Good evening. It's now 6:30 and I call to order the regular meeting of the Victoria City Council. Please join us in the pledge of >> allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. >> The first item on our agenda this evening is announcements. The city council will hold its next workshop on Monday, September 22nd at 5:00 pm to review the proposed amendments to chapter 12 of the city code which deal with the property maintenance, trees, vacant buildings, and new nuisances. This discussion is part of our efforts to review and update our entire city code. The fire department is hosting a community blood drive on Tuesday, September 16th from noon to 6:00 p.m. at the Victoria Recreation Center. To schedule an appointment, please call 1-800 redcross or visit redcrossblood.org. We also invite everyone to visit our community events webpage to learn more about the ongoing engagement opportunities happening throughout September, including our first ever park after dark event on Friday, September 26th from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Bayfront Park. Check out the city's website for additional information. The next order of business is to adopt the final agenda. Council, can I get a motion to adopt the final agenda? >> Motion to adopt the final agenda. >> We have a second. >> We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Next item on our agenda is the open forum. This is the opportunity for anyone to address the council on an item that is not on the agenda and not an application form that will be coming to the council at a future date. No one has registered in advance to speak this evening, but if there's anyone in the audience who would like to address the council on an item that is not on the agenda or in application form coming to the council at a future date, please step forward. Seeing no one, we'll move on to the next item on our agenda, which is the consent agenda. Consent agenda items are routine, administrative, and do not require deliberation or are housekeeping items that are required by law. They're approved with one vote unless someone requests an item to be considered separately. Miss Hardy, does staff wish to pull any consent agenda items for separate discussion and vote this evening? >> None from staff. Madame Mayor, >> is there a member of the council wishing to pull any item from consent agenda? Or anyone in the audience that wishes to pull an item from the consent agenda? Seeing none, I will ask for a motion to approve our consent agenda. >> Motion to adopt the consent agenda. >> Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. The first item on our regular agenda this evening is item 6.1 which is a resoning is to consider a resoning for Victoria Gateway East commercial development. And presenting on that item this evening is our city planner, Brian McCann. Mr. McCann, welcome. >> Thank you, mayor and council members. Tonight we'll be looking at Victoria Gateway East commercial development. You may know this one as the Hometown Bank development, uh, which has come forward a few times over the last few years. Uh, their requests include a preliminary PL, comprehensive plan amendment, conditional use permits, zoning text amendment, and a resoning application. So, they're right in the middle of our three-step major subdivision process at preliminary plat where major entitlements are granted such as CUP's variances. And then after this, they will still have to formulate the final plat and bring that back to the council for consideration. So, I mentioned this one has been reviewed a few times. There were sketch plats back in 2021 and the newest just this past January uh in 2024. And then a preliminary plat was considered last June. It never made it to council at that time. It was rescinded before council consideration uh due to staff comments on their design. So the location and area it's just over 4 acres adjacent to Highway 5. It's northeast of the fire station. It's downtown w or downtown is just to the west of the site across Highway 5. Uh to the right here is some property owned by the MCWD and then some adjacent residential properties to the south as well. So for the proposed uses for the site, they're looking at two different structures here. The first one being a combined coffee shop and bank with drive-throughs. That would be a two-story building. The anticipated users are Hometown Bank and Mocha Monkey. And then the other structure would be a two-story medical office building which is anticipated to be Ridge View uh medical but the applicant has stated that that's not guaranteed yet. That's just the prospective user. So at the existing conditions it's a currently vacant property with grasses and rolling hills. You can see there's about uh 30 to 40 ft of a drop off the back of the fire station down to the north side of the site. And there are also wetlands present around three quarters of the property's edges as well. In our comprehensive plan, it's guided for lowdensity residential and right ofway. The applicant is proposing a comprehensive plan amendment to change that guidance to downtown mixed use. Um the downtown mixed use allows smaller scale retail or office buildings and the intent is to improve on comfortable and safe