[0:30] well good evening everybody and welcome to the uh city council meeting for the city of Vina it is Tuesday September 17 [0:37] 2024 about 7:04 p.m. director benat thank you for explaining everything to [0:42] everyone in the audience and the broader audience that we are doing these meetings in a hybrid sort of fashion um [0:49] before I call the meeting new order I want to get the numbers right back up on the screen again if we could from the [0:54] from our folks in the back room uh so people will be able to call in for Community comment and then there's one [1:00] public hearing matter this evening as well are we going to get those numbers up well I guess we'll we'll we'll get [1:06] them up during um or preceding Community comment um having provided that [1:12] information that we're doing things both uh here in council chambers and in the virtual world here comes the numbers up [1:18] now for those of you that are tuning in in some form or fashion there are your numbers your access numbers and make [1:24] sure that um uh you get ready to call in for Community comment if you've got comments that you wish to make and share [1:30] with the council uh remember related uh not not related to anything on the agenda this evening and not scheduled [1:37] for a future public hearing otherwise you have a broad latitude to address your concerns with the council this [1:42] evening so uh having provided that information let's called to Mee in the order and I'll ask our clerk Sharon [1:47] Allison to call the role for the council council member Agy here council [1:53] member Jackson here council member Pierce here council member Risser here mayor huin here next is the Pledge of [2:03] Allegiance Pledge alance flag United States America and to the Republic for [2:10] it stands one nation under God indivisible with li justice for [2:18] all thanks everybody and um we've got a form of [2:23] meeting agenda in front of us that's been published uh to the general public and also to the council members is there [2:30] anyone on staff or on the council wishes to modify the meeting agenda in any former fashion is there a motion to [2:36] entertain the motion to adopt a meeting agenda is published mov second M Jackson [2:42] seconds member U moves the adoption of the meeting agenda has published any [2:47] further discussion all those in favor of adopting the meeting agenda is published say I I I opposed carried the meeting [2:54] agenda is adopted uh and now we are back at Community comment and folks if you um [3:00] want to tune in I'm going to get this uh his numbers back up on the screen for [3:06] you but while we um wait for you to potentially call in and director benat likes it when people call in uh we're [3:12] going to go to the audience with us this evening and see if there's anyone here that wishes to address the Council on a [3:17] matter of concern to them that's not scheduled for a future public hearing or is on the agenda this [3:26] evening all right very unusual let me turn to our director Ben our directory of communication see if we have anybody [3:32] standing by online I do have someone online but uh he is a consultant to be [3:38] available for questions later in the meeting since um it hasn't been a minute yet and there is a slight delay in the [3:44] broadcast I would recommend we wait um a minute before moving on my clock shows that it's now 7:05 I will come back to [3:51] you at 706 or when I have a caller whichever is first thank [3:58] you e [4:41] the longest minute of your day has now ended and I still do not have a caller so I think it is safe for you to move [4:46] forward thank you our practice is um when we do have Community comment at a [4:52] city council meeting uh that um those questions and those comments get gathered up and then staff has a couple [4:59] of weeks to prepare answers but we also provide Answers by the end of the week of the council meeting uh online at the [5:06] city website uh and I'm going to turn now to manager Neil to see if he wants to supplement anything that went online [5:12] earlier from our last city council meeting in terms of uh Express concerns of residents thank thank you your honor [5:18] we had five questions that were posed to us as as you noted and as as Miss benro [5:24] and notes we don't respond to all comments uh but we do try to answer questions when there are some so last at [5:31] our last council meeting we had a question about would the city consider selling the current Edina Art Center for [5:37] a place of worship or really anything else uh right now we don't have any plans to sell or or lease that existing [5:45] Art Center space yes it's true that we're working with henpen County on the development of a new center uh but at [5:51] this point we're still using that building periodically um and if we did uh decide to abandon it for some reason [5:58] we would go through some kind of process I think uh with the community and with the council to figure out where where it [6:04] goes next uh second question was will the city consider regulating ebikes and [6:10] we had a a pretty nice conversation around uh the law enforcement engineering and legal uh aspects of [6:17] ebikes at our last meeting and I think there was uh there was some planning that was going on with our with our [6:24] Transportation Commission but I think the the message we got from the council was you'd like it to proceed need sooner [6:30] than that so we are working on that right now City attorney is working on drafting an ordinance to address things [6:36] like speeds helmets uh where bikes could be ridden Etc uh so that's going on [6:41] there was a question about was there a drug bust at 4040 West 70th Street um on [6:49] August 22nd a social worker was assisting a resident there discovered some suspected illegal narcotics it was [6:55] unclear who they belong to but the police were called and uh they processed the incident uh there was a question [7:01] about uh what is the $2.2 million project in the draft CIP for the Grand [7:06] View parking ramp um the draft CIP has something called Grand View parking ramp Ada access to Gus Lane that project is [7:14] not funded at this time uh if funding were to be secured the project would be to to connect the new pedestrian bridge [7:22] with a uh and its Landing to uh some sort of of traveling path ADA Compliant [7:27] traveling path to Gus Gus young Lane uh finally uh there was a question about [7:33] has the city received a report from the recent testing of the of the safety of the Grand View parking ramp uh and U Mr [7:40] Milner answered this question at uh at that time said testing is complete but we haven't received the report yet once [7:46] we do receive the report we can distribute it as a piece of public data thanks manager Neil that prompt any [7:54] questions from council members on a follow on basis for manager Neil all right right very good we Mo move on then [8:01] to the uh consent agenda items there are numerous items on the consent agenda is [8:06] there anyone on the council that wishes to remove an item from the consent agenda hearing nothing is there a motion [8:12] to adopt the items on the consent agenda and a single motion so moved second member Jackson moves member Pierce [8:19] seconds the adoption of the items on the consent agenda in a single motion any further discussion all those in favor of [8:25] adopting the items on the consent agenda and a single motion say I I I oppe carried items on the consent agenda are [8:31] hereby adopted and then we are moving on to the next section of the agenda and that is [8:36] special recognitions and presentations we've got a couple of items in this portion of the agenda this evening and [8:42] the first one is a proclamation declaring uh September 17 through the 23rd Constitution week uh in the city of [8:50] edana and I will read the proclamation that's been requested to be read and we have Diana Lynch with us this evening [8:56] from uh the monument chapter the Daughters of the American Revolution I had a quick sidebar with Miss Lynch and [9:01] she's going to have a few comments as well as accept the proclamation on Constitution week which reads as follows [9:08] whereas it is the privilege of all Americans to commemorate the 237th anniversary of the drafting of the [9:13] Constitution of the United States of America with appropriate ceremonies and activities and whereas it is fitting and [9:20] proper to officially recognize this magnificent document and the anniversary of its creation and whereas Public Law [9:26] 915 guarantees the issuance of a proclamation by the president of the United States of America designating [9:32] September 17th through the 23rd as Constitution week now therefore the city council of the city of udina hereby [9:38] proclaims the week of September 17 to the 23rd as Constitution week in the city of udina and urges all residents to [9:46] study the Constitution reflect on the privilege of being an American with all the rights and responsibilities that [9:51] privilege involves and reaffirm the ideals of the Constitution is there a motion to adopt the proclamation so [9:57] moved M Jackson moved M Pier seconds the adoption of the Proclamation designated [10:03] September 17 through the 23rd 2024 as Constitution weekend the city of VI any further discussion all those in favor of [10:10] adoption of the Proclamation say I I I opposed carried all right I'm going to ask um Miss Lynch to come up and I think [10:18] one of those side podiums would be best for you and I'll bring this Proclamation [10:23] down for you they go on Facebook you know [10:30] you go ahead and make your remarks okay that's great thank you good evening [10:35] today is the 237th anniversary of the US uh Constitution um approval this took place [10:43] on September 17th 1787 in case anybody wants to check my math on behalf of [10:49] Monument chapter I want to thank mayor hubin and the ad city council for the proclamation deare declaring September [10:57] 17 through 23rd Constitution week in Idina thank you for your time this evening and I hope you have a very [11:04] productive council meeting [11:41] in the next matter on this portion of the agenda I'm going to for I'm going to turn to manager Neil uh I think Ben [11:47] Kenny is going to lead this off but I'm going to turn to manager Neil first and then he'll have everybody come up thank [11:52] you your honor um I'm going to try to make a firefighter blush and that's quite a challenge given the kinds of [11:58] things they see in their world um I want to just give you a sense of who's in front of you tonight uh in 2023 and in [12:06] every odd year uh the city does a quality of life survey uh we have a we [12:11] have a partner uh to do this survey for us a Consulting partner named PCO PCO [12:16] does a a survey uh Nationwide right so they have hundreds of cities that uh are [12:22] clients of theirs and in their in their surveys they ask the residents of cities [12:28] to uh rate city services um and they add the ratings together and the the rating [12:33] that we keep an eye on is excellent plus good so the percentage of residents in the community that answer excellent plus [12:40] good is what we want to see um that's a pretty common it's pretty common for for [12:45] firefighters to be or for fire departments and paramedic fire departments to be part of this survey [12:50] because many cities have um fire departments I want you to know that uh [12:56] that our fire department uh out of 300 cities that were part of this survey was ranked number one in the country not [13:04] just Minnesota but [13:13] uh in America so uh that's who's in front of you tonight representatives of [13:19] of local 1275 the the iff union that represents our employees and they're [13:25] here tonight to tell you a little bit about why they have achieved such a ranking and Mr Kenny uh one of the [13:31] members of that department is here to talk about that tonight thank you Mr city manager uh Mr [13:38] Mayor members of the council my name is Ben Kenny I'm the vice president of edana local 1275 this is Travis Jacobs [13:45] our president uh every other year or so we host what's called fire Ops 101 it's [13:50] a a union activity where we have City leadership uh come out and experience being a firefighter for a day uh it [13:57] helps them give understand of what we do on a day-to-day basis uh in order for them to make more informed decisions [14:03] when when uh we come across their desk so today we'd like to present the commemorative helmets that uh some of [14:11] our staff have earned uh at this year's event so council member Risser council [14:17] member Jackson council member agnu assistant city manager Ari lens and [14:23] finance director po if you can come up and we'll present you with your helmets [14:29] [Applause] [14:43] thanks for coming out everyone [14:50] you Universal sizes nice to have [14:58] you wait hey P P yeah get out of the way this is a [15:04] photo op that we not L [15:12] to oh hey here we go last time right [15:44] than [15:51] [Applause] [16:19] I first saw those rankings um I thought well that must be just a mate of Minnesota which is a great accomplishment then I I read further and [16:26] it was number one uh Fire Department in the United States especially the E Emergency Medical Service portion of our [16:33] firefighter so we really got something to be proud of there with our with our fire department um all right now we're [16:41] going to move on to the public hearing portion of the agenda and we have as I mentioned earlier one public hearing [16:47] matter and uh Emily Del Pro our assistant city planner and Jane lanquist [16:52] the chair of the Heritage preservation commission uh have this presentation [17:08] thank you members of the council like we were saying that's kind of a tough act to follow but we'll do our best um as [17:14] you're aware at the direction of the council let's see I'll start my presentation over [17:19] here um at the direction of the council the HPC subcommittee of three [17:24] Commissioners Jane lanquist Bob cundy and Rachel Pollock worked with City staff and the city's preservation [17:30] Consultants Elizabeth gailes and Rachel Peterson of hes Royce on drafting changes to the ordinance the country [17:36] club District plan of treatment and supplemental documents that are in front of you tonight those draft documents [17:42] were presented and unanimously recommended by the Heritage preservation commission to the Planning Commission and city council the Heritage [17:48] preservation commission also has an advisory communication document that outlines their process and their [17:53] recommendation um which was included in the council packet Tonight Tonight city council has asked to hold the public [17:59] hearing on those on those um proposed changes the proposed ordinance deals [18:07] with the city's Landmark properties and District the ordinance affects all of these properties although there are specific changes and supplemental [18:13] documents that pertain specifically to the city's Landmark District which is the country club District the properties [18:19] that the ordinance affects are the bear house The Brownell Bridge kahill School [18:25] dinana Country Club district and the 555 homes within it the Adina Mill site the Adina theater [18:31] sign gra Hall the Grimes house the osam house the Peterson house and the woodill [18:37] avenue bridge the red stars on the map here represent those properties and that red shaded area is the country club [18:44] district and the blue boxes on the map are eligible properties um so this [18:49] ordinance does not affect any of these properties at the time if these properties were to become Landmark properties then it would be um then they [18:56] would be affected by the Ordnance at the time of each Landmark property and District was designated as an Adina [19:02] Heritage Landmark a nomination study and a plan of treatment was created and ultimately approved by city council the [19:08] nomination studies include history on each of the landmark properties and the plan of treatment documents that are [19:14] created um provide guidance for design review and specific recommendations for preservation Rehabilitation restoration [19:21] and reconstruction for each Landmark property the Heritage preservation commission and staff outlined some high [19:27] level changes or recommendations um in each document that are in front of you tonight the first is ordinance [19:36] 2024-25 of the Adina city code um and the portions of those code that concern [19:43] the Heritage preservation commission and Edina Heritage landmarks this document there was some [19:48] added clarities to some of the existing definitions um some of those include the [19:53] definition of Demolition and the definition of Street facing facade there were some added definition [19:59] some of those being the definition of demolition by neglect and character defining features there was a time limit that was [20:07] inserted in the ordinance for um a time limit for certificate of appropriateness [20:12] applications or coas and how long they're good for um there was an expanded maintenance of Heritage resources section an added [20:20] escrow requirement for permits for all Heritage Lamor properties and then um [20:25] one thing that we also wanted to note was that there was no changes that were proposed for when a COA is [20:31] required for landmark properties um no changes to those existing plan of treatment documents are proposed at this [20:38] time the second document is the Adina Landmark property and escro fee policy [20:44] this is a new form that was to be signed by contractors and property owners that acknowledges responsibility to maintain [20:50] and protect historic resources throughout construction and to inform staff of any proposed changes to approve [20:57] plans throughout Construction and there are