public meetings in a hybrid sort of fashion like we did during COVID. And since uh people might be watching on um some form of cable TV or um uh streaming it for purposes of uh both watching the meeting and possibly participating. Uh we've got one opportunity tonight for people to participate and that's in community comment. Uh no public hearing this evening. And just a reminder again, whether [clears throat] you're tuning in remotely uh from the virtual world or you're here in the chambers, uh if it's on the agenda or scheduled for a future public hearing, those topics are off limits for community comment uh or for public hearing matters. Uh but we're certainly welcome to hear your concerns about anything else. And we've got some things going on tonight that are interesting, uh I think, and you'll enjoy the meeting. And so having provided that information, this is the call in information incidentally. It's up on the screen now. So people at home that are interested in speaking uh calling in during community comment, please get this information down. We'll put it back up at the appropriate time, but we're going to let people in the council chambers uh address the council on matters of concern to them first and then we'll go to the virtual world. So having provided that information, I'm going to call the meeting to order and ask our clerk Sharon Allison to call the role. >> Council member Agne >> here. Council member Jackson >> here. Council member Pierce >> here. >> Council member Risser >> here. >> Mayor Hublin >> here. Uh, next is the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thanks everybody. Uh we've got a form of meeting agenda in front of us. Is there anyone on staff or on the council wishes to modify the agenda in any form or fashion? All right. Is there a motion to approve the meeting agenda as published? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Council member Jackson moves and council member Pierce seconds the adoption of the meeting agenda as published. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adopting the meeting agenda is published say I. I. >> I. Opposed. Carried. Meeting agenda is adopted. we have a document to work from. And here we are now at community comment and um I'll put those uh I guess we'll wait until we complete our conversation with people in the uh audience here at city hall and then we'll go to people in the virtual world. So, welcome folks to the uh to the podium and as you know, please give us your name and address and uh >> important. >> No, excuse me, not the address. Just give us your name. I'm getting the hang of this. Mayor, council members, my name is Ralph Sickert. Tonight, I'd like to reiterate my opposition to the city of Adina's borrowing some $20 million to construct a parking garage at 7001 France Avenue. $20 million to fund a private parking structure for the possible future development of an office building and an apartment complex. $20 million for a site designed designated as a tax increment financing district four years ago with millions of taxpayer incentives and yet it remains undeveloped shrouded by a blue tarp. Yet another example of a stalled tiff project. And now this Thursday during the HR meeting, the city will be asked not to forego future tax dollars as proposed under the original TIFF agreement, but to use Adina's borrowing authority, and take $20 million, take on $20 million of city obligated debt, taxpayer debt, to fund a developer's vision that has remained relatively unchanged over the last four years. in spite of the real estate market steadfastly saying this dog don't hunt. All the while, Adina has been asked to extend the deadline after deadline and consider yet one new tax incentive after another. Each more illconceived and riskier to taxpaying residents. But then maybe the average resident doesn't care about adding $20 million in debt to their tax levy. For my part, it's a bad idea at many levels, and it puts the cart before the horse. Borrowing $20 million for a parking garage, the city does not need in the hope that sometime in the next 10 years, a private office building and an apartment will rise from behind the blue tarp. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Zickert. Anyone else? >> Good evening. Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Jill Garnier. I won't give my full I'm sorry. Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't realize. There you go. [laughter] Uh, and I I will just say that I live on Conquered Terrace. I'm here on behalf of residents of Conquered Terrace and St. John's Avenue to address traffic concerns related to South View Middle School and to support a petition requesting school hour parking restrictions. With the support of a strong majority of directly affected neighbors, I submitted the petition photographs and video documentation to the council via email last week. The video accessible through that email is critical to fully understanding the traffic and safety concerns we are addressing. I'll provide a printed copy of the petition this evening for inclusion in the council record. Conquered Terrace is located off Conquered Avenue just east of South View Middle School and has become a primary staging area for parent pickup. It is a narrow residential street without sidewalks. During dismissal, vehicles line both sides of the street, reducing it to a single constrained lane. Pedestrians must walk along the curb or in the roadway. Conditions are worsened during winter months when snow accumulation narrows the street even further. Reduced sight lines and limited maneuverability create recurring safety and access concerns for students, pedestrians, residents, buses, and emergency vehicles. Traffic conditions worsened notably beginning around 2018 when Southview Middle School moved parent pickup to the south side of the building with access from Conquered Avenue. The COVID pandemic caused parent pickup volumes to increase further and that pattern has persisted. Problematic congestion now occurs daily. In December, I requested review by the traffic safety committee. In January, the committee recommended limited school hour no parking signage in front of the first three homes on the north side of the street. We appreciate the committee's work, but the proposed restriction would simply shift congestion farther down the street rather than resolve it. Our proposal is straightforward. No parking or stopping on school days from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the north side of the entire length of conquered Terrace, extending on St. John's Avenue and ending at its intersection with 58th Street. This differs from the committee's recommendation, which would apply the restriction only to the first three homes. Including a no stopping restriction is critical as the roadway constraint is driven primarily by vehicle staging and idling during dismissal. Restricting parking to one side of the street during school hours would improve traffic flow, preserve access, and enhance safety while still allowing parking on the opposite side. Extending the restriction onto St. John's Avenue would prevent congestion from shifting farther down and creating a new bottleneck. Our goal is to create a safer and more predictable environment for students and residents. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Hey Joel, just a clarifying uh point here. Did you resubmit another petition or is it Are you talking about the original petition only? >> I'm well I this is my first time doing this for so forgive me if I've got my wording incorrect. I sent I emailed it last week just to have the video documentation kind of available to you, but I guess this would be the official >> Okay. >> Um and it's sort of in response to the traffic traffic safety committee's >> um recommendation. >> That's helpful. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. >> My name is Laura Han. I'm a Nadina resident and I want to start off by thanking the council. I know over the last month you've done a lot of work to really make it clear that ICE activity is not welcome in our community. My request today is that you continue to further this work and I know work is ongoing but I wanted to put forward kind of two large categories of requests. The first is related to the staff of the city of Edina to make it explicitly clear to all of them that they do have a right to go out and protest and that their jobs are protected when they're outside of work time. My second is to explore how you could offer some unpaid leave or work from home opportunities as the staff is continuing to navigate this really dynamic and challenging situation. The second ask is related to future public sessions. Um call those public conversations, discussions, community meetings, whatever you would like to bulk those as. I think there's some big topics that really deserve public engagement and discussion. Um the first is what the future looks like if we have ICE officers applying to city jobs in the future. Um I would specifically encourage that we do not allow them especially in situations where they'd be working in schools at our park districts in any sort of security or election related roles and keep them out of law enforcement. Um I'm also really interested in city funds that are being used in Amazon contracts and Amazon procurement. I think there's been opportunities where those that money could be spent in more local businesses really supporting our local economy and I'd like to really bring some visibility to that. um in light of some really wild recent actions where we have seen private data of Adina residents given freely to DHS from companies like Google, Reddit, Meta and then coupled with threatening comments from the administration that folks who have spoken out against ICE will potentially be at risk of denaturalization or other such criminal convictions. um really interested in how the city can protect residents both their data and their security overall for their freedom of speech. Um I've read and looked at that you've done a lot of work related to the surveillance contracts that we have and I really appreciate that. I'd like to see more discussions about where there might be good faith elements that we don't have full visibility into where our data is going to really make sure that even though it's in the contract, we've seen that contracts aren't holding the same weight that they used to and that our data remains really safe and secure. Um, and then this last one I think is another one that deserves a lot of attention. We've seen a lot of public conversation that says the DDino Police Department has been looking the other way as ICE officers or ICE responders have been breaking basic traffic laws. We've seen speeding, ignoring stop lights and stop signs, windows that are tinted beyond limits, um, mismatched or missing license plates moving around the city. And the sense has been that that has been overlooked and we would like to understand what happened there. And so with that, I thank you all for the work you're doing and look forward to where this goes next. >> All right. Thanks, Laura. >> Anyone else? Hey, do we have anybody online that wishes to address the council? I do not have anyone at this time. >> Okay. Um, so our practice is that we'll get responses prepared uh by Friday of this week. They'll be posted on on the web and then our city manager is usually uh comments to the uh provides responses to the comments that were made the uh prior meeting and I'll turn now to manager Neil for that. >> Thank you, your honor. We had five questions uh that we responded to from our February 4th meeting. The first question was, "What is the latest uh on the Rosland Park pedestrian bridge? If the artistic cladding is not approved by late spring, will you consider moving forward with the construction without it?" And our response is that the project will go out for bids in late February, early March. Alternate bids will be collected, and that's uh very common in in our larger infrastructure projects. Clatting is one of those alternative bids. alternate bids constructions planned for 2026 with or without cladding based on discussions with the council uh related to bids and budgets. Second question is what is the latest on the agreement between the city and the department of justice regarding the Grand View pedestrian bridge? Uh when might construction begin on those improvements? Staff have been