprint uh we added solid walls on the North side uh that'll prevent lights as you come up the ramp you won't see lights they'll hit the wall um we added additional Landscaping where we pulled back the ramp from South to from north to south and we also raised the burm along the north wall so our perceived height is under 30 feet on the north wall um the uh let me go on to the next one the basic change has been discussed tonight is we got a lot of discussion about the height and the number of cars in the ramp at the previous meeting so waler wants to maintain a good relationship we we've lowered the building by a full deck it's about 130 cars we've taken off the site and lowering it down I think that's been discussed by Lauren very well it's a two elevated levels instead of three uh we talk about the onr causeway um we had investigated a bridge much as they had looked at in Carlson and it was determined that would have more impact than what we're proposing again I mentioned we've made a smaller building to eliminate some I brought I brought some comparison photographs this is a three elevated tier shot of the building from Ranch viw Court this is the two elevated tier you see the building kind of goes down uh from uh gleon uh you can barely see the building at three and it pretty much disappears too uh this from towns Road you see the building I've got the arrow pointing it and it goes down to wind so you can see it's pretty dramatic to have lowered the height of the building from the neighbor point of view from what they will see uh again we're talking about softening the uh north wall area of the building will plant Ivy and that should grow up over time and and give you a green screen if you will on the building uh I told you I'd be fast I'd like to introduce Mark um chog of chog Environmental Services again he's a wetland scientist and expert Waller's asked him to review and comment on this project on that he had nothing to do with the project so this is strictly his review thank you I'll Stick Around for questions right thank you we'll leave that up for M Koh welcome thank you Mr mayor council my name is Mark chog and uh I am a professional Wetland scientist certified by the society for wetland scientists I'm uh owner and president of COG environmental services company and have been for 27 years I'm also the Wetland consultant agent for the city of Rogers and the City of Mayor Minnesota so I review projects on behalf of those cities and um to ensure that they comply with the state and city requirements so I don't want to re repeat a lot of what has already been said regarding the wetlands there's a really nice summary that was provided and um and I basically would concur with a lot of that the delineation was done by Westwood it was determined to be accurate by the city's Wetland specialist and by the technical evaluation panel there was a wetland functional assessment completed to determine that the Wetland qualified as a managed to Wetland therefore it would qualify or would require a 16 .5 foot buffer adjacent to the Wetland um there were earlier plans that were considered and those plans involved up to a half an acre of wetland impact through the process that the Wetland rules known as sequencing the changes to the plan were made so that the Wetland impacts were eliminated and the current plan has no Wetland impacts at all which I think is a remarkable accomplishment considering the site is surrounded by Wetland on three sides um I do a lot of project reviews up in Rogers and it's a very rare thing that their projects go through with no Wetland impacts minona is very unique and the respect that they provide to the wetlands um the uh there was a comment or a question made about uh potential for post-development conditions in the Wetland and so my company completed an analysis is of what we would expect the Wetland quality to be after the project occurred so knowing what was proposed on the site um we could revise the uh tool that we use it's called A Min RAM and we could insert the future conditions and from that the outcome was there would be no change in the quality or the management ranking of the Wetland based on the project um I also want to comment on the southern port of the site where there will be improvements that that point was already made but the current facility does not have any uh storm water treatment and it does not have any Wetland buffers and so the uh proposed project would add buffers and would provide water quality treatment at the southern end associated with the building so again I think the team has done a really good job the review process has accomplished what you would want it to accomplish in whittling down the Wetland impact acts to nothing and other than the uh variance for the buffer and um the setbacks uh the project is a really nice job in minimizing well impacts thank you Mr chog and and I did I get your name pronounced properly I want to get it right so thank you for that right on thank you okay well done thank you for that and do we are you guys done or any comments go ahead it's it's your nickel right now yep absolutely uh good evening I'm David bade with Westwood engineering uh again director of commercial development I'm happy to answer any questions on the site the Civil the storm water of the flood plane U but again as we get a little bit further I think one of the comments was a post post construction survey again just to chime in a little bit on that basically what we would be doing is uh providing a survey of the storm water facilities themselves to make sure that they're actually functioning as designed and that is typical on pretty much any any St storm water facility that we're designing and constructing these days so not a full site survey necessarily although that could be done but this is really specific to the storm water features themselves thank you Council any questions for the team CC Wilburn that's what we're here for so no no problem just really quickly though and um so uh for Mr Cog does did your um wetland survey in include any assessment of Wildlife and potential um effects on wildlife in the area there's been well there's a lot of concern about the wildlife but like specifically someone um mentioned that the putting in the pilings that constant noise that goes on for as long as it takes for that to happen that that could uh affect wildlife and even cause some to to leave the area so I was just wondering if if if it strictly just the the water and the storm drainage or if you evaluated Wildlife at all yeah there are some questions in the assessment tool that deal with Wildlife but it doesn't get into that level of detail um council member ra thank mayor um yes thank you Mr chog um for that presentation I do have a couple of questions um regarding the wildlife are you aware as a consultant and somebody who is certified in this field I was just wondering if you you know even though maybe for this particular project um you didn't assess this are you aware of any peer-reviewed studies that do study the effect of either long-term noise pollution or short-term kind of project like this uh you know noising for like pile driving are you aware of any studies in this area I'm not thank you um any other questions before you go okay I think we're good thank you very much thank you and do design team any other last comments all right we're going to we're going to let you go and um we will take comments from the audience um so the way it works is that um please come up and state your name and address and share your comments um I ask that you please be brief it's already 20 to9 and uh people do want to get out here this evening but we want we want to hear you out so I'm going if you can keep your comments to three minutes or less that's great I'm going to hit the timer and if it's 5 minutes when at 5 minutes I'm going to ask you to stop but but please um please come up state your name and uh we want to hear what you have to say Okay me a Big M good evening good evening uh my name is Jim Murdoch I'm at 121 ranchy Lane South which is directly north of the uh building in in question uh on the POS on the opposite side of the wetlands now first I'd like just to uh discuss this quickly hopefully but uh I've been this is my third time up talking about this and it's been over a period of years uh when I got the what the information from the last meeting in December I got it 5 days after the meeting I was totally unaware of it and a lot of our other neighbors I'd say well did you get that or no they didn't have any idea about it so as far as not having a lot of neighbors and so forth uh taking uh taking a lot of interest in the project I think a lot of us were never never really involved or never never informed okay uh first of all uh what kind of like to mention is uh you're talking about buffers from the wetlands in essence this property is an island in that Wetlands so I'm very concerned about uh and it sounds like I I know the last time I was here we were talking about the permeable uh parking lot and so forth and that would have been horrible because all the salt and everything else would have gotten into the into the wetlands I'm just wondering how are you going to enforce the uh the idea of uh making some kind of uh sewage treatment plant or something I've had on the property I don't know if that's something you can you can say okay you actually have to do that or not um you know I'll ask staff to make note of these please make your comments we'll we'll respond after everyone's made their comments and and revisit the questions that have been asked okay uh but the last one of the previous meetings there was supposedly a like 185 car storage limit on the property and now they've raised it to 3 out of 85 does that having do with the uh with with the ramp being versus a flat lad or are we still going and know so that was one of the big objections was it was there's too much parking is we're not going to answer those question well you have questions we'll make a note of them and then after everyone's had a chance to speak then staff will come back and answer your questions and then please address your questions here okay thank you okay uh I was wondering is the building itself the parking ramp is it open roof in other words what I'm thinking about is uh is the light pollution going to be an issue and then um I guess that's probably about it as far as questions go just I'm just concerned with uh with the light pollution and there is is a lot of wildlife out there I definitely know that so so the council will get the answers to those questions before we deliberate okay do you have any comments you wanted to make or is that it uh well I said it's probably a little bit better than the original plan but still seems to be a little overbuilt especially I'm I'm afraid of all those cars out there okay thank you is there anyone else like to comment evening good evening uh my name is Charles Miley and I live at 271 bellweather path I'm one of the uh neighbors to the north of the uh of the proposed development and the my main comment is really a request for clarification um one of my concerns has always been the lighting of the ramp uh that night and um uh Mr Phillips the architect for for walzer addressed this at the uh December 4th meeting uh and I paid very close attention to his comments on how the lighting would be handled uh and took reasonable notes on it and so uh it remained a concern to mine though so I read the minutes um that are published from the December 4th meeting and they present his comments a little bit differently so I'm asking for clarification on that um the minutes uh state that uh um uh he uh Mr Phillips explained one half hour after closing the lighting within the ramp could be could be dimmed down to 10% so as not to disturb the neighbors and the lights on top of the ramp would would be uh turned off completely after U that that's what the minutes state which is quite were different in character from what my note said uh so right before coming tonight I reviewed the video of the December 4th meeting and it kind of validated my notes from that meeting uh and U actually it was council member Wilbur Who asked on December fourth about the lighting of the ramp and uh Mr Phillips response to her question um as shown on the video said uh that 1 half hour after closing we will dim it down to no more than 10% so that's quite a bit different from could be turned down Mr Phillips stated that we will turn down down to no more than 10% and on the video it says that the top polls will turn off 100% after the last employee leaves so um I was reassured by the comments that Mr Phillips made at at the meeting uh on December 4th but I was concerned when I read the minutes because it it didn't seem to be uh as definite that that uh would be addressed that way and and it kind of brings up the question of uh is that ever written uh before approval is G given you know specifics of a lighting plan which for the neighbors to the north um will be extremely important and really not something that we would like to see uh left open to you know uh to the company uh to decide later on understood and I will um staff will comment on that as well but I think we can put conditions in any approval so anyway thank you your question thank you you back thank you um other comments from members of the audience good evening good evening Mr mayor council members and City staff my name is Jessica yitz I live at 325 towns Road I would ask you to reflect on what the words leadership and integrity mean to you Mr Mayor at the December 4th city council meeting you said quote if the ramp were fully enclosed it might be more visually appealing but again that's dealing with View and the things that are beyond the purview of the council end quote at an earlier City council meeting you describe the concerns of residents as simply being about quote air rights I am curious if you have read the section and the I 394 District ordinances entitled design standards it reads the city has determined the development located in the planned I 394 District requires a high degree of design quality the high visibility of properties from the interstate Frontage and the proximity of development sites to single family residential neighborhoods dictate sensitive design considerations this section is intended to serve the public interest maintain and enhance property values and mitigate the impacts between adjacent land uses of different intensity through appropriate design standards so if this narrative sets the tone for the spirit of the code I am at a loss for how neighborhood concerns are dismissed when the language here is very clear single family residential neighborhoods and their property values are specifically outlined here you cannot say our concerns about views and property values are unfounded when these same considerations were described in the narrative explaining the reason for the design standards in this area with this being said Mr Mayor I would like to know if you still believe our property values and our view are quote beyond the purview of this Council in a recent article entitled quote how does construction affect Wildlife from building and construction magazine the reader is educated as to the severe disturbances construction can have on Wildlife quote the loud and persistent noise from construction Machinery equipment and activities can disrupt the natural behavior and communication patterns of animals this disturbance can lead to stress altered feeding patterns reduced reproductive success and even abandonment of habitats so what are the key takeaways from this article construction activities have a significant negative impact on Wildlife including air and water pollution migration Interruption and threats to many species mitigation measures such as environmental impact assessments habitat prevention noise reduction collaboration with conservation agencies are crucial additionally establishing buffer zones around sensitive