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Lakeville City Council Meeting 3-3-25

Lakeville City CouncilFriday, May 9, 2025
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[Music] [Music] good evening and welcome to the March 3rd city council meet uh meeting if you'd uh join me for a moment of silence and Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of americe okay M rovski roll call please L kellier John burmel here Dan Walter here Joshua Lee here okay very good we'll move on to item number three this is Citizens comments it's opportunity for anybody to address the council about issues if you want to come up and state your name typically though is there an issue later on the agenda you want to talk about or is this separate no this is from okay come on up yep okay sorry thank you if you'd state your name and address please sure no problem uh Jeff caral 17616 Fairfax Avenue in Farmington I was here with the uh oh do you want the zip and stuff too or okay I'm sorry um I was here at the last meeting when we were going through the um North Creek development and I just wanted to make you aware that um I had gotten a uh a a uh oh I'm sorry God um happens to me all the time oh sorry I had gotten a survey from the uh um Midwest natural resources of uh of the Wetland that was uh developed that we're developing a wetland and it was considered to be all Wetland before and now since they've been working on it there's only a small section that's considered Wetland and I just wanted to I know I gave you copies of this last meeting and I wanted to make it available to the other members and so here are copies of it want to give it to our clerk sure I'm sorry thank you very I believe had sent me an email saying that it was considered the part that is wetland is man-made so they can develop on it but I wanted I forwarded that on to the EPA to find out if that's true or not and also to the company that did the or the The Firm that did the uh study and just to make sure that that's what it actually is supposed to be because I don't believe you can develop on Wetland I just don't want anybody to get in trouble over it and I wanted to make it make you aware of it which if it is then that's the bigger issue was that he forwarded on the person that did it forwarded me on to the United States forest and Wildlife service which said that when we did the original thing month ago uh there was Eagles on that development and they can't unless they have a a eagle nest permit or they have a um specific or a general uh permit they can't take down within 600 ft of an eagle's nest which I think is pretty normal um but I have neighbors who have pictures of eagles and I just don't want the city of Lakeville or anybody to get in trouble for it without actually being aware of it so here's that email from um and so if you want take a look at that also I just want you to be aware of it so that uh she I am going to tell them that they're developing that land back there and she emailed me back saying well they're if they do do that it's going to be fines and they're going to have to stop and they're going to there's going to be fines and I don't want to end up having fines for the city of Lakeville because I'm assuming that's what's what she's talking about is finding the developing firm the uh engineers and the probably the city of Lakeville so I just want you to be aware um that I'm going to be contacting them again so um and uh we were also wondering I believe Mr Miller had emailed my wife and I um what about the 11 10 or 11 stipulations who's supposed to to be making sure that that gets done uh before that development starts taking place could your email I'm sorry the first time okay well we I'll follow up with you on the fish and wildlife stuff and then we'll get you a clarification on the um the other question you had too because you had or someone on the board had brought up uh them fixing the sign and getting rid of some trees and stuff like that I just want to make sure it gets done before so thank you very much appreciate it thank you for coming any other citizen comments okay see none we'll move on to item number four any additional agenda information Mr Miller nothing tonight mayor okay we'll move on to item five and that is our uh Park and Recreation cly report and I'll turn it over to our parks and director Mr Macy archin good evening um mayor council uh good evening uh I'll be doing our quarterly report this covers December through February it's a little bit of end of last year beginning of this year um updates so uh to start with to talk a little bit about what we've been working on administratively for the Department um several initiatives that I do want to touch base on tonight um the first of which is of course Grand Prairie Park uh so construction continues at the uh the park uh this winter we've completed uh now framing for the field support building that's the building closest to the pickle ball courts uh the structural steel has been installed on the the main building and they'll actually be working on framing that in later this week we'll start weather pending uh that is the building that's closest to the splash pad um and the playground and then we've uh completed backfill at the grand stand um but have been meeting with our contractors continually throughout the season uh so work is progressing but kind of slowly at this point which we anticipated um things are moving along though nicely uh spy glass uh Park Phase 2 uh this is actually one of the uh neighborhood parks that is going to be receiving an update this year uh it's phase two the original portion of the park is the uh lower portion this was redesigned or redeveloped as the um existing storm water Pond was added to the park so we acquired additional land with that development to the north and in that portion we'll be installing a new uh multi-purpose athletic deck and as part