environment for pedestrians and cyclists with strong links to trail amenities. So here is a visual representation that was included in your packet in the resolution for the comprehensive plan amendment. they would just be changing the areas in yellow to red uh to match the areas across Highway 5 as well as the dental clinic just to the north. So with a comprehensive plan amendment, they are also proposing to reszone the property. It's currently zoned R1 lowdensity residential. They are proposing a central business district zoning district to match our other areas in downtown. A couple different uses in that district come into play here. The accessory drive-thru or drive-in uses are conditional use in our zoning code. Uh medical and dental clinics, offices, restaurants, and financial institutions are all permitted uses, though. So, a conditional use permit is required for the drive-throughs, but everything else is outright allowed. Uh this property is outside of the Shoreland Overlay District. A lot of our downtown area is encompassed in that which means uh restrictions on open space setback. I just thought it would be important to include this slide because none of that comes into play here because it is outside of the shoreland district. Uh so we also did not have to run this by the DNR as well. Here on the image on the left you can see what was previously proposed uh back with plan commission. And this never made it to council last year, but they had proposed a intersecting drive-thru here with uh the coffee site looping around the building and then the bank drive-thru coming through the parking lot. They've since updated their design with the image on the right here. They've altered those drive-thrus immensely. They've also relocated the positioning of the buildings. So on the image on the left, you can see the medical office was central to the site. Now they've pushed it up as close to Highway 5 as they can, as well as the coffee and bank. They've also incorporated uh landscaped islands for parking lots as well as some additional screening measures for properties to the south and east. Here's a closer look just for reference with all those items that I mentioned. It's also worth noting that they do have a retaining wall on the east side here running the length of the property because of those uh 40 foot elevation grade differences that I mentioned. And then they also have another retaining wall adjacent to Highway 5 planned here. So for the preliminary plat they're proposing two outlots and two regular lots. The outlot A highlighted in red here is uh consisting of north wetlands buffers and a storm water pond with drainage and utility easement over it. Outlot B is over here highlighted in green with drainage and utility easement over it. And that's for wetland buffers. And then the two buildable lots, the uh medical office in blue with portions of the parking lot and half of the private driveway from Highway 5. And then lot one here with the bank and coffee site with the other half of that private entrance with the additional parking. So they have three conditional use permit requests for you to consider this evening. The first one is related to the drive-in or drive-throughs that I mentioned earlier. Uh we have three very specific provisions in our zoning code right now related to this site and the use. Uh the first one being that no structure, parking area or drive drive driveway will be within 100 feet of any portion of a residential district. Uh in their proposed plan, parking is within 100 ft of residential properties. And then the second item is that it needs two access points from a public road. In this case, there is only one. So, as part of this conditional use permit request, they've also submitted a zoning text amendment to change this section of our zoning code to change the language to be an abuing residential district or um a private street. So, staff are supportive of these proposed changes. It works for the development. Uh in this instance, we don't anticipate any additional future private roads in our um central business district or commercial areas. So, uh this really will be specific just to this property, but it works well in the code overall and it satisfies the conditional use permit requirement in the last slide as well. And then conditional use permits two and three uh are for our CBD design standard deviation. So they are we have a standard in our code for a 0 foot lot line for 65% of the building facade to be along a road. That's just not possible here with the wetland constraints. So they are proposing conditional use permits to deviate for those standards. Uh, as far as we can tell, all of those standards meet our general uh, conditional use permit standards in our zoning code, which I've highlighted below here. Moving on to the site plan review, uh, looking at parking first and foremost, we broke down each type of use. So um looking at lot one here for the banks and financial institutions and restaurants without liquor per our code uh they would need 57 spaces. They're proposing 39. Uh but alternatively with the medical office building they would be required 78 spaces but they're proposing 98. So with a shared parking between the two sites they