Good evening and welcome to the April 20th City Council meeting. If you'd join me for a moment of silence in the Pledge of Allegiance. All right, Mr. Snyder, roll call, please. I'm sorry, here. Helier? Here. Burmo? Here. Wolter? Here. Lee? Here. Okay, very good. Item number three, citizens comments. The opportunity for those to address council for up to 3 minutes about issues. If you're here for something that's on the agenda, typically we don't have public hearings, but I will open it up for public comment uh for an agenda item. Okay. Oh. Are you here about an issue on the agenda, or do you have something separate to talk about? Okay, no problem. Uh item four, additional agenda information, Mr. Miller. Mayor and council, if it's okay with you, I'd like I'd propose that you uh switch item 7A and 7B. 7B is the awarding the bond sale. That should be a relatively quick discussion, and then we would go into 7A, which is the residential interim ordinance. Okay, that's fine. Uh moving on to item five. Uh first is the proclamation recognizing National Therapy Animal Day. And I'm going to have Councilmember Wolter read it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. National Proclamation National Therapy Animal Day. Whereas Pet Partners has designated April 30th as National Therapy Animal Day, >> [clears throat] >> and whereas scientific research shows that interacting with therapy animals can reduce stress, relieve depression, show slow heart rate, lower blood pressure, and strengthen the immune system, and whereas therapy animal teams in Lakeville plan play an essential role in improving human health and well-being through the human-animal bond, and whereas therapy animal teams interact with a variety of people in our community, including veterans, seniors, patients, students, and those approaching end of life, and whereas those exceptional these exceptional therapy animals who partner with their human companions bring comfort and healing to those in need, and whereas we encourage more pet owners to consider becoming Pet Partners volunteers to help our community by creating greater access to meaningful therapy animal visits. Now, therefore, the Lakeville City Council does hereby proclaim April 30th, 2026 as National Therapy Animal Day in the City of Lakeville. Proclaimed this 20th day of April, 2026. Very good. Mary's here with Duke, right? Yeah. Did you want to say anything at all? You don't have to. Uh Duke Silver is a 6-year-old. Um I got him when he was a puppy, and we had to do about 2 years worth of training to So, uh he loves going and visiting people and just being around town. The older older crowd. Very good. Can you want to take a quick picture and Okay. Yep. I'll now um thank you, by the way. We'll move on to [clears throat] item B, uh proclamation for National Day of Prayer. And I think Ms. Deb Anderson is here to give a little update and background on National Day of Prayer. Well, thank you. I represent the task force in Lakeville, which is made up of four people. And this is an exciting year for the National Day of Prayer, because our country is celebrating its 250th year. And as you look back on history, you can see that prayer was a part of our history. So, anyway, just a little bit of background. Some of it you heard before, but I have some new information this year. So, yep. Listen up to see if you can see what's new. So, the National Day of Prayer task force has been organizing prayer events throughout the country. And um the mission is to mobilize unified public prayer for America. The National Day of Prayer is a time for us to recall how our founding fathers sought the wisdom of God when faced with critical decisions. It stands as a call for us to humbly come before God, seeking his guidance for our leaders, and his grace upon us as a people, just as our founding fathers did in the past. Every year local, state, and federal observances are held throughout the country. So, a little bit of history. July 20th of 1775, the first Continental Congress called for a National Day of Prayer and Fasting. And then in 19 1863, President Abraham Lincoln called for a National Day of Prayer. April 17th of 1952, President Harry Truman declared a National Day of Prayer, and actually signed into law saying, "In times of national crisis, when we are striving to strengthen the foundations of peace, we stand in special need of divine support." And that law was passed unan- un- unanimously, excuse me. So, just in the past that we needed that is true yet today. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the designation of the first Thursday in May as the annual observance. And then in 1998, President Clinton signed into law saying, "Each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer." So, here's the new part. Bunch of fun facts. There have been 143 national calls of prayer, humiliation, and fasting, and thanksgiving by the president, going from 1789 all the way through 2014. I don't know why they quit counting after that, but Um and then there've been 66 presidential proclamations for a day of prayer. Every president since 1952 has signed a National Day of Prayer proclamation. And tomorrow, our president, President Trump, will be part of an 8-day biblical scripture reading along with 500 people at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. And since we just had the exciting uh news of the Artemis 2 mission, this brings us back to the last mission. April of 1970, President Richard Nixon had the nation observe a day of prayer for the Apollo 13 astronauts. And I don't know if any of you had seen any of the astronauts' discussion afterward, but many of them were very moved watching the Earth from outer space and realizing that we do have a creator out there that takes care of us. And then um September 11th, 2001 is a date ingrained in many of our history. Um President George W. Bush declared declared a day of prayer, and also a declared a day of prayer after Hurricane Katrina. And again, getting back to our president, on February 5th, you know, just a short while ago, President Trump spoke at the 75th annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., calling for a national jubilee of prayer, praise, thanksgiving on the National Mall. And that takes place just shortly after the National Day of Prayer on May 17th. So, as America faces challenges in the economy, from terrorism, and natural disasters, one can gain inspiring faith from the leaders of our past. And our nation has always been strengthened by the faith of our people, and we are fortunate to live in a country where our Constitution protects our exercise of our religion. So, the theme this year is "Glorify God among the nations, seeking him in all generations." So, thank you for declaring May 7th, 2026 as National Day of Prayer for the City of Lakeville. And you all And you all are invited to join us in front of city hall at noon. Thank you. Being here. Councilmember Wolking, would you read the proclamation? I can. The National Day of Prayer 2026. Whereas National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation. And whereas the National Day of Prayer Task Force, a non-sectarian group with no political affiliation encourages citizens to pray for our leadership in America especially in the areas of government, military, media business, education, church, and family. Therefore, the city of um the city council of the city of Lakeville does hereby proclaim Thursday, May 7th, 2026 shall be observed as the National Day of Prayer. Proclaimed this day the 20th day of April, 2026. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks for being here. Okay. Mayor, uh now move on to item C, a presentation from our liquor store director, Tanna Wolking. >> [laughter] >> Council, thank you for the opportunity to share results of our liquor operations March fundraiser. So, during the month of March, our liquor stores collected donations from our incredibly generous customers totaling $29,835.60. These funds will directly support two invaluable organizations in our community 360 Communities and the Open Door Pantry. Joining us tonight are representatives from both of these organizations. Jason Viana is here representing the Open Door and Hannah Laniado is representing 360 Communities. So, if either of you like to say Hi, good evening. I just want to say thank you so much for your support of all the nonprofits in Dakota County and in Lakeville. It's so important that we have network for people who are seeking services. So, thank you. Thank you so much uh for continuing to feature our organizations during this campaign. As you know, between the two of us, we're building something that just isn't present in Lakeville, which is infrastructure for families that need help. Um and this support not only helps us put food into the hands of folks that need it. Um on any given month, you're helping us help over 23,000 people around Dakota County. Around 5,000 of those in Lakeville. You're helping us have mobile food access points in five different places in Lakeville. And as many of you know, during the summer, we work with the school district to deliver meals to five neighborhoods in Lakeville. Last summer, that was over 12,000 meals that students wouldn't have access to otherwise. So, we are grateful for featuring this, for acknowledging this, and for making Lakeville a place that everyone can thrive. Council, any comments? Joshua. Councilmember Lee. Uh well, thank you both for being here and for what you do in the community. Um and thanks to the patrons of the liquor store. I'm not sure if this was a round-up campaign or a separate jar or something like that. Um but uh regardless of the strategy, I also want to thank the staff for being diligent and and asking that question at every uh transaction because that takes an extra uh second to do that. Um but looking at that total, that's a impactful number. So, uh thanks to everybody involved in that. Appreciate it. Yes. Anyone else? I'll just again echo Councilmember Lee, thanking to the customers in the liquor store. But to both of you that represent your organizations, we continue to be grateful for your partnership. