folks as soon as we get a green light up here on the podium we'll start and we have a green light so let's get started well good evening everybody and welcome to the meeting of the adanta city council it is Tuesday evening April 16 2024 uh 7:03 p.m. and uh as director benat indicated we're doing these meetings at hybrid fashion we have been ever since the start of covid people can listen in from home live and they can contact us uh we provide that opportunity for Community comment and a public hearing if we have one tonight we only have Community comment as an opportunity for people to call in we also have uh residents and the audience that may wish to uh address the Council on a matter of concern to them uh in community comments so folks may be watching on cable TV or ed.gov live meetings or at facebook.com edn and they're certainly W welcome to participate in the meeting we're going to put the um the phone number up on the screen right now because the uh Community comment comes up fairly quickly so those are the numbers that you need to have in mind when you call in so if you can write them down quickly at home um those are the numbers to call in to access an operator and then the operator will bring in to director benat director benat will bring you in front of the council if you're calling in as part of community comment and just a reminder uh when we get to Community comment uh you can you can express any kind of concern you want to the council as long as it's not about something that's otherwise on the agenda this evening or scheduled for a future public hearing so having provided that information let's call the meeting to order and I'm going to ask our clerk Sharon Ellison to call the role clerk Allison council member agnu here council member Jackson here council member Pierce here council member Risser here mayor huin here uh next folks is the Pledge of Allegiance plge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republ for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thanks everyone and um we've got a form of meeting agenda that's been published uh to the residents in our community and uh is there anyone on the council from a staff standpoint that wishes to modify the meeting agenda in a former fashion all right is there a motion to adopt the meeting agenda as published so moved second member Jackson moves member U seconds the adoption of the meeting agenda is 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 uh next we are now back at Community comment so um Folks at home you should be thinking about getting ready to call in or call in if you desire desire to talk to the council about something of concern to you but first i'm going to turn to uh any of our fellow residents in the audience that wish to address the Council on a matter of concern to them again you'll have three minutes you'll get a yellow warning light when you got about 30 seconds to wrap up and that way we treat everybody the same and uh then when the red light goes on if you can be wrapping up your comments that'd be helpful good evening good evening mayor council members my name is Harry mclanahan and I live at 7200 York my wife Gloria and I have owned our home for 22 years so when it comes to 's well-being we've had skin in the game for a long time I'm not here because I'm upset about anything you or the city staff have done but to share two ideas about city government intended to help you make the most responsible decisions possible both points concern your dual roles as Council and HRA members and both apply to currently volatile challenging topics like affordable housing however my hope is that you'll find my suggestions re relevant regardless of the issue my first suggestion my first ask is that the next time you're faced with a tough call and searching for a decision-making tiebreaker remind yourselves whom you represent and equally important whom you do not as you know our government is not a democracy it's a republic a representative democracy and you represent edina's residents you do not represent state County Regional Reed metet Council nor and this one's hard to overemphasize aspiring Edina residents ideally and often times those constituencies need uh needs align with ours however if or when they don't our residents policy interest always Trump theirs I realized that there's more to consider when you're making tough calls but the principle that your foremost responsibility is to current ad residence is a red line you shouldn't cross significantly try as they may the legislature can't change this as I speak the majority is trying to remove you from affordable housing decision Mak making and they might be successful however when the current session's dust settles and it will whatever local control Capital you've retained still belongs to us 's residents exclusively period full stop my second suggestion my second ask is to be sure you prioritize the interests of the residents of the city at large whenever you're making policy Adina does not have a ward system Adina has an at large system so you've been elected to represent all of us not particular neighborhoods or small areas again ideally the interests of every neighborhood and small area will align on every issue but if for when they don't your primary responsibility is to represent the interest of of the residents of the city at large finally both suggestions apply equally to City staff different roles of course same accountability absolutely I know it's all really simple stuff except when it's not thanks for listening and good luck thank you Mr mclanahan anyone else in the audience that wishes to address the Council on a matter of concerned to them good evening um Janie Weston 6136 Brookview Avenue I have lots of trees on my property and I'm very good at tree identification um I have some comments about our tree ordinance as it stands now I realize there's a U Better Together comment period on how it's written right now um I looked at the tree ordinance read it over multiple times and I see that contrary to what we have or I have seen in previous meetings um the tree ordinance is not limited to just Residential Properties it says that it includes subdivisions The Only Exception is Parkland that specifically is sped out um I have heard told at previous meetings that it does not include commercial property uh that is not how it is written commercial property is not excluded it doesn't say anything about that being excluded so I just wanted to bring that to your attention I know that will be further discussion soon um another point I just had to have a tree that had just died removed that a previous owner had planted directly under the power lines plus two more trimmed off that had been um well one planted under the power lines too the um XL authorized tree trimmer came and took them down but there is nothing in our tree ordinance that addresses what to do if you have a tree removed um in relation to power line trimming I think that would be helpful I know because of past experience you're supposed to call um EXL energy but not everybody knows this I think that would be something good to at least have one or two sentences addressing that in there um also if it's a Heritage tree now termed Heritage tree is the homeowner obligated to replace a whole tree if the XL Energy people decide it needs to completely be taken down don't know I I don't have any ideas on this this is something to be discussed and also um how uh homeowners should or Property Owners commercial property owners doesn't matter who they are how diseased tree are to be handled there needs to be some guidance in here because we have not just Emerald ashb being a problem we have Oak Wilt we have the three-line Chestnut boar going after oak trees um Oak weld is a fungal disease I'm very concerned about my two big Heritage Oaks that dominate my front yard um there needs to be some sort of guidance in what to do if you suspect that you may have some disease should you call the city Forester should you call a tree company something um something for homeowners and Property Owners to have as a guidance and how to how to address these and if you are obligated to do a replacement if disease or insects take a tree on your property thank you thank you M Weston anyone else in the audience wish to address the Council on a matter of concern to them let's turn to director benro see if we've got anybody standing by in the virtual world that wants to visit with us I have no one standing online in the virtual world to visit with us tonight right very good uh our practice is uh that we will respond to the these uh concerns of residents at the subsequent uh city council meeting and is our pract as is our practice our city manager will respond to those Community comments made at that prior meeting and I'll turn now to manager Scott Neil to respond to community comments made at our April 2 meeting thank thank you your honor uh there was one Community comment made at the April 2nd uh meeting and that comment was regarding uh uh when does the city or what are the plans the city has to upgrade the lights and improvements at Lewis Park uh Lewis Park shelter is is on our Capital Improvement plan uh for for improvements Replacements in 2025 so next year uh a a athletic uh field lighting requirements uh are also part of that CIP as well so that's the response for that question um back you may remember back on March 19th so the meeting prior to April 2nd uh I received a a note uh from Ralph ziker just immediately prior to the meeting and he asked me to read a statement um I did not read it that night because I wasn't uh sure exactly what was happening um but I'll read it tonight uh just word for word and it says yes period uh City staff has determined that Mr Zik's analysis was correct over 80% of commercial customers are still paying less for water in 2024 than they did in 2022 and that's all I have for you prompt anything from council members very good thanks manager Neil um all right the next matter on the agenda is the consent agenda we've got numerous items on the consent agenda member rer would like to remove item 6E uh is there any other council member that would like to remove an item from the consent agenda is there a motion to adopt the items on the consent agenda with the exception of item 6 e so moved second Jackson moves member appear seconds the adoption of the items on the consent agenda in a single motion with the exception of item 6E any further discussion all those in favor of adoption of the motion St say I I I opposed carried let's go back now to 6E which deals with a request for purchase and it is for 2024 asphalt and Concrete Recycling member rer um sometimes I think that the titles of items um can be a little bit misleading and I thought that was the case with this because you know you see requests for purchase and I um thought it would be nice if we could have staff um provide a little bit more information because this is not just spending money so um that's why I asked for it to be pulled director Milner you going to yeah I can speak to that measure yeah I can too you can you can both Old Pine on it if you want so every year we collect all the materials when we have water man brakes or other issues in the streets where we have uh old pavement that needs to come up and we stockpile it at our cold storage facility and then every year or two and that pile gets so big we bring in a firm to grind it all up and we reuse it so we recycle that material to backfill excavations then later on so it's really a giant recycling program of taking the old streets bringing it over crushing it making it appropriate and then reusing it in in various uh locations as needed it's a very loud and disruptive couple of weeks when this happens but it takes a an enormous pile of broken concrete stuff and puts it into a pile that looks more like gravel and fill then we use it again we use it again yeah yeah good member rer so there is a financial benefit to this yes I don't know that we've ever taken the time to characterize you know cost us 62,000 to do this do we save 50,000 uh I don't think we've done that but we could uh that wouldn't be too too difficult to do Ember Risser would you care to move the approval of the request for purchase for 2024 for asphalt and Concrete Recycling so move a second by member rer second by member agnu to adopt uh the request for purchase for 2024 for asphalt and Concrete Recycling with Intex for the sum of $62,500 any further discussion all those in favor of adoption of the motion stated say I I opposed carried all right that completes our work in that portion of the agenda we now go to special recognitions and presentations and you know this was a month or so ago manager Neil and I were talking about on the on the heels of uh the uh high school girls winning the state hockey tournament the boys winning the state hockey tournament uh we started thinking about all of the teams that had had won championships this past year and so we got a hold of uh the superintendent and the athletic director and we said we got to start getting teams in here uh every couple of weeks and hopefully we can get everybody here that's won a state championship before the school year ends so we're doing our best and the L whole the first group here coach and I were talking earlier uh you were here at right when the city uh Hall opened you guys weren't even born yet uh and um and one of those teams won the state championship as well so here we're here tonight to recognize the Adina High School boys swimming and Diving team and I'm just going to read the names I know you're not all here but at least you'll get your names read we're going to take a photo and then we've got a small gift for you that director benat put together uh Alex alako Rohan dusza Larson Edward fry Patrick gabler George git John gich John Hamburger Mark jacobe cron Steven KY mahany Kingston kavat Kingston I met earlier uh ton McFarland Leo melum William thk uh Jerry sche and jwane so those are the folks from the Dina High School boys swimming and Diving team that won the state champ Championship let's give him a big round of [Applause] applause I don't know if you want to say some words or not you you're certainly welcome or your swim your captains either way both or both we're just we're just happy to we're happy to be here let's go take a photo first great our manag um director Ben's got a what did you call him a car car poster car poster there's one here for I'll give you and then you there's one for every coach and one for every uh person on the team and the manager just a prestigious car coaster One of a Kind One of a Kind we're uh we're we're very honored and pleased to be recognized by the Edina City Council thank you mayor hland uh as he mentioned we were here we were the first Edina High School team honored here as such as a state champion 20 years ago probably to the date we were the first team that was in the new facility and we've been honored several times since then and the last few years due to covid uh we we have not had those recognition so we're very pleased and honored to uh not only be here but to uh we uh we like to um represent Idina in a positive fashion uh when we go to places uh coaches and athletes they look at our team in a positive light and we're very honored to uh to continue to do that tradition so thank you very [Applause] much no all right well thanks for joining us tonight you don't have to hang around as director benro said you're welcome to if you if you so desire uh we've got some other things in this portion of the agenda some proclamations we're going to read uh in a moment but next we're going to go this was one you might want to stick around for everybody this is the din crime prevention fund firefighter of the year and it is Ali 80 and this is a this is a person you should know and hear about because uh our chief uh Andrew slam is going to talk about her and she is really a terrific addition to our our fire department our public safety personnel our First Responders you know how important they are to everybody so Chief welcome good evening mayor and members of the council thanks for making everyone's stay for this we appreciate that yeah um I'm here to talk about uh Ali 80 the Adina crime prevention has supported the police department as a community partner and they've recently begun supporting the Adina fire department as well the firefighter of the Year award is a another newly created award that will be presented annually to a firefighter who has modeled exemplary service leadership and dedication to serving the citizens of udina the first recipient of this award is Ally Al joined the fire department in 2020 in March of 2020 if you all recall that time uh and being hired since being hired Ali is led by example on what what it means to be practiced and prepared As A Firefighter her Partners noted she spent the first year of her career at the ad at studying during most of the downtime instead of relaxing as called it calls uh as time allowed