[0:01] okay we'll call this May 27th work session to order could join me in the

[0:06] moment of silence and the pledge of

[0:19] allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic

[0:25] for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for

[0:32] all All right moving on to citizens comments We have any today unless is

[0:39] there anybody online We'll roll right into the recreation and

[0:44] heritage center strategic plan overview and Mr Macin te that up I believe Yep

[0:49] And actually I'm going to be handing it off to Susan our rec manager So I'll just chime in when I All right It's

[0:56] welcome Thank you Thank you for having us Um so the recreation department and

[1:03] the senior center did uh hadn't had a strategic plan done for about 20 years Joe Um so it was time uh way past time

[1:10] to get that done and try to figure out where where we're going and how we're doing and where we want what we want to look like in 5 to 10 years So we took

[1:18] some time um there were about 15 16 of us that went over to the art center for

[1:24] a couple days in February Um Aurora Consulting um worked with us They had also done the art center strategic plan

[1:31] a few years ago Um and Joe spoke very highly of them and it was a really great experience Um really interesting I had

[1:38] never gone through the process before So he did a really good job of asking questions that didn't feel like you were really working too much but he was

[1:45] really getting good information out So um the group consisted of recreation and heritage center staff um advisory the

[1:52] park and recck natural resource committee members um and two two members of the active adults Um so it was a nice

[1:59] it was a nice good group Um a couple environmental resources staff also attended They switched off to Aan and

[2:05] Mac so they were there too Um so day one um we kind of just talked about our current reality where we are um and kind

[2:12] of talked about where we wanted to go in the next five years And then a couple weeks later on day two we identified

[2:18] barriers Um why can't what do we need to get to the next level What do we what don't we have What do we need kind of a

[2:24] thing So what did we need to overcome to get to the next level Um so again current reality um

[2:32] these are all things you all are very aware of but our our the membership over at the Heritage Center is going crazy We

[2:38] got lots of seniors over there which is awesome We have about 67 facilities We have a almost 500 sessions in our um

[2:46] summer brochure Um our programming over at the ELC out at Ritter is is expanding

[2:51] and of course our population is growing So all things that you guys are very well aware of Um current reality um

[2:59] we're growing obviously out at Ritter Farm Park with a new facility out there Um we have a beautiful new facility out

[3:05] at Antlers Park that we're doing some programming out of Um we're working on expanding our social media

[3:11] communications Um we're going to be dedicating a page for our website Um we also have our Facebook up and running

[3:17] now for for park or parks recreation and heritage center Um we have updated our

[3:22] scholarship fund Um help me with my numbers Joe We used to give a $100 per person Um and they could use an 8020

[3:30] They had to pay 80% No we paid 80% they paid 20% Um we just didn't really have

[3:36] very many people using it So we had a substantial balance in it Um so we were

[3:41] hoping to to reach more people and even even doing 8020 splits some people still

[3:46] couldn't afford them Um so I think we're up to $300 per person and we will pay a 100% of a program So um so and I've seen

[3:56] substantial growth Yeah I've seen we're hoping to get the word out um a little bit more on how to get people to use

[4:02] that system but When you say dedicated website parks and recck doesn't have its own website a

[4:09] page on the Oh no So we we currently do not have our own URL uh and the park and

[4:14] rec department doesn't have a landing page in the same way that art center heritage or the city page does As part

[4:21] of the new website design we are getting that Um so that's a great step for us It'll have kind of a dedicated URL and a

[4:28] slightly different look than the rest which will help us stand apart a little bit So yeah interesting

[4:34] Um and the last one is just substantial growth um in the active adults over at the Heritage

[4:42] Center Um we talked about trends you know what's going on in our community Um

[4:47] obviously we have new cultures coming to our community that we're we're trying to service and find out what they need and

[4:52] like Um we have people retiring Um again

[4:57] trying to trying to make spots for all of them over at Heritage Center We're running out of room there pretty quick

[5:03] Um obviously we have a growing population and we have some facility growth needs Um people's expectations

[5:11] are rising Um and we also want to stay

[5:16] affordable Um our strengths in our department we think our staff is a strength of ours Um I always say park

[5:22] and wreck people are people people We like we like to be with people We like to listen to them We like to you know we

[5:28] like to hear from them So we think that's a strength Um we have a great community that's e eager to participate

[5:34] in our programs Um we're still growing and attracting new people and that brings in new ideas and new requests for

[5:41] programs Um we're very thankful that we have open-minded leadership Um I have worked in other communities where you

[5:48] didn't try something if you didn't know it was going to be successful Um it's really nice to be able to offer a program knowing it's going to maybe

[5:54] start small and grow from there So it's really nice that um have leadership that's that's open to that Um and then

[6:01] we have a very strong support u volunteer support over at the heritage

[6:07] center Uh gaps um this is kind of things that we need more of Um resources We can

[6:15] always use more time We can always use more money We can always use more people Um community feedback Um we we have

[6:22] started doing surveys of everybody who participates in our programs Um so we kind of we're getting really good

[6:28] feedback from the people that are participating but we don't know why the people who aren't participating aren't

[6:33] or andor what they want or need So we would like to do a communitywide survey to get the people who aren't already

[6:39] participating with us Um we have pretty good community awareness about us Um or

[6:48] excuse me we we are we are hoping that we have enough community awareness and education about our program offerings

[6:54] And that part of that is our brand and identity Um we would like to create a brand for the for the recreation and

[7:01] heritage So when people see a flyer or they see a brochure they know that it's coming from us Um a lot of times people

[7:08] mix us up with community ed Um so we want to make sure that people know who we are and who they are what we're

[7:14] really good at and what they're really good at So we just want to make sure they know who we are

[7:19] um cultural awareness when we deliver programs and how people perceive our programs Again we want them to know who

[7:26] we are and what we do really well And then um li and we are limited

[7:31] in our facility space So we don't have a community center We don't have gyms So

[7:36] we we make do um we've done again we've added some programming over at Antlers

[7:41] which has been super helpful us helpful and um ELC has really helped us out at Ritter Farm Park Um but otherwise we're

[7:48] still kind of struggling for space Um and we are we have met as staff Um we

[7:54] know that the heritage center is really busy during the day not as busy at night Art center is the opposite way They're a

[8:01] little less busy during the day a lot more busy at night So we're trying to figure out if we will if we can move

[8:06] some senior stuff over to the art center or some art center over the senior center and then recreation has to fit in there when there when both of those

[8:13] things aren't busy facility space is always a gap Um boulders are things we

[8:18] need to get over Um again flexibility of facilities are aging Um again um as we

[8:26] appreciate having the heritage center but it was obviously we all know it used to be a police station So there's lots of small spaces in there We need some

[8:32] bigger spaces So how do we make use of that Are we able to you know what can we

[8:37] do over there to make it better use more useful for us um community expectation

[8:43] for niche programs Um again an example of that is cricket Um we have a culture

[8:49] that would like some cricket so we're trying to meet that need as well Things programs like that Um we have a lot of

[8:55] competition from other recreation providers Um athletic associations the YMCA soccer shots everybody everybody's

[9:03] everybody's got something recreational Senior high senior living places now have their own programming as well Um so

[9:09] we need to convince them that why they need to come and and particip participate with us Um staff workload

[9:16] and demand Um we're small but mighty which is great Um and we again sometimes

[9:21] in the summer we get a little crazy because we got so many things going on That's our busy season So um we just

[9:28] have to make sure that we can all handle that Um reviewing previously successful

[9:33] programs We have um luckily in Lakeville we have a long history but we have some things we've been doing for a really

[9:39] long time and sometimes we don't take the time after it's over to really talk about how did it go What can we do

[9:44] better Can we change it Do we need to modify it Is it maybe need to be retired We've done it long enough and we just

[9:51] don't need to do it anymore So we just need to um make sure that we're evaluating our own programs Uh and then

[9:58] allocation of facilities to programs Again we just would always use more facilities to do things

[10:05] Question Sure Um and maybe I don't know if I'm getting ahead of myself but

[10:11] um when you're talking about space needs and you're talking about the competition

[10:18] um are we looking into um partnering with our competition Yep And we do that

[10:24] We you know we do partner already with community ed do some joint programming things like that I was thinking more of

[10:30] the senior buildings that have you know run some of their own stuff but maybe

[10:37] creating a partnership with them We have over our history um done select programs

[10:43] um and Art Center Heritage both do a great job of that I think there's opportunities with recreation as we

[10:48] continue to look at how those programs develop to maybe look at that more but I think we're we're always open to working

[10:54] with other community partners um to increase or improve their programming

[10:59] and do the same with ours Um so a lot of what we offer are based on on

[11:04] partnerships Where do they hold their activities Are we able to just um rent their space So

[11:12] we do we have a combination of programs that run kind of in all of those formats Um we host some you know we this is

[11:17] where Antlers has been great for us You know we do a lot of programming at antlers with other partners and there

[11:23] are some programs where we will travel and go to um you know some of the senior living facilities and do programs It