fees for with that escrow that are required and those fees are [21:03] based on Project valuations it's a $3,000 fee if the project is valued [21:08] under $100,000 and required a certificate of appropriateness and a $115,000 escrow fee if over [21:16] $100,000 those fees would be due at the time of a permit and the city may use [21:21] those fees if needed to keep structures weather tight and protected throughout construction the fees would then then be [21:28] refunded when all permits including a certificate of appropriateness permit have been closed out and [21:34] final the third document is the plan of treatment for the country club District um in that document there was some added [21:40] General context an added map and an explanation of the period of significance for the district added the [21:46] one-year time limit on coas per that ordinance change explained the [21:52] certificate of appropriateness application requirements and review process listed projects that are exempt [21:58] from a COA um and explained how to get a COA Amendment and then clarified which [22:03] design review elements are recommend gu recommended guidelines versus requirements and then added a section on [22:10] character defining features and what those are and the last document is an examples [22:16] of architectural Styles document um That's Country Club specific and that is a new resource that's supplemental to [22:22] the plan of treatment for the country club and provides photos and lists typical character defining features for [22:28] um the most prevalent architectural Styles in the country club District so this is viewed as a resource for [22:34] homeowners and designers um and contractors when they're planning for projects and they can look up what [22:39] architectural style of house that they may own and then kind of can pull significant features from that style and [22:47] use this document as a resource to do that um the city sent out mail notices [22:52] to all properties of landmark propert or all Property Owners of landmark Properties or properties within the district and sent an email to [22:59] contractors that have pulled a permit in the country club District in the last couple years and that was a list of [23:05] about 350 contractors the project has been on better together and there was a few [23:10] comments that are made on tonight's proposed changes that are in front of you the Planning Commission held a [23:17] public hearing at their meeting on September 12th and they recommended on an 8:1 vote that city council adopt the [23:24] proposed ordinance to section [23:30] 36723 that addresses um detached garage additions the commission also [23:36] recommended amending the history and understanding the country club District sections of the plan of treatment [23:42] document to acknowledge the racially restrictive covenants and they also recommended looking into alternatives to [23:48] the cash escrow such as letters of credit or fines staff also recommends implementing [23:55] the proposed ordinance changes when the building department implements new software system to verify that the [24:00] appropriate permitting changes can be implemented with limited impacts to customer service um this corresponds to [24:07] the building official memo that was also included in your packet tonight with that I will introduce Jane lanquist the [24:13] chair of the HBC and she's going to present some additional information tonight thank you rle thanks Emily [24:20] thanks mayor and councel just a little bit of context to underscore the thorough presentation that Emily just [24:26] gave um so the existing guidance that our commission has um the plan of [24:32] treatment was vague on uh what what was to happen and what what people could expect the emphasis language was on [24:39] historic facades and Street Scapes which was also somewhat vague the city ordinance which frankly we really didn't [24:45] dig into which is for all properties as Emily said um was only addressing [24:50] Heritage landmarks no language around when a COA is needed in a district and some missing definitions when we had [24:57] some um cases that required more time from staff and commission we dug into [25:02] the ordinance and found that in looking and comparing the two there were some inconsistencies between the two which [25:09] brought us to where we are today and importantly lack of Staff tools was a piece of what brought us here so our [25:15] proposed things um the new language on Street facing facades is much clearer than the old language and in fact has [25:21] been what we've been following in practice for nearly the last decade we're still following the Secretary of [25:27] Interiors standards for rehabilitation as our guidance and we've doubled the length with adding Clarity happy to add [25:34] more history as planning recommended uh our committee sent and language on the [25:40] context of the racially restricted covenants and that history which is very important and is uh we've tried to also [25:46] advertise within our neighborhood for the ordinance as we [25:51] mentioned we now have a whole new section that's talking about when you need a COA in a landmark District there's nine conditions most of which [25:59] address changes exterior on the street facing facade we've nearly doubled the [26:04] definitions and importantly we added uh the term of demolition by neglect when we talk about maintaining these [26:11] properties um new tools for staff and thank you so much to the staff for all the time they spent saying what do they [26:18] need to do what we're asking to do um the COA permit is a good tool of course [26:23] old buildings there's always surprises and changes we're just asking for transparency we won't always need [26:29] amendments similarly like for like changes every house needs updating it can be a simple staff decision not [26:36] everything needs to come before us adding a one-year deadline with flexibility so when the COA is given the [26:42] building permit process starts ticking um and importantly having sign off on [26:48] what policies are and an estimated timing and then that escro fee that was [26:55] just described in extreme cases it could could be used for weather proofing to [27:01] avoid demolition by neglect but more typically it would just be a deposit refunded upon completion in compliance [27:08] with approved plans for the community this final document that was described [27:13] talking about architectural Styles is important for a couple reasons one is the secretary of the interior's um [27:20] standards reference character defining features and it's a chance for us to educate homeowners on what those are um [27:27] and it also is standard practice for historic districts to have and to this point we didn't so we thank our new [27:33] consultants for pointing that out and it's a nice addition um the plan of treatment is [27:38] much more transparent people know what to expect how to ask for an amendment and has transparent references to the [27:46] ordinance and finally the new language with a stated goal of protecting the historic Integrity of the neighborhood [27:52] is just clear guidance so thank you for your consideration yes thank chair [27:59] thank you Jane um so tonight um the recommended action is that city council close the inperson public hearing and [28:05] keep public input open until Sunday September 22nd and continue the action to the October 1st city council meeting [28:12] and with that I can answer any questions um Jane lanquist is here to answer any questions the city's preservation [28:18] Consultants Rachel and Elizabeth from hes Royce are here to answer questions and so is Nate borit the building [28:23] official any questions for assistant city planner yes member Jackson yes thank you Mr Mayor so uh this is a [28:31] question that I got from a resident and that is um did you look at how this intersects with our new ad Adu [28:39] ordinance yes so an additional um dwelling unit in the country club District would require a certificate of [28:45] appropriateness um outside of the architectural features of the application that's kind of what the [28:51] Heritage preservation commission would be looking at with an application um but it would need to follow all the City Zoning requirements for an Adu okay okay [28:58] thank you your questions yes member rer um could you just talk a little bit more about the fees and how you came to [29:06] $3,000 and then 15,000 yes um the city worked with the building official on [29:12] those or the previous building official as well on what those fees would be it was important to keep the fees different [29:18] than current escrow fees but also cover enough of um a project that if it were [29:24] need to be dipped into to keep projects weathertight that it would be enough money to cover so larger projects the [29:31] building official thought that $155,000 would be enough to weather prooof a home or keep a home weather tight throughout [29:37] the construction process if it was be to become an issue and then the importance [29:42] was to keep the escro fees different than any other escro fees that the current the city currently [29:50] has other questions um would M Jackson go ahead [29:56] and I'll ask one to I just real briefly I want to thank everybody who put so many hours into this this is a huge [30:02] undertaking and it's really um impressive work so and your committee [30:07] and and the previous HPC so thank you so much yeah sure uh you want to come up to [30:13] the podium and and we can appropriately recognize you as the leader of the of the commission um I think member Jackson [30:20] makes a great point we know from past experience that there was some ambiguity in this ordinance that was creating some [30:26] difficulties and so this is uh quite a bit better product I think and you're satisfied with with it I I had one [30:34] question from looking at it was the there's a new section dealing with [30:39] demolition by neglect there's a definition for demolition by neglect and [30:45] I get to thinking well how how do you go about enforcing something relative to uh [30:51] a private property owner who is letting something letting a piece of property deteriorate and maybe in that in that [30:58] meet that definition of demolition by neglect but uh what do you do from an [31:04] enforcement standpoint with them with that particular property if it's not a property that's under construction or [31:10] has a COA if it's just something that's not being maintained as a matter of course you're saying maybe either way I [31:16] think you I think you've seen it a little bit either way hav we have and I think um in this case it was some rather [31:24] egregious tiles off roofs windows and Bricks off where and the community was asking for response and staff was a [31:31] little bit tied so in this case the escrow fee policy is a tool that staff [31:37] suggested as a way to in extreme cases have a tool to act if it was just a home [31:43] and it can happen right if an elderly couple or someone isn't looking after something then I would defer to City [31:50] staff I mean it's it's rare and it's not as extreme so it's not like a developer [31:56] digging a hole in a foundation with a clear object to tear it down so now like other cities we have language and we [32:03] have a tool to address that I would refer to staff on the less egregious more typical slow decline cases I think [32:11] defining it helps with enforcing any additional items that need to might be [32:18] um might need to be addressed by the building official or even by the health department so I would defer to attorney [32:23] Kendall if you have anything else to address but um it helps with enforcement [32:29] yeah mayor I think you know if it's not in excuse me in the context of a COA and [32:35] a project under construction it would probably be just a typical code enforcement type of issue and the city could address anything that's addressed [32:41] by other sections of city code okay and if it were just a existing [32:47] house subject to deterioration by neglect then we use regular code [32:53] Provisions for that too yes okay all right because when I read read the enforcement section I couldn't see where [32:59] it was picking up demolition by neglect and it seems to me like the language around what you can do with that Esco [33:07] deposit is a little bit uncertain to me too but maybe I didn't read it carefully enough so you know I don't know what [33:14] kind of latitude you have to use escro to try to do some temporary repairs or anything else I just want to make sure [33:21] that this is as thorough as it could be yep the escrow would be to keep those structures weather tight and protected [33:26] it would not be to complete any project or to add any architectural feil features or details to a house at the [33:32] end of construction it would strictly be used to keep houses protected and weather tight throughout construction [33:38] all right okay thanks that prompt anything from anybody else yes member U thank you uh so in reflecting back on [33:45] the planning commission's discussion and ultimately there a couple of suggestions there was the amendment um which you [33:51] briefly mentioned and then also um the alternatives to the cash can you just speak directly to whether either of [33:59] those um were able to be included or what the next steps are for those two recommendations so they weren't included [34:04] in tonight's draft because the Planning Commission meeting was Thursday evening um but I think Jane kind of pointed out [34:10] that um it was welcomed discussion to have with the Planning Commission on adding that language of um those [34:18] um racially restrictive covenants thank you Jane and then um I [34:24] think we had brief discussions throughout the planning process and throughout this drafting of documents [34:31] about different types of um fee types or fines that can be [34:37] used for escro fees um I think a letter of credit might be difficult because [34:42] those expire but I think um again we were open the Heritage preservation commission was open to exploring some of [34:49] those with City staff so okay nothing tonight that we've um looked into but I [34:55] think attorney Kendall can kind of address some of those questions too uh mayor council I wouldn't [35:02] necessarily recommend fines as a remedy because we're talking about a situation where someone is either intentionally [35:08] unintentionally leaving a home a historic home open to the elements so the city may need the ability to act [35:15] pretty quickly in that situation and if you're trying to L you fine you need to give them due process prove that they've [35:21] violated the ordinance and then Levy that fine and the fine is not really necessarily directed toward the remedy [35:27] for the problem it's just supposed to be a penalty so um I don't think a fine is [35:32] probably a good tool um a letter of credit could potentially uh serve the purpose as long [35:39] as it was available it hadn't expired uh I think the escrow is probably the most [35:45] effective tool um but the money could also potentially be posted by letter of credit as long as the city was diligent [35:50] in making sure it was maintained and didn't expire the amount change anything like [35:55] that thank you and so for both of these right I understand public hearing is tonight and kind of the order of [36:02] operations but in order to get both of those things included into the ordinance that we eventually vote on as a city [36:09] council can you walk me through what the steps would be to do that um so I think the city council can direct anything [36:15] tonight if there's any information that you'd like to review for your next meeting to take action on those items [36:21] okay thank you I did like both of those suggestions so I would like to include [36:26] those there investigate those all right uh folks stand by uh this is a public [36:32] public hearing matter I'm going to open it up now as a public hearing matter for public testimony we'll see first if [36:39] there's anyone in the audience that wishes to address the Council on this matter uh and the staff recommendation [36:46] is that we allow we close the public hearing this evening after we get that input but that we allow further input [36:52] until public input until Sunday September 22nd and continue the action on this matter to the October 1st 2024 [37:00] city council meeting um yes sir welcome thank [37:08] you uh ladies and gentlemen of the council thank you for your time this evening my name is Benjamin bordon and I live at 4508 ardan Avenue with my wife I [37:16] have some concerns regarding the amendments to the Heritage preservation commission documentation while it's been mentioned [37:22] previously in this meeting I noticed that Samuel Thorp is mentioned multiple times in the proposed Country Club plan [37:28] of treatment yet no mention is made of Mr thorp's use of restrictive covenants based on race and religion in the [37:34] neighborhood when my wife and I were in the process of buying our home in the district we saw the restrictive covenant [37:39] that was previously in effect it's a truly chilling thing to read and if Samuel Thorp had his way my wife who is [37:46] Jewish wouldn't be allowed to own our home is that the man this city wants to celebrate I would certainly hope not [37:54] while an acknowledgement of the unsanitized history would be helpful I fear that the substance of these new [37:59] rules only serves to perpetuate the exclusionary practices that the neighborhood was built on I fully [38:05] support the preservation of historical architecture but these changes seem to be focused on making it more burdensome [38:11] more timec consuming and more expensive to make any Home Improvements for example the documents note that even [38:18] Window and Door Replacements May