Good evening. I call the March 5th, 2026 Planning Commission meeting to order and ask you to rise and say the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. Miss Ericson, would you please call the role? >> Here. >> Graphus >> here. >> Kuza >> here. >> Zimmer >> here. >> Mike >> here. >> Sweeny >> here. >> Swanson >> here. >> Thank you. Um, now we're on the third agenda item, approval of the minutes. Does anyone have any changes to the February 5th minutes? We have none. Our stellar staff does another good job. We will let them stand as they are. Uh announcements. I'm wondering if we have any announcements tonight. >> Uh thank you, Chair Zimmer. No, we do not have any announcements for you. >> Thank you so much. Um, the next item on the agenda is a public hearing and the item is for the preliminary plat for Prime 35 Lakeville. And we will be having a presentation from Jordan Silver, the applicant, and then staff. And then, um, we'll take anybody from the audience who wants, please come up and identify yourself for the record. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Jordan Silver, uh, Crosby Development Partners. Thank you guys for uh, having me tonight. Super excited to be doing uh, development down here in Lakeville. Um, our prime 35 project is a 1.3 up to 1.3 million square foot uh phased um industrial development project. Um, it'll be phased over time in order to deliver the right amount of product and not not fill the market. Um, all different types of users from an industrial standpoint and uh super excited to be doing it down here in Lakeville. great access and working with the city, worked with a lot of municipalities in my career and thinks certainly high on the list for for pro business and uh working with the the community. So appreciate that and excited about the project. >> Great. Thank you so much. We'll have staff present and then um go from there. Good evening, chair, commission members. Request in front of you tonight is for property that is located south of county. Okay, can you hear me now? Hopefully our tech people in the back will be able to do something with the microphones to get it to project to the back. Um, I don't have any ideas right now on Do you guys have like hear hearing pieces for like accessibility stuff? >> How do you know that? >> I think if you keep speaking then our uh savvy tax tech system will bump us up. >> All right. So, what's in front of you tonight is for a development south of County Road 70. It's located between Kaparia Avenue and Jard Avenue. The lot is currently two parent parcels totaling about 145 acres in size. The property is zoned I1 which is our light industrial district and it is guided for warehouse and light industrial uses. So the proposed preliminary plat and development plans are consistent with the recommended goals and policies in our comprehensive plan. The request is for preliminary plat and prel preliminary development plan approval for the plat to be known as prime 35 industrial. It is for eight lots and four outlots. So this plan is a little bit different than what was submitted in your packet last week as the there was five outlots and the southern one is on the there was one in the very southern part of the development. that lot was going to be used for a storm water treatment and a private storm water treatment. So, it was a stipulation by staff to have that be included with one of the other lots uh to maintain ownership and responsibility of that storm water. So, that's why you are seeing that change has been made now and there's four lots with that lot for block four being very large but that incorporates that storm water treatment area. Um, another change on this plat was they accommodated the requirement of having a 40 foot rideway along 215th Street on the northwest portion up here. Uh, the original submitt just had that at 33 feet and the city code requires 40 ft. So, those are the two changes on this plat what's being forward being brought in front of you now. Uh the eight lots though would be used for industrial development that would be consistent with the I1 uses of the zoning code that include uses such as warehouse distribution and manufact manufacturing types of businesses. Uh the final buildout will add over 1 million square feet of industrial space on all eight parcels combined. Two of the outlots, outlot A and C, would be deed to the city during final plat for protection of the wetlands and then the other two outlots would be retained by the developer. There is also a natural gas pipeline on the property that runs from um like west to east kind of dissecting the property. It's hard for me to there we go right through here. uh the property because of the size of the development uh the state of Minnesota requires an environmental review be done on the development due to the size. So with that process they did look at different development scenarios and the associated infrastructure. So an AUR was completed and approved on this project last summer. So July of 2025. So the square footage of the buildings that are being proposed is actually less than what was studied. Um, so the AUR kind of looks at worst case and like largest and biggest buildouts. So what we're seeing now is like about 200 square 200,000 square feet less in square footage for building size than what was looked at for the AU. The lot layouts are very similar and then the roads that were studied and planned for in the comprehensive plan and the AU are consistent with what was shown last summer with that that document. So the project area though does have wetlands on-site uh drainage features and flood planes that are associated with the West Branch South Creek corridor. Um the proposed project also identifies about 2 acres of wetlands that will be impacted that were considered more farmed wetlands. So on a wetland kind of quality the farmed wetlands are a lower level um quality wetland and they are kind of in the shaded area on the property. So any kind of wetland impacts will have to be approved by the city and they are going through that process now to have all their delineations done and working with the