She was Beth was connected. Yeah. Oh, good. Thanks. Yeah. I wish there was a better solution for that. She wasn't that bad last year, but this year gets worse. Angel. [Music] You feel so bad? Yeah. And also kind of mad at people. I mean, I'm fine. I just think this timer. to face that way. Can't just use a iPad. It's nice that this one's here. Yes, I agree. Was received real well. I was the receiver. Call order the meeting on Monday, July 7th, 2025. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call, please. Jenny, Mayor Vogel, here. Council members Robinson here. Edvig here. Bis here. Mbower here. On to approval of tonight's agenda. Do I have a motion to approve? Make the motion, Mayor. Councilman uh Robinson. Do I have a second? I'll second. Mayor Council by Big. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Pull the same sign. On to the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to uh approve the consent agenda? I'll make that motion, Mr. Mayor. Motion by Wow, I'm brain dead here. Council member Mower. Council member Mower. Mr. Mayor. Yes. Is it possible to have um item C just pulled to just have a separate vote on that one issue? Yes. We just need a second. We're going to get a second first and then then we can Well, let me amend my motion and approve everything from A to J. AB and then D through J. Okay. Uh to be approved. So we have a motion to approve AB and D through J. Do I have a second? Second, mayor. Second by Councilman Robinson. Any discussion on AB and D through J. Hearing? None. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose the same sign. A B and D through J is passed. On to C. Do I have a motion to approve the separation of employment under item C? I'll make that motion, Mr. Mayor. Motion by Councilman Muar. Do I have a second? I'll second. Mayor, second by Councilman Robinson. Discussion. Uh Amy, you want to go first or No, I didn't want to discuss it. I just wanted a separate vote on that issue. Anybody want to discuss C? Okay. See none. Uh no, no discussion. All those in favor of C signify by saying I. I. Post same sign. I four to one on separation of employment. On to meeting open to the public. Do we have anybody wishes to speak tonight? Please state your name and your address. Good. Good afternoon, uh, mayor and council and staff. Uh, Mike Roger, 2770 232nd Lane Northwest. Um, first off, I'd like to thank uh St. Francis PD for the uh early knock on my door telling me I left my garage door open. Uh um is that something I can give the code to the police officer? You guys he cuz he actually walked up to my code box to see if he could shut it. Um he didn't ring the bell or anything, but uh I I do appreciate you guys tremendously. Um, couple things tonight I want to discuss and uh, one of them I'm looking at new business here and new business A says gravel driveway permit use. Are we kidding? The thing I'm talking about tonight is few meetings ago, council member Robinson brought up uh, code compliance. You cannot walk one block up in Bassador Street here. I must have missed something in one of these meetings where we change the code that we can park our vehicles in our front yard because it is become an epidemic in this town. Um there's no reason for it and we cannot base this on complaintbased because the citizens of this town have lost confidence of complaint based. Um, I ran into a few individuals that live over by the high school and I'm pretty sure it was in reference to ma uh council member Robinson's code compliance deal over there by the by the high school fields. And I asked him, I says, "Why don't you call the city?" He looked at me straight in the face and says, "They don't care." And I said, "Well, sure they do. They built that beautiful building." Then I got to thinking, it's do you care? You guys really care that there's four vehicles parked in yards just a block away from here in front. You can't. It's really sad that the only place in this town that you can go where there isn't a code violations is to an HOA or the section 8 housing. That's a fact. If you don't believe that, just take a ride around and look. And it's not just residential. There's code violations going up Bridge Street, too. And if you look to see what they are, there may be garbage cans that ain't enclosed. It's still code violation. um suggestions, building inspector, fire department, um police department, public works, they all work for us. Why can't they jot those numbers down? Secondly, um tonight I would like to ask, what is the increase of our water rates going to be this year and next year? Anybody? Mr. Mayor, I mean, you weren't paying attention. See, I was paying I was paying attention. Then what did I say, Mark? What are our water rates going to rise to? Correct. Right. I mean, it's it's I don't know how you can necessarily answer that per se on an individual basis, but I mean, we can have Darcy speak to in general. Well, there's got to be a percentage rate that's going to go up. I mean, and obviously when when uh there was the discussion of the tiff money and the guy says that I'm willing to pay an extra $10, you guys knew that that was not even close to what that rate increase was going to be. Even at 10% on $100 is 10 bucks. But is it 10%? Is he prepared to um we'll be discussing it at the work session at the end of the month. So if you want to come to that that's when they'll be discussing it further. Do we have any projections? Um well right now I'm looking at probably water was it 25% and sewer 5% next year. Think so. So, how does that justify when we pay our sewage our sewage based on our water? Well, the water the only time our rates change is in the summer when we're watering lawns, which at 25% increase, I don't think anybody's going to be watering lawns. I'm not blaming you, Darcy. I mean, this is this it's going to be discussed further at the work session. Um, and then they'll come before council and when we do the fee schedule. Is this something that's just going to be dumped on us in a billing or are we going to have advanced notice citizens of the city? Um, I'd like to know if my increase is going to be uh 25%. That's going to be 100 bucks on 25 bucks on 100 and then well actually it's going to be 30 bucks on 100 because you got your sewer rate in there too. I'm assuming this I'm going to ask a question but I don't regard. We've been discussing how we're going to how how everything that we're going to do to let people know. Okay. I would assume too since it affects the MUSA. So everybody gets a water bill that it would affect. Not not everybody, Joe. Not everybody. Remember that. Well, no, not only but it only affects if you're talking about raising the the clean water to drinking water, whatever that's Musa or provided by the city, wellwater people don't pay that bill. So those people won't get a bill. But I think whoever gets that bill, obviously if it's on the bill, I would think everybody would get it. Now I don't know how it works with the district and all that. That might be something, too. it. Ju just so we're on the record, when the tiff money was voted down, the three that voted it down were on well and septic and not city and water. That whole that whole project, excuse me, it's my vote. That whole project could have helped cut these rates lower. That's terrible that you guys felt that way. Go ahead. Keep keep in mind there's