Ali takes advantage of training within and outside of the fire department as a student and an instructor while instructing training Aly takes notes of who's in attendance and will ensure the topics are covered which are possibly completely new to to an individual or someone who is struggling if Ally is aware of a fellow firefighter that will be attending an upcoming skills class she takes the time to familiar familiarize the firefighter with the basics of the topic so they have an understanding of what's being covered and it isn't foreign to them Ally is always willing to put her fellow firefighters needs above her own it's evident in the way she promotes family oriented Traditions at the fire department she has gone above and beyond in planning the fire department family Christmas party that brings together firefighter spouses children and even extended family members in the first year of planning and coordinating this event Alli spent her own money to ensure the event went smoothly and that families had a good time asking for nothing in return most notably Ally consistently remains positive and upbeat as a partner even through difficult patience onslaughts of calls or an emotionally taxing call Ali was described by one of our partners as the voice of encouragement in having extreme MO motivation and dedication Ali is the first one to volunteer to help with any task and the last one to leave ensuring that the work has been completed almost certainly going above and beyond to do so Ali's favorite line when someone gives her a compliment or tries to recognize her for a job well done as uh it's a team sport Ally is allly recognizes that this job would be incredibly difficult without great Partners but Ally defines what it means to be a great partner this is apparent when Ally received CE four nominations for firefighter of the Year from her peers one of her nominations read that the city this department and our colleagues are much better having Ally as part of our team Ali's unwavering positivity and determination through any incident her selfless acts for her partners and Community alongside her unmatch dedication to this department are all why she is deserving and has been awarded the 2023 firefighter of the year [Applause] so mayor huband and members of the council Ali loves public speaking and has prepared a couple of notes here before the picture opportunity all right thank you thank you mayor and council members being nominated for firefighter of the year is an incredible honor but it doesn't compare to the honor I feel every day serving this amazing Community alongside of my peers in the fire and police department um author John Maxwell once wrote nothing of significance was ever achieved by an individual acting Alone look below the surface and you will find that all seemingly solo acts are really team efforts this award um belongs to me as much as it does to my incredible shift and Department and I wouldn't be here without the support and encouragement of everyone so thank you [Applause] all guys are all special she's really [Music] skin all right there we go more one more [Applause] all right you guys thanks for sticking around appreciate that class dismissed you could stick around for the Small Business Week Proclamation if you want and thanks to all the firefighters and police officers for being here too all of our First Responders appreciate you being here all right um again in this part of the agenda we've got some other things to take care of including proclamations the first one of which is uh Small Business Week in the din designating April 28th through May 4th 2024 as Small Business Week in city of VI and the proclamation reads as follows we've got a few folks here few folks here to accept the proclamation and talk a little little bit about small business week uh the proclamation as I said reads as follows there are more than 2400 businesses located in the city of Edina and according to the United States census over 96% of all firms with paid employees in hpen County have fewer than 100 employees and are classified as small businesses and where a small business small business businesses are located in each of VI's commercial districts including 44th in France 50th in France 70th in kahill kahill Business Industrial Park Grand View Lincoln Drive Southdale and greater Southdale Pentagon Park Washington Avenue and Wooddale Valley View and whereas according to the United States small business administration small businesses account for two-thirds of the nation's employment growth and whereas 79% of consumers surveyed in the 2021 consumer Insight survey understand the importance of supporting small businesses located in a community and whereas the city of viina celebrates our local small businesses and recognizes the vital contributions these businesses make to the local economy and to the overall health and vibrancy of Edina now therefore the city council of the city of Edina does hereby Proclaim April 28th through May 4th 2024 as Small Business Week in the city of Edina and urges the residents and guests of our community to support small businesses and Merchants located in each of Ed his commercial districts and throughout the year uh is there a motion to adopt the proclamation so moved second a motion by member Jackson second by member pece to adopt the Small Business Week Proclamation designating April 28th to May 4th 2024 Small Business Week in the city of viina uh any further discussion all those in favor of adoption of of the Proclamation is read say I I I opposed carried proclamations adopted and this evening we have uh some distinguished guests with us we've got Shelley lerg from the D Chamber of Commerce and we have Anette wenow from the ad Innovation lab uh here to accept the proclamation I thought that oh and uh Rebecca senson from the 50s in France Business Association is here as well I'm going to walk this Proclamation down and I think each of them have a few words to say so um Shelley you might be up first good evening everyone thank you so much for having us tonight um I want to just let you know that the chamber exists to promote and connect the business community here in Adina and I personally see every month especially like at our networking breakfast we call it our Sunrise din business breakfast that um small business owners are making intimate connections with with people they're learning about each other's businesses but they're also making connections that further other business and personal relationships that fills my heart a lot every month um and so it's from small events like that to large things like the Adina fall into the Arts Festival where we have the opportunity to showcase all of the amazing small businesses in Adina thank you so much for having us tonight [Applause] thanks photo afterwards good evening I'm Annette wildenauer and I run the Adina Innovation lab we offer Executive Education to entrepreneurs and I have the privilege of working with many of those businesses for a six-month period in help helping them grow their business it is so exciting to see small businesses Thrive and grow they are the backbone of our economy and it is privileged to work with them here in Idina Rebecca the long time resident is the new head of the 50th and France Business Association will do a wonderful job thank you very much Rebecca senson so thrilled to be here thank you so much for having me on behalf of the 150 business is at 50th in France we're honored to be here celebrating small business week before I stepped into this new role as your director of 50th in France I got to know many of our small businesses as a community volunteer I learned firsthand it is always the small businesses that step up and support our community and celebrate every stage of life with us from First Dates to anniversaries weddings to baby showers family events to biking with friends for ice cream they really are the lifeblood of our community in honor of small business week I would like to offer up a challenge to all of us here in Idina let's put our phones away let's close the laptops let's stroll bike or enjoy one of the 1,000 parking spots at 50th in France check out my Instagram video to learn more invite your friends to catch a movie at our Crown Jewel the Adina theater hot tip Tuesdays it's $5 movie night dine at one of our award-winning restaurants and go into a business cancel the Amazon cart find a merchant let them help you pick out a gift and wrap it in a bow not only are these in-person experiences at 50th in France supporting our local economy but we have learned from the popular Netflix series by Dan Butner whose son Danny is a nadina resident that these in-person community experiences are good for our longevity so let's do that let's be together let's shop local let's dine local and I'll see you at 50th in France thanks [Applause] yes e our next Proclamation has to deal with Earth Day in I just did a mayor's minute uh before our work session on Earth Day and what's upcoming in the Adan community and I see a few of our longtime environmentalists out here in the in the audience I may even ask them to come up and say something but the Earth Day Proclamation uh reads as follows Earth Day in April 22nd 2024 whereas Earth Day is commemorated annually on April 22nd to demonstrate support for Environmental Protection Advanced sustainability initiatives and raise awareness about climate change and whereas the city of VI is committed to addressing climate change and has taken steps to reduce its carbon footprint conserve natural resources and Foster environmental stewardship and whereas the uh in 2021 the city of VI adopted a climate action plan which lays the foundation for those who live and work in Eda to imagine a future where the Earth and all who live on it can Thrive this plan outlines our commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030 and Achieve net zero emissions by 2050 it includes integrating sustainability into our programs policies and activities and whereas edana residents and businesses have demonstrated a commitment to environmental sustainability through various initiatives such as adopting renewable energy participating in the Organics recycling program and supporting local conservation efforts and whereas Earth day serves as a reminder of our responsibility to the Earth and to Future generations to leave a livable world now therefore the city council of the city of Edina does hereby Proclaim April 22nd 2024 as Earth Day in Edina and encourages all residents and businesses to recognize the importance of protecting our environment and combating climate change participate in local Earth Day events and initiatives aimed at Environmental Education and action commit to making sustainable choices that reduce our impact on the planet and support programs that promote clean energy conservation and a healthy sustainable future is there a motion to adopt the proclamation is read so moved second member Jackson moves member U seconds the adoption of the Proclamation designating April 22nd 2024 is Earth Day in Idina any further discussion all those in favor of adopting the proclamation is read say I I I opposed carried and our uh engineering director Chad Milner is here to accept the proclamation but I'm going to ask Paul Thompson I know this is a bit of a surprise to him to come up and talk about what's going on in Weber Park this weekend I think as as we get done with director Milner you can come up director Milner thank you mayor members of council we really appreciate the commitment that the council has to environmental sustainability as stated in this Proclamation I just wanted the public residents to know that there's a lot of programs out there right now to take advantage of from the city standpoint we have a climate action fund that will help with matching funds to do solar panels or HVAC improvements on your property you can call and get home energy audits paid for through this fund at your individual homes and then there's many many state and federal programs tax credits and rebates associated with cars or transportation and your homes uh ebikes solar PV hbac systems so really look out there and take advantage of all the programs that are out there right now so thank you again mayor and members of council all right thank you director mner Mr Mayor yes um we have an Electrify everything um meeting coming up for the residents what date is that is is it May 14th is that correct I'd have to look at a calendar May 15th at the public works and park maintenance fac so it's a little after Earth day but everybody come to Public Works on May 15th and and learn how to Electrify your home exactly thank you good promo thank you thanks thank you member Jackson all right uh our resident longtime resident Paul Thompson yeah I talked a little bit about what's happening this weekend but I think you your voice will be important on this matter so yeah I just want I didn't prepare anything so I'm just here to say thank you for I mean it's way back to 2007 when the project Earth high school students challenged mayor hubin actually council member at that time no mayor mayor then mayor yeah uh to start a an energy commission and that led to all the things that have happened so it's been you know a long almost 20 years now since we've been working on this goal and Earth a belongs to all of us right right it's not an earth day it's every day is Earth Day and besides what Chad has shared we're also having a tree planting at Centennial Parks on the 26th uh we're having the clothing swap on uh Thursday May 9th that is an incredibly powerful event last year I think there were almost two tons of clothing brought in and taken away without any money exchanged so it's really that lifestyle of learning to to live uh you know with reusing and taking care of the resources in our home in our community so our Morningside neighborhood association uh has been planning uh an Earth Day event for this Sunday the weather is going to pass it's going to be chilly in the morning but it'll be a wonderful afternoon 58 degrees mayor hin and Heather adelen our State Rep will be giving words of welcome the tear Downs the great uh morning side rock band is going to be playing sets we have a Orchestra uh quartet from the high school uh face painting all kinds of things the kid the the neighbors said make it fun Paul it's got to be fun to get the people coming out and participating so it's going to be four hours of Music food fun and then learning about whatever the next steps are for each individual family so come to Weber Park and uh hear our mayor right I think our um our recycling coordinator will be there too or our composting I think T twia will be there and that's the good news I asked twia our goal was to get orning side up to 50% in uh Organics collection she said you're already there so now our new goal is 75% and to get the city up to 50% because 80 tons a month is what we're collecting that's a huge huge savings in energy and in greenhouse gases so keep it up thank you thank you Paul thanks for being here week nice to have you here and Mindy as well thank you all right uh we've got a related Proclamation that's coming up uh right after the uh Earth Day Proclamation and it is Arbor Day Proclamation designating Arbor day is April 26 2024 and our city Forester Luther Overholt is here to accept the proclamation the proclamation reads as follows uh in 1872 J Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside side for the planting of trees and whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska anybody believe that million trees in Nebraska they must all be in the northeast corner um and whereas Forest soils preventing uh prevent flooding and reduce storm water by capturing and storing rain water and snow melt which is then slowly released to our Lakes streams and groundwater and whereas trees and forests improve our physical health by cleaning the air reducing exposure to the Sun's UV rays and decreasing temperatures during the summertime whereas one tree provides $662,000 worth of pollution control over a period of 50 years and whereas trees can reduce the erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water cut Heating and Cooling costs moderate the temperature clean the air produce life-giving oxygen and provide habitat for wildlife and whereas forests create high quality drinking water by acting as a natural filter and whereas a d is proud of the beautiful shade trees which Grace our homes and public places now therefore the city council of the city of Idan is hereby Proclaim April 26 2024 as Arbor Day in the city of Edina and calls upon the spirited and foresighted citizens of Edina to plant trees now for our pleasure and that of future Generations is there a motion to adopt the proclamation as read so moved second member Jackson moves member Pier second the adoption of the Proclamation on Arbor Day as read designating uh April 26 202 for as Arbor Day andina any further discussion all those in favor of adoption of the Proclamation