actually exceed the minimum requirement by two spaces. and our central business district encourages shared parking. So, this is a situation where that would work well. Looking at the landscaping, they've incorporated boulevard trees where possible, foundation plantings. They aren't required to have any buffers or open space minimum requirements. So, they meet all of our landscaping standards. Additionally, staff requested a relocation of some of the trees that were within those two outlots I highlighted earlier. The applicant did comply with that in the latest plan set. Uh so we don't have any trees and outlots B or A up to the north. For tree preservation, they are proposing about 81% removal. There weren't many trees on the site, so this was expected. Um their replacement obligation comes out to about 130 in or 52 replacement trees, which they've incorporated into the landscape plan. for the architecture they are proposing for the bank and coffee building pre-cast concrete asphalt shingles um all of our exterior material types that uh we want consisting of high quality also providing breaks in the variation of the facade um and some additional glass on the main level compared to the upper levels and you can see that also mimicked in the image on the bottom here with the medical office tenant. Uh overall, both of those are compliant with our minimum central business district design standards. And here are some renderings that were in your report for the hometown bank and coffee building. And then here as well for the medical office tenant with that retaining wall that I mentioned a few slides back. Regarding their signage, they are each proposing two wall signs as well as an entrance sign. Directional signage was also noted on their site plan. So, we'll take a closer look at all of that with a building permit when it comes in. They are also going to have a shared pylon sign right off of Highway 5 here. Uh, as I mentioned, we'll review that signage as well when a building permit comes in. for parkland dedication and pedestrian connections. Our parks and recreation committee did review uh the prior sketch plat that was submitted. At that time they agreed that uh the cash fee in lie of land made the most sense for this area. So when they proceed with final plat we are expecting a cash fee in lie of land for this. And then for pedestrian connections, you can see I've highlighted the sidewalks connecting between the two sites as well as a connection to the future trail along Highway 5, which also has a crosswalk into our existing downtown. Then for Highway 5, initially it's anticipated that they'll have a right and right out for the site and then in the future after construction of the roundabout, that will be their main entrance and exit. Uh timing for that is underway. It's anticipated between 26 and 27. Uh we did get comments from MDOT on this proposal. Uh they just wanted a traffic signage plan and that uh the applicant should be aware that they have to move through permit review processes for them as well. So pretty minor comments from MDOT on this. For grading and storm water management, they have to meet the MCWD rules. They have to put wetlands and buffers into outlots which the applicant has done. And then due to the lack of public streets, the storm water management uh is located in drainage and utility easements which will be privately maintained in accordance with the MCWD standards. For utilities, the water supply and the sanitary sewer would both be extended from the systems adjacent to Highway 5. Uh they do have public facilities platted within drainage and utility easements. So you can see uh the utility lines are within the dashed lines including main lines and hydrants. With that a public hearing was held with the planning commission at their regular meeting last Tuesday. Uh it was properly noticed and no members of the public attended. Staff did receive one anonymous email prior to the plane commission meeting just stating concerns about uh light, noise, traffic in the area. Uh but we did not receive any other comments. And then plane commission discussion mostly revolved around the types of medical services that are anticipated for that medical office building as well as the property elevations and potential impacts to those surrounding single family property owners. Uh there was a lot of talk about the possibility of including these lots as public parking during off hours as well as incorporating electric vehicle charging spaces. And then uh just general questions regarding the Highway 5 construction timing and potential safety impacts related to that crosswalk. With that, I have a few questions here to help guide discussion if needed. They were included in your report. Otherwise, we do have five motions this evening. So when the time comes we should take those one by one so that the clerk can get the record for those otherwise staff can stand for questions and we have representatives of the application the audience as well. >> Very good. Thank you Mr. McCann. Um can we go back to the page where we want to you have your questions to consider. Very good. Okay. At this time uh I open the floor for council discussion. Council any questions comments on this proposal? Uh just