habitats can help minimize the direct impact of construction noise on Wildlife so in conclusion let's talk about something or in this case someone who can unite us Hometown hero Joe M he's a six-time All-Star 3 American League batting champ 2009 American League Most Valuable Player and now soon to be inducted into the Hall of Fame I went to ceton daram Hall with Joe he's a great guy great family incredible leader in 2001 he noticed a student who was eating lunch by himself Mike a junior who was a transfer student and struggling to make friends he was also visually impaired Mike and Joe had class before lunch so Joe thought he would walk with him to the cafeteria and invite him toat eat lunch at his table the cool table well that tradition lasted the entire year and Mike was soon making many friends and feeling very included in the social dynamics at his new school this friendship changed many lives including mine as I watched Joe Walk Mike to class both with wide Smiles chatting about sports stats I'm convinced that incredible level of integrity and Leadership is one of the reasons he's headed to the Hall of Fame council members please do not vote for this development proposal an expert on your own Council summarized in the December 4th council meeting the site is too small to comply with I 394 overlay District Landscaping ordinances and to house this parking ramp Mr Mayor city council members and city leaders please don't let this tale end with the failure of local government and the failure of corporate responsib ability let's ask ourselves an important question what would Joe Mau do thank you all for your time integrity and Leadership thank you Miss yitz is there anyone else who' like to speak is there anyone so I'll tell you what we're we're running a little late here so I'm going to ask people if you want to speak line up so that we keep things moving so we don't have people looking across the room and say are you going to speak are you going to speak line up and then when you're when we don't have anybody in line we know we we're done so we want to try and move things along so please uh line up between be please say your name and address and we'll listen to what you have to say but if there's nobody behind you we'll end the Public Public uh part of this so thank you sounds good uh Dan judit's here 325 towns Road uh great to see everyone here again and some new faces um there's a lot of great content in in the packet including Brad sheppy's letter which I I hope everyone has had a good chance to read and review we've had a a pretty exhaustive uh conversation today about the history of this project um so I'm not going to go into detail about that but there are some key aspects of this that I think need need to be brought up again for consideration so the large parking lot that was originally submitted was not allowed because the zoning code only allows for one parking space per 200 square ft of building so let's talk about intent here this this was intended to end the Suburban trend of huge parking lots with small buildings this is something I don't think any of us here here want so good thing so when when waler proposed a four-story parking ramp uh that was about 181,000 Square ft um that that um was basically uh sorry uh an enclosed building of this size or if it was enclosed like BMW it would be too large to uh to conform with the floor area ratio requirements for this site so uh we found out at at last meeting it was clarified that parking ramps are not considered in floor area ratio calculations so if if we think about the intent of this code the intent of that code was not to have large buildings on small sites on sites that are too small again something that I think we can all relate to but the fact that uh a parking ramp which in fact is not even enclosed because I I sometimes I hear this referred to as an enclosed parking ramp it's not an enclosed parking ramp BMW is an enclosed parking ramp this is an open structure uh it's not enclosed so anyway I think that's a key key distinction that I would like to get some clarification on um so in in any case uh if this was built as a building like BMW it would exceed the allowable floor area ratio so you can screen a parking lot with trees in a BM we all know that can be done can you screen a parking lot that's elevated in the sky that's not a building it's going to take a heck of a lot more than trees and a little burm so uh this is a complicated project it needs a conditional use permit it needs variances which is why we're here today as as was noted earlier what this means is that you as the council have discretion you have discretion to say this is the type of project that we want built in these sorts of situations a project like this to be successful takes a civil collaborative inclusive discussion and engagement I don't know that we've had that and it's going to take that to come up with a favorable outcome for neighbors for waler and for wildlife so uh again I just encourage every everyone here to ask themselves if an open air uh three-story parking ramp uh that uh is exposed on many sides built to the very extents of the allowable buffers that doesn't allow for screening within those buffers is that the type of development that we want to encourage here in motanka going forward uh I think that's that's the question here so thank you all for your time appreciate uh everyone's uh time and and commitment to coming to right solution to this thank you for your comments good evening welcome hi I'm Karen lri I live um at Wildwood condominiums on Parker Lake Road um in May I'll have been here 10 years and since I moved in in May it was not until November when the trees shed their leaves that I first saw the BMW dealership in Clear Sight and I was a little bit horrified but I've gotten used to it because in the summer it's pretty much screen by all the trees and stuff so when I first heard about this which was done terribly by the planting group they um and I didn't hear about it until November because and I I asked about this and I was one of the four people involved in and I never can pronounce her name right it's okay um when she had her virtual open house um it took until November because they they send out postcards to 400 people well I saw the map for how they sent their 400 and their 400 was all to the north and west and not to bellweather path and Parker Lake Road and Legacy Oaks tra Trail which would have certainly been where I would have sent them but that's beside the point but um anyway if this was built today I could live with it and that's fine but what I'm concerned about is the actual construction process over 10 years I have seen the construction of Legacy Oaks and what that construction has done to the wetlands and I'm really concerned with what's going to happen when they come dig out all of that in the north BM and start piling the pile driving process because I lived in New Orleans for 10 years and listened to them driving piles for days on end and putting in infill because my understanding is that they will actually have have to dig out everything in that North BM all of that that's in there and put in all new fill that they bring from somewhere else and so there will be lots of trucks and lots of dirt and lots of piles and all of that is going to destroy we have otter and we have ducks and we have geese and we have sandill cranes we have all kinds of great birds who are there almost all year round and that's going to be terrible for the construction process once it's done we'll live with it just like I live with BMW and it will be better than BMW but the construction process will be terrible and the Damage it will do to that Wetlands will I don't know if it will ever recover anyway that's it thank you so seeing no one I'm going to end the public comment and um is it too late it is okay I was just going to take 10 seconds is it I'll allow it but then you're the last person because when I when I make the rules I expect them to be followed oh thank you I'm so sorry I didn't stand behind her um okay I'm going to read this so I'm so quick first of all I'm Julie tronis SU a resident um at Wildwood Condominiums I'm a realtor and I'm a real estate broker first of all I want to say thank you to every single one of you for your service really really grateful for your service um but this is going to greatly adversely affect the view of many of us at Wildwood Ron Clark development and others which will definitely um affect our tax our you know assess value and then our tax base and min tonka's tax base so um we would just like to say you know what we're so grateful for you we elected you we'd love it if you would represent us and vote no thank you thank you so I will bring this back to um the council but um first um staff I know you've taken note of um some comments and questions and is there anything that you would uh like to share with us yeah mayor and Council I got a few notes here and I'll just go through those that I heard that sounded like it elicited a technical staff response um the first one was about the I'm going to take this as the storm water facility for maintenance um s sewer was a word so we'll we'll call that the storm water facility um yes for sure we have a maintenance agreement for any storm water facility that's constructed in the city and has to um have um scheduled maintenance uh when that scheduled maintenance occurs um the conditions that go with the project throughout the life of that storm water facilities that we get regular reports on the maintenance schedule and what was done to it so that's that's the way we ensure that um all of the things that the storm water um system is is supposed to be doing and cleaning the water happens uh over the life of that project um we had a question about parking and there I heard two things in there one was the surf one was surface parking and then the other was the large ramp the surface parking that yes that was a variance and that was with the first formal review um those were some of the concerns that were raised uh in order to um basically transition into the formal structured plan review um there is not a limit on parking for uh structured parking uh unlike the the ratio required to be maintained for surface parking so again that's just a preference um that um an applicant or the council could have about how many how many parking spaces would be approved light pollution came up uh couple times here um so the 394 ordinance has specific lighting standards and it it it is the only District that has specific lighting standards and they are I call them a little reduced from what you would expect in other uh commercial districts uh so there's uh standards for height of the of the light standards and then these would be poles in the parking lot essentially uh the uh lumens uh on the ground in the parking lot and then lumens more importantly at uh property lines which would be zero so those those are part of the 394 ordinance and would be part of uh lighting plan uh at this point in the project also with the building permits later on as well we do monitor lighting we get a lot of lighting complaints we follow up on those so that's always something that's ongoing um Lighting in the ramp maybe we'll let the applicant kind of talk to the the reductions the turndowns um on that item um let's see the enclosed parking was maybe the only other yeah go ahead okay and then I'll follow up yeah um so there was an a question about enclosed does the ramp qualify for enclosed parking and the language in the ordinance just states structured parking it doesn't it doesn't get to um enclosed like a a building for human habitation uh where you would need to meet energy code um you know provide an insulated building envelope uh that's not the intent of this provision in the ordinance it's just have structured parking not surface parking the only other thing I heard uh Lauren that you didn't comment on is there was a question about property value um and so uh you know we do get this question uh occasionally at public hearings just uh I know you hear this answer a lot from us um inaka property values um typically do not Trend downward in fact we have the opposite issue that happens even in development areas so um in past history we haven't had the experience of new development causing uh decline in property values around um the areas in question so um you we use that as a historical reference point that doesn't mean that's the projection of the future but I always provide that information to the council as they consider public comment thank you mayor and thank you two two other items I'm sorry um uh Karen Lord had mentioned the mailing area we had expanded that from earlier mailing so that that was something that um we actually improved with um the process thanks to people um inquiring and then lastly oh the the other thing that Karen mentioned was the construction impact and piling and we don't know um the type of piling there's there's basically there's well there's essentially two types there's pneumatic piling which is you know pounding of sheets of metal into the ground and there's also a screw like a a helical pile that you would screw into the ground the helical um again not being as noisy don't know what the plan would be that would be part of the building permit process and construction management plan detail that's all I have mayor thanks thank you very much um and council did did they miss anything or any any questions that anyone has um um then yeah yes so excuse me maybe you could someone could speak to the the design standards and and Views and what's what's well what's allowed to be considered by when we're making a decision you know because we we often say that views aren't protected um so just can we get some clarification on that yeah mayor and and council members the any Zone any zoning ordinance in minaka uh does not have a standard for protecting views um what we do have standards for are those bulk standards like how tall how wide your setbacks from your property lines and then um less objective more subjective standards with Landscaping to buffer views and so you know a lot of the things that happen between residential and Commercial properties like this rely on uh Landscaping plans that provide the buffering to just you know again soften views they don't they don't protect a view they don't uh ascribe any uh particular property one um view over another but they're intended to just again kind of buffer and and help help screen some of those commercial impacts and other questions Council r as usual um thank you mayor uh a couple of questions for staff um can you speak to the question regarding um ramp uh not being up to the edge of the Wetland and the comment on that and and uh you know are is the ramp in compliance with setbacks for wetland and wetland buffer I was just confused by that comment so I just wanted to clarify and make sure that I'm understanding that and the floor area ratio um question that was brought up during uh the public comment SE section yeah U mayor and council member ra um there are a couple of setbacks that apply to the ramp and the parking uh Drive aisles and those come in the form of both uh kind of bulk standards for the buildings and also those environmental overlays the Wetland the flood plane um the this the only one requiring a variance is again the access driveway connecting the ramp and the building all the other setbacks for the building and any other circulatory areas for the parking ramp are meet meet city code all right I'm sorry do did you have a what was your last question ratio yeah there was something that was said about the floor area ratio um and I'm sorry I mean I was that having to do with the surface lot versus the ramp I'm just I was a little not following there so I wanted to make sure that the resident's question was you know answered and that I also have clarification on that yeah so the 394 district has um standards for um like hardover cover percent um and floor