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Mayor, uh real quick. Um I don't know if anybody from Just Serve is here tonight, but um as got some uh publicity last month, uh we were named a Just Serve city and >> [clears throat] >> it was a 40,000 lb donation, a semi truck full of food was donated to the Open Door and they are going to be sharing some of that with 360 Communities. And we purposely asked that that be timed in the month of March to coincide with our um our food shelf um or our donations and from the liquor stores. It is the Jennifer. Thank you for being here. Okay. We'll move on to item six, our consent agenda. Any items you'd like to highlight, Mr. Miller? Thank you, Mayor. Two items tonight. Item 6F is a professional services agreement with Cooper Engineering. This will help design our freight rail storage facility that we've been working on. And so, it's a just another step forward on going to that. That is being paid for through federal funds. And so, we appreciate our federal delegation for fighting for those funds a couple years ago. And then item 6L is accepting the bid and awarding construction contract for East Community Park phase two. This will be the final project that was approved as part of the park bond referendum in 2021. And construction on that will begin this spring. Okay, very good. Council, any items you'd like to further discuss? If not, I'll take a motion to approve consent agenda. Councilmember Wolking. I move approval of the consent agenda. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, the consent agenda passes. We'll now move on to item 7B resolution authorizing issuance, award, and sale of 2026 GO bonds of 38.3 65 million. Finance director is here to tee this up for us. Good evening. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Um we did have very favorable bond results this morning at the sale and um we're able to recognize roughly $2 million of premium. So, we're using that to reduce the par amount of the bonds. And we have Jessica Green who's a managing director at Northland, our fisc- our financial advisor um to give us the details of the results this morning. Okay, very good. Ms. Green, good to see you again. Council, good evening. Evening. As Julie just went over, we had a great sale this morning. Very impressive. 13 bids were received on the on the city's bonds this morning. So, um we do have a sales summary. Uh the cover looks like this. I believe it was distributed this afternoon after the final numbers were compiled for the bond sale. Um the council, of course, is familiar with the projects that we are financing here today. Those being the street and collector rehab projects for 2026. We also have improvements to fire station number two and then also some utility improvements as well. The finance plan here, so we've got a couple of different structures. 20 years on the CIP portion, which is related to fire station number two. And then both the street and the utility portions are structured over 10 years. Security for the bonds, being that these are general obligation bonds, uh the city will pledge net revenues of both the water and the sewer utility funds and then ad valorem taxes. Um one note though related to fire station number two, the city does intend to cancel any levies related to that CIP portion and uh pay for that debt service with franchise fees. We did uh seek a rating for the issuance. Um city's rating of triple A was affirmed. So, congratulations to council on maintaining that very, very strong rating. Um of course, you continue to score very well against Moody's rating methodology. Um of course, they commented on the very strong financial position of the city. Um local economy is strong and growing and then your very strong liquidity and reserve position. So, again, congratulations on that rating. Method of sale here today was competitive. Again, 13 bids received with the low bid being Huntington Securities out of Chicago, Illinois. We have a final maturity here, February 1 of 2047. And then an optional call date beginning February 1 of 2034. So, at that point, you can call the bonds in for savings or refunding. Um and you can do that in whole or in part. So, once you hit that call date, you can call the bonds in at any date thereafter. And then on the bottom here, we've just got a uh quick comparison. So, we did review the finance plan uh with the council back at the beginning of March and we had a size of roughly 39,505,000. We were able to reduce that amount by about a million dollars just with the bids related to the street and collector rehab projects. And then from there, we were also able to reduce the bond amount, as Julie mentioned, about $2 million in premium received today. So, we were able to bump that par amount down to 36,145,000. True interest cost, very, very similar to what we had estimated in the finance plan. So, 3.67 was what we were anticipating. 3.65 is where we ended up today. Um so, not a huge difference, but in overall debt service, assuming that the bonds are outstanding for the life of the bonds, so full term, it's a savings of about $32,000. So, we'll take it where we can get it. And then on the um next page, you'll see the bid tab. So, again, those 13 bids coming in, all really tight together. So, 3.628 um for Huntington going down to Fidelity at the very bottom at 3.69. But all in that 3.6 range. So, very strong again. And then you do have um some sources and uses along with the debt service schedules. Of course, we'll prepare a final Excuse me, prepare a final transcript after the closing of the bonds and that is scheduled to occur on May 14th. With that, I would be happy to take any questions that the council may have. Okay, very good. Council, any questions or comments? You know, I'm thrilled about the triple A rating again. We've I think is it been 5 years now? Is it that long? I don't even know. About that. It's pretty good. Um that council, I'll take a motion. Council member Burmel. I move to approve a resolution authorizing issuance, awarding sale, prescribing the form and details, and providing for the payment of Would that be the correct amount of 38,000 or would it be the 36,000? >> 36,000 or excuse me, 36,145,000. $36,145,000 of general obligation bonds series 2026A. Okay, is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? I've seen none. Roll call, please. Burmel. Aye. Wolter. Aye. Lee. Aye. Volk. Aye. Heliher. Aye. Thank you very much to all of you for all of your work on that. Thank you very much. Okay, we'll now jump back to [clears throat] item A, residential interim ordinance. And I'll turn it over to Ms. Goodroad to kind of tee this up for us based on our work session conversation we had at our last meeting. Good evening. Thank you, Mayor members of the council. City council did discuss the draft interim ordinance at your April 9th work session. The intent of the ordinance is to provide a pause in the acceptance of new applications to allow the city time to study the impacts of potential legislation as well as the Metropolitan Council's Imagine 2050 regional planning document and its impact on the current 2040 comp plan. So, while it would prevent new applications from being submitted for residential development including preliminary plats, subdivisions, comp plan amendments, or rezonings for a period of up to a year. Could always be pulled closer or ended sooner than that. It does exempt a few things. Number one, subdivisions that already have preliminary plat approval. Subdivision applications for preliminary plat and subsequent approvals that have been deemed complete and they're currently going through the process. And then properties that are currently undergoing the alternative urban area wide review process. That's following the same logic as the bullet point above regarding subdivisions. There's a lot of investment that goes not only into preliminary plat subdivision, but a lot of investment made by a developer going into and through the AUAR process. So, of that we do have several projects that are going through. As [clears throat] you can see the different color codes, green. Those are some small project areas that we are currently reviewing. So, you will still see in your upcoming agendas a few more preliminary plats because those projects have been deemed complete and they're going through our normal process. You can see the area under AUAR review and then lots that have preliminary plat awaiting final plat. In addition to that, we have many, many other final plats that have already been approved and preliminary plats that have been approved totaling 675 single family lots and 644 townhome lots for a total of 1,319 lots still waiting to be constructed. So, while this is a pause on accepting new applications, it is not a stop in the development. Building permits will still be issued. Community needs to understand that we're not putting the