developing accessible ramp options that meet the requirements stated by the Department of Justice. engineering and and legal staff from the city has met with the DOG repres representatives on site in December and discussed possible solutions. Uh the options and cost estimates will be completed in the ne in the upcoming weeks. Uh city attorney will re-engage with the DOJ at that time uh to discuss next uh step options and we're looking at a a close session meeting with council on March 3rd is when we've tenatively have that calendar. uh will you consider a separation ordinance? And uh this was also from the February 4th meeting. And our response was that cities uh do not have legal authority to regulate or limit federal immigration enforcement. Adopting a separation ordinance might not be enforceable and could expose the city to legal and financial risk without changing federal actions. At the at the February 4th meeting, the city council approved a resolution affirming community values amid immigration enforcement operations. and the city has a clear uh police policy in place. The Adina police do not enforce federal immigration law and focus on protecting and serving community regardless of immigration status. This approach allows the city to clearly state its values, maintain public safety and trust, and operate within the legal authority uh while avoiding actions that could create unintended consequences or confusion about the city's role. Uh the next question was will the city consider uh supporting a call for the state to issue an eviction moratorum? Uh the city council uh carefully considered whether to call for a stateisssued eviction moratorum and ultimately chose not to due to several significant risks identified through past practice uh most notably through the CO 19 era including unintended harm to housing providers, risk of long-term housing loss overall and lack of targeted relief since moratoria can delay evictions even for households that have the ability to pay. Instead, the council uh approved a resolution urging the state of Minnesota to swiftly approve emergency rental assistance funding in response to Operation Metro Surge. This approach provides a more balanced approach to housing stability for impacted residents while ensuring housing providers can continue operating and maintaining safe and stable housing. The ne final question is what is the funding for the pedestrian uh what is the what is the funding for the pedestrian cyclist safety uh fund for the next 5 years and does it increase with inflation? In 2025, you may recall that the PAX fund received 1.72 million in revenue from utility franchise fees. In 2025, the city switched from a flat rate model to a fixed percentage of for utility franchise fees. revenues uh do not increase with inflation but do vary with the rates of utility consumption, gas and and electric and charges their customers are based on annual consumption. For planning purposes, staff has assumed that the ne the same annual revenue or approximately 8.6 million in total revenue for the next five years. That's it. >> All right, good. That prompt any questions or comments from council members? All right, thanks for that update. Uh we'll move on now to the uh next portion of the agenda which is the uh adoption of the consent agenda. And we have um I think member Richard, did you get your issues worked out with the clerk on the minutes? So do you have >> uh Yes. However, I do want to talk about that. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And that's final. So we'll pull that one. That's the regular meeting on February 4th. >> Yes. >> Okay. And then uh member Jackson wanted to pull the uh item 6.18 and that is the 2026 proposed commission appointments. >> Yes. >> So we'll pull those two. Anything else that uh council members wish to pull from the consent agenda? All right. Uh then with the exception of item 6.1 as it relates to the regular meeting minutes of February 4th, 2026 and uh item 6.18. Is there a motion to approve the balance of the items on the consent agenda in a single motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Member Jackson moves. Member Pierce seconds the adoption of the items on the consent agenda in a single motion with the exception of items 6.1 regular meeting minutes February 4, 2026 and 6.18. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of the motion as stated say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Carried. >> Those items on the consent agenda are approved. I'm going to turn now to Member Risser with respect to her uh comments relative to the proposed draft of the minutes of the regular meeting on February 4th, 2026. Member Risser. >> Thank you. U this concerns the summary of item 8.1. In the minutes, it says, "The council expressed concerns regarding the parking spaces in front of the driveway to the private garage and worries that it violates this um city statute." Um what I think is important to underscore is that it's it's not about city statute. it. And what I would like it to read is the council expressed concerns that the parking spaces in front of the driveway to the private garage violates Minnesota statute and I have that 169.34. Additionally, um, however, Edina City Code section 26-35 conflicts with state statute, this very state statute 169.34 by creating a loophole that allows parking spaces in front of driveways that front onto parking lots. And so, I I think it's important to understand that our city code is in conflict with our state statute. and I apologize, however, because you don't have this formal rewritten statement in front of you tonight. And so I wonder if perhaps we could table approval of the February 4th minutes so that we could include that at our next meeting. >> Yeah, we could certainly do that. Would you care to make that motion? >> Um, so moved. >> Is there a second? >> A second. All right, we got a second by member Agnu to and a motion by member Risser to table the minutes from the regular meeting on February 4th, 2026 to the next meeting of the Dino City Council, which is what's that date, March 3rd, 2026. All right. Any further discussion? All those in favor of uh tableabling the regular meeting minutes uh for February 4th, 2026 to the next regular city council meeting say I. >> I opposed. Carried. >> Uh now we're going to turn to matter 6.18 which is uh the proposed uh commission appointments uh for this year for this coming year. A lot of good work was done by these council members all sitting here interviewing uh people that were wanting to serve their town in various capacities on various types of boards and commissions. Wonderful array of uh candidates and um uh those selections have been made uh by the council and I'm going to turn now to member Jackson to walk us through that. >> Great. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. First, I want to thank Chair Corey Lukans and chair Tommy um Hansen Eperson. I I'm sorry um for sitting in on the interviews with us and helping out. Um they were did a great job and they're we're really lucky to have them as committee commission chairs here in our city. With that, everybody we interviewed was qualified. Um it was a difficult decision and but we made our decision including adding some alternates. So I'm going to read off their names. I won't read their commissions. Um but I want to thank everybody who applied. Uh it's a wonderful way to give back to our city and we're just so proud of the number of people who st stand up and and offer their time and talents for our city. So with that, our appointees are Crudy Shukla, Shandis Parish, Steven Shima, Natalie Buden, Chris Olsen, Amber Ko, Phil Baker, Alex Conmius, Joe Brennan, Laura Lukans, Taylor Brunswine, Jake Vanderelist, and Scott Davidson. And our alternates are Neil Gammire, Patrick Gage, Scott Rodie, Justin Rezac, and Rachel Rosen. So, congratulations everybody, and thank you so much for serving our city. >> All right, member Jackson, would you care to move that slate of uh appointees for appointment to the commission members, appointment to the various commissions that they're uh that they've applied for that we've approved. >> So, moved. Second. Right. >> We got a motion and a second. Uh is a tiebreaker there. All right, >> member. >> Defer to member Agnu for the second uh on the appointment of the uh various citizens in our community to the uh to a variety of boards and commissions. And so the motion is to approve the 2026 commission appointments of the commission members named by uh member Jackson to the various commissions uh in the memo itself. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of of the recommendation of the council for the 2026 commission appointment say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Carried. Those commission appointments are made. And thanks to those folks for serving. Thanks everybody for interviewing. Uh really uh almost an embarrassment of riches in our town in terms of the people that apply all so qualified and so willing to serve. It's really a wonderful thing to see. All right. Um, now we're going to move on to another portion of the agenda, which is the special recognitions and presentations portion of the agenda. The first matter we have there before a citizen award presentation uh is a proclamation uh designating February 18th, 2026 as school bus driver appreciation day in the city of Adina. And that uh that proclamation reads as follows. Whereas school bus drivers in the city of Vidina safely transport our community's children to and from school and activities each day, often in challenging weather and traffic conditions. And whereas these professional drivers are entrusted with the safety and well-being of dozens of students on every route, providing a reliable, welcoming presence that often begins and ends a student school day. And whereas school bus drivers are essential partners in our local education system, helping ensure that all students can access learning opportunities regardless of their family's schedule, distance from school, or transportation resources. And whereas students are significantly safer riding in a school bus than in a passenger vehicle thanks to rigorous safety standards, professional training, and ongoing student safety education. And whereas school bus transportation is a vital part of our community's infrastructure and the largest form of mass transit in Minnesota, supporting families, schools, and employers every day. And whereas the city of Vina wishes to recognize and thank our school bus drivers for their dedication, their professionalism, and their commitment to our students safety. Now therefore, the city council of the city of Vina does hereby proclaim February 18th, 2026 as school bus driver appreciation day in the city of Vina and encourages all residents, schools, and families to join in expressing appreciation to our school bus drivers for their important work. Uh is there a motion to adopt a proclamation? >> So moved. >> A second. >> Member Jackson moves. Member Agnu seconds the adoption of the proclamation designating February 18th, 2026 as school bus driver appreciation day in the city of Vida. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of the proclamation as stated, say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Carried. The proclamation's adopted. We don't have anybody here to accept the proclamation. They're probably already in bed getting ready for the morning shift. So, uh, 5:00 a.m. In fact, I think some of us were invited to. They said, "What? Come on over and celebrate with us." We said, "Well, what time?" They said, "Well, 5 to 9." I said, you know, not not 5 to 9, but 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. And we thought, "Well, I don't know if that's going to work. I can't be there for 4 hours. There's other things going on. So anyway, uh congratulations to all those great school bus drivers we have in Edina and uh hopefully try to get over and visit him some morning. Um and now we've got a citizen award presentation. Is it chief here or Oh, >> Jake's >> Jake's going to do it. All right. Lieutenant Hecker's going to do it. >> Mr. Mayor, councel, uh today we're here to award a citizens award to Chris Hansen. O invite him to come up front. >> Good evening. >> How you doing? >> Good. Good. >> Got some people here. >> Yeah. People from his organization. >> Your peeps are here. >> Yep. >> Invite us. It's a It's a whole organization award. Take a picture, Bren. >> Mike, come on, buddy. >> Yeah, there is. Come huddle around. >> A couple pounds. >> If the awardee wants you up there, you better come up. >> Yes. So, tonight we're here to present a citizens award to Chris Hansen. In April of 2012, Chris suffered a life-changing accident that resulted in a traumatic brain injury. After a long and difficult recovery, he found strength through resilience, faith, and time spent fishing. time that helped him heal both physically and mentally. Inspired by those who supported him, particularly the veterans, first responders, and medical professionals, Chris dedicated himself to giving back. While balancing a full-time career, he founded the nonprofit organization Time on the Water. Recognizing the critical impact mental health has on first responders. Through guided fishing trips, time on the water provides first responders the opportunity to step away from career stressors, reconnect with another, and find therapeutic healing. These trips, fully equipped with gear, meals, guides, and lodging, are made possible through Chris's tireless tireless fundraising and planning. Time on the water has created meaningful life-changing experiences for countless heroes, including Adina police officers who have found renewed camaraderie, reflection, and support while spending time on Lake of the Woods. For his compassion and unwavering commitment to those who protect and serve the community, we are proud to present the Citizens Award to Chris Hansen. >> Yeah. Awesome. How about that? [applause] >> [applause] >> Chris, hold on a minute. We'd like to have some comments from you. We hear more about this therapeutic fishing uh idea that you had and then we're going to come down with you and your whole crew and have a photo taken, too. So, >> awesome. Thank you. >> Yeah, let's uh tell us a little bit about the organization. >> So, we it started out with just me um back in 2014. I took one person up and that turned into 2015 and I was uninsured and borrowing money and taking my own money and my wife is back. She is you [laughter] didn't make it to the NHL and you're not going to be a pro fisherman. So, we need to figure this out a different way. So, uh Kim and uh one of my friends uh we put an idea together. Maybe this needs to be a nonprofit. So, that was in 2016 that we got our nonprofit status and then begging, borrowing, stealing, begging for money all every day. It's 12 months a year and we hit our 502nd guest uh last year. So, we do small intimate trips. They're meant for people to get space and time so they can think through things like like I I have post-traumatic stress from my accident. And uh I think I had it before because I have a real estate business. That's what I do for a living. But anyways, it just it gets me clear and uh so I can come back and um and be better for my clients, my wife, my dogs, just better as a as a whole. Um but these trips are made for for people to get some separation. Um we see a number of times where we tell everybody that comes up on the trip, there's going to be a part of the trip where you're going to see a guy down on the dock or someone by themselves or thinking through something. And that happens every trip. Um we've got some American Legion riders here. We've got uh some Navy Navy veterans. We've got I think we've got every a Marine my board members. He's Iraq vet, Vietnam vet. Um all kinds of different uh faces that belong in water group. So we supply everything. We've got about 30 uh volunteer boat captains that help us through every trip. So we start in Maine, we go till October. So last year we did 16 trips. >> That was too many. >> Yeah. And you different different lake different lakes? >> Nope. We only fish Lake of the Woods out of Sunseros, Ontario. It's a lake I've been fishing. This is my 41st season going up there. Um the lodge is uh that we go through. Um we we lease part of we lease part of the lodge, so we're there all season. All of our equipment stays up there and then we rent cabins for each of the veterans and the first responders that come up. So they they all have their own place to stay. It's not camping. I can promise you that. So everybody has uh we do buffet breakfast, buffet dinner, we do a shore lunch one of the days where we catch where we eat what we catch. Um the last night we do um the lodge does a fish fry for the whole camp. So it's just everybody gets a chance to kind of connect to each other, but we try to keep the trips in groups like this trip with Edina and uh Eden Prairie. Those guys all know each other through working together through SWAT and I know Brandon uh and um Nate, they grew up together. So that that's how they connected. And how I met those guys is I was showing houses in Eden Prairie one day and there was somebody breaking into open houses. >> No. Anyways, I was all I had a car that was wrapped with Homes for Heroes and my real estate stuff. I'm not shy. But the car a cop car pulled up to me with his lights on and it was someone I'm like I didn't do anything. I was just sitting here. But I got out of the car to give him a brochure and I thought, "No, I better get back in the car." Um the guy came up to me. I gave him a brochure and that got to Nate back in Nate, what did we talk about? 2018. >> Yeah. And then so 2019 this uh these trips started and it's been a great relationship. So we've been trying to get as many of these guys up as we can as a thank you and to give them some time and space. >> Yeah. >> Cuz I think their jobs a little bit more stressful than real estate, but not that much. [laughter] >> It's a It's a great It's a great story therapy. So we're going to come down. We can all come up here and turn that way and we're going to get a photo with you guys. >> Awesome. >> [laughter] >> Oh, you got something. Oh, I forgot donation packets. on that chair back there. >> Thanks everybody. [applause] >> [applause] >> Oh, >> oh, well, two years ago we had a Vietnam vet come out and was actually talking about his situation. >> Yeah. Thank you. on right there. >> All right. Thank you. [laughter] >> Got very successful. Well, that was quite a great experience and what a a wonderful idea and uh I hope it uh I hope it I hope it prospers continues to prosper. It's well worth it. It was nice to be able to given him an award. So, that completes the special recognitions and presentations portion of the agenda. Let's move now on to reports and recommendations. Uh that portion of the agenda involves a few matters that we need to work on tonight. And the first one there is a proposed ordinance that amends our uh our so-called tree ordinance dealing with tree protection. And uh Perry Veter, our park and rec director has this matter and maybe Dave Kendall has part of it as well. So director Veter, welcome. >> Thank you, mayor, members of the council. I'll do the introduction um of this item for you tonight. And our initial request for you tonight is to grant the first reading of this ordinance. As you know, uh the city's had a tree protection ordinance uh for, you know, a little over uh a decade and a half. In 2023, you made some substantial changes uh to that ordinance that took effect on January 1st of 2023. Uh so this evening we have brought back some technical some legal and some operational changes to the existing ordinance for you for your review. Um I'll highlight some of the um aspects of that this evening and just point out that in your packet we do have a compare and contrast document that was prepared uh for ease of use as this has been a lot of changes and a lot of the technical pieces was a reordering hopefully for improved readability. Uh some of the issues that um are in the proposed for adoption are repealing the true ordinance from chapter 10, the buildings and building regulation section of city code and amending that into chapter 30 for vegetation where vegetation would then house all the tree protection requirements. An additional change that has been discussed was that this ordinance will now be effective for all zoning districts rather than prior of just R1 and R2. There are a lot of definitions in the ordinance um that were added for common understanding for both the city and the permit holder. And I do understand with our new um move towards the accessibility documents that we do have a um one section under I believe final inspection that when you look at the compare and contrast document this evening it is correct but in the section of the ordinance it still has some duplicative text. So we will work on that change as well moving forward. Uh, one of the pieces also that um the council gave us feedback on was for requirements of the tree replacement we previously had where it would be a one to one. So if you removed a coniferous tree, you'd replace it with coniferous or a deciduous with deciduous. Um there now was an allowance up to 20% to further diversify uh the tree plantings. Uh there are exemptions for replanting requirements on built lot including situations where existing trees may pose damage to foundations, sidewalks, driveways, um as confirmed by a certified professional. And there is also an allowance that the city engineer can make some allowances in the case of certain easements on a property. Uh, one of the biggest changes in the ordinance as well is the creation of an off-site planting mitigation um, opportunity where that radiates out radiates outward from the um, property in um, under development and goes along that to try to get replacement trees as close to the impacted property as possible. Um, so those are kind of the maybe the core changes that we do have presented for you this evening. Uh there has been a lot of staff involved in this looking at it from all different departments from administration, community development, uh parks and forestry department, energy engineering and sustainability and even our buildings division. Uh this did pro uh get some impact from the energy environment commission. Um as you know, they've been um kind of a lead in this area for the community. Uh we've kind of factored in the feedback that we've gotten along from the city council along this journey. And then obviously a major portion of this was a legal review with the city attorney and uh city attorney staff. Uh so our ask this evening is we would be able to stand for any questions whether um any of the um staff members here can answer those tonight but that you grant us first reading. >> Yeah. Thank you Director Veter. Questions for director Veter comments. Council member Jackson. >> Yes. Thank you Mr. Mayor. So, um, first of all, before we talk about the tree ordinance, when is the spring tree sale going to be paid money to buy the trees and we want to tell the public to go out and buy those trees? And, uh, >> you know, Council Member Jackson, I actually had that and I forgot to say it in my introduction was thank you again for on the consent agenda. Um, the city council did approve our annual tree sale and that will be 250 trees this spring. So, we'll be getting that information out shortly and then we will have another 250 trees for sale again this fall. So, we kind of always do a spring and a fall um where we get half out in the beginning of the year and half out in the latter half. >> So, selfishly, I want to know the date. [laughter] >> Okay. We got some staff here that's probably going to work on that behind me. So, >> Okay. All right. So, you don't have the date yet? >> Okay. In March. We'll we'll learn in March. Okay. Gota gonna be first in line this year. plenty of advanced notice. >> Okay. So, to the ordinance, um did the EEC give you any feedback that varies from um from what you presented this evening? >> Uh Mayor, Council Member Jackson, um they did not. Um what they did also is looked at the substantive changes that we brought to you at the last work session and really um a lot of their work was confirming the priorities that we had in here which was more about protection of existing trees and then creating that avenue for replacement and replacement as close to the subject property as possible. um really understanding that their parties are also still on as well as staff on heritage trees um as well and truly trying to protect those in our community and ensuring that what this ordinance really tries to do is ensure we still have that neighborhood character of trees within and not to create that off-ramp I guess you'd say