of that project um we distributed 230 emails to the residents uh received 53 comments back um regarding that survey and have since made uh some good I think updates to the initial uh master plan and also based off of what we received from the park W natural resource committee uh so this plan has shifted some some minor adjustments here there but this is scheduled for construction here in 2025 uh strategic planning I touched on this the last time that I presented uh but we've completed now two days of strategic planning for the recreation department and Heritage Center and that included our uh Park Recreation and heritage heritage center staff as well as representatives from the active adults and parks recre and natural resource committee members it was a two-day strategic planning process uh we'll next be meeting with the consultant again to develop a implementation plan for recreation and an implementation plan for Heritage and once that's complete I would imagine down the road we'll be bringing those new initiatives to uh the council at a work a future work session uh the other project that we've been working on in conjunction with the communication department is an update to the Parks and Recreation website this is actually tied to a larger refresh to the city's website and when that rolls out later this year we will now have a new landing page for Parks and Recreation a new URL or a direct URL to Parks and Recreation similar to what we have for the art center and the Heritage Center and that's going to provide new opportunities for us to Market our programs facilities and events but also will provide new opportunities for us to be able to provide new information to the public uh which we're excited about and park maintenance uh Park maintenance the our staff has been incredibly busy uh so the uh this winter um we um AFF flooded the ice rinks uh so that's uh a 24-hour a day process for seven staff uh to get those opened up in the in time for the season we had 52 seasonal um summer or seasonal staff that uh manage the warming houses that's 10 10 sites across the city in 20 different ranks uh this year the warming houses were open for 49 days and during that time uh staff counted over 14,000 users of those rinks that's counted every hour so there is some duplication in there to keep in mind but still a really impressive use this year and proxys I touched on this also the last time proxys is the new Locking System that we're using for the park system uh today in fact we finished the completion of the installation for the Steve mad building we finished fin the installation at the performing arts building and the Fine Arts Building at the Art Center uh and at this point that phase of the project is more or less complete later this year we're going to be looking at um some additions for the Heritage Center so kind of a phase two to that project but results so far have been great with the new system and we've got a notable retirement from our Parks maintenance crew uh it's actually 19 years of service uh from Mark desan he retired today um we actually had three retirements from Park maintenance all within similar time frames of service um and three new staff that have uh already been uh brought on our first of which started mid-February that was uh Matt Stone stonestrom um and then we have a new staff member that's starting today and another in two weeks um but some big changes for Park maintenance but we're excited for those that have retired appreciate their service and then also welcome our new staff and uh We've also been working on some upgrades to our signage throughout the park system um couple of those notable improvements would include some new signage for the West Lake Maran Offroad uh bike course uh disc golf course wayfinding signage educational signs for Ritter Farm that's both environmental signage and as displayed here new signage for the Edo environmental Learning Center and then of course with the new Park Grand Prairie we'll be doing quite a bit of additional signage there and uh Recreation uh so Recreation facilities uh started reservations January 1st uh we're currently sitting at 59 reservations for the John henon Pavilion again this year we switched that to a two per day uh reservation uh time slot in May from May through August so allowing more um reservations at that facility um during that time period of the year and then our shelters are sitting at 95 reservations so far there are some very busy days as you would expect um you know some of the most popular days are already booked but there is a lot of availability throughout the system so we just encourage people to reserve sooner than later and for special events uh Recreation had the Santa Secret store with uh around 500 participants illumination walk with just about 200 the winter wonderland pint siiz prom with 43 and the youth ice fishing contest with approximately 100 and uh for some of their other programs uh we had the dog sled rides 262 candle making uh spring pickle ball and the uh jigsaw jeree which is a new program that we're doing it's one of the puzzle making contests that did sell out with 12 teams or 12 groups uh We've added quite a few of those now for spring and summer and those are reserving are registering well and for other upcoming events for recreation uh quite a few coming up here in April uh the Easter egg scramble golden egg hunt uh Earth Day celebration and then of course coming up here uh the summer starting June 16th we'll have the Puppet Wagon which will be returning uh back to the community and moving on to the art center uh this December uh they held the holiday art sale and empty bowls fundraiser uh that was tied this year to the same week in his holiday on Maine sold over 300 pieces of art made by local artists and uh $5,800 in sales the majority of that goes back to the artists the art center does retain a percentage to help support