brakes on development. We're still going to see a lot of home construction happen this year and next year. We will continue to work with developers on sketch plans. Those are not exempt from the ordinance. And we want to do that as we are working through our land use plan and figuring out what the 2050 land use plan looks like considering all of the new rules by the Met Council. We'll continue to work with property owners and those developers as they wait through this process and get sketch plans ready um so that they're ready to go when the moratorium is lifted. And that's all I've got. Can answer any questions you might have. Council, any questions at this point? Okay. Yeah, we had a pretty robust conversation. So, I this is not a public hearing, but I'll kind of treat it as public comment. So, if you have anything you'd like to share about what's proposed, you have up to 3 minutes. State your name and address for the record as well, please. Mayor Heliher and city council members, thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm here tonight as a Lakeville resident who cares deeply about the long-term planning, fairness, and livability of our community. I understand and support the city's desire to pause and reassess our growth, zoning, and infrastructure in light of continued rapid population growth, infrastructure expansion needs, uncertainty around potential state zoning changes. However, if the city adopts a a housing moratorium, I strongly believe it should apply equally to all housing projects without exclusions. Allowing projects that are already submitted but not yet approved to move forward undermines the purpose of a moratorium. Exemptions create unequal treatment between developers, a rush to submit mentality, perceptions of favoritism or insider advantage. From a resident's perspective, it feels unfair that projects filed just ahead of this proposal could bypass a pause that everyone else must observe. If the goal of the moratorium is to take a meaningful step back and reassess comprehensive planning and zoning, then all projects should pause so the city can evaluate density, location, infrastructure impacts, compatibility with neighboring uses. Allowing exempt projects to continue means decisions are still being made under the same planning rules the city is saying need review. A moratorium with exclusions risks eroding public trust and makes it harder for residents to believe the process this is truly about good planning. The mayor highlighted the impressive growth since 2002, nearly 30,000 new residents, major expansions to roads, parks, public safety, and city services. As a resident, I ask if infrastructure is already under strain, why should any new projects continue unchecked simply because of timing? How can the city fully assess capacity capacity and service impacts if development continues during the pause? The city has cited possible zoning changes at the capital as a reason for the moratorium. If the state law may significantly change local zoning authority, then it seems especially important that no projects lock in outdated rules before those changes are understood. Moratorium with exemptions risks leaving residents with long-term lasting long-lasting developments approved under standards the city may soon want or need to revise. Residents live with the long-term impacts of development, traffic, school capacity, infrastructure costs, not just during construction, but for decades. A comprehensive moratorium ensures equal treatment, a level playing field, decisions that prioritize community outcomes or project timelines. From a resident's standpoint, fairness matters as much as speed. If the city believes a pause is necessary, then it should be clear, uniform, time limited, outcome driven. I would support a moratorium that pauses all projects and commits to transper- transparent work plans, regular public updates, defined goals for zoning and comprehensive plan revisions. In closing, I ask the council to either apply the moratorium evenly to all housing projects or reconsider whether exemptions undermined its intent. A fair, comprehensive pause will better serve residents, strengthen public trust, and give the city the clarity it needs to plan responsibly for Lakeville's future. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Will you write down your address for Mr. Snyder on your way out? Just for reference, that was almost 5 minutes. Just so if anybody's like thinking about That's all right. Thinking about how long it is, a little bit shorter than that. Thanks. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. Would you like me to start? >> Yeah, go ahead. >> Okay. All right. Hi, Mayor, council members. My name is Sunny Bowman. I am the owner of Dakota County Lumber Company. We're based out of Farmington, Minnesota. And I have had the pleasure and my family has had the pleasure for the last 40 years to sell building materials to the people who have built this very community. I'm here tonight speaking on behalf of my builders and also on behalf of young families that are moving to Lakeville. As many of you know, homeownership is an important part of the American dream, right? It's the first step in building wealth in the property ladder. Already homes being built in Lakeville are out of reach for first-time home buyers and any pause to building and to the whole process, no matter what we tell ourselves about whether it's going to delay and if we're going to stop things or not stop things, any pause to the process will cause a rise in the cost of homes and will push homeownership further out of reach for young families. I'm on the board of my kids' Christian school, Christian Heritage Academy in Lakeville. We have a lot of young families that live outside of Lakeville that want to move into Lakeville to be closer to our community, closer to the school. It's a testament to what we've built here and they're unable to do so because it's already too expensive. Pressing pause on building, pressing pause on any approvals has ramifications. This isn't really a decision about growth. It's a decision about who gets to live here and who has the opportunity to be part of our community. Additionally, talking to my builders, many of whom are small family-owned. It's not the the Pulte's and Lennar's of the world. It's Peach Builders. It's Hebert Homes. It's Medinah. I don't want to speak for them, but what they have told me is that, you know, there's money involved in having contracts on land. They're holding costs they're carrying costs. So, there are actual real economic ramifications to having things delayed. Uh it may be an irreparable blow to these small businesses that have their names on the boards at the hockey rink and on the fences at the baseball fields that have been community members here for a long time and that have built the homes around us. I don't think that this council wants your political legacy to be one of driving up the cost of home ownership. I know that you're trying to do what's best for the community. I would just urge you that there is a way to do the planning that you are tasked with doing and have been supposed to be doing this whole time without pressing pause in a way that's damaging to your citizens and that drives up the cost of home ownership. Lakeville doesn't need to stop to stay strong. You can do this. You can make a plan. You can make sure that we have infrastructure, that we have roads, that we have schools that are able to support the growth of our community without pressing pause. If you vote no, you'll keep the door open for new families to move into this community that will become a vibrant and thriving part of our community. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Bowman. Any other comments? Good evening, Mayor and city council people. Thank you for this opportunity and for making the exception. Um the proposal of a moratorium is moving in the right direction. However, realistically, it's just a band-aid. For the city, the county, and the school district to realistically be able to put the appropriate plans in place, it's a 3-to-5 years just to catch up to where we're at today. Stick with your 2040 comprehensive plan. Use 2050 plan to do your strategic road map. Traditional development, the large big purple in the back left-hand corner there, that that needs to be included in the moratorium. Otherwise, you're making an already situation that lacks infrastructure and school capacity worse before we have an opportunity to even catch up. Approving traditional development is misleading to the community and all of the comments that have been made. A 1-year moratorium feels like a political strategy with elections coming up in November. Lakeville does not need to be the only answer to the 100,000 homes shortages in Minnesota. Lakeville, the community, isn't interested in being recognized for the fastest growing city in the state or the most permits handed out or the director of development recognition, but rather a well-thought-out community growth that embraces our parks, our um green space, our trees, our habitats, public safety, and roads to help support the growth we've already encountered. The city really should concentrate on the industrial growth that will help our property taxes. Thank you for the opportunity. Okay. Thank you, Ms. Lowden. Any other comments? Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Uh my name is Becky Wichmann. I serve as the government affairs director for the St. Paul Area Association of Realtors, also known as SPAR. SPAR represents more than 7,500 Realtors across the each East Metro, including, of course, Lakeville. Um Minnesota's obviously facing a housing affordability and inventory crisis. I know I'm preaching to the choir with that. Um but addressing it will require thoughtful, innovative solutions. And while local problems require local solutions, the proposed moratorium, we fear, will not help the city in its intended goals. SPAR encourages the city of Lakeville to consider alternatives to a proposed moratorium on new construction and urges the city to continue to allow responsible development while it evaluates Metropolitan Council policies and potential zoning changes. These efforts are not mutually exclusive and maintaining housing growth is essential in supporting a healthy and accessible community. Overly restrictive regulations and added fees ultimately drive up housing costs and limit housing opportunity. Policies like the proposed moratorium constrain supply, worsen inventory shortages, and potentially make homes less attainable for residents at all price points. And this runs counter to the goal of increasing affordability and accessibility. A development moratorium would make it more expensive to both become a Lakeville resident and um more expensive to remain one. >> [snorts] >> By limiting new housing, the city risks increasing property tax pressure on existing homeowners when the cost of home ownership and living is already so high. Homeownership remains one of the most effective ways and pathways to building generational wealth. Actions that restrict housing opportunity make that pathway difficult for many families. We at SPAR are committed to being your partners as we work together to providing more opportunities for homeownership. And we also remain a leader in uh housing and development data. So, please reach out we if we can um provide any of that information. Thank you for your consideration and your time. Thank you. Any other comments? Thank you, Mayor and council members. My name is Tony Camboda. My address is 7515 74th Street South, Cottage Grove, Minnesota. I'm not a resident, but I've got many friends and clients who are proud to call Lakeville their home. It was an aspiration for some of them to be here. You guys are your school district is ranked eighth out of 362 districts in the state. Demand is not going to stop because housing permits stop. As a former city councilman and chair of planning commission for Cottage Grove, I've had to also meet these challenges and I know how difficult this is for you. And I know that you guys take pride in your leadership. Um I know we advocate for the long-term health and prosperity of our communities. Development goes where development is welcome. That's a direct quote that we received from uh a corporate developer who brought over 2,000 jobs to Cottage Grove. And getting them there was maybe a 10-year a 10-year process, planning and execution. And that that hearkens true for residential real estate and residential development as well. Moratorium on development now isn't going to affect what gets built next year. We've already heard that from other people. But what it does do is it stops people from planning to come here next year and the year after and the year after. So, the long-term impact of this is not going to be felt next year. It'll be felt two or three or four years from now. And it's going to be hard to unwind the long-term effect of that. And I'm afraid that this moratorium may have a chilling effect on housing development for years to come and may cause irreparable harm. It may stifle housing. The lack of development may exacerbate housing affordability. It's going to restrict supply without addressing demand. Again, you guys have built a wonderful place that people want to come to. People want to be here. People want to raise their kids here. And that's not going to stop if you pass this interim ordinance. It's only going to hurt people who are already here, who are already struggling with affordability. I know that there are other more nuanced and administrative and zoning tools in your toolkit. You don't have to put a full stop on development. You can pump the brakes without signaling to developers and homeowners and everybody else who's worked so hard to invest in your community that you don't want them to be here. And I think that takes some hard choices and hard consideration. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, member members of the council. My name is Nick Erickson. I'm senior director of housing policy for Housing First Minnesota. Our members' mission is homeownership opportunities for all Minnesotans and it's that mission that brings me here today. I'm here to speak on behalf of our members and prospective home buyers who would be impacted by this moratorium. A 1-year halt in development when it is the state's top growth city will have impacts beyond simply Lakeville. Beyond that, it's it is irresponsible and unproductive in the midst of a housing crisis to pause development when you are such a top home building community for a state. Now, this is being framed as a breather, but we all know the elephant in the room is that this is directly because of pending legislation, legislation that expressly prohibits enactment of a of a moratorium related to the passage of the bill. A loophole is to pass a moratorium before the legislature takes action. And it's ironic because the policies that are enacted by the city are often cited by lawmakers as the reason for adoption of fiscal zoning in the 1990s to aesthetic mandates, the city's garage requirements. These are what lawmakers are trying to prevent. And this is why they're seeking to to enact some type of state-level action on housing. This is a problem that has grown beyond the reach of our 855 communities in the state to handle. It is a even beyond a a Minnesota crisis. It's part of a national conversation across the country when it comes to housing policy. Growth helps stabilize the tax base. It spreads the cost of infrastructure and services across all of your residents. When you pause the growth, the that uh uh demand, that need, that money, that doesn't go away. It's just spread across your existing residents. The appropriate thing to be to continue building as you are, and we respectfully request that you reject the moratorium and join us at the legislature with solutions that help all Minnesotans. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Other comments? Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, Council. Good evening. My name is Rick Ringeisen. I live at 20085 Italy Avenue. And I'm a lifelong resident. I served on the Envision Lakeville task force that concluded in August of '23 that the city council adopted on December 18th, 2023. As a member of that task force, it was a large, diverse group. We did look at zoning. We looked at it very carefully. Why? Because we selected our neighborhoods and we looked at where the growth was going to take place and those impacts. I'm here tonight to talk about our growth, development, and zoning. You know, I remember very well Daryl Morrey and his service to our community for 35 years. And I had a question. And the question in my mind was how many times did Daryl depart from the comprehensive plan? So, I did an AI search. AI is good, but it's not that good. But what it did tell me is that Daryl Morrey did not have a record of allowing frequent or systematic departures from the comprehensive zoning plan. I'd be interested to know how many times he did. I'd also be very interested to know how many times that has happened since Daryl has left because it feels different now. It feels as if Daryl worked for us as a city and the citizens, and sometimes it feels like we're encouraging development that doesn't fit our zoning plan. In some cases, many redraws of plans that don't fit the zoning plan. The zoning plan was developed for a reason because of a vision that we had for our community and where we wanted it to go. I'm asking that you continue to follow the zoning for the city. You know, while that does feel different, we are experiencing prolific growth. That was just noted in the April 14th Minneapolis Star Tribune. It says we're now at 78,000, which means we're a handful of years away from 90,000 at the current rate. That's an undue stress on our infrastructure, our schools, and our community. And I'm glad I'm on this side of the table and not on that side with you folks because of what's happening. But there's an old saying, build it and they will come. And that's exactly what happened. And that is stressing us, and it's stressing you. The moratorium is a tool. All right? You have people speaking for it and against it. What I want you to know is that there will be pent-up demand, and there will be unintended consequences, some of which have been shared with you tonight. If the city does go into this moratorium, the time has to be used wisely to prepare for what's going to happen when we come out the other side. Now, the advantage is is that you're going to be revisiting the comprehensive plan, and you're going to be able to get on the backside of that. But with what's happened in our community, I'm very concerned about how we're going to come out of the backside of that revision. Are we going to wholesale change the plans in our comp plan that we've looked at that was supposed to take us out to 2040? I hope not. I hope we look at the limited areas that we have left to develop on our city because it's not about how fast we can fill it up. It's the quality in which we fill it up to do those things. And it's hard. With the revision, we need to be proactive. We need to stick to the plan. We need to stay on top of things, and we need to tell developers that build to suit to zone. Don't come in here with plans that don't fit. People here tonight are not against growth. In fact, we all moved to Lakeville because of the city we are and the city we're becoming. It's great to not have to cross the river. When I was in high school, we had to cross the river to go to McDonald's. There wasn't a date in town to be had other than a walk in the park. All right? That was That made it tough. But what we are in favor of building a community that we can all continue to be proud of. Thank you for your time. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. Uh I know I'm a frequent flyer, and I'm going to tell you that I appreciate your service more than you'll ever know. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comment? >> [clears throat] >> Good evening. Good evening. I'm Bob Erickson, 19081 Indale Drive. Mayor Helier, council members, city administrator Justin Miller, thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm here tonight as a Lakeville resident who cares deeply about the long-term planning, fairness, and livability of our community. I want you to know I understand and support the city council's desire to pause and reassess our growth, zoning, and infrastructure. I know recently infrastructure has been part of your agenda, and it has challenged you, and you're meeting the challenge, in my opinion. And um it uh speaks volumes to your ability to uh s- manage strategic growth. This evening, very quickly, I just want to give s- make some observations about the proposed interim moratorium ordinance. Having experienced that in the 1990s and having the responsibility to implement the byproduct benefits, underlying benefits of the moratorium, um I just have some detailed concerns about the ordinance as it currently exists. I apologize if my statement uh is inconsistent with maybe a a new a more recent revision of the or- a more recent uh ordinance document, uh which is not able uh which none of us have been able to obtain via the uh website uh to I don't think it's crashed. It's just not been able to give us the information that we were hope- hoping for. That information is as follows. We are hopeful that the city council would provide a detailed list in the form of exhibits for section three in each category, one, two, three, and four. Four is an I'll give four as an example. Um It res- It provides an exemption for a residential development undergoing an AUAR, of which, to my knowledge, is only one. That's the 390-acre Tradition development. There's also a reference in uh 3.2 for applications that have been deemed complete where section three unless a sketch plan has been submitted. We would expect and are hopeful the city council would give serious consideration to have exhibits as an attachment to the proposed interim um moratorium ordinance so that, in realistic terms, um it is enforceable. It's important to have a meaningful interim ordinance, of which most of us have reviewed, but it lacks specific specificity that is needed to ensure that the community, the builders, the residents, uh and the school district know exactly how many units are foreseen in the exemptions going forward. It's my understanding it's in excess of 1,400 units, which, based on recent data, uh is a three- or four-year supply of single-family homes. Um again, absent um that information, I am concerned, based on my knowledge with the interim moratorium state statute, uh it would might be unenforceable, and I think enforceability is important. Uh I just want to say thank you for your courageous step forward in considering this interim moratorium ordinance, which I think is timely and necessary, and I compliment you each one of you Uh for your comments at the recent work session on this subject. Thank you so much. Thank you. Any further comments? Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Jim Steffen. I live at 10310 204th Street West. Um was here during the uh Dwayne Zahn administration and part of the reason, I think the entire reason that we're here complimenting each other on what a great town we have is because Dwayne Zahn and the city council back then had the courage to stand up and say, "Time out. We're growing too fast." And I think a lot of people in here don't realize that that he had the courage to stop the whole thing from getting out of control. And I think that's where we are now. So, my compliments to you guys if you voted in. Okay. Any further comment? Okay. A couple things I'll just address. I think there were some questions and let me know, Ms. Goodreau, if you think I'm missing any and you can feel free to weigh in. So, uh Ms. Goodreau did say there's 675 single-family lots, 644 townhome lots. There is the this map, Mr. Erickson, but also lakevillebusiness.com is a very specific um place to find approved and proposed residential projects. And I believe everything that we're talking about should be found in there um in GIS kind of style. So, I think that's probably the best resource to make sure that we're following what we're kind of putting out there. Mr. Miller, Yeah, just one other clarification and we apologize there was a a website issue today, but the ordinance as proposed is up there now. You can see that language. The ordinance that was on earlier was um did have one error. The proposed ordinance does not include any sketch plan. And so, a sketch plan is what we refer to as something that's not an official submission. It's basically just an idea that the a developer would submit or a landowner >> [clears throat] >> uh to get staff input. Um if we do have some of those, those are not considered a complete application. So, if anybody has submitted a sketch plan that um has not received um preliminary plat approval or has not been deemed a complete application, which is a pretty um detailed step, um a sketch plan would not be exempt uh from any development. But, like the mayor said, the highlighted um sections on this map you see here are what would be exempt under the current ordinance. Do you have one Okay. Council, any comments, questions? Um I just have one question. Yes, ma'am. So, the green areas, um Tina, the the complete preliminary plat applications, um and the pink, too. None of those any Nothing's changed in the 2 weeks that we had this topic's discussion. So, nobody tried to sneak in because they thought they were hearing the discussion and thought, "I've got to get in there." Nope. No sneaking in. Um these are projects that we've been working on for a long time. Preliminary plat um often is tied to different approvals. It takes about 120 days to get through the process. So, it's only fair to allow those projects that have submitted and have been deemed complete to be allowed to continue. Thank you. Any other comments? Okay. Well, I'll just I'll add a few things um cuz there's been a lot of conversation about and the city's reaction to certain things and I'll give my two cents. I think the first um you know, why I support kind of the pause now, I think I'll give a really quick example. If you think about um when the last time we did the comp plan, Cedar Avenue was going to have a transit line for for instance. And now it's not. So, there's pretty significant zoning choices we made uh ahead of the 2040 plan that I would not make today because of that as an example. And I think there's probably half a dozen other areas of the city I would think about that we if projects came in, we wouldn't be able to deny because they would fit current zoning and and maybe they don't make um sense based on some of those things that have happened. The other is obviously there's conversation about what's happening in the legislature. I've said that in meetings and in in work sessions. Um you know, for [clears throat] the community to understand by way of background, after last legislative session, I met with 18 builders here at City Hall for almost 2 hours and we got, I don't know, probably four or five different um suggestions on how Lakeville can improve our ordinances and our code to make things a little bit more affordable in in their eyes and what we can do to try to be better at um fixing the housing crisis as it's called at the legislature. I think we adopted four of the five recommendations. I'd have to double-check for sure. Um and so, we've done quite a bit working with builders and I'm I'm proud of that and continue to be proud of that. As part of all this uh discussion as well, this last week I spent a half hour on the phone with uh Representative Spencer Igo. He's an author one of the bills and we had a very fruitful conversation. I gave him our perspective as a city and what we felt um were some reasonable compromises in his bill. There's four sections that I think make probably total sense, especially because we adopted them already a year ago. Um and I've talked to other mayors in the Twin Cities about this as well. So, hopefully there'll be some sort of compromise that comes out of that, but there's been some positive um >> [snorts] >> uh response from the legislature, so I appreciate that. Other comments, if not, I'll take a motion on the ordinance. Council Member Lee. I do want to just continue with a few additional comments here. I I think it is important to note that there some