some outside re uh influences that are happening. We're talking about chlorides that are affecting our water as well. So there'll be some expenses born by the city to make some corrections. And again, I think this is probably the most just a minute. This has been the most transparent group we've had in a while. So please come to the work session and you're welcome to chime in at that point as well. Well, usually forth at the work session. So let let me ask you this. So that chloride's going into groundwater. So, why isn't everybody paying on that chloride and just the ones that are on on uh city water and sewer? I'll defer to Paul for Yeah. So, I guarantee you they're using their water softener more than I am. I don't have a water softener in my house because our water is soft enough. The problem is born out of the MPCA chloride uh testing at our wastewater plant. It's what's ending up at the plant, not what's coming out of the water in the ground, but what So water softener is one of the biggest issues. That's correct, Mike. So why don't we take part of that burden and spread it through the whole town instead of just the ones that are on wastewater and sewer? I mean, that's an extra city tax, 5% across the board. Wouldn't that help everybody instead of just the ones that are on water and sewer? I think that gets deeper, too, though. There's a there's a lot of factors that factor into that question. I I get that. But this is something for you guys to think about at the work session. You know, you're going to have to get outside the box because this is going to drive people out of this town. How do we expect to develop anything over here with a average water bill that's going to be somewhere in the market of 150 bucks and that's on the low end per month. I I mean, Darcy, what's the largest water bill per month you saw? You're talking residential? Yeah, residential. It's It's so hard to say. I mean, there's some people that, you know, like probably like 2,000 gallons and they're doing like maybe I would roughly say it's 60 or $70 a month. And there's other people that use 12 15,000. You know, it's there's such a variance in how people use water. So, you know, there's bills that I I see come in at $60 to $70 and there's some that are $200 and some dollars. So, are the people that are getting their pools filled? Are they because I see that truck running around here and filling up over by the liquor store, um, are they paying an increase in the water to have their pools filled or how's that working? Well, that the water from the water tower is based on a rates. Yeah. So tier based that well when anybody goes over there they either have an account or they have to put dollars, right? I I want I just want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. And uh it seems like sometimes this keeps getting swept under the rug and all of a sudden it's a big bomb and I look at my bill and it's like what the hell happened? I mean, uh, even even the garbage bill. I'm one of those that reads every bill and saying, "Oh, why did you guys charge me an extra 10 bucks this month?" Oh, because your lid was open. Really? I'll call somebody else if that's what you're going to charge me. Unfortunately, I can't get my water anywhere else unless I put a sandpoint in. Are we going to change that ordinance so we can all have sand points and water our lawns? That's a deeper conversation we can have later, Mike, because that's that's part of the work session conversation you guys can have. You need users to pay for the plant and if too many people have sandpoints and the cost of the ones that use it go up. It It gets It's ugly. It's already ugly, Joe. I know. It's already You can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig. And that's what we keep doing with our wastewater treatment plant is we keep putting lipstick on it. somehow somewhere there is a solution for this and we had somewhat of an answer for that but that got shot down because I I don't understand what the thinking was but um if we want development in this town we have what's the school district going to do I mean they got to come back and raise the taxes that's 30% they ain't going to let that slide the city hall we can't let that slide right here. I mean, this is all stuff that you guys, you know, what's that old saying? You cut your face off, spite your nose, or something like that. And that's what we keep doing here. We have to find a solution for this. Call the Met Council. Let them take it over like they did in East Bethl. Let them hook to the system. So, we're all in the same rate. That's what I have. But I ain't getting any answers. Obviously, I I really wish we would do something about the code compliances. And I beg that you guys look at hiring a code compliance officer. Just take a look around. This is turning into the ghetto. I didn't move out here to have my neighbors parking a boat in their backyard. You know, I got up this morning and I looked out my door. I went sat on my deck to have a cup of coffee and I got a car and pontoon sitting next to my deck. That's what I get to look forward to. Next time I see it, I'll snap pictures and email it to you guys. Maybe that's the only way we can get something done. Um it's uh it's sad that uh you know Jerry Tvit um previous mayor he was uh maybe he was the grass guy. I I think that's what he called himself the grass Nazi or whatever. He went out and Mark there weed inspector. There you go. He was he There you go Mark. There's your calling. Um you can be the weed inspector. Sarah, you can be the car inspector. Um Kevin, we'll find something for you. I know. Oh, you're a car guy, so you could be the car inspector. Um we got to figure it out, folks. Thank you. Thanks for your input, Mike. And I do I appreciate your take on things and I I just you know, I do encourage you to come to the work sessions. Okay. They are open to the public. So, thank you. I watch them all online. Um I don't know if the uh work sessions are online. Yeah, they are now. But I I was really wondering if I did miss a meeting where or something where you guys change the the code where I can park in my front yard cuz then I won't have to pay to store my trailer anymore. I can just park it in my front yard like everybody else does. Does that work? Apparently not. You guys haven't said anything, but it works for everybody else. I'm telling you, when you leave here, go up Ambassador Street North and take a look around. I mean, I got one car on I live on 232nd Lane. It's been in his front yard so long I might go over there and weed whack around it just so it looks like it moved. Got to do something or it's going to end up worse than you think. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. Anybody else wish to speak? Not at this time. All right. On to old business. Uh, sale of the city- owned property. Second reading. Mayor and council, in front of you tonight is the second reading of the ordinance for the city to sell the property. This is in regards to the old city hall. Um, after tonight's reading, then we have our 30-day comment and we can close after August 11th. I'm happy to answer any questions. I got no question. No questions or concerns here. So, we need a motion and then go need a motion to approve uh sale of city own property. Second reading. Do I have a motion? Make the motion, mayor. Motion by Councilman Muower. Do I have a by Robinson? Excuse me. Do I have a second? I'll second it. Oh, there you go. Sorry. Second by Councilman Fis. Uh, roll call, please. Jenny. Mayor Bogle. I. Council members Mubower. Hi. Fonis. Hi, Edvig. Hi, Robinson. Hi. So, approved. On to new business. Gravel driveway interimm use permit that. Thank you. Uh, mayor and councel, let me know if that's showing up on your screens before I start. Is that one? It'll get there. Yeah, that's okay. Don't want to do what I did at planning and go through the whole thing before it shows up on your screen. So, It's up now. Yeah. Okay. Um, so Mayor and Council, before you tonight is an interim use permit for a gravel drive and parking area uh that would serve uh a property that is planned to be a future solar farm. Uh so the site is located outside of the city's urban service area on the northern boundary between the city uh and Stanford Township. To the north you have uh large lot residential. to the west and south is uh industrial land and then to the east you have agricultural land. So the site right now does have access off of Nackri Street um on the east. Uh so the city code uh has requirements for industrial parking spaces and driveways um which is where that solar farm use would fall under. Um and so all industrial parking spaces and driveways are required to be surfaced with either concrete, batuminous or pavers. Um as well as having a concrete curb barrier around the parking area. Um an IUP can be requested if someone is looking for different surfacing uh or design requirements other than that the concrete and then the curb. Um and so that's what we're that's what we're looking at uh tonight. The applicant is requesting um the IUP in order to have some different uh requirements. Uh so they are proposing to keep the existing access point off of Nackri Street and then they would extend the existing gravel drive about 75 ft into the site. Uh and that drive would be used uh during the construction process which is supposed to be about four months. Um and then after that it would be used infrequently as just a service drive. Um the applicant is also proposing to kind of mix rip wrap in with the gravel um so that there would be less of a chance to bring that gravel and track it onto Nackree Street um as vehicles are moving in and out. So that's the drive part of it. Uh the other part is the parking area itself. Um that's also something that they're requesting to just be that same gravel surfacing and then to not have the curb. Uh so planning commission reviewed this at their meeting in June and they held the public hearing. Um, commissioners did talk a little bit about this and confirm that the drive is is intended to be something that's infrequently used once construction has been completed. Uh, and they unanimously recommended approval of the the IUP request. Uh, so tonight, council is requested to take action on the IUP. Uh, the suggested motion I've got on the screen and I believe it's page 82 in your packets. Uh, and with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. What do you want to go first? I will, mayor. Go ahead. Yes, Beth. Um, is this affiliated with the Grumman rep people? Uh, yes. So, mayor and council, this is technically owned by North Grumman uh land right now. Um, but the applicant is Cedar Corp. Uh, it's the energy, but is it still part of Grumman Rub? Is it just a subdivision of them or uh I'm not sure if it's I think it's leased property perhaps, right? Um, okay. Just curious. I know it doesn't pertain to the the action, but where would the power be transmitted to and who benefits from the power that the solar farms are creating? Um, yep. So, American council, that's something that I haven't gotten into yet. I haven't seen the full plans for the solar farm itself yet. Um, so right now, this is just for that gravel. Okay. I'm just curious if it feeds the actual plant itself or the not plant, but the proving grounds. That's all I have. Thank you. I don't have any questions. I don't have any questions. Joe, given this rural area, too. Are homes and stuff allowed to have gravel drives out there? Um I Yeah. So, mayor and council, there are specific um separate requirements for uh rural area residential driveways. Um but because this is not a residential property, that's where we're getting into this permit. So, to me, I don't know, you call it industrial, but I think I get it. I think these are kind of like I don't know, you see them in the big open fields and stuff. I work a lot too and I went out with Feldman to the uh the big Excel site out there that they have out in it's like North Branch area somewhere out there in Chicago. Um I don't see an issue with it being dirt out there in that that small area touches all that. Well, I just got two quick questions on there's no culvert required or needed going underneath that. Um M council, I don't believe so. This is something the engineers have reviewed and they haven't had any comments on. So, okay. And my second question is this gated then? Yes. Yep. There's there's gate a fence around the entire site that's proposed that gated. So, this actual drive though will have its own separate gate there. Correct. Uh yes. Okay. Yeah. Long as they got a gate. The question I was a culver that I'm okay with it. So, so we ready to vote on this? Is anybody else got anything else they want to discuss on? So, do I have a motion to approve uh resolution 2025-31 approving an interimm use permit for a gravel drive and parking area? I'll make that motion, Mr. Motion by Councilman Odbig. Do I have a second? I'll second. Second by Councilman Neil Bower. All those in favor signify by saying I. I pull the same sign. On to the Dalton River Villa concept review. Mayor and council, that's mine as well. Is it up on there for you guys? Got it. Okay, great. Um, so tonight, uh, you'll be reviewing a concept plan for a roughly 15 and a half acre site located between the Rum River and Ambassador Boulevard. Uh this site uh would be served with access from Woodbine Street uh coming up from the south. As you can see today, the site is uh undeveloped and mostly wooded. Uh it does have some natural features that are worth mentioning here as we talk about the layout of the site itself. Um so you can see from this image there is a pretty significant bluff that runs kind of along the property uh northwest to southeast uh as well as a flood plane along the river. Um so the high area of the site is kind of in that southwest corner uh for lack of a better direction description. Uh so the concept plan itself uh tries to make use of that upland area. Uh so it's proposing 19 non- riparian lots on that 15 1.5 acre site. Um eight of which are the developable acres of that site. So really we're only talking about eight acres here. Um again, Woodbine Street would be proposed to come up from the south uh and be extended into a culde-sac to serve uh most of these proposed lots. Uh and then there would be an outlot uh that runs kind of along the river. Uh and that would include the undevelopable land, so the bluff uh and the flood plane area. It would also have a storm water pond to serve that development. U so we always check the density of the site uh as well as just uh conformance with the comprehensive plan first. Um, so this is an area that's guided for lowdensity residential use, which is two to three units per