the facility uh winter spring programs uh it's been a a busy um uh season so far so Pottery program sitting at almost 300 participants uh specialty workshops which are like the Classic oil painting and the fused glass almost a hundred and then the youth Art Break those are programs that we offer specifically over spring break sitting currently at 60 registrations and for Performing Arts also a solid winter um Christmas Carol radio play um an enchanted Christmas that's the Lakeville Area Community band sitting at almost 300 tickets sold um Chad Johnson music a tribute to the BJ bgs and a murder is announced uh which is expressions Community Theater that's our local group with over 700 tickets and just looking ahead for the art center uh the downtown Lakeville Art Crawl is coming uh May 10th uh more information will be coming out on that including the list of artists and the interactive map here in another month or so uh the live at the lake summer concert series we've already sent out um invites for that series that's an application process and uh staff will be announcing that as um as we continue to get contracts sign so I would assume over the next six weeks or so uh we are excited to announce though that safety signs will again be sponsoring that series for a 2-year time frame 25 and 26 and appreciate their support and active adults uh holiday social uh so this is the annual holiday social that's held in December uh they had 160 participants at that uh the special events um their holiday uh bake sale almost 800 in sales um the holiday Coco day 10 partic partipants and the uh monthly Lakeville luncheons over 100 and they held their third annual Marty grow party so over 80 participants this year that was on February 11th and then memberships again continue to uh break records I think I tell you this every time I present but now sitting at uh over 1,67 um members at the Heritage Center but also really strong showings for their other events the card and board games um the book club craft C uh the crafts and uh Fitness just to name a few and then as a reminder the uh summer fall brochure this is our new brochure that's covering six months of the year uh has been mailed out to all Lakeville residents it is available online and our registrations are already going fast some of the most popular classes and events are already starting to fail so don't wait to check that out and with that I'll stand for any questions Council questions comments so might just only question I had for you was um did you have the timeline on Grand prie Park or what are what are the key Milestones over the next couple of months and for construction yeah and I can send you the actual our Full Construction schedule if you'd like to see it um or or a highlight of it but uh we're anticipating at this point to complete construction on the facility of the field support building and the main building uh by miday um our goal is still to be able to open uh the pickle ball courts playground splash pad and challenge course yet this summer our goal would really be July I think is what we're looking at but it's all going to be weather dependent and uh we'll be uh installing Turf uh or planting seed here this spring we won't be using any of the athletic decks this year uh and the grand stand we're anticipating will be complete by midep so that is also scheduled for a 2026 opening fantastic good report thank you yep thank you all right um moving on to item six this is our consent agenda these are more routine items for the council anything you'd like to highlight Mr Miller thank you mayor a couple items tonight item 6E is a resolution awarding construction uh contracts for the 185th Street Expansion Project so that'll be 185th between iava and County Road 50 uh they're round about there so we're looking forward to that items f and g are both donations to the fire department and we appreciate those donations as well as um Mr Massi archin mentioned the donation of safety signs for the community uh as sponsor for the summer concert series that's item 60 and then item 6p is a list of other donations to the park and direct department and then lastly 6 U is a resolution accepting bids and authorizing contracts for the first center that's our first responder skills uh training center and we're looking forward to that construction okay very good um Council any items that you would like to pull for further discussion if not I will take a motion uh Council mayor I'd like to uh pull item 6 R from the agenda for further discussion okay um many other items not I'll take a motion to approve the consent agenda except for item R moved second okay all any further discussion all those in favor say I I I opposed okay consent agenda passes except for R we'll deal with that now uh let me just pulled up here hang on okay so item R was related to an encroachment agreement on Orchard Trail anything that you wanted to discuss council member Lee sure uh I'll just U provide a little bit of context about why I think it deserves a little bit more discussion um the item is encroachment agreement with the less now property uh for a private Improvement on public property um it's my understanding that uh encroachment Agreements are fairly limited on un like Marian right now um this one stood out to me because of how significant this dock is from the property owner all the way across the public property which is still considered Basset Park granted it is wetland at the moment um but it it goes from one side of the parcel to the other um we have heard from uh Lake owners and residents that this our Lake Maran is a busy uh Lake as it is and to me adding another dock uh on there where another set of boats could access to it um is a concern um and then just continuing precedent for adjacent land owners to extend docks onto the onto the lake uh again for congestion of of the uh lake with boats but also I mean again this is uh