conversations that are coming up that are are going to even further be [clears throat] productive in figuring out what what comes next for us. Um we're in the midst of planning our joint kickoff session with the Economic Development Committee, Finance Committee, and ourselves. Next week we have a a joint session with our school district uh and all of those discussions are are built on and founded on on growth and what what are next steps as a city. Um personally, I don't know that it will take a year moratorium to to figure that out, but we're giving ourselves a runway to do that. To date with our growth, which you know, at the end of the day we are talking about our neighbors. Uh the folks that have come into this community over the last decade with this immense growth have benefited us tremendously. We've got uh a lot of very uh great businesses, uh new park systems because of that growth. But at the same time, I had a spirited conversation just this weekend with a resident who was talking about our taxes and our traffic and some of the concerns that come with growth. Um I there are still rising uh taxes in in our city because of the support. The housing costs have not gone down because of the additional housing. So, there does need to be a conversation that continues out of this. Uh and I appreciate that we have good connections with folks uh at the at the state because we can make some progress there. Um there are not going to be a lot of completely happy people walking out of this room because there are folks that want this to be applied to everything and stop right now and there's folks that don't want this to stop at all. But I think the most fair pathway forward is to thread the needle a little bit with the applications that we've committed to so far uh and and give ourselves some breathing space to figure out what happens next. So, um that's all I'll add. Council Member Walter. Well, I appreciate everybody that's come and and spoken on this tonight. Um I I a lot is made of the legislative issues that are happening um surrounding the housing issue and I just want to it it reiterate for me that that's not the driving force here. I last 2 years ago when I was campaigning, the most common thing I heard from residents was concern about the pace of growth here. Um we are having in any discussions about the school districts, um the concern about the rapid pace of growth um comes out. And so, I I think this is just good policy separate uh from uh the the the discussions at the legislature. And I'm happy to go on go and ramble about those as well because I I hear a lot of discussion. The advocates pushing for bills in the legislature often cite Lakeville as the problem. Yet Lakeville is the has led the the the region, uh I think the state, uh since 2013, I believe we've been in the top or first or second spot in the number of permits, at least in the suburbs. So, no community has contributed more to the housing supply problem uh to solving that problem than the city of Lakeville with the units that we have added. And in in many ways I'd like those people at the state level talking about state solutions to this to be recognizing that, acknowledging that, thanking the fact thanking our residents that we are growing in this way, uh but instead we're demonized. Um and I appreciate that what the mayor did last year, we we made some substantive changes uh to our ordinances in terms of of building materials requirements and other uh I think very thoughtful changes that I that I think are are appropriate. Um so, I'm I'm supportive of this. Um and I think it's interesting I I was noticing in the Star Tribune um um, last week, they had one article about how, you know, the the pace of the growth was horrible. We had one article about how, um, we were going to, you know, set the world on fire by stopping, um, stopping this. And I I think some of the discussion here tonight has has shown there's there's there's two sides to this argument and we are uh, trying to reach a, uh, a happy medium. I think that is good for the community of Lakeville and I think this is, again, I I, you know, I don't want to minimize what we're doing tonight, but the reality is when you've got enough projects for 3 years worth of housing construction already approved, this really is a a a minor administrative, uh, change, um, while we're regrouping and and contemplating, um, some uh, some changes. I appreciate what the mayor mentioned about the I-35 or excuse me, about the Cedar Avenue rapid transit bus thing that's no longer happening. So, there's a lot that's happened there that has necessitated some of this and I think the timing is appropriate for it. So, I'll be voting yes. Councilmember Bernal? Yeah, I, um, it's interesting because just thank you for the comments tonight, as always. A full chambers with people coming up and speaking is it's good. This is local local governance at its best. And your comments are all very good, but but this has been said already. It's like it's either too much or it's not enough and there's just a spectrum here. And I agree, I mean, just with the number for me, the number of permits that we have in in the hopper that won't be affected are what make me comfortable, um, supporting this, uh, because I think it is an opportunity to take a breather. Um, I don't know if there's any single one of us that hasn't heard comments from the community about pace of growth. And it's it's a constant theme and it's always in the back of of my mind and I think this is a responsible way to take a breather and figure and plan that growth. Uh, there's all kinds of factors, uh, the Met Council's planning, our planning, what's happening at the legislature, all of that. But the way I phrase it is there's just lots of moving parts. And when there's lots of moving parts, to me it take it pays to just take a breath and and take a look at how things are going to shake out. And I think the timing is good. I think we have enough, uh, pending projects that I don't see the whole bottom falling out on on our housing market and our housing prices. Um, I think it's a, uh, it's a good way to just see, uh, what the landscape looks like and uh, to address the pace of growth that we keep hearing about as a community because the growth is healthy, it's good. Uh, it it it helps our tax base, um, but when it starts to stress the infrastructure that we have as a city, I I think it's good to, uh, to pay attention to that and notice that. So, that those are some thoughts on my support, uh, for this, uh, this pause. Um, I don't think that, that this is something we haven't done this in a vacuum, either. And so, I think there's some good basis for it and I support it. Any other comments? Here. Yep. Make a motion. Second. I move to approve an ordinance temporarily prohibiting approval of certain residential development. Is there a second? Second. Uh, any further discussion? Okay, roll call, please. Lee? Aye. Walter? Aye. Bernal? Aye. Hellier? Aye. Olson? Aye. Okay, very good. We'll move on to items eight and nine, unfinished and new business. New business is replaces what was traditionally our work sessions. So, we're just going to take a quick 5-minute break, um, and then we will get into those items. You're all free to join us or not, uh, depending on if you want concern about lodging tax ordinances and CDA housing. >> [music] >> And, um, also taking examples from other cities and and what's all included. So, some of the key points, um, that we did is actually referencing which uh, state statute the lodging tax is based off of. So, added that into our ordinance. Um, did add the language for the short-term residentials, uh, short-term residential rentals, um, so that's also included in the lodging taxes. Um, we also did put in, um, we did specified that for our existing hotels, they all know this, but if they were to ever have a month of no sales, they still need to file a lodging tax return. So, just beefing up our language and making sure that we're covering all of our bases. Um there were also we didn't have any exceptions or exemptions noted in our ordinance, but by statute there are properties or certain things that are exempted um from the rentals uh that we that the lodging um hotels submit. So, we updated our form to be more comprehensive and more clear. And actually, it's uh uh formula driven, so they can just put in their sales. They can put in their um the exempt sales, federal people that are staying or whatever at the hotels, and it calculates for them what their lodging tax is. So, it gives the 3%. Um we also put language into that specified, you know, what is the purpose of our lodging tax and and why is it even a thing? Um also stating to that the the 3% lodging tax, 95% of that tax goes to our Lakeville Convention and Visitor Bureau. The city gets to keep 5% of for administrative of tracking this. So, all of that is also laid in laid out in the ordinance. So, um more of a housekeeping thing. So, I guess if there's any questions about what this why Okay. Yep, Council Member Burman. Just a quick question as I was reading through it. Um and it doesn't affect, you know, how I see the ordinance or anything, but just especially for people that are going to be doing the short-term rental, what what's the typical process for I'm a I'm going to do a short-term rental on my house and now I have to pay city taxes. How does that look? What what's the process like? >> they should be registering with the state because there's also Minnesota sales tax that they