area which which is the percent of Val of building square footage to the buildable area on the site um we we only look at buildable area in terms of that habitable as what I was describing earlier building space not parking areas parking ramps um even even where we have structured parking underneath the building or attached to it we don't include that in our floor area ratio so we did not and would not by definition use the use the floor area ratio of the parking ramp in that calculation of of meeting the district standard all right um thank you for that and then uh lastly I noticed I actually probably read the same article um that was cited by a resident uh reg guarding noise and then I noticed that you were talking about um uh screw pilot in um methodology and I understand that the uh applicant has not specified what kind of piling methodology that they're going to use and I'm wondering if if that can be uh you know made a condition of approval or not or if there's any uh sound mitigation that can be uh done you know reasonably from the city's point of view mayor and council member Ria I I don't know that um I've got a good answer to that because of the you know the uncertainty that we have at this level of our review for what the geotechnical considerations may be for the type of piling that would be required for the structures so I I don't I don't know and I don't know if I'm even comfortable suggesting that be or not be a condition of approval uh without some further information that we would ascertain through the building permit process about the the soil conditions yeah and the only thing I would add uh May and council member melee um that is the call of the building official so that is under the building code where those decisions are made and the council is not in a position to override the building official who is a licensed um person that makes the determination on what kind of peers and what kind of inspections that sort of thing so it's kind of One Step Beyond a land use process okay and one last question then sorry uh and I'll stop saying sorry uh because this is important stuff this is important stuff for all of us here and I want to respect and honor that um I do want to ask because you know noise and impact on wild wildlife has has been cited as a concern here and so I think you know keeping in mind that this is one of a number of properties along this strip and that you know as we've discuss BMW went in and had multiple pilings placed has there been and I know there wasn't a pre- or post survey or study done but you know is there any indication of adverse effects um you know long-term adverse effects on on Wildlife um you know species within the Wetland as a result of previous um building in in this regard cuz there's been some very similar not dissimilar buildings that have gone in along this strip which was my understanding designated as such quite a while ago so obviously there's been will other buildings going up along um the wetlands or adjacent to the wetlands what information anecdotal or otherwise do we have mayor and council member r i I am not aware of any studies or information um in this particular area about um pre-post development um conditions Wildlife surveys I just I'm just not knowledgeable about any of that information I I think what I would add mayor and council member R is obviously the public testimony uh says a lot about how uh much wild life is there um I would think that health and that um testimony you received talk about um just how much there is there and despite other projects going on as you said there's been Construction in the area in the past 10 years that could have impacted that um but I would just use that as your anecdotal data because Lauren's right we don't have the pre and post survey or technical data to share that I think you have to make your ownc decisions about what you heard at the hearing thank you Council Council M Calbert I have one question um we heard questions and comments um from attendees here and also from council member former council member sheppy about landscaping and and the burm um and the the amount of space that available for landscaping and um uh it's it says here in the end the city ordinance that requires the structured parking count ends up failing the landscape ordinance and so I just want to make sure because it is my understanding that we are meeting our Landscaping ordinance with this and I want to help our uh attendee that talked about taking the burm away filling it just describe what your understanding is about what's going to happen on that North Side Y mayor and uh council members the graphic here shows uh the heavier lines are the uh the areas where the greeding will occur uh so in this area here this would be the burm area um Council mayor Calbert was speaking of the area below that down to the flood plane and Wetland Edge uh would would be left untouched where the lines are not as dark so yes um greeing in here yes replanting um per per a landscape plan um I guess the comment really goes back to the purpose of the screening where the structure in in the in the structure scenario for parking the structure is mitigating the use which is the storage of vehicles um so the Landscaping is additive to um the site and it softens the building in the surface parking scenario there is no structure to mitigate the vehicles so the Landscaping plan is the additive you know to the screening impact so um again not the ordinance really doesn't set forth uh the need to have Landscaping treated in the same fashion the ordinance always requires a landscaping plan this is generally a pretty good place for landscaping um to have additional um you know reductions of of um you know impact on on those Residential Properties to the north but it's not it's not per se required uh for the building okay your question answered are there are there any other questions from Council for staff um I've got a couple but I don't want to cut anybody off any any questions council members all right my um there are a couple of questions and these may be staff may have the answers to these or it may be the applicant wants to come forward with a response and so I'll just ask them all together and we'll try to be as efficient as we can so one was um a comment made by a resident who said that there would be a lot of trucks of new fill having to come into the property and um you know I just like some clarification whether in the Upland area on this property is new fill required or is the prop is it um or don't we know enough because we don't know the true nature of the soils or or do we know that there's going to have to be fill so that's that's one question um another question was that um um one of the people coming forward to um uh talk about the lighting and there was a difference perhaps between the record and because the record was approved by the council but I want to make sure it's accurate and nobody caught that so if there's a difference I'm I Wonder Maybe from a City attorney if if if the record is not quite as correct as it should be can we still go back and change that um even though it's been approved by the council but then also um I'd like to hear from the from the applicant what are they willing to do to with the lighting because it is a very relevant issue for the Neighbors um and then um let's see I know I had another one but um well I I did want to comment too um um one of the one of the speakers um challenged the mayor on um uh the issue of air rights and I can tell you for certainty that the mayor in a public meeting has never used the term air rights before tonight now there is a former council member who has the same first name I do and he had written me a memo or written a memo to the city manager and copied me that used that terminology but I can promise you that I have not used that terminology so anything that was said in that regard was incorrect so I just want to I want to clear the record on that so um I have I had two questions there may be a third if I can uh collect it here but um please respond or perhaps the applicant can respond to the questions about new Phill and also about um about the plan for lighting and then here is my third question it is related if the applicant could also share what type of parking is intended for this ramp because I know that one of the things that auto dealers do is they they sell cars and they have to store cars and I think most of the storage here is going to be for cars that are um owned by the dealership that would come in during the day would sit there until they're sold or or whatever um it's not going to be like a um a parking ramp at the airport where cars are coming and going with lights on at all times so please comment on how the parking ramp would be used and what type of parking will take place there those are my three questions I'll uh uh I'll take them in reverse order if that's all right for very good um the parking you're exactly correct um the parking ramp is about uh 2/3 to 3/4 inventory think of it has cubes of plywood sitting inside a warehouse that's what we sell as cars so they don't come and go uh uh there the cars that come and go would be our employees because we're going to park them in the at the top of the ramp and overflow service Vehicles we have limited parking in the front but those are the only types so that may be a 100 Vehicles a day not 500 on there but it's uh it's more than 2ir storage if you will in the ramp uh with respect to lighting we will make you happy uh Lighting on the top deck can completely go off when the employees have left I need the light there until my employees get down then we'll turn it off we won't turn it down we'll turn it off we will have uh motion sensors on that light so if somebody's up to no good and gets up there it will come up but it'll come up individually on the poles uh but the top deck won't have any glow to see at night on there I will have two small lights over the exits at the stair that are required by code and the interior of the stairs which won't shine on the residents will be lit all night so there safety issues with respect to the lower four portions of the ramp underneath the top deck and underneath the second deck uh we will turn that down to no more than 10% a half hour after the uh business closes I'll I'll investigate if it's possible to do the same type as the Top If if we can we will but we'll commit to no more than 10% on the lower level zero on the top and and promise you that we'll work with staff if I I turning it off in the in the building gives me a little concern because you got people stumbling around in the dark uh so but it will it will make you happy on the lighting the LED allows us extreme control that we never used to have so it goes off right now um with respect to the fill it's incorrect we will not be digging out the whole uh parking ramp and Hauling it away and bringing in new for the most part we try and balance the site the uh type of piles really I think your staff correctly noted the building department I can't specify the type of piles I need a structural engineer and a geotechnical engineer to work together to develop the loading on those piles I I suspect that screw piles would work we had deep borings on the site and it it may be possible to put in stone kons instead of pilings that would save us some money and it's related to lowering the ramp one level uh but I can't promise that I I can only tell you we have to follow best engineering practice for the building code but we will not be generally hauling out Phill just to bring in other Phill that that would be a not great well well thank you that's helpful um I we've heard anecdotal things from different sources and they talk about the site being The Dumping Ground for when 394 was built and and I don't know about the veracity of those comments but but um you know it is helpful to know that you can use the the soils that are there and not have to bring other soils in coun W you had a question um yeah can you speak to uh the the parking ramp Construction how closed will it be and will the roof be um solid I'm sorry how so the parking oh sorry the parking ramp construction um what are what is the plans for like how enclosed will it be and and what is the roof is it going to be a solid roof the the the you park on the top deck of the ramp so there is no roof per se except on the stair Towers um that that's where we would put the employees for instance on the top deck because they leave at night and if we does do get snow we can snowplow a little bit there um the uh um building code requires that F first of all for structured parking I'm not allowed to heat it by building coat the state statute says you can't eat it so we don't enclose it it becomes an ice box if you enclose it uh you have to have a certain amount of air for ventilation uh so essentially from 4 feet above the deck till 10 ft above the deck you have these open slots we're enclosing the north because it will trap all the lights as you come up the ramp the the headlights will hit a a wall as you turn to go to the east the headlights will hit a wall as you come to the west to go down the ramp the headlights will hit a wall so we'll be very neighbor friendly on headlights um the the spandrels themselves are 4 feet which are well above any headlight height so uh we we we will be a good neighbor waler is a is uh uh there and and uh will'll do that but but it will be open like you like you like you say we just finished a ramp like this in in uh Bloomington a bigger ramp much bigger than this um have a thousand cars in it um and the north wall is also open but it's glass because we're facing the freeway uh but it the lighting we're happy for a condition if you want to say turn off 10% at half hour after closing and top deck completely off as the employees leave normally our employees would not be around for more than a half hour to 45 minutes after it'd be unusual for them to be there longer so thank you before counc Wilburn go ahead and um and hopefully my last question um and this is so I was wondering if Mr chog had any opinion on um the effect of the construction on the wetlands of truck coming in pilings being driven and I know that the wildlife specifically is not your purview but if you have any opinions on whether that'll have effects on Wildlife um what I think is that there's all kinds of built-in Protections in terms of um runoff from the site there'll be Sil fence to protect that there would be um uh so during construction I I think there would there would be protections and then post construction there'll be the buffers and um the Landscaping plan I don't know if that is yes that actually is helpful but I mean do you I council member R already sort of asked this but do do you have any opinion or knowledge of like the the noise and effect on wildlife and um that's going to happen I would expect a temporary effect yes but given that the larger habitat is not going to be altered that after construction and the noise and the activity is done that things would recover if the habitat was still there that would be my opinion okay thank you thank you are we um council do you have have any more questions that you'd like to ask um otherwise thank you I want to go to Miss wishnack do you have a comment or question um just a clarification for your question mayor uh it was about the record I would just say um regardless of the record you just need to add a condition if that's your if you're moving that way at some point um if you're concerned about the lighting and you want to document that it has to be part of the um action okay thank you for that and we can do that if that is the desire of the council so um first of all thank you to the applicant thank you for all the residents for coming forward and and sharing your thoughts and uh I appreciate the respectful conversation on um on a on a very challenging project there's no question about that so I will bring it back to the council and take uh Council comments