is read say I I I opposed carried uh Proclamation is adopted as I said we've got Luther Overholt our Forester with us you know uh we decided during Co we're going to plant a thousand trees on public property we're going to get an update from Luther on how that's going uh I think he's got a goal of doing another 500 this year and then you're probably going to have a tree sale again for for uh private parties that wish to put uh trees on their uh on on their own residential lots so we'll hear a little bit more about that from you thanks for being here Luther thank you Mr Mayor and Council uh yes that is all uh correct so with the uh uh arpa funds uh over 2022 and 2023 we planted over a thousand new trees in the city uh with those funds uh on the city website I have a interactive map on there that shows where each of those have been planted throughout the city um uh right now uh I have a tree sale going on for residents as well we have 600 trees available uh this spring they'll be picked up on Mother's Day weekend and then we'll have another 400 trees available for this fall so kind of splitting it a bit with spring and fall planting um and uh we have about uh 18 different varieties of trees for the spring sale uh they're all 10-gallon potted trees that are normally $100 to $200 and uh we're subsidizing the cost so they're all $50 a piece for residents um just to you know kind of help help with that um there is also this year an option to have the tree contract planted for you as well uh my partner in this is tree trust and so they're uh able to do that and have been working with residents uh to help them plan uh the planting so that U you know they kind of take all the the work out of it for you because some people aren't able to do it um or don't want to do it um but uh the main reason I'm here is Arbor Day I'd like to invite uh mayor council everyone watching listening to our annual Arbor Day event EV it's the last Friday in April April 26th this year it'll be at Centennial Lakes Park uh we'll be kicking off around noon and going until 4:00 uh we'll be planting around 90 new trees at Centennial Lakes um many of you may know Centennial Lakes already has a lot of trees and so the majority of the trees we will be doing will be along uh the prominade which is still considered a part of Centennial and so maybe you know not in the the park proper there but it'll be along the adjacent walking trails and path uh throughout the prominade um we'll have uh music the high school marching band will be there to provide music um the din Art Center is helping out with art cart so some activities for kids we'll be doing um kind of a tree cookie prints so you know take the slice of the tree put ink and paint on there and then you know put it down on paper for you know for for children um there'll be free tree seedlings available and then Edina Liquor will have beer and wine sampling as well uh right by the Hughes Pavilion um and so just kind of trying to grow the event every year and uh you know looking forward to it as always uh thank you very much all right can you tell us how somebody would go about ordering a tree you know you got 600 of them how do they sign up or how do they purchase a tree this spring yep so if you go on the uh the quickest easiest way if you go on the city website uh put in tree sale in the search bar in the top right hand corner uh it'll come up uh with a link the link brings you to Tree trust's website they're the host uh you do have to log in and create an account because everything is done online now they uh you know take your credit card information if uh if you have any difficulties with that there is a number on the bottom of the page you can call them and um they're more than happy to help uh get every get people registered as well um and and do it over the phone um there's uh yeah like I said I think 18 different uh tree varieties available we're we're sold out of a couple now so maybe it's closer to 15 now um but we'll have uh you know some some different ones available again in the fall uh kind of have it divided up as a like a fruit tree section A large shade tree section and then kind of a smaller tree section for under power lines just uh you know a bunch of different options and and then a conifer section as well for some some Pines and Spruce and and other coniferous trees uh for kind of more of that uh you know natural fence or you know other other options like that very good other questions for Mr Overholt all right well thanks for being here and um here's that Proclamation if you want to thank you all right we've got two other proclamations this evening to um to read and adopt and one is with regard to something called days of remembrance that we've been doing since this first came about uh probably 13 years ago or so on a national basis and I'll read the proclamation we got we've got Jim Nelson who's a human rights and relations commission member uh here as a commissioner to accept the proclamation the proclamation uh designates May 6 2024 as the day of days of remembrance uh event day uh and that's usually an event we have right here at the city hall and I'll let uh commissioner Nelson talk about that a little bit when he comes up to accept the proclamation and the proclamation reads as follows whereas the Holocaust was the state sponsored systematic persecution Annihilation and genocide of six million Jews and millions of other Holocaust victims by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945 was 17 million people murdered and whereas the history of the Holocaust offers an opportunity to reflect on the moral responsibilities of individuals societies and governments and whereas we the people of the city of Ed should always remember the terrible events of the Holocaust remain Vigilant against hatred persecution genocide and tyranny and whereas despite the lessons of history acts of genocide are to this day being perpetrated in many parts of the world and horrific crimes motivated by bias are being committed in this country and whereas we the people of the city of Ed should actively rededicate ourselves to the principles of indiv individual freedom in a just society and whereas the days of remembrance are set aside annually occurring in April or May to coincide with the national celebration of yam hashoa for the people of the city of V to remember the victims of the Holocaust as well as to reflect on the need for respect of all peoples and continuing vigilance against bias and genocidal acts and whereas pursuant to the act of Congress the United States Holocaust Memorial Council designates annually the days of remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust including the days of remembrance known as yam hhaa now therefore be resolved the city council of City D is hereby recognize and continue to promote days of Remembrance in memory of the victims of the Holocaust and in honor their survivors as well as The Rescuers and liberators and further Proclaim that we as citizens of the city of udina will work to promote human dignity and confront whenever and wherever it occurs is there a motion to adopt the days of remembrance Proclamation so moved second member Jackson moves member agnu seconds the adoption of the days of remembrance Proclamation uh as read any further discussion all those in favor of adopting the resolution or the proclamation say I I I opposed carried the proclamation is adopted I'm going to walk down and hand it to commissioner Nelson and he has a few remarks I believe looking for his car cluster thank you Mr Mayor and members of the city council this Proclamation is the continuation as the mayor said of the city's observance of the Holocaust days of remembrance which actually began back in 2011 Ina the HRC is has recommended uh some minor changes included in this revised proclamation to modernize some of the terms used um in the original proclamations and to expand the proclamation to include the recognition of the sad fact that genocide continues throughout many parts of the world this year our days of remembrance event will be held on May 16th at 7 pm in these Chambers where Dr Ellen Kennedy a nationally and internationally recognized expert on genocide will discussed three gen genocides that have historically occurred in Ukraine the first being Stalin's genocide by intentional starvation in the 30s the second of course being the genocide of Ukrainian Jews by the Nazis and the third being the current attack on Ukrainian sovereignty by Putin's Russia we invite all city council members and all members of our community and surrounding communities to join us on that evening for this enlightening discussion thank you again to the city of viina for its steadfast support of the efforts of the din HRC thank you very much thank you commissioner Nelson uh director ber did you want a photo of this sure if I don't get if I don't get a car coaster I might as well take the photo I'll get you my curly white here we go here we go and the last matter in this uh portion of the agenda is um the proclamation involving Building Safety month and um Nate borage our chief building official is here to accept the proclamation and uh the proclamation reads as follows uh Building Safety month May 2024 whereas our city of Vian is committed to recognizing that our growth strength depends on the safety and essential role of our homes building and infrastructure play both in everyday life and in times of natural disaster and whereas our confidence in the structural Integrity of these buildings that make up our community is achieved through the devotion of vigilant Guardians such as building safety and Fire Prevention officials and others in the construction industry who work year round to ensure the safe construction of buildings and whereas these Guardians are dedicated members of the International Code Council that are experts in the build built environment to create and implement the highest quality codes to protect us protect us in the buildings where we live learn work play and whereas these modern building codes include safeguards to protect the public from natural disasters such as hurricanes snowstorms tornadoes Wildland fires floods and earthquakes and whereas Building Safety month is sponsored by the International Code Council to remind the public about the critical role of our community's largely unknown Protectors of Public Safety our local Cod officials who assure us of safe sustainable and affordable buildings that are essential to our prosperity and whereas Mission possible the theme of building safety month 2024 encourages us all to raise awareness about building safety on a personal local and global scale and whereas each year in observance of building safety month people all over the world are asked to consider the commitment to improving building safety and to acknowledge the essential service provided to all of us by local and State building departments fire prevention bureaus and federal agencies in protecting lives and property now therefore the city council of the city of Vian is hereby proclaimed the month of May 2024 as Building Safety month in the city of Edina accordingly I encourage our citizens to join with their communities in participation in building safety month is there a motion to adopt the building safety month Proclamation so moved second member Jackson moves member U seconds the adoption of the building safety month Proclamation as read any further discussion all those in favor of adopting the building uh safety month Proclamation say I I I opposed carried uh it's uh yeah thanks for being with us this evening thank you mayor and thank you city council members but I'm Nate borage the Chief Building official for the city of Vina our building inspections department team consists of 15 employees we provide the services to the community that Safeguard Life Health property and Public Welfare by regulating and controlling the design alteration construction materials use and occupancy of buildings and homes in Idina in 2023 we conducted just over 20,500 inspections within the city our department is a proud member of the International Code Council and we will work to Pro to promote public awareness of the role building safety and Fire Prevention officials play to protect lives and structures I would like to thank you all for your support and for supporting our building inspections department and ask for your continued support in building safety month during May thank you very much all right thank you sister warid I've got to do one more thing I forgot to do all those in favor of adopting the proclamation say I I I car here I have this for you sir thank you all right that concludes that portion of the agenda as mentioned earlier by director benat and the public hearing portion of the agenda uh we just have a a matter there that we're going to continue to May 7 so is there a motion to continue the public hearing to May 7 2024 uh on the request for preliminary resoning and site plan variances and subdivision for 6600 - 6800 France Avenue South so moved second member Jackson moves member Pier seconds the continuation of the public hearing uh on resolution 202 24-24 uh involving the preliminary resoning and site plan variances and subdivision requests for 6600 to 6800 France Avenue uh to May 7 2024 any further discussion all those in favor of continuing this matter to May 7 2024 um I do have a little question comment goad discussion um discuss and this has to do with our process and um because this particular public hearing has been moved two times um I did dig in to the Minnesota statute about public hearings and I reached out to the league of Minnesota cities to find out if you are moving a public hearing do you need to then go through the notification process that involves um printing information about the public Hearing in the local papers and um the researcher at League of Minnesota City said yes you do but um apparently our protocol here in Indina is not to do that and I guess I would like more clarification from our attorney or the city manager about that and you know I want to ask other council members if maybe we want to change that policy manager Neil Mr Kendall sure I can I can start and then uh Mr Kendall can fill in as well this the practice that we use to is to continue a public hearing to a new date is is pretty typical compared to compared to our peer City compared to all cities actually um we uh as long as that continuance uh is granted by the council in a public council meeting um we we do understand I had a chance to look at the the the response that uh council member rer got from from the research associate at the at the league as well and and we can move toward that uh that process it might it might be better in some ways but our current process meets the the compliance of State Statute and I can let Mr Kendall talk about that thank you Mr Kendall uh mayor councel that that is correct the statute allows as long as you note the date time location of the next continued meeting on the record when you do continue it the statute allows for that I think that's what most cities in Minnesota do do of course you're you have the option to do more than is legally required but you are meeting current legal requirements we talked in our work session today about having a a session soon on on a number of different issues I wonder if this would be a good one to talk about within the context of that PO of ideas that we had for discussion member Risser I think we really should take a look at this um particularly because it it got me thinking that really there's no um motiv for a developer if you you know you're concerned about public push back or to move it to a different date um it doesn't seem to be the case that there would be any kind of motivation not to do that um the other the other thing is um you could say well those who are following this will know because they'll show up and then it won't happen and they'll have to come back and in this case um I think word got out so that people are not here but a significant number of people got up and left they found out that this hearing was not happening at our April 2nd meeting uh the developers do notify residents nearby with mailings but it I think it's very possible you could have somebody who gets a notice uh who goes oh I'm going to be out of town I can't do this or I can't you know I can't make it I've got work and um so if you had a new notice that said it was a different date you might actually be able to show up so I I think there's situations where this um really could make a difference in whether or not somebody decides to participate so yes let's talk about this at a meeting where we're discussing other things good thank you for that anybody else have a comment all right all those in favor of continuing this matter to May 7 2024 say I I I opposed carried uh now we're on the reports and recommendations portion of the agenda and the first matter there is a resolution 20242 accepting uh donations and uh is there a motion to adopt