should be paying in on those rentals as well. Um so, it's all part of it it feeds off of that. So, with the the permitting that's required for the short-term rentals, they agree in that permitting, yes, we're going to do our due diligence and submit sales tax to the state. Lodging tax is another thing. So, it's all these boxes to check that oh oh, I didn't realize that I had to do that. Um and some of the issues and I I noted it in the staff report for a lot of city or some cities that are finding they're getting they're having so many Airbnbs or whatnot, um the Airbnbs and the um Ver- Verbose will not remit lodging taxes to a city. The city has to sign up with the state. The state acts as the um conduit. So, when a Airbnb fills out their sales tax, they're filling out the sales tax that the state gets to keep. There's a lodging tax line right there, and all the money just goes up to the state. Then the state takes a little tiny percent and gives the cities back, here's your what's remaining. And then we take that and give 95% to the um Convention and Visitors Bureau. So, Yes. So, for somebody that's just getting into this that, you know, I mean, a hotel's understandable. They're business. They they do this this is a matter routine, but for somebody who is just going, yeah, I think it'd be really nice to rent out my house and I'm in Florida. How do they become aware of this? How do they learn about it? >> [laughter] >> That's a good question because um I mean, technically, it's a it's a business, you know, so they should be getting a Minnesota a state ID to do this business. Um Okay. So, it it it is a process. Yeah. Yeah, I guess are we are we going to notify those who are registered for the license >> to do that? And that's how we'll any of them that register do the permitting for the um short-term rentals, that's that's our ticket or our our our key to like inform them, okay, this is the lodging tax piece that's also part of it. Um it will get tricky if we have a lot of Airbnbs, you know, then the city will have to look at, okay, now we should we be looking at having the state be the the conduit for these payments. And it's all done through the sales tax e-permitting or e-file. So, Okay. Okay. I appreciate that because it might not be really apparent for everybody that's going to get into the short-term rentals. >> And I we realize that. We're trying to make it as easy as possible um in putting our form up on the city website. Typically, it's been a form that we just gave to the hotels and they knew to to submit it every month. So, um it it's a it's a process and it's it's a educational thing, too. Okay. Any other Thank you. Thank you. Can we move on to item B, the Dakota County CDA proposal for housing within Dodd Commons and what's the scientific name for the new fire station location? Thank you, Mayor members of the Council. Um so, yes, so Dodd Commons plat was established very recently for one lot to create the new fire station. And then there's about 6.6 acre outlot, um the property's outlined in red, um for future development. And staff has been in discussions with Dakota County CDA about the potential housing development on the site. So, all portion of it um based on what's being proposed. So, again, this is just a concept plan. And for transparency, they are fully aware of the moratorium. We called them when this popped up um as something that the Council was seriously considering. They completely understand that. We are looking tonight for some feedback about this plan, if it's something that you like, and then we can go back and work with the CDA on a long-term purchase agreement. This is not in their schedule for any kind of construction within this next year. So, just want to be fully transparent on that. But the proposal does include two concepts. On the south, senior housing um rental apartment buildings, four stories, 120 units on the southern portion. On the northern portion, they're proposing um what could be family style town homes or 27 units. Both would be rental. Um both developments would be income restricted. Um the property um is currently guided for commercial. Um however, it's a very tough site for commercial. Um it's access with all of the changes made to Dodd Boulevard make this a really tricky site for getting people in and out easily for commercial use. And so, that is why we encouraged um the CDA to look at this parcel. Um we know um specifically, we have a need and a a long wait list for senior rental housing. Um I suspect there's probably an equally long wait list for um families looking for affordable rental in the town homes um style. Um but without further ado, I will um introduce Carrie Gill, the executive deputy executive director of the CDA. She can make some additional comments, and then we're just looking for your feedback. Just Sorry, one quick question for you. So, on either of these kind of parcels, I know cuz at one point we had talked about commercial and uh some mixed use. Is there because we control the site, is there I mean, obviously, I senior stuff we've been talking about for a long time. I'm really interested in that. Is there ability to try to put out like an RFP potentially to say, hey, we're interested in maybe some mixed use commercial and residential together? Is that It certainly has. >> just something to kind of talk about cuz we have some time. So, anyway. Option. Okay. Sorry. Welcome. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the City Council. I apologize. My name is Carrie Gill with the CDA, and I apologize. I'm just getting laryngitis. I thought my voice would be better this week than last week, but hopefully, you can hear me. Let me know if you can't. Um as Ms. Goodroad said, you know, the CDA staff has been talking with city staff since maybe late in 2025 about this parcel and the land that will be um left after the um fire station is platted. And so, we looked at it primarily as a senior housing site initially. Um and staff was interested in seeing that more in the middle portion of the site. So, that's what's um in the sketch plan that we've provided. The um staff has also indicated that a new access road will go through, kind of splitting that parcel in half. And so, then there was discussions if the CDA did buy the whole parcel, what would we put on the northern piece? It's a fairly small piece um for really, you know, many kinds of housing, but we would do if if we were to acquire, we would probably do um 20 around 25 to 27 town home family town homes there. Um so, the purpose in coming here tonight, we have not had a chance to talk about the family site with our board yet. We're actually having this discussion tomorrow night with the CDA board. Um they we have talked previously about the senior housing. So, that was kind of the initial part was the senior housing, and then there would potentially be the room to do the family housing. Um so, you know, we're interested finding out if there's an interest um from the Council or if you'd prefer to do an RFP first before committing to something or if you'd prefer to just have us look at the senior housing now, um and then we will discuss this further with our board tomorrow night. Um if there was an interest in working together, the CDA does pay appraised value for um property. So, if we were going to go next steps, we would get an appraisal and make an offer. The CDA board would have to approve the acquisition, and the City Council would have to approve the sale. So, it still wouldn't be a done deal even at that point until both sides approve that. So, um it was mostly just kind of finding out if there's interest in having the CDA here or if you'd prefer to go out and do an RFP before committing to something. So, So, kind of where we are. Okay. And so, Commissioner Holberg, not only is there a Dakota County Commissioner, but she also gets to have a seat on the CDA cuz they double up just like us. So, I don't know if you want to weigh in at all. I would thank you, uh Mayor and Council members. I just like to clarify the board is just beginning a process to evaluate where we want to go with family townhomes in the county. As you're aware, there's a lot of dollars. Things have changed in the last couple years. Um how do we are evaluating our current portfolio for its sustainability, for upkeep. Some of our uh uh developments are 20-25 years old and are requiring major investments for upkeep. So, we have some discussion at the county board as far as where we uh are going to go next both in the program and in communities. Uh what I would say is that we always like to be partners. Um we don't you know, come into a community and propose something that the council uh doesn't want or hasn't expressed interest in. Um your uh moratorium tonight is probably perfect timing for giving us a little bit of time uh to sort out our program. My understanding is this property is a little smaller than we generally use for these type of developments and um so, I think the timing is good is to get some initial feedback and what you're most interested or if you need additional time as you go through this moratorium process to decide what you think a good use for this property may or may not be as you move forward. I think we can you know, take that time as well. So, whatever direction you're prepared for tonight is great, but we're we're not in a position to move quickly. And so, if you need to take some time, we're good with that as well. I have a question and it's not necessarily for Miss Holberg, but um the um