in no particular order please um it looks like council member Shaq wants to speak can I take a take just a 15c question no we're not going to do that that's not how we operate I'm well we we we'll we'll we'll um we will uh we'll we'll get that covered but we don't take questions from the floor at this juncture so um Council M sha thank you mayor um you know I think I I really commend everybody in this process for bringing to light what to me now seem to be a list of policy issues that perhaps as a council and as a city we may want to talk about in the future I mean there are simple things like now we've got a US Postal Service that's in crisis and does that change the way that we deal with notifications I don't know what the answer is you know do do we want to consider a policy related to when we might request an eaw do we want to consider policies as to how property is developed what kind of pilings can be used do we want to consider policies related to are we closed for development because some of these concerns really cross every single development that we have in the city right we've got an apartment building going up with in very similar conditions about a mile down the road from this potential project and many of those same concerns relate to that project and so those are policy issues for us as a council to decide if we want to address but those aren't policy is those aren't policies right now those aren't in our ordinance our laws aren't written that way and so it's important to me that we review this project based on how the the ordinance and the statutes that are in place and looking at really in a vacuum looking at the variances that are requested I I think that this project meets the standards it improves um the conditions the environmental conditions as it relates to water treatment to runoff um you know the parking garage I think is of course that's an issue you know I I thought I as I was sitting here I needed context and we think that from the last meeting the closest property um to the corner of the the garage is about 700 ft if we go outside and stand at the fountain out front 7 and walk down the sidewalk 700 ft would get us to the tanka road which is the road that you turn to to get to Willison fitness center so I think it's important when we think about landscaping and we think about all these are important factors but when we think about the impact on the neighbors to the north of the project we're talking about two football fields including the end zones away from property to property so I think that's an important context as well I I think this project meets our standards under our ordinance and under Minnesota statute and I will be voting in favor of it again tonight thank you Council M Shack other comments Council M Calbert thank you mayor um you know I want to thank everybody for being respectful here I know that there's been a lot of chatter on social media that has been a little less kind um and possibly a little less accurate um and we don't have the luxury up here to make up you know facts or new laws or new ordinances like my colleague just said we we have to vote based on the ordinances and regulations that we have and we are actually legally constrained in the way that we can vote um for that reason and there are legal repercussions which is whether we vote Yes or no um we were instructed at the beginning of this agenda item to tell uh to to articulate you know why we were voting one way or another and um I think you know I'm very sensitive to how people feel about their surroundings and you know what they want to look at but the fact remains that if VI shed were a property right literally nothing would be built your homes wouldn't have been built because the person that lived there before wouldn't have wanted to look at your house and when my uh the house across the street from me was built in the last few years you know they took T down trees and there is Lands you know they did landscaping um but but it's not to completely block the view of the home across the street for me which is what Mr Gordon was trying to explain is to soften the view but not completely Shield your view and um I know from being on the Planning Commission the city council that um as Miss wishnack uh just said recently there there has not historically been a downturn in property values based on development like this and I think we've all seen you know what the housing market is and values are Skyhigh um and it's very hard to buy uh in our city so um I too believe that you know we are improving the storm water management I'm a firm believer based on actual environmental standards that at this point building up is healthier for the environment than building out because you preserve permeable surface and green space around the structure versus a a surface lot that would have covered every square inch of available land which would have been less healthy for the environment um I think we're meeting the environmental standards I think we're meeting our landscape ordinance um I also think that now that they took the ramp down one level it's literally the same height as a two-story home so uh you know several of the homes in my neighborhood are are are that high so um you know somebody could build a house there and it would be just as visible as the parking ramp and I think the um green screen of the ivy um is a nice idea and I just want to encourage the developer to provide as much buffer and screening as they possibly can um because it is it is changing people's views and um and my real concern would have been for the Wildlife but I know that here uh in this whole area I see Eagles I see swans I see sandill cranes in very developed areas and does It Make My Heart Sing to build uh a a card dealership it doesn't make my heart sing but it does make me feel like a responsible council member to balance the needs of my city and to make sure that we are economically thriving and create jobs and have an economy here and also try to support our environmental or ordinances and um try to adjust proposals like this to meet some of the demands requirements and desires of our neighborhoods which which waler has tried to do to a certain extent here and I think they've really you know worked very hard to meet our ordinances and to um minimize the visual impact here so I too will be voting in favor of this um out of this proposal tonight thank Council Calbert anyone council member thank you um yes so I am I was one of the no votes uh in December um and the reasons for my for my no vote were environmental concerns um but to council member Shaq's Point these are policy issues that there are not currently policies in place around the issues that I have concerns about so when we're we're talking about um property owner rights versus what the city has a right to uh what's the word I'm looking for control I guess on on on property that is not owned by the city you know I sometimes see people say well why is the city putting this here why is the city do well the city isn't putting this there the city doesn't own the land so there's there's only certain things that we control so when I look at it you know I agree with council member sha there's a lot of a lot of policy issues that we need to consider but they're not in place now so we cannot consider them now um so when I look at this and you look at the at the the entire property um you know it's the variance is the only thing that we need to make the decision on and if you have a property owner that has a property you know to the South and then another property buildable property to the north in the same plot do they have the right to get access from the north to south and I think they do um so I think the the variance is reasonable it doesn't actually um impact the Wetland it's just you know the setbacks are not or the the buffer or whatever the correct term is is not as as big as we normally would have it so yeah I mean I also am not thrilled just because of the potential Wildlife impacts but based on what the coun what is before the council and what we are allowed to consider then I would say that it has to be a yes vote other council members like to speak no um cons Foster Bol oh sorry that's okay you're good thank you um I don't want to repeat what my um fellow council members are saying I agree with them and I think that because of all those reasons I would have to vote Yes for this as well but the point that I want to make is that none of this stuff like the policies that you talked about and the environment and um none of this stu stuff would have would have come to light had it not been for the Neighbors had it not been for their organiz the the organizing that they've done to come and talk to us about it so I think that they've done a really good job delineating the problems and the gaps that we have in these processes and it um also I mean when I saw the sort of all the changes that were made by waler um that's that's that's a I mean I know it doesn't feel like it but I've been involved in some Grassroots movements and some organizing and um what what not getting everything doesn't mean it's a loss that there's a lot of wins in this I think um and I and I just wanted to I I mean I think it's it's great that the council is is here and we can listen and adjust and you know talk to the developers and the City works with all of that but um so but again I would agree with my council members that I would vote in favor of this any other comments council members Council ra I'm making a lot of comments tonight um thank you mayor um first of all thank you everybody for being here um echoing uh you know I kind of have the same feelings as and and agree with much of what has been said uh you know we have a lot of things that we can take away with policy um considerations going forward um I do want to thank uh council member uh Foster Bolton because I I totally agree I think um I want to commend the uh neighbors the residents who have come forward and brought forward their concerns uh Community engagement is really really important and I applaud that I also applaud actually the developer for taking you know those consider ations and those concerns into account and altering the design as it's already been said you know compromised situation especially in a situation like this nobody comes away 100% happy including the council members who are voting on this and I have to definitely say that's the case for me I feel like I've been you know this project is in my ward Ward three so I feel like I've been thrown into the deep end a little bit you know welcome to city council and it's it's really not been easy but I've learned a lot about zoning and variances and environmental statutes over the last couple of weeks um I am very committed to Environmental Protection and climate action and as a new council member those of you who followed my campaign and all at all know that's what I ran on and so my sympathies immediately went to the resident concerns and I've spent a great deal of time and effort considering them and looking into them on this issue I've done two field inspections I have done my own research I've asked lots of pointed questions of the staff of the developer of residents and even an independent technical adviser um I've also you know done this as a council member because I have now the duty and the responsibility to make decisions based on facts and the various laws and regulations that govern our city not simply my personal feelings as somebody who's lived through multiple projects less than than 200 ft from my door including uh you know major Bridge construction uh you know a 4500 foot home uh major road construction on a county road that you know has been very disruptive I am very empathetic to you know the concerns of residents um but again I have to look at you know the facts the ordinances the other things that council members have pointed out and hence all my questions this evening cuz as somebody knew I really wanted to clarify them for myself and also hopefully help other people understand where we're coming from here and I got to say I just want to run real quickly through these things again in summary and I ask your patience is that my understanding again is is that the ramp does conform to the intended use uh for this Corridor and that there are other similar businesses along this Corridor including partials on either side of walers which are near these same wetland lands the ramp and the project overall will not result in filling of any wet lands that was key very important to me and I'm glad to see that the project does conform to that the ramp itself the structure that seems to be at the center of so much controversy does not require any variances at this point and is better off from an environmental standpoint than the originally proposed surface parking lot for the reasons that council member Cal elucidated there's also much less plowing there will be less salt going into a structure like a a parking structure as opposed to a surface parking lot for those and many other reasons that the Planning Commission and staff elucidated uh during that initial phase it is much less of an environmental impact or potential harm than the current structure that is proposed um now while I've had sever several emails from constituents and residents saying it would have been you know terrific if storage and employee parking could have been incorporated into the dealership building along WIA Boulevard unfortunately as I learned that would not be possible without infilling Wetland areas uh which again the ramp does not and as council member Wilburn pointed out we have a situation where we have two buildable Lots Parcels within one platted lot and this is a reasonable use to give access via a fairly non impactful Causeway again the request for the Wetland and the Wetland buffer setback variants apply only to the access road between those two areas no Wetland infill or incursion we just there to allow for that driveway there's a relatively small area that um would be affected because much of this driveway um there's only a few areas from my reading of the plans that would be within one ft in various other areas the setback would actually be less so so it's you know 140 ft drive but not all of that is going to be within one foot of the Wetland setback buffer so that's something else to keep that I was you know keeping in mind um and I also think this is a reasonable request um given the other parallels that staff pointed out and also the island the Legacy Oaks development also received uh you know setbacks for these and so we can we get into Is it wise to get into to a a situation where we're graning variances for that but not for this you know what what what does that mean how is that really wise um let's see so another thing that really you know accounted for my decision or accounted into my decision- making was that walzer's plans uh included basins which will hold and filter storm water those basins are not in Wetland or Wetland setback areas or in buffer setback areas they are on buildable land um so the storm water management is actually going to be improved especially for Downstream waterways um on the sides um adjacent to the access drive and also Downstream including a wetland that is underneath 394 on the other side so that's going to be actually a potentially fairly positive effect on those Wetland Waters there um the migratory bird act which I heard you know and then I investigated it doesn't apply here that's hunting The Endangered Species Act does not apply here as far as I know I checked the trumpeter swan also I double checked that Minnesota Zoo the Plymouth uh trumpeter swan Society does not include those and their endangered species um again no um Wetland INF filler impact the noise issues I am concerned about that I I hope and and employ and encourage the developer to do all that they can to mitigate uh noise construction noise um I do take comfort in the fact that BMW and other buildings