resolution 20242 so moved second jaction moves from Ragu second the adoption of resolution 202 24-29 which accepts donations on behalf of the city of viina uh any further discussion all those in favor of adoption of the of the resolution 20242 say I I I opposed carried and um motions approved uh resolutions adopted and in this reporting period uh the ad crime prevention fund has uh donated um a little over $1,800 in challenge coins to the uh police department and then also uh took care of some certificate frames so thank you to again as always to the adic crime prevention fund for the ongoing support for our First Responders in both the police and fire departments um next matter is uh this portion of the agenda is the consideration of a conservation easan and purchase of vacant land at 5235 Highwood Drive and I think director Teague has this matter I don't know if you had any preliminary comments manager Neil I I do have some just introductory but manager Neil has nothing I I don't we're gonna we're going to go right to director te all right good this is I think folks will find this pretty interesting so yes thank you mayor members of the council so Andy Carter on behalf of some of his neighbors are requesting that the coun consider the purchase of the vacant land that's located at 5235 Highwood Drive it's about a 19,000 square foot piece of property that's vacant there's a lot of very mature oak trees um that that fills the site Mr Carter has purchased that property last year um again it's a vacant single family residential lot where a single family home could be built Mr Carter hopes to add add a piece of that property to his lot he his his lot is to the south of this property the property owner to the West would also add a portion of this lot to their lot to make it quite a bit larger and the result is the parcel C that's included on the survey in your packet and U part of Mr Carter's presentation will show that the remaining parcel is about 9,000 square ft the so the request again is for the city to purch purchase that property um at an amount of $150,000 that's the value of the raw land itself and then put a conservation easement over that property the neighbors would then pay the city back through the the 429 assessment process this is similar to the project the mayor may remember about 3 four years ago that we did on oaklane there was another single family um vacant lot where a home could be built in fact the property owner at that time was proposing a home the neighbors went together and um purchased that price P purchased the lot again the city purchased it with the reimbursement through that 429 process so with that I will turn it over to Mr Carter to present their present their case all right thanks Carrie um mayor council City leadership thank you sorry about that um thanks thanks for having us um I thought the the proclamations for Earth Day and Arbor Day were were very appropriate and Powerful um I think what could be even more powerful is taking action on those proclamations um and there's an opportunity to do that right here uh so like Mr Carter would you give us your address too pleas yes yes I'm at 6012 Pine Grove Road I've got my neighbor Andy Bennett here and then Leonard Blum as well back there um 5229 Highwood Drive West enjoying okay how about this yeah that would be fine thanks M thanks enjoyed the last number of months working with Mr Milner and mayor hoveland and Mr Neil and and and you too Mr Teague so happy to be here tonight so like Mr Teague mentioned I'm the property owner to the South that technically owns this 5235 Highwood Mr Bennett is to the West um and before we kind of get into the presentation I I'd like to just ask Andy to kind of give the quick story of previous owner of both the house and the land and kind of that's really where this this movement kind of started sure I I'm going to go back to uh what Paul actually said earlier because I was a longtime resident of morning side for years and remember filling out a survey um and talking about how we at the morning Side neighborhood association could improve our city canopy that recommendation I made and lo and behold this city and its effort hired Luther not necessarily because of that comment but it's an innovative group here and um my wife and young family moved from Morningside um about a year ago and bought the home of Susie hogland who is the uh her husband Jean preceded her in death by about seven years but she was a widow um living in a in a house um that had this adjoining lot to it she owned that as well and we uh we wasn't in the Bennett budget to buy that vacant lot um so the trustee put it up for sale after offering the to us and the property um I think based on comments I received from Neighbors we talked to all the neighbors they said oh Susie always envisioned this it's just remaining undeveloped Green Space and urban forest and so we liked that idea and in fact the trustee liked the notion of it but uh had fiduciary duties and put it put it out to sale was put under contract by a housing uh by a builder and uh later fell out of contract by that Builder after they realized that the property um while a single family residential lot um has some very technical and tough geotechnical aspects that would require um some pretty significant variances due to the the height and slope of the property and um and the setback requirements of the property and the surrounding uh homes so through a long process um the the price of the property got whittel down uh to a price that we think was quite fair and my good neighbor here Mr Carter um took the opportunity to to kind of secure it for all of us neighbors uh and including himself and perhaps the city nice yeah thanks Andy uh yeah so really Susie's wish of keeping this as Green Space along with the city's climate action plan I think really provides a win-win for both the neighborhood and the city here so we'll go through some quick details um so just so everybody's aware where this is it's down Vernon North on Blake and East uh about a block just on the southern end of miror Lake as you can see in the circle here um and then before we start talking about the trees and some water let's not forget about wildlife and biodiversity here okay so I do a lot with sustainability for for my job people often right forget about you know the animals who live here so I took all these pictures within a week it was right around that late Mark snowstorm um so we've got a lot of stuff a lot more stuff here but just again let's think about this while we're talking about the trees tooo okay um so real quick uh map of this lot so the lot is in dark green the three different proposed Parcels uh are kind of boarded by that light green shade and parcel C is what we're really getting after here so Mr Teague said right our wish is for the city to purchase it I I like the word Finance better because the city will recoup all of this $150,000 potentially right over uh the next 15 years uh in whole um is there some opportunity cost loss there for utilization of that money possibly um but I think it's well worth it to see exactly what we're getting here and how it applies to The Climate action plan um so again I just wanted to point out a visual view of this this is a a the lot in black there full of mature Oaks uh 20 to 25 in total um depending on how you grade their age but it is a full canopy um it is very very mature and I always come back to you okay is it cheaper to right maintain something you already have or right to start from the ground up with saplings and wait a 100 years for it to look like this I think let's just keep it the way it is right so again to the right I kind of highlighted in blue about an area of 60 or so Acres um that is really really heavily forested in this area and the little green circle of course is where this lot would be in between some already some property already owned by the city uh but really I mean it's centrally located in this primary canopy region of Southern Mir lake so a very very unique uh unique space in the city okay so why does this make sense um I'll hit on two portions of the climate action plan number one water um so the the manner we split we want to split the Lots right those three Parcels I I already outlined it's going to be very difficult to build a home on the property right parcel C is about. 22 Acres it's 48% of the 045 acre overall lot so what does that bring us if no house is there right there's no additional roof okay so I'm reminded of two lots that just got bulldozed every tree taken out on Olinger Boulevard about a half mile south of this they've got a dark roof a dark driveway no trees anymore that's what we don't want right so no roof no additional driveway no impervious surfaces uh that's called out in the climate action plan no removal of trees right so the trees are anchoring that Hill there's going to be no erosion um and therefore right no extra fertilizers that a lawn might put into Mirror Lake um or additional drainage from the construction Etc um Green Space and trees this is probably the bigger the bigger area right so again it's in the heart of one of the biggest Urban canopies in Idina um I already kind of touched on this point maintaining existing far more efficient than planting them right it's already there you don't really have to do anything um again it's an established canopy that you know trees are not buildings right you cannot tear it down and put up a brand new building you have to wait time right you cannot buy time there's 100y old trees already there that collect much more carbon than a sapling would um so again this is just letting the trees do their thing um and then again I think this maintains the Gap so I think I put close here there's a you know the 20 2024 to 2030 tree cover acreage G app that I calculated that's outlined in the climate action plan is about 237 Acres this would just prevent us from going backwards right so just let's maintain let's not go backwards and then have to replant right let's just maintain uh and then again just in further detail so here's another satellite picture of the lot um you can see my house very very close um to the lot line my house was built in 1928 that's kind of the plat uh uh that the city did back I think in the 50s or 60s um at any rate very very wood um again maintaining the existing canopy there's no money spent on exist or new trees okay we talked actually in this city council meeting multiple times about new trees uh there's a cost to some of that this would not have a new tree cost um again maintaining that that acreage Gap um don't go backwards right let's not allow DeForest asion here let's just keep it um I already kind of touched on you know the majority of those trees in this picture are in the parcel C that we'd love the city to help Finance um and then carbon capture which has already been mentioned in this meeting um an erosion I mentioned that too so again this is kind of right data for you guys to take and think about um but that's that's kind of it and real real quickly just going back to that aerial image what it what it sort of belies is the true nature of this piece of land which is it it has a 32t rise from the the curb to the back of the property and it's it's doesn't plan out anywhere and and it really is kind of one of the reasons why this home builder broke the contract and walked away from the deal I think he realized ultimately it's just a not a buildable site or one that would require a m expense to figure out okay and then it's real quick the neighborhood group participation right in the um kind of financing or the paying back the city again it's everybody really surrounding this lot um we've got verbal commitments ready to be uh written up formally um uh but eight confirmed neighbors um surrounding the property that that are for this Leonard's done a lot of work in uh getting signatures for um you know petition if that's necessary but everybody's in agreement here that uh lives around the property uh so finally uh the ask okay we are asking the city you know not to outright buy but to finance so C you know cash up front yes but recouping all that cash over the next 15 years via the tax assessment um and again we already got verbal commit ments of each neighbor and their you know portion of that tax commitment and that would be equally rationed over the over the next 15 years onto their property taxes um as a special assment assessment um and then we're recommending the city put this partial C in an environmental trust with with a definite date so that'll obviously right post seed any of us moving it'll be there for um I don't want to say eternity but it'll be there in perpetuity uh for the long-term future so I think that's kind of my ask for you guys to think about your proclamations on Earth Day on Arbor Day let's make something happen let's let's do a long-term action here and actually make those proclamations mean something okay um and again we're ready we're ready to work with the city to finalize you know legal language City's already done this on Oak Lane previously that template is already set up we're ready to piggy back onto that um and do it again anybody have questions for Mr Carter or Mr Bennett remember Jackson and I can provide a little context too yeah my only question is about the trust um and this is for Mr Kendall does the trust ever expire or is it in perpetuity uh mayor council I would suggest we probably do a conservation easement conservation easement okay yeah I haven't looked at the exact mechanism but I'm sure it could be done I think a conservation easement would be probably more appropriate than an environmental trust but I could I could work out the details on that okay terrific cuz we I this is a great idea thank you so much for coming forward and I want to make sure that it lasts thank you um rememberer I really um like the idea of finding a way to preserve all the trees and um you know the nature on the site I'm looking at the map and this is so close to Fox Meadow Park and I'm wondering you know if we as the city purchase this and you know keep it as a natural area could there be a way for residents to access this space um you know a nice quiet place to get away would the community be okay with people going from the park over into this area so want to comment on that yeah you can answer but I'll I'll I'll give my comment too you go ahead no I okay I I mean you know like I said the city owns quite a bit of of forested property in this area there's already a part there I don't know if this to me would make sense for other residents to own I know that's probably not of the wish of the neighbors if you want a direct answer I'm thinking more Public Access not um changing ownership no but here's why I don't think that that works like you might want to work have it work in a park because if you go over there and look at the property it's exactly as Mr Bennett described Mr Carter described uh and I've been over there probably half a dozen times to look at it from the beginning of this process and it's it's basically unbuildable and it's got a real sharp increase in elevation uh the only place you could probably put a driveway would have been right on the culdesac and then try to work your way back in there it would I don't see where other than maybe it was a hiking trail to get through there back to that nature preserve above uh I'll call it a nature preserve above uh Pine Grove at the end of Pine Grove really it doesn't it you couldn't use it like you'd use a park right yeah I I'll just it's landlocked right by every everybody else's property as you can see in in this map um so we've got zaral and iards Carters Scotts Bennetts um so I don't know if it's an it would it could ever be an access anywhere so leave that slide up there I think this is really a good one so when we did this years ago over on Oak Lane I'm going to just use this as kind of an example it's a it's a it's not entirely Apples to Apples but think about uh this culdesac in the middle as being bigger and that was a lot that was an outlaw and there was a driveway in like where it says Highwood Drive on Oak Lane you could work your way back into this lot that was right in the middle of a bunch of other houses that already existed and uh it was a real Natural Area it had some water features in it hard to get back to and the neighbors all came and said the same thing that these folks are saying is that gee we don't really want to see anything built there and the the guy who had it under contract was really Cooperative was a another ader Resident he and we worked uh to a point where we got that into I think that was a conservation easement yeah and and so then the neighbors did the same thing there they they decided how they were going to get assessed we did an agreement with the city on how they got specially assessed on the property this is a little bit different because you're going to take a little piece of it you who bought the hogland house they're going to take a little piece