um council >> member right >> on the traffic noise and light uh for the residential lots adjacent. I know there were some changes made recently by the applicant if they could talk to that and >> there's a lot of fingerpointing going on. >> Welcome. Please state your name for the record, please. council. This is Steve Subrasi from Landform Professional Services, uh the civil engineer on the project. Um the previous application, um you know, I don't know that we made it as far to speak to you all about uh some of these issues, but um we were keen to this to the lighting concerns on site and um the the fixtures that we selected have a mounting height of 22 and 1/2 ft in height, I believe. And the site sits dramatically lower than the adjacent residential properties. Um approximately 37ish feet below. Um there's an addition there's a retaining wall on the south side of the site which will help screen some of the lighting um factors. Again, they're all downcast lights here as well. Um so we're we're not concerned about the lighting. We think we've you know resolved any of those issues. Um, as far as uh the traffic uh concerns, um, you know, this is a typical develop commercial development which fits in zoning. We have no additional traffic concerns. Um, the roundabout should uh provide ample access to the property as well as our reconfiguration of the drive-thrus. We think also helps sort of mitigate any um conflicts on site. The previous design had that, you know, intersecting um, weave design, which we've eliminated from the the design here. So we have dedicated lanes for the bank and the copy um on site. So we we think that with this these revisions we've resolved um those those issues and then we don't anticipate again any extraneuous you know noise uh from the properties. Again there I think the the noise concern um that was discussed at the previous meeting was concerning you know ambulances or emergency services for the um the medical office. But um you know that that may be but we're also adjacent to a fire station here too. So I don't anticipate it to be any um more of a nuisance than you know would otherwise be with the adjacent neighbors. So um with that but we have the rest of our development team here as well that can also answer any additional questions. >> Very good. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right council other questions. >> Um I have a few just regarding construction and that sort of thing. Is this close enough where we're going to need to stack geopoam and that sort of thing within the watershed area? >> Does this look like a question for our engineer? Miss Garren, it's lucky you're in the audience this evening. >> Sorry, I was hoping Brian would be able to answer it. >> He's not >> not my specialty, unfortunately. Council member and members of the city council, I think what um council member Peterson is referring to is the roadway along Highway five there. Um for those of you that were here for a long time, settled for years and years and years. So the roadway in that area is constructed with geoam. So I am certain that the folks from Landform have done plenty of soil borings and have figured out what they need to do within the site to construct the buildings accordingly. So thank you. >> Yeah. >> Um I know the former fire station is going to be right next door. Did Chief Shoger have any concerns about accessing any of these locations? Mayor and council member, the fire department did look at the plan set that is in front of you tonight. They did not have any specific concerns regarding uh turn radi for their fire trucks or access or anything. >> Excellent. Um and we haven't had comment from the Minhaha Creek wershed district yet regarding impacts. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> Okay. Um, with the construction of the parking lot, we're going to be underparked once the two once the coffee shop and proposed bank go into place. Are we planning to build all of the parking lot or the parking access when we're building the bank and coffee shop? or are we going to wait until we start construction on the um office complex before we build the rest of the parking lot? Because I'd love to see it overparked and then possibly find a way to use that for public purposes. >> Mayor and council member, I that's a good question the applicant's here to answer. >> Please, and please introduce yourself for us. >> Good evening. My name is Ryan Syler, uh partner with Headarters Development. Um, mayor, council members, thanks for the opportunity to be here tonight. As far as parking, I know I think the report mentions that it could be a phase development, phase one and phase two. Right now, uh, our intent is actually to construct both those phases simultaneously. Um, so parking would be uh built uh all at one time. If that for some reason would not occur, um yeah, we would also be interested in building the um additional parking just to have it serve the bank. And I'm sure um they're here tonight, too. I'm sure that would also be their intent or wish is to have parking adequate to serve their business as well. >> Very good. Thank you, Council Member Patterson. Anything else? Um, I guess that would be one thing that I'd like staff to ask and work