environmental resources department. Uh the development prime 35 plat will be required to construct 217th street that goes through the property along with a port like Javelin Avenue which is in the very northeast corner of the parcel. When looking at site review of um the development, the minimum lot size for an I1 district is about third 30,000 square feet for minimum lot size. What you're seeing with this development is that the smallest lot in this development is 375,000 square feet. So way exceeding any of our minimum standards. Uh the proposed building sizes range from 69,600 square ft right now for the smallest one to the largest one being about 247,000 ft in size. Building setbacks for the I1 district are 40 feet from the front, 30 feet from the rear, and 10 feet for the sideyard. Unless it's a budding rideway, then it would be a 30-foot setback. Parking and drive aisle setbacks are 15 feet from rightway and then five feet from side property lines there. If you look at the grading plan, which I know these plans are, it's a lot, right? And I'm sure when you're looking at your packet, the lot's so big and Lots of lines going on here. Uh but there are some grading that's happening within that pipeline easement. So the applicant has been working with the gas company since last fall to obtain um approvals of all the work being done in there. And they have received like preliminary approvals and they are just kind of going back and forth in some of those final impacts and final designs. Uh but they have been working with the gas company and have their blessings for this development. storm water on the site for lot one block one and for lot one block two. So for the two northern buildings uh those lots are being treated by filtration basins. So storm water on the remainder of the property is treated with a system that's two pre-treatment cells in the souththeast corner and then those are going into a very large infiltration basin on the south end of the site. So, the final storm water design must be approved by the city meeting all volume and rate control requirements for any work that's done in this any work. The final approvals have to be done before any work can happen on the property. This is one of our first preliminary plat uh applications that we've had that have had to comply with our tree preservation ordinance. So, on the slide, it is very large as mentioned. So over 2,000 trees were inventoried. With the I1 district, they are allowed a removal of up to 70%. Anything above 70% would require tree um replacement or mitigation. In this case, what they are proposing, you can kind of see the green areas are the trees that are being preserved and the red is what is being removed. So they are exceeding going above the 70% removal and the numbers that our forestry department um ran all the numbers for us and calculated you know everything for us and came up with that they'll have to replace 560 diameter inches but because of the fact that they were able to preserve some of their heritage trees that number was reduced. So from the tree preservation ordinance they have to replace 280 in for the tree preservation. So, when you're looking at our tree preservation and landscaping plans, I know once again that that map was probably a lot to look at. Um, I just kind of blew up the buildings on the lot one, block one, and lot one, block two. Um, a lot of the the trees that are being planted are it's a mixture of the coniferous and deciduous and ornamental trees, and there's also shrubs being planted. Most of them are focused along the private drives and around the parking lots with the exception along the westerly border of lot one block two um where it's a buting a residential district. So there is a solid row of coniferous trees along that property boundary. So what is proposed does comply with our tree preservation and landscaping requirements. So, one thing to note uh about the request and one of the stipulations is that uh city code does require that all lots have road frontage on a public street. Um that all lots have frontage along a public street unless it's approved by a conditional use permit. So, in this case, this lot right here, uh lot two block four is proposed south of lot one block four and is shown with a shared access. So a CUP would be required for this configuration as it is shown today. Um it is not included with the preliminary plat just because of the timeline that it may take to develop this whole site. Um and the timing of the final buildout is unknown. So one, we don't want to be approving a conditional use permit that may just expire. And two, there still could be some changing here. Um you know, these lots could be consolidated into one. They could change them to run like a north south way. So they both have frontage. There's just different options yet. If it stays how it is, a conditional use permit would be required, which would then come back in front of you guys for that review. Um otherwise, at this point, the preliminary plans would go to city council anticipating uh the next council date meeting in March and then um the final plot would then come forward at a later time and that would just go to city council directly unless there's changes that are substantially different than what we're seeing tonight. So staff is recommending approval of their preliminary plat with the 11 stipulations listed in the planning report plus the requirements and stipulations listed throughout the engineering report. So I'll stand for questions. >> Thank you so much. Um is there anyone this is a public hearing um is there anyone that would like to speak on this development? Not Seeing anyone I'm motion >> madam chair seeing no one come forward I move to close the public hearing second >> we have a motion in a second all those in favor of closing the public hearing please say I >> I >> opposed public hearing is now closed so we'll open it up to commissioners for questions um please call up the uh we can call up the developer or our uh staff to discuss I'm sure that Commissioner Swinson has some water questions. Madam Chair, if we could have the applicant come forward. I