[11:30] just depends on what they're looking for what fits for them And then for us it's also about making sure that it fits in

[11:36] financially We need to be able to cover our costs for supplies and staffing and all that Sometimes that fits their model

[11:42] sometimes it doesn't But for us it's always a good opportunity to kind of reevaluate and explore So

[11:49] And I would say we have really good partnerships with many of the senior living They they sponsor a lot of the

[11:54] programs over at the heritage center Um and again we have done um kind of a senior living tour where you go to like

[12:00] five different places You have lunch you have snacks things around So I think Bridget has built a really good

[12:06] partnership with the with the senior living places in town Be kind of cool to have a progressive dinner Huh Yeah

[12:12] that's kind of what they do They used to do you know you'd have or lunch I guess Exactly That's right

[12:18] All right So we took all of that information um that we went through in those two days and then came up with our

[12:24] vision of where we want to be in three to five years Um which is great because against I say sometimes you put your

[12:30] nose to the grindstone and you're just trying to get through every day and every week that you can't even think

[12:36] about three to five years So it was really nice to take two days to think about where do we where do we really want to go with this department Um so

[12:44] um yep Um All right So yes go ahead I was going to

[12:51] say so all of all of that kind of came together and allowed us to create what is the strategic plan Um and this is

[12:58] kind of the the big picture the five-year plan This is kind of where we're intending to go with things right

[13:03] Yep So we got down to kind of the four directives Um exploring new funding opportunities Um so again this this

[13:10] talks about our scholarship program We've already made changes to that We may make some more to that um simplify

[13:16] our fees um and make sure that they're in line with everybody with everybody else so we're not too high or too low Um

[13:23] we've also for our um for our rental facilities we've tried to go to block

[13:28] pricing blocks of time Um so it's just very standard We don't have all different hours and times and things

[13:35] like that So it's fairly easy to know how much our what our um expenses are Um again sponsorship programs we've talked

[13:41] a little bit about that Um again we have great partners in town that allow us to

[13:48] um keep our uh prices affordable Um one of the things we're talking about over at the Heritage Center is Key Wests Um

[13:55] again it's an aging population and the reality of is that people pass away when they are at a senior center And so you

[14:02] know promoting to them that you can leave a legacy to us how however big or small that might be but remember us in

[14:08] that Um so um again exploring new funding opportunities is one of our

[14:15] strategic plan Um reviewing current facility use and future needs I feel like I've talked a lot about facilities

[14:21] here already but um we would like to tour some other facilities to make to see um how have people used their art

[14:28] center or their heritage or their senior centers for programming What do they do How do they make it work What do they have that we don't have What you know we

[14:36] can dream a little bit a little bit of what we want Um that one too Yeah So I

[14:41] think the big thing with that and it's we kind of point to what we did at the art center about maximizing the existing facilities that we do have Um and that's

[14:48] one of the things you know looking at spaces that we already have and small tweaks or adjustments here or there um

[14:54] in how we schedule spaces how we use spaces allows us to use them very differently and allows us to then

[15:00] increase programming or serve the community differently So one that's kind of a big focus on on the facilities we

[15:07] do have Um and it's been a good discussion among staff about utilizing a facility like Antlers that is rarely

[15:14] used or rented during the week you know mornings Um it allows us now an opportunity to maybe use that more for

[15:20] WCK programming and save evenings and weekends for rentals So exploring those

[15:26] options as well so that we can continue to provide space for recreation to expand programming meet the need and use

[15:32] a space that's maybe going underutilized Do you does that also include like the

[15:38] conference room and public works you know as like classroom space like not just parks facilities but also

[15:43] facilities Yeah And we I would say Casey and Susan do a good job as they as they're planning programming to find a

[15:51] space to house them We always find a place and you know whether it's um at the Art Center Heritage you know

[15:57] recreation really does float but it works Yeah Yeah Um and I think as we've met with staff you know pulling the

[16:04] whole group together we've had some really good discussions about finding those times that are

[16:09] commonly available within our own buildings right Um and Susan's already referenced art center may be less busy

[16:14] during the day Heritage is bursting at the seams So what programs could feasibly be moved to the art center Um

[16:21] those are the types of things that we're looking at when we're talking maximizing facility use And some of that will take time

[16:28] don't like change very much and they really like to go to where they're comfortable Um so we we surveyed all the

[16:34] group leaders to say would you be willing to do your book club over at the art center Would you be willing to go to

[16:40] a park building So we're still getting those that feedback back A lot of them are not I mean they're not they're not

[16:47] super excited They're not super excited They might be willing So we'll see And I think partly too and Bridge is very good

[16:52] about adding let's add a book club let's add a this discussion let's add a this And I think as we add if they want to

[16:57] add something we're going to say we would love to add that but you might have to you have might have to meet at

[17:02] the art center or at Antlers or somewhere else We'd love to have you but we you just don't you just don't fit

[17:08] into our schedule right now It's just the building's too Is there any value in trying to leverage because there's you

[17:14] know there's some private spaces certainly for like daytime you know bonus room there's

[17:21] everybody during the day and then the F3 which is on 50 I don't think they use

[17:27] that during the day I just wonder yeah I think at this point we I think

[17:33] those types of spaces we we have where recreation is maybe more in the need is

[17:40] gym space to those larger spaces where we can do some of the um sports related activities Um but again we you know

[17:47] we've used classrooms at the art center for exactly that and it's worked It's maybe not ideal but um there's larger

[17:54] spaces I think that we can we can continue to explore at this point Um and that's kind of where we hit this you

[18:00] know that next topic as we look you know 5 10 15 20 years down the road Obviously

[18:05] you know the evaluation of new or expanded or future facilities is always going to be kind of out there Um in the

[18:11] short term it's about what can we do today you know next five years to really

[18:17] use what we've got So and so as a community do we have many um

[18:24] training centers that are focused on training kids usually after school on whichever

[18:30] specific sport but their facility is pretty much empty during the day and it

[18:36] would be considered probably like gym space

[18:41] That's and I guess that's a good thought I would say what comes first to mind is the are the schools which we always have

[18:46] trouble getting in check No but there's independent businesses but that's an area I would say we probably have not

[18:52] explored as much Um and it is but I don't know how many there are in Lakeville I mean I you know I know other

[18:58] communities have some but I don't know what's in Lakeville There's Lakeville soccer They have a but

[19:06] you know that's just their own Um there's the total hockey place you know

[19:12] but they're all gonna they're all forprofit you know they're all gonna just want to cater to their business

[19:20] right They're forprofit and they could rent out their space when it's empty I guess you know

[19:26] for a reduced rate since it's not doing them any good Uh having to air

[19:33] condition you know type of thing It's costing a money empty

[19:39] Yeah Yeah Space Yeah If they can fill their space

[19:44] I'm sure they would right So if we offer try to offer something there it may be a time when it kids wouldn't typically be

[19:51] available Something to look into All right We'll move on to optimize

[19:57] programming to meet community expectations Um talked a little bit about this using feedback to update

[20:02] programming Again we're getting some really good survey data back from people who are already participating and hope

[20:08] to do a communitywide survey to see how we can get people to find out about us Um prioritize collaborative staff

[20:15] planning and evaluation And again that's we've already started doing that getting together to talk about how we could all

[20:20] work together which is really great I know the art center has come over to do some art art programs over at Heritage

[20:26] Center already Um so just you know using our staff to do some collaborative

[20:31] different programming Um again create the recognizable recognizable brands so

[20:36] people know who we are and then assess technology to improve customer and staff

[20:41] experience Um that would be our rec track We want to make sure people know how to make an account how to register

[20:47] Um we occasionally have problems with that So just education on that Um the URL for the park and wreck will be

[20:53] helpful because they don't have to go through the city website to try to find parks and wreck They can just go right to park and wreck Um another part of

[21:00] this is we'd like to get all of our rentable rent rental spaces on one page Um right now you have to go to the art

[21:06] center to rent the art center and to the heritage center to rent that and to us to rent any park shelters So if we could

[21:11] just have one page with everything you can rent right here from us it's just easier to be like you know where do I

[21:17] fit So you don't have to go to three different places just one Um let's see

[21:24] How are seniors when it comes to smartphones and apps and things like that Surprisingly good And they offer

[21:32] actually offer some classes over there Of course you're going to have the older seniors who aren't very technological Um

[21:37] but um they're they're pretty savvy with it And some of this the over at the Heritage Center a lot of they they take

[21:43] a lot more in-person registrations than we do You know a lot of our our registration is online recreation Um but

[21:49] the Heritage Center they walk in and and register there So if they can't Obviously if somebody can't use their

[21:55] computer we're going to get them registered So but surprisingly some of them are probably better than

[22:02] me Um see um and then assess staff responsibility and volunteer

[22:07] opportunities Um evaluate full-time and seasonal staffing based on programming levels Um most of the programming that

[22:14] we do right now is based on contractual um arrangements Um so we hire a

[22:21] contractor to do our tennis lessons and then we usually do a split 7030 splits So I always go for easy math So if we