with hometown if there's opportunities for public parking there down the road. Again, got a lot of steps to go through before we get there, but you get it. Um, that's good for me right now. Thank you for the opportunity. >> Great. >> Uh, what uh >> Roberts, >> what uh you know, we heard con uh some concerns about traffic. noise. Uh I mean the bank I'm assuming is going to have normal bank hours so it's going to be daytime use. Mocha monkey I'm assuming is similar type hours probably not open in the evening. Um do we I know the medical building is kind of tentative. So um is that are we thinking that's more office building for medical or is it going to be like could it be potentially urgent care? I know you mentioned uh uh uh ambulance, right? Which we have a fire station right there, but I'm just curious. I mean, I feel like if the way it's looking, it's we're not like this isn't going to be nighttime uh use type stuff. It's going to be more daytime, so there's not going to be that issue of >> Yeah. No, Mr. Styler, please. >> That's fair. Um, I think the the the coffee user would be done by 6 PM and the bank certainly would be done um by 6 if not before then. And then as far the medical use, I don't you know, I don't foresee this being an emergency facility by any means. Um, could there be urgent care? I I can't stand up here and say 100% that there won't be an urgent care component. Um, but I don't see it being an in and out of ambulances or emergency vehicles. Yeah. >> My only other comment would just be, you know, I know it's it's been a a while to get here. Um, and so I think but I think this is a a testament to the partnered up work that, you know, uh, developers and city staff, you know, do, right? Like, uh, you know, I think we were all excited about Mocha Monkey and Hometown Bank, right? And having these options here, but um, you know, nothing ne it wasn't perfect. We didn't we didn't you know there were things that weren't you know didn't meet our standards but you know you guys were willing to work with us and we were more than happy to work with you to get to a point where I think we have a product that should be taking care of most concerns that residents might have and I think it you know brings a lot to the table. So um I'm happy with where we got to. Yeah. And I think, you know, from my perspective, this resoning that we're doing, um, I think it's currently zoned as single family, which never made sense to me. This always seemed like a great commercial development for me as well, and I just I think you did a really great job bringing a beautiful entrance into our community. I I think it's going to be great. So, um, do we have some questions we need to answer or are we ready for our motions? Let's take a look here. So I I think uh council is in agreement that commercial is desired over residential for this property. Um it looks like all the cups and um conditional uses have been satisfied and it nothing looks terrible on that. Um the zoning text amendment I think supports what we're trying to get to here as well. Um site layout looks like it functions great. We love this second second iteration better. And then we've already discussed the noise and the light. So any other final comments from council? If not, then let's let's take a look at our motions and I will entertain. We're going to go five of them here, friends. So I'll start with >> everybody gets everybody gets a chance. So, >> uh, motion to adopt the resolution approving the preliminary plat conditional use permits and site plan and building materials requests for Victoria Gateway East. >> We have a motion. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> I will consider another motion, please. >> I'll move to adopt the resolution authorizing submitt of a comprehensive plan amendment to the Metropolitan Council. >> We have a motion. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Council member Reie. How about number three? >> Motion to adopt ordinance 482 ZC reszoning the property from R1 low density residential to central business district. >> We have a motion. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Council member Roberts. Motion to motion to adopt the ordinance 483 ZC amending section 31-3 of the Victoria zoning code. >> We have a motion. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Can I? All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> Move to adopt the resolution authorizing summary of publication ordinances 482 and 483ZC. >> Thank you. Council member Patterson. We have a motion. Can I get a second? >> Second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> Very good. We're moving on to item 6.2, which is to accept the bids and award a contract for the central green improvements for the downtown west phase 1. Presenting on that item this evening is our city engineer, Cara Garren. >> It's great. >> Miss Garren, whenever you're ready. >> Good evening, mayor, members of the city council. As I previously indicated, I have 8,000 slides to go through on this item. So, I'll get going. Nobody's in a hurry to go watch any football in this room. I'm sure of it. Um, so I we've talked about this previously, this project. Um, so I am not going to go through it in great