have gone up without you know seemingly long-term effect on the wildlife in the area given the fact that we do have abundant Wildlife there right now um you know I am impressed that even though the eaw is not mandatory I learned that there is a staff number of 20 people on staff including um you know wetlands and natural environment Specialists who are reviewing this who are you know tussling about this on staff I was also even more assured when I learned that the te which is an intra agency uh task or you know inspection went out and did the review and you know kind of assured us that there was not going to be impact on the wetlands um you know from the neighboring the neighborhood's athetic standpoint the three- level height does put this ramp well below the height of the neighboring BMW structure as well as in line or below other neighboring structures along that area in addition the ordinances for screening and Landscaping requirements are all met um and you know again I just want to commend the engagement uh on the part of the community that helped improve these elements and also to ER for making the adjustments in the plan in that regard um so you know on all of this it's really difficult to justify a denial on the basis of our existing laws our statutes and the ordinances but at the same time I do not take lightly the variance requests that waler has made um while I see them to be reasonable and I do see the impact to be relatively minimal um I want to make sure that the required environmental standards and protections are complied with on an ongoing basis both during construction and after construction and I appreciated um walzer's verbal offer to formally you know to conduct a post construction Wetland impact analysis um for the property um I would also like strongly consider them uh to consider submitting compliance reports from their civil engineer during the construction phase on a periodic basis which I know other uh projects of this type have done in order to make sure uh there is compliance with environmental standards and protections going on I also would call on City inspectors and staff to make periodic site visits to ensure compliance with the same and for your information I will be doing that as well myself personally So based on all of those things and I appreciate your patience as I've kind of walk through this for you as well as for myself I you know I really see this as a matter of you know not being a reasonable cause deny I really do hope we as a council take a look at these issues going forward I want to do say one thing uh I do want to say one thing however I I you know do think that everybody involved in this has acted with Integrity you may not agree with our decisions here but I hope that you will see through this process that you know we are being very th and diligent and trying to take all considerations into account as well as the ordinances that govern our city and doing this in objective manner so you know I would ask that people when making comments on social media and elsewhere take you know into consideration the fact that we are your neighbors we live where we have children we are doing the best that we can and I think that everybody here is trying to act with integrity and in the best interest of our City so thank you and with that I'll end thank you council member um any any other comments um council member kley NOP you're good all right I'm going to make a few but I think I think it's all been said so I'm going to just take a little bit of a deviation and and just say one I want to thank everyone for their involvement and for their comments because um whether you feel like well we won or we lost in reality I think we all won because this project Chang changed because of your involvement and it would have been different had you not been involved um I want to thank Waller because I think waler was um quite flexible and they probably could have um been more aggressive um because the ordinance was ordinances were on their side and they probably could have gotten a larger ramp or whatever but but they demonstrated a willingness to compromise in the interest of um of satisfying some of the concerns that the neighbors have um you know so I I you know I think this was a successful process even though people are going to walk away and not feel you know good well my side didn't win but I think we all went won from the perspective that we had good engagement we had respectful engagement and you know I will tell you something I don't as I've said publicly I don't I don't do social media but I hear about it and you know I think one of the things that was tossed my way well the mayor supports this and he's not listening he's not doing all of that stuff well in reality we are a nation of laws and I respect the rule of law and I will tell you that as a council member and as a mayor I have voted for things that I don't like because they met our ordinances and that's what we are called to do I mean just because I don't like it because it bothers my friend who happens to live on that Wetland or something that is not a valid reason to vote one way or the other we are a nation of laws and we have ordinances and we have to abide by those ordinances and those are the standards that applicants use when they come to to us with a proposal we have to respect the law and so I haven't always voted for the things I liked I voted for things that meet our standards and I have no reason to say no even though I and perhaps a lot of my council members want to we don't have to like it we have to follow the law and that's a standard that I use I think it's very important as a council that that's how we make our decisions it's not that we don't want to represent your concerns now what we want to do is we are not committed to representing what you want we are committed to representing what we think is best for the city and what is consistent with the ordinances of our city that's what we are elected to do and so I think it's really important and if you don't like the way we make those decisions then vote somebody for somebody else next time but it's our job to do what we think is best for the city and I think this Council I'm proud of this council tonight because I think that's what we did we didn't vote what we want necessarily what we wanted we voted with what we knew was consistent with the laws of our community and I think that's really important so I appreciate that so now I need an ordinance and I'm going to throw out one thing do we want to put a condition in the ordinance about the lighting because that that was a big deal to people and I think the the applicant agrees I think we do that but miss wishnack if you want to help us with uh with the motion that we should put forward there were two things that I heard one was the uh lighting and so it was the 10% um dimable on top of the ramp and then no no I'm down to 10% excuse me below the top level off off top of the r yes you're right sorry okay there's a lot of people involved so okay top top dark after hours and just for clarity we don't have the hours of operation so it's whatever the hours of operation are of the dealership fair enough okay right um just FYI the latest I could find online was 8:00 okay um the second thing I heard was the post analysis of the Wetland um so that is also a consideration that you could add put on and I would I would add within one year of fin occupancy that would help the city understand the timing of that so that would be a recommendation and then finally um there was some comment about inspections and kind of followup and reports and that sort of thing I just want you to know that all of that building inspection and and followup on silk control and all of that is online anybody can look up any address in the city and check on inspection so I would recommend that if you want more detailed inspection notes we can provide that as well so that's publicly available and to whom do all those inspectors report that would be me okay very good so you know who to ask that's right thank you mayor I'll turn it back at that point all right so council do we do we someone like to make a motion Council sha thank you mayor I'll make the motion um as recommended by staff and with the additions outlined by Miss wishnack just a moment ago I don't think we're um asking for any additional inspections or anything we're going to follow right um so that's my motion and and with the lighting with the lighting and with the um environmental or excuse me the Wetland followup within the year post analysis Miss Hy are we uh we is that clear enough for a motion that's clear enough the staff will revise the um resolution final resolution appropriately and then one more question just given the fund we had some weeks ago do we want to do the four resolutions that require four votes as a separate Vote or can we do them all at once all at once I'm getting I'm getting the uh the word signals all at once so I'll take a motion on um all of the resolutions and the variants and you've made that correct is there a second Council M Calbert thank you mayor I'll second all right we've got a motion on all four resolutions and the variants and a second um coun m made the motion councilor Calbert um seconded Miss please call please call roll Miss anglan please call roll Shaq yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes R yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes weome yes motion carries so it's 5 after 10 we're going to take a little break I need a I need a restroom break and a water break and we'll be back it'll be quick we'll be back in uh five minutes thank you all yeah are they pardon me no no they they offered but we might have people here want to speak no we're not doing that we're not doing that so we we need to be respectful yeah I agree no I don't think so I I'll explain it I think because especially I'm right yeah yeah no yeah no that's important so all right everyone should we get should we get started here pretty quickly the next 30 seconds or so let's see we're waiting on council member R here we are all good okay well I will um I will call this meeting back to order and um and I'll make a couple of comments I mean it is getting a little late um and I appreciate everyone's Indulgence and uh the applicant um or the the proposer however we're going to say this yet it's not a project it's a concept the developer um offered that well if we want to if we want to put this off to another meeting um we could do that but we're not going to do it because I want to be respectful of the people who wait sat around and listen to a bunch of stuff that they did not want to listen to um to get to this item so um we are going to do it but we're going to try and move it along as um as reasonably as we can um so we don't keep too many people up much more past their bedtime than they already are so um I will uh turn this over to uh let's see this is uh Mr Gordon um you've got the staff report take that and we'll uh we'll move ahead uh smartly thank you mayor council and we're going to review a concept plan for English Rose tonight this is at 12 620 minona Boulevard just down the street here again this is a this is just for uh comments from you there is no action on this tonight um there no motions that are made you're just providing comments on the on the concept that they've provided so this is the location map showing the property uh subject property it's just uh again down the street it's just to the east of Plymouth roads intersection with menona bulvard uh west of uh big Willa park it sits right along the banks of min Creek uh it's 2.85 acres in size uh there's a single family residence on the property it's uh occupied and has been for uh since about 19 sometime in the 1940s when the home was constructed and it's a single family property as you can see on the map there are the Burwell uh Drive uh residents in that neighborhood uh just across the creek uh to the east and west directly are uh public property that's city-owned um Big Willow Park uh a little further to the east as well South across the street um single family neighborhoods and then the minaka Mills just uh to the West so this is our development review process and we show this slide every time we go through a concept plan review and the purpose of the concept plan review is really to instill um some feedback comment early in the process so that applicants potential applicants developers uh understand um what the council uh has in mind desires uh questions uh concerns feedback all the above uh for a potential project and we do this uh to you know evaluate policy uh look at some of those policy questions get a little bit into what the project is but try and stay enough away from it that we're not too far into the weeds and then give that feedback uh for a transition into a formal development review process if that if that applicant uh should wish to go forward so in this upper row here uh the concept plan review we're we're into the last phase of this right now so we had a concept submitted to the city the developer hosted a neighborhood meeting uh December 11th uh there were a number of people from the neighborhood that uh came to that meeting they spoke about uh neighbor natural resources questions about the creek the wetlands um we had comments about the architectural style of the homes and we had um concerns just about some of the details with Lighting on the property and lighting up the neighborhood uh so those were those were a part of uh that first meeting uh we've got um applicant engage with that neighborhood so that's a positive thing at this point uh the first meeting in January we went to Planning Commission uh we had a number of things the Planning Commission raised um into parking and lighting some of the similar things as the neighbors raised um had some comments about the the style of the home should they be all the same should be should they be a little bit different um access to Trail through the site because we have Trails through our parks that are adjacent to it and then uh things about um natural resources and traffic so a lot of things that were uh discussed at at the Planning Commission um Planning Commission delved a little bit into some questions that were in um or statements that were in the plan in planning report about uh the surrounding property which is all Park and the guidance of this property as Park and you know what what that really meant and the answer is well that's that's a plan for the future should this city or some other entity make this a park um that's not been the conversation that's happened between the city and the property owner to date where there's not there's not been coming to terms on a sale to the city for Park so again that's a that's a that's a future question that sits out there but that that doesn't mean that that couldn't happen that does doesn't mean that something else can't happen meaning a change from Park to something else so all those are on the table right now none of that will be decided tonight because those are other policy questions in another venue so we're kind of we're kind of focused on you know what the applicant looks at the site as which is basically a dementia Village uh for uh for their use so that's that's a little bit about where we are um we post some discussion topics to the Planning Commission about the use of the site uh things about the site plan and natural resources and then design about the building so those are just some discussion topics for you uh as you work through the process I think at this point I'll stop my presentation I'll turn it back uh to the mayor and the mayor and the council can have a conversation with Joshua wart who is the applicant here and then we can get into um your direction for them great well um before we do that I just want to ask Council if they have any questions for staff Council May Wilburn um could could you just for me and the handful of people that are still with us uh uh discuss a little