where we had in the past which was planting you know not in neighborhoods but try to find a further away offsite maybe like in a city park or something creating that various disconnect from subject property to where eventual trees were. >> Okay. Thank you. And I know the transportation commission a couple of years ago looked at um boulevard trees. Uh do you remember what the outcome of that was of that discussion? >> I do not, Council Member Jackson, but we can gather information for you. Um >> I think that's separate from what the ordinance would be, but we did get some comments from the public saying, "How about Boulevard trees?" And I think it had to do with street repair or um I don't remember but I if you could send us back just let us know what the status of that where we ended that that'd be great. >> We'll definitely check in with the leazison for the transportation commission. >> And so and I want to thank everybody who worked on this. It's the canopy is a shared resource and individual property owners look at it and are like, well, this is hurting. I I can't plant all these trees or I can't I don't want to have to pay for this and everything, but they're taking something when a when one of these protected or heritage trees comes down, they're taking something away from the character and quality of our city as a whole. So to me that's really helpful to look at that it's our job through this ordinance to protect that canopy. Um and and I really appreciate all the time and effort that so many staff members have done working on this and I think these are good um changes. Thank you. >> U >> I have two concerns. One I've had for a long time. It goes back to the first time I heard about this tree ordinance. And um I I don't know how to solve this, but I just want to put this out there. What it really does is it focuses on existing trees, and that makes sense. However, if your property has um you know, maybe four trees and you've got a fifth of an acre or something like that, that's a lot of trees. And so, you know, you want to take down one and it's a healthy tree. then you need to introduce more trees. And it to me kind of makes me think of the classic Disney Sorcerer Apprentice um video with Mickey and the you know brooms all you know going everywhere. And so uh part of what I'm hearing from the public is we get that we want to protect the trees. However, there is only so much that a homeowner who already has trees can do. And so if you have trees, you become responsible and and I understand that. But at the same time, homes that don't have any trees or properties that have no trees don't have to do anything. And so part of the issue, I think, is trying to figure out how to not just maintain the tree canopy, but to spread it. And I know in the southeast quadrant, we do have, you know, this very meager tree canopy. And one of the things I was thinking about, you know, goes back to what member Jackson was mentioning with boulevard trees and how can we really try to make an environment in which there is a boulevard that could actually support a tree. And here I think some of the things that we're doing um to encourage projects and development and really get those through, you know, doing really sort of, you know, large setback variances. I think of V44 and they were allowed an easement into the public right ofway. And so you've got railings coming down into the public rightway. You've got planter beds, you know, right up near the patio. And that meant there was less room for a broader sidewalk or, you know, less room for a boulevard. And so I I feel like we've been doing creative um development now for at least 10 years where there are large setback variances and that is very beneficial for launching those projects. But it kind of I think comes at a cost for getting trees in areas where we really desperately need them. And so I want to just put that out there like what can we do to spread the canopy and maybe there could be something written that would require reflection on what you know a development that goes way beyond the legal build buildable area. How is that impacting open spaces? So there's that. You know, also thinking of PUDS and our design guidelines, you know, carving up parcels into four quadrants. And then you've got streets northeast and southwest that have to go in. Um but those are kind of um again very creative. You don't have to take away that space the street occupies when you're calculating how big the building can be. So that's another really creative element of our process that I think really reduces the amount of green space. So I would hope that this is not just the the end, you know, because if we're going to spread the tree canopy, we need to do some fundamental changes to the way that we're doing things to create that green space. So that's my concern. And I don't know what to do about um you know it just it feels like the homeowners who have the trees end up shouldering so much of the burden and I know we've done things to make it more feasible but I I just kind of am you know running up and I know that's that's the issue. So I have no answer but I wanted to raise that because I'm hearing that from residents. Thank you. >> Thank you member Russer. Member >> thank you. Uh could you please walk me through what the user experience would be for a homeowner under this new ordinance? So say I'm I want to take down a tree in my yard. What do I do? What's the process? >> I will do my best. Um and I will do my best. Council member just the realization that I do not do this portion of it. So um we're going to go down this journey together. Um and the um the piece of it if you did have the compare and contrast document um is really it's going to start when the applicant comes in and the type of building permit that they are applying for is going to trigger whether or not this um tree protection ordinance applies to their project or not. So um that's really going to be the the first step, right? And it it would apply if it's a project over a certain value. Um if it's under a certain value um or different types of uh projects, it would not apply. But the first piece of it is the reflection of a tree survey. And that is going to be existing trees over a certain diameter that are defined in the ordinance, whether or not they are a protected tree, whether or not they are a heritage tree. And then what are the impacts to those trees by the proposed type of construction you're going to do on your property? Um whether that's an addition, whether that's um other amenities that you're adding to to your property. Um and what those are impacted. So with that, there's a calculation of the protected tree is at a 75% value and a heritage tree is at a 100% value of those inches. um inches. Let me refphra um inches for a deciduous and it's going to go by feet for coniferous. It's just the way that this ordinance and we want to measure trees, right? Um with that you will get a count of either um feet replacement or inch replacement. Um that will go towards your estimated escrow that you will provide to the city. Um and then through that way there's a lot of plan review back and forth with our forestry team and the applicant team about um their submittals whether or not they have a certified arborist involved or not. Um an ar arborist may say or a certified professional that um what would be new in this ordinance is this tree we need to remove it whether we did this development or not because it's impacting the foundation of the house or it is impacting the current driveway. Right? So, some of those exemptions would um come out of those inches or feet calculations, others may not. Um, with that, then you're going to have a value of the amount that you need to replace on your property. Um, for that escrow is either you can get a um quote from a landscaper that says they're going to provide you those trees at that dollar amount. that could be considered the escrow or you can go through the DBH calculation of the price per inch which is written in the ordinance um and then you deposit that in the escrow. Um, as you would go through your construction, um, if you final your project, you get 50% of your escrow back at that time. You need to fill out the forms and ask for that to be released. And then, um, it would happen again at 12 months, right? Because our staff wants to verify that the health of the trees are there or you've had time to, um, replace them under warranty or however that would matter. Um and then at that point if everything um matches up, your request for escro release is done, the escro is returned back to that applicant. Um what's new in this ordinance now is if you feel again like we had talked about um I don't have room on my property or I don't want as many trees on your property because we're trying to protect trees in that neighborhood maintain that neighborhood character. um there starts to be options for um alternate ways that you can mitigate that tree replacement whether it's not on your property and go on neighbors property and go within the neighborhood all the way down to um if an applicant exhausts all those um pieces of where people would take that. So there is the opportunity that within this ordinance that people that want trees that do not have trees on their property can create a relationship with that developer to get trees onto those properties. Right. um all we ask is that we get um authorization to make sure we can inspect them and to make sure that they're healthy. Um the arrangement between two property owners can be between them. So we've kind of created this opportunity to say if you can't put it on your property, you can start to radiate out from that parcel. >> That's a very general I'm not the expert, but we can have experts back next meeting. No, I I think you really helped in just kind of giving me that story side of it or or thinking through what will our residents experience. Um, so one of the first things that you said um was if there is a permit that they're seeking um and they I guess like in some way indicate that like trees will be removed as a part of that process. Um, I'm curious, does that then by limiting it to only projects where there's a permit required leave too much scope where we as a city don't have the ability to help protect our tree canopy? I understand what you're asking, Council Member Agnu, and I think you're on to it because if you are not pulling a permit, you have the autonomy to remove trees on your property right now, and this ordinance would not prevent that. Um, if that is something the council wished us to study and look at, we could look at that. We are not recommending it at this time. So, I think what you're saying is could someone just remove all the trees from their property? They could. Um, that would be their choice. Um, what this does is any building permit over a $100,000 valuation or new home construction over $500,000 requires this tree permit. That also lines up with some of our um affordable housing pieces. So, we're not requiring this if you're falling under that affordable housing metric. Um, but you are correct. Nothing requires a resident to pull a permit to remove trees on their property right now. Nor would this unless the catalyst was building development. C >> could I just add to that a little bit? >> I would love if he would. [laughter] So, it does talk about the different types of permits that this addresses and it's quite a number of different permits. It's grading permits, demolition permits, building permits, uh, and subdivision applications. So, and there's also a look back period to determine if people have removed trees in a certain period leading up to that application. So, it it really curtails a lot of the potential dangers of people just clear cutting trees and then not having to replace them under this ordinance. It addresses a lot of those situations. Um, you know, the fact is you kind of have to draw a line somewhere and we've tried to draw a line in a reasonable place where it really tries to catch a lot of the common problems that a dino was experiencing with people removing a lot of their trees from their lots in a redevelopment situation. This is really designed to capture that. It doesn't capture everything because that would be very difficult, but it captures um the main problems that Adina was experiencing and that's what we've tried to go for. Is there a reason that you would recommend