just have some >> Please come forward. Mr. Silver, >> just for the the public, if you want to maybe talk to us about timeline on on, you know, this whole project, what what are you what are we looking at for how soon this will get to final buildout? >> Sure. So, um I think that in any circumstance here, our plan right now is to start the site work immediately. It's 145 acres. That's a lot dirt and and stuff to to move around. We want to start kind of working that piece as soon as possible. Um and hopefully have a shovel on the ground building or two in the next 12 months. Um and then it's all going to be market driven. You know, in in a best case scenario, we're moving quickly. in a slower market, we're going to be it's gonna be market driven. So, I would say realistically three to four years probably over, you know, based on kind of the deliveries that Lakeville's seen over the last, you know, couple years um is a realistic timeline. >> Great. Thank you, >> Madam Chair, Mr. Travis. >> Um question for the staff or the developer. I'm just looking at the plat. It's a square. There appears to small like unplatted chunk there. So, I'm just wondering what what happens to that unplatted area along the northern side. >> Thank you. >> The property in the middle is just separate private property. Um my understanding is that maybe they were approached at one time if they wanted to sell or work with the developer, but my understanding is they were not ready to sell at this point and so it's just in private ownership and residential lot. >> Thank you. >> Other questions from commissioners? >> Madam Chair, >> Commissioner Swansson. Believe it or not, I don't have any comments on storm water today. >> Oh, first >> um did just want to talk through a little bit um a couple of things here. One um thinking about the action that we as a body are taking here tonight and what exactly we're approving. Um we're approving a preliminary plat or working to provide a recommendation for approval of preliminary plat to city council. What we're not doing here is we're not approving a specific user on any particular lot. We are not um promoting any particular use. We are not um reviewing any buildings. We're not looking at any of that kind of stuff here this evening. It literally is just the we'll say the physical layout of the lot, the grading, etc. to accommodate these future potential uses. Um along with that, I would just say we should recognize that that may mean some of these buildings may come in in the future. um I'll say more of an administrative role where we don't have a cup or another action that we have to take or may go directly to city council. So just some things to recognize. I don't know if city staff wants to comment or add to any comments on that but I just sure Mr. Swinson is correct. So what you're looking at is the preliminary plot of these eight lots. So they all do have to be final platted at some point before they can actually be built on. A final plat though once they receive preliminary plans at this level that final plat does not have to come back in front of the the planning commission. So if a use comes in a manufacturing use, let's say, which is a permitted use, and they comply with all of our code requirements, that can just go straight forward to probably like a site plan review process, which may require council approval again with like a storm water agreement um or development contracting through that process, but it may not be in front of you guys. If the use is a conditional use permit or if they need outdoor storage or if they're not in compliance with our code, then that would be brought in front of you guys for review or if it's substantially different than what you're seeing at this preliminary level. Does that make sense? >> Okay. >> Thank you. I do think the civics lesson is important and to get that on the record. It >> is. Madam Chair, if I may. >> Yeah. I just wanted to make sure that that was crystal clear and it's it's something that's a little different than a lot of the things we have seen come before this body where typically we're looking at a building in one particular development that type of thing. This is a different scenario where we've got a much larger parcel there's potentially in the future that type of thing. Um another question that I have if I may >> please go ahead. um was just kind of taking a look at the layout and with the exception parcel that is not part of this plat. Um I was just kind of curious what the future plan for access in and out of that parcel may be since I know today it has access off county road. Um but was just kind of curious with the look at that and then also kind of its relationship I think to outlaws B and D on the plat. I think the developers retaining those rights. >> Let's see if we can get back to the presentation. >> Let's see. Or we can't go back there. Okay. Sorry, I'm not. They're controlling it in the back like we were fighting with each other. >> AI. >> Okay. So, talking about the exception area right here. Um, at this time I don't believe we would be eliminating that access point, but I'm probably going to refer to the city engineer to confirm that or step in if I'm mistaken. Um, and then going forward in the future, you know, looking at outlots B and D, those potentially could be developed at some point, too. So at this point um outlot D would obviously have access to 217th and outlot B we would be looking at um probably some kind of shared access agreement through lot three that we would be addressing that at the time of like the final plat of lot three. >> Right. >> And do you have any other updates on the the one lot? Uh no updates on the lot, but just concurring with you that there there's the existing access on the northwest of that off of 215th Street. Uh that would be permitted to be used again with development with that existing creek crossing. Um and then connectivity to 217th Street would be a little bit tricky with the curve, but there is the potential as you get further to the south to have that connection for that outlaw D. And like Heather said, the shared access agreement for outlaw