[22:28] charge $100 they get 70 we get 30 Um right So then the the model used to be

[22:34] you hired tennis instructors and you hired um teachers and you hired coaches and things like that Now we are mostly

[22:42] contractual So it's going to be a um a balancing act of would it be better to

[22:47] hire our own staff Is it feasible to hire our own staff Can we find our own staff It's getting a little better There

[22:53] was a few years there where it was really hard to find any staff at all So um that'll be a that that'll be a

[22:58] comparison that will be whether we should stay with contractual or try to hire some more summer

[23:04] employees Uh and then establish do a volunteer program Again Heritage Center does a really good job They have a great

[23:10] volunteers over there that you know greet people at the door They set up for lunches They call people They do the

[23:16] library lots of volunteers Um and in the recreation department um we don't have a

[23:21] a great ongoing program We need volunteers for things like the haunted forest um for the illumination walk

[23:28] things like that But we'd like to get a a better year round system going So if we need help with something we we have a

[23:34] a bank of people to call Um we also are looking back into getting an internship

[23:39] program started again um to get a student here in the summer would be really helpful um just for time wise Um

[23:47] and again that's usually getting a a person who's ready to start their career at a better better rate than they're

[23:53] going to make full-time So get some work out of them and get a project done usually that will help help them That's

[23:59] some of our staff things that we're working Um so that's the four pieces of our strategic plan And then so

[24:07] underneath all of those two we have everybody was assigned tasks Um so

[24:12] here's just kind of an idea It's a 18-month plan Um so our first things

[24:17] will start becoming due here July 1st and then again October 1st January 1st April 1st And so there's an

[24:23] implementation plan for the recreation side and also for the heritage heritage center Um so one of the reasons we liked

[24:30] this consultant and this process particularly at the art center for the two that we did was specifically related to the implementation plan It kept

[24:37] everybody on task You know first 18 months we've got laid out and then we renew it after that for the for the

[24:42] fiveyear duration of the of the strategic plan So so far I would say the challenge with it has been everybody is

[24:50] excited and is moving so far ahead uh and we've not talked So just keeping in

[24:56] mind this does not all need to be accomplished today right This is five years ultimately So we can take our time

[25:01] we can do this right Um but it's good to see that we've got enthusiasm amongst the staff Um and I would say so far

[25:08] things have been really positive So Yeah Any questions I over

[25:18] I have a few Um I this could be a sensitive question but

[25:23] as I'm hearing you talk I see the Heritage Center sort of as under the

[25:29] umbrella of parks and wreck at least from how a user might see that

[25:35] So is that kind of the direction at least in the marketing and how you use

[25:41] the system that you're going Not necessarily that the director of the heritage center would be under parks and

[25:47] rec director Um or maybe I maybe I'm confusing the whole structure anyway Um

[25:53] but I guess is that kind of what you're thinking So Heritage Center is under us Bridget does Bridget

[26:02] as the Lakeville area active adults manager works for Susan Um and Bridget

[26:09] really oversees the facility and the programming there and then works closely with the um historical society Neil

[26:15] Ribbon So there is a kind of a direct workflow with all of that But I would say this is precisely where the

[26:22] confusion for us comes in because we reference a lot of times the heritage center programming when in reality our

[26:30] senior programming is actually Lakeville area active adults It's very rarely referenced that way and I think just in

[26:36] naming in branding there's confusion Um I would say from the customer's perspective we're less concerned about

[26:42] that you know we want you to know we've got programming for 50 plus and here's

[26:48] how to get it and here's where you go How it's structured within the department is less important right And

[26:53] it's in the same way that art center also reports to us but also has its own identity Heritage is really that same

[26:59] way Um and recreation and parks really should be in a lot of respects set up

[27:05] that same way even though it's all the same department right We we crossuse facilities and you know programs and

[27:13] supplies and all of that But yeah it does lead to some confusion because the other the other thing that I've noticed

[27:19] you already referenced it but when I get the uh community ed packet and then I get the parks and wreck packet sometimes

[27:26] I have to go back to the front cover to figure out which packet I'm looking at because I don't some of the programs

[27:32] seem similar but I mean what's the strategy and what you're not doing because community ed is doing them and

[27:39] we have a good we meet with community education to talk about kind of our lane and their lane and there's some

[27:45] programming we even run jointly right so there's some programming you are going to see in community guys brochure and

[27:50] our brochure where I would say if confusion comes in our brochures do look very similar so much so that when we

[27:57] published this summaries we realized community education used the same photo two years ago

[28:02] so which we should try to avoid right so we're trying to work on that with

[28:09] communications as well and looking for some maybe some updated um updated appearances for ours so that it does

[28:15] stand out Um but I think when we talk about programming for recreation we have

[28:21] a clear idea of who we are and what we do I don't think that necessarily comes across to the community Um and that's

[28:28] really where we want to continue to try to make sure that there's a better understanding of who we are I would say

[28:33] more often for me because it's confusing I would sign my kids up for doing stuff

[28:38] But when I hear from people in the city they think all the community stuff is ours You know they see that as

[28:46] separate I know this would be I don't even want to say a one unified registration for both would be really

[28:53] great I don't It sounds like a hero task but that would be nice

[29:00] Yeah one one sign on and this is where we say at least on our part we want to make

[29:06] sure we are making this as easy as possible We know that the software that we use is not necessarily the most

[29:13] userfriendly Um but there are things that we can do to streamline to make it easier um as simple as just how you

[29:20] create your own account And when we did the Hannah pavilion last year Susan did

[29:25] a great video with communications on you know how to set up the tables and how the TV works and all that And that video

[29:31] is used constantly Our renters reference it all the time So the thought was we'll

[29:37] have Susan do this for how to create an account track Same thought process It's been great for us And I think there So

[29:43] there are things like that that I think we could do to at least make life easier for for the residents Yeah I mean I was

[29:48] this is my in-laws were like "Oh we're going to sign these their kids and our kids up for the same thing We sign up

[29:54] for the community was part."

[30:01] Did you did your group during the session talk about um sort of who the target audience is

[30:08] and you you referenced all the different groups that provide programming is our

[30:13] audience the programs that they're not doing Uh or are we trying to keep it

[30:18] broad so we're offering lots of different things that everyone can even

[30:24] if it's already offered in a another way We do try not to compete um you know

[30:30] especially with larger organizations like community ed Um but there are areas that

[30:36] are really arts and recreation right Nature programming being one the Ritter

[30:41] events the community events a lot of the sports uh with Rev sports and all that is very much us And um those are the

[30:49] things I think when you know when we talk about the confusion between the departments or community and us we need

[30:55] to talk more about the things that are solely like the parks and recreation And

[31:01] I think that's where um that's where our focus is at this point We need to highlight the things that you can't get

[31:06] somewhere else You're not going to get nature programming like we can do at Ritter um through community ed So we've

[31:12] got to continue to focus on what we do and what we do well The other thing I will add in we did

[31:18] part of this process we did it's a mission money matrix looking at what we charge for programs and where it falls within our mission which I think was a

[31:24] really good process for us as staff Um and that's where we were able to kind of focus and highlight some programs that

[31:31] were maybe low on our mission and low on revenue that we need to reanalyze whether or not those are programs we

[31:36] continue to offer If it doesn't meet our mission and we're not making revenue on it why are we offering it And there's a whole series of programs that are high

[31:43] revenue and high mission we need to focus more on those So I think there's a lot of analyzing that we're doing as far

[31:49] as what our offerings are So but it's been fun One more Um I saw a small uh

[31:58] smile when you talked about the changing expectations of what what are some of the things that

[32:04] our heritage centers uh users are looking for that have changed over time

[32:10] Uh well pickle ball Hook ball didn't exist you know five ten years ago So a lot of that Um

[32:19] yeah Well and I again I I ran a senior center for a lot of years a while ago too And the whole model is changing

[32:25] right Um ours is 50 plus Um and it's how do you get those younger people in there

[32:30] I'm over 50 but I don't know that I would go over there but maybe if they had a kayaking trip or they had

[32:35] something maybe I would do that So I think especially at with senior programming you have to be like how do

[32:41] how do we keep going right the the again it's a model where you know you've got a changing population so we got to keep we

[32:48] got to get younger people coming in so I think that I think Bridget is doing a really good job of she calls them junior

[32:55] seniors of attracting people you know but part of that is also that the staff

[33:00] there is reviewing you know programming that's later at night right so we know if you're 50 if you're 50 or older um

[33:07] often you might be working the times that the programs that we're currently offering are still

[33:12] So um we're reviewing kind of how that's working for the facility because she's got a whole demographic that we're not

[33:19] really getting Sure So well I imagine you have 50 to 100 year olds you know so

[33:25] that you're getting into almost three generations of uh folks using these heritage centers So

[33:33] um yeah it's that's an interesting thing to try to keep up with three different generations of these And I think I think

[33:39] the next wave I I'd like to do the next prediction I think it's going to be pinball and arcade games

[33:45] Get them into play a little Pac-Man for that age group I suppose you need to be in the mentality of the schools You have