more about the the park designation versus the the the uh how it's currently zoned and what sort of zoning change might be required should we should this proposal come forward and we agree to it yeah mayor and council member Wilburn um should this proposal go forward um you know will be asked to bring conformance from our plan and our zoning you know into a package where they they are um what we would call consistent and so what that means is we'd have to take it out of the park status and put it into some residential designation low or medium density probably likely here and then a zoning that would match the uh number of buildings and number of units that are there so it's probably a mid density zoning of some type could be a planned unit development um you know probably a number of options that are on the table thank you other um council member Foster Bolton I don't know um you might have said this and for me not to ask but has the city um um made an offer to buy that property from um Miss wishnack thank you mayor and council member Foster Bolton um yeah I think that it's important to be transparent the city has had a conversation uh or two over the years um in terms of potential sale of that property so I don't think that's a secret um you know people do uh know when the city has inquired I do really want to keep that very separate from what you're dealing with tonight um because we wanted to allow the person who has the permission to ask for development on this property the right to be heard um so yes the city has in the past again not something for tonight's discussion thank you m wish Council M sha thank you mayor you know we have these standards kind of for rezoning and for variances we've been talking a lot about that is there a standard that we're supposed to follow when we talk about ruid something that's a staff question may there is um I had it in another slide deck Mr Gordon I'm gonna pull it up here quick yeah we have uh basically three standard I can find the open Button you can come back to it so in the comprehensive plan there there is a section on the implementation section that has 11 standards for redesignation of property and the comprehensive plan from one land use to another and so those are the standards by which we evaluate any land use change in the city and so that would be applied here as well any any other questions for staff otherwise I will invite the applicant to come forward talk about his um concept can't call it a project we'll call it a concept thank you everybody um my name is Joshua wart getting a little feedback here can you still hear me if I stay back here okay my name is Joshua wart I am the owner and and operator of a company called English Rose my goal here today is just to tell you in a very short amount of time because it's so late so I'm going to speed this up um tell me to scroll down if you if you want if you would like me to I'm going to tell you a little bit about English Rose I'm going to tell a little bit about the vision for where English RADS would like to go which is a pretty I think inspired vision and then at the end a little bit about this property and see if there's a fit here so with no further Ado um let's see I'm still hearing an echo is it problemsome one of those mic away uhuh how about now can you hear me yeah we can okay great okay so English rad we've been around since 19 uh 97 um providing care for people that have Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia Parkinson's disease traumatic brain injury and other complex medical conditions it started in a little farmhouse on Blake Road right on the border of Hopkins in ad Dina and it has grown over the years um and we have earned ourselves an amazing reputation nationally and if you can believe even internationally for being kind of the gold standard when it comes to caregiving for people that need 24 seven care um it's uh I'd like to think it's a it's it's it should be a moment of Pride for for the state of Minnesota that English roses here I don't take any of that credit I came in some years ago but I'm honored to be the steward of this respected and and venerable organization um quick little little well in in the name of time I'm going to skip some some of the details I plan on talking about just to move things along because I'm as I'm as tired as you guys currently right now we operate six single family homes in R1 residential neighborhoods and um that's represents about 90% of the business we do we also take care of people in the comfort of their own home so inut shell that's English Rose um just last year now two years ago in the C uh fall of 2022 we opened up our first ever home in the city of mitaka this is a picture of it we renovated at 1971 mid-century modern home and it now operates as an English Rose Suite love that love that home and it's been a great experience for us and for our neighbors we are beloved by our neighbors um a big we our goal is to integrate with the neighborhoods in which we are nestled into and we do a great job of that and so um we are good neighbors and we strive to be it part of our business model um the homes are beautifully appointed on the inside and beautifully landscaped on the outside and so these are high quality homes we're talking about when you're talking about English roads not really your common what a group home I guess when we move into a neighborhood people get scared like oh my God a group home but when we come in and and we're the neighbors that we are and we take care of our houses the way we do we overcome those fears very quickly but people don't come to English roads because of our beautiful homes people come because of our amazing care um residents who live with a we have a relationship based model of care as opposed to a task-based model of care when you're in a bus big facility assisted living and memory care you got to get the staff have to get a lot of things done very quickly and that's mostly what they do they're not bad people it's awesome it's just the operating model of those large facilities we're a boutique it's all about our interpersonal relationships between our caregivers and our residents and they're beautiful um our residents live as close to as full of a life as possible as close to the life that they're familiar with meaning that the uh when they were living in independently whatever they were doing whatever their wakeup times were whatever food they were eating whatever their Hobbies were where whatever they they went out into the city they're doing that all the same when they're living at English Rose that's our business model it's about as great as it gets for situation for people that can sometimes be as bad as it gets um and so there's little pictures here uh uh David's a ballroom dancer he's teaching our staff how to do that Denny loves to go to football games he's out at the Lions versus the the uh Vikings game that's our caregiver who was voting for The Lions um Susan she was a homemaker she loves to fold laundry and and participate in the kitchen so she helps helps us always after dinner or some people are just reading uh books in the corner it's about as as as homey as you can imagine it's far from an Institutional environment as you can imagine the magic the way we're able to do it is by hiring the best caregivers so I want you to know that when an English Road Suite opens up in a neighborhood you can be you could these these these caregivers are highly vetted in individuals we get about a 100 applicants and we hire two and I can promise you 30 days later one of them might be gone because we don't we have very high standards a ton of training and very rigorous uh uh environment to make sure that we have the best caregivers in the world and the other the other magic uh I'm so tired I'm forgetting my my words the other Secret Sauce besides having the best caregivers in the world is our staffing ratio in the state of Minnesota this is from Governor Wall's um committee he has a task force on Aging because it's a real real issue as I'm sure everybody knows right now the population's getting a lot older and we need to figure out how to how to care and house for for this big bulge right now in the state of Minnesota in long-term care facilities the ratio between a caregiver between a caregiver and residents is 1 to 18 on average at English Rose it's 1 to three and so between hiring the right people and Staffing correctly we're able to provide the magic that is English row and so that's my nutshell that's section one of what English Rose is the speeded sped up version of it sorry for my grammar I want to tell you about where we want to go because it's really important I think whenever you're on a journey and this is a journey as we just saw in the last couple hours this is a journey with lots of stakeholders okay and we're on it together I think it's really important in this case especially that that you you see where I want to go where English Rose wants to go and then we can talk about the specific specific property and whether it fits and what pieces of it but I still want to tell you where we want to go as you probably know the population is aging between 2020 and 2060 we will see a 70% increase in older adults age 65 by 2060 one in four US citizens will be over the age of 65 this is creating in 2019 there's a big headline biggest Medical Health P you know epidemic in America the Aging population well after the pandemic you can imagine that felt kind of the second one or third one because uh it's no longer probably the number one Health epidemic we're dealing with but it's still there it's a big issue and it needs to be solved there's lots of people doing really creative things all around the world this isn't just an americ American thing it's it's it's all over the world most no except for English Rose all the most Innovative and Creative Solutions are being developed on outside the United States and they have become just recently they're referred to as dementia Villages and so I just want to tell you what are dementia Villages because that's really what I want to build a dementia Village this this by the way is what a dementia Village looks like in Norway okay um dementa Villages are residential neighborhoods so I think English Rose houses but they're all together in one neighborhood um in a very familiar uh as people start to have uh uh live with memory loss it's really important that things remain as familiar as possible they can they become very disoriented in the quality of life and their well-be dropped when things are not familiar and so we want famili familiar living abodes and that we have at English row but we also want the neighborhood and the grounds to also feel familiar so that's it's a residential neighborhood okay and a really important component of what dementia Villages there's Civic and common space in the neighborhood that the residents have full access to where they can can interact with each other and with other caregivers they can live the life they used to live where they used to walk around a neighborhood and the community is vited is invited in to interact that's a really important component of a dementia Village and then of course you have the personal centered care that that I talked about before um the first one that was ever built is in the Netherlands it was built in 20 in 2009 I won't try to pronounce it it's designed after a Dutch Village and you can and here's the common space in the middle and you can see there's a grocery store in the back where there's real food to be bought with fake money that's that's the way it works okay there's here's one in Australia a dementia Village on the seashore okay they have a cafe and a place to get your haircut again all real fake money and this is this is what it looks like you know that you get street life in a dementia Village that you don't get at English roads yes we interact with our neighbors and our neighbors love us it's not quite the same as having a full ground in a familiar neighborhood that is all supervised by um a dementia Village organization it's important that the architecture reflect what the um residents are used to as you go as you as you go from Assisted Living into memory care and then you're put into a locked Ward on floor six of a building on a freeway it's not really the life you're used to is it anymore um and so in a dementia Village you're building the homes to reflect what is familiar to the residents so in Australia these are little Seaside Bungalows and here's just a rendering um we can skip that I'll I'll come to that later but here's kind of a farmhouse aesthetic of a dementia village with 15 homes this is a rendering it's not a real real place but it's interesting that these are this is what this is this is what's evolving as the best care for people with dementia um these are other people's demena Villages I'm going to tell you quickly I'm almost done I'm going to tell you quickly about the English Rose dementia Village okay the vision the concept Suburban neighborhood or an upnorth neighborhood is what I'd like to do in the state of Minnesota so when you drive by and you look into the neighborhood it's not going to look like this I took this from someone else's presentation it should look like any neighborhood in Minnesota something you're familiar with or even even better more integrated with nature more green space with with houses that are more l happening kind of an UPN North Vibe that's my vision I'm just I'm describing the castle on the hill I'm not expecting all this but I want you to know what I would love to do maybe you know of a big piece of land you want to you want to help me find um it I want to create I don't I we are not philosophically we don't believe in some of this um fake stores and fake this and fake that I it's kind of popular and if you go into the lobby lobby of of large Memory Care Facilities they try to they try to snaz it up with um with amenities that aren't used that much that are dedicated you know and the family members think oh this is nice this is nice but once the residents move in they don't really use them I don't want to do that I want to create a fake store I just want a barn okay we're in Minnesota I want a barn and I want a barn to be Flex Bas that we as a community can use as we see fit based on our residence based on the time time of year based on what we're trying to achieve and as different therapies and approaches Evol we can keep flexing this space differently so I don't know how the space is going to be used it could be a garden center you know it could be a sensory room it could be we do we do cheer yoga um what it allows me to do which I can't do in my single family homes right now as people as people progress with with a with a dementia disease their abilities start to change it'd be nice to be able to get people of the same ability together to do activities and have experiences that are appropriate when you have just six people people in a home and the next home's a mile away I don't get the opportunity right to to to to bring the population together in different cohorts and having a dementia dementia Village would allow me to do that and I would Flex this space in and out I just want to make sure two things I'm going I'm going to three things I'm going to say about this picture one it's about the right size okay I just took this off the interet I looked up like Barn it's about the right size we're not talking about a big barn I mean that's just a single garage door with just you know six feet on each side it's a small room that holds 10 or 15 people it's not a big big barn two no animals I'm not raising animals here there are places in Europe where they have dementia Farms where you have 12 homes in the middle a huge farm and they're doing organic farming and they have lots of animals there we're not doing that in minaka that's a different idea um and the last thing is I think that's it for this so it's a really important concept is that we have some kind of common space