net acre. Um, so we take out the undevelopable land. So take out the bluff, take out the flood plane. Um, and we get a proposed density here of 2.375, which is pretty much right in the middle of that range. Um, so that's consistent with what the comprehensive plan is is telling us for this site. As far as zoning goes, uh, this site is zoned R1, which is the lowdensity residential category for the city. Um it's also located in the urban rum river management overlay district. And so when we have those two districts that apply to one site, um we take the most restrictive standards and that's what gets applied. Uh and so that's what this chart here is meant to to show. Um you can see that there's the R1 requirement and then the urban uh Rum River requirement. Uh and then what's proposed. So the the areas that are in red, so lot area, lot width uh and then minimum front setback. uh those are the areas where um what's proposed is is less than what's required um by the urban run river district uh because that's the most restrictive. Um so we would be looking at um variances or a plan unit of development um something to allow flexibility if this concept were to to move forward in the process. Uh and when we look at that, what we look for is um you know, are there natural features um or the physical layout of the site. You know, what's the reason for why the lot can't be developed meeting the requirements that are in the code today? Um in this case, you know, you've got the bluff, you've got the flood plane, you have a county road, and you have just the layout of that site being kind of east to west like that. And so, uh, in order to lay lay any sort of development out in a way that efficiently utilizes the city's infrastructure, um, it's likely that there's going to need be some flexibility given there. Um, we also do try to look at kind of the surrounding area to see if if what's being proposed kind of matches what's already there today. Um, and so we did look at the neighborhood to the south, which has fairly similar um, ranges of lot sizes as what's being proposed here. Um, so obviously we can always get more into that uh further down the line. Um, but just wanted to to share that information. Um, like I said, access would primarily be coming up from uh the Woodbine Street from the south. Um, ending in a culde-sac. Three of the lots are proposed to have individual drives uh accessing Ambassador. Um, that is something that the county did provide some input on. they would prefer that those drives um either be, you know, reduced as much as possible or eliminated. Um but it's not something that they're going to be hard and fast on. Uh no county also requested 10 ft of additional right ofway along Ambassador to get up to what their standard is, which is 120 um feet of rightway along those county roads. So right now you're they're at 110. So, um, planning commission reviewed, uh, this concept at June at their June meeting. Um, we talked a little bit about the outlot and kind of what does the ownership for that outlot look like. Um, and they they kind of decided that, you know, their opinion would be if the city is going to own that outlot, um, if it's going to be part of a public park system, they would like to see that public access be provided. Um, but there weren't strong feelings on whether that should be part of the public park system or if it just should live as an Um, part of that conversation was coming from the development of the south. Uh, there is a piece along the river that the city owns today, not as part of a public park, but it's just in city ownership. And that would connect those two pieces. Um, planning commission also talked about uh the proposed lot sizes and and how they seem to fit with what's provided already with the existing neighborhood to the south. Um, and we talked a little bit about the extension of the road as a culde-sac as well. Um, so tonight, uh, we're looking for council to just review, um, and provide any feedback to the applicant or staff, um, that would help the applicant kind of make their decision moving forward on, um, if they'd like to move forward, and if so, kind of what they'd like to apply for. Um, specifically, if if there are thoughts or concerns about the flexibility areas that are requested, so lot area, lot width, and then the front setback. Um, or if there are there are thoughts about um, the outlot ownership. But if there are any other thoughts about things that I didn't mention, uh, feel free to to voice those, too. Happy to answer questions. So, just real quickly before we jump into it, is there any preference for one route over another as far as as far as variance versus planned unit development? Okay. Yep. Anybody want to go first? Oh, well, PUB would be more beneficial to developer, I would think, wouldn't it? In theory, it's hard for staff to make that call. Um, so mayor and council, variances are more costly, whereas PUD would come, they would go through planning and then it would come to us. Mayor and Council, they they're going to take the same steps no matter what. Okay. Yeah. So, the the idea with variances is that you need to be able to meet practical difficulties, right? Um, and show that there's some sort of reason for why that variance is needed that wasn't created by um the owner. um PUDS, you know, obviously there's a different approval route and we're looking at some sort of public benefit requirement there. So, it's kind of the the give and take on what what that is. So, uh my only comment, I guess, would be about the park thing, and I kind of like to hear Paul's thoughts on that. Um I don't know if it's if is it really beneficial or is it a nice enough area that you'd want to add it to the park system and then maintain it? Is that going to be beneficial enough or do you think just leave it as an outlaw would be more mayor and council? In my opinion, we have plenty of park space right now that we're trying to maintain. Uh it would just be added another added space with extra labor in my opinion. Kind of what I was thinking. That's why I asked. Um I like it otherwise. I mean I have no no beefs about it. I think it looks good. That last picture helped me picture it more with the drawing on it. I appreciate that. Yeah, I have I have nothing further. I don't have any questions. Sir, I got left to do there. Was kind of leading toward keeping it as an outlaw myself just with how much we we do have a lot of parks that we are just now starting to maintain and keep track of. So, I'm moving towards that myself. Kevin, Joe answered my questions as well. um they all out whether whether it's worthwhile or not. Excuse me. I suppose we can talk about that down the road whether I mean if you're talking about a trail with some wood chips or something that's not much maintenance and um I don't know you know the city takes that as part of its park dedication or whatever but I think the uh concept fits well in the application just like the neighborhood to the south and I've been down there several times and it it's kept nice and neat and it works for the people that want to have an affordable place to live. Um and some people some of those people are snowbirds and whatnot too. So, I'm I'm fine with this so far. Uh, so the upper rum river or the urban rum river, you you don't foresee any problems with them, per se? Yeah. So, American council, we've