detail. um we covered it briefly in your council packet, but on Friday we opened bids for um the central green improvement project. So specifically what was included in the scope of that project was constructing half of the central green parking lot um adjacent to the Olivine building and the underground storm water chamber um treatment facility that we reviewed previously. um that portion of the project will get constructed yet this fall. And then also included in that bid package is completion of the sidewalk along Stiger Lake Lane. So Stiger Lake Lane itself, as a reminder, is getting built with the 5 and11 project. Um but that project is federally funded. So we did not include construction of sidewalk, lighting, landscaping. We didn't want to federalize the construction of those elements. Um so this bid package from Friday includes constructing of those improvements as well as along the south side of the road. Um between the curb and gutter that's going in with the 5-11 project and the trail that's going in with the 5 and11 project. We're putting in lighting and landscaping. Those elements will get built in 2026. Um, I was pretty concerned about this bid opening because we were bidding a project in September asking a contractor to come in and build this infrastructure adjacent to an apartment building under construction on top of another contractor building a $12 million highway improvement project. So, I was not sure what was going to pleased to report that we got nine bids, which was quite shocking. Um, and we were very happy to report that the low bidder was Minger Construction, who is the contractor for the 5-11 project, which is going to make all of our lives a lot easier both for Olivine and for the 5-11 project that we will have the same contractor working in the same sandbox as the 5-11 contract. um their bid did come in 18% below the engineers estimate um because they're already mobilized and on-site. That's why we were able to see such a a good discount by having them complete the work. So with that, um the total estimated project cost for this project is 995,000. When I say for this project, I do mean for this specific project. We will have another project that we will need to complete to build out the other half of the central green. We need to figure out the timing of that once the downtown west project that's starting to move through the approval process. I think that's in front of you on the 22nd. Um so staff's got to come back and figure out when it makes sense to build this other half. I'm not including that in this total project cost that I have listed here even though we've been doing some of the engineering work that the council previously authorized for that. It's a little difficult to define what the total project cost was for this one. Um but this project that we have in front of us that you would be authorizing tonight will get paid for. We have $900,000 um in the bank from um the Olivine project that will be used towards this. And then I'll be working with Trish to confirm exactly how we're going to finalize um the funding for the remaining 95,000 out of um street funds and storm water funds um once I can more f fully vet through the numbers that I got on Friday. So, um, with that, we would be looking for a motion to, um, accept the bids and award a contract to Minger. >> Very good. Thank you so much, Miss Garren. That is exciting news. >> That's perfect. Um, council questions, comments. >> Um, maybe we've went over this before in this dumb question, but why do we not want to do the whole at once? like is it just be like you're talking about the western development um is more to like >> we >> flow with them better. We're going to um locate another underground storm water facility underneath this half of the parking lot and we need Carl's project to be actually into the preliminary plat design phase so we know what elevation to put the other chamber at and we could not possibly figure that out fast enough. We need to have this parking complete by March so that because Olivine's ahead of schedule as part of our obligation under the development agreement, we'd like them to have somewhere to park when their residents are trying to move in. Um, you know, when they're leasing. So, we owe them 16 spots in our development agreement. So, >> thank you. Yes. >> I just couldn't remember why. >> Yep. >> How many are going to be hit with that parking lot right there? Uh 32. >> Thank you. >> I about 32. >> Other questions, comments? Seeing none, I will entertain a motion. >> Motion to adopt resolution 2025-54, a resolution accepting bids and awarding a contract for the Central Green Improvements Project to Minger Construction Company, Inc. >> Very good. We have a motion. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. There are no more items on our regular agenda this evening. So, we'll move on to reports and emerging issues. Attorneys, you're up first. >> Go Vikes. I got nothing. >> Okay. Very good. Uh, Miss Hardy, anything from staff? >> None from staff, Madame Mayor. >> And members of the council. Anything from the members of the council this evening? All right. Seeing none, I will then entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. We stand adjourned.