B. >> So in the map in front of you would be the southeast corner here. Tip, this tip kind of goes up to 217th. >> Thanks. Thanks for that explanation. Just wanted to kind of think through how the future of this might look as well um since these are not being developed as part of this project or retained for future rights. So >> yes, important to confirm that the property owner has access. Other than that, I had a bunch of other questions I asked city staff and uh they answered all those to my satisfaction. Don't have any further questions or comments. Anyone else? I guess my comment is it's pretty exciting to have some development at this at the light industrial that is um on such a big parcel and that uh important to have that tax base here for Lakeville. So excited about that opportunity. >> Madam Chair, >> Commissioner Kuza. Um we're ready for a motion. Uh I would Motion to recommend a city council approval of the preliminary plat for an industrial development subject to the 11 stipulations in the planning report dated February 23rd, 2026. >> I'll second that. >> We have a motion and a second. Miss Ericson, would you please take the role? Travis >> I >> Zimmer >> I >> Swainy >> I >> Swson >> I >> Tinsley >> I >> uh motion is approved. Um we thank you uh Mr. and your uh folks for coming today and look forward to watching the development phase in. The next item on the agenda is um public hearing for the preliminary plat conditional use and vacation of easement for the city of Lakeville Dodd Commons and we have um Alan Kinnan to present on that. Thank you so much. Please come forward. Say your name for the record and tell us about the project. >> Great. Thank you. Uh Alan Cannon, City of Lakeville and the assoc uh assistant city administrator. Uh tonight we're going to review a project that has taken several years to get to this uh culmination of a lot of work by the fire department. So, a couple years ago, the fire department started looking at their facilities plan and how and where their fire stations should be located and how to best uh efficiently serve the city with the best response times. So, part of that study said look at the intersection of Dodd and uh Cedar Avenue for a new fire station. In addition to that uh modernization studies, they looked at was also looking at their staffing models and what would be the most efficient way to staff their fire stations. And part of that uh conclusion was to start uh moving towards a full-time uh staffing with a hybrid model with paid on call as well. So um with those two studies being done, it kind of pushed us in this direction to start looking at fire station at DOT and Cedar as well as um updating and modernizing the rest of the fire stations. So um tonight we're going to focus on the on the fire station, new fire station 2, but um in the future you may be seeing some additional um stuff come through for some of the other fire stations. So, as I mentioned, uh the city eventually landed on this location at the corner of Grandby Lane and Dodd Boulevard in 179th Street. Um it's 12 acres that we purchased from uh Fiser uh family. Uh we're going to end up taking up about 4 acres of the site with the new fire station. It is going to be about a little over 48,000 foot fire station with seven uh bays. Access to the site will be off of Dodd Boulevard as well as well off of Granby. Um the primary location for the fire stations to be um leaving the station is going to be from Granby down to 179th and going east or west from that um from that intersection. Most of the the visitor parking is going to be coming off of Dodd Boulevard and parking in that parking lot that you see there that's north of the of the building. Uh the site will also include the extension of a new uh internal access road that you see to the east that's being culaced right now. Uh that'll provide access to the site from the from the east side of the of the property. Uh boy, this is really small, but um you'll have to take my word for this. So this is the interior of the building. Um so this is als this is not just going to be um for the fire station staffing but it'll also be for uh for the administrative offices. So a portion of this is going to be um for the administration staff which will include uh conference rooms um classrooms uh EOC area um mechanical space um the lobby area the uh public restrooms at the entrance. As you move into the building, you get more into the the station staffing where the uh the firefighters will have their their uh management staff in that area. That'll also include um a workout area, uh some more general uh storage, access to the second floor, and then as you keep moving towards the inside the building, you get into the seven bays where the apparatus bays will be um located. In the center of that area um is where the firefighters will have their equipment bays. Uh they'll have uh the area that they get dressed in, decontamination area, shower area, um some more storage, and um uh just general equipment area for their for their um trucks and for the their service. Um so this second floor uh floor plan. So, now that we have full-time staffing, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, we have to have dorms for the firefighters. So, this new fire station will be the first um modern fire station with full-blown dorms specifically devoted to 24/7 staffing. Um so as you see this is proposing to have 10 dorms um which will have individual bathrooms and showers and locker rooms as well as just general living areas a kitchen dining room and uh like like a living room for them. So it's really kind of creates a separation between when they're on call versus when they're waiting for calls to come in. It creates a a space for them to kind of u relax when they're when they're not working or when they're not on calls. Uh the central area again the uh moving further into the building that area is just an open area. It's a second uh twotory open area above the bays. But as you move into the center area again that's a second floor at that section. Um that's going to be a training area that'll that'll they'll use for multiple different