we've gone 20 rounds uh with the DNR about this on different uh different properties, but at this point, no, I don't see um I don't see any concerns. Usually, their biggest issue is um they don't want to be able to see houses from the river. And so if you're meeting that river set back, um that's that's always key for them. And then they'd look at height too to make sure that everything is kind of back. So the the really important parts would be be off the bluff, um the appropriate amount of setback space, um which is what's proposed here right now. Um, as far as uh the the variance that would be required uh or PUD flexibility um with the front setback uh that is kind of a weird provision uh in in the urban rim river requirement that they want a larger setback from county roads, but that tends to then push those houses toward the river, which doesn't make a lot of sense. Um, and so discussions I've had with the DNR representatives, they've they've kind of said the same of like, yeah, we're okay with that variance because it moves the houses further away from the river and uh so the outlot if it because I agree I I just don't think we need to add to the park system. I think we got our hands full right now maintaining but this is kind of a Paul question maybe or question if it's out. Are there any any MS4 permit issues with being down there like that down? Oh, mayor and council that I'm aware of. Okay. Yeah. And I I really don't have strong feelings by the way towards the PUD or various what I either one. I just I think I think our consensus is that the city would not own the out lot. Wouldn't own it for a public park. Park, excuse me, for public park. Right. Correct. Okay, one more question. Um, does the DNR then get to see this before the developer gets too deep into like are we going to get that? Okay. Yeah. So, right now they actually uh the area hydraologist or they're in between area hydraologists otherwise we would have sent them this concept. But yeah, as soon as as soon as an application is is in, we would send it to the DNR. Cool. Thank you. You have everything you need on that one then, Beth? I believe I do. Thank you, Merrick. Thank you. On to the zoning code amendment. Accessory structure size. First reading. Yep. Uh so, mayor and council, uh this is a request to amend the city code. Uh specifically the code language that says how much total detached accessory structure square footage uh is allowed on a lot between two and a half and 5 acres in size. Um, this is coming out of uh a code uh compliance uh issue. And so the applicants actually live on a on a lot that's 2.69 acres uh and they have constructed some accessory structure uh square footage to the point where they are over that 1500 square foot limit. And so they're applying for uh to amend the ordinance so that they would be in compliance with the new ordinance. Um, so staff kind of went through and we looked at similar cities, surrounding communities and kind of tried to understand what what those cities are doing. Um, and if if the city is is off uh and not, you know, not in line with what's what's going on around us. Um, and we found that most cities around us are allowing somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 square feet of detached accessory structure square footage for lots of this size. Um and so uh we talked through uh that with the planning commission as a legislative change. There's a lot of um leeway that all of you have to determine if that's something that you think is appropriate for the city at this time. Um and so planning commission's recommendation was that um the the language be increased so that it goes up to 2500 square feet um of allowable detached accessory structure square footage. Um so that would bring in um this specific property into compliance. Um, it would also kind of make St. Francis a little bit more uniform with what's what's around us today. So, this would be uh the first reading. Planning Commission recommended approval uh of that change. Happy to answer any questions. I'll go first. I'll go first. Yeah. Beth, was this a a person or family? Were they did they come forward on their own or were they reported by someone else? Uh so mayor and council this has gone through the code compliance um channels and so uh it was it was something that was reviewed by staff and then was uh flagged as as incompliant. So somebody the city person saw this or an employee saw this and okay there's some there's some citizens in action there but um did it cost the applicant any money to come forward then and apply for this? Uh yes. So the applicant paid the same fee that anyone else would pay for a request to amend the code. And what would that be if I can? Oh, okay. Approximate. Mayor Council, I believe our escros are at 3,000 and our applications 450. Okay. So, they put their money where their desire was. Correct. And here we are. Correct. Okay. That's all I have. Thank you, sir. I don't have any questions. I don't have any questions, Joe. I just want to thank the people for using the process and uh that's awesome to see that. Um dealing with code compliance is never fun. But I do appreciate you following the process. We often get complaints of uh people don't like things. They just want you to change it and don't think about the staff time that's used and you are using everybody's money when you use staff time. Uh so I do appreciate that. Uh the other thing is too is I think that uh throughout the years I've heard a lot of people say or I've heard from time to time, I guess not a lot of people, that'd probably be an exaggeration, but I've heard people from time to time say how they, you know, I know one person that moved out of town because they couldn't have a big enough structure and they didn't have a big enough lot and so on and so forth. So I think this encourages uh more people to to be here and I like it. Yeah, I just have Yeah, I'm in full support of this. The only question I had actually goes beyond this and I know it's kind of mentioned and you the cover memo and everything about should should planning zone be proactive in this case and and start amending the are they in the process of looking at amending the other codes for higher acreage lots so forth. Yeah. So mayor council that was something that got brought up. Um obviously this amendment is very specific to um size and uh the specific lot of two and a half to five acres. Um there was some discussion at planning about you know should should the city city staff kind of look into that entire table that we have in our code of all the different lot sizes? Should we look into um the the size of the structure that's allowed, the height, the number of structures, kind of all of that that's incorporated into that table. Um and at that point we said, you know, if that's something that council wants to direct us to do, we certainly can spend time doing that. Um that's also something that we could um flag. Usually at the end of the year, we bring some housekeeping amendments. Um so if that's something that again, if council has interest in in wanting us to look at that further, that's probably the time that we would um use to do it. Um unless unless you feel that it's more urgent and you'd like to look at look at it sooner. I think that time table is right. I don't I don't I'm just speaking for myself here, but I I think I I would like us