scaling the the whole width of the public property so um I think it creates a barrier of access to the rest of the the parcel if we needed or anyone wanted to use it so that's what stood out to me and I just thought uh it might be worth more discussion before approving um I have a question member vul yep so it was my understanding from the um um agreement that maybe I'm wrong but I thought if the city was going to do something with that park or whatever then they'd have to remove their dock okay so I guess I I agree with you I looked at that for a long time trying to figure out wow okay but then when I read the agreement I thought okay so if we decide to do something with that Park we don't want everybody using the dock right I mean the private dock so then it could be removed yeah I I just you know every neighbor next to him has a dog you know even the one that is exact next to our neighbor kind of angles you know I was like oh it's too bad they couldn't figure out a way to hook them up right you know but um so that was the only re I my thought process was is if we wanted to do something they knew that they were taking a risk that if we did something that dock would be removed I I agree on that I think though there there currently is a stream at one point and the only historical uh satellite view I could tell was in 1997 and there was actually water there um I'm there may have been other years where there was water there as well um but in terms of using that stream um it would be blocked by a uh a dock I I don't know what the other uh you all think about this but I'm sure staff looked at all sorts of options for this this stock my preference would be for it not to be going across the whole parcel and if there is any way to squeeze it in to the east side of that stream so it doesn't look like it's going across the whole thing but um I don't know how you get away from the how they work it out with the neighbor then because then you're talking about having to use the neighbor's property correct no no not necessarily but it does but the lake access would be very close to the other dock next door um but yeah the the lot line goes um the sometimes the aerial photo is a little bit misleading but the lot line goes all the way the residential lot lines go all the way up to the park there is no space between the park and the lot lines Park um the the city property so if you if you're on if you're able to access the Dakota County GIS page and and you click that you'd see that the our property butts up against the um the homes there is no open lake or Open Water there right right and I I think that part I'm I'm understand but um again I could be the only one but it just seemed like a significant uh impedance to the the area yeah I and I understand your perspective I mean I I don't I'm not a legal expert I do know that the state DNR has some rules related about how if your property touches water even though if it's not navigable there are certain allowances for docks I actually I don't have that in front of me I don't know if you know off the top of your head [Music] um I do not but I do know that uh they have the right to access the water but the dock issue is really up to the city to decide whether they want to allow the dock the DNR really doesn't control that aspect okay can I Council Lee yep um could you clarify a little bit more about the right to the water because I guess that's May that's maybe the key point for me is it didn't look like this property technically is a lakefront property exactly I agree that was my initial reaction as well when I first looked at this and then the property owner had provided some information that showed that the city in the past and the DNR has determined there is uh it does just barely touch Shoreland in one I think it's the North West Corner MH um so it's technically riparian they would have riparian rights gotcha okay well that is that is helpful even if the water hasn't touched that property for a long time um got it appreciate that and I would just say for me I mean I we have gotten many requests over the years about people who live across the street from the lake but there's no one across from them there city property and we have not been willing to do that I think at least in the past for me it's because it hasn't touched directly albeit very slight um I believe that this would qualify but I I'm I'm comfortable with the agreement knowing that if we do end up needing to use the property then you know we would we would go through that so I don't know if anybody else had any comments or questions related to is an applicant here by chance and it's a it's not required I just if they wanted to say something but doesn't look like it okay um otherwise I'll take a motion unless there isn't any further disc discussion council member Walter uh I move to approve an encroachment agreement with Michael lesnau for private improvements on public property okay is there a second second okay any further discussion not uh roll call please Dan Walter I J Lee hi Michelle vul hi Luke kellier hi John Burma I okay very good thank you everybody U moving on to item 7A consider a preliminary plaid for airlake DEA second edition I don't know if we're going to turn over to Mr McCoy from Dakota Electric or yep all right and council members thank you for having us here today my name is Conor McCoy and I'm with kimley Horn uh speaking for Dakota Electric today we are reviewing the preliminary plat for air Lake second edition this property is located north at 225th Street and West of f staff Avenue uh the applicant proposes to split out LW B of air Lakes DEA first edition into two lots lot one and out lot a both myself and Jeff with Dakota Electric are here today uh to field any questions that you may have um during the presentation or after thank you okay very good I have a staff report miss good road well welcome good evening mayor