[33:53] the elementary the middle school and the the high school levels You know as you think about

[34:00] programming and our programming really goes you know birth through you know end

[34:05] of life heritage But yeah but as a department we are we are offering you know so to your

[34:12] point though we we do focus on programming that is should be accessible for the entire community and that's

[34:17] where we say um you know increased surveying and and our ability to look at what people truly want from us is going

[34:24] to be an important phase of that So did the um arts board and the parks

[34:30] board they weigh not park center um since this is just

[34:35] heritage and and but park natural resources did review and and they were pretty involved in the process from the

[34:40] get-go Okay Um but it was at their ago already Yeah Yeah

[34:46] So other questions or comments This is good I look forward to seeing

[34:51] some of the implementation that comes out Appreciate it Thanks for being here Okay Mr Mayor I just might add you know

[34:58] we talk a lot about the investments we've done in public safety Talk a lot

[35:04] about development and economic development but as you all know you survey our residents about why they move

[35:10] here why they live here the top two things are parks and schools right And um we talk a lot about parks physical

[35:17] parks I'm glad that we're doing a lot more deep dive into recreation because I think it's we're just scratching the

[35:24] surface

[35:30] I get Can I ask one question quick Yes Kind of on that Do you get a sense of

[35:36] like how many people that aren't from Lakeville participate in our our

[35:41] activities Yeah It's the benefit with the registration software we have We we know exactly where everybody is from Um

[35:47] so there are demographics that we pull and and this is one of the other focuses We're trying to spend more time looking

[35:53] at this the statistics on our registrations Um it's it is very useful

[35:59] information for us in a lot of respects So and how often do you have to look at the

[36:05] other two school districts in the ed programming to make sure

[36:12] We don't do a lot of comparisons with the other school districts Um we mainly meet with ours

[36:18] Well they're all three ours Well yeah you're right The thing is is that the community has grown So now you have a

[36:24] whole another population that's you know sitting in two different directions

[36:29] going to two different school districts um besides the main one So I guess

[36:36] that's you know as we're looking at what's crossing we pro and partnering we

[36:43] probably should be looking at partnering with them too

[36:51] Thank you Thank you All right we'll now move on to our tree preservation

[36:58] ordinance

[37:21] Mayor Council thank you for um us some time tonight Um as you

[37:28] know forestry department community development have been working together on um creating some ideas around a a

[37:36] beefier tree preservation ordinance So Zach and and particularly Grace have put

[37:41] in ton of effort and research into this process So we're here tonight to update you um kind of on the general outline of

[37:49] the ordinance um that was included in the packet And the whole idea is that um as you know from when we met with you

[37:56] last fall we do have a minimal tree preserv tree ordinance um in our um

[38:02] subdivision code that doesn't really do a whole lot other than requiring a tree preservation plan And then if there are

[38:10] trees earmarked to be preserved there's guidelines and requirements in there and how to that's done But there isn't any

[38:17] kind of threshold requirement of what should be preserved and then if that is removed the reforestation and so we um

[38:25] have gone through a few iterations of the outline that's in your packet We have shared that with the planning

[38:30] commission We held a joint meeting with the planning commission and the parks and recreation natural resources

[38:36] commission committee on February 6 and we also shared it with a handful of developers um who responded positively

[38:44] nobody you know was oh shock and awe that we're considering this Somebody

[38:49] provided some feedback We have some responses to that that were included in the packet And so we really want to have

[38:55] an opportunity for Zach and Grace to kind of go through the latest outline um

[39:00] and see if we continue to have buyin from you And if we do we will turn this

[39:07] outline into a new ordinance Um we will repeal and replace what is in the

[39:14] subdivision code put this into the zoning ordinance I think that's a more appropriate place Um and then Grace has

[39:20] some information just on how does this all flush out from a cost standpoint using a couple example projects So hand

[39:28] off to you guys Yeah thank you Yeah thanks for having us in again Um I'm going to run through just the the

[39:34] outline that we put together as far as the bullet point list the main points of the ordinance proposal Um I'm going to

[39:41] skip some of the the smaller stuff just to focus on the big changes that we've been looking at and that we've reviewed with all the different groups and talked

[39:47] about internally as well So um you know I'll start with with bullet point three

[39:52] the scope of application uh you know we're really looking to keep this uh affecting you know new development at

[39:58] the time of subdivision much like it is now uh any new building construction uh you know new construction on vacant lots

[40:05] uh meets and bounds lots and then uh residential tearowns and rebuilds where they're expanding the footprint um and

[40:12] that would only apply to heritage trees on the site So we're not looking at every tree on the site trying to be specific to trees of higher value So how

[40:21] do we thread the needle not becoming diet where it's like in the news And so

[40:26] how do how do we like preserve trees but then also like allow some you know

[40:32] flexibility on some of this property Yeah I think we get into that some of the the later parts Um the nice thing is

[40:39] I don't think we're looking to charge $1,000 an inch Yeah Like that Okay Uh I

[40:44] think that was one of the big thing talking with Luther up there and hearing his presentations were you know the values they were signing were huge Okay

[40:52] Um and it was yeah every tree every inch regardless of where it was regardless of what the project was So we're definitely

[40:59] trying to provide some some um some incentives uh some um exclusions things

[41:04] like that that would would make it less let's see overwhelming as a

[41:11] way Um so we've got that And then item C uh you know we did talk about including a look back provision And so you know

[41:18] property owners who decide to go in and clear you know more than two acres you know within two years of of submitting

[41:24] an application for development you we'd have that look back process to then try to capture some of that tree loss that

[41:30] was that was occurring right before you know they propose a new development Um and then you obviously

[41:37] applying both the public and private development projects

[41:43] I didn't quite understand the look back process Sure Now I understand a little bit better

[41:49] when but when I read it I went what Yeah So the idea with the look back is

[41:55] you know we're we're trying to avoid u you know someone coming in since we're going to have thresholdables established

[42:01] right that would say you can remove up to 50% of your trees Um we're trying to prevent someone coming in you know a

[42:06] year a year or two beforehand and just clearing the entire lot and then when they submit their application we have no

[42:13] trees Oh so it's a look back on a future project versus if they came in last year

[42:18] under an old plan We're not looking back Correct Yeah For a future project Yep Got it It's a loophole It's protection

[42:24] from a potential loophole Yep The ordinance I don't know if you all heard about the lot on west side of 35 Think

[42:33] you guys have a picture of it That was clearcut My mother-in-law asked me about it Yeah

[42:40] Nothing we can do about it Um so if this were to be adopted in the

[42:46] future if that were to happen then they come in within the next year for some kind of a subdivision or development of

[42:52] that property then we have something in the ordinance that will help us get some tree preservation or reforestation I

[43:00] should say back on that property using satellite imagery right Because then we

[43:05] wouldn't really have a survey of the whole Correct Yeah and really feasible I mean the the

[43:10] amount of varial imagery out there now is updated so frequently that it's a pretty good good look back in two years

[43:18] How did you arrive at two years for it Yeah that was something that we saw in other other ordinances Um you know we

[43:25] kind of toy ated the idea of you know was it one year Is it five years Um you know really you know having this out

[43:31] there people who really want to get around it are going to say oh five years oh great I'll cut them down in five

[43:37] years I'll submit an application Uh so two years was just kind of one of those standards we were seeing uh that seemed

[43:42] to make sense uh especially for you know developers who's you know who's going to be holding land and what are they going to do with it before developing it So

[43:54] oh can I just ask for clarification

[44:00] for instance like you brought up that other property is this privatelyowned

[44:05] property that they're clearcutting before they sell it to somebody

[44:11] else And if you're nodding yes or or they bought it and just clearing it to

[44:19] so develop what I'm trying to figure out is

[44:27] legally how much right do we have to tell somebody that they can't clear cut

[44:32] what if I just my husband and I decided that all the trees that are on our property we just decide we don't want

[44:39] them Do do you do do you kind of feel where I'm going here Yeah absolutely And

[44:46] it's not necessarily that I plan on selling it but I just decide you know

[44:51] what I'm sick of raking leaves So I'm cutting down a bunch of trees So correct me if I'm wrong though If you're not

[44:56] changing your house then you're not right subject to that So if you're not going to make your house bigger if

[45:02] you're just clearing it because you want to clear it that's stupid Yeah Yeah it still remains tied to development process uh and an application for for

[45:10] development So if you were going to tear down your house and make it bigger then you would

[45:17] be subject to this versus if you just were clearing because you retire raking leaves

[45:22] and then the two acres in that in that scenario it would have to be greater than two So if you have a acre lot or a

[45:31] twoacre lot you could still clear it out and do your bill you would be an example

[45:37] It's if you have a 5 acre lot then it's going to kick in Well it's really

[45:44] looking at the scenarios that are on that screen So that's the property couple weeks ago that was

[45:50] clearcut was immediately put on the market right after And so this look back

[45:57] would apply It's it's more likely not to apply to the current owner who did this

[46:03] It's going to be whoever buys it wants to develop it It may very well affect