is the senior um the proposed plan with the senior housing is it contingent on the townhouses or can we consider it separate? It will be two separate parcels and so, um our original interest in this site was for senior housing. So, we could absolutely just look at the senior housing site. I think the road will sort of dictate where the parcel line ends up. We'd have to work with staff a little bit more on fine-tuning that road alignment in the parcel. But we could just look at the senior site now, too, and leave the other one. Um and if nothing happens down the road, we could look at it at a future date as well. And um as Commissioner Holberg said, we would be doing this for land banking for like future development. We have a couple of other We have the ability to do about one project a year. We work throughout Dakota County. We have a couple of other cities where we're working with. It's definitely for future acquisition. Um we like to find good sites and have them available when the time is ready. Um but yeah, it's um more for future development. But we could definitely look at just the senior parcel if that's preferred. I I don't have enough information on um clientele and um being close to commercial and the location itself. So, I to have it be I don't know what the right word is. Subsidized housing in that location. I don't the senior center uh our the senior apartments, etc. I don't have any issues with need those in Lakeville. I'm just I would like to slow up a little bit on the townhouses. I can do whatever. Yeah. Uh uh Mayor and uh Council member Vaught, I we would be happy to provide the City Council with a list of the current properties, what our waiting lists are um on the Lakeville uh properties versus uh other areas. They're going to be getting all that information for us as a uh CDA board and to share that with you so you'd have a clearer picture of what our needs are and are not being met in the type of product that we like to collaborate with our cities to build in Dakota County if that'll help in the process. Council member Council member Lee. Uh well, first of all, just just to be clear, both would be subsidized housing um regardless of if they're senior or family. Uh that's right. Okay. But there's an age difference in the the clientele. >> [clears throat] >> Sure. And a mobility difference. I I think even just with the conversation we had earlier today, we we know that demand for affordable housing is is high. And so, our strategy has been to have kind of a scatter approach to where CDA housing is in multiple places around the city. So, you know, from a kind of a sketch plan here, I think this could certainly be a viable use of this property. Um so, I'd be in favor and look of looking at it. Um I do though know of at least one uh group that was looking at this for a destination um entertainment facility. And so, I don't know if that is still viable or if they moved somewhere else, but >> On the northern parcel? >> On the northern part of that. So, I to the point about RFPs and just seeing what interest is there, I would be uh interested in kind of seeing what's out there to maintain the commercial if that at all possible, even though we know this is a res- pretty restrictive site when it comes to traditional retail. Yeah, that makes sense. All right, there we go. Council member Lee. Um you know, in looking at the plan, it's to me I looked at it and I'm going, "Okay, this fits housing needs that we have." And uh so, I mean, I'm supportive of the concept here. Um I too though would love to see some kind of at least examination of mixed use for that northern part. Um see what could what could possibly happen um in terms of mixed use, but I think the housing and the fact that it is housing that's going to meet a need that we have in our community and in in the county in general, I think I'm supportive of that. Um and I understand that this is just a concept right now, but [clears throat] the the senior housing is definitely needed. And the the lower income housing is something that you know, we just um we've done I think the strategy that we've had Council member Lee talked about it as as we've never like put this all in one place. We've kind of had it throughout the city and this this makes sense to me, but I too would be interested in seeing what the full range of possibilities are for that northern part. Yeah, I would I would say I mean my take on the senior is I have this theory based on past conversations with the CDA that building a senior apartment is the best way to promote uh promote NOAH, which is naturally occurring affordable housing because if you are in theory a senior that can qualify for an apartment, you probably live in another place that somebody can buy at an affordable rate and promote home ownership. So, in my theory, if if we can do that and help promote a place for somebody to downsize into that cuz the last I Sure, it's different, but the last presentation I went to the CDA there were a thousand seniors in Dakota County on waiting list for apartments and I'm sure it's grown since then. I don't know if you know off the top of your head. Yeah, it's I mean, every time we open a new building, it seems like we get a longer waiting list as opposed to making it cuz new people uh become aware of it. So, yeah, we do have very long waiting lists throughout the county and Lakeville in particular. Um for both our senior and workforce. Um but the senior housing, I know we have the senior building that's at um Crossroads Commons just on the other side of Cedar and that's been a very popular building long waiting list. Um and this is not that far away from there. So, we think it's an ideal location for senior housing. Thank you. I I think I would just say I I'm interested to hear what the county does on their study on you know, the future of their townhouse product. I do know just for reference, the county has purchased some or excuse me, was it Habitat own some houses or vice versa? There's been a few properties in the in the city that have kind of changed ownership but have kind of been turned over and you know, they were kind of in tough shape. So, we've seen that, which is good. Um but you know, I think in our conversation of our moratorium, one of the things I want to look at is to make sure that you know, when we're converting commercial land we're not also increasing burden on the schools. That's the thing that I continue to hear is they you know, commercial, there's no one in the commercial building that's going to school, right? So, they're paying property tax to schools, but they're not going to the school. So, that's I have that concern when we convert commercial property to resident. So, um the senior stuff makes total sense, and then we'll just have to work through the the northern parcel. Councilmember Walter. I don't have a lot lot new to say. I as as you all know, I'm kind of loath to um taking commercial property that's commercially zoned land off the the rolls, but I do um for exactly what you said, that pipeline the the naturally occurring affordable housing concept. And and you know, CDA has some good products, too. So, I I I I I love the senior housing piece of it, and I I think I'm echoing what you've all said on the the northern piece. The I think we need to explore the commercial options there first. And Commissioner, just since you're here, I just want to make sure with whatever goes in there, there are businesses east of this property that are worried about their access once this parcel gets developed. And so, ensuring that whatever's coming off of Dodd is a full access for those businesses that may have their access cut off on Cedar. So, um I know that that's part of the forethought of development here to uh change that access point off of Cedar. Temporary? >> That's a temporary access off of Cedar. And so, I just want to make sure that we're thinking about the access off of Dodd then to make sure that it's not divided or there's no right in right, you know, full access. So, just Personal privilege since you were here. Appreciate it. >> [laughter] >> Uh [snorts] Mr. Mayor and Councilmember Lee, I started on the Planning Commission in the city in 1989. I'm well aware of accesses, uh redevelopment needs. As always, the CDA will work with the city on any project to make sure that everybody's good with the plans and that it's going to work with our neighbors as well. We're good neighbors. Thank you. And partners, too. Okay. I think this is a good start. We'll kind of work through with you guys. We think it's a wonderful synergy between the fire station and the senior population. We we envision the firefighter used to maybe getting some fresh baked cookies at the holidays or >> [laughter] >> think that there could be some really nice synergy there. So, Well, it really shortens up the fall call time. So, we get to drive down the chief's numbers on the distance. Thank you guys for being here. Appreciate it. I don't know if Ms. Goodroad has anything to We're good. Okay. Thank you, guys. Um moving on to council or committee updates, does anybody have anything you want to share? Okay. Uh lastly, announcements are uh we are meeting actually next Monday night here at City Hall for a special City Council meeting with the um with the ISD 194 School Board. And then our next City Council meeting is May 4th back here at City Hall. And with that, I'll take a motion to adjourn. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. >> Aye. Opposed? Okay. We're adjourned. Thank you.