to be more proactive, you know, kind of seeing that this exact example that came before us and knowing that we may be our neighbors surrounding us may be at higher levels or whatever else. I think we should look at it. I don't think it's I don't think it's anything urgent, but I do think it's a proactive step. I think bottom line. So, I don't know if the rest of it just go one square foot bigger than your neighboring city. Thank you. Anybody else? Anything? Mayor Council to correct the fees. Right now, we have a 350 application fee and a $2,000 escro. So, okay. So, do I have a motion to approve ordinance 347 modifying section 106804 accessory structure in the city code? I'll make the motion, mayor. Motion by Councilman Robinson. Do I have a second? Second. Second by councilman Odig. Uh, roll call, please. Mayor Hogall, I. Council member Sonis, I. Adv. Robinson. Hi. Milbar. Hi. Thank you. On to storm water pollution prevention plan for large cities. Paul, it is Mayor and Council. This evening before you is a housekeeping item that comes from our MS4 permit audit that happened uh this year. Um, the city of St. Francis recommended to amend the current code regarding off-site storm storm water infiltration treatments with storm water best management p best management practices required by the MS4 permit through the MPCA. Um, it's a very simple amendment. It it basically states that for an off-site uh treatment, they need to form their own best management practice. it it storm water can be complicated if it's not if it's not if it's in a couple different sites. So the suggested motion this evening is to approve the first reading of ordinance 348 approving zoning code amendments pertaining to a storm to storm water prevention plan for large cities as presented by questions. Who would this affect mostly? It depends and council. would be if there was a maybe a contractor in town working on something and and they had to move certain treatment offsite, then they'd have to show up with another SWIP or a storm water prevention plan. I have I don't have any questions, sir. I have no question. No question, mayor. So in real world here, Paul, I mean, it was it was a good change. Council was a good change. Simple change. Y they're tightening they're tightening down more and more on the MS4 permit. They'll continue to do this year after year. So, do I have a motion to approve ordinance 348 amending the zoning code to modify the off-site treatments for structural MP standards? I'll make that motion. Motion by Councilman Ovig. Do I have a second? A second. Second by Councilman Mulebar. All those in Oh, excuse me. Roll call, please. Jenny, Mayor Vogel, I. Council members, I advi Robinson. Hi, Mbar. Hi. She wasn't looking at me. She wasn't expecting her to stay in the moment. On to E. City Hall Fire Station Landscape Repair. Paul Mayor and Council, uh, it was brought to staff's attention earlier this year that the landscape, the weeds going through the landscape and the actual landscaping was subpar. Uh, staff reached out to Stall. Um, long story short, there is going to be no money from Stall and if the city wants to correct this, uh, we have to correct it on our own. Um, I was able to procure three different estimates for fixing the landscaping here. Um, tonight, uh, if council could discuss and decide whether to correct or not correct landscaping and if if the council decides to correct it, uh, staff recommends using the Clark companies to correct the landscaping. I then I can answer any questions. So before we discuss it real quick, you wanted to explain real quick about this the part where we talk about the I can't that we can't sprinkle the there there's two two items out there. Uh number one, it was missed in specifications that there was not there was no fabric to be laid down. Um no excuses there. That one's on me. It happened at a goofy time of the year. Uh, and the second is after everything's settled out there, it's it there's a lot to be desired. Um, not enough soil was used to finish it off. Um, and it was a weak seating. Uh, it was not I don't I don't think it was hydro seeded and I believe they just spread seed on it. So, it needs help out there in my opinion. But we can't sprinkle the boulevard on. We cannot county. No sir, mayor council. So Anoka County will not let us water the boulevard. There cannot be irrigation out there. Everywhere else is irrigated, but not there. Who would like to go first? I appreciate your accountability, Paul. Um, that goes a long way, I think. Um, trying to figure out how to word this, but this is going to be worded probably wrong, but I think you'll understand what I'm saying is we we didn't spend all the money that was in the bond, right? Either way, we have to pay that entire bond back. So, some of that we're not really losing any money, but we're going to have to use some of that money to do this. So, it's not not going to be a huge added expense to anything any. So, does that sound correct? Correct. So, mayor and councel in in discussions with Stall, Stall would have corrected this and used contingency money. So, that's an accurate statement. Okay, that's all I have. I think we all I would say I think we should probably fix it. If we spent that much on a building and want to look nice, we should probably correct it, unfortunately. Well, I don't know what the alternatives are. It's the sad part. So, leave it as is. Yeah. Everybody can say, "Look at that." Amy, go ahead. Okay. So okay the fabric under the mulch um in your defense and stalls I guess um there is two ways of doing mulch. You can either put fabric down um or you can not put fabric down and the idea is that the mulch eventually decomposes and actually turns into soil. So, if you have fabric and you have mulch, in some amount of years, you're going to have soil on top of your fabric, which on top of your fabric, and then you just keep throwing mulch on it, and you're you're going to get you're going to get weeds. Um, if you don't put fabric down, you need to dig down farther to and put black dirt. Um, and eventually you will get weeds. You will, but we shouldn't have them in less than a year. Um, so that's that's disappointing. So even though you missed it not having fabric, it you can go both ways. You can you can do it both ways. So um I I wasn't shocked that there was no fabric. I I've I mean my husband and I have own a land landscape company for many years. Many times we don't use fabric for that exact reason. It it turns it turns into soil after a long time. Um, you also, you probably know this, you need to when you cut the grass, you need to make sure you don't cut the grass clippings into the mulch ever. Um, and if you do, you have to blow them out. Um, and I think that I I haven't seen that happen here. I don't know if that's how you're doing it, but that's just one one suggestion. Um, another thing, if it was was it hydro hydro seated? No, it was just seated. Okay, Mayor Council, it was it was so late in the year. Um, again, there was a lot going on at that point. Uh, yeah, that and I I'm I apologize for not even knowing that answer for sure. I shouldn't It's okay. I get it when things are busy. I just thought I had seen it be hydro seated. I thought it was hydro seated and so um I drive by here pretty often and I thought I remember seeing the hydro seating color. Um my questions for whoever we