training purposes. There'll be some storage room up there. And then on either end of those of that training central training area is going to be towers. Um the one towards the upper part of the page is going to be um where they're that's going to be the high tower that we're asking for the cup uh approval for. That's not only going to be a training tower, but it also be the area the height has to be that for um we're dragging hoses up that height for drying and maintenance of the of the fire hoses. Um and then and then the uh tower towards the bottom of the page is a stairwell and it's going to be some mechanical room and some other equipment storage. So, um, that one doesn't have to be as tall as the the one on the east. So, this just kind of a quick shot of all the elevations of the building. Um, this is the front as you're coming off of Dodd Boulevard. This will be the main entrance to the offices and administrative area. Uh, this is towards the uh west. These are the bays. These are where the fire apparatuses will exit the building onto Granby. This is the uh uh east side of the building. Uh this is where the actual the fire trucks will circle around or come in off of that new access road and actually enter the building. Um one of the things that um the fire department wanted to absolutely try to avoid was backing in to the station. So this station has been designed to allow the fire station for the fire trucks to either come in off of Granby and come around the building and access the building or come in off of that new um north south road off of Dodd and access the building from that direction. And this is just the the southern elevation that you'll see some of that through from 179 street kind of peeking through the trees and um it's just kind of the driveway. So, um so that's kind of the basis of the project and I'm going to turn over to Chris to kind of go through the planning commission items. Um with me uh before I forget is Mike Myers. He's our fire chief and Brian Jacobson. He's our district uh chief. Um, and we're all available for any questions if you have any. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Miss Jensen, pretty sure she's going to answer first off, where's the fire pole in the >> that out when we get there? At least on the plans. Uh, so as Alan said, this is at uh the corner of Dodd and Granby. Just to orient yourself, I can get my mouse going. Cedar Avenue and the new 179th uh Dodd which no longer continues through Graanby was the new connection created with the Summers Creek. So this area here um there and then you can see in the zoning there is two zoning districts. It is the northern portion is C3 uh and then the southern portion is um the public open space district. Uh the the plat boundary is made up of three parcels. Uh and I can get to this a little bit later as well, but there's the Fiser property. There is a small my mouse here uh out lot that was part of the Summers Creek and then um the 179th Street is actually not within rightway through this area. It is just on city property. So we will be doing an administrative subdivision of the central maintenance facility property. So everything 179th street and north will be split off and then included with the plat so that the proper right ofway is dedicated for 179th street. So that's why it looks like the street doesn't exist on that map. Um no surprise there are a number of various uh easements and platted some platted rightway that does need to be vacated. This is just to keep, you know, the the title clean for these so we don't have underlying easements under plat areas. So you can see a few different colors there which are different easements that will be vacated. Um they will all be replaced with either easements or or new right ofway. So there isn't any loss of access for any utilities that may be in that area. Again, here's that preliminary plat. You can kind of see where the the new right ofway for 179th Street. We're actually um dedicating right ofway for Cedar, 179th, Graanby, and Dodd. So, we've got right away on all four sides that we're doing. Uh lot one, block one is for the fire station. Out lot A is the storm water pond. Out lot B is the water tower site. And then the uh remainder of the site will be in out lot C, which will be available for future development. It would require a preliminary and final plat before any development of that area. Uh Alan over already went over the site plan. I'm just going to add that uh with the cup for the additional building height, there is additional setbacks that are required. It's an additional five feet for every 10 feet over the maximum building height. The C3 district allows 35 ft. Uh the building is uh just under 45 feet at its height, so it does require the additional five feet. Their setbacks for the north and east and west are at least 75 feet in each direction. So they're well above and beyond those required. The rear setback at the south is the 30 ft which does not need to be increased for the height. Um and then for parking on the site, uh no surprise, our ordinance does not simply say here's how many spaces you need for a fire station. Um so we looked at the floor plans and the various uses and kind of came up with our own uh reasonable requirement. We looked at the office space areas, um classroom and conference room spaces and then the dormatory areas uh which we came up with a requirement of 61 spaces and there are 69 that are being provided on site. Uh this is just to illustrate that truck turning movement. Um you know this would be coming in off of Granby, sorry. um and being able to wrap around the building and here, you know, coming in this direction and then in this one they're coming off of street A. So, they did take that into account. They will be able to do that. Uh the grading plan, I know it's tough to see the um it does slope down from from north to to south. So, this parking lot will sit several feet below Dodd. um it which necessitated this driveway here was initially coming straight out street A. It has shifted south and that's so that the sidewalk in that area can meet uh slope requirements for ADA