trigger a certificate of appropriateness and escrow requirements think about that [38:25] emergency door and window replacements may be significantly delayed by a preservation commission and be subject [38:31] to an escro deposit in Minnesota in February the neighborhood has great architectural character worth preserving [38:38] but I'm concerned the new rules don't strike the right balance between preservation and cost I don't think most [38:44] people want a preservation commission telling them whether or not they can replace a faulty window or door we may [38:50] lose sight of it sometimes but not everyone is in a position to hire a team of Consultants lawyers and advisers just [38:56] to fix up their house that isn't real life for most people but these rules are so complicated that it's [39:02] what is needed to get through this process the country club District already suffers from a lack of socioeconomic accessibility is the goal [39:10] of these changes to only heighten that barrier to entry for a neighborhood that has a history of exclusion in its DNA I [39:17] would hope our common goal is to tear down the invisible walls that keep people out I want everyone who comes to [39:23] the country club District to know that there's no piece of plaster or wood or siding that is worth more than equal [39:29] access and opportunity unfortunately these new rules don't deliver that message in fact [39:35] they say the opposite that there's nothing more important than preserving a building things change buildings come [39:42] and go I can tell you with 100% certainty that all of the original houses in the district will someday be [39:48] gone it might be in 100 years or 500 or a thousand but that's the way the world [39:54] knowing that what do we really want to preserve for me it's about people and [39:59] our values since all we truly have is our relationships with those around us [40:04] and it's about how we can make a reasonable set of rules that don't take away our freedoms and our Collective [40:09] Pursuit of Happiness I hope you'll consider rejecting or modifying these proposed rules to strike a better [40:15] balance between preservation and progress thank you all right thank you Mr bordon um if you have some [40:22] suggestions along those lines between now and the time the council meets again please submit them and if if you wanted [40:27] to submit your written statement you certainly could do that thank you anyone else this [40:35] evening the audience okay let's turn to the uh virtual world and see director [40:41] benro if anyone wants to testify regarding our consultant is still hanging on but I do not have any attendees so I think you can move [40:47] forward okay all right um we had Mr bordon testify and now uh [40:54] the staff is recommending and a chair Lansbury recommending that we entertain a motion to close the inperson public [41:01] hearing tonight keep the public input open until Sunday September 22 and continue the action to the October 1 [41:08] 2024 city council meeting is there a motion to that effect so moved second M Jackson moves member agu seconds the [41:14] motion is stated any further conversation on the motion is stated all those in favor of adoption of the motion [41:20] is stated say I I opposed carried uh the motion to close the public hearing this [41:26] evening is gred uh we're going to keep the public input open until Sunday September 22nd end of business end of [41:33] day and then continue the action to the October 1st 2024 city council meeting [41:38] and uh thank you everybody for being here this evening appreciate all the input Mr you yours too Mr bordon thank [41:43] you for being here thanks for taking the time to uh carefully prepare your thoughts it was interesting to listen to [41:50] thank you um all right that's uh end of the [41:55] public uh hearing m matters this evening and now we're going to move on to reports and recommendations portion of [42:01] the agenda and we've got three items here to cover this evening and the first one uh director Teague our community [42:07] development director has this matter was in front of us um oh a couple months ago and was preliminarily approved and now [42:14] they are back uh for a potential final uh site plan approval and director tle [42:21] introduce the matter and then I think uh we're going to have some presentations by the applicants team Dr te yes thank [42:29] you mayor members of the council so the Planning Commission held a public hearing on May 22nd and their [42:35] recommendation for this project was for approval on a 5: one vote city council [42:41] held a public hearing on June 4th and took that preliminary approval action on [42:47] June 18th as mentioned the council added several conditions uh to that approval [42:53] so again the request this evening is for final approval that typical protocol in [42:58] a rezoning PUD type application is um these are typically on consent and [43:04] there's not changes but most often from preliminary to final however because of [43:10] those conditions uh were added it this is up for discussion um so the the [43:18] developer will present the revised plans and demonstrate compliance with those [43:23] conditions that were outlined by the council some of the revisions include saving additional trees uh increasing EV [43:31] charging capabilities uh revising the parking on the north side of the building updating the building [43:38] exteriors uh they've moved the dog run slightly away from the prominade and [43:44] shifted the entrances to the west side of the dog run more toward the [43:49] building um they've reduced the number of connection direct connections to the prominade from 7 to three at they've [43:57] shifted the Regional Trail away from the building in the the southeast Corner um [44:03] they've also a wind study was done that's the consultant that's been waiting online since the beginning of [44:09] the meeting so if you have any questions in that regard uh he is uh Kevin Bowman is available to answer any of those [44:15] questions the City attorney has drafted the development contract and the [44:20] assessment agreements the assessment agreements ensure the collection of Park dedication at the time of building [44:27] permit the recommended action this evening is to adopt the resolution 20- [44:33] or 2024 D60 and Grant first reading of the ordinance so with that I'll [44:40] introduce Patrick Brahma who will uh lead the presentation and introduce his [44:45] team great thank you director Teague anybody have any questions for director Teague based on his opening comments Mr [44:52] Brahma and your team welcome good evening mayor members of the city [44:58] council good to be with you again my name is Patrick Brahma 1660 South Highway 100 St Louis Park we're just [45:06] going to take a quick second here to get uploaded [45:34] all right good evening mayor members of the city council if I may I'll jump into this good to be with you again um yeah [45:41] so uh the presentation that we put together is a brief overview of changes that have been made since the last time [45:47] we reviewed this project with you that would have been back in June um for the sake of time I'm just going to jump [45:53] right into it um we have a brief uh slideshow uh this first slide here uh [45:58] identifies two areas one identified as a and one as B A is located on the north [46:03] side of that Northwest building I'm going to turn the screen so I can see what I'm looking at [46:09] here uh we changed the parking stalls uh in that area from 45 degre stalls to [46:16] parallel stalls the areas identified as B are just additional staging uh move in drop drop off uh [46:24] areas the east to west Center Plaza we made a couple changes we increased the size of [46:31] two of the green islands and then also working with the fire department we increased the length of fire axis along [46:37] the west leg if you're coming from the Center Road there which did require us to shift one of the green Islands as [46:44] well again working with the fire department we updated the dead end fire access points that are located on the [46:50] east side of the site north side of Northeast building south side of Southeast building previously 20 ft wide [46:57] now to 18 ft wide to allow for additional Green Space uh this is not a change to the [47:03] plan but just want to highlight that there is an ADA accessible route uh along the west side of the project um [47:10] and I do want to identify that some of the renderings that we've put together show placement of tables or umbrellas [47:18] that is for the sake of uh showing scale of space uh those the ada8 route must [47:24] and shall and is required to remain open at all times and that is exactly what we'll do on this project just wanted to [47:30] highlight that uh the exteriors on the Southeast side of the southeast building were [47:36] updated I do want to just make a quick note at the June 18th meeting we did go [47:42] through a handful of other updates that were made to the east side of the East buildings uh based on feedback to that [47:47] point but the changes since June 18th uh really are focus on the Southeast side of the southeast building um the change [47:54] there we previously had a step back up on the six floor so the seventh floor was step back on that corner um we [48:00] increased the size of the step back slightly but then we also push it all the way down to the second floor so it's [48:05] actually a ter step back there's still a step back on the seventh but now there's also a step back on the second floor we [48:12] also lighten up the color of material that gray is a lighter tone on the corner there as well and then a change I [48:18] guess this is made across the building is we swapped out there's a lot of wood ACC or excuse me accents onions at the [48:24] ground floor walkout units and then some of the step backs in the sixth and seventh floor have awnings those are all [48:30] previously or the majority of them I should say were previously like a powdercoated aluminum like black or gray [48:36] color we change those all to Wood tone to add a warmth to uh to to the [48:41] accenting of the project dog run located on the northeast side of the Northeast building um we [48:49] made some updates there as well uh kind of identified in detail here I'm going to flip to the next slide here um I'm a [48:56] a little bit more visual so these are these are renderings of that dog run area I'm going to draw your attention to [49:02] the picture that's on the bottom right of the screen to begin uh one of the changes that was made previously we had [49:09] a slatted uh see-through fence that was located around the perimeter of that dog [49:14] run as you can see here it's now a landscaping wall um handful of reasons [49:21] for that but some of the benefits uh hopefully some sound attenuation visibility blocking [49:27] um and then also grading is an item that is uh a strategy that we looked at digging into a little bit more uh no pun [49:34] intended so this dog run is a little bit it's sunk down uh a little bit below grade and then because of that that [49:41] retaining wall that's there it allows us to create a larger burm or a higher burm [49:46] separating this from the uh prominade Trail contrasting that to what was there [49:53] previously it was just a flat piece of land connecting to the bottom of that slatted wood fence um so the impact the [50:00] visual impact along the trail is much greater now than it was before and I and I say that from the perspective of [50:06] hiding the visibility of that dog run uh the next picture I draw your [50:12] attention to is on the bottom left the bottom left get I think gives a view of [50:17] kind of the programming of that dog run area I just want to identify it's not a um kind of an afterthought rectangle dog [50:25] park that's filled with P Rock and or you know we put grass in and it'll get [50:30] get muddied up it's we have a Turf that's meant to last long and deal with the wear and tear of dogs using it we'll [50:37] have irrigation uh that will run routinely to keep that area clean we also have uh Sun [50:44] shading and protection um or rain protection from anybody that wants to go in and use that [50:49] area area during sunny days or if there's rain uh there's also seaing so it's meant to be a welcoming environment [50:55] that uh is meant to be higher than than minimums it's supposed to be a high quality dog run um and then the other [51:02] items I draw attention to are the top two pictures those are renderings if you standing ground level looking at the dog [51:09] run from the trail from the prominade trail so if anybody's walking down that trail on the west side of it today and [51:15] was looking over at the dog run those top two pictures are what you would see the top left picture is from the [51:21] northeast corner so closest to 71 France and that bottom Exum me the top right picture from the south side so kind of [51:28] towards the center of the site because there's a 4ft burm there with plantings and because the dog run is now sunk down [51:34] into the ground slightly it's very difficult to see that dog run so that's a change that occurred previously the [51:41] dog run had multiple connection points immediately to the trail all of those connection points have been eliminated [51:47] previously the dog run uh separation between the trail and the dog run itself [51:52] ranged from 0t to up to 8 ft Now it's 12 plus feet along the entire dog run [51:58] previously it was a flat surface between the trail and the dog run now there's a BM so those are the changes that we've [52:04] made to the dog run area these are some details uh we can [52:11] jump into if desired the other big picture uh change that we made to the project is uh really the East End of the [52:18] project where it interacts with the prominade and the southeast corner of the site where it interacts with the 9 M [52:24] Mile Creek Trail system uh as Mr Teague had mentioned we reduce access points [52:29] from 7 to three along the prominade based on Direction provided to us uh the [52:35] green separation areas uh when we originally proposed this project going all the way back to April um and have [52:41] evolved since then so there's been multiple iterations they originally were range from 0 to 25 ft and those green [52:48] setback areas the width of those islands now range from 12 to 38 ft so there's a [52:53] uh increase in the in those green separation areas as mentioned now these areas are bmed previous they weren't [52:59] they were flat so now you have bming along with larger areas of green Separation on the Southeast side of the [53:05] southeast building we did eliminate every single access point every single [53:10] uh walkout unit that was previously connecting to the 9M Creek Trail uh are all gone at this point previously we had [53:17] about a 3 foot setback or a 3ft green uh separation area and now we're closer to 20 ft along that Southeast side then we [53:25] have some details here if we want to go through them um that's the high level well I guess the last comment I'd make [53:30] is one of the and this isn't a change but I just want to highlight it uh one [53:36] of the kind of strategic directions that we've been given I just want and I don't think that we've really talked on it in [53:42] these meetings to date but I just want to highlight we were told we want the look and feel of the prominade to flow [53:48] all the way up through the site so it feels like the prominade is actually being expanded into the property and we're going to have public easements [53:54] over this area but you can see the swooping designs of the Landscaping Islands the large Landscaping Islands [53:59] now they're bmed but the level of planting and the intensity and complexity of planting here mimics the [54:05] schedule for the prominade so for the Casual user walking in and out of the site the intent is for it to feel like [54:11] an expansion of the promod versus private private property and that does run through the other public realm areas [54:16] within our site that's the high level uh updates that we have we have additional information and can get into other [54:22] details if you like thank you [54:45] all right good questions yeah remember rer go [54:51] ahead the updates that you just showed those have just been showed now they [54:56] weren't part of the packet correct they were included within our [55:03] submitted plans so they were posted and the public saw those they were part of the packet [55:09] that went out I can't speak on behalf of what was posted or not but it was within our we [55:14] submitted those within our okay when did you submit [55:21] those uh I sorry K I don't remember the exact date the updates you just showed [55:27] um what we just saw I think the the question is are there any new plans in what you just showed us from what was [55:34] submitted as part of your original submittal package oh so okay so maybe to [55:41] clarify well I shouldn't say your final submittal package for this [55:46] meeting um you need further clarification yeah well I I yeah so we I forget the date Mr [55:55] Teague uh we submitted the application on and I not going to name the date City staff came back with some comments [56:01] almost immediately we made some minor changes and resubmitted the plan step sets that stamped 93 which is a part of [56:08] the development contract and I believe is part of the packet I believe is what I just shared with you there's no [56:14] difference here so I believe we're all synced up but um I don't want to speak on behalf [56:19] of so what you showed us this evening is what you submitted you think on September 3rd oh yes this defin is okay [56:27] thank you um I do have questions about how the dog run is going to [56:32] function and um specifically it is labeled as a public [56:38] dog park and um you know I'm