members of the council um yes so DEA is here um they have submitt their preliminary plat for airlake DEA second edition um as um the gentleman mentioned the property is just North of 222nd Street um east of Cedar the property outlined in red is the portion that's included in this plat so if you recall the last meeting we had the plary plot to create the two outlot so this is now the next step for DEA to create their lot an additional outlot the property is Zone I2 General industrial and is also guided industrial on the comprehensive plan so again here is the P plat um the initial lot is basically this boundary that's lot one and then they're planting an out lot for future development and then that original plat or the first edition had the dedication of right away for 222nd Street and 220 Fifth Street is towards the South here's a blow up of the site plan um it's pretty straightforward project there's no conditional use permits it's just a preliminary plat the property will be accessed from 225th Street as well as 222nd Street to the north that's where all the um service Vehicles operational vehicles trucks and so forth will enter the property will have um guest parking employee parking in these two locations and then this section is mainly the office building about 70,000 Square ft of the um 176,50 squ foot building will be office and that's a two-story portion and that'll blend into really the operational side so the goal with moving um this facility to Lakeville is so that they can enclose all of their vehicles as well as um materials and so forth and fleet vehicles there is definitely some yard space for them to have some equipment outside um there's a couple of different kinds of of asphalt depending on what they're storing in those locations um but for the most part um um most all of the vehicles will be closed um inside the Landscaping plan includes perimeter landscaping around all of the parking areas building perimeter around the office building um again because this is only a Budd in one major public Street um all of landscaping is kind of concentrated here since it really is an industrial operational type of facility um all of the setbacks um all of those kind of minimum requirements including parking requirements are being satisfied um on the screen is the elevation plans um this to meets all of our exterior Building Material requirements it's a combination of stone architectural metal and glass um and the elevation that will be facing 225th Street is um the second one and then um you've got the East the north elevation and the west elevation um the Planning Commission did hold a public hearing at their February 20th meeting and unanimously recommended the project or the approval and there was no public comment at that meeting and I would stand for any questions okay very good Council questions comments council member Lee uh director goodroad at the Planning Commission meeting you mentioned how you had just had some conversations with the township about the access road the dirt road could you expand on any developments since then we haven't had any um more developments we shared the plan um when the initial application came in we shared the plan and then we met with DEA staff to go through the plat basically to share with them the alignment for 222nd Street eventually you can see right here that road will dip they're just called to sacking it initially and this is Township property so we wanted the township to be aware of the alignment for 222nd Street as it would extend into their site and touch Flag Staff and it needs to be 1/8 of a mile from where the intersection of County Road 70 and Flag Staff will be so we explained that to them we did share with them and they're very aware that 225th is going to have increased traffic we have a joint Powers agreement for maintenance they are evaluating it they're going to be talking about um this roadway at their next board meeting but there isn't anything definite as to when this possibly might be paved it's something that they're studying um and then through that joint jpa would be we the city would be um providing Our obligation based on that thank you yeah so on the I thought that there was an agreement with Mac to PVE that road is that east of Hamburg or I don't know you're catching me because I don't have the history there is some agreement and I don't know the extent of how far are their responsibility lies do you know I don't remember off the top of my head mayor um I do know that it's um it's coordinated with the expansion of the um the runway yeah okay we can get some more information on that for you okay I thought I was in a meeting with them and maybe you know from The airlake Advisory that there were supposed to be some Paving happening there but maybe I'm wrong my understanding was going west from Cedar was going to coordinate with uh the runway project um there is a request for maybe a small part but right now it's it's contingent on the runway expansion got it okay right any other comments or questions otherwise I'll take a [Music] motion council member bural H wait a second sorry about that uh I moved to approve a resolution for the preliminary plat of airlake DEA second edition okay is there second second any further discussion I'll just say I'm as I said the last when you're here before we're very excited to have dakot electric come to Lakeville sorry to our friends in Farmington but uh we do appreciate you moving to Lakeville so with that I'll take a uh roll call please Lee i i heler i FML I Walter I okay very good thank you moving on to items 8 and N unfinished and new business seeing none announcements our next city council meeting is uh Monday March 17th right here in the council chambers and our work session is March 24th and with that I'll take a motion to adjourn so moved is there a second all those in favor say I I I post we're adjourned thank you [Music] [Music]