of it and what's left I think it it makes a lot of sense uh and that's why I encouraged the the house right to the to the east of this lot is Jim zal and then Mr Bennett's house is the star to the to the left of that vacant lot and then Mr Carter's up behind there um I I just think it's it's a really great way to preserve some really good nature and some beautiful trees and put it in the conservation easement and and you get to pay for it all over time and the city gets to help facilitate that conservation easement and originally I will tell you all that this when they first the the trustee is was a guy from St Paul Jean hogland and his wife Susie had no kids and so they left their entire estate to the uh Mayo foundation and you remember that Jee hland owned a lot of 50ths in France he owned the theater he owned the condos he built the condos on the corner he owned that furniture store across the way that used to be Twin City Federal he had all kinds of property down there and at one time he had been the president of Opus and um so quite in the state but of course the trustee felt obligated from a fiduciary standpoint to try to maximize the value of it so the first first time this property was listed I think it was 650 mhm and then it went to 450 but still really I think when they came to see when that Builder came to see you they really couldn't build anything on it because they need so many variances uh to get anything built and then they walked away so we got back to this I'll call it the Oak Lane strategy which is to create a a uh some kind of a conservation easement back here that really provides a lot of benefit I think not only to neighbors but just to our our community so I I would support it you know because I think it's it's from a taxpayer standpoint it's it's painless for for the rest of us I mean you guys are going to have to pay that pay that 150 that's right and the city determined what that parcel was worth and you agreed so I I think if others have questions or comments member ego thank you Mr Mayor so why not just buy it and split it the two of you yeah that's a good question I mean I think we want the conservation easement to go beyond us I mean if if I move out in two years that piece of the lot potentially if we did that could be right all the trees could be ripped down and your house could go up there what what have you so I think we want to make sure that it goes beyond our time in this neighborhood um you know I plan on living there for quite a long time but you never know right so I think that that would be my response to that as basically would last you know is it a 99 year is it just in perpetuity is it it would it would last far longer than we're probably going to be living there I would I would agree with that and just add that um there's a sense of stewardship here in the city does have these little gems of real estate around the city that make it Edina and a special place and uh to perpetuate that and to divide it up in a way that we think makes it virtually impossible to develop into the future um is is a a sense of gives us a sense of stewardship and um something that's special working in conjunction with not only neighbors but the city um that's a it's a United thing that feels feels good and there's you know there's cash Dynamics too that are that are real I think for all of us thank you uh then maybe a couple of questions um I'm confused a little bit by the finances so if you could walk me through what would be like the outof pocket for Edina and I'm sure over time we would get more into those details but just help me understand the breakdown in the structure financially the the breakdown of the cost of the property is $150,000 that's what we that's what we would be financing and we would be financing that through the special assessment vehicle that we would ask them to all execute special assessment agreements uh we're not particular about the formula for how they want to spread the cost around as long from our perspective as long as it equals $150,000 there we'd go through all the same kind of special assessment chapter 429 process that we do for uh public road projects so there'd be a public hearing and and we'd ask them to wave their rights to appeal and and all of that sort of thing but it's in addition to the it's just the staff time on top of the actual cost of the of the land okay so over time the full 150,000 would be recuperated corre from by the city here here's a quick math uh I guess equation that I'm thinking about Kate it's so let's so 150,000 let's just for easy math say five neighbors are in on it for $30,000 a piece right uh we're going to do it over 15 years so each neighbor would basically pay another $2,000 per year for 15 years to get to that 30 um over the next 15 that's a quick quick round math um again it would be probably different than that in reality but that's how it would be it would be recouped thank you the term 15 years is is comparable to what are the same as what we would do for a special assessment Road Project okay thank you and then as I understand this lot would be divided into three yep with a portion of it going um to parcel b a portion of it going um to the house to the the South um and then it would be the conservation easement for parcel C correct and so for the 150,000 is it just for parcel C and then is there portions that each of you are paying for the amount that would then be added to your lot yep yep exactly so so I mean it's public knowledge right this lot was purchased for $300,000 um which is about 20% below taxable value that you guys have have placed on the entire lot uh so partial C roughly half that $150,000 we would be paying additional property taxes on right the new lot lines that we've already gone over with with Chad and Carrie um so it would be represented that way as well yes thank you and my last question I think for now uh with the existing site as it is you know we I've heard that there isn't necessarily any buildable area without extreme variances probably um what would be feasible without variances on this site as the property sits today the full 19,000 Square ft they may be able to get a house in there that doesn't require VAR the variances that may come into play is in regard to the steep slopes we have a steep slope ordinance that says you can only disturb a certain percentage of those slopes so that might be where the variant come in but just given the large area um they may be able to locate without setback variances if with the parcel C now the lot is only 9,000 square ft and it would be it would not be buildable because it doesn't have adequate lot area so if in the future the easements go away they would still need a variance just to build because the lot has gotten smaller thank you and I did think of one last question so I'm going to sneak that in um so as I understand it then the conservation easement would only apply to parcel C and there could be additional building then that would happen and potentially impact the the tree canopy or the trees that we have within the pieces being added to parcel B and what all call parcel a is that correct yeah I think that's fair um you can see the house to the South how close that is to the lot line with that shifting to the north they would have room to potentially put an addition there and the same with the parcel B thank you member rer I want to thank member U for her questions and um I'm confused by the statement that a 9,453 squ foot parcel is not adequate for building a home on in terms of its size I understand that there's issues with grading and all of that but I mean we have four Town Homes going up on a parcel that's about 11,000 square ft just off of valy view so how I I guess it's hard to hear that and know what's happening in other parts of the city so why is this not large enough to build on yeah I can answer that one um the minimum lot size in is determined by the median lot area lot width and lot depth of all Parcels within 500 ft the parcels within that 500t area are quite large in fact this 19,000 s ft lot is one of the smaller Lots within that 500t area so they would not meet that median so they would need variances for lot area and and yet we create very small lots that are significantly smaller than neighboring properties elsewhere okay thank you prompt anything from anyone else okay um so uh to the questions that member agna was asking about financing as I recall there'd be interest paid I mean if we have to borrow the 150 or we pay we use our funds to do the lending up front we're going to get paid back at a we're going we're going to get interest on the money that we expend through the special assessment process that would be our practice yes y all right so um let me look here can you just clarify that Scott when when we do U A A A Street project or reconstruction project uh we have a practice of doing a doing a debt issuance using that money to actually Finance the project and we we usually assess in our special assessments is it one one point over what we borrow or two 1% over what we borrow and it's typically been in that 3 to 4% for the last 10 12 years interest rate so if we have to go out and borrow it at 2% you'd pay three or four whatever and you would borrow it well that's a good question we we haven't determined that yet right whether it's an internal Finance or an external borrowing something of a 150,00 is almost for sure we would do that internally okay that wouldn't mean we wouldn't charge interest yeah no understood I just want a clarification on that I think I think the oaklane property didn't charge interest as why I was curious all right so um what kind of direction are you looking for here is would or not we'd be interested in providing the financing yes because for parcel SE there's a lot of process here if you if you think about the special assessment project so if there's a you can't approve this tonight because there's not enough information in front of you to approve but you can give us a signal that you'd like us to go through the the 429 process and set the public hearings in motion and all of that that gives you that gives you a position later down the line to approve or not approve this formally and you want that in the form of a motion yeah okay uh member Risser I think a member Jackson maybe had a question too I just want to if me as individuals you could create this um set it aside you wouldn't need the city to do that but then you would be paying for it but if there's enough interest among neighbors I mean maybe there'd be interest in not having the city be involved at all if I could answer your question and come on up and come up to the front here so we can get you on screen and sure and give us your name and address please hi I'm Leonard Blum I'm at uh 5240 Highwood Drive and I represent the uh the neighbors uh in addition to Andy and Andy who are hoping to participate in this project but who do not have an interest in acquiring land um we would like to commit financially to see this uh this land preserved um and uh and recognize I think for some of us the tradeoff between the desire for uh Environmental Protection and affordable housing which is so needed in udina um but we we came together to support this initiative uh because we felt that affordable housing wasn't an option here for a variety of reasons I uh I could go into if you're interested but don't want to take your time and so in the interest of really preserving focusing on preserving the environment we determined that we would rather purchase the land and give it to the city as opposed to purchase it on behalf of our neighbors with whom we have good relations but for the same reason that that Andy said we have more confidence that that the city will preserve this property in per in perpetuity both of Flora and Fauna that have you know historically occupied it so your question I think oh I'm sorry I'm very sorry did I adequately I yeah I'm I'm just thinking there's nonprofits out there that do this kind of work as well I I think that you can set up you know land trusts and perpetuity with I'm not I'm drawing a blank but I seem to remember there are such things that exist we we considered that option originally um but when we heard about the president uh at Oak Bend Oak Lane Oak Lane we thought that that essentially accomplished what we would intend to do if we were to purchase the land and then donate it to a conservation easement um so recognizing that the city would would manage that for us we felt that was a more efficient approach Jackson I'd like to make the motion that we uh set in in into motion um the process to set up a conservation easement um according to the plans laid out by the neighbors and so I will move that a second it's been moved and seconded that we uh initiate the 429 process to uh create a financing situation or look at creating a financing situation and a and a prospective conservation easement with respect to parcel c um that's shown on a survey involving 5235 Highwood Drive uh further discussion yes member U thank you Mr Mayor I just want to confirm this is a a non-binding direction to the city to pursue it but we would still be going through all of the process and would be able to vote one way or another down the road that's thank you um further comment and moving forward we would also get some sort of understanding of what um Financial commitment this would be you know to maintain this area of wooded space other other thoughts okay we got a motion I well if I may yes I I just want to say thank you again and this is this is one of the things that I love about the city is Neighbors coming together and coming up with a solution and in line with our values so thank you very much for all the work you've done to this point all right we got a motion in a second and um others can make comments if they desire after we vote uh any further discussion all those in favor of adoption of the motion as stated say I I I oppos carried and others wish to comment all right thank you gentlemen for being here this evening thank you appreciate you being here Mr Blum as well thank you all right um now we're going back to Mr Milner and we're picking up on a matter that we uh laid over until tonight with respect to the conquered neighborhood conquer was called the conquered BNC neighborhood roadway reconstruction project thank you mayor members of council yes we are back to get a final answer on sidewalks and there's some question on the fire Cod so we have Chief slammer with us this evening to answer some of the questions I just want to remind the council this was the petition we addressed three uh items at the last council meeting you gave me direction and we're working on the direction you've given us 2B we also had a discussion on that so we're just looking at item 2A with relation to the sidewalk um and then there was some emails and questions related to the fire code review so I think Chief Slama should uh speak to that now based on some of the conversations you've been seeing and having through the emails thank you mayor and members of the council um talking getting caught up to speed on this with Chief or Chad Milner and our fire marshal there's some confusion that took place regarding fire ratus access roads and the interpretation of fire code um what I'm here to talk about tonight is the Authority for that being with the fire department the fire fire code official shall have the authority to require or permit modifications to the required access withs U we delve into the commentary around the the code required with apparatus access and uh that commentary is fire department's respond to many types of emergency situations and the durur jurisdictions that they serve may have traffic safety criteria that impact the design and access of roadways used by emergency response Vehicles the section authorized the fire code official to require greater or to allow lesser access width Dimensions based on their size and maneuverability of the anticipated emergency response apparatus including Mutual Aid apparatus from neighboring communities or agencies so as the fire department reviews this uh this design uh we have no issues with the current Street design as far as apparatus access or operations for fire stru for fire department operations with a structure fire emergency incident I think the question at hand is where should the sidewalk be placed and will the fire department utilize the sidewalk for fire department operations the answer to that is this would be the only road that we would use this in uh and it would require us to have a specific training set for one area of the community so I am not recommending that we use the sidewalk uh as an extension to the fire apparatus access road that the current design and clear space uh is suitable for fire department operations and uh as we look at this sidewalk design I'd encourage the council to also consider the The Pedestrian safety with traffic flow there and so I would recommend a buffer or a notification know Mr Milner talked