just thinking about the public dog parks that [56:44] we have that exist in Idina today and I'm wondering uh how you're going to [56:50] regulate it is that just that's not going to fall [56:57] on you police right uh no maintenance and managing of [57:03] the dog park is on private property it's our responsibility um as far as regulating [57:08] it we do have the requirement for DNA of all dogs that are in any of our buildings so if there's ever a problem [57:14] with any dog that's in our building we can trace that um and obviously we have leases with with those tenants as far as [57:22] the public use uh it would be up to the city to decide if there's further restrictions that you want in that [57:28] public you know it's publicly accessible because that's been part of the discussions to date if you have specific [57:33] restrictions that you'd like us to apply we can do that I'm just thinking um you know with the smaller temporary you know [57:41] seasonal dog park um there's a recommendation it's about this size I think that it's only for smaller dogs um [57:49] and then with our large dog park in order to use it you have to register [57:54] your dog with the city you have to demonstrate that your dog has got the shots and all of that and um I'm [58:03] concerned about how this is actually going to function because it sort of sounds as if you know there is no [58:11] requirement to ensure that the dogs that are there you know do have their rabies [58:17] shots and all of that and everything is up to speed comment on that Mr brah sure yeah [58:25] I mean I think the immediate answer is we are willing to work with you and follow whatever rules that you require [58:30] one thing that we could do is have something posted indicating the rules or requirements if you're going to have your dog in here you need to be meeting [58:36] X Y and Z but if you kind of want to take it a step forward and have further and have some sort of level of [58:42] enforcement people have to register um we'd have to talk that through that probably becomes a little bit complicated management process I'm not [58:48] sure that's how that's done at other parks and I to be transparent I just need to learn about that a little [58:54] bit thank you I think the last time we worked on a dog [58:59] park matter was out at the Loden and I know they've got some pretty sophisticated ways that they track uh [59:06] animals to the tenants and and ensure that uh they're up to date on their [59:12] vaccinations and so I'm sure you'll do the same thing I'm sure for all of our tenants that there will be no issue the [59:18] only thing that could happen is if someone from the public that's not one of our tenants comes in and uses this dog park because it's a public [59:24] accessible dock Park that's where like we can't necessarily control someone that's not leasing from [59:32] us we could post rules and then if you have other suggestions I want to work [59:37] with you we want to do what you what is best for the community so we're here to work with you I just don't know what that okay I just need to Define what [59:44] that means thanks Mr brahama member Pierce has some questions for you thanks Mr Mayor uh Mr prama can you go back and [59:52] explain the the setback changes you mentioned along the prominade for those [59:59] walk out uh units I guess they're not really walk out units [1:00:05] but I think you mentioned and now it's 20 [1:00:10] feet yeah so you could go through that and just clarify the change there sure [1:00:16] so this map is not with North facing up this map is North facing to the right [1:00:22] okay uh for context for everybody um the prominade trail is running along kind of the bottom of this uh image the 9M Creek [1:00:30] Trail is underneath my cursor here so we' referred to the uh Southeast side of the southeast building many times that's [1:00:37] kind of this general area this is the southeast building Southeast side previously there were three to four [1:00:44] sidewalk leads that connected walkout units directly to this trail system those are all gone previously there was [1:00:51] a roughly 3 foot wide green space between where the patios are and where [1:00:56] the trail starts now we're at about 20 ft I don't know if that answers your question Mr [1:01:01] Pierce that does um and so the units were walk out now they're just not walk [1:01:07] out units is that how did you design that yeah the yeah council member Pierce [1:01:13] they uh they are still walkout units there's actually a sidewalk lead here that runs and wraps back oh got it [1:01:20] okay okay got it thank you for that um and then another question along the [1:01:27] prominade uh we did have some feedback um from the community and I think they [1:01:34] were just looking at colors and so you mentioned that you lighten the colors um [1:01:39] and I think the comment was it would be great along the prominade to have colors [1:01:45] that accentuate nature I think that was actually mentioned the last meeting as [1:01:51] well so could you speak to um I think when you said [1:01:56] you updated the colors I kind of took that to be the facade the gray and the blue um what other changes um have you [1:02:04] made uh related to Nature accentuating Nature along the [1:02:11] prominant remember uh so depending on kind of the point in time of reference [1:02:16] to today might it's kind of a wishy-washy answer if I may be transparent but I'm going to kind of [1:02:21] outline the handful of changes we have made over the last few months okay um one uh the twostory white uh Podium [1:02:29] level uh there was it was extended um some areas were only one store we punch [1:02:35] it up to two in a lot of areas some some still are one but we tried punching up to two in in in various areas and that's [1:02:41] along the tree line you're saying uh the bottom two levels bot levels yep that's [1:02:46] one change uh we also in some areas of the step backs we actually went from we [1:02:53] added step backs so that white uh band along the top was actually extended in some areas we went down the step back is [1:03:00] actually two stories down and and a couple points on this project as well pulling down that we a little bit further um depending on the angle where [1:03:08] you look at a building you it's not always you know every angle has a benefit and a drawback so these angles [1:03:13] here are shown for a specific reason but if you looked at a profile of this we actually have a White Band separating [1:03:19] these two colors here to make them pop a little bit more and I don't the elevations here are from this angle so [1:03:25] it's not quite as clear so we added that we did add all the wood tones previously we were we were um all like a powder [1:03:32] coated dark gray for so now you see a lot of wood tones and then previously we had like this it was like a dark gray um [1:03:41] is this fa fascia I'm looking at the Architects at the top of the building here uh at the roof line and we we [1:03:48] changed it to actually black to make the white pop more so it bring it creates that a little bit more contrast so um [1:03:55] the mayor may not satisfi whoever is asking the question but those are the changes we have made to date okay um and [1:04:03] then at the the last time we spoke about meeting with the neighborhood can you [1:04:09] talk about what's been done related to that since then yes um I have met with one person [1:04:17] individually that uh requested uh meeting invite I did uh I did contemplate setting up [1:04:26] additional public neighborhood meetings after the public hearing I paused on that frankly just to be transparent to [1:04:33] avoid there's a public input process then it's closed and then what I didn't [1:04:38] want to do is take Council direction that I got and get different direction from the public and have cross uh Direction um because to that's one of [1:04:46] the thing challenges we're dealing with on this project is there's so much direction that we're getting that crosses paths so um we didn't have [1:04:53] additional like neighborhood meetings since the last time we were with you okay um so I am disappointed to hear [1:05:02] that because I I uh specifically wanted to make sure and I think the way I said it the next time you come back I want it [1:05:10] to be true that you were able to meet uh with the neighbors and get that feedback [1:05:15] um and so I know that you've gotten feedback from Council and staff and you've Incorporated that so I definitely [1:05:22] appreciate that um yeah I think that's it thank you Mt [1:05:30] Jackson yes thank you Mr Mayor so first a point of clarification on all these pictures where the red dotted line [1:05:36] that's the property line correct and the prominade looks like is Right adjacent [1:05:41] to the property line in several places okay I just wanted to clarify that um so [1:05:46] I'm going to ask you a question kind of not related to the project but to the process and that is um when you came to [1:05:55] to Edina and and looked at this property did you did the city of Edina approach you or recruit you in any ways to [1:06:02] develop this property no no I no it was [1:06:08] developer developer approached the city so me and my shoes being developer we approached the city no it would be [1:06:14] awesome if the city did it' be sweet if cities reach out to me I but no we no it was completely on the developer side [1:06:20] reaching out to the city and setting up meetings and asking questions and getting the project going so this was a [1:06:25] private initiative to come forward and saw property that could be redeveloped and and then you started meeting with us [1:06:31] that's correct y okay thank you and then at any time before you came to us or uh [1:06:38] before you you know did we initiate the conversation about possibly using tax agreement financing or did we advertise [1:06:45] that in any way to entice you to come here no okay no thank you that's been a [1:06:51] point of some contention in the community and I wanted to clarify that so thank you so much um I do want to you know acknowledge the [1:06:58] changes that you've made and you know this is we're doing something new with the Southdale plan and it's a [1:07:05] conversation and I mentioned that before and I think the the latest iterations [1:07:10] are a conversation um moving through the site and Mr manar's here I know we've talked [1:07:16] a lot about what it is to move through the site and so I really appreciate the changes that you've made both for [1:07:22] loading and for walking and and then that increases in the um Green Space and [1:07:28] I just wanted to again acknowledge this has been a conversation and it's it's continued up to tonight um so those are [1:07:36] my comments thank you great thank you anything further remember rer thought of [1:07:42] something else could you go to the image that shows and I don't know if you have this but the the moving truck Legend [1:07:50] page and that might be in a different [1:07:58] all that up right now we have that available one second please yeahor in this particular [1:08:05] presentation I'm not seeing in the packet with the [1:08:24] updates e [1:09:02] I don't know if Carrie can bring it up but it's on page 414 of the packet what is in the packet on page [1:09:17] 414 um council member if I may just to clarify because there's a different um handful of different exhibits that we [1:09:24] have um uh are we is the discussion garbage hauling is it movein trucks is it semi- [1:09:31] trucks we kind have different exhibits for everything it's a little um little bit of both cuz um as I look at the [1:09:39] diagram that has the moving truck Legend um I'm seeing a detail of the Northwest [1:09:44] building and it shows where dumpsters are going to go that's it right there can you go back yes working on that [1:10:02] yeah okay so here is a detail um and I'm assuming what this [1:10:09] means is that the area to the east of the Northwest building um part of those [1:10:16] squares with the big G those are going to be permanent dumpsters and those are not going to be places where parking [1:10:22] Could Happen true that is not correct those are staging areas that are multiuse so they wouldn't be permanent [1:10:29] garbage locations the garbage is all located within the buildings only carted out the day of uh pickup just for the [1:10:36] time of pickup okay so those are when it says dumpsters along to the side there [1:10:42] that just means sometimes there will be a dumpster there or I I don't really understand um [1:10:50] if I me I can walk through that so we um the the way that the dumpsters are going to work or garbage is going to work uh [1:10:56] couple times a week dumpsters will be pulled from the buildings uh generally we have three areas we've identified [1:11:03] where dumpsters could be could be located for garbage trucks to come and and dump and take the garbage away uh [1:11:10] what we're showing there on the bottom right is uh uh an ill illustration to show spacing show schematically that we [1:11:17] have enough room to actually Place dumpsters and fit a dump or a garbage truck in to pick up those dumpsters uh [1:11:24] that area that is shown on the inset map there on the right side uh that is that [1:11:29] is an example of what four parallel parking stalls looks like so we actually have identified three areas there that [1:11:36] are four stalls long that could handle six dumpsters at a time uh so this plan [1:11:43] here shows we have the ability to capacity to take 18 dumpsters at one point in time and maybe we do that a [1:11:48] couple couple times a week if we need additional space there is additional space on that Northwest building if [1:11:54] needed okay and would they be coming from the north then when they were [1:11:59] coming to get the garbage or would they be coming along Gallagher drive we have not clarified that I think [1:12:06] we can go either way right in and do a right Loop is logical uh for safety reasons so that's likely what we would [1:12:13] do is have someone go up France turn right and do a a right Circle movement around the development and right [1:12:20] out U part of the concern that I have is and then if we could go to to the other [1:12:25] image that showed the size trucks that can go in and I know I raised this [1:12:31] before but um just looking at how the underground parking really accommodates [1:12:39] very few large delivery trucks and thinking about you know not just move in [1:12:45] and move out days but also uh people getting a new mattress or something like that new furniture and and all of that [1:12:52] and then I hate to ask you this but now can we go back to the other slide that you had [1:13:00] um this site is so pivotal because and it has so much going on and part of my [1:13:07] frustration is that when it's been presented to us from the very beginning it was a 8 Acre Site and there wasn't um [1:13:14] acknowledgement of all of the infrastructure that is existing that has to remain including Gallagher drive and [1:13:21] how that is not just the access for this development but it's also the [1:13:27] access for the commercial area to the South for that shopping mall it's the [1:13:33] access that people need to take if they're going to use the public um ramp that is there right by Centennial Lakes [1:13:39] and so I I am concerned about flow and I know even today when you're driving [1:13:46] into that shopping area sometimes you can get sort of stuck trying to get back [1:13:53] out onto Gallagher and so they're there is a high degree of traffic and I think part of my frustration is even though [1:13:59] you know I've seen diagrams and I do appreciate that um and getting this [1:14:06] narrative I still feel like I haven't really received the data that I need to [1:14:14] really understand whether or not this is you know and to borrow a phrase from [1:14:19] mayor huband if this is a 10 pound amount of flour and a five pound sack um [1:14:26] so I'm really wrestling with that but thank you for calling these images [1:14:33] up uh on that very topic um this may be for director teag but [1:14:39] wasn't Ingress and egress evaluated in the traffic Consultants [1:14:45] work it was along with our fire department to make sure fire trucks can [1:14:51] get um get through the site semi- truck semi-trailers can move through the site [1:14:58] and there certainly will be loading within those within that that street that North [1:15:05] South Street yes y those internal streets uh you talked director Teague at [1:15:10] the beginning of your presentation about the uh conditions that were added and [1:15:15] the things that uh the applicant had addressed and um I think at the I'm [1:15:21] going to go back through some of those but your conclusion at the end of all the couple months worth the time has passed [1:15:27] since their preliminary approval that that they've met all those conditions is that just want to make sure that I [1:15:33] understood what you said in your presentation yes staff believes they have and you're recommending we passed [1:15:38] the resolution go to final development approval and first reading on the ordinance correct okay so now let's go [1:15:46] back to uh one of the things we didn't talk about was uh you said they were they designed some ways to save trees [1:15:52] and we didn't talk really about trees and this may be Mr monar uh and uh additional enhanced [1:15:58] Landscaping that you want to address but let's let's let's cover that issue as well on your things that you've worked [1:16:04] on here we go back to the [1:16:10] other mayor I can take a first shot at that and then Mr Man if you're available [1:16:15] to help out so um as far as one I think one thing that's important to delineate [1:16:21] that um council member Jackson said well is that this Pro project interacts with the prominade the property line does not [1:16:27] follow the path of the prominade so the portion of the Citys side of Green Space that we're [1:16:36] affecting we are going to save as many trees as possible Mr Man called out saving of a handful of trees in that [1:16:42] area but those are not on our property so I don't want to falsely take credit for saving trees that aren't even on our property we did originally have I think [1:16:50] it was two or three trees that we were going to save on our property we submitted the plans to council member uh [1:16:56] risser's point we submitted the plans then maybe a week later resubmitted uh on the third and those are the plans [1:17:01] that we're all looking at here and I believe online and what I've gone through the change from that one week [1:17:07] period was us adjusting that 9 M Creek Trail even further to the South to create even a larger green setback [1:17:14] that's where we were saving trees so the two or three trees that we were saving are now not saved so the net outcome now [1:17:20] is no trees saved on our site specifically when I look at this uh particular uh [1:17:29] version of the site plan it it brings to mind we had a a resident uh from the neighborhood out there who I think was a [1:17:35] artan environmentalist uh who talked about uh she was worried about loss of greenspace but when I think about what's [1:17:42] there with the Macy's Home Store and no green space nothing but asphalt and the [1:17:48] and the bunker uh what are your observations about you [1:17:53] know like what percent of the proper property is now has green space where there was no green space [1:17:59] before any sense of that we can see it yes we can see Green [1:18:04] Space where there was none before some of it you you know is in terms of that seamless sort of blending with the [1:18:11] prominade but um I thank you for that and then some of the other concerns this [1:18:16] person raised were in environmental related um was worried about energy [1:18:22] consumption and and you might want to just comment on what you're doing in terms of sustainability and and meeting [1:18:28] some of the requirements of the city on sustainability um from the perspective [1:18:33] of sustain well first of all as far as Green Space open space um so I'm going to I'm going to [1:18:40] give a my knowledge of the amount of public realm space because that's what's in my brain and I can tell you with some [1:18:45] level of confidence we're in the high 40% of this site is public realm now [1:18:50] some of that's paved trail some of it's that east to west Meandering uh um uh Plaza area but as as you [1:18:59] mentioned May a lot of it's green I don't know the percentage but yes there is you know maybe compared to a traditional Urban uh dense development I [1:19:07] I personally believe there's more green here than normal but I that's my own personal perspective we I'd have to pull the exact number to answer your question [1:19:13] I don't have that off the top of my head um uh sorry I'm slipp in my memory what [1:19:19] was the other well I think that yeah you said the green space but um we were talking about sustainability aspect of [1:19:27] the project you know what you're going to you know energy consumption how you think you're going to be um meeting some [1:19:32] of the sustainability goals that the city has so we will be meeting the city's sustainability policy um there's [1:19:39] a policy in place that requires you leave that that drawing up too it jump [1:19:44] it jumped off the screen yeah there you go so the city has a program and a [1:19:51] sustainability policy in place that's requires uh uh reporting uh [1:19:57] commissioning design efforts uh coordination with City staff to ensure compliance with that policy um it's a [1:20:04] multi-layered policy um includes modeling uh of for Energy Efficiency um [1:20:11] in addition to that above and beyond the policy and I should just say high level the standard is going to that we're [1:20:16] meeting for the residential buildings is the national Green Building standard ngbs so that's ngbs silver and three of [1:20:23] the four buildings the Southwest Building is going to be a lead silver that's more of a commercial building heavily more heavier percentage of [1:20:30] commercials so lead fits that a little bit better uh in addition to those minimums that the city has we are going [1:20:36] to do extra uh conduit for additional car charging stations in our uh [1:20:42] structured parking area we also are going to have rooftop solar on the two [1:20:47] East buildings that's above and beyond city code and then um I think something that doesn't get noted often but I think [1:20:54] personally is important um is water quality uh this site lots of Redevelopment sites today have zero [1:21:02] treatment today this site is 70% uh impervious surface and it's just running [1:21:08] off affecting neighboring properties and there is no treatment before it goes um we're going to transform that completely [1:21:15] into a site that's going to have more green space but we also are going to treat the storm water on site we have [1:21:20] capacity to store for floods 100e storm events and then after we meet that Max [1:21:26] then obviously it would go off site like with any other uh standard um any storm [1:21:31] water system that meets current standards so there's a big win from a water perspective water quality and conservation and uh treatment uh with [1:21:40] this project compared to today okay uh you touched briefly on EV charging and that was one of the things that director [1:21:46] teag said that you had enhanced can you point those how many EV charging stations did [1:21:52] you add since you know the oral submission city code requires off the [1:21:57] top of my head 5% uh of stalls um wired with Chargers today so when we [1:22:04] deliver also City Cod says you have to have 10% with conduit so you can expand [1:22:09] in the future we up that to 15% so we're five and 15 versus 5 and 10 good to hear [1:22:17] um we talked about the dog run we talked about the north side parking [1:22:23] um reduction of the number of connections to the prominade down to three from I think it was [1:22:29] seven uh and then um I know that you know we've all got opinions on [1:22:35] architecture and and and some of the I think some of the residents nearby that I directed you two that wanted the [1:22:43] southeast Corner pushed further back but you know we we had told you at one point in time pull that forward put the [1:22:49] restaurant up on the northeast corner of that building so there's there's VAR of [1:22:55] opinions on on some of these things so I appreciate what you did in terms of pushing the southeast corner of the [1:23:01] building further away from the promin I think that was important uh and then uh we we mentioned briefly um I think [1:23:07] member rer might have mentioned this in the preliminary uh the wind study and maybe director Teague what without going [1:23:13] to the consultant what what did the wind study reflect and show uh no requirements from the wind [1:23:20] study uh they made a comparison to the 71 France um project as not having a [1:23:26] significant impact um they the they stated in the study that it would not [1:23:32] result in increased wind activity adjacent to the prominade [1:23:40] okay yeah member egno hasou thoughts yeah and well first I [1:23:45] just want to thank you for doing that wind study um I think it was I really [1:23:51] appreciated some of the top down down views that we were given um and so we do [1:23:59] have the um the wind studiest on the line right um so I guess [1:24:07] my my question about that is what are the typical Heights of buildings in [1:24:13] which we start to see an impact from wind when would we start to see more [1:24:20] degradation in higher wind speeds that might imp peed pedestrian [1:24:29] interaction and that is for the wi consultant please you're backing way because you don't want to answer that [1:24:36] question uh this is uh Kevin Bowman here on the line I I hope coming through okay [1:24:41] there um with regards to your question um so I wouldn't say there's something [1:24:46] of a definitive Benchmark of height that will result in increases in Wind activity like that uh it certainly comes [1:24:53] down to a number of factors uh one being of course what is the surrounding [1:24:59] environment like what are the other buildings in the surrounding area um again in you know let's say eight story [1:25:06] building built amongst eight story buildings it's not sticking proud of the others uh with an ability to intercept [1:25:13] those winds to a a more degree um in terms of even like the spacing of [1:25:19] multiple buildings beside one another that's where you know we can start to investigate are they at a critical [1:25:26] distance from one another where we start seeing those kind of accelerations with that um again these are all things that [1:25:32] had been considered within the study that was conducted um I would say if if [1:25:37] in general a development is to stand something like uh two times the height or something of surrounding developments [1:25:45] there is potential but that being said um there is of course articulations and [1:25:51] other design aspects to the architecture of these developments that will help to mitigate that kind of impact and ability [1:25:59] to uh accelerate in an adverse way thank you that that's really helpful [1:26:05] I think at least in my time on the council this is the first win study that we've seen um so I I appreciate that [1:26:11] additional context and just how to kind of best understand this this was obviously a concern that we had heard [1:26:17] from residents of the area and I know that some were specifically citing I think the bower um as being one of those [1:26:24] where it is really felt um so I just I thank you in in doing this study and I I [1:26:30] think just personally am pleased with the findings of the consultant thanks member U Back to member Risser and it [1:26:37] was member EGU who requested the wind study it was really happy that she did do that so I wanted to say that I was [1:26:43] surprised when I looked at the wind study and it appears the bower is not [1:26:49] problematic um we did hear from residents and I have gone to the Bower and it just is incredibly windy U there [1:26:57] are days when I think one gentleman said he would not even go on the prominade by [1:27:02] the bower because the wind was so strong uh but I'm not seeing red around the bower or yellow there's yellow but yeah [1:27:10] that that's what the um there is the yellow it's not [1:27:18] orange or red and it kind of looks like we're seeing that in other areas as well [1:27:29] back to member U I cut I cut her off she was going to go on on a few couple other [1:27:34] questions I think no we can talk wind all night if that if that's what we want to do um I just had a couple of other [1:27:40] questions I hope that the first one's probably a quick one is the dog running closed okay from one of the pictures it [1:27:47] wasn't super clear but I'm getting nods in the affirmative that it is a closed um area um I I did actually um member [1:27:55] Risser appreciate your comments on that of just thinking through how we can [1:28:01] um govern that specifically uh I would like to kind of look at what we're doing [1:28:06] within some other properties I think that could be really telling um but then also potentially just adopting the [1:28:12] Citywide policy that we have I know that we have the collars that they wear and there's like an annual renewal process [1:28:19] and so that might be especially given that this is meant to be something um that is open to the public that we want [1:28:26] to just Embrace but I don't know we might have to talk to um folks from Parks and and W to understand [1:28:32] specifically if this could be expanded into that but I I do think that we already have a good policy that I would [1:28:37] love to see just adopted if if that's feasible um can you speak generally to [1:28:44] what conversations you've had since we met in June about the potential [1:28:49] underpass and any impacts that that has had to your thought process in this [1:29:00] project council member U um so conversations since June uh I think [1:29:08] at I can't remember which meeting it was I think it was the the Tiff term sheet [1:29:13] review meeting there was an update from staff and consultant on the underpass [1:29:20] that was a helpful update we did followup afterwards to get a hold of plans and schematic designs so we could [1:29:25] just make sure that we're kind of syncing up with the city um as you are aware we're in for application for Tiff [1:29:32] and through that process connecting with City staff it's part of that Tiff discussion and making sure that we [1:29:37] comply uh and can receive and work with the city with the for potential underpass so that's since June it hasn't [1:29:44] been much more discussion beyond that we do plan to continue those discussions with staff we think they're going to get [1:29:50] far more detailed here moving forward um this is a big step in that process as well as just knowing kind of that we're [1:29:56] proceeding forward and then I guess um taking a huge step back you know we [1:30:01] we've been this has been part of the discussion with this project for since early 23 um I think early 23 we came in [1:30:09] for concept review and we were going to proceed forward we ended up pausing the project to allow the public process to [1:30:15] unfold for a discussion and as you know we adjusted the site plan and made a handful of changes so that's kind of the [1:30:21] high level okay thank you and yes [1:30:27] please Terry Minar principal of Confluence in addition our office met with the Consultants on the underpass as [1:30:34] well and we did a bunch of brainstorming kind of worked with what they were doing and talked about how we could modify our models and our layout for that as well [1:30:41] so that happened within that time frame as well which I don't know if Patrick was remembering that but yeah wonderful [1:30:46] thank you um so then I guess building on that or complimentary at least um have [1:30:51] you made any progress on the program of restaurants or some of that that [1:30:57] community space that you were thinking about um and if not I would assume then that you're just waiting until this official process happens but maybe speak [1:31:04] to me about the timing if there's been any progress or if not when that progress will be made on which retailers [1:31:12] or what activation will happen at The Pedestrian level we don't C we don't have any um [1:31:19] anything hard that we can say like with uh with a level of certainty we are marketing the sites uh we have engaged [1:31:27] jll so they're reaching out to prospects um we have received some positive [1:31:32] feedback from leads we are actually working with one right now that sent us an Loi uh so I think there's buzz and [1:31:38] interest in the area a huge you know with from a timeline perspective uh with [1:31:44] these tenants that would rent out the first floor of these buildings or restaurants um them committing today are [1:31:51] getting fully on board today are investing a lot of time and effort today knowing that we don't have our approvals [1:31:57] we're going to wait 8 months for Macy's lease back and then the construction period for the buildings is two years [1:32:02] for them to commit to the day that's the timing issue that we're running into but that doesn't mean we're not trying or [1:32:07] aren't working on because we this requires someone to be thoughtful and it requires the right tenants so we're on it we're we're Gathering those leads and [1:32:13] developing activity and starting those conversations and the more progress we make and far farther along we get the [1:32:21] easier it's going to be to add certainty and provide detail but right now I don't have anything firm I can provide okay [1:32:27] thank you and I think I did mention this probably on that same meeting that you're referencing um but whenever I'm [1:32:33] out and about I I think of this property in particular because I think with the [1:32:38] development on the other side with the underpass I think it is a really really critical opportunity for us as Zina and [1:32:46] there is a development in Bethesda Maryland and it's called Bethesda Row and it has kind of a similar look and [1:32:53] feel of of pedestrian activation in between buildings and so I would just recommend that as one one other option [1:33:00] to look at particularly because they're a very similarly sized city from a residents perspective um and so I always [1:33:07] like to lean into examples that are are particularly inspiring where was that Marland uh Bethesda [1:33:15] Maryland I think those are all the questions I have for now but I reserve my right to ask for later course yeah of [1:33:21] course we're we're patient we're a patient crowd uh we're going to go back to member Pierce uh thanks Mr Mayor so I I um [1:33:30] we've talked about a couple of things tonight um that I think allows me to ask [1:33:36] this question um and so um our [1:33:42] process separates site plan approval from discussion on City Investments [1:33:49] which uh for Investments right we use Tiff notes and so my question and I [1:33:57] don't know if it's ever been asked in Council before of a developer no step [1:34:04] forward so so how does or how would no [1:34:11] Tiff or at least significant reductions in Tiff [1:34:17] impact the site plan that you've shown us today [1:34:24] to think about that it would it would so I can't one thing I can say confidently I say this with respect and humility and [1:34:31] and the city's aware of this it's it's required by law like but for Tiff this [1:34:37] project doesn't work and we've been transparent about that and shared