against trying to capture every situation in which trees would be removed? >> Yeah, I think it would be pretty impractical. I mean, you'd have to do a tree survey of the entire city and then anytime anyone went out and cut down one single tree, you would have to pursue that as a potential ordinance violation. And it just becomes pretty limiting on people's property rights. you know, people expect a certain amount of freedom to do what they want to with their properties when they're not applying for various permits of this nature. So, uh, that's where we've tried to draw the line. It would be possible to try to go further, but it would become more difficult and people would probably have more concerns about infringement on their property rights. >> Thank you. I know that when we reviewed this back in Septe previously when we previously talked about it um I had indicated a desire to see an appeal process um for if I think we'd had some examples right where um there was just a lot of costs that were potentially being put into escrow um and wanting to at least open the door for an appeal either to a commission, construction board of appeals, whatever it might be, or to the council. Um, was that discussed and why is it not included in this as we're reviewing it now? >> Thank you, Council Member Regu. We did discuss that and we did look at some sort of appeals process within this um which was the outpouring of I'll get to why we didn't recommend it, but was the um on-site and then off-site mitigation strategy. So, it still got the um hopefully the same amount of tree inches or tree feet replaced nearest to that property. When we did look at the um appeals process, if we want to call it that for today, what we were very concerned about was that we could not define it based on you know the soils type, if it would recommend or not recommend because certain trees do well in sand, some will do in clay, some will do in pey soils. Um, so we really felt that if we had some sort of variance for that, it would be extremely arbitrary. And I think what we really wanted to caution about was to remove all the arbitrary items from this really is try to make it as technical and precise and operational for staff and for the applicant to try to create that avenue. So what was the outpouring of not recommending of an appeal process was the creation of off-site plantings. Thank you. Okay, my last question. Um, is there a way that we can make this data available to residents? And the use case that I'm thinking of is I know we've had some people come into community comment and they're really upset about big, beautiful trees that are cut down in their neighborhoods. Is there a way that we can expose that on our city website of, you know, yes, this big beautiful tree was cut down and this is the plan of mitigation to show neighbors that they are still aligning to the tree ordinance policy that we have in place because right now I I think that we just kind of field those questions. Um, but I think giving better visibility to neighbors because I I think this is one of those things that's very visual, right? You notice it when you're driving home. I noticed it one night. I was leaving a city council meeting and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, those huge two beautiful trees. Like, they're gone. Did they follow the process?" Um, which I can just email Scott. Um, and well, anyone I guess could too, but I'm sure that Scott doesn't want to field all of those questions. >> Oh, no, I do. So that's where I'm thinking about like if this is information that we could make more available that might be might be helpful for neighbors. >> We can discuss that council member about how we could go through that process and I think as long as there is a permit there is some public data around that. Um but it may not entail some of the other examples where you know someone may be removing trees because of their health right or impacts or you know um other issues that they're having on their property. But we can discuss if it's part of a application or building permit about how to make some visibility on that. >> Yeah. And I think even when it is a part of a um a new construction is the example I often think of. I know that there are some cases where a tree is removed and it had health concerns. I think giving visibility into like this one is falling out of the the ordinance because of those health concerns and this is what the required mitigation is for the remaining healthy trees as an example. And Council Reg, we also have a number of trees that may be on a person's property that are not do not count towards protect their heritage. You know, some of the undesirable or invasive species as well that people may not know what they were, but they know they're gone. I think in what you're stating, >> thank you, >> Council Member Pierce. >> Uh, thanks, Mr. Mayor. Um, I just a couple of comments. I have not liked this since we've been looking at the changes. Um I still don't, but I'm not sure what to do about that. Um I definitely like everyone want we want to protect the tree canopy. And so I get that. Um, with the ordinance that focuses on remodel and new build or new construction, um, I just feel like it, um, disadvantages others in the community. Um, when we try to then go further than that, um, I I just struggle with that. Uh, because at the the end of the day, if it's not even if it's new construction, but I I get new construction, right? If there's a lot, there's trees on it, nothing's ever been built there. I actually think it makes sense for us to um permit gets pulled, right? We look at protecting the trees. That one makes sense to me. Um but that's the only one that makes sense to me. So remodel or any other variation of that, I just don't think it's my business to tell a property owner what to do with their trees. Um, and so if a property owner wants to cut trees on their lot, then they have the right to cut trees on their lot. And so I say that because I think if we're really focused on trying to save the trees, then I still believe our focus ought to be helping people understand awareness of why it's important. um having some kind of a um HOA kind of a concept where right if you own a home in Edina or a portion of your property taxes go to protecting these trees and this is the process we're using to do that and the city is managing where those trees get planted right everything gets tagged right um and that's how it and you do a survey like you said, citywide. Um, but we're never going to do that, right? That's not what we're trying to accomplish. And so I just I struggle with it. um because of the property rights issue. Um and just believe while we I feel like we we're going to continue to have this conversation as we try to tweak and find a a right way to kind of thread that needle and I understand that. Um but I my position's probably going to always be the same. I just I don't like it uh for those reasons. I like the new build. I don't like the remodel one. Um I think if you own the home after maybe after a certain point, you can do whatever you want to do on your property um barring right legal right activity. Um, and so I, yeah, I I don't know how to address these challenges, uh, but I think we're going to continue to struggle with, uh, how to thread that needle. [cough] >> Thank you, member Pierce. Uh, back to member Jackson. >> Yes, thank you. I thought of a question that I've forgot to ask you. Um, I've heard of people who want to plant a specific kind of tree and for some reason they can't find it in the size that the ordinance requires. Would it be what would the process be if they bought a smaller version of that tree and then the tree grew? Um, is it can they get their money back when the tree reaches the size that it was supposed to be when it was planted or the height? Um, how would that work if you plant a substandard tree? >> Yes, Council Member Jackson, that would be one avenue that someone had would just be to wait on the 50% of escrow release until the tree reached the minimum maturity. >> Okay. So if I wanted to plant a 2inch tree, I wait till it gets to be 4 in. Then >> terrific. Okay. Thank you. I >> think that's what happened over on Dakota Trail, wasn't it? Some of the cluster trees over there, they weren't uh they didn't measure quite properly. They were there were two standards of measurements. I guess their standard and the standard that our arborist is proposing and but they must have grown to the point from a from a diameter standpoint where they got their money back maybe a year later. >> That is correct, mayor. Those trees did reach maturity. >> Okay. And I know we don't have, we've talked about this in the past, we don't have many undeveloped lots left. Some of them have more severe grade implications than others, I think. And so that was the problem on Dakota Trail, too, was that to get the house built on the pad, they had to clear back and have a retaining wall. And that took some trees down. They required [snorts] a greater number of trees on a on less space basically. And and I don't know if that if this ordinance solves that problem or not. >> Yes, mayor. That was one of the unintended consequences I think of initial adoption was it did not well there aren't many left. There are still lots that are undeveloped that have never had a principal structure on it. So that was some of the technical changes we made. I think these are all blending together. um I believe in 2024 um that we made to ensure that this ordinance and that language still is um captured within this is that a unbuilt undeveloped lot still has those allowances as we intended um prior to that but weren't in that initial 2023 version they remain in the ordinance now. >> Okay. >> All right. I think you know what happened when we when we initially adopted the ordinance was that we ran into some fact situations that we never anticipated. I'm wondering do we have people sitting now with money in escrow that are also part of a factual scenario that we didn't anticipate that isn't covered by this ordinance? >> That's mayor that's a hard question to answer right now but we can have our staff look into which permits are still in the queue which ones are applied for which ones are under review um and have that information. What this does do though hopefully is creates another avenue for people to um look at their planting. It also gives people a um two opportunities, two different opportunities on how um escrow would be collected as well. >> Yeah, it'd be nice to know that before a second reading I think or when we come back to discuss it assuming it passes tonight. Um, >> mayor, I I I don't have the technical expertise that staff does on this issue, but from the legal side, I can just say that this is designed to kind of any existing escrow is it's moved over and applies to the to the extent this is different, which is very similar, but it applies to the new ordinance. And so if there's any trueing up that has to happen between what was existing under the previous ordinance and escro that's held under those standards and the new ordinance, then the new standards would apply and any escrow would be returned if it should not have been collected or could not be held under the new standards. >> Okay, that's good to know. Um, the other thing we talked about, I don't know, I don't think this addresses it from looking through the proposed form of ordinance, is that we might think about having a cap on the on the amount of escro that you'd have at at risk. And I I I have no sense of what that cap might be, but it seemed to me like we had some people that had $150,000 tied up in escrow. And didn't seem to me that that was necessary to motivate them to to do what we wanted them to do. That something less than that would have been appropriate. You know, maybe half. I don't know. I don't know. Council member Jackson, >> I'll just like to remind you that in my neighborhood, there's some houses that have six heritage oak trees on them and that would be well over $100,000 if they were to clearcut that lot. And and I've seen that happen. A lot that had six oak trees clearcut. And um yeah, that's what we're trying to prevent. >> Yeah, there could that's another point there. Maybe there's a distinction between protected trees and heritage trees. >> Yeah. Um >> but you could easily any one of these lots you could get way over $100,000 um if they wanted to clear cut it >> in in the case of a tear down rebuild. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Mayor [snorts] Mayor, I do believe that some of those calculations were because we did not have that allowance for an undeveloped lot. >> Okay. >> So a lot of those initially were falling under um they were not given any allowance for building pad driveway um approach or anything like that. So that technical change that was made initially to ensure that an undeveloped lot had those allowances um would have gone to help reduce those escros now and in the future. So that was a big pinch point on the prior version was not recognizing or not allowing for an undeveloped lot coming in. >> Well, you know to member Jackson's point I mean you think about all the variations on theme that could occur. you know, uh, if those four heritage trees were in a place on the property where they didn't, the only purpose they served in being taken down was to accommodate the builder's ease of construction of the new house. That's one thing. if they had to come down because the footprint of the house was going to be where those oak trees were. That could be another factual scenario because I remember seeing that years ago up in Morningside, they they clearcut a lot and they took down four big trees at the back of a lot that had nothing to do with where the house went. >> They just it just was easier for them to do their work on the site. So, they go in there and destroy the very thing that they they are selling the people on, which is this canopied tree canopied neighborhood. and somebody's moving into a new house with no trees. And so it's it's quite an interesting situation. Um I get the part where we're what we're doing is saying that yeah, if you need something from us, [clears throat] you need a grading permit, you need a demo permit, you need a building permit, uh or you're going to do a subdivision approval request, this is the price you pay. You're subject to the tree ordinance. But this this whole issue of how you get to the rights of property owners, how they intersect with our desires for tree canopy and the private property owners property rights where he would decides he just wants to take down one of his trees because it blocks his sunshine in the morning into his kitchen. There's nothing we can do about that. >> There's not. >> Yeah. And and maybe appropriately so to remember Pierce's point. Yeah. I I just I get that when I'm saying it's really complicated, but if we do care about that tree in that tree canopy, then we actually should try to figure out a way to manage that. But we're really not doing that with this. This is remodel. It's new construction. Um I like the point that you just made. I agree with that. If builder is um new construction or it could be a remodel and they're taking a tree down just because it makes their job easier, we shouldn't allow that. Right? So, there are some things that totally make sense. Um but I just struggle with the when I feel like we're veering into a homeowner's property rights and I'm not sure what to do with that. The the other situation I think you covered this time was that other anomalous factual pattern that we faced up in Morningside which was they took a big tree down and they were going to build a family room and the tree was actually budding I think next to the foundation or had some interference with the foundation but nonetheless the financial uh implications came into play. Do we have that problem solved now so that >> folks don't have to put down 10,000 bucks? >> Yes, mayor. They had to take down a big tree to >> find that. I think it's in section 3210. And that is there's a new provision for uh trees that are posing um damage. If a certified professional attests to that, if it's their current foundation, driveway, other print other structures on the property, uh those would be exempt. So, in that case, mayor, you know, if the the new family room is going where the tree that's going to be impacting, you know, the current foundation wall, that tree would be exempt because it's currently posing a a potential risk to the existing structure. Yeah, I see that's a that's a discretionary call. It looks like under sub part seven. >> Seven. Correct. [snorts] >> Yeah. I'd like that one-year look back period. I think that's important that we didn't have it in there before, which was in section three. Um but where it says forestry staff may wave the mitigation requirement for removal of protected heritage trees on built lots in the following circumstances. Trees posing damage to existing foundation, sidewalks, driveways. trees located in an active easement reason with the future need is identified in a city engineer. Um, that makes sense from a practical standpoint. I'm still not sure that we caught the situation that those folks faced up in Morningside really, as I recall, precluded them or at least challenged them on being able even do the the modest expansion they wanted to make in their house to their house. Well, mayor, I I would just say that this doesn't automatically preclude anyone from doing anything. It just requires potential replacement of trees and you know, the preference is for them to be to be protected or replaced on site, but then it radiates out from there. So, assuming it's otherwise legal according to zoning and all other standards, they wouldn't be prevented from doing something legal. they just be asked to >> try to preserve the trees, replace the trees on site or replace the trees somewhere nearby and then moving out from there. So, this would not prevent any otherwise lawful construction or redevelopment. >> I'll think about that situation up in Morningside between now and second reading. I want to get more information on that and see if we got language in here that covers it. Member Risser, that caused you to think about something. >> Yes. And between now and second reading, it would be really helpful to have a better understanding of just how much time it takes to, you know, if you can't support the required trees to survey your neighborhood, you know, and what exactly does that entail? Are you going door knockocking, you know, how many blocks and all of that. Um, the other thing is I really hear what member Pierce is saying and I think, you know, thinking about where did the trees go if the homeowner can't, you know, find room for them. Could we put emphasis on getting trees along sidewalks and areas where people, you know, more of our commercial area where we really do need those trees. And you know just thinking about it is really a very miserable experience when you are walking to the galleria in August you know or walking to the new Henipin County Library and you know where can we put trees in to really enhance that kind of experience. Also, as I was driving over, I was looking at the boulevards and thinking, okay, along Valley View Road, there's a boulevard you that's a really nice wide boulevard, but it's right underneath the power line, so we can't put them there. But, you know, you turn the the curve and there's open space. Uh, so you could put trees along there and maybe you've got kids walking to school, you know, summer programs. Where are people walking? Where are the places where we really do need that tree canopy? Because It it is miserable walking in the summertime. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Member Jackson. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to differentiate between protecting the existing tree canopy and building a new tree canopy. I mean, that's why we have the tree sale to encourage people to plant trees who want more trees in their yard. And we can through um you know, as we look at commercial redevelopment, encourage people to put in trees. So, that's a separate avenue. This is to protect the trees that we have. Just like we want to preserve existing um naturally occurring affordable housing, we want to protect our tree canopy. And so that we can always encourage people to plant more trees. That's a separate track alto together. This is just to protect what we have. >> No, that's that's accurate. But I think member's point was well taken by her first com her first comments and that is how do we figure out a strategy to get more trees? >> We we did put a thousand in during co with some of the money that we got. Um, which is great. But, um, you know, I'll just I'll give an example of, uh, it's always bothered me that on York and France avenues, those medians are so narrow in the middle that they only accommodate these scrawny trees. And if if this is just an this is a an idea that is floating around in my head is that if if we didn't do the underground passageway and we thought about working with the county on how to get people across a sixlane road at grade safely every let's say between 77th and 66th. that one way you can do it is to get rid of those two inside lanes and you double the size of the median in in the middle to make it safer for people to get across and then you can do some really serious landscaping and turn France Avenue into something that looks spectacular over 40 years. So that's it was a good point that you made. Thanks. Um okay. So um anybody care to make a motion on for first reading basis? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Anybody? Is there a second? >> A second. >> All right. Member Agnes seconds. Uh the motion and the motion is that uh we approve on a first reading basis uh the ordinance amending our tree protection ordinance 2026-04. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of the motion stated, say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. >> Nay. >> You want to go the abstension route or the the nay route? Nay route. Okay. >> Yeah, I'll go the nay route. >> Okay. >> Uh Okay. Um we've got four eyes, one nay, and the uh ordinance is approved on a first reading basis. We'll see it again next session, I guess, next meeting >> hopefully. Thank you. >> Yeah. Okay. Um, on the next matter, which is dealing with lawful gambling, I'm thinking that before we even have our clerk, Sher and Allison go through all the effort that she's thinking about making here, there's been some discussion amongst council members and the mayor about um tableabling this matter for a month because there's some conversations yet to be had in the in the broader community, I think, with the nonprofits and other folks about how how would this work and and would would what we propose doing on a first reading basis? Uh but there need to be some modification of that. And so I think most of us are willing to hear that before we adopt the ordinance. And maybe uh I was thinking a couple weeks might be good, but I think member made a good point that it might take a month to get some of those conversations held with some of the nonprofits and some of the other organizations that are out there. And I don't know if anybody has any objection [clears throat] to that or not or people comfortable with that. >> Yeah. Me, >> can maybe you and or member Agnu give more detail on what we're thinking and why? >> I can provide a little bit of uh I guess uh explanation and and it's only one meeting that I've got scheduled and it's tomorrow by serendipity with the ed fund. Yeah. and the booster club >> and they want to be able to explain why what we propose doing may need may be okay or it may need some modification but they want us to understand what they want to do and manager Neil and I agreed to meet with them tomorrow morning. >> Okay. >> And so I'm expecting that there'll be other groups then that will come forward and say well we'd like to have you hear our view of the world too. And so maybe a month is a good thing. But that's just one example. That's the only one I've that's the only contact I've had so far. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I add >> Yes, thank you. >> Um I think that there were also a couple of questions um that I I kind of posed at the last discussion about it that we haven't yet had an opportunity to to really flesh out >> [clears throat] >> um you know how many nonprofits are potentially within Edina. Um I was speaking to um manager Scott Neil earlier um and we had maybe an estimate but I don't know if that is like the total number of all of the nonprofits that would be eligible under the definitions that we've had of the 70% and all of that. Um, and then I'm also wanting to get an understanding of the um the estimates on revenue because I think that that might influence um how we break out the percentages based off of like what the the city might take or some of those other numbers. >> Good point. >> And so I think it might help inform some of those structural components if we can come to the table with a little more data. >> Both good points. Okay. Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me member, you care to move the tableing in this matter until our meeting um be the second meeting in in March >> March 17th. >> So moved. >> All right. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Jackson second member's motion to table this matter dealing with lawful gambling until the 17th of March meeting of the Adina City Council. Any further discussion? [clears throat] >> Member Risser. I just want to make sure that since we're extending this, we have a way to communicate that to, you know, all different groups that might be interested in it. And I'm not really sure how that's going to happen. >> Um, so maybe an announcement somehow in the paper on our website. Um, just more clarity. >> Director Ben nodding her head affirmatively. She's think she's already thinking about it. Okay. But it was a good thought, too. Okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of the motion as stated and table this matter until the 17th of March meeting of the city council say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Carried. This matter is tabled until the 17th of March meeting. And um now we've got the ECMO. We've got a potential amendment to the ECMO services agreement. and our fire chief is here to walk us through this um proposed potential change to the agreement. We have All right. Good evening, mayor and council members. Um, I have a update for the council tonight. This would probably normally live on consent agenda, but we thought it was a good opportunity to bring it forth as a discussion topic and get an update on ECMO. Um, the mobile ECMO truck is this vehicle that you see in this picture. It's uh a very large vehicle, basically a surgery center on wheels. Uh, we operate it as in we being the Adana Fire Department operates the vehicle. We meet up with a team of surgeons that perform the ECMO procedure uh which in layman's terms is really heart and lung bypass. Uh this is for sudden onset of cardiac arrest. Uh it is the first vehicle of its kind in the world and uh have some updates on the pilot program and and including uh an amendment to the to the staffing of it. So um today you you first uh heard from me when I started here in 2021 on the job where we were talking about ECMO and this pilot project and and the concept around it. Um we we uh went into an agreement with uh what was the mobile ECMO group at the time. Uh that was for crossstaffing. We used an ambulance cross staff the ECMO vehicle and the first in the world mobile ECMO procedure took place in Edina Minnesota in 2022. Uh that's something we're really proud of. Um there is ECMO in field hospitals in other countries, but this was the first mobile ECMO of its kind. So like any good pilot, it identified it identified successes and failures of the program. Uh Fairview Health Systems took over the contract in 2023. In October of 2024, we advised the the Fairview system and the ECMO team that cross staffing had too big of an impact on our Edina Edina services. Taking another ambulance out of service didn't benefit our residents. And so we started looking at different staffing models. The vehicle lease still continued. That's why it's parked in our in our uh station one right now. Um and we still evaluated different staffing models for that. And that's the update that we have tonight. So, uh, cross staffing created those EDINA challenges. It took members dedicated to EDINA and took them off the streets during this procedure. It was something we were aware of. The impact continued to grow. So, we we moved away from that. Uh, the initial pilot was meant to intercept ambulances uh out on the countryside. There were logistical challenges of that. That's where the the the pilot moved to kind of a hub and spoke model where the University of Minnesota is the hub. They go to other hospitals. Um I explained to manager Neil it's similar to um it's similar to the MRI machines you've seen parked at hospitals where it's an addition to the hospital. Uh that's how this ECMO truck works where the they might have capacity in the hospital but they don't have the system set up. So they use this vehicle to perform the procedure as part of the hospital. Um, this hub and smoke model is meant to expand access to ECMO in cardiac arrest for hospitals that don't currently have it. And so, uh, North Memorial is the next hospital which will extend that ECMO coverage to the northwest metro. Uh, and that is the plan for this next phase to move that access to those residents. Um, dedicated staffing was necessary to ensure that the MET or mobile ECMO truck operations don't reduce our EDINA response. Um the amendment that we have today is changing the fee structure. It was the amendment that you might be familiar with is uh per response. The city of Vina gets reimbursed uh when the response goes. Uh what we have proposed is dedicated staffing. So two temporary positions. They're full-time employees. They'll be battalion chief positions hired in a temporary capacity. when they're not assigned to ECMO, they're going to function as battalion chief strategic positions for the city of Edina, increasing our response and providing administration to uh our employees and and responses throughout. Uh this contract is is uh $339,000 annually for this dedicated staffing. The contract expiration was in line with the vehicle lease, so it expires in August of 2027. there's an option to extend it and or terminate just like there was before for either party with written notice. So, kind of in conclusion, the the amendment just continues this pilot program that we've done with mobile ECMO. Um it's an exciting opportunity for us to increase that response level for the city of Edina and to Mobile ECMO. uh the funds to operationalize this dedicated staffing allow this proof of concept for these strategic positions in the city of Edina that were part of our staffing plan in the future. So my recommendation in front of you tonight is to approve and authorize us to enter into the amendment for the MET agreement with Fairview Health Services and I'll stand for any questions. All right. Just to be clear, chief, on the one slide, the 339,000, >> correct? >> That's not money we're paying to Fairview. This money Fairview is paying to have two battalion chiefs employed Hublin. This is money that they would pay us to operationalize with these two temporary positions um that would benefit us still at the city for the when they're not dedicated to ECMO. uh they'll be able to do those the strategic level positions for structure fires, large incidents, and administrative duties for Edina while still dedicating on these ECMO responses. So, uh we saw this as a win-win. Uh a win for ECMO and a win for the city of Edina. >> Yeah, good chief. Let me see if any our council members have questions on it. Yeah, I think it was a nice nice piece of work on your part. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Other questions? I don't see anybody other than it's it continues to be an impressive uh sort of machine if you will, you know, and and the capabilities of it. So, it's nice to be able to continue the the program. I'm assuming we'll pass this when I say that. Uh I know you'd like that. So, is there a motion to approve the amendment to the mobile ECMO truck services dispatch and deployment agreement as uh as articulated by the fire chief? >> So moved. >> A second. Member Jackson moves. Member Ragnu seconds the uh motion to approve the amendment to the mobile ECMO truck services dispatch and deployment agreement as described by our fire chief. Uh any further discussion? >> Yeah, just briefly. >> Yes, go ahead. >> So, thank you for working on this. Thank you for taking the experiment and telling us how it's working because when we try new things, it's always good to have that feedback loop. So, I really appreciate you pulling it off consent and doing this and and for the creative work to make this operationalized and and work make it benefit everybody. So, I just wanted to acknowledge that >> Jackson. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> And [clears throat] I really appreciate the mayor's question because um I think if we're going to hear from the community, they'll be concerned about who's paying for it. And so just any kind of communication about this would be really good to kind of have that early on in whatever is being communicated. But this is this is wonderful. So thank you. >> Thank you member. >> We have a motion in a second. >> You have further comment. Okay. Uh any further discussion? All right. All those in favor of approving the motion as stated say I. >> I. Opposed. Carried. >> Chief, great work. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Motion's approved. Amendment of the uh to the agreement is approved. Okay, we are at manager's comments and I think uh you wanted to give us an update on this work we've been doing to together with some of the other cities around uh immigration customs enforcement. >> Well, this >> activities or is this something else? >> This is this is related but something else. This is uh uh we have a fresh report from our uh internal immigration response task force. It was uh it was included uh earlier today earlier today in in the pack in the public packet, but we'll also be putting it up on our website. details uh kind of the current situation and operational updates and background for a number of the items that we discussed uh with the council at our at our February 4th meeting, including uh a summary of kind of what we're working on and what we're not working on based on uh the principles of of of being able to enforce uh legally u uh some of the operations that we talked with you about in masking and and uh things like that. So, I just wanted to let you know that that's out there. That's going to be on our website and it's on the public packet tonight. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. Anything else? >> That's all I got. >> Okay. Uh, council comments. Member. >> Thank you. Uh [clears throat] I think over the last couple of weeks um I'm never sure if it's sometimes because I work in technology and maybe I'm in a AI bubble uh right now, but I feel like artificial intelligence has become um more a part of my day-to-day life. Uh my six-year-old rolls her eyes every time it gets brought up at the dinner table and she says, "Not AI again." Um, but the reality is like I think it's here and I think that it's going to transform our industries and our livelihoods in ways that we can't even yet anticipate. Um, so I I spoke with um, manager Neil earlier. Um, today we have um some things that happen within the city regarding kind of our adoption of AI or use of AI within the city. Um, and I just wanted you all to know I'm going to try and go to some of the internal lunch and learns that we have um, and then potentially bring that back or maybe um, even work with manager Neil to schedule at like a future um, work session or something more opportunity for everyone on the council to learn and be aware of what we're doing from a city level within artificial intelligence. Um, but just wanted to share I'm excited about it and I'm excited to um be a part of our our city's adoption, utilization, innovation, all related to AI. Um, and I think that's it for me today. >> Oh, thank you for that. Um, Council Member Pierce. >> Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Um, I just had a a comment um this week and probably last week I've had um just really some great conversations um with residents and um it it probably seems odd, but I kind of love those where we don't agree and you start having that um intellectually honest conversation. and debate back and forth and um like you the one this week they ended with agreement on a couple of things and not on another but you know a mutual respect and thanks for having the engagement the conversation. Um and so I just wanted to make the nod again that um we really do value that engagement. All of us do. Um especially when we can do it and um there's a particular objective. There's no political perspectives