accessibility. And then there is another access sidewalk access in this location but that will have steps due to the grade in that area. uh tree inventory was done um and I'm now learning that the site will actually be masqueraded rather than just a portion of the trees um being removed. So I think this exhibit needs to be updated, but the um inventory that was done about the tree removal is does have the correct numbers on it. So that's just more of the tree removal. The landscape plan as you would typically see um mix of deciduous ornamental evergreen. Um quite a few shrubs also being proposed around the site and the stormwater pond. Uh this is just to illustrate the two areas that are the tallest portion. Um on the kind of north end of the building, there's some mechanical screening. Um screening is exempt on the roof when when it is 3 feet or less, which this is taller than that. So it does have to be included. So that's just under the 45 feet. Uh and then this is the east tower which is just under 43 feet. So those are the two primary areas where uh we were exceeding that height requirement. Um the fire pole is right there. >> Oh no, wait. I'm sorry. It's right here. That was the elevator right there. >> Making sure we had one. Yes, they do. Um Allan went over the plans. Uh again there's offices, classroom and breakout rooms. Uh worksp space for the firefighters and the seven vehicle bays. Again this is the day room. There is the fire pole right there. So uh the exterior materials do meet our requirements. They're about 68% gradea materials in a mix of brick and stone and glass. Again these are the color elevations um that you saw previously. Uh staff does recommend approval of the preliminary plat and easement vacation subject to the one stipulation as well as adoption of the findings of fact dated March 5th. And I'll stand for any questions you may have. >> Thank you so much. This is a public hearing and um do we have that would like to come forward and speak? Please come forward and state your name uh for the record and give us your comments. Thank you. Our home is on the corner of Graphite Lane and Grandby. My concern is um when they did DOD um I watched a 14-year-old boy be killed on Dodd trying to cross Dodd two summers ago from my deck to watch all the kids on electrical bikes etc. We were at the original meeting. So the city was or the fire department was considering part of the park that exists on along Grandby Lane for the fire station. And one of the concerns there was the traffic. Car was totaled two months ago maybe trying to take a left on 79th Street or Dod and quite honestly out onto Dodd. If we have to go to the left, we have to go east. If we're coming downtown to High View or coming down Dodd, we'll take a right, but um it's it's already very dangerous coming toward the west on Dodd and 17 and trying to take a left is very difficult. There's a turn lane. However, and if there's anybody traveling west in turn lane, you coming west in the other two l. Um if we want to go um south on Cedar, we go left on and then we have that little past the CVM. That little turn onto Cedar. And you have to be really careful there because coming north on Cedar for people coming north on U-turn as they are going north on cedar and they want to go south on cedar and they have you have to be careful when you're turning out because which are going to make you turns. If we want to go, we take a right on Glacier Way and then we take a left on and that is a nightmare. And so in the in the lane going east and want take a left turn onto Cedar North and you have to watch Because there are no left turn signals either in either direction and there are no left turn lanes and you wait and you don't know the people coming west if they're going to turn left or if they're going to come straight. And um um I talked to um Summergate who has an office building right there and a gal who works there and she I'm sure you already know it because I look at their I see their report their police report but she says at least at that at that um intersection Well, it would be a year ago. It was the spring going into last summer. And a lot of people had that same concern. And we were told that point or my understanding was that they were going to work of Glacier Way and Cedar and that turn lanes were going to be but nothing's happened. And then there was some putting a light at Graanby Lane and 179th Street for the fire trucks to get out, but there's no light there. And frankly, I don't know how you could put a light there because if you're trying to travel on 179th across Cedar, if you've ever been there any time of the day, especially 5:00, the cars are backed up 510 or more going both directions across Cedar on 179th. So I I guess that's my question is where are the firet trucks going to go for the firet trucks trying to get out and then also for the the re the residents in that area trying to get out. >> Thank you so much for your comments. We'll address that. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else that would like to speak? Seeing no other books coming forward. I would take a motion. >> Motion to close the public hearing. >> Second. >> We have a motion, a second. All those in favor of closing the public hearing, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. The public hearing is now closed. I'm thinking maybe um staff and or the traffic engineer could answer some of those questions about um whether there's going to be turn lanes or semaphore or what the plan is for that area. >> Yeah. So, in process currently, we're working with Dakota County at the intersection of Graanby and 179th Street on what the vehicle preeemption should look like there with this fire station being installed. That's something that we've been working in collaboration with them closely. Uh we're not at a point here today to know what that preeemption looks like, but we're looking at examples of similar situations in communities like Egan where they have a similar layout and a similar situation by a county road. Um and then I believe I heard um for the intersection of Cedar Avenue and Glacier