on the property third and foremost so number three and number four for the vision came directly from the Planning Commission meeting two weeks ago we started to iterate about ideas about how to engage the community and I have about 10 and the gentleman who was sitting right here had about 10 more of his own and I was like okay you're hired I mean this guy had so many good ideas none of them were the memory Cafe but it got my wheel spitting and that weekend after I told Lauren this I just couldn't stop thinking about what is the right way to engage the community and in a in a dawn toy it's a Memory Cafe okay what is a memory Cafe once or twice a month we invite members of the public Min minaka citizens by reservation to come visit and interact and have a really positive experience with individuals who have dementia their caregivers their family members and our dementia experts in a social Gathering and and start to destigmatize dementia and all the fear that comes with it it um this is a beautiful thing this this is what we need right now I'm in the business people call English Rose when they're in crisis okay mom fell dad's walking up down the street at midnight they call us they're in they're in crisis they're crying they need help they need decisions made quickly and we get thrown into it no one does a lot of advanced planning on this because there's so much fear and suddenly they have to make a decision really quickly it's like being thrown into a a pool of ice okay they're freaking out they're emotional they're stressed and decisions have to be made we need to we need to we need to let people wait into the water we need to invite people in and get over their fears and by operating a memory Cafe once a week twice twice a month once a month I I don't know I don't have all the details but these are best practices I'm not making this up this is a great best practice that I can study I would do it in that Flex space and invite it just Minot tanka residents I think this would be a huge huge opportunity this is what struck me better than the yogurt shop better than the pet uh what was the other idea someone said hey how about pet adoption I we had a lot of ideas going around the room at the Planning Commission this is the right thing to do it's a great opportunity and we're and we're we already do family Consulting um and so I think this would be an amazing thing to have in the barn and the last thing the gentleman that was sitting here I I don't remember everyone's names I just very visual so I know where they were sitting he really said well how much does this cost tell us you know is this really accessible to the community and I said to him you know I used to run a that for profit I'm I'm more interested in Civic visioning than in business the one thing that bumbs me out about English roads is it's really expensive and so it's like I think last year our average I just mention not having anyone have to ask last year our average revenue per resid $14,500 it's expensive a month a month right now at a place with the different Staffing ratios it's eight it's 10 it's it's it it could get up to 12 it's still expensive I mean it's just insan there no cheap in this business there is no cheap in this business we're but we're 50% higher and so it really and so and and we can't take elderly waiver I can't run a 1:3 ratio and do English roads if I'm also complying with the state requirements to do elderly waiver but I got I I told them you know it's one of the things that bums me out I challenged the day I showed up I said how can we do this do we take one room do how do we create a not for-profit do we ask for to try to create a foundation how do we get this to more people do we help other institutions that do those things do we do we consult with them for free to help them be you know train their caregivers if I was able to create a dementia Village so this is the other thing I thought about based on the Planning Commission meeting if I was able to create a dementia village with enough rooms I could fund our own affordable housing program program and we're talking Castle on the hill here right so we're just dreaming right now but that is that is what this would be my dream country this my life's work and my legacy is we would create a dementia Village we would do memory cafes and one room in every house would be funded by English rows as either no cost or I would have to learn I met a little bit with the affordable housing people at minaka I get a lot to learn in that area but we could we could economically pull it off and so that's that's it I just want to show you where I wanted to go okay now let's talk about this little piece of property on a Mina Boulevard and this is the shortest part of the presentation you know where it is just down from the Dairy Queen it's owned by Roger Anderson he's been there I said Roger I I knocked on his door and asked him hey what are you going do with this property because I have this Vision right he became my friend I put it under contract I'm super excited I said Roger when did you move here when did I move here I was born here 1940 I mean this has been in this family they were Trappers back in the day he's had it ever since um the property the vision right now cuz this is all I can fit on it based on Wetlands based on flood plane based on on other natural resource resources and this is motanka I live here I was born here I work here I've been here my whole life I love motanka for the way it is so we're not going to encroach on any of those but we're not going to get nearly as many homes as I hope on here is four homes a dementia Village I don't know but it's it's a start I could fit four homes on here I think this is conceptual there's Wetland not Wetland there's a flood plane mitigation program that is allowed that I would have to work with no Wetland don't worry about that um and um and if I learned anything today no no variances um it would have it's probably going to I have a loop drawn here it's probably going to be one entrance in with a clde saac to let a fire truck turn around so it's not going to be like that um probably four homes and there's Trails they not trails that are maintained by the city of manataka to the left to the right to the East and the West they're just in it's Parkland and these are informal Trails I'm a jogger not a good one but I do Jog and I jog in those Trails so we would design our trails to keep it all totally connected right now no one no one's on Rogers property but we would integrate with that um what else can I tell you um not a lot more um the houses will be beautiful but that's the English RADS way we don't do it because we don't do it because it's the most important thing we do it because it reflects the quality of the Care on the inside we'll make them absolutely beautiful as you heard in discussions with the Planning Commission and the Neighbors in very good in very good discussions with the neighbors multiple meeting on their property and talking about what they want again our goal is to be connected to our neighbors not to fight them whatever they want and so like I I once had an idea like hey let's make all the homes the same that'll be really pretty and then one of the neighbors said yeah in a cult way I mean that that's not cool dude like yeah you're right and so we that would not look from minetonka Boulevard you're driving by that would not look like a normal Minnesota neighborhood you're right so that's out every house maybe a different architect maybe not every house different because that's what Minnesota neighborhoods look like are they going to be n tuck style this is just illustrative I'm more of a mid-century modern person so I would love to do four really cool mid-century modern homes um it's not going to be easy staff told me that from day one this is not not easy there's a lot going on there's Wetlands there's a flood plane there's a minihaha watershed District I think there's another District that I can't remember the name of and there's lots of mature trees those are all the natural resources that I'll have to work with then you have the built environment I got to provide adequate parking think about the traffic how about Amazon deliveries nursing well I run these houses already so to me I know I know the couns already but where are they all going to go if the houses are next to each other and then how much imper impermeable surfaces are you going to need and the homes have to be single level you can't I've learned this since the Planning Commission meeting I can't put any bedrooms on the second level because of some new building standards these are built commercial standards and you can't do that in these homes and so they're going to have to be long I was hoping maybe I could I could do twostory homes and get more homes but I think four is the limit we'll see if I can even get four on here um but I'm telling you I'm committed all the way to work through these complicated issues in partnership with the neighbors with the city staff with the Planning Commission and the city council which is really just representing the minaka citizens themselves and I think that um I'm up for the task I'm interested I'm excited and I look forward to it and hopefully we can find something interesting and successful last slide it's kind of a David Letterman top 10 there's a real Community need for housing for the SE for seniors this is a super Innovative opportunity this would be the first one in America um you are dealing with probably the the the best operator in the country this is this isn't a Fly by Night idea we've been doing this for 27 years we already run these homes this is really that different the homes are just next to each other I'm going to be stay connected to the public parks I think there's a real cool opportunity for Community engagement if I can get a barn or some kind of Civic space in there don't know if there's room I don't think at four houses there's opportunity for affordable housing but I think it's something if it were to ever grow that would definitely be in then then I would have ticked all my boxes um usually English Ros Suites and Care Homes go into other people's neighborhoods and you have that integration which is cool one thing that's nice about this is you don't really have that you don't really have neighbors that are going to be connected because it's it's it's a call the sack all by itself which I think is kind of cool and it serves me to talk of families people people say why don't you go to Orno go out the St Bonnie and do this be a lot cheaper well yeah it would be a lot cheaper no one wants their parents out there no one wants their loved ones out there okay we're busy we're going to work we're going to the grocery we want to be able to visit mom and dad and our loved ones in the normal rhythm of our life it's got to be you know my my clients are are out here I want to serve my constituents my community and so it's got to be in minaka or St Louis Park or Hopkins or something like that it's got to be in a first string suburb plus I'll never get staff if I out in St Bonnie the kind it's picky as we are we'll never get the right staff so this is just like an you know it's very hard to find a property like this anywhere in a first or second ring suburb where I could do something like this and I can't believe I found this one and of course I don't know if it's going to be possible but I really think it's ideal um and it will bring lots of good jobs at least a 100 jobs of caregivers the best caregivers in the world making 20 to $30 an hour and that I think is the speeded version of my presentation so thank you so much for your time thank you thank you appreciate it um do I stay up here do I sit down you can you can sit down well we can ask a few questions first and then you can get comfortable and we're not going to we're not going to be doing this for an hour okay but I I think that we will um you know just take some comments I mean I appreciate your passion I I think you've got some great ideas but I want to just turn it over to council for comments and Council M Wilburn um so I really appreciate the vision um and the idea of a dimension Village um does appeal to me I'm not sure that this is the property for it um and you know I'm not going to repeat all the the Planning [Music] Commission things that they raised but things that they raised were were important to me too but also the fact that it's on minaka Boulevard um and not to cast any aspersions on your staff but should a confused person wander to minaka Boulevard that's a lot more dangerous than if you're in a sleepy little neighborhood and and wander off so that's that's one of my concerns okay coun for sha thank you mayor well you guys aren't going to believe this but I had Google Earth pulled up and this property is 700 feet from my house um but who's counting but no you can't see it um I you know I I think the best use for this parcel is Park I mean I'll be very transparent um as a neighbor as knowing the vision for the area all of that being all of that said your vision and what what you're doing is really remarkable and it's you know I'm I'm supportive of that so I do feel conflicted because I I don't I can't change my mind that I do think the you know under all the circumstances with the environmental impacts I you know I think this this completes a puzzle that we've been working on for you know many years but I understand that's not what we're here for so you know obviously there are environmental concerns there are safety concerns I'm not going to get too hung up on that because that's your you know that's your job um I think my my instinct is there's going to be a problem with two access points on the county road potentially then that's a little bit of a concern for me particularly given the amount of um foot traffic on that stretch of the sidewalk uh but I like the idea I would like it even more as we talk about whenever we're talking about kind of a multifam concept or a higher density concept is how do you get the a affordable housing we've got an affordable housing policy and we've got pretty lofty goals and I get those you know memory care and affordable are in competition with one another um so I'm I'm my job talking about what our job is is to look at the project that's in front of us and I have an open mind from that perspective I think it's challenging I think there's you know the trees the the uh flood plane issues and then some working with the county happen to know um working with the county on access points are all challenges so um I I wish you a lot of luck here or wherever else because you're clearly passionate and it's clearly a needed um even for wealthy people it's a it's a needed product so thank you for those comments uh councilor Calbert thank thank you mayor I know Mr Anderson and um I actually spoke with him this weekend and walked around his property and uh I've also knocked on the door of the home in minaka because there are registered voters in that home just so you know and I knocked there and it is it is lovely I mean truly lovely the people that work there are lovely and responsible and definitely very high quality staff so and that you know it looked just like the picture that you showed so you know the Landscaping is beautiful the condition of the home was beautiful so I know that what you do is high quality and you know that's something that every American deserves every human being deserves and unfortunately not everyone can afford uh it and um commissioner Powers o we we generally Channel each other we might say things a little differently but um I struggle uh with the same thing that he said which was uh a a sight zoned R1 being developed for private pay especially at that price point I also understand there is no such thing as lowcost dementia care it you know healthc care in general is is bro it's broken and it's breaking people and it's bankrupting people and we're going to have to figure out a way to deal with that and we're