[46:08] the price that they end up negotiating because whoever decides to buy it Now

[46:15] this it's actually not going to apply to them because the ordinance is in place But if it were in place it might impact

[46:21] you know what someone's willing to pay for it because they now find out they have an ordinance where they're going to have to do some report station So that

[46:28] may have some impact but it's really going to apply once development occurs So are they not are all of

[46:35] our residents that own two acres or more notified of this ordinance We have not

[46:41] done that now No but would they be Because how else would somebody else

[46:47] know that they're buying a piece of property that now follows uh falls under this ordinance as they write up a

[46:54] purchase order It'd be just like any other zoning ordinance we do We don't notify everybody of every zoning

[46:59] ordinance change It's up to their It's their responsibility to know what the laws are in place when they sell a

[47:04] property or buy the property I mean public notice that we have hearings Yeah we'll do all that but we don't notify

[47:11] everybody of every single change

[47:16] Well I'm not saying to do it I'm just trying to figure out how they don't get

[47:21] caught caught up in not knowing um not the owner but the person purchasing that

[47:29] be part of our due diligence Do you look back and

[47:35] go before the ordinance is passed Does that make sense Does it does a clock

[47:41] start ticking once we pass the ordinance Yes So you can't actually go back and say something So something

[47:51] yeah I mean we have to ask there's some practical we have yeah I we haven't really figured

[47:57] it's a good question Can I say that That's good Thank you One one question I

[48:03] have and I I think it's something that you want to look at when you're asking those questions about how to best rate it up So this outline says in the look

[48:11] back a total tree removal greater than 2 acres It doesn't say a lot greater than two acres It says a tree removal I'm

[48:18] looking at this You have a 7 acre lot Could somebody do three removals of 1.9

[48:23] acres and be okay Yeah The idea was that it would be cumulative Okay And in this

[48:30] case yeah it's a much larger acres than seven is the amount of acres of trees that they cleared Oh they cleared Yep

[48:40] And so and this is the latest aerial that we have so I'm not sure if they've done more but that was was mapped

[48:46] anyways

[48:52] Sad There's already another square there Looks a little too geometrically

[48:59] uh cleared in the center there

[49:04] Okay Sorry that was a long uh uh answer to the

[49:09] question I didn't understand that I thought it was to your point Yeah No we had a lot of a lot of talks about the

[49:15] look back just because there are so many issues around it and so many questions about it still So but yeah we have

[49:21] definitely seen it in other cities So we've included it That's a balance to

[49:27] the thresholds as well That terminology is something that's known by other people Okay Yep Yeah We

[49:36] actually had one developer actually ask us about it like before we even got to that point of the discussion like is there a look back Okay

[49:43] Okay Excellent So yeah we'll move on to to number five So the rubal thresholds and

[49:49] replacement requirements So I think last time we talked you know first time we talked um you we had some lower

[49:55] thresholds in here as well as a whole list of exemptions uh after talking with the different commissions talking

[50:01] internally um talking to developers we actually raise those thresholds Uh so

[50:06] currently for residential zoning districts uh we've got 50% as a removable threshold and then for

[50:12] commercial industry we've got 70% Uh and the idea here is that we actually eliminated the the exemptions So before

[50:19] we had a list of um you know storm water ponds streets sidewalks all those

[50:24] different things I think there was just a lot of potential confusion about how you calculate those and so we raised the

[50:31] threshold overall Uh and the only exemption that we'll get to or one of the exemptions that we'll get to is just

[50:36] for major collector streets and arterials So things that property owners don't really have to say on where they go So we didn't want to uh you know get

[50:44] people for those kinds of things But everything else we just decided to raise that threshold instead of going to the

[50:50] whole list and having to have folks calculate you know the area of sidewalks and which trees fell within that So

[50:59] um and then that's Tina can see speak more to this but it's based on residential it's based on zoning

[51:05] district and so we're not looking at land usage we're looking at the actual statics

[51:14] so far as the calculations go to talk about about the maths

[51:20] um yeah we've got a we've got a a set of calculations we talked about a little bit last time that we're really trying

[51:26] to prioritize some of those higher value trees I know last time we had talked about you know com trees hardwood

[51:31] deciduous conifers and so the math still remains uh the same as far as how we do

[51:37] that but really trying to prioritize some of those higher value trees So

[51:44] um so the tree replacement requirements is really where those different uh

[51:51] priorities come in Um we have the different categorizations of trees

[51:58] almond conifer hardwood deciduous and then heritage Um the most emphasis so

[52:05] the highest replacement rate is on hardwood deciduous trees as 1/ half the

[52:12] diameter inches removed above the threshold of 50% need to be replaced And

[52:19] then heritage trees are just a flat 100% of the inches need to be replaced Um

[52:27] the way that they calculate how many need to be replaced at what ratio is a

[52:36] sequence of subtraction Basically um we put less emphasis on the less valuable

[52:41] trees So the common trees get factored in first and that leaves usually the

[52:46] conifer and hardwoods to be replaced at those fire rates So I think it

[52:52] prioritizes a little bit of them focusing removals or putting more

[52:57] footprints of construction in areas where there are more common trees and

[53:03] potentially preserving more areas with larger and hardwood deciduous trees like

[53:08] oak woodlands and stuff Why Why 50 We're

[53:14] talking like 40 35 when we had this conversation Yeah I know We started uh

[53:22] with 40 We went down to 30 after we talked the first time Um a lot of it was looking at you know what the actual

[53:28] impacts were as examples and then starting to look at some of those exemptions or some of the

[53:34] footprints streets buildings all those different things like that and 50 kind of emerged as a number that was um

[53:41] common to some cities but also uh accounted for what actually gets built

[53:46] on the site while still providing a good replacement number So yeah I'd be curious to see what that

[53:53] number I mean because I would rather make it more difficult and then if we have to back

[54:00] off later than if it's not doing it then try

[54:06] to increase it Yeah we'll definitely see some comparison between other cities and see

[54:14] how much that percentage or higher threshold changes than others

[54:23] Did you want to run through the summary first Yeah we can finish up So yeah we talked

[54:30] about um as far as the the thresholds and how we get to that We've got some examples here we can show as well And

[54:37] then yeah as far as the replacements go you know anything removed over 50% as an example for residential requires

[54:43] replacement That's where we get into the second set of math where we're looking at um you know if you've got you know a

[54:49] thousand inches of of hardwood deciduous that have been removed above the threshold you replace 500 in uh of that

[54:58] um and a whole bunch of math that goes along with that So doesn't seem like a lot Yeah it does add up

[55:08] Yeah I mean we want to have a wooded committee or I don't know

[55:14] I'm trying to wrap my head around the replacements So okay you take out a I

[55:19] don't know 12inch tree So are you saying that that has to be replaced by a 6inch

[55:27] tree or three two inch trees or that's what I'm trying to get wrap my head around is what does that mean to replace

[55:33] it Um is it is it inch for inch or is it you know just the total cumulative

[55:40] Yeah So it's after you do the math it's the total accumulative and then divided by a 2 and 1 half inch tree So in the

[55:46] case of a 12-in tree you know the math is is just under three trees of two and

[55:52] a half inch caliber Um yeah so as we start looking at sitewide it does add up

[56:00] Um so let me get those examples We've got maybe just I think there's a lot of questions here that get answered by some

[56:06] examples Can we double those I guess I guess I have one other one is are there requirements to then maintain by the

[56:13] developer that they survive What's like the long

[56:19] Okay Yeah You throw up like 50 trees but then 40 of them don't live Yeah What's the

[56:26] point Yeah Isn't But the warranty it's not very many years

[56:34] It's hard Is that a It's hard to do more than that It is I would I would say I mean it's going to be hard to have

[56:39] people keep coming back after two years It's just that I'm looking at some of these other properties that have been

[56:47] built or whatever and you suddenly seeing trees that are dying out

[56:53] you know type of thing And it's like then they have no incentive to even replace that

[56:58] tree They can take it down because it's now dead Does that make sense But it's

[57:04] still a young tree that died depending on the type of of it

[57:12] Let's go through some examples I think that'll answer a lot of questions Sure Yeah I have made up two examples Didn't

[57:20] make them up but use the map Um first one we've got Tasano So

[57:26] they removed a lot of the trees that we put place higher emphasis on So the

[57:32] hardwood deciduous and heritage removed all heritage trees on the site um and

[57:38] most of the hardwood deciduous but then left a lot of the common trees as you

[57:44] can see in the little table Um overall 61% of the significant diameter inches

[57:52] on the site were removed That's about 2,200 trees out of I think uh 3,900

[57:59] trees to make it simple No heritage trees were preserved So in our write up

[58:06] we have a credit for preserving those So it would apply to um for at a 2 to1

[58:14] ratio for up to 50% of the replacement requirement Um so no heritage trees were

[58:20] preserved in this case So it only counts as 100% required replacement for those

[58:26] That drives up the numbers Um with a 50% removal threshold the replacement

[58:33] requirement works out to be about 873 trees That's at a rate of 1/2 because of