Way. That is also another topic of conversation with the county that's having ongoing discussions as far as what that looks like. I think we've got an upcoming mill and overlay project in 2027 to be constructed where we're going to be looking at some alternatives that that could help with the issue for getting onto Cedar Avenue there. Commissioner Kuza >> and for the engineer just so everyone knows Cedar's a county road so the city can't you know unilaterally do things you have to work with the county and their timeline in order to kind of get some of these traffic improvements correct >> yes correct they are both collaborative efforts that the city and the county are working on >> please come forward Mr. Madam Chair, just to add a little bit to John's explanation on the Opticon system is is the technical term of the system that the fire station will be using. So, we are working with the county. All the details haven't been set yet, but in general, the way it'll work when a fire call comes into that station. Um, they'll roll their doors open, the fire engines turn their lights on. There's going to be a a receiver on Grandby that will see that. It's going to be just like what you see at intersection lights. When you see fire or police personnel go through, they've got a signal that turns all the always all ways red. So the fire or police can go through that intersection. So it's the same system that we're going to use in front of the fire station. So when that is signaled then on Grandby, it's going to turn the intersection of Cedar and Dodd. It's going to stop the traffic there, which will provide gaps for the for the fire engines to pull out on the Grand B and then pull out on the 179th and go east or west as needed. Um, in addition, we're looking at putting on some yield and some flashing lights on on 179th towards the west, which should all also be activated at that same time. So, with that system in place, and John's right, we don't have that whole system designed yet, but the idea of that system in place, create the gaps in the traffic that we need or slow down the traffic for the fire trucks to safely pull out on 179th going east or west as needed. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, I'd have a question. traffic engineer. Can you give us a little bit on the timetable or what you I understand you're working with the county, but what are residents to expect? >> Yeah. So, as we get through into the final platting process here, we are starting to get to the point of we are currently at our 30% design plans. We'll we'll get at a point with the civil plan set here to be at our 60 90 100s within the next threemonth period here to have a more fleshed out idea of what that preeemption system exactly looks like and how we'll be managing that with the county. And like I said, we we are working off of example cases in neighboring communities that have similar situations to this where you're exiting the fire station and entering onto a high volume, high-speed roadway. >> Thank you, >> Commissioner Travis. >> Madam Chair, uh just a question for Miss Jensen. Uh the road plans are forming and they seem quite specific but not final. And is that because this is a preliminary plat and at a prelim plat stage we wouldn't necessarily know exactly what the roads will look like. >> Um well the only road construction that would take place is >> I'm sorry the traffic not the roads but the the traffic systems not completely finalized yet but it's a preliminary plat. So is that >> right the you know the the traffic system to allow the trucks out on to cross or or access 179th Street doesn't need to be in place until the fire station is actually fully built. So um you know fire station of this size takes quite a bit of time to construct. Alan, what's the timeline for construction, please? Alan used to be a planner. curious. >> Yeah. Uh so we are going out for the first phase of the bids are going out uh in the next month and that'll be for um grading and utility installation. The second phase will be pretty close following after that in another month in May or so. Um and that'll start the construction of the overall site. Um and there's about 18 months construction. So we're looking at a good almost two years from now before this is fully operational. Thank you. >> Other questions from Mr. Kenn um I've been familiar with the new construction of fire stations in Burnsville in Apple Valley and I'm wondering is CNH the same architect that's doing this one? Yeah, C C&H is the same architect. >> All right. So, I mean, I'm sure you've probably toured the stations in Burnsville and Apple Valley. How does this new one for Lakeville stack up to those? >> Yeah, I'll turn it over to Mike, um, our our fire chief. But we've toured several fire stations throughout this process, but I'll turn over to Mike. From a design size, it it I mean, if you've been in Burnsville, it resembles Burnsville, but there's also other components from other stations that we toured and seen and kind of those elements that we want to draw into this station, too. So, it's very similar to Burnsville, and I'll say that kind of the the future designs of fire stations are taking into a lot as far as the wellness of the firefighters, cancer, uh free environments. So, uh, those are the components that really play into the effect of designing a station and making sure that we're not bringing, uh, contaminants, if you will, from the bays into the living space or the work areas. Uh, so that's kind of where that Senator mezzanine that Mr. Keenan was talking about as far as the fire station goes. >> Thank you. >> We have other questions, >> chair. had a couple of things um on my mind here. Um one, I did want to compliment um the folks who put together the plans and everything else in terms of the visuals um of the building and everything else. One of the little it's a little detail, but something that um I appreciated seeing on that, we had the uh I'll say the generator boxes and locations shown on the figure. Knowing this is a public safety facility and it it does require power regardless of any natural disasters or anything like