not going to solve that tonight um I agree with council member sha and most of the people on the Planning Commission um and also just agree with sort of the direction that the city wanted to go which is to buy up land along minihaha Creek and I think Park is would be my preference barring that um and aside from my struggle with you know the whole private pay issue in terms of the product that you're offering here so-called product um it's very high quality and I suspect it would probably be you know if if Mr Anderson were not inclined to you know sell the property to the city this seems like something that neighbors might be able to get behind um and there are some P there are a few public benefits and also I agree with uh commissioner Henry that I don't know pets pets and most people I think are a good combination maybe not pet adoption but um I just think animals bring out the best in people and um I'm a former music teacher um we I know that the city has memory cafes through our senior service and um so you know it's a great there are a million things you can do in your barn um including music therapy and blah blah blah so um and that always can evoke memories and kind of bring people back to um places that that that we would all like to dwell in more often so um you know if we're going to do something like this there are those considerations all of those environmental considerations there's some beautiful I mean it's just beautiful property and when I was walking there this weekend there were I don't know five deer M um trotting around and um and I have neighbors I know I know this gentleman lives on Burwell and um I have a lot of uh friends that live on Burwell so um you know I you know barring Parkland this seems this seems compelling I think the safety issues are something that we would just leave to your uh professional expertise and um you know it's it's it's not a quiet street but it's qush and it is close to a lot of amenities including Big Willow Park which is just beautiful and Dairy Queen and People's Organic so yeah I I'm just generally uh intrigued other comments Council council member R we're stepping already um yeah thank you I really appreciated your presentation and also you know kind of showing us uh what dementia care is looking like in other countries as in our health care System I think there's a lot we can learn from elsewhere um I think most of us know but for those who may not something I learned in the last few months is is that 40% of minona residents are going to be 55 and over by 2028 um so this is really talking to a great need staff is looking at our really yes yes um so this is definitely a need that we're facing as a community as well as as a country um I agree with other things that have been said by other Commissioners I have concerns about the environmental issues and the flood alteration setbacks but if this you know is not looking like it's going to be a park I think i' in some ways um rather see something like this than a big mcmansion or single family residence go in there because I think this serves the community it could also be a first step into a bigger dementia Village or something that can serve people at different economic levels I see that that's your vision and that you want to be looking at doing this as somebody who's worked in the nonprofit World myself I definitely appreciate that and understand that so again I concur with a lot of the other statements that have been made in terms of environmental concerns um and the desire for Parkland and kind of you know Min Mina's goal in that um which is admirable but you know if we we are not going to do that I am really excited about um you exploring this and seeing uh what what what evolves from this process council member Foster Bolton hi um yeah I have a really big issue about affordability yeah um and it's your vision to to to to make things affordable but but it's not and this project wouldn't be and along with all the environmental concerns and the safety concerns um that would that's a huge issue for me that's a that's it's if we're going to rezone and change comprehensive plans then our our goal is affordability and so that's that's um a concern and also um you know we talk you talk about caregivers friends family community members and staff that that translates to parking right and I don't that doesn't that with those houses in that small amount then we're going to have to put parking in there too and then where to so that's another issue for me may not happen I know yep any other comments Council M kley you're ready to go you want to get out of here right okay all right um you know I'm going to make I'm going to make a couple of comments because I will say I love your vision I I I think your vision is is awesome um but it's not a cheap Vision you said that I know that um and what you're talking about is where I live every day um I have my my some council members know this maybe not all I have my twin daughters are severely stabled they both have Down syndrome they're non-verbal a function at a two to threeyear level they don't live with us anymore um but they live in they live in mitaka they live at Saddlewood I I'm their landlord um we have a caregiving company that comes in you know and Staffing is brutally difficult now admittedly our staff are are making more like $18 to $20 an hour not 20 to $30 an hour but Staffing is expensive but I also know that I cared for my aunt and uncle in Alabama in two years I made 18 trips down to Alabama when they were in their latter years um and they needed full-time care and I hired full-time care and down there you could get full-time care one person $18 an hour if you want to do the arithmetic $18 an hour times uh 7 days a week and 24 hours a day that's $3,024 a week and then I discovered that they had no money in the bank so then I was really scrambling um and you know and families face this and so you know $3,244 a week was about as cheap a care as you could find and I did have to get them into a nursing home and it was not pretty my my aunt was somebody who insisted the only way she was leaving her house was in a box and uh and uh we got her moved out ultimately but um but she proved us wrong because she didn't want to live anymore and she decided not to and that was so that was that was tough and um you know elderly people and people with dementia they deserve dignity I have a close friend um he and his wife were close friends of ours but she developed early early onset Alzheimer's she lived at the Willows in um in Edina um I think I think the Tariff for him was um for that family was $122,000 um a month you know pretty common um and I don't think the people there were making you know 20 to $30 an hour either and so you know you're I love your vision now rezoning in minona is hard to do and um and it may not even be possible this a great piece of property I think your vision is great um and and it but it's a rich people's Vision but you know rich people you know dementia doesn't care whether you're rich or poor it it it attack you know it's a great equalizer it attacks everybody and there there are a needs for the product that you are um providing and I think there significant needs but it's not going to be for everybody in mitaka um there's going to be a lot but but the the care dementia care is not affordable for you know when we talk about affordability for 90% of families um it's not affordable for any for for the vast majority of our population I mean it's a it's an enormous social problem that this council is not going to not going to solve so I have great I mean I think your concept is beautiful I think the houses that you've shown in the house that you have in motanka is beautiful um I think your predecessor came to this Council in 2003 or 2004 when I was a rookie and there was a um um one of one of your there was a house that was bought a Suburban house that was bought for dementia care in the community I don't know what what ever happened to that because the house you have now is not the the house that um was there but you know it is interesting group homes I mean my my kids basically live in a group home that I happen to own but it's it's very interesting they've got great connection with their neighborhood their neighbor love them and but but caregiving is for us we have an outside agency it's it's a mixed bag and we go there and we have some caregivers that we absolutely love and we sleep well at night knowing that they're taking care of Jennifer and Amy and then there are times when when we go there and well this isn't our favorite but you know it is what it you know we don't we're not making the hiring decision it's it's just a huge challenge so one thank you for what you do because it's important and the need is there um whether this comes together in this site I don't know but but but we need people who are passionate about people um who have dementia because their needs are great and I'll tell you one other thing which is horrible but my mother lived in a um an assisted living place but she had dementia and she was declining and she was wandering at night and she opened the wrong door and walked outside and the door locked behind her there was no alarm it was 16° she froze to death um I don't brag about that but but it just shows how critically important caring for people with dementia is and um you know I I again I salute you what you do I mean I believe that your Staffing ratio makes being on minona Boulevard fine because you've got plenty of people there keeping an eye on things but but I've also seen the worst side of it and it it it really devastates families when you go through some of the experiences that we've been through and um you know so I appreciate what you're doing but it's it's it's hard work yeah it's not it's not for the faint of heart so I I wish you well but I I can't say G I don't want this to be a park either I mean resoning is going to be tough in minona but but thank you for what you do thanks thanks so much for all the comments and feedback all right anything else I don't want to okay all right well then we get to move on um we have appointments and reappointments and we have the boards and commissions appointments and reappointments turn that over to Mr Funk uh thank you mayor uh good evening again Council um as the mayor mentioned uh this agenda item really relates to the appointments and reappointments of our board and commission members I'll be very brief and that is um in the staff report there are really two sections um for your consideration the first is taking a look at the current terms that will expire for some of the existing members on our Park Board Economic Development advisory commission Planning Commission senior Advisory Board and sustainability commission uh every member that's uh currently on any of those Boards of commissions have the opportunity to um express interest in continuing to serve another term uh so we do as staff reach out to those current members whose terms are expiring we ask them if they're willing to serve again uh that's what's noted in page on the bottom of page one and then going into page two of the staff report um I read all off all the names but all those members have expressed interest so we have their name listed the board that they serve the term for their renewal and then when that would be effective and then ending or expiring so those are noted so Council will be looking for one motion to approve uh those reappointments and then second uh as recall and just really more history for those that may be watching this that during November and December we had recruitment for our newly formed Dei commission and so we had had recent interviews for our Dei commission and then any openings that we had on any other of the other boards and commissions where we had members that whose terms were expiring or they had in essence what we call termed out meaning we have a maximum amount of years that someone can serve on any of our boards and commissions so with those openings uh Council went through your recruitment process um again you had inter voed interviewed candidates and then those um that information is provided to the mayor and then the mayor um by our code makes um that that appointment but that does have to be affirmed by the city council and so on page three of the staff report are the appointments that are being um recommended by the mayor and those are listed there uh I would just note that with the Dei uh Commission because it is a newly formed commission there would there are staggered terms and so um staff really what we try to do is be fair in terms of recommendation and so we we randomly just drew names out of a hat and so those are where the terms landed uh just by random draw um you might argue that um someone that got the one-year term or two-year term is is in a better position because they can renew uh versus the standard three-year term and the subsequent three-year term and so there's Advantage I guess to having one of the the one or twoyear terms uh because we've had that question that's come up in terms of of how that plays out uh so with that uh mayor and Council I just turned back over over uh to you uh so you do have that resolution in front of you there is one motion that's being recommended which approves the appointments and reappointments to the menaka boards and commissions and then I staff would stand for any questions on any of the recruitment process um or any of the names that are noted here very good thank you Mr Funk uh Council any questions council member Wilburn did you have a question no I have a motion okay well then let's do all right well does any any other comments otherwise counc Wilburn go ahead oh uh I move approval of the appointments and reappointments to the minetonka boards and commissions as listed in our packet thank you for your motion Council M Calbert I second and I just want to recognize one of our new Commissioners Dana minion who has loyally stayed in the audience till f 10 after 11 very good U thank you so we have a motion by council member Wilburn a second by council member Calbert Miss England Please call R Shaq yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes weome yes motion carries item uh 15b is Council and staff annual appointments and Mr funk I turn that back to you as well yeah thank you uh mayor and councel so in your uh packet is a summary of I call it a summary but it's really a chart or a graph not graph a chart that's listed there that summarizes the 2024 Council representative and staff appointments uh for this coming year here uh this was discussed at our study session recently on January 22nd and based on the discussion that was that evening staff is presenting the list that was discussed so I stand for any questions you have on it uh Council we simply just need a motion to approve these appointments for 2024 counc wurn sorry I move that we recognize the council Representatives uh to the listed organizations serve on these organizations as representatives of the city for the purposes of the city council code of ethics thank you and a second council member sha I'll second all right we have a motion by council member Wilburn a second by council member sha Miss England Please call Ro sha yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes weome yes motion carries so according to oh I'm sorry not the belor I just I just want to make one quick comment so all the uh all the appointments noted here staff will make sure that all the council is then registered and signed up to the various uh organizations that are noted so we will take care of that leg work on our end thank you thank you I appreciate that and um you know by by Charter we are required to do roll calls for all votes the one exception is our motion to adjourn we can do that so is there a motion to adjourn so moved Mr Mayor and is there a second okay a motion by Council M Calbert and a second by Council M Wilburn all in favor say I I we are a [Music] [Music] jour [Music]