choose if they're going to do hydro seeding is um find out how much they're going to dig down um and find out what 3 in I specified three and find out what the ratio of hydro seeding is compared to the filler products. I mean some just do you should do one some do one to four so you're getting a lot less seed a lot more filler. Um, that would be that would be something. Um, my other thing is the shrubs that were used, they're so small and close together that you like we need to trim those like every like twice a year. Um, and the spyheas out here, they in particular, they need like two to three feet to grow. Otherwise, you're just going to be they're they're going to grow into a hedge, and they're not really meant to grow into a hedge. And so, um, would all of the plants stay, all of the shrubs and bushes stay with any of these beds? It's up for discussion. Okay. Um the second the other thing is with the mulch this natural cedar mulch that's out here that looks like it's already worn out. We pay twice as much a whole the wholesale people pay twice as much for that mulch than they do that dyed colored mulch. That is in my opinion it looks a lot nicer. I mean it's it's a bolder statement. It looks it looks a lot nicer and it is literally I don't know why but it is literally half the price of that natural mulch that's out there. So Mar and council that that is one of the options that's also in the price as well. We can go dying if we if we wish to. Okay. I I would I would like that. I think it would really um make the landscaping that we do have kind of pop. Um and so I I just I just don't like this natural colored mulch. That's just me. So, that would be one thing that I would like to see different. Everybody's going with that dark brown mulch nowadays. Um, so that would be something that I I would like. Um, and secondly, and to go off of what Joe said, when I called you to say, "Hey, what's going on with the grass?" I didn't have any complaints about you and your staff doing them. It was all about like with this just got put in and it already looks this way. We, you know, we just shouldn't we just shouldn't have weeds. So, thank you for your for um you know contacting Stall. I know you met with them and it's it is disappointing that they're not willing to even fix it um or help us with a partial cost or something that is disappointing. Um but it is what it is. I I we I mean we have to we have to fix it. I mean it it just can't look like that. Um, and then as far as the the the three bids that you have there, um, some of them say how many yards of mulch they're going to use and some of them don't. So, I think you should clarify how many yards of mulch we're getting and make sure it's 2 to 3 in. Um, or or bigger. I I actually stopped the other day and I I dug over here to see how how thick it was. And it actually was pretty thick in this one spot I dug. So, it actually was was pretty thick. But, um, I just wanted to point out that having fabric isn't isn't the be all end all. It it is a way of doing it. And I've done it that way many, many times. I've done it without fabric many, many times. So, it's, you know, don't beat yourself up that you miss that there was no fabric because it it it is a standard way of doing it as well. you just need to dig down further and whatever was there if there was grass there before all of this, you know, it it just it just comes up. So, I personally think we do need fabric in this case. Um, and I of course you take the cheapest bid, you know, and I don't know um what your comfort level was with any of these, but I would vote for the, you know, the least expensive, but I would ask those questions. How many um yards of mulch are you going to use? And can it can we get a discount if they use the cheaper mulch? And secondly, um what is their ratio of hydro seeding going to be? And then we need to have a plan to water it. Um unfortunately, if that was the first I heard that we can't water along the boulevard. Um why is that exactly? Because they don't want the water to go like hit the cars. What? like why they just won't I can't answer it with the county's reasoning. Okay. So, but we we we're going to have to have a plan for at least the first season to council. I will tell you there are there are eight employees at the at the public works that are ready for this and they would like to see it changed as well. Uh they already have a plan in place if if you okay. Okay. They're tired of it. They're tired of looking at it themselves. Okay. All right. Well, that's all I have. So, yeah, I agree. It It stinks that we have to fix it, but we didn't put up a nice building to have our landscaping look like we had spended more than $25, which isn't but and and yeah, the the watering is an issue, but I have public works department will take care of that just fine for us say we need to fix it. Kevin um no other comments other than did a little disappointing that our project manager manager we hired didn't see that you know it's pretty basic I think as Paul is something more complex like a valve or something for the in flooror heat or something that to me fabric is obvious and again Amy did a good job explaining horiculture to us all who don't know much about it but it's disappointing again you know they were our our guard dog for our money and they kind of let us down so like Joe said um If it was in the bid earlier, we'd be spending 25 grand more than what we spent on our final tally possibly. But nevertheless, it's got to be done. So that's we got to do it. I I mean I'm in agreement that it needs to be done. I just have a couple questions. First off, I do actually do believe it was hydro. I kind of vaguely remember like Amy, but unfortunately when you do it that season, I'm sure the success rate is going to be poor. Just to Amy's points, I've got several gardens at home and I've used fabric and I haven't used fabric before. I don't use fabric anymore. So I there's she's right. There's there's different ways of doing it. So I can see how the contractor actually it's okay and I get but the only other remain questions I have is to your point about plant spacing. I mean, is that something we need to look at as far as thinning some of those out or I don't Well, that would be the time that'd be the time to do it, though. If you're going to do it, would be I I probably wouldn't. I I just They just need to be trimmed otherwise they're going to look like monsters and that's hard to do when there's so many of them. Um, they just need to be trimmed twice a year. You know, cut off the new growth. That was my next question. What What was I know you don't have it spelled out exactly, whatever. What what is kind of the maintenance plan for the for that area? Is it twice a year kind of a thing where you go? Yeah. And that's what we've been doing, Mayor Council. Yeah. Okay. There's just so many of them. So, anyway, I'll be quiet. So, what what do y'all think about changing the color of the mulch because it it should save money. Um I looked up the wholesale prices today and it it literally is half the cost. Tim still haven't had sale. We can get some spray paint. Yeah, I'm I'm totally with you though. Hold on. I was told that Tim does not have a sale anymore. The sales coming. I uh Council, the color that you you're talking about is mink. It's called Oh, okay. Okay. The one I like or this one? The the dark one? The dark one. Probably match a little bit better. Okay. So, I mean, just just preference. Does Does anybody have a preference between this mulch and a and a brown colored mulch? I have no I do. For my use, I I totally agree with you. For my use, the hardwood shredded die I I think stays in place really nice and it does. So I I I if I had one way to lean, I'd say the hardwood shredded died, but that's we have to I mean we have to replace the this already has to come anyway. So right all the mulch that's out there come, right? Removed. It's not like getting reused. We're gonna as long as we're doing that, which it made sense that it would be gone, but just in case you never know, um just in case. Yeah, I think we go ahead and do the other me. Okay. All right. So, good. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Paul. Do you need a motion? Motion. No, I don't think so. Or do we? Yes. Well, because we have to pick the authorizing authorize the company to do it. So, so do I have a motion approving clerk companies to do the specified work? I'll make it I'll make that motion. Motion by council uh do I have a second? I'm new here. I'll second. Second by council. Uh all those in favor signify by saying I. I same sign. There you go. Thank you. So one last time meeting open to the public. Anybody just please state your name and your address. This sir Wood 3419 turn 236 lane. I sit on the board for the Ram River with Sarah. Just a quick question. Did we at least release t retainage for what we did for the landscaping? This brutainage has been released. You can't go back in the documents and hit them with any LDS for No, I cannot. I've explored all those options. Okay. It's on me. Roger that. And also when you were talking about developing over here, it would probably best to notify the Rim River Board just so they can do their due diligence with an Oka County soil and water. Make sure that we're not dead. You're here. What's that? I'm here. But um that way they get a hold of soil and water. Okay. That they can do their study which will help with the DN permitting. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Andrew. Last chance. Anybody else? Seeing none, on to council member reports. Who would like to go first? I can go. Go ahead, Joel. I don't have anything to report. I've been busy with personal the last few weeks. Thank you for that report, Amy. I don't have um much to report either. Although I liked our little We had like a three-week break, didn't we? Didn't we? Wasn't our meeting like three weeks ago? That was that was kind of nice. Um I just had a question about um Darcy mentioned it. What is the agenda for our work session on the 28th? Do we know anything about what that might be? Well, on Thursday Oh, mayor and council. Right now, we're looking at the levy, storm water fees, water and sewer fees, and there's a couple other stragglers that we So, we have a very full night. Okay. Sax Sachs State Lake. Okay, that's all I had. Sure. Um I attended on June 18th. I attended the upper room river water. Um our next meeting is September 2nd. They are doing a pontoon tour at 4:30. I will not be able to be there because our meeting is that night too since a pontoon tour. Yes. We're going on a tour. Correct. That's what they decided. So yeah, we get to go on a tour. Um, and unfortunately, I think Andrew said it's the first day of school for his and he has a kindergartener, so priorities on that one. So, neither one of us will be able to go to the tour. Andrew said he probably will be able to make it to me. So, we'll have a representative, but I will miss that next. Yes. Unless if you want to say good stuff. I mean, I do the children coming just a little bit late, but I'm just kidding. Thanks. That's all I have. Kevin, we have a Bethl Bethl fire meeting uh this coming or week week from when this Wednesday. We're inching closer to a joint powers of agreement and uh it's actually going smoother than towards the end than anybody thought. We had a target of September chief and we're going to hit that target pretty close. So, as far as dollars and cents and and uh life and safety and and stuff like that, it's all it's all covered and um it's going to go together well. Uh I'll be at a Jwood meeting on the 23rd. Um and then recycle day to remind everybody Saturday, September or August 19. Gippers, July 19th, there'll be a recycle day again at the at the public works area there. So other than that, um that's all I have. Thank you, Kevin. So like Kevin, I attended the Bethl St. Francis fire discussion and as he stated, I think it's going very well. Stay tuned. Uh I had a meeting with Kate and Met Council and sometimes I have issues with Met Council, but I I'm going to call I'm going to call them out. This Elias Montessa and I know Joe's met him. I think I give credit to any public servant who does their job and he's doing his job. He reached out to us and he reach comes to every city that's under his jurisdiction and he comes to him and he's the one who approaches him and says, "I want to sit down. I want to hear any concerns, any any ideas, anything." So, it's a I just thought it was a very good discussion. Nothing earthshattering, but I really appreciate people who do their job. I think he's doing a nice job. That was the first time I've seen anybody from the me council, so that was awesome. All right. Uh then we had another uh bridge street connection bridge street connection to highway 47 meeting today and I mean it's all high level discussions but I I think it's going very well. I I Kate was there and Paul was there and I I I don't know, you know, when we get something actionable, we'll come back come back to council, but we're we're we're we're progressing and and I I think we're we're narrowing in on different directions we can take, but we pull the trigger on these architects getting involved. So stay stay tuned on that one. Uh Paul's familiar with this one. I know Kate is too getting some concerns from resident about the roundabouts needing to be repainted especially over by the high school and uh just so you know I mean it's scheduled for August sometime I believe first week of August. Yes. And and the big the big catch on on just it sounds really simple to just repaint a roundabout but it's not because guess what you have to do for 30 minutes. You have to close the roundabout for 30 minutes to let the paint set. So well mayor and council little clarification on this as well. They're also they're also talking about maybe possibly doing some milling on that to give it more service area so the paint sticks longer and it gives it a a different look as well. So no county is actually stepping up pretty good. Good. So stay tuned for that coming up in August. And lastly, I need I'm looking for a sub on July 30th. I got the uh local government of uh Noa County meeting down there at Bunker Hills. Uh it's Wednesday, July 30th. I believe it's 6 or 7 PM. I don't remember. Is anybody able to attend? I've got a conflict that evening. I'd like to go. I probably could. Okay. Thank you, Amy. I'll get you more details on that then. So, thank you. Thank you. Anything else? Anybody? Uh, do I have a motion to adjurnn? Make a motion, Mayor. Motion by Councilman Robinson. Do I have a second? I'll second. Second by Councilman Nvig. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Meeting adjourned at