that. um necessitates having facilities like that available. Um a lot of plans that we see oftentimes neglect some of those utility type things. And um so the location on this one, it's tucked back behind the building. So the town houses on the west side won't be hearing any of the noise from that facility. So I did just want to point that out that was nice to see. Um also appreciated you showing um truck turning um diagrams. Uh I I work for an entity that um has a lot of large vehicles and portability out of the uh the rear um and know that backing is a kind of our number one source of vehicular accident items, that type of thing. So I appreciated seeing the figure and maneuver those um trucks internally and hopefully not have to vacuum maneuvers. So from a an overall safety culture, much appreciated to see that. Um and then again you've talked through the opticon facilities and what's happening on that. The only other thing I was just going to talk real briefly about was the training towers. I I did ask a question regarding training towers just in terms of what was going to be done in those. I think my concern was coming from a spot of are you doing like any burning or anything like that in the towers or anything like that. if you'd kind of clarify what the purpose appreciated. >> Uh the train tower is what we call just a wet tower. So the only thing that we would be doing in there is uh fire hose movement uh any water discharge so it can handle that. There is no burning. So this you know we have a burn site that we use in in Burnsville. So there's no burning that's going to occur here. Uh the only that we would put in the building which most people wouldn't even notice would be artificial smoke. So if we want to create that uh decreased visibility for training purposes, that's the only thing that's in the tower in that second floor area. Thank you. If I may continue. >> Please continue. >> All right. Um last thing I was just going to say on on my my end and thinking through things, I understand and I hear the concerns related to traffic in this area. Um, and I appreciate you coming up and speaking to those items. I think it's important that we acknowledge there are issues out here in this area. Are they going to be solved and fixed with this fire station project? No, they're not. U, but I think it's important that they're on the table. City staff is aware of them. They hear you. Um, and hopefully that will move forward into future things. I I do want to say I am concerned when I hear things about uh particularly that turn at Hamburg where you're not able to react in time to traffic moving and speed that type of thing. I I would encourage engineering to at least take a look at that and just see if there's something there um that something may have been missed or overlooked in the overall design of uh how 179th was put together um site distances etc related to speed uh in that area. So just this this commission isn't empowered to fix all those traffic issues. The county has to be involved, but city staff hears your concerns. So I just want to make that loud and clear. >> Thank you. Appreciate that, Commissioner Swence. And I was going to comment on the accident uh occurrence once a day is is certainly something that uh we would want traffic engineers, our law enforcement to take a look at. So good uh advice and that we've raised those concerns for our staff. >> Commissioner Kuza, >> just wanted to commend the city staff, the planning staff, the administration, fire department for all the work that you've done on this. I mean, Lakeville is now the largest city in the county. Um, you know, if you look at kind of where this location is, look at what's surrounding it. Um, you know, you have stuff fully developed north of it and south of it. That's where a lot of our future growth for the city is going to be. It's a green field development that's going to be coming in. Um, you know, the neighborhoods that are uh around there are um, you know, have have all came in in the past few years. Um, so I mean, this is really kind of planning for the future and I'm glad that you guys are going to have everything that you you need in there. um you know, no one wants to need the fire department, but um when when you do need it, you're going to be glad that they're going to be able to get access to you quickly. And I I think that the city's done a lot of great work kind of thinking of what the future is as Lakeville continues um to build out. I think we're, you know, if not over 80,000, pretty near that. U Mr. Ken might know the the exact answer, but there's we still have a lot of room to grow and um you know the I'm going to be excited when this fire station gets built out and hopefully we'll be able to provide um safety to our residents and going forward. Um, I also really appreciate the city staff are kind of hearing the the concerns of neighbors and, you know, I hope the the county hears that as well, um, as we work to kind of, um, figure out, you know, the best traffic solution going forward. >> Thank you everybody. No further comments, then I think be ready for a motion. Madam Chair, >> Commissioner Tinsley move to recommend a city council approval of the preliminary plat use permit and vacation of public roadway drainage and utility ease subject to the stipulation in the planning report dated February 23rd, 2026 and the findings of fact. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Miss Ericson, would you take the role, please? Kuza >> I >> Zimmer >> I >> I >> Swainy >> I >> Swenson >> I >> Tinsley >> I >> Travis >> I >> motion prevails and uh good luck as you move forward. Sounds like a lot of fun uh working on the the plan and the site and uh traffic issues as well. Thank you so much. Um let's see. Uh we have staff not included in our packet um about some upcoming or at least I think we did potential upcoming items and um the next the items above will be considered for uh March 16th city council meeting and the next planning commission is scheduled for March 19th and I don't know Miss Johnson do we have anything else for comment um and so with That we will stand adjourned.