or political views where we just want to understand and and have a a dialogue. Um, I definitely enjoy that and have had a couple of really good ones the past couple of weeks. So, other than that, that's it. >> Great. Thank you, >> Council Member Jackson. >> Nothing for me tonight. >> All right, Council Member Risser. Um, I have been hearing from people about um the ADA digital accessibility requirements that the federal government is um having municipalities uh respond to and our deadline is April 24th, 2026, but we've already started um taking action and so it's been impressive to see what has been done. I am concerned about items from the packets not being included and people these are the items that say board portal by them and so if residents want to see that they need to make a data request and one of the things I'm concerned about is some of the documents for example from the January 20th uh meeting the Braar Ice Arena concept plan presentation was not included in the packet and I don't know if at some point it's going to be modified so that it can be part of the packet um or if we could get it available and maybe it's already up on our website, but I just haven't seen that. We've got an H meeting um coming up on Thursday [snorts] and the uh developer presentation is not included, but that has a lot of the information that people really need to see in order to understand um exactly what is going on. So, um, putting this out there for maybe staff could let us know why these documents are not being included and and when you see board portal, I don't know if that means now and forever these are not going to be made available unless you do a data request. So, sorry that's kind of a lot at the end of the meeting. Um, but this is these are really important things and pieces of information that I think people need to have. So, thank you. >> Yeah, Major Neil, >> I think it would be good for us to give you a a comprehensive uh response to that. Um, if we could line that up for our March 4th meeting, I we'll be prepared to do that. >> That would be wonderful. Thank you. Mhm. um you know at the end of January we had the winter meeting of the US Conference of Mayors in DC and um uh Google was there a day before to uh offer up a course and I that I couldn't get there in time to take but uh as you all know I had the US Conference of Mayor's leadership meeting about 50 mayors went to LA last weekend and uh actually it was more than a weekend I went I went on Wednesday afternoon so I could be there Thursday morning because Google again offered this course on AI an AI workshop for mayors. And we spent about four hours over at the Google Spruce Goose uh facility which is where Howard Hughes Hughes built that Spruce Goose back in uh during the war. You know that humongous plane. I think it was designed to be on the water and fly off the water and at least had one flight. But it's just a fabulous facility. Uh and Google of course is uh um has a vested interest in some of these conversations because they've got Gemini for government as a product and some of the mayors had already had uh Google into their facilities to talk about savings they could achieve [snorts] and I know some of our residents were wondering well did I go to the the AI workshop in the at the winter meeting but I I as I said I couldn't get there but I got to this one and so I just wanted to tell you a little bit about what happened there and and how that four hours was spent. Um and and you know, Google, I just took notes here that Google has products that can assist cities. For example, programs that can help you find potholes, predict areas that'll flood or are subject to flooding or distinguish a fire from a barbecue grill, uh sidewalk reconstruction capabilities, uh to help you with analyzing all of those sidewalks that need to be redone. um how city staff can better serve the people in their community. Um public record requests. Renando Beach is using it for um dealing with public record requests which sometimes inundate our city clerk and take enormous amount of time. Uh they're using it that way. Uh Chicago is using it for speeding up licensing and permitting. Um LA, I'm going to talk about LA a little bit more in depth here in a minute because they had their CIO officer there who was really quite impressive. Uh they're using it, they run their own utility, uh water and power and they're using it for uh estimating load growth and and clean energy capabilities. Uh some of the cities um are using it for policing purposes already. Uh Atlanta is using it uh for grant applications for permitting uh policing. Um and uh Beverly Hills the same some of the policing activity. Uh Cypress, California is using it in an interesting way to deal with misinformation that's out on social media. So they're using AI to help deal with misinformation and and get that quickly corrected. um some of the some of the cities that are really diverse and have a hard a large immigrant population are using it for language conversion. Uh and uh that's that's an important thing to be thinking about. And some of the cities now are using with their police cameras on their chests have language conversion capabilities right on their cameras. So if they're talking to someone who doesn't speak English, they're they're able to have at least a conversation about what's happening. Um, Lincoln, Nebraska is using it for citizen engagement. Columbia, South Carolina, uh, is uh, helping existing employees more effectively do their jobs. And the mayor of Columbia told me that they'd had the Google team in and they they're expecting to save thousands and thousands of dollars through the use of uh, Gemini for government. So, uh, the time is upon us as member Agno points out, uh, and the timing was right to even have a conversation about it [snorts] and and the list, you know, as we went around the room, there were so many mayors there that were talking about how they were using it. And those are just some elective examples. Um, the um, as I mentioned, the Ted Ross, who's the CIO of the city of Los Angeles, [snorts] he said that AI feels a lot to him like nuclear power. you you can do great things with it or you could do really bad things with it. And uh this learning, this reasoning that's taking place. Uh he said leaders are going to need to partner with technologists to create success in the future and and keeping cities great requires technology technological solutions and AI AI delivers on a lot of that. Um and it's cost-effective and duplicable. Uh and it gets better every year. Uh, and so we're all just going to become aware of that's another tool in the toolbox. So LA's approach is the first thing they're doing is they're delivering AI training. They're delivering AI training to all of their staff. It's a gener they feel like it's a generational opportunity to upscale their workforce. Uh, so it's through an intro to AI with using Google's services. Uh, they're dealing with issues of privacy and security. uh they're doing with uh enhanced graphics using Adobe Firefly. Uh they're using it with IT developers in the in the city structure. Uh and they're using it uh for for financial integrity purposes too. Uh and they're deploying generative AI tools uh with about 27,000 employees. So it really some interesting things going on in Los Angeles. Um other stories, people using products like Microsoft Copilot, an employee wrote a report in two hours and that normally takes two days and these are the things that we know are coming and that we need to be prepared for. So um AI is as Ted Ross said he said AI is forcing us to be the entity we should have been 10 years ago. Um and then some of the people from uh Google spoke uh really interesting information there as I mentioned is Gemini for government uh product that they're they're using uh they call it shadow IT using it uh AI because it means using AI to get your job done more effectively. Um and it's really been a nice supplement for for people uh uh in doing their jobs more effectively at at the city level. Then there's a product called Jigsaw that builds uh technology on the Gemini platform to get people more comfortable with using it. So that's another element of it to think about as well. Um so here we are at the front end of this thing and we want to be as Adina you know in our town I think our people in our community always say you can take the lead on technology you can take the lead on environmental things go to it and so we should be going to it. Um, Friday, the rest of Friday, uh, actually that was all of Thursday. By the time we got back, it takes forever to get anywhere in LA. Uh, on Friday, we deal dealt with im issues around immigration enforcement and the proposed US Conference of Mayor's policy around immigration enforcement. What's happened in what's happened in Los Angeles, what's happened in Portland, what's happened in Chicago, and now what's happened in Minneapolis has triggered all kinds of conversation with mayors across the country. and we were releasing a a statement I think uh that should should be uh out for public consumption. Um the the chair of that committee on immigration enforcement is Todd Gloria who's the mayor of San Diego and then Rickman Dan Rickman the mayor of Columbia South Carolina is the co-chair talked about public private partnerships. Uh the mayor of Atlanta leads that group um and challenges and opportunities mayors face in major sports venues. Uh that doesn't really pertain to a but it was interesting information. Uh and then we talked a little bit about taking control of your energy future. Uh and then on Saturday morning that was dedicated solely to uh legislative updates and and uh for for my group that's involved in surface transportation. I've got four co-chairs. The mayor of not co-chairs but their vice chairs. I've got the mayor of Austin, Texas, the mayor of Normal, Illinois, who is a rail guy, mayor of Gresham, Morgan, who's a transit uh and and a mayor from from a suburb of Seattle that is the freight rep. And so we've had a lot of conversation around that and there's some really good news to report that we've got sponsors for a bill that deals with this concept we've been talking about here too about localism how the the postcoid economy has changed the way our transportation systems are functioning and there's more and more pressure on local roadways and so we want more money coming directly to local units of government to the NPOS and for distribution as opposed to going through state DOS. We've got sponsors on the bill and uh we're supposed to make sure that we encourage our um legislators at the congressional level to support this bill. And then there was, you know, like everything here too, the big conversation there is housing. Um and some of the benefit programs that have been cut back, tariffs, uh there were all kinds of uh reports uh from the different committees that uh that took place on that Saturday morning. And then we were we were done about noon on Saturday and then headed for the airport. So it was a lot of compressed activity into about 2 and 1/2 days. Uh what is that? Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and half a day Saturday. Two and a half days. Uh plus the uh benefit of being able to go to that session, that long session at the Google on uh AI for mayors. I think it really helped me uh understand better the directions we need to head and I think we're all we're all willing participants on that. Want to make sure our city is running as effectively and efficiently as possible and then the people that work here uh can get their jobs done in the best possible way and have this shadow companion, if you will, helping them do their jobs more effectively. So, um that's it for me from a report standpoint. Thanks for bearing with me on that. And um anybody have anything else as a result of that? Okay. Um I think we're meeting speaking of congressional people I think we're having a meeting tomorrow morning midm morning with Kelly Morrison the mayors in the western suburbs. So I'll give you a report on that meeting with her as well. Uh is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Got a motion to adjurnn by member Jackson, second by member. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adjourning the meeting of the United City Council on this Tuesday, February 17, 2026 at 8:50 p.m. say I. >> I. I. >> I. Opposed. Carried. >> We stand adjourned.