numbers and have been um completely [1:34:42] transparent so the the the plan what you're what's here today does not work without Tiff I can say that decisively [1:34:48] now where does Tiff work I we would have to do some number crunching and really rethink the whole thing I don't have a [1:34:55] quick answer and I'm sorry I'm not trying to dodge the question but it's just it's a very complex project with a lot of um you know there's been a lot of [1:35:02] public input and a lot of requirements here uh so I don't I'm sorry I don't [1:35:07] have the answer but I'm glad to dig into it and follow up or email uh if you like yeah I I think it would be valuable [1:35:15] to have that Insight um from you um to [1:35:21] answer that question um and so so we definitely are aware of the but for um [1:35:28] however I do I'm asking a question are there things within that plan that we [1:35:34] could make a decision on um to include or not include um if what we're trying [1:35:39] to do when we have the discussion about investment is to reduce [1:35:46] um the Reliance on on Tiff that's probably the other thing that I would [1:35:52] say we've we've gotten feedback on from the community um and so I our process [1:35:58] like I said kind of keeps those things separate uh but it would be great if you [1:36:04] would um work with with the city staff to be able to answer that question sure [1:36:09] and I have some thoughts but I I want to make sure that they're synced and well thought out and we we can respond to [1:36:14] that problem we certainly want them well thought out yes thank you um any other questions [1:36:23] I that's I think just to segue of what you just said here's another way for you to think about it in my mind and that is [1:36:29] that well for you for this to be a a venture that you'd be willing to undertake at the level it needs to be [1:36:37] undertaken from a Financial Risk standpoint what would the project have to look like to make it financially [1:36:43] feasible for you in the absence of Tiff in other words you've told us tonight and I think this is roughly accurate [1:36:49] that 45% of this piece of property these eight acres are going to have some sort [1:36:56] sort of Public Access or public use those are the benefits that we were [1:37:01] saying that we wanted to see if you were going to go this route so think about it in the absence of that public investment [1:37:08] what would this project look like and then we can decide if we we we would have even approved [1:37:14] it we can pull that together and and I have ideas right now and I'm happy to kind of just like give you some off the [1:37:20] cuff if you want um let me know I and I think I'll be fairly accurate I I know that we work on this intim so I can give [1:37:26] you some feedback right now if you like but let me know how you want to handle that I can start that dialogue all right I'm going to go back to member Pier [1:37:33] now um I well to answer your question I I think out of fairness I would ask you [1:37:39] not to do it off the cuff um and just submit something um official working [1:37:45] through uh Mr nindorf that would that would be my suggestion but it is definitely um it'll [1:37:53] be valued input uh and greatly appreciated uh for you to go through that that due diligence okay um any [1:38:02] other questions all right um with that I will [1:38:08] make the motion um for resolution [1:38:13] 20246 and Grant first reading of ordinance number [1:38:18] 20247 is there a second second got a we've got a motion by [1:38:24] member Pierce to approve resolution 20246 and Grant first reading of ordinance [1:38:31] 20247 uh and we have a second by member U is there a further discussion had a lot of good discussion [1:38:38] here along the way uh all those in favor of uh adoption of the motion is stated say I I I opposed n motion carries 4 to1 [1:38:48] uh the uh resolution 20246 is adopted and the ordinance 202 407 is granted on [1:38:55] a first reading basis thank you thank you everybody for your input on this [1:39:02] matter what comes next thank you thank [1:39:07] you yeah thanks Mr Brahma and your team and uh everybody else that was here this [1:39:12] evening um next we had a work session tonight on [1:39:18] this matter that's coming up next we've had work on this since June ongoing [1:39:23] budget conversation for 2025 and I'm going to let our city manager Scott Neil make the introduction [1:39:30] on this matter and Pau our finance director is here to make a more formal presentation with manager Neil making [1:39:37] the introduction manager Neil thank you your honor and members of council um the [1:39:44] uh approval of the preliminary tax levy is is is a big event in any Minnesota [1:39:50] City because it's it's really is the first formal step in the budget making [1:39:55] process for the upcoming year uh we make this preliminary Levy approval with the [1:40:01] with if the council consents that sets the that sets the preliminary Levy that is then used to make uh tax statements [1:40:08] uh from TNT notices that go out to taxpayers and that is part of the leadup [1:40:14] to the public hearing that occurs on December 3rd uh Council can make final approval [1:40:21] of the budget at that point or you can make make final approval of the uh uh 2025 budget and capital Improvement plan [1:40:29] at the final council meeting of the year uh which for us I believe is December [1:40:35] 17th uh but the leadup to this process is also very interesting as we have a [1:40:41] two-year budget making process in Adina uh and the process that we're looking at [1:40:46] for the draft uh budget and preliminary Levy for tonight uh for 2025 really [1:40:52] started in in uh the spring of 2023 uh and it started at our Retreat [1:40:58] which is the first time that we had a chance for all five of our current uh elected officials to participate in a in [1:41:05] a discussion around um Community Values uh Community Investments uh spending taxing budgeting [1:41:13] all those kind of very important administrative functions of the city uh we had a chance to to get a lot of input [1:41:20] from you and your input came from residents and so that was uh important for us to know as we prepared uh [1:41:28] operating budgets for both 2024 and 2025 the 2024 budget was formally uh enacted [1:41:36] in December of 2023 uh however State Statute doesn't allow you to to do uh two years of of [1:41:43] budgeting approvals in the same night so what we typically do in in excuse me in [1:41:50] even numbered years like 2024 is we take take the second year of that budget cycle and we and put it in front of you [1:41:57] and ask for your formal approval of that and that's what you're going to see tonight so with that uh I'd like to ask [1:42:04] our finance director patau to lead us through uh most of the budget uh [1:42:09] proposal uh I'll have some additional comments to say and and maybe our assistant city manager Ari lens May too [1:42:16] uh and then we'll po will stand for questions thank you so we'll listen to the staff proposal [1:42:23] thank you coun uh mayor and council members so as uh city manager Scott Neil [1:42:29] had given you a little bit of the background I'm going to do that again but then maybe more from the set of [1:42:36] where we are at in terms of timeline and then uh what our proposal is in terms of [1:42:41] capital Improvement plan and then where we are going in terms of Staff recommendation for the 25 preliminary [1:42:47] budget Levy budget and Levy uh just to recap our journey a [1:42:52] little a little bit uh at the end of December of 2023 uh Council adopted a 24 [1:42:59] um and 25 Bal budget as well as the city's work plan since then we met at a [1:43:05] council Retreat this year earlier at the end of April uh to discuss priorities [1:43:11] and whatnot and then uh since then staff has submitted CIP requests as this year [1:43:17] is our CIP Focus year um we event that through our CIP prioritization committee [1:43:23] committee internally uh with staff and we also took the city council on uh [1:43:29] Council tours of different facilities within the city we' have also published [1:43:34] a community engagement to the residents to tell what is our process for the CIP [1:43:39] process for the city of Edina and since then um elt as well as city manager has [1:43:45] reviewed all the CIP projects that were proposed and here uh we went through a work session in August and another one [1:43:53] previous tonight but tonight at this moment um we're hoping by the end tonight we will have a preliminary had [1:44:00] adopted a preliminary 2025 Levy a little bit of the background of [1:44:07] what uh how the CIP plays into a role of um city of Edina strategic uh policy is [1:44:14] it goes hand inhand with our comprehensive plan to support our vision ad uh it is again a 2-year or biannual [1:44:21] budget process that the city uh the city council adopts at one time like uh city [1:44:27] manager Scott Neil said this is our first year in our banial budget process where we focus more heavily on the [1:44:33] capital Improvement rather than um our operating budget which will be slated for next [1:44:39] year I mentioned earlier we met at the end of April to discuss priorities uh [1:44:45] for staff to keep in mind as we develop and put together a capital Improvement plan for 25 through 30 priorities we [1:44:52] received from count Council then was to keep in mind of Maintenance and preservation along with accessibility [1:44:57] and inclusion and consideration for flexibility for future use the CIP prioritization committee vet [1:45:05] these projects that were submitted from staff through two different criteria lenses first more so for project [1:45:10] justification and urgency and then through the different lens of the values [1:45:16] impact I also mentioned the community engagement portion where we develop where staff developed the CIP story map [1:45:23] which you can um uh embark on the Journey of seeing what that is through the QR [1:45:29] code with that being said um shared on here at the screen is your 2024 adopted [1:45:35] budget that uh was adopted uh is also the 2025 originally tively approved [1:45:41] budget in December of last year in the middle column and then with staff's recommendation of what the 2025 proposed [1:45:48] budget is uh for this upcoming year and this is you see a SL decrease in terms [1:45:54] of uh overall Levy increase between the original adop originally approved budget [1:46:00] in December versus the one that we are recommending tonight and this has to do with the um uh better interest rates [1:46:08] when we had issue the fire station to to debt earlier this [1:46:13] year so with that being said how much of this 13.14% Levy increase uh what kind of [1:46:20] service does the city of Edina provide provide in terms of operating budget uh [1:46:25] and what does these service how much they rely on in terms of General operating the general Levy um broken out [1:46:33] here are by the different departments in terms of functions um and percentages of [1:46:38] the pi of which departments uh how much is each Department's deliver of the pie [1:46:43] keep in mind this is not proportionate to the total operating cost to run the city and provide all the uh services but [1:46:50] to give you a depiction of um which each department needs in terms of [1:46:57] support Police Department depends on 28% of the general uh General Levy uh budget [1:47:03] to run and provide all the different Services you see listed here uh in addition I want to call out anything [1:47:09] that is highlighted in green these are special services that the city of udina provides that's inclus uh that's [1:47:16] exclusive inclusive sorry that no other City uh provides such as uh for example Le [1:47:23] Police Department we have our dispatch unit uh which is unique to the city of [1:47:29] Edina in addition the fire department depends on 15% of the general fund Levy [1:47:34] to provide these services from public health to ALS to training facility and [1:47:40] Rental inspection and residential Redevelopment Park and recck Department [1:47:46] depends on 133% of the general fund Levy to provide these services and I want to [1:47:51] call out even though some of these additional services are our Enterprises it's just it's for telling you the [1:47:57] different services that the city of Edina has that's unique to us Public Works depend on 133% of the [1:48:05] general fund Levy to provide you sidewalk and bridges maintenance to Street Maintenance and repairs to snow [1:48:11] removal and other general maintenance uh services our engineering department [1:48:18] depends on 133% of the general fund Levy to provide you uh Construction management transportation to facility [1:48:25] sustainability to design and construction to Engineering [1:48:32] Services Community Development Department depends on 4% of the general fund Levy in support of provi providing [1:48:39] planning assessing affordable housing to Heritage preservation and Zoning [1:48:47] services our administrative uh Department in terms of operating depends on 2% of this general fund Levy to [1:48:55] support uh services such as having you city council as well as city clerk to [1:49:00] equity to uh allowing residents to take on voting uh as one of our operation [1:49:05] this year now to support all those operating Department we have your support [1:49:11] departments such as it HR Finance communication and part of admin um I'm [1:49:18] not going to read out all the different Services those Department uh provides but 16% of it is uh support departments [1:49:25] we need uh to support the operating departments with that being said in [1:49:33] terms of the CIP for 2025 through 2030 um a little history for where the CIP [1:49:39] was uh and where we are and where uh staff is recommending for where we need to go um a little history on the CIP in [1:49:46] 2014 and prior uh it was a zero CIP Levy it was supported through uh operational [1:49:53] Levy since then staff has recognized that there's a lot of Maintenance need uh project needs that we need to [1:49:59] eventually Levy for to keep up with and therefore um over the last decade we [1:50:05] have slight uh incrementally increased it over the years and what staff is recommending for future to keep up with [1:50:12] the maintenance needs and project needs is to incrementally continue increasing it into the [1:50:18] future in addition to increasing the levy there is also these U projects that [1:50:23] are too big for our annual CIP Levy to carry therefore staff is recommending [1:50:29] the consideration for bonding for these projects um I want to include that of course this is just based off of [1:50:35] assumptions Council will still have to make Direction um make deciding uh decisions at the time when we do uh [1:50:42] before we Implement these projects but with that being said um [1:50:48] this is the projection of our Debt Service uh Outlook in terms of debt [1:50:54] Services uh that we have committed uh to falling off uh in 26 and with [1:51:00] opportunities for us to add on additional um bonding needs as um [1:51:05] there's additional projects to be worked on for [1:51:10] maintenance here is another way to look at our financial projection in terms of uh Levy increases over the next couple [1:51:17] of years um this is of course considering that in 2025 we do a [1:51:23] 13.14% increase from 2024 uh as we expand our Public Safety [1:51:29] expansion this equates to about 5.46% of the [1:51:34] 13.14 percentage as we take a look at uh in uh [1:51:42] City uh estimated market value when we talk about Levy I want to call out that [1:51:47] um uh in 2024 we saw an increase of 1.2 billion or 7.7% increase over [1:51:56] 2023 uh in the city's estimated market value so therefore in 25 we are also [1:52:01] seeing a 17.3 uh billion uh in terms of total [1:52:07] estimated market value which is at 3.7% in growth from [1:52:14] 2024 our historical tax capacity we've been seeing a slight uh increase over [1:52:20] the years uh however we have ALS also been seeing slower growth per our [1:52:25] assessing Department um 2025 projected tax capacity is about $212 million which [1:52:32] is a 3.3% growth from 2024 why don't you stay on that slide for just a moment and [1:52:38] explain to Folks at home that may be watching or will watch this after the fact what tax capacity means so tax [1:52:46] capacity is after your assessor takes evaluation of the different properties right they value it and then and the tax [1:52:53] capacity is taken into consideration the statutory of what is your property um [1:52:58] this is what you Council here have authority on taxing anything else you want to add Scott I would add that typ [1:53:04] it's a it's a mathematical computation that reduces your value and so it's [1:53:11] typically um your tax capacity of your home is probably one depending on how [1:53:16] much it's worth it's probably 1% of of the estimated market value or its [1:53:22] assessment value if it's an apartment building it's a little more than 1% uh if it's a a commercial industrial [1:53:28] building it's it's also more than 1% but that's that's the range that it comes in thank [1:53:36] you therefore I'm showing the slide again um as staff is recommending for 2025 a [1:53:42] 13.14% increase uh which is a slightly lower than what it was when it was tentatively approved back in December of [1:53:50] 2023 um 5.46% % of the 13.14 is for increase of Public Safety [1:53:56] expansion commitments that we had previously committed to when you say what is this [1:54:03] 13.14% um let's break it down what is that equate to or what is the different things that makes up this [1:54:09] 13.14% right uh laid out here is the breakdown of those that Levy increases [1:54:15] I've mentioned the increase due to the debt service and the expansion on Public [1:54:21] Safety uh how