about having that that buffer notification and the design that they have for that I can't speak to that completely but I would recommend uh that the sidewalk consider pedestrian safety and that's what we've considered in this review so um the current design of the street the fire department supports and our operations can sustain for single family homes at which they be protecting and we'd recommend uh safety be considered For That Sidewalk including whatever buffer or warning is recommended through sidewalk design we would not utilize that for fire department operations we apologize for some of the communications that went out between uh members of our departments when we were gone or other officials were gone and that's where this confusion came from this is our standard street with we've done for nearly 20 years and it's been in in uh documented in that living streets plan from 2015 where many departments were part of developing that policy with the guidance the chief just mentioned including the fire department at the time so uh from an engineering standpoint we would recommend that 5 foot sidewalk with a 5 foot Boulevard again that increases that Public Safety separating from the vehicles it allows that room for snow storage both for City operations and for the residents to have some space to to do the snow unless we decide otherwise later this year um it's helps storm water management the permitting related to storm water and then the industry standards that's the industry standard is create that buffer between the street and the sidewalk so we would recommend the 5 foot sidewalk and 5 foot Boulevard and you're recommending the five plus the five exactly mayor as opposed to the five plus one that we talked about last that's a lesser uh facility in our opinion both operationally safety of the traveling public and all the other reasons we discussed council members questions for uh director Milner or for our fire chief on this matter member rer okay just um to be Crystal Clear um we have a situation where with parking my understanding is we do not have a 20ft wide space if cars were along the street is that correct yes yep if it's shown here we have 16 feet of clear space but again parking is temporary not a permanent situation like we talked about at the previous meetings a whole different designed standards when we have permanent parking and this is not the case per city code in this instance okay and it's just I'm as a council person and I I do really want to give a shout out to Mr I think it was mclanahan who at the very beginning stated that we really are role is to represent residents and I know residents have really spent a lot of time working on this um and so respectfully I just want to make sure that I am completely understanding this because I understand that parking is temporary however I think the concern is if there are cars parked and there is a fire and you don't have 20 feet is it possible you would have to use that sidewalk that would be aligned with the street without a Boulevard and that was the narrative and that was my understanding that um Deputy State Fire Marshall Tom Jensen was responding to uh but he did make it very clear that local fire officials you know we take precedence and I'm just trying to make sure that we're all talking about the exact same thing uh council member rer I can take that question and uh try to provide an interpretation for that so uh you are correct the the deputy State Fire Marshal Mr Tom Jensen uh did comment on this and he gave exactly the code requirements uh which talks about the apparatus access code requirements he did also provide the interpretation that the local fire code official weighs in on this and provides the actual code interpretation as it's not black and white like the the fire code says each project is reviewed independently and uh and commented on the on the fire department evaluating Public Safety and operations and balancing those with the project and so um the current design is the current design does meet the operational needs for single family homes uh with all of the apparatus that we have in the fire department okay and I'll offer there was an email from the Fire Marshall but that was different streets that was Wooddale that was only 15 ft wide and for 64 Street and engineering department made those changes based on the fire Marshall's comment not to use a sidewalk in those regards so that was changed in December those were so that email with that comment about using the sidewalk was a whole different streets within this neighborhood it didn't have to do with Concord Avenue thank you m Pierce uh thanks Mr Mayor so thanks for the explanation uh but can we can we really try to make this plain um and so I appreciate the code and you talking about the apparatus all of that and I do appreciate that but it gets confusing um and so with this design if there is a fire call that we need to service and there's a car parked in the parking Lane are we concerned are there concerns that we're going to be able to provide services for the residents and then how would we do that today council member Pierce uh I have no concerns with the current design for our apparatus placement or setup even with the parking Lane full of vehicles there's many variables despite any emergency the the specific concern with the code interpretation here is making sure the fire department has enough room to set up operations uh with our apparatus fully deployed to get 360 degree use of the ladder which again if we're talking about one house fire we're working off of one side um we have enough space to set up with the clear space of those Drive Lanes uh it could be interpreted that there could be an accident that would prevent us we work around those variables but with the current design it actually increases the space when compared to what's there today okay thank you question questions so one of the issues that came up at our last meeting was um this whole conversation around some of the neighbors thinking five plus 5 was good some thinking 5+ one with the strip was better with the aggregate strip uh but sort of one of the overriding questions was well if you go 5 by five five and five does it affect any of the trees because you talked about the fact that the way you align the road you're only going to have to take out one tree on that street and it wasn't in that great a shape anyway as I as I recall and if we go five foot sidewalk and 5 foot Boulevard does that affect the number of trees that we would have to take out to accomplish this project none additional it's a foot narrower than we had on the bid documents so we had 11 fet we had eight and three in the original plans that were bid out with our contractor we're now a foot less and then again we got some adjustments next to retaining two retaining walls along the property so there's going to be some instances where there's no Boulevard but most of the street it'll be five and five and no additional impacts to trees along this Corridor other question I got uh by voicemail yesterday was U are we doing anything down on 64 Street with respect to approving this project that involves sidewalks on the Frontage Road running parallel to the cross town yes are we coming are we coming back to talk about that no that's been approved by City Council in December okay all right so the sidewalks are going in down there on 64th there's a portion where there's room to have safe operations for fire where we can still create the space needed and have a sidewalk that's off the street and then there's another two blocks where we can't create that space that we're just going to create when a big wide concrete gutter that's all one level that they can operate within there so so that's the direction we got from the fire marshall in November early December we made those changes and you approve that in December all right thanks for that I'll pass that information along that PR anything else from anyone on the council okay um so the uh motion that you've advaned for us to consider is uh whether to approve a sidewalk along the west side of conquered Avenue from Valley View Road to 64 Street as a 5 foot wide sidewalk with a 5 foot wide Boulevard is that correct correct all right is there a motion to that effect so moved Pierce moves I second discussion discussion all those in favor of the motion of State say I I I opposed carried I abstain you abstain I all right thank you all right one exstension four eyes thanks so for those in the audience that were wondering well why was member Jackson abstaining she was there was an original proposal that there be a what's called a single use uh or shared use pathway shared use pathway that was 8 ft wide 10t wide 8T wide in L of a sidewalk and we determined last meeting we weren't going to do that but remember Jackson has strong feelings strong talks about it and feelings both um all right and so now we are down to the um what's occupying a little bit of time at the legislature just coincidentally with what we're doing here at the city of Vina and this is with respect to uh the potential adoption of an ordinance involving accessory dwelling units and uh Mr Lewis Our Community Development coordinator is back to a visit with the council about this we um we had a discussion about it two weeks ago we held the matter open for additional public testimony we took public testimony that night and now we're here to make a decision on this uh on this proposed ordinance from the Planning Commission I think that came up to us unanimously from the Planning Commission and I think in your PRI prior presentation maybe you're going to show us this again when you did the the survey amongst the residents in our in our town about 70% of the people that responded like this idea of an accessory dwelling unit either within the house attached to the house or detached from the house or on top of a garage so uh I'll go ahead and let you make your presentation sure um thank you mayor U good evening mayor and Council um as you mentioned at the previous meeting staff and members of the Planning Commission presented the proposed Adu ordinance um and the inperson public hearing was held tonight the action requested is a motion to approve first reading of ordinance number 2024-25 regarding accessory dwelling units um if there are no changes to the ordinance uh Council May wave second reading uh Planning Commission did recommend unanimous approval of the ordinance with the deletion of provision 36439 2G which states accessory dwelling units shall be constructed on a frost protected Foundation uh staff is comfortable with that deletion um since Frost protection is addressed in the building code I did just want to touch on a on a couple other things um from the last meeting so um at the last meeting we spent a lot of time talking about what is in the proposed ad ordinance but maybe not enough time talking about um how existing regulations will impact the development of adus so one of the things I wanted to talk to about tonight is our building coverage requirement uh which limits the percentage of a parcel that can be occupied by principal and accessory buildings um so for Lots 9,000 ft or more that limitation is 25% of the lot for Lots uh less than 9,000 ft that limit is 30% but not more than 2,250 ft um so it's important to note that this Adu ordinance does not uh allow you to cover any more of your property with a building than is currently allowed today um so even though the maximum size allowed for an Adu maybe a th000 square ft um that's simply not going to be possible for a lot of of properties so I want to just run through a couple quick examples um so the image on the right is a uh parcel uh in that's pretty typical so the lot size is about 9,620 ft since it's over 9,000 squ ft the the lot coverage is 25% um so they could cover a maximum of 2,45 squ Ft with uh principal accessory buildings um if we if the existing coverage is 1,769 Ft then that would leave leave them with a maximum of 636 Square ft for either an attached uh Adu or a detached Adu so um in this case this property owner would not be able to build up to the maximum th Square ft um here's just another example this lot is 7,7 square ft so um would allow for a maximum building coverage of 30% um if the existing coverage is 2 280 ft that would leave them just 22 ft of building coverage left so not enough to to uh construct a new detached accessory building um so in that case Property Owners might look to construct an Adu above the garage since that wouldn't add any additional building coverage um in this case it looks like that wouldn't be possible since um with adding the Second Story um there's an additional setback requirement so um in in this example this this property owner would need to um if they wanted to add a new detached Adu or an addition onto the property um some additional existing building would need to be removed but they could still look at at an internal Adu in the basement so they would still have that option so I just wanted to kind of point that out building coverage is probably um one of the things in the zoning ordinance that um will probably be one of the bigger constraints in the zoning ordinance I'll say um you know some some other things that property owners will have to uh think about and deal with um when thinking about an Adu for the property is the tree ordinance we've talked about you know that's really effective at getting people to think about removing trees um there's also you know an impervious surfice requirement that applies to every lot setbacks um the placement of the existing dwelling May limit where a property owner could place an Adu um and then there's also a total th000 squ foot limit for all detached accessory buildings so if you already had say a a 500t shed then if you wanted to build a separate detached Adu the most you could do would be another 500 squ feet so um just wanted to kind of touch on that a little bit um but at this point I'll turn it back to council for a discussion thank you good thanks Mr LS uh member Pierce uh thanks Mr Mayor so I just first uh thanks to uh Mr Lewis and um commissioner Smith and chair uh Jimmy Bennett um I spent some time with them last week to go through this um as well as I met with a couple of neighbors um and I do believe that this is good for Edina um and there are a couple of things that we talked about two weeks ago um I think three reasons um for families that may have an adult special needs child that they want to do an a build an Adu for um was one uh people wanting to kind of age in place was a second um and I think you might have mentioned a um um adult child coming back home I don't know if you mentioned that one but that's what's going on in our house uh so and so I do think that those those reasons um are are definitely valid reasons so I appreciate you bringing this forward um I do think that the concern I I raised two weeks ago about um mitigating the imposition to the neighbor um I still think that is a very valid point uh but so thanks for the last two slides that you went through we actually did that in some more detail I actually sent a couple of addresses and uh Mr Lewis went through the coverage the setbacks um and so I got really comfortable with the what you already have in the ordinance I think that that will definitely govern the proliferation of adus I think that will limit it um and the way we presented it two weeks ago I definitely can see and this came up with one of the neighbors I met with the the um th000 square foot Max and so I asked about that I like that's that's I mean that that could be a pretty big Adu so here look at this address look at that address and tell me what does that mean um and we looked at it um you showed the one example um and so I do feel pretty confident that when we communicate um how this is going to live we definitely have to do a good job of helping people understand even though that might be the max what's actually possible right um and so I do believe that after I talk to the neighbors as I mentioned I still think this issue of of how do we mitigate uh a potential imposition for the neighbor like that's a serious um that's a serious concern that we need to think about and I'm going to put it in a different context um than what I originally thought I would would uh mention um as we look at the um the state had a missing middle Bill and in the intent behind that bill while very Noble I definitely support it trying to solve that challenge of affordable housing but one of the ways that it is trying to accomplish that actually does take uh some of the the uh control away from local was the intent part of the intent behind it um and so as I kind of read through that and I thought about this um what this ordinance is doing um is that we have and we and I think this is I think we do this in a lot of our zoning policies where we focus on eliminating or articulating challenges for the owner who's trying to accomplish something and so this is kind of geared towards that but in