[58:39] the hardwood deciduous they removed That is what came out of the calculation Um

[58:45] and that's plus the 260 uh inches of heritage as well at a rate

[58:52] of 100% And I just divided that number of the inches that I got by 2.5 to find the

[59:01] number of replacement trees that would be planted um their landscaping plan plan for 187

[59:12] trees as screening under our rate up that would count but the 605 planted on

[59:18] individual lots would not So we're seeing that as bare minimum two trees per

[59:25] lot Um does that make sense for Yeah Yeah So in this example they're about

[59:31] 700 trees short of replacement requirements In this example where would those 605 trees be

[59:39] eligible to be planted So those are ones that they have planned for the

[59:44] individual lots as part of the two trees per lot requirements Uh and as part of

[59:49] the discussion part of the write up uh we don't include those as being credited because someone could move in the next

[59:56] day cut them down right Um and so we only counted ones that were in common areas uh in development areas in other

[1:00:03] properties that are under control of not the individual property owner in essence

[1:00:08] So in in their development of this property they would need to figure out a way to have acorage available to put

[1:00:16] additional trees So the development plan would need to change change or cut down

[1:00:21] less or or cut down less Right Yeah I think that's what this site demonstrates

[1:00:28] is kind of that they did not plan to save any hardwood deciduous trees and we

[1:00:35] would hope that future developments would because we place a higher replacement rate on those Yeah I I guess

[1:00:41] I was just trying to think through the implications in the planning phase is that they probably would just cut down

[1:00:47] fewer trees as opposed to having more replacements You know you would hope that would be the result I mean that's

[1:00:53] certainly when we're working on site plans um behind the scenes before things ever get to planning commission to work

[1:01:00] through that um because of this ordinance going forward There will be cases where there still may be plentiful

[1:01:08] reforestation that's required that just doesn't fit or can't be saved um sites

[1:01:14] that are um have a lot of topography It's challenging with grading There is a

[1:01:19] fee in loo where then we would collect funds um that we will then have to

[1:01:25] determine how that fee is used but practically could be used when we build a new park um or a parkway and the city

[1:01:34] needs funds in order to reestablish forests and areas then we

[1:01:40] can use that funding for that So how is it cost to plant 200 or 700 2

[1:01:47] and a half inch trees Yeah Oh look at that Wow So um a lot of

[1:01:55] information but uh the cost you were asking about is at the bottom typed out

[1:02:00] there Um at our 50% threshold it'd be

[1:02:05] about 479 480,000

[1:02:11] um in a development scale I mean compared to some of the other numbers we

[1:02:16] came to that's small um because how many lots was this It was like 400 lots right

[1:02:22] 300 something It was 200 or 600 landscape trees 300 lots

[1:02:30] Um yeah that's I compared to some other cities nearby

[1:02:38] us and otherwise um the yellow box is the number of their replacement trees

[1:02:45] that they require under their ordinance Um and the blue box is

[1:02:51] ours For Cottage Grove they're probably pretty similar In this example they

[1:02:57] actually ended up less than our requirement which is because of our heritage tree 100% requirement for

[1:03:04] replacement Um otherwise they pretty much hover

[1:03:09] around the same requirement because they're replacing at a 50% rate and the

[1:03:15] uh removal thresholds are similar With Dayton and Farmington the removal

[1:03:22] thresholds are much lower more in the range you were thinking Um and also

[1:03:27] Dayton the replacement rate is higher So you can see how that comes out in the red box their required replacement trees

[1:03:34] are much higher Um and Farmington even with the same

[1:03:40] uh calculation for replacement trees with the 1/8 one quarter and 1/2 they

[1:03:45] still come out higher with a 30% removal threshold So what was what was the feedback from

[1:03:53] developers on 50 Because again I I would if we're rolling on an ordinance I'd rather be more strict on the threshold

[1:03:59] and then have to negotiate than coming out at 50 and then

[1:04:04] be like "Well I guess we'll go to 60 you know like I just from a practical because I I mean

[1:04:11] $1,600 a lot." Come on Sure I mean it was generally positive

[1:04:19] Do you Yeah Do you have a sense of how many developers pay the fee in L

[1:04:24] versus I mean just I'm going to mow the trees down and just pay a fee and Yeah that I don't have

[1:04:32] Yeah we would generally I think our current fem is written up to be the same

[1:04:40] estimated cost as planting those trees So it's at least a the same option Yeah

[1:04:47] So there wouldn't be a benefit of not planting the trees financially So um and yeah when we presented the information

[1:04:53] to the developers that was the version that had I think 40% as a removal threshold but it had the exceptions

[1:04:58] listed so and so yeah the feedback wasn't they weren't overly critical of

[1:05:04] that Well and and I don't know in Farmington does but I know Dayton you know it shows 40% but there's lots of

[1:05:11] exceptions Yes this is just for which ends up being just tricky math you know when you start to accept out pawns and

[1:05:20] all these other things It's just more math that has to be done either by the developer and then us double-checking it

[1:05:26] Um so having just a straight percentage without all those exceptions here easier

[1:05:32] for for both them and user So that's how we ended up back on 50 Um 50 is a 40 to

[1:05:39] 50 is probably the most common Yeah But if if I think about the big parts of the

[1:05:45] wooded lots that are still left to develop I don't know if there's be a lot

[1:05:51] of exceptions in there Just a lot of forest If I think about southwest you

[1:05:57] know west of 35 and you know around Orchard Lake and

[1:06:05] one thing I've been thinking of is is there an appeal process or is it pure

[1:06:10] negotiation because I mean there's a lot of trees a lot of inches and a lot of math And if you reach a stalemate

[1:06:17] it's an ordinance There's no negotiation So the the ordinance will

[1:06:22] become very prescriptive Yep We we even talked about you know

[1:06:28] trying to come up with some kind of an Excel tool that we can share with folks Put in your numbers It'll spit out the

[1:06:34] per you know figure it out spit out the math for you or the trees and or you know that math for you

[1:06:41] um to help folks Developers are well-versed Majority of cities have

[1:06:46] these ordinances Um so it it isn't up for negotiation Okay So we can't we

[1:06:53] can't go in at you know and let someone talk us up to without changing the ordinance I

[1:07:00] guess more of my question is how do you resolve They're saying it's this many inches and you're saying it's this many

[1:07:06] Is there a factual tree inventory Yeah Yep That's all part of the ordinance So

[1:07:11] that's step one and we currently do that That's first step

[1:07:18] But if if council is you know wants to start at a you know if you were to change a threshold I would change the

[1:07:25] residential one You know we could start at 40 without exceptions Um that's what we had

[1:07:32] originally shared Um we could start there if that's

[1:07:37] something that feels important right now Again we can always change it but we

[1:07:44] just have to do it as a zoning or amendment It's not something that community development staff or forestry

[1:07:49] staff is going to debate with somebody You have another example of another neighborhood you said

[1:07:56] Yeah I've also got the preserve So this one is a very heavily wooded lot a lot

[1:08:03] of oak woodland and they ended up preserving about a

[1:08:08] hence the name Very very good Um a 5 and a half acre

[1:08:14] lot in the middle there and I think dedicated it um as an out lot a great

[1:08:23] recreation opportunity Um they still overall removed 56% of the significant

[1:08:31] tree inches Um so about 60 or 6% over that 50% threshold Um

[1:08:39] 2,24 trees They did preserve a lot of heritage trees So you can see up in the

[1:08:46] top table there are 858 um diameter inches of heritage trees on site They

[1:08:54] only removed 319 That 319 is still 100% replacement

[1:09:00] but the amount that they preserved counted for about 50% of their required

[1:09:06] replacement right They cut it by half ministries Um the replacement

[1:09:14] requirement is came out to 244 trees at a rate of 1/2 from the amount they

[1:09:21] removed and that's cut by half because of the heritage tree credit Um another

[1:09:29] thing we are thinking is a significant woodland credit to further encourage

[1:09:35] preserving trees as groups um for better future health maintenance everything

[1:09:41] um and that we're considering whether or not to let that zero out this

[1:09:48] requirement or just cut it by half again and give it's still important they

[1:09:54] reforest but also there's really good strong efforts to preserve in this case

[1:10:01] um they only proposed 140 trees planted for screening but those would all count

[1:10:06] towards or with this reforestation requirement So that took down their

[1:10:13] their numbers a lot by preserving that money When does the if you did the

[1:10:19] woodland when does that calculation fall into place The way you stated it made it

[1:10:27] sound like it would come after um the the heart the heritage right So

[1:10:37] there's we would work it out so that it's not uh not double counting at if we could um

[1:10:46] or that you would have to choose one credit or the other Well I'm just trying to figure out if it's like going to a

[1:10:53] sale and then they say you know this is on sale then you get an extra 10% off or

[1:10:58] something You know what I mean But really by the time you calculate 30 and 10 is not 40

[1:11:05] You didn't get 40% off Yeah it would go in with the rest of the

[1:11:12] calculations I haven't set it up yet because we would need the locations of