there's also other things that we have to consider for it such as [1:54:26] your street assessment to equipment and capital increases to the zoning and comprehensive plan we have coming up and [1:54:32] of course 5.9% of it has to do with that is our base increase so that is that in [1:54:38] a little bit more probably like 7% or so um would be our uh increase if not for [1:54:44] The Debt Service and uh expansion of Public Safety I also have here listed [1:54:50] are the different positions that we have uh planned for for 2025 in support of [1:54:55] expanding on our Public Safety uh services in totality when I showed [1:55:03] earlier the different um how we are loving for just a portion of the operation this is a Consolidated budget [1:55:10] of what it takes to um uh fund governmental Enterprise and internal [1:55:16] service funds is a $26 million broken down to the different sections of the different fund types [1:55:25] so therefore staff is recommending the 61.5 million uh property tax levy total [1:55:32] for 2025 and what does that mean in terms of Levy impacts to the medium home value um [1:55:39] in 2024 the medium home value pays about $174 $77 per month in property tax uh [1:55:47] our total estimated market value I mentioned earlier increased by about 3 [1:55:52] .7% for taxes payable in 25 so then the market uh the estimated market value [1:55:58] home in Idina is 72,300 meaning in 25 uh with the medium [1:56:06] home value we'll pay about $281 per month in property tax to fend [1:56:12] all the city services that I had mentioned earlier which is about a $23.81 increase per month to the um [1:56:20] estimated market value [1:56:25] home one of the one of the big drivers um to in our budget this year as we [1:56:31] noted is an expansion of Public Safety Services this was this was a there was a [1:56:36] lot of discussion around this uh particular Topic in in our April 2023 [1:56:42] Retreat uh there was some concern in the community at that time Council was responding to that uh concern and asked [1:56:50] us to prepare a budget that that had this expansion in it so we're expanding [1:56:55] and we started that expansion uh this year in both our Public Safety excuse me our law enforcement so our police [1:57:02] department and our fire department and kind of the service services that go with those um when we when we do that uh [1:57:10] we made half of that proposal half of that expansion in 2024 uh we're [1:57:15] proposing the rest of it in 2025 that includes uh additional firefighters it [1:57:21] includes uh additional Patrol officers mental health investigator neighborhood engagement [1:57:27] officer and as I mentioned earlier six paramedic firefighters uh and on top of [1:57:33] that um The Debt Service for the new Fire for the new uh fire station number two will also show up for the first time [1:57:41] in in our uh Debt Service for [1:57:46] 2025 the base increases for the budget this year uh continues to reflect the [1:57:52] the cities both on the staff side and the council side uh upholding exceptional service levels uh for our [1:57:59] services when we do our as I mentioned earlier uh in this evening's meeting [1:58:04] when we do our annual quality of life banal quality of life survey we get very [1:58:09] high marks for the the quality and volume of our services here um from from [1:58:16] residents um so we want to continue to provide that part of continuing to provide that is to uh take care of the [1:58:24] people that work here um so we want to pay attention to them we want to be able to attract uh new employees to work here [1:58:31] but we also really want to keep uh the folks that make all those Service uh Services work for us uh we we we are [1:58:38] looking at uh Rising employee pay uh and benefits uh 99.1% increase in our [1:58:44] Healthcare premiums this year is an example of that but we're also seeing increases in energy risk management [1:58:50] technology equipment Vehicles Etc uh the base increase also includes uh [1:58:55] half of an FTE to fund a full-time employee to fund a park and wreck uh program facility coordinator in that [1:59:02] position half of that position would be paid for with general fund tax levy the other half would be paid for from [1:59:08] revenues that occur at the at the recre facility or the recre Enterprise sites [1:59:14] overall uh a 5.2% increase is necessary to sustain our current service levels uh [1:59:19] and continue delivering the high quality outcomes and services that our residents are asking [1:59:25] for therefore tonight um based on an information that we shared um staff is [1:59:31] looking for a motion from Council to approve the preliminary Levy for 2025 as [1:59:36] presented um keep in mind that preliminary Levy is where we set the levy as its highest and then we can come [1:59:42] down from there in December if we don't act on setting a levy by the end of September 30th um per Minnesota State [1:59:50] statue we will default to what our 2024 Levy final Levy was uh and so I will [1:59:57] open it up for any questions or comments thank you uh questions for our finance [2:00:03] director all right uh comments from Council Members I know that um go [2:00:10] ahead member Jackson sure I'll kick it off um so we had a a extensive [2:00:15] conversation um in our work session and I what it came down to [2:00:23] we can cut services or we can if we don't want to do the 13.1% we can cut [2:00:28] services or we can cut the funds that we have set aside for um repairs for [2:00:34] deferred maintenance capital investment capital investment thank you um [2:00:40] and so there are two ways you can take care of buildings you can pay cash to [2:00:46] fixings or you can bond for it which ultimately is more expensive so these are we have two funds that are capital [2:00:52] investment funds we have $1.9 million to look at deferred maintenance and in the presentation we had for the work session [2:00:59] you kindly gave us a breakdown of that for the next five years and then we have [2:01:04] $400,000 specifically for the parks because our um playground equipment [2:01:10] can't be repaired anymore and needs to be replaced so we have the special fund for this cycle of replacing the [2:01:15] playground equipment um uh in our neighborhood parks so [2:01:23] that's I'm just going to lay that out that that's the discussion um that we'll be having I want to have a little bit of [2:01:30] historical background so there are two things and I don't know if you had the chart of of how it broke down you have a [2:01:37] bar chart 5.9% is the increase in the base 3.5% is the debt service for the [2:01:45] fire station 2.0% is for new Public Safety positions uh 8% is for equipment [2:01:52] and capital increase and then we have something that's Street assessment and policy change and so there were two [2:01:59] things that as a city council member I inherited in 2021 when I was sworn in [2:02:06] one was a a street assessment policy where streets were 100% assessed to [2:02:12] property owners and the city did that in order to keep property taxes low and we [2:02:17] are transferring from 100% assessment to 100% taxes over 16-year period of time [2:02:23] and so that red line the um I can't read it uh five half a percent increase is [2:02:31] due to that and that makes our taxes property taxes higher but it's the [2:02:37] historic tool that we use to keep property taxes low which we can no longer use we need to make this [2:02:43] transition the other thing that we did to keep our property taxes low was to defer maintenance and we have quite [2:02:51] quite a bit of deferred maintenance in our infrastructure here in the city um in our equipment and our parks and not [2:02:59] equipment but you have that broken down for us as well yeah facilities um thank [2:03:04] you and so those were two things that I inherited that we're cleaning up we have [2:03:10] increased substantially the amount of money and you have the chart that was Zero for many years and just when there [2:03:17] was money left over we put it into deferred maintenance and now we're in increasing the amount of money we've got [2:03:23] this $1.9 million fund of cash to fix this it's cheaper to spend cash than [2:03:29] bonds and $400,000 for our Parks so that's the context that we're working [2:03:37] in um I actually have a couple oh [2:03:42] U my notes are all over the place here we also had a discussion about the need for additional um firemen par fire [2:03:50] paramedics in in our town and the chief of the the fire chief gave us some [2:03:55] statistics 10 years ago in 2014 we had 49 [2:04:01] 4,915 calls for service in the fire department the population was 50,2 [2:04:08] 161 9 years later in 2023 we had 7,220 calls for service that's an [2:04:15] increase of 47% in number of calls for service at the same time the population [2:04:21] did increase it did not increased by 47% it only increased by 6.4% so that's a 40% per capita increase [2:04:31] in calls for service so when we look at this need for a new fire station and for [2:04:37] new Public Safety P positions the need external of the money that we're [2:04:42] spending is increasing more and more calls for service and so we need to um our number one job here is safety so I I [2:04:50] just wanted to give that context for these um Public Safety positions as well as the concern about crime that's [2:04:57] come out postco um and we hear about that a lot going to um the capital um [2:05:04] Improvement part of this um in our work session prior I had asked to have the [2:05:11] Brar golf club club building um included in the CIP I want that to be out there [2:05:17] as a placeholder um we talked upstairs I I don't think that we should should be spending staff money preparing for that [2:05:23] at this time there's another building that's out there and that's a third fire station that's out there and I don't [2:05:29] know how to express that to the public that we know those needs are there um at this time we don't necessarily want to [2:05:35] fund them but but I think that needs to go on the record and then finally I'm going to end with a question for you and [2:05:42] this is um we talked about that the levy increase is less than we thought it was [2:05:48] last year because of better interest rates when we issue bonds um obviously [2:05:54] you there's costs to refinancing them but is there any legal limit or um a [2:06:01] barrier to us refinancing them when interest rates lower or go [2:06:07] down I don't think there is Dave do you know or Scott no I don't think there is but there is a debt legal limit that we [2:06:14] are subject to in terms of how much debt we can issue in a in it how much debt we [2:06:20] can have outstanding it depends how it depends how the the debt is structured [2:06:25] if it has a call feature in it it means that we can call that debt and refinance [2:06:30] it if you have a call feature built into your into the debt instrument you [2:06:36] usually have to pay a little bit more of interest because that that red that increases um some of the ambiguity for [2:06:43] the people that are buying your bonds you know that that they got to think about that you may pluck them back and [2:06:49] refinance them but so we can control that to a certain degree okay very good [2:06:54] um because I think in this higher interest rate time period we might want to consider being able to refinance them [2:07:00] if interest rates drop significantly um so that's it and um thank you for all [2:07:07] the presentation thank you member Jackson member Pierce thanks Mr Mayor um so there's [2:07:15] definitely a lot to unpack there um so I just a couple of comments um [2:07:22] so thanks for going through and really [2:07:27] being able to help frame a conversation that we need to have um and I actually [2:07:34] don't want to throw out other numbers so I'm I Pro my math is probably different [2:07:39] but it's on the slide but the point of uh being able to articulate of the 133% [2:07:47] that's on the slide how much of that is Public Safety fire police and then the [2:07:52] base increase um I think that is a really critical thing um for us to be [2:07:58] able to lean into U because it starts to frame for the U [2:08:06] Community what we think as a council the resident [2:08:12] value um and so with that value there's an Associated costs and you're able to [2:08:17] articulate that um in a clear and concise way to then allow us to frame a conversation [2:08:26] that U member Jackson um alluded to if we needed to um reduce the [2:08:35] 13.14% then we can have a conversation um I think it'd be safe to say that we [2:08:41] don't believe um as a council the quality of services those types of [2:08:47] things is where we would initially look uh what we talked about in the work session was are there projects uh on the [2:08:55] capital site that we could uh we could do to um reduce that um and so I think [2:09:02] that that is the the conversation that we have to that we've actually frame [2:09:07] that to be able to have a constructive conversation around um what levers we [2:09:14] can pull from that perspective and the the staff is going to go back and do [2:09:19] that work to be able to help us understand that uh before the upcoming uh public hearing [2:09:26] um and so I think that is is definitely um it's great that we're going to be [2:09:31] able to have that that level of conversation and then the other thing that we talked about which is kind of [2:09:38] moving forward um this idea that we can [2:09:43] demonstrate to the community um the the uh intentionality [2:09:51] that we have in terms of ensuring what those expenses are we are managing those [2:09:57] um to the the best of our ability to to keep uh the cost competitive um and we [2:10:03] talked about health care um we talked about a couple of others um and so I do [2:10:08] think moving forward it would be great for us to be able to bring back uh for [2:10:14] the community hey here is how we manage this expense so that we can remain [2:10:20] competitive with our sister cities and in some cases our costs are lower um and [2:10:25] here's what we do in order to to to maintain that so that the city um so [2:10:33] that the residents can be confident that we're honoring our fiduciary [2:10:38] responsibility of of remaining competitive and managing our expenses as we're making some of these tough choices [2:10:45] um to um to um lower our total increase [2:10:51] so I was appreciative of the back and forth that we had a little earlier today [2:10:57] and I think um what you've presented um was really beneficial so thank you thank [2:11:05] you member Pierce member rer um and I I do want to thank you for [2:11:11] all the work that went into this and also underscore um just the value and the real need for additional Staffing [2:11:19] for both our police and our fire departments and I did start the Citizens Academy um just a couple weeks ago and [2:11:27] it was noted in the room where we were you know look at the bulletin board in the back of the room and all of these um [2:11:36] applications that you could go for for overtime because we need to ensure that people can take time off and that is [2:11:43] such an important part and I don't know if Chief Milburn would want to comment briefly on that but we really need this [2:11:52] uh thank you council member sir yeah so just it I think it affirms the point that uh when we look at officers really [2:11:58] need to to uh understand that officers need time off and so by adding the resources we're allowing for that to [2:12:04] happen and that's been certainly been a shortage for us and so that's part of the why we're asking for these additional [2:12:11] resources thank you it that's it okay BR do anything at [2:12:18] this point in time I mean I will just kind of reflect back [2:12:24] a little bit more into our conversation um what's most prevalent in my mind is is [2:12:33] obviously what's happening this year and what's in front of us um but also as we [2:12:38] look towards the future you know if we have a higher year than we would like to [2:12:43] have from an increased perspective what are we doing to not see that again in [2:12:48] the immediate future and so I I do think one asset that might even be helpful as [2:12:54] we continue keeping that in mind is um the the one-year fluctuations compared [2:13:00] to what's been the overall growth and I think that I've seen these slides in the past um but just what has been that [2:13:06] year-over-year increase um and then I know we've talked about it um but also doing that compar [2:13:13] competitive analysis or comparative analysis maybe uh of what other communities that are um similar to to [2:13:21] Edina in size and kind of region I think would be helpful but then also level setting that with something like [2:13:28] Minneapolis um I think would be really informative as well um because right now [2:13:33] when you when you do see 13.14% increase that sounds like a [2:13:40] really big number right people compare that to inflation or people compare that to what was my annual increase at [2:13:47] work and I want to be able to provide more information more context in a way [2:13:55] that isn't just well the base increas is going up because the healthcare and Market adjustments and we have the new [2:14:02] Public Safety like those are all things that are really important um and that's why I do think that we can weather a [2:14:08] one-year Peak but it needs to be a peak then and so I I think that we need to be [2:14:14] able to explain that broader story so not a question more feedback thank you [2:14:21] like my observations would be pretty simple and straightforward I think it'll be helpful to not only me uh but [2:14:28] hopefully people listening in so um when you go about the work that you do in the [2:14:33] finance department along with manager Neil and all of our directors and looking at