a lot of cases we actually then don't provide ways for the neighbor to m miate a potential imposition should they choose to um and so the example I'll give is I mentioned doing screening um two weeks ago if a neighbor wants to put up an 8 foot privacy fence they actually can't do that they'd have to have a variance for that because the the max is six feet um and so when I think about that it would make sense to me that if a neighbor is if their neighbor is building an Adu and the adjacent neighbor wants to put up screening they could do a vegetation wall right of and I don't know if there's a limit on that maybe there's a physical limit on that but they could do a vegetation wall uh but they'd have to apply they would have to apply for a variance to do a a taller privacy fence and my understanding is today they probably wouldn't meet the the requirements uh to be able to do that that um and you don't need to speak to that I'm really just trying to tee this up um that I think not only in this case but as we go forward and we really start to lean into building codes and zoning and the state does what the state is trying to do from a local government perspective we got to really be thinking about how what changes do we need to make in order to make sure that we're we're making policy and building code decisions that's representative of everybody in Ed and it's not just focused um and I shouldn't say only focused on the owner but predominantly focused on something that an owner uh of a property might be trying to do because the neighbor who is feels an imposition right they're a property owner too and so we should be able to provide um some methods that that owner should they want to mitigate a potential imposition they have some options um and today I think those options are are limited um the other thing that we did you've talked about the um the coverage limits so I I I think you did a great job of talking through that um the other thing that we did is we looked at at data um and I know you guys had already done this but you just shared the data that you looked at um so we we looked at surrounding areas and surrounding communities and the implementation of adus was in the the low single digits um for the surrounding um our surrounding communities and that actually was a good thing U the way I viewed it because I think it might actually indic it might be an indication that if we have the limitations set right that then the folks who really need this would be the ones that actually do it so I think it will help govern uh the pro proliferation of adus and my hope would be that those who really need it end up being the the owners that apply for it um and so I I found that to be um encouraging and so regarding the imposition there's a there's three things that I think we should consider doing and none of these impact the current ordinance this is all um additional work that we would do uh one I kind of mentioned I I think we we should look at the screening and if a owner um if their neighbor is doing building an a detached Adu um we should have a process that might allow them to apply for variance where they could um get an approval for an 8ot uh privacy fence and so I think there's work that we would have to do um to even consider that given that today it's the limit is 6 feet um I think it's and then two I think it's a good practice that um we communicate to neighbors if if an adjacent homeowner is considering or maybe they pull a permit to have an Adu now we can't require that but that seems like a good practice to me um that um we we would have that requirement um and then the third um I think that we we should encourage the owner who's builing the Adu to connect with their neighbors and so I know that that sounds like a well why wouldn't that happen I don't know that that would always happen um and I think that that would be uh something that we could encourage nothing that the city needs to manage uh but something that we could encourage um and one of the benefits of that um would be to ensure that those adjacent Neighbors at least know who to contact at the city if they do have questions um around um an Adu being built um so those would be three things I would suggest and then um there were two suggestions that came out of that the meeting that we had and so I don't want to take credit for either one of these um one um was that as we we go through this process of of of ongoing process of um doing our zoning audit um that we take this concept of all right let's let's lean into how do we calibrate what an imposition May or might not be for a neighbor are there things that we can offer um that uh neighbor may take um take part in if they feel like they want to mitigate a potential imposition so that was was one and then the second um I would support moving forward with this but then I'd also say that we should um keep this on the work plan um I'm a big proponent of let's look at the metric let's look at the data Maybe you know we do this for a year or two we look at the data we look at the metrics and we can tweak um as we go um again I just I think it would make a lot of sense for us to do that um and then the last thing I I would just acknowledge um there the two of the neighbors I met with are present today um and so I appreciate them coming out um to to hear the discussion thank you member Pierce member Jackson and member Risser thank you Mr Mayor so again I have to start start out with a thank you to commissioner Smith and and to Mr Lewis um you guys have worked so hard on this um and really very professionally done so I had a chance to talk to one of the parents who came to us when we were considering the project at St Peters and the aelite thing and in that process we learned there is a tremendous need in this community for adult children with special needs and housing and I keep them in the front of my mind all the time because there's stories these are independent adults who aren't fully independent and you know as our parents age they're independent adults who aren't fully independent and these are populations that are right here right now in need and if we can even in a small way address that I'm super excited because it the stories are heart-rending of how difficult it is to find housing um I went back and looked at vision and on the very first page the comments are that we want to have life cycle housing in our community and I'm going to read from the third bullet point in the document it says we strive to promote a healthy demographic mix that builds on the tradition of multigenerational families and I think that's what adus is all about and you've done a nice job of pulling up our foundational documents but I wanted to go back to that you know we had a comment this evening about the people who are here now are we making decisions for them and this was a document that was a had a big CommunityWide Outreach our comprehensive plan I don't know how many hundreds of volunteers worked on that we had a housing task force that went on for 18 months we've had lots of public input this is something that our community needs and I support um the public hearing I love the call for the desire for generational housing um and for that our city has adults um or adult children and and elderly people who have special housing needs um who would love to live near their family member um and it was also pointed out uh about the thoughtful work by the Planning Commission and I know everybody works so hard on it and commissioner Smith in particular but the whole commission worked on this for a very long time um to your comment member Pierce about um keeping it on the work plan not sure that I agree with that but I would like to have um followup and and metrics put into place where we see how this is being implemented if it is indeed um uh minimizing the need for variances right and that was one of the things that came up in the public hearing as well and I love the fact that this was designed to minimize the need for variances um but I would like to have periodic updates on on how this is going and and is it working according to plans and I just have to say say when you sat down and walked through this with me every question that we raised you guys addressed and you addressed it not only in your own minds but by reaching out to people and I love that and the community engagement and the thought process is just really A+ work and so I am proud to support this Adu ordinance thank you member Jackson member rer I also would like to thank all the people who are involved in um getting this to where it is um particularly um commissioner Smith so and I know you you have done a lot of work for a long period of time I do want to say that I really think the points that um member Jackson is excuse me member Pierce is Raising are so important and um it got me thinking you know in other parts of the world maintaining privacy is something that is really valued and it even hits at architectural design and um I'm going to read a section from this document that says the more densely populated and busier a neighborhood the more attention ought to be given to the matter of privacy the following General suggestions could be considered reducing the existence of Windows and apertures that face the outside world and trimming their sizes down resourcefully and artistically screening Windows positioning windows and apertures strategically and above the eye level using opaque and semi-transparent glass parapets employing blocks and slabs used as both screening and decorative elements and I think you know how does one sort of weave this very um diplomatic and um important sort of approach to designing architecture and particularly what we're talking about 8 use and you know you could say let's just adus go forth Do It um but you know what if people were encouraged don't put that balcony out facing your neighbor put it into your property you know um really think about how it's going to be used really think about where you're positioning somebody and I felt badly with the discussion that happened on April 2nd you know there was a comparison that came up U between garages and adus and the reality is that the function is very different and you've got people living in adus um potentially you know facing out onto other people's um private space and I I have seen situations actually I have a friend who moved away from Indina after um her house almost became totally encased by larger buildings that sprouted up around it and there was going to be a patio that would just literally hover over over her backyard and she would have completely lost all of her privacy so now she's in Bloomington but you know moving forward in a way where we really encourage people to think about the impact of what they're doing on their neighbors I think merits consideration and I don't know what the answer is in terms of what we're looking at tonight but you know if there could be some kind of language that was built in you know make those windows smaller you know don't don't do certain things um that are facing outside of your property thank you thank you member rer member U thank you so much uh and I also just want to Echo my appreciation for all of the work that went into this I I think it was a really really great effort so thank you and and thank you to the rest of the Planning Commission as well I know that they all provided input uh I I support this and I support this as written um today with the inclusion or the removal of the one line um uh based off of the planning commission's recommendation um and I I'm just going to tell like a little story to to bring us back a little bit uh but when I first moved to Edina um in pamel Park neighborhood my husband and I bought our um like first house we' lived in a condo before but it was a rambler and we'd only lived there for a couple of months when my mom needed a place to live and she I mean only child so it was kind of on me to do it um and we were able to take her in and that worked um for a while um but ultimately I got pregnant and we were starting our family and bringing kids home into our house and needed some additional space um she isn't someone though she's legally blind uh who can live on her own safely and we talked about it of like oh should we just like put something on top of our garage and then we like looked into it and learned a little bit more about what was possible and I just think about speaking to the the um Community comment that we had earlier you know people who are already residents of Edina today who could use and benefit from something like this when you hear about all of the families who want to keep their children closer um when you hear about member Pierce potentially wanting to bring his daughter back like we're talking about families and we're talking about a lot of those situations and that it's not not all of it right like there are so many different applications and uses of this um but when I think about the importance of opening up opportunities for housing giving people more options um and really just making housing and different forms of housing more accessible I I think that that's just really advancing us as a community so I again I appreciate all the work that you did into this and I'm I'm excited to hopefully see it move forward thank you m u um I think I was probably the most reluctant traveler but you did a good job visiting with me and explaining what the Planning Commission worked on for I think well over a year two years yeah I was thinking I was falling short of the mark there um but I've gotten comfortable with the notion overtime and um and I'm going to support it as well I think member AG said it well supported in its present context but I think some important issues have been raised particularly U member Pierce our last meeting talking about impact on neighbors uh and that continues to be an issue I think for all of us so as I think about what we did down in the Southdale district with developing those design experience guidelines to help developers think about how would what we'd want to see in our town and how it ought to be you know maybe even if we assuming we adopt the uh ordinance as proposed by the Planning Commission one element of ongoing work could be uh a team that creates Design Elements to be developed for adus because I think member rer raised a good point was obvious point you you know put the balcony if you're going to have one you got an ad above a garage maybe you put it out hanging over the driveway and not hanging out over your neighbor's backyard or off to the side into your own backyard um so and I I continue to worry a little bit about okay you got your mother-in-law back there you build a really nice Adu for detached or above the garage and she passes away and then you got a a significant amount of money invested maybe you sell the house and move on and we provided that either the the owner either has to be in the Adu or the or the house they can't rent be renting them both out I think that was smart um but um I continue to worry a little bit about our tighter neighborhoods where uh if somebody decides well I'm going to rent out the Adu we don't allow on street parking and I think you know somebody's going to rent and then they're going to have trouble jockeying cars around in Country Club some of them even have shared driveways right now and so going to set that concern aside as we think about sort of the the broader nature of this good um on balance and and proceed so that we have the ability to have people fix up their basement put something on attached to the house or detached or above the garage and I think those are all uh you you've studied it thoroughly all of you on the Planning Commission thank you for that and good to see you incidentally here recently at the social Gathering of United given go you and your wife um so I'm going to support it as well but I I would encourage us to think about and the Planning Commission to think about maybe taking some of these Architects or getting some of these Architects that are doing adus I think you referred to a firm up in St Louis Park that was doing adus and and look at some of these design elements that we might think about using as guidelines uh or even in incorporate into an ordinance uh at some future time to make sure that we don't have the kinds of problems that we are are a little bit worried about relative to affecting neighbors so Pierce thanks Mr Mayor um so I you know I support the ordinance without changes but I'm not clear so I'm a little uncom comtable on on the way forward and so what I'm getting at and so I'll be really explicit two of the ideas that I talked about came from the Planning Commission and so this was Cher Bennett saying um this idea of imposition that maybe we should take that lens and as we go through the zoning audit process that should be something that we start to look at um so that didn't come from me that came from chair Bennett um keeping adus on the work plan for the next he said couple years and I think