[1:11:18] the trees Um but once they calculated all the ones they preserve that number

[1:11:24] of inches preserved they could just how did we word the yeah I think in

[1:11:30] effect it's at the same time you're you're cutting replacement requirements there's a line with that

[1:11:36] that talks about the the incentives preserving movement At that same time

[1:11:43] this to me is the ideal situation for what we're trying to accomplish

[1:11:48] encourage encourage Yeah And currently we have a region with

[1:11:53] you know an incentive jumping to raise on those list an incentive both for heritage trees So if you're preserving

[1:11:59] those on site um you would get a credit for that But yeah as Grace mentioned the idea is you know 10 trees scattered

[1:12:06] across your site that may or may not be adequately protected you know that's great but a

[1:12:12] wood link itself uh would be a more more desirable end goal And so if we have a

[1:12:18] credit you know that includes that Um so for instance like this you know even countries that aren't necessarily

[1:12:24] heritage trees but they're being preserved as a woodland So

[1:12:30] so when they do that count does someone actually go out and count all the trees It's not like it's a survey

[1:12:46] Our staff That was my kind of concern about this

[1:12:51] is we like the same driver right

[1:13:01] Yeah it's true No they're usually pretty good I mean the folks they have about doing the survey generally know what

[1:13:06] they're looking at 90% of the time We see a solid everything's identified correctly and they have a what I meant

[1:13:14] meant by was they have a license So right So they have to it's not a they

[1:13:19] have an incentive to do it right Yeah Um this is the same

[1:13:26] comparison Still other cities landed pretty squarely higher requirements than

[1:13:32] us Um we definitely had a you can see with

[1:13:38] Cottage Grove this probably most similar to our requirements right now Um we

[1:13:45] still landed pretty far below them because of that heritage tree credit um

[1:13:51] taking a lot of the replacement required off Um and estimated cost came out to

[1:14:00] yeah 450,000 for those

[1:14:06] added 200 trees Yes Or 144

[1:14:14] Yes Shakabe has just stood out to me significantly on these But then and then

[1:14:20] Woodberry as well that I mean the replacement rates really

[1:14:25] seem to fulfill the purpose of preservation They're acting as a deterrent right It's not necessarily

[1:14:31] is a tree preservation plan not a tree replacement plan necessar I mean so

[1:14:36] I tried to say there just make it just makes sense You want to make it tough to cut down the tree Yeah rather than just

[1:14:44] put it Why are their costs so much higher than what am I missing between Woodbury and Shaki It's so much more

[1:14:52] expensive to meet Shaki's requirement but Woodberry is higher right Because you got to put you got to replace every

[1:14:59] one inch with two inches Um I think Woodbury is a one

[1:15:04] half So 50% Replace is one to two Replace replace one for every two One

[1:15:12] for every two right Okay Oh so is it one for every one of us Oh I just

[1:15:20] But I guess what I'm trying to say is it seems like a deterrence to cutting down trees is is better for this than it is

[1:15:28] um just making it easy to replace them That's why your heritage plan is

[1:15:33] the heritage tree plan in that second example really stands out I'm just

[1:15:38] restating what you all probably have So I mean from my standpoint the

[1:15:45] councils I I do think the 40% residential and some sort of woodland credit for our proposed ordinance makes

[1:15:53] sense to me I like what you said about preservation

[1:15:59] and if we can incentivize that that's a good way to do it It's just that first example really stood out because they

[1:16:05] really didn't preserve any of that I mean that's what we're trying to avoid right Clear cutting

[1:16:14] Yeah The nice thing having the numbers in the first example you know the 40% basically double the number of trees that were

[1:16:20] required over the 50% removal threshold

[1:16:28] So I'm hearing support Well I like your simplicity part too I think that's really important too

[1:16:34] because it's difficult for us to figure that out Yeah Just imagine trying to comply with it So next steps will be

[1:16:40] creating the ordinance Um we'll adjust the residential to 40% look at the

[1:16:45] option for the woodland credit or significant woodland credit craft the ordinance That won't take too long And

[1:16:51] then the cycle would be going through planning commission back to council with

[1:16:57] with a stop at the parks commission So we'll do parks commission first have the

[1:17:02] formal public hearing of planning commission We'll let everybody who we send these drafts out to know when that

[1:17:09] hearing will be held so um developers and builders can come and speak to it if they want or ask additional questions

[1:17:15] and then get it in front of you So as soon as we can Good Thank you guys

[1:17:21] so much Thank you Did you know you had this much math when you decided in forestry

[1:17:32] Hope you get some sort of like certificate excelry or something

[1:17:41] Thank you I appreciate it Then [Music]

[1:17:46] we just

[1:17:58] report Thanks council mayor Um as you know first quarter there's there's not a

[1:18:04] lot happening Seasonal things Um we haven't got our tax money Building permits are just starting out but um as

[1:18:12] we're looking at building permits right now through May 21st we're at 50% for

[1:18:17] the town homes that we budgeted and we're at 30% for the single family So you know we're just getting into the

[1:18:23] construction um period now So thinking that those will come up and

[1:18:28] we'll meet or exceed the budget benchmarks on those Um just touch you on

[1:18:34] a couple of high points Um the charges for services are a little bit underneath the budget benchmark Um mostly because

[1:18:42] our Eureka Township we build that in June That's 64,000 this year Um so

[1:18:50] revenues when we were looking at those for the general fund they came in at excuse me 3.2% of budget but again

[1:18:59] most of that reasoning is because of the tax money not coming till June Um as

[1:19:04] we're looking at the expenditures in the general fund uh we're under budget We're so we're at 21% of the budget overall Um

[1:19:12] some of the departments are over and um highlighted those in the narrative But um personnel in general is uh at 20% so

[1:19:21] 5% under the budget benchmark Utility so the electric costs are actually 74,000

[1:19:26] higher than they were last year Um part of that is the rate increases that the um utility company put

[1:19:33] through Um but they are at 25% of budget So we did a good job of budgeting on

[1:19:39] those Mayor and council your expenditures are actually $50,000 more than last year at

[1:19:45] the same time because of the way the League of Minnesota cities changed their billing They always build us in October

[1:19:51] for like a odd year It wasn't even school district years So they finally changed their ability to match calendar

[1:19:58] year for like all the cities do So that's why that one looks higher Um city

[1:20:03] administration 15,000 higher than last year Um we added the National League of

[1:20:09] Cities membership So that was 6,400 and that accounts for most of that um

[1:20:14] increase So um other things just noting human

[1:20:19] resources just slightly higher than budget and that's due to the software subscription timing of those um payments

[1:20:25] that were made So they're at 33% of budget Engineering is just barely over

[1:20:31] budget at 26% Um nothing alarming A fire p fire actually kind of interesting that

[1:20:38] we um did such a good job of budgeting We um are slightly over the same period

[1:20:43] last year but most of that's due because of the 15 firefighters that we hired at the end of March

[1:20:50] Um but it's all good in in and going forward because we received our first

[1:20:56] safer grant reimbursement in May of $85,000 So you'll start to see that on

[1:21:03] the second quarter report where we have that up in the intergovernmental and we'll you know call that out as far as the safer

[1:21:09] reimbursements Um so for general fund total expenditures like like I said 21%

[1:21:16] of budget so we're doing well as far as where we're at this time of year Um so

[1:21:23] overall general fund nothing no surprises Um nothing alarming Even legal counsel when it's

[1:21:30] coming in at 34% of budget it's it's not all that alarming Just I mean seeing

[1:21:35] nature of things to think So um any questions on the general fund Did you

[1:21:41] see anything that you were I just and maybe this maybe this is for at the end but in like forward looking right

[1:21:48] There's all this conversation about how counties are going to take a haircut from the feds and the state What's the

[1:21:54] downstream impact on us like future road projects or anything we do together Because it's not we get county money to

[1:22:00] do stuff So are we insulated from that Well kind of Good example is the Boulevard mine Okay You know they were

[1:22:08] going to yank that funding from us this year Yeah We supple They pay us to supplement it Basically they were going

[1:22:14] to yank that You know that's like 10 20,000 I forget So smaller things like

[1:22:20] that But I imagine the county have to start making some tougher decisions on cost contributions on things Yeah Okay

[1:22:30] Start to see where they're they're going to charge us for stuff in reverse So like fiber installations now going to be

[1:22:37] they're looking at anything we partner with them on fiber they're going to start charges per per mile per foot So

[1:22:44] they're looking at I think also revenue side of things as well is how can we squeeze more money out of the cities that charge them for services that they

[1:22:50] may not have in the past

[1:22:56] Yeah I just be curious at some point on the block Yeah So that's substantial

[1:23:04] good Yeah But maybe after the next quarter if you put a little foot I'm thinking

[1:23:09] maybe if we're not seeing it yet maybe it's too early

[1:23:15] Yeah I mean it doesn't have to be the report but just to keep us off

[1:23:23] [Music] Um so general fun again like I said

[1:23:29] nothing alarming uh you're going to go to a communications fund That's all um