what we're doing from a [2:14:40] budgetary standpoint uh you went through this deliberate process which is important to [2:14:46] do and uh we were the ones that responded to our citizens saying you [2:14:51] know Public Safety is a really a Paramount concern and so understanding [2:14:57] that you've had it in print here that 5.43% of this proposed increase [2:15:03] involves three um folks from the police department and and six full-time uh [2:15:09] firefighters that were adding to the to the Staffing equation now but for them [2:15:15] we might be in a normal sort of range of around 7% uh 8% uh but none [2:15:21] uh uh you went through the effort of saying okay well here's what you said you wanted to do from a capital [2:15:28] Improvement uh standpoint and you added these things in that that we had talked about and came up with this what member [2:15:36] egner said is a significant number and it is in my mind 13.1% but we don't necessarily have to be [2:15:43] there we could land there but we don't necessarily have to be there but we what we do have to do by the end of September [2:15:50] according to state law is to set a preliminary Levy and that's what we're going to do tonight but setting the [2:15:57] preliminary Levy is something that gives us a lot of flexibility that between now [2:16:02] and mid December when we have to make a final decision after we have public input on what we're going to finally see [2:16:08] for a recommended increase in the general Levy so we've got we've got time [2:16:13] to work on that and I think it's important to have time to work on that if we set the levy at 1 13.14% tonight [2:16:20] the preliminary Levy it can't go up but it can go down by state law and so I [2:16:28] think in the past the sessions I've been involved in there's been a preliminary setting and then we we work back from [2:16:35] that now whether that's possible or not I don't know because we did ask uh in response to our residents uh for us to [2:16:42] build in these full-time equivalents in the public safety department but I will say that that was [2:16:49] done because and it was to me it was a little bit unforeseen that we we went into this you know in a post George [2:16:56] Floyd world uh pandemic juvenal crime On The Rise we wanted to be responsive to [2:17:02] all of that so for me because it was something that [2:17:07] maybe came up a little bit out of context but we had to react to and it was important to react to it you have to [2:17:14] look at the rest of the things that you were thinking you were going to be doing you know what what what did we think as a council we said we we we told you we [2:17:22] wanted to do we talked among ourselves in response to what we see in our community and talked about what we [2:17:27] wanted to do uh but we had the public safety issue [2:17:33] come up and so me for me it's a little bit like in the in the Gap period now between the preliminary Levy being set [2:17:39] and a final Levy being determined we have to look at some of these things that we were thinking about [2:17:45] doing in 2025 and there was about $2 million worth of expenditures that were proposed in that time time frame for [2:17:52] 2025 so for me it's a little bit like if I'm a farmer and I'm going to build a new house and my barn burns down I got [2:18:00] to replace the barn does that mean I can do the house in the same year or not I don't know you know maybe maybe not [2:18:05] maybe I wait till do the house next year or the year after so those are some of the things I think that we need to think [2:18:11] about uh and listen to our residents on between now and the time you make a final decision so do I do I personally [2:18:18] like the idea of setting the preliminary Levy at 13.1% no I'm not really comfortable with it but I I know that we [2:18:24] can go down from there and I know we'll have some Earnest discussions amongst ourselves and with our residents about [2:18:31] where we're going to land and so that is yet to come um those are my observations [2:18:38] for now um the only other thing I would say is [2:18:43] that and member Jackson pointed his thought if we if we decide we want to decrease decrease the bottom line of the [2:18:49] levy from 13.14 to something lower than that we can either decrease service or [2:18:56] we can decrease capital investment and when I mentioned that we had 1.9 million worth of expenditures we were thinking [2:19:03] about making on the capital investment side that's what I was talking about those are the things that we need to take a look at and I think you [2:19:09] understanding and manager Neil understanding this is sort of the lay of the land this is what we want you to [2:19:15] look at come back to us with some ideas on what are the consequences of being lower than 13.1 for what what do we give [2:19:22] up in terms of potential service for our our residents uh and and and [2:19:28] there we give a there's a high level of service here as we saw this evening we got the number one rated Fire Department [2:19:34] in the United States for Emergency Medical Services uh that's that's an expense and [2:19:40] but we're willing to we're willing to shoulder that expense to keep our people healthy so those are some of the things [2:19:46] I'm thinking about thank you um so having us all of us provide you with a little bit [2:19:52] of uh uh our preliminary thoughts regarding the preliminary Levy and the subsequent final Levy um is there a [2:20:01] motion uh to adopt resolution 2024 61 [2:20:07] which would adopt the proposed budget and establish the proposed tax levy payable in 2025 as suggested by [2:20:16] staff so moved see this is a hard one no [2:20:22] member U moves member Risser seconds that we approve resolution 2024 61 [2:20:27] adopting the proposed budget and establishing a proposed tax levy payable in [2:20:33] 2025 uh at 13.14 and then we will work towards the [2:20:38] final budget adoption in December um anybody want me to read the res the [2:20:43] resolution again any further discussion on the resolution all those in favor of adoption of the resolution as stated say [2:20:49] I I I opposed carried here we go onto the next [2:20:54] phase thank you folks [2:21:01] um and you've got one more I think I have one or two more he [2:21:06] Char but I don't have a presentation for that one you got the H Levy that we did at the h y so the city the HRA approved [2:21:16] the proposed Levy uh for 2025 and the process uh for certifying that Levy uh [2:21:23] requires the council to confirm it and so that's the action for tonight and that was at 3% 3% increase over the [2:21:30] previous year that's right was about what $7,500 if I remember yes that's [2:21:36] right all right any further discussion on that does anybody care to move the resolution 202 24-65 which would uh [2:21:44] Grant City Council consent for the 2025 H Levy so move second Pierce moves [2:21:51] member Jackson seconds the adoption of resolution 2024 65 uh granting city council consent for [2:21:58] the 2025 H Levy any further discussion all those in favor of adoption of the motion of stated say I I I opposed [2:22:05] carried uh the HRA Levy is uh uh consented to by the council and now we [2:22:12] are on to manag your comments thank you your honor I have one comment tonight [2:22:17] and that is uh as a board member of The League admin OTA cities uh we have our [2:22:22] annual board retreat uh at the end of this week and I'll be leaving for that tomorrow um part of that process is [2:22:30] understanding kind of the lay of the land of of what we're going to uh try to accomplish uh next year as uh as an [2:22:36] organization including the legislative agenda we'll have start having our discussions around that as well and I'll [2:22:43] bring back a report on that to the council at a later date thank you that's all I have for tonight [2:22:48] okay all right uh BR do you want to lead us off and Council comments please sure I [2:22:57] will uh so given that we just had some conversation about um Public Safety and [2:23:02] and how important that is I just wanted to call attention to the Police Department open house that is happening [2:23:10] next Thursday on the 26th um right now I think the reports [2:23:15] look like the construction may be done and so um we should be should be set [2:23:22] unless Chad has an update on that we are actually going to utilize the new Street and host the with agreement from the [2:23:29] police department to use utilize a new street instead of trying to switch traffic control back and forth for a couple days so we're going to host it on [2:23:35] the new street over here with the new sidewalks and retaining walls and everything else I love and then we'll open the street the following week okay [2:23:41] perfect what what timing on the whole thing uh timing on the street opening [2:23:47] the street and the sidewalks and everything else the street opening September 30th October 1st or 2nd that [2:23:53] first that last week so for the open house um and I'm [2:24:00] going to put you on the spot too I know that there's free hot dogs and chips and a ninja course um so I I mean I'm just [2:24:08] reading the the report but you could probably do a little bit more salesmanship uh and then I do believe [2:24:14] that it's an all ages event but will my three-year-old and four-year-old [2:24:19] absolutely love it Yeah well yeah so the easy sales pitch to that is they absolutely will love it and uh yeah [2:24:26] that's right we've got a lot of events lined up for that so we got a lot of things that you know kids can can just show up and just uh jump on some of our [2:24:33] our toys and some of our equipment and we'll have a lot of police vehicles out there some fire representation some [2:24:38] other City departments uh police departments are also participating including State Patrol um uh the [2:24:44] Bloomington bomb squads coming in as well so we're going to have just a lot of collaborative effort with a lot of cool things for kids and adults to see [2:24:51] uh we even have uh free free haircuts as part of this too so we have some Barbers coming in are going to offer that up for [2:24:57] kids as well so we got uh a whole wide range of cool activities and fun things for kids and adults to do so we're [2:25:03] looking forward to it wonderful thank you uh I think that was all that was all [2:25:09] I had I'm I'm excited to come to that next week ask some more questions CU you're in a good news cycle here [2:25:16] everything's I'm kind of interested in these haircuts but why don't you check on the line opening you maybe well it [2:25:22] might be a little bit more I'll leave that for [2:25:28] you am I up you're up I'm I'm excited now too for those haircuts um will the [2:25:35] therapy dog be there that is a great question our [2:25:40] therapy dog is still in training so I'm not sure yet if we're ready for public [2:25:45] okay display and presentation but I'll I'll figure that out and get you an answer on that I got a 13-year-old at [2:25:51] home if I got home tonight and said yes she might actually want to skip dance to [2:25:57] be there we also if I could jump in sorry to interrupt but uh we will have other K9 units there as also we will [2:26:03] have other dogs on hand awesome thank you um so the I had just one update for [2:26:10] uh tonight um so as the council knows member Risser and I have been acting as [2:26:17] a subcommittee to update the performance review process for manager Neil uh to [2:26:23] and to select a new partner um to do the work starting with the evaluation for [2:26:29] this year we completed uh an RFP process and a subsequent s so with the support [2:26:36] of assistant city manager AR Lin um and member rer and I completed the [2:26:42] interviews today and selected ethical leaders in action to perform that work [2:26:49] um they they will manage a survey process so kind of an online survey [2:26:55] process partnered with uh face to-face interviews and that'll be with the council and the full uh [2:27:03] elt um and then we will have that'll be both a report out that'll be [2:27:10] quantitative as well as um objective uh feedback um kind of an overview in that [2:27:17] report will have both of those uh components um with it and a couple of things that [2:27:23] that we kind of highlighted going through the the process um it's intended [2:27:29] to have a little bit more rigor than um we've had in the past um and it really [2:27:36] is going to require us as a council as well as those that will be in the process um to be very steeped in what [2:27:44] the the goals are what the expectations are uh because what uh we really want to [2:27:51] do is to be able to not only just give the feedback to manager Neil on things [2:27:58] that are going great but also um our responsibility of saying hey here are [2:28:04] some things that that uh we can improve on um that'll kind of take the view of kind of an action plan if you will um so [2:28:12] in order for us to do that right we got to all engage in the process and and um [2:28:17] be ready for those interviews when they come up um and then we will do at least [2:28:23] um an hour I'll say it that way if we can do it in um like a work session [2:28:31] setting of kind of orientation if you will if we can't do it that way then um [2:28:38] we'll just have to do separate meetings um maybe two on two or something like [2:28:43] that to just get through it uh but um other than that that's that's it just [2:28:49] wanted to give that update and thank uh um the support from the city staff and [2:28:55] member rer thank you projection yes thank you Mr Mayor so on Saturday [2:29:02] September 7th it was Fallen to the Arts it's absolutely beautiful weekend um I [2:29:07] want to thank explor Edina and the Idina crime prevention fund for putting it on [2:29:12] brought all kinds of people into our city and the arts and culture commission [2:29:18] had a booth which was great and they got to present and promote all the work that [2:29:24] they've been doing and it was just absolutely packed and a great event and that's all I've [2:29:31] got where iser U I want to give a shout out to all of the city staff who are [2:29:37] working so hard on all the road reconstruction and I live right in the middle of it so I'm seeing it firsthand [2:29:45] um but I want to call out Brandon Freeman specifically who is is there so [2:29:51] consistently and um is working with me so that I am not going to get grass um [2:29:57] inside but I will be getting um Clover a mix and it'll be a bee friendly thing [2:30:03] that will be less water intensive and um just it was really wonderful to be able [2:30:08] to talk to somebody and um you know there's really kind of a range of what [2:30:14] residents want and I feel very grateful that the city of Edina is responding to that so thank you all who are working on [2:30:22] road repair um director Milner I was thinking um we had some dialogue with someone [2:30:29] today on France Avenue on the uh gas line install and you had maybe give people an update on that too yeah [2:30:37] there's some lanes shut down on France Avenue near the Galleria that's been shut for quite a while um it was a gas [2:30:42] main project Center Point Energy had to do a gas project the gas work is done they did the concrete recently as soon [2:30:48] as that concrete can Port traffic there will remove all that traffic control and bring that lane back to traffic so [2:30:55] should be within within a week that all that stuff will be moved off France and reopened good thanks for that uh and [2:31:03] then member Jackson talking about fall into the Arts so I was out there on Saturday afternoon with my wife she was working at the booth and thanks for that [2:31:10] uh helping out as a volunteer uh the number of people that would stop to visit the PD and the new dog and uh and [2:31:19] the fire department guys it was it was extraordinary there were so many people that were so interested in visiting with [2:31:25] our public safety personnel and a lot of great um artists out there it was it was [2:31:30] a lot of fun visiting with people um and then um last Sunday oh the the next day [2:31:37] was the um gear swap event over at the Atlantic Community Center and I went over there uh to um work a little bit in [2:31:44] the morning and uh it it was incredible the line went across the parking lot and [2:31:49] all the way down the face of southvw middle school and um people were just having a wonderful time it was a [2:31:55] wonderful Community Building event I thought and and then uh just this last [2:32:01] uh weekend the rotary car show that's right down at 50th in France on Saturday it was drizzly but it didn't seem to [2:32:07] deter anybody uh from coming down there there was a lot of people moving around and uh and then they had they had a [2:32:14] little bit of a fashion show along with it and I think they also want to en the music in years [2:32:21] to come so remember Jackson that reminds me that the energy and environment [2:32:26] commission is having an EV car show here at City Hall on October 5th so if you [2:32:31] like cars and you went there come here and uh encourage people to come okay [2:32:36] good thanks for that uh and then for me it's a it's Transportation Advisory Board tomorrow and then we're working on [2:32:43] we got a subgroup there working in the morning on uh the next Regional solicitation what what it should look [2:32:48] like uh in in terms of areas of emphasis so um that that group will be meeting uh [2:32:55] or we have the regular tab meeting tomorrow and that's it for me cause anybody else to think of anything they [2:33:01] wanted to bring up okay is there a motion to adjourn so moved M Jackson [2:33:07] moves member appear seconds the motion to adjourn any further discussion all those in favor of adjourning say I I I [2:33:13] opposed carried please stand [2:33:18] adjourned [2:33:48] e for