the intent was just to have a marker so that we're collecting the data and we're presenting the data if we need to tweak it we tweak it that kind of thing um again that came from chair Bennett and I agree with both of those things um and it what made me feel comfortable is that there would be a placeholder for someone to dig into some of these Concepts to then figure out what changes um may or may may not need to make it seems smart to me to do it that way um and then the third one the um when I met with the neighbor they actually suggested the screening and so what I suggested two weeks ago was to have the owner do it well they never said that their first point was hey if Adu goes up next door to me and I want to put up a privacy fence can I do that if I want to do an 8 foot fence can I do that and today you could apply for a variance but you would likely not get it and so that to me is another has nothing to do with uh I don't think with the order ordance but those three things it feels like we need to have a placeholder where that work will reside um because I think they're really good they're really good additions to the workload to make this an even better use for our community than what we currently have so I'm not sure how to do that but I I am not suggesting that we make changes to the M ordinance no I didn't expect it suspect that you were um but I think it's it's something that you thought was important to continue to monitor as as these things get built now and I don't think there'll be very many of them but um there's some continuing monitoring process that we look at some of these elements that we think are important or or start in right away on looking at Design Elements to be developed that and have those design elements be I don't know Adu guidelines or whatever yeah that could be a body in the ordinance but they can be guidelines that could be a body Mr tell no we'd suggest these kinds of Windows in your bathroom and uh and and you know anyway so um I hear some unanimity unanimity of opinion here uh some guidance for the Planning Commission Commissioners I think you know you've listened to this and there echoing some of the the thoughts you've had in terms of sort of ongoing monitoring as member Pierce says so I think at this point in time uh the question would be is before we get to a a vote or a motion uh do we feel comfortable waving second reading or do we want to just grant first reading and bring it back I don't I don't hear anybody suggesting some changes in the ordinance so it's possible we could just wave that a motion could include a waiver of second reading um I U if I could m and so I just again want to give credit to um Mr Lewis commissioner Smith and chair Bennett I think I had a list of four or five things that I thought we should do and the hour and subsequent various emails we we uh walk through I think they did a really good job of walking through some of those made sense but then if you were to do them they created a different imposition and so I really felt um that they did a really good job of thinking through how to structure this um to one reduce the proliferation and then as best as we could reduce some of the imposition um based on the way it was written so I just wanted to give credit to them for that all right thank you thanks for that let me ask is there a council member that would care to make a motion to approve ordinance number 202 4-02 uh relating to accessory Dum units and uh wave second reading of that ordinance could I could I interject and just ask you to state that um if it's your intent to include the planning commission's recommendation to delete that provision about Frost protection if you so choose yes that's that's the the maker of the motion says yes okay member U and is there a second second all right got a motion and second uh motion is stated along with the uh recommendation from the Planning Commission it's was on the screen any further discussion all those in favor of adoption discuss yeah so more discussion um how how do we intend then I just want to be clear about that to the three things that I talked about uh two of which came from the Planning Commission um does that work are we giving that I'm looking at you to he's smiling if and not even his head affirmative I mean is that working session or and it's not something that needs to come back in the next couple of months but I think it's really important that that work sits someplace and then we're able to come back and I you know I'll just say this again just the Optics of us approving this ordinance and then acknowledging that they could be imposition to neighbors and we're going to actually figure out if and how we might offer mitigation for that that is that is a good message for us to send to the community and so I just want to make sure how that work is going to sit and we're going to lean into it yeah so we had our first meeting with the consultant in regards to the the zoning audit that's going on so I think we can all add this to the list of things that we'll keep an eye on it would probably result in the second phase after we've done the audit and made recommendations for how we think the code should be formatted um the other thing I would do is just add to our current work plan this is more in the working draft of our our work plan put it in the parking lot so we don't forget that we're going to revisit this for the or keep it on the work plan that we propose to you all next year thank you good we've got a motion and a second we've had discussion on this proposed resolution adoption and waiver of second reading uh any further discussion all those in favor of adopting the motion of stated say I I I opposed carried all right very good thank you for being here with us this evening thank you and um folks in the audience thanks for being with us as well and um we will now move on to commission correspondents I don't think we've had any uh correspondents come in why we' had the meeting here we're going to move on to manager comments now I don't have any comments for tonight sir all right uh let's go to member rer thank you and I do have images that are going to pop up in a moment for one of my comments but I have a couple tonight um it's important for people who are concerned about airplane noise and Arnav which is the navigation system that we are moving to um to know that there are two meetings that have been scheduled we have the time and the date we do not have a place yet but on Tuesday August 13th at 1 p.m. there will be one Arnav um listening session and on Thursday August 15th at 6: PM there will be another and so I don't know if any member or sir um this this is not necessarily an Edina the one that is an Idina is my next announcement okay so um there is that on and that is coming up thank you Wednesday April 24th at 6 pm here in City Hall in the community room we will have our knock listening session so noise oversight committee um for the Metropolitan airports commission and um so those are my my knock announcements and then um I have kind of a a fun one that I really want to bring up because um we have so many people in Idina who care about art and public works and um what we are looking at right here is um two people who are part of the Adina wood crafters and they are based in the community center and this is John Corbett and Jeff Tam and they worked on refinishing one of my favorite pieces of art that is located along the Adina prominade called time piece and this was one of the initial donations to the whole Public Works um movement that happened in 2010 and I was really fortunate when I came on board here that I was able to walk the prominade with Lois ring who is a huge supporter of public art and what you're looking at is the structure that that piece of wood and they refinished it because and Jennifer I don't know do we have a picture that shows it yes okay there we are um and what happened was over time as you would imagine from 2010 when this was installed and this is by Dean Holtzman he was the artist um and D Kennedy is the uh person in he who contributed this um Tiffany Bushland who is the Centennial Lakes general manager was involved Lois ring um seems to have functioned as kind of the the glue that brought everybody together and um got this whole thing going but with the help of uh people working um for the parks department uh the community center wood program the wood crafters and Lois so many things happened and so this beautiful work time piece um which I think looks like sales and movement and all kinds of things it's uh Lois and I both really like the abstract art that is along the prominade and so we were both very excited and I have not gone out to see it since it has been refinished but um it was reinstalled I believe back in December of 2023 and Scott denfield created a wonderful video um that you can watch on agenda Edina Public art restoration and I think I have managed to mention every single person who I wanted to mention in this but if you haven't had a chance to get out and look at this um or walk the pronat it is really amazing to see some of the works of art that we have there so um and I believe oh the other did we need to talk about scheduling a meeting for changing our review or looking into using League of Minnesota cities for our next annual review uh sure okay yeah go ahead and mention that um I one of the things moving forward uh with this annual review process that we as City Council Members need to do every year is kind of rethinking um how we're going to approach it and I do think it would make sense to look at the process that the league of Minnesota cities uses um and I also would like to encourage um other council members and I have not done this yet but I will get it to you by Monday uh manager Neil did give us back in December a list of his 2024 goals and um we were requested if we wanted to add to those to give feedback um to that and so I think it's important that we follow through on that and I my understanding is maybe there's a meeting in June where we could discuss this um if my memory is working from the work session I think we'll have U we'll have some time now to decide how we want to approach that review that annual review okay certainly the we've used that League process in the past and it's it's probably been refined since we last used it and it would be good to talk about it again all right good uh member Jackson nothing for me tonight thanks great thanks Pierce um thanks Mr Mayor I I had one thing that I had up and now I don't um so this is actually a followup that I will make with member Jackson but I just wanted to mention it I got an email today from uh principal bass at Valley View um and he would like to to work with us and the way I kind of read this is they would like to try to do a little bit of of um these are my words education and the importance of polling and voting um and so he sent kind of an idea where they've got some projects uh they have some funding and he wants to do kind of a poll and have students vote um on these projects and then I kind of said well it might be a good idea too to kind of tie into some of the um Democratic process and I don't know if that's education or what have you and then I mentioned that member Jackson's daa is on uh from the council and so I I thought this was a a neat idea um and I just got it today and so I will wanted to just quick share that and then I'll I'll send it to member Jackson that's it all right very good member U thank you yeah I just wanted to say that I had a really fun time at the uden giving go um it was hosted it was just what Friday uh and it was amazing time and I just I love getting it together with members of the community and I think in those spheres in particular I felt like I ran into to so many different commission members um and so it was just a really great event and I from what I've heard it was really successful so great to support support that I think that's all I had though for this week yeah thanks for that observation it's just what a great organization that that was started about a decade ago to help uh families and kids in our community that couldn't otherwise afford to do certain things and boy the people were really generous and I I I I didn't hear where the numers settled on but was it over 100,000 that they I think it was over 200,000 oh yeah yeah it's really fantastic um and all yeah most of you were there they could be there uh anyway so uh last night uh was uh this WR they have a writing contest over year through ad reeds school districts involved the libraries involved uh din Community Foundation involved and they give out uh pros and poetry writing Awards to kids from kindergarten through adulthood actually high school and then there's an adult category and these little uh kindergarteners that have written something and get up and and read it it it was just fantastic I hope next year we have a bigger crowd they deserved a bigger crowd uh so that was fun to participate in uh and then this morning I also did uh City update for the Realtors over at Coldwell Banker so I thank them for inviting me over there uh and then last week on the 10th I was on a panel at the Minnesota shopping center Association monthly meeting with and see as Plymouth us oio and Inver Grove so a lot of different communities around the Metro of different sizes that have different things going on from a a retail standpoint and a shopping center standpoint so that was that was a nice experience um on the eth we had the Regional Council mayor's annual public safety meeting we had Andy Luger there uh Bob Jacobson from the Department of Public Safety Drew Evans from the BCA uh providing quite a bit of crime data and so that was uh helpful as well uh and then um bill nondorf and I happen to be at the 50th and France Business Association meeting on uh April 5th which was I think the day after our last no two days after or three days after our last city council meeting um and I would just want to commend manager Neil and Bill narf for being regular attendees at that 50th and France Business Association meeting it's really helpful I think they have the city presence there as they go through this transition now with Rebecca uh taking over the Reigns of leadership down there I think they'll they'll do really well um and then I think yeah I wrote down days of remembrance on the 16th of May so that's it for me um few things that have been going on the last couple of weeks and uh there'll be things going on in the future yes member Jackson so what did you learn about shopping centers in Minnesota how's the health of them you know um there's so much variability in terms of like oio really doesn't have anything other than local Merchants so they don't really have a shopping center as you know people might be going next door to one of those other larger communities and nobody has retail like we have uh which is pretty fascinating and Inver Grove you know they're they're really positioned well uh right south of St Paul which doesn't have much going on downtown anymore either but they don't seem to be able to get the kind of traction that they want so there were there were interesting stories to be heard Plymouth has this whole med tech thing going you know they're they're just becoming a med tech H they got more med tech per capita there than anywhere in the United States and so they're really evolving as a community but they still don't have a downtown so the mayor of Plymouth was actually telling a story about they want to have a downtown they want to have like an Arbor Lakes or 50th in France uh and so uh they had this developer come and they were going to do it right uh west of their new community center their redone Community Center so they brought this plan and and the mayor and the city council said no that's no good and then they came back again and they had a couple more trees on the plan and they said no that's no good and and the mayor said in this meeting done with the shopping center Association he looked at him he said go down to Centennial Lakes and look at Centennial Lakes that's what we want something like Centennial Lakes so that was uh pretty cool and uh and then of course they're retail different too because it's um they don't they don't have any they got some little strip malls there and then a lot of drive-throughs for food but uh nobody is set up to deal with retail like we are and we become the retail Hub of the of the metropolitan area especially high-end retail because there's nothing left in Downtown Minneapolis and it's it's it's Edina if you're going to go shopping you're going to go I think to Edina and then quite a few people had read the article in the Wall Street Journal about a month ago about Simon's $400 million commitment to Southdale and so uh that was nice to be able to talk about too so thanks for that question all right uh anybody else have anything that trigger anything all right is there Mo we don't need to have a motion to adjourn we can just adjourn stand adjourned for