I just wanted to make a comment on 16 before we move to the vote. And just to say thank you for this work on behalf of CPID and others about this vacation on these two small triangular parcels this with the eventual transfer hopefully to MPB and this is something that we were very interested in for a long time and I'm just very thankful to see that coming forward. This is an area of the city that does not have a lot of green space. It's one of the target areas for MPB. Um and I'm thankful to see this vacation coming forward. Thank you.

So the conditions that we have before us for the breakfast bar are um related to the um activity for the business as well as for the outdoor structure. So we have negotiated a takedown of that outdoor structure um to occur no later than September 15th of this year. And then in that part of those negotiations, we have uh clearly laid out and agreed upon um behavior and expectations for sound and use of that tent.

Yeah, I'm just thankful for seeing this coming forward as well. This is something that we've heard a lot of complaints about um particularly from the atrium um public housing. Uh there has been a written um petition going around with many signatures and um due to noise complaints um very late at night so and early in the morning. So thank you. Um, thank you. And also I I do want to comment that this uh is a business uh owned by African-American uh business and I really appreciate the staff for um finding a way to have the business to continue and uh especially the outdoor situation.

The applicant is requesting an on sale liquor limited entertainment with Sunday sales license. If approved, they intend to be a full-service restaurant with a menu focus on fish along with burgers and hot dogs with outdoor seating. Bill's Bait Shop will be a sit-down restaurant with 48 interior seats and 18 private patio seats.

I'm really excited to move this forward for approval. Uh Bill's Bait Shop is going to be such a wonderful addition to this corner of the 12th ward and the neighborhood. I have gotten so many emails, calls, texts, just excited um for you to open... Constituents have shared with me how accessible you've been and really I think everyone's going to appreciate this compromise on the hours. It's going to go a really long way and I'm just super excited to bring this into this corner. This corner's been vacant for a couple of years now.

The applicant is requesting a street cafe and a permanent expansion of license. If approved, they intend to expand their outdoor area to provide a street cafe for the outside dining to accompany their current operations of restaurant, bowling, and live theater. The outdoor expansion will add approximately 180 square feet for 16 outdoor seats within a designated and enclosed cafe area operating during the spring through the fall season.

Uh I'm a resident of the Whittier neighborhood. I'm a longtime patron of Bryant Lake Bull. So, I came here today to talk uh in favor of the proposal... it's a place that's been very near and dear to me. Uh when people come in from out of town, I always try and get them to stop by. Uh during the pandemic, I did everything I could to keep the place open.

The applicant is requesting an on sale wine with strong beer and no entertainment license. If approved, they intend to add wine and strong beer to their full menu sitdown restaurant, which focuses on Ecuadorian and American cuisine. They've been open as a restaurant only for the past year.

Um Chair Osman, I've heard nothing but great things about this establishment. So I am excited to know that they are expanding um their operations there on LIi in our cultural corridor. So this is exciting and yeah that's all I got.

Sherman Associates is proposing to redevelop this historic complex located in the downtown west neighborhood of Ward 7 with into 232 units of mixed income housing including 210 units affordable at 60% AMI and 22 units at market rate as well as 32,000 square ft of commercial and office space.

Most importantly, the project must meet a butt for test, a legal requirement that local government must satisfy before creating a new TIF district to ensure TIFF is only used on projects that are not financially feasible but for public financial assistance. Based on staff's review, this project meets the statutory requirements for the establishment of a housing tiff district.

So, similar with grain exchange, as we get 20 years out from now, which I'll probably be back up in front in 20 years, making a request to reinvest more heavily back into the apartments, we'll come back in and we'll probably reup affordability long term. That's been our general practice to maintain affordability long-term, highquality housing, generational housing.

I would first like to mention that building more housing is a good thing and that I would rather build more housing in downtown Minneapolis while making it more familyfriendly than building out data centers in downtown. I think it's important that we should focus on our efforts on building housing for people in our city rather than building it for data centers.

This project started uh two terms ago. I want to thank the developers for your you are the best at providing housing for those who least can afford it. You've shown that time and time again in this city. Your heart is in the right place and I really appreciate what you're doing to help those who are less fortunate in our city.

We have confirmed since that meeting with the city attorney's office that one option available to you all would be to condition the varianc's approval on um the hiring or the maintaining of that site through something like a live-in supervisor, a live-in uh building manager.

The bottom line is this having this this surround my garbage container has some unintended consequences... I can add to the management team a person that would live in the building or tenant that's in the building and daily scan the the uh the parking lot to make sure that there's no stray trash.

My one ask um to consider along with hiring a supervisor is making a plan for if the dumpster overflows, right? where would it where would it go even if you had an on-site person to come and pick it up? I think that's really getting to the heart of kind of the issue that um uh residents have complained about.

The study concluded that the property is eligible for landmark designation under local criterion 4 for architecture... The property was designed using the Spanish eclectic architectural style and retains a significant degree of original architectural features.

I respectfully submit that when all of these policies are considered together, designation of this particular property is not in the city's best interest... I think to foreclose the city to give up the possibility of uh a greater development to not only for housing, more housing uh that includes affordable inclusionary housing uh without seeing a specific proposal even being presented is really premature.

Putting this historic designation in place now would completely foreclose the addition of higher density housing at this spot at any point in the future, which is really inconsistent with many of the 2040 plan goals for this area.

There's never going to be a precedent setting decision for um any property in the city that's being considered for for landmark status. Um but, you know, at any point in the future, if if a one of the nominators who is able to nominate a property the city wants to bring forward um one of the other examples for consideration, that is a possibility.

We currently treat artificial turf as an impervious surface. Similar to other things like permeable pavers that you know purport and represent that they are permeable but which either have maintenance requirements or which may have other drawbacks. Uh and secondarily it is not considered an alternative to required landscaping.

One of the main things is that this would be a contributor to urban heat island effect um in terms of that plastic does retain and hold on to heat a lot more than a natural grass would. Obviously, if you're replacing natural landscaping, you're losing some biodiversity and natural habitat.

I don't like plastic grass. Thank you. I mean, I I was just going to quick make a comment myself... We have had a lot of rain and I bet you haven't even seen worms crawling all over the sidewalk. You used to have to sweep the sidewalk to get rid of all the worms. What happened to the worms? And I think this impervious grass and all of these artificial turfs is the reason why we don't even have good quality worms anymore.

I think there's definitely something worth looking into in terms of the types of artificial turf even allowed as a functional use that we should look at as a city in 2024. The EU put a ban on crumb rubber infill turf uh due to uh uh concerns around microlastics, POS, heavy metals as laid out by staff.