[1:23:34] pretty much coming in where we would expect it Revenues are at 19% expenditures at 22% Um those revenues

[1:23:42] continue to decline as people find other options to their cable Um the liquor

[1:23:49] fund uh sales roughly about 19% um of budget So a little underbud as all

[1:23:57] everybody in the industry is seeing that same trend Um we are still keeping our gross profit healthy at

[1:24:04] 29.1% compared to last year at 29.7% Um staff did a great job of

[1:24:10] keeping expenditures down for first quarter because they're um at only at 18% of budget So roughly three

[1:24:17] $340,000 saved um compared to budget So that helps all in the long at the end of

[1:24:24] the day Um solic fund doing well is with what we've got Uh utility funds nothing

[1:24:32] alarming there We're as we see the the growth trends um slightly you know the

[1:24:38] revenues are slightly higher than last year 85,000 for the water fund We did build

[1:24:43] $65,000 65,000 gallons more but we did have a rate increase in 2025 6% so

[1:24:50] that's also contributing to it Um water fund doing well expenditures are at 20%

[1:24:56] of the budget benchmark Sewer fund uh similarly um the

[1:25:01] revenues are exceeding last year's at the same time and part of that is the sewer rate increase of 4% part of is the

[1:25:08] increased customer base Um our disposal charges at council went up 4.5% So um

[1:25:16] when we're looking at the what we pay them for the total for 2025 it's $5.6 6 million that fits that budget Um so our

[1:25:24] fund also doing well slightly under budget at 22% So just things are moving like they

[1:25:31] should Street lighting fund um revenues matching the benchmark slightly above

[1:25:36] last year again growing customer base and we did not have a street light increase in 205 So um and environmental

[1:25:45] resources fund those are um in line with the budget benchmark and they again

[1:25:51] exceed last year's partly to large base but we also did also have a 4% increase

[1:25:57] in that environmental resources fee So um and just for what we've got for

[1:26:02] intergovernmental grant revenues in that fund we've got 535,000 this year 35,000

[1:26:09] is for the aquatic invasive species from Dakota County Okay So there's an example

[1:26:14] That's an example Yeah Um and then 500,000 for the Greenway Green Ridge

[1:26:20] Park water quality improvements And I'm not sure where that grant is from So

[1:26:27] that's most likely Washington

[1:26:32] So any questions on how the funds are sitting

[1:26:39] Um where does the franchise fee number come in It it we will call it out Um

[1:26:46] we've spent about um for what we've c what it cost us cities for our facility

[1:26:51] so far was 64

[1:26:56] um $4,600 that we've spent just in our in our own city bills our buildings Um

[1:27:04] we won't see our first franchise payment from the utility companies until July Gotcha So and where will that fall in

[1:27:12] this report I would call that out I'll call that out in a separate debt service fund to show it as I think that's very

[1:27:18] high profile and want to keep that front of transparency everything Perfect Thank

[1:27:25] you Any other questions Communications fund So

[1:27:30] that that is basically the franchise fe um and we don't have the ability to

[1:27:37] extend that to actually how most people get their internet service anymore So that is just if you're getting cable TV

[1:27:42] Do you pay that if you only cable TV portion of your bill

[1:27:49] So even if you have like a triple play or something like that it's only

[1:27:55] just seems like such an outdated message There have been bills proposed the past two years at the state level

[1:28:02] but they haven't Yeah I mean as you can imagine it or just to

[1:28:07] Yeah I mean because we can imagine the lobby appro I mean to me it just seems

[1:28:12] like having in place we're really disincinizing that one form of you know it's just archaic Yeah Well

[1:28:20] maybe when ESPN charges $30 a month people go back to the cable I I there has been

[1:28:27] conversations amongst mayors think about that and there's that bill but then there's also the providers

[1:28:35] want to put a tax on like the Amazons and the Facebooks and make up their

[1:28:41] revenue So there's conversation but we're assess

[1:28:49] I'd be curious to know what it was five years ago We have that trend in the budget documents every year We can point

[1:28:55] that out And what is the fee per 5%

[1:29:04] Yeah It's a tax on seniors You're the problem

[1:29:12] Shut it off Yeah Well me and my dad bro one YouTube account

[1:29:19] cracking down on that Okay Thank you All of them are cracking down

[1:29:25] We've been sharing different accounts of the family and having to Yeah it's one way to keep families together right This

[1:29:32] meeting's important isn't it Yeah Uh all

[1:29:37] right Any items for future discussion I've got one that you all are going to

[1:29:42] be really surprised Oh man Garbage chickens

[1:29:49] I think we need to It's been a long time since we've discussed that ordinance report about it Well I think there's one

[1:29:56] issue that is uh the I think that is left but the uh the material at

[1:30:02] which a coupe is required to be as wood in our ordinance and there's a common trend to be using that recycled plastic

[1:30:08] composite So I think there's one issue there that we need to update and I do think we need to look at the the number

[1:30:14] of chickens just as a new found chickener Um I I think there there's a

[1:30:20] certain rationale that can be made for increasing well and I guess do we get many complaints I think it would just be

[1:30:25] nice to have that because when it it was set before I was here so I was talking

[1:30:31] planning commission chair ameritus about that three number said we just kind of

[1:30:37] pulled it out of the air I think the three was since you had a buying group of three years It was within 10 years there in here but it was the first year

[1:30:44] we were here Yeah It was the first year you guys were here See it's like for the career council members there It's even I

[1:30:51] don't even remember it No because there was after Justin has sight on the issue

[1:30:56] now That's just one suggestion

[1:31:02] No more trash though I won't raise trash again Uh I think yeah I do think we

[1:31:08] should we should have a review of our trash zones and just maybe I don't know if we want to make this change but I

[1:31:15] think this earlier this year is it okay I have a I have a decibel app for you

[1:31:22] now too so you can a what decibel so you can we can find out how loud it is 46

[1:31:27] for you Oh yeah I don't care anymore I know you do actually Yeah know that's still

[1:31:33] top priority Okay Any committee or city administrator updates

[1:31:39] Uh we had the Dakota 911 board meeting on the 15th and probably the most powerful thing is we passed the 2026

[1:31:48] You asking at what point they're going to not mess up sending a text message because the two that have come into Lakeville have both been in the states

[1:31:55] It's on the list of things Yeah Okay Thank you after that

[1:32:02] The only uh one thing that I wanted to mention is uh the downtown business

[1:32:08] association is looking at possibly having a taxes next round Do they put a

[1:32:14] number on it or No they're going to discuss it at their August meeting Okay

[1:32:19] I sent them several scenarios broken out by property on what that would impact would be Okay good So I can have sense

[1:32:26] of what to do with um ALF met you'll see a a budget

[1:32:36] um probably in the next Monday night's meeting supposedly Monday night's

[1:32:41] meeting Yeah Um the thing you'll notice is that it doesn't really impact us We're not putting money into it but

[1:32:47] we're barely pulling money out of this fund that has a couple hundred,000 in it So I think that'll be the question to be

[1:32:54] discussed in upcoming meetings in the next year or so if we need to be

[1:33:00] withdrawing it and spending some of that money back to the cities Yeah

[1:33:06] Well when I learned about how much we're allowing Apple Valley to not show up

[1:33:14] to fall the fire department and Alpha is doing instead that we we may need to

[1:33:20] re-evaluate the relation the business relationship that that was one of the things that I brought up again at our

[1:33:26] meeting last week was that I'd really like to see side by side the public safety uh related calls um and what our

[1:33:35] police and fire are responding to versus ALF and how that changes per city um

[1:33:41] because I mean anecdotally we know of a couple properties in Apple Valley that get a ton of fall calls um whereas in

[1:33:49] Lakeville our fire and police are the ones handling those um when they happen

[1:33:55] So um yeah it's it's a it's a drain on the system when you have elf going to

[1:34:02] Apple Valley and staying there and then they're trying to get to maybe Southern Empire or whatever

[1:34:09] Um so their call response times increase when they're always in Apple Valley

[1:34:20] Okay I'll take a motion Just a note um next month's council meeting where we we

[1:34:25] will spend some time doing the tabletop exercise That was one of the goals of the council

[1:34:34] [Music] What are you in

[1:34:40] Pretty sure that's when I'm in Canada What's the date of that again 20

[1:34:51] the 23rd

[1:35:05] the 23rd there is okay what I'll do there is a fifth Monday that month um

[1:35:13] if Monday um I'll leave after the meeting then

[1:35:20] I'll just let her go Oh you're going then I'm going that week Mhm Are you driving by car Are you going Yeah by car

[1:35:28] Is that okay Yeah Well I'm just going to Iowa first and then we'll leave the next

[1:35:33] morning So okay If that makes sense So okay Is there other stuff There will be

[1:35:40] but um we'll spend a considerable amount of time doing that So um it won't be too

[1:35:46] much more Okay That' be a good one to do Just the poor pants frog you know not do it so we

[1:35:54] don't have to do it I want to see that way too busy

[1:36:00] week Okay I'll take a motion to move Second All in favor I post Thank you

[1:36:08] everybody